Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Archaeologists dig in St Cross
ENTHUSIASTIC excavators have been digging for clues near one of Winchester's most historic buildings.
More than 60 members of a Winchester archaeology group have spent the last two weeks exploring the lumps and bumps of a field bordering the Hospital of St Cross.
The dig, which organisers said was hampered by poor weather, uncovered evidence of a 14th century walled garden, which belonged to a now demolished part of the hospital's almshouses.
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Medieval tiles and stained glass were also found, which, it is thought, was dumped when the site's church was renovated in the 1860s.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:50 PM 
Roman temple found under church
Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a Roman temple beneath the foundations of a church.
The building, which dates to the second century AD, was found during an excavation at Zippori, the capital of Galilee during the Roman period.
The temple walls were plundered in ancient times and little more than its foundations now remain.
Coins minted in the town suggest Roman gods Zeus and Tyche may have been worshipped at the site.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:44 PM
Stone Age skeletons uncovered during tube tunnel excavations
Ancient relics uncovered during ongoing tube tunnel excavations in different neighborhoods of Istanbul continue to shed light on prehistoric periods of the city. Lately unearthed pieces in the Yenikapı district include four graves dating back to pre-Byzantium times
Human skeletons, which experts say could be more than 8,000 years old, were found in four prehistoric graves recently unearthed at the Marmaray tunnel excavation site in the Yenikapı district of Istanbul.
�These graves reveal Istanbul used to be home to some of the earliest types of settlements during the Stone Age when people migrated from Anatolia to the European continent,� said Mehmet Özdoğan, professor of prehistory at Istanbul University. �They also show that the Marmara Sea used to be a small and shallow water in ancient times.�
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:43 PM
Roman Temple Uncovered In Ancient Jewish Capital Of Galilee
Ruins of a Roman temple from the second century CE have recently been unearthed in the Zippori National Park. Above the temple are foundations of a church from the Byzantine period.
The excavations, which were undertaken by the Noam Shudofsky Zippori Expedition led by of Prof. Zeev Weiss of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shed light on the multi-cultural society of ancient Zippori (also known as Sepphoris).
The discovery indicated that Zippori, the Jewish capital of the Galilee during the Roman period, had a significant pagan population which built a temple in the heart of the city center. The central location of the temple which is positioned within a walled courtyard and its architectural relation to the surrounding buildings enhance our knowledge regarding the planning of Zippori in the Roman era.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:42 PM
Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart
After two tremendous growth spurts - one in size, followed by an even more important one in cognitive ability - the human brain is now a lot like a teenage boy.
It consumes huge amounts of calories, is rather temperamental and, when harnessed just right, exhibits incredible prowess. The brain's roaring metabolism, possibly stimulated by early man's invention of cooking, may be the main factor behind our most critical cognitive leap, new research suggests.
About 2 million years ago, the human brain rapidly increased its mass until it was double the size of other primate brains.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:41 PM
Viking longship returns to home port after epic sail
THE VIKING replica longship Sea Stallion returns to home waters in Roskilde today, after a 2,800 nautical-mile round trip between Denmark and Ireland.
The return of the ship with 60 multinational crew - under sail or rowing, depending on weather - will be greeted by countless vessels at sea, and up to 10,000 people ashore.
Young pupils from Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral School and choir, along with members of Dublin Civil Defence were among an Irish welcoming party who flew to Denmark from Dublin yesterday.
The Sea Stallion, known in Danish as Havhingsten fra Glendalough, left Dublin port on June 29th, and navigated via the southern English coast and Holland. Project leader Preben Rather Sorensen described the initial return leg between Ireland and England as the "hardest yet", and four crew had to be transferred to the support ship, Cable One.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:39 PM
Neue Römische Funde an der Porta Westfalica
Archäologen des Landschaftsverbandes Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) sind vielleicht einem 2000 Jahre alten römischen Lager in Porta Westfalica auf der Spur. Erste Grabungen im Stadtteil Barkhausen westlich der Weser haben Münzen und eine Gewandspange zutage gefördert.
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# posted by David Beard @ 2:37 PM
Thursday, July 31, 2008
University of Oxford Online Archaeology Courses
Four University of Oxford online archaeology courses are now open for registration. The four courses are:
Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers
Exploring Roman Britain
Origins of Human Behaviour: the evidence from archaeology
Ritual and Religion in Prehistory
The courses begin in September.
You can find further information here…
# posted by David Beard @ 12:25 PM
UNIQUE IRON AGE BURIAL SITE FOUND ON HOUSING DEVELOPMENT
A unique Iron Age burial site has been discovered during work on a new housing development in North Bersted, Bognor Regis.
Because of previous archaeological finds in Sussex, a dig had been included as one of the planning conditions for the site, where Berkeley Homes and Persimmon Homes are building 650 homes on former farmland.
The 2,000-year-old grave of an Iron Age warrior was uncovered by archaeologists, but it was kept a secret until the delicate work of removing remains to a laboratory had been completed.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:19 PM
ENGLISH HERITAGE LAUNCHES ONLINE HISTORY SHOWS
History fans who want to find out how to lay siege to a medieval castle or watch a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings can now tune into a series of online TV shows from English Heritage.
The national heritage body is officially launching EHTV, which provides a range of video and audio programmes with information on great moments in English history and behind-the-scenes looks at historic sites.
Programmes on the site include celebrities Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen presenting a show on Eltham Palace and Konnie Huq talking about Osborne House.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:18 PM
Viking ship sets sail across North Sea
THE VIKING replica longship Sea Stallion is en route across the North Sea on the most demanding leg of its voyage from Ireland to Denmark.
The replica, which is modelled on an Irish-built longship, left Lowestoft on the east English coastline early this week on a light southeasterly wind. Lack of suitable winds for its square sail had forced it to berth for almost a fortnight in the English port.
The longship had to weather gales when it set off from Dublin port in late June on its return voyage to the Danish harbour of Roskilde, home of the Viking Ship Museum and the original Sea Stallion, or Havhingsten fra Glendalough.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:17 PM
Medieval 'calculator' stays in UK
A rare 14th Century scientific instrument dubbed the "pocket calculator" of its age is to remain in the UK.
The British Museum has raised the £350,000 needed to buy the Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant which was uncovered during building work in Kent in 2005.
Culture Minister Margaret Hodge placed an export ban on the item after it sold at auction for £138,000 in March 2007.
It is said to be one of only eight examples in the world.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:15 PM
Ancient rock carvings discovered
More than 100 new examples of prehistoric art have been discovered carved into boulders and open bedrock throughout Northumberland and Durham.
The 5,000-year-old Neolithic carvings of circles, rings and hollowed cups, were uncovered by volunteers.
One of the most interesting discoveries was an elaborately carved panel on Barningham Moor, near Barnard Castle in County Durham.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:14 PM
Skeletons uncovered in friary dig
Archaeologists in Perth have uncovered more than 50 skeletons at the site of a medieval friary.
The team is excavating land at the corner of Riggs Road and Jeanfield Road before retail units are built.
As well as the bones, the team has discovered pieces of grave slabs, window glass and further evidence of the 13th century Carmelite friary.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:13 PM
First indication for embalming in Roman Greece
A Swiss-Greek research team co-lead by Dr. Frank Rühli from the Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, found indication for embalming in Roman Greek times. By means of physico-chemical and histological methods, it was possible to show that various resins, oils and spices were used during embalming of a ca. 55 year old female in Northern Greece. This is the first ever multidisciplinary-based indication for artificial mummification in Greece at 300 AD.
The remains of a ca. 55-year old female (ca. 300 AD, most likely of high-social status; actual location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece) shows the preservation of various soft-tissues, hair and part of a gold-embroidered silk cloth. This unique find allows multidisciplinary research on these tissues. In addition to macroscopic and anthropological analyses, electron microscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry examinations were also performed. These showed the presence of various embalming substances including myrrh, fats and resins, but could not demonstrate clearly a conservatory influence of the surrounding lead coffin from Roman period. The findings significantly increase knowledge about the use of tissue-preserving, anti-bacterial and anti-oxidative substances in the mortuary practices of Roman Greece.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:12 PM
Bones mystery
CREMATED bones thought to date from around 3,500BC to 2,000BC have been unearthed by archaeologists during a dig near Lough Fea.
A team of four archaeologists came across a mound of stones, known as a cairn which often points to a burial site, at the Creagh Concrete plant near Blackwater Bridge.
The find was unearthed when workers from Creagh Concrete were extracting gravel earlier this week. An archaeologist is always present on site when work of this nature is being carried out.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:10 PM
Greeks followed a celestial Olympics
Chalk up another Olympian feat to a mechanical gadget discovered more than a century ago in a 2,100-year-old shipwreck.
Scientists over the past decades have determined that the device was used to perform complex astronomical calculations, including the prediction of solar and lunar eclipses and the movement of the planets.
Known as the Antikythera mechanism, for the small Greek island near which sponge divers discovered it in 1900, the device is split into 82 fragments and is an agglomeration of disintegrating bronze gears and teeth, encrusted dials and hard-to-read inscriptions. Researchers have long been intrigued by both the gear teeth and inscriptions.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:08 PM
Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C.
After a closer examination of a surviving marvel of ancient Greek technology known as the Antikythera Mechanism, scientists have found that the device not only predicted solar eclipses but also organized the calendar in the four-year cycles of the Olympiad, forerunner of the modern Olympic Games.
The new findings, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, also suggested that the mechanism’s concept originated in the colonies of Corinth, possibly Syracuse, on Sicily. The scientists said this implied a likely connection with Archimedes
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:03 PM
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Ruins may be Viking hunting outpost in Greenland
OSLO – Ruins recently discovered on Greenland may mark the Vikings' most northerly year-round hunting outpost on the icy island, a researcher said on Monday.
Knut Espen Solberg, leader of 'The Melting Arctic' project mapping changes in the north, said the remains uncovered in past weeks in west Greenland may also be new evidence that the climate was less chilly about 1,000 years ago than it is today.
'We found something that most likely was a dock, made of rocks, for big ships up to 20-30 metres (60-90 ft) long,' he told Reuters by satellite phone from a yacht off Greenland. He said further study and carbon dating were needed to pinpoint the site's age.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:46 PM
New stage in Trojan excavations
A German archaeologist in charge of excavations in ancient Troy announced that a new dimension will be added to the excavations with the finds of the past 20 years being gathered together for the first time. Member of the teaching staff at Tübingen University, Dr. Ernst Pernicka told the Anatolia news agency Thursday that they were ready to present the intermediate results of the two-decade dig saying, "We will crown the past 20 years of work with publications. This project will be the intermediate results of the past 20 years of work."
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:45 PM
Many hands painted Lascaux caves
The painted caves of Lascaux in the Dordogne region of France are one of the most famed monuments of Ice Age art. Dating back about 17,000 years, the great Hall of the Bulls and its adjacent chambers proved so popular with visitors that a generation ago the cave had to be closed to save the paintings from encroaching mould. A replica, Lascaux II, was built nearby and has proved equally popular.
One thing that strikes the visitor is the exuberance of the compositions, with hundreds of animals, including bison, horses and deer, parading along the walls and ceilings, often overlapping. A big problem in sorting out possible groupings of animals, and possible motives for painting them, has been the issue of contemporaneity — what was painted when?
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:44 PM
Ancient Greek ship fished from sea
An ancient Greek trading ship that had lain on the seabed off the coast of Gela in southern Sicily for 2,500 years was brought to the surface for the first time on Monday. The ancient Greek vessel is 21 metres long and 6.5 metres wide, making it by far the biggest of its kind ever discovered. Four Greek vessels found off the coasts of Israel, Cyprus and France are at most 15 metres long.
The one in Gela is also of particular value for scholars who will be able to delve into Greek naval construction techniques thanks to the amazing find of still-intact hemp ropes used to 'sew' together the pine planks in its hull - a technique described in Homer's Iliad. ''Gela's ancient ship is the patrimony not only of Sicily but of all humanity,'' said Sicily's regional councillor for culture Antonello Antinoro, who watched Monday's operation.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:39 PM
Monday, July 28, 2008
Dig deep to unearth chapel site
Volunteers are invited to help with an archaeological dig that aims to unearth evidence of a medieval burial site in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.
The National Park Authority is working with Dyfed Archaeological Trust to excavate around the site of a ruined medieval chapel in Porthclew, near Freshwater East.
The three-week project, which starts tomorrow, July 28th, is funded by Cadw and organisers are keen for local people to take part. Visitors will also be able to find out what’s going on during site tours on Tuesdays to Saturdays at 3pm.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:51 PM
Woodwork discovery means summertime dig ends on a high
THE latest summer season at one of the longest-running and most important archaeological excavations in the north-east has ended on a high note, with the uncovering of mediaeval woodwork.
Peat-rich soil around the site of a lost bishop’s palace, just outside Kemnay, has preserved sections of centuries-old carpentry in remarkable condition.
Saw marks are visible on one piece and another has been turned and decorated on a primitive lathe by a skilled craftsman.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:48 PM
Ancient grave found on Bognor new homes site
Land soon to become a new housing estate has yielded an unexpected treasure – a 2,000- year-old skeleton, believed to be that of a prince, a warrior or a priest.
Planning permission has been granted for more than 600 houses in open fields at North Bersted near Bognor.
But before the work could go ahead, an archaeological survey had to be carried out on the site to check if there was anything of historical interest under the topsoil.
What the team from the Thames Valley Archaeological Services found was beyond their wildest dreams.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:45 PM
Ancient Olympic Chariot Racetrack Located?
As the Beijing Olympics draw near, archaeologists are reporting the discovery of the long-lost chariot race track at the Greek birthplace of the games.
German researchers claim to have identified the hippodrome at Olympia, in Western Greece, some 1,600 years after the historic sports venue disappeared under river mud.
The ancient circuit, where Olympic competitors raced in chariots or on horseback, was found in May by a team including Norbert Müller of Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:43 PM
Flint hints at existence of Palaeolithic man in Ireland
The possibility of a Palaeolithic human presence in Ireland has once again presented itself. A flaked flint dating to about 200,000 years ago found in Co Down is certainly of human workmanship, but its ultimate origin remains uncertain.
Discovered at Ballycullen, ten miles east of Belfast, the flake is 68mm long and wide and 31mm thick. Its originally dark surface is heavily patinated to a yellowish shade, and the lack of sharpness in its edges suggests that it has been rolled around by water or ice, Jon Stirland reports in Archaeology Ireland.
Dr Farina Sternke has identified it as a classic Levallois-type flake from the rejuvenation of a flint core; such flakes are characteristic of stone-tool industries made by archaic humans of the pre-Neanderthal era, as technology moved towards making multiple flakes from one core and then trimming them into a variety of different tool types.
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# posted by David Beard @ 12:39 PM
Friday, July 25, 2008
New light thrown on Roman villa remains
A rare, complete set of 30 glass counters for a Roman board game has been set out again, more than 50 years since they were excavated and almost 1,700 years since they went into the tomb with their twentysomething owner.
His skeleton, still in its handsome scallop shell decorated lead coffin, is now surrounded again by the refreshment provided for his journey to the next world - flagons, bottles, spoons and bowls, and the 30 counters, probably for the gambling game duodecim scripta, laid on top of his coffin - as well as hundreds of other objects excavated a lifetime ago but now going on show.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:56 PM
Tomb reveals ancient trade network
Ancona, July 24 - The tomb of a woman who died around 2,600 years ago on the eastern Italian coast is helping archaeologists piece together the vast trade network that once linked this area with the Middle East, North Africa and Greece.
Experts working on a tomb near the port of Ancona say the site contains over 650 artefacts from the 7th century BC, including numerous items made in other parts of the world.
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# posted by David Beard @ 3:54 PM
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Roman spa unearthed in southern Serbia
Prokuplje -- Archeologists say they have discovered a Roman spa of monumental proportions in downtown Prokuplje.
The spa was found during works to reconstruct the parochial seat of the local church of Sv. Prokopije in this southern Serbian town.
Archeologist Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković says the discovery is important because it will put Prokuplje on Serbia's map of ancient Roman sites, known as the Trail of Roman Emperors.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:52 PM
Gold Ring from Middle Ages Found in East Iceland
Archeologists discovered a gold ring in a grave in Skriduklaustur in east Iceland where there used to be a monastery. The discovery is considered significant because very few gold rings have been found in archeological excavations in Iceland.
“It looks like a normal wedding ring, but it has been decorated a little,” archeologist Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir, who is responsible for the current excavation project in Skriduklaustur, told Morgunbladid.
The ring is engraved with a leafy pattern and Kristjánsdóttir believes that indicates that the ring was made in the 16th or 17th century.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:50 PM
Historic abbey uncovered in dig
Parts of one of Scotland's most influential religious and historic buildings have been uncovered for the first time in centuries.
Archaeologists have been digging at Scone Palace and believe they have found the walls of the lost abbey.
Despite the site's significance, there is very little sign of the 12th century building above ground.
The team is also examining the Moot Hill - where kings, including Macbeth and Robert the Bruce, were crowned.
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# posted by David Beard @ 6:38 PM
Monday, July 14, 2008
Man arrested for tunnelling
A Greek man was arrested for digging tunnels from his home to protected archaeology sites in Megara, west of Athens, in a suspected case of antiquities trafficking, officials said on Saturday.
The 44-year-old man allegedly dug a well nearly four metres deep, as well as a tunnel seven metres long leading to three smaller tunnels in an archaeological zone, Athens police said in a statement.
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# posted by David Beard @ 4:46 PM
Ein Menschenschädel an der Seseke
Dank ehrenamtlicher Unterstützung konnten Archäologen des Landschaftsverbandes Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) bei Renaturierungsmaßnahmen der Seseke bei Kamen (Kreis Unna) einen menschlichen Schädel dokumentieren und bergen. Wann und warum der Schädel in den Boden gelangte, werden die Spezialisten der LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen nun zu klären haben.
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# posted by David Beard @ 4:41 PM
