Kris's Archaeology Blog

In AD 998, the Viking Leif Ericson (or Leifr Eiríksson) established a post on what he called Vinland, what we call Labrador in eastern Canada. The archaeological site where he landed is called L'Anse aux Meadows today, but that attempt to colonize was a bitter failure. It failed in part because the Vikings couldn't or wouldn't adapt to the rigors of the worsening climate, but mostly because there were people already living there, called "Skraelings," who didn't take kindly to the newcomers. Skraelings have tentatively been identified as the Thule, ancestors to the Inuit who originated in the Bering Strait region and migrated through Canada, and from some archaeological sites such as Skraeling Island.

The Thule Migration

L'Anse aux Meadows Photo Credit: Rosa Cabecinhas and Alcino Cunha

A new article in American Antiquity argues that the Thule migration---when the ancestors of the Inuit left the Bering Strait region and began their spread into the Canadian High Arctic---occurred about 1200 AD, two hundred years later than previously believed.

The research from T. Max Friesen and Charles Arnold reports new radiocarbon dates from two crucial sites on the Thule spread: Nelson River and the Washout site. Both of those sites are located on the Amundsen Gulf of the Beaufort Sea, just east of Alaska and hence the 'jumping off point' for the migration. The new dates were warranted, say Friesen and Arnold, because many recently excavated Thule sites (including Co-op, Tiktalik, Pearce Point, Cache Point) had returned radiocarbon dates later than the original dates of Nelson River and Washout. Each of these sites contained harpoon heads of the same styles seen at Nelson River and Washout. Finally, the dates falling within 2 sigmas at Nelson River and Washout covered a fairly broad range of time, Nelson River between AD 720 and 1270; and Washout between AD 350 and 1260.

The new dates, taken on terrestrial bone or sedge matting from each of the sites are AD 1030-1300 for Nelson River, and AD 1300-1430 for Washout. These dates align with those from Pearce Point and Co-op and Tiktalik and Cache Point, making the researchers believe that the Thule migration did take place later, and more rapidly, than previously believed.

So Who Were the Skraelings?

If the dates prove correct, the redating of the Thule emigration into eastern Canada is 200 years and more too late for this society to represent Leif Ericson's Skraelings, who must have been Dorset culture folks, who lived in the Canadian eastern Arctic and Greenland between 800 BC and AD 1300.

Sources

• See the article on Thule Tradition for further information about the Thule and their migration from the Bering Strait.
• The University of Waterloo has a substantial library of information about the prehistoric peoples of Canada, including interesting papers on Dorset Culture and Thule Tradition.
• Nelson River, includes further information on this important site
• L'Anse aux Meadows, where Leif Ericssen met Skraelings in what is now Labrador.
• Friesen, T. Max and Charles D. Arnold 2008 The Timing of the Thule Migration: New Dates from the Western Canadian Arctic. American Antiquity 73 (3):527-538.

And, since you can read the article yourself, I'm going to link to it and leave it at that.

• Hamilton, Elizabeth G. 2008 Adventures in experimental smelting: Iron the old-fashioned way. Expedition 49(3):13-19. Article can be downloaded for free
• Expedition, their entire catalog
• University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology
• Inagina, Last House of Iron, a video on a similar experiment conducted in Africa by ethnoarchaeologist Eric Huysecom and eleven Dogon master blacksmiths

• Bigfoot vs. Indiana Jones: Battle of the Century
• Return of the Yeti: Media Bigfoots Await Afternoon 'Bigfoot' Press Conference, Editor and Publisher
• We put Yeti in the Freezer, from the Daily Star.

Hmm. I believe the start of the Silly Season has been officially signaled.

Excavations at the site of Sagalassos in Turkey have uncovered the remains of an enormous Roman era statue of the Empress Faustina. Sagalassos is a Roman metropolis that has been featured in Archaeology magazine's Interactive Digs, and it's being excavated by Katholieke Universiteit Leuven team (Belgium) directed by Marc Waelkens.

Faustina was the wife of Antoninus Pius, the successor of the emperor Hadrian; a colossal statue of Hadrian himself was discovered near this location last year.

The marble head is 2.5 feet high with large almond-shaped eyes and fleshy lips, according to Archaeology's web page, where you can find all the details on this exciting discovery.

• Colossal Head of Roman Empress Unearthed, Marc Waelkens at Archaeology Online.
• Sagalassos, on Archaeology magazine's Interactive Digs
• More on the Emperor Hadrian and his crowd, from our Ancient History guide, N.S. Gill.

Four Stone Hearth #47--Unasked Questions Edition

Photo by Fred H. Smith

Wordless Wednesday and Wordless Wednesday on About

A newly retrieved Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence indicates that humans anatomically modern humans (AMH) and Neanderthals are different species, and in fact evolved separately sometime between 550,000 and 820,000 years ago.

Last week in the journal Cell, a team led by Svante Paabo reported that a complete Neanderthal mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence has been recovered from a bone excavated at the Vindija Cave site in Croatia.

Bone Vi-80

The bone, referred to as bone 33.16 in the latest article, is called Vi-80 in the older literature. Vi-80 is a fragment of a bone from a male Neanderthal. The bone was excavated from the G3 level of Vindija cave in 1980; it has been radiocarbon dated to 38,310 +/- 2130 radiocarbon years before the present (RCYBP). G3 is one of four and maybe five fairly intact levels at Vindija that hold human remains: Vindija cave's archaeological levels hold remains of both AMH and Neanderthals in its deposits. Level G3 is strictly a Neanderthal level, with Mousterian-type artifacts alongside. See the Vindija Cave glossary entry for specifics.

It is great good luck that a bone excavated nearly 30 years ago has not been contaminated by modern DNA from people handling the bone. Researchers looking at Vi-80 (among other samples) discovered DNA fragments there that were predominantly Neanderthal ~99% of the 63 base-pair mtDNA segments and ~94% of the 119-base pair segments were of Neanderthal origin. It so far is the most DNA recovered from a Neanderthal individual. That level of integrity allowed Green and colleagues to recreate the entire mtDNA sequence.

Neanderthals, Family and Neighbors

Interestingly, Lalueza-Fox and colleagues discovered similar DNA sequences--fragments of sequences, that is--in Neanderthals from Feldhofer Cave (Germany) and El Sidron (northern Spain), leading them to suggest that a common demographic history existed among Neanderthal groups in eastern Europe and the Iberian peninsula. The implications of that, with respect to movement of Neanderthal populations and interactions with AMH populations living in the same vicinity, have yet to be discussed.

Sources and Further Info

Vindija Cave, Croatia.
Photo Credit: Fred H. Smith

A substantial bibliography is available on the glossary entry for Vindija Cave. See also the Neanderthal Study Guide, and the discussion on Anatomically Modern Humans

• Green, Richard E., et al. 2008 A Complete Neandertal Mitochondrial Genome Sequence Determined by High-Throughput Sequencing. Cell 134(3):416-426. The original article; the abstract's free, although the article itself is not
• No Neanderthal In You, Says Ancient DNA, Brandon Keim in Wired
• Complete Neanderthal Mitochondrial Genome Sequenced From 38,000-year-old Bone, Science Daily
• The Complete Vindija 33.16 Neandertal Mitochondrial Genome Announced in Cell, Kambiz Kamrati on Anthropology.net
• Complete Neandertal mitochondrial sequence, and selection on human (not Neandertal) mtDNA, John Hawks

The ancient Olympic games were held in the Greek city of Olympia beginning in 776 BC. As a place of athletic competition, Olympia had a complex with a gymnasium, swimming pool and baths.

Caption goes here
Photo Credit: Aschwin Prein

Archaeological excavations at Olympia in the late 19th century by German archaeologist Ernst Curtius generated great public interest in ancient Greece, eventually resulting in the re-institution of the Olympic Games.

The Walking Tour of Olympia illustrates gymnasium buildings, temples, villas, the Olympic flame, and the stadium entrance, where the athletes marched in the parades.

• Olympia, definition and bibliography
• A Walking Tour of Olympia
• History of the Olympics
• Beijing 08: Live the Olympics, About.com's Olympics Coverage

Added: I just got word that The Biblical Archaeology Society compiled a free, downloadable E-Book dedicated to the origins of the ancient Olympic Games. They tell me "It is a collection of articles written for them by scholars in the field, such as Stephen Miller, who excavated the site at Nemea." The book can be downloaded at The Olympic Games: How They All Began, if you'll sign up for the weekly e-newsletter of the BAS.

"My interpretation," says Greenberg, "is that archaeologists are naïve children in their political perception.... They just don't want to know. They want to dig in the ground, get their hands dirty, find nice stuff, and it really is too great a mental exertion to think about what the impact is of what [they're] doing on society."

This quote from Tel Aviv University archaeologist Rafi Greenberg appears in a blistering article in The Nation this week, from writer Adina Hoffman. Called "What lies beneath", the article questions the politics behind ongoing Israeli excavations in the ancient city of Siloam, now the Palestinean city of Silwan in East Jerusalem.

Read this article, especially if Greenberg's quote hits too close to home for comfort.

What lies beneath, Adina Hoffman's article in The Nation, dated 30 July 2008

Thanks to faithful reader Forrest G for the tip.

• Rock Art and Archaeology
• Modeling an Ancient Village
• Ancient Roadways
• This Old Schoolhouse