Arkeo Blusukan

Jejak   Berusia 3,6 Juta Tahun Beri Petunjuk tentang Poligami   pada Zaman Purba  KOMPAS.com - Jejak manusia purba berusia 3,6 juta tahun  ditemukan di Tanzania. "Satu jejak individu berukuran lebih besar dari jejak lainnya dalam satu grup, menunjukkan bahwa jejak itu milik seorang laki-laki," kata Giorgio Manzi dari Universitas Roma yang memimpin riset. Laki-laki pemilik jejak yang terbesar itu diduga punya tinggia 165 cm. "Membuatnya menjadi Australophitecus terbesar yang pernah diidentifikasi," imbuhnya. Jacopo Moggi-Cecchi dari University of Florence yang juga terlibat riset mengatakan, jejak itu bisa memberi petunjuk tentang gaya hidup manusia purba masa lalu. Jejak  Australophitecus  afraensis di Tanzania. Jejak itu memberi petunjuk bahwa manusia purba berpoligami ( Raffaella   Pellizzon) "Temuan jejak-jejak ini membuka jendela yang berbeda, ada banyak peluang untuk mempelajari kehidupan sehari-hari manusia spesies ini," ka...

Intact Figurine Unearthed at Neolithic Town in Turkey STANFORD, CALIFORNIA— Ars Technica  reports that an intact female figure carved from marble was recently unearthed at Çatalhöyük by a team of archaeologists led by Ian Hodder of Stanford University. ( Jason Quinlan ) Turkey’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism announced that the statue dates to between 8000 and 5500 B.C., measures about 6.7 inches long, and weighs about two pounds.  (resources: Archaeology Magazine, 13/09/2016 ) ( Ian Hodder, Stanford Univ. )

Perburuan Kereta Emas Nazi di Polandia Berakhir dengan   Kegagalan  WARSAWA, KOMPAS.com Para pemburu harta karun akhirnya menghentikan upaya mencari kereta emas Nazi Jerman yang diduga disembunyikan di kawasan pegunungan Polandia. Berdasarkan legenda lokal, kereta api pembawa harta karun Nazi itu disembunyikan dalam terowongan rahasia di pegunungan Owl tak jauh dari kota Walbrzych, wilayah barat daya Polandia. Dugaan itu muncul karena wilayah ini menjadi jalur penarikan mundur pasukan Jerman yang sedang dikejar pasukan Uni Soviet di penghujung Perang Dunia II pada 1945. Tahun lalu, dua pemburu harta karun Piotr Koper dan Andreas Richter mengklaim bahwa mereka sudah dekat dengan penemuan kereta-kereta itu. Klaim itu berdasarkan temuan radar mereka yang disebut menampilkan gambar-gambar sejumlah kereta terkubur di bawah tanah sedalam sembilan meter. Namun, setelah mencoba mencari selama beberapa pekan, pada Rabu (24/8/2016), kedua pemburu harta karun itu meny...

Look up! 5 planets will align in the august night sky  Last time until 2018. Stargazers, get ready for an awesome natural phenomenon next month – five bright planets in our Solar System will align in the night sky, and will all be visible with the naked eye. Eliot Herman/Flickr. If you find a dark enough vantage point, you’ll be able to check out Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn tracing a glorious line away from the setting sun. Western Sky Horizon after sunset (Simulation), Surabaya 13/08/2016; 18:30 (gmt+7)(private doc). "The fainter planets that lie closer to the Sun, such as Mercury and Venus, will be difficult to see so it is best to wait until after sunset for the twilight to fully fade, but before the planets set,"   said Alan Duffy , an astronomer with Swinburne University of Technology in Australia. "The planets stretch across the sky, anchored to the horizon following the setting Sun," he added. "This is because the entire...

Migrasi Manusia ke Nusantara Membawa Penyakit  KOMPAS.com   - Migrasi manusia pada masa lampau, selain membawa produk kebudayaan, seperti bahasa dan budaya, juga membawa penyakit. Demikian pula migrasi Austronesia ke Nusantara sekitar 4.000 tahun lalu. Sebaran manusia Austronesia di Asia Tenggara (Wikipedia). Dengan memahami migrasi penyakit, penelusuran mengenai asal-usul dan diaspora nenek moyang memiliki dimensi kekinian kuat. "Saya setuju penelusuran asal-usul bangsa ini penting untuk mengetahui gambaran pemikiran, paham, ataupun anggapan tentang sikap suatu bangsa. Pengetahuan tentang asal-usul nenek moyang juga bermanfaat bagi penguatan identitas bangsa Indonesia pada masa mendatang," tutur Sangkot Marzuki, ahli genetika Kepala Akademi Ilmu Pengetahuan Indonesia, pembicara kunci simposium Diaspora Austronesia, di Badung, Bali, Selasa (19/7/2016). Selain itu, manfaat kekinian lain, pengetahuan soal asal-usul nenek moyang itu sangat dibutuhkan dalam mengatasi pers...

New Thoughts on Borneo’s “Deep Skull”  SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—“Deep Skull,” a 37,000-year-old cranium discovered in Niah Cave on the island of Borneo, has been examined by Darren Curnoe of the University of New South Wales. When the skull was first studied after its discovery in 1958, researchers concluded that it belonged to an adolescent male who was closely related to modern indigenous Australians. That interpretation became part of a hypothesis postulating that Borneo’s first inhabitants were replaced by migrating farmers from southern China. (Curnoe) According to the  International Business Times , Curnoe suggests the skull belonged to an older woman and that it “more closely resembles people today from more northerly parts of Southeast Asia.” In this view, the remains could represent the ancestors of Borneo’s modern indigenous population. In this scenario, the island’s indigenous people adopted farming some 3,000 years ago. (Curnoe) (Archaeology Magazine, 29/06/2016 )...

More on 17th-C. Remains Unearthed in Durham, England  DURHAM, ENGLAND—Researchers from Durham University have examined the bones of up to 28 individuals thought to have been Scottish prisoners of war captured at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650 by the English army. Historical sources say that at least 4,000 men were taken prisoner and marched to Durham Cathedral and castle, where they were held. The bodies in the two graves had been placed there haphazardly. Marks on the bones, perhaps made by scavenging animals, suggest that the graves were left open over a period of time. (Jeff Veitch) According to a report in  Chronicle Live , the scientists have found many of the individuals to have been between 13 and 25 years old at the time of death. The condition of their teeth suggests that the young men had experienced malnutrition and disease in childhood, and that some of them smoked pipes, which became popular in the 1630s. Their lack of healed wounds suggests that they had not...

Roman Coin Cache Discovered in Spain TOMARES, SPAIN—Construction workers in southern Spain discovered 19 amphoras containing 1,300 pounds of Roman coins. (City Council of Tomares) The unused bronze and silver-coated coins date to the fourth century A.D. Ana Navarro of the Seville Archaeological Museum said that the coins studied so far bear images of the emperors Constantine and Maximian. She thinks that the coins may have been stored to pay soldiers or civil servants. “It is a unique collection and there are very few similar cases,” she said in a  BBC News  report. (Archaeological Museum of Seville) (Archaeology Magazine, 29/04/2016 ).

Skeletons and Gold Coins Found in Pompeii Shop  ROME, ITALY—Archaeologists excavating a shop on the outskirts of Pompeii have found four skeletons, several gold coins, and a necklace pendant, according to an  Associated Press  report. The skeletons belonged to young people who died in the back of the shop when nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D. 79.  (Pompeii Archaeological Site Press Office) There was an oven in the shop that the archaeologists believe may have been used to make bronze objects. There is evidence that the shop was targeted by looters seeking treasure after the eruption, but they apparently missed the gold coins and the gold-leaf-foil, flower-shaped pendant. Archaeologists have been excavating a second shop as well, though they are unsure what its purpose was. The dig has also turned up a fourth-century B.C. tomb containing an adult skeleton surrounded by six black vases. (Pompeii Archaeological Site Press Office) (Archaeology Magazine, 24/0...

The Real Fact-Checking Lawrence of Arabia  Some scholars  have accused British military officer T.E. Lawrence, later known as Lawrence of Arabia, of exaggerating his experience fighting with Bedouin guerrillas during the 1916–1918 Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire. (Photo: Ali Badry) (Countasy: Horizon Pictures (II), 1962, UK) Now archaeologists working in the Arabian Desert in Jordan can place him at the scene of one of the most dramatic moments described in his autobiography,  Seven Pillars of Wisdom . In the account, Lawrence records that he led an ambush on a Turkish military train. While surveying the site of that attack, the team found a spent bullet that was fired from a Colt 1911 automatic pistol, a weapon that would have been extremely rare in the Middle East at the time—and that Lawrence is known to have carried. “You can never be 100 percent sure,” says University of Bristol archaeologist Nick Saunders, “but we are confident this bu...

East African Bone Technology Analyzed ZANZIBAR, TANZANIA— Sci-News  reports that seven bone tools from East Africa’s Kuumbi Cave, including five projectile points, a bone awl, and a notched bone tube, were examined by a team led by Michelle Langley of Australian National University. (Michelle C. Langley et al.) The researchers suggest the 13,000-year-old projectile points, which are slender and short, may have been too small to bring down the zebra, buffalo, waterbuck, common reedbuck, bushbuck, and bush pig whose bones were also found in Kuumbi Cave. Langley suggests that the projectiles were used in conjunction with poison, perhaps made from the poisonous fruit of the Mkunazi plant. (Charcoal from the Mkunazi plant was found during a previous investigation.) (Archaeology Magazine, 24/06/2016 )

Genomes Suggest Two Groups of First Farmers in Middle East BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS—Population geneticists Iosif Lazaridis and David Reich of Harvard Medical School suggest that farming was developed by two different populations in the Middle East. They obtained genetic material, which is poorly preserved in hot climates, from the tiny ear bones of 44 people who lived in the Middle East between 3,500 and 14,000 years ago. Nature  reports the researchers found that the Neolithic farmers who lived across the Zagros Mountains of western Iran were more closely related to hunter-gatherers in the region than they were to farmers in the southern Levant. “There has been a school of thought arguing that everything happens first in the southern Levant and everyone learns how to be farmers in from this initial dispersal,” said Roger Matthews of the University of Reading, who is also co-director of the Central Zagros Archaeological Project. “But the archaeological evidence shows very strong ...

Scientists Measure the Great Pyramid of Giza  CAIRO, EGYPT—Engineer Glen Dash of the Glen Dash Research Foundation and Egyptologist Mark Lehner of Ancient Egypt Research Associates (AERA) took new measurements of the Great Pyramid of Giza to try to determine its original size and orientation. (Courtesy Glen Dash) The 4,500-year-old pyramid, constructed for the pharaoh Khufu, is the largest of the three pyramids on the Giza Plateau, but most of its smooth limestone casing was removed and reused in antiquity. The scientists looked for surviving casing stones on the pyramid’s platform, and marks that suggest where the edges of the casing stones once rested. They found 84 points along the original edges and marked them on a grid system developed by AERA to map the Giza Plateau. Statistical analysis of the new measurements indicate the west side is longer than the east by between 0.25 and 5.6 inches to a 95% probability, with the best estimate of the error being 2.9 inches. “The ...

Large Anglo-Saxon Cemetery Excavated  WILTSHIRE, ENGLAND—A research team from Wessex Archaeology has excavated a large Anglo-Saxon cemetery discovered in the 1970s near the village of Collingbourne Ducis on England’s Salisbury Plain. The 1,600-year-old burials include four cremation graves and more than 80 inhumation graves placed on what had been a wooded hilltop. (© Wessex Archaeology) The team found traces of infections such as tuberculosis and leprosy among the bones. Some of the graves contained shield bosses, knives, and spearheads, and are thought to have belonged to warriors. “All of the burials seem to have an iron knife. We’re not too sure if it’s symbolic of reaching a particular grave, but some of the infant or small child burials have got them as well,” Neil Fitzpatrick of Wessex Archaeology said in a  Culture 24  report. Fitzpatrick added that most of the graves had grave goods, but individuals who had been buried in a crouched position tended to h...

Possible Gateway to Pan Sanctuary Discovered  HAIFA, ISRAEL— LiveScience  reports that recent excavations at the Greco-Roman city of Hippos near the Sea of Galilee may shed light on the discovery last year of a  remarkable  bronze mask depicting the half-man half-goat god Pan. (Michael Eisenberg/University of Haifa) University of Haifa archaeologist Michael Eisenberg led a team that unearthed a six-foot-tall Roman gate near a stone building where the mask was found, leading him to speculate that the gate might have led to a sanctuary dedicated to Pan. "The mask, and now the gate in which it was embedded, are continuing to fire our imaginations," Eisenberg says. "The worship of Pan sometimes included ceremonies involving drinking, sacrifices and ecstatic rituals, including nudity and sex. This worship usually took place outside the city walls, in caves and other natural settings." The possible sanctuary was located  near the city gates and was constructed ...

Battle of Bosworth (Part 1: What) The   Battle of Bosworth Field   (or   Battle of Bosworth ) was the last significant battle of the   Wars of the Roses , the civil war between the   Houses of Lancaster   and   Houses of  York   that raged across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by the Lancastrians. Their leader   Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, by his victory became the first English monarch of the   Tudor dynasty. His opponent,   Richard III, the last king of the House of York , was killed in the battle. Historians consider Bosworth Field to mark the end of the   Plantagenet dynasty, making it a defining moment of English and Welsh history. A stained-glass window in St. James Church,  Sutton Cheney , commemorates the Battle of Bosworth and the leaders of the combatants, Richard III (left) and Henry VII (right). Richard's reign began in 1483. At th...

Is it Esmeralda? In 1498, Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama created shock waves in Europe when he reached and returned from the Indian coast—and its valuable spices—by sailing all the way around Africa, a 24,000-mile journey. Da Gama found both success and hostility in the Indian Ocean, so when Portuguese king Manuel I dispatched him to the Indies again, in 1502, he went equipped with an armada of 20 ships and instructions not only to acquire spices, but also to harass and destroy the Muslim shipping industry that had monopolized the spice trade. One of these ships, Esmeralda, was captained by da Gama’s uncle, Vicente Sodré. Though the infamously brutal Sodré was directed by da Gama to patrol the Indian coast and protect Portuguese interests, he opted to sail toward the Arabian Peninsula in search of conquest and the rich plunder of Muslim ships. In 1503, Esmeralda and its crew, including Sodré, were lost in a storm off the coast of present-day Oman. (Courtesy Da...

Possible Homo Erectus Footprints Found in East Africa  ROME, ITALY— The Local, Italy , reports that archaeologists from Sapienza University have discovered fossilized footprints in Eritrea that may have been made by   Homo Erectus  some 800,000 years ago. The individual may have been stalking a gazelle-like animal whose footprints were also preserved in the trackway. “Their age is yet to be confirmed with certainty, but footprints will reveal a lot about the evolution of man, because they provide vital information about our ancestors’ gait and locomotion,” said lead archaeologist Alfredo Coppa. The footprints are thought to have been made along the shores of a large lake, and were probably filled with water, then eventually dried out and buried. The remains of five or six   Homo erectus  individuals have also been found in the area. For more on ancient footprints, go to " Proof in the Prints ." (resources: Archaeology Magazine, 16/06/2016) (Sapienza Unive...

Proof in the Prints  In 1976 , paleoanthropologist Mary Leakey discovered the oldest known hominin footprints. The footprints, in Laetoli, Tanzania, have been dated to around 3.66 million years ago and are thought to have been left by members of the species  Australopithecus afarensis . They consist of two parallel tracks: undisturbed prints from a single individual and a set of overlapping prints from at least two ancient primates. (Courtesy Professor Matthew Bennett, Bournemouth University) Digital models of hominin footprints In the decades since the discovery, attention has focused on the undisturbed prints, in part because the overlapping ones have been considered too fragmentary to study. Experts have estimated that the individual who left the undisturbed prints stood just over four feet, three inches, and walked at around 1.4 miles per hour. However, there has been extended debate over how efficiently this individual’s feet worked compared with those of...

Monumental Structure Found at Petra with Satellite Images  BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA—Sarah Parcak of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Christopher Tuttle, executive director of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, spotted a monumental structure at Petra, a 2,500-year-old Nabatean city in southern Jordan, using high-resolution satellite imagery and pictures taken with aerial drones. (Photo by I. LaBianca) National Geographic   reports that the structure consists of a building measuring roughly 28 feet square, centered on a rectangular, paved platform, surrounded by a larger, 184-by-161-foot, platform. The building faced a row of columns and a staircase to the east. Pottery recovered from the site dates to the mid-second century B.C. Parcak and Tuttle say that the platform’s design is unique in the ancient city, and may have been used for ceremonial purposes in the early days of the settlement. “I’ve worked in Petra for 20 years, and I knew that ...