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Tag: Archaeology

  • Archaeologists uncover 13,000-year-old mystery at dig site – WTOP News

    State archaeologists and geologists are working together to solve a more than 10,000-year-old mystery at the Piney Grove archaeological site near Reisterstown, building on discoveries first made in May.

    State archaeologists and geologists are working together to solve a more than 10,000-year-old mystery at the Piney Grove archaeological site near Reisterstown, building on discoveries first made in May.

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    BALTIMORE COUNTY, Maryland (WMAR) — State archaeologists and geologists are working together to solve a more than 10,000-year-old mystery at the Piney Grove archaeological site near Reisterstown, building on discoveries first made in May.

    State Terrestrial Archaeologist Zachary Singer and State Geologist Rebecca Kavage Adams are tracking the earliest inhabitants of this region — the Clovis people who walked these lands about 13,000 years ago, long before modern humans built the church that now stands nearby.

    “Every piece of chalcedony we’ve found at the site has been worked. Has been flaked,” Zach updates Rebecca. “So this was the hangout and do the work site.” Zach, “Yes, this was the reduction site.”

    The Clovis people hunted animals now extinct during a time when estimates suggest only around 150 people lived in all of Maryland.

    “It’s a fun partnership because there’s so much common sense to like people’s pathways,” Adams said.

    Zach says what typically survives in the archaeological record from 13,000 years ago are stone tools, which researchers use as evidence to recreate how people lived during that time period.

    Singer and Adams are working to prove that the paths the Clovis walked were governed by their search for a specific stone that would bring hunting success — chalcedony, a translucent stone pointing researchers to a specific time period.

    “The chalcedony must have been found very nearby because we’re finding lots of evidence of people breaking down larger pieces to make hunting tools,” Singer said.

    Chalcedony is uncommon in Maryland’s archaeological record, but when researchers do find it, it’s mostly associated with 13,000-year-old archaeological sites.

    At the end of the last ice age, this land looked much different than today. However, the nearby stream where the team is digging was likely present then, and something made it an ideal location for the Clovis people to make their tools.

    “This site is likely where people were first making those stone tools and then carrying them around the rest of the region,” Singer said.

    The discovery of this site was fortunate for both the ancient Clovis people and modern researchers. When a road was built here in 2001, archaeologists found the site contained a large amount of chalcedony.

    Singer provided state geologists with samples from the collection to determine the type of chalcedony used to make Stone Age points.

    “So I think we could even term it agate because agate is spherically banded fibrous microcrystalline and quartz,” Adams said.

    To make that determination, geologists had to grind back into the stone’s past. Over time, the surface becomes muddled by other elements, so state geologists created billets from the interior of the provided samples. Under the microscope, an identifying pattern emerged in these samples.

    With that part of the mystery solved, researchers can now focus their search for the source of that stone, bringing Adams closer to walking in the ancient steps of the Clovis people.

    “Right now we’re on what’s known as the Cockeysville Marble. So this is a marble that underlies a good portion of Baltimore County. It’s what the Washington Monument was made of,” Adams said. “It’s possible there’s an outcrop of the Cockeysville marble that has this chalcedony that has precipitated in it.”

    Using GPS mapping, Adams and her colleague traverse the land to register data points of rock outcrops that could be the original source of the stone brought to the dig site during the Stone Age.

    “If I am looking for a nice place to live and an easy path to walk, I’m certainly going to do that in a valley that is formed by the Cockeysville marble than hiking over a whole bunch of ridges and difficult terrain, so the two, you know, the archaeology and the geology really go hand in hand that way. I think that’s neat,” Adams said.

    The next step in their search involves blood protein residue analysis on the tools they find. This DNA research allows scientists to extract samples from micro cracks in stone tools. By comparing them to known samples, Singer hopes to identify what these people were hunting.

    “Based on blood residue and protein analysis on stone tools on the East Coast, people have found direct evidence for people 13,000 years ago hunting mammoths and mastodon and bison and extinct horse,” Singer said. “We don’t have that evidence yet directly from Maryland.”

    The emphasis is on “yet.” With the evidence found during this research, a deeper story of Maryland’s past is coming to light at the Piney Grove archaeological site.

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    WTOP Staff

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  • Romans in Ancient Olbia Watered Their Dead With Wine and Beer

    Archaeologists in France have uncovered a 1,700-year-old ancient Roman funerary area, including burials with libation conduits hilariously akin to today’s watering spikes.

    The excavation revealed at least 160 structures associated with cremation on France’s iconic Côte d’Azur, just west of the ancient port town of Olbia in modern-day Hyères. The findings highlight ancient Rome’s diverse funerary traditions and its people’s serious commitment to their dead.

    1,700-year-old burials

    Olbia was a Greek colony founded by Massaliotes—citizens of Marseille, also a Greek colony—in 325 BCE. The burial ground dates back to between the first and third centuries CE, at which point Olbia was part of the Roman colony of Arles.

    The area hosted a funerary practice we often see in historical or fantasy movies (where those left living look on with epically serious expressions and flames reflecting in their teary eyes)—cremation via pyres, essentially a large pile of wood. Here, the ancient Romans built the pyres over rectangular pits and surrounded the deceased with objects destined to follow them into the afterlife.

    The fire caused the wood to collapse into the pit, turned the pit’s walls red, and made the bones white, twisted, and cracked. The burial objects also melted or burnt, which is how experts can tell if they were placed there before or after the fire.

    A partially melted bronze object in a pyre. © Aurélie Luciani, SDA Var

    Afterward, some people turned the collapsed pyres into formal burial sites, while others transferred the cremation remains into separate graves. Either way, archaeologists identified the burials, sometimes marked by sandstone blocks, from their piles of human bones and found unburned objects like glass perfume bottles and vases. Interestingly, some of the bones were arranged in a pile or in a perishable container, as opposed to in a glass, ceramic, stone, or lead urn.

    “Are these social or cultural differences? These discoveries remind us that ancient funerary rites were rich, varied, and imbued with multiple meanings, some of which remain mysterious even today,” reads the statement by France’s National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) describing the discovery.

    Pyre Tomb
    The remains of a pyre with a roof and a libation conduit.  © Sylvie Duchesne, Inrap

    Libation conduits

    Most of the newly discovered graves also featured another distinctive Olbian feature—a conduit for libations, or liquid offerings, such as wine, beer, and mead for either the deceased or the gods. Many of these conduits were mostly made from amphorae, with one of the excavation images (at the top of this article) featuring the top of an upside-down amphora that would have presumably stuck out of the ground like the water spikes some people use to water their plants when they go on vacation.

    The Inrap statement highlights one pyre tomb in particular. Its walls are reddened, and the team found metal nails among the burnt bones, indicating that the deceased was cremated atop a wooden structure such as a stretcher or a bed. Afterward, someone left a jug and two small pots on the pyre’s likely extinguished remains. The pit was then closed with a roof-like cover of tiles and partially filled in to hold up its libation conduit—two upright semi-circular tiles.

    The discovery stands as a reminder that while the Romans are one of the most studied ancient civilizations, they still have secrets in store for archaeologists.

    Margherita Bassi

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  • PHOTOS: 66 million-year-old dinosaur ‘mummy’ skin was actually a perfect clay mask

    In the badlands of eastern Wyoming, the Lance Formation is a trove of prehistoric fossils. And one area in particular — a region less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) across — has provided scientists with at least half a dozen remarkably well-preserved dinosaur specimens complete with details of scaly skin, hooves and spikes.The paleontologist Dr. Paul Sereno and his colleagues dub it “the mummy zone” in a new study that aims to explain why this particular area has given rise to so many amazing finds and define exactly what a dinosaur “mummy” is.In the early 1900s, a fossil hunter named Charles Sternberg found two specimens of a large duck-billed dinosaur, Edmontosaurus annectens, in the Lance Formation. The skeletons were so pristine that Sternberg, along with H.F. Osborn, a paleontologist at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, could make out what appeared to be large swaths of skin with discernible scales and a fleshy crest that seemed to run along the reptile’s neck.Sereno, lead study author and a professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago, described the initial discovery as “the greatest dinosaur mummy — until maybe the juvenile that we found” in the year 2000.Separated by nearly a century, Sereno and his team’s find shared common traits with Sternberg’s: The skeletons were preserved in three-dimensional poses and showed clear evidence of skin and other attributes that don’t usually survive 66 million years in the ground. “Osborn said in 1912 he knew that it wasn’t actual, dehydrated skin, like in Egyptian mummies,” Sereno said. “But what was it?”Whatever it was, “we actually didn’t know how it was preserved,” he said. “It was a mystery.”The new research puts that mystery to rest and can help paleontologists find, recognize and analyze future mummy finds for tiny clues into how giant dinosaurs really looked.A dinosaur death cast in claySereno and his collaborators used CT scanning, 3D imaging, electron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy to analyze two Edmontosaurus mummies they discovered in the Lance Formation in 2000 and 2001 — a juvenile and a young adult. “We looked and we looked and we looked, we sampled and we tested, and we didn’t find any” remnants of soft tissue, Sereno said.What the team found instead was a thin layer of clay, less than one-hundredth of an inch thick, which had formed on top of the animals’ skin. “It’s so real-looking, it’s unbelievable,” he said.Whereas Sternberg and Osborn referred to the “impression” of skin in their specimens, Sereno’s paper proposes an alternate term — “rendering” — which he argues is more precise.The study lays out the conditions that would produce such a rendering. In the Late Cretaceous Period, when Edmontosaurus roamed what is now the American West, the climate cycled between drought and monsoon rains. Drought has been determined to have been the cause of death of the original mummy found by Sternberg and described by Osborn, and of other animals whose fossils were found nearby. Assuming the same is true of the new specimens, the carcasses would have dried in the sun in a week or two.Then, a flash flood buried the bodies in sediment. The decaying carcasses would have been covered by a film of bacteria, which can electrostatically attract clay found in the surrounding sediment. The wafer-thin coating of clay remained long after the underlying tissues decayed completely, retaining their detailed morphology and forming a perfect clay mask.“Clay minerals have a way of attracting to and sticking onto biological surfaces, ensuring a molding that can faithfully reproduce the outermost surfaces of a body, such as skin and other soft tissues,” said Dr. Anthony Martin, professor of practice in the department of environmental sciences at Emory University in Atlanta, who was not involved in the research. “So it makes sense that these clays would have formed such fine portraits of dinosaurs’ scales, spikes and hooves.”Dr. Stephanie Drumheller-Horton, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who also was not involved in the study, is an expert in taphonomy, which she described as “the study of everything that happens to an organism from when it dies until when we find it.” She is particularly interested in how these fossils formed.“Dinosaur mummies have been known for over one hundred years, but there has definitely been more emphasis on describing their skin and less on understanding how they fossilized in the first place,” she said via email. “If we can understand how and why these fossils form, we can better target where to look to potentially find more of them.”A detailed portrait of a duck-billed dinosaurTogether, the two more recently unearthed mummies allowed Sereno and his team to create a detailed update of what Edmontosaurus probably looked like.According to their analyses, the dinosaur, which could grow to over 12 meters (40 feet) long, had a fleshy crest along the neck and back and a row of spikes running down the tail. The creature’s skin was thin enough to produce delicate wrinkles over the rib cage and was dotted with small, pebble-like scales.The clay mask revealed that the animal had hooves, a trait previously preserved only in mammals. That makes it the oldest land animal proven to have hooves and the first known example of a hoofed reptile, Sereno said. “Sorry, mammals, you didn’t invent it,” he joked. “Did we suspect it? Yeah, we suspected it had a hoof from the footprints, but seeing it is believing.”

    In the badlands of eastern Wyoming, the Lance Formation is a trove of prehistoric fossils. And one area in particular — a region less than 10 kilometers (6 miles) across — has provided scientists with at least half a dozen remarkably well-preserved dinosaur specimens complete with details of scaly skin, hooves and spikes.

    The paleontologist Dr. Paul Sereno and his colleagues dub it “the mummy zone” in a new study that aims to explain why this particular area has given rise to so many amazing finds and define exactly what a dinosaur “mummy” is.

    In the early 1900s, a fossil hunter named Charles Sternberg found two specimens of a large duck-billed dinosaur, Edmontosaurus annectens, in the Lance Formation. The skeletons were so pristine that Sternberg, along with H.F. Osborn, a paleontologist at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, could make out what appeared to be large swaths of skin with discernible scales and a fleshy crest that seemed to run along the reptile’s neck.

    Sereno, lead study author and a professor of organismal biology and anatomy at the University of Chicago, described the initial discovery as “the greatest dinosaur mummy — until maybe the juvenile that we found” in the year 2000.

    Separated by nearly a century, Sereno and his team’s find shared common traits with Sternberg’s: The skeletons were preserved in three-dimensional poses and showed clear evidence of skin and other attributes that don’t usually survive 66 million years in the ground. “Osborn said in 1912 he knew that it wasn’t actual, dehydrated skin, like in Egyptian mummies,” Sereno said. “But what was it?”

    Whatever it was, “we actually didn’t know how it was preserved,” he said. “It was a mystery.”

    The new research puts that mystery to rest and can help paleontologists find, recognize and analyze future mummy finds for tiny clues into how giant dinosaurs really looked.

    A dinosaur death cast in clay

    Sereno and his collaborators used CT scanning, 3D imaging, electron microscopy and X-ray spectroscopy to analyze two Edmontosaurus mummies they discovered in the Lance Formation in 2000 and 2001 — a juvenile and a young adult. “We looked and we looked and we looked, we sampled and we tested, and we didn’t find any” remnants of soft tissue, Sereno said.

    What the team found instead was a thin layer of clay, less than one-hundredth of an inch thick, which had formed on top of the animals’ skin. “It’s so real-looking, it’s unbelievable,” he said.

    Whereas Sternberg and Osborn referred to the “impression” of skin in their specimens, Sereno’s paper proposes an alternate term — “rendering” — which he argues is more precise.

    The study lays out the conditions that would produce such a rendering. In the Late Cretaceous Period, when Edmontosaurus roamed what is now the American West, the climate cycled between drought and monsoon rains. Drought has been determined to have been the cause of death of the original mummy found by Sternberg and described by Osborn, and of other animals whose fossils were found nearby. Assuming the same is true of the new specimens, the carcasses would have dried in the sun in a week or two.

    Then, a flash flood buried the bodies in sediment. The decaying carcasses would have been covered by a film of bacteria, which can electrostatically attract clay found in the surrounding sediment. The wafer-thin coating of clay remained long after the underlying tissues decayed completely, retaining their detailed morphology and forming a perfect clay mask.

    “Clay minerals have a way of attracting to and sticking onto biological surfaces, ensuring a molding that can faithfully reproduce the outermost surfaces of a body, such as skin and other soft tissues,” said Dr. Anthony Martin, professor of practice in the department of environmental sciences at Emory University in Atlanta, who was not involved in the research. “So it makes sense that these clays would have formed such fine portraits of dinosaurs’ scales, spikes and hooves.”

    Dr. Stephanie Drumheller-Horton, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who also was not involved in the study, is an expert in taphonomy, which she described as “the study of everything that happens to an organism from when it dies until when we find it.” She is particularly interested in how these fossils formed.

    “Dinosaur mummies have been known for over one hundred years, but there has definitely been more emphasis on describing their skin and less on understanding how they fossilized in the first place,” she said via email. “If we can understand how and why these fossils form, we can better target where to look to potentially find more of them.”

    A detailed portrait of a duck-billed dinosaur

    Together, the two more recently unearthed mummies allowed Sereno and his team to create a detailed update of what Edmontosaurus probably looked like.

    According to their analyses, the dinosaur, which could grow to over 12 meters (40 feet) long, had a fleshy crest along the neck and back and a row of spikes running down the tail. The creature’s skin was thin enough to produce delicate wrinkles over the rib cage and was dotted with small, pebble-like scales.

    mummified dinosaur

    The clay mask revealed that the animal had hooves, a trait previously preserved only in mammals. That makes it the oldest land animal proven to have hooves and the first known example of a hoofed reptile, Sereno said. “Sorry, mammals, you didn’t invent it,” he joked. “Did we suspect it? Yeah, we suspected it had a hoof from the footprints, but seeing it is believing.”

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  • Easter Island’s Moai Statues May Have Walked to Where They Now Stand

    Easter Island statues, traditionally known as moai on the remote island of Rapa Nui in the South Pacific, are some of the most impressive artifacts of ancient Polynesian civilization. How the statues were transported has long remained a conundrum, because they can weigh up to several tons yet are scattered throughout the island. Various theories have been proposed, including that they were dragged on wooden sleds or rolled along the ground, but no supportive evidence has backed those claims.

    In 2012, a US research team succeeded in propping up a 4.35-ton replica of a moai statue and making it “walk.” The technique, in which two teams using ropes tugged the statue in opposite directions to teeter it forward while a third team ensured it wouldn’t topple over, challenged the conventional theories that moai were moved in a horizontal position.

    The question then is how much effort it would have taken to move much larger moai. “Once the moai are in motion, it’s not at all difficult,” explained Carl Lipo, an anthropologist at Binghamton University.

    Lipo and his team systematically surveyed 962 moai statues on Easter Island, focusing primarily on 62 found along ancient roads. They recently published a paper providing strong evidence that moai were transported in an upright position.

    The team also succeeded in moving an exact replica of roadside moai 100 meters in 40 minutes with only 18 people, a far more efficient result than those of previous experiments.

    Researchers demonstrate how the Rapa Nui people may have “walked” moai.

    Rules of the Road

    The study discovered that moai statues positioned along Rapa Nui’s roads have common characteristics. The broad D-shaped base and forward leaning design of the statues optimized the moai for “walking,” even as they increased in size. In fact, moai abandoned by the side of the road were found to have imbalanced centers of gravity and show signs of toppling over during transport.

    This hypothesis is also supported by the ancient roads themselves, which are approximately 4.5 meters wide and have slightly concave cross-sections. Researchers believe these were ideal conditions to aid in stabilizing the moai as they were walked.

    A statistical analysis of the distribution of moai showed 51.6 percent were concentrated within 2 km of the quarry where they originated, demonstrating an exponential decay pattern associated with mechanical failure rather than deliberate ceremonial placement. It’s likely these statues were damaged or fell over during transport and left where they lay.

    Ritsuko Kawai

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  • Scientists Just Solved One of the Most Enduring Mysteries of the Easter Island Statues

    The moai statues of Easter Island have long presented an enigma for researchers wondering how the ancient Rapa Nui people managed to move these enormous monoliths around the island. And now, a team of anthropologists believes they may finally have the answer—by way of some rather bizarre physics experiments.

    In a recent Journal of Archaeological Science paper, anthropologists Carl Lipo and Terry Hunt analyzed 962 moai statues, creating detailed, high-resolution 3D models to investigate their design and how they might have been transported.

    From there, they devised an experiment to test whether a a moai could “walk” from a quarry to its ceremonial platform, a theory they actually tested in the field.

    Researchers confirmed via 3D modeling and field experiments that the ancient people of Rapa Nui “walked” the iconic moai statues. Credit: Carl Lipo/Binghamton University

    They found that, by using ropes, teams of people could coax the statues to waddle in a zig-zag motion: just 18 people could “walk” a 4.35-ton replica moai for about 330 feet (100 meters) in just 40 minutes. The demonstration, they argued, refutes previous theories that the Rapa Nui used wooden transport devices to move their statues, or, even wilder, that they are the relics of alien civilizations.

    “People have spun all kinds of tales about stuff that’s plausible or possible in some way,” Carl Lipo, study lead author and an anthropologist at Binghamton University, said in a statement. “But they never go about evaluating the evidence to show that, in fact, you can learn about the past and explain the record that you see in ways that are fully scientific.”

    The genius in the details

    When creating 3D models of the moai, the researchers identified several design features that may have made the statues conducive to transportation. Specifically, they noted that the statues tended to have a wide D-shaped base and a forward lean (perhaps a product of their large, charming noses). They decided that using an “upright, rocking” motion would be the easiest way to get the statues “walking,” according to the paper.

    Moai Walking 3d Models
    A 3D model of moai, which the researchers used to determine the unique characteristics that made them able to be “walked” across Rapa Nui. Credit: Carl Lipo.

    The roads of Rapa Nui also support this hypothesis, the researchers added. These roads, about 15 feet (4.5 meters) wide with concave cross-sections, appear “purposefully engineered rather than incidental,” meaning they were likely built specifically to help keep the moai stable during their “walks,” the anthropologists explained.

    But the archeological evidence also suggests that the moai themselves may have terraformed the roads, creating more bumps and dents in the road for subsequent moai statues to follow. “This engineering feature transforms what might otherwise be unpredictable movement across rough terrain into a controlled, directed progression along a prepared pathway,” the paper noted.

    Moai Walking Technique Diagram
    A diagram illustrating the “walking” technique whereby moai were moved along prepared roads through alternating lateral rope pulls while maintaining a forward lean of 5–15° from vertical. Credit: Carl Lipo

    “The physics makes sense,” said Lipo. “What we saw experimentally actually works… Every time they’re moving a statue, it looks like they’re making a road. The road is part of moving the statue. We actually see them overlapping each other and many parallel versions of them.”

    Case closed?

    The debate over the “correct” explanation for moai transportation is a surprisingly heated one, and a section of the paper is entirely dedicated to rejecting alternative explanations.

    However, the researchers argue that their “walking moai hypothesis” also aligns with Rapa Nui oral traditions and songs that have described the moai as “walking” from the quarry. If the new theory is correct, it may be reflective of the songs of these ancient engineers.

    “It shows that the Rapa Nui people were incredibly smart. They figured this out,” said Lipo. “They’re doing it the way that’s consistent with the resources they have. So it really gives honor to those people, saying, look at what they were able to achieve, and we have a lot to learn from them in these principles.”

    Gayoung Lee

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  • Oldest Shell Jewelry Workshop in Western Europe Dates Back 42,000 Years

    Between 55,000 and 42,000 years ago, the Châtelperronian people lived in what is now modern-day France and northern Spain. Their tool industry is among the earliest known from this part of the world during the Upper Paleolithic, a time spanning 55,000 and 42,000 years ago. And as new research suggests, Châtelperronians also had a knack for shell-based jewelry.

    Researchers excavating at the Palaeolithic site of La Roche-à-Pierrot in Saint-Césaire on France’s Atlantic coast have discovered pigments and shells, both pierced and unpierced, from the Châtelperronian period. The presence of shells without holes and the lack of wear marks on some of the punctures suggest that the site was a jewelry workshop. Specifically, Western Europe’s oldest shell jewelry workshop.

    Mysterious jewelry artisans

    It was around this time that our species, Homo sapiens, began spilling out from Africa, replacing Europe’s last Neanderthals. This has consequently fueled an enduring mystery about the Châtelperronian people. Were they Neanderthals or Homo sapiens? A bit of both? The new finding complicates the picture even further.

    “This hitherto undocumented combination of an early Upper Paleolithic industry and shell beads provides insights into cultural variability in western Europe and raises the question as to whether the makers of the Châtelperronian were influenced by or formed part of the earliest dispersals of H. sapiens into the region,” the researchers wrote in a study published yesterday in the journal PNAS.

    Top left: virtual reconstruction of Roche-à-Pierrot shells. Center left: pierced shells linked to Châtelperronian stone tools. Bottom left: pigments found in the same area. Right: pigment and piercings on the shells. © S. Rigaud & L. Dayet

    The researchers found 37 Châtelperronian stone tools, 96 red and yellow pigment fragments (pigments are intensely colored compounds), and at least 42,000-year-old shells, including 30 complete, pierced specimens. The assemblage includes the first known evidence of shell beads directly linked to Châtelperronian stone tools. They also uncovered known Neanderthal tools as well as the remnants of hunted bison and horses.

    The shells come from the Atlantic coast, which would’ve been around 62 miles (100 kilometers) from the site at the time, while the pigments came from over 25 miles (40 km) away. These distances suggest the presence of either vast trade networks or notable human mobility.

    The shell jewelry and pigments represent the time period’s “explosion of symbolic expression,” featuring ornamentation, social differentiation, and identity affirmation typically linked with Homo sapiens, according to a statement from France’s National Centre for Scientific Research. Furthermore, the finding suggests that the Châtelperronian people belonged to or were impacted by Homo sapiens arriving in the region some 42,000 years ago.

    Prehistoric symbolic expression

    “Disentangling these potential scenarios remains challenging in the absence of definitive evidence concerning the maker of the Châtelperronian,” the researchers wrote in the study. “Nevertheless, the unique symbolic behavior of Châtelperronian groups brought to light at Saint-Césaire likely developed against the backdrop of a more diverse biocultural landscape.”

    Interactions between diverse biological and cultural groups may have kick-started the rise of shared symbolic behavior during the European Upper Paleolithic, according to the study.

    So next time you wear a seashell necklace or bracelet, remember that you’re following in the footsteps of a prehistoric jewelry fashion tens of thousands of years old.

    Margherita Bassi

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  • The Land Bridge You’ve Never Heard Of

    For many of us, when we think of land bridges, we tend to think of the Bering Land Bridge (actually more of a swamp), which ancient humans traversed to reach North America from modern-day Siberia during the last Ice Age. But there may have been another, crucial stretch of land that aided early human migration—this time, far across the continent, on the Anatolian coast.

    That’s the major new finding from a team of Turkish archeologists who have uncovered over 100 stone artifacts from ten different sites along the peninsula. They indicate that a land bridge, now underwater, had once existed between the western edge of Asia and Europe, enabling humans to move between these regions. If their theory holds, it would reveal a previously unknown chapter in the history of human migration at a critical moment in our evolution and development as a species.

    An unexplored prehistoric region

    “This study explores the Paleolithic potential of Ayvalık, a region in western Anatolia that has remained largely unexamined in Pleistocene archaeology,” the researchers wrote in their study, which was published Friday in the Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology. “These findings reveal a previously undocumented Paleolithic presence and establish Ayvalık as a promising locus for future research on early human dispersals in the northeastern Aegean.”

    The Paleolithic Period—around 2.6 million to 12,000 years ago—and the Pleistocene Epoch—around 2.5 million to 11,700 years ago—refer to roughly the same stretch of time. The former is an anthropological term, while the latter is a geological term.

    During the last Ice Age (between around 120,000 and 11,500 years ago), Earth’s landscape looked much different than today. Besides gargantuan amounts of ice, the sea level then was significantly lower. Ayvalık’s islands and peninsulas, for example, would have been part of a single stretch of land connecting Anatolia and Europe.

    An unforgettable moment of discovery

    Still, scholars have long believed that Homo sapiens mostly reached Europe from Africa by traveling through the Levant and the Balkans. But the newly discovered tools, indicate that people were present in Ayvalık’s bygone landscapes. The researchers found Paleolithic hand axes, cleavers, and Levallois flake tools (stone implements that had sharp edges and were likely used as knives). The team argues that the findings offer an alternative narrative of early human migration.

    “The presence of these objects in Ayvalık is particularly significant, as they provide direct evidence that the region was part of wider technological traditions shared across Africa, Asia, and Europe,” Göknur Karahan, an archeologist from Hacettepe University, said in a statement.

    “It was a truly unforgettable moment for us. Holding the first tools in our hands was both emotional and inspiring,” Karahan added.

    Substantive artifact dating, stratigraphic excavations, and reconstructions of the ancient environment will be crucial to determining whether their theory is correct, including possibly searching for artifacts on the bottom of the Aegean sea.

    Margherita Bassi

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  • New Study Questions a Major Assumption About the Fall of the Roman Empire

    The period after the Roman Empire abandoned Britain has long been known as the “Dark Ages” for a reason. Scholars believed that after the Romans left, local industries collapsed and effectively all progress ceased for centuries. Britain, they theorized, was plunged into a cultural and economic abyss with their departure.

    But for some time, a growing body of evidence has challenged this narrative. And in a new study published today in the journal Antiquity, researchers investigate the assumption that Britain’s metal economy ceased to function. Specifically, they interrogated the idea that when the Romans left Britain around the year 400, country’s lead and iron production—which the Romans may have brought with them to the isles—immediately and irreparably declined.

    Reimagining northern England’s economy

    The researchers studied metal pollutants in a sediment core extracted from Aldborough in North Yorkshire—a former Roman hub for metal production. They combined that analysis with other local textual and archeological evidence.

    “Finding that fluctuations in pollution correspond with sociopolitical events, pandemics and recorded trends in British metal production c. AD 1100–1700, the authors extend the analysis to earlier periods that lack written records, providing a new post-Roman economic narrative for northern England,” the researchers argued in the paper.

    Until now, the fate of Britain’s crucial metal industry after the Romans left was unknown, and there isn’t any written evidence testifying that lead production continued after the third century. The researchers’ approach, however, revealed that Britain’s metal production remained strong until about a century after the Romans left, experiencing a sudden drop some time around AD 550-600.

    It remains a mystery what caused the crash, but other historical sources and DNA evidence suggest Europe was engulfed by the bubonic plague at that time, wreaking devastating to the entire region’s economy.

    Britain’s rich history of making metals

    Still, the research demonstrates that “not all industrial commodity production ended in the early 5th century,” Christopher Loveluck, lead author of the study and an archeologist at the University of Nottingham, said in a statement.

    “At Aldborough, it is possible metal production expanded steadily using the ores and coal-fuel of the Roman period,” he added.

    More broadly, Loveluck and his team’s work adds to the expanding body of evidence that suggests the so-called Dark Ages weren’t so dark after all.

    Interestingly, the sediment core also reveals other post-Roman fluctuations in metal production that align with other pivotal events in British history—including Henry VIII‘s Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century. During that time, metal production declined significantly because people were literally pulling metal off monasteries, abbeys, and other religious houses, Loveluck explains.

    Margherita Bassi

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  • Bronze Age Britons Threw Massive Ragers With Food and Friends From Far Away

    You can learn a lot about people by studying their trash, including populations that lived thousands of years ago.

    In what the team calls the “largest study of its kind,” researchers applied this principle to Britain’s iconic middens, or giant prehistoric trash (excuse me, rubbish) piles. Their analysis revealed that at the end of the Bronze Age (2,300 to 800 BCE), people—and their animals—traveled from far to feast together.

    “At a time of climatic and economic instability, people in southern Britain turned to feasting—there was perhaps a feasting age between the Bronze and Iron Age,” Richard Madgwick, an archaeologist at Cardiff University and co-author of the study published yesterday in the journal iScience, said in a university statement. “These events are powerful for building and consolidating relationships both within and between communities, today and in the past.”

    Origin of butchered animals

    One of the studied sheep remains. © Cardiff University.

    Madgwick and his colleagues investigated material from six middens in Wiltshire and the Thames Valley via isotope analysis, a technique archaeologists use to link animal remains to the unique chemical make-up of a particular geographic area. The technique reveals where the animals were raised, allowing the researchers to see how far people traveled to join these feasts.

    “The scale of these accumulations of debris and their wide catchment is astonishing and points to communal consumption and social mobilisation on a scale that is arguably unparalleled in British prehistory,” Madgwick added.

    A particularly large midden, from Wiltshire’s village of Potterne, stretches across around five football pitches worth of area (this is the UK, so they probably mean soccer fields) and includes up to 15 million bone remains. The researcher’s analysis revealed that here, pork was preferred, with one or more specimens coming all the way from northern England. Nonetheless, the animals came from several areas, indicating that the Potterne location was a place of gathering for both local and distant producers.

    The team found that Runnymede in Surrey was similarly also a large regional center, though cattle were the animals that made the long journey there. On the other hand, the estimated remains of hundreds of thousands of animals in a mound in East Chisenbury, just 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Stonehenge, were mostly sheep. What’s more, the researchers noted that the majority of the East Chisenbury animals were local.

    Feasting Debris
    Feasting debris from East Chisenbury, including pottery and bone fragments. © Cardiff University.

    “Our findings show each midden had a distinct make up of animal remains, with some full of locally raised sheep and others with pigs or cattle from far and wide,” said Carmen Esposito, lead author of the study and an archaeologist at the University of Bologna. “We believe this demonstrates that each midden was a lynchpin in the landscape, key to sustaining specific regional economies, expressing identities and sustaining relations between communities during this turbulent period, when the value of bronze dropped and people turned to farming instead.”

    A number of these prehistoric trash heaps, which resulted from potentially the largest feasts in Britain until the Middle Ages (that would mean they even outdid the Romans), were eventually incorporated into the landscape as small hills.

    “Overall, the research points to the dynamic networks that were anchored on feasting events during this period and the different, perhaps complementary, roles that each midden had at the Bronze Age-Iron Age transition,” Madgwick concluded.

    Since previous research indicates that Late Neolithic (2,800 BCE to 2,400 BCE) communities in Britain were also organizing feasts that attracted guests—and their pigs—from far and wide, I think it’s fair to say that prehistoric British people were throwing successful ragers across 2,000 years.

    Margherita Bassi

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  • World’s oldest known nursing home discovered in ruins of ancient Christian city, dates back 1,600 years

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    Archaeologists in Israel have uncovered a 1,600-year-old Christian care facility for the elderly – a remarkable find that may be the world’s oldest nursing home.

    The news, reported by Israel’s news agency TPS-IL, was announced by the University of Haifa on Aug. 18. 

    The care facility was found in the ruins of the ancient city of Hippos near the Sea of Galilee. The Christian city was a significant bishop’s seat in the region during the Byzantine era.

    LUXURIOUS 1,700-YEAR-OLD ROMAN BATHHOUSE UNEARTHED BY ARCHAEOLOGISTS AFTER SURPRISE DISCOVERY

    While excavating the ruins, archaeologists from the University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology were struck by a floor design at the entrance of an ancient building.

    The mosaic’s message read, “Peace be with the elders,” in Koine Greek. It was found around 320 feet from Hippos’ central plaza, inside one of the city’s residential blocks.

    Archaeologists in Israel uncovered a 1,600-year-old Christian care facility near the Sea of Galilee. (Dr. Michael Eisenberg of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology and the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa/TPS-IL)

    Dating back to the fourth or fifth century A.D., archaeologists are convinced that the building was a designated facility for older residents.

    “It shows that Byzantine society established not only religious centers but also places dedicated to dignity and care for its seniors.”

    Some sources from the fifth and sixth centuries record the existence of elderly care facilities, making the discovery unique but not entirely without precedent. The inscription may also be the first physical evidence of such an institution.

    ANCIENT CHRISTIAN TOMB COMPLEX REVEALED BENEATH RUBBLE FROM SYRIA’S CIVIL WAR

    Researchers posit that the message was intentionally placed at the entrance of the building, in order to designate its purpose to elderly residents and visitors.

    Mosaic with christian symbol, greek text

    Archaeologists say the Greek inscription, reading “Peace be with the elders,” offers rare insight into Byzantine life. (Michael Eisenberg, Ph.D., of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology and the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa/TPS-IL)

    The symbols on the mosaic – cyrpress trees, fruit and Egyptian geese – also complement the Greek text, with researchers interpreting them as deliberate choices.

    For example, cypress trees were associated with everlasting life, while fruits symbolized abundance and eternal life. Egyptian geese, on the other hand, often represented blessed souls in ancient iconography.

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    Directly referencing elders in such a manner is exceptionally rare in ancient inscriptions, underscoring the significance of the find.

    Mosaic depicting birds drinking

    The mosaic’s imagery, including cypress trees, fruit and Egyptian geese, symbolized eternity and abundance. (Michael Eisenberg, Ph.D., of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology and the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa/TPS-IL)

    In a statement, Michael Eisenberg, Ph.D., said that the mosaic “offers a tangible, dated, and clear indication of an institution designed for the elderly.”

    “This is living proof that care and concern for the elderly are not just a modern idea, but were part of social institutions and concepts as far back as about 1,600 years ago,” Eisenberg observed, according to TPS-IL.

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    He added, “It shows that Byzantine society established not only religious centers but also places dedicated to dignity and care for its seniors.”

    Aerial of Hippos near Galilee Sea

    “The inscription addresses a specific public directly, which is a rare glimpse into older lives in antiquity,” the team said. (Michael Eisenberg, Ph.D., of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology and the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa/TPS-IL)

    The research team, which published its findings in the Journal of Papyrology and Epigraphy, stressed that the discovery offers “a rare glimpse into the daily lives of older people in antiquity.”

    “This was a communal and spiritual institution integrated into the fabric of city life and reflecting the social values of the period,” the researchers said in a statement, as TPS-IL noted.

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    “It may provide one of the earliest material testimonies in the Holy Land, showing how the Christian community began assuming responsibilities for care that had previously been handled by family networks alone.”

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  • How a PhD Student Discovered a Lost Mayan City From Hundreds of Miles Away

    How a PhD Student Discovered a Lost Mayan City From Hundreds of Miles Away

    A new Mayan city, lost in the dense jungle of southern Mexico for centuries, has been discovered from the computer of a PhD student hundreds of miles away. This is the story of how he did it.

    The settlement, named Valeriana after a nearby freshwater lagoon, has all the characteristics of a classic Maya political capital: enclosed plazas, pyramids, a ball court, a reservoir, and an architectural layout that suggests a foundation prior to 150 AD, according to a newly published study in the journal Antiquity.

    And how did Tulane University graduate student Luke Auld-Thomas find it? The answer lies in lasers. Until recently, archaeology was limited to what a researcher could observe from the ground and with their eyes. However, the technology of detecting and measuring distances with light, known as lidar, has revolutionized the field, allowing us to scan entire regions in search of archaeological sites hidden under dense vegetation or concrete.

    Let’s travel back in time. It is 1848 and the governor of Petén, Guatemala, Modesto Méndez, together with Ambrosio Tut, an artist and chronicler of the time, rediscovered Tikal, one of the most majestic archaeological sites of the Mayan civilization. In the middle of the 19th century, little was known about this advanced culture—which calculated lunar, solar, and Venusian cycles, and invented hieroglyphic writing and the concept of the number zero with hardly any tools.

    The dense rainforest surrounding Tikal and its lack of roads made it extremely difficult to reach the remains. But the Guatemalan government went deep into the heart of the Petén jungle anyway, in search of its cultural heritage. Guided by the rumors of the locals, machete in hand, along with tape measure and compass, they entered the Petén jungle on an almost impossible mission. Arriving at the Tikal site, Méndez and his team were amazed at what they saw: gigantic temples and pyramids, mostly covered by the jungle. The most imposing constructions, hidden by nature, towered above the tree canopy. Tikal, although partially buried, retained its majesty and gave clues to the enormous size of the city.

    History repeated itself in 2024—but with some important variations. Rather than a machete, Auld-Thomas armed himself with a search engine. WIRED spoke this week with him and Marcello Canuto, director of Tulane’s Middle American Research Institute, about the discovery.

    Anna Lagos

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  • World’s oldest shipwreck is perfectly preserved vessel from 2,400 years ago

    World’s oldest shipwreck is perfectly preserved vessel from 2,400 years ago

    THE world’s oldest shipwreck has been perfectly preserved more than a mile deep beneath the sea for 2,400 years.

    The Greek trading vessel was discovered in an astonishing state of preservation in the Black Sea off the Bulgarian coast and has been dated back to 400BC.

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    The 2,400-year-old vessel at the bottom of the Black SeaCredit: BLACK SEA MAP/EEF EXPEDITIONS
    Divers at the site of the wreckage

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    Divers at the site of the wreckageCredit: YouTube
    They managed to take a small piece of the vessel for researchers to carbon date

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    They managed to take a small piece of the vessel for researchers to carbon dateCredit: YouTube

    Found lying on its side by an Anglo-Bulgarian team in late 2017, the 75ft structure is officially the world’s oldest known intact shipwreck.

    Despite thousands of years isolated almost 1.25 miles beneath the surface, the rudder, rowing benches and even the contents of its hold are as they were.

    That’s thanks to the lack of oxygen at those depths, meaning organic material can be preserved for thousands of years.

    It was discovered as one of 65 ship wrecks by the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project (Black Sea MAP), who used advanced mapping technology to survey more than 2,000 sq km of seabed.

    Also found was a 17th century Cossack raiding fleet and Roman trading vessels complete with amphorae.

    But the Greek merchant ship is of a kind only previously seen on the side of ancient Greek pottery, such as the ‘Siren Vase’ in the British Museum.

    Dating back to around 480 BC, the vase shows Odysseus strapped to the mast as his ship sails past three mythical sea nymphs whose tune was thought to drive sailors to their deaths.

    A small piece of the vessel was taken following its discovery to be carbon dated by the research team, which confirmed the ship to be at least 2,400 years old.

    A member of the expedition, Helen Farr, described the wreckage as something from “another world”.

    She told the BBC: “It’s when the ROV [remote operated vehicle] drops down through the water column and you see this ship appear in the light at the bottom so perfectly preserved it feels like you step back in time.”

    Lying more than 2,000m below the surface, the wreckage is also beyond the reach of modern divers.

    “It’s preserved, it’s safe,” Farr added. “It’s not deteriorating and it’s unlikely to attract hunters.”

    Also involved in the expedition was an international team of scientists led by University of Southampton experts.

    Jon Adams, Professor of Archaeology at the institution, is Black Sea MAP’s principal investigator.

    He said the discovery of an intact ship from the Classical world is something he never believed was possible.

    “This will change our understanding of shipbuilding and seafaring in the ancient world,” he told the university’s website.

    The University worked with the National Institute and Museum of Archaeology, and the Centre of Underwater Archaeology, both in Bulgaria, on the project.

    The ships cargo remains unknown, however,

    The research team said more funding would be needed if they are to return to the site.

    “Normally we find amphorae (wine vases) and can guess where it’s come from, but with this it’s still in the hold,” said Dr Farr.

    “As archaeologists we’re interested in what it can tell us about technology, trade and movements in the area.”

    Experts have also spent decades hunting for one of the world’s most valuable shipwrecks that could have £1billion in gold onboard.

    Dubbed the “El Dorado of the Sea” an English ship named the Merchant Royal sank off the coast of Cornwall leaving behind an incredible amount of riches.

    And last year, a never-before-seen 17th century shipwreck was discovered.

    The ship carried future Kings of England and was found buried in the sand, untouched for 350 years.

    The oldest known wreck

    THE recently discovered Greek merchant ship might be more than 2,400 years old but it isn’t the oldest known wreck to ever be found.

    That title belongs to the the Dokos shipwreck, which dates back to the second Proto-Helladic period, 2700–2200 BC.

    That puts it at around 4,224 years old, making it the oldest underwater shipwreck discovery known to archaeologists.

    Located off the coast of southern Greece near the island of Dokos in the Aegean Sea, the wreck sits about 50-100ft beneath the surface.

    The discovery was made by American archeologist Peter Throckmorton on August 23, 1975.

    However, with everything on board that was biodegradable being dissolved by the sea, the ship itself is long gone.

    The only surviving evidence of the shipwreck is a cargo site of hundreds of clay vases and other ceramic items that were carried aboard the ship.

    According to the Hellenic Institute of Marine Archaeology (HIMA), the pottery consisted of hundreds of ceramic pieces including cups, kitchenware, and urns.

    Over 500 clay vases were uncovered, dating to the Early Helladic period, and there were a variety of sauceboats in multiple shapes and sizes.

    These artefacts and items were raised from the sea floor and transported to the Spetses Museum, where they have been placed into conservation.

    It's believed the ship could hold up to 25 crew members

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    It’s believed the ship could hold up to 25 crew membersCredit: BLACK SEA MAP/EEF EXPEDITIONS
    The Greek merchant ship is of a kind only previously seen on the side of ancient Greek pottery, such as the 'Siren Vase' in the British Museum

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    The Greek merchant ship is of a kind only previously seen on the side of ancient Greek pottery, such as the ‘Siren Vase’ in the British MuseumCredit: Getty
    The boat almost perfectly resembled the one from the vase

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    The boat almost perfectly resembled the one from the vaseCredit: YouTube
    An expert holding a plaque of the shipwreck

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    An expert holding a plaque of the shipwreckCredit: YouTube

    Tom Malley

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  • Ancient tin badge — depicting a dragon — found in Poland. It had a special purpose

    Ancient tin badge — depicting a dragon — found in Poland. It had a special purpose

    An ancient badge found in Poland was likely worn by a Middle Ages traveler for protection, according to experts from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments.

    An ancient badge found in Poland was likely worn by a Middle Ages traveler for protection, according to experts from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments.

    Screengrab from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments on Facebook

    After discovering a small, lead and tin object in Poland, an archaeologist shared his find with local officials.

    It turned out to be an ancient “odznaka pielgrzyma” — which translates to “pilgrim’s badge” — a rare find for the area, according to a Feb. 23 Facebook post from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments.

    The circular badge is made of a mix of lead and tin, and it measures about 1 inch in diameter, experts said. It was unearthed in the village of Wólka Nieliska.

    Experts said the badge depicts a basilisk dragon, which in ancient times was a mythological monster-like serpent known to kill its prey with just a look or a breath.

    Photos shared by the conservator show the ancient artifact.

    Pilgrim’s badges originated in the Middle Ages, and they were common between the 11th and 16th centuries, officials said. They were worn by travelers, or pilgrims, as protection against dangers such as assault, theft and disease. They were also meant to manifest the purpose of a trip.

    Researchers said the badges came in various shapes and forms. They could be circular, cross-shaped or shield-shaped. Some depicted saints, knights or other human figures, while others showed animal figures, like the dragon.

    A handful of other pilgrim’s badges have been found in Poland, but there are more throughout western Europe, according to the conservator.

    Wólka Nieliska is in eastern Poland, about 160 miles southeast of Warsaw.

    Google Translate and Facebook were used to translate a Facebook post from the Lublin Provincial Conservator of Monuments.

    Moira Ritter covers real-time news for McClatchy. She is a graduate of Georgetown University where she studied government, journalism and German. Previously, she reported for CNN Business.

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  • Inside underground diner 200ft down in ancient CAVE bought by poker player

    Inside underground diner 200ft down in ancient CAVE bought by poker player

    THIS extraordinary diner is located 210 feet underground – after a poker player thought he’d struck gold but was left empty-handed.

    To get to this restaurant, you’ll need to take an elevator down into a 345-million-year-old cave network that stretches 60 miles across the Grand Canyon in the US.

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    The Grand Canyon Caverns is located in the Grand Canyons in Arizona
    Inside it is a four-table eatery that offers simple American comfort food

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    Inside it is a four-table eatery that offers simple American comfort foodCredit: Grand Canyon Caverns & Grotto
    Food is cooked at ground level and is sent to the cave in an elevator

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    Food is cooked at ground level and is sent to the cave in an elevatorCredit: Grand Canyon Caverns & Grotto

    Back in 1927, a gambler named Walter Peck first discovered the unique cave on his way to a poker night.

    The Santa Fe Railroad worker fell off his house after finding an eight-foot hole in the middle of a trail.

    Peck continued his journey to the game but later returned to the spot to learn more about the absurd hole.

    It is said that he thought underneath the ground would be mine full of treasure.

    The next morning, Peck came along with three other people who lowered him down the hole.

    After reaching the bottom, he found himself in the middle of a large, dark cavern.

    With a coal oil lantern, he explored the spot and thought he had struck a huge gold mine.

    He then bought the entire 800 acres of land surrounding the cave.

    But little did he know what seemed gold to him was actually iron oxide and selenite crystals.

    Famous tour guide Ron Pritchard told Arizona Highways TV: “What it all adds up to is we have one of the largest quantities of the most worthless material in Arizona.”

    THE NATURAL WONDER

    The Grand Canyon Caverns were formed over millions of years when rainwater started seeping into the limestone and created connecting passageways and cavities.

    Over time, mild acids and other natural solutions came along with the rainwater that dissolved soft limestone and created more pathways.

    Eventually, when conditions changed and rainwater stopped pouring in, these cavities were left to dry and the evaporation process forced to crate beautiful formations inside the cave – which Peck seemingly mistook for precious metals.

    But thanks to his discovery, now visitors can explore the cave’s sprawling innards while having a meal.

    THE RESTAURANT

    Known as the Caverns Grotto, the four-table eatery offers simple American comfort meals, but the food voyage is not so simple.

    It is cooked at ground level and is sent to the cave in an elevator.

    It is then hoisted on a pulley 25 feet in the air to the raised wooden platform which forms the dining room.

    Diners enjoy 360-degree views of the largest known chamber in the cave network.

    The caves are so deep beneath the Earth’s surface that absolutely no outside sound reaches the chambers, apart from the conversations made by other diners.

    There is also the Grand Caverns & Inn – a unique hotel where explorers can spend some time living the enriching experience.

    There is also a hotel service called the Grand Canyon Caverns & Inn

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    There is also a hotel service called the Grand Canyon Caverns & InnCredit: Grand Canyon Caverns & Grotto
    Explorers can spend some time living the enriching experience

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    Explorers can spend some time living the enriching experienceCredit: Grand Canyon Caverns & Grotto

    Sayan Bose

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  • Giant 200,000-year-old stone hand ax discovered in desert—”Amazing”

    Giant 200,000-year-old stone hand ax discovered in desert—”Amazing”

    Archaeologists have discovered a giant hand ax that is thought to be more than 200,000 years old.

    An international team of research researchers uncovered the prehistoric stone artifact during an archaeological survey conducted in a desert landscape known as the Qurh Plain in northwestern Saudi Arabia.

    “This hand axe is one of the most important finds from our ongoing survey of the Qurh Plain. This amazing stone tool is more than a half a meter [around 20 inches] long and is the largest example of a series of stone tools discovered on the site,” project director Ömer Aksoy, with TEOS Heritage, an archaeological consultancy firm based in Turkey, said in a press release this week.

    “An ongoing search for comparisons from across the world has not come up with a hand axe of equal size. As such, this may well be one of the largest hand axes ever discovered,” Aksoy said.

    The prehistoric hand ax at the location where it was found in the Qurh Plain, northwestern Saudi Arabia. The stone artifact is thought to be more than 200,000 years old.
    The Royal Commission for AlUla

    The Qurh Plain is located to the south of AlUla, an ancient oasis city featuring mud-brick and stone houses, which was founded in the 6th century B.C.

    The area surrounding AlUla is a region of outstanding natural and cultural significance in Saudi Arabia, containing important archaeological remains and sites. Aside from the city of AlUla itself, the region is also home to Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, Hegra. Video of the discovery can be seen here.

    Hegra is an ancient city spanning around 52 hectares, much of which dates back to the 1st century A.D. The site contains nearly 100 well-preserved tombs with elaborate facades cut into the outcrops of sandstone.

    The city was once the southernmost settlement of the Nabatean Kingdom, whose capital city was Petra—a famous archaeological site in modern-day Jordan that is also listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

    The Nabateans were an ancient people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. They traded incense, spices and other goods, amassing significant wealth and influence, with Petra establishing itself as a major regional hub.

    A distinct Nabatean kingdom emerged from the mid-3rd century B.C., of which Petra became the capital. The kingdom became a client state of the Roman Empire in the first century B.C. and in A.D. 106, the territory was annexed, losing its independence.

    Despite being renowned for its Nabatean history, the AlUla region also displays evidence of human occupation stretching back much further—around 200,000 years ago, during the middle of the Paleolithic period. Among this evidence is the stone hand ax recently uncovered by archaeologists in the Qurh Plain.

    Researchers examining a stone hand axe
    Researchers examining the stone hand ax. The tool measures around 20 inches in length, 4 inches wide and 2 inches thick.
    The Royal Commission for AlUla

    The stone tool, which measures around 20 inches in length, 4 inches wide and 2 inches thick, is made of fine-grained basalt. The evidence indicates that it had been worked on both sides to produce a robust tool with usable cutting or chopping edges. At this stage, it is not clear exactly what the tool was used for, the researchers said.

    The survey being conducted in the Qurh Plain is still ongoing, and the artifact is one of more than a dozen similar, albeit somewhat smaller, Paleolithic hand axes that have been uncovered.