December 2011, Daily News

Archaeology News for the Week of April 24th, 2011

Sun, Apr 24, 2011

April 30th, 2011

Looking for Sodom: The North Side Story

For decades, scientists and scholars have been searching for the fabled cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the "cities of the Plain", the cities that, according to the Biblical record, were destroyed anciently by God because of the great iniquity of their inhabitants. Recent archaeological investigations, including two currently in progress, are now raising some fascinating prospects that may possibly bring us closer to identifying the location and remains of at least one of these infamous cities, Sodom, the kingpin itself. One of these investigations may overturn long-held theories about where the infamous city was located. (Popular Archaeology)

Ancient gold plates in Mesoamerica

Archaeologists have know for about a century that gold plates with carved writing have been found in Mesoamerica, yet it is still not common knowledge outside their discipline. It all began with Edward Herbert Thompson. When he was excavating at Chichén Itzá near the turn of the 20th century, he was enthralled with the sacrificial cenote. (Deseret News)

Did Peking Man wield a spear?

Never underestimate Peking Man. About 700,000 years ago, at a time when China’s climate was chillier than it is today, a group of Homo erectus lived in a cave system in Zhoukoudian China. They had a striking appearance. With a heavy brow ridge, large robust teeth and a brain size approaching our own, these people had long since left Africa, their ancestors travelling thousands of kilometres into East Asia. (Unreported Heritage News)

Oldest remains of Caspian Horse discovered in North of Iran

During the eighth season of archaeological research in Gohar Tappeh, in the northern Iranian province of Mazandaran, archaeologists have discovered the remains of a horse identified as the Caspian also known as the Māzandarān Horse, the oldest breed of horse in the world still in existence. The remains were discovered in a cemetery dating back to the late Bronze and early Iron age, around 3400 BCE. (Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies)

3 in artifacts case plead guilty

Three people arrested as part of the largest crackdown on Native American artifacts trafficking entered guilty pleas Friday in federal court. (Deseret News)

April 29th, 2011

'We've just scratched the surface': Divers find 'oldest shipwreck in the Caribbean'

A chance encounter with a fisherman has led one team of treasure hunters to discover what they believe is the oldest shipwreck in the Caribbean. And after only diving the site - located off the Dominican Republic coast - a handful of times, the team at Deep Blue Marine has unearthed some serious treasure. At the last count Captain Billy Rawson and his crew had uncovered 700 silver coins that could be worth millions, jade figurines and even a mirrored stone that was possibly used in Shamanic rituals. Everything was in pretty good condition, despite dating back to the 1500s. (DailyMail Online)

The Meaning of Words: New Evidence of Ancient Maya History

It is not often that a young archaeologist stumbles upon a spectacular find. Kenichiro Tsukamoto, a young Japanese archaeologist and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Arizona, has found a "mountain" of texts in a recently discovered hieroglyphic stairway at the site of El Palmar in Campeche, Mexico. (National Geographic)

Ancient Roman ship found in Italy

A ship that sailed the Mediterranean in the days of the Roman empire has emerged from the ground at the ancient port of Rome, scientists said Thursday. Archaeologists so far have uncovered a 35-foot section of one side of the ship, the Italian news agency ANSA reported. (UPI.com)

Remains of probable ancient homicide found

The body of a girl believed to have been killed by Roman soldiers almost 2,000 years ago has been discovered in north Kent in Britain, researchers say. (UPI.com)

A digital archive for Cyprus' antiquities

The Cyprus Archaeological Digitisation Programme (CADiP) started in mid-October 2009 in order to manage thousands antiquities scattered all over Cyprus "and serve the needs of the Antiquities department as well as those of researchers and the public," Curator of Antiquities Despo Pilides yesterday said at a news conference. Roughly 1,300 monuments have been catalogued under the project. Also catalogued are Paphos Museum's 5,000-odd artefacts found up until 1975. (Cyprus Mail)

April 28th, 2011

Lost City Revealed Under Centuries of Jungle Growth

Hidden for centuries, the ancient Maya city of Holtun, or Head of Stone, is finally coming into focus. Three-dimensional mapping has "erased" centuries of jungle growth, revealing the rough contours of nearly a hundred buildings, according to research presented earlier this month. Though it's long been known to locals that something—something big—is buried in this patch of Guatemalan rain forest, it's only now that archaeologists are able to begin teasing out what exactly Head of Stone was. (National Geographic)

Monkeys, Brains, and Human Evolution: New Findings

Two recently conducted studies may add some possible new revelations related to our understanding of human or primate evolution. In one, researchers have concluded that certain monkeys, like humans, have the ability to recall or remember things and then even apply those memories to novel situations, suggesting the possibility that recollection did not necessarily depend upon language and that this ability may have been present in a common primate ancestor 30 million years ago. In another, researchers are suggesting that a single gene mutation may have controlled or directed the evolution of the cerebral cortex of the human brain over the last 5 million years. (Popular Archaeology)

Titanic's Unknown Child Given New, Final Identity

Five days after the passenger ship the Titanic sank, the crew of the rescue ship Mackay-Bennett pulled the body of a fair-haired, roughly 2-year-old boy out of the Atlantic Ocean on April 21, 1912. Along with many other victims, his body went to a cemetery in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the crew of the Mackay-Bennett had a headstone dedicated to the "unknown child" placed over his grave. (LiveScience)

Ancient DNA: Curse of the Pharaoh's DNA

Some researchers claim to have analysed DNA from Egyptian mummies. Others say that's impossible. Could new sequencing methods bridge the divide? (NatureNews)

April 27th, 2011

Enormous statue of powerful pharaoh unearthed

Archaeologists unearthed one of the largest statues found to date of a powerful ancient Egyptian pharaoh at his mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor, the country's antiquities authority announced Tuesday.The 13 meter (42 foot) tall statue of Amenhotep III was one of a pair that flanked the northern entrance to the grand funerary temple on the west bank of the Nile that is currently the focus of a major excavation. The statue consists of seven large quartzite blocks and still lacks a head and was actually first discovered in the 1928 and then rehidden, according to the press release from the country's antiquities authority. Archaeologists expect to find its twin in the next digging season. (The State)

Early Somali Life Depicted In Cave Paintings

Known today for its bloody conflicts and instability, Somalia’s little known history can be found in the colorful cave paintings of animals and humans discovered in 2002 by a French archaeology team. Laas Gaal, Somalia (also known as Laas Geel), just outside of Haregeisa, the capital of Somalia’s self-declared Somaliland state, contains 10 caves that show vivid depictions of a pastoralist history which dates back to some 5,000 years or more, reports AFP. (RedOrbit)

Roman tomb found under Naples toxic waste dump

Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Roman mausoleum under an illegal toxic waste dump near Naples. The sprawling 2nd-century AD tomb, complete with stucco work and decorations, was found under nearly 60 tonnes of refuse illicitly piled up in 17th-century ruins at Pozzuoli, site of the ancient Roman seaside town of Puteolanum. (The Independent)

Bear DNA is clue to age of Chauvet cave art

EXPLORING a gorge in south-east France in 1994 for prehistoric artefacts, Jean-Marie Chauvet hit the jackpot. After squeezing through a narrow passage, he found himself in a hidden cavern, the walls of which were covered with paintings of animals. But dating the beautiful images - which featured in Werner Herzog's recent documentary film Cave of Forgotten Dreams - has led to an ugly spat between archaeologists. Could the bones of cave bears settle the debate? (New Scientist)

WWII crash sites in Scotland to be surveyed

Archaeologists are to carry out surveys of nine World War II aircraft crash sites across Scotland. They include a crashed US B-17 Flying Fortress on Skye and locations on Shetland and in Dumfries and Galloway. Terence Christian, of the University of Glasgow, and volunteers excavated the wreck of a Mosquito MM244 near Inverness last year. (BBC News)

El Mirador, the Lost City of the Maya

About a half-hour's flying time due north was the Mirador basin itself—a 2,475-square-mile tract of jungle in northern Guatemala and Campeche, Mexico, filled with hidden ruins that Hansen and others refer to as "the cradle of Maya civilization."We zipped away from the town of Flores at 140 knots. Off to the east were the spectacular Maya pyramids and ruins of Tikal National Park, which is now linked to Flores by road and draws between 150,000 and 350,000 visitors a year. (Smithsonian.com)

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April 26th, 2011

Cavemen, Cave Bears Battled Over Turf

Cavemen may have had to jostle with bears to settle into caves up to 32,000 years ago, as research shows cave bears lived in the same spaces coveted by prehistoric humans. The new study on cave bears, which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Archaeological Science, may also shed light on the age of cave art depicting these enormous animals and why the bears eventually went extinct. A clue to the mysteries is that from 32,000 to 30,000 years ago, both humans and cave bears lived in two French caves, creating a likely man-versus-bear battle. (Discovery News)

Neolithic artifacts unearthed in northern India

A team of archaeologists is excavating a Neolithic site in a small village in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh (northern India). "During excavation work being carried out in Puccakot village, rare remains of Neolithic age up to Gupta period (320-550 CE) have been recovered," professor RS Dubey, heading the excavation work being carried out by archaeological department of the Banaras Hindu University, said. (Stone Pages)

200-year-old cannonballs found

A cache of cannonballs, thought to be from the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945), were found in Hue during some construction works along the An Cuu river embankment. (SEAArch)

April 25th, 2011

Has the mystery of Easter Island finally been solved?

A scientific battle over the fate of Easter Island's natives is ready to erupt this summer with the publication of a book challenging the notion that their Neolithic society committed ecological suicide. The debate has a modern political dimension. At stake is the central example, cited by Jared Diamond in his 2005 book Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, of the dire consequences that threaten if humans don't take care of the planet. The archaeological argument revolves around the moai, hundreds of stone statues that line the coast of the now treeless South Pacific island, known to its inhabitants as Rapa Nui. (The Independent)

Mission-era artifacts found in downtown Ventura are well-preserved

The archaeologists digging at the corner of Main and Palm streets in downtown Ventura aren't exactly unearthing long-buried secrets. In this spot, Ventura's past is close to the surface. It's long been known that this lot — until recently, a city parking lot with the Top Hat Burger Palace in one corner — was once home to the easternmost wing of San Buenaventura Mission. (vcstar.com)

Jerusalem's time tunnels

Horizontal excavations throughout the Old City of Jerusalem and Silwan are producing important archaeological discoveries, but opponents charge that they are undermining Palestinian foundations, in more ways than one (Haaretz)

Missing parts of sphinx found in German cave

Archaeologists have discovered fragments of one of the world's oldest sculptures, a lion-faced figurine estimated at 32,000 years old, from the dirt floor of a cave in southern Germany. (World News)

April 24th, 2011

In Turkey, surveyors map a WWI battlefield

The World War I battlefield of the Gallipoli campaign, where throngs gather each April to remember the fallen, is a place of lore, an echo of ancient warfare that took place on the same soil. Now researchers are mapping dugouts, trenches and tunnels in the most extensive archaeological survey of a site whose slaughter helped forge the identity of young nations.Armed with old maps and GPS technology, the experts from Turkey, Australia and New Zealand have so far discovered rusted food cans, unused bullets and their shell casings, and fragments of shrapnel, Ottoman-era bricks with Greek lettering, ceramic rum flagons of Allied soldiers and glass shards of beer bottles on the Turkish side. They announced early findings ahead of annual commemorations on the rugged peninsula on Sunday and Monday. (Yahoo News)

Unknown ancient kingdom found in China

An unknown kingdom dating back to 1046 B.C. has been unearthed in north China, archaeologists said. The kingdom is probably from the Xizhou dynasty (1046 to 771 B.C.), Xinhua reported. Engraving on bronze wares found in tombs in Shanxi province's Linfen city indicate that the region was reigned by Ba Bo, or Count of the Ba kingdom, the archaeologists said. (Times of India)

Learning about life in Ogapogee: Archaeological report details findings from downtown dig

At least 1,500 people lived in what is now downtown Santa Fe from A.D. 1200 to 1425. They made pottery like that of today's pueblos, hunted deer, rabbit and squirrel with flaked-stone projectile points, and fashioned jewelry from turquoise, travertine and shells. Life was short. Osteoporosis, tuberculosis and nutritional deficiencies were common. Many died as children. Men averaged 30.4 years, women 23.5. Only about 13 percent of the graves hold people deemed to be at least 75 years old. (Santa Fe New Mexican)

Trove of 4,000-yrs-old remains being unearthed in UP

A team of archaeologists is trying to unravel the pages of history in a small village in Ballia district of Uttar Pradesh as remains from the New Stone Age are being regularly excavated. "During excavation work being carried out in Puccakot village, rare remains of Neolithic age upto Gupta period have been recovered," Professor R S Dubey, heading the excavation work being carried out by archaeological department of the Banaras Hindu University, told PTI over phone. (Yahoo News)

Top 10: Archaeology Sites In North America

No.10 Teotihuacan (200 B.C. to A.D. 650). Just 30 miles northeast of Mexico City is the Mesoamerican site of Teotihuacan, the oldest on our list, which descends in order of age. Once the largest urban center in North America, by A.D. 500, Teotihuacan even rivaled the ancient city of Rome. (AskMen)