Norway’s oldest human remains

The 8,000-year-old remains of a man found south of Oslo may be Norway’s oldest.

The skeleton is in an extremely fragile condition, meaning researchers are painstakingly examining it tiny fragment by tiny fragment, documenting the location of everything as accurately as possible and feeding it into a 3-D computer model of the find.

The archaeologists hope to learn the age of the man, his diet and the extent to which the people who found their way so far north had contact with other settlements around the Skagerrak and the Baltic Sea.

The skeleton was found lying in the fetal position, a typical stone-age burial position, in a pit which had been bricked in on the inside.

[Full story]

Story: The Local | Photo: Museum of Cultural History in Oslo

Hoard of bronze artifacts found in Poland

Archaeologists working in Poland have unearthed a hoard of bronze artifacts in the Bieszczady Mountains.

“All the objects are made of bronze. The treasure contains a pickaxe, dozens of fragments of a spiral necklace and a bracelet of with recurving endings” – told PAP Piotr Kotowicz, an archaeologist at the Historical Museum in Sanok.

Ice axe and valuables were hidden in a clay jug with a diameter of 25 cm. Before burying it in a pit, the vessel was turned upside down and placed on a sandstone plate.

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Story: PAP | Photo: D.Szuwalski

100 prehistoric cult sites found in Israel

100 prehistoric “cult sites” which date back 8,000 years have been found in the Negev Desert in Israel.

Archaeologists are working to decipher any meaning from the artifacts and structures, noting that both death and fertility seem to be symbolized at the sites.

For instance, in addition to the penis-shaped structures, researchers also found that some of the stones have vulva-shaped holes cut into them. The circles that the penis-shaped structures point to also seem to represent females.

“The circle is a female symbol, and the elongated cell is a male one (phallus),” said Uzi Avner, a researcher with the Arava-Dead Sea Science Center and the Arava Institute, in an email to Live Science.

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Story: Owen Jarus, LiveScience | Photo: Uzi Avner

The oldest cannonball in England

A lead cannonball, fired during the Battle of Northampton in 1460, has been found at the site of the fray at Eagle Drive.

The ball is about 3ins (50mm) in diameter and has been analysed by Dr Foard, who said it had suffered massive impact damage from at least two bounces and may have hit a tree.

It is not clear which side fired the cannonball, but some contemporary accounts suggest the Lancastrian guns failed to fire because of the rain – which means it most likely came from a Yorkist cannon.

Mike Ingram, chairman of the Northampton Battlefield Society, said the cannonball was believed to be the oldest surviving in England.

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Story: BBC News | Photo: Northampton Battlefields Society

The oldest cannonball in England

A lead cannonball, fired during the Battle of Northampton in 1460, has been found at the site of the fray at Eagle Drive.

The ball is about 3ins (50mm) in diameter and has been analysed by Dr Foard, who said it had suffered massive impact damage from at least two bounces and may have hit a tree.

It is not clear which side fired the cannonball, but some contemporary accounts suggest the Lancastrian guns failed to fire because of the rain – which means it most likely came from a Yorkist cannon.

Mike Ingram, chairman of the Northampton Battlefield Society, said the cannonball was believed to be the oldest surviving in England.

[Full story]

Story: BBC News | Photo: Northampton Battlefields Society

Foundations of Anne Boleyn’s royal apartments uncovered

The foundations of the royal apartments built for Anne Boleyn in 1533 has been found after the removal of floorboards in the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court.

Just before Christmas, the squeaky floorboards in one of the Georgian rooms, used by the Royal School of Needlework at the time, had become positively bouncy. When the builders looked under them, they saw a maze of battered Tudor brickwork , realised they had stumbled on something exceptional, and called in the archaeologists.

“It was the best possible Christmas present,” said Dan Jackson, curator of buildings at Hampton Court. “It is really interesting and important evidence for a part of the building of which we know very little.”

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Story: Maev Kennedy, The Guardian | Photo: Graham Turner, The Guardian

Evidence of illegal digs found at Hadrian’s Wall

Police are investigating illegal digs found at a centre section of Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.

The damage is understood to be caused by “nighthawking”; the illegal use of metal detectors by either unwitting amateurs bumbling through digs or unscrupulous thieves.

It is thought that a rise in so-called heritage crime has been fuelled in part by an increase in amateur detectorists, who believe they could find a treasure trove of gold or coins after seeing significant hauls such as the Staffordshire Hoard publicised.

The unregulated digs are now being investigated by experts, who say they cannot tolerate anything that “harms the appreciation of our collective heritage”.

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Story: Hannah Furness, The Telegraph | Photo: The Telegraph

Pueblo Indian rock art defaced by vandals

Always pains me to post about stuff like this, but vandals have defaced a section of the Petroglyph National Monument in west Albuquerque.

The Albuquerque Journal reports that monument Superintendent Dennis Vásquez and a supporter of the monument were exploring a section of the monument last week when they found debris, evidence of campfires, motorcycle tracks and graffiti.

The monument has thousands of samples of ancient Pueblo Indian rock art and it’s managed jointly by the National Park Service and the city.

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Story: AP | Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Roman roadside cemetery found in Devon

15 skeletons have been found at a roadside Roman cemetery found by metal detectorists in Devon, England.

15 ancient skeletons have been discovered on an archaeological dig in Ipplepen, a major Romano-British settlement in Devon and now the best preserved Roman cemetery. University of Exeter archaeologists and a team of students and volunteers uncovered the human remains during an excavation of a Roman Road and found a roadside cemetery, the like of which has never been seen in the region.

The significance of the discovery took on further importance when one of the skeletons was found to date from around 250 to 350 years after the Roman period, an era often referred to as the ‘dark ages’. These discoveries are of both national and regional value in providing a glimpse into Romano-British life and how the settlement continued into post-Roman times.

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Story: University of Exeter | Photo: University of Exeter

4,000-year-old child’s grave found on Orkney island

The 4,000-year-old remains of a child has been found buried on an Orkney island in Scotland.

The grave – which it is believed could be up to 4,000 years old – was uncovered on Sanday’s shoreline by winter storms and high tides.

It is thought the skeleton could be that of a child aged between 10 and 12.

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Story: BBC News | Photo: Roderick Thorne, BBC News

Medieval chapel found in Yorkshire

A medieval chapel, built before the Norman Conquest of 1066, has been found in North Yorkshire.

Two bodies were also found at the site. It is thought the remains were of a young man and an older woman who were both found in a crouching position.

It is believed there were early Christian burials due to the east west alignment of the bodies.

Further work using the latest carbon dating techniques is taking place to more accurately establish how long ago the burials took place.

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Story: Joe Willis, The Advertiser | Photo: The Advertiser

Identifying those buried in London’s Bedlam cemetery

Volunteers have been examining parish records in an effort to help determine the names of the extimated 5,000 people buried in Bedlam cemetery in London.

Some of the names include Sir Ambrose Nicholas, who was Lord Mayor of London in 1575, and Dr John Lamb, an astrologer and advisor to the First Duke of Buckingham who was stoned to death by an angry mob outside a theatre in 1628 following allegations of rape and black magic.

Others identified in the research, carried out by volunteers, include victims of riots by ‘Fanatiques’ noted in the diaries of Samuel Pepys in January 1661.

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Story: Alain Tolhurst, London24 | Photo: Crossrail

How modern humans ate their way to dominance

Science Magazine has posted an interesting article detailing about the genetic changes that occurred in modern humans to diversify our palettes, which in turn helped us rise to dominance on this planet.

As humans adapted to new habitats, they had to become open to new culinary experiences. They ate more starchy tuberous roots, learned to cook their meat and bitter root vegetables, and eventually domesticated plants and animals. Those dietary revolutions helped make us human, giving our bodies the extra calories that enlarged our brains, while allowing our guts, jaws, and teeth to shrink as we ate softer, more easily digestible food.

To figure out how these changes evolved, anthropological geneticist George Perry of Pennsylvania State University, University Park, and his colleagues compared the genomes of modern humans and chimpanzees to the newly published genomes of a Neandertal and one of its close relatives, a mysterious human ancestor known as a Denisovan, known only from a few bones found in a Russian cave. All three groups of humans had lost two bitter taste genes, TAS2R62 and TAS2R64, that are still present in chimpanzees, the team reports this month in the Journal of Human Evolution.

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Story: Ann Gibbons, Science Magazine | Photo: Andrew J. Cunningham, Science Magazine

3D measurements revise dog domestication date

3D analysis of 30,000-year-old skulls thought to belong to domesticated dogs have revealed that the skulls actually belong to wolves. This revises the dates for the domestication of man’s best friend to about 15,000 years ago during the Neolithic.

And while dogs may have been domesticated 15,000 years ago, it was a relatively short time ago – a mere 200 years or so – when the first breeds were named, breed clubs were established, and breed standards were introduced. Since then, “We have seen an explosion in dog diversity,” Drake said. The research she and Coquerelle just published adds to growing knowledge about man’s best friend. “People are inherently interested in dogs and we have influenced their evolution,” Drake said, adding, “They are such a part of our lives. Knowing when domestication of dogs took place in the course of human history is important to our story and to theirs.”

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Story: Skidmore College| Photo: Wikimedia Commons

New dates for disappearance of Neanderthals from Iberian Peninsula

New research suggests that Neanderthals disappeared from the Iberian Peninsula 45,000 years ago, 5,000 years earlier than they did from the rest of Europe.

Analysis with high resolution techniques, which combined palaeoenvironmental and archaeological data, point to “a progressive weakening of the population, or rather, not towards an abrupt end, but a gradual one, which must have been drawn out over several millennia, during which the human groups dwindled in number,” as Cristo Hernández, another of the study’s authors and researcher at ULL, told SINC.

This gradual disappearance coincided with a change in the climate creating colder and more arid environmental conditions, “which must have had an effect on the lives of these diminishing populations,” adds Hernández. The anatomically modern humans had no role in this disappearance, unlike “the significant worsening of the climate, given that their presence in these lands was much later,” reveals the researcher.

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Story: SINC | Photo: Human Evolution Museum (MEH). Junta de Castilla y León

5th century wooden ornament found in Japan

A 1,500-year-old wooden ornament known as a tachikazari has been found in a burial mound in Japan.

Tachikazari were installed on the top of parasols, called “kinugasa” (umbrellas), in ancient times. Haniwa are figurines and sculptures made of clay or other materials and placed on kofun.

The ornamental piece was found in Nisanzai Kofun, believed to have been constructed in the latter half of the fifth century, which constitutes a part of the group of kofun burial mounds, collectively called Mozu Kofungun.

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Story: Masayuki Shiraishi, The Asahi Shimbun | Photo: Sakai City Government

5th century wooden ornament found in Japan

A 1,500-year-old wooden ornament known as a tachikazari has been found in a burial mound in Japan.

Tachikazari were installed on the top of parasols, called “kinugasa” (umbrellas), in ancient times. Haniwa are figurines and sculptures made of clay or other materials and placed on kofun.

The ornamental piece was found in Nisanzai Kofun, believed to have been constructed in the latter half of the fifth century, which constitutes a part of the group of kofun burial mounds, collectively called Mozu Kofungun.

[Full story]

Story: Masayuki Shiraishi, The Asahi Shimbun | Photo: Sakai City Government

4,500-year-old archer’s wrist guard found in Scotland

An archer’s wrist guard which dates back 4,500 years has been found in a Bronze Age grave in Scotland.

“The wrist guard is also particularly exciting. It has holes so that it could be tied to the wrist with a leather strap, and may have been ornamental or functional.”

The skeletal remains, which may be of an adult or near adult, comprise of most of a person’s long bones along with part of the skull and a number of teeth. It is hoped to be able to determine scientifically the sex of the person, and perhaps even the cause of death.

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Story: Inverness Courier | Photo: AOC Archaeology Group

2,000-year-old mound undergoes excavation in Ohio

A mound dating back 2,000 years is currently undergoing excavation in Ohio ahead of construction for a new shopping mall.

“Before 2008, it was a bump around 2 1/2 feet tall and quite easy to see,” Burks said. “It was known by many but, for some reason, wasn’t reported. Many mounds go unreported. … I was contacted by a number of people who said the developer was starting to dig, and we came to an agreement on excavation.”

Burks said mounds such as the one on North Bridge Street often contain human burials. Upon inspection, it appears the nearly 2,000-year-old mound could cover the foundation of a building with areas where posts were originally set vertically into the ground. Pottery fragments and burned bones belonging to humans and animals have been found.

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Story: Caitlin Turner, Chillicothe Gazette | Photo: Elise Manahan, Chillicothe Gazette

Prehistoric cave settlements found in Papua

Researchers working in Papua have found caves used by Neolithic people, complete with pottery, shells and animal bones.

This is very interesting because there is proof that the inhabitants of the caves had communications with the community members living in the coastal areas of the youtefa Bay.

“This indicates that the prehistoric men have already had communications with each other as proven by the findings of the sea mollusc shells in the caves,” he said.

After all, the type of soil in the three caves are not suitable for producing potteries. Thus, it is concluded that the potteries found in the caves came from other places outside the cave areas.

[Full story]

Story: ANTARA | Photo: ANTARA/Ismawan Nugraha

2,000-year-old Polish skeletons to undergo analysis

More than 120 skeletons recovered from a Roman-period necropolis in Poland are set to undergo analysis to determine things like their diets and origins.

The biggest surprise for the researchers was finding two gigantic tombs – the largest from this period known to date in Kujawy, which were hailed “princely graves”. Both had impressive stone-earth burial chambers, the depth of which exceeded 2 m from the surface of the field today. Archaeologists speculate that originally the tombs were also covered with barrows. Unfortunately, the two structures had already been robbed in prehistory. Surprising for archaeologists were the findings of preliminary anthropological analyses: in one of the tombs, two people were buried: an adult – over 20 years old, and a 14 years old child, and in the second tomb – a 14-15 years old child.

[Full story]

Story: Science and Scholarship in Poland | Photo: Adriana Roma?ska

2,200-year-old moat found in Spain

A moat dating back 2,200 years has been by students working in Tarragona, Spain.

Within the practical work of the degree, about one hundred students carried out field walking, with metal detectors, aerial photography and geophysical surveys. Results obtained from one of the techniques —the electrical tomography— showed some soil anomalies. It is a non-invasive technique, developed with the support provided by lecturers and researchers in the Department of Geochemistry, Petrology and Geological Prospecting of the UB, which analyses soil materials considering their electrical behaviour and distinguish them according to their resistance.

These results led to carry out a survey at the end of December that proved the existence of a great moat that defended the Iberian town of Vilar de Valls. It is 14 metres wide and nearly 5 metres deep moat, and it could be longer than 400 metres.

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Story: Universitat de Barcelona | Photo: Universitat de Barcelona

Ancient brain surgery techniques recreated

Researchers have recreated ancient brain surgery techniques for the first time in 2,300 years.

Among the findings made by the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, at the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Science, were that the surgeons were highly skilful with the operations carried out with only one primitive tool scraping at the skull.

In addition, it was clear that the ancient doctors adhered to the strict Hippocratic Corpus, the landmark declaration of medical ethics set down 5,000km away in Greece in 500BC.

[Full story]

Story: Anna Liesowska & Derek Lambie, Siberian Times | Photo: Aleksei Krivoshapkin, Siberian Times

Climate affected development of language

Linguistic researchers have discovered a link between the evolution of language and climate.

Many languages of the world use tone or pitch to give meaning to their words. University of Miami (UM) linguist Caleb Everett and his collaborators have uncovered that languages with complex tones –those that use three or more tones for sound contrast — are much more likely to occur in humid regions of the world, while languages with simple tone occur more frequently in desiccated regions, whether frigid areas or dry deserts.

[Full story]

Story: University of Miami | Photo: University of Miami

Neanderthals and early humans likely interbred in the Middle East

A partial skull found in a cave in Israel is supporting the idea that Neanderthals and humans interbred in the area 55,000 years ago.

The find supports a raft of recent genetic studies. A 2010 analysis, for example, found that up to 2% of the genomes of today’s Europeans and Asians consist of Neandertal DNA, a clear sign of at least limited interbreeding in the past. Two years later, scientists compared ancient DNA extracted from Neandertal fossils to that of contemporary modern human populations around the world, concluding that this interbreeding took place in the Middle East, most likely between 47,000 and 65,000 years ago. And last year, a 45,000-year-old modern human found in Siberia, the oldest modern to have its genome sequenced, was revealed to have harbored a little more than 2% Neandertal DNA, allowing researchers to refine the interbreeding event to roughly 50,000 to 60,000 years ago.

[Full story]

Story: Michael Balter, Science Magazine | Photo: Clara Amit, Israel Antiquities Authority

Maya temple complex found in Belize

A Maya water temple has been found at Cara Blanca in Belize.

Nestled in a quiet forest in Belize, a deep aquamarine pool holds ruins from a time when the ancient Maya turned to a “drought cult” and hurried sacrifices to a water god to stave off the fall of their civilization.

At the Cara Blanca site in Belize, archaeologists report the discovery of a water temple complex: a small plaza holding the collapsed remnants of a lodge and two smaller structures. The main structure rests beside a deep pool where pilgrims offered sacrifices to the Maya water god, and perhaps to the demons of the underworld.

[Full story]

Story: Dan Vergano, National Geographic | Photo: Tony Rath Photography

Column Capital found in Cyprus

An ancient column capital has been found by construction workers in Cyprus.

The stone artifact, which once formed the topmost member of a column (or a pilaster) was discovered by workmen west of the church which is currently undergoing a complete restoration.

Priest Georgios Ioannou said that as soon as the column capital was uncovered, the officer responsible for the excavations at the Antiquities Department was notified and verified the importance of the cultural heritage in this area.

[Full story]

Story: Famagusta Gazette | Photo: Famagusta Gazette

Coffin found with Miguel de Cervantes’ initials

Researchers searching for the remains of Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes have found a coffin with the initials M.C.

Experts searching for the remains of Miguel de Cervantes said Monday that they found wooden fragments of a casket bearing the initials “M.C.” with bones in and around them in a crypt underneath the chapel of a cloistered convent in Madrid.

Archaeologists made the find over the weekend during excavations to solve the centuries-old mystery of where the famed Spanish writer was laid to rest. The initials on a plank of the coffin were formed with metal tacks embedded into the wood.

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Story: AP | Photo: Aranzadi Science Society/AP Photo

Ancient soldiers suffered from PTSD

New research has revealed that ancient soldiers also suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

This paper, entitled Nothing New Under the Sun: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders in the Ancient World, gives evidence that much earlier traumas were suffered in Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq) during the Assyrian Dynasty (1300-609 BC). These instances were explained at the time as the spirits of those enemies whom the patient had killed in battle causing the symptoms.

Texts uncovered from the time mention that the King of Elam’s “mind changed”, meaning he became disturbed. The researchers argue he may have been suffering from PTSD. Trauma was also suffered by soldiers, with the male population of Assyria called upon to fight in battles in every third year during their military service. The co-authors suggest this was the cause of post-traumatic stress disorders.

[Full story]

Story: Anglia Ruskin Unversity | Photo: Wikimedia Commons

450-year-old underground tunnels found in Netherlands

Underground passages dating back 450 years have been found in the City of Hoorn in the Netherlands.

The discovery was made after heavy rainfall caused a hole in the pavement of a dead end alley. Experts are assessing whether the passage can be made accessible to the public, but it remains closed for now.

Archaeologists descended down the hole and discovered a long brick tunnel. The tunnel appears to be part of a large covered sewer system that is collapsed almost everywhere, but remains intact at this specific spot. It runs beneath an old hospital from 1563 and thus dates almost certainly from that time.

[Full story]

Story: Craig Barker, The Conversation | Photo: Craig Barker/Nicholson Museum

Pompeii recreated in Lego

A Lego version of Pompeii has been built out of 190,000 blocks at Sydney University’s Nicholson Museum.

It’s the largest model of the ancient city ever constructed out of Lego blocks. There is a mix of ancient and modern elements within the model’s narrative; displaying Pompeii as it was at the moment of destruction by the volcano Vesuvius in 79AD, as it was when rediscovered in the 1700s, and as it is today.

The historical model is the exhibition centrepiece in an archaeological museum where, until recently, displays of Lego would have been unthinkable.

[Full story]

Story: Craig Barker, The Conversation | Photo: Craig Barker/Nicholson Museum

New tattoos found on Ötzi the Iceman

New technology has revealed previously unknown tattoos on Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,300-year-old mummy found Frozen in the Alps in 1991.

Samadelli and colleagues were able to detect a previously unrecorded group of tattoos on Ötzi’s lower right rib cage. Those marks consist of four parallel lines between 20 and 25 mm long and are invisible to the naked eye. According to the authors, these make up “the first tattoo … detected on the Iceman’s frontal part of the torso.”

The researchers also created a complete catalog of Ötzi’s tattoos. These include 19 groups of tattooed lines, for a total of 61 marks ranging from 1 to 3 mm in thickness and 7 to 40 mm in length. With the exception of perpendicular crosses on the right knee and left ankle, and parallel lines around the left wrist, the tattooed lines all run parallel to one another and to the longitudinal axis of the body. The greatest concentration of markings is found on his legs, which together bear 12 groups of lines.

[Full story]

Story: Aaron Deter-Wolf, RedOrbit | Photo: South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology/Eurac/Samadelli/Staschitz

Painted numbers found on Colosseum walls

Restorers working on Rome’s Colosseum have uncovered red painted numbers similar to today’s stadium seating systems.

Traces of painted red numbers have been discovered during the ongoing restoration of the Colosseum, indicating various sectors of the amphitheatre similar to the seating system employed by today’s stadiums.

The numbers were painted on the arches of the Colosseum to guide visitors to their respective stands, according to their social class. Describing it as an “exceptional discovery”, the monument’s director Rossella Rea said that restorers had not expected the painted numbers to have survived.

[Full story]

Story: Wanted in Rome | Photo: Wanted in Rome

Jordan Cave in Arizona vandalized

Vandals have damaged the 800-year-old Native American dwellings in Jordan Cave in Arizona.

The cave is estimated to be about 800 years old and was once a dwelling for Native Americans, who still consider the site a scared place. The area is not open to the public, but was disturbed when rocks in the dwelling were tossed over a nearby embankment.

“Damaging the resource of any kind is illegal and, depending on the extent of the crime, something could be punishable up to $20,000, possible jail time and restitution,” said Brienne Magee, public information office with the Coconino National Forest.

[Full story]

Story: Charly Edsitty, 12 News | Photo: U.S. Forest Department