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Leather balls from a tomb show that people in far northwestern China played ball games 3000 years ago.  A new study argues that climate change was responsible for the extinction of some key branches of the human family tree.  A cave in Greece displays a long record of cultural change, from the Paleolithic into the Neolithic.  And a monument to Confederate heroes poses big challenges in an anti-racist era.

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And now, here’s Laura Pettigrew with the Audio News from Archaeologica.  We hope you find this to be a valuable part of your day.

Welcome to the Audio News from Archaeologica!  I’m Laura Pettigrew and these are the headlines in archaeological and historical news from Audio News for October 11th to the 17th, 2020.

A new analysis of three leather balls from graves in northwestern China has added important new evidence on the origin of horseback games with balls.   

As reported in the October issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science, a team of researchers from the University of Zurich, working with colleagues in Germany and China, carried out the re-analysis and radiocarbon dating of three leather balls found at the Yanghai cemetery site in northwestern China, near the modern city of Turfan. 

Although found in different graves, all of the balls measure between 7.4 and 9.2 cm in diameter, or about three to three and a half inches.  What makes this discovery so impressive is the earliness of their dates. 

According to Patrick Wertmann of the Institute of Asian and Oriental studies at the University of Zurich, the balls are 2,900 to 3,200 years old, making them some five centuries older than any other balls or evidence of ball games found in Eurasia. 

Ball games have a deep history across the globe, with some of the oldest known games appearing in Egypt by the Twelfth Dynasty, about 2,000 BC, and Mesoamerican ball games appearing by 1,700 BC.

The nature and rules for early ball games are often understood through depictions of the game play, or finding associated objects such as curved sticks.  In Greece, early illustrations show ball players running, while early Chinese depictions show riders using sticks. 

The leather balls from Yanghai cemetery are made of leather sewn into a cover around a stuffing of leather strips.  One of the balls has a painted red “X” or cross on it. 

Two of the graves producing the Yanghai balls also contained artifacts belonging to horsemen, such as a composite bow used while riding, and trousers made for riding.  The third ball came from a grave with no riding-related artifacts.  

The new dates are much earlier than the dates of graves elsewhere in the cemetery that do contain curved wooden sticks, suggesting a common practice of horse-mounted sports or military exercise.  The new dates on the leather balls thus mirror evidence from other parts of the world, like Egypt, suggesting that balls, and then ball games, developed before they were adapted into versions played on horseback.   

A team of scientists headed by Pasquale Raia of the University of Naples Federico II in Italy has used ancient climate evidence to show that global cooling might have led to the extinction of Neanderthals. 

Modern Homo sapiens is the only remaining branch of a twisted family tree that once had at least five other species. 

The recent Italian modeling study used paleoclimatic data from nearly 8,000 years of archaeological records to study global cooling episodes, and concluded that these events were major factors in the extinction of Neanderthals, along with Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis. 

As reported online in TheScientist.com, these findings not only show the impact of global climate change in the past, but also provide a warning for our own future.  Some scientists, however, question whether the fossil record and the data set are reliable enough for such conclusions. 

The recent study’s data included climate information and fossil dates from six species of Homo found in different locations, to see how each responded to a range of climate conditions.  The study found that the climate niches of Homo neanderthalensis, erectus and heidelbergensis contracted drastically a short time before they disappeared from the fossil record. 

Homo erectus is last known to exist roughly 110,000 years ago on the Indonesian island of Java.  According to the study authors, this species, which was geographically isolated and would have been adapted to a warm and moist climate niche, was driven to extinction by the arrival of the last glacial period, which drastically reduced global temperatures. 

Homo heidelbergensis had spread across Eurasia out of Africa some 300,000 years ago and may be an early ancestor of ourselves and Homo neanderthalensis.  It was again cooler temperatures that the researchers say led to the extinction of Homo heidelbergensis 200,000 years ago. 

Neanderthals show a more complex extinction, as they began competing with modern humans around 40,000 years ago across Europe.  But according to Raia, while the greater cultural and linguistic capability and larger population of modern Homo sapiens were major factors in the decline, Neanderthals were nonetheless still vulnerable to climate change as well. 

The findings related to Neanderthals are a part of a much larger and long discussed debate about the role that cooling in Europe would have played on their survival. 

Many scientists, such as Chris Stringer of the Natural History Museum in London, believe that climate change played a part, but that the fossil record is not rich enough for the claims made by Raia and his team. 

The study leaves many unanswered questions about our lineage, while providing important data to guide further study.   In modern studies of climate change, this prehistoric evidence of impact casts a worrisome light on our own future. 

In central Greece, a limestone cavern known as Theopetra Cave has given archaeologists a clearer view into the lives of people from the Middle Paleolithic to the Neolithic. 

The cave may be the oldest nearly continuous human occupation site on earth, with evidence of use beginning 130,000 years ago in the Middle Paleolithic. 

Starting in 1987, under the direction of Dr. Catherine Kyparissi-Apostolika, honorary head of the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Speleography of Greece’s Ministry of Culture and Sports, excavations at Theopetra have produced stone tools, pottery, bone, and shell objects spanning the Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic periods.  These artifacts provide important insight into the transition from Paleolithic to Neolithic eras in Greece. 

The most recent data from the cave reported by Dr. Kyparissi-Apostolika shows sustained habitation for many thousands of years, with some periods showing less use or no use.  The cave was used into modern times as a place of refuge and an animal stable. Its ancient use apparently came to an end around 4000 BC, when seeping water and rockfall may have made the cave less attractive for habitation.

As reported online in the Greek Reporter.com, Theopetra Cave also contains modern Homo sapiens burials from the Upper Paleolithic and Mesolithic, along with evidence of Neanderthal habitation in the form of stone tools.  It is notable also for a stone wall that is considered one of the oldest surviving human-made structures anywhere in the world.

The cave provides a detailed history of human habitation in the area, and provides valuable insight into the ways of life, culture and living patterns of people over a span that included some of the most fundamental changes in human cultural history. 

For our final story, we go to the United States, where a historic park just outside Atlanta shows the changes taking place in how tourists view Confederate era monuments. 

Stone Mountain is a dome shaped mountain some 800 feet tall surrounded by state park land.  One side of the mountain, however, reveals a dark history.  On its sheer mountain face is carved a monument to Confederate soldiers and leaders now widely regarded as racists. 

As reported by National Geographic, the carving of three leaders of the Confederacy, President Jefferson Davis, General Robert E. Lee and General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, stand some nine stories high, making them the largest high reliefs in the world. 

Many now believe that the monument taints the park, which is Georgia’s most visited attraction.  After years of debate, tourists are beginning to think about their own role in the monument’s past, and future. 

The carving was created originally many decades after the Civil War, as southern states, including Georgia, passed Jim Crow laws oppressing Black citizens.  The carving itself was not completed until 1972.

Stone Mountain itself has a deeply racist past, hosting many Ku Klux Klan meetings on its peak.  It’s located in one of Atlanta’s most ethnically diverse areas, however, and the park’s visitors, including many Black people, reflect this diversity. 

The park itself holds many other references to the Civil War, from the Confederate Hall education center to Robert E. Lee Boulevard. 

The debate over removing or keeping the carving centers on its connection to racism, but some note the potential loss of park revenue without it.  Currently, however, state law specifies that altering, moving or concealing the carving is illegal. 

As debate continues over the carving’s fate, the current political climate of the U.S. has made its message even clearer, highlighting the contradictions within the park, and the country.

That wraps up the news for this week! 

For more stories and daily news updates, visit Archaeologica on the World Wide Web at www.archaeologica.org, where all the news is history!

I'm Laura Pettigrew and I'll see you next week!