Roman dagger uncovered by the teenage archaeologist on work experience is restored to former glory
A Roman knife, 2000 years old, that a teenage boy had discovered during his work has been spectacularly restored to its former glory.
The old weapon is believed to have used in a battle against the Germanic people in the 1st century by a soldier from the Roman army.
It was found in a burial ground in Haltern am See near Munster, north-west Germany by 19 years old Nico Calman last year.
An elaborate silver Roman dagger has been painstakingly restored to its original glory after it was unearthed by a teenager on work experience in Germany.
It was believed to be the most remarkable artefact of its kind to have been discovered – at a burial ground in Haltern am See, near Münster.
It is so well preserved that red enamel and glass, as well as silver and brass, handles decorated with ornate patterns of foliage and leaves survived for 2,000 years.
The dagger is believed to have been used by a legionary fighting a Germanic tribe in the 1st century, according to The Times.
An elaborate silver Roman dagger has been painstakingly restored to its original glory after it was unearthed by a teenager on work experience in Germany
Unearthed along with the fascinating decorated dagger were bronze and brass plates, the remnants of a leather belt and a lime-wood sheath and flaxen twine.
The ornate dagger is set to be displayed in Haltern’s Roman history museum in 2022.
When the weapon was dug from the ground, it was completely encased in rust before being restored over the span of nine months to reveal its previous state
Michael Rind, director of archaeology at the local Westphalia-Lippe council, told The Times: ‘This combination of a completely preserved blade, sheath, and belt, together with the important information about precisely where they were found, is without parallel.’
Roman soldiers are said to have carried ornate daggers as a sign of prestige – and Haltern was a large military camp established by troops, according to local media.
Despite archaeological excavations taking place in the German district for 200 years, this discovery is bound to shed new light into Roman activities east of the Rhine.
It was thought that the camp had been abandoned following a severe defeat as up to 20,000 men were wiped out.
In the 1990s, a new burial ground not far from the site of the battle was discovered – with several graves were discovered, including 25 skeletons in a pottery furnace.
One of the World’s Oldest Cities is 8,000 Years Older Than the Pyramids
Aleppo, Syria
Within present-day Syria an ancient city has been built thousands of years before the first pyramid of Egypt was constructed.
The city of Aleppo is considered one of the oldest cities in the world with signs of habitation that date from the last ice age when the settlement began as a small populated area.
Excavations at a site located no more than 15 miles from the center of the ancient city have yielded archeological evidence which clearly shows that the city, as well as its surrounding region, was inhabited for at least 13,000 years.
This sole fact makes the ancient city of Aleppo and its surrounding area one of the oldest continuously occupied cities on the surface of the planet.
Ancient to ancient civilizations, the settlements that would eventually give birth to Aleppo predates even the oldest of Egyptian pyramids. Its original name, like the name of many other ancient cities, remains an enigma since ancient texts originating from the founding of the ancient settlements have never been discovered.
Although its history dates back to a time when history was probably not even reported, the city was mentioned for the first time in clay cuneiform tablets that were crafted some 5000 years ago, which already mentioned the city as a commercial and military power.
This means that the city was already an important center in the region, something that tells us that long before 5,000 years ago, the city was popular among people in the area. Its more central parts were probably inhabited since the 6th millennium BC.
Excavations at Tell as-Sawda and Tell al-Ansari, just south of the old city of Aleppo, show that the area was occupied by Amorites since at least the latter part of the 3rd millennium BC.
An image of the Hadad Temple Inside the Citadel of Aleppo.
This popularity may have been due to its geographical location, situated between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia–precisely at the end of the Silk Road, which passed all the way from central Asia to Mesopotamia.
In other words, the city’s prime location made sure it became one of the more important trading centers in that part of the world. Aleppo appears in the historical record as a prominent city much sooner than Damascus (the capital of present-day Syria), which suggests that by the time Damascus became an important city, Aleppo was way ahead of them. In regards to Damascus, numerous scholars argue it is older than Aleppo, however, evidence of habitation at Damascus can be traced back to around 11,000 years.
This was proven by archaeological excavations at a site called Tell Ramad, not far from the center of the city. Analysis of the archaeological remains suggests habitation in the area can be placed at around 9,000 BC. That’s why it isn’t surprising to learn that there are ancient accounts that suggest how people in ancient times considered Aleppo as the center of the ancient world.
Despite its importance and age, the ancient city of Aleppo has not been studied much by archeologists, partially because the modern city was built on top of the ancient site. Experts estimate that the ancient city of Aleppo comprises an approximate area of around 160 hectares (400 acres; 1.6 km2). The historical record suggests that the ancient city was surrounded within a historic wall of 5 km (3 mi) that was last rebuilt by the Mamlukes.
However, since much of the ancient city has been destroyed, the wall as well has since nearly disappeared. Nonetheless, we know it had nine gates, out of which 5 are–luckily–well preserved. The wall that surrounded the city was in turn circled by a broad, deep ditch, that offered extra protection from potential intruders.
In the Ebla tablets, the ancient city of Aleppo was referred to as Ha-lam. The first record of Aleppo most likely originates from the third millennium BC if the identification of Aleppo as Armi, a city-state closely related to Ebla is correct.
A side view of the citadel of Aleppo.
One of its most famous parts–although not as ancient as the city itself–is the so-called Citadel of Aleppo, a large medieval fortified palace located at the very center of the ancient city. In fact, this structure is considered one of the oldest and largest castles constructed on the surface of the planet.
Evidence of the citadel’s history can be traced back to the 3rd millennium BC. Although the city was conquered by many ancient civilizations, the majority of the citadel’s construction is attributed to the Ayyubid period.
The hill atop which the citadel was built is considered of great importance since it is where there the prophet Abraham is said to have milked his sheep. Researchers estimate that around 30% of the Ancient City of Aleppo has been destroyed in the recent military fights. The Egyptian Pyramids are thought to have arisen during the Third Dynasty reign of Pharaoh Djoser if the historical timeline set out by Egyptologists is correct.
The Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara is widely acknowledged as the earliest colossal stone building in Egypt as well as the earliest large-scale cut stone construction. The pyramid was completed in no more than 19 years, during which the builders not only erected the pyramid, its temples, and surrounding limestone wall but a massive subterranean world with a length of around 5.7 kilometers.
It is noteworthy to mention that by the time Aleppo was established as a settlement, a mysterious group of people built not far from Syria what is considered the oldest temple on the surface of the planet. Predating Stonehenge by around 6,000 years, Göbekli Tepe is located in southeastern Turkey and is thought to have been erected by hunter-gatherers between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago.
The massive pillars at Göbekli Tepe
To date, archeologists have discovered more than 200 pillars at Göbekli Tepe, all of which have been built inside 20 circles. Some of the pillars at Göbekli Tepe weigh more than 10 tons. This fact has led many experts to question whether hunter-gatherers were sophisticated enough to construct an ancient temple complex the site of Göbekli Tepe at the end of the Last Glacial period on Earth. Göbekli Tepe is located around 13 kilometers from the city of Şanlıurfa.
Şanlıurfa, in turn, is located around 230 kilometers from the ancient city of Aleppo. Given the relatively close proximity of the two sites, it suggests that between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago, the wider region was inhabited by people that were much more sophisticated than hunter-gatherers or nomads. All of the above would suggest that some 8,000 years before the Pyramid of Saqqara, people in the region of Aleppo had the ability to erect standing stone structures.
Possible Shrine Dedicated to Romulus Found in Roman Forum
The resting place of the legendary founder of the city, Romulus, could be tombs located under the Roman Forum.
On a Roman Forum, Colosseum Archeological Park Manager Alfonsina Russo said Monday, a hypogeum or underground temple and tomb structure with a tuff sarcophagi connected to what looks like an altar.
Archaeologists are believed to have uncovered an area devoted to the first King of Rome and a rock sarcophagus, measuring 4.6ft, which are believed to date back to the 6th century BC. The Space is believed to be part of a votive area called a heroon devoted to the founder of Rome, Romulus, she said.
The sarcophagus, made out of the same tufa rock that built the Capitol, is around 1.40 meters long and is believed to date back to the sixth century BC, she said.
The find was made next to the Curia-Comitium complex, a few meters away from the famed Lapis Niger, which Romans thought had brought bad luck because it was linked to the death of Romulus, Russo said. She said she would present the discovery to the media on Friday.
“This is an extraordinary discovery,” Russo told reporters on Monday.”The forum never ceases to yield amazing fresh treasures,” she said.
The discovery was made during a dig that “started about a year ago to celebrate and commemorate the discoveries made by famed archaeologist Giacomo Boni at the beginning of the 20th century,” Russo said.
The hypogeum is located below the entrance stairway to the Curia, where Senators met to vote. The new entrance stairs were built in the 1930s by Alfonso Vartoli.
Russo said that scholars believe the altar to have been placed on the spot where ancient Romans believed Romulus was buried.
This is according to a reading of the ancient Roman historian Varo, cited in the poet Horace’s Epodes, the Colosseum Park director told reporters. “It is not an accident,” experts cited by Russo said, “that this underground altar was placed close to the Lapis Niger”.
The excavation and valorisation of this monument to the cult of Romulus and the origins of Rome will be illustrated by Russo and the team of archaeologists and architects who have been involved in the discovery, on Friday 21 February at 11 o’clock in the morning.
A hypogeum or hypogaeum, literally meaning “underground”, from Greek hypo (under) and Gaia (mother earth or goddess of earth) is an underground temple or tomb.
Hypogea will often contain niches for cremated human remains or loculi for buried remains. Occasionally tombs of this type are referred to as built tombs.
Hypogeum can also refer to any antique building or part of building built below ground such as the series of tunnels under the Colosseum which held slaves (particularly enemy captives) and animals while keeping them ready to fight in the gladiatorial games. The animals and slaves could be let up through trapdoors under the sand-covered arena at any time during a fight.
Charred Leftovers Show What Food Australians Ate 65,000 Years Ago
Contaminants of different plant food aged between 65,000 and 53,000 years ago have been discovered in North Australia by researchers.
The remains, which are preserved as pieces of charcoal, were found in debris from ancient cooking hearths at Madjedbebe—a sandstone rock shelter thought to be Australia’s oldest Aboriginal site.
According to a study published in the journal Nature Communications, the scientists, with the help of local Aboriginal elders, were able to identify 10 different plant foods by analyzing the preserved charcoal. These included various fruits and nuts, palm stems and “roots and tubers.”
“We were able to recover small pieces of charcoal from the earliest layer occupation at Madjedbebe. These pieces represent the rubbish from people cooking and sharing meals at Madjedbebe, 65,000 to 53,000 years ago,” Anna Florin, an author of the study from the University of Queensland, Australia, told BBC. “They only preserved through chance.
These specific food scraps came into contact with ancient cooking fires and turned into charcoal. They represent the earliest evidence for the use of plant foods outside of Africa and the Middle East.”
“Identification is done by comparison of the ancient remains to modern reference material under very high-powered microscopy,” Florin said. “The modern reference material was collected on Mirarr Country in western Arnhem Land. Elders and co-authors May Nango and Djaykuk Djandjomerr identified the plants that might have been used in this area 65,000 years ago.”
The authors say the findings demonstrate that Australia’s earliest known human population consumed a range of plant foods, including those that required processing.
“By working with Nango and Djandjomerr, the team was also able to explain how the plants were likely used at Madjedbebe,” Florin said in a statement. “Many of these plant foods required processing to make them edible and this evidence was complemented by grinding stone technology also used during the early occupation at the site.”
“The First Australians had a great deal of botanical knowledge and this was one of the things that allowed them to adapt to and thrive in this new environment,” she said. “They were able to guarantee access to carbohydrates, fat and even protein by applying this knowledge, as well as technological innovation and labor, to the gathering and processing of Australian plant foods.”
The researchers say that the latest finds predate existing evidence for such practices in Sahul—an ancient continent which once comprised of Australia, New Guinea, Tasmania and the Indonesian island of Seram—by more than 20,000 years.
Some experts have suggested that the early movements of humans through the islands of Southeast Asia into Sahul were facilitated by access to high-calorie foods.
The Madjedbebe sandstone rock shelter.
“These results suggest that dietary breadth underpinned the success of early modern human populations in this region, with the expenditure of labor on the processing of plants guaranteeing reliable access to nutrients in new environments,” the authors wrote in the study.
“It was once thought that humans moved quickly and easily through Island Southeast Asia, eating a buffet of easy-to-catch marine resources,” Florin told BBC. “However, as this and other archaeological evidence is beginning to show, human populations in this region were deploying skillful foraging strategies to survive and move into new environments. The voyage of early modern humans through Island Southeast Asia and into Australia and New Guinea is one of the great journeys in human history.”
The ancient plant foods are just one of several significant discoveries that have been made at Madjedbebe. For example, the site contains evidence of the earliest grindstone technology outside of Africa and the first recorded use of reflective pigments anywhere in the world. Furthermore, the site is significant because it has pushed back the known timing of human movement into Australia.
“Madjedbebe continues to provide startling insights into the complex and dynamic lifestyle of the earliest Australian Aboriginal people,” Chris Clarkson, another author of the study from the University of Queensland, said in a statement.
Discover the Breathtaking Opal Gemstone Called ‘Rainbow Tree’ from Australia
Opal stones are always incredible to see, and this one is no exception.
This is a Boulder Opal that’s known as the ‘Rainbow Tree’ From Queensland, Australia and it’s pretty amazing. It’s so astounding to witness this natural piece of crystal, created from the Earth.
Most crystals, like this opal, are formed by the molecules in a liquid that hardens as they cool down. Gemstones like diamonds, rubies, and emeralds, are made from cooling magma that cools down slowly and then hardens.
We all remember that diamonds are highly sought after and this is mainly because they are harder to source than other more common stones.
Opal stones are also quite pricey, although, not as pricey as the rare types of diamonds out there. The price of an opal depends on what type of opal it is, as well as the quality and the size.
White opal isn’t going to be too expensive, but a darker opal will be more expensive since it can be laborious to find. Opal is mainly found in Australia in Lightning Ridge as well as in Coober Pedy, Mintabie, and Andamooka.
This beautiful crystal is made up of silicon dioxide and water mixed together, and as the water flows over sandstone, it ends up gathering silica and broken down fossils.
Then, the water evaporates and what’s left is pure silica which creates opal. Opal ends up having a very kaleidoscopic array of different colors and can look at the northern lights or even like the ocean in some cases.
Opal can be used in jewelry and some of the finest pieces are used in rings, earrings, pendants and more.
These beautiful iridescent stones are also used in natural therapies. The energy of opal stones can help to create harmony and balance in our own personal energy systems and meridians.
In massage therapy or reiki, crystals like opal can be placed around or on a person to enhance and balance their energy. People also collect crystals like opal to add to their home environments to bring the energy of the stone into their home.
Opal has been said to have an energy that can help those who are dealing with infections, fevers, PMS, and birthing. By holding the crystal, you may feel these subtle energies as you hold it, which can help you draw on your own strength.
Opal has also been appreciated as it increases creativity and self-expression, as well as implementing self-worth and self-esteem. Opal is also the birthstone for October and can be given as a gift to celebrate the 14th year of marriage. The word opal comes from the Sanskrit word Upala, which means precious stone.
Also, the Greeks called it Opallios, which means “to perceive a change of colour” and as you can tell by looking at it, opal does change colour in the light which is one of it’s best features and which is why people love it so much.
Holding opal stones up to the sun or light and moving the stone back and forth with unfold so many brilliant colours that will amaze you. Traditionally Greek people thought that opal would give a person foresight and better insight.
During the medieval ages, women with lighter hair would wear opal to prevent themselves from losing their hair and colour. Many people say that they sleep better when they have a crystal such as an opal under their pillow and that they have fewer bad dreams.
It never hurts to try it out, even on yourself.
If you don’t already have a love for crystals, you may just develop one and desire to start collecting some crystals of your own to treasure and enjoy.
A Stunning Neanderthal Skeleton Was Just Unearthed at a Famous Burial Site
A skeleton uncovered in an Iraqi cave already famous for fossils of these extinct cousins of Neanderthal species is providing fresh evidence that they buried their dead – and intriguing clues that flowers may have been used in such rituals.
The remains, consisting of a crushed but complete skull, upper thorax, and both hands, were recently unearthed at the Shanidar Cave site 500 miles north of Baghdad.
Scientists said on Tuesday they had discovered in Shanidar Cave in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq the well-preserved upper body skeleton of an adult Neanderthal who lived about 70,000 years ago. The individual – dubbed Shanidar Z – was perhaps in his or her 40s or 50s. The sex was undetermined.
On Tuesday scientists discovered in Shanidar Cave in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of northern Iraq the well-preserved upper body skeleton of an adult Neanderthal who lived about 70,000 years ago. The individual – dubbed Shanidar Z – was perhaps in his or her 40s or 50s. The sex was undetermined.
The cave was a pivotal site for mid-20th century archaeology. Remains of 10 Neanderthals – seven adults and three infants – were dug up there six decades ago, offering insight into the physical characteristics, behavior, and diet of this species.
Clusters of flower pollen were found at that time in soil samples associated with one of the skeletons, a discovery that prompted scientists involved in that research to propose that Neanderthals buried their dead and conducted funerary rites with flowers.
That hypothesis helped change the prevailing popular view at the time of Neanderthals as dimwitted and brutish, a notion increasingly discredited by new discoveries. Critics cast doubt, however, on the “flower burial,” arguing the pollen could have been modern contamination from people working and living in the cave or from burrowing rodents or insects.
But Shanidar Z’s bones, which appear to be the top half of a partial skeleton unearthed in 1960, were found in sediment containing ancient pollen and other mineralized plant remains, reviving the possibility of flower burials. The material is being examined to determine its age and the plants represented.
“So from initially being a skeptic based on many of the other published critiques of the flower-burial evidence, I am coming round to think this scenario is much more plausible and I am excited to see the full results of our new analyses,” said University of Cambridge osteologist and paleoanthropologist Emma Pomeroy, lead author of the research published in the journal Antiquity.
Scholars have argued for years about whether Neanderthals buried their dead with mortuary rituals much as our species does, part of the larger debate over their levels of cognitive sophistication.
Shanidar Z’s bones are believed to be the top half of a partial skeleton unearthed in 1960.
“What is key here is the intentionality behind the burial. You might bury a body for purely practical reasons, in order to avoid attracting dangerous scavengers and/or to reduce the smell. But when this goes beyond practical elements it is important because that indicates more complex, symbolic and abstract thinking, compassion and care for the dead, and perhaps feelings of mourning and loss,” Pomeroy said.
Shanidar Z appears to have been deliberately placed in an intentionally dug depression cut into the subsoil and part of a cluster of four individuals.
“Whether the Neanderthal group of dead placed around 70,000 years ago in the cave were a few years, a few decades or centuries – or even millennia – apart, it seems clear that Shanidar was a special place, with bodies being placed just in one part of a large cave,” said University of Cambridge archeologist and study co-author Graeme Barker.
Neanderthals – more robustly built than Homo sapiens and with larger brows – inhabited Eurasia from the Atlantic coast to the Ural Mountains from about 400,000 years ago until a bit after 40,000 years ago, disappearing after our species established itself in the region.
The two species interbred, with modern non-African human populations bearing residual Neanderthal DNA.
Shanidar Z was found to be reclining on his or her back, with the left arm tucked under the head and the right arm bent and sticking out to the side.
Bronze Age Fashion – The “Egtved Girl” Showed Remarkably Modern Taste
The well-preserved Egtved Girl was one of the most well-known burials of the Danish Bronze Age found in 1921. Her woolen clothing, hair, and nails were perfectly preserved, but all her bones were missing.
Scientists who studied the remains of the ancient teenager and discovered surprisingly that the girl of Egtved was not from Denmark and had traveled great distances before her death.
A study published in the journal Nature details the results of modern tests done by scientists. Strontium isotope analysis on Egtved Girl’s molar, hair, and fingernails, combined with examination of her distinctive woolen clothing, have revealed she was born and raised hundreds of miles from her burial site in Egtved, in modern Denmark. Findings show she likely came from The Black Forest of southwest Germany, and she traveled between the two locations via ship frequently in the last two years of her life.
According to LiveScience, the Egtved Girl’s oak coffin was uncovered in 1921 from a Bronze Age archaeological site near Egtved, Denmark. The grave was found within a burial mound of dense peat bog and has been dated to 1370 BC.
Inside the coffin, the 16 to the 18-year-old girl was buried. She is believed to have been of high status. The teenager had been laid on an ox hide and covered by a rough woolen blanket.
The clothing is worn by the Bronze Age teenager, Egtved Girl.
The contours of where her dead body had lain are still visible, pressed into the ox hide beneath her. She was of slim build, with mid-length blonde hair, and her clothing—a short string skirt and small, midriff-baring, sleeved top—caused a sensation when revealed in the 20s. Around her waist, she had worn a large, spiked bronze disc decorated with spirals. Even now people recreate the stylish Bronze Age fashion.
Other grave goods included bronze pins, a sewing awl, and a hair net. Local flowers decorated the top of the coffin (indicating a summertime burial), as did a small bucket of beer made of honey, wheat, and cowberries.
The Egtved Girl’s coffin during excavations in 1921.
Another body was found with Egtved Girl in her coffin. Ashes and bones comprised the cremated remains of a small child recovered near Egtved Girl’s head. The identity of the child, who was about five or six years old when he or she died, is not known. No DNA could be recovered from either set of remains, so their relationship is a mystery.
Scientists found that the soil composition of the grave worked as a microclimate, preserving some items and destroying others. Rainwater seeped into the hollowed-out, oak-trunk coffin, but it was starved of oxygen. These conditions decayed the bones completely away but left behind excellently-preserved fingernails, hair, scalp, a small part of her brain, and clothing.
Senior researcher Karin Margarita Frei, from the National Museum of Denmark and Centre for Textile Research at the University of Copenhagen analyzed the Bronze Age girls’ remains, according to Science Daily.
Hair and clothing found in the coffin of the Egtved Girl.
Analysis of the high-status teenager’s remains, as well as the cremated bones of the young child, showed that the pair had spent much of their lives in a distant land, thought to be Schwarzwald (the Black Forest) in Germany.
“If we consider the last two years of the girl’s life, we can see that, 13 to 15 months before her death, she stayed in a place with a strontium isotope signature very similar to the one that characterizes the area where she was born. Then she moved to an area that may well have been Jutland.
After a period of c. 9 to 10 months there, she went back to the region she originally came from and stayed there for four to six months before she traveled to her final resting place, Egtved. Neither her hair nor her thumb nail contains strontium isotopic signatures which indicates that she returned to Scandinavia until very shortly before she died.
As an area’s strontium isotopic signature is only detectable in human hair and nails after a month, she must have come to ‘Denmark’ and ‘Egtved’ about a month before she passed away,” Karin Margarita Frei told Science Daily.
The exceptionally-preserved hair of the Egtved Girl. Her burial dates to 1370 BC.
This movement makes sense to researchers. Kristian Kristiansen of the University of Gothenburg told Science Daily, “In Bronze Age Western Europe, Southern Germany and Denmark were the two dominant centers of power, very similar to kingdoms. We find many direct connections between the two in the archaeological evidence, and my guess is that the Egtved Girl was a Southern German girl who was given in marriage to a man in Jutland so as to forge an alliance between two powerful families.”
The bronze belt disc found on Egtved Girl may have come to the area via the busy trade routes of the day. The spiral decorations are said to be related to a Nordic solar cult, and the bronze is thought to have originated somewhere in the Alps. Further, the wool that made up her clothing came from sheep outside of Denmark. The ‘fashionable’ Egtved Girl and her mysterious tiny companion have captivated people since their discovery in 1921. Modern research brings the life and death of the prehistoric girl to light in amazing detail and gives us a better understanding of early European people.
But she is not the only teenage girl found in Denmark that has created a stir in the last few years. In 2017, it was announced that another famous Bronze Age burial of a teenage girl, this time found in Jutland, Denmark was also a traveler from faraway lands. Strontium analysis of the 16- to 18-year-old Skrydstrup woman suggests she originally came from Germany, the Czech Republic, France, or Sweden.
As archaeologist Karin Frei of the National Museum of Denmark told ScienceNordic, “We can’t say with 100 percent certainty where she [the Skrydstrup woman] came from, and we may never be able to, but she definitely wasn’t Danish. It gives us so many new perspectives. Now we know that Egtved Girl was not an isolated case.” These studies show that early European mobility was more dynamic than previously believed; Bronze Age people were trading and traveling long distances, quickly.
Study Suggests New Dates for Spread of Farming Across Eurasia
Many people are familiar with the ancient Silk Road but fewer know that the exchange of items, ideas, technology, and human genes through the mountain valleys of Central Asia started almost three millennia before organized trade networks formed.
These pre-Silk Road exchange routes played an important role in shaping human cultural developments across Europe and Asia and facilitated the dispersal of technologies such as horse breeding and metal smelting into East Asia.
One of the most impactful effects of this process of ancient cultural dispersal was the westward spread of northeast Asian crops and the eastward spread of southwest Asian crops. However, until the past few years, a lack of archaeobotanical studies in Central Asia left a dearth of data relating to when and how this process occurred.
Dr. Xinying Zhou and his team from the IVPP in Beijing excavated the Tangtian Cave site during the summer of 2016
This new study, led by scientists from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, provides details of recently recovered ancient grains from the far northern regions of Inner Asia.
Radiocarbon dating shows that the grains include the oldest examples of wheat and barley ever recovered this far north in Asia, pushing back the dates for early farming in the region by at least a millennium.
These are also the earliest domesticated plants reported from the northern half of Central Asia, the core of the ancient exchange corridor. This study pulls together sedimentary pollen and ancient wood charcoal data with archaeobotanical remains from the Tiangtian archaeological site in the Chinese Altai Mountains to reveal how humans cultivated crops at such northern latitudes.
This study illustrates how adaptable ancient crop plants were to new ecological constraints and how human cultural practices allowed people to survive in unpredictable environments.
The ancient relatives of wheat and barley plants evolved to grow in the warm and dry climate of the eastern Mediterranean and southwest Asia. However, this study illustrates that ancient peoples were cultivating these grasses over five and a half thousand kilometers to the northeast of where they originally evolved to grow.
In this study, Dr. Xinying Zhou and his colleagues integrate paleoenvironmental proxies to determine how extreme the ecology was around the archaeological cave site of Tangtian more than five millennia ago, at the time of its occupation.
The site is located high in the Altai Mountains on a cold, dry landscape today; however, the study shows that the ecological setting around the site was slightly warmer and more humid at the time when people lived in and around this cave.
The slightly warmer regional conditions were likely the result of shifting air masses bringing warmer, wetter air from the south. In addition to early farmers using a specific regional climate pocket to grow crops in North Asia, the analysis showed that the crops they grew evolved to survive in such northern regions.
The results of this study provide scholars with evidence for when certain evolutionary changes in these grasses occurred, including changes in the programed reliance of day length, which signals to the plant when to flower, and greater resistance to cold climates.
The ancient dispersal of crops across Inner Asia has received a lot of attention from biologists and archaeologists in recent years; as Dr. Spengler, one of the study’s lead authors, discusses in his recent book Fruit from the Sands, these ancient exchange routes shaped the course of human history.
The mingling of crops originating from opposite ends of Asia resulted in the crop-rotation cycles that fueled demographic growth and led to the imperial formation. East Asian millets would become one of the most important crops in ancient Europe and wheat would become one of the most important crops in East Asia by the Han Dynasty. While the long tradition of rice cultivation in East Asia made rice a staple of the Asian kitchen, Chinese cuisine would be unrecognizable without wheat-based food items like steamed buns, dumplings, and noodles.
The discovery that these plants dispersed across Eurasia earlier than previously understood will have lasting impacts on the study of cultivation and labor practices in ancient Eurasia, as well as the history of cultural contact and shifts in culinary systems throughout time.
These new discoveries provide a reason to question these views and seem to suggest that mixed small-scale human populations made major contributions to world history through migration and cultural and technological exchange.
“This study not only presents the earliest dates for domesticated grains in far North Asia,” says Professor Xiaoqiang Li, director of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, “it represents the earliest beginning of a trans-Eurasian exchange that would eventually develop into the great Silk Road”.
Dr. Xinying Zhou, who headed the study and directs a research team at the IVPP in Beijing, emphasizes that “this discovery is a testament to human ingenuity and the amazing coevolutionary bond between people and the plants that they maintain in their cultivated fields.”
