🧐 Ancient Beat #160: Mysterious sculptures, glittering handprints, and me turning 40

Happy Saturday, everyone! And happy birthday to me! 😎

Yep, I turned 40 today.

I think this calls for a special deal — here’s 25% off a membership, if you’re interested in seeing more than the Top 5 each week.

Alright, so to summarize: I’m 40. And this is issue #160 of Ancient Beat. Here’s the latest ancient news. 👇

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🗞 Ancient News: Top 5

• Mysterious Unfired Clay Sculptures Found in Mexican Cave — In the sacred Cueva del Rey Kong‑Oy in Oaxaca’s Sierra Mixe region, archaeologists have recorded up to 72 unfired clay figures ranging from about 2 ft 3 in (0.7 m) to 6 ft 6 in (2.0 m) tall, created over a millennium ago. These have been discovered gradually over the last few years, but this is a new study. Anyway, the figures include men, women (some anatomically distinct), children in seated or reclining poses, animals such as jaguars, monkeys, reptiles, and a frog, and even a miniature ballcourt measuring roughly 12 ft 6 in (3.8 m). Made from clay sourced within the cave (rich in quartz and mica) and painted with black manganese oxide, they were molded directly onto stalagmites or horizontal surfaces. Their fragility—no firing—suggests they held ritual significance during the act of creation, preserved by stable cave humidity and temperature rather than built to last. Can you imagine stumbling upon six-foot figurines in a cave? I’d straight up pee my pants.

  

  Image credit: Leslie F. Zubieta Calvert, et al.

• Archaeologists Discover One of the World’s Oldest Burial Sites in

  Israel’s Tinshemet Cave — In southern Israel, human remains dating to around 110,000 years ago were found in a cave alongside ceremonial items like shells, bones, and pigments. The arrangement suggests ritual treatment of the dead, offering rare glimpses into early symbolic behavior and beliefs about the afterlife. The cave’s stratigraphy preserves multiple layers of intentional burial, making it one of the earliest known sites with complex mortuary practices in this region.

• Urartian Women May Have Held Administrative Roles — Excavations at the Iron Age fortress of Cavustepe in eastern Turkey, built around 764–734 BCE, revealed a necropolis with diverse burial styles—inhumation, cremation, and individuals interred with dogs or horses. Notably, several female burials included seal impressions alongside them, indicating possible administrative or decision-making roles in Urartian society. Child burials often featured jewelry, underscoring the high value placed on youth. This evidence challenges earlier views of gender roles and suggests elite women held influence in the kingdom’s governance.

• Rotten Riches: What Maggots on Meat Reveal About the Neanderthal Diet — New research challenges the view of Neanderthals as extreme carnivores. Bone chemistry showing high nitrogen‑15 may reflect consumption not just of fresh meat but of maggots thriving on decaying carcasses. In tests using modern decomposing flesh and fly larvae, maggots showed far higher nitrogen enrichment than the meat itself, suggesting Neanderthals harvested fatty, protein-rich maggots from stored or aging carcasses. This practice, paralleling traditions in some Indigenous cultures, would supplement lean meat diet with fats and amino acids while avoiding protein poisoning

• Precious Finger Traces From First Nations Ancestors Revealed in a Glittering Mountain Cave in Australia — In a limestone cave dubbed Waribruk in Victoria’s alpine region, finger grooves were pressed into soft rock surfaces coated in calcite microcrystals that glitter when lit. Dating between ~8400 and 1800 years ago, these grooves—some by small children lifted overhead—trace routes deep into the cave illuminated by firelight. With no hearths or tools nearby, the markings align with Indigenous oral traditions about sacred rituals by knowledge‑holders, capturing embodied gestures made in a powerful ceremonial context. Love this one because it’s so easy to visualize that moment, someone lifting their child up to run fingers across a glittering cave. What a magical moment.

  

  Image credit: GunaiKurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 19 discoveries and 3 recommended pieces of content covering mysterious mounds, ice cream parlors, and virtually-unrolled scrolls.

Until next time, thanks for joining me!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

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🗞 Ancient News: Deep Dive