Welcome back, everybody!  I’m Rick Pettigrew.  Here we go again with a brand-new 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!

Cut bones from a site in Romania are proposed as the earliest known evidence of human ancestors in Europe.  A widespread ashfall in Bolivia appears to account for the sudden growth of Tiwanaku as the dominant prehistoric city. A new study combines archaeological data with Aboriginal knowledge to show how people made and used earthen rings in Australia.  And a Swedish archaeologist proposes that money came about to facilitate trade between strangers.

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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 January 19th through the 25th, 2025. 

We begin this week at the site of Grăunceanu [Grahn-chee-ahn-new] in Romania, where archaeologists have uncovered evidence of hominin presence nearly two million years ago.  The timing of the dispersal of hominins into Eurasia is unclear, but this dating  to the early Pleistocene period could give insight into their initial dissemination.  

News by Greek Reporter states that  the evidence comes in the form of multiple bones uncovered by archaeologists showing cut marks associated with tools ancient human ancestors would have used.  The cut marks probably reflect the defleshing of the bones.

Researchers used biostratigraphic and high-resolution uranium-lead age estimates to help determine the date of this site.  These estimates have helped make it one of the best-dated early hominin sites in Europe.  The precision of the uranium-based dating helps establish the team’s assertion that the presence of early human ancestors did exist two million years ago.  

Researchers also examined horse teeth from the site to help them reconstruct the environment.  The examination suggested that Grăunceanu would have been relatively temperate and seasonal.  In comparison to Africa, hominins likely lived in cooler environments with more seasonal temperature changes.  Still, this suggests that early ancestral humans in Eurasia had a high environmental tolerance as well as a long-term success rate of dispersal into Europe.  

The exact age of migration from Africa into Europe has been widely debated, particularly in southern and northern Europe. The cut-marked bones uncovered in Romania predate other reliable evidence by nearly 500,000 years.  Known evidence later than this is about 1.4 million years old.  Although evidence found in the country of Georgia dates from 1.7 to 1.8 million years ago, it is considered unreliable.  

While this is the most solid evidence of human presence in Europe so far, researchers are still looking for actual human remains.  They have uncovered only the remains of mammoths, equids, ruminants, and rhinoceroses that coincide with the uranium-lead dating of the cut animal bones.  

The team wants to continue searching the immediate area as well as more of the Eurasian landmass.  The overwhelming evidence of human presence in this region at this early time can no longer be denied.  

This study appeared in the journal Nature.

Next, we turn to Bolivia in the basin of Lake Titicaca, where a new study suggests that one of South America’s earliest developed cities, Tiwanaku [Tee-wah-NAH-ku], may have formed because of volcanic activity.  As reported by The Art Newspaper, researchers have identified a layer of tephra [TEF ruh] near several Bolivian sites.  Tephra is produced by volcanic eruption, and it rained down on settlements near Lake Titicaca between AD 400 and 720.  

According to Erik J. Marsh of the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, Argentina, and Christopher J. Harpel and David E. Damby of the US Geological Survey, the presence of tephra suggests that a major eruption occurred that forced ancient populations to abandon their settlements.  

Tephra fallout on such a large scale suggests that the Lake Titicaca area experienced rapid environmental change.  The volcanic activity would have happened daily and would have disrupted daily, seasonal and annual routines.  Even a minimal amount of tephra would have had a huge impact on the arid plateau.  This would have had a direct impact on camelid herds, water sources, agricultural fields, and gardens.  

Prior research suggested that the material was actually burned llama dung or material related to pottery production.  Marsh and his colleagues analyzed the ashy layer at the Khonkho Wankane site and conclusively identified it as tephra.  It has also been identified at other nearby sites, providing further evidence that this was a large-scale event.  

In AD 400, Khonkho Wankane contained large residential complexes, monoliths and an underground canal, but then the ash fell and it was deserted.  Such a disruption to daily living would explain why people abandoned this prosperous settlement.

People did not return to Khonkho Wankane until AD 790, when the area started flourishing and continued to do so until AD 1000.  Tiwanaku, on the other hand, began to emerge as a major center around AD 400, the precise time of the ashfall, and eventually became the dominant city, ruling a state that encompassed a large part of modern Bolivia plus some  parts of Peru, Chile and Argentina.  

Based on this research, the archaeologists concluded that this ancient city grew as a result of people moving away from volcanic activity.  The extreme circumstances that caused people to leave the area may have inspired  more cooperation and understanding from other areas.  Perhaps it also created more diverse social networks and opportunities.

Our third story takes us to the Sunbury hills on the outskirts of Melbourne, Australia, where researchers are studying huge earth rings made by the Aboriginal Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung [wer UND juh ree woi WER rung] people between 590 and 1,400 years ago.  According to Arkeonews, these rings, created by excavating earth and heaping it together in a large circle, can measure up to hundreds of feet in diameter.  Their purpose is believed to be ceremonial, but the nature of the ceremonies is poorly documented.  

Previous archaeological studies of such rings employed surveys plus comparison with other rings described in published sources.  This new study, however, used a "braided knowledge" approach that combines indigenous knowledge and Western science to create multiple ways of knowing that complement each other.  It combines Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung knowledge with the first excavation of one of these rings. 

Archaeologist David Frankel first excavated this site, called Sunbury G Ring, and others in 1979.  He and his team pieced together the way the local Aboriginal people lived and interacted with the area by using advanced dates and artifact analyses.  They also studied how the people prepared plants and animals, made and used stone tools, lit campfires, made decorations out of feathers, and performed rituals like scarifying human skin.  The wear patterns and residue on the tools they used gave the researchers concrete evidence of these activities.  

The team believes it likely that the Sunbury G Ring was an important location between traditional estates and along travel routes where Woi-wurrung-speaking people would meet and perform a range of activities, including ceremonial rites.  

Many Australian earth rings have been destroyed through European colonization, land development and changes in climate.  Queensland and New South Wales once had hundreds of rings, but only a hundred still remain.  This makes their preservation even more important.  Their construction was an enormous task that reflects how much the Aboriginal people valued and felt connected to their homeland.

The study appeared in the journal Australian Archaeology.

We end our week by examining the origins of money, supported by evidence from pre-Columbian North America and Bronze Age Europe.  In a new study, researcher Mikael Fauvelle of Lund University in Sweden proposes that money was created for trade between strangers and not for taxing purposes.  

As noted in The Greek Reporter, the origins of money have been debated for years.  There are two main hypotheses on how it originated.  The money-as-commodity idea suggests that people invented money to make bartering more efficient.  The chartalist, or money-as-credit, explanation suggests that ancient governments introduced money to standardize tax and tribute payments.  

Barter systems rely on people finding someone who wants what they are selling, and then trading it for something in return.  Supporters of this model, like Aristotle, argue that valuable materials like metals naturally became money because of their durability and practicality.  The chartalist view suggests that rulers created money systems and assigned value to currency.  Thinkers like Georg Friedrich Knapp and David Graeber posited that money had its roots in hierarchical state control.  Both explanations have faced criticism.  

Fauvelle’s latest suggestion is a blend of both ideas.  He argues that the need for money didn’t arise solely in small communities or under state control.  It developed as a way to help strangers trade over long distances.  This is especially true in regions where traders dealt with language and cultural differences.  Money provided a shared and portable way to exchange goods and services.  

To support his proposal, Fauvelle refers to practices in pre-Columbian North America and in Europe during the Bronze Age.  In California, natives used shell beads as money for over a thousand years before any European influence intervened.  The beads were lightweight,  portable and widely accepted for all kinds of goods.  

During Europe’s Bronze Age, items like rings and axes were given standardized weights and widely circulated as currency.  These uniform measurements helped minimize disputes and enabled trade in faraway markets.  

Both the shell beads and bronze items had multiple purposes.  They were also used in rituals, as status symbols and to settle debts.  These varied uses show that the purposes of money extended beyond economics.  

Different regions had different reasons for using money, so its nature wasn’t one-dimensional.  In some regions, states required taxes.  In others, the money system helped streamline trade.  This supports Fauvelle’s conclusion that early money systems were complex in nature.  

This study appeared in the Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory.

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

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