Archaeology News for the Week of October 23rd, 2011

December 2011, Daily News

Mon, Oct 24, 2011

October 29th, 2011

Solving the Mystery of a Megalithic Monument in the Land of Giants

It stands upon a land dotted with ancient dolmens or tombs that recall a distant time before the great urban centers of civilization arose in Mesopotamia and Egypt. According to legend, it was a land of ancient giants. Like stonehenge, its stone construction is concentric. At its center, however, is a tumulus of stone 65 feet in diameter and 15 feet tall. Long a mystery, scientists and scholars have puzzled and theorized about the meaning and identity of the site. Today, however, some investigations by archaeologists may be coming closer to the truth behind the enigmatic stone structure. (Popular Archaeology)

Scientists glimpse inside a Peruvian mummy

Dr Bruno Frohlich says he hopes the scan can reveal secrets of the mummy's life and death. In a small room lined with shelves of skulls, fossils, bones and antique violins, researchers are using advanced computer imaging to study priceless objects, including a mummy from Peru. So what's inside? (BBC News)

Big Buddha statue found in Cambodian Tomb Raider temple

An 8-foot headless Buddha statue estimated to be 800 years old was found in the Cambodian temple featured in the Angelina Jolie film, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, officials involved in restoration work said on Friday. The sitting Buddha was uncovered by heavy rain at Ta Prohm temple in the Angkor Wat complex in Siem Reap, said Im Sokrithy, deputy director of the local department that oversees the area. (Daily News and Analysis)

Beer & Bullets to Go: Ancient 'Takeout' Window Discovered

Some 5,200 years ago, in the mountains of western Iran, people may have used takeout windows to get food and weapons, newly presented research suggests. But rather than the greasy hamburgers and fries, it appears the inhabitants of the site ordered up goat, grain and even bullets, among other items. (LiveScience)

Cyprus Department of Antiquities Reveals Proto-Byzantine Monument at Akrotiri Peninsula

The Department of Antiquities in Cyprus has revealed a monument of the proto-byzantine period after year long excavations at the site of Katalymmata ton Plakoton at the Akrotiri peninsula under the directions of the Senior Archaeological officer of the Department, Dr Eleni Procopiou. (Greek Europe Reporter)

Mummy Had History’s Second-Oldest Prostate Cancer Case

Some 2,250 years ago in Egypt, a man known today only as M1 struggled with a long, painful, progressive illness. A dull pain throbbed in his lower back, then spread to other parts of his body, making most movements a misery. When M1 finally succumbed to the mysterious ailment between the ages of 51 and 60, his family paid for him to be mummified so that he could be reborn and relish the pleasures of the afterworld. (WiredScience)

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October 28th, 2011

Numerical pattern found in ancient Mexican city

Japanese archaeologist Saburo Sugiyama discovered that the architects of the ancient Mexican city of Teotihuacan based their designs on a numerical measure equivalent to 83 centimeters. Sugiyama presented the finding during the 5th Teotihuacan Round Table, a gathering of experts sponsored by National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH). The researcher said that by making calculations based on the measurements of the pyramids at Teotihuacan, he was able to determine 'the constant presence' of the 83-centimeter unit. (TheJapanNews.net)

King Tut: Perfume in This Life and the Next

Today's most iconic perfumes couldn't hold a scented candle to the fragrances produced during King Tut's time.That's right, Chanel No. 5. Smell your heart out. (HoustonPress)

The find of a lifetime: Treasure hunter digs up 200-piece haul of Viking jewellery and coins

A metal detecting enthusiast unearthed 'the find of a lifetime' when he discovered a Viking treasure hoard including 200 pieces of silver jewellery. Darren Webster dug up a 1,000-year-old casket that also held coins, hacksilver and ingots while scouring at an undisclosed location on the border between Cumbria and North Lancashire. Experts at the British Museum in London say the find is of 'national significance'. (DailyMail.co.uk)

Lost Roman camp that protected against Germanic hordes found

German archaeologists have unearthed "sensational" evidence of a lost Roman camp that formed a vital part of the frontier protecting Rome's empire against the Germanic hordes. (The Telegraph)

Elders tell of pain over burial sites

Unmarked burial places are scattered all over the vast lease where Fortescue Metals has begun work on its new Solomon mine, an area in which Aboriginal people have lived for millennia. Three sets of skeletal remains have been found in recent months, two in caves within FMG's ''Firetail Priority Mining and Infrastructure'' area. (The Sydney Morning Herald)

DNA Shows Ancient Greek Ships Carried More than Just Wine

A DNA analysis of ancient storage jars suggests that Greek sailors traded a wide range of foods--not just wine, as many historians have assumed. The study, in press at the Journal of Archaeological Science, finds evidence in nine jars taken from Mediterranean shipwrecks of vegetables, herbs and nuts. (Scientific American)

In pictures: Body from 17th century discovered in Dublin

THE REMAINS OF a body apparently dating from the seventeenth century were discovered under a Dublin street today. Bones from the skeleton were uncovered by builders working on enhancement projects in the Smithfield area of the city. (TheJournal.IE)

October 27th, 2011

Ancient Maya road 'frozen' by volcano

A team excavating a Maya village in El Salvador buried by a volcanic eruption 1,400 years ago has unexpectedly hit an ancient white road that appears to lead to and from the town frozen in time by a blanket of ash. (Futurity)

Mystery yellow stone found in Belfast hills

A MYSTERIOUS yellow stone which could date back to prehistoric times has been discovered in the hills above Belfast. The yellow, honeycomb type stone was found by a member of the public as part of an ongoing open archaeological dig in the Ballyaghagan town land on the Upper Hightown Road in the north of the city. (Newsletter.co.uk)

Columbus' arrival linked to carbon dioxide drop

By sailing to the New World, Christopher Columbus and other explorers who followed him may have set off a chain of events that cooled Europe's climate. The European conquest of the Americas decimated the people living there, leaving large areas of cleared land untended. Trees that filled in this territory pulled billions of tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, Stanford University geochemist Richard Nevle reported October 11 at the Geological Society of America annual meeting. (ScienceNews.org)

Black Death mapping reforms disease study

Canadian researchers have genetically mapped the bacterium known as the Black Death, one of the deadliest pathogens in history that wiped out onethird of Europe's population in only four years during the Middle Ages. (The Vancouver Sun)

100,000-Year-Old Art Studio Discovered

A new archaeological find may signify one of the great leaps in human cultural and cognitive history. Because researchers have discovered a 100,000-year-old art studio. It was known that ochre—rock with red or yellow pigments—was used for paint even that far back in history. But there was scant evidence for how it was prepared and handled. (Scientific American)

October 26th, 2011

A Great Ancient Angkor Temple Complex to Rise Again

A magnificent monumental jewel in Cambodia's great ancient Khmer Empire crown gets much-needed attention. (Popular Archaeology)

Raising Blackbeard's Cannon a Real Treasure Chest for ECU Archaeology Students

When archaeologists raise an eight-foot cannon Wednesday, Oct. 26, from the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, students from East Carolina University will be receiving hands-on experience, not just observing from the decks of the recovery vessels. (Popular Archaeology)

Inca takeovers not usually hostile

South America's ancient Inca rulers didn't establish the largest empire in the New World by being sweethearts. But their reputation as warmongers, at least according to some influential 16th- and 17th-century Spanish accounts of Inca history, appears to be undeserved, a new study of skeletal remains suggests. It's more likely that Inca bigwigs adopted a range of largely nonviolent takeover tactics starting around 1000, say anthropologists Valerie Andrushko of Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven and Elva Torres of the National Institute of Culture in Cuzco, Peru, once the capital of the Inca empire. (ScienceNews)

Archaeologists Find 10th-Century Tomb in North Peru

Experts from the Bruning National Archaeological Museum have discovered the tomb of a dignitary who belonged to the 10th-century Lambayeque culture in northern Peru, project director Carlos Wester La Torre told Efe.After five years of excavations at the pre-Columbian Chotuna-Chornancap Archaeological Complex in the Lambayeque region, the group of archaeologists uncovered "the first level of the tomb of a dignitary, a member of the local elite, from the first millennium after Christ," Wester said. (Fox News Latino)

Archaeologists protest removal of Muslim graves

The "surreptitious and unscientific" removal of hundreds of bodies from ancient Muslim graves in Jerusalem violates international and Israeli law, a group of archaeologists warned Friday. (Ma'an News Agency)

Shipwreck may be part of Kublai Khan's lost fleet

In Japanese legend they are known as The Kamikaze -- the divine winds -- a reference to two mighty typhoons placed providentially seven years apart which, in the 13th century, destroyed two separate Mongol invasion fleets so large they were not eclipsed until the D-Day landings of World War II.Marine archaeologists now say they have uncovered the remains of a ship from the second fleet in 1281 -- believed to have comprised 4,400 vessels -- a meter below the seabed, in 25 meters of water off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. (CNN News)

A Rest, a Meal, Then Death for 5,000-Year-Old Glacier Mummy: Scientists Consolidate Results of Research Into Ötzi's State of Health and His Death

There is now broad agreement on the circumstances of Ötzi's death. Around 100 experts on mummies from nearly every single continent gathered for the "2nd Bolzano Mummy Congress" held at the European Academy of Bolzano from the 20th to the 22nd October 2011, with the aim of discussing any diseases he might have been suffering from and the events surrounding his death. From the moment of his discovery 20 years ago, Ötzi -- the 5,000-year-old glacier mummy -- has been puzzling the scientific research community, though little by little he is also revealing many of his secrets. (Science Daily)

Computer Scientist Cracks Mysterious 'Copiale Cipher'

he manuscript seems straight out of fiction: a strange, handwritten message in abstract symbols and Roman letters meticulously covering 105 yellowing pages hidden in the depths of an academic archive. Now, more than three centuries after it was devised, the 75,000-character Copiale Cipher finally has been broken. The mysterious cryptogram, bound in gold and green brocade paper, reveals the rituals and political leanings of an 18th-century secret society in Germany. (Science Daily)

Fort find adds to potted history of Romans' boozing

THE "spectacular" discovery of ancient pottery has revealed how the Romans wined and dined here in South Tyneside almost 2,000 years ago. And far from sampling the delights of our local brews, it seems they still preferred to ship wines from the Mediterranean to their northern outpost. (The Shields Gazette)

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October 25th, 2011

6,000-Year-Old Cooking Pots Show Gradual Transition to Agriculture, Study Reveals

Ceramic pots excavated at sites dated to 4,000 years BC tell a story of some lingering hunter-gatherer ways in the Baltic regions of Northwest Europe.

Once a fisherman, always a fisherman, one might say.

This could have been the sentiment of the people who lived 6,000 years ago in what is today the Western Baltic regions of Northern Europe. Based on a study recently performed by a team of researchers led by Oliver Craig of the University of York and Carl Heron of the University of Bradford, hunter-gatherer humans here may have experienced a gradual rather than a rapid transition to agriculture. (Popular Archaeology)

The 20-Year Dig: 150,000 Artifacts Paint Picture of Early Stoney Creek

Years of work and countless hours clocked by local historians, history students and volunteers have culminated in the recent release of two major publications about local history.

The first is a print publication detailing a 20-year archaeological excavation on the property of the Rochester Hills Museum at Van Hoosen Farm. The second is a new website featuring an interactive map of local historic sites and resources. (RochesterHillsPatch)

Blind archeologist uncovers ancient childbirth inscription

A legally blind archaeology student uncovered one of the oldest depictions of childbirth yet found, inscribed on a pottery sherd from an Etruscan temple site, perhaps 2,700 years old. (USA Today)

Sir Francis Drake's final fleet 'discovered off the coast of Panama'

His burial at sea in full armour and in a lead casket was designed to ensure that no one – but especially the Spanish – would find his body. Now, more than 400 years after Sir Francis Drake's death in the Caribbean, the great seafarer's watery grave may be close to being discovered. (The Telegraph)

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October 24th, 2011

Google Earth reveals ancient stories

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic," science fiction author Arthur Clarke once suggested. Say a magic carpet and a genie's lamp, the stuff of Arabian Nights, which made the Arab desert famous for fables and legends? Well, how about Google Earth instead? Like a friendly genie, that modern technology has started answering archeologist's wishes with its worldwide catalog of satellite views of the Earth. A pair of studies in the Journal of Archaelogical Science this year suggest these views are revealing a vast and ancient story, one only starting to emerge from the fabled desert of Arabia. (USA Today)

Ritual bath dating to the Second Temple Period discovered near Kibbutz Zor'a

The exposure of the bath corroborates historical sources that indicated the existence of a Jewish settlement in the region. (Isreael Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Clues About Early Diets Found in Fossilized Teeth

By studying the pits and scratches on fossilized teeth and analyzing the carbon isotopes on enamel, researchers have discovered new information about the diets of early hominids. (The New York Times)

Prehistoric bones discovered at Spring Lake, USA

Construction at the former Aquarena Springs amusement park in Texas has unearthed human remains believed to have been buried at the headwaters of the San Marcos River long before the arrival of Spanish explorers. Scientists currently think people were visiting or even living near San Marcos Springs by at least 13,000 years ago. (StonePages)

Neolithic tombs in China yield finely crafted jades

In 2006, archaeological excavations south of the Yangtze river near Hangzhou uncovered one of the earliest and largest walled cities of ancient China. The city was named Liangzhu, after a site where evidence of the associated culture was discovered decades before. Palace foundations, high class tombs, craft workshops, and artefacts were uncovered, dating to 3300-2250 BCE - the Late Neolithic period. Evidence suggests the culture practiced an advanced level of agriculture, including irrigation systems, aquaculture and paddy rice cultivation. (StonePages)

October 23rd, 2011

Israeli researchers: Jerusalem's trendiest street built over biblical site

There's an old cliche in Jerusalem that the city's most Tel Aviv-like street is Emek Refaim in the German Colony, with its wealth of cafes and boutiques. The reason, according to the cliche, is that the street is almost completely flat, like Tel Aviv streets. True, the city's other main streets require some exertion on the uphill portions, but there are actually two researchers who see in the special topography evidence that would require that we redraw our understanding of the geography of Jerusalem in ancient times. (HAARETZ.com)

Young human-specific genes correlated with human brain evolution

Young genes that appeared since the primate branch split from other mammal species are expressed in unique structures of the developing human brain, a new analysis finds. The correlation suggests that scientists studying the evolution of the human brain should look to genes considered recent by evolutionary standards and early stages of brain development. (Genetic Archaeology)

Libya’s ancient heritage at risk of looting — UNESCO

Libya’s ancient treasures have so far largely survived civil war intact, but with the death of Muammar Qaddafi they could be at greater risk than ever from looters and unrest, the UN cultural agency said on Friday. (arabnews.com)

Reconstruction of one of the earliest Norwegians

A reconstruction based on the skull of Norway's best-preserved Stone Age skeleton makes it possible to study the features of a boy who lived outside Stavanger 7,500 years ago. Jenny Barber, an MSc student at the University of Dundee in Scotland, has scientifically rebuilt the face of Viste Boy, who lived in the Vistehola cave near Stavanger. (Stone Pages)