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Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen—Was it a massive migration? Or was it rather a slow and persistent seeping of people, items and ideas that laid the foundation for the demographic map of Europe and Central Asia that we see today? The Bronze Age (about 5,000 – 3,000 years ago) was a period with large cultural upheavals. But how these upheavals came about has remained shrouded in mystery.

Now, a recent study published in the journal Nature has shed new light on the question.

Says study author Morten Allentoft, Assistant Professor from the Centre for GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen, “both archaeologists and linguists have had theories about how cultures and languages have spread in our part of the world. We geneticists have now collaborated with them to publish an explanation based on a record amount of DNA-analyses of skeletons from the Bronze Age.”

By analyzing the genome sequence data from samples taken from the ancient skeletal remains of 101 individuals across a broad geographic area, the researchers were able to determine a genetic “map” of past human movements that ultimately contributed to the genetic makeup of people across Eurasia today.

Geneticist and director of the Centre for GeoGenetics Eske Willerslev elaborates: “Our study is the first real large-scale population genomic study ever undertaken on ancient individuals. We analysed genome sequence data from 101 past individuals. This is more than a doubling of the number of genomic sequenced individuals of pre-historic man generated to date. The study is without any comparison to anything previously made. The results show that the genetic composition and distribution of peoples in Europe and Asia today is a surprisingly late phenomenon – only a few thousand years old.”

Professor Kristian Kristiansen of the University of Gothenburg, who initiated the project together with Lundbeck Foundation Professor Eske Willerslev, says: “The driving force in our study was to understand the big economical and social changes that happened at the beginning of the third millennium BC, spanning the Urals to Scandinavia. The old Neolithic farming cultures were replaced by a completely new perception of family, property and personhood. I and other archaeologists share the opinion that these changes came about as a result of massive migrations.”

With this new investigation, the researchers confirm that the changes came about as a result of migrations. The researchers note that it is significant because later developments in the Bronze Age are a continuation of this new social perception. It adds up, because the migrations can also explain the origin of the northern European language families. Kristiansen suggests that crucial events happened during these few centuries, as crucial as the colonization of the Americas.

A major finding of the study relates to how these migrations resulted in huge changes to the European gene-pool, conferring a large degree of admixture on the present populations. Genetically speaking, ancient Europeans from the time after these migrations are much more similar to modern Europeans than those prior the Bronze Age.

Mobile warrior people

According to the study, the re-writing of the genetic map began in the early Bronze Age, about 5,000 years ago. From the steppes in the Caucasus, the Yamnaya Culture migrated principally westward into North- and Central Europe, and to a lesser degree, into western Siberia. Yamnaya was characterized by a new system of family and property. In northern Europe the Yamnaya mixed with the Stone Age people who inhabited this region and along the way established the Corded Ware Culture, which genetically speaking resembles present day Europeans living north of the Alps today.

Later, about 4,000 years ago, the Sintashta Culture evolved in the Caucasus. This culture’s sophisticated new weapons and chariots were rapidly expanding across Europe.  Areas east of the Urals and far into Central Asia were colonized around 3,800 years ago by the Andronovo Culture. The researchers’ investigation shows that this culture had a European DNA-background.

During the last part of the Bronze Age, and at the beginning of the Iron Age, East Asian peoples arrived in Central Asia. Here it is not genetic admixture we see, but rather a replacement of genes. The European genes in the area disappear.

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Above: A typical group of Danish Bronze Age barrows from ca. 3,500-3,100 BP. Normally they were 3-5 meters high, constructed with cut out grass turfs (sods). One barrow would demand 3 hectares of grazing land. In Denmark 50,000 such barrows were constructed during the period 3,500- 3,100 BP for the leading chiefly lineages. Courtesy Kristian Kristiansen

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This image shows a Yamnaya skull from the Samara region colored with red ochre.  Courtesy Natalia Shishlina

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This is a reconstruction of the Yamnaya skull. A typical Yamnaya individual from the Caspian steppe in Russia ca. 5,000-4,800 BP. Yamnaya people were tall and were buried in deep pits covered by a small barrow. Ten thousands were built during this period in the Pontic-Caspian steppe, but also in temperate Europe thousands were built as a result of the migrations. Reconstruction: Alexey Nechvaloda

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A new scale

These new results derive from DNA-analyses of skeletons excavated across large areas of Europe and Central Asia, thus enabling these crucial glimpses into the dynamics of the Bronze Age. In addition to the population movement insights, the data also held other surprises. For example, contrary to the research team’s expectations, the data revealed that lactose tolerance rose to high frequency in Europeans, in comparison to prior belief that it evolved earlier in time (5,000 – 7,000 years ago). Co-author and Associate Professor Martin Sikora from the Centre for GeoGenetics says: “Previously the common belief was that lactose tolerance developed in the Balkans or in the Middle East in connection with the introduction of farming during the Stone Age. But now we can see that even late in the Bronze Age the mutation that gives rise to the tolerance is rare in Europe. We think that it may have been introduced into Europe with the Yamnaya herders from the Caucasus, but the selection that has made most Europeans lactose tolerant happened at a much later time.

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Edited and adapted from a press release of the Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen.

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

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An exquisitely sculpted ancient bust of a woman from Palmyra, Syria, is returned to view for the first time since 2006 at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. Named “Haliphat,” it will be accompanied by images of 18th-century engravings and 19th-century photographs of ancient Palmyra selected from the Freer|Sackler Libraries and Archives. A newly created 3-D scan of the bust will also be released for viewing and download at a later date as part of the Smithsonian X 3D Collection.

Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the Near East, and one of the best preserved city-states in the world.

“In the face of current tragic upheavals in Iraq and Syria, every stone, arch and carved relief plays a greater historical and cultural role than it has in the past,” said Julian Raby, the Dame Jillian Sackler Director of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery and Freer Gallery of Art. “Like the relief of Haliphat, each stone can remind a people of its past, and fashion identity both individually and collectively.”

Once lush, wealthy and cosmopolitan, Palmyra (“the city of palms”) was an oasis in the desert at the hub of trade between the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, ancient Iran and Southeast Asia. Two millennia ago, its inhabitants constructed monumental colonnades, temples, a theater and elaborate tomb complexes, a significant amount of which survives today.

Dating from 231 AD, the limestone funerary relief sculpture depicts an elegant, bejeweled figure with both Roman and Aramaic artistic influences, reinforcing Palmyra’s status between the Eastern and Western worlds.

The accompanying photographs were taken 1867-1876 by prolific photographer Fèlix Bonfils and provide the most complete visual record of Palmyra from the 19th century.

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The funerary bust of Haliphat, from Palmyra, 231 BC. Courtesy Freer/Sackler galleries

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Above and below: Two examples of 19th century photographs on display at the exhibit. Courtesy Freer/Sackler galleries

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Palmyra as it appears today. ISIS has already destroyed some of the antiquities at this iconic site. Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons

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The engraving images are from Robert Woods’ 1753 The Ruins of Palmyra, a publication that inspired the popular neoclassical architecture style in Britain and North America. Its image of an “Eagle Decorating an Ancient Roman Temple” was the model for the image on the seal of the United States, and its depictions of Palmyra’s coffered ceilings shaped the ceiling of the north entrance of the Freer Gallery of Art.

The display will be on view indefinitely.

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A press release of the Freer/Sackler galleries of art

The Freer Gallery of Art, which opened in 1923, and the adjacent Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, founded 1987, are the Smithsonian’s museums of Asian art and together contain one of the world’s most important collections of Asian and American art. The galleries are located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Admission is free. For more information, visit www.asia.si.edu. 

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

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In a newly published article in Science Magazine, contributing correspondent Andrew Lawler reports in detail the evolving crisis of events and issues surrounding the recent activities of isolated forest tribes inhabiting the deepest regions of the Peruvian rainforest. What could be described as “throwbacks” to a largely bygone prehistoric era, these people have maintained a traditional “hunter-gatherer” lifestyle, separate from the modern economies that surround them in both Peru and Brazil.

Villagers living along the banks of the Curanja River in the rainforest of eastern Peru are reporting frequent sightings and “raids” from these mysterious forest people, says Lawler in the article. “A surge in sightings and raids in both Peru and Brazil may be a sign that some of the world’s last peoples living outside the global economy are emerging,” he writes.* He reports villagers complaining of stolen goods and destroyed homes, attributing the acts to these “naked ones” from deep within the forest.

To be sure, anthropologists and others have known of the forest peoples’ existence for years. But ethical questions have energized the issue of how and even if contemporary modern villagers and other representatives of ‘developed’ society should contact them. Scientists and health officials often mention, for example, their likely vulnerability to the transmission of disease that, because of their lack of immunity to common pathogens, could mean decimation of their groups to the point of extinction.

It’s easy to imagine—South America, before Columbus, was thought to have teemed with an indigenous population of anywhere between 30 and 100 million people. But in the decades following Columbus’ arrival in 1492, most of these people, along with much of their culture, vanished, due at least in part to disease from pathogens introduced by the incoming Europeans. As historical records and archaeology note, that was only part of a far more complex story of tragic interaction. 

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Rural Amazon villages typically hug the banks of the riverine waterways. But many of the villagers are now sighting a mysterious people occasionally emerging from their isolated habitats deep within the more secluded and untouched areas of the rainforest.

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Now, informed by the past, anthropologists, Peruvian and Brazilian policymakers, social organizations and think-tanks are wrestling with the problem of developing a strategy for dealing with these emerging isolated forest tribes, including, and perhaps more importantly, the question of what has changed in the environment to precipitate their recent behavior. Logging, mining, drug trafficking, oil and gas exploration, and even missionaries and film crews have been cited as possible disruptors of an ecosystem that many scientists say is being shaken from its delicate natural balance. The rainforest has been critical to the florescence of thousands of species of plant and animal life for thousands of years—including the uncontacted forest tribes.

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Above and below: A blast from the prehistoric past? More and more sightings are begging new questions – What is the ethical extent of modern intervention in their lives, what can we learn from them, and what is the extent of modern society’s moral obligation to ensure their continued survival and well-being? Still shots from the Science/AAAS video, Making contact, the isolated tribes of the Amazon rainforest (see video below) Courtesy Science/AAAS

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Some anthropologists and archaeologists believe that knowing more about the Amazonian ancestral past could be a key to finding solutions for understanding and dealing with the forest people question.

At the 2015 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in San Jose, California, a group of scientists announced plans to scan the Amazon rainforest for signs of ancient settlements. The project, which has already been awarded a $1.9m grant from the European Research Council, will include conducting laser scans via drone. A major goal of the project will be to develop an understanding of the extent to which pre-Columbian populations built and flourished as far back as 3,000 years prior to the arrival of Europeans.

More than 400 geoglyphs have already been exposed by deforestation, suggesting collective, organized human behavior—an argument that has been an ongoing debate within New World archaeology.

“Although humans have lived in Amazonia for the last 13,000 years, until recently, the long-accepted paradigm has been one of a noble savage living in harmony with the ancient forest, with negligible impact on the forest,” said Dr. José Iriarte of the University of Exeter, the lead researcher of the project. “Such a view was widely shared, not only among archaeologists, but also by most tropical ecologists whose interpretations of the biodiversity and ecological change were based on the assumption that this forest environment was largely pristine.” 

But, “based on mounting archaeological evidence that suggest the presence of complex Amazonian societies,” Iriarte continued, “at the other end of the spectrum are those that propose that the Amazon Basin was densely populated, perhaps up to 10 million inhabitants, and so intensively managed that by 1492 there was no such thing as a “virgin forest”— instead, it was a cultural parkland.” 

Among other objectives, Iriarte hopes to test this idea of large, complex and hierarchical societies in the Amazon, known as the “cultural parkland hypothesis’, by conducting an intensive study of four distinct regions across the Amazon, implementing a battery of state-of-the-art techniques from the social and natural sciences, including archaeology, archaeobotany, ethnohistory, and paleoecology, in conjunction with remote sensing technology. Most notably, he and his team will be mounting LiDAR and multi-spectral sensors on UAVs (drones) beginning in the Fall of 2015 to scan large areas, comparing what they find to landscapes with areas already known to exhibit evidence of anthropogenic (human) manipulation of the landscape.

“It is only by applying this interdisciplinary approach that we can provide a holistic understanding of the origins of the modern Amazonian landscapes,” said Iriarte.

Even if and when Iriarte and his team come up with strong evidence supporting the ‘cultural parklands hypothesis’, they also hope to find answers to some other key questions. Issues of conservation and sustainability play a salient role.

“How did the 1492 Columbian encounter affect these landscapes and cultures?” asks Iriarte. “And did pre-Columbian land use have a lasting affect on the modern forest and, if so, how does the knowledge of the legacy of Late pre-Columbian groups inform modern conservation and sustainable agricultural practices for the future of the Amazon and other tropical regions of the world?” 

Iriarte suggests that the outcome of the project could potentially guide policy-making in terms of land management and sustainability, and influence many other decisions that could otherwise be insufficiently informed without understanding past human management of the landscape.

Lawler reports that the isolated forest people, in response to the modern forces that increasingly surround and contain them, have already retreated as deeply as they can go into the last most secluded areas of the rainforest.

Could they be the last whimper and shadow of this ‘ancestral cultural parkland’, as Iriarte has penned?

Perhaps not directly. “These are not the uncontacted people of romantic imagination,” writes Lawler. “Most of these groups had traumatic interactions with industrial society about a century ago, when the upper Amazon filled with tens of thousands of outsiders eager to make a fortune from rubber.”* These indigenous forest dwellers, generations of whom were already skilled at tapping the sap of the rubber tree for their own, traditional needs, were exploited for little in return and, in more than a few cases, rewarded with death. They subsequently escaped to an isolated existence, abandoning their farming and former settlements to manage a living deep within the rainforest ecosystem. Bows and arrows, not the plow, became their most critical tool—much like the ancestors of most of the indigenous populations of South America, if one could glimpse back far enough into the collective past.

Scientists now hope that new chapters will be written about Amazon’s prehistory as future investigations collect the data needed to illuminate a past that has, for centuries, been shrouded beneath a jungle canopy. That is, of course, if enough of the rainforest can be saved to make the research meaningful.

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*Lawler, Andrew, From deep in Peru’s rainforests, isolated people emerge, Science (online), 4 June 2015.

Image above: Geoglyphs discovered in cleared area of Amazon rainforest. Sanna Saunaluoma, Wikimedia Commons

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Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

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

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Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

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

____________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

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

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

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

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The site of Madjedbebe, a shallow rock shelter located in northern Australia, is known for yielding stone artifacts and faunal remains that archaeologists suggest date the presence of modern humans on the Australian continent at about 50,000 – 60,000 years ago. The site, however, has been at the center of a debate regarding the validity of the dating, as some scholars have cast doubt on the stratigraphic integrity and history of the deposits at the site as reported by investigations conducted in 1989 excavations.

Now, Chris Clarkson of the University of Queensland, Australia and colleagues report results of a new study on the stone tool artifacts and faunal remains found during the 1989 excavations.  

“We demonstrate that the technology and raw materials of the early assemblage are distinctive from those in the overlying layers,” stated Clarkson, et al., in their report. “We conclude that previous claims of extensive displacement of artefacts and post-depositional disturbance may have been overstated. The stone artefacts and stratigraphic details support previous claims for human occupation 50–60 ka and show that human occupation during this time differed from later periods.”*

Madjedbebe has evidence of very early and later human occupation. Early investigations at the site uncovered wall paintings by the later human occupants, including charcoal dating to 18,000 years ago and other associated artifacts, such as a grinding hollow and 2 mortars, one of which had traces of ochre.

But later excavations indicated that Madjedbebe could be the oldest dated site in Australia. The first and earliest (by deposition) appeared about 2.6 m below the surface. These layers were dated to between 61,000 and 52,000 years old. From a depth of 2.5-2.3 m the scientists recorded relatively dense occupation, dated to between 52,000 +7,000/-11,000 BP and 45,000 +6,000/-9,000 BP. More than 1500 artifacts (designated as the Malakunanja assemblage) were in the lowest occupation layer.

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Excavations at Madjedbebe in 2012. From A History of Australia’s Prehistory, lecture before the Royal Australian Historical Society in 2013 by Billy Griffiths, historian and writer. A Vimeo video screenshot.

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The presence of high-grade hematite (a substance thought to have been used as a pigment for various purposes by prehistoric hunter-gatherers) among the deposits has suggested that long distance exchange or transport took place here during the Pleistocene, as the nearest known possible sources are many miles away from the site.

The findings at Madjedbebe are significant for their implications for human evolution and early modern human migration. During the Pleistocene, the site was located in Sahul, the name given to a continent that combined Australia with New Guinea and Tasmania, as the sea level at that time was as much as 150 meters lower than it is today, separated from another adjacent great land mass known as Sunda by the Sahul Strait, a much narrower body of water than that which separates Australia and New Guinea and Tasmania today. Even then, however, to get to the Sahul, people would have needed boats or rafts. Currently, there are two contending theories suggesting when this might have happened: one proposing 60,000 years ago, and the other proposing 40,000 years ago. Generally, most scholars agree that there are sites in Australia that date to at least 40,000 years ago, including the Madjedbebe site. Some scholars theorize that these early human inhabitants were ancestral to today’s Australian Aborigines.   

The detailed study report is published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

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*Chris Clarkson, et al., The archaeology, chronology and stratigraphy of Madjedbebe (Malakunanja II): A site in northern Australia with early occupation, Journal of Human Evolution, Vol. 83, June 2015  doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.014

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Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

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

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

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

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After nearly 30 years, a team of archaeologists will be returning once again to the site of So na Cacana on the island of Menorca, Balearic Islands, Spain, to renew investigations of a prehistoric sanctuary complex that archaeologists believe represented the remains of the Talaiotic Culture , a prehistoric culture that flourished, particularly on the islands of Majorca and Menorca, during the 1st Millenium BCE.  

“Between 1982 and 1987, archaeological excavations made by the Museum of Menorca found two sanctuaries [at So na Cacana] with taula and other buildings, probably religious, where there were only scattered remains half hidden by the vegetation,” stated the project principle investigators. The ancient settlement remains are located about six km away from the municipality of Alaior.  The site features a tower-like monument resembling a large rectangular talaiot (Bronze Age megalithic structure) at the highest point of the area and possibly dated to before the 10^th century B.C., which may contain an inner chamber with chapels; a second, smaller tower or talaiot; two sanctuaries with taula; two talaiotic houses; two hypogea; and several structures not yet excavated.  The investigators theorize that the site had a religious purpose.

Beginning June 15, 2015 and running for six months, the site investigators plan to field a team that will explore a number of structures and features in the site area, including a funerary hypogeum dated from the 15^th – 8^th centuries BCE, an Iron Age sanctuary or taula (6^th – 3^rd centuries BCE), an Iron Age (6^th – 3^rd centuries BCE) house structure, a Roman period (2^nd – 4^th centuries CE) agricultural-related structure, and a 9^th – 10^th century CE Islamic necropolis.

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Above and below: Views of the megalithic structures at So na Cacana. Courtesy Tanyt

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The team leadership is currently calling on students and volunteers who may be interested in participating in the surveys and excavations, which will entail in-depth training and education. “TANYT (the organization managing the field work) is now responsible for this archaeological site,” write the investigators, “and this cultural association aims to develop a field school and experimental camp focused on theoretical and practical training for students and professionals in archaeology and cultural heritage conservation. So the training in the field school includes hands-on intervention in different sectors of the site, each one representing a cultural stage in Menorca prehistory, proto-history and history (Bronze Age, Iron Age, Roman Period and Medieval Period).”

Individuals interested in learning more about the site and how to participate my contact the Asociación Tanyt, Menorca, at [email protected] and can visit the website at http://sonacassana.jimdo.com/. 

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Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

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

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

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

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Researchers and conservators have revealed two rare objects that promise to shed new light on knowledge of seventh century Anglo-Saxon England, a period of time known as the ‘dark age’ in the British Isles. One is a seventh century helmet, the other an unusual sword pommel. 

After years of cleaning, treatment and building on previous research conducted by specialized teams in the UK, researchers and conservators of Barbican Research Associates are painstakingly piecing together the thousands of fragments of objects that constitute what is arguably considered one of the world’s greatest archaeological treasures—the Staffordshire Hoard, first discovered in a field in Staffordshire, England in 2009 by a metal detectorist. While the helmet and sword pommel are only two among hundreds of other important gold and silver metalwork objects identified among the Staffordshire Hoard fragments, their rarity and uniqueness distinguish them among an otherwise remarkable collection of objects presumably belonging to an elite class warrior or important person likely associated with one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of the seventh century. Generally, the objects of the Hoard consist mostly of fittings from weaponry, reflecting a turbulent time in English history when competing small kingdoms fought for dominance. Comparatively little is known about this ‘dark’ period of history, which emerged after germanic peoples migrated to the southern and eastern areas of the main island from mainland Europe (becoming the various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms) in the centuries after the Romans abandoned occupation of the British Isles during the long decline of their Imperial Period rule over much of the ancient world. 

The Helmet

Archaeologists and a conservator worked for three solid days to begin to piece together the helmet’s vast array of some 1,500 thin, fragile silver sheets and strips. Anglo-Saxon helmets are incredibly rare, and the hoard example is only the fifth to be discovered. The painstaking job saw these fragments—many less than 10 mm across and making up around a third of the Hoard in size—pieced together to reveal intricate, die-stamped designs. The designs depict human warriors and male moustachioed faces, as well as birds, animals and mythical beasts, like others seen in the rest of the hoard. Some warrior figures themselves wear helmets. Researchers suggest that it is possible these are ancestral or idealized warriors, intended to give spiritual support to the wearer.

The team also pieced together the fragments of a ‘helmet-band’, thought to have run around the circumference of the helmet (and which featured one of the warrior friezes). Many of the sheet friezes were gilded with gold. In comparison, the helmet found at Sutton Hoo in 1939, in the royal ship-burial, was silver.

“The helmet, if covered in all the gilt foils in the collection, would have looked spectacular,” said Pieta Greaves, the Staffordshire Hoard Conservation Coordinator with the Birmingham Museums Trust, “not only because it would have appeared gold but because it is unique, only being the 5th helmet [of its kind] found in Britain. It was probably worn by a King or someone of great importance.” 

Scientists say there is still much more to be discovered about this helmet, and work continues.

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Section of the reconstructed helmetband, depicting a frieze of warriors. Courtesy Birmingham Museums Trust

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Detail of the reconstructed helmetband, depicting a frieze of warriors. Courtesy Birmingham Museums Trust

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The helmet of Sutton Hoo reconstructed as it would have appeared in its day. The Staffordshire helmet would have looked much like this, but it would have likely contained more gold features, and would have displayed a gold appearance, as opposed to the the silver appearance of the Sutton Hoo helmet. Gernot Keller, Wikimedia Commons

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The Pommel

There are over seventy pommels (the part of the sword that fits at the end of a sword-grip) in the Hoard, but the newly constructed one is unique among the finds. Conservation and research teams identified and reassembled it from 26 fragments. Although Anglo-Saxon in style, it also features British or Irish art influences. Its central garnet and glass inlaid disc can be seen to form an early Christian cross, while on its opposite side is a motif formed of three serpents. Thus, both Christian and pagan beliefs may be represented. It is also decorated with gold filigree (fine wire ornament), and inlaid with niello (a black inlay formed from copper, silver, and lead sulfides). Most unusual is the rounded hump on the pommel’s shoulder, known as a ‘sword-ring’—there would have been two originally, one on each shoulder. Many swords from this period in England and Europe have such rings, but the hoard pommel is the first to feature two. This, with its lavish ornament, suggests that it possibly belonged to an individual of significant status. Said Chris Fern, project archaeologist, “The newly recognized pommel is truly exciting. It combines multiple different styles of ornament, much in the same way as the earliest 7th century illuminated manuscripts do, like the Book of Durrow. It suggests the coming together of Anglo-Saxon and British or Irish high cultures.”

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The front of the reconstructed sword pommel. Courtesy Birmingham Museums Trust

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The back of the reconstructed sword pommel. Courtesy Birmingham Museums Trust

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The Hoard’s Legacy

Archaeologists consider the Staffordshire Hoard the most spectacular Anglo-Saxon find since the excavation of the Sutton Hoo ship-burial (Suffolk) in 1939. It  consists of a mix of gold, silver and garnet items weighing over 6 kg. Most of the items were stripped from swords and seaxes (single-edged fighting knives), at least one helmet and other items, and probably represent the equipment of defeated armies from unknown battles of the first half of the 7th century. And although fragmented, damaged and distorted, the hoard’s objects represent the possessions of an elite warrior class, as reflected in their craftsmanship and ornamentation.

Said Greaves, “We have all these great Anglo-Saxon poems which talk about the warrior elite, but this is the first evidence we have that they really existed.” 

Why it was buried, perhaps before c 675 AD, remains an unanswered question. Significantly, it was discovered close to a then major route-way (Roman Watling Street), in what was the emerging Kingdom of Mercia. Warfare between England’s many competing regional kingdoms was frequent. 

Said Fern, “The Staffordshire Hoard links us with an age of warrior splendour. The gold and silver war-gear was probably made in workshops controlled by some of England’s earliest kings, to reward warriors that served those rulers when multiple kingdoms fought for supremacy. The skill of the craftsmen is equally thrilling to behold, with many of the finds decorated with pagan and Christian art, designed to give spiritual protection in battle.” 

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Above: An assemblage of some of the major objects of the Hoard. Note the helmet cheek piece on the left. Courtesy David Rowan, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Wikimedia Commons

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Detailed conservation and research of its approximate 4,000 fragments is not yet complete, and the second phase of research and conservation, now in its beginning stages, entails piecing together the fragments like a giant jigsaw puzzle, revealing the artifacts in their original form. Toward this end, the owners (Birmingham City Council and Stoke-on-Trent City Council) need to raise an additional £120,000 for this work to continue and to continue the research necessary to illuminate understanding of this unique window on Anglo-Saxon history. Much of the previous funding up to that point was provided by Historic England, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting and supporting England’s historic environment.

Duncan Wilson, Historic England Chief Executive, said: “Since its discovery in 2009, the Staffordshire Hoard and the stories behind it have captured the public imagination. The research which Historic England has funded has started to uncover the secrets of this Anglo-Saxon treasure. As technology and research methods develop we are able to discover more and more, and share the results, but more money needs to be raised to capitalize fully on this rich potential.”

For more about the Staffordshire Hoard, see the official website and the article, Conserving the Staffordshire Hoard by Pieta Greaves, published in the March 1, 2014 issue of Popular Archaeology.

Individuals and groups interested in donating funds to help with this effort may do so by going to the website for more information.

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Parts of this article were adapted and edited from the subject press release and email interview with Pieta Greaves, Staffordshire Hoard Conservation Coordinator.

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The major organizational players in the Staffordshire Hoard project include:

The Birmingham Museums Trust, an independent charity that manages the city’s museum collection and venues on behalf of Birmingham City Council. It uses the collection of around 800,000 objects to provide a wide range of arts, cultural and historical experiences, events and activities that deliver accessible learning, creativity and enjoyment for citizens and visitors to the city. Most areas of the collection are designated as being of national importance, including the finest collection of Pre-Raphaelite art in the world. Attracting over 1 million visits a year, the Trust’s venues include Aston Hall, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Blakesley Hall, Museum Collections Centre, Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Sarehole Mill, Soho House, Thinktank and Weoley Castle.  www.birminghammuseums.org.uk<http://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk>

Barbican Research Associates, the UK’s leading independent consultancy specialising in the analysis of archaeological finds and post-excavation management. Further information about the Staffordshire Hoard research project can be found on their website:  http://www.barbicanra.co.uk/staffordshire-hoard.html
Birmingham Museums Trust

Stoke-on-Trent City Council, delivering hundreds of services to 249,000 residents, including two museums, leisure and culture facilities. The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery is one of these services, and boasts a series of internationally-renown exhibitions, including the world’s best collection of Staffordshire ceramics, and a Spitfire Mk LF XVI, designed by one of the city’s most famous sons, Reginald Mitchell. All of the museum’s collections of 700,000 objects are categorised as designated collections of national importance. Galleries also include fine and decorative arts, costume, local history, archaeology and natural history.

Historic England (formerly known as English Heritage), the public body that champions and protects England’s historic places. They look after the historic environment, providing expert advice, helping people protect and care for it and helping the public to understand and enjoy it.

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How and when the first modern human populations emerged out of Africa to settle Europe and Asia has been at the center of a long-standing debate among researchers and scholars. The results of a new genetic study, however, suggests that modern humans made their first successful major migration out of Africa around 55,000 – 60,000 years ago through Egypt, and not from further south through Ethiopia, as suggested by another proposed theory.

Dr. Luca Pagani, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the University of Cambridge in the UK, and his colleagues analyzed the genetic information from six modern Northeast African populations (100 Egyptians, and five Ethiopian populations each represented by 25 people).

“Two geographically plausible routes have been proposed: an exit through the current Egypt and Sinai, which is the northern route, or one through Ethiopia, the Bab el Mandeb strait, and the Arabian Peninsula, which is the southern route,” Dr. Pagani explains. “In our research, we generated the first comprehensive set of unbiased genomic data from Northeast Africans and observed, after controlling for recent migrations, a higher genetic similarity between Egyptians and Eurasians than between Ethiopians and Eurasians.”

It suggests that Egypt was most likely the way out of Africa.

The team also used high-quality genomes to estimate the time that the populations split from one another: people outside Africa split from the Egyptian genomes more recently than from the Ethiopians (55,000 as opposed to 65, 000 years ago), supporting the idea that Egypt was the last stop on the route out of Africa.

“While our results do not address controversies about the timing and possible complexities of the expansion out of Africa, they paint a clear picture in which the main migration out of Africa followed a northern, rather than a southern route,” says Dr Toomas Kivisild, a senior author from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge.

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Human genome sequences from Ethiopians and Egyptians point to a Northern exit out of Africa as the most likely route by the ancestors of all Eurasians. Image courtesy Luca Pagani

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The northern route is also best supported by the known genetic mixture of all non-Africans with Neanderthals, who were present in the Levant at the time, and with the recent discovery of early modern human fossils in Israel (close to the northern route) dating to around 55,000 years ago.

“This important study still leaves questions to answer,” says Dr Chris Tyler-Smith, a senior author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. “For example, did other migrations also leave Africa around this time, but leave no trace in present-day genomes? To answer this, we need ancient genomes from populations along the possible routes. Similarly, by adding present-day genomes from Oceania, we can discover whether or not there was a separate, perhaps Southern, migration to these regions.”

“Our approach shows how it is possible to use the latest genomic data and tools to answer these intriguing questions of our human origins and migrations,” he added.

In addition to providing insights on the evolutionary past of all Eurasians with their new findings, the researchers have also developed an extensive public catalog of the genomic diversity in Ethiopian and Egyptian populations.

“This information will be of great value as a freely available reference panel for future medical and anthropological studies in these areas,” says Dr. Pagani.

The findings are published in the American Journal of Human Genetics*.

Portions of this article were adapted and edited from the subject Cell Press and Welcome Trust Sanger Institute press releases.

*American Journal of Human Genetics, Pagani et al.: “Tracing the route of modern humans out of Africa using 225 human genome sequences from Ethiopians and Egyptians” http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2015.04.019.

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An international team of scientists have uncovered what they suggest is a likely case of murder some 430,000 years ago among prehistoric humans living in what is present-day northern Spain.

Their evidence derives from a forensic analysis of an ancient skull belonging to a young adult individual whose lineage was possibly related to an early Neanderthal line, ancient ‘cousins’ of modern humans. The skull, called ‘Cranium 17’ by researchers at the Sima de los Huesos (SH) cave complex in the Atapuerca Mountains of northern Spain, was recovered and pieced together from 52 fragments over a period of 20 years. It was found and studied among an assemblage of over 6700 bones representing at least 28 individuals.

Led by Nohemi Sala from Centro Mixto UCM-ISCIII de Evolución y Comportamiento Humanos, Spain, the team of researchers examined the skull using modern forensic techniques, including stereoscopic light and digital microscopes, an industrial CT scanner, 3D imaging technology, and contour and trajectory analysis. The scientists focused on two peculiar penetrating lesions on the frontal bone above the left eye. They were unlike many of the bone fractures on the other bones recovered from the site, which by examination were shown to have been caused by geological process disturbances or as a result of having fallen down a vertical shaft into the cave, perhaps by accident. But the results of the study on Cranium 17 indicated that both fractures were likely produced by two separate impacts by the same object with slightly different trajectories, around the time of the individual’s death. According to the researchers, the injuries were unlikely the result of an accidental fall down the vertical shaft. Rather, the type of fracture, their location, and the appearance of having been produced by two blows with the same object, led the researchers to interpret them as the result of an act of lethal interpersonal aggression—or what may constitute the earliest case of murder in human history.

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This is a frontal view of Cranium 17 showing the position of the traumatic events T1 (inferior) and T2 (superior). Courtesy Javier Trueba / Madrid Scientific Films

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Shown above: The Cranium 17 bone traumatic fractures. (A) Frontal view of Cranium 17 showing the position of the traumatic events T1 (inferior) and T2 (superior); (B) Detailed ectocranial view of the traumatic fractures showing the two similar notches (black arrows) present along the superior border of the fracture outlines. Note that the orientation of the two traumatic events is different; (C) Detail of the notch in T1 under 2X magnification with a light microscope. (D) Endocranial view of T1 and T2 showing the large cortical delamination of the inner table (black arrows). From Sala N, Arsuaga JL, Pantoja-Pérez A, Pablos A, Martínez I, Quam RM, et al. (2015) Lethal Interpersonal Violence in the Middle Pleistocene. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0126589. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0126589

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“This represents the earliest clear case of deliberate, lethal interpersonal aggression in the hominin fossil record,” stated Sala, et al. in the study report, “demonstrating that this is an ancient human behavior.”*

Moreover, the study results indicated that the individual was already dead before arrival at the cave site, suggesting that the person was carried to the top of the vertical shaft of the cave and deposited by other humans. Given the nature, position, abundance and condition of human bones found within the cave, “the interpretation of the SH site as a place where hominins deposited deceased members of their social groups seems to be the most likely scenario to explain the presence of human bodies at the site,” wrote the study authors in the report. “This interpretation implies this was a social practice among this group of Middle Pleistocene hominins and may represent the earliest funerary behavior in the human fossil record.”*

The study report is published online in the May 27, 2015 issue of PLoS ONE.  http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0126589

*Sala N, Arsuaga JL, Pantoja-Pérez A, Pablos A, Martínez I, Quam RM, et al. (2015) Lethal Interpersonal Violence in the Middle Pleistocene. PLoS ONE 10(5): e0126589. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0126589

Some material for this article was adapted and edited from the subject PLoS ONE press release.

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

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The Syrian city of Palmyra, known internationally for its iconic archaeological site, is reported to have fallen into the control of the Islamic State, just days after their victory in Ramadi in Northern Iraq.

Soldiers, policemen and citizens were seen fleeing the town in the wake of the ISIS advance, as museum workers frantically packed up what they could save. A museum director, Khalil al-Hariri, told Reuters that many of the artifacts in the museum have been successfully moved to a safer position in anticipation of the city’s capture. But the human casualties have been high, including people who could not escape due to wounds sustained from the conflict.

Images and video clips of the destruction to cultural heritage in Syria and Iraq have been commonplace in the mainstream media in recent months, showing ancient cities, monuments and priceless antiquities destroyed by men with hammers, power tools, bombs and bulldozers. Now Palmyra, among the world’s greatest archaeological gems, faces a similar threat. Built two millennia ago, Palmyra not only represents financial gain for the Islamic State through profits from the illicit antiquities market, but it is also strategically located among a network of roads and gas fields. Looting the site and gaining control of the roads could provide an advantage to anyone strong enough to hold it.

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The ancient site of Palmyra in Syria. Bernard Gagnon, Wikimedia Commons

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At the recent Syrian Heritage Initiative Symposium in San Diego, Palmyra was a focal point of consideration. Discussed were the many ways in which the site had been degraded by small-scale looting and nearby conflict. The Syrian Heritage Initiative, an organization of archaeologists who have been funded by the U.S. State Department, has been hard at work attempting to save the heritage of the Syrian people.

Late last week, NPR reported that the U.N. had appealed to the warring groups of Syria to spare Palmyra, which recently became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Most alarming to the U.N. has been the encroachment of government forces and the self-proclaimed Islamic State in the area of the site, not only threatening the integrity of the site with collateral battle damage, but also elevating the prospect of losing even more heritage than has already been sustained by looting and combat. Last summer, photos surfaced of blackened stone halfway up one of its famous pillars from a mortar round.

Government troops and other groups within the opposition are considered to be trusted not to harm heritage sites, as some groups even refer to themselves as the “grandchildren of Zenobia”, an ancient queen of Palmyra. It illustrates how much the history and culture of Syria is valued and respected by the Syrian people.

The Islamic State, however, is another element entirely. 

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Mark Hallum is a staff writer for Popular Archaeology Magazine.

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

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Cell Press—Dogs’ special relationship to humans may go back 27,000 to 40,000 years, according to genomic analysis of an ancient Taimyr wolf bone reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on May 21. Earlier genome-based estimates have suggested that the ancestors of modern-day dogs diverged from wolves no more than 16,000 years ago, after the last Ice Age.

The genome from this ancient specimen, which has been radiocarbon dated to 35,000 years ago, reveals that the Taimyr wolf represents the most recent common ancestor of modern wolves and dogs.

“Dogs may have been domesticated much earlier than is generally believed,” says Love Dalén of the Swedish Museum of Natural History. “The only other explanation is that there was a major divergence between two wolf populations at that time, and one of these populations subsequently gave rise to all modern wolves.” Dalén considers this second explanation less likely, since it would require that the second wolf population subsequently became extinct in the wild.

“It is [still] possible that a population of wolves remained relatively untamed but tracked human groups to a large degree, for a long time,” adds first author of the study Pontus Skoglund of Harvard Medical School and the Broad Institute.

The researchers made these discoveries based on a small piece of bone picked up during an expedition to the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia. Initially, they didn’t realize the bone fragment came from a wolf at all; this was only determined using a genetic test back in the laboratory. But wolves are common on the Taimyr Peninsula, and the bone could have easily belonged to a modern-day wolf. On a hunch, the researchers decided to radiocarbon date the bone anyway. It was only then that they realized what they had: a 35,000-year-old bone from an ancient Taimyr wolf.

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 Above: Comparison of an ancient Taimyr wolf bone from the lower jaw to a modern pipette. Courtesy Love Dalén

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Above: Detailed view of an ancient Taimyr wolf bone from the lower jaw. The animal lived approximately 27,000 to 40,000 years ago. Courtesy Love Dalén

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Above: DNA from this small piece of a rib bone from an ancient Taimyr wolf suggests that dogs may have been domesticated at least 27,000 years ago. Courtesy Love Dalén

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The DNA evidence also shows that modern-day Siberian Huskies and Greenland sled dogs share an unusually large number of genes with the ancient Taimyr wolf.

“The power of DNA can provide direct evidence that a Siberian Husky you see walking down the street shares ancestry with a wolf that roamed Northern Siberia 35,000 years ago,” Skoglund says. To put that in perspective, “this wolf lived just a few thousand years after Neandertals disappeared from Europe and modern humans started populating Europe and Asia.”

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A Cell Press press release.

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You will not find the archaeological site of Trollesgave on the World Heritage Site list. In its own small way, however, its significance to understanding prehistoric life more than 12,000 years ago in what is today Denmark belies its outward appearance. Scientists who recently examined the site’s artifacts can tell you why. 

Located on a sandy plateau near a lake in Denmark, Trollesgave represents evidence of human occupation identified with the Bromme Culture, a Late Paleolithic hunter-gatherer culture that extended across present-day Denmark, southern Sweden, northern Germany, possibly parts of England and Poland, and likely in once-dry areas now covered by the Baltic and North Seas. The Bromme’s typical stone tool markers consist of flint flakes, blades, burins and scrapers that were used for cutting meat, working bones, and working hides, among other uses. They hunted reindeer, moose, wolverine and beaver.

And they lived as families.

That is what Randolph Donahue of the University of Bradford and Anders Fischer of the Danish Agency of Culture have reaffirmed through a re-examination of lithic artifacts previously recovered from Trollesgave in past excavations. They began with what they already knew about the site:

“Its inhabitants would have had easy access to fishing, hunting and provision of large flint nodules of good knapping quality,” state Donahue and Fischer in their report. “Through pollen analysis and radiocarbon dates a lake deposit with dump material from the activity area can be dated to a late part of the climatically mild Allerød biozone, c. 12,700 cal BP. As such, Trollesgave is the only well-dated site from the Bromme Culture—which is the northernmost extension of Late Glacial human habitation currently known in NW Europe. As a result of its preservation and the meticulous excavation, Trollesgave is one of the most informative sites of the Bromme Culture.”*

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From the study paper: The location of the Trollesgave site, relative to present-day geography and the extent of land, sea and ice cap during Middle to Late Allerød times. Drawn partly on the basis of the work of Houmark-Nielsen 2012. From R.E. Donahue, A. Fischer, A Late Glacial family at Trollesgave, Denmark, Journal of Archaeological Science (2015), 313 – 324.  

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Excavations revealed a single hearth, a possible dwelling, and several flint workshops at the site, all dated to the Late Paleolithic. But most recently Donahue and Fischer were able to tease some additional new information based on a combined analytical approach using updated methodologies and tools applied to microwear analysis, flint knapping and artifact spatial distribution. They microscopically examined a total of 307 stone tool artifacts, including end scrapers used for processing hides, burins used for working bone and antler, and tanged points, usually used as projectile points for hunting. From this, along with information previously accumulated about the site, they were able to clarify the functions performed at the site, and thus the nature of the site itself and the suggested makeup of the group that inhabited the site.

“The predominance of dry hide scraping over fresh hide working indicates that the assemblage was produced by a residential group, and not a task group,” concluded the researchers. Moreover, many of the worked lithics were clearly the product of at least one experienced, skilled knapper, others from that of an individual with intermediate knapping abilities, and yet others from an unskilled knapper.  “The results from microwear analysis and from refitting, indicating an inexperienced (young child) knapper on-site, indirectly support that there was at least one woman among the residents.”

“Based on the sum of observations and inferences, we conclude that this typical Bromme Culture settlement is a residential site of a single family hunting unit that engaged in various maintenance activities, hunting, and probably fishing.”*

Their study is published in detail as an open access paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science. 

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*R.E. Donahue, A. Fischer, A Late Glacial family at Trollesgave, Denmark, Journal of Archaeological Science (2015), 313 – 324.

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