🧐 Ancient Beat #94: Woodhenges, meritocracies, and dodecahedrons

Hello and welcome to issue #94 of Ancient Beat, folks! Let’s get right into it.

Here’s the latest ancient news. 👇

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🗞 Ancient News: Top 5

• Archaeologists Stunned by 'Exceptionally Rare' Ancient Structure Found in UK Seaside Town — In Yorkshire, England, archaeologists discovered a 4,000-year-old structure resembling a “woodhenge” dating back to the late Neolithic or early Bronze Age. Found beneath a quarry, the structure is circular and shares similarities with Stonehenge. Burned stones were found at the center, hinting at either cremations or a sauna. I’m team sauna, but maybe that’s just because it’s cold and I could go for a steam. The site also revealed a mammoth tusk and a greenstone axe dating back 4,000 to 5,000 years.

• China's Medieval Tang Dynasty Had a Surprising Level of Social Mobility, New Study Finds — A study analyzing tomb epitaphs from the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) in medieval China revealed significant social mobility driven by education. Epitaphs of the period were highly detailed accounts of life using both prose and poems, and these epitaphs indicated that passing the Keju (the Imperial Exam) was crucial for career success, overriding family status post-650 CE. This reflects a shift from aristocracy to meritocracy, paralleling contemporary social mobility patterns influenced by education.

• 1,700-Year-Old Metal Object — ‘One of Archaeology’s Great Enigmas’ — Unearthed in UK — Amateur archaeologists in Eastern England unearthed a rare 1,700-year-old copper alloy Gallo-Roman dodecahedron. I’ve covered newly discovered dodecahedrons before, and as was the case, then, the purpose of the 12-sided object remains a mystery, with no Roman literature describing such artifacts. Experts’ best guess is that they were used for religious or ritual practices, but take that with a grain of salt because that’s what we assume about every object that we don’t understand. It's made of copper, tin, and an unusually high amount of lead (18%) of lead, making it fragile. It was intentionally placed in a pit alongside some pottery. This find is the 33rd dodecahedron discovered in Roman Britain, but the first in the Midlands region.

Image credit: Norton Disney History and Archaeology Group

• Hunter-Gatherers Were Mostly Gatherers, Says Archaeologist — Archaeological evidence from burial sites in the Peruvian Andes dating to between 9,000 and 6,500 years ago suggests early hunter-gatherers' diets were primarily plant-based. According to Randy Haas, “Conventional wisdom holds that early human economies focused on hunting – an idea that has led to a number of high-protein dietary fads such as the paleo diet. Our analysis shows that the diets were composed of 80% plant matter and 20% meat.” There was a particular reliance on wild potatoes and root vegetables.

• Engraving on 2,000-Year-Old Knife Thought to Be Oldest Runes in Denmark — Archaeologists in Denmark have discovered a 2,000-year-old knife with an engraving believed to be one of the oldest runic inscription in the country (along with a bone comb found nearby in 1865). The 8 cm iron knife, found in a grave on Funen island, has an inscription spelling out "hirila," meaning "little sword" in Old Norse. This discovery predates the Jelling stones by 800 years and offers insights into early Scandinavian language and culture.

Image credit: Rogvi N Johansen/Museum Odense

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 9 recommended pieces of content covering triumphal arches, spicy wine, ancient pharmaceuticals, mammoth-human interactions, antiseptic gum, stubborn cooking techniques, and very old (arm guard) jigsaws.

Thanks for reading!

-James
Twitter: @jamesofthedrum

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🗞 Ancient News: Deep Dive