A team of archaeologists led by Dr. Maaike Groot from Freie Universität Berlin has provided the first firm evidence that the Romans deliberately collected and used the poisonous seeds of the black henbane plant.

The team analyzed seeds found in a hollowed bone discovered at the Roman-period settlement of Houten-Castellum in the Netherlands and compared them to other archaeological occurrences of the plant. The results of the study were published in the journal Antiquity.

A study led by researchers at the Nagoya University Museum in Japan may change how we understand the cultural evolution of Homo sapiens at the time of their dispersal across Eurasia about 50,000 to 40,000 years ago. These findings challenge traditional beliefs about the timing and nature of cultural transitions during this critical period in human history.

Abstract

A tubular bone bead dating to ~ 12,940 BP was recovered from a hearth-centered activity area at the La Prele Mammoth site in Converse County, Wyoming, USA. This is the oldest known bead from the Western Hemisphere. To determine the taxonomic origin of the bead, we extracted collagen for zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS). We also used micro-CT scanning for morphological analysis to determine likely skeletal elements used for its production. We conclude that the bead was made from a metapodial or proximal phalanx of a hare (Lepus sp.). This find represents the first secure evidence for the use of hares during the Clovis period. While the use of hare bone for the manufacture of beads was a common practice in western North America during the Holocene, its origins can now be traced back to at least the terminal Pleistocene.

A joint Italian-Polish archaeological mission has uncovered during their work at the Sheikh Mohammed site in Aswan the skeletal remains of a young woman who suffered rheumatoid arthritis.

The influential idea that in the past men were hunters and women were not isn’t supported by the available evidence

Early hunting was “gender neutral,” archaeologists suggest

Throughout the thousand-year reign of the Roman Empire, disparate populations began to connect in new ways—through trade routes, economic and political collaboration, and joint military endeavors. Now, an international team led by Stanford Medicine researchers has used genetic material from ancient skeletons to assemble a detailed picture of travel and migration patterns during the empire's height.

Their study, published online Jan. 30 in eLife, analyzed the DNA of thousands of ancient humans, including 204 who had not been previously sequenced. It showed just how diverse many areas of the Roman Empire were: At least 8% of individuals included in the study did not originally come from the area of Europe, Africa or Asia in which they were buried.

A genetic analysis of bone fragments unearthed at an archaeological site in central Germany shows conclusively that modern humans—Homo sapiens—had already reached Northern Europe 45,000 years ago, overlapping with Neanderthals for several thousand years before the latter went extinct.

The findings establish that the site near Ranis, Germany, which is known for its finely flaked, leaf-shaped stone tool blades, is among the oldest confirmed sites of modern human Stone Age culture in north central and northwestern Europe.

Workers made a surprising discovery in Poland when they pulled an early medieval sword from a muddy riverbed while dredging, and some researchers think the weapon could have a Viking connection.

The 1,000-year-old sword, which is thought to be older than Poland itself, was found cloaked in silt and in "near perfect" condition in the depths of the Vistula (also spelled Wisła) River, which runs through Włocławek, a city in northern Poland, according to Warsaw Point, a Polish magazine.