Youngsters have probably been playing their way into cultural competence for at least tens of thousands of years. So why are signs of children largely absent from the archaeological record?

A cartoon that Biblical scholar Kristine Garroway taped up in her college dorm helps to explain kids’ invisibility at ancient sites: Two men in business suits stare intently at an unidentifiable round object sitting on a table. “Hey, what’s this?” asks the first guy. “I dunno, probably a toy … or a religious object,” says the second.

Archaeologists have long tended to choose the second option, says Garroway, now a visiting scientist at Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles. Ambiguous finds, such as miniature pottery vessels and small figurines, get classified as ritual or decorative objects. Some of these artifacts undoubtedly were used in ceremonies. But not all of them, Garroway argues.

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https://www.sciencenews.org/article/ancient-toys-kids-archaeological-record

Archeologists have found characters older than oracle-bone scripts in the city of Chifeng in North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

National Museum of China experts confirmed the 4,000-year-old marks were three or four characters left by animal-fur brush with ink, said Lian Jilin, a staff member at the regional research institute of cultural heritage and archeology institute.

They were found on a pottery piece unearthed by the institute and Jilin University at Gaojiataizi, an area of over 10,000 square meters of ruins from the Lower Xiajiadian Culture. The words, written smoothly, are believed to be connected with sacrificial activities. Pottery scripts, together with oracle bones and bronze objects, are known for their longevity.

“The oracle bones, scripts from some 3,000 years ago in the Shang Dynasty [C.1600-1046 BC], may have originated with pottery scripts,” Li said, adding the discovery has offered new evidence to trace the origin. Animal bones, pottery and stone articles were also unearthed at the ruins.

The Lower Xiajiadian Culture, a branch of the northern bronze culture during the Xia (C.2070-C.1600 BC) and Shang dynasties, dates back to 3,500-4,000 years ago, between the late Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age.

The Lower Xiajiadian site in Chifeng was listed as one of the top archeological discoveries in China in 2009.

Local media in Pakistan reported human rights champion Asma Jahangir has died. She died in a hospital on Sunday morning after suffering from cardiac arrest.

Asma Jilani Jahangir was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

The pro-democracy activist championed women’s rights throughout her career. Asma Jahangir was also UN special rapporter on human rights in Iran.

Peru’s Nazca Lines, an ancient archaeological site and UNESCO World Heritage site, were damaged after a driver plowed a cargo truck through the sand, officials announced on Tuesday. 

The driver left “deep prints in an area approximately 100 meters long,” and damaged part of three geoglyph lines, according to a statement given to Agence France-Presse. 

He ignored warning signs that tell drivers not to enter the area, and drove over the lines on January 27, AFP reported. The man was detained and had charges filed against him. 

According Greek news The Phaistos Disc, probably dating back to the 17th century, gradually reveals its secrets. The linguist Dr. Gareth Owens, who has been living in Crete for the past 30 years (25 working in the Technical University of Crete and the last 10 as Erasmus + coordinator), has devoted his research to decipher the disc. In fact, in collaboration with Professor John Coleman, professor of phonetics at Oxford, he has managed to decipher the disc in a 99 percentage, ANA reports.

“We are reading the Phaistos disc with the vocal values of Linear B and with the help of comparative linguistics, ie comparing with other relative languages from the Indo-European language family. Reading something, however, does not mean understanding,” Owens revealed in an interview with the Athens-Macedonian News Agency on the occasion of his speech to the National Research Foundation on Wednesday, February 7.

Egyptian archaeologists unearthed a well-preserved 4,400-year-old tomb from Egypt’s Fifth Dynasty, a prosperous era where pharaohs ruled, palaces were erected and pyramids were built.

The tomb was discovered in Giza’s western cemetery by a team of Egyptian archaeologists at the helm of Mostafa Waziri, the secretary general of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Enany said that the tomb belonged to Hetpet, a priestess to the goddess of fertility Hathor. Female priests were not common in ancient Egypt.

al-Enany told reporters during a press conference on Saturday that the cemetery where the tomb was found is home to the graves of other official figures from the Old Kingdom’s Fifth Dynasty, which spanned from 2465 BC to 2323 BC.

Hetpet’s name and various titles are engraved inside the tomb, alongside paintings and other artifacts including a purification basin.

“The tomb is in very good condition,” Waziri told the Agence France-Presse. ” The paintings show scenes of music and dance. “

Archeologists have found artifacts dating back to more than 6,000 years and these articles are emerging from the ice in the mountains of Norway as a result of global warming.

Over the last decade, a team of international archeologists have been working in the Jotunheimen mountains of Oppland County in the south of Norway.  The team researchers who represent Norwegian and British universities have now recovered more than 2,000 articles including clothing from the Iron Age and the Bronze Age and ancient reindeer-hunting equipment.  The experts believe that some of their discoveries date back to 4,000 BC and report that the articles are perfectly preserved.

The new report which was created under the project name, “Secrets of the Ice” was published in the Royal Society Open Science journal. The research gave the project the name “Secrets of the Ice” as they believe that the ice has in a way acted as a “time machine” and preserved the artifacts perfectly.  The researchers are also surprised by the fact that the artifacts show a possible increase in activity in the period known as the Late Antique Little Ice Age (c. 536 to 660 AD) during which time population size had dropped due to lower temperatures (cooling) and agricultural activities had fallen as a result of it. However, it is quite plausible that mountain hunting increased to supplement failing agricultural harvests due to low temperatures.

The archeologists have also reported finding artifacts dating to the eighth to 10th centuries AD, probably reflecting increased population, mobility and trade – just before and during the Viking Age, when outward expansion was also characteristic of Scandinavia.

The researchers believe that the artifacts have been found because some of the ice in the high mountains of Oppland has now melted back to levels last seen 4,000 to 6,000 years ago. And this is obviously attributed to the impact of global warming.

Last month, the National Geographic reported that scientists have used 3D technology to reconstruct the face of a “Huarmey Queen” centuries after the noblewoman lived and died in Peru.  The reconstruction of the queen’s face is based on her 1,200-year-old remains. It took specialist Oscar Nilsson 220 hours to complete the project. 

The scientists report that the Queen’s skull after removal from the tomb was scanned and a 3-D model was printed to serve as the basis for the reconstruction. They then inserted pegs in the skull to represent facial tissue depth. It is important to know that tissue depth is determined by age, gender, build, and other factors.  They then modeled the facial muscles with clay. The scientists had also discovered copies of golden ear spools in the tomb which were then inserted in the ears.  Additional clay was then used to model fat and skin on top of the facial muscles. In addition, for authenticity, the reconstructed face was then even surrounded by hair from an elderly Andean woman, which was purchased at wig-supply market in Peru.

This project display that some 1,200 years ago, a wealthy noblewoman, who was at least 60 years old, was laid to rest in Peru and as all noble families did at the time she was richly provisioned for eternity with jewelry, flasks, and weaving tools made of gold in her tomb.

The tomb had been discovered by archeologists, led by Peruvian archeologist Roberto Pimentel Nita and National Geographic grantee Milosz Giersz in 2012.  The tomb El Castillo de Huarmey had been completely untouched. The hillside site was once a large temple complex for the Wari culture, which dominated the region centuries before the more famous Inca according to National Geographic. The tomb which seemed to have escaped the looters contains the remains of 58 noblewomen, including four queens or princesses.  The archeologists report that one of these women, nicknamed the Huarmey Queen, was buried in particular splendor. Her body was found in its own private chamber, and it was surrounded with jewelry and other luxuries, including gold ear flares, a copper ceremonial axe, and a silver goblet. 

It is still not known who this woman was. Giresz’s team has carefully examined the skeleton and found that like many of the site’s noblewomen, the Huarmey Queen spent most of her time sitting, though she used her upper body extensively—the skeletal calling cards of a life spent weaving. 

Her expertise likely explains her elite status. According to the National Geographic, among the Wari and other Andean cultures of the time, textiles were considered more valuable than gold or silver, reflective of the immense time they took to make. Giersz says that ancient textiles found elsewhere in Peru may have taken two to three generations to weave.

Interestingly, the noblewoman was missing some of her teeth which is consistent with the decay that comes with regularly drinking chicha, a sugary, corn-based alcoholic beverage that only the Wari elite were allowed to drink, according to the archeologists.