Tag: ancient history

12,000-year-old Rock Art Found in Desert Thought Uninhabitable

About 12,000 years ago, high up on a cliff in the desert of northern Arabia, an artist (or perhaps artists) was hard at work. Standing on a narrow ledge and with primitive tools, they engraved into the rock an image of a life-sized camel. This wasn’t the first artwork of its kind: in fact, there was already an entire row of fresh camel engravings on the  128 foot high (39 meter) cliff face, below which a shallow lake sparkled in the sunshine.

Over thousands of years, these engravings weathered the elements. They gradually eroded until they were almost invisible and had been forgotten. That is, until our international team discovered them and more than 170 others while on a field trip to the region, which sits near the southern edge of the Nefud Desert in Saudi Arabia, roughly two years ago.

As we explain in a new study, published today in Nature Communications, the engravings would have marked important desert water sources – and demonstrate the resilience and innovation of people who lived in such a harsh, arid environment.

Our earlier research had shown that between 10,000 and 6,000 years ago Arabia was much wetter than it is today. Grasslands had spread into areas that are now desert, and cattle herders used these pastures for their herds. The rock art they left behind is well known from two UNESCO World Heritage sites.

We could see there was also older rock art at these UNESCO sites. It was much larger and more detailed, showing life-sized and naturalistic camels and wild donkeys. But it was not clear how old it was. So in May 2023 we set out to find more of this ancient rock art in the hope of finding clues about its age.

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Satellites Uncover Ancient Civilization in Sahara

The ancient Garamantes civilization, a sophisticated society that thrived in the Sahara Desert, was revealed through groundbreaking satellite imagery studies in southwestern Libya’s Fezzan region. This remarkable discovery, made by researchers from the University of Leicester, has unveiled over 100 fortified farms, villages, and towns with castle-like structures, reshaping our understanding of this once-mischaracterized culture. Dating primarily between AD 1 and 500, these settlements demonstrate the Garamantes’ advanced urban planning, irrigation systems, and role in trans-Saharan trade. This article explores the discovery, the civilization’s achievements, and the methods that brought this hidden history to light.

Discovery Through Satellite Imagery

In 2011, a team led by Professor David Mattingly from the University of Leicester utilized high-resolution satellite imagery and aerial photographs to identify over 100 fortified settlements in the Fezzan region. The project, funded by the European Research Council, the Leverhulme Trust, the Society for Libyan Studies, and the GeoEye Foundation, capitalized on technological advancements to uncover sites previously obscured by the desert’s harsh terrain. The fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011 lifted restrictions on archaeological exploration of Libya’s pre-Islamic heritage, enabling this research.

The team analyzed images from commercial satellites and oil industry surveys, supplemented by aerial photographs from the 1950s and 1960s. These tools revealed a dense network of settlements, including the Garamantes’ capital, Garama (modern-day Jarma), and other sites like Al Awaynat (oasis). Fieldwork confirmed the findings, with Garamantian pottery and mudbrick structures providing tangible evidence of the civilization’s existence. The settlements, some featuring walls up to four meters high, included farms, villages, towns, cairn cemeteries, wells, and agricultural fields, indicating a highly organized society.

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Million-Year-Old Skull Discovery Rewrites Human Evolution Timeline

A remarkable million-year-old skull discovered in China has shattered long-held beliefs about human evolution, suggesting that modern humans and their closest relatives diverged from common ancestors at least half a million years earlier than previously thought. The discovery challenges the fundamental narrative of human origins and raises the tantalizing possibility that  Homo sapiens may have first emerged not in Africa, but in Asia. This bold research, published in the prestigious journal  Science, represents one of the most significant advances in understanding human evolution in decades, forcing scientists to completely reconsider the timeline and geography of our species’ emergence on Earth.

The reconstructed Yunxian 2 skull, originally excavated in 1990 from Hubei Province in central China, was initially classified as belonging to the primitive human species  Homo erectus. However, sophisticated digital reconstruction techniques have revealed that this ancient cranium possesses a unique combination of features that place it much closer to the mysterious Denisovans and the  Homo longi lineage, dramatically reshaping our understanding of human evolutionary history.

Revolutionary Digital Reconstruction Reveals Hidden Identity

For over three decades, the badly crushed and distorted Yunxian 2 skull remained an enigma, its true significance hidden beneath layers of geological damage. The breakthrough came when researchers led by Professor Xijun Ni of Fudan University and Professor Chris Stringer of London’s Natural History Museum applied cutting-edge CT imaging and sophisticated digital reconstruction techniques to virtually restore the cranium to its original form.

“From the very beginning, when we got the result, we thought it was unbelievable. How could that be so deep into the past?” Professor Ni told the BBC.

“But we tested it again and again to test all the models, use all the methods, and we are now confident about the result, and we’re actually very excited.”

The painstaking reconstruction process involved CT image segmentation to digitally separate fossil bones from surrounding rock matrix, followed by careful repositioning of displaced fragments. When the skull’s true shape was finally revealed, it displayed a remarkable mosaic of primitive and advanced features that clearly distinguished it from both  Homo erectus and modern humans.

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A Fingerprint Taken From Stonehenge Changes Everything We Know About Its Mystical Origins

Stonehenge offers mysteries aplenty. Just when we think we’ve solved one, we have to re-solve questions we thought were already answered. Such is the case with the origin story of the Altar Stone—one of the roughly 80-plus stones still on site in southern England.

The stones of Stonehenge feature a variety of compositions and originate from a number of potential source locations. Scholars previously believed that they knew most of what there was to be known about the Altar Stone—the largest of the non-sarsen stones on site, which is now partially buried beneath two fallen stones. But researchers led by a team from Curtin University may have upended that history, writing that a stone long believed to originate from Wales actually hails from Scotland.

By studying the age and chemistry of mineral grains within fragments of the six-ton Alter Stone—a thick sandstone block measuring 16 feet by 3 feet in the center of the iconic Wiltshire circle—the team crafted a chemical fingerprint of the stone. That chemical composition matched that of rocks from northeast Scotland, and clearly differentiated it from Welsh bedrock.

“Our analysis found specific mineral grains in the Altar Stone are mostly between 1,000 to 2,000 million years old, while other minerals are around 450 million years old,” Anthony Clarke, lead author and Ph.D. student from the Timescales of Mineral Systems Group at Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said in a statement. “This provides a distinct chemical fingerprint suggesting the stone came from rocks in the Orcadian Basin, Scotland, at least 750 kilometers [466 miles] away from Stonehenge.”

According to English Heritage, the Altar Stone is a large slab of greenish Old Red Sandstone. Recent geological research had pinpointed the source of the stone to the Brecon Beacons area of southeast Wales. But the study, which was published in the journal Nature, discounts that reigning theory.

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The oldest mummies in the world may hail from southeastern Asia and date back 12,000 years

Scientists have discovered what’s thought to be the oldest known mummies in the world in southeastern Asia dating back up to 12,000 years.

Mummification prevents decay by preserving dead bodies. The process can happen naturally in places like the sands of Chile’s Atacama Desert or the bogs of Ireland where conditions can fend off decomposition. Humans across various cultures also mummified their ancestors through embalming to honor them or send their souls to the afterlife.

Egypt’s mummies may be the most well-known, but until now some of the oldest mummies were prepared by a fishing people called the Chinchorro about 7,000 years ago in what’s now Peru and Chile.

A new study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences pushes that timeline back.

Researchers found human remains that were buried in crouched or squatted positions with some cuts and burn marks in various archaeological sites across China and Vietnam and to a lesser extent, from the Philippines, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

Studying the bones further, scientists discovered the bodies were likely exposed to heat. That suggested the bodies had been smoke-dried over a fire and mummified by hunter-gatherer communities in the area.

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New Homo naledi evidence supports intentional burial practices

Anthropologist Lee Berger and his team at the University of the Witwatersrand, working within the Rising Star cave system in South Africa, have published their most extensive evidence yet of deliberate burial by Homo naledi, a small brained hominin that walked the Earth with several current modern human cousins over 240,000 years ago.

It began with a Facebook call for short, skinny and fit anthropologists who “must not be claustrophobic.” There is a backstory to the beginning of course, but it is here in this Facebook advert for the smallest in stature and bravest of heart to drop everything and fly to South Africa where the team was assembled.

Their task: delve 30 meters down and explore an over 100 meter-long topography of a treacherous and at times impossibly narrow cave system.

The original announcement of the find in 2015 was met with amazement, some skepticism and a hint of controversy. Amazing because it was impossible to imagine the discovery of a new species of hominin, not by a single bone or fragmented skull, but by a trove of over 1,500 well-preserved fossilized bones from a minimum of 15 individuals, many articulated in place, buried in a cave that had been undisturbed for possibly more than 300,000 years.

With so many fossils awaiting excavation, the team dubbed the most concentrated area within the Dinaledi Chamber the “Puzzle Box.”

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Archaeologist says his team has finally discovered lost city of Atlantis as they unveil compelling evidence

Joe Rogan was left speechless when his guest discussed the possible discovery of the lost city of Atlantis.

Plato’s writings describe an advanced civilization that built grand temples and massive harbor walls before being swallowed by the sea more than 11,000 years ago. 

Independent researcher Ben van Kerkwyk was a recent guest on the Joe Rogan Experience, where he discussed a discovery off the coast of Spain that could be the mythical city.

‘There’s a guy named Michael Donnellan…And he thinks he’s found, at least, if not Atlantis, a part of Atlantis off the coast of Spain. And they 100 percent found some s*** in the waters,’ van Kerkwyk said.

Rogan, looking stunned, could only respond with ‘Wow,’ mentioning Donnellan’s upcoming documentary ‘Atlantica’ that reveals massive linear structures and enormous concentric circular walls littering the seafloor. 

Donnellan, an independent archaeologist, told the Daily Mail that descriptions in Plato’s writings, which perfectly match their findings of ruins, prehistoric settlements and ancient mines in the region of Gades, are the strongest evidence for an Atlantic civilization. 

These discoveries, including underwater structures and sediment-covered sites indicating sudden destruction, align with Plato’s accounts of climate, societal structures, and ancient mythologies, providing a comprehensive context for their claims.

‘All those details align perfectly with the region we’re studying, as our investigations reflect Plato’s texts with extraordinary precision, truly to a perfect degree,’ Donnellan said.

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Archeologists discover 1.8 million-year-old human jawbone — possibly the oldest artifact of early humans outside Africa

A jaw-dropping discovery.

A 1.8 million-year-old human jawbone has been unearthed in the hills of Georgia — and scientists say the fossil could offer major clues into some of the earliest prehistoric human settlements in Eurasia.

The ancient mandible was uncovered by archaeologists at the Orozmoni site, roughly 62 miles southwest of the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, in a prehistoric goldmine smaller than two parking spaces.

Experts believe the bone may be one of the oldest remains of early humans excavated outside of Africa, offering clues to the patterns of Homo erectus, a hunter-gatherer species that scientists believe began migrating roughly two million years ago.

“The study of the early human and fossil animal remains from Orozmani will allow us to determine the lifestyle of the first colonizers of Eurasia,” said Giorgi Bidzinashvili, a professor of stone age archaeology at Ilia State University in Tbilisi.

“We think Orozmani can give us big information about humankind.”

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Rethinking Human Origins: Why the Out-of-Africa Model No Longer Holds

For decades, the Out-of-Africa (OoA) model dominated narratives about modern human origins. According to this theory, Homo sapiens evolved exclusively in Africa around 200,000–300,000 years ago and later migrated out in a single wave approximately 60,000–70,000 years ago, replacing archaic human populations across Eurasia with little or no interbreeding. This narrative, elegant in its simplicity, has shaped textbooks, museum exhibits, and public understanding of human evolution for over half a century.

However, the accumulating evidence genetic, fossil, and archaeological no longer supports such a clean, linear model. While Africa remains a crucial part of the story, recent discoveries suggest that human evolution was neither geographically isolated nor genetically unidirectional. Instead, the emerging picture points to a complex, braided stream of evolution involving structured populations across Africa, Eurasia, and the Levant. This shift is not a mere refinement it is a foundational rethinking of what it means to trace human origins.

Genetic Diversity Is Not Proof of Geographic Origin

One of the central pillars supporting the Out-of-Africa model is the observation that African populations exhibit the greatest genetic diversity and the largest inferred ancestral population sizes (Ne). This has been interpreted as evidence that Homo sapiens originated in Africa, on the premise that older populations should retain more genetic variation.

However, high diversity does not inherently indicate source status. In structured population systems, a region that functions as a recipient of gene flow from multiple external populations can accumulate more genetic variation over time. As studies such as Durvasula & Sankararaman (2020) have shown, African genomes contain 2–19% DNA from archaic “ghost” hominins that no longer exist. These findings suggest that Africa may have been a demographic sink as much as a source drawing in lineages from elsewhere and preserving them through repeated introgression events.

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80,000-year-old stones in Uzbekistan may be the world’s oldest arrowheads — and they might have been made by Neanderthals

Tiny stone artifacts discovered in Uzbekistan may be the oldest known arrowheads, a new study suggests.

It remains unclear whether these stone tools were created by modern humans, Neanderthals or some other group.

Archaeologists found the tools at the site of Obi-Rakhmat in northeastern Uzbekistan. Previous excavations uncovered a variety of stone tools at the site, such as thin and wide blades, and smaller “bladelets.” But numerous small, triangular points — called “microliths” — were overlooked in prior work because they were broken.

Now, in a study published Aug. 11 in the journal PLOS One, the researchers argue that these “micropoints” are too narrow to have fit onto anything other than arrow-like shafts. The stones also display the kind of damage that would be expected from used arrowheads, study co-author Hugues Plisson, an associate scientist at the University of Bordeaux in France, told Live Science.

These micropoints, which are about 80,000 years old, may therefore be the oldest arrowheads in the world — around 6,000 years older than 74,000-year-old artifacts unearthed in Ethiopia, the researchers say.

The scientists expect their work to raise doubts.

“The bows themselves and the arrow shafts have not been preserved, so some skepticism from colleagues is expected,” study co-author Andrey Krivoshapkin, director of the Siberian branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, told Live Science.

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