200,000-Year-Old Mattress Analyzed in South Africa
Around 200,000 years ago people from Southern Africa not only slept on grass bedding but occasionally burned it, apparently to keep from going buggy. There was no tog rating on the duvet and an electric blanket was definitely out of the question.
But Stone Age mattresses were far comfier than the era’s name might suggest – and they were even designed to keep the bedbugs at bay.
Archaeologists have uncovered traces in a cave of ancient bedding from 200,000 years ago, made with a mixture of grasses and ash. Until now, the oldest known use of humans using plants to sleep on had dated back to around 77,000 years ago.
The cave where the discovery was made is near the border between South Africa and Swaziland, and is home to a well preserved record of on-off human occupation spanning 230,000 years
Archaeologists have uncovered traces in a cave of ancient bedding from 200,000 years ago. Pictured: Archaeologists work at the site of the discovery in the caves
The cave, near the border between South Africa and Swaziland, contains a well-preserved record of on-off human occupation spanning nearly 230,000 years, researchers said.
They found that the real-life Flintstones used a variety of leaved grasses for beds, including the Panicum maximum tufted grass which is still growing in front of the cave.
The researchers also found charred remains of camphor bush, an aromatic plant that is still used in East Africa to repel creepy-crawlies.
They said: ‘Ash was possibly raked from hearths to create a clean, odor-controlling base for bedding.
‘Ash repels crawling insects, which cannot easily move through fine powder because it blocks their breathing and biting apparatus and eventually leaves them dehydrated.’
Dr. Lyn Wadley, an archaeologist at the Wits University’s Evolutionary Studies Institute in Johannesburg, said that as well as Stone Age man’s bedding, they found ‘stone tools and, possibly, ground red and orange ochre to colour objects and perhaps their skin’.
The scientists used a range of techniques, which involved microscopic and chemical analysis, to examine the fossilized grass samples from the Border Cave site.
Dr. Wadley added: ‘People also used medicinal plants to repel insects. Sometimes they burned their grass bedding and this would have killed pests and cleaned the site.’
The researchers say that the findings suggest ‘an early potential for the cognitive, behavioral, and social complexity’ of Stone Age humans that became more apparent from around 100,000 years ago.
Dr. Wadley said: ‘Before 200,000 years ago, close to the origin of our species, people could produce fire at will.
‘They used fire ash and medicinal plants to maintain clean, pest-free camps.
‘The simple strategies we have seen at the Border Cave give us a glimpse into the lifeways of people in the deep past.’
Preserved grass fragments uncovered in a South African cave, left, are by far the oldest known examples of grass bedding, researchers say. Close-up images of those fragments taken by a scanning electron microscope, such as the one shown at right, helped to narrow down what type of grasses were used for bedding.
A 3,100-year-old bowl of soup found next to a dead body – and it’s still LIQUID
Right on cue for soup season, archaeologists have found a 3,100-year-old tomb lined with what are believed to be bronze soup bowls in Shaanxi province, China, according to Live Science.
All those bowls might have been in service of the decomposed, unidentified corpse archaeologists also found in the tomb.
Along with the bowls and the body, Live Science reports, archaeologists found a “four-handled tureen” decorated with dragons, birds and 192 spikes. There are also a few bovine heads thrown in, for good measure.
The four-handled tureen adorned with dragons, birds, and spikes
“The occupant of Tomb M4 was most likely of elite status, and could potentially be a high-ranking chief or the spouse of a chief,” Live Science reported the translation of the original Chinese journal article as reading.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Shaanxi province, where the bowls were found, was the capital of the Zhou dynasty.
M4 was not the only tomb that archaeologist Zhankui Wang’s team found. Fifty-six or more tombs have been uncovered nearby since excavations began in 2012, according to Live Science.
As Live Science reports, the Zhou people of China were warring against the Shang at the time of the burial.
The archaeologists reportedly observed the names of several prominent Shang clans on the vessels they found, suggesting they originally belonged to the Shang.
The archaeologists conjecture that these vessels may have been plundered from the Shang by the Zhou.
“After conquering the Shang dynasty, the Zhou king distributed the plundered war spoils to the military officers with great achievements, and these spoils usually included bronze vessels,” the archaeologists wrote, according to Live Science.
One of the more novel finds was this deer shaped wine holder, illustrating high level of Chinese skills in Bronze Age metalworking.
They believe that the vessels may have been plundered during the war for succession.
According to The Encyclopedia Britannica, the Zhou and Shang dynasties co-existed for many years. For years, they alternated between friendly relations and fighting with one another, until one of the major houses of the Zhou created a plan to conquer the lands held by the Shang.
These plans culminated in a battle in the middle of the 11th century B.C., and eventually led to three years of fighting that resulted in the Zhou conquering all of China.
The Zhou was the longest-ruling of China’s dynasties, ranging from between approximately 1046 to 256 B.C, according to Columbia University.
The Shang dynasty, though not as long-lived, provided archaeologists with some of the earliest examples of Chinese bronze work, according to Encyclopedia Britannica
Man accidentally finds a ‘perfectly preserved’ Roman villa in his backyard
This began out as a bit of basic home improvement, which ended up with the finding of one of the biggest Roman Villas ever to be found in the UK. While laying an electricity cable beneath the grounds of his home, near the village of Tisbury, in Wiltshire, Luke Irwin found the remains of what appeared to be an ornate Roman Mosaic.
It was sheer luck for British rug designer, Luke Irwin, when he asked the electricians working in his backyard to lay cable wires underground and not overhead. The digging led to the discovery of an ancient palatial Roman villa. Just like Irwin, even archaeologists were astonished by this discovery.
Yet it was even more shocking that there was an excavation by archeologists from Historic Great Britain and the Salisbury Museum. They found the mosaic was part of the floor of a much larger Roman property, similar in size and structure to the great Roman villa at Chedworth.
But in a move that will surprise many, the remains – some of the most important to be found in decades – have now been re-buried, as Historic England cannot afford to fully excavate and preserve such an extensive site.
Dr David Roberts, the archaeologist for Historic England, said: “This site has not been touched since its collapse 1400 years ago and, as such, is of enormous importance. Without question, this is a hugely valuable site in terms of research, with incredible potential.
“The discovery of such an elaborate and extraordinarily well-preserved villa, undamaged by agriculture for over 1500 years, is unparalleled in recent years.
Overall, the excellent preservation, large scale and complexity of this site present a unique opportunity to understand Roman and post-Roman Britain.”
Excavations at the site revealed a large Roman property, similar in size and structure to Chedworth
He added: “Unfortunately, it would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to fully excavate and the preserve the site, which cannot be done with the current pressures.
“We would very much like to go back and carry out more digs to further our understanding of the site. But it’s a question of raising the money and taking our time, because as with all archaeological work there is the risk of destroying the very thing you seek to uncover.”
Mr Irwin, a Dublin-born designer who makes hand-made silk, wool and cashmere rugs, made the fortunate find last summer while laying electricity cables beneath a stretch of ground to the rear of his property, so that his children could play table tennis under lighting in an old barn.
An artist’s impression of how the site would have looked
His builders had barely begun to dig a trench for the cables when they hit something solid, just 18 inches below the surface. On closer inspection it appeared to be a section of a Roman mosaic in remarkably good condition. Intrigued, Mr Irwin called in experts from the Wiltshire Archaeology Service, Historic England (formerly English Heritage) and nearby Salisbury Museum.
Further exploratory excavation of the site – now known as the Deverill Villa after the name of Mr Irwin’s 17th-century house – revealed surviving sections of walls, one and a half metres in height, confirming that the mosaic formed part of a grand villa, thought to have been three storeys in height, its grounds extending over 100 metres in width and length.
It is thought the villa, which had around 20 to 25 rooms on the ground floor alone, was built sometime between 175 AD and 220 AD, and was repeatedly re-modelled right up until the mid – 4th century. The remains at Deverill are similar to those found at Chedworth, in Gloucestershire, suggesting that the building belonged to a family of significant wealth and importance.
A Roman coin found at the site
Chedworth was built as a dwelling around three sides of a courtyard, with a fine mosaic floor, as well as two separate bathing suites – one for damp-heat and one for dry-heat. The villa was discovered in 1864, and it was excavated and put on display soon afterwards. It was acquired by the National Trust in 1924.
The discovery at Mr Irwin’s home also revealed a number of fascinating objects from the Roman period. Among the artefacts discovered during the excavations were a perfectly preserved Roman well, underfloor heating pipes and the stone coffin of a Roman child. Another was the stone coffin of a Roman child, which had long been used by the inhabitants of the adjoining house as a flower pot, most recently for geraniums.
Also found were discarded oyster shells, which would have had to be transported over 45 miles from the coast– further evidence of the villa would have been the home of a wealthy and important family. Archaeologists believe that during the post-Roman period timber structures were erected within the ruins of the once-ornate villa.
One of the discarded oyster shells
They say further research of what was found at Deverill would throw light on what remains one of the least understood periods of British history – between fall of the Roman Empire and the completion of Saxon domination in the 7th century.
Simon Sebag Montefiore, one of Britain’s leading historians said: “This remarkable Roman villa, with its baths and mosaics uncovered by chance, is a large, important and very exciting discovery that reveals so much about the luxurious lifestyle of a rich Romano British family at the height of the empire.
“It is an amazing thought that so much has survived almost two millennia.” Mr Irwin was inspired by his discovery to create a series of rugs based around the theme of the Roman mosaic he unearthed. His collection will be put on display at his showroom in central London.
A child’s coffin found at the site
He said: “When I held some of the tessaras, the mosaic tiles that were found, in the palm of my hand, the history of the place felt tangible, like an electric shock. The brilliance of their colours was just extraordinary, especially as they have been buried for so long.
“To think that someone lived on this site 1,500 years ago is almost overwhelming. You look out at an empty field from your front door, and yet centuries ago one of the biggest homes in all of Britain at the time was standing there.”
But while the artefacts have been removed and are now in the care of Salisbury Museum, the remains of the villa and its mosaics have been re-buried and grassed over to protect them from the elements. To expose and preserve the mosaics and fragments of walls would be prohibitively expensive and beyond the budget of Salisbury Museum. Even if it was financially possible, Mr Irwin does not want his garden turned into an open-air museum.
Early Neolithic Cremation Burial in Israel Examined
Ancient people in the Near East had begun the practice of intentionally cremating their dead by the beginning of the 7th millennium BC.
According to a study published on August 12, 2020, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Fanny Bocquentin of the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and colleagues.
Excavations at the Neolithic site of Beisamoun in Northern Israel have uncovered an ancient cremation pit containing the remains of a corpse that appears to have been intentionally incinerated as part of a funerary practice.
Picture of bones in situ: A. Segment of the axial skeleton: ribs and vertebrae exposed in the middle of the structure. B. Right coxal in situ; preserved almost complete by a piece of collapsed mud wall (see Fig 2D). C. Four right pedal proximal phalanges found directly under the right coxal.
These remains were directly dated to between 7013-6700 BC, making them the oldest known example of cremation in the Near East.
The remains comprise most of one skeleton of a young adult. The bones show evidence of having been heated to temperatures of over 500°C shortly after death, and they sit inside a pit that appears to have been constructed with an open top and strong insulating walls.
Microscopic plant remains found inside the pyre-pit is likely leftover from the fuel for the fire.
This evidence leads the authors to identify this as an intentional cremation of a fresh corpse, as opposed to the burning of dry remains or a tragic fire accident.
This early cremation comes at an important period of transition in funerary practices in this region of the world. Old traditions were on the way out, such as the removal of the cranium of the dead and the burial of the dead within the settlement, while practices like cremation were new.
This change in the funeral procedure might also signify a transition in rituals surrounding death and the significance of the deceased within society.
Further examination of other possible cremation sites in the region will help elucidate this important cultural shift.
The Beisamoun pyre fields, where the cremated burial was discovered, during the crepuscular hours.
Bocquentin says: “The funerary treatment involved in situ cremations within a pyre-pit of a young adult individual who previously survived from a flint projectile injury— the inventory of bones and their relative position strongly supports the deposit of an articulated corpse and not dislocated bones.” She adds, “This is a redefinition of the place of the dead in the village and in society.”
A team of German and Peruvian archaeologists says they have discovered the oldest known monument in Peru: a 5,500-year-old ceremonial plaza near Peru’s north-central coast.
Carbon dating of material from the site revealed it was built between 3500 BC and 3000 BC, Peter Fuchs, a German archaeologist who headed the excavation team.
A circular plaza built 5,500 years ago has been discovered in Peru, and archaeologists involved in the dig, carbon dating shows it is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas.
A circular plaza unearthed at the ruins of Sechin Bajo, 230 miles north of Lima, may have been a site for gatherings and ceremonies, archaeologists say.
“It’s an impressive find, the scientific and archaeology communities are very happy,” said Cesar Perez, the scientist at Peru’s National Institute of Culture who supervised the project. “This could redesign the history of the country.”
Prior to the discovery at Sechin Bajo, archaeologists considered the ancient Peruvian citadel of Caral to be one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, at about 5,000 years.
Scientists say Caral, located a few hour’s drives from Sechin Bajo, was one of six places in the world — along with Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India, and Mesoamerica — where humans started living in cities five thousand years ago.
“The dating done by the German archaeologists puts it at about 5,500 years, but other parts could be older depending on what else is found,” Perez said.
Earlier finds near Sechin Bajo had been dated at 3,600 years.
“They had a highly-developed understanding of architecture and construction. This can clearly be seen in the fact that the materials they used survived for so long,” Peter Fuchs, one of the archaeologists, told the El Comercio newspaper.
The social gathering space that Fuchs and his colleagues found was built with rocks and adobe bricks.
Hundreds of archaeological sites cover Peru, and many ruins were built by cultures that preceded the powerful Incan empire, which reached its peak in the 16th century, just before Spanish conquerors arrived in what is now Peru.
500,000-Year-Old Earliest European Bone Tools Found In UK
The earliest known bone tools in European archeological history, archaeologists claim, were found. The implements come from the renowned Boxgrove site in West Sussex, which was excavated in the 1980s and 90s.
One of the oldest organic tools in the world. A bone hammer used to make the fine flint bifaces from Boxgrove. The bone shows scraping marks used to prepare the bone as well as pitting left behind from its use in making flint tools
The bone tools came from a horse that humans butchered at the site for its meat. Flakes of stone in piles around the animal suggest at least eight individuals were making large flint knives for the job.
Researchers also found evidence that other people were present nearby – perhaps younger or older members of a community – shedding light on the social structure of our ancient relatives.
There’s nothing quite like Boxgrove elsewhere in Britain: during excavations, archaeologists uncovered hundreds of stone tools, along with animal bones, that dated to 500,000 years ago.
They were made by the species Homo heidelbergensis, a possible ancestor for modern humans and Neanderthals. Researchers found a shin bone belonging to one of them – it’s the oldest human bone known from Britain.
A photograph of the Horse Butchery Site, Boxgrove, under excavation in 1990.
Project lead, Dr. Matthew Pope, from UCL’s Institute of Archaeology, said: “This was an exceptionally rare opportunity to examine a site pretty much as it had been left behind by an extinct population after they had gathered to totally process the carcass of a dead horse on the edge of a coastal marshland.
“Incredibly, we’ve been able to get as close as we can to witnessing the minute-by-minute movement and behaviours of a single apparently tight-knit group of early humans: a community of people, young and old, working together in a co-operative and highly social way.”
The researchers were able to reconstruct the precise type of stone tool that had been made from the chippings left at the site. However, humans must have taken the tools with them – as they had not been recovered.
At the inter-tidal marshland, which was on what would have been Britain’s southern coastline, there was a nearby cliff that was starting to degrade, producing good rocks for knapping – the process of creating stone tools. Silt from the sea had also built up here, forming an area of grassland.
“Grassland means herbivores and herbivores mean food,” explained Dr. Pope. Dr. Pope added that it was still unclear how the horse ended up in this landscape.
“Horses are highly sociable animals and it’s reasonable to assume it was part of a herd, either attracted to the foreshore for freshwater, or for seaweed or salt licks. For whatever reason, this horse – isolated from the herd – ends up dying there,” Dr. Pope told BBC News.
“Possibly it was hunted – though we have no proof of that – and it’s sat right next to an intertidal creek. The tide was quite low so it’s possible for the humans to get around it. But shortly after, high tide comes in and starts to cover the site in fine, powdery silt and clay. It’s so low energy that everything is left as it was when the hominins moved away from the site.”
The horse provided more than just-food. Analysis of the bones by Simon Parfitt, from the University College London (UCL) Institute of Archaeology, and Dr. Silvia Bello, from London’s Natural History Museum, found that several bones had been used as tools called re-touchers.
Left: A small knapping scatter relating to the reshaping of a biface, preserving the imprint of an early human knee in the shards of waste flint, 1989. Right: A small refit group that preserves the complete reshaping of a tool, presumably during its use in butchering the horse.
Simon Parfitt said: “These are some of the earliest non-stone tools found in the archaeological record of human evolution. They would have been essential for manufacturing the finely made flint knives found in the wider Boxgrove landscape.”
Dr. Bello added: “The finding provides evidence that early human cultures understood the properties of different organic materials and how tools could be made to improve the manufacture of other tools.
She explained that “it provides further evidence that early human populations at Boxgrove were cognitively, social and culturally sophisticated”.
The researchers believe other members of the group – which could have numbered 30 to 40 people – were nearby. They might have joined the hunting party to butcher the horse carcass. This might explain how it was so completely torn apart: the Boxgrove humans even smashed up the bones to get at the marrow and liquid grease.
Dr. Pope said that, far from being an activity for a handful of individuals in a hunting party, butchering could have been a highly social event for these ancient humans. The project has primarily been funded by Historic England, the Arts and Humanities Research Council with support from the UCL Institute of Archaeology, the Natural History Museum and the British Museum.
The detailed findings have been published in a book called The Horse Butchery Site.
Volunteers Spot Iron Age Hillfort in Southern England
According to a BBC News report, volunteers with the Beacons of the Past project identified the possible site of an Iron Age hillfort covered with trees and foliage in lidar images of the southern Chiltern Hills, a chalk escarpment stretching 45 miles across southern England.
From digital survey images, last year and the hillfort was verified on 6 August. It is thought the circular site dates from the early Iron Age in England, between 800BC and 500BC.
Work will take place to preserve the site.
Dr Ed Peveler pictured by the iron age hillfort in the southern Chiltern Hills
The remains of the hillfort include a 9m-wide (30ft) bank and an external ditch that is 7m (23ft) wide.
Its perimeter is more than 500m (1,640ft) in length and it is thought it would have covered 7.5 acres (3 hectares).
Despite the name, hillforts are often neither on a hill nor used as forts. Archaeologists believe they may have been used as defended settlements, production sites, or stock enclosures.
The new site in the southern Chilterns was first identified through images from a large scale LiDAR scan of the area. LiDAR technology can penetrate foliage that might hide archaeological sites, using laser pulses.
Beacons of the Past’s trained volunteers, known as “citizen scientists”, helped look through LiDAR data to help identify sites.
The exact location of the hillfort has not been disclosed to protect the site and the landowner’s privacy.
An example of LiDAR technology identifying a different hillfort in the Chiltern Hills.
Work will take place to preserve what remains of the hillfort, but there are no plans to excavate the site at present.
Project manager and archaeologist Dr Wendy Morrison said: “Although one can never be certain of the age of a prehistoric earthwork without excavating for dating evidence, visual inspection of the rampart and ditch, paired with its location, dominating views in the landscape, give me the confidence to say this is very likely to be an Early Iron Age univallate hillfort.”
Beacons of the Past is a National Lottery Heritage Fund project hosted by the Chilterns Conservation Board.
At the ancient Tepe Ashraf in Isfahan, a team of Iranian archeologists found what they call the second Parthian era skeleton (247 BC – 224 CE) hoping to offer new insights on the history of the central Iranian city.
Led by senior archeologist Alireza Jafari-Zand, the team uncovered the remains of the first ‘Parthian lady’ last month in a place they believe is likely to be an ancient cemetery.
“At a distance of 10 meters from the body of [the first] Parthian lady, we found the burial [place] of a teenage girl. She is buried in the form of an open arch and on the ground.
Skeleton of another ‘Parthian lady’ discovered in Isfahan
Evidence shows that the body belonged to a teenager of about 12 to 13 years old with a height of about 160, but unfortunately the skeleton is damaged due to high humidity,” Jafari-Zand said on Tuesday.
Talking about the new discovery, he explained “It is clear from the burial that the tomb was designed [based on a special ritual]. Next to this corpse, there was a platform on which the remains of a large broken jar and a part of a horse’s spinal cord were placed.”
However, he proposed a hypothesis that the tombs were probably opened in very distant history, IRNA reported.
“Around the burial of this teenaged Parthian girl, a stone hedge was erected and a platform was set up. Remnants of this type of platform had already been found in the Parthian lady’s grave and a blue-colored jug was placed on it.
The archaeologist believes that due to the confusion of architectural evidence and objects of these two tombs, the tombs were probably opened in very distant history,’ he explained.
Earlier this year, an ancient burial containing the remains of a horse — estimated to be four years old was found near a place where a giant jar-tomb was unearthed weeks ago, which researchers believe could shed new light on ancient human life in Isfahan.
“Tepe Ashraf is the second place after the Tepe Sialk (in Isfahan province) that has yielded the discovery of such jar tombs that offers valuable clues to uncover the obscure history of pre-Islamic Isfahan,” according to the archaeologist.
Excavations at Tepe Ashraf initially began in 2010 when Jafari-Zand announced his team found evidence at the site suggesting that the Sassanid site had also been used during the Buyid dynasty (945–1055).
“We stumbled upon a reconstructed part in the ruins of the castle, which suggests that the structure had been used during the Buyid dynasty.”
The Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 CE), also known as the Arsacid Empire, was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran.
The Parthians largely adopted the art, architecture, religious beliefs, and royal insignia of their culturally heterogeneous empire, which encompassed Persian, Hellenistic, and regional cultures.
At its height, the Parthian Empire stretched from the northern reaches of the Euphrates, in what is now central-eastern Turkey, to eastern Iran.
