Friday, August 20, 2010

Mother of all humans lived 200,000 years ago

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The most robust statistical examination to date of our species' genetic links to "mitochondrial Eve" -- the maternal ancestor of all living humans -- confirms that she lived about 200,000 years ago. The Rice University study was based on a side-by-side comparison of 10 human genetic models that each aim to determine when Eve lived using a very different set of assumptions about the way humans migrated, expanded and spread across Earth.

The research is available online in the journal Theoretical Population Biology.

"Our findings underscore the importance of taking into account the random nature of population processes like growth and extinction," said study co-author Marek Kimmel, professor of statistics at Rice. "Classical, deterministic models, including several that have previously been applied to the dating of mitochondrial Eve, do not fully account for these random processes."

The quest to date mitochondrial Eve (mtEve) is an example of the way scientists probe the genetic past to learn more about mutation, selection and other genetic processes that play key roles in disease.

"This is why we are interested in patterns of genetic variability in general," Kimmel said. "They are very important for medicine."

For example, the way scientists attempt to date mtEve relies on modern genetic techniques. Genetic profiles of random blood donors are compared, and based upon the likenesses and differences between particular genes, scientists can assign a number that describes the degree to which any two donors are related to one another.

Using mitochondrial genomes to gauge relatedness is a way for geneticists to simplify the task of finding common ancestors that lived long ago. That is because the entire human genome contains more than 20,000 genes, and comparing the differences among so many genes for distant relatives is problematic, even with today's largest and fastest supercomputers.

But mitochondria -- the tiny organelles that serve as energy factories inside all human cells -- have their own genome. Besides containing 37 genes that rarely change, they contain a "hypervariable" region, which changes fast enough to provide a molecular clock calibrated to times comparable to the age of modern humanity. Because each person's mitochondrial genome is inherited from his or her mother, all mitochondrial lineages are maternal.

To infer mtEve's age, scientists must convert the measures of relatedness between random blood donors into a measure of time.

"You have to translate the differences between gene sequences into how they evolved in time," said co-author Krzysztof Cyran, vice head of the Institute of Informatics at Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, Poland. "And how they evolved in time depends upon the model of evolution that you use. So, for instance, what is the rate of genetic mutation, and is that rate of change uniform in time? And what about the process of random loss of genetic variants, which we call genetic drift?"

Within each model, the answers to these questions take the form of coefficients -- numeric constants that are plugged into the equation that returns the answer for when mtEve lived.

Each model has its own assumptions, and each assumption has mathematical implications. To further complicate matters, some of the assumptions are not valid for human populations. For example, some models assume that population size never changes. That is not true for humans, whose population has grown exponentially for at least several thousand generations. Other models assume perfect mixing of genes, meaning that any two humans anywhere in the world have an equal chance of producing offspring.

Cyran said human genetic models have become more complex over the past couple of decades as theorists have tried to correct for invalid assumptions. But some of the corrections -- like adding branching processes that attempt to capture the dynamics of population growth in early human migrations -- are extremely complex. Which raises the question of whether less complex models might do equally well in capturing what's occurring.

"We wanted to see how sensitive the estimates were to the assumptions of the models," Kimmel said. "We found that all of the models that accounted for random population size -- such as different branching processes -- gave similar estimates. This is reassuring, because it shows that refining the assumptions of the model, beyond a certain point, may not be that important in the big picture."

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Animal bone markings show evidence that 'Lucy' species used stone tools, ate meat

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Discovery pushes stone-tool use by early humans back 800,000 years

Two Arizona State University researchers conducting zooarchaeological and archaeometric analyses of four fossilized animal bone fragments found by the Dikika Research Project in northeastern Ethiopia – within walking distance of the discovery of the hominin skeleton "Lucy" (Australopithecus afarensis) – confirm that unusual marks on the bones were inflicted by stone tools. Their conclusion weighs in on findings reported in the Aug. 12 journal Nature, that A. afarensis used sharp-edged stones and a strong striking force to cleave flesh and marrow from large-sized animal carcasses some 3.4 million years ago.

That evidence pushes back the origins of technology – the use of stone tools – and carnivory by some 800,000 years, from 2.6 Myr to 3.4, explained Curtis Marean, a paleoanthropologist at ASU's Institute of Human Origins and one of the world's leading experts in the study of animal bones from archaeological sites.

Marean, a professor in the School of Human Evolution and Social Change in ASU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is a member of the international team made up of experts in paleoanthropology, archeology, geology, paleontology and materials science who reported the findings in the Nature article "Evidence for stone-tool-assisted consumption of animal tissues before 3.39 million years ago at Dikika, Ethiopia."

The zooarchaeological analysis of the bone fragments, which included a femur shaft from an animal the size of a goat and a rib fragment from a much larger animal the size of a cow, was conducted at Arizona State University. Using a standard binocular microscope in ASU's zooarchaeology laboratory, Marean was able to provide evidence that sharp-edged stones and a strong striking force were used to remove flesh and marrow from the bones of large-sized animal carcasses.

To further determine that the markings were not modern, he turned to Hamdallah Béarat, a senior research scientist at ASU's School for Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy.

"To confirm that the cutmarks on the bones are 'old' and verify that they were induced by stone tools, I used the Environmental Cell Scanning Electron Microscope (E-SEM) and the attached Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometry (EDX) in ASU's LeRoy Eyring Center for Solid State Science," said Béarat, who has degrees in chemistry, archaeometry, material science and engineering.

The E-SEM was used because it has a chamber and stage that can accommodate large bone fragments, Béarat explained.

"And, since the bone material is an insulator and these precious bone samples cannot be coated with a conducting film, such as gold or carbon, this E-SEM allows us to run the analysis in the H2O-vapor mode and thus avoid charging effects, while still using a high accelerating voltage (15-25kV)," Béarat said.

"Hamdallah is an expert in materials research and keenly interested in archaeology," noted Marean. "He had the great idea to do X-ray mapping of the surfaces of the bone to see whether minerals that passed from the marks to the surface of the bone were fossilized."

The geologist on the team, Jonathan Wynn, from the University of South Florida, relied on documented dated volcanic deposits in the Dikika area to estimate the date of the marked bones to 3.4 million years ago.

"This discovery dramatically shifts the known timeframe of a game-changing behavior for our ancestors," said paleoanthropologist Zeresenay "Zeray" Alemseged, director of the Dikika project and director of anthropology at the California Academy of Sciences.

No hominin remains were found with the animal bone fragments that were uncovered 200 meters away from the site where Alemseged and a team discovered "Selam" (Lucy's baby) in 2000. Lucy was discovered in 1974 a few miles north, near Hadar, by Donald Johanson, the world renowned ASU paleoanthropologist.

"There is no question that the announcement of stone tool use at 3.4 million years ago will unleash a flurry of controversy and genuine disbelief among some scholars," said Johanson. "However, I believe the team has presented a convincing case of stone tool use during Lucy's time. These unexpected results may well generate a new understanding of early hominid behavior and will prompt a reexamination of the tens of thousands of animal bones already collected from this time period at Hadar, Lucy's home, and other sites in Kenya and Tanzania.

"Very often it is breakthroughs such as this that stimulate new and expanded research strategies that promise to significantly enlarge our understanding of human origins," Johanson said.



This image is of two parallel cut marks made by stone tools cutting into tissues on the rib of a cow-sized or larger ungulate, some 3.4 million years ago. It was taken by Arizona State University paleoanthropologist Curtis Marean. “I snapped a photograph of that image old style – a Nikon D70 camera on a microscope photo tube. The image captures one action in a set of actions that stands at the origin point of humanity. Here is the remnant of that act, a remnant that spans an amount of time that is almost unimaginable, yet manages to connect us all to the beginnings of humanity. I love the image for that visceral power,” said Marean.

Credit: Dikika Research Project


Lead author of the Nature article Shannon McPherron observed: "Now, when we imagine Lucy walking around the east African landscape looking for food, we can for the first time imagine her doing so with a stone tool in her hand." McPherron is an archeologist with the Dikika project and research scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany. He and Alemseged led the Dikika fieldwork.

The last place early humans – like Lucy – wanted to be on the African landscape was in a competitive dangerous situation next to an animal carcass, noted Marean.

Yet, "these marks are unusual compared to other butchery marks I have seen," he said. "They show a lot of force, a lot of heavy action."

Marean framed the research findings as "a spectacular and exciting discovery pertaining to early human evolution." But, while the evidence shows the Australopithecines at Dikika were using sharp-edged stones to crack and strip meat from the bones, it is impossible to tell from the marks alone whether these early hominins were making their tools and carrying them, or simply finding naturally sharp rocks.

Many questions remain about the use of stone tools by human ancestors and the introduction of meat into their diet.

"The subtle implication is that in this instance, it was not hunted but scavenged meat and marrow, since the really large animal was almost certainly outside the ability of hominins to kill. This could be a key tipping point in the origins of human uniqueness," Marean said. "One of the big steps in human evolution is when males and females pair-bond, and males provided females with meat. This result may suggest this is happening at this early stage in human origins."

Other co-authors of the Nature paper include paleontologists Denné Reed, University of Texas, Austin; Denis Geraads, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris; and René Bobe, University of Georgia.

The interdisciplinary nature of the team exemplifies what collaboration between social sciences and physical sciences can produce, noted ASU's Béarat.

"I believe that, in the coming few decades, major archaeological discoveries are to be expected in the laboratory rather than in the field," he said, advocating for more archaeometric studies, which are like forensic investigations. "In both cases, the scientist is investigating a process or an act. In this case from Dikika, our role was to confirm, using physical/engineering methods, that the act of cutting the bones was old and thus corresponded to our remote hominin ancestor."

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Stone Age remains are Britain's earliest house

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Archaeologists working on Stone Age remains at a site in North Yorkshire say it contains Britain's earliest surviving house.

The team from the Universities of Manchester and York reveal today that the home dates to at least 8,500 BC - when Britain was part of continental Europe.

The research has been made possible by a grant from the Natural Environment Research Council, early excavation funding from the British Academy, and from English Heritage who are about to schedule the site as a National Monument . The Vale of Pickering Research Trust has also provided support for the excavation works.

The research team unearthed the 3.5 metres circular structure next to an ancient lake at Star Carr, near Scarborough, a site comparable in archaeological importance to Stonehenge.

The team are currently excavating a large wooden platform next to the lake, made of timbers which have been split and hewn. The platform is the earliest evidence of carpentry in Europe.

A large tree trunk has also been uncovered by the team. Despite being 11,000 years old it is well preserved with its bark still intact.

The house predates what was previously Britain's oldest known dwelling at Howick, Northumberland, by at least 500 years.

Dr Chantal Conneller and Barry Taylor from The University of Manchester with Dr Nicky Milner from the University of York have been working at Star Carr since 2004.

The house, which was first excavated by the team two years ago, had post holes around a central hollow which would have been filled with organic matter such as reeds, and possibly a fireplace.

Universities and Science Minister, David Willetts, said: “This exciting discovery marries world-class research with the lives of our ancestors. It brings out the similarities and differences between modern life and the ancient past in a fascinating way, and will change our perceptions for ever. I congratulate the research team and look forward to their future discoveries.”

The site was inhabited by hunter gatherers from just after the last ice age, for a period of between 200 and 500 years.

According to the team, they migrated from an area now under the North Sea, hunting animals including deer, wild boar, elk and enormous wild cattle known as auroch.

Though they did not cultivate the land, the inhabitants did burn part of the landscape to encourage animals to eat shoots and they also kept domesticated dogs.

Dr Milner said: "This is a sensational discovery and tells us so much about the people who lived at this time.

"From this excavation, we gain a vivid picture of how these people lived. For example, it looks like the house may have been rebuilt at various stages.

“It is also likely there was more than one house and lots of people lived here.

“The platform is made of hewn and split timbers; the earliest evidence of this type of carpentry in Europe. And the artefacts of antler, particularly the antler head-dresses, are intriguing as they suggest ritual activities.”

Dr Conneller said: "This changes our ideas of the lives of the first settlers to move back into Britain after the end of the last Ice Age.

"We used to think they moved around a lot and left little evidence. Now we know they built large structures and were very attached to particular places in the landscape."

Barry Taylor added: "The ancient lake is a hugely important archaeological landscape many miles across.

“To an inexperienced eye, the area looks unremarkable - just a series of little rises in the landscape.

"But using special techniques I have been able to reconstruct the landscape as it was then.

"The peaty nature of the landscape has enabled the preservation of many treasures including the paddle of a boat, the tips of arrows and red deer skull tops which were worn as masks.

"But the peat is drying out, so it's a race against time to continue the work before the archaeological finds decay."

English Heritage recently entered into a management agreement with the farmers who own the land at Star Carr to help protect the archaeological remains.

Keith Emerick, English Heritage Inspector of Ancient Monuments, explained:

“We are grateful to the landowners for entering into this far reaching agreement.

“Star Carr is internationally important, but the precious remains are very fragile.

“A new excavation currently underway will tell us more about their state of preservation and will help us decide whether a larger scale dig is necessary to recover information before it is lost for ever.”

Friday, August 6, 2010

A first in Israel: Cuneiform tablet uncovered by Hebrew University team at Hazor parallel to code of Hammurabi

For the first time in Israel, a document has been uncovered containing a law code that parallels portions of the famous Code of Hammurabi. The code is written on fragments of a cuneiform tablet, dating from the 18th-17th centuries B.C.E in the Middle Bronze Age, that were found in Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeological excavations this summer at Hazor in the north of Israel.



Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor (left) holding the tablet, and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman (Photo: Yoav Becher)


The Hazor excavations, known as the Selz Foundation Hazor Excavations in Memory of Yigael Yadin, are under the direction of Prof. Amnon Ben-Tor and Dr. Sharon Zuckerman of the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology. Previous excavations were directed at the site by the late Prof. Yigael Yadin in the 1950s and 1960s.

The fragments that have now been discovered, written in Akkadian cuneiform script, refer to issues of personal injury law relating to slaves and masters, bringing to mind similar laws in the famous Babylonian Hammurabi Code of the 18th century B.C.E. that were found in what is now Iran over 100 years ago. The laws also reflect, to a certain extent, Biblical laws of the type of “a tooth for tooth,” say the researchers.

The Hazor law code fragments are being prepared for publication by a team headed by Prof. Wayne Horowitz of the Hebrew University Institute of Archaeology. Thus far, words that have been deciphered include “master,” “slave,” and a word referring to bodily parts, apparently the word for “tooth.” The style of the text is similar to that of the Hammurabi Code, said Prof. Horowitz.

“At this stage, it is difficult to determine whether this document was actually written at Hazor, where a school for scribes was located, or brought from somewhere else,” said Prof. Horowitz. He said that this latest discovery opens an interesting avenue for possible further investigation of a connection between Biblical law and the Code of Hammurabi.

These two fragments are the 18th and 19th cuneiform finds from the Hazor excavations, which now form the largest corpus of documents of cuneiform texts found in Israel. Previous documents dealt with such subjects as the dispatch of people or goods, a legal dispute involving a local woman, and a text of multiplication tables. “These tablets point to Hazor’s importance as a major center for administration and scholarship in the Middle and Late Bronze Ages,” said Prof. Ben-Tor.

The Hazor excavations, sponsored by the Hebrew University and the Israel Exploration Society, take place within the Hazor National Park. The archaeological team is presently about to begin uncovering a monumental building dating to the Bronze Age, where they expect to recover additional tablets.

Major Finds at the Biblical "Gath of the Philistines"

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Bar-Ilan University archaeologists have uncovered two major finds in the biblical city "Gath of the Philistines" (the home of Goliath), located in the Tel Tzafit National Park.

Prof. Aren Maeir, of Bar-Ilan's Martin (Szusz) Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, announced that he and his international team have discovered a Philistine Temple, including a number of ritual items, dating back to the Iron Age (10th century BCE). "Interestingly, the architectural design of this Temple, with its two central pillars, is reminiscent of the architectural image that is described in the well-known Biblical story of Samson and the Philistines, when Samson knocks down the temple by standing between the pillars and pushing them down. Perhaps this indicates that the story of Samson reflects a type of temple that was in use in Philistia at the time," said Prof. Maeir, who has directed the excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath for 13 years. Tell es-Safi/Gath is located in the southern coastal plain of Israel, not far from Kiryat Gat, about half-way between Jerusalem and Ashkelon.


Philistine Temple from the 10th century BCE with two pillar bases in the Temple's inner sanctum

Prof. Maeir also indicated that his team had found impressive evidence of an earthquake in the 8th century BCE reminiscent of the earthquake mentioned in the Book of Amos I:1. The team uncovered walls moved from their place and collapsed like a deck of cards as a result of the powerful earthquake -- assessed at a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter scale – reported Maeir.

This summer's excavations at Tell es-Safi/Gath have also uncovered further evidence of the destruction of the city by Hazael, King of Aram Damascus, around 830 BCE, as mentioned in Second Kings 12:18, as well as evidence of the first Philistine settlement in Canaan (around 1200 BCE) and different levels of the Canaanite city of Gath.

The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project (www.dig-gath.org) is a long-term investigation aimed at studying the archaeology and history of one of the most important sites in Israel. Tell es-Safi/Gath is one of the largest tells (ancient ruin mounds) in Israel and was settled almost continuously from the 5th millennium BCE until modern times.

King Herod has lost his claim to being the original contractor of certain ancient structures in the area.

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Complete article

The subterranean aqueduct and fortification wall discovered nearby were at first thought to be simply more evidence of the vast construction projects undertaken by King Herod the Great (74-4 B.C.E. ) during the Second Temple period. However, their excavation has revealed not only the precise dimensions of the structures, and who built them - but, more significantly, the fact that hundreds of archaeologists and researchers have been mistaken for the past 150 years about this site.

Jaffa Gate has been the main entry to the walled city of Jerusalem for centuries, but in contemporary times has been so overrun with tourists, merchants and residents that no serious excavation was ever conducted there. But thanks to nearby infrastructure-improvement work undertaken by the Jerusalem Development Authority, a scientific dig was initiated there January.

The excavations have thrown new light on Jerusalem's past, stirring a conceptual revolution about life in the city at the end of the Second Temple and Roman period (63 B.C.E.-324 C.E. ). They yielded two major structural discoveries - a fortification wall and an aqueduct, which intersect - but the more exciting revelation concerns the relationship between them.

Found in northern Israel: extraordinarily well preserved 3,500 year old bronze bracelet

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The Israel Antiquities Authority has announced the discovery of a unique bracelet in an excavation in northern Israel, dating back to the Late Bronze Age.

The "extraordinarily well preserved" ancient bronze bracelet is decorated with engravings and the top of it is adorned with a horned structure, said Karen Covello-Paran, chief archaeologist of the dig.

"At that time, horns were the symbol of the storm-god and they represented power, fertility and law," she said.



This is the first time that a 3,500-year-old village has been excavated and exposed in the north of Israel, according to the IAA. To date, only the large cities have been excavated in the region, such as Tel Megiddo or Tel Hazor.

"Here we have gained a first glimpse of life in the ancient rural hinterland in the north, and it turns out that it was more complex than we thought," Covello-Paran said.

A Canaanite scarab made of stone and engraved with Egyptian hieroglyphs was also found. In antiquity, scarabs were worn as pendants or were inlaid in rings, and they were used as a seal by the people who carried them or as a talisman with magical powers, the statement said.

The finds were uncovered while preparing infrastructure in an area near the mountain town of Zefat, north of the Sea of Galilee and not far from the Lebanese border.

Hypothesis: It was used by the village ruler

The first known village from this period in all of northern Israel was uncovered in an excavation, which was took place in the vicinity of Zefat, with funding provided by the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Housing.

An unusual and intriguing find that is fascinating the archaeologists at the Israel Antiquities Authority was exposed in archaeological excavations at Ramat Razim, southeast of Zefat.

The excavations were carried out within the framework of the development of the region in which new neighborhoods, commercial areas and a medical school are slated to be built. In the current stage of the development the infrastructure system for the entire project will be built, foremost of which is a new approach road to the city of Zefat, which is being advanced on behalf of the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Housing by the Yaffe Nof Company and its team of professionals.

According to Karen Covello-Paran, director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "We discovered a wide rare bracelet made of bronze. The ancient bracelet, which is extraordinarily well preserved, is decorated with engravings and the top of it is adorned with a horned structure. At that time horns were the symbol of the storm-god and they represented power, fertility and law. The person who could afford such a bracelet was apparently very well off financially, and it probably belonged to the village ruler. It is interesting to note that in the artwork of neighboring lands gods and rulers were depicted wearing horned crowns; however, such a bracelet, and from an archaeological excavation at that, has never been found here”.

The bracelet was found inside an estate house dating to the Canaanite period (the Late Bronze Age) that was exposed in the excavation, and which was part of an ancient settlement that existed on the southeastern slope of Ramat Razim, in a rocky area that overlooks the Sea of Galilee and the Golan Heights. The building was made of indigenous limestone and included a paved central courtyard surrounded by rooms that were lived in and used as storerooms. Along with the bracelet, a Canaanite scarab was found that is made of stone and engraved with Egyptian hieroglyphs. In antiquity scarabs were worn as pendants or were inlaid in rings, and they were used as a seal by the people who carried them or as a talisman with magical powers. We also learn from these valuable finds that the residents of the building were also engaged in barter.

According to archaeologist Covello-Paran, “This is the first time that a 3,500 year old village has been excavated and exposed in the north of Israel. To date, only the large cities have been excavated in the region, such as Tel Megiddo or Tel Hazor. Here we have gained a first glimpse of life in the ancient rural hinterland in the north, and it turns out that it was more complex than we thought. It seems that the small village at Ramat Razim constituted part of the periphery of Tel Hazor, the largest and most significant city in the Canaanite region at the time, which is located c. 10 kilometers north of the settlement at Ramat Razim”.

“The ancient inhabitants of Ramat Razim raised sheep and goats, and farmed. Numerous basalt querns that were used for grinding wheat into flour were found in the building. In addition, we also found large storage vessels that were used to store grain and liquids, which stood on the floor to a height of more than a meter. An ancient oven for cooking was found in one of the residential rooms alongside ceramic cookware and tools, including flint blades, and intact bronze implements such as a long needle (15 centimeters) for sewing sacks or treating skins, and a long decorated pin that was used to fasten a dress or gown”.

The Israel Antiquities Authority is working to integrate the site in the extensive development plans for Ramat Razim, alongside the research institute and medical school, as an open place for visitors, together with the other assets of nature that exist in the region.

Reading the Zip Codes of 3,500-Year-Old Letters

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Unfortunately, when ancient kings sent letters to each other, their post offices didn't record the sender' return address. It takes quite a bit of super-sleuthing by today's archaeologists to determine the geographical origin of this correspondence — which can reveal a great deal about ancient rulers and civilizations.

Now, by adapting an off-the-shelf portable x-ray lab tool that analyzes the composition of chemicals, Prof. Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Civilizations can reveal hidden information about a tablet's composition without damaging the precious ancient find itself. These x-rays reveal the soil and clay composition of a tablet or artefact, to help determine its precise origin.

But Prof. Goren's process, based on x-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, can go much further. Over the years, he has collected extensive data through physical "destructive" sampling of artefacts. By comparing this data to readouts produced by the XRF device, he's built a table of results so that he can now scan a tablet — touching the surface of it gently with the machine — and immediately assess its clay type and the geographical origin of its minerals.

The tool, he says, can also be applied to coins, ancient plasters, and glass, and can be used on site or in a lab. He plans to make this information widely available to other archaeological researchers.

Prof. Goren's field intersects the worlds of geology, mineralogy and ancient technology as he tries to understand where ancient tablets and pots are made, based on the crystals and minerals found in the materials of these artefacts.

Traditionally archaeological scientists have had to take small samples of an artefact — a chip or a slice — in order to analyze its soil and clay composition. But as more and more museums and archaeology sites ban these destructive means of investigating archaeological finds, Prof. Goren's new tool may help save archaeological structures while solving some of its deepest mysteries.

"It's become a big ethical question," says Prof. Goren. "Many museums will not allow any more physical sampling of artefacts, and it's especially problematic for small tablet fragments and stamps which cannot be broken in the process. I had to find another way to know what these artefacts were made of."

Records from a Jesubite King

In his recent study published in the Israel Exploration Journal, Prof. Goren and his colleagues investigated a Late Bronze Age letter written in the Akkadian language and found among the Ophel excavations in Jerusalem.

Its style suggests that it is a rough and contemporary tablet of the Amarna letters — letters written from officials throughout the Middle East to the Pharaohs in Egypt around 3,500 years ago, pre-biblical times. Using his device, Prof. Goren was able to determine that the letter is made from raw material typical to the Terra Rossa soils of the Central Hill Country around Jerusalem. This determination helped to confirm both the origin of the letter and possibly its sender.

"We believe this is a local product written by Jerusalem scribes, made of locally available soil. Found close to an acropolis, it is also likely that the letter fragment does in fact come from a king of Jerusalem," the researchers reported, adding that it may well be an archival copy of a letter from King Abdi-Heba, a Jesubite king in Jerusalem, to the Pharaoh in nearby Egypt.

Prof. Goren is also an expert at uncovering archaeological forgeries and has worked on the alleged ossuary, or bone box, of Jesus' brother James.