🧐 Ancient Beat #23: Mammoth bones, octopus lures, and lost sun temples
Hi folks, welcome to issue #23 of Ancient Beat! It was my birthday on Tuesday so my wife and I are heading out for a little weekend getaway. 😀 But before we go… here’s the latest ancient news.👇
🗞 Ancient News
New Mexico Mammoths Among Best Evidence for Early Humans in North America — More fuel has been added to the fiery debate about the peopling of the Americas. A recent study suggests that the mammoth bones discovered at the Hartley site of New Mexico in 2013 offer conclusive evidence that humans were in North America earlier than the conventional timeline would suggest. The butchering site includes fossils with blunt-force fractures, bone flake knives, evidence of controlled fire, and the burned remains of other animals. The mammoth bones were dated to between 36,250 and 38,900 BP, which is roughly 20,000 years earlier than previously thought. The study further suggests that, per independent genetic analysis, there could have been two founding populations in the Americas — one of which happened much earlier than the other. It bears mentioning that not long ago, archaeologists were ridiculed, and careers ruined, for suggesting such dates.
Maya Rulers' Ashes Turned Into Pelota Balls - Expert — 400 urns containing human ashes, coal, rubber, and roots were found in a crypt beneath the Sun Temple at the site of Toniná in Mexico. This has led to a theory that the ashes of cremated Maya rulers were used in the making of balls for the game of pelota. Juan Yadeun Angulo, who came up with the theory, says that carvings inside the nearby ballcourt back this up by indicating that three rulers were taken to the “cave of the dead” for “transmutation.” According to him, the Maya may have wanted the bodies of their rulers to “be converted into a life force, something to stimulate their people.”
Analysis of Fossil Tooth Brings to Light Earliest Humans From Southern Africa — This one is a few weeks old but it’s my first time seeing it. Fossil teeth that were thought to belong to early Homo were analyzed and it turned out that, out of 23 teeth, only 7 actually represented Homo. The others were likely Australopithecus or Paranthropus. This includes the well-known mandible SK 15, which was previously thought to be from Homo erectus. According to Clement Zanolli, “These quantitative analyses of the enamel-dentine junction shape allowed us to objectively re-evaluate the taxonomy of a number of purported Homo specimens, while also revealing a larger paleodiversity of hominins than previously accepted.”
New Discovery May Be One of the Four Lost Ancient Egyptian “Sun Temples” — A mud-brick building and quartz blocks have been found at the site of Absuir in Egypt, and authorities believe it may be one of the lost sun temples. There are thought to have been six such temples which were built in dedication to Ra and used for royal funerary purposes (rather than worship). “The building is accessible through an entrance built in limestone rock, leading to an area with a paved floor and containing huge blocks of quartz.” Other items such as ceramic vessels were also found, which were probably used in rituals and ceremonies.
Octopus Lures from the Mariana Islands Found to be Oldest in the World — Cowrie-shell artifacts which were found in the Mariana Islands were used for hunting octopuses, according to a new study. The artifacts were used as lures, and they date back to 1500 BCE, making them the oldest known octopus lures in the word. The shells, which belonged to a type of sea snail that octopuses eat, were connected by a cord to a stone sinker and hook. Until now, the lures were thought to be food-scraping tools.
Oldest Artifact Ever Found in Jerusalem, Revealed — A flint arrowhead was found in the Old City area of Jerusalem. It is at least 7,000 years old, made from white flint with pink veins, and about 1.5 centimeters long. It is the most complete arrowhead ever found in the Old City. While people have been there for a very long time, finding Neolithic artifacts is rare in Jerusalem since so much building has taken place for so long.
Ancient Temple Discovered in 8000 Year Old Archaeological Ruins in Saudi Arabia — Researchers applied new techniques to study an 8,000-year-old site that was discovered in Al-Faw, Saudi Arabia roughly 40 years ago. Recent finds include over 2,800 graves from different periods, the remains of a stone-cut temple, and parts of an altar. The foundations of four monumental buildings, towers, and an irrigation system are also mentioned, but I believe those were discovered previously.
Colonial Horse Genome Sequenced — The DNA of a sixteenth-century horse was sequenced from a tooth originally found at the site of Puerto Real in Haiti. The tooth had been misclassified until a researcher realized that it had belonged to a horse. He found that the closest living relatives were wild horses on the island of Assateague, off the cost of Maryland in the United States. This lends credence to the theory that the Assateague horses must have swum ashore from the wreck of a Spanish ship.
Medieval Pendant With Three Lions Unveiled Ahead of Women’s Football Final — A well-preserved pendant which was found last year by metal detectorists in the county of Warwickshire, England was recently brought to light. It dates to the 12th century and includes the three lions from the Royal arms of England. It would have hung from a horse harness.
Archaeologists Discover Why Ancient Roman Dice Were So Dodgy — Roughly 80-90% of Roman dice were visibly asymmetrical. Until now, it has been believed that they built them this way deliberately in order to cheat. This assumption was based on the dice favoring throws of 1 and 6 since these numbers (or pips) were usually placed on the biggest sides. But a new study found that “naive” students placed the same values on the same sides, indicating a production bias. This would mean that a new explanation is required, and the study suggests that the Romans probably just didn’t care about the symmetry because they generally believed that the throw was governed by fate and the will of the gods, rather than probability.
Bronze Age Treasures Found in Burial Site — Excavations for a new road uncovered a Bronze Age cemetery near Mány, Hungary. Eight burials were found, one of which was a young woman with 38 ornate objects, including gold rings, torcs, spiral armlets, a gold hair ring, and ceramic pots. The rings appear to have been on her fingers at the time of burial, indicating that she was a person of high status. Traces of a settlement from the 9th and 10th century CE were also found.
Unique Statue of Warrior Wearing a Phrygian Cap Accidently Discovered by Dutch Fishermen — Dutch fishermen found a wooden head five kilometers west of Wadden Island. It likely came from the stern of a 17th-century ship. The figure appears to be a warrior with a Phrygian cap.
Early Bantu Speakers Crossed Through The Dense Central African Rainforest 4,000 Years Ago — More than 240 million people speak over 500 Bantu languages. The ancestors of these people lived 5,000-6,000 years ago on the border of modern-day Nigeria and Cameroon, and moved southward in the “Bantu Expansion”. It was assumed that they were able to migrate south via a savanna corridor that helped them avoid the dense rainforest. But a recent study created a “family tree” of sorts for languages and found that the migration actually occurred 4,000 years ago, which was before the corridor opened up. This shows that agricultural cultures were able to adapt to (and cross) dense rainforests, which was previously deemed unlikely.
Over 460 Ancient Tombs Discovered in Hebei — 463 tombs from the Zhao Culture were found in China’s Hebei Province which date back to the Warring States Period (475-221 BCE). 2,400 relics have also been uncovered, including bronze weapons, bronze containers, and jade wares.
1700-Year-Old Amphora Found in Diyarbakır — An amphora from 330 CE was found during excavation of the Diyarbakir Walls in Turkey. Amphorae, which are used for transportation of olive oil and wine, are rare in this region.
Humans Were Living Around Fort McMurray, Alberta 13,000 Years Ago – Scientists Reveal — Many artifacts have been found around Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada over the years, but dating them has been difficult. Researchers recently used infrared stimulated luminescence to determine that the artifacts were about 12,000 years old.
Taking your Time Makes a Difference – Brain Development Differs Between Neanderthals and Modern Humans — Researchers have found that when compared to Neanderthals, stem cells in the developing brains of Homo sapiens take longer to divide and make fewer errors when distributing chromosomes to daughter cells. According to Wieland Huttner, “Our study implies that some aspects of modern human brain evolution and function may be independent of brain size since Neanderthals and modern humans have similar-sized brains. The findings also suggest that brain function in Neanderthals may have been more affected by chromosome errors than that of modern humans.” It is yet to be seen how this relates to brain function.
How the Ancient Maya Practiced Sustainable Agriculture — A recent environmental DNA analysis of samples from 800 BCE to 1200 CE at Yaxnohcah in Mexico revealed that trees growing around reservoirs were important trees that were harvested for food, oil, medicine, fuel, and more. This means that even close to cities, the Maya were leaving parts of forests intact, and maintaining biodiversity. According to David Lentz, “Everything the Maya used is still there, and still there in abundance.” While conducting their study, they also found obsidian artifacts, ceramic pots, and a bark used as paper in a chultun (a bottle-shaped underground chamber) which was (somewhat unusually) used as a burial site. Check out the article for more on their sustainable agriculture, which is yet another indicator of just how ecologically intelligent ancient peoples were — something that I’m sure I’ll keep harping on!
❤️ Recommended Content
Last week, I covered the 12,000-year-old footprints recently discovered in Utah. If you’d like to learn more, here’s a solid video on the topic.
If you’ve ever fantasized about becoming a treasure hunter, here’s an article about the recovery of priceless cargo over the course of centuries from the 17th-century Spanish galleon, the Maravillas.
Here’s a video that details the discovery of a 16,000-year-old cemetery found in Turkey.
Here’s an interesting little article on how some constellations were viewed by different cultures throughout history.
Is it time to accept that people came to the Americas earlier than we once thought? I think so, but I’m no expert on the topic. What do you think?
I hope you enjoyed this issue of Ancient Beat! Until next time, thanks for joining me.
-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! 🙏