Hahaha, wild. This should be interesting hmmm.

Researchers have discovered the earliest known instance of human-created fire, which took place in the east of England 400,000 years ago.

The new discovery, in the village of Barnham, pushes the origin of human fire-making back by more than 350,000 years, far earlier than previously thought.

The team say they found baked earth together with the earliest Stone Age lighter – consisting of a flint that was bashed against a rock called pyrite, also known as fool's gold, to create a spark.

From the journal Nature

An ancient Egyptian pleasure boat that matches a description by the first-century Greek historian Strabo has been discovered off the coast of Alexandria, to the excitement of archaeologists.

With its palaces, temples and the 130 metre-high Pharos lighthouse – one of the seven wonders of the ancient world – Alexandria had been one of the most magnificent cities in antiquity. The pleasure boat, which dates from the first half of the first century, was 35 metres long and constructed to hold a central pavilion with a luxuriously decorated cabin.

It was discovered off the submerged island of Antirhodos, which was part of ancient Alexandria’s Portus Magnus (great port).

Archaeologists working at the Palace of Westminster have uncovered evidence of human activity dating back nearly 6,000 years - over a millennium older than the earliest earthworks at Stonehenge. The discovery includes more than 60 struck flint flakes, including one worked tool, likely dating to the late Mesolithic or early Neolithic period (around 4300 BC).

Archaeologists in Greece have uncovered the grave of an ousted noblewoman whom they are calling "The Lady with the Inverted Diadem." The seventh-century-B.C. burial is notable for the elaborate bronze crown placed upside down on the woman's head, which may have signified a final end to her power.

In an article co-authored with his colleague Margarita Díaz-Andreu, the University of Barcelona researcher argues that 12 large shell trumpets found in Neolithic settlements and mines in Catalonia – and dated to between the late fifth and early fourth millennia BC – may have been used as long-distance communication devices and as rudimentary musical instruments.

The fact that the shells appeared to have been collected after the Charonia lampas sea snails within them had died suggests they had been gathered for non-culinary purposes, just as the removal of the pointed tip of the shells indicates they were used as trumpets.

“These are basically among the first instruments – or pieces of sound technology – that we know of throughout all human history,” he says. “They work by the vibrations of your lips and the way you produce sound with them is very similar to modern-day brass instruments, such as trumpets and trombones; the shells are their most ancient ancestors.”

In their article, published in the journal Antiquity, he and Díaz-Andreu posit that the shell trumpets may have been used “as communication tools, either between different communities inhabiting the region, or between these settlements and individuals working in the surrounding agricultural landscape”. They suggest the conches could also have been used by workers in different galleries of the variscite mines where six of the shells were found.

Roman-era ink reveals surprising chemical complexity

@archaeology

https://www.chemistryworld.com/news/roman-era-ink-reveals-surprising-chemical-complexity/4022595.article

@histodons
#histodons #history #histoire #archaeology #RomanHistory #RomanEmpire #antike #chemistry #science

Archaeologists are to resume digging at the Ness of Brodgar on Orkney after 3D radar technology led to an "extraordinary discovery".

The dig team at the Ness, one of the most important Neolithic sites in the British Isles, are not revealing what they believe the find to be until more work is done.

But they say it is like nothing else ever found at the site – and may not even be Neolithic.

SANLIURFA, Turkey, Nov 26 (Reuters) - Turkey unveiled dozens of new finds at a major archaeological site in southeast Turkey on Wednesday, giving fresh insight into an area seen as showing humanity's transition from hunter-gatherers to settled societies more than 11,000 years ago.

On a plateau overlooking the fertile plains of what is often called the "cradle of civilisation", the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Gobeklitepe and nearby Karahantepe are transforming archaeologists' understanding of prehistoric times.

Among the latest finds in Sanliurfa province is a statue with a facial expression reminiscent of a deceased individual. Archaeologists said it was a unique discovery in terms of death rituals and symbolic expression among Neolithic communities.

It was one of some 30 artefacts revealed on Wednesday, including human and animal statues, figurines, vessels, plates, necklaces and beads including a human-shaped one.

Archaeologists uncovered a 2,000-year-old building in what is modern-day United Arab Emirates that likely served as a sanctuary at which merchants and travelers could worship before and after trips across the Persian Gulf.

As the Italian Archaeological Mission in Umm al-Quwain continues to explore the Tell Abraq site, members found that not only had the site been host to 3,000 years of continuous human occupation (in a community that likely formed around 2500 B.C.E.), but it had eras in which it was a key stop on trade networks across the Persian Gulf.