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Temple University researchers have assembled the largest and most accurate tree of life calibrated to time, and surprisingly, it reveals that life has been expanding at a constant rate. The model also has implications for human evolution.

“The constant rate of diversification that we have found indicates that the ecological niches of life are not being filled up and saturated,” said Temple professor S. Blair Hedges, a member of the research team’s study, published in the early online edition of the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution. “This is contrary to the popular alternative model which predicts a slowing down of diversification as niches fill up with species.”

The tree of life compiled by the Temple team is depicted in a new way—a cosmologically-inspired galaxy of life view—and contains more than 50,000 species in a tapestry spiraling out from the origin of life.

For the massive meta-study effort, researchers painstakingly assembled data from 2,274 molecular studies, with 96 percent published in the last decade. They built new computer algorithms and tools to synthesize this largest collection of evolutionary peer-reviewed species diversity timelines published to date to produce this Time Tree of Life.

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The tree of life compiled by Temple University researchers is depicted in a new way—a cosmologically inspired galaxy of life view—and contains more than 50,000 species in a tapestry spiraling out from the origin of life. Credit: Temple University

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The study also challenges the conventional view of adaptation being the principal force driving species diversification, but rather, underscores the importance of random genetic events and geographic isolation in speciation, taking about 2 million years on average for a new species to emerge onto the scene.

“This finding shows that speciation is more clock-like than people have thought,” said Hedges. “Taken together, this indicates that speciation and diversification are separate processes from adaptation, responding more to isolation and time. Adaptation is definitely occurring, so this does not disagree with Darwinism. But it goes against the popular idea that adaptation drives speciation, and against the related concept of punctuated equilibrium which associates adaptive change with speciation.”

“In terms of how humans relate to our finding, it follows that, as we are just another species, the origin of our lineage has more to do with geographic isolation than with adaptation,” Hedges told Popular Archaeology.

Besides the new evolutionary insights gained in this study, their Timetree of Life will provide opportunities for researchers to make other discoveries across disciplines, wherever an evolutionary perspective is needed, including, for example, studies of disease and medicine, and the effect of climate change on future species diversity.

Researchers around the world utilize molecular clocks to estimate species divergence times, calculating DNA mutational rates with species divergence times from gene and genomic sequences, that together with the fossil record and geological history, provide a constantly improving view of Darwin’s “grandeur of life.”

These new results add to the decade-long efforts of the Timetree of Life initiative (TTOL), which includes internet tools and a book, led by team members Hedges and Sudhir Kumar. “The ultimate goal of the TTOL is to chart the timescale of life — to discover when each species and all their ancestors originated, all the way back to the origin of life some four billion years ago,” said Hedges.

As an ongoing service to the scientific community, Hedges and Kumar plan to continue adding new data to TTOL from future peer-reviewed studies. They also will improve their current tools, such as web and smartphone apps, and develop new tools, that will make it easier to access the information and to explore the TTOL, and for scientists to update the growing tree with their new data.

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Besides Hedges and Kumar, other members of the research team that published this new article included Julie Marin, Michael Suleski, and Madeline Paymer.

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Source: Temple University press release.

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He may have led a king’s life, but new forensic evidence gleaned from the remains of Pharaoh Senebkay indicates that the Egyptian ruler died in battle—the earliest known pharaoh to have done so—viciously attacked by multiple assailants.

Last year, the tomb of king Senebkay (ca. 1650–1600 BCE) was discovered at the site of Abydos by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania Museum working in association with Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities. Now the team led by Dr. Josef Wegner of the Penn Museum has completed a detailed study of Senebkay’s skeleton, as well as the remains of several other kings whose tombs have been discovered nearby. The 2014-15 research is supported by the Penn Museum, with additional support from the National Geographic Society Expeditions Council.

“Forensic analysis has provided some new answers about the life, and death, of this ancient Egyptian king,” noted Dr. Wegner, “while raising a host of new questions about both Senebkay, and the Second Intermediate Period of which he was a part.”

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Team members work to excavate the burial chamber of the pharaoh Woseribre Senebkay, with sheets covering a painted wall decoration. Photo: Josef Wegner, Penn Museum.

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 At left, the sun disc and goose means “Son of Re” (or Ra), the Egyptian sun god. The cartouche at right spells the name of the pharaoh, Senebkay, whose body was interred in this tomb. Photo: Jennifer Wegner, Penn Museum.

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A Warrior King

Pharaoh Woseribre Senebkay, who lived during the later part of Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period (ca. 1650–1550 BCE), is now the earliest Egyptian pharaoh whose remains show he died in battle.  Detailed analysis by Dr. Maria Rosado and Dr. Jane Hill of Rowan University has documented an extensive array of wounds on Senebkay’s skeleton showing he died aged 35-40 years old during a vicious assault from multiple assailants. The king’s skeleton has an astounding eighteen wounds that penetrated to the bone. The trauma includes major cuts to his feet, ankles, knees, hands, and lower back. Three major blows to Senebkay’s skull preserve the distinctive size and curvature of battle axes used during Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period. This evidence indicates the king died violently during a military confrontation, or in an ambush.

Emerging Role of the Horse

The patterns of wounds to Senebkay’s body suggest he was attacked while in an elevated position relative to his assailants, quite possibly mounted on horseback. Another surprising result of the osteological analysis is that muscle attachments on Senebkay’s femurs and pelvis indicate he spent a significant amount of his adult life as a horse rider. Another king’s body discovered this year in a tomb close to that of Senebkay also shows evidence for horse riding, suggesting these Second Intermediate Period kings buried at Abydos were accomplished horsemen. Senebkay and other royal remains at Abydos provide valuable new insight into the early introduction of the horse (Equus ferus caballus) to Egypt. Although use of horseback riding in warfare was not common until after the Bronze Age, the Egyptians appear to have been mastering the use of horses during the Second Intermediate Period. Horseback riding may have played a growing role in military movements during this era, even before the full advent of chariot technology in Egypt, which occurred slightly later, at the beginning of Egypt’s New Kingdom (ca. 1550 BCE).

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Schematic showing the distribution of traumatic battle wounds to Senebkay: front view. Image: Dr. Jane Hill.

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Schematic showing the distribution of traumatic battle wounds to Senebkay: rear view. Image: Dr. Jane Hill.

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Image composite depicting the right ankle and left knee of Woseribre Senebkay’s skeleton. The patterns of wounds to Senebkay’s body suggest he was attacked while in an elevated position relative to his assailants, quite possibly mounted on horseback. Image: Jane Hill and Josef Wegner.

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Front and top views of Woseribre Senebkay’s skull, indicating the location of an axe wound to the front of the cranium. This and two other major blows to Senebkay’s skull preserve the distinctive size and curvature of battle axes used during Egypt’s Second Intermediate Period. Photo: Josef Wegner, Penn Museum.

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Rear view of Woseribre Senebkay’s skull, indicating the locations of two axe wounds to the back of the cranium. Photo: Jane Hill and Josef Wegner.

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A Battle with Whom?

The death of Senebkay in battle appears to have taken place at considerable distance from his burial place at Abydos. The king’s body also shows that significant time elapsed between his death and preparation of the body for burial. What remains a mystery is where the king died and who Senebkay’s opponents were. Possibly the king died in battle fighting against the Hyksos kings who at that time ruled northern Egypt from their capital at Avaris in the Nile Delta. However, Senebkay may have died in struggles against enemies in the south of Egypt. Historical records dating to Senebkay’s lifetime record at least one attempted invasion of Upper Egypt by a large military force from Nubia to the south.  Alternatively, Senebkay may have had other political opponents, possibly kings based at Thebes.

Who was Senebkay? Tombs of seven other kings have now been excavated at Abydos opening a new window onto one of Ancient Egypt’s most obscure periods. It appears probable that Senebkay and these other rulers form a short-lived dynasty who chose Abydos as their burial ground. Continued excavations of the Penn Museum researchers in collaboration with the National Geographic Society hope to shed light on Senebkay and the other kings buried near him.

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A facial reconstruction of the pharaoh Senebkay based on detailed cranial study, by Mireya Poblete Arias. Analysis of the king’s skeleton shows that he died at an age of 35-40 years. Image: Mireya Poblete Arias.

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Abydos and the Penn Museum

Penn Museum scholars have been excavating at the site of Abydos since 1967, as part of the Pennsylvania-Yale-Institute of Fine Arts/NYU Expedition to Abydos. Abydos is located on the western side of the Nile in Upper Egypt and was a religious center associated with the veneration of the funerary god Osiris. Dr. Josef Wegner has been excavating at the site of Abydos since 1994. Excavations in the area of South Abydos have revealed a thriving royal cult center that developed around the subterranean tomb of pharaoh Senwosret III located at the area called Anubis-Mountain, where Senebkay’s tomb and other Second Intermediate Period tombs have been found.

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Source: Press release provided by the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

Archaeologists and a team of other researchers are hoping that an Italian graveyard will provide clues about the evolution of the bacterium that causes cholera.

Located near the ruins of the abandoned Badia Pozzeveri church in Italy’s Tuscany region, the graveyard contains bodies of cholera victims of the world cholera epidemic of the 1850’s.

“To our knowledge, these are the best preserved remains of cholera victims of this time period ever found,” said Clark Spencer Larsen, professor of anthropology at the Ohio State University and one of the leaders of the excavation team. “We’re very excited about what we may be able to learn.”

Larsen presented the details of the project on Feb. 15 at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose.

To date, the team has completed four field seasons at the site, a section of the graveyard that was designated for the burial of cholera victims. Excavations of about 20 – 30 skeletons in each of the past four field seasons revealed hasty burial of the bodies that were then covered with lime encasings, a treatment that the researchers think was designed to prevent the disease from spreading.

“But the lime encasing is pretty amazing for bone preservation, too,” said Larsen. Even more, according to Larsen, the lime trapped soil surrounding the bodies, soil that possibly contains the DNA of the deadly bacteria—Vibrio cholera—and other organisms that the now-buried humans hosted while they were alive. Ancient DNA expert Hendrik Poinar, a professor at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, is scanning the soil samples for the DNA.

“We haven’t found it yet, but we are hopeful,” Larsen said. “We’ve found other DNA associated with humans so we’re continuing the search,” Larsen said. “If we find the DNA we could see how cholera has evolved and compare it to what the bacteria is like today. That’s the first step to possibly finding a cure.”

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Cholera bacterium. Wikimedia Commons

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Larsen says there is much more to the site than the cholera victim graves. The landscape surrounding the church also features several other cemeteries, spanning different time periods.

 “We have a thousand-year window into the health of this village,” said Larsen. “It is a microcosm of what is happening in Italy and all of Europe during this time frame.” He points, for example, to the graves of people who died of the Black Death during the pandemic that devastated populations in Europe from 1346 to 1353. 

“What we are trying to do is to reconstruct these populations as if they were alive, to get a glimpse about what their day-to-day lives were like and what their health was like, as well as how they died.”

Larsen and colleagues plan to extract bone and tooth samples during the upcoming 5th season.  

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Excavations under this project began in 2010 through the combined efforts of the Ohio State University, University of Pisa and the local community near the cemetery location. The project also operates the Field School in Medieval Archaeology and Bioarchaeology at Badia Pozzeveri, an academic program for training students in archaeological and laboratory methods.

Source: Adapted and edited from information in a Ohio State University press release.

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Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery Edition eBook is a selection of the best stories published in Popular Archaeology Magazine in past issues, with an emphasis on some of the most significant, groundbreaking, or fascinating discoveries in the fields of archaeology and paleoanthropology and related fields. At least some of the articles have been updated or revised specifically for the Discovery edition.  We can confidently say that there is no other single issue of an archaeology-related magazine, paper print or online, that contains as much major feature article content as this one. The latest issue, volume 2, has just been released. Go to the Discovery edition page for more information.

It was in 2007 when the late archaeologist Ehud Netzer announced to the world what was arguably the prize find of his life—the discovery of the remains of the tomb and possible sarcophagus of the one and only Herod the Great himself, who for many, both anciently and today, stands among the great villains of history. But aside from his designs, according to the Christian New Testament gospels, to dispatch the Christ child along with the firstborn of many other families, as well as banishment of members of his own family according to other writings, he was also perhaps the savviest politician, statesman, and greatest builder in first century Judea. It was he who planned and commissioned the building of the massive expansion of the Second Temple, the Temple Mount, and its associated structures in Jerusalem, in its time perhaps the most monumental religous enterprize and wonder of the world. It was he who planned and built the city and harbor of the monumental city of Caesarea Maritima on the Mediterranean coastline, a major port, and the towering fortress complex of Masada near the Dead Sea. And it was also he who planned and commissioned the construction of the only fortified palace complex which bears his name by decree and where he planned to be buried—Herodium.

Netzer died before he could finish his excavation work at Herodium. On October 27, 2010, while leaning on a wooden railing that overlooked a steep slope near where he had made his spectacular tomb discovery, the railing gave way. He fell ten feet, rolled, then fell another ten feet, critically injuring his head, neck and back. Two days later, he passed on. The news of his death shocked the community of scholars, scientists, students, volunteers and everyone who had worked intimately with him for decades.

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Detail view of a section of the remains at Herod’s tomb. Courtesy Shmuel Browns

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But excavation work goes on at Herodium to this day. Archaeologists have recently uncovered a staircase at the site, left unfinished for whatever reasons by its architects and workers 2,000 years ago. Associated with the staircase were impressive archways and an entrance hall with plastered walls and frescoes. 

Shmuel Browns, a photographer and professional tour guide who participated in the Netzer excavations of the mausoleum complex in 2008, writes briefly of his recent visit to Herodium and his experience with the excavators at the staircase site. His account can be read at his blog, Israel Tour Guide/Israel Tours. Other work at Herodium includes ongoing restoration and investigation of the loggia, or VIP box at the Herodium theater, which features colorful panels on plaster and unique paintings in secco (paint applied on top of dry plaster). More about the loggia can be read at A Look into the Loggia at Herodium.

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The staircase and archways as exposed through recent excavations. Courtesy Shmuel Browns

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Readers can find out more about the excavations at Herodium in the article, Netzer’s Legacy: The Wonders of Herodium, written by Shmuel Browns for Popular Archaeology Magazine.

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Read about the most fascinating discoveries with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about.  AND MORE:

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Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery Edition eBook is a selection of the best stories published in Popular Archaeology Magazine in past issues, with an emphasis on some of the most significant, groundbreaking, or fascinating discoveries in the fields of archaeology and paleoanthropology and related fields. At least some of the articles have been updated or revised specifically for the Discovery edition.  We can confidently say that there is no other single issue of an archaeology-related magazine, paper print or online, that contains as much major feature article content as this one. The latest issue, volume 2, has just been released. Go to the Discovery edition page for more information.

COLUMBUS, Ohio—In the 16th century, during its conquest of South America, the Spanish Empire forced countless Incas to work extracting silver from the mountaintop mines of Potosí, in what is now Bolivia–then the largest source of silver in the world. The Inca already knew how to refine silver, but in 1572 the Spanish introduced a new technology that boosted production many times over and sent thick clouds of lead dust rising over the Andes for the first time in history.

Winds carried some of that pollution 500 miles northwest into Peru, where tiny remnants of it settled on the Quelccaya Ice Cap.

There it stayed–buried under hundreds of years of snow and ice–until researchers from The Ohio State University found it in 2003.

In the early online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they report discovery of a layer within a Quelccaya ice core that dates to the Spanish conquest of the Inca, contains bits of lead and bears the chemical signature of the silver mines of Potosí.

The core provides the first detailed record of widespread human-produced air pollution in South America from before the industrial revolution, and makes Quelccaya one of only a few select sites on the planet where the pre-industrial human impact on air quality can be studied today.

“This evidence supports the idea that human impact on the environment was widespread even before the industrial revolution,” said Paolo Gabrielli, a research scientist at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center at Ohio State and corresponding author of the study.

Lonnie Thompson, Distinguished University Professor of earth sciences at Ohio State and co-author of the study, called the find “another keyhole into the past of human activity in that part of the world,” and suggested that further investigation could ultimately help us better understand the fate of pollution circulating in the atmosphere today.

Previously, Thompson has called the Quelccaya ice cores a “Rosetta Stone” for gauging Earth’s climate history. The samples were cut from ice that formed over 1,200 years as snow settled on the Peruvian Andes. Layer by layer, the ice captured chemicals from the air and precipitation during wet and dry seasons for all those years. Today, researchers analyze the chemistry of different layers to measure historical changes in climate.

For this study, the researchers used a mass spectrometer to measure the amount and type of chemicals present in the ice dating back to 800 AD. They looked for antimony, arsenic, bismuth, molybdenum and especially lead. That’s because the refining process that the Spanish introduced to South America involved grinding silver ore–which contains much more lead than silver–into powder before mixing it with mercury in a process called amalgamation. So atmospheric pollution from silver production would chiefly contain traces of lead particulates.

The mass spectrometer revealed some spikes in the concentrations of these elements in the years before Spanish rule, but those layers all likely coincide with natural contamination sources, such as volcanic eruptions. Starting just before 1600, however, the Quelccaya ice began capturing much larger quantities of these elements, and the high amounts persisted until the early 1800s, when South American countries declared independence from Spain.

To pin down where the pollution came from, the researchers compared their data with those from a peat bog in Tierra del Fuego, Chile, and from sedimentary lake records from regions including Potosí and other mines throughout Bolivia and Peru. These latter sites would have captured the pollution generated in their local area during that time.

The chemical signatures in the Quelccaya ice meshed with what researchers knew from written records: most of the pollution likely came from Potosí, where the Spanish produced the vast majority of silver. Other mines throughout the region contributed to the Quelccaya pollution to a lesser extent.

Even in their highest concentrations, the elements entrapped in the ice are not visible to the naked eye and can be detected only through chemical analyses, Gabrielli explained. The section of core containing them has the translucent white appearance of perfectly clean ice.

“The fact that we can detect pollution in ice from a pristine high altitude location is indicative of the continental significance of this deposition,” Gabrielli added. “Only a significant source of pollution could travel so far, and affect the chemistry of the snow on a remote place like Quelccaya.”

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This is the north dome of the Quelccaya Ice Cap in Peru in 2003. Researchers at The Ohio State University found evidence of human-produced air pollution within the ice that predates the industrial revolution by more than 200 years. Photo by Paolo Gabrielli, courtesy of The Ohio State University.

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The spread of human-made pollution across vast distances has become common since the industrial revolution of the late 18th century. Greenland received substantial amounts of airborne lead pollution from Europe and the United States until the 1970s, when national policies began requiring producers to change the formulation of gasoline. And some of the pollution currently troubling North American skies has been traced back to Asia, which is experiencing its own industrial boom right now.

A question in the scientific community is whether much earlier activity should be included in measures of human environmental impact. For example, ice cores in Greenland contain traces of lead from as far back as the 5th century BC, which were sent airborne by smelting in the ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. This latest ice core from Quelccaya shows that humans generated substantial pollution in the 16th century. Still, the 20th century produced more pollution than any other time in human history.

International geological governing bodies are currently considering whether to officially call our current epoch the Anthropocene, or “Age of Humans,” to designate the span of time that humans have been changing the environment. Gabrielli, Thompson and their colleagues hope that the Quelccaya core will inform that debate.

In the meantime, they are turning their attention to a core that Thompson’s team drew from the Dasuopu Glacier in southwest China. It is the highest-altitude ice core ever retrieved, and it contains some 8,000 years of climate history. Some of that new trace element record, they hope, will tell new and powerful stories of ancient human activity.

Co-authors of the study include Chiara Uglietti, formerly a postdoctoral researcher at the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center and now at the Paul Scherrer Institute; Colin A. Cooke, formerly at Yale University and now at the Alberta Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Resource Development; and Paul Vallelonga of the University of Copenhagen.

This work was funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) Paleoclimate Program and by Ohio State as part of the Byrd Polar Research Fellowship. The mass spectrometer used in the study was funded by the NSF and by Ohio State’s Climate, Water and Carbon Program.

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The Ohio State University

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Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery Edition eBook is a selection of the best stories published in Popular Archaeology Magazine in past issues, with an emphasis on some of the most significant, groundbreaking, or fascinating discoveries in the fields of archaeology and paleoanthropology and related fields. At least some of the articles have been updated or revised specifically for the Discovery edition.  We can confidently say that there is no other single issue of an archaeology-related magazine, paper print or online, that contains as much major feature article content as this one. The latest issue, volume 2, has just been released. Go to the Discovery edition page for more information.

An archaeological team is excavating a site that is showing evidence of having been a fortified settlement belonging to the kingdom of Judah both before and during the time when the Assyrians were sacking the kingdom’s cities in the 8^th century BCE.

Known today as the site of Tel Burna, the mound is located in the fertile rolling plains of the Shephelah, a region between the coastal plains and the Jerusalem mountains in central Israel. It is an area that, anciently, served as a strategic borderland between the Philistines in the west and ancient Israel and the kingdom of Judah to the east. Today, Tel Burna is surrounded by other ancient sites that have been intensely investigated and excavated over the years.  But this site has seen relatively little exploration and research—until now.

According to project director and Ariel University assistant professor Dr. Itzhaq Shai, the site was long known to exist but full-scale excavations did not begin at the location until a few years ago.

“Several surveys have been conducted in the region,” said Shai, “however, the site had never been excavated until the summer of 2009, when we began a long-term archaeological project on the site.”

Though still young, the excavations have already revealed important clues to the site’s identification within the context of biblical history.

“The identification of the site has been debated for more than a century,” states Shai. “There are scholars who have claimed that Tel Burna is biblical Libnah, which was mentioned several times in the Bible. This identification was based mainly on geographical and historical arguments……… To date, there are other candidates for the location of ancient Libnah, including nearby Tel Zayit; however, the exposed archaeological remains at Tel Burna support this identification, with both the geographical, survey and excavation data fitting well with what we know and expect from a border town in the Iron Age.”

Thus far, excavations have revealed part of a 13^th century BCE public structure, with finds that included Cypriot votive vessels, a scarab with dozens of beads, a cylinder seal, a rich ceramic assemblage of goblets, chalices, Cypriot zoomorphic vessels, local and imported Cypriot and Mycenaean figurines, fragments of ceramic masks and two large Cypriot pithoi. “All in all, the building size and the effort that was undertaken in order to build it alongside the presence of unique vessels indicate that this was a 13^th century public building where ritual activity took place,” said Shai.

Clear evidence of fortification walls was also uncovered defining the summit of the mound, and dating suggests their use during the 9^th and 8^th centuries BCE.

Said Shai, “the Iron Age II (1000 – 586 BCE) wall reflects the role of this site during this period. The location of Tel Burna—midway between Gath, the dominant Philistine city in the Iron Age IIA (1000 – 925 BCE), and Lachish, the main Judahite city, monitoring the road along Nahal Guvrin, with visibility all the way to the coastal plain — would account for the investment of the central authority of Judah in establishing such a walled city so close to the city of Lachish.”

Other finds included LMLK (of or belonging to the king – like state property) and Rosette stamped pottery handles and pillar figurines, all indicative of a Judahite presence. Six silo structures were also uncovered.

“The Iron Age remains attested to the importance of the settlement at the site and that it was a fortified Judahite border site facing the Philistines in the west,” summarized Shai.

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Aerial view of one of the excavation areas at Tel Burna. Courtesy Itzhaq Shai and the Tel Burna Excavation Project

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Stamped handles: far left, four-winged LMLK; center, seal impression of Ezer Hagai; right, Rosette. Courtesy Itzhaq Shai and the Tel Burna Excavation Project

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Shai and his team plan to return to the site in 2015, when they will expand the excavated areas to uncover more of the Late Bronze public building, the Iron Age fortifications, agricultural installations, and Late Bronze Age burial caves.

Readers may learn more about Tel Burna and how to participate and support the excavations by going to the project website.

A detailed article by Dr. Shai about the Tel Burna excavations will be published in the Spring 2015 issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine.

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Read about the most fascinating discoveries with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about.  AND MORE:

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Just released!

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____________________________________________

Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery Edition eBook is a selection of the best stories published in Popular Archaeology Magazine in past issues, with an emphasis on some of the most significant, groundbreaking, or fascinating discoveries in the fields of archaeology and paleoanthropology and related fields. At least some of the articles have been updated or revised specifically for the Discovery edition.  We can confidently say that there is no other single issue of an archaeology-related magazine, paper print or online, that contains as much major feature article content as this one. The latest issue, volume 2, has just been released. Go to the Discovery edition page for more information.

Charles Darwin’s theory on evolution still holds true despite lower mortality and fertility rates in the modern world, according to new research by the University of Sheffield.

Scientists looked at how cultural influences like easy access to contraception and medical advances reducing infant mortality, effects natural selection in modern human populations.

The study, carried out in Finland, observed that while only 67 per cent of children born in the 1860s survived to adulthood the figure rose to 94 per cent during the 1940s. At the same time, people went from having an average of five children to 1.6 children during their lifetime.

But despite artificial influences the study found genetic differences between humans are what continue to fuel evolution.

Dr Virpi Lummaa, from the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield, and Dr Elisabeth Bolund, now at the Uppsala University in Sweden, used genealogical records collected from Finnish churches starting at the beginning of the 18th century and still being collected today. By assembling family trees over several generations of over 10,000 individuals, they could sort out how much of the variation in a trait is due to genetic influences and how much is due to environmental influences, and how the determinants of key traits for evolutionary success may have changed over the modernisation of society.

The study found that in the 18th and 19th centuries, about four to 18 per cent of the variation between individuals in lifespan, family size and ages at first and last birth was influenced by genes, while the rest of the variation was driven by differences in various aspects of their environment.

“This is exciting because if genes affected differences between individuals in these traits, it means they could also change in response to natural selection,” said Dr Bolund. “But we know that the environment has changed rapidly and dramatically, so we investigated the genetic basis of such complex traits and their ability to continue changing through evolution.”

The study showed that the genetic influence on timing of reproduction and family size tended to actually be higher in recent times. This means that modern human societies can still respond to selection, and genetic differences between us continue to fuel evolution.

“It is possible that we in modern societies have more individual freedom to express our genetic predispositions because social and normative influences are more relaxed, and this leads to the genetic differences among us explaining more of the reproductive patterns,” said Dr Bolund.

Complex traits like the ones in the study are each influenced by many different genes, while at the same time, several different traits can be affected by the same genes. The authors found that the genetic basis that is shared between the studied reproductive traits and longevity did not change over time.

“This is reassuring if we want to use current patterns of natural selection and genetic variation to make predictions of what will happen in modern human populations over the next few generations,” added Dr Bolund.

“Our results can help us when we want to predict population responses in the face of global challenges such as prevailing epidemics, ageing populations and decreasing fertility.”

The paper is being published online by the journal Evolution on Thursday 5 February 2015.

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Source: Press release of the University of Sheffield

With almost 26,000 of the brightest students from around 120 countries, learning alongside over 1,200 of the best academics from across the globe, the University of Sheffield is one of the world’s leading universities.

A member of the UK’s prestigious Russell Group of leading research-led institutions, Sheffield offers world-class teaching and research excellence across a wide range of disciplines.

For further information, please visit http://www.sheffield.ac.uk

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Read about the most fascinating discoveries with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about.  AND MORE:

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Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery Edition eBook is a selection of the best stories published in Popular Archaeology Magazine in past issues, with an emphasis on some of the most significant, groundbreaking, or fascinating discoveries in the fields of archaeology and paleoanthropology and related fields. At least some of the articles have been updated or revised specifically for the Discovery edition.  We can confidently say that there is no other single issue of an archaeology-related magazine, paper print or online, that contains as much major feature article content as this one. The latest issue, volume 2, has just been released. Go to the Discovery edition page for more information.

For the first time, a promising, newly discovered monumental archaeological site in northern Peru may see its first exposure to an organized tour expedition group consisting of members of the public, bloggers, photographers, and freelance writers.

The area, where archaeologists began full-scale excavations in 2014 and where forthcoming additional surveys and excavations will explore several monumental sites in close proximity in the Upper Nepeña Valley of Peru, has thus far yielded finds that suggest human occupation as far back as at least 3,000 years.

Led by project director Kimberly Munro, an Andean archaeologist and PhD student at Louisiana State University, along with Lic. Jeisen Navarro, a professional Peruvian archaeologist and co-director of the new project, and Dr. David Chicoine, also of Louisiana State University, the team is in the first stages of unearthing the ancient sites that, together, bespeak a possible associated complex of structures with beginnings at least as long ago as ancient Peru’s “Early Horizon” period (900 – 1 BCE). What has been investigated thus far includes a mound about 250 meters long and 70 meters wide and featuring an underground gallery and truncated top; a smaller mound featuring signs of exposed architecture at its top; and a hilltop fortress-like structure. Collectively, they are known as the archaeological site of Cosma, named after the nearby small village.

“Cosma is located in an ecological region which has largely been ignored by researchers,” Munro says. And because of their location in the upper reaches of the coastal river valley, says Munro, they could offer a glimpse into ancient inter-regional interactions that many other sites could not afford.

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The Cosma sites are located in the scenic upper coastal Nepeña River Valley. The sites have been relatively unexplored until now. Courtesy Kimberly Munro and the Cosma Archaeological Project

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The 2014 excavations uncovered a set of stairs leading into the underground gallery within the main mound at the Cosma archaeological site. Courtesy Kimberly Munro and the Cosma Archaeological Project

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The 2014 excavations also revealed evidence of a circular room structure within the smaller mound. Courtesy Kimberly Munro and the Cosma Archaeological Project

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Excavations are scheduled to continue during the summer of 2015. But concurrent with that, Popular Archaeology Magazine plans to lead a group to visit the sites, affording members of the public, writers, and photographers the chance to see the sites and the ongoing excavations first-hand.

“The proposed tour expedition will permit the participants to see the exposed architecture and artifacts in person and give them the opportunity to ask questions of the project staff and take photographs at a working excavation within an exceptionally scenic and remote area hugging the Andes mountains,” says Popular Archaeology Magazine Editor in Chief Dan McLerran, who will be co-leading the group along with tour operator and local guide Juan Cardenas. The tour expedition will be conducted in collaboration with Far Horizons Archaeological and Cultural Trips, Inc.

“But more than this,” he continues, “we also plan to see a significant number of ancient sites in Peru during the tour, including such sites as Caral, the oldest known monumental city of the Americas, dating back to 2700 BCE, and even some iconic Inca sites such as Machu Picchu for those who want to stay a little longer.”

McLerran hopes that the tour expedition will play its small part in supporting archaeological research while also contributing to the economy of a rural village and the Peruvian services sector. McLerran maintains that services and the tourist industry play an important role in developing nations like Peru, where cultural resources are a significant resource that, if developed, can bring new jobs and income to the people of the country.

“Part of the proceeds from the tour will be donated to the Cosma archaeological project, which in turn will hopefully eventually have a positive income affect on the families of the rural villages in the area, and may bring more tourists and travelers to the area,” says McLerran. “A lot of people think that, when they go on a tour to a developing country, they’re just spending a lot of money on a vacation get-away and enriching their own lives — and while that is true, they don’t realize that they’re also contributing to the economies of those countries and the people who live there by infusing their dollars into services and products. This is especially true for countries and communities where their cultural and historical resources, such as archaeological sites, are among their greatest assets.” 

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Aerial view of Caral, the New World’s oldest ancient monumental complex. Villa de Omas, Wikimedia Commons

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The Inca mountaintop site of Machu Picchu, Peru’s most iconic archaeological site. Wikimedia Commons

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More information about the expeditionary tour can be obtained at the website.  

See the article about the latest excavations at Cosma, published in the Winter issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine.

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Read about the most fascinating discoveries with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about.  AND MORE:

On the go?  Get the smartphone version of Popular Archaeology as an app or as an ebook.

Just released!

The special new premium quality print edition of Popular Archaeology Magazine. A beautiful volume for the coffee table.

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery Edition eBook is a selection of the best stories published in Popular Archaeology Magazine in past issues, with an emphasis on some of the most significant, groundbreaking, or fascinating discoveries in the fields of archaeology and paleoanthropology and related fields. At least some of the articles have been updated or revised specifically for the Discovery edition.  We can confidently say that there is no other single issue of an archaeology-related magazine, paper print or online, that contains as much major feature article content as this one. The latest issue, volume 2, has just been released. Go to the Discovery edition page for more information.

Beginning in March 2015, the Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., will present Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World, the first major international exhibition to bring together approximately 50 ancient bronzes from the Mediterranean region and beyond ranging from the 4^th century B.C. to the 1^st century A.D.

During the Hellenistic era, artists around the Mediterranean created innovative, realistic sculptures of physical power and emotional intensity. Bronze—with its reflective surface, tensile strength, and ability to hold the finest details—was employed for dynamic compositions, graphic expressions of age and character, and dazzling displays of the human form. 

From sculptures known since the Renaissance, such as the Arringatore (Orator) from Sanguineto (in the collection of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence), to spectacular recent discoveries that have never before been exhibited in the United States, the exhibition is the most comprehensive museum survey of Hellenistic bronzes ever organized. In each showing of the exhibition, recent finds—many salvaged from the sea—will be exhibited for the first time alongside well-known works. The works of art on view will range in scale from statuettes, busts and heads to life-size figures and herms. Just one example, illustrated below right, is the bronze Portrait of a Man, dated to 100 BC.*

Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World is especially remarkable for bringing together works of art that, because of their rarity, are usually exhibited in isolation. When viewed in proximity to one another, the variety of styles and techniques employed by ancient sculptors is emphasized to greater effect, as are the varying functions and histories of the bronze sculptures.

Bronze was a material well-suited to reproduction, and the exhibition provides an unprecedented opportunity to see objects of the same type, and even from the same workshop, together for the first time.

The travel schedule for Power and Pathos: Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World is:

• Palazzo Strozzi, Florence, Italy

          March 14 – June 21, 2015

          www.palazzostrozzi.org

• J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA

          July 28 – November 1, 2015

          www.getty.edu

• National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

          December 6, 2015 – March 20, 2016

          www.nga.gov

This exhibition is curated by Jens Daehner and Kenneth Lapatin of the J. Paul Getty Museum and co-organized by the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Florence; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; with the participation of Soprintendenza per i Beni Archeologici della Toscana. It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.

Bank of America is the National Presenting Sponsor of this exhibition. The Los Angeles presentation is also supported by the Getty Museum’s Villa Council.

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The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that includes the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Foundation. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs serve a varied audience from two locations:  the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Getty Villa in Malibu.

The J. Paul Getty Museum collects in seven distinct areas, including Greek and Roman antiquities, European paintings, drawings, manuscripts, sculpture and decorative arts, and photographs gathered internationally. The Museum’s mission is to make the collection meaningful and attractive to a broad audience by presenting and interpreting the works of art through educational programs, special exhibitions, publications, conservation, and research.

Visiting the Getty Center 

The Getty Center is open Tuesday through Friday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. It is closed Monday and most major holidays. Admission to the Getty Center is always free. Parking is $15 per car, but reduced to $10 after 5 p.m. on Saturdays and for evening events throughout the week. No reservation is required for parking or general admission. Reservations are required for event seating and groups of 15 or more. Please call (310) 440-7300 (English or Spanish) for reservations and information. The TTY line for callers who are deaf or hearing impaired is (310) 440-7305. The Getty Center is at 1200 Getty Center Drive, Los Angeles, California.

Additional information is available at www.getty.edu.

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*Image: Portrait of a Man, about 100 B.C. Bronze, white paste and dark stone, 32.5 x 22 x 22 cm.  Courtesy of the National Archaeological Museum, Athens. Photo: Marie Mauzy/Art Resource, NY

Source: Press release of the J.Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA.

______________________________________________________

Read about the most fascinating discoveries with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about.  AND MORE:

On the go?  Get the smartphone version of Popular Archaeology as an app or as an ebook.

Just released!

The special new premium quality print edition of Popular Archaeology Magazine. A beautiful volume for the coffee table.

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery Edition eBook is a selection of the best stories published in Popular Archaeology Magazine in past issues, with an emphasis on some of the most significant, groundbreaking, or fascinating discoveries in the fields of archaeology and paleoanthropology and related fields. At least some of the articles have been updated or revised specifically for the Discovery edition.  We can confidently say that there is no other single issue of an archaeology-related magazine, paper print or online, that contains as much major feature article content as this one. The latest issue, volume 2, has just been released. Go to the Discovery edition page for more information.

During the summer of 2015, a team of archaeologists and other specialists and students will be exploring a large mound that contains the remains of an ancient city that once commanded the highest point on a peninsula that juts out from the southern coast of Tunisia into the Mediterranean. Visible from the island of Djerba, which was anciently known as Calypso of the Lotus Eaters in Homer’s The Odyssey, the mound features the remains from a Roman bathhouse, ceramic kilns, evidence of metallurgy, and a Punic tomb.

Dr. Brett Kaufman of Brown University and colleagues from UCLA and the Institut National du Patrimoine (INP), Tunisia, have been conducting research at the site known as Zita, (“Olive City” in Punic), since 2013. Their first two seasons have uncovered promising signs that will help shed light on the human occupation phases and changes in a location that will see the first archaeological teams at the site since the Arab Spring.

“During our first two seasons in 2013 and 2014,” state the project leaders in their project summary, “extensive survey and selected excavations at the site demonstrated occupation levels beginning at least 500 BCE and lasting at least until 400 CE, mostly abandoned around 300 CE. A tophet was identified with numerous stelae and burials well preserved. Also, portions of a Roman forum were exposed, clearly demonstrating continued occupation covering the Punic and Roman cultural horizons.”*

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Excavators taking and recording measurements in one of the areas at the Zita excavaton site. Credit: Zita Project on the Archaeology, Anthropology and Ethnography of Southern Tunisia

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The team’s goals for 2015 include mapping the ancient city, including the surrounding coastal and agricultural areas; and targeted excavation of key areas and features of the site, such as the Roman forum, the Punic sacrificial precinct, and domestic and metallurgical areas. In addition, project leadership states that it intends to “document the socioeconomic, political, religious, and ecological realities of the local populations from prehistory to the post-Arab Spring.”*

Individuals interested in learning more about the site and how to participate may go to the project website. Participation at the Zita excavations is being coordinated by the Institute for Field Research.

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* http://ifrglobal.org/images/2015/Syllabus/Syllabus-TunisiaZita2015-Final.pdf

________________________________________________________

Read about the most fascinating discoveries with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about.  AND MORE:

On the go?  Get the smartphone version of Popular Archaeology as an app or as an ebook.

Just released!

The special new premium quality print edition of Popular Archaeology Magazine. A beautiful volume for the coffee table.

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery Edition eBook is a selection of the best stories published in Popular Archaeology Magazine in past issues, with an emphasis on some of the most significant, groundbreaking, or fascinating discoveries in the fields of archaeology and paleoanthropology and related fields. At least some of the articles have been updated or revised specifically for the Discovery edition.  We can confidently say that there is no other single issue of an archaeology-related magazine, paper print or online, that contains as much major feature article content as this one. The latest issue, volume 2, has just been released. Go to the Discovery edition page for more information.

The Snake Mountains of Eastern Nevada are not easily explored. Rough terrain and remote territory make certain that lost items may remain undisturbed for prolonged periods of time. The lever-action 1873, spotted by archaeologist Eva Jensen, required very little excavating to recover by the staff at Great Basin National Park and has been a discovery that sent her into the archives to discover the identity of the rifle’s owner.

It was found propped up against a juniper. The manufacture date: 1882. The find was a lucky shot for Jensen who was with her team, scouting for Native American artifacts and petroglyphs prior to a prescribed burning of vegetation. The rifle was found with the stock buried an inch or two in the dirt and with a number of rocks supporting it. The wood was dried out and the steel body rusted thoroughly, but it was not enough to disguise the rifle from the trained eye of the 57-year-old archaeologist.

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The Winchester 1873 as discovered at the site. Courtesy National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

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Since the discovery in early November, Jensen has found herself searching historical records—bills of purchase, newspapers, photographs, and letters—to hunt down the owner of the gun. Every rifle produced by the Winchester company was stamped with a serial number, and as consulted by the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming, the rifle was manufactured in 1882. The order number for the rifle was even found and showed that the rifle was shipped from the warehouse in Connecticut that year. The trail, however, has gone cold, as there is no information as to where it was shipped.

According to Jensen, everybody she encounters seems to have a theory of how the gun was left, and the search continues for hard evidence to illustrate the events of that day. For now, the rifle is being kept in climate-controlled storage and will become part of the park’s public collection. The location of where the rifle was found has not been revealed.

The Winchester was a series of lever-action repeating rifles manufactured by the Winchester Repeating Arms Company. They were among the earliest repeaters. The model type 1873 discovered by Jensen was considered especially successful, and has been popularly called “The Gun that Won the West”.

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See the LA Times story for details.

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