Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew, to hand off 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!

A stalagmite study offers good evidence for repeated serious droughts that apparently contributed to the collapse of important Maya cities in the Yucatán.  Sourcing analysis of a Viking-Age silver hoard in England shows that much of it came from the Middle East.  A comprehensive study of early die-cast silver coins in Southeast Asia points to long-distance trade.   And cannibalism is clearly indicated in the analysis of human bones from a Neolithic Spanish cave.

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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 10th through the 16th, 2025.

Our first story this week comes from the Yucatán [yoo-kah-TAN] Peninsula in southern Mexico, where a new study of a cave stalagmite indicates that the Maya collapse in the region might have been due to a series of prolonged droughts.

As reported by Live Science, the cause of the Maya decline in the Yucatán Peninsula is unknown, but many researchers have suspected droughts.  Previous studies have yielded evidence of droughts in the southern areas during the Terminal Classical Period in the ninth and tenth centuries that lasted for years.  As the southern population declined, the northern Maya population thrived.

According to study author and archaeologist Daniel H. James of University College London, archaeological evidence has led researchers to consider several hypotheses for the collapse, including trade, drought and war.  This new study combines archaeology with climate evidence to create a more detailed picture.

The team of researchers analyzed the annual growth layers of a cave stalagmite from the municipality of Tecoh.  Stalagmite growth layers indicate the annual amount of water received from the cave ceiling. Variations in the chemical composition of each layer can reveal more information about the annual wet season from May to October.  Isolating the wet season allows researchers to identify seasonal droughts that would devastate crops.

The stalagmite data revealed eight wet season droughts between AD 871 and 1021 that lasted more than three years.  The longest lasted for thirteen years.  This likely led to crop failure and famines. 

Seasonal precipitation was vital for Maya agriculture, especially for the main staple of maize.  Farmers developed techniques to combat drought, including irrigation, more resistant crops and water storage in reservoirs and cisterns.  However, some regions, including the regional capitol Uxmal [oosh-MAHL], were ultimately unsuccessful in these efforts and collapsed.  During periods of drought, the Maya stopped building and dating monuments.  After the most severe drought, the Uxmal political system collapsed.  However, some areas such as Chichén Itzá [chee-CHEN eet-ZAH] were able to survive the crop failures, likely due to their extensive trade connection with central Mexico.

This study helps researchers shed light on the breakdown of the southern Maya during the Terminal Classical Period.  As they combine more detailed climate records with archaeological evidence, more findings could emerge.  The study appeared in the journal Science Advances. 

Next we turn to Bedale [BEE-dayl] in North Yorkshire, England, where a hoard of silver from the Viking Age has demonstrated links to the Islamic World.

As reported by Heritage Daily, the cache of silver, known as the Bedale hoard, dates to the late ninth and early tenth centuries AD.  It contains necklaces, arm bands, hacksilver, a sword pommel, and 29 silver ingots.  A metal detectorist found it in 2012.

The new study of the hoard was led by Dr. Jane Kershaw, an associate professor of Viking Age Archaeology at the University of Oxford School of Archaeology.  The researchers determined that not all of the silver originated locally, with a sizable portion coming from trade networks into the Islamic world.

The team analyzed the silver using lead isotope and trace element analysis.  These analyses revealed that most of the silver originated in western Europe, likely from raids on Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian communities.

The research also found that nine ingots, around a third of the amount in the hoard, came from Islamic dirham coins in what is now Iran and Iraq.  The silver traveled from the Middle East to Scandinavia along trade routes known as the Austrvegr [OWST-er VAY-gr] before being transported to England. 

According to Dr. Kershaw, most people think of Vikings purely as raiders and plunderers.  However, this study shows how the Vikings used both military and commercial means to attain wealth and were integrated into Eurasian economic networks.  While they continued to use raids and systems of tribute, they also imported and recast foreign silver to use as standardized currency in trade. 

The silver also shows how the Vikings used advanced metalworking techniques.  They refined some of the metal with lead from local areas in Yorkshire.  One artifact, a large twisted-rod neck ring, appears to be made of both eastern and western silver.  This blend of materials reveals Viking participation in global economic and cultural networks.  

Our third story takes us to Southeast Asia, where a new study of a specific ancient coin design  has revealed connections across the region for trade and cultural interactions. 

As reported by Phys.org, a multi-institutional team led by the National University of Singapore analyzed 245 Southeast Asian coins from the first millennium AD.  The coins have known provenances from Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand.

Archaeological evidence and historical records, including some from second century China, show the importance of Southeast Asian trade networks.  These networks connected areas between the Near East and China, leaving behind artifacts of Roman glassware, Indian jewelry and ceramics from Persia, Southwest Asia and China.

One important artifact type associated with these networks is die-cast silver coins, found all over Southeast Asia.  Dies are molds that imprint a design onto blank metal disks to make a coin.  The study focuses on one common design for these coins, where one side has a rising sun and the other has a Srivatsa [SHREE-vaht-suh], an early Indian religious symbol.

According to lead author Dr. Andrew Harris of the National University of Singapore, although this design has the widest distribution across early Southeast Asia, it has been understudied.  Rather than view the coins as a complete dataset from across economic and cultural networks, researchers have often linked them to groups within the limits of individual modern nation-states.

The study found that coins across the region were connected.  This pattern hints that the currency-based economies changed over time.  Researchers believe that one coin from Bangladesh and one from Vietnam were cast from the same die, suggesting long-distance circulation of currency.

This research shows how ancient currency helped form trading and cultural connections across early Southeast Asia.  Further investigation might help scholars better understand key settlements in the region, the role of silver in trade, and the development of currency-based economies.

Aside from being useful for archaeological research, die studies can also help prevent the looting of ancient coins.  Identifying their provenance can expose forgeries, stop illicit trade and preserve cultural heritage. 

The study appeared in the journal Antiquity. 

We end our week in the Atapuerca [ah-tah-PWHERE-kah] Mountains in northern Spain, where a new study of Neolithic remains hints that European human ancestors, contrary to their peaceful image, may have performed cannibalism against intergroup rivals.

As reported by Phys.org, Francesc Marginedas of the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution and his colleagues conducted the study.  The team examined more than 600 bones from 11 skeletons of adults, juveniles and children found in the El Mirador Cave.  The remains that are the focus of this study are around 5,700 years old, dating to the Middle Neolithic period.

Researchers used microscopy analysis to uncover signs of processing and cannibalism.  69 bones had indications of butchery; others had marks that suggested that skin and muscle had been sliced from them.  Based on their translucency, some bones appear to have been boiled, while others were cracked open, likely to access their marrow.  The team even identified signs of human tooth marks on some of the specimens, providing strong support for cannibalism.

The individuals were cannibalized after death.  People skinned the individuals, removed their limbs, and then cooked and ate them, possibly for several days.  The butchering seems comprehensive, involving meat, viscera, marrow, and brains.  

Researching ancient cannibalism is difficult because of lack of evidence pointing to a motive.  However, the team was able to rule out emergency survival, since no signs of food scarcity at the time are apparent.  They also rejected funerary and ritual practices because nothing similar is known in the region.

Because the individuals who were cannibalized appear to belong to one family, scholars believe that a neighboring group killed them in a single event.  Other Neolithic massacres in Spain, France and Germany around the same period point to a pattern of intergroup violence.

By uncovering a more complex picture of life that included violence and conflict, this new study challenges the popular assumption that Neolithic people were all peaceful farmers. 

The study came out in the journal Scientific Reports. 

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!