5,300-Year-Old Ötzi the Iceman Has 19 Living Relatives In Austria

Most people can trace their family tree back at least a few generations, while the more serious ones are able to accomplish many centuries. But imagine being able to trace your lineage back to a 5,300-year-old mummy. That is exactly what has happened after scientists performed DNA tests on ‘Ötzi the Iceman’ and found 19 living male descendants in Austria.

Ötzi the iceman, who was discovered by some German tourists in the Alps in 1991, was originally believed to be the frozen corpse of a mountaineer or soldier who died during World War I. Tests later confirmed the iceman dates back to 3,300 BC and most likely died from a blow to the back of the head. He is Europe’s oldest natural human mummy and, remarkably, his body contained the still intact blood cells, which resembled a modern sample of blood. They are the oldest blood cells ever identified. His body was so well-preserved that scientists were even able to determine that his last meal was red deer and herb bread, eaten with wheat bran, roots and fruit.

A DNA analysis showed him at high risk of atherosclerosis, lactose intolerance, and the presence of the DNA sequence of Borrelia burgdorferi, making him the earliest known human with Lyme disease.  Researchers were able to identify Ötzi’s relatives by finding individuals who shared his same genetic mutation.

“There are parts of the human DNA, which are generally inherited unchanged. In men this lies on the Y chromosomes and in females on the mitochondria. Eventual changes arise due to mutations, which are then inherited further,” said Walther Parson, the forensic scientist who carried out the study. “This is the reason why we can categorize people with the same people into so-called haplogroups.”

Ötzi belonged to the haplogroup G, the sub category G-L9, Parson explained adding that haplogroup G suggests that earlier people migrated to the Ötztal valley from Fließm — a municipality in western Austria founded in the sixth century.

The researchers were able to positively identify 19 men who have the same ancestry as Ötzi. But the surprising discovery has yet to be revealed to those most closely affected by it. The 19 men have not yet been informed of the results and it is not known whether the researchers will do so.

Most people can trace their family tree back at least a few generations, while the more serious ones are able to accomplish many centuries. But imagine being able to trace your lineage back to a 5,300-year-old mummy. That is exactly what has happened after scientists performed DNA tests on ‘Ötzi the Iceman’ and found 19 living…

DNA Study Sheds Light on the Heartland of Indo-European Languages

Research suggests a family of languages now spoken from Europe to India originated between the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia. But identity of first Indo-Europeans remains a mystery

A new DNA analysis, published on Thursday, August 26th, on 777 ancient genomes from across the so-called Southern Arc, namely Southern Europe and West Asia, redirects the cradle of Indo-Europeans and sheds light on the Proto-Greek prehistoric past.

The new study, published this Thursday, August 26, 2022 in Science, reports on genetic data extracted from 777 individuals who lived across the so-called Southern Arc, namely Southern Europe and West Asia. According to other more recent DNA data of ancient Anatolians, which raised new questions about the “spread” of Indo-European languages, it seems that Anatolians did not mix with steppe pastoralists during the early Bronze Age. It’s the only place where Indo-European-related languages were spoken even though there was no steppe ancestry.

Ancient Anatolian peoples spoke the now-extinct Anatolian languages of the Indo-European language family, which were largely replaced by the Greek language during classical antiquity as well as during the Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine periods. The major Anatolian languages included Hittite, Luwian, and Lydian while other, poorly attested local languages included Phrygian, Palaic, Luwic, and Mysian.

Many partings, many meetings: How migration and admixture drove early language spread.

Westward and northward migrations out of the West Asian highlands split the Proto-Indo-Anatolian language into Anatolian and Indo-European branches. Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe by a fusion of newcomers and locals, admixed again as they expanded far and wide, splitting the Proto-Indo-European language into its daughter languages across Eurasia. Border colors represent the ancestry and locations of five source populations before the migrations (arrows) and mixture (pie charts) documented here.

The new Indo-European DNA research also shows that between five and seven thousand years ago there was a gradual increase of ancestry from the Caucasus in the Anatolian genome, probably by a series of migrations from the east, at the end of which about a third of the ancestry of Anatolians could be traced to somewhere in the Caucasus.

The fact that the same Caucasus component found in Anatolia comprises roughly fifty percent of the Yamnaya pastoralist genome further implicates the riddle of Indo-European languages. Given that this mysterious Caucasian link is the only ancestral commonality between the Yamnaya and the ancient Anatolians, it seems plausible that this enigmatic migration from the Caucasus brought the ancestral form of Indo-European to both of these peoples. Therefore, the homeland and the “first language” of Indo-Europeans must be placed somewhere in the Caucasus.

We must point out that these conclusions seem to primarily justify the eminent archaeologist Colin Renfrew and his Anatolian hypothesis, and they do line up quite well with contemporary archeological indications. The British archeologist compares the spread of the Indo-European languages to the spread of the Neolithic way of life from its Anatolian source in the seventh millennium BC (possibly the Caucasus).

Pylos Combat Agate” found in the Grave of the Griffin WarriorCredit: Photo Jeff Vanderpool. Courtesy

Renfrew also identifies this Neolithic demic diffusion with the spread of the Proto-Indo-European language and its subsequent differentiation into the daughter branches, i.e., the different Early Neolithic cultural phases across Europe.

The most interesting conclusion about prehistoric Greek populations comes from the new estimation of the Mycenaean steppe ancestry (about 1/10). The new study shows that this proportion is not uniform across the population. In fact, even among the elites, it was possible to find people who were not genetically related to Yamnaya (such as the genome of the so-called Griffin Warrior of Pylos).

According to experts, steppe migrants did not establish a rule over the natives and kept to themselves. Rather, they admixed with them, and there were still people without steppe ancestry with elite roles in mainland Greece, especially in Peloponnese. This means that during the later Mycenaean period in Greece, the new data suggest Yamnaya descendants had little impact on Greek social structure.

This explanation also once again confirms C. Renfrew and many other scholars, who have insisted throughout the last decades that the picture of the Proto-Indo-Europeans as warlike mounted nomads has been based not only on the misuse of linguistic paleontology but also on serious anachronism.

Study: Vikings were not the first to settle the Faroe Islands

For a long time, scientists believed that the Vikings were the first people to settle the Faroe Islands. However, recent research indicates otherwise.

Based on archeological evidence, the long-standing consensus among scientists was that the Faroe Islands, located between Iceland, Norway, and the British Isles, were settled by Norse explorers, The Viking Herald reports.

However, in a study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, researchers put forward unequivocal evidence, based on the analysis of ancient feces, that the Vikings were not, in fact, the first people to settle the Faroe Islands. 

Researchers used an advanced technique to date the oldest settlement to 500 CE, roughly 300 years before the Norse raiders developed the sailing technology that would help them fuel their maritime expansion. 

Human presence

Lorelei Curtin of American Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, the lead author of the study, and colleagues collected the evidence from sediment cores taken from the Eiðisvatn catchment, home to the remains of an old Norse summer farm settlement called Argisbrekka. 

Based on these sediment cores, researchers identified the presence of lipid molecules, also called fecal biomarkers, that come from feces.

The Argisbrekka fecal biomarkers have a distinct signature originating from the digestive tracts of sheep. As all mammals of the Islands were initially introduced there by humans, traces of sheep poo are a clear indicator of human presence. 

The researchers dated the sediments in which the markers were identified, which enabled them to date the arrival of sheep to the Islands several centuries before what was previously believed.

“The initial appearance of sheep DNA and increased fecal biomarkers predates the first documented usage of the Argisbrekka site by the Norse by approximately 300 years,” the team noted. 

New research techniques

The researchers also confirmed the earlier settlement date through the use of advanced DNA sequencing technology, which helped them put together a profile of the DNA in the sediment cores. 

The sampling detected increasing concentrations of both sheep and grass DNA coinciding with the disappearance of woody plants.

This change in vegetation was previously attributed to climate change in the late Holocene, but now it seems that widespread grazing was the dominant driver of landscape transition from shrublands to grasslands and peatlands in the Faroe Islands, according to the study.

These new findings validate certain doubts related to the Norse-settlement narrative, which was primarily based on the dating of archaeological structures. 

The earliest structures on the Islands date between 800 and 900 CE, consistent with the timing of the Norse expansion to Iceland, Greenland, and North America.

New evidence

“While the nature of archaeological records causes them to be temporally fragmentary, sedimentary archives provide continuous records of the environmental history of a landscape,” the researchers accentuated.

These results have opened up the discussion regarding pre-existing lines of evidence that have cast doubt on the established narrative and timeline.

Multiple place names in the Faroe Islands derive from Celtic words, and a number of Celtic grave markings have been identified across the Faroes. Some of the most convincing evidence can be found in the genetics of modern Faroese people. 

The Cosmos writes that there is “a strong asymmetry between paternal and maternal ancestry, with the paternal lineage dominantly Scandinavian, while the maternal lineage is primarily from the British Isles.”

Although this suggests an existing population, none of the aforementioned evidence is directly conclusive.

“By 800 CE, the Vikings were already active in the British Isles… They were already influenced by Celtic culture and could have brought wives from the British Isles to the Faroe Islands,” the researchers pointed out.

The mystery of the first inhabitants

Thus, the current research concretely establishes the existence of human presence on the Faroe Islands long before Norse explorers and raiders took up sailing – somewhere between 750 and 820 CE – which leads to the conclusion that it is unlikely that the first settlers of the Faroe Islands were Vikings. 

But if they weren’t Vikings, who were they? 

At the moment, that remains a mystery. Genetic profiles, the etymology of place names, and grave markings point toward a Celtic population. Still, direct DNA evidence can’t confirm these indications.

Source: The Viking Herald / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayTravel

In Germany's 'Stonehenge', A Discovery Sheds Light On 4,000-Year-Old Beer Making

An ancient brewery dating back to more than 4,000 years ago has been unearthed in German 'Stonehenge'.

Excavations have been going on at the site for the last five years. (Representational Photo)

An ancient brewery dating back to more than 4,000 years ago has been unearthed in German 'Stonehenge', a site resembling the original one in the UK with its concentric circles and wooden or stone structures, Newsweek said in a report. The discovery took place earlier this month at the Ring Sanctuary of Poemmelte in the Salzland region of the state of Saxony-Anhalt, and is believed to be central Germany's first brewery, the outlet further said in its report.

Excavations have been going on at the site for the last five years and more than 10,000 discoveries have been made. It will be complete in September 2022.

"The remains of a special drying oven still contain grain residues, from which malt was possibly obtained for an early form of beer production," Dr Franziska Knoll, from the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt, was quoted as saying by Newsweek.

"To be absolutely sure, we still have to wait for the archaeobotanical analysis," she added.

But the barley and malt obtained from the excavation site gave another German professor, 62-year-old Harald Meller, confidence that people who descended from eastern Barbarians (around 2,400 BC) had nearly perfected the art of making ale.

"It is quite possible that we will come across the first mug from which the beer was served," Professor Meller was quoted as saying by the outlet.

Dr Gunnar Schellenberger, the president of the State Parliament of Saxony-Anhalt, welcomed the discovery, saying it will help develop interest about the region in tourists.

The Ring Sanctuary, located over 130 kilometres from Germany's capital Berlin, was reconstructed in 2016 and since then has become a popular tourist attraction.

New DNA analysis shed light to Indo-European homeland

Credit: PeopleOfAr

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BY THE ARCHAEOLOGIST EDITOR GROUP

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Detailed paleogenetic research sheds light on Southern Arc migration, farming, and language evolution.

In a trio of papers, published simultaneously in the journal Science, Ron Pinhasi from the Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and Human Evolution and Archaeological Sciences (HEAS) at the University of Vienna and Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg from the University of Vienna and Harvard University, Iosif Lazaridis and David Reich at Harvard University—together with 202 co-authors—report a massive effort of genome-wide sequencing from 727 distinct ancient individuals with which it was possible to test longstanding archaeological, genetic and linguistic hypotheses. They present a systematic picture of the interlinked histories of peoples across the Southern Arc Region from the origins of agriculture, to late medieval times.

Credit: University of Vienna

The first article by the international team looked at the origins and dissemination of Indo-European and Anatolian languages. The Indo-Anatolian language family's ancestral home is thought to have been in West Asia, according to genetic evidence, with secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the Eurasian steppe. People with Caucasian origin came into Anatolia in the west and the steppe in the north during the first stage, which took place between 7,000 and 5,000 years ago. These people may have spoken Anatolian and Indo-European languages in their ancestry.

Around 5,000 years ago, Yamnaya steppe herders with Caucasus hunter-gatherer and Eastern hunter-gatherer heritage set off a series of migrations across Eurasia that may be traced to all currently spoken Indo-European languages (such as Greek, Armenian, and Sanskrit). Their southern excursions into the Balkans and Greece, as well as their eastern expansions across the Caucasus into Armenia, left a mark on the region's Bronze Age inhabitants.

The Yamnaya herders' descendants mixed differently with the local people as they grew. Several types of genetic evidence can be used to pinpoint how Indo-European-speaking immigrants from the steppe interacted with locals to create the Greek, Paleo-Balkan, and Albanian (Indo-European) languages in Southeastern Europe and the Armenian language in West Asia. The Yamnaya had a significant influence on Southeastern Europe, as individuals with nearly pure Yamnaya heritage arrived shortly after the Yamnaya migrations began.

The Southern Arc's Anatolia core region, where large-scale data offers a rich picture of change—and lack of change—over time, yields some of the most startling findings. According to the findings, Anatolia was not significantly affected by the Yamnaya migrations, in contrast to the Balkans and the Caucasus. Due to the absence of Eastern hunter-gatherer ancestors in Anatolia, in contrast to all other places where Indo-European languages were spoken, no connection to the steppe can be established for speakers of Anatolian languages (such as Hittite and Luwian).

The southern Caucasus was impacted numerous times, even before the Yamnaya migrations, in contrast to Anatolia's startling impermeability to steppe migrations. "I was surprised to learn that the Areni Chalcolithic people, who were discovered 15 years ago in the excavation I co-led, had ancestry from gene flow from the north to areas of the southern Caucasus more than 1,000 years before the Yamnaya expanded, and that this northern influence would disappear in the area before reappearing a few thousand years later. This demonstrates that there is still a lot of information to be learned through new digs and fieldwork in Eastern Western Asia "Ron Pinhasi says.

"Anatolia was home to varied communities descending from both local hunter-gatherers and eastern populations of the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, and the Levant," states Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg

"Variations of the same types of ancestry were shared by the inhabitants of the Marmara region, Southeastern Anatolia, the Black Sea, and the Aegean regions."

Credit: University of Vienna

The interconnections of the first farming societies

The second research project investigates the origins of the world's oldest Neolithic populations, which date to around 12,000 years ago. "The genetic findings support the idea that early farming groups had a network of pan-regional relationships. In addition, they offer fresh proof that the Neolithic transition was a difficult process that took place not just in one central region but also in Anatolia and the Near East, "Ron Pinhasi said.

It gives the first ancient DNA data for Pre-Pottery Neolithic farmers from the Tigris side of northern Mesopotamia, which is a critical region for the origins of agriculture and can be found in both eastern Turkey and northern Iraq. The island of Cyprus, which saw the earliest maritime migration of farmers from the eastern Mediterranean, also contains the first ancient DNA from Pre-Pottery farmers. Together with the first information from Neolithic Armenia, it also offers fresh information on early Neolithic farmers from the Northwest Zagros.

By filling in these gaps, the authors were able to examine the genetic history of these societies, for which archaeological research had previously documented intricate economic and cultural interactions but was unable to track mating practices or interactions that did not leave visible material traces. The findings demonstrate pre-Neolithic roots from hunter-gatherers in the Caucasus, Levant, and Anatolia, and they demonstrate that these early farming cultures created a continuity of lineage that mirrored the topography of West Asia. The findings also show at least two waves of migration from the Fertile Crescent's core to Anatolia's ancient farmers.

The historic period

The third piece demonstrates how ancient Mediterranean political systems maintained differences in lineage from the Bronze Age while remaining connected by migration. The findings indicate that while Italians before the Imperial period had a totally diverse distribution, the ancestry of those who resided in and around Rome during the Imperial period was nearly identical to that of Roman and Byzantine inhabitants from Anatolia. This shows that the heterogeneous but comparable population of the Roman Empire, both in its longer-lasting eastern component focused on Anatolia and in its shorter-lasting western part, was plausible drawn to a significant extent from Anatolian pre-Imperial sources.

"Our findings are rather unexpected considering that in a Science study I co-authored in 2019 on the genetic heritage of people from Ancient Rome, we discovered a cosmopolitan pattern that we initially believed to be specific to Rome. Now that we can see it, other parts of the Roman Empire were just as multicultural as Rome itself, "Ron Pinhasi argues.

Iceland’s ancient caves reveal the island’s Viking early history

‘My grandfather told me the history of the caves that his grandfather told him,’ Baldur Thorhallsson said. ‘Tourists love those stories as well’

Gustaf Skarsgard as Floki in the TV series Vikings, in front of a waterfall in Iceland where the show was filmed. The enduring fascinating with Viking history is a boon to Iceland’s tourist industry (Photo: Arnaldur Halldarsson/History)

South Iceland is home to some of the country’s most jaw-dropping scenery – wondrous waterfalls, vast glaciers and sweeping black sand beaches. But the region is also full of Viking history, including recently discovered ruins dating from the 10th century.

Vikings from Scandinavia and the British Isles descended on Iceland in the ninth century, enduring volcanic eruptions, harsh winters and famine. Iceland’s early settlers built extensive cave systems to survive, some of which are just now seeing the light of day after centuries buried in the earth.

Excavations of man-made, Viking-era caves near Oddi in the country’s south have revealed an extensive system of interconnected structures much larger and older than initially thought. Archaeologists say the excavations show that the caves at Oddi were first dug out in the middle of the 10th century.

Excavations of caves in Iceland have provided new insight into the remote island’s early history (Photo: Supplied)

Kristborg Þórsdóttir, of the Archaeological Institute of Iceland who is leading the excavation, said one of the best known clan members was Sæmundur fróði (Sæmundur the Learned) who lived from 1056 to 1133 .
A key figure in Icelandic folklore, the scholar and priest founded the school at Oddi and was known as the most educated man in Iceland.

“He was sent to central Europe to study, and when he returned, he became a prominent figure in society and is believed to have written some of the earliest literary works in Iceland,” she said.

He also came to be mythologised as a man who managed to trick the devil. In one story, he was at a school for the black arts, where the devil had the right to take the last student of each group. But when Sæmundur trailed behind his companions and the devil went to seize him, he said, “I am not the last. Do you not see who follows me?” He pointed at his shadow which the devil tried to snatch, allowing Sæmundur to flee.

In addition to becoming the centre of Viking power and influence, Oddi was also a hotspot for culture and learning. The writer Snorri Sturluson was fostered there by Jón Loftsson (Sæmundur’s grandson). Sturluson (1179-1241AD) was one of the most significant figures in Iceland’s history: a chieftain, storyteller, politician and literary figure, credited with many of Iceland’s most important literary works of the Middle Ages, including Egil’s Saga.

Ms Þórsdóttir said the Oddi excavations have revealed the oldest dated example of a man-made cave in Iceland. They have been dated by aligning the layers of ash and volcanic debris with the known dates of eruptions.

“The fact that the cave in Oddi seems to have been dug out in the 10th century makes it a Viking age structure, adding to our previous knowledge of the building techniques of the first settlers in Iceland and of the people of the North Atlantic,” she said.

“Our research shows that the making and use of man-made caves in Iceland was widespread and started earlier than was previously known. From our experience in Oddi, [we believe] there are many structures of this type that have been sealed off and forgotten.

“We hope to be able to continue the excavation to get a better idea of how long these caves were in use, how their use changed over time and if there are any indications of people living in parts of the cave system,” she said.

Among the discoveries is a cave that may have been used to protect cattle and horses. Such stalls were known as nautahellirs and feature in the 13th century book Legends of Saints by Bishop Þorlákur, in which a cave collapse was recorded.

Collapses are also a risk for archaeologists. The caves are cut into sandstone which absorbs water and is prone to crumbling.

Discoveries in the caves bring new context to saga stories and oral history passed down in the country (Photo: Supplied)

But the find is expected to become a major tourist drawcard.

The country has numerous other Viking-era sites that range from the historic to the kitschy. The Caves of Hella on the south coast is a popular attraction and the site of 12 man-made caves. Four were opened to the public in 2019, and the site is one of Iceland’s oldest standing archaeological remains.

Elsewhere, the Skógar Museum features many Viking artefacts, and Skyrland introduces visitors to the 1,000-year-old story of how a Viking dairy product (skyr) became a global health food. Nearby, Ingólfsskáli restaurant gives travellers the chance to experience Viking feasts with a contemporary touch.

Locals are optimistic that the discovery could cement Oddi’s place in the history books. Baldur Thorhallsson, whose family has been taking care of the Caves of Hella for nearly 200 years, said it was a positive development.

“I’m a teacher, and I know that Icelanders love to hear a good story and caves are a great story,” said Mr Thorhallsson.

“My grandfather told me the history of the caves in Hella that his grandfather told him. Tourists love those stories as well.”

Highland deerstalker's amazing discovery of lost village ruins

DUNCAN Mackenzie has had a string of jobs from being a policeman to a butcher and game dealer and even running a guest house.

However, it is current role that has brought him the most satisfaction and should come as no surprise considering his DNA connects him to it.

Mr Mackenzie is now a deer stalker, who lives east of Ullapool in Wester Ross Scotland, and has single handed discovery of the ruins of a lost community of national significance.

He is the subject of a new documentary to be broadcast on BBC Alba on Tuesday, August 30 at 9pm.

Made by award winning filmmakers, Richard Else and Margaret Wicks of Adventure Show Productions based at Newtonmore in the Scottish Highlands, the programme explores Mr Mackenzie’s radical views on deer stalking and his discovery of ruins of a lost community.

Archaeologists on the discovery site in Wester Ross

With stunning scenery of wild uninhabited mountain areas peppered with lochans and lochs, the programme explores how Mr Mackenzie’s DNA is directly connected to the land where he works. He is described as a naturalist, a stalker and historian and has been a policeman, a butcher, game dealer and run a guest house. His family has been connected to this land for generations and he describes himself as the last of the line.

He has a non-sporting lease – so doesn’t take paying clients out with him – on an estate just south of Lochinver in Assynt. It’s some of the wildest land in Scotland. Duncan talks about his “duty of care” to the deer he manages and, with some satisfaction, says “I don’t take guests to the hill. I’ve been out with guests in the past and it was always the testosterone filled men that you had to keep an eye out for. It was just pull the trigger, get a stag, go home and get drunk. I used to fall out with them quite a lot. Many estates are still hanging onto Victorian principles but I go in, shoot the animal I want and leave the rest of the herd quiet”.

Seeking out where generations of his family had lived he uncovers the old moss covered stone ruins of a “cleared village”. Duncan has found what is probably the largest community in the north of Scotland and one which fundamentally changes many of the accepted views of Highland life.   Bigger than most, stretching some four miles up Inverlael Glen, he explains how the villages were “cleared” of their residents in the period  around 1819, when he believes 77 families, possibly 600 to 700 people were removed from their homes – they weren’t even allowed to dig up their potatoes to take them with them. “Their DNA is on this land since time began,” Duncan explains. Historian Dr Martin McGregor explains that “evil replaced what was paradise” for these people.

“My father introduced me to stalking when I was a child,” Duncan explains, “It’s either in you or it isn’t, but it’s part of my being”.  The programme which took four years to make, explores his work on the land following the herd across mountain tops and glens with his two dogs Polar and Molly as well as commentary from academics working on the uncovering of the cleared settlement ruins.

Filmmaker, Richard Else says “Duncan Mackenzie is literally one in a million – a man hefted to this part of Scotland and with an enormous set of skills that most of us have lost long ago. It’s been a real privilege to work with him and long days tramping the hills in all weathers has been amply rewarded”.

The amazing discovery of a lost Viking settlement

Who were the travelers going through this high mountain pass and where were they going? To gain an answer, we realised that we would have to walk in the footsteps of the Vikings – follow the Lendbeen trail and see where it would take us. So we did just that and the trail led us to an unbelievable discovery – a lost Viking settlement!

The lost mountain pass

The lost mountain pass at Lendbreen is the greatest discovery of the Secrets of the Ice program. We found remains of sleds, dead animals, clothing, household items and other eye-popping finds melting out of the ice in the pass. Radiocarbon dates of the finds tell us that travelers used the trail through the pass most intensively around 1000 years ago, during the Viking Age.

Where did the trail lead from Lendbreen pass?

The discovery of the trail crossing the Lendbreen ice patch was a surprise for us. There were no records of the pass in local history. This immediately raised new questions. Who were the people traveling through the pass and where were they heading? Were they locals traveling to and from their summer farms and pastures, or long-distance travelers going west to the fjords?

A large cairn at the Lendbreen pass, showing the way west.

(Photo: Johan Wildhagen/Palookaville).

There was only one way to find out: We followed the Lendbreen trail west from the pass to see where it headed. The trail started by going down on the south side of the Lendbreen pass. Cairns and other stone markers clearly marked this section. This was especially the case concerning difficult passages. By following the cairns, we got safely down the steep mountain side even without knowing the route beforehand. We got the feeling that we were walking in the footsteps of earlier travelers without prior knowledge of the trail. The cairns and stone markers helped us in the same way as they helped our fellow Viking travelers a thousand years ago.

We followed the trail into a valley and further west. As we approached the Neto summer farms, the signs of heavy traffic grew increasingly clear. People and their animals had left tell-tale traces – many parallel paths carved into the terrain. Then the trail started to descend towards the Neto summer farms. It became difficult to follow, as juniper covered the area. To our surprise, however, once we got a bit further downhill, the path headed west in the slope above the summer farms. We had expected it to go down to the summer farms. What was going on?

Reidar Marstein by the tracks leading to the Lendbreen pass. Check the many track marks. The pass is marked with an arrow.

(Photo: Espen Finstad / secretsoftheice.com)

The old Neto legend and the discovery

Intriguingly, there is an old legend about Neto, first noted in the 18th century. The legend claimed that there had been an ancient settlement at Neto, older than the summer farms standing there today. These summer farms only date back to the 17th century. Could the legend be true? Could this ancient settlement in some way be connected to the Lendbreen trail? In that case, where were the house ruins?

Our local team member, hobby archaeologist Reidar Marstein from Lom, made the break-through. He searched through the dense juniper bushes in the hillside above the Neto summer farms and found a number of potential house ruins, at around 1000 m above sea level. These house ruins lay along the Lendbreen trail over a distance of 500 meters.

The house ruins (red dots) in the hillside above the Neto summer farms. The Lendbreen trail in yellow.

Here in Norway, mountain house ruins from the Iron Age, Viking Age and Medieval Period can be difficult to find just using your eyes. The houses were built in wood which has rotted away long ago. Sometimes, all that is left to see are indistinct wall lines, either as rows of overgrown stones or low embankments. With the dense juniper bushes covering the area, it was difficult to be sure if all of Reidar’s discoveries were house ruins.

Elling Utvik Wammer among the juniper bushes before the clearing started.

(Photo: Espen Finstad / secretsoftheice.com)

Clearing the juniper

Last summer we started fieldwork in the house ruin area above Neto. We began by surveying the area as well as we could, given the dense juniper. This resulted in a total of 21 possible house ruins.

Reidar Marstein (left) and Elling Utvik Wammer are cutting and clearing the juniper.

(Photo: Espen Finstad / secretsoftheice.com)

The next step was to clear four of the house ruins of juniper to gain an impression of their lay-out. The exposed house ruins immediately gave an impression of great age. Their outer walls were visible as low embankments, and small tests with an auger centrally in the ruins revealed charcoal in the ground, perhaps from hearths.

Espen Finstad (left) and Kathrine Stene during a test excavation in one of the ruins.

The test excavations

The next step was to undertake small test excavations inside the houses. These test excavations confirmed that the embankments were indeed wall lines from house ruins. The charcoal we found during auger testing was from hearths placed centrally in the houses. We were spot on! There were also remains from stone-built raised platforms along the side walls, which is a typical feature for this type of house ruin. We found no artefacts in our small excavation squares but thick layers of charcoal associated with the hearths made it possible to take samples for radiocarbon dating.

A tentative reconstruction of one of the dated house sites. Elling Utvik Wammer chats with some of the former occupants.

(Illustration: Espen Finstad / Hege Vatnaland)

The radiocarbon dates have arrived!

The age of the house remains was still uncertain. From their lay-out and the association with the trail to the Lendbreen pass, it seemed likely that they could be at least medieval and perhaps earlier. We needed to know for sure and submitted five samples from two of the houses for radiocarbon dating. The results are now back and lo-and-behold: All five results fall within the range AD 750-1150 – the period with the most intense traffic through the Lendbreen pass. Surely, this cannot be a coincidence.

New questions

The legend was true! There had been an ancient settlement at Neto. We have found the ruins, and we now know that at least two of the ruins date to the Viking Age and Early Medieval period. The other ruins look quite similar, so they may be from the same time or perhaps even older.

However, there are still more questions than answers. We believe that the houses in the Viking settlement are likely connected to the traffic through the Lendbreen pass, since they lie along the path which leads there. They may have provided overnight shelters for travelers. Were they used for other purposes as well? Perhaps our houses were also used for summer farming in the Viking Age? Even all-year farm settlement is a possibility. Pollen analysis from a nearby bog shows that farming starts in the Neto area around AD 300, at the same time as the traffic over Lendbreen began. Surely this is not just another coincidence? The houses could also have been used as a hunting station. Reindeer were hunted intensively in the mountains above Neto.

The route through the Lendbreen pass leads to the lost Viking settlement. Where will the route takes us next?

What’s next?

Espen Finstad, co-director of Secrets of the Ice, is the driving force behind this part of the program:

“The discovery of the Viking settlement is terribly exciting. It adds a completely new dimension to the finds from the Lendbreen mountain pass. But there are still many mysteries to solve here. The plan is to continue the investigations at Neto this summer. We are also preparing further surveys following the trail west from the Viking settlement towards the fjords. We hope there will be more exciting discoveries along the trail here.”

'Extraordinary' tunnel found at Alfred the Great's resting place

Hyde900 has been conducting digs in the grounds of Hyde Abbey for the last six years

Until its discovery, the cavern's existence was just a rumour, with it believed to lie below one of three gardens where the excavations have taken place.

David Spurling has led digs at the site for six years and said being able to invite the community to get involved has kept the group "motivated".

Volunteers of all ages took part in the latest dig, which lasted for four days

Mr Spurling said: "We always thought there would be a stream to provide water to the cloisters but it's the first time we've found proof.

"In doing these digs we've come across a lot of fantastic finds and the great thing is as a community group we can get children involved - the feedback we get is fantastic."

A young volunteer sieves for finds in the garden at Hyde Abbey

It is believed the tunnel would have been used to supply water to the refectory, kitchens and infirmary of the abbey, as well as the latrines associated with the monks' dormitory.

Medieval tiles were among the items discovered during the dig

The fragments were discovered during the four-day event led by Hyde900

As well as the the discovery of the tunnel, the dig also returned to a garden where uncovered remains of a two-storey building were found in 2020.

Medieval window glass was found in the remains of that building and was being evaluated by Historic England.

An internal wall, believed to be part of the site of the monks' refectory, was also uncovered

Excavation work in all three gardens also found large numbers of Roman pottery, medieval tiles and other building materials as well as oyster shells and bones.

Archaeologist Martin Biddle visited the site with supervisor Mike Brace and John Tippett-Cooper

Archaeologist Professor Martin Biddle, who has been tracking the Hyde900 digs, said: "The discovery of a sophisticated example of a vaulted channel, probably late medieval, is extraordinary."

County Limerick prehistoric carvings are a remarkable discovery

PREHISTORIC carvings have been identified for the first time on a stone circle at one of County Limerick’s most popular visitor attractions.

What has been described by the Office of Public Works as “a remarkable discovery of spectacular concentric circles and arcs” was made on the Grange stone circle at Lough Gur last week.

Leading Irish archaeological photographer Ken Williams, who specialises in photographing ancient stones, said that the recent spell of warm weather may have helped him discover the markings.

He hadn’t noticed them when he visited the site in early 2020 but during his visit last week, he saw that parts of one of the stones in the circle that were previously covered with moss were now exposed.

“It seems like this year the extreme heat has killed off a lot of the moss and revealed these carvings. To the naked eye, they would be very hard to spot until they were pointed out”, he explained.

Book claims Merlin's home was Glendhu Hill and uncovers lost myths

A NEW book claims to have uncovered the home of the legendary wizard Merlin, in North Cumbria.

In “The Ghosts of the Forest”, author William Young reveals new purported ‘evidence’ placing the famous magician in the region of the Bewcastle Fells.

William said: “A connection between Merlin and Cumbria has long been accepted by scholars.

“In the earliest legends relating to Merlin, he was made court bard to a king called Gwentholye whose capital lay just north of modern Longtown.

“When the king was killed in a nearby battle, Merlin was described as fleeing to a mountain in the forest to hide from his enemies.

“By examining the descriptions given in the legends, and cross-referencing them with place-name and archaeological evidence, I believe I may have identified the hilltop considered to have been his refuge.

“The summit in question is Glendhu Hill, the northernmost hill in Cumbria."

Glendhu Hill straddles the border between Cumbria and Northumberland, with the exact county of which it exists being disputed.

William continued: “A series of unexplained ruins are to be found there that correspond very closely to the content of the legends.”

His book attempts to reconstruct portions of the lost mythology of the Celtic Britons, the indigenous people of the island.

The book cites archaeology, folklore and Celtic legends – of which some have only recently been translated – as so-called ‘evidence’.

Much of the content of the book is focused on Cumbria, and puts forward the theory that Merlin was a pagan who worshipped gods from the time of the Druids and connects a series of locations in and around Cumbria to this pagan Celtic religion.

The book also claims that there is evidence suggesting a number of these holy places remained in use for centuries after Merlin’s lifetime, which was between 540 and 584.

William said: “If these conclusions are accurate then it is the case that the pre-Christian religion of northern Britain survived for far longer, and in a far more complete form, than has hitherto been recognised.

“It is possible that the history of this island is very different from that in which we are conventionally taught to believe – and that Cumbria’s importance in that history has been grossly under-estimated.”

First Female Viking Grave Discovered In Swedish Mountains

A mountain hiker in Jämtland, in central Sweden, on his way camping in Kalffällen, made a surprising discovery.

The discovery excited archaeologists in Sweden. Mountain hiker Eskil Nyström discovered a brooch 1 year ago. Nyströn discovered something strange sticking up from the ground as he was erecting and securing his tent.

“My first thought was that I had found a mine, but then when I had dug around, I understood that it can’t be, Eskil Nyström told TT.

It has now turned out to be a 1200-year-old brooch, possibly the first female tomb from the Viking Age found in the Swedish mountains.

Examination of the Viking brooch. Photo: Svt

Eskil Nyström brought the brooch home and asked around, but no one knew what it was or where it came from. One year later, he made contact with the museum Jamtli in Östersund and realized the archaeological and historical significance of the brooch he had discovered.

Archaeologist Anders Hansson in Jamtli examined the find site for the first time Wednesday morning. There they found soot and burnt bones. Hansson also found another oval brooch which is not much of a surprise because such pins are usually unearthed in pairs.

Researchers have uncovered burnt bones at the site, and they suggest it is a cremation burial.

“What has been established is that it is a cremation grave from the Viking Age and “most likely” a woman’s grave, Hansson says. Previously, only five other Viking graves have been found in the mountains, and all have belonged to men.

“You get the feeling that these people were on their way somewhere when the woman died. The burial took place here, where the woman took her last breath. They could have taken the woman home where they lived, but instead, they make a cremation pit on the mountain,” Hansson told TT.

Hansson says the female Viking tomb is richly equipped.

Photo: Aftonbladet

“It’s really pretty. It is completely socially and religiously correct. The Viking woman took all her most precious objects to the grave, but there are no monuments, burial mounds, or cairns. It’s just flat hill. This grave is thus different compared to Viking graves in Iron Age settlements,” Hansson explained, adding excavations of the grave are not planned this year.

The Vikings had intricate burial rituals, and each discovery adds to our understanding of how people sent their loved ones to the afterlife. When a great Viking chieftain died, he was buried on a ship or burned.

Fire played a central role in spectacular burial rituals practiced by the Vikings. Cremation was common during the early Viking Age. Ashes were later spread over the waters. The vast majority of the burial finds throughout the Viking world are cremations.

There won’t be any major excavations until next summer.

Archaeology is a world full of surprises, and we have frequently witnessed how small discoveries can lead to much larger treasures. This time, a tiny brooch from the ninth century might start a new chapter in the tale of the Vikings in Sweden.

Medieval map may show evidence of Wales’ "Lost Atlantis"

Islands may have been flooded by rising seas after the last Ice Age, according to researchers.

A Swansea researcher has suggested that a medieval map of two islands off the coasts of Ceredigion and Gwynedd may be proof of the fabled lost kingdom of Cantre'r Gwaelod.

One additional island is depicted on the Gough Map between Aberystwyth and Aberdyfi, according to the analysis published in Atlantic Geoscience, while another is off Barmouth to the north.

David Willis, the Jesus Professor of Celtic at the University of Oxford, and Simon Haslett, an honorary professor of physical geography at Swansea University, collaborated on the discovery.

The narrative of Cantre'r Gwaelod describes a territory that was flooded after Seithenyn, the gatekeeper who kept the sea out, went to a celebration, got wasted, and failed to shut the gate.

The myth may have begun in Scotland or Northumbria and eventually spread to Wales, according to some academics who have connected the tale to the Old North.

The Gough Map of Great Britain

Yet, according to Simon Haslett and David Willis' research, there may be two "lost" islands in Cardigan Bay, off the coast of west Wales, United Kingdom.

Their research examines historical documents as well as geological and bathymetric data, and they suggest that post-glacial coastline evolution can explain the "lost" islands.

They contend that by the 16th century, the two surviving islands may have been gone due to erosion and an increase in sea levels.

They claim that Cardigan Bay is connected to the 'lost' lowland of Cantre'r Gwaelod thanks to literary evidence and folklore tales.

The model has the potential to shed further light on the post-glacial history of lowlands similar to those found around the northwest European coasts.

According to Simon Haslett, the map suggests that certain landforms may have been lost in Cardigan Bay's shallow waters.

According to Simon Haslett, who spoke to the BBC, "The Gough Map is incredibly accurate considering the surveying equipment they would have had at that time."

The two islands are clearly identified, which could support reports from the time that a lost land was referenced in the Black Book of Carmarthen.

Cantref Gwaelod? The image has been rotated so that north is up

The first comprehensive map of the British Isles that has survived dates to the middle of the thirteenth century and is kept at the Bodleian Library at Oxford University.

"I believe the evidence for the islands, and perhaps as a result, the tales associated with them, is in two threads," Simon Haslett continued.

"First off, Ptolemy's Roman cartographer's coordinates indicate that the shoreline may have extended 13 kilometers (8 miles) farther west than it does now.

"And second, the Gough Map's evidence for the presence of two islands in Cardigan Bay

Suprise medieval double grave found inside circular ditch

Archaeologists have discovered an early medieval double grave at the center of a circular ditch in Kirchheim am Neckar, southern Germany. Two plots of land in an area of Kirchheim designated as a cultural monument were excavated in advance of development. The presence of a burial ground was known since the 19th century (hence the designation), but the discovery of a double grave inside a ring ditch was unprecedented.

The double grave was found at the southwest end of the burial ground. The circular mark on the ground is all that remains of a large tumulus. The burials consist of two adjacent wooden chamber graves built over carved rock. One belonged to a woman; one to a man. The graves had both been looted in antiquity, but the tomb raiders only pillaged from the knees up. The areas below the knees were untouched, and the looters really missed out.

Below the foot of the buried man were a large ornate bone comb, a ceramic pot, silver sheet bands, a glass tumbler, horse bridles and a bronze vessel filled with organic material and animal bone and a large egg-like object beneath a ceramic bowl. A gold coin was also found in the dead man’s mouth as an obolus [, also known as Charon’s obol, a coin to pay for passage to the underworld].

The remains of a decapitated horse were buried just outside the ring ditch. The presence of horse bridles in the man’s grave suggests the horse was a companion burial.

The woman’s burial was richly furnished as well, despite having been looted. Grave goods found in her grave include a pearl necklace, a gold pendant inlaid with almandine garnets, a disc brooch, a weaving sword, scissors, a glass beaker and a chatelaine with a decorative disc and a Cypraea snail shell hanging from it. These were high value objects, jewelry and household goods alike. The Cypraea was imported from the Indian Ocean and was a very expensive charm to hang from a belt.

The excavation of the two properties found 22 more graves, all of them simple inhumations without funerary offerings. These were the kinds of graves archaeologists excepted to find at the site, comparable to the ones discovered there in the past. The occupants of the double grave were set apart in the burial ground, separated from the hoi polloi both in location and in the distinctive grandeur of their burials.

Glacier archaeologists find a 1300-year-old arrow in melting ice

The Glacier archaeologists found a 1300-year-old arrow from the Norwegian Iron Age during a research project on the Langfonne ice patch in the Jotunheimen Mountains in Norway.

In the past twenty years, Langfonne has dramatically retreated. Its current size is less than 30% of what it was 20 years ago. The retreat is evident from the surroundings. The ice is surrounded by bedrock devoid of lichen and moss and is a light gray color. Three distinct ice patches have formed from the split ice. Only 10% of the Little Ice Age’s maximum ice cover remains at Langfonne today (AD 1450-1920). The melting of Langfonne is a part of a much larger global warming-related pattern of retreating mountain glaciers that includes glaciers in Norway and other countries.

However, the Langfonne ice patch is the ice site in the world with the most arrows.

The arrow was discovered in a collection of broken rock fragments between larger stones on the lower edge of the icefield.

The team believes that the arrow was lost and deposited downslope by meltwater and that it has since been exposed several times by melting ice over the centuries.

This is indicated by the lack of fletching, the fin-shaped aerodynamic stabilization normally made from feathers or bark. Evidence of sinew and tar has also been identified, but this survives in a poor state of preservation. The arrow is tapered towards the end and the nock has been thickened for engaging with a bowstring. The remains of the tar would have glued the fletching to the shaft, while imprints of the thread securing the fletching are still visible.

In recent years, the team has found numerous arrows in the region during the Late Neolithic (2400-1750 BC) and especially during the Late Iron Age (AD 550-1050).

The team found another arrow earlier this year in the Jotunheimen mountains which dates from around 1,700 years ago. This arrow was found complete with its iron arrowhead, sinew wrappings, and aerodynamic feather fletching.

The project also discovered the best-preserved example of prehistoric skis, a Bronze Age shoe, and a lost Viking settlement containing sleds, dead animals, clothing, and household items in melting ice patches.

On their Facebook page, you can keep up with the project’s development and updates.

Secret Of the Ice

Rare Neolithic, Migration Period graves found near Danube

Rare graves from the Neolithic and early medieval Migration Period have been discovered in Tuttlingen, in southwestern Germany near the Danube Sinkhole. A preventative archaeology excavation at the site of a planned rainwater retention basin unearthed a Stone Age grave of the Corded Ware culture containing grave goods including a characteristic pot of the type that gave the culture its name, and dozens of Migration Period graves containing weapons and jewelry.

Only one Neolithic grave has been found so far — Corded Ware culture graves are rare in southwestern Germany — but archaeologists did discover the remains of a prehistoric settlement. The grave contained a corded ware beaker, decorated at the neck by winding a rope around it when the clay was still wet to create a dimpled effect.  It also contained a stone axe with a neat hole in the middle where the handle was once mounted and a flint blade. The Corded Ware grave dates to the 3rd millennium B.C.

The Migration Period cemetery is large with about 140 burials, and many of them are richly furnished. This was a period of mass movement of people throughout Europe in the wake of the collapse of Roman power. They usually travelled in tribes of about 10,000-20,000 lead by a warlord until they found a place they wanted to settle. The cemetery dates to the later Migration Period.

“Most burials contain grave goods such as weapons, e.g. swords, lances, shields, and jewelry such as glass beads, earrings, belts or belt pendants,” said Dr. Andreas Haasis-Berner, responsible area officer at LAD, today (August 18, 2022) presenting the current results in Gutmadingen together with the excavation company and the city. Bone combs or a drinking glass are special features. Based on these grave goods, the burial ground can be dated to the 6th century.

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'Spanish Stonehenge' emerges from drought-hit dam

A brutal summer has caused havoc for many in rural Spain, but one unexpected side-effect of the country's worst drought in decades has delighted archaeologists -- the emergence of a prehistoric stone circle in a dam whose waterline has receded.

Officially known as the Dolmen of Guadalperal but dubbed the Spanish Stonehenge, the circle of dozens of megalithic stones is believed to date back to 5000 BC.

It currently sits fully exposed in one corner of the Valdecanas reservoir, in the central province of Caceres, where authorities say the water level has dropped to 28% of capacity.

An aerial view of the dolmen of Guadalperal, also known as the Spanish Stonehenge.

Susana Vera/Reuters

"It's a surprise, it's a rare opportunity to be able to access it," said archaeologist Enrique Cedillo from Madrid's Complutense University, one of the experts racing to study the circle before it gets submerged again.

It was discovered by German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier in 1926, but the area was flooded in 1963 in a rural development project under Francisco Franco's dictatorship.

Since then it has only become fully visible four times.

Dolmens are vertically arranged stones usually supporting a flat boulder. Although there are many scattered across Western Europe, little is known about who erected them. Human remains found in or near many have led to an often-cited theory that they are tombs.

Local historical and tourism associations have advocated moving the Guadalperal stones to a museum or elsewhere on dry land.

The circle of dozens of megalithic stones is believed to date back to 5000 BC.

Susana Vera/Reuters

Their presence is also good news for Ruben Argentas, who owns a small boat tours business. "The dolmen emerges and the dolmen tourism begins," he told Reuters after a busy day spent shuttling tourists to the site and back.

But there is no silver lining for local farmers.

"There hasn't been enough rain since the spring...There is no water for the livestock and we have to transport it in," said Jose Manuel Comendador. Another, Rufino Guinea, said his sweet pepper crop had been ravaged.

Climate change has left the Iberian peninsula at its driest in 1,200 years, and winter rains are expected to diminish further, a study published by the Nature Geoscience journal showed.

Top image: The dolmen of Guadalperal, also known as the Spanish Stonehenge, on August 3, 2022. Credit: Susana Vera/REUTERS/

Prehistoric people in the UK used rare crystals to mark burial sites

They were transported long distances and were considered highly valuable

Image credit: The researchers.

Archaeologists from the University of Manchester discovered rock crystals during excavations at Dorstone Hill in England — a monumental complex from the Neolithic Period (6,000 BC to 3,000 BC). The crystals were brought to the site and knapped in a systematic way to mark burial sites and were then deposited in the Neolithic burial site.

The complex, excavated between 2011 and 2019, includes three long mounds, three timer halls and a causewayed enclosure. As well as a wide array of artefacts such as pottery, stone implements and cremated bones, the researchers uncovered rock crystal – a pure, transparent form of quartz, which forms in large six-sided crystals. By far, the quartz is the most striking find from the site.

While evidence for the use of rock crystal has been found at other prehistoric sites in the United Kingdom, only a few studies have specifically looked at how the material was used and its potential significance. Now, the team at the University of Manchester has suggested the crystals were intentionally deposited within the burial mounds.

“It was highly exciting to find the crystal because it is exceptionally rare – in a time before glass, these pieces of perfectly transparent solid material must have been really distinctive,” lead author Nick Overton said in a statement. “I was very interested to discover where the material came from, and how people might have worked and used it.”

A close look at rock crystals

People at Dorstone Hill had a lasting association with rock crystal, the researchers said. It was transported large distances to the site and worked in a systematic manner that remained a feature of local practice for generations. But it wasn’t used in any utilitarian way, it was intentionally collected and deposited in burial mounds with other artifacts and materials.

Absolutely delighted that our new paper on #Neolithic Rock Crystal from Dorstone Hill is now out #OpenAccess in Cambridge Archaeological Journal #Archaeology #Prehistory https://t.co/jZ6IznoUkz @RoviraGarcia @julesbirch72 @UoMCAHAE @UoMArchaeology @CUHistArchRel 🧵1/9 pic.twitter.com/HylnecgNFL

— Nick Overton (@ArchaeOverton) August 10, 2022

Based on the local geology, the rock crystal could have originated from a very limited number of sources, all of which are far away from the site. The researchers believe that the most likely sources are Snowdonia in north Wales or St David’s Head in southwest Wales. The material could have been used by people to demonstrate their local identities and connections with other places, they said, or could have had some spiritual meaning.

“The crystals would have looked very unusual in comparison to other stones they used, and are extremely distinctive as they emit light when hit or rubbed together and produce small patches of rainbow,” Overton said in a statement. “They would have created memorable moments that brought individuals together and forged local identities.”

One of the crystals, for example, has a small internal structure that is illuminated by a rainbow flash when rocked back and forth in the light. Another piece, a flake full of micro-cracks, shimmers with dancing lines of a rainbow as light hits the internal fracture planes within it. This added an extra dimension to the “visually arresting” character of this material.

As well as in Dorstone Hill, crystals have played a significant role in people’s lives in a large number of societies, the researchers said. Animist groups in the Amazon saw quartz as a “living rock” with special healing properties and Australian aboriginal groups understood rock crystal as “solidified light,” spiritually charged with power, for example.

“At Dorstone Hill, the working of this material, associated with dramatic places, and affording experiences of its unique transparent, refractive and triboluminescent properties, would act to disrupt everyday life, creating memorable moments for those in attendance,” the researchers wrote.

Up next, the team hopes to study materials found at other sites in the UK to discover whether people were working with this material in other ways, as well as to uncover connections and local traditions. They also want to analyze the chemical composition of the crystal to find out if they can track down its specific source.

The study was published in the Cambridge Archaeological Journal.

Prehistoric 5,000-year-old 'Penang Woman' finally has a face

GEORGE TOWN: Five years after researchers from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) found a prehistoric human skeleton, dubbed the "Penang Woman", believed to be at least 5,000 years old, they scored another major breakthrough.

This time around, the same researchers have put a face to the Penang Woman using the Forensic Facial Approximation method.

The skeleton was found during the construction of a gallery for the Guar Kepah neolithic site in Kepala Batas in 2017.

With the help of Cicero Moraes, a 3D graphics expert from Brazil, they used the 3D virtual reconstruction method to create the Penang Woman's facial features based on a scientific date obtained from a CT scan performed on the skeleton.

The same team was also instrumental in reconstructing the facial features for the more than 10,000-year-old "Perak Man" using the same method last year.

Shaiful Idzwan Shahidan, the team's correspondent author, said they took between three and four months to come out with the facial features, which was completed on July 5.

A paper, titled "Forensic Facial Approximation of 5000-Year-Old Female Skull from Shell Midden in Guar Kepah, Malaysia", was published in the Journal of Applied Sciences on Aug 5.

Shaiful said when they found the skeleton back in 2017, one of their objectives was to conduct a more in-depth study about the life of the Penang Woman.

© Provided by New Straits TimesPrehistoric 5,000-year-old 'Penang Woman' finally has a face

"We were curious to know how the Penang Woman really looked back then. From the facial features, we can tell that Penang Woman is possibly a mixture between the Australomelanesoid and Mongoloids.

"It is likely that the Guar Kepah population then was a mixture of the Australomelanesian and Mongoloid races," he said.

Shaiful, however, said a more detailed study could be conducted if Malaysia brought back the 41 skeletons from three shell middens in Guar Kepah, which were excavated by British archaeologists between 1851 and 1934 and currently at the National Natuurhistorisch Museum in Leiden, Holland.

When the Penang Woman skeleton was found in April 2017, researchers came across a skull, a femur bone and a rib cage beneath the floor of a house which had been demolished to make way for the gallery.

The skeletal remains were the first and only remaining Neolithic skeleton found in a shell midden in Malaysia. Shell middens refer to mounds of kitchen debris consisting mostly of shells and other food remnants and indicate ancient human settlement and sometimes used as burial sites.

The remains were discovered in shell midden C with her arms folded and surrounded by pottery, stone tools and several type of shells, a sign of her important position in her society.

In total, 41 skeletons from three shell middens, identified as A, B and C in Guar Kepah, were excavated by British archaeologists between 1851 and 1934 and those skeletons are now at the National Natuurhistorisch Museum in Leiden, Holland.

The original Penang Woman is being carefully conserved in USM as it had to be in a temperature and humidity controlled environment, which meant the skeleton currently showcased at the gallery is a replica of the original.

© New Straits Times Press (M) Bhd

Giant Megalithic Complex of 500 Standing Stones Is Among The Largest in Europe

A huge megalithic complex of more than 500 standing stones has been discovered in southern Spain which could be one of the largest in Europe, archaeologists told AFP Thursday.

The stones were discovered on a plot of land in Huelva, a province which flanks the southernmost part of Spain's border with Portugal, near the Guadiana River.

Spanning some 600 hectares (1,500 acres), the land had been earmarked for an avocado planation.

But before granting the permit, the regional authorities requested a survey in light of the site's possible archaeological significance – and revealed the presence of the stones.

"This is the biggest and most diverse collection of standing stones grouped together in the Iberian peninsula," said Jose Antonio Linares, a researcher at Huelva University and one of the project's three directors.

The megalithic site. (José Antonio Linares-Catela et al., Trabajos de Prehistoria, 2022)

It is likely that the oldest standing stones at the La Torre-La Janera site were erected during the second half of the sixth or fifth millennium BCE, he said.

"It is a major megalithic site in Europe," he said.

At the site, they found a large number of various types of megaliths, including standing stones, dolmens, mounds, coffin-like stone boxes called cists, and various enclosures.

"Standing stones were the most common finding, with 526 of them still standing or lying on the ground," said the researchers in an article published in Trabajos de Prehistoria, a prehistoric archaeology journal in the Iberian Peninsula.

The height of the stones was between one and three metres (3-10 feet).

Excellently conserved

At Carnac in northwestern France, which is one of the most famous megalithic sites in the world, there are some 3,000 standing stones.

One of the most striking things was finding such diverse megalithic elements grouped together in one location and how well preserved they were, said Primitiva Bueno, co-director of the project and a prehistory professor at Alcala University near Madrid.

"Finding alignments and dolmens on one site is not very common," she told AFP.

"Here you find everything all together: alignments, cromlechs and dolmens and that is very striking," she said, hailing the site's "excellent conservation".

The megalithic site. (José Antonio Linares-Catela et al., Trabajos de Prehistoria, 2022)

An alignment is a linear arrangement of upright standing stones along a common axis, while a cromlech is a stone circle and a dolmen is a type of megalithic tomb usually made of two or more standing stones with a large flat 'capstone' on top.

Most of the menhirs were grouped into 26 alignments and two cromlechs, both located on hilltops with a clear view to the east for viewing the sunrise during the summer and winter solstices and the spring and autumn equinoxes, the researchers said.

Many of the stones are buried deep in the earth.

They will need to be carefully excavated with the work scheduled to run until 2026 but "between this year's campaign and the start of next year's, there will be a part of the site that can be visited", Bueno said.

© Agence France-Presse