Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Audio News from Archaeologica! 

I'm Laura Pettigrew.  Rick Pettigrew is on assignment on our tour of the prehistoric temples of Malta, so I’ll be telling you about four of the best stories posted online this past week by our partner, Archaeologica.org!  Here are the headlines in archaeological and historical news from April 3rd through April 9th, 2022.

Our first story this week takes us to Jerusalem, where researchers found chemical traces of vanilla flavoring within ancient Judaean jars.  The jars were excavated from two buildings believed to have been destroyed during the Babylonian siege of Jerusalem in 586 BC.

According to researchers, wine has a long history in the region, and studies suggest regional wines contained spice or herbal additives.  The discovery indicates that royal elites in Jerusalem may have been drinking wine flavored with vanilla.  A highly prized import, vanilla was likely rare and only available to members of high society at the time.  It might have been imported from India or East Africa by trade routes that crossed the Negev desert in southern Israel during the seventh century BC.

As reported by the wine magazine Decanter, the findings indicate vanilla was used as a wine flavoring by the kings of Judah and the Judean elite.  The eight jars examined by the researchers contained a rosette stamp linking them to the Kingdom of Judah’s royal economy around 2, 600 years ago.

According to the study’s authors, from the Israel Antiquities Authority, Tel Aviv University, and the Weizmann Institute of Science, archaeological evidence for wines flavored with exotic spices has recently begun to accumulate.

The study was first published in the open-access journal PLOS ONE.

Next we go to Hungary, where archaeological and genetic evidence has provided further indications about the origins of the mysterious Avar people.

The Avars were horse-riding warriors who dominated the Carpathian Basin, between modern day Vienna and Belgrade, from the mid-sixth to the early ninth century.

According to the study, the Avar people had no written records, and researchers had few clues as to their geographical origins.  Grave goods and historical accounts suggest they controlled the plains of modern-day Hungary soon after their arrival in Europe about 1,500 years ago.

The Avars interred their elites in massive burial mounds surrounded by weapons, gold and silver vessels, horses, and riding equipment.  These elaborate burial mounds eventually yielded crucial clues as to the origins of the Avars.

As reported by Science.org, an international team of researchers extracted ancient DNA from the skeletons of dozens of high-status Avar men and women, buried in 27 sites in Hungary.  Comparing that DNA with existing ancient DNA data, the team found the closest matches came from sixth century graves in present day Mongolia.

The analysis found that the Avars traveled from Mongolia to Hungary in the span of a decade or two – making it the fastest known long-distance migration of humans in ancient history up to that point.

According to Choongwon Jeong, study co-author and geneticist at Seoul National University, the first Avar burials were a near-identical match to the burial of an individual just a few decades earlier in eastern Mongolia.

Jeong suggests that the DNA is so close it is likely within one generation or less and that the first Avars to arrive in Europe probably made the entire journey of almost 7000 kilometers. 

According to Walter Pohl, a historian at the University of Vienna, the genetic data backs up two sixth century historical accounts of the Avar’s origins that indicate they came from the enigmatic steppe people called the Rouran [raw–RAAN ].  One Chinese source describes the Rouran as one of many nomadic groups that swept out of the Mongolian steppes to attack China’s northern borders.

A decade later, diplomats from Constantinople reported the arrival of a new group from the east, on the shores of the Caspian Sea.  The newcomers called themselves the Avars and claimed to be related to a far-off people known as the Rouran.

After their arrival on the fringes of the Roman Empire, the Avars pushed into central Europe, conquering the plains along the Danube River and even laying siege to Constantinople in 623 BC.  They were eventually defeated by the Frankish king Charlemagne.  They submitted to his rule in 796 BC.  What happened to the Avars after that remains unclear.

According to Guido Gnecchi-Ruscone, a population geneticist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, their genetic signature soon dwindled to almost nothing in the regions they once ruled.

DNA from elite burials in the early 700s still show East Asian characteristics, suggesting the elites didn’t mix with the local European population.  However, other burials farther from the Avar kingdom’s center show a more mixed ancestry.

The findings were published in the journal Cell.

Our third story this week brings us to the Netherlands, where new research has revealed that after the Neolithic period, European populations showed an increase in height and intelligence, but also greater proneness to cardiovascular diseases.

According to the study, scientists from Nijmegen [NY--may--GUHN], Holland traced the development of certain complex human traits of modern Europeans from roughly 50,000 BC to the present day.  The researchers were interested in the development of the human intellect, body height, skin pigmentation, weight, fat metabolism, and cardiovascular disease.

As reported by Science Daily, the changes reflect the ongoing evolutionary processes in humans and highlight the impact the Neolithic had on our lifestyle and health.  The Neolithic transition was an important period in human development.  Wandering hunter-gatherers slowly dwindled, replaced by settled farmers, resulting in completely different lifestyles, diets and customs. 

The study relied on a technique known as “genome wide association studies”, comparing existing genetic data from modern Europeans with those collected from Neolithic humans.

According to Mihai Netea from Radboud University Medical Center, there were obvious changes in some traits before and after the Neolithic period, as if that period saw an acceleration of evolutionary processes.

Yang Li, a researcher from the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research in Germany, reports that the genes involved in metabolism and risk of cardiovascular disease showed little change during this time, with one obvious exception: production of HDL cholesterol – often called the ‘good’ cholesterol – which showed a clear decrease.

According to Li, this change increased the risk of heart disease, but with a link with intelligence gain as well.  Cholesterol is fundamental to the development and cognitive functioning of the brain.  Some minimal changes to genes – called polymorphisms – in cholesterol metabolism have been linked to cognitive functions, while variations in levels of HDL have been linked to changes in intelligence, learning and memory.

These genetic changes mean that today we are taller and smarter than our ancestors.  However, modern humans may be paying a high price for this, in the form of greater cardiovascular disease risk.

Li emphasizes that these links are still only hypothetical, but illustrate the importance of this research.

The study was published in the journal Frontiers in Genetics.

Our final story this week brings us to Puebla, in south-central Mexico, where the remains of 20 people, including children, have been uncovered at the Saint Francisco Javier Temple in the historic center of Puebla city.

According to the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History, a team of archaeologists found these human graves, believed to be from the late 19th century when Mexico was at war with invading French forces. 

As reported by Mexico News Daily, the San Francisco Javier Temple was used as a fortification by Mexican Republican fighters, after the French advance on the Loreto and Guadalupe forts in 1863.  The temple has also functioned as a hospital and a jail, leading researchers to believe many of the remains could be related to the devastating epidemics brought on by colonial forces.

One body in particular caught archeologists’ attention: the remains of a man who likely died as the result of a battle with the French.  The discovery of a male hip bone with a bullet hole, as well as the bullet that caused that wound, led researchers to theorize they had found the remains of a soldier killed during the second French intervention of Mexico, between 1862 and 1867.

According to anthropologist Lizbeth Chicas Martínez, the bullet probably fatally pierced important internal organs.  These remains, along with the other 19, give key insights into the uses of the Jesuit temple during this time, and also into what life was like for the residents of Puebla. 

The French, along with the British and Spanish, invaded Mexico in late 1861, after President Benito Juárez stopped foreign debt payments.  The British and Spanish left the country after obtaining a pledge that they would receive the payments that they were owed, but the French remained.  Mexican forces defeated the French army at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, but the city fell to the French just over a year later.

Manuel Villaroel, the Puebla director for the National Institute of Anthropology and History, emphasized the significance of these discoveries within the temple, a crucial location of community response during the war against the French.  The remains, plus additional materials, give key insight into a turbulent period in Mexican history.

Archaeologists also found a range of items that are believed to have originated in the second half of the 19th century, including cannonballs, buttons, coffin nails, shoe soles, a metal cross, and fragments of Spanish pottery.

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!