Author: Ginger.Perales
Phys ORG: “Archaeologists are interested in hand stencils because they provide a direct, physical connection with an artist living more than 35,000 years ago. Now, using a new experimental application, results from our study indicate it is possible to determine with more than 90% accuracy the sex of someone who lived tens of thousands of years ago from the shape and size of their hand outline. We have even applied the method to hand stencils where digits are missing – common in Paleolithic art – something prior studies have not been able to do.” The hand stencils were created by blowing pigment over a hand as it was held against a stone surface, when the hand was removed it left behind an outline of its shape. Hand stencils discovered in Sulawesi, Indonesia have been dated to 40,000 years ago, and the ones found in Europe are an estimated 37,000 years old, a time period referred to as the Upper Paleolithic. Prior to this research, experts studied the size of the hand and the length of the fingers to determine the gender of its owner, which often led to conflicting outcomes. For this project, researchers used geometric morphometrics to determine sex-based differences in the shape and form of the hand. By digitizing hand stencils from a known gender, along with a number of 2D landmarks, the true shape and the relative size of each sample could be statistically evaluated. Geometric morphometrics is the statistical analysis of a specific type of geometric data associated with an organism, data about the location of the parts of an organism in relation to each other. This technique combines morphometrics (the geometry of organisms) with engineering and computer science to focus on information at location points inside of, or on, organisms. Forensic anthropologist Dr. Patrick Randolph-Quinney told Phys ORG: “The problem with focusing on hand size and finger length is that two different shaped hands can have identical linear dimensions and ratios. To capture shape, we applied geometric morphometrics, a technique used in forensic studies that had never been tested on hand stencils before. This geometric approach is very powerful as it allows us to look at the palm and fingers independently. It revealed that the shape of the palm is actually most indicative of the sex of the individual, rather than the finger size or length.” The project was a collaborative effort between archaeologists, biologists, and anthropologists from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) and the University of Liverpool in the UK, and the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa. The research has been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. ]]>
Live Science: “Each one contains lengthy colophons [notes] written by the scribes, telling historical and social, and religious events of their times — a fact that makes them precious sources.” Mar Behnam monastery was the home of numerous ancient texts, pieces of artwork and carved inscriptions that dated back centuries. It was occupied by ISIS beginning in June, 2014, until it was recaptured by the Iraqi government in November, 2016. Photographs and a news report published shortly after the monastery’s recapture show that ISIS militants had destroyed several of the monastery’s buildings, burnt any texts they found, defaced and destroyed artwork and inscriptions, and left graffiti on all of the remaining structures. The Monastery of the Martyrs Mar Behnam and Marth Sarah is a Syriac Catholic monastery in northern Iraq. It was built in the twelfth century by Senchareb, an Assyrian king, as penance for the murder of his son Behnam and daughter Sarah following their conversion to Christianity. Sculptures of the church indicate that renovations were completed in 1164 and again between 1250-1261. The monks abandoned the monastery, for unknown reasons, in 1819. It’s been under the care of the Syriac Catholic Church since 1839, although at some point in its history it was part of the Church of the East for ten centuries or more, as shown by the rare Turkic inscriptions left behind by Mongol pilgrims during the thirteenth century. The monastery was renovated again in 1986, and was visited by thousands of Muslims and Christians every year until ISIS took control of the region. A young priest hid the texts at Mar Behnam just 40 days before ISIS arrived. They were put in large metal cans and placed in a storage room enclosed behind the newly constructed wall. The priest, who was forced out of the monastery, kept the undertaking a secret until he felt the region was secure. The texts remained behind the wall for more than two years. It’s been reported that ISIS used the same building as a base for its morality police. What happens to the texts now is unclear and Harrak wonders if they should be taken out of Iraq, at least in the short term, for safekeeping. “What is the future of these manuscripts? Iraq is a restless country,” Harrak told Live Science. “Should they take them to Europe, for example, or the Vatican Library or somewhere more secure?” ]]>
Antiquity. ]]>
HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, led by explorer and Royal Navy officer John Franklin, left Britain to search for the last section of the Northwest Passage. When both ships became icebound, all 129 men were lost, but exactly how and why they perished has been an enduring mystery. In a new study, researchers chemically mapped the fingernail and toenail of one of the dead men and found new evidence regarding Franklin and his crew’s tragic fate. A number of researchers have theorized that lead poisoning – caused by the metal leaching from the food tins or water pipes found on the ships – had caused the men’s death. Lead exposure can bring on symptoms which include neurological problems, that could have easily doomed the explorers. But now, this latest evidence shows one of the few bodies ever found had a zinc deficiency, suggesting that it was this deficiency, not lead poisoning, that led to his death. “There’s increasing evidence that lead was not the issue,” Jennie Christensen with TrichAnalytics in North Saanich, Canada, says in an article published in Nature. Christensen and her team measured the levels of zinc, copper, and lead at different locations along at thumbnail and toenail from John Hartnell, a crew member who, along with two others, died and was buried on Beechey Island where the expedition overwintered in 1845 and 1846. After studying the accumulated growth of Hartnell’s finger and toe nails, the team was able to identify week-by-week changes as they occurred in his body. “You can actually see what the levels of lead were with John Hartnell, over the period of time he was present on the expedition. That is a pretty unique insight,” Keith Millar, with the University of Glasgow, says in Nature. Christensen’s team utilized a synchrotron particle accelerator located in Saskatoon, called the Canadian Light Source, along with other instruments to construct a picture of the metals inside of Hartnell over a period of time. They discovered the crewman suffered from a serious zinc deficiency, which would have affected his immune system, leaving him considerably more vulnerable to pneumonia and tuberculosis – the very diseases that are believed to have killed him. Hartnell had high lead levels only within his last few weeks of life, when his body, dying at this time, would have released the lead stored in his bones into his blood and ultimately his nails. “The lead theory is pretty much dismantled by this point,” Ron Martin, from the Western University in London, Canada, tells Nature. In 2013, Martin analyzed the bone fragments of several crewmembers (including Hartnell) and reached the conclusion that there was no spike of lead exposure during the expedition, but rather, the men had been exposed to lead consistently throughout the course of their lives. No samples from any of the other members of the expedition are available, so the research can’t be applied beyond Hartnell’s death. However, a zinc deficiency may help to explain why other expeditions to the Arctic suffered poor health. The findings have been published in the Journal of Archaeological Science. ]]>
Western Digs: “The conventional thinking left a lot of room for speculation about when and why people might have abandoned the area. The new study doesn’t explain why violence occurred at the site, but it does provide a mechanism for the abandonment. Aside from a small research project conducted in the 1980s, very little archaeological work had been done since the 1930s.” When the site was originally studied approximately 80 years ago, archaeologists discovered a large amount of evidence, including burnt roof beams and charred areas on the wall plaster. One of the structures, the one that became known as Montezuma Castle, was built inside a natural alcove on the face of the limestone cliff, about 90 feet (27 meters) above the canyon floor. The other, erected on the ground next to the canyon’s north wall, was named Castle A. The charred remains of both buildings led many to the conclusion that the buildings burned after they had been abandoned. Later, however, that changed, and some experts came to think the sites had been burned intentionally by the Sinagua as part of some unknown ritual performed as they were leaving. This new research was undertaken to see if new archeological methods and technology could uncover information about why the dwellings were abandoned. Guebard, along with his colleagues, reviewed notes from the original excavations, studied features of the site as well as artifacts which included roof beams, ceramics, and a variety of other architectural elements. Additionally, Guebard solicited several tribal groups whose ancestors were from the Verde Valley, for their input. “Generally speaking, we spend a lot of time and effort working closely with culturally associated Native American tribal governments”, Guebard says in Western Digs. “They review many of our projects and provide important feedback that helps to develop project objectives.” Following these lines of evidence, a completely new picture of the final days at the cliff dwellings started to become clear. For example, new dating of the charred plaster indicates the fire occurred between 1375 and 1395, while the pottery from the dwelling showed signs of having been made in styles from that same time period, suggesting that Castle A was inhabited right up to the time it was burned. Even more persuasive are the four bodies. Discovered in the original excavation in the 1930s, at the time it was believed that the deceased had been buried well before the fire, but a closer look at the earlier research reveals the dead had suffered trauma before their deaths, such as bones with cut marks, burn marks, and skull fractures in three of the four bodies. “We learned that the interior portion of each fracture displayed evidence of singeing on live bone,” Guebard is quoted as saying in the article. “So, the sequence of events seems to be blunt trauma followed closely by burning. It is also interesting to note that all of the remains with reported evidence of trauma and burning were found in a single grave.” The research was corroborated by the oral histories of the Native Americans, which describe Castle A being attacked by rival bands seeking to drive the Sinagua away. “Years before starting the project, I had heard from tribal members that there were stories about violence at the site”, Guebard explains in the article. “So as I started to realize that the archaeological evidence was supporting violence at Castle A, I felt it would be helpful to get their unique perspectives on the project and on my interpretation of the data. What was interesting is how close the oral histories match up with the archaeological evidence, but also how each story provided a unique and different perspective of the event represented by the archaeological evidence.” A Hopi Bearstrap Clan member recounted stories of Sinagua villagers running into Montezuma Castle and then pulling up the ladders, while invaders set it on fire. Members of the Dil zhe’e, also known as the Tonto Apache, recount the story of how their ancestors joined with the Yavapai, and together they evicted the Sinagua by setting fire to the dwellings. ]]>
Live Science: “It is great to show that a community excavation can produce results that revolutionise our view of the origins of monasticism in Britain and Ireland. Archaeology is providing evidence that can get us beyond the uncertainty of the historical sources. The ancient origins of the Beckery site may explain why later medieval writers linked it to figures such as King Arthur and Saint Brigit.” Beckery, a small, rocky island, is part of the Avalon Marshes near Glastonbury. The name means either ‘bee-keeper’s island’, which is the Old English translation, or ‘Little Ireland’ in the Irish language. Smaller islands like this one were generally chosen as the sites for monasteries and hermitages during this time period, primarily because the separation from the regular work was conducive to spiritual enlightenment. The Chapel is already known as being the place where King Arthur reportedly had a vision of Mary Magdalene and the baby Jesus. These new findings, however, tell researchers considerably more about the location, for example, that it was constructed prior to the region being defeated by the Saxon kings of Wessex in the seventh century. ]]>
Homo erectus begins around 400,000 years ago. Evidence of the widespread use of fire by modern humans’ dates back to approximately 125,000 years ago. An earlier report by Leiden’s Human Origins group had already proposed that Stone Age hunter-gatherers may have significantly modified their natural environment through the use of fire. This new research confirms the first hypothesis, and may also provide one of the earliest examples of this kind of large-scale impact by humans throughout all of Europe. The research was funded by the European Research Council, the Swiss National Science Foundation and the European HERCULES research program. The findings have been published in the journal PLOS ONE.]]>
Times of Israel: “Not only were we able for the first time to identify with certainty the name of the ruler who oversaw Judea in the critical years of the Bar Kochba revolt; this is also just the second time that the mention of Judea has been discovered in inscriptions traced back to the Roman era.” With seven lines, the inscription is the longest ever discovered as part of a maritime excavation in Israel. Although a portion is missing, it’s believed to read: “The City of Dor honors Marcus Paccius, son of Publius, Silvanus Quintus Coredius Gallus Gargilius Antiquus, governor of the province of Judea, as well as […] of the province of Syria, and patron of the city of Dor.” The third and last of the major Jewish–Roman Wars, the Bar Kokhba revolt was a revolt of the Jews in the Roman province of Judea against the Roman Empire. The failure of the First Revolt had led to rising religious and political tensions around changes in the city’s administration, an economic downturn and an increased Roman presence in Judea. These conditions, along with the banning of circumcision, construction of a new city on top the ruins of Jerusalem and the building of a temple honoring Jupiter on the Temple Mount, all led to the uprising. The port city of Dor was established around 2,000 BCE, during the Middle Bronze Age, while its documented history starts in the Late Bronze Age and ends with the Crusader period. The port was the dominating factor in the success of the town all through its 3000-year history, serving all the diverse cultures that occupied it as a commercial port. With between 100 and 200 students and volunteers on site each excavation season, Dor is among the largest ongoing archeological sites in Israel. ]]>