Oxygen isotopes in 121 limpet shells from Franchthi, Greece, show no clear winter cold snap as farming spread. One site, so the wider question stays open.
Murad Ali Khan9 min read
news · Anthropology Evidence status: Peer reviewed · Laboratory chemical analysis of museum objects
A PNAS study of 24 museum objects, including old mummy medicine, finds conifer resin and aloe traces in ancient Egyptian embalming materials, with clear limits.
Archaeologists report a 13,800-year-old camp in interior Alaska with an earth oven, bone needles and Siberia-like stone tools, from one excavated block.
Murad Ali Khan14 min read
news · Anthropology Evidence status: Peer-reviewed journal; synthesis of published archaeological and historical records; full text not read by SciQuest
Collagen matching the common eland turned up in 2 of 5 samples of 60,000-year-old ochre-rich sediment in South Africa. Which tissue, and why, is still unknown.
Collagen from two Xujiayao bones, 199,000 to 138,000 years old, carries a Denisovan-only variant. What it reveals about Denisovan skulls, and what is disputed.
A 500,000-year Indian Ocean dust record dates ten Green Arabia wet phases and brief ice-age rains, and models about 11 times more hominins in green times.
Murad Ali Khan9 min read
news · Anthropology Evidence status: Peer reviewed · Archaeological site study
Rock moulds at Spain's Abric Romaní preserve 13 wooden objects Neanderthals made or used, including a 2.45 m spear and a possible club. Here's what's uncertain.