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 »
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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...
Asia
Oldest miniaturized stone toolkits in Eurasia
Jonathan KantrowitzatArchaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
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...
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