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Tiny songbird is East Asia's 'oldest' carved artwork
By Kelly MACNAMARA
Paris (AFP) June 10, 2020

Archaeologists may have uncovered London's earliest theater
Washington DC (UPI) Jun 10, 2020 - Archaeologists claim to have unearthed the oldest theater in London.

Discovered by a team of archaeologists with the University College London, the Elizabethan playhouse, called the Red Lion, was originally constructed in 1567.

"This site, with its prototype stage and seating, could represent the dawn of Elizabethan theater!" UCL Archaeology South-East wrote on Twitter.

For the last two years, excavators have been working carefully to unearth the remains of theater, revealing a prototype stage and seating.

"This is one of the most extraordinary sites I've worked on," UCL archaeologist Stephen White, who led the excavation, said in a news release. "After nearly five hundred years, the remains of the Red Lion playhouse, which marked the dawn of Elizabethan theater, may have finally been found."

"The strength of the combined evidence -- archaeological remains of buildings, in the right location, of the right period, seem to match up with characteristics of the playhouse recorded in early documents," White said. "It is a privilege to be able to add to our understanding of this exciting period of history."

Historians suggest the Red Lion theater was built by John Brayne prior to his construction of The Theater in 1576. Brayne built The Theater with his brother-in-law James Burbage, a member of acting company The Lord Chamberlain's Men. It became the earliest permanent home to acting troupes and staged the plays of a young Shakespeare during 1590s.

All that is known about the Red Lion is found in a pair of lawsuits between Brayne and carpenters that worked on the construction project. The lawsuits describe the physical elements of the stage, seating and scaffolding. Historians and archaeologists have long debated the exact location of the outdoor theater.

The excavated remains match the dimensions described in the lawsuits, and nearby structures found by archaeologists look to be the remnants of an inn. Documents suggest that the farmstead and theater were joined by other buildings over the years, forming an expansive complex -- a place to drink beer, eat, take in a comedy and spend the night.

Archaeologists also uncovered what look to be a pair of ancient cellars, not far from the stage and seating.

"Tudor period inns needed somewhere cool and secure to store their drink, as beer would have gone off much more rapidly than it does today," said Michael Shapland, an historic buildings specialist with UCL Archaeology South-East.

Excavations at the site have also turned up drinking glasses, ceramic cups, mugs, bottles and tankards, as well as coins and ceramic money boxes.

In the years that followed the construction of the Red Lion, Brayne suffered a series of financial difficulties, including trouble involving the financing of The Theater. He died penniless in 1586.

The excavations also turned up the remains of several dogs, a few with injuries, suggesting the theater was repurposed as a dog-fighting venue during the 17th century.

A miniature bird sculpted out of burnt bone in China around 13,500 years ago is the oldest known figurine from East Asia, according to researchers who discovered it in a refuse heap near an archaeological site.

The carefully crafted depiction of a songbird on a pedestal -- smaller than an almond kernel -- was found among burnt animal remains and fragments of ceramics at Lingjing in north central Henan province, an area thought to have been home to some of China's earliest civilisations.

The figurine is the "oldest known carving from East Asia", said Francesco D'Errico of the University of Bordeaux, who co-authored the research published in the journal PLOS One on Wednesday.

"It shows that in this region sculpture starts at least 13,500 years ago, and fills in a gap in our knowledge about the origin of art in this vast region," he told AFP.

The tiny carving was discovered by lead author Zhanyang Li of Shandong University, who has been excavating parts of the Lingjing site since 2005.

Digging in the area had already revealed 11 distinct layers, ranging in age from 120,000 years ago to the Bronze Age.

Most of the fifth layer had been removed during a well-digging operation in 1958, and disposed of at a refuse heap nearby.

That dumping area was still intact years later, and when the authors sifted through the soil they found several artefacts, including pottery shards, burned animal remains and the bird figurine.

The carving is just 19.2 millimetres long, 5.1 mm wide and 12.5 mm high.

Researchers were unable to use radiocarbon dating on the bird itself because the process would have damaged it. But they dated similar bones found with it, including one gouged using the same technique.

In this way they estimated the age of the bird figurine to be 13,500 years, which they said predates previously known figurines from this region by almost 8,500 years.

- Artistic techniques -

D'Errico said the bird was "exceptionally" well preserved, enabling researchers to trace the various carving methods used to create different parts of the figure, including gouging with a stone tool, scraping and polishing.

"Our observations show that the artist knew well which technique was the more adapted to carve the different parts of the animal," he said.

"What is also remarkable is that the carving is not a fully realistic representation of a bird."

The figurine has oversized tail, allowing it to balance on its pedestal.

"Without this trick the bird would fall on its head," D'Errico said, adding that this shows the carving is not just a "casual experiment".

The study authors said that the craftsmanship suggests the advanced stage of an artistic tradition, which began much earlier.

In recent years, cave paintings in the Indonesian islands of Borneo and Sulawesi have been dated as over 40,000 years old, suggesting ancient societies with advanced artistic cultures in the region.

While three-dimensional portable art has been documented in Europe dating back some 40,000 years, the researchers said the Lingjing bird was the oldest such example found in East Asia.

Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers in China are known to have manufactured bone tools such as spear points and needles, as well as personal ornaments made of shells, ostrich eggs and animal teeth, D'Errico said.

"The carving of objects with no apparent functional purpose, requiring a dedicated apprenticeship to be made, opens a new window on these societies," he added.


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Genomic researchers detail the peopling of the Caribbean
Washington DC (UPI) Jun 05, 2020
Until now, the peopling of the Caribbean - one of the last parts of the Americas to be settled by humans - has remained poorly understood. Thanks to new analysis of the genomes of 93 ancient Caribbean islanders, researchers are gaining new insights into Caribbean's earliest settlers. Research into the peopling of the Caribbean has been held back by the region's hot, humid weather. "In tropical climates DNA deteriorates faster, making it more difficult to reconstruct the sequence ... read more

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