Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew to bring you four fascinating news stories from this past week of Archaeologica!  Send us feedback on The Archaeology Channel Facebook page or post a message on our social networking site, ArchaeoSeek!

A huge structure beneath the waters of the Baltic Sea apparently is the work of ancient Mesolithic hunters.  New dating on rock paintings in Argentina makes them the oldest known pigment-based rock art in South America.  New examination of a Neolithic bog body in Denmark reveals that he came from far away and was violently sacrificed.   And radiocarbon dating of a wooden tablet with Rongorongo script from Easter Island suggests that the script was invented before European contact.

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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 February 11th through the 17th, 2024.

Our first story this week comes from the Baltic Sea, where archaeologists have located a 970 meter-long megastructure 21 meters below surface level.

As reported by Heritage Daily, the structure was built during the early Mesolithic period around 11,000 years ago.  According to the research team — led by Jacob Geersen, geophysicist at Kiel University — the structure may have been part of a larger wall used by hunter-gatherers to hunt.

Nicknamed the Blinkerwall, it is formed by nearly 1500 large stones.  The structure probably was used to corral and capture reindeer, which migrated seasonally through the sparsely wooded, post-glacial landscape.

According to research team member Marcel Bradtmoller, an archaeologist at the University of Rostock, it was likely built by hunter-gatherers belonging to what is known as the Kongemose culture.  They were a Mesolithic hunter-gatherer culture that lived in southern Scandinavia around 6000 to 5200 BC.

The Blinkerwall was initially on dry land, but was submerged by rising sea levels between 8,6000 and 8,000 years ago.

The research team gathered sonar information on the structure’s shape and size, utilizing both submarine drones and ships.  The abundance and organized arrangement of the rocks indicate that the formation wasn’t formed naturally.

Comparable low walls, also referred to as desert kites, have been located under the Great Lakes in North America.  They have also appeared at many sites throughout Africa and the Middle East.

The site is one of the earliest known human-made hunting structures in the world, and is among the largest documented Stone Age formations in Europe.  It will offer new insights into how early hunter-gatherer communities subsisted.

Next we go to Argentina, where rock art at a site in northwest Patagonia is providing insight into communication methods between the region’s mobile groups during the mid-Holocene.  Archaeological site Cueva Huenel 1, with painted panels covering approximately 630 square meters, contains 895 paintings spanning thousands of years.

A recent study published in Science Advances reveals that the oldest section of the art, a comb-shaped pattern, was painted around 8,200 years ago.  According to study co-author Ramiro Barnerena, this radiocarbon dating confirms the paintings as the oldest known pigment-based rock art in South America.

The art was tested with small fragments of pigment from the paintings.  The pigment was plant matter-based — made with burnt wood from cacti or bushes— allowing for radiocarbon dating.

The site features a variety of geometric shapes, human silhouettes and faces, and depictions of animals.

The research team posits that the paintings were used to share information and preserve memories and traditions across more than 100 generations.  Artists continued to extend the same designs in black pigment for thousands of years, possibly communicating changes in the climate. 

Patagonia, located at the southernmost point of the Americas, was the last continental location to be settled by humans during the Late Pleistocene. 

It became very dry and hot during the late Holocene, and would eventually become increasingly inhospitable.  The cave art indicates that groups stopped returning to the site at that point.

Archaeologists are yet to discover the exact meaning and intent of some of the motifs, including the prominent comb pattern.

Our third story takes us to Denmark, where we return to the Stone Age.

As reported by Live Science, a new study has used bioarchaeological and traditional archaeological methods to understand, in detail, the life of a Stone Age man who became a bog body.  Nicknamed Vittrup Man, he likely lived between 3300 and 3100 BC, during the Neolithic Period, when people in Denmark were farmers.

According to the research team, this may be the first time that research has been able to outline the life history of a northern European in detail, especially given the time passed.

Vitrupp Man’s bones first came to light in 1915 at the bottom of a trench dug by peat diggers, but weren’t studied until recently. 

Researchers utilized DNA and isotope testing to piece together his story.  Genetic analysis revealed a strong link between Vittrup Man and the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer peoples of Norway and Sweden.  

Analysis of his teeth also suggested a move.  Comparison of the strontium and oxygen isotopes found in one of his bicuspid teeth to the isotopes in one of his wisdom teeth indicated that his diet changed significantly during his teen years.  A coastal diet of marine mammals and fish became a farmed diet of sheep or goat.

He may have found his way to Denmark as a trader or a captive who integrated into the local society.

Vittrup Man’s bones indicate that he died at around 30 to 40 years of age.  His skull was found in multiple large fragments, leading the researchers to posit that he may have been murdered or, more likely, sacrificed.

This thorough understanding of his geographic and dietary background, composed using a genetic, isotopic, anthropological and archaeological approach, makes possible new understanding of interactions between Mesolithic and Neolithic societies in Europe. 

Our final story takes us to Italy, where a new study has provided insight into the development of human writing.  Radiocarbon dating of wooden tablets inscribed with the Rongorongo script may indicate that the early Rapa Nui people of Easter Island independently developed their writing system.

As reported by Live Science, the research team led by Silvia Ferrara of the University of Bologna in Italy studied four tablets.  They had been taken from the island by Catholic missionaries in 1869, when they were given to the bishop of Tahiti and eventually sent to Europe.

Archaeologists know of only 27 existing tablets containing the Rongorongo script, which is yet to be deciphered.  They contain around 15,000 characters and over 400 different glyphs, none of which correspond to any other writing systems or scripts.  Of the 27 known surviving tablets, only two had been carbon dated prior to this study.

Researchers radiocarbon dated the wooden tablets, placing the origin of the earliest of the four between AD 1493 and 1509.  This was over 200 years before Europeans made their first visit to the island.

According to Rafal Wieczorek, a chemist at the University of Warsaw who has independently studied other Rongorongo tablets, the script may be one of the only independent inventions of writing in human history, alongside the writing of the Sumerians, the Egyptians and the Chinese.

However, we must point out that the dating is on the wood itself, which might have been inscribed long after the death of the tree that produced the wood.  We look forward to more research on this fascinating subject.

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! Also, be sure to check out our growing subscription platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service, at heritagetac.org!

I’m Laura Kennedy and I’ll see you next week!