Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew.  This is another week, and it brings a whole new 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!

Excavators at an ancient Hellenistic theater in Turkey have come upon more than 50 terracotta figurines in good condition.  Researchers exploring an ancient noble’s tomb in China have surprisingly found a jar of face cream.  Glass beads made in Venice and apparently traded before the time of Columbus are now identified, amazingly, from sites in the Brooks Range of northern Alaska.   And a giant conch shell found some time ago in a French cave and dating 18,000 years old is now identified as a bona fide wind instrument that still works.

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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 Archaeologica for the week of February 7th through the 13th, 2021.       

Our first story brings us to the Mediterranean port city of Myra in Turkey, where a team of archaeologists from Akdeniz University have uncovered terracotta figurines of animals, humans, and gods.

As reported by Smithsonian Magazine, the excavators were investigating two recently discovered theaters: a 12,000-seat Roman amphitheater and a smaller theater below it dating back to the Hellenistic period between 323 and 31 BC. 

It was in this older Greek theater that the researchers found the series of small figurines, each just a few inches in height.  The figurines depicted deities and heroes like Leto, Artemis, Apollo, and Heracles, as well as animals and people, including horsemen, women and children, rams, and a boy carrying fruit. 

Traces of red, blue and pink pigments survive on some of the statuettes.  The preservation of these pigments over thousands of years speaks to just how brightly colored the dyes were at the time. 

Other artifacts made of ceramic, bronze, lead, and silver also were found throughout the theater. 

Excavations in Myra have been ongoing for over ten years, and the ancient city is also known for its famous rock-cut tombs from the fifth to the third century BC.  Myra was an important trading city in the ancient world and changed hands several times, once being controlled by the Persian empire.  The recent discovery of the ancient theater is considered a particularly important find for understanding the early history of the region. 

The Museum of Lycian Civilizations in Demre plans to publicly exhibit the collection.  In the meantime, researchers continue to unearth partial remains of additional figurines, suggesting the site still has more for us to find.   

Our next story takes us to the Shaanxi (shan-SHEE) Province in China, where the discovery of an ancient pot of face cream gives us greater insight into ancient skincare habits. 

As reported by the science news website, IFL Science.com, researchers were working at the Liujiawa [leeoo-jah-WAH] Site, the site of the ancient city of Rui, a princedom that flourished between 700 and 640 BC.  The site is known to have more than 200 burial sites, but few historical records. 

One nobleman’s tomb yielded an ornate bronze jar indicative of a high-ranking individual, perhaps royalty.  The jar contained a cream made of moisturizing animal fat and a substance known as moonmilk or cave milk, a white, creamy chalky mineral precipitate typically found inside limestone and dolomite caves. 

The discovery is thought to be the earliest evidence of a cosmetic product in all of China.   Researchers speculate that the moonmilk within the substance may have been collected from caves considered sacred in Taoism [DA-oh-ism]. 

Because of its mineral properties, the moonmilk was able to absorb sweat and oil, and it was also likely applied to whiten skin color, a common cosmetic practice at the time.  The practical, cosmetic, and mystical properties ascribed to the substance made it an expensive substance available only to the wealthiest.

The bronze vessel containing the cream was tightly sealed and helped to preserve the animal fats within.  Analysis showed that the fat had a high ratio of palmitic acid and stearic acid, suggesting it came from a cow.  This reinforces the hypothesis that cows were domesticated in Rui and gives further insight into agricultural practices at the time. 

The cream is the first known instance of cow fat use in cosmetic production in China, and helps us to better understand the early cosmetic industry there.  Early historical descriptions indicate that cosmetic use may have begun in the pre-Qin [chin] period before 221 BC, but no actual products have been analyzed to support this idea.  The discovery of this cream shows that cosmetic use began at least by the Spring and Autumn period of Chinese history, between 771 and 476 BC.

Additionally, while many cosmetics in historical records are linked to women’s use, this cream is also the earliest evidence that men also were using these products, predating other findings of male use by at least 1,000 years. 

Our third story brings us to northern Alaska, where glass beads uncovered across three different Inuit sites may be the earliest evidence of European goods in North America.   

As reported by the online news site, Gizmodo.com, the ten blue, European-made beads were discovered previously at three indigenous sites located along a trade route.  Now, analysis has revealed new information about their age, leading to new hypotheses about their long path from Europe to Alaska.

Through the use of mass spectrometry carbon-dating techniques, archaeologists were able to pinpoint the age of twine associated with the beads and other artifacts at the site.  The results found that the plant fibers of the twine dated back to sometime in the 1400s, predating the arrival of European explorers to the continent.

The finding has major implications for fifteenth century trade patterns.  The glass beads are known to have originated in Venice, which was the hub of drawn bead production at this time and half the globe away from where the beads eventually were found.  

Venetian goods were traded along land and sea routes, including the Silk Road that connected Europe to  India, Central Asia, and China.  The discovery of these beads adds to growing evidence that the Bering Strait may have also been a pathway between northeast Asia and indigenous peoples in North America.

While the beads are similar to others previously found in the western hemisphere along the North and Central American coasts, in the Great Lakes region, and even in the Caribbean, these are believed to be the only ones that actually predate European arrival to North America.  

If these beads are any indication, it appears there is much more to learn about potential trade routes between Asia and North America. 

Our final story of the week takes us to Toulouse, France, where researchers taking stock of the collection at Toulouse’s Museum of Natural History have discovered that a conch [konk] shell originally believed to be an oceanic fossil is actually an ancient musical instrument. 

As reported by Smithsonian Magazine, the conch shell was excavated in Marsoulas Cave in the foothills of the Pyrenees in 1931.  It was originally believed to be a loving cup—a type of cup used by ancient cave inhabitants to share drinks during events and ceremonies. 

However, the researchers inventorying the museum’s collection took a closer look at the shell, and realized it might have had a different purpose entirely.  Upon examination, it became clear that the conch had been purposely carved to function as a wind instrument, possibly used for ceremonial purposes more than 18,000 years ago.  

Researchers conducted a CT scan on the conch that revealed a number of features indicating human handiwork.  The ancient artist who created the instrument cut off the tip of the shell, and holes were drilled through its coils.  It is suggested that a small mouthpiece was inserted into the conch, held in place by some waxy substance, in order to play the instrument. 

The conch had been decorated with red pigment along the opening of the shell, in the approximate size and shape of human fingerprints.  The mode and color of decoration are similar to work on a painting of a bison also found within Marsoulas Cave.  The similarities point to a ceremonial purpose, with the shell possibly being played near the image of the bison for some spiritual or celebratory reason. 

The conch shell in Toulouse is believed to be the earliest instrument of its kind found.  To find out what sound the instrument emitted, researchers brought in a horn player to play the conch. Despite the fact that the shell is more than 18,000 years old, the instrument was played successfully and emitted three notes: C, C-sharp and D.

We’ll play those notes for you now. [Note: play recording from the article.]

The three notes that you heard are not the only notes the conch is capable of, and researchers believe that the addition of a mouthpiece would help to discover the true scope of the instrument.  Researchers hope in the future to play the conch shell at the cave site next to the bison painting to see how the cave’s acoustics might impact its sound. 

The conch shell is a lesson that archaeologists don’t always have to find new artifacts to make groundbreaking discoveries—plenty more can be found out by more deeply examining much of what we have already recovered. 

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!