Archeologists Discover 5,000-Year-Old Fingerprint on a Clay Vessel, Providing Poignant Connection to Ancient Humans
In 2021, researchers found a 5,000-year-old fingerprint during excavations in Orkney, Scotland. The impression was observed on a clay vessel recovered from the Ness of Brodgar archaeological site, BBC reported. Before the artifact, multiple other items of archeological importance had been found at the location. Experts believe that the fingerprint belonged to the potter and made its way to the vessel during the making process.
Ness of Brodgar contains a huge complex of Neolithic buildings. Excavation work has been going on in this complex for a long time, resulting in many fascinating discoveries. As per experts Grooved Ware ceramics began being produced in the region from 3200 B.C. and continued for 700 years. Through all these years many fashion patterns dominated within the Neolithic community. Therefore, ceramic remnants displaying varying styles have been recovered from the site.
Researchers are particularly excited by this one, because of the human aspect it unveils, The Orkney News reported. "Working on such a high-status site as the Ness of Brodgar, with its beautiful buildings and stunning range of artifacts, 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," said excavation director Nick Card. "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."
The print was spotted by ceramics specialist, Roy Towers, on a 5,000-year-old clay shard he was examining, The Orkney News reported. The mark was confirmed to be a fingerprint with the help of reflectance transformation imaging (RTI). In this method, multiple photographs of the subject are taken from different angles, each with a distinct but monitored source. Thereafter software is used to create a highly-detailed model that can be closely examined on the screen. This model helps researchers to locate features they could have missed during visual examination. The mark was the first fingerprint to be recovered from the site.
Further analysis from the Ness of Brodgar excavation team unveiled there were two more fingerprints on that shard. Researchers identified the sex and possible ages of two individuals. "Although the prints exhibit identical average ages, there is little overlap in the ridge values between the two measured prints. This suggests one print was made by an adolescent male and the other by an adult male," Professor Kent Fowler, the director of the University of Manitoba’s Ceramic Technology Laboratory stated.