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Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters—“What Denisovans looked like, despite their genetic contributions to present-day East Asians and Oceanians?” This is one of the most important questions that has arisen since the discovery of the Denisovans 15 years ago.

Now, recent research by a team led by FU Qiaomiei from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and JI Qiang of Hebei GEO University has helped answer this question by confirming that a nearly complete hominin skull discovered near Harbin belongs to the Denisovan lineage. It dates back to at least 146,000 years ago. 

The team developed a method for automatic identification of human populations based on ancient proteins, revealing the most informative ancient human proteome to date. They also optimized extraction techniques and developed bioinformatic algorithms to trace the evolution of ancient human DNA from Pleistocene dental calculus, successfully retrieving  host mitochondrial DNA from the dental calculus of the Harbin cranium.

These evidences suggest that the Harbin cranium is indeed Denisovan and is linked to the early Denisovan lineage from Siberia. These findings were recently published online in the journals Science and Cell, respectively.

The Harbin cranium, dating back at least 146,000 years, provides crucial insights into the wide distribution of Denisovans in Asia. Prior to this discovery, Denisovan fossils were limited and fragmentary, complicating our understanding of their morphology and evolutionary history. The Harbin fossil, identified as a new species, Homo longi, shares significant morphological similarities with Denisovan remains found at other locations.

The research team conducted independent palaeoproteomic analyses and innovative ancient DNA experiments on the Harbin cranium and its dental calculus. For the first time, their findings conclusively linked the nearly complete skull to the Denisovan population, resolving a question that has persisted since Denisovans were first identified through ancient DNA in 2010.

Using a newly established palaeoproteomic system, the team analyzed mass spectrometric data from the Harbin cranium, identifying over 308,000 peptide-spectrum , more than 20,000 peptides, and confirming 95 endogenous proteins. This extensive dataset surpasses previous results from contemporaneous fossils.

The team also discovered 122 single amino acid polymorphisms (SAPs) unique to Hominidae species, confirming the Harbin individual’s classification within the Homo genus.

Notably, they identified three variants unique to Denisovans, establishing a phylogenetic link between the Harbin individual and Denisova 3.

Despite the challenges of ancient DNA research, the team successfully retrieved mitochondrial DNA from dental calculus samples with a lot of effort. They optimized extraction methods and constructed multiple libraries, ultimately identifying Denisovan-specific mutations for further analysis.

The results confirmed that the Harbin individual belongs to an early mtDNA lineage of Denisovans, suggesting a wide distribution from Siberia to Northeast China during the late Middle Pleistocene. This study highlights the potential of dental calculus for preserving ancient human DNA, opening a new window into the genetic research of Middle Pleistocene hominins.

The two studies not only resolve the classification controversy surrounding the Harbin cranium and reveal the relatively complete skull morphology of Denisovans, but also provide important references for identifying other ancient human fossils in East Asia that may belong to the Denisovan lineage, such as those from Dali and Jinniushan.

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The Harbin cranium. Gary Todd, CC0 1.0 Universal, Wikimeda Commons

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Article Source: Chinese Academy of Sciences Headquarters news release

*The proteome of the late Middle Pleistocene Harbin individual, Science, 18-Jun-2025. 10.1126/science.adu9677 

Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology—Today, all non-Africans are known to have descended from a small group of people that ventured into Eurasia after around 50 thousand years ago. However, fossil evidence shows that there were numerous failed dispersals before this time that left no detectable traces in living people.

In a paper published in Nature this week, new evidence for the first time explains why those earlier migrations didn’t succeed. A consortium of scientists led by Prof. Eleanor Scerri of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology in Germany, and Prof. Andrea Manica of the University of Cambridge has found that before expanding into Eurasia 50 thousand years ago, humans began to exploit different habitat types in Africa in ways not seen before.

“We assembled a dataset of archaeological sites and environmental information covering the last 120 thousand years in Africa. We used methods developed in ecology to understand changes in human environmental niches, the habitats humans can use and thrive in, during this time,” says Dr Emily Hallett of Loyola University Chicago, co-lead author of the study.

“Our results showed that the human niche began to expand significantly from 70 thousand years ago, and that this expansion was driven by humans increasing their use of diverse habitat types, from forests to arid deserts,” adds Dr Michela Leonardi of London’s Natural History Museum, the study’s other lead author.

“This is a key result.” explains Professor Manica, “Previous dispersals seem to have happened during particularly favourable windows of increased rainfall in the Saharo-Arabian desert belt, thus creating ‘green corridors’ for people to move into Eurasia. However, around 70,000-50,000 years ago, the easiest route out of Africa would have been more challenging than during previous periods, and yet this expansion was sizeable and ultimately successful.”

Many explanations for the uniquely successful dispersal out of Africa have been made, from technological innovations to immunities granted by admixture with Eurasian hominins. However, no technological innovations have been apparent, and previous admixture events do not appear to have saved older human dispersals out of Africa.

Here the researchers show that humans greatly increased the breadth of habitats they were able to exploit within Africa before the expansion out of the continent. This increase in the human niche may have been a result of a positive feedback of greater contact and cultural exchange, allowing larger ranges and the breakdown of geographic barriers.

“Unlike previous humans dispersing out of Africa, those human groups moving into Eurasia after ~60-50 thousand years ago were equipped with a distinctive ecological flexibility as a result of coping with climatically challenging habitats,” says Prof. Scerri, “This likely provided a key mechanism for the adaptive success of our species beyond their African homeland.”

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Humans learned to thrive in a variety of African environments before their successful expansion into Eurasia roughly 50,000 years ago.  Ondrej Pelanek and Martin Pelanek

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Article Source: Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology news release

The research was supported by funding from the Max Planck Society, European Research Council and Leverhulme Trust.

*Major expansion in the human niche preceded out of Africa dispersal, Nature, 18-Jun-2025. 10.1038/s41586-025-09154-0 

 

Few countries in the world can boast as much archaeological majesty as Egypt. The visual splendor and spectacle of its ancient remains arguably beg to be placed on most everyone’s must-see bucket list. 

From April 14 through April 26, 2027, Popular Archaeology Magazine will be collaborating with EF (Education First) Go Ahead Tours to host a group to explore most of Egypt’s grandest and most treasured sites and artifacts. 

Says Dan McLerran, Founder and Editor of Popular Archaeology Magazine, “this will be the first time Popular Archaeology has cooperated with a major tour operator in Egypt. Rather than limit our exploration of this magnificent ancient civilization only to the pages of the magazine, we want to bring our readers and other interested enthusiasts to the land itself, to experience, in real-place, real-time fashion, the wonders that most people have only read about in the popular literature.”

The group will be transported and led, by land and by Nile cruise vessel, to the pyramids of Giza, the Great Sphinx, the Grand Egyptian Museum, Saqqara, Dahshur, Luxor, Abydos, the Valley of the Kings, and many other iconic sites and locations that constituted the monumental face of ancient Northern and Southern Egypt. A viewing of the spectacular tomb treasures of Tutankhamun and a walk into the actual tomb of Tutankhamun will be among the many highlights of the trip. And for those who wish, the group visit will continue on for an optional 4 days in Jordan to explore ancient Petra, the Dead Sea and sites in Amman.  

“Some have seen these wonders, perhaps more than once in their lives. But for most of us, and for most of the people who will travel with me on this journey, it will be the first and only trip of a lifetime. Along with an Egytpologist group leader, I will be there to share this experience with you.”

For more detailed information about this opportunity and for instructions on how to join, see the website. Individuals who register between now through July 1, 2025 will receive $150 off the total cost of the tour. 

Cover Image, Top Left: MChuc, Pixabay

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credit: TheDigitalArtist, Pixabay

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University of Sydney—Archaeologists from the Australian Museum, the University of Sydney and the Australian National University in collaboration with First Nations community members have unearthed 693 stone artefacts dating from the last Ice Age to the recent past. Found in an ancient Blue Mountains cave known as Dargan Shelter, this new evidence provides definitive proof of repeated occupation in this once frozen, high-altitude landscape.  

The research*, funded by the Australian Museum Foundation, is published in Nature Human Behaviour today. 

The Blue Mountains, home to some of the oldest known rock shelters in Australia, have been inhabited for over 30,000 years but this is the highest cave found showing past human activity. 

Dating back 20,000 years, when the upper reaches of the Blue Mountains were treeless and seasonally frozen over, Dargan Shelter at 1073m elevation is believed to be the oldest occupied high-altitude landscape in Australia. Until now, researchers thought the Australian high country was too difficult to occupy during the last Ice Age. However, these new archaeological results provide the first evidence of repeated human activity and adaption to periglacial environments on the Australian continent. 

Gomeroi knowledge holder and First Nations mentor in archaeology at the University of Sydney, Wayne Brennan, who is a rock art specialist, initiated the research project. Mr Brennan united scientists with First Nations community to explore the cultural history of the Blue Mountains and to improve conservation outcomes for this important cultural landscape. 

Mr Brennan and lead author of the research paper Dr Amy Mosig Way, who holds a joint position as archaeologist at the Australian Museum and lecturer in Archaeology at the University of Sydney, worked closely with First Nations members from the Dharug, Wiradjuri, Dharawal, Gomeroi, Wonnarua, and Ngunnawal groups, who hold traditional connections to the region.  

Dr Way said the research indicates that First Nations ancestors were able to navigate and occupy high-altitude periglacial environments during the Ice Age.  
 
“This new evidence aligns Australia with global data that shows glacial landscapes were not necessarily natural barriers to early human movement and occupation,” Dr Way said.                                             

“Until now, we thought the Australian high country was too difficult to occupy during the last Ice Age. Yet, despite the harsh conditions, our research demonstrates people were moving in and through this high elevation landscape, which is approximately 400m above the tree line.” 

Second author of the paper, Professor Philip Piper from the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at the Australian National University, said the excavations uncovered an incredible depositional sequence of in situ human activity, including hearth features.  

“It was the excellent state of preservation that enabled us to construct such a robust chronology for Dargan Shelter spanning the last 20,000 years,” Professor Piper said. 

First Nations custodians, authors on the research paper and proud Dharug women, Leanne Watson Redpath and Erin Wilkins explained that their communities have lived in the Blue Mountains for thousands of years. 

“Our people have walked, lived and thrived in the Blue Mountains for thousands of years and we knew the cave was there. It is not only a tangible connection to our ancestors who used it as a meeting place for sharing, storytelling and survival, but is a part of our cultural identity. We need to respect and protect our heritage for the benefit of all Australians,” Watson Redpath said. 

“While there’s no certain way of identifying which groups accessed the mountains in the deep past, it is likely that multiple groups were connected to this country. Today, Dargan Shelter is considered by local custodians to represent a family space of high cultural significance,” said Erin Wilkins.  

“The Blue Mountains is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site for the protection of flora and fauna but there are no safeguards for our cultural heritage. We hope that by combining our traditional knowledge with scientific research, we can protect these invaluable storehouses of our history for generations to come,” Brennan said.  

Dr Way said the study builds on research conducted by Australian Museum archaeologists, beginning with Frederick McCarthy in 1935, Professor Paul Taçon and, most recently, Dr Val Attenbrow, augmenting previous findings and collections within the Australian Museum.  

 Advancing Indigenous Australian archaeology 

The University of Sydney is deeply committed to First Nations archaeology. Dr Way and Mr Brennan are funded by the Tom Austen Brown Bequest which advances research and teaching in Indigenous Australian and other archaeologies.  
 
Dr Way also coordinates an undergraduate unit titled Archaeology in the Field (ARCO3404). Third-year students from this unit, along with students from Australian National University, participated in the excavation of the Dargan Shelter and contributed to its broader research program.

Mr Brennan, a proud Gomeroi man and First Nations mentor in the Discipline of Archaeology, provides ongoing support and guidance to First Nations students studying archaeology. He also supports non-Indigenous students working with First Nations communities and collections, fostering respectful and collaborative engagement. 

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Dargan Shelter, ancient cave in Blue Mountains, Australia. University of Sydney

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Hammerstone made of exotic black quartzite, unique to the Late Pleistocene assemblage at Dargan Shelter. The black quartzite was geochemically matched to river pebbles in the Hunter valley, approximately 150km to the north of the site. It was found in Layer 10, which dated to 15,000 years ago. University of Sydney

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Early Holocene basalt anvil found in layer 8 (8,990-8,610 cal. BP). It consisted of a split river pebble with distinctive sub-circular impact marks consistent with cracking hard wood nut and seed shells. University of Sydney

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Article Source: University of Sydney news release.

PHILADELPHIA, June 13, 2025—The Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, announced the discovery of a remarkably preserved royal tomb chamber from 8th century BCE at the archaeological site of Gordion, where the Penn Museum has led excavations since 1950.

Gordion was the capital of the Phrygian kingdom, which controlled much of Asia Minor in the early first millennium BCE,” said Professor C. Brian Rose, Gordion Excavation Director and Ferry Curator-in-Charge of the Penn Museum’s Mediterranean Section. The kingdom was once ruled by King Midas—famous for his mythical “golden touch,” and archaeological evidence suggests that the recently excavated burial chamber may belong to the same storied Midas dynasty.

At the site of Gordion, nearly 60 miles from the Turkish capital of Ankara, previous excavations by the Penn Museum have yielded the oldest standing wooden building in the world (Tumulus MM tomb chamber, ca. 740 BCE); the earliest colored stone mosaics ever found in Gordion’s citadel dating to 825 BCE; the best-preserved citadel gate of the early first millennium ca. 850 BCE; and a gilded ivory sphinx of the 6th c. BCE that probably decorated a throne.

While these excavations typically lasted over a period of three months each summer as researchers resumed their teaching and academic schedules back home, a new program developed in 2024 by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism has extended the scope of excavations at Türkiye’s historic sites, allowing fieldwork to continue all year round through partnerships with Turkish archaeologists.

At Gordion, the partnership includes Professor Yücel Şenyurt of Ankara’s Haci Bayram Veli University working in tandem with Rose. Şenyurt’s first project focused on a monumental burial mound near the Gordion Museum, identified as Tumulus T-26, one of the 130 mounds that surround the citadel. Using remote sensing (magnetic prospection) technology, the archaeologists determined the likely location of a wooden chamber—hidden beneath the 21-ft.-tall (6.5 meters) and 196-ft. (60 meters) in diameter.

Following four months of excavations, the burial chamber was found. Although its roof had collapsed, the objects deposited in the tomb at the time of burial (ca. 750 BCE) remained in place—with no evidence of tomb robbing. The artifacts included a variety of well-preserved bronze vessels used during banquets, along with iron tools.

The most incredible find is a pair of large bronze cauldrons, together with smaller bronze cauldrons, jugs, and bowls—all of which were used to serve food and drink at a funeral feast. The vessels’ outer surfaces preserve traces of adhering textiles—offering further insight into the array of elite craft products left in the tomb. Surprisingly, the burial was a cremation, which otherwise first appears at Gordion more than 100 years later.

“The excavation of these tumuli has yielded a wealth of information about the lives of Gordion’s rulers and their associates,” explains Rose, who has been the director of fieldwork at Gordion since 2013. “As a result of Şenyurt’s excavations, we now know that cremation among the elite was practiced over a century earlier than we thought it was. Moreover, the traces of textiles on the vessels provide evidence for one of Gordion’s most important industries.”

The newly excavated tumulus is located near and is roughly contemporary with the Midas Mound tomb (Tumulus MM), which housed the body of a man who was likely King Midas’s father. The new T-26 burial may be connected in some way with Midas’s family or his associates, Rose adds.

The new discovery follows another important tumulus excavation conducted by Ankara’s Museum of Anatolian Civilizations and the Gordion Project—Tumulus T-52, which contained the burial of a child under age 10. The tomb chamber also housed more than 3,000 amber beads that were imported from the Baltic Sea, highlighting Gordion’s access to long-distance trade networks.

In September 2023, Gordion’s historic importance was officially recognized when it was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Site list—the application for which was prepared by Türkiye’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism, working with Rose.

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Studying the tumuli and what might rest beneath, researchers gather near the citadel of Gordion, Türkiye. Photo: Brian Rose for the Penn Museum

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Bronze discoveries from Tumulus 26. Courtesy Penn Museum

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ABOUT THE PENN MUSEUM

The Penn Museum’s mission is to be a center for inquiry and the ongoing exploration of humanity for our University of Pennsylvania, regional, national, and global communities, following ethical standards and practices.

Through conducting research, stewarding collections, creating learning opportunities, sharing stories, and creating experiences that expand access to archaeology and anthropology, the Museum builds empathy and connections across diverse cultures.

The Penn Museum is open Tuesday–Sunday, 10:00 am–5:00 pm. The Café is open Tuesday–Thursday, 9:00 am–3:00 pm and Friday and Saturday, 10:00 am–2:00 pm. On Sundays, the Café is open 10:30 am–2:30 pm. For information, visit www.penn.museum, call 215.898.4000, or follow @PennMuseum on social media. 

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Article Source: Penn Museum news release.

How humans moved large rocks to construct monuments has fueled many theories, even though it is a matter of physics and coordinated efforts by a large workforce. A more interesting concept to explore for prehistoric cultures is what made people care so much about certain rocks, or more specifically, what made them move these rocks for miles.

Stone artifacts are valued to this day. In 2023, a 335-pound rock (152 kg) called the Stone of Scone was brought to Westminster Abbey for the coronation of King Charles III. Legends suggest it has a biblical origin, being used as Jacob’s pillow in Palestine, but archaeologists and historians postulate that it originally came from Scotland because it is made out of sandstone, as opposed to the limestone bedrock of the Holy Land. This notable stone was part of Scotland’s history until England “stole” it in 1296. It was finally returned to Scotland in 1996, and now only makes brief trips to England.

Seizing the Stone of Scone represented an assertion of power, and this reasoning for transporting artifacts is common throughout history. In the 19th century, the Luxor Obelisk was taken from the banks of the Nile and now stands in central Paris. Claiming an artifact, however, is different from quarrying stones and moving them long distances to erect menhirs and dolmens in a seemingly nondescript location.

People were moving larger stones with minimal use of technology during prehistory. Megaliths are monuments comprising large stones, as opposed to a monumental feat of architecture made by carving blocks. One of the biggest questions about these mysterious sites is where the raw material was dug out of the earth. Excavations at quarrying sites for the most famous megaliths have led to surprising discoveries in the past 10 to 20 years.

Stonehenge comprises two types of rock, the more iconic and larger sarsen stones having only traveled approximately 20 miles to Salisbury Plain. The smaller menhirs in the circle, called bluestones, traveled more than 200 miles from southwest Wales, which makes “the distance from quarry to eventual destination… the maximum known for megalithic monuments anywhere in the world,” according to a 2022 study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

According to a recent theory, the stones weren’t quarried specifically for Stonehenge. In 2010, a smaller stone circle named Waun Mawn was discovered adjacent to the bluestone quarry in Wales. Excavations at this site dated it to be older than Stonehenge by a few centuries, and holes where missing bluestones once stood led to early theories that they were taken to build Stonehenge.

Further research has yet to prove this, and more studies are still emerging, some debunking that theory. “There is nothing at Waun Mawn to link this site in any way to Stonehenge… It is concluded that at Waun Mawn and elsewhere in West Wales there has been substantial ‘interpretative inflation’ driven by the desire to demonstrate a Stonehenge connection,” stated a 2024 study published in the Holocene.

Meanwhile, if a 900-year-old legend is to be believed, Stonehenge was “moved” from Ireland to its current location by giants under the orders of the wizard Merlin. These findings only raise more questions about the dynamics behind such an impressive mobilization of resources.

The construction of megaliths, in some instances, likely involved materials traveling long distances, resulting from resource necessity and ceremonial importance. The monuments made of rocks lasted longer than others over the centuries and have been intentionally placed in areas where they were visible in the landscape. Visibility, placement, and arrangement are important aspects of how experts theorize prehistoric symbolism. Prestige and sacred importance are assumed to directly influence the effort undertaken during a prehistoric project, and this applies to the motivation people felt while erecting megaliths.

The Korean Peninsula has the largest concentration of megaliths in the world, and has 40 percent of the world’s dolmens, according to the Asia Society..

The Korean dolmen tombs typically contain the remains of one individual and are associated with the Bronze Age due to the types of artifacts in the burials. One conundrum for archaeologists is that fewer valuable grave goods were found in the more complex dolmens, which is counterintuitive to perceptions of what denotes prestige in archaeological theory. Europe, meanwhile, is home to 35,000 distinct stone orientations. Most of these megaliths date from 4,500 to 2,500 BC, according to an article in Discover magazine.

Most of them are rings of menhirs like the Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, Scotland, or are dolmen grave markers like the Dolmen de Sa Coveccada on the coast of northeast Sardinia. A majority of dolmen grave markers and the rings of menhirs usually face the rising sun or have some sort of astronomical alignment, and are found in coastal parts of Europe. This is linked to a theory from 2019 that the practice of erecting such monuments originated in northwest France before spreading to other parts of Europe in waves, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. This theory was developed as more research and comprehensive radiocarbon dates consistently indicated that megalith sites in northwestern France, like the Carnac stones, were among the oldest at approximately 6,000 years old.

A notable exception to this trend is the tallest single upright stone on the Iberian Peninsula, the Menir da Meada in Portugal, estimated to be 6,000 to 7,000 years old based on carbon-dated charcoal from the base of the stone. While the culture of certain megalith phenotypes may have spread through travel and exchange, it is also a mix of divergent and convergent development.

Most of these European megaliths used raw materials from sources located between 10 and 20 miles from the site, and some were erected just adjacent to where they were quarried. In the case of these sites, compared to Stonehenge, resource availability seems to have played a larger role in placement than specific symbolism. This is difficult to discern since a short journey also involves a serious undertaking, but the coastal placement of many dolmens and menhirs likely has more clues to the underlying symbolism in construction.

Sacred importance is generally the key to understanding megaliths in any cultural context, because they were used for cultic or ceremonial practices. One of the most significant megaliths for understanding ancient cultic practices is the Göbekli-Tepe complex in Turkey. It has T-shaped stone pillars erected and carved with animal motifs surrounding a central altar. It is more than 11,000 years old and only just predates agricultural developments for Upper Mesopotamia. The site is the only ceremonial center of such a high caliber for a prehistoric hunter-gatherer population. Possibly the oldest temple in the world, excavation work has continued to yield discoveries as of 2025 since it was first surveyed in 1963.

Despite being so important for ceremony and belief traditions, the limestone slabs at Göbekli-Tepe were quarried just at the bottom of the hill from where the shrine was erected. The hunter-gatherers at the time were using stone flints to carve out the blocks 6,000 years before Stonehenge was built, and the process would have required a lot of effort, even though the blocks didn’t need to be transported for long distances.

There are multiple categories for megaliths. Stonehenge is a combination of menhirs, which are erected stones, and dolmens, which have one stone flat like a tabletop on two other stones. The well-known carved heads on Easter Island, Chile, are worked menhirs, along with the intricately-etched deer stones dotting the central Mongolian steppe, dated to the Bronze Age.

Other types of megaliths are cairns, which are massive piles of rocks and boulders of varying sizes but are typically much smaller than any component of Stonehenge. These are usually associated with burials, like the phenotype linked to Mongolia’s deer stones—Khirigsuurs. These massive stone mound burials indicate how many people gathered for and built a burial. The largest is more than a square kilometer. Many of these burial mounds also have rings or fences of smaller stone mounds containing horse remains.

There are different subdivisions of cairns depending on styles and other architectural elements—similar to the ones in Mongolia—usually containing a burial chamber. This subgroup of megaliths is frequently linked with prestige since they are associated with burials.

Cists usually have cairn traits with a more systematic structure, but specifically refer to the square stone structure in the middle of the monument. These are usually thought to be used for mortuary purposes, but some notable examples have no signs of human remains. Like Stonehenge, most megaliths have a combination of these features.

Rujm el-Hiri, or “Israel’s Stonehenge,” has a central cist but is surrounded by expanding rings of concentric circles. There are lines of rocks connecting the outer rings in some sections that look like spokes, partly inspiring its Hebrew name, which translates to “Wheel of Ghosts.” Even though artifacts, including gold jewelry were found here, the lack of human remains is part of the reason experts have made several speculations about its intended use, including a platform for sky burials, a sacrificial altar, and an astronomical observatory.

The observatory theory was countered by an article published in November 2024 by Remote Sensing, arguing that due to tectonic activity and the movement of celestial bodies, the sides and spokes of Rujm el-Hiri would not be aligned like they are now when the megalith was constructed approximately 6,000 years ago.

The question surrounding how megaliths were constructed has resulted in various theories despite a wide range of feasible and plausible solutions. Log rollers helped transport large stones well before a wheel or cart was devised. Using simple physics, it is theorized that holes were dug and then an A-frame of two timbers called a shearleg was set up to place a high fulcrum so people could pull ropes attached to the stone slab, erecting it into an upright position.

Another take has been ethnographically documented on Easter Island. The people of Rapa-Nui lifted fallen carved heads using levers. They lifted the head slightly with log levers and propped it at that position with wedges or ropes, and repeated this until it was vertical. Excavations from the bluestone quarry in Wales found that stone wedges were used to extract the stones for the construction of Stonehenge.

Even though cists, cairns, and other monuments were made from a collection of boulders and smaller rocks, that doesn’t mean they didn’t require extensive manpower. These archaeological structures usually provide extensive data on prehistoric cultures, especially if associated with grave goods and symbolism. They show how important a deceased individual was, and hint at the sort of collective event a burial and cairn construction may have entailed at the time.

Many different cultures around the globe worked and carved artifacts out of rock, producing isolated or unique megaliths not too different from the iconic faces at Easter Island. Bada Valley on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is home to more than 400 megalithic sculptures fashioned with humanoid, animalistic, or geometric features. A few of the humanoid menhirs even have names and stories in contemporary and local pantheons. In Mexico during the Bronze Age, the Olmec culture is credited with carving massive heads, the largest of which weighs up to approximately 50 tons. It’s speculated they were made in the likeness of Olmec rulers.

Similar to the pyramids and other monuments, megaliths required organized coordination among a large number of people. Despite this, early and flawed archaeological theories on linear development have postulated that monuments are a hallmark of civilizations, while megaliths are mysteries and archaic in nature.

In Latin America, architectural practices followed by the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas utilized stone blocks that seamlessly fit together (although regularly nonuniform) to build walls, temples, pyramids, and fortresses. A notable example of megalithic construction is Tiwanaku, located almost 4,000 meters above sea level in Bolivia. The temple complex has impressive artefacts, including the monolithic Gate of the Sun.

It is established that Egyptians and people in Micronesia were transporting megaliths and building materials by boat. The technology and proof of it are there, but now many researchers are using new technologies and novel approaches to better understand what exactly prompted people to move boulders and mountains in the first place.

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This article was produced by Human Bridges.

Cover Image, Top Left: Stonehenge. DigitalArtist, Pixabay

From the earliest beats of human civilization to the electric pulse of modern music, no instrument has carried the weight of human experience quite like the drum. It is one of the oldest instruments known to humankind, a vessel for rhythm that transcends borders, cultures, and centuries. Unlike string or wind instruments, whose melodies require delicate skill or intricate craftsmanship, the drum speaks a more primal language—the heartbeats of every living organism, thunderclaps in a storm, the rhythmic pounding of waves, and other patterns of timed sounds and silences.

Throughout history, drums have occupied a unique place in the cultural, psychological, and social lives of societies. They are tools of ritual and celebration, instruments of war and peace, and mediums for storytelling and spiritual transcendence. The human fascination with rhythm is an integral element in humanity’s pattern-identifying abilities—abilities that have enabled our species to evolve apart from other organisms. Nowhere is this curiosity for sound-patterns more apparent than in the omnipresence of drums—from the gentle beat of a hand against a taut skin to the thunderous roar of modern drum kits.

The magic of the drum lies not just in its social role but in its very design. Scientifically, a drum produces sound when a stretched membrane, typically made of animal hide or synthetic material, vibrates after being struck. This vibration sends pressure waves through the air, creating sound that varies depending on the drum’s size, shape, material, and tension. These seemingly simple instruments are capable of a vast range of tones, from sharp, cracking snaps to deep, resonant booms. It is this dynamic versatility that has helped the drum endure as an essential part of the human story.

A Sound Born in Prehistory

The drum’s origins stretch back into prehistory, with archaeological discoveries suggesting that early humans were making and playing drums as far back as 6,000 years ago, on the cusp of the Neolithic period. These early and rudimentary percussion instruments marked a profound development in human culture. Often fashioned from hollowed-out logs or gourds and covered with animal hides, these drums were a collection of materials that early humans could readily gather and make.

Paintings and hieroglyphs found in ancient Egyptian tombs dating to around 3000 BCE depict drummers participating in religious ceremonies and celebrations. In ancient Mesopotamia, drums were used for religious and military applications. Similarly, archaeological evidence from China indicates that drums were used as early as 2000 BCE. This suggests that their influence spread quickly and organically, as cultures recognized their power to carry messages, accompany rituals, and unify communities.

It is easy to understand why drums emerged as a prominent instrument. The rhythmic beating of a drum mimics the innate biological patterns of life itself—the human heartbeat, the steady patter of rain, the cyclical crash of waves. “The brain rhythms of musical performers and their audiences have been measured in concert settings,” writes Nina Kraus, a neuroscientist at Northwestern University and author of the book Of Sound Mind: How Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World. “The brain rhythms tend to synchronize, and the more synchronization between performer and listener, the more listeners report enjoying the performance.”

In societies without written language or electronic communication, drums were also practical and effective tools for signaling, whether calling warriors to battle or gathering people for communal rituals. The drum’s sound traveled across distances with a clarity that few early instruments could match, making it invaluable for both practical and spiritual purposes.

Rhythm Across the World

As human civilizations grew and diversified, so too did their musical instruments, including drums. Distinct forms of the percussive instrument appeared in every inhabited corner of the globe, each shaped by the culture, beliefs, and available materials of its makers. In Africa, for example, often considered the cradle of drumming traditions, instruments like the djembe, dunun, and the talking drum played central roles in daily life, religious rites, and oral storytelling. The talking drum, in particular, was designed to mimic human speech, capable of conveying complex messages across vast distances.

On the other hand, Native American cultures revered the drum as a sacred object, using large, communal drums in powwows and smaller water drums in ritual ceremonies. The steady, repetitive rhythm of these instruments was believed to connect the physical and spiritual worlds, creating a link between participants and their ancestors.

In the Middle East, drums such as the doumbek and frame drum held an equally sacred place, appearing in religious ceremonies and court entertainment as far back as ancient Mesopotamia. Across Asia, Japanese taiko drums echoed in Shinto rituals and festivals, while in India, the complex rhythms of the tabla and mridangam expressed and preserved classical music traditions.

Meanwhile, in Europe, drums initially served military and signaling purposes. Medieval armies used snare and bass drums to communicate orders and rally troops, while Renaissance courts gradually introduced percussion into their music. Over time, the drum’s role expanded from the battlefield to the stage. People who have used the drums have maintained the rhythmic authority that these instruments produce from their sharp, powerful echoes and booms.

Drummers and percussionists are also transformed by the rhythms they create. As Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart said, “A good groove releases adrenaline in your body. You feel uplifted, you feel centered, you feel calm, you feel powerful. You feel that energy. That’s what good drumming is all about.”

Drumming Into the Modern Era

As the modern world emerged, so did new forms of the drum. The drum kit, a staple of today’s pop music, was popularized in the early 20th century in the United States. Previously, percussion parts were typically divided among multiple musicians, each playing a single instrument. The invention of the bass drum pedal around 1909 allowed a single drummer to combine bass, snare, tom-toms, and cymbals into a compact, multi-functional setup. With its various instruments and assembly, the modern drum kit forever changed the musical milieu with its panoply of percussive parts.

With the rise of jazz in the early 20th century, drummers such as Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich transformed percussion into a lead instrument. They introduced syncopated rhythms, dynamic solos, and expressive improvisation, using the drum kit not just as a timekeeper but as a voice in its own right. “Buddy was known to use pretty high tension on all of his heads, as that helped give his sticks more rebound and the higher frequencies cut through the horn section,” writes Chris Wakelin, a product specialist at Remo, a California-based drum manufacturer.

As rock and roll exploded in the 1950s and ’60s, drummers such as Ringo Starr of The Beatles and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin redefined what percussion could be, providing the pounding heartbeats of songs that would come to define generations. The raw energy of punk rock in the 1970s introduced another evolutionary leap, with drummers embracing speed, aggression, and minimalism to match the genre’s rebellious ethos.

Meanwhile, in funk and hip-hop, drummers like Clyde Stubblefield—renowned for his groundbreaking rhythms with James Brown—laid down grooves that would underpin decades of popular music. Electronic drum machines and digital sampling would later reshape the sonic possibilities of drumming, yet the essential principle—striking a surface to create rhythm—remained unchanged.

Today, the drum kit stands alongside ancient percussion instruments in a fascinating coexistence of the old and the new. Musicians frequently blend traditional hand drums, such as djembes, congas, and bongos, into modern compositions, hybridizing the technology of the modern era with conventional folk rhythms and styles.

Timeless Voices of Tradition

Despite these transformations, many drums—much like horseshoe crabs—have remained essentially unchanged in their influential and simplistic forms. In Japan, the taiko drum is still handcrafted using ancient methods and remains a vital part of both religious ceremonies and theatrical performances. West Africa’s djembe continues to play its ancestral role in social gatherings, rites of passage, and healing rituals, its powerful resonance as meaningful now as it was generations ago.

In Ireland, the bodhrán—a handheld frame drum—persists as a central element in traditional folk music, while in Nigeria, the talking drum still “speaks” at festivals, funerals, and celebrations. These drums are more than instruments: They are carriers of history, embodying the voices of ancestors and the spirit of place.

“One of the unique features of the talking drum instruments is their [ability to closely imitate] the rhythms and intonations of the spoken language,” writes Ushe Mike Ushe, a lecturer at the National Open University of Nigeria in Lagos, in the International Journal of Philosophy and Theology. ”The drums reproduce the sounds of proverbs or praise songs through a skilled performer or specialized ‘drum language.’ The specific pattern of drumming and rhythms is closely linked with spiritual beings or Ogun associated with the traditional Yoruba belief system.”

An Enduring Beat

The history of the drum is ultimately the history of human connection. It predates written language, has traveled through the rise and fall of empires, and continues to shape our present. From ancient ritualistic ceremonies under open skies to modern stadium concerts illuminated by dazzling lights, the drum remains a constant—a beating heart in the collective body of humanity.

As musical traditions continue to evolve, so too will the drum. Yet it seems inevitable that this most ancient of instruments will endure, its primal rhythms forever resonating in the human soul. Wherever people gather to dance, mourn, celebrate, or protest, there will be rhythm, and at its core, there will be the steady, undeniable voice of the drum.

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This article was produced for the Observatory by the Independent Media Institute.

Cover Image, Top Left: Drums. Dezalb, Pixabay

New York University—Recent scholarship has concluded that Neanderthals made a second major migration from Eastern Europe to Central and Eastern Eurasia between 120,000 and 60,000 years ago. But the routes they took have long been a mystery—primarily because there are few archaeological sites connecting the two regions. 

In a new analysis, a team of anthropologists—using computer simulations—has offered a map of possible pathways, which concludes Neanderthals likely used river valleys as natural highways and traveled during warmer periods to move approximately 2,000 miles (3,250 km) in less than 2,000 years. 

“Our findings show that, despite obstacles like mountains and large rivers, Neanderthals could have crossed northern Eurasia surprisingly quickly,” explains Emily Coco, who began the study* as a New York University doctoral student and is now a postdoctoral researcher at Portugal’s University of Algarve. 

The research, which appears in the journal PLOS One, was conducted with Radu Iovita, an associate professor at NYU’s Center for the Study of Human Origins. 

“These findings provide important insights into the paths of ancient migrations that cannot currently be studied from the archaeological record and reveal how computer simulations can help uncover new clues about ancient migrations that shaped human history,” observes Coco. 

In building their simulation of Neanderthals’ two-millennia journey, Coco and Iovita considered the elevation of the terrain, reconstructed ancient rivers, glacial barriers, and temperature to model movement decisions of individuals—an approach similar to that used to model both modern human and animal movement, but not previously applied to Neanderthals. 

The authors find possible migration routes in two ancient periods—Marine Isotope Stage 5e [MIS 5e] (beginning approximately 125,000 years ago) and Marine Isotope Stage 3 [MIS 3] (beginning approximately 60,000 years ago)—marked by warmer temperatures and therefore more suitable for movement. 

Computer simulations, conducted on the NYU Greene Supercomputer Cluster, indicated that Neanderthals could have reached Eurasia’s Siberian Altai Mountains within 2,000 years during either MIS 5e or MIS 3 using multiple possible routes that all follow the same basic northern path through the Ural Mountains and southern Siberia, often intersecting with known archaeological sites from the same time periods. 

The authors add that the study sheds light on Neanderthal interactions with other ancient human groups. Specifically, their routes would have taken them into areas already occupied by Denisovans—consistent with existing evidence of interbreeding between the two species.

“Neanderthals could have migrated thousands of kilometers from the Caucasus Mountains to Siberia in just 2,000 years by following river corridors,” says Iovita. “Others have speculated on the possibility of this kind of fast, long-distance migration based on genetic data, but this has been difficult to substantiate due to limited archaeological evidence in the region. Based on detailed computer simulations, it appears this migration was a near-inevitable outcome of landscape conditions during past warm climatic periods.”

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Computer simulated paths of Neanderthal dispersals demonstrate they could have reached the Altai Mountains in Siberia within 2,000 years during warm climatic conditions in one of two ancient time periods—MIS 5e (approximately 125,000 years ago) or MIS 3 (approximately 60,000 years ago)—as demonstrated by the three different possible paths shown here. These paths follow a northern route through the Ural Mountains and southern Siberia, often intersecting with known archaeological sites from the same time periods. Emily Coco and Radu Iovita

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Article Source: New York University news release

*Agent-based simulations reveal the possibility of multiple rapid northern routes for the second Neanderthal dispersal from Western to Eastern Eurasia, PLOS One, 9-Jun-2025. 10.1371/journal.pone.0325693

Ateneo de Manila University—In 15 years of groundbreaking archaeological research, scientists from the Ateneo de Manila University, working with international experts and institutions, have established compelling evidence of the pivotal role of the Philippine archipelago in ancient maritime Southeast Asia. They uncovered a story of effective human migration, advanced technological innovation, and long-distance intercultural relations dating back over 35,000 years. 

The Ateneo researchers’ latest publication presents a wealth of data and materials from the Mindoro Archaeology Project, including some of the oldest evidence of the presence of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens) in the Philippine archipelago, in Occidental Mindoro—particularly on Ilin Island; San Jose; and Sta. Teresa, Magsaysay. 

Mindoro, like most of the main Philippine islands except for Palawan, was never connected to mainland Southeast Asia, neither by land bridges nor by ice sheets, and sea-crossings were always necessary to reach it. This likely spurred the development of sophisticated technologies for traversing and surviving this environment.

Evidence of sophisticated ancient technology on Philippine islands

A variety of finds such as human remains, animal bones, shells, and tools made from stone, bone and shell show that Mindoro’s early inhabitants successfully harnessed both terrestrial and marine resources such that, over 30,000 years ago, they already possessed seafaring capabilities and specific fishing skills that enabled them to catch predatory open-sea fish species, such as bonito and shark, and to establish connections with distant islands and populations in the vast maritime region of Wallacea. 

Particularly noteworthy is the innovative use of shells as raw material for tools since more than 30,000 years ago. This culminated in the manufacture of adzes from giant clam shells (Tridacna species), dating back 7,000-9,000 years ago. These bear a striking similarity to shell adzes found across the region of Island Southeast Asia and as far as Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, over 3,000 kilometers away.

The researchers also found on Ilin Island a human grave dating to around 5,000 years ago, with the body laid to rest in a fetal position and bedded and covered with limestone slabs. The manner of burial was similar to other flexed burials found across Southeast Asia, suggesting shared ideological and social influences and an emerging social complexity across a vast area from the mainland to distant islands.

Mindoro hints at vast, advanced maritime network

Mindoro’s archaeological sites have yielded evidence of culturally sophisticated inhabitants who were behaviorally and technologically adapted to coastal and marine environments. Collectively, these discoveries suggest that Mindoro and nearby Philippine islands were part of an extensive maritime network that existed already during the Stone Age and facilitated cultural and technological exchange between early human populations across Island Southeast Asia for many millennia.

By documenting human habitation over a long period of time, with the emergence of advanced subsistence strategies and maritime technologies, the Mindoro Archaeology Project not only fills critical gaps in the prehistoric record of the Philippines but also redefines the region’s significance in the broader narrative of human migration and adaptation in Island Southeast Asia.

The latest publication* of the Mindoro Archeology Project is authored by the Ateneo de Manila University Department of Sociology and Anthropology’s Dr. Alfred F. Pawlik, Dr. Riczar B. Fuentes, and Dr. Tanya Uldin; together with Dr. Marie Grace Pamela G. Faylona of the University of the Philippines – Diliman Department of Anthropology, De La Salle University Department of Sociology and Behavioral Sciences, and Philippine Normal University College of Advanced Studies; and Trishia Gayle R. Palconit, PhD student at the University of Ferrara, Italy.

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A map of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) and the Sunda region as it appeared roughly 25,000 years ago at the height of the last Ice Age, with locations of archaeological sites surveyed by the Mindoro Archaeology Project. The sites yielded artifacts with remarkably similar characteristics despite separation by thousands of kilometers and deep waters that are almost impossible to cross without sufficiently advanced seafaring knowledge and technology. The Mindoro Archaeology Project (Base Map: www.gebco.net, 2014)

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Samples of ancient technology discovered in and around Mindoro. Clockwise, from upper left: a bone fishing gorge (A) and a possible gorge fragment (B); hammer stones (A-F), pebble tools (G-L), and net sinkers (M, N); obsidian cutting tools from Mindoro (top) and Palawan (bottom), exhibiting similar chemical composition; and Tridacna giant clam shell adzes (A,B) and a shell tool (C). Photos and figures by A. Pawlik; after Pawlik et al. 2025; Pawlik & Piper 2019; Neri et al., 2015

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Article Source:  Ateneo de Manila University news release.

*Philippine islands had technologically advanced maritime culture 35,000 years, Archaeological Research in Asia, 10.1016/j.ara.2025.100616 

University of Groningen—Since their discovery, the historically and biblically hugely important Dead Sea Scrolls have transformed our understanding of Jewish and Christian origins. However, while the general date of the scrolls is from the third century BCE until the second century CE, individual manuscripts thus far could not be securely dated. Now, by combining radiocarbon dating, palaeography, and artificial intelligence, an international team of researchers led by the University of Groningen has developed a date-prediction model, called Enoch, that provides much more accurate date estimates for individual manuscripts on empirical grounds. Using this model, the researchers demonstrate that many Dead Sea Scrolls are older than previously thought. And for the first time, they establish that two biblical scroll fragments come from the time of their presumed biblical authors. They presented their results in the journal PLOS One on 4 June.

Until now, the dating of individual manuscripts was mostly based on palaeography–the study of ancient handwriting–alone. However, the traditional palaeographic model has no solid empirical foundation. For most Dead Sea Scrolls, a calendar date is not known, and there are no other date-bearing manuscripts from the time period available for palaeographic comparison. Between the few date-bearing manuscripts in Aramaic/Hebrew from the fifth–fourth centuries BCE and the late first and early second century CE a gap is present that prevents accurate dating of the more than one thousand scrolls and fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls collection.

Digitized manuscripts

This gap is now closed by researchers in the ERC project The Hands That Wrote the Bible by combining radiocarbon dates from 24 scrolls samples, in combination with palaeographic analysis using a machine-learning-based model applying a Bayesian ridge regression method. The new radiocarbon dates are reliable, empirical time markers that bridge the palaeographic gap between the fourth century BCE and the second century CE. They provide an objective date for the writing styles in the tested manuscripts.

Based on this information, the researchers trained the date-prediction model named Enoch. They used a previously in-house developed deep neural network for detection of handwritten ink-trace patterns, BiNet, in digitized manuscripts. This allows for a subsequent geometric shape analysis at the microlevel of the ink trace, such as curvature (called textural), as well as at the level of character shapes (called allographic). It provides a quantitative and empirical basis for the style analysis of handwriting which traditional palaeography cannot deliver. Cross-validation then showed that Enoch can predict radiocarbon-based dates from style with an uncertainty of some 30 years (plus and minus). This is even more precise than direct radiocarbon dating results in the period range of 300–50 BCE.

The first machine-learning-based model

Now that Enoch is ready for use, it becomes possible to date the roughly one thousand Dead Sea manuscripts from this time period. The researchers took a first step in this by feeding Enoch the binarized images of 135 scrolls and having the date predictions evaluated by palaeographers. With Enoch, researchers have a powerful new tool that they can use to support, refine, or modify their own subjective estimates for specific manuscripts, often to an accuracy of only 50 years for manuscripts over 2,000 years old.

Enoch is the first complete machine-learning-based model that employs raw image inputs to deliver probabilistic date predictions for handwritten manuscripts, while ensuring transparency and interpretability through its explainable design. The combination of empirical evidence (radiocarbon from physics and character-shape-based analyses from geometry) brings a degree of quantified objectivity to palaeography never before achieved in the field. And the methods underpinning Enoch can be used for date prediction in other partially-dated manuscript collections.

New chronology

First results from Enoch’s date predictions, presented in the PLOS One paper, demonstrate that many Dead Sea Scrolls are older than previously thought. This also changes how researchers should interpret the development of two ancient Jewish script styles which are called ‘Hasmonaean’ and ‘Herodian’. Specifically, manuscripts in Hasmonaean-type script can be older than the current estimate of ca. 150–50 BCE. And the Herodian-type script emerged earlier than previously thought, suggesting that these scripts existed next to each other since the late second century BCE instead of the mid-first century BCE which is the prevailing view.

This new chronology of the scrolls significantly impacts our understanding of political and intellectual developments in the eastern Mediterranean during the Hellenistic and early Roman periods (late fourth century BCE until second century CE). It allows for new insights to be developed about literacy in ancient Judaea in relation to historical, political, and cultural developments such as urbanization, the rise of the Hasmonaean dynasty, and the rise and development of religious groups such as those behind the Dead Sea Scrolls and the early Christians.

Anonymous authors

Furthermore, this study establishes 4QDaniel^c (4Q114) and 4QQohelet^a (4Q109) to be the first known fragments of a biblical book from the time of their presumed authors. We do not know who exactly finished the Book of Daniel but the common assumption is that this author did that during the early 160s BCE. Likewise, for Ecclesiastes (Qohelet) scholars assume that an anonymous author from the Hellenistic period (third century BCE) was behind this biblical book, instead of the view of tradition that it was King Solomon from the tenth century BCE. Our novel radiocarbon dating for 4Q114 and the Enoch date prediction for 4Q109 place these manuscripts in the same time as these anonymous authors from respectively the second and third centuries BCE. Thus, these results have now created the opportunity to study tangible evidence of hands that wrote the Bible.

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For this study, writing styles in digitized manuscripts were analyzed using BiNet, a previously developed deep neural network for detection of handwritten ink-trace patterns. By combining writing styles with carbon-14 dates of manuscripts using artificial intelligence, the date-prediction model Enoch is able to produce an accurate date for the manuscript.  Maruf Dhali, University of Groningen

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This photo shows prof. Mladen Popovic, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism and Director of the Qumran Institute (front) and his colleauge Dr. Maruf Dhali, Assistant Professor in Artificial Intelligence, working with Enoch to date a manuscript from the Dead Sea scrolls.
This is a still from a short video on the project, which is linked from the PLOS One paper. University of Groningen

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This is part of Dead Sea Scroll number 109 (4Q109), also known as Qohelet (Ecclesiastes). From Qumran Cave 4. From Qumran (Khirbet Qumran or Wadi Qumran), West Bank of the Jordan River, near the Dead Sea, modern-day State of Israel. The Jordan Museum, Amman, Jordan Hashimite Kingdom. Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg). CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

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Article Source: University of Groningen news release.

*Mladen Popović, Maruf A. Dhali, Lambert Schomaker, Johannes van der Plicht, Kaare Lund Rasmussen, Jacopo La Nasa, Ilaria Degano, Maria Perla Colombini, Eibert Tigchelaar, Dating ancient manuscripts using radiocarbon and AI-based writing style analysis. PLOS One, 4 June 2025.

I never expected to make a meaningful contribution to one of the world’s last undeciphered writing systems—especially not over a single weekend. But sometimes, curiosity grabs hold of you, and before you know it, you’re completely consumed by a mystery that refuses to let go.

It was a regular Friday night. I was unwinding, scrolling through a few things online, when something sparked a memory—the Rongorongo tablets of Easter Island. I remembered reading about them years ago, and how nobody had cracked their meaning. That thought just stuck. No Rosetta Stone. No living tradition. Just intricate glyphs carved into ancient wood, waiting.

I’ve always loved learning about ancient human history, especially the things that are still unanswered. I look at it like this: if there’s a theory about why something might be the way it is, and there’s even a small chance it can be proven or disproven with just a little effort, I’m going to give it a shot. This was my first time seriously trying something like this.

Out of curiosity, I pulled up some high-resolution images and started reading about the clues researchers had already uncovered—especially on the Mamari Tablet, or Text C, which is one of the most complete examples we have. That’s when I came across Line 9. I read that it had 30 repeating glyph sequences. Some scholars believed this line might represent a calendar, maybe even a lunar one, but nothing was definitive. Others noted glyphs that resembled crescents, counts that suggested structure, or placement that hinted at timekeeping—but no one had locked it down.

I zoomed in and started staring at those glyphs myself. The repetition felt deliberate, and the sequence had a clear structure to it. I started cross-referencing the glyphs with known lunar night names and reading more about how Polynesian cultures organized their time around lunar cycles. That’s when a possibility started forming—what if this wasn’t just a random line of glyphs, but a sidereal calendar based on the stars, not the moon’s phases? It felt like something worth chasing.

So I went all in. I spent that weekend doing nothing else. I compared glyphs, chased down clues, and with the help of AI-assisted pattern recognition, I started seeing connections. Line 9 looked like it was mapping out a 13-moon sidereal calendar that started on the summer solstice. Then I looked at Line 8—and sure enough, I started seeing patterns that echoed the same structure.

By Sunday night, I had something real. Not a full translation, but a theory built on cultural logic, repeated glyphs, and calendar alignment. I wanted to share it, to put it out into the world. I tried a couple of academic publishing sites—they didn’t load or wouldn’t take the file. So I went with Zenodo. It was simple, credible, and got the job done. I uploaded the paper on June 1, 2025, got a digital object identifier, and figured that was the end of it.

Then the email came. The Easter Island Foundation had seen my work. The president—Mary Dell Lucas—reached out and said they wanted to feature my findings in their official newsflash. I couldn’t believe it. Getting recognition like that from the people who actually safeguard the legacy of Rapa Nui meant everything.

I’m not claiming I’ve solved Rongorongo. Far from it. But I think I’ve found something that fits—something that makes cultural and structural sense. I welcome critique. I hope people challenge it. That’s how progress happens.

This whole experience showed me that you don’t need a grant, a lab, or a university to make a meaningful contribution. Sometimes, all it takes is a question you can’t let go of, a weekend you’re willing to lose, and the tools to follow the thread.

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This article was produced by Human Bridges.

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Cover Image, Top Left: Side b of rongorongo Tablet C, or Mamari. 30 centimeters long and 21 centimeters wide, with a total of 21 lines of signs. Chauvet, Stéphen-Charles; on-line translation by Ann Altman (2004) [1935] L’île de Pâques et ses mystères (Easter Island and its Mysteries), Paris: Éditions Tel. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

Tel Aviv University—Did prehistoric humans know that smoking meat could preserve it and extend its shelf life? Researchers from the Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Culturesat Tel Aviv University believe they did. Their new study* presents a fresh perspective on a question that has long preoccupied prehistory scholars: What prompted early humans to begin using fire? According to the researchers, early humans, who primarily consumed large game, required fire not for cooking, but in order to smoke and dry meat so that it would not rot, thereby preserving it for extended periods and keeping it safe from predators and scavengers.

This insight fits into a broader unifying theory, developed by the same researchers, which explains many prehistoric phenomena based on human dependence on calories derived from large animals, alongside a continuous decline in the size of animals hunted throughout prehistoric periods. The study was conducted by Dr. Miki Ben-Dor and Prof. Ran Barkai of the Alkow Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Culturesat Tel Aviv University and was published in the journal Frontiers in Nutrition.

Prof. Barkai explains: “The origins of fire use is a ‘burning’ topic among prehistory researchers around the world. It is generally agreed that by 400,000 years ago, fire use was common in domestic contexts—most likely for roasting meat, and perhaps also for lighting and heating. But there is controversy regarding the preceding million years, and various hypotheses have been put forward to explain why early humans began using fire. In this study, we sought to explore a new perspective on the issue.”

Dr. Ben-Dor adds: “For early humans, fire use was not a given, and at most archaeological sites dated earlier than 400,000 years ago, there is no evidence of the use of fire. Nevertheless, at a number of early sites there are clear signs that fire was used, but without burnt bones or evidence of meat roasting. We understand that early humans at that time—mostly Homo erectus—did not use fire regularly, but only occasionally, in specific places and for special purposes. The process of gathering fuel, igniting a fire, and maintaining it over time required significant effort, and they needed a compelling, energy-efficient motive to do so. We have proposed a new hypothesis regarding that motive.”

The researchers reviewed the existing literature on all known prehistoric sites dated between 1.8 million and 800,000 years ago where evidence of fire use was found. There are nine such sites worldwide, including Gesher Benot Ya’aqov and Evron Quarry in Israel, six sites in Africa, and one site in Spain. Additionally, they relied on ethnographic studies of contemporary hunter-gatherer societies, aligning their behavior with the conditions that prevailed in ancient environments.

Dr. Ben-Dor: “We examined what the nine ancient sites had in common, and found that all contained large quantities of bones from large animals—mostly elephants, but also hippopotamuses, rhinoceroses, and others. From previous studies, we know that these animals were extremely important to early human diets and provided most of the necessary calories. The meat and fat of a single elephant, for example, contain millions of calories, enough to feed a group of 20–30 people for a month or more. A hunted elephant or hippopotamus was thus a real treasure—a kind of meat and fat ‘bank’ that needed to be protected and preserved for many days, since it was coveted not only by predators but also by bacteria.”

An analysis of the findings and calculations of the significant energetic advantage of preserving meat and fat led the researchers to a new conclusion, never before proposed: fire served two vital purposes for early humans—first, to guard the large game from other predators and scavengers seeking to seize the ‘treasure,’ and second, to preserve the meat through smoking and drying, preventing spoilage and making it edible for a long period of time.

Prof. Barkai concludes: “In this study, we propose a new understanding of the factors that motivated early humans to begin using fire: the need to safeguard large hunted animals from other predators, and to preserve the vast quantity of meat over time. It is likely that once fire was produced for these purposes, it was also occasionally used for cooking—at zero marginal energetic cost. Such use may explain evidence of fish roasting from around 800,000 years ago at Gesher Benot Ya’aqov. The approach we propose fits well into a global theory we have been developing in recent years, which explains major prehistoric phenomena as adaptations to the hunting and consumption of large animals, followed by their gradual disappearance and the resulting need to derive adequate energy from the exploitation of smaller animals.”

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Ran Barkai holds a segment of an ancient elephant at the La Polledrara site in Italy. Tel Aviv University

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Burnt fallow deer bones from Qesem Cave. Qesem Cave Project. Tel Aviv University

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Article Source: Tel Aviv University news release.

*A bioenergetic approach favors the preservation and protection of prey, not cooking, as the drivers of early fire, Frontiers in Nutrition, https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1585182/full

Washington State University, PULLMAN, Wash.—A team of Washington State University-led researchers has recreated the world’s oldest synthetic pigment, called Egyptian blue, which was used in ancient Egypt about 5,000 years ago.

Reporting in the journal, NPJ Heritage Science, the researchers used a variety of raw materials and heating times to develop 12 recipes for the pigments, providing useful information for archaeologists and conservation scientists who study the ancient Egyptian materials. The work was done in collaboration with Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian’s Museum Conservation Institute.

“We hope this will be a good case study in what science can bring to the study of our human past,” said John McCloy, first author on the paper* and director of WSU’s School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. “The work is meant to highlight how modern science reveals hidden stories in ancient Egyptian objects.”

While Egyptian blue pigment was valued in ancient times, there is limited archaeological evidence of how it was made. It was used as a substitute for expensive minerals like turquoise or lapis lazuli and was used in painting wood, stone, and a papier-mâché-type material called cartonnage. Depending on its ingredients and processing time, its color ranges from deep blue to dull gray or green. After the Egyptians, the pigment was used by Romans, but by the Renaissance period, the knowledge of how it was made was largely forgotten.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in the pigment because it has interesting optical, magnetic, and biological properties with potential new technological applications, said McCloy. The pigment emits light in the near-infrared part of the electro-magnetic spectrum that people can’t see, which means it could be used for things like fingerprinting and counterfeit-proof inks. It also has a similar chemistry to high-temperature superconductors.

“It started out just as something that was fun to do because they asked us to produce some materials to put on display at the museum, but there’s a lot of interest in the material,” said McCloy, who, in addition to being a professor in materials science and engineering, has a master’s degree in anthropology.

To understand its makeup, the researchers, including a mineralogist and an Egyptologist, created 12 different recipes of the pigment from mixtures of silicon dioxide, copper, calcium, and sodium carbonate. They heated the material at about 1000 degrees Celsius for between one and 11 hours to replicate temperatures that would have been available for ancient artists. After cooling the samples at various rates, they studied the pigments using modern microscopy and analysis techniques that had never been used for this type of research, comparing them to two ancient Egyptian artifacts.

Egyptian blue included a variety of blue colors, depending on where they were made and their quality. The researchers found that the pigment is highly heterogeneous.

“You had some people who were making the pigment and then transporting it, and then the final use was somewhere else,” said McCloy. “One of the things that we saw was that with just small differences in the process, you got very different results.”

The researchers found that, in fact, to get the bluest color requires only about 50% of the blue-colored components.

 “It doesn’t matter what the rest of it is, which was really quite surprising to us,” said McCloy. “You can see that every single pigment particle has a bunch of stuff in it — it’s not uniform by any means.”

The samples created are currently on display at Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and will become part of the museum’s new long-term gallery focused on ancient Egypt.

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Researchers Travis Olds and Lisa Haney from the Carnegie Museum examine an ancient sarcophagus that was painted with Egyptian blue pigment. Washington State University

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Closeup image of an ancient wooden Egyptian falcon. Researchers have found a way to repoduce the blue pigment visible on the artifact, which is the world’s oldest synthetic pigment. Matt Unger, Carnegie Museum of Natural History

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Article Source: Washington State University news release.

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—Ancient genomes from Yunnan province, China, reveal a complex and deeply rooted population history in East and Southeast Asia, including the first potential representative of a previously uncharacterized “ghost” lineage that contributed to Tibetan ancestry. The findings* from genomic analysis also point to a distinct Central Yunnan ancestry linked to early Austroasiatic populations. Collectively, this work highlights Yunnan’s pivotal role as a genetic and cultural crossroads over millennia. Ancient DNA from East and Southeast Asia reveals a complex population history beginning at least 19,000 years ago, with early splits between northern and southern East Asian lineages. However, gaps remain in understanding the genetic origins of several present-day populations. For example, Tibetan groups carry both northern East Asian ancestry and a mysterious, deeply divergent “ghost” lineage, possibly linked to archaic humans like Denisovans or an early modern Asian lineage. Similarly, the origins and spread of Austroasiatic-speaking populations across southern China and Southeast Asia remain unresolved, due in part to limited ancient DNA from key regions. Situated at the crossroads of the Tibetan Plateau, Southeast Asia, and southern China, Yunnan is the most ethnically and linguistically diverse province in modern-day China. It’s also home to early human archaeological sites that indicate a long record of occupation. Given its location and history, Yunnan’s ancient populations may hold the key to unresolved questions about the genetic history of East and Southeast Asia.

Using both targeted DNA enrichment and whole-genome shotgun sequencing, Tianyi Wang and colleagues generated genome-wide genetic data from 147 ancient individuals from Yunnan dating from 7,100 years ago to the present day. From this analysis, Wang et al. identified a 7,100-year-old individual from central Yunnan as a representative of the speculated “ghost” population that contributed to the genetic makeup of ancient and modern Tibetans. According to the authors, this lineage likely diverged from other early Asian populations over 40,000 years ago and survived in southern regions due to more stable climates during the Ice Age. Wang et al. also discovered a genetically distinct “Central Yunnan” ancestry, different from previously identified northern and southern East Asian lineages, which emerged by 5,500 years ago and contributed to modern Austroasiatic-speaking populations. Notably, this ancestry appears before the widespread adoption of agriculture in the region, suggesting that linguistic or demographic expansions may have preceded the spread of farming. The authors note that the rich genetic diversity observed in Bronze Age Yunnan mirrors the region’s current ethnic complexity and points to Yunnan as a longstanding crossroads of human migration and interaction.

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The human skeleton of an individual found in ash pit H4 at the Xingyi site, dating to the Early Neolithic period (7,158-6,888 cal BP), carried the Basal Asian Xingyi ancestry and was related to the missing ghost ancestry in ancient Tibetan Plateau populations. Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (307259568@qq.com)

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Secondary burial with repositioned human bones in Tomb M105, Jinlianshan site, Central Yunnan. Zhilong Jiang, Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (997134246@qq.com)

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The human skeletons found in Tomb M4 at the Gaozhai site in Western Yunnan suggest that family pedigrees were reconstructed with at least three generations. Rui Min, Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (min.ruide@163.com)

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The human skeleton of an individual found in Tomb M7 at the Xingyi site, dating to the Late Neolithic period (4515-4296 cal BP), exhibited a distinct East Asian ancestry that was found in central Yunnan around 5500 to 1500 years ago and is widespread among present-day Austroasiatic speakers. Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (307259568@qq.com)

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The human skeleton of an individual found in Tomb M14 at the Baiyangcun site in Western Yunnan exhibited the Central Yunnan and northern East Asian ancestries. Rui Min, Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (min.ruide@163.com)

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Excavation of the Xingyi site. Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology (307259568@qq.com)

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Article Source: AAAS news release.

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—Analysis of ancient proteins preserved in fossilized tooth enamel reveals insights into the elusive nature of Paranthropus robustus, researchers report*. The findings, which challenge long-held assumptions about this early human relative, suggest greater diversity within Paranthropus than previously recognized and support the possibility of multiple distinct species within the genus. While advances in ancient DNA (aDNA) sequencing have enabled valuable insights into the evolutionary relationships of Middle to Late Pleistocene hominins, understanding of earlier Pliocene-Pleistocene species, like Paranthropus, remains limited. This is largely because aDNA does not survive well in African hominin fossils older than 20,000 years of age. Paranthropus, which lived between 2.8 and 1 million years ago alongside other early hominins like Australopithecus and Homo, has traditionally been viewed as a single evolutionary group. However, overlapping traits between Paranthropus robustus and Australopithecus africanus have raised questions about their potential evolutionary relationship. Moreover, variation in tooth structure suggests either hidden diversity within P. robustus or the presence of multiple separate species.

In lieu of aDNA, Palesa Madupe and colleagues used ancient proteins – which can persist far longer – to investigate variation within this ancient hominin species. Using high-resolution mass spectrometry and paleoproteomics techniques, Madupe et al. analyzed dental enamel proteins from four P. robustus fossils found in South Africa’s Swartkrans cave. These fossils, dated to between 1.8–2.2 million years ago, represent some of the earliest known of this species. Protein sequence analysis revealed molecular-level variation among the P. robustus individuals, including evidence of both male and female specimens – challenging the reliability of tooth-size-based sexing and suggesting that sexual dimorphism alone cannot account for the observed diversity in the fossil record. Notably, one individual appears genetically distinct from the others, which may indicate the presence of a different Paranthropus group or reflect substantial intraspecific variation. According to the authors, these findings align with recent morphological evidence pointing to previously unrecognized taxonomic diversity within the genus, including the proposed species P. capensis.

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Article Source: AAAS news release.

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—A new study* describes the discovery of an isolated genetic lineage of hunter-gatherers that lived 6,000 years ago in the Colombian Bogotá Altiplano. Involving genome-wide analyses of 21 ancient people, the work establishes this localized group as an independent branch of the initial South American radiation. This preceramic group shared little genetically with other populations that first peopled and then persisted in North and South America. Many studies have mapped the human journey across the Beringian land bridge and into North America. Similar work has charted people’s path throughout South America. Yet until now, few scientists had investigated DNA for clues about those who lived in between North America and South America along the Isthmo-Colombian land bridge. Now, Kim-Louise Krettek and colleagues have identified a population of preceramic hunter-gatherers with a unique gene pool in this region. They surveyed genomes of 7 hunter-gatherers from the Preceramic Period around 6,000 years ago, 9 people from the Herrera Period around 2,000 years ago, 2 people from the Los Curos area from 530 years ago, and 3 people associated with the Muisca culture from 1,200 to 520 years ago. All lived in the Bogotá Altiplano of present-day Colombia. The hunter-gatherers had a basal lineage tied to – or were genetically closer to – the initial genome associated with the first South American radiation. The group also lacked differential affinity, or shared genetic variations, with other North American groups. In general, their genetics did not overlap with either ancient or present-day South American peoples. Overall, the hunter-gatherers represent a previously unknown genetic branch of humans in the Americas, which then faded around 2,000 years ago. The genomes of the 14 people from subsequent periods were predominantly related to Central American populations. “Our study provides evidence for a major genetic turnover on the Altiplano,” Krettek et al. conclude.

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Panoramic view of the Altiplano, the high plains around Bogotá.  William Usaquen/Universidad Nacional de Colombia

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Geographic and temporal framework of the analyzed ancient and modern individuals. Krettek et al., Sci. Adv. 11, eads6284

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The skeletons of two hunter-gatherer individuals excavated at the Checua archaeological site.  Ana María Groot/Universidad Nacional de Colombia

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Community engagement of study co-authors with the Guardia Indígena Muisca.  Andrea Casas-Vargas/Universidad Nacional de Colombia

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Article Source: AAAS news release

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—By poring through ancient coin records and pollen data, researchers have reconstructed how the Roman conquest of Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) led to profound economic and environmental changes that mirror those seen with modern civilization. The new study sheds light on a unique period of globalization almost two millennia in the past, and could guide efforts to study the stability and future of our own increasingly interconnected world. As the Roman Republic conquered the Mediterranean world, its rulers began incorporating territories far away from Italy. One of its largest prizes was western Anatolia, which was home to various Greek city-states that were subsumed into the republic in the late 2^nd century BCE. Acting as a bridge between East and West, Anatolia developed rapidly after the Roman conquest. It would become one of the empire’s most important provinces and would remain a core territory for the Eastern Romans even as the Western Empire fragmented in the 5^th century CE. Mustafa Doğan and colleagues point out that the development of Roman Anatolia offers an excellent model for the Great Acceleration, or the profound socioeconomic changes linked to modern civilization and its impact on the planet. They examined a database of ancient coins and applied social analysis, finding that Anatolian cities such as Tripolis became increasingly interconnected with regional trade networks and imperial infrastructure. The team also studied fossilized pollen from Buldan Yayla Lake in western Turkey, located close to Tripolis. This revealed an exponential surge in olive pollen and a drop in other tree pollens after the Roman conquest, suggesting that native forests were quickly replaced by large-scale olive tree plantations within a century. The team linked other shifts in olive and cereal pollens to later economic transformations and events such as the growth of Constantinople in the 4^th century CE. Ultimately, pollen data indicated that both crops disappeared in the 7^th century CE and were replaced by regrowing forests, which coincided with the devastating war between the Eastern Empire and Sassanid Persia and the gradual disintegration of the Roman world.

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Western Anatolia with the key paleoenvironmental archives. The inlet shows Western Anatolia’s location within the Roman Empire. The city of Tripolis is marked due to its proximity to the high-resolution pollen profile of Buldan Yayla Lake presented in this article.  Doğan et al., Sci. Adv. 11, eadt7107

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Article Source: AAAS news release

Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona—Humans were making tools from whale bones as far back as 20,000 years ago, according to a study conducted by scientists from the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB), the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), and the University of British Columbia. This discovery broadens our understanding of early human use of whale remains and offers valuable insight into the marine ecology of the time. 

Excavations in 2022 in the Basque cave of Isturitz, France, where several dozen whale bone objects were discovered. Picture: Jean-Marc Pétillon.  Excavation director: Christian Normand
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Large projectile point made of Gray Whale bone from the Duruthy rockshelter, Landes, France, dated between 18,000 and 17,500 years ago. Picture: Alexandre Lefebvre

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Fragment of a Fin Whale vertebra from the Basque site of Santa Catalina, Spain, around 15,500 to 15,000 years ago. Excavation director: Eduardo Berganza. Picture: Jean-Marc Pétillon

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Article Source: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona news release

*Late Paleolithic whale bone tools reveal human and whale ecology in the Bay of Biscay, Nature Communications, 27-May-2025. 10.1038/s41467-025-59486-8 

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—Ancient sloths ranged in size from tiny climbers to ground-dwelling giants. Now, researchers report this body size diversity was largely shaped by sloths’ habitats, and that these animals’ precipitous decline was likely a result of increasing human pressures, which also triggered the extinction of the large-bodied ground-dwelling animals. Today’s small arboreal sloths are the last remnants of a once-diverse group, surviving likely because they inhabited secluded forest canopies and avoided direct human pressures, say the authors. While only two small, tree-dwelling genera survive today – confined largely to the tropical rainforests of South and Central America – sloths (Folivora) represent a once-diverse, abundant, and widespread lineage of American mammals. During the late Cenozoic, more than 100 genera of sloths occupied a wide range of sizes and habitats, living across the Americas. Some terrestrial sloth species stood upwards of six meters tall and weighed several tons. However, by the end of the Pleistocene, the majority of these animals became extinct.

Alberto Boscaini and colleagues investigated the drivers behind the expansion and decline of body size variation in sloths over the past 35 million years, culminating in the eventual rapid collapse of the group. By combining fossil measurements, DNA and protein sequences, and advanced evolutionary modeling, Boscaini et al. reconstructed sloth evolutionary history across 67 genera and tested whether evolutionary changes in size were linked to habitat, diet, climate, predation, or other ecological pressures. The findings show that habitat preference – whether sloths lived in trees or on the ground – was the dominant factor shaping their body size evolution. Early sloths were large, ground-dwelling grazers. But transitions to tree-dwelling forms with smaller body sizes occurred multiple times, especially as open landscapes expanded. Gigantism evolved independently in several lineages, reflecting adaptive responses to cooling climates and ecological pressures. Yet, despite thriving for tens of millions of years, with body size diversity peaking in the Pleistocene, sloths experienced a sudden and dramatic decline beginning around 15,000 years ago. These declines do not align with the climatic changes of the time, but instead with the arrival of humans in the Americas. According to Boscaini et al., evidence suggests that human hunting drove the extinction of large-bodied terrestrial sloths.

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Skulls from extant and extinct sloth species show striking differences in body size. Bottom left: Bradypus variegatus (extant, Bolivia); bottom right: Proscelidodon patrius (Pliocene, Argentina); top left: Megatherium americanum (Pleistocene, Argentina); top right: Lestodon armatus (Pleistocene, Argentina). All specimens are housed at Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photograph by Alberto Boscaini

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Megatherium americanum skeleton from Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales “Bernardino Rivadavia”, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photograph by Alberto Boscaini

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Article Source: AAAS news release

Lund University—Archaeologist Greer Jarrett at Lund University in Sweden has been sailing in the footsteps of Vikings for three years. He can now show that the Vikings sailed farther away from Scandinavia, and took routes farther from land, than was previously believed to have been possible. In his latest study, he has found evidence of a decentralized network of ports, located on islands and peninsulas, which probably played a central role in trade and travel in the Viking era.  

The sailing boat – an open, square-rigged clinker boat similar to the boats used during the Viking Age (800-1050 AD) – travelled from Trondheim up to the Arctic Circle and back in 2022. Since then, Greer Jarrett and his team have sailed over 5,000 kilometers along Viking trade routes (see map). His research shows that the likely routes of the Vikings took them farther from land than previously thought. 

“I can show that this type of boat sails well on open water, in tough conditions. But navigating close to land and in the fjords sometimes presents challenges that are just as great, but not as obvious. Underwater currents and katabatic winds blowing down from mountain slopes, for example,” says Greer Jarrett, a doctoral student in archaeology at Lund University.

Jarrett’s research trips have not been without risks. When the yard holding up the mainsail snapped off the coast of Norway, the crew were forced to improvise to save themselves from distress. 

“The cold in the Lofoten Islands was a challenge. Our hands really suffered. At that point I realized just how crucial it is to have a good crew,” says Greer Jarrett.

Has interviewed Norwegian seafarers

Jarrett has also tested the boat’s capabilities on the open sea, sailing both the Kattegat and the Baltic Sea. Despite the lack of a deep-draught keel, Jarrett says the boats are surprisingly stable.  

In a previously published paper, Jarrett and his colleagues have shown that in the Middle Ages it was possible for Greenlanders to travel to remote parts of the Arctic in search of walrus tusks using this type of boat.    

To identify specific Viking routes, Jarrett also interviewed sailors and fishermen about the routes traditionally used in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when sailing boats without engines were still common in Norway. 

“I used the experience of my own journeys and the sailors’ traditional knowledge to reconstruct possible Viking Age sailing routes.”

Stories helped Vikings to navigate

The Vikings did not navigate by map, compass or sextant. Instead, they used “mental maps” where memories and experiences played a crucial role. They also used myths linked to various coastal landmarks. 

“Examples include Viking stories about the islands Torghatten, Hestmona and Skrova off the Norwegian coast. The stories serve to remind sailors of the dangers surrounding these places, or of their importance as navigation marks.” 

These preserved myths are the last remnants of what must once have been a landscape steeped in stories. Jarrett calls this a “Maritime Cultural Mindscape”. Small islets, skerries and reefs were all part of a web of stories that helped the Vikings navigate through the landscape; and that were passed down through generations of seafarers. 

Possible Viking harbors identified

Through a combination of direct experience of the characteristics of the boats, and digital reconstruction of what the landscape looked like in the Viking Age, Jarrett has identified four possible Viking harbors along the Norwegian coast in his latest publication. (See image)

The locations of these ports (Jarret calls them “havens”) are farther out to sea than the major ports and hubs, known to date.

“With this type of boat, it has to be easy to get in and out of the harbor in all possible wind conditions. There must be several routes in and out. Shallow bays are not an issue because of the shallow draft of the boats. Getting far up the narrow fjords, however, is tricky. They are difficult to sail upwind with a square rig, and the boats are sensitive to katabatic winds.”

Jarrett’s hypothesis is that during the Viking Age, such small, easily accessible harbors abounded. Places where sailors could pause, rest, and meet other seafarers. 

“A lot of the time, we only know about the starting and ending points of the trade that took place during the Viking Age. Major ports, such as Bergen and Trondheim in Norway, Ribe in Denmark, and Dublin in Ireland. The thing I am interested in is what happened on the journeys between these major trading centers. My hypothesis is that this decentralized network of ports, located on small islands and peninsulas, was central to making trade efficient during the Viking Age.”  

Mast fixed with oars 

Jarrett’s research trips have faced a few challenges. On their way back from Lofoten in May 2022, the yard (mast spar) holding up the mainsail broke as they sailed through the middle of Vestfjorden. The accident happened with the vessel 25 kilometers out to sea.

“We had to lash two oars together to hold the sail, and hope that it would hold. We made it back to the harbor safely, but then we had to spend several days repairing the boat before we could sail again.” 

“On another trip, a minke whale suddenly surfaced and flapped its huge tail fin just meters from the boat.”

Jarret’s adventures have also highlighted how important relationships must have been during the Viking voyages. 

“You need a boat that can withstand all kinds of weather conditions. But if you don’t have a crew that can cooperate and put up with each other for long periods, these journeys would probably be impossible,” Jarrett concludes.

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During his research project, Greer Jarrett has sailed over 2500 nautical miles. Greer Jarrett

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This type of sailing boat is known as a faering. It was built at a folk high school in Norway as part of Greer Jarrett’s research project. Greer Jarrett

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Cold winds off the coast of northern Norway. Greer Jarrett

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The sailing voyages made by Greer Jarrett during the research project. The image also shows the four possible Viking harbours identified by Jarrett. Greer Jarrett

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Article Source: Lund University news release

*From the Masthead to the Map: an Experimental and Digital Approach to Viking Age Seafaring Itineraries, Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 10.1007/s10816-025-09708-6