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Early Copper Crafting Among Anatolia's Last Hunter-Gatherers

Anthropology.net

Credit: Gre Fılla Excavation / Özlem Ekinbaş Can The Gre Fılla Site: A Window into Prehistoric Innovation Nestled in the upper Tigris Valley, Gre Fılla has been under excavation since 2018. ​ One particularly intriguing artifact, a copper bar-shaped object, underwent lead isotope analysis. .​

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When Did Humans Start Talking? Genomic Evidence Pushes Language Back to 135,000 Years Ago

Anthropology.net

Traditionally, scholars have debated linguistic origins based on indirect clues—symbolic artifacts, brain size, or the complexity of tool-making. Fossils do not speak, and ancient DNA does not carry recordings of conversations. C., & Chomsky, N. Why Only Us: Language and Evolution. Dediu, D., & Levinson, S.

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A Solar Plea: The Mystery of Bornholm’s Engraved Sun Stones

Anthropology.net

Researchers led by Rune Iversen from the University of Copenhagen have pieced together evidence that connects these enigmatic artifacts to a period of climate upheaval. The Stones of Bornholm Between 2013 and 2018, archaeologists excavated over 600 intricately carved stones from ritual sites on Bornholm.

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Ancient Meteors and Early Iron: How Space Rocks Became Everyday Tools in Iron Age Poland

Anthropology.net

Recent analysis of artifacts from two Lusatian Culture cemeteries suggests that early metallurgists were not only working with iron from terrestrial sources but also incorporating metal from ataxite meteorites—an extremely rare form of nickel-rich iron that originates in space. A Witnessed Meteorite Fall?

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When Mammoth Ivory Met Human Hands: Rethinking the Origins of Innovation

Anthropology.net

But what sets these artifacts apart is what they reveal: that some of our distant hominin ancestors were not just using stone—they were thinking beyond it. Post-depositional processes can move artifacts, and distinguishing deliberate human marks from natural damage is notoriously difficult.

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East Meets West: Avar Society’s Genetic Patchwork in Early Medieval Austria

Anthropology.net

The graves, filled with artifacts like ornate belt fittings and everyday items, reflected a shared culture. Two Communities, Two Genetic Legacies At first glance, the burial sites of Mödling and Leobersdorf, located just south of Vienna, seemed remarkably similar. But ancient DNA analysis told a different story.

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Two Worlds, Two Technologies: The Divergent Stone Industries of the Uluzzian and Châtelperronian Peoples

Anthropology.net

To correct this, the team organized a workshop where archaeologists directly examined artifacts from both traditions side by side. Only by directly comparing artifacts across different regions and traditions can we begin to piece together the true story of how human culture evolved in the shadow of extinction. DOI: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.107012