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Analysis of materials excavated long ago at a Medieval Norwegian town is revealing key details about everyday life.  Neanderthals in Germany apparently did not retreat when the climate got colder.  Archaeological analysis of actual Anglo-Saxon diets shows that meat was uncommon, except during lavish feasts prominently described in historical documents. And a proposed lithium mine in northern Nevada is opposed by some Native American tribes in that area..

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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 for the week of April 24th through the 30th, 2022.

Our first story this week takes us to Norway, where new analysis of materials excavated over half a century ago offers new insights into the medieval coastal town of Borgund.

As reported by online publication Science Norway, the materials are from the Norwegian Middle Ages and were first uncovered during a construction project in 1953.  The objects were originally thought by workers to be insignificant debris.  Fortunately, several individuals recognized the so-called ‘debris’ as likely to have historical value and stored them. 

In 1954, archaeologist Asbjørn Herteig conducted a series of excavations in Borgund.  Herteig is considered one of the pioneers of modern medieval archaeology — notably for his work studying remains that some archaeologists of the era may have considered trivial in significance compared to the more popular work in castles, monasteries and churches.  

Nearly 70 years later, a research team from the University Museum of Bergen has begun the work of analyzing over 45,000 items including ceramics, textiles, remnants of iron, and grindstones.  With limited written records, new analysis of the materials is necessary in order to learn more about the thousand-year-old Norwegian town.

One of the most important aims of the project was to determine exactly when Borgund was active, as well as its role in the larger context of medieval Scandinavia.  Researchers have determined that activity in the town seems to be most extensive around the 13th century, but following the advent of the Bubonic plague in Norway, the town began to dwindle and essentially disappeared around the end of the 14th century. 

The materials give hints about daily life in the town.  Excavated items included shoe soles, pieces of cloth, potsherds, and slag, the byproduct of smelting metals.  Extensive evidence of a rich trading culture is also evident, with the presence of ceramics from places as far as modern-day England, Germany and France. 

Fishing, too, seems to have been an important part of life in Borgund, much like other parts of coastal Norway.  Researchers have examined many fish bones found in Borgund, including the leftovers of whole fish—suggesting this resource was abundant.

They have also found a lot of fishing gear, suggesting people in Borgund themselves likely were active fishermen and pointing to the presence of an active cod fishery that was likely an important institution in the area. 

Further research at the site is sure to offer greater insight into the lives of ordinary medieval Norwegians.

Our next story of the week brings us to Lower Saxony in Germany, where researchers studying the remains of Neanderthals have determined that these early humans may have been better equipped to deal with changes in climate than previously thought. 

As reported by Phys.org, a multidisciplinary research team led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig investigated whether Neanderthals were well adapted to life in the cold or whether they actively sought out warmer temperatures. 

The team investigated the remains of Neanderthals at a former lakeshore in Lower Saxony, using an integrative research approach which combined methods from archaeology, luminescence dating, sedimentology, and micromorphology, as well as the study of pollen and phytoliths.  The goal was to determine the connection between humans in the north and a changing environment. 

Archaeologists can reconstruct vegetation and environmental conditions based on the presence of specific sediments and pollen grains. It’s extremely important to get the most accurate dating possible—however, in Central Europe, these data are lacking for many climatic phases of the last Ice Age.

Past research has now accurately determined the dating of the end of a pronounced warm phase about 90,000 years ago, based on changes to Greenland’s ice in the North Atlantic.  It’s long been suspected that similar climate changes would have occurred in Europe, but it has not been proven for northern Germany specifically. 

The study found that Neanderthals occupied the lightly wooded lakeshore about 90,000 years ago when the climate was relatively temperate.  However, their major question was whether this presence changed at all as the first Ice Age maximum occurred.  They found that, indeed, Neanderthals continued to inhabit the northern regions even as the cold phase began around 70,000 years ago. 

Changes in stone tools indicate that Neanderthals adapted to changing environmental conditions, and repeatedly visited northern Central Europe during its transformation from heavy forestation during the last warm period to sparser forests at the beginning of the last Ice Age, and finally even to cold tundra during the first cold maximum.

The full study will appear in the journal Quaternary Science Reviews in mid-May of 2022

Our third story this week brings us to the United Kingdom, where researchers from the University of Cambridge have determined that Anglo-Saxon royals had a much more plant-based diet than historians previously thought.

As reported by Live Science, the findings are based on the analysis of more than 2,000 human remains from the Anglo-Saxon era.  The analysis showed a distinct lack of the regular consumption of animal protein.

Dr. Sam Leggett, a bioarchaeologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland who conducted much of the work while a doctoral student at Cambridge, presented her findings during work on her doctorate.  Her project was one of the largest of its kind. 

Dr. Leggett analyzed isotopes in the skeletal remains of 2,023 people buried in England between the 5th and 11th centuries AD.  The chemical signatures revealed the diets of these ancient Anglo-Saxon people.  Leggett then cross-referenced these findings with the social status of each skeleton based on its grave artifacts, body position and burial orientation, finding no connection between a high-protein diet and the status of an individual.

The research showed that diets across different social groups during this period were surprisingly similar, with small quantities of meat and cheese and a great deal of leeks and whole grains.

Dr. Leggett then teamed with Tom Lambert, a Cambridge historian, who noted that the archaeological results contradicted historical documents referring to lavish feasts with lots of meat.  The two researchers were able to determine that while animal meats were common food items at feasts and special celebrations, the everyday diets of Anglo-Saxons were much different and much more plant-based. 

However, the sheer number of individuals who attended feasts suggest that they were not exclusive to just the highest status individuals and royals, as historians have typically thought.  Rather, these events of 300 or more people very likely meant that plenty of free farmers and peasants most likely also attended, pointing to a much more dynamic political landscape and social mixing than previously believed. 

Leggett suggests that such an event would have been a crucial form of political engagement at the time.

The studies were published in the online journal, Anglo-Saxon England. 

Our final story this week brings us to the desert of Nevada, where the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony is demanding that archaeologists hired by miner Lithium Nevada immediately halt a project to dig at a site considered sacred ground by the Paiute Nation. 

As reported online by Kaleb Roedel of KUNR Public Radio and posted on the website of radio station KSUT, the site in northern Nevada could become the largest open-pit lithium mine in the world if the lithium company’s plans continue forward.  Lithium is in high demand around the world as a key component of proliferating electrical batteries.  The area, called Peehee Mu’huh by the indigenous groups of the region, is spiritually important to the Paiute people as it is where their ancestors were massacred by U.S. cavalry in 1865.

Lithium Nevada contracted with archaeology firm Far Western Anthropological Research Group to conduct an initial dig at the site.  Last week, the  Reno-Sparks Indian Colony sent a letter asking the company to refuse to participate in the dig, as well as in the corporate greed that they say is driving the project. 

According to Lithium Nevada, they are working with the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribes, whose reservation straddles the Oregon-Nevada border, in order to protect and preserve artifacts at the site.  Last month, the company hosted a training session at the Tribes’ request for about 30 tribal members interested in monitoring the archaeological excavations.  However, the prospect of the mine development has deeply divided the Fort McDermitt community and other stakeholders. 

The Reno-Sparks Indian Colony emphasizes that the company should not remove artifacts at all, because disturbing the burial sites would be yet another incident in the long history of indigenous peoples and sites being desecrated by white settlers, corporations and the U.S. government. 

The heated debate probably will continue for months to come as the company attempts to navigate this push-back, and the Paiute people continue to advocate for the land they hold sacred. 

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!