Category Archives: WORLD

5,000-year-old grave reveals mass murder of Bronze Age family

5,000-year-old grave reveals mass murder of Bronze Age family

Despite the fact that all 15 people discovered in a Bronze Age mass grave in southern Poland were killed by a head blow, their bodies were buried together with great care and consideration.

Genetic evidence now indicates that these people belonged to the same extended family, providing new light on a tumultuous period in European prehistory.

In 2011, a tragic grave near the southern Polish village of Koszyce was found. The remains of 15 men, women, and infants, as well as valuable grave goods, were found in the grave, which was radiocarbon dated to between 2880 and 2776 BCE. Many of the skeletons had sustained serious cranial trauma.

5,000-year-old grave reveals mass murder of Bronze Age family
The grave in Koszyce, southern Poland, holds the remains of 15 people and the grave goods that were buried with them.

The reason for the killings could not be determined, with archaeologists at the time suggesting these individuals were murdered during a raid on their settlement.

To shed more light on this mystery, a team of researchers from the University of Copenhagen, the University of Aarhus, and the Archaeological Museum in Poznan, Poland, conducted a genetic analysis of the remains.

The results, published late last week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests all but one of these individuals were closely related, and that the individuals were positioned in the grave according to their kin relationships.

All 15 skulls exhibited fatal cranial fractures. No defensive wounds, such as injuries to the upper limbs, were detected, which suggests these individuals were captured and executed, and not killed in hand-to-hand combat, according to the new study.

Importantly, the new evidence suggests these people, who are associated with the Globular Amphora Culture (a group that lived in central Europe from around 3300 to 2700 BCE), were not genetically related to a neighbouring group known as the Corded Ware Culture. 

The researchers still aren’t sure what happened, but they guess that the killings were territorial in nature. This particular time period marked the transition from the Late Neolithic period to the Bronze Age, as early farmers were developing more complex societies.

But it was also a turbulent and violent time, as European cultures were coming into contact with incoming cultures from the east, including from the Asian steppe. The expansion of the Corded Ware groups may have resulted in this gruesome incident.

“We know from other gravesite discoveries that violent conflicts played out among different cultural groups at this time,” archaeologist Niels Johannsen of Aarhus University said in a University of Copenhagen press release. “However, they have never been as clearly documented as here. All the violence and tragedy aside, our study clearly demonstrates that family unity and care meant a lot for these people, some 5,000 years ago, both in life and in death.”

Indeed, the new genetic analysis identified these 15 individuals as part of a large extended family. Overall, four nuclear families were documented—mothers and children for the most part. The individuals were buried according to family relationships; mothers were buried with their children, and siblings were positioned next to each other.

The oldest individual, for example, was buried alongside her two sons, aged 5 and 15. A woman in her early 30s was buried with her teenage daughter and 5-year-old son. Four boys, all brothers, were laid down next to each other. Clearly, the bodies were buried by someone who knew the deceased.

Importantly, fathers and older male relatives were missing from the grave, “suggesting that it might have been them who buried their kin,” wrote the authors in the new study.

“Our suggestion is that they weren’t at the settlement when the massacre occurred and that they returned later, and subsequently buried their families in a respectful way,” said biologist Morten Allentoft of the University of Copenhagen in a statement.

Only one individual, an adult female, was not genetically related to anyone in the group. However, she was positioned in the grave close to a young man, which suggests “she may have been as close to him in life as she was in death,” wrote the authors.

“The presence of unrelated females and related males in the grave is interesting because it suggests that the community at Koszyce was organized along patrilineal lines of descent, adding to the mounting evidence that this was the dominant form of social organization among Late Neolithic communities in Central Europe,” the authors wrote in the study.

Typically, patrilineal societies are associated with the practice of women marrying outside of their social group and residing with the man’s family (i.e. female exogamy). Several previous studies have suggested that patrilineal domestic arrangements did in fact prevail in several parts of Central Europe during the Late Neolithic, according to the new paper.

A brutal episode from a particularly brutal period in human history. It’s a scene that wouldn’t be out of place on Game of Thrones, but unfortunately, this tragedy was all too real.

A 2,000-year-old tunnel in the Mexican city of Teotihuacan holds ancient mysteries

A 2,000-year-old tunnel in the Mexican city of Teotihuacan holds ancient mysteries

Eleven years after discovering a secret tunnel beneath the ancient city of Teotihuacan in Mexico, Researchers uncovered thousands of ritual objects at the feet of what might be a royal tomb.

Guarded by the remains of hundreds of sacrificial bodies, the entrance to the tunnel remained hidden until it was located by radar researchers from the National University of Mexico beneath one of Mexico’s most visited historical sites in 2003.

Before eventually hitting the tunnel entrance in 2010, they spent years preparing the exploration and raising funds. It seemed that the tunnel was closed on purpose by the inhabitants of the city. More than 40 feet below ground, the entrance was covered with rocks.

A 2,000-year-old tunnel in the Mexican city of Teotihuacan holds ancient mysteries
Sculptures unearthed by investigators at the Teotihuacan archaeological site in Mexico.

The tunnel, hundreds of feet long, follows a route of symbols leading to several sealed funeral chambers that may hold the bodies of ancient rulers.

Archaeologists first explored the tunnels, choked with mud and rubble, using a three-foot robot equipped with mechanical arms and a video camera. They then methodically catalogued every bone, seed and shard of pottery as they made their way to the crypts at the end.

“For a long time local and foreign archaeologists have attempted to locate the graves of the rulers of the ancient city, but the search has been fruitless,” archaeologist Sergio Gomez of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a 2010 press release.

Meanwhile, his team’s excavation of the tunnel suggested they were on the brink of uncovering the long-lost tombs.

A scanner view of a tunnel under a pyramid at the archaeological site.

“If confirmed, it will be one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 21st century on a global scale,” he told the Associated Press in 2011.

Discoveries include finely carved stone sculptures, jewellery and shells along with obsidian blades and arrowheads.

They found offerings laid before the entrance of three chambers at the end of the tunnel suggesting these are the tombs of the elite.

So far Gomez’s team has excavated two feet into the chambers. The exploration will continue next year.

The Discovery of tombs may unlock long-held mysteries of a civilization that left no written records of its existence, including how it was governed and whether leadership was hereditary.

Shells unearthed by investigators.

“Due to the magnitude of the offerings that we’ve found, it can’t be in any other place,” Gomez said Wednesday. “We’ve been able to confirm all of the hypotheses we’ve made from the beginning.”

At its peak in the middle of the first century, Teotihuacan was the largest city in the Americas with an estimated 200,000 inhabitants.

The Aztecs, who arrived centuries after Teotihuacan had fallen, gave the city its name, which means “birthplace of the gods” in English.

Scientists Present 20,000-Year-Old Woolly Rhinoceros Unearthed in Siberia, Report Says

Scientists Present 20,000-Year-Old Woolly Rhinoceros Unearthed in Siberia, Report Says

Aided by melting permafrost, long-extinct creatures such as the woolly rhino are being uncovered and casting new light on prehistoric eras. Around 20,000 years ago, a young woolly rhinoceros went about its day like usual in the icy region of what is now northern Siberia.

Foraging for food, something likely went fatally wrong for the young animal as it drowned in the Tirekhtyakh River or a nearby area of water.

Fast forward a few millennia and that woolly rhino’s tragic fate that day has become a pathologist’s dream come true. Aided by the melting permafrost from a trend of rising temperatures, long-extinct creatures such as the woolly rhino are being uncovered and casting new light on unknown, prehistoric eras.

An exceptionally well-preserved woolly rhino with its last meal still intact found in Arctic Yakutia. The juvenile rhino with thick hazel-coloured coat was 3 to 4 four years old when it died at least 20,000 years ago; its horn was found next to the carcass

Permafrost is a permanently frozen layer of soil that has been frozen for a long period of time, sometimes several thousand years.

The ancient carcass was discovered by a local farmer in Yakutia, Siberia, in August 2020, about 15,000 years after the wooly rhinoceros is believed to have gone extinct. The fossil was found with a fully intact fur coat, hooves, and internal organs, giving scientists a crucial puzzle piece on the anatomy, behaviors and life of the creatures.

This photo taken in Aug. 2020 shows the carcass of a woolly rhino, taken in Yakutia, The well-preserved carcass with most of its internal organs still intact was released by permafrost in August and scientists hope to transport it to the lab for studies next month.

Video from the fossil excavation was recently shared online by The Siberian Times. As the footage shows, paleontologists took extensive care to keep as much of rhino’s structure preserved. Their successes resulted in 80% of the specimen remaining intact, a breakthrough effort.

“The young rhino was between 3 and 4 years old and lived separately from its mother when it died, most likely by drowning,” paleontologist Valery Plotnikov told The Siberian Times.

Plotnikov, who works with the Russian Academy of Sciences, added that the gender of the wooly rhino is still unknown and radiocarbon analysis is needed to confirm the general time range when the rhino likely lived.

Found next to the rhino carcass was the young animal’s horn, an exceptional find, according to Plotnikov, because of how quickly the cartilage usually decomposes. Markings on the horn, he said, also shed more light on how the species used it for food.

The recently found frozen creature isn’t the first woolly rhino to be discovered in the area, as another ice-preserved specimen was unearthed in 2015. That rhino, nicknamed Sasha, was the first baby woolly rhino ever discovered and is believed to have roamed the region around 34,000 years ago.

Like the recently discovered rhino, Sasha was found with a fully-intact coat of wool and was also believed to have drowned. However, unlike the recent rhino, Sasha’s fur was strawberry blonde and the carcass lacked the front horn.

Historically high temperatures in the normally icy region have revealed perfectl -preserved fossils that had previously been buried under thousands of years of thick ice. This past summer, shortly before the remains were found, record-high temperatures were recorded in towns around the Arctic Circle.

“Temperatures soared 10 degrees Celsius (18 degrees Fahrenheit) above average last month in Siberia, home to much of Earth’s permafrost, as the world experienced its warmest May on record,” according to the European Union’s climate monitoring network.

AccuWeather Meteorologist Maura Kelly wrote in June that the prolonged period of heat triggered the melting of permafrost across northern Siberia.

“The record-high temperatures in May followed a record-breaking start to 2020 across Russia,” she wrote at the time in a story for AccuWeather.com. “Temperatures from January to April across the country averaged about 6 degrees Celsius (11 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal.”

Recently, the new woolly rhino fossil was transported to scientists for further tests thanks to newly built ice roads in Yakutia. In the coming years, the slowly receding ice layer is sure to unveil even more frozen puzzle pieces, continually assembling the jigsaw of our ancestors and generations of previously hidden life.

Remains of Medieval Bridge Discovered in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Remains of Medieval Bridge Discovered in Ljubljana, Slovenia

Slovenian archaeologists have discovered several finds along the river Ljubljanica during the renovation of the Zlata Ladjica house, including the foundations of the Butcher’s Bridge, which has since the Middle Ages been replaced by the current Shoemaker’s Bridge. 

Archaeologists have discovered the foundations of the medieval Butcher's Bridge on Jurčič Square in Old Ljubljana, which stood on the site of the current Shoemaker's Bridge, which arouses the interest of walkers. More interesting stories about bridges were given by archaeologist Martin Horvat from

The find did not come as a surprise because the Butcher’s Bridge in what is now Jurčič Square was known from historical records, yet it is the first material evidence to prove its existence, Martin Horvat, an archaeologist at the Ljubljana Museum and Galleries (MGML), told the STA on Tuesday.

The Butcher’s Bridge was first indirectly mentioned around 1280 when a piece of information appeared about an Old Bridge, located where the Triple Bridge stands now.

Archaeologists have discovered the foundations of the medieval Butcher’s Bridge on Jurčič Square in Old Ljubljana, which stood on the site of the current Shoemaker’s Bridge, which arouses the interest of walkers.

The mention of the Old Bridge meant a new bridge – the Butcher’s Bridge – must have been built by then where the Shoemaker’s Bridge is now.

“At first it was very probably fully made of wood, including the foundations on both river banks,” said Horvat.

Still, the newly discovered foundations are from sometime later, probably the 14th century. They are made of a kind of bricks, while the bridge itself was probably made of wood.

In the second half of the 19th century, the bridge was replaced by an iron bridge and renamed after Mayor Johann Nepomuk Hradecky, while in the 1930s, the current Shoemaker’s Bridge was built there, designed by architect Jože Plečnik.

The bridge names reflected the business being done there: butcher’s shops on the Butcher’s Bridge were mentioned in the 16th century but were banned from it at the start of the 17th century for the smell and water pollution.

The bridge was then occupied by other craftsmen, increasingly by shoemakers, hence the name the Shoemaker’s Bridge.

The excavations in Jurčič Square have also led to the discovery of the remains of Roman and Medieval riverbanks, while a bit earlier, archaeologists were surprised to discover finds related to a blacksmith’s shop from the 12th century.

Another interesting find is a giant sewage pipe from the end of the 17th or early 18th century.

The archaeologists started working in Jurčič Square around two months ago to supervise the start of construction work.

While the excavations have been completed there, they have moved to the other side of the Zlata Ladjica (Golden Ship) house, where they expect to come across more finds related to the blacksmith’s shops as well as more of the riverbanks from the Middle Ages and later.

In the Middle Ages, one to three metres of the riverbank was “acquired” by way of using various materials to narrow the river, Horvat explained.

He also highlighted that this area – known as the Breg – used to be Ljubljana’s main port for all goods transported on the Ljubljanica, with all the needed facilities such as warehouses or customs offices, some of whose foundations Horvat hopes will be found.

Archaeologists unearth 1st Jerusalem evidence of quake from Bible’s Book of Amos

Archaeologists unearth 1st Jerusalem evidence of quake from Bible’s Book of Amos

Books of Amos and Zechariah in the Old Testament describe an earthquake that rocked the city of Jerusalem about 2,800 years ago and archaeologists have now found the first evidence of the biblical event.

The Israel Antiquities Authority’s (IAA) excavations in the City of David National Park uncovered a layer of destruction during excavations, which consists of collapsed walls, broken pottery and bits and pieces of other goods.

Researchers say that since there was no signs of fire or an ancient conquest the destruction had to have been caused by an earthquake that hit Israel during the 8th century BC.

Archaeologists unearth 1st Jerusalem evidence of quake from Bible’s Book of Amos
The Israel Antiquities Authority’s (IAA) excavations in the City of David National Park uncovered a layer of destruction during excavations, which consisted of collapsed walls, broken pottery and bits and pieces of other goods

Some evidence of the event has been found in surrounding areas, but this is the first time archaeologists can prove it hit the major city.

In the book of Amos, the passage reads: ‘The words of Amos, a sheep breeder from Tekoa, who prophesied concerning Israel in the reigns of Kings Uzziah of Judah and Jeroboam son of Joash of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

‘And the Valley in the Hills shall be stopped up, for the Valley of the Hills shall reach only to Azal; it shall be stopped up as it was stopped up as a result of the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah,’ reads another passage in Zechariah, recalling the event some 200 years later, to suggest how strong of a collective memory it left.’

Among the artefacts, archaeologists found were fragments of pottery, some nearly intact that they could be put back together, and small tables, The Jerusalem Post reports.

Since the artefacts were discovered deep into the excavation site, experts say residents had to have built on top of the ruins following the earthquake, which preserved traces of the event that occurred.

Researchers say that since there was no signs of fire or an ancient conquest the destruction had to have been caused by an earthquake that hit Israel during the 8th century BC. Pictured are collapsed walls that ruin of the event
Among the artefacts, archaeologists found were fragments of pottery, some nearly intact that they could be put back together, and small tables

IAA excavation directors Dr. Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf said in a statement: ‘When we excavated the structure and uncovered an 8th century BCE layer of destruction, we were very surprised because we know that Jerusalem continued to exist in succession until the Babylonian destruction, which occurred about 200 years later.

‘We asked ourselves what could have caused that dramatic layer of destruction we uncovered.

‘Examining the excavation findings, we tried to check if there is a reference to it in the biblical text.

‘Interestingly, the earthquake that appears in the Bible, in the books of Amos and Zechariah, occurred at the time when the building we excavated in the City of David collapsed.’

Another biblical find was discovered in Israel last month – a pottery fragment unearthed in Israel bears the name of the biblical judge ‘Jerubbaal,’ which was inked on the artefact 3,100 years ago

Another biblical find was discovered in Israel last month – a pottery fragment unearthed in Israel bears the name of the biblical judge ‘Jerubbaal,’ which was inked on the artefact 3,100 years ago.

Mentioned in the Hebrew bible, Jerubbaal was a military leader, judge and prophet whose story is recounted in chapters 6 to 8 of the Book of Judges.

The ceramic artefact was discovered in an archaeological excavation at Horbat al-Ra’i, near Kiryat Gat in Israel, which experts say was part of a small jug that carried precious liquids.

‘The name is written on the jug, Yarubaal, may allude to biblical Jerubbaal, also known as the judge Gideon ben (son of) Yoash, but we cannot be sure if he owned the inscribed vessel,’ the Israel Antiquities Authority shared in a statement.

World’s oldest-known coin mint identified in China

World’s oldest-known coin mint identified in China

A team of researchers from Zhengzhou University, the Modern Analysis and Computer Center of Zhengzhou University and Peking University, all in China, has found evidence of what appears to be the oldest coin-minting operation ever uncovered.

Spatial distribution of the minting remains in the foundry’s excavation area: red dots: deposit with clay molds; green dots: deposits with fragments of finished spade coins (drone photograph by Z. Qu; figure by H. Zhao).

In their paper published on the Cambridge University site Antiquity, the group describes their discovery and study of coins and minting molds found at a dig site in Henan Province, China, and what they have learned about it.

Up until now, researchers have believed that the use of coins as a form of currency was first developed in Greece or Turkey.

Coins dug up in what is now modern Turkey, created and used by people of the Lydian Empire, have been dated as far back as 630 B.C. But there is still debate as to their true age due to the dating techniques used.

In this new effort, the researchers found coins in China in the same location as a minting facility, which left behind ashes that could be used for carbon dating—a very accurate means of dating the minting operation.

The coins and molds were found at a site identified as the ancient city of Guanzhuang, which was founded around 800 B.C.

Items found by the researchers included multiple bronze, spade-shaped coins and the clay molds that were used to make them.

Testing of the ashes left by the fires used to melt the metal showed them to be approximately 2,600 years old, which would mean the facility was used to make coins as recently as 550 B.C. and as long ago as 640 B.C., making it the oldest known coin-making facility ever discovered.

Coin SP-1 (pictured) was found in such an excellent state of preservation that its complete shape could be reconstructed. Restored, it has a full length of 143mm, a thickness of 0.9mm, and an original weight of no less than 31g. It bears no inscriptions of its face value or where it was cast – as is typical of the earliest spade coins. Of the second spade coin discovered (Coin SP-2), only the handle and clay core survive.

The researchers suggest the facility was first used to make tools, weapons and other objects as early as 770 B.C. It took another century for the people there to start using their technology to create coins.

They also note that historians have still not agreed on the reason for the creation of currency in the form of coins; some suggest it made buying and selling things easier, while others believe it came about as a way for governments to collect taxes.

Medieval Castle Remains Uncovered in England

Medieval Castle Remains Uncovered in England

Archaeologists have discovered the ruins of a castle that they believe dates from the 13th century. They’ve been working on a mound of land in Wem, Shropshire, that belongs to Soulton Hall, an Elizabethan mansion.

Medieval Castle Remains Uncovered in England
The remains are thought to date back to 1250

The hall was built in the 16th Century, but experts believe the castle remains could date back as far as 1250. Site manager Nat Jackson, of Dig Ventures, said the find was “just amazing”.

“We found what we think might possibly be a castle on the mound.

“We’ve got a substantial wall and substantial blocks of wood dating to about the 13th to 15th century. It’s very, very, exciting,” he told BBC Radio Shropshire.

A stone wall was uncovered at Soulton Hall

A test dig on the previously untouched mound was carried out in 2019, but teams returned in July to continue excavation work. Tim Ashton, the landowner, said his family have been curious about the lumps in the land for over 100 years.

“We’ve always had questions, my grandfather was born in the 1920s and always wondered what it was,” he said.

“The team is fairly comfortable in the time because of the objects we’ve been finding.

“The finds are all from that period, a pilgrims badge, ceramics, and ampulla which is a medieval way of carrying holy water and it was not made for a great deal of time.

“The moat bridge is colossal and we can be confident of the dating on that,” he said.

A pilgrims badge was among the medieval items found

Mr Jackson added: “We think it was quite a small one, dominating the road to Wem and there would have been a moat around it.

“We think we might have found the evidence of the bridge that went over the moat, but this is for further exploration next.”

Dig Ventures has been working with Cardiff University students in their field school.

Students from Cardiff University have been helping out at the site

Mr Ashton said for many of the students, have never met in person since beginning their course due to the pandemic, but others, could not graduate from their course without the field experience.

“They have had very little access to the field, some of them couldn’t graduate until they came to the dig, we’ve been planning it for eight months.

“It’s one of the first teaching digs [taken place since the pandemic] and they essentially found a perfectly preserved timber structure.”

3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet rewrites the history of maths – and shows the Greeks did not develop trigonometry

3,700-year-old Babylonian tablet rewrites the history of maths – and shows the Greeks did not develop trigonometry

Tucked away in a seemingly forgotten corner of the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Daniel Mansfield found what may solve one of ancient math’s biggest questions. First exhumed in 1894 from what is now Baghdad, the circular tablet — broken at the centre with small perpendicular indentations across it — was feared lost to antiquity. But in 2018, a photo of the tablet showed up in Mansfield’s inbox.

Mansfield, a senior lecturer of mathematics at the University of New South Wales Sydney, had suspected the tablet was real. He came across records of its excavation and began the hunt. Word got around about what he was looking for, and then the email came. He knew what he had to do: travel to Turkey and examine it at the museum.

Hidden within this tablet is not only the oldest known display of applied geometry but a new ancient understanding of triangles. It could rewrite what we know about the history of mathematics, Mansfield argues. These findings were published Wednesday in the journal Foundations of Science.

It’s generally thought that trigonometry — a subset of geometry and what’s displayed on the tablet in a crude sense — was developed by ancient Greeks like the philosopher Pythagoras. However, analysis of the tablet suggests it was created 1,000 years before Pythagoras was born. Babylonian mathematics, which already holds a place of renown in the pantheon of ancient math, might’ve been more sophisticated than historians have given it credit for.

“The way we understand trigonometry harks back to ancient Greek astronomers,” Mansfield tells Inverse. “I like to think of the Babylonian understanding of right triangles as an unexpected prequel, which really is an independent story because the Babylonians weren’t using it to measure the stars, they were using it to measure the ground.”

Dr. Mansfield observes the tablet.
Dr. Mansfield observes the tablet.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW FIRST — Mansfield is no stranger to a pair of white gloves and following his mathematical curiosity. Years before discovering this latest tablet, dubbed Si.427, Mansfield was hot on the trail of another ancient Babylonian “document:” Plimpton 322. While the location of this artefact was known (it’s located at Columbia University) its true purpose was not.

Like Si.427, which dates back to roughly 1900 to 1600 BCE, Plimpton 322 is covered in geometric markings — riddles academics have tried to decipher for years. While the reigning theory was that these markings were a kind of teacher’s cheat code for Babylonian homework problems, Mansfield and colleagues were not convinced. In a 2017 paper, Mansfield and colleagues propose Plimpton 322 might be a kind of proto-trigonometry table of values — suggesting it predates the development of trigonometry as we know it today.

The Plimpton 322 clay tablet: it’s about the size of a postcard.

“A modern analogy would be to say that it contains a mix of elementary school problems alongside the unsolved conjectures of mathematics,” writes Mansfield in the new paper.

WHAT’S NEW — Now, Mansfield argues the discovery of Si.427 could confirm his Plimpton 322 hunch. In essence, Si.427 is argued to be a case study of how this proto-trig could be used in practice.

Si.427 is what’s known as a cadastral document. These are used to document the boundaries of land ownership. There are other examples on record, but Mansfield argues this tablet is the oldest known example from the Old Babylonian period — a range that stretches from 1900 BCE to 1600 BCE. On the tablet are legal and geometry details about a field that was split after some of it were sold.

This research suggests Plimpton 322 was used similarly: It might have been a surveyor’s cheat sheet, instead of a teacher’s. It’s possible Plimpton 322 was the theoretical solution to the practical problems a surveyor using Si.427 might have encountered.

“It’s a discovery that has come to us far outside our mathematical culture,” Mansfield says. “It seems new and fresh to us, even though it’s almost 4,000 years old.”

Using the principles of right triangles and perpendicular lines, ancient surveyors could evenly divide the land to avoid disputing neighbours.

WHY IT MATTERS — While these tablets are the kind of thing you might easily walk past on display in a museum, Mansfield said this discovery could actually have a huge implication for how we understand these ancient mathematics. Namely, it means mathematicians were working with so-called Pythagorean triples (trios of numbers that satisfy the infamous a^2+b^2 = c^2 equation) long before Pythagoras himself was even born. It also helps answer a slightly less academic question: How do you evenly divide up disputed land?

“This is from a period where land is starting to become private — people started thinking about the land in terms of ‘my land and your land,’ wanting to establish a proper boundary to have positive neighbourly relationships,” Mansfield explains in a statement.

“And this is what this tablet immediately says. It’s a field being split, and new boundaries are made.”

HOW DOES IT WORK? — As for how triangles sketched in clay translate to farmer’s fields, it all comes down to perpendicular lines. Essentially, surveyors would choose two Pythagorean triples (which were inherently right triangles) and extend the boundary line of the resultant rectangle by eye to create true perpendicular lines that spread across the entire field.

“This proves that our Babylonian surveyor had a solid theoretical understanding of the geometry of rectangles and right triangles and used it to solve practical problems,” Mansfield says in the video.

Extending the boundary of these triangles allowed surveyors to create incredibly straight lines without manually measuring or laying them out beforehand.

There are also instances of resizing these triangles to better fit the physical shape of the field at hand, which surveyors would’ve liked done by referencing a table of trig values like Plimpton 322, the study suggests. This table would’ve been a comprehensive list of Pythagorean triples and the steps to resizing them.

WHAT’S NEXT — This discovery may have laid to rest one ancient math mystery, there’s still plenty more where that came from, Mansfield says.

“Ancient mathematics is not as sophisticated as modern mathematics,” he says. “But sometimes you want to simple answers instead of sophisticated ones.”

He’s not “just talking about how mathematics students want their exams to be.” The advantage of a simple approach is its quickness — and Mansfield wants to examine whether or not this approach has any real-world applications.

“This approach might be of benefit in computer graphics or any application where speed is more important than precision,” he says.

Abstract: Plimpton 322 is one of the most sophisticated and interesting mathematical objects from antiquity. It is often regarded as teacher’s list of school problems, however new analysis suggests that it relates to a particular geometric problem in contemporary surveying.