New discovery of wild cereal foraging – a precursor to agriculture – far from the fertile crescent

The dawn of agriculture in the Neolithic was a major development in the evolution of modern human culture. Although scientists agree that farming developed independently several times around the world, including in Africa, the Americas, and eastern Asia, the origins of many key crops, such as wheat, barley, and legumes have been traced to the Fertile Crescent and the harvesting of wild grains by a people known as the Natufians, roughly 10,000 years ago.

Now, a new study by an interdisciplinary research team shows that, by at least 9,200 years ago, people as far north and east as southern Uzbekistan were harvesting wild barley using sickle blades as well. The study shows that the cultural developments which served as stepping stones on the way to agriculture were more widespread than previously realized, challenging arguments that cultivation began as one group’s response to population pressure or climate change.

The research was conducted by an international team of scholars, led by Xinying Zhou of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing and under the supervision of the director of the Institute of Archaeology in Samarkand, Farhad Maksudov. During their excavations of Toda Cave in the Surkandarya Valley of southern Uzbekistan, the team recovered stone tools, charcoal, and plant remains from the cave’s oldest layers.

Archaeobotanical investigations led by Robert Spengler of the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology revealed that the people of Toda Cave were collecting wild barley from the surrounding valleys. Other plant remains included wild pistachio shells and apple seeds. Use-wear analysis of the stone tools – blades and flakes mostly made from limestone – indicates they were used to cut grass or plant material, similar to finds from sites where agriculture is known to have been practiced.

“This discovery should change the way that scientists think about the transition from foraging to farming, as it shows how widespread the transitional behaviors were,” says Xinying.

“These ancient hunters and foragers were already tied into the cultural practices that would lead to the origins of agriculture,” Spengler adds. “A growing body of research suggests that domestication occurred without deliberate human intent, and the finding that people continually developed the behaviors which lead to agriculture supports this view.”

The research team will continue to investigate how commonplace these behaviors were in Central Asia during this time period. Additionally, the team is further exploring the possibility that these grains represent an early example of cultivation using morphologically wild barley. If the grains were cultivated, it could mean that a sperate origin of farming was being experimented with or that the tradition form the Fertile Crescent spread eastward much earlier than previously recognized. In either case, future research is likely to fill in many gaps in our understanding of the human narrative. 

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Journal

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

DOI

10.1073/pnas.2424093122  

A 3,800-year-old Canaanite scarab amulet discovered in Israel bu a 3 year ild girl

 A three-year-old girl in Israel picked up what she thought was a “beautiful stone” while visiting Tel Azekah, the site traditionally linked to David and Goliath. To her family’s surprise, experts later identified it as a 3,800-year-old Canaanite scarab amulet, a rare artifact influenced by Egyptian culture.

The amulet, authenticated by the Israel Antiquities Authority, sheds light on the rich history of the region and the spiritual practices of the Canaanites. The discovery connects an innocent moment of childhood curiosity to a remarkable piece of archaeology from the biblical heartland.

A climate crisis led the Kings of Judah to construct a monumental dam in Jerusalem about 2,800 years ago.

A climate crisis led the Kings of Judah to construct a monumental dam in Jerusalem about 2,800 years ago.

This is the conclusion of a new study by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Weizmann Institute of Science, published in the prestigious journal PNAS.

The massive wall, uncovered in the Pool of Siloam excavations in the City of David National Park, was dated to 795-805 BCE during the reigns of Kings Joash or Amaziah of Judah. The dam appears to have been built in response to severe water shortages caused by climatic challenges.

The newly uncovered structure joins two other water systems from the same period: a tower that dammed the Gihon Spring, and a channel that carried its waters into the Pool of Siloam, where they were joined by floodwaters blocked by the dam.

These systems reflect comprehensive urban planning for managing Jerusalem’s water supply as early as the late 9th century BCE - clear evidence of the city’s strength and sophistication.

Excavation directors Dr. Nahshon Szanton, Itamar Berko, and Dr. Filip Vukosavović:

"This is the largest dam ever discovered in Israel and the earliest one ever found in Jerusalem. Its dimensions are remarkable: about 12 meters high, over 8 meters wide, and the uncovered length reaches 21 meters - continuing beyond the limits of the current excavation. The dam was designed to collect waters from the Gihon Spring as well as floodwaters flowing down the main valley of ancient Jerusalem (the historical Tyropoeon Valley) to the Kidron Stream, providing a dual solution for both water shortages and flash floods".

Dr. Szanton added: "The collaboration between the Weizmann Institute researchers and the Israel Antiquities Authority offers new insight into the challenges faced by the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem. This massive royal construction project influenced the city’s development, particularly its southern and western parts – including Mount Zion – which relied on the waters of the Siloam Pool".

Dr. Johanna Regev and Prof. Elisabetta Boaretto of the Weizmann Institute explained: "Short-lived twigs and branches embedded in the dam’s construction mortar provided a clear date at the end of the 9th century BCE, with extraordinary resolution of only about 10 years – a rare achievement when dating ancient finds. All the data pointed to a period of low rainfall in the Land of Israel, interspersed with short and intense storms that could cause flooding. It follows that the establishment of such large-scale water systems was a direct response to climate change and arid conditions that included flash floods".

Photos: Eliyahu Yanai and Lior Daskal, City of David; Reut Vilf, City of David Spokesperson’s Office; Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority

Egypt Eternal: 4,000 Years of Fascination

  Pharaohs, pyramids, sphinxes, and hieroglyphs—ancient Egypt has captivated the world for millennia. In Egypt Eternal: 4,000 Years of Fascination the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East explores our enduring interest. In a bright and refreshed gallery with an elegant arched window revealed for the first time in decades, the new exhibition showcases returning favorites such as the mummy case of Padimut (now able to be viewed in 360°), an elaborate teak and ivory reproduction of King Tutankhamun’s throne, the portrait of Idu in his underground tomb chapel, and the award-winning Dreaming the Sphinx augmented-reality experience for the Dream Stela of King Thutmose IV.

Coffin of Ankh-khonsu 1902.50.9, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

Many of the objects in the exhibition have been scanned and formed into digital 3D models that are easily shared with the public. The models enable three coffins to be opened virtually from within the gallery—or anywhere. Other pieces from the museum’s collections are on display for the first time. 

Discover how Harvard supported early archaeological excavations and how today’s Harvard studies advance our understanding of the ancient world. We all know something about ancient Egypt; the real stories are even more fascinating!

Detail from reproduction of Tutankhamun’s throne 2022.3.1, Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

This ongoing exhibition opens to the public at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East on Sunday, September 21, 2025 at 11:00 am. The museum is open Sundays–Fridays 11:00 am–4:00 pm (closed Saturdays) and admission is free.

The new exhibition is part of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East’s commitment to enhance ancient artifacts using modern technologies to support research, teaching, and preservation of the many cultures of the ancient Near East. Recent updates include the Mediterranean Marketplaces: Connecting the Ancient World exhibition with its life-size Iron Age II house replica from ancient Israel and cutaway view of an ancient ship, and the new augmented reality experience Art of Intimidation that animates ancient Assyrian casts within the From Stone to Silicone exhibition.

About the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East

Founded in 1889, the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East houses more than 40,000 Near Eastern artifacts, mostly from museum-sponsored excavations in Egypt, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Syria, and Tunisia. In 2020, the museum changed its name to be more inclusive and accurately reflect the diversity of the collection. The collections are used to investigate and teach Near Eastern archaeology, history, and culture. The galleries span three floors, and the building is located at 6 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, on the Harvard campus, an eight-minute walk from the Harvard Square Red Line MBTA station. The museum is wheelchair accessible. The museum is open Sunday–Friday, 11:00 am–4:00 pm (closed on Saturday). Admission is free. The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East is one of the four Harvard Museums of Science & Culture (HMSC). For directions, exhibition schedules, lectures, and information on parking, visit the websites hmane.harvard.edu and hmsc.harvard.edu.

Shipwreck's preserved artillery from the medieval period tells a story

 Lund University archaeologists have revealed details of late medieval artillery from the wreck of the royal Danish-Norwegian flagship, Gribshunden. The shipwreck is the only known example of its kind from the medieval period – as both ship and weapons are nearly identical to those of the early Spanish and Portuguese explorers. The new study tells the story of how early modern maritime adventurers were equipped to start the process of dominance and colonisation across the world.

WATCH VIDEO STORY – see artillery found on Gribshunden

“Diving on this late medieval royal shipwreck is of course exciting. However, the greatest satisfaction is when we can actually put the pieces of the puzzle together later on; combining Martin’s castle expertise with Kay’s deep understanding of artillery”, explains Brendan Foley, the marine archeologist behind the study, who worked closely with fellow LU archaeologist Martin Hansson and medieval artillery expert Kay Douglas Smith.

Gribshunden, the flagship of the Danish-Norwegian King Hans, sank mysteriously in 1495 off the coast of Ronneby, Sweden. The wreck is internationally significant as the world’s best-preserved ship from the Age of Exploration – a proxy for the vessels of Christopher Columbus and Vasco da Gama.

Ocean-going ships like Gribshunden and the artillery they carried were critical technologies for European explorers after 1492. The voyages to America and into the Indian Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope led to European colonization around the world. Gribshunden is a rare archaeological resource, as it is the most complete example yet discovered of a late medieval carvel warship. 

The ship carried 50 or more small calibre guns firing lead shot with an iron core. They were intended for anti-personnel use at close range, with tactics designed to injure or kill the enemy ships’ personnel, followed by boarding to capture the vessel. Led by Lund University Professor Nicolo Dell’Unto, the Lund University team recreated the guns from 3D models of the artifacts. (Watch video story detailing the artillery)

A Danish ‘floating castle’

Gribshunden was built near Rotterdam between 1483-84. King Hans of Denmark and Norway had taken possession of the ship by spring 1486. The high cost of building and equipping these ships meant Gribshunden probably absorbed about 8% of the Danish national budget in 1485. 

Hans utilized his flagship differently from other monarchs; he personally sailed on it frequently, using it not for exploration, but to solidify his grasp on his kingdom. It was his floating castle, enabling royal travel to Sweden and all around the Danish realm including Gotland and especially Norway. The king used this vessel in ways similar to a terrestrial royal fortification. This included several soft power functions: economic, diplomatic, social, cultural, and administrative. Underpinning all of these was the obvious hard power of the ship’s martial purpose embodied by the guns and other weapons carried aboard.

Evidence of explosion

Gribshunden served the crown for a decade before sinking while the king was en route from Copenhagen to a political summit in Sweden, where he expected to unify the entire Nordic region in a new Kalmar Union. Historical documents including eyewitness accounts relate that while Hans was ashore in Ronneby, an explosion and fire claimed the ship while it was anchored off the town. 

Among the 22-lead artillery shots from Gribshunden, several are flattened on one or two sides. This may be a result of the explosion that sank the vessel. Shot stored in the hold near the gunpowder ricocheted inside the ship.

No Nordic expansion into North America

So, given the existence of these warships, why didn’t Denmark compete in expanding to the Americas? Denmark and Norway shared the long Viking and medieval Nordic history of exploration and settlement in the west, with colonies in Iceland and Greenland, and settlements in North America. Coupled with adoption of this new enabling technology, Hans might have successfully competed with the Iberian rulers in global exploration and expansion to the Americas. 

However, Hans’ primary concern was consolidating rule over the Baltic region. In pursuit of that goal, Hans himself sailed on Gribshunden into the Atlantic on several royal visits, and to Kalmar on the ship’s final voyage.

One reason for Denmark’s inattention to the Americas might have been a 1493 papal bull signed by Pope Alexander VI. This granted Spain rights to the Americas, and a treaty between Spain and Portugal ceded the Indian Ocean to the latter. Prior to the Reformation, the threat of excommunication for ignoring the papal ‘Inter Caetera’ was very real.

Extinct human relatives left a genetic gift that helped people thrive in the Americas

 A new study provides fresh evidence that ancient interbreeding with archaic human species may have provided modern humans with genetic variation that helped them adapt to new environments as they dispersed across the globe.

The study, published in Science, focused on a gene known as MUC19, which is involved in the production of proteins that form saliva and mucosal barriers in the respiratory and digestive tracts. The researchers show that a variant of that gene derived from Denisovans, an enigmatic species of archaic humans, is present in modern Latin Americans with Indigenous American ancestry, as well as in DNA collected from individuals excavated at archeological sites across North and South America.

The frequency at which the gene appears in modern human populations suggests the gene was under significant natural selection, meaning it provided a survival or reproductive advantage to those who carried it. It’s not clear exactly what that advantage might have been, but given the gene’s involvement in immune processes, it may have helped populations to fight off pathogens encountered as they migrated into the Americas thousands of years ago.

“From an evolutionary standpoint, this finding shows how ancient interbreeding can have effects that we still see today,” said study author Emilia Huerta-Sánchez, a professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology at Brown University. “From a biological standpoint, we identify a gene that appears to be adaptive, but whose function hasn’t yet been characterized. We hope that leads to additional study of what this gene is actually doing.”

Huerta-Sanchez co-authored the study with Fernando Villanea, a former post-doctoral researcher at Brown who is now at University of Colorado, Boulder; David Peede, a graduate student at Brown; and an international team of collaborators.

Not much is known about the Denisovans, who lived in Asia between 300,000 and 30,000 years ago, aside from a few small fossils from Denisova cave in Siberia, two jaw bones found in Tibet and Taiwan, and a nearly complete skull from China found this year. The finger fossil from Siberia contained ancient DNA, which enables scientists to look for common genes between Denisovans and modern humans. Prior research led by Huerta-Sánchez found that a version of a gene called EPAS1 acquired from Denisovans may have helped Sherpas and other Tibetans to adapt to high altitudes.

For this study, the researchers compared Denisovan DNA with modern genomes collected through the 1,000 Genomes Project, a survey of worldwide genetic variation. The researchers found that the Denisovan-derived MUC19 gene is present in high frequencies in Latino populations who harbor Indigenous American genetic ancestry. The researchers also looked for the gene in the DNA of 23 individuals collected from archeological sites in Alaska, California, Mexico and elsewhere in the Americas. The Denisovan-derived variant was present at high frequency in these ancient individuals as well.

The team used several independent statistical tests to show that the Denisovan MUC19 gene variant rose to unusually high frequencies in ancient Indigenous American populations and present-day people of Indigenous descent, and that the gene sits on an unusually long stretch of archaic DNA — both signs that natural selection had boosted its prevalence. The research also revealed that the gene was likely passed through interbreeding from Denisovans to another archaic population, the Neanderthals, who then interbred with modern humans.

Huerta-Sánchez said the findings demonstrate the importance that interbreeding had in introducing new and potentially useful genetic variation in the human lineage.

“Typically, genetic novelty is generated through a very slow process,” Huerta- Sánchez said.  “But these interbreeding events were a sudden way to introduce a lot of new variation.”

In this case, she said, that “new reservoir of genetic variation” appears to have helped modern humans as they migrated into the Americas, perhaps providing a boost to the immune system.

“Something about this gene was clearly useful for these populations — and maybe still is or will be in the future,” Huerta-Sánchez said.

She’s hopeful that the recognition of the gene’s importance will spur new research into its function to reveal novel biological mechanisms, especially since it involves coding genetic variants that alter the protein sequence.

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Journal

Science

DOI

10.1101/2023.09.25.559202  

In the Neolithic, agriculture took root gradually

 The transition to agriculture in Europe involved the coexistence of hunter-gatherers and early farmers migrating from Anatolia. To better understand their dynamics of interaction, a team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with the University of Fribourg and Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, combined computer simulations with ancient genetic data. The results show that population mixing increased locally over time during the Neolithic expansion, at each stage of the farmers’ advance along the “Danube route” toward Central Europe. Published in Science Advances, the study offers new insight into this pivotal period in human history.

The shift from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an agricultural one marked a major turning point in human history. In Europe, this transition began almost 9,000 years ago, with the migration of farmers from the Aegean region and western Anatolia (modern-day Anatolian Turkey), who followed the “Danube route” eventually reaching Central Europe (present-day northern Germany). Before the hunter-gatherer lifestyle was fully replaced, the two cultures coexisted for several generations.

 

Scientists have long debated whether this transition occurred through knowledge transfer from nearby farming communities or through interbreeding between the populations as the farmers migrated. Archaeological evidence – such as the coexistence of cultural artifacts from both groups – combined with paleogenomic analysis of well-preserved human remains, has confirmed the hypothesis of population migration and admixture.

Modeling the Encounter Between Two Worlds

In this study, the group led by Mathias Currat, senior lecturer in the Department of genetics and evolution at UNIGE’s Faculty of science, aimed to better understand how these populations interacted over time. The team focused on the demographic dynamics along the “Danube route”: did the groups intermingle consistently from the outset, or did the mixing intensify over time? Using computer models, the researchers simulated the Neolithic expansion by incorporating geographic positions, biological parameters (such as population sizes, reproduction rates, and migration patterns), and interaction variables (like genetic admixture rates and potential competition).

“These simulations generated thousands of genetic scenarios, which we then compared to data from 67 prehistoric individuals from regions where the two groups had coexisted. By applying statistical methods, we were able to estimate the most likely demographic parameters,” explains Mathias Currat. The findings reveal that at each stage of the farmers’ expansion toward northwestern Europe, genetic mixing with hunter-gatherers was initially rare but increased locally over time. “Our results show that the Neolithic transition was not characterized by violent confrontation or complete replacement, but rather by prolonged coexistence with increasing levels of interbreeding,” adds Alexandros Tsoupas, a researcher in Currat’s team and first author of the study.

More Numerous and More Mobile Farmers

The study also estimates the demographic advantage of early farmers: their effective population size was roughly five times larger than that of the hunter-gatherers. Although rare, some farmers made long-distance “migration jumps,” helping to accelerate their expansion into central Europe.

These findings provide a nuanced answer to a longstanding debate: the Neolithization of Europe was not a simple colonization process, but a complex one involving contact, cohabitation, and gradually increasing admixture. The study also highlights the power of combining ancient genetics with modeling approaches to reconstruct key chapters of human history.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.adq9976