All posts by Archeology worldwide team

ASIA, WORLD

According to an Expert A 2,700-year-old Inscription in Jerusalem Supports the Bible

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According to an Expert A 2,700-year-old Inscription in Jerusalem Supports the Bible

The Siloam Tunnel, also known as Hezekiah’s Tunnel, is an ancient waterway carved under Jerusalem some 2,700 years ago.

The tunnel ran under the City of David, funneling freshwater into Jerusalem from Gihon Spring, outside of the city’s walls. Mention of the tunnel is found in the Old Testament’s 2 Kings 20, where the Bible says the tunnel was constructed on the order of King Hezekiah.

According to scripture, the tunnel was carved into Jerusalem’s bedrock to ensure a supply of water during an impending siege by invading Assyrian forces.

2 Kings 20:20 reads: “Now the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and all his might, and how he made the pool, and the conduit, and brought water into the city, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?”

Tom Meyer, a professor in Bible and theology at Shasta Bible College and Graduate School in California, believes the tunnel is an incredible testament to the Bible’s historicity.

Professor Meyer told Express.co.uk there is ample archaeological evidence that validates the account in 2 Kings 2020.

Archaeology news: An expert believes an inscription in Siloam Tunnel proves the Bible right

In particular, an ancient Hebrew inscription found inside the tunnel sheds light on its construction.

Archaeology news: Siloam Tunnel is also known as Hezekiah’s Tunnel

Professor Meyer said: “Though the American historical geographer, Edward Robinson, was the first person to explore the tunnel in modern times – 1873 – it was a local boy named Jacob Spafford – the adopted son of the famous hymnist Horatio Spafford – who, while playing in the tunnel, stumbled upon one of the most important ancient Hebrew inscriptions ever found – 1880.

“The inscription is significant not only because it validates the Biblical account, but because it is the only inscription from ancient Israel that commemorates a public works program and is one of the oldest examples of Hebrew writing.”

The inscription was brought to the attention of local authorities but was irreparably damaged during its removal.

Hezekiah’s tunnel demonstrates once again the historical reliability of the Biblical account

Professor Tom Meyer, Shasta Bible College

However, Professor Meyer said the inscription contained a description of workers tunneling under Jerusalem from two opposite ends.

When the two groups finally connected, they left an inscription on the wall to commemorate their achievement.

The connection to King Hezekiah would place the tunnel’s construction at around the seventh century BC.

Professor Meyer said: “This amazing feat is mentioned numerous times in the Bible in connection with Hezekiah’s fortification preparations against Sennacherib of Assyria attacking Jerusalem.

Archaeology news: Water is still carried into the Pool of Siloam from Gihon Spring

“The Siloam Inscription is stored at the Istanbul Archeology Museum because it was discovered when Israel was under the dominion of the Ottoman Empire.

“Hezekiah’s tunnel, which still brings water into Jerusalem to this day, was an incredible feat of engineering; along with the epigraphical evidence – the accompanying Siloam Inscription – Hezekiah’s tunnel demonstrates once again the historical reliability of the Biblical account.”

Mention of the tunnel is also found in 2 Chronicles 32:1-4: “After these things, and the establishment thereof, Sennacherib king of Assyria came, and entered into Judah, and encamped against the fenced cities, and thought to win them for himself.

“And when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib has come and that he was purposed to fight against Jerusalem,

“He took counsel with his princes and his mighty men to stop the waters of the fountains which were without the city: and they did help him.

“So there was gathered many people together, who stopped all the fountains, and the brook that ran through the midst of the land, saying, Why should the kings of Assyria come, and find much water?”

The tunnel is also mentioned in 2 Chronicles 32:30: “This same Hezekiah also stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon, and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all his works

Another mention is found in Isaiah 22:11: “You made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool.

“But you did not look to him who did it, or have regard for him who planned it long ago.”

EUROPE, WORLD

Skeletons Found by Archaeologists in a London Dig Show Toxic Environment

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Skeletons Found by Archaeologists in a London Dig Show Toxic Environment

According to The Guardian, archaeologists excavating a 19th-century burial site in southwest London have discovered 100 bodies.

Their skeletons have acted as a stark reminder of how bleak and violent life was in Dickensian times.

One of the skeletons’ hands Dig Reveal Toxic Environment

A man suspected of being a bare-knuckle boxer, a murdered woman with a broken nose, and a young girl who died before her second birthday were among the bodies exhumed.

Many of those living in the area at the time would have been very poor and leading “a life of drudgery and just-about surviving”, Wessex Archaeology senior osteo archaeologist, Kirsten Egging Dinwiddy, told The Guardian.

The bodies were found at the New Covent Garden market, where a cemetery was attached to a local church. The cemetery was partially cleared in the 1960s when the markets were built.

The skull of a female who died as a result of a stab wound to the head.

Among the skeletal remains was evidence of arduous working conditions, a noxious environment, endemic diseases, physical deformities, malnutrition and deadly violence, she said.

One of the women found who had syphilis also had a broken nose and appeared to have been stabbed in her right ear with a dagger.

Archaeologists believe the woman was murdered.

Another man, also with syphilis, measured almost six feet tall, a stature of some magnitude at the time.

He had a flattened nose and a depression on his left brow suggesting he had “several violent altercations”.

The man’s knuckles also showed signs of fighting, and he may have been a bare-knuckle boxer, a common form of entertainment at the time, Ms. Egging Dinwiddy said.

Undoubtedly he would have had a “distinctive look”, and a “less than winning smile, she said.

Infant mortality rates were tragically high before and during the 19th century and the discovery of little Jane Clara Jay was a reminder of those harsh times, Ms. Egging Dinwiddy said.

Jane died in 1847 just before her second birthday.

A coffin plate was found alongside her remains. Although archaeologists identified some signs of malnutrition, the exact cause of her death is not clear.

NEW ZEALAND, WORLD

Researchers found a 3,300-year-old Bird Claw While Excavating in a Cave

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Researchers found a 3,300-year-old Bird Claw While Excavating in a Cave

Scientists have estimated the Earth to be more or less 4.54 billion years old, predating even human existence. Indeed, there’s a lot more to learn about our home planet than what we were taught in schools.

So, when a photo of an unusually massive bird claw surfaced online, people couldn’t help but be astounded by it. The giant claw was discovered by members of the New Zealand Speleological Society in 1987.

Over three decades ago, archaeologists found an unusually massive bird claw while traversing the cave systems of Mount Owen in New Zealand

They were traversing the cave systems of Mount Owen in New Zealand when they unearthed a breathtaking find. It was a claw that seemed to have belonged to a dinosaur. And much to their surprise, it still had muscles and skin tissues attached to it.

Later, they found out that the mysterious talon belonged to an extinct flightless bird species called moa. Native to New Zealand, moas, unfortunately, had become extinct approximately 700 to 800 years ago.

So, archaeologists have then posited that the mummified moa claw must have been over 3,300 years old upon discovery!

The claw turned out to have belonged to a now-extinct flightless species called moa.

Moas’ lineage most likely began around 80 million years ago on the ancient supercontinent Gondwana. Derived from the Polynesian word for fowl, moas consisted of three families, six genera and nine species.

These species varied in size—some were around the size of a turkey, while others were larger than an ostrich. Of the nine species, the two largest had a height of about 12 feet and a weight of about 510 pounds.

The now-extinct birds’ remains have revealed that they were mainly grazers and browsers, eating mostly fruits, grass, leaves and seeds.

Genetic studies have shown that their closest relatives were the flighted South American tinamous, a sister group to ratites. However, unlike all other ratites, the nine species of moa were the only flightless birds without vestigial wings.

Moas used to be the largest terrestrial animals and herbivores that dominated the forests of New Zealand. Prior to human arrival, their only predator was the Haast’s eagle.

Meanwhile, the arrival of the Polynesians, particularly the Maori, dated back to the early 1300s. Shortly after, moas became extinct and so did the Haast’s eagle.

Sadly, they became extinct shortly after humans arrived on the island.

Many scientists claimed that their extinction was mainly due to hunting and habitat reduction. Apparently, Trevor Worthy, a paleozoologist known for his extensive research on moa agreed with this presumption.

“The inescapable conclusion is these birds were not senescent, not in the old age of their lineage and about to exit from the world. Rather they were robust, healthy populations when humans encountered and terminated them.”

But whatever brought about these species’ extinction, may their remains serve as a reminder for us to protect other remaining endangered species.

ASIA, WORLD

Archaeologists Find Destruction Left by Babylonian Conquest of Jerusalem

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Archaeologists Find Destruction Left by Babylonian Conquest of Jerusalem

A section of Jerusalem’s city wall built some 2,700 years ago and mostly destroyed by the Babylonian army in 586 BCE was uncovered by archaeologists in the City of David National Park, the Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced in july 2021.

The section of the wall that was exposed.

The massive structure – some 5 m. wide – was built on the steep eastern slope leading to the city, just a few dozen meters away from the Temple Mount.

Probably the steepness of the area preserved the structure from destruction during the Babylonian conquest – a vivid account of which is offered in the Bible – since the invading army likely accessed the city from an easier path.

“By the ninth day [of the fourth month] the famine had become acute in the city; there was no food left for the common people. Then [the wall of] the city was breached…. On the seventh day of the fifth month – that was the 19th year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon – Nebuzaradan, the chief of the guards, an officer of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

He burned the House of the Lord, the king’s palace, and all the houses of Jerusalem; he burned down the house of every notable person,” reads the last chapter of the Book of Kings II.

For the archaeologist, uncovering the remains was very emotional, as related by Dr. Filip Vukosavovic of the Ancient Jerusalem Research Center, a codirector of the excavation with Dr. Joe Uziel and Ortal Chalaf on behalf of the IAA.

“When we exposed the first part of the wall, an area about 1 m. per 1 m. large, I immediately understood what we had found,” he said. “I almost cried.”

Indeed, the remains not only present an incredible testimony about centuries of life in Jerusalem and their tragic end but they also solved a decades-long archaeological mystery. During excavations in the area led by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon in the 1960s and by archaeologist Yigal Shiloh in the 1970s, remains of a massive wall were unearthed in two different spots of the slope.

However, since the two structures did not appear to be connected, most scholars did not believe that they were part of a city wall, whose presence was described in the Bible but still needed to be proven by archaeological evidence.

“Now we can say with certainty that the city wall did exist, at least on the eastern slope,” Vukosavovic said. Since the eastern slope represented the most difficult approach to access Jerusalem, it is safe to assume that also the rest of the city was surrounded by a wall, he added.

“The city wall protected Jerusalem from a number of attacks during the reign of the kings of Judah, until the arrival of the Babylonians who managed to break through it and conquer the city,” said Vukosavovic, Uziel and Chalaf.

While the newly uncovered section still has to be dated independently (“We are working on getting some radiocarbon dating,” Vukosavovic noted), the other two sections were built around the eighth century BCE, in a period also known as the First Temple period.

Behind the remains of the wall, the ruins of some houses are still visible. “In one, we found ashes that we believe date back to the Babylonian invasion,” said Vukosavovic.

In addition, the archaeologists uncovered multiple artifacts that offer a glimpse into the daily life of Jerusalem when the wall was still standing, and after its fall in 586 BCE: fragments of pots, pans and other vessels, seal impressions, some of them carrying inscriptions – for example, “lamelech” (to the king), which was usually featured on jars used for tax collection. A small Babylonian seal stamp made in stone was also found.

“Maybe it was dropped by one of the soldiers, or maybe it belonged to a Jerusalemite who liked Babylonian-style objects, or maybe it dates back to a later period and was owned by those who lived in the city after its destruction,” Vukosavovic remarked.

While the wall on the eastern slope remained standing – to the point that centuries later it would be used as a foundation for new buildings – Jerusalem was burned down, the Temple destroyed, and the Jews sent into exile.

Similarly, this happened again some 500 years later – when the city was again thriving – this time at the hands of the Romans. The second destruction took place on the ninth day of Av, on the same date as the first. 

EUROPE, SWEDEN, WORLD

15th-Century Spices Identified in Royal Shipwreck

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15th-Century Spices Identified in Royal Shipwreck

A pair of archaeologists with Lund University in Sweden has found “a treasure trove” of plants aboard a sunken 15th-century Norse ship. Mikael Larsson and Brendan Foley describe their findings in PLOS ONE.

Black pepper from the Gribshunden shipwreck. Plant parts of black pepper: a–c) different views of peppercorns, d) stalk segments, some with unripe berries of pepper.

In 1495, Danish King Hans docked his ship Gribshunden off the coast of Sweden in preparation for a meeting with Swedish ruler, Sten Sture the Elder.

His plan was to broker a deal that would give him control over Sweden as he had done with Norway, creating a united Nordic kingdom.

Unfortunately for Hans and many of his crew, the ship caught fire and sank. To give himself the upper hand, the King had filled his ship with both warriors and goods worthy of a rich and powerful man.

The loss of the ship led to a change in plans—Hans attacked Sweden soon thereafter and conquered the country instead of negotiating for it.

But the sinking of the ship also created a motherlode of artifacts for modern historians to study.

The wreck of the ship was found in the 1960s and was studied by marine archaeologists in the years thereafter, but not very thoroughly.

The new study was launched in 2019 and continued through 2021.

The team found that most of the expected artifacts had already been found in earlier expeditions, but something important had been overlooked—containers holding well-preserved plant material—more than 3,000 specimens.

The researchers found spices such as nutmeg, cloves, mustard and dill. They also found samples of other plant material, such as saffron and ginger, peppercorns and almonds.

Saffron from the Gribshunden shipwreck site. Plant parts of saffron: a–c) stigmas, d) petri dish showing a portion of the recovered saffron stigmas.

Some of the spices would have come from as far away as Indonesia, suggesting that King Hans had developed an advanced trade network.

The researchers also found snack items, such as dried blackberries, raspberries, grapes and flax, each find showing just how rich and powerful Hans had become.

The researchers also found one non-edible plant, henbane, which, in the past, was used for medicinal purposes.

The researchers note that the plant specimens were in excellent condition due to the unique conditions of the site where the ship was found, a part of the Baltic Sea that is cold and low in salinity.

AFRICA, EGYPT, WORLD

Researchers “shocked” to discover 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy was a pregnant woman

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Researchers “shocked” to discover 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy was a pregnant woman

A mummified fetus identified within the leathery womb of an ancient Egyptian pregnant mummy was preserved for more than 2,000 years. Now, scientists have described the unusual processes that led to its preservation.

The Warsaw Mummy Project was launched in 2015 by a team of bio-archaeologists from the University of Warsaw. Their website says they aim to “thoroughly examine human and animal mummies from ancient Egypt at the National Museum in Warsaw.”

In April 2021, the BBC announced that a team of Warsaw Project researchers published an article in the Journal of Archaeological Science revealing the first documented case of a pregnant ancient Egyptian mummy and its mummified fetus.

The 2,000-year-old mummy, currently on display at the National Museum in Warsaw, was at first believed to be the remains of Hor Djehuti, a High Priest of Amun from the time of Ahmose I who lived at the beginning of the 18th Dynasty (1539 to 1292 BC).

However, in 2016, the Warsaw Project announced that the mummy was in fact that of an embalmed pregnant woman who was in the 26th to 30th week of her pregnancy when she died and was mummified!

X-ray scans of the ancient Egyptian pregnant mummy and its mummified fetus. On the left, the sarcophagus which contained the mummy.

Back in April 2021 we covered the publication of the scientist’s first study of the pregnant mummy .

At that time, Dr. Wojciech Ejsmond, lead author from the Polish Academy of Sciences, told The Sun that while mummies of babies were found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, this was the first time a pregnant woman has been preserved with soft tissue.

In April, Dr. Ejsmond said “more research is needed.” Now, the same team is back in the headlines having done the aforementioned research on the mummified fetus and they say the mysteries of the pregnant mummy only exist because of an unusual chemical process that led to the fetus being “pickled” and trapped in time.

Professor Ożarek-Szilke is co-director of the Warsaw Mummy Project. In a new paper published in the Journal of Archaeological Science , the bio-archaeologist explained that to dry the pregnant woman’s dead body the embalmers covered her with natron, a natural compound of sodium salts that was used extensively in prehistory across Egypt, Middle East and Greece.

The powder was mostly used like baking-soda in cooking, medicine and agriculture, but it also had applications in glass-making and mummification.

Natron acts as a natural disinfectant and desiccating (drying) agent and it was the primary ingredient used in the ancient Egyptian mummification process .

After removing the organs and packing the internal cavities with dry natron, the body tissues were preserved. Then, the cadaver was packed with dry Nile mud, sawdust, lichen and dry cloths to make it more flexible in the afterlife.

The scientists wrote in the new study that when the natron was spread over the pregnant woman “it caused formic acid and other compounds” to manifest inside the woman’s uterus, creating the perfect conditions for preserving the fetus.

Gardeners know all too well, as do doctors, that acid and alkaline levels (pH) in nature determines the success of all organic growth. PH is a measure of the relative amount of free hydrogen and hydroxyl ions in water: with the more free hydrogen ions making for greater acidity.

During life, high pH (acid) in your blood it’s called alkalosis, while low pH is called acidosis, and both can lead to severe kidney complications. In the case of the mummified pregnant woman the increased acidity served to preserve the fetus.

The scans of the pregnant mummy revealed a mummified fetus, as seen in these abdominal scans of her remains.

Because of several chemical processes related to decomposition, say the scientists, the pH level inside the woman’s body shifted from an alkaline to a more acidic environment.

The new paper explains that these acids caused the minerals trapped within the tiny fetal bones to dry out and over time they “mineralized” or “pickled.”

Dr. Ożarek-Szilke explained that the scans of the ancient Egyptian mummified fetus show the fetus’ “mineralized skull,” which developed the fastest. The hands and feet also appear on scans but these never formed with bones, but left behind only dried tissues.

EUROPE, ROMANIA, WORLD

An ancient human skeleton dating to 3,000 years ago was discovered in Romania

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An ancient human skeleton dating to 3,000 years ago was discovered in Romania

A 3,000-year-old human skeleton was recently discovered at an archaeological excavation site in the village of Drăguşeni, Botoşani county.

The skeleton dates back to the beginning of the Bronze Age and to the Yamnaya culture, and was identified after exploring a large tumulus in Drăguşeni, according to Adela Kovacs, the head of the archaeology section of the Botoşani County Museum.

3,000-year-old human skeleton found in Romanian archaeological site

“The research in Drăguşeni focused on several periods and multiple sites. We carried out surface research in the area starting in 2018.

During a field visit with colleagues from the Institute of Archaeology in Iași, we identified the remains of two large, flattened tumuli, burial monuments, that were becoming increasingly damaged due to agriculture, and we recently decided to study them.

We primarily focused on recovering scientific information and documenting the remains, and so far we have identified only one skeleton.

The skeleton dates back to the beginning of the Bronze Age and the Yamnaya culture, which is not well known in Botoșani county,” Adela Kovacs told Agerpres.

The digging in Drăguşeni was carried out by a team composed of archaeologists from the Botoșani County Museum, in partnership with archaeologists and anthropologists from the Archaeological Institute of Iași, as well the University of Opava and the Silesian Museum in the Czech Republic.

Specialists say that the skeleton “provides very valuable information with regards to the funerary rituals practiced at that time,” and note that “the skeleton bears traces of red ochre, a substance that was placed on the deceased, in the head and in the leg areas, to emphasize a ritual related to rebirth, blood, and the afterlife.

“The body’s position is curled. Initially, it was placed on its back, with the knees brought to the chest,suggesting a fetal position.

This baby position represents the return to earth through a future birth,” said the head of the archaeology section of the Botoșani County Museum.

According to Kovacs, the entire Botoșani county has numerous tumuli. “The Drăgușeni area in particular was preferred by certain prehistoric communities when it came to burying those who were their leaders, probably, because these tumuli are funerary prestige elements.

The fact that a certain community dug the grave and built these tombs and covered them with actual artificial hills probably signaled to other populations the fact that those buried were top leaders or important people of the community,” she explained.

The skeleton was dug out, lifted, and transferred to Iași, where, following an analysis, anthropologists will determine its exact age, sex, diet, or other anthropological elements.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

German archaeologists unearthed 1,900-year-old Roman village.

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German archaeologists unearthed 1,900-year-old Roman village.

The remains of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort that once quartered 500 troops in what is today Germany were discovered by archeologists.

The public watches as students dig for artifacts within the remains of a 1,900-year-old Roman fort that once quartered 500 troops in what is today Gernsheim in Germany.

The fort was found in the town of Gernsheim, which sits along the Rhine River in the German state of Hesse.

Researchers knew the area was the site of a village during the first to third centuries, but otherwise, the region’s history during the Roman occupation is largely unknown, dig leader Thomas Maurer, an archaeologist at the University of Frankfurt said in a statement.

“It was assumed that this settlement had to have been based on a fort since it was customary for the families of the soldiers to live outside the fort in a village-like settlement,” Maurer said. Until now, however, no one had found that fort. 

Military rediscovery

During an educational dig in the area, Maurer and his colleagues uncovered postholes that once held the foundations of a wooden tower, as well as two V-shaped ditches, which were a common feature of Roman forts of the era.

A unit of 500 soldiers, known as a “cohort,” was stationed at the fort between about A.D. 70 and A.D.120.Fortunately for modern-day archaeologists, the last Romans to leave the fort destroyed the place on the way out, filling in the ditches with rubbish.

This rubbish included “box after box” of ceramic shards, which can be dated to pinpoint the time of the abandonment of the fort, said Hans-Markus von Kaenel, a professor at the Goethe University Institute of Archaeology.”We really hit the jackpot with this excavation campaign,” von Kaenel said in the statement.

Roman history

Researchers have been able to piece together a broad history of the Gernsheim region from a scattering of archaeological finds there.

A brick fragment stamped with the sign of the 22nd Roman Legion, an elite unite from the late first century.

The Romans built the newly discovered fort around A.D. 70 as a jumping-off point for control of areas east of the Rhine, according to von Kaenel and his colleagues.

The area was an important transportation hub, with roads branching off to access the borders of the Roman Empire. There may have also been a harbor on the Rhine at the time, though that has yet to be verified, Maurer said.

The modern expansion of the town paved over many suspected Roman sites, but Maurer, von Kaenel, and their colleagues managed to secure permission for a dig on a vacant double lot near where Roman-era finds were discovered in the 1970s and 1980s. This lot turned out to hold the remains of the long-lost fort.

A brick fragment found at the site identifies the troops quartered at the fort as members of the 22nd Legion, an elite unit from the late first century.

Researchers also found real treasures such as rare garment clasps, several pearls, parts of a board game (dice, playing pieces) and a hairpin made from bone and crowned with a female bust,” Maurer said in the press release

Archaeologist Professor Thomas Maurer and his team of students found some interesting artifacts, including gaming pieces.
ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Amateur Treasure Hunters Find 2,000-Year-Old Gold Jewelry

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Amateur Treasure Hunters Find 2,000-Year-Old Gold Jewelry


In a rather wonderful tale of not giving up on your dreams, two amateur metal detectorists struck gold – literally – in a rural field in Staffordshire, stumbling across a hoard of gold jewelry that could well be the oldest ever found in the UK.

The “Leekfrith Iron Age Torcs”, as the find is being referred to, comprises of three highly decorative gold neck torcs and a bracelet, which possibly came from the continent, either Germany or France.

“This unique find is of international importance,” said Dr Julia Farley, curator of British & European Iron Age Collections for the British Museum, in a statement. “It dates to around 400-250 BC, and is probably the earliest Iron Age gold work ever discovered in Britain.

“The torcs were probably worn by wealthy and powerful women, perhaps people from the continent who had married into the local community.

Piecing together how these objects came to be carefully buried in a Staffordshire field will give us an invaluable insight into life in Iron Age Britain.

The treasure was found by two local men, Mark Hambleton and Joe Kania, just before Christmas.

One of the gold torcs which was discovered on Staffordshire farmland by Joe Kania and Mark Hambleton.

Having previously scanned the field two decades earlier and finding nothing, they gave up and turned to fishing for the next 20 years.

They were encouraged to get back into the hunt by Mr Hambleton’s father, who sadly passed away not long after their find, though he did live to see his son’s discovery.

“I used to go metal detecting with my dad when I was young and he said to me ‘why are you bothering fishing? You should be back in those fields,’” Mr Hambleton told the Daily Mail.

“I am so glad we took his advice and pleased of course that he got the chance to see these amazing pieces and prove he was right all along.” 

Hambleton and Kania found the jewelry scattered about a meter (3.3 feet) apart, and just below the surface of the soil on farmland about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the famous Anglo-Saxon “Staffordshire hoard” found in 2009, which included nearly 4,000 items of precious metal valued at around £3.2 million ($3.9 million).

They were about to give up for the day when Kania called out to Hambleton that he thought he’d found something.

“We have found the odd Victorian coin but mostly it has just been junk,” Kania told the Guardian, “so I couldn’t believe it when I picked out this mud-covered item and, on cleaning it off, I thought this might actually be gold.”

The haul has officially been declared as “treasure” and so under The Treasure Act is now the property of the Crown, with any proceeds to be split between the friends and the landowner of the fateful field.

EUROPE, GERMANY, WORLD

A 300,000-Year-Old “Killing Stick” Provides New Information on Hunting Evolution

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A 300,000-Year-Old “Killing Stick” Provides New Information on Hunting Evolution

The wooden throwing stick, used by the extinct human subspecies Homo Heidelbergensis, was capable of killing waterbirds and horses during the Ice Age.

Experiments show the 25-inch-long throwing sticks, carved from spruce wood, could reach maximum speeds of 98 feet (30 meters) per second.  German researchers have said the weapon was thrown like a boomerang, with one sharp side and one flat side, and spun powerfully around a center of gravity.

But when in flight, the team says the throwing stick, also referred to as ‘rabbit sticks’ or ‘killing sticks’, did not return to the thrower.

Picture of throwing stick from Schöningen, Lower Saxony, Germany, with four views and engravings.

Instead the rotation helped to maintain a straight, accurate trajectory which helped to increase the likeliness of striking prey animals.

‘They are effective weapons over different distances, among other things when hunting water birds,’ said Dr. Jordi Serangeli, professor at the Institute for Prehistory, Early History and Medieval Archaeology at the University of Tübingen in Germany.

‘Bones of swans and ducks are well documented from the find layer.

‘In addition, it is likely that larger mammals, such as horses that were often hunted on the shores of Lake Schöningen, were startled and driven in a certain direction with the throwing stick.’

Hunters on the Schöningen lakeshore likely used the throwing stick to hunt waterbirds.

Researchers uncovered the weapon during an archaeological excavation at the Schöningen mine in Lower Saxony, northern Germany.

‘Schöningen has yielded by far the largest and most important record of wooden tools and hunting equipment from the Paleolithic,’ said Professor Nicholas Conard, founding director of the Institute of Archaeological Sciences at the University of Tübingen.

Detailed analysis by the researchers showed how the maker of this type of throwing stick used stone tools to cut the branches flush and then to smooth the surface.

The new throwing stick in situ at the time of discovery. The maker of the throwing stick used stone tools to cut the branches flush and then to smooth the surface of the artifact

The stick, carved from spruce wood, is around 25 inches (64.5cm) long, just over 1 inch (2.9cm) in diameter, and weighs 264 grams. The sticks also had fractures and damage consistent with that found on similar experimental examples.

For the first time researchers say the study provides clear evidence of the function of such a weapon. Late Lower Palaeolithic hominins in Northern Europe were ‘highly effective hunters’ with a wide array of wooden weapons that are rarely preserved, they say.

‘300,000 years ago, hunters had used different high-quality weapons such as throwing sticks, javelins and thrust lances in combination,’ said Professor Conard.

Overview of the excavation at Schöningen. Researchers attribute the discovery to the ‘outstanding’ preservation of wooden artifacts in the water-saturated lakeside sediments in Schöningen

‘The chances of finding Paleolithic artifacts made of wood are normally zero.

‘Only thanks to the fabulously good conservation conditions in water-saturated lakeside sediments in Schöningen can we document the evolution of hunting and the varied use of wooden tools.’

The discovery has been detailed further in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

When Did Human Ancestors First Emerge?

The timeline of human evolution can be traced back millions of years. Experts estimate that the family tree goes as such:

• 55 million years ago – First primitive primates evolve

• 15 million years ago – Hominidae (great apes) evolve from the ancestors of the gibbon.

• 7 million years ago – First gorillas evolve. Later, chimp and human lineages diverge.

• 5.5 million years ago – Ardipithecus, early ‘proto-human’ shares traits with chimps and gorillas.

• 4 million years ago – Ape like early humans, the Australopithecines appeared. They had brains no larger than a chimpanzee’s but other more human-like features.

• 3.9-2.9 million years ago – Australopithecus afarensis lived in Africa.

• 2.7 million years ago – Paranthropus, lived in woods and had massive jaws for chewing.

• 2.6 million years ago – Hand axes become the first major technological innovation.

• 2.3 million years ago – Homo habilis first thought to have appeared in Africa.