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A Dogū (土偶) left and an artist’s impression of how a prehistoric Japanese male might have looked
We check our Search Engine Box daily and are often surprised (and delighted) by some of the search terms that bring people here. What did prehistoric Japanese people look like? appeared in our Search Box yesterday and, although we don’t have much information to offer, the above illustration might be of interest (sorry but we don’t have a source for its origin).
Also of interest may be The Prehistory of Japan by Gerard J Groot.
Jonathan Amos, Science correspondent for BBC News Science & Environment reports that -
The length of time modern humans (Homo sapiens) and Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) overlapped in Europe has been a keenly debated topic in recent times. A long overlap raises important questions about the extent to which we might have interbred with them, and possibly even contributed to their eventual demise.
Research published in 2011 indicated modern humans were living in the lands now known as Italy and the UK as far back as 41,000-45,000 years ago. This may have put them in contact with European Neanderthals who, according to previous dating studies, persisted on the continent for many millennia after these dates. On the Rock of Gibraltar, for example, it has been suggested that Neanderthals could possibly have hung around until as recently as 28,000 years ago before finally dying out.
Full story here.
Mary Leakey. Source Wikipedia. Image credit National Institutes of Health
Mary Leakey (6 February 1913 – 9 December 1996) would have been 100 last Wednesday. She spent a great deal of her life at Olduvai Gorge in eastern Africa with her husband Louis. Olduvai Gorge is seen as the cradle of humanity, though there would be some who would disagree with that. As far as evolution goes however you’ve got to start somewhere. It is still good though to recognise a woman who actually began as a so-called amateur and ended up being an expert in her subject (her son still continues the family tradition).
So, to all explorers and archaeologists who work ‘in the field’ a toast, and a belated happy birthday.
More on Mary Leakey here .
A 26,000 year-old carving, in mammoth ivory, of a woman’s face.
Image credit Moravian Museum, Anthropos Institute, Czech Republic
One of the artefacts now on show at the British Museum in its Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind exhibition which runs until the 26 May 2013.
Female figure sculpture approximately 20,000 years-old
The British Museum announces its Ice Age art: arrival of the modern mind exhibition which begins on the 7 February 2013 and runs until 26 May 2013.
Discover masterpieces from the last Ice Age drawn from across Europe in this groundbreaking show. Created by artists with modern minds like our own, this is a unique opportunity to see the world’s oldest known sculptures, drawings and portraits.
Ice Age art was created between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago and many of the pieces are made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler. They show skilful, practised artists experimenting with perspectives, scale, volumes, light and movement, as well as seeking knowledge through imagination, abstraction and illusion.
Details of the exhibition here.
6,500 year-old tooth with beeswax filling found in Slovenia
Kate Taylor, writing in TG Daily reports that -
Scientists say that they’ve discovered evidence of stone-age dentistry – a filling made of beeswax that dates back 6,500 years.
The jawbone containing the filled tooth was found in Slovenia, and likely belonged to a man between 24 and 30. Discovered over 100 years ago, it sat in a local museum ever since, without attracting a great deal of attention. The beeswax appears to have been applied around the time of the individual’s death, but there’s no way of telling whether it was shortly before or after. It’s possible that it was used as part of some sort of death ritual.
If it was applied before death, however, it was likely intended to reduce pain and sensitivity from a vertical crack in the enamel and dentin layers of the tooth. The severe wear of the tooth, says Claudio Tuniz of the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, “is probably also due to its use in non-alimentary activities, possibly such as weaving, generally performed by Neolithic females.”
It’s not the first evidence of very early dentistry. In 2001, a graveyard in Pakistan dating as far back as 9,000 years yielded up 11 human molars showing drill holes – but no fillings. “This finding is perhaps the most ancient evidence of pre-historic dentistry in Europe and the earliest known direct example of therapeutic-palliative dental filling so far,” says co-author Federico Bernardini.
See also the article in The New Scientist here.
Reconstruction of a Neanderthal in The Neanderthal Museum, Germany. Source Wikipedia.
Image credit Ökologi
Writing in TG Daily, Emma Woollacott reports that the examination of food particles trapped in the teeth of Neanderthal remains have -
…revealed the human ancestor Australopithecus sediba ate bark – analysis of microscopic bits of food trapped between the teeth – they’ve established that Neanderthals cooked plants, including bitter-tasting ones that have medicinal properties. Until recently, Neanderthals, who disappeared between 30,000 and 24,000 years ago, were thought to be predominantly meat-eaters.
Researchers from Spain, the UK and Australia combined pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry with morphological analysis of plant microfossils to identify material trapped in dental calculus – calcified dental plaque – from five Neanderthals from the north Spanish site of El Sidrón.
Two adzes and one additional stone blade from New Guinea. On the upper adze the stone blade is expelled from the handle.
Source Wikimedia. Image credit Bullenwächter
BBC News Wales reports yesterday that -
A study of more than 300 Neolithic skeletons suggests evidence of “hereditary inequality” among farmers 7,000 years ago… Archaeologists from Cardiff University led a team who studied the skeletons from across Europe. They say evidence suggests farmers buried with tools had access to better land than those buried without. Dr Penny Bickle, of Cardiff University, said community diversity “probably occurred through inheritance”. The research was conducted by archaeologists from Cardiff, Bristol and Oxford universities, and others across Europe.The project was led by professor Alasdair Whittle from Cardiff University’s school of history, archaeology and religion, and involved studying more than 300 skeletons across central Europe.
Engraved rib bone fragment, estimated to be some 12,500 years old, showing the profile of a horse. Found in 1876 at Creswell Crags and now on long-term loan from the British Museum to the Creswell Crags Museum & Heritage Centre. Source Wikipedia. Image credit DaveKav
The Creswell Crags Museum & Heritage Centre reports that -
Creswell Crags is one of Britain’s most important archaeological sites, as important as Stonehenge or Hadrian’s Wall. The caves tell the fascinating story of life during the last Ice Age when the Crags were amongst the most northerly places on earth to have been inhabited by our ancient ancestors. The recent cave art discoveries underline the international significance of the site
The Crags have suffered from the late nineteenth century when the Creswell Caves became known to scientists. Early excavators used dynamite to blast their way into the caves, and a road and a sewage works have been built in the gorge. Tens of thousands of archaeological finds from the site are now dispersed amongst 30 different museums around the UK.
The Creswell Initiative is the title of a major project which proposes to carry out the works necessary to look after, protect and tell people about the story of life at Creswell Crags. The total cost is estimated at £14 million. The project will give a major boost to the local economy, creating a new vision for the future of this ex-coalfield area.
Source Creswell Crags Museum & Heritage Centre.
Beyond the Ice: Creswell Crags and its Place in a Wider European Context by Matthew Beresford
Since the discovery of Britains first Ice Age cave art in 2003, the site of Creswell Crags has gained international recognition as one of Britain’s leading Palaeolithic sites. This accessible volume explores the history of research on the site and draws together and interprets the findings, paying particular attention to the cave art. Documenting the early fieldwork at the site it uncovers antiquarian discoveries such as the famous horse engraving, excavations in the 1920s that saw our understanding of our early ancestors take shape, discusses the demise of the Neanderthals and the emergence of Modern Man, and looks at how Creswell Crags grew as a heritage attraction of potential World Heritage Status. The book also challenges the term Creswellian, an isolated British culture that occupied the fringe lands of western Europe, and instead offers hard evidence for viewing Creswell Crags and its inhabitants as being part of a vast Ice Age world.
113p b/w illus (Archaeopress 2012).
ISBN-13: 978-1-905739-50-9. ISBN-10: 1-905739-50-8.
Paperback. Price GB £14.95.
