Welcome back, everybody!  I’m Rick Pettigrew, to bring you the latest batch of four fascinating 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 interpretation posits that southern Africa was the starting point for modern humans as they migrated out of Africa and into the rest of the world.  Excavations at Ek Balam in the Yucatan reveal inscriptions identifying the name of the king and the religious proscriptions he enforced.  DNA from Neanderthal remains in Crimea show a clear link to Neanderthal relatives far to the east in Central Asia.  And the most extensive excavations of the royal complex in Benin City, Nigeria, generate a huge new body of data about West Africa’s most influential pre-colonial kingdom.

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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 October 26th through November 1st, 2025.

This week we begin in South Africa, where a team of local archaeologists is taking a holistic view of the probable route our ancestors took out of our collective cradle.  

As reported by The Conversation, genetic analyses point to Africa as the continent from which our ancestors dispersed during the Late Pleistocene epoch, which began some 126,000 years ago.  The most likely route of this migration remains a subject of debate, however. 

This research team was led by Allen Whitfield, study lead author and Emeritus Chief Scientist of the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity.

Describing the results of their research in the journal Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, Whitfield and his co-authors proposed that modern humans began this journey near and along the coast of southern Africa.  From this origin point around 70,000 years ago, they would have followed the eastern coastline northward.  In their view, between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago, they would have been able to reach a neighboring continent.  We must note, however, that the first arrivals in Australia are generally considered to have arrived between 50,000 and 65,000 years ago

The team cited several avenues of evidence including climate, environment, geography, and their marine food sources to support the idea that these groups followed the intertidal zone up and out of Africa.  This zone would have been rich in marine molluscs, fish and shellfish, all excellent and sustainable sources of protein that may have enhanced cognitive capacity for a more modern society in the Cape.

This study, contrary to the current belief among archaeologists that this migration began in East Africa, may help us paint a clearer picture of how humanity spread across the globe. 

We now go to the Yucatan Peninsula, where archaeologists and epigraphers from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH [spell out letters], are cataloging artifacts from a Maya city’s heyday. 

As reported by the Greek Reporter, a vaulted stone recovered during their work at the Ek Balam [ehk bah-LAHM] archaeological zone was of particular interest to the researchers.  Partial inscriptions on the stone confirm that the acropolis that once stood at the site was inhabited in the late 8th century by a notable individual: its king.

The vault lid, dated to late AD 782, carries a painted representation of K’awiil [kuh-WEEL], a mythic figure in Maya iconography connected to power, lightning and rulership.  The slab’s partial inscriptions also include the name of this ruler at the time, Ukit Kan Lek Tok [just as it looks].  According to the press release from INAH, this inscription both confirms that he lived in the east wing and assists us in dating the entire complex.

The archaeological team’s field reports describe an elaborate complex decorated with modeled stucco friezes and benches.  Depicting captives, warriors, turtles, suns, jaguars, and monkeys, these representations are linked to Maya concepts of life and death.  

The field team, directed by archaeologists Leticia Vargas de la Peña and Víctor Rogerio Castillo Borges, recovered eight of these slabs as they worked for just over a year to restore nine chambers of the ancient acropolis.  Their work was part of a larger consolidation project, where they aimed to consolidate the East Plaza at the acropolis, along with additional INAH initiatives.

The vault lid, together with the decorations on the east plaza, point to Ek’ Balam being alive with religious and political identity during the Late Classic period, and highlight the role of K’awiil-associated imagery in anchoring royal authority.

This next discovery brings us to Crimea, where we visit the Paleolithic architectural site of Starosele [star-o-SEH-leh].

As reported by the Greek Reporter, archaeologists have recovered a number of artifacts at this site that date between 47,000 and 42,000 years ago, placing it within a transitional period for both its culture and its inhabitants. 

A growing collection of discoveries from Starosele have given us a clearer picture of what life was like during this period, such as tool designs that connect it to the Altai region of eastern Central Asia, a key area for understanding Neanderthal expansion.  This is in addition to clear horse, rhino and wolf remains, evidence of a hunting community thriving in a diverse biosphere. 

Our listeners may recognize Starosele in connection with the remains of a child that were discovered there in the 1950s.  Archaeologists would debate whether the child was a Neanderthal or a modern human for the next few decades—and if the latter, when the burial had taken place.

Starosele’s specimens are often poorly preserved, making DNA testing nearly impossible.  A modern technique that uses collagen peptide mass fingerprinting has re-opened the possibility of zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry. 

The team, comprising archaeologists from Austria, the United States, Germany, and South Korea, detailed their use of this technique in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

They analyzed 150 bone fragments, almost all of which carried sufficient collagen preservation for taxonomic identification.  Of these 150 fragments, one roughly 5-centimeter fragment warranted additional testing by mitochondrial sequencing, which confirmed it to belong to the Neanderthal lineage. 

This individual's genetic information also aligned with Neanderthals who were located at Altai. The mitochondrial genome seems most closely related to five Neanderthal individuals from three sites in the Altai region.  In addition, stone tools from Starosele are a good match for their counterparts in the Altai.  Given that this region sits some 5,000 kilometers to Starosele’s east, this finding draws a strong connection between the Neanderthal populations of Europe and Asia. 

To examine this relationship further, the research team used ancient climate data to simulate the conditions in which these ancient individuals may have traveled.  They identified a corridor at about 55 degrees north latitude where conditions would have been habitable, further strengthening the association between the Starosele and the Altai’s Neanderthal populations.

These discoveries, in conjunction with the rest of Starosele’s findings, suggest that European Neanderthals migrated to the Altai in two, perhaps even three different periods, bringing Neanderthal history and their migrations into sharper focus.

Finally, we visit southern Nigeria, where preparations for the soon-to-open Museum of West African Art in Benin [beh-NEEN] City have brought archaeologists to a deeper understanding of one of the oldest and most developed states in West Africa: the Kingdom of Benin.

As reported by Science News Today, the Kingdom began around AD 1200.  It was a significant player in the region, known in its day for its urban planning and artistry, until it was occupied and colonized by the British in 1897.  The British looted thousands of pieces of art from the palace in Benin City, known as the Benin bronzes.  They can be found in museums across the world today. 

As Benin City was the Kingdom’s capital, the palace stood where the Museum is located today.  In advance of this new construction, archaeologists began work in 2022 on what would be the largest project of its kind to date in a West African urban context. 

As they worked for the next two years, excavators focused on unexcavated sectors of the historic palace complex, utilizing both intrusive and non-intrusive methods to investigate the site while mitigating the impact of construction. 

The archaeological team made use of a number of tools, including ground-penetrating radar, geo-technical monitoring coupled with test-pit evaluation, and single-context recording.  They also paired machine excavators with a careful hand-digging process, making a template for further development-led fieldwork along the way. 

Their efforts have been rewarded with ever deepening snapshots of the area’s history.  These include police barracks from the days of colonial rule, a post-independence hospital, items from the peak of Benin royalty, and materials that predate the Kingdom entirely. 

Structural remains, associated features and material culture provide insights into site function and historic lifeways.  One of the most extensive building complexes features strong evidence for ritual activity, including arranged upturned pots, cowrie-shell caches in pots and molded chalk arrangements. 

Drawing the most comprehensive archaeological picture to date of Benin City’s history, this project has shone a spotlight on the opportunities for archaeological research and mitigation in advance of construction in Nigeria and West Africa.

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!