🧐 Ancient Beat #18: Supernovas, matrilocal cultures, and 1-million-year dating errors
Hi folks, this is issue #18 of Ancient Beat — welcome! Lots of exciting ancient news this week, so let’s get right into it 👇
🗞 Ancient News
Ancient Fossils in the 'Cradle of Humankind' Are More Than 1 Million Years Older Than Previously Thought — This was the big one this week. Cosmogenic nuclide dating (along with other methods) allowed researchers to reliably re-date Australopithecus africanus bones that were found in a South African cave back in 1936. The bones had previously been dated to 2-2.6 million years, but the methods used were problematic. The new dating pushes it back to 3.4 - 3.7 million years BP. Australopithecus afarensis (e.g. Lucy) was originally thought to have been the ancestor of these remains, but this actually makes them contemporaneous. According to Darryl Granger, “There must be an older common ancestor somewhere.”
Do Ancient Coins Record the Supernova of 1054? — The supernova of 1054 would have been a spectacular event to witness, but it was only written about in the East. The West was silent on the matter for reasons unknown, but with a general consensus saying that they probably feared ramifications from the church. However, a recent study found that a special coin minted in the Byzantine Empire showed two stars around Constantine IX’s head, as opposed to the one star (thought to represent Venus) shown on other coins of his reign. While it can’t be proven, the researchers suggest that the new star is the supernova. The size of the star on the coins changed over time, possibly hinting at the dimming of the supernova.
First Ever Prayer Beads from Medieval Britain Discovered — Prayer beads made of modified salmon vertebrae, and dating back to the the 8th or 9th century CE, were found on the island of Lindisfarne (AKA Holy Island) in the UK. The prayer beads are the only artifact found in a grave on the island, hinting at their importance. And these are the oldest prayer beads found in medieval Britain. According to Dr. David Petts, “We think of the grand ceremonial side of early medieval life in the monasteries and great works like the Lindisfarne Gospels. But what we’ve got here is something which talks to a much more personal side of early Christianity.” EDIT: One of our subscribers actually worked on the site and says that, contrary to article, other grave goods have been found!
Indigenous Communities Used the Caribbean Sea as an Aquatic Highway — Researchers used elemental analysis to study clay fragments from 11 islands in the Caribbean, allowing them to better understand the trade networks between islands, which began as early as 800 BCE. The study showed that rather than Cuba, the cultural hub was on the northwest coast of Hispaniola. Eventually, people made permanent settlements in The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos, but Hispaniola remained the main exporter of pottery. People imported and exported goods here until the arrival of the Spanish.
Pompeii Excavation Unearths Remains of Pregnant Tortoise — The remains of a tortoise was found in Pompei, within the ruins of a home that had been destroyed by an earthquake. It is assumed that the tortoise was in the ruin to find a safe place to lay her egg. According to Gabriel Zuchtriegel, “This lets us reflect on Pompeii in this phase after the earthquake but before the eruption, when many homes were being rebuilt, the whole city was a construction site, and evidently some spaces were so unused that wild animals could roam, enter and try to lay their eggs.”
Kazakh Archaeologists Discover Ancient Saka Tribe’s Melting Furnaces in East Kazakhstan Region — Archaeologists uncovered ten melting furnaces constructed by the Saka tribe of modern-day Kazakhstan in the 7th century BCE. The tribe was originally thought to be fully nomadic, but this no longer seems to be the case, as they were clearly smelting metals and building impressive furnaces.
4,000-year-old Copper Weapons Found Under a Field in Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri — Large copper weapons, including 4-foot-long swords, were found by a farmer in Mainpuri's Ganeshpur village in India. The find appears to date back roughly 4,000 years to the Chalcolithic period. Experts are unsure why the weapons were found in a cluster — they may have been made there, or perhaps they were in the process of being shipped.
New Study Shows How the Ancient World Adapted to Climate Change — A paleo-climatic study compiled evidence from southwest Anatolia from the Bronze Age to the Middle Byzantine Period and found that civilizations do not simply decline as a result of climate change. In fact, they often thrive. But if other factors like war, disease, etc., come into play on top of the changes in weather, civilizations often decline.
DNA Study Delves Into Dog Domestication — It’s tough to say exactly when wolves became dogs, but a new study is shedding more light. By analyzing genetic data, researchers found that that dogs in Siberia, the Americas, East Asia, and Europe descended from wolves in eastern Eurasia, while dogs in the Middle East, Africa, and Southern Europe came from wolves in southwest Eurasia. Either wolves were domesticated multiple times and then mixed together, or they were domesticated once and the dogs later mixed with the wolves. The latter explanation is favored by the researchers at this time.
Archaeologist Discovers 6,000 Year-old Island Settlement Off Croatian Coast — Archaeologists discovered a pair of stone walls, as well as ceramic objects and flint knives off the coast of Croatia. According to Marta Kalebota, the location is unusual. “We are not aware at the moment of a similar finding elsewhere that a Neolithic settlement was built on an islet connected with a narrow strip of land.”
Neolithic Farmers Invented Methods To Fight Pests 8,000 Years Ago — A recent study found that the wood mouse was probably the first unwanted pest in Europe. More interestingly, it also advances the argument that people in southern Europe moved to glume wheat around 4000 BCE in a deliberate effort to deal with the threat of weevils. According to Ferran Antolín, “Around 4000 BCE, people in various places around the western Mediterranean switched from naked wheat, which is vulnerable to storage pests, to glume wheat. After that, evidence of grain weevils in Les Bagnoles seems to decrease. These more resistant grains such as einkorn and emmer only account for a small part of our cultivated land today. More attention should definitely be paid to them when considering the future resilience of agriculture.”
Female Lineages Anchored Pacific Islands for 2000 Years — Humans ventured to the Pacific Islands 3,500 years ago, but we’re not sure exactly where they came from. A new study shows that at least five distinct groups migrated to Micronesia. It also shows that the cultures were matrilocal — when an island was settled, women stayed on the island, maintaining maternal lines, while males left and formed families elsewhere. This supports the idea that their societies were organized through female lineages. Interestingly, back in April, I reported the discovery of the opposite happening on the islands of Orkney in the UK.
❤️ Recommended Content
Here’s an interesting video about the sacred mount of Soğmatar — a site in modern day Turkey, not far from Karahan Tepe. The site is located near a number of springs, as well as reliefs. And it is surrounded by rock-cut tombs, most of which face the mound, indicating its importance. The oldest tombs date back 5,000 years.
A few weeks back, I reported a discovery of passages beneath a 3,000-year-old Puruvian temple. Here’s a new article that explores the idea that the chambers were used for religious rituals, and may have involved psychedelic plants. The researchers believe the structures were used for sensory deprivation and worship.
This article explores the artifacts found at the site of Sanxingdui, which I reported on a couple of weeks ago. It states that they hint at a “fairy world” in ancient China. This caught my eye because I’m fascinated by shamanism, and fairies were inextricably linked to the practice in many ancient cultures. According to Jay Xu, “As with other human societies, ritual breaking and burning is often about a sanctified passage or communion with a world beyond our own. These burials [of artifacts] then, were perhaps an attempt to move this society through crises with guidance or help from another realm.”
This video details the Djinguereber Mosque, which was built in 1328 CE out of organic materials. So far, it has stood the test of time, thanks to careful maintenance by the descendants of the builders.
That’s it for this week! If you’ve got any thoughts on these discoveries (or if you just want to say hello), reply to this message — I’d love to hear from you. 😀
Until next time, thanks for joining me. And to those of you in the USA, wishing you all a very happy Fourth.
-James
(newish twitter: @jamesofthedrum)
P.S. If you like what you’re seeing, please consider sharing it with a friend. It would mean a lot! 🙏
Very interesting about the beads from Lindisfarne! I had the opportunity to participate in the excavations going on there a few seasons ago and there have been some unexpected finds (contrary to the article, there definitely were other artifacts in graves there), but this one is so unusual. can't wait to see what else they uncover :-)