Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Audio News from Archaeologica!  I’m Laura Kennedy.  Rick Pettigrew is away on our tour of Iran, so I’ll be telling you about four of the best stories posted online this past week on our archaeology news website, Archaeologica.org!  Here are the headlines in archaeological and historical news from April 6th through April 12th, 2025.

Our first story this week takes us to the west coast of Taiwan, where researchers are exploring the mystery of an archaic human jawbone.  

As reported by LiveScience, an international research team determined that the bone belonged to the Denisovan line [De-nis-o-van], an extinct human sub-species closely related to the Neanderthal sub-species.  This find helps to confirm that Denisovans spread across Asia.

According to Frido Welker, a molecular anthropologist at the University of Copenhagen, the research team used a new technique called “paleoproteomics”.  This technique studies ancient proteins and amino acids from human remains.  The team determined that the jawbone belonged to a male Denisovan.  This bone was originally discovered in Penghu Channel off the coast of Taiwan in the early 2000s, sparked debate among paleoanthropologists.  

Denisovans are named after the Siberian cave where their first fossils were found, the Denisova Cave.  Because archaeologists have uncovered only a few such fossils, certainty about possible new Denisovan finds is unsure. 

Studies indicate that Denisovans are “cousins” to Neanderthals, who lived throughout Europe and Asia during the late Middle to early Late Pleistocene epoch.  Neanderthal remains exhibit small, gracile mandibles and teeth.  Denisovan remains evince large, robust mandibles and teeth, suggesting tough plant materials as primary Denisovan staple.

The new study cannot confidently date the jawbone via carbon-14 or uranium dating methods because its waterlogged state prevented DNA extraction.  Per Welker, other animal bones were found with this jawbone.  Those other bones indicate that the jawbone is either 10,000 to 70,000 years old, or 130,000 to 190,000 years old.  According to Welker, if the jawbone belongs in the younger age range, it would represent the youngest Denisovan remains discovered to date. 

The uncovering of this jawbone confirms that human sub-species were indeed present in eastern Eurasia.  The team hopes that their data will support identification of other human fossils whose origins remain unknown, and help humanity to better understand human evolutionary history.

The study was published in the journal Science.

Next, we go to the Tikal [tē-käl] National Park in Guatemala, where archaeologists unearthed a Teotihuacan altar in ruins of the ancient Mayan city-state of Tikal. 

As reported by Phys.org, the altar is one meter wide, two meters long, and one meter tall.  It is covered in limestone, and was placed in the center of a residential dwelling.  Built near the end of the 4th century AD, the altar has four panels decorated with a painted figure, resembling the Storm God of central Mexican tradition as well as other artistic elements from the Teotihuacan [Tee-o-ti-wa-cán] culture.

According to Lorena Paiz, lead archaeologist of the international team, the team believes that the altar was used for sacrifices, because they found interred remains of three children near the altar.  The remains of a fourth child were uncovered within the altar, and arranged similarly to the ways common in Teotihuacan practices.  They also found an adult’s remains plus a green obsidian dart point, also with designs consistent with Teotihuacan culture. 

The Tikal city-state formed circa 850 BC, becoming dynastic around AD 100.  Located roughly 630 miles away, researchers think Teotihuacan, which was just outside present-day Mexico City, began regular contact with Tikal around AD 300.  Various discoveries in the last 60 years suggest that dominant Teotihuacan occupied Tikal, taking control of the Mayan city-state around AD 380. 

Archaeologists spent more than a year and a half excavating the altar.  They believe that the altar was crafted by an expert “Teotihuacan-ese” craftsman, rather than by a Mayan artist.  

According to Stephen Houston, a co-author of the study, and professor of social science, anthropology, and the history of art and architecture at Brown University, this finding confirms that such altars replicate those of Teotihuacan.  He holds that they were most likely created for wealthy leaders and traders from Teotihuacan who wanted their own ritual facilities in Tikal. 

The altar, human remains, and other artifacts found at the site help clarify the social, political, and cultural relationship between the “Teotihuacan-ese” and the Mayans in Tikal.  

Archaeologists note that these discoveries further support claims that Tikal was a thriving cultural hub during its height.  They hope to uncover more about the interaction-history of these two city-states.

The study was published in the journal Antiquity.

Our third story takes us to the southern coast of South Africa, where archaeologists uncovered thousands of stone tools that reveal possible links among prehistoric peoples. 

As reported by Phys.org, the ancient paleolithic people who crafted these tools were alive at the end of the last major ice age, and researchers suggest different groups shared similar tool-making techniques.

According to Sara Watson, a scientist at the Field Museum’s Negaunee Integrative Research Center, the team excavated a large collection of stone tools from about 20,000 years before present.  Archaeologists uncovered the tools in caves on a cliff along the coast of South Africa. The team had to exercise extreme care in traveling to the caves.  Accessing the caves requires a 75 foot climb, and demands safety ropes and a staircase of sandbags.  The team determined that these tools belonged to the Robberg technocomplex, a series of shared technologies among late stone age people encountered in remains scattered across Africa’s southern region. 

The team required extreme care in their excavation because of the extreme age of the artifacts.  Using dental tools to remove layers of sediment, the team uncovered distinct sets of blades, of varying sizes, along with larger rock pieces, called cores.  These cores were the sources for the smaller tools.  Analyzing the cores, researchers discerned chip marks indicating the specific methods used to craft these blades.  Per Watson, many of these tools were likely developed to help people hunt large animals on the expansive plains that then occupied the region. 

Researchers observed indications of highly specific techniques and specific patterns among the tools and cores.  They found that these particular markings are consistent with those on tools uncovered in other southern African regions, some hundreds of miles away.  The team traced such similarities to sites in Namibia and Lesotho.  The team suggests that the widespread consistency in technique points to a system of shared knowledge among geographically separated peoples.

Archaeologists hope that these analyses will bring the anthropological field closer to understanding the ways prehistoric peoples lived, hunted, traveled, and interacted with one another across distinct groups.

The study was published in the Journal of Paleolithic Archaeology.

We end this week in the southwest corner of North Macedonia, where archaeologists cite a series of discoveries that significantly alter the narrative on what was thought to be a military outpost. 

As reported by Heritage Daily, archaeologists and researchers from Macedonia’s Institute and Museum–Bitola and from Cal Poly Humboldt are excavating an ancient city outside of Crnobuki, called Gradishte.  They recently unearthed charcoal and bone dated between 360 BC and AD 670, together with axes, ceramics, coins, and other Bronze Age artifacts dating from 3,300 to 1,200 BC. 

According to Nick Angeloff, Cal Poly Humboldt anthropology professor and archaeologist, uncovering this site is significant because it reveals the power structures and trading networks of ancient Macedonia.  Its location is proximate to trade routes that connected merchants to Constantinople.  Notable figures like Octavian and Agrippa may have traveled those nearby trade routes.

The site was originally excavated over fifteen years ago.  Archaeologists believed it formed part of fortifications against the Romans.  The excavators linked the site to King Philip the fifth’s reign, form circa 221 to 179 BC, until they unearthed a coin from Alexander the Great’s lifetime, pushing back their dates-range estimate to that of the reign of Alexander the Great.

However, in 2023 researchers surveyed the site from above and from beneath the ground, using LIDAR and radar, uncovering a city with workshops and a theater, covering about seven acres.  These surveys indicate that the city existed long before the Romans became a dominant power.  These surveys help confirm the burgeoning channels of trade and the distribution of power in ancient Macedonia. 

Some archaeologists speculate that the site is possibly the lost city of Lyncus [Lyn-kus] dating back to the seventh century BC.  They hold that it may also be the birthplace of Alexander the Great’s grandmother, Queen Eurydice [Yə-rid-əsē] the first.  Politically, Eurydice played an important role in shaping the region.

The researchers expect that these new studies will provide a more complete picture of ancient Macedonian civilization.

That wraps up our archaeological 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 video-streaming platform, Heritage Broadcasting Service, at heritagetac.org!

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