Oceania
Evidence of Late Pleistocene human colonization of isolated islands beyond Wallace's Line
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 21 hours ago
[image: IMAGE] IMAGE: THE SITE OF MAKPAN, ALOR. view more CREDIT: SUE O'CONNOR A new article published in *Nature Communications* applies stable isotope analysis to a collection of fossil human teeth from the islands of Timor and Alor in Wallacea to study the ecological adaptations of the earliest members of our species to reach this isolated part of the world. Because the Wallacean islands are considered extreme, resource poor settings, archaeologists believed that early seafaring populations would have moved rapidly through this region without establishing permanent communities. N... more »
Genomics used to estimate Samoan population dynamics over 3,000 years
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Reconstructing how many individuals first settled the many small islands in the Pacific and when they arrived remain important scientific questions, as well as an intriguing ones for understanding human history. Human migrations into the islands of Remote Oceania -- from circa 3,000 to 1,200 years ago -- mark the last major movement into locations previously uninhabited by humans. These questions are also crucial as part of scientific efforts to understand the role of early history of Pacific islanders on contemporary public health problems including obesity and associated non-commun... more »
Climate change encouraged colonization of South Pacific Islands earlier than first thought
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: TWO HALVES OF CORE SAMPLE TAKEN FROM LAKE TE ROTO ON ATIU. view more CREDIT: UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON Research led by scientists at the University of Southampton has found settlers arrived in East Polynesia around 200 years earlier than previously thought. Colonisation of the vast eastern Pacific with its few and far-flung island archipelagos was a remarkable achievement in human history. Yet the timing, character, and drivers of this accomplishment remain poorly understood. However, this new study has found ... more »
Americas
African skeletons from early colonial Mexico tell the story of first-generation slaves
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 21 hours ago
An interdisciplinary study into the origins and health status of three African skeletons unearthed in Mexico shows evidence of forced migration, physical trauma, and the introduction of infectious diseases from Africa MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: SKULLS AND DENTAL DECORATION PATTERNS FOR THE THREE AFRICAN INDIVIDUALS FROM THE SAN JOSÉ DE LOS NATURALES ROYAL HOSPITAL. A. SKULL FROM INDIVIDUAL 150 (SJN001). B. SKULL FROM INDIVIDUAL 214... view more CREDIT: COLLECTION OF SAN JOSÉ DE LOS NATURALES, OSTEOLOGY LABORATOR... more »
Archaeologists verify Florida's Mound Key as location of elusive Spanish fort
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
FLORIDA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: SPANISH HISTORICAL RECORDS NAMED FLORIDA'S MOUND KEY, THE CAPITAL OF THE CALUSA KINGDOM, AS THE SITE OF FORT SAN ANTÓN DE CARLOS, HOME OF ONE OF THE EARLIEST NORTH AMERICAN... view more CREDIT: VICTOR THOMPSON GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Florida and Georgia archaeologists have discovered the location of Fort San Antón de Carlos, home of one of the first Jesuit missions in North America. The Spanish fort was built in 1566 in the capital of the Calusa, the most powerful Native American tribe in the region, o... more »
Examining heart extractions in ancient Mesoamerica
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
New findings on procedures and meanings of human heart sacrifices in Mesoamerica UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS JOURNALS SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: HUMAN HEART SACRIFICES IN MESOAMERICA view more Credit: CINVESTAV UNIDAD MÉRIDA Sacrificial rituals featuring human heart extraction were a prevalent religious practice throughout ancient Mesoamerican societies. Intended as a means of appeasing and honoring certain deities, sacrifices served as acts of power and intimidation as well as demonstrations of devotion and gratitude. Human sacrifices were highly structured, comp... more »
Earliest humans in the Amazon created thousands of 'forest islands' as they tamed wild plants
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
The earliest human inhabitants of the Amazon created thousands of artificial forest islands as they tamed wild plants to grow food, a new study shows. The discovery of the mounds is the latest evidence to show the extensive impact people had on the area. From their arrival 10,000 years ago they transformed the landscape when they began cultivating manioc and squash. This led to the creation of 4,700 of the forest islands in what is now Llanos de Moxos in northern Bolivia, the team has found. This savannah area floods from December to March and is extremely dry from July to October, ... more »
Europe
Deformed skulls in an ancient cemetery reveal a multicultural community in transition
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 21 hours ago
[image: IMAGE] IMAGE: UPPER PART OF THE BODY OF GRAVE 43 DURING EXCAVATION. THE GIRL HAD AN ARTIFICIALLY DEFORMED SKULL, WAS PLACE IN A GRAVE WITH A SIDE NICHE AND RICHLY EQUIPPED WITH... view more CREDIT: WOSINSKY MÓR MUSEUM, SZEKSZÁRD, HUNGARY. The ancient cemetery of Mözs-Icsei d?l? in present-day Hungary holds clues to a unique community formation during the beginnings of Europe's Migration Period, according to a study published April 29, 2020 in the open-access journal *PLOS ONE* by Corina Knipper from the Curt-Engelhorn-Center for Archaeometry, Germany, István Koncz, Tivadar Vi... more »
Study traces spread of early dairy farming across Western Europe
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 3 days ago
UNIVERSITY OF YORK SHARE PRINT E-MAIL A study has tracked the shift from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to early farming that occurred in prehistoric Europe over a period of around 1,500 years. An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of York, analysed the molecular remains of food left in pottery used by the first farmers who settled along the Atlantic Coast of Europe from 7,000 to 6,000 years ago. The researchers report evidence of dairy products in 80% of the pottery fragments from the Atlantic coast of what is now Britain and Ireland. In compar... more »
Diverse livelihoods helped resilient Levänluhta people survive a climate disaster
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 6 days ago
UNIVERSITY OF HELSINKI SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: LEVÄNLUHTA IS AMONG THE MOST UNIQUE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES, EVEN ON A GLOBAL SCALE. BONES BELONGING TO NEARLY A HUNDRED INDIVIDUALS WHO DIED IN THE IRON AGE HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED IN... view more CREDIT: ANNA WESSMAN A multidisciplinary research group coordinated by the University of Helsinki dated the bones of dozens of Iron Age residents of the Levänluhta site in Finland, and studied the carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. The results provide an overview of the dietary habits based on terrestrial, marine a... more »
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
Genetic analysis of 96 ancient individuals traces the arrival and demographic structure of peoples with Steppe-related ancestry into late Neolithic, early Bronze Age Switzerland MAX PLANCK INSTITUTE FOR THE SCIENCE OF HUMAN HISTORY SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: TOP VIEW OF THE DOLMEN OF OBERBIPP, ONE OF THE LARGEST BURIAL SITES IN THE STUDY. IN THIS STUDY, RESEARCHERS ANALYZE 96 ANCIENT GENOMES TO TRACE THE ARRIVAL AND...view more CREDIT: URS DARDEL, ARCHÄOLOGISCHER DIENST DES KANTON BERN (SWITZERLAND) Genetic research throughout Europe shows evidence of drastic popul... more »
Neanderthals
Icelandic DNA jigsaw-puzzle brings new knowledge about Neanderthals
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 1 week ago
An international team of researchers has put together a new image of Neanderthals based on the genes Neanderthals left in the DNA of modern humans when they had children with them about 50,000 years ago AARHUS UNIVERSITY SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: DNA OF ICELANDERS PROVIDES NEW KNOWLEDGE ABOUT EXTINCT HUMAN SPECIES view more CREDIT: ASTRID REITZEL, AAARHUS UNIVERSITY An international team of researchers has put together a new image of Neanderthals based on the genes Neanderthals left in the DNA of modern humans when they had children with them about 50,000 years a... more »
Neanderthal cord weaver
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
CNRS SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: PHOTOGRAPH OF THE CORD FRAGMENT TAKEN BY DIGITAL MICROSCOPY (THE FRAGMENT IS APPROXIMATELY 6.2 MM LONG AND 0.5 MM WIDE). view more CREDIT: © C2RMF Contrary to popular belief, Neanderthals were no less technologically advanced than Homo sapiens. An international team, including researchers from the CNRS, have discovered the first evidence of cord making, dating back more than 40,000 years (1), on a flint fragment from the prehistoric site of Abri du Maras in the south of France (2). Microscopic analysis showed that these remain... more »
Israel and Neighbors
Archaeologists have uncovered a rare figurine of the Canaanite god Baal and a bronze calf statue
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
Ancient artefacts dating back 3,300 years have been unearthed by Macquarie University archaeologists at a long-lost city believed to be linked to King David. [image: Smiting God' figurine found at Khirbet el-Rai, Israel.] *Smiting statue: The partially intact figurine wears a tall hat and would have had its right arm raised and its other arm held out in front, possibly holding a weapon such as a spear. Credit: The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.* A rare ‘smiting god’ figurine, a bronze calf figurine, two seals and decorated Canaanite and Philistine pottery from the 12th Century BCE w... more »
Archaeologists on 5,000-year-old egg hunt
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
Research reveals surprising complexity of ancient ostrich egg trade SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: THIS IS A FIGURE SHOWING AREAS OF STUDY. view more CREDIT: © TAMAR HODOS, UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL An international team of specialists, led by the University of Bristol, is closer to cracking a 5,000-year-old mystery surrounding the ancient trade and production of decorated ostrich eggs. Long before Fabergé, ornate ostrich eggs were highly prized by the elites of Mediterranean civilisations during the Bronze and Iron Ages, but to date little has been known about the comple... more »
Africa and Arabia
East African herders consumed milk 5,000 years ago
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 2 weeks ago
WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: A MODERN DAY KENYAN COLLECTS FRESH COW'S MILK IN A GOURD. view more CREDIT: OLIVER RUDD When you pour a bowl of cereal, you probably aren't considering how humans came to enjoy milk in the first place. But animal milk was essential to east African herders at least 5,000 years ago, according to a new study that uncovers the consumption habits in what is now Kenya and Tanzania -- and sheds a light on human evolution. Katherine M. Grillo, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Florida and... more »
Societal transformations and resilience in Arabia across 12,000 years of climate change
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 3 weeks ago
Social, economic and cultural responses to climate change by ancient peoples highlight vulnerabilities of modern societies and the need for sustainable new solutions Today, the Arabian Peninsula is one of the most arid regions in the world. But its climate has not always been the same, and the past has seen both greater aridity and more humidity at different points in time. As a region at risk of water stress in a heating world, Arabia is of significant interest to scientists studying climate change. In the current study, archaeologists from the Max Planck Institute for the Science ... more »
Our direct human ancestor Homo erectus is older than we thought
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG SHARE PRINT E-MAIL Volume 90% VIDEO: ONE OF OUR DIRECT HUMAN ANCESTORS IS OLDER THAN WE THOUGHT. THE CRADLE OF HUMANKIND NORTHWEST OF JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA HAS YIELDED ITS FIRST HOMO ERECTUS FOSSIL, AND THE OLDEST... view more CREDIT: THERESE VAN WYK, UNIVERSITY OF JOHANNESBURG An unusual skullcap and thousands of clues have created a southern twist to the story of human ancestors, in research published in *Science* on 3 April. The rolling hills northwest of Johannesburg are famous for fossils of human-like creatures called hominins. Because of ... more »
When three species of human ancestor walked the Earth
Jonathan Kantrowitz at Archaeology News Report - 4 weeks ago
ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY SHARE PRINT E-MAIL [image: IMAGE] IMAGE: HOMO ERECTUS CRANIUM FROM DIMOLEN, SOUTH AFRICA. view more CREDIT: ANGELINE LEECE. An international team, including Arizona State University researcher Gary Schwartz, have unearthed the earliest known skull of *Homo erectus*, the first of our ancestors to be nearly human-like in their anatomy and aspects of their behavior. Years of painstaking excavation at the fossil-rich site of Drimolen, nestled within the Cradle of Humankind (a UNESCO World Heritage site located just 40 kilometers or around 25 miles northwest... more »
No comments:
Post a Comment