Indo-Europeans on the Silk Road

September 10, 2010

Why are so many Indo-European languages strung out along the Silk Road? Did it have something to do with chariots but not so much to do with the steppe? Turkish, the language of modern Turkey, is part of the Turkic language family, a group of related languages spread extensively across central Asia all the way [...]

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Indo-Europeans and the first slaves

August 29, 2010

Were the ‘Proto Indo-Europeans’ involved in the first slave trade? I think we should be told. Slavery is not something you come across much in prehistoric archaeology books. The fourth edition of Renfrew and Bahns ‘Archaeology’ mentions it in passing just three times, all in the context of the early modern African slave trade. One [...]

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Diyarbakır

August 10, 2010

Fancy a holiday to eastern Turkey? If you want the perfect base to visit two classic locations of Neolithic archaeology, Çayönü and Göbekli Tepe, you could do worse than stay in their ‘modern’ equivalent, the caravanserai of Diyarbakır.* I’ve just been to eastern Turkey with my partner, Steph. Without intending to we ended up in [...]

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The new ‘henge’ near Stonehenge – for the living or the dead?

August 8, 2010

The recent ‘henge’ monument to the west of Stonehenge is either a major breakthrough, according to Birmingham University, or probably just a barrow, according to Mike Pitts. It depends on your angle, I suppose. A team from the University of Birmingham recently announced the discovery of a new ‘major ceremonial monument’ a little under 1 [...]

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A primer on old-world metals before the Copper age

July 7, 2010

Still being ammended but a reasonable starting point A discussion of copper, gold and lead artifacts, their origins and distribution from the Neolithic up to the time of the earliest smelting in the Chalcolithic or Copper age… and where did smelting originate? (updated May 1st 2012)   I’m writing this article simply because there is [...]

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Corridors of power

June 29, 2010

Histories invaders and imperial expansions, such as those of the Han dynasty in China, give strong clues to where prehistoric trade routes are. Around 1050BC the Shang dynasty of China fell, brought down by a western clan, the Zhou, from beyond the empire. In the years around 100 BC the Han dynasty invaded west, expanding [...]

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Çatal Höyük, Kültepe-Kanesh and ancient parasites

June 18, 2010

Why is Neolithic Çatal Höyük not a city? Why is the Bronze Age trade centre of Kanesh a city? Is the difference just that large palace on the hill? Çatal Höyük Çatal Höyük, in southern Anatolia, Turkey, ranks as one of the earliest villages anywhere in the world. Dating back to the eighth millennium BC [...]

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What Happened In the Natufian?

June 11, 2010

The Natufian culture holds a special place in the hearts of archaeologists. It appeared in the Levant (modern Palestine, Israel, Syria and Jordan) about 12,500 BC and lasted until 9500 BC* (the end of the Epipalaeolithic, sometimes rather confusingly called the Mesolithic). With this culture the world changed forever. Before the Natufian roaming hunter gatherers, [...]

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Centres of domestication at narrowing bottlenecks?

May 27, 2010

An attempt to use a world map to predict where the origins of agriculture should be. The environmental map shown here is of the early Holocene world (between about 10000 and 5000BC). The coastlines approximate those of the time. Green represents areas of thick tropical forest. Yellow represents arid or desert areas. I considered these [...]

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Hairy nutters of the ancient world

May 24, 2010

Why did ancient people suffer from such bad hair – was it their conditioner? We’re all familiar with the feeling. He’s coming along the street toward us and there’s something not right about him. Certainly the muttering doesn’t help, but he could have a hands-free mobile. The movement of the eyes perhaps. But one big [...]

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