https://phys.org/science-news/archaeology-fossils en-us The latest news on archaeology, archaeological research and archaeological advancements. A research group led by the Nagoya University Museum and Graduate School of Environmental Studies in Japan has clarified differences in the physical characteristics of rocks used by early humans during the Paleolithic. They found that humans selected rock for a variety of reasons and not just because of how easy it was to break off. This suggests that early humans had the technical skill to discern the best rock for the tool. https://phys.org/news/2023-12-paleolithic-humans-understood-properties-stone.html Archaeology Fri, 01 Dec 2023 07:23:03 EST news620637781 A series of 'bone biographies' created by a major research project tell the stories of medieval Cambridge residents as recorded on their skeletons, illuminating everyday lives during the era of Black Death and its aftermath. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-bone-biographies-reveal-medieval-england.html Archaeology Social Sciences Thu, 30 Nov 2023 19:00:01 EST news620582536 Scientists should seek answers hidden in the dirt using proven and state-of-the-art archaeological science techniques to support new discoveries about human evolution following recent controversies at a cave site in Africa, says a group of international experts. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-dishing-dirt-human-evolution-scientific.html Archaeology Thu, 30 Nov 2023 11:57:48 EST news620567865 In 1783, the City of London was gripped by a court case which symbolized the brutal economics of slavery. Two years previously, the Liverpool slave ship Zong had set out from Accra, in present-day Ghana, with 442 men, women and children crammed in its hold. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-lloyds-london-archives-important-city.html Archaeology Social Sciences Wed, 29 Nov 2023 12:35:04 EST news620483701 About 350 million people across Africa speak one or more of the 500 Bantu languages. New genetic analysis of modern and ancient individuals suggests that these populations probably originated in western Africa and then moved south and east in several waves. The study has been published in Nature. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-bantu-speaking-populations-expansion-africa.html Archaeology Social Sciences Wed, 29 Nov 2023 12:20:03 EST news620482801 The double burial of an adult woman and an infant, dating to about 7000–6800 BCE, discovered in 1934 during construction works at the spa gardens of Bad Dürrenberg, is regarded as one of the outstanding burial finds of the Mesolithic in Central Europe. Because of the unusual equipment with the woman, who was buried in a seated position, and her bodily anomalies, the burial is interpreted as that of a shaman. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-genetic-year-old-shaman-burial-germany.html Archaeology Wed, 29 Nov 2023 09:40:04 EST news620473201 A research team from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the University of Almeria discovered in the latest excavations carried out at the site of El Trigal III, in the archaeological area of La Puntilla (Nasca, Ica, Peru), a new type of settlement. It is an architectural complex of large dimensions, consisting of a two-story building and a courtyard with warehouses from the time of the Wari State https://phys.org/news/2023-11-settlement-wari-state-peru.html Archaeology Tue, 28 Nov 2023 16:30:18 EST news620411416 Elagabalus ruled as Roman emperor for just four years before being murdered in AD 222. He was still a teenager when he died. Despite his short reign, Elagabalus is counted among the most infamous of Roman emperors, often listed alongside Caligula and Nero. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-museum-roman-emperor-transbut-modern.html Archaeology Social Sciences Tue, 28 Nov 2023 12:03:05 EST news620395382 In a study published in the journal Scientific Reports, researchers from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment (SHEP) at the University of Tübingen show that early humans of the Middle Paleolithic had a more varied diet than previously assumed. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-early-humans-paleolithic-age-game.html Archaeology Tue, 28 Nov 2023 09:37:12 EST news620386630 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that the following contains information about deceased persons, ceremonial practices, and Men's and Women's Business with the permission of the Gaanha-bula Action Group. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-trees-burial-sites-wiradjuri-elders.html Archaeology Mon, 27 Nov 2023 13:34:08 EST news620314445 The national park of Koli in eastern Finland is home to a famous, 34-meter-long crevice cave known as Pirunkirkko, or Devil's Church in English. In folklore, this crevice cave was known as a place where local sages would meet to contact the spirit world. Even today, the place is visited by practitioners of shamanism, who organize drumming sessions in the cave. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-witchcraft-devil-church-koli-based.html Archaeology Mon, 27 Nov 2023 10:25:03 EST news620303101 Research led by Nathan Nakatsuka of the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Boston, has found evidence supporting migrations into California from Mexico and the presence of Mexican-related ancestry in Central and Southern California starting around 5,200 years ago. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-years-migrations-mexico-california-mystery.html Archaeology Social Sciences Mon, 27 Nov 2023 09:29:25 EST news620299762 A possibly pre-Christian temple from the time of the East Anglian Kings, some 1,400 years ago, has been found at Rendlesham, near Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, by a team of archaeologists led by UCL researchers. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-year-old-temple-suffolk-royal-settlement.html Archaeology Fri, 24 Nov 2023 13:32:56 EST news620055173 In a landmark collaboration between Wiradjuri people, NSW State government and archaeologists, new research has revealed the deep-time hidden story of Wiradjuri carved trees (marara) and burials (dhabuganha) in Southeast Australia. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-unveiling-sacred-wiradjuri-trees.html Archaeology Fri, 24 Nov 2023 08:43:36 EST news620037806 The Iron Age site of Casas del Turuñuelo was used repeatedly for ritualized animal sacrifice, according to a multidisciplinary study published November 22, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Mª Pilar Iborra Eres of the Institut Valencià de Conservació, Restauració i Investigació, Spain, Sebastián Celestino Pérez of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Spain, and their colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-casas-del-turuuelo-site-animal.html Archaeology Wed, 22 Nov 2023 14:00:01 EST news619869578 New research findings reveal that some children in early medieval Bavaria were breastfed for much longer periods than today. Also, many early Bavarians buried around 500 AD originate from other geographical regions where feeding practices apparently differed. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-childhood-medieval-bavaria-teeth-reveal.html Archaeology Social Sciences Wed, 22 Nov 2023 10:51:04 EST news619872662 The eyes of the fifth graders in Ms. Evans' class widened as they saw a dazzling light on the classroom smartboard and the phrase, "Let's do the Time Warp!" https://phys.org/news/2023-11-warp-students-native-american-solutions.html Archaeology Education Tue, 21 Nov 2023 11:50:02 EST news619788240 A team of archaeologists, co-led by a researcher at the University of Southampton, believe they have located the site of the lost Monastery of Deer in Northeast Scotland. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-archaeologists-long-lost-scottish-monastery.html Archaeology Mon, 20 Nov 2023 16:49:40 EST news619721377 Prehistoric men hunted; prehistoric women gathered. At least this is the standard narrative written by and about men to the exclusion of women. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-physiological-archaeological-evidence-rewrites-assumptions.html Archaeology Mon, 20 Nov 2023 14:40:01 EST news619713477 Archaeologists from University College Dublin, working with colleagues from Serbia and Slovenia, have uncovered a previously unknown network of massive sites in the heart of Europe that could explain the emergence of the continent's Bronze Age megaforts—the largest prehistoric constructions seen prior to the Iron Age. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-archaeologists-uncover-europe-hidden-bronze.html Archaeology Mon, 20 Nov 2023 10:52:18 EST news619699935 On a summer's day in July 1943, a U.S. B-25 Mitchell bomber left Tunisia in North Africa on a mission to attack the Sciacca Aerodrome in Sicily, Italy. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-forensic-scientists-world-war-decades.html Archaeology Other Thu, 16 Nov 2023 16:40:04 EST news619375201 For a team of archaeologists digging in southwest Spain, the discovery of a Bronze/Iron Age stela—a funerary stone slab with carvings depicting an important individual—would have been exciting enough. But to find a stela that challenges longstanding interpretations of how the carvings represent gender and social roles in prehistoric times was beyond the teams' wildest dreams. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-late-prehistoric-discovery-archaeological-assumptions.html Archaeology Wed, 15 Nov 2023 17:15:01 EST news619290899 New dates provide detailed insights into the timing of events in the ancient city of Gezer, according to a study published November 15, 2023 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Lyndelle Webster of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and colleagues. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-radiocarbon-dating-egyptology-biblical-accounts.html Archaeology Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:00:02 EST news619262927 Orkney in the north of Scotland is renowned for its remarkably well-preserved monuments. Many of these are Neolithic (10,000 BC to 2,200 BC) and consist of stone circles and chambered tombs, which are still highly visible in the landscape. Chambered tombs are monuments built of stone with a chamber area designed to hold the remains of the dead. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-orkney-lost-tombhow-neolithic-discovery.html Archaeology Tue, 14 Nov 2023 12:20:05 EST news619186802 First Nations people, please be advised this article speaks of racially discriminating moments in history, including the distress and death of First Nations people. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-extensive-frontier-violence-queensland.html Archaeology Political science Tue, 14 Nov 2023 12:19:05 EST news619186741 Castles served to enforce law and order during the Middle Ages and the early modern era. Often, they had facilities to hold people captive. The Questenburg near Sangerhausen (Mansfeld-Südharz district) was probably built in the middle of the 13th century. In the basement of its tower, someone has immortalized themselves with numerous stone engravings. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-late-medieval-early-modern-stone.html Archaeology Mon, 13 Nov 2023 15:30:03 EST news619111802 Infants and toddlers may be psychologically wired to thrive with high levels of "sensitive care" and personal attention, according to a study conducted with contemporary hunter-gatherer societies. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-hunter-gatherer-approach-childcare-key-mother.html Archaeology Social Sciences Mon, 13 Nov 2023 11:45:05 EST news619098300 A University of Queensland-led research team says the key to a more sustainable food future may be a better understanding of ancient Indigenous food production systems. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-approach-aboriginal-foodways.html Archaeology Sun, 12 Nov 2023 06:10:02 EST news618840109 For almost 10 years, debate has raged over the book Dark Emu by Aboriginal historian Bruce Pascoe. In it, Pascoe argues many pre-colonial Aboriginal groups were farmers, pointing to examples like eel aquaculture in Victoria, and grain planting and threshing of native millet in the arid center. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-farmers-foragers-pre-colonial-aboriginal-food.html Archaeology Sat, 11 Nov 2023 11:50:01 EST news618839273 How did our species, Homo sapiens, arrive in Western Europe? Published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, our new study analyzes two skull fragments dating back between 37,000 and 36,000 years to conclude that our ancestors came from Eastern Europe and migrated westwards. These two individuals interbred with Neanderthals and with the very first European Homo sapiens, who arrived around 45,000 years ago and were thought to have become extinct following a major climatic catastrophe. https://phys.org/news/2023-11-archaeological-skull-fragments-ukraine-reveal.html Archaeology Thu, 09 Nov 2023 13:06:48 EST news618757602