A new study of stone tools from a cave site in China shows that sophisticated “Levallois” tool-making techniques were present in East Asia at a much earlier date than previously thought.
The findings challenge the existing model of the origin and spread of these techniques in East Asia, with implications for theories of the dispersal of modern humans around the world.
The study, by researchers from the University of Wollongong (UOW), University of Washington, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences and China’s Bureau of Cultural Relics Protection, is published online in Nature on 19 November.
Examples of Levallois technology (named after a Paris suburb where tools made with this method were discovered) have been found in Africa and Europe dating back to around 300,000 years ago. Before now, the earliest examples of Levallois techniques in East Asia were dated to 40,000 – 30,000 years ago; the new study places them there as far back as 170,000 years ago. Read more.
The Picts, a fierce group of people who lived in Scotland during ancient and medieval times, may have developed their own written language about 1,700 years ago, according to results from new excavations.
The Picts (which means “Painted People” for their distinctive tattoos and war paint) are part of the reason the Roman Empire was never able to conquer Scotland. Every time the Romans tried to invade, the Picts and other Scotland inhabitants drove the would-be conquerors back. At times the Picts went on the offensive, attacking Roman-controlled England, forcing the Romans to send legions to try to beat attackers back. Roman accounts of the Picts sometimes describe them as a fierce people who had numerous tattoos and practiced polyamory.
However, while the Picts were often in conflict with the Romans, new research published today (Oct. 26) in the journal Antiquity, suggests that these people may have gotten the idea for a written language from the Romans. Read more.
Six statues dating back 2,000 years were discovered Saturday in the ruins of the ancient Greek city of Magnesia, located in southwestern Aydın province’s Germencik district.
Prof. Orhan Bingöl, who has been overseeing the excavations in the site since 1984, said four female and one male statues were unearthed in the ruins of a temple to Artemis, adding that one of the statues’ gender was unknown.
Bingöl said all statues were found in the same area and were in good condition of preservation, placed face-down next to each other.
“We know that, along with the ones being displayed in Istanbul, Izmir and Aydın, there have been nearly 50 statues unearthed from Magnesia ruins. Read more.
UNSW scientists have shown – for the first time – that a series of high-profile burial sites in the Pacific, Mediterranean and northern Scotland were likely related to catastrophic tsunamis. The work was published in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory.
Honorary Professor James Goff from the PANGEA Research Centre at UNSW Sydney, who co-authored the paper, says the research provides new insights into past human-environment interactions and a new perspective on past catastrophic events.
“Tsunamis have never been considered as explanations for burial sites before – which is why no prehistoric coastal mass graves have ever been identified in the archaeological record as tsunami-related.
“Proving that a site is related to a past tsunami could lead to a fundamental rewrite of how we interpret coastal human settlement in prehistory, and change what we thought we knew about the culture and people living in the region at the time. It could also have dramatic implications for how archaeologists analyse a site.” Read more.
House of Brat 