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Few people know that the Smithsonian Institution curates one of the largest single collections of whole Mesoamerican ceramic artifacts in the world — more than 12,000, to be specific. But most of these objects are tucked away unseen by most people within the storage “vaults” that house all of the other massive museum collections, the largest in the world.

Now, after more than two years of research on the museum’s Central American ceramics collections under the sponsorship of the Smithsonian”s Latino Center, curator Ann McMullen and guest curator Alexander Villa Benitez of George Mason University have selected more than 160 objects from the museum’s vast collection of ancient ceramics from the region, and augmented it with other significant examples of work in gold, jade, copper, marble, shell and stone. The objects represent a rich variety of Central American cultures spanning the period from 1000 B.C. to the present, illustrating the complexity of Mesoamerican civilization in terms of social and trade networks, technology, artwork and systems of status and political organization. Under the rubric, Cerámica de los Ancestros: Central America’s Past Revealed, they are now shared in a public exhibition that examines seven regions representing distinct Central American cultural areas that are today part of Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama. 

“This is our first major exhibition that examines our remarkable Central American collection, which is world class based on its sheer size and the fact that these are whole and intact objects,” said Kevin Gover (Pawnee), director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. “It also marks the first time that we have created a bilingual exhibition that will increase our scholarship and outreach to an entirely new audience.”

The exhibition is accompanied by an interactive website that includes 3-D images of select objects and a landmark publication, Revealing Ancestral Central America, edited by Rosemary A. Joyce. 

The exhibition will be open through Feb. 1, 2015, in the third level W. Richard West Jr. Contemporary Arts Gallery at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

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Source: Adapted and edited from a press release.

Cover Photo, Top Left: View of the National Museum of the American Indian. Abraham OFM, Wikimedia Commons

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

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

At first blush, there is nothing that stands out to any common visitor about the appearance of Tel Kabri, today an archaeological site that was once a thriving Canaanite center over 3,500 years ago. Located next to its namesake kibbutz in the western Galilee region of Israel, it is only one of a profusion of sites currently under excavation in this part of the Middle East. But ask the archaeologists and those who know something about the site, and you will get a different picture.   

First, they might tell you that, unlike other ancient Canaanite sites, it is the only one that features remains from a Middle Bronze Age (the 2100 – 1500 BC time period) palatial complex largely undisturbed or obliterated by later construction from subsequent occupying cultures. This means that the palace discovered at the site (dated to the 18th century BCE), is also the only Canaanite palace of this period that can be fully excavated.

Second, it is the only Canaanite center that features remains from Minoan (or Aegean)-style wall frescoes and floor painting. Excavations conducted by [Aharon] Kempinski and [Wolf-Dietrich] Niemeier from 1986 to 1993 uncovered an Aegean-style painted plaster floor and numerous fragments that they suggested originally composed a miniature Aegean-style wall fresco. Only three other archaeological sites in the Middle East are known to have yielded Aegean-style frescoes and painting: Tell el-Dab’a in Egypt, Qatna in Syria and Alalakh in Turkey. The Tel Kabri fresoes and painting are, however, the only evidence of Minoan or Cycladic-style artwork in present-day Israel (or among the ancient Canaanites). And new excavations begun in 2005 under the direction of Eric Cline of George Washington University and Assaf Yasur-Landau of the University of Haifa have added to the discovery. During excavations in 2008 and 2009, they found more than 100 new fragments of wall and floor plaster, approximately 60 of which were painted and, according to their analysis, likely originally belonged to a second Aegean-style wall fresco with figural representations and a second Aegean-style painted floor.

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Above and below: Painted plaster fragments discovered during the excavations of 2008 and 2009. Courtesy Tel Kabri Excavation Project, Eric H. Cline, and Nurith Goshen. 

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And now, their latest season of excavations, completed during the summer of 2013, has yielded more fragments of painted wall plaster. “Of these,” write Yasur-Landau and Cline, et al. in their preliminary report, “one has red paint and an incised string line; another awaits detailed analysis, but may have either a small bird or a fragment of vegetation.”* (See photo, right)

Incised string lines within painted plaster is known to be a distinctive characteristic of Minoan-style art. Says Cline, “the Minoans took a string and just tightened it so that it contacted the wet plaster and created a perfectly straight line. We have plaster at Kabri that shows that. The other thing they did was take string and dip it in, for example, red paint, and tighten it quickly against the plaster. The red paint thus makes a perfectly straight line…….That is a Minoan technique”.**

What was Minoan-style artwork doing at Kabri? Cline and his colleagues hope to one day have the answers as they continue to excavate the site. In any case, it is possibly the earliest-known Western style art found in the Eastern Mediterranean. 

Equally, if not more significant, has been the recent discovery of a palatial multi-room storage complex containing nearly 40 large restorable Canaanite storage jars in a fully excavated room of the complex. The finds were made while they were digging an area adjacent to and west of a monumental building first excavated in 2011, a one-of-kind structure that was lined with precisely-shaped orthostat blocks.  “This is the largest concentration to date of restorable pottery found anywhere in the palace of Kabri and the only place on site where we have found an entire room still full of artifacts,” writes Yasur-Landau and colleagues in their preliminary report. Moreover, they add that it is “the first time that such a storeroom with jars still present has been uncovered within an MB (Middle Bronze Age) palace in Canaan…….Samples for residue analysis were taken from almost all of the vessels; we are currently awaiting the results.”* The remains of six additional storage jars were found in an adjoining room just south of the room. This room has only been partially excavated and potentially may contain an additional concentration of restorable vessels. Analysis of the positioning of the jar remains in the rooms has led archaeologists to conclude that the jars were not used after they were last deposited, raising questions as to what led to their relatively sudden abandonment. 

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An amazing find: The remains of the restorable storage vessels, still in situ in the northern storage room, undisturbed and unused since they were last deposited or fell into place over 3,500 years ago. Courtesy Eric H. Cline and the Tel Kabri Excavation Project.

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The team also continued excavations within the palace, parts of which were exposed in previous seasons. The latest efforts revealed “an architectural continuum of ca. 75m in length within the palace”, including plaster floors and more fragments of restorable pottery.* Combined with what they already knew about the features and spatial layout of the palace, archaeologists are now concluding that “the projected extent of the palace may be between 5,000 and 6,000 square meters”.* The Tel Kabri structure is considered to be among the largest Canaanite palaces ever found.

Researchers are now looking forward to the results of LiDAR¹ laser scans and the analysis of organic residue found in the pottery. Ultimately, the researchers hope the Tel Kabri excavations and research will offer what might be the most complete picture of palatial political, social and economic life in the Canaanite period, answering questions such as whether or not the Canaanites had a central government, whether taxes were levied, the type of agriculture practiced, and the trade networks operating during the time. 

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Aerial view of the excavated area of Tel Kabri as it appears today. Note the excavators lying prone face-up on the ground, spelling out “Kabri”. Courtesy SkyView Photography, Ltd.

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But there is another mystery about this place. 

“Kabri is like no other site I have ever investigated,” said Cline, “because it is so huge and because it was only occupied during the Middle Bronze Age [about 2100 – 1500 BC], with a puzzling absence of occupation and then suddenly an Iron Age [about 1200 – 500 BC] presence on the acropolis.”**

None of the causal factors that would explain this abandonment and long absence seem to be here, thus far. No clear signs of a massive fiery destruction from an invading army. No evidence of a natural disaster.  

What happened here so long ago?

The answer may lie ahead — or not. In any case, as any seasoned archaeologist would likely say, there are often many other equally exciting surprises along the way.

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The excavation project, conducted every other year (the next will occur in the summer of 2015) invites participation by students and volunteers from all over the world. For more information about Tel Kabri, see the website. Readers can download the latest detailed preliminary report of the excavations here. 

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* From the Preliminary Report on the Results of the 2013 Excavation Season at Tel Kabri, by Assaf Yasur-Landau, et al.

** From an interview with Eric Cline as published inThe Minoan Connection in the June 2011 issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine.

[1] LiDAR: (Laser Interferometry Detection and Ranging) — a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges (variable distances) to the Earth. The data can be used to generate precise, three-dimensional information about a site and its features.

All images not otherwise posted are courtesy Eric H. Cline and the Tel Kabri Excavation Project.

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

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. 

September 15th

Ghosts in the Nation’s Attics?

Like cemeteries, old homes, and sunken ships, even museums may not be beyond the domain of investigators who specialize in detecting and documenting paranormal activity, experiences or events that lie outside the range of normal experience or rational explanation. After all, museums, sometimes called “the Nation’s attics”, contain artifacts that could date anywhere from several millions of years BP to recent history, and it seems, at least based on the literature of recorded events, ghosts and such like to hang out around things old or dead. (Popular Archaeology)

Dating of beads sets new timeline for early humans

An international team of researchers led by Oxford University has new dating evidence indicating when the earliest fully modern humans arrived in the Near East, the region known as the Middle East today. They have obtained the radiocarbon dates of marine shell beads found at Ksar Akil, a key archaeological site in Lebanon, which allowed them to calculate that the oldest human fossil from the same sequence of archaeological layers is 42,400–41,700 years old. This is significant because the age of the earliest fossils, directly and indirectly dated, of modern humans found in Europe is roughly similar. (phys.org)

Laser Technology Reveals Mysterious New Features at Angkor

You can’t always tell a book by its cover, as the saying goes. Scientists are now discovering that the same principle applies to ancient cities that have been shrouded for centuries beneath jungle canopies. And Angkor, the famous capital of southeast Asia’s largest ancient empire and thought by many to have already long revealed its secrets, is apparently no exception. (Popular Archaeology)

Beheaded Maya Massacre Victims Found

Two dozen Maya war captives were beheaded, dismembered, and buried unceremoniously some 1,400 years ago at the site of Uxul, an international team reported on Tuesday. The victims were likely rulers of nearby towns at war with Uxul, located in southern Mexico, or the dethroned rulers of the town itself, according to the researchers. The discovery of the mass burial in an artificial cave adds to the evidence that the brutal warfare, torture, and sacrifice of captives widely depicted in ancient Maya artwork were real practices, says discovery team archaeologist Nicolaus Seefeld of Germany’s University of Bonn. (National Geographic)

Study Confirms Ancient River Systems in Sahara 100,000 Years Ago

Evidence from past research has suggested that, sometime during the period between 130,000 and 100,000 years ago, the Sahara desert region we know today was wetter, featuring rivers and lakes, providing an environment that many scientists theorize permitted the earliest modern humans to migrate northward from points southward in Africa toward the Mediterranean coastline and areas eastward into the Levant. (Popular Archaeology)

Archaeologists Uncover Hidden Structures in Ancient Maya City Through New Technology

El Pilar. The name means “watering basin”, reflecting its rich water resources. Spread across the border between western Belize and northeastern Guatemala, this ancient Maya city center is considered the largest site in the Belize River region, boasting over 25 known plazas and hundreds of other structures, covering an area of about 120 acres. Monumental construction at El Pilar began in the Middle Preclassic period, around 800 BCE, and at its height centuries later it harbored more than 20,000 people. (Popular Archaeology)

EXTRAORDINARY KURGAN BURIAL SHINES NEW LIGHT ON SARMATIAN LIFE

A Sarmatian burial mound excavated this summer in Russia’s Southern Ural steppes has yielded a magnificent but unusual treasure. The artefacts contained within the mound are helping to shed light on a little-known period of the nomadic culture that flourished on the Eurasian steppe in the 1st millennium BC. The archaeological study of this remarkable ancient tomb, or kurgan, was carried out by the expedition of the Institute of Archaeology (Russian Academy of Sciences), led by Professor Leonid T. Yablonsky. (Past Horizons)

Archaeologists Recover Ancient Boat Near Great Pyramid in Egypt

It was like looking at wood planks and timbers that were cut from their trees and shaped just a few decades ago. But these pieces were thousands of years old. About 4,500 years old, in fact. With a sense of urgency, a team donned in special white hazmat-like suites, gloves and face-masks, like surgeons, swiftly yet methodically removed, handled and examined scores of carefully and artfully cut pieces of wood. (Popular Archaeology)

Land of the tomb raiders

Real-life vampires, ancient sites to rival those of Greece and Rome – Bulgaria’s archaeologists are putting their country on the map of world history, but first they have to stop the mafia stealing its treasures. The illegal diggers come at night with shovels and sacks, hunting through the places where they know the professionals have been. They’re looking for the tonnes of ancient artefacts that lie hidden in Bulgaria’s soil. (The Independent)

The emergence of modern humans in South and East Asia has long been a topic of heated debate among scholars. Nonetheless, many scientists today have generally reached a consensus that the initial foray of anatomically modern humans out of Africa reached the Levant (Middle East) during improved climate conditions within what is called Marine Isotope Stage 5 (MIS 5), or the time range between about 85,000 years ago and 130,000 years ago. However, this original thrust of human migrants is generally considered to have “failed”, in that little or no evidence has been recovered to indicate that they advanced any further beyond the Levant for a large gap of time afterwards. The massive eruption of Mount Toba in Sumatra, Indonesia during that time period is thought to have played a significant role in this. The resulting global “volcanic winter” caused by the blast, in combination with a more general global climate cooling period, essentially helped to create conditions hostile to prospects for humans venturing much beyond their African homeland for an extended period of time. The fossil, archaeological and genetic findings appear to support a consensus view that another, single population of modern humans exited Africa sometime later, around 60,000 years ago, and rapidly reached Australia by about 40 – 50,000 years ago by following an Indian Ocean coastal route. Some genetic studies have supported this scenario.  

But not so fast, says Michael Petraglia, Senior Research Fellow and Professor of Human Evolution and Prehistory at the University of Oxford. He and his colleagues have conducted new excavations and earth core sampling in India that have cast a new light on the debate. Their studies have assigned a reliable date for the Toba eruption at approximately 75,000 years ago using the latest Argon-Argon dating techniques and, more significantly, even suggest that the “bottleneck” in human evolution — the near extinction resulting from dramatic ecological changes from the Toba eruption — likely did not happen. According to their analysis, the effects of the eruption were not as severe, and the ensuing decimation of the prehistoric human population was not as pronounced, as previously thought. Their recovery and examination of Middle Palaeolithic core and flake stone tools in the Jurreru River Valley of southern India and the Son River Valley in the north, including other geologic, flora and fauna evidence indicate, they maintain, a basic population continuity after the Toba eruption and an environment not radically different than the one before.

“We found the very first evidence for archaeological assemblages in association with the Toba ash”, says Petraglia. “We found Middle Palaeolithic assemblages below and above the ash indicating the technologies being used at the time of the event. When the stone tool assemblages were analyzed from contexts above and below the ash, we found that they were very similar……..We therefore concluded that the Middle Palaeolithic hominins survived the eruption and there was population continuity. This is not what would have been expected based on general theories that the Toba super-eruption decimated populations.” 

Moreover, similar findings published by Christine Lane, et al. in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the result of research at Lake Malawi in East Africa, have led to the supporting conclusion that “the eruption did not significantly impact the climate of East Africa and was not the cause of a human genetic bottleneck at that time”.*

Even more significant, although not without challenge, has been Petragia’s recovery of pre-Toba (before 75,000 years ago) Middle Palaeolithic stone artifacts in India that he suggests exhibit Middle Stone Age (280,000 – 50,000 years ago) industry characteristics found in Africa. These Middle Stone Age artifacts in Africa have, by general consensus, been connected to early anatomically modern humans. Thus from Petraglia’s perspective, the Indian Middle Palaeolithic humans could have been Homo sapiens, and not some earlier human species, as other scholars have suggested. In other words, anatomically modern humans may have exited Africa far earlier than previously thought.

“Archaeological excavations at Jwalapuram, in the Jurreru Valley of southern India,” writes Petraglia and colleagues, “demonstrate that Middle Palaeolithic hominins were present by c. 78 ka. Analysis of cores from the Jwalapuram localities indicates affinities with sub-Saharan African MSA assemblages produced by H. sapiens (modern humans)…….. While lithic technology does not provide a straightforward or definitive signature of modern human presence, in this case it does appear to necessitate that we consider the possibility that H. sapiens was present in South Asia by MIS 5a [about 85,000 years ago], if not earlier.”**

Petraglia admits that his suggestion is not the majority view, but insists that the jury is still very much out on any definitive scenario for human dispersal and evolution related to the African exit and habitation of South and East Asia, which would include India. 

“What we can agree on,” he says, “is that little research in these key geographic regions has been conducted, and much more evidence needs to be collected to support or refute the different theories.”

Read a more detailed article on the subject entitled “Before and After Toba”, with images and photographs, in the September 2013 issue of Popular Achaeology Magazine.

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* Christine S. Lane, Ben T. Chorn, Thomas C. Johnson, Ash from the Toba supereruption in Lake Malawi shows no volcanic winter in East Africa at 75 ka, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Volume 110, No. 20, June 21, 2013. 

**Bovin, N., et al., Human dispersal across diverse environments of Asia during the Upper Pleistocene, Quaternary International (2013), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2013.01.008

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

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. 

Like cemeteries, old homes, and sunken ships, even museums may not be beyond the domain of investigators who specialize in detecting and documenting paranormal activity, experiences or events that lie outside the range of normal experience or rational explanation. After all, museums, sometimes called “the Nation’s attics”, contain artifacts that could date anywhere from several millions of years BP to recent history, and it seems, at least based on the literature of recorded events, ghosts and such like to hang out around things old or dead.  

Now, a group of investigators with the North Carolina Paranormal Research Society will be conducting an investigation at the Museum of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, North Carolina Saturday evening, Sept. 21. The research team has gained local attention for its video footage of a door at the local Camden County jail that mysteriously closes.

Mark Anderson with N.C. Paranormal Research contacted the museum after learning about stories of reported paranormal activities in and around it. Regional Museum Director Bill McCrea met with Anderson and later with the museum staff to learn more about the reported sightings.

“Many buildings in North Carolina have been studied for paranormal activity, including the historic State Capitol in Raleigh.” said McCrea. “It might be interesting to see if there is any evidence to support local lore,” he added.

With security provided by an off-duty security guard and a museum staff member, the team will use a variety of techniques to see if any paranormal activity can be recorded. In addition to digital cameras, the team will use digital voice recorders and electromagnetic field recorders.

Anderson is looking forward to the evening of field work. “We appreciate the opportunity to record at the museum and hope we can add to the body of evidence on paranormal activity,” he said.

But it might have been better timed if they had arranged the investigation for the evening of October 31.

The Museum of the Albemarle is part of the Division of State History Museums, within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. For more information on North Carolina arts, history and culture, visit Cultural Resources online.

Source: Adapted and edited from a news press release of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Credit North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

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

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

You can’t always tell a book by its cover, as the saying goes. Scientists are now discovering that the same principle applies to ancient cities that have been shrouded for centuries beneath jungle canopies. And Angkor, the famous capital of southeast Asia’s largest ancient empire and thought by many to have already long revealed its secrets, is apparently no exception.

Led by archaeologist Damian Evans of the University of Sydney, Australia, a research team has visually peeled away the forest and other vegetation covering the landscape of Angkor Wat in northwestern Cambodia by using a new set of eyes — a state-of-the-art technology known as LiDAR (Laser Interferometry Detection and Ranging) — a system that uses laser pulses from an airborn platform, such as a helicopter, to reveal what the earth’s surface looks like below heavily forested areas.  What they found was staggering.  

“We found that this nicely formally planned grid extends for 35 square kilometers, rather than the 9 kilometers that had previously been mapped from the ground,” he said. “Angkor has been considered to be (among the) cities enclosed by moats or walls, but we found that the town area of the city grids extends far beyond the moat spaces.”

And for the first time, using LiDAR, archaeologists were able to create a map of Angkor’s hidden streets. They also found something unexpected — a series of features which appeared to be embankments at a level of 10 to 15 meters high, layed out in a spiral pattern. Each bank measured a meter in height.  “We are not sure what they are,” Evans said. 

But it was not just the size of the city that has amazed researchers. This was a city designed with a plan. The streets ran in a grid exactly east/west or north/south. Each city block was measured exactly 100 meters by 100 meters, with 4 dwellings and 4 rectangular ponds, each pond located north-east of each dwelling. The dwellings, elevated on earthen mounds, were higher than the surrounding rice fields, presumably so they wouldn’t flood during the rainy season. The roads were likewise elevated. 

Perhaps the biggest take-away is the implication that Angkor contained a larger population than previously thought. The newly discovered urban landscape extended for 35 square kilometers, capable of supporting a population of 750,000 to a million inhabitants, according to the new analysis.  “Angkor was a city the size of New York and that’s impressive in the ninth century,” said Francisco Goncalves. Goncalves is president of McElhanney Indonesia, the company that adapted the LiDAR system for the research project.

The finding has shed additional light on the latest thinking about how Angkor met its end. Scholars now theorize that as the city’s population grew, it became increasingly more difficult for the surrounding agriculture to support the urban population. “You would have had a very large population that was not devoted to producing rice,” said Evans. “So they relied on consistent yields of the agricultural hinterland.” According to Michael Coe, a world-renowned archaeologist who authored a book about Angkor, a large population may have also been responsible for the decision to move the Khmer capital to another area in the 14^th century.  “They overused the land and probably caused a great amount of erosion, clogged up the canals and the whole irrigation system would have collapsed,” he said.  This is the result, he maintained, “when populations grow beyond the agricultural capacity of the land.”

Cover Photo, Top Left: View of Angkor Wat. David Sim, Wikimedia Commons

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Read a detailed feature article with images about the new findings at Angkor, which includes the discovery of Cambodia’s “Lost City”, as well as other fascinating discoveries with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine.  Find out what Popular Archaeology Magazine is all about.  AND MORE:

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

It was like looking at wood planks and timbers that were cut from their trees and shaped just a few decades ago. But these pieces were thousands of years old. About 4,500 years old, in fact. 

With a sense of urgency, a team donned in special white hazmat-like suites, gloves and face-masks, like surgeons, swiftly yet methodically removed, handled and examined scores of carefully and artfully cut pieces of wood. They were priceless, because these specimens were as old as the pyramids of Egypt and they were in danger of beginning to disappear before their excavator’s eyes, like phantoms, if they weren’t handled and processed appropriately. These were parts of Pharaoh Khufu’s solar funerary vessel, anciently disassembled and packed meticulously into a stone pit grave beneath the sand at the foot of Khufu’s great pyramid over 4,500 years ago. Khufu was ancient Egypt’s Old Kingdom pharaoh at that time, or WAS before this boat was buried. But in 1987 the seal of the entombed boat had been breached and water, insects and fungi began to degrade the ancient, vulnerable wood. Severe damage had occurred as a result to some parts of the wood, and scientists found themselves in a race against time to recover the vessel before the outside world did more damage.

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Above and below: Archaeologists carefully handle one of the first pieces of the 4,500 year old solar boat. The wood from the boat, while degraded severely in some areas, is still quite well preserved. Because of the desert climate, archaeologists have a much easier time preserving the boat than if it had been found in a more humid climate. Photo by Leyland Cecco/Transterra Media

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The find is currently touted to be among the greatest discoveries and excavation projects in Egypt’s long history of archaeological research. Like it’s sister boat excavated and assembled decades ago and now housed in the “Solar Boat Museum” adjacent to the Great Pyramid of Khufu on the Giza Plateau, this was a boat type known as a “solar barge“, a ritual vessel designed to carry the resurrected pharaoh with the sun god Ra across the heavens in the afterlife. It may never have touched water in real life, but this is a matter of further research.

With the help of a Japanese scientific team and technical experts from Japan’s Waseda University and the Japanese Institute for Restoration Research, members of the Egyptian Ministry of State for Antiquities and other Egyptian antiquities experts hope to be able to study and preserve, as well as completely assemble, the ancient bark. Apart from the sensational remains themselves, the boat, the Egyptian authorities anticipate, promises to provide another window on Old Kingdom Egypt, not just for scholars and historians, but for throngs of fascinated citizens and tourists, as well.

“The boat is a spectacular piece of engineering and building, and also provides insight into technology, trade, and aesthetics” effuses Salima Ikram, head of the Egyptology Unit at the famed American University in Cairo. “It is truly amazing to think that King Khufu actually might have travelled on this boat, after having ordered it to be made from cedar logs brought all the way from what is modern day Lebanon.”

Eventually, Egyptian authorities hope that future vistors will see a fully assembled boat housed and displayed on the Giza Plateau. The first solar boat, which has drawn countless tourists for many years, will be moved to the new Egyptian Museum. 

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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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

Evidence from past research has suggested that, sometime during the period between 130,000 and 100,000 years ago, the Sahara desert region we know today was wetter, featuring rivers and lakes, providing an environment that many scientists theorize permitted the earliest modern humans to migrate northward from points southward in Africa toward the Mediterranean coastline and areas eastward into the Levant.

Now, for the first time, a team of researchers led by UK scientist Tom J. Coulthard of the University of Hull, United Kingdom, has simulated the existence and fluctuation of ancient water systems across this region, rivers and wetlands with traces that still likely lie beneath sand dunes today. They used a state-of-the-art Earth System Model (ESM) to simulate the Eemian period climate (the interglacial period which began about 130,000 years ago and ended about 114,000 years ago) to drive a model that reconstructed past rivers and flood events across 12,000,000 square kilometers of North Africa, in the Sahara Desert region. This in turn predicted the presence of distinct river corridors and wetlands throughout the region during this time, “green corridors” that could have been used by early modern humans to migrate northward from their original southern homelands in Africa to jump-off locations for colonizing the globe at least 100,000 years ago.  

“Previous spatial analysis of the regional topography has shown there are major watersheds that are dry today but which would drain north from these [the Ahaggar and Tibesti ranges in the south] mountains towards the Mediterranean,” says Coulthard, et. al. “Satellite imagery reveals traces of major river channels linked to these watersheds, now partially buried under sand dune deposits.”  It “provides the first strong quantitative evidence for the presence of three major river systems flowing across the Sahara during MIS 5e [Marine Isotope Stage 5e, or 130,000 years ago]”.*

“Whilst we cannot state for certain that humans migrated alongside these rivers, the shape of the drainage systems indicate that anyone moving from south to north from a 2,000 km wide region in the mountains would be funnelled into three clear routes,” the researchers continue.*

Those south-to-north river systems are the “Sahabi” and “Kufrah” in the east towards Egypt and the Levant, and the “Irharhar” much farther to the west. They note that, despite the western-most location, the Irharhar river corridor could have been the most suitable corridor for dispersal of humans beyond the Sahara during this time, as the Irharhar connects two comparatively more humid climates, the monsoonal Ahaggar and Tibesti region to a North Western Mediterranean zone that received significant rainfall in the winter. They further support this by pointing to the greater abundance of archaeological evidence found in this area dated to the time range.

“In contrast, the eastern region has a surprising lack of archaeological evidence despite the extensive simulated palaeo-river courses,” they add. “It is likely that further surveys in this area will provide substantial evidence of Middle Stone Age activity, especially in the areas of buried palaeochannels. However, continued absence of this critical evidence of human migration would confirm our suggestion that a key factor in the western distribution of sites was the attractiveness of the richer Mediterranean-type environments of the Maghreb, which would have promoted permanent settlement in the region and further transit in both directions along the Irharhar river corridor.”

Previous studies have shown that people travelled across the Saharan mountains toward more fertile Mediterranean regions, but when, where and how they did so has been debatable among scholars. Current hypotheses suggest a single trans-Saharan migration, many migrations along one route, or multiple migrations along several different routes. Much more research needs to take place before a consensus model can be constructed.

But this study has shed new light on the debate.

“It’s exciting to think that 100,000 years ago there were three huge rivers forcing their way across 1,000 km of the Sahara desert to the Mediterranean — and that our ancestors could have walked alongside them,” said Coulthard.

The study has been published in detail at PLOS One, the open-access scientific journal.

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* Coulthard TJ, Ramirez JA, Barton N, Rogerson M, Bru ̈ cher T (2013) Were Rivers Flowing across the Sahara During the Last Interglacial? Implications for Human Migration through Africa. PLoS ONE 8(9): e74834. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0074834

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

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

El Pilar.  The name means “watering basin”, reflecting its rich water resources. Spread across the border between western Belize and northeastern Guatemala, this ancient Maya city center is considered the largest site in the Belize River region, boasting over 25 known plazas and hundreds of other structures, covering an area of about 120 acres. Monumental construction at El Pilar began in the Middle Preclassic period, around 800 BCE, and at its height centuries later it harbored more than 20,000 people.

It thus may come as a surprise for many visitors when they actually see the site. Its immensity belies the view — for this city, unlike many of its well-known counterparts in Belize and Guatemala — sites like Tikal and Caracol — remains mostly cloaked in its dense tropical shroud. With the exception of a fully exposed Maya house structure, pyramidal temples appear as hills covered with vegetation and trees, ball courts are still disguised like natural extensions of the jungle landscape, and elite residential buildings are detectable only as mere rises beneath the forest canopy. But this is not because archaeologists have not had the opportunity to excavate the site like they have at the famous tourist-draws of Tikal or Caracol. It is actually by design.

At El Pilar, conservation is foremost, and the concept, known as “Archaeology Under the Canopy” says that the monuments are best protected beneath the forest foliage. The objective is thus to selectively and partially expose only strategic areas, features that would visually demonstrate essential knowledge about the site. In addition, in keeping with the focus at El Pilar on researching Maya lifeways (as opposed to the lives and remains of rulers and elites), the site is both an open-air laboratory and showcase for learning about and demonstrating the traditional Maya agricultural practice of forest gardening, a methodology for sustainability thought to be a key to the prosperity and florescence of the Maya civilization.

Now, consistent with its pioneering place in Maya studies, El Pilar has become the focus of a new frontier in Maya archaeology — one that promises to revolutionize the way archaeologists and other specialists approach the discovery process at archaeological sites and areas. 

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Courtesy BRASS/El Pilar Program

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Satellite image of location of El Pilar. Courtesy BRASS/El Pilar Program

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Above and below: Most of the El Pilar structures remain enshrouded in foliage, a natural strategy for conserving its remains. Courtesy BRASS/El Pilar Program 

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A Game-Changing Technology 

Archaeological survey in the verdant tropical Maya forest has presented long-standing challenges to finding undiscovered archaeological sites. The dense foliage and forest canopy have made sure of that. Partly because of this and other research priorities, traditional mapping strategies have involved focused surveys of specific areas, usually around major centers, such as Tikal, and only later in areas outside of centers, such as my work between Tikal and Yaxhá. These settlement data have given us samples of ancient landscapes that can be projected across broader areas, as I have done with GIS (Geographic Information Systems). While traditional survey techniques have provided results in spite of the constraints of the dense forest, new and cutting edge technology, called LiDAR, may be a game-changer for archaeology in tropical areas. LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) is a laser-based remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges, or variable distances, to the Earth. It is capable of penetrating overlying vegetation and forest canopies, imaging at very high spatial resolutions with extraordinary accuracy. These light pulses, combined with other data recorded by airborne systems, produce precise points in a three-dimensional space to create a “point cloud” image for mapping. The technique was first applied in Maya archaeological research by University of Central Florida anthropologists Arlen and Diane Chase to produce 3-D maps of Caracol in 2010. In a recent publication of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Chase and others have argued that LiDAR is poised to generate a fundamental shift in Mesoamerican archaeology, potentially transforming research in forested areas worldwide. Using this technology, we can now readily identify structures such as hidden temples and locate them precisely on the landscape with extraordinary spatial precision. Is this the new magic wand? How will archaeologists integrate this new tool? What is its potential for discovery?  

The Application of LiDAR at El Pilar

Prior to LiDAR, many of the secrets of ancient Maya settlements remained hidden from view. Now, with LiDAR, large and small structures previously undetected can be made initially visible without traditional surveying, clearing and excavation. Successful identification of built structures from LiDAR, however, depends on the use of robust interpretive algorithms to extract terrain features from the data “point cloud”.  In other words, LiDAR results must be decoded to interpret cultural elements, and this is a work in progress. Inspection of the visualization results provides the “targets” for validation. These can be obvious residential compounds, suspected monuments, and more subtle features of small structures, depressions, and quarries. Validation in the field is critical to build the strategies for detecting the cultural features, and we need to look at all types of features, both those we think are positive ancient characteristics, as well as ambiguous or negative elements.

El Pilar is an ideal location for developing a new field study protocol to integrate the LiDAR technology with traditional field survey. We have been working at the site for over 20 years and have mapped the major architecture. Human activities have had little subsequent impact on the Maya forest around the site since the abandonment of the Classic Maya infrastructure around CE 900. Now a binational protected area in Belize and Guatemala, there is a need for an understanding of the cultural remains as part of the management planning process. Thus, the results of our new validation project of the LiDAR imagery will not only develop a comprehensive map of the Maya landscape of El Pilar for research, but will also provide vital input for the adaptive management of the site in Belize and Guatemala.

Exploring Solutions Past ~The Maya Forest Alliance, a conservation and sustainability organization based at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), recently received a gift from Mayaniquel, S.A., a Guatemalan company, of airborne LiDAR imagery covering the entire 20 sq km area of the El Pilar Archaeological Reserve. At the highest resolution of c. 20 laser pulses per sq m, imaged from a helicopter, data were gathered on forest canopy (height and density) and ground surface into an enormous “point cloud” data set that incorporated all of the observations. We have processed the LiDAR data using Terrascan and custom feature extraction software. We have used these images to target potential positive cultural features, questionable elements, as well as negative areas at El Pilar. 

What We Have Accomplished

The 2012 two-month season was aimed at building a field validation scheme and a protocol for moving from the LiDAR imagery in the context of the GIS to the field using GPS devices. We focused on a detailed area of c. 2 sq km in the core of the city. 

Based on the LiDAR, we prepared targets for the field validations. This included feature classifications as built structures, liner alignments, ambiguous objects, and irregular surfaces. In the field, we assembled coordinates based on the LiDAR features. These coordinates were input into the GPS and used to navigate to the actual targets. Once we arrived at the features, we verified their qualities, confirming Maya structures with sketch maps. Nehanda Higinio, a Belizean environmental studies student working with the El Pilar program in Belize, participated in the field work to identify the actual ground features detected by LiDAR. Below, she briefly describes her experience.

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Using the GPS tracking system to find locations identified with LiDAR technology, we marked and recorded the different points that were house platforms and limestone quarries, places that the Maya mined for building stone. The slopes were as many as the land snail shells that lay scattered about among pieces of ancient Maya pottery and the fallen leaves from Allspice, Corozol, Ramon and Copal trees………It was like putting together the pieces of a puzzle. We looked at our LiDAR map then walked to the actual physical location using a GPS tracking device. When we got to each point we looked at our LiDAR map to see if what we thought we saw on the map was what we could actually see in real life. We had to also collect notes to describe the area’s density of rainforest and the trees there were identified by Master Forest Gardener Torres.  This helped in confirming the data from the LiDAR map.

Pictured above is a large limestone quarry found and verified through this process. Below, ancient houses are found among the trees. (Photos courtesy BRASS/El Pilar Program)

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Existing site maps from the field have provided visual correlates of human constructions visible in the LiDAR imagery based on our enhanced GIS visualizations. Unusual complexes have already been detected: a “citadel”-like construction to the east of the main monuments of El Pilar, and a sunken plaza that appears to link the offset causeways. Neither of these features had been recorded before. These discoveries change our understanding of ancient Maya land use and the city of El Pilar, but features like these could only have been proven on the ground with the field validation.

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LiDAR image showing the core area of El Pilar. Courtesy BRASS/El Pilar

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Detail closeup view of the newly discovered citadel feature detected east of the main temples of El Pilar. Citadel is on the right. It was confirmed in the field. Courtesy BRASS/El Pilar

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Sunken plaza identified with LiDAR and confirmed in the field. Courtesy BRASS/El Pilar 

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In the context of our expanding UCSB Maya Forest GIS, the work with the new El Pilar LiDAR data will create an essential base for the site-specific scale research that will enhance our accumulating GIS layers of air photographs, soil studies, plant identification, archaeological surveys, and excavation data. We have already extracted a complete topographic map of El Pilar and have been able to re-register earlier and less accurate observation data stored in our Maya forest GIS. We can also image cross-sections of the landscape to better understand the relationship of the ground and forest. 

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Point cloud view of El Pilar looking south. Green is the forest canopy and darker area is the ground surface. Note the cultural feature of major acropolis on the left. Courtesy BRASS/El Pilar Program

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:

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

April, 2013. It was a dramatic and unexpected discovery.

Only days into the dig season, excavators were digging into a Byzantine-era structure and discovered a large gold earring. As they dug, they encounteed a second gold earring, then a number of gold coins, scattered across the area. Eventually, a beautifully preserved large gold menorah medallion buried in a depression in the floor emerged, along with a cache of jewelry beneath it. They uncovered traces of fabric on the items. Further analysis indicated that they at one time had been packaged in two separate cloth purses. 

Under the direction of archaeologist Eilat Mazar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the team had only just begun their dig season when, just 50 meters south of Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, they found the hoard buried inside a Byzantine structure dating back to the sixth century C.E. The hoard appeared to be divided into two parts, or bundles. One contained the menorah medallion with an attached gold chain and other jewelry and appeared to have been undisturbed since its initial burial in the floor. The other, consisting of 36 gold coins, two gold earrings, a broken gold-plated silver pendant and a pure silver ingot, was found scattered across the floor, showing clear signs that, whoever possessed them 1,400 years ago, didn’t have time to bury them. 

According to Mazar, the menorah medallion and the other jewelry items found near it were likely part of a Torah scroll. If so, given the dating of the finds, it would mean that these were the earliest known Torah scroll ornaments ever discovered.

So what is the story behind this hoard?

Historical accounts document that the Persians had controlled Jerusalem before the time the hoard had been buried. But with the rising Christian empire, the Persians, as part of their effort to appease the rising Christian power, began expelling the Jews (who otherwise were previously allowed to return to Jerusalem under Persian authority) from the city. Mazar suggests that the assemblage of items might have represented payment from a group of prominent Jews to help finance the building of a synagogue in Jerusalem, consistent with historical practice. The fact that many of the items were left scattered across the ancient floor suggested a sudden abandonment under urgent conditions, perhaps relating to the expulsion by the Persians.

The discovery was made as part of the ongoing excavations in the Ophel area just south of the Temple Mount. The most recent excavations there, now in their 2nd phase, have turned up inscribed fragments featuring what has been described as an ancient Canaanite script, possibly the earliest alphabetical inscription ever found in Jerusalem, finds dated to the Second Temple, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods, and what Mazar and others suggest may be the remains of structures attributed to builders during the period of King Solomon in the 10th century BCE. Past remains have included a section of a massive wall of large, well-dressed stones 70 meters long and 6 meters high. Also uncovered with the wall was a structure interpreted as an inner gatehouse, a royal structure adjacent to the gatehouse, and a section of a corner tower 8 meters long and 6 meters high, built of carved stones.  

A detailed account of the discovery can be read in the September 9, 2013 article published in The Trumpet.

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Cover Photo, Top Left: Photo of the Menorah Medallion with chain. Photo courtesy Eilat Mazar

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

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

September 8th, 2013

George Washington’s Incredible Garbage Dump

Most people wouldn’t even think about an 18th century refuse pit. But for archaeologists, it can be a veritable goldmine of information about the past. And for archaeological investigators at George Washington’s Mount Vernon home and estate near the Virginia banks of the Potomac river in 1990, no pile of garbage was as precious as the one located just south of the famous restored mansion house in the area historically known as the south grove. (Popular Archaeology)

Fragments of Mayan Jaguar Sculptures Found in El Salvador

At least 160 fragments of sculptures, possibly of jaguars, were discovered by specialists in the archaeological park of Cihuatan, located in central El Salvador, the Culture Secretariat said. The remains come from “five or six feline sculptures,” found along with pieces of two censers, the secretariat said in a statement. (Latin American Herald Tribune)

Machu Picchu’s ‘sister city’ may finally get visitors

The Choquequirao ruins in Cusco, Peru. Choquequirao, which means “cradle of gold” in Quechua, is believed to be the last refuge of Incan rulers who fled Cuzco after its leader Manco Inca was defeated by Spanish conquistadors. The former mountaintop refuge of Incan royalty has elegant halls and plazas much like those of fabled Machu Picchu just 30 miles away. Yet only a handful of tourists visit the ruins each day, those willing to make a two-day hike to reach its majestic solitude. (MercuryNews.com)

Secret ‘slave’ tunnels discovered under Roman emperor’s villa

Amateur archaeologists have uncovered a massive network of tunnels under the Roman Emperor Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, Italy. The underground passageways likely allowed thousands of slaves and merchants to keep the estate running without creating any distraction at the street level. (NBCNews.com)

Flag Fen Bronze Age boats older than was first thought

Eight Bronze Age boats discovered in a deep Cambridgeshire quarry are much older than it was first thought, carbon-dating research has revealed. The vessels, found by archaeologists at Must Farm near Peterborough in 2011, have now been dated to about 1500 BC, 200 years older than was first thought. (BBC News)

‘Slip’ between monumental cup and CAG’s lip

The Archaeological Survey of India has come under glare after a CAG report revealed in late August that 92 protected monuments in its care cannot be traced, including seven in the Calcutta circle. The ASI has, however, termed the report erroneous and attributed the “wrong” figures to “miscommunication” and a “lack of co-ordination” between the CAG’s performance audit team and its own field officers who may not have been updated about the existence of the monuments. (The Telegraph)

New Microplasma Device Could Potentially Revolutionize Archaeology

A team of researchers, including experts from Uppsala University in Sweden have developed a miniature device that they claim could revolutionize the way in which archaeologists date objects they discover in the field. The instrument in question is being described as a high-tech microplasma source that is capable of exciting matter in a controlled, efficient way. While the device, which is detailed in a paper appearing in the Journal of Applied Physics, could be used in a wide range of applications in harsh environments, the authors claim that it could drastically change the study of artifacts. (RedOrbit.com)

Medieval church found in King’s Square

ARCHAEOLOGISTS working for City of York Council may have found evidence of a medieval church in King’s Square. The team is working to transform the square, and also found the foundations of a Victorian church at the site during the dig. (YorkPress)

When Did Human Speech Evolve?

About 1.75 million years ago, our human ancestors, the hominins (who you may remember as the hominids), achieved a technological breakthrough. They began to craft stone hand axes (called Acheulean tools) in ways that required more planning and precision than had been used in earlier tool-making processes. Around the same time, these prehistoric people began to talk. (New Hampshire News)

Most people wouldn’t even think about an 18th century refuse pit. But for archaeologists, it can be a veritable goldmine of information about the past. And for archaeological investigators at George Washington’s Mount Vernon home and estate near the Virginia banks of the Potomac river in 1990, no pile of garbage was as precious as the one located just south of the famous restored mansion house in the area historically known as the south grove. 

Designated the South Grove Midden (a “midden” in archaeological parlance is another name for a trash dump), clues of its existence actually first emerged in 1948, when members of the Mount Vernon grounds crew excavated a hole in the area to plant a holly tree. A number of artifacts dating to the eighteenth century were recovered, telltale clues that the south grove area could be the location of midden deposits formed during George Washington’s lifetime. This would be no surprise, as the area was near the Washington household kitchen and it was common in the 18th century to dispose of household refuse near where it was generated. Spots not far from the back doors of kitchens were considered prime dumping grounds back then. 

But it wasn’t until 1990 when archaeologists began to seriously focus on the spot, after a grounds crew again encountered historic deposits while constructing an irrigation system. From 1990 through 1994, full-scale excavations (see image right) recovered nearly 300,000 artifacts, an unprecedented array of household items deposited by the Washington family and enslaved families over several decades in the 18th century.

“The South Grove Midden collection represents the largest and most significant collection of artifacts excavated to date associated with the domestic lives of the Washington households,” says Eleanor Breen, Deputy Director of Archaeology at Mount Vernon.  “One evocative artifact after another – from the unique to the prosaic – tells the interconnected stories of Mount Vernon plantation’s earliest residents: Lawrence and Anne Fairfax Washington; George Washington in his bachelorhood and as a newlywed; and the enslaved Africans and African Americans who labored in the mansion and outbuildings.”   

Thus as any archaeologist would say, the artifacts in themselves are not the real treasure. It is the information that can be gleaned from them. The South Grove Midden artifacts have afforded scholars and the public alike with a remarkable window on life on George Washington’s estate during the period of its occupation by the Washington family from about 1735 to 1858, and evidence of activities there before and after that period.

Nothing spoke to this more when, in January 2013, the most significant finds were highlighted in a searchable online database of no less than 711 key objects, including photographs, detailed summaries, and catalogue information, all interfaced with documentary and thematic material information that in essence makes them accessible to any visitor. But, says Breen, “the Mount Vernon Midden website is more than an e-museum, it’s a digital humanities effort to present the individual artifacts in layers of both archaeological and historical context.”

“In envisioning and designing the website with Mark Freeman of Stories Past, our goal was to reach a broad audience – from the archaeology enthusiast to the scholar of material culture. The website is structured like a pyramid with the individual object catalogue records at the top (with professional quality photographs that can be zoomed in on for greater detail and unique narrative text explaining the significance of the artifact), more extensive content in the middle (in the form of summaries of artifact sub-assemblages and thematic essays on groupings of artifacts), and the complete artifact catalogue at the base (accessed via www.daacs.org).”        

To give an example of just one individual object record, one artifact, known to archaeological enthusiasts and scholars of George Washington as the George Washington trunk plate, is pictured at the website as object no. 2921. It represents both an affirmation of the historicity of George Washington’s experience during the Revolutionary War as well as tangible material witness to his genteel status in 18th century American society: 

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[Recovered from the South Grove Midden] This oval copper alloy plate, engraved “Gen: Washington,” is identical to a plate affixed to a trunk in the Mount Vernon collection which George Washington is known to have purchased secondhand on April 4, 1776, in Boston, soon after he took up his duties as general of the Continental Army. The plate on the trunk was placed over the initials of the previous owner, a Boston merchant named John Head. Throughout the Revolutionary War, the security of his official correspondence and orders was a perpetual concern for General George Washington. In the intervening weeks between the British evacuation of Boston and his departure to defend Manhattan, Washington obtained the travelling trunk to contain the increasing number of official papers in his possession. The trunk was part of General Washington’s baggage throughout the war, returning with him to Mount Vernon when he retired from military service in 1783. Given the similarity of the two specimens, the excavated plate almost surely had the same origin. The original trunk was made of rawhide, wood, leather and lined with linen. Only the metal hardware (tacks, hinges, and this plate) would survive archaeologically.

This is one of the few artifacts that we have found with George Washington’s name engraved upon it. The other object excavated from the South Grove Midden that can be linked directly back to Washington is the fragment of a silver scabbard collar engraved with part of his monogram (2696). Wine bottle seals with the crest, name, or initials of their past owners are encountered in the archaeological record at Mount Vernon and on other historic sites of the colonial period; however, it appears that George Washington did not have his own. The significance of these formally marked objects relates to an expression of gentility and status. For example, pewter dishes were widely available in the eighteenth century to consumers. However, a simple pewter plate could be elevated and distinguished with the placement of a family crest, as George Washington requested be done on a set of 96 pewter dishes in 1759.  

— Object Detail from the Mount Vernon Midden Project website.

Photo courtesy Mount Vernon Preservation.

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“Other artifacts excavated from the soil layers of the midden give us pause to consider how Lawrence and George Washington and other elite planters afforded this burgeoning genteel lifestyle,” adds Breen.  “A singular artifact called a denier gauge [pictured as object no. 2922 in the database], a small magnifying glass that counted threads per quarter inch of cloth, focuses our attention on the enslaved men and women upon whose labor refined styles of life were based.  At the beginning of Washington’s tenure at Mount Vernon, he oversaw approximately 30 Africans and Afro-Virginians, a community whose numbers would increase to over 300 at the time of Washington’s death in 1799. These enslaved individuals worked for the profit of their owners plowing the fields, forging the iron, cooking the meals, and sewing or weaving the cloth – the quality of which was measured and checked by Martha Washington using the denier gauge.”

The database contains much more than objects excavated from the Midden. Also documented are 3,839 invoices and orders, described through both picture and narrative. They constitute the record of his economic life before the Revolutionary War, from 1754 to 1773, including items such as fabrics, seeds, medicines, shoes, foodstuffs, and plantation tools shipped to him on a total of 26 vessels during that time period. Along with the other objects, Mount Vernon archaeologists say that these invoices and orders have helped, and will continue to be a key, to improving our understanding of material culture, consumerism, and economics during 18th century colonial America. 

“The South Grove Midden and associated documentary evidence in the form of George Washington’s orders for goods from England and inventories of a local store in the town of Colchester provides the opportunity to study a dynamic period in American history,” says Breen.  “What makes the 40-year period before the American Revolution unique is that access to consumer goods appears to have opened up for larger segments of the colonial population through a more sophisticated and far-reaching system of distribution for imported items – an event described as the consumer revolution. The artifacts and documents associated with the site offer an opportunity to explore this transformation through material culture.”    

Anyone can access and explore the database by going to mountvernonmidden.org.

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All images courtesy Mount Vernon Ladies Association, Mount Vernon Department of Archaeology, and Mount Vernon Preservation.

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

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.

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The ongoing debate about when and how anatomically modern humans (“AMH”) made their presence in east Asia has taken another turn with new evidence recovered from a cave in central China. The finds may push back the generally accepted time of their appearance in the region by as much as 50,000 years.

A team of six researchers from four institutions, using high-precision mass spectrometric U-series dating techniques, were able to determine a reliable and constrained date range of between 81 and 101 ka (thousand years) for seven human fossil teeth recovered from the Huanglong Cave in the Hubei Province of central China. The teeth, determined to exhibit anatomically modern human characteristics, were revealed in a layer associated with stone tools and other fossilized animal remains during excavations conducted in 2004, 2005 and 2006 by a joint team from the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The excavations were followed by further fieldwork in 2010 and 2011. 

Reports Guangun Shen, et al., “the existence of localized thin flowstone formations bracketing the hominin [ancient human] fossil-bearing deposits enables us to firmly constrain the human teeth into the range between 81 ka  and 101 ka, probably the most narrow time span for any hominin fossil beyond 45 ka in China”.* Flowstones are sheetlike deposits of calcite formed over many thousands of years, the result of water flowing down the walls or along the floors of caves. They are a type of speleothem, or secondary mineral deposit such as a stalagtite or stalagmite, often found in ancient cave systems. 

According to the study authors, the finding comes after a series of other relatively recent excavations and reports that have produced “a growing body of evidence for the possible presence of AMH in eastern Asia as early as 100 ka ago”.* They refer here to some limestone caves in southern China where scientists have come up with more ancient dates, including Liujiang (between 111 and 139 ka), Ganqian (between 94 and 220 ka), Bailiandong (more than 160 ka), and Zhirendong (more than 100 ka) in Guangxi. The Guanglong Cave results, however, are considered the most reliable because of the much narrower constraining range of 81 to 101 ka as determined by the latest U-series dating technology.

These new findings have challenged the prevailing theory among scientists that anatomically modern humans were not present in China or east Asia until roughly around 40,000 – 50,000 years ago. This is based on earlier findings at a number of sites across China and east Asia that point to a ‘gap’ between 100 ka and 40 ka ago lacking any human fossils, more specifically between the latest archaic humans and the earliest modern humans, and genetic studies of present-day Chinese populations that have suggested a late appearance of AMH in eastern Asia.

But this previous data, maintains Shen, et al., was generated using older, less reliable dating techniques and excluded fossils claimed to represent AMH.  “Based on our work on the sites of H. erectus (an earlier form of human) and of both archaic and modern H. sapiens over the past twenty plus years, we argue that the temporal framework in China has been artificially ‘compressed and gapped,’ meaning that due to limitations in previous dating techniques and practices, the ages of Chinese hominin fossils have been significantly postdated (compressed), and that a temporal gap between archaic H. sapiens and AMH has been artificially created (gapped).”* 

Regarding the genetic studies, they argue that “more solid skeletal discoveries, along with parallel studies in relevant disciplines are needed to reconcile the geochronology and the molecular clock.”*

Perhaps even more significant, the researchers suggest that the entire timeline for hominin (ancient human) presence in east China should be shifted back earlier in time and should be continuous (without the gap), based on updated research. This includes the advent of H. erectus at more than 400 ka old, rather than the current 230 ka; archaic H. sapiens at more than 200 ka, instead of ca. 110 ka; and the emergence of AMH at around 100 ka or earlier.

Concludes the team: “The newly established timeline for hominin fossils in China, as a result of more meticulous stratigraphic work and the advancement in dating techniques, demands a reexamination of hominin fossils and associated materials in a more coherent chronological context in China.”*

Details of the study have been published in the August 2013 issue of the Journal of Human Evolution as Mass spectrometric U-series dating of Huanglong Cave in Hubei Province, central China: Evidence for early presence of modern humans in eastern Asia. 

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*http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004724841300119X

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

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

September 4th, 2013

Modern Humans Were in China Much Earlier Than Previously Thought

The ongoing debate about when and how anatomically modern humans (“AMH”) made their presence in east Asia has taken another turn with new evidence recovered from a cave in central China. The finds may push back the generally accepted time of their appearance in the region by as much as 50,000 years. A team of six researchers from four institutions, using high-precision mass spectrometric U-series dating techniques, were able to determine a reliable and constrained date range of between 81 and 101 ka (thousand years) for seven human fossil teeth recovered from the Huanglong Cave in the Hubei Province of central China. (Popular Archaeology)

Who ruled ancient Egypt and when: The most precise timeline yet

The most precise chronology of Early Egypt yet suggests the country formed much more quickly than previously thought. The new finding reveals a robust timeline for the first eight kings and queens of Egypt, including, in order of succession, King Aha, King Djer, King Djet, Queen Merneith, King Den, King Anedjib, King Semerkhet and King Qa’a. The accession of Aha to the throne is often thought to define the start of the Egyptian state, with the new study suggesting (with 68 percent probability) that he became king between 3111 B.C. and 3045 B.C. (NBCNews)

Richard III’s worms of discontent: Experts say hunchback English king infected with parasite

Researchers who dug up King Richard III’s skeleton say they appear to have discovered another problem the hunchback monarch had during his brief and violent reign: parasitic worms in his guts that grew up to a foot long. In those remains, dug up last year beneath a parking lot in Leicester, the researchers say they discovered numerous roundworm eggs in the soil around his pelvis, where his intestines would have been. (The Washington Post)

Archaeologists Unearth 10,400-Year-Old Settlements in Bolivia

An international team of scientists from Switzerland, Australia, Germany and the United States has discovered remains of three hunter-gatherer settlements in the western Amazon. Their study, reported in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, focuses on a region in the Bolivian Amazon thought to be rarely occupied by pre-agricultural communities due to unfavorable environmental conditions (Sci-News.com)

Men’s average height ‘up 11cm since 1870s’

The average height of men has risen by almost 11cm since the mid-19th century, experts have found. Data was collected on hundreds of thousands of men from 15 European countries. For British men, the average height at age 21 rose from 167.05cm (5ft 5in) in 1871-75 to 177.37cm (5ft 10in) in 1971-75. A public health expert said height was a “useful barometer” but it was crucial to focus on improving health overall. (BBC News)

Here is another clue for scientists engaged in figuring out how human evolution worked: Just like in the movies, researchers are finding that the good guys always win in the end.

This is the message from results of a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of September 2, 2013. The study was conducted by a duo of University of Pennsylvania biologists. Postdoctoral researcher Alexander J. Stewart and associate professor Joshua B. Plotkin analyzed the outcome of the Prisoner’s Dilemma game, as played continuously by a large, evolving population of players.

The Prisoner’s Dilemma is a game that shows why two individuals might not cooperate, even if it appears that it is in their collective best interests to do so. In the game, if both players cooperate, they both receive a payoff. If one cooperates and the other does not, the cooperating player receives the smallest possible payoff, and the defecting player the largest. If both players do not cooperate, they receive a payoff, but it is less than what they would gain if both had cooperated. In other words, it pays to cooperate, but it can pay even more to be selfish.

The significance of the research is that, while previous researchers have suggested that cooperative strategies can be successful, for the first time, Stewart and Plotkin offer mathematical proof that the only strategies that succeed in the long term are generous ones. It flies in the face of the principle of “survival of the fittest”, which has traditionally underpinned the Darwinian concept of biological evolution. 

“Ever since Darwin,” Plotkin said, “biologists have been puzzled about why there is so much apparent cooperation, and even flat-out generosity and altruism, in nature. The literature on game theory has worked to explain why generosity arises. Our paper provides such an explanation for why we see so much generosity in front of us.”

The research differed from previous studies in another way. Instead of a one-on-one competition, they envisioned a population of players matching up against one another, as might occur in a human or animal society in nature. The most successful players would get to “reproduce” more, passing on their strategies to the next generation of players.

It quickly became clear to the Penn biologists that extortion strategies wouldn’t do well if played within a large, evolving population because an extortion strategy doesn’t succeed if played against itself.

“The fact that there are extortion strategies immediately suggests that, at the other end of the scale, there might also be generous strategies,” Stewart said. “You might think being generous would be a stupid thing to do, and it is if there are only two players in the game, but, if there are many players and they all play generously, they all benefit from each other’s generosity.”

In generous strategies, which are essentially the opposite of extortion strategies, players tend to cooperate with their opponents, but, if they don’t, they suffer more than their opponents do over the long term. “Forgiveness” is also a feature of these strategies. A player who encounters a defector may punish the defector a bit but after a time may cooperate with the defector again.

After simulating how some generous strategies would fare in an evolving population, Stewart and Plotkin crafted a mathematical proof showing that, not only can generous strategies succeed in the evolutionary version of the Prisoner’s Dilemma, in fact these are the only approaches that resist defectors over the long term.

“Our paper shows that no selfish strategies will succeed in evolution,” Plotkin said. “The only strategies that are evolutionarily robust are generous ones.”

The discovery, while abstract, helps explain the presence of generosity in nature, an inclination that can sometimes seem counter to the Darwinian notion of survival of the fittest.

“When people act generously they feel it is almost instinctual, and indeed a large literature in evolutionary psychology shows that people derive happiness from being generous,” Plotkin said. “It’s not just in humans. Of course social insects behave this way, but even bacteria and viruses share gene products and behave in ways that can’t be described as anything but generous.”

“We find that in evolution, a population that encourages cooperation does well,” Stewart said. “To maintain cooperation over the long term, it is best to be generous.”

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Source: Adapted and edited from a University of Pennsylvania press release.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Allegorical personification of Charity (Generosity) as a mother with three infants by Anthony van Dyck.  Wikimedia Commons

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

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com. 

August 26th, 2013

Prehistoric Europeans Spiced Up Their Food

It seems that at least some of our prehistoric ancestors, like us, liked to spice up their food for a more palatable cuisine. So concludes a recent study led by Hayley Saul of the University of York. By examining isolated carbonized (burned) food deposits from pottery shards dated from ca. 6,100 to 3,750 BP from three sites in Denmark and Germany, Saul and colleagues identified phytoliths from plant remains that are likely mustard garlic seeds. Phytoliths are created when plants absorb silica from the soil. The silica is deposited within different intracellular and extracellular structures of the plant and, after the plants decay, it is redeposited in the soil in the form of phytoliths (from Greek, “plant stone”), which are rigid, microscopic structures of varying sizes and shapes. These phytoliths are naturally decay-resistant and are thus preserved in soil and other contexts, ready to be discovered and examined by archaeologists thousands, if not tens of thousands, of years later. (Popular Archaeology)

This 1,600-Year-Old Goblet Shows that the Romans Were Nanotechnology Pioneers

The colorful secret of a 1,600-year-old Roman chalice at the British Museum is the key to a super­sensitive new technology that might help diagnose human disease or pinpoint biohazards at security checkpoints. The glass chalice, known as the Lycurgus Cup because it bears a scene involving King Lycurgus of Thrace, appears jade green when lit from the front but blood-red when lit from behind—a property that puzzled scientists for decades after the museum acquired the cup in the 1950s. The mystery wasn’t solved until 1990, when researchers in England scrutinized broken fragments under a microscope and discovered that the Roman artisans were nanotechnology pioneers: They’d impregnated the glass with particles of silver and gold, ground down until they were as small as 50 nanometers in diameter, less than one-thousandth the size of a grain of table salt. The exact mixture of the precious metals suggests the Romans knew what they were doing—“an amazing feat,” says one of the researchers, archaeologist Ian Freestone of University College London. (smithsonianmag.com)

Richard III’s skeleton came within inches of destruction

A team from the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) have discovered during a second, follow-up dig, a massive disturbance at the Grey Friars site where the bones of the medieval monarch were found last year. The news comes one year on from when archaeologists began the Search for Richard III at the Grey Friars site on 25 August last year.  (Phys.org)

Researcher offers fresh insights into the Dead Sea Scrolls

New research conducted by a Trinity College academic in Jerusalem offers new insights into one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, which is concerned with the mystery of existence. Dr Benjamin Wold, Assistant Professor in New Testament at the Department of Religions & Theology, has been conducting research on the Dead Sea Scrolls known as “4QInstruction” which is believed to have been composed around the mid-2nd century BC. Despite considerable efforts to reconstruct this scroll from multiple copies, experts believe that only about 30 per cent of the document remains. Found in the remaining passages are frequent admonitions to understand the “mystery of existence.” (Phys.org)

Bandelier to Open Popular Archaeological Site

One of the most popular sites at Bandelier National Monument is set to reopen Monday. Accessible only by a series wooden ladders and steep stone steps, the kiva at the Alcove House site is located at the edge of a niche some 14 stories above the canyon floor. The site was closed in April due to concerns over structural stability of the kiva. The walls of the structure had loosened and there were other signs of severe erosion. Although the kiva itself will remain closed, park officials said visitors will be able to climb the ladders that lead to the site and take in the view from 140 feet above the canyon floor. (ABC News)

Lincoln Castle archaeologists to extract sarcophagus

Archaeologists are preparing to extract a sarcophagus discovered at Lincoln Castle and thought to contain “somebody terribly important”. The stone sarcophagus, believed to date from about AD900, was found alongside the remains of a church which was previously unknown. Archaeologists have been on site for almost a year and their work came to an end this week. They believe the sarcophagus could contain a Saxon king or bishop. (BBC News)

Feasting and fighting: the long-lost secrets of Beowulf

The dark secrets of the legend of Beowulf, England’s oldest work of epic literature, are gradually emerging from under a field in eastern Denmark. Archaeologists in the country’s earliest royal ‘capital’ – Lejre, 23 miles west of modern Copenhagen – are investigating the joys of elite Dark Age life in and around what was probably the great royal feasting hall at the violent epicentre of the Beowulf story. (Independent.co.uk)

Early South Americans conquered the Atacama desert

The heart of the Atacama desert is the driest place on Earth. But that didn’t prevent the first settlers of South America from setting up home there more than 12,000 years ago. Aside from Antarctica, South America was the last continent that modern humans colonised, says Claudio Latorre of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile in Santiago. The first settlers arrived from North America at least 14,000 years ago, but their route south is a mystery. Most researchers assume they travelled through fertile corridors, perhaps down the west coast where seafood was plentiful, at least until you hit the desert. “Extreme environments, such as the Atacama, were naturally assumed to be barriers,” says Latorre. “This was not the case.” (NewScientist)

Archaeologists excavating at the site of Jamestown, the New World’s first successful English colony, have uncovered more features evidencing activity of the first English colonists who arrived on Jamestown Island, Virginia, more than 400 years ago.

Excavations in the churchyard of the 1907 Memorial Church have turned up about 70 feet of the now vanished historic James Fort palisade that defined an eastern extension of the Fort. Reports Dr. William M. Kelso, head of archaeological research at Historic Jamestowne: “The shape of this expansion also seems to be a mirror image of James Fort, where one angle of the triangle was 90 degrees and two were 45 degrees. So a bird’s eye view of the expanded fort might resemble a diamond shape.” 

The eastern extension of the Fort has been documented historically, but this is the first time actual evidence of this 70-foot portion has been encountered on the ground through excavation.

Additionally, excavators have uncovered 10 long, foot-and-a-half wide, evenly spaced features extending eastward from the original James Fort space, features they believe were planting furrows dating to the first months of the 1607 settlement. If true, this would make the finding the earliest evidence of English planting, or agriculture, in the New World.

Archaeologists were able to confirm the early date of the furrows by observing that a wall line trench dated to 1608 cut through the furrow marks, clearly suggesting that the furrows predated the 1608 palisade line. These furrows also appeared to match furrows uncovered 10 years before outside the southeast bulwark of the James Fort. 

Captain John Smith’s 1607 account mentions instructions given by the Virginia Company (the sponsoring organization for the Jamestown venture) to the first settlers about dividing up into groups, one third to build a fort and the others to prepare the soil and plant. Along with the growing of tobacco, which became the staple crop for the area for decades to come, the first colonists were recorded to have brought seeds of English grains with them to plant as an experiment to determine how well the English crops would grow in the New World. The seeds are documented to have included those of fruits and vegetables brought over from the West Indies (the Caribbean), such as orange trees, cotton, potatoes, melons, pineapple and pumpkins.

“This is the beginning of Southern agriculture. Agriculture — the growing of tobacco — saved the colony and set the economic pattern for the South for centuries,” said senior staff archaeologist David Givens.

“It’s remarkable that these furrows have survived, probably because they were in the churchyard and protected,” Givens added. 

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Source: Edited and adapted from Where are We Digging Now?, September 2013, Jamestown Rediscovery, http://www.historicjamestowne.org/the_dig/

Cover Photo, Top Left: Archaeologists excavate at Jamestown. Smithsonian Institution Photo, Wikimedia Commons

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

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 populararchaeology@gmail.com and request the special coupon code. Or, for the e-Book version, it can be purchased for only $3.99 at Amazon.com.