Thursday, November 29, 2012

Palaeolithic Macedonia: Landscape in the Mist


What do we know about paleolithic Macedonia? Some scarce finds, mostly stone tools, and usually “orphan”, and some general dating references maintain until today a fragmentary, rather distorted picture about this distant era, a picture which is being even more obscured by soil erosion and climate changes that occurred over the last 100,000 years.

Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Nikos Efstratiou, spoke about the need for new, dynamic approaches to this research field, in his announcement at the conference entitled “Hundred Years of Research in Prehistoric Macedonia”.

Mr. Efstratiou pointed out that prehistoric research in Macedonia is still in its infancy and said that one of the most significant problems is the fragmentary character of all periods of the Pleistocene. He also referred to institutional problems, lacking of educational and research programs about this period, as well as the general conditions that do not encourage the realization of systematic paleolithic surveys. The surveys conducted allow a reduced archaeological “visibility” of paleolithic groups, because of the features of the geomorphological landscape of the region and the paleoenvironmental changes, that interfere in a dramatic way in every attempt to reconstruct settlement systems.


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Bronze Age Brain Surgeons

The 4,400-year-old skull of an early neurosurgery patient.


5,000 years ago, people living in Turkey were surprisingly good at what seems like a purely modern practice.

You might shudder at the mere thought of ancient brain surgery, but recent studies of the practice at Bronze Age sites in Turkey suggest that early neurosurgeons were surprisingly precise and that a majority of their patients may have survived.

At Ikiztepe, a small settlement near the Black Sea occupied from 3200 to 1700 B.C., archaeologist Önder Bilgi of Istanbul University has uncovered five skulls with clean, rectangular incisions that are evidence for trepanation, or basic cranial surgery. The procedure may have been performed to treat hemorrhages, brain cancer, head trauma, or mental illness. Last August Bilgi also unearthed a pair of razor-sharp volcanic glass blades that he believes were used to make the careful cuts.

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Secrets of an Iron Age smith


Ironworking may have been carefully controlled knowledge in the Iron Age, leaving the uninitiated wondering whether it involved divine power, higher knowledge, or perhaps even magic.  If so, the Iron Age smiths kept their secrets well, for the scarcity of direct archaeological evidence leaves many questions about how they practiced their craft.  New finds at Beechwood Farm, Inverness may help to reveal these ancient techniques, and provide new perspectives on metalworking in northern Scotland.   As well as ironworking debris in the form of slag the site has yielded an unusual find: the remains of a clay-lined furnace, a feature that only rarely survives in the archaeological record.

The excavation, conducted by AOC Archaeology Group, has unearthed evidence showing that activity on the site stretches back to before the age of metal, into the Neolithic. Early prehistoric artefacts have also been recovered, including a selection of pottery sherds and quern stones used for grinding grain into flour.

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Antiquity: Submerged Prehistoric Archaeology and Landscapes of the Continental Shelf


For most of human history on this planet—about 90 per cent of the time—sea levels have been substantially lower than at present, exposing large tracts of territory for human settlement. Europe alone would have had a land area increased by 40 per cent at the maximum sea level regression (Figure 1). Although this has been recognised for many decades, archaeologists have resisted embracing its full implications, barely accepting that most evidence of Palaeolithic marine exploitation must by definition be invisible, believing that nothing has survived or can be found on the seabed, and preferring instead to emphasise the opportunities afforded by lower sea level for improved terrestrial dispersal across land bridges and narrowed sea channels.

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Bronze Age "microbrewery" found by Manchester scientists


Archaeologists led by an expert from the University of Manchester are raising a glass to the discovery of a Bronze Age "microbrewery" in western Cyprus.

The team excavated a 2 metres x 2 metres mud-plaster domed structure which it says was used as a kiln to dry malt and make beer 3,500 years ago.

Beers of different flavours would have been brewed from malted barley and fermented with yeasts with an alcoholic content of around 5%. The yeast would have either been wild or produced from fruit such as grape or fig, according to the researchers.

Dr Lindy Crewe has led the excavation at the Early-Middle Bronze Age settlement of Kissonerga-Skalia, near Paphos, since 2007.

She said: "Archaeologists believe beer drinking was an important part of society from the Neolithic onwards and may have even been the main reason that people began to cultivate grain in the first place.

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Monday, November 26, 2012

'Trust' provides answer to handaxe enigma


Trust rather than lust is at the heart of the attention to detail and finely made form of handaxes from around 1.7 million years ago, according to a University of York researcher.

Dr Penny Spikins, from the Department of Archaeology, suggests a desire to prove their trustworthiness, rather than a need to demonstrate their physical fitness as a mate, was the driving force behind the fine crafting of handaxes by Homo erectus/ergaster in the Lower Palaeolithic period.

Dr Spikins said: “We sometimes imagine that early humans were self-centred, and if emotional at all, that they would have been driven by their immediate desires. However, research suggests that we have reason to have more faith in human nature, and that trust played a key role in early human societies. Displaying trust not lust was behind the attention to detail and finely made form of handaxes.”

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Police recover artefacts stolen from Olympia


An array of ancient artifacts are displayed by police after they were recovered. Greek police say they have arrested three people in connection with an armed robbery that targeted the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympics. The three men were arrested Friday in the western Greek city of Patras, close to Ancient Olympia, after they tried to sell the most ancient of the antiquities to an undercover policeman [Credit: AP]

Police say they have arrested three people in connection with an armed robbery that targeted the Archaeological Museum of Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympics.

The three men were arrested Friday in the western Greek city of Patras, close to Ancient Olympia.

They were arrested after they tried to sell the most ancient of the antiquities, a golden seal-ring dating from the late Bronze Age, about 3,200 years ago, for an initial asking price of (EURO)1 million ($1.3 million).


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Thursday, November 22, 2012

Charcoal clues to Assynt's Bronze Age woodland


Analysis of charcoal at the site of a suspected Bronze Age "sauna" suggests the surrounding area hosted a rich and diverse woodland.

Archaeologists have been examining what is called a burnt mound at Stronechrubie, in Assynt. Wood from birch, alder, hazel and hawthorn, or apple, trees has been identified.

Archaeologists said the species were far more diverse than those found in Assynt today.

Excavations of the burnt mound - a crescent shaped mound of stones - revealed a metre-deep pit linked to a nearby stream by a channel.

The find was made by the Fire and Water Project, which is run by archaeology and history group Historic Assynt and AOC Archaeology.

The project's archaeologists believe it may have been created for bathing, or as a sauna.


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Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Ancient Quernhow monument commemorated


Highways Agency project manager David Brindle with former Quernhow Cafe owner Brian Lye with the new stone and plaque commemorating the Bronze Age burial mound. 
 
A BRONZE Age monument has been commemorated after a long-running campaign. 

The 4,000-year-old Quernhow burial mound, which was obliterated by the upgrading of the A1(M), has been marked with a plaque and stone by the Quernhow Café, near Ainderby Quernhow, by the Highways Agency. 

Archaeologists say the site was “of primary importance in prehistoric times” as it stood on the plain between the three great henges of Thornborough to the north and those on Hutton Moor to the south, accompanied by a number of other tumuli nearby.

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Archaeologist to discuss Pictish discoveries in Aberdeenshire


A University of Aberdeen archaeologist is to share news of the fascinating Pictish finds from an excavation at Rhynie with the local community.

Dr Gordon Noble, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, will give a public talk at Rhynie School on Thursday (November 22) at 7.30pm where he will explain just how significant the region was during the time of the Picts.
Dr Noble has been part of a team working in the area around the famous Craw Stane for around two years. Their findings have revealed that Rhynie was a key seat of Pictish power and may even have been a royal settlement in the 5th and 6th centuries AD.
He said: “Rhynie has always been noted as somewhere special because of the many Pictish standing stones that come from the village. One in particular, the Craw Stane, is particularly significant as it still stands in its original position.

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Hunters used stone-tipped spears 200,000 years earlier than previously thought


A University of Toronto-led team of anthropologists has found evidence that human ancestors used stone-tipped weapons for hunting animals 500,000 years ago — 200,000 years earlier than previously thought.

"This changes the way we think about early human adaptations and capacities before the origin of our own species," says Jayne Wilkins, a PhD candidate in the department of anthropology at the University of Toronto and lead author of a new study in Science magazine. 

"Although both Neanderthals and humans used stone-tipped spears, this is the first evidence that the technology originated prior to or near the divergence of these two species."

Attaching stone points to spears — known as "hafting" — was an important advance in hunting weaponry for early humans, says Wilkins. Hafted tools require more effort and foreplanning to manufacture, but a sharp stone point on the end of a spear can increase its killing power.

Hafted spear tips are common in Stone Age archaeological sites beginning about 300,000 years ago. This new study shows that they were also used in the early Middle Pleistocene, a period associated with the Homo heidelbergensis species, who were the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans.

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Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Sorry, vegans: Eating meat and cooking food made us human

A feast fit for ... our prehuman ancestors? While vegetarian, vegan and raw diets can be healthy today — likely far healthier than the typical American diet, to continue to call these diets "natural" for humans, in terms of evolution, is a bit of a stretch.

Vegetarian, vegan and raw diets can be healthy — likely far healthier than the typical American diet. But to continue to call these diets "natural" for humans, in terms of evolution, is a bit of a stretch, according to two recent, independent studies. 

Eating meat and cooking food made us human, the studies suggest, enabling the brains of our prehuman ancestors to grow dramatically over a period of a few million years. 

Although this isn't the first such assertion from archaeologists and evolutionary biologists, the new studies demonstrate, respectively, that it would have been biologically implausible for humans to evolve such a large brain on a raw, vegan diet and that meat-eating was a crucial element of human evolution at least 1 million years before the dawn of humankind.

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Stone Age houses are discovered on our doorstep!


STONE Age records of the first native people in Britain has been found after archaeologists discovered three houses from nearly 8,000 years ago that could ‘rewrite the history books'.

Environment Agency officials were undertaking a project in Lunt Meadows to help clean water supplies but commissioned archaeology experts from the Museum of Liverpool to oversee any excavations.

Over the summer, several finds were made including the foundations of three houses preserved one meter underground, several tools, remains of camp fires and even nearby snacks such as hazelnut shells.

There are only three other sites of similar importance in the country and this is the only one based in the North West.

The finding is a first for archeologists, who have always assumed that Mesolithic man was nomadic, but this site presents the possibility that several families could have lived in just one place.

Radiocarbon dating that took place towards the end of last month proved the findings, based near Sefton Village church, dated back to around 5,800BC.


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Archaeologists unearth Stone Age dwelling on the banks the of new Forth crossing

new forth crossing artists impression of the dwelling that archaeological excavation 
from the mesolithic period

THE remains of an ancient dwelling believed to be Scotland’s oldest house have been discovered on the banks of the River Forth.

Experts say the Stone Age timber structure – which may have resembled the wigwams constructed by North American Indians – was built more than 10,000 years ago, possibly as a winter retreat, in the ­period after the last ice age. 

It was discovered in a field outside the village of Echline, near South Queensferry, during routine archaeological excavations in advance of work on the new Forth Replacement Crossing over the Forth estuary and contained flint arrowheads used by the original ­occupants.

Dated from the mesolithic era, the remains consist of a large oval pit, seven metres long and half a metre deep, with a series of holes which would have held upright wooden posts. They would have supported walls possibly made from animals skins, ­although some experts believe there may have been a flatter turf roof.

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Monday, November 19, 2012

Were Prehistoric Statues Pornographic?

The Venus of Hohle Fels
Photograph by Gerbil/Wikimedia Commons.

Our interpretations say more about modern sexism than life in the Paleolithic.

April Nowell is a Paleolithic archaeologist at the University of Victoria, British Columbia. The idea that curvaceous figurines are prehistoric pornography is an excuse to legitimize modern behavior as having ancient roots, she says. Her paper, "Pornography is in the eye of the beholder: Sex, sexuality and sexism in the study of Upper Paleolithic figurines," co-authored with Melanie Chang, will appear next year.

Jude Isabella: Which Paleolithic images and artifacts have been described as pornography?
April Nowell:
The Venus figurines of women, some with exaggerated anatomical features, and ancient rock art, like the image from the Abri Castanet site in France that is supposedly of female genitalia.

JI: You take issue with this interpretation. Who is responsible for spreading it, journalists or scientists?

AN:
People are fascinated by prehistory, and the media wants to write stories that attract readers—to use a cliché, sex sells. But when a New York Times headline reads "A Precursor to Playboy: Graphic Images in Rock," and Discover magazine asserts that man's obsession with pornography dates back to "Cro-Magnon days" based on "the famous 26,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf statuette ... [with] GG-cup breasts and a hippopotamal butt," I think a line is crossed. To be fair, archaeologists are partially responsible—we need to choose our words carefully.


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Eastern valley shows off traces of Neolithic Age

The Levent Valley is home to thousands of large and small caves carved by the human hand, according to officials. There are still 20 villages in the village (L). AA photo 

Recent archaeological work in the Levent Valley in the eastern province of Malatya’s Akçadağ district has revealed traces of life from the Neolithic Age.

Levent İskenderoğlu, chairman of Malatya’s branch of the Conservation Implementation and Control Branch (KUDEB), said the 28-kilometer-long Levent Valley was a very attractive place thanks to its geological formations.

The valley is home to thousands of large and small caves carved by the human hand, he said. “One can see the traces of life in these caves with the naked eye.”

KUDEB has recently completed inventory work in the valley, he said. “The work, carried out by scientists – KUDEB’s technical staff including art historians and archaeologists – has revealed that life existed there until the Paleolithic age. We have seen traces of life from the Neolithic period in the valley caves.

There are also traces of the Hittite, Roman, Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Life is still continuing in villages. We can say that life has been continuing in the Levent Valley, which is a natural wonder, for 10,000 years. People have chosen this area to life in every age.” 


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Stone age nomads settled down in Merseyside, flints and timber suggest

Lunt Meadow is close to Formby beach, where scores of trails of ancient human and animal footprints have been discovered preserved in the silty mud. Photograph: Colin Mcpherson/Corbis


It will come as no surprise to proud Merseysiders, but a recent discovery of worked flints and charred timber suggests that when stone age people reached Lunt Meadows, a beautiful site at Sefton, they liked it so much that instead of continuing as nomadic hunter-gatherers, they settled down and built permanent dwellings.

Archaeologists are still working on the site, discovered this summer during work for the Environment Agency, but preliminary carbon-dating results suggest that they are almost 8,000 years old, from the Mesolithic period, and come from at least three structures, suggesting family groups living together in a settlement which may have lasted for centuries.

As well as the worked flint, and large pebbles with a partly polished surface showing they were used as tools, the archaeologists have found quantities of chert stone which is not local, but must have been specially imported – the nearest site would be across the estuary, in what is now north Wales.

Archaeologist Ron Cowell called the discoveries "fascinating". He added: "It looks as if we have the remains of three houses, or structures, which were very substantial, up to six metres across. They fit an emerging body of recent evidence, challenging the traditional view of people of this period as constantly on the move. Our site suggests that they had permanent structures which at the least they repeatedly returned to for part of the year."

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Mesolithic man find could rewrite Stone Age history


An archaeological find at Lunt Meadows in Sefton, Merseyside has unearthed evidence that Mesolithic man may have built settlements.

If proven, it could change the way historians think about how humans lived in the middle Stone Age period.

It was always thought that Mesolithic man was nomadic, yet this site presents the possibility that several families may have lived together in one place.

The discoveries have been dated back to the middle Stone Age (5,800 BC) and reveal a floor, timber stakes which would have been part of a wall, as well as flints and other utensils.

Watch the video...

Der Neandertaler in uns

Der Neandertaler in uns
 
(Deutschland, 2010, 52mn)
ZDF
Regie: Tamara Spitzing


A video over recent research into the Neandertal genome.

This video is available in either Gerrman or French.

Watch the video...

Scottish dig unearths '10,000-year-old home'


The remains of what is believed to be one of Scotland's earliest homes have been uncovered during construction works for the new Forth crossing. The site dates from the Mesolithic period, about 10,000 years ago.

Archaeological excavation works have been taking place in a field at Echline in South Queensferry in preparation for the Forth Replacement Crossing.

A large oval pit nearly 7m in length is all that remains of the dwelling, along with hearths, flint and arrowheads.

'First settlers'

Rod McCullagh, a senior archaeologist at Historic Scotland, said: "This discovery and, especially the information from the laboratory analyses adds valuable information to our understanding of a small but growing list of buildings erected by Scotland's first settlers after the last glaciation, 10,000 years ago.


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Sunday, November 18, 2012

Summer Courses in Archaeology

Oxford Experience Archaeology Courses

The Oxford Experience Summer School offers weekly introductory courses in the Sciences and Humanities.  Participants stay in Christ Church, the largest and one of the most beautiful Oxford Colleges.


You can find out more about the Oxford Experience here...

Archaeologists unearth rare finds


Construction work on a new dual carriageway section of the A11 near Thetford has uncovered primitive flint tools dating back over 6,000 years.

An archaeological dig at the site has also uncovered evidence of settlements dating back to 1500 BC
For archaeologists the discovery at Eleveden is an opportunity to peak behind the curtain of time to catch glimpses of how our ancestors lived.

Items unearthed include fragments of vase, a Roman door latch and even flint cutting blades from around 2,000BC.

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Scythian warriors show genetic blending between Europeans and Asians


Evidence of the potential genetic blending between Europeans and Asians has been discovered by a team of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) within the remains of Scythian warriors living over 2,000 years ago in the Altai region of Mongolia.

Tracing the lineage routes

The Scythians were already documented as the first large Eurasian culture, but were believed to be the product of migration from Europe. The researchers now suggest that the genetic blending is actually a result of the expansion of Scythian culture over the mountains.

Studies on ancient mitochondrial DNA of this region suggest that the Altai Mountains played the role of a geographical barrier between West and East Eurasian lineages until the beginning of the Iron Age.
After the 7th century BC, coinciding with Scythian expansion across the Eurasian steppes, a gradual influx of East Eurasian sequences in Western steppes is detected. However, the underlying events behind the genetic admixture in Altai during the Iron Age are still unresolved: 1) whether it was a result of migratory events (eastward firstly, westward secondly), or 2) whether it was a result of a local demographic expansion in a ‘contact zone’ between European and East Asian people.

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Scottish dig unearths '10,000-year-old home' at Echline


The remains of what is believed to be one of Scotland's earliest homes have been uncovered during construction works for the new Forth crossing.

The site dates from the Mesolithic period, about 10,000 years ago.

Archaeological excavation works have been taking place in a field at Echline in South Queensferry in preparation for the Forth Replacement Crossing.

A large oval pit nearly 7m in length is all that remains of the dwelling, along with hearths, flint and arrowheads.

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Friday, November 16, 2012

Russia: Gone Fishing


The discovery of 7,500-year-old fish traps in a Russian river valley has given new insight into prehistoric European settlement patterns.

The Mesolithic nomadic hunter-gatherers were believed to move with the seasons to follow food sources. Now excavation at a site in the Dubna river basin outside Moscow shows evidence of continuous year-round occupation.

The three-year investigation by an international team of archaeologists, led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), found evidence that the inhabitants of Zamostje 2 adapted their diets according to the time of year but remained in the same place.

Project leader Ignacio Clemente said: ‘We think that fishing played a vital role in the economy of these societies, because it was a versatile product, easy to preserve, dry and smoke, as well as to store for later consumption.’

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Unknown ancient city comes to light in Crete


An important archaeological excavation has just started at the “Koupos” site, by Krousona, not far from Herakleion (Crete). The site has been known since the early 20th century for the existence of an ancient city whose name remains unknown. 


The actual project is made possible by the collaboration between the 13th Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities and the Malevisi Municipality. Mayor Kostas Mamoulakis has taken in charge all expenses, while Athanasia Kanta, Director of the 13th EPCA, supervises the work. Furthermore, to facilitate the excavations, Malevizi Municipality has bought a big lot of land.

The site has been first investigated by the 13th EPCA back in the 1980s. A large settlement came to light, inhabited from the Late Minoan to the Hellenistic years (1200-100 BC). Many Archaic buildings had well built rooms. Inside the rooms were found the stone bases of the wooden columns that used to hold the roof. Pits carved in the rock contained ceramics and other findings that seem to have been offered for the house’s solid foundations.


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Mysterious Elk-Shaped Structure Discovered in Russia



A huge geoglyph in the shape of an elk or deer discovered in Russia may predate Peru's famous Nazca Lines by thousands of years.  

The animal-shaped stone structure, located near Lake Zjuratkul in the Ural Mountains, north of Kazakhstan, has an elongated muzzle, four legs and two antlers. A historical Google Earth satellite image from 2007 shows what may be a tail, but this is less clear in more recent imagery.

Excluding the possible tail, the animal stretches for about 900 feet (275 meters) at its farthest points (northwest to southeast), the researchers estimate, equivalent to two American football fields. The figure faces north and would have been visible from a nearby ridge.

"The figure would initially have looked white and slightly shiny against the green grass background," write Stanislav Grigoriev, of the Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of History & Archaeology, and Nikolai Menshenin, of the State Centre for Monument Protection, in an article first detailing the discovery published last spring in the journal Antiquity. They note that it is now covered by a layer of soil.

Fieldwork carried out this past summer has shed more light on the glyph's composition and date, suggesting it may be the product of a "megalithic culture," researchers say. They note that hundreds of megalithic sites have been discovered in the Urals, with the most elaborate structures located on a freshwater island about 35 miles (60 km) northeast of the geoglyph. [See Photos of Russia's Nazca Lines]

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Clubs Med: Neanderthals may have sailed to Mediterranean


Neanderthals or other extinct human lineages may have sailed to the Mediterranean Islands long before previously thought. Here, an excavation at Akrotiri Aetokremnos, a site in Cyprus dating back to about 10,000 B.C., where pygmy hippo fossils were found.


Neanderthals and other extinct human lineages might have been ancient mariners, venturing to the Mediterranean islands thousands of years earlier than previously thought. 

This prehistoric seafaring could shed light on the mental capabilities of these lost relatives of modern humans, researchers say. 

Scientists had thought the Mediterranean islands were first settled about 9,000 years ago by Neolithic or New Stone Age farmers and shepherds. 

"On a lot of Mediterranean islands, you have these amazing remains from classical antiquity to study, so for many years people didn't even look for older sites," said archaeologist Alan Simmons at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas.

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Stone me! Spears show early human species was sharper than we thought


Cutting edge technology: early humans were lashing stone tips to wooden handles to make spears about 200,000 years earlier than we thought, research suggests. Photograph: Jayne Wilkins

Evidence of hunting with spears 500,000 years ago suggests common ancestor of humans and Neanderthals was 'very bright'


The ancestors of humans were hunting with stone-tipped spears 500,000 years ago, according to a new study – around 200,000 years earlier than previously thought. This means that the technology must have been developed by an earlier species of human, the last common ancestor of both modern humans and Neanderthals.

The invention of stone-tipped spears was a significant point in human evolution, allowing our ancestors to kill animals more efficiently and have more regular access to meat, which they would have needed to feed ever-growing brains. "It's a more effective strategy which would have allowed early humans to have more regular access to meat and high-quality foods, which is related to increases in brain size, which we do see in the archaeological record of this time," said Jayne Wilkins, an archaeologist at the University of Toronto who took part in the latest research.

The technique needed to make stone-tipped spears, called hafting, would also have required humans to think and plan ahead: hafting is a multi-step manufacturing process that requires many different materials and skill to put them together in the right way. "It's telling us they're able to collect the appropriate raw materials, they're able to manufacture the right type of stone weapons, they're able to collect wooden shafts, they're able to haft the stone tools to the wooden shaft as a composite technology," said Michael Petraglia, a professor of human evolution and prehistory at the University of Oxford who was not involved in the research. "This is telling us that we're dealing with an ancestor who is very bright."

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Thursday, November 15, 2012

Airport x-ray scans reveal haul of new Bronze Age axeheads in pot found in Jersey field


An x-ray of the Bronze Age pot found in a Jersey field last month, carried out at the island’s airport, has found a further 21 axeheads in a discovery which could shed new light on the way people lived 3,000 years ago.

The original excavation, carried out after metal detectorist Ken Rive reported the find on a plot of land in Trinity, confirmed two socketed axeheads inside the damaged ancient pot.

Air pockets between the axes suggest that soil may have concealed the rest of the weapons as the pot gradually decayed.

“A trial x-ray fluorescence scan was carried out by staff from Cranfield University on the first two axes,” said a statement by Olga Finch, Jersey Heritage’s Curator of Archaeology, and Neil Mahrer, the Conservator for the group.

“This shows that they contain a very high lead content – almost 55 percent.


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Archaeologists say Celtic relic found in Alps is a war horn


Trento, November 14 – Archaeologists in Trento announced Wednesday that an ancient Celtic artifact found some 60 years ago in this alpine region is, in fact, a Celtic war horn.

The horn was found in the Val di Non valley, an area more known for apples than for ancient artifacts.


While it was understood to be of Celtic origin, the use of the instrument - made of what appeared to be tubes and a bronze “leaf” - remained a mystery.


However, recently, archaeologists in Tintignac, France, uncovered a similar relic whose much better state allowed them to understand that it was, in fact, a horn.


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Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Mongolia and the Altai Mountains: Origins of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians


A group of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB) has discovered the first scientific evidence of genetic blending between Europeans and Asians in the remains of ancient Scythian warriors living over 2,000 years ago in the Altai region of Mongolia. Contrary to what was believed until now, the results published in PLoS ONE indicate that this blending was not due to an eastward migration of Europeans, but to a demographic expansion of local Central Asian populations, thanks to the technological improvements the Scythian culture brought with them. 

The Altai is a mountain range in Central Asia occupying territories of Russia and Kazakhstan to the west and of Mongolia and China to the east. Historically, the Central Asian steppes have been a corridor for Asian and European populations, resulting in the region's large diversity in population today. In ancient times however the Altai Mountains, located in the middle of the steppes, represented an important barrier for the coexistence and mixture of the populations living on each side. And so they lived isolated during millennia: Europeans on the western side and Asians on the eastern side. 

The research conducted by researchers from the UAB, the Institut Català de Paleontologia Miquel Crusafont and the Institute of Evolutionary Biology (UPF-CSIC) sheds new light on when and how this Eurasian genetic blending took place. 

At the UAB palaeogenetic laboratory researchers analysed mitochondrial DNA (inherited from the mother, it allows us to trace our ancestors) extracted from the bones and teeth of 19 skeletons from the Bronze Age (7th to 10th century BCE) and from the Iron Age (2nd to 7th century BCE) from the Mongolian Altai Mountains. The remains were extracted from the tombs discovered seven years ago, in which the skeletons of Scythian warriors were discovered and which represented the first scientific evidence of this culture in East Asia.

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Tuesday, November 13, 2012

Civilisation is making humanity less intelligent, study claims

In a more civilised time the selection process which favoured the smartest of our ancestors
and weeded out the dullards is no longer in force
 Photo: ALAMY

Intelligence and the capacity for abstract thought evolved in our prehistoric ancestors living in Africa between 50,000 and 500,000 years ago, who relied on their wits to build shelters and hunt prey. 
But in more civilised times where we no longer need to fight to survive, the selection process which favoured the smartest of our ancestors and weeded out the dullards is no longer in force. 
Harmful mutations in our genes which reduce our "higher thinking" ability are therefore passed on through generations and allowed to accumulate, leading to a gradual dwindling of our intelligence as a species, a new study claims. 
Prof Gerald Crabtree, a developmental biologist at Stanford University, explained in the Trends in Genetics journal that a mutation in any one of 2,000 to 5,000 particular genes could lower our intellectual and emotional ability.

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What is Google Earth Anomalies?


Discover the hidden archaeologist in you, on the Google Earth Anomalies website. As the name suggests, it is a website that is dedicated to discovering intriguing images from Google Earth. Recently, a group of archaeologists unearthed undiscovered pyramids and posted findings on the website. However, what has everyone gotten intrigued about is the unusual name of the website. The website states that the anomalies posted are derived from Google Earth satellite imagery programme. The site contains postings, satellite images from the anomaly collection of over 5,000 placemarks that consists of anomalous earthworks, unusual topography, geographical anomalies, scientific anomalies, mound sites, extraordinary sites, weird sites, unexplained features, mysterious landscape signs, unusual underwater formations/geography, and strange places seen with Google Earth.

Keisha Patel, a third-year geology student says that she finds the website extremely helpful for research projects. “Considering it is endorsed by Google, it has credibility and we can trust on findings. I found the project on underwater circular features in Greece extremely interesting. Even the quality and resolution of pictures is good. A lot of research had been going on for quite some time and these findings help us get a good hold of the subject,” explains Keisha.


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You may also be interested in this Oxford summer school course about archaeology:

An Introductiuon to Archaeology

'Palaeo-porn': we've got it all wrong


See the evidence in our gallery: "The reality and the fantasy of 'palaeo-porn'"

The idea that curvaceous figurines are prehistoric pornography is an excuse to legitimise modern behaviour as having ancient roots, says archaeologist April Nowell

Which Palaeolithic images and artefacts have been described as pornography?
The Venus figurines of women, some with exaggerated anatomical features, and ancient rock art, like the image from the Abri Castanet site in France that is supposedly of female genitalia.

You take issue with this interpretation. Who is responsible for spreading it, journalists or scientists?

People are fascinated by prehistory, and the media want to write stories that attract readers - to use a cliché, sex sells. But when a New York Times headline reads "A Precursor to Playboy: Graphic Images in Rock", and Discover magazine asserts that man's obsession with pornography dates back to "Cro-Magnon days" based on "the famous 26,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf statuette...[with] GG-cup breasts and a hippopotamal butt", I think a line is crossed. To be fair, archaeologists are partially responsible - we need to choose our words carefully.

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Monday, November 12, 2012

Golden treasure unearthed in Bulgaria


Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed ancient golden artefacts during excavation works in the north of the country. 

The findings include golden rings, female figurines and 100 gold buttons. They are thought to date back to the late 4th or early 3rd century BC. 

James Kelly reports.

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Rare discoveries inspire archaeology on the beach


Mesolithic remains, an early Bronze Age cemetery and ancient peat beds are just some of the heritage wonders due to be excavated from the cliffs at Low Hauxley, thanks to a Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) grant of £285,900.

The project ‘Rescued from the Sea’ run by the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, will engage a small army of volunteers to meticulously uncover the extremely rare and nationally important archaeological finds that are currently hidden within the cliff face. Local volunteers will be specially trained in the necessary skills to accurately record and preserve their findings. They will be trained in excavation skills, photography and small find recording amongst others.

The site is rapidly eroding with each high-tide, so the project has come to fruition just in time. According to the English Heritage funded North East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment – the site is of high importance and extremely vulnerable. Mesolithic settlement sites, such as middens, hearths and structural remains, are very rare making these discoveries and this project all the more vital.

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Neolithic houses unearthed in central Greece


The third field season of the Koutroulou Magoula Archaeology and Archaeological Ethnography project was completed a few days ago, bringing to light an important and extremely well preserved prehistoric site. 


The site of Koutroula Magoula, near the villages of Vardali and Neo Monastiri in Fthiotida is one of the largest tell sites in Greece covering of area of around 4 hectares, and rising 6,6 meters above the plan. 

It was occupied during the Middle Neolithic period (c. 5800-5300 BC) by a community of a few hundred people who constructed elaborate and architecturally sophisticated houses out of stone and mud-brick and with stone-paved under-floors.


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Saturday, November 10, 2012

French mammoth may have been Neanderthal lunch


French archaeologists have uncovered a rare, near-complete skeleton of a mammoth in the countryside near Paris, alongside tiny fragments of flint tools suggesting the carcass may have been cut into by prehistoric hunters.

The archaeologists say that if that hypothesis is confirmed, their find would be the clearest ever evidence of interaction between mammoths and ancient cavemen in this part of Europe.

"Evidence this clear has never been found before, at least in France," said Gregory Bayle, chief archaeologist at the site.

"We're working on the theory that Neanderthal men came across the carcass and cut off bits of meat."
Archaeologists came across the giant bones by accident while they were excavating ancient Roman remains in a quarry near the town of Changis-sur-Marne, 30 km (19 miles) east of Paris.

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Bounty Of Golden Artifacts Unearthed From 2,400-year-old Bulgarian Tomb


Bulgarian archeologists announced that they have unearthed a bounty of golden jewelry, sculptures, and other artifacts from a 2,400-year old tomb located in northern Bulgaria.

The artifacts were found in a wooden box that contained burnt bones and ritual items, which had been wrapped in a gold-weave cloth. The tomb belonged to the Getae, an ancient tribal people that were rivals with the ancient Greeks and part of a larger group of tribes called the Thracians. The Thracians inhabited an area west of the Black Sea for around 1,000 years, starting around the 5th century B.C.E.

Among the artifacts discovered were four bracelets with snake heads, a tiara with reliefs of lions and fantasy animals, a horse-head ornamental piece, a golden ring, 44 female figure depictions and 100 golden buttons.

“These are amazing findings from the apogee of the rule of the Getae,” lead researcher Diana Gergova, from the Sofia-based National Archaeology Institute, told The Guardian. “From what we see up to now, the tomb may be linked with the first known Getic ruler, Cothelas.”

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