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Rock Engraving Made by Neanderthals, Suggests Study

Posted on September 1, 2014 by No Author -

Scientists studying a curious rock engraving in the seaside Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar are suggesting that its cross-hatched impression was created by Neanderthals and represents their capacity for abstract expression.

While excavating a layer of deposits dated within a range between 38,500 and 30,500 cal kyr BP (using radiocarbon dating), Ruth Blasco of the Gibraltar Museum and colleagues eventually came down to a layer pre-dating 39,000 BP consisting of bedrock that featured what appeared to be an intentional cross-hatch engraving. The engraving was found on a rock platform at an elevation of 40 cm above the cave floor and consisted of deeply engraved lines forming a criss-cross pattern.

“Here we present the first known example of an abstract pattern engraved by Neanderthals,” summarizes Blasco, et al., in their study report. “This discovery demonstrates the Neanderthals’ capacity for abstract thought and expression.”*

How they came to this determination stems from several different findings and considerations. First of all, excavation of undisturbed overlying sediments between 1997 and 2005 and then again in 2011 and 2012 yielded Mousterian stone artifacts, a type of stone tool technology typically associated with Neanderthals. They dated the finds using radiocarbon dating techniques to a time range later than 39,000 years BP. Geochemical analysis of the engravings also indicated that the engravings had to pre-date the overlying sediments. Moreover, microscopic and morphometric analysis of the engravings, as well as the making of experimental incisions using different stone tools and producing 3D reconstructions of the pattern and individual groove sections, indicated that the engravings were likely human-made. “The engraved pattern differs strikingly from the 1- to 4-cm–deep alteration cracks and other networks of natural fissures present on the exposed surfaces of the fine-grained lime-dolostone of the cave,” wrote the researchers in the report.*

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Neanderthal rock engraving from Gorham’s Cave, Gibraltar. Image courtesy of Stuart Finlayson.

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The archaeological finds of Gorham’s Cave are controversially famous for their attribution to Neanderthals, suggested by some scientists to have inhabited the cave less than 40,000 years ago, a time by which many scholars think Neanderthals would have already become extinct, at least in present-day Western Europe. Gorham’s Cave has therefore become popularly albeit arguably known as the place where the “last Neanderthals” made their “last stand”, so to speak, before complete extinction. Now, with the discovery of what these researchers suggest to be symbolic engraving, these Neanderthals may have possessed a cognitive capacity that has long been exclusively attributed to modern humans, who are theorized to have arrived on the European scene around 40,000 years ago.

The suggestion that Nenderthals were capable of cave art, such as wall paintings and engravings, has long been debated, with other sites exhibiting possible signs of this cognitive capacity, such as El Castillo Cave in Spain, where painted dots dated to before 40,000 years BP point back to a possible Neanderthal authorship. The absence of associated archaeological remains at this site, however, has left room for doubt that the El Castillo paintings could be assigned to Neanderthals.

The detailed study report is published in the Proceeedings of the National Academy of Sciences.*

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*“A rock engraving made by Neanderthals in Gibraltar,” by Joaquín Rodríguez-Vidal et al.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Gorham’s Cave, photographed from Governor’s Beach, Gibraltar. Image courtesy of Clive Finlayson.

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

Scientists Reveal the Genetic Prehistory of the New World Arctic Peoples

Posted on August 28, 2014 by No Author -

Much has been said and reported about studies and discoveries focusing on searching for the first Americans. Less popularized but equally important has been the ongoing research related to illucidating the picture of how and when the Arctic, the last region of the Americas known to have been populated, was settled.

Archaeological and cultural evidence points to migrations of several different groups, the Paleo-Eskimos, Neo-Eskimos, and Inuits, into the region, going back as far as 6,000 years ago for the earliest arrivals of the Paleo-Eskimos from across the Bering Strait from Siberia.

Now, Maanasa Raghaven of the University of Copenhagen and colleagues have tested this scenario by conducting genomic sequencing on extractions of 169 ancient human bone, teeth and hair samples from Arctic Siberia, Alaska, Canada, and Greenland. They compared them to the same from two present-day Greenlandic Inuit, two Nivkhs, one Aleutian Islander, and two Athabascans.

What they found provides a new picture of the population history of the North American Arctic. Their analyses supports the model of the arrival of Paleo-Eskimos into North America as a separate migration from those which gave rise to Native Americans and Inuit. But the results also suggested they shared a common Siberian ancestor.

“We show that Paleo-Eskimos (~3000 BCE to 1300 CE) represent a migration pulse into the Americas independent of both Native American and Inuit expansions,” write Raghaven, et al. “Furthermore, the genetic continuity characterizing the Paleo-Eskimo period was interrupted by the arrival of a new population, representing the ancestors of present-day Inuit, with evidence of past gene flow between these lineages. Despite periodic abandonment of major Arctic regions, a single Paleo-Eskimo metapopulation likely survived in near-isolation for more than 4000 years, only to vanish around 700 years ago.”*

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Qajaa, a grass-covered deep-frozen midden with remains from Early Paleo-Eskimo cultures to the 19th century CE. Ilulissat Icefjord, West Greenland. Courtesy Claus Andreasen

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Looking for ancient human remains in northern Greenland. Courtesy Claus Andreasen

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Modern-day Canadian Inuit and their environment. Courtesy Carsten Egevang

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Moreover, the researchers show evidence for gene flow between the Paleo-Eskimos and the Neo-Eskimo Thule culture, though it is likely to have occurred in Siberia, among the two groups’ common ancestral population, and not in the Arctic, where these two groups were largely separated.

The study suggests a complex interplay between genes and culture, helping to provide a clearer picture of how the Arctic was settled.

The study is published as a research article in the journal Science.

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*“The genetic prehistory of the New World Arctic,” by M. Raghavan at University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark, and colleagues.

Source: Part of this article was adapted and edited from an AAAS press release, Genetic Data Sheds Light on Early Peopling of North American Arctic.

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Wooden Roman Toilet Seat Found in U.K.

Posted on August 28, 2014 by No Author -

Finding something that one can personally relate to is always a special moment on an archaeological dig. At the 1st-2nd century Roman site of Vindolanda this is a common occurrence, a site where archaeologists have uncovered not only gold and silver and artifacts relating to the military might of the Roman Army, but also everyday items which nearly 2,000 years later have acquired extraordinary value to modern day visitors, volunteers and archaeologists alike. Personal letters, worn shoes, baby booties, socks, combs, jewellery, tools and textiles are just some of the items preserved in remarkable condition, providing a unique window into the lives of people stationed at this most northern outpost of the Roman Empire.

Now archaeologists have discovered another piece of the very personal human hoard at Vindolanda—a wooden latrine (toilet) seat, discovered by the Director of Excavations, Dr. Andrew Birley, in the site’s deep pre-hadrianic trenches. There are many examples of stone and marble seat benches from across the Roman Empire, but this is believed to be the only surviving wooden seat, almost perfectly preserved in the anaerobic, oxygen free, conditions which exist at Vindolanda. Although this wooden seat is not as grand as a marble or stone toilet bench, it would have been far more comfortable to sit on in the cool climate of Britannia. The seat has clearly been well used and was decommissioned from its original purpose and discarded amongst the rubbish left behind in the final fort at the site before the construction of Hadrian’s Wall began in the early second century.

“There is always great excitement when you find something that has never been seen before and this discovery is wonderful….’” said Birley. “We know a lot about Roman toilets from previous excavations at the site and from the wider Roman world which have included many fabulous Roman latrines, but never before have we had the pleasure of seeing a surviving and perfectly preserved wooden seat. As soon as we started to uncover it there was no doubt at all on what we had found. It is made from a very well worked piece of wood and looks pretty comfortable. Now we need to find the toilet that went with it as Roman loos are fascinating places to excavate – their drains often contain astonishing artefacts. Let’s face it, if you drop something down a Roman latrine you are unlikely to attempt to fish it out unless you are pretty brave or foolhardy.” Discoveries at Vindolanda from latrines have included a baby boot, coins, a betrothal medallion, and a bronze lamp.

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The toilet seat still in situ. Courtesy Vindolanda Trust

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Archaeologists excavating and working on the toilet seat discovery. Courtesy Vindolanda Trust

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Archaeologists now need to find a ‘spongia’, the natural sponge on a stick which Romans used instead of toilet paper. With over 100 years of archaeology remaining along with the site’s unique conditions for the preservation of organic finds, a discovery may be possible.

The wooden seat will take up to 18 months to conserve and once this process is complete the artefact will be put on display at the Roman Army Museum.

Roman Vindolanda is regarded as the most exciting archaeological site in Europe with its wealth of archaeological remains and ongoing excavations. Vindolanda is home to the world famous Vindolanda Writing Tablets. Voted as Britain’s top archaeological treasure by the British Museum, these thin hand-written wooden notes have revealed an astonishing amount of first-hand information about the people who lived at this site 2,000 years ago.

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Source: Adapted and edited from a press release of the Vindolanda Trust, ‘Earliest known wooden toilet seat discovered at Vindolanda’.

The Vindolanda Trust is an independent archaeological charitable trust, founded in 1970. The Vindolanda Trust does not receive any annual funding and relies on the visitors to both Roman Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum to fund its archaeological, conservation and education work.

Roman Vindolanda and the Roman Army Museum are both situated in the heart of the Hadrian’s Wall World Heritage Site. Roman Vindolanda is just to the north of the village of Bardon Mill and the Roman Army Museum is next to the village of Greenhead.

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Study Shows Advantage of Stone-Tipped Spears for Prehistoric Humans

Posted on August 27, 2014 by No Author -

An experimental study shows that stone-tipped spears do not penetrate as deep into prey as sharpened wooden spears, but cause more damage.

Jayne Wilkins of Arizona State University and colleagues shot six stone-tipped and six sharpened wooden spears at gelatin to test whether stone-tipped weapons penetrated deeper in the gelatin. They then analyzed the penetration depth and damage each weapon caused in over 200 wound tracks. Their results demonstrated that tipped spears did not penetrate deeper into gelatin than untipped spears, but they did create a significantly larger and wider wound cavity. This cavity may have increased the relative “killing power” of the tipped spear, and they may have ultimately caused more damage.

The researchers suggested that tipped spears may have provided an advantage over wood-tipped spears for modern human and Neandertal ancestors about 500,000 years ago, potentially affecting the hunting success, resulting in important implications for human adaptation and life history.

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These are the tips of spears featured in the experiment. Credit: Jayne Wilkins et al. Credit: Jayne Wilkins et al.

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Sais Wilkins, “Hafting a stone point to the end of spear was an important innovation that changed life for Pleistocene humans. Humans with stone-tipped spears were more likely to kill the game that they targeted, and were able to secure high quality food resources more frequently and regularly.”

The study is published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE. The detailed study paper can be accessed at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104514.*

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* Wilkins J, Schoville BJ, Brown KS (2014) An Experimental Investigation of the Functional Hypothesis and Evolutionary Advantage of Stone-Tipped Spears. PLoS ONE 9(8): e104514. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104514

Source: Adapted and edited from a PLOS ONE news release: Stone-tipped spears more damaging than sharpened wooden spears

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Wine and herbal residues found in Bronze Age palace cellar jars

Posted on August 27, 2014 by No Author -

In 2013, while excavating within the palace ruins of Tel Kabri, a 75-acre ancient Canaanite city site in northern Israel that dates back to 1700 BCE, a joint American-Israeli team came across a three-foot-long jar. They later christened it “Bessie.” The single find by itself was nothing remarkable. But they kept digging.

“We dug and dug, and all of a sudden, Bessie’s friends started appearing—5, 10, 15, ultimately 40 jars packed in a 15-by-25-foot storage room,” said excavation co-director Dr. Eric Cline, chair of George Washington University’s Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations within the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences. “This is a hugely significant discovery—it’s a wine cellar that, to our knowledge, is largely unmatched in its age and size.”

The 40 jars, each of which could have held 50 liters, had a total capacity of about 2,000 liters, meaning the cellar could have held the equivalent of nearly 3,000 bottles of red and white wine. This places the cellar among the largest ancient wine cellars in the world.

The finds were made while they were digging an area adjacent to and west of a monumental building first excavated in 2011, a one-of-kind structure that was lined with precisely-shaped orthostat blocks.

“This is the largest concentration to date of restorable pottery found anywhere in the palace of Kabri and the only place on site where we have found an entire room still full of artifacts,” writes co-director Yasur-Landau and colleagues in their preliminary report. Yasur-Landau is chair of the Department of Maritime Civilizations at the University of Haifa.

They add that it is “the first time that such a storeroom with jars still present has been uncovered within an MB (Middle Bronze Age) palace in Canaan.”

What is more, “the wine cellar was located near a hall where banquets took place, a place where the Kabri elite and possibly foreign guests consumed goat meat and wine,” said Yasur-Landau. “The wine cellar and the banquet hall were destroyed during the same violent event, perhaps an earthquake, which covered them with thick debris of mud bricks and plaster.”

At first, it wasn’t clear that the jars once contained wine. To determine that, Dr. Koh, an assistant professor of classical studies at Brandeis University and associate director of the excavation, analyzed the jar fragments using organic residue analysis. He found traces of tartaric and syringic acids, both key components in wine, as well as compounds suggesting the presence of ingredients popular in ancient wine-making, including honey, mint, cinnamon bark, juniper berries and resins. The recipe is similar to medicinal wines used for 2,000 years in ancient Egypt.

“This wasn’t moonshine that someone was brewing in their basement, eyeballing the measurements,” Dr. Koh said. “This wine’s recipe was strictly followed in each and every jar.”

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The team worked in day and night shifts to excavate a total of 40 intact 3,700-year-old vessels in the ancient palatial wine cellar during its six-week dig in July 2013. Courtesy Eric Cline. From Archaeologists Uncover One of Civilization’s Oldest Wine Cellars, Nov. 22, 2013 (Pop. Archaeology)

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Detail view of some of the ancient wine jars unearthed at Tel Kabri. Courtesy Eric Cline. From Archaeologists Uncover One of Civilization’s Oldest Wine Cellars, Nov. 22, 2013 (Pop. Archaeology)

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Now, Koh and colleagues have conducted further organic residue analysis using mass spectrometry. They confirmed that all of the relatively uniform jars contained chemical compounds indicative of wine. Researchers also detected subtle differences in the ingredients or additives within similarly shaped wine jars, including honey, storax resin, terebinth resin, cedar oil, cyperus, juniper, and possibly mint, myrtle, and cinnamon. They suggest the detection of these additives indicates that humans at the time had a sophisticated understanding of plants and skills necessary to produce a complex beverage that balanced preservation, palatability, and psychoactivity. According to the authors of this most recent research study, these results may contribute to a greater understanding of ancient viticulture and the Canaanite palatial economy.

Said Koh, “Based on the nature of the room, it was anticipated from the beginning that residue samples extracted and studied under virtually identical circumstances with minimal variability would have the potential to reveal new and significant insights from both a scientific and archaeological perspective. We believe this study will not only change our understanding of ancient viticulture and palatial social practices, but also the manner in which we approach organic residue analysis (ORA) as an integrated, qualitative, and interdisciplinary exercise that is as field dependent as it is laboratory intensive.”

Wine production, distribution, and consumption are thought to have played a role in the lives of those living in the Mediterranean and Near East during the Middle Bronze Age (1900-1600 BC), but little archaeological evidence about Bronze Age wine is available to support art and documentation about the role wine played during this period, until now.

The study details are published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106406*

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*Koh AJ, Yasur-Landau A, Cline EH (2014) Characterizing a Middle Bronze Palatial Wine Cellar from Tel Kabri, Israel. PLoS ONE 9(8): e106406. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0106406

Source: Adapted and edited from press releases of the George Washington University and Brandeis University, a previous article published by Popular Archaeology Magazine, Archaeologists Uncover Rare Finds at an Ancient Canaanite Center, and a news release of PLOS ONE, Bronze Age wine cellar found.

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Archaeologists Excavate Endangered Maya Site

Posted on August 25, 2014 by No Author -

Teams of archaeologists are researching a number of ancient Maya sites in Belize that could stand some help to stay intact as important cultural heritage sites.

One of those sites is called Nojol Nah. It is located on the east side of the Bajo Alacranes (see maps below), which extends across Belize’s northwest corner and parts of Mexico and Guatemala. The Alacranes Bajo is a low-lying area that is very fertile and continues to be today. The Mexican portion has been surveyed in recent years, revealing several large Maya centers and a number of smaller centers. At the far south end of the bajo, in Guatemala, is the major center of Río Azul. Ongoing survey work in Belize has revealed that a number of small centers with central precincts are located on the east side of the Bajo Alacranes, including such sites as Grey Fox, Xnoha, Nojol Nah and others.

Nojol Nah consists of a small public precinct with a single 10- meter tall pyramidal structure (“Structure 1”) on its west side that was constructed in the Late Preclassic (400 BCE – 200 CE) and Early Classic (200 – 600 CE) periods and was terminated at the end of the Early Classic period. In addition, the site contains a number of elite residential groups and structures. These elite residences were constructed in the Early Classic period and abandoned in the Late Classic Period (600 – 900 CE). To date, work at Nojol Nah has included the excavation of residential structures, a civic temple, chultuns, numerous caches, termination deposits, elite household middens (that produced sherds with glyphs), and an unusually large number of human burials.

Nojol Nah, and other nearby sites such as Tulix Mul, Grey Fox, and Xnoha, are all significant due to their size and strategic location on the Alacranes Bajo. Far beyond the traditional focus of studying the monumental architecture and life-ways and history of the Maya royalty and Maya kings, the excavation and research of these sites will help us to more fully understand the overall nature and pattern of the Maya city and landscape, the economy, and royal elite, non-royal elite and non-elite interaction, all toward constructing a more comprehensive view of Maya civilization in this part of the Maya world. Research will also shed new light on the nature of the so-called Terminal Classic “collapse” and subsequent abandonment of the area (and Post- classic reoccupation).

Unfortunately, just as the Maya farmed this area extensively in the past, the modern inhabitants of the area are also intensively farming the area (and converting this land to cattle pasture). Due to modern technologies (bulldozers, etc) the negative impact on the natural and cultural resources is severe. Nojol Nah, among other sites, is in immediate danger of being destroyed before the site can be sufficiently studied and its cultural resources conserved as an important part of Maya heritage. Among its objectives, the MRP (Maya Research Program) is focusing additional effort on raising funds to purchase the land on which Nojol Nah sits, and thus protecting it from destruction. MRP conducted a similar, and very successful, campaign for the site of Grey Fox.

If you are interested, please consider donating and “adopting” Nojol Nah as your own by clicking here, or by clicking on the donate button below. See the webpage for information about the benefits you will receive for your donation.

(Images of Nojol Nah/Tulix Mul below)

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Overview of NW Belize, with Nojol Nah, Grey Fox, and Blue Creek circled, some of the sites under research (Courtesy Maya Research Program)

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Nojol Nah shown within the context of other Maya centers in the region. (Courtesy Mark Wolf)

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Structure 1 and crew : Nojol Nah (Courtesy Maya Research Program)

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Overview of an elite residence: Nojol Nah (Courtesy Maya Rearch Program)

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Overview of an elite residence : Nojol Nah (Courtesy Maya Rearch Program)

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Polychrome sherd with glyphs: Nojol Nah ( Courtesy Maya Research Program)

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Intact vaulted room: Tulix Mul (Courtesy Maya Research Program)

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Study Raises Questions About Evolution of the Human Brain

Posted on August 25, 2014 by No Author -

There may be a fly in the ointment for some evolutionists when it comes to early brain adaptations in human evolutionary theory.

It revolves around a recent study of the endocast (internal cast of the space occupied by the brain in the skull) of the famous 3 million-year-old ‘Taung Child’ fossil discovered in South Africa in 1924. This find was advanced by Wits University Professor Raymond Dart in 1925 as evidence of an early hominin or “ape-man” species (Australopithecus africanus), a forerunner in human evolutionary beginnings. Among other things, it has been cited as having “historical and scientific importance in the fossil record as the first and best example of early hominin brain evolution”.* The theory is that it exhibits key cranial adaptations in its morphology that suggest, like modern human infants and toddlers, that certain features of the infant cranium provided the flexibility for continued growth and development in the prefrontal region of the brain, the region responsible for complex cognitive behavior, personality expression, decision making, and moderating social behavior, during infancy. In short, the Taung Child may have exhibited the first signs of ‘becoming human’ in terms of the human brain.

But not so fast, say a team of scientists……….

To test the ancientness of this evolutionary adaptation, Dr Kristian J. Carlson, Senior Researcher from the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, Professor Ralph L. Holloway from Columbia University and Douglas C. Broadfield from Florida Atlantic University, performed an in silico dissection of the Taung fossil using high-resolution computed tomography at the Wits University Microfocus X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) facility. It was the first such examination ever conducted on the Taung Child fossil specimen.

“A recent study has described the roughly 3 million-year-old fossil, thought to have belonged to a 3 to 4-year-old, as having a persistent metopic suture and open anterior fontanelle, two features that facilitate post-natal brain growth in human infants when their disappearance is delayed,” said Carlson, referring to a study published in 2012 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Dean Falk of Florida State University and colleagues.

The CT scans conducted by Carlson and his colleagues, however, showed otherwise. Citing deficiencies in how the Taung fossil material has been recently assessed as presented in the 2012 study report, the researchers suggest physical evidence does not incontrovertibly link features of the Taung skull, or its endocast, to early prefrontal lobe expansion.

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The Taung Child fossil at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at Wits University. Credit: WITS UNIVERSITY

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“In sum, we believe the claim of high frequencies of metopic sutures in early hominins is premature, and thus the proposition that delayed metopic suture closure may have conferred a selective advantage in early hominin evolution is equally premature,” write the researchers in their report.*

Thus, results of the new study show that there is still no evidence for this kind of skull adaptation that evolved before Homo (the genus that includes modern humans and species closely related to them), nor is there evidence for a link between such skull characteristics and the proposed accompanying early prefrontal lobe expansion, Carlson said.

The study is published online in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), in an article titled: New high resolution CT data of the Taung partial cranium and endocast and their bearing on metopism and hominin brain evolution.

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*Holloway, R.L., Broadfield, D.C., Carlson, K.J., New high resolution CT data of the Taung partial cranium and endocast and their bearing on metopism and hominin brain evolution; Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 25 August 2014.

Article written with adaptations and edits from a University of Witwatersrand press release.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Endocranium, face and mandible of the Taung Child (Australopithecu africanus). Didier Descouens, Wikimedia Commons

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Archaeological Finds of Ancient Arabia to be Shown

Posted on August 22, 2014 by No Author -

Beginning October 11, 2014 and showing through June 7, 2015, The Smithsonian Institution will be exhibiting a selection of artifacts, film and photography from one of the largest archaeological expeditions to two ancient sites in present-day Yemen.

From 1949 to 1951, paleontologist and geologist Wendell Phillips led an expedition of scholars, scientists and technicians to what was then remote South Arabia on a quest to uncover two legendary cities—Timna, the capital of the Qataban kingdom, and Ma’rib, thought by some scholars to be the home of the Queen of Sheba.

Timna was an important trading hub along the Incense Route, which supplied Arabian and Indian incense via camel caravan to ports on the Mediterranean Sea, most notably Gaza and Petra. Ma’rib was the capital of the Sabaean kingdom, otherwise thought by some scholars to be ancient Sheba, known from the biblical accounts. Here, the Sabaean kings made their capital and built irrigation works such as the Ma’rib dams, the remains of which can still be seen.They also built other structures and temples, and traded in frankincense and myrrh. As a seafaring people, the Sabaeans also had populations in Northeast Africa, present-day Somalia, Eritrea and possibly Ethiopia, a source of frankincense and myrrh.

Both Arabian centers flourished about 2,500 years ago, due in no small measure from the wealth of the insense trade.

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Wendell Phillips’ team begins excavation at a peristyle hall in Ma’rib, in present-day Yemen. Courtesy American Foundation for the Study of Man. Courtesy

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One of a pair of large bronze high reliefs each in the form of a striding lioness surmounted by a figure of Eros (The Bronze Lions of Timna) Yemen; 1st century BCE–mid-1st century CE; Bronze; Gift of The American Foundation for the Study of Man, Wendell and Merilyn Phillips Collection. Courtesy Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

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The exhibition highlights Phillips’s key finds and showcases his adventures in what was, and continues to be, an archaeological frontier.

The exhibition will be shown at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on the Mall in Washington, D.C.

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Archaeologists Find Humans Were Eating Snails 30,000 Years Ago

Posted on August 20, 2014 by No Author -

Paleolithic humans of present-day Spain may have eaten snails as much as 30,000 years ago, or 10,000 years earlier than inhabitants of Mediterranean regions, according to research by Javier Fernández-López de Pablo from Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social and colleagues.

The researchers discovered land snail shell remains dated to about 30,000 years ago at the site of Cova de la Barriada, Spain. Groupings of complete shells from a large land snail species were found in three areas of the site, corresponding to different time points. They studied these remains by investigating patterns indicating likley land snail selection, consumption, and accumulation at the site, and then analyzed the shells’ decay, fossilization process, composition, and age at death by measuring the shell sizes.

The snails appeared to be associated with prehistoric human-constructed structures that may have been used to cook the snails, along with stone tools, and other animal remains that were likely roasted in ambers of pine and juniper at 375 C. The authors posit that these results point to previously undiscovered patterns of invertebrate use and may highlight a broadening of the human diet in the Upper Paleolithic in the Mediterranean basin. In neighboring Mediterranean areas, eating land snails didn’t appear until about 10,000 years later, which may make these newly found snail shells the oldest known evidence that ancient human populations used them as a food resource in Europe about 30,000 years ago.

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This image depicts Upper Palaeolithic combustion structure containing human collected and cooked land snails and carbonaceous sediments (A) and complete land snails recovered into the combustion structure (B). Credit: Fernández-López de Pablo et al.

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The study is published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0104898*

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*Fernández-López de Pablo J, Badal E, Ferrer Garcıa C, Martínez-Ortí A, Sanchis Serra A (2014) Land Snails as a Diet Diversification Proxy during the Early Upper Palaeolithic in Europe. PLoS ONE 9(8): e104898. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0104898

Sources: Adapted and edited from a PLOS ONE press release.

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Study Sheds Light on Human Evolution

Posted on August 17, 2014 by No Author -

In an environment where others struggle to survive, Tibetans thrive in the thin air on the Tibetan Plateau, with an average elevation of 14,800 feet. A study led by University of Utah scientists is the first to find a genetic cause for the adaptation – a single DNA base pair change that dates back 8,000 years – and demonstrate how it contributes to the Tibetans’ ability to live in low oxygen conditions. The study appears online in the journal Nature Genetics on Aug. 17, 2014.

“These findings help us understand the unique aspects of Tibetan adaptation to high altitudes, and to better understand human evolution,” said Josef Prchal, M.D., senior author and University of Utah professor of internal medicine.

The story behind the discovery is equally about cultural diplomacy as it is scientific advancement. Prchal traveled several times to Asia to meet with Chinese officials, and representatives of exiled Tibetans in India, to obtain permissions to recruit subjects for the study. But he quickly learned that without the trust of Tibetans, his efforts were futile. Wary of foreigners, they refused to donate blood for his research.

After returning to the U.S., Prchal couldn’t believe his luck upon discovering that a native Tibetan, Tsewang Tashi, M.D., had just joined the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah as a clinical fellow. When Prchal asked for his help, Tashi quickly agreed. “I realized the implications of his work not only for science as a whole but also for understanding what it means to be Tibetan,” said Tashi. In another stroke of luck, Prchal received a long-awaited letter of support from the Dalai Lama. The two factors were instrumental in engaging the Tibetans’ trust: more than 90, both from the U.S. and abroad, volunteered for the study.

First author Felipe Lorenzo, Ph.D., spent years combing through the Tibetans’ DNA, and unlocking secrets from a “GC-rich” region that is notoriously difficult to penetrate. His hard work was worth it, for the Tibetans’ DNA had a fascinating tale to tell. About 8,000 years ago, the gene EGLN1 changed by a single DNA base pair. Today, a relatively short time later on the scale of human history, 88% of Tibetans have the genetic variation, and it is virtually absent from closely related lowland Asians. The findings indicate the genetic variation endows its carriers with an advantage.

Prchal collaborated with experts throughout the world to determine what that advantage is. In those without the adaptation, low oxygen causes their blood to become thick with oxygen-carrying red blood cells – an attempt to feed starved tissues – which can cause long-term complications such as heart failure. The researchers found that the newly identified genetic variation protects Tibetans by decreasing the over-response to low oxygen.

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Josef Prchal, M.D., (at computer) enrolls Tibetans into the study. Credit: Tsewang Tashi, M.D.

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The discoveries are but one chapter in a much larger story. The genetic adaptation likely causes other changes to the body that have yet to be understood. Plus, it is one of many as of yet unidentified genetic changes that collectively support life at high altitudes.

Prchal says the implications of the research extend beyond human evolution. Because oxygen plays a central role in human physiology and disease, a deep understanding of how high altitude adaptations work may lead to novel treatments for various diseases, including cancer. “There is much more that needs to be done, and this is just the beginning,” he said.

At the beginning of the project, while in Asia, Prchal was amazed at how Tashi was able to establish a common ground with Tibetans. He helped them realize they had something unique to contribute. “When I tell my fellow Tibetans, ‘Unlike other people, Tibetans can adapt better to living at high altitude,’ they usually respond by a little initial surprise quickly followed by agreement,” Tashi explained.

“Its as if I made them realize something new, which only then became obvious.”

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“A genetic mechanism for Tibetan high-altitude adaptation” is published online on Aug. 17, 2014, in Nature Genetics. Authors: Felipe R. Lorenzo, Chad Huff, Mikko Myllymäki, Benjamin Olenchock, Sabina Swierczek, Tsewang Tashi, Victor Gordeuk ,Tana Wuran, Ge Ri-Li, Donald McClain, Tahsin M. Khan, Parvaiz A. Koul, Prasenjit Guchhait, Mohamed E. Salama, Jinchuan Xing, Gregg L. Semenza, Ella Liberzon, Andrew Wilson, Tatum S. Simonson, Lynn B. Jorde, William G. Kaelin Jr., Peppi Koivunen, and Josef T. Prchal

Article Source: Press release of the University of Utah Health Sciences

Cover Image: Tibetan locals living at 4,300m. Credit: Tsewang Tashi, M.D.

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Scientists Confirm Richard III Led a Royal Lifestyle

Posted on August 16, 2014 by No Author -

It is confirmed: King Richard III, whose remains were identified and exhumed in September, 2012 near Leicester, England, led a royal lifestyle, particularly during his last few years as King. A recent bone chemistry study completed by a joint scientific team from the British Geological Survey and the University of Leicester backs it up with evidence. This might seem to be a rather unnecessary confirmation for a common assumption—kings lived like, well, kings. But the same study has also revealed evidence of previously unknown changes in diet and location during his youth.

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The remains of King Richard III found in Trench 1 during the Leicester excavations. Photo Credit: University of Leicester

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Led by Angela Lamb, Isotope Geochemist with the British Geological Survey, the research team took bone and tooth enamel measurements of strontium, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon and lead from the teeth, a femur and a rib as they developed and rebuilt at different stages related to geographical location, pollution and diet through time during the king’s life—somewhat analagous to dendrochronologists examining the tree rings in samples of wood to determine the changes in the environment and growth patterns of a tree in other archaeological studies.

They found that the teeth showed that he had moved from Fotheringay castle in eastern England by the time he was seven years old. Findings also suggested that during this time he was in an area of higher rainfall, older rocks and with a changed diet relative to his place of birth in Northamptonshire. Results from examining the femur showed that he moved back to eastern England as an adolescent or young adult, with a diet that was consistent with that typical of the high aristocracy. Data from the rib indicated the greatest change in diet, while he was King, showing an increase in consumption of freshwater fish and birds, such as swam, crane, egret and heron, popular items on the menu of royal banquets during his lifetime. Moreover, the bone chemistry analysis suggests he was drinking increased amounts of wine during his reign as King, supporting the notion that food and drink correlated with social status in Medieval England.

“The chemistry of Richard III’s teeth and bones reveal changes in his geographical movements, diet and social status throughout his life,” said Lamb.

Richard Buckley, who was the lead archaeologist on the excavations conducted by the University of Leicester Archaeological Services, said, “This cutting edge research has provided a unique opportunity to shed new light on the diet and environment of a major historical figure –Richard III. It is very rare indeed in archaeology to be able to identify a named individual with precise dates and a documented life. This has enabled the stable-isotope analysis to show how his environment changed at different times in his life and, perhaps most significantly, identified marked changes in his diet when he became king in 1483.”

The excavation of the Richard III remains and surrounding area was led by the University of Leicester, working with Leicester City Council and in association with the Richard III Society. The originator of the Search project was Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society.

The study is published in Elsevier’s Journal of Archaeological Science*. This forensic study will also be featured in a documentary, Richard III: The New Evidence, airing on Channel 4 on Sunday 17th August at 9pm.

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Dr. Angela Lamb and professor Jane Evans in the isotope laboratory. Courtesy Elsevier

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“Multi-isotope analysis demonstrates significant lifestyle changes in King Richard III” by Angela L. Lamb, Jane E. Evans, Richard Buckley, Jo Appleby (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.06.021); Journal of Archaeological Science, published by Elsevier.

Source of this article: Adapted and edited from a news release by Elsevier.

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Archaeologists of Time Team America Return for Second Season

Posted on August 14, 2014 by No Author -

TIME TEAM AMERICA, the PBS series that combines archaeological discovery with good storytelling, is back for a second season. Each of the four new episodes explores a different region and time in U.S. history through the eyes, ears and expertise of a team of adventurous archaeologists. The first two episodes of TIME TEAM AMERICA debut Tuesday, August 19, 2014, followed by the second two on August 26, 9 p.m. EST and PST, and 8 p.m. Central, on PBS.

In each one-hour episode, scientists Joe Watkins, Allan Maca, Meg Watters, Jeff Brown and Chelsea Rose join forces with host Justine Shapiro to uncover historical secrets buried beneath the soil. The series combines technologically advanced tools and old-fashioned elbow grease to take viewers on a journey into the earth and back in time.

“We’re thrilled to be back for a second season of this terrific series,” says co-executive producer David Davis. “There’s nothing else quite like it on TV. Viewers will feel they are right in the trenches with working archeologists as they uncover the artifacts of our past.”

Here’s what’s in store for the team in season two:

• Tucked between upscale homes in suburban Maryland just outside Washington, DC, are the remains of an 1830’s plantation—once home to Josiah Henson, the enslaved person who inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe’s famous novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. What remains here of his life and legacy?

• In western Oklahoma, the bones of massive 10,000-year-old bison mingle with the remnants of early human-made weapons. What strategies did hunters use against these mammoth beasts before the advent of bows and arrows? What can these bison bones teach us about our ancient past?

• Camp Lawton, near Millen, Georgia, housed 10,000 Union prisoners at the end of the Civil War. The remains of the camp have long been lost to history. Can TIME TEAM AMERICA find the original site of the camp? What artifacts are buried beneath the ground and what do they tell us of the hellish experiences of the prisoners once held captive here?

• The site of what is believed to have been a 1,200-year-old village is located near Mesa Verde, Colorado, where ancient people built one of the first permanent settlements in North America. What did this settlement look like and how did life here shape human history?

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The team uncovers the site of a pueblo village in Colorado. Courtesy Ann McGary/Oregon Public Broadcasting

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The team hard at work excavating 10,000-year-old bison bones. Courtesy Shervin Hess/Oregon Public Broadcasting

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The hosts of TIME TEAM AMERICA are:

• Justine Shapiro, documentary filmmaker and television host;

• Dr. Joe Watkins, lead archaeologist;

• Dr. Meg Watters, remote sensing and visualization specialist;

• Dr. Allan Maca, archaeologist;

• Chelsea Rose, archaeologist; and

• Jeff Brown, excavator.

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View past episodes of TIME TEAM AMERICA online at pbs.org/time-team.

TIME TEAM AMERICA is a co-production of Oregon Public Broadcasting and Videotext Communications, Ltd. and is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. The co-executive producer for OPB is David Davis and the co-executive producer for Videotext is Tim Taylor.

Source: Adapted and editied from a press release of PBS and Oregon Public Broadcasting.

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Egyptian mummification started much earlier than previously thought, say researchers

Posted on August 13, 2014 by No Author -

Researchers from the Universities of York, Macquarie and Oxford have discovered new evidence to suggest that the origins of mummification started in ancient Egypt 1,500 years earlier than previously thought.

Traditional theories on ancient Egyptian mummification suggest that in prehistory — the Late Neolithic and Predynastic periods between c. 4500 and 3100 B.C. — bodies were desiccated naturally through the action of the hot, dry desert sand. Scientific evidence for the early use of resins in artificial mummification has, until now, been limited to isolated occurrences during the late Old Kingdom (c. 2200 BC). Their use became more apparent during the Middle Kingdom (c. 2000-1600 BC).

But an 11-year study by the York, Macquarie and Oxford team identified the presence of complex embalming agents in linen wrappings from bodies in securely provenanced tombs in one of the earliest recorded ancient Egyptian cemeteries at Mostagedda, in the region of Upper Egypt.

“For over a decade I have been intrigued by early and cryptic reports of the methods of wrapping bodies at the Neolithic cemeteries at Badari and Mostagedda,” said Dr Jana Jones of Macquarie University, Sydney. “In 2002, I examined samples of funerary textiles from these sites that had been sent to various museums in the United Kingdom through the 1930s from Egypt. Microscopic analysis with my colleague Mr Ron Oldfield revealed resins were likely to have been used, but I wasn’t able to confirm my theories, or their full significance, without tapping into my York colleague’s unique knowledge of ancient organic compounds.”

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Graves at Mostagedda. Late Neolithic/Tasian. Mostagedda and the Tasian Culture (London 1937) Courtesy G. Brunton

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Dr Jones initiated the research and led the study jointly with Dr Stephen Buckley, a Research Fellow at the University of York.

“Such controversial inferences challenge traditional beliefs on the beginnings of mummification,” said Dr Jones. “They could only be proven conclusively through biochemical analysis, which Dr Buckley agreed to undertake after a number of aborted attempts by others. His knowledge includes many organic compounds present in an archaeological context, yet which are often not in the literature or mass spectra libraries.”

Dr Buckley, who is also a corresponding author of the published study on the research, used a combination of gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and sequential thermal desorption/pyrolysis to identify a pine resin, an aromatic plant extract, a plant gum/sugar, a natural petroleum source, and a plant oil/animal fat in the funerary wrappings.

Predating the earliest scientific evidence by more than a millennium, these embalming agents constitute complex, processed recipes of the same natural products, in similar proportions, as those employed at the zenith of Pharaonic mummification some 3,000 years later.

Dr Buckley, who designed the experimental research and conducted the chemical analyses, said: “The antibacterial properties of some of these ingredients and the localised soft-tissue preservation that they would have afforded lead us to conclude that these represent the very beginnings of experimentation that would evolve into the mummification practice of the Pharaonic period.”

Dr Buckley added: “Having previously led research on embalming agents employed in mummification during Egypt’s Pharaonic period it was notable that the relative abundances of the constituents are typical of those used in mummification throughout much of ancient Egypt’s 3000 year Pharaonic history. Moreover, these resinous recipes applied to the prehistoric linen wrapped bodies contained antibacterial agents, used in the same proportions employed by the Egyptian embalmers when their skill was at its peak, some 2500-3000 years later.”

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From Mostagedda, Late Neolithic. Flax yarn from wrappings, heavily impregnated with resin. Courtesy Ron Oldfield and Jana Jones

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From Mostagedda, Tomb No. 1215, Late Neolithic. Funerary textile with ‘resin’, fragments of bone and reed matting. Courtesy Ron Oldfield and Jana Jones

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From Mostagedda, Early Predynastic. Two layers of textile, the inner impregnated with embalming substances. Courtesy Ron Oldfield and Jana Jones

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From Mostagedda, Early Predynastic. Multiple layers of wrappings with ‘resins’. Courtesy Ron Oldfield and Jana Jones

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Dr Thomas Higham, who was responsible for dating the burials at the University of Oxford, said: “This work demonstrates the huge potential of material in museum collections to allow researchers to unearth new information about the archaeological past. Using modern scientific tools our work has helped to illuminate a key aspect of the early history of ancient Egypt.”

“Our ground-breaking results show just what can be achieved through interdisciplinary collaboration between the sciences and the humanities,” said Dr Jones.

The study was published as ‘Evidence for prehistoric origins of Egyptian mummification in Late Neolithic burials’ in the journal PLOS ONE at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0103608.

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Source: Adaptd and edited from a news release of the University of York.

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Archaeologists Reveal the Stories of Two 18th Century American Ships

Posted on August 11, 2014 by No Author -

The remains of two 18th century American ships, one uncovered 22 feet below street level in a pit located in what is now the underground security and parking complex of the new World Trade Center construction in New York City, and the other now housed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C., have revealed some details of late 18th century colonial and post-colonial U.S. American maritime history.

The first features timber remains discovered 4 years ago while workers were excavating a pit below the area where the World Trade Center once stood. It was subsequently determined to be a late 18th century Hudson River sloop after scientists, applying techniques of dendrochronology at the Columbia University tree-ring lab at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, dated its original construction from old-growth white oak trees of eastern Pennsylvania to shortly after 1773 in a Philadelphia port. The findings were recently published in a journal issue of the Tree-Ring Society.

Sloops in the late 18th century were generally designed for river travel and used to transport goods and people. This particular boat was suggested by archaeologists and historians to have been in service in the trade routes around New York, Connecticut and the Chesapeake region. But this ship showed evidence of having been sailed at least one time to the Caribbean area, as the timber showed signs of past shipworm infestation, a condition that develops in warm salt water environments. Few late 18th century sloops have been recovered, so not much is known about them, but historians and archaeologists say there were many of them in use, based on written and visual documentation.

Along with the ship timbers, archaeologists recovered cannonballs, ceramics, pipe fragments, buckles, a spoon, a coin, and a button of the British 52nd Regiment. Further analysis will tell scientists more about the sloop and, by extension, more about the late 18th century sloops of the eastern coastal regions of U.S. colonial and post-colonial times.

For Public View: The Oldest Surviving American Fighting Vessel

The other ship, a Revolutionary War period gunboat now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History (NMAH) on the downtown Mall of Washington, D.C., was recovered in remarkably good condition from the bottom of Lake Champlain in 1935 by Lorenzo F. Haggulund, a civil engineer. Identified as the gunboat USS Philadelphia, it was exhibited for a number of years at various locations for tourists, after which it was transferred to the NMAH in 1964, along with the 24-pound ball thought to have been responsible for sinking the gunboat during a key battle with the British in 1776.

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Three views (above and below) of the gunboat Philadelphia as exhibited at the National Museum of American History. (Image below, Matthew G. Bisanz, Wikimedia Commons; last image Kevin Burkett, Wikimedia Commons)

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The gunboat remains are significant in that they represent the oldest surviving American fighting vessel, built in 1776, around the same time or after the construction of the aforementioned sloop recently recovered in New York City. Among the objects recovered from its post-battle resting place were cannons, the hull, and hundreds of other artifacts including shot, cooking utensils, tools, buttons, buckles and human bones.

The gunboat sank in Lake Champlain during the battle of Valcour Island. It was part of a small, newly built fleet that met a British force on October 11, 1776. The battle was hard-fought, but the superior firepower of the British squadron defeated the American flotilla, and sent the Philadelphia to the bottom of the Lake at the end of the first day of a 3-day battle. Though the battle was considered a defeat for the Americans, it was successful in delaying the British campaign and eventually led to the American victory at Saratoga.

The gunboat USS Philadelphia can be seen by visitors in a recently renovated third floor gallery at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. It is complete with the reconstructed original vessel, video footage, painted scrims and display cases exhibiting numerous artifacts recovered from the recovery site.

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6,500-Year-Old Skeleton Newly “Discovered” in the Penn Museum

Posted on August 5, 2014 by No Author -

Philadelphia, PA Summer 2014— Sometimes the best archaeological discoveries aren’t made in the field. Scientists at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia have re-discovered an important find in their own storage rooms, a complete human skeleton about 6,500 years old. The mystery skeleton had been stored in a coffin-like box for 85 years, all trace of its identifying documentation gone. This summer, a project to digitize old records from a world-famous excavation brought that documentation, and the history of the skeleton, back to light.

Unearthed in 1929–30 by Sir Leonard Woolley’s joint Penn Museum/British Museum excavation team at the site of Ur in what is now southern Iraq, the skeleton is about 2,000 years older than the materials and remains found in the famous Mesopotamian “royal tombs,” the focus of a Penn Museum signature exhibition, Iraq’s Ancient Past: Rediscovering Ur’s Royal Cemetery. According to Dr. Janet Monge, Curator-in-Charge, Physical Anthropology Section of the Penn Museum, a visual examination of the skeleton indicates it is that of a once well-muscled male, about age 50 or older. Buried fully extended with arms at his sides and hands over his abdomen, he would have stood 5’ 8” to 5’ 10” tall.

Skeletons from this time in the ancient Near East, known as the Ubaid period (roughly 5500–4000 BCE) are extremely rare; complete skeletons from this period are even rarer. Woolley’s team excavated 48 graves in an early, Ubaid-era flood plain, nearly 50 feet below the surface of the site; of those, Woolley determined that only one skeleton was in condition to recover: the skeleton that has now been identified in the Penn Museum’s collection. He coated the bones and surrounding soil in wax and shipped the entire skeleton to London, then on to Philadelphia.

Today’s scientific techniques, unavailable in Woolley’s time, may provide new information about diet, ancestral origins, trauma, stress, and diseases of this poorly understood population.

A Mystery Solved 

Dr. Monge had long known about the particular skeleton in the basement—one of about 2,000 complete human skeletons in the Museum collection, which houses, altogether, more than 150,000 bone specimens from throughout human history. For as long as she had been a Keeper or Curator, it had been there—a curious mystery, in an old wooden box with no catalog card, no identifying number, nothing to explain its former whereabouts.

In 2012, a new project began to digitize records from the 1922–1934 excavations at Ur. The project, Ur of the Chaldees: A Virtual Vision of Woolley’s Excavations, made possible with lead funding from the Leon Levy Foundation, is, like the original excavations, jointly conducted by the Penn Museum and the British Museum. At the Penn Museum, Dr. William Hafford, Ur Digitization Project Manager and his team, under the supervision of Dr. Richard Zettler, Associate Curator-in-Charge of the Near East Section, and Dr. Steve Tinney, Associate Curator-in-Charge of the Babylonian Section, have examined and digitized thousands of records stored in the Penn Museum Archives and documenting the excavation.

One set of records particularly caught Dr. Hafford’s eye: a set of division lists telling which objects went to which museum. Half of all artifacts stayed in the new nation of Iraq, but the other half was split between London and Philadelphia. The record for the eighth season, 1929–30, surprised him. It said that the Penn Museum would receive, among other items, one tray of “mud of the flood” and two “skeletons.” Further research into the Museum’s object record database indicated that one of those skeletons, 31-17-404, deemed “pre-flood” and found in a stretched position, was recorded as “Not Accounted For” as of 1990.

Exploring the extensive records Woolley kept, Hafford was able to find additional information and images of the missing skeleton, including Woolley himself painstakingly removing an Ubaid skeleton intact, covering it in wax, bolstering it on a piece of wood, and lifting it out using a burlap sling. When he queried Dr. Monge about it, she had no record of such a skeleton in her basement storage—but noted that there was a “mystery” skeleton in a box.

When the box was opened later that day, it was clear that this was the same skeleton in Woolley’s field records, preserved and now reunited with its history.

The Skeleton’s History 

After Woolley uncovered the Royal Cemetery, he sought the earliest levels in a deep trench that became known as “The Flood Pit” because, around 40 feet down, it reached a layer of clean, water-lain silt. Though it was apparently the end of the cultural layers, Woolley dug still further. He found burials dug into the silt and eventually another cultural layer beneath. The silt, or “flood layer,” was more than ten feet deep in places.

Reaching below sea level, Woolley determined that the original site of Ur had been a small island in a surrounding marsh. Then a great flood covered the land. People continued to live and flourish at Ur, but the disaster may have inspired legends. The first known recorded story of an epic flood comes from Sumer, now southern Iraq, and it is generally believed to be the historic precursor of the Biblical flood story written millennia later.

The burial that produced the Penn Museum skeleton along with ten pottery vessels was one of those cut into the deep silt. Therefore, the man in it had lived after the flood and was buried in its silt deposits. The Museum researchers have thus nicknamed their re-discovery “Noah,” but, as Dr. Hafford notes, “Utnapishtim might be more appropriate, for he was named in the Gilgamesh epic as the man who survived the great flood.”

Burial PFG/Z with skeleton in the silt deposits as excavated at Ur during the 1929/30field season. Note the semi-crushed skull and the pottery at the feet. Penn Museum Archival Photo #191484. Courtesy Penn Museum

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A lightweight plaster mixture is placed over the covered skeleton to protect it during shipping. The silt is already being cut away under the skeleton to make room for the carrying board. Penn Museum Archival Photo #191487. Courtesy Penn Museum

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Pottery found at the foot of the skeleton during the excavation, now housed in the Penn Museum’s Near East Section storage. From left, object numbers 31-17-289, 31-17-330, and 31-17-302. Photo: Kyle Cassidy, 2014.

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The Penn Museum (the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 300 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world. With an active exhibition schedule and educational programming for children and adults, the Museum offers the public an opportunity to share in the ongoing discovery of humankind’s collective heritage. Information: www.penn.museum.

Image captions (top three images, top to bottom): Drs. Janet Monge and William Hafford investigate the 6,500-year-old skeleton (photo: Kyle Cassidy, 2014); A close-up view of the upper body and skull, showing the well-preserved teeth (photo: Kyle Cassidy, 2014); In this archival photo from the excavation, workers carry the complete skeleton on its board up 50 feet of carved stairs and out of Pit F (Penn Museum Archival Photo #191488).

Source: News release of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

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The “hobbit” human not a separate species, say scientists

Posted on August 4, 2014 by No Author -

Two recently conducted studies now suggest that the famous “Flores Man” or Homo floresiensis bones, popularly known as the “hobbit”, is actually an example of an abnormally developed ancient small-bodied modern human (Homo sapiens), not a separate ancient human species as has been long theorized or suggested by some scientists.

In the first study, an international team of researchers from Pennsylvania State University in the U.S., the University of Adelaide in Australia, the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine, U.S., and the National Institutes of Earth Science in Beijing, China, used standard osteometric measurements and high resolution CT scanning and other published data for comparative purposes to determine that the bones of the single specimen “LB1” (Liang Bua 1) that represented the purported new species was more likely an example of a human of our own species who had an abnormal developmental condition. The facial assymetry and abnormally small measurements of the cranial and post-cranial bones were suggestive of a range of measurements not uncommon to a spectrum of abnormal developmental conditions in modern humans, the researchers maintained. Moreover, as the bones represented only a single individual or specimen, and there were no other comparable corroborating specimens either at the original discovery site or elsewhere in the world, the combination of factors shed doubt on the hypothesis that the bones of the individual represented those of a distinct new extinct species of human.

In the second study, also conducted by an international team of researchers (some of whom were also members of the first study), the authors measured the cranial volume of the specimen by filling the cranial cavity with mustard seed, took circumference measurements of the LB1 and members of the extant Rampasasa population of the area using a tape measure, used corresponding measurements from the clinical and paleoanthropological literature, and analyzed the combined data. In this study they concluded that the cranial dimensions of the single skull, along with other bone measurements from the same individual, are consistent with an individual with Down Syndrome [DS] and that other bones from the same population do not display Down-like characteristics: “The Liang Bua Cave skeletal remains demonstrate the existence on Flores, Indonesia, of a small-bodied Australomelanesian population that conforms with its regional and temporal provenance. Against this background, the abundant pathological signs that mark cranial and postcranial morphology of the LB1 individual establish a very high probability of that specimen manifesting DS.”*

Homo floresiensis has been considered by a number of scientists as an extinct species of human that did not fit neatly into the prevailing models or theories of human evolution. Discovered in 2003 by Australian archaeologist Michael Morwood at Liang Bua Cave on the island of Flores in Indonesia, the remains of the 3.5-feet-tall individual with unusual morphological (physical) characteristics was unearthed along with the partial skeletons of nine other individuals. Associated with stone tools from sediments dated from 94,000 to possibly as late as 12,000 years ago, the individual, nick-named the “hobbit” because of the short stature and large feet, has been the subject of intense debate for years. The individual was the only one among the assemblage of remains that featured a complete cranium.

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The LB1 skull specimen. Ryan Somma, Wikimedia Commons

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The island of Flores (shown in red) in Indonesia.

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The two studies have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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*Evolved developmental homeostasis disturbed in LB1 from Flores, Indonesia, denotes Down syndrome and not diagnostic traits of the invalid species Homo floresiensis; www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1407382111

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Did Deforestation Really Lead to Societal Collapse in Chaco Canyon?

Posted on July 28, 2014 by No Author -

It has been a long-accepted notion that the great-house society of the AD 900 to 1150 puebloan Chaco Canyon culture of the American Southwest collapsed because of deforestation to build their impressive communities. It is popularly cited as an example and warning of how human society employs unsustainable land-use practices.

But not so fast, say these researchers.

According to studies conducted by W.H. Wills, Brandon L. Drake and Wetherbee B. Dorshow of the Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, there is no substantial evidence, archaeological or otherwise, to support the contention that the puebloan peoples who built the architecturally impressive 11th-12th century AD structures of Chaco Canyon in present-day New Mexico abandoned their homes and centers in the 13th century because they exhausted their resources—the self-imposed poor-land-use destruction model often cited as a warning by environmentalists and others for our own future.

“There is no direct evidence for human impacts on local woodlands during the Bonito Phase [the period of high construction from AD 850 to 1150], no indication that agricultural fields were destroyed by deforestation or any other process, and, surprisingly, no conclusive information about the amount and sources of archaeological wood,” write the researchers in their Perspective report, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Indeed, Chaco residents had available sources of timber and other natural resources that certainly were less costly than those indicated in collapse models.”*

Between about AD 900 and 1150, Chaco Canyon was a major center of culture for the Ancient Pueblo Peoples. Chacoans quarried sandstone blocks and hauled timber from great distances, assembling fifteen major complexes that are thought to have been the largest buildings in North America north of Mexico until the 19th century. Some scientists suggest the Chacoans had a sophisticated knowledge of astronomical movements, as many of their buildings appear to have been aligned to capture the solar and lunar cycles, requiring generations of astronomical observations and centuries of skillfully coordinated construction. But all of this quickly came to an end in the 13th century, when the centers were mysteriously abandoned and were never revived. Many scholars have attributed the collapse to drought and/or deforestation.

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An image of the ruins of Chetro Ketl in Chaco Canyon (New Mexico, United States); shown is the complex’s great kiva

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An image of Hungo Pavi, located in the central portion of Chaco Canyon (New Mexico, United States). A staircase can be seen leading out of the complex.

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For this study, the researchers based their conclusions on a review of past research, in addition to their own data collections and analysis of archaeological wood and cost-weighted distance to potential tree resources in the nearby regional mountain areas, as well as historical availability of local resources and other factors such as climate change or consistency.

“Our point,” Wills, et al. continue, “is that we do not know where most of the wood in Chaco great houses originated, and we cannot eliminate local (canyon drainage) sources. Consequently there is no basis for concluding that the abandonment of Chaco Canyon was brought on by deforestation, improvident use of natural resources, or unstable exchange relationships, and therefore there is no reason to use Chaco’s history as a warning from the past about societal failure.”*

And changing climate (such as the 50-year drought that commenced in 1130 AD) may not be the culprit either, they maintain.

“Construction patterns indicate that overall energy investment in Chaco great houses began to decline dramatically in the late AD 1000s, before the onset of any documented drought periods, and immigrants appear to have arrived in Chaco during the 12th century drought.”*

Researchers and the public alike may never know. But for the present, at least for these researchers, the story remains very much an open-ended one.

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* Wills, W.H., Brandon, L. Drake, Dorshow, Wetherbee B., Prehistoric deforestation at Chaco Canyon?, Perspective article, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences; www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1409646111

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Earlier Stone Age artifacts found in Northern Cape of South Africa

Posted on July 25, 2014 by No Author -

Excavations at an archaeological site at Kathu in the Northern Cape province of South Africa have produced tens of thousands of Earlier Stone Age artifacts, including hand axes and other tools. These discoveries were made by archaeologists from the University of Cape Town (UCT), South Africa and the University of Toronto (U of T), in collaboration with the McGregor Museum in Kimberley, South Africa.

The archaeologists’ research on the Kathu Townlands site, one of the richest early prehistoric archaeological sites in South Africa, was published in the journal, PLOS ONE, on 24 July 2014. It is estimated that the site is between 700,000 and one million years old.

Steven James Walker from the Department of Archaeology at UCT, lead author of the journal paper, says: “The site is amazing and it is threatened. We’ve been working well with developers as well as the South African Heritage Resources Agency to preserve it, but the town of Kathu is rapidly expanding around the site. It might get cut off on all sides by development and this would be regrettable.”

Today, Kathu is a major iron mining center. Walker adds that the fact that such an extensive prehistoric site is located in the middle of a zone of intensive development poses a unique challenge for archaeologists and developers to find strategies to work cooperatively.

The Kathu Townlands site is one component of a grouping of prehistoric sites known as the Kathu Complex. Other sites in the complex include Kathu Pan 1 which has produced fossils of animals such as elephants and hippos, as well as the earliest known evidence of tools used as spears from a level dated to half a million years ago.

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Flakes and cores from Kathu Townlands, Beaumont Excavation. Credit: Steven James Walker & et al.

A: Large flake off the edge of the core consistent with biface shaping removal; B: Large flake with centripedal dorsal scars.; C: Blade, note that there is some cortex (indicated by C in the sketch) and that scars are not parallel; D-F: Small flakes, note that F is off the edge of the core; G: Discoidal core with removals off both faces. Break on one edge (upper edge in right view); H: Discoidal core with one large flake removal. Note that on the right-hand face the working is unclear and it is possible that this is a natural surface.

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Hand axes from surface collection. Credit: Steven James Walker & et al. A-B. Banded Ironstone; C. Quartzite

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Steven James Walker from the Department of Archaeology at UCT extracts a sample at the interface between the overlying red sands and the Earlier Stone Age archaeological deposits at the Kathu Townlands site. Credit: Vasa Lukich.

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Michael Chazan, Director of the Archaeology Center at U of T, emphasizes the scientific challenge posed by the density of the traces of early human activity in this area.

“We need to imagine a landscape around Kathu that supported large populations of human ancestors, as well as large animals like hippos. All indications suggest that Kathu was much wetter, maybe more like the Okavango than the Kalahari. There is no question that the Kathu Complex presents unique opportunities to investigate the evolution of human ancestors in Southern Africa.”

The full journal paper is available online.

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Source: Joint press release of the University of Cape Town and the University of Totonto

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Ancient naval ram found in Phanagoria reveals history of popular unrest in 63 B.C.

Posted on July 25, 2014 by No Author -

Anapa, July 25, 2014 – The Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation announces the discovery of an ancient naval ram used by the army of Mithradates VI of the Bosporan Kingdom to quell a popular uprising against him in Phanagoria in 63 B.C.

One-meter long ram and presumably made of bronze, it has an engraving of Mithradates VI, the king of Pontus from 119 to 63 B.C. who was the most powerful king in Anatolia during the 1^st century B.C. Often called Rome’s greatest enemy, he fought three wars against the Roman republic.

The ram was found in the submerged part of Phanagoria, the largest Greek colony on the Taman peninsula, not far from the 15-meter-long ship that was previously unearthed in 2012. When the ship was first discovered, scientists suggested the ship was an ancient Byzantine merchant vessel. However, the newly-found ram dismisses the previous version and proves that the ship was a bireme, an ancient oared warship with two decks of oars that Mithradates used to quell unrest. The ship was later burned by the protesters in 63 B.C.

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Newly-found naval ram in Phanagoria. Courtesy Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation

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The Roman historian Appian and the Greek historian Plutarch mentioned a citywide uprising at Phanagoria in 63 B.C. that culminated with the incineration of a huge public building and murder of Mithradates’s children and a wife, Hypsikratia. However, there was no material proof of these events until 2006.

In 2006, scientists involved in the Phanagorian archeological expedition, found a marble gravestone inscribed with an epitaph to “Hypsikrates, wife of Mithradates VI.” In his essays Plutarch referred to Hypsikratia as a woman “who on all occasions showed the spirit of a man and desperate courage; and accordingly the king Mithradates VI used to call her Hypsikrates [the male form of Hypsikratia].” The Archaeological Institute of America named this find one of the ten most exciting discoveries in 2009.

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Hypsikaratia’s marble gravestone found in 2006. Courtesy Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation

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Thus the ship’s ram continues the series of new discoveries that shed light on the history of the Phanagoria uprising and seemlessly match the historical narratives.

Scientists started to explore Phanagoria in the 18^th century, when it became an essential part of the Russian Empire. The exploration’s active phase, however, began just several years ago, which means archaeologists and historians are almost certain to find more artifacts and information related to Phanagoria, an area that has been something of a bridge between the East and the West for 1,500 years.

Volnoe Delo Foundation, one of Russia’s biggest privately-held charity funds, run by businessman and industrialist Oleg Deripaska, has supported research activities in the 2550-year-old city of Phanagoria since 2004. The Foundation has allocated over $10 million to Phanagoria fieldwork over the past 10 years. Now Phanagoria is one of the best equipped archeological expeditions in Russia, with its own scientific and cultural center, up-to-date equipment for above-ground and underwater excavation and diverse team of specialists involved in the fieldwork.

Among the recent discoveries made at Phanagoria are remains of a palace of Mithradates VI dated the 1^st century B.C., an ancient tomb with a stepped ceiling, the oldest temple unearthed on the Russian territory dating back to the 5^th century B.C. and a number of submerged objects, e.g., the ancient city’s streets covered with sand, Phanagoria’s port structures, and ship debris.

The excavations cover several areas, including the 2,500-square-metre acropolis at the centre of the ancient city, the eastern necropolis, an ancient cemetery that served as a burial place from the very founding of the city, and a submerged part of the city. What makes the expedition unique is the mix of diversified specialists working together. Apart from archeologists and historians, there are anthropologists, soil scientists, paleozoologists, numismatists and other researchers. A complex approach to the study of Phanagoria’s cultural relics helps to restore the residents’ way of living, religious beliefs, economic cooperation, as well as their roles in military conflicts.

“Phanagoria reveals its secrets year by year, showing us the hidden sides of the Black Sea region’s history,” said Vladimir Kuznetsov, Doctor of historical sciences and the head of the Phanagorian expedition. “Our task is to gradually, step by step, go deeper into the ancient times in order to study the circumstances under which people lived thousands of years ago in a thorough and precise way. It is important that we have the opportunity to carry out research using cutting-edge equipment, as well as work in comfortable conditions and carry out overall research of this historic object.”

Said Tamara Rumyantseva, head of Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation: “Phanagoria’s exploration is the Foundation’s top priority project. Now it’s the brightest and best equipped expedition in Russia. We’re constantly expanding our cooperation, and besides the expedition’s support, we have joint publishing projects, we teach future archeologists in the Kuban State University using our scientific and cultural potential to the fullest.”

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Bird’s eye panorama of the Phanagoria acropolis. Courtesy Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation

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Pottery found in Phanagoria. Courtesy Courtesy Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation

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About Phanagoria

Phanagoria is one of the main antiquity monuments on Russian soil. Founded in the mid-sixth century BC by Greek colonists, the city has long been one of the two capitals of the Bosporan Kingdom, an ancient state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula. Phanagoria was the major economic and cultural center of the Black Sea region, one of the biggest Greek cities, the first capital of Great Bulgaria, and one of the main cities of Khazar Kaganate. It is also one of the ancient centers of Christianity. Saint Andrew was believed to preach in Phanagoria. The city boasts the largest Jewish community in the Black Sea region: the first synagogue in Russia was built in Phanagoria in the 16th century AD.

In the 9-10th centuries the residents abandoned the city for reasons still unknown. Phanagoria is surrounded by Russia’s largest necropolis covering an area of over 300 hectares. The total volume of the cultural layers is 2.5 million cubic meters of soil; the layer’s depth is up to seven meters. No single building has been erected in the city since ancient times, which has helped preserve the ruins and the historical artifacts. Regular archeological expeditions have been conducted in Phanagoria since late 1930s. As of now, only two percent of the city’s territory has been studied. Phanagoria is located in the Temryuksky District in the Krasnodar region.

About Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation

Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation (www.volnoe-delo.ru) is one of the largest charity organizations and was founded by the Russian industrialist and businessman, Oleg Deripaska. The Foundation supports a wide range of initiatives, with a particular focus on Russian education and science. It helps to support the country’s cultural and historic heritage, contributes to the preservation of the spiritual values, and assists healthcare projects and solves crucial social problems.

Over the course of its work, the Foundation has found recipients among 86,000 schoolchildren, 4,000 teachers, 8,000 students, 4,000 academics and 1,100 educational, scientific, cultural, healthcare, sport, religious and other institutions.

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Source: Adapted and edited from a Volnoe Delo Oleg Deripaska Foundation press release.

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Dig Reveals More About Maryport Roman Temples Site

Posted on July 24, 2014 by No Author -

A team of archaeologists and volunteers led by Newcastle University’s Professor Ian Haynes and site director Tony Wilmott has been working on the Maryport Roman Temples project dig for the last six weeks.

This is the fourth season of work commissioned by the Senhouse Museum Trust. The aim of the project is to find out more about the complex religious landscape of the Maryport site, next to the Senhouse Roman Museum, where there is a Roman fort and large settlement.

Last year the team re-excavated a rectangular classical temple originally uncovered in the 1880s and were able to recover more detailed information to allow a reconstruction drawing to be made. This year they have concentrated on the area surrounding this and they have re-examined a large stone circular structure next to the rectangular temple. In front of the temple they have found evidence for an open gathering area and the foundations for a large monument.

“The rectangular temple is the most north westerly classical temple in the Roman world to be discovered so far and dates from the 2^nd century,” said Ian Haynes.

“Both this and the circular structure were originally located by local bank manager and amateur archaeologist Joseph Robinson. Photographs and other documents from the 1880s indicate that only part of this area was excavated and much remains to be discovered.

“From this year’s excavation we have evidence for an open area in front of the classical temple and the foundations of a substantial monument, which probably supported a free standing column. A further important discovery was the location of an entrance to the circular structure, indicating that it shared the same alignment as the rectangular temple.

“The finds also show this area, which is to the east of the settlement and north east of the fort, was used in a different way to the main settlement area. The contrast with domestic areas is pronounced and reflects the ritual character of this area.

“We would still like to find out more about exactly where and how the altars found in the 1870s further east of this site were originally displayed here when they were dedicated to the Roman god Jupiter each year by commanders of the fort.

“We have established that when they were ‘buried’ they were actually being reused in the foundations for a large timber building in the 4^th century, but where were they before then? We’re aiming to find more information on this when we return to work here next summer.”

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View of the excavation at the Maryport Temple project site. Courtesy Senhouse Museum Trust

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Community archaeologist Grace Marconi with a piece of a gaming board. Courtesy Senhouse Museum Trust

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The 23 Maryport Roman altars – one excavated by the team in 2012 – form an important part of the collection at the Senhouse Roman Museum. They are the largest group of Roman military altar stones and inscriptions from any single find in Britain.

The information the altars provide is of international importance for the study of the Roman army and its religious practices. The career histories of some of the fort commanders can be established from the inscriptions as they moved from posting to posting across the empire.

Rachel Newman of the Senhouse Museum Trust said: “Each year of the Temples project, with the fantastic support of volunteers and archaeology students on the dig, we’ve been able to build a more detailed picture of this part of the site.

“The digs have inspired more local people and school groups to visit the Senhouse Roman Museum and site too to find out about their amazing heritage.”

Over the six weeks of the dig the team has included sixth form students from Workington, Allonby and Newcastle working alongside adult volunteers and archaeology students from around the UK and from the US, Canada, the Netherlands, Albania and France.

Nigel Mills, heritage advisor to the Hadrian’s Wall Trust said: “The Temples project and the Settlement project at Maryport complement each other and show there is much potential to attract more visitors to the Roman sites along the Cumbrian coast. These sites are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, along with Hadrian’s Wall itself.

“Maryport was an important part of the coastal defences of Rome’s north west frontier for over 300 years. Roman citizens from across the Empire came here to make a living supplying soldiers in the fort and elsewhere across the frontier. The temple is evidence of close connections across the Empire. Roman citizens would have felt at home here in Maryport.”

The Senhouse Roman Museum is open every day from 10am to 5pm. More information is at www.senhousemuseum.co.uk.

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Senhouse Roman Museum (www.senhousemuseum.co.uk)

The museum cares for and displays the Netherhall Collection and other collections of Romano-British objects from West Cumbria. It develops permanent and temporary exhibitions, has a growing public engagement programme of events and activities for the general public, specialist groups and education groups, and a proactive research programme on the collection and the site it was recovered from.

The Netherhall Collection, which was begun by the Senhouse family in the 1570s, is the oldest private collection in the country, and is of international importance.

The museum displays the largest group of Roman military altar stones and inscriptions from any site in Britain and unique examples of Romano-British religious sculpture.

It is run by the Senhouse Museum Trust.

World Heritage Site

The Roman fort and civil settlement at Maryport are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site which includes Hadrian’s Wall and its attendant forts.

The FRE WHS represents the borderline of the Roman Empire at its furthest extent in the 2nd century AD. It stretched from the west coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast.

Source: Senhouse Museum Trust press release

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Dig Reveals More About Maryport Roman Temples Site

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