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HBO shows episode on looting in Egypt

Debuting on Friday, May 1 at 11:00 p.m. EST, HBO (Home Box Office) will be showing a segment on its ongoing VICE series that will focus on the surge in antiquities looting and destruction in the Middle East, with a focus on Egypt. VICE correspondent Gianna Toboni meets with some of the people behind the big-money black-market trade in Egyptian antiquities, as well as individuals and professionals who are trying to preserve and protect the antiquities and sites where looting has been taking place.

Looting and the destruction of antiquities in the Middle East are currently salient issues in light of the surge of antiquities looting in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and in conjunction with other violent developments. In Egypt alone, an estimated $3 billion dollars’ worth of artifacts have been plundered. Looters have broken into museums and left thousands of empty pits at archaeological sites, all to feed the global demand for antiquities. Meanwhile, ISIS militants in Syria and Iraq have organized their own looting networks to fund their campaign of violence.

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lootingscreenshotFrom the episode: A view of the looting and destruction of ancient mummies at the site of Abu Sir Al Malaq, in Egypt. Courtesy of HBO

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“Egyptian Tomb Raiders” airs Friday, May 1 at 11PM on HBO.

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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DNA suggests all early eskimos migrated from Alaska’s North Slope

CHICAGO, Northwestern University—Genetic testing of Iñupiat people currently living in Alaska’s North Slope is helping Northwestern University scientists fill in the blanks on questions about the migration patterns and ancestral pool of the people who populated the North American Arctic over the last 5,000 years.

“This is the first evidence that genetically ties all of the Iñupiat and Inuit populations from Alaska, Canada and Greenland back to the Alaskan North Slope,” said Northwestern’s M. Geoffrey Hayes, senior author of the new study to be published April 29, 2015, in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

In this study, all mitochondrial DNA haplogroups previously found in the ancient remains of Neo- and Paleo-Eskimos and living Inuit peoples from across the North American Arctic were found within the people living in North Slope villages.

These findings support the archaeological model that the “peopling of the eastern Arctic” began in the North Slope, in an eastward migration from Alaska to Greenland. It also provides new evidence to support the hypothesis that there were two major migrations to the east from the North Slope at two different times in history.

“There has never been a clear biological link found in the DNA of the Paleo-Eskimos, the first people to spread from Alaska into the eastern North American arctic, and the DNA of Neo-Eskimos, a more technologically sophisticated group that later spread very quickly from Alaska and the Bering Strait region to Greenland and seemed to replace the Paleo-Eskimo,” Hayes said.

“Our study suggests that the Alaskan North Slope serves as the homeland for both of those groups, during two different migrations. We found DNA haplogroups of both ancient Paleo-Eskimos and Neo-Eskimos in Iñupiat people living in the North Slope today.”

Hayes is an assistant professor of endocrinology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and an assistant professor of anthropology at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. He has been studying population genetics of the Arctic for more than a decade.

At the request of Iñupiat elders from Barrow, Alaska, who are interested in using scientific methods to learn more about the history of their people, Hayes and a team of scientists extracted DNA from saliva samples given by 151 volunteers living in eight different North Slope communities. This is the first genetic study of modern-day Iñupiat people.

For this paper, the scientists sequenced and analyzed only mitochondrial DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down from mother to child, with few changes from generation to generation.

Ninety-eight percent of the maternal linages in this group were of Arctic descent. The scientists found all known Arctic-specific haplogroups present in these North Slope communities. The haplogroups are: A2a, A2b, D4b1a and D2.

D2 is the known haplogroup of ancient Paleo-Eskimos. Until this study D2 had only been found in the remains of ancient Paleo-Eskimos.

D4b1a is a known haplogroup of the ancient Neo-Eskimos, the much more technologically sophisticated group that came after the Paleo-Eskimos and seemed to replace them and populate a large part of the Arctic in a short amount of time.

“We think the presence of these two haplotypes in villages of the North Slope means that the Paleo-Eskimos and the Neo-Eskimos were both ancestors of the contemporary Iñupiat people,” said Jennifer A. Raff, first author of the study and a post-doctoral fellow in Hayes’ lab at the Feinberg School when the research was being done. “We will be exploring these connections in the future with additional genetic markers.”

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inuitmaninkayakClassic portrait of an Inuit man in a kayak. Wikimedia Commons

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Another haplogroup that surfaced in this study was C4. This is typically only seen in Native Americans much farther south. Its geographic distribution suggests that it might have been one of the haplogroups carried by the earliest peoples to enter the Americas. The researchers think it could be seen in the North Slope because of recent marriages between Athapascan and Iñupiat families or because it is a remnant of a much more ancient contact between these groups.

One more surprise in this study was evidence there may have been some migrations of Greenlandic Inuit back to the Alaska North Slope. The scientists plan to explore this in the future with additional genetic markers, too.

This work is part of the Genetics of the Alaskan North Slope project, funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs. The goal of the project is to reconstruct the human genetic history along the North Slope. The scientists hope the project will be a model for research partnerships between geneticists and indigenous peoples.

While this study revealed exciting new evidence about the history and prehistory of Iñupiat women, it also confirms local history about the close-knit ties of the North Slope villages.

“We found that there were many lineages shared between villages along the coast, suggesting that women traveled frequently between these communities,” Hayes said. “In fact, when we compared the genetic composition of all the communities in the North Slope, we found that they were all so closely related that they could be considered one single population. This fits well with what the elders and other community members have told us about Iñupiat history.”

Future work will analyze genetic markers on the Y-chromosomes from men in the North Slope, taking a closer look at the population history of men, as well as how contact with outsiders in the 19th century affected the Iñupiat peoples.

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Additional authors of this study are Margarita Rzhetskaya of Northwestern and Justin Tackney of the University of Utah. The National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs funded the study.

Source: Northwestern University Press Release

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Archaeologists rebuild 1608 church where Pocahontas was married

About five years after the footprint of the first Jamestown colony church was discovered, archaeologists and other specialists are busy partially reconstructing the structure. Believed to be the place where Pocahontas married the English tobacco planter John Rolfe, archaeologists hope that the reconstruction will provide the public with a real life, physical replica of the building that made history more than 400 years ago near the banks of the James River in southern Virginia. The church was built by the colonists in 1608 initially as a wood structure, then replaced by a brick structure later.

As stated by Jamestown Rediscovery Project Senior Staff Archaeologist David Givens in the project Dig Updates blog, “our intention here is not to recreate the entire church but give some notion of the space, so that when people are standing inside the church they can understand what the walls would have looked like and the fabric of the building.”

Based on the evidence recovered from the initial excavation of the church, archaeologists know that the building was constructed as a ‘mud and stud’ structure, where the walls of the building were constructed of simple wood posts in the ground with mud fill for the walls. Although the original wood construction has long vanished, the dimensions of the posthole traces in the soil and the overall measurements of the soil footprint of the structure matched the dimensions of the early church described in the record by William Strachey, Secretary of the colony. The modern construction crew has attempted to duplicate the construction process followed by the early colonists as much as possible, but are bonding the clay with a concrete/fiberglass compound to ensure visitor security. The original colonists used black rush from the surrounding marshes to obtain a similar bonding effect. 

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jamestownchurch2aTransparent graphic overlay in this image shows the dimensions and placement of the first Jamestown colony church, based on archaeological findings. Still screenshot from Youtube video, Experimental archaeology: bringing Jamestown’s early church to life, by Jamestown Rediscovery.

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See the video below and the project website for more detailed information.

 

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spring2015coverfinal6Did you like this? Read more articles like this with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.


 

 

 

 

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Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

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peter sommer travels image

discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Archaeologists Return to Dig Key Area Near Temple Mount

A team of archaeologists and students will be returning in 2015 to excavate at a site just below the ancient walls of Jerusalem not far from the Temple Mount, an area that has recently been yielding structures and artifacts that are beginning to show a slice of times both turbulent and peaceful in a city sacred to three great religions. Among the most recent finds are an Iron Age II (8th – 6th centuries CE) stamped pottery handle depicting a double-winged scarab with the Hebrew inscription, “le-Melek…” (of or belonging to the King) representing royal or state property; walls and structures from the late 1st century BCE to 70 CE, including a Jewish ritual bath and numerous coins; and more structures, features and artifacts from the Byzantine, Islamic, Crusader, and Ottoman periods.

Below is a free Popular Archaeology premium article that covers in depth some of the most salient or news-making finds from the excavations, particularly as they apply to the Herodian period, or the time of Jesus. 

—DM

 

Digging into First Century Jerusalem’s Rich and Famous

At first blush, anyone peering at the site from a distance might think it is a construction site. There are workers scattered about well-defined, squared-off open earthen pits and partial walls of stone blocks. Many of them are crouched down, close to the soil, appearing more like gardeners than construction workers. But some of them are wearing hard hats. There are sandbags placed in line at select locations, appearing to define work areas and spaces both shallow and steep. The area is fenced off, and it overlooks a busy road, traffic passing by with drivers mostly oblivious to what is happening in this place.

But if one looks closer, a very different picture emerges. 

MtZionAreaELocationThis is an archaeological excavation, and most of the “construction workers” are actually students and volunteers, along with a few professionally trained archaeologists and other specialists. Since 2007, these workers have been carefully and methodically peeling away layers of earth and stone and other debris in an effort to detect and reveal ancient walls, floors, and artifacts that have remained buried for hundreds if not thousands of years. Directing the operation is Shimon Gibson, a British-born Israeli archaeologist and adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. He is also a Senior Associate Fellow at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research. He, along with co-director James Tabor, a well-known scholar of early Christianity and Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, is excavating an area adjacent to and below the southern Old City wall of Jerusalem. Referred to as the Mount Zion excavation because of its location in the sacred elevated area at the center of ancient Jerusalem near the historical Temple Mount (see map above), the work here is important because it is unearthing evidence of people who played out history in this place for thousands of years. It is set near a number of significant places in the history of this ancient city, such as the Praetorium where Jesus was tried before Pontius Pilate; the presumed location of the Last Supper of Jesus; the House of Caiaphas and those of other priestly families who lived during the time of Jesus; the large Nea Ekklesia of the Theotokos Church that Emperor Justinian commissioned in the 6th century and that was situated just above the site; and fortifications of the Crusaders and the Ayyubids.

History and location are not the only factors that distinguish the site. It is also remarkably well preserved, due at least in part to construction work during Byzantine times. That construction required the establishment of an artificial leveling fill of stones, soil and other debris atop the remains of older Early Roman period house structures as a foundation to support new buildings. Then, construction of the Nea Church in the 6th century required excavation of underground reservoirs and the earth and stone from those excavations were subsequently dumped over the earlier Byzantine constructions. 

“The area got submerged, ” Gibson said. “That’s why we found an unusually well-preserved set of stratigraphic levels.”*

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digmountzion2Above, the Mount Zion dig site, and below, the site looking north with modern, Islamic, Byzantine, and Early Roman period layers exposed. Courtesy Shimon Gibson  

digmountzion1

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Digging the Priestly Upper Crust?  

This isn’t the first time archaeologists have investigated this location. In the 1970’s, Magen Broshi of the Israel Museum conducted excavations on Mount Zion in at least several areas, and then in 2000 and 2005, excavations were resumed to record data from the earlier excavations and to clarify the site chronology in terms of the historical occupation of the site from the Second Temple period through to the Ottoman level. It became clear from these efforts that the site still held enormous potential. Renewed excavations began here in large measure in 2007 under a license from the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israel Parks Authority and the sponsoring auspices of the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  

Archaeologists have now uncovered evidence of an urban occupation going back before the destruction of the Jewish First Temple, when Judahite kings ruled the city. The earliest finds uncovered in the recent excavations are from the Iron Age II (eighth- sixth centuries B.C.E.), but nothing was found in situ, and building remains from this period have yet to be uncovered,” writes Gibson in a 2010 report. “A layer of soil was uncovered at one location above bedrock containing large quantities of Iron Age II pottery; its significance will be investigated in future seasons of work at the site.”**

But as the excavation progressed, the finds that generated the biggest splash in the popular press related to the Early Roman period and the 1st century CE, and more particularly the Herodian period (the time of Herod the Great). 

Wrote Gibson:

“The basement of a well preserved dwelling was uncovered dating from the Early Roman period, with associated finds dating from the first century C.E. It included a plastered cistern, a stepped and plastered ritual bathing pool (mikveh) with a well preserved barrel-vaulted ceiling, and a chamber containing three bread ovens (tabuns)…….Numerous finds from the Early Roman period were found, including pottery, lamps, stone vessels (including a qalal jar rim with egg-and-dart decoration), scale-weights, murex shells, and coins. A fragment of an ornate window screen made of stone was also found. In fills situated above the rubble collapse of 70 C.E. there were a few Tenth Legion stamped roof tiles, but there were no signs of any construction activities in the area from the Late Roman period. The Early Roman period dwelling appears to have remained in ruins until the Byzantine period.”**

Both Gibson and Tabor knew they were on to something very significant. This was a residence that included its own cistern, its own mikveh, a barrel-vaulted ceiling, a chamber with three bread ovens, and part of an ornate window screen — not the stuff of a commoner’s home. Given the location of the structure not far from the most sacred spot in 1st century Jerusalem — the Second Temple — and the presence of what appeared to be a possible personal household mikveh – could they be looking at a Herodian period residence of a wealthy or important person, perhaps in some way connected to the Temple? 

Gibson and Tabor suggest that this may indeed be the case. 

Tabor hypothesizes one step further: “Caiaphas’s house has been located. It’s up on the hill just a few hundred yards from our site……..Caiaphas is the son-in-law of Anas, [who] had seven sons who were high priests, starting from before Jesus all the way down to the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. So he ran the show for about 50-60 years, putting his sons in one after another, and finally a son-in-law, Caiaphas. My guess would be that we’re in one of the homes of that extended priestly family……”****

The large collection of murex shells could also be telling. The murex is a genus of Mediterranean sea snail that was used to produce a purple dye, highly valued by members of the aristocracy in the Roman world for coloring their clothing. It represented a mark of distinction for royalty and members of the upper classes of society.

“This color was highly desired,” said Gibson. “The dye industry seems to be something that was supervised by the priestly class for the priestly vestments and for other aspects of clothing which were vital for those who wished to officiate in the capital precincts.”*

Gibson theorizes that the shells may have been used as a means to identify varying grades of dye, as this can differ from species to species of the snail. Perhaps the priests were involved in the industry in some way, and if so, this says something new about the lives of these people – something that is not apparent in the historical record and that could only have been discovered through the archaeological process.  

“It is significant that these are household activities which may have been undertaken by the priests,” Gibson said. “If so, it tells us a lot more about the priests than we knew before. We know from the writings of Josephus Flavius and later rabbinical texts about their activities in the area of the Jewish temple, but there is hardly any information about their priestly activities outside the holy precinct. This is new information, and that is quite exciting. We might find in future seasons further aspects of industries which were supervised by these priestly families.”*

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digmountzion3Looking down into the area of the basement of the Herodian period house. Courtesy Shimon Gibson

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digmountzionovensThe bread ovens, found in the basement of the house. Courtesy Shimon Gibson

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digmountzionmikvehThe stepped ritual bathing pool, or mikveh, found in the basement of the house. Courtesy Shimon Gibson

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A finding in 2009 added more grist to their interpretation.

Among the special finds from the 2009 season of excavations was a soft white limestone cup dating from the first century C.E. bearing an incised inscription, with ten or perhaps eleven lines of script on its sides,” wrote Gibson.** 

digmountzioncup

The cup (pictured left) was found in four pieces within a fill layer containing 1st century pottery fragments above a barrel-vaulted ceiling of a mikveh. It represented a well-known type of 1st century cup found in excavations throughout Jerusalem and beyond. The inscription on the cup has not yet been completely and definitively translated, but study of the cup and the historical context of its finding suggests that it might have been a ritual cleansing cup, used for the washing of hands before engaging in liturgical functions. Suggests Gibson, “the discovery of the cup in the area of the Upper City of Jerusalem, in which priestly families are known to have resided (including the Qatros family), may hint at the original priestly function that this specific vessel had some two thousand years ago.”**

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digmountzioncrypticscript

A detailed examination of the inscription was made by Stephen Pfann, the staff epigrapher, using special photographic enhancing methods (PTM/RTI imaging) in order to clarify the fine spidery writing and to exclude accidental marks and incisions. 

Pfann’s study has shown that there are ten, or possibly even eleven, lines of script visible on the vessel, with the rest of the facets filled up with zig-zag lines, perhaps intentionally in order to ensure that no further script might be added to the vessel. Pfann has identified three different scripts in the inscription: (1) a script previously known from the Dead Sea Scrolls as “Cryptic A” script (Pfann also calls this “Hebrew Hieratic”); (2) an unknown cryptic script which is unique to this specific inscription, even though some letters bear a resemblance to cryptic letters and signs already known in the Dead Sea Scrolls; and (3) the standard Jewish/Aramaic square script of the period (with only a few words evident in lines 5-6). Another interesting feature is the appearance of repeated letters: he (appearing four times in line 4), yud (appearing four times in line 7), waw (appearing four times in line 7), and tsade (appearing four times in line 10). Were these letters written without purpose, or did each one of these letters signify a repeated musical notation or prayer?

Clearly the scribe who made this inscription did not want it to be easily read, and to that end this person deliberately did not provide word dividers and intentionally wrote a text with a variety of scripts. Interestingly, Pfann has suggested that lines 5-6 might even be a paraphrasing of Psalm 26:8, and the words “Adonai shavti…” are fairly clear, even if the rest is not.

—- Shimon Gibson, excerpts from Preliminary Report: New Excavations on Mount Zion in Jerusalem and an Inscribed Stone Cup/Mug from the Second Temple Period **  Image courtesy Shimon Gibson

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Then, in 2013, they made yet another major discovery. 

While continuing to excavate near the mikveh within the building basement, they uncovered a vaulted chamber that contained what appeared to be a well-defined plastered bathtub. It was among only three other such Second Temple period rooms found so far in Israel. Two of them were in palaces of Herod the Great. Gibson believes that the addition of the bathroom feature is a clear sign of wealth and status.

“The bathroom is very important because hitherto, except for Jerusalem, it is usually found within palace complexes, associated with the rulers of the country,” Gibson said.”We have examples of bathrooms of this kind mainly in palatial buildings.”*

A nearly identical bathroom was found through previous excavations in the Jewish Quarter of the city. It is, according to Gibson, “only a stone’s throw away”. “The building in the Jewish Quarter is similar in characteristics to our own with an inscription of a priestly family,” Gibson added. “The working theory is that we’re dealing [here] also with a priestly family.”

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digmountzionbathThe house “bathroom”. Note the bathtub to the left. Courtesy Shimon Gibson

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Cisterns and Hiding Places

As previously mentioned, among the uncovered features of the residence is a large, 30-foot deep oval-shaped cistern. As 1st century CE cisterns in Old Jerusalem go, there was nothing initially unusual about it. But this one contained a few surprising finds — cooking pots, charcoal, evidence of burn marks, storage jars, and remains of an oven.

In 1st century Jerusalem, cisterns, often public access facilities, were in common use among the city’s inhabitants as a means to collect and store water, a highly valuable commodity in Judea’s dry climate. So what were these objects doing at the bottom of a cistern? Would the residents have simply discarded them there once they became unusable, like depositing trash into a garbage dump? As precious as clean water cisterns must have been to the inhabitants of Jerusalem in this environment, it would be an unlikely scenario.

But Gibson and Tabor suggest a possible explanation. 

“We still need to look at this material very carefully and be absolutely certain of our conclusions, but it might be that these are the remnants of a kitchen in use by Jews hiding from the Romans,” said Gibson. “Their last resort was to go into these cisterns. It was a common practice, but this conclusion is theoretical. It makes for a very good story and it does look that way, but we’ve got to be certain.”*

Historically, subterranean features such as cisterns and tunnels were used by the Jews to escape the pursuit of the Romans during the First Jewish Revolt. Flavius Josephus, for example, in The Jewish War, writes the following:

One John, a leader of the rebels, along with his brother Simon, who were found starved to death in the cisterns and water systems that ran under the city. Over 2000 bodies found in the various underground chambers, most dead from starvation. (Josephus, War 6:429-433)

Moreover, not far from the Mount Zion site, archaeologists excavating in the ancient Ophel area near the Temple Mount (or Haram Ash-Sharif) of Jerusalem have uncovered a plaster-lined cave with an associated system of subterranean tunnels. Under the direction of Dr. Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University, excavators removed uncounted bucket-loads of dirt and rock fill from the cave, discovering in the process that its walls had been lined with a layer of plaster. The cave also appeared to be connected to a structure dated to the First Temple period (10th to 6th centuries BCE) above it, which featured water channels for directing water into the cave. This suggested to the archaeologists that they were actually exploring what was originally an ancient water cistern. But this cave excavation revealed some surprises. Says Brent Nagtegaal, an excavation supervisor, “we started to find a layer that related to the time just following Herod the Great during the Herodian Period. We were quite surprised that we would find stratified layers inside this cistern, and as we went underneath them we started to find walls, walls that indicate that there was some type of occupation or at least construction that took place inside the cistern after the cistern had lost its use for water.”*** Excavators found that the Herodian Period walls related to yet another key feature of the cave or cistern — a system of tunnels carved from the rock, large enough to accommodate the passage of individuals from one location to another. Continues Nagtegaal: “You can see many signs of life in here. You can see chisel marks that exist on the walls which really indicate the direction at which the tunnels were constructed, and you can see holes where candles would have been placed and their burn marks. You also see little foot steps and handholds in vertical shafts.”***  The tunnels also revealed numerous shards of Herodian Period pottery, a ceramic type used to date the tunnels and shafts.

So was the cistern with the cooking pots and oven excavated by Gibson and Tabor’s team actually part of the same story?

The jury is still out on this interpretation, but as Gibson notes, “it makes for a very good story”. 

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IMG_9945Co-director James Tabor descends into the cistern. Photo credit Lori Woodall

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P1040774Cleaning out the cistern, student excavator kneels by a 2,000-year-old cooking pot. Photo credit Lori Woodall

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IMG_0313A tile fragment recovered during the excavations. The tile fragment shows the stamp of the 10th Roman Legion. This legion fought and occupied Jerusalem and Judea during the time of the First Jewish Revolt, the time when many Jerusalem residents took up hiding in subterranean tunnels and cisterns. Photo credit Lori Woodall

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Moving Forward 

The Mount Zion excavations are really about much more than the 1st century world of Judaism and Christianity. In addition to the Iron Age II and Early Roman period layers, archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a strong Byzantine presence and strata representing Islamic cultures from the Umayyad through the Ottoman periods (the 7th to 12th centuries CE). Finds have included a threshold to a gate dating back to Saladin. “Here, in this site,” said Gibson, referring to the Islamic layers, “we have three superimposed levels — belonging to the Umayyads (seventh to mid eighth centuries), Abbasids (mid-eighth to ninth centuries) and Fatimids (ninth to eleventh centuries)– which allow us to reconstruct the cultural life in the houses from these periods.”

The excavations are expected to continue for at least two or three more seasons. Much can happen in that time. Only a fraction of the site has been excavated thus far, and as so often happens in archaeology, theories and hypotheses can be challenged or overturned. In terms of the 1st century finds, Tabor makes clear that what the team is uncovering is not about a single find or discovery. “It’s not necessarily one house,” he says. “We’re uncovering a significant area of 1st century Jerusalem. The big news [of the latest, 2013 season] is the bath. But it’s what the bath really means. What it means is that we have significant areas of well-preserved material where we are. The bath is just the beginning……..”****

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Individuals interested in learning more about the Mount Zion excavations and/or who wish to participate financially may go to the UNC website.  This website also includes more in-depth information about the excavations, finds, and history.

The UNC Charlotte dig, licensed by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Israel Parks Authority, is the only archaeological excavation in Jerusalem currently being conducted under the leading sponsorship of an American university. While the 2013 excavations have been completed, work is expected to continue on the site during the summers of 2014 and 2015. The work was made possible through the generous support of The Friends of Mount Zion, a group of private funders organized by the Office of Development at UNC Charlotte. Other assistance was provided by the University of the Holy Land and The Foundation for Biblical Archaeology.

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* University of North Carolina press release, James Hathaway, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 17 September 2013

** Gibson, Shimon, Preliminary Report: New Excavations on Mount Zion in Jerusalem and an Inscribed Stone Cup/Mug from the Second Temple Period, University of North Carolina at Charlotte and University of the Holy Land, Jerusalem, 2010.

*** Archaeologists Excavate Jerusalem Cave and Tunnel Network, Popular Archaeology Magazine, Vol. 11, June 2013.

**** UNC Charlotte Mount Zion Excavation, Charlotte Talks, WFAE 90.7, 1 August 2013. 

Map image of Mount Zion excavations location courtesy Shimon Gibson and Mount Zion Excavations Project.

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ancient Teeth in Italy and Arrival of Modern Humans in Europe

Dental remains from two different sites in Italy suggest that modern humans were responsible for the Protoaurignacian culture, artifacts of which are associated with the arrival of Homo sapiens, or modern humans, in Western Europe.

Stefano Benazzi and colleagues came to this conclusion after studying two 41,000-year-old incisors recovered at excavations at the Riparo Bombrini rock shelter and Grotta di Fumane sites, comparing them to the fossil record and analyzing the remaining enamel on them. One of the teeth contained mitochondrial DNA, which was compared to that of present-day humans, ancient modern humans, Neandertals, Denisovans, a hominin from Spain, and a chimpanzee. The researchers confirmed that the Protoaurignacian incisors belonged to modern humans, making them the oldest human remains associated with Aurignacian culture. And since Neandertals had disappeared from Western Europe by about 39,260 years ago, Benazzi and his colleagues suggest that the Protoaurignacian may have triggered their decline.

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dentalbombrini2005Riparo Bombrini rock shelter during the 2005 excavation. Scientists have found evidence of Neanderthal occupation at the site, with artifact distribution indicating that Neanderthals had organized and used their spaces in ways similar to that of modern humans. The site was also occupied by later, modern humans.  Courtesy Fabio Negrino, Dipartimento di Antichità, Filosofia, Storia e Geografia, Università di Genova, Genova, Italy

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dentalgrottaThe Grotta di Fumane. At this site, scientists have found well-preserved living floors of both Neanderthals and modern humans, evidenced by both Mousterian and Aurignacian artifacts. Courtesy Pierluca Grotto

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dentaltomography3Three-dimensional digital models of the lower deciduous incisor from Riparo Bombrini (left) and of the upper deciduous incisor from Grotta di Fumane. Courtesy Daniele Panetta, CNR Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa, Italy

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The finding helps to settle a long-standing debate about the group responsible for this culture, which appeared in Southwest and Southcentral Europe about 42,000 years ago, and coincided with the demise of Neandertals in the region. Researchers have wondered if the Protoaurignacian culture, known for its bladelets and simple ornaments, was a human or Neandertal industry—and whether it gave rise to the modern human Aurignacian culture in southern France. Since Neandertals had disappeared from Western Europe by about 39,260 years ago, Benazzi and his colleagues suggest that the Protoaurignacian may have triggered their decline.

A Perspective article by Nicholas Conard and Michael Bolus discusses this study in greater detail. The research appears in the 24 April 2015 issue of Science.

Science is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

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Source: Adapted and edited from the subject AAAS press release.

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

____________________________________________

Mystery-Shrouded Ice Age Artifacts Find Home in Anthropology Museum

It is rare to see so many prehistoric art objects collected in one assemblage—especially if they are all authentic. But that has been the key question for everyone who has seen and handled the objects of the “Berlin Collection”, a grouping of what appear to be ancient Paleolithic figurines and other artifacts that some scholars have, at first blush, thought to be “too perfect” to be true.

They are masterly crafted and well-preserved, to be sure, but it has nothing to do with whether they are real or fake. That determination has to be made by experts and scientists specially trained and experienced in the science and techniques required to come to a sound conclusion. And this has been the journey for retired neuropsychiatrist Gregg Miklashek, the collector who acquired and compiled them in a salvage effort for further study for no less than $100,000 through an antiquities dealer and archaeologist. At one time they were part of the private collections of Clem Caldwell and Earl Townsend, two well-known Native American artifact collectors, now deceased. Before that, they were residing among the voluminous collections of the Heye Foundation in New York City for three decades. The artifacts were catalogued in Townsend’s notes as having been discovered (presumably by workmen) in a river bank outside of Berlin (hence the “Berlin Collection”) in 1870 while excavating a railway cut. 

Now Miklashek, the latest owner of the collection, has donated them to the Logan Museum of Anthropology at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin, where they will reside as part of the museum’s permanent collection and where they will be the subject of continuous study and examination. The objects include a handful of “Venus” red limestone, red sandstone, greenstone, calcite and gem serpentine figurines resembling in style the famous Venus of Willendorf found in Austria in 1908; a biotite mica schist ‘lion goddess’ figurine; and two spearthrowers, one made of mammoth ivory and the other antler.

“My intention was to reconstruct the original complete collection and research it, which I accomplished over a 6-year period,” says Miklashek. “Three figurines and the mammoth ivory spearthrower are known in an August  27, 1916 letter from W. H. Holmes, then Curator of Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution, to H. L. Johnson [a collector who brought the artifacts to Holmes’ attention].” In that letter Holmes stated that the artifacts appeared to “belong to the late Paleolithic time, more specifically the Aurignacian period.”

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berlincollection2The Berlin Collection. Image provided courtesy of Greg Miklashek

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liongodesspicThe Paleolithic ‘Lion Goddess’ of the Berlin Collection. “Too perfect” to be real? Miklashek notes that “this item is described as having been found in a cave in the Schwabian Alps of southern Germany, as was the Lion Man of Ulm“. Courtesy Gregg Miklashek and John Stickney of Allied Art and Photography.

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Mklshk_Three of the ‘Venus’ figurines of the Berlin Collection, shown with documentation connected with the research history. The document on the left is the Holmes letter. Image provided courtesy of Gregg Miklashek

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But the long road to determining their authenticity, age and true cultural attribution has been a frustrating one for Miklashek. A series of preliminary studies or tests by a variety of experts on the artifacts never reached full fruition, but not because they were ever confirmed to be modern forgeries. The fact that the objects were obtained on the antiquities market and not from a controlled archaeological excavation has been one roadblock to serious additional consideration. For Miklashek and others who still see some value and information to be gained from ancient objects ‘tainted’ because of their lives on the antiquities market, this represents lost opportunity for research. “This is a delicious mystery story and the final outcome may never occur,” he says. “How much more valuable archaeological material remains in private collections is an important question never asked by academic archaeologists. I guess, if they didn’t find it, it can’t be real.”

For his part, Miklashek, though not an archaeologist, has completed extensive study and research on his own. He has his own theory about the objects.

“They could be 100-year-old forgeries,” he states,  “although none of the examining archaeologists believed this to be possible, given the paucity of archaeological knowledge of such objects and their construction in 1916 [the year of the Holmes letter about the artifacts]. I believe these objects, described and cataloged in Earl Townsend’s collection notes as having been found in a river bank outside Berlin c. 1870, represent Epi-gravettian material left by previously unknown Gravettian hunter-gatherers returning north after the retreat of the last lobe of the Weichselian glaciation from the future location of Berlin,” he states. “As the mammoth ivory spearthrower using  C14 AMS dated at 15,000 yrs. BP at the University of Illinois, I believe the material to have been buried at that time.”

Dr. William Green, who is the James E. Lockwood, Jr., Director of the Logan Museum of Anthropology and a professional anthropologist, will now oversee the artifacts with a fresh start. His objectives for the collection will revolve around student education and further study and research.

“The objects and the associated documentation can help students learn about various analytical methods including stylistic, material composition, and dating, and can also be used to help them understand how manufacturing techniques can be studied,” he says. “In addition, students can learn about archival research and may even be involved in researching primary sources in Germany. All of this work will be oriented toward learning as much as possible about the history and provenance of the objects, building on the work Dr. Miklashek has already conducted.”

Finally, says Green, “the objects will be exhibited so visitors can appreciate them and learn about the ongoing analyses, even though conclusive statements regarding age are not yet possible.”

More information about the Logan Museum of Anthropology can be obtained at the museum website.

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

____________________________________________

New Findings on Drought and the Ancient Maya Collapse

The well-known societal collapse of the ancient Maya civilization in the southern Maya lowlands during the Terminal Classic Period (about 800 – 950 CE) was more pronounced than in the northern lowlands, at least in part because of more severe drought conditions in the southern region, suggest researchers in a report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

“We conducted a new analysis of regional drought intensity that shows drought was most severe in the region with the strongest societal collapse,” concluded Peter M.J. Douglas of Yale University and a team of colleagues from five other institutions.*

Data has been comparatively robust for the northern lowlands, showing a clear correlation between the Maya societal decline in that region and changing climate conditions, specifically the development of drought conditions affecting agricultural production. Less robust has been the correlating data for the southern lowlands, precipitating an ongoing scholarly debate about the various causes for the collapse in that region, where it is recorded to have been even more severe than in the north.

To reach their conclusions, Douglas and colleagues conducted stable hydrogen and carbon isotope analyses of plant wax lipids in sediment cores taken from Lakes Chichancanab and Salpeten, in the northern and southern Maya Lowlands, respectively. 

What they found was that the southern lowlands experienced more intense drying than the northern lowlands in the period leading to the Maya collapse, consistent with archaeological evidence of earlier and more persistent societal decline in the south.

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tikalA view of the ancient Maya center of Tikal, one of the most thoroughly researched and best understood Maya cities. Along with many of the other great Maya centers, Tikal experienced the great societal decline/collapse during the Terminal Classic Period. Wikimedia Commons

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mayadroughtpicchichancanabResearchers collecting sediments from Lake Chichancanab, Mexico. Image courtesy of Mark Brenner, University of Florida.

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mayadroughtpicsalpetenResearchers collecting sediments from Lake Salpeten, Guatemala.Image courtesy of Mark Brenner, University of Florida

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In addition, the researchers identified a previous period of substantial drying in the southern lowlands from around 200 to 500 CE (during the Early Classic Period), coinciding with agricultural intensification.

“Drying during the Early Classic period is associated with the decline and abandonment of some of the largest Late Preclassic political systems in the third century C.E. and subsequent political fragmentation in the region,” the authors wrote in their report. “During that time, widespread political realignment developed gradually under the strong influence of a foreign power, the central Mexican city of Teotihuacán. We suggest that climatological stress disrupted the largest Late Preclassic states, enabling smaller and more resilient polities to grow by using adaptations to more variable conditions, such as water conservation.”* 

In sum, the researchers’ findings suggest that the Maya successfully adapted to early periods of drying but eventually failed as droughts became increasingly severe, in both the north and the south, but more dramatically and earlier in the south. 

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*Peter M. J. Douglas, et al., “Drought, agricultural adaptation, and sociopolitical collapse in the Maya Lowlands,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1419133112

Some material adapted and edited from the subject PNAS press release.

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spring2015coverfinal6You can read our more in-depth articles about new discoveries and developments in archaeology and anthropology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about

 

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Study report revisits cave of prehistoric cannibals

In 2012, a detailed report of prehistoric cannibalism in Gough’s cave in Cheddar Gorge (Somerset), UK, attracted media attention with the news that a group of prehistoric humans, otherwise known as Magdalenians, systematically and ritualistically consumed and utilized the remains of members of their own group about 14,700 years ago.   

Now, a new report published in the Journal of Human Evolution sheds additional light on the discovery, narrowing the time frame in which the cannibalistic events took place and the extent of the activity.

“New ultrafiltrated radiocarbon determinations demonstrate that the Upper Palaeolithic human remains were deposited over a very short period of time, possibly during a series of seasonal occupations, about 14,700 years BP (before present),” wrote the study authors in the report abstract. “Our present analysis of the postcrania (skeletal remains other than the cranium) has identified a far greater degree of human modification than recorded in earlier studies. We identify extensive evidence for defleshing, disarticulation, chewing, crushing of spongy bone, and the cracking of bones to extract marrow. “*

Although the extent of cannibalism is essentially a confirmation of previous study results on the bones, the authors go on to suggest that the practice evidenced in this cave was likely an extension of a tradition that was widespread in what is present-day Europe during Magdalenian times. “In a wider context, the treatment of the human corpses and the manufacture and use of skull-cups at Gough Cave have parallels with other Magdalenian sites in central and western Europe,” the authors concluded. “This suggests that cannibalism during the Magdalenian was part of a customary mortuary practice that combined intensive processing and consumption of the bodies with ritual use of skull-cups.”*

Previous studies indicated that, once the cave occupants had thoroughly defleshed and consumed the meat of their contemporaries after death, they modified the vaults of the crania by shaping the edges to produce drinking cups (the skull cups mentioned above) similar to those that have been documented by ethnographers among more modern groups, such as the historic Australian aborigines.

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goughcaveboneFacial remains from Gough’s Cave showing cutting-marks, where the meat has been removed, a clear sign of cannibalism. José-Manuel Benito Alvarez, Wikimedia Commons

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goughscaverwendlandInterior portion of Gough’s Cave. Rwendland, Wikimedia Commons

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Gough’s cave was discovered in the 1880s and subsequently developed as a show cave. In 1903 the remains of a human male, now popularly known as Cheddar Man, were found within the cave. Those remains constitute Britain’s oldest complete human skeleton, dated to about 7150 BCE.  Some of the sediments of the cave were again excavated between 1986 and 1992. These excavations yielded processed human bones, with extensive evidence of cut and human tooth marks, mixed with an array of butchered large mammal remains along with numerous flint, bone, antler, and ivory artifacts. The human skeletal remains are estimated to have represented from 5 to 7 individuals, including a young 3-year-old child and two adolescents.

The detailed report is currently published in the online edition of the Journal of Human Evolution.

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*Silvia M. Bello, et al., Upper Paleolithic ritualistic cannibalism at Gough’s Cave (Somerset, UK): The human remains from head to toe, Journal of Human Evolution, doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.02.016

 

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archaeologists return to Cova Gran rock shelter

In 2015, a team of archaeologists and students will be returning to the site of Cova Gran de Santa Linya, a rock shelter located at the seam between the first range of the southern Pyrenees and the Ebro Basin in the Catalonia region of northeastern Spain. They plan to recover and investigate evidence they hope will shed light on Early Upper Paleolithic hunter-gatherer adaptations in this mountainous region.  

The cave has been found to yield a rich stratigraphic sequence of human occupation, including animal bones, lithic stone tool artifacts and hearths, dating back to at least 50,000 years ago with additional evidence of human occupation continuing through the Neolithic and Bronze Ages. Led by Professor Rafael Mora and Dr. Jorge Martinez-Moreno of the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, investigations will focus on questions surrounding the adaptations of Neanderthal and Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH) in the area.    

“Investigation at the site will allow us to recognize both the evolution of hunting and gathering strategies in the region and recognize important differences between Neanderthals and modern human adaptive strategies,” state the project leaders. “The deep archaeological sequence at Cova Gran contains animal bones, hearths, and Middle and Upper Paleolithic artifacts. The presence of Early Upper Paleolithic layers in stratigraphic context enable careful examination of two competing models that explain Middle/Upper Paleolithic “transition”: the first suggesting a continuity and the second suggesting a population replacement.“*

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covagran3Above and below: The Cova Gran rockshelter, site of intensive archaeological excavations and investigations into a long sequence of human occupation going back to Middle and Upper Paleolithic times. Centre d’Estudis Patrimoni Arqueològic Prehistòric, Cova Gran Archaeological Project, Institute for Field Research

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covagran1_____________________________________________________________

covagran2_____________________________________________________________

Cova Gran was first discovered during surveys in 2002, and in recent years has been the subject of continuing excavations and research. Scientists hope that the site will help answer questions within the ongoing scientific debate regarding the disappearance of the Neanderthals and the appearance of modern humans in Europe.

For individuals interested in participating in the excavations and research, more information can be found at the Institute for Field Research website.

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*http://www.ifrglobal.org/programs/europe/spain-cova-gran

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Complex cognition shaped the Stone Age hand axe, study shows

Emory Health Sciences—The ability to make a Lower Paleolithic hand axe depends on complex cognitive control by the prefrontal cortex, including the “central executive” function of working memory, a new study finds.

PLOS ONE published the results, which counter theories that Stone Age hand axes are simple tools that don’t involve higher-order executive function of the brain.

“For the first time, we’ve showed a relationship between the degree of prefrontal brain activity, the ability to make technological judgments, and success in actually making stone tools,” says Dietrich Stout, an experimental archeologist at Emory University and the leader of the study. “The findings are relevant to ongoing debates about the origins of modern human cognition, and the role of technological and social complexity in brain evolution across species.”

The skill of making a prehistoric hand axe is “more complicated and nuanced than many people realize,” Stout says. “It’s not just a bunch of ape-men banging rocks together. We should have respect for Stone Age tool makers.”

The study’s co-authors include Bruce Bradley of the University of Exeter in England, Thierry Chaminade of Aix-Marseille University in France; and Erin Hecht and Nada Khreisheh of Emory University.

Stone tools – shaped by striking a stone “core” with a piece of bone, antler, or another stone – provide some of the most abundant evidence of human behavioral change over time. Simple Oldowan stone flakes are the earliest known tools, dating back 2.6 million years. The Late Acheulean hand axe goes back 500,000 years. While it’s relatively easy to learn to make an Oldowan flake, the Acheulean hand axe is harder to master, due to its lens-shaped core tapering down to symmetrical edges.

“We wanted to tease apart and compare what parts of the brain were most actively involved in these stone tool technologies, particularly the role of motor control versus strategic thinking,” Stout says.

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handaxepicAbove: Example of an experimentally replicated handaxe made in coarse grain flint from the village of Mucientes in the Valladolid province (Spain). José-Manuel Benito Álvarez, Wikimedia Commons

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The researchers recruited six subjects, all archeology students at Exeter University, to train in making stone tools, a skill known as “knapping.” The subjects’ skills were evaluated before and after they trained and practiced. For Oldowan evaluations, subjects detached five flakes from a flint core. For Acheulean evaluations, they produced a tool from a standardized porcelain core.

At the beginning, middle and end of the 18-month experiment, subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans of their brains while they watched videos. The videos showed rotating stone cores marked with colored cues: A red dot indicated an intended point of impact, and a white area showed the flake predicted to result from the impact. The subjects were asked the following questions:

“If the core were struck in the place indicated, is what you see a correct prediction of the flake that would result?”

“Is the indicated place to hit the core a correct one given the objective of the technology?”

The subjects responded by pushing a “yes” or “no” button.

Answering the first question, how a rock will break if you hit it in a certain place, relies more on reflexive, perceptual and motor-control processes, associated with posterior portions of the brain. Stout compares it to the modern-day rote reflex of a practiced golf swing or driving a car.

The second question – is it a good idea to hit the core in a certain spot if you want to make a hand axe – involves strategic thinking, such as planning the route for a road trip. “You have to think about information that you have stored in your brain, bring it online, and then make a decision about each step of the trip,” Stout says.

This so-called executive control function of the brain, associated with activity in the prefrontal cortex, allows you to project what’s going to happen in the future and use that projection to guide your action. “It’s kind of like mental time travel, or using a computer simulation,” Stout explains. “It’s considered a high level, human cognitive capacity.”

The researchers mapped the skill level of the subjects onto the data from their brain scans and their responses to the questions.

Greater skill at making tools correlated with greater accuracy on the video quiz for predicting the correct strategy for making a hand axe, which was itself correlated with greater activity in the prefrontal cortex. “These data suggest that making an Acheulean hand axe is not simply a rote, auto pilot activity of the brain,” Stout says. “It requires you to engage in some complicated thinking.”

Most of the hand axes produced by the modern hands and minds of the study subjects would not have cut it in the Stone Age. “They weren’t up to the high standards of 500,000 years ago,” Stout says.

A previous study by the researchers showed that learning to make stone tools creates structural changes in fiber tracts of the brain connecting the parietal and frontal lobes, and that these brain changes correlated with increases in performance. “Something is happening to strengthen this connection,” Stout says. “This adds to evidence of the importance of these brain systems for stone tool making, and also shows how tool making may have shaped the brain evolutionarily.”

Stout recently launched a major, three-year archeology experiment that will build on these studies and others. Known as the Language of Technology project, the experiment involves 20 subjects who will each devote 100 hours to learning the art of making a Stone Age hand axe, and also undergo a series of MRI scans. The project aims to hone in whether the brain systems involved in putting together a sequence of words to make a meaningful sentence in spoken language overlap with systems involved in putting together a series of physical actions to reach a meaningful goal.

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Edited from the subject Emory Health Services press release.

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spring2015coverfinal6You can read our more in-depth articles about new discoveries and developments in archaeology and anthropology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about

 

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archaeologists report on early human tools in Spanish cave

In a research paper published in the online Journal of Human Evolution, scientists are reporting the results of years of study on early human stone tool assemblages unearthed at the famous Sima del Eefante  cave site in Spain.

According to the authors, the tools, along with human fossils and other fossilized faunal remains, provide a record of human habitation at the site going back to about 1.22 million years, or the Early Pleistocene period—a time long before the arrival of early modern humans in Europe around 40,000 – 45,000 years ago. 

“This site has characteristics that are of great value for the study of human evolution,” write the authors in the report abstract. “The lower levels….are an essential reference for understanding the early stages of the colonization of Europe.”*

Archaeologists began full-scale excavations at the site of Sima del Elefante, one of a number of caves exposed by a railway cut, when they dug a test trench in 1997. A series of excavations followed, uncovering a wealth of faunal remains dated to the Lower and Middle Pleistocene. It was not until a 2007 dig, however, that a curious mandible with its four teeth had been unearthed. The mandible (now classified to an early human species known as Homo antecessor) was found within the context of an assemblage of “Mode 1” (also called Oldowan) lithic tools, the earliest and simplest stone tool industry known, along with faunal (animal) bone remains bearing traces of hominin modification, such as butchering marks. All of these remains were recovered from a deep stratigraphic level, ancient deposits that were dated to approximately 1.2–1.1 Mya (million years ago) in the Early Pleistocene (which spanned 2.59 to .781 Mya), based on the careful application of a combination of several methodologies: palaeomagnetism, cosmogenic nuclides testing and biostratigraphy. The validity of the dating was so airtight, in fact, that scientists consider the site of the finds as one of the most accurately dated records of human occupation in Europe.

The discoveries at the site are considered, along with finds at various other sites in Europe, a testament to the very early arrival of human ancestral groups. At the site of Dmanisi in the Republic of Georgia, for example, hominin fossils (thought to be Homo erectus) and lithic (stone tool) remains have been dated to as far back as about 1.8 million years ago; at the site of Happisburgh in Norfolk, U.K., finds, which included an unprecedented (for northern Europe) collection of hominin footprints, were found to be dated to between ca. 1 and 0.78 million years ago; and at Untermassfeld in Germany, scientists recovered and dated artifacts that could be as old as 1.07 million years.

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elefantepicmariomodestomataExcavators at work at the Sima del Elefante site. Mario Modesto Mata, Wikimedia Commons

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The researchers also report on findings related to remains dated to the Middle Pleistocene period (about 781,000 to 126,000 year ago). But they note a distinctive gap, or absence of evidence, of a hominin presence at the site between these two geologic periods. Noted the authors, “the presence of archaeologically sterile units prevents us from establishing a continuous relationship between the Early and Middle Pleistocene human settlements and, consequently, between their technological and behavioural differences.”*

The data acquired from their analysis, however, will provide a good basis for comparison between the technological and behavioral characteristics of early humans of the Early Pleistocene and those of the Middle Pleistocene, they say.

The research report has been published online at the Journal of Human Evolution.

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*Arturo de Lombera-Hermida et al., The lithic industry of Sima del Elefante (Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain) in the context of Early and Middle Pleistocene technology in Europe, Journal of Human Evolution doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.002

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earliest humans in Western Europe followed the climate

First excavated in 1993, the site of Barranco León in the Guadix-Baza Basin of southeastern Spain, just 80 km west of the Mediterranean shoreline, has yielded simple Oldowan-type stone tools within a context dated as far back as 1.4 million years ago. It documents the earliest known hominin (early human ancestral) presence in Western Europe, evidenced by the discovery of one tooth and thousands of ‘Mode 1’ (Oldowan-type) stone tools associated with fossil fauna, particularly large mammalian herbivores. The examined evidence shows that at least some of the herbivores were scavenged as carcasses by hominins as food sources after the initial carnivore predators were finished with them. The discoveries there paint an emerging new picture of one of the first dispersals of early human ancestors into a non-African landscape.

Questions surrounding the climatic and physical environment of this time period in Western Europe, however, have been much debated, including the potential role environmental factors played in influencing or formulating the patterns and timing of hominin dispersal outside of Africa. In a paper published online in the Journal of Human Evolution, Jordi Agustí and colleagues argue that changing climate conditions and its impact on available resources played a salient role in the timing and geographic dispersal of Early Pleistocene hominins in present-day Europe, particularly the region of present-day southeastern Spain.

“The early Pleistocene in the Guadix-Baza Basin is characterized by a sharp climatic deterioration [meaning colder and drier], which possibly impeded the settlement of this region by the early hominin population from the southern Caucasus,” write the authors in the report abstract. Lack of evidence for a hominin presence during the colder, drier period supported this. But “shortly afterwards,” the authors continue, “when the climatic conditions were again favorable, a hominin presence is suddenly evidenced.”* According to the researchers’ microvertebrate analysis of deposits at Barranco León, which was located near a paleolake (Paleolake ‘Baza’, an ancient lake that no longer exists) they found that the mean annual temperature at the time of the deposition within which the subject stone tool artifacts and faunal remains were found evidenced a time period characterized by warmer temperatures and greater humidity. Moreover, their analysis indicated that the hominins and other mammalian species that inhabited the area at the time exploited the water edges in a region that otherwise featured an open landscape. 

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barrancoExcavations in process at the site of Barranco León. From a YouTube screenshot Excavación en Barranco Leon en Orce

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The findings have implications for human evolution and dispersal outside of Africa, especially in present-day Europe.

“The data reported here clearly support the idea that the early hominin occupation of Europe was strongly constrained by climatic and environmental conditions, rather than by physiography or cultural factors.”*

The study is published online in the Journal of Human Evolution.

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*Jordi Agustí, et al., Chronological and environmental context of the first hominin dispersal into Western Europe: The case of Barranco León (Guadix-Baza Basin, SE Spain), Journal of Human Evolution, doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.02.014

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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 Black Pharaoh in Denmark

It has been said that the period between 760 BCE to 656 BCE in Egypt was the ‘age of the black pharaohs’. It was during this time that ancient Egypt was ruled by a dynasty or succession of kings from Nubia, the Kingdom of Kush, a rival African kingdom just to its south in what is today northern Sudan. Beginning with king Kashtas successful invasion of Upper Egypt, what became known as the 25th Dynasty achieved the reunification of Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and also Kush (Nubia), the largest Egyptian empire since the New Kingdom. They introduced new Kushite cultural elements into Egypt, yet they also reaffirmed and promoted the traditional ancient Egyptian religion, temples, and artistic forms.

The dynasty reached its zenith during the powerful rule of Taharqa, who reigned between 690 and 664 BCE. Known among many other things to have allied with the Judahite King Hezekiah to save Jerusalem from the Assyrians under Sennacherib, he spent much of his reign battling the Assyrian Empire.

Now, some 2500 years after his rule and that of the other ‘black pharaohs’ of the 25th Dynasty, a special exhibit at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, Denmark, reveals a one-of-a-kind showing of more than 70 archaeological finds to the public, summing up a time when a fusion of Egyptian and African traits and culture characterized ancient Egypt for a century. The exhibition zooms in and out on its subject, presenting temple finds of varying scope and scale as well as small, but highly sophisticated artifacts from Nubian tombs and palaces. The vast majority of the archaeological finds on display were excavated in Meroë and Kawa in present-day Sudan, where large-scale archaeological excavations are still in progress. Through photographic documentation, including reports from the Glyptotek’s most recent expedition in the area, and through reconstructions of the arrays of objects that appeared to the archaeologists working there in the present, some 2,500 years after the last black pharaohs ruled, the exhibition seeks to capture echoes of that distinctive time. Noteworthy among the objects is Taharqa’s classical sphinx, a prominent loan from the British Museum, which has made the extraordinary gesture of allowing the Glyptotek to display one of the highlights from its own collection.

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Taharqa, fig. 5bOn display: Above and below, Sphinx of Taharqa from the Temple of Taharqa in Kawa, Sudan  680 BC  granite  Credit: The Trustees of the British Museum

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Taharqa, fig. 5a____________________________________________________

Taharqa, fig. 1 The Temple of Amun in Meroë, Sudan  1st cent. BC – 1st cent AD Credit: Janne Klerk

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Taharqa, fig. 2On display: Part of Bes pillar from the Temple of Amun in Meroë, Sudan. 1st cent. AD sandstone, painted  Credit: Ole Haupt

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Taharqa, fig. 3On display: Baboon statue with the name of Taharqa from Kawa, Sudan  25th Dynasty, 690 – 664 BC granite  Credit: Ole Haupt

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The exhibition supplements the Glyptotek’s rich collections from the period with important loans from the National Museum of Denmark and the British Museum. In preparation for this exhibition, the Glyptotek has carried out extensive restoration and conservation work on a number of archaeological finds. Two large stelae that were completely smashed during transit from Sudan a hundred years ago have now been pieced back together and are exhibited for the first time ever. They are presented here alongside two other stelae, also owned by the Glyptotek, which were found at the same site: Taharqa’s large temple in Kawa.

The exhibit, Taharqa: The Black Pharaoh, will be shown at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek in Copenhagen, Denmark, from April 26 to June 28, 2015.

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To accompany the exhibition the Glyptotek will publish a catalogue, in English, written by the exhibition curator, Tine Bagh. The book provides the first-ever comprehensive account of the Glyptotek’s collection of finds from Meroë and Kawa in Sudan.
Finds from J. Garstang’s Excavations in Meroe and F. Ll. Griffith’s in Kawa, Sudan, in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek.

The exhibition is sponsored by Knud Højgaards Fond.

This article was written with some edited and adapted text from the subject Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek press release.

____________________________________________________

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Northern Europeans were slow to adopt farming, say researchers

New York University—According to a team of researchers, northern Europeans in the Neolithic period initially rejected the practice of farming, which was otherwise spreading throughout the continent. Their findings offer a new wrinkle in the history of a major economic revolution that moved civilizations away from foraging and hunting as a means for survival.

“This discovery goes beyond farming,” explains Solange Rigaud, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the Center for International Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences (CIRHUS) in New York City. “It also reveals two different cultural trajectories that took place in Europe thousands of years ago, with southern and central regions advancing in many ways and northern regions maintaining their traditions.”

CIRHUS is a collaborative arrangement between France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and New York University.

The study, whose other authors include Francesco d’Errico, a professor at CNRS and Norway’s University of Bergen, and Marian Vanhaeren, a professor at CNRS, appears in the journal PLOS ONE.

In order to study these developments, the researchers focused on the adoption or rejection of ornaments—certain types of beads or bracelets worn by different populations. This approach is suitable for understanding the spread of specific practices—previous scholarship has shown a link between the embrace of survival methods and the adoption of particular ornaments. However, the PLOS ONE study marks the first time researchers have used ornaments to trace the adoption of farming in this part of the world during the Early Neolithic period (8,000-5,000 BCE).

It has been long established that the first farmers came to Europe 8,000 years ago, beginning in Greece and marking the start of a major economic revolution on the continent: the move from foraging to farming over the next 3,000 years. However, the pathways of the spread of farming during this period are less clear.

To explore this process, the researchers examined more than 200 bead-types found at more than 400 European sites over a 3,000-year period. Previous research has linked farming and foraging populations with the creation and adornment of discrete types of beads, bracelets, and pendants. In the PLOS ONE study, the researchers traced the adoption of ornaments linked to farming populations in order to elucidate the patterns of transition from foraging and hunting to farming.

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PrintAbove: Examples of personal ornaments used by the first European farming societies. Credit: Solange Rigaud

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ornamentsforagersAbove: Examples of personal ornaments used by the last European foraging societies. Credit: Solange Rigaud

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Their results show the spread of ornaments linked to farmers—human-shaped beads and bracelets composed of perforated shells—stretching from eastern Greece and the Black Sea shore to France’s Brittany region and from the Mediterranean Sea northward to Spain. By contrast, the researchers did not find these types of ornaments in the Baltic region of northern Europe. Rather, this area held on to decorative wear typically used by hunting and foraging populations—perforated shells rather than beads or bracelets found in farming communities.

“It’s clear hunters and foragers in the Baltic area resisted the adoption of ornaments worn by farmers during this period,” explains Rigaud. “We’ve therefore concluded that this cultural boundary reflected a block in the advancement of farming—at least during the Neolithic period.”

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The research was supported, in part, by the French Ministry of National Education, Research, and Technology, the Fyssen Foundation, and the Maria Sklodowska-Curie COFUND Action.

Source: This is an adaptation of a New York University press release entitled Don’t farm on me: Northern Europeans to Neolithic interlopers

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Early modern humans hugged riverine woodland environments in Africa

Research in genetics and across a variety of archaeological sites in Africa and beyond has shown that anatomically modern humans (AMH) dispersed between regions within and also out of Africa from 70,000 to 35,000 years ago. Paleoanthropologists have long suggested that environmental changes have played a key role in this process. However, a clear understanding of the complexity and how this took place has been lacking due to the deficiency of archaeological evidence in association with paleoenvironmental data.

In a recent study conducted by Nicole Garrett of the University of Minnesota and colleagues, researchers have revealed additional information by applying stable isotope analysis of paleosols and fauna remains associated with Middle Stone Age (MSA) archaeological sites on Rusinga and Mfangano islands in Lake Victoria in East Africa.

Along with bifacial points and Levallois flakes and cores typically identified with the presence of AMH, the sites contained the remains of ancient fauna long extinct, including mammals that inhabit wetland/riverine-type environments, as well as mammals that lived on the dry, open grasslands of the African savanna. Some of the fossil remains featured cut marks likely created by stone tools.

“The Pleistocene faunas from Rusinga and Mfangano contain the largest number of extinct species of any Pleistocene site in East Africa during the last 400,000 years,” wrote the study authors in the detailed research report, published in the Journal of Human Evolution.* 

Most telling, however, was the specific mix of fauna found in association with the human lithic artifact sites. Along with taxa that lived in wet environments, such as Hippopotamus, they also found evidence of ungulates related to gazelles, widebeest and zebra, mammals that thrived primarily in dry, open grassland environments. Results of their analysis suggested a period when the climate had become drier, even drier than today, with the expansion of the savanna open grasslands, while leaving wetter, woodland refugia for humans and other mammals around critical riverine or lake areas.

“As the expanse of Lake Victoria is largely rainfall dependent, this and other lines of evidence imply a substantial reduction  [anciently] in water level, likely transforming Rusinga and Mfangano into topographic highpoints on a grassland landscape, which would have supported more wooded habitats in an otherwise rich open grassland ecosystem,” wrote the authors.* “The association of stone tools with the paleosols and fossils sampled here suggest that, in some cases, humans persisted during intervals of drier conditions with expanded grassland cover rather than migrating into wetter habitats. They did this by exploiting locally closed and well-watered habitats within the larger grassland communities.”*

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lakevictoriaLake Victoria expanded and contracted, and even dried completely up at times, with climate fluctuations throughout geologic periods. Wikimedia Commons

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rusinga2View of Rusinga island today. Küchenkraut, Wikimedia Commons

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The researchers estimate that the layers at the sites that contain the artifacts and fossils range in age between 100,000 and 45,000 years ago, containing the critical time period when early modern humans were dispersing between equatorial East Africa and Central Africa, as well as dispersing out of Africa into the rest of the world.

The detailed report has been published as an article in press in the online version of the Journal of Human Evolution.

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*Garrett, N.D., et al., Stable isotope paleoecology of Late Pleistocene Middle Stone Age humans from the Lake Victoria basin, Kenya, Journal of Human Evolution (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2014.10.005

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Native American mound-builder society experienced rapid agricultural development

Researchers are saying that the mound-building Fort Ancient culture of eastern North America experienced a rapid increase in maize production, then went through a slow decline over the ensuing years.

Based on a recent δ13C and 87Sr/86Sr isotope analysis study of human tooth enamel sampled from burials at sites associated with the 1000 – 1750 CE Native American Fort Ancient culture, Robert A. Cook of the Ohio State University and T. Douglas Price of the University of Wisconsin-Madison have concluded that this particular culture experienced a relatively rapid rise of maize production in the beginning and then went through a gradual decline over the following years. 

“Our results suggest that Fort Ancient societies adopted maize agriculture quickly with the initial sites consuming high levels of maize,” write Cook and Price in their study abstract. “The intensity of maize consumption may have declined over time, however, in contrast to the current model.”*

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fortancientsunwatchFort Ancient site of Sun Watch Village, an example of a reconstructed village site. Wikimedia Commons

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fortancientmapheironymousroweMap showing the geographic spread of the Fort Ancient culture. Heironymous Rowe, Wikimedia Commons

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Their study results also suggested that the Fort Ancient society benefitted from the influx of populations from neighboring Mississipian culture centers or settlements, suggesting the spread of Mississippian agricultural and cultural traditions eastward.

“There is clear evidence for the presence of non-local individuals at early Fort Ancient sites, particularly Turpin, with the majority being attributable to neighboring Mississippian regions,” they added. “These developments occurred at the largest sites located by the mouths of the Great and Little Miami Rivers where the most abundant Mississippian house styles and objects are concentrated.”*

The Mississippian culture was a Native American culture that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600 CE. They are perhaps best known for their construction of large, earthwork pyramid mounds, or platform mounds, and the practice of large-scale, intensive Maize-based agriculture, which enabled their settlements to support large populations and craft specialization.

Fort Ancient was a Native American culture that flourished from 1000-1750 CE along the Ohio River in what is today southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana and the western part of West Virginia. Also a maize-based agricultural society that built ceremonial platform mounds, the Fort Ancients were thought to have been a part of the Mississippian culture. However, many scholars have now suggested that they were an independently developed culture descended from the Hopewell culture (100 BCE–500 CE).

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mississipianmapheironymousroweMap showing the geographic spread of the Mississippian and related cultures. Heironymous Rowe, Wikimedia Commons

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The study is been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

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*Cook, Robert A. and Price, T. Douglas, Maize, Mounds and the Movement of People: Isotope Analysis of a Mississippian/Fort Ancient Case, Journal of Archaeological Science, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.022

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Pre-Columbian population was poisoned

According to a recent study conducted by Jaime Swift of the Australian National University and colleagues from several other institutions in Australia and Chile, a significant part of a pre-Columbian population in northern Chile suffered from slow poisoning due to the intake of arsenic from water sources.

The researchers performed plasma mass spectrometry trace element analysis of human bone and tooth samples from 21 burials excavated at the site of Caleta Vitor on the Pacific coast of northern Chile, a part of the ultra-dry Atacama Desert region. Their tests showed that “the pre-Columbian inhabitants were exposed to elevated levels of arsenic where one third of the sample population had accumulated levels in their skeletal system indicative of chronic poisoning.”*

The time period for sampling spanned c. 3867 to 474 cal BP and included all major cultural periods in the region, showing that the population was exposed to a long-term continuing risk of arsenic poisoning over several millennia.

“Numerous factors may have partially contributed to the population’s inferred poisoning, due to the complex interaction of various environmental sources of arsenic and human behaviours,” wrote the researchers in the report abstract. “Increased exposure to arsenic could relate to climatic variability influencing sources of drinking water or anthropogenic activities such as mining and metallurgy or dietary changes associated with agriculture. Assessment of these potential sources of arsenic toxication, including evaluation of modern environmental data from the region, suggests contaminated drinking water was the most likely cause of arseniasis.”*

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chileatacamaSatellite view of the Atacama Desert along the coast. Wikimedia Commons

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The results of the research* are published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

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*Jaime Swift, et al., Skeletal Arsenic of the Pre-Columbian Population of Caleta Vitor, Northern Chile, Journal of Archaeological Science, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.024

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scientists discover early food production in Caribbean

The use of cultigens and wild plants by pre-contact populations has long been accepted by scholars to have been well established in all regions of the circum-Caribbean and Greater Antilles except for Cuba, the largest island in the Caribbean—until now.

An international team of researchers examined a population traditionally understood by Cuban archaeologists as “fisher–gatherers”, who left remains at a shell-matrix site known as Canímar Abajo, in the province of Matanzas, Cuba. Partnering with a team of Cuban and other Canadian researchers, University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg) professors Dr. Mirjana Roksandic and Dr. Bill Buhay, along with lead study author Chinique de Armas, examined the population’s subsistence practices by using a combination of starch evidence from dental calculus, aided by human bone collagen carbon and nitrogen isotope based probability analyses. Their results showed that the population used cultivated plants in the Caribbean well before the commonly accepted advancement of agricultural groups in the region (around 500 CE). They dated some of the remains to at least 990 – 800 BCE, indicating that the practice was much older than previously assumed. Specifically, they found that this population consumed and processed common bean, sweet potato and a highly toxic plant called zamia that required special treatment prior to consumption.

The bone collagen isotope data was derived at Buhay’s Isotope Laboratory (UWIL) at UWinnipeg. Starch grains were extracted from dental calculus at the University of Toronto (Mississauga) in collaboration with Dr. Sheehan Bestel and independently verified by a leading specialist from Puerto Rico, Dr. Jaime Pagan Jimenez.

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cubamatanzasMap of Cuba showing the province of Matanzas (in red), where the site of Canimar Abajo is located. Wikimedia Commons

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The site of Canímar Abajo has been excavated over the last 10 years by Professor Rodríguez Suarez (also a coauthor of the research paper) of the University of Havana, who first started examining the possibility that the early indigenous Cubans used domesticated plants in their diet.

“This unequivocal evidence of domestic plant consumption will serve to dispel the notion that indigenous Cubans from that time period (2nd millennium BC) were fisher-gatherers with no knowledge of agriculture and cultivated plants” said Suarez.

According to the team linguist Dr. Ivan Roksandic, “these people have often been called Ciboney”, a name erroneously translated as “cave people.” The notion of highly mobile cave dwellers stems from colonial attitudes towards indigenous groups in the Caribbean, and the new inferred diet information revealed in this study “adds substantially to our understanding of their inherent environmental competence” he adds.

“Canímar Abajo is just beginning to produce surprises that challenge the archaeological paradigm for the region” according to another team member, Professor David Smith of the University of Toronto (Mississauga). Mirjana Roksandic adds that, “this is just the beginning of a very fruitful collaboration which is posed to extend this combined methodology of physical (dental calculus starch grains) and chemical (bone collagen isotopes) analysis to other sites in Cuba and the Caribbean”.

Their findings* were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

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*Y. Chinique de Armas, et al.,Starch analysis and isotopic evidence of consumption of cultigens among fisher-gatherers in Cuba: the archaeological site of Canímar Abajo, Matanzas, Journal of Archaeological Science, doi:10.1016/j.jas.2015.03.003

 

The Journal of Archaeological Science (http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-archaeological-science) is aimed at archaeologists and scientists with particular interests in advancing the development and application of scientific techniques and methodologies to all areas of archaeology. This established monthly journal publishes original research papers and major review articles, of wide archaeological significance.

UWinnipeg is known for academic excellence, Indigenous scholarship, environmental commitment, small class sizes and campus diversity. UWinnipeg is committed to improving access to post-secondary education for all individuals, especially those from non-traditional communities. Find out more at uwinnipeg.ca. Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

This article was written with material adapted and edited from the subject study abstract and a UWinnipeg press release.

Cover picture, top: NASA Satellite image of Cuba within its Caribbean context.

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cradle of Humankind Caves Yield New Ancient Dates

Sterkfontein Caves—world famous for their fossil and stone tool finds bearing on human origins, continue to make human evolution history with recent research on the dating of one iconic hominid fossil skeleton and an artifact bearing on humankind’s earliest known stone tool industry.

By applying new dating technologies, an international team of scientists from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, Purdue University in the U.S., the French National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (INRAP) in France, and the University of Brunswick in Canada, have produced new dates that effectively clear up the ongoing age uncertainty or controversy on the famous Little Foot skeleton and Oldowan tools found in the Sterkfontein Caves years before.

“Little Foot” is the nickname given to a nearly complete Australopithecus, or proto-human, fossilized skeleton found in the 1990’s by Professor Ron Clarke of the University of the Witwatersrand in the Sterkfontein cave system. Assigning it to a new species he called Australopithecus prometheus, Clarke has been painstakingly excavating it over the years from the hard, cement-like breccia encasing it within the caves. Its dating by various dating methodologies at different times have yielded significantly differing dates, causing confusion and skepticism within the scholarly world regarding its true age. The efforts have been in part complicated by the dating of flowstones within the deposits that have shown young ages, in contrast to the surrounding deposits, which have shown much older dates.

New progress was made in dispelling the uncertainty when, in 2014, Dr. Laurent Bruxelles of INRAP, Clarke, and colleagues released a map of the Sterkfontein caves sediment stratigraphy that “showed beyond doubt that the dated (2.2 My) flowstones had formed within voids opened by collapse of the cave sediments.”* Because the flowstones were observed to have intrusively separated parts of the skeleton itself within its sediment context, “it opens the possibility that the sediment and the skeleton within it could be far older than the 2.2 million year old flowstones.”* 

To more precisely and reliably date the sediments, the researchers applied two major new advancements in dating methodology, one of which was a technology first developed and applied in mid-2014 at Purdue University’s PRIME lab, an accelerator mass spectrometry facility directed by Professor Marc Caffee. The results, considered more precise and reliable than any to date, were eye-opening—Little Foot is 3.67 million years old, with a margin of uncertainty of .16 million years.

The implications are significant. This meant that Little Foot lived at about the same time as another, well-known Australopithecine species, known as Australopithicus afarensis, time-correspondent fossil specimens of which were found at Laetoli in Tanzania and Woranso-Mille in Ethiopia. Little Foot, however, differed from afarensis in its morphology, with similarities to the flat-faced Paranthropus species with its bulbous cusped cheek-teeth. It also differed from another well-known Australopithecine species called Australopithecus africanus, whose fossils were also found at Sterkfontein, and who was generally smaller. According to the scientists, Little Foot, or Australopithecus prometheus, “poses new questions about the diversity, geographic spread, and relationships of early hominid species in Africa.”* 

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sterkfontein9mikepeelThe Sterkfontein caves. Located about 23 miles northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa, in what has been called the Cradle of Humankind area, these limestone caves have yielded a number of history-making fossil remains related to early human evolution. Here, in 1947, the famous adult female Australopithecine skull of ‘Mrs. Pleswas discovered by Robert Broom. Mike Peel, Wikimedia Commons

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sterkfontein3Little Foot as situated (in situ) within the Sterkfontein Caves. It has since been removed from the cave context and brought into the lab. Courtesy University of the Witwatersrand

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sterkfonteinpic1Above and below: The Little Foot skull discovered by Ron Clarke. Courtesy University of the Witwatersrand

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The research team also conducted tests on higher-level sediments that contained a quartz manuport, (an Oldowan-type cobble that was transported into the site by hominids). Oldowan is considered the oldest known simple stone tool industry. Based on the new sediment dating, the manuport was about 2.18 million years old, with a margin of uncertainty of .21 million years, making it, and the Oldowan stone tools found at the same level in the caves, the same age as Oldowan tools found at other sites in South Africa. According to the researchers, it “shows that South Africa’s Cradle of Humankind was home to tool-making hominids by 2 million years ago or earlier……a much earlier age for tool-bearing hominids than previously anticipated in this part of Africa.”*

Who made these stone tools?

Likely not Little Foot, say most scholars, as the Oldowan tools were found at a higher level within the sediment stratigraphy. Many scientists suggest that the tools were made by an early Homo (human line) species, such as Homo habilis, fossils of which have been dated from various locations in East and South Africa between 2.4 and 1.8 million years ago.  

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sterkfontein6The dated quartz Oldowan cobble, a manuport from nearby gravels. Courtesy University of the Witwatersrand

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sterkfontein5Artifacts of the Oldowan. Courtesy University of the Witwatersrand

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The detailed report of the findings is published in the journal Nature**.

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*An Update on Research at Sterkfontein: Dating of the Little Foot skeleton and the Oldowan artefacts, press release from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Soth Africa

**Darryl E. Granger, et al., New Cosmogenic burial ages for Sterkfontein Member 2 Australopithecus and Member 5 Oldowan, Nature, April 1, 2015

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.

 

  







 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Archaeologists unearth remarkable and curious remains beneath car park in U.K.

April 1, 2015, London—It seems that with the public hoopla over the discovery of the remains of King Richard III beneath a car park in the U.K. and his subsequent reburial, many otherwise reluctant archaeologists have been emboldened to come forth with some astounding finds they have made over the last few years beneath car parks—including some just made near the small village of Camelotshire in the county of Rohan, in England.

In this instance, Dr. Iama Charla Tan of the University of Chainbridge and colleagues came across an unexpected combination of finds. Tan and her team discovered not just one, but three, complete skeletons while excavating beneath a car park where the county of Rohan has plans to construct a new visitors center and expanded car park for the Village Faire grounds. The team, consisting of experts from Chainbridge and members of Save Our History Before It’s Too Late, (a cultural resource management firm), was in its second phase of full excavation after undertaking test trenching a month before. The test trenching indicated the presence of potentially culturally significant finds.

Forensic analysis of the three skeletons show that all three skeletons, though not necessarily associated in terms of their placement, were male, two of them older adults and one a young adult. The taller of the three was accompanied by artifacts of a royal nature, including an ornate sword with the word “Excalibur” engraved in Old English across the hilt. The second skeleton was determined to be younger, with a less robust structure, accompanied by a pair of dark-rimmed “Harry Potter”-like spectacles, or eyeglasses, along with a small, polished tapered stick with unusual electrical properties. The third skeleton, the smallest and oldest, was perhaps the most unusual, featuring ‘hobbit-like’ feet much larger and thus seemingly incongruent with the body size and structure. Among the artifacts associated with this skeleton was a gold ring with markings, indecipherable to date.

“I was absolutely dumbfounded when we encountered the remains,” said Tan. “I nearly fell off my chair—but I wasn’t really sitting in it—I’m just using a figure of speech.”

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arthur2A staff archaeologist hard at work with his trowel at the excavation square that contained the skeletal remains. In his left hand he holds a hand-held weeding fork, which was wrested from him before he incurred greater damage. Drawing courtesy Camelotshire Village Faire Excavation Project. Only drawings like this could be made available because none of the project cameras worked.  Artwork by Guido Giuntini

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“We have no certain clues yet regarding the identification of two of the skeletons,” continued Tan, “but the one with associated royal objects, including the sword featuring the word “Excalibur”, could very well be the remains of the legendary King Arthur himself, who many scholars have long believed is a literary creation but with some basis in a historical figure who lived before or at the beginning of medieval times.“ 

“But whatever conclusions we reach from our research here,” she added, “an important takeaway is the reinforcement of the value of doing archaeological investigations before we go head-long into any new construction,” she said in a lucid moment. “And using the right tools helps. We caught some of our archaeologists using garden trowels for digging. We corrected that right away.”

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elizabethDr. Iama Charla Tan, shown here, was enthusastically approached by one of our photographers while she was excavating at the dig site.  She consented to the photo shoot. “People are surprised when they first see me because they expect me to be Vietnamese, Chinese, or something, because of my last name” she said. “But I’m not.” She graciously gave permission for the release of the photo.  “For some reason, people really want to take my picture,” she added.  Elizabeth, Wikimedia Commons

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The scientists hope to find some answers on more precise dating of the finds within the next few months. Dr. Dumkopf, project Co-director and chief dating expert, says he hopes they can find any old Hallmark calendars mixed up with the finds. “These might pinpoint some dates,” he said.  “Picture calendars won’t be necessary, if they just have the years printed on them….although I do like pictures—they’re fun.”

Moving forward, Tan had some words of advice for all archaeologists, particularly those who conduct research in U.K landscapes, where every inch of soil could overlie something of historical significance.

“Dig under car parks,” she said. “That’s where you’ll find the best loot.”

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arthur

Cartoon illustrations created and provided by Guido Giuntini. See his website at http://theaccidentalcartoonist.wordpress.com 

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discovery2014cover2Popular 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.