Sex with humans – not climate change, disease or war – spelled the end for Neanderthals, scientists believe

They began to encounter each other around 60,000 years ago across Europe and Asia but within 20,000 years, Neanderthals had died out

The demise of the Neanderthals is often blamed on climate change, disease, or violent clashes with modern humans.

However, an expert at the Natural History Museum (NHM) in London believes it was making love, not war, with Homo sapiens that may have led the rival Neanderthals down an evolutionary cul-de-sac.

The NHM’s Prof Chris Stringer said it was telling that the DNA of Homo sapiens is never found in Neanderthal specimens, despite their DNA being found in modern humans.

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Six recent discoveries that have changed how we think about human origins

Scientific study of human evolution historically reassured us of a comforting order to things. It has painted humans as as cleverer, more intellectual and caring than our ancestral predecessors.

From archaeological reconstructions of Neanderthals as stooped, hairy and brutish, to “cavemen” movies, our ancient ancestors got a bad press.

Over the last five years discoveries have upended this unbalanced view. In my recent book, Hidden Depths: The Origins of Human Connection, I argue that this matters for how we see ourselves today and so how we imagine our futures, as much as for our understanding of our past.

Six revelations stand out.

1. There are more human species than we ever imagined

Species such as Homo Longi have only been identified as recently as 2018. There are now 21 known species of human.

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"Preparing Medicine from Honey"

"Preparing Medicine from Honey", from a Dispersed Manuscript of an Arabic Translation of De Materia Medica of Dioscorides

dated A.H. 621/ A.D. 1224

One of the most influential medical treatises handed down to Muslims was De Materia Medica, by a first-century B.C. Greek physician in Cilicia (southern Anatolia). The left page concerns making medicine from honey and water, prescribed to cure weakness and loss of appetite. A doctor holds a gold cup while stirring the boiling honey and water in a cauldron as he prepares to scoop it up for the seated patient. The architectural setting suggests that the drugs are being produced in a pharmacy like those attached to hospitals in the Seljuq lands. In the illustration on the right, a doctor and his assistant or patient stand on either side of a sieve through which grapes are pressed and then combined with brine and an onion-like herb to produce a medicine to cure digestive disorders.

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Harald Hardrada: King of Norway

Coming back to Norway meant that Harald Hardrada had two relatives to deal with – Sweyn and Magnus. It would make for an interesting path to the Norwegian throne. 

By 1043 the wheel of fortune had turned once more, and the family of Harald Hardrada was triumphant. While Harald had busied himself in his exile waging war across the wine-dark sea in the employ of the empire of the Romans, his nephew Magnus, the illegitimate son of Harald’s half-brother King Olaf II, had become the figurehead of a powerful bloc of Norwegian aristocrats disaffected by the burdens and excesses of Danish overlordship. With their support and after a decade of warfare, Magnus was able to not only secure his hold on Norway, doing much to establish and disseminate notions of royal authority, but also capture the throne of Denmark. Their traditional enemies and tormentors had all fallen by the wayside or been bent to purpose. Cnut the Great and his sons, their power fragmented by internecine rivalries and squabbles, all fell victim to illness and tragedy while the Norwegian aristocrats who had overthrown and then slain Olaf II had all reconciled themselves to Magnus and the notion of Norwegian kingship.

Magnus, whose role in the political unification of Norway and establishment of the kingdom has all too often been overlooked and undervalued, is known to history as Magnus the Good. He earnt this epithet we are told by the 13th-century saga material because rather than seek revenge against his father’s killers and perpetuate a destructive blood feud, Magnus chose to forgive them and work together in challenging Danish hegemony over Norway. Of course, Magnus was only eleven when he was first proclaimed king in 1035, therefore despite the support of several powerful advocates, such as his stepmother Queen Astrid and her brother King Arnud Jacob of Sweden, the extent to which he could have struck back against his aristocratic sponsors is highly questionable. Harald’s epithet of Hardrada on the other hand translates into English into something along the lines of the severe or stern. Wars fought between those famed for their decency and gentleness of heart and those known for their severe and forceful nature seldom last long.

And it was to be war, for Harald arrived in Scandinavia intent upon seizing the throne of Norway for himself. Perhaps he felt like he had come too far, seen too much and served too many simply to present himself to his nephew as just another poor relation, a potential military proxy and advisor in a royal court already replete with vested interests and aristocratic affinities. Harald had departed Constantinople with considerable haste with a meagre handful of ships and a few hundred diehard followers at the most. Yet he was a force to be reckoned with.

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The Value and Power of Books in Anglo-Saxon England

The St Cuthbert Gospel of St John. (formerly known as the Stonyhurst Gospel) is the oldest intact European book

Despite the ‘Dark Ages’ myth, Anglo-Saxon England actually had an impressive wealth and sophistication, and books were prized possessions. The printing press was still centuries away and so the creation of each book required a painstaking amount of time and effort. Thus, those available became symbols of power and wealth and were highly-valued among the upper echelons of Anglo-Saxon society.

In what different ways did books hold such value and power during this period?

Valuable possessions

One of the most notable figures who placed high value on literature was King Alfred the Great. His famous beautifully-crafted jewel, the Alfred Jewel, is thought to have originally been the handle of his reading stick, used for pointing at words when reading.

We also know Alfred championed the making of books. In the mid 880s, Alfred summoned Asser, a Welsh monk from the monastery at St David’s, to write the Life of King Alfred – while the king was still alive.

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Landscapes of the Norman Conquest

An exciting new book “Landscapes of the Norman Conquest” by Trevor Rowley has now been published.

For a long time, the Norman Conquest has been viewed as a turning point in English history; an event which transformed English identity, sovereignty, kingship, and culture. The years between 1066 and 1086 saw the largest transfer of property ever seen in English History, comparable in scale, if not greater, than the revolutions in France in 1789 and Russia in 1917. This transfer and the means to achieve it had a profound effect upon the English and Welsh landscape, an impact that is clearly visible almost 1,000 years afterwards.

Although there have been numerous books examining different aspects of the British landscape, this is the first to look specifically at the way in which the Normans shaped our towns and countryside.

The castles, abbeys, churches and cathedrals built in the new Norman Romanesque style after 1066 represent the most obvious legacy of what was effectively a colonial take-over of England. Such phenomena furnished a broader landscape that was fashioned to intimidate and demonstrate the Norman dominance of towns and villages.

The devastation that followed the Conquest, characterised by the ‘Harrying of the North’, had a long-term impact in the form of new planned settlements and agriculture. The imposition of Forest Laws, restricting hunting to the Norman king and the establishment of a military landscape in areas such as the Welsh Marches, had a similar impact on the countryside.

You can find further details here…

Viking beadmakers’ secrets revealed in new study

The Viking Age bead makers were more advanced than previously believed. New research shows that craftsmen in Denmark around the year 700 used sophisticated and sustainable methods when they gave old Roman glass mosaics new life as glass beads.

Ribe was an important trading town in the Viking Age. At the beginning of the 8th century, a trading place was established on the north side of the river Ribe, to which traders and craftsmen flocked from far and wide to manufacture and sell goods such as brooches, suit buckles, combs and coloured glass beads.

When glass became a scarce commodity in the Early Medieval period, coloured glass cubes – so-called tesserae – were torn down from mosaics in abandoned Roman and Byzantine temples, palaces and baths, transported North and traded at emporia towns such as Ribe, where the beadmakers melted them down in large vessels and shaped them into beads.

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Viking silver treasure uncovered in Täby in Stockholm

A unique treasure hoard dating from the Viking Age has been uncovered in Täby, Stockholm. Consisting of arm rings, coins and eight torque-style neck rings. Photo: The Archaeologists

A 1000-year-old silver hoard containing several beautiful torque-style neck rings, arm rings and coins has been discovered in Viggbyholm, Täby, outside Stockholm. “This is something you probably only experience once in a lifetime”, says Maria Lingström at The Archaeologists, National Historical Museums in Sweden.

The treasure was found during an archeological excavation of a Viking Age settlement in Täby outside Stockholm, an area thought to have been inhabited for several hundred years. The archeologists have found more than 20 houses and buildings, the earliest dating from around 400 AD, continuing into the Viking Age (800–1050 AD) and early Middle Ages. The treasure was buried under what was once a wooden floor in a building. The coins were deposited in a pouch made of linen, which together with the jewellery had been put into a small ceramic pot.

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Viking unhacked silver hoard found in Sweden

Sweden sees Norway’s Viking hack silver hoard and raises with a Viking hoard of silver jewelry and coins in pristine unhacked condition. The hoard was discovered in an excavation of the Viking settlement of Täby, outside Stockholm. It was cached under the wooden floor of one of the Viking Age (800-1050 A.D.) houses about 1,000 years ago.

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Norwich timber henge burnt in Neolithic winter solstice excavated

The late Neolithic to Bronze Age monument is close to many other prehistoric sites, including burial barrows and mines

A 5,000-year-old timber circle burnt down during a Neolithic midwinter solstice has been excavated for the first time since the 1930s.

Arminghall Henge, just outside Norwich, was discovered by a pilot in 1929 surveying for ancient monuments.

The blaze would have created "a hell of a bonfire which burnt for days", archaeologist Andy Hutcheson said.

Dr Hutcheson said following the dig they now believe it was deliberately set alight during a winter gathering.

Radiocarbon dating in 2010 suggested it was built between 3525BC to 2700BC.

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500,000-Year-Old Tools In Polish Cave May Have Belonged To Extinct Hominid Species

Flint artifacts from the Tunel Wielki cave, made half a million years ago possibly by Homo heildelbergensis. Image credit: M. Kot

The findings suggest humans crossed into central Europe earlier than previously thought.

Stone tools created half a million years in what is now Poland were probably the work of an extinct hominid species called Homo heidelbergensis, thought to be the last common ancestor of Neanderthals and modern humans. Previously, researchers were unsure if humans had made it to central Europe by this point in history, so the new discovery may shed new light on the chronology of our expansion across the region.

“Peopling of Central Europe by Middle Pleistocene hominids is highly debatable, mainly due to the relatively harsh climatic and environmental conditions that require cultural and anatomical adjustments,” explain the authors of a new study on the artifacts. In particular, they note that evidence of human occupation north of the Carpathian Mountains during this period is extremely scarce, primarily thanks to the difficulty that ancient hominids would have faced when attempting to cross the range.

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Ancient DNA reveals the social lives of the oldest known family group

Neanderthal is an insult still lobbed about to suggest someone is dim-witted and out of touch.

The more we learn about our Stone Age cousins, however, the more it appears the opposite is true. Neanderthals weren’t brutish cave dwellers — they made sophisticated tools, yarn and art, and they buried their dead with care.

A new discovery in a Siberian cave this week reveals an intimate portrait of Neanderthal family life and shows it may be time for Homo sapiens to ditch that superiority complex once and for all.

Scientists have uncovered the oldest known family group, using ancient DNA from Neanderthals who lived in Chagyrskaya Cave in southern Siberia in Russia.

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East Walton silver pin find sheds light on end of Roman rule

The pin has the remains of an enamel inlay

The discovery of a late Roman-era pin sheds light on a time when "certainties that held for centuries were beginning to shake up", a historian said.

The silver pin was found by a metal detectorist, near East Walton, Norfolk.

It is definitely late 4th or early 5th Century, despite having Iron Age-style designs, Dr Helen Geake said.

"As Roman Britain is collapsing, other influences are coming in and people aren't sure what's going to be the next big thing," she said.

"We know that Norfolk is going to become one of the heartlands of Anglo-Saxon culture, but late Roman-era people didn't know that," the Norfolk finds liaison officer added.

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Archeologists find tomb of Saint Nicholas, 4th century bishop and inspiration for Santa Claus

St. Nicholas Church is an ancient East Roman basilica church in the ancient city of Myra, now a museum located in modern Demre, Antalya Province, Turkey. It was built above the burial place of St Nicholas, a fourth century Christian bishop of Myra. The basilica is on UNESCO's tentative list to become a World Heritage Site. | Getty Images

Archeologists have found the tomb that holds the remains of Saint Nicholas underneath an ancient church in Turkey. Nicholas, who became the basis for the Christmas character Santa Claus, died more than 1,600 years ago. 

“This is an extremely important discovery, the first find from that period,” Fox News quoted Osman Eravsar, chairman of the Antalya Cultural Heritage Preservation Regional Board, as saying about the discovery in a church in the Demre town in southern Turkey.

After rising sea levels in the Mediterranean submerged the church, a second church was built there centuries later.

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Metal detectorist’s find of lifetime as rare 700AD gold sword pommel uncovered

The solid gold sword pommel was found near Blair Drummond and is valued at £30,000.

An “exceptionally rare” solid-gold sword pommel discovered by a metal detectorist and which dates back to the early medieval period has come into the ownership of Scotland’s national museums.

The impressive find was located near Blair Drummond, Stirling, and is believed to date back to 700AD.

Measuring 5.5cm wide and weighing 25g, the golden pommel – the fitting at the top of the handle – is valued at £30,000.

On recommendation of the Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel, the King’s and Lord Treasurer’s Remembrancer allocated the find to National Museums Scotland (NMS), which described the item as “exceptionally rare”.

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Remains of Pictish period cross with bird carvings uncovered in Scottish kirkyard

The surface of the fallen stone was partially revealed in 2019 by volunteers from the Rescuers of Old Kilmadock (ROOK) group during work in the historic kirkyard. Archaeologists returned last month [SEPT] and dug deeper to expose more of the stone.

The chiselled ogham strokes, which have still to be deciphered, are thought to be the first of their kind found in the Forth Valley.

Other fragments found nearby, which also appear to show carvings, may shed further light on the find.

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Arab DNA Shows Route of Early Human Migration from Africa

Recent studies on Arab DNA confirmed what researchers have believed for many years, but hadn’t been able to prove definitively. Testing suggests that ancient Arabia indeed served as a “cornerstone” for early human migration out of Africa.

In the largest-ever study of human genomes in the Arab world, the study was able to pinpoint the most ancient of all Middle Eastern populations, allowing researchers to trace very early human migration patterns, according to Smithsonian Magazine.

In the study, published online in the journal Nature Communications, the findings state that the area served as a key crossroads in the migration of people out of Africa.

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The first horse herders and the impact of early Bronze Age steppe expansions into Asia

The Eurasian steppes reach from the Ukraine in Europe to Mongolia and China. Over the past 5000 years, these flat grasslands were thought to be the route for the ebb and flow of migrant humans, their horses, and their languages. de Barros Damgaard et al. probed whole-genome sequences from the remains of 74 individuals found across this region. Although there is evidence for migration into Europe from the steppes, the details of human movements are complex and involve independent acquisitions of horse cultures. Furthermore, it appears that the Indo-European Hittite language derived from Anatolia, not the steppes. The steppe people seem not to have penetrated South Asia. Genetic evidence indicates an independent history involving western Eurasian admixture into ancient South Asian peoples.

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Secrets Of Iron Age Power Center Uppåkra Revealed By Archaeologists

New excavations in Uppåkra are at the forefront of cutting edge archaeological techniques. By combining big data, data modeling and DNA sequencing, researchers are currently solving significant parts of a historical puzzle. Perhaps we will learn whether the Justinianic Plague, the forerunner of the Black Death, reached Uppåkra. Until now, this has been uncertain.

Torbjörn Ahlström, professor of Historical Osteology at Lund University stands on a hill outside Lund. His gaze falls on the fertile soil that has served people in the area for centuries.

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Thor’s hammer amulet found in Sweden

Archaeologists have discovered a lead Thor’s hammer amulet dating to the late 10th century in Ysby in southwestern Sweden’s Halland province. The hammer was unearthed at the site of future housing construction. Previous investigations at the site revealed archaeological remains from the Neolithic and Iron Age, but this is the first artifact from the Viking era discovered there. It’s also the first Thor’s hammer amulet found in Halland.

The amulet is 3 centimeters (1.18 inches) long and cast in lead in the stylized shape that represents Thor’s dwarf-crafted hammer Mjölnir. It has a hole in the shaft where a string or a tie of some sort was threaded through so it could be worn as a pendant. One side of the hammer’s head is engraved with an interlacing pattern.

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10 of the Best Viking Museums in Europe

Image Credit: Tim Graham / Alamy Stock Photo

Get in touch with your inner Norseman and discover the greatest Viking museums across Europe.

The Viking Age is undeniably a fascinating period in history, inspiring countless books, films, television shows and somewhat questionable Halloween costumes. Characters such as Ragnar Lothbrok and Leif Erikson have become household names, while Norse Gods are not only subjects of old legends but modern blockbusters. Viking Museums help shed some light on this period which is often misunderstood, debunking many famous myths while showing a multifaceted view of early medieval Scandinavian life.

Here are ten of the best Viking museums across Europe, ranging from open-air museums where history is re-enacted to Viking ships and buildings that survived the elements.

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Rendlesham: 1,400-year-old royal hall unearthed

Volunteers working with Suffolk County Council fully excavated post holes on the east side of the hall

A royal hall of "international importance" that dates back 1,400 years has been unearthed on private land.

The Hall of the first Kings of East Anglia was discovered in Rendlesham, Suffolk, over the summer.

Prof Christopher Scull said it was the "most extensive and materially wealthy settlement of its date known in England".

It was discovered by a community dig as part of Suffolk County Council's Rendlesham Revealed project.

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