Ancient History

Abstract

Several sites in the Americas are proposed to have evidence of human occupation before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The timing of human colonisation of the Americas is a matter of debate due to its intrinsic interest, but also because of the implications of that arrival for the extinction of the megafauna. Here, we study a notable indentation in the right calcaneus of a giant extinct ground sloth Lestodon armatus from the Arroyo del Vizcaíno site, Uruguay, dated to ~ 33 cal kyBP. We use a combination of 3D CT-scan modelling, high-resolution silicone casting, and microscopic wear and residue analysis to describe the morphology of the lesion, its associated residues, and the possible mechanisms behind its formation. Considering the indentation’s features, including its shape, depth, and the presence of organic residues, we argue that it could have been created by a penetrating object with a rounded tip, possibly a bone, ivory or hardened wood tip attached to a shaft. This evidence contributes to discussions on the dates of human arrival in South America and the potential interactions with the megafauna.

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An analysis of the provenance of the Matarrubilla stone, a large megalith at Valencina in Spain, indicates that the monument’s builders must have had advanced seafaring technology

Research article (open access)

Snippet: Archaeologists have long thought that monumental architecture—large, human-built structures that emphasize visibility—were products of societies with power structures, including social hierarchy, inequality and controlled labor forces. But this notion is being questioned as researchers uncover evidence that hunter-gatherer groups also built such structures.

In new research published June 24 in the journal Antiquity, University of California researchers report evidence of monumental structures built by hunter-gatherer groupsat Kaillachuro, a collection of burial mounds located in the Titicaca Basin of the Peruvian Andes. The discovery places monumental architecture in the region 1,500 years earlier than previously thought, researchers said.

Research article (closed access)

A genetic study reveals that maternal lineages were key in the social organization of the Anatolian settlement, challenging the idea that the first farming societies were patriarchal.

cross-posted from: https://rss.ponder.cat/post/214233

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Abstract

All contemporary Eurasians trace most of their ancestry to a small population that dispersed out of Africa about 50,000 years ago (ka)1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. By contrast, fossil evidence attests to earlier migrations out of Africa10,11,12,13,14,15. These lines of evidence can only be reconciled if early dispersals made little to no genetic contribution to the later, major wave. A key question therefore concerns what factors facilitated the successful later dispersal that led to long-term settlement beyond Africa. Here we show that a notable expansion in human niche breadth within Africa precedes this later dispersal. We assembled a pan-African database of chronometrically dated archaeological sites and used species distribution models (SDMs) to quantify changes in the bioclimatic niche over the past 120,000 years. We found that the human niche began to expand substantially from 70 ka and that this expansion was driven by humans increasing their use of diverse habitat types, from forests to arid deserts. Thus, humans dispersing out of Africa after 50 ka were equipped with a distinctive ecological flexibility among hominins as they encountered climatically challenging habitats, providing a key mechanism for their adaptive success.

I am one of the archaeologists who have been working here. In a new study, my colleagues and I analysed stone tools from the cave that date to about 19,000 to 18,000 years ago, and discussed how the techniques used to make them hint at the ways that prehistoric people travelled, interacted, and shared their craft.

Research article (not open source)

Summary: In the dense forests of Michigans Upper Peninsula, archaeologists have uncovered a massive ancient agricultural system that rewrites what we thought we knew about Native American farming. Dating back as far as the 10th century, the raised ridged fields built by the ancestors of the Menominee Indian Tribe covered a vast area and were used for cultivating staple crops like corn and squash. Using drone-mounted lidar and excavations, researchers found evidence of a complex and labor-intensive system, defying the stereotype that small, egalitarian societies lacked such agricultural sophistication. Alongside farming ridges, they also discovered burial mounds, dance rings, and possible colonial-era foundations, hinting at a once-thriving cultural landscape previously obscured by forest.

Snippet: Archaeologists from the Australian Museum, the University of Sydney and The Australian National University (ANU), in collaboration with First Nations community members who hold cultural connections with the Blue Mountains, have unearthed 693 stone artifacts dating from the last ice age to the recent past.

Found in an ancient Blue Mountains cave known as Dargan Shelter, this new evidence provides definitive proof of repeated occupation in this once frozen high-altitude landscape. The research is published in Nature Human Behaviour.

Abstract

Radiocarbon dating of the earliest occupational phases at the Cooper’s Ferry site in western Idaho indicates that people repeatedly occupied the Columbia River basin, starting between 16,560 and 15,280 calibrated years before the present (cal yr B.P.). Artifacts from these early occupations indicate the use of unfluted stemmed projectile point technologies before the appearance of the Clovis Paleoindian tradition and support early cultural connections with northeastern Asian Upper Paleolithic archaeological traditions. The Cooper’s Ferry site was initially occupied during a time that predates the opening of an ice-free corridor (≤14,800 cal yr B.P.), which supports the hypothesis that initial human migration into the Americas occurred via a Pacific coastal route.

The study concludes that technological choices in ancient Iberia were driven by local conditions, not a universal march toward improvement. The rejection or delay in adopting certain methods, such as co-fusion, points to deeper cultural and economic dynamics.

The footprints of a reptile-like creature appear to have been laid down around 356 million years ago, pushing back the earliest known instance of animals emerging from the water to live on land

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I know some of ya’ll don’t like Ancient Origins but they were the only secondary source I could find and the original press release is in Vietnamese

Especially noteworthy was a solid wooden beam connecting the two hulls at the bow, an architectural feature that is utterly unique, to Vietnam and to all of world history.

Tombs that are scattered across Ireland may have helped bring ancient societies together for feasting and remembering their ancestors

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The Egyptian archaeological mission, a collaboration between the Supreme Council of  Antiquities and the Zahi Hawass Foundation for Archaeology and Heritage, headed by renowned Egyptologist Zahi Hawass, uncovered the tomb of Prince Waser-If-Re.

Waser-If-Re is the son of King Userkaf, the founding monarch of Egypt's Fifth Dynasty. His tomb was found alongside several significant artefacts spanning the Old Kingdom and the Late Period.

Snippet: The oldest cemetery in Africa is yielding yet more insights into the lives of ancient humans.

Around 15,000 years ago, people were living and burying their dead in a cave in northern Morocco. On the cusp of the transition between a semi-nomadic and settled life, the remains of these people and their grave goods offer a fascinating insight into the lives and cultures of this community.

Part of this seems to have involved a bird known as the great bustard. These large, impressive animals were once found across much of Eurasia and part of north Africa until hunting, habitat disturbance and destruction significantly fragmented their population.

Africa’s only population clings on in Morocco, where the species is considered critically endangered. Closely related but genetically distinct to the Spanish population, there has been some debate about how long great bustards had lived in north Africa. This new finding confirms that the birds have a long history on the African continent, and were much more abundant and widespread than they are today.

LATNIJA, MALTA—According to a statement released by the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, researchers have found evidence that hunter-gatherers from mainland Europe traveled to Malta around 1,000 years earlier than previously believed. Archaeologists recovered stone tools, hearths, and food waste at a cave site in Latnija that indicated humans have been living on the island for 8,500 years. This means that they arrived there even before the widespread adoption of agriculture, which contradicts long-held assumptions. Experts theorize that they made the journey in simple dugout canoes, making this new discovery the oldest evidence of long-distance seafaring in the Mediterranean prior to the invention of boats with sails. The voyagers would have relied on surface currents to cross about 60 miles of open sea. At a top speed of 2.5 miles an hour, this would have forced the intrepid seafarers to endure several hours of darkness on their journey. “The results add a thousand years to Maltese prehistory and force a re-evaluation of the seafaring abilities of Europe’s last hunter-gatherers, as well as their connections and ecosystem impacts,” said Max Planck archaeological scientist Eleanor Scerri. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Nature.

Glacial archaeologists have recently discovered the second prehistoric ski of a pair of skis at Digervarden, a mountain in central Norway. Found just five meters from where the first one was uncovered seven years earlier, the ski was radiocarbon-dated to 1,300 years ago. As global warming leads to more glacial retreat, many artifacts have surfaced and sparked the need for further archaeological research in the area.

Before hominins intentionally chipped stone to make tools, they likely used sharp rocks already shaped by natural forces.

Budgerigars, small and colorful parrots, are known for their ability to mimic human speech. Scientists have now discovered that these parrots may have the same brain mechanism for speech as humans.

A study published Wednesday in Nature reveals that budgerigars use brain structures similar to those humans rely on for speech.

The Department of Culture, Education, and Historical Heritage reports the discovery of graphic designs on a stone block that could be more than 200,000 years old, as part of an archaeological excavation at the Coto Correa site in Las Chapas. This area, known in specialized studies for housing the oldest remains in the city, is protected archaeologically, as some stone tools were accidentally discovered in the 1950s, dating back to the early Paleolithic.

The work and its subsequent analysis have provided insight into the geological evolution of the site, as well as the archaeological discovery of a set of stone tools carved into one of its strata. Of this set, discovered in 2022, a block of gabbro stands out, marked with lines, giving it an exceptional character. The significance of this discovery is twofold: on the one hand, it confirms the presence of settlers in Marbella during the Early Middle Paleolithic, a period little known in Spain and unprecedented in the province of Malaga. Furthermore, it provides this unique stone, which contains a set of graphic representations of human origin that could be 100,000 years older than the oldest cave art depictions.