Pagan-Christian trade networks supplied horses from overseas for the last horse sacrifices in Europe Horses crossed the Baltic Sea in ships during the Late Viking Age and were sacrificed for funeral rituals. Studies on the remains of horses found at ancient burial sites in Russia and Lithuania show that they were brought overseas from Scandinavia utilizing expansive trade networks connecting the Viking world with the Byzantine and Arab Empires. Up to now, researchers had believed sacrificial horses were always locally-sourced stallions. But these results reveal horses from modern Sweden or Finland traveled up to 1,500 km across the Baltic Sea. The findings also show that the sex of the horse was not necessarily a factor in them being chosen for sacrifice, with genetic analysis showing one in three were mares.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/05/2405

Origin of Roman lead Three ingots from the site of Los Escoriales de Do a Rama (Belmez) and dating from the Roman era demonstrate the importance of lead production and exportation in northern Cordoba.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/05/2405

In medieval England, leprosy spread between red squirrels and people, genome evidence shows Evidence from archaeological sites in the medieval English city of Winchester shows that English red squirrels once served as an important host for Mycobacterium leprae strains that caused leprosy in people, researchers report.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/05/2405

75,000-year-old female Neanderthal from cave where species buried their dead A new documentary has recreated the face of a 75,000-year-old female Neanderthal whose flattened skull was discovered and rebuilt from hundreds of bone fragments by a team of archaeologists and conservators.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/05/2405

Revised dating of the Liujiang skeleton renews understanding of human occupation of China Researchers have provided new age estimates and revised provenance information for the Liujiang human fossils, shedding light on the presence of Homo sapiens in the region. Using advanced dating techniques including U-series dating on human fossils, and radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating on fossil-bearing sediments, the study revealed new ages ranging from approximately 33,000 to 23,000 years ago. Previously, studies had reported ages of up to 227,000 years of age for the skeleton.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/r....eleases/2024/05/2405