Category Archives: WORLD

PERU, SOUTH AMERICA, WORLD

1,000 Years Ago, Patients Survived Brain Surgery, But They Had To Live With Huge Holes in Their Heads

1,000 Years Ago, Patients Survived Brain Surgery, But They Had To Live With Huge Holes in Their Heads

Healers in Peru carried out cranial surgery more than a thousand years ago to treat a host of conditions – often successfully. Without the benefits of a sterile operating theatre, state-of-the-art surgical instruments, anaesthetic and pain medication, the ancient people of the South American country undertook a surgical procedure that involves removing a section of the skull using a hand drill or a scraping tool – a practice called preparation. It was used to treat a variety of ailments, mainly head injuries but even, bizarrely, a broken heart.

Gruesome: Some 900 years ago, Peruvian healers used hand drills to make dozens of small holes in a patient’s skull

Excavating burial caves in the south-central Andean province of Andahuaylas in Peru, University of California bioarchaeologist Danielle Kurin and her research team unearthed the remains of 32 individuals that date back to the Late Intermediate Period (around AD 1000-1250).

Among them, 45 separate trepanation procedures were in evidence.

‘When you get a knock on the head that causes your brain to swell dangerously, or you have some kind of neurological, spiritual or psychosomatic illness, drilling a hole in the head becomes a reasonable thing to do,’ said Kurin, a visiting assistant professor in the Department of Anthropology at UC Santa Barbera and a specialist in forensic anthropology. According to Kurin, trepanations first appeared in the south-central Andean highlands during the Early Intermediate Period (circa AD 200-600), although the technique was not universally practised. Still, it was considered a viable medical procedure until the Spanish put a halt to the practice in the early 16th century. But Kurin, whose findings appear in the current issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology, wanted to know how trepanation came to exist in the first place and looked to a failed empire to find some answers.

‘For about 400 years, from 600 to 1000 AD, the area where I work — the Andahuaylas — was living as a prosperous province within an enigmatic empire known as the Wari,’ she said.

‘For reasons still unknown, the empire suddenly collapsed.’ And the collapse of civilisation, she drily noted, brings a lot of problems.

‘But it is precisely during times of collapse that we see people’s resilience and moxie coming to the fore,’ Kurin continued.

‘In the same way that new types of bullet wounds from the Civil War resulted in the development of better glass eyes, the same way IED’s are propelling research in prosthetics in the military today, so, too, did these people in Peru employ trepanation to cope with new challenges like violence, disease and depravation 1,000 years ago.’

A Peruvian actress impersonates an ancient female warrior in this file picture. Trepanning was common in the mysterious Wari culture

Kurin’s research shows various cutting practices and techniques being employed by practitioners around the same time. Some used scraping, others used cutting and still, others made use of a hand drill. It looks like they were trying different techniques, the same way we might try new medical procedures today,’ she said. They’re experimenting with different ways of cutting into the skull. Sometimes they were successful and the patient recovered, and sometimes things didn’t go so well. We can tell a trepanation is healed because we see these finger-like projections of bone that are growing,’ Kurin explained.

‘We have several cases where someone suffered a head fracture and was treated with the surgery; in many cases, both the original wound and the trepanation healed.’

It could take several years for the bone to regrow, and in a subset of those, a trepanation hole in the patient’s head might remain for the rest of his life, thereby conferring upon him a new ‘survivor’ identity. When a patient didn’t survive, his skull (almost never hers, as the practice of trepanation on women and children was forbidden in this region) might have been donated to science, so to speak, and used for education purposes.

‘The idea with this surgery is to go all the way through the bone, but not touch the brain,’ said Kurin. ‘That takes incredible skill and practice.

‘As bioarchaeologists, we can tell that they’re experimenting on recently dead bodies because we can measure the location and depths of the holes they’re drilling,’ she continued.

‘In one example, each hole is drilled a little deeper than the last. So you can imagine a guy in his prehistoric Peruvian medical school practising with his hand drill to know how many times he needs to turn it to nimbly and accurately penetrate the thickness of a skull.’

Some might consider drilling a hole in someone’s head a form of torture, but Kurin doesn’t perceive it as such.

‘We can see where the trepanations are. We can see that they’re shaving the hair. We see the black smudge of a herbal remedy they put over the wound,’ she noted.

‘To me, those are signs that the intention was to save the life of the sick or injured individual.’

But thanks to Kurin’s careful archaeological excavation of intact tombs and methodical analysis of the human skeletons and mummies buried therein, she knows exactly where, when and how the remains she found were buried, as well as who and what was buried with them. She used radiocarbon dating and insect casings to determine how long the bodies were left out before they skeletonised or were mummified, and multi-isotopic testing to reconstruct what they ate and where they were born.

‘That gives us a lot more information,” she said.

‘These ancient people can’t speak to us directly, but they do give us information that allows us to reconstruct some aspect of their lives and their deaths and even what happened after they died,’ she continued.

‘Importantly, we shouldn’t look at a state of collapse as the beginning of a “dark age”, but rather view it as an era that breeds resilience and foments stunning innovation within the population.’

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

An Ancient Papyrus Reveals How The Great Pyramid of Giza Was Built

An Ancient Papyrus Reveals How The Great Pyramid of Giza Was Built

An Ancient Papyrus Reveals How The Great Pyramid of Giza Was Built

Stones weighing up to fifteen tonnes were hauled down the Nile on wooden boats to a man-made port. For centuries it has been one of the world’s greatest enigmas: how did a primitive society with little technology build the Great Pyramid of Giza — the oldest and only survivor of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World? At 146 metres high, it was for nearly 4,000 years, the tallest man-made structure on Earth.

In what is considered by some to be one of the greatest discoveries in Egypt in the 21st century, archaeologists have unearthed the diary of Merer, an official involved in the construction of Giza’s great pyramid.

The 4,500-year-old papyrus is the oldest in the world and describes how wooden boats and an ingenious system of waterworks transported blocks of limestones and granite weighing up to 15 tonnes from 13 kilometres away. In it, Merer (which means beloved) describes how he and a crew of 40 elite workmen shipped the stones downstream from Tura to Giza along the Nile River.

In the last few years, the papyrus and other archeological excavations have revealed new information about how the pyramids were constructed. Here are some of the findings uncovered in the Nature of Things documentary Lost Secrets of the Pyramid.

Water was harnessed to transport the huge stones.

Every summer, when the Nile flooded, giant dykes were opened to divert water from the river and channel it to the pyramid through a manmade canal system creating an inland port that allowed boats to dock very close to the worksite — just a few hundred metres away from the growing pyramid.

A recreation of the port from the documentary Lost Secrets of the Pyramid

The construction of artificial ports was a huge turning point for Egyptians, opening up trade and new relationships with people from distant lands.

Wooden boats were built with rope instead of nails.

The limestone was carried along the River Nile in wooden boats built with planks and rope that were capable of hauling two-and-a-half tonne stones.  Using ancient tomb carvings and the remains of an ancient dismantled ship as a guide, archaeologist Mohamed Abd El-Maguid has recreated one Egyptian boat from scratch.

3D scans of the ship planks revealed that the boats were full of holes that lined up perfectly with each other. Instead of nails or wood pegs, these boats were sewn together with rope like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

With 1,000 holes and five kilometres of rope the new boat was assembled and Abd El-Maguid and in Secrets of the Pyramid, attempts to re-create every step of Merer’s journey down the Nile with two-tonne limestone rock.

Transporting huge rocks on an ancient boat across the Nile reveals how difficult the process really was

These boats were rowed carefully with the current down the Nile to the worksite. Once the rocks were unloaded, the wind helped propel the vessel back to the quarry.

Workers were valued and lived nearby in a huge settlement

Archaeologist Mark Lehner has uncovered artefacts that provide evidence of a vast settlement that held as many as 20,000 people. Average workers lived in huge dormitories, but team leaders like Merer lived in relative luxury with homes of their own.

Thousands of tiny bits of detritus of everyday life reveal that these hungry workers were well taken care of. An entire city was formed near the pyramid site to provide food and drink.

For most of the workers, building the pyramids was a source of prestige; these people have valued servants of the state.

Workers belonged to teams

Ankhhaf, Pharoah Khufu’s half-brother is mentioned in Merer’s diary and is thought to have been in charge of the operation.  He divided the workforce into ‘phyles’ teams of 40 men — which someone like Merer oversaw.

Artefacts with team names on them have been discovered by archaeologist Pierre Tallet at a remote desert outpost in Wadi Al-Jarf about 250 kilometres away. Merer’s phyle was called “The Followers of the Boat named after the Snake on its Figurehead.”

Four phyles formed a gang of elite labourers. Each team has specific roles in the construction of the pyramid or the transportation of materials to the worksite.

Thousands of men, working together for over 20 years, succeeded in building the tallest, heaviest structure on earth. They transformed the landscape, and in doing so, also created a new society which archaeologist Mark Lehner says is the real achievement, “Once they had put all these systems and all this infrastructure in place there was no going back. They became more important than the pyramid itself and set Egyptian civilization off on a course for the next two or three millennia.”

AUSTRALIA, WORLD

Mungo Man: 42,000-year-old Aboriginal remains to be reburied

Mungo Man: 42,000-year-old Aboriginal remains to be reburied

The remains of 108 Aboriginal people who died about 42,000 years ago will be reburied in outback Australia, years after they were first dug up without permission. These include the remains of Mungo Man, which was famously discovered in 1974 and helped rewrite Australia’s history.

The remains of Mungo Man are carried in a casket made from a 5000-year-old red gum

The decision comes after the federal government finalised a four-year-long formal assessment of the reburial.

But some indigenous groups claim they were not consulted in this process.

Between 1960 and 1980, there was a flurry of archaeological finds. During this time, researchers found the remains of 108 Aboriginal individuals in Lake Mungo and Willandra Lakes, part of the Willandra world heritage area about 750km (470 miles) west of Sydney, including the remains of an aboriginal man that was dubbed Mungo Man.

His remains were the oldest evidence of humans living in Australia and the evidence of the first recorded ceremonial burial, a sign that there had been a long history of civilisation as early as 42,000 years ago.

This record was later broken when another 65,000-year-old site was discovered in other parts of the country in 2017.

Lake Mungo in the Willandra region in Australia is where the 42,000-year-old remains of the indigenous Australians were found.

However, the future of the 108 ancient people’s remains is still a matter of debate.

Campaigners say many remains removed without permission are yet to be returned, with some housed in museums overseas. In the case of Mungo Man, indigenous Australians said the removal of his remains caused great pain.

Reflecting the sensitivity around this issue, Mungo Man was finally returned to where it was found in the first place, Mungo National Park in 2017 after being kept at the storage of the Australian National University in Canberra.

But in 2018 the Australian government decided to rebury all 108 remains – in what they described as an effort to accommodate the wishes of Aboriginal groups.

On Wednesday, the Australian government has finally approved the reburial of the remains, which will be buried at 26 anonymous locations in national parks in the coming months.

“Forty-two thousand years ago Aboriginal people were living – and thriving – on the edge of what was then a rich lakeside. In the last four decades their remains have been removed, analysed, stored, and extensively investigated in the interests of western science.”, Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said.

While the government asserted that they had listened to the local Aboriginal community, some of the community members feel let down by the whole process.

Local papers quoting some locals said they felt “bitter disappointment” as not all the owners of the remains were consulted for the crucial decision involving their ancestors.

Michael Young, a Paakantyi man from the community, said the central government continued to make decisions without them, according to an ABC News report.

“It is our place. It is our identity.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Early Bronze Age Ax Heads Discovered in England

Early Bronze Age Ax Heads Discovered in England

Metal detectorists have made a “remarkable” discovery unearthing two Bronze Age axe heads on land owned by a farmer in Wiltshire. Kay Stevenson, from Winterbourne in South Gloucestershire, said the finds could be about 4,000 years old.

Early Bronze Age Ax Heads Discovered in England
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL
The axe heads are several thousands of years old

“I knelt down and dug it up, then realised it looked like an axe head.”

“I didn’t realise the significance of what we found until we spoke to Bristol Museum, it’s bonkers thinking about it,” she said.

THE PUNK METAL DETECTORISTS

Ms Stevenson said she stumbled across the heads while out walking with friends

Ms Stevenson found the heads on 24 March with her partner Ade Rice.

Together they call themselves the Punk Metal Detectorists.

“I was absolutely hooked after trying it out once and I haven’t looked back since,” she said.

On this occasion, she said they were wandering about with friends when “all of a sudden” they found the axe heads.

“I knelt down and dug it up. I walked on a little bit further and found another one.

“Ade immediately knew they were Bronze Age axe heads.”

‘Incredibly important artefacts’

The axes date back to some of the earliest metalworking in Britain, and finding two in one location was unusual, according to Kurt Adams, Finds Liaison Officer for Gloucestershire and Avon.

“Bronze Age finds are incredibly rare,” he said.

“When we do see finds they tend to be later Bronze Age.”

The heads are being stored in Bristol Museum and the case is with a coroner who will establish the reward value.

Mr Adams said it was “a fantastic find”.

“They date to 2,200 BC to 1,800 BC, so they’re around 4,000 years old.

“They were used for cutting down trees.

“They are incredibly important artefacts for this country,” he added.

AUSTRALIA, WORLD

Man discovers “alien” creature’s corpse washed up on Australian beach

Man discovers “alien” creature’s corpse washed up on Australian beach

A weirdly bloated creature, whose head has been defleshed and body looks more like a swollen, discoloured beast of a myth than anything real, washed up on an Australian beach last week. And though it’s anybody’s guess the identity of the stranded corpse, experts contacted by Live Science have some ideas.

Alex Tan, of Queensland, Australia, was taking a stroll on Maroochydore Beach when he made the startling discovery. Speaking into his phone camera at the time (on April 1), he said, as shared on Instagram, “I’ve stumbled across something weird.

This is like one of those things you see where people claim they’ve found aliens.” The camera then quickly pans away from Tan’s face to reveal the bald, bloated creature with claws, a long tail and an exposed skull. 

In the video’s comments, users speculate that the creature could be anything from a possum (as Tan believes), to a dehydrated kangaroo, and of course, an alien. Wilder guesses on social media include “mini-Chupacabra” or an “extinct marsupial.” 

Despite having mentioned aliens in the original video posted to his Instagram, Tan doesn’t seem to believe the creature has an extraterrestrial origin. “THE PEOPLE NEED ANSWERS. I’m still guessing it’s a possum — my bet of a chicken parmi for any expert that can prove me wrong still stands,” he wrote(opens in new tab) after posting the video.

Tan, in a later interview with the social media news outlet Storyful(opens in new tab), said that the animal had “humanlike hands, a long lizard tail, nose like a possum, and patches of black fur.”

So far, there has been no consensus as to what the creature might be. Russell Bicknell, a marine biologist at the University of New England in Australia told Live Science that he thinks it is either a kangaroo or a wallaby. Whatever it is, he said, is “very waterlogged,” likely having been washed out to sea during recent flooding in the area.

“I’d say it’s a Brushtail possum, Trichosurus vulpecula, that has lost all its fur,” Sandy Inglesbly, a mammalogy collection manager at the Australian Museum, told Live Science in an email. Inglesbly suggests that the skull “certainly” matches that of a brushtail as well as the proportions of the limbs and tail to the body. 

However, this is neither the first nor the last, time an unidentifiable or bizarre-looking creature will be found washed up onshore. In 2013, a 30-foot-long giant squid washed up on a Spanish beach, while in 2020 an even larger one appeared in South Africa. Marine biologists identified the creatures as Architeuthis dux, the largest marine invertebrate on the planet. 

In May 2021, an inky-black fish with gnarly teeth and an appendage protruding from its head appeared on a beach in California; the animal was later identified as a Pacific footballfish.

And in 2015, a 15-foot-long decomposing “sea monster” washed ashore in Maine that was identified as a basking shark.

In all cases, the unidentified monster is always identified. It remains to be seen what Tan’s discovery is, but all evidence points to “not alien,” despite how bizarre the creature might look. 

WORLD

Did another advanced species exist on Earth before humans?

Did another advanced species exist on Earth before humans?

Our Milky Way galaxy contains tens of billions of potentially habitable planets, but we have no idea whether we’re alone. For now, Earth is the only world known to harbour life, and among all the living things on our planet, we assume Homo sapiens is the only species ever to have developed advanced technology.

But maybe that’s assuming too much.

In a mind-bending new paper entitled “The Silurian Hypothesis” — a reference to an ancient race of brainy reptiles featured in the British science fiction show “Doctor Who” — scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the University of Rochester take a critical look at the scientific evidence that ours is the only advanced civilization ever to have existed on our planet.

“Do we really know we were the first technological species on Earth?” asks Adam Frank, a professor of physics and astronomy at Rochester and a co-author of the paper. “We’ve had an industrial society for only about 300 years, but there’s been complex life on land for nearly 400 million years.”

If humans went extinct today, Frank says, any future civilization that might arise on Earth millions of years hence might find it hard to recognize traces of human civilization. By the same token, if some earlier civilization existed on Earth millions of years ago, we might have trouble finding evidence of it.

In search of lizard people

The discovery of physical artefacts would certainly be the most dramatic evidence of a Silurian-style civilization on Earth, but Frank doubts we’ll ever find anything of the sort.

“Our cities cover less than one per cent of the surface,” he says. Any comparable cities from an earlier civilization would be easy for modern-day palaeontologists to miss. And no one should count on finding a Jurassic iPhone; it wouldn’t last millions of years, Gorilla Glass or no.

Finding fossilized bones is a slightly better bet, but if another advanced species walked the Earth millions of years ago — if they walked — it would be easy to overlook their fossilized skeletons — if they had skeletons. Modern humans have been around for just 100,000 years, a thin sliver of time within the vast and spotty fossil record.

For these reasons, Frank and Gavin Schmidt, a climatologist at Goddard and the paper’s co-author, focus on the possibility of finding chemical relics of an ancient terrestrial civilization.

Using human technology as their guide, Schmidt and Frank suggest zeroing in on plastics and other long-lived synthetic molecules as well as radioactive fallout (in case factions of ancient lizard people waged atomic warfare). In our case, technological development has been accompanied by widespread extinctions and rapid environmental changes, so those are red flags as well.

After reviewing several suspiciously abrupt geologic events of the past 380 million years, the researchers conclude that none of them clearly fit a technological profile. Frank calls for more research, such as studying how modern industrial chemicals persist in ocean sediments and then seeing if we can find traces of similar chemicals in the geologic record.

He argues that a deeper understanding of the human environmental footprint will also have practical consequences, helping us recognize better ways to achieve a long-term balance with the planet so we don’t end up as tomorrow’s forgotten species.

Then again, he’s also a curious guy who’s interested in exploring more far-out ideas for finding Silurian-style signatures: “You could try looking on the moon,” he says.

Lunar archaeology

The moon is a favoured target of Penn State University astronomer Jason Wright, one of a handful of other researchers now applying serious scientific thinking to the possibility of pre-human technological civilizations.

“Habitable planets like Earth are pretty good at destroying unmaintained things on their surfaces,” Wright says. So he’s been looking at the exotic possibility that such a civilization might have been a spacefaring one. If so, artefacts of their technology, or technosignatures, might be found elsewhere in the solar system.

Wright suggests looking for such artefacts not just on the lunar surface, but also on asteroids or buried on Mars — places where such objects could theoretically survive for hundreds of millions or even billions of years.

SpaceX’s recent launch of a Tesla Roadster into space offers an insight into how such a search might go. Several astronomers pointed their telescopes at the car and showed that, even if you had no idea what you were looking at, you’d still quickly pick it out as one weird-looking asteroid.

Finding technosignatures in space is an extreme long shot, but Wright argues that the effort is worthwhile. “There are lots of other reasons to find peculiar structures on Mars and the moon, and to look for weird asteroids,” he says. Such studies might reveal new details about the history and evolution of the solar system, for instance, or about resources that might be useful to future spacefarers.

If the efforts turn up a big black obelisk somewhere, so much the better.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Skeleton of Roman mercenary and medieval remains found buried in Wales

Skeleton of Roman mercenary and medieval remains found buried in Wales

The 1,700-year-old skeleton of a Roman mercenary has been unearthed next to a newly-built road in the Welsh countryside. Archaeologists discovered the mercenary buried with his sword alongside Iron Age farming tools, ancient burial sites, and the remnants of roundhouses.

A total of 456 skeletons have been recovered from the site on Five Mile Lane near Barry, South Wales, including five likely to date to the Roman period. 

Among them were the mercenary and his military regalia, along with the remains of one man who had been decapitated and his head placed at his feet.

Improvement work on Five Mile Lane led to the ‘significant’ and ‘surprising’ finds, with three sites being excavated.

The earliest features found were several Bronze Age burnt pits, along with a Late Bronze Age crouch burial and artefacts from the period, including a flint arrowhead.

The 1,700-year-old skeleton of a Roman mercenary has been unearthed next to a newly-built road in the Welsh countryside
Archaeologists discovered the mercenary buried with his sword alongside Iron Age farming tools, ancient burial sites, and the remnants of roundhouses. Pictured is a Roman villa unearthed by archaeologists

An Early Bronze Age beaker was also discovered to the north of the burial mound. 

After the mid-to-late Bronze Age activity, the next known settlement on the site occurred during the Late Iron Age to the early Roman transition period. Roman pottery decorated with a leaping animal – possibly a lion or panther – was also unearthed.

Council officials brought in specialist archaeology firm Rubicon Heritage Services to manage the digs on the road leading to Cardiff Airport. 

‘From a ceremonial and funerary landscape in the Neolithic and Bronze Age periods, through to farming in the Iron Age and being part of a wealthy Roman farmstead, to a Medieval burial ground which reused the earlier burial mound, and finally to the post-medieval agricultural landscape we see today, the archaeologists were able to trace the development of this swathe of land, uncovering many surprises along the way,’ the company said.

Mark Collard, of Rubicon Heritage Services, added: ‘It was a privilege for our team to have delivered a project which added so many new discoveries about the archaeology and history of the Vale of Glamorgan.

‘We’re very pleased to be able now to share the results in such an accessible format with the communities of the area.’ 

Pictured here is a piece of Roman pottery which was also found at the scene by archaeology firm Rubicon Heritage Services

In the 1960s, a prehistoric settlement that developed into a Roman villa was excavated following the discovery of crop marks visible from the air.

Whitton Lodge is thought to have been occupied from about 50 BC to the 4th century AD, at the close of the Roman period. 

Throughout its lifetime the settlement was characterised by changing layouts made up of three to five buildings, archaeologists have said, but during the Roman period, it formed the focus of a farmstead. 

The archaeologists were assisted by the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff University, Cadw and the Glamorgan-Gwent Archaeological Trust. 

Emma Reed, of Vale of Glamorgan Council, said: ‘It’s great to learn that the archaeological study at Five Mile Lane has uncovered such a detailed history of the area.

‘The scheme has uncovered fascinating and at times surprising remains, that help us to understand the shaping of the agricultural landscape that we see today.’ 

After they are analysed and documented, the artefacts will be given to the National Museum of Wales.  An academic report on the finds is also due to be published later this year.

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

Judahite Elite in Jerusalem Drank Wine Flavored With Vanilla 2,600 Years Ago

Judahite Elite in Jerusalem Drank Wine Flavored With Vanilla 2,600 Years Ago

Analysis of smashed wine jars in Jerusalem houses destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.E. finds unexpected flavour in jars that the rich reused

Ancient wine and amphorae.

In the year 586 B.C.E., the Babylonians laid waste to Jerusalem in a fury at the rebellion by King Zedekiah of Judah. Ahead of which, we learn – at least some of the elites in Jerusalem were drinking their wine flavoured with exotic vanilla, archaeologists revealed on Tuesday.

This startling discovery was a result of residue analysis of shattered wine jars from the time of King Zedekiah, found in two destroyed buildings in Iron Age Jerusalem, researchers from Tel Aviv University and the Israel Antiquities Authority announced. Signals of vanilla were found in five of eight jars, says Dr. Yiftah Shalev of the IAA.

The reconstructed wine jars from the time of King Zedekiah, which were found to contain traces of vanilla.

Its presence was a surprise, but not a shock in the sense that traces of vanilla had been detected in graves in Megiddo dating to the Bronze Age, around 500 years earlier, Prof. Yuval Gadot of Tel Aviv University explains.

Discover the secrets of the Middle East

These jars date to the Iron Age. In some cases, their handles are marked with the rosette seal impression of the Kingdom of Judah. That symbol indicates that the clay jar and its content, the wine, were the possession of the royal Judahite administration.

How secure is the identification of the vanilla? One hundred per cent, Gadot answers. But where the flavouring came from is anybody’s guess. Harvested as pods produced by vanilla plants, it isn’t known to have been cultivated back then and had to be harvested from the wild. It could have originated in Madagascar or another part of tropical Africa, or India, and then reached Iron Age Judah by long-distance trading from either source.

The rosette seal impression of the Kingdom of Judah, on a wine jar handle.

Long-distance trading was common then, by sea and by land. From that perspective, finding spices from far, far away is plausible. In this case, the researchers believe the bean was likely imported via Arabia, through the trade route crossing the Negev Desert: possibly under the auspices of Assyrians, or their heirs the Egyptians, or even, possibly, the Babylonians.

Wine-bibbing was common, but vanilla was not: “Its discovery in so many jars in Jerusalem stresses the relative wealth of the residents of Jerusalem at the time,” Shalev says – at least before the irate Babylonians arrived and levelled the city.

Wine evoked mixed feelings in biblical times, as it does today. Psalms 104:15 extols its virtue: “And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, making the face brighter than oil” – a lovely sentiment. The book of Isaiah admonishes: “Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink; that justify the wicked for a reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him” (5:22-23). Hosea is worse: “Harlotry [sensual idolatry], wine, and new wine take away the heart” (4:11). You stand warned.

Cinnamon in Phoenicia

No trace of other spices was detected in these Judahite wine jars, Gadot and Shalev confirm. But it bears noting that the locals of the Levant were augmenting their range of flavours from overseas going back to the Bronze Age, if not before. Cinnamon has been detected in Phoenician flasks found at Tel Dor from 3,000 years ago. The cinnamon residue was in wine jugs, mark you, but in tiny vessels with narrow necks and a capacity of about three tablespoons.

Remnants of the smashed wine jars in Jerusalem.
Restored wine jars.

The wine jars analyzed in the new study have been dated to roughly the time of King Zedekiah, whose rebellion against the Babylonian overlords about 2,600 years ago did not go well. The vessels were found inside two destroyed buildings, in two different digs in the City of David. The Israel Antiquities Authority is excavating “Beit Shalem” on the eastern slopes of the City of David hill. The other, a joint venture by the IAA and TAU, is at the site formerly known as the Givati parking lot, west of the hill.

All the jars contained chemicals typical of wine, and two, as said, had signals of vanilla bean and seem to have been placed in storage rooms in the two buildings. Both of the buildings show the marks of the furious destruction and the jars had, fittingly to the occasion, been smashed. But residue analysis, a technique that has taken off in recent years, could identify molecules adhering to the clay.

The analysis was performed by Ayala Amir, a doctoral student at Tel Aviv University, performing the tests in laboratories at the Weizmann Institute, Rehovot, and Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan. “Vanilla markers are an unusual find, especially in light of the fire that occurred in the buildings where the jars were found. The results of the analysis of the organic residues allow me to say with confidence that the jars contained wine and that it was seasoned with vanilla,” she said.

Ortal Chalaf and Dr. Joe Uziel were the excavation directors on behalf of the IAA who uncovered one group of jars, on the eastern slopes of the City of David hill. “The opportunity to combine innovative scientific studies examining the contents of jars opened a window for us, to find out what they ate – and, in this case, what they drank – in Jerusalem on the eve of the destruction,” they stated.

The second set of jars was found by Gadot and Shalev beneath the Givati parking lot, where a sort of surviving two-story building was unearthed. The researchers suggest it may have been an administrative building, which, unlike today’s equivalents, apparently had a wine cellar. More than 15 jars were found there, as well as other storage vessels.

The analysis also revealed that the ancients sensibly reused their pottery jars – big clay jars are a labour to make and lug about. Some of the jars produced signals of having previously held olive oil (the manufacture of olive oil goes back at least 8,000 years).

In short, finding jars of wine is no surprise; discovering that some of the jars had also been used to store olive oil is horse sense. But, as the archaeologists put it: finding vanilla in the wine is amazing.