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PLOS—A research group led by Johannes Müller at the Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, at Kiel University, Germany, have shed light on the lives of people who lived over 5,600 years ago near Kosenivka, Ukraine. Published on December 11, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE, the researchers present the first detailed bioarchaeological analyses of human diets from this area and provide estimations on the causes of death of the individuals found at this site.

The people associated with the Neolithic Cucuteni-Trypilla culture lived across Eastern Europe from approximately 5500 to 2750 BCE. With up to 15,000 inhabitants, some of their mega-sites are among the earliest and largest city-like settlements in prehistoric Europe. Despite the vast number of artefacts the Trypillia left behind, archeologists have found very few human remains. Due to this absence, many facets of the lives of this ancient people are still undiscovered.

The researchers studied a settlement site near Kosenivka, Ukraine. Comprised of several houses, this site is unique for the presence of human remains. The 50 human bone fragments recovered among the remains of a house stem from at least seven individuals—children, adults, males and a female, perhaps once inhabitants of the house. The remains of four of the individuals were also heavily burnt. The researchers were keen to explore potential causes for these burns, such as an accidental fire, or a rare form of burial rite.

The burnt bone fragments were largely found in the center of the house, and previous studies surmised the inhabitants of this site died in a house fire. Scrutinizing the pieces of bone under a microscope, the researchers concluded that the burning probably occurred quickly after death. In the case of an accidental fire, the researchers propose that some individuals could have died of carbon monoxide poisoning, even if they fled the house.

According to radiocarbon dating, one of the individuals died ca. 100 years later. The death of this person cannot be connected to the fire, but is otherwise unknown. Two other individuals with unhealed cranial injuries raise the question of whether violence could have played a role as well. A review of Trypillian human bone finds showed the researchers that less than 1% of the dead were cremated, and even more rarely buried within a house.

While bones can help archeologists speculate how ancient people died, these remains can also help us understand how they lived. By analyzing the carbon and nitrogen present in the bones—as well as in grains and the remains of animals found at the site—the researchers determined meat made up less than 10% of the inhabitants’ diets. This is in line with teeth found at the site, which have wear marks that indicate chewing on grains and other plant fibers. That Trypillia diets consisted mostly of plants supports theories that cattle in these cultures were primarily used for manuring the fields and milk rather than meat production.

Katharina Fuchs, first author of the study, adds: “Skeletal remains are real biological archives. Although researching the Trypillia societies and their living conditions in the oldest city-like communities in Eastern Europe will remain challenging, our ‘Kosenvika case’ clearly shows that even small fragments of bone are of great help. By combining new osteological, isotopic, archaeobotanical and archaeological information, we provide an exceptional insight into the lives—and perhaps also the deaths—of these people.”

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Archaeological context of Kosenivka. A: Map showing the location of the settlement of Kosenivka and the Chalcolithic sites referred to in the text. B: Photo showing the location of house 6 within the landscape. C: Photo showing house 6 being excavated, in 2004 (Map: R. Hofmann. Photos: republished from Kruts et al. [22] under a CC BY license with permission from V. Chabanyuk, original copyright 2005). Fuchs et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Kosenivka, selection of oral and pathological conditions. A–E: Individual 5/6/+left maxilla. A: Teeth positions 23–26 (buccal view). Signs of periodontal inflammation (upper arrows) and examples of dental calculus accumulation (third arrow) and dental chipping (lower arrow) on the first premolar (tooth 24). B: First premolar (24, mesial view). Interproximal grooving with horizonal striations on the lingual surface of the root (upper arrow) and at the cemento–enamel junction (middle arrow). Larger chipping lesion (lower arrow). C: Canine (23, distal view). Interproximal grooving, same location as on the neighbouring premolar (see B), but less distinct. D, E: Signs of periosteal reaction on the left maxillary sinus (medio–superior view). Increased vessel impressions (D, upper arrow) and porosity, as well as uneven bone surface (D, lower arrow, E), indicating inflammatory processes. F: Individual 2, left temporal, fragment (endocranial view). Periosteal reaction indicated by porous new bone formation (arrow). G: Individual 5, frontal bone (endocranial view). Periosteal reaction indicated by tongue-like new bone formation and increased vessel impressions (arrows). H: Individual 5/6/+, frontal bone, right part, orbital roof (inferior view). Signs of cribra orbitalia (evidenced by porosity, see arrow). Illustration: K. Fuchs. Fuchs et al., 2024, PLOS ONE, CC-BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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Article Source: PLOS ONE news release.

*Life and death in Trypillia times: Interdisciplinary analyses of the unique human remains from the settlement of Kosenivka, Ukraine (3700–3600 BCE), PLOS ONE, 11-Dec-2024. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0289769

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—Researchers uncovered a Paleolithic ritual chamber deep within a cave in the Levant*. The initial emergence of collective ritual practices among early humans in the Paleolithic period is not well-understood, partly due to the difficulty of identifying such ephemeral practices in the archaeological record. Omry Barzilai, Ofer Marder, Israel Hershkovitz, and colleagues documented an Early Upper Paleolithic ritual compound deep within Manot Cave in Israel. The ritual compound’s location in the deepest part of the cave is distinct from living areas close to the cave’s entrance, where activities such as flint knapping, animal butchering, and food consumption took place. The ritual site comprised a large gallery partitioned by speleothem cave formations. A large dolomite boulder engraved with complex, geometric patterns resembling a tortoise shell was prominently positioned at the back of the gallery. Linear microscratches within the grooves of the engraving indicated that it was carved by humans using sharp flint tools. Analysis of calcite crust on the boulder helped date the engraving to around 37,000–35,000 years ago. Wood ash particles identified in stalagmite laminae suggested that fire was used to illuminate the chamber. Acoustic analysis suggested that the ritual chamber was well-suited for conversations during communal gatherings. According to the authors, the ritual chamber represents the earliest known evidence of religious behavior in the Paleolithic Levant.

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Ritual compound at the deepest, darkest part of Manot Cave. Guy Geva

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Public ritual compound at the deepest part of Manot Cave and two rows of stalagmites leading to it. Guy Geva

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Article Source: PNAS news release.

*“Early human collective practices and symbolism in the Early Upper Paleolithic of Southwest Asia,” by Omry Barzilai et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 9-Dec-2024. https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2404632121

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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences—Early rice domestication expanded alongside alcohol fermentation in Neolithic China, according to a study. Archaeological evidence has linked the earliest stages of rice (Oryza sp.) cultivation to the Shangshan culture in China’s lower Yangzi River region. The social processes that drove early rice domestication have not been well-studied. To explore early uses of domestic rice, Li Liu, Jianping Zhang, and colleagues analyzed microfossil remains, including phytoliths, starch granules, and fungi, associated with 12 pottery sherds excavated from the earliest deposits at a Shangshan site dated to around 10,000–9,000 years ago. The authors analyzed residues from the interior surfaces of the sherds and plant material incorporated into the clay itself. The analysis suggested that early domesticated rice was used both as a staple crop and for brewing fermented beverages using a traditional qu starter containing Monascus mold and yeast as fermentation agents. The authors note that the warm, humid climate of the early Holocene Epoch would have promoted fungal growth. Job’s tears grains, Panicoideae and Triticeae grasses, acorns, and lilies supplemented rice as fermentation ingredients. The authors report that the documented brewing method represents the earliest known fermentation technique in East Asia. According to the authors, alcoholic rice beverages likely served ritual functions and may have played a key role in the expansion of rice cultivation in Neolithic China.

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Shangshan pottery vessels and artistic representation of red beer served with a jar and cup. Leping Jiang, Jianping Zhang

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Article Source: PNAS news release.

*“Identification of 10,000-year-old rice beer at Shangshan in the Lower Yangzi River valley of China,” by Li Liu et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 9-Dec-2024. https://www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.2412274121

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Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona—The interdisciplinary research of archaeological remains found in the Cave of Los Murciélagos in Albuñol, Granada, has revealed the sophistication of Ancient Neolithic archery in the Iberian Peninsula (5300-4900 BCE), and provides unprecedented information in the European context on the materials and manufacturing techniques used.

The study was led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) and published in Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio). Several research teams from centres and universities in Spain were involved in the study, including the University of Alcalá (UAH), the Institute of Heritage Sciences (INCIPIT-CSIC) and the UAB Institute for Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA-UAB), as well as the Université Côte d’Azur and the CNRS in France.

The exceptional preservation of the organic remains, preserved thanks to having dried out, made it possible to identify and document elements of the archery equipment of Neolithic populations inhabiting the southwestern part of the peninsula some 7,000 years ago. Among the findings are arrows preserved with their original feathers, remains of fibres, and two bowstrings made of animal sinews, which are the oldest found so far in Europe.

«The identification of these bowstrings marks a crucial step in the study of Neolithic weaponry. Not only were we able to confirm the use of animal tendons to make them, but we also identified the genus or species of animal from which they came», explains Ingrid Bertin, researcher at the UAB and first author of the published article. Tendons from Capra sp. (a genus that includes several species of goats and ibex), Sus sp. (a genus to which wild boar and pigs belong) and roe deer were used, which were twisted together to create ropes of sufficient length. «With this technique, strong and flexible ropes could be made, to meet the needs of experienced archers. This degree of precision and technical mastery, where every detail counts, attests to the exceptional knowledge of these Neolithic artisans», says Raquel Piqué, researcher in the Department of Prehistory of the UAB and coordinator of the study.

Local resources and thorough transformations

On the other hand, the arrow shafts provide new information on the use of local resources and a thorough transformation. For the first time, the analysis has revealed the use of olive wood (Olea europaea) and reed wood (Phragmites sp).

The use of reeds for the manufacturing of arrows in prehistoric Europe, a hypothesis considered by researchers for decades, is finally confirmed by these findings. In addition, the combination of olive, willow and reed wood is a particularly interesting choice of materials: «This integration offers a hard and dense front section, complemented by a light back, which significantly improves the ballistic properties of the arrows, whose tips are made of wood without stone or bone projectiles. Future experiments may clarify whether these arrows could have been used for hunting or close-range combat, or whether they could have been non-lethal arrows», Ingrid Bertin states.

Finally, the arrow shafts were coated with birch bark pitch, a material obtained by a controlled heat treatment of the bark of this tree, used not only for its protective properties, but probably also for decorative purposes, which adds an aesthetic and functional dimension to the equipment.

New perspective on the region’s Neolithic groups

Since the early Neolithic, populations have developed technical knowledge that attests to an impressive adaptation to local resources, but the combination of varied materials and advanced techniques identified in this study redefines current understanding of the technologies used by prehistoric communities and offers a new perspective on Neolithic societies in the region, the research team states.

«The discoveries contribute to enrich the understanding of the artisan practices and daily life of prehistoric societies and open ways for the study of ancient weaponry, by revealing methods and materials that can be investigated at other European Neolithic archaeological sites», says Raquel Piqué. She goes on to say: «In addition, they provide a better understanding of the symbolic sphere linked to these grave goods from a funerary context, such as is the Cave of Los Murciélagos».

The research team concludes that the discoveries made at the Cave of Los Murciélagos redefine the limits of our knowledge about the earliest agricultural societies in Europe and provide a unique view on ancestral archery materials and practices.

The study of the archaeological remains was carried out by applying advanced microscopy and biomolecular analysis techniques, which combine protein and lipid analysis.

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This research was carried out under the framework of the CHEMARCH project (MSCA-ITN-EJD, The chemistry and molecular biology of prehistoric artifacts) funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 programme, with the participation of ICTA-UAB, Universidad de Alcalá, INCIPIT-CSIC, Universidad de Córdoba, Universidad de las Palmas de Gran Canarias, Université Côte d’Azur and CNRS (France).

It was also carried out within the framework of the project “From the Museum to the Field: Updating Scholarship on the Cave of Los Murciélagos in Albuñol, Granada” (MUTERMUR), financed by the Regional Government of Madrid and the University of Alcalá. The objective of this project is the holistic study of the site and its material record, applying the latest archaeometric techniques and generating quality scientific data. The project included the collaboration of the National Archaeological Museum, the Archaeological and Ethnological Museum of Granada, the City Council of Albuñol, and the owners of the cave.

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Three Neolithic arrows recovered from the Cave of Los Murciélagos in Albuñol: reed and wood (above) and details of tied sinew fibers, feathers and birch bark pitch (below). © MUTERMUR Project.

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Fragments of sine bowstrings from the Cave of Los Murciélagos in Albuñol, the oldest bowstrings found so far in Europe. © MUTERMUR Project.

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Article Source: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona news release.

*Iberian Neolithic societies had a deep knowledge of archery techniques and materials, Scientific Reports, 5-Dec-2024. 

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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—A new analysis* of stable isotope data gathered from the only known representative of the ancient Paleoindian Clovis culture – an 18-month-old boy referred to as Anzick-1, who lived roughly 12,800 years ago in what is now Montana – has shown that his mother subsisted on a diet heavy in mammoth meat. Elk, bison, and a now-extinct genus of camel (Camelops) together ranked a distant second, with little evidence for smaller animals or plants contributing dietary protein. Moreover, the child’s isotopic “fingerprint” (inherited directly from his mother, as he was likely still breastfeeding) most closely resembles that of the extinct scimitar cat (Homotherium serum), known to be a mammoth specialist. James Chatters and colleagues suggest that their results lend substantial support to a long-debated hypothesis that the Western Clovis people were accomplished hunters, specializing in mammoth and other large animals – and not generalist foragers, as suggested by a competing hypothesis. “Our results provide direct evidence for Western Clovis diets at ~12,800 cal yr B.P.,” the authors write, noting that their analysis also comports with prior zooarchaeological evidence, including strong representation of mammoth remains across known Clovis faunal assemblages. “Collectively, these data suggest that Western Clovis people (represented by Anzick-1) were more focused on larger-bodied megafaunal grazers, primarily Mammuthus, and were not generalists who regularly consumed smaller-bodied herbivores.” To date, only three individuals have been identified as likely members of the Clovis culture. Of these, Anzick-1 is the only one that was both found in close association with Clovis artifacts and for whom researchers could generate an isotopic fingerprint from bone collagen. Found accidentally in 1968, analyses of Anzick-1 yielded genetic data in addition to isotopic fingerprinting, before the individual was repatriated and reinterred in 2014. Accordingly, Chatters et al. relied entirely on these previously published data for their analyses of Anzick-1’s maternal diet. They then gathered isotopic fingerprints for a variety of possible prey species that shared time and space with the Western Clovis culture – some previously published and some gained from new analyses. They plugged these profiles into three different dietary mixing models to generate a suite of likely diets for Anzick-1’s mother. They also did the same for several contemporaneous predator species for comparison, and saw that the scimitar cat – strongly suspected to be a mammoth specialist – offered the closest match. “Our findings are consistent with the Clovis megafaunal specialist model, using sophisticated technology and high residential mobility to subsist on the highest ranked prey, an adaptation allowing them to rapidly expand across the Americas south of the Pleistocene ice sheets,” Chatters et al. conclude.

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Location of Anzick site, faunal samples (circles) used in this study, and major Clovis sites (triangles). Glacial ice at 12,800 cal yr B.P. (72). Chatters et al., Sci. Adv. 10, eadr3814 (2024)

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A larger version of the submitted cover art depicting findings of the study. The image was created in a collaboration between the artist, Eric Carlson (Desert Archaeology, Inc.) and archaeologists Ben Potter (University of Alaska Fairbanks) and Jim Chatters (McMaster University).

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Article Source: AAAS news release.

*Mammoth featured heavily in Western Clovis diet, Science Advances, 4-Dec-2024. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr3814

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Aalto University—From feeling heavy-hearted to having butterflies in your stomach, it seems inherent to the human condition that we feel emotions in our bodies, not just in our brains. But have we always felt –– or at least expressed –– these feelings in the same way?

A multidisciplinary team of researchers studied a large body of texts to find out how people in the ancient Mesopotamian region (within modern day Iraq) experienced emotions in their bodies thousands of years ago, analysing one million words of the ancient Akkadian language from 934-612 BC in the form of cuneiform scripts on clay tablets. 

‘Even in ancient Mesopotamia, there was a rough understanding of anatomy, for example the importance of the heart, liver and lungs,’ says Professor Saana Svärd of the University of Helsinki, an Assyriologist who is leading the research project. One of the most intriguing findings relates to where the ancients felt happiness, which was often expressed through words related to feeling ‘open’, ‘shining’ or being ‘full’ –– in the liver.

‘If you compare the ancient Mesopotamian bodily map of happiness with modern bodily maps [published by fellow Finnish scientist, Lauri Nummenmaa and colleagues a decade ago], it is largely similar, with the exception of a notable glow in the liver,’ says cognitive neuroscientist Juha Lahnakoski, a visiting researcher at Aalto University.

Other contrasting results between ourselves and the ancients can be seen in emotions such as anger and love. According to previous research, anger is experienced by modern humans in the upper body and hands, while Mesopotamians felt most ‘heated’, ‘enraged’ or ‘angry’ in their feet. Meanwhile, love is experienced quite similarly by modern and Neo-Assyrian man, although in Mesopotamia it is particularly associated with the liver, heart and knees.

‘It remains to be seen whether we can say something in the future about what kind of emotional experiences are typical for humans in general and whether, for example, fear has always been felt in the same parts of the body. Also, we have to keep in mind that texts are texts and emotions are lived and experienced,’ says Svärd. The researchers caution that while it’s fascinating to compare, we should keep this distinction in mind when comparing the modern body maps, which were based on self-reported bodily experience, with body maps of Mesopotamians based on linguistic descriptions alone.

Towards a deeper understanding of emotions

Since literacy was rare in Mesopotamia (3 000-300 BCE), cuneiform writing was mainly produced by scribes and therefore available only to the wealthy. However, cuneiform clay tablets contained a wide variety of texts, such as tax lists, sales documents, prayers, literature and early historical and mathematical texts.

Ancient Near Eastern texts have never been studied in this way, by quantitatively linking emotions to body parts. This can be applied to other language materials in the future. ‘It could be a useful way to explore intercultural differences in the way we experience emotions,’ says Svärd, who hopes the research will provide an interesting contribution to discussion around the universality of emotions.

The results of the research will be published in the iScience journal on 4 December.

The corpus linguistic method, which makes use of large text sets, has been developed over many years in the Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires (ANEE), led by Svärd. Next, the research team will look at an English corpus, or textual material from the 20th century, which contains 100 million words. Similarly, they also plan to examine Finnish data. 

In addition to Svärd and Lahnakoski, the team includes Professor Mikko Sams from Aalto University, Ellie Bennett from the University of Helsinki, Professor Lauri Nummenmaa from the University of Turku and Ulrike Steinert from Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz. The project is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation.

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Modern and Mesopotamian people experience love in a rather similar way. In Mesopotamia, love is particularly associated with the liver, heart and knees. Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al. 2014, Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski et al. 2024. 

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Modern man experiences anger in the upper body and hands. In Mesopotamia, anger was associated specifically with the feet. Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al. 2014, Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski et al. 2024.
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Happiness ‘lights up’ similar areas on both modern and ancient body maps, with the exception of the liver, which was more significant for the ancient Mesopotamians. Figure: Modern/PNAS: Lauri Nummenmaa et al. 2014, Mesopotamian: Juha Lahnakoski et. al 2024.

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Article Source: Aalto University news release.

*Embodied emotions in ancient Neo-Assyrian texts revealed by bodily mapping of emotional semantics, iScience, 4-Dec-2024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.111365

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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—Newly discovered footprints show that at least two hominid species were walking through the muddy submerged edge of a lake in Kenya’s Turkana Basin at the same time, about 1.5 million years ago. The find from the famous hominid fossil site of Koobi Fora described by Kevin Hatala and colleagues provides physical evidence for the co-existence of multiple hominid lineages in the region—something that has only been inferred previously from overlapping dates for scattered fossils. Based on information on gait and stance gleaned from the footprints, Hatala et al. think that the two species were Homo erectus and Paranthropus boisei. This is the first evidence of two different patterns of bipedalism among Pleistocene hominids appearing on the same footprint surface. After examining the new Koobi Fora footprints, the researchers analyzed other similar-age hominid footprints and conclude there is a distinct pattern of two different types of bipedalism across the East Turkana region. The overall analysis indicates that the different species were contemporaneously using these lake habitats, with varying possibilities of competition or niche partitioning that could have impacted trends in human evolution. William Harcourt-Smith discusses the implications of the footprints in a related Perspective.

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A footprint hypothesized to have been created by a Homo erectus individual. Kevin G. Hatala

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An aerial photo of the excavated trackway surface, with members of the research team along its perimeter. Louise N. Leakey

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A footprint hypothesized to have been created by a Paranthropus boisei individual. Kevin G. Hatala

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Members of the research team excavating the trackway surface. Neil T. Roach

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A trackway of footprints hypothesized to have been created by a Paranthropus boisei individual. Neil T. Roach

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Article Source: AAAS news release.

*Footprint evidence for locomotor diversity and shared habitats among early Pleistocene hominins, Science, 29-Nov-2024. 10.1126/science.ado5275 

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University of Wyoming—A Wyoming archaeological site where people killed or scavenged a Columbian mammoth nearly 13,000 years ago has produced yet another discovery that sheds light on the life of these early inhabitants of North America.

Wyoming State Archaeologist Spencer Pelton and colleagues at the University of Wyoming and other institutions have found that these Paleolithic humans made needles from the bones of fur-bearers — including foxes; hares or rabbits; and cats such as bobcats, mountain lions, lynx and possibly even the now-extinct American cheetah. The needles likely were used to create garments from the animals’ furs to keep the early foragers warm in what was a cool climate.

The findings appear in the journal PLOS ONE, a top-tier, peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science.

“Our study* is the first to identify the species and likely elements from which Paleoindians produced eyed bone needles,” the researchers wrote. “Our results are strong evidence for tailored garment production using bone needles and fur-bearing animal pelts. These garments partially enabled modern human dispersal to northern latitudes and eventually enabled colonization of the Americas.”

The LaPrele site in Converse County preserves the remains of a killed or scavenged sub-adult mammoth and an associated camp occupied during the time the animal was butchered almost 13,000 years ago. Also discovered in the archaeological excavation — led by UW Department of Anthropology Professor Todd Surovell — was a bead made from a hare bone, the oldest known bead in the Americas.

Identification of the origins of both the bone bead and bone needles was made possible through the use of zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry, also known as ZooMS, and Micro-CT scanning. Collagen was extracted from the artifacts, and the chemical composition of the bone was analyzed.

The researchers examined 32 bone needle fragments collected at the LaPrele Mammoth site, comparing peptides — short chains of amino acids — from those artifacts with those of animals known to have existed during the Early Paleondian period, which refers to a prehistoric era in North America between 13,500 and 12,000 years ago.

The comparison concluded that bones from red foxes; bobcats, mountain lions, lynx or the American cheetah; and hares or rabbits were used to make needles at the LaPrele site. This is the first such analysis ever conducted.

“Despite the importance of bone needles to explaining global modern human dispersal, archaeologists have never identified the materials used to produce them, thus limiting understanding of this important cultural innovation,” the researchers wrote.

Previous research has shown that, in order to cope with cold temperatures in northern latitudes, humans likely created tailored garments with closely stitched seams, providing a barrier against the elements. While there’s little direct evidence of such garments, there is indirect evidence in the form of bone needles and the bones of fur-bearers whose pelts were used in the garments.

“Once equipped with such garments, modern humans had the capacity to expand their range to places from which they were previously excluded due to the threat of hypothermia or death from exposure,” Pelton and his colleagues wrote.

How did the people at the LaPrele site obtain the fur-bearing animals? Pelton and his colleagues say it was likely through trapping — and not necessarily in pursuit of food.

“Our results are a good reminder that foragers use animal products for a wide range of purposes other than subsistence, and that the mere presence of animal bones in an archaeological site need not be indicative of diet,” the researchers concluded. “Combined with a review of comparable evidence from other North American Paleoindian sites, our results suggest that North American Early Paleoindians had direct access to fur-bearing predators, likely from trapping, and represent some of the most detailed evidence yet discovered for Paleoindian garments.”

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This is an aerial view of the LaPrele archaeological site near Douglas, Wyoming. Todd Surovell

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An eyed needle made from the bone of a red fox found at the LaPrele archaeological site in Wyoming’s Converse County. Todd Surovell

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Article Source: University of Wyoming news release.

*Early Paleoindian use of canids, felids, and hares for bone needle production at the La Prele site, Wyoming, USA, PLOS ONE, 27-Nov-2024. 

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A new study* provides new insight on the evolution of brain size among human ancestors and related species over a period of about 7 million years. The research by a team of scientists, published in a study report by Thomas A. Püschel, et al. in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, employed a phylogenetic approach to paleoanthropological data from fossil specimens across a variety of hominin species through a timeline of approximately 7 million years.  The results indicated that relative brain size increases across this time span arose from differential increases recorded within individual species. They also found that any variation in brain size after accounting for this effect was associated with body mass differences, not time. Moreover, the analysis showed that the within-species increases escalated in the more recent lineages, suggesting an overall pattern of accelerated increasing brain size in the later time periods.

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Article Source: PNAS news release.

*Thomas A. Püschel , et al., Hominin brain size increase has emerged from within-species encephalization, PNAS, 26-Nov-2024. https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2409542121 

Cover Image, Top Left: Lateral cranial comparison of  hominin species. Hawks et al. (9 May 2017). “New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa”. eLife, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons 

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University of Seville—All cultures, however primitive, have used glues, resins and pitches obtained from various plants for their mechanical or medicinal properties. Neanderthals were no exception.

This species commonly used birch pitch as an adhesive to bind lithic pieces and even as a chewing agent, possibly medicinal.

However, until now, it was not known how they could obtain this pitch.

Theoretical work distinguished two methods of obtaining pitch: a simple, not very productive one, by open-air combustion of birch bark, and a more complex one requiring anoxic heating of birch chips.

That is, using buried pieces of wood heated with a fire so that they exuded the resin while they could not burn because they were insulated from oxygen.

Whether they used one method or the other has major implications for rating their cognitive ability. The more complex method requires a significant degree of organisation and practice.

Caves that are a reflection of the past

A scientific study*, involving the University of Seville, has for the first time described a structure compatible with theoretical studies of anoxic heating.

The structure looks like a simple pit, and this simplicity may be why this structure has not been identified.

Only through a multitude of analyses and the collaboration of a multidisciplinary team has it been possible to demonstrate its use as an anoxic heating chamber.

The discovery was made in Vanguard Cave (Gibraltar, UK), part of the ‘Gorham’s Caves Complex,’ which has been recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016.

This complex has once again proved its ability to preserve authentic snapshots of past human activities due to the rapid advance of a dune that has sealed its remains.

To reach the conclusion that this structure could only have been made by Neanderthals some 60,000 years ago, 31 researchers from more than 5 countries, specialists in 15 different disciplines, worked together.

Its branches of knowledge include palaeobonatics, archaeology, ichnology, geochemistry and mineralogy.

“They were not the brutes of the popular imagination”

Fernando Muñiz, a lecturer in the Department of Crystallography, Mineralogy and Agricultural Chemistry at the University of Seville, explains that “our extinct cousins were not the brutalised humans of popular imagination.”

This human species has been shown to have cognitive abilities, as reflected in research showing mastery of industrial processes for making resin as an adhesive to attach stone points to spear handles.

On the other hand, excavation manager Clive Finlayson explains that:

“Neanderthals had to go through a series of thought processes, choosing which plants to select and figuring out how to extract resin without burning them.”

To demonstrate that the structure created by Neanderthals is viable, methodologies have been developed and an experimental archaeology exercise has even been completed.

The geochemical and fossil pollen evidence suggests that the resin was obtained from prickly rockrose (cistus ladanifer) rather than birch, a rarer tree in Mediterranean latitudes at the time.

It is known that until the 20th century oil of labdanum was obtained from rockroses to be used as perfume, cough syrup and as an antiseptic in a method very similar to the one described in this study.

This project, led by the Museum of Gibraltar, the University of Murcia and the Andalusian Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC), with the participation of the University of Seville, sets a precedent in understanding of the technological and organisational capacity of Neanderthals, while also opening up new opportunities to identify and analyse similar structures at other sites.

Signs of primitive art

In 2012, Finlayson’s team found a strange hashtag-like mark on a piece of limestone, which has interpreted by some experts as a sign of primitive art.

They collected feathers, but only black ones, from a wide variety of birds, possibly for aesthetic or ceremonial purposes.

“They used medicinal plants, buried their dead, made jewellery and specialist tools, as well as ochre and other pigments, perhaps to paint their faces or bodies.

Their tracheal anatomy suggests that they could speak and probably had high-pitched, hoarse voices,” Muñiz says.

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Vanguard Cave. Gipmetal77 modded by Victuallers. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

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Article Source: University of Seville news release.

*A Neanderthal’s specialized burning structure compatible with tar obtention, Quaternary Science Reviews, 12-Nov-2024. 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109025 

If you liked this article, you may like the article,  Who were the Neanderthals, really?

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Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona—A study* led by researchers from the UAB and the University La Sapienza in Rome indicates that during the Late Neolithic, between 7000 and 5000 BCE, the fully agricultural communities in the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East, developed a complex culinary tradition that included the baking of large loaves of bread and “focaccias” with different flavours on special trays known to archaeologists as husking trays.

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports (Nature Portfolio) and also involved staff from the Milà i Fontanals Institution (IMF-CSIC) and the University of Lyon (France).

The husking trays were containers with a large oval base and low walls, made of coarse clay. They differed from common trays due to their internal surface, marked with rough impressions or incisions arranged repetitively and regularly. Previous experiments using replicas of these trays and cooking structures similar to those found at archaeological sites from the studied period had already allowed researchers to hypothesize their function. These investigations suggested that large loaves made with water and flour might have been baked on these trays, placed in domed ovens for about 2 hours at an initial temperature of 420°C. The grooves on the internal surface would have facilitated the removal of the bread once baked. Moreover, the large size of the loaves, approximately 3 kg, suggested they were likely intended for communal consumption.

The research team analyzed ceramic fragments of husking trays from between 6400 and 5900 BCE to identify their use as specialized containers for baking cereal-based doughs and whether these doughs could have been seasoned with products such as animal fat or vegetable oil. The analyzed remains come from the archaeological sites of Mezraa Teleilat, Akarçay Tepe, and Tell Sabi Abyad, located in the area between Syria and Turkey. The analyses were carried out at the Universities of Istanbul and the Koç (Turkey).

The study, based on various types of analyses from an integrated perspective, provides clear evidence regarding both the uses of these artifacts and the nature of the foods processed in them. In particular, the analysis of phytoliths (silica residues from plants) suggests that cereals such as wheat (Triticum sp.) or barley (Hordeum sp.), reduced to flour, were processed in these trays. Furthermore, the analysis of organic residues indicates that some of the trays were used to cook foods containing animal-derived ingredients, such as animal fat, and in one case, plant-based seasonings. The degradation state of the residues suggests that, in at least two cases, the trays reached temperatures compatible with those experimentally verified for baking dough in domed ovens. Finally, the use-alterations analysis of the ceramic surface allowed the identification of use-wear specifically associated with bread residues and others linked to seasoned focaccia residues.

“Our study offers a vivid picture of communities using the cereals they cultivated to prepare breads and ‘focaccias’ enriched with various ingredients and consumed in groups,” explains Sergio Taranto, lead author of the study, part of a doctoral thesis carried out at the UAB and La Sapienza. “The use of the husking trays we identified leads us to consider that this Late Neolithic culinary tradition developed over approximately six centuries and was practiced in a wide area of the Near East”, the researcher concludes.

Researchers from the UAB’s Prehistoric Archaeology of the Near East Research Group (SAPPO), Adrià Breu, Anna Bach, and Miquel Molist, are also authors of the study.

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‘Focaccia’ with animal fat experimentally baked in a replica husking tray inside a domed oven. Author: Sergio Taranto

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‘Focaccia’ seasoned with animal fat baked in an experimental replica husking tray. Author: Sergio Taranto

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Article Source: Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona news release.

*Unveiling the culinary tradition of ‘focaccia’ in Late Neolithic Mesopotamia by way of the integration of use-wear, phytolith & organic-residue analyses, Scientific Reports, 5-Nov-2024. 10.1038/s41598-024-78019-9 

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Frontiers—The ancient Vikings certainly had the travel bug. Between the late eighth century and approximately 1050 CE, they roamed the Atlantic in their longships all the way to Newfoundland, Labrador, and Greenland, as well as exploring the Mediterranean and continental Eurasia.

Among the places the Vikings are known to have settled were the Faroe Islands, an archipelago of 18 islands in the North Atlantic. They probably weren’t the first to do so: archaeologists have found evidence that these islands had been inhabited since approximately 300 CE, possibly by Celtic monks or others from the British Isles. But according to the Færeyinga Saga, written around 1200, a Viking chief called Grímur Kamban settled in the Faroe Islands between approximately 872 and 930 CE.

But where in Scandinavia did Grímur and his followers come from?

“Here we provide strong evidence that the Faroe Islands were colonized by a diverse group of male settlers from multiple Scandinavian populations,” said Dr Christopher Tillquist, an associate professor at the University of Louisville in Kentucky and the lead author of a new study in Frontiers in Genetics.

Tillquist’s co-authors were Dr Allison Mann from the University of Wyoming and Dr Eyðfinn Magnussen from the University of the Faroe Islands.

The scientists determined the genotype at 12 ‘short tandem repeat’ (STR) loci on the Y-chromosome of 139 men from the Faroese islands of Borðoy, Streymoy, and Suðuroy. They assigned each man to the most likely haplogroup, each of which has different known distribution across today’s Europe.

The researchers compared the distribution of genotypes to those found in 412 men from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, and Ireland. This allowed them to reconstruct the source population of the Viking population founders.

Advanced analyses showed that the range of Faroese samples resembled the range of genotypes from broader Scandinavian, whereas the Icelandic genotypes where distinct.

The authors also developed a powerful innovative genetic method, called ‘Mutational Distance from Modal Haplotype’ to analyze variation in SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) within the STRs. This allowed them to reveal a ‘founder effect’ – traces of random loss of diversity during historic colonization by a small number of people – persisting in the genetic make-up of today’s Faroese and Icelandic male populations.

“Scientists have long assumed that the Faroe Islands and Iceland were both settled by similar Norse people. Yet our novel analysis has shown that these islands were founded by men from different gene pools within Scandinavia,” said Tillquist.

“One group, diverse in their Scandinavian origins, established themselves in the Faroe Islands, while another and more genetically divergent band of Vikings colonized Iceland. They have separate genetic signatures that persist to this day.”

“There doesn’t seem to have been any interbreeding afterwards between these two populations, despite their geographic proximity. Our results demonstrate that Viking expansion into the North Atlantic was more complex than previously thought.”

“Each longship that set sail for these distant islands carried not just Vikings, but distinct genetic legacies. We can now trace these separate journeys of conquest and settlement, revealing a more nuanced story of Viking exploration than told by the history books.”

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The landscape on the Faroe Islands today. Eyðfinn Magnussen

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Article Source: Frontiers news release.

*Genetic evidence points to distinct paternal settlers of the Faroe Islands and Iceland, Frontiers in Genetics, 25-Nov-2024. 10.3389/fgene.2024.1462736 

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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—Scientists have uncovered traces of an expansive fish-trapping network created by ancient Mesoamericans in what is now modern-day Belize. Located in an incredibly biodiverse wetland, this extensive system provided Archaic hunter-gatherer-fishers with significant food and likely supported the rise of Mayan civilization in the following Formative period. Belize’s Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (CTWS) has a 10,000-year-long record of human occupation that began in the Archaic Period around 8000 BCE to 1800 BCE and included the Formative Period from 1800 BCE to 150 CE. Using drones and Google Earth imagery, Eleanor Harrison-Buck and colleagues discovered an ancient and vast network of earthen channels used by ancient Mesoamericans for fish trapping. They also excavated 3 of these channels for radiocarbon dating. Evidence indicated that Archaic and Late Archaic hunter-gatherer-fishers built this network, which were subsequently used by the Maya to harvest fish. Notably, these channels predate similar ones in Amazonia by 1,000 years. Harrison-Buck et al. saw signs of a centuries-long drought in excavated sediment samples that started in 2200 BCE. They argue that the drought might have shifted societal focus from maize-based agriculture to aquatic food production. They calculate that the CTWS network could have yielded enough fish to feed around 15,000 people annually. “To be clear, we are not claiming that 15,000 people were congregating at any one time in the CTWS during the Late Archaic. However, there is evidence for such population growth in the Maya area by Middle to Late Formative times,” the authors note. “Fisheries were more than capable of supporting year-round sedentarism and the emergence of complex society characteristic of Pre-Columbian Maya civilization in this area.”

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Seasonal floodplain landscapes with earthen fish weirs that resemble those in the CTWS. Satellite imagery includes (A) a contemporary fishery in Zambia, Africa; (B) an ancient fishery in the Bolivian Amazon; and (C) the ancient fishery in the Western Lagoon, CT WS, Belize (all images courtesy of Google Earth). All images courtesy of Google Earth. Harrison-Buck et al., Sci. Adv. 10, eadq1444

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Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of a pond feature in the Western Lagoon. Harrison-Buck et al., Sci. Adv. 10, eadq1444 (2024)

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Linear wetland features identified in remote sensing data as probable fish-trapping facilities from areas across the Maya Lowlands. An overview map (top) with inset maps below showing linear channels identified in (A) the Candelaria and neighboring San Pedro Drainage, (B) the Rio Hondo and Bacalar, and (C) the New River and Western Lagoon in the CT WS (all images courtesy of the BREA project). All images courtesy of the BREA project. Harrison-Buck et al., Sci. Adv. 10, eadq1444 (2024)

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Article Source: AAAS news release.

*Late Archaic Large-Scale Fisheries in the Wetlands of the Pre-Columbian Maya Lowlands, Science Advances, 22-Nov-2024. 10.1126/sciadv.adq1444 

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Volnoe Delo Foundation, Taman, Russia, 19 November 2024, — Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation has announced the findings from the latest excavation season by the Phanagoria Archaeological Expedition. Continuing their research of the ancient synagogue unearthed last year, the archaeologists concluded it was part of a larger Jewish quarter, which included a winery, garden, residential houses, and public buildings.

The ancient Phanagoria synagogue was built no later than the early 1st century AD and was destroyed by barbarian tribes in the 6th century. It was located in the city’s most affluent neighborhood, at the junction of two main streets. It featured opulent architectural features, with the columns, a table for Torah readings, menorahs and bas-reliefs all crafted from imported marble. The synagogue was part of Phanagoria’s Jewish quarter, which also included a vineyard, a garden with clay pithoi used for irrigation, various buildings, and a water distribution network.

The eastern section of the synagogue housed the Torah ark, while the western area served as a space for ceremonial feasts and receptions of foreign guests. Among the remains of the floor, cracked open by the invaders back in the day, 58 copper coins were discovered. Some were found near the bimah, benches, and the threshold, in line with the Jewish tradition to protect the synagogue against the evil eye (‘ayin ha-ra’). A few more were located near the lid of the alms receptacle (‘tzedakah’).

The Jewish community in Phanagoria was one of the largest in the Mediterranean region, as evidenced by numerous tombstones bearing Jewish symbols. These often depict a seven-branched candlestick (menorah), a horn (shofar) and a palm branch. A unique find by the Phanagoria expedition was an amphora with a Hebrew inscription on its seal, translating to ‘God:justice‘. It is believed that such amphorae were used by wandering Jewish merchants, the Radhanites, to import kosher food to Phanagoria.

Several Jewish manumissions dating back to the 1st and 2nd centuries AD were also discovered in the Jewish quarter. These documents granted freedom to slaves on the condition that they continue serving at the synagogue. This missionary work allowed the Jewish community to ensure safety during times of persecution against Jews. “The Jewish community of that time adhered to all the laws and traditions of the Jewish people, while also respecting local customs and striving to create comfortable lives for everyone,” noted Menachem Mendel Lazar, Chief Rabbi of Krasnodar and the Krasnodar Territory. “This reflects the wisdom of our sacred Talmud: ‘When you come to a city, do as the locals do.’”

In the 6th century, Phanagoria was raided by a neighboring barbarian tribe. During the attack, the invaders used palintonon-type throwing machines to hurl stone balls at the city. Most of the projectiles were discovered near the synagogue, suggesting that the Phanagorians sought refuge behind from the relentless bombardment. The city was completely destroyed and remained in ruins for 130 years before being restored. From the 7^th to 9^th centuries, until the city’s eventual decline, Judaism was one of the state religions of the Bosporan Kingdom, to which Phanagoria belonged.

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The excavation site. Credit Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation

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A sampling of the copper coins. Credit Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation

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Examining artifacts from the excavation. Credit Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation

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Amphorae from the excavation. Credit Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation

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Article Source: Volnoe Delo Foundation news release.

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About the Phanagoria Archaeological Expedition

The ancient city of Phanagoria, studied with the support of Oleg Deripaska’s Volnoe Delo Foundation, existed for over 1,500 years, and served as the capital of the Asian part of the Bosporan Kingdom, the oldest state formation on the territory of modern-day Russia. Today, it is the largest ancient monument in the country.

Among the most remarkable discoveries of the Phanagoria Expedition are the palace of King Mithridates VI, two ancient Greek temples, and a sunken ancient ship. Artifacts from Phanagoria are preserved in the Hermitage, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, and museums in the United Kingdom, Germany, and other countries.

About the Volnoe Delo Foundation

Volnoe Delo, a foundation supporting social innovation, was founded by industrialist Oleg Deripaska. Today it is one of the largest organisations in Russia operating in the field of charity, philanthropy and volunteering. The foundation helps solve socially significant problems, supports education and science and contributes to the preservation of Russia’s cultural and historical heritage. The foundation has supported 500 projects in 50 Russian regions, benefiting 90,000 pupils, 4,000 teachers, 8,000 university and school students, 4,000 scientists, and 1,200 educational, scientific, cultural, healthcare, sports and other organisations.

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The world will likely never know how much human history has been lost because evidence has vanished to the elements of nature or the succeeding constructions of later societies — or to the fact that the untold stories have abbreviated our knowledge of certain civilizations because their written scripts and languages have remained undeciphered. Ancient civilizations like the Minoans, Etruscans, the Rapa Nui, and many others come to mind.

Enter here Miguel Valério of the Autonomous University of Barcelona, who has made it his life’s scholastic journey in part to explore the mysteries of undeciphered scripts.

“I like problem-solving, I like codes, I like puzzles,” says Valério. 

Indeed, this interest, talent and proclivity he exercised very early on in life eventually led to education and academic research that included the still largely undeciphered script of Linear A, the enigmatic script of the ancient Minoans, and on to other research endeavors focusing on scripts such as Cypro-Minoan and even the undeciphered rongorongo script of the Rapa Nui of Easter Island in the southeastern Pacific.

Now, Dr. Ester Salgarella, in her podcast series, Aegean Connections, has opened a window on Valério and his work for the benefit of the listening public through her latest episode, From the Aegean to the Pacific: comparative perspectives on undeciphered scripts, by interviewing him about how he arrived at his current stage of studies and the steps and patterns that are common to all approaches by scholars endeavoring to shed light on the unknowns of scripts like Linear A and other elusive scripts around the world. 

The podcast is free to the public and anyone interested in learning more about Miguel Valério and what he has to say can listen by linking to Salgarella’s Episode 7 of the podcast series.

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Cover Image, Top Left: Linear A inscription on a clay tablet from Crete, probably 15th century BC. Archaeological Museum of Heraklion. Zde, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

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University of South Florida—TAMPA, Fla. (Nov. 15, 2024) – A University of South Florida professor found the first-ever physical evidence of hallucinogens in an Egyptian mug, validating written records and centuries-old myths of ancient Egyptian rituals and practices. Through advanced chemical analyses, Davide Tanasi examined one of the world’s few remaining Egyptian Bes mugs.

Such mugs, including the one donated to the Tampa Museum of Art in 1984, are decorated with the head of Bes, an ancient Egyptian god or guardian demon worshiped for protection, fertility, medicinal healing and magical purification. Published Wednesday in Nature’s Scientific Reports, the study* sheds light on an ancient Egyptian mystery: The secret of how Bes mugs were used about 2,000 years ago.

“There’s no research out there that has ever found what we found in this study,” Tanasi said. “For the first time, we were able to identify all the chemical signatures of the components of the liquid concoction contained in the Tampa Museum of Art’s Bes mug, including the plants used by Egyptians, all of which have psychotropic and medicinal properties.”

The presence of Bes mugs in different contexts over a long period of time made it extremely difficult to speculate on their contents or roles in ancient Egyptian culture.

“For a very long time now, Egyptologists have been speculating what mugs with the head of Bes could have been used for, and for what kind of beverage, like sacred water, milk, wine or beer,” said Branko van Oppen, curator of Greek and Roman art at the Tampa Museum of Art. “Experts did not know if these mugs were used in daily life, for religious purposes or in magic rituals.”

Several theories about the mugs and vases were formulated on myths, but few of them were ever tested to reveal their exact ingredients until the truth was extracted layer by layer.

Tanasi, who developed this study as part of the Mediterranean Diet Archaeology project promoted by the USF Institute for the Advanced Study of Culture and the Environment, collaborated with several USF researchers and partners in Italy at the University of Trieste and the University of Milan to perform chemical and DNA analyses. With a pulverized sample from scraping the inner walls of the vase, the team combined numerous analytical techniques for the first time to uncover what the mug last held.

The new tactic was successful and revealed the vase had a cocktail of psychedelic drugs, bodily fluids and alcohol – a combination that Tanasi believes was used in a magical ritual reenacting an Egyptian myth, likely for fertility. The concoction was flavored with honey, sesame seeds, pine nuts, licorice and grapes, which were commonly used to make the beverage look like blood.

“This research teaches us about magic rituals in the Greco-Roman period in Egypt,” Van Oppen said. “Egyptologists believe that people visited the so-called Bes Chambers at Saqqara when they wished to confirm a successful pregnancy because pregnancies in the ancient world were fraught with dangers. So, this combination of ingredients may have been used in a dream-vision inducing magic ritual within the context of this dangerous period of childbirth.”

“Religion is one of the most fascinating and puzzling aspects of ancient civilizations,” Tanasi said. “With this study, we’ve found scientific proof that the Egyptian myths have some kind of truth and it helps us shed light on the poorly understood rituals that were likely carried out in the Bes Chambers in Saqqara, near the Great Pyramids at Giza.”

The Bes mug is on display now at the Tampa Museum of Art and can be viewed in the exhibition, “Prelude: An Introduction to the Permanent Collection.” View a 3D model of the Bes mug produced by the USF Institute for Digital Exploration.

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University of South Florida scholar Davide Tanasi creates a 3-D replica of the Egyptian Bes mug used in the study. Cassidy Delamarter

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Close-up image of a 3-D replica of the Egyptian Bes mug used in the study. Cassidy Delamarter

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About the University of South Florida

The University of South Florida, a high-impact research university dedicated to student success and committed to community engagement, generates an annual economic impact of more than $6 billion. Across campuses in Tampa, St. Petersburg, Sarasota-Manatee and USF Health, USF serves approximately 50,000 students who represent nearly 150 different countries. U.S. News & World Report has ranked USF as one of the nation’s top 50 public universities for six consecutive years and, for the second straight year, as the best value university in Florida. In 2023, USF became the first public university in Florida in nearly 40 years to be invited to join the Association of American Universities, a group of the leading 3% of universities in the United States and Canada. With an all-time high of $692 million in research funding in 2023 and a ranking as a top 15 public university for producing new U.S. patents, USF is a leader in solving global problems and improving lives. USF is a member of the American Athletic Conference. Learn more at  www.usf.edu.

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Article Source: University of South Florida news release.

*Multianalytical investigation reveals psychotropic substances in a ptolemaic Egyptian vase, Scientific Reports, 13-Nov-2024. 

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American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)—New research confirms that ancient peoples used fire as a tool to manipulate landscapes during their migration into Lutruwita (Tasmania) beginning roughly 41,000 years ago. The practice of burning by early Palawa/Pakana communities then led to an ecological shift from woody to open vegetation. To reconstruct this ancient path of migration and ecological change, Matthew Adeleye and colleagues examined sediment samples from sites in Emerald Swamp and laymina paywuta in the Bass Strait Islands, which were once part of the land bridge that ancient people traversed to reach Lutruwita from the Australian continent. They found records of charcoal accumulation that pointed towards an abrupt increase in fires from vegetation burning around 41,600 years ago. This was followed by shift from woody, closed vegetation to open vegetation in landscapes roughly 2,000 years later. “Fire would have been an important tool used by early Palawa/Pakana communities to penetrate and manage the dense wet forest to promote open vegetation supporting key prey species and to access different raw materials and shelter,” the authors write, noting these observations corroborate existing findings from Lutruwita about Palawa/Pakana land management during the past 11,000 years.

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Article Source: AAAS news release.

*Landscape burning facilitated Aboriginal migration into Lutruwita/Tasmania 41,600 years ago, Science Advances, 15-Nov-2024. 10.1126/sciadv.adp6579 

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