A quick review to some of the most interesting archaeological news from the Stone Pages' news bulletin:
Europe
Oldest (c. 6000 years ago) European depiction of magic mushrooms (Psylocibe sp.) is in Central Spain (left). An even older one is known from Algeria (c. 9000 years ago). (New Scientist).
A very interesting research article by George Nash et al. on the Llwydiarth Esgob stone can be found at Past Horizons.
Neolithic houses found under modern ones in Saxony (Germany) (Google - Canadian Press).
South Asia
Dolmen burials discovered in Central India. The newly found megalithic sites near Nagpur are among the northernmost ones of this Iron Age cultural and spiritual phenomenon (Times of India).
East Asia
| Before the outrigger? |
Bamboo knives excellent for meat but awful for hides, and they dull quickly. Practical research by O. Bar Yosef, M.I. Eren and others sheds light on the bamboo knife speculations regarding Eastern Asian Paleolithic (SMU Research Blog). This is so fascinating that I'll write a separate entry later on.
Rising Seas transformed rice farmers into fishermen at Fuzhou (SE China), what might have triggered the Austronesian expansion (New Scientist)
America
Oldest cloth from Peru (left) is 12,000 years old (Past Horizons, Eureka Alert)
7000 years old human remains found in Iowa during sanitation works (Fox News)
"Rising Seas transformed rice farmers into fishermen at Fuzhou (SE China), what might have triggered the Austronesian expansion"
ReplyDeleteMakes sense. However the New scientist article has a few contradictions:
"Rolett’s findings challenge a popular scientific view that a transition to village life in northern China around 8,000 years ago triggered rice-fueled population growth that spread southward".
They don't really 'challenge' such a view. The article next states:
"In that scenario, shortages of marshy land suitable for rice paddies motivated sea crossings to Taiwan, possibly originating in the Yangtze Delta just north of the Fuzhou Basin"
So the Fuzhou region was presumably culturally connected to the Yangtze Neolithic. It would be interesting to know if Y-hap O1a is especially present in that region.
"Villages from around 5,000 years ago in Fuzhou Basin and on Taiwan contain similar types of pottery"
That's pretty convincing evidence to me.
AFAIK rice was domesticated in South China, the Northern Neolithic is based in sorghum instead. So the "popular view" is incorrect in any case.
ReplyDelete"It would be interesting to know if Y-hap O1a is especially present in that region".
It seems important (22%) in East China, so probably yes (up to a point: it's not Taiwan).
"It seems important (22%) in East China, so probably yes (up to a point: it's not Taiwan)".
ReplyDeleteI doubt very much that O1 is indigenous to Taiwan. It must have come from the mainland somewhere. Your blog strongly implictates Fuzhou. But where before that? My guess, obviously, is somewhere within the region of the Chinese neolithic.
You asked about O1a, not O1. I did not claim hat O1 or O1a was indigenous to Taiwan (just implied it's more frequent there than in most other places).
ReplyDelete"Your blog strongly implictates Fuzhou".
My blog? Where? I doubt that Fuzhou as such has come around before this very post.
"My blog? Where? I doubt that Fuzhou as such has come around before this very post".
ReplyDeleteAnd it is this very post I'm talking about. A group of peopel from Fuzhou reached Taiwan and introduced a new boating technology. It is therefore highly likely that carried haplogroup O1.
"Rising Seas transformed rice farmers into fishermen at Fuzhou (SE China), what might have triggered the Austronesian expansion"
The early stages of the Austronesian expansion are closely correlated with O1a.