For Those Interested in Archaeology

Just noticed this thead has been going for a decade now.
Anyway, here's the latest-
"For tens of thousands of years, the high ceilings, flat earthen floor, and river view of Shanidar Cave have beckoned to ancient humans. The cave, in the Zagros Mountains of northern Iraq, once sheltered at least 10 Neanderthals, who were unearthed starting in the 1950s. One skeleton had so many injuries that he likely needed help to survive, and another had been dusted with pollen, suggesting someone had laid flowers at the burial. The rare discovery ushered in a new way of thinking about Neanderthals, who until then had often been considered brutes. “Although the body was archaic, the spirit was modern,” excavator Ralph Solecki wrote of Neanderthals, in Science, in 1975. But some scientists doubted the pollen was part of a flower offering, and others questioned whether Neanderthals even buried their dead.
In 2014, researchers headed back to Shanidar to re-excavate, and found additional Neanderthal bones. Then, last fall, they unearthed another Neanderthal with a crushed but complete skull and upper thorax, plus both forearms and hands. From 25 to 28 January, scientists will gather at a workshop at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom to discuss what the new finds suggest about Neanderthal views of death. Science caught up with archaeologist and team co-leader Christopher Hunt of Liverpool John Moores University in the United Kingdom to learn more."
www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/01/new-remains-discovered-site-famous-neanderthal-flower-burial?fbclid=IwAR14oLmE2pV3qD8AFA5Q27hazrhGquJtldQjwlyV25WHFqsBitTFwyd3Jmg

 

Maybe a new angle on hunters?
"Neanderthal spears were used to kill prey from up to 65 feet (20 metres) away, scientists have found.
It was previously thought the ancient human ancestors did not have the necessary technology or skill to create refined weapons for long-range use.
Research combined a fragment of a surviving spear with javelin throwing athletes and found the projectiles were more efficient than previously thought.
Experts had assumed Neanderthals used their crude wooden spears for stabbing and lunging instead of throwing.
The new study paints a very different picture of their abilities and reveals the so-called 'Schoningen' spears were aerodynamic missiles used to kill prehistoric prey.
Using accurate replicas of Neanderthal spears dating back 300,000 years, the javelin throwers managed to hit a target up to 65 feet (20 metres) away.
This was double the distance scientists had believed the 'Schoningen' spears could be thrown.
In addition, the spears slammed into the target with sufficient force to kill prey.
Lead researcher Dr Annemieke Milks, from University College London's Institute of Archaeology, said: 'This study is important because it adds to a growing body of evidence that Neanderthals were technologically savvy and had the ability to hunt big game through a variety of hunting strategies, not just risky close encounters.
'It contributes to revised views of Neanderthals as our clever and capable cousins.' "
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6631271/Neanderthals-brains-build-long-distance-weapons.html

 

"An ancient footprint found preserved in a Gibraltar sand dune may have been left by one of the last living Neanderthals.
Researchers investigating an area of the Catalan Bay Sand Dune over the last decade have found tracks from both animals and what appears to be a human ancestor dating as far back as 29,000 years ago.
Neanderthals began to die out around 40,000 years ago, though some research has suggested they persisted until as recently as 28,000 years ago.
The experts say the discovery lines up with late Neanderthal-era findings from the nearby Gorham's Cave, and if confirmed, would be only the second known example of Neanderthal footprints.
In a paper published to the journal Quaternary Science Reviews, an international team including researchers from the Gibraltar National Museum have outlined the remarkable discovery of ancient vertebrate footprints in the region.
The dunes above Catalan bay are a relic of the last glaciation, according to the team, revealing evidence of a time when sea levels sat 120 meters lower than they do today.
At that time, the dunes extended much farther outward.
Researchers identified footprints from red deer, ibex, aurochs, leopard, and straight-tusked elephants at the site.
And, they found what’s said to be the footprint of a young human ancestor who stood just 3.4 to 4 feet tall (106-126 centimeters).
The team dated the print to about 29,000 years ago.
This information coupled with fossil discoveries from Gorham’s Cave point to a Neanderthal origin, according to the researchers.
The only other Neanderthal footprints known to exist were found at Vartop Cave in Romania."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6701935/Where-Neanderthals-walked-Researchers-discover-29-000-year-old-footprint-Gibraltar.html

 

I wonder how the arm/upper body strength of Neanderthals compared to the modern athletes testing the spears? We tend to think of Neanderthals being muscular. That would affect range and killing power.

 

Last I heard there was pretty conclusive evidence for "modern man" having some Neanderthal genes. So they didn't go completely extinct. Modern athletes have very scientific training which tends to build muscle at close to optimum rates. On the other hand primitive peoples usually got a lot of exercise as part of their life style. An interesting question as to how they'd compare.

 

Every white person has roughly 2% - 2.5% Neanderthal DNA...that 2% sits in a different area for each person. Its thought that maybe the early Africans deliberately mated with the Neanderthal in Europe to ensure their offspring would survive...We may have got our coloured eyes from them...we may have got our straight hair from them...

 

Exactly, when every day's life or death you develop muscles without even knowing it. And that's without special diets/supplements etc. Not sure a modern reconstruction could ever be entirely accurate.

 

New Australian-Antarctic dinosaur found in Victoria

 

"The single biggest hoard of Celtic coins ever found is now thought to be two separate stashes that were buried together.
The Le Câtillon II hoard includes 70,000 gold and silver coins and 11 gold torques, or necklaces, and dates to the First Century AD.
Researchers believe that two distinct tribes created the currency, due to variations in the quality of their production as well as the metals used.
The collection, thought to be worth £10million ($13million), was brought to the island and buried - most likely to hide it from Roman invaders, experts say.
Metal detectorists Reg Mead and Richard Miles, who spent 30 years looking for the hoard, finally uncovered it in 2012.
Their haul came out of the ground in one large piece and has been disassembled and restored over the past three years.
Each items location has been recorded using laser-mapping and the preliminary data is revealing some unexpected results, researchers say.
Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Miles said: 'What really surprised us was that everyone had thought this was just one large mass of continental coinage, what we were really surprised to find that it was in fact two distinctly different bodies of material.
'We think that our coin hoard was brought to the Island at about the time of the Roman invasion, possibly for safekeeping away from the Roman armies.
'One [collection] had all the early issued coins from circa 80 BC with all the gold jewellery. All of these coins can be identified with the tribes in Brittany.' www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-6847107/A-trove-coins-jewellery-worth-10-MILLION-TWO-stashes-hidden-Romans.html

 

Sounds like a substantial settlement.
"The remains of 3,000-year-old skeletons have been discovered while a water company worked to save a rare chalk stream in Oxfordshire.
The skeletons are thought to date back to the Iron Age and Roman eras and have long been buried in the area before being unearthed by Thames Water.
The company were working on a £14.5million project to ease pressure on Letcombe Brook near Wantage when they made the historic find.
While laying new water pipes workers discovered an selection of historic artefacts which were all part of an ancient settlement in the area.
During the excavation workers discovered 26 human skeletons, which are thought to have been involved in ritual burials as studies have previously suggested this is how Iron Age communities were laid to rest.
A female skeleton was discovered among the ruins which had been buried with her feet cut off and her arms bound behind her head.
As well as human remains, archaeologists also found evidence of dwellings, animal carcasses and household items including pottery, cutting implements and a decorative comb."
www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6921445/Water-company-uncovers-3-000-year-old-Iron-Age-Roman-SKELETONS.html