Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew.  Get ready for another weekly batch of top news stories that appeared on Archaeologica!  Send us feedback on The Archaeology Channel Facebook page or post a message on our social networking site, ArchaeoSeek!

A new DNA study of human and horse burials from Mongolia sheds new and stunning light on the culture that caused the Chinese to build the Great Wall.  It turns out that the Great Fire of Rome, when Nero is said to have fiddled, might not have been as disastrous as widely believed.  Size differences in an extinct hominid species in southern Africa might reflect evolutionary change over time rather than differences between males and females.  And new evidence suggests that shipworms migrating northward in a warming climate are eating away at the archaeological record made up of hundreds of shipwrecks in the Arctic.

The Audio News Team would like to thank our friends for helping us continue this show without a break since we started more than 19 years ago.  If you’re not already a supporting member, please go to archaeologychannel.org and click on the Donate button.  Especially now, we can use all the help we can get!

For the intrepid travelers out there, we welcome you to register now for one of our upcoming 2021 tours!  Please contact us soon about that, and see about all our upcoming tours at archaeologychannel.org/tours.  You won’t have to stay home forever!

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 Archaeologica for the week of November 8th through the 14th, 2020.

Until recently, the Xiongnu of what is now northern China were known only through their adversaries.  The group that spurred the building of the Great Wall of China was only known for their warfare.  Despite the many written accounts of the Xiongnu (zi-ONG-new), they left no written records of their own

However, as reported by Science Magazine, recent studies into the DNA of 200 people and the remains of horses recovered in Mongolia from a time span of 6000 years are creating a clearer picture of these people.  

DNA from 60 human skeletons from the 300-year Xiongnu reign, from the third century BC to the first century AD, revealed that the civilization was notably multiethnic, with at least three distinct population groups living together in one of the largest melting pots ever known.   The results show also that the Xiongnu included people with genetic signatures similar to the Sarmations who lived north of the Black Sea around the same time, demonstrating close contact all across the Eurasian Steppe.

Horses most likely were first domesticated by the Botai culture, in what is now Kazakhstan, some 3500 years ago.  Horses may have been raised for their milk and meat at first, before pulling chariots later on.  From there, horse domestication spread and splintered across Europe and Asia and into modern day Mongolia.  It was there that, in one way or another, the Xiongnu learned to make warfare on horseback, turning them into one of the most formidable enemies in Asia.  

The lack of written records from this empire still leaves many mysteries about their governmental system, and the true origin of their equestrian warfare tactics.  Researchers hope that continued study of the human genome from this time will further illuminate the civilization of the Xiongnu.

The great fire of Rome has confounded historians and birthed many rumours and conspiracies since AD 64.  The most well known rumor was that Emperor Nero “fiddled while Rome burned.”  But new research from Professor Emeritus Dr.  Anthony Berrett, at the University of British Columbia, suggests the rumor was fabricated by Nero’s political enemies.  Dr. Barrett’s research also found that the scope of the fire was greatly exaggerated by Nero’s opponents.  

According to the British newspaper, The Independent, the new research, soon to be published in Doctor Barrett’s book, Rome is Burning: Nero and the Fire that ended a Dynasty, claims that only 15 to 20 percent of Rome burned, as opposed to the more widely reported 75 percent.  

The research combines archaeological findings with historical accounts and evidence to determine the extent, cause and the aftermath of the fire and its impact on Rome’s political and social system.  

Although the fire wasn't actually Nero's fault, the aftermath and his response caused already waning support from aristocrats to fade even further.  Nero sought to fund grandiose and expensive so-called rebuilding projects.  The new research shows that he was able to sufficiently fund them by reducing the amount of silver in minted coins.  However, Nero still insisted on raising taxes on aristocratic estate owners.

The ensuing controversy led to widespread rumors about the Emperor, designed to discredit him.  

Nero as a ruler was already less popular with the upper classes, the educated, and intellectuals, but his large-scale building projects, equivalent to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, made him popular among the working classes, who for twenty years after his suicide believed he would one day return.

Nero rejected many social standards and taboos, from marrying multiple women and men, to acting as the ‘bride’ in at least one of his weddings.  He was an unconventional, populist and ruthless politician who exacerbated political divisions within Rome – and the Roman world in general.

The extinct humanoid species, Paranthropus robustus, was thought to have sexual dimorphism, that is, males were larger than females.  However, a new fossil found in South Africa suggests sex may not have been the cause for size differentiation.  Instead, as reported by the Washington University in St.  Louis news page, The Source, a rapid and turbulent climate change may have been the cause.  

A research team from Washington University in St.  Louis found the fossil in the Drimolen cave system northwest of Johannesburg. 

The new specimen, identified as DNH 155, is clearly a male but is smaller than other male Paranthropus robustus specimens previously found at the nearby site of Swartkrans.  The Drimolen find is now thought to represent an earlier population of P. robustus, whereas those found at Swartkrans represent a later evolution of the species. The ones at Swartkrans also have more developed jaw muscles.

According to Doctor David Strait of the University of Washington, a dryer climate over the course of 200,000 years likely led to a natural selection favoring a species that could more efficiently eat tougher foods.

The researchers see this conclusion as a warning to other archaeologists identifying hominids, as the environmental and ecological factors around them can drastically change a species over a time span of just 10,000 years.

Marine archaeologists from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology set out last summer in search of Dutch shipwrecks sunk by the French in the 17th century.  However, The Atlantic reported that when the team searched for these well documented shipwrecks below the surface, they found nothing.  This is one of about 600 missing shipwrecks that researchers see as a valuable data-set for researching the history of whaling.

The culprit was likely shipworms, large mollusks that thrive on cellulose, and are known to consume entire shipwrecks.  A 2016 examination of another ship, the Figaro, on the ocean bottom off Svalbard came back with direct evidence of shipworm infestation.  This accumulating information reinforced an already growing fear that these mollusks, who perhaps relocated due to warming seas, are an imminent threat to the trove of information and artifacts left on the ocean floor when ships sink. 

The team, led by archaeologist  Øyvind (Ey-Vin) Ødegård, now plans to collaborate with other researchers to determine the extent and speed at which these shipworms work, in part by sinking logs of the same species used for making historical wooden ships and measuring their degradation.  

These shipwrecks are essential to understanding the historical Arctic climate of the time, including the lives of whalers – a story that Ødegård says is of high importance today.  From a climate standpoint, the shipwrecks, perishable artifacts and the ships’ log-books that record the voyages are essential to providing a glimpse into past weather and ice conditions across the region and throughout seasons, which is essential to determining and predicting current weather and climate change patterns.

These shipwrecks are culturally significant, holding potential to allow insight into the rich whaling and seafaring trade that has been a part of northern Arctic societies on both sides of the Atlantic for centuries.  

Ødegård hopes to continue exploring these wrecks and keeping their valuable intel available, in a race against shipworms for the mysteries these sunken vessels can help to solve.

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!