of archaeology. We here at ArchaeoBlog are dedicated to providing you, the
reader, with timely and entertaining links and commentary on all things
old and covered in dirt. Our crack team of researchers, analysts, writers,
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The information here covers the range of archaeological inquiry, from gold
and silver to even more fascinating things such as sloth dung. Needless to
say. We try our darndest to make it all sound fascinating, but really,
there's only so much one can do with sloth dung (writing about it anyway,
in a manner that will not cause sudden bouts of intense narcolepsy).
Nevertheless, we will try to cover a wide range of topics, all more or
less suitable for family viewing.
First off, you may view my (archaic, soon-to-be-updated) web page at acagle.net. Once I get a new design ready, the new site should be a tad more interesting, with more links and some of my own scribblings. I have far more space at my current ISP then at previous ones, so hopefully most of my dissertation (the text anyway) can go up.
Recent news:
Big chill killed off the Neanderthals
It is possibly the longest-running murder mystery of them all. What, or even who, killed humankind's nearest relatives, the Neanderthals who once roamed Europe before dying out almost 30,000 years ago?
Suspects have ranged from the climate to humans themselves, and the mystery has deeply divided experts. Now 30 scientists have come together to publish the most definitive answer yet to this enigma.
They say Neanderthals simply did not have the technological know-how to survive the increasingly harsh winters. And intriguingly, rather than being Neanderthal killers, the original human settlers of Europe almost suffered the same fate.
I find the concept of Neanderthal extinction due to a multiplicity of largely environmental factors intuitively satisfying (which doesn't really address the issue of extinction vs. assimilation of course, but I prefer the extinction route myself). It's an adaptational explanation more suited to Darwinian evolution than to traditional sorts of archaeological explanations (e.g., Modern humans did/did not kill them off). I haven't read the original paper, but The Stage Three Project home page has more information.
Note these remarks:
Ice cores recovered from Greenland in the 1970s show that Europe's climate varied hugely during the last ice age, especially in the period between 70,000 and 20,000 years ago. Cold glacial periods were punctuated by warmer times, and the average temperature could rise and fall several degrees within a decade or so.
Ought to be kept in mind when contemplating current arguments about anthropogenic global warming.
This has been making the rounds of the Egyptological listservs lately:
First Lion Mummy Found in Egyptian Tomb
A French archaeologist says his discovery of the first preserved lion skeleton in an ancient Egyptian tomb demonstrates the exalted reputation enjoyed by the King of Beasts more than 3,000 years ago.
"It confirms the status of the lion as a sacred animal," Alain Zivie reports in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
Zivie's research team discovered the lion's remains in 2001 as they excavated the tomb of Maia, wet nurse to Tutankhamun, the "boy king" popular with museum visitors today for his opulent gold funeral relics. He ruled for 10 years and died around 1323 B.C.
Also of some import regarding the New World:
Ancient Tools Unearthed in Siberian Arctic
An astonishing new archeological discovery suggests that humans colonized the rugged lands of Arctic Siberia almost twice as early as generally thought.
Russian researchers have found a wealth of hunting tools, which date back 31,000 years, along central Siberia's Yana River. The artifacts include hundreds of stone tools and flakes, as well as spear foreshafts made of rhinoceros horn and mammoth tusk.
Of particular interest:
The new findings may eventually help researchers piece together the peopling of the Americas via the Bering Land Bridge. Intriguingly, some of the foreshafts (a spear component joining the shaft and tip that enabled hunters to quickly replace broken spear tips) that were found in Siberia resemble those used by the Clovis people, believed by many experts to be the first humans in North America.
I wouldn't read too much into the apparent similarities with Clovis, but the time of these sites may eventually go a ways toward explaining the timing and nature of the peopling of the Americas which was presumably accomplished via the Bering land bridge. Far more interesting is how this may eventually relate to Monte Verde.
This, of course, if far too good to pass up:
Archaeologists mistake 1940s patio for Viking village
Archaeologists have admitted to having been made to look "very silly" after mistaking a 1940s sunken patio for a 9th century Viking village.
Fife County Archaeologist Douglas Spiers says his team concluded the slabs found in the back garden of a Buckhaven home had originally been hauled by Norse settlers from a nearby beach.
At least they hadn't published anything yet.
More later.