Roman Cemetery Discovered in Central Italy

TUSCANIA, ITALY—According to a Live Science report, the remains of 67 people have been unearthed at the site of a Roman cemetery in central Italy near the site of a possible mansio, a hotel-like villa where officials could stop and rest while traveling on government business. Archaeologist Emanuele Giannini said that historical sources mention a mansio in the same area called Tabellaria. Gold jewelry, remains of leather footwear, pottery, and coins have been recovered from the site, which has been dated to between the second and fourth centuries A.D. Some of the graves were built in the cappuccina style, in which the burial was covered with stones or ceramic tiles arranged in an A-frame shape. Other remains were buried in large ceramic vessels. Evidence of a few cremation burials was also uncovered. Giannini and his colleagues are now working to analyze the remains. “Discovering who they were is part of my research,” he said. To read about a subterranean Jewish necropolis in Rome, go to "Letter from Rome: Secrets of the Catacombs." 

Bronze Hoard From Roman Britain Analyzed

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND—According to a statement released by Newcastle University, a study of the Knaresborough Hoard has been conducted by archaeologist Jessica De Maso and her colleagues at Newcastle University. The 30 objects in the Knaresborough Hoard were discovered in an unknown bog in the British Isles and donated to the Yorkshire Museum in 1864 by Thomas Gott, an iron monger and town councilor who lived in Knaresborough but did not reveal where he had discovered the hoard. Made mostly of bronze, the hoard now includes a large fluted bowl with a scalloped edge, a bronze vessel handle, and several bowls, strainers, and oval plates. X-ray fluorescence analysis shows that many of the items, which would have resembled gold when polished, had been repaired in antiquity. The study suggests that the artifacts may have been buried near a Roman villa or settlement situated in northern England in the Vale of Mowbray, which is located about two miles from Knaresborough. During the Roman period, two roads ran through the area, including a route to York and Hadrian’s Wall. De Maso also thinks there may have once been additional items in the hoard that were mistakenly melted down in Gott’s foundry. To read about a bronze hoard found in East London, go to "Tool Time."

Update from the Ancient Greek City of Tenea

CHILIOMODI, GREECE—Live Science reports that remnants of one of the two aqueducts constructed by the Roman emperor Hadrian (reigned A.D. 117–138) in Greece have been found at the site of the ancient city of Tenea. The aqueduct carried water for more than 50 miles, from Lake Stymphalia to the ancient city of Corinth to the north. The section of the stone-and-mortar aqueduct consists of a channel covered by a semicircular roof and measures about 100 feet long and more than 10 feet tall. Water traveled inside this structure, through a space about two feet wide and four feet tall. Meanwhile, traces of a settlement dated to about 2600 to 2300 B.C., including obsidian tools, animal figurines, and fine imported pottery, as well as furnaces, an olive press, and a cemetery dated to the Roman period, were also uncovered. To read about Hadrian's palatial villa in Tivoli outside of Rome, go to "An Imperial Underworld."

Blended 45,000-Year-Old Toolkit From Northern China Examined

SHUOZHOU, CHINA—Cosmos Magazine reports that a collection of artifacts unearthed at the Shiyu site in northern China has been dated to 45,000 years ago by an international team of researchers using radiocarbon and luminescence dating methods. The artifacts, made by modern humans, includes a mix of Upper Paleolithic and Middle Paleolithic technologies, items made from imported obsidian, and a perforated graphite disk. The analysis of bones at the site, combined with the wear on the unusual group of tools, suggests that Shiyu inhabitants came from a mix of different cultures who adapted to the East Asian environment and hunted horses. “The site reflects a process of cultural creolization—the contact between societies and relocated peoples—blending inherited traits with novel innovations, thus complicating the traditional understanding of Homo sapiens’ global expansion,” commented team member Francesco D’Errico of the University of Bordeaux. For more on Chinese archaeology, go to "China's River of Gold."

When Did Modern Humans Occupy China?

GUIZHOU PROVINCE, CHINA—According to a Xinhua report, a modern human molar; animal bones; and objects made of stone, bone, and horn have been unearthed in southwestern China at the Chuandong site by researchers from the Guizhou Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute and the Chinese Academy of Sciences' Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology. Discovered in 1978, the newly excavated layer in which the artifacts were found has been dated to more than 50,000 years ago. Three burials dated to 10,000 years ago and a bone fishhook were also found at the site. For more on Homo sapiens in China, go to "An Opportunity for Early Humans in China."

Chewed Birch Pitch May Reflect Hunter-Gatherers’ Dental Health

MERSIN, TURKEY—Cosmos Magazine reports that a team of researchers led by Emrah Kirdök of Mersin University has analyzed three pieces of 10,000-year-old birch pitch, a sticky substance made by heating birch bark to form a glue-like substance. These pieces of birch pitch were recovered from Huseby Klev, a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer site in western Sweden. The researchers compared the ancient chewed birch pitch with modern samples, ancient human dental plaque, and a 6,000-year-old sample of chewed tar. They found higher levels of bacteria associated with poor dental health in the 10,000-year-old samples, even though chewing birch pitch may have provided some antiseptic and medicinal benefits. Using their teeth for gripping, cutting, and tearing may have exposed the hunter-gatherers to a wide variety of damaging microorganisms, the researchers suggest. DNA from hazelnut, apple, mistletoe, red fox, grey wolf, mallard, limpet, and brown trout were also identified. These materials, in the form of food, furs, and bone tools, may have been chewed by the people before they chewed the birch pitch. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Scientific Reports. To read about DNA embedded in another piece of chewed birch pitch, go to "Around the World: Denmark."

Early Bronze Age Tomb Rediscovered in Ireland

COUNTY KERRY, IRELAND—Traces of a 4,000-year-old tomb thought to have been destroyed in the nineteenth century have been found on southern Ireland’s Dingle Peninsula by folklorist Billy Mag Fhloinn, according to a report in The Guardian. The wedge tomb, known as Altóir na Gréine, or the sun altar, was sketched by an English aristocrat in 1838, but some 14 years later it was reported that the stones had been carried away from the site, presumably for building purposes. Mag Fhloinn filmed the site where the tomb was located as part of an archaeological mapping project, and then noticed a stone resembling one from the historic sketch while converting the video into a 3-D scan. Archaeologist Caimin O’Brien confirmed that a capstone and several large upright stones, which made up about one quarter of the original structure, survive at the site. “For the first time in over 180 years, archaeologists know where the tomb is situated and it will enhance our understanding of wedge tomb distribution,” O’Brien said. Most of the known wedge tombs in Ireland point west or southwest, toward the setting sun, Mag Fhloinn added. “They may be tied into their broader cosmological understanding of the world,” he explained. To read about Neolithic sites in western Ireland, go to "Off the Grid: Rathcroghan, Ireland."

New Technique Applied to Ancient Genome Database

LONDON, ENGLAND—According to a Live Science report, Kyriaki Anastasiadou of the Francis Crick Institute and her colleagues developed a computational method that allowed them to identify six individuals with sex chromosomal conditions in the Thousand Ancient British Genomes database. The first person, who was between the ages of 18 and 22 at the time of death some 2,500 years ago, had mosaic Turner syndrome, in which some of the body’s cells had just one X chromosome, while others had two. Turner syndrome can lead to shorter-than-average height, cardiac problems, and small or missing ovaries. Three of the individuals likely had Klinefelter syndrome, in which a person carries XXY sex chromosomes. One of them lived in the Iron Age, between 750 B.C. and A.D. 43; one lived in the medieval period, between A.D. 1050 and 1290; and the third lived in the nineteenth century. Klinefelter syndrome can cause stunted growth of the testicles, lower testosterone levels, lower muscle mass, less body hair, and larger breast tissue than individuals with typical XY chromosomes. Another person with XYY chromosomes may have been taller than average. Finally, an infant who lived during the Iron Age was found to have Down syndrome, a condition caused by extra genetic material from chromosome 21. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Communications Biology. For more on ancient DNA, go to "Worlds Within Us."

Roman Civil War Sling Bullet Found in Spain

ANDALUSIA, SPAIN—ZME Science reports that a moulded lead sling bullet bearing the letters CAES, the abbreviated name of Julius Caesar, has been uncovered in southern Spain. The opposite side of the projectile bears the letters IPSCA, thought to represent an unknown Roman town in the region. The ammunition has been dated to around 45 B.C., and Caesar’s final victory over Pompey at the Battle of Munda. The inscription suggests that the town may have supplied Caesar with ammunition, and possibly troops to sling the bullets. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Zephyrus. To read about slingshot bullets unearthed at Pompeii, go to "Weapons of the Ancient World: Siege Weapons."

World War II–Era Ammunition Uncovered in Romania

RÂMNICU SĂRAT, ROMANIA—Romania-Insider reports that some 3,500 World War II–era projectiles were found during excavation work in southeastern Romania and removed by the bomb disposal team from the Buzău County Emergency Inspectorate. Once the underground ammunition depot was emptied, the ammunition was taken to a storage facility where it will be stored until it can be safely destroyed. To read about using satellite surveillance photographs to spot archaeological sites in eastern Romania, go to "Spying the Past from the Sky."