Category Archives: WORLD

WORLD

Clues to Pacific Migration Paths Discovered in Papua New Guinea

Clues to Pacific Migration Paths Discovered in Papua New Guinea

Scientists think they may have found the smoking gun that explains why humans colonised the thousands of scattered islands of the South Pacific – and it lies in a sherd of pottery found hidden on a small island in Papua New Guinea.

Clues to Pacific Migration Paths Discovered in Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea was a launching point for the population of the Pacific Islands 3,000 years ago.

The peopling of the Pacific islands is one of humanity’s most epic migration stories. In just three millennia, an ancestral cultural group called the Lapita spanned a third of the Earth’s surface, reaching some of the most isolated landmasses on the planet.

As they moved, these ancestral Pacific Islanders are thought to have brought with them Austronesian languages, new domestic animals species like pigs, dogs and chickens, and a distinctive kind of pottery.

“For a long time it was thought Lapita groups avoided most of Papua New Guinea because people were already living there,” says Ben Shaw, lead researcher of the new study published today in Nature Ecology and Evolution. But, as this new research shows, that wasn’t always the case.

Brooker Island is a small finger of land that juts out into the sea near the southern tip of Papua New Guinea, an early step in the chain of islands that makes up the South Pacific. 

The Gutunka archaeological site nestles in a north-facing bay at the edge of an epic lagoon on the island that is, according to researchers, one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world.

Painstakingly excavated in 2018 and 2019, the earliest layers of the site contained the bones of a menagerie of introduced species, including pigs and dogs, and rats. As described in a new study in Nature Ecology and Evolution, later layers revealed a rich complex of pottery and tools unique to the Lapita culture, including foreign-source obsidian, blades consistent with tattooing, and the distinctive pots. 

The researchers believe the Lapita people may have initially arrived as sporadic, occasional visitors, before establishing a more permanent base in the bay, as evidenced by a more complex material culture and the more intensive harvesting of sea turtles for food. 

“Lapita cultural groups were the first people to reach the remote Pacific islands such as Vanuatu around 3,000 years ago,” says Shaw. “But in Papua New Guinea, where people have lived for at least 50,000 years, the timing and extent of Lapita dispersals are poorly understood.”

Shaw says the new discovery explains why the Lapita people colonised the Pacific islands 3,000 years ago: he suggests that contact with Indigenous people on PNG may have influenced migration pathways and led to island-hopping, as populations met, interacted and possibly butted heads.

“It is one of the greatest migrations in human history and finally we have evidence to help explain why the migration might have occurred and why it took place when it did,” he says.

The discovery, Shaw says, was a massive stroke of luck.

“We had no indication this would be a site of significance, and a lot of the time we were flying blind with the areas we surveyed, so it is very much like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.”

But Shaw notes cooperation with local populations was key to the discovery, which is why the Brooker Island community is listed as a senior author on the paper.

“A lot of our good fortune was because of the cultural knowledge, and we built a strong relationship with the locals based on honesty and transparency about our research on their traditional lands,” he says. “Without their express permission, this kind of work would simply not be possible.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Study Investigates Anglo-Saxon Diets

Study Investigates Anglo-Saxon Diets

Very few people in England ate large amounts of meat before the Vikings settled, and there is no evidence that elites ate more meat than other people, a major new bioarchaeological study suggests. Its sister study also argues that peasants occasionally hosted lavish meat feasts for their rulers. The findings overturn major assumptions about early medieval English history.

Food list compiled during the reign of King Ine of Wessex (c. 688-726), part of the Textus Roffensis
  • ‘You are what you eat’ isotopic analysis of over 2,000 skeletons is by far the largest of its kind.
  • Early medieval diets were far more similar across social groups than previously thought.
  • Peasants didn’t give kings food as exploitative tax, they hosted feasts suggesting they were granted more respect than previously assumed.
  • Surviving food lists are supplies for special feasts not blueprints for everyday elite diets.
  • Some feasts served up an estimated 1kg of meat and 4,000 Calories in total, per person.

Picture medieval England and royal feasts involving copious amounts of meat immediately spring to mind. Historians have long assumed that royals and nobles ate far more meat than the rest of the population and that free peasants were forced to hand over food to sustain their rulers throughout the year in an exploitative system known as feorm or food-rent.

But a pair of Cambridge co-authored studies published today in the journal Anglo-Saxon England present a very different picture, one which could transform our understanding of early medieval kingship and society.

While completing a PhD at the University of Cambridge, bioarchaeologist Sam Leggett gave a presentation which intrigued historian Tom Lambert (Sidney Sussex College). Now at the University of Edinburgh, Dr Leggett had analysed chemical signatures of diets preserved in the bones of 2,023 people buried in England from the 5th – to 11th centuries. She then cross-referenced these isotopic findings with evidence for social status such as grave goods, body position and grave orientation. Leggett’s research revealed no correlation between social status and high protein diets.

That surprised Tom Lambert because so many medieval texts and historical studies suggest that Anglo-Saxon elites did eat large quantities of meat. The pair started to work together to find out what was really going on.

They began by deciphering a food list compiled during the reign of King Ine of Wessex (c. 688-726) to estimate how much food it records and what its calorie content might have been. They estimated that the supplies amounted to 1.24 million kcal, over half of which came from animal protein. The list included 300 bread rolls so the researchers worked on the basis that one bun was served to each diner to calculate overall portions. Each guest would have received 4,140 kcal from 500g of mutton; 500g of beef; another 500g of salmon, eel and poultry; plus cheese, honey and ale.

The researchers studied ten other comparable food lists from southern England and discovered a remarkably similar pattern: a modest amount of bread, a huge amount of meat, a decent but not excessive quantity of ale, and no mention of vegetables (although some probably were served).

Lambert says: “The scale and proportions of these food lists strongly suggest that they were provisions for occasional grand feasts, and not general food supplies sustaining royal households on a daily basis. These were not blueprints for everyday elite diets as historians have assumed.”

“I’ve been to plenty of barbecues where friends have cooked ludicrous amounts of meat so we shouldn’t be too surprised. The guests probably ate the best bits and then leftovers might have been stewed up for later.”

Leggett says: “I’ve found no evidence of people eating anything like this much animal protein on a regular basis. If they were, we would find isotopic evidence of excess protein and signs of diseases like gout from the bones. But we’re just not finding that.”

“The isotopic evidence suggests that diets in this period were much more similar across social groups than we’ve been led to believe. We should imagine a wide range of people livening up bread with small quantities of meat and cheese, or eating pottages of leeks and whole grains with a little meat thrown in.”

The researchers believe that even royals would have eaten a cereal-based diet and that these occasional feasts would have been a treat for them too.

Peasants feeding kings

These feasts would have been lavish outdoor events at which whole oxen were roasted in huge pits, examples of which have been excavated in East Anglia.

Lambert says: “Historians generally assume that medieval feasts were exclusively for elites. But these food lists show that even if you allow for huge appetites, 300 or more people must have attended. That means that a lot of ordinary farmers must have been there, and this has big political implications.”

Kings in this period – including Rædwald, the early seventh-century East Anglian king perhaps buried at Sutton Hoo – are thought to have received renders of food, known in Old English as feorm or food-rent, from the free peasants of their kingdoms. It is often assumed that these were the primary source of food for royal households and that kings’ own lands played a minor supporting role at best. As kingdoms expanded, it has also been assumed that food-rent was redirected by royal grants to sustain a broader elite, making them even more influential over time.

But Lambert studied the use of the word feorm in different contexts, including aristocratic wills, and concludes that the term referred to a single feast and not this primitive form of tax. This is significant because food-rent required no personal involvement from a king or lord, and no show of respect to the peasants who were duty-bound to provide it. When kings and lords attended communal feasts in person, however, the dynamics would have been very different.

Lambert says: “We’re looking at kings travelling to massive barbecues hosted by free peasants, people who owned their own farms and sometimes slaves to work on them. You could compare it to a modern presidential campaign dinner in the US. This was a crucial form of political engagement.”

This rethinking could have far-reaching implications for medieval studies and English political history more generally. Food renders have informed theories about the beginnings of English kingship and land-based patronage politics, and are central to ongoing debates about what led to the subjection of England’s once-free peasantry.

Leggett and Lambert are now eagerly awaiting the publication of isotopic data from the Winchester Mortuary Chests which are thought to contain the remains of Egbert, Canute and other Anglo-Saxon royals. These results should provide unprecedented insights into the period’s most elite eating habits.

AFRICA, SOUTH AFRICA, WORLD

Ancient eggshell in the Northern Cape hiding 300,000 years of history

Ancient eggshell in the Northern Cape hiding 300,000 years of history

Evidence from an ancient eggshell has revealed important new information about the extreme climate change faced by human early ancestors.

The research shows parts of the interior of South Africa that today are dry and sparsely populated, were once wetland and grassland 250,000 to 350,000 years ago, at a key time in human evolution.

Philip Kiberd and Dr Alex Pryor, from the University of Exeter, studied isotopes and the amino acid from ostrich eggshell fragments excavated at the early Middle Stone Age site of Bundu Farm, in the upper Karoo region of the Northern Cape.

The yellow pin shows the location of Bundu Farm in the Northern Cape.

It is one of very few archaeological sites dated to 250,000 to 350,000 in southern Africa, a time period associated with the earliest appearance of communities with the genetic signatures of Homo sapiens.

This new research supports other evidence, from fossil animal bones, that past community in the region lived among grazing herds of wildebeest, zebra, small antelope, hippos, baboons and extinct species of Megalotragus Priscus and Equus capensis, and hunted these alongside other carnivores, hyena and lions.

After this period of equitable climate and environment, the eggshell evidence — and previous finds from the site — suggests that 200,000 years ago cooler and wetter climates gave way to increasing aridity.

A process of changing wet and dry climates recognised as driving the turnover and evolution of species, including Homo sapiens.

The study, published in the South African Archaeological Bulletin, shows that extracting isotopic data from ostrich eggshells, which are commonly found on archaeological sites in southern Africa, is a viable option for open-air sites greater than 200,000 years old.

The technique which involves grinding a small part of the eggshell, to a powder allows experts to analyse and date the shell, which in turn gives a fix on the climate and environment in the past.

A fragment of ancient ostrich shell embedded in calcrete from Bundu Farm.

Using eggshells to investigate past climates is possible as ostriches eat the freshest leaves of shrubs and grasses available in their environment, meaning eggshell composition reflects their diet.

As eggs are laid in the breeding season across a short window, the information found in ostrich eggshells provides a picture of the prevailing environment and climate for a precise period of time.

Bundu Farm, where the eggshell was recovered is a remote farm 50km from the nearest small town, sitting within a dry semi-desert environment, which supports a small flock of sheep.

The site was first excavated in the late 1990s the site with material stored at the McGregor Museum, Kimberley (MMK).

The study helps fill a gap in our knowledge of this part of South Africa and firmly puts the Bundu Farm site on the map.

Philip Kiberd, who led the study, said: “This part of South Africa is now extremely arid, but thousands of years ago it would have been an Eden-like landscape with lakes and rivers and abundant species of flora and fauna.

Our analysis of the ostrich eggshell helps us to better understand the environments in which our ancestors were evolving and provides an important context in which to interpret the behaviours and adaptations of people in the past and how this ultimately led to the evolution of our species.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Oldest Gynaecological Treatment On Record Performed In Ancient Egypt 4,000 Years Ago

Oldest Gynaecological Treatment On Record Performed In Ancient Egypt 4,000 Years Ago

In their latest research, scientists have come across a treatment practice in a mummy from 4000 years ago, as written in ancient Egyptian medical papyri. This treatment has been recorded as the first gynaecological treatment to date.

Oldest Gynaecological Treatment On Record Performed In Ancient Egypt 4,000 Years Ago

Scientists from the Universities of Granada and Jaén examined the physical evidence found in the mummified remains of a woman who suffered severe trauma in the pelvis and link them to a treatment described in Egyptian medical papyri of the time.

During the Qubbet al-Hawa Project, led by the University of Jaén (UJA) in Aswan (Egypt), in which scientists from the University of Granada (UGR) participated, researchers reported on a woman living in ancient Egypt who on a woman who died approximately in 1878-1797 BC and They found evidence of the oldest gynaecological treatment in the record.

During the 2017 archaeological excavations in Qubbet al-Hawa on the west bank of the Nile River, Andalusian researchers found a vertical shaft dug into the rock in tomb number QH34, which also opened the door to a burial chamber with ten sturdy skeletons.

Mummification techniques were not very effective in this region in upper Egypt. However, individuals buried there often belonged to the upper classes of society, which meant special attention should be paid to them. These particular mummies were wrapped in thick linen strips and very well preserved.

Professor Miguel Botella said, “mummies had grave gifts with different types of necklaces and masks on their faces, placed in two interlocking rectangular sarcophagi. It had hieroglyphic inscriptions, but it was badly damaged by the termite infestation. “she said.

Observed fracture in the groin.

One of the mummies excavated by the team of anthropologists was perhaps the last mummy buried in the room.

The remains of the outer coffin belonged to a high social class woman, whose name was Sattgen. This woman, named Sattgeni A, is a name widely used among the upper classes of the region, so it can be thought that an adverb is added.

The researchers found a ceramic bowl with signs of use, containing burnt organic debris, between her bandaged legs, in the lower part of the pelvis, and under the linen dressings.

Analysis of the skeletal remains was carried out by a team of anthropologists from the UGR (coordinated by Professor Botella) and confirmed that the woman had survived a severe fracture in her pelvis, possibly due to a fall that caused severe pain.

As written in medical papyri that describe the solutions for gynaecological problems, it is highly likely that the woman will be treated with fumigation to relieve these pains.

UJA Egyptologist and Qubbet al-Hawa Project manager Dr.  Alejandro Jimenez,” The most interesting feature of the discovery made by researchers from the University of Jaén is not only the documentation of palliative gynaecological treatment that is quite unique in Egyptian archaeology, but also that this type of fumigation therapy is defined in the contemporary medical literature.

But until now, no evidence could not be found to prove that such a treatment was actually applied” saying he expressed the importance of the research conducted.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

During the demolition work, a 2,500-year-old bull heads alto relievo was discovered in Sinop

During the demolition work, a 2,500-year-old bull heads alto relievo was discovered in Sinop

During the demolition work of the buildings in front of the historical city walls for the City Square National Garden project in the province of Sinop on the Black Sea coast of Turkey, 2,500-year-old bull heads shaped alto-relievo were found.

During the demolition work, a 2,500-year-old bull heads alto relievo was discovered in Sinop

According to the news of Gökhan Güçlüoğlu from Anadolu Agency, the demolition of the buildings in front of the historical city walls continues within the scope of the City Square Nation Garden Project implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change in the Sinop.

Within the framework of the demolitions that started on December 16, 2021, the demolition of five buildings, including the service building of Sinop Municipality, has been completed so far.

With the demolition of the structures within the scope of the project, which aims to bring the historical castle walls to tourism, a 2,500-year-old bullhead alto-relievo embroidered on the castle wall was also unearthed.

It is estimated that the relief carved on the castle wall consisting of four bullheads was designed as a symbol of power in ancient times.

What is the alto-relievo?

Relief, also called relievo, in sculpture, is any work in which the figures project from a supporting background, usually a plane surface.

Reliefs are classified according to the height of the figures’ projection or detachment from the background.

In a high relief, or alto-relievo, the forms project at least half or more of their natural circumference from the background and may in parts be completely disengaged from the ground, thus approximating sculpture in the round.

DENMARK, EUROPE, WORLD

Ancient golden neck ring found in Denmark

Ancient golden neck ring found in Denmark

A one-of-a-kind golden neck ring from the Germanic Iron Age (400-550 A.D.) has been discovered in a field not far from Esbjerg on the Jutland Peninsula in mainland Denmark.

Ancient golden neck ring found in Denmark

The ring weighs in at almost half a kilo (446 grams) and is designed with crescent-like depressions. The decoration is so meticulously detailed that the crescent shapes on the two rings are ever so slightly different: the crescents on the outer ring have eight decorative divots inside them, and the crescents on the inner ones have six. The broadest point of the ring measures 21 centimetres in diameter.

The embellishments on the ring are so rare, which makes it a “masterpiece of almost divine quality,” as termed by the South West Jutland Museum.

That kind of decoration is only known from fewer than a dozen similar rings found in Denmark. And this is by far the most elaborate, most finely worked of them. It is the only one with a soldered plate with intricate gold thread decoration.

The experts noted that the ring was deliberately buried and hidden away and that the inhabitant to whom it belonged did not sacrifice the ring to the gods, which was common practice in that era.

“When sacrificing items at that time, it usually took place in wetlands and bogs and the like. We know a large wetland existed near the discovery site, so if it was sacrificed to the gods, it would have been located out there instead”, Claus Feveile, curator at the Ribe Viking Museum, said in a statement.

The golden neck ring was discovered by metal detectorist Dan Christensen in October 2021.  Christensen when he found the neck ring, immediately alerted museum staff.

In the week following the discovery, the entire field was scanned with metal detectors in case the ring had been part of a larger grouping of precious objects scattered by agricultural activity. (Previous examples of neck rings from this period have been found in pairs.) Nothing turned up.

Subsequent full excavation of the find site revealed evidence of a settlement under a thin layer of plow soil, including roof-bearing post holes from multiple three-nave longhouses dating to between 300 and 600 A.D. The neck ring was found inside one of the longhouses.

It was recovered from below the plow layer, so archaeologists believe it was buried where it was found.

Archaeologists don’t think it has been moved since, as the golden neck ring is in mint condition and has maintained its shape.

Initially, the neck ring will be exhibited at Museet Ribes Vikinger up until December 23.

AUSTRALIA, WORLD

‘Australia’s silk road’: Quarry sites dating back 2,100 years reveal a world-scale trading system in Mithaka country

‘Australia’s silk road’: Quarry sites dating back 2,100 years reveal a world-scale trading system in Mithaka country

In Queensland’s remote Channel Country of red dirt and gibber rock, traditional owners and archaeologists have unearthed what researchers have dubbed “Australia’s Silk Road”.

The region is archaeologically significant: the landscape has been dramatically altered by a huge network of quarries, which Mithaka people once used to make seed-grinding implements.

While historical accounts have suggested Aboriginal Australians may have lived in permanent settlements, scientists say there is relatively limited archaeological evidence to back this up.

But now, a unique collaboration between Mithaka traditional owners, defence veterans, and scientists is unearthing skeletons and stone circles that experts say may paint a new picture of early Aboriginal lives.

In a research project initiated by the Mithaka people addressing, the results show that Mithaka Country has a substantial and diverse archaeological record, including numerous large stone quarries, multiple ritual structures, and substantial dwellings.

A team involving traditional owners and researchers eventually identified 179 quarry sites, spread over 33,800 sq km – an area about half the size of Tasmania. Some quarry pits are estimated to be more than 2,000 years old.

A Mithaka grinding stone set from Morney Plains Quarry.

One of the sites comprises 25,000 individual quarry pits, says Shawnee Gorringe, a Mithaka traditional owner. She describes the archaeological research findings as “scientific validation of something that you already knew was pretty special.”

In December, Michael C. Westaway, and collaborators received grant funding to investigate plant domestication and possible village sites on Mithaka land.

Project partner and lead researcher from Michael C. Westaway said he was blown away by the scale and significance of the Mithaka cultural landscape.

“Mithaka country is in the heart of a massive trade and exchange network, which I have referred to as Australia’s Silk Road,” Dr. Westaway said.

The researchers say archaeological research has uncovered unknown aspects, such as the scale of Mithaka quarrying, that could spur a reassessment of Aboriginal socio-economic systems in parts of ancient Australia.

A newly rediscovered ancient giant “Scorpious Stone Arrangement” in the remote desert of far western QLD, is offering new clues about the Mithika indigenous history.

Australia’s Silk Road

The Channel Country is so named for its intertwined channels, in which monsoonal rains transform from the arid desert into lush greenery. A complex exchange system once operated up and down along these rivulets.

Mithaka land was once at the heart of a vast transcontinental exchange route that spanned from the Gulf of Carpentaria in the north, down to the Flinders Ranges in South Australia – a system Westaway describes as “Australia’s Silk Road”.

“It connected large numbers of Aboriginal groups throughout that arid interior area on the eastern margins of the Simpson Desert,” he says. “You get people interacting all across the continent, exchanging ideas, trading objects and items and ceremonies and songs.”

Grindstones mined and produced on an industrial scale on Mithaka land were exchanged for ochre, wooden objects, stone axes, and pituri, a narcotic. “We don’t really know how far and wide they were being distributed, but they were an important element,” Westaway says.

Some of the archaeological findings are on show in an exhibition touring Queensland titled Kirrenderri, meaning the heart of Channel Country.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Unprecedented 1800-year-old marble bathtub recovered in Turkey

Unprecedented 1800-year-old marble bathtub recovered in Turkey

The 1800-year-old marble bathtub, which was seized when it was about to be sold by historical artefact smugglers in Aydın’s Karacasu district, was delivered to the Aphrodisias Museum Directorate. Experts stated that the 1-ton marble bathtub with reliefs of the lion’s head is not similar in Turkey.

Unprecedented 1800-year-old marble bathtub recovered in Turkey

The 1800-year-old marble bathtub, which was seized when it was about to be sold, during the operation carried out by the gendarmerie on March 31 against historical artefact smugglers, weighs 1 tonne and is 1 meter 80 centimetres long.

There are lion head reliefs on the right and left sides of the tub, and these reliefs represent power and power.

Experts pointed out that it was evaluated that the bathtub may have been used by a state administrator or a wealthy business person.

In the research, it was stated that the work, which stands out as the only bathtub made of marble among the bathtubs found so far, has no analogues in Turkey.

Aydın Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Umut Tuncer said, “The ancient city of Aphrodisias was one of the richest cities of its time.

We think that the marble bathtub is an important part of the history of this city, which dates back to the 1st century BC. This bathtub, which is about 1800 years old, is one of the rare examples in the world because it is completely marbled.”

“There are bathtubs created with various mud layers that have been found in Turkey before, but this completely marble structure actually expresses the wealth of this region and the welfare society of the period.”

Aphrodisias was an important city on its own like other Roman and Byzantine cities. Aphrodisias was surrounded by fertile soil to grow all kinds of nutrients and was the first city of the era. In addition, it had the sleek wall and cotton industries, advanced commercial, political, religious, and cultural institutions, great art and painting tradition, philosophy, and a world-famous school of sculpture.

Aydın Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Umut Tuncer said, “The seized marble bathtub is rare in the world”

In ancient times, Aphrodisias was actually quite famous for its expert sculptors, high-quality marble statues, and an important sculpture workshop that was uncovered during excavations. Marble quarries near the city were an important factor in Aphrodisias becoming a leading centre of arts.

In the 4th-6th centuries AD, Aphrodisian sculptors were in high demand to produce marble busts and statues for important individuals in the Roman Empire.

Their products were considered the best marble statues of the time and were displayed in major cities such as Rome, Constantinople, Sardis, Laodikeia, and Stratonikeia. Surviving works of Aphrodisian sculptors include Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli.