Oops! Ancient Bronze Age shaman long assumed to be a man was actually a woman, DNA reveals

A DNA analysis of a 4,000-year-old skeleton buried with an elaborate metalworking tool kit near Stonehenge has revealed that the individual, long assumed to be a male shaman, was actually a woman.

livescience.com

What Lies Beneath Karahantepe? A 12,000-Year-Old Stone-Sealed Chamber Will Soon Be Opened | Arkeonews

Archaeologists will open a stone-sealed chamber at Karahantepe in southeastern Türkiye during the 2026 excavation season, gaining access

arkeonews.net

Za záchranu oboru translatologie na FF UK / Save Translation Studies at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University

(Scroll down for English version) Dne 18. 6. 2026 nám vedení FF UK oznámilo, že zamýšlí k 1. lednu 2027 zrušit Ústav translatologie. Část našich zaměstnanců by měla přejít na čtyři filologické katedry, a translatologické programy by měly být postupně přeměněny ve specializace filologických programů. My, zaměstnanci &Ua

petice.com

Diversity Regulation in Local Communities: Colonization and Extinction Dynamics in North American Birds

Aim Species richness of local communities may be regulated via negative diversity dependence of colonization or positive diversity dependence of extinction rate. We explore whether and how bird comm...

doi.org

The earliest plague epidemics may have been caused by marmots

Ancient hunter-gatherers may have contracted the pathogen from marmots

science.org

Plant use at Funnel Beaker sites: combined macro- and microremains analysis at the Early Neolithic site of Frydenlund, Denmark (ca. 3600 bce) - Vegetation History and Archaeobotany

Understanding the neolithisation process in northern Europe requires detailed knowledge of both the type of crop plants as well as gathered food plants from Neolithic Funnel Beaker sites (4000–2800 bce). However, although many sites from this culture are known, significant gaps remain in our knowledge on which taxa were used as well as on how plant food was prepared. Here, we present the results of combined plant macro- and microremains from the Early Neolithic site of Frydenlund in present-day Denmark. The macroremains include carbonised seeds, fruits and underground storage organs from a variety of contexts. The microremains are phytoliths and starch granules recovered from 14 grinding stones that are among the oldest from Denmark as well as the first from this region analysed using state-of-the-art methods. The data are discussed in the context of an updated overview of crop spectra, evidence of gathered plants and of plant food preparation techniques at Funnel Beaker sites in the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Sweden. The results from the Early Neolithic site of Frydenlund show that the macroremains assemblage was dominated by Triticum turgidum ssp. durum (durum wheat), T. turgidum ssp. dicoccum (emmer wheat) and Hordeum vulgare var. nudum (naked barley), which apart from durum wheat fits the observed pattern from other Funnel Beaker sites in northwestern Europe. These crops were presumably cultivated separately as summer crops. Corylus avellana (hazel), Rubus fruticosus (blackberry) and R. idaeus (raspberry) were probably consumed as well, and possibly R. caesius (dewberry). While cereals were abundant in the macroremains assemblage, the microremains from the grinding stones indicate that these were used for grinding solely wild plants. The carbonised cereal grain fragments are therefore interpreted as possible evidence of cereal consumption mainly in the form of porridge or gruel, which corresponds well to comparable finds at other contemporary northwestern European sites. Future analysis of comparable high-quality data on combined macro- and microremains analysis is necessary to further refine our understanding of plant diets and plant food preparation techniques of the Funnel Beaker Culture as well as during the neolithisation process.

doi.org

Building tombs and entombing the dead as technologies of descent and affinity in Neolithic northern Scotland | Antiquity | Cambridge Core

When grounded within relevant archaeological contexts, ancient DNA analysis can provide critical insights into prehistoric human populations. This is demonstrated in this article, where the authors examine the genetic relatedness of individuals whose remains were placed in five Neolithic tombs in Caithness and Orkney, northern Scotland. The results reveal a web of biological ties that, the authors argue, suggests sustained contact between these communities beyond the onset of the Neolithic and shared understandings of kinship, including descent and a sense of affinity, but emerging local differences in how kinship was materialised through monumental architecture.

doi.org