🧐 Ancient Beat #106: Y chromosomes, hundreds of monuments in Ireland, and verrry early Arctic settlements

Hi folks, welcome to issue #106 of Ancient Beat. The deliverability issue has been fixed (hopefully)! 🎉

If you’re one of the 30% who have been receiving my emails like usual, skip to the good stuff.

But if you’re one of the 70% to whom my emails were not being delivered — I’m sorry! Substack has assured me that they’ve fixed the issue. Fingers crossed. 🤞

Here are the issues you might have missed:

• #105: Megaliths, monuments, and lava tubes

• #104: New henges, weird burials, and hallucinogenic song depictions

• #103: Crater villages, wood crafting, and pushing (back) the plow

And here’s the latest ancient news. 👇

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🗞 Ancient News: Top 5

• Archaeologists Reveal Hundreds of Ancient Monuments Using LiDAR — A recent LiDAR survey in Baltinglass, Ireland, known as 'Ireland's Hillfort Capital', uncovered hundreds of ancient sites previously erased by centuries of plowing. The sites include a significant cluster of five cursus monuments, the largest found in Britain and Ireland, suggesting these structures might have had ritual significance or astronomical alignments with solar events, potentially marking ceremonial routes for ancestral veneration.

Image credit: Antiquity

• Early Humans Spread as Far North as Siberia 400,000 Years Ago — Archaeological findings in Siberia's Diring Yuriakh site suggest that early humans inhabited this area around 417,000 years ago, a significant adjustment to previous theories. This location now stands as the most ancient site known for early human habitation in such northern latitudes, pushing back the timeline for human migration into Arctic regions by nearly 400,000 years (from 45,000 years ago). The discovery opens up possibilities regarding the paths early humans may have taken into other continents, as well as how long ago humans crossed over to North America.

• Social Decline and Genetic Diversity of the Y Chromosome — A study of 20 years’ worth of anthropological data, primarily in Asia, indicated that the significant decline in the genetic diversity of the Y chromosome 3,000-5,000 years ago was not due to men dying in battle as had previously been theorized. The reduced diversity is actually due to societal changes like the emergence of patrilineal social systems. This led to fewer fathers, but more offspring, establishing a "founder effect" in genetic terms. Another example is the splitting of clans into subclans. These societal changes profoundly shaped the genetic landscape of modern human populations, pointing to a crucial period where social structures and practices influenced genetic evolution.

• Carbonized Herculaneum Papyrus Reveals Burial Place of Plato — A recent analysis of a carbonized papyrus scroll from Herculaneum, an ancient Roman town, has uncovered significant details about Plato's burial. The scroll, deciphered through modern imaging techniques, contains about 3,000 words, 1,000 of which were readable. It offers insights into Plato's Platonic Academy, his enslavement by the Spartans, and his burial in a private garden near the Museion in Athens.

• 1,700-Year-Old Roman Ruins Discovered Atop Much Older Neolithic Sacred Spring — If you’ve been reading the Beat for a while, you know I love the topic of springs. Well, near Limoges, France, archaeologists have discovered Roman ruins from the 3rd century CE, built over a Neolithic sacred spring dating back 4,500 to 6,000 years. From Roman times, the site features a landscaped pool, a protective granite wall, and artifacts including coins and ceramic representations of deities. But the Neolithic is also in the mix thanks to flint offerings, including a dagger fragment. The find highlights the spring's long-term spiritual significance, from Neolithic worship to Roman occupation.

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 24 stories and 8 recommended pieces of content covering archaic symbolic thinking, maps, shipwrecks, phalluses, statues, the Avar people, and the Alor people.

Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

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

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

🗞 Ancient News: Deep Dive