Archaeology discussion and news

Early Humans

2026-05-09T02:37:22Z

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

Scientists think they finally know why Neanderthals vanished

A new study suggests Neanderthals didn’t go extinct simply because of climate change or competition with Homo sapiens. Instead, the key difference may have been social connectivity—Homo sapiens formed stronger, more flexible networks that helped them survive environmental shocks. Neanderthals had connections too, but they were more fragile and regionally limited. This made them less resilient as conditions became increasingly unpredictable.

There have been many theories about why Neanderthals died out as a distinct species, but the most likely -- after they survived a great deal of other calamities -- is a confluence of factors piling together to overwhelm their resilience. This kind of stacking-to-collapse is a common reason why species go extinct.

comments

Cool find.

2025-12-26T18:02:33Z

Posted by: pauamma

https://indianexpress.com/article/technology/science/archaeologists-uncover-a-2200-year-old-highway-that-once-connected-chinas-first-empire-10440246/

comments

archaeology @ 2024-01-29T17:59:00

2024-01-29T17:00:08Z

Posted by: pauamma

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/jan/28/high-end-iron-age-smithy-oxfordshire-blacksmith

comments

archaeology @ 2023-09-20T18:39:00

2023-09-20T16:41:33Z

Posted by: pauamma

Remains of half a million year old human-made wood structure.

comments

wipes off drool

2021-07-20T04:36:50Z

Posted by: pauamma

Picture of a hand in a mostly transparent glove holding a cracked fragment of a clay tablet with markings too small to read.

comments

Street food shop in Pompeii.

2020-12-26T16:28:23Z

Posted by: pauamma

https://www.ansa.it/english/news/lifestyle/arts/2020/12/26/pompeii-a-street-food-shop-emerges-from-the-site_15dca658-2553-420d-a841-f70f58654867.html

comments

archaeology @ 2020-06-22T22:27:00

2020-06-22T20:29:15Z

Posted by: pauamma

Vast neolithic circle of deep shafts found near Stonehenge.

comments

Nifty

2019-12-18T04:40:26Z

Posted by: pauamma

http://sententiaeantiquae.com/?p=26946

comments

archaeology @ 2017-12-19T06:47:00

2017-12-19T05:48:42Z

Posted by: pauamma

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/khipus-inca-empire-harvard-university-colonialism

comments

archaeology @ 2017-08-31T23:41:00

2017-08-31T21:49:17Z

Posted by: pauamma

Major underwater Roman ruins discovered off Tunisia

comments

'Dramatic new discoveries illuminate the lost Indus civilization'

2017-04-26T17:20:00Z

Posted by: steorra

'Dramatic new discoveries illuminate the lost Indus civilization'

An interesting article about the Indus Valley civilization and climate change.

'Then, at the height of Indus urbanization, when the region's cities were growing the largest they had ever been, climate disaster struck. The life-giving monsoons weakened starting in roughly 2200 BCE. Drought crept into some regions, while others were relatively unaffected. And yet the Indus settlements survived for centuries afterward. Writing in Current Anthropology, the researchers say this is why the story of the Indus region "provides a unique opportunity to understand how an ancient society coped with both diverse and varied ecologies as well as change in the fundamental and underlying environmental parameters."'

comments

The milk revolution by Andrew Curry

2013-08-07T01:26:03Z

Posted by: ein_myria

The milk revolution by Andrew Curry (Nature 500, 20–22 (01 August 2013) doi:10.1038/500020a)
"During the most recent ice age, milk was essentially a toxin to adults because — unlike children — they could not produce the lactase enzyme required to break down lactose, the main sugar in milk. But as farming started to replace hunting and gathering in the Middle East around 11,000 years ago, cattle herders learned how to reduce lactose in dairy products to tolerable levels by fermenting milk to make cheese or yogurt. Several thousand years later, a genetic mutation spread through Europe that gave people the ability to produce lactase — and drink milk — throughout their lives. That adaptation opened up a rich new source of nutrition that could have sustained communities when harvests failed."

comments

Restless Genes by David Dobbs

2013-01-04T10:09:05Z

Posted by: ein_myria

Article Link: Restless Genes by David Dobbs (National Geographic)

“No other mammal moves around like we do,” says Svante Pääbo, a director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, where he uses genetics to study human origins. “We jump borders. We push into new territory even when we have resources where we are. Other animals don’t do this. Other humans either. Neanderthals were around hundreds of thousands of years, but they never spread around the world. In just 50,000 years we covered everything. There’s a kind of madness to it. Sailing out into the ocean, you have no idea what’s on the other side. And now we go to Mars. We never stop. Why?”

TLDR; The 7R gene and human wanderlust.

---
What do you think?

comments

17,500-Year-Old Ceramic Figures Unearthed in Croatia

2012-07-30T05:54:02Z

Posted by: ein_myria

17,500-Year-Old Ceramic Figures Unearthed in Croatia by John Shanks
"An international team of archaeologists has uncovered the first evidence of ceramic figurative art in late Upper Paleolithic Europe – from about 17,500 years ago, thousands of years before pottery was commonly used."

comments

The bodies of the Easter Island statues

2012-05-12T03:43:48Z

Posted by: steorra

Here is a brief post with lots of pictures on the excavation of the bodies of the famous Easter Island statues.

comments

New reality shows promote destruction of cultural heritage

2012-02-29T03:52:42Z

Posted by: jeweledeyes

I just received this letter from the Archaeological Institute of America and wanted to share it here:

Dear AIA members,

The AIA has learned of two new TV shows that promote treasure hunting to find archaeological objects. National Geographic's "Diggers" airs tonight and Spike TV's "American Diggers" will air next month. Both shows feature metal detectorists and at least one ("American Diggers") emphasizes the commercial value of the found objects. The AIA believes that these shows promote the looting and destruction of archaeological sites.

The AIA has joined several other groups including the SAA, SHA, and RPA in voicing concern about these programs and the negative messages they send about cultural heritage and its recovery. Links to copies of the SAA and SHA letters can be found at the bottom of this letter.

We would like to ask you, our members and archaeology enthusiasts, to send letters and/or e-mails to the companies involved asking them to alter the message of the shows and to provide disclaimers during the airing of the show that makes it clear that what the shows are promoting is unethical and in some instances may even be illegal. We hope that they will engage in a meaningful dialogue with archaeologists about the illicit practices they promote.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth Bartman
President

Voice your Concern

Spike TV
Scott Gurney and Deirdre Gurney
Gurney Productions, Inc.
8929 S. Sepulveda Blvd., Suite 510
Los Angeles, California 90045
http://www.gurneyproductions.com/contact

Kevin Kay
President, Spike TV
1633 Broadway
New York, New York 10019
http://www.spike.com/about/feedback/

Send comments or questions regarding National Geographic Channel television programming:
comments@natgeochannel.com

There are also Facebook Pages where you can comment.
One is a "People against American Diggers" Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/People-against-Spike-TVs-American-Digger/193110227460512

If you would like to add comments to the Spike website, please visit the comments section at the bottom of the following page:
http://bit.ly/yQjlXP

The Spike TV announcement is available at:
http://bit.ly/xm2QyI

See Letters Submitted by the SAA and SHA

SAA Letters:
http://bit.ly/w2MHJM
http ://bit.ly/wzT7IA

SHA Letters:
http://www.sha.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/TepperAmericanDiggers2272012.pdf
http://www.sha.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/National-Geographic-Letter-22820121.pdf

Petitions
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-spike-tv-from-looting-our-collective-past
http://www.change.org/petitions/national-geographic-society-wwwnationalgeographiccom-stop-airing-the-television-show-diggers

Cross-posted to archaeology_weekly

comments

BBC: Roman shipyard found by British archaeologists, and redshifting beetles

2011-09-28T16:31:34Z

Posted by: charamei

British archaeologists have found an ancient shipyard in Italy that built or maintained ships for the Roman empire.

And this one's more palaeontology than archaeology, but still interesting: A scientist at Yale has found that beetle exoskeletons redshift slightly as they fossilise.

comments

3,000-year-old chariot burial unearthed in Luoyang

2011-09-02T16:14:51Z

Posted by: charamei

People's Daily (English) with pictures
London Metro

I haven't been able to find a decent-length article, probably because they only completed the excavations yesterday (and possibly also because it's China). The People's Daily article has the most pictures. Metro text under the cut:

( Remains of horses and chariots found in 3,000-year-old tomb in China )The main thing that strikes me is that the horses look rather small by modern standards! Maybe it's a perspective thing, or perhaps they were simply pony-sized.

comments

Oxbow books

2011-08-16T16:33:15Z

Posted by: ossamenta

For those not subscribed to me, just to let you know I wrote a long post on books from the recent Oxbow catalogue. Most are rather expensive (being new and often hardbacks), but hopefully your local library will either buy them, or can make interlibrary loans.

comments

Prehistoric society questions

2011-06-21T20:24:20Z

Posted by: steorra

I have a few questions about prehistoric societies.

I'm under the impression that grain farming and livestock domestication happened around the same time. I'm also under the impression that grain farming usually involves labour animals for ploughing etc. Was there a time and place when grain farming was done without labour animals?

Also, does anyone have any good resources on bronze age technologies? Not just metalworking, but other technologies that were used in bronze age societies.

comments

Three Weeks For Dreamwidth - [FONSFAQ] Archaeometry : Archaeology and its use of other sciences

2011-05-15T20:58:58Z

Posted by: berangere

Today is the last day of Three Weeks For Dreamwidth. Almost all the prompts of the Frequently-Or-Not-So-Frequently-Asked-Questions in Archaeology Project have been answered.
"Almost" means this is not over yet. Here is the second part of the answer to the question from yvi concerning sciences and archaeology.

I would like to know what modern scientific methods (especially to do with molecular Biology, but feel free to mention others) are used in archeology and for what.

Last week I presented the links between archaeology and molecular biology. This post will be an overview of the other sciences used in archaeology. Well, an overview of all the sciences I managed to think about.

( This way please, sciency people... )

These are all the sciences I managed to think about. If someboby wants precisions concerning any field, questions can be asked in the comments, or a prompt can be submitted in the masterpost for the FONSFAQ, that will stay open indefinitely.
The next prompt, about archaeology of buildings, will be answered during next week, even if Three Weeks For Dreamwidth will the over.

comments

Three Weeks For Dreamwidth - [FONSFAQ] Archaeometry : Archaeology and molecular biology

2011-05-06T14:06:06Z

Posted by: berangere

This post belongs to the Frequently-Or-Not-So-Frequently-Asked-Questions in Archaeology project.

prompt by yvi

I would like to know what modern scientific methods (especially to do with molecular Biology, but feel free to mention others) are used in archeology and for what.

I will deal now with molecular biology, and will list the others sciences I can think of in another post (that will probably be dating-methods heavy). First, I'd like to make clear that I had to look for the exact definition of 「Molecular Biology」 in wikipedia. I felt that the limits of this science are quite blurry so I am not sure everything that will be dealt with in this article really relates to molecular biology. Let's say I tried to focus on anything related to genes, cells or proteins. Therefore, it is essentially linked to human remains, that are not found in every archaeological excavation. I suppose the techniques can be applied to animal remains either, according to the problematic of the excavation or the study.
I suppose yvi is quite familiar with molecular biology, hence the question, but I tried to include really basic explanations for the article to be understandable to people with no scientific background. Note that I am not a biologist and that my explanations may not be particularly good.

( Five applications I have frequently encountered )

Those are the only application of molecular biology I can think of. There may be others that I just forgot. I really hope I got the definition of molecular biology correct.
Most of those techniques are quite expensive, therefore not systematically used in a domain like archaeology where the lack of funds is so common it has become a feature we are trained to deal with from the beginning of our formation.

comments

Hug-An-Anthropologist Day !

2011-05-02T10:25:52Z

Posted by: berangere

Someone just told me it is 「Hug-An-Anthropologist Day !」 !
Just turn to your lab neighbour and hug him/her ^___^ !

comments

Three Weeks For Dreamwidth - [FONSFAQ] Sexing skeletons

2011-04-29T18:47:58Z

Posted by: ossamenta

Written as part of the Frequently-Or-Not-So-Frequently-Asked-Questions project (itself part of the annual Three Weeks for DreamWidth), for the prompt "I've often wondered how archaeologists determine the sex of a skeleton - I know there are differences in the pelvis, but what else is taken to be a clue? I'm also curious about how accurate it is, and whether anyone's done any studies on that."

Sex estimation of skeletons is one of the fundamental methods of bone analysis, and, yes, lots of studies have been done on that. Essentially, there are three ways of sexing (human) skeletons: shape and relative size of the bones, grave goods associated with a particular sex/gender, and DNA testing. This post is primarily dealing with skeletal sexual characteristics, but the other methods will get a brief mention.

( cut for length )
And finally, just remember that it’s always more complicated once you go into the details…

*: cis = having a gender identity that matches the sex one was assigned at birth. Opposite to trans gender.

Cross-posted to ossamenta and fonsfaq

comments

Three Weeks For Dreamwidth - [FONSFAQ] Archaeology in fiction

2011-04-29T13:50:44Z

Posted by: berangere

We've got two prompts answered so far in our 「Frequently-Or-Not-So-Frequently-Asked-Questions about Archaeology」 ! Let's go on today with this one :

prompt by snowynight

What's your favourite and least favourite depiction of archaeology in fiction?

Since this one is asking a more personal point of view comparing to the other prompts, I suggest everybody answers to the question in the comments (or in a new post if you prefer so).

( Have a cut here )

comments