Category Archives: WORLD

Researchers Say 5000-year-old Metal Tubes May’ve Been Used As Straws For Drinking

Researchers Say 5000-year-old Metal Tubes May’ve Been Used As Straws For Drinking

Researchers Say 5000-year-old Metal Tubes May've Been Used As Straws For Drinking
Artist’s interpretation of the straws in use.

A set of gold and silver tubes found 125 years ago in the northern Caucasus are likely drinking straws, not sceptres, according to a re-analysis of the ancient artefacts.

Russian archaeologist Nikolai Veselovsky uncovered the items in 1897 at the Maikop Kurgan burial mound in the northern Caucasus. This is a Bronze Age site of great significance, as it was found to contain three skeletons and hundreds of objects, including beads of semi-precious stone and gold, ceramic vessels, metal cups, and weapons.

The 4th millennia BCE mound dates back to the Maikop Early Bronze Age Culture (3700 to 2900 BCE), which were named after the burial site.

Illustration showing the eight tubes, four of which were decorated with bull figurines.
(Photographs by V. Trifonov; Courtesy of the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg, Russia)

It was among these many objects that Veselovsky found eight long, thin tubes—burial goods carefully and deliberately placed to the right-hand side of a high-ranking individual found buried in ornate clothing.

The tubes, made from gold and silver, measured over 3 feet (1 meter) in length, four of which were decorated with a small gold or silver bull figurine. The items were eventually relocated to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, Russia, where they’re kept to this day.

In his accounting of the ancient relics, Veselovsky referred to the tubes as “scepters”—a reasonable guess, given the apparent status of the buried individual and the oh-so-careful positioning of the items. That these 5,000-year-old objects were used as scepters (i.e. wands or staffs held by ruling monarchs) seemed plausible, but new research published in Antiquity is now questioning this interpretation, arguing instead that the items were drinking straws.

Should this interpretation be correct, “these fancy devices would be the earliest surviving drinking straws to date,” Viktor Trifonov, an archaeologist at the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg and a co-author of the new paper, said in a press release.

Of critical importance to the reanalysis was the detection of barley granules inside one of the straws, in addition to cereal phytoliths (fossilized particles of plant tissue) and pollen grains from a lime tree.

This was taken as direct evidence that the tubes were used for drinking. And because traces of barley were found, the scientists say the beverage in question was likely beer.

It’s not a stretch to suggest that Bronze Age Maikop people consumed fermented barley. The practise dates back some 13,000 years to the Natufian period, while large-scale brewing operations began to appear in Asia during the 5th and 4th millennia BCE.

The notion that Maikop households were drinking barley beer flavoured with herbs and lime flowers is entirely plausible, but as the researchers point out, they “cannot prove conclusively the presence of a fermented beverage,” so “results should therefore be treated with caution, as further analyses are needed.”

The reconstruction shows eight straws being used communally and one being used individually.

Importantly, the tips of the Maikop straws were equipped with metal strainers, which likely performed the function of filtering out impurities—a common feature of ancient beer.

The scientists hypothesize that the drinking tubes, with straw-tip strainers, were “designed for sipping a type of beverage that required filtration during consumption,” and that this was done as a communal activity. A large vessel found at Maikop Kurgan would’ve been capable of holding seven pints for eight drinkers, the scientists say.

The straw-tip strainers found at Maikop Kurgan bear a striking resemblance to those found on Sumerian drinking straws. Ancient Sumerians of the 3rd millennium BCE are known to have sipped beer from communal vessels, as evidenced by archaeological artefacts and artworks depicting the practice.

As for the oldest evidence of drinking straws, that dates back to the 5th and 4th millennia BCE, as evidenced by artwork found in northern Iraq and western Iran.

A silver tube tip-strainer yielded evidence of (2-3) barley starch granules, (4) pollen grain from a lime tree, and (5) ceretal phytolith.

The Maikop straws—if that’s indeed what they are—are special in that they’re the oldest surviving drinking straws in the archaeological record, but they appear to have originated in the Middle East, hundreds of miles away from the northern Caucasus. The presence of drinking straws so far away suggests this practice had spread to the surrounding areas.

“The finds contribute to a better understanding of the ritual banquets’ early beginnings and drinking culture in hierarchical societies,” Trifonov said. “Such practices must have been important and popular enough to spread between the two regions.”

Indeed, the presence of drinking straws in the Maikop Kurgan hint at cultural and economic ties between the regions. What’s more, the scientists say a “taste for Sumerian luxury and commensality” had emerged in the Caucasus by the fourth millennium BCE, and that the drinking straws would go on to carry significant symbolic importance given their use as funerary items for elite individuals.

As this and other archaeological finds have shown, drinking is fun, but it’s even better—and more socially useful—when performed in the company of others.

Archaeologists stunned as 2,000-year-old skull bound by metal evidence of ancient surgery

Archaeologists stunned as 2,000-year-old skull bound by metal evidence of ancient surgery

Archaeologists were taken aback when a 2,000-year-old skull was discovered bound by metal evidence of ancient surgery. The 2,000-year-old skull of a Peruvian warrior bound by metal, which is one of the earliest examples of ancient surgery, has astounded archaeologists.

The elongated skull, which has been fused together with metal, is currently on display at the SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology in Oklahoma, USA. The museum has described the find as one of its “most interesting” pieces.

The skull is thought to have belonged to a Peruvian warrior who was killed in a battle around 200 years ago. When the warrior returned from battle seriously injured, Peruvian surgeons are said to have performed a miraculous surgery on his skull.

The elongation of the museum’s structure was “achieved through head binding beginning at a very young age,” according to the museum’s Facebook page.

This was a practice used to demonstrate social status.

A piece of metal is thought to have been implanted by ancient Peruvian surgeons to repair the fractured skull. The material used was “not poured as molten metal,” according to the museum, and the plate was “used to help bind the broken bones.”

The alloy’s exact composition is unknown.

“The material used was not poured as molten metal,” the museum explained.

“We have no idea what the alloy’s composition is.”

The plate served as a binding agent for the broken bones.

“While we can’t say for sure whether anaesthesia was used, we do know that many natural remedies for surgical procedures existed during this time period.”

The procedure on the skull, according to experts, demonstrates that ancient peoples were capable of performing complex surgery and medical procedures.

“We don’t have a ton of background on this piece, but we do know he survived the procedure,” the museum wrote.

“You can see that it’s tightly fused together based on the broken bone surrounding the repair.

“The surgery went well.”

The skull had been in the museum’s private collection for quite some time. However, the artefact was later put on display in 2020, following a surge in the public interest.

“Traditionally, silver and gold were used for this type of procedure,” a SKELETONS: Museum of Osteology spokesperson told the Daily Star.

The Peruvian region where the skull was discovered is well-known for surgeons who devised a series of complicated procedures to treat a fractured skull.

At the time, the type of skull injury seen here was fairly common.

This is due to the use of projectiles in battle, such as slingshots.

In addition, elongated skulls were quite common.

4,000-Year-Old Mummies Are Half Brothers, DNA Analysis Shows

4,000-Year-Old Mummies Are Half Brothers, DNA Analysis Shows

Using ‘next generation’ DNA sequencing scientists have found that the famous ‘Two Brothers’ mummies of the Manchester Museum have different fathers so are, in fact, half-brothers.

4,000-Year-Old Mummies Are Half Brothers, DNA Analysis Shows
The mummies of Khnum-Nakht (left) and Nakht-Ankh (right) date to about 1800 B.C. The DNA extracted from Khnum-Nakht, who died first, was in bad condition.

The Two Brothers are the Museum’s oldest mummies and amongst the best-known human remains in its Egyptology collection. They are the mummies of two elite men — Khnum-nakht and Nakht-ankh — dating to around 1800 BC.

However, ever since their discovery in 1907 there has been some debate amongst Egyptologists whether the two were actually related at all. So, in 2015, ‘ancient DNA’ was extracted from their teeth to solve the mystery.

But how did the mystery start? The pair’s joint burial site, later dubbed The Tomb of The Two Brothers, was discovered at Deir Rifeh, a village 250 miles south of Cairo.

They were found by Egyptian workmen directed by early 20th century Egyptologists, Flinders Petrie and Ernest Mackay.

Hieroglyphic inscriptions on the coffins indicated that both men were the sons of an unnamed local governor and had mothers with the same name, Khnum-aa. It was then the men became known as the Two Brothers.

When the complete contents of the tomb were shipped to Manchester in 1908 and the mummies of both men were unwrapped by the UK’s first professional female Egyptologist, Dr Margaret Murray. Her team concluded that the skeletal morphologies were quite different, suggesting an absence of family relationships.

Margaret Murray and her colleagues unwrap the mummy of Nakht-Ankh, which was sent from Egypt to Manchester in 1908.

Based on contemporary inscriptional evidence, it was proposed that one of the Brothers was adopted.

Therefore, in 2015, the DNA was extracted from the teeth and, following hybridization capture of the mitochondrial and Y chromosome fractions, sequenced by a next-generation method.

Analysis showed that both Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht belonged to mitochondrial haplotype M1a1, suggesting a maternal relationship.

The Y chromosome sequences were less complete but showed variations between the two mummies, indicating that Nakht-Ankh and Khnum-Nakht had different fathers, and were thus very likely to have been half-brothers.

Dr Konstantina Drosou, of the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester who conducted the DNA sequencing, said: “It was a long and exhausting journey to the results but we are finally here.

I am very grateful we were able to add a small but very important piece to the big history puzzle and I am sure the brothers would be very proud of us. These moments are what make us believe in ancient DNA. “

The study, which is being published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, is the first to successfully use the typing of both mitochondrial and Y chromosomal DNA in Egyptian mummies.

Dr Campbell Price, Curator of Egypt and Sudan at Manchester Museum, said: “The University of Manchester, and Manchester Museum, in particular, has a long history of research on ancient Egyptian human remains.

Our reconstructions will always be speculative to some extent but to be able to link these two men in this way is an exciting first.”

Swiss archaeologists dig up the youngest Roman amphitheatre

Swiss archaeologists dig up youngest Roman amphitheatre

A construction project in Kaiseraugst, Switzerland has unearthed a lost ancient Roman amphitheatre that was once used for gladiator fights and animal hunts. Dating to the 300s CE, it’s about 50 meters (164ft) long and 40 meters (131ft) wide.

The amphitheatre was found in Augusta Raurica, located on the southern edge of the Rhine river. Once a Roman city, it is now an open museum and archaeological site. The reason for the construction was a new boathouse being put in for the Basel rowing club.

In December 2021, the construction team was accompanied by excavators with Aargau Cantonal Archaeology.

These archaeologists were quite surprised when they came across an ancient Roman construct.

Part of this surprise resulted from the fact that they were working in a spot thought only to be an abandoned Roman quarry.

Here are some details on how the amphitheatre was built:

It had three southern entrances. One large one stood in the middle of two smaller ones on either side of it. Another entrance was found on the western side of the amphitheatre.

Both of the entrance spots were made with sandstone that has been preserved to our present day. The inner walls were covered in plaster and the grandstands were made of wood.

It’s the third ancient Roman amphitheatre discovered in the Augusta Raurica, and also the youngest, dating to the 4th century CE.

It’s the eighth ancient Roman amphitheatre discovered in Switzerland.

Some of the others are known as: “Avenches (Aventicum), Martigny (Forum Claudii Vallensium), Nyon (Colonia Iulia Equestris) and on the Enge peninsula in Bern (Brenodurum)”.

The construction plans for the boathouse have been modified to accommodate the new discovery.

Here are some images of the ancient building as it is today:

Swiss archaeologists dig up youngest Roman amphitheatre
The water is the Rhine river. You can see here how close the amphitheatre was to the water.
The ancient sandstone
One of the walls

A child mummy from Egypt is the first found with a dressed wound, offering a rare glimpse into ancient medicine

A child mummy from Egypt is the first found with a dressed wound, offering a rare glimpse into ancient medicine

Scientists found the first recorded example of a bandaged wound on a mummified body, which could offer more insight into ancient medical practices. The finding was published in the International Journal of Paleopathology, a peer-reviewed journal, on December 30.

A child mummy from Egypt is the first found with a dressed wound, offering a rare glimpse into ancient medicine
Scientists have found the first example of a bandaged wound on a mummified body from Ancient Egypt, pictured here next to a scan showing the bandage.

The researchers said they discovered the bandages on the remains of a young girl, aged no more than four years, who died about 2,000 years ago. The dressing wrapped a wound that showed signs of infection, the study said.

“It gives us clues about how they [ancient Egyptians] treated such infections or abscesses during their lifetime,” Albert Zink, head of the Institute for Mummy Studies in Bolzona, Italy, and an author on the study, told Insider.

The mummy was thought to be taken from the “Tomb of Aline” in the Faiyum Oasis, located southwest of Cairo, the study said. The finding had come as a surprise to the scientists, who didn’t set out looking for the bandages.

“It was really exciting because we didn’t expect it,” Zink said. “It was never described before.”

A rare glimpse into medical history

Ancient Egyptians are thought to have had an adept understanding of medical practices.

They wouldn’t have known things we would now take for granted, like how a heart functions, how microbes cause infection, or how rogue cells cause cancer — but they did have a fairly good idea of how to treat symptoms of disease, Zink said.

“We know from other evidence, like papyrus, that they had a good experience of treating wounds and injuries,” said Zink.

So it’s surprising that these types of bandages have never been seen in a mummy before, he said.

In this case, Zink said, the bandages were spotted while the scientists carried out routine CT scans of mummies, as can be seen in the scans below and annotated with the full-lined arrow. The wound appeared to have been infected when she died, as the scans showed signs of “pus,” Zink said. These signs of infection are marked by the dotted arrows in the scans below.

A side view of the mummy’s foot was seen in a CT scan.
A cross-section of the mummy’s legs is shown.

“It’s very likely that they applied some specific herbs or ointment to treat the inflammation of this area,” which further analysis could identify, Zink said.

Zink said he wanted to get samples from the area to understand what caused the infection and how people at the time treated it.

But that could entail unwrapping the mummy, which Zink said he was reluctant to do. Another option would be to collect a sample using a biopsy needle, he said.

The mummy of the child, seen with a portrait of the girl on its front and gilded buttons decorating the wrappings.

Mystery of the missing bandages unfurls

Zink says there was no clear explanation why, in this particular case, the bandages were left in place.

“The question is whether it was just left in place and it remained despite the embalming process or whether they placed it,” he said, referring to the embalmers.

Wound dressings typically did not survive the mummification process. But it’s possible the embalmers added the bandage on the body after the girl’s death.

Ancient Egyptians believed that the mummified body should be as perfect as possible for life after death, Zink said: “Maybe they tried somehow to continue the healing process for the afterlife.”

As to why other such examples of bandaging had not been spotted before, it is plausible that scientists had simply failed to spot them until now, or mistaken them for other mummy wrappings. Zink now hopes that more examples of mummy wrappings can be uncovered.

“There are always some surprises when we study mummies. I have now studied, I don’t know how many mummies in my scientific career, but there’s always something new,” he said.

Archaeologists Find Ancient Golden Neck Ring Dating Back To Germanic Iron Age

Archaeologists Find Ancient Golden Neck Ring Dating Back To Germanic Iron Age

In a very amusing discovery, an ancient golden neck ring has been found in a field near Esbjerg on the Jutland Peninsula in mainland Denmark.

According to a report published in Sputnik, the archaeologists estimate that it belongs to the Germanic Iron Age 1,400–1,700 years ago and it weighs around half a kilo (446 grams), which is designed with crescent-like depressions. The broadest point of the ring measures 21 centimetres in diameter.

The archaeologists observed that the decoration found on the ring is quite rare, which makes it a “masterpiece of almost divine quality,” as termed by the South West Jutland Museum.

The front view of the gold neck ring is found in Esbjerg, Denmark.
Detail of the crescent-shaped embossing and plaited gold wire frieze.

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.

Ancient golden neck ring ‘of almost divine quality’ found in Denmark

“When sacrificing items at that time, it usually took place in wetlands, 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, “said Claus Feveile, curator at Museet Ribes Vikinger in a statement. 

After examining the metal, Feveile noted that the metal had moved from its place for a very long time, as the neck ring is still in excellent condition and its shape or size has not been distorted.

“The gold is so pure and therefore so soft that the ring would not have been able to keep its shape as nicely as it has if it had been moved around with tools.

Detail of the crescent-shaped embossing and plaited gold wire frieze.

At the same time, the excavation shows that we have found the very hole in which the neck ring was hidden,” reported Sputnik.

READ ALSO: RESEARCHERS DATE HORNED HELMETS DISCOVERED IN DENMARK

Archaeologists’ observations

After examining the neck ring, Claus Feveile suggested that the ancient jewellery was hidden by the owner, as they may not have wanted to lose it, or planned to dig it up again sometime later.

However, something unexpected must have happened, and the owner of that masterpiece never came to reclaim it, the archaeologist concluded. The neck ring will be kept for exhibition at the Ribe Viking Museum.

The earliest human remains in eastern Africa dated to more than 230,000 years ago

Earliest human remains in eastern Africa dated to more than 230,000 years ago

Ancient human fossils discovered in Ethiopia are much older than previously thought, experts claim, saying they could be as much as 230,000 years old. The remains – known as Omo I – were discovered in Ethiopia in the late 1960s, and are one of the oldest known examples of Homo sapiens fossils, with earlier attempts to date them placing them at just under 200,000 years old. However, a new study by the University of Cambridge found that the remains have to pre-date a colossal volcanic eruption in the area, which happened 230,000 years ago. 

To make the discovery the team dated the chemical fingerprints of volcanic ash layers, found above and below sediment where the fossils were discovered. 

The team said that while this pushes the minimum age for Homo sapiens in eastern Africa back by 30,000 years, future studies may extend the age even further. In 2017, archaeologists announced the discovery of the world’s oldest Homo sapiens fossils — a 300,000-year-old skull at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco. 

The Omo Kibish Formation in south western Ethiopia, within the East African Rift valley. The oldest human remains in east Africa date back at least 30,000 years earlier than previously thought to around a quarter of a million years ago
The remains – known as Omo I – were discovered in Ethiopia in the late 1960s, and are one of the oldest known examples of Homo sapiens fossils, with earlier attempts to date them placing them at less than 200,000 years old

To date, the volcanic remains, the team collected pumice rock samples from the volcanic deposits and ground them down to sub-millimetre size. Scientists have been trying to precisely date the oldest fossils in eastern Africa, widely recognised as representing our species, Homo sapiens, ever since they were discovered in the 1960s. Earlier attempts to date them suggested they were less than 200,000 years old.  The Omo I remains were found in the Omo Kibish Formation in southwestern Ethiopia, which sits within the East African Rift valley.  The region is an area of high volcanic activity and a rich source of early human remains and artefacts.

By dating layers of volcanic ash above and below where fossil materials are found, scientists identified Omo I as one of the earliest examples of our species ever found.

‘Using these methods, the generally accepted age of the Omo fossils is under 200,000 years, but there’s been a lot of uncertainty around this date,’ said Dr Céline Vidal from Cambridge’s Department of Geography, the paper’s lead author. 

‘The fossils were found in a sequence, below a thick layer of volcanic ash that nobody had managed to date because the ash is too fine-grained.’

The four-year project, led by British volcanologist Professor Clive Oppenheimer. is attempting to date all major volcanic eruptions in the Ethiopian Rift. Each eruption has its own fingerprint – its own evolutionary story below the surface, which is determined by the pathway the magma followed,’ said Dr Vidal. 

‘Once you’ve crushed the rock, you free the minerals within, and then you can date them, and identify the chemical signature of the volcanic glass that holds the minerals together.’

The researchers carried out a geochemical analysis on the crushed rock to link the fingerprint of the volcanic ash, from the Kamoya Hominin Site, with an eruption of Shala volcano.  The team then dated pumice samples from the volcano, 250 miles from the site the human remains were discovered, to 230,000 years ago.  Since the Omo I fossils was found deeper than this particular ash layer, they must be more than 230,000 years old, the team explained.

‘First I found there was a geochemical match, but we didn’t have the age of the Shala eruption,’ said Vidal.

‘I immediately sent the samples of Shala volcano to our colleagues in Glasgow so they could measure the age of the rocks. 

When I received the results and found out that the oldest Homo sapiens from the region was older than previously assumed, I was really excited. Professor Asfawossen Asrat, a co-author of the study from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, said: ‘The Omo Kibish Formation is an extensive sedimentary deposit which has been barely accessed and investigated in the past. Our closer look into the stratigraphy of the Omo Kibish Formation, particularly the ash layers, allowed us to push the age of the oldest Homo sapiens in the region to at least 230,000 years.

The team said that while this pushes the minimum age for Homo sapiens in eastern Africa back by 30,000 years, future studies may extend the age even further
To date the volcanic remains, the team collected pumice rock samples from the volcanic deposits and ground them down to sub-millimetre size
Scientists have been trying to precisely date the oldest fossils in eastern Africa widely recognised as representing our species, Homo sapiens, ever since they were discovered in the 1960s

Unlike other Middle Pleistocene fossils which are thought to belong to the early stages of the Homo sapiens lineage, Omo I possesses unequivocal modern human characteristics, according to co-author Dr Aurélien Mounier, from the Musée de l’Homme in Paris.

He gave the example of a ‘tall and globular cranial vault and a chin’, before claiming that the new date estimate made the remains ‘the oldest unchallenged Homo sapiens in Africa. Until the Jebel Irhous discovery four years ago, most researchers believed that all humans living today descended from a population that lived in East Africa around 200,000 years ago. 

‘We can only date humanity based on the fossils that we have, so it’s impossible to say that this is the definitive age of our species,’ said Vidal.  The study of human evolution is always in motion: boundaries and timelines change as our understanding improves.  But these fossils show just how resilient humans are: that we survived, thrived and migrated in an area that was so prone to natural disasters. It’s probably no coincidence that our earliest ancestors lived in such a geologically active rift valley – it collected rainfall in lakes, providing fresh water and attracting animals, and served as a natural migration corridor stretching thousands of kilometres,’ said Oppenheimer. 

The volcanoes provided fantastic materials to make stone tools and from time to time we had to develop our cognitive skills when large eruptions transformed the landscape. Our forensic approach provides a new minimum age for Homo sapiens in eastern Africa, but the challenge still remains to provide a cap, a maximum age, for their emergence, which is widely believed to have taken place in this region,’ said co-author Professor Christine Lane, head of the Cambridge Tephra Laboratory. 

The Omo I remains were found in the Omo Kibish Formation in southwestern Ethiopia, which sits within the East African Rift valley

It’s possible that new finds and new studies may extend the age of our species even further back in time. There are many other ash layers we are trying to correlate with eruptions of the Ethiopian Rift and ash deposits from other sedimentary formations,’ said Vidal. ‘In time, we hope to better constrain the age of other fossils in the region.’

The findings have been published in the journal Nature.

4,500-year-old avenues lined with ancient tombs discovered in Saudi Arabia

4,500-year-old avenues lined with ancient tombs discovered in Saudi Arabia

A vast 4,500-year-old network of ‘funerary avenues’ lined with well-preserved Bronze Age tombs has been uncovered in Saudi Arabia. In a new paper, researchers detail the arrangement of around 18,000 tombs, spanning thousands of miles in the Saudi Arabian counties of Al-‘Ula and Khaybar.

They consist of small piles of stone arranged in elaborate shapes, marking the spot where either single individuals or small groups were buried, experts say.

The burials are described as ‘pendant’ tombs because they resemble circular pieces of jewellery attached to a chain, or ‘tail’.

University of Western Australia archaeologists describes ancient highways in their new paper. Pictured is a dense funerary avenue with ‘wedge-tailed’ pendants and infilled ringed cairns, emanating from Khaybar Oasis in Saudi Arabia
The tombs as described as ‘pendant’ because they resemble circular pieces of jewellery, or ‘heads’, attached to a chain, or ‘tail’
Small piles of stone arranged in elaborate shapes (pictured) mark the spot where either single individuals or small groups were buried

Pendant tombs are already known to have yielded human remains dating to as early as the mid-third millennium BC, during the Bronze Age. 

In total, the experts have observed around 18,000 tombs along ‘funerary avenues’ – long-distance ‘corridors’ linking oases and pastures lined by burials – only 80 of which have been sampled or excavated. 

It’s thought that the tombs may have been built as memorials (‘cenotaphs’) or for other, as yet unclear symbolic or ritual purposes. 

Dr Matthew Dalton, from the University of Western Australia’s School of Humanities, is the lead author of the findings. He and his team used satellite imagery, helicopter-based aerial photography, ground survey and excavation to locate and analyse the funerary avenues.

‘The people who live in these areas have known about them for thousands of years,’ Dr Dalton told CNN. 

‘But I think it wasn’t really known until we got satellite imagery that just how widespread they are.’

Desert regions of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant are known to be criss-crossed by innumerable pathways, flanked by stone monuments, the vast majority of which are ancient tombs. Thousands of miles of these paths and monument features, collectively known as ‘funerary avenues’, can be traced across the landscape, especially around and between major perennial water sources. 

Funerary avenues were the major highway networks of their day, according to Dr Dalton. Their existence today shows that the populations living in the Arabian Peninsula 4,500 years ago were more socially and economically connected to one another than previously thought.  

Researchers found that the highest concentrations of funerary monuments on these avenues were located near permanent water sources. 

The direction of the avenues indicated that populations used them to travel between major oases, including those of Khaybar, Al-‘Ula and Tayma.

Lesser avenues fade into the landscapes surrounding oases, suggesting the routes were also used to move herds of domestic animals into nearby pastures during periods of rain.

The researchers used satellite imagery, helicopter-based aerial photography, ground survey and excavation to locate and analyse the funerary avenues

‘These oases, especially Khaybar, exhibit some of the densest concentrations of funerary monuments known worldwide,’ Dr Dalton said.

‘The sheer number of Bronze Age tombs built around them suggests that populations had already begun to settle more permanently in these favourable locations at this time.’  

READ ALSO: THOUSANDS OF HUMAN AND ANIMAL BONES HOARDED BY HYENAS IN LAVA TUBE SYSTEM, SAUDI ARABIA

Continued excavation and analysis of human remains within these monuments will be essential going forward, according to the researchers.

‘Primary inhumations, where identifiable and suitably preserved, may reveal the demographics of those for whom avenue monuments were originally constructed, allowing better reconstructions of these societies and their funerary practices,’ they say. 

The findings have been published in the journal The Holocene.