Stone Pages - Archaeo News (Asia)

Mesolithic scraper, Neolithic axe found in southern India

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 15:12:40 +0100

A Mesolithic scraper and a Neolithic celt have been found in Tamil Nadu, on the southern tip of India.
The Mesolithic chert scraper is 4 centimetres long and 4.5 centimetres wide, and dates to between 10,000 and 3,000 BCE. Also known as microlithic tools due to their small size, they are made from splinters produced when larger tools are made, and were used as arrows, knives, and scrapers.
The Neolithic 'celt' or stone axe is polished granite, 5 centimetres long, tapering from 5.5 centimetres wide at the bottom to 3 centimetres on top, 1.5 centimetres thick, and dates to between 3,000 to 1,000 BCE.

Edited from Times of India (5 January 2022)

3,000-year-old cemetery found in Henan

Fri, 14 Jan 2022 15:12:18 +0100

A two-year excavation at a more than 3,000 year old late Shang Dynasty settlement in the Henan Province of central China, around 500 kilometres south-southwest of Beijing, has revealed 18 building foundations, 24 tombs, and four horse and chariot pits. Artefacts include exquisite bronzeware, jade and other stone objects, boneware, and mussels.
Six carriages and several warriors and horses were discovered buried with the dead. Some warriors wore hats with shell strings, and some horses had bronze ornaments decorated with gold veneer on their foreheads.
The site is around 2400 metres from the Yin Ruins, a Unesco World Heritage site consisting of a palace and an ancient temple.

Edited from CGTN (6 January 2022), The Independent, The Manila Times (7 January 2022)

Turkish Neolithic statuette - a man or a woman?

Wed, 12 Jan 2022 15:16:27 +0100

There is a Neolithic and Chalcolithic site in the central Turkish region of Anatolia, known as Catalhoyuk. Excavations first began in 1958 and this first phase continued through until 1965, under the lead of British archaeologist James Mellaart. During the course of these investigations 18 layers of buildings were uncovered, dating from 7100 BCE to 5600 BCE.
No further investigations then happened on the site until 1993, when a team from Cambridge University (UK) started their investigations, headed by Ian Hodder from Stamford University (USA). The site has proved to be so rich in finds and importance that it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2012.
During more recent excavations on the site's southern mound, several miniature figurines have been uncovered, but a recent discovery of a miniature marble statuette has archaeologists puzzled as to its gender, despite the previous preponderance of female statuettes.
Local archaeology professor at the Anadolu University (Turkey), Ali Umut Turkcan, is quoted as saying of the piece that it "is reminiscent of figurines identified as male, leaning back slightly on the back of an animal, similar to those found in excavations in the past". To give an idea of the size of the site the average population, over its lifetime, is estimated at between 5000 and 7000, making it one of the largest Neolithic settlements ever found.

Edited from TurkishPress (28 December 2021)

Millet bread and pulse dough from Iron Age India

Thu, 06 Jan 2022 11:08:35 +0100

As the result of research dune on charred lumps found at the Kadebakele site in southern India, which were later determined to be batter. This batter was made from millet and matched the experimental results of 'flatbreads', a common staple at the time and still used today. The site dates to around 2,300 BCE to CE 1600, but the finds are dated to the Early Iron Age, about 800 BCE. The finds represent the first glimpse at food preparation in South Asian prehistory.
The results are published in the Journal of Archaeological Science and contribute to our understanding of cooking, diet, and daily life during the South Indian Iron Age. The three authors argue that: "...work like this allows archaeologist to move beyond 'taxa lists' (lists of plants and animals used -- you could think of these as possible 'ingredients') to approach issues of culinary practice (combinations of ingredients as well as techniques)."

Edited from EurekAlert! (16 December 2021)

3,000-year-old rock art found in Tamil Nadu

Tue, 04 Jan 2022 17:00:11 +0100

Petroglyphs and cave paintings dating to the Neolithic have been found atop Devankurichi hill (Tamil Nadu, India) by archaeologists from Pandiyanadu Cultural Foundation. The steep rocky outcrop rises abruptly nearly 200 metres above the surrounding plain on the interior southern tip of India.
Around 4.5 metres in length and little over 1 metre wide, the cave is decorated with paintings and petroglyphs believed to be over 3,000 years old. The paintings were hand-drawn using white ink prepared by mixing tree sap with limestone paste. There is a hunting scene of an animal with a long neck, line drawings of human figures, and symbols. Some of the humans appear to be dancing.
At the southwest foot of the hill were identified three stone beds 1.5 metres long and 60 centimetres wide, and an incomplete rock-cut cave over 2,000 years old. Petroglyphs here form three rows of 17, 25, and 30 score marks descending from common horizontal lines. Next to those are images of two human figures with the head of an animal. A later image of a dancing woman is also present. Similar images have been found hundreds of kilometres to the north.

Edited from The New Indian Express (24 December 2021), The Times of India (25 December 2021)

45,000 year-old jewellery found in Denisova Cave

Sun, 02 Jan 2022 09:39:04 +0100

A second stone bracelet has been discovered in the Southern Gallery of the Denisova cave, resembling the first one found in 2008 near the entrance of the cave's Eastern Gallery. Found in three pieces, this second bracelet is fashioned from white marble. The first is made of a dark-green mineral called chloritolite. Since 2017 a variety of rings, pendants, and beads, and now the one bracelet have been found in the Southern Gallery, totalling more than 70 personal adornments.
Also found are two sharp pins made from the smaller lower leg bones of marmots - a type of large ground squirrel. Widely known in the Palaeolithic of Western Europe, these are the first pins from the Denisova Cave, as well as the first in the Altai region of Siberia. More thin and fragile than awls, used either to fasten together pieces of clothing or possibly to hold up hair, the tips and surfaces show traces of polishing.
Other recently uncovered artefacts include delicate marble ring, a broken ring repurposed as a pendant, and several new pendants with very fine holes drilled inside them, most likely made from fox's teeth. Debate continues as to whether finds from the cave were made by homo sapiens, or the extinct Denisovans whose DNA is prominent in a refuge also inhabited by Neanderthals.

Edited from The Siberian Times (27 December 2021)

Rescuing ancient culture in Iran

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 18:40:27 +0100

Archaeological surveys and excavations ahead of construction of the Daryan Dam, on the Sirwan River in Kermanashah Province near what is now the Iran-Iraq border about 650 kilometres west of Tehran, revealed evidence of human occupation from the Middle Palaeolithic to the late prehistoric and into the historic periods, including nomad and herder seasonal sites of the late Islamic period. Originating in the Zagros Mountains, the Sirwan River is a tributary of the Tigris.
Considered a cradle of Kurdish art and culture, the Hawraman/Uramanat World Heritage Site is characterised by agriculture on dry stone terraces and seasonal pastoral migrations up and down steep slopes. Among the recorded sites, sixteen caves, rock shelters, graveyards, and villages located along the Sirwan, Gerdalan, and Zhawaro Rivers were tested or excavated, providing information on the seasonal settlements of Paleolithic hunter-gatherers, Chalcolithic villagers and herders, and Iron Age burials and settlement of the 2nd and 1st millenniums BCE. A museum has been built on the site of an Iron Age grave, and protective measures taken in one of the excavated caves, before flooding of the reservoir.

Edited from Tehran Times (21 December 2021)

Elamite clay tablet unearthed in mysterious Burnt City

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 11:22:50 +0100

A team of archeologists has unearthed a clay tablet inside Shahr-e Sukhteh - known as Burnt City - in what is now eastern Iran, very near the border of Aghanistan. The discovery of clay tablets is not unusual in western regions, but this discovery is so far unique in the easternmost point of the Lut Plain and southeastern Iran.
Once a junction of Bronze-Age trade routes crossing the semi-arid plateau, the UNESCO-registered site was first excavated 50 years ago, and is associated with four rounds of civilisation between 3200 BCE and 1800 BCE, all of which were destroyed by catastrophic fires. Just four to five percent of the city has been excavated.
Measuring 11 by 7 centimetres, the tablet was found in a residential area some four metres below the present ground level. Only partly understood, some of the signs depict the types and quantity of traded goods.
Other recent finds include arrays of figurines, including cows, and human statues in the form of sitting women and standing men. Features include a kiln which may have been used for pottery or as a metal smelting furnace. Archaeologists also uncovered the remains of a prehistoric pet monkey, buried within a beautiful container. An example of extensive trade in luxury prestige goods, the monkey had come from northern India or central Asia.
One of the most impressive civilizations of the ancient world, Elam was never a cohesive ethnic kingdom, but rather a federation of tribes governed at various times by different cities, until it was briefly united as an empire during the Middle Elamite Period, circa 1600 BCE to 1100 BCE.
The name Elam was given to the region by the Akkadians and Sumerians of Mesopotamia, and is thought to be their version of 'Haltami' or 'Haltamti', meaning "those of the high country" - settlements on the Iranian Plateau, from the southern plains to the Zagros Mountains. The earliest writings are in a figurative or pictographic script from the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE.

Edited from Tehran Times (24 December 2021)

Rock art found in Turkey

Fri, 31 Dec 2021 11:20:21 +0100

A rock shelter with paintings dating to the 5th millennium BCE has been discovered 2 kilometres northwest of the 3,500-year-old city of Alinda, about 500 kilometres south-southwest of Istanbul and 50 kilometres from the Aegean Sea.
The rock shelter was found during a surface survey, and officials encountered wall paintings resembling human figures inside. While four of the paintings are believed to feature female figures, two feature male figures. Found in an area known as Bitişik Tepe, the paintings are older than the ancient city, which dates to 1,400 BCE. The human figures were made with a plant-derived dye, and date to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic period.
Alinda has a three-storey plan and a large plaza. The province of Aydin is Anatolia's biggest producer of dried figs, also exporting olives, chestnuts, fruits, and cotton.

Edited from Hurriyet Daily News (20 December 2021)

Discovery shed light on prehistoric Chinese civilization

Thu, 16 Dec 2021 09:04:45 +0100

Archaeological ruins found on the Loess Plateau dated to be about 5,000 years old could provide crucial clues about the infancy of Chinese civilization. These excavations were carried out at the Nanzou Heritage Site in Qingyang of the Gansu Province. The results from this site could be the biggest known human settlement of its time in China.
"The site offers key physical evidence for the pivotal role of the middle reaches of the Yellow River in the birth of Chinese civilization," said Han Jianye, a professor at Renmin University of China who is leading the excavation.
The Nanzuo site dates back to 4,600 to 5,200 years ago and was originally uncovered in 1958, with further excavations taking place in the 80's and 90's. One of the finds from the site is a rammed earth foundation that has an internal measurement of 630 square meters. Since then, archaeologists have uncovered more foundations, an area covering roughly 30 heactares and surrounded by three layers of defensive moats.
"And the 'palatial' constructions and the defensive system also have extraordinary size," he said. "These findings jointly reflect a strong public power, indicating this region had entered an era of civilization." Apart from the massive buildings, stone and bone arrows were also found with a red dye, which are normally found in Zhou Dynasty excavations as gifts to vassal states (c. 11th century - 256 BCE).
It is currently believed that the area is from the Yangshao Culture, which dates some 5,000 to 7,000 years back across Northern China. As this culture was discovered nearly a century ago, the new finds mark a solid anniversary gift to Chinese archaeology that sheds new light on this culture. "In the late period of Yangshao Culture, its people returned to their homeland, as Nanzuo indicates," said Li Xinwei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Institute of Archaeology.

Edited from China Daily (2 December 2021), ECNS.cn (3 December 2021)

Rare 99,000-year-old ivory tool found in China

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 17:02:42 +0100

Archaeologists have unearthed an ivory shovel dated to around 99,000 years ago at a paleolithic site in Yishui County, the heart of east China's Shandong Province. Ivory relics used for making practical tools around 100,000 years ago are rare anywhere in the world, and the shovel is believed to be one of the earliest found in China.
Eight cultural layers were uncovered, and more than 5,000 pieces of stone, bone, tooth and horn artefacts, along with animal fossils, were excavated from strata nearly eight metres thick.

Edited from Ukrainian News (3 December 2021)

3rd millennium BCE 'City of Canals' in China

Wed, 15 Dec 2021 17:00:01 +0100

New research suggests the collapse of the Liangzhu and other stone age cultures along the Yangtze river delta around 4,300 years ago were the result of climate change. Situated on an estuary about 160 kilometres southwest of Shanghai and inhabited by an advanced civilization for about 1,000 years from roughly 3300 to 2300 BCE, China's "Venice of the Stone Age" had an elaborate water management system, with dams, reservoirs, and navigable canals, making it possible to cultivate large agricultural areas throughout the year. Discovered in 1936 and declared a Unesco World Heritage Site in 2019, it is the oldest known use of large hydraulic engineering structures in China, and one of the first examples of highly developed communities based on water infrastructure in the history of human civilisation.
Samples of stalagmites from two caves southwest of the excavation site and a thin layer of clay at the ruins point to a period of massive anomalous monsoon rains between 4,345 and 4,324 years ago, leading to severe flooding of the Yangtze and its branches.
Following the abandonment of Liangzhu, wet conditions continued intermittently for another 300 years.

Edited from The Independent (29 November 2021), Smithsonian Magazine (2 December 2021)

5,500-year-old pentagonal house in northern China

Sun, 05 Dec 2021 09:34:03 +0100

Archaeologists have found ruins of a 5,500 year old pentagonal structure at a construction site in the Chinese city of Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, about 500 kilometres southwest of Beijing. The building covers about 32 square metres, and is believed to belong to the middle and late periods of the Yangshao Culture.
Originating around the middle reaches of the Yellow River, the Yangshao Culture is widely known for its advanced pottery-making technology, and considered an important source of Chinese civilisation.
Abundant pottery pieces have been unearthed in the house, including sand-filled pottery kettles, sand-filled grey pottery pots, red pottery pots, and sharp-bottomed bottles.
The site is of great academic value for studying the cultural features of the Neolithic Age in Taiyuan Basin, and the prehistoric cultural exchanges in Taiyuan and its surrounding areas.
Besides the pentagonal house, researchers also uncovered 98 ash pits, 11 pottery kilns, 2 houses and 6 tombs of Ming (1368-1644 CE) and Qing (1644-1911 CE) dynasties.

Edited from CGTN, China.org.cn (13 November 2021)

DNA reveals Asian migration and plague

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 16:14:23 +0100

Genomic data from the remains of 40 individuals in northeastern Asia reveals the region has a complex history of migrations.
Around 8300 years ago there was a migratory event discernible both east and west of Lake Baikal, but there were also events specific for each of the two areas. Evidence for recurrent migrations and intense mobility west of the lake contrasts with thousands of years of continuity with limited mobility to the east - markedly different patterns of demographic change in one of the world's least populated regions.
The study also provides clues to the history of the Palaeo-Inuit groups who inhabited northern Greenland and Canada; it has been suspected that a cultural group in the Baikal area played a part in the early history of Palaeo-Inuits. Analyses of the 6000-year-old remains of an individual associated with the culture show an association to a roughly 4,000-year-old individual on Greenland - the first genetic evidence of a link between a Neolithic period human group in Yakutia and the later Palaeo-Inuit groups.
One individual dated to about 3800 years ago from the Lena river basin east of the lake carried DNA from Yersinia pestis - the bacteria which causes plague - as did an individual from west of the lake dated to around 4400 years ago. Judging from the genomic data, the population west of the lake seems to have decreased in size around 4400 years ago - possible evidence a prehistoric plague, and potentially supporting an origin for the plague in Europe rather than Asia.

Edited from EuekAlert! (7 January 2021)

Neolithic axe discovered in southern India

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 16:12:06 +0100

A Neolithic axe has been discovered around 175 kilometres south of Hyderabad. Dr E Sivanagireddy, archaeologist and CEO, Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and Amaravati, found the tool while on a survey of archaeological remains in and around Somasila village, on the left bank of the Krishna river. The celt measures about 100 by 50 by 25 millimetres, with very sharp ground and polished edges.
The tool has a patina of lime and ash, indicating it was dumped in a pit after use. Based on evidence from a nearby village in which a Neolithic habitation was excavated in the early 1980s, Dr Sivanagireddy dates the tool to between 4,000 BCE and 2,000 BCE, when domestication of animals, intensification of agriculture, and settlements began in the region. Neolithic tools such as discoids, pestles, and grinding stones were recovered two decades ago from the same village.

Edited from The Times of India (28 December 2020), The Hindu (27 December 2020)