here Six Neolithic wells on the island of Cyprus has changed our view of life on the island and eclipsed the
previous oldest wells by hundreds, or perhaps thousands of years.
The wells were found inside and around a new hotel complex being built at Mylouthkia. They appeared as circles of dark soil, or in some cases as long columns of soil where their stone sidewalls were quarried away. Researchers originally thought they were the remains of shallow pits dated only to the Bronze Age.
Archaeologist Paul Croft described how the shafts had been cut with antler picks and that hand- and foot-
holds still survived in their walls for climbing up and down. (101)
Excavators found that the wells had been dug more than 30 feet into the soft rock using deer antler picks.
Hand- and footholds used for climbing up and down were discovered in each well. The wells had been deliberately filled in, and the debris contained Neolithic artifacts, but no pottery. Charred grains of domestic wheat and barley were found and radiocarbon dating confirmed their early Neolithic age. Those early dates also pushed back the age of the first farming practices in Cyprus by at least 2,000 years.
One of the wells contained fragments of stone vessels, hammer-stones and flint flakes that may have come from a trash dump located a short distance from the well. Yet another, however, appeared to have been ceremonially covered. A carefully positioned human skull, along with a mace head made of polished pink stone was accompanied by 23 complete goat carcasses.
Some experts believe that crops and cultivation techniques used on the island may indicate that they were
originally brought there from the Levantine mainland. Other settlers may have brought farming to other areas around the Mediterranean and it continued to spread from there throughout southern Europe and eastern regions.
Mylouthkia may well prove to be an important stop on the route to spreading farming techniques and crops throughout Europe.
If you’re interested in more technical information, go here:
Showing posts with label archaeology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label archaeology. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Friday, January 18, 2013
Are The World’s Oldest Stone Spear Points Really Half a Million Years Old?
If these spear points are actually as old as they seem to be, they represent an archaeological and anthropological game-changer. Could it be that some of our most ancient human ancestors mastered the complex processes that were required to create and mount stone tips to wooden spears a quarter of a million years earlier than has been generally thought?
The spear tips were found at a site called Kathu Pan 1 in the Kalahari Desert. The sediments that held the stones were not dated until 2010. But even though the artifacts resembled younger points that were used as spear tips, their actual use remained uncertain. Researchers stabbed a springbok carcass with replicas of the original points. Then they compared the damage caused to the replicas with damage found on the ancient tips. They determined that the damage found on both sets of points closely resembled one another.
While it may seem relatively simple to successfully attach a stone point to a spear, the reality is that it was a complex process. The hunter needed not only the tip and the wooden spear, but also some sort of string, which could have made of sinew, finely sliced animal hide, preferably rawhide, which would shrink as it hardened around the assembly. He also needed some sort of glue. In primitive societies, glue is commonly based on a tree resin, often mixed with other ingredients. Fire was required to melt the glue and the temperature had to be carefully controlled so that the mixture did not burn.
The actual age of the artifacts could not be established by direct evidence. Neither radiocarbon nor argon potassium dating methods could be used. Argon testing could not be done because there are no volcanic rocks in the area. Radiocarbon dating tests cannot be done on stone objects, not do they work on objects as old as the spear tips are believed to be. So the researchers used indirect methods to date the spear points, which, of course, leaves the door open to other theories.
As with every other remarkable archaeological discovery, new questions have been raised. If these artifacts are really half a million years old, why have no others been found dating between 500,000 and 250,000 years old? Was this valuable technology simply lost for a quarter of a million years, or have other examples simply not been found yet? Or is this another case where archaeologists were not looking for them simply because they did not expect to find them? Another question that arises concerns whether or not H. heidelbergensis used the same glue and string technique to half hand axes, knives, or other tools.
The discovery of the spear points also adds fuel to the argument about whether ancient people such as H. heidelbergensis and his successor, H. neanderthalis, possessed speech. Recently there has been some agreement that Neanderthals could speak. But the idea that H. heidelbergensis could speak is still generating controversy. The existence of the ancient spear points supports the idea that those ancient people could indeed speak. There is almost no other way that the spear-hafting technology could have been passed on or handed down.
An article written detailing the findings was published in the November 2012 issue of the journal Nature. The lead author was anthropologist Jayne Wilkins of the University of Toronto.
There’s a great article with additional detail and photographs here
The spear tips were found at a site called Kathu Pan 1 in the Kalahari Desert. The sediments that held the stones were not dated until 2010. But even though the artifacts resembled younger points that were used as spear tips, their actual use remained uncertain. Researchers stabbed a springbok carcass with replicas of the original points. Then they compared the damage caused to the replicas with damage found on the ancient tips. They determined that the damage found on both sets of points closely resembled one another.
While it may seem relatively simple to successfully attach a stone point to a spear, the reality is that it was a complex process. The hunter needed not only the tip and the wooden spear, but also some sort of string, which could have made of sinew, finely sliced animal hide, preferably rawhide, which would shrink as it hardened around the assembly. He also needed some sort of glue. In primitive societies, glue is commonly based on a tree resin, often mixed with other ingredients. Fire was required to melt the glue and the temperature had to be carefully controlled so that the mixture did not burn.
The actual age of the artifacts could not be established by direct evidence. Neither radiocarbon nor argon potassium dating methods could be used. Argon testing could not be done because there are no volcanic rocks in the area. Radiocarbon dating tests cannot be done on stone objects, not do they work on objects as old as the spear tips are believed to be. So the researchers used indirect methods to date the spear points, which, of course, leaves the door open to other theories.
As with every other remarkable archaeological discovery, new questions have been raised. If these artifacts are really half a million years old, why have no others been found dating between 500,000 and 250,000 years old? Was this valuable technology simply lost for a quarter of a million years, or have other examples simply not been found yet? Or is this another case where archaeologists were not looking for them simply because they did not expect to find them? Another question that arises concerns whether or not H. heidelbergensis used the same glue and string technique to half hand axes, knives, or other tools.
The discovery of the spear points also adds fuel to the argument about whether ancient people such as H. heidelbergensis and his successor, H. neanderthalis, possessed speech. Recently there has been some agreement that Neanderthals could speak. But the idea that H. heidelbergensis could speak is still generating controversy. The existence of the ancient spear points supports the idea that those ancient people could indeed speak. There is almost no other way that the spear-hafting technology could have been passed on or handed down.
An article written detailing the findings was published in the November 2012 issue of the journal Nature. The lead author was anthropologist Jayne Wilkins of the University of Toronto.
There’s a great article with additional detail and photographs here
Thursday, November 8, 2012
The Oldest Settlement in Europe
The oldest settlement in Europe, so far at least, may present more questions than answers.
A team led by Vasil Nikolov of Bulgaria’s National Institute of Archaeology discovered thick stone walls near the town of Provadia, Bulgaria and have estimated that they were built somewhere between 6300 to 6800 years ago. These walls are 10 feet (3 meters) high and more than 6 feet (2 meters) thick, with a diameter of about 328 feet (100 meters). They enclosed a settlement of two-story houses and obviously served as a fortification, much like the walls of later castles and walled towns.
The team also discovered parts of a gate and a series of pits apparently constructed for ritual use. The walls and other artifacts were dated by radiocarbon testing.
Nikolev believes the settlement housed about 350 people who produced salt by boiling brine from nearby salt springs which was used for trade. During the town’s lifetime, salt was a valuable commodity and anyone who could produce it in any quantity found a ready market for it. Copper needles and pottery found in graves at the site indicate that the people of the town were relatively wealthy, which supports Nikolev’s theory.
Bulgaria is an archaeological hotspot with many prehistoric settlement mounds in addition to the remains of Greek, Roman and Byzantine settlements.
.
The Provadia site does present some interesting problems, however. The houses were two stories high. Were there earlier settlements built of one-story dwellings which may have predated the two-story houses of Provadia? It would be a little odd if two-story buildings, which are much more difficult to build, actually were constructed before single-story homes.
The second question revolves around the wall itself. Was this location so dangerous that the people who lived there felt the need to construct that protective wall?
Nikolev’s team has been working at the site since 2005. Perhaps, as they expand their excavations, some of these questions will be answered.
There is a detailed report here
A team led by Vasil Nikolov of Bulgaria’s National Institute of Archaeology discovered thick stone walls near the town of Provadia, Bulgaria and have estimated that they were built somewhere between 6300 to 6800 years ago. These walls are 10 feet (3 meters) high and more than 6 feet (2 meters) thick, with a diameter of about 328 feet (100 meters). They enclosed a settlement of two-story houses and obviously served as a fortification, much like the walls of later castles and walled towns.
The team also discovered parts of a gate and a series of pits apparently constructed for ritual use. The walls and other artifacts were dated by radiocarbon testing.
Nikolev believes the settlement housed about 350 people who produced salt by boiling brine from nearby salt springs which was used for trade. During the town’s lifetime, salt was a valuable commodity and anyone who could produce it in any quantity found a ready market for it. Copper needles and pottery found in graves at the site indicate that the people of the town were relatively wealthy, which supports Nikolev’s theory.
Bulgaria is an archaeological hotspot with many prehistoric settlement mounds in addition to the remains of Greek, Roman and Byzantine settlements.
.
The Provadia site does present some interesting problems, however. The houses were two stories high. Were there earlier settlements built of one-story dwellings which may have predated the two-story houses of Provadia? It would be a little odd if two-story buildings, which are much more difficult to build, actually were constructed before single-story homes.
The second question revolves around the wall itself. Was this location so dangerous that the people who lived there felt the need to construct that protective wall?
Nikolev’s team has been working at the site since 2005. Perhaps, as they expand their excavations, some of these questions will be answered.
There is a detailed report here
Thursday, October 25, 2012
The World’s Oldest Ivory Workshop
An international team of scientists working at a mammoth hunting site called Breitenbach near Zeitz in Saxony-Anhalt has discovered what they believe is an organized workshop that produced ivory objects around 35,000 years ago. The site is open and massive, estimated at anywhere from about 6,000 square meters to as much as 20,000 meters. It was undoubtedly occupied by modern humans during the Aurignacian period (40,000-34,000 years ago).
The site has evidence of distinct working areas. In one, for example, pieces of ivory were split. There is a second area where pieces had been carved and waste discarded. The team found ivory beads and unfinished rough-outs in the debris. Other objects, including a decorated rod and fragments of what may have been a three-dimensional sculpture were also discovered.
The ivory these early "factory" workers used may have been from the remains of mammoths which had been hunted nearby, or might have died naturally. Close to 3,000 finds have been made in 2012 alone, even though the first archaeological excavations at the massive site were carried out in the 1920s.
Scientists investigating the site, believed to be one of the largest of its time, are excited about the possibility of gaining insights into the culture and organization of the people who lived and worked there during the Upper Paleolithic, and hope to find other examples of art, personal adornment, and perhaps even music. Naturally, they hope to find burials, which often shed much light on the social life and culture of the people who lived there
.
There is a great deal of work still to be done at Breitenbach, and with a little luck, perhaps the researchers there will be able to add precious details to what we know about the Aurignacian people and their lifestyles.
There’s more information on the Breitenbach site here
If you're interested, I posted about the world's oldest ivory sculpture here
The site has evidence of distinct working areas. In one, for example, pieces of ivory were split. There is a second area where pieces had been carved and waste discarded. The team found ivory beads and unfinished rough-outs in the debris. Other objects, including a decorated rod and fragments of what may have been a three-dimensional sculpture were also discovered.
The ivory these early "factory" workers used may have been from the remains of mammoths which had been hunted nearby, or might have died naturally. Close to 3,000 finds have been made in 2012 alone, even though the first archaeological excavations at the massive site were carried out in the 1920s.
Scientists investigating the site, believed to be one of the largest of its time, are excited about the possibility of gaining insights into the culture and organization of the people who lived and worked there during the Upper Paleolithic, and hope to find other examples of art, personal adornment, and perhaps even music. Naturally, they hope to find burials, which often shed much light on the social life and culture of the people who lived there
.
There is a great deal of work still to be done at Breitenbach, and with a little luck, perhaps the researchers there will be able to add precious details to what we know about the Aurignacian people and their lifestyles.
There’s more information on the Breitenbach site here
If you're interested, I posted about the world's oldest ivory sculpture here
Thursday, October 11, 2012
The World’s Oldest Skirt
Armenia’s Areni-1 cave is already known for the discovery of the world’s oldest leather shoes. Now it has produced another ancient garment. This time it is a skirt made of reeds and has been dated at 5,900 years old. It is now thought to be the oldest piece of reed clothing discovered to date.
The cave has been under investigation by a team of Irish, American and Armenian researchers since 2007. It has yielded numerous fascinating discoveries over the years, including the mummified remains of a goat that may be 5,900 years old, more than 1,000 years older than many of the famous mummified animals found in Egypt.
There’s more information about the skirt here
The cave has been under investigation by a team of Irish, American and Armenian researchers since 2007. It has yielded numerous fascinating discoveries over the years, including the mummified remains of a goat that may be 5,900 years old, more than 1,000 years older than many of the famous mummified animals found in Egypt.
There’s more information about the skirt here
Thursday, October 4, 2012
The Oldest House in Britain
This is not the oldest house in the world, but it is the oldest one found so far in Britain. Dated at 11,500 years old, the building was found at the Star Carr Site near Scarborough in North Yorkshire. It predates the previous "oldest house in Britain," located in Howick, Northumberland, by about 500 years. The archaeological team excavating the site also believes a nearby platform may be the oldest known example of carpentry in Europe.
The house was circular, and 3.5 meters (14.2 feet) in diameter, smaller than later iron age round houses. It was built of timber posts arranged around a sunken floor area. There is no way to tell how the walls and roof were finished, but it may have been thatched or covered by reeds, or a combination of reeds and animal hides. Sunken floors were not uncommon in ancient houses to take advantage of their ability to help regulate temperatures inside the structures.
The structure was dated by using a combination of radiocarbon tests and identification of the general types of tools found at the site. It may have been rebuilt several times, so it is possible that the original structure was somewhat older. In fact, the Star Carr site is believed to have been in use for somewhere between 200 and 500 years. There may also have been other houses at the site.
Since the original discovery of the site in the 1940s, several interesting finds have been reported. Archaeologists have reported finding arrow tips and masks made from red deer skulls. A boat paddle was retrieved, and several antler head-dresses which may have been used in rituals also turned up during the excavations conducted throughout the years. Another notable find was that of a tree, with its bark still intact, which was subsequently dated at about 11,000 years of age.
At the time the Yorkshire house was built, the planet was just recovering from the effects of the last Ice Age. Glaciers had retreated and Britain was still attached to continental Europe, so people were able to migrate back to the island. These people were still hunter-gatherers who made their living by gathering fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables and by hunting game such as deer, elk, and boar with the help of domesticated dogs.
Our picture of hunter-gatherers is that of people almost constantly on the move in search of food and materials to make tools. So it is somewhat surprising to archaeologists that it appears the people living at the Star Carr site had a more-or-less permanent settlement that was inhabited for generations. The presence of the boat oar indicates that the people here may have fished and gathered edible shellfish at the nearby lake. We have no idea at this time what type of boats they might have used
.
The Yorkshire site has changed our understanding of the lives of the so-called ‘nomadic’ hunter-gatherers. It also holds out the possibility that other sites may still exist which will help us to understand even more about the lives of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
For more information about the Star Carr site, visit here
The house was circular, and 3.5 meters (14.2 feet) in diameter, smaller than later iron age round houses. It was built of timber posts arranged around a sunken floor area. There is no way to tell how the walls and roof were finished, but it may have been thatched or covered by reeds, or a combination of reeds and animal hides. Sunken floors were not uncommon in ancient houses to take advantage of their ability to help regulate temperatures inside the structures.
The structure was dated by using a combination of radiocarbon tests and identification of the general types of tools found at the site. It may have been rebuilt several times, so it is possible that the original structure was somewhat older. In fact, the Star Carr site is believed to have been in use for somewhere between 200 and 500 years. There may also have been other houses at the site.
Since the original discovery of the site in the 1940s, several interesting finds have been reported. Archaeologists have reported finding arrow tips and masks made from red deer skulls. A boat paddle was retrieved, and several antler head-dresses which may have been used in rituals also turned up during the excavations conducted throughout the years. Another notable find was that of a tree, with its bark still intact, which was subsequently dated at about 11,000 years of age.
At the time the Yorkshire house was built, the planet was just recovering from the effects of the last Ice Age. Glaciers had retreated and Britain was still attached to continental Europe, so people were able to migrate back to the island. These people were still hunter-gatherers who made their living by gathering fruits, nuts, seeds and vegetables and by hunting game such as deer, elk, and boar with the help of domesticated dogs.
Our picture of hunter-gatherers is that of people almost constantly on the move in search of food and materials to make tools. So it is somewhat surprising to archaeologists that it appears the people living at the Star Carr site had a more-or-less permanent settlement that was inhabited for generations. The presence of the boat oar indicates that the people here may have fished and gathered edible shellfish at the nearby lake. We have no idea at this time what type of boats they might have used
.
The Yorkshire site has changed our understanding of the lives of the so-called ‘nomadic’ hunter-gatherers. It also holds out the possibility that other sites may still exist which will help us to understand even more about the lives of our hunter-gatherer ancestors.
For more information about the Star Carr site, visit here
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
The World’s Oldest Astrologer’s Board
Astrology is thought to have first developed in Babylon some time before 2500 B.C. It spread to the eastern Mediterranean area around 2100 years ago. So you would expect to find the oldest astrology board in Babylon.
But in 1999, thirty bits of ivory found in a cave near Nakovana in Croatia and painstakingly assembled over the next several years, proved to be the remains of what is now the oldest known astrologer’s board. The part of the cave containing the ivory fragments had been deliberately sealed off more than 2,000 years ago and lay undisturbed until discovered by a team led by Staso Forenbaher of the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb.
Over time, the Greek symbols used for the signs of the zodiac replaced earlier versions developed by the Babylonians and other cultures and are still in use by today’s astrologers.
Researchers are uncertain where the board was made, although the ivory was identified as coming from an elephant. They believe the symbols may have been attached to a wooden board that did not survive. They also have no idea why it was placed in a cave, which is not a particularly good place for observing stars and constellations.
The cave also contained a large number of drinking vessels which appear to have been deposited over hundreds of years. If these drinking vessels were used in rituals, then the cave had a long history of special significance for the people who lived in the area long before the board was left there. Was it hidden there, or was it an offering to some unknown deity?
If you’re interested in more information, you might want to start here
But in 1999, thirty bits of ivory found in a cave near Nakovana in Croatia and painstakingly assembled over the next several years, proved to be the remains of what is now the oldest known astrologer’s board. The part of the cave containing the ivory fragments had been deliberately sealed off more than 2,000 years ago and lay undisturbed until discovered by a team led by Staso Forenbaher of the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb.
Over time, the Greek symbols used for the signs of the zodiac replaced earlier versions developed by the Babylonians and other cultures and are still in use by today’s astrologers.
Researchers are uncertain where the board was made, although the ivory was identified as coming from an elephant. They believe the symbols may have been attached to a wooden board that did not survive. They also have no idea why it was placed in a cave, which is not a particularly good place for observing stars and constellations.
The cave also contained a large number of drinking vessels which appear to have been deposited over hundreds of years. If these drinking vessels were used in rituals, then the cave had a long history of special significance for the people who lived in the area long before the board was left there. Was it hidden there, or was it an offering to some unknown deity?
If you’re interested in more information, you might want to start here
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