Genetic studies of prehistoric massacres have found instances connected to warfare (all male, likely died in battle), targeted executions of families, migrants in conflict with local groups and ritual killings for religious purposes. The massacre in the Copper Age burial in Potočani, Croatia, doesn’t fit any of these categories.

The mass grave was discovered during construction of a garage on private land in 2007. In a small pit about 6.5 feet in diameter and three feet deep, archaeologists unearthed the skeletal remains of 41 individuals. Many of the bones were comingled, some still articulated. Radiocarbon dating of the remains dated the burial to 4200 B.C. and some pottery fragments recovered from the pit identify the deceased as members of the Lasinja culture of the Middle Copper Age.

Researchers cleaned and documented the bones, recording age, sex and any evidence of trauma or illness. Of the 41 individuals, 20 were female, 21 male. There were 21 children with the youngest between two and five and the oldest between 11 and 17. Of the 20 adults, 14 were younger (18-25), five middle-aged (36-50) and one’s age could not be determined. They had good teeth and were generally in good health, aside from a case of meningitis and five of scurvy.

A total of 28 perimortem injuries were found on 13 skulls. Most of those were from blunt force trauma, with a smaller numbers of stabbing and piercing wounds and cuts. The trauma was inflicted regardless of age or sex. Little boys and girls were struck just as the adults were. All 41 were buried at the same time, so while the remains only confirm violent death for 13 of them, it’s almost certain the others died by violence too, the marks of it just didn’t make it to the bones.

The research team was able to extract ancient DNA from 38 of the 41 individuals from the Potočani mass grave. Genomic analysis found that they were a homogeneous community with predominantly Anatolian Neolithic ancestry and a soupcon (~9%) of Western European hunter-gatherer ancestry. They were not a close kinship group, however. Only 11 of the deceased were related to each other in four distinct lines: a young man with two daughters and his nephew, two young sisters with a young man who was a 3rd degree relative, a father and son, a boy with his paternal aunt or half-sister.

These results indicate a large and stable population (estimates based on the DNA data put it from 20,100–75,600 people at the time of the burial) was attacked indiscriminately. No families were deliberately targeted. It wasn’t a battle between two armed factions.

The study also considered the potential role of climate change in the mass burial event. When climate changes, resources such as water, vegetation — including feed for cattle and other livestock — and game animals become less predictable. Furthermore, hazards, such as unpredictable extreme weather, become more common.

“These factors tend to disrupt human lifeways, and groups sometimes try to take over others’ territories and resources,” [University of Wyoming anthropology professor James] Ahern explains. “Increases in population size cause groups to overextend their local resources and require expansion into other areas. Both climate change and population increase tend to cause social disruption and violent acts, such as what happened at Potočani, that become more common as groups come into conflict with each other.”

The study has been published in the journal PLOS One and can be read here.

Archaeologists have discovered a rare unlooted grave from the 5th century near Hradec Králové in Eastern Bohemia. It was one of six graves from the early Migration Period found in the village of Sendražice during a 2019 excavation. The other five had all been looted in antiquity, but the intact grave contains a rich collection of elite grave goods that make it an unprecedented find in the Czech Republic.

The six individuals ranged in age from 16 to 55. The deceased in the unpillaged grave was a woman between the ages of 35 and 50. She was buried in a wood chamber tomb, only the second chamber tomb from the Migration Period ever found in Eastern Bohemia. The other was found in 1960 at a site about five miles away.

Among the treasures found in the woman’s grave are a gold-decorated headdress, four buckles of gold and silver inlaid with semi-precious stones, glass beads, an iron knife, a bone comb, egg shells and a ceramic vessel. A small animal was buried with her. A pair of silver buckles placed in the area of her lap have fragments of a textile with canvas and twill weave still attached.

One of the fabrics belonged to the garment fastened by the buckles, the other to a coat or cloth that covered the woman. Remains of leather and fur were also found on the buckles, according to research by Helena Březinová from the Institute of Archeology of the Czech Academy of Sciences.

Remains of some funerary offerings were found in the looted graves, including of a scramasax short sword, iron knives, metal belt fittings, shoe fittings, antler combs, amber and glass beads. One ceramic vessel survived the looting intact. Analysis of residue inside the container revealed that the meat of a ruminant had been cooked in it.

Osteological examination has thus far only been able to confirm the sex of the woman in the intact grave as the remains in the other graves were damaged during the robberies. Based on what’s left of their grave goods, archaeologists believe a man was buried in grave 3 and a woman in grave 6. Evidence of arthritic changes were found on some of the bones, indicating they may have been of older age and/or worked strenuously in life. Traces of cancer were found in the skull and pelvis of one individual. Another had asymmetrical muscle development the lower limbs. Not enough of the skeleton has survived to make a determination as to the cause of this asymmetry, but it may have been the result of a stroke. Tooth decay and damage to the joints was also found.

The skeletal remains will continue to be studied. Radiocarbon dating will be performed to narrow down the ages of the graves. Stable isotope analysis will reveal their diets and areas of origin. DNA analysis will be performed to determine if any of the people buried were related to each other.

A petrified tree 62 feet high complete with branches, leaves and roots has been discovered on the Greek island of Lesbos. It was found during salvage excavations at the site of roadwork in western Lesbos. While the island is famed for its vast petrified forest, a national park, monument and designated UNESCO Global Geopark, most of the trees are trunks, either upright with their roots intact or fallen. Trees with branches are rare — the last one before this was found in 1995 — and a tree of this scale with branches has never been found before.

The trees were mineralized and preserved in a series of massive volcanic eruptions that struck the northern Aegean 17 to 20 million years ago. The trees on the western part of the island were covered by volcanic lava and ash. Heavy rains turned the ash to fast-moving mudflows that blanketed the forest. The subtropical forest of pines, oaks and Sequoia-like giants, plus leaves, fruits and roots were fossilized.

The latest discovery was preserved almost to its last leaf thanks to a coating of fine-grained volcanic ash which coated the whole thing and kept it intact in one piece exactly where it fell in the eruption. It was not moved or dragged by the mudflows. It simply toppled over where it stood, was covered by a thick layer of fine ash and gradually turned to stone. Underneath it was a bed of fruit leaves, also preserved and mineralized by the volcanic ash. Nearby the excavation team unearthed a spectacular cache of 150 petrified logs one on top of the other in a single pit.

The discovery of an entire tree lying on a bed of leaves was not only unprecedented but down to pure luck. “Constructors were about to asphalt that part of the highway when one of our technicians noticed a tiny branch. The road work stopped, we starting excavating and quite quickly realised we had chanced upon an incredible find,” said [University of the Aegean geology professor Nikolas] Zouros. “It will now form part of the open-air museum we intend to create.”

Geologists around the world have described the find as a breakthrough. “We have a case of extraordinary fossilisation in which a tree was preserved with its various parts intact. In the history of paleontology, worldwide, it’s unique” said the Portuguese palaeontologist Artur Abreu Sá. “That it was buried by sediments expelled during a destructive volcanic eruption, and then found in situ, makes it even more unusual.”

Because the road will still be built over the find site, the tree will have to be moved. Staff of the Natural History Museum of the Petrified Forest have been working assiduously for the past few weeks to complete the excavation of the tree and preserve it. A custom splint has been wrapped around the trunk and branches to support them and ensure the tree remains intact. A metal grate has been built to transport the tree to an area 100 feet away where a protective shelter is being constructed for its display.

The secret to the persistence of the brilliant colors in the world’s most ancient pile carpet has been discovered: fermented wool. The sheep wool carpet now in the collection of the Hermitage Museum dates to around 400 B.C., making it six centuries older than the next oldest dated examples of pile carpets. The carpet is in exceptional condition, preserved in the permafrost with only small areas of loss. The reds, blues and yellows are still vivid.

It was discovered in a 1947 excavation of the largest burial mound of the Pazyryk culture in the Altai mountains of what is now Kazakhstan. It is unique on the archaeological record, although there is a comparable piece of Persian origin, suggesting that it may have reached Altai region via trade networks or perhaps been made locally by copying a Persian piece. It was knotted with the symmetrical double knot, a technique also known as the Turkish knot, which creates an exceptionally dense pile.

In the central field has six rows and four columns of boxes, each containing stylized lotus buds arranged in a cross shape. Around the central field are five borders. The first features 28 boxes containing griffins. The second is a wide band with 24 fallow deer bucks grazing. The third is a thinner band with lotuses again but smaller and red against a yellow background. The fourth is the widest to make room for 28 horsemen, both mounted and dismounted, against a rich crimson background. The outer band features the boxed griffins of the inner border.

To investigate the remarkably enduring color of the carpet’s colors, researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) penetrated deep into the knots of the carpet using high-resolution X-ray fluorescence microscopy (µ-XRF) to analyze the distribution of pigments in a cross-section of individual fibers. This is the first use of the technology on carpet fibers; previous studies in the field have all used scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Indeed, FAU researchers already had samples of the carpet because they had been sent to them for SEM analysis in 1991.

SEM imaging can identify fermented wool from its raised outermost cuticle layer, but that only works with newer textiles because the outer cuticle layer wears off over time. The surface of the Pazyryk  carpet’s fibers is damaged with the cuticle layer missing entirely in some areas, as one would expect for a textile that was woven 2,400 years ago.

Into the breach stepped µ-XRF. Samples of fibers from the Pazyryk carpet dyed with red madder were embedded in epoxy and cross-sectioned for scanning. For comparison, recently prepared wool was obtained from Anatolian weavers and fermented according to the traditional technique, and samples were taken from an 18th century Konya carpet.

We conclude from our studies that both the eighteenth century Konya carpet and the Pazyryk carpet have been manufactured from wool that was fermented prior to dyeing. This means that the people of the Pazyryk culture not only already had sophisticated knowledge about pile carpets, but were also highly skilful textile dyers achieving colour fastness superior to modern industrial production. Our results also proof that the fermentation technique was in ancient times not only restricted to Eastern Anatolia and may have played an important role in traditional dyeing craftsmanship.

The way fermentation works is the wool is soaked in a suspension in sourdough and wheat bran which feeds a beneficial culture of G. candidum yeast. The microorganisms keep the pH steady at 4.4, prevent putrefaction and after about three weeks, decompose the fats inside the cuticle layer greatly enhancing the wool fibers’ ability to absorb the dye. It is a more effective and cheaper means to maintain color fastness than bleaching, but it does have certain downsides. It takes a long time and if you don’t get the fermentation balance, you end up with putrefied wool. (I had a batch of fermented hard boiled eggs go wrong once, and my ferments were messed up for months after that. Fermentation is beautiful and terrible as the dawn. All shall love it and despair.) The Pazyryk carpet’s intense, vibrant color shows why it’s a risk worth taking.