Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew to serve up 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!

Our stories this time cover a statistical analysis for explaining the development of early states; evidence for the early migration of humans into Australia; a newly discovered astronomical observatory in Peru; and funerary items of an Egyptian pharaoh placed in the tomb of another pharaoh.

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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 November 23rd through the 25th, 2025.

Our first story this week follows a joint study by Dr. Christopher Opie of the University of Bristol and Prof. Quentin Atkinson of the University of Auckland to investigate whether early states might have developed specifically from the cultivation of grain, rather than just from  intensive agriculture in general. 

As reported by Phys.org, scientists have long debated what caused the emergence of the first states about 5,000 years ago from previous small, egalitarian societies.  These earliest states include Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Indus Valley, China, and Mesoamerica.

Many archaeologists have believed that the formation of states was led by the adoption of agriculture.  However, agriculture became more widespread 9,000 years ago, leaving a large gap of  4000 years in the timeline.  Another proposal suggests that it was not just agriculture that led to states, but the intensification of agriculture with fertilization and irrigation that would create the surplus food requisite to form large societies.

This study tests the idea first proposed by anthropologist James Scott that the cultivation of cereal grains was the precursor to state formation.  Cereal grains include grasses like wheat, barley, rice, and maize.  These crops ripen predictably, grow above ground and are easily storable.  Scott argues that early protection rackets, familiar to us today as forms of organized crime, forced grain cultivation and then taxed it to fund further exploitation.  As writing was invented, states initially adopted it to record taxes, but later it became a way of creating laws and institutions.

The researchers placed 868 early cultures against a global language family tree that showed ancient relationships.  Then, they used a mathematical model to test three hypotheses about agricultural intensification, cereal cultivation and the adoption of writing.

They found a strong correlation between intensive agriculture and state creation, but no evidence that intensive agriculture by itself creates states.  Rather, they propose that the presence of states encouraged and was able to sustain intensive agriculture.

The results supported grain cultivation as a clear driver for state creation.  Researchers also found evidence that non-grain crops like vegetables, fruit, roots, and tubers correlated with statehood, but that these crops often disappeared as states developed.  This loss of non-grain crops indicates that states preferred and encouraged the cultivation of grains that could be taxed.

The team also found a correlation between the creation of writing and taxes, which suggests that writing is adopted by tax-raising societies.  However, the researchers had only a small dataset for taxation, so these results are more uncertain. 

These results also highlight the connection between social systems and modes of communication.  As literacy increased, so did suffrage and democracy.

The study shows strong evidence in favor of Scott’s explanation for state development.  It appeared in the journal Nature. 

Next we go to Australia, where a new study claims that modern humans arrived in the continent 60,000 years ago along two different paths.  This research helps solve a long-standing debate between what have been called the short and long chronologies. 

As reported by Live Science, researchers have long been split on the question of when humans came to Australia.  Some researchers adopt a “short chronology” approach, using genetic models to date the arrival to the time between 47,000 and 51,000 years ago.  Other researchers use the “long chronology” that draws from archaeological evidence, specifically radiocarbon dating, to estimate the arrival within the period from 60,000 to 65,000 years ago.

The international team of researchers analyzed 2,456 human genomes.  They aimed to uncover the date of travel between the landmass Sunda, comprising what is now Indonesia, the Philippines, and the Malaysian Peninsula, and the paleocontinent Sahul, which included what is now Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea. 

The researchers used a molecular clock approach.  This method assumes that DNA mutations occur at a fairly constant rate, which means that archaeologists can estimate the date when sequences diverged, based on their differences.  The team analyzed mitochondrial DNA, passed down through the mother, and data from the Y-chromosome, passed down by the father.

According to Martin Richards, paper co-author and archaeogeneticist from the University of Huddersfield in the UK, this study is the most comprehensive genetic analysis of this question.  The results strongly support the long chronology, and fit with archaeological, oceanographic and paleoclimatic data. 

The researchers found that people came along both northern and a southern routes 60,000 years ago.  The northern route came from northern Sunda in the modern Philippines, while the southern route came from modern Indonesia.  Both groups originated in the same population that left Africa around 70,000 to 80,000 years ago. 

The study suggests that Aboriginal Australians have the oldest unbroken ancestry of any non-African population.  As they traveled to Australia, modern humans likely interbred with archaic hominids.  The extent of these interactions is unclear.  This journey also indicates that seafaring knowledge and skills, although archaeologically preserved, were very important for human survival. 

The study came out in the journal Science Advances.

Our third story takes us to the Casma River valley in the Peruvian region of Ancash, along the north coast, where archaeologists have found a previously unknown structure for observing celestial movements.  The new discovery is much older than the Chankillo solar observatory, previously known as the oldest observatory in the Americas.

As reported by Heritage Daily, the Casma River and the Sechin River, a tributary of the Casma, hold many ancient ruins from the Casma-Sechin culture.  The Casma-Sechin Culture was most prominent between 2000 and 1000 BC.  

The already well-known Chankillo Archaeoastronomical Complex includes the Chankillo solar observatory, which was built around 250 BC.  As the still-unnamed new site is older, its dating could expand the time of American astronomical traditions by centuries. 

Researchers used stratigraphy and construction materials to suggest the initial dating. Soon, they will use radiocarbon dating, which is expected to extend the timeline of Andean astronomical structures.

The structure has a clear solar orientation.  Archaeologists believe that it served to observe solar movements.  The team also found a corridor oriented to the lunar cycle, which indicates that the inhabitants of Chankillo observed both celestial bodies.  This dual focus shows an unprecedented astronomical knowledge. 

The excavation also uncovered a large ceremonial vessel in the ceremonial Patazca style, unique to the Chankillo site.  Archaeologists uncovered the vessel, which features clay warrior figures, in a restricted area near the observatory.  The vessel may indicate that Chankillo had elite groups with ritual authority and astronomical expertise, linking political power and astronomy. 

According to the Peruvian government news release, this discovery indicates Casma’s importance in global ancient astronomical sites. The Ministry of Culture will continue restoring the site in order to open it up to the public. 

Our nonprofit, Archaeological Legacy Institute, conducted a tour in Chankillo in October 2025.  Perhaps in the future, we’ll offer another tour to explore these amazing structures. 

We end our week in the ancient Egyptian city of Tanis, now San el-Hagar, where the discovery of statues in a king’s tomb hints that it once housed the funerary paraphernalia of an earlier pharaoh.

As reported by the Greek Reporter, archaeologists found 225 ushabti statues in the northern room of the tomb of King Osorkon the Second.  These statues point to Pharaoh Sheshonq the Third, who was a powerful king in the Twenty-second Dynasty, which reigned from 837 to 728 BC.

Researchers discovered the figurines during a cleaning of the chamber floor.  They lain for centuries in thick layers of silt.  Each statue bears inscriptions that identify Sheshonq the Third.

In earlier excavations, archaeologists had also found a nearby granite sarcophagus with no inscriptions.  Based on the newly found statues, researchers propose that the sarcophagus belonged to Sheshonq the Third.  These artifacts are crucial to finally uncover his final resting place. 

The tomb raises interesting questions because it contains the burial items of two pharaohs.  It’s possible either that the remains of Sheshonq the Third were moved to the tomb of Osorkon the Second for protection or that only his burial items were moved.  The excavation also uncovered new inscriptions, which might help determine whether the tomb was meant to hold multiple burials or if the structure was reused.

Scholars have long regarded Tanis as a vital city from the Third Intermediate Period.  This new discovery provides important hints into how ancient Egyptians placed and moved funerary items.  It also provides insights into royal funerary traditions and changes in power during the Twenty-second Dynasty. 

Archaeologists will continue the research by cleaning the chamber and deciphering the inscriptions.  They will examine the tomb’s stratigraphy, silt layers and placement patterns to answer questions like whether the remains of Sheshonq the Third are in the tomb. The team expects that many more discoveries lay beneath the silt, but for now, this is one of the most significant Tanis discoveries since the mid-twentieth century. 

That wraps up the news for this week!