2025, Artifacts and Cultures - Social Studies Network

Neanderthal Engineers of the Ice Age: A Bone Spear Point from Mezmaiskaya Cave Challenges the Narrative

Anthropology.net

MAY 2, 2025

2025 This sliver of bone, shaped, smoothed, hardened in fire, and likely hafted with tar, speaks not of crude imitation, but of invention. The tool’s presence among hearth ash, flint chips, and other Mousterian artifacts situates it squarely within a Neanderthal context—long before Homo sapiens entered the region.

Archaeology

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

Anthropology.net

MARCH 14, 2025

Traditionally, scholars have debated linguistic origins based on indirect clues—symbolic artifacts, brain size, or the complexity of tool-making. Instead, it suggests that the brain's ability to process language may have developed first as an internal cognitive tool, later spilling into outward communication and cultural expression.

Humanities

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

Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

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. Credit: Jambon et al. A Witnessed Meteorite Fall?

Artifacts

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

Anthropology.net

JANUARY 16, 2025

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. These sites, associated with the Funnel Beaker culture, were active around 2900 BCE. Iversen et al/Antiquity 2025 Read more

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

Anthropology.net

JANUARY 18, 2025

In the 8th century CE, the Avars—an enigmatic group with roots in the East Asian steppes—settled in Central Europe, weaving a tapestry of cultural cohesion amid genetic diversity. Their findings reveal an intriguing story of cultural integration despite distinct genetic divides.

Ancestry

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

Anthropology.net

APRIL 12, 2025

Credit: Stepanchuk and Naumenko, 2025 That age alone would be noteworthy. 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. “These hominins weren’t just surviving. .

Humanities

Humanities Archaeology Artifacts Cultures

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

Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 19, 2025

Found in different parts of Europe, these two industries have often been grouped together as “transitional industries,” implying that they might share a common technological or cultural origin. To correct this, the team organized a workshop where archaeologists directly examined artifacts from both traditions side by side.

Archaeology

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The Mythological Tapestry of Humanity: Unraveling Ancient Stories through Genes and Geography

Anthropology.net

JANUARY 27, 2025

Through statistical comparisons of genetic distances, geographic relationships, and the distribution of mythological motifs, the study reveals that both population movements and cultural diffusion have shaped the stories we tell today. The models tested also oversimplify the complexity of cultural transmission.

Humanities

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Strategic Minds of the Early Acheulian Toolmakers

Anthropology.net

JANUARY 17, 2025

The Acheulian culture, which emerged around 1.75 Exploring early Acheulian technological decision-making: A controlled experimental approach to raw material selection for percussive artifacts in Melka Wakena, Ethiopia. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161322 0161322 1 Paixão, E., Gneisinger, W., Marreiros, J.,

Archaeology

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Hunter-Gatherers at the Edge of the Ice: Tracing the Ahrensburgian in Scotland’s Far Northwest

Anthropology.net

APRIL 29, 2025

Journal of Quaternary Science (2025) A new study in the Journal of Quaternary Science 1 suggests that at least one band of Late Upper Paleolithic foragers made their way to the windswept tip of the Isle of Skye, a place so remote it has long been considered beyond the reach of early postglacial settlement. Hardy et al., Hardy et al.,

Archaeology

Archaeology Artifacts Humanities Tradition

Echoes of Movement: How the Grammar of Indigenous Languages Maps the Peopling of the Americas

Anthropology.net

APRIL 30, 2025

To ensure this wasn’t an artifact of sampling or contact with European languages, the team excluded creoles, mixed languages, and known colonial effects. The result was striking: languages in the Arctic and Subarctic regions averaged significantly more categories than those in the Amazon and Andes. link] Reich, D.

Archaeology

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Bones of Innovation: How Early Hominins Pioneered Toolmaking 1.5 Million Years Ago

Anthropology.net

MARCH 5, 2025

Credit: CSIC This finding changes the way we think about early human cognition, technological adaptability, and cultural innovation. These were not simply used fragments but carefully shaped artifacts, demonstrating intentional knapping—striking the bones with stone tools to modify their shape. Nature (2025).

Archaeology

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Clay and Shell in the Gobi Wind

Anthropology.net

APRIL 23, 2025

But beneath its cracked sediment and the shifting shoreline of long-vanished lakes, archaeologists are beginning to piece together a story not just of survival—but of deep cultural adaptation. Jórdeczka in Radiocarbon (2025) DOI:10.1017/RDC.2025.4 Pottery from FV 139 B - bottom of layer 1 (0–10 cm).

Archaeology

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22,000-Year-Old Footprints Reveal the Earliest Evidence of Human Transport Technology

Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 24, 2025

.” A Travois Without Wheels: Early Transport Innovation A travois—a simple sled-like structure made from wooden poles tied in an A-frame—has long been documented in Native American cultures. Historically, it was used by Plains peoples to haul loads across the land, often drawn by horses or dogs. Related Research Bennett, M.

Humanities

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Carving the Mind: Middle Paleolithic Engravings and the Dawn of Symbolic Thought

Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 7, 2025

The Engraved Stones of the Levant The researchers focused on five artifacts from four archaeological sites: Manot Cave, Amud Cave, Qafzeh Cave, and Quneitra. The artifacts themselves varied in form—two engraved Levallois cores, a flint plaquette, and two incised cortical flakes—but each bore markings that required closer scrutiny.

Artifacts

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The Stone Blades of Jebel Faya: Rewriting the Story of Early Humans in Arabia

Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 18, 2025

Examples of retouched artifacts from the stratigraphically youngest Middle Palaeolithic assemblage at Jebel Faya, Emirate of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. Credit: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2025). Credit: Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences (2025). What Comes Next?

Humanities

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Rewriting Contact: New Radiocarbon Dates Challenge Colonial Myths in Eastern North America

Anthropology.net

MAY 2, 2025

” From Artifact to Microhistory The breakthrough lies in how scientists now treat time. Instead of lumping broad historical periods into categories based on ceramics or colonial artifacts, radiocarbon specialists are assembling what they call “microhistories.” “They’re not passive recipients.”

Archaeology

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A Stone Age Puzzle: How Did Quina Tools Reach Ancient China?

Anthropology.net

APRIL 2, 2025

The presence of this distinctive technology so far from its previously known origins raises new questions about ancient human migrations, cultural exchange, and independent innovation. These artifacts suggest that the inhabitants of Longtan were engaging in complex tool-making behavior typically attributed to Neanderthals in Europe.

Archaeology

Archaeology Artifacts Humanities Cultures

Empire in a Shell: How Iron Age Craftspeople on the Carmel Coast Turned Snails into Royal Power

Anthropology.net

APRIL 17, 2025

Credit: PLOS ONE (2025). Credit: PLOS ONE (2025). The site yielded over 175 artifacts connected to dye manufacture: vat fragments, crushed shells, grinding stones, and purple-streaked potsherds. Credit: Maria Bukin; PLOS ONE (2025). ” In The Aegean and its Cultures (eds. And not just any color. Sukenik, N.,

Archaeology

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The Geometry of Memory: How Knots Carry the Weight of Human History

Anthropology.net

APRIL 4, 2025

But beyond their everyday function of fastening and securing, knots hold something deeper: a story about the evolution of human cognition, the flow of culture, and the quiet persistence of shared technique across continents and millennia. Many knotted artifacts remain tucked away in storage, undocumented and undigitized.

Humanities

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A Window Into the Early Epigravettian: Grotta della Lea and Italy’s Final Ice Age Hunters

Anthropology.net

MARCH 10, 2025

The presence of these distinct lithic technologies indicates that hunter-gatherers in this region were part of a broader cultural tradition that spanned much of southern Europe in the final millennia of the Ice Age. The radiocarbon dating places these tools firmly within the Early Epigravettian, aligning with known sites across Italy.

Archaeology

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A Call for Respect: Rethinking How Museums Care for Animal Remains

Anthropology.net

MARCH 10, 2025

They were the remains of animals deeply intertwined with the histories and cultures of Indigenous communities. ” For many Indigenous cultures, animals are not merely resources or tools; they are kin. Horses, bison, and other creatures hold deep cultural and spiritual significance. “You care for horses. Arterberry, J.,

Museum

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Teaching for Black Lives Study Groups

Zinn Education Project

MARCH 29, 2024

APPLYING TO FORM A STUDY GROUP If you are interested in forming a Teaching for Black Lives study group for the 2024–2025 school year or throughout the 2024–2026 school years, please carefully read the sections below. If possible, your group will share photos, videos, and other artifacts that reflect your work.

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Grinding Stones and the Passage of Time: Unraveling the Rituals of Early Neolithic Societies

Anthropology.net

FEBRUARY 27, 2025

These artifacts—used for processing grains in early Neolithic settlements—were not merely discarded tools. Their placement was striking: “The artifacts were carefully placed in pairs, with the working parts in contact and oriented from east to west. 1 Zamzow, E., Valentini, M. Küßner, M., & Risch, R.

Artifacts

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The Puppets of the Past: A Window into Preclassic Mesoamerica

Anthropology.net

MARCH 6, 2025

The archaeological discovery of Preclassic clay figurines atop the San Isidro pyramid in El Salvador raises profound questions about the social and ritualistic lives of Mesoamerican cultures. Sokołowski/PASI; Antiquity (2025) The figurines date back to roughly 410–380 BC , predating the rise of divine kingship in Mesoamerica.

Archaeology

Archaeology Artifacts Tradition Cultures

The Last Feast of the Bustards: Ritual, Memory, and the Decline of a Giant Bird

Anthropology.net

APRIL 17, 2025

Among the artifacts and bones of those interred are the carefully butchered remains of Otis tarda , the great bustard, a bird that once roamed the open plains of North Africa in numbers. A Cultural Link That Spans Millennia The evidence from Taforalt does more than document the diet of early North Africans. link] 1 Cooper, J.

Archaeology

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A Mysterious Burial in Ecuador: Tracing the Death and Rituals of a Pregnant Manteño Woman

Anthropology.net

MARCH 8, 2025

2025 Led by Dr. Sara Juengst, an international team of researchers analyzed the burial, comparing it to others from the region. Despite being primarily associated with the much older Valdivia culture (3750–1475 BC), Buen Suceso also contains later burials linked to Manteño occupation. Why was her leg removed?

Artifacts

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Echoes of Teotihuacan in Tikal: Unraveling Ancient Mesoamerican Ties

Anthropology.net

APRIL 9, 2025

Deep within the dense Guatemalan jungle, archaeologists have uncovered 1 a significant artifact that offers fresh insights into the intricate relationship between two ancient Mesoamerican powerhouses: the Maya city of Tikal and the central Mexican metropolis of Teotihuacan. Credit: Antiquity (2025). Credit: Antiquity (2025).

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A Face in the Rock: Tracing Early Human Symbolism in the South Caucasus

Anthropology.net

APRIL 19, 2025

According to a collaborative report published by Japanese and Azerbaijani researchers in Archaeological Research in Asia 1 , this is the first such artifact known from Mesolithic layers in the South Caucasus. ” A Region in Transition Damjili Cave has long been known as a cultural palimpsest. . link] 1 Nishiaki, Y., Safarova, U.,

Humanities

Humanities Archaeology Artifacts Anthropology

Bones That Spoke: What Prehistoric Body Modifications Reveal About Ancient South Texas

Anthropology.net

APRIL 20, 2025

Taylor reexamines these skeletal fragments not simply as anatomical remnants but as cultural artifacts. “The human bone artifacts act as confirmation that early peoples on the Gulf Coast did not view human bodies, or the reduction of human remains, as taboo or off-limits,” Dr. . Credit: Taylor 2025 Read more

Artifacts

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CFP: The Goddess at the Crossing Place

Society for Classical Studies

JANUARY 8, 2025

CFP: The Goddess at the Crossing Place kskordal Wed, 01/08/2025 - 12:02 Image The Goddess at the Crossing Place 6-8 March 2025, Marshall University To honor the 150th anniversary of Classics at Marshall University, the Department of Humanities announces a conference that focuses on Goddess traditions.

Artifacts

Artifacts Tradition Humanities Cultures

The Battle to Protect Archaeological Sites in the West Bank

Sapiens

JANUARY 22, 2025

Trekking for thousands of hours through these sites, I have seen the destruction of critical remnants of ancient structures, the obliteration of numerous mosaic pavements and subterranean rock-cut features, and the demolition of incalculable layers of cultural history. Its not just looting that poses a threat to Palestinian cultural heritage.

Archaeology

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Social Studies Network

Neanderthal Engineers of the Ice Age: A Bone Spear Point from Mezmaiskaya Cave Challenges the Narrative

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

Trending Sources

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

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

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

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

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

The Mythological Tapestry of Humanity: Unraveling Ancient Stories through Genes and Geography

Strategic Minds of the Early Acheulian Toolmakers

Hunter-Gatherers at the Edge of the Ice: Tracing the Ahrensburgian in Scotland’s Far Northwest

Echoes of Movement: How the Grammar of Indigenous Languages Maps the Peopling of the Americas

Bones of Innovation: How Early Hominins Pioneered Toolmaking 1.5 Million Years Ago

Clay and Shell in the Gobi Wind

22,000-Year-Old Footprints Reveal the Earliest Evidence of Human Transport Technology

Carving the Mind: Middle Paleolithic Engravings and the Dawn of Symbolic Thought

The Stone Blades of Jebel Faya: Rewriting the Story of Early Humans in Arabia

Rewriting Contact: New Radiocarbon Dates Challenge Colonial Myths in Eastern North America

A Stone Age Puzzle: How Did Quina Tools Reach Ancient China?

Empire in a Shell: How Iron Age Craftspeople on the Carmel Coast Turned Snails into Royal Power

The Geometry of Memory: How Knots Carry the Weight of Human History

A Window Into the Early Epigravettian: Grotta della Lea and Italy’s Final Ice Age Hunters

A Call for Respect: Rethinking How Museums Care for Animal Remains

Teaching for Black Lives Study Groups

Grinding Stones and the Passage of Time: Unraveling the Rituals of Early Neolithic Societies

The Puppets of the Past: A Window into Preclassic Mesoamerica

The Last Feast of the Bustards: Ritual, Memory, and the Decline of a Giant Bird

A Mysterious Burial in Ecuador: Tracing the Death and Rituals of a Pregnant Manteño Woman

Echoes of Teotihuacan in Tikal: Unraveling Ancient Mesoamerican Ties

A Face in the Rock: Tracing Early Human Symbolism in the South Caucasus

Bones That Spoke: What Prehistoric Body Modifications Reveal About Ancient South Texas

CFP: The Goddess at the Crossing Place

The Battle to Protect Archaeological Sites in the West Bank

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