Beyond bones & stones
Two new papers published in Nature, document the findings from the Chiquihuite Cave site in central Mexico. Artifacts from the site ere first discovered in 2010, but there were difficulties traveling to and from the site. For that reason, archaeologists lived for 80 days between '16 and '17. They excavated over 1,900 stone tools. The... Continue Reading →
In Mexico's Tabasco state is the ancient Maya Aquada Fenix site. Using aerial remote-sensing, also known as LIDAR, University of Arizona archaeologist Takeshi Inomata and his team, discovered the largest and oldest-known structure built by the ancient Maya civilization here - a colossal rectangular elevated platform built between 1,000 and 800 BC. The structure measures... Continue Reading →
Easter Island or Rapa Nui is famous for moai, giant monumental statues, which were built approx. 800 years ago by early inhabitants of the island. Many debate on the cultural significance of these monuments. Many also debate how a Stone Age culture managed not only carve but transport these 92 ton statues onto ahu platforms.... Continue Reading →
Without a doubt, the Near East has been a linguistic, cultural and religious crossroad for many thousands of years. This area has had many different rulers, including the Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Christian European Crusaders, Arabs, and Ottomans. Many of these groups instilled everlasting cultural changes on the local population, including changes to... Continue Reading →
Rice is the main food source for about half the population of the Earth, and it is arguably one of the most important foods for human beings. The origins of rice, as well as it spread is a key point of study for many biologists and archaeologists. With advances in archaeobotany and molecular biology, we... Continue Reading →
Russian archaeologists in 1976 excavating the Ust’-Kyakhta-3 site on the banks of the Selenga River A. P. Okladnikov During the 1970's, a site called Ust-Kyakhta found between the Mongolian borders and the southern banks of the Lake Baikal, was excavated. The Russian team unearthed many stone and bone tools as well as ceramics, and reindeer... Continue Reading →
Theis Jensen, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Copenhagen, and colleagues, published a report in Nature Communications about a the finding of a South Danish Neolithic woman’s complete genome and oral microbiome from a piece of birch tar she chewed. This isn't the first time this was line of evidence was used, nor the oldest,... Continue Reading →
Archaeologist Maxime Aubert, from Griffith University and his colleagues have published, in Nature, the discovery of the oldest depicted hunting story. The cave painting is thought to be 43,900 years old. It was made by prehistoric people on the island of Sulawesi. The painting is about 4.5 meter or 14.8 feet in length and about... Continue Reading →
Since 2012, Jeremy Duveau of France's National Museum of Natural History and his colleagues have been excavating the Le Rozel site in Normandy. They have diligently unearthed a total of 257 Neanderthal footprints, along with eight handprints, from a layer of fine, dark sand deposited approximately 80,000 years ago. They published their work in PNAS.... Continue Reading →
One of my interests in the peopling of the Americas are the Easter Island maoi statues made by the Rapanui people. I've posted before about how they were moved. As if the moai themselves weren't impressive enough, a new paper in the Journal of Archaeological Science looks at how this preindustrial society put 13-ton hats or... Continue Reading →
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