An international research team led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and the Institut Català de Paleoecologia Humana i Evolució Social (IPHES-CERCA) has documented the highest-altitude prehistoric cave with evidence of intense human occupation known to date in the Pyrenees. The site, known as Cova 338, is located at 2,235 meters above sea level in the Núria Valley (Queralbs, Ripollès - Girona). The study documents recurrent human occupations spanning more than 5,000 years and provides some of the earliest evidence of copper-rich mineral exploitation in Western Europe. The results forces to rethink the role of high mountain environments in Pyrenean prehistoric societies.

In the past, scientists thought that prehistoric peoples only travelled briefly through high-altitude mountain areas, rather than staying to take advantage of their resources. But new evidence suggests that, starting about 5,500 years ago, a prehistoric community repeatedly climbed up to Cave 338, 2,235 meters above sea level in the Pyrenees, to collect and process malachite for copper — returning many times over thousands of years. Additional finds, including jewelry and remains from at least one child, suggest that much more remains to be found when excavations reopen this summer.  

An international research team led by anthropologist and population geneticist Professor Dr. Joachim Burger from the Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz has now analysed genomes of individuals from the former Roman frontier zone between 400 and 700 AD in southern Germany. Their results provide unexpectedly detailed insights into a period of major transformation. The findings have been published in the journal Nature.

Researchers at University of Tsukuba have developed a method to differentiate the topography of medieval mountain castles from that of natural ridges using airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. This method is expected to be useful for detecting historically modified terrain, such as archaeological sites in mountainous regions, as well as for assessing the extent of topographic modifications and estimating the potential risk of landslides on modified slopes.

Archaeologists have identified the earliest sustained human occupation in Highland Southern Africa, a site where humans first arrived 240,000 years ago.

U-M archaeologists study the changes in climate and river pattern that led to the success of an ancient city in Sudan.

For thousands of years, humans have used a variety of waterproofing materials on ships and boats, but traditionally non-wood materials used in shipbuilding have been overlooked in the research. Now, scientist analyzed the coatings of a Roman Republic shipwreck and were able to use pollen trapped in the coatings to identify the vegetation of the landscapes where the ship was constructed and repaired successively. They found several layers of coatings were applied, likely at different ports or shipyards throughout the Adriatic Sea. The team said this work helps gain a more complete understanding of the ship’s ‘life stages’ and diverse shipbuilding traditions.

Beavers are spreading northwards into the Arctic and a new study provides detailed evidence of their expansion by dating the changes they have been making to the tundra landscape. The research, which combines tree ring analysis (looking at beaver browsing scars) with satellite imagery of surface water (highlighting dams), has allowed scientists to track and date beaver movements in remote areas of the Canadian Arctic.

The Korean Peninsula plays a significant role in tracing the spread of domestic chickens across East Asia. Recently, researchers from Hanyang University ERICA presented the first biomolecular evidence of prehistoric chickens on the Korean Peninsula, confirming they were reared managed during the Proto-Three Kingdoms period. This methodology can now be applied to the vast collections of animal bones housed in Korean museums.