Month: August 2018

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Breaking News

Climate change greatly impacted extinction of Neanderthals

What are stalagmites? Stalagmites grow in thin layers each year and any change in temperature alters their chemical composition. The layers therefore preserve a natural archive of climate change over many thousands of years. The researchers examined stalagmites in two Romanian caves, which revealed more detailed records of climate change in continental Europe than had previously been available. From looking closely at the layers of the stalagmites, the archaeologists were able to identify a series of prolonged cold and dry periods in Europe between 44,000 and 40,000 years ago. Temperatures would gradually cool, staying very cold for centuries or even millennia, and then warm up again very abruptly.

Neanderthal presence declined during cold periods

These cold periods coincide with the timings of a near complete absence of archaeological artefacts from the Neanderthals. From this, it has been suggested that changes in climate had a significant impact on the long-term survival of Neanderthal man. [caption id="attachment_8774" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A model an adult Neanderthal male head and shoulders on display in the Hall of Human Origins in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. Credit: Tim Evanson[/caption] Dr Vasile Ersek is co-author of the study and a senior lecturer in physical geography in Northumbria University’s Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences. He explains: “The Neanderthals were the human species closest to ours and lived in Eurasia for some 350,000 years. However, around 40,000 years ago – during the last Ice Age and shortly after the arrival of anatomically modern humans in Europe – they became extinct. “For many years we have wondered what could have caused their demise. Were they pushed ‘over the edge’ by the arrival of modern humans, or were other factors involved? Our study suggests that climate change may have had an important role in the Neanderthal extinction.”

Why did modern humans survive cold periods?

The researchers have stated that modern humans survived these cold conditions – known as stadial periods – because they were more adaptable to their environment. [caption id="attachment_8773" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Credit: Le Moustier Neanderthals by Charles R Knight, 1920[/caption] While Neanderthals were skilled hunters and were able to use fire, their diet wasn’t as diverse as that of modern humans. They lived mainly on meat, so when that food source became more scarce during colder periods, Neanderthals became vulnerable. By this time, modern humans had begun to incorporate fish and plants into their diet – potentially marking them for survival.

Depopulation, repopulation

According to Dr Ersek, the research team’s findings have indicated that this cycle of “hostile climate intervals” over thousands of years, in which the climate varied abruptly and was characterised by extreme cold temperatures, was responsible for the future European demographic. “Before now, we did not have climate records from the region where Neanderthals lived which had the necessary age accuracy and resolution to establish a link between when Neanderthals died out and the timing of these extreme cold periods,” he said, “But our findings indicate that the Neanderthal populations successively decreased during the repeated cold stadials. “When temperatures warmed again, their smaller populations could not expand as their habitat was also being occupied by modern humans and this facilitated a staggered expansion of modern humans into Europe. “The comparable timing of stadials and population changes seen in the archaeologic and genetic record suggests that millennial-scale hostile climate intervals may have been the pacesetter of multiple depopulation-repopulation cycles. These cycles ultimately drew the demographic map of Europe’s Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition.” Read more about the difference between Neanderthals and modern humans here.]]>

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Breaking News

What do we know about the people who built Stonehenge?

Stonehenge (3)

Stonehenge (3)

Who built Stonehenge?

The questions of how and why Stonehenge was built garner significantly more research than specifically who built it. That is partly down to the fact that many of the human remains were cremated, making it difficult to extract much useful information from them.

New technique unlocks ancient secrets

Lead author Christophe Snoeck, who is undertaking doctoral research at Oxford’s School of Archaeology, demonstrates that even cremated bone retains its strontium isotope composition, making it possible to investigate where these people had lived during the last ten years of their lives. He says: ‘The recent discovery that some biological information survives the high temperatures reached during cremation (up to 1000 degrees Celsius) offered us the exciting possibility to finally study the origin of those buried at Stonehenge.’ Professor Julia Lee-Thorp, Head of Oxford’s School of Archaeology and an author on the paper, says: ‘This new development has come about as the serendipitous result of Dr Snoeck’s interest in the effects of intense heat on bones, and our realization that that heating effectively “sealed in” some isotopic signatures.’

Stonehenge bodies travelled from Wales

The team analysed the skulls of 25 people who were cremated at the site around 3000 BC to better understand their lives. At least ten of them did not live near Stonehenge at the time of their death. They were far more likely to have been living in western Britain; a region that includes west Wales, the known source of Stonehenge’s bluestones. The research was conducted in partnership with colleagues from University College London, Université Libre de Bruxelles & Vrije Universiteit Brussel), and the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris, France. Rick Schulting, a lead author on the research and Associate Professor in Scientific and Prehistoric Archaeology at Oxford, explains: ‘Some of the people’s remains showed strontium isotope signals consistent with west Wales, the source of the bluestones that are now being seen as marking the earliest monumental phase of the site.’

Inter-regional connections in 3000 BC

The results emphasise the prevalence of inter-regional connections involving the movement of both materials and people in the construction and use of Stonehenge, providing rare insight into the large scale of contacts and exchanges in the Neolithic, as early as 5000 years ago.

A revolutionary analysis technique

Dr Schulting adds: ‘To me the really remarkable thing about our study is the ability of new developments in archaeological science to extract so much new information from such small and unpromising fragments of burnt bone.’ The technique is now regarded as a vehicle to improve our understanding of the past using previously excavated ancient collections. Schulting continues: ‘Our results highlight the importance of revisiting old collections. The cremated remains from Stonehenge were first excavated by Colonel William Hawley in the 1920s, and while they were not put into a museum, Col Hawley did have the foresight to rebury them in a known location on the site, so that it was possible for Mike Parker Pearson (UCL Institute of Archaeology) and his team to re-excavate them, allowing various analytical methods to be applied.’]]>

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Breaking News

Ancient dirty dishes shed light on early climate change – and how farmers adapted

A major climate event Looking closely at the Neolithic and Chalcolithic city settlement of Çatalhöyük in southern Anatolia, Turkey, the study takes into account farming practices in the period spanning 7500 BC to 5700 BC. When the city was most intensely occupied around 8,200 years ago, there was a sudden decrease in global temperatures. It became a well-documented event in the history of climate change, and was caused by a huge amount of glacial meltwater from a massive freshwater lake in northern Canada.   [caption id="attachment_8875" align="aligncenter" width="800"] An artist’s reconstruction of the east and west mounds at Çatalhöyük. Image Credit: Çatalhöyük Research Project[/caption]

Pragmatic farming during drought

The research centres on animal bones found at the excavation site. Scientists have concluded that the herders of the city turned towards sheep and goats, as they fared better during times of drought than cattle. By looking at the cut marks on the animal bones, we can also find more information on butchery practices. They indicate desperation in the community: the high number of cut marks on the bones during the time of the temperature drop shows how the populace exploited any meat available as food would have been scarce.

Dirty dishes

Ancient cooking pots with traces of animal fats have also been analysed in the study, which makes this the first time compounds from animal fats found in pottery are shown to carry evidence for the climate event. [caption id="attachment_8874" align="aligncenter" width="500"] In situ pottery at the archaeological site of Çatalhöyük. The pottery has been at the centre of recent research shedding light on the ways ancient farming practices adapted to climate change. Image credit: Çatalhöyük Research Project.[/caption]

Inevitable impacts

The paper brings together researchers from the University of Bristol’s Organic Geochemistry Unit (School of Chemistry) and the Bristol Research Initiative for the Dynamic Global Environment (School of Geographical Sciences). Co-authors of the paper include archaeologists and archaeozoologists involved in the excavations and the study of the pottery and animal bones from the site. Dr Mélanie Roffet-Salque lead the research. She says: “Changes in precipitation patterns in the past are traditionally obtained using ocean or lake sediment cores. “This is the first time that such information is derived from cooking pots. We have used the signal carried by the hydrogen atoms from the animal fats trapped in the pottery vessels after cooking. “This opens up a completely new avenue of investigation – the reconstruction of past climate at the very location where people lived using pottery.” Co-author, Professor Richard Evershed, adds: “It is really significant that the climate models of the event are in complete agreement with the H signals we see in the animal fats preserved in the pots. “The models point to seasonal changes farmers would have had to adapt to – overall colder temperatures and drier summers – which would have had inevitable impacts on agriculture.”]]>

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Breaking News

Ancient pottery factory discovered in Israel

Family wine businesses During the periods the factory was in use, wine was a major Israeli export. The main function of the jars was of course for the storage and shipment of wine, which was a flourishing industry employing a great number of local people. The remains of around 100,000 jars found buried at the site are thought to have been rejects discarded from the production line. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said in a statement: “The continuous production of these jars probably indicates that the business was a family one, which passed from generation, to generation, to generation.” [caption id="attachment_8870" align="aligncenter" width="500"] The excavation, funded by the Israel Land Authority, was carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority with the participation of many youth, prior to the construction of a new neighbourhood in Gedera, next to the ancient Tel Qatra. The industrial site comprised a pottery workshop that manufactured storage jars from the third century CE for six centuries. Credit: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP[/caption]

Gaza jars

The excavation site is not far from the town of Gedera, south of Tel Aviv. Gaza City lies about 30 miles (48 kilometres) southwest of Gedera, on the Mediterranean coast. During its long history, Gaza has been ruled by the Romans, Byzantines, Crusaders, Mamluks and Ottomans. Director of the excavation Alla Nagorsky told journalists at the site that from the 3rd Century AD, the planet produced vessels of a type known to historians as Gaza jars continuously for 600 years.

A luxury production site

Much more than just wine jars, the archaeologists have discovered a factory, an adjacent leisure complex, 20 bathing pools and a room that was used for board games. Alongside the factory were two Byzantine style bathhouses. At least one of them had a heating boiler. The 20 ‘finely constructed’ pools were connected by channels and pipes. “This kind of a place is not built in an instant,” Alla Nagorsky said. “An engineer worked on it. The site is very designed.” “The archaeologists consider that the water complex served both the local population and the many travellers along the ancient main road connecting the port of Gaza with the centre of the country,” the IAA said in its statement.

Backgammon and mancala games

The games room, in particular, was a shock find, with the IAA calling it a ‘rare and surprising discovery’. In it were boards used for playing backgammon and “mancala”, games which are still popular in the area. The statement said the Gedera pottery works may have built the leisure centre for its employees, just as today’s tech and start up companies provide recreation facilities for their workers. [caption id="attachment_8871" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Israel Antiquities Authority archeologist Alla Nagorsky shows a 1600 year-old Mancala game from the Byzantine time found during a large excavation in the central Israeli town of Gedera near the ancient archeological site of Tel Qatra on July 31 2018. Credit: MENAHEM KAHANA / AFP.[/caption]]]>

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Breaking News Editorial

What is Taira rock art, and what does it tell us about ancient desert culture in Chile?

What does the Taira rock art depict? Roughly 90% of the artworks focus on llamas. Some are pregnant, others are suckling their young; and all represent life. The other 10% of the engravings depict the diversity of the desert, with foxes, snakes, ostriches, partridges and dogs featuring in scenes. Human figures are few and far between, and always drawn small. Archaeologists have posited that it is as if painting them small represents just how important desert animals were to their culture and economy. [caption id="attachment_8867" align="aligncenter" width="500"]
View of drawings at the Taira Cave in Chile, located at a height of 3,150 meters, on July 21, 2018. The paintings left by shepherds almost three millennia ago on the walls of the rocks that flank the course of the Loa River. Credit: AFP Martin Bernetti.[/caption]

The role of llamas in ancient desert culture

Archaeologist and curator at Santiago’s Museum of Pre-Colombian Art, Jose Bereguer, says that Taira art is ‘a celebration of life’. First rediscovered by Swedish archaeologist Stif Ryden in 1944, the gallery has been dated to c.400-800 BCE. 16 paintings remain, sitting 3,000 metres above sea level on the banks of the Loa River that traverses the desert. [caption id="attachment_8866" align="aligncenter" width="670"] Archaeologist Jose Bereguer, above, curator at Santiago’s Museum of Pre-Columbian Art, describes the site as “the most complex in South America” because of its astronomical importance as well as the significance to local shepherds. Credit: AFP Martin Bernetti[/caption] Previous studies tell us that the rock art was created by shepherds, who were pleading with the ‘deities that governed the skies and the earth’ to allow their llama flocks to flourish. The Alero Taira drawings, which were created in a natural shelter 30 metres away from the Loa River, give us deeper insight into the role of llamas in ancient desert culture. More than just the lead source of wealth for people inhabiting the desert, the llama was a symbolic creature used in ritual ceremonies throughout the Andes for thousands of years. The ‘Wilancha’, for instance, sees llamas given as sacrifice to ‘Pacha Mama’ (Mother Earth). Volcanoes, like springs, were considered deities by the Atacama natives, while llamas were thought to have been born of springs. Berenguer says: “No one can understand the things done 18,000 years ago because the cultures that did them have disappeared. Here, it’s possible to delve into the meaning because we have ethnography and because there are still people living in practically the same way as in the past.”

Lasting significance for indigenous peoples

The Rumualda Galleguillos is one of roughly 15 indigenous peoples that still raises llamas in the Atacama Desert. Just like their forefathers, it’s a matter of tradition and a way of life. To the Rumualda Galleguillos, these pictures are a ‘testament’ to their ancestors who did not read or write.

UNESCO plans

Now, conservationists want UNESCO to officially recognise the Taira Valley rock art as a heritage site, which will allow them to develop sustainable tourism for the region – similar to Spain’s Cave of Altamira of France’s Lascaux caves.]]>

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Book Reviews

Better Understand Your Bible with the Gospel Parallels

Gospel Parallels. Learn all about the Gospel Parallels and how this great resource can increase your knowledge of, understanding for, and connection to the word of the Bible: What are the Gospel Parallels? In general, a gospel parallel is a text that provides multiple pieces of information in tandem. Oftentimes, this means presenting the multiple versions of the gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) beside each other so that each can be read for a more holistic and sometimes comparative understanding. At other times, a gospel parallel will present biblical analysis and enlightening information to accompany the actual word of the biblical gospels. The texts tend to be formatted so that the gospel and accompanying information are presented on a single page, with various columns and footnotes. In 1949 Burton H. Throckmorton Jr. produced the definitive version of a gospel parallel in his definitive text Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels. Based on the Revised Standard Version of the bible, Throckmorton utilized many resources, including ancient texts, to produce his comprehensive examination of the Synoptic Gospels (those written by Matthew, Mark, and Luke). Why own the Gospel Parallels? At one point in human history, it was believed that only an elite few could read, comprehend, and convey the word of God to others. This made biblical study and inquiry inaccessible to the common person. It also led to an indirect connection between the average person and their spiritual practices. Many people started to recognize that the Bible should be not only for the elite. Instead, they felt “the good word” should be printed and disseminated wide and far, so that everyone could personally access it. This process was, of course, made easier by the printing press. Now, everyone can indeed easily access a Bible. The text is even handed out for free whenever possible to enlighten interested minds. If you believe that it is important for anyone to be able to access the word of the Bible, then know that it is equally important for anyone to be able to compare, contrast, and generally analyze that word. There is no sin in inquiry, or even doubting and searching for answers. The true problem would be in being unable to carry out that inquiry, especially if doing so would ultimately bring you greater knowledge. For this reason, it is recommended to get texts that will allow you to engage in that inquiry. When you have them on hand, you can easily analyze and answer your own questions at any time they enter your mind. When investing in a gospel parallel, be sure to consider the definitive text from Throckmorton. How did Throckmorton’s text become definitive? First, you may wonder who exactly Burton H. Throckmorton Jr. was and why his gospel parallels should be relied upon above other options. Throckmorton was born in 1921 in Elizabeth, New Jersey (United States). His strong interest in religious studies led him to pursue an education in that arena. That gave him the knowledge necessary to write this text (along with several others that were equally popular). He also acted as a minister and taught on these subjects at Bangor Theological Seminary in Maine (U.S.). Throckmorton’s text, Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels became definitive, in part, because it was put together with a true dedication to thoroughness and a high attention to detail. For Throckmorton, good enough was not good enough. It was important to him to delve deep into all the available resources and pull that information together, to fully analyze the three Synoptic Gospels Also, the Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels was published in 1949, and while it was well-researched and well-organized to present comprehensive information, it was also put together at a certain point in time that allows the reader a sort of glimpse into the theological past. Throckmorton compiled his work at a time prior to the re-organization of the Catholic church (which occurred largely in the 1960s). Thus, when using this text, you can obtain not only a deeper understanding of the Bible and the Synoptic Gospels, but also a deeper understanding of the spiritual context at that time. Final Recommendations Throckmorton’s Gospel Parallels: A Comparison of the Synoptic Gospels is strongly recommended for theologians and biblical scholars. It may also hold particular interest for those who study literature. However, this text is not only for academics making serious inquiries, it is accessible and strongly recommended reading for any person who simply wants to increase their understanding of the Bible. You can buy a print copy of Gospel Parallels from Amazon with the link below, or find an ebook version here on the Forgotten Books website.

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Breaking News Editorial

How did Christianity spread?

Christian populations across the world. Credit: M Tracy Hunter[/caption]

70 Christian communities analysed

A new paper delves into research from 70 Austronesian Christian societies, where political hierarchies, social inequality and population size were all analysed. Austronesian societies shared a common ancestral language and are located across Southeast Asia, East Africa and the South Pacific. Despite some similarities, they have a great variation of societal make ups; with some forming small, egalitarian, family-based communities and others following the concept of a large, politically complex society. Hawaii is an example of the latter. The communities were converted in the 18th and 19th Centuries. Some took under a year to convert; the longest took 205 years. With such a range of social structures and reactions to conversion, these Austronesian societies were ideal for exploring theories on cultural change.

Win the chief and you win the tribe

The researchers have revealed that cultures with political leadership structures already in place were usually more easily converted to Christianity. They call it a ‘top down’ process of conversion: chiefs and elite leaders were the first to be converted by missionaries. Due to their existing influence over their people, the spread of Christian doctrine followed naturally. Jesus Christ Interestingly, social inequality was not related to conversion times. This debunks the theory that Christianity spread from the bottom up, by empowering the impoverished and promising an improved experience in the afterlife. There was a distinct correlation between small populations and the fast spread of Christianity, proving the importance of population size during processes of cultural change.

“A smaller populace is more open to innovation”

Lead author Dr Joseph Watts undertook the research at the University of Auckland’s School of Psychology and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany. The research team also includes doctoral candidate Oliver Sheehan, Professor Joseph Bulbulia, and Professor Russell Gray. Dr Watts says: “While people often think of big societies as sources of innovation, our findings show that bigger societies can also be slow to pick up on new ideas… In a small population, it becomes more likely that beliefs will be transmitted relatively quickly, particularly if they are being driven by leaders and other powerful figures.”

Cultural change

Looking beyond Christianity and even religion, Dr Watts says this is indicative of cultural change at large. “If you look at our contemporary world, some things spread incredibly quickly while others take a very long time so here we provide evidence of why that might be.” University of Auckland Professor Quentin Atkinson adds: “This research can help us understand how both the size and the structure of populations influence the diffusion and adoption of new institutions, ideologies or technologies.”]]>