History

The Top Ten Archaeological Discoveries of Recent Years

Uncovering the Past: Remarkable Finds That Are Reshaping Our Understanding of History

16 August 2024259 Views

The American magazine Archaeology has highlighted the ten most fascinating discoveries of 2020. From the astonishing find at Saqqara to the burial monument believed to honor Romulus, these discoveries offer new insights into ancient history.

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The first enslaved Africans in Mexico

Details of the lives of three young men buried in a 16th-century mass grave in Mexico City have finally been brought to light by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Human Science. Isotopic, genetic and osteological analyses revealed that all three were born in West Africa. The teeth were filed in precisely the manner described by European travelers to West Africa (still performed today by some groups in the region). The skeletons had been found in the 1980s, when subway construction revealed a colonial-era hospital. “We know that many Africans were abducted and transported to New Spain, but they generally did not live in Mexico City,” says archaeogeneticist Rodrigo Barquera. The skeletons show evidence of intense physical labor and violent trauma. They were probably part of the first generation of African slaves on the coast of Mexico around 1520. They may have worked on a sugar plantation or in a mine before falling ill during an epidemic, which would explain their presence in the hospital.

Necropolis of Saqqara

Within three deep burial shafts at the Sacred Animal Necropolis in Saqqara, Egypt, archaeologists uncovered more than 100 wooden coffins, still adorned with vibrant paint. These sealed sarcophagi were stacked on top of one another, alongside 40 statuettes of the funerary deity Ptah-Sokar and a bronze sculpture of the god Nefertum, depicted with a lotus flower atop his head. Although the shafts had been reopened multiple times in antiquity to accommodate new burials, researchers dated most of the interments to the 26th Dynasty (688-525 B.C.) based on the names inscribed on the coffins. “These types of shafts, containing multiple burials, likely for a family or group, were common in that period,” explains Mostafa Waziri, Secretary-General of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities. “We believe the owners of these coffins were priests and high-ranking officials from the temple of the cat goddess Bastet.”

New method of dating

Since the 1990s, biogeochemist Richard Evershed from the University of Bristol has been searching for a more precise method to radiocarbon date ceramic artifacts. However, it took nearly three decades for technology to catch up with his vision. For years, archaeologists have relied on ceramic styles and confirmed dates through radiocarbon analysis of associated materials or dendrochronology, the study of tree rings. Evershed’s new technique allows for direct radiocarbon dating of animal fat residues, such as those from milk, cheese, or meat, even in tiny amounts on ceramic fragments as small as 2 grams. One test, conducted at the site of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, showed that the dates of four ceramic fragments matched the known timeline (around 6700-5650 B.C.). Evershed hopes this technique will provide new insights into the origins of animal domestication and prehistoric diets.

The largest DNA study of the Vikings.

The largest study ever conducted on Viking DNA has revealed new information about their genetic diversity. The ambitious research analyzed DNA taken from 442 skeletons discovered at more than 80 Viking sites in northern Europe and Greenland. The genomes were then compared with a genetic database of thousands of individuals today to try to ascertain who the Vikings really were. The study found that the various groups of raiders and traders, traditionally thought to have come only from Norway, Denmark and Sweden, were genetically much more diverse than expected. According to Eske Willerslev (University of Copenhagen), one of the most unexpected findings was that the era of Viking exploration may have been led by foreigners. According to genetic analysis, just before the Viking Age and during its peak, between 800 and 1050 AD, people from Eastern and Southern Europe, and even Western Asia, arrived in Scandinavia. In contrast to the traditional image of the light-haired, light-eyed Viking, genetic evidence shows that dark hair and dark eyes were more common among Viking-era Scandinavians than they are today. “The Vikings were not limited to genetically pure Scandinavians,” Willerslev says, ”but were a heterogeneous group of peoples with diverse origins.”

Royal inscription luvia

Archaeologists led by James Osborne and Michele Massa of the University of Chicago have made a startling discovery in a canal not far from the ancient Türkmen-Karahöyük mound in southern Turkey: a stone stele with hieroglyphs in luvio, a relative of the Hittite language. Based on the shape of the glyphs, the inscription has been dated to the 8th century BC. It records the military conquests of “Great King Hartapu,” a ruler previously known only from inscriptions found at two nearby shrines. The new inscription, Osborne explains, describes Hartapu as a Neo-Hittite leader who claims to have conquered the rich kingdom of Phrygia in west-central Anatolia and, in a single year, defeated a coalition of 13 kings. “We now know almost for certain that Hartapu’s capital was Türkmen-Karahöyük and that it was presumably powerful enough to defeat Phrygia in battle when it was at its peak,” Osborne says. “Hartapu was not unimportant; he was apparently an influential Iron Age figure.” Around 1400 B.C., Türkmen-Karahöyük grew from a small settlement to one of the largest cities in Anatolia. “Even in a country [as rich] arrcheologically as Turkey,” Osborne says, ”it’s not every day you find a huge Bronze and Iron Age city intact.”

“Altar” for Romulus

In an ancient and sacred part of the Roman Forum, a funerary monument associated with Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome, has resurfaced. The small monument was first discovered by archaeologist Giacomo Boni in 1899, but was then buried and forgotten for more than a century. During the renovation of the stairs of the Curia Iulia, the ancient Roman Senate, researchers rediscovered the 6th century B.C. underground chamber, which contains a tufa sarcophagus and a small round “altar.” According to legend, Romulus and his brother, Remus, were abandoned at birth and then rescued and raised by a she-wolf. Tradition has it that Romulus founded the city of Rome in 753 BC. According to some Roman writers, the recent archaeological rediscovery was made where the tomb of the progenitor once stood (not the burial site). It is also near a mysterious chamber paved in black marble-the Lapis niger-perhaps associated with the death of Romulus. For Alfonsina Russo, director of the Colosseum Archaeological Park, the “tomb of Romulus” was a symbolic monument where Romans could worship the legendary founder of their city and celebrate the origins of Rome.

Chinese artwork

A tiny 13,500-year-old sculpture made of burnt bone may be the first three-dimensional art object in East Asia. It depicts a sparrow, and was discovered at the Lingjing site in China. But what makes it a work of art? “It depends on the concept of art we adopt,” says archaeologist Francis d’Errico of the University of Bordeaux. “If a carved object can be perceived as beautiful or recognized as the product of high-quality craftsmanship, the person who made it should be seen as an artist.” Only 2 cm long, the sparrow was made using six different carving techniques. “We were surprised by the way the artist chose the right technique to carve each part, and the way he combined them to achieve the desired goal,” says d’Errico. The attention to detail was so fine that, seeing that the sculpture was not standing properly, the artist planed the pedestal slightly.

Native American rituals

The site of Dyar Mound, a three-story-high earthen structure, now lies beneath Lake Oconee in the state of Georgia, USA, created by a dam built in the 1970s. Before that, however, archaeologists had excavated the mound dating back to the 14th century A.D., the work of the ancient Native Americans of Muscogee Creek. Based on the artifacts recovered, Dyar Mound had been abandoned shortly after the 1539-1543 expedition led by Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. De Soto and his retinue had brought disease, causing a population collapse in the region. This collapse was long thought to have hastened the end of the Mississippian culture, a belief system also practiced by the Muscogees. A team led by archaeologist Jacob Holland-Lulewicz (Washington University in St. Louis) has re-dated organic remains from the site and found that it was not abandoned after de Soto’s expedition. Inhabitants continued to perform rituals for nearly 150 more years. “The Muscogee ancestors were resilient and their practices lasted for generations,” Holland-Lulewicz said.

The oldest Mayan temple

The oldest and largest ceremonial structure in the Mayan world was hidden in plain sight on a Mexican ranch near the Guatemalan border. “It just looks like part of the natural landscape,” says archaeologist Takeshi Inomata of the University of Arizona. He and his team were studying images of the region with lidar technology when they came across a huge land platform. A subsequent survey showed that the platform extends 1.5 kilometers and rises up to 15 meters. Radiocarbon dating suggests that the Maya built the ritual space between 1000 and 800 BCE. Known as Aguada Fenix, the structure resembles a platform discovered in the 1960s at the even older Olmec city of San Lorenzo, about 500 km to the west.

First English theater

Archaeologists have discovered what they believe are the remains of the Red Lion, the first purpose-built theater in England, dating back to 1560. Prior to this, theaters were temporary creations, usually set up in the courtyards of inns or inside large houses. The Red Lion was built under the direction of a grocer named John Brayne and we know of it through some lawsuits filed by Brayne. Researchers from Archaeology South-East at University College London unearthed a wooden structure that closely matched the description of the theater. There were also a series of holes around the stage that may have supported scaffolding or gallery seating. “Some people thought the Red Lion was round or octagonal,” says chief archaeologist Stephen White. “But it’s actually very reminiscent of some 16th-century European theaters with enclosed rectangular spaces.” The Red Lion does not appear to have lasted long, but it may have served as a prototype for the much more famous The Theatre in London.