by JESSICA E. SARACENI
Here are photographs of artifacts that have been recovered since the looting of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
Geoarchaeologist Reid Ferring of the University of North Texas thinks that clusters of rocks uncovered in Dmanisi, Republic of Georgia, may have been thrown by early hominins at carnivores in order to steal their prey. “There’s no possible way they got there naturally,” he said. Such rocks may have also been used to pound and cut meat or smash bones.
Textiles and rope fragments discovered 30 years ago in a cave in Peru’s Andes Mountains have been dated to 12,000 years ago, making them the oldest textiles ever found in South America. “By dating the textiles themselves, we were able to confirm their antiquity and refine the timing of the early occupation of the Andes highlands,” said Edward Jolie of Mercyhurst College.
Did volcanic ash fortify the poor soils of the lowland Maya world? Scientists have found a mineral in Tikal’s canals that only comes from the breakdown of volcanic ash. Air currents may have carried ash across the region from distant volcanoes.
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