New fossil finds from the Jebel Irhoud archaeological site in Morocco have pushed back the origins of our species by 100,000 years, to at least 300,000 years ago, according to research conducted by Jean-Jacques Hublin of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, and Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer of the National Institute for Archaeology and Heritage (INSAP) in Rabat, Morocco. The new excavation uncovered 16 new Homo sapiens fossils along with stone tools and animal bones. The remains comprise skulls, teeth, and long bones of at least 5 individuals.. They also reveal what was on the menu for our oldest-known Homo sapiens ancestors 300,000 years ago.
Thermoluminescence dating of heated flints yielded an age of approximately 300,000 years ago—100,000 years earlier than the previously oldest Homo sapiens fossils.
Analysis of animal fossils found at the site provided additional evidence to support the date. Dating of rodent remains, for example, suggested they were 337,000 to 374,000 years old.
Pushing Back the Dates on Homo sapiens
Both genetic data of present day humans and fossil remains point to an African origin of our own species, Homo sapiens. Previously, the oldest securely dated Homo sapiens fossils were known from the site of Omo Kibish in Ethiopia, dated to 195 thousand years ago. At Herto, also in Ethiopia, a Homo sapiens fossil is dated to 160 thousand years ago. Until now, most researchers believed that all humans living today descended from a population that lived in East Africa around 200 thousand years ago. “We used to think that there was a cradle of mankind 200 thousand years ago in east Africa, but our new data reveal that Homo sapiensspread across the entire African continent around 300 thousand years ago. Long before the out-of-Africa dispersal of Homo sapiens, there was dispersal within Africa,” says palaeoanthropologist Jean-Jacques Hublin.
The Moroccan site of Jebel Irhoud has been well known since the 1960s for its human fossils and for its Middle Stone Age artefacts. However, the interpretation of the Irhoud hominins has long been complicated by persistent uncertainties surrounding their geological age. The new excavation project, which began in 2004, resulted in the discovery of new Homo sapiens fossils in situ, increasing their number from six to 22. These finds confirm the importance of Jebel Irhoud as the oldest and richest African Middle Stone Age hominin site documenting an early stage of our species. The fossil remains from Jebel Irhoud comprise skulls, teeth, and long bones of at least five individuals. To provide a precise chronology for these finds, researchers used the thermoluminescence dating method on heated flints found in the same deposits. These flints yielded an age of approximately 300 thousand years ago and, therefore, push back the origins of our species by one hundred thousand years.
“Well dated sites of this age are exceptionally rare in Africa, but we were fortunate that so many of the Jebel Irhoud flint artefacts had been heated in the past,” says geochronology expert Daniel Richter of the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig (Germany), now with Freiberg Instruments GmbH. Richter explains: “This allowed us to apply thermoluminescence dating methods on the flint artifacts and establish a consistent chronology for the new hominin fossils and the layers above them.” In addition, the team was able to recalculate a direct age of the Jebel Irhoud 3 mandible found in the 1960s. This mandible had been previously dated to 160 thousand years ago by a special electron spin resonance dating method. Using new measures of the radioactivity of the Jebel Irhoud sediments and as a result of methodological improvements in the method, this fossil’s newly calculated age is in agreement with the thermoluminescence ages and much older than previously realised. “We employed state of the art dating methods and adopted the most conservative approaches to accurately determine the age of Irhoud”, adds Richter.
The crania of modern humans living today are characterized by a combination of features that distinguish us from our fossil relatives and ancestors: a small and gracile face, and globular braincase. The fossils from Jebel Irhoud display a modern-looking face and teeth, and a large but more archaic-looking braincase. Hublin and his team used state-of-the-art micro computed tomographic scans and statistical shape analysis based on hundreds of 3D measurements to show that the facial shape of the Jebel Irhoud fossils is almost indistinguishable from that of modern humans living today. In contrast to their modern facial morphology, however, the Jebel Irhoud crania retain a rather elongated archaic shape of the braincase. “The inner shape of the braincase reflects the shape of the brain,” explains palaeoanthropologist Philipp Gunz from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig. “Our findings suggest that modern human facial morphology was established early on in the history of our species, and that brain shape, and possibly brain function, evolved within the Homo sapiens lineage,” says Philipp Gunz. Recently, comparisons of ancient DNA extracted from Neanderthals and Denisovans to the DNA of present day humans revealed differences in genes affecting the brain and nervous system. Evolutionary shape changes of the braincase are therefore likely related to a series of genetic changes affecting brain connectivity, organization and development that distinguish Homo sapiensfrom our extinct ancestors and relatives.
The morphology and age of the fossils from Jebel Irhoud also corroborate the interpretation of an enigmatic partial cranium from Florisbad, South Africa, as an early representative of Homo sapiens. The earliest Homo sapiens fossils are found across the entire African continent: Jebel Irhoud, Morocco (300 thousand years), Florisbad, South Africa (260 thousand years), and Omo Kibish, Ethiopia (195 thousand years). This indicates a complex evolutionary history of our species, possibly involving the whole African continent.
“North Africa has long been neglected in the debates surrounding the origin of our species. The spectacular discoveries from Jebel Irhoud demonstrate the tight connections of the Maghreb with the rest of the African continent at the time of Homo sapiens‘ emergence”, says Abdelouahed Ben-Ncer.
Middle Stone Age Tools
The fossils were found in deposits containing animal bones showing evidence of having been hunted, with the most frequent species being gazelle. The stone tools associated with these fossils belong to the Middle Stone Age. The Jebel Irhoud artifacts show the use of Levallois prepared core techniques and pointed forms are the most common. Most stone tools were made from high quality flint imported into the site. Handaxes, a tool commonly found in older sites, are not present at Jebel Irhoud. Middle Stone Age artifact assemblages such as the one recovered from Jebel Irhoud are found across Africa at this time and likely speak to an adaptation that allowed Homo sapiens to disperse across the continent.
“The stone artifacts from Jebel Irhoud look very similar to ones from deposits of similar age in east Africa and in southern Africa” says Max Planck Institute archaeologist Shannon McPherron. “It is likely that the technological innovations of the Middle Stone Age in Africa are linked to the emergence of Homo sapiens.” The new findings from Jebel Irhoud elucidate the evolution of Homo sapiens, and show that our species evolved much earlier than previously thought. The dispersal of Homo sapiens across all of Africa around 300 thousand years is the result of changes in both biology and behaviour.
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These are two views of a composite reconstruction of the earliest known Homo sapiens fossils from Jebel Irhoud (Morocco) based on micro computed tomographic scans of multiple original fossils. Dated to 300 thousand years ago these early Homo sapiens already have a modern-looking face that falls within the variation of humans living today. However, the archaic-looking virtual imprint of the braincase (blue) indicates that brain shape, and possibly brain function, evolved within the Homo sapiens lineage. Credit: Philipp Gunz, MPI EVA Leipzig (License: CC-BY-SA 2.0)
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160,000-year-old Homo sapiens skull discovered at Jebel Irhoud. Ryan Somma, Wikimedia Commons
Findings from the site revealed more than the age of the human fossils, however. Plenty of gazelle meat, with the occasional wildebeest, zebra and other game and perhaps the seasonal ostrich egg, were among the finds that revealed the diet of these early ancestors, says Teresa Steele, a paleoanthropologist at the University of California, Davis, who analyzed animal fossils at Jebel Irhoud.
Steele, who studies how food sources and environmental change influenced human evolution and migration, was part of the international research team that began excavating at the site in 2004. She is the co-author of one of the two papers featured on the cover of the June 8 issue of Nature: “Human origins: Moroccan remains push back date for the emergence of Homo sapiens.”
Steele sifted through hundreds of fossil bones and shells found at the site, identifying 472 of them to species as well as recording cut marks and breaks indicating which ones had been food for humans.
Most of the animal bones came from gazelles. Among the other remains, Steele also identified hartebeests, wildebeests, zebras, buffalos, porcupines, hares, tortoises, freshwater molluscs, snakes and ostrich egg shells.
Small game was a small percentage of the remains. “It really seemed like people were fond of hunting,” she said.
Cuts and breaks on long bones indicate that humans broke them open, likely to eat the marrow, she said. Leopard, hyena and other predators’ fossils were among the finds, but Steele found little evidence that the nonhuman predators had gnawed on the gazelle and other prey.
Steele said the findings support the idea that the Middle Stone Age began just over 300,000 years ago, and that important changes in modern human biology and behaviour were taking place across most of Africa then.
“In my view, what it does is to continue to make it more feasible that North Africa had a role to play in the evolution of modern humans.”
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This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
PHILADELPHIA, PA 2017—The Great Pyramids in Egypt, Stonehenge in England, and the Maya city of Teotihuacan were all built thousands of years ago. Add to that list of extraordinary achievements the earthen mounds—some rising to heights of 70 or 100 feet, some more than 5,000 years old—that dot the landscape of North America.
Moundbuilders: Ancient Architects of North America, a new exhibition opening June 24 at the Penn Museum in Philadelphia, tells the sometimes enigmatic story of more than 5,000 years of Native American moundbuilding through photographs, archival excavation records, and more than 60 artifacts excavated at mound sites throughout the eastern United States. The exhibition runs through December 2017.
About the Mounds
Earthen mounds—including some of the earliest monumental constructions in the world— have been engineered by diverse Native American groups over millennia. Yet the sizes, shapes, and purposes of mounds have varied greatly over time and geographical distance. Mounds have played and continue to play important roles in the religious, social, and political lives of Native American people. Some have been burial mounds; others have been centers of trade and community gatherings; still others have served as the foundations for important buildings or activities.
Archaeologists, fascinated by the extraordinary engineering feats of the moundbuilders, have been excavating and mapping this tradition since the 18th century. To date, many thousands of mounds have been discovered, from those at Cahokia, the massive Native American city outside Saint Louis, Missouri, to smaller mound sites like Smith Creek in Mississippi where the Penn Museum currently excavates. Over time, many mounds have been destroyed by farmers or leveled due to urban expansion; many more are believed to exist, not yet discovered.
A Chronological Approach
Moundbuilders explores the changing patterns of the construction and use of Native American mounds through time, beginning with the earliest known mounds, built by small groups of hunter-gatherers in the Lower Mississippi Valley as early as 3700 BCE. Without the help of metal tools, these early mound builders worked by hand moving basket loads of dirt. By 1400 BCE, the Poverty Point site in Louisiana was home to mounds that required thousands of laborers. In addition, exquisitely carved stone artifacts uncovered at the site suggest specialized artisans and an extensive trade network for materials.
Moundbuilding became much more common in later years. These constructions began to serve as burial places and certain burials were accompanied by elaborate grave goods. Some sites, like those associated with the Hopewell culture in Ohio (1 to 400 CE), included huge geometric enclosures that served as ceremonial centers for the surrounding populations. Around 600 CE, dramatic shifts in moundbuilding practices occured. In the Upper Mississippi Valley, people built thousands of effigy mounds in the shapes of animals. Further south, flat-topped platform mounds were built, serving as foundations for structures or stages for public activities.
Platform mounds were the most common mound form in the centuries leading up to European contact when corn agriculture developed and people congregated in major cities ruled by powerful chiefs. Though moundbuilding had largely ceased, some of these sites were still occupied when Europeans visited them in the 16th and 17thcenturies. A small renaissance of moundbuilding has begun today, as the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians continues to construct the Kituwah mound in the mountains of North Carolina.
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Mound B from atop Mound A (Great Temple Mound), Etowah Mounds, Near Cartersville,Georgiaca. 1250 CE. This black and white photograph by Tom Patton shows one of many large Mississippian period mound centers that dotted the landscape of eastern North America before European contact. Image courtesy Penn Museum
The exhibition includes excavated artifacts made from a variety of materials, including stone, such as the intricately carved underwater panther boatstone believed to be used as a weight on a spear thrower; ceramic, such as pots formed in the shape of human effigy figures; and shell, such as pendants from Key Marco, Florida. These latter objects bear sacred designs associated with the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex—a system of signs and symbols shared among different groups living hundreds of miles apart ca. 1000 – 1500 CE. In addition, visitors have an insider’s view into modern-day mound excavation through video footage of Dr. Kassabaum and her students excavating at Smith Creek in 2015. A case displaying hundreds of artifacts recovered on that expedition gives the visitor a sense of what most archaeological material looks like right after it is excavated.
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Clay jar. 1200–1500 CE (Mississippian). Arkansas, Montgomery County. This ancient Mississippian Period ceramic jar, 17 cm tall by 18.5 cm wide, is from Arkansas. The style of decoration can help archaeologists determine when and where a pot was made, and the shape and size of the vessel can point to the types of activities taking place at the site. Image courtesy Penn Museum
Gorget (Ornament) Shell. 800–1400 CE (Late Woodland or Mississippian). Florida, Key Marco. The iconography on objects made of shell, bone, ceramic, stone, and copper speak to the belief systems of Mississippian people. The cross motif on this shell piece is thought to symbolize the center of the world and was part of a shared system of signs and symbols called the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. 13 cm long by 12 cm wide. Courtesy Penn Museum
Photographing the North American mounds, often surrounded by lush greenery, farm fields, or nearby roadways, can be a challenge. For this exhibition, 38 photographs, the black and white work of two contemporary photographers—Jenny Ellerbe and Tom Patton—is featured. Their work captures the serene quality of these ancient sites while also illustrating how they are squeezed into today’s modern landscapes.
About the Curator
Dr. Megan Kassabaum, Weingarten Assistant Curator for North America at the Penn Museum and an archaeologist who directs the Smith Creek Archaeological Project, is curator of the exhibition. She has worked on mound sites throughout the eastern United States since 1999. Since 2005, she has worked in the Lower Mississippi Valley, exploring mounds constructed by the Coles Creek culture (700 to 1200 CE). As part of this fieldwork, she leads tours of many of the mound sites that are publically visible and has helped to develop a driving trail that allows visitors to explore sites that were built over the course of 5000 years along the Mississippi River.
“You don’t need a passport to visit extraordinary ancient monuments,” she noted. “I hope this exhibition will encourage more Americans to visit mound sites and gain a better understanding of the deep history of Native American peoples who’ve lived in North America for many thousands of years.”
The Penn Museum (the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology) is dedicated to the study and understanding of human history and diversity. Founded in 1887, the Museum has sent more than 300 archaeological and anthropological expeditions to all the inhabited continents of the world. With an active exhibition schedule and educational programming for children and adults, the Museum offers the public an opportunity to share in the ongoing discovery of humankind’s collective heritage.
The Penn Museum is located at 3260 South Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (on Penn’s campus, across from Franklin Field). Public transportation to the Museum is available via SEPTA’s Regional Rail Line at University City Station; the Market-Frankford Subway Line at 34th Street Station; trolley routes 11, 13, 34, and 36; and bus routes 21, 30, 40, and 42. Museum hours are Tuesday through Sunday, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm, and first Wednesdays of each month until 8:00 pm, with P.M. @ PENN MUSEUM evening programs offered Wednesdays, June 28 through September 6. Closed Mondays and holidays. Admission donation is $15 for adults; $13 for senior citizens (65 and above); free for U.S. Military; $10 for children and full-time students with ID; free to Members, PennCard holders, and children 5 and younger. July and August: special admission donation is $10 for adults, seniors, children (6 to 17) and full time students with ID.
Hot and cold meals and light refreshments are offered to visitors with or without Museum admission in The Pepper Mill Café; the Museum Shop offers a wide selection of gifts, books, games, clothing and jewelry. Penn Museum can be found on the web at www.penn.museum. For general information call 215.898.4000. For group tour information call 215.746.8183.
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
SMITHSONIAN TROPICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE—A new report* by Smithsonian archaeologists and colleagues in the International Journal of Paleopathology identifies a bone tumor in the upper right arm of an adolescent who was buried in about 1300 AD in a trash heap at a site in western Panama called Cerro Brujo or Witch Hill. The reason for what appears to be a ritual burial in this abandoned pre-Colombian settlement is unknown.
“Based on the analysis of a tooth from the individual, we think he or she was buried about 150 years after the settlement was abandoned,” said Nicole Smith-Guzmán, post-doctoral fellow in staff scientist Richard Cooke’s lab at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama. “And based on the fact that the body was tightly wrapped in the fetal position and buried face down with two clay pots and a shell trumpet like those still used by indigenous Ngäbe people in this area today, we consider this a ritual burial.”
STRI archaeologist Olga Linares (1936-2014) and Anthony Ranere, professor emeritus at Temple University, discovered the burial in 1970, during a study funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation.
Linares proposed that the first inhabitants of Cerro Brujo were farmers who had fled to the site, about 3 kilometers from the Caribbean coast, from the nearby Chiriquí highlands when Volcán Barú erupted in approximately 600 AD. Linares and Ranere found evidence that the site was inhabited twice, once from about 600 AD and a second time between 780 and 1252 AD.
The burial in question, in the largest of five ancient trash pits at the site, may have been placed there because it was the site where the individual’s ancestors lived. A large town site nearby, Sitio Drago near Boca del Drago on Isla Colón, excavated by UCLA archaeologist Tom Wake was occupied from roughly 600 AD until 1410 AD.
Smith-Guzmán is a bioarchaeologist who analyzes ancient bones to look for signs of health problems. In looking at the remains from the site 46 years later, she was surprised to find evidence of cancer in the upper right arm of an individual who was probably 14-16 years old.
She took the bones to the Centro Radiológico Metropolitano in Panama City and also to the radiology department at Punta Pacífica Hospital.
“As far as we know, this is the first case of cancer in ancient human remains reported from Central America,” Smith-Guzmán said. “Both osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma, the two most likely cancers in this case, are most common in children and adolescents. Most of the published cases of these cancers in the past were from adults–probably due to the poor preservation of non-adult skeletal remains–making this find especially rare.”
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Nicole Smith-Guzmán, post-doctoral fellow who discovered the first-known case of cancer in an ancient skeleton from Central America, working in staff scientist Richard Cooke’s lab at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama. Credit: Sean Mattson, STRI
This is a computed tomography (CT scan) of the right humerus. Left image shows a horizontal slice through the cancerous lesion. Credit: Nicole Smith-Guzmán
Most of the other examples of bone cancers are from places in the world with much more extensive collections of archaeological material. This form of cancer typically leaves a very characteristic “sunburst” pattern in the bone. The bones also show evidence of anemia that may have been a result of the cancer or of another inflammatory or metabolic disease. Three dimensional models of the humerus, one from a CT scan and the other from photogrammetry, are available in a program called Sketch Fab and in the supplementary material included in the article for use by other archaeologists and health professionals.
Shell trumpets like the one at the site made from an Atlantic triton shell (Charonia variegata) are used in the balsería ritual practiced by Ngäbe peoples in this region of Panama. The Ngäbe believe that a disruption of the balance between the natural and supernatural worlds can lead to sickness when a malevolent spirit enters the body during a dream to steal the soul. Traditionally, when a person was sick, a Ngäbe shaman, called a Sukia, would attempt to heal a patient using herbal remedies such as Hoffmannia longipetiolata, a plant still used in Ngäbe communities as an analgesic.
Smith-Guzmán will use DNA analysis, in collaboration with geneticists at the University of Göttingen, to learn more about the ancestry of the individual and the type of cancer s/he suffered from.
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND—In a study published in the international journal Antiquity, Professor David Pearce, Director of the Rock Art Research Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Adelphine Bonneau of Laval University, and colleagues at the University of Oxford showed that paintings in south-eastern Botswana are at least 5,500 years old, whilst paintings in Lesotho and the Eastern Cape Drakensberg, South Africa, date as far back as 3,000 years. These dates open the floodgates for researchers to ask and answer questions about the rock art that have baffled them for decades.
The dates obtained show some surprising results. In some sites, paintings continued to be made for more than a thousand years. “This is astonishing,” says Pearce, “people returned to the same rock shelters over very long periods of time to make rock paintings very similar to those made centuries or millennia before. This finding has profound implications for our understanding of hunter-gatherer religion in southern Africa.”
Research was conducted in the Thune Dam in Botswana, the Metolong Dam area in the Phuthiatsana Valley of Lesotho, and the Drakensberg Escarpment of the Eastern Cape in the ‘Nomansland’ region of South Africa. A total of 43 new dates were produced from these three areas, including the first direct dates on rock paintings ever in Botswana and Lesotho.
The new dates were obtained using radiocarbon dating. Over the decades rock art has proved extremely difficult to directly date. Indeed, it has been a major obstacle in this area of research. The success of this project is based on very careful chemical characterisation of the composition of the paint and contaminants on the rock. New chemical techniques were developed to remove contaminants from small samples of paint. These could then be dated using accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon dating.
The two-phase research project entailed collecting tiny (less than a millimetre squared) quantities of pigment from the rock painting and then analysing these samples to determine which art should be sampled for AMS radiocarbon dating. The samples that contained the most carbon-black (and thus most likely to reveal dates) were then radiocarbon dated.
The dates reported in this study form the biggest set of direct dates on rock art in South Africa and the only direct dates ever obtained in Botswana and Lesotho.
Lead author, Bonneau, concludes in the paper: “This protocol is a step forward in the field of rock art dating by reducing the sample size to be collected, by optimising the success rate of such dating, and by limiting the impact on such valuable paintings while providing new chronological insights.”
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
More than four decades ago, archaeologists uncovered the skeletal remains of three individuals within a tomb located near the small town of Vergina in Macedonia, Greece. The bones, which were found scattered along the floor of what is described to be a comparatively modest tomb associated with the Great Tumulus, the resting place of some of the Kingdom of Macedonia’s most iconic early royal families, were identified to be those of an adult male in his 40’s, a young adult female, and a newborn infant. Arguably the most intriguing skeletal remains were those of the adult male, however — and more particularly two bones — a left femur and a left tibia, both of which showed signs of having fused together over time after an apparent severe wound to the knee caused by a sharp instrument, such as a spear.
These characteristics, along with a host of other circumstantial findings within the tomb, along with historical accounts, seemed to point, according to scientists who recently studied the bones and the tomb, to a tantalizing conclusion — that the bones, and the true resting place of King Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great, had been found. But not all scholars are on board with the conclusions. Debate continues, and further studies surely follow.
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Left leg showing the massive knee ankylosis (fusion of the joint). Image courtesy of Javier Trueba
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
It would not be inaccurate to say that most archaeologists spend much of their lives within the narrow parameters defined by chosen areas of specialization. Some have even spent most of their entire careers focusing on a single archaeological site and what the site says about its particular corner of history and culture. Put together, the sum of these efforts and experiences across the world can paint a fascinating mosaic of our past, while raising a barrage of new questions at the same time.
At times some archaeologists, however, have chosen to deal with the broad brush of archaeological inquiry. For a variety of reasons, they elect to stand back and view the entire panorama of discovery and research, whether it is for the purpose of writing a book or teaching a class.
A few may even travel the world to do this.
Kate Leonard, an adventurous Canadian archaeologist, did just that. Beginning in January, 2016, she embarked on a global journey to twelve different destinations in 12 months to explore and reveal a taste of the vast variety of digs and research going on across the globe. Calling it the “Year of Digs”, or Global Archaeology Year, she created a website and blog to document and publicize her journey, bringing the world of archaeology across the world, as she hopped from one destination to another, to the smartphones, tablets and laptops of thousands of readers, young and old. Popular Archaeology also followed her on that journey with a series of articles.
Here is a final interview of Kate, capping what for her and many of her readers was a truly unique learning experience in the world of archaeology, beginning with her first stop in New Zealand and ending in Switzerland:
Questions: What unique or interesting experiences did you encounter or acquire (people, places, events) that you think are worth noting; what is the significance and impact (potential or real) of the work being done; and, what have you learned from this that you did not know or experience before?
New Zealand
On my first stop, I excavated Maori horticultural sites that likely date to before the arrival of Europeans in New Zealand. The types of features we were encountering were: kumara storage pits and structures, borrow pits (large pits dug by the Maori to remove sand beneath the natural subsoil to help them mix and cultivate their soils for horticulture), fire pits and post-holes. The two sites I worked on were located in the Bay of Plenty region and in the Waikato region of the North Island. My tasks were to excavate and record archaeological features in advance of infrastructural development. This involved investigating features to see if they were archaeological, excavating half of the feature if it was archaeological and then recording it through photographs, soil samples, plans and context sheets. Another major component of the excavations was working closely with iwi monitors to ensure an atmosphere of mutual understanding and respect.
In New Zealand all archaeological excavations are monitored by a member of the local iwi. In the Bay of Plenty region the iwi monitor was an elder of that community and was there to observe and comment. In the Waikato the iwi decided to have four members involved on a rotating basis and interact directly with the archaeologists to learn about the process of doing archaeology and what we were finding on the site. This was a very exciting and enriching experience for me because I learned more about the archaeology I was excavating through explaining the methodology behind it and hearing about the cultural practices that the archaeology reflects. I was also able to discuss the current political and cultural situation of the Maori people and how this has changed over the past 20 years (for the better). When you are working with another person in close proximity, for instance excavating a small archaeological feature together, it is easy to allow the conversation to flow and not feel forced like it could in a formal situation like an interview.
In the case of the Bay of Plenty, this is the first time that archaeology has been recorded on that ridgeline, even though it is a residential area full of houses. For the local iwi the discovery of so much archaeology on that small strip of land confirms what their oral history already says. They now know the physical evidence of Maori occupation of that location. In the Waikato the impact is different but no less significant. By exposing members of the local iwi to the basics of archaeology the mystery surrounding what archaeologists are doing is removed. Since archaeologists have to work closely with the iwi when they are developing excavation plans this helps both sides to understand what is required and why. It also adds an additional dimension to the Maori understanding of their past and how daily activities like horticulture were practiced hundreds of years ago.
I was not prepared for the sheer scale of some of the archaeological features we would be excavating. In the Waikato some of the borrow pits were 8m by 4m and over 2m deep. I had also not understood the level of complexity behind Maori horticultural practices and how much they had to augment the soils of New Zealand in order to grow the crops they brought with them from Polynesia. These practices were labor intensive and would have required an in-depth knowledge of their crops and how to manufacture soils to suit them.
Image: Waikato borrow pit under excavation. Courtesy Kate Leonard
Australia
Willow Court is a large complex of buildings that functioned as a mental health institution from 1827 to 2000. It was originally named the New Norfolk Insane Asylum and was built to care for convicts transported to Tasmania by the British Government (then known as Van Diemens Land). I joined the archaeological team and field school being run at Willow Court by Dr. Heather Burke of Flinder’s University. The field school focused mainly on the exercise yard outside of Ward C, the original Barracks building and the contemporary Superintendents cottage, Frescati House.
The main goal for the field school was to lay the groundwork for the excavations due to take place the next season. Specifically, mapping the institutional complex with a total station, doing geophysical surveys to identify sub-soil features and cataloguing artifacts in storage. One objective was to discern what artifacts and materials were retained since 1960, the processes involved in that retention, and what has been lost since. A complete archaeological recording of Frescati House was also in order to help the team and interest groups understand the construction pattern of the house as well as to record it. There was no good spatial data of the Willow Court complex or Frescati House so creating a comprehensive digital plan of the exterior areas (where future excavations may take place) was very important. The three types of geophysical equipment used were ground penetrating radar, an electrical resistivity device and a magnetic gradiometer. It is hoped that the results of the geophys will help the team to target areas to excavate next season.
As you can imagine the local community of New Norfolk has to grapple with stigmatization due to the legacy of this type of institution operating for 170 years. The future of the Willow Court institutional complex is therefore a sensitive and contested issue. On a positive note, the archaeological investigations being conducted here should help all the stakeholders to understand the current state of the site and the artifacts associated with it. With that information hopefully a productive solution that suits all parties can be developed. There have been arguments since the 1960’s about turning the site into a museum or at least preserving it, however nothing has ever developed. As a result the site has fallen into disrepair and is a favorite spot for local teenagers to vandalize. Without cataloguing the known material no plan can be developed to move forward with the future of Willow Court, so it was of the utmost importance that each object be catalogued and documented properly.
Although I was aware of Australia’s Convict Era and had some general knowledge of the severity of the penal system in place, the mental health repercussions had never crossed my mind. The journey in convict ships, physical punishment and mental punishment (such as solitary and silent confinement of prisoners in places like Port Arthur and Cascades Female Factory), and forced hard labor tested the limits of all the convicts minds and some were irreparably damaged by their experiences. Willow Court remained an important institution long after the Convict Era and that should serve to remind us that mental health affects all human populations in all time periods.
Image: The barracked bulding of Williow Court as it appears today. Courtesy K. Leonard
Fiji
The Archaeological Department of the Fiji Museum conducts Archaeological Impact Assessments (AIA’s) prior to the commencement of development projects (like the building of a resort) and in response to community requests. Communities often request AIA’s to be conducted on cultural significant sites that they perceive to be under threat (for instance by resort expansion) and that they would like to be protected by the government. Due to Cyclone Winston the fieldwork we conducted was directly associated with post-cyclone damage assessment. We traveled west from Suva to Nadi doing Archaeological Impact Assessments for communities and developers. We also conducted some post-cyclone assessments for national heritage sites like the Sigatoka Sand Dunes (where we had to do an unanticipated rescue lift of two human skeletons) and some WWII sites in Suva, and for a community administered site, the Tavuni Hill Fort. I was exposed to the full spectrum of Fijian archaeology in terms of both chronology and site type including Bourewa, site of the earliest known settlement in Fiji (c. 3100BP) and Momi Battery, a WWII gun emplacement site run by the National Trust of Fiji.
The physical challenges to doing fieldwork in Fiji are the heat, humidity and mosquitoes. Dengue fever is also a concern, especially after a violent storm like a cyclone that leaves a lot of standing water. The pace of work is also very different from what I am accustomed to as a North American. There are certain protocols and sequences of interaction that must be followed in order to be considered polite. Essentially this entails discussions and gifting that lead up to the actual fieldwork, time during which most ‘westerners’ would be ‘chomping at the bit’ to get started. However, this aspect is very important to Fijians and it is considered disrespectful to do otherwise. When archaeologists go out into the field to conduct work they must first visit the village associated with the land/archaeological site they are interested in, and then participate in a sevusevu. This is a ceremony whereby kava (a mildly narcotic powdered root made into a drink) is exchanged and consumed. The ceremony not only allows for the exchange of information regarding where all the parties are from, their chiefly affiliations and what work they wish to conduct, but it is a way of showing respect. It is a great transgression to go onto a community’s land without conducting the sevusevu.
The cultural heritage resource sector in Fiji is incredibly underdeveloped. The tourism sector has in the past focused on resorts and spas. However, there is now a move towards a new kind of tourist experience that includes village visits, home-stays, and natural/cultural experiences. It is essential for community groups that, if development along these lines takes place, their cultural sites are not negatively impacted. The work of the Archaeology Department of the Fiji Museum is crucial to the success of these processes. As they are a neutral institution they advise what is in the best interest of the archaeology, acting as best they can to ensure that the cultural heritage of Fiji remains accessible and available for all Fijians.
I had not anticipated the diversity of archaeological sites in Fiji. The archaeological collections held in storage by the Fiji Museum are impressive even though there have not been many archaeological investigations and there is still so much to discover and discuss. I was struck by how traditions and customs have remained important aspects of Fijian daily life, long after British colonization and the upheaval of WWII which brought many modernizations, especially in terms of infrastructural development. This has ensured that the culture remains vibrant. The country is very poor but the people have an infectious positive attitude. This was especially apparent in the aftermath of Cyclone Winston. Homes and livelihoods had been destroyed but people were focused on rebuilding and considered themselves blessed that so few people had been hurt. Such a positive outlook on life is inspirational.
Image: Fragments of ceramic salt drying trays. Image courtesy Kate Leonard and the Fiji Museum
Mexico
My experience in Mexico took place in the small village of Tahcabo, in the center of the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. I worked with the Collaborative Archaeological Project of Eastern Yucatán (PACOY: Proyecto Arqueológico Colaborativo del Oriente de Yucatán). The principal investigators of the project were Dr. Patricia A. McAnany (UNC, InHerit) and Dr. Iván Batún Alpuche (UNO, AGEY). The excavation I participated on was under the direction of Field Coordinator Maia Dedrick, who is conducting primary research for her doctoral dissertation. In the this field season the team was excavating rejolladas and abandoned settlements in order to better understand changes in Maya horticultural practices that took place when the Spaniards first came to the area around Tahcabo. Rejolladas are natural solution sinkholes in the karstic limestone that collect rich soils ideal for cultivation. The rejolladas located in the village of Tahcabo itself are still actively used for gardening, for making earth ovens (píib) and for conducting the Ch’a’ Cháak rain ceremony. There are usually chickens wandering through and there could be vegetables growing, tree crops, animals, or some other activity taking place. As part of her dissertation research, Field Coordinator Dedrick is examining changes in how food was grown in Tahcabo’s rejolladas from the Classic period through the Spanish colonization of Mexico (ca. 600-1800 CE). It is hoped that these investigations will shed more light on how sweeping social changes affected community organization, agricultural production, and food preparation. To achieve this, the excavation provides samples for analysis of macro- and micro-botanical remains and soil chemistry.
Dedrick excavated 2m x 2m trenches in six of Tahcabo’s rejolladas. From pre-determined depths within the trenches the team systematically took archaeo-botanical samples such as charcoal for C14 dating, 30 liters of soil for flotation, around 30 grams of soil for both carbon isotope analysis and pollen analysis, and about 100 grams of soil for phytolith and starch grain analysis. Since each 20cm depth is being sampled in so many ways Maia will have many pieces of evidence to figure out the puzzle of ancient Maya gardening in Tahcabo’s rejolladas. By collecting C14 samples for each layer it will be possible to find out if the types of plants grown changed over time. It’s possible that the results will show how gardening practices in Tahcabo changed after the arrival of the Spaniards to Mexico.
A very important component of the Project is community involvement. The excavation sites are located within the municipal boundaries and the residents of Tahcabo are actively encouraged to participate in all aspects of the project. We often had visitors to the rejolladas we were excavating in and were of course working alongside people from the local community. The excavations were a good opportunity for a few months of consistent paid work and the knowledge of the local area that they brought to the project was highly valued. Students from the Universidad de Oriente (UNO) and Universidad Autonoma de Yucatán (UADY) are also active members of the project, an initiative that provides an opportunity for the younger generation, including those who themselves speak Maya, to study local Maya culture, anthropology and archaeology. Wider dissemination will come in the form of educational materials and reports (in Spanish and Yucatec Maya) composed by Dedrick in collaboration with the non-profit group InHerit.
Image: Planning limestone at the end of an ancient settlement mound. Photo by M. Dedrick of PACOY
South Africa
My next stop was in South Africa, at a series of cave shelters at Pinnacle Point on the southern coast. The first cave to be excavated, PP13B, has given us the earliest evidence for human consumption of shellfish – dated to around 164 000 years ago. Cave PP13B also contained evidence for early use of ochre pigment and heat treatment of stone artifacts. PP5-6 has provided the earliest known evidence for the knapping of microliths to make composite tools (possibly the earliest evidence for projectile points around 71 000 years ago), and to make those microliths they focused on heat treatment to improve the stone. Today a large interdisciplinary team is working together at the rockshelter PP5-6 to provide a fuller context within which to understand how early humans were living in this area many tens of thousands of years ago. The archaeological material being excavated at Pinnacle Point is providing information about the evolution of modern humans and therefore its importance goes beyond that of a single country or cultural group – this is how our shared human story began. The types of innovations that have been revealed by the excavations in the cave shelter complex share some major traits: cooperation, organization and planning. For example, the archaeological evidence of shellfish collecting implies a knowledge/awareness of lunar cycle as this activity can only be done at low spring tide (a new and full moon). Once this knowledge began to be implemented to harvest shellfish the people living at Pinnacle Point had a predictable source of calorie rich protein with which to supplement their diet.
PP5-6 contains archaeological material that dates from between 90 – 50 000 years ago. There is one long section through the entire cave shelter that connects all the stratigraphic layers from the earliest to the latest. The stratigraphy at the base of the ‘long section’ is so deep that it has been completely buttressed with sandbags. I had never excavated such ancient archaeology before and I was keenly aware of this. At Pinnacle Point the level of detail being recorded was truly astounding. A really exciting innovative technique developed by the Pinnacle Point team is the use of barcode scanners to record all artifacts, samples, sieved buckets and archaeological features (lot numbers, stratigraphic units, contexts, etc.). The barcode scanners are directly connected to a handheld computer that is connected to a total station (a high tech piece of survey equipment that makes digital 3D maps). Each time an artifact is found its coordinate in 3D space is plotted with the total station and this information is stored in that total station’s tablet. A barcode is then scanned and placed in a bag with the artifact. Each artifact gets its own individual barcode. Since the archaeological feature that artifact came from also has a barcode (previously scanned into the system) when the artifacts are analyzed and catalogued back at the lab the barcode is simply scanned again to access all data associated with that artifact and the location it came from in the excavation. There are two recorders on site and each is responsible for all the forms and logs for half the excavation. The excavators and recorders work together to ensure that all information logged is correct: the sediment excavated (its color, texture, moisture level and composition), the artifacts uncovered (types, amount, orientation and distribution), samples collected, photographs taken, and much more. Tablets are great pieces of tech for doing this type of work! They are lightweight and mobile so can easily be carried around an archaeological site from excavator to excavator. A really nice feature is the ability to take a photo with the tablet, draw on the photo and make notes related to what was excavated and what still needs to be excavated, then upload it directly onto the stratigraphic unit form on the tablet. It is amazing to see the activity on site with excavators furiously digging, the site recorders moving between their workstation and the excavators, and 5 total stations being run simultaneously to keep up with the amount of archaeology being revealed.
In the end, the excavations at Pinnacle Point are teaching us about the complex lives of our earliest human ancestors. It is possible that the individuals that created the archaeological remains being unearthed are the ancestors of those humans who went on to populate the globe.
Image: The team working at the lower end of the excavation in PP 5-6. Courtesy Kate Leonard
Greece
In Greece, I worked with the Stélida Naxos Archaeological Project (SNAP), an international team led by Dr. Tristan Carter of McMaster University through the Canadian Institute in Greece, along with his co-director Dr. Demetris Athanasoulis of the Cycladic Ephorate of Antiquities of the Hellenic Republic’s Ministry of Culture and Sports. This team is investigating the hilly peninsula of Stélida on the island’s western coast, home to the earliest known archaeological site in the region. The hill itself is basically one big chert source where people came to get raw material for making stone tools since the Lower Palaeolithic (at least 250,000 years ago) and through to the Mesolithic (to 9,000 years ago). What is being found in the excavations are the leftovers from thousands of years of removing chert from the outcrops and the roughing out of stone tools. This isn’t necessarily where hominins and, later on, humans lived — instead, the archaeological material being uncovered indicates that Stélida was a place returned to again and again to extract chert from which to make sharp and durable tools. At Stélida there is known Middle Palaeolithic activity identified from diagnostic prepared core technology, demonstrating that some of the anthropogenic material found here can be securely dated to the time when Neanderthals were living in Europe. It is also possible that there were other hominid species taking away and using Stélida chert even earlier, suggested by the tantalizing evidence for Lower Palaeolithic activity in the form of possible bifaces that could be interpreted as handaxes; these large heavy tools could have been made by Homo heidelbergensis, the predecessor of the Neanderthals in Europe. The possibility for evidence of these early hominids living on what are now the Cycladic islands has not been seriously investigated before and if conclusively verified will change how we understand the movements of hominids across the globe.
A very early site that was primarily used as a raw material source doesn’t necessarily contain all the lovely (easily identified) stone tools that would be found on a habitation site — instead, you find the leftovers from making these stone tools. There is so much lithic material being found at Stélida that the team struggles to wash it so the lithic specialist can assess it and inform the team of diagnostic pieces uncovered. I was tasked with excavating a 2m x 2m trench about ¾ of the way up the hill that was positioned immediately at the base of a substantial chert outcrop. Until I had excavated about a meter below the modern ground surface half of the soil was full of stone tool making leftovers (debitage) and identifying the lithic material was initially a challenge for me.
Not only is Stélida a stunningly beautiful location to dig, but there is the possibility that my contribution to the project will help us better understand how hominids and humans spread across the globe. It was exciting to be part of a project that is asking difficult questions and trying to reassess how we are interpreting the archaeological record. The debris left behind as raw material was selected and worked from the same locations over thousands and thousands of years. This can inform archaeologists about the different behaviors and skills of these hominids. This exciting groundbreaking research is investigating a previously overlooked region of Greece for possible alternative routeways for Homo sapiens and their ancient predecessors’ movements from Africa into Europe and Asia.
Image: A view of the trench where Kate was excavating. Courtesy Kate Leonard
Ireland
The next stop was Ireland, with the Caherconnell Archaeology Field School (CAFS), directed by Dr. Michelle Comber. Caherconnell Cashel is a possible indigenous royal settlement occupied from the 10th century to the 15th/16th centuries AD. The ‘cashel’ is a drystone (no mortar) enclosure: a 4m-high limestone wall enclosing a circular area that contained dwellings, the enclosure having an east-facing entrance. Already the excavations in the interior of the cashel have revealed evidence for a series of occupation/building phases that indicate a long period of use. Many medieval artifacts have been uncovered, such as clothes-fastening pins (aka dress pins) of various styles, glass and amber beads, iron knives and shears, and intricately carved bone hair combs. Stone walls, animal bone and finely worked metal objects all come together to tell the story of the medieval ‘native’ Irish Gaelic people who lived and worked at Caherconnell –- a story not fully told through written history. The seasonal digs at Caherconnell are helping archaeologists and historians to better understand the lifestyle of Gaelic Irish people in the medieval period, a period whose narrative is often dominated by the archaeology, architecture and politics of the invading Anglo-Normans (from the 12th century AD). It is very important that the story of the native population be put back into the narrative of medieval Ireland. Understanding the daily lives of Caherconnell’s medieval occupants can help to fill-out this narrative and the underlying limestone bedrock of the region creates an alkaline condition (non-acidic) that preserves bone wonderfully, thus allowing for a fuller understanding of the average diet. The large animal bone assemblage from the site indicates that the cashel’s occupants throughout the medieval period had a rich varied diet including pig, sheep/goat and cow milk products and meat, fish, shellfish, and poultry which also means eggs. The meat in their diet was supplemented with gathered herbs, fruits and nuts (like the ever present hazelnut!), and cereal grains like barley, oats, rye and wheat ground by hand into flour and/or meal using heavy stone rotary querns.
Since I worked with Dr. Comber on a nearby project (for three seasons) in the past I was asked to help supervise the students on-site. Most of the students had never excavated before and it is great fun to dig beside them and experience the joys and disappointments of being a rookie ‘digger’ as they did. The bedrock is very close to the topsoil (in some cases only 10cm but in others can be up to a meter in depth) in the Burren and so a large area can be excavated down to the natural level in a short period of time. I was digging in an area of the site where the foundations of a round structure, and associated internal features, were revealed that likely date to the earliest occupation of the cashel – the 10th century AD. This structure appears to have been some sort of kitchen/workshop area.
The stone fort itself is open to the public through the Visitor Center (which has a wonderful cafe!). This working farm and tourist destination is run by Mr. John Davoren, the landowner, and is a shining example of an archaeological site integrated into a sustainable family business.
Image: Field school team members excavating at the site of the Caherconnell Cashel. Courtesy Kate Leonard
Portugal
In Portugal, I participated in an excavation led by site directors Miguel Serra and Eduardo Porfirio and supervisor Sofia Eiras. They investigated the Late Bronze Age (1250-850 BC) fortified hilltop settlement of Outeiro do Circo in the Alentejo plain of southern Portugal. The site covers about 17 hectares. This huge area was enclosed by a complex defensive system: a double wall of stone, fire hardened clay and wood was augmented with bastions, ramps, platforms and an exterior retaining wall built on a disused ditch. By its size alone it is clear that Outeiro do Circo was an important location in the region and this season the team was investigating the interior area. The team opened a number of trenches on the summit of the hilltop and just inside the enclosing wall. Their goal was to gain a better understanding of what went on inside the wall during the Late Bronze Age and to assess the level of disturbance to the archaeology from modern farming. Outeiro do Circo is one of the largest settlements of this time period in the Iberian Peninsula. It is also situated in an area which has (relatively recently) undergone significant archaeological investigation due to infrastructure development. Because of this development it is now known that the large fortified Outeiro do Circo settlement was not isolated in the Late Bronze Age but was in fact located in a landscape dotted with small contemporary settlements – a perspective which drastically changed archaeological understanding of this regions Bronze Age.
I was tasked with digging a trench on the northwestern slope of the hill within the line of the wall. Within the trench some exciting evidence of Bronze Age activity was found – including a cup-marked stone and various types of diagnostic pottery. One morning when I arrived on site the sunrise was slanting across the site and I noticed some indentations on one of the larger stones in the trench. As I excavated this stone it became clear that it was decorated with prehistoric cup-marks, intentionally created by one or more people and then positioned in the Late Bronze Age structural feature we were revealing. Cup-marked stones, or in Portuguese “rochas com covinhas” – or just “covinhas” for short -are a type of prehistoric decorated stone found across western Europe. They are difficult to date but are certainly prehistoric – Neolithic, Copper Age and/or Early Bronze Age – and have frequently been found reused on later prehistoric sites, as is the case at Outeiro do Circo. The cup-marked stone from my trench is the fourth found at Outeiro do Circo. One was found at the base of a deep Late Bronze Age pit close to the summit of the hilltop and another was used in the construction of the top course of the enclosing wall. The fourth is a large boulder that sits in situ where it was decorated. This has by far the most cup-marks on it and is located in a part of the hill that would have been ideal for settlement. This stone must have been known about in the Late Bronze Age when the hill was being fortified. The cup-marked stones found at Outeiro do Circo were not reused in a context that could be interpreted as particularly special or religious, but still….the three smaller stones were integrated into the construction of features on the hilltop. It is particularly intriguing to me that here there are both smaller cup-marked stones that were moved from their original position to be reused and the large boulder that still sits where it was decorated.
Fragments of pottery from the Chalcolithic to the Roman period have been found on the ground surface at Outeiro do Circo but by far the most common are those from the Late Bronze Age. The archaeological investigations being conducted by the team here are helping to paint a vivid picture of it as an important Late Bronze Age settlement in what seems to have been a thriving region.
The Projecto Outeiro do Circo is highly engaged with the local community. They frequently post their findings on the project blog (http://outeirodocirco.blogspot.pt) and have regular evening talks about the project or topics related to it. The project also organizes site visits and workshops for children’s groups (and adults) over the summer. An even bigger initiative is the “12 Lugares, 12 Meses, 12 Histórias”, which involves the eleven regions around the central town of Beja showcasing their Bronze Age sites through walks and talks. This initiative was organized after I contacted the site director, Miguel Serra, about volunteering with them for month 8 of my 12 countries – 12 projects – 12 months Global Archaeology year.
Image: The cup-marked stone emerging from the trench. Photo courtesy Kate Leonard
Scotland
In Scotland, the Heritage and Archaeological Research Practice (HARP) has been collaborating with the Mull Archaeology Interest Group (MAIG) to investigate the small abandoned historic settlement of Kildavie in the North West Mull Community Woodland of Langamull on the Isle of Mull in the Inner Hedrides off the west coast of Scotland. The HARP team run a seasonal field school that excavates the remains of the Kildavie settlement which was occupied in the 17th and 18th centuries before its full abandonment. Sixteen buildings have already been identified on the site – mainly domestic dwellings, though the site may include locations of cottage industry. The reason for its final abandonment is unknown, as is the origin of the settlement. As part of Scotland’s Rural Past project Kildavie was surveyed by the Mull Archaeological Interest Group (MAIG), who mapped the general layout of the settlement’s buildings and enclosures which showed that the (approximately sixteen) buildings conform to a general shape and style of construction. Further analysis of the settlement over the past few excavation seasons has highlighted variety between structures that casts uncertainty on how each was used. While there is a grand narrative about the Highland Clearances in this part of the country – with some very real and harrowing accounts to go along with it – the story is not straightforward in every case. While some people were quickly forced out of their homes, other places were more gradually abandoned and Kildavie may be one of these.
HARP targeted three areas of the abandoned village for excavation during the season in which I participated: each focused on a different style of structure. Above all else the archaeological team is hoping that the excavations at Kildavie and the objects uncovered will provide more information about the lives of those who lived there. In the historic records there is no complete description of the number of people living in the settlement and what their occupations were. By excavating as wide a variety of structures as possible the team hopes to identify differences in dates of occupation and use of the structures. The team is also investigating the possibility that one or two of the structures were built for something other than a domestic dwelling, for instance for a cottage industry. It also seems that some buildings were ‘renovated’ and re-used for another purpose. This type of later reuse can be seen in the small dividing walls built in some of the structures, possibly after they went out of use as a home.
Historic archaeologists can often use written records and maps to identify sites and discover details about people who lived in the past. But equally there are aspects of past lives that were not recorded and can’t be learned from ledgers and letters. The investigations being conducted by HARP at Kildavie are a perfect example of how physical remains uncovered through archaeology can expand our understanding of historic records.
Image: Revealing unwritten history through archaeology: Investigation of the structures and the associated artifacts will help shed light on the functions of the structures and the lives of the people who once occupied them. Photo courtesy Kate Leonard
Hawai`i
My next stop was Honolulu on the Hawaiian island of Oʻahu with the Archaeology Collections in the Anthropology Department of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, which is also the Hawaiʻi State Museum of Natural and Cultural History. The primary purpose of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum is to serve and represent the interests of Native Hawaiians. In addition to the main exhibition areas that feature Hawaiian and Pacific natural and cultural history, the museum has an active program of rotating exhibits. The Bishop Museum staff is working to use their existing collections to develop dynamic programming for its visitors. Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop was the last member of the royal Kamehameha Dynasty which ruled the (then) Kingdom of Hawaiʻi from 1810 – 1872. After she died in 1884, her husband, Charles Reed Bishop, founded the museum to honor her memory and to house the royal heirlooms she had inherited. The Bishop Museum was built on the grounds of the original Kamehameha Schools boys’ campus. An original school building, Bishop Hall, still stands on the museum grounds and one day will hopefully be restored to its former glory. In 1898, Charles Bishop had Hawaiian Hall and Polynesian Hall constructed, now both on the National Register of Historic Places. Today the Bishop Museum also has modern extensions such as the planetarium and is considered the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific.
One of my tasks at the Museum was to scan and crop archival photos from the Stokes Collection. Together with William Brigham, the first director of the Bishop Museum, John F. G. Stokes was part of the first major archaeological survey of Hawaiian heiau in 1906-1909. These photos of archaeological sites, people and places are a record of Hawai‘i long before the tourists and resorts arrived. Some of these collections will soon be available through a new online database, and through them we can see the Hawai‘i that Brigham and Stokes were exploring over 100 years ago. I also helped to catalogue donated thin section slides of 3,000-year old Lapita pottery from the western Pacific that was studied by William Dickinson, who was one of the foremost experts in this area. These are thin slices of pottery sherds cut with a diamond saw and ground flat until they are microns thin and can be mounted on a glass slide. The slides can be examined under a powerful microscope to identify the minerals contained in the pottery, which can tell archaeologists about the type of clay and inclusions used to form the pottery, which can then be used to track the movement of raw materials. Once completed, this catalogue will be accessible to interested researchers from all over the world.
Today the Anthropology Department at the Bishop Museum is focused on using their existing collections in new research projects. The team is passionate about using non-destructive techniques to continue to learn more about the cultural and natural history of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific Islands. I got to see the team in action, zapping stone adzes with their portable XRF (x-ray fluorescence) machine. This device determines the elemental composition of a stone, which can tell archaeologists where it is from in the world. The Anthropology Department is particularly involved in the Hoʻomaka Hou Research Initiative and the Hawaiian Archaeological Survey project. One outcome of the Hoʻomaka Hou Research Initiative is the publicly accessible Online Fishhook Database, featuring over 4000 fishhooks from three sites excavated on Hawaiʻi Island in the 1950s by a joint Bishop Museum and University of Hawaiʻi team.
The creation of online databases so both researchers and the public can access and explore collections remotely is an important component of the work currently being done by the Bishop Museum, and the projects I worked on directly contribute to this on-going effort. There is a continuously rotating squad of volunteers who work diligently to process and digitize the Archaeology Collections of the Anthropology Department. Already this work had produced results: the Ho‘omaka Hou Research Initiative Online Fishhook Database, the Hawaiian Archaeological Survey (HAS) Database, and the Rapa Nui Interactive Radiocarbon Database can all be accessed online through the Bishop Museum website. The Hawaiian Archaeological Survey (HAS) Database is a searchable catalogue of over 12800 Hawaiian archaeological sites investigated by Bishop Museum archaeologists – a valuable resource for anyone interested in learning more about Hawaiian archaeology.
Image: Today the Bishop Museum is considered the premier natural and cultural history institution in the Pacific. Courtesy Kate Leonard
Canada
The almost thirty galleries of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, display everything from T-Rex skeletons to Roman coins to Samurai armour – it is a museum that brings the world to the city of Toronto while showcasing Toronto’s architectural history to the world. Many of the ROM’s objects and materials were collected at the end of the heyday of collecting in the 1920’s. At this time Canada was much more integrated into the British Empire (with some of the provinces not even part of Canada yet) and so many collections were donated to the ROM from British officials who had travelled abroad. The correspondence of the ROM’s first curator of archaeology, Charles Trick Currelly, is very interesting to read as these letters reveal the vast global network of agents when museums everywhere used to acquire new and interesting objects. It often wasn’t possible for museum staff to travel to far flung places and so agents were used to identify and obtain new pieces for museum collections. The ROM came into being one hundred and fourteen years ago, on April 16, 1912, when the ROM Act was signed in the province of Ontario Legislature. This piece of law outlined the parameters of the museum and gave equal power over funding and development to the province and to the University of Toronto. About two years later the Royal Ontario Museums of Archaeology, Palaeontology, Mineralogy, Zoology and Geology were opened to the public. The original five galleries each housed a different museum: it wasn’t until 1955 that the five museums were amalgamated into one. In 1933 a new eastern wing facing Toronto’s Queen’s Park was opened to the public in the midst of the Great Depression. This wing and the original 1914 museum are today listed as heritage buildings of Toronto. The ROM continues to exhibit material from the five original museum themes of Archaeology, Palaeontology, Mineralogy, Zoology and Geology but these are now under the umbrellas of Natural History, World Cultures and Hands-on Galleries, as well as Temporary and Ongoing special exhibitions.
When I arrived the Royal Ontario Museum’s Anthropology Department was in the midst of a big collection storage move. One of my tasks was to open boxes of excavated material that had been accessioned but not yet re-housed. It is important to remove objects from boxes and/or bags that are ripped or deteriorating to make sure that the archaeological material is protected and not separated from any important information written on its storage container. It is fascinating to see the types of bags and boxes that archaeologists sometimes used in the past. They took advantage of whatever they had on hand in the field: newspapers, matchboxes, cigarette boxes and even bankers bags! Today museum professionals use acid free boxes and plastic bags to keep the collections safe from pests and harmful environmental factors.
Working with the staff at the Royal Ontario Museum was a special treat for me because, as a Canadian from the province of Ontario, the ROM was one of the first museums I ever visited. I have childhood memories of being transfixed by the Egyptian mummies and Classical Greek vases on display. Visiting as an adult, the architecture of the museum is as fascinating to me as the archaeological and natural history objects it exhibits. The totem poles that stand in the eastern wing of the ROM have always been particularly intriguing to me and I was thrilled to learn that the staircases there they stand were actually constructed around them when the wing was built in 1933.
Switzerland
On my final stop, I worked at the Institut für Archäologie, Universität Zürich, Switzerland. The main focus of the Universität Zürich archaeology department is to train the next generation of archaeologists through class and lab work as well as archaeological excavations in Switzerland and abroad. Every archaeology student at the Universität Zürich must complete an archaeological field school as well as a ‘praktikum’ with a heritage service or museum, in addition to their regular coursework. By making a field school compulsory the department ensures that each student who completes their studies has an understanding of excavation procedures. Fieldwork isn’t for everyone and archaeology is the type of profession that needs many people working off-site to make the entire process run smoothly. However, it is very important that those archaeologists who don’t do fieldwork have a first-hand awareness of where the data, artifacts, and/or materials they are investigating come from.
In order to facilitate the exchange of ideas and information more and more university departments are encouraging their staff and students to publish research in English. This allows for more international readership of their work. My task at the Institut für Archäologie of Universität Zürich was to edit an English language version of a multi-authored publication. Although there are many people at the university who can edit English documents, I was able to bring an archaeological perspective to the language and vocabulary needed to comprehensively communicate what the author intended.
Each institutional sphere – academia, museum, government – of archaeology in Switzerland fit together like one of the country’s famous watches. Each has a role to play in the wider organization of excavation, recording, processing, and maintenance and must rely on the other components to bring projects to completion. There was fantastically preserved cultural heritage all around me as I walked to and from the Universität Zürich each day and I enjoyed learning more about the long history of this beautiful city.
Connecting with Global Archaeology
I have been very lucky that each project I participated in was very different in terms of the research questions. So not only did I get the chance to explore 12 new cultures and countries but I got first-hand experience with types of archaeology I never would have experienced if I hadn’t left my own research focuses. This journey was not all sunshine and trowels: there was a large dollop of extreme weather events (Cyclone Winston), vermin (rats, cockroaches, possums, mosquitoes, etc.), in addition to the culinary delights (from kava to spiced offal).
Even though the countries and projects were different, there are basic things about archaeology that are the same all around the world in terms of methodology and interpretation. Essentially we dig and record what we find. The recording systems are fairly consistent across the world (context sheets, photos, spreadsheets, etc.) but the level of detail recorded, the technology available (total station vs. measuring tape) and the level of training available varies.
Since I was traveling with a purpose and a daily routine I was able to have experiences with local people and get insights into their lives and cultures that I have never had as a conventional tourist. Global Archaeology is about more than just digging holes, it is about making global connections — personal connections with the people I met and worked with, online connections with the people who followed my blog and posts, and connections between living people and people who lived in the past and shaped our world. Throughout the Global Archaeology journey I observed and participated in activities to inform communities about their local archaeology through outreach projects. Again and again I saw how effective archaeology can be as a mechanism for developing a sense of connection with the past. Holding an ancient object in your hand seems to bring the past very close to the present. Global Archaeology was, and still is, my vehicle for making and communicating these connections.
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This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
RUTGERS UNIVERSITY—About 1 to 2 million years ago, early humans in East Africa periodically faced very dry conditions, with little or no water in sight. But they likely had access to hundreds of springs that lingered despite long dry spells, allowing our ancestors to head north and out of Africa, according to a groundbreaking study by scientists at Rutgers University-New Brunswick and other institutions.
The international team showed that climate may not play such a primary role in human evolution as is commonly asserted.
“This has very important implications for human evolution,” said Gail M. Ashley, a professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers. “We’re not saying anything about why early humans left Africa. We’re only saying it was possible to leave Africa by going from one spring to the next and they could travel during dry periods.”
The study, which focuses on the key role of “hydro-refugia,” or water refuges, in East African hominin (early human) evolution and dispersal, was published today in the online journal Nature Communications. Hydro-refugia, a new term coined by the scientists, include springs, wetlands, groundwater-fed perennial streams and groundwater-fed rivers.
The study has global relevance since drylands cover about 45 percent of the Earth’s land mass. The importance of groundwater for the survival of our hominin ancestors during dramatic climate swings could inspire and inform strategies for human resilience to future climate change, the study says.
For several million years, the African climate has fluctuated between wet and dry in 23,000-year cycles. And since most lakes are undrinkable (saline or alkaline) and rivers dry up for large parts of the year in East Africa, where early humans arose, the study focused on the viability of groundwater-fed springs.
Rainwater is stored in large underground aquifers and moves slowly until it seeps out onto the surface as springs. The location of groundwater-fed springs is controlled by geology and the groundwater supply is buffered against climate change, according to Ashley, a geologist whose curiosity about springs prompted the study.
The study area is vast – nearly 2.1 million square kilometers (some 808,000 square miles), stretching from northern Tanzania to Ethiopia and focusing on the East African Rift Valley. And the scientists performed hydrogeological modeling of the current landscape. A spring that discharges 1,000 cubic meters of water (about 264,000 gallons) a year was deemed productive enough to maintain continuous flow.
“I’m absolutely amazed how in some places, it looks like a trickle of water is coming out and yet it will supply hundreds of animals a day,” said Ashley, who has conducted research in the region since 1994 and has studied many springs.
Using today’s distribution of lakes, rivers and springs sprinkled along the valley from northern Tanzania to Ethiopia, a computer study was performed to see if it would have been possible for humans to walk from one water source to another and survive. The study assumed that a person could walk up to 180 kilometers, or about 112 miles, in three days.
“In some places, people could not migrate and they would have stayed at one spring for quite a long time until it got wetter again, and then more springs would open up and they could continue to move,” Ashley said.
People have always assumed that climate was the main factor in human migration and human evolution, she said.
“Climate fluctuated, but the geology allowed the development and maintenance of springs – hydro-refugia – on the landscape, allowing humans to disperse and migrate out of Africa,” she said. “The bigger question is what motivated humans to move up the East African Rift Valley. We know they did and we have shown how it was possible, but we don’t really have a logical reason for them doing that.”
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A spring in Lake Manyara National Park in northern Tanzania, just south of Olduvai Gorge. Credit: Gail M. Ashley, Rutgers University
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY—An international team of scientists, led by researchers from the University of Tuebingen and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, successfully recovered and analyzed ancient DNA from Egyptian mummies dating from approximately 1400 BCE to 400 CE, including the first genome-wide nuclear data from three individuals, establishing ancient Egyptian mummies as a reliable source for genetic material to study the ancient past. The study*, published today in Nature Communications, found that modern Egyptians share more ancestry with Sub-Saharan Africans than ancient Egyptians did, whereas ancient Egyptians were found to be most closely related to ancient people from the Near East.
Egypt is a promising location for the study of ancient populations. It has a rich and well-documented history, and its geographic location and many interactions with populations from surrounding areas, in Africa, Asia and Europe, make it a dynamic region. Recent advances in the study of ancient DNA present an intriguing opportunity to test existing understandings of Egyptian history using ancient genetic data.
However, genetic studies of ancient Egyptian mummies are rare due to methodological and contamination issues. Although some of the first extractions of ancient DNA were from mummified remains, scientists have raised doubts as to whether genetic data, especially nuclear genome data, from mummies would be reliable, even if it could be recovered. “The potential preservation of DNA has to be regarded with skepticism,” confirms Johannes Krause, Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena and senior author of the study. “The hot Egyptian climate, the high humidity levels in many tombs and some of the chemicals used in mummification techniques, contribute to DNA degradation and are thought to make the long-term survival of DNA in Egyptian mummies unlikely.” The ability of the authors of this study to extract nuclear DNA from such mummies and to show its reliability using robust authentication methods is a breakthrough that opens the door to further direct study of mummified remains.
For this study, an international team of researchers from the University of Tuebingen, the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, the University of Cambridge, the Polish Academy of Sciences, and the Berlin Society of Anthropology, Ethnology and Prehistory, looked at genetic differentiation and population continuity over a 1,300 year timespan, and compared these results to modern populations. The team sampled 151 mummified individuals from the archaeological site of Abusir el-Meleq, along the Nile River in Middle Egypt, from two anthropological collections hosted and curated at the University of Tuebingen and the Felix von Luschan Skull Collection at the Museum of Prehistory of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Stiftung Preussicher Kulturbesitz.
In total, the authors recovered mitochondrial genomes from 90 individuals, and genome-wide datasets from three individuals. They were able to use the data gathered to test previous hypotheses drawn from archaeological and historical data, and from studies of modern DNA. “In particular, we were interested in looking at changes and continuities in the genetic makeup of the ancient inhabitants of Abusir el-Meleq,” said Alexander Peltzer, one of the lead authors of the study from the University of Tuebingen. The team wanted to determine if the investigated ancient populations were affected at the genetic level by foreign conquest and domination during the time period under study, and compared these populations to modern Egyptian comparative populations. “We wanted to test if the conquest of Alexander the Great and other foreign powers has left a genetic imprint on the ancient Egyptian population,” explains Verena Schuenemann, group leader at the University of Tuebingen and one of the lead authors of this study.
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Sarcophagus of Tadja, Abusir el-Meleq. Credit: bpk/Aegyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, SMB/Sandra Steiss
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Map of Egypt, showing the archaeological site of Abusir-el Meleq (orange X), and the location of the modern Egyptian samples used in the study (orange circles). Credit: Graphic: Annette Guenzel. Credit: Nature Communications, DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS15694
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Close genetic relationship between ancient Egyptians and ancient populations in the Near East
The study found that ancient Egyptians were most closely related to ancient populations in the Levant, and were also closely related to Neolithic populations from the Anatolian Peninsula and Europe. “The genetics of the Abusir el-Meleq community did not undergo any major shifts during the 1,300 year timespan we studied, suggesting that the population remained genetically relatively unaffected by foreign conquest and rule,” says Wolfgang Haak, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena. The data shows that modern Egyptians share approximately 8% more ancestry on the nuclear level with Sub-Saharan African populations than with ancient Egyptians. “This suggests that an increase in Sub-Saharan African gene flow into Egypt occurred within the last 1,500 years,” explains Stephan Schiffels, group leader at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena. Possible causal factors may have been improved mobility down the Nile River, increased long-distance trade between Sub-Saharan Africa and Egypt, and the trans-Saharan slave trade that began approximately 1,300 years ago.
This study counters prior skepticism about the possibility of recovering reliable ancient DNA from Egyptian mummies. Despite the potential issues of degradation and contamination caused by climate and mummification methods, the authors were able to use high-throughput DNA sequencing and robust authentication methods to ensure the ancient origin and reliability of the data. The study thus shows that Egyptian mummies can be a reliable source of ancient DNA, and can greatly contribute to a more accurate and refined understanding of Egypt’s population history.
*Ancient Egyptian mummy genomes suggest an increase of Sub-Saharan African ancestry in post-Roman periods. Authors: Verena J. Schuenemann, Alexander Peltzer, Beatrix Welte, W. Paul van Pelt, Martyna Molak, Chuan-Chao Wang, Anja Furtwangler, Christian Urban, Ella Reiter, Kay Nieselt, Barbara Tessmann, Michael Francken, Katerina Harvati, Wolfgang Haak, Stephan Schiffels & Johannes Krause DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15694
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This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF HUMAN GENETICS—Copenhagen, Denmark: New genomic tools are enabling researchers to overturn long-held beliefs about the origins of populations, a researcher will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Monday). Dr Eran Elhaik, Assistant Professor of Animal and Plant Sciences at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK, will say that new technologies are enabling scientists to track the origins and migrations of populations with increasing accuracy.
Until recently, assumptions about origins were based on where people were buried. “However, this does not take into account the migrations which we now know took place thousands of years ago,” says Dr Elhaik, who carried out the research with colleagues including Dr Umberto Esposito.
Using a recently-developed technology, the ancient Geographic Population Structure (aGPS) tool, the researchers were able to find the geographical origins of ancient DNA, with the only limitation being the availability of DNA data. This in turn enabled them to combine hundreds of snap shots from the past into a reconstruction of modern history from 12,000 BC to the modern era. “This is by far the most comprehensive reconstruction of our genetic history. Our work reveals the colonisation of Europe, step by step, and answers many questions concerning the origins and migrations of Europeans,” says Dr Elhaik.
Applied to a dataset of over 300 ancient Eurasians and Near-Easterners during the Ice Age to Late Iron Age period, aGPS localised around 50% of the samples at up to 200km from their burial site, about 32% at between 200 and 1000km, and the remainder at between 1000 and 3,175km. “The migration patterns revealed by our work were remarkably complex and dynamic, and the difficulties in interpreting them correctly are significant.
“The challenge for us now is to understand why these migrations took place. What caused a particular group of people to make a journey of over 3000km at a time when travel was complicated and dangerous? When we combine our results with archaeological and climate data, we can begin to see why,” says Dr Elhaik. “For example, we can identify areas where the land became exhausted from over-farming, and thus caused the movement of populations. We can also pinpoint the formation of city states and ‘biodiversity centres’, corresponding to ancient empires that drew immigrants from other countries.”
The results allow the researchers to confirm the theory of the massive migration of populations from the steppes of the Caucasus (the Yamnaya) to Central Europe during the Late Neolithic period (3500 to 2300 BC). “We discovered that Central Europeans were always on the move, continuously mixing with other populations and forming ancient cities in Germany, Denmark and Hungary, for example close to modern-day Hamburg and Berlin, and Budapest. In contrast, Near Eastern peoples tended to stay close to home,” says Dr Elhaik.
“Genetic data can answer many questions that archaeology alone cannot. For example, is a specific decoration indicative of an alien culture, or simply an import? These new insights are fascinating, not just in a historical context, but because they provide additional proof of the unlikelihood of a ‘day zero’ of ethnic homogeneity, except perhaps in a very few isolated places. Even if it had existed, there must be practically no-one alive on earth who could trace all their ancestors to one ethnically homogenous population”.
There are endless challenges in this research. “Imagine working with a very short DNA sequences with more holes than bases – not only can we not align this with other ancient sequences, but we also do not know where it is from. And this is before we get to the question of “when?” which is, again, linked to “where?” because different regions entered developmental periods, like the Iron Age, at different times.
“However, our findings to date have already brought about a far greater understanding of the identity of Old World residents, and our goal is now to reconstruct the full “Human Atlas” showing ancient migration patterns worldwide,” he will conclude.
Chair of the ESHG conference, Professor Joris Veltman, Director of the Institute of Genetic Medicine at Newcastle University, Newcastle, United Kingdom, said: “This fascinating work illustrates the power of modern genetic approaches to study human history and migration. The scientists demonstrate that information in ancient DNA samples, even of low quality, can be used to provide a very precise geographical localisation of the origin of a person.”
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
CELL PRESS—In human history, the transition from hunting and gathering to farming is a significant one. As such, hunter-gatherers and farmers are usually thought about as two entirely different sets of people. But researchers reporting new ancient DNA evidence in Current Biology on May 25 show that in the area we now recognize as Romania, at least, hunter-gatherers and farmers were living side by side, intermixing with each other, and having children.*
“We expected some level of mixing between farmers and hunter-gatherers, given the archaeological evidence for contact among these communities,” says Michael Hofreiter of University of Potsdam in Germany. “However, we were fascinated by the high levels of integration between the two communities as reconstructed from our ancient DNA data.”
The findings add evidence to a longstanding debate about how the Neolithic transition, when people gave up hunting and gathering for farming, actually occurred, the researchers say. In those debates, the question has often been about whether the movement of people or the movement of ideas drove the transition.
Earlier evidence suggested that the Neolithic transition in Western Europe occurred mostly through the movement of people, whereas cultural diffusion played a larger role to the east, in Latvia and Ukraine. The researchers in the new study were interested in Romania because it lies between these two areas, presenting some of the most compelling archaeological evidence for contact between incoming farmers and local hunter-gatherers.
Indeed, the new findings show that the relationship between hunter-gatherers and farmers in the Danube basin can be more nuanced and complex. The movement of people and the spread of culture aren’t mutually exclusive ideas, the researchers say, “but merely the ends of a continuum.”
The researchers came to this conclusion after recovering four ancient human genomes from Romania spanning a time transect between 8.8 thousand and 5.4 thousand years ago. The researchers also analyzed two Mesolithic (hunter-gatherer) genomes from Spain to provide further context.
The DNA revealed that the Romanian genomes from thousands of years ago had significant ancestry from Western hunter-gatherers. However, they also had a lesser but still sizeable contribution from Anatolian farmers, suggesting multiple admixture events between hunter-gatherers and farmers. An analysis of the bones also showed they ate a varied diet, with a combination of terrestrial and aquatic sources.
“Our study shows that such contacts between hunter-gatherers and farmers went beyond the exchange of food and artefacts,” Hofreiter says. “As data from different regions accumulate, we see a gradient across Europe, with increasing mixing of hunter-gatherers and farmers as we go east and north. Whilst we still do not know the drivers of this gradient, we can speculate that, as farmers encountered more challenging climatic conditions, they started interacting more with local hunter-gatherers. These increased contacts, which are also evident in the archaeological record, led to genetic mixing, implying a high level of integration between very different people.”
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Photo of Burial M95-2 from Schela Cladovei. Credit: Clive Bonsall.
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A facial reconstruction drawing of the sample Chan. Reconstruction authors: Serrulla y Sanín. Original source: Serrulla, F., and Sanín, M. (2017). Forensic anthropological report of Elba. Cadernos do Laboratorio Xeolóxico de Laxe 39, 35-72.
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The findings are a reminder that the relationships within and among people in different places and at different times aren’t simple. It’s often said that farmers moved in and outcompeted hunter-gatherers with little interaction between the two. But the truth is surely much richer and more varied than that. In some places, as the new evidence shows, incoming farmers and local hunter-gatherers interacted and mixed to a great extent. They lived together, despite large cultural differences.
Understanding the reasons for why the interactions between these different people led to such varied outcomes, Hofreiter says, is the next big step. The researchers say they now hope to use ancient DNA evidence to add more chapters to the story as they explore the Neolithic transition as it occurred in other parts of the world, outside of Europe.
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY—You can tell a lot from a basket. Especially if it comes from the ruins of an ancient civilization inhabited by humans nearly 15,000 years ago during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene ages.
An archeologist from Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute is among a team of scientists who made a groundbreaking discovery in Huaca Prieta in coastal Peru – home to one of the earliest and largest pyramids in South America. Hundreds of thousands of artifacts, including intricate and elaborate hand-woven baskets excavated between 2007 and 2013 in Huaca Prieta, reveal that early humans in that region were a lot more advanced than originally thought and had very complex social networks.
For decades, archeologists exploring Peru have argued about the origins and emergence of complex society in Peru. Did it first happen in the highlands with groups who were dependent on agriculture or did it happen along the coast with groups who were dependent on seafood? Evidence from the site indicates a more rapid development of cultural complexity along the Pacific coast than previously thought as published in Science Advances.
“The mounds of artifacts retrieved from Huaca Prieta include food remains, stone tools and other cultural features such as ornate baskets and textiles, which really raise questions about the pace of the development of early humans in that region and their level of knowledge and the technology they used to exploit resources from both the land and the sea,” said James M. Adovasio, Ph.D., D.Sc., co-author of the study and a world acclaimed archaeologist at FAU’s Harbor Branch, who is the foremost authority on ancient textiles and materials such as those used in basketry.
Among the artifacts excavated are tools used to capture deep-sea fish-like herring. The variety of hooks they used indicate the diversity of fishing that took place at that time and almost certainly the use of boats that could withstand rough waters. These ancient peoples managed to develop a very efficient means of extracting seaside resources and devised complex techniques to collect those resources. They also combined their exploitation of maritime economy with growing crops like chili pepper, squash, avocado and some form of a medicinal plant on land in a way that produced a large economic surplus.
“These strings of events that we have uncovered demonstrate that these people had a remarkable capacity to utilize different types of food resources, which led to a larger society size and everything that goes along with it such as the emergence of bureaucracy and highly organized religion,” said Adovasio.
Advosasio’s focus of the excavation was on the extensive collection of basket remnants retrieved from the site, which were made from diverse materials including a local reed that is still used today by modern basket makers. More elaborate baskets included segments made from domesticated cotton and were colored using some of the oldest dyes known in the New World.
“To make these complicated textiles and baskets indicates that there was a standardized or organized manufacturing process in place and that all of these artifacts were much fancier than they needed to be for that time period,” said Adovasio. “Like so many of the materials that were excavated, even the baskets reflect a level of complexity that signals a more sophisticated society as well as the desire for and a means for showing social stature. All of these things together tell us that these early humans were engaged in very complicated social relationships with each other and that these fancy objects all bespeak that kind of social messaging.”
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James M. Adovasio, Ph.D., D.Sc., co-author of the study and a world acclaimed archaeologist at FAU’s Harbor Branch, who is the foremost authority on ancient textiles and materials such as those used in basketry. Credit: Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
Basket remnants retrieved from the site were made from diverse materials including a local reed that is still used today by modern basket makers. More elaborate baskets included segments made from domesticated cotton and were colored using some of the oldest dyes known in the New World. Credit: Florida Atlantic University’s Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute
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The late archeologist Junius B. Bird was the first to excavate Huaca Prieta in the late 1940s after World War II and his original collection is housed in the American Museum of Natural History in New York. This latest excavation is only the second one to take place at this site, but this time using state-of-the-art archeological technology. This recent excavation took approximately six years to complete and included a total of 32 excavation units and trenches, 32 test pits, and 80 geological cores that were placed on, around and between the Huaca Prieta and Paredones mounds as well as other sites. These artifacts are now housed in a museum in Lima, Peru.
Leading the team of scientists is Tom D. Dillehay, Ph.D., principal investigator and an anthropologist from Vanderbilt University. The final report of this excavation will be published in a book by the University of Texas Press later this summer. Adovasio and Dillehay plan to go back to Peru within a year to further examine some of the, as yet, still unstudied basket specimens, especially the very earliest ones which are among the oldest in the New World.
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A mound at Huaca Prieta, a pre-ceramic structure (2500 BCE). Véronique Debord-Lazaro, Wikimedia Commons
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA – SAN DIEGO—Two B-25 bombers associated with American servicemen missing in action from World War II were recently documented in the waters off Papua New Guinea by Project Recover–a collaborative team of marine scientists, archaeologists and volunteers who have combined efforts to locate aircraft and associated MIAs from World War II.
The B-25 bomber is one of the most iconic airplanes of World War II, with nearly 10,000 of the famous warbirds conducting a variety of missions—from bombing to photo reconnaissance, to submarine patrols, and the historic raid over Tokyo. Present-day Papua New Guinea was the site of military action in the Pacific from January of 1942 to the end of the war in August 1945, with significant losses of aircraft and servicemen, some of whom have never been found.
Project Recover is comprised of scientists from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment at the University of Delaware and members of the nonprofit organization BentProp, Limited. In February, a Project Recover team set out on a mission to map the seafloor in search of missing WWII aircraft, conduct an official archaeological survey of a known B-25 underwater wreck, and interview elders in villages in the immediate area.
In its search of nearly 10 square kilometers, Project Recover located the debris field of a B-25 bomber that had been missing for over 70 years, associated with a crew of six MIAs.
“People have this mental image of an airplane resting intact on the sea floor, but the reality is that most planes were often already damaged before crashing, or broke up upon impact. And, after soaking in the sea for decades, they are often unrecognizable to the untrained eye, often covered in corals and other sea-life,” said Katy O’Connell, Project Recover’s Executive Director, who is based at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment. “Our use of advanced technologies, which led to the discovery of the B-25, enables us to accelerate and enhance the discovery and eventual recovery of our missing servicemen.”
Project Recover blends historical and archival data from multiple sources to narrow underwater search regions, then surveys the areas with scanning sonars, high definition imagers, advanced diving, and unmanned aerial and underwater robotic technologies.
“The latest discovery is a result of the dedication and fervent efforts of everyone associated with Project Recover,” said Dan Friedkin, chairman and CEO of The Friedkin Group and a member of the Project Recover team who provides private funding for the organization. “We are encouraged at the progress that is being made as our search efforts expand and remain committed to locating the resting places of all U.S. servicemen missing since World War II.”
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A photomosaic constructed by Project Recover of an underwater wreck of a WWII B-25 bomber. Credit: Project Recover
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A Project Recover diver inspects the wreckage of a B-25 bomber discovered in the waters of Papua New Guinea. Credit: Project Recover
In addition to searching for missing aircraft, Project Recover also conducts archaeological surveys of sites that are known, but not yet documented, like the site of a B-25 bomber that was discovered in Madang Harbor, Papua New Guinea.
“While well known to locals and scuba enthusiasts for over 30 years, this particular B-25 had never been officially surveyed,” said Andrew Pietruszka, a Scripps Oceanography scientist and Project Recover’s underwater archaeologist. Of the six crew associated with the aircraft, five survived the crash but were taken prisoner by the Japanese. The remaining crewmember went down with the plane and is still listed as missing.
“Our team of divers and scientists conducts site surveys to fully document the wreckage. That documentation can then be used by the U.S. government to correlate soldiers still missing in action with the aircraft site we discovered, and to evaluate that site for the possible recovery of remains,” said Pietruszka.
While the scientific focus of Project Recover is to conduct underwater searches and surveys, equally important are the historical accounts of crashes that are often part of local histories, passed from one generation to another. While speaking to village elders about the two B-25 cases, Project Recover team members were told about local terrestrial burial sites and an additional aircraft that had crashed on land.
Project Recover provides detailed information about its missions and any discovered wrecks and possible links to airmen listed as missing in action to the Department of Defense’s Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). DPAA is tasked with recovery and repatriation efforts, including notification of the families of these MIAs.
“Any find in the field is treated with the utmost care, respect and solemnity,” said O’Connell. “There are still over 73,000 U.S. service members unaccounted for from World War II, leaving families with unanswered questions about their loved ones. We hope that our global efforts can help to bring closure and honor the service of the fallen.”
The mission to Papua New Guinea kicked off Project Recover’s second year of formal operations and was made possible by a substantial financial commitment from Friedkin in 2016. Friedkin’s continued support is helping sustain ongoing missions, while enabling the organization to innovate its technology and broaden its search and discovery efforts to focus areas around the world.
In 2016, team members expanded operations, conducting missions in eight countries (England, New Caledonia, Palau, Saipan, the Solomon Islands, Tinian, and the U.S.) in search of over 20 aircraft and 100 service members still missing in action. Five aircraft were successfully identified and documented, with documentation submitted to DPAA. The missions also resulted in new leads, based on field research and personal accounts from locals, which will aid in planning for future missions.
Among other missions around the world, Project Recover plans to return to Papua New Guinea later this year to focus on other cases of interest and further explore leads that developed from the February 2017 mission.
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICAL CENTER—Analysis of a 3.3 million-year-old fossil skeleton reveals the most complete spinal column of any early human relative, including vertebrae, neck and rib cage. The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, indicate that portions of the human spinal structure that enable efficient walking motions were established millions of years earlier than previously thought.
The fossil, known as “Selam,” is a nearly complete skeleton of a 2½ year-old child discovered in Dikika, Ethiopia in 2000 by Zeresenay (Zeray) Alemseged, professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago and senior author of the new study. Selam, which means “peace” in the Ethiopian Amharic language, was an early human relative from the species Australopithecus afarensis—the same species as the famous Lucy skeleton.
In the years since Alemseged discovered Selam, he and his lab assistant from Kenya, Christopher Kiarie, have been preparing the delicate fossil at the National Museum of Ethiopia. They slowly chipped away at the sandstone surrounding the skeleton and used advanced imaging tools to further analyze its structure.
“Continued and painstaking research on Selam shows that the general structure of the human spinal column emerged over 3.3 million years ago, shedding light on one of the hallmarks of human evolution,” Alemseged said. “This type of preservation is unprecedented, particularly in a young individual whose vertebrae are not yet fully fused.”
Many features of the human spinal column and rib cage are shared among primates. But the human spine also reflects our distinctive mode of walking upright on two feet. For instance, humans have fewer rib-bearing vertebrae – bones of the back – than those of our closest primate relatives. Humans also have more vertebrae in the lower back, which allows us to walk effectively. When and how this pattern evolved has been unknown until now because complete sets of vertebrae are rarely preserved in the fossil record.
“For many years we have known of fragmentary remains of early fossil species that suggest that the shift from rib-bearing, or thoracic, vertebrae to lumbar, or lower back, vertebrae was positioned higher in the spinal column than in living humans. But we have not been able to determine how many vertebrae our early ancestors had,” said Carol Ward, a Curator’s Distinguished Professor of Pathology and Anatomical Sciences in the University of Missouri School of Medicine, and lead author on the study. “Selam has provided us the first glimpse into how our early ancestors’ spines were organized.”
In order to be analyzed, Selam had to take a trip. She traveled to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble, France, where Alemseged and the research team used high-resolution imaging technology to visualize the bones.
“This technology provides the opportunity to virtually examine aspects of the vertebrae otherwise unattainable from the original specimen,” said coauthor of the study Fred Spoor, a professor of evolutionary anatomy in the Department of Biosciences at the University College London.
The scans indicated that Selam had the distinctive thoracic-to-lumbar joint transition found in other fossil human relatives, but the specimen is the first to show that, like modern humans, our earliest ancestors had only twelve thoracic vertebrae and twelve pairs of ribs. That is fewer than in most apes.
“This unusual early human configuration may be a key in developing more accurate scenarios concerning the evolution of bipedality and modern human body shape,” said Thierra Nalley, an assistant professor of anatomy at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California, also an author on the paper.
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Vertebrae of the Selam skeleton. Credit: Zeray Alemseged, University of Chicago
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Full skeleton of Selam, including the spinal column. Credit: Zeray Alemseged, University of Chicago
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This configuration marks a transition toward the type of spinal column that allows humans to be the efficient, athletic walkers and runners we are today.
“We are documenting for the first time in the fossil record the emergence of the number of the vertebrae in our history, when the transition happened from the rib-bearing vertebrae to lower back vertebrae, and when we started to extend the waist,” Alemseged said. “This structure and its modification through time is one of the key events in the history of human evolution.”
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO—TORONTO, ON (Canada) – The common lineage of great apes and humans split several hundred thousand earlier than hitherto assumed, according to an international research team headed by Professor Madelaine Böhme from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment at the University of Tübingen and Professor Nikolai Spassov from the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The researchers investigated two fossils of Graecopithecus freybergi with state-of-the-art methods and came to the conclusion that they belong to pre-humans. Their findings, published today in two papers in the journal PLOS ONE, further indicate that the split of the human lineage occurred in the Eastern Mediterranean and not – as customarily assumed – in Africa.
Present-day chimpanzees are humans’ nearest living relatives. Where the last chimp-human common ancestor lived is a central and highly debated issue in palaeoanthropology. Researchers have assumed up to now that the lineages diverged five to seven million years ago and that the first pre-humans developed in Africa. According to the 1994 theory of French palaeoanthropologist Yves Coppens, climate change in Eastern Africa could have played a crucial role. The two studies of the research team from Germany, Bulgaria, Greece, Canada, France and Australia now outline a new scenario for the beginning of human history.
Dental roots give new evidence
The team analyzed the two known specimens of the fossil hominid Graecopithecus freybergi: a lower jaw from Greece and an upper premolar from Bulgaria. Using computer tomography, they visualized the internal structures of the fossils and demonstrated that the roots of premolars are widely fused.
“While great apes typically have two or three separate and diverging roots, the roots of Graecopithecus converge and are partially fused – a feature that is characteristic of modern humans, early humans and several pre-humans including Ardipithecus and Australopithecus“, said Böhme.
The lower jaw, nicknamed ‘El Graeco’ by the scientists, has additional dental root features, suggesting that the species Graecopithecus freybergi might belong to the pre-human lineage. “We were surprised by our results, as pre-humans were previously known only from sub-Saharan Africa,” said Jochen Fuss, a Tübingen PhD student who conducted this part of the study.
Furthermore, Graecopithecus is several hundred thousand years older than the oldest potential pre-human from Africa, the six to seven million year old Sahelanthropus from Chad. The research team dated the sedimentary sequence of the Graecopithecus fossil sites in Greece and Bulgaria with physical methods and got a nearly synchronous age for both fossils – 7.24 and 7.175 million years before present. “It is at the beginning of the Messinian, an age that ends with the complete desiccation of the Mediterranean Sea,” Böhme said.
Professor David Begun, a University of Toronto paleoanthropologist and co-author of this study, added, “This dating allows us to move the human-chimpanzee split into the Mediterranean area.”
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A 7.24 million year old upper premolar of Graecopithecus from Azmaka, Bulgaria. Credit: Photo: Wolfgang Gerber, University of Tübingen
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The lower jaw of the 7.175 million year old Graecopithecus freybergi (El Graeco) from Pyrgos Vassilissis, Greece (today in metropolitan Athens). Credit: Photo: Wolfgang Gerber, University of Tübingen
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Environmental changes as the driving force for divergence
As with the out-of-East-Africa theory, the evolution of pre-humans may have been driven by dramatic environmental changes. The team led by Böhme demonstrated that the North African Sahara desert originated more than seven million years ago. The team concluded this based on geological analyses of the sediments in which the two fossils were found. Although geographically distant from the Sahara, the red-colored silts are very fine-grained and could be classified as desert dust. An analysis of uranium, thorium, and lead isotopes in individual dust particles yields an age between 0.6 and 3 billion years and infers an origin in Northern Africa.
Moreover, the dusty sediment has a high content of different salts. “These data document for the first time a spreading Sahara 7.2 million years ago, whose desert storms transported red, salty dusts to the north coast of the Mediterranean Sea in its then form,” the Tübingen researchers said. This process is also observable today. However, the researchers’ modelling shows that, with up to 250 grams per square meter and year, the amount of dust in the past considerably exceeds recent dust loadings in Southern Europe more than tenfold, comparable to the situation in the present-day Sahel zone in Africa.
Fire, grass, and water stress
The researchers further showed that, contemporary to the development of the Sahara in North Africa, a savannah biome formed in Europe. Using a combination of new methodologies, they studied microscopic fragments of charcoal and plant silicate particles, called phytoliths. Many of the phytoliths identified derive from grasses and particularly from those that use the metabolic pathway of C4-photosynthesis, which is common in today’s tropical grasslands and savannahs. The global spread of C4-grasses began eight million years ago on the Indian subcontinent – their presence in Europe was previously unknown.
“The phytolith record provides evidence of severe droughts, and the charcoal analysis indicates recurring vegetation fires,” said Böhme. “In summary, we reconstruct a savannah, which fits with the giraffes, gazelles, antelopes, and rhinoceroses that were found together with Graecopithecus,” Spassov added.
“The incipient formation of a desert in North Africa more than seven million years ago and the spread of savannahs in Southern Europe may have played a central role in the splitting of the human and chimpanzee lineages,” said Böhme. She calls this hypothesis the North Side Story, recalling the thesis of Yves Coppens, known as East Side Story.
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An electron microscope image of a dust particle rounded by eolian transport. It originated in the Sahara desert and was found in 7.2 million year old sediments in Greece. Credit: Photo: Ulf Linnemann, Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment, University of Tübingen
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY—The study—coordinated by the Human Biodiversity and Population Genomics group at the Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences (BiGeA) of the University of Bologna and funded by the National Geographic Society—describes the genetic fingerprints of the Mediterranean people with high-density genomic markers and a wide sample of modern populations from Sicily and Southern Italy. Their genetic profiles were analyzed to reconstruct the combination of ancestry components and the demographic history of the region. As one would expect, populations inhabiting the southeastern shores of Europe are the result of a complex, multi-layered history. One of these layers corresponds to a shared genetic background, extending from Sicily to Cyprus and involving Crete, the Aegean islands and Anatolia. “This shared Mediterranean ancestry possibly traces back to prehistoric times, as the result of multiple migration waves, with peaks during the Neolithic and the Bronze Age,” says Stefania Sarno, researcher from the University of Bologna and lead author of the study. Apparently, the ancient Greek expansions (during the Magna Graecia foundation) were only one of the last events in a long history of East-West movements, where the Mediterranean Sea served as a preferential crossroads for the circulation of genes and cultures.
A new perspective for the diffusion of Indo-European languages
One of the most intriguing layers hidden in the Mediterranean genetic landscape involves an important Bronze Age contribution from a Caucasus (or Caucasus-like) source, accompanied by the virtual absence of the typical “Pontic-Caspian” genetic component from the Asian steppe. The latter is a very characteristic genetic signal well represented in North-Central and Eastern Europe, which previous studies associated with the introduction of Indo-European languages to the continent. “These new genomic results from the Mediterranean open a new chapter for the study of the prehistoric movements behind the diffusion of the most represented language family in Europe. The spread of these languages in the Southern regions, where Indo-European languages like Italian, Greek and Albanian are spoken nowadays, cannot be explained with the major contribution from the steppe alone,” adds Chiara Barbieri from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena.
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A new genomic study on southern Mediterranean reveals a genetic continuity across geographic and national borders. The map shows the sampling locations included in the study, with presence of Albanian, Greek or Italian languages. Credit: Sarno et al. DOI 10.1038/s41598-017-01802-4.
The statues of the Bronzi di Riace (Riace’s warriors) from the 5th century BC, found in the province of Reggio Calabria, became one of the symbols of the Greek presence in Southern Italy. (Museo nazionale della Magna Grecia, Reggio Calabria). Credit: Public Domain
The current genetic study also focuses on more recent historical layers that contributed to the present-day genetic makeup of the populations sampled, in particular in the cases of long-standing, non-Italian-speaking communities in Italy. For example, mainland Greece and Albania seem to have acquired additional genetic contributions during historic times, most likely related to the Slavic migrations in the Balkans. This recent Balkan genetic ancestry is still evident in some ethno-linguistic minorities of Sicily and Southern Italy, such as the Albanian-speaking Arbereshe. The Arbreshe migrated from Albania to Italy at the end of the Middle Ages and experienced geographic and cultural isolation, which played a part in their distinctive genetic composition. A different case study is that of Greek-speaking communities from Southern Italy. The genetic features of these groups are compatible with the antiquity of their settlement and with a high cultural permeability with neighboring populations, combined with drift and effects of geographic isolation, as in the case of Calabrian Greeks. “The study of linguistic and cultural isolates in Italy proved to be important to understand our history and our demography,” says Alessio Boattini, geneticist and anthropologist from the University of Bologna. “The cases of the Albanian- and Greek-speaking communities of Southern Italy help to shed light into the formation of these cultural and linguistic identities.”
“Overall, the study illustrates how both genetic and cultural viewpoints can inform our knowledge of the complex dynamics behind the formation of our Mediterranean heritage, especially in contexts of extensive – both geographically and temporally – admixture,” says Davide Pettener, professor of Anthropology from the University of Bologna. “These results,” adds Prof. Donata Luiselli, who co-led the project, “will be further developed in future studies integrating data from other disciplines, in particular linguistics, archeology and palaeogenomics, with the study of ancient DNA from archaeological remains.”
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY—Who are you? A parent? An artist? A veteran? There are lots of different aspects of identity, and it takes more than just one to make you you. Ancient people were just as complex, but until recently, archaeologists didn’t have a clear way to capture all the nuances of human identities from the past outside of broader labels like gender and social status.
Individual people are an important part of the bigger human puzzle, because their unique actions accumulate to power cultural changes. Understanding them in detail gives researchers better insight into shifts that take place over generations, says Kelly Knudson.
Knudson is a professor with Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change and director of its Center for Bioarchaeological Research.
Together with Christina Torres-Rouff of the University of California Merced, Knudson has created a new model that brings together multiple lines of investigation to understand ancient lives on a microscale through the clues left behind in the grave.
A forum paper outlining the model and its application, “Integrating Identities: An Innovative Bioarchaeological and Biogeochemical Approach to Analyzing the Multiplicity of Identities in the Mortuary Record,” will be published in the June edition of Current Anthropology.
“One of the things I’m excited about is our ability to simultaneously study large populations over many generations and the very intimate details of individual lives in the past,” Knudson says.
If tombs could talk
Termed a “contextualized multiscalar bioarchaeological approach,” this model explores individual identity using a mix of biological and cultural data from grave sites. The authors used it to investigate northern Chilean society during an environmental and political shift from the Middle Horizon (AD 500 – 1100) to the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1100 – 1400). Details examined included:
Cranial characteristics, which helped determine genetic relatedness at the population level.
Modified head shapes, which demonstrated community identities, as skull shape was culturally dictated in the Andes.
Isotopic analyses, which revealed individuals’ geographic origins and whether they moved during their lifetimes.
Grave goods and construction, which shed light on how people were perceived and remembered by others.
The relationships these features had to an individual’s sex, which expanded on understandings of social identity.
In a comparison of two Middle Horizon-era cemeteries, the researchers found that even though the burial populations were related, they identified differently; one was much more cosmopolitan than the other, with the grave goods from distant regions like Bolivia and Argentina.
Similarly, even individual graves from the same cemetery advertised unique identities. A detailed look at three neighboring tombs revealed three very different, though nearly contemporary, lives. Using their innovative blend of methods, Knudson and Torres-Rouff were able to piece together the identities of a wealthy young tradesman, a middle-aged spiritual leader and a young woman who spun colorful textiles.
These graves stood in sharp contrast to graves from the Late Intermediate Period. Analysis of a burial from this time revealed a herdsman who, although honored by his community with a rare circular stone arrangement over his tomb, was buried with only a few, locally made items.
Knudson and Torres-Rouff argue that as Andean society transitioned from the Middle Horizon to the Late Intermediate Period, they moved the emphasis from individual identity to community identity and from foreign connections to local isolation, likely as a response to the time’s characteristic uncertainty due to widespread drought.
“I was surprised to find that people hunkered down and stayed put rather than moving to better regions where it wasn’t so dry,” Knudson says. “I expected to see environmental refugees, but we didn’t see that at all.”
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Snuffing paraphernalia found in the tomb of a spiritual leader. Credit: Constantino Torres
Professor Knudson in the archaeological chemistry laboratory. Credit: Arizona State University
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Knowing how people were impacted by a changing climate 1,000 years ago informs not only our understanding of ancient people, but of ourselves as well. Society’s response to today’s challenges happens one person at a time; with this new model, we have the tools to see how that process works and how everyday lives shape history.
“I think this long-term perspective is one of bioarchaeologists’ very valuable contributions to the past and present,” Knudson adds.
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
TATA INSTITUTE OF FUNDAMENTAL RESEARCH—Prehistoric human migration was mainly driven by human wanderlust and population pressures but relied critically on the habitability of available land. We have modelled such prehistoric population dynamics using a diffusion equation whose numerical solution is tempered by accurate geological data for the Indian subcontinent taken from satellite databases.
We define the driving forces by assuming that people will move out of any given region if the neighbouring regions are habitable. In turn, we define habitability by quantifying parameters like the availability and proximity of water, and flatness and altitude of the land. We define relative habitability which takes into account the presence of the initial population. We then consult the archaeological evidence of early humans in the subcontinent and identify three possible locations in Kabul which would represent the Ancestral North Indian entry into India, Hyderabad which would represent the earliest Ancestral South Indian population into India and we take two possible entry points for Ancestral Austro Asiatic as Goa and Orissa identified as two major break points in the mountain range that mark the Indian Subcontinent for people coming to India along the coast.
We find that people entering from Goa would soon become indistinguishable from the original Ancestral South Indian population. We therefore focus on entry from Orissa. On simulating the movement of these people we find that the groups merge in well localised geographical regions within the subcontinent. We then analyse the genetic data of the tribal population of the region. Since these groups are largely endogamous, they maintain their original genetic signal with very weak dilution due to intermixing. This allows us to identify the roots of different groups and compare it with our simulation. The genetic data agrees well with our predictions. We then expand our simulation to show that over a long period of time, the pattern of population that appears, agrees well with the present population of India.
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Image shows one stage in the movement of people into the hinterland of the Indian subcontinent starting from Kabul, Hyderabad and North Orissa. Credit: Vahia, Yadav, Ladiwala, Mathur
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
More of the ancient Roman city of Verulamium’s secrets have been discovered by archaeologists. The burnt remains of a 1,800-year-old kiln – a type of oven used to create pottery – have been unearthed during excavations of the ancient city near the modern city of St. Albans in Hertfordshire, Great Britain.
Verulamium was the third largest City in Roman Britain and around half of it stood on the site of what is now Verulamium Park, St Albans.
It is the fifth kiln to be found at the historic site with the others having been located several decades ago.
Essential work started last month by Cadent to re-lay a gas pipe has involved digging deep holes. This has provided archaeologists with a rare opportunity to look underground.
They have already redrawn the map of the Roman city after making a series of surprising discoveries. Where they once thought a crossroads existed, instead they found compelling evidence of a wealthy Roman’s town house, possibly featuring mosaic flooring. One corner of the city wall was also discovered although, surprisingly, there was no sign of a tower. Its absence is significant as it suggests the city walls were built as much for image as for defense.
Now the fifth kiln has been found close to where four others were uncovered when the Abbey View running track was built in the late 1980s. Three of those kilns were excavated and the other was left intact as it was not under immediate threat. The kiln’s burnt remains have given the soil a deep red-orange colour while some shards of broken pottery, known as wasters, were also detected.
Simon West, District Archaeologist for St Albans City and District Council’s Museums team, said: “The pottery kiln is another exciting discovery that gives us a greater understanding of how Verulamium was set up. The old gas main would appear to cut through the middle of it.
“It is further evidence of just how advanced and productive the Romans who settled in Verulamium all those centuries ago were.
“The relaying of the gas pipe gave us a chance to discover new things about our past and we are certainly doing that.”
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Above and below: Remains of the Roman pottery kiln unearthed in Verulamium Park. The bowl shape of the base of the kiln can be seen in the discoloured soil. An area of intense heat on the right side has left a deep red-orange colour while on the left there are fragments of broken pottery, known as wasters, in what may be the remains of the kiln’s vault. The gas pipe has cut through the middle of the kiln. Credit St. Albans City and District Council
The archaeological recording work is being managed by Amec Foster Wheeler, on behalf of Cadent, and the excavation team is from AOC Archaeology Group. It is being monitored by the St. Albans Museums team and Historic England to ensure it complies with local policy and national legislation to protect the historic environment.
Dr Rachael Townend, Senior Historic Environment Consultant for Amec Foster Wheeler, said: “This is an excellent example of the benefits of everyone involved in the development process working openly together on an historic environment issue. This approach has given us new stories to tell about the Roman city and its people while simultaneously securing an essential service to the people of St. Albans today.”
Councillor Annie Brewster, the Council’s Portfolio Holder for Sport, Leisure and Heritage, said: “It is so exciting to discover additional details about the fascinating history of St. Albans. To find another ancient pottery kiln is a wonderful surprise.”
Remains of Verulamium’s walls, defensive ditch and a Roman villa’s hypocaust, a sort of central heating system, can be seen in the park. Verulamium Museum on the park’s edge contains a range of exhibits and was established following excavations carried out by Sir Mortimer Wheeler in the 1930s. Items on display include coffins with skeletons, mosaic floors, coins, pottery, jewellery and cooking utensils.
Earlier major excavations were conducted by Sheppard Frere in the 1950s and early 1960s with later investigations taking place under the current museum entrance.
Cadent has replaced 1.5km of aging gas mains with tough new pipes to safeguard gas supplies for decades to come.
Photo: Remains of the Roman pottery kiln unearthed in Verulamium Park. The bowl shape of the base of the kiln can be seen in the discoloured soil. An area of intense heat on the right side has left a deep red-orange colour while on the left there are fragments of broken pottery, known as wasters, in what may be the remains of the kiln’s vault. The gas pipe has cut through the middle of the kiln.
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON—MADISON, Wis.—Probing deeper into the South African cave system known as Rising Star, a subterranian maze that last year yielded the largest cache of hominin fossils known to science, an international team of researchers has discovered another chamber with more remains of a newfound human relative, Homo naledi.
The discovery, announced today (May 9, 2017) with the publication of a series of papers in the journal eLife, helps round out the picture of a creature that scientists now know shared the landscape with modern humans—and probably other hominin species—between 226,000 and 335,000 years ago. The discovery of the new fossils representing the remains of at least three juvenile and adult specimens includes a “wonderfully complete skull,” says University of Wisconsin-Madison anthropologist John Hawks.
Hawks, a leader of the research team at Rising Star and the lead author of the paper describing the new fossils, says finding more remains of multiple individuals in a chamber some distance from the chamber containing the original Homo naledi fossils lends heft to the idea that Homo naledi was caching its dead—a surprising behavior that suggests great intelligence and possibly the first stirrings of culture.
“This likley adds weight to the hyposthesis that Homo naledi was using dark, remote places to cache its dead,” Hawks observes. “What are the odds of a second, almost identical occurrence happening by chance?”
The new chamber, dubbed the Lesedi Chamber, is nearly 100 meters from the Dinaledi Chamber where the first Homo naledi fossils representing at least 15 indivuduals of various ages were found. So far, the team led by Hawks and Lee Berger, a noted paleoanthropologist from the University of Witwatersrand and a senior author of the paper with Hawks, has retrieved more than 130 new Homo naledi fossils from the Lesedi Chamber, a name that means “light” in the Setswana language.
The new chamber is also exceedingly difficult to access, requiring those excavating the fossils to crawl, climb and squeeze their way in pitch dark to the fossil cache.
The newly-reported remains were first discovered in 2013 while excavations were underway in the Dinaledi Chamber. The new fossils come from at least three individuals—two adults and a child—and the researchers believe more will be recovered as excavations progress. The child, estimated to be under five years of age, is represented by bones from the head and body. Of the adults, one is identified only by a jaw and leg bones.
The skeleton of the third individual, dubbed “Neo” after the Sesotho word meaning “a gift,” is remarkably complete. The skull has been painstakingly reconstructed, providing a much more complete portrait of Homo naledi. “We finally get a look at the face of Homo naledi,” notes Peter Schmid, who holds a joint appointment at the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Zurich, and who spent hundreds of hours reconstructing the fragile bones of the skull.
“The skeleton of ‘Neo’ is one of the most complete ever discovered, technically more complete than the famous Lucy fossil given the preservation of the skull and mandible,” explains Berger, the University of Witwatersrand paleoanthropologist overseeing the Rising Star excavations.
The skull of the new skeleton has much of the face, including the delicate bones of the inner eye region and nose, says Hawks, an expert on early hominins. “Some of the new bones add detail to what we knew before,” says the Wisconsin paleoanthropologist. “The ‘Neo’ skeleton has a complete collarbone and a near-complete femur, which help to confirm what we knew about the size and stature of Homo naledi, and that it was both an effective walker and climber. The vertebrae are just wonderfully preserved, and unique—they have a shape we’ve only seen in Neanderthals.”
Combined, the two caches of Homo naledi fossils give science its most complete record of a hominin species other than modern humans and Neanderthals.
“With the new fossils from the Lesedi Chamber, we now have approximately 2,000 specimens of Homo naledi, representing the skeletons of at least 18 individuals,” Hawks says. “There are more Homo naledi specimens than any other extinct species or population of hominins except for Neanderthals.”
The notion that Homo naledi were caching their dead in underground chambers that are exceedingly difficult to get to has one parallel in Neanderthals. In a deep Spanish cave known as Sima de los Huesos, there is evidence that Neanderthals were caching the bodies of their dead companions 400,000 years ago.
“What is so provacative about Homo naledi is that these are creatures with brains one third the size of ours,” Hawks says. “This is clearly not a human, yet it seems to share a very deep aspect of behavior that we recognize, an enduring care for other individuals that continues after their deaths. It awes me that we may be seeing the deepest roots of human cultural practices.”
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
UNIVERSITY OF THE WITWATERSRAND—Johannesburg – Scientists today announced that the Rising Star Cave system has revealed yet more important discoveries, only a year and a half after it was announced that the richest fossil hominin site in Africa had been discovered, and that it contained a new hominin species named Homo naledi by the scientists who described it.
The age of the original Homo naledi remains from the Dinaledi Chamber has been revealed to be startlingly young in age. Homo naledi, which was first announced in September 2015, was alive sometime between 335 and 236 thousand years ago. This places this population of primitive small-brained hominins at a time and place that it is likely they lived alongside Homo sapiens. This is the first time that it has been demonstrated that another species of hominin survived alongside the first humans in Africa.
The research, published today in three papers in the journal eLife, presents the long-awaited age of the naledi fossils from the Dinaledi Chamber and announces the new discovery of a second chamber in the Rising Star cave system, containing additional specimens of Homo naledi. These include a child and a partial skeleton of an adult male with a remarkably well-preserved skull.
The new discovery and research was done by a large team of researchers from the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), James Cook University, Australia, the University of Wisconsin, Madison, United States, and more than 30 additional international institutions have today announced two major discoveries related to the fossil hominin species Homo naledi.
The team was led by Professor Lee Berger of The University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, and a National Geographic Explorer in Residence. The discovery of the second chamber with abundant Homo naledi fossils includes one of the most complete skeletons of a hominin ever discovered, as well as the remains of at least one child and another adult. The discovery of a second chamber has led the team to argue that there is more support for the controversial hypothesis that Homo naledi deliberately disposed of its dead in these remote, hard to reach caverns. The dating of Homo naledi is the conclusion of the multi-authored paper entitled: The age of Homo naledi and associated sediments in the Rising Star Cave, South Africa, led by Professor Paul Dirks of James Cook University and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits).
The naledi date is surprisingly recent. The fossil remains have primitive features that are shared with some of the earliest known fossil members of our genus, such as Homo rudolfensis and Homo habilis, species that lived nearly two million years ago. On the other hand, however, it also shares some features with modern humans. After the description of the new species in 2015, experts had predicted that the fossils should be around the age of these other primitive species. Instead, the fossils from the Dinaledi Chamber are barely more than one-tenth that age.
“The dating of naledi was extremely challenging,” noted Dirks, who worked with 19 other scientists from laboratories and institutions around the world, including labs in South Africa and Australia, to establish the age of the fossils. “Eventually, six independent dating methods allowed us to constrain the age of this population of Homo naledi to a period known as the late Middle Pleistocene.”
The age for this population of hominins shows that Homo naledi may have survived for as long as two million years alongside other species of hominins in Africa. At such a young age, in a period known as the late Middle Pleistocene, it was previously thought that only Homo sapiens (modern humans) existed in Africa. More critically, it is at precisely this time that we see the rise of what has been called “modern human behaviour” in southern Africa – behaviour attributed, until now, to the rise of modern humans and thought to represent the origins of complex modern human activities such as burial of the dead, self-adornment and complex tools.
The dating game
The team used a combination of optically stimulated luminescence dating of sediments with Uranium-Thorium dating and palaeomagnetic analyses of flowstones to establish how the sediments relate to the geological timescale in the Dinaledi Chamber.
Direct dating of the teeth of Homo naledi, using Uranium series dating (U-series) and electron spin resonance dating (ESR), provided the final age range. “We used double blinds wherever possible,” says Professor Jan Kramers of the University of Johannesburg, a uranium dating specialist. Dr. Hannah Hilbert-Wolf, a geologist from James Cook University who also worked on the Dinaledi Chamber, noted that it was crucial to figure out how the sediments within the Dinaledi Chamber are layered, in order to build a framework for understanding all of the dates obtained.
“Of course we were surprised at the young age, but as we realised that all the geological formations in the chamber were young, the U-series and ESR results were perhaps less of a surprise in the end,” added Professor Eric Roberts, from James Cook University and Wits, who is one of the few geologists to have ever entered the Dinaledi Chamber, due to the tight 18cm-wide constraints of the entrance chute.
Dr. Marina Elliott, Exploration Scientist at Wits and one of the original “underground astronauts” on the 2013 Rising Star Expedition, says she had always felt that the naledi fossils were ‘young’. “I’ve excavated hundreds of the bones of Homo naledi, and from the first one I touched, I realised that there was something different about the preservation, that they appeared hardly fossilised.”
Homo naledi‘s significant impact
In an accompanying paper, led by Berger, entitled Homo naledi and Pleistocene hominin evolution in subequatorial Africa, the team discuss the importance of finding such a primitive species at such a time and place. They noted that the discovery will have a significant impact on our interpretation of archaeological assemblages and understanding which species made them.
“We can no longer assume that we know which species made which tools, or even assume that it was modern humans that were the innovators of some of these critical technological and behavioural breakthroughs in the archaeological record of Africa,” says Berger. “If there is one other species out there that shared the world with ‘modern humans’ in Africa, it is very likely there are others. We just need to find them.”
John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Wits University, an author on all three papers, says: “I think some scientists assumed they knew how human evolution happened, but these new fossil discoveries, plus what we know from genetics, tell us that the southern half of Africa was home to a diversity that we’ve never seen anywhere else”.
“Recently, the fossil hominin record has been full of surprises, and the age of Homo naledi is not going to be the last surprise that comes out of these caves I suspect,” adds Berger.
A new chamber and skeleton
In a third paper published at the same time in eLife, entitled New fossil remains of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber, South Africa, the team announces the discovery of a second chamber, within the Rising Star cave system, which contains more remains of Homo naledi.
“The chamber, which we have named the Lesedi Chamber, is more than a hundred meters from the Dinaledi Chamber. It is almost as difficult to access, and also contains spectacular fossils of naledi, including a partial skeleton with a wonderfully complete skull,” says Hawks, lead author on the paper describing the new discovery. Fossil remains were first recognised in the chamber by Rick Hunter and Steven Tucker in 2013, as fieldwork was underway in the Dinaledi Chamber.
The name “Lesedi” means “light” in the Setswana language. Excavations in the Lesedi Chamber began later, and would take nearly three years.
No easy access
“To access the Lesedi Chamber is only slightly easier than the Dinaledi Chamber,” says Elliott, who was lead excavator of the fossils from the new locality. “After passing through a squeeze of about 25cm, you have to descend along vertical shafts before reaching the chamber. While slightly easier to get to, the Lesedi Chamber is, if anything, more difficult to work in due to the tight spaces involved.”
Hawks points out that while the Lesedi Chamber is “easier” to get into than the Dinaledi Chamber, the term is relative. “I have never been inside either of the chambers, and never will be. In fact, I watched Lee Berger being stuck for almost an hour, trying to get out of the narrow underground squeeze of the Lesedi Chamber.” Berger eventually had to be extracted using ropes tied to his wrists.
The presence of a second chamber, distant from the first, containing multiple individuals of Homo naledi and almost as difficult to reach as the Dinaledi Chamber, gives an idea of the extraordinary effort it took for Homo naledi to reach these hard-to-get-to places, says Hilbert-Wolf.
“This likely adds weight to the hypothesis that Homo naledi was using dark, remote places to cache its dead,” says Hawks. “What are the odds of a second, almost identical occurrence happening by chance?”
So far, the scientists have uncovered more than 130 hominin specimens from the Lesedi Chamber. The bones belong to at least three individuals, but Elliot believes that there are more fossils yet to be discovered. Among the individuals are the skeletal remains of two adults and at least one child. The child is represented by bones of the head and body and would likely have been under five years of age. Of the two adults, one is represented by only a jaw and leg elements, but the other is represented by a partial skeleton, including a mostly complete skull.
Meeting naledi
The team describes the skull of the skeleton as “spectacularly complete”. “We finally get a look at the face of Homo naledi,” says Peter Schmid of Wits and the University of Zurich, who spent hundreds of hours painstakingly reconstructing the fragile bones to complete the reconstruction.
The skeleton was nicknamed “Neo” by the team, chosen for the Sesotho word meaning “a gift”. “The skeleton of Neo is one the most complete ever discovered, and technically even more complete than the famous Lucy fossil, given the preservation of the skull and mandible,” says Berger.
The specimens from the Lesedi Chamber are nearly identical in every way to those from the Dinaledi Chamber, a remarkable finding in and of itself. “There is no doubt that they belong to the same species,” says Hawks. The Lesedi Chamber fossils have not been dated yet, as dating would require destruction of some of the hominin material. “Once described, we will look at the way forward for establishing the age of these particular fossils,” says Dirks. Elliot adds, however, that as the preservation and condition of the finds are practically identical to that of the naledi specimens from the Dinaledi Chamber the team hypothesizes that their age will fall roughly within the same time period.
Berger believes that with thousands of fossils likely remaining in both the Lesedi and Dinaledi Chambers, there are decades of research potential. “We are going to treat ongoing extraction of material from both of these chambers with extreme care and thoughtfulness and with the full knowledge that we need to conserve material for future generations of scientists, and future technological innovations,” he says.
52 scientists from 35 departments and Institutions were involved in the research.
Wits Vice-Chancellor and Principal, Professor Adam Habib said: “The search for human origins on the continent of Africa began at Wits and it is wonderful to see this legacy continue with such important discoveries”
“The National Geographic Society has a long history of investing in bold people and transformative ideas,” said Gary E. Knell, president and CEO of the National Geographic Society, a funder of the expeditions that recovered the fossils and established their age. “The continued discoveries from Lee Berger and his colleagues showcase why it is critical to support the study of our human origins and other pressing scientific questions.”
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The ‘Neo’ skull of Homo naledi from the Lesedi Chamber. Credit: Wits University/John Hawks
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A schematic of the Rising Star cave system. Credit: Marina Elliott/Wits University
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Professor Lee Berger, leader of the Rising Star expedition, Research Professor in Human Evolution and the Public Understanding of Science Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Credit: Wits University
The original fossils of these new discoveries, as well as those from the original Rising Star Expedition will be put on public display at the Maropeng, the Official Visitors Centre for the Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site from May 25th. This exhibit of the largest display of original fossil hominin material in history forms part of an exhibition called “Almost Human”.
The exhibition will be housed in ‘The Gallery’. This state-of-the-art exhibition space was built as part of the Gauteng Infrastructure Upgrade Project. This is the second completed construction, the first being the upgrade to the Hominin House facilities at Maropeng.
Maropeng is getting ready to receive thousands of visitors wanting to the see the exhibition and the new fossils. In 2015, when Homo naledi was first put on display, some 3,500 visitors per day made their way to Maropeng. “It was an extraordinary thing to experience,” says Michael Worsnip, Managing Director of Maropeng. “It was something like a pilgrimage – a wonderful celebration of our heritage as a country, a continent and a planet.”
This richly illustrated issue includes the following stories: Recent findings shedding new light on the whereabouts of the remains of Philip of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great; how an archaeologist-sculptor is bringing bones of the dead back to life; archaeologists uncovering town life at the dawn of civilization; an exclusive interview with internationally acclaimed archaeologist James M. Adovasio about what makes the Meadowcroft Rockshelter prominent in the ongoing search for the first Americans; what archaeologists are finding at the site of the ancient city of Gath, the home town of the biblical Philistine giant, Goliath; and how scientists are redrawing the picture of human evolution in Europe. Find it on Amazon.com.
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