Standing still and quiet behind panes of glass that separate her only inches from an onlooking group of curious visitors, Molly Gleeson focuses intensely on a small, irregular-shaped fragment of ancient wood. Donned in light-weight blue lab attire and blue nitrile gloves, she carefully and meticulously treats and prepares a small piece of wood from a fragmentary coffin excavated in 1901. The coffin remains were brought back from a site in Abydos, Egypt, where the University of Pennsylvania was supporting excavations under the directorship of John Garstang through the Egypt Exploration Fund. It is a site where the Penn Museum has continuously conducted excavations since the 1960s. This small fragment, or ‘board’, as it is called, along with six other boards, is special because it exhibits the remaining traces of painted images and hieroglyphs that once graced the coffin in its full splendor over 4,000 years ago. It was a funerary survivor of Middle Kingdom Egypt. But this piece shows clear signs of termite damage, a destruction that had actually already taken place before the coffin was discovered and excavated. Gleeson’s most immediate objective, after study and research, is to stabilize it from further deterioration, and then restore it as much as possible and apply protective elements for continuing study and future display. It requires cleaning the surface with tools like a kneaded rubber eraser, stabilizing edges where there is paint loss with a 2% solution of methyl cellulose in water, and restoring pieces that had become detached “using a mixture of 5% methyl cellulose and Jade 403, an ethylene vinyl acetate emulsion.”* Such are the tools and techniques of the modern conservationist.

Gleeson is the Rockwell Project Conservator in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology’s popular “mummy” lab, otherwise known simply as the Artifact Lab. Today, she and her colleagues are doing things that could be described as small miracles of ‘healing’—what is broken or faded or tainted with the ravages of time can be, in a very real sense, made whole again—at least as much as can be realistically expected. But a hundred years ago, when the coffin fragments were first excavated, the knowledge, skills and equipment required for such operations were not nearly as developed and sophisticated. Gleeson and her team would not be alone in saying that, today, restoration and conservation is an essential extension of the excavating and data collection done in the field, due in no small measure to the advances that have been made in our understanding of how and why ancient things can be preserved for both display and continuing analysis and study.  

“Our time in the field is limited by the length of the field season and the funds available to support conservation work on the excavation,” says Gleeson. Weather, political issues, and the nature of the discoveries are additional factors. But “in the lab we have access to microscopes, instruments and equipment (such as x-ray units) that we typically do not have in a field setting.” The tools of the trade include an expanding variety of materials and techniques for examination, treatment and research, including such things as optivisors (magnifying visors), solvents and adhesives, specially tested paper and fabrics, brushes, cotton swabs, scalpels, spatulas, and binocular microscopes.  “We also use a polarizing light microscope to examine tiny fragments of objects in order to identify what they’re made of and to identify corrosion and burial products,” Gleeson adds. 

These conservators are perhaps most popularly known for their work on the Penn Museum’s collection of Egyptian human and animal mummies, donated to the Museum in years past or acquired from excavations and field expeditions carried out or supported by the University of Pennsylvania prior to 1967. They have thus found themselves working on a range of mummies, from an unknown man mummified during the Third Intermediate Period (ca. 800 BCE) to a small Ibis mummy (a mummified long-legged wading bird), both from storage, just recently unwrapped and repaired. But projects often also include objects related to past expeditions in other parts of the world and associated with other civilizations, such as artifacts from the Penn Museum excavations at Lapithos (in present-day Cyprus) and the historic excavations at the Royal Cemetery of Ur (in present-day Iraq).  

In any case, even after the work in the field is finished, the project conservator’s job is an ongoing one, typically extending many years after the initial data collection and analysis has completed its cycle.

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A close-up of fragments from a painted wooden coffin, excavated in 1901 from North Abydos, dating to ancient Egypt’s Middle Kingdom. The wood in these fragments is severely insect-damaged by termites, and paint is actively flaking. Previous treatment on the fragments, using some kind of plaster, is also degrading and falling away—a piece of this plaster is visible at center. Photo: Penn Museum.

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Conservator Molly Gleeson applies an adhesive by brush to stabilize the flaking paint on a painted coffin board. After treatment, these boards will be exhibited at the Museum for the first time. Photo: Penn Museum.

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Conservators are able to use some simple tools to their advantage. This kneaded rubber eraser will be used to clean the surface of a painted wooden coffin. Photo: Penn Museum.

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Gleeson examines a painted coffin board under a microscope to better understand its manufacture and treatment history. The screen at left is mirrored outside of the lab to offer the public a close view of what she is seeing under the lens. Near the center of the screen, a tiny brush is seen applying small drops of adhesive to the edge of the painted decoration, which will help to stabilize the fragile paint. Photo: Penn Museum.

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Gleeson works on realigning sections of the roughly 2,500-year-old coffin of an individual named Tawahibre, who lived during the Late Period in ancient Egypt (558 — 332 BCE). Here, she uses a “Preservation Pencil,” which allows her to direct a stream of humidified air at specific areas of the coffin, relaxing the plaster and wood. After it has moved sufficiently, she will apply pressure to the area to hold everything in place. Photo: Penn Museum.

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Before and after: The coffin shown at left before conservation treatment, and again after treatment at right. Photos: Molly Gleeson.

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Advancing Knowledge

Conservation in the lab is not only about fixing and preserving things. For centuries, mummies and their associated objects and architectural context have helped to tell the story of ancient Egypt. So in the process of preserving and restoring them, the scientists of the Artifact Lab have discovered new things and raised new questions about ancient Egyptian life and culture.

Gleeson and her colleagues are currently working on an Egyptian Predynastic mummy. Determined to have been a man aged 60 at the time of his death about 6,000 years ago, he was originally donated to the Museum in 1898 by Ethelbert Watts, who was serving as an Assistant American Consul in Cairo at the time. The mummy has been in storage ever since—until 2011, when the mummy was ‘re-discovered’ and brought out of storage by Dr. Jane Hill of Rowan University and her colleague Dr. Maria Rosado.

Nicknamed “Bruce”, he is a curious brown bundle. Within the mass one can see a flexed, articulated skeleton, not unlike other Predynastic mummies.

But Bruce is different. 

“He was buried lying on his side, in a flexed position, wrapped in layers of linen, animal skin, and a woven reed mat, and included in the bundle are very finely woven baskets,” says Gleeson. “We are undertaking a technical study of the remains in collaboration with Dr. Hill  and plan to create a new storage mount to provide additional protection for the fragile bundle.”

The study could significantly change or add to what we know about ancient Egyptian burials before the pharaohs.

“Everything that we learn from this mummy,” Gleeson continues, “from the way in which his body was prepared, to the materials used in his bundle, will bring new information to light about early technologies and funerary practices in ancient Egypt.”

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Above and below: Gleeson examines the oldest mummy in the Penn Museum, a Predynastic mummy that dates to roughly 4000-3600 BCE. Molly is working to identify the type of animal hide in which the mummy is wrapped, as well as the animal hairs used to make the finely woven baskets that are embedded in the “burial bundle.” Photos: Penn Museum.

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It isn’t just conservation and research on the earlier mummies that is breaking new ground and raising new questions. “Bruce” is only one among a number of mummies within the Penn Museum’s collection, considered to be among the most important repositories of ancient Egyptian mummies and funerary materials undergoing active conservation in the U.S. The collection spans thousands of years of Egyptian history. It includes some of the earliest known mummies, which were preserved naturally in time through the effects of the hot desert sand, as well as those that were produced later during the pharaonic periods through artificial methods. “One of the most memorable experiences has been working on a mummy that we call PUM I (Philadelphia University Museum 1),” says Gleeson. PUM I is a man who lived during the Third Intermediate Period (about 850 BCE). Initially donated to the Museum in 1905, the body was autopsied in 1972 and has been in storage ever since. “Working on his remains has uncovered a lot of new information and has challenged previous assumptions,” she continues. “For instance, during the autopsy it was discovered that the body was probably never fully mummified. His internal organs were found during the procedure. As a result his remains are very badly deteriorated under the linen wrappings. Based on this finding, it was assumed that he was likely someone of lower status. But during the recent conservation work, we noted that his remains were wrapped in over 30 layers of linen, and we uncovered and documented traces of a once very elaborate beaded shroud. The fact that he was wrapped in many layers of linen and the presence of this shroud, which would have been expensive and not something that everyone could have afforded, conflicts with the previous assumption about his status. Such findings raise interesting questions about how and why people were making decisions about their burials.”

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Gleeson works with PUM 1, whose outer shroud is actively flaking. Here she is shown attempting to reattach a disassociated fragment to the shroud. Photo: Penn Museum.

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Above and below: The In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies exhibition has also served as a valuable educational setting for budding conservators. Here, Gleeson (right) works with Conservation Intern Anna O’Neill to sort through disassociated fragments of the outer shroud of a mummy before attempting to reattach them. Photos: Penn Museum.

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The Big Picture

The Penn Museum’s vast collections have much to do with the institution’s sustained standing at the cutting edge of the science. Since its founding in 1887, the Museum has collected nearly one million objects. Only a fraction of them are exhibited in the Museum’s public gallery spaces. There are hundreds of thousands more stored away, unseen by the public. Much of it awaits the magic of the conservator’s hand before they can be properly exhibited or effectively studied further. So the conservator’s job, in addition to applying an advancing science, is a never-ending one. But it involves much more than spending hours within the exclusive confines of the lab. For David Silverman, the Curator-in-Charge of the museum’s Egyptian collections, it has a lot to do with the lab’s role in presenting the bigger picture of the Egyptian civilization to the visiting public, and it all fits into the Penn Museum’s plans for change over the next few years. This will include conservation work and reinstallation of the museum’s prized throne room of Pharaoh Merenptah’s palace to its full height, something that had been unsuccessfully attempted in the 1930’s because of structural weakness in the floor carrying capacity of the intended gallery space. “Hopefully, the Artifact Lab will become an important part of this project,” he says.  

“The conservation of the western wall of the tomb chapel of the treasury official, Kaipure, is the next largest project,” he continues.  “Begun in the 1990s, the project was able to conserve the stone blocks and the beautifully carved and painted reliefs on their surfaces.  It was exhibited around the country at several museums in the late 1990s, and we await the opportunity of beginning the second half of the project to conserve the remaining walls and then reinstall the entire tomb chapel as it had originally appeared. Other projects include examination and conservation of mummies, papyri, and wooden artifacts.”

Ultimately, it is all about education and the public. After all, the Artifact Lab is part of a museum, and the museum is connected to a major university. “One of the motivations [for establishing the Lab],” says Silverman, “came from our desire to involve the public more in the activities of the museum, explaining the type of work that goes on behind the scenes and why and how we do it. Another was to have the opportunity to work on a greater number and variety of artifacts. As a curator, I welcomed the opportunity to work on material (sarcophagi, papyri, sculpture, mummies, etc.) that the facilities, lighting, climate, and space in storage would not allow. And the public can participate in the action as the events unfold and knowledge is revealed. They become part of the process and are less a passive observer after the fact than a participant who is part of the action.”

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Standing behind the glass in the In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies, Dr. David Silverman, Curator, Penn Museum Egyptian Section, and Lynn Grant, Penn Museum Head Conservator, examine object #E16218C—a coffin board from the Egyptian site of El-Bersheh. Photo by Steve Minicola, University Communications.

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Silverman in the Museum’s Egypt (Sphinx) Gallery. Behind him is a 15-ton red granite Sphinx of Ramesses II, 19th Dynasty, (ca. 1293–1185 BCE), found in Memphis, Egypt. Photo: Penn Museum.

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For the conservators, interaction with Museum visitors is a major part of the daily routine. Here, Haas Trust Conservator Nina Owczarek answers questions from a group of visitors about her current project during one of the lab’s twice-daily, half-hour “open window” sessions. Photo: Penn Museum.

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In the Artifact Lab: Conserving Egyptian Mummies can be seen by visitors in the Upper Baugh Pavilion on the 3rd floor of the Penn Museum in Philadelphia. Because it is a working lab, conservators are usually busy focusing on their ongoing projects, but visitors may ask questions weekdays, 11:15 – 11:45 am and 2:00 – 2:30 pm, and weekends, 12:30 – 1:00 pm and 3:30 – 4:00 pm. Readers can also keep up with the latest activities and developments in the Artifact Lab by going to the Artifact Lab Blog.

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* From Treating fragments of a Middle Kingdom painted wooden coffin, by Molly Gleeson, In the Artifact Lab Blog, July 6, 2014.

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Any visitor would find it difficult to miss the Penn Museum’s iconic red granite sphinx. Resting center stage in the museum’s Lower Egyptian Gallery space, one doesn’t need to know that its estimated 15 tons of stone make it massive—the eyes already have it. It is touted as the third largest known sphinx in the Western Hemisphere. Originally quarried at Aswan by the ancients over 3,000 years ago in Upper Egypt, it was then floated down the Nile river to grace the sacred enclosure of Ramesses II’s Temple to Ptah at ancient Memphis.

Despite its incredible workmanship, however, the face of this sphinx can no longer be seen. It has long been eroded away by windblown sand over centuries of exposure. But from the shoulders down, details remain in place, that portion having been buried by sand and time and protected. One can still see inscriptions carved on its chest and about its base, looking almost as if they had been carved yesterday. 

Surrounding the sphinx are the monumental reminders of another ancient pharaoh. Known as Merenptah, he was the 13th son of Ramesses II, having succeeded his father to the throne at a relatively advanced age and ruling for almost 10 years. Some of the monumental elements of his palace—massive partial columns, a gateway, doorframes, and lintels—which once stood pristine, complete, and fully painted near the Temple of Ptah and its sanctuary where the sphinx stood millennia before—are artfully represented. They constitute the most substantial assemblage of an ancient Egyptian palace in any single collection in the world.

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In the Penn Museum’s Egypt (Sphinx) Gallery, visitors can view the 15-ton Sphinx and its surrounding pillars and gateways, which date back to the 19th Dynasty (ca. 2393-2285 BCE) in Memphis, Egypt. The Sphinx of Ramesses II was excavated from the sacred enclosure of the temple of the god Ptah. The pillars and gateways were part of the palace of Merenptah. Photo image courtesy Penn Museum

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But there is more to this assembly than meets the visitor’s eye. Part of it remains in storage. And Penn Museum (short for University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) Director Julian Siggers has big plans for it, along with many other exhibition spaces at the museum.

“What we are to embark upon is the most ambitious renovation this museum has ever seen,” said Siggers, speaking of his vision to completely reinstall some of the museum’s signature galleries. “And in our basement we have a New Kingdom palace, the palace of Merenptah, and central to our plans is to install the throne room of the palace, complete with the full columns.” 

The plan harkens back to an earlier time, when, in the early 20th century Penn Museum archaeologist Clarence Fisher conducted excavations at a site in ancient Memphis that contained clues of a royal structure. By 1915, he and his work team had uncovered the major elements of what he identified as the Palace of Merenptah. More than 50 tons of excavated material, consisting of massive architectural elements such as columns, a monumental gateway, lintels, and doorframes, eventually made their way back to the Penn Museum in 1924 (see doorjamb example, above). Museum planners and curators were anxious to get these spectacular finds on display for the world to see, and thus a 3rd floor gallery space was prepared for the exhibition.

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Above, Merenptah’s palace being uncovered during the excavation in 1915. Below, the throne room of the palace emerges. Courtesy Penn Museum archives.

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Merenptah’s throne room emerges during excaations in 1915. Courtesy Penn Museum archives.

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But their initial vision could not be met. As it turned out, the gallery floor structure was not strong enough to sustain the weight of the massive objects. “The ceiling height was originally designed in the ’30’s to accommodate the full-length columns, but they miscalculated the floor carrying capacity,” said Siggers. The collection was moved to a first floor gallery, where they are seen today along with the sphinx—but only in part. The columns, for example, can only be seen as fragments or sections of their original form. Unseen elements still rest in storage, where today they await plans to restore the columns and gateway elements to their full height in a grand realization of the original scale in the 3rd floor gallery space as originally intended. “We just completed a feasibility study of how we can actually reinforce that floor very cheaply,” Siggers added. The project is expected to take at least several years to complete, in tandem with the many other renovation projects on the agenda.

The throne room reconstruction will be an apt tribute to a man who, like many of the pharaohs who came before and after him, made a clear imprint on Egyptian history. He is known to have carried out several military campaigns during his rule. In the 5th year of his reign he battled the Libyans, who, along with the help of the Sea Peoples, were challenging his kingdom from the West. He led a successful battle against the combined Libyan and Sea People forces at the city of Perire. Regarding another military theater, the ‘Merneptah Stele‘, also known as the ‘Israel Stele‘, documents his victorious campaign in Canaan, where he boasts to have laid waste to the inhabitants there, including the ‘people of the book’:  “Israel has been wiped out…its seed is no more.” He escaped death on the battlefield, having died an old man, suffering from arthritis and arteriosclerosis. His remains, which were found in 1898 with a mummy cache of eighteen other mummies in the tomb of Amenhotep II (KV35) by Victor Loret, were transferred to Cairo and unwrapped and examined by G. Elliott Smith in 1907. Smith wrote:

The body is that of an old man and is 1 meter 714 millimeters in height. Merenptah was almost completely bald, only a narrow fringe of white hair (now cut so close as to be seen only with difficulty) remaining on the temples and occiput. A few short (about 2 mill) black hairs were found on the upper lip and scattered, closely clipped hairs on the cheeks and chin. The general aspect of the face recalls that of Ramesses II, but the form of the cranium and the measurements of the face much more nearly agree with those of his [grand]father, Seti the Great.*

Adjacent to the current gallery holding the Merenptah palace objects is a space exhibiting a small-scale artist’s model reconstruction of the throne room as it would have appeared in Merenptah’s day. Unlike the real, full-scale remains displayed nearby, it is brightly illustrated with the colors and symbols that would have adorned walls, columns and other architectural elements of the time. But it can’t compare in originality, feel and grandeur to the actual monuments  nearby. In this sense, actually ‘seeing is believing’—and putting it all together, at last, will be a perfect closure to a resurrection that began almost 100 years ago. 

Merenptah would be proud.

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An original watercolor reconstruction of the Throne Room of the Palace of Merenptah, painted by Mary Louise Baker, 1920. Image courtesy Penn Museum Archives.

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An interior view of a model depicting a modern reconstruction of the Throne Room of the Palace of Merenptah, created in the 1930s by Mary Louise Baker. Photo image courtesy PennMuseum.

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Image third from top, right: Limestone door jamb from Palace of Merenptah, depicting the pharaoh in smiting pose defeating Asiatic enemies. Courtesy Penn Museum.

* Grafton Elliot Smith, The Royal Mummies, Cairo (1912), pp. 65-70 

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A R T I C L E   S U P P L E M E N T 

THE PENN MUSEUM’S BIG PLANS

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Julian Siggers is a man with a vision. Since assuming his responsibilities as the Williams Director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in July of 2012, he has begun to reshape, in both institutional mission and physical layout, the museum’s face to the world. 

“I knew about this museum when I was an undergraduate in London,” says Siggers. “But even earlier, as a teenager my parents gave me a copy of Gods, Graves and Scholars, and one of the key stories it relates is the story of Ur, which of course is the account of the Penn Museum’s excavations there. So when I came here it was this incredible opportunity, because the focus of this museum, as a University museum, is of course research.”

It is thus Siggers’ dream to share this excitement of discovery through research with the public, launched from the foundation of it’s new mission statement, The Penn Museum transforms understanding of the human experience.

“What I have been able to do is work on a new strategic plan, and central to that is the reinstallation of some of our signature galleries, which includes our Egyptian galleries, our Asian *galleries, and our Near Eastern galleries,” Siggers continues. “These are some of the areas where our greatest excavations have been conducted. We’re going to bring the excitement of discovery into the galleries by redesigning everything and rethinking it from the ground up.”

It will mean presenting the objects in a chronological historical context so that visitors can understand the material culture as it developed in the timeline of human history. But what is more, it will be about telling the story of how and where they were discovered and who discovered them.

“Often when one goes to museums, the galleries are actually developed by departments, and they don’t reflect how one should properly tell the story of the past,” he explains. “I’m hoping to have more of a continuous story. But the thing I most want to see in the new galleries is to show how dynamic the process of discovery is. Right now we have all of these field projects, with people in Kurdistan, Egypt, Turkey, France, and Mesoamerica, and they’re coming back with these wonderful discoveries, and so we need to find a way to get these discoveries in the gallery.”

But Siggers’ new strategic plan goes beyond the gallery renovations. Two other initiatives will emphasize the museum’s prime traditions as a research and educational institution. The first will capitalize on the museum’s strength as a teaching and research institution—establishment of the Center for the Analysis of Archaeological Materials. In collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Arts and Sciences, it is hoped that it will become a premier center for the teaching of archaeological science. The second, reaching out to potential future generations of archaeologists and history enthusiasts, involves a new partnership with the School District of Philadelphia. Bringing the fascination of archaeology and ancient history to the youth will be a major focus of the museum’s ongoing mission for public outreach and local engagement. It “will serve every 7th grade public school student in the city,” state museum officials.*  

In the end, Siggers feels that the science and contribution of archaeology is not only about discovery—it’s about translating it from the exclusive halls of academia and the specially equiped labs to those who ultimately matter the most in terms of understanding the human past—the inquisitive, appreciative public and future generations.

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* Building Transformation: A Strategic Plan for the Penn Museum 2013 – 2020, Expedition Magazine, Spring 2014, Volume 56, No. 1, p. 59

Photo image of Julian Siggers courtesy Penn Museum.

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Source: Republished from the free special feature article entitled Merenptah Rising, in the Fall issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine.

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Some scientists have suggested that the Iberian Peninsula might have been one of the last refuge zones of the Neanderthals before their extinction. This is because certain sites in this region of Europe have, according to the researchers, revealed evidence of continued Neanderthal habitation less than 40,000 years ago. 

Recent findings of a team of scientists at a cave in Spain, however, have shed some additional light on the long-debated topic. Cristo M. Hernández of Universidad de La Laguna and colleagues performed thermoluminescence (TL) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating tests on material recovered from El Salt, a Middle Palaeolithic site in Alicante, Spain, and came up with an archaeological sequence that shows a transition from recurrent to sporadic human occupation ending ultimately in the abandonment of the site, during the period between ca. 60 and 45 ka. 

“An abrupt sedimentary change towards the top of the sequence suggests a strong aridification episode coinciding with the last Neanderthal occupation of the site,” report Hernández and colleagues. “These results are in agreement with current chronometric data from other sites in the Iberian Peninsula and point towards possible breakdown and disappearance of the Neanderthal local population around the time of the Heinrich 5 event [aridification due to a climate fluctuation around 45,000 years ago].

Hernández suggests that Iberian sites with recent dates of less than 40,000 years ago and attributed to the Middle Palaeolithic should therefore be revised in the light of the data.*

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*From the published abstract: Bertila Galván, Cristo M. Hernández, Carolina Mallol, Norbert Mercier, Ainara Sistiaga, Vicente Soler, New evidence of early Neanderthal disappearance in the Iberian Peninsula, to be published in the Journal of Human Evolution.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Hairymuseummatt, Wikimedia Commons

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Popular Archaeology Magazine is proud to release its new Fall issue on September 1, 2014. This issue will feature developments and discoveries that are changing the way we look at our past. Our main feature story, “Rewriting Human Evolution”, relates how scientists are uncovering evidence that is overturning or reshaping our understanding of how humans evolved; “The Girl in the Cave” relates the story of one major discovery in Mexico’s Yucatan that is shedding new light on the origins of the first Americans; “The Mummy Doctors” highlights the amazing work of conserving and exploring priceless artifacts and mummies of ancient Egypt at the Penn Museum and what we are learning about ancient life-ways (article available to the public); “Merenptah Rising” reveals the Penn Museum’s plans to restore and reinstall the massive throne room of an ancient Egyptian pharaoh (article available to the public); Prof. Christofillis Maggidis writes about new discoveries at the largest Mycenaean citadel in the world (available under a regular free subscription); free-lance writer and archaeologist Rebecca Bradshaw tells us about the emerging new discoveries in Iraqi Kurdistan that are revealing how much we still don’t know about ancient Mesopotamia; and free-lance writer Julie Masis relates the story of wall paintings at the iconic temple of Angkor Wat that went unnoticed by the world…….until now. 

Other stories include book reviews and a video featuring a joint discussion about human evolution by Richard Leakey and Donald Johanson, the most renowned scientists of the field.

The online publication of this issue will be followed later by the ebook version which can be purchased at Amazon.com and a first-time print edition of the magazine for those who wish to subscribe to the print edition.

See the new Fall online issue here.

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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.

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

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

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

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The toilet seat still in situ. Courtesy Vindolanda Trust

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On the go?  Get the smartphone version of Popular Archaeology as an app or as an ebook.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The hosts of TIME TEAM AMERICA are:

•  Justine Shapiro, documentary filmmaker and television host;

•  Dr. Joe Watkins, lead archaeologist;

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

•  Dr. Allan Maca, archaeologist;

•  Chelsea Rose, archaeologist; and

•  Jeff Brown, excavator.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For Public View: The Oldest Surviving American Fighting Vessel

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

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

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

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

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

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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.

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

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

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

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

A Mystery Solved


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

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

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

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

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

The Skeleton’s History


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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The LB1 skull specimen. Ryan Somma, Wikimedia Commons

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

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

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

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