At https://www.iflscience.com/pythaorean-theorem-found-on-clay-tablet-1000-years-older-than-pythagoras-72091… over the years various claims have been made that the Pythagoras Theorem was known earlier than the Iron Age Greeks. Even the builders of Stonehenge, it is alleged, understood the theorem. In this instance, the evidence has been written down on a baked clay tablet. It has remained intact for posterity. The date of the tablet is 1770BC, on mainstream chronology. This is roughly the Old Babylonian period [Middle Bronze Age].
At https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231219124450.htm … which concerns fossilised fruit discovered in India. They possessed pyrenas. Not many fruit have them. These belonged to a now extinct species, but a plant related to frankincense. They have been found in other locations – even in southern Britain.
At https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/worlds-oldest-known-fort-was-constructed-by-hunter-gatherers-8000-years-ago-in-siberia … which seems to be another example of Mesolithic wood building skill. People living in the age prior to farming are becoming more and more cleverer than once imagined. It is not just Gobekli Tepe and its stone monuments, but their ability to use wood to construct all sorts of things, mostly tools. Now, we are getting bigger constructs, from homes, and now, to forts. A huge collective enterprise. The bigger surprise is that this was built in western Siberia. A fort commanding a strategic location – a defensive situation. This will open a can of worms as wood is easily broken down by bacteria and rarely survives the ages. One can deny hunter gatherers were skilled in woodwork when the evidence has rotted away – but in this instance, it has not. Around the same time archaeologists found a boat yard on the bottom of what is now the Solent. So, the find is not that surprising – but its location might be.
It seems like the conventional stereotype for hunter gatherers is awry, we are told. It is becoming more and more obvious that people in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic were not necessarily living a mobile life style. ome of them did move around the landscape, taking advantage of seasonal food. Others stayed put it would seem – surrounded by plentiful food resources. The occasional foray further afield may have occurred but hunter gatherers could have become attached to a favoured spot and were even prepared to defend that spot, it would seem. It has long been known they encouraged certain food plants to grow at the expense of other non food plants. In Britain this involved the hazel – and its autumn crop of nuts. In other places it involved legumes and grains, including chick peas.
The fort was found overlooking the Amnya River and was first occupied during the Mesolithic period. The date is intriguing as it works out at around 6000BC, which coincides with a major catastrophic event.
Over at https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/12/231212131053.htm … we now have frame saddles in Mongolia, going back to the 4th century AD. High in the Altai Mountains, they were part of a cave burial.