Ancient masks, miracle wheat, and Scythian highs

Ceremonial deer masks. Excavations at Star Carr in Yorkshire have unearthed thirty-three headdresses fashioned from carved deer skulls, preserved in the mud of a vanished glacial lake (Sam Matey-Coste from The Weekly Anthropocene). These artifacts, dating from 9,300 BCE to 8,300 BCE, suggest that Mesolithic hunter-gatherers engaged in complex symbolic or ritualistic behaviors long before the advent of agriculture.

Scythian ritual intoxicants. Archaeologists at the Tunnug 1 burial mound in southern Siberia identified cannabis seeds and braided human hair containing traces of cannabinoids, providing the earliest physical evidence of psychoactive cannabis use dating to 800 BCE (Perspectives). This discovery predates the written accounts of Herodotus regarding Scythian vapor-baths by at least three centuries.

Revival of ancient grains. A farmer near Parma, Italy, discovered forgotten seeds in his attic that were identified as Triticum turgidum, a drought-hardy, nutrient-dense wheat variety known to the ancient world (David Vannier). This grain, now designated RER V0108, demonstrates how dormant biological inheritances can be recovered and cultivated to bypass the need for modern fertilizers.

• An international team located a three-chambered Etruscan tomb at Vulci dating to the late seventh century BCE, containing gold, weapons, and preserved women's footwear (Daybreak Notes & Beans ☕️).
• Split, Croatia, hosts the Froggyland museum, which maintains a collection of over 500 stuffed taxidermy amphibians displayed in century-old dioramas (Boing Boing).