Subscribe now for full access and no adverts
Japanese sword found in Berlin
Excavations in the Molkenmarkt area of Berlin are uncovering a set of 20th-century basements that were backfilled after the Second World War. Amid the rubble, archaeologists found a heavily corroded sword, which was initially interpreted as a German military parade weapon. However, X-rays and restoration work in the conservation lab of the Museum of Prehistory and Early History at the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin have revealed that it was in fact a type of Japanese short sword known as a wakizashi. The handle is decorated with an image of the Japanese deity Daikoku, as well as chrysanthemums and water motifs, indicating that it dates to the Edo period (17th-19th century). However, it appears that the blade itself was originally longer and had probably been shortened and repurposed as a wakizashi. It may therefore be significantly older than the handle. How this weapon ended up in a cellar on a residential street in Berlin remains a mystery, although the area’s proximity to the city’s aristocratic palaces may offer a possible solution.
Sweet potato in Polynesia
Sweet potato, known as kūmara in the Māori language, is an important Polynesian crop, both today and in the past. However, debate persists about when and how this plant, which originated in South America, first spread across Oceania. A recent study published in Antiquity (https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2024.143) has discovered some of the earliest evidence for the cultivation of kūmara in Polynesia during excavations at Triangle Flat in north-western Te Waipounamu (Aotearoa/New Zealand’s South Island). Analysis of material from the multi-period Māori complex identified starch granules of kūmara, as well as taro and yam (uwhi), dating to as early as AD 1290-1385, around the time when Polynesians were first settling in this area. These findings provide the first secure proof that the cultivation of imported plants, particularly sweet potato, played an important role in early Polynesian colonisation of even the southernmost habitable islands of the South Pacific (see CWA 109).
A Neolithic cellar?
A possible Neolithic cellar has been discovered at a Funnel Beaker Culture site on the Danish island of Falster. Excavations at Nygårdsvej 3 revealed a small Middle Neolithic site with the remains of two overlying house phases. Within them, c.40cm below ground level, archaeologists identified a clearly defined stone-paved feature, measuring 2m by 1.5m. The researchers considered various possible functions before concluding that the most likely explanation is a practical one: an underground storage space used to keep food cold in the summer and prevent it from freezing in the winter. Radiocarbon dating places the construction around 3000 BC, making this the earliest such find in Denmark, and one that represents an important step in resource preservation and construction technology in Neolithic Scandinavia. The research has been published in the journal Radiocarbon (https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2024.79).
Text: Amy Brunskill / Image: © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte/Anica Kelp
You must be logged in to post a comment.