ALASKA: In a pit house
dating to around A.D. 1200,
archaeologists uncovered
a cast-bronze buckle that
appears to be East Asian
in origin and older than the
house in which it was found.
The oldest known cast bronze
in Alaska, the artifact may
have been part of a horse
fitting, perhaps traded in from
as far away as Manchuria. It
was probably used as a charm
or noisemaker by
a local Inupiat
shaman.
(Courtesy Jeremy Foin, University of California, Davis)
TEXAS: The last issue
of Archaeology detailed
sites at risk (Top Ten
Discoveries of 2011"),
including those exposed
by the drought in Texas.
In addition to wrecks and
human remains, receding
waterlines revealed
a mysterious 4-foot
aluminum sphere. NASA
officials confirmed that it
was a fuel-cell tank from
the space shuttle Columbia,
which was destroyed
during reentry in 2003.
Along with other remains
from the shuttle, it can
teach us something about
the effects of high-speed
atmospheric reentry.
(Courtesy Nacogdoches, Texas, Police Department)
GRENADA: People on the tiny island
of Carriacou may have feasted on
animals imported from South America
over 1,000 years ago. Remains of
South American animals, including
piglike peccaries, armadillos, and
guinea pigs—none of which are native
to the island today—were excavated
from prehistoric middens. The find
suggests regular contact between
natives and people on other islands
and the mainland, but because the
bones are scarce, archaeologists think
only a select, high-status few got to
eat these exotic treats.
(Wikimedia Commons)
ENGLAND: Using
stable isotope
analysis, researchers
examined remains of
infants from the crypt
at Christ Church in
Spitalfields, London,
to study breastfeeding
in the 18th and 19th
centuries. They
found that prolonged
breastfeeding was common in the 19th century
among this relatively well-off population,
which does not necessarily agree with the idea
that more women were entering the workforce
at the time as a result of industrialization. The
breastfeeding mothers of these infants may
have had the means to hire wet nurses—or
they may have been homebound due to an
economic downturn.
(Wikimedia Commons)
SWITZERLAND: High-end Swiss watchmaker
Hublot has created a wrist-mounted version of the
Antikythera Mechanism, the mysterious 2,000-yearold
astronomical machine recovered from a Greek
shipwreck in 1901. It contains 495
precision elements in a 3x4-centimeter
package. The manufacturers claim
that it is the first watch inspired by
an archaeological finding. Would a
wrist-mounted sundial count?
(Courtesy Hublot)
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CHINA: A cracked skull may be the
oldest known evidence of interpersonal
aggression among modern humans. A
CT scan of the skull, which is around
130,000 years old and known as Maba
Man, revealed evidence of severe blunt
force trauma, possibly from a clubbing.
Remodeling of the bone around the
injury, however, shows that he survived
the blow and possibly was well cared
for after his injury—for months or
even years.
(Courtesy Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Science)
JAPAN: An excavation at a train yard
in Dazaifu has revealed the remains
of two large, prestigious buildings,
as well as expensive eating utensils
and pottery. The finds, including tin
and copper
alloy spoons,
Chinese and
Korean pots,
and Nara
tricolored
ware (the
finest
tableware in
Japan at the time), date to the 8th
and 9th centuries. The assemblage
appears to identify the site as a
diplomatic facility, mentioned in
ancient documents, that housed and
fed envoys from China and Korea.
(Courtesy Nobumasa Inoue, Board of Education of Dazaifu, Japan)
PAKISTAN: 4,500-year-old Indus city of
Harappa is thought to have been
relatively peaceful. A new analysis
of human remains excavated
at the site found that while the
overall level of violence in the city
was on the low side for a statelevel
society, it was not evenly
distributed. Some communities
endured much higher levels
of trauma, inflicted on women
in particular, suggesting a
potentially brutal social hierarchy.
(Images of Asia)
PAPUA NEW GUINEA: The
seafaring Lapita, who
settled the South Pacific
more than 3,000 years ago,
were not thought to have
lived in Papua New Guinea.
Findings from a new dig there have overturned that idea.
The remains of several villages, including stone tools,
shell ornaments, and thousands of pottery fragments
have been discovered. The site is both unusually deep—including pre- and post-Lapita sequences—and perhaps
the largest Lapita landscape yet discovered. According
to researchers, the site opens a whole new chapter in
Pacific history.
(Courtesy Steve Mortin, Monash University)
OMAN: It's often
thought that
modern humans
emerged from
Africa through the
Arabian Peninsula
by hugging its
shores, which may
have protected
them from swings in
climate. However,
100,000-year-old
stone tools found
in the Dhofar
Mountains suggest
that some people
traveled over the
now arid—though
once wet—interior.
The find adds
another layer of
complexity and
understanding
to the path that
modern humans
took on their way
around the world.
(Courtesy Jeffrey Rose, University of Birmingham)
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