Haua Fteah, Cyrenaica, Libya. The cave’s entrance.

Let’s go wild: how ancient communities resisted new farming practices

06 January 2016

Analysis of grinding stones reveals that North African communities may have moved slowly and cautiously from hunter-gatherer lifestyles to more settled farming practices. Newly published research by Cambridge archaeologist Dr Giulio Lucarini suggests that a preference for wild crops was a strategic decision.

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Spatula to poison darts, Malaysia

Poisons, plants and Palaeolithic hunters

21 March 2015

Dozens of common plants are toxic. Archaeologists have long suspected that our Palaeolithic ancestors used plant poisons to make their hunting weapons more lethal.  Now Dr Valentina Borgia has teamed up with a forensic chemist to develop a technique for detecting residues of deadly substances on archaeological objects.

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