Iron Age Blacksmith Shop Found in England

OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND—The Oxford Mail reports that a 2,700-year-old blacksmith shop has been discovered in an Iron Age settlement site complete with roundhouses, an Iron Age pantry, ceremonial animal burials, and traces of a Roman villa in southeastern England. The smithy was identified through traces of a hearth; hammerscale, the byproduct of forging iron; an iron bar; and a tuyere, a tool used to blow air into a hearth. “It’s exceptionally rare to find a complete tuyere, especially one that’s as old as this,” said archaeometallurgical specialist Gerry McDonnell. He explained that the tool dates to the first few centuries of ironworking in Britain, and noted that the size of the tuyere suggests that the hearth was much larger than one found in an average village blacksmith shop. This shop may have been run by a master blacksmith, he surmised. “The only reason a blacksmith would need a bigger hearth would be if they were forging something long like swords or trade bars, or big like cart wheels,” McDonnell concluded. To read about copper production on Bronze Age Cyprus, go to "In the Time of the Copper Kings."

Mission Sites of French Polynesia Explored

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—According to a statement released by the University of Sydney, excavations in the Mangareva Islands have uncovered nineteenth-century artifacts related to the period of French colonization. James Flexner of the University of Sydney, working with the cultural association Te Ana Pouga Magareva, uncovered more than 1,500 artifacts at six sites on the islands of Aukena and Akamaru, including the homes of Roman Catholic priests and a missionary school for boys. In the priests’ house at the Church of Notre Dame de la Païx at Akamaru, the researchers found fragments of gin, champagne, and wine bottles; and perfume and medicine bottles imported from France, Britain, and the Netherlands. Fragments of pearl shells were also uncovered at the sites. Before the arrival of the colonists, such shells were used to make fishing lures, tattooing needles, pendants, and figurines. By the 1840s, however, thousands of tons of the shells were harvested for export to make buttons and decorative inlays. Flexner said that the team also uncovered a small bronze crucifix at the site of the boys’ school at Aukena. He thinks it was likely an ornament that was worn daily. In addition, three complete pearl shells were discovered at the boys’ school, underneath an iron ax head. Excavation of the mission sites will continue, Flexner concluded. To read about the arrival of French Polynesian settlers in Hawaii, go to "Off the Grid: The Hawaiian Fishing Village of Lapakahi."

Jade Mask Discovered in Maya Tomb in Guatemala

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA—According to a statement released by Tulane University, a mosaic jade mask, 16 spondylus shells, and carved human femurs have been discovered in a 1,700-year-old tomb at Guatemala’s Maya site of Chochkitam by archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli. He and his colleagues spotted looters’ tunnels in the ancient city while conducting a survey of the site using lidar, a process employing an airplane or drone carrying lasers that can detect features on the ground hidden by dense jungle foliage. The intact tomb was situated just six feet from where the looters had stopped digging. Estrada-Belli said that the carvings on one of the bones depicts a man thought to be a king holding a jade mask like the one found in the tomb. Hieroglyphs accompanying these images may identify the king’s father and grandfather, and link the ruler to Tikal and Teotihuacan. The spiny oyster shells, he added, were used by royalty as jewelry, currency, and in sacrificial offerings. Future work will include DNA testing of the bones. For more on Maya rulers, go to "Jungle Realm of the Snake Queens."

Europe’s Prehistoric Jewelry Reflects Nine Possible Cultures

BORDEAUX, FRANCE—Jack Baker of the University of Bordeaux and his colleagues compared beads recovered from 112 Gravettian archaeological sites, sorted them into 134 different types based upon their raw materials and design, and determined that there were at least nine distinct cultures clustered geographically across Europe, according to a Science Magazine report. It had been previously thought that people living in Europe between about 34,000 and 24,000 years ago were all members of a monolithic Gravettian culture, based upon similarities in their figurines and spearpoints. Recent studies have found some differences between groups, however. For example, DNA analysis has identified two genetic lineages in Gravettian culture—one group centered around the Pyrenees Mountains along the border of France and Spain, and a second group based in central and eastern Europe. Baker found that the jewelry analysis is in line with genetic data, but with some additional subdivisions. The jewelry study also suggests there were separate culture groups in Moldova and southern Spain, which are areas where ancient DNA has not been recovered. Meanwhile, some groups in Italy who shared ancestors did not wear similar jewelry, and people in France and Belgium who wore similar ornaments were not related to each other. Patterns of bead differences that turned up in a jewelry tradition may be the result of cultural and genetic exchange with neighboring groups, Baker added. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Nature Human Behaviour. To read about a Gravettian Venus figurine, go to "Artifact."

Study Links Roman Empire Pandemics to Cooler, Drier Periods

NORMAN, OKLAHOMA—According to a Science News report, a new study conducted by Kyle Harper of the University of Oklahoma and his colleagues found that three pandemics that struck the Roman Empire coincided with periods of colder, drier climate. The climate of southern Italy between 200 B.C. and A.D. 600 was reconstructed by marine palynologist Karin Zonneveld of the University of Bremen and her colleagues through the analysis of single-celled algae recovered from a sediment core taken from southern Italy’s Gulf of Taranto. The model suggests that between 200 B.C. and A.D. 100, temperatures were warm and stable, and regular rainfall occurred. Then the climate became increasingly cooler and drier during the Antonine Plague in the mid-second century A.D.; the Plague of Cyprian in the mid-third century A.D.; and the Justinianic Plague, brought about by the Black Death bacterium Yersinia pestis, which reached Italy by A.D. 543. It is not understood how these shifts in temperature and rainfall might have influenced the spread of infectious diseases, however. Although some bacteria thrive in cooler conditions, the microbial causes of the Antonine Plague and the Plague of Cyprian are unknown. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Science Advances. For more, go to "Bronze Age Plague," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2018.

Britain Repatriates Asante Artifacts to Ghana

KUMASI, GHANA—CNN reports that artifacts held in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum will be repatriated to Ghana. Many of the gold and silver objects, which were crafted by Asante royal goldsmiths, were looted in the nineteenth century during the Anglo-Asante wars. Additional items were taken by the British as an indemnity payment extracted from the Asantehene, or Asante king, who controlled Ghana’s gold deposits. The objects will go on display at the Manhyia Palace Museum in Kumasi, and include a small gold ornament shaped like a sankuo, or lute-harp, and an eagle-shaped ornament. To read about a Dutch settlement that was a hub of the transatlantic slave trade on the West African coast, go to "Letter from Ghana: Life Outside the Castle."  

Discarded Neolithic Meal Identified in Germany

OLDENBURG, GERMANY—According to a Live Science report, evidence for a batch of burned and discarded porridge has been found on a fragment of a Neolithic cooking pot recovered from a trash heap in northwestern Germany. Analysis of the crusts on the plain, thick-walled pot detected traces of emmer wheat, barley, and white goosefoot, a plant with starchy seeds. “It looked like someone had mixed cereal grains with the protein-rich seeds and cooked it with water,” explained archaeobotanist Lucy Kubiak-Martens. The grains had sprouted, she added, which suggests that the porridge had been made in late summer. “[This cooking incident] not only shows us the last step in someone’s daily routine of preparing meals but also the last cooking event using this pot,” Kubiak-Martens said. Traces of animal-fat residue, most likely from milk, was found on another piece of pottery, she added. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE. To read about the oldest known pottery in the world, go to "The First Pots," one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2012.

Prehistoric Dolmen Excavated in Sweden

TIARP, SWEDEN—According to a statement released by the University of Gothenburg, an unusual dolmen with a little niche at each end has been dated to 3500 B.C. and excavated in western Sweden by archaeologist Karl-Göran Sjögren and his colleagues. Although the stone burial chamber appeared to be undisturbed, the researchers determined that parts of the skeletons were missing. “Skulls and large bones are missing and may have been removed from the grave,” Sjögren said. “We don’t know whether that has to do with burial rituals or what’s behind it,” he added. The researchers did identify bones from hands and feet, fragments of rib bones, and teeth. These smaller bones are usually the ones missing from megalithic graves from the Neolithic period, Sjögren explained. DNA analysis will look for traces of disease and reconstruct any family relationships between the individuals buried in the dolmen. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Neolithic Archaeology. To read about two burials unearthed at a Viking cemetery in Sweden, go to "Standing Swords."

Fossilized Feces From Neolithic Japan Analyzed

FUKUI PREFECTURE, JAPAN—Cosmos Magazine reports that Luca Nishimura of Japan’s National Institute of Genetics and his colleagues analyzed DNA extracted from samples of coprolites excavated in the 1970s from the Torihama shell mound in central Japan. The shell mound had been built by the Jomon people, who lived in the region between 16,000 and 2,900 years ago. The coprolites have been dated to between 7,000 and 5,500 years old. Four samples yielded small fragments of DNA from thousands of microbes, including viruses, mostly in the form of phages, or viruses that infect bacteria; bacteria; and fungi. Some of the DNA in the samples is thought to have come from food that had been consumed. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE. For more on the Jomon, go to "Japan's Genetic History."

Scientists Return to Franklin Expedition Shipwrecks

NUNAVUT, CANADA—According to a report by The Canadian Press, a team of Parks Canada archaeologists and their colleagues made 68 dives in heated diving suits over the past year as part of their investigation of the shipwreck sites of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror. Sir John Franklin and his crew left England in 1845 in the two ships, on a quest to navigate the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic. Both ships were abandoned in icebound waters in 1848. Multiple rescue missions were attempted, but the Erebus was not found until 2014 and the Terror until 2016. Parks Canada team manager Jonathan Moore said that climate change and the resulting loss of sea ice has taken a toll on the Erebus, which rests in shallower water than the Terror. “In 2018, part of the upper deck flipped over. We’re getting evidence of artifacts moving around and timbers shifting,” he explained. During the most field season in 2023, the researchers therefore focused their efforts on recording the site with high-resolution photography and excavating a seaman’s chest in the forecastle on the ship’s lower deck. The chest contained a sailor’s personal items, including a lens from a pair of glasses. Map-making tools, coins, a pistol, medicine bottles, a leather shoe, shoulder epaulets, a fishing rod with a brass reel, and a group of fossils were also recovered. Scientists from the Geological Survey of Canada are assisting with the identification of the fossils, which may help track the route the ships once traveled. To read more about the wrecks and the discovery of the Erebus, go to "Franklin's Last Voyage."