Welcome back, everybody!  I’m Rick Pettigrew, with a summary of 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!

German archaeologists uncovered Iron Age cremation urns surrounding a Bronze Age mound.  A 17-century house found in Williamsburg,Virginia, is surprisingly early as well as affluent.  Excavators in China unearthed the skeleton of a Bronze Age sacrifice victim placed in the tomb of higher-status people.  An analysis of the “Screaming Woman” Egyptian mummy reveals lots of details about her life and apparently violent death.

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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 July 28th through August 3rd, 2024.

We begin this week in northwestern Germany, where archaeologists discovered a cremation cemetery holding 2,000-year-old urns during preparations for construction work.  Iron Age people placed the urns around a large Bronze Age burial mound located in Petershagen-Windheim. 

As reported by Heritage Daily, archaeologists from the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe, or the LWL, surveyed the site. 

The excavations confirmed a burial site that archaeologists had predicted based on aerial photography of the area.  A distinct ring of plants bordered by dry gravel was a key clue.  Societies of that era often filled ditches around their burial sites with nutrient-rich soil. 

According to Dr. Sven Spiong, head of the Bielefeld LWL Archaeology branch, the burial mound’s outer border and a circular ditch could be seen among the vegetation. 

The original Bronze Age mound was likely constructed over 2,700 years ago.  During the Iron Age, the mound would have been a prominent feature of the landscape.  Members of the Nienburg group culture apparently placed the urns in proximity to the mound from the seventh to fifth centuries BC, and from the second to first centuries BC. 

Researchers also found evidence of cremated remains and funeral pyres.  These likely date to the latter time frame.  After the deceased were burnt on the pyres, the Nienburg group people would bury them in urns.  In the graves, they placed small jars that likely held gifts for the dead to take into the afterlife.  The graves also contained other artifacts, including a metal belt hook. 

The research team initially dated the graves based on the shapes and ornamentation of the urns.  They will perform radiocarbon analysis on charcoal remains in order to date the items more precisely.  

Next we head to the historic city of Williamsburg in Virginia, where archaeologists have unearthed the remains of a seventeenth-century home.  During excavations, researchers found the home’s foundation and cellar. 

As reported by Live Science, Colonial Williamsburg was one of the first locations where early American colonists settled.  In addition to the structural elements of the building, researchers also recovered a number of artifacts that were in use while the house was still standing. 

According to Jack Gary, executive director of archaeology at Colonial Williamsburg, the findings include high-end ceramics and the handle of a silver teaspoon.  They also found materials used in construction, such as leaded casement windows and plaster from walls.  These items indicate that the inhabitants of the house were affluent. 

Archaeologists believe that the home might have been constructed as early as 1660.  This dating would make the new discovery the oldest known Colonial structure in the area.  Its discovery improves the understanding of what life was like during that period. 

Following the completion of the excavations, a new archaeology center will be built above the site.  The center is scheduled to open in 2026.  It will showcase the world’s largest archaeological collection of artifacts from Colonial America between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. 

Most of the house’s foundation will be covered by the building.  However, a section will be made visible under a glass floor, allowing visitors to the museum to see just how close they are to Williamsburg’s historic roots.

We now travel to northwest China, where analysis of a Bronze Age tomb is adding to archaeologists’ understanding of the role that human sacrifice played in ancient societies.  The tomb is located at the Mogou excavation site in Gansu province.  

As reported by the South China Morning Post, the burial dates to the Qijia [CHEE-jeeya] culture, which occupied the upper Yellow River region from 2200 to 1600 BC.  The research team believes that human sacrifice may have been a tool used to reinforce the social hierarchies of the time.  The study appeared in the book, “The Poetics of Violence in Afroeurasian Bioarchaeology,” published in June by Springer.

The skeleton of the sacrifice victim indicates that he was killed by being stabbed twice in the upper part of the back, penetrating the spine both times.  Based on his injuries, he likely remained still after the first blow, which suggests that he was kneeling or lying down. 

His low social status is indicated by the careless way his remains were treated.  His limbs were even purposely separated.  Additionally, he was laid to rest without items for the afterlife, such as pots.  In contrast, the other inhabitants of the tomb were laid to rest in accordance with the proper customs of the time. 

According to Elizabeth Berger, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Riverside, and lead author of the study, the victim’s lower social status may have come from being a criminal, enemy or outsider. 

The intimate method of his murder is quite different from other identified sacrifices in ancient China.  Other societies placed skulls in the foundations of important buildings as a blessing.  In this discovery, researchers posit that this individual was sacrificed in honor of the tomb’s inhabitants, who were likely of a higher social status. 

According to Jenna Dittmar, a study author and assistant professor of Anatomical Sciences at Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, sacrifices were common in the prehistoric world.  However, reasons for performing them varied widely across cultures.  This new discovery allows scientists to learn more about how and why sacrifices were performed and how they evolved. 

Finally, we turn to Egypt, where a virtual dissection has provided insight into the life and death of a 3,500 year old woman.  Researchers found the mummy, nicknamed the “Screaming Woman,” during an expedition to the site of the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes.

As reported by Phys dot Org, archaeologists from the Metropolitan Museum of New York initially identified the mummy in 1935.  They were excavating the tomb of Senmut, an associate of the queen Hatshepsut [hawt-SHEP-soot], who reigned from 1470 to 1458 BC. 

Underneath his tomb, the team found another burial chamber for his mother and other unidentified relatives. 

There, they discovered the woman in a wooden coffin, donning a black wig and two scarab rings made of silver and gold.  Her mouth was wide open, as if frozen in a scream. 

According to Dr. Sahar Saleem, study co-author and professor of radiology at Kasr Al Ainy Hospital of Cairo University, her expression likely came from her cause of death.  She may have died screaming, causing a cadaveric spasm.  These spasms are a form of muscular stiffening associated with a violent death. 

The study, published in Frontiers in Medicine, detailed the research team’s use of CT scans, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction analysis, and Fourier [FOR-yay] transform infrared spectroscopy.  

Analysis of her hair showed it was dyed, and the black wig she wore was made from date palm fibers.  Quartz, magnetite and albite crystals colored the wig fibers black.

Classic mummification methods involve removing all organs except the heart.  This mummy retained her organs.  This condition to many specialists might suggest poor mummification.  However, analysis found the mummy to be well preserved and embalmed with juniper and frankincense.  These materials are expensive and would have been imported from the Eastern Mediterranean, East Africa or southern Arabia.  

According to Dr. Saleem, these results line up with the ancient Egyptians’ known trade of embalming materials.  Notably, archaeologists also found juniper and frankincense in Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Based on the 2D and 3D CT images, the mummy was likely 1.54 meters tall, or just over 5 feet, and 48 years old at the time of her death.  Bone spurs on her vertebrae indicated that her spine had mild arthritis.  Several teeth were missing.  Her jaw showed signs of bone resorption, which takes place when a socket missing a tooth is left to heal.  According to Saleem, those teeth may have been extracted, given dentistry’s origins in ancient Egypt.

The “Screaming Woman” reveals a life that was shaped by the medical, economic and beauty practices of her day.

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!