Archaeology July 2012 Archive

A recent report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA describes new findings concerning the Later Stone Age of South Africa. Organic artefacts from Border ... Read More

One of the many inventions of the great Islamic civilization was lustreware, a metallic pottery decorative technique. When the lustreware technique is done properly, exposure to light sets a mysterious ... Read More

Ivory, the stuff that comes from elephant (and hippopotamus and rhinoceros and walrus) tusks, has always been a bit of a fascination for me. Although I don't remember the circumstances ... Read More

I just ran across an interesting article in Antiquity that introduced me to an ancient environmental calamity that struck the northern hemisphere: the Dust Veil of AD 536. Volcanic ash ... Read More

Last week, more news broke about Paisley Caves, a collection of rockshelters in south central Oregon where evidence of Pre-Clovis occupations, including human DNA, has been discovered. The presence of ... Read More

A new, comprehensive study of genetic data from Native American and Siberian people provides substantiation for some current theories of the original timing, pathway and number of colonizing groups, at ... Read More

The Dian Kingdom was one of several Bronze Age polities in what is today Yunnan Province, China when the Han Dynasty conquered the region in 109 BC, during their rise ... Read More

Tula de Hidalgo, in Mexico's Hidalgo state about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Mexico City, is an enormous dispersed community covering more than 17 sq km (4,200 acres) and, ... Read More

Granted, top ten lists are a bit out of style these days, and now I know why. 1.7 Million Year Old Acheulean Handaxe from Kokiselei, Kenya. P.-J. Texier © MPK/WTAP I ... Read More