Antiquity is a bimonthly review of world archaeology edited by @RobertEWitcher. Please be aware that we sometimes share relevant images of human remains.
Sep 23 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
NEW Analysis of Bronze Age arrowheads from the Tollense Valley 🇩🇪 reveals some were not produced locally, uncovering the earliest evidence for large-scale interregional conflict in Europe and suggesting a southern army fought at ‘Europe's oldest battle’.
#AntiquityThread 1/15 🧵
Warning: this thread contains images of human remains 2/16
Mar 5 • 9 tweets • 4 min read
NEW Greek colonisation of the Mediterranean and the development of the Greek alphabet took place earlier than previously thought, radiocarbon dates from the Geometric period site of Zagora on the island of Andros find.
An #AntiquityThread 1/9 🧵
The Greek Geometric period is named after the ceramics of the time, which were painted with geometric patterns. It took place towards the end of the Early Iron Age in Greece and witnessed the beginning of Greek colonisation in the central Mediterranean. 2/9
Feb 8 • 13 tweets • 4 min read
NEW Painkiller or pleasure? Black henbane seeds discovered in a hollowed bone provide the first conclusive evidence for the intentional use of the poisonous plant in the Roman world.
Strap in for a hallucinogenic #AntiquityThread 🧵 1/13
📷 BIAX Consult
Archaeologists have discovered hundreds of black henbane seeds in a hollowed bone at the rural Roman-period settlement of Houten-Castellum in the Netherlands, providing the first firm evidence for the poisonous plant’s intentional use in the Roman world. 2/13
Jan 23 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
NEW Pottery analysis uncovers the complex flavours of Roman wine!
Archaeologists have compared Roman clay jars for winemaking with modern Georgian examples, revealing how Roman wine looked, smelled, and tasted. 🍷
A dry and full-bodied #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵
The Romans are well-known for their love of wine. In the Roman world, large clay pots called dolia were manufactured for fermenting, storing and ageing wines. 2/12
Jan 15 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
NEW DNA analysis has revealed that regional cuisines persisted as new staple crops spread across the prehistoric world, showing how even the first cooks retained strong cooking traditions.
Strap in for a tasty #AntiquityThread 1/12 🧵
Broomcorn millet was first domesticated in China before spreading west into Central Asia and beyond. In China it was cooked through boiling and steaming, producing a wet and sticky end product. 2/12
Dec 15, 2023 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
NEW Deep in the remote, boreal landscape of the Siberian taiga, a promontory fort has been found to be 8000 years old, making it the oldest in the world! It is a rare example of hunter-gatherers building fortified sites.
A wintery Antiquity Thread ❄️ 1/10 🧵
Archaeologists have typically associated the rise of social and political 'complexity' in Eurasia with the development of agriculture. However, hunter-gatherers in Siberia built fortified settlements centuries before similar sites developed in Europe. 2/10
Jan 10, 2023 • 16 tweets • 11 min read
NEW: “Bog bodies” were part of a tradition in Europe that spanned millennia. People were buried in bogs from the prehistoric period until early modern times and when a cause of death could be determined, most met a violent end.
An #AntiquityThread 🧵 1/16
Content warning: This thread will feature some more complete images of bog bodies 2/16
Dec 15, 2022 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: A “masterpiece of ancient Egyptian art” is so detailed researchers have been able to pinpoint the bird species in it. These images of the natural world helped create a space for relaxation and recreation in a palace.
Check out this twitcher #AntiquityThread 1/14
📌 The artwork was discovered at Amarna, the location of the capital city of Pharaoh Akhenaten (1347–1332 BC). Excavations in 1924 uncovered a palace belonging to Meritaten, daughter of the pharaoh and Nefertiti. 2/14
📷: The palace today by Olaf Tausch / CC BY 3.0
Dec 13, 2022 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: Archaeologists have identified two early churches in the Kingdom of Aksum, a major ancient power in Northeastern Africa. They are some of the first churches reliably dated to shortly after the Aksumite’s conversion to Christianity.
Here's an #AntiquityThread 1/15 🧵
🌍 The Aksumite Kingdom ruled much of the northern Horn of Africa in the first millennium AD, stretching from Ethiopia to Arabia, and was an important contemporary of the Roman Empire. 2/15
📷: Extent of the Kingdom of Aksum by Aldan-2 / CC BY-SA 4.0
Dec 8, 2022 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: Archaeologists have discovered what may be the earliest known narrative scene, telling an ancient story, at the 11,000-year-old site of Sayburç in south-eastern Turkey.
Here's an #AntiquityThread on the new research 1/14 🧵
The two panels depict people interacting with dangerous animals. In one, a human grasps their penis whilst leopards approach from either side. In the other panel, a squatting male holding a rattle or snake faces a bull. 2/14
📸: The panels
Dec 7, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Check out this mega-thread of all the threads we did on some of the great archaeology research from the latest issue of Antiquity.
For starters, researchers have been documenting Indigenous art on boab trees in Australia before it disappears 👇
Good King Wenceslas (yes, the one from the carols) was murdered by his brother in AD 935.
📷 Wenceslas trying to escape his brother.
A mass grave of up to 60 further victims was found at Budeč hillfort (🇨🇿), providing archaeological evidence of this event and making this a #HillfortsWednesday
Warning: There will be some pictures of the grave coming up
This giant cavern was created by Bronze Age miners extracting huge quantities of copper ore from Great Orme (🏴) over 3,500 years ago!
For 200 years, Bronze Age miners extracted a copper bonanza from the Great Orme Mines. It supplied large parts of Britain, and metal from the mine even found its way as far as Germany and Sweden.
📷: Where the metal went
Nov 23, 2022 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: Neanderthal and early modern human chefs used cooking tricks to make their meals more palatable, analysis of the oldest charred food remains ever found has revealed.
Strap in for a delicious #AntiquityThread 1/14 🧵
🥬 Dr @CerenArkbotani and a team of archaeologists wanted to explore the role of plants in the diet of Palaeolithic humans and Neanderthals. Previous research has often focused on the importance of meat in the diet of ancient hunter-gatherers, especially Neanderthals. 2/14
Nov 9, 2022 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
NEW: A group of curious cats may have made migrated from the Near East to Europe nearly 10,000 years ago, reveals a major new project studying the origin and history of our feline friends. 🐈
Strap in for an #AntiquityThread on some adventurous kitties 1/13 🧵
🧬 Previous research had recovered DNA from the Near Eastern wildcat, the ancestor of modern domestic cats, from ancient sites in Central Europe dated to 3000BC. 2/13
📸: Modern Near Eastern wildcat
Nov 7, 2022 • 5 tweets • 3 min read
"Around the world, climate change is impacting archaeological sites and landscapes of both local and global significance."
A special section of Antiquity casts light on some of the impacts of climate change on archaeology: (🆓) buff.ly/3WyMOn6
💧 Wetlands have been the site of some of the best-preserved archaeological discoveries, but it is estimated half of the world's wetlands have been lost. Those that remain are at risk from climate change: doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2…
📷: Neolithic trackway found in wetlands
Aug 10, 2022 • 11 tweets • 5 min read
🆕: Researchers have identified the ingredients in chemistry formulae from an 2,300-year-old Chinese text, revealing ancient metallurgy was more complex than expected.
An #AntiquityThread (paper: buff.ly/3QgrdMP) 🧵1/11
The Kaogong ji was written in China in the 1st millennium BC. It's the oldest known technical encyclopedia, detailing items from swords to instruments and how to make them - including formulae for mixing bronze. 2/11
📷: Bronze weapons from around the time of the Kaogong ji
Aug 9, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
The terracotta army, still only partially excavated, guards the mausoleum of Emperor Qin Shi Huang who died in 210 BC. #TombTuesday
The terracotta army might be the most famous part of the Emperor's tomb but he was also buried with replicas of many other parts of imperial life - including administrative offices, parks, stables, and more!
📷: Terracotta bureaucrats and chariot drivers found in an admin office
Here's a cheery feline decorating an >1000-year-old Late Paracas ceramic vessel from Peru. 🐈
🔗 from 2018 (🆓) buff.ly/35YLnUS
We've been obsessed with our kitty companions for millennia - people were buried with them (& foxes) during the #Neolithic in the eastern Meditteranean, around 7,000 BC!
🔗 from 2019 (🆓) buff.ly/2Pvm59I
📷: Neolithic burials with 🐈/🦊
Jul 20, 2022 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
🆕: Archaeologists have identified a key fortress of the Parthian Empire, which ruled from Turkey to Pakistan ~2,000 years ago, that may be a lost city.
An #AntiquityThread (paper: buff.ly/3INUXO5) 1/ 🧵
The mountain fortress of Rabana-Merquly, in modern Iraqi Kurdistan, features four-kilometer-long defenses and two associated settlements. 2/10
📷: Location of Rabana-Merquly
Jul 20, 2022 • 4 tweets • 2 min read
This is an Inca observatory at Incahullo in Peru, with windows designed to track lunar and solar events.
~500 years after the observatory was used to track the moon, Neil Armstrong took his first small steps on it #OnThisDay in 1969.
The light shining into the structure at sunset moves throughout the year, helping track the farming season.
Looking out the structure, the windows frame key events like the solstice and lunar standstill.