Archives

Within his studio in the Stockholm suburban community of Tumba, Sweden, archaeologist-sculptor Oscar Nilsson is applying a highly specialized knowledge and set of skills to reconstruct realistic and scientifically-informed likenesses of individuals who lived long before us.

His work, unlike more ‘sensational’ archaeological and paleoanthropological discoveries reported in the press such as the identification of the bones of King Richard III and the more recent discovery of Homo naledi, do not make headlines. But he makes both written and unwritten history an up-close-and-personal experience for academics and the public alike. He creates, quite literally, faces of our collective past. 

One of his upcoming projects involves the reconstruction of the face of a Stone Age man whose remains were unearthed near Ulricehamn, Sweden in 1994.

“Judging from his bones he was extremely robust with very broad shoulders,” said Nilsson.“And the skull of this 45-60-year-old man exhibits a significant elevated ridge running from his forehead to the back of his head, making it peak-shaped from a frontal view. These well-preserved bones surprised everyone when the result of the C14 dating came back: he was 10,000 years old and, with that, Sweden’s oldest skeleton.” Archaeologists have named him “Bredgården Man”. His skeletal remains were found near a farmhouse by the same name.

Another upcoming project involves the facial reconstruction of a 14-year-old Stone Age girl whose remains were excavated together with a small child at  Tybrind Vig in Denmark in the 1970’s. Here, archaeologists excavated unusually well-preserved artifacts from the Ertebølle Culture, a European Neolithic culture, including a large kitchen midden. “To recover the girl’s remains and those of the child, archaeologists had to work underwater, as the bones were submerged 300 meters offshore to a depth of 3 – 4.5 meters,” said Nilsson. “In her time, her place of rest would have been dry, hugging the shore, when there was a greater abundance of inland ice in Scandinavia and the sea level was lower.”

The Stone Age girl reconstruction will join other objects of the Tybrind Vig discoveries at Denmark’s Moesgård Museum.

In fact, most of Nilsson’s hyper-realistic reconstructions end up in museums such as the Moesgård, where he hopes the public will, through his reconstructions, gain a more personal connection to history.

“History is made of actual people,” he says. “Making a facial reconstruction is like opening a window to the past, an opportunity to see what the people from history really looked like. So the face tells a direct story to the beholder, establishing an emotional and personal connection that text or written records can never accomplish.”

One of Nilsson’s Stone Age period subjects already graces an exhibit space at the Stonehenge Visitor Center near Salisbury, England. It is the reconstructed face of an early Neolithic man excavated in 1863 from a long barrow at Winterbourne Stoke, Wiltshire. Radiocarbon dated to between 3630 and 3660 BCE, analysis of his remains showed the man to be 25-40 years old with a slender build. He lived about 500 years before the circular ditch and banks, the first monuments at Stonehenge, were even built. Further analysis of his remains and the circumstances of his later Neolithic reburial indicated that he was a person of importance or high status. His connection to the Stonehenge culture is unknown, but it is clear that he was an elite member of a people who lived hundreds of years before the great monumental stones of Stonehenge were raised.

Nilsson creates his pieces using 3-D models of the original skulls of his subjects, developing models by applying non-drying plasticine clay to recreate the muscles and tissues using traditional sculpting tools and then applying the finishing work on Acrystal molds of his resulting models. To do this accurately, Nilsson obtains information about the times and places in which the persons lived, the contexts and circumstances of the original skeletal finds, and detailed findings from the examining osteologists and forensic experts about the skulls of the individuals excavated or exhumed. The results, in addition to being astonishingly realistic, provide three dimensional likenesses of the individuals, something that cannot be realized even by typical artist depictions through two dimensional paintings.  

________________________________________________________________ 

Above: Nilsson puts the finishing touches on the reconstructed face of the ‘Stonehenge Man’. Explains Nilsson about the subject: “The grave was discovered in the late 19th century but the bones were recently the subject of extensive analysis and surveys. Some of the results from those analyses are amazing: He was born around 5,500 years ago well to the west or north west of the Stonehenge area, probably in what is today Wales, Devon or Brittany. At 2 years old he moved to the area near Stonehenge, and aged 9 he moved back to the west again. As he grew older his frequency of travel back and forth between those two places increased. How do we know all this? By analyzing the successive layers of the enamel in his teeth, isotopic values of strontium and oxygen reflected the sources of his drinking water.

He lived some time before the famous stone circle was built, but decades after his death, the mound of his grave was massively enlarged, one of the grandest known from Neolithic Britain. We also know from the analysis that he had a much higher percentage of meat and dairy products in his diet than would probably have been normal at the time. And he was taller than the average Neolithic man—172 cm compared to the average height, 165 cm. So, this was clearly a person of high status in his society.” Photo by Clare Kendall/English Heritage

________________________________________________________________

For more detailed information about Nilsson’s work, how he does it, and the other subjects he has reconstructed, see the feature article in the Fall issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

________________________________________________________________

Image first from top, right: Nilsson working on a subject in his studio. Courtesy Oscar Nilsson

________________________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

Hominins (humans and their ancestors, and chimps and gorillas) expanded their diets as early as 3.76 million years ago to include foods based on plants that use the C4 photosynthetic pathway, a change that may have allowed them to survive in a wider range of environments than their ancestors, a study reports. Naomi Levin and colleagues used carbon isotope data from 152 fossil teeth of early humans, monkeys, and mammals in Ethiopia to refine the timing of the dietary expansion of early humans and the baboon, Theropithecus oswaldi. The dietary transition from foods based on plants that use the C3 photosynthetic pathway, which includes trees, shrubs, and cool season grasses, to those from plants that use the C4 or CAM pathways, such as warm season grasses and succulents, indicates a shift toward foods found in open landscapes. The authors found that C4 foods were a significant component of hominin and Theropithecus diets as early as 3.76 million years ago, during the early Pliocene. This dietary expansion occurred after major changes in teeth and jaw morphology in hominins, or early humans, whereas in the earliest members of the T. oswaldi lineage this dietary change preceded dental specialization for grazing. The study results have implications for early human evolution and dispersal, as the ability of early Pliocene hominins to eat a range of C3 and C4 foods may have enabled them to become generalists who could thrive in a wide variety of environments, the authors suggest.

____________________________________________

 The African savannah, which consists of mostly C4 type plants. Wikimedia Commons

___________________________________________

The details of the study* are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

_________________________________________________________ 

*“Dietary change among hominins and cercopithecids in Ethiopia during the early Pliocene,” by Naomi E. Levin et al.

This article was adapted and edited from the subject PNAS press release.

_________________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

An analysis of fossil shoulder blades from early human species finds that the last ancestor shared in common between humans and chimpanzees was similar to a modern African ape. Relatively little is known about the earliest members of the human lineage because fossils from this period are rare, rendering it difficult to reconstruct the anatomical and behavioral changes that occurred during human evolution. Nathan Young and colleagues used 3D shape measurements of the shoulder blade to test alternative evolutionary hypotheses about the last common ancestor. The authors found that the best-supported explanation is that the human shoulder gradually evolved from being African ape-like to its modern form. Contrary to earlier studies, this finding suggests that gorillas and chimpanzees have changed little in the past 6-7 million years, while the human lineage has evolved considerably. The change in shoulder shape during human evolution is consistent with reduced use of the arms for climbing in trees and an increased reliance on throwing and using tools, the authors suggest. The fossil evidence suggests that this shift to living on the ground happened slowly, and that for the majority of human evolutionary history, human ancestors continued to use trees to find food and retreat from predators, according to the authors.

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

____________________________________________

Above: A hypothesized model of shoulder shape evolution from African ape-like (top left) to modern human (bottom right) including predicted ancestral forms (grey) and hominin fossils: Australopithecus afarensis (DIK 1-1 developmental simulation, top right), Australopithecus sediba (MH2, middle left), Homo ergaster (KNM WT15000, middle right), Homo neanderthalensis (Kebara 2, bottom middle). The increasingly inferior orientation of the spine (purple) is consistent with a history of sustained and gradual selection for reduced arboreality and increased tool use in the human lineage. Image courtesy of Nathan Young.

___________________________________________________________ 

*“Fossil hominin shoulders support an African ape-like last common ancestor of humans and chimpanzees,” by Nathan M. Young et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 7 September 2015.

___________________________________________________________ 

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

An international team of researchers has sequenced the first complete genome of an Iberian farmer, which is also the first sequenced ancient genome from the entire Mediterranean area. This new genome sequencing opens a window on understanding the distinctive genetic changes that map Neolithic migration in Southern Europe, which possibly led to the abandonment of the hunter-gatherer way of life. The study is led by the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, a joint center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and the Universitat Pompeu Fabra (Barcelona, Spain), in collaboration with the Centre for GeoGenetics in Denmark. The results are published in the Molecular Biology and Evolution journal.

A prevailing theory suggests that the first farmers entering Europe about 8,000 years ago coming from the Near East spread through the continent following two different routes: one to Central Europe via the Danube, and the other toward the Iberian peninsula following the Mediterranean coast. These latter farmers developed their own cultural tradition: the Cardium Pottery, so-called due to a characteristic incised decoration made with the edges of bivalves shells belonging to the genus Cerastoderma (formerly Cardium).

So far, only genomic data of various individuals belonging to the inland route found in Hungary and Germany have been available, but complete genomes from individuals of the Mediterranean route have been missing. This is partly due to the climatic conditions in Southern Europe, which hinder the conservation of genetic material.

The research team, led by Carles Lalueza-Fox from the Institute of Evolutionary Biology, has sequenced the complete genome of a Neolithic woman from a tooth dated to 7400 years ago, recovered from the cardial levels of the Cova Bonica cave in Vallirana, near Barcelona.This site is being excavated by a team from the University of Barcelona, led by Joan Daura, Montserrat Sanz, Mireia Pedro, Xavier Oms and Pablo Martinez. In addition, they have recovered partial genomic data from three other sites: Cova de l’Or (Alicante) and Cova de la Sarsa (Valencia) in Spain, and Almonda (Portugal).

____________________________________________

 The cave named Cova Bonica, in Vallirana (Barcelona, Spain), where the remains were found. Courtesy Joan Daura/ Montserrat Sanz

____________________________________________

Thanks to this newly sequenced genome, researchers have been able to determine that farmers from both the Mediterranean and inland routes are very homogeneous and clearly derive from a common ancestral population that, most likely, were the first farmers who entered Europe through Anatolia.

According to Iñigo Olalde, first author of the paper, “the sequencing of this genome has been possible thanks to new advances in both techniques of ancient DNA extraction, building of and construction techniques of genomic libraries, and massive sequencing; from an experimental point of view, it has been quite challenging”.

Analysis of the genome from Cova Bonica has made it possible to determine the appearance of these pioneer farmers, who had light skin and dark eyes and hair. This contrasts with previous Mesolithic hunters who, as the man from La Braña in León (Spain)—recovered in 2014 by the same research team—has demonstrated, had blue eyes and a darker skin than current Europeans. Both individuals are only separated by 600 years and 800 kilometers; however, they are very different from a genetic and physical standpoint. Modern Iberians mostly derive from these farmers, with Sardinians and Basques preserving the farming genetic component to the largest extent.

For Carles Lalueza-Fox, “this study is only the first step of a major project done in collaboration with David Reich at the Broad Institute that aims to create an Iberian paleogenomic transect, from the Mesolithic to the Middle Ages. So far, we have genomic data from fifty individuals and we want to reach more than one hundred. Being at the westernmost edge of Europe, the Iberian Peninsula is crucial to understanding the final impact of population movements such as the Neolithic or the later steppe migrations that entered Europe from the East.”

_______________________________________________________

Source: Adapted and edited from the subject Spanish National Research Coucil press release. 

_______________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

After examining the body size and shape of fossils from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) site in Spain, researchers report evidence that Neanderthal features did not arise in tandem as a package but instead followed a mosaic pattern of evolution, wherein evolutionary changes in some body parts preceded others. SH is a Middle Pleistocene site with the largest collection of postcranial skeletons—parts of the skeleton apart from the skull—ever found. The skeletal remains, including the cranial (skull) specimens, represent individuals of a single population of early humans who lived about 430,000 years ago in what is presently northern Spain.

Juan Luis Arsuaga of the Centro Mixto Universidad Complutense de Madrid and colleagues closely examined and measured 1,523 fossil elements, representing a minimum number of 19 individuals, from the collection using raw values for key skeletal parts as proxies to estimate stature, body breadth, and weight. They also compared the results for the same values from data derived from other early human fossils, including hominins dated to much earlier times. From these results, they were able to characterize the body design of SH postcranial skeletons, finding that the SH individuals were relatively tall, with wide, muscular bodies. Although similarly built to Neanderthals, they had generally less brain mass than the classic Neanderthals. They were shorter, wider and more robust than the much later Homo sapiens, or modern humans (MH), with less brain to body mass. The researchers concluded that the SH humans shared many anatomical features with Neanderthals, although some other key Neanderthal features were not present in the SH group of fossils, suggesting in their analysis that the SH humans were a sister group to later Neanderthals, and that the characteristics that eventually defined later Neanderthals did not all evolve together, but separately, in a mosaic pattern through time. They also concluded that the generally wide SH body plan provided additional evidence that early humans, before Homo sapiens, changed relatively little in this respect over the million years preceding the rise of modern humans. Modern humans, compared to their more ancient SH, Neanderthal, and other ancestral species and cousin lineages, are generally taller, narrower, and with the largest brain mass to body mass relationship (more encephalized).

________________________________________________

This image shows the upper and lower limb bones of those adults found in Sima de los Huesos, Atapuerca, Spain. Image: Carretero et al.

________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

 A team at work inside the cave: The Sima de los Huesos site. Image courtesy Javier Trueba / Madrid Scientific Films

________________________________________________

“In sum,” concluded the researchers, “SH offers the best proxy for the general postcranial size and shape of Homo for at least the past 1 million years until the appearance of MH. Despite large periods of morphological stasis in the general body plan, the anatomical details of the postcranial skeleton, as revealed in the SH sample, offer the best evidence for a pattern of mosaic evolution in the postcranium within the Neandertal lineage.”*

The paper is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

*Juan-Luis Arsuaga et al., Postcranial morphology of the middle Pleistocene humans from Sima de los Huesos, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1514828112

________________________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

Bar-Ilan University—One of the most pressing issues in modern biological conservation is “invasion biology”. Due to unprecedented contacts between peoples and culture in today’s “global village” certain animal and plant species are spreading widely throughout the world, often causing enormous damage to local species.

Recent studies have shown that alien species have had a substantial impact not only in recent times but also in antiquity. This is exemplified in a study published in the August 25th issue of Scientific Reports by a team led by archaeologists from Bar-Ilan University’s Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology (Suembikya (Sue) Frumin, Prof. Ehud Weiss and Prof. Aren Maeir) and the Hebrew University (Dr. Liora Kolska Horwitz), describing the bio-archaeological remains of the Philistine culture during the Iron Age (12th century to 7th century BCE). The team compiled a database of plant remains extracted from Bronze and Iron Ages sites in the southern Levant, both Philistine and non-Philistine. By analyzing this database, the researchers concluded that the Philistines brought to Israel not just themselves but also their plants.

The species they brought are all cultivars that had not been seen in Israel previously. This includes edible parts of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum) which originates in western Europe; the sycamore tree (Ficus sycomorus), whose fruits are known to be cultivated in the eastern Mediterranean, especially Egypt, and whose presence in Israel as a locally grown tree is first attested to in the Iron Age by the presence of its fruit; and finally, cumin (Cuminum cyminum), a spice originating in the Eastern Mediterranean. Sue Frumin, a PhD student at Prof. Ehud Weiss’s archaeobotanical lab, Bar-Ilan University, explains that “the edible parts of these species – opium poppy, sycamore, and cumin – were not identified in the archaeobotanical record of Israel prior to the Iron Age, when the Philistine culture first appeared in the region. None of these plants grows wild in Israel today, but instead grows only as cultivated plants.”

In addition to the translocation of exotic plants from other regions, the Philistines were the first community to exploit over 70 species of synanthropic plants (species which benefit from living in the vicinity of man) that were locally available in Israel, such as Purslane, Wild Radish, Saltwort, Henbane and Vigna. These plant species were not found in archaeological sites pre-dating the Iron Age, or in Iron Age archaeological sites recognized as belonging to non-Philistine cultures – Canaanite, Israelite, Judahite, and Phoenician. The “agricultural revolution” that accompanied the Philistine culture reflects a different agrarian regime and dietary preferences to that of their contemporaries.

The fact that the three exotic plants introduced by the Philistines originate from different regions accords well with the diverse geographic origin of these people. The Philistines – one of the so called Sea Peoples, and mentioned in the Bible and other ancient sources – were a multi-ethnic community with origins in the Aegean, Turkey, Cyprus and other regions in the Eastern Mediterranean who settled on the southern coastal plain of Israel in the early Iron Age (12th century BCE), and integrated with Canaanite and other local populations, finally to disappear at the end of the Iron Age (ca. 600 BCE).

__________________________________________

_________________________________________________________

This is the structure of Iron Age Floral List at each site. Circle size reflects the total number of new plant species recognized in Iron Age sites. Red indicates new species that appeared only in Philistine Iron Age sites. Green indicates species that appeared only in non-Philistine Iron Age contexts. Blue denotes species shared by Philistine and non-Philistine sites. The three numbers represent the quantity of Philistine species/non-Philistine species/shared species, at a site.  Map produced by M. Frumin using ArcGIS for Desktop (ArcMap 10.1), ESRI.

_____________________________________________

The results of this research indicate that the ca. 600 year presence of the Philistine culture in Israel had a major and long-term impact on local floral biodiversity. The Philistines left as a biological heritage a variety of plants still cultivated in Israel, including, among others, sycamore, cumin, coriander, bay tree and opium poppy.

The Philistines also left their mark on the local fauna. In a previous study also published in Scientific Reports in which two of the present authors (Maeir and Kolska Horwitz) participated, DNA extracted from ancient pig bones from Philistine and non-Philistine sites in Israel demonstrated that European pigs were introduced by the Philistines into Israel and slowly swamped the local pig populations through inter-breeding. As a consequence, modern wild boar in Israel today bears a European haplotype rather than a local, Near Eastern one.

As illustrated by these studies, the examination of the ancient bio-archaeological record has the potential to help us understand the long-term mechanisms and vectors that have contributed to current floral and faunal biodiversity, information that may also assist contemporary ecologists in dealing with the pressing issue of invasive species.

______________________________________________________

Source: Bar-Ilan University press release.

______________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

In a newly published paper*, Smithsonian anthropologist Richard Potts and anthropologist J. Tyler Faith of the University of Queensland, Australia, relate in detail the results of years of study defining a predictive model of climate and environmental variability correlated with key changes or stages in human evolution in East Africa and China. The study, in concert with previous studies, challenges some long-held theories about what has driven the mechanisms of human evolution.

The model, say the authors, predicts eight long periods of environmental instability in East Africa correlated with times of hominin evolutionary innovations as a result of natural selection resulting from the variability. The research also included data derived from palynological study in the Nihewan Basin of China, where evidence suggests that early humans survived and successfully adapted to a new, radically changed environment.

“Unstable climate conditions favored the evolution of the roots of human flexibility in our ancestors,” says Potts. “The narrative of human evolution that arises from our analyses stresses the importance of adaptability to changing environments, rather than adaptation to any one environment, in the early success of the genus Homo.”** 

The paper is at least in part a reflection of the core of Pott’s years of research in East Africa and China, at sites such as the Olorgesailie Basin, the Turkana and Olduvai Basins, the Tugen Hills and the Hadar Basin, all in East Africa; and the the Nihewan Basin in China. Much of his research has focused on testing what he has penned the variability selection hypothesis, which proposes that it was adaptability to change, not the long-held notion of specialization, that was a key to human evolution. It challenges the long-held “savanna hypothesis”, which has suggested that our genus, Homo, emerged and evolved at least in part due to adaptations (such as walking upright, dietary change, a larger brain and body, and making tools) as a result of a major, gradual climate change from a warmer, wetter forest environment on the African continent to a cooler, drier one that resulted in the spread of a savanna grassland. This latest study report follows a recent study published in the journal Science, wherein he and co-author colleagues Susan Antón, professor of anthropology at New York University, and Leslie Aiello, president of the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research, reported results from comprehensive research on shifting paleoclimates, ancient stone tools, isotopes found in teeth, and cut marks found on animal bones in East Africa. The findings have supported an emerging new consensus that suggests a rethinking of some of the long-held assumptions about human origins and evolution. 

____________________________________________

 Richard Potts and colleagues in the field in East Africa. Screen shot from video, see below.

____________________________________________

The study* is currently published ‘in press’ in the Journal of Human Evolution.

___________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________

*Richard Potts, J. Tyler Faith, Alternating high and low climate variability: The context of natural selection and speciation in Plio-Pleistocene hominin evolution, Journal of Human Evolution, 25 August 2015 doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.06.014 

**From a press release of the Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian scientist and collaborators revise timeline of human origins, 3 July 2014 

Cover image, top left: Scientist surveying in the field in East Africa. Screenshot from video, see above.

___________________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

In 2011, Popular Archaeology Magazine published an article by Mirjana Roksandic, a prominent paleoanthropologist with the University of Winnipeg, touching on the discovery of a partial hominin mandible in the Mala Balanica cave in the Sicevo Gorge in Serbia.

With the new release of that article entitled The Road through Sicevo as a free access article, the findings related to the mandible are now updated based on the publication of Roksandic’s later paper, The Role of the Balkans in the Peopling of Europe: New Evidence from Serbia. That paper explained that Electron Spin Resonance and Thermoluminescence dating have suggested a date range between 395 and 525 Kya for the age of the subject fossil. The testing and study was conducted by an international team of researchers that included William Jack Rink of McMaster University, Canada, Dušan Mihailović, University of Belgrade, Serbia, and Mirjana Roksandic, University of Winnipeg, Canada.* Mihailović and Roksandic were both involved in the initial discovery of the ancient mandible (scientifically labeled “BH-1”) in 2008. 

The dating now supports the observable primitive morphology of the mandible with that of an early Middle Pleistocene archaic human, although different from hominin fossils found for the same time period in the western regions of Europe. Significant to the research on Middle Pleistocene human evolution in Europe and Southwest Asia, the mandible bears characteristics not attributable to any species with Neanderthal features, or Neanderthal derived features. This includes Homo heidelbergensis, an early human species long generally accepted to be a possible ancestor to Neanderthals in Europe. Overall, these new findings have implied a possible evolutionary and human dispersal picture that is more complex than previously thought, with the Balkans representing “the only refugium that never experienced isolation,” and therefore playing a role “in maintaining gene flow and allowing primitive traits to remain present in the population for a longer period of time.”**

____________________________________________

Excavations underway in the Mala Balanica cave. Courtesy Mirjana Roksandic 

____________________________________________

Partiable mandible BH-1, discovered in the Mala Balanica Cave in 2008.  From Rink WJ, Mercier N, Mihailovic´ D, Morley MW, Thompson JW, et al. (2013) New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution. PLoS ONE 8(2): e54608. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054608  Courtesy Mirjana Roksandic

__________________________________________________________ 

See the premium article about this subject, now released as a free article.

____________________________________________

*Rink WJ, Mercier N, Mihailovic´ D, Morley MW, Thompson JW, et al. (2013) New Radiometric Ages for the BH-1 Hominin from Balanica (Serbia): Implications for Understanding the Role of the Balkans in Middle Pleistocene Human Evolution. PLoS ONE 8(2): e54608. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0054608 

**Mirjana Roksandic, The Role of the Balkans in the Peopling of Europe: New Evidence from Serbia, Recent Discoveries and Perspectives in Human Evolution, Manchester 2013

__________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

Roksandic concludes: “While isolation [due to glaciation] represented the major mechanism of evolutionary change in the west of the continent, causing a bottleneck and fixation of derived traits, the [warmer refuge of the] Balkan Peninsula did not experience the effects of isolation.”*

The findings also support the model of the Balkans as a critical connecting region with Southwest Asia in the dispersal of humans, possibly consisting of multiple major migrations.

________________________________________________________ 

See the article, The Road through Sicevo, now released as a free article from the Popular Archaeology Magazine archives. 

*M. Roksandic, The Role of the Balkans in the Peopling of Europe: New Evidence from Serbia, Recent Discoveries and Perspectives in Human Evolution, Manchester 2013.

________________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

Palatial ancient homes with basements with vaulted ceilings, countless pottery fragments, other artifacts left in place since deposited as much as 2,000 or more years ago—these are the kinds of things that a team of archaeologists, students and volunteers with the Mount Zion excavations project have been digging up just below the historic walls of Jerusalem, the city sacred to three of the world’s great religions.

Led by Shimon Gibson, a British-born Israeli archaeologist, who is also adjunct professor at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNC Charlotte) and Senior Associate Fellow at the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research, along with James Tabor, a well-known scholar of early Christianity and Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, also at UNC Charlotte, the team has recently completed its 2015 season of excavations, building on the large collection of finds and records they have already amassed from previous seasons—findings that are helping them to gradually piece together what life was like for the people who lived here centuries before in the shadow of Jerusalem’s ancient walls.

“We’re uncovering ancient Jerusalem in all of its periods,” says Tabor in a recently made news documentary about the dig. “This is actually the center of the city” he says about the location of the dig. That’s because the historic 15th-16th century Old City wall that overlooks the site did not exist for most of the time periods represented by the finds his team are uncovering. “So you have to imagine markets and houses and streets, and those are not visible now. It’s like a city arising out of the soil.”*

Says Gibson: “The early remains that we thought were badly preserved turned out to be extremely well preserved, with houses, palatial houses dating back 2,000 years, with the ceilings of the lower basement levels intact, vaulted ceilings, and doorways leading into different chambers.”*

Some of the finds made in previous seasons include a plastered cistern, a stepped and plastered ritual bathing pool (‘mikveh’) with a well preserved barrel-vaulted ceiling, a chamber containing three bread ovens (‘tabuns’), Early Roman pottery, lamps, stone vessels, murex shells, coins, Roman Tenth Legion stamped roof tiles, and what appeared to be a relatively rare and well-preserved, plastered bathtub. Gibson and Tabor suggest that what they are finding could be a wealthy neighborhood and, given the site’s proximity to the location of the Herodian-built Second Temple known from the time of Jesus, possibly a community that included priests who served at the Temple.

Gibson hopes that, beyond the scientific and scholarly gain that will be generated by the excavations and research, the work here will set the stage for an archaeological park open to the public.  “With time,” he adds, “when we have completed the excavation work, we will be getting down to preserving the archaeological remains and then opening it up as a park so that one day these people that are now passing by in bewilderment looking at our tents and seeing all this fuss being made in these excavation trenches will be able to come down and pass through and see all of these amazing remains in a way which together combine into a kind of theatre of history.”*

_____________________________________

 Above: The Mount Zion dig site. Courtesy Shimon Gibson and the Mount Zion Excavations Project.

_________________________________________

Looking down into the area of the basement of a Herodian period house. Courtesy Shimon Gibson and the Mount Zion Excavation Project. 

______________________________________

Tabor envisions a close and developing connection between the project, Jerusalem and UNC Charlotte and the Charlotte community, building a bridge between two locations thousands of miles apart, physically separated by geography and different cultures, but joined by their common humanity.

“We want the University to have an impact on the community,” said Tabor, “and this is one of the ways—a UNC Charlotte connection, but also for the city of Charlotte. This is our Charlotte pride here. What other city has a dig in Jerusalem?”*

UNC Charlotte is the only non-Israeli school with a license to dig in Jerusalem.

__________________________________________________

__________________________________________________

A detailed feature article about the Mount Zion dig was published in the December, 2013 issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine and can be accessed here.

__________________________________________________ 

*News video documentary: UNV Charlotte in Jerusalem/NC Now/UNC-TV

__________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

The fact that the greatest diversity of large mammals is found in Africa reflects past human activities – and not climatic or other environmental constraints. This is determined in a new study, which presents what the world map of mammals would look like if modern humans (Homo sapiens) had never existed.

In a world without humans, most of northern Europe would probably now be home to not only wolves, Eurasian elk (moose) and bears, but also animals such as elephants and rhinoceroses.

This is demonstrated in a new study conducted by researchers from Aarhus University, Denmark. In a previous analysis, they have shown that the mass extinction of large mammals during the Last Ice Age and in subsequent millennia (the late-Quaternary megafauna extinction) is largely explainable by the expansion of modern human (Homo sapiens) populations across the world. In this follow-up study, they investigate what the natural worldwide diversity patterns of mammals would be like in the absence of past and present human impacts, based on estimates of the natural distribution of each species according to its ecology, biogeography and the current natural environmental template. They provide the first estimate of how the mammal diversity world map would have appeared without the impact of modern man.

“Northern Europe is far from the only place in which humans have reduced the diversity of mammals – it’s a worldwide phenomenon. And, in most places, there’s a very large deficit in mammal diversity relative to what it would naturally have been”, says Professor Jens-Christian Svenning, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, who is one of the researchers behind the study.

Africa is the last refuge

The current world map of mammal diversity shows that Africa is virtually the only place with a high diversity of large mammals. However, the world map constructed by the researchers of the natural diversity of large mammals shows far greater distribution of high large-mammal diversity across most of the world, with particularly high levels in North and South America, areas that are currently relatively poor in large mammals.

“Most safaris today take place in Africa, but under natural circumstances, as many or even more large animals would no doubt have existed in other places, e.g., notably parts of the New World such as Texas and neighboring areas and the region around northern Argentina-Southern Brazil. The reason that many safaris target Africa is not because the continent is naturally abnormally rich in species of mammals. Instead it reflects that it’s one of the only places where human activities have not yet wiped out most of the large animals,” says Postdoctoral Fellow Soren Faurby, Department of Bioscience, Aarhus University, who is the lead author on the study.

The existence of Africa’s many species of mammals is thus not due to an optimal climate and environment, but rather because it is the only place where they have not yet been eradicated by humans. The underlying reason includes evolutionary adaptation of large mammals to humans as well as greater pest pressure on human populations in long-inhabited Africa in the past.

__________________________________________

Above: The natural diversity of large mammals is shown as it would appear without the impact of modern man (Homo sapiens). The figure shows the variation in the number of large mammals (45 kg or larger) that would have occurred per 100 x 100 kilometer grid cell. The numbers on the scale indicate the number of species.  Illustration courtesy Soren Faurby

________________________________________________________

Above: The current diversity of large mammals is shown. It can clearly be seen that large numbers of species virtually only occurs in Africa, and that there are generally far fewer species throughout the world than there could have been. Illustration courtesy Soren Faurby.

_________________________________________________________ 

Better understanding helps nature preservation

The study’s openly accessible data set of natural range maps for all late-Quatenary mammals provides researchers with the first opportunity to analyze the natural patterns in the species diversity and composition of mammals worldwide. Hereby, it can be used to provide a better understanding of the natural factors that determine the biodiversity in a specific area.

Today, there is a particularly large number of mammal species in mountainous areas. This is often interpreted as a consequence of environmental variation, where different species have evolved in deep valleys and high mountains. According to the new study, however, this trend is much weaker when the natural patterns are considered.

“The current high level of biodiversity in mountainous areas is partly due to the fact that the mountains have acted as a refuge for species in relation to hunting and habitat destruction, rather than being a purely natural pattern. An example in Europe is the brown bear, which now virtually only live in mountainous regions because it has been exterminated from the more accessible and most often more densely populated lowland areas,” explains Soren Faurby.

Hereby, this new study can provide an important base-line for nature restoration and conservation.

The study has been published in the scientific journal Diversity and Distributions.

_______________________________________________________

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

_______________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

Many decades of scientific research and archaeological excavations have produced a wealth of data, in the form of fossils, artifacts, and the resulting information and insights they have afforded, about a human genus that, for the better part of over two million years, scavenged, hunted, foraged and fished for a living. Museum dioramas depict small groups of hardy, spear- and bow-and-arrow equipped hunting parties bringing down Ice Age megafauna like the woolly mammoth or other giant Ice Age mammals in North America or Eurasia. Artists illustrate early human groups with stone hand axes slicing up scavenged or hunted lion prey on the African savannah a million years ago in what is today Kenya or Tanzania. Past studies have suggested that many vulnerable species that thrived in land areas occupied by humans over the past 40,000 years have gone extinct, at least in part due to exploitation by cooperative human hunter-gatherers who, because of their cultural and technological evolution, were able to successfully prey upon larger animals and a more diverse faunal set.

But legions of past human hunters notwithstanding, none of them can compare to the human “super predator” of today.

Such might be the conclusion of anyone reading a recent study published in the journal Science by Chris Darimont and colleagues of the University of Victoria. In that study, Darimont and his team conducted a survey of 399 animal species for a total of 2,125 estimates combining both terrestrial and marine environments across the globe. What they found was a predominant human pattern of preying on adults of other species at rates up to 14 times higher than other predators, with especially focused exploitation of terrestrial carnivores and fishes. 

“We reveal striking differences in exploitation rates between nonhuman predators and contemporary humans, particularly fishers and carnivore hunters,” report Darimont, et al. “Clearly, nonhuman predators influence prey availability to humans. But overwhelmingly these consumers target juveniles, the reproductive “interest” of populations. In contrast, humans—released from limits other predators encounter—exploit the “capital” (adults) at exceptionally higher rates,” the authors continued.* Our dominance is most pronounced in the marine environment—the oceans—they maintain.

“Our wickedly efficient killing technology, global economic systems and resource management that prioritize short-term benefits to humanity have given rise to the human super predator,” says Darimont, also science director for the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

__________________________________________

Horned animals with human hunters in late bronze age petroglyph at Tangaly, Kazakhstan. Ken and Nyetta, Wikimedia Commons

__________________________________________

Above: Wildlife under pressure. Darimont et al. show that the rates at which humans exploit land mammals and marine fish vastly exceeds the impacts of other predators. Marine fish experience “fishing through marine food webs,” with diiferent trophic groups similarly affected. In contrast, on land top predators are exploited at much higher rates than are herbivores. Courtesy P. Huey/ Science

_____________________________________________________________ 

But the biggest story may be the potential consequences. The authors point to the impact it is having and will continue to have on the current and future global ecosystems and environment, a subset of which could be the eventual extinction of the prey humans target.

“Our impacts are as extreme as our behaviour and the planet bears the burden of our predatory dominance,” says Darimont.

Write the authors in the report: “The implications that can result are now increasingly costly to humanity, and add new urgency to reconsidering the concept of sustainable exploitation.”*

Will we be the victims of our own evolutionary success in this sense, or could we as a species successfully adapt our behavior and conserve the current ecosystem? Boris Worm, in a related article published in the same issue of Science, makes some concluding statements about the insights we have gained from this study and other similar studies that have preceded it. One of them stands out in relation to Darimont, et al.’s conclusions. Compared to all other predators, “we have the unusual ability to analyze and consciously adjust our behavior to minimize deleterious consequences.”**

Time will tell the story.

_______________________________________________________

*”The unique ecology of human predators,” by C.T. Darimont; C.H. Fox; H.M. Bryan; T.E. Reimchen at University of Victoria in Victoria, BC, Canada; C.T. Darimont; C.H. Fox; H.M. Bryan at Raincoast Conservation Foundation in Sidney, BC, Canada; C.T. Darimont; H.M. Bryan at Hakai Institute in Heriot Bay, BC, Canada. 21 August 2015, Vol. 349, Issue 6250.

**”A most unusual (super) predator,” by Boris Worm, Science, 21 August 2015, Vol. 349, Issue 6250.

Additional content adapted and edited from the related University of Victoria news release.

_______________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

Teams of scientists have uncovered mass graves indicating mass murder at sites representing the same culture in time and space in Central Europe. But these instances have nothing to do with the Nazi-orchestrated holocaust of World War II. They have everything to do with a Neolithic people who lived about 7,000 years ago in what is today Germany and Austria. 

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, anthropologist Christian Meyer of the University of Mainz and colleagues have reported study results that suggest an entire Neolithic community of people, some time between 5207 and 4849 BC, may have been massacred and dumped, without ritual or care, into mass graves at the site today known as Schöneck-Kilianstädten in Germany. One excavated mass grave provides the certain evidence that 26 people, half of them adults and half of them children, were bludgeoned in the head by “typical weapon-tools of the time”.* Furthermore, before or after their deaths, many of them were mutilated or tortured by the smashing of their lower leg bones. Arrowheads were also found among the remains, suggesting the use of arrows in an act of warfare by the perpetrators.

Meyer and colleagues came to their overall conclusions after conducting an intense osteological analysis of the bones, initially excavated at the site in 2006. 

With the exception of the bone leg mutilation, similar mass grave finds were made at two other sites dated to the same time period and affiliated with the same culture—one in Talheim, Germany, and the other in Asparn/Schletz in Austria. All three sites are identified with what is called the Linearbandkeramic culture, or LBK, a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, which flourished from about 5500 to 4500 BC. Combined, the finds at the three sites present implications for the later phases of the culture.

“The new evidence presented here for unequivocal lethal violence on a large scale is put into perspective for the Early Neolithic of Central Europe and, in conjunction with previous results, indicates that massacres of entire communities were not isolated occurrences but rather were frequent features of the last phases of the LBK,” wrote Meyer, et al., in their report.*

_________________________________________

 Cranial fracture in a 3-5y old child from the Neolithic mass grave of Schöneck-Kilianstädten, Germany. Image courtesy of Christian Meyer.

_________________________________________

Pictured above: Typical LBK Pottery. Collection University of Jena. Roman Grabolle, Wikimedia Commons

_________________________________________

Moreover, report Meyer and colleagues, “the significant absence of younger women in the Kilianstädten mass grave may indicate that these were taken captive by the attackers, as also has been suggested for the Asparn/Schletz site in Austria…we suggest that the repeated occurrence of almost indiscriminate massacres, the possible abduction of selected members, and the patterns of torture, mutilation, and careless disposal all fit into the concept of prehistoric warfare as currently understood within anthropology.”*

The finds beg the obvious questions: What was really happening? What was precipitating this mass violent behavior?

The authors suggest several possible causes, but point to a complex scenario: “Although the underlying supraregional causes for the recognized increase in mass violence in the late LBK undoubtedly were complex and multifactorial, a significant increase in population followed by adverse climatic conditions (drought), possibly coupled with the inability of long-settled farmers to practice the avoidance behavior by which hunter-gatherers typically evade conflict, seem to have been important components of the overall picture.”* 

_______________________________________________________

*“The massacre mass grave of Schöneck-Kilianstädten reveals new insights into collective violence in Early Neolithic Central Europe,” by Christian Meyer, Christian Lohr, Detlef Gronenborn, and Kurt W. Alt., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 17 August 2015.

_______________________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

In a study recently published in press in the Journal of Human Evolution, an international team of scientists report evidence that fossilized faunal (animal) remains recovered from Pliocene hominin-bearing deposits show butchery marks—cut marks that were likely made with stone tools. The subject fossil remains and their characteristic marks, they suggest, are dated to the time period of the earliest stone tools, or about 3 million years ago.

Jessica Thompson of Emory University, along with colleagues from other American universities and the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany, examined a large assemblage of fossils collected from the Hadar Formation at Dikika, Ethiopia, an area known to have yielded significant hominin finds bearing on the early stages of human evolution. Scrutinizing them through microscopic technigues, they were able to determine that two fossil specimens, taken from a site locality designated ‘DIK-55’, collectively showed “twelve marks interpreted to be characteristic of stone tool butchery damage.”*

The 12 marks on the two specimens – a long bone from a creature the size of a medium antelope and a rib bone from an animal closer in size to a buffalo – most closely resemble a combination of purposeful cutting and percussion marks, Thompson says. “When these bones were hit, they were hit with enormous force and multiple times.”

The paper supports the original interpretation that the damage to the two bones is characteristic of stone tool butchery, published in Nature in 2010. That finding was sensational, since it potentially pushed back evidence for the use of stone tools, as well as the butchering of large animals, by about 800,000 years.

The Nature paper was followed in 2011 by a rebuttal in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), suggesting that the bones were marked by incidental trampling in abrasive sediments. That sparked a series of debates about the significance of the discovery and whether the bones had been trampled.

For the current paper, Thompson and her co-authors examined the surfaces of a sample of more than 4000 other bones from the same deposits. They then used statistical methods to compare more than 450 marks found on those bones to experimental trampling marks and to the marks on the two controversial specimens.

“We would really like to understand what caused these marks,” Thompson says. “One of the most important questions in human evolution is when did we start eating meat, since meat is considered a likely explanation for how we fed the evolution of our big brains.”

Evidence shows that our genus, Homo, emerged around 2.8 million years ago. Until recently, the earliest known stone tools were 2.6 million years old. Changes had already been occurring in the organization of the brains of the human lineage, but after this time there was also an increase in overall brain size. This increased size has largely been attributed to a higher quality diet.

While some other apes are known to occasionally hunt and eat animals smaller than themselves, they do not hunt or eat larger animals that store abundant deposits of fat in the marrow of their long bones. A leading hypothesis in paleoanthropology is that a diet rich in animal protein combined with marrow fat provided the energy needed to fuel the larger human brain.

The animal bones in the Dikika site, however, have been reliably dated to long before Homo emerged. They are from the same sediments and only slightly older than the 3.3-million-year-old fossils unearthed from Dikika belonging to the hominid species Australopithecus afarensis.

Thompson specializes in the study of what happens to bones after an animal dies. “Fossil bones can tell you stories, if you know how to interpret them,” she says.

A whole ecosystem of animals, insects, fungus and tree roots modify bones. Did they get buried quickly? Or were they exposed to the sun for a while? Were they gnawed by a rodent or chomped by a crocodile? Were they trampled on sandy soil or rocky ground? Or were they purposely cut, pounded or scraped with a tool of some kind?

One way that experimental archeologists learn to interpret marks on fossil bones is by modifying modern-day bones. They hit bones with hammer stones, feed them to carnivores and trample them on various substrates, then study the results.

Based on knowledge from such experiments, Thompson was one of three specialists who diagnosed the marks on the two bones from Dikika as butchery in a blind test, before being told the age of the fossils or their origin.

The PNAS rebuttal paper, however, also used experimental methods and came to the conclusion that the marks were characteristic of trampling.

Thompson realized that data from a larger sample of fossils were needed to chip away at the mystery.

The current paper investigated with microscopic scrutiny all non-hominin fossils collected from the Hadar Formation at Dikika. The researchers collected a random sample of fossils from the same deposits as the controversial specimens, as well as nearby deposits. They measured shapes and sizes of marks on the fossil bones. Then they compared the characteristics of the fossil marks statistically to the experimental marks reported in the PNASrebuttal paper as being typical of trampling damage. They also investigated the angularity of sand grains at the site and found that they were rounded – not the angular type that might produce striations on a trampled bone.

“The random population sample of the fossils provides context,” Thompson says. “The marks on the two bones in question don’t look like other marks common on the landscape. The marks are bigger, and they have different characteristics.”

Trample marks tend to be shallow, sinuous or curvy. Purposeful cuts from a tool tend to be straight and create a narrow V-shaped groove, while a tooth tends to make a U-shaped groove. The study measured and quantified such damage to modern-day bones for comparison to the fossilized ones.

“Our analysis shows with statistical certainty that the marks on the two bones in question were not caused by trampling,” Thompson says. “While there is abundant evidence that other bones at the site were damaged by trampling, these two bones are outliers. The marks on them still more closely resemble marks made by butchering.”

One hypothesis is that butchering large animals with tools occurred during that time period, but that it was an exceedingly rare behavior. Another possibility is that more evidence is out there, but no one has been looking for it because they have not expected to find it at a time period this early.

_________________________________________

This is the location in Ethiopia where two stone tool modified bones were discovered in the Andedo drainage of the Dikika Research Project. One bone (DIK-55-2) was found part way up the slope to the left. The other bone was found just to the left of the limits of this photo. Courtesy Dikika Research Project

_________________________________________

__________________________________________________________

This is a detail of the marks on a fossilized rib bone, one of the two controversial bones. “The best match we have for the marks, using currently available data, would still be butchery with stone tools,” says Emory University anthropologist Jessica Thompson. Photo courtesy Zeresenay Alemseged.

_____________________________________________

The Dikika specimens represent a turning point in paleoanthropology, Thompson says. “If we want to understand when and how our ancestors started eating meat and moving into that ecological niche, we need to refine our search images for the field and apply these new recovery and analytical methods. We hope other researchers will use our work as a recipe to go out and systematically collect samples from other sites for comparison.”

In addition to Dikika, other recent finds are shaking up long held views of hominin evolution and when typical human behaviors emerged. This year, a team led by archeologist Sonia Harmand in Kenya reported unearthing stone tools that have been reliably dated to 3.3 million years ago, or 700,000 years older than the previous record.

“We know that simple stone tools are not unique to humans,” Thompson says. “The making of more complex tools, designed for more complex uses, may be uniquely human.”

The findings are significant in light of recent discoveries in East Africa that may be effectively pushing back the clock or even blurring the human evolutionary line between the earliest species of the Homo genus (early human ancestors) and an earlier or more ‘primitive’ genus known as the Australopithecines (a proto-human ancestor).  

But who were the possible hominins responsible for the Dikika cut marks? Fossil remains of Australopithecus afarensis are (as of this writing) the only hominin fossils found in the area of Dikika dated to the same time period, though many more finds and much more work remains to be done before the toolmaker can be identified, if ever.

__________________________________________

Emory University anthropologist Jessica Thompson is shown here at work in the field in Africa. She specializes in the study of what happens to bones after an animal dies. Photo courtesy Jessica Thompson.

___________________________________________

Did you like this? See a related story about recent news-breaking finds in the article, Straddling the Evolutionary Divide, published in the current (Summer 2015) issue of Popular Archaeology Magazine.

*Jessica C. Thompson, et al., Taphonomy of fossils from the hominin-bearing deposits at Dikika, Ethiopia, Journal of Human Evolution, doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.06.013

A portion of this article was adapted and edited from a press release of Emory Health Sciences.

___________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________

In 1944, the city of Vilna in Lithuania was under the grip of Nazi occupation. Like so many other Jewish communities throughout Europe at the time, citizens of Vilna became part of the Nazi “final solution” — the holocaust —  including the destruction of their holy sites. Among the kosher meat stands, miqva’ot (ritual baths), and the famous Strashun rabbinical library, the most magnificent of these sites was the Great Synagogue and the Shulhof of Vilna. The synagogue was built in the 17th century in the Renaissance-Baroque style, and was burned to the ground in 1944 with the rest of the monuments to Jewish heritage in Vilna. In 1964, the Soviets demolished what was left and built a school over part of the foundation.

_________________________________________

 The Great Synagogue of Vilna as it stood in 1934.

_______________________________________

Recently, however, archaeological efforts to locate the remains of the synagogue have led teams to use ground penetrating radar to identify its long-buried features. The results revealed surviving sections of the synagogue and possible remains of associated mikva’ot. They plan to initiate excavations next year. The research is a joint effort between the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) and the Cultural Heritage Conservation Authority of Lithuania (CHCAL), with Jon Seligman (IAA), Zenonas Baubonis (CHCAL), and Richard Freund from the University of Hartford leading the project. The researchers hope to coordinate efforts of an international community of Jewish, Israeli and Lithuanian volunteers to expose the remains for study and public display, which will stand as a monument to the destruction of the entire Jewish community of Vilna.

The Israeli Antiquities Authority is encouraging sponsorship and participation in the project. Individuals interested in participating or supporting the efforts may do so by contacting the AIA.

______________________________________________

Read more in-depth articles about archaeology with a premium subscription to Popular Archaeology Magazine. 

In addition, the latest Popular Archaeology ebook is now available.

 ______________________________________________

Travel and learn with Far Horizons.

____________________________________________

This richly illustrated ebook version of a recent Popular Archaeology issue includes the following stories: The discovery of the tomb of a previously unknown pharaoh that is shedding light on a lost ancient Egyptian dynasty; how genetics is revolutionizing what we know about human evolution and our prehistoric past; one scholar’s controversial ‘New Chronology’ and how it supports the historicity of the biblical Exodus; how archaeologists are unearthing new history in Williamsburg, Virginia, a seat of British colonial power in 18th century America; the discovery of the remains of a major Roman legionary base in Israel; the unearthing of an ancient Judean fortified settlement in the borderlands between the biblical kingdoms of ancient Judah and the Philistines; and how archaeologists are uncovering evidence of what may have been an important administrative center of Judah during the 8th century BCE. Now available from Amazon.com!

____________________________________________