Neanderthals/Denisovans
Declining fertility rates may explain Neanderthal extinction
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 20 hours ago
A new hypothesis for Neanderthal extinction
supported by population modelling is put forward in a new study by Anna
Degioanni from Aix Marseille Université, France and colleagues,
published May 29, 2019 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE*. The lack
of empirical data allowing testing of hypotheses is one of the biggest
challenges for researchers studying Neanderthal extinction. Many
hypotheses involve catastrophic events such as disease or climate
change. In order to test alternative hypothetical extinction scenarios,
Degioanni and colleagues created a Neanderthal population model … more »
Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago, research on teeth shows
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 2 weeks ago
Neanderthal vs human skull (stock image). *Credit: © Bruder / Adobe Stock*
Neanderthals and modern humans diverged at least 800,000 years ago,
substantially earlier than indicated by most DNA-based estimates,
according to new research by a UCL academic. The research, published in
*Science Advances*, analysed dental evolutionary rates across different
hominin species, focusing on early Neanderthals. It shows that the teeth
of hominins from Sima de los Huesos, Spain — ancestors of the
Neanderthals — diverged from the modern human lineage earlier than … more »
First hominins on the Tibetan Plateau were Denisovans
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 4 weeks ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *The Xiahe
mandible, only represented by its right half, was found in 1980 in
Baishiya Karst Cave. view more Credit: © Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou
University Denisovans – an extinct sister group of Neandertals – were
discovered in 2010, when a research team led by Svante Pääbo from the
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) sequenced
the genome of a fossil finger bone found at Denisova Cave in Russia and
showed that it belonged to a hominin group that was genetically distinct
from Neandertals. “Traces of Denisovan DNA are found in present-day A… more »
Asia
Homo sapiens may have had several routes of dispersal across Asia in the Late Pleistocene
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 20 hours ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *Illustrated
dispersal routes from the results of the Least Cost Path analysis: The
three routes from the “wet ” simulations and the single route from the
“dry ” simulation are presented together… view more Credit: Li et al,
2019 *Homo sapiens* may have had a variety of routes to choose from
while dispersing across Asia during the Late Pleistocene Epoch,
according to a study released May 29, 2019 in the open-access journal
*PLOS ONE* by Feng Li of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and
Paleoanthropology in Beijing and colleagues. After leaving Africa, … more »
Humans used northern migration routes to reach eastern Asia
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 20 hours ago
y [image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *The sand dunes
of Mongol Els jutting out of the steppe in Mongolia. Many of these
desert barriers only appeared after the Last Glacial Maximum (~20,000
years ago). view more Credit: Nils Vanwezer Northern and Central Asia
have been neglected in studies of early human migration, with deserts
and mountains being considered uncompromising barriers. However, a new
study by an international team argues that humans may have moved through
these extreme settings in the past under wetter conditions. We must now
reconsider where we look for the earliest traces of o… more »
Origin of Sino-Tibetan language family revealed by new research
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 3 weeks ago
The Sino-Tibetan language family includes
early literary languages, such as Chinese, Tibetan, and Burmese, and is
represented by more than 400 modern languages spoken in China, India,
Burma, and Nepal. It is one of the most diverse language families in the
world, spoken by 1.4 billion speakers. Although the language family has
been studied since the beginning of the 19th century, scholars’
knowledge of the origin of these languages is still severely limited. An
interdisciplinary study published in *PNAS*, led by scientists of the
Centre des Recherches Linguistiques sur l’Asie Orien… more »
First hominins on the Tibetan Plateau were Denisovans
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 4 weeks ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *The Xiahe
mandible, only represented by its right half, was found in 1980 in
Baishiya Karst Cave. view more Credit: © Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou
University Denisovans – an extinct sister group of Neandertals – were
discovered in 2010, when a research team led by Svante Pääbo from the
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI-EVA) sequenced
the genome of a fossil finger bone found at Denisova Cave in Russia and
showed that it belonged to a hominin group that was genetically distinct
from Neandertals. “Traces of Denisovan DNA are found in present-day A… more »
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 4 weeks ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *The Hualongdong
Middle Pleistocene human skull and the collapsed cave site, with the
fossil-bearing breccia in beige aournd the limestone blocks view more
Credit: WU Xiujie and Erik Trinkaus A team of scientists led by LIU Wu
and WU Xiujie from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and
Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences reported the
first ever Middle Pleistocene human skull found in southeastern China,
revealing the variation and continuity in early Asian humans. Their
findings were published on April 30 in *Proceedings of the Nat… more »
Israel
Early humans deliberately recycled flint to create tiny, sharp tools
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 20 hours ago
A new Tel Aviv University study finds
that prehistoric humans “recycled” discarded or broken flint tools
400,000 years ago to create small, sharp utensils with specific
functions. These recycled tools were then used with great precision and
accuracy to perform specific tasks involved in the processing of animal
products and vegetal materials. CaptionExperimental activity of cutting
tubers with a small recycled flake and a close-up of its prehension
(inset). CreditFlavia Venditti/AFTAU. Related Journal Article http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2019.03.016 The site of Qesem Cave, l… more »
New reading of the Mesha Stele inscription has major consequences for biblical history
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 3 weeks ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *The Mesha Stele,
the longest extra-biblical inscription ever found, now at the Louvre
Museum in Paris. view more Credit: Public domain photograph. The
legendary King Balak from the Book of Numbers may have been a real
historical figure, according to a new reading of the Mesha Stele, the
longest extra-biblical inscription in existence. The Mesha Stele, an
ancient inscribed stone dating to the ninth century BCE, tells the story
of the territorial expansion and construction endeavors of King Mesha
of Moab, who is also mentioned in the Second Book of Kings in the… more »
Europe
Unique Iron Age shield gives insight into prehistoric technology
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 6 days ago
A unique bark shield, thought to have been
constructed with wooden laths during the Iron Age, has provided new
insight into the construction and design of prehistoric weaponry. The
only one of its kind ever found in Europe, the shield was found south of
Leicester on the Everards Meadows site, in what is believed to have
been a livestock watering hole. Following analysis of the construction
of the shield by Michael Bamforth at the University of York, it became
apparent that the shield had been carefully constructed with wooden
laths to stiffen the structure, a wooden edging rim, and… more »
Traces of crawling in Italian cave give clues to ancient humans’ social behavior
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 2 weeks ago
Evidence of crawling in an Italian cave system
sheds new light on how late Stone Age humans behaved as a group,
especially when exploring new grounds, says a study published today in
*eLife*. The cave of Bàsura at Toirano and its human and animal fossil
traces have been known since the 1950s, with the first studies conducted
by Italian archaeologist Virginia Chiappella. In the current study,
promoted by the Archaeological Heritage Office of Liguria, researchers
from Italy, Argentina and South Africa used multiple approaches to
analyse the human traces and identified for the first t… more »
Uncovering a 5000-year-old family tragedy
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 2 weeks ago
Eight years ago, a mass grave was unearthed in
the southern Polish village of Koszyce. The circumstances surrounding
the 5000-year-old gravesite have been a mystery ever since. The
skeletons of 15 women, children and young men were found – each slain by
powerful blows to the head. Yet, their bodies were neatly positioned
alongside one another and with an abundance of gifts for their final
voyage. An international team, composed of researchers from the
universities of Copenhagen and Aarhus and the Archaeological Museum in
Poznan, Poland, used DNA profiles to demonstrate that the mas… more »
Ancient DNA suggests that some Northern Europeans got their languages from Siberia
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 2 weeks ago
Most Europeans descend from a combination of
European hunter-gatherers, Anatolian early farmers, and Steppe herders.
But only European speakers of Uralic languages like Estonian and Finnish
also have DNA from ancient Siberians. Now, with the help of ancient DNA
samples, researchers reporting in *Current Biology* on May 9 suggest
that these languages may have arrived from Siberia by the beginning of
the Iron Age, about 2,500 years ago, rather than evolving in Northern
Europe. The findings highlight the way in which a combination of
genetic, archaeological, and linguistic data can con… more »
First examples of Iberian prehistoric ‘imitation amber’ beads at gravesites U
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 4 weeks ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *These are amber
bead samples studied in this paper view more Credit: Odriozola et al.,
2019 Prehistoric Iberians created “imitation amber” by repeatedly
coating bead cores with tree resins, according to a study published May
1, 2019 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE* by Carlos Odriozola from
Universidad de Sevilla, Spain, and colleagues. Many studies have
confirmed the ornamental and symbolic importance of amber to European
prehistoric peoples. This study is the first to discuss potential
prehistoric Iberian “imitation amber” beads made using the applicati… more »
Americas
Eastern forests shaped more by Native Americans’ burning than climate change
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 1 week ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *Pollen and tree
survey map. view more Credit: Marc Abrams, Penn State Native Americans’
use of fire to manage vegetation in what is now the Eastern United
States was more profound than previously believed, according to a Penn
State researcher who determined that forest composition change in the
region was caused more by land use than climate change. “I believe
Native Americans were excellent vegetation managers and we can learn a
lot from them about how to best manage forests of the U.S.,” said Marc
Abrams, professor of forest ecology and physiology in the Co… more »
High-quality jadeite tool discovered in underwater ancient salt works in Belize
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 1 week ago
Researchers say the find shows the
importance of salt and Maya salt workers more than 1,000 years ago
Louisiana State University [image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *LSU anthropologist
Heather McKillop discovered this high-quality jadeite tool at the site
of an ancient salt works in Belize that has been submerged in water due
to sea level rise…. view more Credit: Heather McKillop, LSU.
Anthropologists discovered a tool made out of high-quality translucent
jadeite with an intact rosewood handle at a site where the ancient Maya
processed salt in Belize. The discovery of these high-quality mater… more »
Archaeological discovery upends a piece of Barbados history
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 1 week ago
Which came first, the pigs or the pioneers? In
Barbados, that has been a historical mystery ever since the first
English colonists arrived on the island in 1627 to encounter what they
thought was a herd of wild European pigs. A recent discovery by an SFU
archaeologist is shedding new light on the matter. Christina Giovas
uncovered the jaw bone of a peccary, a South American mammal that
resembles a wild pig, while researching a larger project on prehistoric
animal introductions in the Caribbean. “I didn’t give it much notice at
the time, but simply collected it along with other bon… more »
Ancient fish ponds in the Bolivian savanna supported human settlement
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 2 weeks ago
A network of fish ponds supported a permanent
human settlement in the seasonal drylands of Bolivia more than one
thousand years ago, according to a new study published May 15, 2019 in
the open-access journal *PLOS ONE* by Gabriela Prestes-Carneiro of
Federal University of Western Para, Brazil, and colleagues. The study is
the first to document the full range of fish species likely kept in
these constructed ponds, and provides new insights into how humans
modified the savannah environment to cope with the months-long droug… more »
Abrupt climate change drove early South American population decline
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 2 weeks ago
Abrupt climate change some 8,000 years ago led
to a dramatic decline in early South American populations, suggests new
UCL research. The study, published in *Scientific Reports*, is the
first to demonstrate how widespread the decline was and the scale at
which population decline took place 8,000 to 6,000 years ago.
“Archaeologists working in South America have broadly known that some
8,200 years ago, inhabited sites in various places across the continent
were suddenly abandoned. In our study we wanted to connect the dots
between disparate records that span the Northern Andes, thro… more »
Ayahuasca fixings found in 1,000-year-old bundle in the Andes
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 3 weeks ago
New evidence that the mind-blowing brew
goes back millennia University of California – Berkeley [image: IMAGE]
*IMAGE: *Ritual bundle with leather bag, carved wooden snuff tablets and
snuff tube with human hair braids, pouch made of three fox snouts,
camelid bone spatulas, colorful textile headband and wool… view more
Credit: Photos courtesy of Juan Albarracín-Jordán and José Capriles.
Today’s hipster creatives and entrepreneurs are hardly the first
generation to partake of ayahuasca, according to archaeologists who have
discovered traces of the powerfully hallucinogenic potion in … more »
Africa
Earliest evidence of the cooking and eating of starch
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 1 week ago
Early human beings who lived around
120,000 years ago in South Africa were ‘ecological geniuses’ who were
able to exploit their environment intelligently for suitable food and
medicines University of the Witwatersrand [image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *The
Klasies River cave in the southern Cape of South Africa. view more
Credit: Wits University New discoveries made at the Klasies River Cave
in South Africa’s southern Cape, where charred food remains from hearths
were found, provide the first archaeological evidence that anatomically
modern humans were roasting and eating plant starches, suc… more »
Egypt
In Egypt: Colourful wooden coffins and limestone statues dating back to the Old Kingdom
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report – 2 weeks ago
Complete report Egypt’s antiquities ministry
on Saturday unveiled a 4,500-year-old burial ground near the Giza
pyramids containing colourful wooden coffins and limestone statues
dating back to the Old Kingdom. Sarcophagi are seen inside a burial
shaft at the Giza pyramid plateau, on the southwestern outskirts of the
Egyptian capital Cairo, on May 4, 2019, following the discovery of
several Old Kingdom tombs and burial shafts. MAHMOUD KHALED / AFP. The
site on the southeastern side of Giza plateau contains tombs and burial
shafts from various periods, but the oldest is a lime… more »
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