September/October 2013 Issue

JAPAN: Three-dimensional scanning of a bronze mirror from the early Kofun period, in the 3rd century a.d., has revealed previously unrecognized details in the deities and beasts that decorate it—information that can be used to help settle a heated debate on whether mirrors of this style originated in China or Japan. Scanning is also being used on a much larger scale to study certain Kofun burial mounds, which are known for their distinctive “keyhole” shape, to help reveal how they were constructed. —Samir S. Patel

MALAWI: Scientists have hypothesized that the eruption of Mount Toba in Indonesia 75,000 years ago caused a global “volcanic winter,” a climate downturn so dramatic that it almost wiped out our species. Sediments from Lake Malawi suggest otherwise. Researchers found ash from the eruption in the sediments, but no changes above the layer—such as a change in the lake’s algal population—that would indicate a major change in climate. If humans were indeed near extinction around that time, the study posits, it wasn’t because of the eruption. —Samir S. Patel

KENYA: Thousands of bone fragments with cut marks and evidence of smashing provide the oldest evidence of consistent meat-eating among humans, going back some 2 million years. While stone tools that could have been used for hunting and butchery, and some isolated animal remains, date back even further, this is the first direct evidence of sustained carnivory. Most of the bones belong to small ungulates such as gazelles, and because they don’t show teeth marks from other animals, they are likely to have been hunted. The hominins also had occasional access to larger, wildebeest-sized animals, which may have been scavenged. —Samir S. Patel