Welcome back, everybody!  I’m Rick Pettigrew.  In a minute, you’ll hear our latest batch of 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!

A site in northern Iraq appears to show state-level control very early in time, but apparently only temporarily.  A stone tablet found in the country of Georgia displays seven lines of an undeciphered ancient script.  Bones of a dog-like animal found in Alaska could represent the earliest known dog domestication in the Americas.  And excavations beneath the floor of Notre Dame Cathedral came up with some amazing discoveries.

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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 December 1st through the 8th, 2024.

We begin this week in northeastern Iraq, where archaeologists discovered 5,000-year-old clay bowls that suggest local people followed and rejected centralized authority. 

As reported by Live Science, the site of Shakhi Kora is located southwest of Kalar [KA-lr] in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.  The site contains the remnants of a settlement dating to the fifth millennium BC.  Archaeologist Claudia Glatz from the University of Glasgow has led site excavations since 2019, providing insights into the early development and eventual rejection of centralized, state-like organizations. 

The team uncovered structures and artifacts that reflect a shift from local farming traditions to the growing influence of traditions from Uruk [UR-uhk].  Uruk was an early city in southern Mesopotamia over 220 miles away from Shakhi Kora.  This progression mirrors evidence from other Mesopotamian sites, supporting the proposal of an “Uruk expansion.”  According to this proposal, innovations such as urbanization, interregional trade and early writing spread to distant regions through contact with Uruk. 

The excavations found evidence of a structured sociopolitical system, marked by four consecutive institutional households.  One of the large, pillared households has an advanced subfloor drainage system and auxiliary spaces that reflect southern Mesopotamian practices.  Researchers believe that people would travel to these institutions to work in exchange for food.

The team also found a large number of beveled-rim bowls, which likely supplied the food.  Analysis of the bowls’ lipid residue suggests that they contained stew with the meat of sheep and goats.  Researchers have encountered other beveled-rim bowls across Mesopotamia, but what was in the bowls was previously unknown.

According to archaeologist Glenn Schwartz from Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the study, the small scale of this excavation makes it challenging to confirm evidence of an organized hierarchy. 

The site was eventually abandoned in the late fourth millennium BC.  Researchers postulate that this reflects a rejection of centralized authority, as no evidence suggests environmental or violent causes.  After the collapse of this early governance, it took 1,500 years for centralized authority to reemerge in the region. 

According to Gatz, this reiterates that hierarchical governments were not uniform across early complex societies, and that communities could resist centralized power. 

This study appeared in the journal Antiquity. 

Next, we travel to the Dmanisi [de-MA-ni-si] municipality in Georgia, a country located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and West Asia, where researchers have discovered a stone tablet engraved with an unknown ancient script. 

As reported by Newsweek, local people discovered the tablet near Bashplemi Lake.  The tablet’s age is not confirmed.  Based on the writing and the archaeological context, researchers suggest that the tablet may date to the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age.  The new research appeared in the Journal of Ancient History and Archaeology.

The tablet dimensions are around 24 by 20 centimeters, and it is made of basalt.  Seven lines of text include 60 distinct signs, of which 39 are unique.  An archaeological research team analyzed the artifact and concluded that the signs represented an unknown script.  The inscription reads horizontally, although it is unknown whether it’s read from the left or the right.  

Mineral analysis revealed that the basalt used for the tablet was of local origin.  The inscriptions were made from abrasive material and two types of drill.  Because basalt is hard to work with, the team proposed that the tablet might record military spoils, a construction project or offerings to a deity. 

Researchers compared the script to other ancient scripts across the wider region.  The signs on the tablet resemble over 20 other scripts from the Near East and Mediterranean.  While they identified some similarities, particularly with Caucasian scripts, no complete match was found.  The new script might be related to the so-called Colchian runes mentioned in Greek mythology.  According to one ancient source, the goal of Jason and the Argonauts in their journey to Colchis, in western Georgia, was to learn how to read the legendary Golden Script. 

This discovery raises additional questions about the origins of the Georgian script and illuminates the development of writing in the Caucasus. 

Our third story turns to Alaska, where archaeologists have discovered evidence of close relationships forming between humans and large canids 12,000 years ago. 

As reported in a news release by the University of Arizona, the study was led by Francois Lanoe, an assistant professor from the University of Arizona.  This research was done in collaboration with the Healy Lake Village Council, representing the Mendes Cha’ag people.  The community has maintained close relationships with dogs for generations.

In 2018, Lanoe’s team discovered a tibia, the lower leg bone, of an adult canid, at Swan Point, an archaeological site 70 miles southeast of Fairbanks.  Radiocarbon dating showed that the tibia’s owner lived around the end of the Ice Age 12,000 years ago.  Prior to this study, the oldest recorded date for relationships between humans and canids in the Americas was around 10,000 years ago.   In 2023, researchers also discovered an 8,100-year-old canid jawbone at Hollembaek Hill, located south of Delta Junction.  The jawbone shows signs of potential domestication. 

The research team further examined 111 large canid specimens from interior Alaska through a combination of morphological and genomic analyses.  The specimens include 76 ancient and 35 modern samples from a combination of dogs, coyotes, wolves, and unspecified canids.  Genetic testing indicated that some of the ancient specimens were likely early domesticated dogs or tamed wolves. 

Stable isotope analysis of carbon and nitrogen values revealed significant variation between canids.  Notably, domesticated canids showed diet diversity that included a substantial intake of salmon.  This was unusual for wild canids at the time, as they typically hunted land animals.  This connection with salmon is evidence of a relationship with humans. 

This research is noteworthy as it provides insights into the early relationship between humans and canids.  Nonetheless, it remains uncertain whether these findings represent the earliest evidence of domesticated dogs in the Americas.  While these dog-like animals displayed domesticated behavior, their genetic makeup may not align with known dog populations.  These animals could have been tamed wolves rather than fully domesticated dogs.

The new study could influence future research on the domestication process and evolution of dogs in the Americas.  It appeared in the journal Science Advances. 

Our final story this week comes from the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, where during its reconstruction, archaeologists have uncovered over 1,000 historical fragments beneath the building. 

As reported by ARTnews, preventive archaeology is a French legal framework that studies archaeological remains threatened by land development.  After the Notre Dame fire in 2019, this framework allowed for an unprecedented archaeological excavation inside the cathedral.  

Teams from the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research had only five weeks to excavate beneath the cathedral’s stone floor.  They conducted a shallow excavation, only 16 inches deep, to match the depth of the scaffolding foundation. 

The archaeologists found 1,035 fragments of artwork and over 100 graves, many unidentified.  These raise the cathedral’s total number of burials to more than 500.  Notable finds include a lead sarcophagus that possibly belongs to the poet Joachim du Bellay [jo-ah-KEEM doo BELL-ay] and life-sized limestone statues, including one of Christ.  Additionally, the teams found remnants of a thirteenth century jubé, or rood screen, which once hid the choir and sanctuary from public view.

Researchers also gained many new insights into Notre Dame’s medieval construction techniques.  For the beams, carpenters used 100-year-old oak logs, each approximately 49 feet long.  They shaped the logs using doloire [DOH-lu-ah] axes and then bound them together with rope holds to transport them down the Seine River.  

Archaeologists also discovered the extensive use of iron clamps to fasten stones together.  The oldest ones, around 10 to 20 inches long, date back to the 1160s AD, when construction on the cathedral began.  This makes Notre Dame the first Gothic cathedral to incorporate iron as a structural material.  The teams also found that previously unseen pillars in the cathedral’s foundation were interconnected by stringer beams, which helped distribute the weight of the building. 

These new findings will help researchers gain a better understanding of medieval construction techniques, burial practices and architectural innovations, providing deeper insights into Gothic cathedral design.  With this work completed, Notre Dame Cathedral reopened to the public on Sunday, December 8th.

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, a ce, at heritagetac.org!

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