Rare 1000-Year-Old Maya Canoe Found in Yucatan Cenote
Archaeologists have discovered a wooden Maya canoe in southern Mexico, believed to be over 1,000 years old. Measuring over 5ft (1.6m), it was found almost completely intact, submerged in a freshwater pool near the ruined Maya city of Chichen Itza.
Archaeologists also found fragments of ceramics and a ritual knife during the excavation in southern Mexico
Mexico’s antiquities institute (Inah) says it may have been used to extract water or deposit ritual offers.
The rare find came during construction work on a new tourist railway known as the Maya Train.
Experts from Paris’s Sorbonne University have been helping with pin-pointing the canoe’s exact age and type, the statement said. A 3D model of it would also be made to allow replicas to be made, and to facilitate further study, it added.
It’s believed the canoe may have been used to extract water from the pool or to make ritual offerings
The Maya civilisation flourished before Spain conquered the region. In their time, the Mayas ruled large stretches of territory in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras.
The boat has been tentatively dated between 830-950 AD, towards the end of the Maya civilisation’s golden age.
Around this period, the Mayas suffered a major political collapse, marked by the abandonment of cities dotted around modern-day Central America – leaving ruins of towering pyramids and other stone buildings.
No single theory for this collapse has been widely accepted, but it is believed a combination of internal warfare, drought and overpopulation may have been contributing factors.
The Maya Train is a multi-billion-dollar project, led by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s government, which will run through five southern Mexican states.
Advocates have said the rail network will help to alleviate poverty in the region. But critics argue that it risks damaging local ecosystems and undiscovered sites of historic importance.
Lost Maya City Inside Volcano Crater Explored by Archaeologists
A lost Mayan city that collapsed inside a volcano crater has been explored by a team of archaeologists. In the Late Preclassic period—400 BC to AD 250—there was a thriving Mayan city consisting of temples, houses and squares, in the middle of the volcanic Lake Atitlán.
The Atitlán, situated in the highlands of Guatemala, lies within a volcano carter more than 5,000 feet above sea level.
A catastrophic event—which experts believe was caused by some sort of volcanic activity—caused the city to collapse from its bottom, forcing the Mayans to flee.
Archaeologists dove into the Lake’s depths to explore the lost city
The city sunk into the Atitlán’s depths and now lies 39 and 65 feet below its surface, according to Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology.
The lost city has now been explored by a team of archaeologists, lead by the head of the Yucatan Peninsula Office at the National Institute of Anthropology, Helena Barba Meinecke. Their aim was to raise awareness of the city’s significance to the Indigenous communities in the region and promote its conservation.
To reach the sunken city, archaeologists carried out dives in the area.
During the dives, archaeologists uncovered the remains of buildings, columns, ceremonial stones, and other structures. From these findings, they were able to generate a planimetric map of the city.
“With this planimetry, we can speak of a site that measures at least 200 by 300 meters,” Barba Meinecke said in a statement.
Archaeologists also gathered silt samples from the lake in order to assess the dynamics of the site and measure its decay over time. The exploration also laid “groundwork” for a cultural centre, which will allow people to explore the site virtually.
It is not the only archaeological site within Lake Atitlán. There are two other lost cities lying below the surface of the lake called Samabaj and Chiutinamit.
Samabaj was the first underwater Mayan ruin excavated in Guatemala in Lake Atitlán. It was discovered in the late 1990s by a scuba diver who had been exploring the lake’s depths, according to a Reuters report from 2009.
The Maya civilization was an Indigenous society stretching across what is now Mexico and Central America. The earliest settlements in the Maya civilization were formed during the Preclassic period. The civilization thrived for over 3,000 years until it mysteriously disappeared. Towards the end of the ninth century, cities were gradually abandoned one by one.
To this day, experts are still unsure what happened but there are several theories. One is that ongoing warfare among cities caused a breakdown, while others believe that the civilization could no longer thrive in the surrounding environment.
Archaeologists found ceremonial stones and the remains of buildings during their exploration
Tanis: Fossil found of dinosaur killed in an asteroid strike, scientists claim
Scientists have presented a stunningly preserved leg of a dinosaur. The limb, complete with skin, is just one of a series of remarkable finds emerging from the Tanis fossil site in the US State of North Dakota. But it’s not just their exquisite condition that’s turning heads – it’s what these ancient specimens are purported to represent.
Tanis: Fossil found of dinosaur killed in an asteroid strike, scientists claim
The claim is the Tanis creatures were killed and entombed on the actual day a giant asteroid struck Earth. The day 66 million years ago when the reign of the dinosaurs ended and the rise of mammals began. Very few dinosaur remains have been found in the rocks that record even the final few thousand years before the impact. To have a specimen from the cataclysm itself would be extraordinary.
The BBC has spent three years filming at Tanis for a show to be broadcast on 15 April, narrated by Sir David Attenborough. Sir David will review the discoveries, many of that will be getting their first public viewing. Along with that leg, there are fish that breathed in impact debris as it rained down from the sky.
We see a fossil turtle that was skewered by a wooden stake; the remains of small mammals and the burrows they made; skin from a horned triceratops; the embryo of a flying pterosaur inside its egg; and what appears to be a fragment from the asteroid impactor itself.
“We’ve got so many details with this site that tells us what happened moment by moment, it’s almost like watching it play out in the movies. You look at the rock column, you look at the fossils there, and it brings you back to that day,” says Robert DePalma, the University of Manchester, UK, a graduate student who leads the Tanis dig.
Robert DePalma: “Dinosaurs and the impact are two things that are absolutely linked in our minds”
It’s now widely accepted that a roughly 12km-wide space rock hit our planet to cause the last mass extinction. The impact site has been identified in the Gulf of Mexico, off the Yucatan Peninsula. That’s some 3,000km away from Tanis, but such was the energy imparted in the event, its devastation was felt far and wide.
The North Dakota fossil site is a chaotic jumble.
The remains of animals and plants seem to have been rolled together into a sediment dump by waves of river water set in train by unimaginable earth tremors. Aquatic organisms are mixed in with land-based creatures.
The sturgeon and paddlefish in this fossil tangle are key. They have small particles stuck in their gills. These are the spherules of molten rock kicked out from the impact that then fell back across the planet. The fish would have breathed in the particles as they entered the river.
The spherules have been linked chemically and by radiometric dating to the Mexican impact location, and in two of the particles recovered from preserved tree resin, there are also tiny inclusions that imply an extraterrestrial origin.
“When we noticed there were inclusions within these little glass spherules, we chemically analysed them at the Diamond X-ray synchrotron near Oxford,” explains Prof Phil Manning, who is Mr DePalma’s PhD supervisor at Manchester.
“We were able to pull apart the chemistry and identify the composition of that material. All the evidence, all of the chemical data, from that study suggests strongly that we’re looking at a piece of the impactor; of the asteroid that ended it for the dinosaurs.”
Sir David examines the remains of a triceratops dinosaur
The existence of Tanis, and the claims made for it, first emerged in the public sphere in the New Yorker Magazine in 2019. This caused a furore at the time.
Science usually demands the initial presentation of new discoveries is made in the pages of a scholarly journal. A few peer-reviewed papers have now been published, and the dig team promises many more as it works through the meticulous process of extracting, preparing and describing the fossils.
To make its TV programme, the BBC called in outside consultants to examine a number of the finds. Prof Paul Barrett from London’s Natural History Museum looked at the leg. He’s an expert in ornithischian (mostly plant-eating) dinosaurs.
“It’s a Thescelosaurus. It’s from a group that we didn’t have any previous record of what its skin looked like, and it shows very conclusively that these animals were very scaly like lizards. They weren’t feathered like their meat-eating contemporaries.
“This looks like an animal whose leg has simply been ripped off really quickly. There’s no evidence on the leg of disease, there are no obvious pathologies, there’s no trace of the leg being scavenged, such as bite marks or bits of it that are missing,” he tells me.
“So, the best idea that we have is that this is an animal that died more or less instantaneously.”
Artwork: The thinking is that a water surge buried all the creatures at Tanis
The big question is whether this dinosaur did actually die on the day the asteroid struck, as a direct result of the ensuing cataclysm. The Tanis team thinks it very likely did, given the limb’s position in the dig sediments.
If that is the case, it would be quite the discovery.
But Prof Steve Brusatte from the University of Edinburgh says he’s sceptical – for the time being.
He’s acted as another of the BBC’s outside consultants. He wants to see the arguments presented in more peer-reviewed articles, and for some palaeo-scientists with very specific specialisms to go into the site to give their independent assessment. Prof Brusatte says it’s possible, for example, that animals that had died before the impact was exhumed by the violence on the day and then re-interred in a way that made their deaths appear concurrent.
“Those fish with the spherules in their gills, they’re an absolute calling card for the asteroid. But for some of the other claims – I’d say they have a lot of circumstantial evidence that hasn’t yet been presented to the jury,” he says.
“For some of these discoveries, though, does it even matter if they died on the day or years before? The pterosaur egg with a pterosaur baby inside is super-rare; there’s nothing else like it from North America. It doesn’t all have to be about the asteroid.”
A pterosaur embryo inside an egg was found at the Tanis site…
…here digitally extracted and constructed into a model
There’s no doubting the pterosaur egg is special.
With modern X-ray technology, it’s possible to determine the chemistry and properties of the eggshell. It was likely leathery rather than hard, which may indicate the pterosaur mother buried the egg in sand or sediment like a turtle.
It’s also possible with X-ray tomography to extract virtually the bones of the pterosaur chick inside, print them and reconstruct what the animal would have looked like. Mr DePalma has done this. The baby pterosaur was probably a type of azhdarchid, a group of flying reptiles whose adult wings could reach more than 10m from tip to tip.
Mr DePalma gave a special lecture on the Tanis discoveries to an audience at the US space agency Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center on Wednesday. He and Prof Manning will also present their latest data to the European Geosciences Union General Assembly in May.
700-Year-Old Ship Found In Surprisingly Good Condition In Estonia
An 80ft longship, thought to be 700 years old, was unveiled amidst construction work in Tallinn. The ship was reportedly used by a medieval commercial and defence alliance named the Hanseatic League that stretched across seven modern-day nations in northern and central Europe.
This Hanseatic League ship, which may exceed the Bremen Cog for preservation quality, was miraculously discovered 5 feet (1.5 meters) beneath the streets of Tallinn, Estonia’s capital.
The ghostly remains of the huge Hanseatic League ship emerge from a construction site in Tallinn, Estonia’s capital.
The League went to war with Denmark and was known to have sacked Copenhagen off Copenhagen, compelling the then king, King Valdemar IV, to give up about 15 per cent of his profits gained from Danish trade via a peace treaty.
One of the renowned archaeological finds of the Hanseatic League is the Bremen Cog, discovered in 1962 in Germany. Per Mihkel Tammet, an archaeologist, the Estonian find is simply as impressive. He also added that it is significantly good when compared to the Bremen Cog.
The vessel is 24 meters in length and nine meters in width. The boards are intact up to three meters from the ship’s bottom.
Archaeologists have found wool material used for packing; they have also discovered tools and fragments of medieval leather shoes.
Already the Hanseatic League shipwreck has yielded many medieval artefacts as this leather shoe remains.
Currently, excavations are going on and archaeologists hope to discover more. Experts have worked out the analysis of the wood and have concluded that the wreck is from 1298. This makes it 82 years older than the Bremen Cog.
This vessel was discovered about 1.5 meters underground, near the harbour in the capital city. It was built with 24-meter-long oak logs and then, sealed carefully with tar and animal hair. This is also not far from what once used to be the Härjapea River’s mouth. But the waterway is now absent.
Tammet was called on for investigating the site after a historical wreck was noticed about 50 meters away in 2008. Experts are hopeful that more discoveries were on the way, given that the area used to remain in the water.
He mentioned that the area was under the sea even in the 18th century. Almost 800 years ago, there were about two meters of water there.
An archaeologist associated with the Tallinn city government, Ragnar Nurk, was called by Tammet soon after the stunning discovery. Nurk said that the wreck has to be removed from its current position to permit the construction work. He added that there are two options: it will either be taken to the maritime museum or Tallinn Bay’s wreck preservation spot near Naissaar Island.
The Hanseatic League, popular as Hansa, was formed in German merchant communities overseas and German towns in the north, to facilitate trade. With time in the Baltic, a virtual monopoly over maritime trade was established.
The cog was one of the main vessels in use. This is because it had ample cargo space, a flat bottom that helped access shallow waters, and needed too many men to operate.
Remains of a man and dog trying to escape an ancient tsunami found on the Aegean coast
The remains of a young man and a dog who were killed by a tsunami triggered by the eruption of the Thera volcano 3,600 years ago have been unearthed in Turkey. Archaeologists found the pair of skeletons during excavations at Çeşme-Bağlararası, a Late Bronze Age site near Çeşme Bay, on Turkey’s western coastline.
Despite the eruption of Thera being one of the largest natural disasters in recorded history, this is the first time the remains of victims of the event have been unearthed.
Moreover, the presence of the tsunami deposits at Çeşme-Bağlararası show that large and destructive waves did arrive in the northern Aegean after Thera went up.
Previously, based on the evidence available, it had been assumed that this area of the Mediterranean only received ash fallout from the eruption of Thera.
Instead, it now appears that the Çeşme Bay area was struck by a sequence of tsunamis, devastating local settlements and leading to rescue efforts.
Thera — now a caldera at the centre of the Greek island of Santorini — is famous for how its tsunamis are thought to have ended the Minoan civilisation on nearby Crete.
Based on radiocarbon dating of the tsunami deposits at Çeşme-Bağlararası, the team believe that the volcano’s eruption occurred no earlier than 1612 BC.
The remains of a young man (pictured) and a dog who were killed by a tsunami triggered by the eruption of the Thera volcano some 3,600 years ago have been unearthed in Turkey
The presence of the tsunami deposits at Çeşme-Bağlararası show that large and destructive waves did arrive in the northern Aegean after Thera went up. Previously, based on the evidence available, it had been assumed that this area of the Mediterranean only received ash fallout from the eruption of Thera. Pictured: a map of the dig site as seen in 2012, showing the location of the human and canine remians within the Late Bronze Age fortifications
The study was undertaken by archaeologist Vasıf Şahoğlu of the University of Ankara and his colleagues.
‘The Late Bronze Age Thera eruption was one of the largest natural disasters witnessed in human history,’ the researchers wrote in their paper.
The Bronze Age ruins were discovered in 2009 near the waterfront of Çeşme ahead of the construction of a new apartment building.
‘Its impact, consequences, and timing have dominated the discourse of ancient Mediterranean studies for nearly a century.
‘Despite the eruption’s high intensity and tsunami-generating capabilities, few tsunami deposits [have been] reported.
‘In contrast, descriptions of pumice, ash, and tephra deposits are widely published.’
Amid stratified sediments at the Çeşme-Bağlararası site, the researchers found the remains of damaged walls — once part of a fortification of some kind — alongside layers of rubble and chaotic sediments characteristic of tsunami deposits.
Within these were two layers of volcanic ash, the second thicker than the first, and a bone-rich layer containing charcoal and other charred remains.
According to the team, the deposits represent at least four consecutive tsunami inundations, each separate but nevertheless resulting from the eruption at Thera.
Tsunami deposits associated with the eruption are relatively rare — with three found near the northern coastline of Crete and another three along Turkey’s coast, albeit much further south than Çeşme-Bağlararası.
According to the team, the deposits (H1a–d in the above) represent at least four consecutive tsunami inundations, each separate but nevertheless resulting from the eruption at Thera
Traces of misshapen pits dug into the tsunami sediments at various places across the Çeşme-Bağlararası site represent, the researchers believe, an ‘effort to retrieve victims from the tsunami debris.’
‘The human skeleton was located about a meter below such a pit, suggesting that it was too deep to be found and retrieved and therefore (probably unknowingly) left behind,’ they added.
‘It is also in the lowest part of the deposit, characterized throughout the debris field by the largest and heaviest stones (some larger than 40 cm [16 inches] diameter), further complicating any retrieval effort.’
The young man’s skeleton — which shows the characteristic signatures of having been swept along by a debris flow — was found up against the most badly damaged portion of the fortification wall, which the team believe failed during the tsunami.
Tsunami deposits associated with the eruption of Thera are relatively rare — with three found near the northern coastline of Crete and another three along Turkey’s coast, albeit much further south than Çeşme-Bağlararası
This 3,000-Year-Old Wooden Toe Shows Early Artistry of Prosthetics
Almost two decades ago, archaeologists working in a burial chamber in the Sheikh ´Abd el-Qurna necropolis west of Luxor, Egypt, found something unexpected: An exquisitely crafted prosthetic big toe fitted to the remains of a woman believed to be the daughter of a high status ancient Egyptian priest.
As George Dvorsky at Gizmodo reports, the faux-toe, known as the Cairo Toe or the Greville Chester Great Toe is roughly 3,000 years old and is likely the earliest practical prosthesis ever discovered. Now, a detailed study of the digit has unlocked new secrets about the Cairo Toe.
Researchers took a closer look at the toe using modern microscopy, X-ray technology, and computer tomography. Their 3D scans of the toe, which are not yet published, identified the materials the prosthesis was made from and how it was crafted. The most interesting finding, however, was that the toe was refitted several times to exactly match the woman’s foot.
The Cairo Toe
“The [toe] testifies to the skills of an artisan who was very familiar with the human physiognomy,” according to a press release from the University of Basel in Switzerland.
“The technical know-how can be seen particularly well in the mobility of the prosthetic extension and the robust structure of the belt strap.
The fact that the prosthesis was made in such a laborious and meticulous manner indicates that the owner valued a natural look, aesthetics and wearing comfort and that she was able to count on highly qualified specialists to provide this.”
The analysis was part of a reexamination of the Sheikh ´Abd el-Qurna tombs and their related artefacts.
Experts from the University of Basel and other institutions are creating 3D archaeological and geological maps of the tombs. The necropolis, a warren of rock-cut tombs, was active in the 15th century B.C. and was remodelled several times over the centuries.
The tombs were eventually used as dwellings for early Christian hermits and were occupied by other people into the 20th century.
The Toe’s Tomb is one of many burial chambers in the area believed to be reserved for high-status Egyptians associated with the Pharoah, like the priest and his daughter. As the BBC reports, she likely died between the ages of 50 and 60 and suffered a toe amputation sometime in her past that had time to completely heal before her death.
The big question is whether the life-like toe was worn mainly for looks or if it actually improved the balance and functioning of its wearer.
There has always been a tension between aesthetics and functionality since people first crafted artificial limbs, explains Katherine Ott, a curator of the division of medicine and science at The National Museum of American History.
“It’s always been an issue and there’s never a single answer…Every era and culture has a different definition of what they consider body integrity what makes you whole,” she tells Smithsonian.com.
Though many of these early prostheses were likely challenging and uncomfortable to wear, “they prevent people from staring and make the user feel more integrated [into society],” she says.
The Cairo Toe, however, is unlike many other prosthetics from ancient times, Ott explains. Though it beautifully imitates a natural toe, it may have also helped the wearer with balance. Its stitching and mixed leather and wooden construction likely made it much more comfortable than other ancient prosthetics.
For example, the Egyptian cartonnage toe is an older prosthesis made of a type of linen Papier-mâché and was uncovered with a mummy in the 1880s. But this toe doesn’t bend at any joint, and modern tests suggest that if it was worn in real life, it was likely too uncomfortable to sport long term. Similarly, the Ancient Roman Capua leg—another early prosthesis from 300 B.C.—was cast in bronze. This heavy and non-jointed structure was likely impractical to wear.
“Generally prosthetics that mimic body parts don’t work as well…They are usually clumsy and fatiguing,” says Ott. But perhaps that wasn’t so with the Cairo Toe. Hopefully, this ancient prosthetic was as functional as it was beautiful, making the wearer feel both emotionally and physically more whole.
The Theopetra Cave and the Oldest Human Construction in the World
The Theopetra Cave is an archaeological site situated in Meteora, in the central Greek region of Thessaly. As a result of the archaeological excavations that have taken place over the years, it has been revealed that the Theopetra cave was inhabited by human beings as early as 130,000 years ago.
In addition, evidence of human habitation in the Theopetra Cave can be dated without interruption from the Middle Palaeolithic to the end of the Neolithic period.
This is significant, as it allows archaeologists to have a better understanding of the prehistoric period in Greece.
Excavations at the Theopetra cave began in 1987 under the direction of N. Kyparissi-Apostolika.
The Theopetra Cave is located on the north-eastern slope of a limestone hill, some 100 m (330 feet above the valley), overlooking the remote village of Theopetra, and the river Lethaios, a tributary of the Pineios River, flows nearby.
According to geologists, the limestone hill was formed between 137 and 65 million years ago, corresponding to the Upper Cretaceous period. Based on archaeological evidence, human beings have only begun to occupy the cave during the Middle Palaeolithic period, i.e. around 130,000 years ago.
The cave is located on the slopes of a limestone hill overlooking Theopetra village.
The cave itself has been described as roughly quadrilateral in shape with narrow niches on its edge and covers an area of around 500 sq meters (5380 sq ft). The Theopetra Cave has a wide aperture, which enables the light to penetrate easily into the interior of the cave.
The archaeological excavation of the Theopetra Cave began in 1987 and continued up until 2007. This project was directed by Dr Nina Kyparissi-Apostolika, who served as the head of the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Speleography when the excavations were being carried out.
It may be mentioned that when the archaeological work was first conducted, the Theopetra Cave was being used by local shepherds as a temporary shelter in which they would keep their flocks.
It may be added that the Theopetra Cave was the first cave in Thessaly to have been archaeologically excavated, and also the only one in Greece to have a continuous sequence of deposits from the Middle Palaeolithic to the end of the Neolithic period. This is significant, as it has allowed archaeologists to gain a better understanding of the transition from the Palaeolithic to the Neolithic way of life in mainland Greece.
Several interesting discoveries have been made through the archaeological study of the Theopetra Cave. One of these, for instance, pertains to the climate in the area when the cave was being occupied.
By conducting micro-morphological analysis on the sediment samples collected from each archaeological layer, archaeologists were able to determine that there had been hot and cold spells during the cave’s occupation. As a result of these changes in the climate, the cave’s population also fluctuated accordingly.
Another fascinating find from the Theopetra Cave is the remains of a stone wall that once partially closed off the entrance of the cave. These remains were discovered in 2010 and using a relatively new method of dating known as Optically Stimulated Luminescence, scientists were able to date this wall to around 23000 years old.
The age of this wall, which coincides with the last glacial age, has led researchers to suggest that the wall had been built by the inhabitants of the cave to protect them from the cold outside. It has been claimed that this is the oldest known man-made structure in Greece, and possibly even in the world.
A year before this incredible discovery was made, it was announced that a trial of at least three hominid footprints that were imprinted onto the cave’s soft earthen floor had been uncovered.
Based on the shape and size of the footprints, it has been speculated that they were made by several Neanderthal children, aged between two and four years old, who had lived in the cave during the Middle Palaeolithic period.
In 2009, the Theopetra Cave was officially opened to the public, though it was closed temporarily a year later, as the remains of the stone wall were discovered that year. Although the archaeological site was later re-opened, it was closed once again in 2016 and remains so due to safety reasons, i.e. the risk of landslides occurring.
Archaeologists Unearth 4,000-Year-Old Stone Board Game in Oman
Archaeologists in Oman have found a 4,000-year-old stone board game at a Bronze and Iron Age settlement site near the village of Ayn Bani Saidah in the northern Hajar mountains’ Qumayrah Valley.
The Royal Game of Ur (ca. 2,600 B.C.), from the Royal Cemetery of Ur in modern-day Iraq. Collection of the British Museum, London.
“Such finds are rare, but examples are known from an area stretching from India, through Mesopotamia even to the Eastern Mediterranean,” Piotr Bielinski, a University of Warsaw archaeologist who co-led the excavations, said in a statement.
“The most famous example of a game board based on a similar principle is the one from the graves from Ur,” an ancient royal cemetery in Iraq.
The ancient game he is referring to was discovered in 1922, is about 4,500 years old and is a two-player game similar to backgammon. It is now in the collection of the British Museum in London.
The newly discovered large stone board in Oman had grid-like markings seemingly indicating different fields of play, as well as cup holes. Its rules have been lost to time.
Archaeologists excavating a Bronze Age and Iron Age settlement near the village of Ayn Bani Saidah in Oman.
An Omani-Polish team from the University of Warsaw’s Polish Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology and Oman’s Ministry of Heritage and Tourism has been conducting the fieldwork, led by Bielinski and the ministry director-general of antiquities Sultan Al Bakri.
The area surrounding the dig is one of the least-studied regions of Oman—but finds made by recent studies suggest the Qumayrah Valley was part of a major trade route between several Arab cities.
“This abundance of settlement traces proves that this valley was an important spot in Oman’s prehistory,” Bieliński told the Daily Mail.
A 4,000-year-old board game was found near the village of Ayn Bani Saidah in Oman.
Digs at the site, which has been the subject of excavations since 2015, have also yielded four towers—one at least 60 feet tall—and the first evidence of copper smelting in the region.
“This shows that our settlement participated in the lucrative copper trade for which Oman was famous at that time,” Bielinski said in a statement.
Plans are to continue excavations near Ayn Bani Sa’dah, as well as to investigate the other end of the valley, near Bilt.
