Prehistoric Ostrich Egg Unravels Clues to Human Life 33,000 Years Ago

A team of scientists have discovered 33,000-year-old ostrich egg beads in the Lesotho Highlands, about a 1,000 kilometers away from where ostriches roamed. This establishes hitherto unknown prehistoric cultural exchange networks.

About 33,000 years ago, an ostrich in southern Africa’s Karoo Desert had its lunch of sweet grasses and flowers, then it laid an egg. Later that same night, the egg was lifted by a hunter-gatherer and after it was eaten, pieces of shell were drilled with holes and threaded onto an animal sinew cord and worn as a decorative string of beads. But this particular item of ancient jewelry travelled far to the east of where it was crafted and became treasured by a distant hunter-gatherer group living high in the eastern mountains.

Ostrich eggshell beads have been used to cement relationships in Africa for more than 30,000 years.

(John Klausmeyer, Yuchao Zhao & Brian Stewart / University of Michigan )

Pushing Back Prehistoric Exchanges

Now, 33,000 years after that ostrich egg was laid, stolen, crafted and exchanged, a University of Michigan study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science by paleolithic archaeologist Brian Stewart and colleagues, details the discovery of the beads in what is now Lesotho. Stewart is assistant professor of anthropology and assistant curator of the U-M Museum of Anthropological Archaeology, and his new paper provides evidence not only for “where” these beads were made, but also for “how long” hunter-gatherers used such things as a kind of “social currency.

It was by measuring the atomic structure of the beads that details of the exchanging of these ornaments, over such long distances, were shown to have spanned much deeper into prehistory than previously thought. In the new study, which is available to read on PNAS, Stewart said “humans are just outlandishly social animals, and that goes back to these deep forces that selected for maximizing information, information that would have been useful for living in a hunter-gatherer society 30,000 years ago and earlier.”

Archaeologists work at rock shelters at Sehonghong and Melikane in southern Africa.

(Brian Stewart / University of Michigan )

A Small Territory at a High Altitude 

Lesotho is a small, high-altitude country consisting of a matrix of rivers cutting across dramatic mountain ranges, including the 3,482m (11,424 feet)-high peak of Thabana Ntlenyana. This landlocked kingdom is encircled by South Africa , and it has the highest average elevation in the African continent. Stewart said it would have been “a formidable place for hunter-gatherers to live.” However, the quantities of fresh water coursing through the country and its “belts of resources, stratified by the region’s elevation,” served as protection against climate and environmental changes for those who hunted there from as early “as 85,000 years ago,” according to the study.

Ostrich eggshell beads, and the jewelry items made from them, according to Stewart, are “ Stone Age versions of Facebook or Twitter likes,” in that they affirm connections with exchange partners and alert other groups to the status of those relationships. Anthropologists know that contemporary hunter-gatherers used ostrich eggshell beads as offerings to establish and cement relationships with other groups, and in Lesotho, archaeologists have found small ornaments made of ostrich eggshell, but no evidence exists of those ornaments having been made there.

Archaeologists work at rock shelters at Sehonghong and Melikane in southern Africa.

(Brian Stewart / University of Michigan )

Tracking the Ostrich Beads Origins

Finding eggshell beads “without” any evidence of production, the researchers ‘assumed’ that they had got to Lesotho through ancient exchange networks and testing their ‘suspicions’, the beads were examined using strontium isotope analysis. What this means is that the eggshell composition was analyzed to determine what and where the creature had been eating.

When animals graze strontium isotopes are absorbed into their tissues, and in this case in an eggshell, and Lesotho is situated in the Karoo Supergroup, which was created by relatively recent volcanic eruptions that formed the Lesotho Highlands. The researchers measured how much strontium was available in vegetation and soil samples, as well as rodent tooth enamel samples from museum specimens collected from across Lesotho and surrounding areas. They discovered that nearly 80% of the beads “could not” have originated from ostriches living near the highlands where the beads were found.

Ostrich eggshell beads, and the jewelry items made from them, according to Stewart, are “ Stone Age versions of Facebook or Twitter likes,” in that they affirm connections with exchange partners and alert other groups to the status of those relationships. Anthropologists know that contemporary hunter-gatherers used ostrich eggshell beads as offerings to establish and cement relationships with other groups, and in Lesotho, archaeologists have found small ornaments made of ostrich eggshell, but no evidence exists of those ornaments having been made there.

Archaeologists work at rock shelters at Sehonghong and Melikane in southern Africa.

(Brian Stewart / University of Michigan )

Tracking the Ostrich Beads Origins

Finding eggshell beads “without” any evidence of production, the researchers ‘assumed’ that they had got to Lesotho through ancient exchange networks and testing their ‘suspicions’, the beads were examined using strontium isotope analysis. What this means is that the eggshell composition was analyzed to determine what and where the creature had been eating.

When animals graze strontium isotopes are absorbed into their tissues, and in this case in an eggshell, and Lesotho is situated in the Karoo Supergroup, which was created by relatively recent volcanic eruptions that formed the Lesotho Highlands. The researchers measured how much strontium was available in vegetation and soil samples, as well as rodent tooth enamel samples from museum specimens collected from across Lesotho and surrounding areas. They discovered that nearly 80% of the beads “could not” have originated from ostriches living near the highlands where the beads were found.

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

19-03-2020 om 01:11 geschreven door peter  

Huge 1,500-Year-Old Arrowhead Released From Melting Glacier

Archaeologists in Norway have uncovered a 1,500-year-old iron arrowhead in a melting glacier.

The team of investigators inspecting Jotunheimen, a massive melting Norwegian glacier, have so far found over 2000 relics and now an arrowhead dating back to the Germanic Iron Age. Measuring seven inches long and weighing little over an ounce ‘ Climate Change ’ is being held responsible for revealing the ancient Viking's missed shot that had been embedded in a glacier for 1,500 years.

An Ancient Landscape of Unspeakable Beauty

The ancient Germanic Iron Age arrowhead was forged in iron and was discovered with its arrow shaft, and even a feather from its flight, locked in a glacier in southern Norway. The team of scientists noted that climate change has made its way to the Jotunheimen glacier and the warmer air temperature is causing the ice to melt which in turn freed the ancient artifacts.

According to a report in GlacierHub.org, anthropologist Shoshi Parks, said three national parks converge in this region of central Norway, but “Jotunheimen is arguably the most spectacular, having 250 peaks over 1,900 meters high [one mile]” including Galdhøpiggen and Glittertind which are the two tallest in northern Europe. And furthermore, in a Daily Mail article the archaeologist descries the region as having “alpine lakes and shimmering turquoise glaciers, chequering an ancient landscape of unspeakable beauty.”

Climate Change Can ‘Reverse’ Archaeology

A Feb 2019 article in Norway Today said 2018 was a very bad year for the Norwegian glaciers which retreated “33 meters on average in the course of last year alone,” which according to  heat records  represented “the greatest decline since the measurements began.” With many of the nation’s glaciers experiencing dramatic melting over the past few years experts say this is being accelerated by climate change which is causing archaeologists to uncover ice-locked relics, but conversely, this situation will also destroy any artifacts that are not discovered in time.

Last year, the archaeological team excavating Jotunheimen found an ancient snowshoe for horses, which is estimated to date back to the Viking Age or the Medieval Period, and more than 2,000 artifacts have been found at the glaciers with the oldest being around 6,000 years old. The artifacts include man-made items like hunting tools, textiles, leather and clothing, as well as zoological remains like antlers, bones, and dung. But Lars Pilø, who is part of the Glacier Archaeology Program told CNN that “rapid melting causes bits and pieces of human history to “melt out in reverse time order.”

• Global Warming Reveals Amazing Glacier Artifacts from Switzerland’s Ancient Past
• The Long Ago Person: Tracking the Canadian Ice Man
• 2,000-year-old Warrior Armor Made of Reindeer Antlers Found on the Arctic Circle

Jotunheimen National Park.

( Public Domain )

But The Arctic Is Also Warming

According to an article in Smithsonian Magazine Norway is not the only place where climate change is causing archaeological artifacts to emerge from ice, as Marissa Fessenden wrote for smithsonian.com in 2015, “bodies of soldiers lost during World War I have emerged from the Alps and Incan mummies have emerged from glaciers in the Andes.” National Geographic say melting permafrost in southwest Alaska has released “2,500 artifacts, including woven baskets and wooden masks” and while there are countless negative impacts of the changing climate, the recovery of these artifacts “could be an unexpected positive.”

Jørgen Hollesen, a researcher at the National Museum of Denmark, told Glacier Hub that melting ice is threatening archaeological artifacts locked in glaciers and that climate change is presenting different problems in the Arctic Circle. A 2018  study, coauthored by Hollesen, found there were around “180,000 registered archaeological sites in the Arctic” dating from the Stone Age to the medieval and more recent but there are also “settlements, cemeteries, churches and fishing villages of Norse, European, Inuit and Sami people .”

Climate-change related events are destroying a wide range of cultural sites with the resultant coastal erosion, landslides and melting permafrost and sea ice permits fierce waves and storms direct access to coastlines. What seems to be rising, or melting, from all this, is that our uncertain climate ‘future’ may inadvertently help archaeologists better understand our ‘past’.

• Top image: Arrowhead recently found at Jotunheimen.   Source: Secrets of the Ice

By Ashley Cowie

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

19-03-2020 om 00:37 geschreven door peter  

17-03-2020 om 23:33 geschreven door peter  

The ring of skulls, skeletons, tusks and other bones was too large for a roof, scientists say, so what was it for?

By Nicholas St. Fleur

Ice Age hunter-gatherers, foraging the bone-chilling, unforgiving steppes of what today is Russia, somehow completed a remarkable construction project: a 40-foot-wide, circular structure made from the skulls, skeletons and tusks of more than 60 woolly mammoths. The reason remains a mystery to archaeologists.

“The sheer number of bones that our Paleolithic ancestors had sourced from somewhere and brought to this particular location to build this monument is really quite staggering,” said Alexander Pryor, an archaeologist at the University of Exeter in England. “It does boggle my mind.”

Alexander Dudin, a researcher from the Kostenki Museum-Preserve, and a team of scientists began excavating the 25,000-year-old mammoth-bone circle in 2014 at a site called Kostenki 11, which is 300 miles south of Moscow. It is the third structure uncovered at the site. The discovery was published Monday in the journal Antiquity.

Archaeologists have unearthed about 70 mammoth-bone structures across Eastern Europe. But this one is the oldest on the Russian plain thought to be made by modern humans. Most of the previously identified structures were small, leading researchers to conclude they were most likely used as winter dwellings on a nearly treeless landscape.

But the researchers said this circle was too large for a roof, which might suggest it was used for a different purpose.

“There are more than 60 mammoths in this one structure” said David Beresford-Jones, an environmental archaeologist at the University of Cambridge and an author on the paper. He added, “It doesn’t make much sense, really, as a house.”

The team suggested that the hunter-gatherers instead may have butchered massive mammoth carcasses at the site and then stored the meat and fat in nearby permafrost as if in an ancient refrigerator.

Dr. Pryor arrived at Kostenki 11 in 2015 and quickly went shoeless, tiptoeing so that he wouldn’t crush any of the hundreds of mammoth bones scattered around the site. The ring, which also included ribs, jaws and leg bones, had probably been piled 20 inches high before collapsing thousands of years ago, he said.

The team collected sediment samples from inside the bone circle and from three large pits located outside.

Through further processing, they identified more than 400 charcoal pieces, evidence of wood-burning. The charcoal came from conifers such as spruce, larch and pine, suggesting that trees still grew in the harsh, frozen environment. They also radiocarbon-dated the charcoal, which further supported that the site was about 25,000 years old.

They also found burned mammoth bones, which indicated that the Paleolithic people were probably starting fires with wood and then using the beasts’ greasy bones to feed the flames. Bone-fueled fires burn brighter than wood fires, but spread less warmth.

“You won’t produce a nice good fire for roasting your mammoth meat on,” Dr. Beresford-Jones said. But the flames would have allowed the hunter-gatherers to work through the night to hastily strip meat off mammoth bones before hungry wolves and foxes arrived to try to seize the haul.

The team also uncovered plant material similar to what is seen in modern parsnips, carrots and potatoes. This suggested that the Paleolithic people may have supplemented their mammoth meals with vegetable side dishes.

Mietje Germonpré, an archaeozoologist at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences in Brussels, and who was not involved in the study, called the paper a “truly unique discovery,” and said its findings were sound.

Paul Pettitt, an archaeologist at Durham University in England, applauded the team for the methods they used to recover ancient charcoal from the dirt. But he said it could not be ruled out that the structure might have been used as a cozy home during the long winters, which could reach minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit.

The team acknowledged that they did not fully solve the mystery of how the mammoth-bone circle was used. They still do not know whether the hunter-gatherers killed or scavenged the beasts, how long the location was used or if it held any ritualistic importance.

“These woolly-mammoth circular structures are really enigmatic, but they are hugely impressive,” Dr. Pryor said. “They speak to a time when our human ancestors were battling against the coldest and harshest and most difficult point of the last glacial cycle in Europe.”

Nicholas St. Fleur is a science reporter who writes about archaeology, paleontology, space and other topics. He joined The Times in 2015. Before that, he was an assistant editor at The Atlantic. @scifleur • Facebook

{ https://www.nytimes.com/ }

17-03-2020 om 22:33 geschreven door peter  

The Dead Sea Scrolls, the first bundles of which were discovered in 1946 in the Qumran Caves in the Judaean Desert on the northern shore of the Dead Sea, date back to the 3rd century BCE and are believed to be some of the oldest known surviving manuscripts of books in the Hebrew Bible. Are they? Sixteen fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls, currently in the possession of the Museum of the Bible in Washington, DC, were recently studied by art forgery experts and … get ready to be disappointed … were identified as excellent fakes. What does this mean for the Hebrew Bible?

“The Museum of the Bible is trying to be as transparent as possible. We’re victims. We’re victims of misrepresentation, we’re victims of fraud.”

If this story sounds familiar, it was just last year that of the Museum of the Bible – a non-sectarian museum in theory – was informed that six of its Dead Sea Scrolls fragments were forgeries. The collection was donated to the museum by founder and CEO Of Hobby Lobby Steve Green, who refuses to say where he obtained them nor how much he paid, but it’s estimated to be millions. Now it seems that even if Green kept the receipts, he admitted to the National Geographic that he was duped by unscrupulous sellers on his entire collection of scroll pieces.

“After an exhaustive review of all the imaging and scientific analysis results, it is evident that none of the textual fragments in Museum of the Bible’s Dead Sea Scroll collection are authentic. Moreover, each exhibits characteristics that suggest they are deliberate forgeries created in the twentieth century with the intent to mimic authentic Dead Sea Scroll fragments.”

Trust me.

At a recent conference in Washington, Colette Loll, founder and director of Art Fraud Insights, released a 200-page report on an investigation of the Green family’s scrolls. The report shows that the museum’s fragments were leather hide parchment, which may have come from ancient Roman shoes of the era. They were coated with a shiny substance, possibly glue, that came from one source, indicating all of these forgeries were handled by the same forger – even though the Green family says they came from four different sellers. This was one slick forger … the fragments were coated with minerals from the Dead Sea caves area.

While these scroll fragments fooled a number of so-called experts, CNN reports that the real ones used 3D microscopes, infrared spectroscopy and “energy dispersive X-ray analysis” and found some pretty glaring errors. Perhaps the biggest was discovered by labs in Germany which determined that the ink was recent and lettering was applied after the fake creases and tears were made to the leather.

Does this mean all of the estimated 100,000 Dead Sea scroll fragments may be fakes? Fortunately, most of those are in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem and those have undergone intense scrutiny for years to authenticate them. It’s the fragments showing up in black markets and on eBay that should be questioned.

Hey, you … look at this.

It’s too bad these forgers don’t actually read the documents they’re copying … especially the parts about stealing and bearing false witness. And those who try to own these antiquities for themselves should remember the part about coveting their neighbor’s goods. When it comes to ancient historical artifacts, religious or otherwise, we’re ALL neighbors.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

16-03-2020 om 22:17 geschreven door peter  

While many sports use inflated balls that trace back to kicking or throwing inflated animal bladders, a game involving a hard rubber ball predates them all because rubber was only grown in Mexico and central America. That game carries the generic name “ballgame” and most people know about it because artwork shows the games were played in the nude and the losers may have been sacrificed – depictions used by European invaders to depict Mesoamericans ad brutal savages to be conquered and educated. As always, the uncovering of new evidence changes things and newly-discovered archeological finds show that Mesoamericans were playing their ballgames as early as 1443 BCE and the game itself was more ‘hip’ that once thought.

“We challenge the lowland paradigm by providing evidence that the earliest highland ballcourt dates to the Early Formative, nearly a millennium earlier than any previous highland architectural data and just over two centuries after the Paso de la Amada court. We contribute two types of ballgame data recently excavated at Etlatongo: remains of two formal superimposed architectural ballcourts and associated ballplayer ceramic figurines.”

A new study published in the journal Science Advances challenges the idea that organized ballgames with rubber balls were developed and played almost exclusively in coastal and lowland areas of Mexico and Central America. Excavations done from 2015 to 2017 by the Formative Etlatongo Project (FEP) in the Nochixtlán Valley of the Mixteca Alta, Oaxaca, Mexico, uncovered a ballcourt dating to 1374 BCE – just 200 years after the oldest known coastal court and centuries before other highland courts.

Athletes hit a rubber ball with their hips in a version of Mesoamerica’s ballgame.

(WIKIMEDIA COMMONS, CHRISTOPH WEIDITZ, GERMANISCHES NATIONALMUSEUM NÜRNBERG)

Even more interesting, figurines of players showed them wearing thick protective belts around their hips, which means they were playing a rare form of ballgame where competitors moved the ball forward and around by bouncing it off of their hips, with walls around the court allowing for bounces and rebounds similar to today’s hockey. The courts were long and narrow, which might make the game resemble a ‘hip’ version of handball.

Finally, there were none of the famous rings or hoops attached to the wall as targets or goals, which indicates this ballgame may have resembled volleyball, with players trying to get their opponents to miss in order to score. This indicates to the researchers that this was an early game in the process of transformation, just like the Mesoamerican society at the time, when warring leaders switched to trade and cooperation between regions and saw the sport as a great way to show power as well as teamwork and friendly competition.

Yeah, yeah, yeah … what about the human sacrifices?

Ah, yes … the part we all remember from history class. Figurines discovered at lowland game sites show players standing over captive opponents, leading to speculation that some sort of victory torture was involved in ballgame. With the known propensity for human sacrifice in other aspects Mesoamerican life, it was probably easy to connect the dots and imply this was an act of beheading and perhaps some games were continued with human heads for balls. No evidence has been found of ballgame-related human sacrifice or blood-spilling at Etlatongo, so it appears the practice evolved later as the game became more symbolic of war, fertility, religion and struggles with the underworld.

As a result of this discovery, archeologists expect to find more ballcourts in the Mexican highlands, which give more insight into life in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, just like sports reflects real life today.

Play ball!

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

15-03-2020 om 20:49 geschreven door peter  

99-Million-Year-Old Amber Preserves Skull of Hummingbird-Sized Dinosaur

 by Enrico de Lazaro

Paleontologists have found an exceptionally well-preserved and diminutive skull of a previously unknown bird-like dinosaur species in a piece of Cretaceous-period amber from northern Myanmar.

Photograph, computed tomography scans and interpretive drawings of the Oculudentavis khaungraaea specimen: (a) photograph of the amber piece with skull ventrolaterally exposed; scan (b) and drawing (c), left lateral view; scan (d) and drawing (e), rostral view; scan (f) and drawing (g), occipital view; scan (h) and drawing (i), dorsal view. Abbreviations: de – dentary, fr – frontal, hy – hyoid bone (or bones), jg – jugal, la – lacrimal, mx – maxilla, pa – parietal, pm – premaxilla, po – postorbital, qd – quadrate, sc – scleral ossicle, so – supraoccipital, sq – squamosal, th – teeth. Scale bars – 5 mm; longer scale bar below (b) applies to (b-i).

Image credit: Xing et al, doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2068-4.

The newly-identified species, named Oculudentavis khaungraae, could represent the smallest known Mesozoic dinosaur in the fossil record.

Its size is on par with that of the bee hummingbird (Mellisuga helenae), the smallest living bird.

“Amber preservation of vertebrates is rare, and this provides us a window into the world of dinosaurs at the lowest end of the body-size spectrum,” said Dr. Lars Schmitz, a researcher in the W. M. Keck Science Department at Claremont McKenna, Scripps and Pitzer Colleges.

“Its unique anatomical features point to one of the smallest and most ancient birds ever found.”

The piece of amber, just 31 x 20 x 8.5 mm, containing the skull of Oculudentavis khaungraae came from the Angbamo site near Tanai in the Hukawng valley of Myanmar’s Kachin province.

Dr. Schmitz and colleagues studied the specimen’s distinct features with high-resolution synchrotron scans to determine how the skull differs from those of other bird-like dinosaur specimens.

They found that the shape and size of the eye bones suggested a diurnal lifestyle, but also revealed surprising similarities to the eyes of modern lizards.

The skull also shows a unique pattern of fusion between different bone elements, as well as the presence of teeth.

Oculudentavis khaungraaea.

Image credit: Han Zhixin.

“The specimen’s tiny size and unusual form suggests a never-before-seen combination of features,” the scientists said.

“The discovery represents a specimen previously missing from the fossil record and provides new implications for understanding the evolution of birds, demonstrating the extreme miniaturization of avian body sizes early in the evolutionary process.”

The specimen’s preservation also highlights amber deposits’ potential to reveal the lowest limits of vertebrate body size.

“No other group of living birds features species with similarly small crania in adults,” Dr. Schmitz said.

“This discovery shows us that we have only a small glimpse of what tiny vertebrates looked like in the age of the dinosaurs.”

The findings are published in the journal Nature.

_____

• L. Xing et al. 2020. Hummingbird-sized dinosaur from the Cretaceous period of Myanmar. Nature 579, 245-249; doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2068-4

{ http://www.sci-news.com/ }

15-03-2020 om 01:38 geschreven door peter  

Archaeologists Unearth Long-Lost Capital of Ancient Maya Kingdom

Archaeologists excavating the site of Lacanja Tzeltal in Mexico have discovered the ruins of the capital of a kingdom....known as Sak Tz’i’ or “white dog”...

Map of architectural groups and stream channels at the site of Lacanja Tzeltal, Mexico.

Image credit: Golden et al, doi: 10.1080/00934690.2019.1684748.

The archaeological site of Lacanja Tzeltal is located in what is today the state of Chiapas in southeastern Mexico. It was likely first settled by 750 BCE and then occupied for over 1,000 years.

Sak Tz’i’ was by no means the most powerful of the Maya kingdoms, and its remnants are modest compared to the more well-known sites of Chichen Itza and nearby Palenque.

“Finding Sak Tz’i’ is still a major advance in our understanding of ancient Maya politics and culture,” said Dr. Charles Golden, an anthropological archaeologist at Brandeis University.

The residents of Sak Tz’i’ lived in the countryside harvesting a wide variety of crops and making pottery and stone tools.

The archaeologists found the remnants of what was likely the city’s marketplace where these goods were brought to be sold.

The kingdom’s residents also came to the city to attend ceremonial ball games in which players kept a solid rubber ball, sometimes as heavy as twenty pounds, bouncing back and forth across a narrow playing field using their hips and shoulders.

On the northeastern end of the city are the ruins of a 45-foot (13.7 m) high pyramid and several surrounding structures that served as elite residences and sites for religious rituals.

The center of religious and political activity was the Plaza Muk’ul Ton (Monuments Plaza), a 1.5-acre (0.6 ha) courtyard where the people gathered for ceremonies. A staircase leads from the plaza to a towering platform, where temples and reception halls were arrayed and members of the royal family once held court and might have been buried.

Sak Tz’i’ had the misfortune of being surrounded on all sides by more powerful states. For the inhabitants of the capital and countryside, this meant the perpetual threat of warfare and violent interruptions of daily life.

The researchers found evidence that the capital was surrounded on one side by steep-walled streams. On the other side, masonry walls were built to keep out invaders.

These fortifications weren’t always effective. Inscriptions on one monument tell of a time when at least a portion of the city was set ablaze during a conflict with neighboring kingdoms.

Ultimately, the survival of Sak Tz’i’ may have depended as much on its ability to make peace with its neighbors — and even play them off of each other — as its military strength.

“This is one of the reasons Sak Tz’i’ holds so much interest for researchers,” Dr. Golden said.

“Little is known about how mid-size Maya realms maneuvered and managed to persist in the face of constant hostilities from more powerful kingdoms.”

Drawing (left) and 3D model (right) of Panel 1 from the site of Lacanja Tzeltal, Mexico.

Image credit: Golden et al, doi: 10.1080/00934690.2019.1684748.

So far, dozens of sculptures have been found among the ruins at the Sak Tz’i’ site, though many have been damaged by looters or degraded over the millennia by rain, forest fires and lush tropical vegetation.

The best-preserved sculpture is a 2- by 4-foot (0.6 x 1.2 m) tablet. Its inscriptions tell stories about a mythical water serpent, described in poetic couplets as ‘shiny sky, shiny earth,’ and several elderly, stony gods whose names aren’t given. There are also accounts of the lives of dynastic rulers.

Another inscription tells of a mythic flood, while others list what are probably historic dates for the births and battles of various rulers, including a king named K’ab Kante’.

This intertwining of myth and reality is typical of Maya inscriptions and had special meaning for ancient scribes and readers.

At the bottom of the tablet is a dancing royal figure. The Maya believed royalty could become one with or even transform into a god. In this case, the ruler is dressed as the rain god connected to violent tropical storms, Yopaat.

In his right hand, he carries an axe that is the lightning bolt of the storm, which has a deified aspect named K’awiil. In his left hand, the figure carries a ‘manopla,’ a stone gauntlet or bludgeon used in ritual combat.

The team’s paper was published in the Journal of Field Archaeology.

source : www.sci-news.com/...

While it may not be the most spectacular Mayan discovery, It’s no doubt an important one...archaeologists also found some incredible artefacts...

{http://www.sci-news.com/ }

15-03-2020 om 00:35 geschreven door peter  

14-03-2020 om 02:05 geschreven door peter  

Two Faces of a Denisovan Revealed and Explained

Andrew Collins exclusively reveals the true face of a Siberian Denisovan.

What the Denisovans might have looked like has been one of the hottest debates in paleoanthropology since the discovery of this extinct human lineage back in 2010. Were they big or small? Did they look like their cousins, the Neanderthals, or were they more like anatomically modern humans in appearance? Lastly, were they the giants of legend as some are now speculating ?

Resolving these issues is difficult as just a handful of Denisovan fossil remains have been found. They include two enormous molars, two fragments of a parietal bone from a Denisovan skull, and a finger bone from a young female who lived 75,000 years ago - all found during excavations at the famous Denisova Cave in Siberia. There is also a 160,000-year-old mandible that was found in a cave on the edge of the Tibetan plateau in northwestern China and recently identified as being that of a Denisovan.

Despite this frustrating situation, in September 2019, it was announced that Professor Liran Carmel and Dr. David Gokhman of Hebrew University, Jerusalem, had used  epigenetics to analyze gene regulation and cytosine degradation in order to determine the suspected physical make up of the Denisovan face. Their finished reconstruction shows the head and neck of a young female with a rounded head, wide mouth and jaw, minimal chin, brown skin, and striking brown eyes. So well received was their reconstruction that in December 2019 the team won the 2019 Science magazine’s People’s Choice for Breakthrough of the Year .

The Hebrew University team’s award-winning reconstruction of the Denisovan face.

(Image: © Maayan-Harel)

Genetic Reconstruction

Crucial in Carmel and Gokhman’s reconstruction of the Denisovan face was data gained from the lineage’s genome first sequenced in 2010 by the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, Germany. This showed that a significant number of Denisovan genes have been inherited by modern human groups through interbreeding in the distant past. It is perhaps for this reason that Carmel and Gokhman’s Denisovan bears similarities to Papua New Guineans and also to certain Australian Originals, both of whom display anything up to 5 percent Denisovan DNA ancestry, the highest rate in any human groups. (See, for comparison, figure below which shows Koori Originals photographed around 1847 in Victoria, Australia. Their features, particularly the man in the middle, can easily be compared with Carmel and Gokhman’s Denisovan reconstruction).

Koori Originals photographed by Douglas T. Kilburn around 1847 in Victoria, Australia. Their features are comparable with those of Carmel and Gokhman’s Denisovan reconstruction.

(Image: National Gallery of Victiria / Public Domain )

Denisovan Sub-species

So did all Denisovans look like Australian Originals, or indigenous Melanesians? The answer is almost certainly no. For example, studies of Denisovan genes inherited by modern populations in East Asia, Island Southeast Asia, and Papua New Guinea have revealed new information about the evolution of the Denisovan genome. This shows that soon after the Denisovans split from a common ancestor they shared with their cousins the Neanderthals (as much as 475,000-450,000 years ago) the population diverged into two separate types.

One Denisovan population came to inhabit a vast territory possibly extending from Central Asia, Siberia, and northern China in the north to Mongolia and Tibet in the south. Their descendants most likely moved through the Russian Far East before finally crossing the Beringia land bridge into North America; this occurring perhaps as early as 20,000 years ago. From the many discoveries being made in the Denisovan layer at the Denisova Cave it would seem that these Siberian Denisovans as they are known displayed a high level of advanced human behavior.

This included the creation of beautiful jewelry (see, for instance, the Denisovan bracelet below), the making of the earliest known musical instrument in the form of a whistle or flute, the earliest manufacture of bone needles, used most probably to create warm winter clothing, and the production of the earliest symbolic art. This takes the form of an exquisite carving of a mountain lion, possibly a child’s comfort toy, which has incised markings suggestive of a basic knowledge of cyclic time.

Denisovan bracelet found in the Denisova Cave, Siberia, and thought to be at least 50,000 years old.

(Siberian Times)

It is also thought possible that the Siberian Denisovans developed a sophisticated blade tool technology that was afterwards adopted by the first modern humans to settle in Mongolia some 30,000-40,000 years ago.

Sunda Denisovans

The other population of Denisovans lived in southern and southeastern Eurasia, as well as in Island Southeast Asia, Melanesia and possibly even Australia. They displayed a more basic genome, suggesting that they were a more archaic lineage than their northern neighbors.

This second branch of Denisovans are known as Sunda Denisovans (occasionally Australo-Denisovans) after the former Sunda landmass that once linked the Malaysian Peninsula with Indonesia. They themselves would appear to have split into two distinct groups, the youngest of them, according to genetic evidence, perhaps lingering on in places like the Philippines and Papua New Guinea until around 15,000 years ago.

So far there is no hard evidence that the Sunda Denisovans developed the same advanced human behavior achieved by their northerly neighbors. Stone tools as much as 50,000 years old found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi may have been made by Denisovans. If they were created by Denisovans then it would imply that their ancestors had not only crossed the Wallace Line, the deep water channel dividing most of the Indonesian archipelago from Sulawesi, but also that they had sea-going capabilities.

This said, the Sunda Denisovans are unlikely to have developed a sophisticated blade tool technology like their northerly counterparts, since only so-called flake tools existed in Island Southeast Asia during the prehistoric age.

If the portrait of the young female created by Carmel and Gokhman’s Hebrew University team is truly representative of a Denisovan, then it is the likeness of a Sunda Denisovan, not a Siberian Denisovan, whose evolutionary development was quite different to that of its southerly counterparts.

• Face of the Denisovans? Portrait of a Teen Revealed by Her DNA
• A Trove of New Denisovan Discoveries Revealed At A Recent Anthropological Conference

Extreme Environments

So the question remains: what did the Siberian Denisovans look like? How different would they have been to Carmel and Gokhman’s reconstruction? To answer this question the present writer asked independent researcher and writer Debbie Cartwright to help in the collation of everything available on the physical appearance of a Siberian Denisovan.

This included all obvious information obtained from the Denisovan genome, such as the fact that Denisovans had brown hair, brown eyes, and brown skin, along with any further information to be gleaned from the few fossil remains found to date. We also looked at the suspected effects on the lineage’s evolutionary development derived from knowledge that the Siberian Denisovans would appear to have thrived at very high altitudes and also in extremely cold conditions. This probably included the Altai Mountains of Siberia and Mongolia and the Tibetan plateau, one of the highest places on earth.

Such extreme environments might well have necessitated the development of specialized respiratory systems including highly adapted noses that were able both to absorb all available oxygen at altitudes where the air was particularly thin, while at the same time warming up the air sufficiently before it passed into the lungs. For instance, a study by Mark Shriver, a geneticist and anthropologist at Pennsylvania State University, found that the effects of climate upon the evolution of nose size and shape suggested that larger, narrower noses are more suited to higher and colder climates, while wider flatter noses are more suited to hot tropical climates.

The Neanderthal Connection

It is important also not to forget that Denisovans were related genetically to Neanderthals, meaning that they would have borne at least some physical characteristics in common with them. This probably included a heavy brow bridge, thickset features, and a receding chin - a fact confirmed with the discovery of the 160,000-year-old Denisovan mandible found in a cave on the Tibetan plateau in northwestern China. This is extremely wide and robust and lacks a well-defined chin.

The Xiahe mandible, only represented by its right half, was found in 1980 in Baishiya Karst Cave.

(  Dongju Zhang, Lanzhou University  )

Also, like the Neanderthals, the Denisovans probably had receding foreheads and extended occipital buns, meaning they perhaps had long heads, as opposed to the more rounded craniums displayed by some early modern human populations such as Australian Originals.

Modern Human Introgression

Having made the connection between Denisovans and Neanderthal physiology it is also likely that Denisovans had at least some traits in common with anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ). When a previously misplaced fragment of the finger bone found in the Denisova Cave in 2008 was reunited with the second, more famous, fragment used by the Max Planck Institute to sequence the Denisovan genome, it was realized that the finger did not resemble that of a Neanderthal as had been widely expected. Although the finger bones of archaic humans such as Neanderthals and Homo erectus are extremely thick and quite stubby, the Denisovan finger bone is a lot slimmer, like that of an anatomically modern human.

This connection between anatomically modern humans and Denisovans is perhaps far deeper than anyone has so far suspected for, as the current writer has speculated elsewhere, there is a strong likelihood that the ancestors of the Siberian Denisovans, after leaving Africa, encountered pre-dispersal modern humans already occupying the Levant. Evidence for the existence of these early modern humans has come from the discovery at the Qesem Cave in Israel of eight teeth belonging to members of the Acheulo-Yabrudian Cultural Complex (AYCC), which thrived in the Levant corridor circa 420,000-250,000 years ago. These were found to be almost identical to those of anatomically modern humans.

Having interbred with these early modern humans, the Siberian Denisovans would then have continued their migration eastwards, entering Central Asia, Siberia, and finally, Mongolia and China. If correct, they would have been carrying physiological traits picked up from early modern humans living in the Levant. This is something that the Sunda Denisovans would seem to have missed out on since they most likely took a different route out of Africa, crossing the Arabian peninsula before entering southern Asia, southeastern Asia, and, finally, Island Southeast Asia.

The possibility that the Siberian Denisovans were carrying at least some early modern human genes might also help explain why the Siberian Denisovan genome is slightly different to that of the Sunda Denisovans, and why they would appear to have displayed advanced human behavior before their final disappearance around 45,000 years ago.

And so this brings us to an impression of the Siberian Densovan that appears as follows…

The face of a Siberian Denisovan by artist George Hernandez working in concert with writer-researcher Debbie Cartwright and the present author. Genetic information, Denisovan and Neanderthal fossils, and unique traits in anatomically modern humans were used to reconstruct this likeness.

(Picture credit: © Hernandez/Cartwright/Collins)

Human Elements

For our reconstruction of the Siberian Denisovan we have included some physical traits seen in modern human populations that perhaps benefitted from introgression with this archaic human population. They include modern populations in North Asia, East Asia, and even North America - where First Peoples of the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River region such as the Ojibwa and Cree have been found to possess some Denisovan DNA. They, more than any other population, might well have retained Siberian Denisovan traits through the isolation of their ancestors prior to first contact with Europeans at the start of the historical period.

Debbie Cartwright and I then worked with talented Californian artist George Hernandez to achieve the best likeness of an archaic Siberian Denisovan, here revealed for the first time. It is shown also for comparison alongside Carmel and Gokhman’s own reconstruction.

The reconstructed face of a Siberian Denisovan (left) alongside the Hebrew University’s own representation of a Sunda Denisovan (right).

(Picture credits: Left, © Hernandez/Cartwright/Collins; Right, © Maayan-Harel)

Many similarities can be noted between the two versions, including wide mouths, receding chins, heavy brow ridges, brown eyes, skin and hair, and also large noses, but there are also some differences as well. The face of the Siberian Denisovan is much longer, the brow ridge more prominent (like that of a Neanderthal), the forehead recedes more, while the cheekbone is much higher.

Aquiline Noses

We have also chosen to give the Denisovan a narrow, aquiline nose with a prominent bridge, as opposed to the large, but much flatter nose, of the Carmel and Gokhman reconstruction. As we have seen, such distinctive noses helped in the absorption of oxygen in elevated environments where the air is particularly thin. Yet curiously, an aquiline nose (also known as the Roman or hooked nose) combined with a prominent bridge has often been compared with the head shape of a large bird, most obviously that of an eagle (the Latin word aquiline means “eagle-like).”

Bird shamanism would appear to have played a significant role in human development for as much as 400,000 years. If, as we suspect, the Siberians Denisovans did possess aquiline noses, then with their prominent bridges and heavy brow ridges there is every reason to suspect that their facial details could be said to resemble those of a bird, something noted in individuals with aquiline noses in more modern times.

Illustration comparing an individual with an aquiline nose, heavy brow and prominent nose arch with the head of an eagle by Charles Le Brun

(Image: CC BY 4.0 ).

If correct, then this might have encouraged Siberian Denisovan groups to adopt the guise of birds to engage in early forms of animism and even shamanism, similar to that noted in connection with the AYCC inhabitants of the Qesem Cave in Israel as much as 400,000-250,000 years ago. In other words, Siberian Denisovans came to resemble birds both in physical appearance and in mannerisms, a connection emphasized and even celebrated through ritual practices.

Dreadlocks

Lastly, we chose to give our Denisovan thick, dreadlocked hair as opposed to the frizzy hair seen in Carmel and Gokhman’s reconstruction. Why did we do this? The answer is two-fold. First, it comes from the adoption of dreaded hair for socio-cultural and socio-religious purposes by various modern human populations such as the Himba people of Namibia, the Hindu Sadhus or holy men of India, and the Rastafarians of Jamaica.

Secondly, the deliberate management of long thick hair by dreading and the subsequent use of mud (as well as goat hair in the case of Himba women) to help coat it aids in the prevention of lice and other insect infestations. In addition to this, dreadlocks bunched up on the head would have accentuated the Denisovans’ suspected elongated heads, emphasizing their individual identity in a world that towards the end of their time circa 45,000-50,000 years ago, would have included Neanderthals, anatomically modern humans and, most likely, hybrids stemming from an admixture of all these various lineages of the homo genus.

• Genetic Study Suggests Denisovans Were the Mythological Rakshasas
• The Coming of the Thunder People: Denisovan Hybrids, Shamanism and the American Genesis

Personal Bias

Clearly, such a unique feature is based on speculation of how the Siberian Denisovans managed long hair without cutting it and how it might have come to signify their ritual culture. This is an important point, for no matter what evidence is used to reconstruct the face of an archaic human, it will always involve some personal bias. This can be seen, for example, from the many different representations of Neanderthals. They range from virtual ape-men covered in thick body hair, to others where the individual becomes almost indistinguishable from any red-haired, freckled person you might encounter on the street today.

Thus, it has to be accepted that the Denisovan face imagined by artist George Hernandez under the directions of Cartwright and the author must by definition have its own personal bias. This said, we feel it is the closest representation to date of a Siberian Denisovan, as opposed to the face of the Sunda Denisovan developed by Carmel and Gokhman.

Further assessments on the shape of the Denisovan skull and the proportions of the face can only be achieved following the discovery of additional fossils; most urgently a complete cranium. Beyond this will be the eventual discovery of a Denisovan femur, which will help settle the debate over whether or not the Denisovans were of exceptional size and height.

This was first implied by the enormous size of the two Denisovan molars found in the Denisova Cave. Although the two fragments of the Denisovan skull found at the site in 2016 are also suggestive of a large body frame, not enough fossil remains have come to light to answer the question of height and girth with any degree of certainty. So, until such times we must be content with the two faces of a Denisovan presented to the public so far – that of Carmel and Gokhman’s team from the Hebrew University and that of our own. At least these provide some idea of what this extinct branch of the Homo genus might have looked like.

• Top image: The reconstructed face of a Siberian Denisovan (right) alongside the Hebrew University’s own representation of a Sunda Denisovan (left).           
• Source: Left © Hernandez/Cartwright/Collins; b) © Maayan-Harel)

By Andrew Collins

Andrew Collins is a history and science writer. His most recent book is Denisovan Origins, co-authored with Gregory L. Little (Bear & Co, 2019).

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

11-03-2020 om 17:16 geschreven door peter  

Rare Masterpiece Uncovered on Ancient Egyptian Sarcophagus

An Italian-Egyptian team have reconstructed a masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art. They have been able to virtually recreate the face of a leopard that was found on a sarcophagus lid in a necropolis. They recreated the face of the big cat using the latest digital technology.

A team led by Italian archaeologist Patrizia Piacentini, from the Milan State University, found the necropolis under the sands of the desert not far from Aswan. The burial site was unearthed some 15 feet (5m) underground. According to Ansamed, the necropolis “extends for more than 25,000 square meters on the western bank of the Nile River , near the Mausoleum of Aga Khan III.”

Apart from the network of tombs found underground, some burials were also discovered dug into a nearby hill. It is believed that the burial site was in use for a millennium from the 7 ^th century BC until the 3 ^rd century AD when Egypt was a Roman province.

Entrance of the newly discovered tomb, where the leopard painting on the sarcophagus was found.

( University of Milan )

Treasure of Burial Goods

Ansamed reports that “one of the tombs, number AGH026, already made news last year when a large room was found with about 30 bodies buried during the 2nd century BC.” This had a treasure trove of grave goods, including funerary art and a very rare stretcher for transporting mummified cadavers. 

In this location, the team found a leopard that was painted onto the stucco of a shattered lid of a sarcophagus. In ancient Egyptian culture, this animal was the symbol of power and determination. Live Science reports that the representation of the predator was “likely intended to strengthen the spirit of the recently deceased for the journey to the land of the dead.”

The painted image of the leopard was found in a poor condition and much of it was missing.  It was painted onto the fragment of a lid of the sarcophagus, which was very fragile and full of sand. The experts decided to remove the stucco, with the image, from the lid in order to save the artwork. It was a very delicate task and it could easily have gone wrong. Archaeology.org quotes Piacentini as saying “it was a very delicate operation that had us holding our breath, we had tears in our eyes.”

The fragmentary sarcophagus lid with the painted leopard face on it.

( University of Milan )

Recreating the Sarcophagus’ Leopard Face

At one time, the face of the leopard would have been aligned with the face of the mummy inside the coffin. Live Science quotes the lead researcher Piacentini, that the symbol of the leopard “was common in ancient Egypt, but it is very rare to find it painted.” The team took the fragment with the image of the leopard from the site, in order to preserve it.

Then they decided to use some breakthrough technology in an effort to digitally reconstruct the c.2200-year-old painting.  The researchers were able to recreate the leopard, which was originally very realistically painted, with vibrant colors and wide eyes. Piacentini told Fox News “we made the discovery at the end of January 2019, but just finished the 'virtual' restoration of the fragment.”  The digital reconstruction demonstrates the great skills of Egyptian artists and their ability to create realistic and naturalistic works of art.

• The Head of an Emperor, the Shrine of a God: Two Contrasting Finds at the Egyptian Sites of Luxor and Aswan
• Ancient temple dating back 3,500 years found near Aswan in Egypt
• Archaeologists Stumble Upon 10 Egyptian Late Period Rock-Hewn Tombs

Pine Seeds for the Afterlife

Also found in the same tomb as the leopard painting was a dish with some pine seeds.  Based on Roman era cookbooks it seems that these were very popular and used in a variety of foods. It is likely that the seeds were placed beside the burial of a person by his family. The Egyptians believed that the deceased would enjoy them in the afterlife.

The leopard found at Aswan is now being conserved.  Ilaria Perticucci and Rita Reale, both professional conservators, are planning to restore the image in the controlled environments of laboratories in Aswan. It is not known if the restored painting will be put on display in the future. The necropolis, where the remarkable image was found, continues to be excavated by archaeologists.

• Top image: Virtual rendition of the painting of the leopard face found on the ancient Egyptian sarcophagus.        
• Source: University of Milan

By Ed Whelan

{ https://www.ancient-origins.net/ }

11-03-2020 om 16:50 geschreven door peter  

Advanced Ancient Civilizations That Had Abilities We Are Still Struggling To Understand

Advanced Ancient Civilizations That Had Abilities We Are Still Struggling To Understand

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07-03-2020 om 21:25 geschreven door peter  

Proof a Mysterious Lost Ancient Global Civilization Spanned Virtually the Entire Planet…

This will likely blow your mind. 250+ photos and comparisons of ancient sites around the world, show that there is a LOT more to the story of our ancient past. Proof of a lost ancient global civilization that has been hiding in plain sight, for thousands of years.

Proof a Mysterious Lost Ancient Global Civilization Spanned Virtually the Entire Planet…

I’m Jimmy, and my channel is called Bright Insight. I intend to share interesting, and otherwise unknown information with as many as I can. I’m combining my unique background and life experience to make thought-provoking video presentations. I’m asking questions and creating conversations. My goal is to get people to think for themselves. The truth is found with an open mind, and the truth is stranger than fiction.

About Jimmy: – Independent researcher – Former Theft/Fraud Investigator – Army/Iraq war vet who woke up Education: – MBA w/Marketing focus – Bachelor of Communication & Sociology; Minor: Religious Studies – Thousands of hours of research in subjects such as, lost ancient civilizations, philosophy, spirituality, the cosmos and compelling examples of conspiracy theory.

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03-03-2020 om 21:49 geschreven door peter  

The newly found bones were close to the site of the famous ‘flower burial’ in Shanidar Cave, which overturned notions of Neanderthals as brutish subhumans and suggested they buried their dead.

Can you see the flattened skull and neck bones in this rock? They are part of an incomplete Neanderthal skeleton – called Shanidar Z by scientists – newly discovered in famous Shanidar Cave. Shanidar Z’s skull is thought to have been flattened by the weight of overlying sediment.

Image via Graeme Barker/ Eurekalert.

One of the most significant archaeological sites of the 20th century is Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan. At this site, over 60 years ago, scientists unearthed the bones of 10 Neanderthal individuals. It was a discovery that changed the way we look at this extinct hominid species. The Neanderthal individuals found at Shanidar Cave are thought to have died about 70,000 years ago and to have been deliberately buried there. Now archaeologists have discovered new, partial skeletal remains of an additional Neanderthal individual at Shanidar Cave. The first new bone, a rib, was unearthed in 2016, followed by a lumbar vertebrate and a right hand that was still clenched after thousands of years. In 2018 and 2019, more bones were extracted from the ground. A skull, flattened by the weight of sediment above it, was carefully removed. Beneath the head was a left hand. They also found upper body bones, down to the waist.

These findings were reported in the February 2020 issue of the journal Antiquity.

Emma Pomeroy of Cambridge University is the paper’s lead author. In a statement published at EurekAlert.org, she said:

So much research on how Neanderthals treated their dead has to involve returning to finds from 60 or even 100 years ago, when archaeological techniques were more limited. And that only ever gets you so far.

To have primary evidence of such quality from this famous Neanderthal site will allow us to use modern technologies to explore everything from ancient DNA to long-held questions about Neanderthal ways of death, and whether they were similar to our own.

Anthropologist Emma Pomeroy working at the Shanidar Cave excavation site.

Image via Cambridge University.

The original Shanidar Cave Neanderthals – recovered between 1951 and 1960 by a team led by Ralph Solecki – challenged conventional ideas of Neanderthals as primitive brutish subhumans. One of the Neanderthals showed signs of disabling injuries, indicating that others had cared for him. Another showed a rib puncture wound, suggesting he met a violent end. And in the sediment around one individual, researchers found clumps of pollen, leading to speculation of a burial adorned with flowers.

In 2011, Graeme Barker, also of Cambridge University, was invited by the Kurdistan Regional Government to conduct further excavations at Shanidar Cave. The original plan was to collect soil samples at the spot where the original bones were found and use the latest analysis techniques, not available 60 years ago, to figure out the age of the remains, as well as the climate and ecology of the Shanidar Neanderthals’ world.

Shanidar Cave excavation site.

Image via Cambridge University.

Work that began in 2014 had to be suspended because of nearby ISIS activity, but the archaeologists were able to safely resume excavations in 2015. Barker said:

We thought with luck we’d be able to find the locations where they had found Neanderthals in the 1950s, to see if we could date the surrounding sediments. We didn’t expect to find any Neanderthal bones.

Shanidar Z’s left hand being uncovered in Shanidar Cave.

Image via Graeme Barker / EurekAlert.

Pomeroy described the newly found bones as “heartbreakingly soft,” while Baker said they had the consistency of a wet biscuit. The archaeologists worked painstakingly to scrape away sediment around the bone, sometimes using bamboo kebab sticks. Before sections containing bone were removed and wrapped in foil, the bone was brushed with a glue-like consolidant to harden it. In an article by the University of Cambridge, Baker said:

Emma’s got an eye for where the various protuberances of bone are likely to be. It took her weeks of intense concentration working in what is pretty much a sauna in terms of heat and humidity.

Shanidar Z’s spinal column in a block of sediment, right after it was removed from the ground.

Image via Cambridge University.

Researchers have not yet been able to determine the sex of this individual. The condition of its teeth suggest a middle- or older-aged adult. And since the scientists are not yet sure if this is a completely new individual, or the missing parts of an incomplete skeleton collected by Solecki’s team over 60 years ago, they called these remains Shanidar Z.

An intriguing question, posed when the Shanidar Cave Neanderthals were first discovered: was the cave a burial site? Speculation about Neanderthals laying flowers on graves, based on the presence of pollen clumps in the sediment, is still controversial. But the researchers now think there is compelling evidence that Shanidar Cave was used to inter the dead. That some bones were found articulated – still attached – suggests bodies were not left in the open where scavengers could get to them. Baker also commented on supporting evidence seen in the site’s geological features:

The new excavation suggests that some of these bodies were laid in a channel in the cave floor created by water, which had then been intentionally dug to make it deeper. There is strong early evidence that Shanidar Z was deliberately buried.

Graeme Barker at the Shanidar Cave excavation site, holding a soil block that will undergo microscopic analysis at Cambridge University.

Image via Cambridge University.

Bones uncovered by Solecki in the 1950s were found in different layers. And during the new excavation, the archaeologists found a rock that may have served as a marker for the burial site. Pomeroy said:

We have Neanderthals at different levels, as well as this cluster of bodies next to a very large rock, perhaps some kind of marker. Not only are they returning to the same cave, but they appear to be putting bodies in the same spot.

While it’s common across human cultures to have places in the landscape earmarked for the dead, maybe we are seeing traces of this behavior in a different species.

Archaeologists working at the site in Shanidar Cave where Neanderthals were found in the mid-20th century by Ralph Solecki.

Image via Cambridge University.

In recent decades, scientists have learned that Neanderthals and humans once interbred. Much of this evidence comes from DNA found in Neanderthal remains from northern sites, where colder climates helped preserve DNA. Little is known about Neanderthal-human interbreeding in southwest Asia, where Iraq is located, as modern humans radiated out of Africa. Shanidar Z may provide some answers. CT scans of the fossils show there’s a petrous bone, a pyramid-shaped bone at the base of the skull. It’s one of the densest bones in the body, and if there’s any hope of DNA being preserved in the hot dry conditions of Iraqi Kurdistan, that bone is their bet bet.

We still don’t understand why Neanderthals went extinct. Some scientists think they were outcompeted for resources by modern humans. Others have suggested that they could not adapt to a changing climate. Shell fragments from snails and bone shards from mice in the sediment around the bones could provide some clues. Barker explained:

Small animals are particularly sensitive to climate change. Greenland ice cores give us a general global picture, but these tiny bones can tell us about changing climates in Kurdistan at the time when Neanderthals were roaming its mountains.

The new Neanderthal bones are currently on loan to Cambridge University for conservation and further study. Pomeroy reflected on our current knowledge of Neanderthals:

In recent years we have seen increasing evidence that Neanderthals were more sophisticated than previously thought, from cave markings to use of decorative shells and raptor talons.

If Neanderthals were using Shanidar Cave as a site of memory for the repeated ritual interment of their dead, it would suggest cultural complexity of a high order.

The entrance to Shanidar Cave, at the foothills of the Baradost Mountains in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Image via Graeme Barker/ EurekAlert.

• Bottom line: Archaeologists have found new Neanderthal remains at a famous possible burial site in what’s now Iraqi Kurdistan. The site – Shanidar Cave – became famous in the mid-20th century for the discovery of bones belonging to 10 individual Neanderthals. Preliminary findings indicate that the Shanidar Cave Neanderthals died about 70,000 years ago and that they were deliberately buried there.
• Source: New Neanderthal remains associated with the ‘flower burial’ at Shanidar Cave
• Via EurekAlert
• Via Cambridge University

{ https://earthsky.org/ }

29-02-2020 om 00:27 geschreven door peter  

Surviving the Toba Super-Eruption 74,000 Years Ago

New archaeological work supports the hypothesis that human populations were present in India by 80,000 years ago and that they survived one of the largest volcanic eruptions in the last two million years

View over the Middle Son valley in the north of India from the archaeological site Dhaba. The archaeological excavation can be seen on the left side of the picture.

Credit: © Christina Neudorf

Professor Chris Clarkson of the University of Queensland, lead author of the study, added: “The stone tools used in Dhaba are similar to the tool sets used at the same time by Homo sapiens were used in Africa. The fact that these tool sets neither disappeared at the time of the Toba super outbreak, nor changed significantly shortly afterwards, indicates that the human population survived the so-called catastrophe and continued to create tools for changing their environment. “This new archaeological evidence underpins fossil fuels Evidence suggests that humans emigrated from Africa earlier than 60,000 years ago and spread across Eurasia, and it is in line with genetic evidence that humans crossed archaic hominin species like the Neanderthals more than 60,000 years ago ,

Stone tools from the Dhaba archaeological site. They were found in the layer that corresponds to the eruption of the Toba volcano. The molds typical of the Middle Paleolithic are shown here.

Credit: © Chris Clarkson

Toba, climate change and human resilience

Although the Toba super eruption was a gigantic event, only a few climatologists and geoscientists continue to represent the previously formulated scenario of a “volcanic winter”. This suggests that the cooling of the earth was less serious and that the Toba eruption may not have caused the subsequent cold period. Recent archaeological research in Asia, including the findings reported by this study, does not support the belief that the hominin populations died out due to the Toba Super Outbreak.

Instead, archaeological evidence suggests that the human population in the region survived and coped with one of the most violent volcanic events in human history. This proves that small groups of hunters and gatherers were able to adapt to environmental changes. Nevertheless, the population groups that lived in the region around Dhaba more than 74,000 years ago do not seem to have contributed significantly to the gene pool of today’s population groups. It is likely that these hunters and gatherers faced a number of challenges for their long-term survival, including the dramatic environmental changes that followed over the millennia.

Contacts and sources:

• Michael PetragliaMax Planck Institute for Human History

Publication: 

• Human occupation of northern India spans the Toba super-eruption ~ 74,000 years ago
• Chris Clarkson, Clair Harris, Bo Li, Christina M. Neudorf, Richard G. Roberts, Christine Lane, Kasih Norman, Jagannath Pal, Sacha Jones, Ceri Shipton, Jinu Koshy, MC Gupta, DP Mishra, AK Dubey, Nicole Boivin, and Michael Petraglia

Nature Communications

• source
• DOI

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27-02-2020 om 20:54 geschreven door peter  

Inexplicable Ancient Artifacts... Experts Are Still Trying to Explain These Relics

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24-02-2020 om 22:31 geschreven door peter  

By Bruce Bower

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24-02-2020 om 00:30 geschreven door peter  

Secret chamber found inside King Tut’s famous tomb may solve hunt for Nefertiti

Egyptologists are on the verge of solving one of history’s biggest mysteries — the location of Queen Nefertiti’s elusive tomb.

Jamie Seidel

Tantalising radar shadows have revived hopes that one of history’s most beautiful, and controversial, women — Queen Nefertiti — may indeed be buried in secret chambers within King Tut’s famous tomb.

British and Egyptian Egyptologists earlier this week conducted a three-day radar scan of the world-famous tomb discovered by Howard Carter in 1922.

Upon opening its still-sealed door, he declared he saw “wonderful things”. Everywhere was the glint of gold and priceless examples of some of history’s most exquisite art.

But, since then, the tomb has presented something of a mystery.

It was immediately odd that so many of the statues attributed as Pharoah Tutankhamun had hips and breasts. And more recent, closer, examination reveals a significant proportion of the artwork to have been rebadged, and repurposed, from previous rulers.

And that includes his iconic burial mask.

• RELATED: The hunt for Nefertiti is on
• RELATED: Was King Tut a fraud?
• RELATED: In search of Nefertiti: Egypt’s heretic queen

WHAT LIES BENEATH

In 2015, a ground-penetrating scan of the 3300-year-old tomb was conducted by controversial radar technician Hirokatsu Watanabe. He declared he had detected, with “90 per cent certainty”, several hollow spaces along with “metallic” and “organic” objects.

The world erupted in excitement.

Could another extraordinary discovery be tantalisingly within reach?

Would one of Egypt’s greatest mysteries finally be solved?

Egyptologists were immediately doubtful. His radar scan images seemed uninterpretable — just a mass of blue lines with the occasional red dot. Nobody other than Watanabe seemed able to determine what the scans revealed.

So, the Egyptian Antiquities department organised a second scan — this time with the assistance of National Geographic — in 2016. It found … nothing.

“If we had a void, we should have a strong reflection,” geophysicist Dean Goodman of GPR-Slice software told National Geographic News. “But it just doesn’t exist.”

The locations of speculative chambers have been supported by infra-red and radar scans of Tut’s tomb.

Source:Getty Images

THIRD TIME LUCKY?

The Egypt Independent reports the latest scan of Tut’s tomb concluded on Wednesday.

Egyptian technicians from the Centre for Sound Vibration and Smart Structures at the Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, joined a team from the English Terravision Centre to scour the rock for any trace of hidden chambers.

It’s part of an assessment that is due to be completed by the end of the year.

Egyptian archaeologist Francis Amin told the Egypt Independent the most recent radar survey, conducted by the University of Turin, had revealed spaces behind the walls.

But the resolution of the images did not confirm if these were man-made or natural cavities in the rock.

“The results of previous radar surveys have found evidence of the existence of spaces and organic material behind the walls of the cemetery,” Amin said. He added that specialist chemists will need to help analyse the radar survey results.

BOY KING OR PR STUNT?

Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb doesn’t follow the well-established pattern applied to other Egyptian god-kings. It’s unusually small. And it is shaped more like a burial chamber intended for a queen. And why do so many of the statues and images attributed as King Tutankhamun have feminine hips and breasts?

Some have theorised Tutankhamun suffered from his royal inbreeding and had deformities such as breasts and female hips.

Source:Supplied

British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves put these clues together, including the discovery of partially erased royal names, to suggest the tomb — and much of its contents — was initially intended for Tut’s stepmother, Nefertiti.

Dr Reeves’ 2015 academic paper The Burial of Nefertiti quickly grabbed international attention.

About the same time, a high-resolution 3D laser scan made to help preserve the tomb indicated there may be “hollows” hidden behind the tomb’s plasterwork and paintings. Were these sealed doors?

“The implications are extraordinary: for, if digital appearance translates into physical reality, it seems we are now faced not merely with the prospect of a new, Tutankhamun-era storeroom to the west; to the north appears to be signalled a continuation of tomb … and within these uncharted depths an earlier royal interment — that of Nefertiti herself, celebrated consort, coregent, and eventual successor of pharaoh Akhenaten,” Dr Reeves wrote.

While the evidence was circumstantial, it was enough to pique the interest of the Egyptian Antiquities department to invite Dr Reeves — and others — to examine the tomb more closely.

“Each piece of evidence on its own is not conclusive but put it all together, and it’s hard to avoid my conclusion,” Dr Reeves said. “If I’m wrong, I’m wrong, but if I’m right, this is potentially the biggest archaeological discovery ever made.”

British archaeologist Nicholas Reeves believes the new chamber could be the last resting place of Queen Nefertiti, King Tut's mother-in-law.

Source:Supplied

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Dr Reeves has been chasing Nefertiti’s ghost for almost two decades.

In 2000, Dr Reeves led a radar examination of the ground around Tutankhamun’s tomb in a search for Nefertiti’s burial. He reported finding a “void”. But digs failed to locate anything.

His continued enthusiasm, however, has proven contagious.

In 2016, Egypt’s tourism minister enthused: “We do not know if the burial chamber is Nefertiti or another woman, but it is full of treasures … It will be a ‘Big Bang’ — the discovery of the 21st century.”

An interior view of the King Tutankhamun burial chamber in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt.

Source:AAP

So far, the Big Bang hasn’t happened.

And Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled El-Enany has insisted no invasive exploration would be allowed to damage the priceless tomb. “It is essential to perform more scans using other devices and more technical and scientific methods,” Mr El-Enany said.

The challenge has since been one of developing the technology capable of achieving that task.

Former Egyptian antiquities minister and high-profile archaeological personality Zahi Hawass has long been a sceptic of the hidden chamber theory.

“If there is any masonry or partition wall, the radar signal should show an image,” he reportedly told National Geographic News.

“We don’t have this, which means there is nothing there.”

Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer. Continue the conversation @JamieSeidel

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23-02-2020 om 22:56 geschreven door peter  

One of the great mysteries of ancient Egypt is the whereabouts of Nefertiti – she of the famous bust. Her tomb has never been found, leading to various theories that the sparse records of her time as a powerful partner in the reign of her husband, Pharaoh Akhenaten, and her own reign as pharaoh may have been covered up for some reason. The small size of her stepson King Tut’s tomb have caused many to believe it has hidden chambers, resulting in many unsuccessful searches using various non-invasive methods, including an extensive search with ground-penetrating radar in 2018. However, it’s never say never with Nefertiti, so yet another search was just completed and this time they found a hidden chamber. Is this the big one?

Queen Nefertiti

“Clearly there is something on the other side of the north wall of the burial chamber.”

In a review by Nature of an unpublished report by archaeologist Mamdouh Eldamaty, a former Egyptian minister of antiquities, Ray Johnson, an Egyptologist at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute who wasn’t involved in the research, confirmed that the radar found something, but what that ‘something ‘ is will require further scans. So far, it looks like a corridor a few meters east of Tut’s burial chamber. The space is 2 meters (6.5 feet) high, 10 meters (33 feet) long and at the same depth and direction as the tomb’s actual entrance.

The depth and location of this new chamber suggest a number of things. Being parallel to the entrance tunnel and perpendicular to the main chamber puts in in the tomb’s orientation, which would indicate it’s a part of the tomb and not an extension of another tomb – nearby tombs generally don’t line up with each other. The depth reinforces that theory and implies that the chamber was (or perhaps still is) connected to the main chamber at one end. Which leads to the obvious question: what’s at the other end?

“If Nefertiti was buried as a pharaoh, it could be the biggest archaeological discovery ever.”

British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves has long supported the idea that Tut’s tomb is bigger and Nefertiti is buried somewhere in it. However, he thought the location was north, not east. Could this mean there are hidden chambers all around KV62, the un-sexy Egyptological designation for Tut’s tomb? Eldamaty plans to find out, especially since his ground-penetrating radar search was more successful than previous scans from inside the tomb. Still smarting from being replaced as Minister of Antiquities by a cabinet reshuffling, he plans to test Reeves’ north chamber theory after failing on his previous attempt due to not a mummy’s curse but a modern curse — interference from nearby air-conditioning units.

As always, it’s important to note the tremendous effort the government of Egypt puts into preserving these historic tombs and their artifacts from destructive physical invasions by even the most careful archeologists. Let’s hope this continues without interference from those with money who want to make more money on these priceless historical locations. They should be preserved for all, not just for the rich.

Nefertiti would certainly approve of this message.

{ https://mysteriousuniverse.org/ }

23-02-2020 om 22:40 geschreven door peter  

Noah’s Ark Found? A Researcher's Journey to Mount Ararat, Turkey

videos - peter2011

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21-02-2020 om 22:44 geschreven door peter