Welcome back, everybody!  I’m Rick Pettigrew, here to deliver 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!

Peruvian archaeologists uncovered a group of burials at a very old temple site on Peru’s northern coast.  A new proposal suggests that Clovis hunters in North America killed mammoths and other large game using the “planted spear” technique.  A well-planned cemetery spanning two millennia is the site of new discoveries by Chinese excavators.  And an 8000-year-old female figurine is a fascinating new discovery at a Neolithic site in western Anatolia.

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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 August 18th through the 24th, 2024.

We begin this week in the Viru [VEE-roo] Valley of northwestern Peru, where archaeologists from the National University of Trujillo [true-HEE-yo] have unearthed the skeletal remains of two children, a teenager and an adult.  Their burial predates the rise of the Inca Empire by two or three millennia.

As reported by Live Science, the remains were at the Queneto [cay NAY toe] archaeological site amid the rubble of what was likely a temple.  Remnants of funerary goods were also found, including stone pendants and snail shells.

The structure, built with cobblestone walls, was held together by clay plaster and had curved corners.  According to Feren Castillo Lujan [LOO-hawn], co-leader of the research team and professor at the university’s Professional School of Archaeology, this was a distinct feature of architecture from the Early Formative period.

The location dates to the Early Formative period, circa 1800 to 900 B.C.  This period was marked by the construction of large buildings — including pyramids — and the large-scale use of ceramics.  The Inca Empire would arrive millennia later, lasting from AD 1438 to 1533.

Each body was laid on its side, apparently facing the nearby mountains that would have been the central source of irrigation for the arid desert region.  As such, archaeologists posit that the temple may have been connected to a cult devoted to water worship.

While teams have worked at Queneto for over half a century, researchers say the 51-square meter area that was excavated comprises just one percent of the massive archaeological site.  

Archaeologists cautioned that the temple site faces serious threats due to the

increase in agricultural cover surrounding the area.  They appealed to local people

to take collective responsibility for protecting their invaluable cultural heritage by

investigating, preserving, and protecting these relics for future generations.

A new hypothesis proposed by researchers in California may explain how prehistoric hunters used razor-sharp stone tools to bring down mammoths and other huge prey.

As reported by Newsweek, Clovis points, named for the city in New Mexico where they were first discovered, were widely used across North America roughly 13,000 years ago.  Thousands of the tools have been recovered — including some inside preserved mammoth skeletons.  Archaeologists have debated in the decades since how, exactly, they were used by hunters.

Led by archaeologists from the University of California, Berkeley’s Archaeological Research Facility, the study appeared in the journal PLOS ONE.

According to Jun Sunseri [sun-SEH-ree], study co-author and a Berkeley associate professor of anthropology, the energy generated by the human arm can’t compare to that of a charging animal.  His team’s findings suggest that early humans used their ingenuity to devise a simple, yet deadly, weapon.

After reviewing historical evidence and conducting experimental tests, the team proposed that Clovis points were part of a sophisticated hunting system designed to immobilize and fatally wound large animals.  In this interpretation, rather than using the tools to stab their prey, hunters employed a different technique.  They would have braced their spears against the ground and angled them upward to impale a charging animal.

In addition to analyzing records of planted spear hunting methods across various cultures, the team conducted tests to simulate the impact of a charging animal on a stationary spear.  Their results found that once the animal’s flesh was pierced, the Clovis point functioned like a modern hollow-point bullet, causing significant internal damage.  This would have enabled hunters to take down enormous mammoths, mastodons, bison, and saber-toothed cats with little effort.

The Berkeley team plans to further test their hypothesis by constructing a slide- or pendulum-mounted replica of a mammoth and simulating an attack using Clovis-tipped pikes.  This research is opening a new window into the hunting and survival techniques used for millennia throughout much of the world.

Our third story takes us to Guangdong [GWANG-dong] Province in south China, where an ancient burial site with 148 tombs has come to light under the Guangzhou [GWANG-zhoh] Zoo.  Spanning more than 2,100 years, the tombs date to the Han, Jin, Tang, Ming, and Qing [ching] Dynasties.

As reported by Arkeo News, the Guangzhou Municipal Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology led the excavation of a 1,300-square-meter area following a preliminary survey for the construction of a new zoo enclosure.  Archaeologists encountered the tombs between April and July of 2024.

Contents ranged from centuries-old pottery, porcelain, bronze treasures, and jade ornaments to 48 gravestones dating from 1912 to 1948, the time of the Republic of China.  Notable discoveries include an Eastern Han pottery house model, a Tang Dynasty pottery chicken model, and Qing Dynasty jade hairpins.

All the tombs in the site are similarly arranged in scale, orientation and spacing, suggesting that the entire area was a well-organized and planned cemetery.

Two of the most significant discoveries were tombs dating to the Eastern Jin [JEEN] Dynasty and the Southern Dynasties.  The Jin Dynasty tomb is the largest and best-preserved from the period ever discovered in Guangzhou, and measures over ten meters long.  Aside from a looters’ hole near the entrance, its chamber and walls are largely intact.  The slightly smaller Southern Dynasties tomb served as a joint burial site for a married couple.

According to Institute official Cheng Hao [chung-HOW], the discovery of these two tombs is of great significance to the study of burial shapes, stages and funeral customs during the Six Dynasties period of AD 222 to 589 in Guangzhou.  It will enable further research on construction technology during the two dynasties.

Since the construction of the zoo in 1956 at one of Guangzhou’s key burial areas, the cultural relics department has excavated nearly 500 ancient tombs in more than 30 locations around the site.

To enhance public awareness and appreciation of Guangzhou’s rich cultural heritage, the Institute is conducting educational tours in collaboration with the Zoo, allowing visitors to learn about the significance of these findings.

Our final destination is western Turkey, where excavators unearthed an 8,000-year-old clay statuette of a woman at Ulucak [OO loo jack] Mound.  Located in western Anatolia, the site is home to one of the oldest Neolithic sites in the country.

As reported by Arkeo News, the figurine may have been used in fertility rituals, as household protection, or for other spiritual practices intended to ensure the community’s well-being.  Figurines like this were often buried within homes, near ovens or under doorsteps.

This figure, just under four inches tall, was found buried in a pit near a hearth inside an ancient dwelling, alongside grinding stones and flints.  Although arms, legs, and other figurine parts are often found at the mound, this is one of only six intact statuettes that archaeologists have recovered.

According to Dr. Özlem [OHS lem] Çevik [CHAY-vik], a lecturer at Trayka University who has been leading excavations at the site since 2009, this statuette has one key difference from similar figures of the period: while the others have only eyes and noses, this one also has a mouth.  An opening at its neck would have allowed it to be worn as a piece of jewelry.  The woman depicted by the figurine could have been an important or privileged member of the community.

Ulucak Mound is one of the earliest Neolithic farmer village settlements in western Anatolia.  The first colony there dates back 8,850 years, and life in the vibrant village continued uninterrupted for 45 generations. 

Since excavations at the site began in 1995, archaeologists have identified three layers of cultural artifacts: the Late Roman period at the top, Early Bronze Age layers beneath Early Byzantine remains, and a Late Neolithic stratum at the bottom.

The Ulucak Mound excavation has yielded a wealth of other artifacts, including textile production items like spindle whorls and loom weights.  These hint that Ulucak might have been one of the oldest textile production centers in the Aegean region.

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

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