Article: Tattooed Mummies!

Tarim Basin Mummy
http://archaeology.org/issues/109-1311/features/tattoos/1405-china-tarim-basin-mummy

Like the Iceman Ötzi, this mummy of a woman who lived in what is today western China is covered with tattoos.  Were these for decoration or an early form of medicine as some think was the case with Ötzi?

Article: Stone-tipped spears predate existence of humans by 85,000 years

Stone-tipped spears predate existence of humans by 85,000 years
http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2013/11/stone-tipped-spears-predate-existence.html

Leaf Water Pueblo and Its People

Chama River from Kapo'uinge

In the summer of 2011 I lived in a house on Medanales Mesa in northern New Mexico.  It was a fascinating experience to live there.  In my walks around the area, I often encountered evidence that others had long lived on the mesa and below in the Rio Chama valley:  pottery shards, petroglyphs, stones laid out in geometric shapes, etc..  Across the arroyo in my back yard was another mesa jutting out like a ship's bow towards the river.  On this mesa were the ruins of an ancient pueblo.  I often wondered about the history and name of this place, but back then I could find little information about it.  Three years later I have been lucky to discover much more about this place.  It's name is Kapo'uinge or the Leaf Water Pueblo in the Tewa language.  It was built, burned and abandoned more than a century before Columbus ever set sail from Spain.

The spirits of these ancient neighbors felt all too real at times.  I promised that one day I would write a short history remembering and honoring these people.  Today I fulfill that promise.

Geography

Key to any geography of human settlement in the dry Southwest is water.  More a loose collection of homes than a village, modern Medanales sits in the green, irrigated valley formed by the Rio Chama, a tributary of the Rio Grande.  The Chama River starts in Colorado and flows into the Rio Grande at Espanola, NM.  The lower Rio Chama runs roughly northwest to southeast with the Parajito Plateau and Jemez Mountains to the south and west. Across the river to the east and north is a series of broad mesas -including the Medanales Mesa- rising up to the San Juan Mountains.

Today the Rio Chama is dammed to form lake reservoirs at El Vado and Abiquiu.  The waters of the Rio Chama feed the gardens at Georgia O'Keeffe's studio home in Abiquiu, and several small communities are scattered along Highway 84 running parallel to the river.  Near Espanola are several reservations belonging to Puebloan peoples including the Ohkay Owingeh (formerly San Juan) and Santa Clara pueblos.  Several other of New Mexico's 19 existing pueblos are nearby.

History

Ohkay Owingeh and Santa Clara are both inhabited by the Tewa people.  Their oral histories say they came from the north.  Archeological findings point to a complicated coalescence of migratory peoples from the Colorado Plateau (north) and Rio Grande Valley giving rise to the modern Tewa.

Around 1250 CE, a seeming combination of drought (1276-1299 CE), encroachment from the north by other peoples, soil erosion, and internal social upheavals drove thousands of Ancestral Puebloan People (also called Proto-Puebloan or best known by the pejorative Navajo word Anasazi) to flee the Colorado Plateau from settlements such as Mesa Verde.  Some fled south and appeared to first settle on the sparsely populated Parajito Plateau.  The new settlers enlarged communities such as at the Puye Cliff Dwellings which the Santa Clara Pueblo people say are the ruins of their ancestors.

1200 - 1300 CE:  Coalition I (Pindi) Phase:

• First immigrants from the Colorado Plateau flee to modern New Mexico and settle on the sparsely populated Parajito Plateau.
• c. 1250 CE:  Settlers from the Parajito Plateau then appear to settle the previously sparsely populated Chaco Valley.  The oldest and longest continuously settled pueblo in the Chaco Valley appears to be Tsama'uinge, a few miles northwest of Kapo'uinge.
• Kapo'uinge likely settled in this period.
• 1280 CE:  Dating of wood samples from Mesa Verde on the Colorado Plateau find the latest known tree cut during this period for building was in 1280 CE.  After this period all building appears to have ceased.
• Evidence points to a prolonged drought in the Southwest from 1276-1299 CE which may have led to famine, warfare and the breakdown of Proto-Puebloan societies in Mesa Verde.

1300 - 1350 CE:  Coalition II (Wiyo) Phase:

• Between 1275 and 1320 CE, archaeologists find evidence that the population of the Tewa areas more than doubled as northern Proto-Puebloan migrants moved into the area -just as the Tewa oral histories say.
• c. 1350 CE:  Several pueblos show evidence of attack and burning.  Riana Pueblo near Lake Abiquiu is burnt and abandoned.  The remains of a man are found under the burnt timbers of Riana along with a ceremonial headdress that would have been greatly valued.  It appears the inhabitants were killed or fled.  Either because of a taboo regarding the ruins or because they were unable to return safely, any survivors of Riana do not seem to have returned to collect valuables and bury their dead.  
• c. 1350 CE:  Kapo'uinge is also burned and abandoned.  

1350 - 1598 CE:  Classic Phase:

• Populations begin to coalesce into larger settlements in the better watered Rio Grande Valley at Santa Clara, Ohkay Owingeh, etc.  Smaller outlying settlements are abandoned.  This process may have resulted from continuing droughts, attacks by hostile neighboring groups, or a mix of factors.
• Poshuoinge near Abiquiu is built around 1375 and appears to have been inhabited until around 1500 CE.
• Kapo'uinge appears to have been abandoned in this period but nearby Tsama'uinge is occupied and greatly expands.
• c. 1500:  Populations in the Chaco Valley plummet as people consolidate into settlements in the Rio Grande Valley.  The introduction of new diseases such as smallpox, yellow fever, malaria, etc. from arriving Europeans also are likely to have begun penetrating to populations in New Mexico over the next 100 years.  Without the immunities survivors passed on to their descendents in Africa, Asia, and Europe, Native Americans die in huge numbers.  Some estimates and early Spanish mission journals point to 80% or more of whole villages dying.
• 1539 CE:  The first Spanish expeditions reach the Zuni Pueblos southwest of the Chaco Valley.
  

  

  Image of from the National Park Service at Poshuouinge Ruins, New Mexico.
  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

1598 CE - present:  Historic Phase

• 1634 CE:  By this time Tsama'uinge has been abandoned.

Kapo'uinge

Kapo'uinge, or the Leaf Water Pueblo, appears to have been one of the oldest proto-Tewa/Tewa villages built in the Chaco River Valley.   The triangular wedge of land upon which Kapo'uinge is built has a small cave which appears to have been used as a shrine.  The entire pueblo may have been built in part to be near this shrine.

Leaf Water was a relatively small pueblo built on a mesa in a roughly U shape with the open side facing a steep embankment going down to the Chama River.  At its maximum the pueblo appears to have had 130 rooms.

The pueblo's site offered many advantages. The river just feet below offered water and flat land for crops. The mesa provided protection and a clear view for miles in various directions. Across the adjacent arroyo was the adjacent Medanales Mesa and an unusual hill jutting up above the surrounding mesas.

El Cerrito/Crowsnest from Kapo'uinge

Now called El Cerrito (Spanish "the hill") or Crowsnest by area residents, the hill has ruins of steps leading up to the summit.  Locals continue to leave candles and offerings on the top.  Thus, this hill likely served as a sacred site and shrine.

The land today is owned by an archaeological conservancy with the surrounding lands privately owned.  It is marked as LA 300 on archaeological maps.

What happened to the people of Kapo'uinge after the pueblo was apparently attacked and burned? Survivors likely integrated into other nearby pueblos such as Tsama'uinge.  Some may have gone on to found and settle Poshuouinge.  Later as the entire Chaco Valley was abandoned, the descendents of Kapo'uinge likely coalesced with other Tewa in the Rio Grande Valley pueblos.

Recommended Reading
The PreHispanic Tewa World

Article: Mystery human species emerges from Denisovan genome

Mystery human species emerges from Denisovan genome
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24603-mystery-human-species-emerges-from-denisovan-genome.html

Could this new ancestral hominid species be Homo erectus or Homo heidelbergensis?

Article: At 400,000 Years, Oldest Human DNA Yet Found Raises New Mysteries

At 400,000 Years, Oldest Human DNA Yet Found Raises New Mysteries
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/science/at-400000-years-oldest-human-dna-yet-found-raises-new-mysteries.html

2013 was packed with many new genetic findings shedding light on human prehistory.  The more studies that come out, the greater the complexity that is emerging.  For example, the genes of this person from 400,000 years ago in Spain were expected to be similar to Neanderthals and likely from the population ancestral to Neanderthals.  Lo and behold, the genome is more similar to the mysterious Denisovans who have thus far only been found in western Asia.  It may well be this person belonged to a population ancestral to both Denisovans and Neanderthals.

Article: When hunter met farmer in prehistoric Poland

When hunter met farmer in prehistoric Poland
http://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2013/11/when-hunter-met-farmer-in-prehistoric.html

Article: More on the Y Chromosome and Mal'ta Boy

A priori Y chromosome phylogeny from sequencing data
http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-priori-y-chromosome-phylogeny-from.html

Article: The Mysterious New Northern Eurasians

Oldest human genome reveals roots of first Americans
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24616-oldest-human-genome-reveals-roots-of-first-americans.html

This Mal'ta Boy (as he is called in other articles) represents the oldest human genome sequenced to date.  His genes held at least one surprise:  his Y chromosome from his father's line is now found more among western Europeans.  His entire genome is closely related to modern Native Americans -but NOT to east Asians.  Native Americans are thought to have migrated from eastern Siberia across Berengia and into the Americas.  Native American genetics DO have east Asian genes.  So, how could this boy be from a Native American ancestral AND have no east Asian genes?  Well, it appears there once was an ancient northern Eurasian population hunting on the Ice Age steppes that spanned from Europe to Siberia.  This group contributed genes to modern Europeans in the west.  In the east, later generations of the Mal'ta Boy's people intermixed with east Asians, and later some of this new, hybrid group emigrated to the Americas.  Or, so the latest theory drawing on this work hypothesizes.

Article: Modern Humans Carry DNA from Neanderthal Viruses

Neanderthal virus DNA spotted hiding in modern humans
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24598-neanderthal-virus-dna-spotted-hiding-in-modern-humans.html

Article: Did Copper Traders from Portugal Conquer/Settle Early Bronze Age Europe?

A post-EBA genetic shift across Central and Eastern Europe
http://eurogenes.blogspot.com/2013/11/a-post-eba-genetic-shift-across-central.html

Article: An Introduction to the Neolithic Linearbandkeramik Culture

An Introduction to the Neolithic Linearbandkeramik Culture
http://thesebonesofmine.wordpress.com/2013/12/06/an-introduction-to-the-neolithic-linearbandkeramik-culture/

Articles: Funeral Practices among Neanderthals

Increasingly our ancestor/cousin species, the Neanderthals, seem a lot like...us.  Read this article about growing evidence the Neanderthals buried their dead.

Article: Neanderthal Genome Shows Signs of Inbreeding

This article discusses a secondary finding from a new genetic research:  the genome of a Neanderthal woman shows signs of inbreeding.

Article and Chart: Interbreeding Among Hominid Species

This chart summarizes nicely the emerging complexity of interbreeding among hominids.

Article: A Touch from the Ancients

This story describes an Austrian stone axe with the imprint of an ancient Homo erectus.  There is something about finding a fingerprint or hand imprint that makes archaeology suddenly so personal to me.

Article: Ancient Cave Paintings Found in Brazil

This article discusses the recent discovery of ancient -possibly 10,000 year old- cave paintings in Brazil.

Timeline

c. 448,000 BCE:  A glacier-fed ice lake catastrophically breaks through the chalk hills connecting what are today England and France.  In possibly less than a month this flood carves a canyon that will eventually become the English Channel.  The ice dam-ice lake-flood repeats through several ice ages with the canyon at times funneling a joint Thames-Rhine river system to the Atlantic.

c. 100,000 BCE:  At least three major river systems appear to have flowed north across the Sahara in this period.  The resulting corridors would have provided ways for early humans to cross the Sahara from sub-Saharan Africa to the North African coast.

c. 8500 BCE:  Cattle domesticated in the Near East.

c. 8000 BCE:  Cattle management is taking place in northern China.

c. 7500 BCE to 6400 BCE:  Hasan Dağ volcano had a minor eruption.  An artist appears to have recorded the eruption on a wall mural at Çatalhöyük, the earliest city/proto-city known.

c. 5500 BCE:  James Ballard finds human-made structures, fresh water shells, and drowned beaches under the Black Sea at a depth of 100m.  Carbon dating finds the shells are approximately 7500 years old.  Whether in a catastrophic flood or through gradual intrusion of Aegean salt waters into this former fresh water lake, the Black Sea floods.  Some argue this drove survivors into Europe as the first Neolithic farmers, but farming already had spread to modern Hungary.  The flooded area, however, represents a possible origin area for Indo-European speakers who may have begun their moves after flooding of their homeland.

1250 BCE to 1100 BCE:  300 year drought began in eastern Mediterranean.  Researchers believe this drought led to the collapse and/or decline of Bronze Age civilizations around the eastern Mediterranean and created the diaspora of Sea Peoples from Greece and other areas into the Levant and Egypt.

Article: Contradictory Studies on Cattle Origins

A new study finds genetic and other evidence for cattle domestication and management in northern China.  This new study points to the possibility that cows were domesticated about the same time in different parts of the world.  This would seem to contradict an earlier study linking cattle to a small herd domesticated in the Near East.

Article: African Slavery and American Genealogy

This article is a fascinating look at how genetics is assisting African-Americans in uncovering family genealogies.  In this case, a man was able to track down an ancestor captured and sold by a neighboring African kingdom into slavery.

Article: Earliest Representation of a Volcanic Eruption?

Earliest Representation of a Volcanic Eruption?

Catalhoyuk is a fascinating place. It is the earliest known example of a city -or proto-city.  Its homes were built adjoining each other with no streets.  Instead residents walked across the city's roofs and used ladders to climb down into their homes.  The city's dead were also buried in the floors of the homes.  Yet, this grand experiment seems to have been one of a kind with no other cities like it built around the area.

This article discusses a mural at the site that appears to be the earliest representation of a volcanic eruption of a nearby volcano.