Thursday, October 31, 2019

Ground penetrating radar reveals why ancient Cambodian capital was moved to Angkor



IMAGE
IMAGE: Regional map of Koh Ker showing the location of the chute and key archaeological features. The detailed map area (top right) is shown as a white dashed box on the... view more 
Credit: Dr Ian Moffat, Flinders University
The largest water management feature in Khmer history was built in the 10th century as part of a short-lived ancient capital in northern Cambodia to store water but the system failed in its first year of operation, possibly leading to the return of the capital to Angkor.
An international team of researchers led by Dr Ian Moffat from Flinders University in Australia used ground penetrating radar to map the surface of a buried spillway in Koh Ker to better understand why the reservoir failed during its first year of use.
In a study published in Geoarchaeology, archaeologists explain that the 7km long embankment was designed to capture water from the Stung Rongea river but modelling indicates it was inadequate to contain the average water flow in the catchment, putting into question the legitimacy of Khmer kings, and forcing them to re-establish their capital in Angkor.
"At that time, embarking on projects of civil engineering such as temple building, urban renewal, and the development of water infrastructure was central to establishing the legitimacy of Khmer kings," says Dr Moffat
"It's not difficult to envisage that the failure of the embankment at Koh Ker--the largest and most ambitious infrastructure project of the era--may have had a significant impact on the prestige of the sovereign capital, and contributed to the decision to re-establish Angkor as the capital of the Khmer Empire."
"Our study shows that this ambitious engineering feat was always doomed to rapid failure."
The monumental complex of Koh Ker, located 90 km northeast of Angkor, remains relatively poorly understood even though it was briefly the capital in the middle of the 10th century CE under King Jayavarman IV, the only capital throughout six centuries to be established outside of the Angkor region.
The site is located in an area of gently sloping hills and stone outcrops, far removed from the low-lying floodplains that define the Khmer heartland.

1,400 year-old hammer and nails discovered at Usha show Byzantine inhabitants practiced metallurgy.


This past Sukkot, about 8,500 people participated in archaeological excavations and activities hosted by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA). One family, from Tur’an in the Lower Galilee, made a rare and informative discovery while volunteering at the IAA’s excavation of ancient Usha. The family discovered an iron hammer-head and nails dating to the Byzantine period, about 1,400 years ago.

According to Yair Amitzur and Eyad Bisharat, directors of the excavation on behalf of the IAA, “About 20 iron hammers are registered in the Israel Antiquities Authority records, only six of them from the Byzantine period.” While the hammer’s discovery is rare and exciting, the unattractive lump of iron slag found nearby may be more exciting still. The slag indicates Usha’s Byzantine inhabitants were manufacturing iron tools themselves, rather than importing them. 

“We already knew” says Amitzur, “that the Usha settlers extensively manufactured glass vessels, since we found many wine glasses and glass lamps together with glass lumps that were the raw material.” Amitzur also notes that ancient sources refer to a man who lived in Usha named Rabbi Yitzhak Nafha. The name ‘Nafha’ means ‘the blower,’ and suggests that the Rabbi probably worked as a glass manufacturer. While the glass industry at Usha has been known for some time, the discovery of the hammer, nails, and iron slag show that metallurgy was also practiced on site. 


Monday, October 28, 2019

The homeland of modern humans



A study has concluded that the earliest ancestors of anatomically modern humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) emerged in a southern African 'homeland' and thrived there for 70 thousand years.
The breakthrough findings are published in the prestigious journal Nature today.
The authors propose that changes in Africa's climate triggered the first human explorations, which initiated the development of humans' genetic, ethnic and cultural diversity.
This study provides a window into the first 100 thousand years of modern humans' history.
DNA as a time capsule
"It has been clear for some time that anatomically modern humans appeared in Africa roughly 200 thousand years ago. What has been long debated is the exact location of this emergence and subsequent dispersal of our earliest ancestors," says study lead Professor Vanessa Hayes from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research and University of Sydney, and Extraordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria.
"Mitochondrial DNA acts like a time capsule of our ancestral mothers, accumulating changes slowly over generations. Comparing the complete DNA code, or mitogenome, from different individuals provides information on how closely they are related."
In their study, Professor Hayes and her colleagues collected blood samples to establish a comprehensive catalogue of modern human's earliest mitogenomes from the so-called 'L0' lineage. "Our work would not have been possible without the generous contributions of local communities and study participants in Namibia and South Africa, which allowed us to uncover rare and new L0 sub-branches," says study author and public health Professor Riana Bornman from the University of Pretoria.
"We merged 198 new, rare mitogenomes to the current database of modern human's earliest known population, the L0 lineage. This allowed us to refine the evolutionary tree of our earliest ancestral branches better than ever before," says first author Dr Eva Chan from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, who led the phylogenetic analyses.
By combining the L0 lineage timeline with the linguistic, cultural and geographic distributions of different sub-lineages, the study authors revealed that 200 thousand years ago, the first Homo sapiens sapiens maternal lineage emerged in a 'homeland' south of the Greater Zambezi River Basin region, which includes the entire expanse of northern Botswana into Namibia to the west and Zimbabwe to the east.
A homeland perfect for life to thrive
Investigating existing geological, archeological and fossil evidence, geologist Dr Andy Moore, from Rhodes University, revealed that the homeland region once held Africa's largest ever lake system, Lake Makgadikgadi.
"Prior to modern human emergence, the lake had begun to drain due to shifts in underlying tectonic plates. This would have created, a vast wetland, which is known to be one of the most productive ecosystems for sustaining life," says Dr Moore.
Modern humans' first migrations
The authors' new evolutionary timelines suggest that the ancient wetland ecosystem provided a stable ecological environment for modern humans' first ancestors to thrive for 70 thousand years.
"We observed significant genetic divergence in the modern humans' earliest maternal sub-lineages, that indicates our ancestors migrated out of the homeland between 130 and 110 thousand years ago," explains Professor Hayes. "The first migrants ventured northeast, followed by a second wave of migrants who travelled southwest. A third population remained in the homeland until today."
"In contrast to the northeasterly migrants, the southwesterly explorers appear to flourish, experiencing steady population growth," says Professor Hayes. The authors speculate that the success of this migration was most likely a result of adaptation to marine foraging, which is further supported by extensive archaeological evidence along the southern tip of Africa.
Climate effects
To investigate what may have driven these early human migrations, co-corresponding author Professor Axel Timmermann, Director of the IBS Center for Climate Physics at Pusan National University, analysed climate computer model simulations and geological data, which capture Southern Africa's climate history of the past 250 thousand years.
"Our simulations suggest that the slow wobble of Earth's axis changes summer solar radiation in the Southern Hemisphere, leading to periodic shifts in rainfall across southern Africa," says Professor Timmermann. "These shifts in climate would have opened green, vegetated corridors, first 130 thousand years ago to the northeast, and then around 110 thousand years ago to the southwest, allowing our earliest ancestors to migrate away from the homeland for the first time."
"These first migrants left behind a homeland population," remarks Professor Hayes. "Eventually adapting to the drying lands, maternal descendants of the homeland population can be found in the greater Kalahari region today."
This study uniquely combined the disciplines of genetics, geology and climatic physics to rewrite our earliest human history.

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Latest Archaeology News Reports

 
Near East

Strong winter dust storms may have caused the collapse of the Akkadian Empire H

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 19 hours ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *This is a 4,100-year-old Oman coral fossil. view more Credit: Hokkaido University Fossil coral records provide new evidence that frequent winter shamals, or dust storms, and a prolonged cold winter season contributed to the collapse of the ancient Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia. The Akkadian Empire (24th to 22nd century B.C.E.) was the first united empire in Mesopotamia and thrived with the development of irrigation. Yet, settlements appear to have been suddenly abandoned ca. 4,200 years ago, causing its collapse. The area would also not experience resettleme... more »

Private property, not productivity, precipitated Neolithic agricultural revolution

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Santa Fe Institute Humankind first started farming in Mesopotamia about 11,500 years ago. Subsequently, the practices of cultivating crops and raising livestock emerged independently at perhaps a dozen other places around the world, in what archaeologists call the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution. It's one of the most thoroughly-studied episodes in prehistory -- but a new paper in the *Journal of Political Economy* shows that most explanations for it don't agree with the evidence, and offers a new interpretation. With farming came a vast expansion of the realm over which private pr... more »
Europe

Science reveals improvements in Roman building techniques

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 19 hours ago
The Romans were some of the most sophisticated builders of the ancient world. Over the centuries, they adopted an increasingly advanced set of materials and technologies to create their famous structures. To distinguish the time periods over which these improvements took place, historians and archaeologists typically measure the colours, shapes and consistencies of the bricks and mortar used by the Romans, along with historical sources. In new research published in *EPJ Plus*, Francesca Rosi and colleagues at the Italian National Research Council improved on these techniques throu... more »

Early Celts across classes may have drunk Mediterranean wine in local ceramics

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 2 days ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *Heuneberg pottery / Heuneburg early celts from all social classes may have consumed mediterranean wine in local ceramics view more Credit: Victor S. Brigola Early Celts from the Heuneburg settlement may have enjoyed Mediterranean wine well before they began importing Mediterranean drinking vessels--and this special drink may have been available to all in the community, according to a study published October 23, 2019 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE* by Maxime Rageot from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the University of Tübingen, and colleagues... more »

Lifestyle is a threat to gut bacteria: Ötzi proves it, study shows

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 1 week ago
The intestinal microbiome is a delicate ecosystem made up of billions and billions of microorganisms, bacteria in particular, that support our immune system, protect us from viruses and pathogens, and help us absorb nutrients and produce energy. The industrialization process in Western countries had a huge impact on its content. This was confirmed by a study on the... more »

Study 'cures' oldest case of deafness in human evolution

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 1 week ago
An international team of researchers including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York, has published a new study examining a 430,000-year-old cranium of a human ancestor that was previously described as deaf, representing the oldest case of deafness in human prehistory. "The current finding is significant because we have definitively shown this individual was not deaf. Rather than rely on subjective assessments based on the presence of a pathological condition in the ear canals, we have studied in detail the physiological implications of the pathology and ha... more »
 

DNA study sheds new light on the people of the Neolithic battle axe culture

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *This is a skeleton of a male individual associated with the Neolithic Age Battle Axe culture on exhibition in Linköping, Sweden. Genomic DNA extracted from this individual was analyzed in... view more Credit: Jonas Karlsson, Östergötlands museum In an interdisciplinary study published in *Proceedings of the Royal Society B*, an international research team has combined archaeological, genetic and stable isotope data to understand the demographic processes associated with the iconic Battle Axe Culture and its introduction in Scandinavia. In 1953, a significant ... more »

Cretan tomb's location may have strengthened territorial claim

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
Examining the position occupied by tombs in their landscape in Prepalatial Crete gives us new insights into the role played by burial sites, mortuary practices and the deceased in the living society. Tholos A at Apesokari, in south-central Crete (Greece) is one of ca. 85 Early and Middle Bronze Age circular tombs discovered so far in Crete. A recently published article contributes to the understanding of Tholos A in its landscape and chronological context, while offering an opportunity to address questions pertaining to community, communal identity, strategies of exploitation of the... more »

Ancient DNA reveals social inequality in bronze age Europe households

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
Providing a clearer picture of intra-household inequality in ancient times, new research reports that prehistoric German households near the Lech Valley consisted of a high-status core family and unrelated low-status individuals. This type of social structure, different than what's been thought to have existed during the studied periods, is similar to that seen later in Classic Greece and Rome - where kin-related families shared a household with their slaves. The results suggest a deeper antiquity for intra-household inequality than what's been thought. While the artifacts unearthe... more »
 

Ancient genomes provide insight into the genetic history of the second plague pandemic

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
Analysis of 34 ancient plague genomes from the Black Death and succeeding plague epidemics in Europe between the 14th and 17th centuries, reveals how the bacterium diversified after a single introduction Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History [image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: * Locations of newly sequenced (circles) and previously published (triangles) plague genomes, colored by their temporal order. An international team of researchers has analyzed remains from ten archaeological sites in England, France,... view more Credit: Spyrou et al.: Phylogeography of the second plague pa..

First evidence for early baby bottles used to feed animal milk to prehistoric babies

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *Modern-day baby feeding from reconstructed infant feeding vessel of the type investigated here. view more Credit: Helena Seidl da Fonseca A team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, has found the first evidence that prehistoric babies were fed animal milk using the equivalent of modern-day baby bottles. Possible infant feeding vessels, made from clay, first appear in Europe in the Neolithic (at around 5,000 BC), becoming more commonplace throughout the Bronze and Iron Ages. The vessels are usually small enough to fit within a baby's hands and hav... more »
 
 
Neanderthals and Denisovans

Evidence shows human ability to create fire happened earlier than originally thought

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 19 hours ago
Fire starting is a skill that many modern humans struggle with in the absence of a lighter or matches. The earliest humans likely harvested fire from natural sources, yet when our ancestors learned the skills to set fire at will, they had newfound protection, a means of cooking, light to work by, and warmth at their fingertips. Just when this momentous acquisition of knowledge occurred has been a hotly debated topic for archaeologists. Now, a team of University of Connecticut researchers, working with colleagues from Armenia, the U.K., and Spain, has found compelling evidence that e... more »
 

Modern Melanesians harbor beneficial DNA from archaic hominins

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Modern Melanesians harbor beneficial genetic variants that they inherited from archaic Neanderthal and Denisovan hominins, according to a new study. These genes are not found in many other human populations, the study adds. The results suggest that large structural variants introgressed from our archaic ancestors may have played an important role in the adaptation of early modern human populations and that they may represent an under-appreciated source of the genetic variation that remains to be characterized in our modern genomes. As populations of our ancestors migrated out of ... more »

Scientists find early humans moved through Mediterranean earlier than believed

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 1 week ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *A researcher works at a trench at Stelida (Naxos, Greece). view more Credit: Evaggelos Tzoumenekas An international research team led by scientists from McMaster University has unearthed new evidence in Greece proving that the island of Naxos was inhabited by Neanderthals and earlier humans at least 200,000 years ago, tens of thousands of years earlier than previously believed. The findings, published today in the journal *Science Advances*, are based on years of excavations and challenge current thinking about human movement in the region--long thought to ... more »
 
 

Did a common childhood illness take down the Neanderthals?

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
It is one of the great unsolved mysteries of anthropology. What killed off the Neanderthals, and why did Homo sapiens thrive even as Neanderthals withered to extinction? Was it some sort of plague specific only to Neanderthals? Was there some sort of cataclysmic event in their homelands of Eurasia that lead to their disappearance? A new study from a team of physical anthropologists and head & neck anatomists suggests a less dramatic but equally deadly cause. Published online by the journal, *The Anatomical Record*, the stud... more »
 

Insight into competitive advantage of modern humans over Neanderthals

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
Tohoku University [image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *Fi. 1. An Uluzzian hunter using a bow and arrows. view more Credit: S. Ricci A team of Japanese and Italian researchers, including from Tohoku University, have evidenced mechanically delivered projectile weapons in Europe dating to 45,000-40,000 years - more than 20,000 years than previously thought. This study, entitled "The earliest evidence for mechanically delivered projectile weapons in Europe" published in *Nature Ecology & Evolution*, indicated that the spearthrower and bow-and-arrow technologies allowed modern humans to hunt more suc... more »
 
 
 

Dishing the dirt on an early man cave

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *These are profiles of sediment showing a Denisova fossil poo gallery, including hyena, wolf and other unidentified. view more Credit: Dr. Mike Morley, Flinders University Fossil animal droppings, charcoal from ancient fires and bone fragments litter the ground of one of the world's most important human evolution sites, new research reveals. The latest evidence from southern Siberia shows that large cave-dwelling carnivores once dominated the landscape, competing for more than 300,000 years with ancient tribes for prime space in cave shelters. A team of Russia... more »
 
Israel

Greek inscription in large Byzantine church commemorates unknown martyr

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 3 days ago
Written on the mosaic courtyard of a 1,500 year-old church, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) discovered [image: Image result for Staircases leading pilgrims to and from the crypt. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.] a Greek inscription commemorating the “Glorious Martyr.” Who this martyr was remains a mystery, but the magnificence of the church and a second inscription indicating that Emperor Tiberius II himself funded its construction, suggest the martyr was a figure of great importance. The church is at the center of a larger architectural ... more »

Archaeologists uncover 2,000-year-old street in Jerusalem built by Pontius Pilate

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 5 days ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *This is a location map, marking excavation sites. view more Credit: (drawing: D. Levi, IAA; printed by permission of the Survey of Israel). An ancient walkway most likely used by pilgrims as they made their way to worship at the Temple Mount has been uncovered in the "City of David" in the Jerusalem Walls National Park. In a new study published in *Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology* of Tel Aviv University, researchers at the Israel Antiquities Authority detail finding over 100 coins beneath the paving stones that date the street to approximat... more »
 

Line 31 in the Mesha Stele: The ‘House of David’ or Biblical Balak?

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 1 week ago
After studying new photographs of the Mesha Stele and the squeeze of the stele prepared before the stone was broken, Israel Finkelstein, Nadav Na’aman & Thomas Römer dismiss Lemaire’s proposal to read (‘House of David’) on Line 31. It is now clear that there are three consonants in the name of the monarch mentioned there, and that the first is a *beth*. They cautiously propose that the name on Line 31 be read as Balak, the king of Moab referred to in the Balaam story in Numbers 22–24.
 

Prehistoric humans ate bone marrow like canned soup 400,000 years ago

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
Bone and skin preserved the nutritious marrow for later consumption, Tel Aviv University researchers say [image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *This is marrow inside a metapodial bone after six weeks of storage. view more Credit: Dr. Ruth Blasco/AFTAU Tel Aviv University researchers, in collaboration with scholars from Spain, have uncovered evidence of the storage and delayed consumption of animal bone marrow at Qesem Cave near Tel Aviv, the site of many major discoveries from the late Lower Paleolithic period some 400,000 years ago. The research provides direct evidence that early Paleolithic peop... more »
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
[image: archaeological-4_hdv.jpg] Photo: Yoli Schwartz, Israel Antiquities Authority A sprawling 5,000-year-old city dubbed the "New York" of the Early Bronze Age was discovered in northern Israel's Ein Iron area. An Israeli archeologist shows a figurine of a human face unearthed at the archaeological site of En Esur (Ein Asawir) where a 5000-year-old city was uncovered, near the Israeli town of Harish on October 6, 2019. JACK GUEZ / AFP. The massive city was uncovered during excavations funded by the Netivei Israel Company that have been in progress for two and a half years. ... more »

Two biblical scenes recently uncovered at a fifth-century synagogue point to a preoccupation with the end of days

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
First artistic depiction of little known Exodus story uncovered in Galilee - [image: Detail of a mosaic depicting the biblical story of Elim, Exodus 15:27, discovered in 2019 during continuing excavations at a 1,600-year-old synagogue at Huqoq, led by UNC-Chapel Hill Prof. Jodi Magness(Jim Haberman. (Courtesy, UNC-Chapel Hill)] Detail of a mosaic depicting the biblical story of Elim, Exodus 15:27, discovered in 2019 during continuing excavations at a 1,600-year-old synagogue at Huqoq, led by UNC-Chapel Hill Prof. Jodi Magness(Jim Haberman. (Courtesy, UNC-Cha... more »

A 1,500-year-old mosaic depicting Jesus's feeding of the five thousand has been unearthed during an excavation of an ancient city near the Sea of Galile

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
*e.* FacebookTwitterLinkedInPinterestShare [image: A team from the University of Haifa found the Burnt Church in 2005, but only began the dig this summer (dailymail,Dr.Eisenberg)] A team from the University of Haifa found the Burnt Church in 2005, but only began the dig this summer (dailymail,Dr.Eisenberg) Highlights A team from the University of Haifa found the Burnt Church in 2005, but only began the dig this summer. The discovery of the so-called Burnt Church in Hippos, northern Israel, has enthralled archaeologists who have spent the summer combing it for historical evidence.... more »

Two clay tablets indicate that most of the people living in the seventh century B.C.E. in a town, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem today, were foreign, not Israelites

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
Complete, fascinating report Two clay tablets found in Hadid recording loans and land sales in the seventh century B.C.E. indicate that most of the people living in the town, between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem today, were foreign, not Israelites, archaeologists say. In fact, the former territory of the Kingdom of Israel may have had very few Israelites left during the 7th century B.C.E., archaeological evidence suggests. The two tablets, made of clay and inscribed in cuneiform, have been dated to the time of Assyrian rule over the Southern Levant: the eighth and seventh century B.C... more »
 
Americas

Lead pollution from Native Americans attributed to crushing galena for glitter paint

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 4 days ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *An aerial view shows Avery Lake and Kincaid Mounds, a settlement occupied during the Mississippian period (1150 to 1450 CE). The Southern Illinois settlement is near the Ohio River. view more Credit: Mike Walker, Kincaid Mounds Support Organization Native American use of galena at Kincaid Mounds, a settlement occupied during the Mississippian period (1150 to 1450 CE), resulted in more than 1.5 metric tons of lead pollution deposited in a small lake near the Ohio River. New data from IUPUI researchers found the lead did not originate from this Southern Illinoi... more »

Ancient Maya canals and fields show early and extensive impacts on tropical forests

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
University of Texas at Austin [image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *Pictured is the Birds of Paradise (BOP) ancient Maya wetland field system and parts of the nearby Maya sites of Gran Cacao (bottom-left) and Akab Muclil (top-left) in Northwestern Belize.... view more Credit: Image courtesy of T. Beach et al. (University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas) AUSTIN, Texas -- New evidence in Belize shows the ancient Maya responded to population and environmental pressures by creating massive agricultural features in wetlands, potentially increasing atmospheric CO2 and methane through burn events and... more »

America: Early hunter-gatherers interacted much sooner than previously believed

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
A nearly 4,000-year-old burial site found off the coast of Georgia hints at ties between hunter-gatherers on opposite sides of North America, according to research led by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York. A research team led by Matthew Sanger, assistant professor of anthropology at Binghamton University, analyzed human remains, stone tools and a copper band found in an ancient burial pit in the McQueen shell ring on St. Catherine's Island, Georgia. The burial at the shell ring closely resembles similar graves found in the Great Lakes region, suggesting... m

Descendants of early Europeans and Africans in US carry Native American genetic legacy

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
Many people in the U.S. do not belong to Native American communities but still carry bits of Native American DNA, inherited from European and African ancestors who had children with indigenous individuals during colonization and settlement. In a new study published 19th September in *PLOS Genetics*, Andrew Conley of the Georgia Institute of Technology and colleagues investigate this genetic legacy and what it can tell us about how non-natives migrated across the U.S. When Europeans colonized North America, infectious diseases and violent conflict great... more »

The human-influenced mass extinction of giant carnivores and herbivores of North America

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
As part of an international research group based at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, anthropology assistant professor Amelia Villaseñor contributed to a large, multi-institutional study explaining how the human-influenced mass extinction of giant carnivores and herbivores of North America fundamentally changed the biodiversity and landscape of the continent. In their study published today in *Science*, researchers from Australia, the United States, Canada and Finland showed that humans shaped the processes underlying how species co-existed for the last several thousand yea...
Microliths - small stone tools - are often interpreted as being part of composite tools, including projectile weapons, and essential to efficient hunting strategies of Homo sapiens. In Europe and Africa, the earliest appearance of these lithic toolkits are linked to hunting medium and large-sized animals in grassland or woodland settings, or as adaptations to risky environments during periods of climatic change. Yet the presence of small, quartz stone tools in Sri Lanka suggests the existence of more diverse ecological contexts for the development and use of these technologies by some of the earliest members of our species migrating out of Africa.

The paper, published in PLOS One and led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History alongside colleagues from Sri Lankan and other international institutions, reports microliths from the cave site of Fa-Hien Lena in the tropical evergreen rainforests of Sri Lanka, which have been dated to between 48,000 and 45,000 years ago. This is as early, or earlier, than the well-known 'Upper Palaeolithic' technologies of Europe associated with Homo sapiens, and highlights that these sophisticated toolkits were a key part of our species' ecological flexibility as it colonized the Eurasian continent.
 
 
Egypt

Discovered: Unknown yellow colors from antiquity

Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 1 week ago
[image: IMAGE] *IMAGE: *These are paint samples taken from the column capital. Under the green paint layer is a beige layer, interpreted as a ground applied to prepare the stone surface before painting. view more Credit: Ole Haupt/SDU Archaeologists have long known that artefacts from the Antiquity were far more colorful than one would think when looking at the bright white statues and temples, left behind for today. The statues and buildings only appear white today because the colors have degraded over time; Initially, lots of colors were in use. This was also true for King Apries...

Friday, October 25, 2019

Strong winter dust storms may have caused the collapse of the Akkadian Empire H


IMAGE
IMAGE: This is a 4,100-year-old Oman coral fossil. view more 
Credit: Hokkaido University
Fossil coral records provide new evidence that frequent winter shamals, or dust storms, and a prolonged cold winter season contributed to the collapse of the ancient Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia.
The Akkadian Empire (24th to 22nd century B.C.E.) was the first united empire in Mesopotamia and thrived with the development of irrigation. Yet, settlements appear to have been suddenly abandoned ca. 4,200 years ago, causing its collapse. The area would also not experience resettlement until about 300 years later.
Past studies have shown that the Akkadian Empire likely collapsed due to abrupt drought and civil turmoil. However, the climatic dynamics which caused widespread agricultural failures and the end of an era have yet to be sufficiently explored.
Researchers from Hokkaido University, the KIKAI Institute for Coral Reef Sciences, Kyushu University, and Kiel University made paleoclimatic reconstructions of the temperature and hydrological changes of the areas around the archaeological site of Tell Leilan, the center of the Akkadian Empire. They sampled six 4,100-year-old fossil Porites corals from the Gulf of Oman, just directly downwind. The samples were aged by radiocarbon dating and geochemically analyzed to confirm they have not been significantly altered from their present state.
The coral data was then compared to modern coral samples and meteorological information. Although it is normal for the survey area to receive a significant amount of rainfall in the winter, the coral data suggests that, during the time of the empire's collapse, the area suffered from significant dry spells. The data before and since the collapse are furthermore comparable to modern coral data, showing the dry spells would have been sudden and intense.
The fossil evidence shows that there was a prolonged winter shamal season accompanied by frequent shamal days. The impact of the dust storms and the lack of rainfall would have caused major agricultural problems possibly leading to social instability and famine, both factors which have been previously associated with the collapse of the empire.
"Although the official mark of the collapse of the Akkadian Empire is the invasion of Mesopotamia by other populations, our fossil samples are windows in time showing that variations in climate significantly contributed to the empire's decline," said Tsuyoshi Watanabe of Hokkaido University's Department of Natural History Sciences. "Further interdisciplinary research will help improve our understanding of connections between climate changes and human societies in the past."

Science reveals improvements in Roman building techniques



The Romans were some of the most sophisticated builders of the ancient world. Over the centuries, they adopted an increasingly advanced set of materials and technologies to create their famous structures. To distinguish the time periods over which these improvements took place, historians and archaeologists typically measure the colours, shapes and consistencies of the bricks and mortar used by the Romans, along with historical sources. In new research published in EPJ Plus, Francesca Rosi and colleagues at the Italian National Research Council improved on these techniques through scientific analysis of the materials used to build the Roman Forum's Atrium Vestae. They found that successive phases of modification to the building saw improvements including higher quality raw materials, higher brick firing temperatures, and better ratios between carbonate and silicate building materials.
The team's analysis could offer important supplements to the techniques currently used by historians and archaeologists. It could also help these academics to end long-standing disputes regarding the time periods of certain building techniques. Since the Atrium Vestae was modified in five distinctive building phases spanning several centuries, the study highlighted technological improvements throughout the Roman age in unprecedented levels of detail.
The techniques employed by Rosi and colleagues included optical and electron microscopy, and measurements of how x-rays were diffracted as they passed through the materials. They also determined the molecular fingerprints, or spectra, of the materials. These are based on the characteristic ways in which their molecules vibrate when illuminated by electromagnetic radiation of specific energies. Using these methods, the team revealed the colours, textures and chemical compositions of Roman building materials on microscopic scales for the first time; clearly revealing technological improvements over the centuries. The findings of Rosi's team are a clear demonstration of the advantages of scientific methods in archaeological analysis. Their techniques could soon be used in future studies to unlock further mysteries concerning the technologies employed by ancient civilisations.

Evidence shows human ability to create fire happened earlier than originally thought


Fire starting is a skill that many modern humans struggle with in the absence of a lighter or matches. The earliest humans likely harvested fire from natural sources, yet when our ancestors learned the skills to set fire at will, they had newfound protection, a means of cooking, light to work by, and warmth at their fingertips.
Just when this momentous acquisition of knowledge occurred has been a hotly debated topic for archaeologists.
Now, a team of University of Connecticut researchers, working with colleagues from Armenia, the U.K., and Spain, has found compelling evidence that early humans such as Neanderthals not only controlled fire, but also mastered the ability to generate it.
"Fire was presumed to be the domain of Homo sapiens but now we know that other ancient humans like Neanderthals could create it," says co-author Daniel Adler, associate professor in anthropology. "So perhaps we are not so special after all."
Their work, published today in Scientific Reports, pairs archaeological, hydrocarbon and isotope evidence of human interactions with fire, with what the climate was like tens of thousands of years ago.
Using specific fire-related molecules deposited in the archaeological record and an analysis of climatological clues, the researchers examined Lusakert Cave 1 in the Armenian Highlands.
"Fire starting is a skill that has to be learned -- I never saw anyone who managed to produce fire without first being taught. So the assumption that someone has the capability to set fire at will is a source of debate," says Gideon Hartman, associate professor of anthropology, and study co-author.
The research team looked at sediment samples to determine the abundance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are released when organic material is burned.
One type of PAH called light PAHs, disperse widely and are indicative of wildfires while others, called heavy PAHs, disperse narrowly and remain much closer to the source of fire.
"Looking at the markers for fires that are locally made, we start to see other human activity correlating with more evidence of locally-made fire," says lead author Alex Brittingham, a UConn doctoral student in anthropology.
Evidence of increased human occupation at the site, such as concentrations of animal bones from meals and evidence of tool making, correlated with increased fire frequency and the increased frequency of heavy PAHs.
Researchers also needed to rule out the possibility that unsettled weather, which gives rise to lightning, had ignited the fires.
To do so, they analyzed hydrogen and carbon isotope composition of the waxy cuticles of ancient plant tissues preserved in sediments. The distribution of these leaf waxes indicate what kind of climate the plants grew in.
They could not find any evidence of a link between overall paleoclimatic conditions and the geochemical record of fire, says Michael Hren, study author and associate professor of geosciences.
"In order to routinely access naturally caused fires, there would need to have been conditions that would produce lighting strikes at a relative frequency that could have ignited wildfires," says Hren.
By pairing the climate data with the evidence found in the archaeological record, the researchers then determined the cave's inhabitants were not living in drier, wildfire-prone conditions while they were utilizing fires within the cave.
In fact, there were fewer wildfires for these ancient humans to harvest at the time when fire frequency and heavy PAH frequency was high in the cave, says Brittingham.
"It seems they were able to control fire outside of the natural availability of wildfires," says Brittingham.
Brittingham is now applying the same research techniques to analyze other caves occupied by early humans. He is currently working with a team in Georgia, among other locations, to determine whether fire was developed independently by groups in different geographic areas.
"Was it something that people in Armenia could do but people in France could not do? Was it developed independently?," asks Brittingham.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Early Celts across classes may have drunk Mediterranean wine in local ceramics


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IMAGE: Heuneberg pottery / Heuneburg early celts from all social classes may have consumed mediterranean wine in local ceramics view more 
Credit: Victor S. Brigola
Early Celts from the Heuneburg settlement may have enjoyed Mediterranean wine well before they began importing Mediterranean drinking vessels--and this special drink may have been available to all in the community, according to a study published October 23, 2019 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Maxime Rageot from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München and the University of Tübingen, and colleagues.
The Early Celtic "Heuneburg" settlement north of the Alps in modern-day Germany was a locus for early urbanization during the Early Iron Age (7th-5th centuries BCE): excavation has revealed several elite burials as well as a rich collection of Mediterranean imported goods used for feasting. In order to better understand feasting and consumption practices in the Heuneburg, Rageot and colleagues analyzed organic residues left on 126 local vessels and seven imported Attic ceramics recovered across the settlement, used for drinking and serving beverages, and food storage and preparation.
The results of the gas chromatography and mass spectrometry analyses showed that Mediterranean grape wine was present earlier than previously expected, and drunk from a large variety of vessels, including the oldest local ceramics created prior to the presence of imported Attic vessels or the formation of the settlement's fortified central plateau (where elite members of the settlement are thought to have lived). This complicates a previous assumption that imported wine was reserved for the elite: this wine may have been available to all members of the community, at least early in Heuneburg's history.
A bee or plant fermentation byproduct was also found in many of the vessels across the settlement, including Mediterranean-style goblets, so residents might have appropriated Mediterranean drinking style for local fermented beverages, too.
The authors' analysis suggests that later, with the introduction of new imported Attic pottery and wheel-thrown local ceramics, residents may have preferred to drink imported wine solely from these finer vessels--potentially inspired by an increased knowledge of Mediterranean drinking practices.
After the elite plateau was walled off, the authors found more fermented beverage evidence in vessels from the plateau, and more millet/food evidence (including animal fats indicating consumption of dairy products) in vessels from the lower town, suggesting an increased distinction in vessel use between social classes. The intricate and shifting social dynamics hinted at in these findings suggest lines for future inquiry into Early Celtic sites.

Greek inscription in large Byzantine church commemorates unknown martyr



Written on the mosaic courtyard of a 1,500 year-old church, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) discovered 

 Image result for Staircases leading pilgrims to and from the crypt. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

a Greek inscription commemorating the “Glorious Martyr.” Who this martyr was remains a mystery, but the magnificence of the church and a second inscription indicating that Emperor Tiberius II himself funded its construction, suggest the martyr was a figure of great importance. 
The church is at the center of a larger architectural complex discovered in excavations at Ramat Beit Shemesh. Structured like a basilica, the rectangular church is divided by two parallel rows of pillars into three areas: a central courtyard with halls on either side. In front of the church is a spacious courtyard, or atrium, where the inscription was discovered. Next to the basilica are a number of smaller chapels for prayer and worship.

Image result for The church complex exposed at Ramat Beit Shemesh. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The church complex exposed at Ramat Beit Shemesh. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Impressive not only in size, the Basilica is decorated with spectacular mosaic floors depicting birds, fruits, leaves and geometric designs. The walls are covered with colorful frescoes. Several of the pillars’ capitals are engraved and made from imported marble. A rare cross-shaped baptismal was also discovered, made from calcite stone queried mainly from karstic caves.

Image result for The church complex exposed at Ramat Beit Shemesh. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Image result for The church complex exposed at Ramat Beit Shemesh. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Mosaics uncovered on the church floor. Photos: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Archaeologists were excited to discover the church’s crypt was exceptionally well preserved. According to Benjamin Storchan, director of the excavations on behalf of the IAA, “We have uncovered few churches of this type in the country, especially those with a crypt that survived in its entirety.” Storchan continues to explain that the crypt was an “underground burial chamber where, presumably, the relics of the saints were kept.” Two parallel staircases access the crypt, one for entering the subterranean chamber and the other for exiting back into the prayer hall. According to Storchan, this system was an architectural adjustment made to accommodate large groups of Christian pilgrims visiting the church and the relics within the crypt. The crypt’s interior was decorated with marble slabs, creating an impressive appearance.

Two staircases lead pilgrims to and from the crypt (Photo: Asaf Peretz, Israel Antiquities Authority)

Staircases leading pilgrims to and from the crypt. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The church was first founded in the 6th century CE., and expanded several years later by the Byzantine Emperor Tiberius II Constantine. The financing and expansion of the church was documented by a Greek inscription on site. According to Storchan, “Many written sources testify to the imperial funding of churches in Israel; however, little is known in archaeological study about dedicated inscriptions such as the one found in Beit Shemesh.” Another mosaic depicts a large eagle with spread wings, a symbol of the Byzantine Empire. This also testifies to imperial involvement in the church’s expansion. 
Image result for The church complex exposed at Ramat Beit Shemesh. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.

Eagle, symbol of the Byzantine Empire. Photo: Assaf Peretz, Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Excavations at the “Glorious Martyr” church have been underway for three years. Thousands of youth participated in the excavation, which was funded by the Ministry of Construction and Housing, and executed by the CPM Corporation. Excavators recovered thousands of artifacts from the site, including what appears to be the most complete collection of Byzantine windows and lamps ever discovered on a single site in Israel. Today, October 23, 2019, the finds are presented to the public in a new exhibit at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem. 

Monday, October 21, 2019

Lead pollution from Native Americans attributed to crushing galena for glitter paint


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Native American use of galena at Kincaid Mounds, a settlement occupied during the Mississippian period (1150 to 1450 CE), resulted in more than 1.5 metric tons of lead pollution deposited in a small lake near the Ohio River. New data from IUPUI researchers found the lead did not originate from this Southern Illinois settlement, but instead was brought to the site from other Midwest sources.
Archaeologists have long known that Native Americans used galena for thousands of years, but this is the first time its use has been linked with clear indications of pollution and how much pollution.
Published October 15 in Geology, the study represents the ongoing interdisciplinary research between first author Broxton Bird, an associate professor of geology in the School of Science at IUPUI, and Jeremy Wilson, associate professor of anthropology in the School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI.
IUPUI researchers extracted sediment cores from Avery Lake to look at Native American impacts on the landscape and detect signals on how they used the land and its resources. Avery Lake is a floodplain lake adjacent to the Kincaid Mounds archaeological site along the Ohio River near Brookport, Illinois. The mound-building civilizations thrived in the Midwest and at the Avery Lake site until approximately 1450 CE.
Sediment core samples indicated heightened lead levels during the pre-Columbian period (before European contact in 1492 CE), which was especially surprising to the researchers. To understand where this lead pollution came from, Bird and Wilson measured the abundances of different lead isotopes, which can be used to trace the lead to the ore deposits from which it was derived.
"For the Mississippian period, there was a huge change in lead isotopes in the sediments -- bigger than you would usually see," Bird said.
The sediment isotopes indicated the lead was not native to the Kincaid Mounds site, but instead came from galena deposits located in southeastern and central Missouri as well as the Upper Mississippi Valley. Galena, a lead sulfide mineral that is silvery and sparkles, was abundant in these regions and widely traded across the eastern U.S. It was often ground into a powder and mixed with other natural materials to use as paint for objects, buildings and personal adornment.
"We knew that Mississippians used this lead mineral called galena, which is a silvery mineral that they would crush to essentially create ancient glitter, but we didn't expect to see the levels of pollution that we do from its use." Bird said.
Researchers believe the lead pollution in Avery Lake is the result of galena powder blowing or being washed into the lake as the people living at Kincaid Mounds crushed and used the mineral.
"Lake cores are a natural archive of human utilization of the landscape, and in this case, the human inputs into those lakes," Wilson said. "This is a nice way to develop proxy measures for human activity without making any impacts on the archaeological record."
Lead pollutions through the years Researchers found lead concentration peaks in the Avery Lake data during each of the three significant occupations at the Kincaid Mounds site -- Baumer (300 BCE to 300 CE), Mississippian (1150 to 1450 CE) and the modern era (since 1800 CE).
For the Baumer settlement, the lead pollution was from a single, local source -- likely a result of people using fire to clear the landscape and for daily activities. Mississippian pollution was the result of galena processing and use; modern pollution is a result of leaded fuel and coal.
"Part of the significance of this research is increasing the understanding of how we utilize our natural resources, understanding what the environmental impacts can be and increasing the awareness of our pre-Columbian history," Bird said.
Understanding the Mississippian community
Study data gives archeologists like Wilson more perspective on the day-to-day lives of the Mississippian people.
"This gives us some baseline understanding of the amounts of galena that were being exchanged by native peoples during the late pre-Columbian period," Wilson said.
During this period, mound-building was used to elevate and support structures that point to a social and religious movement that started in the largest pre-Columbian city, Cahokia, located in what today is East St. Louis, Illinois. This movement spread and radiated out to people in other settlements and regions, including Kincaid Mounds.
"People were living in new social and religious contexts that we had not previously seen in the Midwest and into the southeast," Wilson said. "It's a re-envisioning of society that happens during this early Mississippian period. Along with that is the exchange of these raw materials and enhanced trade networks, where you're seeing larger volumes of material like stone and galena traveling up and down these major river valleys -- like the Ohio, where our study site was."
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"Pre-Columbian Lead Pollution from Native American Galena Processing and Land Use in the Midcontinental United States" is published online in the journal Geology.