September/October 2018 Issue

JAPAN: Radiocarbon dating of peach pits from the site of Makimuku in Sakurai has added to speculation that the legendary lost kingdom of Yamataikoku may have been located there. The peaches were ritually buried sometime between A.D. 135 and 230 near a large ancient building, alongside other artifacts. Yamataikoku, which flourished under Queen Himiko in the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D., is mentioned only in ancient Chinese texts. Scholars have long debated its whereabouts, and Nara Prefecture, where Makimuku is sited, has been considered one possible location.

AUSTRALIA: Twenty thousand years ago at a campfire in western Australia, it appears that kangaroo was on the menu. Bones from the marsupial were found alongside a thick layer of ash with hundreds of ancient artifacts, including small stone chips from the tools that were perhaps used to carve the meat. The scene was uncovered by archaeologists inside a cave in Pilbara’s Hamersley Range that was used by aboriginal humans during the last ice age and is one of the oldest known sites in the region.

ETHIOPIA: A 3.32-million-year-old child’s foot from Dikika suggests that Australopithecus afarensis children were surprisingly good climbers. Although the female toddler could walk upright, her foot’s skeletal structure indicates that she retained some ape-like traits, such as the ability to grasp objects with her feet. This would have helped A. afarensis children cling to their mothers or climb trees, especially when confronting danger. These features are not found in the species’ adult skeletons, implying that as individuals grew up and spent more time upright, their bodies changed.