There's medieval gold in them there hills: The stunning array of artefacts found by Britain's amateur archaeologists

Britain is bursting at the seams with ancient buried artefacts - with 250 pieces being found every single day.

A medieval gold ring, a Bronze Age gold bracelet and a set of gold dentures were just three of the 90,146 amateur archaeological discoveries made in 2010.

The British Museum said the 'massive jump' of reported findings by a third was 'testament to the tremendous success' of the government's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).
British Museum director Neil MacGregor said: 'The finds reported are changing our understanding of the past.

'They are helping archaeologists learn where people lived and died, and how these finds were used.

'But what is truly exciting is that these finds are being made by the public and not, in most cases, by the archaeologists. It is transforming the archaeological map of Britain.'

Source from : http://www.dailymail.co.uk

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Gardai investigate looting of U-boat site

GARDAI IN Cork have begun an investigation into the illegal removal of artefacts, including sailors’ attire, from a first World War submarine and war grave recently discovered by divers in 27 metres of water off Roches Point.

The 49-metre, 400-ton German vessel UC-42, which sank in 1917 during a mine-laying operation, also appears to have been damaged by salvagers attempting to remove one of its propellers.

The Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation’s antiquities unit was alerted by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht’s underwater archaeology unit. Also involved are the Customs maritime unit, the National Museum of Ireland and, now, locally-based gardai.

Connie Kelleher, of the underwater archaeology unit, said she had received several reports from divers about the desecration of the site through removal of crew members’ effects.

“Included in these reports to us, from concerned divers who do not agree with the pillaging of the site, are details of human remains being evident on the wreck site,” she said.

“To date, we have received reports of the structure being recently damaged by divers attempting to remove parts of it; of items that belonged to the crew being taken off the site; and that one of the propellers was being made ready to be recovered, as evidenced by recent work to it.”

She added that she and other divers with her unit intended to dive on the site to assess it as soon as weather permitted.

She has alerted the Irish Underwater Council (IUC), the main representative body of diving clubs in Ireland, seeking its assistance in raising awareness of the problem and said she had also contacted the Naval Service.

Martin Kiely, the IUC’s national diving officer, said the council’s code of conduct forbade members from interfering with wrecks or sea life and required them to respect all dive sites. “We would take a very dim view of people taking stuff from wrecks,” he said.

Ms Kelleher said the German embassy had indicated its “legitimate interest” in the wreck’s protection and preservation.

“The site has a particular sensitivity due to it being a relatively recent German naval loss with crew who are known by name, many of whom are likely to have close living relatives,” she said.

She added the removal of material from UC-42, if not reported to the Receiver of Wreck in Cork, was an offence under the Merchant Shipping (Salvage and Wreck) Act 1993 and that as well as protection under merchant shipping legislation, any artefacts fall within the definition of archaeological objects in the National Monuments Acts 1930 to 2004.

Ms Kelleher added that UC-42 was of particular significance as part of both Ireland and Germany’s maritime history and that a ministerial underwater heritage order may be placed on it, as with the RMS Lusitania , to restrict access and give it the protection of the National Monuments Acts.

“We will probably have to go that route to protect it,” she said. The site was “first and foremost” a war grave, where as many as 27 sailors drowned when it sank in September 1917.

It was one of 64 vessels built in its class, regarded as the first mass-produced German U-boats, which carried as many as 18 mines.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

From Shipwreck to Charity: 200-Year-Old Champagne

Divers last year could barely believe their eyes when their underwater flashlights revealed 147 of the oldest bottles of champagne in the world. The 200-year-old bottles were preserved in a shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. They will be auctioned off next week, with the proceeds going to maritime archaeology and environmental charities.

The underwater shipwreck that housed the bottles is located in the Baltic Sea between Sweden and Finland. In July 2010, the Government of Åland sent a group of divers down after echo locators revealed images of a vessel on the ocean floor.

The ship has been dated to the first half of the 1800’s, according to Reuters. Nevertheless, its interior was surprisingly well-preserved. Inside, marine archaeologists found a brick oven, a cooking pot, plates and a kettle.

The real surprise, though, was when the divers came across a number of bottles embedded in straw. They made sure to take one back with them for further investigation.

What did she have to say about the champagne? Well, it had a bouquet of "very ripe fruit, tones of golden raisins and a clear aroma of tobacco". She went on to add that, “despite the fact that it was so amazingly old, there was a freshness to the wine. It wasn't debilitated in any way.”

The cargo belongs to the Government of Aland, an autonomous territory of Finland. Of the 145 bottles, a few will be put on display in museums. Others will be auctioned off next Friday, June 3.

The bottles are expected to go for upwards of $15,000 apiece. All proceeds that exceed the cost of the underwater mission will be donated to maritime archaeology and efforts to protect the Baltic Sea environment.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Archaeologists hope to uncover part of Chester's secret history

An archaeological dig underway in Chester’s Grosvenor Park may find previously unknown buildings associated with a great mansion house that was destroyed in the Civil War in the 17th century.

Experts from Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Historic Environment Team and University of Chester second year Archaeology students may also find part of a Roman road to the nearby amphitheatre.

Simon Ward, Principle Archaeologist for Cheshire West and Chester Council and Director of the dig, said: “It has been great to get back to digging with the students again.

“We are looking forward to a fruitful and exciting season expanding our knowledge of this interesting part of Chester close to the Roman Amphitheatre and Chester’s original cathedral St John’s Church.”

Public Open Day

The dig, near the St John’s Church entrance, will have a public Open Day on 31 May from 10am – 4pm with opportunities to have site tours, handle finds from this year and previous years and there will be activities for children too. The dig will also be open during the weekend of 4 June as part of the Roman Chestival.

Meggen Gondek, Programme Leader for Archaeology at the University of Chester, said: “It really is an amazing experience for our students to learn their excavation skills in one of the most impressive historic cities in Britain.

“As partners, the University and the Historic Environment Team, we are committed to developing our understanding of the archaeology of Chester and we hope there will be lots of public interest generated over the next few weeks.”

Councillor Lynn Riley, Executive Member for Community and Environment:said: “I am sure there will be great interest in this dig taking place in Grosvenor Park – a jewel in Chester’s cityscape.

Source from : http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/archives/05/2011/archaeologists-hope-to-uncover-part-of-chesters-secret-history


For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Archaeologists dig out 500-yr-old remains of Mona Lisa 'model'

Archaeologists in Italy's Florence city have uncovered a skeleton they believe could be the 500 year-old remains of the noblewoman who is believed to have posed for Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa masterpiece.

An archaeology excavation that started earlier this month of what was once the convent of Saint Orsola , where Lisa Gherardini — the wife of wealthy silk merchant Francesco del Giocondo - was buried following her death in July 1542 at 63 years. A grave was unearthed that contained a skeleton of an adult woman with parts of the skull and pelvis, said Giorgio Gruppioni, an archaeology professor from the University of Bologna and coordinator of the archaeology excavation.


Source from : http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-29/europe/29596917_1_skull-giocondo-archaeologists

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Archaeological find gives light to biblical stories

They may turn out to be among the most significant few words in modern archaeology: The inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus", written in Aramaic, and found on an ancient stone box, may be the oldest historical evidence of Jesus Christ. The box was an ossuary, a stone casket for the bones of the dead.

It's believed the bones it contained were those of James, the brother of Christ, mentioned occasionally in the Gospels. Researchers have dated the box to the first century AD, as Nick Grimm reports.

NICK GRIMM: It's a discovery certain to stir the imaginations of believers and non-believers alike.

Ancient historian, Dr. Chris Forbes, from Macquarie University:

CHRIS FORBES: This is a marvellously exciting discovery, even if it doesn't tell us anything fundamentally new, it's direct contact with those first century people.

NICK GRIMM: If this archaeological artefact is the genuine article, then there was no gilt or inlay of precious stones for the brother of Christ. Rather, the bones of James lay inside a very plain stone box shaped rather like a house brick. But it's perhaps befitting that of the son of a carpenter, and for all its plainness, the discovery has been described as "dazzling" by researchers. This is how the American ABC network described the discovery.

AMERICAN NEWS PRESENTER: It is an ossuary; a stone box used in the first century to bury people's bones. On the side, an inscription in the ancient language of Aramaic.

HISTORIAN: The inscription is [Aramaic phrase].

AMERICAN NEWS PRESENTER: James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus.

HERSHEL SHANKS: It is the first appearance of Jesus in an archaeological discovery.

NICK GRIMM: Hershel shanks is the publisher of the journal The Biblical Archaeological Review, which has published the research supporting a discovery which is the stuff of an archaeologist's dreams.

HERSHEL SHANKS: This is the first archaeological attestation of Jesus, plus also of Joseph and James, which is kind of mind-boggling.

NICK GRIMM: This might not exactly be the holy grail, but the box may be the first ever archaeological discovery to corroborate biblical references to Jesus. The box currently belongs to a private owner in Israel who wishes to remain anonymous, and who bought it from an Arab dealer in antiquities 15 years ago. It's believed the box was probably looted from its original position somewhere in a cave.

Hershel Shanks again:

HERSHEL SHANKS: It's very rare, and in only one other case is the brother mentioned on the ossuary. The usual formula is "Dick, so of James", something like this, not the brother.

NICK GRIMM: Efforts so far to expose the box as a fake have been unsuccessful. Dr. Chris Forbes says it appears to verify other historical references to the brother of Jesus.

CHRIS FORBES: Well, I think it seems a pretty good chance that we're dealing with those people, the ones mentioned in the New Testament.

NICK GRIMM: Chris Forbes, what evidence do we actually have that James was the brother of Christ?

CHRIS FORBES: Well, there's the evidence in the New Testament itself that describes someone called James as being Jesus' brother, but there's also the evidence of Josephus, the Jewish historian, probably writing in the 90s AD, and in his Jewish Antiquities, Book 20, Section 200, he says as follows:

"Annanias the High Priest convened the charges of the Sanhedrin, and brought before them a man named James, the brother of Jesus who was called the Christ and certain others. He accused them of having transgressed the law, and delivered them up to be stoned".

And it goes on to talk about how Annanias, the High Priest, got into trouble as a result.

Source from : http://www.abc.net.au/pm/stories/s708071.htm

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

DNA Testing on 2,000-Year-Old Bones in Italy Reveal East Asian Ancestry

Researchers archaeology excavating an ancient Roman cemetery made a surprising discovery when they extracted ancient mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from one of the skeletons buried at the site: the 2,000-year-old bones revealed a maternal East Asian ancestry.

The results will be presented at the Roman Archeology Conference at Oxford, England, in March, and published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology.

According to Tracy Prowse, assistant professor of Anthropology, and the lead author on the study, the isotopic evidence indicates that about 20% of the sample analyzed to-date was not born in the area around Vagnari. The mtDNA is another line of evidence that indicates at least one individual was of East Asian descent.

"These preliminary isotopic and mtDNA data provide tantalizing evidence that some of the people who lived and died at Vagnari were foreigners, and that they may have come to Vagnari from beyond the borders of the Roman Empire," says Prowse. "This research addresses broader issues relating to globalization, human mobility, identity, and diversity in Roman Italy."

Based on her work in the region, she thinks the East Asian man, who lived sometime between the first to second centuries AD -- the early Roman Empire -- was a slave or worker on the site. His surviving grave goods consist of a single pot (which archaeologists used to date the burial). What's more, his burial was disturbed in antiquity and someone was buried on top of him.

Prowse's team cannot say how recently he, or his ancestors, left East Asia: he could have made the journey alone, or his East Asian genes might have come from a distant maternal ancestor. However, the oxygen isotope evidence indicates that he was definitely not born in Italy and likely came here from elsewhere in the Roman Empire.

During this era, Vagnari was an Imperial estate owned by the emperor in Rome and controlled by a local administrator. Workers were employed in industrial activities on the site, including iron smelting and tile production. These tiles were used for roofing buildings on the site and were also used as grave covers for the people buried in the cemetery. Fragmentary tiles found in and around Vagnari are marked "Gratus Caesaris," which translates into "slave of the emperor."

In addition to the mystery the find uncovers, Prowse sees the broader scientific impact for archaeologists, physical anthropologists, and classicists: The grave goods from this individual's burial gave no indication that he was foreign-born or of East Asian descent.

"This multi-faceted research demonstrates that human skeletal remains can provide another layer of evidence in conjunction with archaeological and historical information," says Prowse.

For the last seven years, Prowse has been digging the cemetery at the site of Vagnari, just west of the city of Bari in southern Italy. The cemetery was first discovered in 2002 by her colleague, Alastair Small (University of Edinburgh), who directs the excavations at Vagnari and continues to excavate other areas of the site. Prowse's research focuses on the bioarchaeological analysis of the people buried in the cemetery, including isotopic, palaeopathological, and aDNA analysis. The ancient DNA analyses were conducted by her coauthors on the paper, Jodi Barta and Tanya vonHunnius, at McMaster University.

The research was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Roman York Skeleton Could Be Early TB Victim

The skeleton of a man discovered by archaeologists in a shallow grave on the site of the University of York’s campus expansion could be that of one of Britain’s earliest victims of tuberculosis.

Radiocarbon dating suggests that the man died in the fourth century. He was interred in a shallow scoop in a flexed position, on his left side.

The man, aged 26–35 years, suffered from iron deficiency anaemia during childhood and at 162 centimetres (5ft 4in), was a shorter height than average for Roman males.

The first known case of TB in Britain is from the Iron Age (300 BC) but cases in the Roman period are fairly rare, and largely confined to the southern half of England. TB is most frequent from the 12th century AD in England when people were living in urban environments. So the skeleton may provide crucial evidence for the origin and development of the disease in this country.

The remains were discovered during archaeological investigations on the site of the University’s £500 million expansion at Heslington East. Archaeologists unearthed the skeleton close to the perimeter of the remains of a late–Roman masonry building discovered on the site, close to the route of an old Roman road between York and Barton–on–Humber.

The burial site is on part of the campus that will not be built on. The University is developing plans for community archaeology and education visits once the investigations are complete.

Detailed analysis of the skeleton by Malin Holst, of York Osteoarchaeology Ltd, revealed that a likely cause of death was tuberculosis which affected the man’s spine and pelvis. She says that it is possible that he contracted the disease as a child from infected meat or milk from cattle, but equally the infection could have been inhaled into the lungs. The disease then lay dormant until adulthood when the secondary phase of the disease took its toll.

Heslington East Fieldwork Officer Cath Neal, of the University’s Department of Archaeology, said: "This was a remarkable find and detailed study of this skeleton will provide us with important clues about the emergence of tuberculosis in late-Roman Britain, but also information about what life was like in York more than 1,500 years ago.

"A burial such as this, close to living quarters, is unusual for this period when most burials were in formal cemeteries. It is possible that the man was buried here because the tuberculosis infection was so rare at the time, and people were reluctant to transport the body any distance."

Malin Holst added: "There were signs of muscular trauma and strong muscle attachments indicating that the individual undertook repeated physical activity while he was in good health. There was some intensive wear and chipping on his front teeth which may have been the result of repeated or habitual activity. There was evidence for infection of the bone in both lower limbs but this appeared to be healing at death."

Investigation of the remains is continuing — Professor Charlotte Roberts, of Durham University, with Professor Terry Brown at Manchester University, is now studying DNA from the skeleton as part of National Environmental Research Council funded research into the origin, evolution and spread of the bacteria that causes TB in Britain and parts of Europe.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Skeleton Of 12,000-Year-Old Shaman Discovered Buried With Leopard, 50 Tortoises And Human Foot

The skeleton of a 12,000 year-old Natufian Shaman has been discovered in northern Israel by archaeologists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The burial is described as being accompanied by "exceptional" grave offerings - including 50 complete tortoise shells, the pelvis of a leopard and a human foot. The shaman burial is thought to be one of the earliest known from the archaeological record and the only shaman grave in the whole region.

Dr. Leore Grosman of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University, who is heading the excavation at the Natufian site of Hilazon Tachtit in the western Galilee, says that the elaborate and invested interment rituals and method used to construct and seal the grave suggest that this woman had a very high standing within the community. Details of the discovery were published in the PNAS journal on November 3, 2008.

What was found in the shaman's grave?

The grave contained body parts of several animals that rarely occur in Natufian assemblages. These include fifty tortoises, the near-compete pelvis of a leopard, the wing tip of a golden eagle, tail of a cow, two marten skulls and the forearm of a wild boar which was directly aligned with the woman's left humerus.

A human foot belonging to an adult individual who was substantially larger than the interred woman was also found in the grave.

Dr. Grosman believes this burial is consistent with expectations for a shaman's grave. Burials of shamans often reflect their role in life (i.e., remains of particular animals and contents of healing kits). It seems that the woman was perceived as being in close relationship with these animal spirits.

Method of burial

The body was buried in an unusual position. It was laid on its side with the spinal column, pelvis and right femur resting against the curved southern wall of the oval-shaped grave. The legs were spread apart and folded inward at the knees.

According to Dr. Grosman, ten large stones were placed directly on the head, pelvis and arms of the buried individual at the time of burial. Following decomposition of the body, the weight of the stones caused disarticulation of some parts of the skeleton, including the separation of the pelvis from the vertebral column.

Speculating why the body was held in place in such a way and covered with rocks, Dr. Grosman suggests it could have been to protect the body from being eaten by wild animals or because the community was trying to keep the shaman and her spirit inside the grave.

Analysis of the bones show that the shaman was 45 years old, petite and had an unnatural, asymmetrical appearance due to a spinal disability that would have affected the woman's gait, causing her to limp or drag her foot.

Fifty tortoises

Most remarkably, the woman was buried with 50 complete tortoise shells. The inside of the tortoises were likely eaten as part of a feast surrounding the interment of the deceased. High representation of limb bones indicates that most tortoise remains were thrown into the grave along with the shells after consumption.

The recovery of the limb bones also indicates that entire tortoises, not only their shells, were transported to the cave for the burial. The collection of 50 living tortoises at the time of burial would have required a significant investment, as these are solitary animals. Alternatively, these animals could have been collected and confined by humans for a period preceding the event.

Shaman graves in archaeology

According to Dr. Grosman, the burial of the woman is unlike any burial found in the Natufian or the preceding Paleolithic periods. "Clearly a great amount of time and energy was invested in the preparation, arrangement, and sealing of the grave." This was coupled with the special treatment of the buried body.

Shamans are universally recorded cross-culturally in hunter-gatherer groups and small-scale agricultural societies. Nevertheless, they have rarely been documented in the archaeological record and none have been reported from the Paleolithic of Southwest Asia.

The Natufians existed in the Mediterranean region of the Levant 15,000 to 11,500 years ago. Dr. Grosman suggests this grave could point to ideological shifts that took place due to the transition to agriculture in the region at that time.

Natufian grave site

Hilazon Tachtit is a small cave site next to Carmiel that functioned first and foremost as a Natufian burial ground for at least 28 individuals representing an array of ages.

The collective graves found at the site likely served as primary burial areas that were later re-opened to remove skulls and long bones for secondary burial – a practice common to the Natufian and the following Neolithic cultures.

Only three partially complete primary burials were recovered at Hilazon Tachtit. One was a skeleton of a young adult (sex unknown) reposed in a flexed position on its right side with both hands under his face. The scattered bones of a newborn were found in the area of the missing pelvis and it appears that the newborn and the young adult, possibly the mother, were buried together.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

First Clear Evidence of Organized Feasting by Early Humans

Community feasting is one of the most universal and important social behaviors found among humans. Now, scientists have found the earliest clear evidence of organized feasting, from a burial site dated about 12,000 years ago. These remains represent the first archaeological verification that human feasting began before the advent of agriculture.

"Scientists have speculated that feasting began before the Neolithic period, which starts about 11.5 thousand years ago," says Natalie Munro of the University of Connecticut, and author of a research article in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This is the first solid evidence that supports the idea that communal feasts were already occurring -- perhaps with some frequency -- at the beginnings of the transition to agriculture."

At a burial cave in the Galilee region of northern Israel, Munro and her colleague Leore Grosman of Hebrew University in Jerusalem uncovered the remains of at least 71 tortoises and three wild cattle in two specifically crafted hollows, an unusually high density for the period. The tortoise shells and cattle bones exhibited evidence of being cooked and torn apart, indicating that the animals had been butchered for human consumption.

Each of the two hollows, says Munro, was manufactured for the purpose of a ritual human burial and related feasting activities. The tortoise shells were situated under, around and on top of the remains of a ritually-buried shaman, which suggests that the feast occurred concurrently with the ritual burial. On their own, the meat from the discarded tortoise shells could probably have fed about 35 people, says Munro, but it's possible that many more than that attended this feast.

"We don't know exactly how many people attended this particular feast, or what the average attendance was at similar events, since we don't know how much meat was actually available in the cave," says Munro. "The best we can do is give a minimum estimate based on the bones that are present."

A major reason why humans began feasting -- and later began to cultivate their own foods -- is because faster human population growth had begun to crowd their landscape. In earlier periods of the Stone Age, says Munro, small family groups were often on the move to find new sources of food. But around the time of this feast, she says, that lifestyle had become much more difficult.

"People were coming into contact with each other a lot, and that can create friction," she says. "Before, they could get up and leave when they had problems with the neighbors. Now, these public events served as community-building opportunities, which helped to relieve tensions and solidify social relationships."

But when a once-nomadic group of humans settles down, that can put tremendous pressure on the local resources. Munro notes that humans around the time of this feast were intensively using the plants and animals that their descendants later domesticated.

"The appearance of these feasts at the beginnings of agriculture is particularly interesting because people are starting to experiment with domestication and cultivation," she notes.

This combination of increased social interaction and changes in resources, says Munro, is what eventually led to the beginnings of agriculture.

"Taken together, this community integration and the changes in economics were happening at the very beginning when incipient cultivation was getting going," she says. "These kinds of social changes are the beginnings of significant changes in human social complexity that lead into the beginning of the agricultural transition."

Source from : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/08/100830152526.htm

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Police offer evidence to indict archaeology professor

Police have recently transferred to the State Prosecutor's Office what they say is enough evidence to indict archaeologist Professor Hanan Eshel on three criminal counts, Haaretz has learned. The Prosecutor's Office will decide soon whether to issue an indictment against Eshel.

The counts include bringing an antiquity into Israel illegally, trafficking in stolen property, and not reporting the discovery of an antiquity as required by law. Eshel is the former head of Bar-Ilan University's archaeology department, and one of the world's foremost scholars of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Controversy regarding the investigation of how a fragment of scroll from the Bar Kokhba period came into Eshel's possession - which he eventually turned over to the Israel Antiquities Authority - has led to an unprecedented flap between Bar Ilan and the IAA over the past few days.

The heads of all university archaeology departments have been summoned to an urgent meeting today with IAA director Shuka Dorfman, following Bar Ilan's decision to postpone indefinitely its upcoming annual archaeological conference in protest against the IAA's police complaint against Eshel. Dorfman wants to ask another university to host the prestigious conference, at which several IAA archaeologists were scheduled to speak.

There are "problematic aspects in the behavior of both sides," Professor Itzhak Gilad, head of the archaeology department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev who was on the roster of speakers, told Haaretz yesterday.

"Dorfman cannot be allowed to treat a senior scholar who did everything he could to save a rare antiquity as if he were a common criminal," sources at Bar Ilan told Haaretz. "There is no reason to cooperate with the IAA in holding scientific conferences when at the same time the IAA is attacking our scholar, who has done nothing wrong," the sources added.

In August 2004, Eshel and his student, Roi Porat, met in the Judean Desert with a Bedouin antiquities dealer, who showed them a fragment of an ancient document. Shortly thereafter, Eshel went to the U.S. to teach and left Porat to study the find. According to Eshel, Porat discovered that the fragment dated from the Bar Kokhba period, valued at hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Eshel claims that Porat informed the IAA of the discovery, but the latter did not seek to obtain it. Eshel says that when he returned from the U.S, he met again with the dealer, and noticed the fragment had deteriorated severely. He purchased it for a few thousand shekels, financed by the research institute at Bar Ilan where he is employed, and that he then transferred the document to a laboratory in an effort to preserve it.

In February 2005, Eshel transferred the fragment to the IAA without remuneration. The IAA claims that Eshel should have reported the find to them within 15 days and immediately turn it over to them. Bar Ilan has declared its unqualified support for Eshel in the matter.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Jordanians recover ancient works said smuggled into Israel

Jordan has demanded Israel return the manuscripts but has gotten no response; the recovered writings are among 70 manuscripts Jordanian archaeologists discovered five years ago in a cave in the north which were later stolen.

Jordan's archaeology chief said yesterday that security police recovered seven ancient manuscripts from local smugglers, part of a larger group believed to have been smuggled into Israel.

Jordan has demanded Israel return the manuscripts but has gotten no response. The recovered writings are among 70 manuscripts Jordanian archaeologists discovered five years ago in a cave in the north which were later stolen.

Ziad al-Saad said the manuscripts were reportedly found by a Bedouin.

If verified, he added, the relics could be the most significant find in Christian archaeology since the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Archaeologists: Waqf dig endangering relics that may have been part of Temple

Several worked stones discovered during ongoing maintenance archaeology excavations around the Dome of the Rock may be part of a wall that once surrounded an outer courtyard of the Temple, some archaeologists conjecture.

The archaeology excavations are being carried out by the Waqf, the Muslim trust that is custodian of the Temple Mount, and the Public Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount called a press conference yesterday to warn that the excavation is endangering these and other rare artifacts.

There have been verbal confrontations in recent days between Waqf officials and police and Israel Antiquities Authority representatives over the Waqf's violation of the terms of the permit it received to conduct work at the site. In one incident, a police officer tried to prevent Waqf workers from operating a bulldozer, ultimately resorting to blocking the vehicle with his body. Tempers later calmed, after senior officials intervened.

Waqf officials told the Associated Press that the 1.5-meter-deep trench in question is being dug in order to replace 40-year-old electric cables. They termed the claims by the Israeli archaeologists "sheer propaganda."

Dr. Gabi Barkai, one of Israel's most prominent archaeologists and a member of the committee, said that the Waqf's current excavation, along with a previous one of over 400 meters in the direction of the Dome of the Rock, is an archaeological crime unacceptable in any cultured country.

Another archaeologist and committee member, Dr. Eilat Mazar, said it is unfathomable that the police, and perhaps also the IAA, allowed a bulldozer to damage layers of ground beneath the extensive flooring now uncovered.

"It is an unbelievable spectacle," Mazar said. "Israeli police officers and an official from the Antiquities Authority observing as a tractor digs the trench. This is irreparable destruction. After all, nobody is examining the dirt and materials coming out of that trench, which is located in an incredibly unique area, of historic, cultural and religious importance for every human being, and particularly for the Jewish people."

The committee issued a statement demanding that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Minister for Jerusalem Affairs Rafi Eitan and the IAA stop the Waqf's work immediately, and prevent any further work on the Mount without proper archaeological supervision.

The archaeologists announced that they would file a police complaint and are contemplating a petition to the High Court of Justice against the excavation work.

The leading Muslim cleric in Jerusalem, Mufti Mohammed Hussein, rejected the committee's charges. "We don't harm the antiquities, we are the ones who are taking care of the antiquities, unlike others who destroy them," he said.

Issues relating to the Temple Mount are handled entirely by the Prime Minister's Bureau and the attorney general, who set policy on the matter, usually based on police recommendations. The IAA makes recommendations, but they are not always accepted.

In a related development yesterday, new artifacts discovered in sifting through earth removed from the Temple Mount were presented at the eighth annual City of David archaeological conference.

The project, now in its third year, entails scrutinizing truckloads of earth removed by the Waqf in 1999.

Among the ancient finds were numerous stone tiles intended for flooring, some of which have been identified as designed for use in the Roman-era mosaic work known as opus sectile, in which colorful tiles were cut into shapes and fitted into geometric patterns.

"The discovery of stone tiles used in opus sectile flooring in [earth from] the Temple Mount is one of the most important discoveries of the dirt-sifting work," Barkai said, "and it might aid in reconstructing the appearance and character of the Temple's outer courtyard."

Source from : http://www.haaretz.com

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Tours of Iron Age hill fort dig on North York moors

The public are being given a rare opportunity to visit an archaeological dig on the North York Moors.

The Landscape Research Centre is trying to learn more about a rare Iron Age hill fort at Boltby Scar near Sutton Bank.

The scheduled monument, one of only a handful of forts found in eastern Yorkshire, was extensively damaged after being bulldozed in 1961.

Free tours are being offered on Sunday 29 May and Bank Holiday Monday 30 May.

Archaeologists believe this area of Yorkshire was an important site for Iron Age man.

Boltby Scar had defensive earthworks and there is another hill fort sited nearby at Roulston Scar.

The site has been excavated on at least two previous occasions but little information from those digs survive.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Unseen for 4,500 years: Pyramid finally reveals its hidden secrets as robot captures images of ancient markings

The last great mystery of the pyramids could be closer to being found thanks to a robot built in Leeds.

Images captured by a new 'micro snake' camera travelling deep within the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt reveal small hieroglyphs written in red paint on the floor of a small, hidden chamber.

Egyptologists believe that if deciphered the markings could unlock the secrets of why tunnels, doors and secret chambers were built within pyramids such as this one.

The pyramid is the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing, and is thought to have been built as a tomb for Pharoah Khufu, who ruled in the Fourth Egyptian Dynasty and died in 2566 BC.

Khufu had the Great Pyramid of Giza built as a monumental tomb, inside of which are tomb chambers, ante-rooms, chambers, ventilation shafts and access tunnels.

There are three main chambers: The King's Chamber, the Queen's Chamber and the Grand Gallery.

The King's Chamber has two shafts connected to outside, but two tunnels from the Queen's Chamber deep inside the widest part of the pyramid have two stone doors.

Source from : http://www.dailymail.co.uk


For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

How satellites are mapping our ancient past

Archaeologist Sarah Parcak says she has discovered thousands of ancient sites in Egypt, from pyramids to a detailed street plan of the city of Tanis, an A-to-Z of the region's northern capital – all thanks to images from satellites orbiting 400 miles above the Earth. The infra-red pictures are capable of tracing structures buried deep in the sand. "It just shows us," she adds, "how easy it is to underestimate both the size and scale of past human settlements."

Parcak had studied at Cambridge and taught in Swansea before returning to the US, where she is now at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her special interest is analysing satellite images for unseen archaeological remains, and she's on to a winner. In theory there's not much you can see from a satellite that you can't from an aeroplane – and with today's technologies, there is a very great deal you can find from both. But in practice, the satellites, with publicly available image libraries, score in reduced cost and in reaching inaccessible areas, such as Egyptian deserts, Easter Island . . . and Wales.

Wales? In 2009 a stone-walled ancient fish trap was spotted on Google Earth in the Teifi estuary. The ancient landscape of Britain is laid out before us as never before. One of the first archaeological satellite studies showed prehistoric earthworks near Stonehenge; these had already been mapped, but we make real discoveries as we tour the globe.

In the near east and in Siberia, 3D images are helping to understand remote landscapes and archaeological sites. The roads on which the statues were moved across Easter Island have now been mapped. And in Peru vast ancient "geoglyphs" have been seen, land art in the form of animal shapes created when people moved earth and stones about. The last is a warning. Last year Amelia Carolina Sparavigna, a physicist in Turin, claimed to see birds and snakes outlined in the sinuous walls and field boundaries of ancient landscapes around Late Titicaca. These designs would never have been visible from the ground, and even from above require much faith as you pick along one wall and ignore many others to end up with a very wobbly looking fauna (mysteriously including a hedgehog).

Satellites are powerful tools. At the end of the day, though, you still need to get down on your knees before you can be really sure what you are seeing.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Ancient leviathan of the deep discovered

IT MAY have had a face only a mother could love, but it was the ocean’s top predator 500 million years ago.

It also persisted in those ancient oceans for much longer than palaeontologists realised thanks to a Yale University research team led by Irish scientist Prof Derek Briggs.

He and Dr Peter Van Roy recovered fossil remains of an animal that first emerged 525 million years ago; a sea creature that ruled the oceans for about 15 million years before disappearing.

Scientists believed that the animal, an invertebrate predator known as an anomalocaridid, must have died out. But then the Yale group recovered a much bigger and younger anomalocaridid from rocks in southeastern Morocco. They published their findings this morning in Nature.

The fossils are near complete examples of these animals, including their unusual front appendages as seen in the accompanying image.

Prof Briggs is famous for being among a group who recovered these and other exotic fossil animals from the Burgess Shale site in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia.

Only partial anomalocaridid fossils were found, but they were so unusual that the two appendages were originally assumed to be the animal’s dinner, two prawn-like creatures trapped in the predator’s jaws, Prof Briggs said.

However, subsequent discoveries in Utah and Germany showed that the curved-back shapes were actually part of this predator’s feeding machinery. The assumption is that the “grasping appendages” were used to trap or hold prey, then pass it on to the animal’s jaws and mouth which were positioned underneath, he said.

The earliest discoveries are dated to 525 million years ago during a time known as the Cambrian period. This was an important episode for life on our planet because the simple worms and shelled animals delivered after millions of years of evolution suddenly developed into myriad forms during the “Cambrian explosion”.

The anomalocaridid rose to the apex of the food chain, becoming the top marine predator, said Prof Briggs, who is the director of Yale’s Peabody Museum of Natural History. Then the fossil trail ended for this animal by about 510 million years ago – at least until the discovery by the Yale researchers. They also discovered that the creature had changed.

“The extraordinary thing about this is we have found the largest species of this animal yet discovered,” he said. While the earlier finds were about 50cm (20in) or 60cm long, the Moroccan fossil was more than a metre long.

“This is the largest complete animal yet discovered and it is also 30 million years younger,” he said. “They persisted a lot longer than we realised and must have been an important component of the marine environment. They were still the top predators at that time.”

The Moroccan fossils date to about 480 million years ago, putting them into a more recent period, the Ordovician, he said.

There has been some discussion among palaeontologists about how “efficient” they were as the lions or killer whales of their environment, he said.

“These things went for the easy things, worms and soft bodied animals. The fact that they got to such a large size means that there was plenty of nutrients around.”

There is limited evidence that they went for hard shelled animals as well however. Some hard-bodied fossils show signs of bite marks and damage that matches the unusual jaw of this giant anomalocaridid.

He believes that the Moroccan find will be from the same genus but will prove to be a different species of these animals given the 30 million year difference between them.

Source from : http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0526/1224297786504.html

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Ancient Cwmbran Society to celebrate new town's history

A charity is being launched to continue the work of one of Wales' largest community archaeology projects.

Founders of the Ancient Cwmbran Society in Torfaen say the recent Cistercians project only "scratched the surface" of the area's 3,500-year heritage.

Project leader Richard Davies says he wants to foster a greater sense of "pride, ownership and belonging" among residents of the post-war new town.

The group also aims to promote local history to attract tourists.

The society is being formed as a result of public interest in the Ancient Cwmbran and Cistercians Community Archaeology Project.

Cwmbran is mainly known for the post-war new town, but the area has been inhabited since Neolithic times.

The Iron Age Silures tribe later held sway before being subdued by the Romans, and the area was later on an important pilgrim's route, the Cistercian Way.

But the 18-month community archaeology project proved that Cwmbran had a history stretching back to the Bronze and Stone Ages.

Mr Davies said the study had been "hugely successful", resulting in hundreds of finds, including a Bronze Age wall system and a women's bracelet.

Source from : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-13502206

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images

Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt.

More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements were also revealed by looking at infra-red images which show up underground buildings.

Initial archaeology excavations have already confirmed some of the findings including of two suspected pyramids.

"To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist," says Dr Sarah Parcak.

She has pioneered the work in space archaeology from a Nasa-sponsored laboratory in Birmingham, Alabama and says she was amazed at how much she and her team have found.

"We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as it was emerging, but for me the "A-Ha" moment was when I could step back and look at everything that we'd found and I couldn't believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt."

The team analysed images from satellites orbiting 700km above the earth, equipped with cameras so powerful they can pin-point objects less than 1m in diameter on the earth's surface.

Infra-red imaging was used to highlight different materials under the surface.

Archaeology excavations

Ancient Egyptians built their houses and structures out of mud brick, which is much denser than the soil that surrounds it, so the shapes of houses, temples and tombs can be seen.

"It just shows us how easy it is to underestimate both the size and scale of past human settlements," says Dr Parcak.

And she believes there are more antiquities to be discovered:

"These are just the sites [close to] the surface. There are many thousands of additional sites that the Nile has covered over with silt. This is just the beginning of this kind of work."

BBC cameras followed Dr Parcak on her "nervous" journey when she travelled to Egypt to see if archaeology excavations could back up what her technology could see under the surface.

In the BBC documentary Egypt's Lost Cities, they visit an area of Saqqara (Sakkara) where the authorities were not initially interested in her findings.

But after being told by Dr Parcak that she had seen two potential pyramids, they made test excavations and they now believe it is one of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt.

But Dr Parcak said "the most exciting moment was visiting the excavations at Tanis."

"They'd excavated a 3,000 year old house that the satellite imagery had shown and the outline of the structure matched the satellite imagery almost perfectly. That was real validation of the technology."

Among other things, the Egyptian authorities plan to use the technology to help protect the country's antiquities in the future.

During the recent revolution, looters accessed some well-known archaeological sites.

"We can tell from the imagery a tomb was looted from a particular period of time and we can alert Interpol to watch out for antiquities from that time, that may be offered for sale."

She also hopes the new technology will help engage young people in science and will be a major help for archaeologists around the world.

"It allows us to be more focused and selective in the work we do. Faced with a massive site, you don't know where to start.
http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
"It's an important tool to focus where we're excavating. It gives us a much bigger perspective on archaeological sites. We have to think bigger and that's what the satellites allow us to do."

"Indiana Jones is old school, we've moved on from Indy, sorry Harrison Ford."

Source from : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13522957

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Stag beetle from over 2,500 years ago found in nearly complete shape

A stag beetle from about 2,500 to 2,800 years ago was found preserved almost in full shape at the Akitsu archaeological digging site in Gose, Nara Prefecture, the prefecture-run Archaeological Institute of Kashihara said Tuesday. Although parts of insects have been found at archaeological sites before, it is rare that one preserved almost completely has been discovered. The 6.3-centimeter-long male sawtooth stag beetle possesses the same physical characteristics as such beetles today.

‘‘It’s an important discovery in reproducing the environment back then,’’ an official of the institute said. ‘‘We can also compare it with modern species through DNA and other analyses.’‘

The stag beetle was found in mud attached to the roots of a Japanese evergreen oak tree which had grown near along what remains of a brook. The insect was likely able to avoid bacterial corrosion as it was held nearly in a vacuum state amid mud believed to have flooded in.

‘‘This is a miraculous discovery,’’ said Yasuhiro Nakatani, a senior staff member of Kashihara city’s museum of insects.

The stag beetle will be exhibited at the archaeological institute’s museum in Kashihara from Wednesday.

Source from : http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/stag-beetle-from-over-2500-years-ago-found-in-nearly-complete-shape

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

VIKING SHIP -- EARLIER THAN THOUGHT AND NOT JUST A BURIAL SHI

For years, it was widely believed that the ancient Tune ship on display at the Viking Ships Museum in Oslo was used mainly as a so-called "grave ship," perhaps even built for the purpose of being buried in the grave of an important Viking. Now a new doctoral dissertation claims that it was not only an ocean-going sailing vessel, but even grounded in its time and underwent repairs.

The Tune ship is the lesser-known and in the poorest condition of the three vessels on display at the museum. It was discovered on a farm on Rolvsøy, north of Fredrikstad, and excavated from a burial mound in 1867.

The grave was unusually large, measuring 80 meters in diameter and around four meters high, according to the Museum of Cultural History at the University of Oslo. The vessel, built around 900AD, was best preserved in the areas where it had been buried under thick clay.

Its remnants, however, paled when the stately Gokstad ship was discovered in 1880 and the Oseberg ship in 1903-04 on the other side of the Oslo Fjord. Now, archaeologist Knut Paasche of the Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research (NIKU) maintains in his newly finished doctoral dissertation that the Tune ship was also used on the high seas.

Paasche doesn't believe the Tune ship was a ceremonial ship that only was rowed inland until it was brought ashore and used in the burial mound. His studies revealed both ruts and signs of wear and tear under the keel, which he contends show that the ship was in use for a long time.

The Cultural History Museum now reports as well that the vessel "has probably been a fast, ocean-going vessel." Right behind the mast, a burial chamber was built and in it lay a man. Even though the grave had been plundered before its excavation, research has revealed remains of burial gifts, parts of a ski, the skeleton of a horse and remnants of his weapons including a sword handle.

"While the Gokstad ship was a large ocean-going trading vessel, and the Oseberg ship close to a pleasure yacht, the Tune ship was a fast-sailing courier ship along the coast," Paasche told Aftenposten. He said it was equipped with unusually strong rigging for such a small vessel that also was built for 12 oarsmen.

Paasche believes the craftmanship also suggests that early residents of today's Norway were sailing long before Viking times, given the knowledgeable boat-building behind the Tune ship. He said such building techniques could only have been rooted in maritime experience and handed down through generations.

Source from : http://www.newsinenglish.no/2011/05/09/viking-ship-not-just-ceremonial/

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Danger, Jukebox caves offer valued insights into Utah's past

Utah's Danger and Jukebox caves are remarkable archaeological sites for several reasons.Both provided shelter for ancient groups of people as far back as 12,000 years ago and have clues hidden in the strata that tell valuable stories to research teams.

Danger Cave — once known as Hands and Knees Cave because the curious had to crawl in to access it — is considered the cornerstone of archaeological research in the Great Basin.

Indian Cave or Picture Cave — contains rock artwork of hunters on horses armed with spears and bows and arrows that is fascinating and unique. Today it also has a concrete dance floor that once lent itself to parties for soldiers and their dates.

And remarkably, the two hillside caves remain intact enough to warrant further study and protection despite periodic years of abandonment during which looters and relic hunters paraded through the precious sites with abandon.

Retired state archaeologist David Madsen, along with current state archaeologist Kevin T. Jones and assistant state archaeologist Ron Rood, led groups of private citizens through the caves May 14 as part of the annual Archaeology Week activities — an event well attended by a fortunate few.

"We get such an overwhelming response every time we offer tours," Rood said, "just to go see a big hole in the ground."

"If you meet any archaeologist anywhere and tell them you've worked at Danger Cave, they will fall on their knees in awe because it's such a very famous archeaological site," Madsen said. "It's one of the most important sites in the United States. What it's taught us of antiquity is unmatched."

Danger Cave is so named because a large section of the outer rock face broke off and fell to the ground minutes after a research team had broken for lunch and cleared the area in 1941. The rocks remain today as mute evidence that ultimately, Mother Nature has say over what happens to these natural formations.

The cave itself is a good-sized opening in the rocky hillside in the Great Basin area a few miles from Wendover, big enough to explore with ease and, at the time of discovery, almost filled with cultural debris.

University of Utah field researchers under the direction of Jesse D. Jennings spent between 1949 and 1953 clearing out and studying the debris. They found an amazing array of artifacts, even perishable items like bits of basketry, leather and wood that survived only because the cave is dry.

They discovered layers of pickleweed seeds, pine nuts and salt brush, antelope hair and rock and ash from the hearths of people who probably used the caves as winter camp sites.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Iron Age dolman discovered in Srikakulam

An interesting archaeological structure dating back to 1000 and 500 BC has been discovered at Dannanapeta and Pandavulametta in Amudalavalasa of Srikakulam district.

Archaeology department director P Chenna Reddy said on Thursday that the huge dolmen (a pre-historic megalith) representing the Iron Age sepulchral structure was noticed by Kadiyala Venkatesvara Rao, a retired deputy director of Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh. "The discovery is significant as it is the biggest dolmen measuring 360 X 146 with a thickness of two feet, so far not reported from Andhra Pradesh. The single largest capstone weighs more than 50 tons," he said.

Another key find was an incision in the form of an anthropomorph on the floor of the dolmen and occurrence of post holes all around it that clearly suggest that it was a place of ancient ritual during the Iron Age. Locals believe that Bhima, the strongest of the Pandava brothers, lifted it with one hand and hence the area was called Pandavulametta.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Annigeri skulls are 638 years old

The carbon-14 tests on the human skulls found at Annigeri in Navalgund taluk of Dharwad district __ conducted to determine their period __ have indicated that they are 638 years' old. The ball is now in the court of historians and archaeologists to find out how and why nearly 500 skulls were buried there.

Prof. D P Mahapatra of The Institute of Physics in Bhubaneswar, where five samples were sent for testing, has stated: "The institute has analyzed five replicates of skull samples derived from bone collagen from a single piece (size 3cmx2cm) which were loaded with eight oxalic acid (NIST OX-II) standards. According to this, the age of the sample turns out to be equivalent to about 638 years from today (2011 AD) with an error of plus/ minus 60 years."

The institute, after carrying out Accelerator Marks Spectrometry (AMS) analysis, concluded that the skulls belonged to the latter part of 14th century or beginning of 15th century. That was the best-possible result under the given conditions, Prof. Mahapatra said, and added that the tests could not be carried out early as AMS machine was not working properly.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

De-bugging site and some Historical Archaeology sites on Beargrass!

While paddling on the Mayors Hike, Bike, and Paddle up the Ohio to Beargrass Creek, see if you can identify two interesting sites that could help tell the story of the life and history of Beargrass Creek.

The two photographs above are a testimony to the ability of nature to heal and restore itself. Jim Bruggers with CJ wrote a special report on Beargrass Creek: Troubled Stream: Neglect, Abuse. The May 2011 photo is of the location where a VW Bug sat in the creek for over 30 years. Today, you can not tell it was there. Some neat news is that Bernheim Forest is coordinating a riparian restoration project on this property .

The building of the 1850 Beargrass Creek canal, moving the mouth of Beargrass about two miles upstream, had many impacts on our city. At the time Louisville was the 10th largest city, and was actively building a robust sewer system. Check out the history here. According to Wikipdia, there was a Fort Elstner between Frankfort Ave. and Brownsboro Road that housed over 1,000 soldiers as part of the Louisville defence system. As you paddle along the creek you are able to see evidence of Louisville’s evolving transportation system - railroad, barge, and road access.

You can see seven bridges, all of different ages, along the paddling portion of the Hike, Bike, and Paddle route. I have also seen many old bridge abutments. In the photo below there are two different bridge abutments in the creek right near Home of the Innocents.

Make plans to join us on Memorial Day for the Mayor’s Hike, Bike, and Paddle. Explore the historical, ecological and recreational opportunities of our waterfront. There are maps, directions, agendas, etc. on the web site.

For a complete history of the waterfront and the confluence area with Beargrass Creek refer to Rick Bell’s new book "Louisville’s Waterfront Park".
For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Heritage caravan explores Kalash culture

The government is taking measures to revive archaeological tourism in the province, says Shagufta Malik, a women legislator and chairperson of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly Standing Committee on Culture.

Ms Shagufta Malik was part of a heritage caravan, which toured Chitral and Kalash valleys with a view to explore rich and unique culture of the district. The free guided week-long tour was organised by the Tourism Corporation of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (TCKP) in collaboration with Directorate of Archaeology and Museums.

The 30-member caravan comprising senior citizens, students and headed by Dr Abdul Samad, Consultant, Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, visited Kalash, Bumborate and Rumbur valleys.

It was fascinated by the antique and ritual dances during the Chilim Jusht festival of the Kalash people. The symbolic and nomadic dresses and cultural values attracted participants of the caravan, local and foreign tourists as well.

Shagufta Malik said the government would extend all kind of support to create awareness among youth about rich culture of the province through such events. She expressed the hope that the heritage caravan would continue in future.

Azam Khan, Secretary Archaeology and Tourism and Managing Director, Tourism Corporation KP, said the promotion of archaeological tourism was need of the hour both at national and international level.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank

Fractured human remains found on a German river bank could provide the first compelling evidence of a major Bronze Age battle.

Archaeological excavations of the Tollense Valley in northern Germany unearthed fractured skulls, wooden clubs and horse remains dating from around 1200 BC.

The injuries to the skulls suggest face-to-face combat in a battle perhaps fought between warring tribes, say the researchers.

The paper, published in the journal Antiquity, is based primarily on an investigation begun in 2008 of the Tollense Valley site, which involved both ground archaeology excavations and surveys of the riverbed by divers.

They found remains of around 100 human bodies, of which eight had lesions to their bones. Most of the bodies, but not all, appeared to be young men.

The injuries included skull damage caused by massive blows or arrowheads, and some of the injuries appear to have been fatal.

One humerus (upper arm) bone contained an arrow head embedded more than 22mm into the bone, while a thigh bone fracture suggests a fall from a horse (horse bones were also found at the site).

The archaeologists also found remains of two wooden clubs, one the shape of a baseball bat and made of ash, the second the shape of a croquet mallet and made of sloe wood.

Dr Harald Lubke of the Centre for Baltic and Scandinavian Archaeology in Germany said the evidence pointed to a major battle site, perhaps the earliest found to date.

"At the the beginning of the Neolithic, we have finds like Talheim in Germany, where we have evidence of violence, but it doesn't look like this situation in the Tollense Valley where we have many humans there in the riverbed," he told the BBC.

"We have a lot of violence from blunt weapons without any healing traces, and we have also evidence of sharp weapons. There are a lot of signs that this happened immediately before the victims died and the bodies are not buried in the normal way."

The archaeologists found no pottery, ornaments or paved surfaces which might be suggestive of formal graves or burial rituals.

Many of the bones appear to have been transported some distance by the river, although some finds appear to be in their original position.

The researchers suggest the bodies may have been dumped in the river before being washed away and deposited on a sandbar. Alternatively, the dead could have been killed on the spot in "the swampy valley environment", the paper concludes.

Dr Lubke believes the real conflict may have been fought out further up the river, and that the bodies so far found represent just a fraction of the carnage wrought by the battle.

"This is only a sample, what we have found up until now - the modern river bed only cuts across part of the river bed of that time. There are likely to be many more remains.

"It's absolutely necessary to find the place were the bodies came into the water and that will explain if it really was a battle or something else, such as an offering, but we believe that a fight is the best explanation at the moment."

Evidence was also found among the human remains of a millet diet, which is not typical of Northern Germany at the time, which the researchers say may betray the presence of invaders.

While bronze pins of a Silesian design could suggest contact with the Silesian region 400km to the south-east, they say.

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Mayan archaeological sites, graves found in southeastern Mexico

Mexican experts have discovered seven new Mayan archaeological sites and an "important concentration" of pre-Columbian graves in the southeastern state of Yucatan, the National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, said.

The vestiges, which include architectural structures, ceramic pieces, lithic fragments and human burial sites, were found in the rural community of Sitpach, five kilometers (three miles) east of Merida, the state capital.

The pieces date back to the Maya's Late Preclassic period (400 B.C.-200 A.D.), which "changes the previous chronology for this Maya region" in that area of the country, INAH said in a statement.

The finds were the result of a project to protect the archaeological heritage that lies in the subsoil on Merida's outskirts, the statement said.

The new sites were found in an area covering roughly 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) and are known as Oxmul, Polok Ceh, Cuzam, Chan Much, Nichak, Tzakan and Chankiuik.

According to INAH, Oxmul is an especially important archaeological site where 75 pre-Columbian graves were found containing the remains of Indians buried with polychromatic vessels and other ceramic pieces "never before seen in this Maya region."

Archaeologist Luis Raul Pantoja Diaz, coordinator of the Merida Region Archaeological Project, said in a statement that these finds of "earlier, well-organized populations with an elaborate social stratification" have altered the previous chronology of the ancient Maya culture.

For example, archaeologists have corroborated their hypothesis that Yucatan's northern region had been populated as far back as 400 B.C. - rather than only starting in the Classic period (200 A.D.-600 A.D.) as had been previously believed.

"These are areas of the municipality of Merida that were thought not to have been populated by such remote pre-Columbian groups because these are lands that weren't productive," Pantoja said.

Pantoja said archaeologists have found architectural structures made from materials that show evidence of "intense social and economic development."

"We now know that in the space where Merida now sits there's an early architecture, ceramic pieces, lithic fragments and human graves, basic elements that will serve to complete the history of this region of northern Yucatan," he said.

The specialist said that thanks to the Merida Region Archaeological Project researchers have explored "more than 15 sites located on the outskirts of the city, where the INAH thus far has registered 29 points with archaeological vestiges; meanwhile, there are 170 sites registered in the entire municipality of Merida."

All of the archaeological material recovered from the archaeology excavations will remain at INAH's offices in the Yucatan, where it will be analyzed by specialists in archaeology, restoration and physical anthropology to determine its precise age.

Source from : http://latino.foxnews.com

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Archaeology volunteers uncover 'lost' castle

A castle that was once one of the most important buildings in the North Pennines and the gateway to the Bishop of Durham’s great deer park of Stanhope, is now revealing its secrets after centuries as a forgotten ruin.

Fifty volunteers from the North Pennines AONB Partnership’s Altogether Archaeology and backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund and English Heritage are busy uncovering the ruins of Westgate Castle in Weardale.

From the 13th until the early 17th century, Westgate Castle served as the ‘west gate’ into the Bishop of Durham’s great deer park, and functioned as an administrative headquarters for the Bishop’s extensive estate encompassing the Old Forest of Weardale.

By the mid 17th century it lay in ruins and its masonry was quarried for new buildings.

source from : http://www.pasthorizons.com/index.php/archives/05/2011/archaeology-volunteers-uncover-lost-castle

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.

Archaeology: temple of Greek goddess Demeter and daughter Persephone found in Sozopol

In the Bulgarian seaside resort town of Sozopol, archaeologists have unearthed an ancient temple of the goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone, the private television channel bTV Reported on May 18 2011.

The finds were made at Cape Skamnii in the ancient town of Sozopol. Numerous statues and other artifacts have been found, indicating that the site was, indeed, a temple dedicated to Demeter and Persephone.

The temple dates back to the fourth or fifth century BC, according to archaeologists. The archaeology excavation works at Cape Skamrii began only a month ago, but already several other artifacts were found before this latest discovery, which promises that the area will be rich in secrets from 27 centuries ago, according to leading researcher Krustina Panayotova.

According to Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, who presided over grains, the fertility of the earth, and the seasons, while Persephone, was the queen of the underworld, and a daughter of Zeus and Demeter.

In ancient times, Sozopol and the surrounding area were called Apollonia Pontica.

Sozopol is one of the oldest towns on the Bulgarian coast. According to historic reports, the first settlement on the site dates back to the Bronze Age.

Undersea explorations in the region of the port have unearthed relics of dwellings, ceramic pottery, stone and bone tools from that era. Researchers have also found anchors from the second and first millennium BC in the town's bay, a proof of active shipping since ancient times.

Source from : http://www.sofiaecho.com

For more interesting topics related to archaeology, visit archaeology excavations.