Archaeology News for the Week of May 8th, 2011

December 2011, Daily News

Sun, May 08, 2011

May 14th, 2011

Race to save 17th Century Swash Channel wreck

Marine archaeologists are in a race against time to preserve parts of a shipwreck they believe is the most significant found in British waters since the Tudor ship, the Mary Rose. Paul Rose, explorer, diver and presenter of Britain's Secret Seas, visited the site. "We've watched it fall apart in front of our eyes for five years," said Dave Parham, senior lecturer in marine archaeology at Bournemouth University. "But you can only do one thing at a time." The Swash Channel wreck is an early 17th Century armed merchant ship (BBC News)

Mona Lisa crypt 'found'

The final resting place of the woman said to have posed for the Mona Lisa may have been found. The crypt was discovered after a two week search of an abandoned convent by experts using ground penetrating radar and ancient maps and documents. (The Telegraph)

Mysterious Ancient Rock Carvings Found Near Nile

An archaeological team in the Bayuda Desert in northern Sudan has discovered dozens of new rock art drawings, some of which were etched more than 5,000 years ago and reveal scenes that scientists can't explain. The team discovered 15 new rock art sites in an arid valley known as Wadi Abu Dom, some 18 miles (29 kilometers) from the Nile River. (LiveScience)

Sorbs: relics of the Ostsiedlung

The purpose of the paper then was to characterize the distinctiveness of the Sorbs in relation to other European groups as well as their distinctive characteristics. One has to keep in mind two parameters of interest in how population structure emerges: geography and culture. Clearly populations which are far apart in space are going to be genetically distinct. (Discover)

ICE And CBP Officials Return Cultural Artifacts To Peru

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) returned a collection of cultural artifacts illegally imported into the United States from Peru. The artifacts were discovered as part of three separate investigations by ICE's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in New York and Denver. (Imperial Valley News)

May 13th, 2011

The Last Neanderthals?

As if deciphering human evolutionary chronology isn't complicated enough, recent discoveries at a site in the foothills of the Ural Mountains of Russia have thrown yet another wrinkle in the developing fabric of the human ascent through the Ice Age. (Popular Archaeology)

Viking Period Drinking Bowl

The bowl was found sitting in a back-filled well last autumn, during excavations directed by Anne Carlie for the National Heritage Board at Lindängelund near Malmö. Waterlogged wood is a bit like precious metal in that little really happens to it as the centuries pass. With such finds, we get to see how good ancient craftspeople really were in a way that is often difficult to appreciate when you're looking at corroded metal objects. (ScienceBlogs.com)

Archaeological History Unearthed On Ft. Lauderdale Beach, Florida

A bit of South Florida history has been unearthed along Fort Lauderdale beach. Thursday afternoon, renowned archaeologist Bob Carr showed off some of the historic artifacts which were discovered in early May while construction crews were digging a trench as part of a $3.1 million improvement project at Fort Lauderdale Beach Park along A1A. (CBS Miami)

Lima, Peru: History and gastronomy at Huaca Pucllana

Huaca Pucllana archaeological site used to be a religious, administrative and commercial centre during ancient Lima Culture times (200-700 AD); a huge, pyramid-shaped construction built with hand-made clay bricks, consecrated to the adoration of the Moon and the Ocean, has been under investigations for some 20 years now, and many interesting findings are nowadays showcased at its small site museum. (NileGuide)

Harewood excavation reveals links with Caribbean

SO MUCH of what is known about Harewood's history focuses on the stately home and the comings and goings of its inhabitants over the years. But a team of archaeologists from York University is looking back at the history of Harewood's original manor house, built long before the current home was created, and they have made some intriguing discoveries. (Yorkshire Post)

Aboriginal population 'grew exponentially'

A new mathematical model could fuel a long-standing debate over the nature of Aboriginal population growth in Australia, prior to European settlement. (CBS News)

Glastonbury Abbey's pottery link to Dark Ages

Pottery fragments from an excavation archive of Glastonbury Abbey have shown the site dates back to the Dark Ages, which is later than previously thought.(BBC News)

May 12th, 2011

Prehistoric paintings found in Spain

Paintings depicting horses and human hands made by prehistoric humans around 25,000 years ago have been discovered in a cave in northern Spain, regional officials said on Wednesday. The red paintings, found by chance by archeologists looking for signs of ancient settlements, were made around the same time as the Altamira Cave paintings -some of the world's best prehistoric paintings discovered in northern Spain in 1879. "It was a chance finding," said archeologist Diego Garate. "Although they were difficult to spot because they are badly deteriorated, our experienced eye helped us to identify them." Experts will further explore the caves for evidence of prehistoric utensils or tools, officials said. (MontrealGazette)

Romania recovers priceless ancient treasure

Romania has recovered more of a priceless ancient treasure, stolen years ago from the archaeological site of Sarmisegetusa Regia, the head of the national history museum said Wednesday. A total of 232 artifacts, including a gold bracelet, two iron shields and gold and silver coins were bought back from a German collector, Ernest Tarnoveanu told a press conference. (Yahoo News)

Italian archaeologists hunt for Mona Lisa model

Archaeologists on Wednesday began digging for the remains of a 16th-century woman believed to be the model for Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa in a bid to unlock an art world mystery. (Bangkok Post)

Archaeology: Roman stadium in Plovdiv set for face-lift

Plovdiv's Roman Stadium is due to undergo an overhaul worth some 700 000 leva, with restoration works due to be completed by December 15 2011, reports in Bulgarian media said on May 10. The facility is among the largest Roman structures in the Balkans. The massive edifice is 180m long and had a capacity of over 30 000 spectators. It is believed that it was built during the reign of Septimus Severus (193-211). (The Sofia Echo)

Saving Space Suits

You might be tempted to think that the space suits that protected early human astronauts from the extreme temperatures and radiation of outer space might be resilient in the comparatively benign environment back on Earth. Not so. The suits from the National Aeronautics & Space Administration's race to the moon in the 1960s and '70s certainly did their duty in space. But the outfits began losing their invincibility almost as soon as they returned home. (C&EN)

May 11th, 2011

2000-year-old wine unearthed in Henan province

A Western Han dynasty ancient tomb group was accidentally found at a construction site in Puyang city, China's Henan province, on April 10. After a period of protective excavation of the tomb group, archaeologists found more than 230 ancient tombs in all, and a total of more than 600 cultural relics have been unearthed so far. During the excavation, archaeologists discovered an airtight copper pot covered in rust. They found the pot had a liquid weighing about half a kilogram in it. (English People's Daily Online)

Prince's treasure 2,500 years old

For the first time since its restoration and a three-year absence from the country, the famous krater of Trebeniste, the most significant discovery from late 6th and early 5th centuries BC, is back in Belgrade. (Blic Online)

Annigeri skulls: more tests to minimise errors

After the Institute of Physics (IOP), Bhubaneswar, estimated the age of the skulls found at a mass grave at Annigeri in Dharwad district to be 638, the district administration and the Department of Archaeology and Museums have decided to send the samples for further tests to minimise the errors in the assessment. (The Hindu)

Mastodon discovery site could be added to historic register

A site in Cool Springs where prehistoric man once hunted could get nominated next week to be on the National Register of Historic Places.Members of the State Review Board will vote on 13 nominations to the National Register of Historic Places, including the Coats-Hines Archaeological Site in Cool Springs. (The Tennessean)

Viking ship not just ceremonial

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. (Views and News from Norway)

May 10th, 2011

Neanderthals Died Out Earlier Than Thought: Study

Neanderthals may have died out 10,000 years earlier than is commonly believed, suggests new dating of the remains of a Neanderthal infant. The finding, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, may revise the present Neanderthal timeline. It's commonly believed that Neanderthals from what is now Russia died out around 30,000 years ago. The latest discovery could push back the Neanderthal extinction, at least for this region, to 39,700 years ago, which was the age of the infant's fossil. (Discovery News)

North America was populated by no more than 70 people 14,000 years ago, claims stunning new DNA research

The next time you're having a disagreement with a work colleague or annoying neighbour, bear this in mind: Chances are you're related. A new study of DNA patterns throughout the world suggests that North America was originally populated by no more than 70 people. (DailyMail Online)

For UCLA Expert On Chumash Indians, Roughly Hewn Beads Are Child's Play

As the world's leading authority on beads manufactured from shells by California's Chumash Indians, UCLA archaeologist Jeanne Arnold was stumped by a series of anomalous artifacts excavated at former settlements on the Channel Islands. Pierced with more than one hole, often at unconventional angles or too close to the edges, the oddly configured multi-hole beads differ considerably from the smooth, round, precisely drilled beauties that served as currency among the Chumash prior to the arrival of Europeans in Southern California. (RedOrbit)

France returns first Maori head to New Zealand

France on Monday handed back the tattooed, mummified head of a Maori tribesman to New Zealand authorities, marking the end of a years-long struggle by the Maori people to bring home their dead and lay them to rest. (Reuters)

Famous disputes over ownership of ancient artefacts

France has agreed to return more than one dozen Maori heads taken from new Zealand more than a century ago. Here are some other ongoing disputes between nations over prized ancient artefacts (The Telegraph)

Crocodile God Temple Featured Croc Nursery

Egyptian authorities put another archaeological site on the country's tourist map yesterday by opening a visitor center at Madinet Madi in the Fayoum region south of Cairo. Founded during the reigns of Amenemhat III (about 1859-1813 B.C.) and Amenemhat IV (about 1814-1805 B.C.) of the 12th Dynasty, Madinet Madi contains the ruins of the only Middle Kingdom temple in Egypt. (Discovery News)

May 9th, 2011

Caves in Spain Yielding More Early Human Finds

It is a tale of two caves. Each has a story to tell about ancient human occupants who scratched a living out of Ice Age Europe. They may have lived in one of these caves as long ago as 900,000 years B.P. (before the present era). Scientists in southeastern Spain have been methodically piecing together the stories in these caves through careful excavation and analysis of finds that may significantly expand our knowledge of early humans and how they lived in what is today southern Europe. What is more, their finds may help fill in an important chapter in human evolution. (Popular Archaeology)

Archeologists find trove of relics at Ventura Mission site

When archeologist John Foster started peeling the asphalt from a parking lot in downtown Ventura, he knew he wouldn't have to dig deep to find a cache of long-buried relics. He just didn't realize how many he'd find and from how many different eras. "It was layer upon layer," he said this week as he surveyed the emerging foundations of a long-buried, 3-foot-thick mission wall, a span of 200-year-old terra cotta floor tiles laid by Chumash laborers, and a channel fashioned from inverted roof tiles that irrigated a long-dead garden. Digging down 5 feet, Foster and his crew have found shell beads, a stone bowl used for mixing pigment and lots of cattle bones — leftovers from the tanning and tallow-rendering that brought cash into Mission San Buenaventura. (Los Angeles Times)

Archaeology: MYSTERY OF THE OLMEC

More than 1,500 years before the Maya flourished in Central America, 25 centuries before the Aztecs conquered large swaths of Mexico, the mysterious Olmec people were building the first great culture of Mesoamerica. Starting in 1200 B.C. in the steamy jungles of Mexico's southern Gulf Coast, the Olmec's influence spread as far as modern Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica and El Salvador. (Time.com)

State's laws offer little shale drilling protection to archaeological sites

An excavation at a Westmoreland County site once occupied by Monongahela Indians produced abundant evidence of two villages and allowed researchers to piece together the violent end of the later settlement at the hand of invaders who sacked it, massacred its inhabitants and burnt houses and food stores, said William C. Johnson, who served as an adviser to the project. (Post-Gazette.com)

May 8th, 2011

Guayabo Monument in Costa Rica Recognized Globally

The Monumento Nacional Guayabo (Guayabo National Monument), located on the slopes of Turrialba Volcano, was recognized on May 22, 2009 by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) as an engineering achievement for being one of the most important archaeological sites and the largest discovered in the country. The Guayabo National Monument dates to pre-Columbian times. Guayabo was the third pre-Columbian settlement in Latin America to receive the distinction, after Peru's Machu Picchu buildings and Tipon who are also declared World Heritage for its hydraulic engineering. (InsideCostaRica.com)

7000-Year-old Village Discovered in Erbil

Erbil city has more than 1,000 potential archeological sites. The hills were once villages that were abandoned, destroyed or the inhabitants wiped out by disease. According to Erbil Directorate of Archeology, of the 1,000 archeological sites in Erbil, only one percent has been excavated. (YesterYear)

Old Stone Fort state park reveals life 2,000 years ago

Visitors to Old Stone Fort State Archaeological Park in Manchester today and Sunday will see how some of the state's earliest residents lived.The Old Stone Fort is a 2,000-year-old Native American ceremonial site. For about 500 years, the site served as a gathering area for people living in and around the eastern Highland Rim. (The Tennessean)

Barry Bronze Age site protection plea

An archaeology group has called for the site of a 3,500-year-old settlement in the Vale of Glamorgan to be protected. The remains of a Bronze Age village at Bendrick were first uncovered near the Atlantic Trading Estate near Barry in the 1980s. Archaeology Cymru says the site is rapidly deteriorating due to off-road biking and other activities by people who may be unaware of what is there. (BBC News)