GUINEA / POLICE BRUTALITY -
Video shows police in Guinea using a woman as a human shield

UPDATED 01/31/2020

Screengrab from a video from Guinea showing police officers apparently using a woman as a human shield.

A concerned citizen filmed police using a woman as a human shield in Conakry, Guinea on January 29. The FRANCE 24 Observers team spoke with a man who cared for the woman after the incident, to find out what happened and how she is doing.

The video, which is just over three minutes long, shows a police officer holding onto a woman and pushing her in front of him as he advances alongside several other officers. The police were facing off with several young men during the latest in a series of protests against the possibility of President Alpha Condé serving a third term.

The three officers push the woman in front of them for several metres, apparently to protect themselves from the rocks that the young men are throwing. Eventually, the scene ends in chaos after one of the officers fires a shot. The police retreat, one grabbing the woman and half-dragging, half-carrying her.

The FRANCE 24 Observers team was able to identify the exact location in the Wanindara 3 neighbourhood where the incident took place. A resident of the neighborhood sent us a photo and our journalists were able to match the tree and the houses in the photo with those in the video.

'The police had run out of tear gas so they decided to protect themselves by using this woman as a human shield'

Abdourahmane Bah, who lives in the neighbourhood, obtained the video and posted it on Facebook, where it received more than 350,000 views in less than 24 hours. He was nearby when the incident happened and after hearing yelling in the street, he came across the woman, who was extremely distressed. Bah ended up taking care of her while she got her bearings.

The lady in question works as a cleaner in the Enco 5 market, which is a few hundred metres away. She came to our neighbourhood because she had heard that morning that the child of one of her friends had sustained a foot injury during the protests. She was coming to visit the family but she didn’t know the neighbourhood well because she doesn’t live here.

She ran into the police officers, who told her to keep close because there were a group of rowdy young protesters nearby. But it was a trap because it quickly became clear that the officers actually wanted to use her as a shield from the young men, who were throwing rocks at them. The police had run out of tear gas and so they decided that they’d use this woman to keep themselves safe. They wanted to negotiate with the protesters, but they refused.


'The woman has a young baby'

After dragging the woman for several meters, the officers left her lying on the ground and headed off towards Avenue Le Prince [Editor’s note: the main street in the neighbourhood]. We brought the woman into our home. She was extremely distressed. Her clothes were covered with mud so my mom gave her some new clothes to wear.

Some people were saying online that she’s pregnant. That’s not true, but she does have a six-month-old baby and she was terrified that she’d be injured or killed in the clashes. She did get several cuts on her knee.

What happened is unacceptable. This is the first time that I’ve seen police behave like that with a woman. It shows that even women aren’t safe. Our neighbourhood has seen some of the fiercest repression since the start of the protests and there is a constant presence of security forces. We don’t feel safe.

The FRANCE 24 Observers team was able to confirm the identity of the woman, though we are not naming her. She gave an interview to several Guinean media outlets, including GuinéeMatin. She told journalists that she had been traumatised by the incident and had "pain in her right foot".

The woman used as a human shield by police was interviewed by several local media outlets. This screengrab is from a report by Guinéematin.com. Because she did not give the FRANCE 24 Observers team permission to disclose her identity, we’ve blurred her face.

Three officers suspended

Our team also spoke to the minister for public safety, Albert Damantang. He said that three officers had been suspended and that a fourth officer present during the incident was yet to be identified. Damantang said that the officers would be brought before a disciplinary council and sanctioned imminently.

He said one officer claimed that he had seen the woman "hand stones to the youth”, which is why he stopped her in the first place. Damantang says that, for the time being, this version of events can’t be corroborated. He also repeated his apologies to the victim, which he had done previously in a video posted on Facebook. He also said that she had spoken on the phone with Mariama Sylla, the minister for social action, women’s rights and children, and would meet with her in person soon.

François Patuel a researcher at rights group Amnesty International who specialises in Guinea, said this video is another example of abuse carried out by Guinean police:
This incident of a woman being used as a human shield flies in the face of several international agreements signed by Guinea. The voluntary exposure of people to suffering or injury is a serious violation of human rights. But there is a long history of impunity in regards to abuses carried out by security forces in Guinea. Since 2010, more than a hundred people have been killed during protests.

Despite the many complaints filed by families, only one officer has been sentenced for these crimes and his direct superiors were not investigated at all.

Instances of police abuse have multiplied in Guinea since late 2019 as protests continue against constitutional changes that would allow President Condé to serve a third term. People were already angered when, on January 14, a video emerged showing an elderly man being mistreated by police.

Article by Alexandre Capron (@alexcapron)


Outcry in Guinea over police 'human shield' video

AFP / CELLOU BINANI

Guinean police have been clashing with anti-government protesters

Police in the West African state of Guinea are facing a storm of criticism over a viral video that apparently showed them using a woman as a human shield against stone-throwing protestors.

The video, whose source cannot be independently verified but whose authenticity has not been contested, spread fast on social media late Wednesday.

The footage is dated as of Wednesday and gives the location as the district of Wanindara.

It shows four helmeted policemen facing young protestors throwing stones.

One of the police moves in front of the protestors, pushing a woman in front of him, apparently against her will.

After an exchange of stones and anti-riot projectiles, the police suddenly fall back. The police officer grabs the woman under his arm and after a few yards appears to be dragging her along the ground.

The video has notched up several hundred thousand views and triggered a wave of online attacks on security forces.

General Ansoumane Baffoe Camara, director general of Guinea's national police force, told AFP that the main figure in the video had been arrested and "will answer for his actions".

The woman in the video, Fatoumata Bah, told local media that she was injured in the incident and went to hospital for treatment and then went home.

Bah, mother of five, says the police searched her, shoved her and threw her to the ground. Young protesters in the district recorded the incident, she said.

"Today, I'm in a lot of pain. My right foot is sprained and I have scratches on almost all of my legs," she said. "It was an insult to my dignity."

- Months of protests -

Police presented the alleged perpetrator, Brigadier Mamadou Lamarana Bah, who is unrelated to the victim, to reporters after his arrest. He claimed she had been supplying stones to the protesters, but that he had grabbed her to protect her.

"I swear before God, I never wanted to hurt her, it was just to save her."

Senior police officials said there was no doubt he had been sheltering behind the woman.

Guinea has been battered by months of political turmoil, triggered by suspicions that President Alpha Conde, 81, wants to change the constitution in order to stay in power.

At least 28 civilians and one gendarme have died, according to an AFP tally.

The National Front for the Defence for the Constitution (FNDC), which is organising the protests, led the criticism on social media Thursday.

The video, it said on Facebook, added to a litany of abuses by the security forces -- "firing on people in cemeteries, places of worship, even on ambulances."

"Now Alpha Conde's militia (is carrying out) hostage-taking," it charged.

The security ministry on Thursday said it was "completely unacceptable for innocent people to suffer from operations to maintain order."

It said investigations had been immediately launched into "recently recorded cases" and any policeman in the wrong would be "sought out and punished."

In November, Amnesty International said that 70 demonstrators or passers-by had been killed in rallies since 2015 and attacked what it called the "impunity" of the security forces.

31 JAN 2020 

Iraq's president names Allawi new prime minister, protesters divided

Within minutes of the announcement, many in Baghdad’s main protest camp of Tahrir Square began chanting “Allawi is rejected, Allawi is rejected!” Demonstrators hit the streets in the holy city of Najaf, pledging to escalate their movement further as Allawi was not the independent they had long demanded.

01/02/2020 

Newly named Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammad Allawi. 

© Reuters, Stringer Text by:NEWS WIRES

Iraq’s president named former communications minister Mohammad Allawi as the country’s new prime minister on Saturday after an 11th-hour consensus among political blocs, but the streets seemed divided on his nomination.

Baghdad and the mainly Shiite south have been gripped by four months of anti-government rallies demanding snap elections, a politically independent prime minister and accountability for corruption and protest-related violence.

Faced with pressure from the street and the Shiite religious leadership, Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi resigned in December and political life came to a standstill.

In a bid to end the paralysis, President Barham Saleh gave political blocs until Saturday to name a replacement to Abdel Mahdi or else he would appoint his own candidate.

On Saturday evening, Allawi posted a video to Twitter saying Saleh had nominated him as the new premier.

“After the president appointed me to form a new government a short while ago, I wanted to talk to you first,” he said, addressing the camera in colloquial Iraqi dialect.

“I will ask you to keep up the protests, because if you are not with me, I won’t be able to do anything,” Allawi said.

Breaking: Iraqi President Barham Salih appoints Muhammad Tawfiq Allawi to form new #Iraqi govt, Allawi announces his appoints in this video.
He was Minister of Communications in the former govt led by Nuri al-Maliki pic.twitter.com/59VcWjRNJj— Mustafa Habib (@Mustafa_Habib33) February 1, 2020

There was no announcement from Saleh but Abdel Mahdi congratulated his successor and powerful cleric Moqtada Sadr swiftly endorsed Allawi.

“This is a good step,” tweeted Sadr, who controls the largest bloc in parliament and key ministerial posts.

“I hope the president’s appointment of Mohammad Allawi is acceptable to the people and that they have patience,” he wrote.

Protesters split

But many protesters across Iraq were unconvinced.

Within minutes of the announcement, many in Baghdad’s main protest camp of Tahrir Square began chanting “Allawi is rejected, Allawi is rejected!”

Demonstrators hit the streets in the holy city of Najaf, pledging to escalate their movement further as Allawi was not the independent they had long demanded.

“Mohammad Allawi’s nomination came with the approval of the same corrupt political blocs we’ve been protesting against for over four months,” said lawyer Hassan Mayahi, marching in the southern hotspot of Diwaniyah.

Meanwhile, the United States issued a carefully worded statement, saying it hoped Allawi’s nomination would lead to “an independent and honest government committed to addressing the needs of the Iraqi people.”

Despite the prime minister-designate’s call for them to keep rallying, protesters were skeptical he would be able to implement their demands.

According to the constitution, he now has one month to form a cabinet which would need a vote of confidence from parliament.

In Iraq, the cabinet is typically formed by consensus among political rivals after intense horsetrading over influential posts.

“If the (political) blocs try to impose their candidates on me, I’ll come out and talk to you and leave this nomination,” Allawi said.

Sadrists in the streets
Allawi, a Shiite Muslim, was a member of the secular Sunni-backed Iraqiya bloc which was headed by his cousin and former prime minister Iyad Allawi.

He served as communications minister twice under former PM Nuri al-Maliki but resigned both times, alleging corruption and interference in personnel appointments.

Maliki, who still holds sway in Iraq’s parliament, is said to have rejected Allawi’s candidacy but other political blocs came to a consensus amid pressure by the president.

Sadr, too, had renewed his push for an end to the political crisis after suspending his support for the rallies for one week.

He endorsed the protests in October then appeared to change his mind last month, saying he would no longer “interfere” in the movement.

His hard-core backers—the most well-organised of the demonstrators—promptly dismantled their tents in protest camps across the country.

But on Friday he seemed to flip again, calling for his supporters “to renew the peaceful, reformist revolution.”

They flooded in the streets on Saturday afternoon, setting up tents in Tahrir with portraits of Sadr and blaring music praising him just hours before Allawi’s nomination.

The move came after both the United Nations and Iraq’s top Shiite religious authority both called for an end to the political paralysis gripping Iraq.

The UN’s top official in Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert had tweeted Friday that solutions were “urgently needed” to “break the political deadlock”.

And the country’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani urged Iraq’s political parties to “accelerate the formation of a new government”.

“It is imperative to speed up holding early elections so that the people will have their say,” he said in his sermon, which also demanded an end to bloodshed.

More than 480 people have died in protest-related violence since October, the great majority of them demonstrators killed by live rounds or military-grade tear gas canisters.

(AFP)

Canberra heatwave breaks records amid wildfire threat
 

Temperatures in the Australian capital Canberra have set a new monthly record amid an advancing wildfire that has prompted a state of emergency declaration, weather service Meteo France said Sunday.

The city declared its first state of emergency in nearly two decades last week in anticipation of a heatwave and predictions that fires could hit the southern suburbs.

On Saturday, temperatures in Canberra hit 42.7 degrees Celsius (108.9 degrees Fahrenheit), an all-time high for February that broke a record of 42.2 degrees Celsius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) set in 1968, Meteo France weather forecaster Etienne Kapikian said on Twitter.

That temperature was also the third-highest recorded in the city in any month, Kapikian said.

The new record along with all-time highs in January and December make the 2019-2020 summer the hottest on record, he said.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology did not immediately confirm the records.

The state of emergency declared on Thursday is the first in the Australian Capital Territory, which includes Canberra and some surrounding townships, since 2003, when fires destroyed almost 500 homes.

The main threat comes from the Orroral Valley fire, which has burned around 18,000 hectares (45,000 acres) of mostly remote bushland.

Authorities say the searing heat, accompanied by dry winds, could bring severe bushfire conditions to parts of New South Wales and Victoria. More than 80 fires are still burning across the two states.

Temperatures in the New South Wales town of Richmond climbed to 46.8 degrees Celsius (116.2 degrees Fahrenheit) on Saturday, Kapikian said.

Storms are forecast to follow the heatwave, bringing rain that could help dampen fires but also carry the potential for wild weather, including flash flooding.

Extreme weather has battered parts of Australia in recent weeks, bringing giant hail, floods and landslides.

At least 33 people have died and vast swaths of the country have been burned since September.

The months-long crisis has sparked renewed calls for Australia's conservative government to take immediate action on climate change, with street protests urging Prime Minister Scott Morrison to reduce the country's reliance on coal.

Scientists say the bushfire disaster was likely exacerbated by climate change, coming on the back of a crippling drought that turned forests into a tinderbox and allowed blazes to spread out of control quickly.

© 2020 AFP

Australia wildfires: Canberra declares state of emergency as massive blaze threatens capital

‘Conditions are now very dangerous and the fire may pose a threat to all lives directly in its path,’ say emergency services



Authorities in Australia have declared a state of emergency for the country’s capital city for the first time since 2003.

Soaring temperatures and high winds threatened to send a large bushfire spiralling out of control in Canberra’s Orroral Valley and its surrounding regions, prompting the declaration on Friday.


Andrew Barr, chief minister for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), said during a televised briefing there is “now no higher priority for the ACT government at this time than the bushfire threat.

“This fire may become unpredictable. It may become uncontrollable. The combination of extreme heat, wind and a dry landscape will place suburbs in Canberra’s south at risk.”

The Rural Fire Service advised residents to leave immediately and added: “Conditions are now very dangerous and the fire may pose a threat to all lives directly in its path.

Australia fires: What's next for towns devastated by wildfires?
Show all 21





“Fire crews may not be able to protect you and your property. You should not expect a firefighter at your door.”

The state of emergency will stay in place for 72 hours to allow authorities greater power to order evacuations, close roads and take control of private property.

Heatwave conditions are expected to worsen, with the Bureau of Meteorology warning of strong winds and “elevated fire danger” in parts of New South Wales, while severe thunderstorms are set to hit Victoria and Melbourne.

There are currently 58 active fires in NSW, 20 in Victoria and 22 in south Australia, which authorities are warning may worsen as temperatures are forecast to reach 41C on Saturday.

ACT Emergency Services Agency commissioner Georgeina Whelan told The Canberra Times: “What we’re seeing nationally and across the ACT is that we have the conditions conducive to bushfire activity, some are similar to 2003.

“What we’re seeing in 2020 is the fact that we have unprecedented bushfire behaviour, as a result of the weather, the drought and the volume of fire activity that’s across our landscape,” she added.
Read more
 

Devastating image shows extent of damage done by Australian wildfires

In 2003, bushfires wreaked havoc and caused severe damage to suburbs and outer areas of the capital city, razing nearly 70 per cent of its pastures and nature parks, and destroying most of the Mount Stromlo Observatory. Four people were killed and 470 homes were destroyed.

The current bushfire was sparked by an army helicopter that was in the area to provide support for bushfire operations, said the Department of Defence.

The helicopter crew were conducting aerial reconnaissance and ground clearance to enable access to emergency services personnel when heat from the aircraft’s landing light started a grassfire underneath it while it was grounded.

The Department of Defence said in a statement: “It is deeply regrettable that our support operations have likely started this fire.

“Defence has taken immediate action to reduce the risk of fires being started by helicopters, including not using certain aircraft lighting in extreme weather conditions.”

Australia is still in the early months of fire season, which has been especially fierce this summer and resulted in the deaths of 33 people and an estimated one billion native animals since September.

First Byzantine Monastery Discovered In Spain

Archaeological experts from the University of Alicante in Spain have recently identified the first Byzantine monastery ever found on the Iberian peninsula.

Emperor Justinian, Ravenna
[Credit: El Pais]

They first came across several round metal objects at the archaeological site, which is located in the area of Elda, Alicante. The exact identification of these objects had proven to be a mystery since the 19th century.

In the 6th century, Emperor Justinian forced people to keep a cache of state-minted coins in the main churches of each city. In this way, merchants could show that the coinage they used in economic transactions corresponded with the official money that the Emperor had minted.

The churches used to work as guarantors that buyers of precious metals were not cheated and that the coins in general use had the actual value that they were meant to have. If the operations were fraudulent, the tax revenue was lower — something the Emperor kept close tabs on.

The remains of the Byzantine monastery in Elda, Alicante, Spain
[Credit: Elda Archaeological Museum]

“This apparently is how the monastery of “El Monastil” functioned as a Byzantine administrative and fiscal headquarters by order of the emperor,” explains Antonio Manuel Poveda, a professor of Ancient History and director of the Archaeological Museum of Elda.

The painstaking research at Elda lasted almost 25 years due to the difficulties of identifying the architectural remains. Many different clues had been found during this time, but nothing had proven conclusive.

But now, the results of the latest research have proven that what had been thought to be a Roman or Visigoth site on the highest part of a hill on the outskirts of Elda, was in fact a Byzantine basilica, the first ever built in Spain — and it functioned as an important center for fiscal administration in those times.

Byzantine coins found in the church of El Monastil in Spain
[Credit: Elda Archaeological Museum]

The first to point out the presence of possible remains at the monastery site was local municipal archivist Lamberto Amat in 1873, although he could not verify the exact date of its construction.

However, 50 years ago, the organization El Centro Excursionista Eldense discovered a large number of archaeological materials, but it still was unable to identify them categorically and put them into any specific time frame.

It wasn’t until the 1980s when archaeologist Enrique Llobregat could confirm what he called the “existence of a Christian monastery” at the top. He related that he had discovered some marble fragments made according to the Greek style


Two of the skeletons discovered at the Elda site
[Credit: Elda Archaeological Museum]

Now, in addition to the set of coins with descriptions in Greek, in the last excavations, directed by Antonio Manuel Poveda, a large octagonal column base has also been found, which is typical of Byzantine architecture and unique to date throughout the Peninsula.

A pyxide, or cylindrical ivory box, decorated with a scene of Hercules capturing the Cerinea deer was also found at the Elda site. Pyxides were common objects throughout the Greek world and often contained small objects. This seems to be indicative of an attempt by the Byzantines to fuse their Greco-Eastern ancestry with Western Christianity.

The convent church occupied an area of about 84 square meters (904 square feet) in this hilltop religious center. Various metal items from Byzantine-era liturgical rituals have now also been found and identified, including a tiny knife (lancia), used in the preparation of the sacred bread before Communion, as well as a teaspoon (cochlear), which is still used in the Communion rite today throughout Orthodoxy.



Byzantine column base found on the El Monastil site
[Credit: Elda Archaeological Museum]

Poveda asserts “These objects constitute the only Hispanic group belonging to the Byzantine Christian ritual in Spain. In addition, North African, Oriental and local ceramic materials have also been documented, dating from the second half of the 6th century.”

The archaeologist added that in 1991, when the A-31 highway was built in this same area, a total of ten graves with 16 bodies were unearthed during construction works. Four of the people had been wearing rings engraved with the Greek letter sigma, and one of them even had a Greek cross.

Author: Ola Goroveci | Source: El Pais via Greek Reporter [January 22, 2020]

Evidence Of Specialized Sheep-Hunting Camp Discovered In Prehistoric Lebanon


Anthropologists at the University of Toronto (U of T) have confirmed the existence more than 10,000 years ago of a hunting camp in what is now northeastern Lebanon - one that straddles the period marking the transition from nomadic hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural settlements at the onset of the last stone age.

Views of Nachcharini Cave and environs [Credit: Stephen Rhodes et al. 2020]

Analysis of decades-old data collected from Nachcharini Cave high in the Anti-Lebanon mountain range that forms the modern-day border between Lebanon and Syria, shows the site was a short-term hunting camp that served as a temporary outpost to emerging and more substantial villages elsewhere in the region, and that sheep were the primary game.

The finding confirms the hypothesis of retired U of T archaeologist Bruce Schroeder, who excavated the site on several occasions beginning in 1972, but who had to discontinue his work when the Lebanese Civil War began in 1975.

"The site represents the best evidence of a special-purpose camp - not a village or settlement - in the region," said Stephen Rhodes, a PhD candidate in the Department of Anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science at U of T and lead author of a study published in PLOS ONE. "The cave was a contemporary of larger settlements further south in the Jordan Valley, and is the first site of its kind to show the predominance of sheep among the animals hunted by its temporary inhabitants."

El Khiam points and variants from Nachcharini, St. 4d
[Credit: Stephen Rhodes et al. 2020]

Radiocarbon dating of animal bones recovered from the site shows that it dates to an era known as the Pre-Pottery Neolithic A (PPNA), a period from about 10,000-8,000 BCE during which the cultivation of crops, the construction of mud-brick dwellings and other practices of domestication began to emerge. The stone tools found at the sites are mostly tiny arrowheads used for hunting. The new dates presented place the main deposits at the cave securely in the PPNA.

"Previous dates established in the 1970s were problematic and far too recent for unknown reasons, possibly due to contamination or incorrect processing," said Rhodes, who coauthored the study with Professors Edward Banning and Michael Chazan, both members of the Department of Anthropology at U of T. "The results highlight the fact that people in the PPNA took advantage of a wide variety of habitats in a complex system of subsistence practices."

It was already known that sheep hunting was practiced in this region throughout periods that preceded the PPNA, and the evidence found at Nachcharini Cave reinforces that understanding. According to Rhodes, it consolidates our knowledge of the natural range of sheep, which pertains to a potential beginning of domestication in later years.

"We are not saying that hunters at Nachcharini were engaged in early stages of this domestication," he said. "But the evidence of a local tradition makes this area a possible centre of sheep domestication later on."

Source: University of Toronto [January 22, 2020]

Tiny, Ancient Meteorites Suggest Early Earth's Atmosphere Was Rich In Carbon Dioxide

Very occasionally, Earth gets bombarded by a large meteorite. But every day, our planet gets pelted by space dust, micrometeorites that collect on Earth's surface.

These tiny meteorites, about half a millimeter across, fell into the ocean and were collected from the deep sea.
Like the samples used in the new study, these more recent micrometeorites are made of iron
[Credit: Donald Brownlee/University of Washington]

A University of Washington team looked at very old samples of these small meteorites to show that the grains could have reacted with carbon dioxide on their journey to Earth. Previous work suggested the meteorites ran into oxygen, contradicting theories and evidence that the Earth's early atmosphere was virtually devoid of oxygen. The new study was published this week in the open-access journal Science Advances.

"Our finding that the atmosphere these micrometeorites encountered was high in carbon dioxide is consistent with what the atmosphere was thought to look like on the early Earth," said first author Owen Lehmer, a UW doctoral student in Earth and space sciences.

At 2.7 billion years old, these are the oldest known micrometeorites. They were collected in limestone in the Pilbara region of Western Australia and fell during the Archean eon, when the sun was weaker than today. A 2016 paper by the team that discovered the samples suggested they showed evidence of atmospheric oxygen at the time they fell to Earth.

That interpretation would contradict current understandings of our planet's early days, which is that oxygen rose during the "Great Oxidation Event," almost half a billion years later.

Knowing the conditions on the early Earth is important not just for understanding the history of our planet and the conditions when life emerged. It can also help inform the search for life on other planets.

"Life formed more than 3.8 billion years ago, and how life formed is a big, open question. One of the most important aspects is what the atmosphere was made up of -- what was available and what the climate was like," Lehmer said.

The new study takes a fresh look at interpreting how these micrometeorites interacted with the atmosphere, 2.7 billion years ago. The sand-sized grains hurtled toward Earth at up to 20 kilometers per second. For an atmosphere of similar thickness to today, the metal beads would melt at about 80 kilometers elevation, and the molten outer layer of iron would then oxidize when exposed to the atmosphere. A few seconds later the micrometeorites would harden again for the rest of their fall. The samples would then remain intact, especially when protected under layers of sedimentary limestone rock.

The previous paper interpreted the oxidization on the surface as a sign that the molten iron had encountered molecular oxygen. The new study uses modeling to ask whether carbon dioxide could have provided the oxygen to produce the same result. A computer simulation finds that an atmosphere made up of from 6% to more than 70% carbon dioxide could have produced the effect seen in the samples.

"The amount of oxidation in the ancient micrometeorites suggests that the early atmosphere was very rich in carbon dioxide," said co-author David Catling, a UW professor of Earth and space sciences.

For comparison, carbon dioxide concentrations today are rising and are currently at about 415 parts per million, or 0.0415% of the atmosphere's composition.

High levels of carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, would counteract the sun's weaker output during the Archean era. Knowing the exact concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere could help pinpoint air temperature and and acidity of the oceans during that time.

More of the ancient micrometeorite samples could help narrow the range of possible carbon dioxide concentrations, the authors wrote. Grains that fell at other times could also help trace the history of Earth's atmosphere through time.

"Because these iron-rich micrometeorites can oxidize when they are exposed to carbon dioxide or oxygen, and given that these tiny grains presumably are preserved throughout Earth's history, they could provide a very interesting proxy for the history of atmospheric composition," Lehmer said.

Author: Hannah Hickey | Source: University of Washington [January 24, 2020]

800-Year-Old Rock Drawings At Mesa Verde Linked To Astronomical Observations

Archaeologists from the Jagiellonian University have found out that some of the rock drawings made by Native Americans about 800 years ago in the canyons located in the border region between the US states of Colorado and Utah were linked to astronomic observations, such as determining the dates of summer and winter solstices. The pioneering archaeological research in this field has been led by Dr Radoslaw Palonka from the JU Department of American Archaeology.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Since 2011 the JU Institute of Archaeology has been running an archaeological project in Mesa Verde region located on the border of Colorado and Utah. The area is famous to both archaeologists and tourists for the Pre-Columbian Pueblo culture settlements built in rock niches or carved into canyon walls and for numerous ancient works of rock art. The research is the first Polish independent archaeological project in the United States and one of the few such European projects in the region.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

The sites studied by the JU researchers contain remains of several dozen small settlements centred around Castle Rock Pueblo, built in the 13th century AD by Pueblo people. So far, Dr Palonka’s team have discovered previously unknown cave galleries containing murals and petroglyphs from various historical periods.

Credit: Jagiellonian University



During their studies, the archaeologists started to speculate, based on the analogies to several other sites in the South-West USA, whether some of these stone carvings hidden in rock recesses could be used by the ancient Pueblo people to determine the dates some important days of the year, namely summer and winter solstice as well as spring and autumn equinoxes.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Two such sites have been studied so far. At the first one, centred around a rock niche with remains of several buildings from circa 800 years ago, petroglyphs were carved on a flat rock wall facing south, shaded by an overhanging rock. The panel consists of three different spirals and several smaller elements, such as rectangular motifs and numerous hollows.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

“Our observations revealed a unique phenomenon, particularly visible during the sunset of the winter solstice on December 22, when the sun rays and shadows move across the middle part of the panel with petroglyphs, going through the subsequent spirals, longitudinal grooves, and other elements. To a much lesser extent, the phenomenon is also visible during the spring and autumn equinox. The interaction between light and shadow as well as the moving of sun rays across the entire panel is already visible some time before the winter solstice, as well as several weeks afterwards. We have not seen this phenomenon during the remaining part of the year”, explains Dr Palonka.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

Similar illumination of petroglyphs by sun rays in specific periods of the year has been observed at another site in Sand Canyon. What was different was that the petroglyph was regularly lit by sun rays only in the morning and early afternoon during the summer solstice. The researchers are planning to continue to study the rock art’s relations with astronomy.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

The JU archaeologists’ conversations with members of Hopi tribe, who are the descendents of Pueblo people, have confirmed that the spirals were most probably used as a sort of calendar. As pointed out by Dr Palonka, similar ethnographic studies from the 19th century also suggested the existence of solar calendars: both the horizontal ones, based on watching sunsets and sunrises over certain mountains, passes and valleys, and those related to observing sun rays shining on petroglyphs during solstices or equinoxes.

Credit: Jagiellonian University

It is also worth noting that summer and winter solstices are still of great religious importance to contemporary Pueblo groups from Arizona and New Mexico, providing framework for rituals and celebrations related to key farming activities, such as sowing and harvesting, as well as the preparations to these crucial tasks.

Source: Jagiellonian University [January 28, 2020]

Communal Tombs For High Priests Uncovered Upper Egypt


Egypt’s Minister of Tourism and Antiquities Khaled El-Enany has announced the discovery of communal tombs for high priests at the Al-Ghoreifa area in Tuna El-Gabal archaeological site in Minya, which marks the first archaeological discovery by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in the year 2020.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
The communal tombs were dedicated to high priests of the god Djehuty and senior officials in the fifteenth nome of Upper Egypt and its capital, Ashmunin.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Minister El-Enany said that since 2018, several discoveries have been made in Minya governorate, including a cachette of mummies, as well as several tombs full of sarcophagi and funerary collections including jewelleries, ushabti figurines and funerary masks.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
“Minya is set to be put on Egypt’s tourists map for its distinguished archaeological sites,” El-Enany said.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
The discovery was made by an archaeological mission headed by Mustafa Waziri, the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities.



Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Waziri explained that the ongoing work by the archaeological mission has uncovered 16 tombs with about 20 sarcophagi and coffins of various shapes and sizes, including five anthropoid sarcophagi made of limestone and engraved with hieroglyphic texts, and five well-preserved wooden coffins.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Some of the coffins are decorated with the names and titles of their owners, and were discovered alongside more than 10,000 ushabti figurines made of blue and green faience, most of which are engraved with the titles of the deceased.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The mission also found more than 700 amulets of various shapes, sizes and materials, including heart scarabs, amulets of the gods, and amulets made of pure gold, such as the “Ba” and an amulet in the shape of a winged cobra.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Many pottery vessels of different shapes and sizes, which were used for funerary and religious purposes, were also unearthed along with tools for cutting stones and moving coffins, such as wooden hammers and baskets made of palm fronds.


Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The discovery also includes eight groups of painted canopic jars made of limestone with inscriptions showing the titles of their owner, who bore the title of the singer of the God Thoth. Two collections of four canopic jars made of alabaster for a woman and a man were also unearthed, as well as stone dough without any inscriptions representing the four sons of Horus.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

Waziri said that one of the stone sarcophagi belongs to the son of Psamtik, who took the title of the head of the royal treasury. He bore many titles, the most important of which were the priest of Osiris and Nut.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The second sarcophagus belongs to Horus and has a scene depicting the goddess Nut spreading her wings above the chest, and below it are inscriptions revealing the deceased's titles, including the title of royal treasurer. Also discovered was a sarcophagus of Epy with three vertical lines of hieroglyphic inscriptions showing the names and titles of the deceased.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The sarcophagus of the Djed of Djehuty Iuf ankh, which is made of well-polished limestone, is considered one of the most important coffins discovered during this season due to the titles inscribed on the sarcophagus lid – that of royal treasurer and bearer of seals of Lower Egypt and the sole companion of the king.

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities

The fifth sarcophagus has hieroglyphic inscriptions showing the surnames of the deceased, the most important of which is the title of “the assistant.”

Credit: Egypt. Ministry of Antiquities
It is worth mentioning that during its previous works, the mission discovered 19 tombs containing 70 stone coffins of various sizes and shapes.

Author: Nevine El-Aref | Source: Ahram Online [January 30, 2020]

Human Skull Caps Were Produced Systematically From End Of Paleolithic To Bronze Age In Europe


The ritual use of human skulls has been documented in several archaeological sites of different chronologies and geographical areas. This practice could be related to decapitations for obtaining war trophies, to the production of masks, as decorative elements (even with engravings) or to what is known as skull cups. In fact, some ancient societies considered that human skulls possessed powers or life force, justifying sometimes its collection as evidences of superiority and authority during violent confrontations.

Skull cups from El Mirador Cave in Atapuerca
[Credit: IPHES/Psaladie]

Different signals preserved on the bones help us to recognize possible ceremonial practices. The most common modifications related to the ritual treatment of skulls are those produced by stone tools or metal knives, that is, cut marks, during scalp removal. This practice is archeologically well documented among American Paleo-Indians, for example, who show circular arrangements around the head as signs of this type of practices.

In Europe, skull cup have been identified in assemblages ranging from Upper Paleolithic, about 20,000 years old to the Bronze age, about 4,000 years ago. The meticulous fracturing of these skulls suggests that they are not only related to the need to extract the brain for nutritional purposes, but that they were specifically and intentionally fractured for obtaining containers or vessels.

This is evidenced in a study carried out by a team of researchers from IPHES (Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution), the URV (Rovira and Virgili University of Tarragona) and the Natural History Museum in London (NHML), which have developed a statistical analysis to assess whether the cut marks on skull fragments of the TD6.2 level of Gran Dolina in Atapuerca, Gough’s Cave (Great Britain), Fontbregoua (France), Herxheim (Germany), and la Cueva de El Mirador also in Atapuerca respond to a systematic processing.

Representation of the cut marks (blue) found in the skulls from
El Mirador Cave (Atapuerca) [Credit: IPHES]

The results conclude that these striate certainly respond to a specific pattern in the most recent chronological sites, showing treating skulls practices that were perpetrated during almost 15,000 years.

The study considered the bone as a map on which surface modifications are distributed and where it can be assessed whether if it is possible to identify specific patterns on the elaboration of cup skulls, by comparing evidences among the different sites mentioned above.

Specific modifications related to this human behaviour have been identified and the relevance of the cut marks location in specific areas of the skulls has been statistically described. Signals made by using stone tools, when meticulously and repeatedly extracting the scalp and meat., Actions that indicate an intense cleaning of skulls in the specific cases of Gough’s Cave, Fontbregoua, Herxheim and El Mirador. However, this model has not been observed on the remains of Homo antecessor from level TD6.2.



Map of the sites examined in the study
[Credit: IPHES]

Systematic fabrication of the skulls began with the removal of the scalp and continued with the removal of muscle tissue. The elaboration of the skulls ended fracturing them to preserve the thickest part of the cranial vault. The use of these container-shaped bones is still unknown. The repetition of this observed pattern provides new evidences of skulls preparation for ritual practices, and are associated in most cases to human cannibalism during recent Prehistory.

The results of this research have been published in the prestigious Journal of Archaeological Science. The study has been led by Francesc Marginedas, who is currently pursuing the Erasmus Mundus Master in Quaternary Archaeology and Human Evolution (taught at the URV) and doing his research work in IPHES under the supervision of Dr. Palmira Saladie. Marginedas studied the degree in “Cultural Anthropology and Human Evolution”, jointly taught by the URV and the Open University of Catalonia (UOC). It was while he was receiving these courses that he began his research career, specializing in this subject.

Source: IPHES [January 23, 2020]