ANCIENT TOOLS FOUND IN UTAH DESERT -- MUCH DIFFERENT THAN CLOVIS -- DATE TO ABOUT 12-13,000 YEARS

Researchers exploring the desert flats west of Salt Lake City (northern Utah - USA) have uncovered more than a thousand ancient tools, such as spear points, a type of rectangular implement that hasn't been reported before, and objects that an archaeologist describes as "giant scrapers coming out of the ground... fresh as daisies."

The tools were found in 2012 on the grounds of the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range, where Dr. Daron Duke, lead researcher of the team that made the finds, was hired to conduct a survey. Based on ecological evidence and radiocarbon dates of organic matter in the area, laid down when this desert was a wetland, the oldest of the artifacts date to between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago, Duke said.


The most striking of the tools are 55 long, slender spear points and fragments, fashioned in a style known as Haskett - a tradition that's associated with the Great Basin region, but rarely found. One of the complete spear heads is the largest Haskett point yet found, measuring 22.6 centimeters (about 9 inches). And another was found to contain a residue of elephant proteins, making it the first likely evidence of mammoth-hunting in the Great Basin.

Together, these finds help clarify a picture that has remained hazy for archaeologists: the life and times of the Great Basin's earliest inhabitants, who may have been contemporaries of the ancient and widespread Clovis culture. "Haskett is very rare, anywhere," said Duke. "They were probably moving around with a sort of condensed tool kit, and I guess you could say they were low visibility. There weren't many people around, and they didn't leave much of a record. But we just got lucky here."

Haskett points are thought to be part of the larger Western Stemmed tradition of tool-making, whose artifacts are found throughout the Great Basin. And mounting evidence, including the new findings from Utah, suggests that the people who fashioned Western Stemmed tools were contemporaneous with the Clovis culture. "There's no doubt that the people who made fluted [Clovis] points are not those people who made Haskett points," Duke said. "Even though they accomplish the same thing, they're just completely different in their design."

His team found 19 extremely sharp, double-sided tools that they call rectangular bifaces, fashioned from broken Haskett stems, he said. "They appear to be used for some sort of intensive gouging of hard material, like bone or wood," Duke added. "These are artifacts that are not recognized in any of the other Paleoindian assemblages."

Edited from Western Digs (2 April 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/pejufw7
[2 images]

ANCIENT STONE TOOLS FOUND IN UTAH (USA) DESERT --12,000-13,000 YEARS OLD -- DIFFERENT FROM CLOVIS

Researchers exploring the desert flats west of Salt Lake City (northern Utah - USA) have uncovered more than a thousand ancient tools, such as spear points, a type of rectangular implement that hasn't been reported before, and objects that an archaeologist describes as "giant scrapers coming out of the ground... fresh as daisies."

The tools were found in 2012 on the grounds of the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range, where Dr. Daron Duke, lead researcher of the team that made the finds, was hired to conduct a survey. Based on ecological evidence and radiocarbon dates of organic matter in the area, laid down when this desert was a wetland, the oldest of the artifacts date to between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago, Duke said.

The most striking of the tools are 55 long, slender spear points and fragments, fashioned in a style known as Haskett - a tradition that's associated with the Great Basin region, but rarely found. One of the complete spear heads is the largest Haskett point yet found, measuring 22.6 centimeters (about 9 inches). And another was found to contain a residue of elephant proteins, making it the first likely evidence of mammoth-hunting in the Great Basin.

Together, these finds help clarify a picture that has remained hazy for archaeologists: the life and times of the Great Basin's earliest inhabitants, who may have been contemporaries of the ancient and widespread Clovis culture. "Haskett is very rare, anywhere," said Duke. "They were probably moving around with a sort of condensed tool kit, and I guess you could say they were low visibility. There weren't many people around, and they didn't leave much of a record. But we just got lucky here."

Haskett points are thought to be part of the larger Western Stemmed tradition of tool-making, whose artifacts are found throughout the Great Basin. And mounting evidence, including the new findings from Utah, suggests that the people who fashioned Western Stemmed tools were contemporaneous with the Clovis culture. "There's no doubt that the people who made fluted [Clovis] points are not those people who made Haskett points," Duke said. "Even though they accomplish the same thing, they're just completely different in their design."

In addition to these many revelations, the patch of barren Air Force land has also turned up other compelling finds, such as a type of tool that doesn't seem to have been recognized previously by archaeologists. There's a class of artifacts that's pretty much defined [by this locality] that I've never even heard of before," Duke said. His team found 19 extremely sharp, double-sided tools that they call rectangular bifaces, fashioned from broken Haskett stems, he said. "They appear to be used for some sort of intensive gouging of hard material, like bone or wood," Duke added. "These are artifacts that are not recognized in any of the other Paleoindian assemblages."

Edited from Western Digs (2 April 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/pejufw7
[2 images]

HOW EUROPEANS EVOLVED WHITE SKIN & INDO EUROPEAN LANGUAGES & HEIGHT

A new study shows that pale skin, as well as other traits such as tallness and the ability to digest milk as adults, arrived relatively recently in much of Europe. Comparing the DNA of 83 ancient individuals throughout Europe, the report says Europeans today are a blend of at least three ancient populations of hunter-gatherers and farmers who moved into Europe in separate migrations over the past 8000 years, and that a massive migration from the steppes north of the Black Sea may have brought Indo-European languages about 4500 years ago.

Curiously, neither the farmers who came from the Near East about 7800 years ago nor the pastoralists who came from the steppes 4800 years ago had the version of the gene that allows adults to digest sugars in milk. It wasn't until about 4300 years ago that lactose tolerance spread through Europe.

About 8500 years ago, early hunter-gatherers in Spain, Luxembourg, and Hungary had darker skin. In the far north, seven people from a 7700-year-old site in southern Sweden had both light skin gene variants, as well as a third gene which causes blue eyes and may contribute to light skin and blond hair.

The first farmers from the Near East carried both genes for light skin. One of their light-skin genes spread through Europe, so that central and southern Europeans also began to have lighter skin, while the other gene remained at low levels until about 5800 years ago.

Complex traits such as height are the result of the interaction of many genes. Selection strongly favored several variants for tallness in northern and central Europeans starting 8000 years ago, with a boost from the later migration 4800 years ago. In contrast, selection favored shorter people in Italy and Spain starting 8000 years ago. Spaniards in particular shrank in stature 6000 years ago.

Surprisingly, the team found no immune genes under intense selection, which is counter to hypotheses that diseases would have increased after the development of agriculture. People in northern latitudes often don't get enough UV to synthesize vitamin D, so natural selection has favored two genetic solutions to that problem - pale skin that absorbs UV more efficiently, and lactose tolerance to digest the sugars and vitamin D naturally found in milk.

Altamura Man yields oldest Neanderthal DNA sample

A team of researchers has confirmed that Altamura Man was a Neanderthal, and revealed that the bones are 128,000 to 187,000 years old.
Altamura Man was discovered in 1993 in the karst caves of Lamalunga, near Altamura, in southern Italy - one of the most extraordinary hominin specimens ever found in Europe. The remains were embedded in rock and covered in a thick layer of calcite. It was thought that excavating the remains would cause irreparable damage, and they have remained in situ. There was some debate initially about morphology and age. Subsequent study led to a consensus that the visible remains (the head, and part of a shoulder) were that of an archaic Neanderthal, of a genus believed to have been widespread in Europe 200,000 to 40,000 years ago.
The researchers with the current project began their work six years ago. A tiny part of shoulder bone was extracted. Uranium-thorium dating revealed that the calcite was formed 172,000 to 130,000 years ago, during the penultimate quaternary (Pleistocene) glaciations period - the last of five glaciations during Earth's history.
DNA has also been retrieved from the sample, and because of the age, represents the oldest ever recovered from Neanderthal remains. The researchers next plan to test the DNA sample to see if it can be sequenced. They are hopeful it might reveal new details about the evolution of hominids in general, and perhaps more about the early history of the Neanderthal.

Edited from PhysOrg (3 April 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/pmskntr
[1 image]

OLDEST NEANDERTHAL DNA FOUND IN SOUTHERN ITALY PINPOINTED TO 128,000 TO 187,000 YEARS OLD

A team of researchers has confirmed that Altamura Man was a Neanderthal, and revealed that the bones are 128,000 to 187,000 years old. Altamura Man was discovered in 1993 in the karst caves of Lamalunga, near Altamura, in southern Italy - one of the most extraordinary hominin specimens ever found in Europe. The remains were embedded in rock and covered in a thick layer of calcite. It was thought that excavating the remains would cause irreparable damage, and they have remained in situ. There was some debate initially about morphology and age. Subsequent study led to a consensus that the visible remains (the head, and part of a shoulder) were that of an archaic Neanderthal, of a genus believed to have been widespread in Europe 200,000 to 40,000 years ago.

The researchers with the current project began their work six years ago. A tiny part of shoulder bone was extracted. Uranium-thorium dating revealed that the calcite was formed 172,000 to 130,000 years ago, during the penultimate quaternary (Pleistocene) glaciations period - the last of five glaciations during Earth's history.

DNA has also been retrieved from the sample, and because of the age, represents the oldest ever recovered from Neanderthal remains. The researchers next plan to test the DNA sample to see if it can be sequenced. They are hopeful it might reveal new details about the evolution of hominids in general, and perhaps more about the early history of the Neanderthal.

Edited from PhysOrg (3 April 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/pmskntr
[1 image]

BRITAIN'S OLDEST HUMAN CREMATION FOUND IN ESSEX (5600 BC)

Archaeologists say a section of burnt bone, discovered during preparations for a new pipeline in Essex (England) and dated to the Mesolithic period, come from the oldest human cremation in Britain.

A meter-round pit at Langford contained 118g of cremated bone, back filled with charcoal in a burial believed to represent at least one adult from 5600 BCE. Two radiocarbon dates have been confirmed from the fragments, weighing less than a tenth of the weight expected from a complete individual. A further test was performed on ashes from the pyre. Only around 20 examples of burials from the British Mesolithic, between 10000 BC and 4000 BC, are known, none of which had been cremated. Three cremations from the period come from Ireland, with several discovered across Europe.

"This deposit shows that people had the required understanding of fire and pyre technology to achieve the high temperature required for complete combustion of the corpse - probably greater than 600 degrees centigrade," says Nick Gilmour, who led the excavation for Oxford Archaeology. "It also hints at a belief system where the dead were sufficiently respected that they were not simply abandoned, as has been previously believed, and that time and resources were invested in funerary practices despite a mobile, hand-to-mouth existence," Gilmour added.

Three struck flints, found in the same pit, included sharp blades fitting the technology of the period. A Bronze Age barrow was also unearthed during construction work.

Edited from Culture24 (15 April 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/pahh5me
[4 images]

CHINESE SITE REVEALS STONE ARTIFACTS 1.95 TO 1.77 YEARS AGO

At an eroded basin in Hebei province researchers have discovered what could be a “playground” of early hominids nearly two million years ago Examination of stone artifacts between 1.77 and 1.95 million years old suggested that they could be toys played with by children. This is an amazing discovery,” said professor Wei Qi, paleoanthropologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead scientist of the project at the Heitugou site in Nihewan basin, Yangyuan county.
In an area less than six square meters, scientists found more than 700 stone artifacts with nearly 20,000 fragmented pieces.

Wei, now retired and spending most of his time at the site, believed that these stone pieces were made by the hands of children and women. More than 80 per cent of them were small, ranging 20 – 50mm in length, with most carrying no sign of wear by use at all. One artifact, tagged HTG268, caught Wei’s special attention. In his opinion it could be a toy or gift made by a mother for her child.“It was so finely made and beautifully shaped, its quality could rival the stone artifacts of much more recent periods.”

There is other evidence suggesting the site was a playground instead of a living or working area. Researchers failed to find large amount of animal remains that are common in a habitat, and the near absence of large size stone tools could be a sign that few adult workers were involved in these activities. A big challenge was to determine the age of these stone artifacts, Wei said. Though the site was discovered as early as 2002, it was not until recently that the scientists were able to date it with any certainty.

Using a geochronological tool called magnetostratigraphy, which analyzed the direction change of the ancient Earth’s magnetic field that was recorded in the site’s sediment, the scientists found the Heitugou site to be older than the famous Dmanisi site in Georgia, which was regarded the earliest known hominid site outside of Africa.

The concentrated distribution and little wear showed that they were buried by a sudden event, likely a landslide, which protected them from later exposure to winds and precipitation. The Heitugou site was discovered in Nihewan basin, Yangyuan county, Hebei province. Before the catastrophic event, the playground was likely a small paradise.

Nihewan basin, now a rugged landscape with deep gorges, used to be an enormous lake which provided an ideal habitat for early hominids. In the past century, researchers have discovered numerous early hominid sites in the area.Children and their mothers could feel safe enough to sit by the lake making large amounts of stone toys. The scant animal fossils discovered at the Heihegou site were all herbivores such as elephants and rhinoceros.

But Wei’s discovery at the Heitugou site was not without controversy. Gao Xing, researcher with the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, said the biggest concern was whether the stone pieces were all made by hand. “It is difficult to rule out the possibility that they were just stone fragments created by natural forces. They were too old, too preliminary. To determine whether they were hand-made artifacts may go beyond the limit of science today,” said Gao, who had visited the site.

“Future studies would be much needed. The Heitugou site has potential for significant discoveries, though it imposes some enormous challenges to paleoanthropologists.” Wei said he was sure that the stone pieces were hand made. If they are not, most stone pieces in museums today would be a subject of doubt, he said. But he admitted that the discovery brought up some difficult questions. It is commonly believed that the first hominid ventured out of Africa about 1.8 million years ago, via a route from Europe to Asia, but if there were hominids in China at the same time, the date or route of the expansion should be reconsidered.

BULDOZING OF NIMRUD AND HATRA DISPUTED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS AND SATELLITE IMAGES

Iraqi government's reports that the ancient archaeological sites of Nimrud and Hatra were completely destroyed and leveled to the ground by the Islamic State (Isis) have been disputed by an international association of archaeologists citing satellite imagery and local professional sources. Claims that Nimrud, an Assyrian 13th century BC site, and Hatra, a world heritage site blending Hellenistic and Roman architecture with Eastern decorative elements, were "bulldozed" by IS were first reported by the Iraqi ministry of tourism and antiquities.

The destruction would be the latest in a series of attacks on ancient artifacts and antiquities in Iraq and Syria in the name of an iconoclastic and strict interpretation of Islamic Law by IS. The jihadist group draws inspiration from early Islamic history, rejects religious shrines and condemns Iraq's majority Shi'ite Muslims as heretics. Irina Bokova, head of the UN cultural agency Unesco, called the alleged demolition of Hatra "a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing under way in Iraq".

But Marc Lebeau, Belgian archaeologist and founder of non-profit Shirin (Syrian Heritage in Danger: an International research initiative and network), told IBTimes UK that these "single-sourced statements" are not supported by any sources on the ground."I had some doubts at the beginning. I tried to cross check this information with Asor, with their sources and partners. We also have our own sources in Mosul and Nineveh province. They are all professionals and able to access any damage. They didn't say anything. If something had happened they would've told us immediately. We don't have any confirmation from these sources," he said.

The most recent satellite imagery from UNOSat via the Unesco World Heritage Centre "do not reveal any massive human/mechanical presence, nor visible destruction" in the Nineveh province areas in question, according to Lebeau, who added that nonetheless we need to be cautious about IS.

Unesco confirmed to IBTimes UK that satellite images show that the sites of Nimrud and Hatra "have not been completely razed to the ground" but added that it is difficult to tell what really happened. "The images' resolution is really low so it's difficult to get a conclusive result. It's not clear whether damages have taken place to the site. We're in the process of analysing the images and comparing them to the previous ones taken at the site," said Giovanni Boccardi of Unesco's World Heritage Centre.

He said that many sculptures and decorations "could have been destroyed" by the Islamic State. "It's difficult to assess the situation from the satellite pictures. Even if they only destroyed a part of the site or knocked off a decoration, it would still be a total catastrophe."

NEANDERTHAL RECONSTRUCTION OF THE REMAINS OF A 2 YEAR OLD SHOWS MAJOR ANATOMICAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THEM AND OUR SPECIES

Asier Gómez-Olivencia, an Ikerbasque researcher at the UPV/EHU, has led a piece of research that has produced a 3D reconstruction of the remains of a two-year-old Neanderthal recovered from an excavation carried out back in the 1970s at La Ferrassie (Dordogne, France). The work reveals the existence of anatomical differences between the Neanderthals and our species, even in the smallest ossicles of the human body.

The Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) inhabited Europe and parts of western Asia between 230,000 and 28,000 years ago; during the last few millennia they coincided with Homo Sapiens Sapiens, and became extinct for reasons that are still being challenged. The archaeological site at La Ferrassie, excavated throughout the 20th century, is a mythical enclave because it was where 7 Neanderthal skeletons, ranging from foetuses to almost complete skeletons of adults, were found.

Among the remains discovered at La Ferrassie is the skeleton of a 2-year-old Neanderthal child found between 1970 and 1973 and baptized La Ferrassie 8; over 40 years since its discovery it has turned out to be useful in shedding new light on the anatomy of this extinct species. The study of these new remains has been published in the Journal of Human Evolution, and has also had the participation of researchers of the CNRS (French National Centre for Scientific Research) in Paris and Bordeaux. The fact that a discovery of such significance has been made thanks to reviewing the remains excavated in the 1970s provides the researcher with proof of "the importance and need to review old excavations. We're in no doubt about that."

The study began by reviewing the collections at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris and at the Museo d'Archéologie national de St. Germain-en-Laye linked to the excavations at La Ferrassie in 1970 and 1973; it was there that 47 new fossils belonging to La Ferrassie 8, which complete its skeleton further, were recovered. Remains of a skull, jaw, vertebrae, ribs and hand phalanges were found among the new fossils.

Featuring among the remains is a very complete left temporal bone and an auditory ossicle was found inside it: a complete stapes. Virtual 3D reconstruction techniques enabled this ossicle to be "extracted virtually" and studied.
This stapes is the most complete one in the Neanderthal record and certifies that there are morphological differences between our species and the Neanderthals even in the smallest ossicles in the human body. As Asier Gómez-Olivencia pointed out, "we do not yet know the relation between these morphological differences and hearing in the Neanderthals. This would constitute a new challenge for the future."

VAST ROMAN VILLA FOUND IN YORKSHIRE WHERE A BYPASS WILL BE BUILT

Archaeologists say they have been given a “rare glimpse” into a vast Roman villa with winged corridors and a pavilion-style room with an underfloor heating system on the proposed site of a new bypass in North Yorkshire. Small sections of tessellated mosaic and a concrete floor, covered by wall plaster lying face down on top of it, have been discovered in Bedale, where an excavation of the villa, launched in November 2014, has unearthed pottery from between the mid-3rd and 4th centuries and a nearby ditched enclosure from the late Iron Age Romano-British period. The site lies comparatively close to Dere Street, a former Roman road, and within ten kilometres of the major Roman site at Catterick.

The villa is located on a ridge of higher land defined by Scurf Beck to the west, which flows southwards into Bedale Beck, a tributary of the River Swale, and Dere Street Roman road to the east.Geophysical surveying indicates that the villa is of a substantial size and is set within a landscape of enclosures and field systems. The road corridor runs through the western extent of the villa and a triangular area of land has also been stripped of topsoil to the east to better understand the Aiskew villa complex. The masonry walls of the villa have been robbed at some date, with the stones presumably used to build structures somewhere in the vicinity.

An intact concrete floor surface survives in the room at the north-east end of the corridor beneath areas of painted wall plaster which had collapsed onto the floor, possibly when the villa was demolished. A small square room with internal dimensions of around four meters appears to have been added on to the north-west side of the villa complex at some date. This was a room heated by a hypcocaust system, demonstrated by the remains of pilae stacks which would have supported a suspended floor. Hot air would have been drawn under the floor from a fire within an external stokehole identified on the north-west side of the room. Hollow wall tiles know as box-flue tiles would have been attached to the inside of the stone external walls and the hot air would have travelled up through the tiles and out of the building through vents. The internal surface of the tiles was covered in layers of plaster and the final layer was painted. The demolition debris excavated from this room by experts contained large quantities of wall tiles and painted wall plaster in many different colours, suggesting that this was a well-appointed room. It may have been used for entertaining and could perhaps be a heated dining room. Stone and tile roof tiles have also been recovered from demolition deposits across the building.

Quantities of animal bone have been found alongside oyster and mussel shells. Personal items including bone pins and copper-alloy brooches have been discovered, as well as iron tools including knives and a cleaver, used to butcher animals.

Such enclosures were in use in the region from the Late Iron Age, with the local population continuing to occupy many sites into the Roman period. The interior of the Bedale enclosure has been badly damaged by ploughing and all that survives are a few pits; there are no traces of insubstantial structures such as roundhouses.The upper fills of the ditch have produced small quantities of handmade Iron Age tradition pottery; such pottery is not closely datable as it was manufactured in this region over a very long period and continued to be manufactured during the Roman period. The enclosure was obviously in use into the Roman period as a small quantity of wheel-thrown Romano-British and imported samian pottery has also been found.

NORTHERN CHINA ERODED BASIN UNCOVERS WHAT COULD BE A PLAYGROUND OF EARLY HOMINIDS NEARLY TWO MILLION YEARS AGO

Examination of stone artifacts between 1.77 and 1.95 million years old suggested that they could be toys played with by children. “This is an amazing discovery,” said professor Wei Qi, paleoanthropologist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and lead scientist of the project at the Heitugou site in Nihewan basin, Yangyuan county. “The site is a treasure chamber that may hold some useful clues to answer a lot of important questions, from the social structure of the early hominids to whether, when and how they arrived in Asia all the way from Africa.”

The “playground” was not big, but seemingly bustling with activity. In an area less than six square meters, scientists found more than 700 stone artifacts with nearly 20,000 fragmented pieces. Wei, now retired and spending most of his time at the site, believed that these stone pieces were made by the hands of children and women. More than 80 per cent of them were small, ranging 20 – 50mm in length, with most carrying no sign of wear by use at all.

There is other evidence suggesting the site was a playground instead of a living or working area. Researchers failed to find large amount of animal remains that are common in a habitat, and the near absence of large size stone tools could be a sign that few adult workers were involved in these activities. Though the site was discovered as early as 2002, it was not until recently that the scientists were able to date it with any certainty.

Using a geochronological tool called magnetostratigraphy, which analyzed the direction change of the ancient Earth’s magnetic field that was recorded in the site’s sediment, the scientists found the Heitugou site to be older than the famous Dmanisi site in Georgia, which was regarded the earliest known hominid site outside of Africa.

The concentrated distribution and little wear showed that they were buried by a sudden event, likely a landslide, which protected them from later exposure to winds and precipitation. Before the catastrophic event, the playground was likely a small paradise. Nihewan basin, now a rugged landscape with deep gorges, used to be an enormous lake which provided an ideal habitat for early hominids. In the past century, researchers have discovered numerous early hominid sites in the area.

But Wei’s discovery at the Heitugou site was not without controversy. Gao Xing, researcher with the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, said the biggest concern was whether the stone pieces were all made by hand.

ARCHAIC NEANDERTHAL FROM SOUTHERN ITALY CALLED ALTAMURA MAN ANALYZED AFTER 20 YEARS AND DEEMED THE OLDEST NEANDERTHAL EVER FOUND

Altamura Man was discovered in a cave in southern Italy in 1993 by cave explorers. The finding was reported to researchers at the University of Bari. The remains were embedded in rock and were covered in a thick layer of calcite

It was thought that excavating the remains would cause irreparable damage and thus, they have remained in situ for over twenty years, leaving researchers to rely on casual observation for their studies. For that reason, there was some debate initially about morphology and age. Subsequent study led to a consensus that the remains (only the head and part of a shoulder are visible) were that of an archaic Neanderthal, of a Homo genus believed to have been widespread in Europe 200,000 to 40,000 years ago.

The researchers with the current project began their work six years ago—a tiny part of shoulder bone (and stalactite fragments) was extracted and brought back to the lab for study. Analysis by Uranium-thorium dating revealed that the calcite was formed 172,000 to 130,000 years ago—during the penultimate quaternary glaciations period. The team also reports that samples of DNA have also been retrieved from the sample, and because of the age, represent the oldest such samples ever recovered from Neanderthal remains.

It is believed that Altamura Man wound up in such a peculiar spot after falling in a well and getting stuck—it is assumed he starved to death, or died from lack of water intake. The researchers next plan to test the DNA sample to see if it can be sequenced—if so, they are hopeful it might reveal new details about the evolution of hominids in general and perhaps more about the early history of the Neanderthal.


Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-04-altamura-yields-oldest-neanderthal-dna.html#jCp

NEWLY DISCOVERED ANCIENT MAYA CITADEL DETECTED THROUGH REMOTE SENSING EAST OF THE MAIN TEMPLES OF EL PILAR

Spread across the imaginary line between western Belize and northeastern Guatemala, El Pilar is considered the largest site in the Belize River region, boasting over 25 known plazas and hundreds of other structures, covering an area of about 120 acres. Monumental construction at El Pilar began in the Middle Preclassic period, around 800 BCE, and at its height centuries later it supported more than 20,000 people. Ford, who is the Director of the BRASS/El Pilar Program at the MesoAmerican Research Center of the University of California, Santa Barbara, has taken a "hands-off", highly selective conservation approach to investigating the site. With the exception of a fully exposed Maya house structure, most of the structures at El Pilar have remained completely conserved by design, still covered in their tropical shroud. The Citadel excavations will open a new chapter in the research at El Pilar.

For three decades, archaeologist Anabel Ford has been exploring and studying the ancient Maya site of El Pilar, but until now she has never encountered anything like the ‘Citadel’. “We discovered a completely new component of the greater site that does not meet with any traditional expectations,” said Ford. “It shares nothing in common with Classic Maya centers: no clear open plaza, no cardinal structure orientation, and curiously no evident relationship to the major Classic site of El Pilar, little more that 600 meters away."

What Ford was describing was an unseen building, or associated complex of buildings, that was recently only detected by remote sensing technology—more specifically, a laser application known as LiDAR, or Light Detection and Ranging—in this instance an airborne remote sensing technique utilizing a helicopter employing laser technology to penetrate the thick vegetation and forest canopy that overlies and enshrouds objects and structures. It is a way of ‘seeing through’ the forest to reveal things otherwise invisible to the naked eye.

LiDAR helped to produce a remarkable map of El Pilar, revealing unexposed Maya architectural and other human-made features that, although still hidden from the naked eye, fit an often-seen pattern. This new set of structures, however, was something new. Dubbed the “Citadel” because of its location perched atop a ridge with the appearance of fortifications, it contains concentric terracing and four ‘temples’, each about three to four meters high. Unlike the other structure complexes, it seems by placement to have been isolated from the rest of greater El Pilar.
“The complex stretches from south to north across nearly a kilometer of terrain dramatically shaped into the hill with evident design and purpose,” states Ford. “The enormous complex presents a mystery. What is its origin? When was it built? How was it used? Why was it isolated?”

In a quest to find answers, Ford will be returning to the site in 2015, this time to do some ‘ground-truthing” and excavation. It will involve preliminary excavations to gather information about the nature and use of the constructions and terraces.

Ford hypothesizes that the Citadel, if it is a Classic period site, may have been designed and used for purposes separate from the Classic period site of El Pilar nearby, but she suggests two other contending possibilities: It could be an early, Preclassic (before 250 BCE) construction, before the organization of buildings on plazas became standardized during the Classic period (200 – 1000 CE); or it could be a later construction of the Postclassic period (after 1200 CE) when defensive locations were common. This would explain the massive terracing and the higher, ridge-top location.

EARLY HUMAN EVOLUTION -- NEW STUDY SHOWS "LITTLE FOOT" ONE OF MANY SPECIES OF AUSTR ALOPITHICENES AND 1/2 MILLION YEARS OLDER THAN "LUCY"

The research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that early hominids may have been far more diverse than previously thought.

Discovered in a cave in South Africa in the early 1990s, Little Foot (named for his tiny feet) was first thought to be about 4 million years old. But later estimates, based on minerals found in the same cave, placed him closer to 2.2 million years old. For years, scientists could not agree.

Now, an international team of researchers has turned to a dating technique that measures levels of aluminum and beryllium in the rock layer holding the fossil. Their conclusion: Little Foot is 3.67 million years old, about half a million years older than Lucy.

If accurate, the new estimate suggests that there may have been many different species of Australopithecus inhabiting a far greater range in Africa than previously thought.

POMPEII RESTORATIONS NOW VISIBLE AND EXCELLENT!

Despite its name, the Villa of the Mysteries, arguably the best-known monument at the archaeological site here buried by Vesuvian fury in A.D. 79, has something to reveal.

Restorations completed earlier this year and presented recently have disclosed the brilliant colors as they existed at the time of the eruption, as well as repair work that was done on some figures in ancient times, preservation officials said. An international team of experts used both traditional and high-tech methods to restore the mosaics and frescoes and supporting structures in the villa during the two-year project.

“This is the most ambitious restoration ever because it involved all the rooms,” said Massimo Osanna, the culture ministry official in charge of the site.

Though Pompeii is one of the world’s most famous archaeological sites, drawing more than 2.5 million visitors annually, in recent years, the site has most often grabbed headlines when something went wrong, usually an incident involving the collapse of a wall after bad weather. The criticism has made Italian officials bristle, and the culture minister, Dario Franceschini, grumbled on Friday that since the world’s news media has been so quick to “shine a spotlight on Pompeii every time something negative happens,” he hoped the news media would be as enthusiastic in reporting the restoration of “a pearl.”

Controversy has hounded the caretakers of one of the world’s largest open-air museums practically since it was first excavated in 1748. Exposure to the elements and the wear and tear tourists have proved to be serious challenges to safeguarding the vast site, not to mention the damage from the eruption, the occasional earthquake and the Allied bombing in 1943. And all too often restorers are called on to remedy the unintentional damage caused by their predecessors. In the 1960s, for example, “concrete was seen as the great save-all — it’s taken years to remove old restorations,” said Antonio Varone, a former director of the excavations at Pompeii.

Three years ago, the public outcry over Pompeii’s state of health prompted the European Union to allocate nearly €80 million (about $86.5 million) for its preservation, topped off by Italy for a total of €105 million (or $113.5 million.) There’s a catch: the funds must be spent by the end of 2015, or be returned, and critics have accused Pompeii officials of dragging their heels. Officials in Pompeii said on Friday that a sizable portion of the funds had already been earmarked for projects, and they felt confident that they would be able to meet the year-end deadline.

The cash infusion also covered 85 new jobs for archaeologists and engineers, and six-month apprenticeships for 150 budding archaeologists assigned to organize thousands of artifacts that have been in deposits for decades. Sidi Gorica, a recently graduated archaeologist at the University of Bologna said working at the site, even if only for a few months, was a dream come true. “It enriches you,” he said.

Mosaics were restored one piece at a time, while frescoes were cleaned. Lasers were also used on the frescoes, in particular to remove layers of wax that had been applied since the 1930s, oxidizing over time to darken the colors. The restored palette is what Pompeiians saw when Vesuvius erupted, Mr. Osanna said, adding that the lasers also allowed restorers to determine that some figures had already been repaired in ancient times. “Problems of deterioration had begun before the eruption,” he said. Experts also used ultrasound, thermal imaging and radar to study the walls of the villa and gauge their level of deterioration. The results will be published in the coming months so that they can be consulted for future restorations.

PREHISTORIC ROCK ART -- IN COUNTY MAYO -- IRELAND

A rare sample of prehistoric rock art has been found on an ancient pilgrimage route to Croagh Patrick in Co Mayo (Ireland). The prehistoric engravings resemble that found in Lough Crew, Co Meath, and is one of just of two rock art samples of its type to be identified west of the Shannon, according to archaeologist Michael Gibbons.

The panel had been concealed behind the outcropping at the Boheh townland known as St Patrick's chair, which has some 250 petroglyphs or carvings on its surface. The carvings are believed to have been inspired by the 'rolling sun' phenomenon, where the setting sun appears to glide down the flank of Croagh Patrick during the months of April and August.

The new panel was found by Michael Moylan of Ardmore, Co Galway and Mr Gibbons during field work they were doing for a series of educational programs for Connemara Community Radio.

The panel has spiral engravings, which are not as weathered as those on the chair due to the shelter afforded by its concealment. Mr Gibbons said that the site dates back about 5,800 years. "Rock art is more frequent in the southwest, in Donegal and in Wicklow, but is very elusive in the west," he said. It has been identified at Lochán na Sídhe near Tourmakeady in Co Mayo.

Edited from The Irish Times (27 February 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/oz5qzo3
[1 image]

NORTHERN IRELAND -- A NEOLITHIC PREHISTORIC RITUAL MONUMENT (C. 4,500 YEARS AGO) RECENTLY UNCOVERED

Archeologists are probing a Neolithic henge in the middle of Aghagallon which they believe dates back more than 4,500 years. The name of this small village in County Armagh (Northern Ireland) comes from the Gaelic 'Achadh Gallan', meaning 'field of the standing stone', and it was just a few years ago that its true significance was uncovered when they discovered the giant ringed site.

For many years it was unclear where this standing stone might be, however when the local community association made plans to extend its building on the Aghalee Road, it was discovered that they were right beside the standing stone. The ringed site which is in the townland of Derrynaseer was designated as a scheduled historic monument in 2003. It is formed by a large earthen bank which encloses a domed area some 180m in diameter and is clearly visible on Google Earth.

Archeologists from the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA) have been on-site recently and are carrying out non-invasive investigations to try and discover what lies beneath this site

A spokesperson for the NIEA said: "Based on the physical form of the surviving remains of the earthwork we believe that it is probably a henge, a prehistoric ritual monument, which would have been built some 4,500 years ago by local early farming communities. There are only eight surviving examples of this type of monument in Northern Ireland, the most famous being the Giant's Ring, which is located just outside Belfast."

Edited from LurganMail (3 March 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/o5xeq2f
[1 image, 1 map]

ISRAEL -- FIRST DIRECT EVIDENCE FOR THE PRECISE USE OF PALEOLITHIC STONE TOOLS TO PROCESS ANIMAL CARCASSES AND HIDES -- C 500,000 YEARS OLD

Professor Ran Barkai and two graduate students from the Tel Aviv University Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Cultures recently confirmed that stone tools found among elephant remains at a Lower Palaeolithic site in Israel held traces of animal remains - the first scientifically verified direct evidence for the precise use of Palaeolithic stone tools to process animal carcasses and hides.

"Fracturing rocks in order to butcher and cut animal meat represents a key biological and cultural milestone," Professor Barkai says. "At the Revadim quarry, a wonderfully preserved site a half-million years old, we found butchered animal remains, including an elephant rib bone which had been neatly cut by a stone tool, alongside flint hand-axes and scrapers still retaining animal fat. It became clear from further analyses that butchering and carcass processing indeed took place at this site. Archaeologists have until now only been able to suggest scenarios about the use and function of such tools."

Hand-axes and scrapers found at prehistoric sites all around the world were distinct implements, used for specific purposes. By comparing replicas with their prehistoric counterparts, the researchers determined that the hand-axe was prehistoric man's sturdy "Swiss army knife," capable of cutting and breaking down bone, tough sinew, and hide. The slimmer, more delicate scraper was used for skinning carcasses and preparing hides.


Edited from EurekAlert! (19 March 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/qznm86f
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SOUTHERN LIBYA -- ANCIENT STONE AGE TOOLS EVERYWHERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SAHARAN DESERT!

A new intensive survey of the Messak Settafet escarpment in southern Libya, a massive outcrop of sandstone in the middle of the Saharan desert, has shown that stone tools occur everywhere across the entire landscape, averaging 75 artifacts per square meter, in an area 350 kilometers long, and on average 60 kilometers wide - approximately 21,000 square kilometers.

Researchers say this vast assemblage of stone-age tools were extracted from and discarded onto the escarpment over hundreds of thousands of years - the earliest known example of an entire landscape being modified by hominins: the group of creatures that include us and our ancestral species.

"The Messak sandstone, now in the middle of the vast sand seas of Libya, would have been a high quality rock for hominins to fracture - the landscape is in effect a carpet of stone tools, most probably made in the Middle and Upper Pleistocene," said Dr Robert Foley, from the University of Cambridge, who conducted the research with colleague Dr Marta Mirazon Lahr.

Clusters of small quarrying pits dot the landscape, ranging up to 2 meters in diameter, and 50 centimeters in depth. These pits would have retained moisture, and the small pools would have attracted game. In many of these pits, the team found 'trapping stones': large stones used for traps and ties for game and cattle during the last 10,000 years.

Although stone tool manufacture dates back at least 2.5 million years, the researchers limited their estimate to one million years. Based on their and others research, they standardized population density, tool volume, the number of tools used by one person in a year and the amount of resulting debris per tool. They estimate an average density of between 0.5 and 5 million stone artifacts per square kilometer of Africa.

Edited from Univeristy of Cambridge PR (11 March 2015), Mail Online (11 March 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/psxuwhz
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http://tinyurl.com/onstu3d
[6 images, 1 map]

ALABAMA, USA, NEW FACILITY TO BE BUILT -- MEANTIME EXCAVATIONS CONTINUE AROUND EARLY NATIVE AMERICAN BURIAL GROUND

Hunter Johnson and Travis Rael have been excavating around the now-closed Florence Indian Mound Museum (Alabama, USA) in anticipation of a new facility being built later this year. They work for Tennessee Valley Archaeological Research, which is under contract with the city to perform the work.

The mound is from the Native American Woodland period, Johnson said, which dated from 1,000 BCE to 250 CE. The Florence mound is believed to be from the Middle Woodland period, Johnson said, with radio carbon dating at the top of the mound showing it in use about 250 CE, leading to the conclusion lower portions of the mound are older.

Pieces of flinty stone, along with bits of broken pottery, is evidence of habitation around the ancient mound on the north bank of the Tennessee River, Johnson said: "The pottery helps us tell the period people were here," he said. "The clay was mixed with something that kept the pottery from exploding when it was fired. That material tells us when it was made."

The city has earmarked $1.25 million to build a new museum to replace the existing building, which was acquired in the late 1960s. "We're moving as fast as we can possibly move with this," Mayor Mickey Haddock said, and now officials are awaiting the result of the archaeological excavations. "We have not found any artifacts that would prevent us from using that site," Haddock said.

Edited from SFGate (24 March 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/nmwxn6c

ROCK ART IN INDIA -- C 1000 BCE -- NEWLY DISCOVERED -- BUT NEEDS CONSERVATION!

Two more engravings of wild bulls on basalt rock have come to light in the Zarme tributary of River Mhadei at Mauxi, Sattari (Konkan, West India). On March 28, members of the Keri-based group Vivekanad Puratatva Abhyas Mandal spotted these engravings below the 'bullfight' that was part of the rich rock art heritage discovered in the area on August 10, 1999. The new findings are due to unauthorized sand excavations made to the lower part of the rock.

The engravings on basalt rock boulders spotted earlier include a bull with straight and vertical horns, with a rounded hump; it shows the use of the bruising technique (chipping off the weathered rock surface to create a two-dimensional picture by changing the rock surface). On another rock is a deer with linear, elongated body and legs shown separately in lines, with a raised head and short raised tail. In front of it is found a deeply engraved trishul, a type of traditional trident.

Well-known archaeologist M Nambirajan, in his book 'Coastal Archaeology of Western India' notes, "Engravings and bruises in Mauxi of animals and a trishul may be of the Megalithic phase, probably datable to C 1000 BCE." "The Petroglyphs discovered in Mauxi are our greatest surviving art treasures, yet no effort is being made to protect this heritage for posterity. They simply lie in the open and can be destroyed by anybody," said Arvind Redkar, principal, BEd college, Mumbai, who visited the site.

Edited from The Times of India (31 March 2015)
http://tinyurl.com/k6xdt6c