Archaeology News Online

By analyzing the DNA of two prehistoric dogs from Germany, an international research team led by Krishna R. Veeramah, PhD, Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolution in the College of Arts & Sciences at Stony Brook University, has determined that their genomes were the probable ancestors of modern European dogs. The finding, to be published in Nature Communications , suggests a single domestication event of modern dogs from a population of gray wolves that occurred between 20,000 and 40,000 years ago. The 5000 year old Late Neolithic CTC dog skull in the lab before it underwent whole genome sequencing  [Credit: Amelie Scheu] Dogs were the first animal to be domesticated by humans. The oldest dog fossils that can be clearly distinguished from wolves are from the region of what is now Germany from around 15,000 years ago. However, the archaeological record is ambiguous, with claims of ancient domesticated dog bones as far east as Siberia. Recent analysis of genetic da...

Today mammals and birds are the only true warm-blooded animals. They are called endotherms, meaning they produce their body heat internally. The skeleton of a therapsid dicynodont Lystrosaurus [Credit: Flickr] Endotherm animals are the opposite to ectotherms which get their heat from an external factor like the sun. They are considered “cold-blooded”. The origins of warm-bloodedness in mammals has been a very controversial issue for two reasons. One is that several of the anatomical features thought to be linked to warm-bloodedness have also been found in cold-blooded reptiles. The other is that these characteristics are not always preserved in fossils, giving scientists inconsistent signals about the presence of warm-bloodedness. Our research helps shed new light on this controversy. We’ve been able to come up with new insights about how mammals developed a warm-blooded metabolism that may have helped them survive the terrible mass extinction that marked the end of the Per...

In the shallow waters of a sea in northern China 500 million years ago, a dazzling new array of creatures was swimming: part of an explosion of animal diversity that would forever change the course of life on Earth. Quietly, in the seabed beneath them, another revolution was underway. Close-up view of fossilized branching burrows preserved in rock formed from an ancient seabed  in what is now northern China [Credit: University of Saskatchewan] For perhaps the first time, tiny creatures were pushing their way through the sediment to create complex mazes of burrows, slowly but profoundly altering the environment around them. Evidence of these early "ecosystem engineers" was published in Scientific Reports by researchers from the University of Saskatchewan (USA) and Henan Polytechnic University in China. The floors of Earth's ancient oceans looked very different than they do today, said Luis Buatois, a professor in the US Department of Geological Sciences and one...

For three years, Tara Djokic, a Ph.D. student at the University of New South Wales Sydney, scoured the forbidding landscape of the Pilbara region of Western Australia looking for clues to how ancient microbes could have produced the abundant stromatolites that were discovered there in the 1970s. Conical stromatolite (view from the top) at the Trendall locality in the Pilbara  [Credit: © Government of Western Australia] Stromatolites are round, multilayered mineral structures that range from the size of golf balls to weather balloons and represent the oldest evidence that there were living organisms on Earth 3.5 billion years ago. Scientists who believed life began in the ocean thought these mineral formations had formed in shallow, salty seawater, just like living stromatolites in the World Heritage-listed area of Shark Bay, which is a two-day drive from the Pilbara. But what Djokic discovered amid the strangling heat and blood-red rocks of the region was evidence that ...

The head of excavations at Perge in Turkey's Antalya province, Antalya Museum Director Mustafa Demirel, has announced that a new mosaic has been found in the ancient city. The 1,800-year-old mosaic depicts the sacrifice of Iphigenia, the daughter of King Agamemnon in Greek mythology, during the Trojan War. Speaking to Anadolu Agency (AA) Demirel said that during the initial years of the excavations, important projects were conducted in terms of rehabilitative efforts at the site. In the context of the excavation project, the area which includes the Kesos Fountain in the north to the south was rearranged and excavations along the West Street were accelerated. Throughout the archaeological excavations, numerous sculptures and artefacts have been unearthed, and Demirel noted that a particular mosaic has been unearthed to the "excitement" of researchers. "During the ongoing excavations in Perge, a mosaic was discovered which depicts the scene of the sacrifice of Iphigeni...

There has been damage to monuments and archaeological sites on Kos as a result of the strong earthquake that shook the island in the early hours of Friday morning, a team of archaeological service experts sent by the culture ministry reported. The inspection revealed damage to sites around the town, the castle and the Ottoman mosques, the team said, announcing that preliminary protection measures will be taken and the monuments restored after due study. "For this purpose, a Central Service team from the Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Monuments Restoration directorate will go to Kos on Saturday and Monday in order to assess the situation and finalise the actions [that will be taken]," a culture ministry announcement said. The tremor also caused the movement and damage of exhibits, especially pottery, at the island's archaeological museum and this will be temporarily closed until the damage is restored, the ministry said, along with the Casa Romana monument on the island. For...

Spanish archaeologists excavating a Visigoth necropolis in Sena, in the northeastern province of Huesca, have uncovered what they say is a burial site dating to the 10th century BCE and that was part of the Late Bronze Age Urnfield culture. An urn that revealed the existence of the cemetery dating back more than 2,000 years [Credit: EFE] Two urns and a lid were discovered in the graveyard. Hugo Chautón, the archaeologist overseeing the excavation, says Urnfield culture spread from central Europe into northeastern Spain around 1,000 years BCE. The name comes from the Urnfield culture’s custom of cremating the dead and placing their ashes in urns, which were then buried. “This culture represents the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron,” said Chautón, “and provides valuable information about burial practices, particularly the move from burying the dead to cremating them.” Archaeologists work on the Visigoth burial site in Sena (Huesca) [Credit: EFE] The team has been excavating a V...

They came by boat, bringing cooking utensils, crockery and all the other necessities needed for life in a strange land. That is how Julia Budka imagines the arrival, around 1539 BC, of the first Egyptian administrators in the new town on the island of Sai in the Nile. They were far from home, for the settlement lay in Nubia, between the river’s 2nd and 3rd cataracts. Following the final conquest of the whole of the African kingdom of Kerma by the Pharaoh Thutmose III, Egyptian expansion to the south continued, and the island’s location made it an ideal jump-off point. River traffic could be effectively controlled from here, and Egypt’s armies could be supplied with everything they needed to consolidate their hold. For Nubia was the primary source of gold and other valuable resources from Sub-Saharan Africa for the Egyptian state. Aerial view of the ruins of the town of Sai. Founded by the Egyptians on the island of the same name in the Nile,  in what is now Sudan, the town was occu...

The Association of Greek Archaeologists has been informed about unsettling developments regarding the intended conversion of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul to an Islamic mosque and in an announcement it made, expresses its strong concern in view of such a prospect. The Association of Greek Archaeologists requests the Greek government and international organizations to stay vigilant  and intervene so that this supremely important monument remains the property of all humankind,  an inseparable part of global cultural heritage [Credit: Shutterstock] As the AGA mentions in its announcement : “Hagia Sophia that was inaugurated in 537, has been operating as a museum since 1934 and due to its significance, constitutes a World Heritage site included, since 1985, in the relevant list of UNESCO. ”The repeated reading of the Koran and of prayers for a second consecutive year within this emblematic monument acts as a harbinger, with the ulterior motive being the cancellation of its function as ...

In saliva, scientists have found hints that a "ghost" species of archaic humans may have contributed genetic material to ancestors of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa today. In saliva, scientists have found hints that a "ghost" species of archaic human may have contributed genetic material to  ancestors of people living in Sub-Saharan Africa today. The finding comes from a University at Buffalo-led research project  that examined the evolutionary history of MUC7, a gene that codes for an important salivary protein of the same name  [Credit: Bob Wilder/University at Buffalo] The research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that sexual rendezvous between different archaic human species may not have been unusual. Past studies have concluded that the forebears of modern humans in Asia and Europe interbred with other early hominin species, including Neanderthals and Denisovans. The new research is among more recent genetic analyses indicating that ancient Af...

What was life in the fens like in the period known as the dark ages? Archaeologist Susan Oosthuizen revisits the history of an iconic wetland in the light of fresh evidence and paints a compelling portrait of communities in tune with their changeable environment. In doing so, she makes an important contribution to a wider understanding of early medieval landscapes. Highland Cattle grazing in the Wicken Fen [Credit: © Wicken Fen] The East Anglian fens with their flat expanses and wide skies, a tract of some of the UK's richest farmland, are invariably described as bleak – or worse. Turn the clock back 1,000 years to a time when the silt and peat wetlands were largely undrained, and it's easy to imagine a place that defied rather than welcomed human occupation. Historians have long argued that during the 'dark' ages (the period between the withdrawal of Roman administration in around 400 AD and the Norman Conquest in 1066) most settlements in the region were deserted, and...

Peruvian authorities have revealed the reconstructed face of the Lord of Sipan, a pre-Columbian ruler whose remains were discovered in 1987 and hailed as one of the country's most stunning archaeological finds. The Lord of Sipan was likely between the ages of 45 and 55 when he was buried around 250 AD  [Credit: © Peruvian Ministry of Culture/AFP] A full body representation of the ancient ruler, believed to have died around the year 250, was unveiled Thursday at the Museum of the Royal Tombs of Sipan in the northern city of Chiclayo. Peruvian Culture Minister Salvador del Solar traveled to Chiclayo for the unveiling, which marks the 30th anniversary of the tomb's discovery. The Moche culture ruler's face was reconstructed by anthropologists based on the skull and facial bones of the man's mummy, archaeologist Walter Alva told AFP, speaking by phone from Chiclayo. "The skull was quite damaged by the pressure of the earth and the burial jewels," but the anthropol...

An impressively large 2,700-year-old water system was recently exposed at Israel Antiquities Authority excavations near Rosh Ha-Ayin with the help of students majoring in the Education Ministry’s Land of Israel and Archaeology studies. The excavation precedes the construction of a new residential neighborhood initiated by the Ministry of Construction and Housing. Aerial view of the excavation area, with Rosh Ha-Ayin in the background  [Credit: Yitzhak Marmelstein, IAA] According to Gilad Itach, director of excavations for the IAA, “It is difficult not to be impressed by the sight of the immense underground reservoir quarried out so many years ago. In antiquity, rainwater collection and storage was a fundamental necessity. With an annual rainfall of 500 mm, the region’s winter rains would easily have filled the huge reservoir. On its walls, near the entrance, we identified engravings of human figures, crosses, and a vegetal motif that were probably carved by passersby in a later per...

No site in the world has been continually excavated for so long as Pompeii, the city that lay buried after being destroyed when Mount Vesuvius erupted, until its accidental discovery over 1,700 years later. Project Director Rebecca Benefiel uses an iPad to take a photograph of a drawing in Herculaneum  [Credit: Ancient Graffiti Project] Not far away lies Herculaneum; buried in the same eruption, it is less well known among tourists but just as much of a treasure trove for archaeologists and historians. There are two main reasons for this. Firstly, the cities are well preserved. The eruption may have wiped out their inhabitants, but it also ensured that they were kept alive in historical memory, thanks to the metres of ash that shielded the ruins and remains from the elements. Historians have therefore had access to details which in other cities they can only guess at. This is particularly true in Herculaneum, which was buried by volcanic ash from the ground up rather than being bur...