Welcome back, everybody!  This is Rick Pettigrew to serve up our 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 the find of a lost Spanish mission in Texas; the earliest minted coin in Scotland; a massive hillfort documented in Ireland; and a cremation in Malawi that is the oldest known for Africa.

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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 December 28th, 2025, through January 3rd, 2026.

Our first story this week comes from southeastern Texas, where archaeologists have identified the long-missing location of a Spanish colonial mission after decades of searching.

As reported by Phys.org, an archaeology team from Texas Tech University, working alongside archaeologists from the Texas Historical Commission, located the site of Mission Nuestra Senora del Espiritu Santo in early December.  The site lies in Jackson County on a private ranch near the Presidio la Bahia [bah-HEE-yah] and the ruins of Fort St. Louis.

The location connects two early chapters of Texas history.  French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, established a settlement at the site in the 1680s as part of France’s attempt to colonize the region.  La Salle later left the colony to search for the mouth of the Mississippi River and was killed by members of his own party.  Native Karankawa [kah-ran-KAH-wah] people later killed or captured the remaining colonists.

Spain briefly occupied the site as part of its missionary efforts along the frontier before abandoning it in the mid-1720s.  After the Spanish departure, the exact location of the mission faded from memory.  This mystery has been the subject of archaeological search efforts for many years.

The research team was led by Tamra Walter, an assistant professor of archaeology at Texas Tech, who credits support from the Summerlee Foundation, the Texas Historical Commission and the private landowners for making the discovery possible.

What makes this discovery especially important is the short period of Spanish occupation.  Activity at the mission likely dates from around 1721 to 1726.  Because later construction did not disturb the site, archaeologists say it offers a clear snapshot of daily life on the Spanish frontier of Texas at that specific moment.

Walter is now planning the next phases of work, which include a magnetic survey to define the site’s boundaries as well as excavation of artifacts.  She also plans to involve Texas Tech students in the fieldwork, providing hands-on experience at a site that adds new evidence to early Texas history.

Our second story this week takes us to southern Scotland, where a newly identified medieval coin is contributing an important piece of information to the history of the country’s earliest money.

As reported by The National, a metal detectorist discovered the earliest known coin minted in Scotland in a wooded area near Penicuik [PEY-nee-kuk] in Midlothian.  The coin has since been given to National Museums Scotland by the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel, ensuring it will remain available for research and public study.

The coin dates to the reign of King David the First, who ruled Scotland from 1124 to 1153 and introduced the country’s first coinage.  Prior to this discovery, researchers believed that all of David’s earliest coins were produced in Carlisle, England, which he controlled during the 1130s.  Very few written records survive from this period to explain how and where coinage developed in Scotland.

The coin’s inscription indicates that it was minted in Edinburgh, a core part of the medieval Scottish kingdom during King David’s reign.  Specialists date the coin to the second half of the 1130s, making it the earliest known example of Scottish coinage produced outside Carlisle.

The coin shows a portrait of the king’s head on one side and a short cross motif on the other.  Details like inscriptions and imagery are important because coins can serve as primary historical sources for medieval societies.  Through their design and distribution, coins help researchers track political authority, economic organization and the growth of royal administration.

Later in King David’s reign, mints operated in locations such as Perth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Aberdeen, St. Andrews, and Roxburgh in the Scottish Borders.  This discovery suggests that the expansion of coin production began earlier and closer to the Crown than previously confirmed.

The metal detectorist found the coin in 2023 and reported it through Scotland’s Treasure Trove system, as required by law.  Specialists believe someone likely dropped it accidentally during medieval times.

Researchers will continue to study the coin in order to better understand how Scotland’s first coinage developed and how it began to circulate within the kingdom.

Our third story this week comes from eastern Ireland, where archaeologists have found new evidence that a prehistoric hillfort once supported a very large community.

As reported by Phys.org, Dr. Dirk Brandherm and colleagues from Queen’s University Belfast identified more than 600 suspected house platforms in the Brusselstown Ring hillfort in County Wicklow, just south of Dublin, using aerial survey work and excavation.  This evidence makes the site the largest tightly clustered hillfort settlement of its kind identified anywhere in prehistoric Ireland and Britain.

Brusselstown Ring is part of the Baltinglass hillfort cluster, a cultural landscape characterized by several large hilltop enclosures that demonstrate the long-term use of the region over thousands of years.  Archaeologists previously had documented activity in the area from the Early Neolithic through the Bronze Age.

The hillfort itself stands out for its size and layout, which includes two widely spaced ramparts enclosing the large area.  The outer enclosure also surrounds a nearby Neolithic hill called Spinas Hill One.  Hillforts that extend across more than one hilltop are very rare in Ireland and Britain, so this site is unique.

By utilizing airborne survey, researchers identified 98 suspected house platforms inside the inner enclosure, with another 509 located between the inner and outer ramparts.  Most prehistoric settlements in Ireland include only a few dwellings, so this level of concentration is striking.

To learn more about the site, archaeologists opened four small test trenches across house platforms of different sizes.  Radiocarbon dating shows that people lived at the site between about 1193 and 410 BC, during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age.  Houses of different sizes were in use at the same time but the artifacts recovered do not show clear signs of strong wealth differences between households.

Researchers also identified a structure that may be a water cistern.  Its shape and stone outline differ from nearby roundhouses, and earlier surveys showed a stream flowing toward it from uphill.  If confirmed, it would be the first known water cistern found at an Irish hillfort.

The team says more research is needed to understand how the settlement worked, how people managed water and why the site was eventually abandoned.

The study appeared in the journal Antiquity.

Our final story this week comes from southern Africa, where archaeologists have documented what appears to be the earliest known intentional cremation of an adult.

As reported by The Independent, a team of researchers uncovered the cremated remains of a small adult woman at the Hora One archaeological site in Malawi [mah-LAH-wee].  The site sits at the base of a granite hill and has been known to archaeologists for decades.  The cremation deposit comprises a thick layer of ash containing fragmented human bones that remained preserved for thousands of years.

Researchers date the cremation to about 9500 years ago, which extends the known use of intentional cremation in Africa much further back in time than previously thought.  Prior to this discovery, the oldest confirmed deliberate cremations involving built funeral pyres in Africa dated to roughly 3300 years ago. 

The evidence shows that people carefully planned and managed the fire.  Soil moisture hardened the ash layer over time, which helped protect the bones from insects and erosion.  Cut marks on bones from stone tools suggest that parts of the body had been de-fleshed close to the time of burning.  Archaeologists emphasize that this treatment reflects funerary preparation rather than violence.

Intentional cremation requires large amounts of fuel, labor and time.  Researchers estimate that building the pyre required gathering large amounts of wood and grass.  People also had to maintain high temperatures long enough to reduce the body to ash and bone fragments.  Such practices are rare among hunter-gatherer societies, who more often bury their dead.

The cremation at Hora One stands out because other burials at the site did not receive the same treatment.  Archaeologists do not yet know why this woman was cremated while others were not.  They suggest the act may relate to ritual behavior, shared memory or social meaning, but the available evidence does not allow for concrete conclusions.

After the cremation, people returned to the location and built additional large fires.  This pattern suggests that the site continued to hold importance for the community over time.

The study appeared in the journal Science Advances.

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!