British Stone Age Diet and Security Maximized by Location Choice

From The Independent:

Stone Age Brits were past masters at choosing the perfect ‘des res’, according to new research carried out by archaeologists.

Their investigations have revealed that, 300,000 years before the emergence of anatomically modern humans, prehistoric Britons were selecting their domestic real estate with tremendous care.

Nutritional and security considerations appear to have been the main criteria, according to the new research carried out by scholars at the University of Southampton and Queen's University, Belfast.

A survey of 25 major British and north-west French sites dating from 500,000 to 200,000 years ago has revealed that early humans – members of the now long-extinct species Homo heidelbergensis – predominantly chose to live on islands in the flood plains of major rivers. They avoided  forests and hills – and the upper and middle reaches of river systems,  and their estuaries. ...

The reasons for choosing flood plain areas and avoiding other locations were complex – but help to explain why Homo heidelbergensis was so successful for so long.

Read more:
Revealed: how prehistoric 'des res' gave Stone Age Brits a perfect diet

See also:
Early humans selected habitats based on nutrient rich food sources




SuccubaSuprema writes:


The information provided in this article is very interesting.  The last paragraph quoted above alludes to explanations which are provided in the article, following the portion I have quoted.

Paleolithic Cave Artists Mostly Women?

From Sci-News:

Anthropologist Prof Dean Snow from Pennsylvania State University analyzing ochre-stenciled handprints in Paleolithic caves in France and Spain has determined that about 75 percent of the handprints were left by women.

Read more:
Paleolithic Cave Painters in Europe were Mostly Women, Researcher Says

Does Stonehenge Ring True?

From Sci-News:

British researchers, reporting in the journal Time & Mind: the Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture, may have cracked the mystery of why the builders of Stonehenge chose to haul some of its giant bluestones 320 km away from Wales to Salisbury Plain.

Read more:
Scientists Reveal Extraordinary Sonic Properties of Stonehenge Bluestones

Scottish Archaeologists Find Buddha's Birthplace?

From Popular Archaeology:

Scientists excavating within the UNESCO World Heritage site of the Maya Devi Temple in Lumbini, Nepal, have unearthed a timber structure that they date to the sixth century BCE. It is situated within and underlies a temple that is considered sacred to many as the birthplace of Siddhārtha Gautama, or Buddha. Until now, there has been no archaeological evidence supporting a date any earlier than the third century BCE for Buddha's life. Some historians have suggested the death of Buddha took place sometime in the late 4th century or early 3rd century BCE, although there are a number of traditions with varying dates.

Read more:
Archaeologists Uncover Earliest Evidence of Birth of Buddha

See also:
Scots archaeologists help make breakthrough discovery into origins of Buddhist religion

Ancient Buddhist shrine unearthed by Scots archaeologists in Nepal

Oldest Buddhist Shrine Uncovered In Nepal May Push Back the Buddha's Birth Date


SuccubaSuprema writes:

While I have my disagreements with some Buddhist beliefs, I've always liked this statement attributed to the Buddha:

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

Archaeology and Alcohol

Yes, once again, or rather, twice again, our friends in the discipline of Archaeology have made discoveries connected with alcohol.  Both of the following articles are from PastHorizons.

Archaeologists have unearthed what is claimed to be the oldest wine cellar in the Ancient Near East.  The sunken room contains forty ceramic jars that were capable of each holding 50 litres of wine. ...

Andrew Koh, assistant professor of classical studies at Brandeis University, ... an associate director ... analysed the storage vessel fragments using organic residue analysis and ... also discovered compounds that suggest the ingredients that were used to enhance the flavours in ancient wine-making, including honey, mint, cinnamon bark, juniper berries and resins.

The recipe is similar to medicinal wines used in ancient Egypt for two thousand years.

Read more:
Canaanite cellar provides a taste of 3700 year old wine

Spanish excavations in Can Sadurní cave (Begues, Barcelona) have discovered four human skeletons dated to about 6,400 years ago. The skeletal remains of the individuals are particularly important as they are in a very good state of preservation.

An archaeological campaign carried out previously identified other individuals which were not so well preserved but belong to the same stratigraphic layer.

Archaeologists excavating  in 1999, also discovered within the cave, evidence for the earliest European beer, which may have been included as part of  the death ritual.

Read more:
Neolithic death ritual includes earliest evidence for European beer

The Hanging Garden of Nineveh?

From PastHorizons:

The legendary ‘Hanging Garden of Babylon’ has since ancient times been recognised as one of the Seven Wonders of the World – but no trace of it has ever been found.

After 20 years of research, Dr Stephanie Dalley may have discovered why.

Dr Dalley, an honorary research fellow at Somerville College and part of the Oriental Institute at Oxford University, believes the garden was actually created at Nineveh, 300 miles from Babylon, in the early seventh century BC. She argues that it was built by the Assyrians in the north of Mesopotamia – modern-day Iraq – at the instigation of the Assyrian king, Sennacherib.

Read more:
The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon

See also:
Pictured: the 'real site' of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Archaeologists Admit Previous Errors About Stonehenge

From Culture24:

Admitting that their decade-long beliefs about the bluestones of Stonehenge were largely inaccurate, scientists say a particular sample of the stones – known as the spotted dolerite – could lead a path to the Pembrokeshire hills in the latest investigations surrounding the famous site.

Geochemical scrutiny of rock and debris has revealed that most of the dolerites come from Carn Goedog – about 1.5km away from the tors suggested by Herbert Henry Thomas, the geologist whose original theories about the samples were made in 1923.

“The geology of Pembrokeshire is unique,” says Dr Richard Bevins, of National Museums Wales, having spent more than 30 years studying the geology of the area, producing papers in successive years since 2011 with the help of Dr Rob Ixer, of University College London, and Aberystwyth University’s Professor Nick Pearce.

Read more:
Scientists see bluestones archaeology link between Wales and Stonehenge

Evidence of Bronze Age Burial Mound Revealed

From BBC News:

An archaeological dig on the site of a former World War Two airfield in Suffolk has revealed evidence of Bronze Age burial chambers.

The site, on the outskirts of Ipswich, is being excavated in readiness for a new care home due to open in 2015.

Fragments of pottery and urns indicated the site was "very close to a burial mound", archaeologists said.

Read more:
World War Two Ipswich airfield site reveals Bronze Age finds

Iron Age Cauldron Replica Unveiled

From This is Wiltshire:

A REPLICA of a cauldron said to be one of the biggest Iron Age archaelogical finds in Europe has been unveiled in Chiseldon Museum.

The cauldron was one of 17 initially discovered in 2004 by treasure hunter Peter Hyams, who is a member of the Chiseldon Local History Group.

The actual cauldrons, which are too fragile to be kept in Chiseldon, were then excavated by professional archaeologists from the British Museum and Wessex Archaeology and are now at the British Museum.

But in 2011, to mark Chiseldon as the cauldrons’ original site, the history group commissioned local blacksmith Hector Cole, a master arrowsmith and archaeological ironworker with a global reputation for recreating archaeological items, to create a replica of the cauldron as it would have been when it was buried in the Iron Age, 800 BC – AD 43.

Read more:
Bubbling excitement over cauldron replica

Pseudo-Progress Threatens Iron Age Hill Fort

From PastHorizons:

Old Oswestry is one of Europe’s best preserved iron age hill forts, a site that has existed for more than 3,000 years and can be seen for miles around.

The war poet Wilfred Owen completed his army training on the grassy mounds of Old Oswestry, which is also said to be the birthplace of King Arthur’s wife, Guinevere. It is likely that the Shropshire lad himself, AE Housman, would have spent time admiring the views from the fort’s majestic summit on the Shropshire-Wales border.

Now, in what critics say is a result of the government’s new planning policy, proposals have been drawn up to build almost 200 luxury homes next to the ancient site, angering local residents and heritage groups. Some 6,000 people have signed a petition opposing the development, part of the county council’s plan to build 2,600 homes by 2026 to comply with government targets.

One of 25 hill forts in Shropshire, Old Oswestry has a series of perimeter ditches, formed between ramparts, that were designed to slow down attackers. An archaeological survey in 2010 found man-made structures in fields to the north-east of the fort. Two years ago the discovery of an iron age road, thought to connect The Wrekin, near Telford, with fields near the site, indicated that there was likely to be important evidence of past cultures buried under the soil.

Read more:
Iron age hill fort threatened by plans to build 200 luxury homes

World's Oldest Pocket Calendar?

From The Daily Mail:

It may look like a banana, but this curved device is actually thought to be the world's oldest pocket calendar.

Archaeologists found the calendar in Serbia and believe the moon-shaped device is around 8,000 years old.

It is made from the tusk of a wild boar and is marked with engravings thought to denote a lunar cycle of 28 days, as well as the four phases of the moon.

The archaeologists believe ancient man would have used it to work out the best time to plant and harvest crops.

The tusk was found in an area close to the town of Smederevska Palanka in eastern Serbia.

Read more:
Could this be the world's oldest pocket calendar? Engraved tusk would have told farmers when to harvest crops up to 8,000 years ago

Ancient Amulets and Seals Uncovered in Turkey

From Sci-News:

Scientists from the University of Münster have unearthed 600 amulets, stamp and cylinder seals dating from the 7th through the 4th centuries BC at the archaeological site of the ancient city of Doliche (modern Dülük) in southeastern Turkey. ...

The artifacts were found at the sacred site of the storm and weather god Jupiter Dolichenus.

Read more:
German Archaeologists Find 600 Ancient Seals, Amulets in Turkey


From Wikipedia:

Jupiter Dolichenus was a Roman god created from the syncretization of Jupiter, the Roman 'King of the gods', and a Baal cult of Commagene in Asia Minor. The Baal gods were themselves king gods and the combination was intended to form a powerful mixture of eastern and western regal traditions combined in the one deity. The cult was one of the Mystery Religions that gained popularity in the Roman Empire as an alternative to the open 'public' religion of mainstream Roman society. Its temples were closed to outsiders and followers had to undergo rites of initiation before they could be accepted as devotees. As a result very little is known about the actual worship of the god apart from the few clues that can be obtained from the sparse iconographic, archaeological or epigraphic evidence. The cult gained popularity in the 2nd century AD and reached a peak under the Severan dynasty in the early 3rd century AD. At least seventeen temples are known to have been built in Rome and the provinces which, while substantial, is far below the popularity enjoyed by Mithras, Isis or Cybele. Unlike these Mystery Cults, the worship of Jupiter Dolichenus was very fixed on its oriental origins and the cult soon died out following the fall of the city of Doliche to the Sassanids in the mid-3rd century AD. ...

The Baal of Doliche appears to have had his origins as a Hittite storm god known as Tesub-Hadad, whose cult was centered on the hill of Dülük-Baba Tepesi near the town of Duluk (now modern Gaziantep in Turkey). Evidence for his worship can be traced back to the 6th century BCE, but the Roman expansion of the cult began with their conquest of the area in 64 BCE and its inclusion in the province of Syria. The new Roman deity took his name from Doliche, the Roman name for the town.

Read more:
Jupiter Dolichenus

SuccubaSuprema writes:

The age of some of the finds clearly indicate that they are not all from the time of Roman occupation, and could help to distinguish some differences between the original view of the deity and the later syncretic view.

Digital Reconstructions of Roman Britain

From The Daily Mail:

A professor has teamed up with digital artists to create striking pictures of how Roman Britain would have looked 2,000 years ago.

The CGI images include a Roman ‘motorway’ stretching from Exeter to London, a forgotten port and luxurious-looking barracks for the occupying forces.

Another image of the Roman town of Calleva Atrebatum, located in Hampshire, has been produced that paints a picture of a wealthy and bustling settlement.

Read more (and check out the images!):
From a bustling port to a 160-mile 'motorway': Amazing digital reconstructions bring forgotten Roman Britain to life

SuccubaSuprema writes:

Note the reconstructed buildings in the images.  These are typical of Roman architectural style.  Architecture is, of course, an aspect of material culture.  By importing this style into Britannia Romana, the Roman conquerors were doing two things:  (1) bringing a bit of home to a foreign posting and thus theoretically making themselves more comfortable (I say "theoretically," as many of the soldiers and other persons representing the Imperium may not have been natives of Latium or even Italia;  still, if they were from the lands of the Imperium, which is likely, then they would undoubtedly have been familiar with this style), (2) introducing foreign material culture to a conquered people and thus engaging in cultural imperialism.  I'm not a fan of cultural imperialism, then or now (I'm also not a huge fan of the Imperium Romanum or any other empire, or imperialism in any form;  but I do appreciate much about the culture of Roma and Italia, then and now).  However, this is history, and there is nothing we can do to alter the past (and even if there were, the effects on all that has come since, as well as the present and the future, would be unpredictable).  We can, however, learn from the past, and we can also appreciate this architectural style, even if we dislike cultural imperialism.

Guardians of the Gate to the Underworld

From Discovery News:

Archaeologists digging in Turkey have found the guardians of the "Gate to Hell" -- two unique marble statues which once warned of a deadly cave in the ancient Phrygian city of Hierapolis, near Pamukkale.

Known as Pluto's Gate -- Ploutonion in Greek, Plutonium in Latin -- the cave was celebrated as the portal to the underworld in Greco-Roman mythology and tradition. It was discovered in March by a team led by Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento.

"The statues represent two mythological creatures," D'Andria told Discovery News. "One depicts a snake, a clear symbol of the underworld, the other shows Kerberos, or Cerberus, the three-headed watchdog of hell in the Greek mythology." ...

The sculptures were found as archaeologists further excavated the area where in March they unearthed the remains of the Plutonium, which included an inscription dedicated to the deities of the underworld -- Pluto and Kore.

The dig revealed the source of the thermal springs, which produce the famous white travertine terraces.

"Pamukkale's springs originate right from this cave," D'Andria said.

Believed to have healing properties, the hot springs made the Roman city of Hierapolis -- now a World Heritage Site -- a popular destination for pilgrimages. ...

Only the eunuchs of Cybele, an ancient fertility goddess, were able to enter the hell gate without any apparent damage. ...

According to D'Andria, the site was a famous destination for rites of incubation. Pilgrims took the waters in the pool near the temple, slept not too far from the cave and received visions and prophecies, in a sort of oracle of Delphi effect. Indeed, the fumes coming from the depths of Hierapolis' phreatic groundwater produced hallucinations.

Read more:
'Gate to Hell' Guardians Recovered in Turkey

When Was the Serpent Mound Constructed?

From The Columbus Dispatch:

Serpent Mound arguably is the most recognizable icon of ancient America. Therefore, you might be surprised to learn that much about this mound is arguable, including its age.

Serpent Mound was long thought to be an Adena mound, dating to between 800 B.C. and A.D. 100, but opinions shifted in the 1990s when a team of archaeologists obtained radiocarbon dates on charcoal recovered from the mound.

The results seemed to indicate that the Great Serpent was built by the Fort Ancient culture around A.D. 1120. But a study presented at last month’s Midwest Archaeological Conference in Columbus suggests it might be an Adena mound after all.

Read more:
Archaeology | Scientists disagree on age of Serpent Mound

Origins of the Domesticated Dog?

From Popular Archaeology:

Scientists have theorized that the origin of the domestic dog stems from the domestication of the Grey Wolf tens of thousands of years ago. But the approximate date and place have been grist for scientific debate for years ...

Read more:
Study Reveals More Clues to Origins of Domesticated Dog

Earliest Evidence of Chili Pepper Use in Mexico

From Sci-News:

A team of archaeologists from the United States and Mexico has detected chili pepper residues in over 2,000-year-old pottery samples unearthed at the site of Chiapa de Corzo in southern Mexico.

Read more:
Pottery Provides Earliest Evidence of Chili Pepper Use in Mexico

Prehistoric Cambridge Antiquities Discovered

From Cambridge News:

A huge archaeological dig on the edge of Cambridge has uncovered evidence of people living in the area in prehistoric times.

In what is described as the largest single excavation undertaken in the city, experts have uncovered traces of field systems, enclosures and settlements dating back to the Middle Bronze Age - 1,500 years ago.

Read more (and see photos):
SLIDESHOW: Experts unearth treasures of prehistoric Cambridge at Great Kneighton site

Obsidian Lava Mystery Solved

From HeritageDaily:

Obsidian from lava flows is strewn over many archaeological sites worldwide, as it was long a highly-prized and traded material used for knives, arrowheads and cutting tools. It still has surgical applications due to its remarkably sharp cutting edges.

Read more:
Unique sighting of lava solves mystery

Largest Structure in the Ancient Near East?

From Hurriyet Daily News:

This year’s excavations at Kayseri’s ancient site of Kültepe, a center where the written history of Anatolia began, have unearthed a large monument. The ancient monument will now be carefully examined, said the head of the Kültepe excavations Fikri Kulakoğlu.

He said the excavations had been conducted in an area dating back to 4,500 years ago and currently they were working on the monument.

The monument’s 75x60-meter-part has been unearthed, said Kulakoğlu. “This monumental structure is the largest building that has been found in the Anatolian and middle Eastern areas.”

Noting that the whole monument might be something like a directorial building but not a house, Kulakoğlu said they thought that it might be the directorial venue where the king had stayed, once upon a time.

They think it was a government building, but I think it was a temple (based on relative sizes of buildings by type in the area historically).