22 ancient tombs were discovered in Central China’s Henan
A cluster of 22 ancient tombs spanning nearly 1,600 years have recently been found in Central China’s Henan province.
Aerial photo of a cluster of 22 ancient tombs spanning nearly 1,600 years in Central China’s Henan province.
Specifically, two tombs dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220), 12 built in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), and eight others from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties were discovered on a hill in Laozhuangshi Village of Weishi County in Kaifeng city, the then-capital city during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).
The Song tombs, mainly made of brick-chamber structures with stairways, are believed to belong to a family.
Archaeologists have found delicate decorations inside, as the chamber walls were adorned with colorful murals themed on flowers, birds, mythical creatures, furniture, weapons, and more.
Doors and windows crafted in imitation wood structures were also discovered inside the chambers.
“Among the discoveries were chairs, tables with tableware as well as wine or teapots placed atop, alongside other items such as scissors, flat irons, clothes racks, and wardrobes,” said Chang Hongjie, who works with the provincial cultural relics and archaeology institute.
Chang added that the interior setting vividly provides a glimpse into the daily life of the tomb owners, offering valuable insights into the social life and burial customs during the Song Dynasty.
The interior decoration and exterior design of the tomb chambers replicate the residential houses and yards in reality, which helps to understand the life scenarios in Kaifeng during the Song Dynasty, according to the researchers.
This bronze part from a horse chariot was unearthed from one of the tombs, suggesting the entire chariot and perhaps the horses that drew it were also entombed there.
The mysterious origins of ancient bronzeware found in a part of northern China may have been uncovered, with the discovery of the ruins of a complete Bronze Age town in the area.
Archaeologists have now recovered hundreds of astonishing artifacts — including bronze drinking vessels, painted pottery, ornaments inlaid with turquoise and carved pieces of jade — at the vast Zhaigou archaeological site, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of the modern city of Yulin in Shaanxi province.
The relics, dating from more than 3,000 years ago, were made during the Shang Dynasty, which ruled northern China from about 1600 B.C. to 1046 B.C.
This bronze bird figurine inlaid with pieces of turquoise is among the roughly 3,000-year-old artifacts unearthed from the elite tombs at the Zhaigou site.
Archaeologists described the find at a news conference in Beijing by China’s National Cultural Heritage Administration.
Experts said that local people had been unearthing ancient artifacts on their farmland since the 1940s, but their origins were unknown. Now, the discovery of the entire Bronze Age settlement at the Zhaigou site, spread over 11 hills and covering more than 1.2 square miles (3 square kilometers), explains their history, the archaeologists said.
“All of the basic elements of a central settlement have been discovered at the site,” Xu Lianggao, a researcher with China’s Institute of Archaeology, told the state-owned newspaper China Daily. “We found some tombs and large-scale structures in this area in the past, but this time the complete face of a settlement has been unveiled.”
A bone delicately carved with designs that represent a catfish and inlaid with pieces of turquoise.
Ancient settlement
Shaanxi along with neighboring Henan and Shanxi, make up the so-called “cradle” of ancient Chinese civilization in the Yellow River basin; and the Shang Dynasty is the earliest for which there is archaeological evidence, although the Xia Dynasty is said to have preceded it between 2070 B.C. and 1600 B.C.
A total of 13 ancient Chinese dynasties had their capitals in Shaanxi over more than 1,000 years, explaining why the modern province has been a source of many major archaeological finds.
Excavations at the Zhaigou archaeological site started in June 2022, and the ancient town is now recognized as the largest in the region, with some of the wealthiest tombs yet discovered, according to reports of the news conference.
At least seven elite tombs have been found at the Zhaigou site since excavations started in June 2022. This bronze star inlaid with turquoise is among the hundreds of artifacts found there.
The Zhaigou site is one of the largest ever found from this early period; the grave goods in the 3000-year-old tombs include these earrings made of gold and jade.
Archaeologists think the site consists of an entire settlement with tombs, central buildings, and artisan workshops spread over 11 nearby hills. The finds include this carved bone.
The Zhaigou site includes several elite tombs with wealthy grave goods, like this jade carving of a bird. Archaeologists think it may have been the capital of a state assimilated by the Shang.
The archaeological site dates from the period of the Bronze Age Shang Dynasty, between about 1600 and 1000 BC. This tortoise shell may have been used for divination.
Archaeologists have already found nine aristocratic tombs at Zhaigou, of which seven are rectangular tombs with passages, indicating they belonged to local leaders, Sun Zhanwei, a researcher at the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology, told China Daily.
“Tomb passages symbolize a high social status,” he said. “In this hierarchy, those without a high status could not have a tomb passage.”
The Bronze Age town’s center was made with rammed-earth, a building technique in which a mix of damp soil is compacted inside a mold or framework. Buildings with different functions have also been discovered there, including artisan workshops and pottery kilns.
According to the Chinese state-owned television channel CGTN, archaeologists at Zhaigou have also unearthed several bronze pieces of horse chariots and the remains of horses, which will be “crucial evidence for exploring the emergence of chariots in China and the development of chariot burial customs.”
Archaeologists have now unearthed more than 200 items from tombs there, such as lacquerware, that are similar to those found at other Shang dynasty sites.
Experts at the news conference said that the ruins at Zhaigou may have once been the capital of a separate state that had been conquered by the Shang, who was based in the city of Yinxu in Henan, and thereafter paid tribute to them.
Meet Sparta, the 28,000 Year Old Perfectly Preserved Lion Cub
Scientists say the remains of a lion cub, named Sparta and found in Siberia in 2018, are 28,000 years old and in excellent condition.
A cave lion cub named Sparta, which was found preserved in Siberia’s permafrost. Cave lions have been extinct for thousands of years. Photograph: Reuters
They say the lion cu, may still hold some of its mother’s milk inside it.
The cub was a female cave lion that researchers named Sparta. Her remains were discovered in the permanently frozen ground at the Semyuelyakh River in Russia’s Yakutia area.
The findings were part of a study published in the journal Quaternary.
According to the study, the cubs were found fifteen meters away from each other. However, scientists claim many generations separated them. The research showed that Boris lived around 43,448 years ago.
Boris, a male cave lion cub, lived and died about 15,000 years before Sparta. Photograph: Reuters
Cave lions died out thousands of years ago. The two cubs, aged one to two months old, were found by mammoth tusk collectors. Mammoths were large, hairy prehistoric elephants with very long tusks.
“To my knowledge, this is the best-preserved frozen specimen from the last Ice Age ever found,” study author Love Dalén, an evolutionary geneticist at Stockholm University’s Centre for Palaeogenetics, tells NBC News. “Sparta is in near-perfect condition.”
Cave lions coexisted with early humans for thousands of years, according to the study. For example, the Chauvet Cave in France depicts cave lions drawn on walls. The early cave paintings are estimated to be more than 30,000 years old.
The coloration of cub fur appears different than that of mature cave lions, requiring further study to determine if aging causes changes. Researchers also noted similarities in the fur between the big cats and lions of the Ice Age that still roam the savannas of Africa.
The species is thought to have smaller manes than African lions while adapting to colder climates.
Other lion cubs found in Siberia
Two other lion cubs have also been found in Siberia’s Yakutia area in recent years.
Valery Plotnikov is one of the study’s writers. He told Reuters that Sparta was so well-preserved that her fur, organs, and skeleton were still intact.
“The find itself is unique; there was not any other such find in Yakutia,” he said.
Plotnikov added that the scientists hope to find evidence of mother’s milk inside Sparta in order to learn about the diet of cave lions.
There have been numerous other similar discoveries in Russia’s larger Siberian area in recent years.
Climate change is warming the Arctic faster than the rest of the world. That increase in temperature has melted the ground in some areas that were permanently frozen.
A large stone monument depicting the goddess Ishtar has been unearthed in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud
Archaeologists from the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, working with an Iraqi excavation team, have unearthed a large stone monument depicting the goddess Ishtar in the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud.
Archaeologists have uncovered more monumental finds in Nimrud, one of the heritage sites severely damaged by the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) in northern Iraq.
Among the new relics discovered at the site are those from a 3,000-year-old temple dedicated to Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war and the goddess with the earliest written evidence.
During earlier excavations in Nimrud, the same team revealed a 2,800-year-old palace belonging to an Assyrian king Adad-Nirari III, who reigned from 810–783 BCE.
This season, the team continued working inside the palace and expanded its efforts to include the Temple of Ishtar, which burned when Nimrud was sacked by an invading army in 612 BCE.
A fragment of the stone stele depicting Ishtar inside a starburst.
Chief among their finds were fragments of a large stone monument that depicts the goddess Ishtar inside a star symbol.
“Our greatest find this season was a spectacular fragment from the stone stele that shows the goddess Ishtar inside a star symbol. This is the first unequivocal depiction of the goddess as Ishtar Sharrrat-niphi, a divine aspect of the goddess associated with the rising of the planet Venus, the ‘morning star,’ to be found in this temple dedicated to her,” Dr. Michael Danti, Program Director of the Iraq Heritage Stabilization Program and archeologists at the University of Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
This season’s new discoveries largely focus on the splendor of Adad-Nirari III’s rule and ancient Nimrud’s affluence.
Two enormous stone column bases that the archaeologists discovered suggest the palace was grandly decorated with exquisitely carved columns.
Evidence of a sizable stone basin, which the researchers think may have served as a central heating system, was found inside the throne room.
In addition, they discovered scattered pieces of ostrich eggshell and ivory, both of which were rare and would have been extremely valuable in the early Bronze Age.
Mysterious 18-Km-Long Underground City Found In Iran: Could be At Least 6000 Years Old
In Bam village of Esfarayen county in northeast Iran, a routine road construction project has led to an exciting discovery of a vast network of underground corridors linked to the nearby fortress of Shahr-e Belqeys (City of Belqeys).
The discovery was made by workers laying a road in 2022, who stumbled upon this precious heritage from a different spot after access was blocked by the local cultural heritage directorate last year to protect it.
The expert at the Belqeys archaeological site confirmed that the total length of the corridors was 18 kilometers (11 miles), and that a bathroom and a mill were located along the extent. However, these have not been opened yet, and experts are yet to examine them.
“Last years, traces of this underground city had been discovered, but to protect it, these remains were blocked by the local cultural heritage directorate. Now we reached these ancient structures from another place, which confirms the statements of the local people,” the expert explained. “The ruins have yielded potteries estimated to belong to the Seljuk period, IlKhanid, and even earlier periods. However, an extensive archaeological excavation is needed to delve into its secrets.”
The ruined citadel of Shahr-e Belqeys is located in the northeastern part of North Khorasan province and is spread over 51,000 square meters (12.6 acres). It is the second-largest mud fortress in Iran after the UNESCO World Heritage Site Bam Citadel. Based on excavations at nearby hilltops and elevations, the citadel is believed to be at least 6,000 years old.
Ruined citadel of Shahr-e Belqys, site of the underground corridor discovery.
The fortress is considered to have flourished from the late Sassanid era (224-661 AD) to the early Islamic period in the 7th century and had been active until Nader Shah Afshar assumed power in the early 18th century. Historical evidence suggests that Belqeys enjoyed the favor of Sassanid monarchs, leading to its prosperity.
Several excavations in Belqeys have revealed the remarkable remains of the citadel, houses, irrigation channels, a cistern, and a hypostyle hall. The expert at the Belqeys site stated that the ruins have yielded potteries estimated to belong to the Seljuk period, IlKhanid, and even earlier periods, and that an extensive archaeological excavation is needed to delve into its secrets.
Iran has several underground architectural sites, including the cone-shaped underground homes of Kandovan village in north-western Iran, which resemble the “fairy chimneys” of Cappadocia in Turkey, where Bronze Age cave dwellers built famous underground cities.
The underground corridors found near Shahr-e Belqeys are similar to those built during the same period in Nushabad.
In 2018, the 3rd International Troglodytic Architecture Conference was held in Iran, bringing scores of experts and scholars to discuss subterranean architecture, technology, and culture. The discovery of the underground corridors in Shahr-e Belqeys is just one of the many exciting examples of Iran’s rich cultural heritage. It has again opened up new avenues for research and discovery in archaeology.
Another underground site in Iran is the fascinating city of Nushabad, also known as Ouyi, located in Isfahan province in central Iran. This entire city of passages and chambers is located at depths varying from 4 to 18 meters (13 to 59 feet) and dates back to Sassanid times.
Nushabad is a city named after the cold and refreshing water from a local well or spring. It was founded by a Sassanian king who passed through the area and was impressed by the water. The city was a place of refuge for people in the surrounding desert during the hot summer months.
As time passed, the underground city of Nushabad became more than just a source of fresh water and a place to escape the heat. It also served as a haven during times of war. Throughout the history of Iran, the city faced numerous invasions from attackers who would come to pillage and kill.
For example, during the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, when the invaders arrived at the above-ground city, they found it deserted as its residents had fled to the safety of Nushabad. This pattern continued until the Qajar period.
Nushabad was well equipped to serve as a refuge, with features that made it difficult for attackers to enter. For instance, the city had multiple entry points, but they were so narrow that only one person could go in at a time. This prevented an invading army from using their superior numbers to overpower those hiding in the underground city.
Additionally, there are ventilation shafts that allow airflow in and out of Nushabad, whilst fresh water is provided by the spring. This meant that refugees were able to stay in the underground city for long periods of time. It has also been suggested that there would have been some storage areas for food as well. Various rooms have also been found along the carved-out pathways of the city, and ledges have been dug out to serve as benches/beds for people.
The similarity in construction between the Shahr-e Belqeys underground corridors and Nushabad leads experts to believe that they served the same purpose. Further excavations, pending the approval of the Iranian government, will provide more insight into their architecture and use.
The discovery of the extensive network of underground corridors in Bam village is a significant finding that could shed light on the ancient history of Iran and its cultural heritage. The fact that it was discovered by accident during a routine road construction project makes it even more exciting. It will generate great interest among archaeologists and history buffs for sure.
12,000 Years Ago, Mysterious Egg-Headed People Inhabited China
Archaeologists excavated 25 human skeletons with elongated skulls dating back perhaps as long as 12,000 years ago from Houtaomuga archaeological site in northeast China.
The strange shape of the skulls symbolizes a part of the ritual in ancient China. The discovery provides additional proof that cranial alterations were prevalent in ancient East Asia and was a customary practice throughout the world during prehistoric times.
According to a study published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology in 2019, a team of researchers, led by bioarchaeologist Quanchao Zhang and paleoanthropologist Qian Wang, discovered 25 skeletons at a location known as Houtaomuga.
The remains were dated between approximately 12,000 and 5,000 years ago. Out of the 25 skeletons, 11 had skulls that had been intentionally elongated, with flattened bones at both the front and back of the head.
The researchers from China’s Jilin University and Texas A&M University who conducted the excavations were surprised at the abundance of “anomalies” and suggested that many were “egg-shaped.”
Study co-researcher Qian Wang, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the Texas A&M University College of Dentistry said: “This is the earliest discovery of signs of intentional head modification in Eurasia continent, perhaps in the world.
If this practice began in East Asia, it likely spread westward to the Middle East, Russia, and Europe through the steppes as well as eastward across the Bering land bridge to the Americas.”
The M72 skull is between 6,300 and 5,500 years old.
The Chinese civilization is one of the most ancient and continuous in the world. While their recorded history can be traced back to the 5th century BC, with the emergence of the Zhou dynasty, there is archaeological evidence that suggests their history dates back even further.
The earliest documented records refer to semi-mythical people called the “Yellow Emperor” and his beastly advisors – known as the “Foolish Old Men.”
Currently, the Chinese egg-shaped skulls are considered to be the oldest in the world. Besides, it was noted that the tradition of stretching heads had been formed long before the Neolithic Revolution (First Agricultural Revolution) took place. It was believed that the tradition of skull modification started around 9,000 years ago.
According to Archaeology, the discovered skulls exhibited artificially elongated braincases and flattened bones at both the front and back of the head.
The researchers identified three different types of cranial deformations in eleven of the skulls. Out of these 11, five were adults, with one female and others male. The remaining skulls belonged to children, and the ages of the individuals varied from 3 to 40 years old.
Scientists still do not know why in ancient times people deliberately pulled their skulls out and where it started. The children’s heads were clamped in a special vice or in a device of two boards. In the process, not only the bones of the skull were stretched, but also the inside structure deformed. At the same time, the bones of the skull became very thin.
It is still unknown how the tradition of artificially modified skull start.
Archaeologists believed that humans with deformed skulls were trained to perform important social roles. For example, to become priests of a certain cult.
They believed that elongated skulls would open some unusual abilities, and allow them to communicate with higher powers. At least, people probably thought that by pulling back their heads, they acquire a strong social status in their society.
For centuries, our ancestors utilized various wooden, rag, and rope techniques to scar their own and their children’s heads, seeking aesthetic enhancement. The desire for such body modification has persisted worldwide for thousands of years, with some still practicing it, especially in Africa.
The reason behind this practice remains uncertain, puzzling scientists who can only surmise that some compelling motivation drove our forebears to endure such pain. Even though the Houtaomuga man is the oldest known case of deliberate skull reshaping in history, it is a mystery whether other known instances of deliberate skull reshaping spread from this group, or whether they rose independently of one another, Wang said.
An excavation at the site in 2010.
Oddly shaped, intentionally modified skulls have been discovered in various regions across the globe. While assertions from the 1980s contended that two Neandertal skulls, estimated to be around 45,000 years old, had been reshaped during infancy, numerous scholars have since refuted these claims.
The most ancient skulls that exhibit widely acknowledged indications of cranial modification date back to approximately 13,000 to 10,000 years ago in the western areas of Asia, southeastern Australia, and most recently, East Asia. On the other hand, this practice began over 8,000 years ago in the Americas.
Despite the popular belief that the elongated skull, thought to be around 12,000 years old, was intentionally altered, some experts disagree. Although the skull does display some elongation, it is not significant enough to suggest intentional deformation. In fact, evidence only supports forced skull modification in those dating back 6,000 years ago.
The peculiar case of “Paracas skulls” is another discovery of elongated skulls, however, it is different from the rest of skull elongation cases.
The size of the cranium of Paracas skulls is significantly larger, by 25% and 60% heavier than typical human skulls, which indicates that they were not artificially altered through head flattening. Moreover, these skulls possess a single parietal plate, instead of two. Due to the absence of any cranial deformation, the elongation of these skulls remains unexplained and has been so for many years.
The significance of the discovery in Houtaomuga remains noteworthy, irrespective of the ongoing controversy. It highlights the existence of deliberate skull alterations during the Neolithic period in the region. Additionally, the findings offer insights into the community’s culture and convictions during the latter phase of the Stone Age.
5,500-Year-Old Sumerian Star Map History in Recorded: The Impact Of A Massive Asteroid
For more than 150 years scientists have tried to solve the mystery of a notorious cuneiform clay tablet that reveals that in the past the impact case of so-called Köfel was detected. The circular stone-cast tablet was discovered in the late 1800s from the 650 BC King Ashurbanipal‘s underground library in Nineveh, Iraq.
Data processing, which was long believed to be an Assyrian tablet, mirrored the sky over Mesopotamia in 3300 BC and proved to be much more ancient in Sumerian origin.
The tablet is the first astronomical instrument, the “Astrolabe.” It consists of a segmented, disk-shaped star chart with marked units of angle measure inscribed upon the rim.
Unfortunately, considerable parts of the planisphere on this tablet are missing (approximately 40%), damage which dates to the sacking of Nineveh. The reverse of the tablet is not inscribed.
Still under study by modern scholars, the cuneiform tablet in the British Museum collection No K8538 (known as “the Planisphere”) provides extraordinary proof for the existence of sophisticated Sumerian astronomy. In 2008 two authors, Alan Bond and Mark Hempsell published a book about the tablet called “A Sumerian Observation of the Kofels’ Impact Event”.
Raising a storm in archaeological circles, they re-translated the cuneiform text and assert the tablet records an ancient asteroid strike, the Köfels’ Impact, which struck Austria sometime around 3100 BC.
The giant landslide centered at Köfels in Austria is 500m thick and five kilometers in diameter and has long been a mystery since geologists first looked at it in the 19th century.
The conclusion drawn by research in the middle 20th century was that it must be due to a very large meteor impact because of the evidence of crushing pressures and explosions. But this view lost favor as a much better understanding of impact sites developed in the late 20th century.
In the case of Köfels, there is no crater, so to modern eyes, it does not look as an impact site should look. However, the evidence that puzzled the earlier researchers remains unexplained by the view that it is just another landslide.
So what is the connection between the sophisticated Sumerian star chart discovered in the underground library in Nineveh and the mysterious impact that took place in Austria?
Examination of the clay tablet reveals that it is an astronomical work as it has drawings of constellations on it and the text has known constellation names. It has attracted a lot of attention but in over a hundred years nobody has come up with a convincing explanation as to what it is.
With modern computer programs that can simulate trajectories and reconstruct the night sky thousands of years ago, researchers have established what the Planisphere tablet refers to. It is a copy of the night notebook of a Sumerian astronomer as he records the events in the sky before dawn on 29 June 3123 BC (Julian calendar).
Half the tablet records planet positions and cloud cover, the same as any other night, but the other half of the tablet records an object large enough for its shape to be noted even though it is still in space.
The astronomers made an accurate note of its trajectory relative to the stars, which to an error better than one degree is consistent with an impact at Köfels. The observation suggests the asteroid is over a kilometer in diameter and the original orbit about the Sun was an Aten type, a class of asteroid that orbit close to the Earth, that is resonant with the Earth’s orbit.
This trajectory explains why there is no crater at Köfels. The incoming angle was very low (six degrees) which means the asteroid clipped a mountain called Gamskogel above the town of Längenfeld, 11 kilometers from Köfels, and this caused the asteroid to explode before it reached its final impact point. As it traveled down the valley it became a fireball, around five kilometers in diameter (the size of the landslide). When it hit Köfels it created enormous pressures that pulverized the rock and caused the landslide but because it was no longer a solid object it did not create a classic impact crater.
Mark Hempsell, discussing the Köfels event, said: “Another conclusion can be made from the trajectory. The back plume from the explosion (the mushroom cloud) would be bent over the Mediterranean Sea re-entering the atmosphere over the Levant, Sinai, and Northern Egypt.
“The ground heating though very short would be enough to ignite any flammable material – including human hair and clothes. It is probable more people died under the plume than in the Alps due to the impact blast.”
In other words, the remarkable ancient star map shows that the Sumerians made an observation of an Aten asteroid over a kilometer in diameter that impacted Köfels in Austria in the early morning of 29th June 3123 BC.
A 42,000-year-old pendant found in northern Mongolia may be the earliest known phallic art
An international team of researchers has found a pendant in northern Mongolia that may be the earliest known example of a carved phallus. This pendant suggests that for at least 42,000 years, our species has been artistically depicting the penis.
The stone was found at a dig site in northern Mongolia’s Khangai Mountains. The piece of ornament interpreted as a phallus-like representation is about 4.3 centimeters long and made by humans.
According to researchers behind a study of the pendant, published this week in Nature Scientific Reports, the carved graphite is the “earliest-known sexed anthropomorphic representation.”
The dating of the material shows it was from approximately 42,400 to 41,900 years ago, putting its creation in the Upper Paleolithic.
Three-dimensional phallic pendants are unknown in the Paleolithic record. It attests that hunter-gatherer communities used sex anatomical attributes as symbols at a very early stage of their dispersal in the region.
The pendant was produced during a period that overlaps with age estimates for early introgression events between Homo sapiens and Denisovans, and in a region where such encounters are plausible,” the science team wrote in the study published in Nature.
Microscopic images of the modifications observed on the graphite pendant: (a–b) mid-section groove, (c) short groove located at one extremity of the artefact, (d–e) parallel striations observed on the flat side of the artefact, (f) highly smoothed and shiny facet present on the flat side of the artefact, (g) 3D reconstruction of the mid-section groove, (h–i) profile of the mid-section groove, (j) 3D reconstruction of the groove located at one extremity of the artefact, (k–l) profile of the groove located at one extremity of the artefact. Credit: Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-36140-1
The black pendant has several grooves, but two of them caught the attention of scientists.
Researchers think these grooves were carved into the stone to make it resemble a human penis. But not everyone is convinced that the Mongolian pendant represents a phallus.
Solange Rigaud, an archaeologist at the University of Bordeaux and the study’s lead author, thinks the strongest argument for the pendant as a phallic representation comes from the features its maker focused on.
“Our argument is that when you want to represent something abstractly, you will choose very specific features that really characterize what you want to represent,” she says. For example, the carver appears to have taken care to define the urethral opening, she notes, and to distinguish the glans from the shaft.
A combination of microscopy and other surface analyses show that stone tools were likely used to carve out the grooves for both the urethra and the glans.
The pendant was also discovered to be smoother on the back than the front; a string was likely fastened around the glans, suggesting the ornament may have been worn around the neck.
The amount of wear on the surface suggests it was likely handed down across multiple generations.
Graphite wasn’t widely available near Tolbor, suggesting the pendant may have come from elsewhere, perhaps through trade.
