Friday, February 29, 2008
ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO DRILL IN BEXLEY FOR EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT OCCUPATION
Archaeologists from Durham University will be returning to a London borough site where a 19th century historian once found flint tools and animal bones.
This time, however, the latest sonic drilling equipment will be used to take samples from the earth, for the ongoing Ancient Human Occupation of Britain II project (AHOB).
Initial drillings were carried out at Holmscroft Open Space in September 2007 by the archaeologists, who are looking at human occupation of the country right from the first people who lived here about 700,000 years ago, up to the end of the last Ice Age, roughly 8,800 years ago.
AHOBII, Ancient Britain in its European Context, entails the re-analysis of old artefacts held in museum collections as well as fieldwork to refine dates and provide more accurate reconstructions of past environments.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:00 PM 
Shroud of Turin Gets High-Def Scrutiny
The Turin shroud, the 14- by 4-foot linen long believed to have been wrapped around Jesus' body after the crucifixion, has entered the digital age.
A huge 12.8 billion-pixel image was made of the linen, on which the smudged outline of the body of a man is indelibly impressed. The image was made following a Vatican request to obtain the most detailed reproduction of the yellowing ancient cloth. The technology allows a level of scrutiny of the linen as never achieved before.
"The Shroud has been photographed in high definition for the first time. We have stitched together 1,600 shots, each the size of a credit card, to create a huge photo which is almost 1,300 times stronger than a picture taken with a 10 million pixel digital camera," Mauro Gavinelli, technical supervisor at HAL9000, a company specializing in art photography, told Discovery News.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:59 PM
'100 000 Years of Sex' opens in Germany
Trier, Germany - Erotic carvings and excavated Roman artefacts connected to sex will go on display on Saturday in Germany's best-preserved ancient Roman city, Trier.
The temporary exhibition, 100 000 Years of Sex, comprises 250 items, mainly archaeological.
They date back to the Stone Age and show how our ancestors experienced lust and procreation, said Mechthild Neyses-Eiden, deputy director of the museum.
Devised in the Netherlands and first mounted in 2003 in another museum, the exhibition is being supplemented at the Rhenish Museum in Trier with about 50 local Roman-period artefacts recovered by archaeologists.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:58 PM
Exhibition explores history of Lakes landscape
TWELVE thousand years of Lake District human history is about to be revealed in a new exhibition showing how the landscape developed.
“Unlocking the past, understanding the present” will be thrown open to the public on March 14 at the Lake District Visitor Centre at Brockhole, on the shores of Windermere.
Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the exhibition – designed to introduce archaeology in a fun, hands-on way – will run until the beginning of November.
A comprehensive county-wide tour follows, which has already been booked up until 2010.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:55 PM
PHOTO IN THE NEWS: Viking Women Wore "Sexy" Outfits
Call it the Viking version of a low-cut top.
A modern reconstruction of a Norse outfit (worn above by textile researcher Annika Larsson of Uppsala University in Sweden) is a single piece of fabric held in place by clasps that sit on the middle of each breast.
Such a provocative outfit was probably common among Viking women before Christianity took hold in Scandinavia, Larsson said in a statement. She recently analyzed ancient textiles from the Lake Mälaren Valley, which was inhabited during the "Viking Age," from about A.D. 750 to 1050.
A mélange of Nordic and Oriental flair, the clothing "was designed to be shown off indoors around the fire," she said.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:54 PM
VIDEO: Inquisition Docs Made Public
The Vatican has opened to the public Inquisition documents from the Roman Catholic Church's efforts—beginning in medieval times—to root out heresy.
Watch the video...
# posted by David Beard @ 5:52 PM
Historic heritage vs tourism profits debated at panel
The decision by the Four Seasons Hotel to enlarge its existing building over an archaeological site in the historic Sultanahmet neighborhood of Istanbul has sparked debate over whether the desire to preserve the city's heritage is being sacrificed to possible profit from tourism.
The hotel, a transformed prison from Ottoman times which itself was built on Byzantine and Roman ruins, currently has a 130-room capacity that it plans to increase by 50 with the additional building. The extension has drawn severe criticism despite the fact that the hotel has been granted the legal right to do so.
Atilla Öztürk, CEO of the holding company responsible of the additional building, said at a panel organized by the History Foundation of Turkey yesterday that everything they did was legal. He said the Four Seasons Hotel was granted the right by the cabinet to build a 303-bed capacity building on the site 17 years ago.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:49 PM
Free Archaeological Publications!
Wessex Archaeology is pleased to offer many of its archaeological publications free (bar P&P) to the general public.
We have reports on our excavations undertaken over the last 20 years in Dorset, Berkshire, Hampshire and Wiltshire, which we would like to offer free to any member of the general public, interested amateur or historic environment professional.
See the reports and research agendas that are available free.
The reports are offered free subject to postage and packaging at £2.50 per volume up to a maximum of £10 – so you can have the complete set of 18 volumes for just £10! If you wish to collect direct from our offices, there will be no cost at all to you.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:48 PM
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Medieval wall painting discovered
Fragments of an ancient wall painting dating back to medieval times have been discovered during restoration work at 13th century Stuston church.
Last year villagers rallied to the cause when it emerged that £185,000 was needed for urgent repairs to make the nave, porch and vestry roofs watertight.
English Heritage and other funding bodies promised £165,000 towards the project - on condition that the small community of 140 souls met a December 2007 deadline to prove their commitment to making up the shortfall.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:41 AM
Grave yard unearthed at former Chester police HQ
A MEDIEVAL grave yard with more than a hundred skeletons has been unearthed on the multimillion pound Police HQ site.
The “fascinating” and “important” discoveries have “transformed” experts’ views of ancient Chester.
City archaeologist Mike Morris said: “This was the largest excavation to have taken place in Chester in more than 30 years. It will transform our view of the Roman town and the Medieval nunnery.”
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:40 AM
Fashion counted for some Vikings, researcher says
Vikings were much snappier dressers than thought, according to new evidence unearthed by a Swedish researcher.
The men were especially vain while the women dressed provocatively, adorning themselves in vivid colors, silk ribbons and glittering bits of mirrors, said Annika Larsson, a textile researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden.
"They combined oriental features with Nordic styles," she said in a statement. "Their clothing was designed to be shown off indoors around the fire."
The findings are based on the Swedish Vikings who traveled east into what is now Russia rather than the Danish or Norwegian Vikings who went west.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:37 AM
Cannibalism May Have Wiped Out Neanderthals
A Neanderthal-eat-Neanderthal world may have spread a mad cow-like disease that weakened and reduced populations of the large Eurasian human, thereby contributing to its extinction, according to a new theory based on cannibalism that took place in more recent history.
Aside from illustrating that consumption of one's own species isn't exactly a healthy way to eat, the new theoretical model could resolve the longstanding mystery as to what caused Neanderthals, which emerged around 250,000 years ago, to disappear off the face of the Earth about 30,000 years ago.
"The story of Neanderthal extinction is one of the most intriguing in all of human evolution," author Simon Underdown told Discovery News. "Why did a large-brained, intelligent hominid that shared so many traits with us disappear?"
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:35 AM
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Archaeological treasures found in Roscrea
A 'beautiful' Bronze Age axe and a number of ancient burial grounds have been unearthed near Roscrea during the construction of the new Dublin-Limerick motorway in the area.
A 'beautiful' Bronze Age axe and a number of ancient burial grounds have been unearthed near Roscrea during the construction of the new Dublin-Limerick motorway in the area.
The bronze axe was found in Camblin, south of Roscrea. Archaeologists say the find dates to the later Bronze Age and appears to have been hidden in a shallow pit and never recovered by the person who concealed it.
On a second site in Camblin a medieval iron 'bearded' axe was discovered while two Bronze Age enclosed settlements with two ancient houses were found near the N62 Templemore Road.
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# posted by David Beard @ 8:06 AM
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Vikings did not dress the way we thought
Vivid colors, flowing silk ribbons, and glittering bits of mirrors - the Vikings dressed with considerably more panache than we previously thought. The men were especially vain, and the women dressed provocatively, but with the advent of Christianity, fashions changed, according to Swedish archeologist Annika Larsson.
"They combined oriental features with Nordic styles. Their clothing was designed to be shown off indoors around the fire," says textile researcher Annika Larsson, whose research at Uppsala University presents a new picture of the Viking Age.
She has studied textile finds from the Lake Malaren Valley, the area that includes Stockholm and Uppsala and was one of the central regions in Scandinavia during the Viking Age. The findings, some of which were presented in her dissertation last year, show that what we call the Viking Age, the years from 750-1050 A.D., was not a uniform period.
Through changes in the style of clothing we can see that medieval Christian fashions hit Sweden as early as the late 900s and that new trade routes came into use then as well. The oriental features in clothing disappeared when Christianity came and they started to trade with the Christian Byzantine and Western Europe.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:04 PM
Monday, February 25, 2008
Ancient toy or whistle found at Pyrgos
A SMALL masterpiece of coroplastic Early Bronze Age Cyprus (3500- 2000 BC), believed to be a water whistle or a toy, was found during the excavations at Pyrgos/Mavrorachi, in Limassol and restored by an Italian archaeological mission led by Maria Rosaria Belgiorno.
"This is an askos, representing a load of two panniers, with its mane knotted in five bobs and a statuette of a naked child riding in the middle of the shoulder," Belgiorno said.
Donkeys loaded with baskets of fruit and vegetables are one of the most common images of the Mediterranean, she explained.
"This is a familiar subject especially on the islands, from the first appearance and domestication of small horses and donkeys. Both have played a very important role in the evolution of agriculture and culture in prehistory," she said, noting that what is more rare is the child riding on the back of the donkey.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:07 AM
The Magerius Mosaic
How a Roman amphitheatre really worked
"Roll up! Roll up! Roll Up! There will be a magnificent spectacle at the amphitheatre today, and you mustn't miss it! Magerius is giving it. Of course, you all know Magerius who has just finished his term of office as mayor. He's a pompous old ass but he thinks the world of himself and he's going to lay on a big spectacle and he is paying through the nose for it, and he wants everyone to know how generous he has been."
"He is bringing in the Telegenii. You've heard of the Telegenii - they are the best theatrical producers in North Africa. They have all the best beasts and all the best hunters too. Today they have for your delight four leopards, all home grown and well trained. They are called Crispinus, Luxurius, Victor - who of course is going to be conquered - and then, Ho! Hum! there's Romanus, 'The Roman' who is going to bite the dust at the hands of a hunter. And then he's got four of his best hunters, Hilarinus, Bullarius, Spittara, who always hunts on stilts, and finally the champion, Mamertinus. It's going to be a great spectacle, so hurry along to the amphitheatre. Who's going to win - the beasts or the hunters?
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:06 AM
Antarctic may hold the future of archaeology
It is a truism that archaeology begins yesterday, and now with only the archaeology of the future to plan for, the discipline has been expanding into areas of the globe where material culture has hitherto played little part.
Antarctica is one of these new areas: more than two centuries of human occupation have left plentiful traces. At least five successive and partly overlapping phases of activity can be defined: sealing, whaling, polar exploration, scientific investigation and tourism.
Sealing began in the late 18th century, when Captain James Cook’s account of his voyages in the Southern Ocean, published in 1777, included his discovery of South Georgia with its enormous population of fur seals. Sealers from England and the eastern United States swarmed to raid the seal rookeries.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:03 AM
Neolithic artefacts discovered in church
PLANNED repairs to the central heating of a church have uncovered remains suggesting it may have been used as a place of worship in prehistoric times.
Archaeologists now believe the medieval church of St Michaels and All Angels, in Houghton-le-Spring, Wearside, is on the site of earlier places of worship, possibly dating from the Neolithic period.
Old burial grounds have been unearthed during work by the Archaeology Practice, but it has also revealed foundations of previous churches on the site.
Stones uncovered beneath the church floor are thought to have been part of a Roman building, while there is also evidence of prehistoric activity in the area.
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Go to the "New Discoveries page of the St Michaels website...
# posted by David Beard @ 10:56 AM
Fresh tests on Shroud of Turin
The Oxford laboratory that declared the Turin Shroud to be a medieval fake 20 years ago is investigating claims that its findings were wrong.
The head of the world-renowned laboratory has admitted that carbon dating tests it carried out on Christendom's most famous relic may be inaccurate.
Professor Christopher Ramsey, the director of the Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, said he was treating seriously a new theory suggesting that contamination had skewed the results.
Though he stressed that he would be surprised if the supposedly definitive 1988 tests were shown to be far out - especially "a thousand years wrong" - he insisted that he was keeping an open mind.
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:55 AM
Sunday, February 24, 2008
BRUNEL PUMP HOUSE FACES DEMOLITION
Heritage campaigners are up in arms over plans to demolish an "atmospheric" pumping house designed by the great 19th-century engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Residents in Totnes have joined forces with the Save Britain's Heritage group to fight for the building to be listed and protected.
Campaigners believe the pumping house, which is on a site owned by Surrey-based milk company Dairy Crest, is one of only three left in the Westcountry. The others are at Starcross and Torquay.
Alan Langmaid, Totnes Museum administrator, said: "Many people are working behind the scenes to see the building listed and saved. It's causing a bit of stir in the town. Totnes is a historical town, which is not just a medieval town centre - history didn't stop here with the Normans. "This is a significant building which is 160 years old, and Brunel was an engineer of national importance."
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:11 PM
Chessmen keepers reveal fear of 'Gallic hotheads'
STORNOWAY and Paris are normally difficult to confuse, but a spelling gaffe in a British Museum memo managed to mix the Gaels and the Gauls.
A document which suggested "Gallic hotheads" might seize the Lewis chessmen has come to light, much to the bemusement of islanders who have in turn accused museum officials of "ignorance".
The museum has claimed the reference is nothing more than a "spelling error".
But the gaffe has been seized on by locals who believe that metropolitan prejudice shows why the chessmen should be "repatriated".
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:09 PM
Oxford dates Iran's Kelar Mound
Oxford scientists have determined the exact date of Iran's northern site of Kelar Mound by studying ancient coal and bone samples.
Although many archeologists believed that the area was not older than the Iron Age, Carbon 14 studies have dated the mound to more than 6,000 years ago.
Former Archeological excavations had yielded numerous caves, havens and ancient sites, which showed the historical evolution of human life in the area.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:04 PM
Feel Short? Blame Your Ancestors
The average height of people within today's ethnic groups may reveal where their distant ancestors lived and could provide lifestyle clues about these long-lost relatives, suggests new research that links past population density and location to the evolution of human body size.
The findings acknowledge that height can widely differ among even individual family members. Nevertheless, each society illustrates a distinctive body size, with some groups being shorter or taller on average than others.
"Of course there is considerable variation within societies that relates to many different nutritional, genetic and perhaps even selection pressures," co-author Robert Walker explained to Discovery News.
"But despite this variation [within societies], the mean body size varies widely -- by a factor of two -- across societies," he added. "So your average Agta (an indigenous Philippine group) is much smaller than your average Inuit (an indigenous Arctic dwelling group)."
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:01 PM
Fossils of Paleoanthropological Cranium Found in Henan Province’s Xuchang City
The State Administration of Cultural Heritage and Henan Bureau of Cultural Heritage announced to the public recently that, fossils of paleoanthropological cranium about eighty to one hundred thousand years ago were found in Henan Province’s Xuchang City. The paleoanthropology found this time is named “Xuchang Man” according to related convention.
The experts all regarded that, cranium of “Xuchang Man” is of significant value for research on evolution of ancient human in East Asia and origin of modern human in China.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:57 PM
Scientists read Antarctic mud for climate change insight
A four-inch core sample is a chapter of ancient history in which a Neanderthal amoeba or a worm can thicken the plot for researchers.
McMurdo Station, Antarctica - With summers both intense and ephemeral, life here is a race against the revolving seasons. Summer daylight never ceases at this US research base on Ross Island, just off the coast of Antarctica. The sun runs endless laps around the sky, and for those who live here, work never stops.
This blending of day and night centers on the 24-hour stratigraphy lab. Inside the nondescript metal building perched on stilts, geologists from around the world indulge, of all things, their collective love of petrified mud. Two shifts of scientists work around the clock examining a 4-inch-wide column of stone – a new section of which is delivered daily from a drill that, by the end of the season, will have penetrated three-quarters of a mile into the ocean bed.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:55 PM
Church of England plans to sell off its palaces
Resplendent with moats, gatehouses and banqueting halls, bishops' palaces are among some of the grandest buildings in the country.
Now, however, the historic homes, which have belonged to the Church of England for centuries, could be sold off in a bid to raise money for cash-strapped parishes.
A confidential internal review is examining whether the diocesan bishops' houses, nine of which are palaces, are appropriate for the Church to keep. The bishops' residences are worth about £120 million, but cost up to £9 million each year to maintain.
They are at the centre of a row between Church commissioners over whether it is justifiable to retain such opulent residences, which give the perception of bishops living in luxury while parish clergy struggle to make ends meet.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:53 PM
Multikulti im alten Schottland
Im Westen Schottlands sind Forscher auf zwei Gräber gestoßen, die viertausend Jahre alt sind - und beweisen, dass schon damals Niederländer in Schottland lebten.
Im älteren der beiden Gräber befanden sich nach Martin Cook von der AOC Archaeology Group drei Keramikbecher aus der Zeit zwischen 2500 und 2280 v. Chr. Sie waren dicht mit charakteristischen Schnurabdrücken verziert - so, wie es damals im Gebiet des unteren Rheins, den heutigen Niederlanden, Brauch war.
Was die Forscher zudem überraschte: Die Becher kamen nicht über den Handelsweg nach Schottland, sondern wurden an Ort und Stelle aus Ton gebrannt. Offenbar stammte der Handwerker aus den Niederlanden, lebte dann aber in der Nähe von Upper Largie.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:51 PM
'T-Ray' Technology Strips People and Frescoes
Terahertz scanners have already been used at NASA, the European Space Agency, and at airports to look beneath people's clothes for concealed weapons. Now researchers are turning "T-rays" on church walls -- and hoping to revolutionize art history in the process.
No doubt Q is tinkering away at it right now. By the next film, at the latest, he will hand James Bond a palm-sized device. Agent 007 will handle it very gently for a bit and raise an inquisitive eyebrow. "That's a terahertz scanner," Q will say. "It'll find everything, even anthrax spores in suspicious envelopes. Or it can make weapons hidden beneath clothes visible." Then 007 will raise the other eyebrow and point the scanner at Q's attractive laboratory assistant, who will then appear on the device's display -- naked. "Hey!" Q will complain, bristling scornfully.
In reality, terahertz rays are not so easy to handle, though they are increasingly popular among customs officials and homeland security agents. Although they lie somewhere between infrared radiation and microwaves along the electromagnetic spectrum, these rays have yet to be put to any commercial use. Existing detection devices can barely pick them up, and the development of terahertz emitters is still too expensive for wider application.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:46 PM
Friday, February 22, 2008
Roman site unearthed in Doune
DOUNE Primary School pupils have been discovering the hidden treasures of ancient Rome — right in the middle of their playground.
A new classroom is currently being built at Doune and because the site is home to a former Roman fort, professional archaeologists have been called in — just in case there are any historical artefacts uncovered.
Head teacher Jane McManus told the Stirling Observer: “The children have truly enjoyed this experience and have been asking the archaeologists lots of interesting questions.”
The three archaeologists from Headland Archeology have found simple pottery items and clay slingshots to the actual placement of the foundations of the Roman Fort.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:39 PM
Treasure is first fruit of pact to lend exhibitions
SHETLAND Amenity Trust and National Museums Scotland (NMS) have entered into a strategic partnership.
The two bodies have agreed to develop joint projects that improve standards of care, display, exhibition, information and access to collections at local level.
This agreement marks the development of a closer relationship between the parties, including working together on loans, publications, replicas, training and skills exchange.
One of the first joint ventures will be the short term loan of the St Ninian's Isle Treasure from July to September this year, as part of the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of its discovery.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:38 PM
Most Detailed Global Study Of Genetic Variation Completed
University of Michigan scientists and their colleagues at the National Institute on Aging have produced the largest and most detailed worldwide study of human genetic variation, a treasure trove offering new insights into early migrations out of Africa and across the globe.
Like astronomers who build ever-larger telescopes to peer deeper into space, population geneticists like U-M's Noah Rosenberg are using the latest genetic tools to probe DNA molecules in unprecedented detail, uncovering new clues to humanity's origins.
The latest study characterizes more than 500,000 DNA markers in the human genome and examines variations across 29 populations on five continents.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:36 PM
Gene studies confirm "out of Africa" theories
Two big genetic studies confirm theories that modern humans evolved in Africa and then migrated through Europe and Asia to reach the Pacific and Americas.
The two studies also show that Africans have the most diverse DNA, and the fewest potentially harmful genetic mutations.
One of the studies shows European-Americans have more small mutations, while the others show Native Americans, Polynesians and others who populated Australia and Oceania have more big genetic changes.
The studies, published in the journal Nature on Wednesday, paint a picture of a population of humans migrating off the African continent, and then shrinking at some point because of unknown adversity.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:33 PM
Smugglers ahead of archeologists
The number of historical artifacts seized by police in operations targeting smugglers in the Çorum province in the northeast of Ankara in the last year was double the number of artifacts excavated in scientific excavations in the same area during the same period, daily Zaman reported yesterday. A total of 858 historic artifacts were seized in the villages and districts of Çorum while 333 were seized in the city center in the last year. However, the total number of historic artifacts dug up in simultaneous state-assisted archeological excavations carried out in Çorum and its surrounding basin was only 370.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:30 PM
Islanders asked to help heritage
Orkney islanders have been invited to assist the draft of a new management plan for the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site (WHS).
The aim is to maximise the economic and social benefits from the site, while protecting its environment and ancient monuments.
A public meeting is being held at Stenness Community School on Thursday, 28 February to discuss developments.
It is hoped as many people as possible will take part.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:28 PM
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The monastery of Georgian kings in Paphos
EXCAVATIONS at the 12th century Georgian monastery near Gialia village in the Paphos District have uncovered the ruined building’s main church and two smaller chapels on the north side of the structure.
Also uncovered as part of the two-year old excavations, some five kilometres from Polis, were storerooms on the south side and cisterns connected to the water channel.
Twelve graves, dating from the 15th to 16th century, with Greek and Georgian inscriptions, were also discovered, and movable finds includes examples of the church’s wall painting, marble architectural items, pottery, glass objects and a bronze cross and coins.
The monastery, which is dedicated to Panagia Chrysogialiotissa, is mentioned in Greek, Latin and Georgian mediaeval written accounts and it was identified in 1981 by the recently deceased Los Angeles Professor Vakhtang Jobadze.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:10 AM
25,000 Inhabitants, 2,500 Years Ago
How do archaeologists estimate the size of ancient populations?
Archaeologists in eastern India have found remains pointing to the existence of a highly developed urban settlement, the BBC reported on Monday. On the basis of recently completed excavations, the research team believes the city had approximately 25,000 inhabitants in the fifth century B.C. How do archaeologists estimate ancient populations?
Fieldwork and guesswork. If archaeologists are lucky, they might uncover written documents—on papyrus or stone tablets—that shed light on the makeup of a long-lost civilization. An Iron Age diarist might have noted the proximity of his nearest neighbors. A traveler's log found at an adjacent site might mention the size of the town in question. Archaeologists also try to extrapolate population figures from a known quantity, like the size of the burial ground. Based on the amount of space allotted to one set of skeletal remains, archaeologists can approximate how many people were buried in a cemetery.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:08 AM
Ancestral Human Skull Found in China
A human skull tentatively dating back 80,000 to 100,000 years may shed light on a murky chapter of evolutionary history, its discoverers say.
An excavation team led by Chinese archaeologist Li Zhanyang recently found the shattered fossil in the central province of Henan.
China's government-run press was quick to describe the skull as "the greatest discovery in China after Peking Man," but archaeologists and paleoanthropologists say it's a much more modest find.
The Chinese report suggested that the fossil came from a modern human, which would have forced a radical reworking of current theories about when our species first left Africa.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:05 AM
Possible Druid Grave Enchants Archaeologists
Druids belong to the realm of myth -- archaeologists have never been able to prove their existence. But now researchers in England have uncovered the grave of a powerful, ancient healer. Was he a druid?
There's a joke among archaeologists: Two of their kind, in the future, find a present-day public toilet. "We've discovered a holy site!" cries one. "Look, it has two separate entrances," says the other. "This here," he says, pointing to the door with a pictogram of a woman, "was for priests. This is evident by the figure wearing a long garment."
The joke rests on a perennial sore point for archaeologists: There are things they simply can't prove. The list includes love, hate, fear, desire and, well, faith. Which hasn't stopped many reports from being written about who loved or hated whom in ancient cultures -- who was threatened by what, who tried to win something else.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:01 AM
Mesolithischer Siedlungsplatz in Hessen entdeckt
Kürzlich gab das Hessische Landesamt bekannt, dass im Herbst letzten Jahres bei Nauheim (Kr. Groß-Gerau) ein Siedlungsplatz der Mittelsteinzeit entdeckt worden ist.
Bei Ausgrabungen im Rahmen des Forschungsprojektes »Alt- und Mittelsteinzeit in Hessischen Ried« wurde eine 4 bis 9 m2 große rundliche Struktur aus etwa 800 Steinartefakten freigelegt. Es handelt sich dabei um die Überreste von Geräten bzw. Werkzeugen des täglichen Lebens einer Gruppe von Menschen, die sich vor etwa 10.000 Jahren an diesem Platz aufgehalten hat. Wie lange die Stelle besiedelt war, ist noch unbekannt. Die Klärung dieser Frage soll Gegenstand künftiger Untersuchungen sein.
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# posted by David Beard @ 8:57 AM
Norman invasion word impact study
A project examining the impact the Norman invasion of Britain had on the English language has won £874,000.
The Anglo-Norman dictionary, housed at Aberystwyth University, will use the money to continue revising its online edition.
The university's Professor David Trotter said it reflects the "enduring influence" of the Anglo-Normans.
The dictionary, and its associated texts collected at Swansea University, now stands at eight million words.
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# posted by David Beard @ 8:55 AM
Training Dig 2008: Practical Archaeology Training Course
For the last four years, Wessex Archaeology has run a series of very successful five day courses at Dr Martin Green’s farm on Cranborne Chase, “one of the most carefully studied areas in western Europe”. The Down Farm landscape includes parts of the Dorset Cursus and Ackling Dyke, Bronze Age barrows and Roman and Iron Age buildings. It is a rich, multi-period site in a wonderful setting.
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# posted by David Beard @ 8:53 AM
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
ANCIENT BURIALS REVEAL FOREIGN LINKS IN PREHISTORIC SCOTLAND
Recent analysis of 4,000-year-old pots recovered during an excavation of two graves at Upper Largie, near Kilmartin in Argyll and Bute, has provided exciting evidence linking prehistoric Scotland with the Netherlands.
Analysis of the pots by Alison Sheridan, of National Museums Scotland, has revealed early international-style Beakers of the type found around the lower Rhine, which is the modern-day Netherlands and a strange hybrid of styles that suggest Irish and Yorkshire influences.
“These finds are very rare,” said Martin Cook, the AOC Archaeology Project Officer, who oversaw the excavations in 2005. “I think there are three or four other examples that early in Scotland. We initially didn’t realise how unusual they were, as it is so unusual to find three beaker ceramic vessels in the same feature.”
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:18 AM
Pierced skull and bones recovered
A worker dredging a river in Suffolk has discovered a skull and other human remains believed to date back to before the Middle Ages.
An examination revealed the skull had been penetrated by what could have been an iron arrow or spear.
This identified them as medieval, from between AD1066 and 1540, but they could even be Roman or Saxon, experts said.
The remains came from the River Lark at West Row near Mildenhall and the police were called in the first instance.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:15 AM
Unique Roman Amphitheatre Slumbers Beneath Sofia Downtown
Some archaeologists say that Bulgaria may be called Rome of the Balkans, The Standart shares.
Serdica - an ancient names of Sofia, was a military, economic and culture centre in the Roman Empire.
And while local culture tourism is redirected to Perperikon and other spots dispersed all over this country, a mystic town slumbers beneath Sofia downtown, told from Standart.
The excavations under the medieval St. Sofia church started in the 1940s.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:15 AM
Gwithian, Cornwall: Excavations 1949-1969
The Gwithian Archive Project (2005-2007) is a comprehensive assessment of the results of two major unpublished excavations which took place in West Cornwall during the 1950's and 1960's. The project was carried out by Cornwall Historic Environment Service and was funded through the ALSF scheme as disbursed by English Heritage.
For 20 years (from 1949 to 1969) a major archaeological field study of Gwithian parish in West Cornwall was undertaken by Professor Charles Thomas. This landscape study recorded over 70 sites dating from the Mesolithic through to the Post Medieval periods within a 4 square kilometre study area. The stunning coastal landscape of Gwithian has produced some remarkable archaeological discoveries which are principally due to the undeveloped character of the study area as well as the excellent preservation of the archaeological layers which were deeply sealed by layers of wind blown sand.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:13 AM
Route of M74 extension offers insight into our past
AN INTACT pharmacy, piles of teeth, and a Yemeni prayer room are just some of the discoveries made by the UK's biggest archaeology project who are busy trying to unearth what lies beneath the controversial M74 motorway link which got the go-ahead last week.
The five mile route which will cost £657 million, 50% more than originally estimated, will run from Fullarton junction near Carmyle to the M8 just west of the Kingston Bridge with work expecting to start in May and be completed by 2011. Glasgow City Council along with M74 project partners, HAPCA, formed by firms Headland Archaeology and Pre-Construct Archaeology, have been working with oral historians to piece together information about how people lived and worked across six different sites.
They have already excavated three sites at the Govan Iron Works, Caledonian Pottery and a buried tenement building on Pollokshaws Road. This week they will move on to three new sites - Kingston Limeworks in Tradeston, Eglinton Foundry and cotton mills and a steamie on Mauchline Street.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:11 AM
Italy shows off looted artefacts seized by police
An ancient mosaic of a dark-haired boy and a fresco from Pompeii were among more than 400 looted archaeological treasures Italian police put on show that had been recovered during a three-year hunt across Europe.
The artefacts, including delicate Etruscan goblets and large Greek vases, were illegally dug up and spirited out of Italy decades ago, many of them assumed to be lost for ever.
Some of the most precious antiquities, including the fragmented fresco, were found at an elegant Paris mansion owned by a French publishing magnate, whose name was not disclosed. The Italian authorities said they had pressed charges against 31 people -- including the publisher.
The other artefacts, most of them illegally excavated in the provinces of Tuscany and Lazio, were traced to Milan, Geneva and Brussels.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:08 AM
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
SHRI SHIVA NATARAJA: HIS TEMPLE IN CHIDAMBARAM
Location: India Length: 4 min.
The temple of Chidambaram , India , is the home of the Dancing Shiva, Lord of Cosmic Dance, Shiva Nataraja, who dances the dance of Creation and Destruction. One of India ’s largest, it is one of the very few temples practicing the Vedic tradition and rituals. This doctrine has been preserved by a community of hereditary priests, the Deekshithars, in an unbroken oral tradition dating to prehistoric tim The temple’s early history is obscure, but it reached its present form in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries under of the kings of the Chola Dynasty.
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# posted by David Beard @ 8:45 AM
Well-urned restitution
One of the most important pieces of Greek art in existence, a large painted terracotta urn known as the “Euphronios Krater”, recently left New York’s Metropolitan Museum for ever. It joins 68 other works, mainly Greek and Etruscan, all purloined from Italy during the past 30 years, all now safely “home”.
They can be seen in a triumphant show in the grandest site in Rome – the Quirinale palace – once the home of popes and now of presidents. In spite of their astonishing quality, the antiquities are almost overshadowed by the heavy baroque setting. Pope Alessandro VII’s gallery, running along three sides of the internal courtyard on the piano nobile, is a riot of gilt and ormolu mirrors and clocks, with tapestries, chandeliers and walls decorated either with frescoes by Pietro di Cortona or slabs of marble.
The star of Nostoi: Capolavori Ritrovati ( nostoi means “homecomings” in Greek) is undoubtedly the red-figure Euphronios vase, dating from the 6th century BC and named after its maker.
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# posted by David Beard @ 8:44 AM
Ancient Town 'Sevtopolis', Submerged on a Lake Bottom to be Reconstructed
Association ‘Preserve the Bulgarian' starts action for the realizing of ‘Sevtopolis' project.
At first the organizators will collect subscription list throughout the whole country, the projects author and major architect Jeko Tilev announced.
Sevtopolis or the City of Tracian King Sevt III is capital of the Odyisian state in the end of IV - beginning of III century before Christ.
It was found and observed in 1948 - 1954 by the construction works of Koprinka dam like and afterwards, however, submerged in the lake waters.
This is the first and best preserved Thracian city in Bulgaria, located 7 km western from the Thracian capital of Bulgaria - Kazanlak and 2 kilometers from the ‘Goliyama Kosmatka' tomb, where the biggest Thracian treasures were found.
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# posted by David Beard @ 8:35 AM
Monday, February 18, 2008
Abbey body identified as gay lover of Edward II
A mutilated body found in an abbey graveyard has been identified as that of a notorious medieval villain rumoured to have been the gay lover of Edward II.
The remains, which bear the hallmarks of having been hanged, drawn and quartered, are thought to be those of Sir Hugh Despenser the Younger, who was executed as a traitor in 1326.
Sir Hugh had been favourite of Edward II - who was widely believed to have been homosexual - but was brutally executed before a mob after the king was ousted from the throne.
The decapitated remains, buried at Hulton Abbey, Staffs, have intrigued experts since they were uncovered during the 1970s and now Mary Lewis, an anthropologist, says she has uncovered compelling evidence of their true identity.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:44 PM
Medieval castle unearthed in Maenclochog
A team of professional and voluntary archaeologists have uncovered what seem to be the remains of a medieval castle in a north Pembrokeshire car park.
The dig, organised by PLANED, Cambria Archaeology and the National Park, and funded by the EU Transnational project, is taking place at the castle site in Maenclochog, beneath the village's car park.
So far excavators have uncovered what look to be the outer walls of a medieval castle, as well as post holes, the hearth of a medieval house and fragments of medieval pottery.
They have also discovered the skeleton of a dog, which archaeologists think is likely to be a family pet dating from the Middle Ages.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:42 PM
British grave might be first historical evidence of druids
The first historical evidence of the existence of a mysterious ancient sect known as the Druids, might have been found in the form of a series of graves discovered in a gravel quarry at Stanway near Colchester, Essex, in UK.
According to a report in Discovery News, these graves have been dated to 40-60 AD, and at least one of the burials, it appears, may have been that of a Druid.
For the research, Mike Pitts, an archaeologist, studied classical Greek and Roman texts that mention the Druids in early France and Britain. The most detailed description, Pitts found, dates to 55 B.C. and comes from Roman military and political leader Julius Caesar.
Druids were prestigious ritual specialists who performed human sacrifices, acted as judges in disputes, were excused action in battle and taught the transmigration of souls, he said.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:41 PM
Found at last: the world's oldest missing page
Fifth-century Christian text turns up under floor in Egypt, bringing early church martyrs to light
A year after the Romans packed up their shields in AD410 and left Britain to the mercy of the Anglo-Saxons, a scribe in Edessa, in what is modern day Turkey, was preparing a list of martyrs who had perished in defence of the relatively new Christian faith in Persia.
In a margin he dated the list November 411. Unfortunately for the martyrs, history forgot them. At some point, this page became detached from the book it belonged to. Since 1840, the volume has been one of the treasures of the British Library. It is known only by its catalogue code: ADD 12-150
The missing page has always been a fascinating mystery for scholars and historians. Now, after an extraordinary piece of detective work, that page has been rediscovered among ancient fragments in the Deir al-Surian monastery in Egypt. It is, according to Oxford University's Dr Sebastian Brock, the leading Syriac scholar who identified the fragments, the oldest dated Christian text in existence.
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# posted by David Beard @ 5:38 PM
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Get your hands on Viking relics
RESIDENTS have the chance to find out how Vikings spent their free time when a city centre excavation site opens its doors.
As part of the Jorvik Viking Festival, York Archaeological Trust is offering public access to the Hungate excavation site, just off Stonebow, today and tomorrow.
The open days are free and everyone has the chance to examine artefacts dug up at the site which include 1,200-year-old Viking ice-skates made from bone.
It will show Roman, medieval and Viking finds, which reveal how people lived in the area.
Experts will be on hand to answer any questions.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:15 PM
Mobile Neanderthals
A 40,000-year-old tooth has provided scientists with the first direct evidence that Neanderthals moved from place to place during their lifetimes. In a collaborative project involving researchers from the Germany, the United Kingdom, and Greece, Professor Michael Richards of the Max Planck institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany and Durham University, UK, and his team used laser technology to collect microscopic particles of enamel from the tooth. By analysing strontium isotope ratios in the enamel - strontium is a naturally occurring metal ingested into the body through food and water - the scientists were able to uncover geological information showing where the Neanderthal had been living when the tooth was formed (Journal of Archaeological Science, February 11th, 2008).
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:20 AM
ARCHAEOLOGISTS DIG UP 'OLDEST' AFRICAN HUMAN SACRIFICE
EL KADADA, Sudan, Feb 15, 2008 (AFP) - French archaeologists in Sudan say they have uncovered the oldest proof of human sacrifice in Africa, hailing the discovery as the biggest Neolithic find on the continent for years.
The tomb of a 5,500-year-old man surrounded by three sacrificed humans, two dogs and exquisite ceramics were exhumed north of Khartoum by Neolithic expert Jacques Reinhold and his 66-year-old Austrian wife.
"This is the oldest proof of human sacrifice in Sudan, in Egypt, in Africa," Reinhold told reporters next to the remains in El Kadada village, a three-hour drive north of the Sudanese capital.
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:18 AM
Friday, February 15, 2008
Viking centre leader honoured by city
AN ARCHAEOLOGIST has been honoured in recognition of his dedicated work in the city.
Dr Peter Addyman, the former Director of York Archaeological Trust, officially collected the title of Honorary Freeman at a ceremony the Mansion House on Wednesday 13 February.
The honour is given to those who have served the city with distinction, or those with very notable links to the city.
The recommendation was put to the council by the Guild of Freemen of the city of York, nominated at a meeting of the council by Coun Stephen Galloway and seconded by the deputy leader of the council Coun David Scott.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:18 AM
High-tech approach to Pictish stones
LASER TECHNOLOGY is being used to conserve a renowned collection of Pictish carved stones in readiness for display in an improved Angus museum.
Historic Scotland has been carrying out a care and conservation programme on the St Vigeans stones during a major upgrade of their museum on the outskirts of Arbroath.
Fresh academic research into the 38 stones and fragments suggests the small village of St Vigeans was once home to an important royal monastery.
Senior conservator Stephen Gordon said, “The improvements to the museum gave us an excellent opportunity to bring the stones to Edinburgh, where we have the specialist staff and equipment to undertake some thorough conservation treatment and prepare new mounts.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:17 AM
Lasers conserve Pictish treasures
High-tech laser technology has been used to record and conserve one of the finest collections of Pictish carved stones in Scotland.
The St Vigeans Stones from Arbroath are being cleaned by a specialist team of Historic Scotland experts in Edinburgh.
Earlier efforts at conservation, dating back to the 1960s, carried out using the best techniques of the time have now reached the end of their life.
The project removes the earlier repairs and uses more modern treatments.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:15 AM
Church's pre-historic past unearthed
Work on a town’s church has revealed that the site may have been used for ritual and worship for thousands of years.
Major refurbishment work on the Grade I-listed St Michael and All Angels church in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, began last month and has involved digging up the floor to install a new heating system.
The church, dating back to Norman times, is the oldest building in the town.
A carved stone above a tiny doorway, featuring a carving of mysterious intertwined animals known as the Houghton Beasts, may be from before the Norman Conquest.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:14 AM
Ausstellung zu Leben, Handwerk und Kunst der Eiszeit in Erlangen öffnet am 17.2.
Unter dem Titel »Menschen der Eiszeit. Jäger - Handwerker - Künstler« werden im Stadtmuseum Erlangen Belege für die technischen Leistungen der Neandertaler und Kunstwerke des Homo sapiens präsentiert.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:12 AM
Thursday, February 14, 2008
In pictures: Heritage churches
The Heritage Lottery Fund is celebrating 12 years of funding for religious buildings and monuments, which has seen an investment of £392m restore more than 2,600 places.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:51 AM
Replica of ancient boat will float again
THE OLDEST cross-Channel ferry in the world will set sail again in 2010, giving archaeologists a glimpse into the lives of Bronze Age seafarers.
Based on the 3,550-year-old vessel discovered beneath Dover town centre 16 years ago, the replica boat, lashed together from planks of wood, waterproofed with beeswax and moss, will carry up to ten men to France.
It is being built by the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, and researchers hope the voyage will help them glean invaluable information about how our ancestors conquered the sea.
The venture will also help archaeologists understand how people in Dover lived more than three millennia ago.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:50 AM
Migrating people had 20,000-year campout
People who migrated from Asia to the New World camped out for 20,000 years on land now submerged under the Bering Strait between Alaska and Siberia, according to a genetic analysis published on Tuesday.
A team at the University of Florida combined studies of DNA, archeological evidence, climate data and geological data to come up with their new theory, which describes a much longer migration than most other researchers have proposed.
"We sort of went out onto a limb, incorporating all this nongenetic data," molecular anthropologist Connie Mulligan said in a telephone interview.
Mulligan's team proposes that the people who left Central Asia to eventually populate the Americas passed quickly through Siberia, and then got stuck in Beringia -- a former land mass that now lies under the frigid Bering Sea.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:43 AM
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Sea Stallion from Glendalough
Newsletter 24. issue - February the 13th, 2008
The Sea Stallion’s new crew selected
Sea Stallion not sailing to London
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:50 AM
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
BONES MAY UNLOCK THE SECRETS OF CITY'S PAST
Human remains found at a city centre building site could shed new light on Derby's early history, it has been claimed.
Investigations are continuing into the discovery of a skull, collar bones and arm bones, found at the Cathedral Green site last week, to determine if they date back to Anglo-Saxon times.
A pathologist is now examining the bones and archaeologists are at the site.
Leading Derby historian Maxwell Craven said that the discovery could shed light on the city's history, which is shrouded in mystery before 920 AD.
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# posted by David Beard @ 4:20 PM
Treasure from Thwing
A MEDIEVAL ring found in the Driffield area has been classified as treasure and could be worth hundreds of pounds.
The finger ring, which dates back to the 12th century, was found by a man metal detecting on farmland near Thwing last year.
The piece of jewellery, which is made of silver and contains traces of niello, was found by Dave Rooney on February 18, 2007.
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# posted by David Beard @ 4:18 PM
Egypt's Earliest Farm Settlement Discovered
Archaeologists working at the site of a 7,000-year-old village in Egypt's Faiyum depression excavate clay floors and hearths.
The site is the earliest farm settlement yet found in Egypt, providing a major breakthrough in understanding the enigmatic people of the late Stone Age who lived long before the appearance of the Egyptian pharaohs, experts say. (Read full story.)
The discoveries were made by a joint U.S.-Dutch team of scientists digging deeper into a previously excavated mound of sand some 50 miles (80 kilometers) southwest of Cairo (see map).
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# posted by David Beard @ 4:15 PM
Medieval pendant found in village
A METAL detectorist who discovered a rare 700-year-old pendant in Osmington is delighted to hand his treasure over to the British Museum.
Paul Rainford, 53, of Littlemoor Road, Preston found the medieval pendant with a green stone engraved with a woman's portrait in a farmer's ploughed field on March 6.
He told a treasure inquest at West District Coroners Court: "It was four inches deep.
"I just dug out a little tuft of grass and saw it sticking out of the soil.
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:22 AM
Seahenge installed at Lynn museum
LYNN Museum is closing to the public from today for several weeks while the Seahenge timbers from Holme are installed into the new Bronze Age gallery.
The gallery is the final part of the £1.2 million Lynn Museum redevelopment funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Norfolk County Council.
Half of the 4,000-year-old timber circle will be on display together with a reconstruction of how the circle might have looked when built.
The Bronze Age monument has been well-travelled since it was lifted from the shoreline at Holme in 1999.
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:21 AM
Archaeology site causes road concerns
Work to upgrade the international road link between Belfast and Dublin at Newry has been put on ice because of archaeological concerns.
Local representatives are now asking why archaeologists have apparently not yet had a chance to inspect the site some six weeks after workmen downed tools on the crucial commercial link road.
A spokeswoman for Roads Service said that the "top soil strip operation" on the A1 Beech Hill to Cloghogue Dual carriageway scheme had uncovered "a number of potential archaeological features".
She said the road contractor is preparing plans to deal with the finds along with the Environment and Heritage Service.
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:20 AM
Roman pots to go on display
A large collection of Roman artefacts is to go on public display in Norwich for the first time, 30 years after they were unearthed by an amateur archaeologist.
Almost 50 boxes of pots, figurines and other items dug up at Brampton, near Aylsham, in the 1970s and 1980s have been bought so that they can be enjoyed by all.
The find, which had been boxed up at the home of amateur archaeologist Keith Knowles, will now go on display at the Castle Museum along with his field notes and excavation photographs from the time.
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:19 AM
Viking women had sexy style
Women who lived in the major Viking settlement called Birka in the 9th and 10th centuries dressed in a much more provocative manner than previously believed.
When the area around Lake Mälaren was Christianized about a century later, women’s dress style became more modest, according to archaeologist Annika Larsson.
Previously, it was thought that Viking ladies wore a long garment held up by braces, made of square pieces of wool whose front and back sides were contained with a belt. The characteristic decorative circular buckles, a common find at many Viking-era grave sites, were believed to have been worn at the collarbone.
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# posted by David Beard @ 10:09 AM
Monday, February 11, 2008
Druid Grave Unearthed in U.K.?
Historical records tell of a mystical, priestly and learned class of elite individuals called Druids among Celtic societies in Britain, but there has been no archaeological evidence of their existence. Until, perhaps, now.
A series of graves found in a gravel quarry at Stanway near Colchester, Essex, have been dated to 40-60 A.D. At least one of the burials, it appears, may have been that of a Druid, according to a report published in British Archaeology.
Mike Pitts, the journal's editor and an archaeologist, authored the piece. Pitts studied classical Greek and Roman texts that mention the Druids in early France and Britain. The most detailed description, Pitts found, dates to 55 B.C. and comes from Roman military and political leader Julius Caesar.
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# posted by David Beard @ 7:02 PM
What lies beneath?
Archaeological works to uncover what lies beneath Spalding's Ayscoughfee Gardens has begun.
South Holland District Council is working with the Norfolk Archaeology Unit (NAU) to investigate the historic footprint of the riverside gardens.
Digging began on January 28 after a desk-based survey which drew together all the known information about the area.
Geophysical and topographical surveys have also been carried out.
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# posted by David Beard @ 4:55 PM
A 40,000-year-old tooth proves Neanderthals moved from place to place
A 40,000-year-old tooth has provided scientists with the first direct evidence that Neanderthals moved from place to place during their lifetimes.
The team used laser technology to collect microscopic particles of enamel from the tooth.
By analysing strontium isotope ratios in the enamel - strontium is a naturally occurring metal ingested into the body through food and water - the scientists were able to uncover geological information showing where the Neanderthal had been living when the tooth was formed.
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# posted by David Beard @ 4:54 PM
Looking for treasure
UNEARTHING buried treasure is the stuff of story book fantasies but for many metal detectorists a night-time shadow has been cast over their hobby. Charlotte Shepherd went in search of gold with one of the Cotswolds best-known detectorists.
"THEY'RE thieves, nothing short of thieves," said Ian James, a Cirencester-based metal detectorist, whose 'finds' include an important Bronze-Age weapons' hoard now in the Corinium Museum.
The thieves to which he refers are nighthawks, the name given to metal detectorists who go out under the cover of darkness with the intention of selling what they find for personal profit, often on eBay.
Nighthawks flout the codes of practice that good metal detectorists obey by not seeking landowners' permission to carry out their detecting and refusing to declare what they find to their regional Portable Antiquities Trust.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:59 AM
Roman relics to go on show in city
A large collection of Roman artefacts is to go on public display at a city museum for the first time in the summer - 30 years after they were first dug up by an amateur archaeologist.
Almost 50 boxes of artefacts, including pots, figurines, and leather sandals, dug up at Brampton, near Aylsham, in the 1970s and 1980s have been bought by the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Service.
The find, which had been boxed up at Keith Knowles's house, will now go on display at the Norwich Castle Museum, along with Mr Knowles' field notes and excavation photographs from the time.
Dr John Davies, the museum's chief curator, said: “The settlement had been known about for a long time but this was the only time it was excavated. This collection is important because it represents all aspects of daily life over a period of 350 years. It is so large and there is some lovely stuff, but most of it represents life for ordinary people.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:57 AM
BONES DISCOVERY MAY PROMPT FULL-SCALE DIG
A Full excavation for Anglo-Saxon remains and other historical items could be carried out at a building site where human bones were found.
Investigations are continuing after the remains, including a skull, arm and collar bone, were unearthed by contractors working at Derby's Cathedral Green on Thursday.
Derby City Council says the site may now have to be closed for a full examination, depending on when the body dates back to. A police pathologist is still examining the body to discover its how long it had been there and its identity.
Maxwell Craven, historian and member of Derby Civic Society, said a full search would be needed if the bones were from Anglo-Saxon times or older.
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# posted by David Beard @ 11:49 AM
Cistern found to have been ancient tomb
Studies at Limestone Heritage, the museum/park which traces the use of stone in Malta, have confirmed that a bell-shaped cistern in the Siggiewi quarry where the museum is located, is an ancient tomb of Punic or Roman origin.
The studies were conducted by Dr Nicholas Vella, Senior Lecturer in Archaeology at the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta.
Entrance into the tomb is now through one of its two burial chambers but in antiquity the tomb was reached from the fields above, down a deep shaft. In later years, the shaft was refashioned into a bell-shaped cistern to collect rainwater.
The tomb was cut into the soft limestone that outcrops in this area. The 2.30 me