All posts by Archaeology World Team

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Facial Reconstruction May Depict Pharaoh Akhenaten

Facial Reconstruction May Depict Pharaoh Akhenaten

A digital model has been made of a human skull recovered in 1907 from tomb KV 55 in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings, according to a Live Science report.

Facial Reconstruction May Depict Pharaoh Akhenaten
The reconstruction of KV 55, thought to be the pharaoh Akhenaten.

Francesco Galassi of Sicily’s Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology, Bioarchaeology Research Center, and 3-D forensic artist Cicero Moraes, used the Manchester method to add facial muscles and ligaments to the model skull according to the rules of anatomy, Galassi explained.

His remains were found in 1907 in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings in tomb KV 55, just a few feet from the tomb of Tutankhamen. More than a century after the tomb’s discovery, the genetic analysis suggested that the skeleton inside belonged to King Tut’s biological father, and other clues in the tomb told archaeologists that the man was Akhenaten, who reigned from 1353 B.C. to 1335 B.C. and was the first king to introduce monotheism in Egypt.

However, some experts have challenged these conclusions, claiming that the true identity of the individual is still uncertain. 

The reconstruction, which took months to design, was created by scientists at the Forensic Anthropology, Paleopathology, Bioarchaeology Research Center (FAPAB) in Sicily.

They worked closely with Cicero Moraes, a 3D forensic artist from Brazil who is known for his work reconstructing faces from the distant past, FAPAB representatives wrote on Facebook.

Unlike previous facial reconstructions of KV 55, the new model omits hair, jewellery and other adornments, in order “to focus on the facial traits of this individual,” according to the post.

Scientists used a reconstruction process called the Manchester method to bring KV 55’s face into the present “from the shadows of history,” said Francesco Galassi, director and co-founder of the FAPAB Research Center, an associate professor of archaeology at Flinders University in Australia, and an adjunct professor of forensic anthropology at the Magna Graecia University of Catanzaro in Calabria, Italy.

During this process, “facial muscles and ligaments are modelled on the skull model according to the rules of anatomy,” Galassi told Live Science in an email. “The skin is placed on top of this, and the tissue thicknesses are average values that have been scientifically determined.”

While building the reconstruction, the researchers referred to “a massive amount of data” for KV 55, including notes from prior physical examinations of the skull, detailed measurements, scaled photographs and X-rays of the skeleton, Galassi said.

Facial muscles and ligaments were modelled digitally on KV 55’s skull.

A shadowy past

Akhenaten ascended to the throne as Amenhotep IV and took his new name, which means “the Servant of Aten” — an Egyptian sun god — early in his reign. He then began dismantling the priesthood that served Egypt’s pantheon of deities, in order to establish monotheistic worship of Aten, according to The Ohio State University’s Department of History.

Archaeologists found KV 55 in an undecorated tomb that contained bricks engraved with magic spells bearing Akhenaten’s name. Another coffin and canopic jars — vessels for holding mummified organs — contained the remains of a woman named Kiya, who was identified as Akhenaten’s concubine, according to a FAPAB statement released on March 10. 

KV 55 had been mummified, but the preserved flesh disintegrated in the excavators’ hands, leaving only the skeleton behind. Based on objects in the tomb and the sex of the skeleton, some archaeologists concluded that it must represent Akhenaten.

However, analysis of the teeth and bones revealed that the man was younger than expected. He was around 26 years old when he died — and possibly only 19 to 22 years old, whereas records suggest Akhenaten ruled for 17 years and fathered a daughter during the first year of his reign, Galassi said.

“Some archaeologists tend to assume that he began his reign as a young adult rather than as a child. For this reason, there have been continued attempts [to] consider KV 55 older than the actual anatomy indicates,” he said. 

When archaeologists excavated KV 55 in 1907, the mummy crumbled into dust. Today, only the bones remain.

Other experts have proposed that KV 55 could be Smenkhkare, a younger brother of Akhenaten, but there is little evidence that the brother existed at all, Galassi said.

Today, Smenkhkare is more commonly thought to be not a real person, but a constructed identity for Queen Nefertiti, who may have assumed this name when she ascended to the throne after Akhenaten’s death.

This would effectively rule out the “younger brother” hypothesis for KV 55, Galassi said.

Genetic analysis suggested that KV 55 was the son of Amenhotep III and the father of Tutankhamen, providing more evidence that he was Akhenaten, according to a study published in 2010 in the journal JAMA.

However, this conclusion is also not without controversy, as genetic data for Egyptian mummies can be “complicated” by the fact that sibling incest was a common practice in royal dynasties, according to the statement. 

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Possible 2,000-Year-Old Port Found in Northern England

Possible 2,000-Year-Old Port Found in Northern England

BBC News reports that Roman artefacts, including stone anchors fashioned with a single hole, coins, nails, sharpening tools, and a brooch, have been recovered from a possible port site in the River Wear in northeastern England.

One theory still to be examined is that it may have been home to a small port. Underwater archaeologist Gary Bankhead said he could not “over-emphasize” the importance of the discovery.

Although a dam is known to have existed in the area since Victorian times if theories are confirmed it would be only the second such port ever discovered in Britain.

Possible 2,000-Year-Old Port Found in Northern England
The five stone anchors found in the river suggest the vessels could have been part of a trading network
Roman coins were also discovered.

“It’s the first occasion in the UK where the anchors have been found in a river, normally they are found in a maritime environment offshore,” said Mr Bankhead, an honorary research associate at Durham University.

“The closest parallels we have are six that were found off Dunbar but they all had two holes in. The ones we found at Hylton had a single hole and that’s really useful dating evidence.

“We looked for parallels and one particular anchor found in Lulworth Cove in Dorset was found alongside some Mediterranean pottery dated from 100BC to 100 AD, that’s really useful evidence.

“That corresponds nicely with Romans in Northern Britain, where they were trying to suppress the Brigantes at the time and build the forts.”

Further up the River Wear were Roman forts at Chester-le-Street and Binchester. Four of the anchors found are made from local stone but one is a different material and believed to have come from south of Whitby, North Yorkshire.

“That suggests trade networks, a seagoing vessel, coming up the North East coast, coming in the mouth of the Wear, sailing up as far as it could and having to anchor up at low tide because it couldn’t go any further up.

“Potentially, what we think we have found is some sort of dam, bridge, wharf, or landing stage where these vessels are unloading cargo into smaller river-sized vessels to resupply the forts further upstream.

“Clearly this is an important multi-period site, we have nearly 2,000 years worth of occupation at that site, but we need to know what that is to get it done correctly.”

A circular Roman mount was found at the site
Other items found items found included a model boat

A community group has played a vital role in the discovery, carrying out fieldwork, with some spending 40 years trying to uncover its secrets. It also found coins, nails, a stone map, sharpening tools and a brooch.

“For 40 years I have been digging in the wrong place, that was the trouble,” laughed retired carpenter Ian Stewart.

“We moved to the site and the artefacts kept coming, it was amazing. You have got no idea how thrilled I was, especially when I started to find the timbers in the river bed that the dam was put on and all the stones that matched the stones at Roker Beach.

“Everything started to fit together, it was like doing a puzzle that’s 80 per cent underwater and scattered all over the North East, no wonder it took 40 years.”

The artefacts have been removed for further examination.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Archaeologists Discover ‘Massive’ Ancient Building in Egypt

Archaeologists Discover ‘Massive’ Ancient Building in Egypt

An ‘incredibly important’ ancient structure which they claim is believed to be a well-known city in ancient Egypt’s history, it is stated by the country’s Antiquities Ministry announced.

The city of Memphis was founded circa 2925 B.C. by Menes, a king who is said to have united the prehistoric kingdoms of Upper and Lower Egypt. The city was originally called the White Walls, a term that may have come from the king’s palace of whitewashed brick.

The newly found ruins are located about an hour south of Cairo, near an open-air museum in the town of Mit Rahina, the ministry says.

This undated photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, shows a basin in a chamber that was likely used for religious rituals, that was recently discovered in the town of Mit Rahina, 20 kilometers, or 12 miles, south of Cairo, Egypt. Egypt hopes such discoveries will spur tourism, partially driven by antiquities sightseeing, which was hit hard by political turmoil following the 2011 uprising.

Archaeologists also discovered a connected structure, containing a Roman bath and an ornately carved basin, which was likely used in religious ceremonies, according to The Associated Press.

Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, said the area was most likely part of a residential community in Memphis, the AP reports.

Memphis and its necropolis became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.

The grounds contain the remnants of sun temples, palaces, pyramids, residential neighborhoods, and thousands of rock-cut tombs.

Archaeologists Discover 'Massive' Ancient Building in Egypt
This undated photo released by the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities shows a large Roman bath and a chamber likely for religious rituals, that was recently discovered in the town of Mit Rahina, 20 kilometers, or 12 miles, south of Cairo, Egypt.

Last week, archaeologists found a sandstone sphinx when they were excavating a temple near the city of Aswan, in southern Egypt.

The statue was found close to a site where two reliefs of King Ptolemy V were recovered two months prior, according to the American University in Cairo.

Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology, said the sphinx and slabs trace back to the Ptolemaic Period. They “show us that the exterior area of the temple was an active ritual and cult place” and that it “played an important role in the spiritual, political and economic life of the people.”

New archaeological discoveries in Egypt could drive tourism at a time when the industry has seen a decline.

Tourism Minister Rania Al Mashat announced a partnership between the ministry and Zahi Hawass, the former Antiquities minister and archaeologist known as “Egypt’s Indiana Jones,” as part of a campaign to promote tourism in the country.

NORTH AMERICA, UAE, WORLD

Long Lost Early Colonial Fort Discovered in Maryland

Long Lost Early Colonial Fort Discovered in Maryland

According to a Washington Post report, archaeologist Travis Parno, archaeological geophysicist Tim Horsley, and their colleagues at Historic St. Mary’s City announced the discovery of the undisturbed outline of the palisaded fort at St. Mary’s, which was erected in southern Maryland by English colonists in 1634.  Maryland archaeologist Travis Parno was at a board game convention in Philadelphia, sitting at a table surrounded by thousands of other enthusiasts when he got a text message. He was supposed to be on vacation, taking a break from his search for the legendary fort at St. Mary’s, the first permanent English settlement in Maryland and one of the earliest in what would become the United States.

Back at St. Mary’s, archaeological geophysicist Tim Horsley had been scanning a site a half-mile from St. Mary’s River with ground-penetrating radar that could detect the outlines of ancient buildings. The text message interrupting Parno’s vacation was from Horsley. It said: “I think we found it.”

On Monday, Historic St. Mary’s City announced that Parno, director of research for the organization, and Horsley had indeed found the outlines of the palisaded fort that was erected in Southern Maryland by white settlers in 1634. Horsley’s scans had revealed the imprint of post holes that formed a large rectangle with a semicircular bastion at one corner. The scans also showed evidence of what appeared to be dwellings inside the fort, including several that may have been Native American. Excavation later turned up evidence of the brick cellar of a guardhouse or storehouse, the trigger guard for a musket, and a quartzite arrowhead that was 4,500 years old.

Dig on the site of the original fort at St. Mary’s.
Recreation of a 17th century building at Historic St. Mary’s City.

“This is our moment,” Parno said. “This is the earliest colonial archaeological site in Maryland. This is it.”

William M. Kelso, the archaeologist who in 1994 discovered the lost fort at Jamestown, Va., said the discovery is “extremely significant because St. Mary’s is sort of a sister colony … [and] it’s another page to the story, to chapter one.”

Archaeologists had been seeking the St. Mary’s fort since the 1930s. The site today is in an empty meadow where the wind blows off the river and the shadows of soaring turkey buzzards drift over the landscape. It is owned by Historic St. Mary’s City and is about the size of a football field. Much like the famous Jamestown fort, which marked the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States, its exact location had been lost. The original 150 colonists, including many English Catholics fleeing Protestant persecution back home, had arrived at St. Mary’s on two ships, the Ark and the Dove, in late March 1634, Parno said.

Modern recreation of the Dove.

They were preceded by the English settlers at such places as Jamestown in 1607, Plymouth in 1620, and Massachusetts Bay in 1630. The Maryland group included a Jesuit priest, Father Andrew White; the colony’s first governor, Leonard Calvert; and Mathias de Sousa, an indentured servant of African and Portuguese descent who later served in the legislative assembly of freemen.

“I found a most convenient harbor, and the pleasant country lying on each side of it,” Calvert wrote to his business partner, Richard Lechford, on May 30, 1634.

“On the east side of it we have seated ourselves, within one-half mile of the river,” he wrote. They had erected “a pallizado of one hundred and twenty yards square” with four bastions equipped with small artillery pieces.

The palisade was probably 12- to 14-feet high.

White reported: “Our Towne we call St. Maries … [It] abounds not alone with profit but also with pleasure.”

But like Jamestown, the settlement at St. Mary’s was later abandoned. The capital moved to Annapolis in the 1690s, and the site was left undisturbed and ripe for archaeology. St. Mary’s has produced stunning archaeological finds in the past. It was Maryland’s first capital and home to the first State House. In 1990, experts exhumed three lead-lined coffins containing the remains of Maryland colonial governor Philip Calvert, who died in 1683, his first wife, Anne, and Calvert’s 6-month-old son. Anne’s coffin contained sprigs of the memorial herb rosemary, bits of a silk ribbon that may have been used to bind her wrists for burial — and much of her hair. The baby had suffered from the childhood disease rickets and probably scurvy.

Calvert family coffins discovered in 1990.

The search for the fort had continued through the 1980s and ’90s with inconclusive results. The quest was put on hold for many years as St. Mary’s focused on other projects. Parno resumed the hunt in 2017, and his find was deemed conclusive in late 2019. The plan had been to announce the discovery last year, but the coronavirus pandemic brought that to a halt. Last summer, though, using coronavirus safety protocols, Parno was able to return to the site and uncover the top of what may be the cellar of a building inside the fort.

Parno noted that the site marks not only a turning point in Maryland’s colonial history. It also marked a massive moment of change for the native peoples of this region,” he said.

“Archaeology in this area shows us people have been here for at least 10,000 years. White wrote that the colonists, “to avoid all occasion of dislike, and colour of wrong,” purchased from the local Yaocomaco Indians the land for 30 miles around, paying with axes, hoes, cloth, and hatchets. The Yaocomaco Indians tolerated the newcomers, he wrote, because the Indians had enemies: The “Sasquasahannockes … [who] come sometimes upon them, and waste and spoile them and their country.”

And the archaeology hinted that the fort may have been built around several existing native dwellings, Parno said.

The Yaocomaco people lived on both sides of the St. Mary’s River. The arrangement was that they would be allowed to stay on the east side with the colonists until the Indians’ crops there were harvested. Then they would move to the west side.

“Some few Indians are here to stay by us till next yeare,” Father White wrote. “Then the land is wholy to be ours alone.”

It’s not clear if, for a time, the colonists and the Yaocomaco lived together in the fort, according to the Historic St. Mary’s City website. “But it is likely that their residences were … in relative proximity to one another.” And an Indian dwelling that had been vacated would have provided good shelter for weary colonists.

“You come off this ship after months, and you need a place to lay your head, and you want something that’s covered and warm,” Parno said.

One day this month, tiny pink flags marking the outline of the fort fluttered in the breeze as Parno’s team methodically scraped away soil at the site. After Horsley’s scan found the fort’s outline in 2018, Parno said he verified it with excavation in 2019. He found that there had been a three-foot-deep trench where the colonists had stood the timbers for the palisade. Inside the trench, the wood had left telltale stains in the soil. “It was clear as day,” Parno said.

Long Lost Early Colonial Fort Discovered in Maryland
A conjectural drawing of the 1634 fort at the St. Mary’s settlement in Maryland.

But he had been surprised when the work revealed that the outline of the fort didn’t match Calvert’s 1634 description of it. Instead of the large square palisade with bastions at the four corners that Calvert described, the team found a smaller, rectangular fort with one bastion. The discrepancy may be because Calvert was describing plans for the fort before it was completed, according to Historic St. Mary’s.

As Parno walked the site this month, fellow archaeologist Stephanie Stevens paused with her shovel. She had done archaeology at the site in 2017. “We had always heard about: ‘There’s this fort somewhere, but we don’t know where it is.’ All these different things,” she said.

Then one-day Parno summoned the team, showed the scan of the fort’s outline, and said, “We found it.”

Archaeologist Travis Parno at his dig on the site of the original fort at St. Mary’s.

“That was amazing,” she said.

MEXICO, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

Giant Face of Ucanha: Huge Sculpted Mayan Mask Found in Mexico

Giant Face of Ucanha: Huge Sculpted Mayan Mask Found in Mexico

A giant Mayan mask as tall as a person has been revealed at an archaeological site in the Mexican state of Yucatán. 

Giant Face of Ucanha: Huge Sculpted Mayan Mask Found in Mexico
The stucco mask of Ucanha being worked on by archaeologists

The mask, which depicts the face of an unknown deity or elite person, was sculpted from the building material stucco and dates back to a period in Maya history known as the Late Preclassic (about 300 B.C. — A.D. 250), according to the news outlet Novedades Yucatán.

The discovery was made in 2017 at the archaeological site of Ucanha, near the modern-day city of Motul, and since then researchers with Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) have worked painstakingly to restore it.

View of the giant stucco face, or Mayan mask, in situ. The face was discovered in the Yucatán Peninsula near the village of Ucanha

Stucco masks like this one “represent the faces of individuals with particular features that can be associated with deities or with characters of prominent social status,” INAH said in a statement.  

The mask is a stucco relief, a type of brightly-colored painted sculpture carved from a background of stucco. The Maya typically placed these masks around stairways with pyramidal bases, according to the statement.

Archaeologists have found similar reliefs in Acanceh and Izamal, but this is the first in Ucanha. The discovery is part of ongoing research into Mayan mounds found at the site. 

The mask was temporarily reburied after its discovery so that the structure was protected until it could be properly studied and preserved.

Samples taken from the structure revealed deterioration and it was re-excavated in 2018 so that archaeologists could restore it. 

During the restoration and conservation process, archaeologists reinforced fragile parts of the mask.

They also moved sections that had been displaced overtime back to their original positions. They also cleaned the surfaces to highlight the mask’s patterns and colors. 

The archaeologists completed the work in 2019, before reburying the mask for a final time. INAH said the goal of these efforts is to ensure the long-term preservation of the mask at the site, which does not have legal protection.

ASIA, CHINA, WORLD

3,000-Year-Old Artifacts Unearthed in Southwestern China

3,000-Year-Old Artifacts Unearthed in Southwestern China

CNN reports that more than 500 artifacts have been found in six sacrificial pits at Sanxingdui, a Bronze Age site in southwestern China discovered in the 1920s and thought to have belonged to the independent Shu state, which was conquered in 316 B.C. 

Weighing about 280 grams (0.6 pounds) and estimated to be made from 84% gold, the ceremonial mask is one of over 500 items unearthed from six newly discovered “sacrificial pits,” according to the country’s National Cultural Heritage Administration.

The finds were made at Sanxingdui, a 4.6-square-mile area outside the provincial capital of Chengdu. Some experts say the items may shine further light on the ancient Shu state, a kingdom that ruled in the western Sichuan basin until it was conquered in 316 BC.

A bronze item recently unearthed from a sacrificial pit at the Sanxingdui archaeological site

In addition to the gold mask, archaeologists uncovered bronzes, gold foils, and artifacts made from ivory, jade, and bone. The six pits, of which the largest has a footprint of 19 square meters (205 square feet), also yielded an as-yet-unopened wooden box and a bronze vessel with owl-shaped patterning.

More than 50,000 ancient artifacts have been found at Sanxingdui since the 1920s when a local farmer accidentally came upon a number of relics at the site.

A major breakthrough occurred in 1986, with the discovery of two ceremonial pits containing over 1,000 items, including elaborate and well-preserved bronze masks.

3,000-Year-Old Artifacts Unearthed in Southwestern China
A gold decoration was among more than 500 other items recently unearthed from the site.

After a long hiatus in excavations, a third pit was then found in late 2019, leading to the discovery of a further five last year. Experts believe the pits were used for sacrificial purposes, explaining why many of the items contained were ritually burned as they were dropped in and buried.

Independent civilization

Sanxingdui is believed to have sat at the heart of the Shu state, which historians know relatively little about due to scant written records.

Discoveries made at the site date back to the 12th and 11th centuries BC, and many of the items are now on display at an on-site museum.
The site has revolutionized experts’ understanding of how civilization developed in ancient China.

In particular, evidence of a unique Shu culture suggests that the kingdom developed independently of neighboring societies in the Yellow River Valley, which was traditionally considered to be the cradle of Chinese civilization.

An archaeologist pictured working at one of the pits earlier this month.

The deputy director of the National Cultural Heritage Administration, Song Xinchao, told state-run press agency Xinhua that the latest finds “enrich and deepen our understanding of the Sanxingdui culture.”

The discovery of silk fibers and the remains of textiles may also expand our understanding of the Shu.

Head of the excavation team and chief of the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, Tang Fei, said in a press conference that the discovery indicates that the kingdom “was one of the important origins of silk in ancient China,” according to Xinhua.

A bronze head and mask uncovered from Sanxingdui in 1986 when the first sacrificial pits were found at the site.

Though not yet recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Sanxingdui is on the organization’s “tentative list” for possible future inclusion.

Along with other Shu archaeological sites, it is credited by the UN agency as “an outstanding representative of the Bronze Age Civilization of China, East Asia, and even the world.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Ancient Bishop’s Palace Hidden Underneath Man’s Garden

Ancient Bishop’s Palace Hidden Underneath Man’s Garden

When Charles Pole, a retired bank official living in the remote English town of Wiveliscombe, had no idea what was buried in his back garden when he hired a crew for a construction project.

Builders found the ruins beneath 81-year-old Charles Pole’s back garden.

“I live on my own in a house in Palace Gardens and I’m disabled, so I was having a bungalow built in the garden for myself and plan[ned] to sell the house,” the 81-year-old tells the Somerset County Gazette’s Phil Hill.

Then, an unexpected find thwarted these plans: Builders stumbled onto wall foundations and the remains of floors suspected to be part of Bishops Palace, a 13th-century building long thought to be lost.

“The … remains are clearly of medieval date and represent two phases of development on the site,” a spokesperson for the South West Heritage Trust tells the Gazette.

Historical records show that a palace was located in the area, and a 14th-century gateway to the complex remains standing today. But until now, researchers had been unsure where the rest of the palace’s remains were hidden.

“[W]hat we didn’t know is where the buildings would have been in relation to that gateway,” Bob Croft, Somerset County archaeologist for the South West Heritage Trust, tells BBC News.

“They’ve often been thought of as being much further to the east where we knew there were a big barn and a big open space, but this is the first time we’ve actually got stone foundations discovered.”

Per the Somerset Record Society, the original stone-and-thatch palace buildings were probably constructed soon after 1256, when a royal charter granted the bishop of Bath and Wells the right to hunt in the area.

The 14th-century gateway to the palace complex is still standing.

“It seems unlikely that the bishop would have gone to the length of obtaining a license to hunt game without at the same time providing both himself and his retinue with a lodging that befitted that office and catered for such a pastime,” the society explains.

The palace was one of several residences used by local bishops through at least the 16th century. According to the Gazette, Bishops John de Drokensford (1309–29) and Ralph of Shrewsbury (1329–63) both oversaw building projects at the site. Archaeologists have also discovered fragments of pottery dated to the 12th century.

The bishop’s palace has been linked to Bishop John Drokensford right, and Ralph of Shrewsbury left.

As Jordan King writes for Metro, high-ranking officials in the medieval church often had palaces consisting of several structures, with the whole estate sometimes enclosed by a moat.

Gatehouse, a geographical dictionary of medieval castles in the British Isles, notes that Bishops Palace was in ruins by the 18th century, with a workhouse erected on part of the site in 1735. But drawings from the 19th century show that parts of the palace were still identifiable at that point.

An 1883 source describes the remains of the manor house as “represented by some walls, just sufficiently good to be roofed in and used as a wood house or garden storage.”

Croft tells BBC News that over the centuries, workers probably repurposed stones from the castle’s walls for other local buildings.

Archaeologists have now finished recording their findings and are figuring out how to preserve the structure’s foundations. Despite the significance of the discovery, the find hasn’t been all good news for Pole. When the builders found the ruins, they had to stop their work.

“It was exciting to hear the site contains something of real significance, but the cost of the investigation is going to cost me around £15,000 ($20,850) and has delayed the bungalow,” he tells the Gazette.

WORLD

Scientists Find 500-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Brain

Scientists Find 500-Million-Year-Old Fossilized Brain

The discovery of new evidence supports the previous speculation on 520 million-year-old human-old brain systems, provoking thoughts about the nature of brains, life, and intelligence in the cosmos.

Soft, squishy, and delicate; brain and nervous system tissues maybe some of the worst candidates for preservation in the fossil record.

In past years the best examples of the ancient brain and nerve structures have come from creatures trapped and preserved in amber that was a couple of hundred million years old. But a few years ago paleontologists claimed to have found evidence of brain structures in the fossil of a 520-million-year-old arthropod – a shrimp-like critter.

3-inch, 520-million-year-old fossil of Fuxianhuia protensa. Insert shows dark features associated with putative ‘brain‘ structure like that in modern organisms

That one sample was intriguing but not entirely convincing. Now a new study by Ma et al., reported in Current Biology (and a companion paper in Philosophical Transactions) has followed up with 7 more examples, together with lab work illustrating how the fossilization process may have happened in order to create the features seen today.

The three-part brain systems may be similar to those in modern insects, arachnids, crabs, and lobsters, and appear to be preserved as thin films of carbon or iron oxide-based mineral discoloration.

This is a remarkable discovery. The 520-million-year-old fossils come from the Cambrian period, the time in Earth’s history where life seems to have undergone a number of profound transitions. That includes the ‘Cambrian explosion’ in multicellular diversity and the first discoverable remains of animal ancestral phyla.

Exactly why these brains (dense collections of nerve cells and nerve networks) evolved at this time is open to speculation. But some researchers propose that the advent of multi-cellular life which had senses and complex body movements and contractions, including those positioned around feeding systems, would gain clear efficiency advantages with specialized and speedy nerve-like cells.

Connecting and localizing these cells via nets and clumps would offer further gains, especially as novelties like hunting (and evading hunters) began to pop up in larger and larger-bodied creatures.

The bottom line is that the basic biological structures of brains emerged at least half a billion years ago, seemingly very soon after the emergence of truly complex multi-cellular life.

Modern human brains may be very different than those of ancient arthropod brains, but the evolutionary ‘attractor’ for specialized neural networks manifested itself a long time ago.

And this raises some interesting thoughts and questions on the nature of life elsewhere in the universe and its potential complexity and intelligence.

The fact that brain structures may have arisen relatively fast once larger, complex-celled, life evolved on Earth does not by itself immediately tell us that this is likely to be a universal phenomenon.

In the same way, the apparently early origins of life on Earth doesn’t tell us much about the odds elsewhere – a sample size of one gives limited constraints. However, unlike the origins of life – for which we currently have no definitive theory – for brains, we have some relatively straightforward ideas (as above) about the how and the why of their development.

It could be that the smear-like remains of 520-million-year-old arthropod brains are pointing towards a cosmos full of neural nets.

Exactly how complex those nets are, and whether higher intelligence has emerged in any of them, is unknown, but the odds may be shifting in favor of some interesting possibilities.