Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew, to bring you our four top 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 comprehensive DNA study of early medieval Avars in Hungary has revealed some basic structures of their society.  Excavators at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate surprisingly came across two bottles containing preserved cherries.  A LiDAR study in Ireland has revealed, among other things, five previously unknown and rare Neolithic cursus monuments.  And a research team in England is preparing to systematically examine the visual effects of the lunar standstill at Stonehenge.

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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 April 21st through the 27th, 2024.

We begin this week in Hungary, where an extensive archaeogenetic study has illuminated the social customs of the sixth-century Avar empire.  Due to the absence of any surviving written records, little was previously known about their social practices.

As reported by CNN, the Avars were originally from eastern central Asia.  They made their way to the Carpathian Basin in AD 557, where they would be the region’s dominant power for nearly 250 years.  Their reign ended in defeat to Charlemagne’s Frankish armies around AD 800.

From the nearly 100,000 graves the Avars left behind, an international research team analyzed DNA from the remains of more than 400 individuals at four cemeteries in present-day Hungary.  They identified 298 people who were closely related, placing each of them in a detailed family tree spanning nine generations.

Although biological relationships are not necessarily indicative of social relationships, the study’s findings offer insight into likely common practices of Avar culture.

The results of the study indicate that their society was both patriarchal and patrilocal.  This warrior culture emphasized the importance of the male line, with women leaving their families and cultures to marry into Avar society.

According to Guido Alberto Gnecchi-Ruscone [NAY-kee Roo-SCOH-nay], lead author of the study, the men were descended from the founders of the settlements, and the women’s parents weren’t found at the site at all.  Additionally, analysis of mitochondrial DNA, which carries the mother’s genetic information, showed that the women had a more diverse heritage than the men.

Patrilineage was the norm among the peoples of the Eurasian pastoral steppes.  The fact they continued this practice is evidence that they retained some of their traditions after migrating.

It was common for men and women to have children with more than one partner.   Levirate unions, a custom among other pastoral groups in which a widow marries a son or brother of her late husband, also appear to have been a regular practice.

Researchers found no sign of interbreeding between close relatives., indicating that the Avars had a strong awareness of who their biological relatives were across generations.

This is a landmark study, because it involves a large sample of individuals and employs genetics, history and archaeology to characterize the practices of an entire society.  It was published in Nature.

Next, we make our way to Virginia, where sealed bottles of centuries-old cherries were discovered during an excavation of George Washington’s former residence, Mount Vernon.  The fruit was likely preserved and buried before the Revolutionary War. 

As reported by Live Science, the excavation was part of a $40 million, three-year revitalization project for the mansion.  It occurred in Phase 1 of the project, during small-scale excavations of the building’s cellar.

The archaeological team recovered two dark green glass bottles containing cherries, pits, stems, and a gooey, amber-colored liquid buried underneath a brick floor.  The liquid is likely groundwater that made its way into the bottles as the corks deteriorated over the years.

The contents of the bottles will be transferred into separate containers and sent to a lab for further analysis.  The bottles themselves will be sent to be conserved.

The bottles are similar in style to those made in the 1740s and 1750s, and had likely been forgotten by the time workers laid the brick floor in the 1770s.  The cherries would likely have been picked by the enslaved individuals working at Mount Vernon.

According to Jason Boroughs, principal archaeologist at Mount Vernon, the cherries were stored in accordance with 18th century guidelines.  Advice at the time recommended preserving fruits and vegetables by drying them, placing them in a dry bottle, corking the bottle, and burying it.

This technique was fairly successful — the cherries inside each bottle were whole and recognizable, and still smelled faintly of cherry blossoms.

This is not the first time bottles like this have been unearthed in Virginia. One bottle came from Williamsburg in 1996 and another came from Thomas Jefferson’s estate in 1981.

Next, we go to Ireland, where an archaeological survey has revealed the largest known set of cursus monuments, large-scale earthworks typically dating to the Neolithic.  So far, they are the largest in the country, and they are located in the Baltinglass landscape of County Wicklow, known for its various prehistoric artifacts and remains.

As reported by Newsweek, cursus monuments are usually long and fairly narrow, defined by a long enclosing bank with parallel ditches on the outside.  They are usually closed at the ends, forming a long enclosed space.

The study lead, James O'Driscoll of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Aberdeen in the United Kingdom, has been studying the Baltinglass landscape for more than a decade. 

With LiDAR, a remote sensing method that uses laser pulses directed at the ground to create a 3D model of a given area, he was able to produce an extensive topographical model of the landscape.  The technology also enabled him to find new archaeological sites that were hidden or had been leveled.

According to O’Driscoll, at least four of the five newly identified cursus monuments were aligned with important solar events.  These events were linked to yearly farming cycles.

Connections between some of the Baltinglass sites and burial monuments suggest that they may have been ceremonial monuments used in burial practices.  The rising of the sun over burial complexes during significant solar events may have symbolized the ascent of the dead into the heavens, their perceived rebirth and the blessing of their ancestors.  The cursus would have marked the physical route for the dead to take to the afterlife.

These structures are fairly well known in Great Britain, but they are rare in Ireland.  According to O’Driscoll, the number of documented cursus monuments in the country is less than 20.  Of those, most are isolated or in pairs.

Their unique morphology, location and orientation provide insight into the ritual and ceremonial aspects of the farming communities that inhabited the Baltinglass landscape, including the importance placed in the sun, their dead and the seasonal agricultural cycles.

This also shows that Neolithic migrants understood and had knowledge of the monumental architecture found in other parts of western Europe.  These five rare cursus monuments are evidence that these migrants maintained their ties with Britain through their ideas, practices and architectural knowledge.  Further study will offer even more insight into Middle Neolithic ritual and ceremonial practices.

This research was published in the journal Antiquity.

Finally, we go to England, where a research team is preparing to investigate the impact of an overlooked celestial body’s impact on the design of Stonehenge.  Archaeologists have long known of its alignment with the sun, but the monument may have also been built with an eye to the moon.

As reported by Phys.org, the study is set to take place during a “major lunar standstill,” the point when moonrise and moonset reach their furthest northern and southern points along the horizon.  This rare astronomical phenomenon happens about every 19 years, and can last between 18 months and two years.

Although archaeologists have been aware of a correlation between the placement of certain stones and the major lunar standstill for several decades, this will be the first systematic observation of the months-long event at Stonehenge.

English Heritage will lead the archaeoastronomy team and will include assistance from the Royal Astronomical Society.  Astronomers, archaeologists and photographers from Oxford, Leicester and Bournemouth universities will also participate.

Among Stonehenge's many components were the four station stones, placed to form a rectangle that encloses the iconic stone circle.  These four stones appear to have been placed to be in alignment with the moon’s extreme positions.

According to Professor Clive Ruggles, professor emeritus of archaeoastronomy at Leicester [LESS-ter] University, researchers have long debated whether this was intentional.  If it was, how it was achieved and what its purpose was have long been unclear.

According to Dr. Amanda Chadburn of the University of Oxford’s Kellogg College, tracking the moon’s extremes is less straightforward than doing so for the sun.  Specific timing and weather conditions are necessary. 

Research will begin this spring and last until mid-2025.  During this period, the moon will be in alignment with the station stone rectangle twice each month.

The team will utilize photography to document shadows, patterns of light and other visual effects that the extreme risings and settings of the moon may have on the stones.  Possible present-day influences, including traffic and trees, will be taken into account.

Stonehenge is not the only place where lunar studies are happening and have significance.  In southwestern Colorado, the US Forest Service is partnering with the British researchers and creating educational materials about the major lunar standstill phenomenon at Chimney Rock National Monument.  This partnership will showcase and debate the lunar alignments at Stonehenge and Chimney Rock. 

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 new subscription platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service, at heritagetac.org!

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