🧐 Ancient Beat #86: A 25,000-year-old "pyramid", early spear throwers, and the discovery of ~50,000 coins

Hi folks, and welcome to issue #86 of Ancient Beat! We’ve got a juicy — and controversial — story in the Top 5 today so let’s dive right in.

Here’s the latest ancient news. 👇

---

---

🗞 Ancient News: Top 5

• New Evidence Strongly Suggests Indonesia's Gunung Padang is Oldest Known Pyramid — For a while now, researchers of all sorts have claimed that the wonderful and enigmatic Indonesian site of Gunung Padang is a manmade pyramid. For the most part, these claims have been labeled as pseudoscience, with the site instead being seen as a natural formation with a megalithic sacred site situated at the top. Well, thanks to a multi-year study, it is now being hailed as the “oldest pyramid in the world”. The researchers found that the structure was built mostly by human hands, and in stages thousands of years apart. The oldest bits were made between 25,000 and 14,000 years ago. This consisted of shapes carved into what was a small, dead volcano. Between 7900 and 6100 BCE, bricks and rock columns were added. Then, at some unknown point, a dirt layer was put on top of the earlier work. And finally, between 2000 and 1100 BCE, more topsoil was added, as well as stone terracing and other elements. The researchers also found evidence of hollow cavities inside, suggesting that there may be chambers within — the researchers plan to drill down into these cavities in the future. I’m sure this will be contested (in fact, I’ve already seen articles and comments refuting the paper), and I look forward to following the debate. Personally, I’m all for it. I will note, however, that calling it a “pyramid” may not be completely accurate — I’m guessing that term was used to add sensationalism to what was already a truly incredible find.

• On an Island in Southeast Asia, Early Humans Coped with Climate Change by Tailoring Their Technology — According to a new study, humans at the site of Matja Kuru 2 on the island country of Timor-Leste changed their methods of making stone tools as the climate changed over the course of 44,000 years. The researchers looked at pollen cores and found that during wet periods, people used stone tools (mostly slicers and scrapers) without much evidence for resharpening or repurposing. During dry times, however, the tools were more typical of mobile people: Their stone slicers and scrapers were smaller and lighter, and they showed evidence of resharpening and repurposing, probably to conserve rock resources, which were often quite a distance away. The researchers also found 35,000-year-old obsidian tools from a different island. According to Sue O’Connor, “This is the earliest evidence of maritime transport of raw materials in this region and, if the dates are substantiated by further work, would demonstrate early social networks between populations inhabiting different islands.” Previous excavations at the site uncovered the oldest shell fishhooks in Southeast Asia and the earliest evidence of open-ocean fishing anywhere in the world. What an impressive people and fascinating site.

• Tens of Thousands of Ancient Coins have been Found Off Sardinia. They may be Spoils of a Shipwreck — A diver found some bronze coins off the coast of Sardinia and alerted authorities. It turned out that it wasn’t just a few coins; somewhere between 30,000 and 50,000 coins were unearthed! They date to between 324 and 340 CE, and some of the coins depict Constantine the Great. As for the source, the current assumption is that there is probably a shipwreck nearby. Here’s a video of divers at work trying to recover all the coins.

  

  Image credit: Italian Culture Ministry

• Hunter-Gatherer Communities Used Controlled Fires 11,000 Years Ago — A study of geochemistry and sedimentary carbon content in soil and pollen in Laguna de Villena, Spain showed that folks were doing controlled burns 11,000 years ago. This is 2,000 years earlier than previously thought. The purpose, according to the researchers, was to create open clearings and pastures to lure game.

• Long-Distance Weaponry Identified at the 31,000-Year-Old Archaeological Site of Maisières-Canal — According to a new study, spear throwers were being used by people on the banks of the Haine river in Belgium 31,000 years ago. That’s 10,000 years earlier than this technology was thought to have existed. These long-distance hunting weapons, which were a big technological innovation that forever changed hunting practices, could send darts over 240 feet. Spear throwers are made of organic (biodegradable) material, making it tough to know when they were first invented, but this study was able to identify projectiles sent by spear throwers by looking at the fractures on stone points.

That’s it for the free Top 5! If you’re a free subscriber, sign up for the paid plan for another 16 stories and 9 recommended pieces of content covering huge halls, early Vikings, long barrows, head lice, fossilized poop, kingly menus, and stories told by beads.

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.

🗞 Ancient News: Deep Dive