December 2011, Daily News

Archaeology News for the Week of December 4th, 2011

Wed, Dec 07, 2011

December 10th, 2011

Ancient human remains from Sudan: training future specialists

Sudan has perhaps one of the richest and most fascinating archaeological records in the world. Construction projects such as roads and dams are an increasing threat to its cultural heritage which prompts a large number of salvage excavations by Sudanese and international teams. Accordingly, as a large number of archaeological sites are cemeteries, the amount of human remains housed in museums and universities for use in research is steadily growing. (BritishMuseum.org)

Plot thickens in Swedish king's grave mystery

Scientists carrying out tests on bodies exhumed from the tomb believed to contain King Magnus Ladulås, who reigned as Swedish king from 1275 until 1290, were surprised to find that the bodies were at least 200 years too young to be the fabled king and his family. (The Local, Sweden's News in English)

December 9th, 2011

New study of Western Isles' sand dune-buried artefacts

New research is being carried out on artefacts recovered from a site where evidence was found for every age from the Neolithic to the 20th Century. Archaeology at Udal provides an "unbroken timeline" of occupation from the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Viking, Medieval through to the 1900s. Some of the evidence at the site on North Uist was preserved by wind-blown sand dunes. (BBC News)

Archaeology: Part of ancient fortress wall of Philippolis found in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv

Part of the ancient fortress wall of Philippopolis was discovered during excavations by EVN Heating in the centre of Plovdiv, Bulgarian National Television said on December 9 2011. The find, however, will not be exhibited because the roadway has to be covered over again, the report said. (SofiaEcho)

EURO CRISIS ECHOED IN RENAISSANCE HISTORY

As European leaders meet today in a desperate attempt to prevent a colossal euro collapse, a look back at history shows that we have learned little from the past. Excessive debt accumulation, structural weakness and poor management were responsible for economic crashes and collapses since the medieval invention of banking by the Italians, who came up with the deposit account, double entry bookkeeping and the line of credit. "The word bank comes from the Italian, named after the 'banco' or bench on which merchants traded. And bankrupt originates from the practice of breaking the bench of an insolvent banker," said art historian Ludovica Sebregondi, co-curator of "Money and Beauty," a perfectly timed exhibition which runs in Florence until January 22. (Discovery News)

New finds prompt expansion of Historic Area armoury project

Recent archaeological discoveries at the James Anderson Armoury project have confirmed the location of Anderson’s tinsmithing operation on a site adjacent to the Armoury. Those discoveries have led Forrest Mars Jr. to provide an additional $500,000 for reconstruction and endowment of the Revolutionary War-era tinsmith shop. (Virginia Gazette)

December 8th, 2011

Rock Shelter Inhabitants Slept in Comfort 77,000 Years Ago

Excavations in a South African rock shelter uncover prehistoric bedding, opening an additional window on early modern human behavior. (Popular Archaeology)

Lucifer over Lancashire! Could this derelict cottage have been the setting for the Pendle witches' coven?

It was the setting for one of England’s most infamous witches’ covens. So the discovery of a mummified cat sealed into the walls of a 17th century cottage was yesterday described by historians as ‘spellbinding’. The unfortunate animal – associated with witches for centuries – was apparently buried alive to protect the inhabitants from evil spirits. (http://www.dailymail.co.uk)

The Mystery of the Missing Hominid Fossils

As we honor the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, I thought I’d share a story that highlights how World War II affected the study of human evolution. It’s one of the great mysteries in the history of paleonanthropology: how boxes full of hominid fossils disappeared during the war. (Smithsonian.com)

Transbay Archaeology Exhibit: SOMA Construction Unveils Preserved Gold Rush Artifacts

While excavating the SOMA site of the new Transbay Transit Center -- hoped to become the "Grand Central Station of the West" -- the Joint Powers Authority discovered an enormous collection of preserved artifacts from the 19th century Gold Rush era buried beneath the soil. Included in the findings are apothecary jars, glass soda and liquor bottles, ink wells, ceramic dolls and toothbrushes, among other things, revealing a look at life in 19th century San Francisco. (HuffingtonPost.com)

December 7th, 2011

The Lost City of Colombia Gets a New Lease on Life

The remarkable but little-known ancient center of Ciudad Perdida in Colombia is under threat, but not forever. (Popular Archaeology) 

What Did Australopithecines Sound Like? More “Duh” Than “Ugg”

When archaeologists hear whispers of humanity’s past, it’s through the painstaking work of piecing together a story from artifacts and fossilized remains: The actual calls, grunts, and other sounds made by our evolutionary ancestors didn’t fossilize. But working backward from clues in ancient skeletons, Dutch researcher Bart de Boer has built plastic models of an early hominin‘s vocal tract—and, by running air through the models, recreated the sounds our ancestors may have made millions of years ago. (Discover Magazine)

Neandertals’ mammoth building project

Neandertals are stumping for bragging rights as the first builders of mammoth-bone structures, an accomplishment usually attributed to Stone Age people. (Science News)

Ancient human bone found in Ishigaki cave

Archaeologists are ecstatic as they study a 24,000-year-old human bone fragment that’s been discovered on Ishigaki Island in southern Okinawa Prefecture. The Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum is among those poring over the bone piece found in the Shirahosaonetabaru cave. (Japan Update)

Mysterious Jerusalem markings intrigue experts

Mysterious stone carvings made thousands of years ago and recently uncovered in an excavation underneath Jerusalem have archaeologists stumped. (Mail&Guardianonline)

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December 6th, 2011

Scientists Discover Some Keys to Human Brain Evolution

Researchers have uncovered some possible explanations for what distinguished human brain evolution from that of their primate cousins. (Popular Archaeology)

Ancient Dry Spells Offer Clues About the Future of Drought

As parts of Central America and the U.S. Southwest endure some of the worst droughts to hit those areas in decades, scientists have unearthed new evidence about ancient dry spells that suggest the future could bring even more serious water shortages. Three researchers speaking at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco on Dec. 5, 2011, presented new findings about the past and future of drought. Ben Cook, a climatologist affiliated with NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) and Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York City, highlighted new research that indicates the ancient Meso-American civilizations of the Mayans and Aztecs likely amplified droughts in the Yucatán Peninsula and southern and central Mexico by clearing rainforests to make room for pastures and farmland. (Science Daily)

Helena's new school sits on 1917 mine

It's a foundation of history and a place where a new generation will study. While excavating the site for Helena's new high school, archaeologists and local historians are finding pieces of the past. A new school will sit on what used to be 4 mines. We went on a trip back in time to learn about the people who lived and worked there. (ABC3340)

Unesco assesses temple damage

The panel of experts from Unesco who were inspecting the flooded sites of Ayutthaya last week highlighted the problems of fungi and algae growing on the walls of the sites, especially on the painted murals. (SEAarch)

Archaeologists unearth 7th-century house in Yorkshire Dales

Humanity's long attachment to Yorkshire has notched up another piece of early evidence with the discovery of the first 7th-century house to be recorded in the Dales national park. Volunteer archaeologists dug down into an outcrop of stones on the flanks of Ingleborough fell, one of the Three Peaks famous for walks and marathon runs, where settlements were thought to exist but none had been excavated owing to shortages of time, expertise and funds. (The Guardian)

Jars of Plenty

Wine flowed freely from ancient Greece during its golden age, but new work suggests nuts and various herbs were also in demand. With the help of DNA analysis, scientists are getting a present-day look at centuries-old trade in the Mediterranean. Such studies may help debunk some long-held assumptions, namely that the bulk of Greek commerce revolved around wine. (Science News)

5,000 Historic New York Artifacts Found Beneath Fulton Street

Workers installing a new steam pipe on Fulton Street this fall stumbled across an archaeological treasure trove of more than 5,000 objects dating back to the turn of the 19th century. Among the discoveries made in an old basement foundation at 40 Fulton St. were a bone toothbrush, a copper half-penny and hundreds of shards of pottery. (DNAinfo.com) 

December 5th, 2011

Coining it in: Britain's largest collection of Roman offerings to the gods to be displayed at British Museum

The British Museum is receiving the country's single largest collection of Roman offerings to the gods. The huge haul, collected by two divers over 25 years, consists of over 3,000 objects including coinage, jewellery, furniture fittings and pottery vessels thrown into a river as offerings. Divers Rolfe Mitchinson and Bob Middlemass accrued the collection in the River Tees in County Durham, close to where a Roman fort once stood. (DailyMail.co.uk)

Sequim mastodon creates mystery about the first humans here

The death of a mastodon nearly 14,000 is helping reverse scientific thinking about the origins of human settlement in the Americas. Clearly, sophisticated hunting took place without any spread of culture from Alaska down the West Coast. (Crosscut.com)

In the old village of Hermitage will post materials on the archeology of St. Petersburg

A large part of the release Repository of the State Hermitage in Staraya derevnia in St. Petersburg will be built to the 250-year anniversary of the Museum in 2014. As a reporter BakuToday, today, 5 December, stated during the on-line Conference at Internet cafes Hermitage Museum Director Mikhail Piotrovsky. (www.BakuToday.net)

State requiring archaeological study at Easton's proposed parking deck and bus terminal

The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission ordered the study, known as an Act 106 review, after local historic preservation planner Tom Jones notified state officials about the area’s historic significance. In his letter to the commission, Jones notes that the site of the proposed parking deck was part of the city that had been laid out in lots in 1752 and that area had been the site of a Lenni Lenape town. (LeHighValleyLive.com)

December 4th, 2011

Bronze age man's lunch: a spoonful of nettle stew

Archaeological dig reveals hundreds of objects, from six oak-tree boats to a bowl of food. Six boats hollowed out of oak tree trunks are among hundreds of intact artefacts from 3,000 years ago that have been discovered in the Cambridgeshire fens, the Observer can reveal. The scale, quality and condition of the objects, the largest bronze age collection ever found in one place in Britain, have astonished archaeologists – and barely a fraction of the site has been excavated.(Guardian.co.uk)

Statue of Egyptian king Amenhotep III found

Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a large statue of king Amenhotep III who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago and who was the grandfather of the famed boy-pharaoh Tutankhamun. The Supreme Council of Antiquities says the latest find was made at the king's funerary temple in the southern city of Luxor. (AJC.com)

Filling in the gaps in the slave trade

Geneticists, archaeologists and historians are joining forces to investigate the history of transatlantic slavery, in a €4.3-million (US$5.8-million) project launched today. The researchers say that the project is a unique opportunity to improve our knowledge of the slave trade, but warn that some of their results might be “uncomfortable”. (Nature)

Yorkshire Dales National Park reveals Anglo Saxon building

The ruins of what is thought to be an Anglo Saxon building have been revealed by amateur archaeologists in part of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The stone building, near Selside, North Yorkshire, was uncovered by members of the Ingleborough Archaeology Group. Samples of charcoal found in the soil floor were carbon dated. That revealed they date from between 660 and 780 AD. (BBC News)

Warren County Native American site is 'extremely rare'

Archeologists have found at the site roughly 900 artifacts from 11,000 to 13,000 years ago, referred to as the Paleo-Indian period. Thousands more objects were found leading up to Colonial times. Discovered along the Musconetcong River, the area is known as the Plenge site. (Lehighvalleylive.com)