Ancient Weapons Dug Up by Archaeologists in England

Over 5000 worked flints came from one small area, including flint cores used for tool creation, blades, flakes and 'debitage' (small chips from tool-working), and scrapers, piercers and microlith tools with the latter being used in composite arrowheads. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Leicester)
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Staff at the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS) have been excited by the results from a recently excavated major Prehistoric site at Asfordby, near Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire. The Mesolithic site may date from as early as 9000 BC, by which time hunter-gatherers had reoccupied the region after the last ice age. These hunters crossed the land bridge from the continental mainland -- 'Britain' was only to become an island several thousand years later.

The site was excavated during 2009 by ULAS in advance of a residential development for Jelson Homes Ltd. Initial trenching work identified several worked flint blades of characteristic Mesolithic type, and clearly in an unworn and undisturbed state. Further work confirmed that these rare flint finds were preserved in a Mesolithic soil, buried by a much later ploughsoil. Because this early soil had survived intact, it was thought possible that original features such as hearths and structures might still remain, and activities linked to the flint scatter could also be found.

Excavation targeted an area just ten metres square, where the limits of the flint scatter had been identified from test results. Within this small area, a charcoal rich former hearth was found, and also several postholes and arcs of stones that may show the position of tent-like structures. Burnt animal bone and further charcoal chips were also found indicating cooking activities. The site is probably located where it is at least partly because the local soils have natural flint chunks or 'nodules' that could have been used for flintworking. Also, the site would have been a shallow valley in Mesolithic times, and sheltered from the elements.

As important as this evidence was however, the worked flint from site was what really made the excavations significant. Over 5000 worked flints came from this small area, including flint cores used for tool creation, blades, flakes and 'debitage' (small chips from tool-working), and scrapers, piercers and microlith tools with the latter being used in composite arrowheads. The Mesolithic people were occupying this site making and repairing broken flint weapons and tools on a large scale. Some of the microlith projectile points have impact fractures indicating that they had been used in arrowheads which had then been collected and reused. These tasks would have been carried out as part of a range of activities associated with their hunting expeditions.

Further work on the finds from this regionally unique site is still to be carried out at the University of Leicester. The finds -- worked flint, animal bone and charcoal, will allow archaeologists to identify the flintworking processes and other tasks carried out, the different animals that were hunted, and the environment at the time of the Mesolithic hunters.

Archaeologists Discover Amphitheatre In Excavation Of Portus, Ancient Port Of Rome

Marble head of statue is unearthed close to remains of an amphitheatre discovered by University of Southampton archaeologists. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Southampton)

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University of Southampton archaeologists leading a major excavation of Portus, the ancient port of Rome, have uncovered the remains of an amphitheatre-shaped-building, solving a mystery which has puzzled experts for over 140 years.

The excavation team, working in collaboration with the British School at Rome, is conducting the first ever large-scale dig at Portus on the banks of a hexagonal shaped man-made lake which formed the 2nd century harbour, near the Italian capital.

"When the site was visited by archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani in the 1860s he marked on his plans the remains of a theatre, but subsequently no trace of the building could be found," says Portus Project Director and leading expert in Roman Archaeology at the University of Southampton, Professor Simon Keay.

"Our team has rediscovered this 'theatre' and proved it was in fact a building more akin to an amphitheatre. Lanciani had only found half of the structure, leading him to misinterpret its shape and function."

Funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, experts from Southampton have been working with colleagues from the BSR, The Italian Archaeological Superintendency for Ostia and the University of Cambridge, to carry out extensive excavation at Portus. They have uncovered a large Roman warehouse, the 'amphitheatre' and what the team have identified as an Imperial palace. This is likely to have played host to renowned emperors such as Hadrian.

Portus was Rome's gateway to the Mediterranean for most of the Imperial period and played a key role in funnelling food, slaves, wild animals, marble and all manner of luxury goods from across the Mediterranean and beyond to the citizens of Rome. It was vital to the survival of the Empire and the only real 'transport hub' serving the city.

"The 'amphitheatre' we have discovered was similar in ground area to the Pantheon in Rome, but it is unclear exactly what it was used for," continues Professor Keay.

"Gladiatorial combat may have taken place there - wild beast baiting, the staging of mock sea battles, or it may have been a form of Roman 'folly', shaped like an amphitheatre, but used as a monumental garden. It is unusual to find this type of building so close to a harbour."

Having solved one riddle, archaeologists have now uncovered another; the white marble head of a statue unearthed at the site of once-luxurious rooms close to the 'amphitheatre'. It is thought the head dates back to the 2nd or early 3rd century, however it is less clear who it depicts.

"The elderly bearded male wearing a flat skull-cap could suggest it is Ulysses, however it is equally possible it is a representation of one of the Greek sailors who accompanied him on his travels. For the moment his identity remains a mystery," concludes Professor Keay.

Part of the 'Portus Project' involves the work of the University of Southampton's Archaeological Computing Research Group. They are producing computer generated images which bring the port to life and provide archaeologists with a valuable 'tool' with which to explore the site. The University of Southampton and the BSR are jointly using ground-penetrating radar and other techniques to map buried buildings and other structures. The Portus Project has also been undertaking a geophysical survey of the Isola Sacra, an island to the south of Portus, and has found a major new canal and traces of Rome's marble yards.

Research has been underway at Portus for several years and Professor Keay hopes to continue working there. "This is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world," he says.

"Certainly it should be rated alongside such wonders as Stonehenge and Angkor Wat in Cambodia. So much of this Imperial port has been preserved and there is much more to learn about its role in supplying Rome and in the broader economic development of the Roman Mediterranean."
Adapted from materials provided by University of Southampton, via AlphaGalileo.

Primate Archaeology Sheds Light On Human Origins

A chimpanzee mother cracks a nut using a rock hammer and anvil in Republic of Guinea. (Credit: Tetsuro Matsuzawa, Kyoto University)

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A University of Calgary archaeologist who is one of the few researchers in the world studying the material culture of human beings' closest living relatives – the great apes – is joining his colleagues in creating a new discipline devoted to the history of tool use in all primate species in order to better understand human evolution.

Julio Mercader, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Tropical Archaeology in the U of C's Department of Archaeology, is a coauthor of a new paper titled "Primate archaeology" published recently in the journal Nature. Mercader is one of 18 co-authors from universities including Cambridge, Rutgers, Kyoto University and schools in Spain, Italy and France. They argue that recent discoveries of tool use by a wide variety of wild primates and archaeological evidence of chimpanzees using stone tools for thousands of years is forcing experts to re-think the traditional dividing lines between humans and other primate species as well as the belief that tool use is the exclusive domain of the genus Homo. The researchers advocate for a new inter-disciplinary field of primate archaeology to examine tool use by primates in a long-term, evolutionary context.

"There is a need for systematic collaboration between diverse research programs to understand the broader questions in human evolution and primatology," Mercader says. "For example, few archaeologists have seen a wild primate use a tool, while few primatologists have taken part in archaeological excavations," he explains.

Mercader was the lead author of a team that laid the foundations of the emerging discipline of chimpanzee archaeology in two previously-published papers in Science and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). He is the archaeologist who uncovered the first prehistoric evidence of chimpanzee technology in 2007 — a 4,300-year-old nut-cracking site in the rainforests of Côte D'Ivoire, West Africa that provides proof of a long-standing chimpanzee "stone age" that likely emerged independently of influence from humans.

"It's not clear whether we hominins invented this kind of stone technology, or whether both humans and the great apes inherited it from a common forebear," says Mercader. "We used to think that culture and, above anything else, technology was the exclusive domain of humans, but this is not the case. We need comparable methods of data collection among researchers dealing with 2 million year old hominin sites and modern primatological assemblages."

The official inauguration of the new field of primate archaeology marks the culmination of several years of work on the part of the handful of researchers including Mercader, who joined the U of C in 2002 with the support of the Canada Research Chairs program and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

"This is truly at the vanguard of archaeology and I am so pleased these agencies and the University of Calgary had the vision seven years ago to be a part of creating a new discipline that is seeing its birth now," Mercader says.

The paper is the result of the international symposium "Palaeoanthropology meets Primatology" held on Oct. 18, 2008 at Cambridge.

Journal reference:
Michael Haslam, Adriana Hernandez-Aguilar, Victoria Ling, Susana Carvalho, Ignacio de la Torre, April DeStefano, Andrew Du, Bruce Hardy, Jack Harris, Linda Marchant, Tetsuro Matsuzawa, William McGrew, Julio Mercader, Rafael Mora, Michael Petraglia, Helene Roche, Elisabetta Visalberghi & Rebecca Warren. Primate archaeology. Nature, July 16, 2009
Adapted from materials provided by University of Calgary, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Archaeologists Find Burial Cellar In Ancient Syrian City Containing Spectacular Artifacts

Excavation area of the Royal Palace of Qatna. (Credit: Wita/Pfälzner, Universität Tübingen)

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The archaeological excavations at the royal palace in the ancient city of Qatna, north east of the Syrian city of Homs, have once again unfolded a remarkable archaeological discovery. The summer excavations, due to end September 25, located a rock tomb-cellar underneath the palace containing hundreds of artifacts as well as human bones from the period 1600-1400 BC.

In 2002, excavations at this site found a tomb with accessibility from the central palace rooms. The present excavation, led by the German-Syrian team of Dr. Michel al-Maqdissi, Director of Excavations at the Directorate General of Antiquities in Damascus, and Professor Dr. Peter Pfälzner from the University of Tübingen, brings to light the existence of an unexpected second underground tomb-cellar. Heike Dohmann-Pfälzner is the excavation coordinator on site. The Institute for Ancient Near Eastern Studies (IANES) in Tübingen spearheads the excavations which have been in existence for the last eleven years in cooperation with the Syrian Directorate General of Antiquities.

The archaeologists made their discovery during excavations of the north-west wing of the palace. They located a “slope basement” below ground floor level, its walls almost completely intact. A chamber bearing a collapsed timber roof, acting as an antechamber to the tomb-cellar, exists beneath the basement. A stone rock-cut leads from here into the spacious cellar itself. It is 4.90 by 6.30 metres large and is divided into two chambers by a wall hollowed out of the rock. The cellar is accessible from the palace and is integrated architecturally into its whole structure. Its use can be verified back to the later period of the palace in 1400 BC.

A huge number of clearly visible human bones has been found in the tomb-cellar. The discovery of 30 skulls suggests at least the same amount of burials. The fact that the bones are stacked in groups rather than lying in anatomical formation is significant here. Particles of wood found suggest that at least some of them were placed in wooden crates or coffins indicating a secondary burial. The amount of bones found is immense and significantly surpasses the findings of 2002. Their condition is good under the circumstances. The anthropologists Dr. Carsten Witzel and Dr. Stefan Flohr from the University of Hildesheim are carrying out an intricate examination of these human remains on site.

Numerous vessels of ceramic and granite have been found. The latter are Egyptian imports whose production in the Old Egyptian Kingdom dates to a period 1000 years prior to the existence of the tomb. Furthermore, the archaeologists discovered alabaster vessels which might also stem from Egypt. In one of these a collection of gold jewelry was found consisting of rings, rosettes and gold foils. In other parts of the tomb, chased gold foils possibly used for textile or furniture decorative purposes have been uncovered. Notable among the bronze artifacts is a heavy spearhead and a dress pin. A further finely crafted dress pin made from gold, a cylinder seal made from lapis lazuli as well as a seal in the shape of a scarab complement the inventory of artifacts found. Of particular interest due to its fine craftsmanship and beauty is a stone sculpture of a monkey holding a vessel used to hold facial paint. Of great interest from the perspective of art history is the discovery of an ivory human statuette with a very finely carved face.

The identification of those buried in the tomb-cellar is now the task facing researchers, but the lack of inscriptions makes this difficult. Most probably the remains stem from members of the royal family or royal household of Qatna. However it is also possible that the remains originate from earlier royal burials placed in the cellar at a later point of time.

Qatna was one of the most important kingships during Syria’s middle and late Bronze Age. It reached the height of its prosperity between 1800 and 1600 BC and was among one of the most powerful states in the Orient. The royal dynasty continued until its destruction by the Hittites in 1340 BC. The recent excavations give us a wealth of new information about the death cult of the kingship of Qatna, its artistic excellence and its relationships to other Old Orient powers 3500 years ago.
Adapted from materials provided by Universitaet Tuebingen, via AlphaGalileo.

'Blue Stonehenge' Discovered By UK Archaeologists

Archaeologists have released an artist’s impression of what a second stone circle found a mile from Stonehenge might have looked like.

The drawing shows the sensational discovery of “Blue Stonehenge” by a team led by archaeologists from Manchester, Sheffield and Bristol Universities on the West bank of the River Avon last month.

Professor Julian Thomas, from The University of Manchester and a co-director of the Stonehenge Riverside Project, said the monument was a circle of bluestones, dragged from the Welsh Preseli mountains, 150 miles away around 5,000 years ago.

However, the stones, he said, had since been since removed, leaving behind nine uncovered holes. The team believe they were probably part of a circle of 25 standing stones.

The new stone circle is 10m (33 ft) in diameter and was surrounded by a henge – a ditch with an external bank.

The standing stones marked the end of the Avenue that leads from the River Avon to Stonehenge, a 1¾-mile long (2.8km) processional route constructed at the end of the Stone Age - or the Neolithic period.

The outer henge around the stones was built around 2400 BC, but arrowheads found in the stone circle indicate that the stones were put up as much as 500 years earlier.

When the newly discovered circle’s stones were removed by Neolithic tribes, they may, according to the team, have been dragged to Stonehenge, to be incorporated within its major rebuilding around 2500 BC.

Archaeologists know that after this date, Stonehenge consisted of about 80 Welsh stones and 83 local, sarsen stones. Some of the bluestones that once stood at the riverside probably now stand within the centre of Stonehenge.

The discovery may confirm of the Stonehenge Riverside Project’s theory that the River Avon linked a ‘domain of the living’ – marked by timber circles and houses upstream at the Neolithic village of Durrington Walls (discovered by the Project in 2005) – with a ‘domain of the dead’ marked by Stonehenge and this new stone circle.

The team hope to radiocarbon date antler picks found on the site - used by the stone circle builders as pickaxes – to provide more precise dates.

The dates will reveal if the circle was built when another 56 Welsh bluestones were erected at Stonehenge itself - in the decades after 3000 BC.

Sheffield University’s Professor Mike Parker Pearson, Director of the project, said: “It could be that Blue Stonehenge was where the dead began their final journey to Stonehenge.

“Not many people know that Stonehenge was Britain’s largest burial ground at that time. Maybe the bluestone circle is where people were cremated before their ashes were buried at Stonehenge itself.”

The University of Manchester’s Professor Julian Thomas, co-director, said: “The implications of this discovery are immense.

“It is compelling evidence that this stretch of the River Avon was central to the religious lives of the people who built Stonehenge.

“Old theories about Stonehenge that do not explain the evident significance of the river will have to be re-thought.”

He added: ”There is no evidence that the circle had a particular orientation or even an entrance.

Soil that fell into the holes when the stones were removed was full of charcoal, showing that plenty of wood was burned here.

“Yet this was not a place where anyone lived: the pottery, animal bones, food residues and flint tools used in domestic life during the Stone Age were absent.”

The University of Bristol’s Dr Josh Pollard, co-director, explained: “This is an incredible discovery.

“The newly discovered circle and henge should be considered an integral part of Stonehenge rather than a separate monument, and it offers tremendous insight into the history of its famous neighbour.

“Its landscape location demonstrates once again the importance of the River Avon in Neolithic funerary rites and ceremonies.”

The Stonehenge Riverside Project is run by a consortium of university teams. It is directed by Prof. Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University, with co-directors Dr Josh Pollard (Bristol University), Prof. Julian Thomas (Manchester University), Dr Kate Welham (Bournemouth University) and Dr Colin Richards (Manchester University). The 2009 excavation was funded by the National Geographic Society, Google, the Society of Antiquaries of London, and the Society of Northern Antiquaries.

The project is funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Royal Archaeological Institute.

Most of the circle remains preserved for future research and the 2009 excavation has been filled back in.

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Adapted from materials provided by University of Manchester.