World

World news in brief: maya dentistry, medieval hand grenades and early Islamic burials

A round up of some of the latest archaeological news from around the globe.

Life and death in an early South Australian colony

Information about the health of early migrants to South Australia was obtained through analysis such as micro-CT scanning of their teeth.

ABOVE The study focused on ten bronze daggers found among the remains of the Bronze Age village.

New study reveals Bronze Age daggers were not status symbols, but used for animal processing

New research finally answers the question of what Bronze Age daggers were used for, as Isabella Caricola and Andrea Dolfini reveal.

The mummy of Pharaoh Amenhotep I was left intact after discovery because of its perfect wrappings and beautiful face mask (FAR LEFT), but now CT scans have made it possible for researchers to ‘unwrap’ the mummy digitally (LEFT)

Unwrapping Amenhotep I

A team of scientists have used CT (computed tomography) scans to ‘unwrap’ Amenhotep I digitally and learn more about the mummy and its contents.

A remarkable group of luxurious wall paintings has been discovered at a rich Roman residence called the House of the Harpist in Arles, southern France. The house was discovered beneath an 18th-century glassworks factory in the Trinquetaille district, on the…

Ancient Greeks: Science and Wisdom

For Ancient Greeks, the natural world was a source of wonder and inspiration. Philosophers pondered sundry subjects, seeking the secrets of the night sky or what makes for a satisfying tune. Such questing curiosity inspired technological advances that we are only fully appreciating today, as Jane Desborough and Matthew Howles told Matthew Symonds.

Prehistoric people present

New research is shedding light on the presence of early people around the world.

RIGHT Excavations in Contrebandiers Cave have uncovered evidence that people living here in the Middle Stone Age were skinning carnivores and using them to make clothing. IMAGE: Contrebandiers Project

Early evidence of clothing manufacture discovered in a Moroccan cave

Excavations in Contrebandiers Cave from 2007 to 2010 found 62 bone tools used for leather and fur manufacture in Middle Stone Age layers.

OPPOSITE Just how suitable are tropical forests for human activity? It was long assumed that leaving these challenging environments helped spur human development, but now research is overturning this view. Here we see Panga ya Saidi cave, which lies 15km from the coast of Kenya. Roughly 78,000 years

Rethinking the jungle: the forgotten story of humanity and tropical forests

Humans and jungles are often seen as a poor combination. It is easy to write off the environment as challenging at best and a ‘green hell’ at worst. But could it be that tropical forests have repeatedly helped rather than hindered humanity’s progress? Patrick Roberts told Matthew Symonds why it is time to rethink the archaeology of the jungle.

OPPOSITE Numerous societies rose at different times and places in the central Andes. Various traditions can be traced from one to another, with human style figures that took on animal attributes proving to be a popular theme. Here we see an example from 100 BC AD 650, showing a mythical being who adopted the traits of several animals and was associated with a group known as the Nasca.

Peru: a journey in time

The Incas dominate perceptions of Peru’s past, but their empire did not appear out of nowhere. Instead, it drew on traditions and concepts that developed across the central Andes for thousands of years, as Cecilia Pardo and Jago Cooper told Matthew Symonds.

RIGHT This gold mask is of identical form to the massive bronzes recovered from the sacrificial pits of Sanxingdui.

The Treasures of Sanxingdui

The contents of those two pits amaze. They include some of the most remarkable bronzes from the ancient world: human face-masks with protruding eyes, thought to depict Cancong, the mythical first king of Shu.

Viking settlement in Canada dated to exactly 1,000 years ago

The latest research has used a newly developed approach to radiocarbon dating, which is capable of dating objects to an exact year.

News in brief: Roman diets, a Byzantine warrior, and Cassowary chicks

A brief look at some of the latest exciting archaeological stories.

Face to face with the Netherlands’ first Neanderthal

The young Neanderthal man, known as ‘Krijin’, lived between 50,000 and 70,000 years ago in Doggerland, the prehistoric landscape that lies subsumed in the North Sea.

Below The log coffin discovered on Tetney golf course, which contained the remains of a Bronze Age man and a well preserved axe, has undergone extensive conservation work to preserve it for the future.

Bronze Age coffin found in Lincolnshire

The coffin contains the remains of a man and an axe, which is thought to have been more of a symbol of authority than a practical tool.

Engraved deer bone

What is it? This 51,000-year-old engraved toe bone is one of the oldest works of art ever found. The bone, which is the second phalanx of a giant deer, is 56.8mm long, 38.9mm wide, and 30.9mm thick, and weighs 36.1g.…

Throughout much of history, long term social, economic, and cultural change can be argued to have played a more significant role than individual people or events. Over a million years of prehistory are represented by the long lasting tradition of Acheulean stone tools (ABOVE), while the presence of an elite in ancient Egypt could be seen to

Making a difference?

The wealth produced by Egyptian peasants was spent on warfare, monuments, and luxury. Egyptian artisans were despised as manual labourers. So Egyptian civilisation looked essentially the same in 30 BC as it had done in 3000 BC.

Top The footprints discovered in White Sands National Park paint a picture of early humans and animals co existing on the edge of an

On the tracks of the earliest Americans

Archaeologists working in New Mexico, USA, have discovered a set of human footprints that date to thousands of years before people were thought to have arrived in the region.

ABOVE The Mausoleum of Augustus, as seen in the summer of 2017. The poor state of the monument in 2014 the 2,000th anniversary of Augustus’ death helped to prompt the establishment of LoveItaly.

Tracy Roberts and LoveItaly

Based in Rome, LoveItaly is now in its seventh year and its accent is decidedly American and not patrician. It owes everything to the dynamism of a Californian who is every bit as Roman as the Romans.

Above A possible cathedral in Adulis, Eritrea. Photogrammetry has been used to create a 3D model of the excavated remains of an important place of worship. Various different architectural and decorative influences can be detected in the structure, emphasising that this port city lies at a key maritime crossroads.

A crossroads between the seas: the origins of early Christianity

Excavations in Eritrea are revealing early Christian sites from the Kingdom of Aksum. What can these places of worship reveal about cultural connections in the 6th century AD? Gabriele Castiglia, Philippe Pergola, Stefano Bertoldi, Marco Ciliberti, Elie Essa Kas Hanna, Božana Maletic´, and Matteo Pola share the secrets of an extraordinary ecclesiastical complex.

LEFT Excavations at a fortified hillfort near Gannat have discovered several collections of metal objects buried inside ceramic vessels.

Late Bronze Age Hillfort found in France

Around 800 objects have been recovered so far, making it one of the richest Late Bronze Age sites in Europe.

Ontologies of Rock Art

Back in the days when I was an undergraduate, I was introduced to the mystical world of social theory. My tutors – Christopher Tilley and, later, Michael Shanks – introduced me to an obscure branch of archaeology that I had…

Byzantine wine factory

Excavations in the city of Yavne in Israel have discovered a vast 1,500-year-old industrial complex thought to be the largest wine production centre known from the Byzantine period. The factory complex encompasses five large wine presses, each covering an area…

LEFT The intricately detailed recumbent stag depicted on this gold plaque with turquoise and lapis lazuli inlays was found with seven others representing female deer in Eleke Sazy Kurgan 4.

Gold of the Great Steppe

A new exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge presents an array of artefacts from the Iron Age Saka culture of East Kazakhstan. Amy Brunskill visited to find out more.

ABOVE LiDAR examination at the Maya site of Tikal revealed the existence of a previously unknown complex that mirrors the Ciudadela at Teotihuacan.

Teotihuacan complex found in Maya city

Archaeologists exploring the Ciudadela at Tikal have discovered six phases of construction, mostly dating to the Early Classic period (c.AD 300-550).

Above The footprints found in White Sands National Park have been dated to 23,000 21,000 years ago, providing evidence that humans were present in the Americas by this time.

American advances

activists in Mexico City are claiming that the arrival of Columbus in America opened the door to European oppression and colonialism. Mexico City’s governor has confirmed that the place of Columbus will be taken by a replica of a pre-Columbian statue

History of the Caucasus

For thousands of years, people have lived on the 1,000-mile span of mountains stretching, high and low, from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, or in the numerous mountain valleys that delineate the Caucasus – an area where Asia…

ABOVE The theatre at Butrint lay within a sanctuary complex devoted to the cult of Ascelpius. A set of inscriptions documenting the manumission of slaves were found when the theatre was excavated in 1928. Although the inscriptions have since degraded, an important new discovery provides an opportunity to see the texts as they appeared shortly after they were unearthed.

Butrint’s slave manumissions: shedding new light on the UNESCO World Heritage city

During 2020, 'squeezes' – copies – made in the 1930s of Butrint’s exceptional inscriptions from the Sanctuary of Asclepius were rediscovered by chance. Enrico Giorgi shares the story of these texts and their facsimiles.

RIGHT Underwater archaeological investigations at the sunken city of Thonis Heracleion have uncovered a Ptolemaic galley which sunk in the 2nd century BC.

New discoveries from Egypt’s sunken city

Among the objects found were bronze artefacts, imported Greek ceramics, and wicker fruit baskets still containing grape seeds

Archaeology in Tokyo: seeking out the past of a megacity

Preparations for the 2020 Olympics saw excavations under way at numerous sites in Tokyo. Simon Kaner reflects on what archaeology tells us about activity in the area before and after the birth of a great city.

Taking a new look at life and death in Giza: how the pyramids built Egypt

The ancient Egyptian necropolis at Giza is one of the most celebrated archaeological sites in the world. Although the iconic pyramids dominating the plateau continue to excite awe and curiosity, these royal tombs are only one aspect of an extraordinary site. A new book reveals how the rich and poor, and the living and dead, rubbed shoulders at Giza, as Mark Lehner and Zahi Hawass told CWA's Matthew Symonds.