AMERICAS
Horse remains reveal new insights into how Native peoples raised horses
A new analysis of a horse previously believed to be from the Ice Age shows that the animal actually died just a few hundred years ago -- and was raised, ridden and cared for by Native peoples. The study sheds light on the early relationships between horses and their guardians in the Americas. The findings, published today in the journal *American Antiquity*, are the latest in the saga of the "Lehi horse." In 2018, a Utah couple was doing landscaping in their backyard near the city of Provo when they unearthed something surprising: an almost complete skeleton of a horse about the ...
Archaeologist argues the Chumash Indians were using highly worked shell beads as currency 2,000 years ago
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL As one of the most experienced archaeologists studying California's Native Americans, Lynn Gamble(link is external) knew the Chumash Indians had been using shell beads as money for at least 800 years. But an exhaustive review(link is external) of some of the shell bead record led the UC Santa Barbara professor emerita of anthropology to an astonishing conclusion: The hunter-gatherers centered on the Southcentral Coast of Santa Barbara were using highly worked shells as currency as long as 2,000 years...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA - SANTA BARBARA Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL As one of the most experienced archaeologists studying California's Native Americans, Lynn Gamble(link is external) knew the Chumash Indians had been using shell beads as money for at least 800 years. But an exhaustive review(link is external) of some of the shell bead record led the UC Santa Barbara professor emerita of anthropology to an astonishing conclusion: The hunter-gatherers centered on the Southcentral Coast of Santa Barbara were using highly worked shells as currency as long as 2,000 years...
Ancient indigenous New Mexican community knew how to sustainably coexist with wildfire
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
SHARE PRINT E-MAIL Wildfires are the enemy when they threaten homes in California and elsewhere. But a new study led by SMU suggests that people living in fire-prone places can learn to manage fire as an ally to prevent dangerous blazes, just like people who lived nearly 1,000 years ago. "We shouldn't be asking how to avoid fire and smoke," said SMU anthropologist and lead author Christopher Roos. "We should ask ourselves what kind of fire and smoke do we want to coexist with." An interdisciplinary team of scientists published a study in the journal *Proceedings of the Nat...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
SHARE PRINT E-MAIL Wildfires are the enemy when they threaten homes in California and elsewhere. But a new study led by SMU suggests that people living in fire-prone places can learn to manage fire as an ally to prevent dangerous blazes, just like people who lived nearly 1,000 years ago. "We shouldn't be asking how to avoid fire and smoke," said SMU anthropologist and lead author Christopher Roos. "We should ask ourselves what kind of fire and smoke do we want to coexist with." An interdisciplinary team of scientists published a study in the journal *Proceedings of the Nat...
Contents of ancient Maya drug containers identified
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
Scientists have identified the presence of a non-tobacco plant in ancient Maya drug containers for the first time. The Washington State University researchers detected Mexican marigold (Tagetes lucida) in residues taken from 14 miniature Maya ceramic vessels. Originally buried more than 1,000 years ago on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, the vessels also contain chemical traces present in two types of dried and cured tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum and N. rustica. The research team, led by anthropology postdoc Mario Zimmermann, thinks the Mexican marigold was mixed with the tobacco to mak...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
Scientists have identified the presence of a non-tobacco plant in ancient Maya drug containers for the first time. The Washington State University researchers detected Mexican marigold (Tagetes lucida) in residues taken from 14 miniature Maya ceramic vessels. Originally buried more than 1,000 years ago on Mexico's Yucatán peninsula, the vessels also contain chemical traces present in two types of dried and cured tobacco, Nicotiana tabacum and N. rustica. The research team, led by anthropology postdoc Mario Zimmermann, thinks the Mexican marigold was mixed with the tobacco to mak...
Ancient DNA retells story of Caribbean's first people
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
The history of the Caribbean's original islanders comes into sharper focus in a new *Nature* study that combines decades of archaeological work with advancements in genetic technology. An international team led by Harvard Medical School's David Reich analyzed the genomes of 263 individuals in the largest study of ancient human DNA in the Americas to date. The genetics trace two major migratory waves in the Caribbean by two distinct groups, thousands of years apart, revealing an archipelago settled by highly mobile people, with distant relatives often living on different islands. ...
Neanderthals
Neanderthals' gut microbiota and the bacteria helping our health
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 day ago
UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: THE RESEARCH GROUP ANALYSED THE ANCIENT DNA EXTRACTED FROM 50,000 YEARS OLD SEDIMENTARY FAECES (THE OLDEST SAMPLE OF FAECAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE TO DATE). THE SAMPLES WERE COLLECTED IN EL SALT... view more CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA Neanderthals' gut microbiota already included some beneficial micro-organisms that are also found in our own intestine. An international research group led by the University of Bologna achieved this result by extracting and analysing ancient DNA from 50,000-year-ol...
New study uncovers rare "mud carapace" mortuary treatment of Egyptian mummy
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 3 days ago
SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: MUMMIFIED INDIVIDUAL AND COFFIN IN THE NICHOLSON COLLECTION OF THE CHAU CHAK WING MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY. A. MUMMIFIED INDIVIDUAL, ENCASED IN A MODERN SLEEVE FOR CONSERVATION, NMR.27.3. B. COFFIN... view more CREDIT: SOWADA ET AL, PLOS ONE (CC BY 4.0 HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/) New analysis of a 20th Dynasty mummified individual reveals her rare mud carapace, according to a study published February 3, 2021 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE*by Karin Sowada from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and ...
What did the Swiss eat during the Bronze Age?
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 days ago
The Bronze Age (2200 to 800 BC) marked a decisive step in the technological and economic development of ancient societies. People living at the time faced a series of challenges: changes in the climate, the opening up of trade and a degree of population growth. How did they respond to changes in their diet, especially in Western Switzerland? A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Spain has for the first time carried out isotopic analyses on human and animal skeletons together with plant remains. The scientists discovered t...
Scientific investigations of believed remains of two apostles
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 5 days ago
In Rome lies the Santi Apostoli church, cared for by Franciscan brothers for more than 500 years. For more than 1500 years, this site has held the believed remains of two of the earliest Christians and Jesu apostles: St. Philip and St. James the Younger -- relics of the Holy Catholic Church. In the first few centuries of Christianity, life was difficult for the Christian minority, but gradually towards sixth century Christianity became the dominant religion and after Emperor Constantine on his deathbed declared Christianity the state religion, churches were erected all over the R...
New study strengthens claims Richard III murdered 'the Princes in the Tower
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 5 days ago
PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: RICHARD III HAS BEEN HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MURDER OF HIS NEPHEWS FOR CENTURIES view more CREDIT: PUBLIC DOMAIN King Richard III's involvement in one of the most notorious and emotive mysteries in English history may be a step closer to being confirmed following a new study by Professor Tim Thornton of the University of Huddersfield. Richard has long been held responsible of the murder of his nephews King Edward V and his brother, Richard, duke of York - dubbed 'the Princes in the Tower' - in a dispute about succession to the throne. The...
History of the Champagne vineyards
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Although the reputation of Champagne is well established, the history of Champagne wines and vineyards is poorly documented. However, a research team led by scientists from the CNRS and the Université de Montpellier at the Institut des sciences de l'évolution de Montpellier* has just lifted the veil on this history by analysing the archaeological grape seeds from excavations carried out in Troyes and Reims. Dated to between the 1st and 15th centuries AD, the seeds shed light on the evolution of Champagne wine growing, prior to the invention of the famous Champagne, for the first t...
Social inequality was "recorded on the bones" of Cambridge's medieval residents
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Social inequality was "recorded on the bones" of Cambridge's medieval residents, according to a new study of hundreds of human remains excavated from three very different burial sites within the historic city centre. University of Cambridge researchers examined the remains of 314 individuals dating from the 10th to the 14th century and collected evidence of "skeletal trauma" -- a barometer for levels of hardship endured in life. Bones were recovered from across the social spectrum: a parish graveyard for ordinary working people, a charitable "hospital" where the infirm and destit...
Burial practices point to an interconnected early Medieval Europe
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL Early Medieval Europe is frequently viewed as a time of cultural stagnation, often given the misnomer of the 'Dark Ages'. However, analysis has revealed new ideas could spread rapidly as communities were interconnected, creating a surprisingly unified culture in Europe. Dr Emma Brownlee, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, examined how a key change in Western European burial practices spread across the continent faster than previously believed - between the 6th - 8th centuries AD, burying people wit...
On the origins of money: Ancient European hoards full of standardized bronze objects
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
Early Bronze Age cultures traded in bronze objects of standardized weight PLOS Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: RIBS (SPANGENBARREN) view more CREDIT: M.H.G. KUIJPERS, AUTHOR PHOTO (CC-BY 4.0, HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/) In the Early Bronze Age of Europe, ancient people used bronze objects as an early form of money, even going so far as to standardize the shape and weight of their currency, according to a study published January 20, 2020 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE* by Maikel H. G. Kuijpers and C?t?lin N. Popa of Leiden ...
Teeth pendants speak of the elk's prominent status in the Stone Age
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: A TOTAL OF 90 ELK TEETH WERE PLACED NEXT TO THE HIPS AND THIGHS OF THE BODY IN GRAVE 127, POSSIBLY ATTACHED TO A GARMENT RESEMBLING AN APRON. THERE WERE... view more CREDIT: DRAWING BY TOM BJORKLUND Roughly 8,200 years ago, the island of Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov in Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, housed a large burial ground where men, women and children of varying ages were buried. Many of the graves contain an abundance of objects and red ochre, signifying the wish to ensure the c...
Discovery of 66 new Roman Army sites shows more clues about one of the empire
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
Discovery of 66 new Roman Army sites shows more clues about one of the empire's most infamous conflicts UNIVERSITY OF EXETER Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: ROMAN MILITARY PRESENCE IN CASTILEview more CREDIT: ROMANARMY.EU The discovery of dozens of new Roman Army sites thanks to remote sensing technology has revealed more about one of the empire's most infamous conflicts. Analysis of the 66 camps shows the Roman army had a larger presence in the region than previously thought during the 200-year battle to conquer the Iberian Peninsula. The disc...
ISREAL
Early humans used chopping tools to break animal bones and consume the bone marrow
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 days ago
Researchers from the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University unraveled the function of flint tools known as 'chopping tools', found at the prehistoric site of Revadim, east of Ashdod. Applying advanced research methods, they examined use-wear traces on 53 chopping tools, as well as organic residues found on some of the tools. They also made and used replicas of the tools, with methods of experimental archaeology. The researchers concluded that tools of this type, found at numerous sites in Africa, Europe and Asia, were used by prehistoric humans at ...
Evidence for a massive paleo-tsunami at ancient Tel Dor, Israel
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: GEOPROBE DRILLING RIG EXTRACTION OF A SEDIMENT CORE WITH EVIDENCE OF A TSUNAMI FROM SOUTH BAY, TEL DOR, ISRAEL view more CREDIT: PHOTO BY T. E. LEVY Underwater excavation, borehole drilling, and modelling suggests a massive paleo-tsunami struck near the ancient settlement of Tel Dor between 9,910 to 9,290 years ago, according to a study published December 23, 2020 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE* by Gilad Shtienberg, Richard Norris and Thomas Levy from the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology, University of California, San Di...
People in the Levant were already eating spices, fruits and oils from Asia in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
E-MAIL Exotic Asian spices such as turmeric and fruits like the banana had already reached the Mediterranean more than 3000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought. A team of researchers working alongside archaeologist Philipp Stockhammer at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich (LMU) has shown that even in the Bronze Age, long-distance trade in food was already connecting distant societies. A market in the city of Megiddo in the Levant 3700 years ago: The market traders are hawking not only wheat, millet or dates, which grow throughout the region, but also carafes of ...
First people to enter the Americas likely did so with their dogs
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
DURHAM UNIVERSITY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: EARLY SETTLERS IN THE AMERICAS WERE ACCOMPANIED BY THEIR DOGS view more CREDIT: ETTORE MAZZA The first people to settle in the Americas likely brought their own canine companions with them, according to new research which sheds more light on the origin of dogs. An international team of researchers led by archaeologist Dr Angela Perri, of Durham University, UK, looked at the archaeological and genetic records of ancient people and dogs. They found that the first people to cross into the Americas b...
AFRICA
Oldest hominins of Olduvai Gorge persisted across changing environments
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
~2.0 to 1.8 million year-old archaeological site demonstrates that early humans had the skills and tools to cope with ecological change MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: OLDUVAI (NOW OLDUPAI) GORGE, KNOWN AS THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND, IS A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE IN TANZANIA. NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD WORK HAS LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE OLDEST... view more CREDIT: MICHAEL PETRAGLIA Olduvai (now Oldupai) Gorge, known as the Cradle of Humankind, is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Tanzania, made...
New light on the lost land of Punt
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
Stable isotopes confirm long-distance seafaring during the 2nd Millennium B.C. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: MAP OF AFRICA AND SKULL OF SPECIMEN EA6738, A MUMMIFIED BABOON RECOVERED FROM ANCIENT THEBES (MODERN-DAY LUXOR) AND NOW ACCESSIONED IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS OF EA6738 INDICATES IMPORT... view more CREDIT: FIGURE BY JONATHAN CHIPMAN AND NATHANIEL J. DOMINY. Ancient Punt was a major trading partner of Egyptians for at least 1,100 years. It was an important source of luxury goods, including incense, gold, leo...
New DNA Analysis Shows Aboriginal Australians Are the World’s Oldest Society
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
Full report For centuries, Aboriginal Australians have said they belonged to the oldest sustained civilization on the face of the Earth, citing their culture and history of oral storytelling that stretches back tens of thousands of years. Now, one of the most extensive analyses of Indigenous Australian DNA to date suggests that they've been right all along. The ancestors to modern humans first arose in Africa, but the question of where and when they began spreading out from the continent has long plagued scientists and archeologists alike. While Homo sapiens are far from the fir...
Ancient DNA sheds light on the peopling of the Mariana Islands
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
Researchers find that present-day Mariana Islanders' ancestry is linked to the Philippines MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: EXCAVATION WORK AREA OUTSIDE THE RITIDIAN BEACH CAVE SITE IN NORTHERN GUAM, MARIANA ISLANDS. view more CREDIT: HSIAO-CHUN HUNG To reach the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific, humans crossed more than 2,000 kilometres of open ocean, and around 2,000 years earlier than any other sea travel over an equally long distance. They settled in the Marianas around 3,500 years ago, sl...
LAST Latest Archaeology Reports
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
* ASIA* Fatty residues on ancient pottery reveal meat-heavy diets of Indus Civilization Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 day ago UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: LEAD AUTHOR AKSHYETA SURYANARAYAN SAMPLING POTTERY FOR RESIDUE ANALYSIS IN THE FIELD. view more CREDIT: AKSHYETA SURYANARAYAN New lipid residue analyses have revealed a dominance of animal products, such as the meat of animals like pigs, cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat as well as dairy products, used in ancient ceramic vessels from rural and urban settlements o...
Neanderthals' gut microbiota and the bacteria helping our health
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 day ago
UNIVERSITÀ DI BOLOGNA Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: THE RESEARCH GROUP ANALYSED THE ANCIENT DNA EXTRACTED FROM 50,000 YEARS OLD SEDIMENTARY FAECES (THE OLDEST SAMPLE OF FAECAL MATERIAL AVAILABLE TO DATE). THE SAMPLES WERE COLLECTED IN EL SALT... view more CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA Neanderthals' gut microbiota already included some beneficial micro-organisms that are also found in our own intestine. An international research group led by the University of Bologna achieved this result by extracting and analysing ancient DNA from 50,000-year-ol...
EGYPT
New study uncovers rare "mud carapace" mortuary treatment of Egyptian mummy
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 3 days ago
SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: MUMMIFIED INDIVIDUAL AND COFFIN IN THE NICHOLSON COLLECTION OF THE CHAU CHAK WING MUSEUM, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY. A. MUMMIFIED INDIVIDUAL, ENCASED IN A MODERN SLEEVE FOR CONSERVATION, NMR.27.3. B. COFFIN... view more CREDIT: SOWADA ET AL, PLOS ONE (CC BY 4.0 HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/) New analysis of a 20th Dynasty mummified individual reveals her rare mud carapace, according to a study published February 3, 2021 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE*by Karin Sowada from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia, and ...
Climate change in antiquity: mass emigration due to water scarcity
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
The absence of monsoon rains at the source of the Nile was the cause of migrations and the demise of entire settlements in the late Roman province of Egypt. This demographic development has been compared with environmental data for the first time by professor of ancient history, Sabine Huebner of the University of Basel - leading to a discovery of climate change and its consequences. The oasis-like Faiyum region, roughly 130 km south-west of Cairo, was the breadbasket of the Roman Empire. Yet at the end of the third century CE, numerous formerly thriving settlements there declin...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
The absence of monsoon rains at the source of the Nile was the cause of migrations and the demise of entire settlements in the late Roman province of Egypt. This demographic development has been compared with environmental data for the first time by professor of ancient history, Sabine Huebner of the University of Basel - leading to a discovery of climate change and its consequences. The oasis-like Faiyum region, roughly 130 km south-west of Cairo, was the breadbasket of the Roman Empire. Yet at the end of the third century CE, numerous formerly thriving settlements there declin...
EUROPE
What did the Swiss eat during the Bronze Age?
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 days ago
The Bronze Age (2200 to 800 BC) marked a decisive step in the technological and economic development of ancient societies. People living at the time faced a series of challenges: changes in the climate, the opening up of trade and a degree of population growth. How did they respond to changes in their diet, especially in Western Switzerland? A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) in Spain has for the first time carried out isotopic analyses on human and animal skeletons together with plant remains. The scientists discovered t...
Scientific investigations of believed remains of two apostles
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 5 days ago
In Rome lies the Santi Apostoli church, cared for by Franciscan brothers for more than 500 years. For more than 1500 years, this site has held the believed remains of two of the earliest Christians and Jesu apostles: St. Philip and St. James the Younger -- relics of the Holy Catholic Church. In the first few centuries of Christianity, life was difficult for the Christian minority, but gradually towards sixth century Christianity became the dominant religion and after Emperor Constantine on his deathbed declared Christianity the state religion, churches were erected all over the R...
New study strengthens claims Richard III murdered 'the Princes in the Tower
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 5 days ago
PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: RICHARD III HAS BEEN HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MURDER OF HIS NEPHEWS FOR CENTURIES view more CREDIT: PUBLIC DOMAIN King Richard III's involvement in one of the most notorious and emotive mysteries in English history may be a step closer to being confirmed following a new study by Professor Tim Thornton of the University of Huddersfield. Richard has long been held responsible of the murder of his nephews King Edward V and his brother, Richard, duke of York - dubbed 'the Princes in the Tower' - in a dispute about succession to the throne. The...
History of the Champagne vineyards
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Although the reputation of Champagne is well established, the history of Champagne wines and vineyards is poorly documented. However, a research team led by scientists from the CNRS and the Université de Montpellier at the Institut des sciences de l'évolution de Montpellier* has just lifted the veil on this history by analysing the archaeological grape seeds from excavations carried out in Troyes and Reims. Dated to between the 1st and 15th centuries AD, the seeds shed light on the evolution of Champagne wine growing, prior to the invention of the famous Champagne, for the first t...
Social inequality was "recorded on the bones" of Cambridge's medieval residents
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Social inequality was "recorded on the bones" of Cambridge's medieval residents, according to a new study of hundreds of human remains excavated from three very different burial sites within the historic city centre. University of Cambridge researchers examined the remains of 314 individuals dating from the 10th to the 14th century and collected evidence of "skeletal trauma" -- a barometer for levels of hardship endured in life. Bones were recovered from across the social spectrum: a parish graveyard for ordinary working people, a charitable "hospital" where the infirm and destit...
Burial practices point to an interconnected early Medieval Europe
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL Early Medieval Europe is frequently viewed as a time of cultural stagnation, often given the misnomer of the 'Dark Ages'. However, analysis has revealed new ideas could spread rapidly as communities were interconnected, creating a surprisingly unified culture in Europe. Dr Emma Brownlee, Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, examined how a key change in Western European burial practices spread across the continent faster than previously believed - between the 6th - 8th centuries AD, burying people wit...
On the origins of money: Ancient European hoards full of standardized bronze objects
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
Early Bronze Age cultures traded in bronze objects of standardized weight PLOS Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: RIBS (SPANGENBARREN) view more CREDIT: M.H.G. KUIJPERS, AUTHOR PHOTO (CC-BY 4.0, HTTPS://CREATIVECOMMONS.ORG/LICENSES/BY/4.0/) In the Early Bronze Age of Europe, ancient people used bronze objects as an early form of money, even going so far as to standardize the shape and weight of their currency, according to a study published January 20, 2020 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE* by Maikel H. G. Kuijpers and C?t?lin N. Popa of Leiden ...
Teeth pendants speak of the elk's prominent status in the Stone Age
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: A TOTAL OF 90 ELK TEETH WERE PLACED NEXT TO THE HIPS AND THIGHS OF THE BODY IN GRAVE 127, POSSIBLY ATTACHED TO A GARMENT RESEMBLING AN APRON. THERE WERE... view more CREDIT: DRAWING BY TOM BJORKLUND Roughly 8,200 years ago, the island of Yuzhniy Oleniy Ostrov in Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia, Russia, housed a large burial ground where men, women and children of varying ages were buried. Many of the graves contain an abundance of objects and red ochre, signifying the wish to ensure the c...
Discovery of 66 new Roman Army sites shows more clues about one of the empire
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
Discovery of 66 new Roman Army sites shows more clues about one of the empire's most infamous conflicts UNIVERSITY OF EXETER Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: ROMAN MILITARY PRESENCE IN CASTILEview more CREDIT: ROMANARMY.EU The discovery of dozens of new Roman Army sites thanks to remote sensing technology has revealed more about one of the empire's most infamous conflicts. Analysis of the 66 camps shows the Roman army had a larger presence in the region than previously thought during the 200-year battle to conquer the Iberian Peninsula. The disc...
Early humans used chopping tools to break animal bones and consume the bone marrow
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 days ago
Researchers from the Sonia and Marco Nadler Institute of Archaeology at Tel Aviv University unraveled the function of flint tools known as 'chopping tools', found at the prehistoric site of Revadim, east of Ashdod. Applying advanced research methods, they examined use-wear traces on 53 chopping tools, as well as organic residues found on some of the tools. They also made and used replicas of the tools, with methods of experimental archaeology. The researchers concluded that tools of this type, found at numerous sites in Africa, Europe and Asia, were used by prehistoric humans at ...
A glimpse into the wardrobe of King David and King Solomon, 3000 years ago
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Joint research by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University and Bar Ilan University TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: WOOL FIBERS DYED WITH ROYAL PURPLE,~1000 BCE, TIMNA VALLEY, ISRAEL. view more CREDIT: DAFNA GAZIT, COURTESY OF THE ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY " King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon. Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior inlaid with love." (Song of Songs 3:9-10) For the first time, rare evidence has be...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Joint research by the Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University and Bar Ilan University TEL-AVIV UNIVERSITY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: WOOL FIBERS DYED WITH ROYAL PURPLE,~1000 BCE, TIMNA VALLEY, ISRAEL. view more CREDIT: DAFNA GAZIT, COURTESY OF THE ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY " King Solomon made for himself the carriage; he made it of wood from Lebanon. Its posts he made of silver, its base of gold. Its seat was upholstered with purple, its interior inlaid with love." (Song of Songs 3:9-10) For the first time, rare evidence has be...
Evidence for a massive paleo-tsunami at ancient Tel Dor, Israel
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: GEOPROBE DRILLING RIG EXTRACTION OF A SEDIMENT CORE WITH EVIDENCE OF A TSUNAMI FROM SOUTH BAY, TEL DOR, ISRAEL view more CREDIT: PHOTO BY T. E. LEVY Underwater excavation, borehole drilling, and modelling suggests a massive paleo-tsunami struck near the ancient settlement of Tel Dor between 9,910 to 9,290 years ago, according to a study published December 23, 2020 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE* by Gilad Shtienberg, Richard Norris and Thomas Levy from the Scripps Center for Marine Archaeology, University of California, San Di...
People in the Levant were already eating spices, fruits and oils from Asia in the Bronze and Early Iron Ages
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
E-MAIL Exotic Asian spices such as turmeric and fruits like the banana had already reached the Mediterranean more than 3000 years ago, much earlier than previously thought. A team of researchers working alongside archaeologist Philipp Stockhammer at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich (LMU) has shown that even in the Bronze Age, long-distance trade in food was already connecting distant societies. A market in the city of Megiddo in the Levant 3700 years ago: The market traders are hawking not only wheat, millet or dates, which grow throughout the region, but also carafes of ...
DOGS
First people to enter the Americas likely did so with their dogs
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
DURHAM UNIVERSITY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: EARLY SETTLERS IN THE AMERICAS WERE ACCOMPANIED BY THEIR DOGS view more CREDIT: ETTORE MAZZA The first people to settle in the Americas likely brought their own canine companions with them, according to new research which sheds more light on the origin of dogs. An international team of researchers led by archaeologist Dr Angela Perri, of Durham University, UK, looked at the archaeological and genetic records of ancient people and dogs. They found that the first people to cross into the Americas b...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Sharing leftover meat may have contributed to early dog domestication
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
Humans feeding leftover lean meat to wolves during harsh winters may have had a role in the early domestication of dogs, towards the end of the last ice age (14,000 to 29,000 years ago), according to a study published in *Scientific Reports*. Maria Lahtinen and colleagues used simple energy content calculations to estimate how much energy would have been left over by humans from the meat of species they may have hunted 14,000 to 29,000 years that were also typical wolf prey species, such as horses, moose and deer. The authors hypothesized that if wolves and humans had hunted the...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
Humans feeding leftover lean meat to wolves during harsh winters may have had a role in the early domestication of dogs, towards the end of the last ice age (14,000 to 29,000 years ago), according to a study published in *Scientific Reports*. Maria Lahtinen and colleagues used simple energy content calculations to estimate how much energy would have been left over by humans from the meat of species they may have hunted 14,000 to 29,000 years that were also typical wolf prey species, such as horses, moose and deer. The authors hypothesized that if wolves and humans had hunted the...
AFRICA
Early milk drinking in Africa
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: CATTLE GRAZING IN ENTESEKARA IN KENYA NEAR THE TANZANIAN BORDER view more CREDIT: A. JANZEN Tracking milk drinking in the ancient past is not straightforward. For decades, archaeologists have tried to reconstruct the practice by various indirect methods. They have looked at ancient rock art to identify scenes of animals being milked and at animal bones to reconstruct kill-off patterns that might reflect the use of animals for dairying. More recently, they even used scientific methods to detect traces of dairy fats on ancient po...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: CATTLE GRAZING IN ENTESEKARA IN KENYA NEAR THE TANZANIAN BORDER view more CREDIT: A. JANZEN Tracking milk drinking in the ancient past is not straightforward. For decades, archaeologists have tried to reconstruct the practice by various indirect methods. They have looked at ancient rock art to identify scenes of animals being milked and at animal bones to reconstruct kill-off patterns that might reflect the use of animals for dairying. More recently, they even used scientific methods to detect traces of dairy fats on ancient po...
First human culture lasted 20,000 years longer than thought
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
Some 11 thousand years ago, Africa's furthest west harbored the last populations to preserve tool-making traditions first established by the earliest members of our species MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: FRESHLY FOUND ARTEFACT FROM LAMINIA, SENEGAL view more CREDIT: ELEANOR SCERRI Fieldwork led by Dr Eleanor Scerri, head of the Pan-African Evolution Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany and Dr Khady Niang of the University of Cheikh Anta Diop in ...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
Some 11 thousand years ago, Africa's furthest west harbored the last populations to preserve tool-making traditions first established by the earliest members of our species MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: FRESHLY FOUND ARTEFACT FROM LAMINIA, SENEGAL view more CREDIT: ELEANOR SCERRI Fieldwork led by Dr Eleanor Scerri, head of the Pan-African Evolution Research Group at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany and Dr Khady Niang of the University of Cheikh Anta Diop in ...
Oldest hominins of Olduvai Gorge persisted across changing environments
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
~2.0 to 1.8 million year-old archaeological site demonstrates that early humans had the skills and tools to cope with ecological change MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: OLDUVAI (NOW OLDUPAI) GORGE, KNOWN AS THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND, IS A UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE IN TANZANIA. NEW INTERDISCIPLINARY FIELD WORK HAS LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE OLDEST... view more CREDIT: MICHAEL PETRAGLIA Olduvai (now Oldupai) Gorge, known as the Cradle of Humankind, is a UNESCO World Heritage site in Tanzania, made...
New light on the lost land of Punt
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
Stable isotopes confirm long-distance seafaring during the 2nd Millennium B.C. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: MAP OF AFRICA AND SKULL OF SPECIMEN EA6738, A MUMMIFIED BABOON RECOVERED FROM ANCIENT THEBES (MODERN-DAY LUXOR) AND NOW ACCESSIONED IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. ISOTOPIC ANALYSIS OF EA6738 INDICATES IMPORT... view more CREDIT: FIGURE BY JONATHAN CHIPMAN AND NATHANIEL J. DOMINY. Ancient Punt was a major trading partner of Egyptians for at least 1,100 years. It was an important source of luxury goods, including incense, gold, leo...
Australia/Oceania
New DNA Analysis Shows Aboriginal Australians Are the World’s Oldest Society
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
Full report For centuries, Aboriginal Australians have said they belonged to the oldest sustained civilization on the face of the Earth, citing their culture and history of oral storytelling that stretches back tens of thousands of years. Now, one of the most extensive analyses of Indigenous Australian DNA to date suggests that they've been right all along. The ancestors to modern humans first arose in Africa, but the question of where and when they began spreading out from the continent has long plagued scientists and archeologists alike. While Homo sapiens are far from the fir...
Ancient DNA sheds light on the peopling of the Mariana Islands
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
Researchers find that present-day Mariana Islanders' ancestry is linked to the Philippines MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: EXCAVATION WORK AREA OUTSIDE THE RITIDIAN BEACH CAVE SITE IN NORTHERN GUAM, MARIANA ISLANDS. view more CREDIT: HSIAO-CHUN HUNG To reach the Mariana Islands in the Western Pacific, humans crossed more than 2,000 kilometres of open ocean, and around 2,000 years earlier than any other sea travel over an equally long distance. They settled in the Marianas around 3,500 years ago, sl...
ASIA
Ancient DNA analysis reveals Asian migration and plague
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL Northeastern Asia has a complex history of migrations and plague outbursts. That is the essence of an international archaeogenetic study published in *Science Advances* and lead from the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies at Stockholm University. Genomic data from archaeological remains from 40 individuals excavated in northeastern Asia were explored in the study. "It is striking that we find everything here, continuity as well as recurrent migrations and also disease-related bacteria", says Anders Götherst...
Ancient DNA analysis reveals Asian migration and plague
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL Northeastern Asia has a complex history of migrations and plague outbursts. That is the essence of an international archaeogenetic study published in *Science Advances* and lead from the Department of Archaeology and Classical Studies at Stockholm University. Genomic data from archaeological remains from 40 individuals excavated in northeastern Asia were explored in the study. "It is striking that we find everything here, continuity as well as recurrent migrations and also disease-related bacteria", says Anders Götherst...
Climate change caused the demise of Central Asia's river civilizations, not Genghis Khan
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
A new study challenges the long-held view that the destruction of Central Asia's medieval river civilizations was a direct result of the Mongol invasion in the early 13th century CE. UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: RESEARCHERS INVESTIGATE AN ABANDONED MEDIEVAL CANAL, OTRAR OASIS, KAZAKHSTAN. view more CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN A new study challenges the long-held view that the destruction of Central Asia's medieval river civilizations was a direct result of the Mongol invasion in the early 13th century CE. The Aral Sea ...
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
A new study challenges the long-held view that the destruction of Central Asia's medieval river civilizations was a direct result of the Mongol invasion in the early 13th century CE. UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: RESEARCHERS INVESTIGATE AN ABANDONED MEDIEVAL CANAL, OTRAR OASIS, KAZAKHSTAN. view more CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF LINCOLN A new study challenges the long-held view that the destruction of Central Asia's medieval river civilizations was a direct result of the Mongol invasion in the early 13th century CE. The Aral Sea ...
LAST Latest Archaeology Reports
Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 month ago
* ASIA* Fatty residues on ancient pottery reveal meat-heavy diets of Indus Civilization Jonathan Kantrowitz, Archaeology News Report - 1 day ago UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE Research News SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: LEAD AUTHOR AKSHYETA SURYANARAYAN SAMPLING POTTERY FOR RESIDUE ANALYSIS IN THE FIELD. view more CREDIT: AKSHYETA SURYANARAYAN New lipid residue analyses have revealed a dominance of animal products, such as the meat of animals like pigs, cattle, buffalo, sheep and goat as well as dairy products, used in ancient ceramic vessels from rural and urban settlements o...
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