Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew.  Coming up are our four top 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!

Traces of blood indicate that ancient Mongolian metal cauldrons were used in ancient times to make blood sausage, which is still popular there today.  Examination of 25 skeletons of warrior monks from a Medieval Spanish castle reveals that one of them was a woman.  Humongous rock art symbols along the Orinoco River in South America are proposed to be highly visible boundary markers.  And a new study suggests that Seahenge and its companion wooden feature on the coast of Britain were intended to reverse a sudden climatic cooling phase 4000 years ago.

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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 2nd through the 9th, 2024.

We begin this week in northern Mongolia, where archaeologists have repeatedly uncovered metal cauldrons from the Bronze Age.  

As reported by the University of Basel [BAA-zl], Mongolian nomads used these cauldrons to collect animal blood for making blood sausage.  It’s very likely that they were used also for fermenting yak milk.  These cauldrons are found across the Eurasian steppe, but their purpose was previously unknown. 

In 2019, herders in northern Mongolia found a variety of artifacts including two bronze cauldrons.  A research team led by Dr. Shevan Wilkin from the University of Basel conducted extensive protein analyses on the cauldrons.  Radiocarbon dating shows that the cauldrons were in use 2,700 years ago during the late Bronze Age.  The researchers found remains of blood, primarily from sheep and goats.

According to Dr. Bryan Miller from the University of Michigan, historical accounts of the steppe dwellers assert that they drank blood regularly.  This study provides new insights into how they incorporated blood into their diet. 

The blood was likely collected in the cauldrons as animals were being slaughtered.  Similar practices exist in Mongolia today.  The combination of these practices and reliable historical accounts suggest that the processing of blood is a very ancient part of Mongolian culture. 

The cauldrons also contained traces of milk, especially from domestic cattle and yaks.  This is not surprising to researchers, as the practice of dairy production in this region is over 5,000 years old. 

According to Dr. Wilkin, this also shows that yaks were domesticated and used for milk production much earlier than previously thought.  It’s possible the milk was fermented in the cauldrons in order to preserve it as yogurt or use it for making blood sausage. 

This study helps uncover more about the diversity of ancient culinary methods.  Furthermore, museums around the world hold thousands of bronze vessels.  These vessels offer opportunities for further research into ancient cooking techniques.  

Next, we move to Guadalajara [gwaa-duh-luh-HAA-ruh], Spain, where archaeologists exhumed 25 warrior skeletons from a castle.  One of the skeletons belonged to a woman. 

As reported by Heritage Daily, researchers from the Universitat Rovira i Virgili [roh-VEE-rah  EE  veer-GEE-lee] and the Max Planck Institute studied the remains of 25 individuals buried between the twelfth and fifteenth centuries in the castle at Zoritas de los Canes [zoh-REE-tas deh lohs CAHN-es].  The skeletons belonged to warrior monks from the Order of Calatrava, the first Castilian military order.  Researchers were able to determine the monks' diet, lifestyle and cause of death. 

Twenty-three of the warriors likely died in battle.  Across the remains, researcher Carme Rissech [CAR-meh RIS-eck] noticed wounds consistent with those of warriors, such as lesions on the upper part of the skull, the cheeks and the inner part of the pelvis. 

Surprisingly, when studying the bone proportions of the remains, Rissech identified one of the skeletons as female. 

The woman’s injuries indicated that she participated and died in battle.  She may have died similarly to the men, and it’s likely that she wore some type of armor or chain mail.  However, her diet involved less protein, which might indicate a lower social status. 

Some researchers hypothesize that she was a servant ordered to join the knights in battle when necessary.  The researchers involved in this study don’t think this was the case.  The woman’s bones showed marks consistent with those of someone who trained with weapons rather than someone who performed servant work.  Analysis indicates that she was around forty, almost five feet tall and neither stocky nor slender.  She probably was skilled with a sword. 

More analysis is needed to determine if the woman did live contemporaneously with the other knights.  This study belonged to the MONBONES project, which uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine aspects of life in monasteries from the fourteenth to the nineteenth centuries.  It appeared as an article in Nature.

For our third story, we turn to the Orinoco River in Venezuela and Colombia, where researchers have uncovered new insights into the world’s largest rock engravings. 

As reported by Newsweek and in their study published in Nature, researchers propose that these prehistoric petroglyphs may have been intended to mark territorial boundaries.  José Oliver from the University College London Institute of Archaeology started a research project in 2015 to understand this region’s history, especially during the pre-Columbian occupation. 

Out of more than one hundred sites in the region, the team used drones to map out over a dozen rock art sites considered monumental.  These sites include engravings of human figures and giant Amazonian centipedes.  However, the largest engravings depict snakes.  The most impressive engraving is a snake that measures 141 feet, found at the Cerro Pintado [SEH-roh peen-TAH-do] site in Venezuela. 

According to archaeologist Philip Riris from Bournemouth University, the monumental rock art might come from the intense interactions and contact between the different Indigenous groups during the pre-Columbian period. 

The rock art may have served the purpose of marking identity and territory.  The engravings would have warned outsiders about whose territory they had entered or marked the presence of a friendly group.  The engravings probably communicated across a wide range of people from diverse groups and cultures.  For example, snakes are generally viewed as a threat.  The engraving of a snake could have served as a warning. 

The rock art along this river is unmatched in terms of size and number.  Researchers are only just beginning to understand the cultural landscape of the pre-Columbian period.  These petroglyphs contribute fundamentally to the understanding of the region’s cultural record.  

As regional tourism expands every year, the need to protect these sites similarly increases.  Many more rock art sites are out there to discover, respect and preserve. 

Finally, we head to the English coast in the county of Norfolk, where archaeologists are studying the intentions behind a prehistoric circular wood monument referred to as Seahenge. 

As reported by Heritage Daily, Seahenge, also called Holme I, was built around 2049 BC. Another timber circle nearby, known as Holme II, was built at the same time.  They are the only known British Neolithic monuments that were built simultaneously. 

Holme I is a round structure where fifty-five small oak trunks encircle an upturned tree root.  The monument was built originally in an area protected from the sea by mud flats and sand dunes.  The swampiness of the area created a layer of peat that covered the site and protected the wood from decay. 

Over time, sea level rose, and the site has now shifted to the coast.

Archaeologists also have examined Holme II. It’s a much bigger monument that uses two concentric timber circles to border a pit lined with a wickerwork enclosure.  The pit holds two oak logs.  Prior interpretations suggested that Holme I and Holme II were erected together as burial markers or for use in sky burials.

A recent study published by GeoJournal compares these two sites.  Study author Dr. David Nance has proposed another interpretation.  He suggests that the monuments were built for rituals to extend the summer.  Four thousand years ago, the monuments were built during a period of severe winters and decreased atmospheric temperatures.  This climatic shift put a lot of stress on early coastal societies.  The dating of the timbers from Seahenge shows it was felled in spring, and researchers have considered it likely that the uprights were aligned with sunrise on the summer solstice.

Folklore may also play a part in the construction of these two monuments.  The form of Holme I imitates the two winter dwellings of the cuckoo in British and Irish folklore.  The cuckoo would stop singing on the summer solstice and return to the Otherworld with summer.  In the interpretation offered by Dr. Nance, the circular structure is meant to mimic a pen to keep the cuckoo from leaving, and in that way to extend the summer. 

This interpretation also suggests that Holme II is associated with the legends of sacred kings in Iron Age Ireland and northern Britain.  During times of hardship, they were sacrificed to appease the goddess Venus.

According to Dr. Nance, the evidence suggests that the kings were sacrificed every eight years at Samhain [SAOW-in], now known as Halloween, in sync with the eight-year cycle of Venus.  Holme II is proposed to have held the coffin of one of these sacrificial kings, with the enclosure oriented toward sunrise on Samhain in the year 2049 BC., again in hopes of extending the summer and alleviating the effects of the suddenly cooler climate.

The study thus suggests that the monuments had different functions but were both constructed in hopes of ending the unusually cold weather.  We expect this will not be the final word on that 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 new subscription platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service, at heritagetac.org!

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