World news in brief: Palaeolithic cooking practices, an Etrsucan temple, and re-examining Ötzi
A glance at some of the latest exciting archaeological stories from across the globe.
World Archaeology
Spectacular bronzes found in Italy
Archaeologists uncovered 24 finely worked bronze statues – the largest deposit of Etruscan and Roman bronze statues ever found in Italy.
CWA #117 Crossword, and Answers to #116
Across 7 Vegetables domesticated c.8000 BC (8)9 George ___, 20th-century French archaeologist noted for his work in French Indochina and Siam (6)10 Boudica’s tribe (5)11 Huntress of Greek mythology (8)12 Mayan ceremonial centre in Guatemala (5)13 Caleb ___, American antiquary…
The Priest of Pututus: unearthing a unique Andean tomb
What can a freshly discovered tomb reveal about the emergence of Andean civilisations? The early date of this rich burial is raising new questions about how and when social elites appeared, as Yuji Seki reveals.
The British Institute at Ankara: 75 years researching Turkey
As the British Institute at Ankara celebrates a major birthday, CWA casts an eye over what it has achieved, and where it is heading.
Remarkable early medieval burial found in Northamptonshire
The collection of grave goods – dubbed the ‘Harpole Treasure’ after the name of the local parish – has been dated to AD 630-670.
‘The city thirsts’: water in Istanbul: past, present, and future
Supplying Constantinople with water was a monumental challenge that received a monumental solution. Examining the extraordinary remains of aqueducts, bridges, and cisterns reveals the ingenuity – and expense – committed to sating a thirsty ancient metropolis, as James Crow explains.
Petra in the Accounts of Western Travelers: Selected Narratives from the Nineteenth Century
Review by David J Breeze John William Burgon’s description of Petra as ‘the rose-red city, half as old as time’ dates to 1845, well within the timeframe covered in this book. It remains an apt statement, underlined by the choice…
Seasons and the city
Even reputable observers like Pliny the Younger often ended up at the mercy of the competence of later scribes. As his writings only survive as copies, it may be no more than a scribal slip of the hand that immortalised August as the month when Pompeii met its fate.
Van Archeology and Ethnography Museum
A new museum in Van, Turkey, explores the rich history of the area. Nick Kropacek visited to find out more.
Under the Old Fort of Zanzibar: exploring the origins of Stone Town
Timothy Power and Mark Horton return to the Old Fort of Stone Town, Zanzibar, to discuss the site’s Swahili origins.
Conjuring Mongolian deer stones: biographical statuary of Bronze Age Central Asia and south Siberia
The enigmatic deer stones speckling the Mongolian steppe have long invited questions. Now fresh research is providing clues to why they were carved and what they may represent. William Fitzhugh and Richard Kortum, with Bayarsaikhan Jamsranjav, share the story of these remarkable relics.
Genetic analysis shines new light on Neanderthal communities
Researchers conducted genetic analysis of bone and tooth remains from 13 Neanderthals from two sites in the foothills of the Altai Mountains in southern Siberia.
The man in the parcel: explaining a puzzling burial rite
The discovery of a burial in pride of place in Gårdby Church, Sweden, marked the beginning of an archaeological detective story. What could explain the unusual treatment of the man’s body? Caroline Arcini investigates.
Roman Aquileia: the impenetrable city-fortress, a sentry of the Alps
Review by Carolynn Roncaglia In AD 452, Attila the Hun led his forces over the eastern Alps into Italy. Straightaway they besieged the city of Aquileia, which for more than 600 years had guarded the way into Roman Italy from…
Linguistics, genetic links, and a long-lost ‘emperor’
A long-lost Roman emperor. Who could resist such a headline? The media lapped it up. But how could anyone lose an emperor in the first place? It turns out that this emperor was self-declared, so he wasn’t really an emperor at all
Hominin footprints in Spain 200,000 years older than previously thought
New analysis has revealed that the layer containing the footprints dates to c.295,8000 years ago.
Ivory comb with rare Canaanite inscription
Until now, inscriptions found in the Canaanite alphabet have been limited to two or three words; this is the first meaningful Canaanite inscription found in Israel.
A Byzantine business district
Excavations in the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey have uncovered the remains of early Byzantine shops and businesses. Archaeologists from the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) working this year in Domitian Square, next to the Upper Agora, focused their…
Funerary finds in Fayum
Inside the funerary structure, archaeologists found a number of rock-cut and stone-lined burial chambers containing a variety of burials, ranging from simple interments to examples of high-quality embalming.