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Archaeologists Return to Excavate Ancient Jaffa

Posted on June 16, 2014 by No Author -

Teams of archaeologists, students and volunteers will return this month to the site of ancient Jaffa on the central coast of Israel to pick up where they left off in 2013, when they uncovered more of the sensational evidence of a fiery destruction at the site’s ancient Amarna period New Kingdom Egyptian fortress gate. The continuing investigations will also include new elements — the search for the ancient harbor complex, and excavation of evidence of a 14th century B.C. destruction layer at the remains of the site’s Lion Temple.

Under the direction of project co-directors Aaron Burke, Associate Professor of the Archaeology of Ancient Israel at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Martin Peilstöcker of the Isral Antiquities Authority, one team will continue the excavations at the famous fourteenth century B.C. Egyptian fortress gate complex, where in 2013 they uncovered the stark remains of an extensive violent destruction.

Excavations in 2012 first revealed the evidence, with clues to its extent indicated when excavators discovered a commemorative scarab of Amenhotep III dated to the mid-fourteenth century B.C., found within the upper destruction layers and apparently fallen from what the archaeologists interpreted as a second story administrative office floor. A year later, in 2013, they exposed the city gate’s passageway below more than 1.5 meters of destruction debris. The finds included arrowheads, a spearhead and lead weight, decorative ivory inlays, numerous charred seeds, a number of ceramic vessels, antlers from deer, and nearly two dozen cedar timbers thought to have once made up the gate’s roof and upper story. The seeds, identified as those of barley, olive pits, grape pips, and chick peas were a welcome find, as they provide an insight to the foods consumed at the site.

The assortment of artifacts paint a picture of a city gate that functioned as something more than purely a defensive structure — a complex that housed administrators, storerooms, and other support facilities. Speaking of the antlers, for example, Burke and Peilstöcker noted that they “suggest that the gate was not a stark and utilitarian space as many reconstructions of Egyptian gates suggest. Instead, it would seem that Egyptian soldiers hung these items within the passageway as trophies of their hunting around Jaffa.”**

The timbers, the earliest and largest such ancient timbers from that time period found in Israel to date, are thought to have been used in the construction of the gate’s second story and roof. Reported Burke and Peilstöcker in a press release: “They will provide not only important chronological data such as evidence for the date of the construction of the gate complex but also will contribute to refining our understanding of the evolution of Egyptian rule in Canaan since the gate is one in a sequence of gates providing evidence for the earliest Egyptian fortress in Canaan. As important proxies for climate change, the timbers also offer a unique opportunity for an improved study of the Late Bronze Age environment.”**

Burke and Peilstöcker hope to shed light on the nature of coexistence between the Egyptian occupiers and the native Canaanite inhabitants of the area. “New archaeological data combined with well-known historical texts of the Late Bronze Age are now shedding light on the nature of interactions between the Canaanite inhabitants of Jaffa and its environs and the Egyptian inhabitants of the New Kingdom fortress built atop the city’s earlier remains,” reports Burke and Peilstöcker. “The resulting picture is one colored by episodes of violence and peaceful social interactions in Jaffa over a period of more than 300 years, from ca. 1460 to 1130 BC.”*

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Above: The Gate passageway and south tower following excavations in July 2013. Photo 2013-P0408, courtesy Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project.
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The charred remains of cedar timber/beams were encountered during the 2013 excavation. Courtesy Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project

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The city of Jaffa has been an important port city for over 4,000 years. By the Late Bronze Age, Jaffa had become a principal port and garrison for the New Kingdom Egyptian empire. Mentioned four times in the Hebrew Bible, it was named as one of the cities given to the Hebrew Tribe of Dan (Book of Joshua 19:46), as a port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon for Solomon’s Temple (2 Chronicles 2:16), as the place from which the prophet Jonah embarked for Tarshish (Book of Jonah 1:3) and as the port-of-entry for the cedars of Lebanon that were used in the construction of the Second Temple of Jerusalem (Book of Ezra 3:7). The city is also mentioned in the ancient Egyptian Amarna letters.

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The view of Jaffa from the sea (as seen in 1895). From the Detroit Publishing Company Collection, Trialsanderrors, Wikimedia Commons

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Additional investigation at the site will entail excavation in the area of the “Lion Temple”, a structure thought to exhibit characteristics of a sacred or religious nature. The structure acquired its name from the discovery of a lion skull in its southeastern corner by Jacob Kaplan during his excavations there in the early 1970’s. It is thought to be a Caananite building.

The 2014 season will also see exploratory efforts under Shelley Wachsmann of Texas A&M University, whose team will be investigating the area thought to contain the remains of the ancient harbor of Jaffa. The team will use remote-sensing in a deep-water survey for ancient shipwrecks, testing the application of archaeogeophysical and geoarchaeological techniques to identify the ancient harbor. The investigation will also employ a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) to verify anomalies at the 50 to 300 meter depth range that were previously detected.

More information about the Jaffa project can be obtained at the Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project website, and a detailed article about the Jaffa excavations was published in the March 2013 issue of Popular Archaeology.

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** http://www.nelc.ucla.edu/jaffa/assets/2013_JCHP_Press_Release.pdf (2013 excavation summary)

Cover Photo, Top Left: Excavations of the 14th century BC destruction debris in the Egyptian gateway in Jaffa during fourth week. — with Kandis Gordon, Kris Kowa, Molly Stevens, Kayla Allen, Amy Karoll, Nadia Ben-Marzouk, Jon Schadeberg, Tania Fenwick, Heidi Dodgen and Dani Zwang in Jaffa, Israel. Caption text and photo courtesy Jaffa Cultural Heritage Project

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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.

Archaeologists Excavate Roman Temple Area at Maryport

Posted on June 12, 2014 by No Author -

Beginning the fourth year of a five-year program of investigation, a team of archaeologists, students and volunteers commissioned by the Senhouse Museum Trust have returned to a site near the Maryport Roman fort in the U.K. to continue excavation of the remains of a Roman temple and associated structures and features.

Led by Newcastle University’s Professor Ian Haynes and site director Tony Wilmott, they hope to recover more of the structural remains and artifacts at a site that had undergone investigation in previous years, yielding some intriguing results.

“This year we will be looking at the eastern edge of the [Maryport] settlement, to the north east of the fort, where at least one temple stood,” said Haynes. “This structure was originally excavated in the 1880s, and we re-examined it last year.

“Immediately under this building we found the remains of a burnt lamb and bird bones. At other sites across Britain and in other countries these have signified a ritual dedication or offering for the building.

“We also found evidence of a mysterious circular structure next to the rectangular temple and we’re going to be investigating this area to find out what this might have been built for – maybe it was another temple, or a mausoleum.”

Haynes hopes that investigation of this site will help shed additional light on the meaning and importance of stone military altars from the Roman fort of Alauna Carvetiorum and its associated civilian settlement located at what is now Maryport.

“The Temples project is designed to learn more about the internationally famous altars which form the core of the Senhouse Roman Museum display and to understand better the complex religious landscape of Roman Maryport,” said Haynes.

“The collection of altars in the museum is really remarkable. The inscriptions provide information on the lives of the commanders of the fort and their postings across the Roman Empire.

“We want to find out more about exactly where and how they were originally displayed here in Roman times, and how people living in the fort and settlement used rituals such as dedications and offerings.”

Nigel Mills, heritage advisor to the Hadrian’s Wall Trust, said: “The Roman fort and nearby civilian settlement at Maryport were a significant element of the coastal defenses lining the north western boundary of the Roman Empire for more than 300 years.

“Both the Temples project and the Settlement project show there is huge potential to attract more visitors to the Roman Cumbrian coastal defenses which, along with Hadrian’s Wall, are part of the transnational Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site.”

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Team at work on the Maryport Roman Temples site. Courtesy Senhouse Museum/ Hadrians Wall Trust

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Artist’s impression of Maryport Roman Temple. Courtesy Oxford Archaeology Ltd, commissioned by Hadrian’s Wall Trust

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The fort built at Maryport was ordered by Hadrian for construction in the second century AD. It served as the command headquarters and supply base for a series of small forts and towers that extended southward along the west coast from Hadrian’s Wall. The Roman fort and civilian settlement at Maryport are part of the Frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heritage Site, which includes Hadrian’s Wall and its attendant forts. The FRE WHS represents the borderline of the Roman Empire at its furthest extent in the 2nd century AD. It stretched from the west coast of northern Britain, through Europe to the Black Sea, and from there to the Red Sea and across North Africa to the Atlantic coast.

More information about the project, how to participate, and the Senhouse Museum generally can be obtained at their website.

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Additional Information

Tours of the Temples excavation site led by the museum’s volunteer guides start from the museum on weekday afternoons at 2pm and 3.30pm until 18 July. They include entry to the museum and costs are adult £3, child £1, family £8.

Lectures, open days and workshops have also been arranged.

Lectures

· Thursday 12 June, 7.30pm: The archaeology of drains and cesspits – Don O’Meara. £3
· Tuesday 1 July, 7.30pm: Interim lecture about the Temples Excavation – Professor Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott. £3
· Thursday 17 July, 7.30pm: Final lecture about the Temples Excavation – Professor Ian Haynes and Tony Wilmott. £3

Open days

· Saturday 21 June, 11am – 5pm: Temples excavation open day. Museum admission applies – adult £3, child £1, family £8
· Saturday 19 July, 11am – 5pm: Temples excavation open day. Museum admission applies – adult £3, child £1, family £8

Workshops

· Monday 30 June, 7.30pm: Soils, sediments and landscape – with Don O’Meara. £3 (prebooking essential, limited places)
· Friday 18 July, 7.30pm: Inorganic material from samples – with Don O’Meara. £3 (prebooking essential, limited places)

The Senhouse Roman Museum is open every day from 10am to 5pm. More information is at www.senhousemuseum.co.uk.

For more information on becoming a volunteer contact Jane Laskey, museum manager.

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Archaeologists Campaign to Save Ancient Maya Sites

Posted on June 11, 2014 by No Author -

As you read this article, a team of archaeologists, students and volunteers are busy methodically digging up ancient structures and artifacts at archaeological sites in Belize with names like Xnoha, Nojol Nah, and Tulix Mul. These sites contain the remains of ancient Maya settlements. The work is carefully planned, slow, and meticulously executed; and like any physical labor in a subtropical environment during the summer months, it can be sweaty, dirty, and tiring. For these students and volunteers, there is no monetary reward for this. They do it because of the excitement of discovery and the new knowledge it will generate about the life-ways of people who are long gone.

But this team is working against time. These sites, especially Nojol Nah, face the real possibility of destruction before the investigators can glean all of the information they need, and conserve what they can find. In the interest of local farming, ranching and economic progress, these cultural treasures may have to take a back seat. It is a story much like many others across Central America, not to mention the rest of the world.

There is a solution. It has already been realized for a site called Grey Fox, also in Belize and not far from where the archaeological team is now excavating. Under the leadership of Dr. Thomas Guderjan of the Maya Research Program (MRP), a U.S.-based non-profit corporation, archaeologists, preservationists and donors successfully purchased the Grey Fox site and now hope to protect it for future conservation and research. It is also under the MRP that teams are now excavating at Xnoha, Nojol Nah, and Tulix Mul. The MRP, affiliated with the University of Texas at Tyler, has been conducting field operations in northwestern Belize for more than two decades.

“We found the site [Grey Fox] about 14 years ago and mapped it in 2010,” said Dr. Thomas Guderjan, current President of MRP. “It is significant in that it is one of several unlooted sites remaining in northwestern Belize. If we had not purchased it, Grey Fox would surely have been bulldozed within the next 5 years. The land was owned by a group of farmers who were preparing to remove the forest and bulldoze the site.”

Guderjan and colleagues now hope to do the same for the other sites; particularly Nojol Nah, which faces the most acute danger. In partnership with Popular Archaeology Magazine’s Adopt-a Site program, the MRP is getting the word out to potential donors who may be interested in becoming a part of saving this Maya heritage for continuing research, conservation, public education, and tourism. The goal is to purchase approximately 100 acres at a cost of $40,000, an acreage and sum that site investigators believe will secure it for posterity.

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Pieta Greaves, busy at work on the newly discovered mural at Tulix Mul. Pieta is the Staffordshire Hoard Conservation Project Manager at the Birmingham Museums Trust in the U.K. This mural, now being uncovered, examined and preserved, is one among only a few other known Maya murals found in Central America. Courtesy Maya Research Program

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Close-up view of the partially uncovered Tulix Mul mural. Courtesy Maya Research Program

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Overview of the excavated remains of an elite residential structure at Nojol Nah. Courtesy Maya Research Program

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“Now that it is possible to purchase more land,” said Guderjan, “I hope to purchase more properties and open an archaeological reserve.”

For more information about the endangered sites and how to donate, anyone can go to the Adopt-a-Site website and help make a difference.

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Neolithic Peoples Entered Europe Through Maritime Routes, Says Study

Posted on June 9, 2014 by No Author -

A DNA study suggests that early Neolithic people may have migrated into Europe about 9,000 years ago by island-hopping from Anatolia across the Mediterranean through the Dodecanese islands and Crete and across southern coastal routes.

Preistera Paschou and colleagues came to this conclusion after analyzing single nucleotide polymorphisms from a sample dataset of 32 populations, taken from the islands of Crete and the Dodecanese, Central Anatolia, Greece, Southern and Northern Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. They used a population genetics network approach that thye say determines the pathway of gene flow between populations.

Anthropologists and other scientists studying early Neolithic population migration have proposed three general routes that these early peoples may have taken to enter Europe. One was land-based to North-Eastern Anatolia and then through Bosporus and the Dardanelles and Thrace and into the Balkans; the second was maritime, from the Aegean Anatolian coast and across northern Mediterranean islands and along the coast of Southern Europe; and the third from the Levantine coastline across to the Aegean islands and into Greece. It is the second model that the recent genetic study most supports.

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Map of some earlier proposed theories related to Neolithic entry and expansion into Europe.

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“Our data support the Anatolian rather than the Levantine route because they consistently show the Aegean islands to be connected to the Near East through Anatolia,” write Paschou and colleagues in the research report*.

Genetics is not the only evidencial support cited for a maritime model. Archaeology has played its role. “Navigation across the Mediterranean was active during the Early Neolithic and Upper Paleolithic, as illustrated by the finding of obsidian from the island of Milos in Paleolithic sites of the Greek mainland and the early colonization of Sardinia, Corsica, and Cyprus,” add the authors………….”Archaeological evidence from Greek and Near Eastern and Anatolian Neolithic sites suggests that multiple waves of Neolithic migrants reached Greece and Southern Europe. Most likely multiple routes were used in these migrations but, as our data show, the maritime route and island hopping was prominent.”*

The detailed report is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

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*PNAS Article #13-20811: “Maritime route of colonization of Europe,” by Peristera Paschou et al. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1320811111

Cover Photo, Top Left: Coast of Greece with sunset. Hedwig Storch, Wikimedia Commons

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The Human Face Evolved from a Violent Past, Say Researchers

Posted on June 9, 2014 by No Author -

scientists have reported a study that suggests that all human males can trace their roots to an ancestor with violent tendencies — a hominin who was not a gentle, ‘noble savage’ whose descendents were later corrupted or changed by the onset of society, as depicted or suggested by many theorists.

University of Utah biologist David Carrier and Michael H. Morgan, a University of Utah physician, have been conducting a comprehensive study of the human fossil record, including that of Australopithecus, an extinct hominin species that is thought to be ancestral to Homo (the human genus of which Homo sapiens, or the modern human, is the soul surviving species). What they have consistently found, among other things, is that certain bones of the face of the male skull have become increasingly more robust over several million years of evolution, and that these bones were critical for protection against impact from objects — like a human fist, which, they maintain, has also evolved over time to form a more effective fist for striking.

“The australopiths were characterized by a suite of traits that may have improved fighting ability, including hand proportions that allow formation of a fist; effectively turning the delicate musculoskeletal system of the hand into a club effective for striking,” said Carrier. “If indeed the evolution of our hand proportions were associated with selection for fighting behavior you might expect the primary target, the face, to have undergone evolution to better protect it from injury when punched.”

Their study of the bones of the face and cranium supported that hunch.

“When modern humans fight hand-to-hand the face is usually the primary target,” said Carrier. “What we found was that the bones that suffer the highest rates of fracture in fights are the same parts of the skull that exhibited the greatest increase in robusticity during the evolution of basal hominins. These bones are also the parts of the skull that show the greatest difference between males and females in both australopiths and humans. In other words, male and female faces are different because the parts of the skull that break in fights are bigger in males. Importantly, these facial features appear in the fossil record at approximately the same time that our ancestors evolved hand proportions that allow the formation of a fist. Together these observations suggest that many of the facial features that characterize early hominins may have evolved to protect the face from injury during fighting with fists.”

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University of Utah biologist David Carrier and Michael H. Morgan, a University of Utah physician, contend that human faces — especially those of our australopith ancestors — evolved to minimize injury from punches to the face during fights between males. Their research is published in the June 9 issue of Biological Reviews. Image courtesy University of Utah

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The findings may have important implications for understanding human nature, and will no doubt become part of the general debate about human evolution.

“The debate over whether or not there is a dark side to human nature goes back to the French philosopher Rousseau who argued that before civilization humans were noble savages; that civilization actually corrupted humans and made us more violent,” said Carrier. “This idea remains strong in the social sciences and in recent decades has been supported by a handful of outspoken evolutionary biologists and anthropologists. Many other evolutionary biologists, however, find evidence that our distant past was not peaceful.”

“The hypothesis that our early ancestors were aggressive could be falsified if we found that the anatomical characters that distinguish us from other primates did not improve fighting ability. What our research has been showing is that many of the anatomical characters of great apes and our ancestors, the early hominins (such as bipedal posture, the proportions of our hands and the shape of our faces) do, in fact, improve fighting performance.”

The theory that humans evolved from a violent ancestor is actually a long-standing and contentious one. It was Raymond Dart, South African anatomist and discoverer of the famous fossilized ‘Taung child’ Australopithecus skull in 1924, who advanced the theory that humans evolved from a “killer ape”, supporting the hypothesis that war and interpersonal aggression was the driving force behind human evolution. The writer Robert Ardrey, author of African Genesis and The Territorial Imperative, further popularized the theory through his books during the 1960’s. But the notion has encountered stiff resistance or dispute among other scholars and anthropologists over the years, whose research has indicated that this is not necessarily the case.

Carrier and Morgan make it clear, however, that their study results are not about casting humans as a hopelessly violent and destructive species.

“Our research is about peace,” said Morgan. “We seek to explore, understand, and confront humankind’s violent and aggressive tendencies. Peace begins with ourselves and is ultimately achieved through disciplined self-analysis and an understanding of where we’ve come from as a species. Through our research we hope to look [at] ourselves in the mirror and begin the difficult work of changing ourselves for the better.”

Their paper, titled “Protective buttressing of the hominin face,” is published in the journal Biological Reviews.

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Source: Statements by David Carrier and Michael Morgan re-published from a University of Utah press release.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Courtesy University of Utah

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Archaeologists of Historic Jamestown Release Native American Artifacts for Public View

Posted on June 6, 2014 by No Author -

Archaeologists with the Jamestown Rediscovery Project are now exhibiting a representative sampling of the thousands of Native American artifacts they have uncovered over the past 20 years in or near the site of the 1607 James Fort remains on Jamestown Island, the site of the first successful English colony in North America.

Under the rubric, “The World of Pocahontas Unearthed”, the artifacts can now be seen artfully displayed in their own section within the relatively new Voorhees Archaearium, a large one-story copper-sheathed building that rests on pilings designed to protect the seventeenth century-archaeological features and artifacts that lie beneath.

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View of the Archaearium on Jamestown Island. Ser Amantio di Nicolao, Wikimedia Commons

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“Over the past 20 years we have found thousands and thousands of Virginia Indian artifacts in the excavations………many of them date to the contact period which is, for us, about 1607 to about 1610. So for years, we have had a very elegant museum talking about the English equation or the English side of the story, and clearly there is another half — and that’s the indigenous, the Virginia Indian folks who were here,” says David Givens, a senior staff archaeologist with the Jamestown Rediscovery Project.

Artifacts exhibited include flaked stone projectile points, some of which were made of non-local materials and likely used for cultural exchange, as opposed to hunting and fighting purposes; Indian beads; examples of the 48,000 Indian pottery sherds thus far excavated; clay tobacco pipes that served as models for the English equivalent tobacco pipes; and even one clay pot that features an imprinted pattern of fiber from an Indian basket.

“So when you come to see the exhibit, you can actually ‘see’ a Virginia Indian basket for the first time in over 400 years,” said Givens.

The James Fort site is unique in that it is considered to contain the richest recovered trove of Virginia Native American artifacts in the Chesapeake region, despite the fact that it is primarily an early English colonial site. This is because centuries of mechanized agriculture have disturbed or destroyed most of the Native American village footprints in the ground, while later colonial structures survived as they were set deeper into the soil than those, for example, of the Powhatan villages in the vicinity of the Jamestown settlement.

The Powhatan was a powerful Native American confederation of tribes in present-day Virginia when the Jamestown settlers first arrived. The confederation was led by Chief Powhatan, who was also referred to as “Emperor”. It is thought that there were possibly about 14,000–21,000 Powhatan people in the eastern part of Virginia in 1607 when the English first established James Fort. It was Chief Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas, who saved Captain John Smith’s life and later married colonist John Rolf. She bacame a symbol of the relationship that developed between the English Crown and the Native American people of southeastern Virginia.

“The World of Pocahontas Unearthed” can be seen at the Voorhees Archaearium on the grounds of Jamestown Island, not far from the restored colonial town of Williamsburg, Virginia, another major historical site. See the Jamestown Rediscovery website for more information about this and the ongoing excavations and programs related to James Fort and Jamestown.

Cover Image, Top Left: “The Coronation of Powhatan”, by John Cadsby Chapman, courtesy of the Greenville Museum of Art, Greenville, South Carolina

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Scientists Develop a Key to Preserving Ancient Paper Documents

Posted on June 3, 2014 by No Author -

WASHINGTON D.C. June 3, 2014 — One of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpieces, drawn in red chalk on paper during the early 1500s and widely believed to be a self-portrait, is in extremely poor condition. Centuries of exposure to humid storage conditions or a closed environment has led to widespread and localized yellowing and browning of the paper, which is reducing the contrast between the colors of chalk and paper and substantially diminishing the visibility of the drawing.

A group of researchers from Italy and Poland with expertise in paper degradation mechanisms was tasked with determining whether the degradation process has now slowed with appropriate conservation conditions — or if the aging process is continuing at an unacceptable rate.

To do this, as they describe in Applied Physics Letters, from AIP Publishing, the team developed an approach to nondestructively identify and quantify the concentration of light-absorbing molecules known as chromophores in ancient paper, the culprit behind the “yellowing” of the cellulose within ancient documents and works of art.

“During the centuries, the combined actions of light, heat, moisture, metallic and acidic impurities, and pollutant gases modify the white color of ancient paper’s main component: cellulose,” explained Joanna Łojewska, a professor in the Department of Chemistry at Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. “This phenomenon is known as ‘yellowing,’ which causes severe damage and negatively affects the aesthetic enjoyment of ancient art works on paper.”

Chromophores are the key to understanding the visual degradation process because they are among the chemical products developed by oxidation during aging and are, ultimately, behind the “yellowing” within cellulose. Yellowing occurs when “chromophores within cellulose absorb the violet and blue range of visible light and largely scatter the yellow and red portions — resulting in the characteristic yellow-brown hue,” said Olivia Pulci, a professor in the Physics Department at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.

To determine the degradation rate of Leonardo’s self-portrait, the team created a nondestructive approach that centers on identifying and quantifying the concentration of chromophores within paper. It involves using a reflectance spectroscopy setup to obtain optical reflectance spectra of paper samples in the near-infrared, visible, and near-ultraviolet wavelength ranges.

Once reflectance data is gathered, the optical absorption spectrum of cellulose fibers that form the sheet of paper can be calculated using special spectroscopic data analysis.

Then, computational simulations based on quantum mechanics — in particular, Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory, which plays a key role in studying optical properties in theoretical condensed matter physics — are tapped to calculate the optical absorption spectrum of chromophores in cellulose.

“Using our approach, we were able to evaluate the state of degradation of Leonardo da Vinci’s self-portrait and other paper specimens from ancient books dating from the 15th century,” said Adriano Mosca Conte, a researcher at the University of Rome Tor Vergata. “By comparing the results of ancient papers with those of artificially aged samples, we gained significant insights into the environmental conditions in which Leonardo da Vinci’s self-portrait was stored during its lifetime.”

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This is Leonardo da Vinci’s self-portrait as acquired during diagnostic studies carried out at the Central Institute for the Restoration of Archival and Library Heritage in Rome, Italy. Credit: M. C. Misiti/Central Institute for the Restoration of Archival and Library Heritage, Rome

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Their work revealed that the type of chromophores present in Leonardo’s self portrait are “similar to those found in ancient and modern paper samples aged in extremely humid conditions or within a closed environment, which agrees with its documented history,” said Mauro Missori, a researcher at the Institute for Complex Systems, CNR, in Rome, Italy.

One of the most significant implications of their work is that the state of degradation of ancient paper can be measured and quantified by evaluation of the concentrations of chromophores in cellulose fibers. “The periodic repetition of our approach is fundamental to establishing the formation rate of chromophores within the self-portrait. Now our approach can serve as a precious tool to preserve and save not only this invaluable work of art, but others as well,” Conte noted.

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The article, “Visual degradation in Leonardo da Vinci’s iconic self-portrait: a nanoscale study” is authored by A. Mosca Conte, O. Pulci, M.C. Misiti, J. Łojewska, L. Teodonio, C. Violante, and M. Missori. It appears in the journal Applied Physics Letters on Tuesday, June 3, 2014 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4879838). After that date, it can be accessed at: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/apl/104/22/10.1063/1.4879838

The authors of this study are affiliated with ETSF, Università di Roma Tor Vergata, Istituto di Struttura della Materia, Istituto Centrale per il Restauro e la Conservazione del Patrimonio Archivistico e Librario, Jagiellonian University, and Istituto dei Sistemi Complessi.

Source: Adapted and republished from the press release of the American Institute of Physics.

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Archaeologists Excavate Lower City of Mycenae

Posted on June 2, 2014 by No Author -

Mycenae — the ancient city of the legendary King Agamemnon, best known from Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and its iconic Lion Gate and cyclopean defensive walls, has long fascinated scholars and site visitors alike with the epic proportions of its imposing citadel remains. Located about 56 miles southwest of Athens in Greece, it is a World Heritage site.

But there is another Mycenae — one known for centuries from ancient historical documents — which has nevertheless eluded the eyes of archaeologists, historians, and tourists. One might call it “Greater Mycenae”, the Lower Town. It is invisible because most of it still lies undetected, unexcavated, below the surface. In its heyday it was a second millenium BC version of urban sprawl that served as a vital element of the ancient city’s florescence.

Few know it better than Christofilis Maggidis, Associate Professor of Archaeology at Dickinson College in Pennsylvania. He has been leading excavations there since 2007. Geophysical surveys utilizing remote sensing technology in the area surrounding the citadel revealed substantial evidence of hidden walls, structures, gates, roads and other features of a possible urban center surrounding it on its south, west and north sides.

“This town may have extended over an area of ca. 30-50 hectares, with a normal population density of 200 people per hectare, consisting mainly of domestic units and commercial buildings, but also including larger palatial structures and annexes (workshops, offices, storerooms) located closer to the main access roads and highways,” writes Maggidis in a report published in the Volume 15 issue of Popular Archaeology . “The discovery of two gates, associated perhaps with an outer circuit wall, further reinforces the possibility of an organized town plan.”*

Ground proof excavations confirmed the geophysical findings. Uncovered thus far were Mycenean-period features that included a long retaining wall possibly connected to a gate, a wall possibly connected with an outer fortification wall of the Lower Town, two buildings, and an apsidal structure. Overlaying the Mycenean features were post-Mycenean findings that included Geometric Period structures such as a pottery/ivory workshop with a cistern, a multi-room house with a courtyard and containing three infant burials under the floor of a room, two circular structures, and a 9th century B.C. cist grave. The cist grave, which contained the skeletal remains of a young woman, consisted of funerary meal remains, an iron pin found on the right shoulder-blade, an iron ring found around a phalanx of the right hand, and five clay vases and a cup placed around the body.

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View of the Lower Town area and excavation site from the citadel area of Mycenae. Courtesy Dickinson Excavation Project and Archaeological Survey of Mycenae

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Excavators at work on the Lower Town site. Courtesy Dickinson Excavation Project and Archaeological Survey of Mycenae

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Overhead view of the excavation site. Courtesy Dickinson Excavation Project and Archaeological Survey of Mycenae

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Numerous artifacts were unearthed. Writes Maggidis: “A great number and wide variety of finds have been retrieved so far, including fragments of Mycenaean and Archaic figurines, flint and obsidian blades, flakes and cores, stone tools, fragments of stone vases, stone cloth weights, seal-stones, beads and pendants, rings, glass shards, metallic objects, coins, lead sheets, iron nails and hooks, lead clamps for pottery mending, ivory objects, clay loom weights and spools, fresco and plaster fragments, color pigments, carbonized wood, animal bones, shell, roof tiles and abundant pottery.”*

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Arrowheads discovered during excavations. Courtesy Dickinson Excavation Project and Archaeological Survey of Mycenae

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But the greatest takeaway thus far has been the confirming evidence that Mycenae, more than its popular image as the fortified palatial abode of Agamemnon, was a large, complex urban center where a population made their living in trade, commercial production, agriculture, and all the other typical functions of an ancient culture, in space and time well beyond the politics and military campaigns of a prominent kingly reign.

“The geophysical survey and systematic excavation of the Lower Town at Mycenae revealed an extensive Mycenaean settlement outside the citadel,” reports Maggidis, “which was protected by an outer fortification wall with gates, as well as overlying structures and buildings dating to the Early Iron Age and the Archaic Period, thus establishing for the first time a continuous, well-stratified occupation of Mycenae in all the successive periods from the 13th century BC to the 6th century BC.”*

Maggidis and his archaeological team, which will include students and volunteers, will be returning to resume excavations during the summer of 2014.

The latest detailed report of the investigations of the Lower Town at Mycenae are published in the Vol. 15 issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine, available in early June, 2014.

* Maggidis, Christofilis, Unearthing the City of Agamemnon: The Survey and Excavation of the Lower Town of Mycenae, Popular Archaeology, Vol. 15.

Cover Photo, Top Left: The Lion Gate at Mycenae. Andreas Trepte, Wikimedia Commons

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The Real Form of Richard III Depicted in 3-D Model

Posted on May 29, 2014 by No Author -

In a paper published May 30 in the medical journal, The Lancet, University of Leicester scientists and multimdia experts have detailed their findings, including the development of a 3-D model, that complete the image of Richard III’s appearance, the famous English king whose remains were recently excavated and identified by archaeologists and who was popularly depicted as a hunchback in Shakespeare’s historical play by the same name.

But it appears, based on the study, that Shakespeare’s Richard was somewhat more of an invention for dramatic effect than it was a depiction of his true appearance.

Led by University of Leicester osteoarchaelogist Dr. Jo Appleby of the University’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History, the team of researchers were able to reconstruct an accurate visualization that revealed how the king’s spine had a curve to the right, but also a degree of twisting, resulting in a “spiral” shape. Among the key findings in the paper are:

Richard III had a severe scoliosis, with a particularly pronounced right-sided curve;

Richard’s scoliosis had a “spiral” nature;

His right shoulder would have been higher than his left, and his torso would have been relatively short compared to his arms and legs, but he had a “well-balanced curve” – meaning that his head and neck were straight and not tilted to one side. In consequence the condition would not have been immediately visible to those he met, particularly if he wore well-designed clothes or armour;

The Cobb angle – a measurement used to assess the level of spinal deformity in scoliosis patients – was 65-85 degrees. This would be considered a large curvature these days, though many with the condition today undergo surgery to stabilise it;
His scoliosis would have started to develop during the last few years of growth (after about 10 years of age);

The researchers already established that Richard would have been about 5ft 8 inches tall without his scoliosis – about average for a man during medieval times. However, his condition meant he would have appeared several inches shorter than this.

During analysis, the skeleton was analyzed macroscopically for evidence of spinal deformity and any changes to the tissue caused by the condition.

The spine was then scanned using computed tomography (CT), with 3D reconstructions of each bone made from the digital model. The team used a 3D printer to create polymer replicas of each vertebra – which were put together to recreate the shape of Richard’s spine during his life.

The polymer reconstruction was photographed from 19 different points, and the pictures were then stitched together digitally to create the interactive 3D model – which can be accessed on any web browser and embedded into websites.

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Images of the spinal column showing curvature at various points of rotation. Credit University of Leicester

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Complete image of entire spinal column showing the obvious scoliosis condition. Credit University of Leicester

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Dr. Jo Appleby said: “The major finding we have made is being able to reconstruct the three-dimensional nature of the scoliosis and understand what it would have looked like.

“Obviously, the skeleton was flattened out when it was in the ground. We had a good idea of the sideways aspect of the curve, but we didn’t know the precise nature of the spiral aspect of the condition.

“The arthritis in the spine meant it could only be reconstructed in a specific way, meaning that we can get a very accurate idea of the shape of the curve. It’s really good to be able to produce this 3D reconstruction rather than a 2D picture, as you get a good sense of how the spine would have actually appeared.”

“Although the scoliosis looks dramatic, it probably did not cause a major physical deformity. This is because he had a well-balanced curve. The condition would have meant that his trunk was short in comparison to the length of his limbs, and his right shoulder would have been slightly higher than the left, but this could have been disguised by custom-made armour and by having a good tailor.”

“A curve of 65-85 would not have prevented Richard from being an active individual, and there is no evidence that Richard had a limp as his curve was well balanced and his leg bones were normal and symmetric.”

Dr Phil Stone, Chairman, Richard III Society, said: “Examination of Richard III’s remains shows that he had a scoliosis, thus confirming that the Shakespearean description of a ‘bunch-backed toad’ is a complete fabrication – yet more proof that, while the plays are splendid dramas, they are also most certainly fiction not fact.

“History tells us that Richard III was a great warrior. Clearly, he was little inconvenienced by his spinal problem and accounts of his appearance, written when he was alive, tell that he was “of person and bodily shape comely enough” and that he “was the most handsome man in the room after his brother, Edward IV”.

“Thanks must be given to the University of Leicester for the work they have done on the remains, completing the work begun by the Richard III Society.”
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The work was carried out by Jo Appleby, Osteoarchaeologist in the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History; Professor Bruno Morgan, forensic radiologist in the University of Leicester’s Department of Cancer Studies and Molecular Medicine; Professor Guy Rutty and Alison Brough, of the East Midlands Forensic Pathology Unit, based at the University of Leicester; Dr Piers Mitchell, University of Cambridge; Claire Robinson, University Hospitals of Leicester; and Professor Russell Harris and David Thompson, Loughborough University.

The dig for Richard III was led by the University of Leicester, working with Leicester City Council and in association with the Richard III Society. The originator of the search project was Philippa Langley of the Richard III Society.

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

Cover Photo, Top Left: Excavated skeletal remains of King Richard III. Credit University of Leicester

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Rock-Shelter in Spain Evidences Early Human Use of Fire

Posted on May 27, 2014 by No Author -

In a report co-authored by Michael Walker and colleagues of Spain’s Murcia University, scientists suggest that early humans who lived in the Cueva Negra (Black Cave) rock-shelter of southeastern Spain about 800,000 years ago used fire, and that they exhibited behaviors that indicated a cognitively sophisticated late early Pleistocene use of resources and tools in their environment. The detailed report is published in the upcoming Volume 15 of Popular Archaeology Magazine.

The rock-shelter, located in the face of a cliff overlooking the Quipar river and the small village of La Encarnación, became the subject of initial exploration by archaeologists in 1981. But full systematic excavations didn’t begin until 1990, when an archaeological team led by Walker and colleagues with the Murcia University Experimental Sciences Research Group undertook detailed investigation that continued for another 25 field seasons. What they uncovered were 5 meters of sediment containing late Pleistocene (somewhat before 780,000 years ago) finds, including hominin (early human, possibly H. heidelbergensis) teeth, a rich artifact assemblage, and an array of ancient flora and fauna remains that bespoke an ancient climate of warm, moist environmental conditions. Their analysis and interpretation of the finds may have, they maintain, important implications for early human behavior.

“The most important findings at Cueva Negra concern human activity,” write Walker and colleagues in their report. “Undoubted evidence of fire has been uncovered.”* They point to the evidence of sediment combustion, thermally altered chert and burnt animal bone found in a layer measured at 4.5 meters in depth.

But they qualify their interpretation.

“A fire-place is not a hearth,” the authors continue. “The Cueva Negra could have brought glowing brands left by a forest fire into the cave to establish and tend a fire where rain and wind would not put it out. They may well have been less afraid of fire outside than other animals they saw fleeing from it (which could have led them to play with fire in order to drive animals towards natural death traps, such as swamps, enabling dismemberment and roasting). This does not mean they could reproduce or control fire: there is a dearth of archaeological evidence for hearths or fire-pits before 0.5 Ma.”

Cueva Negra is not the only site that has evidenced early use of fire by early humans. For example, the site of Bnot Ya’akov Bridge in Israel has been claimed to show human control of fire some time between 790,000 and 690,000 years ago, and evidence has emerged at Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa for the use of fire by around 1 million years ago. There are also other sites showing this possibility in Africa and China. But Cueva Negra could be the earliest, if not one of the earliest, sites in Europe demonstrating this development.

Other findings suggested a clear mastery of material resources for survival. The assemblage of stone tool artifacts recovered (classified by the authors as “Acheulo-Levalloiso-Mousteroid”) showed evidence of the use of three different core reduction methodologies or sequences, and that natural stone resources were exploited as much as 40 km downstream from the site and 30 km upstream.

Concludes Walker, et al., “Research at Cueva Negra throws new light, including fire-light, on the cognitive versatility, manual dexterity, and technical aptitude of early humans ca. 0.8 Ma in S.E. Spain. They exploited their surroundings in a competent fashion that implies precise knowledge and accurate awareness of what was available for survival.”*

*Walker, Michael, et al., The Early Humans of Cueva Negra, Popular Archaeology, Vol. 15, June, 2014.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Excavations in progress at Cueva Negra. Courtesy Michael Walker and Murcia University

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Archaeologists Excavate for Archaic Greek City of Tenea

Posted on May 22, 2014 by No Author -

It was in July 1984 when rescue excavations conducted by Dr. Elena Korka, now Director of the Ephorate of Private Archaeological Collections and Antiquity Shops, turned up an ancient sarcophagus of the Greek early archaic period near the town of Chiliomodi in Greece. The sarcophagus contained a female skeleton along with offerings. The interior of the sarcophagus slab was adorned with a composition consisting of two lions of monumental character. It was a remarkable find.

But this was not altogether surprising, as archaeologists and historians believed that somewhere in the area the central structural remains of the city of Tenea likely existed. Established, according to written sources, not far from the ancient cities of Corinth and Mycenae shortly after the Trojan War, its first inhabitants were said to be Trojan prisoners of war settled there by Agamemnon. Tenea was considered to be the main settlement of the valley, situated strategically to control the way from Argos to ancient Corinth, and the historian Strabo wrote that Tenea was the location where the Corinthian king Polybius nursed Oedipus.

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Historically, other hints of Tenea’s real existence have emerged, such as the discovery of the Kouros statue in 1846, now housed in the Glyptothek Museum in Munich, and more recently two other archaic kouroi were found and seized by the police in 2010. Because of the importance of the finds, archaeologists conducted surveys in the area around the sarcophagus discovery and its surrounding region.

But the first full, systematic investigation in the area did not begin until 2013 under the direction Korka. With the help of Greek and foreign scholars, archaeologists, geologists, and students, Korka soon uncovered an archaic cemetery consisting of burial sites with archaic period enclosures. Korka believes the cemetery may be associated with the ancient city of Tenea itself.

“Only sporadic remains of the city have been discovered in the region…….such as the Munich kouros, the sarcophagus, and two archaic kouroi,” write Korka and colleagues. “It is thus most likely that substantial archaeological remains of this important ancient city are expected to come to light very soon.”*

Korka and her team hope to uncover much more in coming excavation seasons. They intend to return to the area in September of 2014 to continue where they left off in 2013.

More information about the effort and how one can participate can be obtained at http://www.archaeological.org/fieldwork/afob/15660.

Cover Photo, Top Left: The Kouros statue of Tenea in the Glyptothek Museum, Munich. Zde, Wikimedia Commons

* http://www.archaeological.org/fieldwork/afob/15660.

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Microbiology Provides Clues to Extinct Caribbean Cultures

Posted on May 20, 2014 by No Author -

BOSTON, MA — May 20, 2014 — By evaluating the bacteria and fungi found in fossilized feces, microbiologists are providing evidence to help support archeologists’ hypotheses regarding cultures living in the Caribbean over 1,500 years ago. They report their findings today at the annual meeting of the American Society for Microbiology.

“Although fossilized feces (coprolites) have frequently been studied, they had never been used as tools to determine ethnicity and distinguish between two extinct cultures. By examining the DNA preserved in coprolites from two ancient indigenous cultures, our group was able to determine the bacterial and fungal populations present in each culture as well as their possible diets,” says Jessica Rivera-Perez of the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, who presented the study.

Various indigenous cultures inhabited the Greater Antilles thousands of years ago. The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico have thousands of pre-Columbian indigenous settlements belonging to extinct cultures that migrated to the Caribbean at some point in history.

Archaeological excavations in Vieques, Puerto Rico unearthed hand-made tools and crafts as well as fossilized feces dating from 200 to 400 A.D. The presence of two distinct styles of craftsmanship, as well as other clues obtained from the dig sites, suggested these artifacts belonged to two distinct cultures.

“One culture excelled in the art of pottery; in fact, their signature use of red and white paint helped identify them as descendants from the Saladoids, originating in Saladero, Venezuela. In contrast, the second culture had exquisite art for crafting semiprecious stones into ornaments, some of which represented the Andean condor. This helped archaeologists identify the Bolivian Andes as possible origins of this Huecoid culture,” says Rivera-Perez.

To help confirm these archeological hypotheses, Rivera-Perez and her colleagues examined the DNA preserved in coprolites from both Saladoid and Huecoid settlements and compared the bacterial and fungal populations found in each. Major differences were detected between the fecal communities of these cultures, providing additional support that they may have had different origins. Additionally, they found fungal and corn DNA in the Huecoid coprolite that suggests the consumption of an Andean fermented corn beverage, further confirming the theory that the Huecoids originated in the Bolivian Andes.

“The study of the paleomicrobiome of coprolites supports the hypothesis of multiple ancestries and can provide important evidence regarding migration by ancestral cultures and populations of the Caribbean,” says Rivera-Perez.

Source: Press Release of the American Society for Microbiology: This study was conducted by collaborators from the University of Puerto Rico and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The study was co-authored by Jessica Rivera-Perez of the University of Puerto Rico and Raul Cano of California Polytechnic State University,San Luis Obispo. It was partially funded by the NIH Grant to the University of Puerto Rico (Research Initiative for Scientific Enhancement Program).

The research was presented as part of the 2014 General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology held May 17-20, 2014 in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Oldest Most Complete Early American Skeleton Yields Clues to Native American Ancestry

Posted on May 15, 2014 by No Author -

Initially discovered in 2007 by a team of underwater archaeologists, her nearly complete skeleton was found within a submerged chamber (which site investigators called “Hoyo Negro”, or “black hole”) in the Sac Actun cave system on Mexico’s Eastern Yucatán Peninsula. Named “Naia” by the dive team, she was a slightly-built teenage girl at death, measuring only 4 feet 10 inches in height. Anthropologists who examined the skeleton determined that she was between 15 and 16 years old, and had likely fallen to her death into the chamber (a dry pit during the time of the fall) before the cave had subsequently filled with water due to climate change and rising sea levels.

The find was unprecedented for two reasons. The first reason had to do with the age. Scientists dated the skeleton to between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago based on radiocarbon dating of tooth enamel and Uranium/Thorium dating analyses of mineral deposits on her bones. Also, starting about 10,000 years ago, it is known that global glaciers melted, filling the caves with water as sea levels rose. The analysis indicated that the skeleton had to have been deposited before the cave system filled with water. Finally, in addition to the near-complete human skeleton, the researchers found the remains of 26 large mammals, including extinct taxa such as sabertooths and gomphotheres (extinct relatives of mastodons), another indicator of the age of the find. This made Naia one of the six oldest humans found in America.

The second reason was related to the pristine preservation of the bones. “The preservation of all the bones in this deep water-filled cave is amazing — the bones are beautifully laid out,” said Patricia A. Beddows of Northwestern University, a cave-diving member of the international team. “The girl’s skeleton is exceptionally complete because of the environment in which she died — she ended up in the right water and in a quiet place without any soil.” James Chatters of Applied Paleoscience, the lead author of the newly-published research report, elaborated further: “Paleoamerican skeletons are rare for several reasons. The people themselves were few; they were highly nomadic and seem to have buried or cremated the dead where they fell, making the locations of graves unpredictable; also, geologic processes have destroyed or deeply buried their graves.” Moreover, most unearthed ancient Native American skeletal remains are only found in a few fragments, and most of those have been estimated to be younger than 10,000 years old. The most widely accepted theory of Native American origins suggests that people reached the North American continent before that time.

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Divers Susan Bird and Alberto Nava search the walls of Hoyo Negro, an underwater cave on Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula where the remains of “Naia,” a 12,000- to 13,000-year-old teenage girl, were found. Image courtesy of Paul Nicklen/National Geographic

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Divers Alberto Nava and Susan Bird transport the Hoyo Negro skull to an underwater turntable so that it can be photographed in order to create a 3-D model. Image courtesy of Paul Nicklen/National Geographic

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The skull of Naia on the floor of Hoyo Negro, as it appeared in December 2011, having rolled into a near-upright position. Photo by Roberto Chavez Arce

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Deciphering the ancestry of the first people to populate the Americas has been a challenge. On the basis of genetics, modern Native Americans are thought to descend from Siberians who moved into eastern Beringia (the landmass connecting Asia and North America) between 26,000 and 18,000 years ago. These people, considered the earliest Americans, are suggested to have then spread southward and populated the rest of the continent. But despite widespread support for this idea, the ancestry of the earliest Americans is still debated because the facial features of the oldest American skeletons don’t look much like those of modern Native Americans. The famous Kennewick Man is a prime example.

“Modern Native Americans closely resemble people of China, Korea, and Japan,” Chatters said, “but the oldest American skeletons do not.” Scientists who have examined the fossils of the oldest skeletons have determined that their bodies were structured slightly differently than that of today’s Native American, such as longer, narrower crania and smaller, shorter faces. “This has led to speculation that perhaps the first Americans and Native Americans came from different homelands,” Chatters continued, “or migrated from Asia at different stages in their evolution.”

The biggest finding came, however, when the team analyzed the skeleton’s genetic makeup, with important implications about Native American origins.

“We tried a DNA extraction on the outside chance some fragments might remain,” Chatters said. “I was shocked when we actually got intact DNA.”

The study team analyzed the girl’s mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), a useful tool for examining the relatedness of populations. Their analysis revealed a haplotype common to modern Native Americans, subhaplogroup D1. This genetic signature occurs only in the Americas. The report authors suggest that this genetic signature likely developed in Beringia after populations there split from other Asians, and indicates that individuals of this population traveled at least far and wide enough through the Americas to have reached Mexico by 12,000 – 13,000 BP. They further suggest that the differences in craniofacial form are probably best explained as evolutionary changes that happened after the divergence of Beringians from their Siberian ancestors. Thus the Americas, they theorize, were not colonized by separate migration events from different parts of Eurasia. Rather, the earliest Americans represent an early population expansion out of Beringia. This aligns with the hypothesis that both Paleoamericans and Native Americans derive from a single source population, hunter-gatherers who moved onto the Bering Land Bridge from northeast Asia (Beringia) between 26,000 and 18,000 years ago, spreading southward into North America sometime after 17,000 years ago.

Says Chatters: “This project is exciting on so many fronts: the beautiful cave, the incredibly well-preserved animal skeletons, the completeness of the human skeleton, the success of our innovative dating approach. But for me,” he said, “what is most exciting is that we finally have an answer, after 20 years, to a question that has plagued me since my first look at Kennewick Man: ‘Who were the first Americans?'”

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The upper right third molar of Naia, which was used for both radiocarbon dating and DNA extraction. The tooth is held by ancient genetics expert Brian Kemp of Washington State University, who led the genetic research on the skeleton. Photo by James Chatters

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The complete report has been published in the May 15th online edition of the journal Science.

Participating and supporting institutions in the research included the National Geographic Society, the Archaeological Institute of America, the Waitt Institute, the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, NSF (Y.A., V.P., and D.K.), Pennsylvania State University, the University of New Mexico, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and DirectAMS.

Source: Adapted and edited from press releases of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Geographic Society, and Northwestern University.

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Archaeologists to Capture More Secrets of an American Civil War Vessel

Posted on May 10, 2014 by No Author -

KINSTON, N.C. — While much of the remnants of the ironclad CSS Neuse can be seen on display in downtown Kinston, parts of it still remains submerged in the Neuse River. Archaeologists from the N.C. Underwater Archaeology Branch will use the latest modern technology May 13 to recover remnants of the vessel that was destroyed in March 1865.

The CSS Neuse was constructed in Whitehall, now known as Seven Springs, and completed in Kinston in 1863. She was launched in 1864 with the intention of steaming to New Bern, which had been occupied by Union troops since 1862. The ship ran aground on a sandbar and eventually was floated back to Kinston until March 1865 when she was blown up by her crew to prevent capture by the Union. Early in the 1960s recovery efforts began, and in 1964 most of the ship was salvaged and brought to the site of the Governor Richard Caswell Memorial. In June 2012 the vessel was moved to the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center on the corner of Queen and Caswell Streets in Kinston.

“It’s very significant because this is the only commissioned Confederate ironclad left from the Civil War,” Site Manager Matthew Young explained. “We know there are sections of the ship still in the river; we don’t know how significant they are to our understanding of its construction or operations. There may be pieces of iron plate, a propeller, or even an anchor still in the river.”

A 10 a.m. pre-launch briefing at the boat ramp off Highway 70 will start the work between the King Street and Queen Street bridges. This will be the third attempt at recovery.

“The Neuse River is in great condition for this project right now,” said Deputy State Archaeologist John “Billy Ray” Morris. “The river is at the right depth for this research and the weather is excellent.”

The river survey is a cooperative project of the Office of State Archaeology and the Division of State Historic Sites within the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources. High waters and heavy rains prevented two earlier attempts. Archaeologists will use the 23 foot boat, R/V Snap Dragon to patrol the river for several hours. “This will be the first detailed survey of this part of the river using modern side sonar, a magnetometer, and ad differential Global Positioning System,” Morris continued.

“We are hoping this survey will tell us what, if anything, is salvageable,” said Historic Sites Division Director Keith Hardison. “We need to gather information so we can explore the possibility of recovering additional pieces of the ship to add to the CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center in downtown Kinston.”

Donations to support this effort are encouraged. The CSS Neuse Interpretive Center is located at 100 N. Queen St. in downtown Kinston. Hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Governor Caswell Center is at 2612 W. Vernon Ave., Kinston. Hours are Tuesday-Friday,10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For information, please contact Site Manager Matthew Young at (252) 526-9600 or email [email protected]. Visit the site on Facebook at “CSS Neuse” or “Gov. Richard Caswell Memorial State Historic Site” pages. The CSS Neuse Civil War Interpretive Center and the Gov. Richard Caswell Memorial are within the Division of State Historic Sites of the N.C. Department of Cultural Resources.

Source: Edited from a press release of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Recovery efforts at the CSS Neuse in the 1960s. Courtesy North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.

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Archaeologists for Autism

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Dan McLerran -

As Founder and Editor of Popular Archaeology Magazine, Dan is a freelance writer and journalist specializing in archaeology. He studied anthropology and archaeology in undergraduate and graduate school and has been an active participant on archaeological excavations in the U.S. and abroad. He is the creator and administrator of Archaeological Digs, a popular weblog about archaeological excavation and field school opportunities.

Tom Penders is an archaeologist who wears a number of hats. He is the cultural resources manager for the 45th Space Wing, USAF at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station; he heads a small CRM (Cultural Resources Management) firm called Thomas Penders and Associates; he runs volunteer archaeological research projects on weekends from January to April as part of the Indian River Anthropological Society, a local chapter of the Florida Anthropological Society; and he volunteers as an archaeological consultant for the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program.

One might say that he has more than enough responsibilities to keep him busy. But he would be the first to say that his most important responsibility really lies outside the immediate realm of anthropology and archaeology. He is the father of a 15-year-old teenager named Becky. She is autistic. She is also many other things.

“She was born with a condition called Bilateral Anophthalmia (born without eyes and optic nerves),” he says. “At 5 she was diagnosed with autism and at 10 years she developed epilepsy. We also suspect she has PANDAS [Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal infections], but has not been formally diagnosed. The major issue is the autism. After 10 years since the diagnosis we are still struggling with understanding autism. It is a long hard road to try and get her the services so she can do just basic everyday living skills. We struggle with the lack of communication. We also struggle finding things for her to do. The non-verbal part is the worst because Becky cannot tell us when she is sick, what is wrong when she is sick, what she wants, etc. Most people, including our family, don’t have any idea what autism is or understand the meltdowns.”

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Tom Penders with daughter Becky. Courtesy Tom Penders

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Becky gets around with trusted service dog and friend Thule, who alerts to epileptic seizures, and she has ongoing support from her parents and those who are familiar with her conditions. But unlike work responsibilities, which come and go, for the Penders, this will be a lifelong commitment. In his efforts to find solutions and play his part to bring Becky into life’s mainstream as much as possible, Penders began to search for options.

“Becky plays Challenger League baseball, does surfing and Special Olympics swimming and I wanted to do my part for these kids,” he says. “I just could not sit on the sidelines anymore.”

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Becky with trusted service dog and friend Thule. Courtesy Tom Penders

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So, in partnership with the Scott Center for Autism, the Florida Public Archaeology Network, and the Environmentally Endangered Lands Program, he came up with a unique plan that in essence combined two loves — archaeology and his daughter — to create a vehicle that he hopes will make some difference in the quality of the lives of children and families who struggle with autism. Called ‘Archaeologists for Autism’ (AFA), he hopes to bring children with autism and their families together in one place, where they can experience archaeology and paleontology in a fun, low stress environment.

Penders feels the venue is perfect. It combines two things he knows something about — archaeology and autism — at a historic place called Sams House on Pine Island, Merritt Island, Florida — an area where he had spent years in his official capacity doing archaeology. There, for example, he has documented 2 historic houses, a burial mound, a prehistoric and historic archaeological site, and a Pleistocene mega fauna site (fossil beds). Fortunately, there also seems to be a connection between archaeology and paleontology and people on the autism spectrum. “I have been told by several parents that children at the high end of the [autism] spectrum and with Asperger’s tend to be drawn to archaeology, history and paleontology,” says Penders. “And it is hard to find events that target children on the spectrum.”

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The Sams House site. Courtesy Tom Penders

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In addition to activities related to archaeology and paleontology, he plans to include a catered lunch, live music, face-painting, bounce houses, and more, all at no cost to the participants. Says Penders: “I want to create a day where children on the spectrum and their parents can forget about autism for a day (if that is possible) and just have fun. Everything will be done at the children’s pace. Their siblings will also participate. Every parent of a child on the spectrum that I have talked to about this concept has been excited we are doing this. My bottom line is that the children have a fun-filled day and their parents are happy.”

But there is an underlying purpose to the fun. According to Penders, one goal is to help unlock the potential of people with developmental disabilities. “It is a very special day where children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) can interact with typical peers and wow families with their capabilities,” he adds. In the big picture, the organizers ultimately hope that the event will do its small part to support advocacy for autism issues, promote scientific research, and help eliminate the stigma associated with the condition through public awareness and education, as well as to promote or inspire more community volunteerism.

Although the first event is only one day in November*, Penders envisions the AFA eventually going nationwide, with local and state autism groups working with archaeologists to sponsor and organize events across the country. “With the rate of autism in children ever on the increase,” he says, “there is a need for events like this.”

Individuals and organizations interested in playing a role or assisting the AFA may contact them at [email protected] and they will provide a sponsorship form. More detailed information about the program may also be obtained at their website. Registration for the event will open on July 7th, 2014.

* Saturday, November 22, 2014, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Sams House at Pine Island, Merritt Island, Florida

Cover Photo, Top Left: Tom Penders examines an artifact while working with UCF students at an archaeology project site. Courtesy Tom Penders

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Ancient Geoglyphs in Peru Predate Nazca Lines

Posted on May 5, 2014 by No Author -

A recent study of an archaeological mound complex with astronomical orientations and geoglyph lines in southern Peru suggests that the site features a ceremonial or ritualistic center for religous and social interaction in an ancient culture that existed between 800 and 100 BCE.

Known as the Paracas culture, these ancient people constituted an Andean society known for extensive knowledge of irrigation and water management. The Chincha Valley, about 200 km south of Lima, contains early settlements of the Paracas culture. Previous surveys have indicated at least 30 major Paracas period sites or centers in the valley.

Recenty, a study team co-led by Charles Stanish of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology and Department of Anthropology, University of California, surveyed and test-excavated among five previously identified mound clusters in the lower Chincha mid-valley area. Dating them based on excavated pottery to the Late Paracas period (400 – 100 BCE), they found that the mounds featured a total of 71 geoglyph lines that radiated outward from the mounds, forming what they called “ray centers”. Two of the mounds, built in a u-shape configuration, were oriented toward the location of the sun at the June solstice. Stanish and colleagues suggest that it all represents construction for specific group or societal purposes, the details of which are thus far lost to time. But the signs appear to be unmistakeable. Write Stanish, et al:

In Chincha, linear geoglyphs, platform mounds, and walls on those ceremonial mounds mark the June solstice. If it were only lines, then one could argue that the few solstice alignments were due to chance. However, the combination of platform mounds built in orientation with the June solstice, similarly positioned wall alignments, and comparative evidence from other regions in the Andes that documents solstice marking at sites contemporary with the Paracas period, makes purposeful construction the most parsimonious explanation. Based on these data, there is little doubt that marking the June solstice is an Andean tradition that was part of the logic of ceremonial mound construction and the creation of linear geoglyphs in pre-Hispanic Chincha during Paracas times.*

Ancient geoglyphs in Peru are most commonly associated with the famous Nazca Lines located in the Nazca Desert of southern Peru. Thought to have been created by the Nazca culture between 400 and 650 AD, scholars have developed a number of theories explaining their existence, with the greatest consensus revolving around religious practices or beliefs. But with recent discoveries related to the earlier Paracas culture, the picture is becoming a bit clearer, with the construction tradition appearing to be more ancient and more widespread.

“The ritualized landscape publically attested to particular platform mound sites as focal points for social gatherings, but it was also a product of these gatherings,” write Stanish, et al. “The act of creating geoglyphs within the broader ritualized landscape—the physical piling and clearing of rocks and soil—may be a key component of individual participation in such events. The specific nature of these social events remains obscure and will be the focus of our future research.”*

The study report has been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences at http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1406501111

*Article #14-06501: “A 2,300-year-old architectural and astronomical complex in the Chincha Valley, Peru,” by Charles Stanish, Henry Tantaleán, Benjamin T. Nigra, and Laura E. Griffin.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Mantle — Peru, Paracas — 200 BCE – 200 CE, Wikimedia Commons

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Were Neanderthals and Early Modern Humans Intellectual Equals?

Posted on April 30, 2014 by No Author -

A traditional notion advanced about Neanderthals is that they were less cognitively capable and more disadvantaged than their early modern human counterparts some 40,000 or more years ago in Eurasia, explaining why they were driven to extinction while the modern humans flourished.

Neanderthals lived in Eurasia between about 350,000 and 40,000 years ago, but, according to the fossil record, seem to have disappeared after our ancestors, the anatomically modern humans (AMH), entered Eurasia from Africa some time between 125,000 and 60,000 years ago. Many researchers have theorized that the Neanderthal extinction was due to competition with the AMH newcomers, who had advantages like superior tools, weaponry, communication ability, and a broader diet, to name a few.

But not so fast, say two researchers.

Through an extensive review of recent Neanderthal research, CU-Boulder researcher Paola Villa and co-author Wil Roebroeks, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands, make the case that the available archaeological evidence does not support the widely-held concept that Neanderthals were less advanced than anatomically modern humans.

“The evidence for cognitive inferiority is simply not there,” said Villa, a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History. “What we are saying is that the conventional view of Neanderthals is not true.”

Villa and Roebroeks examined the most common scientific explanations or theories for Neanderthal extinction, such as technologically more primitive tools and weapons, lack of symbolic communication, a narrower diet, and less complex or less effective social organization. They did this by conducting a comparative study of the accumulated archaeological record of Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans, who lived in Africa and Southwest Asia between 200,000 and 40,000 years ago. They found the accepted theories did not stand up to much of the data.

For example, evidence from multiple archaeological sites in Europe suggests that Neanderthals hunted as a group, using the landscape to aid them. Research shows that Neanderthals likely herded hundreds of bison to their death by steering them into a sinkhole in southwestern France, for example. At another site used by Neanderthals, this one in the Channel Islands, fossilized remains of 18 mammoths and five woolly rhinoceroses were discovered at the base of a deep ravine. These findings imply that Neanderthals could plan ahead, communicate as a group and make efficient use of their surroundings, the authors said.

Other archaeological evidence suggests that Neanderthals did in fact have a diverse diet. Microfossils found in Neanderthal teeth and food remains left behind at cooking sites indicate that they may have eaten wild peas, acorns, pistachios, grass seeds, wild olives, pine nuts and date palms, depending on what was locally available.

Additionally, researchers have found ochre, a kind of earth pigment, at sites inhabited by Neanderthals, which may have been used for body painting. Ornaments have also been collected at Neanderthal sites. Taken together, these findings suggest that Neanderthals had cultural rituals and symbolic communication.

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A view of Gorham’s Cave in Gibraltar, theorized to have been inhabited by some of the last Neanderthals to exist in the area of present-day Europe. Gibmetal77, Wikimedia Commons

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Villa and Roebroeks say that the past misrepresentation of Neanderthals’ cognitive ability may be linked to the tendency of researchers to compare Neanderthals, who lived in the Middle Paleolithic period (300,000 to 40,000 years ago), to modern humans living during the more recent Upper Paleolithic period (between 50,000 and 10,000 years ago), when new and more sophisticated technologies were evidenced.

“Researchers were comparing Neanderthals not to their contemporaries on other continents but to their successors,” Villa said. “It would be like comparing the performance of Model T Fords, widely used in America and Europe in the early part of the last century, to the performance of a modern-day Ferrari and conclude that Henry Ford was cognitively inferior to Enzo Ferrari.”

But if Neanderthals were not technologically and cognitively disadvantaged, why didn’t they survive?

The researchers argue that the real reason for Neanderthal extinction is likely complex, and that some clues may be found in recent analyses of the Neanderthal genome over the last several years. These genomic studies suggest that AMH and Neanderthals likely interbred and that the resulting male children may have had reduced fertility. Recent genomic studies also suggest that Neanderthals lived in small groups. All of these factors could have contributed to the decline of the Neanderthals, who were eventually swamped and assimilated by the increasing numbers of modern immigrants.

Thus, “the results of our study,” conclude Villa and Roebroeks, “imply that single-factor explanations for the disappearance of the Neandertals are not warranted any more, and that their demise was clearly more complex than many archaeology-based scenarios of ‘‘cognitive inferiority’’ reviewed here seem to suggest.”*

The detailed study report was published April 30, 2014, in the open access journal PLOS ONE.

The study is available online at http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096424.

* Villa P, Roebroeks W (2014) Neandertal Demise: An Archaeological Analysis of the Modern Human Superiority Complex. PLoS ONE 9(4): e96424. doi:10. 1371/journal.pone.0096424

Source: Adapted and edited from a CU-Boulder press release, Neanderthals were not inferior to modern humans, says CU-Boulder study.

Cover Photo, Top Left: Neandertha/modern human skull comparison, Harrymuseummatt, Wikimedia Commons

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9,000-Year-Old Caribou Hunting Structure Found Submerged in Lake Huron

Posted on April 28, 2014 by No Author -

According to the results of an underwater archaeological investigation conducted by a multidisciplinary team of researchers, rock structures located on a ridge beneath Lake Huron indicate probable evidence of organized seasonal caribou hunting more than 9,000 years ago.

Known as the submerged Alpena-Amberley Ridge (AAR), it provided a dry land bridge between Michigan and Ontario 9,000 years ago. Using sonar surveys, investigation by a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), and scuba-equipped underwater archaeologists, team leader John O’Shea of the Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, University of Michigan, and colleagues identified ancient human-made structures on the ridge, structures that they suggest were likely used for caribou hunting.

One such site, called the Drop 45 Drive Lane, consists of two parallel rock-lined paths, suggested by the researchers to have been used to funnel caribou into an 8-meter-wide lane. They also identified what they call V-shaped hunting blinds set above the lane on a hill. Scuba-trained archaeologists recovered eleven flakes of chert, typical byproducts of stone tool repair or maintenance.

Scientists have long theorized that paleoindian and archaic indian hunters pursued and entrapped their prey by using cooperative, organized techniques, requiring a sophisticated level of social interaction and planning. Write O’Shea and colleagues in their report:

Humans and caribou have a long history of interaction, dating back to at least the Middle Paleolithic. Over time, caribou hunters and herders became aware of the tendency of caribou, like many ungulates, to follow linear features. As such, the construction of linear features of stone or brush provides an effective means of channeling the movement of animals into predetermined kill zones. Numerous historical and ethnographic examples of these hunting structures and associated features are known in the Arctic. In more temperate regions of the globe, traces of such structures rarely survive intact.*

More than the Drop 45 Drive Lane itself, the findings show an interrelated complex of drive lanes, multiple blinds and auxiliary structures that served together as an integrated system for controlling the prey into a kill zone. The findings, say the researchers, have implications for understanding the social and economic organization of the ancient hunters that used the AAR, as it required large groups of cooperating hunters and smaller groups of families to operate the system.

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A plan of the Drop 45 Drive Lane site (A) alongside a sonar image of the site (B). The black circular area is the scanning unit, and the red circles denote increasing radii of 15 meters. Credit: Image courtesy of John O’Shea/ UMMAA.

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A V-shaped hunting blind beneath Lake Huron. Credit: Image courtesy of John O’Shea/ UMMAA.

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What is most significant about the discovery, according to the study authors, is that it offers a unique window into the organization of prehistoric hunting for a time period that is very poorly known from terrestrial sites in the Great Lakes region. It further demonstrates that archaeological sites of great antiquity are preserved underwater and that they have the potential to fill important gaps in our understanding of the deep human past.

The detailed study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science Early Edition.

*Article #14-04404: “A 9,000-year-old caribou hunting structure beneath Lake Huron,” by John M. O’Shea, Ashley K. Lemke, Elizabeth P. Sonnenburg, Robert G. Reynolds, and Brian D. Abbott.

Extensively adapted, supplemented, and edited from a press release.

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Scientists Uncover Evidence of Change from Hunting to Herding at Early Neolithic Settlement

Posted on April 28, 2014 by No Author -

An international team of researchers examining the earliest known pre-ceramic Neolithic mound site in Turkey, called Aşıklı Höyük, suggests that humans shifted from hunting wild ungulates and small animals to managing sheep and goats at the site over a period of a few hundred years beginning on or before 8200 BCE.

The mound, located in south-central Turkey about 25 km southeast of Aksaray, Turkey, has been the subject of a number of studies and excavations in recent years, beginning with Professor Ian A. Todd in 1964. Subsequent investigations included salvage excavations by Professor Ufuk Esin (University of Istanbul) beginning in 1989, followed by those of Nur Balkan-Ath, also of Istanbul University, and more recent excavations in 2010.

Site finds have been stratified into 5 different levels, with the oldest (or earliest) being 5. The most significant findings for these study purposes were discovered in level 4, which contained evidence of human habitation dated to the Pre-Pottery Neolithic Period (a time period generally defined as lasting from 8500-5500 BCE), which is thought by many scholars to mark the transition from a hunter-gatherer way of life to a more settled way of life, including the beginnings of animal domestication.

Above and below: Multiple excavations at Aşıklı Höyük have revealed the telling stratigraphic sequencing of the site. Above credit Kvaestad, Wikimedia Commons, below credit Sarah Murray, Wikimedia Commons.

“This site preserves a surprisingly detailed record of human–animal interactions in a formative settlement,” write study authors Mary C. Stiner, et al., in their recently released report. It is in part reflected in the gradual change in the human diet at the location:

A faunal trend through Levels 4–2 reveals a strategic trade-off in the meat diet, from a broad-spectrum strategy that emphasized diverse wild small animals and ungulates to a concerted exploitation of caprines [sheep and goats] in particular. Caprines constitute less than half of the total number of identified skeletal specimens (NISP) in upper Level 4, but caprines increase gradually to 85– 90% by the end of the time series in upper Level 2. The caprines were mainly sheep, which outnumbered goats by a factor of three or more in all periods.*

In addition, the study authors suggested that age-sex distributions of the caprines in upper Level 4 indicate selective manipulation [breeding] by humans by or before 8200 BCE, and that evidence of animal dung accumulation between structures demonstrates that the animals were held captive inside the settlement at that time.

“Taken together,” the researchers conclude, “the zooarchaeological and geoarchaeological evidence demonstrate an emergent process of caprine management that was highly experimental in nature and oriented to quick returns. Stabling was one of the early mechanisms of caprine population isolation, a precondition to domestication.”*

The study details have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

*Article #13-22723: “A forager–herder trade-off, from broad-spectrum hunting to sheep management at Aşıklı Höyük, Turkey,” by Mary C. Stiner et al. http://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1322723111

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New Genetic Findings About Stone-Age Scandinavian Farmers and Hunter-Gatherers

Posted on April 24, 2014 by No Author -

An international team led by researchers at Uppsala University and Stockholm University reports a breakthrough on understanding the demographic history of Stone-Age humans. A genomic analysis of eleven Stone-Age human remains from Scandinavia revealed that expanding Stone-age farmers assimilated local hunter-gatherers and that the hunter-gatherers were historically in lower numbers than the farmers. The study is published, ahead of print, in the journal Science.

The transition between a hunting-gathering lifestyle and a farming lifestyle has been debated for a century. As scientists learned to work with DNA from ancient human material, a complete new way to learn about the people in that period opened up. But even so, prehistoric population structure associated with the transition to an agricultural lifestyle in Europe remains poorly understood.

“For many of the most interesting questions, DNA-information from people today just doesn’t cut it, the best way to learn about ancient history is to analyze direct data—despite the challenges”, says Dr. Pontus Skoglund of Uppsala University, now at Harvard University, and one of the lead authors of the study.

“We have generated genomic data from the largest number of ancient individuals” says Dr. Helena Malmström of Uppsala University and one of the lead authors. “The eleven Stone-Age human remains were between 5,000 and 7,000 years old and associated with hunter-gatherer or farmer life-styles” says Helena Malmström.

Anders Götherström, who led the Stockholm University team, is satisfied with the amount of DNA that they could retrieve.

“Not only were we able to generate DNA from several individuals, but we did get a lot of it. In some cases we got the equivalent of draft genomes. A population genomic study on this level with a material of this age has never been done before as far as I know.”

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Osteologists excavating and examining the skeleton of a young woman dated to 2700 BC. Credit: Göran Burenhult

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The material used in the study is from mainland Scandinavia as well as from the Baltic island Gotland, and it comprises of hunter-gatherers from various time periods as well as early farmers.

Professor Mattias Jakobsson, who led the Uppsala University team, is intrigued by the results.

“Stone-Age hunter-gatherers had much lower genetic diversity than farmers. This suggests that Stone-Age foraging groups were in low numbers compared to farmers”, says Mattias Jakobsson.

Jan Storå at Stockholm University shares Mattias’ fascination.

“The low variation in the hunter gatherers may be related to oscillating living conditions likely affecting the population sizes of hunter-gatherers. One of the additional exciting results is the association of the Mesolithic individual to both the roughly contemporaneous individual from Spain but also the association to the Neolithic hunter-gatherers.”

The study confirms that Stone-Age hunter-gatherers and farmers were genetically distinct and that migration spread farming practices across Europe, but the team was able to go even further by demonstrating that the Neolithic farmers had substantial admixture from hunter-gatherers. Surprisingly, the hunter-gatherers from the Baltic Sea displayed no evidence of introgression from farmers.

“We see clear evidence that people from hunter-gatherer groups were incorporated into farming groups as they expanded across Europe”, says Pontus Skoglund. “This might be clues towards something that happened also when agriculture spread in other parts of the world.”

“The asymmetric gene-flow shows that the farming groups assimilated hunter-gatherer groups, at least partly”, says Mattias Jakobsson. “When we compare Scandinavian to central European farming groups that lived at about the same time, we see greater levels of hunter-gatherer gene-flow into the Scandinavian farming groups.”

This study is part of the recently initiated “Atlas project” – a large-scale genomic investigation of ancient human remains in Scandinavia led by Stockholm and Uppsala Universities and funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences and the Swedish Research Council. The present study brings the first results from the project.

“We have only begun to scratch the surface of the knowledge that this project may bring us in the future” says Anders Götherström.

Source: Edited from a press release of Uppsala University.

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Scientists Uncover Evidence of Change from Hunting to Herding at Early Neolithic Settlement

New Genetic Findings About Stone-Age Scandinavian Farmers and Hunter-Gatherers

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