Anthropology.net5d ago
Neanderthals at a German lakeside site 125,000 years ago carefully cleaned pond turtle shells—possibly for use as containers. First evidence of turtle exploitation north of the Alps, published in Scientific Reports.
#Neanderthals #Paleoanthropology #Zooarchaeology https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-smallest-prey-at-the-lake
The Smallest Prey at the Lake

Neanderthals at Neumark-Nord collected pond turtles alongside elephants—and the question of why may be more interesting than the answer

Anthropology.net
Anthropology.netApr 3
A small island off northern Fiji is made almost entirely of ancient shellfish remains — possibly built by centuries of human refuse, meal by discarded meal. New research asks: midden or tsunami deposit? #Archaeology #PacificIslands #Zooarchaeologyhttps://www.anthropology.net/p/an-island-built-from-dinner
Anthropology.netMar 27
New zooarchaeological analysis of the 125,000-year-old Lehringen site confirms Neanderthals hunted a straight-tusked elephant with a wooden spear and butchered bear, beaver, and aurochs at the same lakeshore. #Neanderthals #Paleoanthropology #Zooarchaeology https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-lehringen-spear-revisited
The Lehringen Spear, Revisited

New analysis of a 125,000-year-old Neanderthal site in Germany settles old doubts about elephant hunting and reveals a far more versatile predator than the record suggested

Anthropology.net
Anthropology.netMar 25
Ancient DNA from Britain & Turkey confirms dogs were widespread across Ice Age Europe by 15,800 years ago — genetically similar across three distinct human cultures long before farming existed. What do we actually know about the first dogs? #Palaeogenomics #Zooarchaeology #HumanEvolution #Dogs https://www.anthropology.net/p/before-the-first-harvest-ancient
Before the First Harvest: Ancient DNA and the Paleolithic Dogs of Europe

Two companion studies push the genetic record of domestic dogs back nearly 5,000 years, revealing a population that spread across genetically distinct human cultures before farming existed

Anthropology.net
Archaeology News Feb 21

Rare deer skull headdress discovered in Germany highlights exchange between hunter-gatherers and Europe’s first farmers

Archaeologists working at the Early Neolithic settlement of Eilsleben in Saxony-Anhalt have uncovered evidence of close contact between Europe’s first farming communities and local hunter-gatherers...

More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/02/deer-skull-headdress-discovered-in-germany/

@archaeology

#archaeology #archeology #archaeologynews #zooarchaeology #anthropology #neolithic

Archaeology News Feb 19

Elephant bone found in Spain provides rare evidence of war elephants during the Punic Wars

Archaeologists in southern Spain have reported rare physical evidence linked with elephants used during the Punic Wars. A single elephant bone recovered at the Colina de los Quemados site in Córdoba offers direct archaeological support for ancient written accounts describing elephants within Carthaginian armies...

More info: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/02/elephant-bone-found-in-spain-the-punic-wars/

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#archaeology #zooarchaeology #punicwars

Anthropology.netFeb 10
Why did bison hunters abandon a Montana kill site after 700 years? Not prey scarcity—severe droughts converged with shifts toward large-scale communal hunting, making small sites obsolete. #archaeology #climateadaptation #bison #zooarchaeology #anthropology #montana https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-site-that-stopped-working-bison
The Site That Stopped Working: Bison Hunting and Drought in Late Holocene Montana

When hunters abandoned a kill site after 700 years of use, the answer wasn't scarcity

Anthropology.net
Archaeology News Feb 8

Study finds dog meat was consumed at Iron Age feasts in ancient Bulgaria

Archaeologists studying animal bones from Iron Age settlements in Bulgaria have found strong evidence for dog consumption between the fifth and first centuries BCE. Cut marks, burning traces, and repeated butchery patterns appear on canine bones from multiple sites...

More information: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/01/dog-was-consumed-at-iron-age-feasts-in-bulgaria/

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#archaeology #archeology #archaeologynews #zooarchaeology #ironage

Anthropology.netFeb 2
Iron Age Iberians did not just sacrifice horses. They gathered them from across the Guadiana basin, raised them with care, and killed them in a final ritual that closed a monumental building forever. Teeth tell the story. #Archaeology #IronAge #Zooarchaeology #AncientNetworks https://www.anthropology.net/p/the-last-ride-horses-power-and-the
The Last Ride: Horses, Power, and the Making of a Final Ritual in Iron Age Iberia

How the teeth of sacrificed animals reveal long-distance networks, careful planning, and the political theater behind a dramatic closure ceremony in Tartessian Spain

Anthropology.net
SPAAM-communityFeb 2
The Altai wasn’t just home to Denisovans. 🏔️🧬Ancient DNA revealed unexpected bovine diversity 🦬, including a mysterious yak-like lineage (yak "X") now seemingly lost to time.
https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/17/11/evaf206/8315343
#MetagenomicsMonday #ancientDNA #aDNA #paleogenomics #zooarchaeology #denisovacave #altai #yak