Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew with the top news stories that appeared on Archaeologica this past week!  Send us feedback on The Archaeology Channel Facebook page or post a message on our social networking site, ArchaeoSeek!

A new analysis of a site in Britain confirms that pre-Neandertal human ancestors thrived there in Paleolithic times.  New research in northern Iran shows that the mountains around a famous hill village surprisingly were used by people as far back as the Bronze Age. Frequent wildfires in the American Southwest are spurring archaeologists to prepare to protect important sites and artifacts.  And new excavations in the Negev Desert of southern Israel have uncovered a very rare seventh century mosque.

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And now, here’s Laura Kennedy 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 Kennedy, and these are the headlines in archaeological and historical news for the week of June 19th through the 25th, 2022.  

We begin this week in Kent, England, where a new study confirmed the suspected dates and inhabitants of a Paleolithic site and revealed how some of Britain’s earliest residents were able to thrive in the region.  

The research, led by the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge, uncovered evidence that confirmed the presence of early humans in southern Britain between 560,000 and 620,000 years ago—making it one of the earliest known Paleolithic sites in northern Europe.

The site, near Canterbury, Kent, was first identified in the 1920s when laborers found hand axes in an ancient riverbed.  The recent excavations not only officially dated the site, but also uncovered new flint artifacts. 

As reported by Heritage Daily, researchers applied modern dating techniques to the site, such as radiometric dating and infrared radiofluorescence dating.  The latter technique determines the point at which sand grains were last exposed to sunlight and therefore can establish when evidence was buried. 

Although no skeletal evidence turned up at the site, the researchers suspect that the tools were made by Homo heidelbergensis, considered by many to be the direct ancestor of Neanderthals.  Homo heidelbergensis is thought to have descended from the African Homo erectus during the first early expansions of hominins out of Africa—beginning roughly two million years ago.

The study points out that early human ancestors are known to have been present in Britain beginning as early as 950,000 years ago, when climatic instability drove populations out of northern Europe.   However, a warming period between 560,000 and 620,000 years ago allowed populations to migrate to new hunting grounds during the warmer months.  During this period, Britain was connected to Europe by a now-submerged land bridge.

The scrapers and sharp-edged flakes found at the site are thought to have been used for preparing animal hides for clothing or shelters.  The tools were most likely used to process deer, horse, rhino, and bison, but also for tubers and other plants.

According to Dr. Tomos Proffitt, from the Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, who analyzed the artifacts, the diverse range of stone tools suggests that hominins living in what was to become Britain were thriving and not just surviving.

The study appeared in the journal Royal Society Open Science.

Our second story takes us to northern Iran, where archaeologists have continued work to uncover evidence on ancient life in the stepped village of Masuleh [ maa – SOO – leh ] and hope to secure UNESCO world recognition for the site. 

Located in Iran’s Gilan [ GEE – lawn ] Province, the village is famed for its Lego-shaped earthen houses built on top of each other.  Gilan is well-known for its rich Iron Age cemeteries.  It was within the sphere of influence of the Achaemenid [a-KEEM-uh-nid], Seleucid [seh-LOO-sid],  Parthian and Sassanid [SAS-uh-nid] empires that ruled Iran from Classical times until the seventh century AD.  The subsequent Arab conquest of Iran led to the rise of many local dynasties, and Gilan acquired an independent status that continued until 1567.

According to local tourism official, Vali Jahani, two previous excavations discovered artifacts from the eleventh and twelfth centuries AD, including remains of residential buildings, smelting workshops, tools for the extraction and manufacture of metal objects, and glazed pottery related to the Seljuk [SELL–jook] era.

Archaeological research undertaken last year concluded that the history of human presence in the mountains near Masuleh dates to the late Bronze Age, which is older than previously believed.  The research was carried out as part of a preliminary process to compile an all-inclusive dossier for the tourist village to be presented to UNESCO.

According to Freidoun Biglari, a Paleolithic archaeologist of the National Museum of Iran, the discovery of stone artifacts in the highlands around Masuleh indicates that the area was seasonally visited by prehistoric human groups. 

He added that archaeological evidence found in other parts of Gilan, such as Darband Rashi Cave, shows that the western half of the Alborz [AL–borz] range was inhabited by Paleolithic hunter-gatherer groups since the Lower Paleolithic period.

As reported by the Tehran Times, Masuleh is one of many stepped villages in Iran, but it has recently evolved into a popular destination for domestic tourists for its hiking and idyllic landscapes.  Local officials hope the recent archaeological work will provide another layer of interest for those visiting the area.

Our third story brings us to Arizona, where recent wildfires have threatened areas with a wealth of archaeological remains, including multi-level stone homes, rock carvings and pieces of clay and ceramic pots that have been well preserved in the arid climate.

As reported by the StarTribune, firefighting crews increasingly are working to avoid or minimize damage from bulldozers and other modern-day tools used to fight and clean up from fires on archaeological sites and artifacts.

A handful of archaeologists have walked miles in recent months locating evidence of meaningful past human activity in and around scorched areas and mapping it for protection.  Just last week, a crew spotted a more than 1,000-year-old semi-buried dwelling known as a pit house.

The nearby Wupatki [ woo - PAT- kee  ] National Monument — a center of trade for Indigenous communities around the 1100s — was evacuated because of wildfire twice this year.  Exhibits there hold priceless objects, including 800-year-old corn, beans and squash, along with intact stone Clovis points used for hunting that date back some 13,000 years.

Before the first wildfire hit in April, forcing the evacuation of the Monument and hundreds of homes outside Flagstaff, no plan existed on how quickly to get the artifacts out, because wildfire wasn't previously seen as an imminent threat to Wupatki. 

Monument curator, Gwenn Gallenstein, has since assembled nested boxes with cavities for larger items and foam pouches for arrowheads and other smaller artifacts.  She created a training plan on how to pack up ceramic pots, bone tools, sandals, textiles woven from cotton grown in the area, and other things before another large wildfire broke out June twelfth and the monument was closed again. No one had expected to put the plan into action so soon.

The fires have so far avoided the facility.  Several boxes of items that trace back to what archaeologists say are distinct Indigenous cultures were taken to the Museum of Northern Arizona for safekeeping.

Some Hopi clans consider those who lived at Wupatki their ancestors.  Navajo families later settled the area but slowly left, either voluntarily or under pressure by the National Park Service, which sought to eliminate private use of the land once it became a monument in 1924.

The monument has some 2,600 archaeological sites across 54 square miles, representing a convergence of cultures on the Colorado Plateau in the Four Corners where New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah meet. The region includes the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, Hopi mesas, volcanic cinder fields, the largest contiguous ponderosa pine forest in the U.S. and the San Francisco Peaks — a mountain sacred to 13 Native American tribes.

The arid climate has helped preserve many of the artifacts and sites.  But it's also the type of environment that is prone to wildfires, particularly with a mix of fierce winds and heat that are all too common in the western U.S. this spring as a megadrought linked to climate change bakes the region.

For our last story this week, we go to Israel, where archaeologists have excavated and identified what is one of the oldest known mosques in the world in the Negev Desert. 

As reported by the Times of Israel, the seventh-century AD building came to light during salvage excavations ahead of the construction of new neighborhoods in the city of Rahat in southern Israel.  It is located near another seventh-century mosque that was excavated in 2019.

Although the Arab conquest of the area that is now Israel took place in 636, Islam only became the majority religion in the ninth century.  According to Dr. Elena Kogan-Zehavi, one of the Israel Antiquities Authority excavation co-directors, the pair of small rural mosques are key in painting a picture of Islam’s spread at the end of the Byzantine era and the start of early Islam in the Holy Land.

Both prayer halls have been identified as mosques due to their structural elements: a square room and a wall facing the direction of Mecca, the holy city of Islam.  While the previous mosque was emptied of artifacts, the second held a multitude of ceramics that can be clearly dated to the seventh and eighth centuries.

Aside from the mosque, the archaeologists uncovered a Byzantine-era farmhouse that apparently housed Christian farmers.  It included a fortified tower and rooms with strong walls surrounding a courtyard.  The team also found early Islamic estates on the nearby hillsides.

According to Kogan-Zehavi, the newer mosque was built later in the settlement on Byzantine remains and was the final building constructed in the settlement.  It is not clear if the site housed Christians who converted to Islam or Arabs who brought the faith with them.  It likely was a combination of both. 

This idea of populations in transition resonates in the recent history of Rahat.  It is the largest permanent Bedouin settlement in the world and was recognized by the State of Israel as a city in 1994.

According to Kogan-Zehavi, the residents of Rahat are eager to preserve the two mosques.

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!