Pollen could hold clues to mysteries of early human migration

Popular Science / Arkeonews ^ | September 22, 2023 | Laura Baisas

[SunkenCiv]

...Warmer temperatures and more humidity may have helped the forests in the region grow and expand north into present-day Siberia. The theory hinges on the presence of pollen in the region's sediment record...

It is also likely that both warm and cold climates would have played a role in this travel. The Pleistocene Epoch is known for huge climatic shifts...

To piece together what the climate could have looked like during a possible warm period about 45,000 to 50,000 years ago, researchers working on the study created a record of the vegetation and pollen from the Pleistocene found around Lake Baikal in present-day Siberian region of Russia with the oldest archeological traces of Homo sapiens in the area.

Sediment cores were used to extract data for a pollen timeline, and the study suggests that the dispersal of humans occurred during some of the highest temperatures and highest humidity of the late Pleistocene. The presence of more ancient pollen, and thus plant life, in the record shows evidence that coniferous forests and grasslands may have spread further throughout the region and could support foraging for food and hunting by humans. According to study author and University of Kansas anthropologist Ted Goebel, the environmental data combined with archeological evidence tell a new story of the area...

"There is one human fossil from Siberia, although not from Lake Baikal but farther west, at a place called Ust'-Ishim," Goebel said. "Morphologically, it is human, but more importantly, it's exceptionally well-preserved. It has been directly radiocarbon-dated and has yielded ancient DNA, confirming it as a representative of modern Homo sapiens, distinct from Neanderthals or Denisovans, or other pre-modern archaic humans."

[SunkenCiv]

Czech scientists make "Celtic beer" using analysis of pollen from burial site [ArkeoNews]

Archaeologist Martin Golec shows the first Celtic beer in the Czech Republic, newly produced based on pollen samples taken from the burial site in the Býčí skála cave in the background.

Photo: Novinky

[SunkenCiv]

The other GGG topics added since the previous digest ping, alpha sort:

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• Archaeologists discovered a Thracian tomb from the time of the Odrysian kingdom in southern Bulgaria [09/18/2023]
• Archaeologists Make New Discoveries at Ancient Temple in Sunken City off Egypt's Coast [09/21/2023]
• Building the Walls of Constantinople [09/20/2023]
• Children’s Book Claims Blacks Built Stonehenge [09/21/2023]
• CNN Gets Roasted for Absurd Chyron Warning Constitution is 'Outdated, Puts Democracy at Risk' [09/17/2023]
• Coins From The Roman Empire Found In Ruins Of Japanese Castle [09/17/2023]
  • Ancient Roman coins unearthed at Japan castle [09/28/2016]
  • Roman coins discovered in ruins of Japanese castle [09/28/2016]
  • Roman coins ID'd in Japanese ruins, but their origin baffles [10/18/2016]
  • Roman jewellery found in ancient Japan tomb [06/22/2012]
• Danube Script from Old Europe 5000 - 3500 BC [09/20/2023]
• The Day the Mesozoic Died: The Asteroid That Killed the Dinosaurs — HHMI BioInteractive Video [alas, no transcript] [09/18/2023]
• Evidence for the earliest structural use of wood at least 476,000 years ago [09/21/2023]
• Glacial Archaeologists Have Recovered a 4,000-Year-Old Arrow From Melted Ice [09/20/2023]
• How Penicillin Won World War II [09/17/2023]
• Iron Age Port Discovered on Baltic Sea Island of Gotska Sandön [09/20/2023]
• A Journey Through Latin American Currencies: Past, Present, and Future [09/22/2023]
• Letter from Vesuvius: Digging on the Dark Side of the Volcano [Augustus' villa] [09/21/2023]
• The Life of Heinrich Schliemann, the Discoverer of Troy [09/21/2023]
• Looting of coin hoard site prompts call for survey [Jersey] [09/22/2023]
• Magdala's Mistaken Identity [09/23/2023]
• Mystery of 'living fossil' tree frozen in time for 66 million years finally solved [09/17/2023]
• A New Human Species? Mystery Surrounds 300,000-Year-Old Fossil [09/21/2023]
• New Indo-European language discovered during excavation in Turkey [09/22/2023]
• 96: Domitian assassinated after condemning an astrologer [09/18/2023]
• 100-Year-Old Negatives Discovered in Block of Ice in Antarctica [09/22/2023]
• $1.5M Bronze Buddha Statue Stolen From Los Angeles Gallery [09/21/2023]
• People with Neanderthal genes are TWICE as likely to develop a life-threatening form of Covid ... here's how you can check if you've got them [09/18/2023]
• 'Remarkable Archaeological Find' Metal detectorist unearths Roman cavalry swords in North Cotswolds [09/18/2023]
• Secret Italian Army - D-Day 1944 [on Allied side] [09/22/2023]
• Shipboard cannon found off the Swedish coast may be the oldest in Europe [09/18/2023]
• Ten Big U.S. Coin "Failures" [09/19/2023]
• UNESCO classifies ancient Jericho as 'Palestinian heritage site' [09/17/2023]
• Viking trade connections stretched over hundreds of kilometres to the Arctic, research shows [09/23/2023]
• Votive Gold Hoard Found in Pagan Temple [09/20/2023]

[Flatus I. Maximus]

> The Pleistocene Epoch is known for huge climatic shifts...

And they did it *without* SUVs. Wow, those Neanderthals and Denisovans were amazing.

[ComputerGuy]

Ah-Choo!

[Adder]

So we migrated to look for Claritin?

[SunkenCiv]

And disposable tissue. Lots of it.