It’s beautiful fall day in my neck of the woods. A perfect day for a hot cup of something and quick nerdout on the ancient world.

✅ Hot cuppa
✅ Issue #214 of Ancient Beat
✅ First sip
✅ Sigh of contentment

Let’s get into it.👇

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🗞 Ancient News: Top 5

• Fingerprints Reveal Who May Have Built China’s Terracotta Army — Fingerprints preserved in China’s famous Terracotta Army suggest that women and children may have helped manufacture the thousands of life-sized figures created for the first Qin emperor’s mausoleum during the third century BCE. A study examined 79 well-preserved fingerprints on 36 ceramic soldiers from Unit T23 in Pit 1 of the burial complex near Xi’an. By measuring the spacing between fingerprint ridges and applying a statistical model, the analysis estimated that approximately 45% of impressions came from adult men, 32.7% from adult women, and 22.3% from children younger than 15. The findings challenge the assumption that the enormous production effort relied exclusively on adult male craftspeople. Ancient inscriptions on Qin lacquerware also refer to women and children participating in state-controlled manufacturing. However, the percentages represent fingerprints rather than individual workers, and comparisons with modern European populations introduce uncertainty. Even so, the evidence suggests a more diverse workforce than previously recognized.

• World’s Oldest Shipwreck Discovered in the Mediterranean — A Bronze Age shipwreck discovered near Kekova Island, off the coast of Antalya in southern Turkey, has been dated to approximately 2700–2400 BCE, making it a candidate for the world’s oldest known shipwreck. Although the ship’s wooden structure has not survived, its cargo of more than 30 amphorae remains on the seabed at a depth of approximately 100 feet. The pottery vessels resemble examples found in Egypt and the Middle East, providing evidence for the wreck’s age and connections to ancient Mediterranean trade networks. Based on the cargo’s size, the merchant vessel is estimated to have measured around 30 feet long. Three large stone anchors were also discovered nearby. Some intact amphoras contain residues that are being analyzed to determine whether they once held commodities such as olive oil, wine, or tree resins. The ship may have departed from an eastern Mediterranean port and been heading toward Crete or northwestern Turkey when it sank in the hazardous waters surrounding Kekova Island.

• Early Humans in America Endured Climate Chaos—New Research — New investigations of prehistoric human footprints at White Sands National Park in New Mexico have revealed how early Americans endured dramatic environmental changes during the last ice age. Excavations identified 20 distinct layers of sediment containing footprints dating from approximately 23,500 to 21,700 years ago, demonstrating repeated human activity over nearly 2,000 years. At the beginning of this period, the region contained a large lake surrounded by conifer forests, with average temperatures about 7°F colder than today. As the climate warmed, Lake Otero shrank, forests gave way to oak and sagebrush, and increasingly dry conditions transformed the landscape. A severe drought around 23,200 years ago coincided with an abrupt climatic event recorded in Greenland ice cores. Analysis of ancient pollen and plant waxes helped reconstruct these changes. Computer simulations also revealed that footprints were more likely to survive during environmental transitions, when exposed mud was subsequently buried by sediment. Consequently, gaps in the footprint record do not necessarily indicate human absence, offering a more nuanced picture of early American populations.

• Roads and Terraces Discovered Near Machu Picchu — Drone-mounted LiDAR has revealed approximately 1.5 miles of ancient roads, agricultural terraces, platforms, and circular structures hidden beneath dense vegetation near Machu Picchu in Peru. The features were identified on the steep, forested slopes of Mount Yanantin, close to the famous Inca citadel. Some pathways follow zigzagging routes across the mountainside, with one measuring less than 3 feet wide. After identifying the structures through laser scanning, archaeologists cleared thick vegetation with machetes to confirm their existence on the ground. Although the arrangement of the roads is consistent with Inca engineering, the structures have not yet been securely dated, and some may predate the Inca Empire, which flourished during the 15th and early 16th centuries CE. The discoveries suggest that the landscape surrounding Machu Picchu was more extensively developed than previously recognized. Additional LiDAR surveys are planned, with many more structures potentially hidden in the surrounding forest.

• Was Neanderthal Life Violent? This Wound Suggests Lethal Fighting Was More Common — A Neanderthal who died approximately 75,000 years ago may have been killed by a wooden spear, providing rare evidence of lethal violence in prehistoric societies. The remains, discovered in Shanidar Cave in Iraqi Kurdistan, include a left shoulder blade with a nearly circular, 0.6-inch hole, along with a right hand, three ribs, and several teeth. The point likely entered the chest, damaging a lung and major blood vessels before exiting through the shoulder blade. Experiments with reconstructed wooden spears produced similar punctures, although if it was a spear, the injury could have resulted from a hunting accident rather than an attack. Another Neanderthal from the same cave, dating to around 50,000 years ago, had a partially healed rib wound possibly caused by a stone-tipped spear. Evidence from a 430,000-year-old site in northern Spain also suggests repeated violence, including 57 healed head injuries among 20 individuals, nine potentially fatal cranial injuries, and six similar punctures at the back-left of skulls. Together, these discoveries suggest lethal interpersonal violence existed long before agriculture, although its frequency remains uncertain.

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 24 discoveries and 3 recommended pieces of content.

Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

P.S. Here’s my Buy Me A Coffee link if you’d like to support my efforts with a donation.

P.P.S. If you want access to the paid version but it’s a little too steep for you right now, just email me — I want this to be accessible.

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• Geophysical Survey Reveals Possible Hidden Chambers in Italy’s Cave of Venuses — A geophysical investigation of the Grotta delle Veneri, or Cave of Venuses, near Parabita in southern Italy’s Puglia region has identified several underground anomalies that may represent previously unknown chambers. The limestone cave preserves evidence of occupation by both Neanderthals and modern humans. It is particularly famous for two approximately 20,000-year-old female figurines carved from animal bone. The larger measures approximately 3.5 inches tall and features deep facial grooves that may represent a veil, mask, or hairstyle. The smaller stands just over 2.4 inches tall. Both depict stylized female figures with their arms positioned across their breasts and beneath their abdomens, possibly symbolizing pregnancy or fertility. Using ground-penetrating radar and electrical resistivity tomography, investigators detected potential cavities that could connect to the known cave system. These techniques reveal underground features without disturbing archaeological deposits. The anomalies have not yet been confirmed as chambers, and there is currently no evidence that they contain artifacts. However, the findings raise the possibility that additional prehistoric deposits remain concealed within the cave.

• Bering Land Bridge Base Camp Reveals What Life Was Like Nearly 14,000 Years Ago — Excavations at Shég’ Xdaltth’í’, an Ice Age campsite overlooking Alaska’s Tanana River, have uncovered more than 80,000 archaeological specimens documenting human life between approximately 13,800 and 12,700 years ago. Three distinct occupation phases reveal how early inhabitants of Beringia adapted to the region’s cold, tundra-like environment. The inhabitants hunted mammoths, steppe bison, horses, and caribou, using stone and bone tools to process their kills. Inside a dwelling, archaeologists found a large stone anvil surrounded by smashed bison bones and quartz and quartzite hammerstones, suggesting that people extracted marrow and possibly rendered animal fat for food. A large earth oven stood nearby. Other discoveries include needles fashioned from bird bones, hafted stone tools, and distinctive diamond-shaped bifacial projectile points. Similar points have been found in northeastern Russia but nowhere else in Alaska, suggesting connections and possible movement across the Bering Land Bridge. The findings offer a rare glimpse into everyday life during the early peopling of North America.

• 2,500-Year-Old Solar Observatory Discovered in Mexico, Revealing Ancient Astronomical Knowledge — Archaeologists have identified a solar observatory dating to approximately 1000–600 BCE at Teteles de Ávila Castillo, also known as Tetelihtic, in Mexico’s mountainous Puebla state. The complex lies east of the settlement’s Great Plaza and consists of a quadrangular courtyard flanked by two platforms. The eastern platform measures approximately 295 by 131 feet, while the western structure measures 151 by 89 feet and may have served as an observation point. Their alignment allowed observers to track the rising Sun, marking important agricultural dates in February and October, as well as solstices and equinoxes. The layout resembles the Maya Group E observatory at Uaxactún in Guatemala, making it the first confirmed example of this architectural type outside the Maya region. Tetelihtic was occupied from approximately 900 BCE to 100 CE, but offerings dating to 100–600 CE and another associated with the Totonac culture from 600–900 CE indicate continued religious activity. The discovery may reveal early cultural connections among Maya-speaking, Huastec, and Totonac populations.

  

• 184 Cuneiform Tablets Discovered in Hittite Royal Archive — Excavations at Kayalıpınar, the ancient Hittite city of Šamuḫa in central Türkiye’s Sivas Province, have uncovered 131 cuneiform tablets and fragments, bringing the total recovered from a royal archive to 184. The documents date to approximately 1400 BCE, during the reign of the Hittite king Tudhaliya II. Preliminary translations reveal accounts of military campaigns, epidemics, the death of an infant princess, and appeals for assistance sent to the king by military commanders. The tablets also contain information about government administration and everyday affairs, potentially offering an unusually detailed picture of life within the Late Bronze Age Hittite kingdom. Šamuḫa was an important political and religious center, particularly associated with the goddess Šauška, who was connected with love and warfare. The archive is considered the largest collection of Hittite royal documents discovered in the 21st century and one of the most significant outside the imperial capital of Hattusa. Further translations may reveal previously unknown details about Hittite political struggles, military organization, religious practices, and royal life.

• Ancient Cave Paintings Reveal Thousands of Years of Religious Activity in China — A study of rock paintings at Tangbaletasi, in northwestern China’s Altai Mountains, has revealed thousands of years of artistic and religious activity, beginning in the Bronze Age around the third millennium BCE. Two natural caves contain at least 70 identifiable figures and compositions, including animals, geometric patterns, horned humanlike figures, and a mysterious three-eyed face with a beard and rays extending from its head. The first cave contains 19 figures, while the second preserves 51 compositions. Hyperspectral imaging revealed two previously invisible motifs and helped establish the sequence in which different paintings were added. Some resemble imagery associated with Bronze Age cultures in Mongolia and southern Siberia, while others may depict communal rituals or shamanic traditions. Later additions include Tibetan Buddhist inscriptions and a crossed vajra symbol, potentially dating to the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368 CE). Differences in pigments suggest multiple periods of Buddhist activity. A circular stone burial mound approximately 33 feet across lies 328 feet from the caves, although its relationship to the paintings remains uncertain.

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 25 discoveries and 4 recommended pieces of content.

Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

P.S. Here’s my Buy Me A Coffee link if you’d like to support my efforts with a donation.

P.P.S. If you want access to the paid version but it’s a little too steep for you right now, just email me — I want this to be accessible.

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• Neanderthal Woodworking at Abric Romaní: Insights Into the Role of Wood in a Middle Paleolithic Domestic Context — A study of 597 wooden remains and impressions from Abric Romaní, a rock shelter near Barcelona, Spain, reveals that Neanderthals manufactured sophisticated wooden weapons, tools, and household objects between approximately 62,000 and 40,000 years ago. The remains were recovered from 16 archaeological layers, with 13 identified as deliberately worked or used objects. Among them are two wooden spears measuring approximately 8 feet and 6.5 feet long, including one with a carefully shaped point. Another remarkable discovery is a club-like object carved from a single piece of wood, featuring a handle and thick, pointed head unlike any previously documented prehistoric tool. Other finds include possible bark containers or trays, crossed wooden poles potentially forming a raised food-preparation platform, and a straight wooden element nearly 17 feet long that may have been part of a structure. Although most of the original wood decayed, calcium carbonate deposits preserved detailed impressions in travertine rock. The discoveries suggest that woodworking played a much greater role in Neanderthal technology and daily life than surviving stone artifacts alone would indicate.

  

• Sunken Silk Road City Reveals Central Asia’s Lost History — Underwater excavations in Lake Issyk-Kul, Kyrgyzstan, are revealing the remains of a medieval Silk Road city that disappeared beneath the water roughly 800 years ago. The settlement, which may have covered nearly 2 square miles, stood along a major trade route connecting China and Europe. It may have flourished under the Karakhanid dynasty, which controlled much of Central Asia between the ninth and early 13th centuries CE. Its original name and population remain unknown. Discoveries include two cemeteries apparently dating to the region’s early Islamic period, an elaborately decorated public building that may have been a mosque, bathhouse, or religious school, animal bones, pottery fragments, and a child’s chamber pot known as a tuvaq. The animal remains could reveal details about inhabitants’ diets, while pottery analysis may help establish the settlement’s chronology and trade connections. Systematic underwater investigations began in 2024, more than a century after the ruins were first identified. The city’s disappearance remains mysterious, although an earthquake, landslide, or earthquake-induced natural dam may have caused the flooding.

• Ancient Auroch Skull Found Impaled on Wooden Stake — A 10,500-year-old aurochs skull mounted on a wooden stake has been discovered in the Duvensee Moor near Lüchow, in Schleswig-Holstein, northern Germany. The skull, recovered in 2025, was found just a few yards from what is considered northern Germany’s oldest known grave, excavated in 2022–2023. Despite being broken into several pieces, the skull is nearly complete, thanks to exceptional preservation in the waterlogged peat. Its placement may have been part of a Mesolithic funerary ritual, possibly intended to protect the deceased. Hunter-gatherers in the region are thought to have cremated their dead and buried the remains alongside material from funeral pyres. Aurochs, the extinct wild ancestors of domestic cattle, were imposing animals that once ranged across Europe, Asia, and North Africa. More than 20 prehistoric sites have been identified across the moor. Further examination of the skull and jaw will investigate how the stake was inserted. Meanwhile, the gradual drying of the wetland threatens the preservation of ancient wood, bone, and other organic remains.

• Ancient Ethiopian Palace Could Have Stood 16 Stories High, Study Finds — A new structural analysis suggests that a 2,800-year-old palace in Yeha, northern Ethiopia, could theoretically have supported as many as 16 stories. Known as Grat Be’al Gibri, the monumental complex dates to around 800 BCE and measures approximately 197 by 197 feet, making it one of the largest known palace-like structures of its era in East Africa and South Arabia. Although only its foundations and parts of the ground floor survive, previous reconstructions proposed an eight-story building. The palace featured stone-and-clay walls reinforced with horizontal wooden beams, some made from African olive and Cordia africana, both resistant to termites. Its ground-floor walls were around 6.2 feet thick, while its foundation walls reached 7.2 feet. A foundation platform stood nearly 20 feet high, with entrance pillars rising approximately 33 feet. Computer simulations indicate that the structure could have supported twice its previously estimated maximum height, although there is no evidence that it actually did. The palace was eventually destroyed by fire, rather than necessarily collapsing under its own weight.

• When Did People Arrive in the Americas? — A new review of archaeological, genetic, and environmental evidence suggests that the ancestors of most Indigenous Americans arrived between approximately 20,000 and 14,000 years ago, during the Last Glacial Maximum and its aftermath. The analysis evaluated three competing migration scenarios: arrival before 25,000 years ago, during the period of extensive Ice Age glaciation, or after ice sheets retreated around 14,000 years ago. Ancient DNA indicates that Northern and Southern Native American populations had already diverged approximately 15,000 years ago, supporting an earlier migration. However, no identified genetic evidence currently places this population split before 25,000 years ago. Archaeological sites suggesting human activity at earlier dates may represent populations that left few or no surviving descendants, or whose genetic traces have not yet been recovered. The findings favor migration during the later Ice Age while acknowledging that the archaeological and genetic records remain incomplete.

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 24 discoveries and 1 recommended piece of content.

Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

P.S. Here’s my Buy Me A Coffee link if you’d like to support my efforts with a donation.

P.P.S. If you want access to the paid version but it’s a little too steep for you right now, just email me — I want this to be accessible.

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• Ancient Wall Found Beneath Paris Could Confirm Site of First Settlement — A roughly 65-foot-long stone-and-timber wall uncovered beneath the Hôtel-Dieu hospital on Paris’s Île de la Cité may be part of the defenses of Lutetia, the Iron Age settlement of the Gallic Parisii that preceded modern Paris. The wall bears traces of intense burning, and carbon dating of charred material places it between about 200 and 10 BCE. That range includes 52 BCE, when Roman accounts describe the Gauls burning Lutetia before fighting Roman forces. The discovery is especially important because scholars have long debated whether Gallic Lutetia actually stood on Île de la Cité or farther west around modern Nanterre. The structure survives only about 3.3 feet high and lay roughly 13 feet below the hospital courtyard. Its construction follows Gallic traditions, while a thick platform of sand and gravel behind it may have strengthened it as a defensive rampart. Its exact function and date still require confirmation.

• A 72-Year-Old Photo Is Revealing New Clues About ‘Meretneith,’ a Powerful Woman Who May Have Ruled Egypt 5,000 Years Ago — Digital enhancement of a 1954 photograph may strengthen the case that Meretneith, a powerful First Dynasty woman who lived roughly 5,000 years ago, exercised pharaonic authority. The original objects—13 mud sealings found around a tomb shaft at Saqqara—are now missing, leaving the old photograph as key evidence. Each sealing carried four serekhs, emblems normally containing a ruler’s name; the enhanced image appears to show signs consistent with Meretneith in two of them. Other inscriptions call her “king’s mother” and connect her with important state functions such as the treasury, while she may have ruled jointly or served as regent for her young son. Her tomb was also comparable in scale and construction to royal burials. However, the interpretation remains disputed: another reading of the enhanced photograph holds that the seals name only the male ruler Djer, so Meretneith’s precise political status is still unresolved.

• Butchered Bones in Chile Dated to 13,000 Years Ago — Cut marks on gomphothere bones from the basin of ancient Lake Tagua Tagua in central Chile provide evidence that some of South America’s earliest inhabitants butchered these extinct, elephant-like mammals between 12,000 and 13,000 years ago. Stone tools recovered from the same site strengthen the case for deliberate processing by humans. Earlier excavations in the lake basin also uncovered bones from extinct horses and deer bearing cut marks and signs of burning. Together, the finds show that early inhabitants of the Southern Cone exploited several species of large mammals for food and potentially other resources near the end of the Pleistocene. Further analysis of the bones and surrounding sediments may reveal more about how these early communities lived and adapted to the landscape.

• Wood Beneath German Lake May Reveal Buildings 3,000 Years Older Than Region’s First Farms — Remarkably preserved wooden remains beneath Lake Arendsee in northern Germany may represent Mesolithic structures built around 10,500 years ago, roughly 3,000 years before farming reached the region. The finds lie about 66 feet underwater beneath a thin layer of sediment, preserved because geological activity associated with an underlying salt dome has gradually lowered the lakebed rather than allowing it to silt up normally. Alongside stone tools and animal bones, divers recovered a worked wooden post about 5.2 feet tall bearing felling marks and split boards up to 4.3 feet long. These could be parts of huts or another type of wooden construction, though their purpose remains uncertain. If confirmed as buildings or intensively used living spaces, they would provide rare evidence that hunter-gatherers were modifying landscapes architecturally long before the first farming communities arrived around 5500 BCE.

• Mysterious Giant Stone Circles Discovered High in Argentina’s Andes — A previously unknown complex of monumental stone features has been documented in the Cordillera del Tigre of Mendoza Province, Argentina, at an elevation above 9,840 feet. The site contains enormous circular constructions measuring roughly 89–115 feet across, linked by passageways and accompanied by stone walls, channels or ditches, partially buried stones, and excavated areas. First noticed in satellite imagery in 2025 and reached on foot in February 2026, the complex has no obvious parallels currently known in Mendoza. No pottery, food debris, or other surface material associated with permanent settlement has yet been reported, raising the possibility that the isolated mountain complex had a ceremonial or symbolic function. It could potentially relate to the Inca period or earlier pre-Hispanic populations, but its builders, age, and purpose remain unknown pending excavation, sediment analysis, and remote sensing.

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 32 discoveries and 3 recommended pieces of content.

Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

P.S. Here’s my Buy Me A Coffee link if you’d like to support my efforts with a donation.

P.P.S. If you want access to the paid version but it’s a little too steep for you right now, just email me — I want this to be accessible.

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So, friends, I’ll give you a moment to to collect everything you need to break your fast.

For me it will be a crumpet and eggs… maybe. I’ve been talking for weeks about making crumpets for my wife and daughter. I’ve never made a crumpet before, but they’ve never eaten one… so if it goes south, they’ll be none the wiser. I’ll just slather it in butter and honey, and call it a crumpet.

Ok, ready? Here’s the latest ancient news (with a side of breakfast). 🍳

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🗞 Ancient News: Top 5

• Intact Burials at Göbeklitepe Reveal New Clues to 11,000-Year-Old Burial Rituals — The first two intact burial contexts found at Göbeklitepe in southeastern Turkey are changing interpretations of the site’s scattered human remains. Dating to about 8700–8000 BCE, one burial beneath a plaster floor contained at least three people—an adult woman, young adult man, and adolescent girl—whose bones had been rearranged as the grave was apparently reopened for successive burials. Their skulls were grouped in one corner and long bones placed along a wall. A second burial held a young adult woman lying on her left side in a flexed position, facing east. Natural damage to her skeleton resembles that seen among 928 previously recovered bone fragments, suggesting erosion and landslides may have swept some remains from domestic burials downhill into monumental buildings. However, deliberately cut skull fragments from five people still point to more complex mortuary rituals occurring alongside ordinary under-floor burial.

• ‘We Have Found Traces of Peace, Thousands of Years Old’: Fragment of World’s Oldest Known Peace Treaty Found in Turkey — A 3,400-year-old cuneiform fragment of the Egyptian-Hittite peace treaty has been uncovered at Hattusha, the Hittite capital in north-central Turkey. Signed around 1269 BCE after generations of conflict between Egypt and the Hittite Empire, the treaty is the oldest known surviving peace agreement. The new fragment preserves part of the section dealing with refugees: people who fled from one kingdom to the other were to be returned, but they were not to be mutilated and their families and homes were to be spared. The broader treaty also established peace, mutual military assistance, nonaggression, and extradition. Earlier versions survive in Egyptian hieroglyphs at Thebes and in Akkadian cuneiform fragments from Hattusha. The agreement followed the famous Battle of Kadesh, although the treaty itself does not directly mention that battle.

• Nearly 2,400-Year-Old School Where Aristotle Taught Alexander the Great Discovered in Greece — A monumental 4th-century BCE educational complex uncovered at ancient Mieza in northern Greece is believed to be the school where Alexander the Great and other Macedonian nobles were taught. The complex includes two banquet halls, a sporting arena, a stadium, a roofed porch, and a lecture hall furnished with stone desks. Mosaic floors and columns decorated the buildings, while raised platforms in the banquet halls would have supported nearly a dozen dining couches. Archaeologists also recovered coins, ceramics, and four writing styluses. The architecture closely resembles that of the Macedonian royal palace at Aigai, fitting ancient accounts that the school was created for elite education. Excavation of the complex began in 2024 after earlier discoveries near a sanctuary dedicated to nymphs helped identify the wider site.

• New Evidence Points to Possible Hidden Chambers Beyond Tutankhamun’s Tomb — New geophysical surveys around Tutankhamun’s tomb, KV62, in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings have detected anomalies that could represent previously unknown corridors and chambers, although the evidence remains inconclusive. Ground-penetrating radar and more than 1,200 microgravity measurements across roughly 377 square feet identified several low-density, right-angled features aligned with the burial chamber’s north wall. One possible rubble-filled corridor appears to be about 6.6 feet wide, while another anomaly contains a roughly square zone of denser material that could conceivably represent objects inside a chamber. The results revive a theory that Tutankhamun’s unusually small tomb was adapted from a larger preexisting royal complex after his unexpected death. Suggestions that sealed rooms might contain the burial of Nefertiti remain speculative: previous surveys have produced conflicting results, and the latest anomalies require stronger geophysical or physical confirmation.

• The Monsters That Weren’t: Dinosaur and Tusked-Beast Claims in San Rock Art Unravel — A reassessment of San rock art in southern Africa challenges claims that Indigenous artists depicted creatures inspired by dinosaur and dicynodont fossils. One strange red image previously interpreted as a dinosaur footprint associated with a mythical monster appears to have been misread: historical San accounts show that the mythical being associated with the image was actually a personified veld fire rather than a prehistoric beast. A second painting, previously described as a tusked animal inspired by extinct dicynodonts, was reexamined using new photography and digital enhancement. Its apparent “tusks” are actually a smear of black pigment, possibly added separately, while weathering created the misleading gray coloration. The figure is more plausibly a rain animal, a supernatural creature well documented in San stories and rock art. No known San traditions cited in the reassessment connect either image with fossils or extinct animals.

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 27 discoveries and 2 recommended pieces of content.

Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

P.S. Here’s my Buy Me A Coffee link if you’d like to support my efforts with a donation.

P.P.S. If you want access to the paid version but it’s a little too steep for you right now, just email me — I want this to be accessible.

P.P.P.S. Paid members, read on!

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• Scientists Find a Trove of Denisovan Fossils and Tools in Southwest China, Giving an Unprecedented Glimpse Into Our Extinct Cousins’ Lives — Bianfu Cave in Yunnan Province, southwestern China, has produced seven Denisovan fossils—two skull fragments, four teeth, and part of a forearm bone—from at least four individuals who lived about 167,000–134,000 years ago. The bones were identified through ancient proteins after more than 60,000 fragments were examined; DNA had not survived. The forearm is the first Denisovan radius ever identified and combines some Neanderthal-like traits with an overall shape closer to modern humans. More than 1,300 stone and bone tools indicate hominin activity in the cave between roughly 190,000 and 70,000 years ago. Cut and fractured bones from deer, water buffalo, and other animals suggest skilled hunting and butchery of large prey, while pollen indicates a conifer-rich environment. The site provides the first direct evidence of Denisovans in southwestern China.

• Major New Discoveries Beneath the Forest Canopy Near Machu Picchu — Drone-mounted LiDAR has revealed more than 1.5 miles of previously unknown pre-Columbian roads beneath dense rainforest on Mount Yanantin, across the Urubamba River from Machu Picchu in Peru. The longest continuous section runs for at least three-quarters of a mile, and the total network may ultimately prove twice as extensive. The surveys also identified previously undocumented terraces, platforms, and circular structures at elevations of about 6,560–8,860 feet. The narrow, zigzagging roads resemble known Inca engineering, although some may predate the Inca and have been rebuilt or reused later. More than 60 archaeological sites are already known within the wider Machu Picchu landscape, but most documented activity has been on the opposite side of the river. The newly detected infrastructure suggests this forested area was also heavily developed and may substantially change interpretations of how the larger Machu Picchu region was organized and connected.

• 18,000-Year-Old Ice Age Artists Used Natural Mammoth Tusk Patterns in Their Art — Analysis of 18 female figurines from Mizyn in northern Ukraine suggests Ice Age artists deliberately incorporated the natural internal patterns of mammoth tusks into their designs. Dating to about 18,000 years ago, the ivory figures belong to the broad category often called “Venus” figurines. High-resolution microscopy and 3D modeling revealed that engraved geometric patterns frequently follow or imitate natural Schreger and Owen lines created as tusks grow, showing that craftspeople planned their carvings around the material itself. The figurines also illuminate a major shift in Paleolithic art: human figurines largely disappeared during the Last Glacial Maximum, with an apparent production gap of roughly 1,000–3,000 years before reappearing around 18,000 years ago. The Mizyn examples are among Europe’s earliest anthropomorphic images after that hiatus and represent an eastern European artistic tradition distinct from later western examples.

  

• Oldest North African Defensive Structure Outside Egypt Identified — A 3,500- to 4,000-year-old defensive complex at Oued Beht in Morocco has been identified as the oldest known fortification in Africa outside the Nile Valley. Located around 60 miles from the Atlantic coast, the ditch-and-rampart enclosure dates to the early to middle second millennium BCE. Although first noticed in the 1930s, it had not previously been securely dated. The structure blocked access to the southern end of a settlement and used the natural ridge to strengthen its defenses. Its exact purpose remains uncertain: it may have protected inhabitants against attack, controlled movement through the landscape, or reflected increasing competition over territory. Oued Beht was also home to a large Late Neolithic farming settlement, previously identified as the largest known in Africa outside Egypt for its period. The fortification shows that Maghreb communities were capable of organizing substantial public construction projects by the Bronze Age.

• Roman Inscription Marks Lightning Strike at Hadrian’s Villa — A marble inscription found near the amphitheater at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, Italy, appears to mark a spot struck by lightning and subsequently treated as sacred. The slab bears the Latin words “FVLGVR SVBMANIVM,” referring to Summanus, the Roman deity associated with nighttime lightning. Romans believed objects or places struck by lightning had been touched by divine power, and the fulgur conditum ritual involved burying affected material and formally marking the location as consecrated ground. The inscription therefore provides physical evidence for a religious practice otherwise known largely from ancient texts and other ritual contexts. Its location may also help explain changes to the layout and use of this part of Hadrian’s sprawling second-century CE villa complex, showing how an unpredictable natural event could permanently reshape Roman sacred space.

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 31 discoveries and 4 recommended pieces of content.

Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

P.S. Here’s my Buy Me A Coffee link if you’d like to support my efforts with a donation.

P.P.S. If you want access to the paid version but it’s a little too steep for you right now, just email me — I want this to be accessible.

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🗞 Ancient News: Top 5

• Ancient Cave Art Discovery Suggests First Known Humans in Ireland Walked Over From Wales — Rock art identified in eight caves in southwest Ireland may push known human activity on the island back to at least 15,000 years ago—about 5,000 years earlier than previously accepted evidence. During the Ice Age, lower sea levels may have exposed a roughly 46-mile-wide land corridor between Pembrokeshire in Wales and the Rosslare area of Ireland, potentially allowing hunter-gatherers to follow herds of mammoth, bison, reindeer and wild horses westward. A computer model based on characteristics of prehistoric cave sites in south Wales identified 28 promising Irish caves; eight contained apparent art. The finds include limestone engravings, ochre and charcoal paintings, fingertip lines pressed into clay and possible images of deer and mammoths. Some finger markings may even have been made by children. The caves’ precise locations are being withheld to protect them from vandalism and looting.

  

• Ice Age Origins of One of Humanity’s Oldest Drug Habits Discovered — Not a fan of this article’s title — “drug habit” puts a negative modern spin on something we don’t fully understand. But I digress. Human remains from Sulawesi, Indonesia, suggest people were habitually using psychoactive betel nuts as early as 25,000 years ago, pushing the practice deep into the Ice Age and long before agriculture. Two hunter-gatherers, dating to 25,000–16,000 and 7,600–6,300 years ago, had distinctive deep, rounded grooves in their teeth. Chemical analysis also detected arecoline, betel nut’s main psychoactive compound, in their dental tissue. Experiments indicate that simply sucking whole nuts releases enough arecoline to produce physiological effects, including mild euphoria and heightened alertness, without the lime used in modern betel quids. The habit may initially have helped soothe toothaches, since arecoline has painkilling properties, but prolonged sucking severely wore down teeth, sometimes exposing the pulp and increasing infections. The evidence may represent the world’s earliest known habitual use of a neuroactive plant drug.

• Devil’s Arrows: Ancient Builders Hauled 55,000-Pound Stones 11 Miles for Britain’s Tallest Stone Row — Britain’s Devil’s Arrows, three enormous standing stones near Boroughbridge in North Yorkshire, were deliberately transported about 11 miles from Brimham Rocks rather than gathered locally. Each weighs more than 55,000 pounds, and the tallest rises around 23 feet, making the monument Britain’s tallest surviving prehistoric stone row. The stones were probably moved and erected during the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age, perhaps around 2000 BCE. To identify their source without damaging them, scientists lifted microscopic mineral grains with adhesive tape and compared their geological age “fingerprints” with possible quarry areas. The match to Brimham Rocks also rules out the idea that glaciers carried the stones naturally. Choosing such a distant source suggests the landscape itself may have held cultural or spiritual importance, while transporting and raising stones this large required substantial planning and coordination.

• Did Wildfires Help Spark the Invention of Pottery? — A new hypothesis suggests severe wildfires and erosion in the southern Levant may have helped Neolithic communities discover pottery. During the early Holocene, especially around 7500–6200 BCE, intense burning stripped vegetation and soil from hillsides, washing huge quantities of clay-rich terra rossa into the Jordan and Dead Sea valleys. Large farming settlements later clustered on these fertile deposits. The idea is that wildfires may have accidentally baked exposed clay, showing people that heat could turn soft earth into a hard, durable material. Early Yarmukian pottery from the Jordan Valley was made from the same redeposited terra rossa. The theory remains unproven: clay generally needs temperatures around 932–1,292°F to become ceramic, and researchers have not yet demonstrated that wildfire-baked clay predates the earliest pottery. Similar fires 129,000–116,000 years ago produced no ceramics, suggesting environmental opportunity alone was not enough.

• ‘Heel-Strike’ Allowed Early Humans to Walk Farther at Cost of High Impact Forces — Heel-first walking appears to be a distinctive human adaptation that made long-distance movement more energy-efficient but placed greater stress on bones and joints. Experiments comparing human walking with chimpanzees moving on two and four limbs found that chimpanzees varied their foot placement far more, with foot-strike angles spanning 2.4 to 8.6 times the human range, and often landed on the side or front of the foot instead of the heel. Humans consistently struck heel-first. When people were made to land on the front of the foot, walking required about 26–41% more metabolic energy. Heel strikes therefore reduce energy costs but produce higher peak forces and faster loading. Early hominins with smaller heels and more primitive leg joints may have faced a trade-off between damaging impacts and inefficient walking; later evolution of larger heels and stronger lower-limb joints could have supported safer, farther-ranging travel associated with hunting, gathering and dispersal.

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• Strange ‘Hobbit’ Species Walked More Like Us Than Like ‘Lucy,’ Hip Bones Reveal — A new analysis of the pelvis of Homo floresiensis, the diminutive human relative discovered on Flores, Indonesia, suggests the species walked more like members of the genus Homo than like earlier australopithecines. The study examined LB1, an adult female about 3.5 feet tall who died between 100,000 and 60,000 years ago, comparing her pelvis with humans, African apes, and 26 fossil hominin pelves. Nearly all measured pelvic traits fell within the range of modern humans, and the overall shape most closely resembled other Pleistocene Homo. The anatomy points to habitual upright, terrestrial walking. Their evolutionary origin remains unresolved: they may represent island-dwarfed Homo erectus or descendants of an earlier, naturally small-bodied Homo lineage.

• 40.8-Pound Viking Silver Hoard Found in Denmark Is the Largest Ever Discovered — A homeowner preparing a patio in Rebild, northern Denmark, has uncovered the largest known Viking Age silver hoard in the country. Dating to the 10th century CE, the 40.8-pound deposit contains around 700 objects and fragments, including numerous silver bars, bracelets, 47 complete coins and coin fragments, cut-up silver, and a small Thor’s hammer. About 14.1 pounds remained inside the original clay pot, while the rest had scattered into the surrounding soil. Arabic dirhams and Anglo-Saxon pennies—including two minted under an English ruler who reigned from 899 to 924 CE—show connections reaching Britain and the Islamic world. One silver bar bears a short runic inscription, possibly reading “hutu,” whose meaning is unknown. The dominance of bars, jewelry, and chopped silver suggests the hoard functioned as carefully measured wealth, with silver valued primarily by weight and purity.

• 9,000-Year-Old Mining Workshop Unearthed at Çayönü Hill — A purpose-built mineral-working workshop dating to about 6900–6800 BCE has been uncovered at Çayönü Hill in southeastern Türkiye. The roughly 54-square-foot workspace was surrounded by at least six postholes, probably supporting a canopy, and contained a stone-paved working surface. Forty-two malachite fragments were recovered, representing raw, partly processed, and finished material, alongside copper beads and other copper objects. Together they preserve nearly the entire production sequence, from preparing minerals to manufacturing finished items, and suggest specialized craft production rather than occasional household work. Copper and malachite had been used at Çayönü since around 9100 BCE, indicating that knowledge of these materials persisted for more than 2,000 years. This was not yet large-scale smelting or casting, but sophisticated working of native copper and copper minerals. Nearby pottery associated with the Proto-Hassuna and early Pottery Neolithic periods dates to about 6800–6600 BCE.

• Old-Growth Tropical Forests Bear Lasting Legacy of Ancient Maya Civilization — LiDAR data from northwestern Belize suggests that ancient Maya land management thousands of years ago may still shape the structure of supposedly untouched tropical rainforest. The strongest effect appears around engineered wetland fields, where ancient canal systems correspond with taller trees and denser, more varied canopies today. Forest growing over former settlements also tends to have greater canopy cover and more vegetation high above the ground, possibly because limestone from ancient buildings altered the soil and because useful species such as Ramón trees remained concentrated around settlements. Weaker patterns were detected near ancient upland walls. The relationships were clearest across areas about 330 to 980 feet wide. The findings suggest that some modern “old-growth” forest is partly a long-term ecological legacy of Maya settlements, agricultural engineering, and plant management rather than a landscape untouched by human activity.

• Mysterious Stone Figures at Kuélap Reveal Clues to Ancient Fertility Rituals — Small stone figures uncovered at Kuélap in northern Peru may offer new evidence for fertility rituals during the site’s later occupation under Inca influence. The objects, known as illas, depict animals with female sexual characteristics and resemble Andean conopas, ritual stones often carved as llamas or alpacas. During the Inca period, such objects were associated with fertility, abundance, protection of livestock and crops, and household well-being. Some conopas contain cavities for offerings such as camelid fat, coca leaves, or chicha. The Kuélap figures are especially notable because their explicitly female traits may point more directly to beliefs surrounding reproduction. Kuélap was a major Chachapoya center before the region was absorbed into the Inca Empire and remained occupied during the Late Horizon. The new finds may reveal whether local traditions continued, were replaced by Inca customs, or blended with them.

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• Cryptic Engravings on 9,000-Year-Old Arrowheads Hint at Unique Neolithic Traditions, but Archaeologists Can’t Figure Out What They Mean — Eleven engraved obsidian arrowheads dating to roughly 9,000–8,000 years ago have been identified at Tepecik-Çiftlik in central Anatolia, Turkey, bringing the regional total to just 54 among thousands of known obsidian points. Each carries a unique geometric design. No two designs are identical: markings include squares, V-shaped lines, and simpler incisions. The markings were clearly intentional: creating them required hard materials such as flint and repeated strokes, with one line retraced around 20 times. Yet the decorated points are otherwise indistinguishable from ordinary arrowheads. They were found in houses and stone-working areas rather than special ritual contexts, and use-wear indicates they could still be used for hunting or combat. Some were engraved before final edge retouching and others afterward. Whether the markings denoted identity, decoration, ritual meaning, magic, or several different purposes remains unknown.

  

• Rare Neolithic Sculpture Unearthed at Türkiye’s Karahantepe — While we’re talking about Turkey, an approximately 11,000-year-old stone sculpture showing a human seated on the back of a leopard has been uncovered at Karahantepe. The unusual composite sculpture is about 28 inches long and combines human and animal imagery in a form not previously encountered at the site. It was found resting on a bench built along the wall of a circular structure about 10 feet across, whose floor was carefully paved with flat stones. Its meaning is unknown, but its placement suggests it formed part of the activities conducted inside the building rather than being a stray decorative object. Karahantepe lies about 19 miles from Göbeklitepe and belongs to the wider cluster of early Neolithic “Stone Hills” sites, where monumental architecture and elaborate imagery were being created more than 10,000 years ago as communities adopted increasingly settled ways of life.

  

• Prehistoric Turtle Figurines Found in Turkey — Annnd another one from Turkey. About 25 limestone turtle figurines dating to roughly 14,500–11,200 BCE have been uncovered at İn Cave near Gedikkaya Hill in Bilecik Province. Some were coated with clay, and the largest measures just under 1 foot long and about 8 inches wide. Many are roughly or partially shaped and were deliberately inserted into the ground around circular architectural arrangements, suggesting the cave had a ritual function during the Epipaleolithic period. Intriguingly, Gedikkaya Hill itself resembles a turtle, and many of the smaller carvings may have been modeled on its outline. The discovery hints that the landscape, turtles, and ideas such as longevity or endurance may have been linked symbolically by hunter-gatherers thousands of years before agriculture became widespread in Anatolia.

• Ancient DNA Reveals Cacao Was Consumed in Present-Day Georgia 1,000 Years Ago — Ancient DNA recovered from pottery at the Etowah Mounds in present-day Georgia, USA suggests that people in the Mississippian city were consuming cacao during the 11th and 12th centuries CE. Three pottery sherds, about 800–900 years old, came from feasting pits connected with construction of the site’s first platform mound. Earlier chemical tests had detected caffeine but could not distinguish cacao from native plants such as yaupon holly, which contains similar compounds. DNA preserved in the pottery residues provided more direct evidence of cacao itself. Etowah covered about 54 acres and contained six large earthen mounds, plazas, and a village. Because cacao only grows naturally in tropical regions, its presence in Georgia points to long-distance exchange networks linking the Mississippian Southeast with cacao-producing regions much farther south, although its precise origin and trade route remain unknown.

• 6,500-Year-Old Czech Sanctuary May Have Tracked the Sun and Moon 1,000 Years Before Stonehenge — A roughly 6,500-year-old ceremonial enclosure near Chleby in the Czech Republic may have served as a monumental astronomical sanctuary around 4500 BCE. The nearly circular complex spans about 755 feet and was surrounded by a ditch more than 8 feet deep, with 12 deliberately positioned entrances. Two apparent observation points align with extreme positions of the Moon during its roughly 18-year cycle and with summer-solstice sunrise and winter-solstice sunset. Bull skulls and horns found near entrances may once have decorated monumental gateways. The site remained important long afterward: a Bronze Age burial containing about 18 people was added gradually over time. By the Iron Age, the ditch was being filled and an ordinary settlement occupied the former sanctuary.

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-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

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• Denisovans Were Surprisingly Tall, New Fossils From Taiwan Suggest — Two fossilized Denisovan leg bones dredged decades ago from the Penghu Channel in the Taiwan Strait suggest some members of this archaic human group were exceptionally large. Ancient proteins identified a Denisovan-specific collagen variant in the femur and tibia, while related fossils from the channel indicate an age of about 45,000–43,000 years. The femur belonged to someone estimated at roughly 5 feet 11 inches and 183 pounds; the tibia suggests an individual around 6 feet 3 inches and 200 pounds. These proportions rival some of the largest Pleistocene humans known from Africa and Europe and are striking for subtropical Taiwan. The femur also has a pronounced ridge resembling one seen in highly mobile modern humans. The large body size may relate to a meat-heavy diet and hunting lifestyle, though that remains a hypothesis. The findings are currently reported in a preprint rather than a peer-reviewed study.

• New Bone Analysis Challenges Long-Held Theory on Farming’s Arrival in Ireland and Great Britain — Bones from Ferriter’s Cove on Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula that were thought for more than 30 years to be the earliest evidence of domesticated cattle in Ireland and Britain have been reidentified as bear and wild boar. The fragments came from a late Mesolithic context, before 4000 BCE, and their supposed identification as cattle had supported the idea that Irish hunter-gatherers were already interacting with continental farming communities before agriculture became established. Protein analysis of collagen preserved in the bones showed that none actually belonged to cattle, removing a key piece of evidence for this theory. There is therefore currently no archaeological evidence that domesticated cattle—or farming communities themselves—reached or influenced Ireland before about 4000 BCE. Further testing may determine whether the bear remains came from brown or polar bears, potentially adding to evidence about Ireland’s prehistoric bear populations before their eventual extinction.

• Neanderthals May Have Trekked Through the Saudi Arabian Desert 55,000 Years Ago, Farther South Than Experts Thought Possible — Stone tools from Jebel Katefeh-1, beside an ancient lake near Jubbah in Saudi Arabia’s Nefud Desert, may show that Neanderthals ventured much farther south than previously demonstrated. Hundreds of sharp stone flakes struck from carefully prepared cores were compared with artifacts from Arabia, the Levant, and northeastern Africa; their shapes more closely resemble tools associated with Neanderthals than those made by Homo sapiens. Similar results came from nearby ALM-3. Dating of sand grains places occupation at about 55,000 years ago, just as an arid period gave way to wetter conditions and the local lake began refilling, potentially drawing grazing animals—and hunters—into the desert. No Neanderthal bones or DNA have been found in Arabia, so the identification remains circumstantial rather than conclusive, but it suggests Neanderthals could adapt to open, increasingly green desert landscapes as well as colder environments.

• Early Settlement Dynamics in the Pacific Revealed Through Ancient DNA — Ancient DNA from 72 people who lived across western Remote Oceania during the past 3,000 years has clarified how the Pacific was settled. The first major expansion began in Southeast Asia around 5,000 years ago and reached previously uninhabited Vanuatu, Fiji, and Tonga by about 3,000 years ago. A later migration brought Papuan-related ancestry from Near Oceania, reaching Vanuatu around 2,700 years ago but not appearing farther east in Fiji until roughly 500 years later. DNA also directly records Polynesian migration into southern Vanuatu about 1,000 years ago, explaining today’s “Polynesian outlier” communities. In Fiji, burials from about 1,500 years ago allowed reconstruction of a five-generation family tree. Papuan-related ancestry was unevenly distributed, with one biological kin group having a distinct ancestry profile, suggesting family membership may have been tied to inherited status or wealth.

• Ancient Austronesian Seafarers Carried Symbolic Art 4,000 Years Ago — A painted stone plaque from Huknaur rockshelter on Wetar Island in eastern Indonesia is the first known portable example of the Austronesian Painting Tradition. Dating to roughly 4,090–3,900 years ago, when Austronesian-speaking seafarers were rapidly spreading through Island Southeast Asia, the plaque bears a red design of concentric circles surrounded by radiating “sun rays.” Similar motifs occur widely on cave and rockshelter walls across eastern Indonesia and the western Pacific, but those examples are difficult to date. The portable plaque shows that these symbols could travel with people and may have communicated shared identity, beliefs, or protection between island communities. Crucially, it was recovered from a preceramic layer, indicating that this symbolic tradition reached Wetar before pottery—normally one of the main archaeological markers used to trace Austronesian expansion.

  

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• Study Shows Prehistoric People Targeted Female Mammoths — Ancient DNA suggests Ice Age hunters deliberately targeted female woolly mammoths rather than killing males and females equally. Genetic analysis covered 521 mammoths spanning roughly 50,000 years, including 100 animals whose bones accumulated at 11 human-associated sites across Central and Eastern Europe and Siberia. About 70% of these hunted mammoths were female, compared with only 34% among mammoths from natural deposits. Female-led herds may have followed more predictable seasonal routes than solitary adult males, making them easier to locate repeatedly; females were also smaller, and herds containing juveniles may have been easier to trap. Some mammoth bones still contain embedded projectile points. The largest site, Kraków Spadzista in southern Poland, dates to about 30,000–25,000 years ago and contains remains from more than 100 mammoths, stone tools, and evidence of butchery.

• 5,800-Year-Old Chinese Site Yields 7 Fire Pits Resembling the Big Dipper — Seven fired-earth pits arranged like the Big Dipper have been uncovered at the Neolithic Niuheliang site in Liaoning Province, northeastern China, suggesting that Hongshan culture communities were tracking celestial movements about 5,800 years ago. The pits lie within a large ceremonial platform and may have formed a model of the constellation, whose handle changes orientation with the seasons. Niuheliang contains more than 60 archaeological sites, while its largest precinct includes nine monumental platforms and related structures covering over 1.08 million square feet. Other discoveries include an early temple containing a sculpted head interpreted as a goddess, as well as three concentric ritual platforms whose dimensions may correspond to observations of the solstices and equinoxes; the largest is about 72 feet across. Finds from the site also include pottery and elaborate jade dragons, phoenixes, human figures, and cloud-shaped pendants. Their differing combinations in higher- and lower-status tombs suggest an emerging ritual system and social hierarchy.

• Ancient Roman Women Left More Than 120 Inscriptions Inside a Hidden Cave in Spain Dedicated to a Mysterious Goddess — At least 120 Latin inscriptions have been documented in a secluded sanctuary more than 656 feet inside Cova Dones near Millares, Valencia, Spain—up from only about 15 previously known. Most date to the first and second centuries CE, and many contain female names, indicating that women were major participants in the cave’s ritual life. Five inscriptions invoke a goddess as Domina, “the Lady,” while three also contain the mysterious word “MALACI,” possibly an unknown divine name or epithet; the deity may have had connections with water. Offerings include bronze rings, bracelets, chalice-shaped vessels, pottery, animal remains, and numerous spindle whorls, some deliberately deposited in natural pools. The same cave contains Paleolithic paintings and engravings around 24,000 years old, while earlier Roman finds include a coin from the reign of Claudius.

• Megalithic “Giant’s Tomb” Uncovered in Sardinia — Dense vegetation at Carrarzu Iddia near Bortigali, Sardinia, concealed a previously unknown Bronze Age “Giant’s Tomb,” one of the monumental collective burial structures built by the Nuragic civilization beginning around 1800 BCE. Constructed from large trachyte blocks, the tomb preserves its burial chamber and a broad semicircular forecourt, or exedra, where ceremonies honoring the dead were likely performed. The chamber has an unusual two-level arrangement near its entrance, a feature rarely seen in these tombs. Although the monument was disturbed by illegal digging, ceramics survive inside. It belongs to a much larger archaeological landscape containing two proto-Nuragic stone structures, a settlement, sacred well, extensive cemetery, and an earlier dolmen, showing that the area served residential, ritual, and funerary purposes across a long span of prehistory.

  

• Brittany Burial Mounds May Hide Human-Shaped Stones as Coëby Cemetery Mystery Deepens — Two enormous Neolithic burial mounds at the Coëby cemetery in Brittany, France, may conceal large, roughly human-shaped standing stones. The elongated mounds, TRED30 and TRED31, measure 164–262 feet long and up to 5.9 feet high. Because the protected monuments cannot be excavated freely, electrical-resistivity surveys were used to map their interiors. Both contain clusters of highly resistant material matching the signature of local granite. TRED30 appears to contain substantial stone structures deep within its center, while TRED31 has stones closer to the surface; erosion has even exposed the tip of one block. Similar stones were found during an earlier excavation elsewhere in the cemetery. The mounds may resemble Passy-type funerary monuments known elsewhere in France, in which long earthen barrows covered standing stones or related burial structures. Only excavation can establish their precise form and purpose.

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-James
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• Ancient Fossil Footsteps Found in Kenya May Hint That an Early Human Relative Was Larger Than Previously Thought — Twenty-one hominin footprints preserved at GaJi10 in northern Kenya’s Koobi Fora Formation capture at least eight individuals crossing a muddy lakeshore 1.43 million years ago. Most walked westward, apparently at roughly the same time, while one traveled east. The tracks indicate individuals up to about 5 feet 11 inches tall and 165 pounds—larger than most skeletal estimates for Paranthropus boisei. Their flatter arches and relatively mobile big toes resemble feet attributed to that species, although their size is closer to Homo erectus, leaving the makers’ identity uncertain. Several were probably large adult males moving together, raising the possibility of organized group behavior. The surface also preserves tracks from hippopotamuses, antelope, and water birds, offering a brief snapshot of life beside an ancient lake.

• 40,000-Year-Old Bird Carvings Provide Clues to How Ice Age Humans Flourished — Two thumbnail-sized bird figurines carved from mammoth ivory were uncovered in the same Aurignacian layer of Hohle Fels Cave in southwestern Germany. Dating to around 40,000 years ago, each measures roughly 0.8 by 0.4 by 0.2 inches; they were found about 5 feet apart and weigh only around 0.05 and 0.02 ounces. One complete bird appears to be resting or sitting on a nest and has prominent eyes. The second is incomplete but shows a defined beak, feather markings, and spread wings, possibly representing flight, landing, or a courtship display. They may depict ptarmigans, whose bones occur frequently in the cave, although grouse or a bird of prey are also possible. Their tiny scale and careful naturalistic details demonstrate exceptional ivory-working skill. Hohle Fels has now produced three bird carvings, unlike nearby Ice Age art caves, suggesting that birds held distinctive symbolic importance there.

  

• Ancient Calakmul Mural Reveals Earliest Evidence of Maya Calendar Writing — A charcoal mural from Calakmul in Campeche, Mexico, contains the earliest known calendrical writing from the ancient Maya city. Dating to approximately 400–200 BCE, the roughly 6.2-by-5.6-foot painting features a sign from the 260-day ritual calendar beside a mythological hero hunting an aquatic creature. Digital imaging and photogrammetry helped recover details obscured by heavy deterioration. The mural was painted inside an arched vault designed to resemble a sacred cave, while the building’s exterior displays descending celestial deities and masks symbolizing the maize god’s birth. The scene may represent sacrifice, renewal, or an episode in the maize god’s life cycle, with the calendar sign possibly added later to commemorate the ritual event. Removed for preservation in 2005, it is also the earliest known written communication from Calakmul.

• Mesolithic Hunter-Gatherers on Malta Relied on Repeated Sea Crossings, Study Suggests — Hunter-gatherers occupied Malta between about 8,500 and 7,500 years ago, roughly 6500–5500 BCE, despite the island being too small to sustain an isolated population over the long term. Modeling based on changing sea levels, vegetation, available resources, and ethnographic comparisons indicates that Malta could initially have supported no more than 419 foragers, falling to around 170 by 7000 BCE—well below the level needed for demographic stability. Malta and Sicily had become separate islands by around 12,200 BCE, and the minimum crossing between them soon expanded to approximately 50 miles. The island’s Mesolithic occupation therefore probably depended on repeated long-distance voyages that brought new people, maintained social connections, and prevented the population from dying out. Malta may have been occupied seasonally or for longer intervals, revealing substantial Mediterranean seafaring before farming arrived.

• A Newly Discovered Rock Art Site at Bukit Batu Kepale, Bangka Island, Indonesia — The first formally documented rock-art site on Indonesia’s Bangka Island occupies a granite shelter near the summit of Bukit Batu Kepale in Gudang Village, South Bangka. The shelter stands about 574 feet above sea level on a steep hillside and consists of upright granite boulders supporting a broad, flat ceiling slab. Four painted panels contain geometric, linear, abstract, human, animal, and possible plant imagery. Most designs are red, with smaller amounts of dark-red and rare yellow pigment. Motifs include straight and parallel lines, grids, zigzags, waves, chevrons, concentric shapes, stylized people, stick figures, triangular-bodied forms, and scenes possibly showing relationships between humans and animals. The paintings resemble rock art elsewhere in western Indonesia but also display distinctive local traits. Their exact age remains unknown; stylistic evidence suggests they are premodern, but direct dating is still needed.

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-James
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Have any of you seen Nolan’s The Odyssey yet? I haven’t seen it, but I’m excited to check it out. I watched a historian review it (see the recommended content this week) and he gave it an 8.5/10 in terms of how much it honors the original text. Let me know if you agree!

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• Animals in Prehistoric Paintings Reveal Hidden Pattern Across Nine Basque Caves — Analysis of 500 painted and engraved motifs in nine caves across Spain’s Basque Country suggests that Paleolithic artists followed a shared visual structure rather than arranging animals randomly. The works were created roughly 16,000–14,000 years ago during the Magdalenian period. Bison, horses, and goats generally occupied central positions within the compositions, while other animals were arranged around them. Orientation also followed a recurring pattern: horses usually faced right, while bison and most other species faced left. A few compositions reverse the entire arrangement, strengthening the case that direction carried symbolic meaning rather than simply reflecting right-handed artists’ preferences. The intended message remains unknown, but the consistent associations and positioning suggest that the images formed a kind of visual code or “syntax.” Their restriction to selected caves also indicates that the paintings had deliberate cultural or ceremonial importance.

  

• Ancient Egyptian Princesses Were ‘Powerful’ Weapon Users, New Analysis Suggests — Skeletal analysis of five women (some confirmed to be royal) buried at Dahshur, south of Cairo, around 1900 BCE suggests that some women may have trained with weapons and lived more physically active lives than traditionally assumed. Several sets of remains had gone largely unstudied for more than 130 years before being rediscovered in a Cairo museum basement in 2020. One woman was buried with an ornate bronze dagger decorated with gold and lapis lazuli, while muscle attachments in her hands and arms indicate habitual, forceful gripping consistent with using a dagger or mace. Another was buried with arrows and had a bowed hand bone and muscular forearms resembling changes associated with repeatedly drawing a bow. A third had healed injuries to her ribs and feet, suggesting a risky, active lifestyle. The weapons may therefore have been functional possessions rather than purely ceremonial grave goods, although critics caution that skeletal stress alone cannot prove participation in archery or combat.

• Australian Cave Discovery Shows Grass Was Burned for Magic, Cures, and Curses for 25,000 Years — Microscopic plant remains from Cloggs Cave in GunaiKurnai Country, southeastern Australia, indicate that people carried whole grasses underground and burned them during ritual activities for as long as 25,000 years. Thousands of phytoliths were examined from pits measuring about 4.9 and 7.5 feet deep. Twenty-nine plant types were identified, but as many as 97% came from grasses, while up to 18% had been burned or melted. Stems, leaves, flowers, and roots were all present, showing that complete, mostly inedible plants were deliberately gathered rather than brought in as food. The upper deposits contained 73 thin ash layers dating from roughly 4,400 to 1,600 years ago and an 11-inch standing stone erected around 2,000 years ago. Deeper deposits also held trimmed Casuarina sticks coated with fat. The evidence matches oral traditions describing caves as places where spiritual practitioners conducted magic, healing, cursing, and ceremonies involving ash.

• Gaulish Settlement Excavation Reveals Rare Statue and Ritual Sword — Excavations at Le Désert in Mettray, central France, revealed an unusually rich Late Iron Age farmstead occupied during the La Tène D1 period, around 150–80 BCE. The roughly 8.6-acre site contained a planned 3-acre residential enclosure surrounded by three ditches, with separate domestic, agricultural, and craft areas, several buildings, field boundaries, and drainage systems. Finds show that residents smelted iron, milled grain, wove textiles, prepared food, and processed animals, with an unusual emphasis on horse butchery during the earliest occupation phase. A weathered limestone human figure, about 19 inches tall and weighing more than 40 pounds, was deliberately placed in a ditch near fragments of a human skull. An iron sword was also deposited in its scabbard after being intentionally bent and rendered unusable. Both objects may have been used in ceremonies marking changes at—or the eventual abandonment of—the settlement.

• Introducing Fish Into Mountain Lakes 7,000 Years Ago: “It Was a Form of Simple Fish Farming” — Four wooden fish traps discovered in Lake Tesse, around 2,790 feet above sea level in Jotunheimen, eastern Norway, show that Stone Age communities introduced trout to mountain waters by about 5000 BCE. The fish could not have passed waterfalls downstream, so people likely transported them gradually upriver, perhaps in watertight animal-hide bags, allowing populations to establish before moving them higher. The oldest worked poles date to 5000 BCE, and 113 timber samples indicate the trapping complex remained in use for at least 2,300 years. Individual traps contained about 40–50 poles, woven branches forming a catch chamber, and a fence that guided fish into shallow water where they could be scooped up from boats or while wading. Poles within one trap were felled 12 years apart, showing maintenance over generations. The project required long-term planning and cooperation and provided reliable food alongside reindeer hunting, allowing larger groups to remain in the mountains longer.

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-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

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• Hidden Maya Metropolis Mapped in Mexico’s Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve — The first detailed ground survey of El Yesal, deep within the Balam Kú Biosphere Reserve in Campeche, Mexico, has mapped one of the largest Maya cities in the Central Lowlands. Its monumental center covers more than 0.4 square miles. The Great Acropolis occupies a platform roughly 492 feet on each side and 49 feet high, supporting four pyramids, the tallest rising another 89 feet. Mamom- and Chicanel-phase ceramics suggest the city was founded between about 600 BCE and 200 CE. It expanded substantially during the Late Classic period, from 600 to 900 CE, with new plazas, buildings, artificial terraces, and apparently defensive hilltop complexes. A weathered stone stela depicts a ruler carrying a ceremonial staff and wearing a storm-deity headdress. Concentric rectangular and circular “nested complexes” beside the acropolis may have served as marketplaces.

  

• Astronomer’s Name Deciphered From Ancient Mayan Ruins for First Time: “White-Chested Fox” — A faded wall inscription at Xultun in northern Guatemala has revealed the first known name of an individual Classic Maya mathematician-astronomer: Sak Tahn Waax, or “White-Chested Fox.” Written in 781 CE inside a small painted chamber, the text ends with a phrase meaning “so says Sak Tahn Waax,” directly crediting him with an unusually sophisticated formula. The room contained more than 50 miniature mathematical and astronomical texts and may have served as a workshop where specialists prepared calculations for bark-paper codices. Digitally enhanced drawings, photographs, and scans exposed 11 difficult-to-read glyphs. The formula connects the 260-day ritual calendar, the 365-day solar year, and the cycles of Venus and Mars over an eight-year period, arranging familiar units in a way not previously seen in Maya writing. The discovery preserves a rare glimpse of scientific work in progress—and of the person credited for it.

• Ancient Roman Farm Women Made Wine, Oil, and Profits. Historians Dismissed Them as “Housekeepers” — A new paper reviewed ancient farming manuals, laws, funerary inscriptions, mosaics, wall paintings, and archaeological remains, finding that female managers on Roman agricultural estates handled far more than domestic work. Often enslaved, these women supervised grape pressing, fermentation, and the addition of salt, wormwood, fennel, or boiled grape juice as preservatives and flavorings. They also oversaw olive-oil production, poultry, seasonal food processing, workspace maintenance, and religious offerings intended to secure abundant harvests. Roman wineries and oil facilities used enormous presses inside specialized buildings and could produce roughly 13,200–26,400 gallons annually—or more—placing female managers at the center of large, profitable operations. An estate mosaic from Sicily depicts women at agricultural work, while another mosaic and a Roman wall painting may show women directing sacrifices and winemaking labor.

• New Study Reveals Children Drive Cultural Change — Children are not simply passive recipients of adult traditions: a wide-ranging analysis argues that people ages 3 to 17 create and maintain their own peer cultures, including games, songs, stories, slang, rules, and specialized knowledge of plants, animals, and local environments. These practices may circulate largely beyond adult supervision and can be passed between generations of children. Exploration and experimentation within peer groups introduce new ideas and greater diversity into a community’s collective knowledge, potentially helping societies adapt to environmental shifts, social disruption, and climate change. Child-created traditions may therefore contribute directly to cultural evolution and community resilience. The findings challenge approaches that treat childhood mainly as preparation for adulthood, instead presenting children as active innovators whose ideas can preserve useful knowledge, generate new solutions, and influence broader cultural change. Not overly archaeological, sure, but I think this applies because we’re talking about how cultures are shaped. It reminds me of an article I read years ago about how evidence of children’s activities found in archeological layers were thought of as “disturbances” for a long time — annoyances, rather than valuable discoveries. Which reminds me of a more recent paper that talked about children’s roles in cave art — and how they were sometimes the people leading spiritual journeys in caves because they were seen as having a closer connection to other realms. Ok, now I’m ranting. My point is that kids are awesome and their contributions are valuable. Archaeology (and the world at large) oughta give ‘em more credit. End rant.

• Newly Discovered Rock Art Sites Shed Light on Ancient Ceremonial Landscape — Eight previously undocumented rock art sites have been recorded in the Valdecañas mountain range near Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico, bringing the area’s known total to nine. Created roughly between 800 and 1400 CE, the sites extend across 3.1 miles of rugged terrain, with some painted panels covering up to 66 feet of rock walls and ceilings. Red pigment dominates, forming straight, zigzag, and wavy lines, triangles, circles, dots, and occasional human and animal figures. A gallery in the middle of a stream may have hosted fertility and hunting ceremonies. The consistent geometric style suggests a long-lived regional tradition, distinct from nearby art depicting goats and people. Circular dwellings have also been found nearby, although their relationship to the painters is unclear. Several panels are threatened by recreational climbing equipment and foot traffic.

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-James
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• Neanderthals and Modern Humans May Have Shared Culture 59,000 Years Ago in Turkey, Study Finds — Finds from Üçağızlı II Cave on Turkey’s Mediterranean coast suggest remarkable cultural continuity between Neanderthals and the Homo sapiens who arrived later. Teeth and part of a jaw identified Neanderthal occupation from about 77,000 to 59,000 years ago and modern human occupation from roughly 59,000 to 47,000 years ago. Although the groups apparently did not overlap inside the cave, both obtained flint from the same local sources, made similar stone tools, and hunted wild goats, fallow deer, roe deer, and wild boar. Excavations also recovered 29 shells from small marine snails that appear to have been collected as ornaments rather than food. Several were pierced for stringing, and one from a Neanderthal layer had been deliberately heated, apparently to alter its color. The close match in hunting, technology, and symbolic practices suggests the two populations may have exchanged traditions elsewhere in the region, rather than one culture simply replacing the other.

• Ancient DNA Reveals the Mysterious Collapse of Europe’s Megalith Builders — DNA from 132 people buried in a roughly 5,000-year-old megalithic tomb near Bury, about 31 miles north of Paris, reveals a sharp population break around 3000 BCE. People from the earlier burial phase resembled farming communities in northern France and Germany, while those buried later had strong genetic ties to southern France and the Iberian Peninsula. The lack of close ancestry between the groups suggests that the original population largely disappeared and was replaced by migrants from the south. DNA also revealed plague and louse-borne relapsing fever, though disease alone probably did not cause the collapse; environmental pressures and other disruptions may also have contributed. The earlier group experienced unusually high mortality, particularly among children and young adults. Burial customs changed as well: extended families were initially interred together over several generations, but later burials were more selective and centered on one male lineage. The upheaval may help explain the contemporary end of megalith construction across much of Europe.

• Homo Floresiensis Probably Didn’t Hunt Stegodons or Use Fire — New evidence challenges the image of Homo floresiensis as a fire-using big-game hunter. More than 3,100 dwarf-elephant (Stegodon) bone fragments and nearly 7,000 rodent remains from Liang Bua Cave on Indonesia’s Flores Island were examined, along with experimental tooth marks made by a Komodo dragon. Dragon damage clustered on meat-rich bones, suggesting the reptiles usually reached carcasses first, while hominin cut marks appeared mainly on ribs, toe bones, vertebrae, and skull fragments with less meat. No projectile wounds or impact damage indicated active hunting, making scavenging more likely. Only one elephant rib showed burning, probably from a much later fire. None of more than 4,200 rodent bones from layers associated with H. floresiensis were burned, compared with about 20% from modern-human layers. The species’ Liang Bua fossils date to roughly 100,000–60,000 years ago.

• 5,000-Year-Old Wolves Found on Remote Island Rewrite What We Know About Domestication — Two wolf specimens recovered from Stora Förvar cave on Stora Karlsö, a roughly 1-square-mile island in Sweden’s Baltic Sea, date to the Late Neolithic and Bronze Age, about 3,000–5,000 years ago. Because the island had no native land mammals, people almost certainly transported the animals there by boat. DNA identified both as Eurasian gray wolves with no detectable dog ancestry. Yet they were unusually small, and one had lower genetic diversity than any of 72 previously studied ancient wolves—a pattern more comparable to dogs or isolated, managed populations. Isotope analysis showed both ate large amounts of seals, fish, and other marine foods, closely matching the diet of the island’s seal hunters and fishers. One wolf also survived severe limb damage that would have hindered hunting, suggesting it may have been fed or cared for. The evidence points to people keeping or controlling wolves without fully domesticating them. I’ll pass on having a wolf in the house. My chihuahua is fierce enough, thank you very much.

• The Oldest Deliberately Collected Fossil Ichthyosaur Was Discovered in Roman Britain Around 1,800 Years Ago — This one isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but I always enjoy a good story about ancient people collecting even more ancient things. We aren’t so different. So, a weather-worn ichthyosaur vertebra found in Colchester, England, appears to be the earliest known deliberately collected fossil from one of these prehistoric marine reptiles. The bone, more than 100 million years old, was deposited in a pit dating to the second century CE at the site of Roman Britain’s first provincial capital. Other objects in the pit included pottery fragments, a horse tooth, possible cat remains, and a ligula—a small Roman spoon associated with personal hygiene or medicine. Green sandy rock attached to the vertebra suggests it originally came from the coast of eastern Kent between Folkestone and Hythe, an area where the Romans quarried greensand building stone. The fossil may have been kept simply as a curiosity or interpreted as the remains of a giant or mythological creature. Its unusual companions could indicate that it was eventually placed in the pit as part of a ritual deposit, although the precise reason remains uncertain.

🗞 Ancient News: Deep Dive

• Archaeologists Uncover Ancient Byzantine City in Egypt’s Western Desert — A well-preserved fourth-century CE city has been uncovered at Ain El-Sabil in Egypt’s Dakhla Oasis. North–south roads crossed east–west streets to create public squares, while a mid-fourth-century basilica overlooked the main thoroughfares. Two watchtowers and a heavily fortified structure protected the settlement. Residential buildings contained reception halls, vaulted roofs, kitchens, bread ovens, and stone grain-grinding tools. One house, occupied by a church deacon during the second half of the fourth century, may have functioned as a house church before the basilica was built. Finds include bronze coins bearing imperial portraits, Latin inscriptions, and Christian symbols, along with gold coins dating to 337–361 CE. Nearly 200 ostraca—broken pottery pieces reused as writing surfaces—carry Coptic and Greek records of purchases, commercial agreements, correspondence, and other aspects of daily life.

• Larger Brain, Smaller Face: Human Evolution Took a Different Course Than Previously Thought — An analysis of three-dimensional measurements from 87 Homo fossils challenges the idea that steadily larger brains and smaller faces were primarily produced by continuous, directional natural selection. The sample covers most well-preserved human fossils from the past two million years, including Homo habilis, Homo rudolfensis, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, Neanderthals, and early and recent Homo sapiens. Comparisons with six evolutionary models found that neutral genetic changes, stabilizing selection, ecological and biological constraints, and long periods of little change explain much of the variation more convincingly. Major expansions in brain size may have occurred when technological and cultural innovations temporarily eased nutritional, metabolic, or environmental limits. Culture may therefore have acted as a buffer, allowing human populations to occupy new habitats and access resources without every anatomical feature being tightly adapted to local conditions.

• Rare Neanderthal Baby Fossil Reveals Our Ancient Relatives May Have Begun Life Much Like Modern Humans — Twelve tiny Neanderthal bone fragments from Sesselfelsgrotte, a rock shelter in Bavaria, southern Germany, offer a rare look at development before birth between about 90,000 and 50,000 years ago. DNA from a leg bone confirmed that the remains belonged to an unborn Neanderthal in the late third trimester, around eight or nine months of gestation. The surviving pieces include portions of the femur, upper arm, ribs, jaw, and skull; some carry faint marks consistent with carnivore digestion. Noninvasive micro-CT scans showed rapidly forming bone tissue broadly comparable to that of modern human fetuses. The limb bones appeared slightly more developed than the jaw and skull, probably reflecting different ossification processes rather than a uniquely Neanderthal pattern. Two milk teeth from separate children contained poorly mineralized dentine, possibly recording vitamin D or calcium deficiency, impaired absorption, or another systemic stress. If confirmed, it would be the earliest known evidence of this disturbance in Neanderthals.

• Researchers Rediscover Lost Ming Dynasty Goldsmithing Technique — Experiments have reconstructed Jin zhe si, a long-lost Chinese technique used to create finely folded, corrugated gold ornaments with a soft, satin-like surface. The investigation focused on a pair of gourd-shaped gold earrings recovered from the tomb of a Ming Dynasty prince who died in 1545 CE in China’s Hubei Province. Microscopic examination and practical tests showed that artisans formed the earrings by repeatedly folding and corrugating extremely thin sheets of high-purity gold—not by engraving or embossing the finished pieces. Comparative experiments using gold, silver, and aluminum foil found that only high-purity gold was ductile enough to withstand the repeated folding needed to produce intricate three-dimensional shapes without cracking. The reconstruction explains how Ming goldsmiths achieved the distinctive texture described in historical records and demonstrates the unusually advanced control they exercised over exceptionally delicate materials.

• The Discovery of an Ancient Child’s Skull Sheds Light on the Early Prehistoric Farmers of Norway — Excavations at the Skipshelleren rock shelter near Bergen on Norway’s west coast uncovered additional remains belonging to a child buried around 4,000 years ago. Preliminary examination indicates the child was about two to four years old, and the grave dates to the later Stone Age, when early farming communities were becoming established in Norway. Parts of the skeleton were first found in 1955, but renewed work located the original burial area beneath backfill from a 1931 excavation. The discovery confirms that the shelter served as both a home and a burial place. People had used the naturally protected site for more than 7,500 years, leaving thick occupation layers containing stone and bone tools, pottery fragments, and thousands of animal remains. Around 40,000 animal bones have now been recovered, while the oldest artifacts date to roughly 7,000 years ago. DNA, isotope, botanical, and soil analyses may reveal the child’s ancestry, diet, and connections to Norway’s earliest agricultural populations.

• Hundreds of Pilgrim Medallions Spanning Four Centuries Discovered in Switzerland — Hundreds of religious medallions dating from the 17th through 20th centuries were recovered from a single area near Villmergen, Switzerland. The objects honor the Virgin Mary and numerous saints and originated at pilgrimage destinations across Europe. The largest group came from Einsiedeln Abbey and depicts its venerated image of Mary, while others were brought from Ettal and Wessobrunn in southern Germany, Rome, and Lourdes in France. Roman examples show the city’s four Holy Doors, which open during Jubilee Years held every 25 years and were associated with indulgences for pilgrims who passed through them. The medallions were worn as pendants, attached to rosaries, hung above cradles, placed near crops, or displayed in homes for protection against illness, evil, and misfortune. Individual saints addressed particular concerns: Saint Anastasius was invoked against headaches and mental illness, while Saint Anthony aided in recovering lost objects. One heavily worn Saint Anthony medallion was repaired after its suspension hole broke, showing its owner’s long attachment to it.

• Golden Horde Structure Discovered in Kazakhstan — A large medieval structure has been identified at the Zhantai tract in northern Kazakhstan through excavation, lidar, and ground-penetrating radar. Numerous fragments of fired brick measure about 9.8 by 9.8 inches, matching a construction standard associated with the Golden Horde, which controlled a vast territory from Central Asia and Siberia to Eastern Europe between the 13th and 15th centuries. Such bricks were used in palaces, mosques, mausoleums, and other monumental buildings, suggesting the remains belong to an important architectural complex rather than an ordinary settlement. The site lies within a wider survey area covering the left bank of the Irtysh River, Lake Kyzylkak, and the valleys of the Olenti, Shiderty, and Sileti rivers. Further excavation will be needed to determine the structure’s plan, function, and precise date.

• Elite Chariot Burial and Noblewoman’s Tomb Unearthed — A sixth-century BCE Picene aristocratic cemetery at Sirolo in Italy’s Le Marche region has yielded a princely burial containing a ceremonial two-wheeled chariot, helmet, axe, and other weapons. Unlike the ring ditches usually surrounding Picene monuments, its large funerary circle was enclosed by a wooden palisade, marked by evenly spaced postholes containing selected pottery fragments as ritual deposits. Large bronze vessels sealed with ceramic lids held organic material, animal remains, and pottery, possibly the remnants of a funerary feast or food offerings. A neighboring noblewoman’s grave preserved pieces of textiles and footwear, numerous fibulae securing her clothing and burial shroud, and a large amber-set fibula behind her head that may have decorated an elaborate hairstyle or headdress. Together with another warrior’s tomb found nearby, the burials reveal a hierarchically organized elite group with broad ties across central Italy and the Adriatic.

• Study Finds Cannibalism Disappeared Because It Was Biologically Unsustainable — A mathematical model proposes that cannibalism became rare not only because of cultural change, but because repeated consumption of humans carried biological costs that outweighed its limited nutritional value. Evidence shows that cannibalism occurred at various times and places in the archaeological, historical, and ethnographic record, both during starvation and as a ritual practice. Human flesh provides only a moderate number of calories, while consuming members of the same species makes it especially easy for infectious diseases to spread. Cooking can destroy many pathogens, but not prions—the abnormal proteins responsible for fatal neurological illnesses such as kuru. The model suggests cannibalism might offer a short-term advantage during extreme famine, but regular practice would increase epidemic risk and contribute to population decline. Widespread taboos may therefore have developed as protective cultural adaptations, favoring societies that restricted the behavior.

• Scattered Bronze Bells in Chinese Lord’s 2,600-Year-Old Tomb Point to Ritual Deactivation — A 2,600-year-old tomb at Zaoshulin in Hubei, China, contained two contrasting sets of bronze bells that appear to record a deliberate change in the deceased ruler’s role after death. The ruler of the Zeng state commissioned ornate bells decorated with dragons, inlaid with quartz, and inscribed with appeals to powerful ancestors for protection against the rival state of Chu. After the two states became allies, the bells’ original message became politically obsolete. At burial, mourners apparently broke their wooden rack and scattered the bells, preventing them from functioning and ritually “deactivating” their power. Looting is unlikely because the tomb remained intact. A second set of smaller, simpler bells was neatly stacked facing southeast and carried inscriptions intended only for the afterlife. The arrangement suggests the bells were treated not merely as instruments, but as spiritually active objects tied to lineage, political authority, and communication with ancestors.

• Periodontal Disease May Have Influenced Human Evolution — An analysis of 71 fossil jaws dating from 5.3 million to 2.6 million years ago suggests gum disease may have influenced the development of the human face. Three-dimensional reconstructions and scanning electron microscopy revealed crater-like lesions, defects, and horizontal loss of the jawbone that anchors teeth—all signs of periodontal disease. These features appeared in fossils belonging to the genus Homo but were largely absent from australopithecine remains. The findings raise the possibility that chronic inflammation and bone loss around the teeth interacted with other biological changes during human evolution, potentially contributing to the facial structure seen in later humans. The idea remains a hypothesis rather than proof that disease directly drove evolutionary change, but it suggests illnesses usually viewed as purely damaging may sometimes have longer-term anatomical consequences.

• Possible Timber Circle Detected on Scotland’s Isle of Arran — A geophysical survey at Machrie Moor on Scotland’s Isle of Arran has detected what may be a previously unknown prehistoric timber circle beneath the peat. The monument measures about 92 feet across and consists of 12 probable pits or postholes spaced roughly 21 feet apart. Two wider gaps may mark additional features that have decayed or become difficult to detect. Machrie Moor already contains six ceremonial circles dating from approximately 3500 to 1500 BCE, making the possible timber monument part of a major prehistoric ritual landscape. The survey also identified buried anomalies around Circle 2, which is currently marked by eight standing stones. These traces suggest the monument may originally have contained 14 stones, substantially changing its reconstructed appearance and design. Excavation will be needed to confirm whether the newly detected features truly formed a timber circle and establish when it was built.

• Military Camp in Uzbekistan Sheds New Light on Alexander the Great’s Legacy — Excavations at Iskandar Tepa in southeastern Uzbekistan have identified a temporary Hellenistic military camp dating to the Greco-Bactrian period, centuries after Alexander the Great’s Central Asian campaigns. A defensive ditch about 1,312 feet long enclosed approximately three acres on the hilltop. It reached 23 feet wide and 3.3 feet deep, while postholes along its edge indicate that a timber palisade once strengthened the defenses. Large ceramic jars buried around the camp probably stored water carried up from the valley, allowing troops to occupy the exposed site temporarily. Coins depicting three Greco-Bactrian rulers indicate the camp was used no earlier than the second century BCE. The hill was later repurposed as a burial ground during the first century CE. The remains offer evidence of the military infrastructure that sustained Greek-influenced states in Central Asia long after Alexander’s empire fragmented.

• Two Centuries On, Experts Unlock Secrets of Red Sea and Gulf of Aden Sailing Chart — A paper scroll made in Gujarat, India, during the late 18th or early 19th century has been recognized as a sophisticated navigational chart for sailing the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Only about 9.8 inches wide, it was designed to be partially unrolled aboard ship as sailors needed different sections. The chart depicts more than 180 islands, along with reefs, coastlines, ports, landmarks, ships, religious buildings, and flags. All 66 place-names written in Devanagari script have now been matched with probable locations. Astronomical information helped sailors calculate latitude, while 29 rhumb lines marked coastlines, open-water directions, and possibly safe routes into and out of ports. Its distorted geography, once viewed as an error, made the document compact and portable. The chart depended on experienced sailors’ knowledge of stars and local waters, serving as a practical memory aid for trade between India, Arabia, and the Horn of Africa.

• 3,800-Year-Old Ritual Offerings Discovered at Peñico — A ceremonial deposit dating to between 1800 and 1500 BCE has been uncovered inside a major public building at Peñico in Peru’s Lima region. The cache was placed during the construction of a new platform, enclosed by a semicircle of pebbles, and sealed beneath a large stone. Packed into an area just 8.7 inches long were 43 carved wooden and bone objects, including anthropomorphic figures, possible deities, mythical beings, birds, snakes, tadpoles, and geometric designs. Some had been exposed to fire, while others contained cavities for mineral or semiprecious-stone inlays. The deposit also held three beads, three pieces of chrysocolla, two land-snail-shell bead fragments, nine shell eyes made for sculptures, and eight unidentified objects. Founded around 1800 BCE, the 48-acre city contains 15 public buildings and lies about eight miles from Caral, linking coastal, highland, and rainforest exchange networks.

• Ancient Bladder-Stone Surgery Tool Discovered at Bulgarian Roman City — A rare third-century CE surgical instrument has been discovered in a room beside the Temple of Hercules at Heraclea Sintica in southwestern Bulgaria. The bronze lithulkos was part of a specialized medical kit used during lithotomy, the painful and dangerous operation of removing stones from the bladder. Its curved double hooks are missing, but the well-preserved handle is decorated with a row of raised rings. Only one other comparable instrument is reportedly known, from Italy. Although Roman doctors commonly used scalpels, needles, curettes, and spoons, highly specialized tools such as this are unusual and point to advanced medical treatment in the prosperous city. Its location raises the possibility that the adjoining building treated sick people who visited the temple seeking divine healing, though the structure’s precise function remains uncertain.

• Ministry Announces Several Major New Discoveries at Marina Alamein — Eighteen previously unknown tombs have been excavated at Marina Alamein on Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, bringing the site’s total to 44. The discoveries include 11 rock-cut underground tombs reaching depths of 26 feet, seven limestone surface tombs, surrounding burials, and an abandoned well later reused for interment. Several chambers remained sealed by their original stone slabs. Artifacts include complete and nearly complete pottery, plates, limestone altars and basins, architectural pieces, glass tear bottles, a false-door offering altar, an unfinished marble statue of Aphrodite, and a seated limestone figure holding a bird. An 8.2-foot granite sarcophagus retained its lid and contained human remains, while a damaged plaster statue depicted Harpocrates. Twenty-four gold “tongues” placed in the mouths of the dead included an Eye of Horus amulet. The city, about 62 miles west of Alexandria, flourished from the Hellenistic through Byzantine periods and peaked between the first and third centuries CE.

• 90,000-Year-Old Homo Sapiens Jaw Wound Points to Possible Violence in Early Human Groups — A Homo sapiens fossil known as Qafzeh 25, recovered from Qafzeh Cave in Israel and dated to between 145,000 and 92,000 years ago, preserves one of the oldest known healed sharp-force injuries. Microscopic examination and high-resolution scans revealed a narrow cut on the left side of the lower jaw that reached a premolar. New bone growth shows that the individual survived for some time afterward. The weapon or tool cannot be identified, and an accident remains possible, but the wound’s form and position make interpersonal violence a stronger explanation. Scans also revealed a concealed cavity inside a premolar and enamel defects affecting several teeth. The skeleton showed no carnivore damage or prolonged surface exposure, and its bones remained arranged as expected in a deliberate burial. The remains therefore document injury, survival, dental illness, and formal treatment of the dead among early modern humans in the Levant.

• New Genomic Study Uncovers Family Ties Linking Scythian Elite Burials Across the Eurasian Steppe — Genome-wide DNA from 85 Iron Age people—38 buried in richly furnished elite kurgans and 47 from simpler graves—suggests that Scythian-Saka status was frequently inherited. Elite individuals were 11 times more likely to be related to one another than to non-elites, even when their tombs lay more than 62 miles apart. Identified relationships included two pairs of brothers, a brother and sister, a parent and child, and two grandfather-grandson pairs. Nearly half of the elite group was female, showing that high-ranking women occupied prominent positions. The study also produced the first genome-wide data from Kazakhstan’s “Golden Man,” buried at Issyk around 400–300 BCE. The individual was probably male and lay in a wooden chamber with more than 4,000 gold ornaments, weapons, a gold-decorated headdress, animal-shaped objects, and a silver bowl bearing undeciphered writing.

• New Sections of Ancient Egyptian Temple Reveal Inscriptions of Pharaoh Psamtik I — Previously unexplored sections of a temple complex at al-Qasr in Egypt’s Bahariya Oasis have revealed a main hall supported by 16 sandstone columns, along with interconnected rooms and shrines. The temple dates primarily to the 26th Dynasty, which ruled from 664 to 525 BCE. Stone blocks bear the names and titles of Psamtik I, the dynasty’s founder, while hieroglyphic inscriptions mention the deities Amun-Ra, Amunet, and Khonsu. Older material shows that the religious center had a much longer history: a stone stele dates to the reign of Amenhotep II during the 18th Dynasty, and fragments belong to the reign of Ramesses II in the 19th Dynasty. Later activity is represented by fourth- and fifth-century CE ostraca bearing Coptic and Latin texts, as well as basins used to produce wine and oils. The finds indicate that the oasis settlement remained an important religious, administrative, and economic center across several periods.

• Interpreting the Firing Technology Logic of the Jingdezhen Egg-Shaped Kiln Through Experimental Archaeology — An experimental firing has clarified how traditional egg-shaped kilns produced Jingdezhen’s varied porcelain glazes. Introduced during the late Ming period and widely used during the Qing Dynasty, these kilns contained distinct thermal zones rather than maintaining a uniform temperature. The reconstructed firing progressed through drying, oxidizing, and reducing stages, reaching approximately 2,192–2,462°F. Temperatures varied by as much as 270°F from front to back and 90°F vertically, with the front and upper areas generally hotter and richer in reducing gases. These differences altered glaze melting, crystal formation, and the chemical state of iron, producing opaque green, transparent green, and brown-black celadon surfaces. Potters managed the uneven environment by placing different wares in carefully selected positions and adjusting fuel quantity, airflow, and the moisture content of the fuel throughout the firing. The results show that the kiln’s variations were deliberately exploited rather than simply tolerated.

• Ancient Inscribed Gold Ring Found at Phetchaburi Site — Two ancient gold rings have been recovered beside Skeleton No. 4 at the Don Yai Thong archaeological site in Phetchaburi, Thailand. One is believed to have been a signet ring and carries a rare inscription in Brahmi script dating to approximately 100 BCE–100 CE, or around 1,900–2,100 years ago. The inscription reads “Pusrakhitasa,” which can mean “belonging to Pusrakhita” or “protected by the Pushya star.” The wording may indicate that the owner belonged to the Vaishya merchant caste. The second ring is undecorated. Comparable Brahmi inscriptions have been found on seals and jewelry at sites in Krabi and Chumphon, supporting evidence of early trade and cultural connections between the Indian subcontinent and communities in present-day Thailand. The excavation was undertaken partly because rising groundwater, soil salinity, and seasonal rain threatened the site’s human remains and fragile artifacts.

• 13th-Century Wall Paintings Discovered at the Mahabodhi Pagoda — Traces of 13th-century wall paintings have been identified on the upper floor of the Mahabodhi Pagoda in Bagan, Myanmar. Conservators examined 13 sample areas while repairing the building and cleaning its floral architectural decoration. Paint survived in three locations: a clearly visible section on the eastern wall, a faint example on the southern wall, and a heavily faded section on the northern wall. The discovery adds the Mahabodhi Pagoda, cataloged as ancient building No. 1670, to the known painted monuments of Bagan. Of the ancient city’s 3,837 recorded pagodas and temples, 416 had previously been documented as containing murals. Continued investigation may reveal the paintings’ subjects, pigments, original extent, and relationship to the pagoda’s architecture.

• Archaeologists Find More 23,000-Year-Old Stone Engravings at Foz Côa — Several Upper Paleolithic engravings more than 23,000 years old have been identified on Rock 9 at the Fariseu site in Portugal’s Côa Valley Archaeological Park. Two complete figures have been documented, while other newly detected carvings remain under study, bringing the number of known motifs on the rock to 40. The engravings belong to the Solutrean period, broadly dated to 20,000–15,000 BCE in Western Europe and the Iberian Peninsula. Excavations at Rock 9 began in 2020, when the same panel yielded the world’s largest known engraved aurochs: an approximately 11.5-foot depiction of the extinct wild cattle carved into schist. Fariseu lies within a nearly 49,421-acre protected landscape renowned for its open-air prehistoric art.

• Chinese Scientists’ Horse-Head Discovery Sheds Light on Ancient Elite Sacrificial Traditions — A roughly 2,800-year-old horse’s head sealed inside a pottery vessel has been uncovered at an Eastern Zhou ritual site in Zhejiang Province, eastern China. The find dates to the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, which lasted from 770 to 256 BCE and encompassed the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. The region belonged to the Yue state, a powerful polity known particularly for its sophisticated metalworking and swords. Horse remains were normally deposited in pits or ditches, making the careful placement of a head inside a ceramic container highly unusual. Because horses represented wealth, military strength, and elite standing, the elaborate offering points to an organized, state-sponsored ceremony overseen by the upper levels of Yue society.

• Ancient Inscription Revealing Christianity’s Clash With Mysterious Cult Decoded — A 1,700-year-old Aramaic inscription at Zerzevan Castle in southeastern Türkiye appears to document the Christian closure of an underground temple dedicated to Mithras. The Roman fortress stands about 40 miles north of the Syrian border, and its sanctuary is among the best-preserved Mithraic temples known. Discovered at the entrance in 2017 beside an image of a cross, the engraving dates to the third or fourth century CE. It mentions Mithras, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Cross, providing rare written evidence that Christians symbolically sealed the sanctuary as Christianity displaced a rival religion. Mithraism, associated with light and cosmic order, was widespread across the Roman Empire during the second and third centuries CE. Coins had previously suggested that the temple was abandoned around this time, but the inscription offers more direct evidence of how and why it closed.

• Archaeologists in Mexico Uncover 1,400-Year-Old Settlement With Maya-Like Stela and Charred Corn — Near Coatepec in Veracruz, Mexico, excavations uncovered an Early Classic settlement dating to roughly 200–600 CE that may represent a previously unidentified Gulf Coast culture. Its centerpiece is a platform about 98 feet long and 39 feet wide, built from stone slabs and dressed limestone with a white, plaster-like finish. Circular and square designs on the structure have no known local parallel. Deposits interpreted as ritual offerings contained pottery vessels, figurines, charred maize, and a broken greenstone bead. A carved stela measuring about 6.2 by 4.8 feet had been deliberately buried face down and covered by later construction. It depicts two richly dressed, seated figures facing one another, wearing headdresses and ear ornaments, beneath an entity that appears to release a liquid—possibly part of a water or rain ritual. Although one figure has Maya-like traits and the composition resembles older Isthmian art, the site lies beyond the Maya heartland and is not clearly Totonac.

• New Evidence Could Rewrite the History of a Mysterious Ancient Mountaintop Temple — The “Small Temple” at the Sanctuary of Men on Gemen Mountain near Yalvaç, southwestern Turkey, may have honored Hecate rather than Demeter, as archaeologists proposed after its excavation in 1912–1913. Standing about 5,250 feet above sea level, the temple includes a front hall, central sacred chamber, rear chamber, and an octagonal base that probably supported a cult statue. The revised identification rests on figurines and reliefs associated with Hecate, along with two sacrificed dog burials found at nearby Pisidian Antioch. Dogs were closely connected with the goddess of night, crossroads, boundaries, and the underworld, although the burials alone are not conclusive. No firm construction date is given, but the building was damaged in late antiquity, probably as pagan sanctuaries were dismantled or reused during Christianization. If confirmed, it could be Turkey’s second architecturally identified Hecate temple after the sanctuary at Lagina. Scattered architectural blocks may allow partial reconstruction.

• An Ancient Bridge Was Lost to History. Archaeologists Just Found It — Underwater archaeologists in Solothurn, northwestern Switzerland, have found physical evidence of a long-suspected Roman bridge across the Aare River. Divers investigating ahead of renovations to the modern Wengi railway bridge uncovered a row of wooden piles about 6 feet long, lying just upstream and roughly 32 feet from the southern bank. Wood samples date the supports to the fourth century CE, during the Late Roman period. The bridge probably carried a major highway linking northern Italy with the Rhine frontier through the Great St. Bernard Pass, Swiss Plateau, and Jura region. Roman road remains had already been identified on both sides of the river, but the crossing itself had remained elusive. Its location at a narrow channel also fits Solothurn’s Roman name, Salodurum, derived from a Celtic term meaning “river narrows.” The piles narrowly survived a 1969 river-deepening project and will remain underwater while further exploration continues.

❤️ Recommended Content

• Here’s an article about a “new star” in a 12th century poem that ended up being a supernova.

• Here’s an article about some interesting 5,000-year-old marble statuettes, including “The Stargazer.”

• Here’s a video about the newly discovered Egyptian city mentioned above.

• Here’s a video about some newly discovered ancient technologies.

• And here’s a video about antiquity smugglers and thieves who got busted this year.

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• Early Homo sapiens May Have Lived in Rainforests, New Clues Suggest — and It Could Overturn Our Understanding of Human Evolution — The old “humans evolved on the savanna” story is getting more complicated. Evidence now suggests early Homo sapiens may have used, and perhaps lived in, tropical forests far earlier than once thought. Part of the problem is preservation: rainforest soils are acidic and wet, so bones, tools made from organic materials, and long sediment sequences rarely survive. Stone tools have helped fill the gap. Finds show humans in coastal tropical forests in Kenya about 78,000 years ago, Equatorial Guinea around 45,000 years ago, the Democratic Republic of the Congo around 18,000 years ago, and Ivory Coast about 150,000 years ago. The Ivory Coast artifacts include quartz flakes, heavy picks, and choppers, suggesting people could make practical toolkits for dense forest life. Direct evidence is still scarce, but two 46,000- to 63,000-year-old teeth from Tam Pà Ling cave in Laos preserve zinc-isotope evidence of a rainforest-based diet. The next frontier may be ancient environmental DNA from tropical lake sediments, which could reveal where people moved, what they ate, and which diseases they faced.

• Earliest Americans Specialized in Megafauna Hunting From Alaska to South America, Analysis of 50 Sites Reveals — A hemisphere-wide analysis of 50 early archaeological sites argues that some of the first peoples in the Americas were not broad-spectrum foragers, but highly focused hunters of the largest animals available. The study looked at Eastern Beringian sites in Alaska and the Yukon, Clovis sites across North America, and Fishtail Projectile Point sites in South America. Across those groups, an estimated 83% to 88% of food came from huge plant-eaters such as mammoths, gomphotheres, and giant ground sloths. Smaller animals may have been common on the landscape, but they barely appear in the campsite record. That specialization may help explain why similar toolkits, including large projectile points and butchering tools, appear across such different regions. The study also links megafauna extinctions to a southward wave of human arrival, with mammoths and horses gone from Alaska by about 11,350 BCE, Clovis-era megafauna disappearing by about 10,850 BCE, and some South American giants surviving until about 9650 BCE.

• Unusual Platform and Monolith Found in Eastern Mexico — At Campo Viejo in Veracruz, eastern Mexico, excavations uncovered a circular stone platform and a carved monolith dating to the Early Classic period, between 200 and 600 CE. The platform was made with circular stones and decorated with squared lines or figures, and so far no clear parallels have been identified at nearby ancient sites. The monolith stands more than 6 feet tall and is engraved with two figures, one of whom appears to have Maya features. Both figures hold a bowl and seem to be receiving something, possibly a liquid. The scene may show water being given by a deity, perhaps in the context of drought. If so, the monument may preserve a local ritual image tied to water, divine favor, and environmental stress in eastern Mexico.

  

• The Oldest Evidence of Mourning Rituals — At Arene Candide Cave in Liguria, Italy, a richly furnished Upper Paleolithic burial suggests that grief, care, and ritual were already deeply human concerns around 27,500 years ago. The grave belonged to a 15-year-old boy who had been badly mauled by a bear, with injuries to his jaw, neck, and left shoulder. Before he died, his community appears to have brought him into the cave, packed ochre into his wounds, and stayed with him. Afterward, they buried him on a bed of red ochre. His grave goods included hundreds of perforated shells and deer canines arranged as a cap around his head, mammoth ivory pendants, four decorated elk antler batons, and a flint blade held in his right hand. The cave seems to have been used for burial over a very long span, from about 34,400 years ago into the Neolithic, around the sixth century BCE. Later burials at the same site included ochre-stained graves and more than 29 deliberately broken pebble halves, possibly split so one half stayed with the dead and the other remained with the living as a keepsake.

• Unknown 4,000-Year-Old Stone Circle in Belfast Uncovered by Archaeologists — Excavations near the Giant’s Ring, just outside Belfast in Northern Ireland, uncovered a previously unknown stone circle dating to at least 4,000 years ago, in the Late Neolithic or Early Bronze Age. The discovery began with aerial photographs showing crop marks that suggested the Ballynahatty Ritual Complex extended farther than expected. That wider complex includes 50 or more known monuments along the southern end of the Malone Ridge. The newly excavated circle had been disturbed in the 19th century, when farmers dismantled monuments that interfered with agriculture. So far, there is no evidence that the circle was connected with burials. Its purpose remains uncertain, but it may have been used for ceremonies, seasonal gatherings, or celestial observation, like other prehistoric circles in Ireland. One small but lovely artifact from the dig was a broken arrowhead found during the community excavation.

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• Ancient Humans Used Fire Nearly 1.8 Million Years Ago, Cave Evidence Suggests — New evidence from Wonderwerk Cave in South Africa suggests early humans were using fire deep inside caves nearly 1.8 million years ago. The key finds are tiny burnt animal bones from Early Pleistocene layers about 98 feet inside the cave, far beyond the likely reach of natural wildfires. Archaeologists examined 161 fossilized micromammal bones, many likely deposited by barn owls, using infrared spectroscopy and a newer blue-light luminescence method that makes burnt bone glow reddish through special filters. Burnt remains appeared in both Stratum 10 and the older Stratum 11, and in Stratum 11 every white and gray fossil bone tested positive for burning. The clustered pattern suggests repeated fire use in specific cave areas over long periods, not random burning. The evidence points to early Acheulean hominins, likely Homo erectus, carrying fire into the cave, though not necessarily making it themselves. They may have collected fire from natural wildfires and maintained it temporarily.

• Oldest Maya Long Count Calendar Date May Reveal How Royalty Turned Time Into Power — A carved stone monument at El Palmar in Campeche, Mexico, may preserve the earliest known Maya Long Count date in the lowlands. The date, recorded as 8.7.1.0.0, corresponds to August 31, 180 CE, making it more than a century older than the previously known earliest Long Count date in the region, 292 CE. The date appears on Stela 46, one of three weathered limestone monuments studied at the site, along with Stelae 20 and 45. Because the surfaces were badly worn, the carvings were read using photogrammetry, high-resolution 3D scanning, and digital lighting from multiple angles; the scan captured details down to about 0.004 inches. The newly visible inscriptions link the calendar date to historical and ritual events, possibly including a ruler’s accession and a public ceremony involving the Jaguar god of the Underworld. The find suggests early Maya rulers were already using timekeeping, sacred calendars, and monumental public writing to frame political authority in cosmic terms.

• Ancient Clay Figurine From Guatemala May Bear the Oldest Written Numbers in Mesoamerica — A small clay figurine from La Blanca, on Guatemala’s Pacific coast, may preserve the oldest known written numbers in Mesoamerica. Dated to about 750 to 650 BCE, the object belongs to a group of more than 300 “tab” figurines found at the site. These figures lack normal heads and faces, instead ending in a stump-like tab, though some still show headbands or ear ornaments. This example is unusual because 11 dots were pressed into the head area in three columns: one column of three and two columns of four. That uneven arrangement may argue against simple decoration, especially because Mesoamerican art often favored symmetry. The head placement is also important, since identity, personhood, names, and calendar-linked destiny were later closely tied to heads and numbers across Mesoamerica. The dots may represent a name, calendrical date, or other identity marker, though the exact meaning remains uncertain. Other ceramics from La Blanca also carry symbols resembling later calendar glyphs, suggesting early experiments with writing.

• Planned Tool Production in Israel Dates Back Some 800,000 Years — Basalt tools from Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov in northern Israel suggest Acheulian hominins were planning tool production nearly 800,000 years ago, rather than simply grabbing whatever stone was closest. The site, on the shores of ancient Lake Hula, has yielded stone tools made from flint, limestone, and basalt, along with evidence for fire use, plant exploitation, animal processing, and fish consumption. In this study, 780,000-year-old basalt artifacts from several archaeological layers were chemically compared with nearby basalt flows and with now-buried basalt layers identified in a borehole. Many artifacts, including giant cores, were made from basalt close to the site, while some cleavers came from basalt sources that have not yet been identified. The pattern suggests toolmakers knew the landscape well and selected different raw materials for different parts of the process: large slabs were shaped into giant cores, large flakes were removed, and those flakes were then turned into hand axes and cleavers. The find points to long-lived technical traditions passed down over generations.

• Earliest Known Domesticated Dogs Identified at Prehistoric Sites in Türkiye — Ancient DNA from sites in central Anatolia has identified some of the earliest confirmed domestic dogs yet known. At Pınarbaşı, a rock shelter used by mobile hunter-gatherers during the Epipalaeolithic period, dog puppies dating to about 15,800 years ago were confirmed through nuclear DNA. Their careful burials suggest they were not just useful animals, but close companions with emotional or ritual importance. Isotope analysis showed they ate large amounts of fish, matching a key part of the human diet at the site. These dogs may have helped with hunting and protection in a landscape where people pursued wild sheep and large wild cattle and shared the environment with wolves and leopards. Related early dogs have also been identified across Europe, suggesting domestic dogs were already widespread by at least 14,000 years ago. At nearby Boncuklu, about 18.6 miles from Pınarbaşı, dogs were found in a Neolithic farming settlement dating to around 9000 BCE, where they were sometimes buried beside humans and may have served as hunters, guards, or early herding animals.

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• Striped Rock Dismissed As Natural In 1928 Reclassified As UK’s Oldest Cave Art — Red horizontal bands on the wall of Bacon Hole, a cave near the Mumbles in south Wales, have been reclassified as intentional Paleolithic rock art after being dismissed for nearly a century as natural mineral staining. The panel was first reported in 1912, rejected by 1928, and has now been dated to about 17,100 years ago, making it the oldest known rock art in Britain and northwestern Europe. The markings were made with red pigment, arranged in structured, evenly spaced horizontal lines, and appear to have been applied by finger. Analysis found calcite and clay residues in the pigment mixture, supporting the idea that the marks were deliberately created rather than formed by red oxide seeping through the limestone. At the time, Wales was emerging from a severe cold phase, with the Bristol Channel area likely attracting grazing megafauna and nearby caves offering shelter for hunter-fisher-gatherer groups.

• Stone Age Humans Built Complex Grass Beds At Border Cave 200,000 Years Ago, Study Finds — Middle Stone Age people at Border Cave, high in the Lebombo Mountains near the modern South Africa–Eswatini border, built and maintained plant bedding for more than 150,000 years. Microscopic study of sediments dated between about 200,000 and 43,000 years ago identified six bedding microfacies, showing different ways people constructed, refreshed, burned, and trampled sleeping areas. Many beds were laid directly on ash or mixed with ash-rich deposits, perhaps to keep surfaces dry and warm or discourage insects. Some bedding layers were repeatedly renewed with fresh plant material and partially burned; one younger “grass mat” preserved overlapping layers of dried and charred plants. Older deposits often contained heavily charred bedding and phytolith-rich sediments, suggesting intense occupation, while layers dated to roughly 60,000–43,000 years ago showed less fragmentation and burning, possibly reflecting shorter stays or smaller groups. The beds seem to have used mostly Panicoideae grasses, pointing to practical local plant choices or cultural preferences.

• Stonehenge Altar Stone’s Epic Transportation Across Ancient Britain Detailed in New Study — Stonehenge’s central Altar Stone, a sandstone megalith weighing about 6.6 tons, is now thought to have originated in northeast Scotland, roughly 435 miles from Salisbury Plain. New geological analysis and ice-sheet modeling argue against glaciers carrying the stone directly to southern England. Glaciers may have moved rocks part of the way during the last Ice Age, possibly as far as Dogger Bank in the North Sea, but no viable glacial route connects the Scottish source area with Stonehenge. That leaves human transport as the most likely explanation. The stone may have been moved in stages, using a combination of overland hauling, rivers, and coastal routes. If so, its journey points to remarkable planning, cooperation, landscape knowledge, and long-distance connections among Neolithic communities.

• Archaeologists Reveal Giant Zapotec Complex Hidden Beneath Teotitlán Del Valle — A large Zapotec ceremonial complex has been mapped beneath the historic center of Teotitlán del Valle in Oaxaca, Mexico. Non-invasive survey work revealed buried pre-Hispanic structures beneath colonial-era buildings, including a group of ceremonial and elite buildings arranged around a central courtyard, similar to the palaces at Mitla. A large underground anomaly beneath the church patio may also be a monumental Zapotec tomb, though more investigation is needed. The survey reached more than 82 feet below the surface using methods such as ground-penetrating radar, electrical resistivity tomography, and seismic noise tomography. The findings suggest the ancient settlement was much larger than the visible remains indicate, and that 16th- and 17th-century builders reused rubble from dismantled pre-Hispanic structures to level the area before building the church and atrium.

• Ancient DNA Reveals How Women Helped Transform Prehistoric Europe — Ancient DNA from human remains in Belgium and the Netherlands is complicating the old three-wave story of Europe’s peopling. Early farmers from Anatolia reached Europe after about 7000 BCE, but in the wetland zones of the Lower Rhine–Meuse region, later Neolithic people carried unusually high levels of local hunter-gatherer ancestry. In some Belgian remains dating to around 3000 BCE, at least half the ancestry came from local foragers, while earlier northern Dutch groups could be almost entirely hunter-gatherer by ancestry. The most interesting twist comes from sex-linked DNA: male lines were hunter-gatherer, but many maternal lines came from farming communities farther south. That suggests women may have carried farming knowledge into forager communities through marriage and small-scale frontier movement. A later shift around 2600 to 2400 BCE brought Bell Beaker groups with steppe ancestry, reshaping the region and contributing to a dramatic population change in Britain.

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• Satellite Imagery Reveals Monumental Tombs in Sudan’s Atbai Desert — Satellite surveys across Sudan’s Atbai Desert identified roughly 280 massive stone burial monuments tied to a long-lost pastoral culture that flourished between about 4500 and 2500 BCE, before the rise of dynastic Egypt. Many of the circular or elongated tomb structures measure up to 60 feet across and were built near seasonal water sources between the Nile River and the Red Sea. Archaeologists believe the monuments belonged to cattle-herding communities that survived during the final stages of the Green Sahara before increasing aridity transformed the region into desert. Human and cattle remains appear closely linked in the funerary landscape, highlighting the central importance of livestock in both economy and ritual life. Most of the monuments were previously unknown and were discovered through large-scale satellite mapping of nearly 175,000 square miles of remote terrain. The tombs provide rare evidence for complex social organization in northeastern Africa outside the Nile Valley.

• A ‘Jar’ Jammed With Human Bones May Solve Laos’ ‘Plain of Jars’ Mystery — The Plain of Jars has fascinated me for a long time. Archaeologists working on the Xieng Khouang Plateau in northern Laos uncovered the remains of at least 37 people inside a massive stone jar more than 6.5 feet wide, offering some of the clearest evidence yet that the region’s famous “Plain of Jars” served a funerary purpose. The remains date from roughly the 9th to 13th centuries CE, and the jar appears to have functioned as a multigenerational burial chamber connected to ancestor worship. The discovery was made at “Jar Site 75,” about 43 miles northeast of Phonsavan, where thousands of giant carved stone jars are scattered across the landscape. Many of the bones inside the newly excavated vessel were disarticulated, suggesting bodies were first left elsewhere to decompose before the cleaned bones were gathered into the larger jar in a secondary burial ritual. Several smaller stone jars found nearby may have been used during this earlier stage of decomposition. The Plain of Jars has puzzled archaeologists for decades. Most jars stand a little over 3 feet tall, though some reach nearly 10 feet and weigh several tons. A few have stone lids, while others lie toppled on their sides. Earlier theories proposed they stored food, water, or rice wine, but growing evidence points to their role in burial ceremonies. Excavations around the jars have also uncovered burial pits, cremated remains, ashes, and burned bone fragments, indicating the sites continued to be reused after Buddhism spread into the region.

• Stunning Fossil Discovery in Ethiopia Rewrites Human Origins — Fossil teeth discovered at the Ledi Geraru site in Ethiopia suggest that multiple human ancestor species lived side by side between roughly 2.8 and 2.6 million years ago, challenging the old idea of a simple, linear progression from ape-like ancestors to humans. The finds include teeth from early members of the genus Homo as well as a previously unidentified species of Australopithecus, indicating eastern Africa was home to several overlapping hominin lineages during this critical evolutionary period. The key discoveries came from 13 fossil teeth preserved in sediments dated using volcanic ash layers. The teeth confirmed the presence of some of the earliest known Homo fossils while also revealing that the unidentified Australopithecus species was distinct from Australopithecus afarensis, the species associated with “Lucy.” This supports the idea that Lucy’s lineage disappeared before about 2.95 million years ago. The fossils were found in Ethiopia’s Afar region, now a harsh landscape of faulted badlands but once a greener environment crossed by rivers and shallow lakes. Geological evidence suggests several hominin species may have occupied different ecological niches in the same region. Alongside early Homo and the newly identified Australopithecus, other lineages such as Paranthropus and Australopithecus garhi may also have lived in eastern Africa between 3 million and 2.5 million years ago. Researchers are now studying tooth enamel to investigate diet and determine how these species may have coexisted — whether they competed for the same foods, occupied separate niches, or interacted regularly on the ancient Ethiopian landscape.

• Neanderthals Gathered Shellfish Using the Same Strategies as Modern Humans, Study Finds — Shell remains from Los Aviones Cave in southeastern Spain suggest Neanderthals harvested shellfish throughout the year, but favored colder seasons in a pattern remarkably similar to later modern human coastal communities. The cave deposits date to roughly 150,000 to 120,000 years ago and contained limpets, mussels, and other marine foods gathered from nearby shores. Researchers found evidence for repeated, organized collection rather than opportunistic scavenging, indicating detailed ecological knowledge of tides and seasonal shellfish availability. The findings strengthen the growing view that Neanderthals practiced sophisticated coastal subsistence strategies once considered unique to Homo sapiens. Marine foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids and zinc may also have contributed important nutritional benefits. The site has previously produced pigments, modified shells, and symbolic objects linked to Neanderthal behavior, further challenging older stereotypes of Neanderthals as cognitively primitive.

• Signs Of ‘Feeding’ Ritual At Dingo Burial Site Shed New Light On Bond Between First Nations People And Canines — A roughly 950-year-old dingo burial discovered near the Baaka (Darling River) in western New South Wales is providing rare evidence of a long-term ritual relationship between people and animals. The male dingo, buried between roughly 916 and 963 CE, had healed rib and leg fractures consistent with kangaroo injuries, suggesting it had been cared for and nursed back to health. The burial was placed within a shell midden, and radiocarbon dating showed that river mussel shells continued to be added to the site for nearly 500 years afterward. Archaeologists interpret this as a ritual “feeding” practice honoring the animal across generations — something not previously documented archaeologically. The site also expands evidence for ceremonial dingo burials farther north and west along the Baaka river system than previously known. Artifacts and remains associated with the burial included dense mussel shell deposits and midden material surrounding the grave.

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Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

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🗞 Ancient News: Top 5

• Neanderthal Tooth Reveals 59,000-Year-Old Stone-Age Dental Procedure — A lower molar discovered in Chagryskaya Cave in Siberia’s Altai Mountains is providing evidence that Neanderthals may have performed a deliberate dental procedure roughly 59,000 years ago. The tooth, known as Chagyrskaya 64, contained a large cavity that extended into the pulp chamber, along with scratches and rotational marks consistent with drilling by a pointed stone tool. Researchers compared the marks to experiments on modern human teeth using recreated jasper tools from the cave and found that manual drilling could remove decayed tissue in under an hour. The cave was occupied between roughly 70,000 and 49,000 years ago. The damaged tooth appears to have remained functional after the procedure, suggesting the individual survived and continued chewing afterward. The study argues this may represent the earliest known evidence of intentional dental intervention in human evolution. Fine-pointed jasper perforators found at the site closely matched the traces left on the tooth. Researchers believe the treatment would have been extremely painful, especially without anesthesia, but may have relieved pressure and infection by exposing the pulp chamber. The find adds to growing evidence that Neanderthals practiced complex social care and possessed sophisticated manual skills, planning abilities, and medical awareness.

• Ice Age Humans in China Crafted Surprisingly Advanced Stone Tools 146,000 Years Ago — Excavations at the Lingjing archaeological site in central China are reshaping ideas about early human innovation during the Ice Age. Researchers determined that sophisticated stone tools found at the site were made around 146,000 years ago during a harsh glacial period, not a warmer climate phase as previously believed. The tools are associated with Homo juluensis, an extinct human population with a blend of traits linked to archaic East Asian humans and Neanderthals, including notably large brains. The discovery challenges the long-standing assumption that advanced technology mainly emerged in favorable environmental conditions. The stone artifacts include carefully shaped disc-like cores designed to produce sharp cutting flakes through organized, multi-step manufacturing techniques. Some cores were symmetrically worked on both sides, while others used a more complex asymmetrical design with a prepared striking platform and a separate flake-production surface. Researchers say this demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of fracture mechanics and three-dimensional planning rather than random stone-chipping. The site also yielded butchered animal remains, including deer bones. Tiny calcite crystals inside one rib bone were analyzed using uranium-thorium dating, allowing researchers to push the site’s age back by roughly 20,000 years from earlier estimates of 126,000 years. The revised dating places the technology squarely within an Ice Age environment, suggesting ancient humans in East Asia were adapting creatively under severe climatic pressure rather than during periods of abundance.

• Horse Genetics, Archaeology, And The Beginning Of Riding — A large interdisciplinary study combining archaeology, ancient DNA, and skeletal analysis challenges the idea that horse domestication began only with the spread of the DOM2 horse lineage around 2200 BCE. Researchers found evidence that humans were riding and managing horses centuries earlier across parts of the Eurasian steppe. Ancient horse remains showed signs associated with riding, including skeletal stress markers and bit wear, while genetic data revealed multiple domestication lineages rather than a single origin event. The study suggests early horse use developed gradually through different regional traditions before one lineage eventually became dominant across Eurasia. The findings complicate earlier models of domestication and indicate that horseback riding, herd management, and long-distance mobility emerged through a long experimental process involving multiple human cultures and horse populations over thousands of years.

• A History Of Containers, An Ancient Technology Hundreds Of Thousands Of Years In The Making — A new study tracing the history of containers argues that carrying technology played a major role in human survival and expansion long before pottery appeared. Researchers compiled a database of more than 700 examples of ancient containers, including baskets, leather bags, nets, slings, wooden vessels, and bark containers dating back hundreds of thousands of years. Many early containers were made from perishable materials that rarely survive archaeologically, meaning their importance has likely been underestimated. The study suggests portable storage allowed humans to transport food, water, tools, infants, and raw materials across longer distances, helping mobile hunter-gatherer groups adapt to changing environments and expand into new regions. Containers may also have supported food sharing, trade, and more complex social organization by increasing how much people could carry and store at one time.

• Jerusalem Excavation Reveals Vast Ancient Tunnel With Mysterious Purpose — Archaeologists excavating beneath Jerusalem uncovered a massive rock-cut tunnel dating to the Iron Age, likely around the eighth century BCE. The passage stretches roughly 394 feet long and reaches heights of nearly 30 feet in some sections, making it one of the city’s largest known underground engineering projects from the period. Carved directly into bedrock, the tunnel contains stairways, side chambers, quarrying marks, and evidence of extensive labor, but its exact purpose remains uncertain. Researchers believe it may have served as part of a water-management system, a quarrying operation, or a monumental passage connected to royal construction projects during the Kingdom of Judah. The scale of excavation suggests centralized planning and a large organized workforce. Sediment layers and pottery fragments found within the structure indicate the tunnel eventually fell out of use and was gradually filled over centuries.

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-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

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