Archaeologists can trace the change from a hunter-gatherer existence to one of farming based upon the changes in stone tools. “Intensive woodworking and tree-felling was a phenomenon that only appeared with the onset of the major changes in human life, including the transition to agriculture and permanent villages,” said Ran Barkai of Tel Aviv University. Early Neolithic farmers needed to clear the land of brush. As they eventually built homes and animal pens, they needed heavy-duty woodworking tools.

The skeletal remains of sixteen severed right hands have been discovered in a Hyksos palace in the Egyptian city of Avaris. The hands had been buried in pits in an area thought to have been a throne room 3,600 years ago. Ancient Egyptian writing and art suggests that soldiers were able to present rulers with the right hands of enemies in exchange for gold. “Our evidence is the earliest evidence and the only physical evidence [of this practice] at all,” said Manfred Bietak, Austrian archaeologist and director of the excavation.

In eastern Portugal, archaeologists have unearthed some 20 ivory statuettes estimated to be 4,500 years old. The carvings were found at the Archaeological Complex of Perdigões, which is known for its megalithic temple, standing stones, graves, and cremations. The ivory figurines were probably funerary objects. “This is the first time pieces with such characteristics have appeared in Portugal,” said archaeologist António Valério.

A volunteer digging in Maryport, which was originally a Roman town located on the coast of Cumbria, England, discovered an intact altar dedicated to Jupiter. “There was a lot of rock around and I noticed a piece with a line on it. I thought it might be a piece of something,” he said. The excavation team carefully removed the altar and transported it to the nearby Senhouse Roman Museum. The altar had been reused as building material in antiquity.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, August 10, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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