archaeology.org 25
GREECE: Underwater
archaeologists have gained
new insight into the con-
struction and configuration
of ancient Corinth’s main
harbor, Lechaion. The city
was destroyed by the Romans in 146 b.c., but was rebuilt
a century later and grew into a major port, thanks to
advanced Roman engineering. While most of the infra-
structure lies underwater today, divers have identified
the remains of massive stone moles, wooden and con-
crete caissons, monumental buildings, and as many as
four harbor basins interconnected by canals.SOUTH AFRICA: After 20 years of painstaking excavation, cleaning, and reassembling, the vir-
tually intact skeleton of the Australopithecus hominid known as Little Foot has been unveiled.
Bones from the 3.67-million-year-old human ancestor were first identified in the 1990s within
the Sterkfontein caves northwest of Johannesburg. Little Foot represents the most complete
Australopithecus ever discovered and may provide unparalleled information about the origins of
humankind, as well as the appearance, anatomy, and movement of early human relatives.GEORGIA: Chemical analyses of ceramic vessels
from two Early Neolithic sites in Georgia produced
the earliest known evidence of grape wine and
viniculture in the Near East. The sherds of pottery
tested positive for tartaric acid, the principal bio-
marker of grapes and wine, as well as other indica-
tors. This suggests humans were producing wine as
far back as about 6000 b.c., nearly 500 years earlier than previously
thought. The domestication of the wild Eurasian grape is believed to
have first occurred in this region.PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
When the Aitape
skull was discov-
ered in 1929, it was
mistakenly thought
to belong to Homo
erectus. But subse-
quent radiocarbon
dating determined it was only
around 6,000 years old. Now, a
reevaluation of the skull and its
findspot has added a new twist.
Geochemical analysis of the
sediments in which the skull was
embedded suggests they were
deposited miles inland by a power-
ful paleo-tsunami, making the skull
perhaps part of the world’s oldest
known tsunami victim.ISRAEL: Sometimes impor-
tant archaeological relics are
found in unexpected places. This
was the case when archaeolo-
gists recently noticed a lioness
statue within an unassuming pile
of dirt and modern debris at the site of el-Araj near
the Sea of Galilee. The basalt relief carving weighs
1,320 pounds and dates to between the 4th and 6th
centuries a.d. It may have once adorned a nearby
synagogue. Some experts believe el-Araj is where
the biblical settlement of Bethsaida and the later
Roman town of Julius were located.