Archaeology News for the Week of January 29nd, 2012

December 2011, Daily News

Mon, Jan 30, 2012

February 4th, 2012

Blackbeard Artifacts to be Opened to Public

A select group of recently restored artifacts from Blackbeard's pirate flagship, including a bronze cannon, will be displayed for public viewing. (Popular Archaeology)

Viking axe head discovery is 'evidence of battle'

A Viking axe head found in a Gloucestershire village could be evidence of a battle more than 1,100 years ago, according to archaeologists. The wrought iron object, found in Slimbridge in 2008, has now been identified as being of Viking origin. Historians say a band of Vikings sailed up the River Severn and fought against the Anglo-Saxons in 894 AD. (BBC News)

140-year-old shipwreck piece washes ashore on remote stretch of Sleeping Bear Dunes beach

A substantial hull piece that shipwreck experts believe comes from the schooner Jennie and Annie, which sunk in the Manitou Passage in 1872, has washed up on a remote stretch of Lake Michigan beach north of Empire in the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. (M Live)

Caledon’s unique archaeological treasures to be resurrected

RESTORATION work has begun to save Caledon’s original archaeological treasures, including a housed beam engine, the only one still in existence in the British Isles. Large sums of government and private money is being poured into the village to restore parts of the Caledon Estate and relics of the village’s once thriving woolen industry. (Tyrone Times)

Pots of gold await as underworld gets on the tourist trail

FAR below the picturesque villages and rolling hills of the Yorkshire Dales, there lies another world. A twisting 100km labyrinth of deep caves dating back 600,000 years that many visitors to the national park have little or no idea exists beneath their walking boots. (Yorkshire Post)

Rescued by ingenuity, luck and two emus

When the Royal Charlotte struck Frederick Reef, the passengers followed some unlikely saviours, writes Steve Meacham. EVEN now, almost two centuries later, it remains one of Australia's most unlikely survival stories. In 1825, when the Royal Charlotte struck grief on its way to India on a mischarted part of the Great Barrier Reef, the 120 souls aboard - including women and children - feared the worst. (Sydney Morning Herald)

February 3rd, 2012

Archaeological Remains of a Nomadic Culture is an Eye-Opening Surprise

When one thinks of historic Kazakhstan, a vision of rough-riding, nomadic, gypsy-like people on horseback, traversing a vast, flat, steppe-like landscape, comes to mind. The ancient cultural and artistic achievements of this people might surprise you, however. Their civilization was in fact far from being a cultural desert, as a new exhibit opening in New York City will testify. The Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University (ISAW) will present the first U.S. exhibition with a comprehensive overview of the unique nomadic culture of ancient Kazakhstan. (Popular Archaeology)

Study Reveals Possible New Key to Human Evolution

For the first five years of life, human cognition slowly comes to fruition, receiving and storing information and experience from the environment and enabling humans to advance beyond the capabilities of their primate cousins, according to a study published online in Genome Research. An international team of researchers have identified extended synaptic development in the prefrontal cortex of the human brain that sheds new light on the evolution of human cognition and suggests another reason why the human family diverged from other primates 4-6 million years ago. (Popular Archaeology)

The Earliest Copy of Mona Lisa Found

Conservators at Madrid's Prado museum have identified what they believe is the earliest copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Brighter faced and younger than the original which hangs in the Louvre in Paris, the lady in the portrait has long been standing against a black background. Art historians thought it was just one of dozens of replicas produced in the centuries after Leonardo's death. But as paint layers were stripped away during recent restoration work, a landscape much similar to the original backdrop in Da Vinci's masterpiece, emerged. (Discovery News)

Community archaeology project success leads to more North East digs

MORE digs are being planned in one of the North East’s top landscape areas after the success of a community archaeology project. Last year more than 400 volunteers took part in the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) Partnership’s Altogether Archaeology project. (www.journallive.co.uk)

Honeywell to avoid boat wrecks on bottom of Onondaga Lake while dredging

Honeywell International Inc. has agreed to avoid sunken canal boats, pier remains and other historical artifacts when it dredges decades of industrial waste from the bottom of Onondaga Lake starting this year. (Syracuse.com)

Human remains could be 1931 quake victim

On the 81st anniversary of the Hawke's Bay earthquake there is speculation the skeletal remains of a body found on a Napier building site yesterday may have been a victim of that disaster. The remains, including a complete skull, were found amidst rubble by builders preparing to lay foundations for a fence at the Hastings St property- leading some in the area to speculate it may have come from that time. (Hawke's Bay Today)

Archaeologists uncover history in South Carolina backyard

When you think of an archaeological dig, your backyard probably doesn’t come to mind. And neither does an intersection in your town. But for two South Carolina archaeologists, what started out as research for a doctorate degree turned into a treasure trove of history that lay right beneath the dirt on a downtown street corner. (Fox News)

Centuries-old bones could halt Danville industrial project

A 158-acre tract of land acquired by the Danville Industrial Development Authority for development as industrial sites has turned up some surprises — remnants of a plantation dating back to the 1700s, as well as signs of outbuildings and a cemetery. The property is located on Gypsum Road, with road frontage on Celotex Way as well. It stretches back to the banks of the Dan River, and was purchased from Ben Coleman for $635,182 in the fall of 2011. (GoDanRiver.com)

Boy finds 5,000-year-old spearhead

Mikhaiel Barnes, 10, can not only spell ‘archaeologist,’ he can brag about being one. This past fall, while rummaging for rocks near a Brampton river bed, Mikhaiel stumbled upon a rare artifact— an ancient spearhead known as a Brewerton projectile point— dating some 5,000 years old. (Brampton Guardian)

February 1st, 2012

Ancient tablet may contain world’s oldest ‘Yo Mama’ joke, along with sex and beer humor

OK, they aren't exactly knee-slappers, but 3,500 years ago, the six riddles found on an ancient tablet in Iraq could well have been quite the howlers — and may even contain the oldest "Yo Mama" joke known to man. The cuneiform chucklers, believed to be written by a Babylonian student circa 1,500 B.C., were carved on a damaged tablet, discovered in 1976 by an archaeologist, J.J. van Dijk. The tablet has since vanished, but van Dijk preserved what was written on it. Michael Streck and Nathan Wasserman studied the riddles and published their findings in the noted journal Iraq, published by the British Institute for the Study of Iraq. (NY Daily News)

Archaeologists and pagans alike glory in the Brodgar complex

The Brodgar complex has, however, got everyone excited. It ticks all the boxes that make archaeologists, other academics, lay historians and pagans jump up and down. Its age is significant: it's around 800 years older than Stonehenge (although lately, having had to do some research into ancient Britain, I've been exercised by just how widely dates for sites vary, so perhaps some caution is called for). Pottery found at Stonehenge apparently originated in Orkney, or was modelled on pottery that did. (The Guardian)

Indian tribes join forces to save petroglyph site

January 31st, 2012

Climate Change Has Helped Bring Down Cultures

Humanity has weathered many a climate change, from the ice age of 80,000 years ago to the droughts of the late 19th century that helped kill between 30 and 50 million people around the world via famine. But such shifts have transformed or eliminated specific human societies, including the ancient Sumerians and the Ming Dynasty in China, as highlighted in a review paper published January 30 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (Scientific American)

Researchers find cancer in ancient Egyptian mummy

A professor from American University in Cairo says discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment. The genetics-environment question is key to understanding cancer. AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was of a man who died in his forties. (Fox News)

Zapotec kiln used 1,000 years ago discovered in Oaxaca by Mexican archaeologists from INAH

A kiln used by Zapotec ancestors to create ceramic pieces more than 1,300 years ago, confirms the long tradition of pottery in Oaxaca. The Prehispanic kiln was recently discovered at Atzompa Archaeological Site, which will be opened to the public this year. This kiln presents a good conservation state, better than those found at Monte Alban, being the best conserved found to present. The kiln allows linking Prehispanic pottery tradition to the current handicraft activity at Santa Maria Atzompa community, acknowledging identification of contemporary society with the ancestors. (ArtDaily.org)

ASI detects void in the Lions gate of Jagannath temple

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) looking after the conservation and preservation of 12th century old Jagannath temple, has noticed a void in the lions gate, the main entrance of the temple. The void was detected during the pre-repair inspection and the ASI has informed the statutory expert committee formed for temple repairs and conservation. (newKerala.com)

Top archaeologists condemn Israeli plan to rebuild ancient tomb

The plan, promoted by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Gush Etzion Regional Council, includes rebuilding the tomb of Herod the Great in West Bank. (HAARETZ.com)

Sumerian gold jar, other stolen relics returned to Baghdad

A 6,500-year-old Sumerian gold jar, the head of a Sumerian battle axe and a stone from an Assyrian palace were among 45 relics returned to Iraq by Germany yesterday. The items were among thousands stolen from Iraq’s museums and archeological sites in the mayhem that followed the US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussain in 2003. (Gulf-Times.com)

Gallows found amid mystery

A DOZEN archaeology students had no way of knowing if they had half a gallows, or three-quarters of a gallows yesterday. The 2m wide oblong of stone-block foundation marks the place where, on January 31, 1860, John Vigors was executed for "shooting at one John Baker with intent to kill and murder him". But the length of the the platform, through which Vigors and four other men dropped, remains a mystery because the far end lies beneath the Oatlands swimming pool. (TheMercury.com.au)

Archaeo-Tourists Mob Ancient Aztec, Mayan Ruins

They're checking out Chichen Itza, packing Palenque and tooling around Tulum: A whopping 10.6 million tourists explored Mexico's 183 publicly open archaeological sites last year, according to the country's National Institute of Anthropology and History. And the visitor count is expected to soar through the roof in 2012. (Huffington Post Travel)

The archaeology of Fort KnoxThe archaeology of Fort Knox

The fort, located in Prospect Maine, is one of the largest stone forts built during the Civil War. It was built to protect the Penobscot River and Bangor, Maine from a river attack between 1844 and 1864, but was never finished. (Examiner.com)

January 30th, 2012

Hopi petroglyph sites web portal launched

CyArk and partners have launched the Hopi Petroglyph Sites Digital Preservation Project website, a portal featuring sacred Hopi sites documented through state-of-the-art 3D capture technology. The resulting information collected has been used to create online interactive and educational multimedia freely available to the public. (Past Horizons)

Digitizing the Past to Protect and Preserve History

When Adam Rabinowitz was 15 years old, his aunt, an archaeologist, invited him to join her on a dig in Sicily. More than two decades later, Rabinowitz, now the assistant director at the Institute of Classical Archaeology at the University of Texas at Austin, is still travelling around the world getting dirt under his nails. And though much remains the same about archaeology since he first picked up a trowel, a lot has changed. (Live Science)

Sapa’s petroglyphs risk getting erased

The picture says it all. The engraved boulders of Sapa are slowly being eroded – naturally from the environment, but at an accelerated rate from tourists clambering onto the rocks. I visited the site two years ago and many of the engravings on the larger boulders which were accessible to tourists were already faint due to smoothening of the rock surface or vandalised. (SEAArch)

Itter Crescent’s Roman villa finds revealed

ARTEFACTS from a stunning Roman villa which was unearthed in Walton, Peterborough went on display at the weekend. Dozens of intrigued people packed into the Paston and Gunthorpe Community Centre on Saturday to view the items and chat to archaeologists. (The Evening Telegraph)

New programme brings SE Asia's young archaeologists together

While history undergraduate Christine Chan's peers at the National University of Singapore were busy working on their honours-year theses, she was taking four weeks off to visit Cambodian archaeological sites and attend workshops in the field. She was among 10 young people from top Asia-Pacific universities picked to attend the first field-school programme organised by the newly set-up Archaeology Unit of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies' Nalanda-Sriwijaya Centre (www.straitstimes.com)

Life with Dogs Gets Earlier

When did we stop being alone? The search to address this origins issue continues to produce information that offers tantalizing hints that go beyond simple chronology. The latest example: researchers dating dog skulls from Siberia and Belgium-- opposite ends of the early distribution of the dog-- provide suggestions that dogs were domesticated multiple times, independently. (Psychology Today)

Archeologist uncovers ancient pottery

A former University of Guam archaeologist has uncovered 3,500-year-old pottery and artifacts in Tinian, a find that could add to theories about how people first came to Micronesia. Mike Carson, a lecturer at Australian National University, and his wife, Hsiao-Chun Hung, discovered the artifacts at the Taga historical site in early December, according to the Richard F. Taitano Micronesia Area Research Center Archaeological Laboratory at UOG. (Guampdn.com)

January 29th, 2012

Archaeologists Excavate Ancient Populonia

A team of archaeologists, students and volunteers will return again during the summer of 2012 to investigate the remains of a major Etruscan port city that straddles the Mediterranean coast of Tuscany, Italy. Located near the Italian town of Piombino, it features one of the most important necropolises in the country, as well as an acropolis and a history that goes back to Etruscan settlers around 900 B.C.E. and a Bronze Age culture that dates back to about 1200 B.C.E. The ancient site is known today as Populonia, a city that was for centuries a prominent Mediterranean center for iron smelting and trade. (Popular Archaeology)

Museum gives back artifacts to Native Americans

In the basement and back rooms of Kingman Museum, the remains of people from long ago wait to return home. That's the goal of the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which became law in 1990. Since then, the museum has been working to return the remains of Native American people and artifacts back to the tribes from which they originated. (WSTCWNLK)

Indian tribes join forces to save petroglyph site

In the far reaches of northern Arizona, where city sprawl gives way to majestic canyons and a holy place is defined not by steeple and cross but rather by earth and sky, lies a monument to a people's past and a symbol of the promise of peace between two long-warring Indian nations. The Hopi people call it Tutuveni (tu-TOO-veh-nee), meaning "newspaper rock," and from a distance this place is just that - a collection of sandstone boulders set on a deserted swath of rust-stained land outside of Tuba City, some 80 miles from the Grand Canyon and a four-hour drive north of Phoenix. (The State)

Excavated clues tell Columbia family's story

Ceramic plates and baking pans. Marbles and a toy bank. Spice jars. Medicine jars. Bottle caps. Chicken bones, safety pins and electrical wiring. These are among the nearly 60,000 items discovered during a six-year archaeological study of Columbia’s historic Mann-Simons Cottage, the home of a family of black entrepreneurs who lived in Columbia at the turn of the 19th century. (The State)

Anthropologists clarify link between Asians and early Native-Americans

A tiny mountainous region in southern Siberia may have been the genetic source of the earliest Native Americans, according to new research by a University of Pennsylvania-led team of anthropologists. (Genetic Archaeology)

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