Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew, with 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 new publication offers a thorough argument that intentional interment actually did take place in South Africa more than 240,000 years ago.  A newly discovered red-floored building in southeastern Turkey offers evidence for community symbolism among Neolithic people 9500 years ago .  A recently discovered city near the Peruvian coast shows how the ancient Caral-Supe Civilization tried to adapt to a fatal drought.  And analysis of a sediment core from a town in Britain shows that the mining industry did not crash when the Roman army abandoned the province.

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And now, here’s Zayne Clayton, in for 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 Zayne Clayton, and these are the headlines in archaeological and historical news for the week of September 7th through the 13th, 2025. 

Our first story this week comes from a cave system in South Africa, where a new study has presented a thorough body of evidence that a rare species of hominin practiced intentional burial more than 200,000 years ago. 

As reported by Phys.org, researchers discovered the species Homo naledi (na LED ee) in 2015 in the Rising Star cave system.  The naledi, who lived more than 240,000 years ago, have been found only in this cave system.  The caves held over 1,500 bones from more than 15 individuals. The remains come from the Dinaledi (dee nuh LED ee) Subsystem more than 30 meters underground, especially in the Puzzle Box room.  

Homo naledi individuals had unusual bodies.  Standing five feet tall, they had brains the size of a three-month-old modern human infant.  Their appendages resembled those of modern humans, but their hips and shoulders were akin to those of australopiths (aw STRAH low piths). 

The idea that another species of hominin could have intentionally buried their dead is monumental.  Scholars have generally regarded the practice as specifically modern-human, attributing it to symbolism, sentimentality and superior cognition.  For decades, researchers have debated over whether Neanderthals buried their dead.  The famous Neanderthal flower burial at Shanidar Cave in Iraq, for example, suggests that they dug out a cavity in the soil to prepare for interment.  

The team, led by anthropologist Lee Berger from the University of Witwatersrand [WIT-waters-rand] in Johannesburg, analyzed skeletal concentrations and their sediments from three late juvenile individuals to determine the most plausible interpretation.  To prove that a burial was cultural, archaeologists must differentiate intentional digging or burial from natural indentations, animal interference or natural burial processes like water flow.   

Around the cave system, the team found no evidence of the sediment moving on its own, water moving the sediment or burial by slumping.  Researchers also found no signs of predation, and all bodies were found far away from the entry point.  These signs all point to a cultural burial.  

Scholars are still unclear why the naledi buried their dead in a cave, especially in such an inconvenient, dangerous location.  Likely factors include sentimentality, spiritual beliefs and the desire to avoid the smell and sight of decomposition.  

This discovery indicates that we still have much to learn about our hominin cousins and what they were capable of.  The study appeared in the journal eLife.

Next we go to southeastern Turkey, where archaeologists have uncovered a 9,500-year-old building with a painted red floor that likely served a social purpose in its community. 

As detailed by the Greek Reporter, the Neolithic site of Çayönü Tepesi [CHAI-yuh-noo tep-eh-SEE] is one of the world’s earliest known permanent settlements.  Since it was founded more than 12,000 years ago in Upper Mesopotamia, the site has seen many early human developments.   

Researchers consider it a key part of the Neolithic Revolution, when humans switched from hunting and gathering to agriculture and permanent settlement.  Here, archaeologists have discovered evidence of animal domestication, cereal cultivation and copper working.  

The latest discovery at the site is a large, unusual building, erected between 7600 and 7500 BC., with a unique floor painted red.  The paint was likely made of ochre or clay from nearby mountains. 

Researchers discovered that, over a period of 150 to 200 years, the inhabitants repainted the floor at least four times.  This repeated re-painting points to the floor’s likely symbolic purpose, related to rituals or community life. 

According to excavation director and associate professor Savaş Sarıaltin [sah-VAHSH sah-ree-ahl-toon] from Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University [CHAH-nahk-KAH-leh ohn-SEK-eez mart], this structure is different from other domestic buildings on the site.  It’s one of the most important discoveries at Çayönü Tepesi because it features a shared community space.  

The newly found building is located near the Terrazzo Building, famous for its mosaic floor.  This proximity hints that both held important communal or ceremonial meaning. 

Çayönü Tepesi was a key site for the human transition into settlement, and this new discovery shows how people innovated the concepts of shared identity and ritual life.  

Our third story takes us to the Supe [SOO-pay] Valley in Peru, where Peñico [pen-YEE-co], an ancient city from the Caral (ca RAHL) Civilization shows how its people used non-violent strategies to cope with climate change. 

The Caral Civilization, the earliest advanced culture in the Americas, lasted from 3500 to 1800 BC.  As reported by the BBC, research has indicated that the society focused on trade, music, ritual and consensus rather than violence; researchers have found no weapons or border walls. 

The main settlement of the civilization, the city of Caral-Supe, contained about 3,000 people.  They grew cotton, sweet potatoes, chili peppers, and squash, and gathered fish and shellfish from the ocean.  In contrast to other New World civilizations built on conquest, the Caral had peaceful trade networks with people from the mountains and the Amazon.  They welcomed their trading partners to large amphitheaters for rituals and ceremonies featuring flute music.  

But 4000 years ago, the Caral faced an intense, 130-year-long drought–a global crisis that reached as far as Mesopotamia and China.  Since the Caral survivors had to abandon urban centers, researchers had believed they migrated to the coast.  However, the new discovery of Peñico shows how they adapted to climate change. 

Located ten kilometers away from Caral-Supe, Peñico features 18 structures, including residential buildings and ceremonial temples.  One remarkable feature is a set of circular central plazas, which might indicate a consensus form of government.  The settlement is set further upstream, closer to glacier meltwater.  This allowed the Caral Civilization to survive a bit longer.  

According to chief archaeologist Dr. Ruth Shady [SHAH-dee], this find is remarkable because it provides further evidence of the respect with which the Caral treated other cultures and nature.  Despite the crisis, researchers have found no traces of any warfare or weapons at the site. Instead, they have uncovered evidence of art and ritual that would maintain group identity.  For example, archaeologists discovered clay figurines, beaded necklaces and carved bones, including one shaped like a skull.  One notable find is a sculpture of a female head with her face painted red with hematite.  

Peñico offers an incredible example of how a society can adapt to climate hardship with cooperation and respect.  

We end our week in Aldborough in Yorkshire [YORK-sher], England, where a new study has analyzed a sediment core from a Roman mining town, finding evidence that British metal production did not die after the Romans left. 

As reported by Phys.org, during their conquest of Britain, the Romans brought large-scale lead and iron production with them.  After the Roman army left Britain shortly after AD 400, the lack of further evidence of industrial metal production led archaeologists to assume that this practice stopped. 

The new study, led by researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Nottingham and  other UK universities, found new evidence of further production after Roman forces left England.  They studied a five-meter sediment core from the Roman town and production center of Isurium Brigantum (ee SOO ree um bree GAN toom). 

The town was one of the largest lead producers from the Roman period, which began in 43 AD, to a time around 1700 in the modern period.  The analysis showed how British metal production continued after the Romans left until a sudden decline between 550 and 600. 

Researchers cannot definitively prove the reason for the crash, but historical and genetic evidence indicates that the bubonic plague during this period impacted economic activities like metal production. 

According to lead author Professor Christopher Loveluck from the University of Nottingham, this core provides the first continuous record of metal production and history in Britain, disproving the myth of the industry’s collapse.  The sediment core reveals that the town continued producing metal and adapting to historical events.  For example, Henry the Eighth’s dissolution of the monasteries made it more economically advantageous to reuse metal taken from monasteries, so metal production declined.  As another example, a rise in the level of metal pollution in the core correlates to prosperity, while a lack of metal pollution indicates factors like war and pandemics.  This allows researchers to better understand sociopolitical circumstances where textual evidence is scarce. 

This research offers vital insights into the complexity of early British economic history.  The study appeared in the journal Antiquity.  

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 Zayne Clayton and I’ll see you next week!