Mysterious bowls covered with holes were found in central Poland by archaeologist Peter Bogucki back in the 1970s. Unsure of what their purpose was, Bogucki put them away in storage. In chapter six of  Archaeology Essentials, one of the question we look at is: “What did they eat?”. There are multiple different ways to figure out what types of foods were eaten by a group of people, but Mélanie Roffet-Salque, a geochemist, decided to analyze the food residues hiding inside the bowls. By doing this she found milk fat, and the purpose of the bowls were uncovered. These bowls were used to separate the fatty part from the drinkable part of milk. This new information gives us a look inside the people who owned these peculiar bowls.

Originally, only babies and young children could tolerate lactose. As they got older their bodies would not produce lactose enzymes, causing them to become lactose intolerant. Around 11,000 years ago, Prehistoric people would decrease the levels of lactose by making dairy products like cheese and yogurt. These products are fermented. By going through the necessary processes of fermentation the lactose levels would decrease allowing them to be consumed. However, during the shift from hunter-gathers to farmers, there was another changed that occurred. A genetic mutation spread through Europe, that allowed adults to continue producing lactose enzymes. Instead of milk being a toxin, it was integrated into their diet. This shift changed what people drank and what they depended on.

Ancient Egyptian scene, depicting the use of cattle and the milk produced. Africa was also affected by this genetic mutation.

When this genetic mutation spread through Europe, farming already played a huge role in people’s lives. They relied on their crops for food. However, if crops were ruined by a storm, wild animals, or a drought, the farmers would lose those resources and would struggle to survive until next season. With the introduction of dairy products,  a new balance came about. The products allowed the farmers to have a safety net. If their crops spoiled, or if there was not enough, farmers could turn to cattle for dairy products.

Chart expressing the evolution of dairy.

The gene did more than allow adults to consume diary products. It also affected the fertility rates of those who had the genetic modification. Those that had the genetic mutation “would have produced up to 19% more fertile offspring than those who lacked it” (Curry).  Diary was not such another safe source of nutrition but an actually aid to insure the continuation of a culture. Being able to utilize chemical analysis to analyze cultural artifacts allowed us to see the introduction of dairy products into the lives of Europeans, and how it changed what they relied on and what they needed to utilize those resources.

Sources:

Curry, Andrew. “Archaeology: The Milk Revolution.” Nature. Nature Publishing Group, 31 July 2013. Web. 25 Sept. 2014. <http://www.nature.com/news/archaeology-the-milk-revolution-1.13471>.

Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn (2010) Archaeology Essentials. 2nd edition. Thames & Hudson, New York.

Pictures:

http://www.nature.com/news/archaeology-the-milk-revolution-1.13471

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neolithic_Revolution

More Readings:

http://www.nature.com/news/2007/070226/full/news070226-4.html

http://www.nature.com/news/pottery-shards-put-a-date-on-africa-s-dairying-1.10863

Coprolites are fossilized feces that can be analytically examined to understand archaeological events. Fourteen coprolites were found by archaeologists at the lowest levels of the Paisley 5-mile point caves in south-central Oregon. The coprolites found it this site were morphologically human based on the size, shape, consistency, and color. Upon further analysis using multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR), all fourteen coprolites tested positive for human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The next step for the archaeologists was to date the age of these coprolites.

Panorama of the Paisley 5 mile point caves in south-central Oregon where the coprolites were found.

The coprolites were dated using an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) system. This radiocarbon dating system found that the three oldest produced an age of 12,300 ¹⁴C years B.P. To ensure the validity of these coprolites dates, the archaeologists sent the five coprolites from the deepest layers to be direct dated by AMS at two independent laboratories; Beta Analytic in Florida, USA and Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit at the University of Oxford, UK. These two labs used two different methodologies for analyzing the coprolites and could be cross examined for accuracy. From the five coprolites sent to both labs, four produced consistent dates ranging approximately 1300 to 12,300 ¹⁴C years B.P. and three pre-dated 11,000 ¹⁴C years B.P. This data confirms that humans were present in North America before the Clovis people.

A breakdown of the Accelerator Mass Spectrometry system that was used to detect and analyze the long-lived radionuclides in the coprolites.

The Clovis people are a group of prehistoric Native Americans commonly thought to be the first human inhabitants of North America. They are named after the town where their artifacts were found in Clovis, New Mexico and they inhabited the area around 11,000 ¹⁴C years B.P. The latest coprolite studies from Oregon question the age of North American inhabitants. Many other pre-Clovis occupation sites have been recorded around North America but they remain controversial because of the lack of human artifacts to accurately date the sites. The coprolites found at the Paisley 5 mile point caves are so crucial because they undisputedly confirm pre-Clovis humans. The DNA in the coprolites not only dated the age of the humans who produced them, but they also gave us an insight to their diet.

Many of the coprolites contained canid 16S mitochondrial DNA that is similar to the red fox, coyote, domestic dog, or wolf. Among the coprolites the archaeologists also found a diverse amount of canid bones. The two most likely explanations for these findings are that the earliest humans in North America included canids in their diet or that canids inhabited the caves during nonhuman occupation and directly urinated on the human feces. Both theories give us insight to the past and the importance of coprolite analysis in resolving the historical record.

Additional Links

What AMS is and how it is works:

https://www.physics.purdue.edu/ams/introduction/ams.html

Analysis of Coprolites found in the Hidden Caves of western Nevada:

http://www.academia.edu/418795/Coprolites_From_Hidden_Cave_Revisited_Evidence_for_Site_Occupation_History_Diet_and_Sex_of_Occupants

Sources

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/320/5877/786.abstract?sid=a3a9f1cd-0fc8-41b9-a01a-adc8d4c26fe7

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/science/04fossil.html?_r=0

http://www.crystalinks.com/clovis.html

Picture links

http://donsmaps.com/coproliteevidence.html

http://web2.ges.gla.ac.uk/~dfabel/CN_images/ANTARES_AMS.jpg

Until the 1970’s, Paleolithic art was classified into two major groups: parietal art, including cave and rock art, and portable art. The clear difference between the two is that one form is moveable and the other is not. This classification gave rise to a bias in understanding and interpreting Paleolithic art, especially when considering portable and nonfigurative representations.

Many archaeologists derived working concepts of art from art historians when looking at style, perspective and form. However, the bias that arose from this method came as a result of art theory ideals prevalent since the Renaissance. There was an emphasis and focus on the “naturalistic” ideal in which artists were praised for their accuracy in representing the world. These guidelines then put great importance on cave paintings, which had more “realistic” art representations, and often underestimated or ignored portable artifacts and ornaments.

To further this bias, 18^th century Europe saw the growth of public art museums, such as The British Museum and the Spanish Royal Museum of Painting and Sculpture. With this new appreciation for aesthetics, crafts were pushed aside and judged as mechanical and unrefined. During this period, the parietal/portable classification of Paleolithic art, which already rejected portable work for its lack of naturalism, started to adapt to the fine arts/crafts distinction in which portable art was seen as naïve or infantile. At this time, some archaeologists assumed that painting was an indicator of higher cognitive function as compared to the skills in making portable pieces.

What is clear is that if art theorists were captivated by paintings yet denigrated crafts, archeologists followed suit, ignoring many portable works while celebrating cave paintings, such as those at Altamira and Niaux.

Many culminating factors, such as the globalization of Paleolithic art studies and the development of new approaches to art and symbolism, led to a change in archaeologists’ viewpoints in 1970. These new methods took into account that the making of artifacts was the culmination of the artistic experience. To understand the value of the piece, the creator’s stance toward a work of art must be considered. Furthermore, portable art and personal objects, while previously ignored, were now recognized for their value in assessing the social culture of Paleolithic groups. While parietal images on a wall might serve as landscape markers, portable objects are now regarded as indicators of social and individual identities. Since portable objects have the potential of traveling distances, it is acknowledged that these artifacts and art pieces could have been used to express the social statuses of individuals or groups within a larger Paleolithic culture.

Overall, social stigma derived from art theorists and artistic culture previous to 1970 influenced archaeologists interpretations of Paleolithic art in such a way that cave paintings were generally overemphasized relative to portable art pieces. However, with the rejection of this Eurocentrism and an anthropological turn in the conceptualization of Paleolithic art, movable and fixed forms of art are now considered distinct yet equal in their insight into different aspects of Paleolithic culture.

Works Cited:

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul G. Bahn. Archaeology Essentials: Theories, Methods, and Practice. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2010. Print.

Moro Abadía, Ór 2013, ‘Paleolithic art cultural history’, Journal Of Archaeological Research, 21, 3, pp. 269-306, Anthropology Plus, EBSCOhost, viewed 27 September 2014.

Image 1: http://www.thehistoryhub.com/cave-of-altamira-facts-pictures.htm

Image 2:http://ns1.wynja.com/hohlefelsvenus.html

Additional Reading:

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10816-010-9085-9/fulltext.html

http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/3630753.pdf?acceptTC=true&jpdConfirm=true

Biologists often study the population dynamics of other animal species. Population sizes are described as being controlled by factors such as resource availability and prevalence of predators. Populations fluctuate in size based on the combined effects of these various influencing factors.

The world’s human population, in the last several hundred years, has been increasing exponentially and relatively undeterred. This has contributed to many contemporary problems. There is major strain on natural resources which has resulted in extensive ecological destruction. There is much social and political strife, often by way of the aforementioned environmental pressures.

Image 1: World population growth over the last 12 000 years. Population size is correlated with types of society over the time scale.

However, human populations across the globe and through time have existed in varying types of societies. One major characteristic of a society is its population size. The relationships between population dynamics and society are intricate. Does the size of a population influence the type of society in which it is found? Or conversely, does a type of society influence its population size?

One common question refers to whether human populations can exist in a more “natural” or “balanced” state, more similar to those of other animal species. And if so, what does this mean for the type of society in which such a population would have to exist?

The San peoples of Southern Africa are the last living remnants of a wide group of peoples that pre-existed even the Bantu-speaking nations of Africa, let alone the Europeans. This wide group of peoples were Stone Age hunter-gatherers who inhabited most Africa for thousands of years. The hunter-gatherer way of life which these peoples employed is still in existence today in the remote populations of San peoples.

Image 2: A group of San men in Namibia. Note the arrows (one being prepared) which are used in hunting.

This hunter-gatherer lifestyle encourages a small population size to exist. The nomadic lifestyle is certainly more easily achieved with a smaller group size and, even more importantly, a small population size allows for the ability to “live off of the land” in the gatherer fashion. Conversely, this heavy reliance upon already limited natural resources also acts as a population check, keeping the size of the population fluctuating but small.

Lifestyles such as that of the hunter-gatherer San peoples are easily romanticised. In comparison to overpopulated, stately societies around the world, they appear to conduct a lifestyle much more near a balance with their surroundings. Or at least they appear to have much less of a negative impact upon their environment.

However, many people view the modern way of life in more state-orientated societies as simply better. There are even opinions, similar to those of social Darwinism, that describe a progression over time from more basic nomadic societies to intricate and large state societies. The reality is that small mobile hunter-gatherer groups still exist today, descended from societies that have existed for thousands of years. Is that simple fact perhaps enough proof of a successful, less destructive, way of life? Ultimately, as contemporary state societies face ever-increasing problems from the socio-political and environmental arenas, time will indeed shed more light upon the situation.

Additional sources of information:

The novel Ishmael by Daniel Quinn explores types of societies, their origins, and ultimately compares them in search for a better, more ideal way of life. The book is available from the Vassar College Main Library:

http://vaslib.vassar.edu/search~S1?/aQuinn/aquinn/1%2C150%2C276%2CB/frameset&FF=aquinn+daniel&1%2C%2C3

For more information about the San peoples, their history, lifestyle and archaeology, visit South African History Online:

http://www.sahistory.org.za/people-south-africa/san

Citations:

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul G. Bahn. Archaeology essentials: theories, methods, and practice. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2010.

South African History Online. “The San.” http://www.sahistory.org.za/people-south-africa/san

Image 1: http://econosystemics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/world-population-chart.jpg

Image 2: https://wetu.com/ImageHandler/1280×1280/24445/Nhoma-Safari-Camp-Tented-Lodge-Resdest-Namibia-Tsumkwe-Bushmenland-BushManLife3.jpg

Recently, a team of archaeologists in Armana, Egypt have been working full force on an excavation labeled the “Armana Project.” At this site, archaeologists have been working in cooperation with the Egyptian government to explore this ancient city in order to study, record and analyze the history of the traditional life here. Through this work, they are hoping to promote greater knowledge about the region and traditional life here, as well as to preserve the remains of this ancient city.

Archaeologist Joanda Bos, a leading figure in this excavation, has played a large role in the analysis of an Armana cemetery, a work in progress since 2006. She found some interested results. They are investigating all aspects of the city through the remains, including the popularity of different hairstyles. Out of the one-hundred skulls excavated, twenty-eight had traces of hair. This find is an unusual one for skulls that have been traced back over three-thousand years. One woman in particular struck Bos. A not mummified female, wrote Bos, had a “very complex coiffure with approximately seventy extensions fastened in different layers and heights on the head.”

Woman found with approximately 70 extensions fastened to head- probably styled after death

Although this particular complex hairstyle was most likely styled after the female’s death, Bos believes that similar styling, including the use of hair extensions, was a common part of Armanian life.

There were various different hairstyles found on the skulls. There were remains found with hair intact that ranged “from very curly black to middle brown straight; which was often styled in rings or coils around the ears.” This range indicates the large spectrum of popular hairstyles in Armana during this time, as well as might hint to a certain degree of ethnic variation. It was also found that some extensions were made up of more than one color, showing that multiple people may have donated hair in order to make up one extension.

Skull found with hair extensions made up of braids

It was also analyzed that these ancient Armana citizens were found of braids as many of the skulls had hairstyles with intricate braiding styles. These braids were found to be small in size, made up of three separate strands that were approximately .5 cm wide.

Another interesting find was that Armana people preferred shorter hair, averaging 7 inches (a length just ending before the shoulders). This could have suggested something about their work or styles at the time. Important to note, also, is the way this hair was preserved. It was found that fat was used to keep the hair in place after death, comparable to modern hair spray. Whether or not the fat is from animals is uncertain, however.

As archaeologists in this project analyze their results from this site, they are able to look more closely into the daily lives of these ancient people in order to better their knowledge about the way that these Armana citizens lived their lives.

More reading:

http://www.archaeology.org/news/2523-140917-egypt-armana-hair

http://www.armanaproject.com

Sources:

Jarus, Owens. Ancient Egyptian Woman with 70 Hair Extensions Discovered. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://www.livescience.com/47875-ancient-egyptian-woman-with-hair-extensions.htmlr>

2. Renfrew, Colin, and Paul G. Bahn. Archaeology essentials: theories, methods, and practice. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 20102010.

Picture links:

1: http://www.livescience.com/47875-ancient-egyptian-woman-with-hair-extensions.html

2: www.ancient-origins.net

3: www. archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com

A team of Yale Archaeologists led by Professor of Egyptology John Coleman Darnell discovered a “lost” Egyptian City while on their “Theban Desert Road Survey.”  This survey is a rolling mission in which the goal is to map out and study the Egyptian Western Desert and its ancient caravan routes.  Through this survey, the Yale archaeologists discovered the so-called “lost” ancient Egyptian City, Umm Mawagir.  The discovery of this city answered and sparked up a lot of questions about the Second Intermediate Period in the Theban Western Desert.  The period of time between 1650-1550 BC is known as the Second Intermediate Period consisting of three main groups in the Western Desert; they are the Hyksos, the Nubian kingdom of Kerma, and Thebaid.  This time period represents the second time that Egypt fell into chaos right after the end of the Middle Kingdom and before the start of the New Kingdom.  The recently discovered city spans over a kilometer in the southern part of the Kharaga Oasis, which before this discovery had been thought of as an uninhabited ghost town.  John Darnell, however, believes that this Oasis was actually a center for caravan routes connecting the Nile Valley of Egypt to modern day Western Sudan.

Map of the area around Umm Magawir, which was originally proclaimed a wasteland until discovered by Darnell and his team of archaeologists

Nile Region

“The Western Desert of the Second Intermediate Period may well have been wild, but it was not disorganized,” stated Darnell as he reflected on his discovery.  Darnell also believes that this ancient city was at one point in association with Thebes, which may be able to explain how the Pharaonic power prevailed as the weakest of the three establishments, possibly leading to the early start up of the Golden age of the Egyptian Empire.  One of the main reasons this city was able to survive was because it produced a sizeable amount of bread at that time.  Having the ability to produce this much bread allowed the city to flourish through trade in the Western desert region.  Darnell was very interested about why the baking of bread was such a big deal in this particular city so he and his team decided to start a dig in a part of the bakery. The team of archaeologists was able to find close to half a ton of pottery in a relatively small area that caught Darnell’s attention right away.

Bread forms that were excavated from the ancient city Umm Magawir.  Umm Magawir means “Mother of Bread Molds”

In just that one dig they were also able to find two large baking ovens, stones for grinding flour, and a stone mortar for husking grain.  As the team began to search around for more information, they were able to find broken pots of Nubian Desert troops, which suggested that this city had once served as a major military stronghold for these highly valued soldiers because the only way for these pots to have gotten to Umm Mawagir is if they were carried up from the south.  The excavation is nowhere near done, with only about one percent of the city excavated.  Darnell believes that through further excavation archaeologists will be able to find things out about the Second Intermediate Period that have been left unanswered.

Sources:

http://www.yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/2979

http://news.yale.edu/2010/08/26/ancient-lost-egyptian-city-discovered-yale-archaeologists

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul G. Bahn. Archaeology essentials: theories, methods, and practice. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 20102010.

Additional Reading:

http://www.yale.edu/egyptology/ummmawagir_ceramic.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/07/science/07archeo.html?_r=0

Marxist Archaeology was a field created in the early 20^th century by soviet archaeologist in which they started questioning archaeological sites with the class struggle and unfair business practices. Vere Gordon Childe was the most prominent Marxist archaeologist when the field was first formed it was his love with socialism that transferred over to his works in archaeology. Man Makes Himself and What Happened in History are Childe’s most prominent works in literature. Childe is also famous for his excavation of Skara Brae, a Neolithic village of the Orkney Islands. Marxist archaeology resurged in the 1980’s with Post Processual Archaeology.

Skara Brae was discovered when the ocean sea waves and wind unearthed the former stone village.

Social classes are not a modern idea, there have been hierarchies in cultures ever since the  original chiefdoms. The unequal distribution of wealth/resources what is considered a natural phenomenon comes with other consequences to those who are found lower on the pyramid. Application of Marxism can be seen in an excavation of the roman city of Dorset, in Great Britain, examined 291 bodies of all classes to determine the demographics of that area. The findings are not surprising those who were of high class has a decrease in chance of fallen sick compared to their poor counter part. The lower class had a lower life expectancy and the infant mortality rate was increased for those of the lower class versus the higher class.  These examinations were non-bias as the bodies were of all age categories.  This also covered the timespan of 400 years from the first century C.E to the Fifth century C.E. So what can this tell us about today well if you look at what the western world considers a developed and undeveloped nations we can see that the infant mortality rate between the two haven’t changed for over 1500 years!

Another example of Marxist Archaeology is with the Aboriginal southwest &northwest in the united states. The original Archaeologist studying these areas felt that they were considered chiefdoms, that never got out of a middle barbarism state. The first fault with this idea was the fact that the elite lived in grand houses while the rest lived in brush huts.  The research shows that the pueblo people are not exactly like their former ancestor and have an increase communal order then their predecessors.  The complex hierarchies of the original Aboriginals seemed to have diminished once the Spanish reached them. This interference is why their culture went from a complex system to a simpler egalitarian system. This is important because if this can occur  than that means that this successful structure can occur with other societies/cultures as well maybe even ours.

Pueblo homes, debates about classification of ancestor society

In a paper  “Reflexiones Acerca De La Arqueologia Social” questions the conservatism of excavations and  argues that  just  looking at what the upper class  have prevents us from truth. The authors believe that we must study the working class of a civilization to learn about the truth of their culture as a whole. These authors also believe that in doing this way we can help relate these to our own socioeconomic problems through the artifacts discovered in past cultures.

Additional Reading

The Archaeology of V. Gordon Childe: Contemporary Perspectives edited by David R. Harris

http://capitalisminarchaeologicaltheory.wordpress.com/randall-h-mcguire/

Works Cited

Faulkner, Neil. “Gordon Childe and Marxist Archaeology.” International Socialism 116 (2007): n. pag. Print.

García, Juan Carlos M., and Javier E. Rodríguez. Reflexiones Acerca De La Arqueologia Social. Academia. N.p., n.d. Web. <https://www.academia.edu/1961179/Reflexiones_acerca_de_la_Arqueologia_Social>.

“Gordon Childe.” BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014.

McGuire, Randall. Rethinking Power and Social inequality. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

“Skara Brae.” Orkneyjar. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. <http://www.orkneyjar.com/history/skarabrae/skarabraepano.jpg>.

“Status and Health in Roman Dorset: The Effect of Status on Risk of Mortality in Post-Conquest Populations.” Pubmed. weilly, 8 Aug. 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21826637>.

“Taos Pueblos Mud Houses.” National Geographic. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2014. <http://images.nationalgeographic.com/wpf/media-live/photos/000/280/cache/taos-pueblos-mud-houses_28026_600x450.jpg?01AD=3ISgALNq0LEkDFequRA7Afh4TwHKKEIQ1-1P_svNBuDi35fCYIGQl5w&01RI=BEBD2311EE49E17&01NA=>.

Looking at One World Trade Center from across ground zero

The One World Trade Center stands tall, 1776 feet to be exact, above Ground Zero, a site deeply entrenched in the hearts of millions of Americans.  Earlier this year, workers placed the final touches on the building that justly defines the New York City skyline, completing one of the nation’s most emotional construction projects to date.  The tower’s current influence will shape United States history for years to come, but the building, or its construction rather, has much older ties to America’s past.

In July of 2010, workers excavating a part of the foundation made a discovery, and what began that morning as routine construction quickly evolved into an archaeological dig.  Where the One World tower stands today was once a part of the Hudson River.  The debris-filled area, actually a landfill dating back to 1790, gave up a curved timber to a backhoe, and archaeologists working on site immediately went in to investigate.

After the silt and accumulated soil had been carefully removed, researchers and laborers alike peered down at the skeleton of half of a ship.  The remainder was later unearthed in an adjacent quadrant.  Estimates place the medium sized merchant vessel at approximately sixty feet in length, leading to the conclusion that it would have engaged in local trade along the East Coast.  The exact details as to where the ship had traveled are hoped to be revealed under further analysis.

A top view of the ship after the majority has been unearthed. Note the tell-tale curved timbers, overall hull shape, and silty soil.

In its day, this type of ship was standard, seen in nearly every port city.  However, detailed drawings and plans are uncommon for these ships, as they were expendable.  “[the ships] were considered mundane, and the building techniques weren’t documented.  It’s a once-in-a-lifetime discovery” stated Diane Dallal, one of the archaeologists present on-site.¹

The ship was unearthed approximately thirty feet under the modern-day surface of New York, but stratigraphy did not yield a date.  Instead, scientists from Columbia University’s dendrochronology lab were able to accurately date and place several the ship’s timbers using tree-ring analysis.  “The same pattern of growth variability in the World Trade Center boat was found in timbers in southeastern Pennsylvania.  There is no indication that timbers came from a more remote area,”² stated Edward Cook, who spearheaded the investigation.  It is likely then, that the ship was constructed in Philadelphia on or after 1773 and sailed from there to the sea.  According to Martin Bridge of University College London, “With shipbuilding you usually use [timbers] within a year or two [after they are felled] because it’s easier to work with,”³ meaning the ship left port on the eve of the revolution.

Some of the ship’s timbers ready to be arranged at their current resting place in Maryland

One World Trade Center, now complete, attracts the eyes of thousands each day.  But on display in Maryland, the remnants of a merchant ship draw researchers, architects, and archaeologists interested in our nation’s past.  Thanks to Diane Dallal and her team, this ship is resurrected, and while New York has reclaimed her skyline, anthropologists have made their own monumental achievement.

Sources:

1. Neely, Paula. “Ship Found at World Trade Center.” American Archaeology, Fall 2010.

2, 3.  Langin, Katie. “Wooden Ship Unearthed at World Trade Center Site From Revolutionary-Era Philadelphia.” National Geographic. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/07/140731-world-trade-center-ship-tree-rings-science-archaeology/ (accessed September 15, 2014).

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul G. Bahn. Archaeology essentials: theories, methods, and practice. 2nd ed. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 20102010.

Pictures:

1. http://www.renewnyc.com/images/wtc_ship_remnant/Ship-Remnant-view-from-East.jpg
2. http://inhabitat.com/nyc/wp-content/blogs.dir/2/files/2012/04/one-world-trade-center-537×355.jpg
3. https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQYEtbHqD7ORLVz99-0HWVHWRoWm7d4XtUY9fqASR_BDky8kau6

Further Reading:

http://onewtc.com/

http://www.thepirateking.com/ships/ship_types.htm

http://www.ldeo.columbia.edu/research/topics/dendrochronology

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLBkDFh5tB4

For many years, we believed that Europeans descended from early farmers, who were originally in the Middle East and moved to Europe about 7,500 years ago, or from local hunter-gatherers that bred with other races. However, recent DNA analysis uncovers a third group.
Nine ancient skeletons found in Sweden, Germany, and Luxemburg were of seven hunter-gathers and one hunter who lived 8,000 years ago and one farmer who lived 7,000 years ago. Through association, the hunter-gatherers were labeled as hunter-gatherers and identified as being from the same time period. Hunter-gatherers had darker skin than farmers and typically blue eyes, while farmers had fair to pale skin tones.
The skeletal remains were dated with AMS radiocarbon dating, a method applied to organic matter based on carbon decay. AMS radiocarbon dating uses an accelerator mass spectrometer to differentiate the carbon isotopes from other atoms or molecules that have a similar mass. A danger of radiocarbon dating is that samples can be contaminated, which causes problems with the interpretation of the results. Therefore, the archaeologists used numerous approaches to search for contamination.

Figure 1: Archaeologists from Harvard Medical School collect genetic data from ancient skeletons in Sweden.

The team from the Harvard Medical School and Germany’s University of Tübingen noted a significant genetic transition between the era of hunter-gatherers and the era of the farmers. Thus, North Eurasians contributed to the gene pool in both Europe and North America. After overlaying the genomes with genetic codes from 2,300 present-day people living all over the world, the team concluded that the ancient North Eurasian ancestry is predominant in less than 20 percent of most Europeans’ DNA today. This ancestry is found in nearly every European group, the Caucasus, and the Near East. Northern Europeans have relatively more hunter-gather ancestry than southern Europeans who have more farmer ancestry. Most native Europeans have a mixture of genetic information from the three distinct types of ancestors. Most of the conclusions about the North Eurasian group come from DNA dating and analysis. Concerning the determination of dates, context is extremely important. Therefore, demographic history and inbreeding were accounted for during the process. The researchers focused on sex determination through Y-chromosome analysis. Other methods involved in their DNA dating were enrichment of mitochondrial DNA and shotgun sequencing, which sequences long strands of DNA.

Figure 2: An 8,000 year old skull of a hunter-gatherer was found in Sweden.

Also, the ancient North Eurasian group explains the genetic connection between Europeans and Native Americans. Remains of ancient Siberians showed that European contributors were from the group that crossed the Bering Straight into the Americas more than 15,000 years ago. This new discovery alters our knowledge about European genetic ancestry and paints a different portrait of modern Europeans’ genetic composition.

Sources:

http://www.archaeology.org/news/2525-140918-european-genetic-ancestry

http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/9092/20140918/european-ancestors-hailed-three-different-groups.htm

http://news.discovery.com/human/dna-places-third-group-in-european-descendent-mix-140918.htm

Renfrew, Colin and Paul Bahn (2010) Archaeology Essentials. 2nd edition. Thames & Hudson, New York. Chapter 2.

Figure 1: http://www.archaeology.org/news/2525-140918-european-genetic-ancestry 

Figure 2: http://www.ancient-origins.net/news-evolution-human-origins/new-study-reveals-third-group-ancient-ancestors-modern-europeans-002087 

Further Reading:

http://hms.harvard.edu/news/new-branch-added-european-family-tree

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v513/n7518/full/nature13673.html#methods

Archaeologists uncovered ten thousand year old Native American artifacts in Lake George, proving that the area was one of the earliest occupied sites in New York. Some of these artifacts included projectile arrowheads from the French and Indian War and sharp edged rocks, which were possibly used to skin animals or chop up raw materials. The archaeologists were sent out to find artifacts from the French and Indian War and eventually they found artifacts dating much earlier than that time period. The team of archaeologists did this by first mapping out their excavation site. Instead of conducting the excavation right on Lake George’s present shoreline, the team of archaeologists began digging a few hundred feet from the beach. The archaeologists chose this site because it was estimated that in prehistoric times, this area would have been the shoreline. Interestingly enough, some of the artifacts found did not initially originate in the Adirondack region. From this observation archaeologist Christina Rieth observed that these people who left these artifacts behind were hunters and gatherers who spent time in what was once an area of wetlands. Rieth said, “It would be kind of a transit group, people who would have come here year after year for fishing or other types of activities around the lake.” She believes that these artifacts came from outside the region or were traded for other tools. According to her one of the stone pieces came from an eastern part of Pennsylvania and some of the others could have come from Central New York.

A spear point found at the dig site is estimated to be 8,000 years old.

John Hart, the State Museum director of research and collections, also mentioned that these artifacts aren’t from a permanent settlement. He believes that these artifacts came from a band of nomads who were in search for migrating birds, deer, and other raw materials. Both Hart and Rieth said the artifacts appear to be from an era much earlier than that of famous Native American tribes. The incredible aspect about these finds was that archaeologists were assigned to do a routine inspection as a part of the states’ plans to resurface the roads near Lake George. So there was a bit of luck for the archaeologist to find these findings since they had no systematic plan of what to look for specifically. The only things these archaeologists were expected to find were artifacts from the French and Indian war. The main point that did help was that they were digging at a spot, which was once the shoreline for Lake George. In all, the dig became a lucky success even though there was no initial plan and project to specifically find certain artifacts from a single time period.

Two archaeologists are in the process of collecting soil and dirt in a bucket and then through sifting locating the artifacts.

Photo 1 : http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/dig_near_lake_george_turns_up_10000-year_old_artifacts.html

Photo 2: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DvZKRk3S5ZU/UnP_Gn7I-II/AAAAAAAA27c/lxGsxFRoIdU/s1600/USA_NY_01.jpg

References: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Digging-10-000-years-into-the-past-4944785.php

http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/10/dig_near_lake_george_turns_up_10000-year_old_artifacts.html

http://wnyt.com/article/stories/s3205728.shtml?cat=300

Renfrew, Colin, and Paul G. Bahn. Archaeology Essentials: Theories, Methods, and Practice. New York, NY: Thames & Hudson, 2010. Print.

Additional readings:

http://www.cnycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=1041983

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Lake-George-dig-site-teaches-students-of-5467292.php