All posts by Archeology worldwide team

2500-year-old Celtic aristocrat buried with cauldron of Achelous and adorned in gold

January 12, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

2500-year-old Celtic aristocrat buried with cauldron of Achelous and adorned in gold

Archaeologists have made an impressive excavation of a fifth-century tomb. A tomb in Lavau, Champagne, holds a 2500-year-old bronze cauldron one meter in diameter, as well as an aristocrat adorned in gold torque.

The cauldron has a lion head and the impressive head of Achelous, a River-God in Greek mythology, with three mustaches on the brim. At the center of the tomb lies the aristocrat, with other items that have remained undisturbed for 2500 years. The aristocrat was buried with a chariot, bronze vases, and more.

Achelous was believed to be a water deity who battled with Hercules and unfortunately for him, Hercules won the fight and viciously took a horn from Achelous’ head. The cauldron resembles the familiar depictions of Achelous, including the three-fanged mustache.

Who is this aristocrat that received such a king’s send off in France? This is a question that the National Archaeologist Research Institute hopes to answer. But first, they must determine the Celtic royalty’s gender, something that has perplexed archaeologists since the discovery.

In their defense, their case is not helped by the fact that the remains are severely decomposed compared to other recovered items. The unfortunate state of the corpse makes it difficult to determine the gender.

Some favored the idea that the corpse is likely male. This assumption has led many to point out that female tombs in north-eastern France indicate it is more likely that the corpse may, in fact, be female.

**Heavy gold torque and gold bracelets**

Whether male or female, what is known is that she or he was of high rank. Torques were favored by Celtics to denote rank. And the gold necklace protruding through the corpse’s neck weighs almost 2.5 pounds and denotes a significant figure. Compared to that of the Vix princess, this torque weighs almost 556 grams and is made of pure gold.

The aristocrat, whoever he or she was, also had gold bracelets and a lignite cuff on its left bicep. The jewelry and other items found bore resemblance to those from the tomb at Reinheim.

The manner of the burial and the items recovered has made this site an intriguing encounter. This goes together with other burial sites, many of which have been of high-ranking females. Tombs such as this one and that of the Vix princess provide a fascinating insight into the lives of people during the Iron Age.

Among other items recovered were well-preserved clothing and shoes. Next to the aristocrat’s neck were amber beads. Also recovered were two iron and coral hook attachments.

Whether archaeologists are able to determine the sex of the remains is something we will have to continue waiting for. Among the ruins lies an aristocrat adorned in gold and buried with a chariot. More questions have been answered then left unanswered.

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

Bronze Age time capsule: 3,000-year-old vitrified food found in jars in England

January 12, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Bronze Age time capsule: 3,000-year-old vitrified food found in jars in England

Archaeologists have the opportunity to discover how people in the late Bronze Age lived and what they ate by excavating a dwelling destroyed by fire 3,000 years ago in Cambridgeshire County, England.

Researchers are calling the site a time capsule, as vitrified food—meaning it has become like glass—has been found in jars at the site.

Archaeologists also have found rare small pots and exotic glass beads at the site, which will be studied with a £1.1 million ($1.73 million) research project over a nine-month period. They think it was a settlement of prosperous people.

Another major find at the site came in 2016 when a huge timber wheel was discovered. It is one of the largest Bronze Age wheels to have been unearthed by archaeologists anywhere in the world.

The wheel measures a meter (3.28 ft.) in diameter and 3.5 centimeters (1.38 inches) thick. Archaeologists believe it would have originally had a heavy duty leather tire.

These dimensions and the style of the wheel have lead archaeologists to suggest it was likely part of an ox-pulled cart.

The settlement was buried in the wet fens but is being excavated using earth-moving machinery. Previously in fens (wetlands), archaeological work was done only in shallow areas or near the edges of the fens, says MustFarm.com .

They call it ‘deep space archaeology’ because the remnants of the community are buried so deeply in the mire. MustFarm.com also calls it one of the most important European Bronze Age sites.

**The objects at Must Farm were discovered when clay was being extracted to make bricks.**

Must Farm in the Flag Fen Basin made news in 2011 when nine well-preserved log boats were unearthed there. The dwelling was encircled by wooden posts until a fire made it collapse in the river.

The fact that it was submerged helped preserve its contents, says Culture24 . Among the findings are decorated tiles made from lime tree bark.

The finds will be put on display at Peterborough Museum and other venues.

**An early Bronze Age log boat was found in 2011 in the ancient channel of a river.**

“Usually at a Later Bronze Age period site you get pits, post-holes and maybe one or two really exciting metal finds,” said archaeologist David Gibson of the Cambridge Archaeological Unit.

“It’s a fantastic chance to find out how people in the Late Bronze Age lived their daily lives, including how they dressed and what meals they ate.”

His colleague Kasia Gdaniec, the senior archaeologist with Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “We think those living in the settlement were forced to leave everything behind when it caught on fire. An extraordinarily rich range of goods and objects are present in the river deposits, some of which were found during an evaluation in 2006.”

The fact that the dwelling is preserved under water and was abandoned quickly means there could be great finds in the future, said Duncan Wilson of Historic England, comparing it to how the Mary Rose, a Tudor ship that sunk, was salvaged in the 1960s and shed a lot of light on those times.

“This could represent a moment of time from the Late Bronze Age comparable to the connection with the past made by the objects found with the Mary Rose,” he said.

“This site is internationally important and gives a fascinating insight into the lives of our ancestors.”

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

9,000-Year-Old Cheddar Man Has Living Descendant Still Living in The Same Area

January 11, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

9,000-Year-Old Cheddar Man Has Living Descendant Still Living in The Same Area

Cheddar Man is the name given to the remains of a man that was found in Gough’s Cave in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, England. Cheddar Man was discovered around the turn of the 20 th century, and has been dated to the Mesolithic period.

It seems that there was not much research done on Cheddar Man, and he was probably a set of prehistoric remain amongst many. It was, however, around the end of the same century that one of the most sensational findings related to this prehistoric individual was made – it was found that he had a living descendant living in the same area.

The Discovery

Cheddar Man’s discovery was made in 1903. The remains of this prehistoric man were found 20 m (65 ft.) inside Gough’s Cave, the largest of 100 caverns in Cheddar Gorge, under a layer of stalagmite, above which was another layer of more recent material.

Cheddar Man was found to have been buried alone near the mouth of a deep cave, and results from dating suggest that he lived 9000 years ago, during the Mesolithic period.

It looks as though little research has been done on Cheddar Man since his discovery, and it may be said that he was a relatively obscure figure.

**Stalagmites and stalactites in Gough’s cave**

An article was published in 1914, 11 years after Cheddar Man’s discovery, which was entitled “The Cheddar Man: A Skeleton of Late Paleolithic Date”.

One of the things in the title that may immediate strike a reader is the designation of Cheddar Man to the Late Paleolithic period, several thousand years prior to the Mesolithic period which he is today thought to have live in.

One of the analyses done by the authors of the paper was the measurement of Cheddar Man’s skull. These measurements were then compared with some other specimens of prehistoric skulls. Apart from that, the other remains, such as the teeth and limb bones, were also studied.

Cheddar Man’s DNA

In 1997, it was reported that a living descendant of Cheddar Man had been found. In the report, it was written that DNA had been found in the pulp cavity of one of Cheddar Man’s molars. The DNA was examined at Oxford University’s Institute of Molecular Medicine.

The results from the analysis were then compared with the DNA of 20 local individuals whose families were known to have been living in Cheddar for several generations. One of these individuals was identified as a descendant of Cheddar Man.

Cheddar Man’s Family

The DNA of Adrian Targett, who was 42 years old when that discovery was made, was found to match that belonging to Cheddar Man. According to science, this genetic fingerprint is said to have been passed down from mother to child.

In other words, Targett and Cheddar Man both share a common maternal ancestral. It may be added that Targett was not the only one from his family to have not moved away from his ancestral land.

It was reported that there were 46 individuals in his extended family, and most of them had remained in the Somerset area.

**A Paleolithic human skull from Gough’s Cave**

It may be pointed out that Cheddar Man, whilst arguably the most famous set of human remains to have been found in Cheddar Gorge, is not the only one. In one report, the site has been dubbed in as “Britain’s prime site for Paleolithic human remains”.

Another set of well-known human remains were discovered several decades ago. These are three cups, made from the skulls of two adults and a three-year-old child. These remains were re-examined several years ago, and it was found that the making of skull cups was a traditional craft, and that the skulls were obtained after their owners died naturally.

In addition, the other human bones were found to have shown signs of butchery, indicating that cannibalism was practiced by these prehistoric people.

CANADA, NORTH AMERICA, WORLD

13,000-Year-Old Footprints Found in British Columbia Are the Oldest in North America

January 11, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

13,000-Year-Old Footprints Found in British Columbia Are the Oldest in North America

13,000 years ago, three people disembarked from their boat and headed up a beach, but they suddenly stopped to watch something. It’s amazing to think that part of their journey has been preserved until .

Those late Pleistocene footprints are the oldest of their kind in North America, but researchers expect the discovery may push others to search for more, perhaps even older ones.

In 2014, Duncan McLaren, an anthropologist at the Hakai Institute and University of Victoria in British Columbia, was exploring the shoreline of Calvert Island, British Columbia, Canada, with a team of colleagues and representatives from the Heiltsuk First Nation and Wuikinuxv First Nation.

They were interested in finding archaeological deposits from when the sea level was about 2 to 3 meters (6 to 10 ft.) lower following the last Ice Age, 11,000 to 14,000 years ago.

**View across the beach with Calvert Island in the foreground and Hecate Island in the background.**

The Star reports that they never dreamed to make a find with such an impact – the earliest footprints found in North America to date. The first of 29 defined footprints pressed into light brown clay was unearthed in 2014.

2015 and 2016 digs expanded the muddy excavation pit and brought more footprints to light. The footprints vary in size and researchers believe they were made by two adults and a child – most of the discernable footprints were right feet and suggest the people were barefoot when they made the tracks.

A PLOS One paper on the discovery states that the team are certain the tracks are human and not left by the hind paws of large black or grizzly bears (which are rare on the island, but not in the surrounding area and somewhat resemble human footprints) because of the “clear arch, toe and offset heel attributes.”

**Photograph of track #20 with sediment displacement rim beside digitally enhanced image of same feature.**

According to Newsweek, the team found many more footprints, but they were heavily trampled and couldn’t be measured. The clay footprints were probably preserved because they were filled in by sand and covered by thick gravel and another layer of clay.

Radiocarbon dating based on sediment found will some of the footprints and also two pieces of preserved wood from the same strata (archaeological level) date the marks to 13,000 years old.

While there are some older footprints which have been discovered in South America and other parts of the world , Michael Petraglia from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, who edited the PLOS One paper, told Newsweek, “This is a spectacular find as human footprints are rare in the archeological record. Often they are either not preserved or recognized by archaeologists.”

**Photograph of track #17 beside digitally-enhanced image of same feature using the DStretch plugin for ImageJ.**

The footprints were not made as a clear trackway, instead the researchers write they “more likely represent a congregation site […] This type of pattern results from people concentrating their activities in an area and may be centered around a focal point.”

Furthermore, they suggest “The footprints were impressed into a soil just above the paleo-shoreline, possibly by a group of people disembarking from watercraft and moving towards a drier central activity area to the north or northwest.”

McLaren told The Star, “As this island would only have been accessible by watercraft 13,000 years ago, it implies that the people who left the footprints were seafarers who used boats to get around, gather and hunt for food and live and explore the islands.”

Apart from the rarity of finding archaeologically significant footprints in general, the finding on Calvert Island also provides more support for the hypothesis that migration into the Americas varied . Specifically, it’s evidence that humans traveling from Asia followed the Pacific coastline and didn’t just push their way into the interior.

McLaren, said “This provides evidence that people were inhabiting the region at the end of the last ice age. It is possible that the coast was one of the means by which people entered the Americas at that time.”

Petraglia added , “It’s not only the footprints themselves that are spectacular and so rare in archeological context, but also the age of the site. It suggests an early entrance into the Americas .”

View of the 4 x 2 meter (13.12 x 6.56 ft.) excavation unit.

NORTH AMERICA, U.S.A, WORLD

Archaeologists Locate Earliest Known North American Settlement

January 11, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Archaeologists Locate Earliest Known North American Settlement

The earliest known north American settlement has been located. Paisley Five Mile Point Caves in southern Oregon near the Fremont-Winema National Forest has officially been added to the list of the most important archaeological sites in the United States by the U.S. Park Services under the authority of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.

The caves have been a popular archaeological site since 1938, but with the advances in carbon dating and other tools, the site offers up new discoveries even today.

According to The Oregon Encyclopedia, archaeologist Dr. Luther Cressman, often referred to as the father of Oregon archaeology and anthropology, began the work at Paisley Caves in the late 1930s and continued until the 1960s.

He helped to establish the anthropology department at the University of Oregon and was the first director of what would become the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology.

Before Cressman’s groundbreaking work, scientists believed the earliest inhabitants of North America were the Clovis People whose distinguishing spearheads record their places of residence.

National Geographic states that it was first believed that the ancient inhabitants of North America migrated en masse from Asia about thirteen thousand years ago, but according to Michael Waters, director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University, evidence of human occupation before the Clovis culture has been found at numerous sites.

**A member of the research team carries out work at Paisley Caves, Oregon.**

In 2002, Dr. Dennis L. Jenkins, archaeologist and Field School Supervisor for the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology at the University of Oregon, and his students began to reassess the caves explored by Cressman, and, in 2008, reported that human DNA in coprolites (feces) dated between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago had been found leading them to believe humans had been in the Americas at least one thousand years before the Clovis people and that the first human population originated in northeast Asia rather than Africa.

**Paisley Caves, now believed to be the earliest known north american settlement. In these caves some of the oldest human remains in North America were found.**

The team tested soil, gravel, and sand separately as well as obsidian and bone tool fragments, sage cordage and grass threads, cut animal bones, wooden pegs, and debris left over from fire pits along with Pleistocene animal bones.

The desiccated human feces were considered the most important finds and were sent to Dr. Eske Willerslev, Director of the University of Copenhagen’s Center of Excellence GeoGenetics.

He determined that the samples contained human mitochondrial DNA that was the same as the peoples already known to have first migrated from Asia to the Americas and multiple radiocarbon dates that calibrated to over fourteen thousand years ago, predating the earliest Clovis sites by over a thousand years.

Of course, there were some who questioned the validity of the discoveries because of previous work done by Cressman and others noting that the deposits were not found in situ (their original place) and may have been cross-contaminated.

Additional work completed in 2009 revealed a serrated bone tool that also pre-dated the Clovis population and the study of the coprolites was reaffirmed.

DENMARK, EUROPE, WORLD

The Ill-fated Elling Woman: An Iron Age Sacrifice to Appease the Gods?

January 11, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

The Ill-fated Elling Woman: An Iron Age Sacrifice to Appease the Gods?

Elling Woman is the name given to a well-preserved bog body that was discovered in Denmark during the first half of the 20th century. By then, this type of remains had already been found in Denmark’s bogs for at least a century.

For instance, one bog body, unearthed in 1835, was thought to have belonged to a legendary Viking queen from the 8th century AD by the name of Gundhilde. Subsequent research on bog bodies, however, have shown that this practice had existed at an earlier period of time. In the case of Elling Woman, for example, it was found that she had lived during the Iron Age of northwestern Europe.

Discovering the Elling Woman

Elling Woman was discovered in 1938, when a farmer by the name of Jens Zakariassen was in the process of digging peat. This occurred in a pit bog in Bjældskovdal, a bog area which lies to the west of the city of Silkeborg, in the central part of Denmark.

At least two other bog bodies have been found in this area, one having been discovered in 1927 (which was reburied when the peat bank collapsed over it), and another being the famous Tollund Man, which was discovered 12 years after Elling Woman was found, and separated from her by a distance of less than 100 meters (328 ft.).

**Tollund Man on display at Silkeborg Museum.**

Initially, the farmer thought that he had found the remains of an animal that had drowned in the bog. He only realized that these were human remains when he noticed the woolen belt around the body’s waist.

As he recognized that this may be of archaeological importance, he contacted the National Museum of Denmark. Subsequently, the body was removed from the bog, and was transported to Copenhagen to be analyzed.

Beginning to Decipher the Elling Woman’s Past

With the level of technology at that time, there was not very much that could be done to study Elling Woman. Nonetheless, it was observed that whilst the back of this bog body was well-preserved, its front was not, which made it difficult to identify whether the body belonged to a male or female.

Apart from that, the body was found to have been dressed in a skin cloak, and a blanket / cloak of cowhide was wrapped around her legs. Furthermore, the body’s hairstyle, which was a long pigtail formed by an intricate pattern of plaiting, and tied into a knot, was noted. A skin rope was also found with the body. Elling Woman was then kept in a storage room in the museum.

New Details on the Elling Woman Emerge

It was only later, during the 1970s, that more information was extracted from Elling Woman, thanks to technological advancement. For example, the sex of the body was determined using x-ray and examination by a forensic dentist.

It was also determined that Elling Woman was about 25 years old at the time of her death. Radio carbon dating also suggested that Elling Woman lived during the Iron Age of northwestern Europe, between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC.

**The Elling Woman on display at the Silkeborg Museum, along with the skin rope found with her body.**

Based on the skin rope that was found with her, it has been established that Elling Woman was hanged to death. This rope has a sliding knot, which made it suitable for hanging. In addition, Elling Woman’s neck has got a furrow left from the hanging, further supporting this point of view.

Whilst some scholars have suggested that bog bodies belonged to executed criminals, others are more inclined to regard them as evidence of human sacrifice. In the case of Elling Woman, it is possible that she was living in an age when the climate was experiencing unusual changes.

This would have had a negative impact on the community she was living in, and they may have decided to offer her as a sacrifice to the gods in the hopes of appeasing them.

In more recent times, women around the world have taken an interest in the mystery of the Elling Woman and also found inspiration in her Iron Age hairstyle. Videos and tutorials on how to recreate her ancient hairstyle can be found across the internet.

**Reconstruction of hairstyle and skin cape of the bog body Elling Woman near Silkeborg, Denmark.**

ENGLAND, EUROPE, WORLD

The Ribchester Helmet – An Ancient Roman artifact discovered by a 13-year-old boy while playing behind the house

January 11, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

The Ribchester Helmet – An Ancient Roman artifact discovered by a 13-year-old boy while playing behind the house

Over the past centuries, archaeologists have unearthed some extraordinary artifacts that give us a glimpse into human history and help us understand the many secrets of the ancient world.

Numerous archaeological expeditions have been undertaken over the years, some of which resulted in historically significant discoveries. Yet some of the most exciting finds have been made by non-professionals who stumbled upon them purely by accident. Such is the case with the famous Ribchester Helmet, discovered by chance in 1796.

We are all aware that England is rich with archaeological sites, historical monuments, and important artifacts, especially from the Roman era. Ribchester in the county of Lancashire is a lesser-known site of a Roman fort and settlement. The most famous among the many artifacts discovered in the area is the Ribchester Helmet.

**Discovered in the summer of 1796 by the son of Joseph Walton who was playing behind his father’s house in Ribchester, Lancashire.**

What is today considered one of the most famous helmets from Ancient Rome was discovered by accident in 1796 by a 13-year-old clog maker’s son, who found it while playing behind his house.

The helmet was part of a small hoard of metal items, most probably belonging to a Roman soldier from about 120 AD.

This two-piece ceremonial helmet, worn by Roman cavalrymen during military exercises and during parades and other ceremonies, weighs nearly three pounds and was most likely of little or no practical use on the battlefield.

However, the Romans, who are known for engaging in a variety of sporting competitions, also used this type of helmet during the cavalry sports events known by the name of “hippika gymnasia,” where these helmets were used to mark ranks and excellence in horsemanship.

Although Julius Caesar first paid a visit to Britain in 55 BC, it actually took almost 100 years before Romans landed on the beaches in Kent to conquer Britain in 43 AD.

The Roman occupation influenced almost every sphere of life in Britain, including culture, language, geography, and architecture. They built many new roads, numerous settlements, and countless forts, including the one at Ribchester.

The visor-mask and crown are covered with relief scenes of skirmishes between infantry and cavalry. Such helmets were impractical for actual fighting and were worn by Roman cavalrymen on the occasion of “cavalry sports‟ events.

What we know today about this type of Roman helmet is mostly thanks to the accounts left by Arrian of Nicomedia, who was a provincial governor and a close friend of Emperor Hadrian.

As written in his Techne Taktike, which focuses on the “hippika gymnasia,” the best soldiers wore these helmets in cavalry tournaments.

**Only three Roman helmets with a covering over the face have been found in the UK.**

Called Bremetennacum Veteranorum, the Roman settlement and fort in Ribchester was built during the reign of Emperor Vespasian in the early 70s AD.

Apart from the remains of Ribchester Roman Fort and the Roman bathhouse that can be seen today, there is also a Roman Museum where visitors can see a replica of the Ribchester Helmet.

The famous artifact is one of only three of its kind ever found in Britain, but it is considered to be the highest quality example. The second was found around 1905 and is now housed at the Museum of Antiquities in Edinburgh.

The third, known as the Crosby Garrett Helmet, was found in a field in 2010 by a metal detectorist who wants to remain anonymous. It was sold at auction for $3.6 million.

**Since 1814, the original helmet is on display at the British Museum, but the Roman Museum in Ribchester has a replica.**

The Ribchester Helmet was clearly the most significant, but not the only artifact discovered back in 1796. The same hoard included many military and religious items, plates, pieces of a vase, and other items.

It is believed that the finds that were placed there for over 16 centuries were in such good condition because they were covered in sand.

EUROPE, ITALY, WORLD

Baby Buried With Care 10,000 Years Ago Found in Italian Cave

January 10, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Baby Buried With Care 10,000 Years Ago Found in Italian Cave

Archaeologists studying a cave in Liguria, Italy, have found the earliest known burial of a female infant in Europe. Surrounded by grave goods, the baby, whom the researchers dubbed “Neve” in honor of a nearby river, was 40 to 50 days old when she died about 10,000 years ago, reports Brian P. Dunleavy for United Press International (UPI).

**Archaeologists unearthed the body of a female infant at a 10,000-year-old burial site in the Arma Veirana cave in Italy.**

The child’s remains were wrapped in a shroud adorned with more than 60 beads and four pendants, all of which were made out of shells. An eagle-owl talon that may have been a gift was discovered nearby.

As the team argues in the journal Scientific Reports, the burial reflects the infant’s treatment as a full person by an early Mesolithic hunter-gatherer culture, with the items buried alongside her indicating significant emotional investment.

Finding the bones of babies from prehistoric or ancient times is rare because they’re extremely fragile, reports Tom Metcalfe for National Geographic. The new discovery is especially unusual because the remains were preserved well enough to extract DNA. In most cases, infants’ bone DNA has deteriorated too much to determine sex.

Adult burials dated to more than 14,000 years ago are somewhat common archaeological finds. But examples from the early Mesolithic (around 10,000 B.C.E.) are few and far between.

The remains of the infant, nicknamed “Neve” after a nearby river, were found together with grave goods. The intricate style of burial marks the full personhood afforded to the baby by her hunter-gatherer community.

“The number of burials at this time, between about 10,000 and 11,000 years ago, is very, very rare,” lead author Jamie Hodgkins, an archaeologist at the University of Colorado, tells National Geographic. “… [I]t’s in a gap where we don’t have much of anything at all.”

Neve’s grave is located in the Arma Veirana cave in the mountains of Liguria, a region in northwestern Italy. A popular spot for visitors, the site is also a target for thieves. The researchers began studying the cave in 2015 after looters exposed late Ice Age tools there, writes Ian Randall for the Daily Mail.

Signs of activity in the cave date back more than 50,000 years, to a time when its most likely inhabitants would have been Neanderthals. Archaeologists found boar and elk bones that showed signs of butchering, as well as charred animal fat. After digging deeper into the cave in 2017, the team found the infant’s burial site.

“I was excavating in the adjacent square and remember looking over and thinking, ‘That’s a weird bone,’” says study co-author Claudine Gravel-Miguel, an archaeologist at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, in a statement.

The team fully excavated the gravesite in 2018. The ornaments buried with Neve were made with care; judging from patterns of wear, they were probably passed down to the child by other members of her community.

“The presence of perforated shells with traces of prolonged use means that these have been worn for a long time by the adults,” study co-author Fabio Negrino, an archaeologist at the University of Genoa, tells Rachel Elbaum of NBC News. “These shells were perhaps sewn to her dress.”

**Neve’s remains were wrapped in a shroud adorned with beads and pendants made of shells. The talon of an eagle-owl was buried along side her as a supposed gift.**

Tests conducted on the infant’s teeth revealed details of her short life. According to the study, carbon and nitrogen analysis found that before she was born, her mother ate a land-based diet. Neve experienced stress in the womb that led her teeth to temporarily stop growing. DNA and protein tests showed that she belonged to a European lineage known as the U5b2b haplogroup.

Researchers compared the find to the remains of two infants buried at Upward Sun River in Alaska some 11,500 years ago and rediscovered in 2013. In both cases, the infant girls appear to have been recognized as people in their own right.

This acknowledgement of personhood may have stemmed from a common ancestral culture, write the authors in the study. Alternatively, it could have arisen independently.

María Martinón-Torres, a paleoanthropologist who was not involved in the study, tells National Geographic that evidence of children’s personhood dates back to the early Homo sapiens and Neanderthal periods.

She adds, “The earliest documented burials in Africa … involve children and a deliberate dedication to the way the body is disposed.”

In a separate statement, Hodgkins says, “Archaeological reports have tended to focus on male stories and roles, and in doing so have left many people out of the narrative. … Without DNA analysis, this highly decorated infant burial could possibly have been assumed male.”

EUROPE, SCOTLAND, WORLD

The oldest house in the UK is nearly 6000 years old and has stone furniture that is still intact today

January 10, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

The oldest house in the UK is nearly 6000 years old and has stone furniture that is still intact today

At Knap of Howar on the island of Papa Westray in Orkney, Scotland, a Neolithic farmstead may be the oldest preserved stone house in northern Europe.

Radiocarbon dating shows that it was occupied from 3700 BC to 2800 BC, earlier than the similar houses in the settlement at Skara Brae on the Orkney Mainland.

The farmstead consists of two adjacent rounded rectangular thick-walled buildings with very low doorways facing the sea. The larger and older structure is linked by a low passageway to the other building, which has been interpreted as a workshop or a second house.

They were constructed on an earlier midden, and were surrounded by midden material which has protected them. There are no windows; the structures were presumably lit by fire, with a hole in the roof to let out smoke.

Though they now stand close to the shore, they would have originally lain inland. The shore shows how the local stone splits into thin slabs, giving a ready source of construction material.

**The main house now looks out over the sea.**

The walls still stand to an eaves height of 1.6 metres (5 ft 3 in), and the stone furniture is intact giving a vivid impression of life in the house. Fireplaces, partition screens, beds and storage shelves are almost intact, and post holes were found indicating the roof structure.

**Looking back through the low entrance doorway into the main house, a visitor’s backpack gives an idea of scale.**

Evidence from the middens shows that the inhabitants were keeping cattle, sheep and pigs, cultivating barley and wheat and gathering shellfish as well as fishing for species which have to be line caught using boats.

EUROPE, ROMAN, WORLD

Skeletons Found Near Dead Sea Scrolls Likely Belonged to an Enigmatic Religious Group

January 10, 2023 Archeology worldwide team Leave a comment

Skeletons Found Near Dead Sea Scrolls Likely Belonged to an Enigmatic Religious Group

The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is regarded as one of the greatest archaeological finds in history. Almost as interesting as the content of the texts themselves has been the question of who created and cared for them.

A recent analysis of skeletons found near the site and dating to the same time period suggests the common assumption of an enigmatic religious group known as the Essenes may be correct.

The belief that people living in Qumran at the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls creation were members of a celibate Jewish sect called the Essenes is one of the earliest and also the most popular.

These men were said to be the creators or caretakers of the famed scrolls. However, IBTimes notes Bedouin herders, craftsmen, and Roman soldiers have also been proposed as possible inhabitants of Qumran at that time.

ScienceNews reports that a recent evaluation of 33 skeletons buried at Qumran supports the popular belief that the community was comprised of religious men. The analysis focused on examining physical factors, including pelvic shape and body sizes, and concluded that it is highly probable only men and children were present at the site.

Three of the skeletons could not be identified as male or female. This is a change from the previous assessment that seven of the skeletons were female.

Radiocarbon dating of one of the Qumran skeleton’s bones places the body at approximately 2,200 years old. This is close to the time when the Dead Sea Scrolls are estimated to have been written – 150 BC to 70 AD.

The estimated age of death for the men ranged from around 20 to 50 years old. The lack of war-related injuries goes against the soldier hypothesis. Anthropologist Yossi Nagar of the Israel Antiquities Authority in Jerusalem said that the men cannot be confirmed as Essenes, but the belief is probable.

Judaism that left Jerusalem in protest against the Romans and the way things were happening at the Temple. They apparently went into the desert to follow the orders of the prophet Isaiah. This religious group has often been linked to the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Small samples of bone were removed from some of the Qumran skeletons, so there is a chance that researchers could try to complete DNA analysis and perhaps find more clear evidence of who the people living near the Dead Sea Scrolls were. However, Nagar is uncertain if this type of study will be completed.

**Remains of living quarters at Qumran.**

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 11 caves at Qumran between 1947 and 1956. The set of nearly 1000 manuscripts provide some of the earliest versions of the Hebrew Bible.

A 12th cave was discovered in February 2017, but only scroll jars, fragments of scroll wrappings, and a piece of worked leather were discovered.

**View of the Dead Sea from a Cave at Qumran.**

The first Dead Sea Scrolls were found unintentionally by a Bedouin shepherd at a cave in the vicinity of Qumran. As more texts surfaced over the years, several were put on sale on the black market to private buyers.

This issue led the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Heritage Project to excavate in the Judean Desert Caves in 2016 at the Cave of Skulls – a difficult location to reach. Israel Hasson, director-general of the Israel Antiquities Authority, explained the urgency to find the last Dead Sea Scrolls.