Tag: archaeology

Scientists Are Racing to Unearth the Secrets of an Ancient Underwater World

Around 8,000 to 6,000 BCE, the North and Baltic seas … weren’t seas at all. Instead, they were vast plains that were home to ancient human civilizations. But as the curtain drew to a close on the last Ice Age, water levels rose and inundated these low-lying areas, wiping away any trace of prospering civilizations. Well—almost any trace.

The University of Bradford’s Submerged Landscapes Research Centre in the U.K., TNO Geological Survey of the Netherlands, Flanders Marine Institute, and the University of York will soon explore these long-lost civilizations as part of a research collaboration known as SUBNORDICA. One of the ancient lands the project aims to explore is Doggerland, which is thought to have thrived in North Sea region some 8,200 years ago.

“Twenty-thousand years ago, the global sea level was 130 metres lower than at present. With progressive global warming and sea-level rise, unique landscapes, home to human societies for millennia, disappeared,” Vincent Gaffney, leader of the Submerged Landscapes Research Centre, said in a press statement. “We know almost nothing about the people who lived on these great plains. As Europe and the world approaches net zero, development of the coastal shelves is now a strategic priority. SUBNORDICA will use the latest technologies to explore these lands and support sustainable development.”

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HOMO SAPIENS ARRIVING IN NORTHERN EUROPE OVER 45,000 YEARS AGO ENCOUNTERED THIS ENIGMATIC HUMAN SPECIES

A genetic analysis of bones found in Northern Europe shows that anatomically modern humans, aka Homo sapiens, first arrived in the area when it was already home to another enigmatic human species, Homo neanderthalensis.

Although advances in genetic analysis had already shown that early Europeans engaged and interbred with Neanderthals, the latest findings show that those first encounters took place during much earlier times before the extinction of this ancient offshoot of humanity.

BONE FRAGMENTS OF HOMO SAPIENS DATED FROM 47,500 TO 45,000 YEARS AGO

Performed by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and supported by the Max Planck Society, the new analysis involved numerous bone fragments collected at the Ilsenhöhle cave site near Ranis, Germany. Previous excavations at the site had revealed finely-flaked, leaf-shaped stone tools, placing it among the oldest known sites of Stone Age human culture in north-central and northwestern Europe.

According to a press release announcing the findings, “the stone blades at Ranis, referred to as leaf points, are similar to stone tools found at several sites in Moravia, Poland, Germany, and the United Kingdom. These tools are thought to have been produced by the same culture referred to as the Lincombian–Ranisian–Jerzmanowician (LRJ) culture or technocomplex.”

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Archaeologists Have Uncovered a Bronze Age Civilization Completely Lost to Time

The world already knew that the largest structures in the world (prior to the Iron Age) were the Bronze Age megaforts of Central Europe. What they didn’t know—at least, until it was unveiled by new satellite and aerial images—is that those megaforts were connected in a previously unknown network of 100 massive sites that stitched together to form a complex society.

Archaeologists found that the “massive sites did not stand alone, they were part of a dense network of closely related and codependent communities,” Barry Molloy—one of the authors of the new study describing these structures, published in the journal PLOS One—said in a statement. “At their peak, the people living within this lower Pannonian network of sites must have numbered into the tens of thousands.”

Some of the largest megaforts—like Gradište Iđoš, Csanádpalota, Sântana, or Corneşti Iarcuri—were enclosed by over 20 miles of ditches and were the largest of the Bronze Age. They were located in the Carpathian Basin, which extends across central and southeast Europe and is cut through by the Danube River.

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Hunting Instruments Dating Back 1,900 Years Discovered in Mexican Cave

In a small gallery of the Cueva del Tesoro, in Cadereyta de Montes, Querétaro, authorities have recovered one of the few sets of hunting tools from pre-Hispanic times discovered so far in Mexico. It is an  atlatl (spear) and two wooden darts, used in the first century AD.

The discovery was recorded by members of the Association of Cavers of Querétaro who were exploring a cave located the in the community of Rancho Quemado. When they found the ancient objects, they notified the INAH Querétaro Center to ensure its safeguarding, conservation, and research.

In April 2023, a team from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) working under the auspices of the federal Ministry of Culture archaeologists including Carlos Viramontes Anzures, Jesús Eduardo Medina Villalobos and Ricardo Leonel Cruz Jiménez, ascended an intricate ravine, under the supervision of the members of said caving association and the guide of the Portuguese speleologist Paulo Campos.

The cave is located 200 meters (656 feet) up from the bottom of the ravine, and from the entrance they entered a further 200 meters (656 feet), through a narrow passage, until reaching the gallery.

Within this underground area, with an average height of just 80 centimeters (31.5 inches), the specialists came across an  atlatl 51.5 centimeters (20.3 in) long, two fragmented darts of 66 and 79 centimeters (26 & 31.1 inches) long and a pair of culturally modified logs of 135 and 172 centimeters (53.15 & 67.7 inches) in length, which are probably digging sticks, although they were likely used as multifunctional tools.

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Beneath Roman Britain – An Iron Age Settlement Is Revealed At Silchester

Five decades on from the start of an archaeological dig by the University of Reading, the findings of the investigation will be brought to the public, showcasing the incredible discoveries from excavations at the ancient Roman city of Silchester in Hampshire, England. This complex and revealing site became an important Roman town, but was already inhabited by an earlier encroacher to the land, the Atrebates tribe from across the Channel in Northern Gaul.

The University of Reading press release explains how, with the deep historic discoveries that have been made, visitors to the traveling exhibition,  Becoming Roman – Silchester, a Town of Change, will be transported back 2000 years to discover what life was like for the French tribe (strictly Belgic) that established the settlement, and how this life changed after the Roman Conquest of Britain.

When the exploratory forces of Julius Caesar first entered Iron Age Britain, showing their highly organized society and flexing their military muscles, they found a heterogenous society organized into tribes led by their chieftains, who defended their territories from the plentiful hillforts that littered the countryside.

Although these groups had arrived at the shores of Britain from various areas around Western and Northern Europe, some no doubt forced there due to territorial troubles in their own homelands, the Romans (and Greeks) referred to them homogeneously as ‘Celts’, as they shared some related languages and cultural traits.

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EVIDENCE OF 45,000-YEAR-OLD ADVANCED MATERIAL CULTURE DISCOVERED IN NORTH CHINA

Evidence of an advanced material culture that once thrived 45,000 years ago in East Asia has been discovered in China, according to an international team of archaeologists.

Analysis of materials from previous excavations that occurred in the early 1960s at the Shiyu archaeological site in China’s Shanxi Province represents what is believed to be the oldest use of such technologies in Northeast Asia, and provides new insights into ancient migrations of humans across the continent.

THE ANCIENT HORSE HUNTERS

According to the new analysis of materials retrieved from the location, the site’s Upper Palaeolithic assemblage dates to 45,000 years ago, and includes “blade technology, tanged and hafted projectile points, long-distance obsidian transfer, and the use of a perforated graphite disk,” according to Yang Shixia, an associate professor and first author of a new study detailing the team’s work.

In addition to its stone tool assemblage, obsidian from the site was determined to have been carried from quarries as far as 1000 kilometers away in the Russian Far East. Yang and the team also found evidence of “increased hunting skills denoted by the selective culling of adult equids, and the recovery of tanged and hafted projectile points with evidence of impact fractures,” according to a recent paper that describes their discoveries.

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3000-YEAR-OLD CARVINGS ON ENIGMATIC DISK UNEARTHED IN ITALY COULD BE ANCIENT STAR MAP, CONTROVERSIAL STUDY CLAIMS

A stone disk bearing peculiar markings could be an ancient star map representing one of the world’s oldest depictions of the night sky, according to recent findings that have prompted debate among experts.

The stone, which features close to 30 carvings on its front and back, was found several years ago near the ancient Rupinpiccolo protohistoric hill fort in northeastern Italy. According to research published in the journal Astronomical Notes, the markings may indicate the locations of the brightest stars that were visible to the ancient night sky observers who carved it at least as far back as 2,400 years ago.

THE ENIGMA OF RUPINPICCOLO’S CURIOUS STONE DISKS

Located close to the border between northwestern Italy and Slovenia, the sprawling ruins of the castelliere of Rupinpiccolo were first documented toward the end of the 19th century. A massive ancient defense structure protected by huge, seven-meter-wide ramparts, archaeological excavations did not occur there until almost a century after its initial discovery.

Along with the stones used in the fortification’s construction were smaller, round stone artifacts that were later discovered in the collections sent to the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Aquileia.

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Irreversible Damage Caused at Fort Pearce Puebloan Site

A historically rich area, Utah has had a long history of vandalism and theft across archaeological and paleontological sites. Newly added to this list is the digging of a 2-foot wide and 15-foot-deep trench at a one-of-a-kind 1,000-year-old archaeological site, with the perpetrator appearing to be hunting for treasure. The irreparable damage was performed by 51-year-old man in the Fort Pearce Wash Area, situated 12 miles east of St. George, in Washington County.

Confessions of a Vandal: Archaeological Land Housing Petroglyphs

The perpetrator, Mr Seoane said he dug the trench while prospecting for minerals, according to Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration special investigator Brent Kasza. On November 7, 2023, the Washington County Sheriff’s Office received a tip regarding unauthorized activities disturbing a site of archaeological significance in the aforementioned area. Subsequently, during an interview with law enforcement on December 14, Seoane confessed to digging the hole, as documented in a probable cause statement.

“I found nothing during my investigation to confirm the suspect was prospecting for silver or any kind of valuable metal,” said Kasza in a statement. “I was able to uncover that the suspect belongs to several treasure hunting groups.”

The Washington County Attorney’s Office has filed a second-degree felony charge against Seoane for conducting illegal activities on trust lands, where the incurred damage is valued at or exceeds $5,000. This charge was officially filed on Tuesday. Seoane is presently awaiting the establishment of a date for his initial appearance in Utah’s 5th District Court. According to law enforcement, the preliminary estimate for the cost of filling the hole is $18,769.

The parcel of land where Seoane allegedly excavated the tunnel is safeguarded by the Trust Lands Administration due to its status as a site of archaeological significance. Its renowned for its compilation of over 100 petroglyphs, believed by archaeologists to trace their origins back to 500 years ago or even earlier.

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New Evidence Shows Modern Humans First Arrived in China 45,000 Years Ago

A new study presents evidence showing that Homo sapiens (modern humans) arrived in China approximately 45,000 years ago, or several thousand years earlier than previously suspected. The original human settlers to the region likely arrived from the north and east, experts believe, migrating to northern China from the adjacent lands of modern-day Siberia and Mongolia.

An international team of researchers who study human evolution, led by Paleolithic archaeologist Shi-Xia Yang from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, completed a thorough re-examination of artifacts collected from a long-neglected and nearly forgotten archaeological site known as Shiyu, which is located in China’s Shanxi province. This fresh study just published in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution uncovered the true age of this prehistoric human settlement, which will now be recognized as the oldest Homo sapiens site ever found on Chinese soil.

“Our new study identified an Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) archaeological assemblage from the Shiyu site of North China dating to 45,000 years ago that includes blade technology, tanged and hafted projectile points, long-distance obsidian transfer, and the use of a perforated graphite disk,” Shi-Xia Yaong stated in a Chinese Academy of Sciences press release covering his teams findings.

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9,000-year-old Human Skeletons and Over 100,000 Artifacts Unearthed in Brazil

Surveyors in Brazil were appraising a site identified for the building of a new apartment complex. However, they downed tools, and called in archaeologists when they started finding bones and shards of pottery. Now, a multi-layered archaeological site has been revealed which has yielded 43 human skeletons and in excess of 100,000 artifacts.

A team of construction workers were planning on building a new apartment complex in the coastal city of Sao Luis, the capital of Maranhao state in northeastern Brazil, when they came across human bones and shards of pottery. Now, having been dated to around to 9,000 years ago, lead archaeologist, Wellington Lage, said the find might “rewrite the history of human settlement in Brazil”.

The six-hectare (15-ac) plot is known locally as Rosane’s Farm. Back in 2019, the Brazilian construction giant MRV hired now 70-year-old Wellington Lage’s company, “W Lage Arqueologia,” to carry out a site survey before the building of a new apartment building. Researching the site, Lage discovered that bones were recovered in the 1970s, and part of a human jawbone was found in 1991.

According to a CBS news article, over the last four years Lage’s team have unearthed “43 human skeletons and more than 100,000 artifacts.” Brazil’s Institute for National Historic and Artistic Heritage (IPHAN), referred to the discoveries as a “grandiose” haul of bones and artifacts.

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