Cover Story
Ötzi’s one-man show On 19 September 1991, two hikers made an alarming discovery high in the Alps. Travelling off the beaten track, they saw a human corpse in a gulley, and imagined they had stumbled across an ill-fated mountaineer. Instead, this was just… Features
Unlocking a hidden landscape: preliminary fieldwork at Qarn bint Sa’ud, Abu Dhabi Recent survey has revolutionised our knowledge of rock art created on an imposing natural landmark in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). What can archaeology reveal about how humans used a… 
African Queen: an intact royal burial from Egypt reveals new insights into cultural connections The identity of the ancient Egyptian ‘Qurna Queen’ remains a mystery over 100 years after the excavation of her intact burial. However, new research on her burial assemblage is revealing… 
The power of words: racing to read the lost secrets of Egypt The beautiful and mysterious signs adorning ancient monuments across Egypt have excited speculation for centuries. The tale of how their meaning was finally rediscovered is just as long, and takes… 
Glass beads, ritual deposits, and laser beams: a sanctuary on Timpone della Motta entangled in networks of trade and resettling Thousands of votive objects have been found buried in ritual deposits at a hilltop sanctuary in southern Italy. Cristina Boschetti, Jan Kindberg Jacobsen, Gloria Mittica, Eva Mortensen, and Rubina Raja… News
Pirates, Portuguese, and ladies in purdah: new discoveries at the Old Fort of Stone Town Timothy Power and Mark Horton present some of the latest discoveries made during recent excavations at the Old Fort of Stone Town, Zanzibar. 
Maya cacao consumption more widespread than previously thought The fact that cacao appears to have been generally available does not diminish its value, but rather suggests that its importance for the Maya people extended throughout society. 
Elite Wari burials uncovered in northern Peru Excavations have uncovered a significant section of the site’s necropolis, which the archaeologists are calling ‘The Gallery of the Elite Craftsmen’. 
Early limb amputation in Borneo The fossilised remains, which date to between 31,000 and 30,000 years ago, were found during excavations at Liang Tebo. Previously, the earliest known evidence of surgical amputation came from a… 
New discoveries in Nîmes The excavations revealed at least 50 burials dating to the Roman period, including inhumation graves, cremation urns, and signs of funerary pyres. 
Study presents first evidence of use of human bone for making pendants in northeast Europe The study aims to improve our understanding of the social identities of people living in this region between c.9,000 and 7,500 years ago by exploring what their burials can tell… 
Research sheds light on major megalithic site in Spain The site, known as La Torre- La Janera, covers an area of c.600ha near the Guadiana River in the province of Huelva. Views
CWA 116 Crossword, and answers to 115 Competitions Across 8 Ancient Mesopotamian temple similar to a pyramid (8) 9 Legendary island where King Arthur was taken after his final battle (6) 10 Ancient Egyptian funerary god, one of… 
CWA 116 Letters Letters Your observations, your objections, and your opinions: send them to cwaletters@world-archaeology.com 
Decorated ivories Objects What is it? This collection of decorated ivory plaques found in Jerusalem was probably once inlaid in a piece of ornate wooden furniture. The plaques, which are believed to date… 
Unlocking Prehistoric Houses Comment Down we probed into each and, before long, another surprise. Each contained a human skeleton, ranging from an adult woman to a child and, finally, a new-born infant. They were… 
Small is beautiful: exploring the drawbacks of megacities Comment Haunted by Ostrogothic and Hunnic raids, Panticapaeum still survived as a Byzantine citadel. It lived through a succession of Khazar and Slavic lordships to become the modern city of Kerch,… 
Ancient mounds in America The Picture Desk In the middle of Louisiana State University’s campus stand two earthen mounds, each c.5.5m tall. The LSU Campus Mounds have long been known to be among the c.800 mounds created… 
DNA, diets, and dealing with the weather Comment Svante Pääbo is the second member of his family to be elected a Nobel laureate: his father, Sune Bergström (1916-2004) shared the same Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in… Ötzi’s one-man show Feature, Museum, What's on On 19 September 1991, two hikers made an alarming discovery high in the Alps. Travelling off the beaten track, they saw a human corpse in a gulley, and imagined they… 
Alexander the Great: the making of a myth Museum, What's on A new exhibition at the British Library explores the 2,000-year history of storytelling and myth-making surrounding Alexander the Great. Reviews
Everyday Life in the Ice Age Archaeologists tend to reserve the term ‘civilisation’ for the settled villages and towns of the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Many of the innovations that we think are characteristic of human… 
Tutankhamun’s Trumpet: the story of ancient Egypt in 100 objects The title of this book is perhaps rather misleading. Although a hundred objects from the tomb of Tutankhamun (among which are counted two scenes from the walls of its burial… Ötzi’s one-man show On 19 September 1991, two hikers made an alarming discovery high in the Alps. Travelling off the beaten track, they saw a human corpse in a gulley, and imagined they… Alexander the Great: the making of a myth A new exhibition at the British Library explores the 2,000-year history of storytelling and myth-making surrounding Alexander the Great. 
War, Spectacle, and Politics in the Ancient Andes War, Spectacle, and Politics in the Ancient Andes by Elizabeth N Arkush provides a well-organised analysis of the external/environmental and internal/psychological factors that shaped pre-contact Andean warfare. More specifically, the… 
From the editor
On Thursday 19 September 1991, two hikers made an alarming discovery high in the Alps. Travelling off the beaten track, they saw a human corpse in a gulley, and imagined they had stumbled across an ill-fated mountaineer. Instead, this was just the latest twist in an extraordinary murder mystery. Investigators soon realised that the victim had met his fate in prehistory. Now, over three decades on, our cover piece reveals how the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology is showcasing the vivid light shed on Copper Age life thanks to the study of this man and his possessions.
Another remarkable hilltop discovery was made at Timpone della Motta, in Italy. An ancient sanctuary there has yielded the remains of temples, and a revealing array of offerings to the gods. Ongoing work is showing how such objects could travel long distances before entering the earth, while the wider site has much to tell us about encounters between Greek incomers and locals.
Distant influences are also under the spotlight in the case of the ‘Qurna Queen’. This astonishing intact burial of a woman and child was found in 1908 in Luxor, but fresh research is revealing an important new dimension. Strong Nubian elements are raising questions about how much influence the Kingdom of Kerma wielded over its northern neighbour.
Survey at Qarn bint Sa’ud, in the United Arab Emirates, is also occasioning an opportunity to build on existing knowledge – in this case, of rock art. Fresh details from the current work are laying bare how humans responded to climatic shifts that periodically made the region rather less hospitable.
Finally, 2022 is the 200th anniversary of hieroglyphs being deciphered. To mark this momentous anniversary, the British Museum is holding an exhibition examining how the code was cracked and what it revealed. We learn how thousands of years of history were triumphantly unlocked.
