While I am dedicating 90% of my time to editing my new novel manuscript, I continue to dedicate 10% to following the news in archaeology through various sources. When I find something big, I’ll write more about it. But most news comes in articles—some of which could be an early clue to something big on the horizon of archaeology. Here are articles that have such potential, and I shall continue to feed similar articles to you in the near future.
Sociology of Families, 4 ka (kiloyears ago).
The following article, Four-thousand-year-old genomes show deep roots of social inequality, hypothesizes a new field of archaeology, the sociology of ancient families as determined by DNA. Related to this new field, but recognizing that for now DNA studies are very expensive, this article, The Evolution of Social Inequality in Bronze Age Europe, offers a (much cheaper) isotopic analysis of tooth enamel to identify regions in which the person spent significant amounts of time, which gives information in lieu of or as a supplement to DNA analysis until more DNA samples from further afield become available—which will grow slowly until the unit price of DNA analysis drops. Look forward to the proliferation of such studies, their implications, and the future interlocking of such studies which will represent a new form of history spawned by DNA analysis.
Evolution of Anatomically Modern Humans hypothesized 200 ka (95% confidence interval, 240–165 ka).
The following abstract, Human origins in a southern African palaeo-wetland and first migrations, summarizes the paywall paper which makes this hypothesis. This is a hypothesis because of the large but limited scope of the study, but it is the latest available. Related to this, the following article, Researchers Pin-Point ‘Ancestral Homeland’ of All Modern Humans, apparently has access to the paywall paper and gives a summary. As such regional studies overlap, we will be forming a solid understanding of the roots of Anatomically Modern Humans (AMH).
Mini-Gobekli Tepe dated to 11.3 ka
A small version of Gobekli Tepe, dated to the same time period, is described in the following article from Ancient Origins: 11,300-Year-Old Mini Göbekli Tepe Unearthed In Turkey. While in this article, make sure you try the links (always fun in Ancient Origins) and especially the link on Gobekli Tepe which describes how the primitive Einkorn Wheat evolved into the staple food that launched the Neolithic Revolution. If dating proves correct, look for a relationship between the big and little locations (assuming there are more conterminous little ones).
Thanks for visiting,
R. E. J. Burke
Richard
I think you would like the U-TUBE Videos from the Royal Institute.
There was an interesting video from an old annoying professor that
indicated that the “ARC” was an enormous Carocal ( spelling ), which was
a Round Boat that was still being made in the Middle East thru the 1920’s
It was made of palm wood ropes, and reeds covered with high quality
bitumin, which locally available. Due to magical mathematics, it a
bottom surface area of 3600 square meters. They made a scale model
of it in India, and floated it across a lake, and down a canal. The Bitumin
from India is not as good as the bitumin from the middle east, but with the
addition of gas powered water pump, they kept it afloat.
The construction is similar to giant sized basket weaving where a spiral of reeds,
is sewn to the previous spiral using rope. The finished product is bowl shaped.
Good to hear from you again, Michael! Apparently you have not seen my coverage of your “annoying professor” in Post 118 Cuneiform Flood Tablet & Coracle Ark. Just enter “118” in the search bar and it’ll take you to Post 118. Professor Irving Finkel is an alumnus of the University of Chicago and the Mesopotamian section of the British Museum. I find Professor Finkel both engaging and humorous in the video of his presentation to the Oriental Institute which I include in that post. I’m delighted to hear from you. I hope you enjoy post 118. And I look forward to hearing from you more frequently.