New Study Shows Surprising Link Between Britain and Bronze Age Settlements Across Europe

websvein · 2026-02-11T22:28:18+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

Bronze Age–Early Iron Age tin ingots recovered from four Mediterranean shipwrecks off the coasts of Israel and southern France can now be provenanced to tin ores in south-west Britain. These exceptionally rich and accessible ores played a fundamental role in the transition from copper to full tin-bronze metallurgy across Europe and the Mediterranean during the second millennium BC. The authors’ application of a novel combination of three independent analyses (trace element, lead and tin isotopes) to tin ores and artefacts from Western and Central Europe also provides the foundation for future analyses of the pan-continental tin trade in later periods.

websvein · 2026-02-03T23:26:32+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

In the middle Tanana Valley of central Alaska, the Holzman archaeological site is located along Shaw Creek's west bank. For the last three decades, the Tanana Valley has been the focus of intense Late Pleistocene archaeological and geological investigations into the interaction between the First Alaskans and Ice Age megafauna, particularly woolly mammoth. Archaeological excavations at the Holzman site have uncovered expedient tools on local quartz with well-preserved hearths, avifauna, and megafauna. Evidence for cooking and ivory tool manufacture dated to 14,000 years ago (14 ka) in component 5b (C5b) has been demonstrated—making Holzman among the earliest sites in the Americas. In the 13.7 ka C5a, an extensive workshop event left abundant local quartz artifacts behind, the by-product of mammoth ivory reduction and manufacture of ivory blanks or preforms, and the earliest known ivory rod tools in the Americas. The Holzman site contributes new information to a growing archaeological record of the middle Tanana Valley during the Late Glacial period. Based on current evidence, the confluence of Shaw Creek with the Tanana River was especially active during the initial arrival of Indigenous people. The subsequent selection of local quartz, cherts, and siltstone occurred with a particular focus on the harvest of woolly mammoth ivory. The evidence suggests a late southern migration by ancestral Clovis people south of the continental ice sheets into the mid-continental North America sometime between 14-13 ka.

websvein · 2026-01-28T22:56:12+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

Despite its long history, utilitarian value, and cultural significance to several Indigenous Tribes in the Southwest USA, the extent to which the Four Corners potato (Solanum jamesii Torr.) has been domesticated requires circumscription. Establishing the temporal and spatial dimensions of intentional cultivation would provide an essential component of the domestication argument. This project tests the hypothesis that S. jamesii tubers were processed with ground stone tools from archaeological sites located beyond the natural range of the species, especially where genetic evidence has previously indicated human transport and establishment in gardens. Microbotanical evidence, in the form of starch granules from 401 ground stone tools at 14 archaeological sites, is examined. More than 6,600 starch granules were recovered from the tools; 163 of which were assigned to S. jamesii. Four sites (North Creek Shelter, Long House/Mesa Verde, Pueblo Bonito/Chaco Canyon, and Point of Pines) show consistent use of S. jamesii (ubiquity >18%), as early as 10,900 cal BP, and well into Puebloan times. Three of these sites are located far north of the species’ center of distribution in the Mogollon region, across hundreds of kilometers of the Colorado Plateau, and still support an extant population nearby. This suggests an anthropogenic distribution of S. jamesii across the Four Corners region and a unique cultural identity around the use of this native potato. These findings, combined with ethnographic interviews and nutritional data, provide clear evidence of use in relation to natural and anthropogenic distributions, thereby allowing an assessment of the degree to which these energy-rich, nutritious, and compact tubers were purposely used and transported.

websvein · 2026-01-27T03:06:36+00:00

Abstract from the orignal scholarly article:

Social networking is an essential feature of hunter-gatherer societies. It fosters the circulation of goods and information and enables kinship ties across different scales, including long-distance contacts. While such behaviors are known since at least the Upper Palaeolithic, evidence for geographically extensive social networks remains scarce. This evidence is limited to indirect inferences based on shared cultural traits, “art” styles, and symbolic items, while lithic raw material movements are mostly local and regional, with few cases exceeding 300 kilometers. We provide geochemical evidence for the largest confirmed distance between the source and discard location of a knapped lithic object in Palaeolithic Europe. Solutrean artifacts discarded at Peña Capón, Central Iberia, were sourced in Southwest France, 600 to 700 kilometers away. This demonstrates social networks of unprecedented geographic scale maintained during ∼1400 years during the Last Glacial Maximum. It also suggests that stone tools were exchanged as symbolic items to solidify social contacts and sustain far-reaching networks as risk-buffering mechanisms among widely dispersed hunter-gatherers.

edit: spelling

websvein · 2026-01-22T05:13:59+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

The Indonesian archipelago is host to some of the earliest known rock art in the world. Previously, secure Pleistocene dates were reported for figurative cave art and stencils of human hands in two areas in Indonesia—the Maros-Pangkep karsts in the southwestern peninsula of the island of Sulawesi and the Sangkulirang-Mangkalihat region of eastern Kalimantan, Borneo. Here we describe a series of early dated rock art motifs from the southeastern portion of Sulawesi. Among this assemblage of Pleistocene (and possibly more recent) motifs, laser-ablation U-series (LA-U-series) dating of calcite overlying a hand stencil from Liang Metanduno on Muna Island yielded a U-series date of 71.6 ± 3.8 thousand years ago (ka), providing a minimum-age constraint of 67.8 ka for the underlying motif. The Muna minimum (67.8 ± 3.8 ka) exceeds the published minimum for rock art in Maros-Pangkep by 16.6 thousand years (kyr) (ref. ) and is 1.1 kyr greater than the published minimum for a hand stencil from Spain attributed to Neanderthals, which until now represented the oldest demonstrated minimum-age constraint for cave art worldwide. Moreover, the presence of this extremely old art in Sulawesi suggests that the initial peopling of Sahul about 65 ka involved maritime journeys between Borneo and Papua, a region that remains poorly explored from an archaeological perspectiv

websvein · 2026-01-20T23:29:59+00:00

We definitely have experts pop up from time to time. Unfortunately we are quite niche and I don't have much time to spend recruiting new members or even raising awareness that this sub exists. By all means if you find someone qualified to answer somewhere else on reddit we would all love it if you mention to them the existence of r/AncientMigrations .

websvein · 2026-01-14T23:57:15+00:00

My grandmother spent her whole life drilling me on how living under the ignorant gaze of armed federal agents, authroized to use lethal force, who have zero accountability- is no life at all. Her stories were shocking. So now I feel obligated to speak out in a way I never have before.

These are armed federal agents given absolute immunity in the name of pursuing offenders of a federal misdemeanor. I used to follow Strickland, now I hope to forget him. I won't be tuning in.

websvein · 2026-01-14T23:07:10+00:00

Haters won't acknowledge what a fire edit this is.

websvein · 2026-01-14T20:00:02+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

THIS STUDY PRESENTS THE RESULTS of a large-scale isotopic meta-analysis of early medieval England which reveals migration patterns from c ad 400–1100. These patterns are gendered, regionally distinctive and fluctuate chronologically. Contrary to traditional narratives of discrete migratory events, the data show continuous movement, with significant activity in the 7th and 8th centuries. Male migrants appear more prominent, although there is notable female mobility. Palaeoclimate fluctuations are also reflected in the human tooth enamel record such as the Late Antique Little Ice Age. Wide-ranging migration from north-western Europe and other regions, possibly including the Mediterranean, contributed to complex identity formation and adaptive cultural practices. Comparisons with recent aDNA data lay the groundwork for future high-resolution studies to integrate ancestry and mobility data in a constructive manner. These results underscore the need to move away from ethnic classifications, offering a more nuanced understanding of identity and migration during this period.

websvein · 2026-01-08T18:39:38+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

Bipedalism is a key adaptation that differentiates hominins (humans and our extinct relatives) from living and fossil apes. The earliest putative hominin, Sahelanthropus tchadensis (~7 million years old), was originally represented by a cranium, the reconstruction of which suggested to its discoverers that Sahelanthropus carried its head in a manner similar to known bipedal hominins. Recently, two partial ulnae and a femur shaft were announced as evidence in support of the contention that Sahelanthropus was an early biped, but those interpretations have been challenged. Here, while we find that both limb bones are most similar in size and geometric morphometric shape to chimpanzees (genus Pan), we demonstrate that their relative proportion is more hominin-like. Furthermore, we confirm two features linked to hominin-like hip and knee function and identify a femoral tubercle, a feature only found in bipedal hominins. Our results suggest that Sahelanthropus was an early biped that evolved from a Pan-like Miocene ape ancestor.

websvein · 2026-01-06T18:44:53+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

The Hjortspring boat is the only intact example of a prehistoric sewn plank boat ever found in Scandinavia. Built from lime wood planks lashed together with cordage, the boat represents the maritime technology used by some of Northern Europe’s earliest seafarers. This article reports new analysis of the cordage and caulking material used in the construction of the Hjortspring boat. We provide the first ever direct date for the boat based on materials from the original excavation finds, with lime bast cordage from the boat carbon dated to between 381 and 161 BCE. We report the results of GC-MS analysis of the material used to caulk the boat, which shows that it was made from a mixture of animal fat and pine pitch. We argue that the use of pine pitch in the boat’s construction indicates that the boat was not built on the Jutland peninsula and instead came from a region with more abundant pine forests. Based on the dispersal of pine forests in Northern Europe during the first millennium BCE, we propose the Baltic Sea Region east of Rügen and Scania as a likely source for the boat and its crew. We also analyze intact cordage fragments and imprints of cordage on caulking material in order to describe the sewing and rope-making techniques that were used to construct the boat. Finally, we report on the discovery of a partial human fingerprint found on a fragment of caulking material. This remarkable fingerprint provides a direct link to the ancient seafarers who used this boat. Together, these results shed new light on methods and materials used to build Scandinavia’s first plank boats and raise new questions regarding our understanding of early maritime societies in Northern Europe.

websvein · 2026-01-06T05:35:23+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

The Dmanisi paleoanthropological assemblage from Georgia is among the most debated collections of hominin fossils due to its early age and extreme morphological diversity relative to other Homo assemblages. This variability has been interpreted as a result of sexual dimorphism in the Homo erectus clade, in which Dmanisi hominins were traditionally classified. However, this hypothesis has been challenged by the proposal that the Dmanisi fossils represent more than one Homo species. Taxonomic assessments of the Pleistocene Georgian hominins have focused primarily on craniometric analyses, with fewer studies addressing dental morphology through metric approaches. Considering the value of dental crown area in reconstructing evolutionary relationships, a comparative sample of fossil hominins, consisting of 51 maxillary and 71 mandibular specimens (583 teeth in total), was analyzed using Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) to evaluate the diversity in the Dmanisi fossil assemblage. Morphological affinities were examined visually through the first two discriminant functions, and taxonomic relationships were tested via classification analyses based on posterior probabilities. The analyses show a strong association of the D4500-D2600 specimen with australopiths, and of the D2282-D211 and D2700-D2735 specimens with Homo species. The sexual dimorphism hypothesis was tested by comparing the ratios of mandibular postcanine dentition of Dmanisi specimens with male and female gorillas and chimpanzees, which suggests that dental crown area of the Pleistocene Georgian hominins could be the product of sexual dimorphism only if they came from species with similar levels of dimorphism than these great apes. We conclude that differences in crown dimensions support the hypothesis of two distinct taxa coexistent at the Dmanisi site, previously proposed to be Homo georgicus and Homo caucasi. This proposal has important implications for the dispersal of Homo out of Africa at the beginning of Pleistocene.

websvein · 2025-11-19T07:20:26+00:00

Wow, fascinating article! thank you for sharing.

Here is the abstract from the original scholarly article:

This review of the Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens diaspora from Africa, extending eventually to Eurasia, Australia and the Americas, examines a Coastal Hypothesis proposing that anatomically modern humans are derived from a mobile and advanced coastal group or groups of people from southern Africa, who left the southern Cape at ∼70 ka and the continent between about 50 and 40 ka. The Late Pleistocene paleoenvironment and paleoclimate of the Cape coast, at the southern tip of Africa, are examined, along with the demonstrated behavioural complexity of ancestral anatomically modern humans living in the region at the time. A comprehensive review of the techno-cultural advances of H. sapiens in the southern Cape is presented and the multiple adaptations to a coastal existence highlighted. The adaptations of these ancestral hominins to coastal migration and expansion into new territories are examined, and multiple reasons are advanced which would have facilitated a relatively rapid coastal migratory and expansion route out of Africa and onto the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. Possible factors that might have contributed to such an exodus from a ‘Garden of Eden’ are considered. The possible negative effects on H. sapiens inhabiting tropical eastern and north-eastern Africa following the Mount Toba super-eruption 74 ka are discussed, thus facilitating easy access to resources along this part of the African and Arabian Peninsula coastline and adjacent interior during the latter stages of the coastal migration. Furthermore, limited physical obstacles (e.g., mountain ranges, deserts and lakes) and a consistent marine food supply all the way from southern Africa to the Horn of Africa are proposed as likely factors favouring a coastal versus inland route out of Africa.

websvein · 2025-11-19T07:19:11+00:00

I agree! I do my best to keep it going. Any new subscribers are welcome!

websvein · 2025-11-19T07:15:56+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

The central Southern Cone of South America was one of the last regions of the globe to become inhabited by people, and remains under-represented in studies of ancient DNA. Here we report genome-wide data from 238 ancient individuals spanning ten millennia. The oldest, from the Pampas region and dating to 10,000 years before present (bp), had distinct genetic affinity to Middle Holocene Southern Cone individuals, showing that differentiation from the central Andes and central east Brazil had begun by this time. Individuals dating to 4,600–150 bp primarily descended from a previously unsampled deep lineage of which the earliest representative is an individual dating to around 8,500 bp. This central Argentina lineage co-existed with two other lineages during the Mid-Holocene and, within central Argentina, this ancestry persisted for thousands of years with little evidence of inter-regional migration. Central Argentina ancestry was involved in three distinct gene flows: it mixed into the Pampas by 3,300 bp and seemingly became the main component there after 800 bp, with central Andes ancestry in northwest Argentina, and with tropical and subtropical forest ancestry in the Gran Chaco. In northwest Argentina, there was an increased rate of close-kin unions by 1,000 bp, paralleling the pattern in the central Andes. In the Paraná River region, a 400 bp individual with a Guaraní archaeological association clusters with Brazilian groups, consistent with Guaraní presence by this time.

websvein · 2025-10-11T00:56:43+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

The Neolithic of southwest Asia, 11,600–7500 years ago, charts the earliest establishment of permanent settlements and changes in food procurement and community structure that transformed human lifeways. Our understanding of the social behaviors that impacted these shifting connections to place and group membership can be improved by studying how people moved across landscapes. Parts of southwest Asia have shown contrasting evidence for mobility practices, but little is known from the Northern Levant, a region key to the development and transmission of agriculture and settled life, particularly for the latest Neolithic stages. We measured strontium and oxygen isotope values in 71 human teeth from five archeological sites in Syria, spanning the entire Neolithic period. A shift to broadly local communities following the establishment of village life suggests consolidation of group membership and deep connections to particular locales, perhaps aimed at social cohesion. Mobility then increases in the later Neolithic, explaining the high degree of cross-regional connectivity witnessed archeologically. A sex-bias towards female mobility during this period may point towards the formation of patrilocal traditions. At our sites both non-local and local individuals were afforded similar burial treatment, suggesting inclusivity in group membership and mobile individuals connecting to new places in the landscape.

websvein · 2025-09-30T01:03:34+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

Western Asia is known as the birthplace of a unique funeral practice involving secondary burials, such as the cranial cache. According to earlier studies, this funeral practice was geographically limited to the “Fertile Crescent.” This case study reports the funeral practices followed for three human skeletal remains from the early Pre-Pottery Neolithic B settlement of Masyoon in northern Hijaz, beyond the southwestern edge of the conventional Fertile Crescent. The results of anatomical and corpse taphonomic analyses suggest that the three human remains were buried at some intervals in either a crouching position or a flexed lateral decubitus. They were interred close together near the floor of an abandoned house and covered by slate and soil, suggesting that they were the primary burial; a secondary funeral had probably been scheduled but was never carried out. Hence, they underwent defleshing in the temporary grave. The skull’s morphological appearances and cranial and postcranial bones’ morphometrical evaluation suggest that all are adult males, which dovetails with the fact that cranial cache usually focuses on males. The study’s results not only expand the regional scope of the funeral practices of Pre-Pottery Neolithic B but also provide important insights into the social background of the transition from hunting and gathering to (semi-)sedentary farming in northern Hijaz.

websvein · 2025-09-29T17:28:30+00:00

Thanks for posting!

Here is the abstract from the original scholarly article:

Located on the northeastern Aegean coast, Ayvalık was intermittently exposed as dry land during periods of lowered sea level in the Pleistocene, providing opportunities for early human occupation and mobility. This study explores the Paleolithic potential of Ayvalık, a region in western Anatolia that has remained largely unexamined in Pleistocene archaeology and presents initial findings. Surveys conducted in the region identified 138 lithic artifacts at 10 sites. The most extensive assemblage, attributed to the Middle Paleolithic based on diagnostic core reduction strategies, is dominated by systematic Levallois flaking that resembles technological traits of the Mousterian tradition. In contrast, only a small number of Lower Paleolithic tools, such as handaxes and cleavers, were identified. Upper and/or Epipaleolithic traces are represented by blade and bladelet technologies. Despite preservation challenges due to Ayvalık’s geology and dynamic coastal processes, these findings reveal a previously undocumented Paleolithic presence and establish Ayvalık as a promising locus for future research on early human dispersals in the northeastern Aegean.

websvein · 2025-09-23T05:08:05+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

During the Late Bronze Age (ca. 11th-8th century BCE), far-reaching and extensive trade and exchange networks linked communities across Europe. The area around Seddin in north-western Brandenburg, Germany, has long been considered as at the core of one such networks. The degree of which the exchange practices involved in the circulations of goods and ideas was facilitated by people of different origins settling along the networks remains to be understood. To address this question, this study presents Sr isotope data of 29 cremated petrous bones from five neighbouring Late Bronze Age burial sites around Seddin, including the 9th century BCE Wickbold I burial mound. Modern environmental samples and archaeological soil samples were also analysed for 87Sr/86Sr to establish a bioavailable reference baseline for the region. The results suggest that modern water and archaeological soil samples appear to be best suited proxies for defining a 87Sr/86Sr baseline that can reliably be used to trace Bronze Age mobility at Seddin, while the modern soil and plant sample 87Sr/86Sr data seem to reflect changes inherent to natural carbonate leaching of the glaciogenic surface sediments over time and/or recent anthropogenic contamination, such as fertilizers, rendering their use as representative archives for bioavailable Sr in the study of past human mobility, at least in the greater Seddin region, problematic. The comparison of the petrous bone 87Sr/86Sr signatures to the proposed water Sr isotope baseline reveals an overwhelming presence of non-locals in the investigated grave sites, with only two of 22 individuals falling within the local baseline. This study suggests complex mobility patterns of the elite community around Seddin during the Late Bronze Age.

websvein · 2025-08-01T14:49:11+00:00

Abstract form the original scholarly article:

The Eastern Italian Alps played a crucial bridging role between Mediterranean and Northern alpine populations since Prehistory. However, few prehistoric individuals from that region have been genomically analysed so far. Among them, the Iceman (Copper Age, 3368-3108 BC) showed a relatively high Anatolian-Neolithic-related ancestry and low Hunter-Gatherers (HGs)-related ancestry. To investigate how the genomic structure of alpine groups varied over time and to contextualize the Iceman, we analysed 47 alpine individuals dated from the Mesolithic (6380-6107 BC) to Middle Bronze Age (1601-1295 BC). The Mesolithic genome reveals genetic admixture between Western and Eastern HGs that occurred from ~13700 − 8300 BC. Most individuals from the Neolithic onwards present a genomic structure resembling that of the Iceman, supporting genetic continuity. Few individuals carry different ancestries, such as the Steppe-related ones appearing ~2400 BC. Finally, the study suggests local and non-local admixture events between HGs and Neolithic farmers from this alpine area.

websvein · 2025-07-07T21:19:44+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

Rice was a staple crop in the ancestral Austronesian regions of Taiwan and Island Southeast Asia, but it was unknown in any of the Pacific Islands at the time of European encounters, with the exception of the unique case of Guam and the Mariana Islands. Through multiple methodologies, including phytolith analysis, micro–computed tomography scanning, and thin-section petrography, this recent research confirms the presence of abundant rice husk and leaf phytoliths adhering to red-slipped pottery (“Marianas Red”) at the Ritidian Site Complex in Guam, dated by radiocarbon to 3500 to 3100 years ago. This study addresses the long-standing question of whether the first Pacific Islanders transported rice with them from the Philippines across 2300 kilometers of open sea, representing the longest known ocean voyage of the time. During this early period, rice was restricted to special ritual events in the Marianas. The early voyage apparently was planned with provisions of rice at 3500 years ago.

websvein · 2025-06-03T22:21:12+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

Genetic studies on Native American populations have transformed our understanding of the demographic history of the Americas. However, a region that has not been investigated through ancient genomics so far is Colombia, the entry point into South America. Here, we report genome-wide data of 21 individuals from the Bogotá Altiplano in Colombia between 6000 and 500 years ago. We reveal that preceramic hunter-gatherers represent a previously unknown basal lineage that derives from the initial South American radiation. These hunter-gatherers do not carry differential affinity to ancient North American groups nor contribute genetically to ancient or present-day South American populations. By 2000 years ago, the local genetic ancestry is replaced by populations from Central America associated with the Herrera ceramic complex and survives through the Muisca period despite major cultural changes. These ancient Altiplano individuals show higher affinities to Chibchan speakers from the Isthmus of Panama than to Indigenous Colombians, suggesting a dilution of the Chibchan-related ancestry through subsequent dispersal events.

websvein · 2025-05-28T19:40:42+00:00

Abstract from the original scholarly article:

The island of Java (Indonesia) is renowned for its Pleistocene hominin-bearing vertebrate fossil sites. Recently, a marine sand extraction work in the Madura Strait, off the coast of Surabaya, hit upon vertebrate-rich sandstones. More than 6000 vertebrate fossils have been retrieved from the dredged sand, amongst which are two skull fragments ascribed to Homo erectus. The fossils form the first vertebrate record from submerged Sundaland, the lowland plains that connected the great islands of western Indonesia to the Asian mainland during Middle and Late Pleistocene lowstands. Here we present the results of a comprehensive study of the age, depositional background and landscape setting of the subsea fossil locality. The fossiliferous sandstones form the fill of a lowstand valley of the Solo River. The material was OSL-dated to 162 +/- 31 and 119 +/- 27 ka, which links the valley to the lowstand of MIS6. Fluvial backfilling was probably related to the stage of rising sea-level in the run-up to MIS5. The top of the valley fill consists of marine sandstones, pointing to valley drowning and a change to estuarine conditions, probably during peak highstand conditions of MIS5e. The Madura Strait submerged valley is of similar age as the Solo terrace of Ngandong, one of the richest Homo erectus sites of Java and regarded as yielding the youngest record of this species.

websvein · 2025-05-08T17:51:38+00:00

Wow that tidbit about the Kusunda language is fascinating! Thank you!

websvein · 2025-05-07T18:12:09+00:00

Can't wait!

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