28 FEVRIER 2018: Finlande - Gamble's cave - Yungang - Thessalonique -
INSTITUTE OF ANTHROPOLOGY
ONLINE COURSES / COURS A DISTANCE
SPRING TERM : APRIL 2018
REGISTER NOW
FINLANDE - 
- Strange marks noticed in a prehistoric Finnish grave dating back nearly 5,000 years have been identified as the remains of a goat pelt. Based on electron microscope analysis of miraculously preserved hair, archaeologists from the University of Helsinki believe a goat skin had been laid in the grave, the Cambridge University publication Antiquity reported this week.The grave is associated with “Corded Ware” culture, which began to spread around Europe around 3200 B.C.E., ultimately reaching most of the north of the continent before disappearing around 2300 B.C.E. The distinctive style, created by impressing string or rope onto wet clay for decorative purposes, has been found from the Volga River in the east to the Rhine River in the west, and in southern Sweden and Finland. Corded Ware pottery culture evidently reached prehistoric Finland only hundreds of years after its advent, by around 2800 B.C.E. That’s also the time of the earliest evidence of dairy farming there. Also, the pelt bit is in fact the oldest-known remnant of domestic animal ever found there, said co-author Krista Vajanto.
KENYA – Gamble's cave - For hundreds of thousands of years, people have used fire for everything from cooking to warmth. And now, archaeologists are using fire to track the migration patterns of prehistoric people. A new collaboration between Harvard and the Yale Initiative for the Study of Ancient Pyrotechnology — known as Y-PYRO — examines how climate changes and population movements may have been related in the years 8,000–6,000 B.C. The two professors used obsidian artifacts, which are formed when lava rapidly cools, to conduct their research. 20. The researchers used obsidian artifacts that were excavated in the 1920s and kept in Harvard’s Peabody Museum. This recent work opens avenues for future research in Northern Kenya and about other artifacts that were excavated throughout the 20th century. Pyrotechnology is defined as “any technology related essentially to the control of fire,” Frahm said. This field of study extends to archaeological artifacts — like those made of obsidian — that are created, morphed or preserved by fire. The paper examines artifacts from a site in Gamble’s Cave, located in Western Kenya. As hunters and gatherers began to interact with settled people, the two groups began to trade and transition into more settled societies. Gamble’s Cave is a key reference location for these first interactions. Artifacts such as obsidian shed light on how these people migrated throughout regions, Tryon said. “You can do the chemistry and say, ‘Geologically I know that this rock came from 45, 50 kilometers,’” Tyron said. “And if you can rule out geological factors that might have gotten it there, like streams or something like that, then you have a sense of how people were moving or coming into contact.” Frahm said the Gamble’s Cave area and its archaeological history are also perfect for observing historical climate and excavating materials. These conditions then allow researchers to track the effects of climate change on migration.“We get the high-resolution record of stone tools, and then we get these high-resolution climate records,” Frahm said. Despite evidence of climate change between 8,000 and 6,000 B.C., the paper concluded, demand for obsidian and raw materials “outweighed any changes in the difficulty of its acquisition” by ancient Kenyans.
https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2018/02/27/study-uses-fire-to-examine-kenyan-migration-patterns/
CHINE – 
Yungang Grottoes - A Chinese archaeologist has accidentally discovered a 1,500-year-old mini-statue hidden in a small hole in the Yungang Grottoes in north China's Shanxi Province. The small statue, which was seriously eroded, was found on the west side of the No.16 Cave by Wang Yanqing, a researcher with the Yungang Grottoes Research Institute, when he was surveying the caves during the institute's routine maintenance last year.The statue is 20 centimeters high, and the small hole where it was hidden is 11.5 meters above the ground. It depicts a half-length figure with wide shoulders and a muscular chest and abdomen, with two arms outstretched. The carving style was similar to statues in the No.18 Cave and had a history of 1,500 years, Wang told Xinhua."We guess the statue was carved by the craftsmen who cut the hole. Due to its stealthy location, it was concealed when the wooden beams of the protective structures of the statues were plugged into the hole," he said. The original beam structures of the No. 14 to No. 20 caves were later burned. According to Wang, the newly-discovered statue was not included in the known statues of the site. The Yungang Grottoes in Datong City boast more than 51,000 statues with the largest 17 meters high and the smallest 2 cm high.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2018-02/27/c_137001665.htm
GRECE – 
Thessalonique - New archaeological finds unearthed from the excavations for the Thessaloniki Metro include a headless statue of Aphrodite and floor mosaics from the 4th century AD. The Aphrodite statue was found on the site of Hagia Sophia station, near a fountain complex discovered only a few weeks ago. Earlier, well-preserved mosaic floors from the 4th century were brought to light. The mosaics, which are of great aesthetic value, were also found at the southern entrance of the Hagia Sophia station, according to Voria.gr website. Archaeologists believe the multicolored mosaics belong to either a large public building complex or urban villas of the 4th century AD. The mosaics are in good condition and they are typical geometric decorations, believed to have adorned the floor of the west portico gallery.From the saved floor, a medal with a woman’s figure stands out. She is in a seated position but her face is destroyed; the face of a small child can be seen too, the Voria.gr report says. Apart from the floors, wall ruins and part of a bath that was in the complex have been saved. From the excavations that are still in progress, it turns out there was also a tank that supplied the bath with water. Glass fragments at the site likely belong to bottles with aromatic oils used by the bathers. It is estimated that the complex was built in the 4th century and was used until the 5th century. Then it was wrecked and the marble-lined square was built on top.
http://greece.greekreporter.com/2018/02/21/thessaloniki-metro-dig-reveals-more-ancient-greek-finds/
