Category Archives: WORLD

ASIA, IRAN, WORLD

1,600-Year-Old Sheep Mummy from Iran Analyzed

1,600-Year-Old Sheep Mummy from Iran Analyzed

A team of geneticists and archaeologists from Ireland, France, Iran, Germany, and Austria has sequenced the DNA from a 1,600-year-old sheep mummy from an ancient Iranian salt mine, Chehrabad.

This remarkable specimen has revealed sheep husbandry practices of the ancient Near East and underlined how natural mummification can affect DNA degradation. The incredible findings have just been published in the international, peer-reviewed journal Biology Letters. 

The salt mine of Chehrabad is known to preserve biological material. Indeed, it is in this mine that human remains of the famed “Salt Men” were recovered, dessicated by the salt-rich environment.

The new research confirms that this natural mummification process – where water is removed from a corpse, preserving soft tissues that would otherwise be degraded – also conserved animal remains.

The research team, led by geneticists from Trinity, exploited this by extracting DNA from a small cutting of mummified skin from a leg recovered in the mine.

1,600-Year-Old Sheep Mummy from Iran Analyzed
The mummified sheep leg. Image courtesy of Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum and Zanjan Cultural Heritage Centre, Archaeological Museum of Zanjan.

While ancient DNA is usually damaged and fragmented, the team found that the sheep mummy DNA was extremely well-preserved; with longer fragment lengths and less damage that would usually be associated with such an ancient age.

The group attributes this to the mummification process, with the salt mine providing conditions ideal for preservation of animal tissues and DNA.

The salt mine’s influence was also seen in the  microorganisms present in the sheep leg skin. Salt-loving archaea and bacteria dominated the microbial profile – also known as the metagenome – and may have also contributed to the preservation of the tissue.

The mummified animal was genetically similar to modern sheep breeds from the region, which suggests that there has been a continuity of ancestry of sheep in Iran since at least 1,600 years ago.

The team also exploited the sheep’s DNA preservation to investigate genes associated with a woolly fleece and a fat-tail – two important economic traits in sheep. Some wild sheep – the asiatic mouflon – are characterised by a “hairy” coat, much different to the woolly coats seen in many domestic sheep today. Fat-tailed sheep are also common in Asia and Africa, where they are valued in cooking, and where they may be well-adapted to arid climates.

The team built a genetic impression of the sheep and discovered that the mummy lacked the gene variant associated with a woolly coat, while fibre analysis using Scanning Electron Microscopy found the microscopic details of the hair fibres consistent with hairy or mixed coat breeds.

Intriguingly, the mummy carried genetic variants associated with fat-tailed breeds, suggesting the sheep was similar to the hairy-coated, fat-tailed sheep seen in Iran today.

“Mummified remains are quite rare so little empirical evidence was known about the survival of ancient DNA in these tissues prior to this study,” says Conor Rossi, PhD candidate in Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology, and the lead author of the paper.

“The astounding integrity of the DNA was not like anything we had encountered from ancient bones and teeth before.

This DNA preservation, coupled with the unique metagenomic profile, is an indication of how fundamental the environment is to tissue and DNA decay dynamics.

Dr Kevin G Daly, also from Trinity’s School of Genetics and Microbiology, supervised the study. He added:

“Using a combination of genetic and microscopic approaches, our team managed to create a genetic picture of what sheep breeds in Iran 1,600 years ago may have looked like and how they may have been used.

“Using cross-disciplinary approaches we can learn about what ancient cultures valued in animals, and this study shows us that the people of Sasanian-era Iran may have managed flocks of sheep specialised for meat consumption, suggesting well developed husbandry practices.“

AFRICA, SUDAN, WORLD

Ancient wall painting in the Nubian pyramids depicting a Giant carrying two elephants

Ancient wall painting in the Nubian pyramids depicting a Giant carrying two elephants

If you drive north from Khartoum along a narrow desert road toward the ancient city of Meros, a breathtaking view emerges beyond the mirage: dozens of steep pyramids piercing the horizon. No matter how many times you visit, there is an amazing sense of discovery.

The Pyramids of Mero in Bazarwia, Sudan

In Meros itself, once the capital of the Kingdom of Kush, the road divides the city. To the east is the royal cemetery, filled with about 50 sandstone and red brick pyramids of varying heights; The legacy of the European robbers of the 19th century has been broken by many. To the west is the royal city, which includes the ruins of a palace, a temple and a royal bath. 

Each structure has a distinctive architecture that draws on evidence of global ties to the local, Egyptian and Greco-Roman decorative tastes—Mero.

A Brief History of the “Land of Kush”

Aerial view of the Pyramids of Mero

The first settlers in North Sudan date back to 300,000 years ago. It is home to the oldest sub-Saharan African state, the Kingdom of Kush (around 2500–1500 BC). This culture produced some of the most beautiful pottery in the Nile Valley, including the Karma Beaker.

Sudan was reputed for its rich natural resources especially gold, ebony and ivory. Many items in the British Museum collection are made of these materials. 

Ancient Egyptians were drawn south in search of these resources during the Old Kingdom (about 2686–2181 BC), which often led to conflict as Egyptian and Sudanese rulers sought to control trade.

Kush was the most powerful kingdom in the Nile Valley around 1700 BC. The conflict between Egypt and Kush culminated in the conquest of Kush by Thutmose I (1504–1492 BC). In the west and south, Neolithic cultures persisted as both regions were out of reach of the Egyptian rulers.

Peculiar murals of the city of Meros and the giant carrying elephants

The city of Meros is marked by over two hundred pyramids, many of which are in ruins. They have the typical shape and proportions of the Nubian pyramids.

The site of Meros was brought to the knowledge of Europeans in 1821 by the French mineralogist Frédéric Callioud (1787–1869). The most interesting objects were the reliefs and paintings on the walls of the chambers of the tombs. One of the pictures depicts a giant proportion carrying two elephants.

Ancient wall painting in the Nubian pyramids depicting a Giant carrying two elephants
Sudan Meroitic illustration of a Nubian carrying two elephants

His features are not Nubian but Caucasian and his hair is light-coloured. Will this mural be evidence of the existence of a race of red-haired six-fingered demons in ancient times?

In the distant past, did demons really roam the Nile Valley?

In 79 AD, the Roman historian Josephus Flavius ​​wrote that the last race of Egyptian giants lived during the reign of King Joshua in the 79th century BC. He further wrote that they had huge bodies, and their faces were so different from those of ordinary humans that it was wonderful to see them, and it was scary to hear their loud voice which was like the roar of a lion.

In addition, many wall paintings from ancient Egypt depict the builders of the pyramids as “giant people” ranging in size from 5 to 6 meters tall. According to experts, these giants were capable of lifting 4 to 5 tons of blocks separately. 

Some of those ancient murals showed giant kings ruling ancient Egypt, while some depicted comparatively small-sized servants under giants.

In 1988, Gregor Spori, a Swiss entrepreneur and a passionate admirer of ancient Egyptian history, met a gang of robbers of ancient burials through one of the private suppliers in Egypt. 

The meeting took place in a small house in Bir Hooker, a hundred kilometres northeast of Cairo, where Spori saw a giant mummified finger wrapped in rags.

The mummified Egyptian giant finger

The finger was very dry and light. According to Spori, the incredible creature to which he belonged must have been at least 5 meters (about 16.48 feet) in height. To prove authenticity, a Tomb Raider showed a photo of an X-ray of a mummified finger taken in the 1960s.

ASIA, IRAQ, WORLD

The 4,000-year-old city discovered in Iraq

The 4,000-year-old city discovered in Iraq

In Iraqi Kurdistan, a team of French archaeologists discovered the ruins of a long-lost ancient city. The ancient city of Kunara, in the Zagros mountains, was discovered by archaeologists over the course of six excavations between 2012 and 2018.

Previously, experts had been prevented from exploring the site, near the modern city of Sulaymaniyah, by Saddam Hussein’s regime and conflicts in the region.

The discovery is described in the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) journal.

The first of the cuneiform tablets was discovered during the Kunara excavation. The tablet records the delivery of different types of flour.

Located on the western border of the Mesopotamian Empire, the city may have been an important centre of an ancient mountainous people known as the Lullubi, according to experts.

Large stone foundations were discovered at the site, which dates to around 2200 B.C. Dozens of clay tablets covered with cuneiform writing were also found, shedding light on the city’s agriculture. For example, the first of the clay tablets discovered records the delivery of different types of flour.

The archaeologists’ research indicates that the city’s demise occurred about 4,000 years ago when it was ravaged by fire.

However, the city’s name is still unknown. Further excavation of the site will take place in the fall.

The small cup-shaped indents in this structure may have served a ceremonial purpose, according to archaeologists.

Ancient sites in other parts of the world are also revealing their secrets. Last year, archaeologists in Greece located the remains of a lost city believed to have been settled by captives from the Trojan War.

Separately in 2018, archaeologists in Western Mexico used sophisticated laser technology to discover a lost city that may have had as many buildings as Manhattan.

In 2017, archaeologists harnessed spy satellite imagery and drones to help identify the site of an ancient lost city in Northern Iraq.

An arrowhead fragment made of obsidian, or volcanic glass. that was discovered at the site. The obsidian comes from Anatolia, which is several hundred miles from Kunara, according to experts.

The Qalatga Darband site overlooks the Lower Zab river at the western edge of the Zagros Mountains, is part of a historic route from ancient Mesopotamia to Iran.

A vase decorated with snakes and scorpions was discovered at the site of the ancient city.

Experts recently created a stunning digital reconstruction of a centuries-old lost city discovered in South Africa. In another project, researchers have shed new light on the events that led to the demise of the ancient Cambodian megacity of Angkor.

ASIA, ISRAEL, WORLD

3,000-Year-Old Inscription Found in Israel

3,000-Year-Old Inscription Found in Israel

An inscription from the time of the Biblical Judges, linked to the Book of Judges, has been discovered for the first time at Khirbat er-Ra‘i, near Kiryat Gat, during excavations.

The rare inscription bears the name ‘Jerubbaal’ in alphabetic script and dates from around 1,100 BCE. It was written in ink on a pottery vessel and found inside a storage pit that was dug into the ground and lined with stones.

The site, which is located at the Shahariya forest of the KKL-JNF, has been excavated every summer since 2015 and the current excavation season is it’s seventh.

The Jerubbaal inscription, written in ink on a pottery vessel.

The excavations are being conducted on behalf of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, under the direction of Prof. Yossef Garfinkel, Sa‘ar Ganor, Dr. Kyle Keimer and Dr. Gil Davies.

The program is funded by Joseph B. Silver and the Nathan and Lily Silver Foundation, the Roth Families Sydney, Aron Levy, and the Roger and Susan Hartog Center for Archaeology at the Hebrew University’s Institute of Archaeology. ​

The inscription was written in ink on a jug – a small personal pottery vessel that holds approximately one litre, and may well have contained a precious liquid such as oil, perfume or medicine. Apparently, much like today, the vessel’s owner wrote his name on it to assert his ownership.

The inscription has been deciphered by epigraphic expert Christopher Rolston of George Washington University, Washington DC. It clearly shows the letters yod (broken at the top), resh, bet, ayin, lamed, and remnants of other letters indicate that the original inscription was longer.

Prof. Garfinkel and Ganor explain, “The name Jerubbaal is familiar from biblical tradition in the Book of Judges as an alternative name for the judge Gideon ben Yoash. Gideon is first mentioned as combatting idolatry by breaking the altar to Baal and cutting down the Asherah pole.

In biblical tradition, he is then remembered as triumphing over the Midianites, who used to cross over the Jordan to plunder agricultural crops.

According to the Bible, Gideon organized a small army of 300 soldiers and attacked the Midianites by night near Ma‘ayan Harod. In view of the geographical distance between the Shephelah and the Jezreel Valley, this inscription may refer to another Jerubbaal and not the Gideon of biblical tradition, although the possibility cannot be ruled out that the jug belonged to judge Gideon. In any event, the name Jerubbaal was evidently in common usage at the time of the Biblical Judges.”

Inscriptions from the period of the Judges are extremely rare and almost unparalleled in Israeli archaeology. Only a handful of inscriptions found in the past bear a number of unrelated letters. This is the first time that the name Jerubbaal has ever been found outside the Bible in an archaeological context – in a stratum dated to around 1,100 BCE, the period of the Judges. 

“As we know, there is considerable debate as to whether biblical tradition reflects reality and whether it is faithful to historical memories from the days of the Judges and the days of David,” say the archaeologists.

“The name Jerubbaal only appears in the Bible in the period of the Judges, yet now it has also been discovered in an archaeological context, in a stratum dating from this period. In a similar manner, the name Ishbaal, which is only mentioned in the Bible during the monarchy of King David, has been found in strata dated to that period at the site of Khirbat Qeiyafa.

The fact that identical names are mentioned in the Bible and also found in inscriptions recovered from archaeological excavations shows that memories were preserved and passed down through the generations.” 

The Jerubbaal inscription also contributes to our understanding of the spread of alphabetic script in the transition from the Canaanite period to the Israelite period. The alphabet was developed by the Canaanites under Egyptian influence in around 1,800 BCE, during the Middle Bronze Age. In the Late Bronze Age (1,550–1,150 BCE), only a few such inscriptions are known in Israel, most from Tel Lachish near present-day Moshav Lachish.

The Canaanite city of Lachish was probably the centre where the tradition of writing the alphabet was maintained and preserved. Canaanite Lachish was destroyed around 1,150 BCE and remained abandoned for about two centuries. Until now, there was considerable uncertainty as to where the tradition of the alphabetic script was preserved after the fall of Lachish.

The newly-discovered inscription shows that the script was preserved at Khirbat er-Ra‘i — roughly 4 km from Lachish and the largest site in the area at the time of the Judges — during the transition from the Canaanite to the Israelite and Judahite cultures.

Additional inscriptions, from the time of the monarchy (tenth century BCE onwards), have been found in the Shephelah, including two from Khirbat Qeiyafa and others from Tel es-Safi (Tel Tzafit) and Tel Bet Shemesh.

EUROPE, TURKEY, WORLD

Archaeologists in Turkey Unearth 2,500-Year-Old Temple of Aphrodite

Archaeologists in Turkey Unearth 2,500-Year-Old Temple of Aphrodite

During excavations at the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos, one of Anatolia’s best-preserved Roman temples, in the western province of Mula, two 2,500-year-old marble statues and an inscription were discovered.

Archaeologists in Turkey Unearth 2,500-Year-Old Temple of Aphrodite

Built with donations in the second century B.C., the temple is located in the ancient city of Euromos.

Abuzer Kızıl, the head of the excavation committee and faculty member at Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University’s Archeology Department, told the state-run Anadolu Agency on July 11 that they were currently carrying out works in the temple, agora, theatre, bath and the city walls.

Expressing that Euromos is “one of the luckiest ancient cities in Anatolia” due to its location, Kızıl said that they started to implement important projects related to the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos.

“We took approximately 250 blocks stacked on top of each other on the southern facade of the temple and moved them to the appropriate area to be used in restoration works.

We then started the excavation work, hoping that there were architectural blocks under the ground. While waiting to explore the architectural blocks, we encountered great surprises.

Two statues and an inscription were discovered under the ground. We got very excited. In fact, it excited not only us but also the world of archaeology, as here we have unearthed two very important links of the missing archaic sculpture of the Caria region and an inscription dating to the Hellenistic period,” Kızıl said.

Kızıl added that the sculptures were categorized as kouros, a modern term given to free-standing ancient Greek sculptures.

“One of the two kouros unearthed at Euromos is naked while the other is wearing armour and a short skirt. The armour is made of leather, and it is remarkable to see that both statues have a lion in their hands. Ichnographically, the lion has great significance; we have not been able to find exact copies of either of the statues so far,” Kızıl said.

The naked statue with a lion in his hand indicates that it is most likely to be Apollo.

Kızıl said the inscription from the Hellenistic period was expected to reveal important insights on the Carian history, and efforts to decipher it were ongoing.

Pointing out that temples and artefacts are the common heritage of humanity, Kızıl said their primary goal was to restore the Temple of Zeus Lepsynos to its former glory.

EUROPE, WORLD

Oldest known cosmetics found in ceramic bottles on Balkan Peninsula

Oldest known cosmetics found in ceramic bottles on Balkan Peninsula

Three researchers from the Center for Preventive Archeology in Germany and the Slovenian Institute for Cultural Heritage Conservation at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen have found evidence of the oldest known cosmetic use at the Balkan excavation site.

In their paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Report, Bine Kramberger, Christoph Berthold, and Cynthianne Spiteri describe ceramic bottles containing cosmetics and what’s inside them.

In 2014, team member Bine Kramberger discovered a small one Bottle At the excavation site of Zgornje Radvanje in Slovenia. Shortly thereafter, other bargains found similar bottles.

Oldest known cosmetics found in ceramic bottles on Balkan Peninsula
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports “width =” 800 “height =” 388 “/>

Over the next few years, more than 100 bottles have been discovered in the area.

The first review of the bottle suggested that it was some kind of children’s toy, or perhaps a medicine bottle, due to its small size. I also found that the handle of the bottle had a hole.

This suggests that the bottle was hanging around the waist or perhaps the neck. In this new initiative, researchers scrutinized the inside of some bottles to learn more about what they might have once had.

A close examination of more than a dozen bottles revealed traces of cerussite, also known as “white lead” or carbonite. It has been found in various containers from multiple locations around the world throughout history.

It was even used in modern paints until it turned out to be addictive to children who consumed it.

Researchers also note that many of the small bottles were found nearby in elongated stone tools. This could be an extractor.

The team also found small pieces of animal fat, beeswax, and vegetable oil in the bottle. All signs of material intended for application to the skin.

The bottle dates from 4350 to 4100 BC and is evidence of Europe’s oldest known cosmetic use. It also lags behind the use of cosmetics in Mesopotamia and Egypt. The bottle is believed to have been created and used by a Neolithic hunter-gatherer known as Rasinja.

AFRICA, SUDAN, WORLD

First Human Traces Buried in an Ancient Gold Mine in Eastern Sahara

First Human Traces Buried in an Ancient Gold Mine in Eastern Sahara

In an ancient gold mine in the Eastern Sahara, some of the earliest evidence of human existence going back 1.8 million years have been unearthed. Archaeologists from the University of Wroclaw discovered a cache of artefacts from the African variety of Homo erectus, the ancestor of humans (Homo sapiens), around 70 kilometres east of Atbara.

Included among the hundreds of artefacts were massive, almond-shaped cleavers resembling fists, weighing several kilograms, and with chipped edges on both sides forming a pointed tip at the junction.

“In the eastern part of Sudan, in the Eastern Desert, like in many places in the Sahara, a gold rush broke out. People were looking for this valuable ore in makeshift, open-cast mines. While exposing subsequent layers, miners came across several-hundred-thousand-year-old tools.”

By examining layers of soil and sand above the objects using the optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) method the archaeologists were able to determine the age of the tools. 

Research project leader Professor Mirosław Masojć from the Institute of Archaeology of the University of Wrocław said: “It turned out that they were about 390,000 years old.

Archaeologists excavated several undisturbed areas within the abandoned gold mine in Sahara and found hundreds of ancient tools.

This means that the layers below are certainly older. Based on the workmanship, I believe that the tools may be over 700,000 years old, perhaps even a million years old, like their counterparts discovered further in the south of Africa.”

Previously, Professor Masojć’s team previously had discovered hand axes and other tools, but never ones that were technologically so close to those from equatorial Africa, or that old. 

It is now thought that in the place where the artefacts were discovered, there used to be a workshop where tools were made because both finished ‘products, as well as flakes formed during their production, have been preserved.

Masojć added that these are the oldest known human creations with such a well-confirmed chronology from Egypt and Sudan. He said: “Ancient tools are found in deserts, but never before have they come from layers that would allow to safely determine their age.”

So far, researchers have found nearly 200 sites where Palaeolithic stone products have been preserved. Some of them are in mines (these are located about 350 km north of Khartoum).

Quartzite unidirectional cores from the mine. Credit: Mirosław Masojć

They find all sorts of tools used by both Homo erectus and Homo sapiens. The age of the tools varies greatly, from over half a million to 60,000 years.

Masojć said it cannot be ruled out that there are even older artefacts in the deeper parts of the mines, but added that accessing them is currently difficult.

He said: “The last research season took place at the end of 2019 when the political situation was very tense, and ultimately there was a coup in Sudan and the long-standing regime was overthrown.

The work was very difficult in terms of logistics: there were fuel shortages, we had to avoid protests, people were dying.”

Researchers from Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Germany and the US were involved in the project financed by the National Science Centre. The research results have just been published in the prestigious journal Plos One

WORLD

Climate changed the size of our bodies and, to some extent, our brains

Climate changed the size of our bodies and, to some extent, our brains

An interdisciplinary team of researchers, led by the Universities of Cambridge and Tübingen, has gathered measurements of body and brain size for over 300 fossils from the genus Homo found across the globe.

By combining this data with a reconstruction of the world’s regional climates over the last million years, they have pinpointed the specific climate experienced by each fossil when it was a living human.

The study reveals that the average body size of humans has fluctuated significantly over the last million years, with larger bodies evolving in colder regions.

Skulls: Left: Amud 1, Neanderthal, 55.000 years ago, ~1750 cm³, Middle: Cro Magnon, Homo sapiens, 32.000 years ago, ~1570 cm³, Right: Atapuerca 5, Middle Pleistocene Homo, 430.000 years ago, ~1100 cm³. Femora: Top: Middle Pleistocene Homo, Trinil, 540.000 years ago, ~50 kg- Bottom: Neanderthal, La Ferrassie 1, 44.000 years ago, ~90 kg.

Larger size is thought to act as a buffer against colder temperatures: less heat is lost from a body when its mass is large relative to its surface area. The results are published today in the journal Nature Communications.

Our species, Homo sapiens, emerged around 300,000 years ago in Africa. The genus Homo has existed for much longer and includes the Neanderthals and other extinct, related species such as Homo habilis and Homo erectus.

A defining trait of the evolution of our genus is a trend of increasing body and brain size; compared to earlier species such as Homo habilis, we are 50% heavier and our brains are three times larger. But the drivers behind such changes remain highly debated.

“Our study indicates that climate—particularly temperature—has been the main driver of changes in body size for the past million years,” said Professor Andrea Manica, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Zoology who led the study.

He added: “We can see from people living today that those in warmer climates tend to be smaller, and those living in colder climates tend to be bigger. We now know that the same climatic influences have been at work for the last million years.”

The researchers also looked at the effect of environmental factors on brain size in the genus Homo, but correlations were generally weak.

Brain size tended to be larger when Homo was living in habitats with less vegetation, like open steppes and grasslands, but also in ecologically more stable areas. In combination with archaeological data, the results suggest that people living in these habitats hunted large animals as food—a complex task that might have driven the evolution of larger brains.

“We found that different factors determine brain size and body size—they’re not under the same evolutionary pressures. The environment has a much greater influence on our body size than our brain size,” said Dr. Manuel Will at the University of Tubingen, Germany, the first author of the study.

He added: “There is an indirect environmental influence on brain size in more stable and open areas: the amount of nutrients gained from the environment had to be sufficient to allow for the maintenance and growth of our large and particularly energy-demanding brains.”

This research also suggests that non-environmental factors were more important for driving larger brains than climate, prime candidates being the added cognitive challenges of increasingly complex social lives, more diverse diets, and more sophisticated technology.

The researchers say there is good evidence that the human body and brain size continue to evolve. The human physique is still adapting to different temperatures, with on average larger-bodied people living in colder climates today.

Brain size in our species appears to have been shrinking since the beginning of the Holocene (around 11,650 years ago). The increasing dependence on technology, such as outsourcing of complex tasks to computers, may cause brains to shrink even more over the next few thousand years.

“It’s fun to speculate about what will happen to body and brain sizes in the future, but we should be careful not to extrapolate too much based on the last million years because so many factors can change,” said Manica.