Friday, May 09, 2008
Archaeology dig in car park site
An archaeological dig is taking place in the planned site of a supermarket car park after it was found it could be part of an ancient settlement.
Historians moved into Neston, Cheshire, after investigations revealed it may be part of a 1,000-year-old settlement.
Fragments of memorial stones from the parish church suggest that there has been a settlement there for at least 1,000 years.
The work is being carried out to establish whether remains are present.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:01 PM 
Dive team to scour Danube for Queen Mary's lost belongings
The legend goes something like this: after the disastrous Battle of Mohács in 1526, the twenty-one-year-old Queen Mary of Hungary fled the encroaching Ottoman army on a caravan of ships headed to Vienna. But, on her way up the Danube a few ships sank along with their valuable cargo. It is said that to this day they remain hidden in the murky depths of the river. Soon, any truth to this story may soon be discovered, or disproved.
According to inforadio.hu, a team of Hungarian archaeologists are launching an underwater excavation of the Danube to find ships identified by American radar technology.
The investigation is bound to be interesting, says Attila J. Tóth, departmental leader of the Hungarian Alliance Archeology and History of Art (Magyar Régészeti és Művészettörténeti Társulat), but whether or not the remains of the submerged sunken ships actually belong to the Hapsburg Queen's caravan can only be determined with intensive scuba diving.
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# posted by David Beard @ 1:59 PM
Italian builders uncover 2,000-year-old tombs
ARCHAEOLOGISTS were yesterday celebrating the discovery of 27 2,000-year-old tombs in Italy's "Valley of the Dead".
The tombs, some dating back to the 7th century BC, were found by chance while builders carried out work.
The whole area was sealed off yesterday and put under police guard to prevent anyone from trying to steal artefacts inside the burial chambers.
Grave robbers, or tombaroli as they are known in Italy, make a lucrative living from selling such objects to museums or private collectors.
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# posted by David Beard @ 1:56 PM
German archeologist unearths the riches of Turkey
Christine Bruns-Özgan, a German native and archaeologist, has made the unearthing of Knidos her life project over the last 20 years. With teams from the University of Konya she has made dozens of trips to the southern peninsula to find the traces of its history
Christine Bruns-Özgan, head of the archeology department at Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Universitesi, knows the historical value of a Turkish stone all too well.
Having lived in the heart of Turkey, Konya, for 26 years and having attended dozens of excavations in her lifetime, Bruns-Özgan, a German native, told the Turkish Daily News that Turkey holds a new surprise for her and the country's cultural collective history every year.
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# posted by David Beard @ 1:50 PM
Thursday, May 08, 2008
Metal detectorists thrilled at Viking sword find
BURIED for more than a 1,000 years, these beautifully cast fragments of a Viking sword could be a once-in-a-lifetime find for two metal detector enthusiasts in the Isle of Man.
Only the 13th recorded Viking sword found in the Island, it was unearthed by Dan Crowe and Rob Farrer while metal detecting in the north west of the Island.
The two Manx Detectorists Society members have found many interesting artefacts over the years, so they knew the importance of what they had found.
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# posted by David Beard @ 1:59 PM
Irish Viking trade centre unearthed
One of the Vikings' most important trading centres has been discovered in Ireland.
The settlement at Woodstown in County Waterford is estimated to be about 1,200 years old.
It was discovered during archaeological excavations for a road by-pass for Waterford city, which was founded by the Vikings.
The Irish government said the settlement was one of the most important early Viking age trading centres discovered in the country.
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# posted by David Beard @ 1:57 PM
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Bavarian police confiscate Latin American treasures
Police in Bavaria have confiscated a trove of ancient Latin American artefacts from the Mayan, Aztec and Incan cultures worth an estimated $100 million.
The collection of cultural treasures is thought to have been smuggled to Munich from Costa Rica by way of Spain, according to the Bavarian state police. Several countries including Peru, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala and El Salvador lay claim to various items that were in the possession of a 66-year-old Costa Rican art collector.
According to the Munich-based daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, the man, identified as Leonardo Augustus P., claims to be a former diplomat who properly obtained the artifacts. The man, now a resident primarily of Geneva, is reportedly well-known to police dealing with smuggled art and exotic animals on several continents. He has even picked up the unflattering nickname “The Thief of the Treasures” in his native Costa Rica.
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# posted by David Beard @ 9:41 AM
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
TAC FESTIVAL 2008 PREVIEW
Location: Worldwide Length: 26 min.
The world’s best films and videos on archaeology and indigenous peoples are showcased at The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival, to be held 20-24 May 2008 in the Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon, USA. The Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Donny George, former Iraq Museum Director. This preview includes a short clip from each of the 18 competing productions. Film-makers from 17 countries submitted 81 entries for this event, which is one of the world’s few contests for heritage film.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:50 PM
Emperor Nero's gate discovered in Cologne
The gate, found complete with 11 meters of wall, was a goods-delivery entrance to the Roman town from its river port outside on the Rhine.
Cologne, Germany -- A town gate that was probably built with a grant from Roman Emperor Nero has been discovered in Cologne, Germany during work on a new underground train line, archaeologists said.
"This is finest Roman handiwork," said Hansgerd Hellenkemper, director of the Roman museum in the city.
The gate, found complete with 11 meters of wall, was a goods-delivery entrance to the Roman town from its river port outside on the Rhine. The sturdy Roman wall protected Cologne for 1,000 years.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:49 PM
Bronze Age axe 'factory' survey
Archaeologists are hoping to unearth evidence of what they believe to have been one of Bronze Age Britain's largest axe-making "factories".
Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) said the axes, made from a distinctive type rock - known as picrite - had been found throughout the country.
A three-week survey at the 4,000-year-old site will start soon in Hyssington, near Welshpool, Powys.
The trust's Chris Martin said it may have been a large industrial centre.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:48 PM
Cave woman is laid to rest after 1,900 years
THE remains of a woman have been laid to rest in a hidden location in the Yorkshire Dales – about 1,900 years after she died.
She was returned in a special ceremony to the mysterious limestone cave where she was discovered by two Yorkshire divers more than a decade ago.
Phillip Murphy, an academic at Leeds University, and his friend Andrew Goddard found the woman's skull by chance during a diving mission at the cave, dubbed the Wolf Den, in 1997.
Carbon dating tests confirmed that the remains dated back to Roman times, and further visits to the site unearthed the bones of some medieval wild dogs and the first set of prehistoric cave footprints ever seen in Britain.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:47 PM
Neandertals Ate Their Veggies, Tooth Study Shows
Tiny bits of plant material found in the teeth of a Neandertal skeleton unearthed in Iraq provide the first direct evidence that the human ancestors ate vegetation, researchers say.
Little is known about diet of Neandertals (also spelled Neanderthals), although it's widely assumed that they ate more than just meat.
Much of what is known about their eating habits has come from indirect evidence, such as animal remains found at Neandertal sites and chemical signatures called isotopes detected in their teeth.
The new hard evidence is microfossils of plant material that investigators found in the dental plaque of 35,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth, said lead study author Amanda Henry, a graduate student in hominid paleobiology at The George Washington University.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:43 PM
Plague killed Roman grave bodies
A study into a mass Roman grave excavated in Gloucester appears to show the dead had been killed by plague.
The remains of around 91 individuals, uncovered in 2005, are part of Wooton cemetery which was the burial ground for the fortress at nearby Kingsholm.
The bodies appear to have been thrown in haphazardly during the second half of the 2nd Century.
Oxford Archaeology who analysed the remains say they are the victims of an epidemic, perhaps the Antonine Plague.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:38 PM
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Historian hopeful fort will be found
THE END of a 40-year search for Dorchester's Roman Fort could be in sight for leading archaeologist Bill Putnam.
He is pinning his hopes on builders exposing a road that tracked across the area that became the Roman town of Durnovaria.
Part of the road has already been found during excavations in the town centre.
But the fort itself has eluded the retired Bournemouth University archaeology lecturer.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:45 PM
LINDOW MAN - A BOG BODY MYSTERY AT MANCHESTER MUSEUM
One of the British Museum’s most popular exhibits is on loan to Manchester Museum for the next year.
Lindow Man was discovered in 1984 on Lindow Moss in Cheshire. Since then scientists, archaeologists, historians, curators - and the public - have been eager to find out more about him.
A Bog Body Mystery looks at the story of Lindow Man through seven different inquisitive minds, including those of a forensic archaeologist, a peat digger, a curator and a druid priest.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:44 PM
Ancient timbers restored by sugar
Timbers from three medieval bridges in Leicestershire are being restored after a donation of 40 tonnes of sugar.
The 11th Century timbers were found in Hemington Quarry in 1993 and are being preserved at Snibston Discovery Park.
The wood is immersed in liquid sugar as part of the conservation process. The sugar crystals gradually replace the water in the wood and prevent warping.
The final batch of sugar - donated to the county council by British Sugar - was delivered on Tuesday.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:43 PM
Turkish site a Neolithic 'supernova'
URFA, Turkey - As a child, Klaus Schmidt used to grub around in caves in his native Germany in the hope of finding prehistoric paintings. Thirty years later, as a member of the German Archaeological Institute, he found something infinitely more important: a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable.
"This place is a supernova," said Mr. Schmidt, standing under a lone tree on a windswept hilltop 35 miles north of the Syrian border.
"Within a minute of first seeing it, I knew I had two choices: go away and tell nobody, or spend the rest of my life working here."
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:42 PM
Terracotta army has egg on its face
China's terracotta army, a collection of 7000 soldier and horse figures in the mausoleum of the country's first emperor, was covered with beaten egg when it was made, scientists say.
According to German and Italian chemists who have analysed samples from several figurines, the egg was as a binder for colourful paints, which went over a layer of lacquer.
"Egg paint is normally very stable, and not soluble in water ... This makes it less sensitive to humidity and moisture," says German co-author Catharina Blaensdorf, a scientist at the Technical University of Munich.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:41 PM
Archaeologists in city centre dig
Archaeologists have started digging up a site in the centre of Birmingham to try and find out more about the city's industrial heritage.
The dig is taking place at the home of the new city centre library, between Baskerville House and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in Centenary Square.
Experts said they hoped to uncover the remains of an old canal, a mill and a brass works.
The work is expected to last a total of four weeks.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:40 PM
Ancient finds unearthed at dig site
THE Romans certainly knew how to build well.
Archaeologists have discovered the remains of the original turf wall built on the edge of the River Medway in about 70AD.
Their discoveries, found in the winter but kept secret until now, were made while they were exploring the flint-and-brick wall that eventually replaced it.
Archaeology South-East carried out the dig at the Rochester Riverside site as part of the preparations by Medway Renaissance, the council's regeneration team.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:36 PM
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Finding Pre-Clovis Humans in the Oregon High Desert: An Interview with Dennis Jenkins
Location: Oregon Length: 40 min.
The 2008 announcement of early human DNA from desert rockshelters in eastern Oregon may be the final nail in the coffin of the Clovis-first hypothesis. In this interview, Dr. Dennis Jenkins, speaking from the site where his field team recovered clearly pre-Clovis coprolites, relates why and how the excavation was carried out, explains the significance of the find and shares his personal reflections on making a momentous discovery. Images within the interview show the surrounding environment and the student field crew.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:41 PM
Time Team archaeologists dig deep to find ancient village
THE site of a North-East medieval village is to be the subject of a television programme.
The Channel 4 archaeology documentary Time Team spent three days excavating in Ulnaby, on the outskirts of Darlington.
The series, which is presented by Tony Robinson, who played Baldrick in the comedy series Blackadder, was trying to establish when the village was founded.
The village is a Scheduled Ancient Monument because it is so well preserved.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:38 PM
Iron Age man's remains on display
The remains of an Iron Age man found nearly 2,000 years after his death have gone on display in Manchester.
Lindow Man, who has been nicknamed Pete Marsh, was found in peat on Lindow Moss near Mobberley, Cheshire, in 1984.
Chemicals in the bog preserved the body and researchers found his throat was slit and he was garrotted, possibly as a sacrificial victim.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:37 PM
Flores 'hobbit' walked more like a clown than Frodo
Tolkien's hobbits walked an awful long way, but the real "hobbit", Homo floresiensis, would not have got far.
Its flat, clown-like feet probably limited its speed to what we would consider a stroll, and kept its travels short, says Bill Jungers, an anthropologist at the State University of New York in Stony Brook.
"It's never going to win the 100-yard dash, and it's never going to win the marathon," he says.
He presented his conclusion at last week's meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Columbus, Ohio.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:34 PM
Neues Forschungsinstitut für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie geplant
Schleswig-Holstein plant die Einrichtung eines neuen Forschungsinstituts für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie. Langfristiges Ziel des Landes sei es, das Forschungsinstitut für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft zu verankern, sagte Schleswig-Holsteins Wissenschaftsstaatssekretär Jost de Jager bei einer Tagung in Schloß Gottorf.
Das Land Schleswig-Holstein plant, ein neues Forschungsinstitut für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie einzurichten. Das kündigte Wissenschaftsstaatssekretär Jost de Jager am 17. April am Rande einer Sitzung des Verwaltungsausschusses der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft im archäologischen Landesmuseum Schloß Gottorf an. Basis des neuen Instituts soll die bestehende Forschung des archäologischen Landesmuseums sein. Langfristiges Ziel des Landes Schleswig-Holstein sei es, das Forschungsinstitut für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft zu verankern, sagte de Jager.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:32 PM
Grunt Work: Scientists Re-Create Neanderthal Speech
After a nearly 30,000-year silence, Neanderthals are speaking once more, thanks to researchers who have modelled the hominids' larynx to replicate the possible sounds they would have made, scientists say.
The work, led by Robert McCarthy, an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton, is based on Neanderthal fossils found in France.
The item includes an audio snippet in which a computer synthesizer replicates how a Neanderthal would say an "e" and compares this with the same sound as made by modern humans.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:30 PM
Neanderthals speak out after 30,000 years
Talk about a long silence – no one has heard their voices for 30,000 years. Now the long-extinct Neanderthals are speaking up – or at least a computer synthesiser is doing so on their behalf.
Robert McCarthy, an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton has used new reconstructions of Neanderthal vocal tracts to simulate the voice. He says the ancient human's speech lacked the "quantal vowel" sounds that underlie modern speech.
Quantal vowels provide cues that help speakers with different size vocal tracts understand one another, says McCarthy, who was talking at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Columbus, Ohio, on April 11.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:27 PM
'Earthquake Archaeology' Blends Two Histories
Do tomorrow's archaeologists a big favor: Always carry some change in your pocket. That way if you happen to be buried alive by an earthquake, any future researchers who unearth your bones from the quake debris can easily approximate the year of the quake.
That's one way that earthquakes in parts of the ancient Roman Empire have been dated.
But usually it's not so easy, say researchers who are pioneering the new field of archaeoseismology. Their aim is to clean up the seismological record by calling on geologists, engineers and seismologists to help archaeologists make better sense of ancient disasters.
"A better term is earthquake archaeology," said Manual Sintubin, a professor of geodynamics at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:25 PM
English Heritage to have public showing of artefacts in North Yorkshire
HI-TECH ammunition from the Middle Ages is going on show for the first time in North Yorkshire. Armour-penetrating arrowheads are among the fearsome armaments found at Pickering Castle in the 1920s and about to be revealed to the public by English Heritage.
The artefacts - which include other specimens modelled to rip through chain mail or hunt deer and wild boar in the forest surrounding the castle - are among 800,000 items kept by the conservation watchdog at its main archaeological store for the north, at Helmsley in North Yorkshire.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:24 PM
Darley Abbey
For years, mystery has surrounded the whereabouts of the Augustinian abbey which gave Derby suburb Darley Abbey its name. It is known that it was in existence in the mid-12th century but was closed down following Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries in October 1538. Large parts of the buildings appear to have stood in the village for many years after that.
But in a kind of 18th-century recycling scheme, the stone was probably removed and used to create other buildings, leaving little or no obvious trace of the mediaeval abbey. Records are sketchy and no specific maps exist of the era when the abbey was a flourishing community.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:14 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.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:13 PM
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Acton Court: 'a goodly howse'
In 1535, in anticipation of a visit from Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Sir Nicholas Poyntz tore down his kitchen block and built a range of luxury royal apartments. They are still there, and the full report on their rediscovery has just been published.
Although it is still inhabited,’ wrote Neil Burton in 1977, ‘this substantial mansion is now in a state of advanced decay which is extremely picturesque, but must lead eventually to a partial collapse of the structure.’ It was the occasion of a Royal Archaeological Institute summer visit , and it was the first time that Acton Court, which lies close to Iron Acton village in the Vale of Berkeley about 15km north-east of Bristol, had registered on the archaeological radar. What no-one knew then was that this crumbling old farmhouse had been built to accommodate King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn on a royal progress in 1535.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:17 PM
Unravelling the mysteries of Stonehenge
Theories about the date and purpose of Stonehenge are to be tested through the first excavations to be permitted inside the stone circle since 1964. Scheduled Monument Consent has been granted for a two-week excavation by Tim Darvill of Bournemouth University, and Geoff Wainwright, President of the Society of Antiquaries, which was completed on 11 April 2008.
The aim of the excavation is to find out precisely when the Double Bluestone Circle, the first stone structure on the site, was built; how long it was in use, and when it was dismantled and reused in later stages of the evolution of Stonehenge. Current estimates put the erection date at around 2,550 BC, but dateable materials from earlier excavations were poorly recorded and cannot be attributed to specific features and deposits with any certainty.
Dr Simon Thurley, Chief Executive of English Heritage, said: 'The bluestones hold the key to understanding the purpose and meaning of Stonehenge. Their arrival marked a turning point in the history of Stonehenge, changing the site from being a fairly standard formative henge with timber structures and occasional use for burial, to the complex stone structure whose remains dominate the site today.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:16 PM
Is Stonehenge Roman?
After a gap of some forty four years, Stonehenge is once again being excavated. Admittedly, this time it is only a very small hole, and is only being dug for a fortnight, but it is a very important hole, and on April the 9th, we were invited down to Stonehenge to inspect it. It was a wonderful trip, not least because the weather was perfect. After the heavy snow fall at the weekend the sun decided to shine and since we were allowed inside the circle, I took the opportunity to take hundreds of photographs.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:15 PM
Spain arrests 20 for treasure plunder
Twenty people accused in the plunder and sale of thousands of archaeological items have been arrested and their suspected booty — including Roman and Stone Age pieces — seized, police said Friday.
The suspects and used metal detectors at archaeological sites throughout Spain, often selling their finds on the Internet, police said in a statement.
Among the locations plundered were archaeological digs at Calpe on the eastern Mediterranean coast and Municipium Augusta Bilbilis near Calatayud in central Spain, where the Romans built a colonial city on an earlier settlement.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:13 PM
PHOTO IN THE NEWS: Bust of "Hidden" Roman Emperor Found
He supposedly preferred to remain behind the scenes, but after 1,800 years one of Rome's most reclusive emperors has been thrust into the limelight.
A statue of Lucius Verus, who ruled ancient Rome alongside his more famous adopted brother Marcus Aurelius, was recently recovered among a cache of looted artifacts, Italian officials say.
Investigators found the intricately carved marble head in a boathouse near Rome, saying the find was particularly significant because Lucius was reluctant to pose for official portraits. Only four other depictions of Lucius are known to exist, experts said.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:12 PM
Last Parthenon marbles threatened by pollution: archaeologist
A senior Greek archaeologist warned this week that the last original sculptures still adorning the Parthenon, Athens' iconic ancient temple, face a major pollution threat and must be removed to a museum.
"There are still 17 original metopes (sculpted plaques) which must be protected because they can no longer endure atmospheric conditions," Acropolis site supervisor Alexandros Mantis told AFP on Friday.
Mantis has proposed that the endangered sculptures be replaced by replicas and kept safe in a new museum located below the Acropolis that is scheduled to open in September.
He singled out 14 plaques on the Parthenon's western facade which are in a "pitiful" condition, plus two more on the northern side.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:11 PM
