Archaeology
Researchers find evidence of an advanced material culture 45,000 years ago
A multinational team of researchers have published a new paper in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, presenting findings that indicate the existence of an advanced material culture in China around 45,000 years ago.
The paper centres on the Shiyu Upper Palaeolithic site in Shanxi Province, where previous archaeological excavations during the 1960’s uncovered evidence of human occupation in the lower context layers.
Among the discoveries were more than 15,000 stone tools, numerous animal remains, and a fragment of a hominid skull, identified as belonging to the Homo sapiens species.
Part of this archaeological assemblage was relocated to the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, however, the remaining materials, including the cranial fragment, were lost when left in local facilities.
Under the direction of Dr. Shixia Yang, the researchers examined the remaining assemblage by using modern radiometric techniques that enabled them to accurately establish the chronological timeline. The results of their study revealed that the cultural layer at Shiyu dates to a period between 45,800 and 43,200 years ago.
According to the study authors, the finding provides new information to understand the expansion of Homo sapiens on the Asian continent and the arrival of the first modern humans in northern China. In addition, the type of material culture that the first settlers utilised.
According to Professor Yang, “This is an Early Upper Palaeolithic assemblage, which includes laminar technology, but also Levallois points, projectile points with evidence of handling and impact fractures, tools made with obsidian from hundreds of kilometres of distance, projectile points made of animal bone, as well as a small perforated graphite disk.”
The material culture indicates that these early settlers had a capacity to supply themselves with resources from large distances and use a cultural hybridization of materials to gain a technological advantage.
Header Image Credit : Xiaocong GUO
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeologists from Cotswold Archaeology are excavating the crash site of a WWII B-17 Flying Fortress in an English woodland.
The B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engine heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC).
The bomber was mainly used in the European theatre for daylight strategic bombing, complimenting the RAF Bomber Command’s night bombers in attacking German industrial, military and civilian targets.
Cotswold Archaeology have been tasked by the Defense POW / MIA Accounting Agency to search the crash site for the remains of the pilot, who died when the B-17 crashed following a system failure in 1944.
Image Credit : Cotswold Archaeology
At the time, the plane was carrying a payload of 12,000lbs of Torpex, an explosive comprised of 42% RDX, 40% TNT, and 18% powdered aluminium. Torpex was mainly used for the Upkeep, Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs, as well as underwater munitions.
The pilot was declared MIA when the plane exploded into an inferno, however, using modern archaeological techniques, the researchers plan to systematically excavate and sieve the waterlogged crash site to recover plane ID numbers, personal effects, and any surviving human remains.
It is the hope of the excavation team members that they will be able to recover the pilot’s remains and return him to the United States for burial with full military honours.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Defense whose mission is to recover unaccounted Department of Defense personnel listed as prisoners of war (POW) or missing in action (MIA) from designated past conflicts.
Header Image Credit : Cotswold Archaeology
Sources : Cotswold Archaeology
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
Archaeologists excavating at the ancient Tharsa necropolis have uncovered a Roman Era tomb guarded by two carved bull heads.
Tharsa is located near Kuyulu village in southeastern Turkey along the Adıyaman-Şanlıurfa Highway.
The site was situated on a major Roman highway from Doliche to Samosata, which today consists of a two settlement mounds and a large necropolis that dates from the 3rd century to the Byzantine period.
Excavations first commenced in 2021 which discovered a collection of Turuş Rock Tombs, a type of tomb construction carved directly into the bedrock.
In the latest season, archaeologists have excavated another Turuş Rock Tomb, however, this example was found to have two carved bull heads which is decorated with garlands and rosettes between the horns.
Bull heads, known as Bucranium, were a form of carved decoration commonly used in Classical architecture. In Ancient Rome, bucrania were often used on the friezes of temples in the Doric order of architecture, later influencing the architecture of buildings from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassical periods.
Architectural examples of bucrania are representations of the practice of displaying garlanded, sacrificial oxen, whose heads were displayed on the temple walls.
Like similar Turuş Rock Tombs, the bull heads are carved directly into the bedrock, guarding a dozen rock cut steps descending into the burial chamber which has three arched niches known as acrosolia.
Mustafa Çelik, Deputy Director of Adıyaman Museum, said, “Tharsa Ancient City consists of 3 main archaeological areas: Big Mound, Small Mound and Necropolis Area. We started excavations in the necropolis area in 2024. We added 2 more rock tombs to the rock tombs we had previously uncovered. One of them is the rock tomb we identified today.”
Header Image Credit : Adıyaman Museum
Sources : Adıyaman Museum
This content was originally published on www.heritagedaily.com – © 2023 – HeritageDaily
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