Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew with the latest 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!

Archaeologists are teaching smart machines to sort potsherds much faster than people.  A new study on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe shows that European colonists devastated the local reptile population.  A Roman soldier buried under the Vesuvius ash at Herculaneum might have been part of a documented rescue mission. And in major a scientific breakthrough, DNA from ancient cave sediments, even without bones, can tell us just what population of humans lived there.

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Welcome to the Audio News from Archaeologica!  I’m Laura Pettigrew, and these are the headlines in archaeological and historical news for the week of May 16th through the 22nd, 2021.

Our first story comes from Northern Arizona University, where a team from the Department of Anthropology have unveiled a groundbreaking new technology in the form of a computer that can meticulously sort ancient pottery shards with remarkable speed and accuracy. 

As reported by EurekAlert!, the researchers used a form of machine learning called Convolutional Neural Networks—or CNNs—that enabled the computers to process the visual information from these artifacts in the way the human mind might. 

The computers use digital photographs of pottery to streamline the work that has traditionally taken many painstaking, focused hours—sorting broken pieces of pottery, or sherds, into groups.  The technique has not only slashed the amount of time needed to complete this task—it’s also increased the consistency and accuracy with which the sherds are organized, even reducing instances of human error in identification at times.  

The researchers reported their technique and findings in the Journal of Archaeological Science, and hope that the method can help other archeologists as well.  Leszek Pawlowicz (LESH-ek PAH-vlo-vitz), an adjunct professor at NAU’s Department of Anthropology, expressed that the American Southwest is full of ancient pottery sherds, many of which can be categorized according to previously defined stylistic categories, called “types,” that can give archaeologists important information about the time periods when sites were occupied and the people who lived there, as well as the groups they interacted with. 

The CNN method allowed the researchers to quickly classify sherds, and even had the ability to match potentially related pieces across hundreds of samples.  The researchers believe the approach holds remarkable potential for finding and bringing together scattered pieces of a single broken pot, say from a trash dump or across a region-wide sample.  It’s possible that, with further refinement and experimentation, the tool can be used beyond just pottery and may be able to eventually help researchers gain insight to other types of ancient artifacts as well.  

Our next story takes us to the Caribbean archipelago of Guadeloupe [Guad -eh-loop], where new fossil data have demonstrated the true extent of the impact of European colonization on the islands’ reptiles. 

As reported in EurekAlert!, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Jena, Germany, have uncovered fossil evidence that suggests that European presence in Guadeloupe led to mass extinctions of reptile species on the islands.  Their research involved examining more than 43,000 individual bones from six of Guadeloupe’s islands. 

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, evidence shows that indigenous peoples co-existed with Guadeloupe’s snake and lizard population for thousands of years.  However, upon European arrival, that all changed.  The study revealed that somewhere between 50 and 70 percent of reptile species on the archipelago went extinct after European colonists arrived to the island.

Researchers discovered some commonalities between the species that went extinct.  For example, medium-sized, earth-dwelling species suffered the greatest losses—most likely due to Europeans’ introduction of mongooses and cats to the island, predators known for their fierce hunting of small reptile species such as those studied.  Additionally, the advent of colonial agriculture likely contributed to these extinctions through the destruction of critical habitats. 

The findings demonstrate the powerful impact humans can have on ecosystems and, at times, our potentially devastating impact on biodiversity.  Researchers in the study emphasized the importance of examining past biodiversity in different areas as well as humans’ impact on local ecosystems, so that we may more effectively mitigate future destruction and better inform conservation efforts. 

In our third story, we go to the tragic site of Herculaneum, where a Roman-era skeleton found near Mount Vesuvius has sparked new questions around whether possible rescue efforts were deployed around the time of the eruption. 

As reported by LiveScience, archaeologists at the Archaeological Park of Herculaneum in Italy were using x-ray technology to examine the skeleton of a soldier discovered in 1982 on a beach in Herculaneum—a city famously buried by ash, along with Pompeii, during the AD 79 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.

The x-ray tests showed that the soldier’s armor was decorated in precious metals, suggesting that he was of a high rank.  This is strange, because no records document that Herculaneum had a large military force, so the soldier likely came from somewhere else.  Additionally, he carried a bag of carpentry tools typical of those used on Roman ships.  He also had an amount of money equating to the monthly salary for a member of the Praetorian Guard, a special military unit whose duties included guarding the Emperor of Rome. 

One intriguing hypothesis poses that the soldier may have been part of a rescue mission described in a letter by Pliny [Plie-nee] the Younger to the Roman historian Tacitus. This is further supported by the fact that the skeleton, and others near it, seemed to be approaching the town rather than fleeing it.  Because of this, archaeologists at the Archaeological Park speculate that this likely senior officer may have been a part of the famous rescue mission mentioned in the well studied letter. 

While many are open to the hypothesis, some other scholars are skeptical.  They referenced other letters from the collection that suggested the rescuers would have docked at the town of Stabiae, approximately a 4 to 5-hour-walk from Herculaneum.  This is a particularly challenging trek regardless of circumstance, but even more so in heavy military armor and carrying supplies.  They do not believe a soldier from such a mission would have had the time to make it to the beach where the skeleton was found prior to the eruption.

Regardless of these questions, the discovery makes an interesting story, and perhaps further research will tell us the truth about the soldier’s purpose during that famous event. 

Our final story takes us to a cave in Spain, where a new technique for extracting DNA samples from cave sediment has allowed researchers to better understand major changes within Europe’s Neanderthal populations. 

As reported by The Guardian, the technology is capable of extracting genetic material left behind by various species in the debris and sediment of caves.  This state-of-the-art technique means that researchers don’t necessarily have to find a fossil bone or a stone tool to know that a given species was present in a location—they can simply determine this by the presence of DNA samples in the area. 

The method has significant potential for better assessing the migration patterns of various species, determining how widespread they may have become before extinction.  This is particularly exciting for species we do not yet know very much about, such as the early human Denisovans who lived in East Asia tens of thousands of years ago, or Homo floresiensis, the small-bodied, “hobbit-like” species that lived 50,000 years ago in Indonesia. 

The study in question used the technique to examine DNA material in Spain’s cave known as  Galería de las Estatuas, or Gallery of Statues.  The cave is well studied, and researchers have long known from prior evidence that Neanderthals lived here for tens of thousands of years.  Because of the expansive data researchers have at this site, they were able to pinpoint the time periods of different DNA samples that were extracted, gaining insights as to changes in the population over time. 

What they found was surprising.  Around 100,000 years ago, the genetic material completely changed—suggesting that a different Neanderthal population moved into the cave and replaced the original group.  It is not yet clear to researchers whether this happened over a long period of time, or if it was perhaps a more violent and sudden change.  One hypothesis suggests that the first population decided to leave entirely, perhaps due to the harsh and cold climate in the area at the time.  Then, when the climate improved, the new population may have moved in. 

In the future, we might see many other exciting developments made possible through the examination of genetic material—and the Gallery of Statues is just one example.  The new method can give us an even greater understanding into our prehistory by taking a look at what ancient DNA has to tell us. 

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!