Ancient News

17/07/2023

The discovery of stone tools and animal remains in central Oregon suggests that humans were living in North America around 18,250 years ago, according to recent research. The findings, which are not yet published in a peer-reviewed study, indicate that this site is potentially thousands of years older than any other known archaeological site in Oregon. The excavation took place at Rimrock Draw, which includes a rock shelter that has been under investigation since 2011 in collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management.

Initially, archaeologists uncovered stone tools from the Paleo-Indian period, dating from 15,000 B.C. to 7,000 B.C. However, the geological layers of the site indicated the presence of even older sediment layers. During the excavation, archaeologists were surprised to find a stone tool with dried bison blood beneath a layer of volcanic sediment from the eruption of Mount St. Helens around 15,400 years ago. This discovery suggests that humans were hunting and butchering ice age animals in the Pacific Northwest much earlier than previously thought.

To obtain solid dates for the site, researchers conducted direct tests on some of the remains, including tooth enamel from a now-extinct camel known as Camelops. The first dating attempt in 2018 yielded an extremely old date, prompting the need for additional evidence. The subsequent carbon dating of the camel and bison teeth samples confirmed that humans likely used Rimrock Draw approximately 18,250 years ago. The researchers plan to publish their findings in a peer-reviewed article in the near future.

The discovery at Rimrock Draw adds to the ongoing research on human migration to the Americas. While it was once believed that humans arrived in the continent around 13,000 years ago by crossing the Bering Land Bridge during the last ice age, genetic and archaeological evidence has been pushing the timeline further back. However, these earlier dates continue to be a subject of debate among archaeologists. The findings at Rimrock Draw contribute to our understanding of early human presence in North America and may pave the way for the discovery of even older sites in the future.

One of the earliest North American human occupation sites, dating to more than 18,000 years ago, was discovered in Oregon.

18/08/2020

One of the most amazing discoveries of the year!

The mine was active for 2,000 years, from about 12,000 to 10,000 years ago.

18/08/2020

The full first episode of Awakening Truth is now free to watch on Youtube in its entirety! Give a big thank you, link and follow to Rob Arnold and Awakening Truth Series for the free upload and/or send a him a donation if you can!!

"Awakening Truth" presents discoveries that have been pushed aside in mainstream science and history. These discoveries may have the potential to help humani...

28/05/2020

Wow fascinating news from Poland that I almost missed today! Paleolithic Hunters possibly hunted and ate wolfs! If the 30,000 year old date is correct that means that was an Anatomically Modern Human in east Africa. There were also bones of bears and lions, pretty hardcore

https://www.archaeology.org/news/8718-200527-paleolithic-hunters-carnivores

21/05/2020

When it comes to the human genetic history of the East Asian population, the information available is really inadequate. The primary reason ascertainable is the lack of data of ancient DNA of the population and lack of large-scale studies on this aspect. Shedding new lights on this topic, two researchers have conducted large-scale studies of ancient human genomes of the East Asian region.

They suggest that many of the current descendants carry the genetic information of two distinct populations of the ancient period. These distinct populations started interbreeding after agricultural practices developed some 10,000 years back. The studies also indicate how humans settled in this region. They found that there was a link between the coastal inhabitants and those that inhabited the expanse of Southern China to the South Pacific.

To start with, let’s see what the research published in Science on May 14 has to say. This research analysed the genomes of 26 ancient individuals that were inhabitants of Northern and Southern East Asia, 9,500-300 years back. The ancient genomes were extracted mostly from the Yellow River Basin in Northeastern China. This region in China is situated at a distance of more than a thousand kilometers from the Fujian Province in Southeast China.

The team led by Qiaomei Fu, the population geneticist belonging to the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, found in their analysis that in the early Neolithic period, that is some 10,000-6,000 years ago, people from the North and South parts were genetically distinct. They did not have linkages. But, as time passed on, these two genetically distinct groups started mixing; they started interbreeding. Fu’s team could not accurately decipher the exact period of starting of this mixing. However, their analysis hinted that the mixing could have begun some 5,000-4,000 years ago, a time period of the late Neolithic period. The current population of Chinese has much of their genetic ancestry linked to the groups from the North side, but they also have genetic relation to the ancient Fujian people.

According to Ling Qin, the archaeologist at Peking University, Beijing, “This suggests that farming in East Asia could have spread through mixing of farmers and hunter-gatherers.”

On the other hand, ancient genome studies of western Eurasia tell us that farmers having ancestry from the Middle-East replaced the hunters-gatherers of Europe.

The other study led by noted population geneticist David Reich, posted on the preprint server bioArxiv analysed 200 ancient genomes from across East Asia. In this study, 20 ancient genomes of 5,000 years old individuals were conducted that belonged to the region studied by Fu’s team. They found connections of these archaic individuals with modern day Tibetans.

Both the teams’ studies found an interesting connection. Fu’s team found that people living near China’s coast (Northeast or Southwest) during the Neolithic period had a sharing of ancestry with the individuals of coastal sites of Southeast Asia and that of Japan. Fu says, “That means the entire coast of East Asia is a really important place for people to migrate.” Reich’s team also found a similar connection. From both of the teams’ findings, it is suggestive that modern human settlement in East Asia started along a coastal route.

Not quite known, East Asia’s deep history of human genetics can get a new hope from these studies. The hope that ancient genomic studies of this region, a quite complicated one, can open up new paradigms of human migration, settlement and intermixing among different populations in this region.

From

Not quite known, East Asia’s deep history of human genetics can get a new hope from these studies.

21/05/2020

The origins of our domesticated animals such as the chicken, cow, and horse are a fun rabbit hole to drop into! This article is a bout how the Chinese first attempted to domesticate the Quail

A new analysis ruffles the story of poultry domestication 

18/05/2020

I have been excited to read new findings on this discovery!!

New ancient genomic research reveals information about human history in China. Newly released genomes from Neolithic East Asia have unveiled a missing piece of human prehistory, according to a study conducted by Prof. FU Qiaomei's team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthro

18/05/2020

More underwater archaeology news! Scans can help us explore underwater sites from the comfort and dryness of land )

Archaeologists in Germany are using a pioneering new 3D underwater laser to explore a 3000-year-old bronze age burial site and a medieval settlement from the 11th to 15th centuries. - HeritageDaily - Archaeology News

17/05/2020

Summer Solstice LIVE STREAM at Stone Henge Stonehenge FIRST TIME EVER watch here

This year, we'll be able to watch a livestream of the solstice sunrise online live from Stonehenge.

17/05/2020

"These are the oldest Homo sapiens fossils ever found in Europe!"

But what does that mean for our complicated history with the Neanderthals?

17/05/2020

Some researchers have suggested that Homo sapiens may have already occasionally entered Europe by this time, finds of this age are typically attributed to Neanderthals, until now!

https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://www.technologynetworks.com/analysis/news/fossils-from-bulgaria-are-earliest-known-upper-paleolithic-homo-sapiens-334695&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTNTY2MzU0NjAyOTUxMTUwNDUwMDIaMTMwN2QzYjA5NjUzOTYwYzpjb206ZW46VVM&usg=AFQjCNF9wEPhiuNvFL-wk5IwuWgsnzNMng

16/05/2020

The age of underwater Archaeology is upon us frends!

Today, sea-level rise is a great concern of humanity as climate change warms the planet and melts ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica. Indeed, great coastal cities around the world like Miami and New Orleans could be underwater later in this century.