Archives: Articles

February 23rd, 2014

 New Evidence Suggests That Neandertals Buried Their Dead

Around 60,000 years ago, in a small limestone cave in what is now central France, Neandertals dug a grave and laid an elderly member of their clan to rest. That is the picture emerging from the archaeological site that yielded the famous La Chapelle-aux-Saints Neandertal skeleton in 1908, and it has important implications for understanding the behavior and cognitive capacity of our closest evolutionary relatives. Some archaeologists have long argued that a number of Neandertal sites preserve evidence of burials, a practice considered to be a key feature of modern human behavior. But critics have countered that the sites were excavated long ago using outmoded techniques that obscure the facts. (Scientific American)

Researchers Claim Discovery of America’s Oldest Fort

In an announcement likely to rewrite the book on early colonization of the New World, two researchers today said they have discovered the oldest fortified settlement ever found in North America. Speaking at an international conference on France at Florida State University, the pair announced that they have located Fort Caroline, a long-sought fort built by the French in 1564. (Heritage Daily)

Picture Gallery: Skulls, tools and cremations from 9,000 years of London archaeology

More than 50 archaeological finds, including skulls from Roman London, a Roman cremation pot, flint used by Londoners 9,000 years ago and items found in a suspected Black Death Plague burial ground are about to go on show at Crossrail’s site at Tottenham Court Road in London. (Culture 24)

Experts unearth ancient murder victim in East Lothian

Archaeologists have discovered a 900-year-old murder victim during a dig at the Scottish Seabird Centre in East Lothian. They found the skeleton of a young man dating from the 12th or 13th Centuries while investigating Kirk Ness, which was the site of a North Berwick church. Analysis revealed he was fatally stabbed four times in the back, twice in the left shoulder and in the ribs. The archaeologists said he was over the age of 20. (BBC News)

Quake-hit ancient city of Tralleis being restored

Robbed of its place in the annals of history by a series of earthquakes, the ancient city of Tralleis is set to regain some of its former glory with a number of restorations that are expected to bring in tourists. (Hurriyet Daily News)

Richard III DNA tests to reveal hair, eyes and diseases of the King

Otzi the Iceman, Neanderthal specimens, a Denisovan and a Greenlandic Inuit and a hunter gatherer from Spain make up the small and ancient cast to have had their genomes sequenced. Now Richard III will join them, with Dr Turi King, of the Department of Genetics at the University of Leicester, set to analyse the hair, eyes and genetic fallibilities of the king found under a car park. (Culture24)

Dating refined for Atapuerca site where Homo antecessor appeared

One of the issues of the Atapuerca sites that generates the most scientific debate is the dating of the strata where the fossils are found. A study has clarified that the sediment of Gran Dolina, where the first remains of Homo antecessor were discovered in 1994, is 900,000 years old. The findings at the Lower Palaeolithic cave site of Gran Dolina, in the Sierra de Atapuerca mountain range (Burgos), have led to major advancements in our knowledge of human evolution and occupation of Eurasia. (Science Daily)

February 19th, 2014

Do We Never Learn?

As natural climatic shocks strike the world over, both historically and recently, the human reaction has followed an old pattern. Over and over again, according to a new study, disaster management efforts related to food shortages caused by climate shocks result in returning the conditions back to the way they were before the shortage, rather than addressing root causes or vulnerabilities. (Popular Archaeology)

2,300-year-old village discovered near ‘Burma Road’

The remnants of a rural settlement that was occupied for approximately two centuries during the Second Temple Period have been uncovered. The find was made during an Israel Antiquities Authority archaeological salvage excavation, before the start of work on a natural gas pipeline to Jerusalem as part of a national project directed by Israel Natural Gas Lines (INGL). (Heritage Daily)

Ancient dog burial site found in Mexico

ARCHAEOLOGISTS say they have discovered “an exceptional” burial site under an apartment building in Mexico City containing the remains of 12 dogs, animals that had a major religious and symbolic significance to the Aztec peoples of central Mexico.Experts with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, said in a statement on Friday that this is the first time a group of dogs has been found buried together.They have been found accompanying human remains or as part of an offering in a monument. (CourierMail)

Ancient Viking code deciphered for the first time

An ancient Norse code which has been puzzling experts for years has been cracked by a Norwegian runologist – to discover the Viking equivalent of playful text messages. The mysterious jötunvillur code, which dates to 12th or 13th-century Scandinavia, has been unravelled by K Jonas Nordby from the University of Oslo, after he studied a 13th-century stick on which two men, Sigurd and Lavrans, had carved their name in both code and in standard runes. The jötunvillur code is found on only nine inscriptions, from different parts of Scandinavia, and has never been interpreted before. (The Guardian)

Archaeology: Spanish mission finds tomb from 1600 BC

A tomb dating back to 1600 BC of a man called Neb, which is practically intact, sheds new light on the XVII dynasty of ancient Egypt. It is the important finding made by researchers with the Djehuty project, led by the Spanish superior council of scientific research (Csic) and carried out far north in the Dra Abu el-Naga necropolis in Luxor, ancient Thebes, sources with Csic told ANSAmed. (ANSAmed)

‘Graffiti’ in Mingary Castle thought to be 700 years old

Archaeologists believe that markings scratched into the walls of a Scottish castle could be 700 years old. A team carrying out preservation work at Mingary Castle, on the Ardnamurchan peninsula, discovered the “graffiti” on plastered walls of the chapel. Some of the simple markings are thought to represent a ship and the first letter of someone’s name. (BBC News)

Hidden New England Landscape Comes to Life

Assistant professor of geography and geosciences William Ouimet and Ph.D. student Katharine Johnson have successfully combined state-of-the-art remote sensing technology with their mutual appreciation of New England’s rich and varied history to uncover long-lost features beneath the forest canopy that covers the region. (UCONN)

As natural climatic shocks strike the world over, both historically and recently, the human reaction has followed an old pattern. Over and over again, according to a new study, disaster management efforts related to food shortages caused by climate shocks result in returning the conditions back to the way they were before the shortage, rather than addressing root causes or vulnerabilities.

“Exposures to climate challenges and other environmental risks are not the sole causes of disasters,”  says Margaret Nelson, an ASU President’s Professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change. “People have unintentionally built vulnerabilities through decisions and actions in social, political and economic realms.”

Nelson made the comment at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago on February 16 as part of a team of four Arizona State University archaeologists. They are researching this as part of an international team examining how people can be most resilient to climate change when it comes to food security.

The research team used long-term archaeological and historical data from the North Atlantic Islands and the U.S. Southwest to form the basis of their understanding of changing dynamics in these areas. Each case in their study included information on evolving social, political and economic conditions over centuries, as well as climate data.

The extended timeframe and global scope allowed them to observe changes in the context of vulnerabilities and climate challenges on a broad scale. “The pattern is so consistent across different regions of the world experiencing substantially different climate shocks, that the role of vulnerability cannot be ignored,” she added.

Their findings support the argument for focusing on reducing vulnerabilities to climate shocks to boost resilience, which will ultimately lead to fewer required recovery efforts when crises occur. 

Other ASU archaeologists involved in the study are professors Keith Kintigh, Michelle Hegmon and Kate Spielmann, all of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

______________________________

Source: Adapted and edited from a Arizona State University press release.

Cover Photo, Top Left: World globe map, Wikimedia Commons

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

Called ‘Globetrotter’, the powerful technique has produced an interactive genetic roadmap to understanding how human population interbreeding has illucidated our ancestral connections and even uncovered human events previously undocumented in history. 

Led by Dr. Garrett Hellenthal of the University College London Genetics Institute, a team of researchers has reconstructed the genetic mixing between each of 95 populations spanning Europe, Africa, Asia and South America over the last four thousand years. They did this by developing and applying a sophisticated statistical algorithmic approach to analyze the genomes (DNA) of 1,490 individuals in 95 populations around the world. The method relies on the fact that sections of DNA unique to a population “shrink” over time the farther one gets from the original breeding event; in other words, the smaller the DNA trace, the more ancient the admixture, or breeding event. With this method, Hellenthal and colleagues were able to identify as many as 100 admixture events across 160 generations over the last four millenia. 

“DNA really has the power to tell stories and uncover details of humanity’s past,” said Dr Simon Myers of Oxford University’s Department of Statistics and Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, co-senior author of the study. The researchers were able to associate some of the admixture events with key historical periods and events, such as the rule of Alexander the Great. It has also shed light on ancient events and how humans were interacting during times and in places where there is currently no historical record of the interaction. 

“Because our approach uses only genetic data, it provides information independent from other sources. Many of our genetic observations match historical events, and we also see evidence of previously unrecorded genetic mixing. For example, the DNA of the Tu people in modern China suggests that in around 1200 C.E., Europeans similar to modern Greeks mixed with an otherwise Chinese-like population. Plausibly, the source of this European-like DNA might be merchants travelling the nearby Silk Road.”

Throughout history, populations intermixed as groups of people migrated and empires and civilizations expanded. But until now, the actual timing of the interbreeding events that contributed to the genetic makeup of humans today has not been clear. 

“What amazes me most is simply how well our technique works,” said Hellenthal. “Although individual mutations carry only weak signals about where a person is from, by adding information across the whole genome we can reconstruct these mixing events. Sometimes individuals sampled from nearby regions can have surprisingly different sources of mixing.”

“For example, we identify distinct events happening at different times among groups sampled within Pakistan, with some inheriting DNA from sub-Saharan Africa, perhaps related to the Arab Slave Trade, others from East Asia, and yet another from ancient Europe,” added Hellenthal. “Nearly all our populations show mixing events, so they are very common throughout recent history and often involve people migrating over large distances.”

“Each population has a particular genetic palette,” said Dr Daniel Falush of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, co-senior author of the study. “If you were to paint the genomes of people in modern-day Maya, for example, you would use a mixed palette with colours from Spanish-like, West African and Native American DNA. This mix dates back to around 1670 C.E., consistent with historical accounts describing Spanish and West African people entering the Americas around that time. Though we can’t directly sample DNA from the groups that mixed in the past, we can capture much of the DNA of these original groups as persisting, within a mixed palette of modern-day groups. This is a very exciting development.”

The detailed report is published in the 14 February 2014 issue of Science. Science is published by AAAS, the nonprofit science society.

See the interactive map for more information about specific populations.

_____________________

The research was funded by the Oxford University John Fell Fund, the National Institutes of Health (USA), the Wellcome Trust, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the joint Royal Society/Wellcome Trust Sir Henry Dale Fellowship.

Edited and adapted from the University College London press release, Interactive map of human genetic history revealed.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

February 10th, 2014

Genetic Origins of High-Altitude Adaptations in Tibetans

Genetic adaptations for life at high elevations found in residents of the Tibetan plateau likely originated around 30,000 years ago in peoples related to contemporary Sherpa. These genes were passed on to more recent migrants from lower elevations via population mixing, and then amplified by natural selection in the modern Tibetan gene pool, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Chicago and Case Western Reserve University, published in Nature Communications on Feb. 10. (Popular Archaeology)

Gladiator Heads? Mystery of Trove of British Skulls Solved

A trove of skulls and other body parts unearthed in the heart of London may have once belonged to Roman gladiators, war captives or criminals, a new study suggests. The remains, described in the January issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, belonged to about 40 men, mostly ages 25 to 35, and were marred by violence: cheek fractures, blunt-force trauma to the head, decapitation and injuries from sharp weapons, said study co-author Rebecca Redfern, a curator and bioarchaeologist at the Museum of London. (Live Science)

Aztalan Astronomical Observatory Linked to Sun Worship

Archaeologists have located an astronomical observatory linked to sun worship in the Cerro de Coamiles site, one of the leading centres of Aztatlán (AD 850/900-1350 ) culture located in the central coast of Nayarit, Western Mexico. This discovery has helped define the importance astronomy had for the coastal boreal Mesoamerican.  (Past Horizons)

3D technology gives face to a centuries-old female skull

The scattered pieces of a centuries-old female skull have been reassembled and a new face has been formed for it thanks to 3D technology. A scattered female skull, which was found during excavations in the Aktopraklık tumulus in the northwestern province of Bursa’s Akçalar district and determined to have been killed with torture, has been reassembled and its face has been constructed with 3D technology. (Hurriyet Daily News)

New Dating Pushes Atapuerca Homo Antecessor to 900,000 BP

The caves of the Sierra de Atapuerca contain a rich fossil record of the earliest hominins in Europe starting nearly one million years ago. They represent an exceptional reserve of data, the scientific study of which provides priceless information about the appearance and the way of life of these remote human ancestors. (Past Horizons)

Spanish, Egyptian Archaeologists Make Discovery That Changes Chronology of the Pharaohs

A team of Spanish and Egyptian archaeologists made a find in a southern Egyptian tomb that opens the way to a reinterpretation of Pharaonic chronology, since it could show that Amenhotep III and his son Amenhotep IV reigned together. The team, headed by Spaniard Francisco Martin Valentin and funded by Spain’s Gaselec foundation, excavated the remains of a wall and columns of the mausoleum of a minister of the 18th Pharaonic dynasty – 1569-1315 B.C. – in the province of Luxor. (Latino Daily News)

Achaemenid Inscription Found in Iran’s Perspolis

The inscription was unearthed at the Palace of Xerxes King (Khashayar Shah) reigned around 520 BCE. A team of experts is trying to attach the pieces together to decipher the text of inscription, said the team leader Professor Gian Pietro Basello of the University of Naples, Italy. Basello is a specialist in historical philology of Iranian languages of the “L’Orientale.” (Fars News)

Remains of building may be part of ancient queen’s palace

New excavations at the Makimuku archaeological dig here have unearthed the remains of a building that further indicate the palace of the shaman queen Himiko was located on the site in the earliest days of Japan, municipal education board officials said Feb. 6. (The Asahi Shimbun)

Genetic adaptations for life at high elevations found in residents of the Tibetan plateau likely originated around 30,000 years ago in peoples related to contemporary Sherpa. These genes were passed on to more recent migrants from lower elevations via population mixing, and then amplified by natural selection in the modern Tibetan gene pool, according to a new study by scientists from the University of Chicago and Case Western Reserve University, published in Nature Communications on Feb. 10.    

The transfer of beneficial mutations between human populations and selective enrichment of these genes in descendent generations represents a novel mechanism for adaptation to new environments.

“The Tibetan genome appears to arise from a mixture of two ancestral gene pools,” said Anna Di Rienzo, PhD, professor of human genetics at the University of Chicago and corresponding author of the study. “One migrated early to high altitude and adapted to this environment. The other, which migrated more recently from low altitudes, acquired the advantageous alleles from the resident high-altitude population by interbreeding and forming what we refer to today as Tibetans.”

High elevations are challenging for humans because of low oxygen levels but Tibetans are well adapted to life above 13,000 feet. Due to physiological traits such as relatively low hemoglobin concentrations at altitude, Tibetans have lower risk of complications, such as thrombosis, compared to short-term visitors from low altitude. Unique to Tibetans are variants of the EGLN1 and EPAS1 genes, key genes in the oxygen homeostasis system at all altitudes. These variants were hypothesized to have evolved around 3,000 years ago, a date which conflicts with much older archaeological evidence of human settlement in Tibet.

To shed light on the evolutionary origins of these gene variants, Di Rienzo and her team, led by first author Choongwon Jeong, graduate student at the University of Chicago, obtained genome-wide data from 69 Nepalese Sherpa, an ethnic group related to Tibetans. These were analyzed together with the genomes of 96 unrelated individuals from high-altitude regions of the Tibetan plateau, worldwide genomes from HapMap3 and the Human Genome Diversity Panel, as well as data from Indian, Central Asian and two Siberian populations, through multiple statistical methods and sophisticated software.

The researchers found that, on a genomic level, modern Tibetans appear to descend from populations related to modern Sherpa and Han Chinese. Tibetans carry a roughly even mixture of two ancestral genomes: one a high-altitude component shared with Sherpa and the other a low-altitude component shared with lowlander East Asians. The low-altitude component is found at low to nonexistent frequencies in modern Sherpa, and the high-altitude component is uncommon in lowlanders. This strongly suggested that the ancestor populations of Tibetans interbred and exchanged genes, a process known as genetic admixture.

Tracing the history of these ancestor groups through genome analysis, the team identified a population size split between Sherpa and lowland East Asians around 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, a range consistent with proposed archaeological, mitochondria DNA and Y chromosome evidence for an initial colonization of the Tibetan plateau around 30,000 years ago.

“This is a good example of evolution as a tinkerer,” said Cynthia Beall, PhD, professor of anthropology at Case Western Reserve University and co-author on the study. “We see other examples of admixtures. Outside of Africa, most of us have Neanderthal genes—about 2 to 5 percent of our genome—and people today have some immune system genes from another ancient group called the Denisovans.”

The team also found that Tibetans shared specific high-altitude component traits with Sherpa, such as the EGLN1 and EPAS1 gene variants, despite the significant amount of genome contribution from lowland East Asians. Further analysis revealed these adaptations were disproportionally enhanced in frequency in Tibetans after admixture, strong evidence of natural selection at play. This stands in contrast to existing models that propose selection works through new advantageous mutations or on existing variants becoming beneficial in a new environment.

“The chromosomal locations that are so important for Tibetans to live at high elevations are locations that have an excess of genetic ancestry from their high-altitude ancestral gene pool,” Di Rienzo said. “This is a new tool we can use to identify advantageous alleles in Tibetans and other populations in the world that experienced this type of admixture and selection.”

This image shows the proportion of high-altitude ancestry (red) to low-altitude ancestry (green) in Sherpa, three groups of Tibetans, and lowland East Asians. Credit: Nature Communications, Anna Di Rienzo

 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

In addition to the EPAS1 and EGLN1 genes, the researchers discovered two other genes with a strong proportion of high-altitude genetic ancestry, HYOU1 and HMBS. The former is known to be up-regulated in response to low oxygen levels and the latter plays an important role in the production of heme, a major component of hemoglobin.

“There is a strong possibility that these genes are adaptations to high altitude,” Di Rienzo adds. “They represent an example of how the ancestry-based approach used in this study will help make new discoveries about genetic adaptations.”

______________________ 

The study “Admixture-facilitated genetic adaptations to high altitude in Tibet,” was supported by the National Science Foundation. Additional authors include Gorka Alkorta-Aranburu, David B. Witonsky and Jonathan K. Pritchard from the University of Chicago, Buddha Basnyat from the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit at Patan Hospital in Nepal and Maniraj Neupane from the Mountain Medicine Society of Nepal.

The University of Chicago Medicine and Biological Sciences is one of the nation’s leading academic medical institutions. It comprises the Pritzker School of Medicine, a top 10 medical school in the nation; the University of Chicago Biomedical Sciences Division; and the University of Chicago Medical Center, which recently opened the Center for Care and Discovery, a $700 million specialty medical facility. Twelve Nobel Prize winners in physiology or medicine have been affiliated with the University of Chicago Medicine.

Case Western Reserve University is one of the country’s leading private research institutions. Located in Cleveland, we offer a unique combination of forward-thinking educational opportunities in an inspiring cultural setting. Our leading-edge faculty engage in teaching and research in a collaborative, hands-on environment. Our nationally recognized programs include arts and sciences, dental medicine, engineering, law, management, medicine, nursing and social work. Ab

_____________________________

Source: University of Chicago Medical Center Press Release 

Cover Photo: Thame village at 3,800 m in the Khumbu District of Nepal is the home of many outstanding Sherpa climbers and was a site of data collection for the present study. The yak in the foreground came from the Tibet Autonomous Region loaded with agricultural and trade goods; there is a flourishing cross-border trade in this area. Credit: Cynthia Beall

Photo first above from top, right: Sherpani is shown taking a rest along a trail at 3,800 m in the Khumbu District of Nepal and had carried loads to earn cash outside of the trekking season. Credit: Cynthia Beall

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

Researchers have securely dated a prehistoric human stone tool industry that is thought to have been used by early modern humans, or possibly late Neanderthals, around the time when early modern humans were beginning to emerge in Europe, arguably sometime between 40,000 to 50,000 years B.P. 

Scientists have long debated questions surrounding when the first modern humans entered Europe and what tools they first used upon entering. The Uluzzian, a prehistoric stone tool techno-tradition represented by lithic artifacts unearthed by archaeologists at cave locations primarily in Italy and Greece, has been a central contender as a possible “transitional” industry between the typical stone tool types (the Mousterian) used by late European Neanderthals and those (Aurignacian, Châtelperronian) of the earliest modern human newcomers to Europe. Uncertainty and debate has historically characterized the exact chronology of the Uluzzian techno-complex, including the identification of the species of human that made and used them. Research within the past few years, buttressed by association of early modern human fossils found in context with Uluzzian tools, has strengthened the suggestion that they belonged to early modern humans.

Now, an international scientific team led by Katerina Douka of the University of Oxford is reporting the results of a new study, concluding that the Uluzzian arose or arrived in what is present-day Italy and Greece shortly before 45,000 years ago, with its latest phases placed at around 39,500 years ago, and “its end synchronous (if not slightly earlier) with the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption”.* The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption refers to the eruption of the Archiflegreo volcano around 37,000 years B.P., coincidental or correlated to Middle Paleolithic (beginning 300,000 years ago) to Upper Paleolithic (beginning between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago) cultural transitions and the theorized replacement of Neanderthal populations by anatomically modern humans in southeastern Europe. The replacement theory and the Archiflegreo volcanic eruption as a causal element within this model has been a subject of continuing debate.

To determine the new dates, the researchers integrated the results of new radiocarbon dating tests and a Bayesian statistical approach on samples from four caves where Uluzzian artifacts have been found in Italy and Greece (Cavallo, Fumane, Castelcivita and Klissoura 1). In addition to constructing a new chronology for the Uluzzian, they also examined the culture’s appearance, its time and space spread and its correlation to earlier and later Palaeolithic stone tool assemblages (i.e., Mousterian, Protoaurignacian) within the relevant geographic regions.

The Uluzzian was first discovered in the early 1960s at the site of Grotta del Cavallo in southern Italy. This cave yielded about 7 meters of archaeological deposits representing the period during which scientists have suggested that Neanderthals were replaced by modern humans. Two milk teeth, attributed at the time to Neanderthals, were unearthed in 1964 by Arturo Palma di Cesnola (emeritus of the University of Siena) from the Uluzzian layers. The Uluzzian culture has been identified at more than 20 separate sites across Italy, and is characterised as consisting of an array of denticulates, sidescrapers, retouched pieces and splintered pieces, distinguished by a production process that differed from that of the earlier Mousterian (associated with Neanderthals) and the proto-Aurignacian (associated with early modern humans).* Finds have also included what has been interpreted as personal ornaments, bone tools and colourants; items typically associated with modern human symbolic behaviour. Because the teeth from Cavallo were identified as belonging to Neanderthals who lived around 200,000 to 40,000 years ago, it was suggested that the Uluzzian and the complex ornaments and tools within it were also produced by Neanderthals.* But in a study published in 2011 in the journal Nature, Stefano Benazzi of the University of Vienna and his colleagues were able to compare digital models derived from micro-computed tomography scans of the human remains from Grotta del Cavallo with those of a large modern human and Neanderthal dental sample: “We worked with two independent methods: for the one, we measured the thickness of the tooth enamel, and for the other, the general outline of the crown. By means of micro-computed tomography it was possible to compare the internal and external features of the dental crown. The results clearly show that the specimens from Grotta del Cavallo were modern humans, not Neanderthals as originally thought.”**

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Uluzzian artifacts from Grotta del Cavallo, Apulia, southern Italy. Credit: Annamaria Ronchitelli and Katerina Douka

________________________________________________________________________________________

Mesial view of the specimen Cavallo-B (deciduous left upper first molar). The white bar in the figure is equivalent to 1 cm. Credit: Stefano Benazzi

_________________________________________________________________________________________

The most recent study is published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

________________________

*http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2013.12.007

** The Early dispersal of modern humans in Europe and implications for Neanderthal behaviour. 
Benazzi, S., Douka, K., Fornai, C., Bauer, C.C., Kullmer, O., Svoboda, J., Pap, I., Mallegni, F., Bayle, P., Coquerelle, M., Condemi, S., Ronchitelli, A., Harvati, K., Weber, G.W. In. Nature, Nov. 3, 2011. DOI 10.1038/nature10617 

Cover Photo, Top Left:  The Grotta del Cavallo (red arrow) opens on the bay of Uluzzo, which is located in the Regional Natural Park of Portoselvaggio, Apulia, southern Italy. Credit: Annamaria Ronchitelli

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

An ancient site in eastern Crete may now be providing some answers to the questions of how and why the earliest Archaic city-states on this important Greek island of the Aegean developed and emerged more than 2,500 years ago.

Led by Project Director and archaeologist Donald Haggis of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and Field Director Margaret Mook of Iowa State University, a research and excavation team will return to the location of Azoria, an archaeological site situated on a hill overlooking the Gulf of Mirabello in northeastern Crete. Initially explored by the American archaeologist Harriet Boyd-Hawes in 1900, the site has since yielded evidence of human occupation from Final Neolithic times until shortly after 200 B.C.E. The most prolific remains recovered, however, span the periods corresponding to a long, continuous occupation from the Early Iron Age or Greek Dark Age (1200-700 B.C.E.) into the Early Archaic (700-600 B.C.E.). 

Haggis and his team first began full-scale excavations at the site in 2002, and continued work at the site through 2006, uncovering, among many other finds, significant structural remains of Archaic civic buildings and houses. Their aim was to explore the early history of the site and develop a stratigraphy and chronology of changes in the settlement during the transition from the Early Iron Age to the Archaic, with a special focus on understanding the development of the 6th-century B.C.E. urban center, the early Greek city-state. 

Previous excavations have already uncovered an Archaic multi-room structure called the Communal Dining Building, interpreted as a possible dining hall used for corporate syssitia, (a communal meal of male citizens organized as hetairiai, or clubs); the Monumental Civic Building, a large hall with a stepped bench built into the walls of its interior; and an adjoining two-room shrine. This building complex included nearby buildings or facilities thought to have provided support services, containing multiple store rooms (consisting of food stored in pithoi) and kitchens with stone-lined hearths. Also discovered with the service complex was a well-preserved olive press facility—considered the earliest known beam press of the post-Bronze Age Aegean. Evidence pointed to a fiery destruction at Azoria in the 5th century B.C.E.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Interior view of the Monumental Civic Building. Wikimedia Commons 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Interior view of the northwest service building storeroom. Wikimedia Commons 

________________________________________________________________________________________

 Service building kitchens. Wikimedia Commons

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Service building kitchen destruction deposit. Wikimedia Commons 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Terracotta votive figurines from the altar in the Archaic shrine at Azoria. Wikimedia Commons

_________________________________________________________________________________________

But the excavation goals go far beyond developing an understanding of one site.

Reports Haggis and Mook: “The excavation constitutes the first case study of the political economy of Archaic Crete, while augmenting our knowledge of the agropastoral resource base of Aegean communities in early stages of urbanization.” Researchers hope that knowledge gained from the excavations will inform further exploration of the beginnings of urbanization and the formation of  early Greek city-states in Crete.*

For the coming season of work, set to begin at the end of May, 2014, Haggis and Mook intend to field a team of professional staff, students and volunteers to take up the task of gathering additional archaeological data to help fill in more gaps in the total picture of urban beginnings. 

“Our plan of work for 2013-2017 is to excavate an early Greek temple (ca. 1000-700 B.C.E.) and several Archaic-period houses (6th and early 5th c. B.C.E.), and to conduct a number of stratigraphic soundings in the area of the civic buildings in order to refine our understanding of the chronology and history of the site.”**

See the project website for more information about the excavations, field school, and how one can participate as a student or volunteer.

The Azoria excavations are conducted under the auspices of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

____________________________ 

* http://www.unc.edu/~dchaggis/

** http://www.unc.edu/~dchaggis/Fieldschool.html

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

It is almost common knowledge now, thanks to recent DNA studies, that many non-African humans living today have traces of Neanderthal DNA within their genomes — the evidence, according to geneticists, that anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) interbred with their contemporary Neanderthal species cousins tens of thousands of years ago in places where they coexisted in present-day Europe and Asia. 

Now, a new study, conducted by researchers under the leadership of Benjamin Vernot and Joshua Akey of the University of Washington, Seattle, have come up with a proven methodology to determine the percentages and precise genome segments that have been inherited, and which parts of the total Neanderthal genome sequence is observed to have bestowed an adaptive advantage (and thus retained) in their modern human descendants.

Their model involved a two-staged computational strategy framework, without additonal sampling of fossil remains, applied to whole-genome sequences of 379 Europeans and 286 East Asians, courtesy of data from the 1000 Genomes Project. The results of their research suggested that, while the total amount of Neanderthal sequence in any individual modern human is relatively low, about 2 – 4 percent, the cumulative amount of the Neanderthal genome identified across all humans in the aggregate represents segments that constituted about 20 percent of a total Neanderthal genome sequence. 

In some parts of the modern genome, they observed large regions without Neanderthal DNA, suggesting that certain portions of the archaic genetic sequence were deleterious to survival. On the other hand, they also observed sections of the modern sequence that showed more Neanderthal DNA than expected. Vernot and Akey concluded that these sequences remained because their functions provided an adaptive advantage, perhaps related to skin phenotype.

Their study could have far-reaching implications for further research.

“Our  results  provide a new avenue for paleogenomics studies,” write Vernot and Akey in their report, “allowing substantial amounts of population-­level  DNA sequence information to be obtained from extinct groups even in the absence of fossilized remains……. potentially allowing the discovery and characterization of previously unknown hominins that interbred with modern humans.”*

In a related study published in the Jan. 29 issue of the journal Nature, another team of scientists led by Harvard Medical School geneticist David Reich, including Svante Pääbo of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, has obtained results suggesting that modern human populations have inherited other genetic traits from Neanderthals that are connected to both positive adaptive functions and characteristics and those that could be described as negative. They have found traces of Neanderthal DNA, for example, that have affected the keratin filaments in the skin — proteins that make hair, nails and skin tougher for surviving colder climates — genes that affect the immune system; and genes that affect such conditions as Crohn’s disease, type 2 diabetes, smoking behavior, billiary cirrhosis, and lupus. The researchers did this by analyzing the genetic variants found in 846 non-African people and 176 people from sub-Saharan Africa, and then comparing the results to that of a 50,000-year-old Neanderthal with a relatively intact genome sequence. 

Details of the Vernot and Akey study are published in the journal Science, and on January 29, 2014 in Sciencexpress. 

_________________________

Cover Photo, Top Left: Working in a clean room, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, took extensive precautions to avoid contaminating Neanderthal DNA samples – extracted from bones like this one – with DNA from any other source, including modern humans. NHGRI researchers are part of the international team that sequenced the genome of the Neanderthal, Homo neanderthalensis. Wikimedia Commons

*Article #16: “Resurrecting Surviving Neanderthal Lineages from Modern Human Genomes,” by B. Vernot; J.M. Akey at University of Washington in Seattle, WA.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

An international team of scientists has discovered that two of the world’s most devastating plagues – the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death, each responsible for killing as many as half the people in Europe during the time of their outbreak—were caused by distinct strains of the same pathogen, one that faded out on its own, the other leading to worldwide spread and re-emergence in the late 1800s. The findings suggest a new strain of plague could emerge again in humans in the future.

“The research is both fascinating and perplexing,” says Hendrik Poinar, associate professor and director of the McMaster Ancient DNA Centre and an investigator with the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research. “It generates new questions which need to be explored. For example, why did this pandemic [the Plague of Justinian], which killed somewhere between 50 and 100 million people, die out?” 

The findings are dramatic because little has been known about the origins or cause of the Justinian Plague– which helped bring an end to the Roman Empire – and its relationship to the Black Death, some 800 years later.

Scientists hope this could lead to a better understanding of the dynamics of modern infectious disease, including a form of the plague that still kills thousands every year.

The Plague of Justinian struck in the sixth century and is estimated to have killed between 30 and 50 million people— virtually half the world’s population as it spread across Asia, North Africa, Arabia and Europe. The Black Death would strike some 800 years later with similar force, killing 50 million Europeans between just 1347 and 1351 alone.

Using sophisticated methods, researchers from many universities including McMaster University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Sydney, isolated miniscule DNA fragments from the 1500-year-old teeth of two victims of the Justinian plague, buried in a small cemetery in the German town of Aschheim. Scientists believe the victims died in the latter stages of the epidemic when it had reached southern Bavaria, Germany, likely sometime between 541 and 543. 

Using these short fragments, they reconstructed the genome of the oldest Yersinia pestis, the bacterium responsible for the plague, and compared it to a database of genomes of more than a hundred contemporary strains. They show the strain responsible for the Justinian outbreak was an evolutionary ‘dead-end’ and distinct from strains involved later in the Black Death and other plague pandemics that would follow. These are the oldest pathogen genomes obtained to date. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Skeletal remains, partially buried. Courtesy McMaster University

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Skeletal remains after exhumation. Courtesy McMaster University

________________________________________________________________________________________

Ancient tooth from one of the exhumed victims of the Justinian Plague. Courtesy McMaster University

_________________________________________________________________________________________ 

The third pandemic, which spread from Hong Kong across the globe is likely a descendant of the Black Death strain and thus much more successful than the one responsible for the Justinian Plague.

“We know the bacterium Y. pestis has jumped from rodents into humans throughout history and rodent reservoirs of plague still exist today in many parts of the world. If the Justinian plague could erupt in the human population, cause a massive pandemic, and then die out, it suggest it could happen again. Fortunately we now have antibiotics that could be used to effectively treat plague, which lessens the chances of another large scale human pandemic” says Dave Wagner, an associate professor in the Center for Microbial Genetics and Genomics at Northern Arizona University.

Researchers now believe the Justinian Y. pestis strain originated in Asia, not in Africa as originally thought. But they could not establish a ‘molecular clock’ so its evolutionary time-scale remains elusive. This suggests that earlier epidemics, such as the Plague of Athens (430 BC) and the Antonine Plague (165 -180 AD), could also be separate, independent emergences of related Y. pestis strains into humans.

“The tick of the plague bacteria molecular clock is highly erratic. Determining why is an important goal for future research” says Edward Holmes, an NHMRC Australia Fellow at the University of Sydney.

Our response to modern infectious diseases is a direct outcome of lessons learned from ancestral pandemics, say the researchers.

“This study raises intriguing questions about why a pathogen that was both so successful and so deadly died out. One testable possibility is that human populations evolved to become less susceptible,” says Holmes.

“Another possibility is that changes in the climate became less suitable for the plague bacterium to survive in the wild,” says Wagner.

The results are currently published in the online edition of The Lancet Infectious Diseases. 

________________________________

The research was funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Canada Research Chairs Program, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council.

________________________________

Source: Adapted and edited from a McMaster University Press Release.

Cover Photo, Top Left:

McMaster’s Jennifer Klunk examines a sample.  Courtesy McMaster University

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

January 28th, 2014

 Scientists Discover Cause of Devastating Plague of Justinian

An international team of scientists has discovered that two of the world’s most devastating plagues – the Plague of Justinian and the Black Death, each responsible for killing as many as half the people in Europe during the time of their outbreak—were caused by distinct strains of the same pathogen, one that faded out on its own, the other leading to worldwide spread and re-emergence in the late 1800s. The findings suggest a new strain of plague could emerge again in humans in the future. (Popular Archaeology)

Portrait of a Mesolithic Period Individual Emerges

Researchers in Spain recovered and studied a genome of a Mesolithic period European hunter-gatherer, and concluded that he had blue eyes and dark skin. Designated La Braña 1, the specimen was unearthed at the La Braña-Arintero site in Valdelugueros (León, Spain), where the remains of at least one other skeleton was uncovered. They were discovered by chance in 2006 and excavated by Julio Manuel Vidal Encinas, an archeologist with the Council of Castilla y León. (Popular Archaeology)

Carmel cavemen used plants in rituals 13,000 years ago, archaeologists find

Cavemen in ancient Israel not only buried their dead with flowers – they also apparently had an advanced culture of plant use, not only for consumption but for ritual as well. The earliest evidence of using flower beds for burial, some 13,700 years ago, was reported in Raqefet Cave in Mt. Carmel last summer. In four different graves from the Natufian period, dating back to 13,700 to 11,700 years ago, dozens of impressions of salvia and other mint species were found under human skeletons. (Haaretz.com)

Ancient Roman Infanticide Didn’t Spare Either Sex, DNA Suggests

A new look at a cache of baby bones discovered in Britain is altering assumptions about why ancient Romans committed infanticide. Infant girls were apparently not killed more often than baby boys, researchers report in an upcoming issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science. (LiveScience)

Evidence Shows Prehistoric Humans Used Fire 300,000 Years Ago

New findings reported in the Journal of Archaeological Science suggest that prehistoric humans were able to control and use fire at their will. A team of Israeli scientists discovered the earliest evidence of unequivocal repeated fire building over a continuous period in the Qesem Cave. This evidence, found at an archaeological site near present-day Rosh Ha’ayin, dates back to around 300,000 years ago. (RedOrbit)

Babylonian tablet shows how Noah’s ark could have been constructed

Noah’s ark was never built, still less crash landed on Mount Ararat, a British Museum expert has declared – despite holding in his hand 3,700-year-old instructions on exactly how to construct one. “I am 107% convinced the ark never existed,” Irving Finkel said. His discoveries, since a member of the public brought a battered clay tablet with 60 lines of neat cuneiform text to Finkel – one of the few people in the world who could read them – are outlined in a new book, The Ark Before Noah. (TheGuardian)

Cardigan Castle: 9,500 artefacts found in archaeological dig

Part of a dolphin skull and a medieval arrowhead are among more than 9,500 artefacts uncovered by an archaeological dig at Cardigan Castle. The 18-month project to uncover the 800-year history of the site has been conducted by NPS Archaeology. Excavation work has also revealed a new part of the original castle which dates back to the 1170s. It is part of an £11m renovation project which aims to re-open part of the site this year. (BBC News)

Researchers in Spain recovered and studied a genome of a Mesolithic period European hunter-gatherer, and concluded that he had blue eyes and dark skin. 

Designated La Braña 1, the specimen was unearthed at the La Braña-Arintero site in Valdelugueros (León, Spain), where the remains of at least one other skeleton was uncovered. They were discovered by chance in 2006 and excavated by Julio Manuel Vidal Encinas, an archeologist with the Council of Castilla y León. The cave, located in a cold mountainous area with a steady temperature and 1,500 meters below sea level, contributed to the “exceptional” preservation of the DNA from the two individuals found inside, called La Braña 1 and La Braña 2, respectively.

The remains were determined to be 7,000 years old, placing them well within the Mesolithic Period. The Mesolithic lasted 5,000 years (between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic periods), and ended with the advent of agriculture and livestock farming. The arrival of the Neolithic, when humans had a carbohydrate-based diet and new pathogens were transmitted by domesticated animals, entailed metabolic and immunological challenges that were reflected in genetic adaptations of post-Mesolithic populations. Among these is the ability to digest lactose. The study indicated that the La Braña individual was not capable of this process.

According to Carles Lalueza-Fox, researcher from the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), in collaboration with the Centre for GeoGenetics (Denmark), La Braña 1 represents the first recovered genome of a European hunter-gatherer. 

“The biggest surprise was to discover that this individual possessed African versions in the genes that determine the light pigmentation of the current Europeans, which indicates that he had dark skin, although we cannot know the exact shade,” says Lalueza-Fox.

Another CSIC researcher, who works at the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (a joint centre of CSIC and the University Pompeu Fabra (UPF), located in Barcelona), adds: “Even more surprising was to find that he possessed the genetic variations that produce blue eyes in current Europeans, resulting in a unique phenotype in a genome that is otherwise clearly northern European”.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

La Braña 1 had blue eyes and dark skin. Credit: PELOPANTON / CSIC

________________________________________________________________________________________

The genome study suggests that the current populations that best match La Braña 1 are in northern Europe, such as Sweden and Finland. In addition, the work indicates that La Braña 1 has a common ancestor with the settlers of the Upper Paleolithic site of Mal’ta, located at Lake Baikal (Siberia), whose genome was recovered a few months ago. Lalueza-Fox concludes: “These data indicate that there is genetic continuity in the populations of central and western Eurasia. In fact, these data are consistent with the archeological remains, as in other excavations in Europe and Russia, including the site of Mal’ta, [where] anthropomorphic figures –called Paleolithic Venus– have been recovered and they are very similar to each other.”

What’s next for the research? According to Iñigo Olalde, lead author of the study, “the intention of the team is to try to recover the genome of the individual called La Braña 2, which is worse preserved, in order to keep obtaining information about the genetic characteristics of these early Europeans.”

The research is published in Nature.

_____________________________________ 

Source: Adapted and edited from a  Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) press release.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

The “Rising Star Expedition”, known for its recent recovery of one of the largest troves of hominin (early human) fossils ever discovered in one place, is now ambitiously seeking new early-career scientists to study the more than 1,200 fossil elements retrieved from the site and now housed at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits University) in Johannesburg, South Africa. 

“The fossil material is an exceptional sample representing most of the parts of the skeleton, and our first task is to describe the material and place it into the context of hominin evolution,” says John Hawks, a paleoanthropologist with the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a key member of the team that recovered the fossils during the Fall of 2013.*

To that end, Professor Lee Berger of Wits University initiated an effort to recruit the best young minds he can find to help examine the finds and publish some of the first scientific observations, analyses and conclusions about the morphology, among other aspects, of the fragments, and what they might mean in terms of their place in the broad scope of human evolution. Berger has been at the forefront of major hominin fossil discoveries in South Africa, such as the recent Australopithecus sediba finds at the Malapa cave site.

“We are seeking early-career scientists with data and skill sets applicable to the study of any part of the anatomy of early hominins,” say Berger and colleagues in the recently released announcement. “Participants must be willing to share these data and skills in a collaborative workshop designed to study, describe and publish these important hominin fossils.”**

While the workshop participants will receive mentoring from established senior scientists, their publications will be under their authorship and will be considered to be “high impact” publications.

The project is at least in part representative of Berger’s philosophy of “open science”, where scholars and scientists from all over the world are invited to play an active role in the process of research and discovery, expanding the perspectives, skills and knowledge sets brought to bear on finding the answers to important research questions. Traditionally, research on new finds in the field of paleoanthropology has often been conducted by a relatively closed set of scholars or scientists over a long period of time, resulting in new hypotheses or theories and conclusions that might have been different if ‘more eyes’ were brought to bear on the subjects of study. 

The workshops are also intended to help build a bigger, brighter future for the science.

“We are recruiting an international team, and we are especially interested in building a group that will continue to produce great science in the future,” says Hawks.*

The trove of bones were first discovered in a south African cave system in October, 2013 by a pair of skilled cavers, who then alerted Berger. To investigate the cave and its contents, Berger spearheaded the assembly of an expeditionary group (called the “Rising Star Expedition”) of scientists. Along with chief scientists, the group included six researchers (who Berger dubbed “underground astronauts”) who were hand-picked to actually enter the cave system to excavate and remove the fossil bones. To qualify for this job, these team members had to have a master’s degree or Ph.D. in paleontology, archaeology or a related field; they had to be experienced spelunkers, or cavers; and they had to be small enough to successfully and safely negotiate an 18-centimeter-wide opening leading to the targeted cave chamber. The effort has proven to be a great success, producing more than 1,200 fossil specimens representing a number of individuals initially identified as early hominins. The type of hominin is still unknown. It is one of the questions that the workshop project team hopes to answer.

There is more ahead. While excavating, the Rising Star team found evidence of articulated skeletons just below the levels where they were digging. These have yet to be recovered.

“Thousands of elements are left there”, said Berger on a recent National Geographic weekend radio show. “We have excavated an area of only half the size of a normal breakfast table, and two or three inches deep, to recover more than a thousand elements of more than a dozen individuals…..and just underneath [that] surface, we find articulated remains — their bodies are there, and that’s what I had to close up.”***

Berger plans to return to the site for further excavation.

More information about the Rising Star Expedition can be acquired at the National Geographic website dedicated to covering the project. For scientists interested in applying for the Workshop, see this website for additional information. 

______________________________

*http://johnhawks.net/topics/expeditions/rising-star-workshop-announcement.html

 ** http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/01/17/call-for-scientists-to-join-rising-star-workshop-2014/

*** http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/12/09/a-voice-from-the-cave-lee-berger-on-the-ng-weekend-radio-show/ 

Cover Photo, Top Left: Lee Berger (giving a tour in 2006). Courtesy Lee Berger, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA-2.5,2.0,1.0; Released under the GNU Free Documentation License.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

Recent stories appearing in scientific journals and the public media have informed us of some remarkable developments in the science of genetics as it relates to better understanding our past. Just a few of many examples:

— The most complete sequence to date of the Neanderthal genome, using DNA extracted from a woman’s toe bone that dates back 50,000 years, revealed a long history of interbreeding among at least four different types of early humans living in Europe and Asia tens of thousands of years ago;

— Researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, successfully sequenced a complete mitochondrial (mtDNA) genome of a 400,000-year-old representative of the genus Homo (ancient human) from Sima de los Huesos, a cave site in northern Spain that has yielded some of the earliest fossil specimens of humans in present-day Europe. They found that the individual was related to Denisovans, extinct relatives of Neanderthals in Asia, through a common ancestor; and

— The results of a recent study of canine genomes has suggested that dogs and their wolf cousins shared an evolutionary history that is considerably more complex than previously thought, pointing to a common ancestor that lived between 11,000 and 34,000 years ago, and that the earliest dogs may have first lived among hunter-gatherer societies, before the advent of agriculture.

To date, scientists have excavated an untold number of fossil bones, from both animals and their human subset, with the hope that ancient remnants of DNA might somehow be found more or less intact within the fossilized bones. They believe that DNA will be a major key to reconstructing the picture of where we and other animals came from, and how. Now, thanks to advances in DNA extraction and the establishment and growth of DNA libraries of information, scientists are gaining an increasing ability to sequence genomes, a key aspect of the emerging new science of paleogenomics, or the study of ancient DNA. In a Review article published in the journal Science, authors B. Shapiro and M. Hofreiter relate how scientific investigation of the animal world’s physical past is evolving from one that emphasizes excavation to one that includes DNA sequencing as a major component of research. They discuss the successes and advancements as well as the limitations, and suggest that the use of paleogenomics will continue to expand. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Samples collected from the La Brea tarpits in Los Angeles, CA, have long been targets of paleogenomic analysis. However, despite their incredibly good physical preservation, these bones have proven difficult to use in genetic research, because the tar cannot be completely removed from the bones. Recent advances in techniques for ancient DNA extraction may make bones such as those from La Brea possible targets for paleogenomic analysis, dramatically increasing the range of species that can be analyzed. [Courtesy of Mathias Stiller] 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Scientists working in the Klondike gold fields near Dawson City, Yukon Territory, uncover thousands of bones, tusks, and teeth representing the preserved remains of the ice age megafauna. Here (left), Jana Morehouse crouches behind a frozen mammoth tusk that was exposed as part of placer mining activities. Remains such as these are used in paleogenomic analyses to understand processes including genome evolution and how populations respond to climate change over the short and medium term. [Courtesy of Tyler Kuhn] 

________________________________________ 

The article appears in the 24 January 2014 issue of Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), a nonprofit science society.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

A rock shelter site located above the river Segre in the Pyrenees foothills of northeastern Spain is yielding evidence of Neanderthal occupation that could post-date 40,000 years BP, according to researchers. This would place the ancient occupiers among the last Neanderthals to inhabit the area of present-day Europe, and finds at the site could provide clues to how the Neanderthals adapted to changing environmental circumstances and whether or not they coexisted with the emerging modern human populations in the region.

Called La Roca dels Bous, the rock shelter has been the subject of intense excavation and study by archaeologists and student volunteers under the joint direction of Dr. Rafael Mora Torcal of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Ma. Xavier Roda Gilabert of the Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government, and Adrià Millán Gil of archaeoBarcelona. Their excavations have uncovered materials typically associated with Neanderthals, including flint artifacts characteristic of the Middle Paleolithic period (300,000 – 30,000 yr. BP), and bones from animals that are known from previous research to have been a part of the Neanderthal diet, such as red deer, wild horses, and wild goats. Other finds included a number of hearths, or areas where the inhabitants used controlled fire.

“One of the most interesting characteristics of this site is the role it might have played in the mobility of the Neanderthals,” write Torcal and colleagues in a recent report. “The archaeological floors [of the] Neanderthals of La Roca dels Bous (La Noguera, Catalunya, Spain) had surprisingly few lithic artifacts and scarce animal remains. Layers of hearths with no apparent organization were discovered by the wall of the rock shelter. Fires appear repeatedly along the stratigraphic sequence and could be interpreted as resulting from ongoing short-term settlements. The combination of these factors suggests that small groups consistently chose La Roca dels Bous as a temporary shelter as they moved through wide areas, possibly following the migratory routes of their prey.”*

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Above and below: Overview of the Roca dels Bous rock shelter site. Courtesy Adrià Millán, Wikimedia Commons(above);
Courtesy CEPAP-UAB (below)

________________________________________________________________________________________

 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

View of an excavated hearth at the La Roca dels Bous rock shelter. Courtesy CEPA-UAB

________________________________________________________________________________________

But perhaps the most most interesting find of all related to the date of occupation. Several carbon-dating analyses using the ¹⁴C AMS dating technique on samples removed from the site indicated dates around 38,000 BP.

“The oldest Neanderthal sites known in the nearby areas date back to around 40,000 BP,” writes Torca, et al. “And the first settlements attributed to the “anatomically modern” Homo sapiens in Northern Spain are dated around 39,000-38,000 BP. All this would suggest that Neanderthals could have persisted in this particular area longer than previously believed, preceding the arrival of the first Homo sapiens [anatomically modern humans] to the area.”*

……..Or concurrent with them, as some scholars theorize. It has been suggested that modern humans appeared in what is today Europe around 40 – 50,000 years ago. Scientists point to research analyses of evidence recovered from excavations in the northern parts of the Iberian Peninsula, where artifacts dated to around 40,000 BP indicating an emerging new techno-tradition significantly different from that usually used by the Neanderthals. The new tradition, they theorize, was introduced by modern humans who may have arrived in Europe from the Eastern Mediterranean. 

The research team hopes that, ultimately, the site will present new evidence that will shed additional light on an intensely debated topic: Did Neanderthal and modern human populations coexist in the area and did they interact with each other?

Excavations will continue at the site from June 6th to July 10th, 2014. Individuals interested in participating in the excavations may obtain aditional information at archaeoBarcelona.

_________________________________

* http://www.sha.org/documents/RocadelsBousArchaeologicalProject2014web.pdf

_________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

She doesn’t conduct proper field archaeology like a trained archaeologist, but Mother Nature can sometimes help literally uncover the past, as demonstrated recently by melting glaciers in the Alps of northern Italy. Here, as glacier levels have receded, the corpses and other related artifacts of World War I soldiers have been revealed, uncovering more details of a dark chapter in military history. A Weather Channel video (see below), tells the story. Like the famous 5,000-year-old “Ice Man” named “Ötzi“, also found in the Alps on the border between Italy and Austria, nature’s invisible trowel can often provide the initial nudge for new discoveries and study.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

January 19th, 2014

Genome Study Reveals New Insight on Dog Domestication

The results of a recent study of canine genomes suggests that dogs and their wolf cousins share an evolutionary history that is considerably more complex than previously thought, pointing to a common ancestor that lived between 11,000 and 34,000 years ago and that the earliest dogs may have first lived among hunter-gatherer societies, before the advent of agriculture.
It challenges the popular theory that humans domesticated dogs around the time that they developed agriculture, and that dogs evolved from a single wolf population or group. (Popular Archaeology)

Bones From Human Sacrifice at Tenochtilan Ceremonial Complex

Fragments of human bones that exhibit cut marks and prolonged exposure to fire have been discovered through various excavations in the Sacred Precinct of Tenochtitlan (located in Mexico City). These skeletal remains are from individuals, such as children, slaves and captured warriors, who were sacrificed during religious festivals. (Past Horizons)

Archaeologists may have found remains of Alfred the Great

Archaeologists have identified a piece of bone they believe may have belonged to the English king Alfred the Great. The section of human pelvis, carbon-dated to within the lifetimes of Alfred the Great and his son Edward the Elder, has been found in Winchester, the first solid result in centuries of attempts to find the last resting place of one of the most famous English kings. (The Guardian)

Severed Heads Eaten by Dogs in Roman Times

Forensic techniques have shed light on the gruesome fate of dozens of people whose severed heads were thrown into open pits 2,000 years ago and left there to decompose. Excavated in the heart of London more than 25 years ago and dated to between 120 and 160 A.D., the skulls are believed to have belonged to defeated gladiators or victims of Roman soldiers’ practice of “headhunting,” in which heads of enemies were displayed as trophies. (Discovery News)

Ancient Sican tombs found in northern Peru

Archaeologists in Peru’s northern Lambayeque region have discovered an ancient cemetery with 35 tombs believed to be up to 1,000 years old. The tombs -containing skeletal remains, ceramics, textiles and gold-plated copper pieces- are thought to be of a pre-hispanic Sican descent. (Andina.com)

Earliest Use of Steel in Britain Identified at Scottish Hillfort

Archaeologists have identified examples of the earliest use of steel in the British Isles from a site in East Lothian. The site, an Iron Age hill fort known as Broxmouth, was excavated in the 1970s, however the discoveries are only now being published.
As part of the re-examination of the findings at Broxmouth, new analysis of some iron artefacts has found that they can be dated to 490-375BC. (Past Horizons)

Archaeologists discover ancient death chambers used for execution, torture in Bursa

Archaeological excavations that have been carried out in the northwestern province of Bursa have discovered 2,300-year-old dungeons used for execution and torturing during the Bithynia Kingdom era. Archaeologists discovered that the dungeons, which contain a “bloody well,” “torture chamber” and “corridors connected to tower,” used horrific execution methods. (Hurriyet Daily News)

Archaeologists uncover new pharaoh in Egypt

Archaeologists believe they have discovered the remains of a previously unknown pharaoh who reigned more than 3,600 years ago in Egypt. The skeleton of King Senebkay was uncovered at South Abydos in the province of Sohag, about 500 km south of Cairo, by a University of Pennsylvania expedition working with the government, the Egyptian antiquities ministry said. (Haaretz)

Well Preserved Iron Age Village Uncovered in Denmark

During evaluation of land prior to the construction of a new hospital in Aalborg, Northern Denmark, archaeologists uncovered an Iron Age village dating back around 2000 years. The settlement differs from other sites of this period because of its well preserved condition, including a number of houses complete with fireplaces, chalk floors and cobbled paving. (Past Horizons)

Bath tunnels of king’s daughters discovered under Turkey’s second largest castle

Two secret tunnels have been discovered under Turkey’s second largest castle, in the northern province of Tokat’s Niksar district. The tunnels date back to the Roman period, and it has been claimed that one of the tunnels was used by a Roman king’s daughters in order to go to the bath in the Çanakçi stream area. (Hurriyet Daily News)

The results of a recent study of canine genomes suggests that dogs and their wolf cousins share an evolutionary history that is considerably more complex than previously thought, pointing to a common ancestor that lived between 11,000 and 34,000 years ago and that the earliest dogs may have first lived among hunter-gatherer societies, before the advent of agriculture.

It challenges the popular theory that humans domesticated dogs around the time that they developed agriculture, and that dogs evolved from a single wolf population or group. 

The study, led by Adam Freedman, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), published in PLoS Genetics on January 16, 2014, also indicates that dogs are more closely related to each other than they are to wolves, suggesting that some of the genetic overlap observed between some modern dogs and modern wolves is more likely the result of interbreeding after dog domestication. 

“Dog domestication is more complex than we originally thought,” said John Novembre, associate professor in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago and co-author of the study. “In this analysis we didn’t see clear evidence in favor of a multi-regional model, or a single origin from one of the living wolves that we sampled. It makes the field of dog domestication very intriguing going forward.”

To get to these conclusions, the research team constructed high quality genome sequences from three gray wolves: one each from China, Croatia and Israel, regions where dogs are thought to have originated. They also produced genomes from two modern dog breeds: a basenji, a breed which originates in central Africa, and a dingo from Australia, both areas that have been historically isolated from modern wolf populations. In addition to the wolves and dogs, they sequenced the genome of a golden jackal to serve as an “outgroup” representing earlier divergence.

Their analysis of the basenji and dingo genomes, plus a previously published boxer genome from Europe, showed that the dog breeds were most closely related to each other. Likewise, the three wolves from each geographic area were more closely related to each other than any of the dogs. This seems to be true regardless of geographic proximity between the dog breeds and their wolf counterparts. It suggests that, according to Novembre, both dogs and wolves were descended from an older, wolf-like ancestor common to both species. It raises the possibility that there were other, now extinct, wolf lineages from which the ancestors of the modern dogs diverged. 

“So now when you ask which wolves are dogs most closely related to,” he says, “it’s none of these three because these are wolves that diverged in the recent past. It’s something more ancient that isn’t well represented by today’s wolves.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

 Graphic from the study depicting how wolf and dog lineages diverged over time. Credit: Freedma, et al / PLoS Genetics

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Accounting for gene flow between dogs and wolves after domestication was a crucial step in the analyses. According to Freedman, gene flow across canid species appears more pervasive than previously thought.

“If you don’t explicitly consider such exchanges, these admixture events get confounded with shared ancestry,” he said. “We also found evidence for genetic exchange between wolves and jackals. The picture emerging from our analyses is that these exchanges may play an important role in shaping the diversification of canid species.”

Domestication apparently occurred with significant bottlenecks in the historical population sizes of both early dogs and wolves. Freedman and his colleagues were able to infer historical sizes of dog and wolf populations by analyzing genome-wide patterns of variation, showing that dogs suffered a 16-fold reduction in population size as they diverged from wolves. Wolves also experienced a sharp drop in population size soon after their divergence from dogs, implying that diversity among both animals’ common ancestors was larger than represented by modern wolves.

The researchers also found differences across dog breeds and wolves in the number of amylase (AMY2B) genes that help digest starch. Recent studies have suggested that this gene was critical to domestication, allowing early dogs living near humans to adapt to an agricultural diet. But the research team surveyed genetic data from 12 additional dog breeds and saw that while most dog breeds had high numbers of amylase genes, those not associated with agrarian societies, like the Siberian husky and dingo, did not. They also saw evidence of this gene family in wolves, meaning that it didn’t develop exclusively in dogs after the two species diverged, and may have expanded more recently after domestication.

“We’re trying to get every thread of evidence we can to reconstruct the past,” said Novembre. “We use genetics to reconstruct the history of population sizes, relationships among populations and the gene flow that occurred. So now we have a much more detailed picture than existed before, and it’s a somewhat surprising picture.”

________________________

Robert Wayne, professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UCLA, was co-senior author of the study.

Additional authors include Rena Schweizer, Diego Ortega-Del Vecchyo, Eunjung Han, Farhad Hormozdiari, Kevin Squire and Stanley Nelson from UCLA; Ilan Gronau, Adam Boyko and Adam Siepel from Cornell Univesity; Pedro Silva from University of Porto, Portugal; Marco Galaverni from Ozzano dell’Emilia, Italy; Zhenxin Fan from Sichuan University, China; Peter Marx from Budapest University, Hungary; Belen Lorente-Galdos, Oscar Ramirez and Tomas Marques-Bonet from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC – Universitat Pompeu Fabra), Spain; Holly Beale, Heidi Parker and Elaine Ostrander from the National Institutes of Health; Can Alkan from Bilkent University, Turkey; Carles Vila from Estacion Biologia de Doñana, Spain; Eli Geffen from Tel Aviv University, Israel; Josip Kusak from the University of Zagreb, Croatia; Clarence Lee, Vasisht Tadigotla and Timothy Harkins from Life Technologies; and Carlos Bustamante from Stanford University.

The National Science Foundation and Life Technologies provided funding and reagents. 

Article Source: Adapted and edited from a University of Chicago Medical Center press release.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Gray Wolf, USFWS Endangered Species, Wikimedia Commons cc-by-2.0

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________  

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

According to the Biblical account, the ancient fortified city of Lachish was for a time considered, after Jerusalem, the second-most important city in the Kingdom of Judah. Today, its ruins can be seen atop a prominent “tel” or mound located in the Shephelah lowland of Israel between Mount Hebron and the maritime Mediterranean coast. The remains are a visible reminder of a city that represented a strength and glory ravaged through the military designs of advancing Assyrian and Babylonian armies long before the ancient Romans ever set foot in this country. It is best known as the location of a great siege by Assyrian king Sennacherib in 701 B.C.E. 

Today, this city may sit again in the cross-hairs of a different kind of battle — one that revolves around the debate concerning the nature and historicity of the early Kingdom of Judah. Prof. Yosef Garfinkel, the Yigael Yadin Chair of archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, stands at the center of the debate. His headline-making discoveries at the site of Khirbet Qeiyafa, which included, most notably, a massive monumental fortified casemate wall and two city gates, the famous inscribed ostracon that arguably represents the longest Proto-Canaanite text ever found, and the remains of a palatial structure and pillared store room, all suggested to date to the time of the Biblical King David and attributed to his kingdom, have drawn criticism from other scholars who contend that David and Solomon and the kingdom they ruled may not have been the larger-than-life entities that are depicted in the Biblical accounts. Now, in part to address some of the arguments, issues and interpretations swirling within this debate, Garfinkel and colleagues are heading a new team that will begin re-exploring and excavating Lachish in 2014. It is a site that has already been the subject of several historic excavation expeditions but, as is common with many archaeolgical sites, remains unfinished business. And within the context of acquiring a better understanding of the early Judahite State, they are drawing a research connection between their completed excavations at Khirbet Qeiyafa and re-newed excavations at Lachish.

“The results from Khirbet Qeiyafa, together with the results from Lachish,” write Garfinkel and colleagues in a recent article published in Biblical Archaeology Review, “will enable us to obtain a clearer and more complete picture of the early history of the kingdom of Judah in the tenth and ninth centuries B.C.E. We view these two excavations as one regional Project.”*

__________________________________________________________________________________________

 View of the western gate at Khirbet Qeiyafa, excavated under the direction of Yosef Garfinkel. Yaels, Wikimedia Commons

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

View of some of the ancient excavated remains of Lachish as they appear today. Pikiwiki Israel 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Inscription on the Assyrian Lachish Reliefs. Left hand side states: “”Sennacherib, the mighty king, king of the country of Assyria, sitting on the throne of judgment, before (or at the entrance of) the city of Lachish (Lakhisha). I give permission for its slaughter,” per “Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon”, p 128. Oncenawhile, Wikimedia Commons

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Past excavations at Lachish have revealed a city that was occupied from the Pottery Neolithic (5500–4500 B.C.E.) period to the 2nd century B.C.E.  Key finds have included abundant evidence of the Assyrian siege, a number of ostraca inscribed in classical Hebrew, and the largest collection of LMLK seals, seal stamps on jar handles attributed to the reign of Hezekiah, King of Judah in the 8th – 7th century B.C.E.

“The current expedition will concentrate on the 10th–9th centuries B.C.E. and we’ll try to answer questions like: When was Lachish inhabited for the first time in the Iron Age [1200 – 500 B.C.E.]? When was Lachish first fortified in the Iron Age? How did the economy, administration, international connections, writing, cult and art develop in the first 200 years of the Kingdom of Judah? We will also examine the connection between archaeology and the Biblical narrative of the tenth century B.C.E.”**

Garfinkel, along with co-directors Michael G. Hasel and Martin G. Klingbeil of Southern Adventist University, hope to begin excavations with a team of other specialists, students and volunteers in June of 2014. More information about the expedition and how one can participate can be obtained at this website.

____________________

See the detailed article related to this development, published by Bibilical Archaeology Society, here.

___________________________

*Garfinkel, et al., An Ending and a Beginning: Why We’re Leaving Qeiyafa and Going to Lachish, Biblical Archaeology Review, November/December 2013, Vol 39 No 6, pp. 50 – 51.

**http://digs.bib-arch.org/digs/tel-lachish.asp

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

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

On the go? Purchase the mobile version of the current issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine here for only $2.99.

And, Popular Archaeology’s annual Discovery edition 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.

Subscription Price: A very affordable $5.75 for those who are not already premium subscribers of Popular Archaeology Magazine (It is FREE for premium subscribers to Popular Archaeology). Premium subscribers should email [email protected] and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com.