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MCMASTER UNIVERSITY—A modern scientific analysis of ancient stone tools is challenging long-held beliefs about what caused radical change on the island of Crete, where the first European state flourished during the Bronze Age: the ‘Minoan civilization.’ 

About 3,500 years ago, Crete underwent significant cultural transformations, including the adoption of a new language and economic system, burial customs, dress and drinking habits – all of which could be traced to the neighboring Mycenaean Greek mainland.

At roughly the same time, many important sites across the island were destroyed and warriors’ graves appeared at the famed palace of Knossos, leading scholars to long believe that these seismic changes had been the result of a Mycenaean invasion.

A new study, published online in the journal PLOS One questions that theory.

“Our findings suggest a more complex picture than previously believed,” explains Tristan Carter, a lead author of the study and professor in the Department of Anthropology at McMaster University who has conducted research in north-central Crete for nearly three decades.

“Rather than wholescale cultural change, our study has found evidence of significant continuity after the alleged invasion. While new practices can be initiated through external forces such as invasion, migration, colonialism, or cross-cultural intermarriage, we also know of examples where locals choose to adopt foreign habits to distinguish themselves within their own society,” says Carter.  

Rather than looking at things like burial, art, or dress, practices that tend to shift with fashion, archaeologists have begun to look more closely at more mundane, everyday practices as a better insight to a culture’s true character, he explains.   

For the study, the researchers analyzed a sample of tools the Bronze Age Cretans fashioned from obsidian, a black volcanic glass which is sharper than surgical steel when freshly flaked.  Vassilis Kilikoglou, director of the Demokritos national research centre in Athens, used a nuclear reactor to determine the origin of the raw materials and found them to be from the Cycladic island of Melos [modern name: Milos].

When these results were considered together with the way the obsidian blades had been made and used for work such as harvesting crops, it was clear the community had lived the same way their predecessors had for the past thousand years, which continued to be distinct from life on the Greek mainland.

“Our analysis suggests the population had largely remained local, of Minoan descent,” says Carter and Kilikoglou.  

“This is not to say an invasion of Crete didn’t occur, but that the political situation across the rest of the island at this time was more complex than previously believed with significant demographic continuity in many areas.”

The researchers believe that while local elites were strategically aligned with Mycenaean powers, as evidenced by their conspicuous adoption of mainland styles of dress, drinking, and burial, most people continued to live their lives in much the same way as before.

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Lead researcher Tristan Carter in front of a quarry obsidian exposure on Melos [modern name: Milos]. Daniel Contreras

Bronze Age blades made of obsidian from Melos [modern name: Milos}. Deanna Aubert

Article Source: MCMASTER UNIVERSITY news release

CLUSTER OF EXCELLENCE “RELIGION AND POLITICS”—According to new research, the combined analysis of animal and plant remains, as well as written evidence, is leading to more precise dating of archaeological finds. “We can now often determine not only the year, but also the season. This allows us to reconstruct the events that produced the finds much more precisely”, says archaeologist Prof. Dr. Achim Lichtenberger from the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster. “The destruction of the Greek town Tell Iẓṭabba in present-day Israel by a military campaign waged by the Hasmoneans, a Judean ruling dynasty in the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, has so far been dated to between 111 and 107 BC”, says Lichtenberger. “More recent research dates it to 108/107 BC, based on coin finds and the siege of the city of Samaria at the same time. Now, using our multi-proxy approach that makes use of several analytical methods, we can for the first time date the events with certainty to the spring of 107 BC”.

“We came across chicken leg bones in the dwellings destroyed by the Hasmoneans. Analyzing them revealed residues containing marrow that served to produce eggshells during the laying season in spring. This indicates that the chickens were slaughtered in spring”, explain Achim Lichtenberger and his colleague Prof. Oren Tal from the University of Tel Aviv. “We also discovered the shells of field snails, which were often eaten at this time of year”. Botanical examinations of the remnants of flowers on the floors of the dwellings reveal that these plants flowered in spring. Analysis of the objects is always accompanied by analysis of written evidence: “The contemporary Hebrew scroll of Megillat Ta’anit about the Hasmonean conquest, also known as the Scripture of the Fast, reports the expulsion of the inhabitants in the Hebrew month of Sivan, which corresponds to our May/June”.

“Only the multiplicity of analytical methods makes precise statements possible”

“From an archaeological point of view, this makes spring the season of destruction”, says Lichtenberger, which underlines previous findings on Hellenistic warfare, as military offensives usually took place in spring and early summer. “The individual data taken on their own would not justify determining such a clear chronology”, emphasizes Lichtenberger, who, together with his colleague Oren Tal and an interdisciplinary team comprising natural scientists, is leading a research project on the archaeology of the Hellenistic settlement Tell Iẓṭabba, in ancient Nysa-Scythopolis, an ancient conurbation in the ancient Near East. “Only by taking an overall view of the results from all analytical methods can we provide more precise information about the time of the destruction of Tell Iẓṭabba, and thus about the course of the Hasmonean campaign”. The finds must therefore be interpreted in the light of the seasons. (apo/sca)

Article Source: CLUSTER OF EXCELLENCE “RELIGION AND POLITICS” news release

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Excavation of Tell Iztabba.  German-Israeli Tell Iztabba Excavation Project

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*For everything there is a season: more than a year of destruction at Seleucid Tell Iẓṭabba (Israel), Antiquity, 17-Aug-2022. 10.15184/aqy.2022.92  

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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)—Humans expend considerable energy while chewing, according to a new study that directly isolated and measured the metabolic costs of this behavior. Chewing gum elevated metabolic rate by 10 to 15 percent over basal metabolic rate, with the highest rate increases for stiffer gum bases, according to Adam van Casteren and colleagues. Their findings could shed light on how the energetic costs of chewing may have shaped musculoskeletal changes in the skull and jaw throughout human evolution. Researchers have assumed that many of these changes could have been related to differences in energy expenditure among species and through time, but such interpretation is complicated by the fact that little is known about the metabolic cost of modern human chewing. “The assumption generally was that the energy expended by the mastication system, the feeding system, in humans just wasn’t that much, and it was a little bit overlooked,” van Casteren said in a related podcast. “This is compounded also by the fact that, as weird modern humans, we eat cooked foods that we process with tools beforehand. So we don’t do as much chewing as our relatives and our ancient ancestors.” To gain a better understanding of these costs, van Casteren et al. had people chew an odorless, tasteless gum (to control for the metabolic costs of digestion and sensory stimuli) while measuring caloric expenditure and muscle activity in the masseter muscle, the main muscle of chewing. People chewing softer gum increased their energy expenditure by an average of 10.2 percent over their base rate, while those chewing stiffer gum had an average increase of 15.1 percent. Given this substantial energy expenditure in modern humans, the researchers suggest chewing might have had important metabolic costs that shaped hominin anatomy, before the advent of cooking and similar ways to process food before eating.

A related podcast, featuring an interview with lead author Adam van Casteren, will be available at https://science.org/podcasts on Thursday, August 18.

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The ventilated hood system at Maastricht University used to measure oxygen consumed and carbon dioxide produced during activities such as chewing. Dr Amanda Henry

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Article Source: AAAS news release.

GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY—A new study* into the multipurpose uses of boomerangs has highlighted the hardwood objects were used to shape the edges of stone tools used by Australian Indigenous communities.  

The research, published in PLOS ONE, demonstrated how boomerangs could function as lithic (or stone) tool retouchers by investigating the use-wear generated on the boomerangs’ surfaces during retouching activities. 

It was found that these use-wear impacts on boomerangs are comparable to those observed on Paleolithic bone retouching tools, which date back to more than 200,000 years ago.  

The research adds to a previous study into boomerang uses led by the same team from Griffith University’s Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, but also highlights the broader topic of the multipurpose application of many Indigenous tools throughout Australia.  

ARCHE PhD Candidate Eva Francesca Martellotta said the study revealed a deep functional connection between bone and wooden objects – a topic rarely investigated in archaeological contexts. 

“Studying the shaping techniques applied to stone tools is crucial to understand our past,” Martellotta said.  

“Thinking in modern terms, it is like understanding the difference between a butcher knife and a bread knife: their blades have different shapes – one straight, the other serrated – because they are used to cut different materials. That is, to perform different functions. 

 “Australian boomerangs are mainly used as hunting and fighting weapons. However, they also have many other functions, linked to the daily activities of Aboriginal communities.  

“In our article, we put together traditional knowledge and experimental archaeology to investigate a forgotten use of boomerangs: modifying the edges of stone tools. 

 “This activity is fundamental to producing a variety of stone implements, each of them with one or more functions.  

“Traditionally handcrafted experimental replicas of boomerangs proved very functional to shape stone tools.  

“Our results are the first scientific proof of the multipurpose nature of these iconic objects.” 

 “While our results for the first time scientifically quantify the multipurpose nature of daily tools like boomerangs, this is something that Aboriginal people have known for a very long time.” 

Study co-author Paul Craft, a Birrunburra / Bundjalung / Yugambeh / Yuggera / Turrbal man, contributed two of the four hardwood boomerangs used in the lithic tool knapping (shaping) experiments, which were performed in the Griffith Experimental Archaeology Research Lab located outdoors at the Nathan campus.  

The EXARC Experimental Archaeology Association partially funded the project through a 2021 Experimental Archaeology Award. 

The findings ‘Beyond the main function: An experimental study of the use of hardwood boomerangs in retouching activities’ have been published in PLOS ONE. 

Carley Rosengreen
Griffith University

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Australian boomerang. Creative Commons CCO 1.0 Universal (CCO 1.0) Public Domain

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Article Source: GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY news release

Krasnodar region, 5 August 2022 – The Phanagoria archaeological expedition, which is conducting excavations in the Black Sea region along the Taman Peninsula with support from Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation, has discovered a horde of Bosporan coins dating to the 6^th century AD. This and similar finds on the Taman Peninsula allow archaeologists to make a rough estimate of the standards of living of the medieval inhabitants of the Black Sea coast and conclude that the savings of ordinary citizens were enough to last them up to one month.

A purse with 30 copper staters, a type of Greek coin minted in the Bosporan Kingdom, was found during excavations of the historical layer of Phanagoria, which dates back to the 6^th century AD. Archaeologists believe that these coins were lost or hidden by the owner during a sudden attack on Phanagoria, likely by the Huns or the Turks. The cache of coins was found between two burned-out houses. Last year, a similar find – a bundle of 80 coins stashed inside an amphora by their owner – was made not far from this site. 

Archaeologists have found similar treasures along the coast of the Taman Peninsula in the past. In a town that also used to be a part of the Bosporan Kingdom, called Hermonassa, a bundle of coins was found on the threshold of an ancient temple, and several dozens of them fell onto the floor inside the building. In Kitey, another Bosporan city, a pouch with coins was found in a house stove. The owner was presumably trying to stow it during a siege but never returned to pick it up. 

In most cases, the findings contain several dozen Bosporan coins, with analyses suggesting that their owners parted with them in a hurry due to extraordinary circumstances. This leads archaeologists to believe that medieval inhabitants of the Taman Peninsula had approximately 30-80 coins on hand for their everyday needs. “These coins and these amounts were likely used for small transactions such as buying food or clothes,” says Prof. Mikhail Abramzon, numismatist and senior researcher of the Phanagoria archaeological expedition.

Archaeological finds in the region also suggest that the ‘savings’ of ordinary citizens of medieval cities on the Black Sea coast amounted to roughly 1,000 Bosporan coins. Based on the approximate daily expenditure of 30-80 coins, researchers conclude that, on average, such savings lasted citizens for no longer than one month. One of the largest hordes found on the territory of Phanagoria dates to the 4^th century AD and contains approximately 4,000 copper and silver coins, which was a considerable fortune for that period. It likely belonged to a major craftsman or merchant.

The Bosporan coins are unique in that they were last minted in 34 AD but continued to be used in the region until at least the end of the 6^th century. There is hardly any modern currency that can boast such a long lifespan. This demonstrates the large number of minted coins and their reliability as a means of payment. After Phanagoria became a Byzantine dependency, Byzantine gold also circulated on its territory, which had a higher value than the Bosporan coins. Nevertheless, unlike copper staters, gold coins were used almost exclusively for large transactions, and only the richest medieval classes could afford them. Hordes containing gold coins are usually thought to have belonged to moneylenders, merchants or major artisans.

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The cache of coins. Phanagoria Archaeological Expedition, Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Volnoe Delo Foundation 

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Coin cache, cleaned. Phanagoria Archaeological Expedition, Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Volnoe Delo Foundation 

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Aerial view of excavation site. Phanagoria Archaeological Expedition, Institute of Archaeology, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Volnoe Delo Foundation 

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Article Source: Volnoe Delo Foundation press release

About the Phanagoria archaeological expedition 

The Phanagoria expedition of the Institute of Archaeology of the Russian Academy of Sciences is conducting archaeological excavations on the territory of the historical and archaeological museum-reserve Phanagoria. Since 2004, the excavations have been supported by the Volnoe Delo Foundation. Phanagoria is made up of 2.5 million cubic meters of cultural land, with excavations of 7,000 square meters conducted by 250 archaeological scientists, students and volunteers as part of the annual expedition. In 2014, the State Historical and Archaeological Museum-Reserve Phanagoria was established on the excavation site. 

Phanagoria was founded in the middle of the 6^th century BC by Greek settlers on the shores of the Taman Gulf. Its ancient settlement and necropolis include over 700 mounds and occupy 900 hectares. The city existed for more than 1,500 years and, for a long time, was one of two capitals of the oldest state formation on the Russian territory: the Bosporan Kingdom. 

The treasures found in the Phanagoria mounds are stored in the Hermitage and the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, as well as in museums in countries including Great Britain and Germany. The results of the expedition have been presented at international scientific forums in Germany, France, Denmark, Greece and the United States, among others. In 2009, the discovery of the palace of Mithridates VI was included in the list of the ten most outstanding archaeological finds in the world, according to Archaeology Magazine (USA). 

 www.phanagoria.info 

About Volnoe Delo Foundation  

Volnoe Delo is one of the largest non-profit organisations in Russia involved in charity, patronage and volunteer projects. The foundation addresses social issues, supports education and the sciences, and helps preserve the country’s cultural and historical heritage. The Foundation has supported more than 500 projects in 50 different regions of Russia to date. The projects’ beneficiaries include around 90,000 school children, 4,000 teachers, 8,000 students from universities and vocational schools, 4,000 scientists, and over 1,200 educational, scientific, cultural, healthcare and sporting institutions.

http://volnoe-delo.ru  

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES—Researchers report* that brain shape differences between fossil and modern humans are likely due to facial evolution rather than brain evolution. Although brain sizes of Homo sapiens from 160,000 years ago in Herto, Ethiopia are similar to that of modern humans, the shape of the brain cavity differs, suggesting further evolution of the brain or shape change related to evolution of the face. Tim White, Christoph Zollikofer, and colleagues conducted endocranial scans on 125 modern humans, including children, and reconstructed the crania of 50 fossil Homo individuals, including children, comprising Homo erectus, Homo neanderthalensis, and H. sapiens. The samples of fossil H. sapiens were found at Herto, Ethiopia and the Qafzeh and Skuhl caves in Israel. Because brain growth ceases with the eruption of the first permanent molars but facial structure continues to grow until adulthood, the authors compared endocranial shapes in immature and adult specimens. Throughout brain growth, endocranial shapes were similar between fossil and modern children, and differences in endocranial shape developed with continued growth of facial structure. According to the authors, the results suggest that the differences in endocranial shapes between fossil and modern humans were not due to brain evolution but likely due to dietary and lifestyle differences that influenced facial bone structure.

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Digital restoration of the skulls of fossil Homo sapiens from Herto, Ethiopia, dated to 160,000 years ago (left: adult individual; right: 6-7-year-old child). Virtual fillings of their braincases (blue) permit inferences on brain shape development and evolution. Tim White, Christopher Zollikofer, and Marcia Ponce de Leon

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Extraction of the in situ adult cranium from Pleistocene sandstone at the Herto Bouri locality required the application of preservative to hold its fragile bones together. Tim White, Christopher Zollikofer, and Marcia Ponce de Leon

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Article Source: PNAS news release.

*“Endocranial ontogeny and evolution in early Homo sapiens: The evidence from Herto, Ethiopia,” by Christoph P.E. Zollikofer et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1-Aug-2022. https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2123553119

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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)—An analysis of the bark vocalizations that wild chimpanzees make while hunting suggests that communication and cooperation may have coevolved in the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans. The study*, which draws from observations of 227 hunting events conducted by chimpanzees in a Ugandan community from 1996 to 2018, demonstrated that these primates use vocal signals to facilitate cooperative hunts. The study found that chimps who barked before a hunt were more likely to participate and that barks are associated with greater hunter recruitment and more effective hunting. While scientists have known that the abilities to cooperate and to communicate likely coevolved in humans, the evolutionary roots of the relationship between these two abilities has not been clear, including whether its basic building blocks may be found in humans’ closest living primate relatives. To investigate, Joseph Mine and colleagues analyzed data on how 74 chimpanzees used hunting-related bark vocalizations between 1996 and 2018 in the Kanyawara chimpanzee community, located in a national park in Uganda. The researchers used data from 2,398 observations during that period to construct a generalized linear mixed-effects model and applied it to understand whether the apes’ barks were associated with an increased likelihood of individuals participating in a hunt for monkey prey. Mine et al. found that the probability of joining a hunt was considerably higher for chimpanzees that had barked beforehand than for those that had not, suggesting that the bark vocalizations signaled their motivation to participate. Additionally, the researchers found that these vocalizations the group’s behavior as a whole – hunting was more effective when it was preceded by barking, since this meant more chimpanzees were involved.

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Group of chimpanzees engaged in social behaviour and vocalizing. KCP project

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Summary author: Shannon Kelleher

Article Source: AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS) news release.

PLOS—Beaver fur was a symbol of wealth and an important trade item in 10th Century Denmark, according to a study* published July 27, 2022 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Luise Ørsted Brandt of the University of Copenhagen and colleagues.

Written sources indicate that fur was a key commodity during the Viking Age, between 800-1050 CE, but fur doesn’t often survive well in the archaeological record, so little direct evidence is available. Previous reports have used the microscopic anatomy of ancient fur to identify species of origin, but this method is often inexact. All in all, not much is known about the kinds of furs the Vikings preferred.

In this study, Brandt and colleagues analyzed animal remains from six high-status graves from 10th Century Denmark. While no ancient DNA was recovered from the samples, perhaps due to treatment processes performed on furs and skins and probably due to preservation conditions, identifiable proteins were recovered by two different analytical techniques. Grave furnishings and accessories included skins from domestic animals, while clothing exhibited furs from wild animals, specifically a weasel, a squirrel, and beavers.

These findings support the idea that fur was a symbol of wealth during the Viking Age. The fact that beavers are not native to Denmark suggests this fur was a luxury item acquired through trade. Some clothing items included fur from multiple species, demonstrating a knowledge of the varying functions of different animal hides, and may have indicated a desire to show off exclusive furs. The authors note the biggest limiting factor in this sort of study is the incompleteness of comparative protein databases; as these databases expand, more specific identifications of ancient animal skins and furs will be possible.

The authors add: “In the Viking Age, wearing exotic fur was almost certainly an obvious visual statement of affluence and social status, similar to high-end fashion in today’s world. This study uses ancient proteins preserved in elite Danish Viking burials to provide direct evidence of beaver fur trade and use.”

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Map of studied sites (a) and examples of included fur: b) Hvilehøj C4273-97, fragment 1, c) Hvilehøj C4280c, d) Bjerringhøj C143. Graphics: Luise Ørsted Brandt and Charlotte Rimstad. Photos: Roberto Fortuna, National Museum of Denmark. Brandt et al., 2022, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Article Source: PLOS news release.

*Brandt LØ, Taurozzi AJ, Mackie M, Sinding M-HS, Vieira FG, Schmidt AL, et al. (2022) Palaeoproteomics identifies beaver fur in Danish high-status Viking Age burials – direct evidence of fur trade. PLoS ONE 17(7): e0270040. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0270040

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On July 6, 2022, reporter Eric Vasallo attended the world premiere of Beyond Tut in Boston. Here is his story on the show, the ideas behind it, and what he experienced:

Since COVID changed our lives forever, life on Earth has become increasingly meta and online as social distancing has become our new normal. Blog sites such as Ancient Egypt Alive have evolved to offer a variety of opportunities to learn about ancient Egypt without having to fly to annual conventions or even visit far away museums. Online workshops, seminars and now, the next level—immersive virtual reality experiences—enable audiences to see, feel and visualize in high definition and surround sound what these worlds may have been like to the ancients.

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Exterior (entrance) to the exhibit. Photo courtesy Eric Vasallo

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Currently, there are two exceptional virtual exhibits touring North America to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the discovery of King Tutankhamun’s tomb. Tutankhamun (popularly shortened as ‘Tut’) was an Egyptian king who lived over 3,300 years ago. He was just a boy when he inherited the throne at the age 9. Not only is he eternally alive in our minds thanks to the unprecedented riches of his tomb and the world-famous solid gold face mask, but he is also renowned for being the son of rebel King Akhenaten. Akhenaten was a heretic king whose depictions suggest he was the first gender fluid king on Earth and who led the disastrous Amarna Revolution, forming what some scholars suggest was the world’s first monotheistic religion. But this ruler’s excesses nearly bankrupted the Egyptian empire. 

Why Tut became a “phenom”

The wealth of Tut’s tomb certainly conveys a reverence for a ruler that restored order from chaos and returned to the worship of Egypt’s many gods, reversing the change established by his father before him.

Tut was also son (or stepson) of Queen Nefertiti, who aside from Cleopatra is considered the most fascinating and beautiful queen of Ancient Egypt. Her tomb has yet to be found, but there is a belief that it might still be hidden inside King Tut’s tomb behind a false wall— a hope kept alive by countless people around the world dreaming of another discovery equaling the grandeur and importance of her son’s intact tomb. 

Beyond Tut show: An augmented experience that delves into the life of Tut 

These touring exhibits promise to deliver a richer, meta experience and a deeper understanding of the stories behind these artifacts you see behind glass cases in museums around the world. In a joint venture with National Geographic, Beyond King Tut – The Immersive Experience invites audiences to learn the life story of this historic figure that has captivated the world’s imagination for the last 100 years and will probably continue to do so for generations to come. 

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Beyond King Tut. Press image courtesy Beyond King Tut

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Creative Producer Mark Lach’s intention wasn’t to just make an immersive experience, but to also provide a fuller picture of who King Tut was. 

It opened on July 8^th in downtown Boston at the historic SOWA Power Station.

As you enter the experience you are wrapped in darkness, the tone immediately set. Dimly lit, tomb-like spaces, bright blue, gold, and brown colors meet the eyes, provide instill both a sense of comfort and wonder about what is to be revealed. The first space is dotted with faux stone walls and openings revealing illuminated vintage photos of Howard Carter’s original discovery in the heart of the Valley of the Kings. That world-changing moment when Egyptian workers broke the false wall and Carter peeked into the intact tomb for the first time.

Lord Carnarvon “Can you see anything?”

Carter, holding a flickering candle to illuminate the tomb, 

“Yes, wonderful things.”

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The moments when Howard Carter (kneeling at opening) first glimpsed the tomb interior. Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

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Howard Carter brushing dust off King Tut’s mummy. NBC PHOTO: Harry Burton. Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

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The next room boasts a huge life-size replica of King Tut’s gold-plated wood shrine with its many smaller shrines nested inside. This great shrine is surrounded by a 360-degree video illuminating the first leg of the king’s journey into the afterlife. It provides a simulated peek at the series of nested sarcophagi held inside the shrine, each smaller than the next, like Russian dolls, until the mummy of the King is revealed. 

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Shrine Room. Rodney Bailey, Beyond King Tut.

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Shrine Room/Burial Chamber. Rodney Bailey, Beyond King Tut

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The experience leads you into another hall which tells the story of Tutankhamen’s family and heritage. Here, you also encounter a larger-than-life size ancient Senet game with instructions, inviting visitors to play—a great diversion for kids of all ages. Several examples of this ancient “snakes and ladders” style game were found inside his tomb. 

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Above and below: Senet game in Tut’s family room. Photos courtesy Eric Vasallo

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Next stop is the Mummification Room where you can see a simple and easy to understand step-by-step illustration of the embalming process. 

Travel with Tut on his journey through the afterlife

Following that space is the Verses of Immortality hall which highlights different magical themes found in the Book of the Dead.

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Book of the Dead Passage. Rodney Bailey, Beyond King Tut

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Verses for Immortality. Press Photo, Beyond King Tut

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The next space is a vast space presenting a wondrous, goosebump-inducing immersive experience of the boy king’s journey through the afterlife—a fantastical dream of the Egyptian Book of the Dead where you witness the final judgement as his heart is weighed against an ostrich feather in the presence of Anubis and the monstrous Ammit. The adventure ends on a happy note and visitors get to ride along a wooden replica of the royal Solar Barque as the king reaches his final destination – the abundant and heavenly realm of Aaru where he will reside for all eternity. 

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Photo Eric Vasallo

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The Solar Barque. Eric Vasallo

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Experience the tomb as Carter discovered it

Last stop before the well-stocked gift shop is a seven-minute, VR experience by Positron that takes you into the tomb as Carter discovered it, filled to the walls with untold riches.

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Sarcophagus Sequence. Courtesy Beyond King Tut

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Immersive Room. Rodney Bailey, Beyond King Tut

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Immersive Room. Courtesy Beyond King Tut

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Meeting the man who photographed the mask

After finishing the experience, I was honored to meet Kenneth Garrett, the National Geographic photographer responsible for all photos of the artifacts displayed in the exhibit. He also captured the historic September 2010 cover photo of the ubiquitous golden death mask of King Tut in the Cairo Museum. Kenneth gushed as he shared the story of how difficult it was to properly photograph the mask since it had so many different surfaces of gold and precious gemstones. Ultimately, he had to use six strobe lights and reflectors and Egyptian authorities only gave him 45 minutes before the museum opened. 

He also related that it took him about two weeks to photograph all artifacts stored in the basement of the Cairo Museum. The artifacts have never been exhibited since Howard Carter delivered them there. 

Artifacts of the boy king will finally be displayed in the new Grand Egyptian Museum when it opens later this year.

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Kenneth Garrett. Eric Vasallo

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Kenneth Garrett’s cover photo for National Geographic. Eric Vasallo

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Tut’s treasures no longer leaving Egypt

Due to the fragility of these very ancient objects, Egypt has decided to no longer allow these artifacts to leave Egypt, forcing Egypt lovers to visit the new Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) in Cairo to get up close and personal with these masterpieces that tell the story of arguably the richest, most influential culture on Earth, the story of us. It is estimated to open in November of 2022. 

Tips on attending the show in Boston

Avoid parking in the lot next to the Tut exhibit, which is $30. The other lot at 500 is $9- for 2 hours. Also, a short walk away off Harrison Avenue and Albany street, under the highway overpass, has EV car chargers and is $5 for up to 3 hours.

Immersive Tut – yet another virtual reality show opening soon.

The other virtual Tut experience is brought to life by the creators of the Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, and The Art of Banksy exhibits. Lighthouse Artspace Productions presents their North American tour of Immersive King Tut – Magic Journey to the Light, which promises to take audiences young and old on a fantastic journey to the mythic realm of the Egyptian afterlife. First stop on their tour is Denver on July 22nd, then on to Toronto and Los Angeles, as well as 11 other cities across America. 

Stay tuned to this blog, Ancient Egypt Alive, to learn more about this second immersive adventure seeking to revivify the life of Tut – and ensure his legacy goes on for millions of years.

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN, NEWS BUREAU, CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The ancient North American city of Cahokia had as its focal point a feature now known as Monks Mound, a giant earthwork surrounded on its north, south, east and west by large rectangular open areas. These flat zones, called plazas by archaeologists since the early 1960s, were thought to serve as communal areas that served the many mounds and structures of the city.

New paleoenvironmental analyses of the north plaza suggest it was almost always underwater, calling into question earlier interpretations of the north plaza’s role in Cahokian society. The study* is reported in the journal World Archaeology.

Cahokia was built in the vicinity of present-day St. Louis, beginning in about A.D. 1050. It grew, thrived for more than 300 years and was abandoned by 1400. Many mysteries surround the culture, layout and architecture of the city, in particular its relationship to water. Cahokia was built in a flood plain below the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers and would have been regularly infiltrated with flowing water, said Caitlin Rankin, a geoarchaeologist at the Illinois State Archaeological Survey who conducted the new research.

“Cahokia is the largest archaeological site in North America, but only about 1% of it has been excavated, so there’s so much about the site that we don’t know,” Rankin said.

Early in her encounters with the city’s layout, Rankin was baffled by the location and height of the north plaza.

“It’s a really strange area because it’s at a very low elevation, like the lowest elevation of the site,” she said. “And it’s in an old meander scar of the Mississippi River.”

Two creeks ran through the area, and it likely flooded whenever the Mississippi swelled after heavy rains.

To investigate the site, Rankin conducted test excavations and extracted sediment cores around the four mounds that define the north plaza. She also took soil samples in the same meander scar less than 5 kilometers from the plaza and analyzed stable carbon isotopes in these modern soils to determine isotope differences between wetlands, seasonal wetlands and prairie environments. Comparing these with carbon isotopes from ancient soils chronologically associated with the mounds gave insight into what types of plants had grown there in the past.

“What I learned is that this area remained wet throughout the year,” Rankin said. “There may have been some seasonal dryness, but overall, it was a wetland.”

Her findings challenge previous notions about this site being a plaza, which is generally thought of as a dry open area across which people walk and congregate. “Generally, those places aren’t underwater,” Rankin said.

How the north plaza was used remains a mystery, she said, but the study adds to the evidence that water was a central element of the city.

“Water was important to the people of Cahokia for a number of reasons,” she said. “They had a whole agricultural suite of wetland plants that they domesticated and relied on as food.” Water also was essential to their trade with people up and down the Mississippi River. And the cosmological beliefs of many Indigenous groups include creation stories that involve complex interactions with sky, water and earth.

“At Cahokia, you have these mounds emerging from this watery sphere,” she said. “And so that was a significant feature that probably resonated with their creation stories and their myths and their worldview.”

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The study focused on the north plaza, an expanse at a low elevation that is almost always inundated with water. Photo courtesy Caitlin Rankin

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Sediments from excavations at Mound 5 reveal that the north plaza was a wetland prior to, and after, mound construction. Photo courtesy Caitlin Rankin

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Caitlin Rankin stands in a trench dug in Mound 16, one of four mounds that delineate the north plaza. Photo by Ann Merkle

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Article Source: UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN news release.

The Illinois State Archaeological Survey is a division of the Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

The National Geographic Society and National Science Foundation supported this work.

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – SANTA BARBARA—An extended period of turmoil in the prehistoric Maya city of Mayapan, in the Yucatan region of Mexico, was marked by population declines, political rivalries and civil conflict. Between 1441 and 1461 CE the strife reached an unfortunate crescendo — the complete institutional collapse and abandonment of the city. This all occurred during a protracted drought.

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Central Mayapan showing the K’uk’ulkan and Round temples. Bradley Ruseell

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Article Source: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – SANTA BARBARA news release.

HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY—The mountain fortress of Rabana-Merquly in modern Iraqi Kurdistan was one of the major regional centers of the Parthian Empire, which extended over parts of Iran and Mesopotamia approximately 2,000 years ago. This is a conclusion reached by a team of archaeologists led by Dr Michael Brown, a researcher at the Institute of Prehistory, Protohistory and Near-Eastern Archaeology of Heidelberg University. Together with Iraqi colleagues, Brown studied the remains of the fortress*. Their work provides important insights into the settlement structures and history of the Parthians, about whom there is surprisingly little knowledge, emphasizes Dr Brown, even though the annals of history record them as a major power. Furthermore, Rabana-Merquly may be the lost city of Natounia.

Situated on the southwest flanks of Mt. Piramagrun in the Zagros Mountains, the stone fortress of Rabana-Merquly comprises not only the nearly four-kilometer-long fortifications but also two smaller settlements for which it is named. Because of its high position on the mountain, mapping the site was possible only with drones. Within the framework of multiple excavation campaigns conducted from 2009 and most recently between 2019 and 2022, the international team of researchers was able to study the archaeological remains on site. Structures that have survived to this day suggest a military use and include the remains of several rectangular buildings that may have served as barracks. The researchers also found a religious complex possibly dedicated to the Zoroastrian Iranian goddess Anahita.

The rock reliefs at the entrance to the fortress are of special significance, along with the geographic location of the fortification in the catchment area of the Lower Zab River, known in antiquity by its Greek name of Kapros. The researchers suspect that Rabana-Merquly may be the lost city of Natounia. Until now, the existence of the royal city known as Natounia on the Kapros, or alternatively as Natounissarokerta, has been documented only on a few coins dating from the first century BC. According to one scientific interpretation, the place name Natounissarokerta is composed of the royal name Natounissar, the founder of the Adiabene royal dynasty, and the Parthian word for moat or fortification. “This description could apply to Rabana-Merquly,” states Dr Brown.

According to the Heidelberg archaeologist, the wall reliefs at the entrance to the fortress could depict the city’s founder, either Natounissar or a direct descendant. The researcher explains that the relief resembles a likeness of a king that was found approximately 230 kilometers away in Hatra, a location rich in finds from the Parthian era. The Rabana-Merquly mountain fortress is located on the eastern border of Adiabene, which was governed by the kings of a local dynasty dependent on the Parthians. It may have been used, among other things, to conduct trade with the pastoral tribes in the back country, maintain diplomatic relations, or exert military pressure. “The considerable effort that must have gone into planning, building, and maintaining a fortress of this size points to governmental activities,” stresses Dr Brown.

The current research in Rabana-Merquly is being funded by the German Research Foundation as part of priority program 2176, “The Iranian Highlands: Resilience and Integration of Premodern Societies”. The aim of the research project is to investigate Parthian settlements and society in the Zagros highlands on both sides of the Iran-Iraq border. During the latest excavations at Rabana-Merquly, Dr Brown collaborated with colleagues from the Directorate of Antiquities in Sulaymaniyah, a city in the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan. The results of the Heidelberg investigations were published in the journal “Antiquity”.

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Excavation of the perimeter wall at the entrance to Rabana valley. Rabana-Merquly Archaeological Project

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UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA—The study of the genomes of our closest relatives, the Neanderthals and Denisovans, has opened up new research paths that can broaden our understanding of the evolutionary history of Homo sapiens. A study* led by the University of Barcelona has made an estimation of the time when some of the genetic variants that characterize our species emerged. It does so by analyzing mutations that are very frequent in modern human populations, but not in these other species of archaic humans.

The results, published in the journal Scientific Reports, show two moments in which mutations accumulated: one around 40,000 years ago, associated with the growth of the Homo sapiens population and its departure from Africa, and an older one, more than 100,000 years ago, related to the time of the greatest diversity of types of Homo sapiens in Africa.

“The understanding of the deep history of our species is expanding rapidly. However, it is difficult to determine when the genetic variants that distinguish us from other human species emerged. In this study, we have placed species-specific variants on a timeline. We have discovered how these variants accumulate over time, reflecting events such as the point of divergence between Homo sapiens and other human species around 100,000 years ago”, says Alejandro Andirkó, first author of this article, which was part of his doctoral thesis at the UB.

The study, led by Cedric Boeckx, ICREA research professor in the section of General Linguistics and member of the Institute of Complex Systems of the UB (UBICS), included the participation of Juan Moriano, UB researcher, Alessandro Vitriolo and Giuseppe Testa, experts from the University of Milan and the European Institute of Oncology, and Martin Kuhlwilm, researcher at the University of Vienna.

Predominance of behavioral and facial-related variations

The results of the research study also show differences between evolutionary periods. Specifically, they highlight the predominance of genetic variants related to behavior and facial structure —key characteristics in the differentiation of our species from other human species— more than 300,000 years ago, a date that coincides with the available fossil and archaeological evidence. “We have discovered sets of genetic variants which affect the evolution of the face and which we have dated between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago, the period just prior to the dating of the earliest fossils of our species, such as the ones discovered at the Jebel Irhoud archaeological site in Morocco”, notes Andirkó.

The researchers also analyzed variants related to the brain, the organ that can best help explain key features of the rich repertoire of behaviors associated with Homo sapiens. Specifically, they dated variants which medical studies conducted in present-day humans have linked to the volume of the cerebellum, corpus callosum and other structures. “We found that brain tissues have a particular genomic expression profile at different times in our history; that is, certain genes related to neural development were more highly expressed at certain times,” says the researcher.

Supporting the mosaic nature of the evolution of Homo sapiens

These results complement an idea that is dominant in evolutionary anthropology: that there is no linear history of human species, but that different branches of our evolutionary tree coexisted and often intersected. “The breadth of the range of human diversity in the past has surprised anthropologists. Even within Homo sapiens there are fossils, such as the ones I mentioned earlier from Jebel Irhoud, which, because of their features, were thought to belong to another species. That’s why we say that human beings have lived a mosaic evolution,” he notes.

“Our results,” the researcher continues, “offer a picture of how our genetics changed, which fits this idea, as we found no evidence of evolutionary changes that depended on one or a several key mutations,” he says.

Application of machine learning techniques

The methodology used in the study was based on a Genealogical Estimation of Variant Age method, developed by researchers at the University of Oxford. Once they had this estimation, they applied a machine learning tool to predict which genes have changed the most in certain time windows and which tissues these genes may have impacted. Specifically, they used ExPecto, a deep learning tool that uses a convolutional network — a type of computational model — to predict gene expression levels and function from a DNA sequence.

“Since there are no data on the genomic expression of variants in the past, this tool is an approach to a problem that has not been addressed until now. Although the use of machine learning prediction is increasingly common in the clinical world, as far as we know, nobody has tried to predict the consequences of genomic changes over time,” notes Andirkó.

The importance of the perinatal phase in the brain development of our species

In a previous study, the same UB team, together with the researcher Raül Gómez Buisán, used genomic information from archaic humans. In that study they analyzed genomic deserts, regions of the genome of our species where there are no genetic fragments of Neanderthals or Denisovans, and which, moreover, have been subjected to positive pressure in our species: that is, they have accumulated more mutations than would have been expected by neutral evolution. The researchers studied the expression of genes — i.e., which proteins code for different functions — found in desert regions throughout brain development, from prenatal to adult stages, covering sixteen brain structures. The results showed differences in gene expression in the cerebellum, striatum and thalamus. “These results bring into focus the relevance of brain structures beyond the neocortex, which has traditionally dominated research on the evolution of the human brain,” says Juan Moriano.

Moreover, the most striking differences between brain structures were found at prenatal stages. “These findings add new evidence to the hypothesis of a species-specific trajectory of brain development taking place at perinatal stages — the period from 22 weeks to the end of the first four weeks of neonatal life — that would result in a more globular head shape in modern humans, in contrast to the more elongated shape seen in Neanderthals,” concludes Moriano.

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These results complement an idea that is dominant in evolutionary anthropology: that there is no linear history of human species, but that different branches of our evolutionary tree coexisted and often intersected. UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA, CC BY

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Article Source: UNIVERSITY OF BARCELONA news release.

*Fine-grained temporal mapping of derived high-frequency variants supports the mosaic nature of the evolution of Homo sapiens, Scientific Reports, 10.1038/s41598-022-13589-0 .

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CELL PRESS—For the first time, researchers successfully sequenced the genome of ancient human fossils from the Late Pleistocene in southern China. The data, published July 14 in the journal Current Biology*, suggests that the mysterious hominin belonged to an extinct maternal branch of modern humans that might have contributed to the origin of Native Americans.

“Ancient DNA technique is a really powerful tool,” Su says. “It tells us quite definitively that the Red Deer Cave people were modern humans instead of an archaic species, such as Neanderthals or Denisovans, despite their unusual morphological features,” he says.

The researchers compared the genome of these fossils to that of people from around the world. They found that the bones belonged to an individual that was linked deeply to the East Asian ancestry of Native Americans. Combined with previous research data, this finding led the team to propose that some of the southern East Asia people had traveled north along the coastline of present-day eastern China through Japan and reached Siberia tens of thousands of years ago. They then crossed the Bering Strait between the continents of Asia and North America and became the first people to arrive in the New World. 

The journey to making this discovery started over three decades ago, when a group of archaeologists in China discovered a large set of bones in the Maludong, or Red Deer Cave, in southern China’s Yunnan Province. Carbon dating showed that the fossils were from the Late Pleistocene about 14,000 years ago, a period of time when modern humans had migrated to many parts of the world.

From the cave, researchers recovered a hominin skull cap with characteristics of both modern humans and archaic humans. For example, the shape of the skull resembled that of Neanderthals, and its brain appeared to be smaller than that of modern humans. As a result, some anthropologists had thought the skull probably belonged to an unknown archaic human species that lived until fairly recently or to a hybrid population of archaic and modern humans.

In 2018, in collaboration with Xueping Ji, an archaeologist at Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Bing Su at Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and his colleagues successfully extracted ancient DNA from the skull. Genomic sequencing shows that the hominin belonged to an extinct maternal lineage of a group of modern humans whose surviving decedents are now found in East Asia, the Indo-China peninsula, and Southeast Asia islands.

The finding also shows that during the Late Pleistocene, hominins living in southern East Asia had rich genetic and morphologic diversity, the degree of which is greater than that in northern East Asia during the same period. It suggests that early humans who first arrived in eastern Asia had initially settled in the south before some of them moved to the north, Su says.

“It’s an important piece of evidence for understanding early human migration,” he says.

Next, the team plans to sequence more ancient human DNA by using fossils from southern East Asia, especially ones that predated the Red Deer Cave people.

“Such data will not only help us paint a more complete picture of how our ancestors migrate but also contain important information about how humans change their physical appearance by adapting to local environments over time, such as the variations in skin color in response to changes in sunlight exposure,” Su says.

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The lateral view of the skull unearthed from Red Dear Cave. Xueping Ji, CC BY-SA

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The excavation site of Maludong (Red Deer Cave). Xueping Ji, CC BY-SA

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he reproduced portrait of the Red Deer Cave People or Mengziren. Xueping Ji, CC BY-SA

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Article Source: Cell Press news release.

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the Kunming Institute of Zoology, CAS, Yunnan provincial “Ten Thousand Talents Plan-Youth Top Talent” project, and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of CAS.

*Current Biology, Zhang et al. “A Late Pleistocene human genome from Southwest China” https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(22)00928-9

Current Biology (@CurrentBiology), published by Cell Press, is a bimonthly journal that features papers across all areas of biology. Current Biology strives to foster communication across fields of biology, both by publishing important findings of general interest and through highly accessible front matter for non-specialists. Visit http://www.cell.com/current-biology. To receive Cell Press media alerts, contact press@cell.com.

GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY, ATLANTA—Georgia State University anthropologist Dr. Jeffrey Glover grew up in metro Atlanta, but speaking to him, it sounds like his heart is in Quintana Roo. This part of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula has been the home base for an expansive research project spanning more than 10 years. His research there with Dr. Dominique Rissolo, a maritime archaeologist at UC San Diego’s Qualcomm Institute, has uncovered thousands of artifacts that help them shed new light on the ancient Maya people who lived along this stretch of coast.

Glover and Rissolo are working with an interdisciplinary and international team of researchers to uncover new insights about the dynamic interplay between social and natural processes that shaped life for these ancient Maya people over the last 3,000 years. The team has just released a new article in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology summarizing their findings to date*.

“The Proyecto Costa Escondida,” which translates into English as the ‘hidden coast’ project, has focused on the ancient Maya port sites of Vista Alegre and Conil.

“We chose the project name because, the coast is literally hidden behind mangroves. We’ve canoed the coastline and you’ve really got to snake back to get to the site,” Glover said. “But at the same time, and more importantly, this region has been hidden from scholarship—there just hadn’t been a lot of work done there until we arrived.”

To date, the work has produced a wealth of knowledge about maritime Maya civilization since 800 BCE (Before Common Era). Glover, an associate professor of Anthropology, is using an historical ecology framework to better understand the dynamic relationship between humans and the environment at the ancient Maya port sites of Vista Alegre and Conil.

“This is about how people respond to change,” said Dr. John Yellen, program director for archeology at the U.S. National Science Foundation, which helped fund the research. “Through the lens of historical ecology, this broad team of researchers has shown how Maya adapted over centuries to a wide range of environmental changes. This insight into one society’s long-term adaptation to coastal environments provides a fruitful model for studying such interactions across many cultures.”

This region lies along Yucatan’s north coast, some hours from popular tourist attractions like Cancun and well-known archaeological sites like Chichen Itza and Tulum.

“What’s remarkable about our study area is that it represents one of the least developed coastlines on the northern Yucatan Peninsula,” said Rissolo, who was recently featured in a video series about the Maritime Maya. “When trying to understand the ancient maritime cultural landscape of the so-called ‘Riviera Maya,’ for example, your perspective is obscured by all-inclusive resorts, golf courses and theme parks. The shores of the Laguna Holbox, on the other hand, are still largely wild and offer a more unobstructed view into the region’s past.”

The site of Vista Alegre is a small island surrounded by mangroves that lies along the southern shore of the Holbox Lagoon (also called Conil or Yalahau Lagoon). Glover describes Vista Alegre as what was probably once a small, bustling port. Here, they’ve discovered and recorded as many as 40 rock-filled platforms that served as the foundation for perishable pole and thatch buildings. The largest is a pyramidal structure that stands about 13 meters—or nearly 43 feet—tall. Glover believes this probably served as a temple and a lookout where the site’s inhabitants could see if anyone was approaching by sea. Conil, on the other hand, is a much more expansive site located beneath the modern town of Chiquila and was encountered by early Spanish conquistadors who described it as a town of 5,000 houses.

Researchers have identified tens of thousands of artifacts and ecofacts (animal and plant remains that speak to past diets), which have helped improve our understanding of how the landscape has changed over time, how the people lived, and how they dealt with challenges not unlike those faced by people today, such as: rising sea levels and changing political and economic systems. “We are coordinating and synthesizing all the different datasets that we have, which gives us a wider-angle picture,” Glover said.

The project, which has been funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), combines traditional archaeological techniques (think digging with a small hand trowel or shovel) with new, high-tech practices for land and sea. Glover says it is a matter of making the most out of the materials at hand.

“Archaeology requires a broad knowledge of the latest scientific techniques mixed with a strong reliance on ‘MacGyvering,’ Glover said. “We often utilize rustic equipment combined with high-tech tools. On any given day, we might find ourselves in a small dinghy borrowed from the local community out of which we are running marine geophysical survey equipment or pounding PVC tubes into the sediments with a homemade fencepost driver.”  

The complex work of marine geoarchaeology was spearheaded by Dr. Beverly Goodman-Tchernov and Dr. Roy Jaijel of the University of Haifa in Israel. The core samples include sediment from the coastline and give researchers a better idea of how the coastline has changed over time by looking at a host of different datasets. In particular, the remains of tiny creatures (foraminifera) are preserved in the cores. These creatures lived in very specific environments, so by finding certain species of foraminifera, the team can reconstruct what the coastal environment was like. Instead of being hidden as it is today, Vista Alegre was most likely once more open and purposely built on a peninsula that jutted into the lagoon making it a more obvious destination for ancient canoe-based traders.

Along with paleo-coastline reconstruction, Dr. Patricia Beddows of Northwestern University has been combing research on the modern hydrological system with oxygen isotope values from the core sediments to study how access to freshwater changed over time as a result of rising sea-levels. The team has to bring all of their drinking water with them to the site, so they are keenly aware what a limiting factor freshwater access could have been for past peoples. One idea is that there were springs near the site in the past that have been effectively drowned by rising sea level. To try to identify freshwater seeps (that are about two degrees Celsius cooler than the ocean water) the team is using a drone equipped with a thermal camera to identify areas that might represent past sources of freshwater.

The team also uncovered tens of thousands of pieces of pottery and hundreds of pieces of obsidian (volcanic glass used to make tools that can be traced to its original geologic location), which reveal these coastal peoples were involved in extensive trade. Glover says the diversity of these artifacts stands out when compared to that of nearby, inland sites. The research team believes the archaeological data reinforce the idea that these coastal peoples had much broader and more cosmopolitan connections because they were part of long-distance, canoe-based trade networks.

These trade connections are most evident about 1,000 years ago when researchers see a major realignment and expansion in international trade associated with the emergence of Chichen Itza as a powerful religious, political, and economic city.

“Strong evidence of this realignment comes from the obsidian data which reveals greater connections to parts of central Mexico, near modern day Mexico City” Glover said.

Many of these artifacts come from poring over the detritus—or garbage—left behind by this past civilization, Glover says this is often an archeologist’s goldmine. Mixed with the pottery and obsidian, the research team found items like spindle whorls, that would have been used to make cotton thread which could have been traded as bolts of cloth or used for fishing lines or nets.

When asked what is missing, Rissolo said “We would love to find an intact ancient Maya trading canoe! It’s possible that such a vessel may be preserved beneath the muddy bottom of the bays surrounding Vista Alegre. We would learn so much about these legendary watercraft.”

The team also discovered an array of natural materials, including more than 20,000 animal bones, from sharks, rays, turtles and marine gastropods (gastropods include animals like conchs and whelks which have been studied by another project leader, Dr. Derek Smith). The team is working closely with Mexican archeologists at the Autonomous University of Yucatan in Merida, Mexico to analyze the animal remains and burial sites that have been discovered.

Research came to a halt during much of the pandemic, but after months of excavations and discovery of so many artifacts, the team is still working to analyze their findings. Glover said they are also in discussions with local leaders in Mexico to create a community museum to highlight the region’s rich cultural and natural history.

Often, when people think about the ancient Maya, they may picture some sudden, cataclysmic event that upended daily life and led to the end of this past, advanced civilization. Glover notes that this could not be further from the truth. Maya peoples are alive and well today in the Yucatan, Belize, and Guatemala. While the ‘collapse’ of Maya kingdoms between 800 and 900 CE often gets blown out of proportion in popular media, that does not mean that there were not changes in settlements over time.

“I think it’s a story, not of a sudden or mass exodus, but a shift over time,” Glover explained, “and to understand these shifts we must understand the complex interplay of environmental and cultural factors, which is what our research is revealing.”

The research also highlights the specific lifestyles and adaptive strategies needed to live in a dynamic coastal environment and how this fostered a shared identity amongst coastal Maya communities.

“Our research gives us some idea of the shared challenges that coastal peoples faced – rising sea-levels, diminished freshwater, changing economic and political systems – and they probably leaned from one another, Glover said. “In some ways, I think it might have been easier to hop in your canoe and paddle down the coast to seek help than it was to walk over land.”

“The past, just like the present is not static, and these people were constantly having to make decisions. Sometimes those decisions meant sticking it out, and sometimes they meant re-establishing their lives right down the coast. This new article is a great summation of what we have learned to date. But, you know, there’s always more to be done, and we certainly have plans to continue.” Glover said.

Later this year, the team will start a new project with Dr. Tim Murtha, a colleague at University of Florida, to conduct a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) survey. They will collect detailed elevation data that can reveal the distribution of ancient Maya settlements like house mounds or pyramids. While not focused on the coast, the project will help the team better understand the relationship between inland and coastal communities.

Please visit http://costaescondida.org for more information on the project. 

On this project, Glover and Rissolo teamed with Dr. Patricia Beddows (Northwestern University), Dr. Beverly Goodman (University of Haifa), Dr. Derek Smith (University of Washington), and others under the auspices of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH).

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Chichen Itza, located in the Yucatan Peninsula. Jarmoluk, Pixabay

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Article Source: GEORGIA STATE UNIVERSITY news release.

*The Proyecto Costa Escondida: Historical ecology and the study of past coastal landscapes in the Maya area, The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 9-Jun-2022. 10.1080/15564894.2022.2061652 

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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)—Contradicting the idea that cultural transmission was necessary for early humans to make stone tools, a new study* finds that 25 human participants with no knowledge of knapping (stone tool-making) all succeeded in figuring out these techniques on their own. The finding suggests that cumulative culture, in which practical knowledge accumulates across generations, may not have first emerged when humans developed Oldowan stone tool technology 2.6 million years ago. “This finding calls for a reinterpretation of the conclusions from previous knapping studies regarding modern human knappers and regarding premodern hominin knappers, seeing as these earlier studies did not truly test for technique-naïve individual performances,” write William Snyder, Jonathan Reeves, and Claudio Tennie. Cumulative culture is believed to have been instrumental to the adaptive success of humans. But despite its significance, it has not been clear when, over the course of human evolution, cumulative culture first originated. Scientists have suggested that it may have emerged during the time of the Oldowan industry, a stone tool technology that first appeared around 2.6 million years ago. However, previous studies had not tested whether cultural transmission of information is necessary for humans to make stone tools using knapping techniques. To investigate, Snyder et al. tested 28 human participants’ ability to replicate early knapping techniques, 25 of which were later found (through a questionnaire) to have no prior knowledge of knapping techniques. The participants were given access to raw materials for toolmaking and were presented with a puzzle box containing a reward that could be accessed by severing a rope holding a door shut. Beyond this, participants did not receive any information related to stone tools or tool-making techniques. Each had 4 hours to complete the task. Snyder et al. found that all 4 early knapping techniques (passive hammer, bipolar, freehand, and projectile) were individually developed by participants who had not received any culturally transmitted knowledge.

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Image shows the percussion of a glass hemisphere against a granite anvil in what is known as passive hammer technique, one way of creating sharp tools that can be used for cutting. William D. Snyder

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Summary author: Shannon Kelleher

Article Source: AAAS news release.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, N.C.— July 5, 2022 – A team of specialists and students led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill professor Jodi Magness recently returned to Israel’s Lower Galilee to continue unearthing nearly 1,600-year-old mosaics in an ancient Jewish synagogue at Huqoq. Discoveries made this year include the first known depiction of the biblical heroines Deborah and Jael as described in the book of Judges.

The Huqoq Excavation Project is now in its 10th season after recent seasons were paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Project director Magness, the Kenan Distinguished Professor of religious studies in Carolina’s College of Arts & Sciences, and assistant director Dennis Mizzi of the University of Malta focused this season on the southwest part of the synagogue, which was built in the late fourth-early fifth century C.E.

This season, the project team unearthed a part of the synagogue’s floor decorated with a large mosaic panel that is divided into three horizontal strips (called registers), which depicts an episode from the book of Judges chapter 4: The victory of the Israelite forces led by the prophetess and judge Deborah and the military commander Barak over the Canaanite army led by the general Sisera. The Bible relates that after the battle, Sisera took refuge in the tent of a Kenite woman named Jael (Yael), who killed him by driving a tent stake through his temple as he slept. The uppermost register of the newly-discovered Huqoq mosaic shows Deborah under a palm tree, gazing at Barak, who is equipped with a shield. Only a small part of the middle register is preserved, which appears to show Sisera seated. The lowest register depicts Sisera lying deceased on the ground, bleeding from the head as Jael hammers a tent stake through his temple. 

“This is the first depiction of this episode and the first time we’ve seen a depiction of the biblical heroines Deborah and Jael in ancient Jewish art,” Magness said. “Looking at the book of Joshua chapter 19, we can see how the story might have had special resonance for the Jewish community at Huqoq, as it is described as taking place in the same geographical region – the territory of the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulon.”  

Also among the newly discovered mosaics is a fragmentary Hebrew dedicatory inscription inside a wreath, flanked by panels measuring 6 feet tall and 2 feet wide, which show two vases that hold sprouting vines. The vines form medallions that frame four animals eating clusters of grapes: a hare, a fox, a leopard and a wild boar.

A decade of discovery

Mosaics were first discovered at the site in 2012, and work continued each summer until the COVID-19 pandemic paused work after the dig in 2019. The mosaics exposed in the last 10 active seasons cover the synagogue’s aisles and main hall.

Discoveries along the east aisle include:

• Panels depicting Samson and the foxes (as related in Judges 15:4)
• Samson carrying the gate of Gaza on his shoulders (Judges 16:3)
• A Hebrew inscription surrounded by human figures, animals and mythological creatures including putti, or cupids
• The first non-biblical story ever found decorating an ancient synagogue — perhaps the legendary meeting between Alexander the Great and the Jewish high priest 

The mosaic floor in the north aisle is divided into two rows of panels containing figures and objects accompanied by Hebrew inscriptions identifying them as biblical stories, including:

• One panel depicts two of the spies sent by Moses to explore Canaan carrying a pole with a cluster of grapes, labeled “a pole between two” (from Numbers 13:23)
• Another panel showing a man leading an animal on a rope is accompanied by the inscription “a small child shall lead them” (Isaiah 11:6)

The mosaics panels in the nave, or main hall, include:

• A portrayal of Noah’s Ark
• The parting of the Red Sea
• A Helios-zodiac cycle
• Jonah being swallowed by three successive fish
• The building of the Tower of Babel

 In 2019, the team uncovered panels in the north aisle that frame figures of animals identified by an Aramaic inscription as the four beasts representing four kingdoms in the book of Daniel, chapter 7. A large panel in the northwest aisle depicts Elim, the spot where the Israelites camped by 12 springs and 70 date palms after departing Egypt and wandering in the wilderness without water (Exodus 15:27).

In the 14th century C.E. (the Mamluk period), the synagogue was rebuilt and expanded in size, perhaps in connection with the rise of a tradition that the Tomb of Habakkuk was located nearby, which became a focal point of late medieval Jewish pilgrimage.

“The 14th century C.E. building appears to be the first Mamluk period synagogue ever discovered in Israel, making it no less important than the earlier building,” said Magness.

Sponsors of the project are UNC-Chapel Hill, Austin College, Baylor University, Brigham Young University and the University of Toronto. Students and staff from Carolina and the consortium schools participated in the dig. Financial support for the 2022 season was also provided by the National Geographic Society, the Loeb Classical Library Foundation, the Kenan Charitable Trust and the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The mosaics have been removed from the site for conservation, and the excavated areas have been backfilled. Excavations are scheduled to continue in summer 2023. For additional information and updates, visit the project’s website: www.huqoq.org.

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Article Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill news release.

About the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill  

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the nation’s first public university, is a global higher education leader known for innovative teaching, research and public service. A member of the prestigious Association of American Universities, Carolina regularly ranks as the best value for academic quality in U.S. public higher education. Now in its third century, the University offers 77 bachelor’s, 112 master’s, 66 doctorate and seven professional degree programs through 14 schools, including the College of Arts & Sciences. Every day, faculty, staff and students shape their teaching, research and public service to meet North Carolina’s most pressing needs in every region and all 100 counties. Carolina’s more than 355,786 alumni live in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories and 147 countries. More than 189,842 live in North Carolina.

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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES—A study* finds evidence suggesting that only four to seven of 23 purported fossil Homo specimens from southern Africa belong to the genus Homo, with the others sharing traits with other hominin lineages. Identifying the origin and extent of early Homo species can help uncover the selective pressures that may have led to the speciation of Homo and the evolutionary relationships between early Homo, Australopithecus, and Paranthropus. Clément Zanolli and colleagues examined the internal structure of teeth attributed to Early Pleistocene Homo specimens from the Sterkfontein, Swartkrans, Drimolen, and Kromdraai B hominin-bearing sites in southern Africa. Using microcomputed tomography and 3D geometric morphometrics, the authors analyzed taxonomically relevant tooth structures from 23 specimens, finding that only four of the specimens—three from Swartkrans and one from Sterkfontein—were unambiguously Homo specimens. Three additional Sterkfontein samples contained derived Homo features but also retained some Australopithecus-like traits, and the remaining specimens exhibited only Australopithecus or Paranthropus features. The results prompt a re-evaluation of purported Homo specimens, particularly specimens with a geochemical profile that previously suggested a diversity of diet and ecology in Homo species but that are likely properly interpreted as consistent with the profile of Australopithecus. According to the authors, correct taxonomic interpretation of hominin samples could illuminate the development and expansion of Homo species in the Early Pleistocene Epoch.

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The mandible SK 15, previously attributed to Homo erectus, and more likely representing a species of robust australopith. Clément Zanolli

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The enamel-dentine junction of the second maxillary molar of the human specimen SK 27 compared with those of early Homo, Australopithecus, and Paranthropus. Clément Zanolli

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Article Source: PNAS news release.

*“Dental data challenge the ubiquitous presence of Homo in the Cradle of Humankind,” by Clément Zanolli et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 4-Jul-2022. https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2111212119

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AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS)—An analysis of ancient and modern DNA from Micronesia – a scattering of nearly 2,000 islands in the western Pacific Ocean – has revealed unique migration and population patterns in the region unlike those in the nearby southwest Pacific. The findings indicate that Micronesia was populated by 5 successive migration streams from Southeast Asian islands. Moreover, these early settlements were matrilocal, characterized by a female household-centered social structure where men migrated to find their mates, settling with the female’s family and community. Archaeological evidence suggests that people first arrived and began settling the vast region of Micronesia roughly 3,500 years ago. However, due to sparse genomic data, where these people migrated from isn’t well understood. Despite this, Micronesia’s genetic history is often assumed to be similar to that of the southwest Pacific and Polynesia. Here, Yue-Chen Lui, David Reich and colleagues present an analysis of 164 ancient human genomes from five different archeological sites across Micronesia, representing several prehistoric periods ranging from 2,800-500 years ago, as well as 112 genomes from present-day individuals from the same area. Lui et al. discovered five separate migrations into Micronesia – three likely originating in East Asia, one from Polynesia and another from a Papuan source related to mainland New Guineans. According to the findings, people of the Mariana Archipelago may be the only population in Remote Oceania without Papuan ancestry. While the genomic ancestry of Micronesia differs from that in the southwest Pacific, the authors noted that female-inherited mitochondrial DNA was highly differentiated among Island communities, yet similar within them across many Pacific Islands. These findings indicate that many of the earliest groups to settle the region were matrilocal.

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Micronesian sunset. Pixabay

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Summary author: Walter Beckwith

Article Source: AAAS news release