Isotopic evidence reveals ethnic integration in the Guanzhong region during the 16 kingdoms period

 

The Sixteen Kingdoms period (SKP) was a critical phase in the formation of the Chinese national community. The Guanzhong region, where agricultural and pastoral populations coexisted and interacted, served as a significant arena for the convergence and exchange of agricultural and nomadic dietary cultures, during this period. Therefore, revealing the integration between these two groups from the perspective of dietary cultural identity holds great importance for exploring the formation and development of the Chinese national community. Stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotope analysis of human bones provides the most direct evidence for revealing human diet and subsistence strategies, and has become one of the primary methods in archaeology for studying the integration of agricultural and pastoral populations. However, to date, there still has been a lack of stable isotopic evidence of human bones from the Sixteen Kingdoms period to investigate dietary cultural identity and the integration between agricultural and pastoral populations.

This study is undertaken by the research teams led by Prof. Hu Yaowu from the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology and Institute of Archaeological Science at the Fudan University, and led by Prof. Liu Daiyun in Shanxi Academy of Archaeology. They conducted stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of 36 human bone samples from 25 individuals of the Sixteen Kingdoms period (including long bones and ribs from the same individual) from tombs of Phases II and III of the Xi’an Xianyang Airport site (XXA (SKP)).

This study represents China’s first isobioarchaeological research focusing on the Sixteen Kingdoms period, and provides an excellent case study for exploring dietary cultural identity and agro-pastoral integration in the Central Plains during this period. The paper, titled " Dietary cultural identity and ethnic integration: stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human bones in the Guanzhong region during the Sixteen Kingdoms period (304–439 AD)", were published in Science China Earth Sciences .

The isotopic data indicate that ancestors mainly consumed C4-based (millets) foods or animals fed on their byproducts, supplemented by C3-based (wheat, rice, etc.) foods, which reflects a subsistence strategy mixed with millet, wheat or rice agriculture and livestock husbandry (Figure 1). The isotopic results of individuals from middle and high rank burials, represented by the female individual from tomb M298, indicate the approval and strong reliance on the agricultural economy by the notables. Additionally, significant isotopic differences between long bones and ribs were observed in five individuals (Figure 2), suggesting significant dietary shifts before their death, which might be caused by the migration during their last lifetime.

When comparing the isotopic data of humans from the Han (202 BC–220 AD) to the Northern Wei dynasty (386–534 AD) in the Guanzhong region as well as Xiongnu and Tuoba Xianbei in the steppe, we find that the nomads had already adopted and developed millet agriculture before migrating into Guanzhong region and that they further adopted the agricultural economy during the Sixteen Kingdoms period. This indicates the more positive attitudes of the nomads to the agricultural system when they moved into Guangzhou region, which promotes the integration of different populations and dietary cultures ultimately.

During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, large numbers of nomadic pastoralists from the northern steppe migrated into the Guanzhong region. The δ15N value of XXA(SKP) are significantly lower than those of the Han Dynasty while the δ13C values are slightly lower than those of the Han Dynasty (Figure 3), indicating a reduced consumption of animal proteins and millets and increased consumption of wheat or rice. This clearly demonstrates that the nomadic groups migrated southwards not only maintained the millet-based agricultural economy inherited from the Han Dynasty but also proactively developed wheat or rice agriculture.

It should be noted that the acceptance and adoption of agricultural economy by nomadic groups in the Guanzhong region can be traced back to their ancestors in the northern steppe. As shown in Figure 3, Xiongnu (The Egiin Gol (EG) and Baga Gazaryn Chuluu (BGC) in Mongolia) and Tuoba Xianbei groups (Zhalainuoer (ZN), East Wuzhuer (EW), Tuanjie (TJ), Sandaowan (SDW) and Bagou cemeteries (BG)) had partially adopted millet agriculture as one of necessary subsistence strategies. More reliance on millets is observed during the Qin (221–207 BC) and Han dynasty (Fig.3) in the Guangzhou region. During the Sixteen Kingdoms period, nomads migrated southwards into the Guanzhong region and adopted agricultural economy as well when they had prolonged interaction with agricultural populations.

This study provides the first direct evidence of nomads’ strong approval on the agricultural system originated in the Central Plains. The acceptance of agricultural economy by the nomadic regimes during the Sixteen Kingdoms period in Guanzhong, was not an abrupt transformation but a gradual social evolutionary process. The continuity and development of agricultural economy during this period facilitate ethnic and cultural integration and lay the economic foundation for the formation and development of the Chinese national community.

Chen Feng (PhD) and Sun Chenshuang (PhD) serves as the first and second author of this paper, while Professor Hu Yaowu serves as the corresponding author, who are all from the Department of Cultural Heritage and Museology and Institute of Archaeological Science at the Fudan University. Liu Daiyun and Tian Youqian from the Shanxi Academy of Archaeology are co-authors. This work was supported by the National Social Science Fund of China (Grant No. 21&ZD237) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 42172007)

 

See the article:

Chen F, Sun C, Liu D, Tian Y, Hu Y. 2025. Dietary cultural identity and ethnic integration: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human bones in the Guanzhong region during the Sixteen Kingdoms period (304–439 AD). Science China Earth Sciences, 68(10): 3343–3355, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-025-1676-y

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The transition from Neanderthals to modern humans in Europe

 

Using a specially developed simulation model, researchers at the University of Cologne have traced and analysed the dynamics of possible encounters between Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans on the Iberian Peninsula during the Palaeolithic period for the first time. Between approximately 50,000 and 38,000 years ago, the first anatomically modern humans arrived in Europe, where they encountered Neanderthal populations. The team analysed the respective settlement areas and the movement patterns of both groups. Were there any interactions between the groups, and did they mix? And how were population dynamics influenced by climatic events?

The results of the study “Pathways at the Iberian crossroads: Dynamic modelling of the Middle-Upper Paleolithic Transition” led by Professor Dr Yaping Shao from the Institute of Geophysics and Meteorology were published in the journal PLOS One. This study was conducted within the framework of the HESCOR research project at the University of Cologne, in collaboration with Professor Dr Gerd-Christian Weniger (Emeritus) of the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology.

The researchers used a numerical model to simulate exploratively the possibility of both groups meeting on the Iberian Peninsula. The model takes into account the prevailing climate fluctuations and simulates the populations of both groups as well as their connectivity and interaction. It is able to dynamically simulate a wide variety of scenarios, in contrast to more traditional archaeological and genetic methods. It makes it possible to examine different theories and to create a new perspective.

“By linking climate, demography, and culture, our dynamic model offers a broader explanatory framework that can be used to better interpret archaeological and genomic data,” says Professor Weniger from the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology.

During the transition from the Middle to the Upper Palaeolithic, Neanderthal populations across Europe, especially on the Iberian Peninsula, experienced a steady decline leading to their extinction. At the same time, anatomically modern humans spread across Europe. This period was also characterized by strong climatic fluctuations, with alternating cold and warm phases: rapid warming phases occurring over only a few centuries contrast with more gradual cooling periods (so-called Dansgaard–Oeschger events), which are interrupted by severe cold phases caused by massive iceberg discharges into the North Atlantic (Heinrich events).

The precise timing of the Neanderthals’ extinction and the arrival of modern humans remains unclear, so a potential encounter between the two species cannot be ruled out. Genetic analyses of bones from archaeological excavations in comparison with today’s population indicate a mixing in eastern Europe in the early migration phases of modern humans. Later mixing of the two populations on the Iberian Peninsula is possible due to substantial dating uncertainties, but has not yet been proven.

”Repeated runs of the model with different parameters allow for an assessment of the plausibility of different scenarios: an early extinction of the Neanderthals, a small population size with a high risk of extinction, or a prolonged survival that would allow mixing,” says Professor Shao, principal investigator of the study. In most of the runs, however, the two groups did not meet.

In all three scenarios, the population is highly sensitive to climatic fluctuations. In those cases where the population could remain stable long enough, mixing of the two species was possible. With a low probability (1 per cent), at the end of the simulations there are small proportions of 2 to 6 per cent of the total population that have genes from both groups. This mixing would have been most likely in the north-west of the Iberian Peninsula, an area where modern humans could have arrived early enough before the Neanderthal population collapsed completely.

In further studies, the researchers plan to improve both the numerical model and the potential field required for it. In addition to human populations, the model should also include animals that can serve as potential prey. The vegetation data required for this is fed into a potential field, which is calculated separately for humans and animals from a variety of climatic and geographical data. The researchers are also currently investigating whether a specialized machine learning algorithm can help with this.

The HESCOR (Human & Earth System Coupled Research) project pursues interdisciplinary research questions that bring together Earth system science, human-system modelling, and the humanities to investigate how interactions between nature and culture have shaped and continue to shape our world. Experts in climate science, archaeology, mathematics, and the humanities contribute diverse perspectives and cutting-edge methods to research aimed at addressing fundamental questions in human history. How have climatic changes influenced the course of human cultural evolution? To what extent do human decisions and social changes affect the Earth system? Can modern computer tools and machine learning unlock the secrets of our past? HESCOR is funded by the ‘Profilbildung’ initiative of the Ministry of Culture and Science of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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Journal

PLOS One

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0339184 

Method of Research

Evidence of interfaith coexistence in the Near East

 The team of archaeologists led by Dr. Alexander Tamm (FAU, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Prof. Dirk Wicke (Institute of Archaeological Sciences, Goethe University Frankfurt) has returned from its field research in northern Iraq without artefacts, but with many new insights. Over the past months, the ten-strong team has examined a building complex at the Gird-î Kazhaw site in the Kurdistan region of Iraq (Picture 1). The structure, which was first discovered in 2015, was probably built around 500 AD. Its purpose had, however, so far been unclear.

Five square pillars made of quarry stone, partly plastered with white gypsum, had suggested that it might be a church (Picture 2). Geophysical investigations had revealed more walls underground, so that this “church” was initially believed to be part of a larger monastery. In particular its relationship to a settlement mound directly adjacent, with a small Sasanian fortification dating from the 5th to 6th century AD, is still unexplained. This fortification is overlaid by an Islamic cemetery.

This year, the team from Frankfurt began its excavations in late summer in two areas: a surface excavation around the pillars (Area A) and an exploration of the Islamic cemetery (Area B), with a focus on anthropological documentation. They uncovered brick walls and floors made of rammed earth and later also of stones and broken bricks relatively close to the surface in Area A. The discovery of further stone pillars, which points to the existence of perhaps a three-nave structure with a central nave running in a north-west to south-east direction, as already evidenced in early Christian religious architecture in this region, was a huge surprise. The size of the central nave, presumably 25 by 5 meters, is unusual (Picture 2). Whether the adjacent rooms indeed form monastery buildings will, however, call for further research in coming years.

The discovery, also in Area A, of a room with a floor made of neatly laid, fired bricks, with the outline of a semicircle at its north-western end (Picture 3) was equally surprising. Apart from the architecture, the main indication that the buildings were used as a Christian meeting place is the discovery of decorated pottery depicting a Maltese cross (Picture 4). The early dating for a church building into the fifth to sixth century AD is not unusual in the region, as there are comparable structures in northern Syria and northern Mesopotamia. (An international workshop on this topic took place in Frankfurt on October 24–25, 2025.)

Particularly relevant to research on religious neighborhoods, such as will be conducted in the future as part of the LOEWE Center “Dynamics of Religion” approved from 2026 onwards, is the proximity to the Sasanian fortification described above. Should the two buildings indeed date from the same period, this would suggest that Zoroastrians, followers of the religious founder Zarathustra, and Christians lived side by side at that time. Establishing when exactly the people in Kazhaw converted to Islam, as evidenced by the Islamic graves (see Picture 5), is also part of the research agenda.

The excavations in Kazhaw are part of a larger research project by Dr. Tamm and Prof. Wicke on rural communities and settlements in the Shahrizor Plain in northern Iraq. To date, archaeological research has paid little attention to rural and small towns; it has mostly focused on the capital cities of ancient empires. The latter were undoubtedly the engine for cultural development in antiquity, but it was the rural regions that created the economic basis for the supply of goods. Without this basis, cultural life in the cities would have been impossible. Work in Kazhaw will continue next year and focus more on the economic infrastructure, this time using archaeometric methods, in particular archaeobotany, zoology and forensic anthropology. The aim is to study what life was like within the excavated walls.

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Roman soldiers defending Hadrian’s Wall infected by parasites

 

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3rd century baths and latrine block at Vindolanda, the Roman fort close to Hadrian’s Wall in the UK. 

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Credit: Credit: Vindolanda Trust

A new analysis of sewer drains from the Roman fort of Vindolanda, close to Hadrian’s Wall, has shown that the occupants were infected by three types of intestinal parasite – roundworm, whipworm, and Giardia duodenalis.

These parasites are all spread by ineffective sanitation, with contamination of food, drink or hands by human faeces. Roundworms are 20-30cm long and whipworms about 5cm long. Giardia are microscopic protozoan parasites that cause outbreaks of diarrhoea. This is the first evidence for Giardia duodenalis in Roman Britain.

Vindolanda was located near to Hadrian’s wall in northern England. Hadrian’s Wall was built by the Romans in the early 2nd century AD to defend their province of ‘Britannia’ from attack by tribes from the north and remained in use until the end of the 4th century. The site of Vindolanda is located between Carlisle and Corbridge in Northumberland, Britain.

Hadrian’s Wall runs east-west from the North Sea to the Irish Sea and was constructed with forts and towers spaced regularly along it. It was defended by a range of infantry, archery and cavalry units from across the Roman Empire.

Vindolanda is famous for the organic objects preserved in the waterlogged soil at the site, such as more than 1,000 thin wooden tablets written with ink that document daily life at the fort and a collection of over 5,000 Roman leather shoes.

The analysis of sediment from the sewer drain leading from the latrine block at the 3rd century CE bath complex was performed jointly by researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Oxford, and is published in the journal Parasitology.

Fifty sediment samples were taken along the length of the latrine drain, which measured around nine metres and carried waste from the communal latrine down to a stream north of the site. Artifacts recovered from the drain included Roman beads, pottery and animal bones.

These samples were split between labs at Cambridge and Oxford, where researchers conducted microscope analyses to hunt for the ancient remains of helminth eggs: parasitic worm species that infect humans and other animals.

Some 28% of the samples contained either roundworm or whipworm eggs. One sample contained remnants of both species, so researchers analysed it using a bio-molecular technique called 'ELISA', in which antibodies bind onto proteins produced by single-celled organisms, and found traces of Giardia duodenalis.

The team also took a sample connected to an earlier 1st-century CE fort, constructed around 85 CE and abandoned by 91/92 CE. The sample came from a ditch that was part of the fort’s defensive system, and contained both roundworm and whipworm. 

“The three types of parasites we found could have led to malnutrition and cause diarrhoea in some of the Roman soldiers,” said Dr Marissa Ledger, who led the Cambridge component of the study as part of her PhD at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Archaeology.

“While the Romans were aware of intestinal worms, there was little their doctors could do to clear infection by these parasites or help those experiencing diarrhoea, meaning symptoms could persist and worsen. These chronic infections likely weakened soldiers, reducing fitness for duty. Helminths alone can cause nausea, cramping and diarrhoea.”

Study senior author Dr Piers Mitchell, Affiliated Scholar at Cambridge’s McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, said: “Some soldiers could have become severely ill from dehydration during summer outbreaks of Giardia, which are often linked to contaminated water and can infection dozens of people at a time. Untreated giardiasis can drag on for weeks, causing dramatic fatigue and weight loss.”

“The presence of the faecal-oral parasites we found suggests conditions were ripe for other intestinal pathogens such as Salmonella and Shigella, which could have triggered additional disease outbreaks,” Mitchell said.

The predominance of faecal-oral parasites at Vindolanda is similar to Roman military sites elsewhere, say researchers, such as Carnuntum in Austria, Valkenburg on Rhine in the Netherlands, and Bearsden in Scotland. Urban sites, such as London and York, had a more diverse parasite range, including fish and meat tapeworms.

“Despite the fact that Vindolanda had communal latrines and a sewer system, this still did not protect the soldiers from infecting each other with these parasites,” said Dr Patrik Flammer, who analysed samples at the University of Oxford.

“The study of ancient parasites helps us to know the pathogens that infected our ancestors, how they varied with lifestyle, and how they changed over time,” said Prof Adrian Smith, who led the lab at Oxford where part of the analysis was performed.

Dr Andrew Birley, CEO of the Vindolanda Charitable Trust, who leads the excavations at Vindolanda, added: “Excavations at Vindolanda continue to find new evidence that helps us to understand the incredible hardships faced by those posted to this northwestern frontier of the Roman Empire nearly 2,000 years ago, challenging our preconceptions about what life was really like in a Roman frontier fort and town.”

W. H. Auden’s famous poem about a miserable Roman soldier guarding a rain-soaked wall in northern Europe mentions “lice in my tunic and a cold in my nose”. It seems the poet could have added serious stomach trouble to that list of woes.

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Journal

Parasitology

DOI

10.1017/S0031182025101327 

First comprehensive atlas of Bronze Age settlements in western Anatolia

 A new, freely accessible dataset published in Nature Scientific Data provides the first comprehensive, interoperable geospatial catalogue of Middle and Late Bronze Age settlement sites in western Anatolia (c. 2000–1200 BCE). The dataset documents 483 archaeological settlements, each georeferenced and described through standardized metadata including chronology, function, material culture, bibliographic references, and associated ancient mineral resources. It was compiled over more than a decade from excavation reports, systematic surveys, historical sources, remote sensing, and cartographic materials, and is published in open formats (JSON and CSV) with semantic links to international reference databases to facilitate interdisciplinary reuse.

Covering an area of roughly 373,000 km², the catalogue fills a long-standing gap in regional Bronze Age research by integrating previously scattered and inaccessible data into a transparent, machine-readable resource. The dataset’s structure supports GIS and statistical analyses of settlement patterns, resource distribution, and connectivity, allowing researchers to explore regional dynamics at scales not previously possible.

The spatial density, distribution, and internal coherence of these settlements underscore western Anatolia’s cultural vitality and geopolitical significance during the second millennium BCE. Major centers such as Troy, Beycesultan, and Liman Tepe illustrate the region’s integration into extensive exchange networks, while the aggregate evidence points to a distinct cultural sphere that cannot be explained solely as a buffer between Mycenaean Greece and Hittite Anatolia. This empirical foundation strengthens the case for an autonomous cultural region associated with the Luwians, challenging earlier narratives that marginalized the area as peripheral.

By making the dataset openly available and semantically interoperable with global research infrastructures, the project empowers comparative studies across archaeology, digital humanities, and historical geography. It thereby lays a foundation for rethinking Bronze Age settlement systems, economic networks, and cultural interactions in the eastern Mediterranean, and invites further archaeological and interdisciplinary investigation into the region’s complex past.

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Journal

Scientific Data

DOI

10.1038/s41597-025-06241-9 

A new fossil face sheds light on early migrations of ancient human ancestor

 

A 1.5-million-year-old fossil from Gona, Ethiopia reveals new details about the first hominin species to disperse from Africa.

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Midwestern University

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Map showing potential migration routes of the human ancestor, Homo erectus, in Africa, Europe and Asia during the early Pleistocene. Key fossils of Homo erectus and the earlier Homo habilis species are shown, including the new face reconstruction of the DAN5 fossil from Gona, Ethiopia dated to 1.5 million years ago.

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Credit: Dr. Karen L. Baab. Scans provided by National Museum of Ethiopia, National Museums of Kenya and Georgian National Museum.

PRESS RELEASE

MEDIA EMBARGO UNTIL: DEC 16, 2025 (10 am London / 3 am Arizona)

 

A New Fossil Face Sheds Light on Early Migrations of Ancient Human Ancestor

A 1.5-million-year-old fossil from Gona, Ethiopia reveals new details about the first hominin species to disperse from Africa.

Summary: Virtual reassembly of teeth and fossil bone fragments reveals a beautifully preserved face of a 1.5-million-year-old human ancestor—the first complete Early Pleistocene hominin cranium from the Horn of Africa. This fossil, from Gona, Ethiopia, hints at a surprisingly archaic face in the earliest human ancestors to migrate out of Africa.

Publication: Nature Communications (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-66381-9)

 

A team of international scientists, led by Dr. Karen Baab, a paleoanthropologist at the College of Graduate Studies, Glendale Campus of Midwestern University in Arizona, produced a virtual reconstruction of the face of early Homo erectus. The 1.5 to 1.6 million-year-old fossil, called DAN5, was found at the site of Gona, in the Afar region of Ethiopia. This surprisingly archaic face yields new insights into the first species to spread across Africa and Eurasia. The team’s findings are being published in Nature Communications.

According to Dr. Baab, “We already knew that the DAN5 fossil had a small brain, but this new reconstruction shows that the face is also more primitive than classic African Homo erectus of the same antiquity. One explanation is that the Gona population retained the anatomy of the population that originally migrated out of Africa approximately 300,000 years earlier.”

Gona, Ethiopia

The Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project in the Afar of Ethiopia is co-directed by Dr. Sileshi Semaw (Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana, Spain) and Dr. Michael Rogers (Southern Connecticut State University). Gona has yielded hominin fossils that are older than 6.3 million years ago, and stone tools spanning the last 2.6 million years of human evolution. The newly presented hominin reconstruction includes a fossil brain case (previously described in 2020) and smaller fragments of the face belonging to a single individual called DAN5 dated to between 1.6 and 1.5 million years ago. The face fragments (and teeth) have now been reassembled using virtual techniques to generate the most complete skull of a fossil human from the Horn of Africa in this time period. The DAN5 fossil is assigned to Homo erectus, a long-lived species found throughout Africa, Asia, and Europe after approximately 1.8 million years ago.

How did the scientists reconstruct the DAN5 fossil?

The researchers used high-resolution micro-CT scans of the four major fragments of the face, which were recovered during the 2000 fieldwork at Gona. 3D models of the fragments were generated from the CT scans. The face fragments were then re-pieced together on a computer screen, and the teeth were fit into the upper jaw where possible. The final step was “attaching” the face to the braincase to produce a mostly complete cranium. This reconstruction took about a year and went through several iterations before arriving at the final version.

Dr. Baab, who was responsible for the reconstruction, described this as “a very complicated 3D puzzle, and one where you do not know the exact outcome in advance. Fortunately, we do know how faces fit together in general, so we were not starting from scratch.”

What did scientists conclude?

This new study shows that the Gona population 1.5 million years ago had a mix of typical Homo erectus characters concentrated in its braincase, but more ancestral features of the face and teeth normally only seen in earlier species. For example, the bridge of the nose is quite flat, and the molars are large. Scientists determined this by comparing the size and shape of the DAN5 face and teeth with other fossils of the same geological age, as well as older and younger ones. A similar combination of traits was documented previously in Eurasia, but this is the first fossil to show this combination of traits inside Africa, challenging the idea that Homo erectus evolved outside of the continent. “I'll never forget the shock I felt when Dr. Baab first showed me the reconstructed face and jaw,” says Dr. Yousuke Kaifu of the University of Tokyo, a co-author of the study.

“The oldest fossils belonging to Homo erectus are from Africa, and the new fossil reconstruction shows that transitional fossils also existed there, so it makes sense that this species emerged on the African continent,” says Dr. Baab. “But the DAN5 fossil postdates the initial exit from Africa, so other interpretations are possible.”

Dr. Rogers agrees. “This newly reconstructed cranium further emphasizes the anatomical diversity seen in early members of our genus, which is only likely to increase with future discoveries.”

“It is remarkable that the DAN5 Homo erectus was making both simple Oldowan stone tools and early Acheulian handaxes, among the earliest evidence for the two stone tool traditions to be found directly associated with a hominin fossil,” adds Dr. Semaw.

Future Research

The researchers are hoping to compare this fossil to the earliest human fossils from Europe, including fossils assigned to Homo erectus but also a distinct species, Homo antecessor, both dated to approximately one million years ago. "Comparing DAN5 to these fossils will not only deepen our understanding of facial variability within Homo erectus but also shed light on how the species adapted and evolved," explains Dr. Sarah Freidline of the University of Central Florida, study co-author.

There is also potential to test alternative evolutionary scenarios, such as genetic admixture between two species, as seen in later human evolution among Neanderthals, modern humans and “Denisovans.”  For example, maybe DAN5 represents the result of admixture between classic African Homo erectus and the earlier Homo habilis species. According to Dr. Rogers, “We’re going to need several more fossils dated between one to two million years ago to sort this out.”

World’s earliest botanical art discovered and evidence of prehistoric mathematical thinking

 

 

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Nax Mallowan excavation at Arpachiyah, Iraq. From the collections of the British Museum and UCL

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Credit: Photos courtesy of Yosef Garfinkel

A new study reveals that the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia (c. 6200–5500 BCE) produced the earliest systematic plant imagery in prehistoric art, flowers, shrubs, branches, and trees painted on fine pottery, arranged with precise symmetry and numerical sequences, especially petal and flower counts of 4, 8, 16, 32, and 64. This suggests that early farming villages in the Near East already possessed sophisticated, practical mathematical thinking about dividing space and quantities, likely tied to everyday needs such as fairly sharing crops from collectively worked fields, long before writing or formal number systems existed.

Link to pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1F6S8BpXIKxuNvZGis48ptTvAhA3AMEvK

A new study published in the Journal of World Prehistory reveals that some of humanity’s earliest artistic representations of botanical figures were far more than decorative, they were mathematical.

In an extensive analysis of ancient pottery, Prof. Yosef Garfinkel and Sarah Krulwich of the Hebrew University have identified the earliest systematic depictions of vegetal motifs in human history, dating back over 8,000 years to the Halafian culture of northern Mesopotamia (c. 6200–5500 BCE). Their research shows that these early agricultural communities painted flowers, shrubs, branches, and trees with remarkable care, and embedded within them evidence of complex geometric and arithmetic thinking.

A New Understanding of Prehistoric Art

Earlier prehistoric art focused primarily on humans and animals. Halafian pottery, however, marks the moment when the plant world entered human artistic expression in a systematic and visually sophisticated way.

Across 29 archaeological sites, Garfinkel and Krulwich documented hundreds of carefully rendered vegetal motifs, some naturalistic, others abstract, all reflecting conscious artistic choice.

“These vessels represent the first moment in history when people chose to portray the botanical world as a subject worthy of artistic attention,” the authors note. “It reflects a cognitive shift tied to village life and a growing awareness of symmetry and aesthetics.”

Among the study’s most striking insights is the precise numerical patterning in Halafian floral designs. Many bowls feature flowers with petal counts that follow geometric progression: 4, 8, 16, 32, and even arrangements of 64 flowers.

These sequences, the researchers argue, are intentional and demonstrate a sophisticated grasp of spatial division long before the appearance of written numbers.

“The ability to divide space evenly, reflected in these floral motifs, likely had practical roots in daily life, such as sharing harvests or allocating communal fields,” Garfinkel explains.

This work contributes to the field of ethnomathematics, which identifies mathematical knowledge embedded in cultural expression.

The motifs documented span the full botanical spectrum:

• Flowers with meticulously balanced petals
• Seedlings and shrubs, rendered with botanical clarity
• Branches, arranged in rhythmic, repeating bands
• Tall, imposing trees, sometimes shown alongside animals or architecture

Notably, none of the images depict edible crops, suggesting that the purpose was aesthetic rather than agricultural or ritualistic. Flowers, the authors note, are associated with positive emotional responses, which may explain their prominence.

Revising the History of Mathematics

While written mathematical texts appear millennia later in Sumer, Halafian pottery reveals an earlier, intuitive form of mathematical reasoning, rooted in symmetry, repetition, and geometric organization.

“These patterns show that mathematical thinking began long before writing,” Krulwich says. “People visualized divisions, sequences, and balance through their art.”

By cataloguing these vegetal motifs and revealing their mathematical foundations, the study offers a new perspective on how early communities understood the natural world, organized their environments, and expressed cognitive complexity.

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Journal

Journal of World Prehistory

DOI

10.1007/s10963-025-09200-9 

Researchers Discover the Shocking Age of the Mysterious Pecos River Rock Art

The murals were painted on limestone canyon walls, in the same style, over the span of four millennia

Researcher Carolyn Boyd examines a Pecos River style pictograph in Seminole Canyon State Park and Historic Site.
  Texas State University / Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center

The limestone canyons along the Pecos River in southwest Texas are covered in ancient art. Painted by unidentified Indigenous peoples long ago, the Pecos River style murals stretch into northern Mexico, and they've long mystified archaeologists who have been unable to determine their age.

Now, researchers have finally dated some of the murals by analyzing the radiocarbon in paint and mineral deposits. According to their study, published in the journal Science Advances, the Pecos River valley’s inhabitants painted in the same cosmic style for millennia—from around 3700 B.C.E. until 900 C.E.

“Frankly, we were stunned to discover that the murals remained in production for over 4,000 years, and that the rule-bound painting sequence persisted throughout that period as well,” study coauthor Carolyn Boyd, an archaeologist at Texas State University, tells Live Science’s Aristos Georgiou. The canyons are like an “ancient library containing hundreds of books authored by 175 generations of painters,” she adds. “The stories they tell are still being told today.”

Researchers Tim Murphy and Diana Radillo Rolon capture microscopic images of a 10-foot feline pictograph in Panther Cave. Texas State University / Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center

The murals were painted in pigments bound with yucca or bone marrow. Jerod Roberts / Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center

Many of the Pecos murals, spread across countless canyon rock shelters, contain similar imagery. The researchers began their work by identifying recurring symbols, according to the study. They found that 134 of the murals include at least one of a specific group of motifs, including rabbit-eared headdresses, stylized dart tips, winged figures with antlers, power bundles and speech breath. A power bundle appears in more than 60 percent of the murals; it constitutes a plant-, animal- or human-like shape depicted at the end of two long lines extending from a figure’s hand.

“Many of the 200-plus murals in the region are huge,” Boyd tells Live Science. “Some span over 100 feet long and 20 feet tall and contain hundreds of skillfully painted images.”

Archaeologists don’t know much about who painted the Pecos murals, aside from the fact that they were nomadic hunter-gatherers. Per the study, the region boasts evidence of more than 12,500 years of hunter-gatherer occupation.

Quick fact: Scale of the Pecos River rock art

• Some of the murals measure as long as 100 feet and as tall as 20 feet. They depict human and animal figures, as well as geometric designs.

Southern Texas’ arid clime preserved the murals well but dating them still proved a difficult task. The researchers focused on 12 murals with similar imagery. Per the study, they used two independent methods of determining age. One dated the organic carbon in the paint’s binders—likely yucca plant and fatty bone marrow from deer. The other dated the carbon inside calcium oxalate accretions—mineral crusts that lie beneath and atop the paintings—to figure out the murals’ minimum and maximum ages.

“It is important to take a control sample of unpainted rock to see if there is any organic contamination in the rock surface,” study co-author Karen Steelman, science director at the Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center, tells Artnet News. “If not (which was the case for this study), then we can be certain that the organic material that we are dating is inherent in the paint alone.”

This photomicrograph shows layers of yellow, red and black paint. Texas State University / Shumla Archaeological Research and Education Center

Anthropologists previously assumed each Pecos mural was assembled from small individual contributions over time. Actually, the radiocarbon dates of the murals’ pictographs were “clustered so closely as to be statistically indistinguishable, suggesting that they were produced during a single painting event,” Boyd tells Artnet News.

According to a statement from Texas State University, the researchers’ analyses of the 12 murals’ layers and iconography revealed that eight of them adhere to the same set of rules and established iconography—even though they were painted up to 4,000 years apart. As the researchers write in the study, this suggests “consistent messaging throughout a period marked by changes in material culture, land use and climate.”

The researchers think the Pecos River style paintings transmitted a system of “sophisticated metaphysics”—philosophy relating to concepts like being, time, space and the beginning of life. They write that the Pecos muralists’ “ancient cosmovision” likely informed the beliefs of later Mesoamerican agricultural societies, like the Olmec, Maya and Aztec.

“The murals are viewed by Indigenous people today as living, breathing, sentient ancestral deities,” Boyd tells Live Science, “who are still engaged in creation and the maintenance of the cosmos.”

The Huichol people live in western Mexico among the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains. They recognized one of the motifs in the Pecos murals: a crenellated arch below a portal through which figures pass.

“I was told by Huichol elders that it represents the sacred mountain,” Boyd tells Artnet News. “The undulations along the sides are a ladder for the sun to climb out of the world below each morning [and] to descend on its return each night.”