In this week’s episode, we cover three archaeology news stories. First up, a Nature-backed report on unusually old woodworking from Kalambo Falls, where waterlogged conditions preserved a wedge, digging stick, and notched logs dated by luminescence to about 476,000 years ago, suggesting advanced planning and challenging simple “Stone Age” assumptions. We then discuss a Pompeii discovery of two skeletons outside the city walls near Porta Stabia, including a man apparently shielding his head with a terracotta bowl and carrying an oil lamp, and we debate the benefits and risks of an AI-generated scene reconstruction. Finally, we examine Peru’s Monte Sierpe “Band of Holes,” over 5,200 aligned pits mapped by drones and analyzed via microbotanical remains, with a study proposing early market use and later Inca-style accounting patterns resembling quipu, while we question how and why such a vast system was built and used.

The Archaeology Show

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Early Hominin Structures, Pompeii Discoveries, and the Band of Holes in Peru - Ep 328

MAY 4, 202657 MIN
The Archaeology Show

Early Hominin Structures, Pompeii Discoveries, and the Band of Holes in Peru - Ep 328

MAY 4, 202657 MIN

Description

In this week’s episode, we cover three archaeology news stories. First up, a Nature-backed report on unusually old woodworking from Kalambo Falls, where waterlogged conditions preserved a wedge, digging stick, and notched logs dated by luminescence to about 476,000 years ago, suggesting advanced planning and challenging simple “Stone Age” assumptions. We then discuss a Pompeii discovery of two skeletons outside the city walls near Porta Stabia, including a man apparently shielding his head with a terracotta bowl and carrying an oil lamp, and we debate the benefits and risks of an AI-generated scene reconstruction. Finally, we examine Peru’s Monte Sierpe “Band of Holes,” over 5,200 aligned pits mapped by drones and analyzed via microbotanical remains, with a study proposing early market use and later Inca-style accounting patterns resembling quipu, while we question how and why such a vast system was built and used. Links Segment 1 World’s oldest wooden structure was built by an unknown species, nearly 200,000 years before modern humans evolved (earth.com) Hominins built with wood 476,000 years ago (Nature) Segment 2 This Man Fled Pompeii as Mount Vesuvius Erupted. Archaeologists Found Him 2,000 Years Later, Holding a Bowl to Protect His Head and a Lamp to Light His Way Segment 3 Study suggests these 5,200 holes dug into a mountain were some form of ancient accounting (earth.com) Indigenous accounting and exchange at Monte Sierpe (‘Band of Holes’) in the Pisco Valley, Peru (Cambridge University Press) Contact Chris Webster [email protected] Rachel Roden [email protected] RachelUnraveled (Instagram) ArchPodNet APN Website: https://www.archpodnet.com APN Discord: https://discord.com/invite/CWBhb2T2ed APN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/archpodnet APN on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/archpodnet APN on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/archpodnet APN Shop Affiliates Motion Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.