March/April 2018 Issue

PAPUA NEW GUINEA: When the Aitape skull was discovered in 1929, it was mistakenly thought to belong to Homo erectus. But subsequent radiocarbon dating determined it was only around 6,000 years old. Now, a reevaluation of the skull and its findspot has added a new twist. Geochemical analysis of the sediments in which the skull was embedded suggests they were deposited miles inland by a powerful paleo-tsunami, making the skull perhaps part of the world’s oldest known tsunami victim.

GEORGIA: Chemical analyses of ceramic vessels from two Early Neolithic sites in Georgia produced the earliest known evidence of grape wine and viniculture in the Near East. The sherds of pottery tested positive for tartaric acid, the principal biomarker of grapes and wine, as well as other indicators. This suggests humans were producing wine as far back as about 6000 B.C., nearly 500 years earlier than previously thought. The domestication of the wild Eurasian grape is believed to have first occurred in this region.

ISRAEL: Sometimes important archaeological relics are found in unexpected places. This was the case when archaeologists recently noticed a lioness statue within an unassuming pile of dirt and modern debris at the site of el-Araj near the Sea of Galilee. The basalt relief carving weighs 1,320 pounds and dates to between the 4th and 6th centuries A.D. It may have once adorned a nearby synagogue. Some experts believe el-Araj is where the biblical settlement of Bethsaida and the later Roman town of Julius were located.