It is time for the ancient history roundup of the past few weeks! The first news item is a personal one:
The Far Edges of the Known World (North American edition)
For any readers in north America, my book The Far Edges of the Known World: Life Beyond the Borders of Ancient Civilization is available to preorder! A book that Publishers Weekly has described as ‘an illuminating history of the marginalized cultures of the ancient world… Lively and propulsive, this brings obscure corners of the ancient world to life.’
The book comes out on the 30th September, but pre-sales are really helpful for getting a book noticed, so please consider it if you can. (This is true for all books to be fair, so preorders are always worth considering if you want help your favourite authors!)
Now, onto our regular coverage:
Alcohol as the cause of civilisation?
There has been a longstanding theory that the growth of complex societies may have been influenced by the production and consumption of alcohol, but a recent meta-analysis of 186 global, non-industrialised societies suggests that it may well be true! The so-called drunk-hypothesis has not been entirely vindicated, but a correlation has been shown between the presence of fermented drinks and politically-complex societies. Researchers have rightly pointed out that alcohol was not the only factor involved, and that the direct effect of alcohol might be relatively small in comparison to other factors. But it seems alcohol has had its part to play in the story of human history!
New tattoos found on ancient bodies
I have a long standing fascination with ancient tattoos (see here, here, and here), which - I have been told - is odd because I do not have any tattoos of my own. But just to see them on ancient bodies is a deeply moving experience. I saw some when a Scythian exhibition came to the UK a couple of years ago and there is just something quite humbling looking at the beautiful art form. So I was particularly excited to see that researchers have used scanning techniques to reveal new, unseen tattoos on one of the Pazyryk mummies! They also show that the same person used different tattooists for her body art.
West African heritage in Britain during (very) late antiquity
Ok, this news story most probably stretches us beyond the ancient world in most people’s eyes. But I argue in the Far Edges of the Known World that the ancient period really ends in 7th century Ethiopia, so I think this one counts! Researchers have uncovered ancient DNA evidence from two completely unrelated burials in 7th century England (one in Kent, the other in Dorset) that indicate that both people had African ancestors no further removed than as grandparents. As one of the researchers observed: “Our joint results emphasise the cosmopolitan nature of England in the early medieval period, pointing to a diverse population with far-flung connections who were, nonetheless, fully integrated into the fabric of daily life.”
Exciting times ahead!
Life in Pompeii after Vesuvius erupted
Archaeology is a funny old business. It rarely lies to us, but it does not always reveal its secrets from the start. When it comes to Pompeii, one of the most excavated sites of the Roman world, it seems early researchers were more interested in what lied beneath and destroyed or ignored the evidence above ground. Namely, the lives of people who returned to the town after Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE. That is what some of the latest research of Pompeii is currently investigating.
Why would people return to such a traumatic site of devastation? Simply put, they could not afford to go anywhere else. One can only wonder how they felt living there, knowing what lay beneath their feet. I suppose the memories would have faded over the next 400 years of habitation.
Coins unlock ancient trade networks
Researchers have been studying hundreds of ancient coins from across south east Asia that highlight an intricate network of trade and commerce. Focusing on coins that bear a specific ‘rising sun’ imagery, which date from the 4th century CE onwards, scholars have been able to connect sites in Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar. Two specific coins - one in Bangladesh and one in Vietnam - have even been shown to have been struck from the same die, maybe even coming from the same mint master in Myanmar. While the study is important in what it tells us of global trade and numismatic history, it rightly emphasises the issues the researchers face due to heritage looting and the elicit trade of illegal artifacts.