Sunday, May 26, 2024

Opinon: Conservation areas stand between needs of local communities and preserving natural resources

For centuries the Makuleke community lived in the northeastern corner of South Africa, close to the modern-day border between Zimbabwe and Mozambique. But by the beginning of the 20th century, the squeeze on a disenfranchised community had begun, as they were forced to make way for the private game reserves that were springing up in the Lowveld.

In 1912, the Singwidzi Game Reserve displaced several Makuleke villages, followed by the establishment in 1933 of the Pafuri Game Reserve.

The limited number of game rangers policing the area meant that the community still had limited access to their former lands, but this changed in 1969 when Pafuri was incorporated into the Kruger National Park and the Makuleke were forcibly removed.

The South African government was not alone in removing communities from newly-established conservation areas. Other countries including the United States had also displaced communities as they carved out pristine wilderness areas that became the preserve of wealthier tourists.

But more recently, over the last several decades, there has been a change in thinking. The old idea of wildlife reserves as exclusive domains fell away and was replaced by a more inclusive model that took into consideration the needs of those communities living adjacent to these areas.

South Africa joined this global movement and shortly after the advent of democracy, the Makuleke made history. Under the Restitution of Land Rights Act, in 1997, they reached the first successful settlement of a land restitution claim involving a South African national park.

Benefitting from conservation

Through the settlement, the Makuleke chose to keep the land as a joint management venture between themselves and the Kruger National Park to generate funds and jobs for their community. Today, there are five-star lodges and educational programs running aimed at uplifting the community on the 22,000 hectares of land.

The Makuleke are not alone; across the country, communities are benefitting from conservation thanks to changes in policy and legislation.

In addition to the more than 2,000 jobs created by the Kruger National Park, peripheral services such as car washes and emergency towing services at camps have been outsourced to entrepreneurs from the neighboring communities.

The recent South African National Parks (SANParks) Resource Use Policy of 2019 allows for a number of renewable and non-renewable resources to be harvested in their parks annually, including thatch harvesting, the collection of medicinal plants and even the picking of mopani worms, all done under the watchful eye of an armed ranger.

"In a post-apartheid South Africa, the point is that those national reserves actually belong to the people and those who were disadvantaged by the establishment of these conservation areas should not still be disadvantaged by the continued existence of these parks. As citizens, they should be the first line of stakeholders who should be benefitting from conservation," says Wayne Twine, Associate Professor in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences.

It is not just state-run reserves; many private reserves have community outreach programs and are addressing the needs of communities within their areas with job opportunities and ancillary services which are outsourced to small, local businesses.

But Twine warns that addressing the needs of both is often a complex balancing act that requires the building of good relationships and honest communication. SANParks has used forums to communicate with the various communities.

"It's really important that you don't wait until you have a crisis before you reach out to neighboring communities," says Twine. Also, it's important that expectations are kept realistic. "It's about balances and trade-offs," he adds.

Data-driven decision-making

It is not just about providing economic opportunities. Recently the people living alongside the Kruger National Park between Numbi Gate and Matsulu complained of elephants venturing onto their land. SANParks said in a press release that they were in discussion with affected communities to work together on the construction of a fence, which is expected to take about eight months to complete.

But protecting ecosystems that better serve both communities and conservation requires gathering data that can help in the making of future policy decisions. This is what the Future Ecosystems for Africa Program, a partnership between scientists, policy makers and land users and led by academics at Wits, provides.

"If we get good data, we can find ways to enable people to derive the benefit of the land's resources while maintaining healthy ecosystems," says Professor Sally Archibald, the Principal Investigator at the Future Ecosystems for Africa Program in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences.

Their research is also helping to dispel some preconceptions held by the Global North about conservation in the developing world. One example of this is afforestation programs that involve planting trees in areas that evolved as open, grassy savannah systems with their own unique biodiversity. Although the aim is to help mitigate the impact of climate change, scientists like Archibald have argued that this would destroy these ecological areas, reduce water supplies and do little to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels.

Combating the 'wilderness philosophy'

The 'wilderness philosophy' is something that was brought to Africa with colonialism and is exemplified by fortress conservation—the idea that protected areas can only exist by excluding humans from the land.

However, recent research done by Archibald in the Mozambique Niassa Special Reserve in collaboration with Claire Spottiswoode and David Lloyd Jones from the University of Cape Town is showing that people can live in such protected areas while leaving a minimal imprint on the ecosystem.

The research involved studying honey hunters who live in the park and who, in order to calm the bees and access the hives, light fires at the base of trees and then chop them down.

"Many people, with a more 'wilderness philosophy' would think that this is shocking, and the activity needed to be stopped. But we have shown that they are harvesting a very small proportion of the total tree population and that the rates of tree recovery make these activities sustainable. Our student, Rion Cuthill, has done great work in showing that, yes, sometimes, honey hunting does cause wildfires, but they often happen at times of the year when it is recommended that you burn," says Archibald.

In 2022, the UN Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the "Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework" which set a 2030 deadline for one third of the planet being under effective conservation management.

"The Framework had pushback from Africa and South America over not just who was going to fund this, but also what it means to conserve. Can we consider landscapes conserved if they have people living on them and are managed in a sustainable way?" asks Archibald.

To help international organizations best fund projects in Africa, together with colleagues Barnie Kgope in the Department of Environmental Affairs and Odirilwe Selomane from the University of Pretoria, Archibald is developing a checklist that provides guidance on how projects should be funded in Africa.

"This is so that we not only become the recipients of funding, but so we can also guide that funding towards activities that really will benefit our biodiversity and people. Otherwise, we are always going to be fighting, telling people you can't plant trees on grasslands," explains Archibald.

But while much has been done to democratize the relationships between communities and conservation areas, the future looms with challenges, and climate change and a growing population will make resources even more scarce.

"There are certainly going to be challenges, and that is why going forward it is important to find innovative ways of creating economic opportunities for communities through conservation—rather than conservation being pitted against development," says Twine.

Provided by Wits University South Africa's conservation model: Why expanding the use of biodiversity to generate money is a good idea

Iron Age Woman May Have Been Sacrificed in England

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

(Bournemouth University)

DORSET, ENGLAND—According to a BBC News report, researchers from Bournemouth University examined the 2,000-year-old remains of a woman unearthed in 2010 in southwestern England’s site of Winterborne Kingston and determined that she had been stabbed in the neck. Forensic and biological anthropologist Martin Smith said that the woman’s skeleton had been found lying face down in a pit on top of an arrangement of animal bones. He added that analysis of her bones indicates that she was in her late 20s when she died, she had broken ribs, and her spine showed evidence of hard labor, while isotopic analysis of her teeth shows that she grew up more than 20 miles away from the site where she was buried. When taken together, Smith concluded, the evidence suggests that the woman had been ritually killed and deposited in the pit as part of an offering. To read about Iron Age roundhouses uncovered in northwest England, go to "Hail to the Chief."

Residue Analysis Identifies Possible Uses

of Pottery Vessels

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

(State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology Saxony-Anhalt, Matthias Zirm)

HALLE, GERMANY—According to a statement released by the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology (LDA) Saxony-Anhalt, a new study has identified specific functions for several types of pottery vessels unearthed in central Germany. Residues from more than 100 pottery vessels of different sizes, shapes, and contexts were analyzed by researchers from the LDA and the Autonomous University of Barcelona. The scientists found that the increase of consumption of dairy products during the fourth millennium B.C. by the Baalberge Culture was linked to the development of small handled cups. The researchers think these cups may have been used to scoop milk products from larger vessels. Carinated beakers, which feature a rounded base and inward sloping sides, are thought to have been used by Bell Beaker populations of the third millennium B.C. to serve dairy products as well. Beakers recovered from Corded Ware Culture graves dated to the third millennium B.C., however, were found to contain a variety of plant and animal fats. The analysis of the animal fats indicates that pigs were widely consumed. It had been previously suggested that these Corded Ware Culture funerary containers held beer. In contrast, the highly standardized pottery of the Bronze Age Únĕtice Culture (2200–1550 B.C.) was found to contain a greater variety of animal and plant residues, indicating that the pottery was multifunctional in design. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE. To read about early evidence of cheese making recovered from pottery found on Croatia's Dalmatian Coast, go to "When Things Got Cheesy."

Democratizing air quality data at nearly no cost

by Kaitlyn Landram, Carnegie Mellon University

Due to the high cost of air quality monitors, many countries don't have the tools in place to regularly monitor pollutants. Without routine measurements, policymakers cannot make evidence-based policy decisions to reduce fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure and improve human health.

To combat this problem, Albert Presto, a research professor of mechanical engineering, has identified a low-cost way to quantify black carbon in PM2.5 using glass-fiber filter tapes that are already collected by select U.S. embassies around the world.

"For this project, we started with the Global South, because in Africa the need for air quality data is the greatest," Presto said.

The team collected tapes from U.S. embassies in Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, and Ethiopia and compared their particulate matter to that collected from a site in Pittsburgh. Their paper is posted to the preprint server ChemRxiv.

To test air quality, the researchers used a cell phone camera to photograph the filter spots on the tape on top of a custom-designed reference card. By applying an image processing algorithm to each photo, they could extract the red scale value of the photo.

This value allows them to identify the air's black carbon concentration during the hour of the day that the filter was collected.

Using this method, researchers can get a better understanding of pollutant sources. Black carbon is considered a short-term climate forcer because of the way it absorbs light and consequently warms the atmosphere. For example, if deposited on a glacier, the glacier will melt faster.

Credit: Carnegie Mellon University

The study's findings underlined the need for more air quality monitoring in developing countries. The black carbon PM2.5 levels in the sub-Saharan African countries were as much as four times higher than those collected in Pittsburgh.

"Our process is a new way to think about low-cost analysis," Presto said. "Because the tapes are already being collected, the marginal cost for our analysis is near zero. This method can democratize air quality data because there are plenty of groups that can collect tapes from other embassies and do their own analysis for practically no cost."

Presto is eager to work with more embassies and explore what else his team can learn from the tapes. They are currently exploring a new way to extract the filters in a solvent to uncover exactly what else the PM2.5 is composed of throughout the day.

"There's growing work in monitoring air quality from outer space, but to do that we need data collected on the ground to validate the findings," he said. "Using this method, we can likely grow the number of locations where we can compare the satellite's measurement to data on the ground. We can also make more data available to countries around the world."

More information: Abhishek Anand et al, Low-Cost Hourly Ambient Black Carbon Measurements at Multiple Cities in Africa, ChemRxiv (2024). DOI: 10.26434/chemrxiv-2024-6srm4

Provided by Carnegie Mellon University Unraveling the impact of edge cracks on superconducting REBCO tapes: A leap in material durability and efficiency

Video: Fireball witnessed by weather satellite

by European Space Agency

While a meteor lit up the skies over Spain and Portugal recently, it was also captured by the Meteosat Third Generation Imager weather satellite hovering 36,000 km away in geostationary orbit.

On 18 May, the meteor burned up in the night sky over Spain and Portugal—not only impressing those lucky enough to see it with their own eyes, but it was also caught by the fireball camera in Cáceres, Spain, operated by ESA's Planetary Defense Office.

And zooming across the skies at over 160,000 km an hour, it was also captured by the Lightning Imager on the Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite far away in geostationary orbit, offering another perspective on this remarkable event.

As its name implies, the Lightning Imager will be used to detect lightning, once it has been fully commissioned following the satellite's launch at the end of 2022.

The Meteosat Third Generation Imager satellite is the first geostationary weather satellite that has the capability to detect lightning across Europe, Africa and the surrounding waters. It continuously monitors more than 80% of the Earth disk for lightning discharges, taking place either between clouds or between clouds and the ground.

The instrument has four cameras covering Europe, Africa, the Middle East and parts of South America. Each camera can capture up to 1000 images per second and will continuously observe lightning activity from space.

Data from the Lightning Imager will give weather forecasters greater confidence in their predictions of severe storms, particularly in remote regions and on the oceans where lightning detection capabilities are limited.

Although designed to monitor lightning, it also captured the flashes of light from the meteor burning up over Spain and Portugal.

Using preliminary data from the Lightning Imager, the animation above shows light flashes accumulated over six seconds as the meteor moves across the instrument's field of view.

The Meteosat Third Generation mission is a cooperation between Eumetsat and ESA. ESA is responsible for developing and procuring six satellites. Eumetsat defines the system requirements, develops the ground systems, procures the launch services, operates the satellites, and makes the data available to users.

The Meteosat Third Generation satellites are built by a large consortium of European industries, led by Thales Alenia Space in cooperation with OHB. The innovative Lightning Imager is developed by Leonardo in Italy.

Provided by European Space Agency

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Video: European satellite captures lightning strikes

Researchers reconstruct genome of extinct species of flightless bird that once roamed the islands of New Zealand

by Bob Yirka , Phys.org

A team of evolutionary biologists at Harvard University, working with colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Biological Intelligence, East Carolina University, Osaka University and the University of Toronto, has reconstructed the genome of an extinct species of flightless bird that has come to be known as the little bush moa.

In their study, published in the journal Science Advances, the group sequenced DNA recovered from a fossilized bone found on South Island (the largest and southernmost of the two main islands that make up New Zealand).

The little bush moa was once one of the biggest birds in the world—about the size of a modern turkey, they went extinct shortly after the arrival of human settlers in New Zealand. Prior to that, they roamed the forested islands of New Zealand for millions of years. They were unique due to a complete lack of wings. Prior partial sequencing has shown that they had the genes needed to grow wings, but over time, they had mutated as the birds slowly became flightless land dwellers.

The fossil used by the research team came from a bird that was one of what are believed to be nine species of extinct Anomalopteryx didiformis. The team describes their results as the recovery of a complete mitochondrial genome of a male moa nuclear genome—a feat that was deemed challenging.

After sequencing, the researchers discovered that the birds had been able to see in the ultraviolet spectrum—an ability that would have helped them capture hiding prey. They also had what the group describes as a sensitivity to bitter foods—a trait common in modern birds. The data also showed that the likely population of the birds had once been as high as 240,000 and that the birds diverged from their closest relatives approximately 70 million years ago.

The research team suggests that in addition to providing new information on the little bush moa, their results should also function as a new resource for other teams working to better understand avian evolution.

More information: Scott V. Edwards et al, A nuclear genome assembly of an extinct flightless bird, the little bush moa, Science Advances (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj6823

Journal information: Science Advances

California bill to protect children from lead exposure advances to Senate

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – On May 21, California Assembly lawmakers passed a bill to safeguard children’s health from the lasting and devastating effects of lead exposure through drinking water, an urgent threat in the state.

Assembly Bill 1851, by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), would enact a goal of zero lead in school and childcare drinking water. It also would set up a state-funded pilot program to test for, and clean up, lead in drinking water in up to 10 school districts. The program would identify strategies schools can use to bring water lead levels to as close to zero as possible.

The Environmental Working Group and Children Now are co-sponsoring the bill, which now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Lead is a potent neurotoxin that can permanently harm children’s intellectual development and affect their behavior and ability to concentrate. Even in tiny amounts, it can lower a child’s IQ, slow growth and harm hearing. Studies show lead’s harm cannot be reversed and there is no safe level of exposure to it.
Lead testing

Holden’s bill, if enacted, would create a state goal of zero lead in school and childcare facilities’ drinking water, help identify and clean up any faucets on campuses that release lead above 5 parts per billion, or ppb, and identify the most health-protective, cost-effective methods of sampling and removing lead in school drinking water.

“Lead consumption among youth and disenfranchised communities occurs at a higher rate. Assisting schools with the resources and appropriate standards to ensure the water our children drink is safe will help us protect our schools, students and communities,” said Holden.

“Children do not become more resistant to lead’s toxic effects once they transition from daycare to kindergarten, so California should take the responsible step of aligning child care and school lead testing standards,” he added.

Holden has long championed drinking water safety. He authored a law in 2018 requiring licensed child care centers in the state to test their tap water for lead contamination.

The results of those tests, released last year, revealed alarming levels of lead. The drinking water in nearly 1,700 licensed child care centers statewide – one in four – topped 5 ppb, the allowable threshold in California.

Over 260 centers found levels between 50 and 1,000 ppb – 50 to 200 times the state’s limit. One center found levels as high as 11,300 ppb, a staggering 2,200 times the limit.
Irreversible damage

Because of the lifelong serious health harms linked to childhood lead exposure, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends lead in drinking water not exceed 1 ppb.

"Even in minuscule amounts, lead can irreversibly damage young minds and bodies, leading to developmental delays, cognitive disorders and lifelong health complications,” said Susan Little, EWG senior advocate for California government affairs.

“We must act swiftly to protect our children from the devastating effects of lead exposure, which can rob them of their potential and inflict a lifetime of suffering,” she said. “Lead is not just a neurotoxin; it's a ticking time bomb that threatens our kids' health and well-being.”

“Lead exposure is a health, education and racial justice issue for our kids,” said Ted Lempert, president of Children Now, a statewide children’s advocacy organization. “We thank Assemblymember Holden for authoring this legislation to protect students from lead in drinking water, and we are pleased to partner with EWG to co-sponsor the bill.

“Children Now is committed to ensuring that schools have the support and resources they need to keep kids safe,” said Lempert.

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The Environmental Working Group is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that empowers people to live healthier lives in a healthier environment. Through research, advocacy and unique education tools, EWG drives consumer choice and civic action. Visit www.ewg.org for more information.

Children No is a non-partisan, whole-child research, policy development and advocacy organization dedicated to promoting children’s health, education and well-being in California. The organization also leads the Children’s Movement of California, a network of over 4,800 direct service, parent, youth, civil rights, faith-based and community groups dedicated to improving children’s well-being. Learn more at https://www.childrennow.org

Healthy candy bars? How ‘whole-fruit chocolate’ could revolutionize sweet

by StudyFinds Staff

ZÜRICH, Switzerland — Chocolate is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but it’s a treat that often comes with a side of guilt. Conventional chocolate is high in sugar and saturated fat, which can contribute to health issues like obesity and heart disease. On top of that, the environmental impact of cocoa production is a growing concern, with deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions threatening the sustainability of this beloved indulgence. But what if there was a way to enjoy chocolate that was not only healthier but also kinder to the planet?

Enter the “whole-fruit chocolate” developed by a team of researchers in Switzerland. This innovative creation makes use of the entire cocoa pod, including parts that are usually discarded, to create a chocolate that boasts improved nutritional value and a lower environmental footprint.

In conventional chocolate production, only cocoa beans are used, while the pulp and husk typically being thrown away or used as fertilizer. The research, published in Nature Food and led by Kim Mishra from the Institute of Food, Nutrition, and Health at ETH Zürich, saw an opportunity to turn this waste into a valuable ingredient.

The key to their approach is a gel made from the cocoa pod husk and pulp. The husk, or endocarp, is dried and ground into a powder, while the pulp is pressed for its juice and then concentrated. The two components are then combined and heated to form a gel that can be mixed with cocoa mass to create the final chocolate product

The illustration shows the utilization of the entire cocoa fruit. (Illustration: Kim Mishra)

The resulting whole-fruit chocolate has some impressive nutritional benefits. The gel replaces traditional sugar from sugar beets, reducing the overall sugar content. The husk powder also adds dietary fiber, which is lacking in conventional chocolate. Additionally, whole-fruit chocolate has a lower amount of saturated fatty acids compared to traditional chocolate candies.

However, the benefits don’t stop there. A life cycle assessment conducted by the researchers shows that large-scale production of whole-fruit chocolate could significantly reduce land use and global warming potential compared to the average dark chocolate produced in Europe. This is because the whole-fruit approach makes use of parts of the cocoa pod that would otherwise go to waste, resulting in a more efficient use of resources.

The researchers also highlight the potential socio-economic benefits for cocoa-producing regions. By creating value from previously discarded parts of the cocoa pod, farmers could diversify their income streams and reduce their reliance on cocoa bean sales alone. The whole-fruit chocolate production process also presents opportunities for technology transfer and capacity building in these communities.

White Pulp Of Yellow Cocoa Pod — This innovative chocolate-making process makes use of the entire cocoa pod, including parts that are usually discarded (Credit: CoreRock/Shutterstock)

Of course, taste is king when it comes to chocolate, and the researchers didn’t neglect this crucial factor. A sensory evaluation comparing whole-fruit chocolate to conventional dark chocolate found that the new formulation was just as sweet to taste testers despite having a lower sugar content. The increased fiber content and reduced saturated fat didn’t seem to detract from the enjoyment of the chocolate.

As with any new food innovation, there are still some hurdles to overcome before whole-fruit chocolate can hit the shelves. The current production process is energy-intensive, particularly the drying of the cocoa pod husk. However, the researchers are confident that efficiency improvements and the use of renewable energy could make the process more sustainable at scale.

“Although we’ve shown that our chocolate is attractive and has a comparable sensory experience to normal chocolate, the entire value creation chain will need to be adapted, starting with the cocoa farmers, who will require drying facilities,” says study author Kim Mishra in a media release. “Cocoa-fruit chocolate can only be produced and sold on a large scale by chocolate producers once enough powder is produced by food processing companies.”

StudyFinds Editor-in-Chief Steve Fink contributed to this report.

Did Hannibal’s Army Burn Down This Ancient Mountain Settlement?

In a scorched village in Spain, archaeologists discovered a hidden gold earring that suggests residents foresaw a coming attack around the time of the Second Punic War

Christian Thorsberg
Daily Correspondent

May 22, 2024

This gold earring found at an Iron Age archaeological site had been stashed inside a pottery jar, which sits behind it. Marco Ansaloni

A single gold earring—measuring less than an inch in both width and length—has provided historians with intriguing new insight into an ancient conflict.

Archaeologists excavated the remains of an Iron Age settlement called Tossal de Baltarga, located in the Pyrenees mountains in Spain, that was destroyed by fire around 2,200 years ago. Alongside discoveries of scorched artifacts and organic remains, the team found the earring—which was stealthily hidden inside a small protective jar and stashed within the wall of a wooden house.

Among other clues, the hidden valuable suggests the community’s fiery end was not accidental—and residents knew the destruction was coming, per the authors of a study of the artifacts published last week in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology.

And based on the timing of the blaze, researchers suggest the devastation could have occurred at the hands of Hannibal’s Carthaginian forces as they moved through the region during the Second Punic War between Carthage and Rome.

“The destruction was dated around the end of the third century B.C.E., the moment where the Pyrenees were involved in the Second Punic War and the passage of Hannibal’s troops,” Oriol Olesti Vila, an archaeologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona and lead author of the study, says in a statement. “It is likely that the violent destruction of the site was connected to this war.”

An artist's reconstruction of "Building G." Francesc Riart

In a two-story building at the site—dubbed “Building G”—archaeologists uncovered seeds, fruits, charcoal, an iron pickaxe and more than 1,000 pottery fragments. On the first floor, they found evidence for a livestock stable, with remains of four sheep, a goat and a horse. The team identified spinning, weaving and cooking equipment on the second floor.

Each of these elements offers a glimpse into the lives of the Cerretani, the local tribe likely to have inhabited the community. For example, they might have pursued a variety of economic endeavors, including weaving wool, producing textiles, cultivating grain, rearing livestock and cooking. Eight culinary vessels were found in near-complete condition, and analysis suggests that some were acquired via trade from other parts of the Iberian Peninsula. The building’s inhabitants were probably wealthier than their neighbors and were possibly aristocrats, given that they had a horse, which was a sign of the elite.

Fragments of a pickaxe found in Building G. Oriol Olesti Vila et al.

But the carefully hidden earring suggests the community might have been living in fear. Being located in the mountains, the Cerretani likely had a clear view of the passageways Hannibal’s army may have taken through the Pyrenees on the way to Rome. The researchers hypothesize that the residents—upon seeing the incoming troops—evacuated in a hurry. They may have stashed their valuables away, in case they returned, but perhaps they ran out of time and were forced to leave their livestock behind, Olesti Vila tells Discover magazine’s Paul Smaglik. No human remains were found in the house.

Archaeologists found the gold earring inside a pot, hidden in a wall of a home that was burned down. Marco Ansaloni

“These valleys were an important territory economically and strategically. We know that Hannibal passed the Pyrenees fighting against the local tribes,” Olesti Vila says in the statement. “It is likely that the violent destruction of the site was connected to this war. The general fire points to [human-made] destruction, intentional and very effective—not only Building G, but all the buildings of the site, were destroyed.”

Still, Olesti Vila stresses to CNN’s Mindy Weisberger that the connection to Hannibal remains a hypothesis. Regardless, his team’s discovery points to some kind of ancient conflict.

“[The occurrence of raids and pillaging] is well attested archaeologically, and need not be associated with a specific historic event like Hannibal’s campaigns,” Bettina Arnold, an anthropologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who was not involved in the research, tells CNN.

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