Scientists Use AI to Look for Evidence of Early Fire Use in Israel

REHOVOT, ISRAEL—According to a statement released by the Weizmann Institute of Science, an international team of researchers led by Zane Stepka employed an artificial intelligence app taught to recognize flint tools exposed to fire through machine learning to identify possible evidence of fire use at a one-million-year-old camp site at Evron Quarry, which is located on western Galilee’s coastal plain. After the app identified flint tools exposed to temperatures of at least 700 degrees Fahrenheit, the team members also tested bone at the site for exposure to fire. The way the tools and bones were clustered at the site suggests that the early humans may have been controlling the fire, the researchers explained. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Proceeedings of the National Academy of Sciences. To read more about early uses of fire in the Levant, go to "Catching Fire and Keeping It."

Fossils May Represent China’s Earliest Hominins

SHAANXI, CHINA—According to a statement released by Spain’s National Research Center on Human Evolution (CENIEH), an international team of scientists, including Liu Wu of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, suggests that 1.6 million-year-old Homo erectus fossils unearthed at the site of Gongwangling in the 1960s could belong to one of the first hominins to reach China. Recent examination of the skull, jawbone, and five teeth with micro-computed tomography, geometric morphometry, and classical morphology techniques indicates that the Gongwangling teeth are similar to those found at other Homo erectus sites in China dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago, but exhibit some variations. “The Gongwangling site helps to plug this enormous lapse of time and suggests that Asia might have been settled by successive populations of the species H. erectus at different moments of the Pleistocene,” said José María Bermúdez de Castro of CENIEH. To read about the last surviving members of Homo erectus, go to "Around the World: Indonesia."

Genome Study Identifies Possible Source of Black Death

LEIPZIG, GERMANY—According to a statement released by the Max Planck Society, a new genetic study suggests that the Second Plague Pandemic, an outbreak of the Black Death that lasted from the fourteenth to the early nineteenth centuries, originated in Central Asia. The first clue came in the form of tombstones unearthed in Kyrgyzstan some 140 years ago. Inscriptions on the stones, written in Syriac, stated that the individuals died in the years 1338 and 1339 of an unknown illness. Phil Slavin of the University of Sterling and his colleagues analyzed DNA from human remains unearthed at two sites where such “pestilence” inscriptions were found, and detected the presence of the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis. “We could finally show that the epidemic mentioned on the tombstones was indeed caused by plague,” he said. Further analysis of the plague genomes from the year 1338 showed that they were the source of the many different strains of the Black Death that were to come, added Maria Spyrou of the University of Tübingen. Modern strains that resemble the 1338 strain have been found in rodent populations around the Tian Shan Mountains, close to where the medieval source strain was identified. “This points to an origin of Black Death’s ancestor in Central Asia,” concluded Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Nature. For more on Yersinia pestis, go to "A Killer Bacterium Expands Its Legacy."

Medieval Coin Minted in Norway Found in Hungary

VÁRDOMB, HUNGARY—Live Science reports that a metal detectorist found a small silver coin in southern Hungary, near the site of the medieval trading town of Kesztölc. Identified as a penning, the coin was minted in Norway between 1046 and 1066 for King Harald Sigurdsson III, who was also known as Harald Hardrada or “hard ruler.” A penning was worth about enough to feed a family for a day, according to archaeologist Máté Varga of the Rippl-Rónai Museum and the University of Szeged. He said that this is the first medieval Scandinavian coin to be found in Hungary, although medieval Scandinavian artifacts have been found in Hungary and medieval Hungarian artifacts have been found in Scandinavia. Varga and his colleagues think the coin could have been lost by a trader or by a member of the court of Solomon, a Hungarian king who ruled from 1063 to 1087. According to an illuminated manuscript known as the Chronicon Pictum, Solomon and his courtiers camped near Kesztölc in 1074. To read about a rare Roman gold coin found in southwestern Hungary, go to "Around the World: Hungary."   

Additional Artifacts Recovered from Sanxingdui’s Sacrificial Pits

CHENGDU, CHINA—CNN reports that more than 3,000 additional artifacts estimated to be more than 3,000 years old have been recovered from six sacrificial pits at southwest China’s Sanxingdui archaeological site, which was discovered in the 1920s. The objects include a turtle-shaped box made of bronze and jade, according to Li Haichao of Sichuan University, whose team also recovered a bronze altar that stands about three feet tall. Traces of bamboo, reeds, soybeans, cattle, and boar in the pits may have been left behind by sacrifices, he added. Ran Honglin of the Sanxingdui Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute said that a sculpture with the head of a human and the body of a snake reflects the style of the local Shu civilization, while ceremonial vessels found in the pits are thought to have come from the Zhongyuan culture of China’s central plains. “More cultural relics unearthed at Sanxingdui have also been seen in other locales in China, giving evidence of the early exchange and integration of Chinese civilization,” Ran explained. For more on Sanxingdui, go to "Seismic Shift."

Remains Unearthed in Cork May Reflect 16th-Century Rebellions

CORK, IRELAND—The Journal.ie reports that an examination of skeletal remains discovered in a mass grave during the demolition of a pub in Cork City has revealed that the bones belonged to four men, who were between the ages of 18 and 25 when they met a violent end with their hands tied behind their backs. Osteoarchaeologist Niamh Daly said that their feet may have also been bound together. Radiocarbon dating indicates the deaths occurred between A.D. 1447 and 1636. The remains of another two young men who had also been buried in shallow graves were recovered nearby. All of the men are thought to have been soldiers who may have been involved in one of several rebellions against English rule that occurred in the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century. The continuing investigation is expected to provide greater clarity and accuracy of this burial date. To read about Ireland's most notorious prison in Cork Harbor, go to "Letter from Ireland: The Sorrows of Spike Island."

Bronze Age Bohemian Woman's Face Reconstructed

MIKULOVICE, CZECH REPUBLIC—Live Science reports that researchers led by archaeologist Michal Ernée of the Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic have reconstructed the torso of a woman of the Únětice culture whose remains were unearthed in a Bronze Age cemetery in eastern Bohemia. She had been buried sometime between 1880 and 1750 B.C. with five bronze bracelets, two gold earrings, a three-strand necklace made of beads of amber imported from the Baltic, and three bronze sewing needles. “It’s maybe the richest female grave from the whole Únětice region,” Ernée said. Analysis of her well-preserved skull and fragments of surviving DNA indicates she was petite, had brown hair and eyes, and fair skin. Team members Ludmila Barčáková, Radek Lukůvka, and Kristýna Urbanová also recreated her clothing and jewelry. Analysis of DNA from the other 26 burials in the cemetery will attempt to find out if the individuals buried there were related. To read about the discovery of a Neolithic well in East Bohemia, go to "Around the World: Czech Republic."