Category Archives: EUROPE

EUROPE, WORLD

Vikings Weren’t All Scandinavian, Ancient DNA Study Shows

Vikings Weren’t All Scandinavian, Ancient DNA Study Shows

The term “Viking” tends to conjure up images of fierce, blonde men who donned horned helmets and sailed the seas in longboats, earning a fearsome reputation through their violent conquests and plunder.

But a new study published in the journal Nature suggests the people known as Vikings didn’t exactly fit these modern stereotypes. Instead, a survey deemed the “world’s largest-ever DNA sequencing of Viking skeletons” reinforces what historians and archaeologists have long speculated: that Vikings’ expansion to lands outside of their native Scandinavia diversified their genetic backgrounds, creating a community not necessarily unified by shared DNA.

As Erin Blakemore reports for National Geographic, an international team of researchers drew on remains unearthed at more than 80 sites across northern Europe, Italy and Greenland to map the genomes of 442 humans buried between roughly 2400 B.C. and 1600 A.D.

The results showed that Viking identity didn’t always equate to Scandinavian ancestry. Just before the Viking Age (around 750 to 1050 A.D.), for instance, people from Southern and Eastern Europe migrated to what is now Denmark, introducing DNA more commonly associated with the Anatolia region. In other words, writes Kiona N. Smith for Ars Technica, Viking-era residents of Denmark and Sweden shared more ancestry with ancient Anatolians than their immediate Scandinavian predecessors did.

Other individuals included in the study exhibited both Sami and European ancestry, according to the New York Times’ James Gorman. Previously, researchers had thought the Sami, a group of reindeer herders with Asiatic roots, were hostile toward Scandinavians.

“These identities aren’t genetic or ethnic, they’re social,” Cat Jarman, an archaeologist at the Museum of Cultural History in Oslo who wasn’t involved in the new research, tells Science magazine’s, Andrew Curry. “To have a backup for that from DNA is powerful.”

Overall, the scientists found that people who lived in Scandinavia exhibited high levels of non-Scandinavian ancestry, pointing to a continuous exchange of genetic information across the broader European continent.

Contrary to popular belief, Vikings weren’t simply blonde, seafaring Scandinavians.

In addition to comparing samples collected at different archaeological sites, the team drew comparisons between historical humans and present-day Danish people.

They found that Viking Age individuals had a higher frequency of genes linked to dark-coloured hair, subverting the image of the typical light-haired Viking.

“It’s pretty clear from the genetic analysis that Vikings are not a homogenous group of people,” lead author Eske Willerslev, director of the University of Copenhagen’s Center of Excellence GeoGenetics, tells National Geographic. “A lot of the Vikings are mixed individuals.”

He adds, “We even see people buried in Scotland with Viking swords and equipment that are genetically not Scandinavian at all.”

The ongoing exchange of goods, people and ideas encouraged Vikings to interact with populations across Europe—a trend evidenced by the new survey, which found relatively homogenous genetic information in Scandinavian locations like mid-Norway and Jutland but high amounts of genetic heterogeneity in trade hubs such as the Swedish islands of Gotland and Öland.

Per the Times, the researchers report that Vikings genetically similar to modern Danes and Norwegians tended to head west on their travels, while those more closely linked to modern Swedes preferred to journey eastward. Still, exceptions to this pattern exist: As Ars Technica notes, Willerslev and his colleagues identified an individual with Danish ancestry in Russia and a group of unlucky Norwegians executed in England.

The study also shed light on the nature of Viking raids. In one Estonian burial, the team found four brothers who’d died on the same day and were interred alongside another relative—perhaps an uncle, reports the Times. Two sets of second-degree kin buried in a Danish Viking cemetery and a site in Oxford, England, further support the idea that Viking Age individuals (including families) travelled extensively, according to National Geographic.

“These findings have important implications for social life in the Viking world, but we would’ve remained ignorant of them without ancient DNA,” says co-author Mark Collard, an archaeologist at Canada’s Simon Fraser University, in a statement. “They really underscore the power of the approach for understanding history.”

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Mystery solved about the origin of the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf

Mystery solved about the origin of the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf

The source of the materials used to make the Venus of Willendorf, a 30,000-year-old figurine that counts among the world’s oldest artefacts, have long eluded experts.

The original Venus from Willendorf. Left: lateral view. Right-top: hemispherical cavities on the righthaunch and leg. Right bottom: existing hole enlarged to form the navel.

The figurine, which resembles a woman with fulsome breasts and round hips, is made of a rock known as oolite, which isn’t native to Willendorf, the village in Austria where it was found. At long last, how the oolite made its way to Willendorf appears to be solved.

An anthropologist with the University of Vienna and two geologists said on Tuesday that the Venus of Willendorf’s oolite most likely came from an area in the north of Italy near Lake Garda.

The findings by Gerhard Weber, Alexander Lukeneder, and Mathias Harzhauser put forward in their paper, which appears in the peer-reviewed journal Scientific Reports, have the potential to reshape how experts understand the movement of various peoples during the Paleolithic era.

Working in collaboration with the prehistorian Walpurga Antl-Weiser and the Natural History Museum in Vienna, which owns the Venus of Willendorf, the team of researchers closely examined the figurine to determine its origins.

They relied on a technique called micro-computed tomography, which uses extremely high-definition photography to offer cross-sections of objects.

Inside the oolite, they discovered remnants of shells and limonites, a kind of large grain. Some of the limonites appear to have fallen out of the figurine as it was being carved, leaving depressions behind.

Pictures derived from micro-computed tomography scans of the Venus. Left: Segmented bivalve (Oxytomidae) that was located on the right side of the Venus head; scan resolution 11.5 μm; characteristic features are the umbo and the wings. Middle: Volume rendering of the virtual Venus; six embedded limonite concretions: neck right (orange), neck left (blue), breast left (red), belly left (yellow), hip left (green), leg left (purple); three mollusc fragments: bivalve head right (blue, only 2.5 mm long, see the white line from label “Bivalve” for position), shell breast middle (orange), shell leg left (turquoise). Right: Single μCT-slice showing the porosity and layering of the oolite; note the relative density of the limonite concretion; scan resolution 53 μm.
Venus fluorescent

The experts suggested that the Venus of Willendorf’s gaping belly button was the result of this—a happy accident that was embraced by its maker.

If indeed the oolite came from northern Italy, it means that the sculpture’s maker likely travelled across an area where the Alps are sited.

But because glaciers that have since melted once covered those mountains, the creator likely circumvented the Alps.

Because the oolite went from Italy to Austria, it probably means that the people of civilization that the sculpture’s maker belonged to “looked for and inhabited favourable locations,” Weber said in a statement.

“When the climate or the prey situation changed, they moved on, preferably along rivers.”

But the archaeologists left open the possibility that the oolite may have come from a very different locale: Ukraine. Similar-looking Venus figures have been found there, the experts said, and while the oolite “clearly” seems to have come from Italy, it was “possible, though less likely,” that this sculpture could have originated in Eastern Europe.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Ice Age ‘megafauna’ remains including a mammoth, rhino, hyena and wolf dating back up to 60,000 years are discovered in a Devon cave

Ice Age ‘megafauna’ remains including a mammoth, rhino, hyena and wolf dating back up to 60,000 years are discovered in a Devon cave

Ice Age 'megafauna' remains including a mammoth, rhino, hyena and wolf dating back up to 60,000 years are discovered in a Devon cave
This partial woolly rhinoceros mandible remarkably still has several teeth attached.

The development of Sherford began in 2015 and appeared rather promising. A new town in Devon, England, it would have 5,500 homes and sit near the bustling port city of Plymouth. Fortunately, developers requested archaeologists comb the area before breaking ground — leading to the discovery of animal remains that date back to the Ice Age.

These remains included the tusk, molar tooth, and other bones of a woolly mammoth.

Experts also found the lower jaw and partial skull of a woolly rhinoceros, with a complete wolf skeleton to follow. Other findings include partial remains of a hyena, horse, reindeer, mountain hare, and red fox, plus the bones of bats and shrews.

Led by AC Archaeology and Orion Heritage, the ongoing excavations took place in a cave near old lime kilns and a local quarry. 

According to Sherford officials, the animals died at some point between 30,000 and 60,000 years ago. For the experts involved, this extinct megafauna from Britain’s last Ice Age speaks a thousand words.

“This is a major discovery of national significance — a once-in-a-lifetime experience for those involved,” said lead archaeologist Rob Bourn. “To find such an array of artefacts untouched for so long is a rare and special occurrence. Equally rare is the presence of complete or semi-complete individual animals.”

The researchers documented the remains at the site before carefully removing them for further off-site analysis.

Fortunately for scientists and historians, requesting heritage institutions to thoroughly search an area prior to construction is commonplace in the United Kingdom.

Sherford Consortium developers did so from the very beginning — thereby preventing the destruction of these priceless remains.

The team has since taken the remains off-site for a thorough examination. While they’ve dated them to the Middle Devensian period, it’s unclear if all the animals involved lived during the same timeframe or died millennia apart. For Victoria Herridge, an expert in fossil elephants at the Natural History Museum in London, much is left to learn:

“Devon then would have been a bitterly cold and dry place to be, even in summer,” she said.

“However, it was also a huge open grassland, capable of supporting vast herds of cold-tolerant animals like the woolly mammoth, the woolly rhino and reindeer, as well as the big carnivores like hyena and wolf that preyed upon them.”

This ancient wolf skull was found alongside its complete skeleton.

“This is vital knowledge. Scientists are still unravelling what role climate and humans played in the extinction of the woolly mammoth and the woolly rhino — and what we can learn from that to protect species threatened by both today.”

While the fact that these bones were preserved for millennia is astounding, Bourn was more impressed that they stayed intact during the human activity of the modern age: “Construction happening at Sherford is the sole reason these findings have been discovered and it is remarkable that they have laid undisturbed until now.”

On the other hand, the discovery site itself isn’t particularly easy to access for regular folk. It’s likely precisely because of this that the bones remained so well-preserved.

The Sherford Consortium has since guaranteed that this underground area will be closed off, with no public access allowed — or construction atop to follow.

The remains will be put on display at Plymouth’s new museum, The Box.

“To have found partial remains of such a range of species here in Devon gives us a brilliant insight into the animals which roamed around Ice Age Britain thousands of years ago, as well as a better understanding of the environment and climate at the time,” said Duncan Wilson, the chief executive of Historic England.

As for the future of these ancient remains themselves, it’s been decided that Plymouth’s new museum The Box will put them on display. With the history of the region safeguarded by those who inhabit it today, museum CEO Victoria Pomery hopes locals will gain warranted insight into their heritage.

“Once all the analysis work is completed it will be a huge honour to care for and display these newly discovered finds, and to play an ongoing part in the public’s understanding of Plymouth and the animals that were here during the Ice Age,” said Pomery.

This woolly mammoth tusk is estimated to be between 30,000 and 60,000 years old.

Whether the animals in question all fell into the pit and died together or merely washed into the cave over time is still a mystery. What is clear, however, is that Devon’s Joint Mitnor cave discovered in 1939 yielded over 4,000 animal bones — and was robbed in 2015 by thieves who stole a 100,000-year-old elephant tooth.

Fortunately, that’s unlikely to occur again, as those in charge appear to be determined to properly guard the newfound site.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Bronze Age Burial Mound Discovered in England

Bronze Age Burial Mound Discovered in England

Archaeologists believe they may have found evidence of a 4,000-year-old prehistoric burial mound during the construction of new student flats. The site has already yielded the remains of St Mary’s, a lost 15th Century Oxford University college.

Bronze Age Burial Mound Discovered in England
The remains are typical of a Bronze Age barrow used for human burials

Latest discoveries include a fragment of skull, part of a human jawbone, and remains typical of a Bronze Age barrow used for human burials.

Thirty flats are being developed at Brasenose College’s Frewin Annexe.

Oxford Archaeology’s senior project manager, Ben Ford, said St Mary’s College, which had already been a “significant archaeological discovery”, appeared to have been built above a circular burial mound.

He added: “These intriguing discoveries strongly suggest a prehistoric burial mound was on this site thousands of years before Oxford even existed.

“The jawbone is robust and clearly from an individual of some stature. The mound is built from reddish colour soils and natural gravel – its survival is very unusual.

“We are now searching for the circular ditch which would have surrounded it, and the remaining bones of the individual.”

Latest discoveries include part of a human jawbone
Thirty flats are being developed at Brasenose College’s Frewin Annexe

During the Bronze Age, important people were commemorated under large earthen mounds as part of an extensive burial ground in the region.

Mr Ford said: “Frewin Hall is one of the oldest buildings still in use in the city, and when we started this project, we hoped to uncover evidence of Oxford’s earliest years as a fortified Saxon town, as well as its later use as the residence of some of the Oxfords most powerful Norman families.

“However, it had not been previously documented that there was a prehistoric burial site here.”

He said the “rare discovery” had brought a “new dimension” to a “rich archaeological area”.

Artefacts previously found at the site include ceramic beer jugs, coins, glass vessels, highly decorated window glass, and decorated floor tiles.

At a recent open day, 500 visitors came to see some of the excavations.

The site has already yielded the remains of St Mary’s, a lost 15th Century Oxford University college
ASIA, EUROPE, RUSSIA, WORLD

A Message From a Mysterious Ancient Culture in Siberia

A Message From a Mysterious Ancient Culture in Siberia

On the right bank of the Askiz river, a unique archaeological site from the early first millennium C.E. has been found. It is associated with the enigmatic Tashtyk culture in ancient Siberia and for a change, it sheds light not only on how they died, but who they were.

The Tashtyks’ unusual funerary practices had already been described in numerous articles and research but we know little about how they lived before the evil day. Now at the new site dubbed Kazanovka 14, archaeologists have gained rare insight into their culture, their adaptations to the environment and their relationships in this “oasis” in southern Siberia.

The Askiz is a tributary of the Abakan River. It passes through the balmy Minusinsk Basin in the southern Siberian republic of Khakassia, where the previously unknown site was found during the field season of 2021.

The Minusinsk Basin is a territory bordered by mountains and forests, with abundant lakes, fertile land and the mildest climate in Siberia. One might call it an oasis of the steppe. The winter winds blow the snow away from the mountains, making the area a perfect place to keep sheep, who can roam freely. It is therefore little wonder that the Minusinsk hollow attracted semi-nomadic tribes and their flocks throughout history. Archaeologists over the years have uncovered sites of a number of cultures from the third millennia B.C.E. onward.

While performing construction works along the Mezhdurechensk–Tayshet railroad from 2019 to 2021, various sites from the Early Bronze Age to the later Middle Ages were discovered. These included burials of many cultures and settlements. One of the sites, called “Kazanovka 14,” was excavated in 2021.

The salvage excavation of Kazanovka 14 was carried out by Anton Vybornov of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS Novosibirsk, Russia, under the leadership of Timoshenko Alexey. It was here that the scholars found new evidence of how the Tashtyks lived their life, after finding the remains of a burned-down wooden structure, and a remarkable petroglyph – an engraved sandstone slab.

Kazanovka 14, to the right of the track
Excavating the Tashtyk site of Kazanovka 14

Their discoveries were reported in the journal of Problems of Archaeology, Ethnography, Anthropology of Siberia and Neighboring Territories. As Anton Vybornov told Haaretz, Kazanovka 14 was a Tashtyk seasonal camp, as indicated by characteristic finds known from the vast majority of burial grounds of which this “culture” is famous.

A little bit Scythian

The Tashtyk culture was common in the Khakassian Minusink basin, in southern Siberia, from almost 2,000 to about 1,600 years ago. But the culture is not easy to define, Vybornov says. In some ways, they seem to have carried on some Scythian traditions. In other ways, they evince Hunnic – Sarmatian types of cultures, mixed with local traditions known in the Basin. The Tashtyk culture is also considered to be a local southern Siberian phenomenon on which basis the later medieval Yenisei Kirgizian state would arise.

Weapons and artefacts found in Tashtyk context

One thing we can be sure about is their idiosyncratic and colourful burial practices.

Tashtyk funerary practices involved either cremation or inhumation. The remains were buried either in box graves dug into the ground and lined by wood, or massive crypt burial mounds. The ash and cremated bones were put inside a leather bag that was then stuffed with dry grass. The bag was arranged inside a leather-dressed dummy, and a mask was placed on the area of the face.

In the case of Inhumation, which was also common, the deceased was dressed in leather. Their heads were wrapped with shrouds, orin any case a cloth tissue, and a mask was placed on top.

Tashtyk burial masks
Illustration of a mask on a Tashtyk woman’s body

The masks were the most extraordinary feature of these burials. They were essentially portraits of the dead made using clay and plaster and embellished with red paint. On the forehead, a spiral was drawn, and the cheeks and chin were blushed with the paint as well.

Once the dummies or bodies had been prepared, they were placed in box graves or crypts, among grave goods, including pottery and metal vessels. The crypts were big, with a corridor leading inside. When its mortuary duty was finished, the crypt was sealed, burned, and covered, to stand for eternity overlooking the Basin. While we can say plenty about their way of death, as revealed by the abundance of Tashtyk burial sites and practices, we cannot say much about their way of life. Barely any Tashtyk settlements have been found, hence the importance of Kazanovka 14.

Just below the surface, three to 20 centimetres below the modern deposits, the archaeologists unearthed what seems to have been a seasonal campsite of this semi-nomads, who moved from winter to summer camps and practised farming throughout the years in this fertile land. In the southern part of the camp, they found a charred destruction layer that they believe came from a collapsed structure built of wooden sticks attached horizontally or vertically together. The excavators also detected holes in the ground in the area of the structure, indicating the placement of wooden posts that supported the walls and/or the ceiling.

Pottery vessels found in Kazanovka 14

There was also a hearth, and together with pottery vessels, bone and metal objects, and animal remains, there were several spots of burnt clay accumulations. This leads Anton to surmise that the structure might have been a potter’s workshop, a possibility worth considering even though the research is still basic and further analysis is required. Alternatively, the structure could have been a simple house, a hut, or even a yurt. It seems the site ceased to exist when the fire consumed the wooden structure and what was within, sealing the place for good – until it was uncovered by the expedition in 2021.

Kazanovka 14 not only sheds light on the Tashtyk way of life. It also opens a window to their artistic world and their perception of themselves and their surroundings. The fire might have burned down their house, but signs of the Tashtyks’ artistic spirit survived the conflagration long after their death. Among the ash and debris, the archaeologists found astragalus bones, which are animal ankle bones, with marks incised on them, including crosses, circles, and lines. These are familiar from other sites and might have been used as game pieces. A sense of spaceBut the most exciting discovery of the season was the engraved sandstone slab.

The sandstone slab in situ
A Message From a Mysterious Ancient Culture in Siberia
The petroglyph

The depictions on the sandstone are divided into three panels. The lower has what seemed to be a stylistic representation of trees. The upper features three horizontal lines with smaller stripes in between. The middle panel was bordered by three vertical lines on each side with stripes in between, similar to the upper panel.

The panel’s centre is oddly empty, with some elements on the side and a semicircle in the middle. Despite its cryptic nature, Vybornov and his team were extremely excited by the find, a whisper left behind by these enigmatic people about themselves and their world, an unintentional message from the past. Learning about the finds and the burnt structure found in Kazanovka 14, and the petroglyphs on the slab, one wonders if it might show that very structure.

When asked about it, Vybornov said that it had been his first thought as well, but at this stage that remains pure speculation. Only further research and analysis of the material, and correlation to old and new finds hopefully to be made, can unveil what the message the Tashtykians wanted to deliver actually was.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Skulls suggest Romans in London enjoyed human blood sports

Skulls suggest Romans in London enjoyed human blood sports

Skulls suggest Romans in London enjoyed human blood sports
Left: Digital radiograph showing a healed skull fracture. Right: Skull showing sharp-force injuries and fractures inflicted around the time of death.

A joint research project between the Museum of London and the Natural History Museum has re-evaluated human remains discovered under the London Wall in 1988.

The majority of the remains were recovered from an industrial site in the Walbrook Valley and have been curated by the Museum of London.

Because the skull is the first body part to disarticulate, it was first thought that these were skull bones that had separated from the rest of the bodies over time and been washed out from graves. Similar crania are often found in the River Thames.

Evidence of violent injury

Museum forensic anthropologist Dr Heather Bonney, who analysed the skulls, however, found that many of the individuals had sustained blunt force trauma in the facial area and on the side of their heads around the time of their death.

An adult male skull displaying a healed fracture of the cheekbone sustained during life.

Army trophies

This would suggest several theories, which include that these remains could be the heads of people executed in the amphitheatre near the burial site, or the heads of enemies kept as trophies by the Roman army from the frontiers of Britain, stationed in Roman London.

Roman amphitheatres were typically used for gladiator combat and judicial execution.

Human games

Only a few of the human remains showed signs of the type of decapitation you would expect in judicial execution.

The human remains were deposited between AD 120-AD160, which was a time of prosperity and peace in the province, rather than a period of war when human remains exhibiting violent death would have been more typical.  

Violent Londinium

Dr Rebecca Redfern from the Museum of London, said, ‘There is no evidence for social unrest, warfare or other acts of organised violence, during the period that this human remains date from.

The view of bloodthirsty Romans has wide currency, but this is the first time that we have evidence of these types of violence in London.’

Dr Bonney said that similar burial sites for the victims of gladiatorial combat have been found in Europe, but not previously identified in Britain. ‘We know gladiator contests went on in London but not the extent of such contests,’ she said.

 ‘The prevalence of trauma and young adult males from this site indicates that they probably met a violent end, and their heads were then separated and deposited. Signs of violent injuries sustained during life also provide a fascinating insight into violent activities in Roman London.’

The research team said that the next step was to investigate where the people buried in the site came from.

EUROPE, FRANCE, WORLD

Holey cow! Evidence of Stone Age veterinary ‘surgery’

Holey cow! Evidence of Stone Age veterinary ‘surgery’

A hole in the skull of a Stone Age cow was likely made by humans about 5,000 years ago, probably by a primitive veterinarian or trainee surgeon, scientists said.

Holey cow! Evidence of Stone Age veterinary 'surgery'
A 3D reconstruction of the Stone Age cow’s skull, showing internally and externally the hole produced by trepanation.

The hole appears to have been painstakingly carved into the animal’s head, but whether it was an operation to save the cow or practice for surgery on humans, was not clear, a duo of anthropologists reported in the journal Scientific Reports.

Either way, the puncture does seem to represent the earliest known example of veterinary “trepanation” – the boring of a hole into the skull, they said.

“There are many Neolithic (human) skulls in Europe which bear the marks of trepanation. But we have never seen it in animals,” co-author Fernando Ramirez Rozzi of France’s CNRS research institute told AFP.

The Neolithic era was the closing chapter of the Stone Age – a time when prehistoric humans, hunter-gatherer nomads until then, first tried their hand at cultivating crops and building permanent villages.

The cow skull comes from an archaeological site in western France, inhabited by a Stone Age community between 3,400 and 3,000 BC.

Bone fragments scattered around the camp showed that cows were the main source of food, along with pigs, sheep, and goats.

It was thought at first that the matchbox-sized hole was made when the cow was gored by a horned rival in a fight.

But on closer inspection with high-definition scanners, the team found no splintering or fractures consistent with such a strong blow.

The puncture was too regular to have been the work of a gnawing pest, nor did it appear to have been made by a tumour or infectious diseases, such as syphilis or tuberculosis, as the skull showed no other signs of sickness.

This picture shows cut marks in a cow skull (a, b, c) and in a human skull (d, e) from the Neolithic period suggesting that the technique used for the trepanation in humans is the same as that employed in the cow skull.

DEAD OR ALIVE?

Religious ritual also seemed an unlikely explanation, as the skull was thrown away with the rubbish.

Cut- and scrape marks were found around the hole, said Rozzi – similar to those seen on Neolithic human skulls into which holes had been bored.

“I believe that the evidence of trepanation is indisputable,” the researcher added. “It is the only possible explanation.”

But why would a Stone Age human operate on an animal?

“There are two possible explanations,” according to Rozzi. “Either they were treating the cow, or they were practising on it before trying their hand at the surgery on humans.”

The first option seemed unlikely, he added, given that cows were in such abundance.

The team could not determine whether the hole was made while the cow was still alive, or after it died.

The bone, however, had not started regrowing around the hole, which showed the cow either did not survive the operation, if there was one, or was cut post-mortem.

EUROPE, SPAIN, WORLD

Evidence of Surgery Some 5,300 Years Ago Identified in Spain

Evidence of Surgery Some 5,300 Years Ago Identified in Spain

A team of several researchers from the University of Valladolid, in Spain and one from the Spanish National Research Council in Italy, has found evidence of the earliest ear surgery performed on a human being.

In their paper published in the journal Scientific Reports, the group describes their study of a human skull found at the Dolmen of El Pendónis back in 2018 and what they learned from it.

Dolmen of El Pendónis is a dig site near Burgos, Spain. Prior research has shown that the site was once used by early people as a funerary chamber. Prior research has also shown that the site was used for approximately 800 years, between 3,800 and 3,000 BC.

Evidence of Surgery Some 5,300 Years Ago Identified in Spain
Skull understudy found at El Pendón site. Superior: Frontal and lateral view of the skull (Photo: ÑFotógrafos Photography Study). Inferior: Skull with mastoidectomy in situ in the context of the megalithic ossuary.

In the summer of 2018, a skull was found at the site and was put into storage. More recently, the researchers with this new effort retrieved the skull and took a closer look at it. In so doing, they found it bore evidence of a type of cranial surgery meant to cure an ear ailment.

They also found evidence showing that the patient, a woman between the ages of 35 and 50, had survived the surgery—at least for a few months.

There was evidence of bone regrowth in the holes that had been bored through her skull. The skull was dated 5,300 years ago, making it the earliest known example of ear surgery.

The procedure, known today as a mastoidectomy, is done to clean out the area behind the ear that has become infected. Failure to correct the problem can lead to deafness in some cases, or progressive infections leading to more serious problems, including death.

The woman who underwent the procedure required it on both ears. It is presumed that her condition was painful, enough so that she was willing to undergo what must have been an incredibly painful surgery.

Further inspection of the skull showed she had lost a lot of teeth, suggesting she was quite old for the time.

The researchers also found evidence of enlarged auditory canals, likely the result of the surgical procedure.

In the same tomb as the surgical patient, a flint tool was discovered—it had evidence of having been reheated several times, likely making it a cautery tool for stopping bleeding.