Arkeo Blusukan

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 ...