8 June 2023 The Future is the Product of the Past

5000-year-old fingerprint found in Orkney pottery

Fingerprints were found on a pottery dating back 5,000 years in the Orkney archipelago, located in the northern region of Scotland, which has the oldest historical settlements on the European continent.

In Orkney, a fingerprint left by a potter 5,000 years ago was discovered on a clay vessel.

Archaeologists have been excavating the complex of ancient buildings in the center of the Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site since 2006. Many finds were found during these excavations. The last of these was the fingerprint on the piece of pottery. The fingerprint was discovered on a surviving fragment of the object at the Ness of Brodgar archaeological site.

Ness of Brodgar is the most important excavation site of the Archaeological Institute of the University of Highlands and Islands (UHI).

Detected by fingerprint imaging technology

The fingerprint left after the potter pressed a finger into wet clay was revealed using imaging technology.

Roy Towers, a ceramics specialist, noticed the potter’s fingerprint while examining a sherd – a fragment – of pottery from a massive assemblage of clay pieces recovered from the site – the largest collection of late Neolithic Grooved Ware pottery in the UK.

The suspected print was verified using Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI).

Multiple images of the same subject are taken, each with a different regulated light source.

Fingerprint
A fingerprint left on a clay vessel made by a potter 5,000 years ago has been found in Orkney. Photo: JAN BLATCHFORD

These are combined with computer software to produce a highly detailed model of the object that can be illuminated from all angles and studied closely on screen. The resulting images often reveal surface details not visible during a normal examination.

The age and gender of the potter can be determined with fingerprints

Jan Blatchford’s RTI work verified and registered the only fingerprint found at the Ness of Brodgar in this case.

UHI said ancient fingerprints were not uncommon and research had been carried out into them for a number of years.

Archaeologists hope analysis of the Ness of Brodgar fingerprint will reveal the gender and age of the potter.

Excavation director Nick Card said: “Working on such a high-status site as the Ness of Brodgar, with its beautiful buildings and stunning range of artefacts, it can be all too easy to forget about the people behind this incredible complex.

“But this discovery really does bring these people back into focus.

“Although finding the fingerprint impression won’t hugely impact our work, it does give us a highly personal, poignant connection to the people of Neolithic Orkney, 5,000 years ago.”

Source: BBC

Banner
Related Post

A wash-basin decorated with 2500-year-old Mythological creatures and Chariot races was discovered in Izmir, Turkey

28 September 2022

28 September 2022

Unique ceramic figures were discovered in the excavations carried out this year in the ancient city of Klazomenai in the...

Ancient Roman coin thought to be fake -certainly authentic and proves the existence of ‘forgotten’ leader Sponsian, study claims

26 November 2022

26 November 2022

History is littered with artifacts that were later discovered to be forgeries, but the opposite can also occur. A new...

A 1000-year-old Viking silver treasure found in Sweden

31 October 2022

31 October 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a 1,000-year-old silver Viking treasure at Täby, Viggbyholm, outside of Stockholm. The treasure was found during an...

Grain Barns dating back 6,000 years unearthed in China

15 December 2022

15 December 2022

Chinese archaeologists have revealed a cluster of 16 ancient granaries that traced back to the mid-late period of the Yangshao...

10,000-year-old Settlement Discovered in Turkey’s Şanlıurfa

25 June 2021

25 June 2021

A Neolithic settlement was discovered in the garden of a house in the Sayburç Neighborhood of Şanlıurfa’s Karaköprü district. News...

Iron Age Warriors Bend the Swords of Their Defeated Enemies

22 April 2021

22 April 2021

Archaeologists from the Westphalia-Lippe Regional Association (LWL) announced that a metal detector has discovered “one of the largest Iron Age...

Paleontologists say world’s oldest-known burial site found in South Africa

6 June 2023

6 June 2023

American explorer and scientist Lee Berger in South Africa said they have found the oldest-known burial site in the world,...

At Ostrowite, archaeologists have discovered a high-status burial dating back almost a thousand years

2 January 2022

2 January 2022

Archaeologists have discovered a burial chamber in Ostrowite, in Poland’s Pomeranian Voivodeship, containing several high-status grave goods from the 11th...

First direct evidence of drug use as part of Bronze Age ritual ceremonies in Europe

6 April 2023

6 April 2023

An analysis of human hair strands recovered from a burial site in Menorca, Spain, reveals that ancient human civilizations used...

Crowned figure holding a 13th-century falcon found in Oslo

17 December 2021

17 December 2021

Archaeologist Ann-Ingeborg Floa Grindhaug discovered a three-inch-long figure carved from bone or antler amid the ruins of a fortified royal...

Archaeological excavations started again after 50 years in Tunceli Tozkoparan mound

28 June 2021

28 June 2021

Archaeological excavations at the Tozkoparan Mound in Turkey’s Tunceli province are anticipated to turn the city into one of eastern...

13th-Century skeletons Unearthed in Annaea Mound

8 May 2021

8 May 2021

At the historical Kadıkalesi archaeological site in Turkey’s western Aydin province’s Kuşadası district, a total of five skeletons thought to...

Archaeologists Discovered a New Pyramid Resembling Teotihuacán in Tikal

17 April 2021

17 April 2021

Researchers discovered a new pyramid complex in the Tikal in Guatemala. About 65 km south of El Mirador in the...

The New Study Says the Iranian Plateau in the Pleistocene is a Bridge Between East and West

19 May 2021

19 May 2021

Iranian researchers say the Iranian plateau served as a migration route between East and West during the Pleistocene period, which...

Al-Aqiser Church, Disappears in the Depths of The Iraqi Desert

10 May 2021

10 May 2021

In a country that has been devastated by successive conflicts and economic crises, Al-Aqiser, like the numerous Christian, Islamic and...

Comments
Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *