The discovery of a 3,500-year-old cemetery in Hungary has shed new light on a pivotal period in Central European history. A team of international researchers, led by Tamás Hajdu and Claudio Cavazzuti, has conducted a comprehensive bioarchaeological investigation into the Bronze Age cemetery at Tiszafüred-Majoroshalom. The findings have rewritten our understanding of this era, revealing significant changes in people’s lives, diets, social systems, and even burial customs.

The multidisciplinary research was based on the excavation of a Bronze Age cemetery that was used during both the Middle Bronze Age (Füzesabony culture) and the Late Bronze Age (Tumulus culture). By comparing the subsistence strategies before and after this era-changing event, the researchers were able to identify key differences in people’s lifestyles.

The study aimed to answer whether the spread of the Tumulus culture was a result of new groups arriving or if it was simply an evolution of the autochtonous people’s way of life. The team also examined whether changes in settlement patterns around 1500 BC were indicative of a shift towards more mobile and pastoral lifestyles.

The results of this groundbreaking research are nothing short of revolutionary:

* Dietary changes: Nitrogen stable isotope studies revealed that people’s diets became more uniform but poorer during the Late Bronze Age, contradicting previous ideas about the Tumulus culture’s supposed focus on animal husbandry.
* Introduction of broomcorn millet: Carbon isotope analyses indicated that the consumption of this fast-growing and high-energy plant began at the start of the Late Bronze Age, marking the earliest known occurrence in Europe.
* Decreased mobility: Strontium isotope investigations showed that populations from the Middle and Late Bronze Ages had distinct mobility patterns. Fewer immigrants were identified during the Late Bronze Age, with a higher presence of individuals arriving from further geographical regions.

The study’s findings have significant implications for our understanding of this pivotal period in European history. By combining traditional archaeological and anthropological studies with modern bioarchaeological analyses, researchers can now better grasp the complex changes associated with the emergence of the Tumulus culture.

The article “Melting Memories: The Human Cost of Glacier Loss” highlights the societal consequences of global glacier loss, as examined by Rice University anthropologists Cymene Howe and Dominic Boyer in their commentary published in Science. While new research projects that more than three-quarters of the world’s glacier mass could disappear by the end of the century under current climate policies, the authors emphasize the social impacts and human stories behind the statistics.

“Glaciers have literally shaped the ground we walk on,” said Howe, professor of anthropology and co-director of Rice’s Program in Science and Technology Studies. “For people who have lived near glaciers, their cultural meanings are often profound, representing the fundamental relationship between social and natural worlds.”

The commentary draws from the authors’ ongoing work on the Global Glacier Casualty List, a digital platform that documents glaciers that have melted or are critically endangered. This project blends climate science, social science, and community narratives to memorialize a rapidly disappearing part of Earth’s cryosphere.

“We’re now losing 273 billion tons of ice globally each year,” said Boyer, professor of anthropology and co-director of the Center for Coastal Futures and Adaptive Resilience. “There’s a feeling that even these staggering losses aren’t enough to motivate needed climate action.”

Their publication marks an uncommon appearance by social scientists in Science, which primarily features research in the natural and physical sciences. The authors argue that addressing the impacts of climate change requires not only scientific measurement but also cultural understanding, public memory, and collective action.

As glacial loss accelerates, so do the social and emotional responses to environmental change,” they write.

The United Nations has designated 2025 as the International Year of Glaciers’ Preservation. Howe and Boyer emphasize that global climate goals, such as limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, could still preserve a significant portion of the world’s glaciers and prevent the erosion of ecosystems, economies, and cultural lifeways connected to them.

“We have lost a lot, but there is still so much that can be saved for us and the generations that will come after us: They deserve to know the magnificence and meaning of these great bodies of ice,” said Howe.

The commentary was supported by the National Science Foundation’s Office of Polar Programs.

The ancient civilization of Arabia was once home to a rich and diverse culture that valued knowledge, trade, and innovation. New research has shed light on one of the most fascinating aspects of their history: the deliberate use of psychoactive and medicinal plants for therapeutic and sensorial practices nearly 2,700 years ago.

Led by Dr. Barbara Huber and Professor Marta Luciani, a team of researchers analyzed organic residues preserved inside Iron Age fumigation devices excavated at the oasis settlement of Qurayyah in northwestern Saudi Arabia. Using advanced metabolic profiling techniques, they detected characteristic harmala alkaloids from the plant Peganum harmala, also known as Syrian rue or harmal.

“This discovery represents chemical evidence for the earliest known burning of harmal not just in Arabia but globally,” says Dr. Huber, lead author of the study. “Our findings shed light on how ancient communities drew upon traditional plant knowledge and their local pharmacopeia to care for their health, purify spaces, and potentially trigger psychoactive effects.”

The integration of biomolecular analysis with archaeology has allowed researchers to identify not just what kind of plants people were using but also where, how, and why. This breakthrough has significant implications for fields such as ethnobotany, medical anthropology, heritage studies, and pharmacognosy – all concerned with the long-term relationship between humans, medicinal plants, and natural resources.

In traditional medicine and household fumigation practices today in the region, Peganum harmala is known for its antibacterial, psychoactive, and therapeutic properties. The new findings underscore its long-standing cultural and medicinal significance.

“This discovery shows the deep historical roots of traditional healing and fumigation practices in Arabia,” adds Ahmed M. Abualhassan, Heritage Commission co-director of the Qurayyah project. “We’re preserving not only objects but also the intangible cultural heritage of ancient knowledge that still holds relevance in local communities today.”