Ancient rock art uncovered in the Scottish Highlands

The highest concentration of ancient rock art ever discovered in the Highlands has been found on hillside farmland in Ross-shire (Scotland). Bronze Age cupmarks carved into rocks up to 5,000 years ago have been found on twenty-eight separate sites on Swordale Hill outside Evanton. The remains of an enclosed henge have also been found on the hill's Druim Mor ridge, which is also the location of a chambered cairn.
     The majority of the cup-marked stones, as well as the henge, have been identified and recorded by Tain man Douglas Scott who says all the evidence suggests the hill was once a 'ritual centre of some significance'. It is thought the cupmarks were ground into rocks with quartz between 4,000 and 5,000 years ago.
     Mr Scott has lodged his findings with the Highland Historic Environment Record, the Royal Commission of Ancient Monuments and has produced a photographic guide, Druim Mor Cupmarks, which he has sent to ARCH Highland in Dingwall.
     In 1986, Mr Scott and the late Bob Gourlay, the then Highland Regional Archaeologist, went to Swordale Hill to search for rock art, recording and photographing 14 cup-marked rocks on the ridge. During the last two years, Mr Scott has returned to Swordale Hill to plot the stones he and Mr Gourlay found and has discovered another nine cupmarked rocks, bringing the total to 28. He also discovered a wide circular ditched enclosure, with a small central standing stone next to a cupmarked stone, which suggested it was the remains of a henge.
     Said Mr Scott: "It is the biggest concentration of rock art found so far in the Highland and shows the area was a ritual centre of some significance." His surveys suggested there could have been "general orientations between some cup-marked stones to the rising and setting of the suns at midwinter, midsummer and equinoxes".
     There is also evidence of a connection to the rising and setting of full moons. "The position of the cupmarks between the cairn and the henge suggests that this was one of the most important ritual sites in the area during the Neolithic or Bronze Age," his guide states.
     Mr Scott wants to encourage local people to get a copy of his guide from ARCH or himself to find out more about the ancient rock art there. "This is information for everybody, it belongs to us all," he said. For a copy of the guide contact Mr Scott on douglas.scottt@btinternet.com

Edited from Rossh-Shire Journal (1 February 2013)

  Californian rock carvings recovered after theft

A series of rock carvings that date back more than 3,500 years that were sheared off and taken from a sacred American Indian site in California's Sierra Nevada (USA) have been recovered three months after the theft was discovered. Authorities said no one has been arrested and they wouldn't provide details about the discovery, saying only that it was made after they received an anonymous tip in a letter.
     Native Americans carved pictures of hunters, deer and other animals, along with geometric and other designs on hundreds of lava boulders that make up a half-mile-long volcanic escarpment in the Sierra.
     It's unclear what will happen to the carvings but federal authorities will be speaking to Paiute-Shoshone tribal leaders to accommodate their wishes. "This was a terrible thing to happen from their perspective, said David Christy, a spokesman for the Bureau of Land Management. "We are extremely pleased to get them back." Removing or damaging petroglyphs is a felony and first-time offenders can be imprisoned for up to a year and fined as much as $20,000, authorities said.
     Visitors to the area, known as Volcanic Tableland, discovered the theft and reported it to federal authorities in October. The thieves are believed to have used ladders, electric generators and power saws to remove the panels that are two feet high and wide. The site, north of Bishop, is protected under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act and listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

Edited from San Francisco Chronicle (1 February 2013)

  Native Americans built massive mound in less than 90 days

New research offers evidence that 'Mound A', one of the great earthen mounds at Poverty Point, Louisiana (USA), was constructed in less than 90 days.
     "Our findings go against what has long been considered the academic consensus on hunter-gatherer societies - that they lack the political organisation necessary to bring together so many people to complete a labour-intensive project in such a short period," says study co-author T.R. Kidder, PhD, professor and chair of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.
     Co-authored by Anthony Ortmann, PhD, assistant professor of geosciences at Murray State University in Kentucky, the study offers a detailed analysis of how the mound was constructed some 3,200 years ago.
     Part of a much larger complex of earthworks, Mound A is believed to be the final and crowning addition to the 280-hectare site, which includes five smaller mounds and a series of six concentric C-shaped embankments surrounding a small flat plaza along the river. At the time of construction, Poverty Point was the largest earthworks in North America.
     Mound A covers about 50,000 square metres and rises 22 metres above the river, requiring around 238,500 cubic metres of soil. The site was cleared by burning and quickly covered with a layer of fine silt soil. A mix of other heavier soils then were brought in, building the mound layer upon layer. "The Poverty Point mounds were built by people who had no access to domesticated draft animals, no wheelbarrows, no sophisticated tools for moving earth," Kidder explains.
     To complete such a task within 90 days would require some 3,000 labourers. "Given that a band of 25-30 people is considered quite large for most hunter-gatherer communities, it's truly amazing that this ancient society could bring together a group of nearly 10,000 people, find some way to feed them and get this mound built in a matter of months," Kidder says.

Edited from Washington University, Saint Louis (28 January 2013), and Past Horizons (31 January 2013)

  Guernsey Neolithic grave protection plan submitted

A Neolithic grave in Guernsey could be half-buried in soil and grassed-over to preserve it. Guernsey Museums and Art Galleries has asked for planning permission to conduct the work in Delancey Park and put up an information sign.
     States Archaeologist Dr Philip de Jersey said the Neolithic gallery grave was the only example of its type found in Guernsey, and that covering part of the stones would hopefully protect them. He said other Neolithic graves in the island tended to be passage graves with a wider chamber.
     The grave was discovered and excavated in 1919, 1932 and in the summers from 2009-2011. Dr de Jersey said: "It's collapsed, the capstones have long since vanished and what we have now are just the prop stones along each side, which have all fallen over in the past few thousand years." Archaeologist Dr George Nash, who led the most recent work, recommended the site should be enhanced and marked as one of educational value.

Edited from BBC News (30 January 2013)

  Clovis culture not wiped out by comet

Comet explosions in North America 13,000 years ago did not end the prehistoric human culture known as Clovis - the earliest well-established human culture in the North American continent, named after the town in New Mexico (USA) where distinct stone tools were first found in the 1920s and 1930s.
     Researchers from Royal Holloway University, together with Sandia National Laboratories and 13 other universities across the USA and Europe, deny that a large impact or airburst caused a significant and abrupt change to the climate, arguing that other explanations must be found for the culture's apparent disappearance.
     No 'appropriately sized' impact craters from that time period have been discovered, and no shocked material or any other features of impact have been found in sediments. Samples presented in support of the impact hypothesis were contaminated with modern material, and no physics model can support the theory.
     "The theory has reached zombie status," said Professor Andrew Scott from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway. "Whenever we are able to show flaws and think it is dead, it reappears with new, equally unsatisfactory, arguments."

Edited from PhysOrg, UPI (30 January 2013)

  Oldest stone hand axes unearthed

Scientists in Ethiopia have unearthed and dated some of the oldest stone hand axes, dating to 1.75 million years ago.
     The tools roughly coincide with the emergence of an ancient human ancestor called Homo erectus, and fossilised Homo erectus remains were found at the same site, said study author Yonas Beyene, an archaeologist at the Association for Research and Conservation of Culture in Ethiopia.
     "This discovery shows that the technology began with the appearance of Homo erectus," says Beyene. "We think it might be related to the change of species." However proving that was tricky, because the dating wasn't precise enough, said study co-author Paul Renne, a geochronologist and director of the Berkeley Geochronology Center in Berkeley, California.
     Human ancestors used primitive tools as far back as Homo habilis, 2.6 million years ago, but those - called Oldowan tools - weren't much more than rock flakes crudely knapped to a sharp edge. Nearly a million years later, more sophisticated two-sided hand axes emerged. These Aucheulean tools could be up to 20 centimetres long. Tools of this type have recently been discovered several hundred kilometres away near Lake Turkana in Kenya, dating to 1.76 million years ago.
     Beyene, Renne, and their colleagues have found more than 350 of these two-faced stone Aucheulean tools in Konso, Ethiopia, indistinguishable in age from those found in Kenya, and in different layers that span about a million years of human evolution - suggesting the symmetric hand axes were widespread in the region by that time. The techniques stayed similar until 800,000 years ago, when the edges on the tools became more refined.

Edited from LiveScience, NBC News (28 January 2013)

  Early sweet potato trade

What is the difference between a Kumara and a Batata? Very little apparently - they are the Maori and Spanish names, respectively, for the sweet potato. It has been a long held belief that the sweet potato was first introduced to Southeast Asia by Spanish and Portuguese explorers, sometime in the 16th Century, but a gathering accumulation of evidence is pointing to a much older and more interesting explanation.
     A team of researchers from the French Centre of Evolutionary and Functional Ecology has been working closely with a French agricultural research and development centre on the sweet potato genome, and has found it to be extremely complex. By using a temporal control from samples taken by early European explorers, prior to the establishment of the Spanish and Portuguese trade routes, comparisons have been made with native South American sweet potatoes, which have been known to have existed in the high areas of Peru over 8,000 years. They have proved that the first trade between these geographic areas occurred in approximately 1,000 CE, with a second wave by the Spanish over 500-600 years later, closely followed by a third wave by the Portuguese, but moving East from the Caribbean.  
     The research team have placed this new evidence alongside existing information to strengthen, but not yet prove, the case for early trans-Pacific Polynesian traders.

Edited from Science Magazine (21 January 2013)

  Human skull found beneath Scottish golf course

Archaeologists are to investigate a human skull found by council workers carrying out winter maintenance in a sand bunker by the fourth hole on Musselburgh Links Golf Course - officially the oldest golf course in the world.
     Officers from Lothian and Borders Police despatched the remains to Dundee University, who sent their archaeologists to look at the site. They believe the skull, which belonged to a mid-to-late teenage female (nicknamed 'Betty'), is around 2500 years old - possibly part of a Iron Age graveyard. As there is no pressing archaeological reason to remove the rest of her remains, East Lothian Council have no plans to investigate further.

Edited from STV News (23 January 2013)

  Archeologists revise image of ancient Celts

The Celts were long considered a barbaric and violent society, but new findings from a 2,600-year-old grave in southwest Germany suggest the ancient people were much more sophisticated.
     In 2010, on the site of an early Celtic settlement not far from the Heuneburg, beside a small tributary of the Danube called Bettelbuehl, researchers stumbled upon the elaborate grave of a Celtic princess - a 3.6 by 4.6 metre subterranean burial chamber fitted with massive oak beams. It was an archeological sensation. After 2,600 years, the chamber was completely intact, preserved by the constant flow of water.
     The Heuneburg is a centre of Celtic culture in south-western Germany. In its heyday, giant walls protected a city of as many as 10,000 people. Wealthy members of society led lives of luxury: Etruscan gold jewellery, Greek wine, and Spanish tableware were all traded here.
     Elaborate pearl earrings, solid gold clasps, an amber necklace and a bronze belt are just some of the findings from the grave. Stacks of burial objects made of gold, amber, jet and bronze were discovered alongside the skeletons of the princess and an unidentified child.
     Researchers are also particularly interested in the plant and animal remains found in the chamber. "The organic material is actually just as important as the artefacts because it gives us information about their burial rituals," said Nicole Ebinger-Rist, director of the research project handling the find.
     The researchers are also hoping to learn more about the Celts' wars of domination - one of the greatest mysteries of central European history. We still don't know why the Celts were advancing quickly from the sixth century BCE until the birth of Christ, and then abruptly disappeared.

Edited from DW.de (19 January 2013)

  9,000-year-old remains discovered in England

Archaeologists have proved for the first time that people started living in the Didcot area, 90 kilometres west of London, as early as 9,000 years ago. Rob Masefield, director of archaeology at RPS Planning, said one of the most important discoveries was hundreds of flints dating to the Mesolithic period: "...these were working flints used around campfires about 9,000 years ago." Oxford Archaeology project manager Steve Lawrence added: "The site demonstrates about 1,000 years of continuous settlement."
     Investigations in 2011 unearthed finds including a complete Neolithic bowl from about 3600 BCE. Excavations in 2012 revealed a rare example of a late Neolithic to early Bronze Age ceremonial pond barrow from about 2000 BCE, containing arrowheads. The two-and-a-half-year dig has also uncovered the remains of a Roman villa, a piece of Roman pottery featuring a face design, and located a large Iron Age hilltop settlement with up to 60 roundhouses. Hundreds of grain storage pits, human burials, domestic rubbish, pottery dumps and animal bones have been found as well.
     The Cornerstone Arts Centre in Didcot is staging an exhibition on the dig from February 7 to March 3, 2013.

Edited from Herald Series (22 January 2013)

  Loom weights reveal weaving in Turkey 2,500 years ago

The northwestern province of Canakkale's Ayvacik district is home to one of the most important areas of Turkey's textile industry, famous for kilim carpets produced in different colours and designs. 2,500-year-old loom weights recently found in the ancient city of Assos have brought the district even more fame.
     Surface surveys showed there could have been a small weaving workshop in an area next to the Ancient Theatre, according to Professor Nurettin Arslan, head of the Assos excavations, and Archaeology Department Chairman of Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University. The weights are of various types. "Some of them are round and some of them are cubic. People used even broken ceramic pieces in this period by making a hole in the centre of them. There are seals, names or descriptions on some of these weights."
     These findings showed that the textile industry had been in existence in the region for an incredibly long time. "Assos was also one of the important ports in ancient times. It is mentioned in the Ottoman documents. Valonias [acorns] collected from Canakkale districts were brought to Assos and exported through this port. Valonia is a significant factor to paint [dye] the fibre used in textile industry and to process [tan] the leather," said Arslan, adding that Ayvacik was one of those rare places where some traditions have continued since the ancient times.

Edited from Hurriyet Daily News (4 January 2013)

  Ancient Chinese arrowhead found in Japan

Archaeologists say an ancient Chinese arrowhead unearthed in Okayama City in Western Japan is the first of its kind discovered in the country. The bronze arrowhead has been dated to the Warring States period of ancient Chinese history, 475 BCE to 221 BCE.
     Researchers said the Chinese artifact, a 'double-winged bronze arrowhead,' was unearthed at the Minamigata ruins located in the city center of Okayama. The arrowhead, 1.4 inches long by a half inch wide, was found together with pottery fragments and pieces of stoneware dated to Japan's Iron Age Middle Yayoi period, about 300 BCE to 100 BCE. The double-winged shape of the arrowhead represents a distinctive manufacturing style from the era of ancient China, suggesting it was imported by an influential group with care from the continent to western Japan, archaeologists said.
     "Considering that there is a considerable time gap between its original production in China and the actual usage in Japan, the thin bronze arrowhead must have been used as a ritual item or burial good rather than a weapon," Minoru Norioka, director of Okayama City's properties division, said.

Edited from UPI.com (24 January 2013)

  Campaign renewed to save Iron Age fort in Scotland

Campaigners are renewing their long-running appeal to stop an ancient Iron Age hill fort from being quarried in Scotland. Dumbarton residents, green activists and archaeologists are aiming to halt the approval of a Review of Minerals Permission (ROMP) which they fear could lead to the destruction of historical Sheep Hill (West Dunbartonshire). The campaigners, who have a petition signed by 1,500 people, are aiming to raise the profile of their Save Sheep Hill Campaign and are canvassing residents for their support.
     Quarriers William Thompson and Son, which bought the site before the discovery of the fort, was granted planning permission to quarry the site back in 1949 but has since submitted the ROMP application, in a bid to bring the planning conditions up to date. An approval would also offer the company the possibility of seeking authorisation to expand their operations into the historic site.
     The site has been described as being of great archaeological importance. There were at one time numerous cup and ring-marked stones around the land which were removed to safety several years ago, but there is hope that if Sheep Hill was preserved, these rock carvings could eventually be restored to their original positions and this piece of prehistoric heritage preserved for future generations to visit.
     West Dunbartonshire Council considered the ROMP at a planning meeting last month but deferred the decision until March 5 pending further consideration. In a council report, officers advise that the Scottish Government should be approached to intervene "due to the huge environmental loss that would result and the compensation that might be due".
William Thompson and Son would be eligible for a "very substantial compensation", according to the papers, if permission to quarry the area was removed or if conditions affecting the 'viability' of the quarry were attached.

Edited from Lennox Herald (25 January 2013)

  Prehistoric headless skeleton unearthed in Cambridgeshire

Archaeologists have unearthed decapitated human remains beneath former allotment land in Soham (Cambridgeshire, England). Experts from the Hertford-based firm Archaeological Solutions are currently excavating a Roman settlement on land off Fordham Road, before 96 homes are built on the site. Among the wealth of artefacts found are a number of human burials thought to predate the Roman settlement, including one where the person was decapitated before being put in the ground.
     Andrew Peachey, a specialist in prehistoric and Roman pottery at the company, said: "Prior to the Roman settlement, the margins of the Fen and island [of Ely] were heavily exploited by prehistoric settlers, including one who appears to have been decapitated before being placed in a crouched burial in a circular pit. The reasons for decapitation are purely theoretical at this stage. One is obviously execution and another is to prevent ghosts. Quite often the head is found somewhere on the site, but it's rare for it to be completely missing. This then throws up the question of where the head was taken."
     The dig is expected to continue until the end of this month.

Edited from Ely Weekly News (23 January 2013)

  Indians 'broke Australian isolation 4,000 years ago'

Genetic analysis of more than 300 Aborigines, Indians, and people from Papua New Guinea and islands of south-east Asia has found a "significant gene flow" from India to Australia about 4230 years ago, reports a new study by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.
     Irina Pugach, the study's lead researcher, says "[There was] a sudden change in plant processing and stone tool technologies, with microliths appearing for the first time, and the first appearance of the dingo in the fossil record," adding, "it is likely that these changes were related to this migration."
     The study also found a common origin between Aboriginal Australians, New Guinea populations, and a Negrito group from the Philippines. The researchers estimate these groups split from each other about 36,000 years ago, when Australia and New Guinea formed one land mass. "Outside Africa, Aboriginial Australians are the oldest continuous population in the world," said Pugach, a molecular anthropologist.
     Australia offers some of the earliest archaeological evidence for the presence of humans outside Africa, with sites dated to at least 45,000 years ago.

Edited from Zeenews (16 January 2012), AFP, Yahoo! News (15 January 2013)