Dig finds no treasures

Archaeologists digging on the site earmarked for Redcar's Coatham Links scheme say they have found nothing to hamper the development.

Five archaeologists have dug and scoured seven trial trenches, looking for possible historical relics.

But after two weeks on site, only sand, old glass bottles and a few fragments of 19th and 20th century pottery have been found.

The work was commissioned by Redcar and Cleveland Council's development partner Persimmon Homes as part of preparatory work for the controversial planning application due later this summer.

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Il mistero del 'Codex Rescriptus'

Sembra una spy-story piena di intrighi tra cattedratici dell'Ottocento, la vicenda del Codex rescriptus (V sec. d.C) della Biblioteca Capitolare di Verona.
Un prezioso Codice considerato perduto e recuperato attraverso tecnologie mutuate dalla Nasa.

Il 'mistero' verrà illustrato martedì alla facolta' di giurisprudenza, dove sara' presentata la ricerca che ha portato alla riscoperta paleografica del testo.

Si parlera' della tecnica con cui e' stato ritrovato il contenuto , ma verra' spiegato anche come nell'800 il manoscritto sia stato al centro di una spietata lotta fra accademici.

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Search for India's ancient city

Archaeologists working on India's south-west coast believe they may have solved the mystery of the location of a major port which was key to trade between India and the Roman Empire - Muziris, in the modern-day state of Kerala.
For many years, people have been in search of the almost mythical port, known as Vanchi to locals.

Much-recorded in Roman times, Muziris was a major centre for trade between Rome and southern India - but appeared to have simply disappeared.

Now, however, an investigation by two archaeologists - KP Shajan and V Selvakumar - has placed the ancient port as having existed where the small town of Pattanam now stands, on India's south-west Malabar coast.

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Ancient stone tablets found in Turkey

Ancient stone tablets and seals unearthed during archaeological excavations at the Surtepe tumulus, in the southeastern province of Sanliurfa (Turkey), could shed light on other ancient structures discovered in the area. A team of experts headed by project director Jesus Gil Fuensanta of Spain who have been working in the area as part of the Tilbes salvage project, discovered a monumental building - believed to belong to the Persian-Achaemenid period - at the Surtepe mound during excavations in 2005. Surtepe is a large site covering 50 hectares and is believed to have been an area of settlement even during the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze ages (fourth and third millennia BCE).

Fuensanta explained in a statement that the Persian building "was found in a place formerly uncovered by villagers. It had an official use until the early fourth century BCE. Up to three meters of its massive mud-brick walls were preserved, and it has traces of a paved court. During the 2005 excavations, different rooms of the building were also excavated. On the inside, which was partly burnt, were typical Achaemenid pots and fragments and administrative artifacts."

Among the finds in the site are a royal glass seal in the Achaemenid style that had been disfigured by fire and depicts a fertility scene with a leader praying, said Fuensanta. Another impression on a jar shows a typical iconograph of royal worship. According to Herbert Sauren, a German specialist in ancient Semitic languages, one of the seals has official Aramaic (the administrative language of the Achaemenids) writing and refers to the capacity of a vessel.

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Irish archeology nears crisis point

THE unprecedented boom in property development and road building has unearthed thousands of archeological artefacts but most of them lie gathering dust in warehouses, hidden from public view.

With nearly 200 times more excavations being carried out than in the early 1990s, new discoveries are no longer being reported and Ireland’s museums no longer have space to house them. As a result, academics claim the country is being denied an opportunity to learn more about its history.

A report prepared by University College Dublin (UCD) and the Heritage Council says an unprecedented amount of new information about Ireland’s ancient cultures remains unpublished because of “systemic failures” and pressure from developers to get archeology “out of the way for the next development”.

Archaeology 2020 says the treasure trove of knowledge and artefacts that should have accompanied the increase in excavations is not reaching the public domain.

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Archaeologists uncover ‘remarkable’ building

ARCHAEOLOGISTS working in a Perthshire forest have made some “remarkable” prehistoric discoveries.

Excavations began at the site of an ancient fortified house at Black Spout Wood near Pitlochry as part of Perthshire Archaeology Month and the findings have caused quite a stir.

Perth and Kinross Heritage Trust archaeologist Sarah Winlow is excited by what has been uncovered.

“The remains of this prehistoric homestead are truly remarkable,” she said.

“The sheer size of the walls and their sturdy construction mean the house must have been a high status, imposing residence.”

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Another brief item from Basilicata:

Una necropoli gallo-romana e' stata scoperta nel sud della Francia:accoglie tombe di adulti con feretri di legno e sepolture di bambini interrati. Situata sul ciglio di un' antica strada gallo-romana, la necropoli della tarda antichita' (IV-VI secolo d.C.) e' stata protetta bene. Un settore artigianale e' stato riconosciuto in prossimita', svelando la presenza di attivita' di trasformazione del ferro dei giacimenti pirenei.

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British expert nixes Bosnia pyramid claim

A British archaeologist on Friday rejected claims that a hill in central Bosnia is a man-made structure that many local residents insist is a pyramid.

Professor Anthony Harding, who is president of the European Association of Archaeologists, visited Visocica hill and said the formation was natural.

"Not any evidence at all has been found" to support the claim the site would be an archaeological site, he said.

No pyramids are known in Europe, and there are no records of any ancient civilization on the continent ever attempting to build one.

The pyramid theory was launched by an amateur researcher last year but it has been disputed by a number of local and international experts, who claim that at no time in Bosnia's history did the region have a civilization able to build monumental structures. They say the hill is simply a strange natural formation.

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Neanderthaler uit Scladina-grot geeft oudste DNA vrij

Wetenschappers hebben DNA van een 100.000 jaar oude Neanderthaler kunnen bestuderen. Dit is het oudst gekende DNA van het menselijke type tot nu toe. Het DNA werd geëxtraheerd uit de tand van een Neanderthal-kind dat gevonden werd in Scladina, een Belgische grot in de buurt van Luik. Dat staat te lezen in de nieuwste editie van het vaktijdschrift Current Biology.

De studie beweert dat de Neanderthalers genetisch veel verschillender dan dat we eerst dachten. De wetenschappers isoleerden het mitochondriaal DNA en dit werd onderzocht. Het DNA bevatte 123 paren die werden ontcijferd en vergeleken met andere gekende DNA-sequenties van Neanderthalers gedateerd tussen 29.000 en 42.000 jaar oud.

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British Archeologist Weighs in on Bosnian Pyramid Scheme

A British archaeologist on Friday rejected claims that a hill in central Bosnia is a man-made structure that many local residents insist is a pyramid. [See Initial LiveScience Report]

Professor Anthony Harding, who is president of the European Association of Archaeologists, visited Visocica hill and said the formation was natural.

"Not any evidence at all has been found'' to support the claim the site would be an archaeological site, he said.

No pyramids are known in Europe, and there are no records of any ancient civilization on the continent ever attempting to build one.

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North Ossetia Plundered of its Golden Age

Archaeologists in North Ossetia say an ancient and unique heritage is slipping away because of systematic plunder, while the authorities stand by and do nothing.

“Each year our institute rescues around one million US dollars' worth of historical relics from being stolen or destroyed,” Mark Bliev, director of the institute of history and archaeology at North Ossetia’s State University, told IWPR.

Bliev and his colleagues regularly go out on excavation trips to try to preempt the grave robbers who dig up valuable items.

They have saved an impressive amount, he said,“There are over 200,000 pieces. For example, a set of golden harness fittings found near a dig in the small town of Zilginsk [on the outskirts of Beslan] is worth over two million US dollars on the world market. It dates from the Sarmatian period of the third century BC.”

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Excavations restarted in Nysa

Archaeological excavations to unearth the ancient site of Nysa, located at Sultanhisar in the Aegean province of Aydın, have begun for the season, reported the Anatolia news agency on Thursday.

Associate Professor Musa Kadoğlu, a lecturer at Ankara University, told reporters that 50 people would take part in the excavations, to be headed by Professor Vedat İdil.

Kadoğlu added that the excavations, which started 16 years ago, were scheduled to last until Sept. 15 for this season.

Last year's dig, sponsored by the Tourism and Promotion Foundation of the Ancient Site of Nysa, unearthed 5 percent of the entire area, at a cost YTL 100,000.

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Ancient Astronomy Artifact Bears Hidden Text

A shoebox-sized bronze device scooped out of a Roman-era shipwreck at the dawn of the 20th century has baffled scientists for years. Now a British researcher has stunningly established it as the world's oldest surviving astronomy computer.

A team of Greek and British scientists probing the secrets of the artifact, known as the Antikythera Mechanism, has managed to decipher ancient Greek inscriptions unseen for over 2,000 years, members of the project say.

"Part of the text on the machine, over 1,000 characters, had already been deciphered, but we have succeeded in doubling this total," said physician Yiannis Bitsakis.

Bitsakis is part of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from universities in Athens, Salonika and Cardiff, the Athens National Archaeological Museum and the Hewlett-Packard company.

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Tombs of Roman foes discovered

L'Aquila, June 7 - Fresh tombs of one of Rome's most implacable foes have been discovered in Italy's mountainous Abruzzo region .

Some of the tombs have been dated to the Second Century BC, when Rome was still trying to subdue the warlike peoples that lived in the region .

Others date as far back as the 8th century BC, before Rome was founded .

A particularly interesting find was a 2nd-Century BC chamber tomb containing terracotta ware, jewelry and a dagger .

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A typically brief item of interest from Basilicata:

Una necropoli risalente ad un periodo che va dal VII al II sec. a.C. sono state rinvenute a Fossa (L'Aquila). Si tratta di una tomba a camera del II sec. a.C. con il letto in osso dove veniva adagiato il defunto, arricchita con vasi, pugnali e altri oggetti che un tempo venivano lasciati al momento della sepoltura. Questa tomba rimarra' sul posto, mentre i resti ossei delle altre verranno portati al museo di Celano.

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Third century Roman inscriptions discovered in the Basque Country

Archaeologists in the site of Iruña-Veleia have discovered an epigraphic set "among the most important of the Roman world" with drawings from the third century and a representation of a Calvary.

Archaeologists in the site of Iruña-Veleia have discovered an epigraphic set "among the most important of the Roman world," with a series of 270 inscriptions and drawings from the 3rd century and a representation of a Calvary, "the most ancient known up to this moment."

The managers of the archaeological site, located near the Alavan town of Nanclares de Oca, have officially unveiled these findings, identified and analysed last summer.

The tools with the inscriptions and drawings, most of them ceramics, were found in a room of the "Domus de pompeia valentina," one of the urban residences of the old city of Veleia, built up in the last quarter of the first century and inhabited until the fifth century.

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Stone table of royal power lunch found in seat of democracy

SECTIONS of the King’s Table, a symbol of royal power until it was smashed by Oliver Cromwell, have been found beneath the floor of the Palace of Westminster.

The elaborately carved stone table was used by kings and queens from the 13th century for coronation feasts and state banquets but disappeared under Puritan rule.

It represented the power and authority of the monarch in the same way as the King’s Bench, a court, and the King’s Privy Wardrobe, also known as the Jewel Tower.

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World's oldest condom

The oldest surviving condom in the world has gone on display in an Austrian museum.

The reusable condom dates back to 1640 and is completely intact, as is its orginal users' manual, written in Latin.

The manual suggests that users immerse the condom in warm milk prior to its use to avoid diseases.

The antique, found in Lund in Sweden, is made of pig intestine and is one of 250 ancient objects related to sex on display at the Tirolean County Museum in Austria this summer.

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Site may have Roman remains

A CONTROVERSIAL plan to build 24 affordable homes in Heacham will not be withdrawn, despite the fact there may be an important archaeological site on the land.

Experts at the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service have written to West Norfolk Council asking that the Flagship Housing Group withdraws its planning application for land at Lamsey Lane, as there may be a Roman farmstead partly on and beside it.

Principal archaeologist, David Gurney, said marks in crops beside the site may indicate below-ground remains, and a field evaluation needed to be carried out.

But Mrs Laura Handford, business development manager for Norwich-based Flagship, said the current scheme would be left as it is, and the company would take advice from the council's planners about whether a dig needed to be undertaken.

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Dig team give site the all-clear

Archaeologists brought in to investigate a site earmarked for development have found nothing that could halt the work.

Redcar's Coatham Links development will include more than 300 houses, a leisure complex and performance centre.

Diggers were brought in to make sure there were no more artefacts left at the former 12th Century settlement.

But experts from Tyne and Wear Museums have not found anything of significance, council chiefs revealed.

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Dig reveals an ancient site at Ashbourne

OUR ancestors were living in the Ashbourne and Finglas area up to 5,000 years ago, excavations carried out in preparation for the new M2 motorway and Ashbourne bypass revealed.

Archaeological investigations in advance of the scheme revealed over 20 new archaeological sites interspersed along the route. All the sites were fully excavated in advance of road construction during 2004 and 2005 by Cultural Resource Development Services Ltd (CRDS) on behalf of Meath County Council and the NRA.

The date range of the site indicates that there was intermittent human activity in the Finglas-Ashbourne area during at least the past 5,000 years.

One of the earliest sites uncovered was a Neolithic (3200-2800BC) henge enclosure at Kilshane, near Finglas. A unique feature of the site was the discovery of the remains of 40-50 young cattle in the base of the enclosing ditch, possibly a community animal sacrifice at the site.

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Earthquake evidence at cathedral

An earthquake 500 years ago is believed to have damaged one of the region's oldest and best preserved cathedrals.

Studies published by English Heritage show evidence of an earthquake that destroyed part of Ely Cathedral.

Studies of timber tree rings reveal repair work in the south transept from about AD 1425/6.

The cause of damage is likely to have been an undated earthquake. Research also reveals the oldest timbers date back almost 1,000 years to AD1043-1068.

Derek Hamilton, scientific dating specialist at English Heritage, said: "During the 1980s and 1990s, when recording work started, we realised that Ely Cathedral was one of the best preserved monastic complexes in the country.

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Cathedral studies reveal earthquake date

It has been an established and hallowed focal point of the East Anglian landscape for nearly a millennium.

But specialist studies have now brought a greater understanding of a violent episode in the history of Ely Cathedral – and a new dating for the oldest parts of the building.

The study of timber tree rings, known as dendrochronology, has revealed that repairs were carried out in the south transept in 1425/26, with the cause of damage likely to have been a documented, yet previously undated, earthquake which destroyed part of the cathedral.

The research by experts from Nottingham University also revealed that the oldest known timbers in the "Ship of the Fens", in the west tower turrets, date back almost 1000 years to 1043-1068.

The team has been collecting samples of oak timbers from the cathedral and monastic buildings on the site for nearly two decades.

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THE AMPHORA OF ELEUSIS

Location: Greece Length: 4 min.

The story of Odysseus and the Cyclops, told in the Iliad of Homer, has fascinated people of all ages for millennia. A funerary proto-Attic amphora from 650 B.C., found at Eleusis, just west of Athens, Greece, and now housed at the Archaeological Museum of Eleusis, tells the story in pictures. This video playfully combines the amphora's images with a traditional folk song from the Greek island of Crete to retell the story and capture the wonder of a child hearing it for the first time.

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Ancient rock art may depict exploding star

A rock carving discovered in Arizona might depict an ancient star explosion seen by Native Americans a thousand years ago, scientists announced today.

If confirmed, the rock carving, or "petroglyph" would be the only known record in the Americas of the well-known supernova of the year 1006.

The carving was discovered in White Tanks Regional Park just outside Phoenix, in an area believed to have been occupied by a group of Native Americans called the Hohokam from about 500 to 1100 A.D.

The finding is being announced today at the 208th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Calgary, Canada.

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Were Greeks 1,400 years ahead of their time?

FOR decades, researchers have been baffled by the intricate bronze mechanism of wheels and dials created 80 years before the birth of Christ.

The "Antikythera Mechanism" was discovered damaged and fragmented on the wreck of a cargo ship off the tiny Greek island of Antikythera in 1900.

Now, a joint British-Greek research team has found a hidden ancient Greek inscription on the device, which it thinks could unlock the mystery.

The team believes the Antikythera Mechanism may be the world's oldest computer, used by the Greeks to predict the motion of the planets.

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2,000 year old Roman road excavated

Deep beneath pavement pounded by tourists on Paris' Left Bank lies an ancient path a 2,000-year-old Roman road recently excavated during construction work.

Remnants of private houses rigged with baths and ingeniously heated floors were among the findings, now on view in a stunning dig. Over the next few weeks, however, archaeologists will rip up the ruins to make way for a research center.

The archeologists gradually remove every layer of ruins until they reach the geological stratum the original ground and eventually draw a chronological diagram.

"Excavating is destroying. We dig into historic layer after historic layer," said Didier Busson, scientific supervisor of the archaeological site.

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Excavations unearth hidden archaeological wealth of Kocaeli

Construction season in Kocaeli has highlighted the region as one of the world's oldest areas of settlement, hosting numerous civilizations, with one excavation site promising an abundance of archaeological wealth.

Two graveyards from the Roman and Lydian eras as well as a statue were unearthed during municipal construction work.

A waterworks team in İzmit unearthed the statue of a woman with the head and body of a lion during excavation on a street in Kocaeli. The team turned the statue over to the police. Archeologists examining the statue noted that it was the first of its kind unearthed in the region.


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Rock and rolls of film

AS AN AMATEUR archaeologist, he's unearthed so many artifacts on his English estate, some dating back to Roman times, that he turned his attic into a small private museum.

He's also a photographer, philanthropist and father. None of which, of course, made him famous. But when an almost-founding member of the world's greatest rock 'n' roll band wants to talk about his hobbies, you talk about his hobbies.

Bill Wyman became one of the best bass players in rock during his 30 years in the Rolling Stones. Since departing more than a decade ago, no matter how much he fills his life with other things, the conversation always turns back to the Stones.

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Ancient human fossils find modern virtual home

Neanderthal humans (Homo neanderthalensis) was once common throughout Europe, but died out some 30,000 years ago. Since the discovery of Neanderthal remains in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1856, archaeologists have unearthed its fossils at dozens of different excavation sites, including those in Croatia, Belgium, France and Germany.

"These extensive finds explain why most of the scientific analysis of human evolution has been done on Neanderthals," says Heinz Cordes, coordinator of the IST project TNT, which stands for The Neanderthal Tools.

After 24 months of work, the project partners have set up the world's leading scientific network on Neanderthal research. Called the Neanderthal Studies Professional Online Service (NESPOS), it contains an impressive and growing collection of texts and digitised Neanderthal remains such as skulls, teeth and tools.

"Our database now includes 60 per cent of the major excavation sites, 800 human fossil items from 35 archaeological sites and 200 specimens provided by third parties cooperating with the project," says Cordes of TNT's core application.

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Wessex Archaeology and Flickr

If you're a frequent reader of this column, you know how crazy I am about Flickr, a site where people share photographs of all kinds. I've used many photographs from my Flickr pals, most recently with the Chichén Itzá tour. Wessex Archaeology, often at the forefront of the use of technology for dissemination of public archaeology, has used Flickr as a repository for all kinds of photographs of archaeology in action, and recently they announced that they've uploaded over 200 photos from field and laboratory excavations. The Wessex Archaeology gallery is a great way to get a good idea on what field archaeology looks like.

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Greek text found on 'oldest astronomy computer'

The size of a shoebox, a mysterious bronze device scooped out of a Roman-era shipwreck at the dawn of the 20th century has baffled scientists for years.
Now a British researcher has stunningly established it as the world's oldest surviving astronomy computer.

A team of Greek and British scientists probing the secrets of the Antikythera Mechanism has managed to decipher ancient Greek inscriptions unseen for over 2,000 years, members of the project say.

"Part of the text on the machine, over 1,000 characters, had already been deciphered, but we have succeeded in doubling this total," said physician Yiannis Bitsakis, part of a multi-disciplinary team of researchers from universities in Athens, Salonika and Cardiff, the Athens National Archaeological Museum and the Hewlett-Packard company.

"We have now deciphered 95% of the text," he said.

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Tooth gives up oldest human DNA

Scientists have recovered DNA from a Neanderthal that lived 100,000 years ago - the oldest human-type DNA so far.

It was extracted from the tooth of a Neanderthal child found in the Scladina cave in the Meuse Basin, Belgium.

The study, reported in Current Biology, suggests our distant cousins were more genetically diverse than once thought.

Their diversity had declined, perhaps because of climate change or disease, by the time early humans arrived in Europe about 35,000 years ago.

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UNESCO team to probe Bosnia's "ancient pyramid"

Bosnia's mystery pyramid will now be probed and inspected by a team of experts from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

"We shall send a
UNESCO expert team to Visoko to determine exactly what it is all about," UNESCO Secretary General Koichiro Matsuura said in an interview published on Monday in Dnevni Avaz newspaper.

Amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagic has caused a stir with his find, although local and European archaeologists denounce it as nonsense.

Geologist Aly Abd Barakat, an Egyptian researcher sent by Cairo to assist Osmanagic's team last month, has said that the Visocica hill did appear to be a primitive man-made pyramid of uncertain age.

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100,000 year-old DNA sequence allows new look at Neandertal's genetic diversity

By recovering and sequencing intact DNA from an especially ancient Neandertal specimen, researchers have found evidence suggesting that the genetic diversity among Neandertals was higher than previously thought. The findings also suggest that genetic diversity may have been higher in earlier Neandertal periods relative to later periods that approached the arrival of humans in Europe. Changes in genetic diversity over time are thought to reflect population events, such as low-population bottlenecks caused by disease or environmental change, as well as the influence of random genetic change. The findings are reported in the June 6th issue of Current Biology by a group of researchers including Ludovic Orlando and led by Catherine Hänni of Ecole Normale Supérieur in Lyon, France.

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Ancient cave art dazzles experts

A 27,000-year-old human skeleton laid out in a room decorated with ancient art and a crude representation of a face are among the rare finds in a cave in western France, officials said yesterday.

The state took over ownership of the cave in the Vilhonneur forest on May 12, the French Culture Ministry said in a statement.

It was only the second time that a human body is known to have been placed in a decorated cave from the Upper Paleolithic Period, the ministry said.

A single face drawn in the cave could be among the world's oldest known graphic representations of a human face, said Jean-Yves Baratin, archeology curator for the Poitou-Charentes region.

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New Director for Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology

The Museum of Archaeology & Anthropology at the University of Cambridge has announced the appointment of Nicholas Thomas as its new Director from October 2006.

Professor Thomas, currently Professor of Anthropology at Goldsmiths College, studied anthropology and history at the Australian National University, and visited Polynesia first in 1984 to research his PhD thesis on the Marquesas Islands. He later worked in Fiji and New Zealand, as well as in many archives and museum collections in Europe, North America, and the Pacific itself, and has written widely on art, voyages, colonial encounters, and contemporary culture in the Pacific Islands.

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Dig of an Iron Age hill fort in Bedfordshire

Excavations to try and unearth buried secrets of an Iron Age hill fort began at a Sandy nature reserve (Bedfordshire, England). Specialists spent last week carrying out excavation work at the fort, located within the grounds of the RSPB headquarters. By taking soil samples and digging trenches at the site, they have discovered Sandy's ancestors may have been in the area for a lot longer than previously thought.

Peter Bradley, site manager of the nature reserve said: "The reason for the work is, as far as we know, it has never been dug in the past and we would like to know more about it, particularly for when it is opened up to the public in a couple of years' time. The idea is it would be seen from a very long way away by other tribes. It could have been defensive or a market place, or where people lived. We don't know yet what use this fort had. Our initial thoughts are that it's something like 250 BCE but certainly there are finds that go back to much much earlier than that. The site's certainly been in use for a very long time."

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Art and archaeology of the moor on display

An exhibition linking art and archaeology opened at Dartmoor National Park Authority's High Moorland Centre in Princetown (Devon, England). The work on display has been produced as part of an ongoing collaboration between visual artist Varvara Shavrova, archaeologist Helen Wickstead, and the archaeological team working on Shovel Down Bronze Age site in Dartmoor National Park.

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Cave face 'the oldest portrait on record'

A DRAWING discovered by a potholer on the wall of a cave in the west of France appears to be the oldest known portrait of a human face.

The 27,000-year-old work was found by a local pensioner, Gérard Jourdy, in the Vilhonneur grotto near Angoulême.

Drawn with calcium carbonate, and using the bumps in the wall to give form to the face, it features two horizontal lines for the eyes, another for the mouth and a vertical line for the nose. “The portrait of this face is unique,” said Jean Airvaux, a researcher at the French Directorate of Cultural Affairs. “We have other drawings, but they are more recent. Here, it could be the oldest representation of a human face.”

Archaeologists are particularly interested in the Vilhonneur cave because there are several drawings, including one of a hand in cobalt blue, along with animal and human remains.

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Delays put restoration of Mylos catacombs in danger

One of Greece’s major Early Christian monuments has been abandoned.

The restoration of the catacombs on the island of Mylos has been postponed for the second time, which means that the EU funding previously secured may now be lost. The reasons behind the continuous cancellations are not known.

The catacombs are situated in the southern part of the island, near the village of Trypiti. They date to the 2nd century and were used during the Early Christian period. They contain about 300 sculpted graves, housed in three large galleries which develop into six 184-meter corridors. They were first explored by scientists at the end of the 19th century.

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Expedition seeks clues to lost Bronze Age culture

An underwater explorer who found the Titanic and a team of international scientists will soon survey waters off the Greek island of Crete for clues to a once-powerful Bronze Age-era civilization.

The expedition about 75 miles northwest of Crete aims to learn more about the Minoans, who flourished during the Bronze Age, and seeks to better understand seafaring four millennia ago, the scientists said.

U.S. researchers say the Minoans were engaged in broad-based trade with other civilizations, such as the Mycenaeans on mainland Greece and perhaps with peoples as far away as the present-day Middle East.

"No one knows who the Minoans were," said Robert Ballard, an oceanography professor at the University of Rhode Island who discovered the Titanic in the North Atlantic in 1985.

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Ancient stone tablets could shed light on Surtepe excavations

Ancient stone tablets and seals unearthed during archaeological excavations at the Surtepe tumulus, seven kilometers north of Birecik in the southeastern province of Şanlıurfa, could shed light on other ancient structures discovered in the area.

A team of experts headed by project director Jesus Gil Fuensanta of Spain who have been working in the area as part of the Tilbes salvage project, discovered a monumental building -- believed to belong to the Persian-Achaemenid period prior to the conquest by Alexander the Great -- at the Surtepe mound during excavations in 2005.

Surtepe is a large site covering 50 hectares and is believed to have been an area of settlement even during the Late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze ages (fourth and third millennia B.C.).

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Actors' insight into Viking life

People are being offered an insight into the Viking way of life at an event in Wirral on Sunday.

Experts will be demonstrating ancient crafts, using tools exactly as they would have been 1,000 years ago

Bone and wood carving, leather working, spinning, dyeing and weaving and food displays are among the events.

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Metal detector man finds Iron Age treasure

A treasure hunter has uncovered priceless jewellery dating back to the Iron age at a South Wales farm.

Brian Gibbison, 43, found the prehistoric bronze collar and bracelet with his metal detector at a farm in the Vale of Glamorgan - just a year after starting his metal- seeking hobby.

He has now handed his precious find over to the National Museum of Wales after a Cardiff inquest heard it had proved officially to be treasure.

The French polisher, from Barry, said: 'This is my best find ever. It was really exciting.

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Navy discovers centuries-old Spanish ship buried in sand

Navy construction crews have unearthed a rare Spanish ship that was buried for centuries under sand on Pensacola's Naval Air Station, archaeologists confirmed.

The vessel could date to the mid-16th century, when the first Spanish settlement in what is now the United States was founded here, the archaeologists said.

But the exposed portion looks more like ships from a later period because of its iron bolts, said Elizabeth Benchley, director of the Archaeology Institute at the University of West Florida.

"There are Spanish shipwrecks in Pensacola Bay," Benchley said. "We have worked on two - one from 1559 and another from 1705. But no one has found one buried on land. This was quite a surprise to everybody."

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Ancient Scroll May Yield Religious Secrets

A collection of charred scraps kept in a Greek museum's storerooms are all that remains of what archaeologists say is Europe's oldest surviving book -- which may hold a key to understanding early monotheistic beliefs.

More than four decades after the Derveni papyrus was found in a 2,400-year-old nobleman's grave in northern Greece, researchers said Thursday they are close to uncovering new text -- through high-tech digital analysis -- from the blackened fragments left after the manuscript was burnt on its owner's funeral pyre.

Large sections of the mid-4th century B.C. book -- a philosophical treatise on ancient religion -- were read years ago, but never officially published.

Now, archaeologist Polyxeni Veleni believes U.S. imaging and scanning techniques used to decipher the Judas Gospel -- which portrays Judas not as a sinister betrayer but as Jesus' confidant -- will considerably expand and clarify that text.

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Archaeologists unearth 10th-century BC skeleton

Archaeologists have dug up a woman skeleton dating to the 10th century BC in an ancient necropolis in the heart of Rome.

The well-preserved skeleton appears to be that of a woman aged about 30, said archaeologist Anna De Santis, who took part in the excavations under the Caesar's Forum, part of the sprawling complex of the Imperial Forums in central Rome.

An amber necklace and four pins also were found near the five-foot-three-inch-long skeleton, she said Tuesday.

The bones, dug up Monday, would likely be put on display in a museum after being examined further, De Santis said.

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Newly found mosaic is optical illusion

Archaeologists studying an ancient mosaic found by workers laying cable south of Rome have been astonished to discover that it is an optical illusion.

Viewed one way up it is a bald old man with a beard, but turned the other way round it is a beardless youth.

Roberto Cereghino, a government archaeological official, told the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera that it was "a very beautiful work, of immense significance".

He said it appeared to be a depiction of Bacchus.

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High-tech tools unveil ancient text

The burnt remains of a 2,400-year-old scroll buried with an ancient Greek nobleman may help unlock the secrets of early monotheistic religion -- using new digital technology.

A team of U.S., British and Greek experts is working on a new reading of the enigmatic Derveni papyrus, a philosophical treatise on ancient faith that is Europe's oldest surviving manuscript.

More than four decades after the papyrus was found in a grave in northern Greece, researchers said Thursday they are close to uncovering new text from the blackened fragments left after the scroll was burned on its owner's funeral pyre.

Large sections of the mid-4th century B.C. document -- written in ancient Greek -- were read by scholars years ago. But archaeologist Polyxeni Veleni believes U.S. imaging and scanning techniques used to decipher the Judas Gospel -- which portrays Judas not as a sinister betrayer but as Jesus' confidant -- will considerably expand and clarify that text.

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Roman remains face obliteration at Southwark site

Archaeologists fear 1,000 years of history may be shovelled into skips as time runs out on a key site in London. Harvey Sheldon, an officer of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, called the situation at the church of St George the Martyr, in Southwark, where substantial evidence of Roman buildings may be destroyed without being recorded, "a disgrace".

Yesterday he made a last ditch appeal to church authorities to give more time for excavation, before heavy machinery moves onto the site.

Southwark, once seen by archaeologists as a nondescript marshy suburb on the wrong side of the river from the Roman city of London, has through recent excavations emerged as a key part of the Roman administration of Britain.

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Roman gem discovery

TWO newly qualified archaeology graduates say they have uncovered a massive Roman villa complex in the Mendip Hills.

The Weston-based graduates used specialist geophysics equipment to reveal what are thought to be two 60m buildings forming a prestigious courtyard villa with a separate bath building.

The buildings probably belonged to a rich landowner from the second or third century AD.

Limited excavation work at the site near Cheddar has thrown up patterned wall plaster and ancient cooking equipment and could hide a treasure of mosaic tiles and other artefacts.

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Was fig first fruit of man's agricultural endeavours?

The dawn of agriculture may have come with the domestication of fig trees near Jericho some 11,400 years ago, archaeologists report today.

The discovery of ancient carbonised figs suggests that fruit, rather than grains that are traditionally thought to have heralded agriculture, may yield the earliest evidence of purposeful planting.

The figs date back roughly 1,000 years before wheat, barley and legumes were domesticated in the region, making the fruit trees the oldest known domesticated crop, a team reports today in the journal Science.

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ANCIENT PRIORY SET TO CHANGE HANDS - FOR £1

Llanthony Priory - one of Gloucester's most historic buildings - is set to be sold off for just £1. Gloucester City Council will decide next week whether to sell the scheduled ancient monument to English Heritage.

But the deal is not as bizarre as it sounds as it would save the historic landmark from ruin.

Llanthony Secunda Priory, which dates back to 1136, is situated at Gloucester Docks. The Grade 1 listed buildings on the site have been in city council ownership since 1974.

But they have fallen seriously into disrepair. And English Heritage has identified the priory as being in the highest risk category.

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Ancient fig clue to first farming

Ancient figs found in an archaeological site in the Jordan Valley may represent one of the earliest forms of agriculture, scientists report.

The carbonised fruits date between 11,200 and 11,400 years old.

The US and Israeli researchers say the figs are a variety that could have only been grown with human intervention.

The team, writing in the journal Science, says the find marks the point when humans turned from hunting and gathering to food cultivation.

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Origins of Agriculture

Perhaps, the most contentious issue in archaeology (outside of repatriation and pre-clovis) is the origins of agriculture. A article on National Geographic adds some interesting insights to the debate. It concerns the discovery of a 11,400 year old fig discovered at the Gilgal archaeological site near Jericho. Previously, the oldest cultivated fruit were dated to about 6,000 years ago. There are several interesting aspects to the find. The first is how they determined that the fig was being ciltivated rather than gathered wild. From National Geographic:

Normally, pollination by specialized wasps is required for fig trees to bear edible fruit. Occasionally, however, a mutation occurs that allows fruit to develop from unfertilized female flowers, a process known as parthenocarpy. Some figs grown commercially today are of this variety. Apparently, so were the Stone Age figs at Gilgal. Microscopic analysis revealed that the figs lacked embryonic seeds, a distinguishing feature of the mutant form, in which fruit are produced without pollination. "The mutation does not survive in nature more than a single generation," Kislev said. That means the fig trees at Gilgal could not have been reproducing naturally.

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Mammoth remains' island return

The teeth and jaw bone of a mammal which roamed the earth during the ice age are to be returned to their home town on Anglesey.

The remains were originally uncovered at Holyhead over 140 years ago.

They were saved because the local lord of the manor at the time was an amateur archaeologist who gave the remains to the Natural History Museum in London.

A special cabinet has been built at Holyhead Maritime Museum to house the objects at a constant temperature.

The jawbone and teeth were found by workmen from the London North Western Railway working in Holyhead harbour in 1864.

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Ministers 'wreck protection for listed buildings'

Leaked plans that would allow some of the country's top listed buildings to be demolished to generate money for the taxpayer led to an extraordinary row between the head of English Heritage and the Government last night.

Simon Thurley, the chief executive of English Heritage, called the legislation proposed by Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary and Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, with the approval of Tony Blair, a "demolishers' charter".

He said it undermined "the fundamental principle that the country's best and most culturally valuable architecture is worth keeping".

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500k-year human fossil remains found in Casablanca

A new human fossil remain of an upper premolar tooth of a Homo erectus has been discovered recently in the Thomas 1 quarry site in Casablanca.

"The human fossil is associated to an Acheulian tool and to numerous remains dating back to at least 500,000 years," said a communiqué of the Culture Minister, recalling that this site had previously yielded notably a Homos erectus lower jaw in 1969, and an upper premolar tooth in 1994.

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Boadicea may have had her chips on site of McDonald's

Archaeologists believe they may have found the final battle site for the warrior queen Boadicea - on the site of a McDonald's restaurant.

Having spent her life in fierce resistance to one empire - the Romans - her last stand is thought to have been overshadowed by another one, this time corporate.

Having found ancient artefacts where new houses and flats are due to be built, experts have now asked the local authority to allow a full excavation of the area.

Little is known about Boadicea's last fight, or the way in which she died, but it is widely believed to have taken place in the West Midlands. The site unearthed by experts, in Kings Norton, Birmingham, lies close to the line of a Roman road, and fits many of the few facts available.

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Uncovered - Boadicea's big fight on McDonalds

She spent her life fighting off the might of the Roman Empire, only to be defeated in her last stand.

Now, in the 21st century the Queen of the Iceni would seem to be in the grip another mighty empire - the McDonalds food chain.

Excavations near the sprawling McDonalds in Kings Norton have uncovered Roman artefacts which archeologist think may have been the location for the famous battle between Boadicea's army and the Romans in 61AD.

Local councillor and archaeologist Peter Douglas Osborn (Weoley, Con) said: "We know for certain that the battle between the 200,000 ancient Britons and the Romans happened somewhere in the Midlands.

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Ride back in time as chariot fires the imagination

THE remains of a 2,000-year-old chariot and a skeleton – possibly that of a tribal chief – discovered in a West Yorkshire field have gone on public display.
The remains, dating back to the Iron Age, were found at Ferry Fryston three years ago during upgrading of the A1.

The chariot was buried whole in its owner's grave – a fact that makes it a very rare find, say archaeologists.

It forms the centrepiece of an exhibition starting today at Pontefract Museum.
Tests have revealed that the skeleton found with the chariot was that of a male aged 30 to 40, who probably did not originate from the West Yorkshire area.

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Roman artefacts found on farm are treasure

A UNIQUE Roman oil lamp and a bronze arm purse found in a farmer's field have been declared treasure trove.

The purse – one of only three found in Britain – was unearthed with
the decorated oil lamp and four silver coins by Huddersfield garden centre manager Andrew Harper, who had permission to use his metal detector on a farm near Tadcaster – the Roman settlement of Calcaria.

Simon Holmes, of the national Portable Antiquities Scheme based at the Yorkshire Museum in York, told a Selby inquest yesterday that the Roman dinari coins dated the finds as no later than 180AD.

He said the British Museum had nothing remotely like the lamp, which was probably made in Italy in the first century AD, and he added: "I would say it is unique."

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500 year-old human remains are discovered in Bawtry

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have descended on a Bawtry building site – after human remains were found by surprised workmen.
Last Wednesday police cordened off the site believing it could be a crime scene, but visiting history experts confirmed the bones were 500 years old.

It is thought the skull and bones belong to a small adult or child, but the gender has not yet been determined.

Work on the Bett Homes development has been temporarily halted while a team of archaeologists dig for clues that could reveal more about Medieval Bawtry.

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Gringley dig

MEMBERS of the community were invited to an archaeological dig at Gringley Wharf where the parish council is working towards a restoration project.

Gringley Parish Council and Notts County Council are working together to redevelop Gringley Wharf which is currently a derelict piece of land owned by the parish council.

As part of the Building Better Communities scheme, a £30,000 bid for money to work on the rural heritage project was successfully granted by the county council.

Project manager Dave Foreman, who is also vice-chairman of the parish council, said the dig was to help them research the area which is to be restored.

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The chariot man meets his public

MAKE no bones about it, Pontefract Museum's Iron Age mystery man is one of the most significant finds in British history.

The 2,000-year-old skeleton was found buried with the remains of his ash wood chariot in 2003 during routine surveying work on the A1 at Ferry Fryston, Castleford.
Now the amazing find, thought to be one of the best examples of its kind in the world, is going on public display for the first time just a few miles from where it was unearthed.

But after he lay undiscovered for over two millennia, and following almost three years of painstaking research at the University of Bradford, experts are still no closer to solving the riddle of just who the remarkable Ferry Fryston man really was.

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Is Boudicca buried in Birmingham?

The burial ground of Queen Boudicca could be next to a burger restaurant in Birmingham, it has been claimed.

An excavation is to take place at the site in Kings Norton after evidence it has Roman remains buried there.

Queen Boudicca, who led ancient tribes in battle against the Romans, died in 62 AD, possibly in the Midlands.

It would be a "world-shattering" find, said Councillor Peter Douglas Osborn. But experts warned there is no evidence the site is linked to Boudicca.

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Ancient chariot goes on display

A 2,500-year-old chariot found during the construction of a motorway near Pontefract will go on display at the town's museum on Friday.

The chariot was unearthed at an Iron Age burial site in 2003 by engineers working on the A1 motorway.

Archaeologists say the chariot is extremely unusual as it was buried whole with its wheels still intact.

It will be displayed in the 'Wheels of Time' exhibition at Pontefract Museum until 22 July.

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Würzburger Archäologen erforschen antiken Siedlungsbund in der Türkei

In der Antike war die Karische Chersones, die heutige Bozburun-Halbinsel im äußersten Südwesten der Türkei, als ein Bund von etwa 20 kleineren Siedlungen organisiert, die kein städtisches Zentrum hatten. "Diese dezentrale Struktur steht im Gegensatz zu den griechischen Stadtstaaten, ist jedoch für das einheimische Volk der Karer eine typische, wenn auch archäologisch bisher kaum untersuchte Siedlungsweise", erklärt der Würzburger Archäologe Held.

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FROM SPACE TO PLACE

prof. Riccardo Francovich (University of Siena-Medieval
Archaeology), prof. Maurizio Forte (senior scientist of Italian National
Research Council)and DR.Stefano Campana (University of Siena-Landscape
Archaeology) are organizing an important scientific initiative in Italy.

WE ANNOUNCE HEREBY THAT IN DECEMBER 2006, the second conference will be
organized in Rome:

II INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE REMOTE SENSING ARCHAEOLOGY: FROM SPACE TO PLACE

CNR HEADQUARTER (Piazzale Aldo Moro) ROME 4-7/12/2006

OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE CONFERENCE: http://www.space2place.org/

Archaeology Project

A former Kendal Museum employee is poised to start unlocking the Lake District ’s vast heritage where over 6,500 sites make it one of the north’s top areas for archaeology.

Thanks to a £171,000 Heritage Lottery Fund grant, Lisa Keys is spearheading work to roll out the relics of history to new and expanding audiences in a project she says ‘couldn’t be more exciting’.

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Broken stones and iron rails – a key to 2,000 years of civic pride

AT FIRST glance the items which decorate Tullie House’s gardens are just metal railings and blocks of stone.

But to dismiss them as ornate pieces of furniture which break up the flowers would be a huge mistake.

The stones and metalwork which appear to make the gardens more attractive actually reveal major clues to Carlisle’s rich historical past.

From the remnants of the Roman empire which once ruled the city to the start of the industrial revolution which transformed its fortunes, these seemingly simple pieces are of great significance.

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LUTON'S £750,000 WENLOCK JUG TAKES PRIDE OF PLACE AT MUSEUM

The Wenlock Jug, an English Royal medieval jug dramatically acquired by Luton Museum earlier this year, is to finally go on display at Wardown Park Museum in Luton on Friday May 26 2006.

The bronze jug was almost sold to New York’s Metropolitan Museum for £750,000 but was export-stopped in October 2005 by culture minister David Lammy - in order to provide a last chance to raise the money to keep the jug in the United Kingdom.

After a hard fought campaign to raise the necessary £750,000 Luton Borough Council’s Museums Service managed to buy the jug, which has strong local connections, thanks to the overwhelming generosity of several key organisations and donations from many individuals.

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Arrest on Paros over artifacts

Police on the Cycladic island of Paros said yesterday that they had arrested a 56-year-old woman for allegedly possessing a number of illegal antiquities, including nine sections of ancient columns.

Officers from the Attica police antiquities department had been on the island to chase up leads from the discovery of a huge stash of illegal artifacts on the nearby island of Schinoussa.

Policemen searched the house of an archaeologist who had allegedly worked in the past with Marion True, the former director of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Illegal artifacts were confiscated from True’s villa on Paros last month. But officers did not find anything suspicious at the unnamed archeologist’s house.

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Dracula castle returns to bloodline

More than 60 years after it was seized by communists, the Romanian government is to hand back one of the country's most popular tourist sites, the fabled Dracula Castle, to its former owner, the culture minister said Tuesday.

The hand-over ceremony will take place Friday noon in the 14th century castle's museum deep within the fortress in Transylvania, said minister Adrian Iorgulescu at a news conference.

The castle, worth an estimated $25 million (19.6 million euros), was owned by the late Queen Marie and bequeathed to her daughter Princess Ileana in 1938. It was confiscated by communists in 1948 and fell into disrepair.

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Heritage denied in London

ENGLISH HERITAGE has accepted the issue of a “certificate of immunity” from listing of its own headquarters in London’s Savile Row. The building, Fortress House, is a notable landmark designed by a gold medallist of RIBA, William Curtis Green, who has long been recognised as a leading talent.

Clearly it stands on a valuable piece of real estate, and English Heritage has only remained here thanks to the determined stand of its former chairman, Sir Jocelyn Stevens, in reversing ill-judged proposals to move the organisation away from the centre of power to Nottingham. Now the Department of Culture is surrendering the lease to the owners, Legal & General.

The issue of a certificate of immunity from listing can only be justified in cases where a building clearly has no architectural interest of any kind. In this case, however, English Heritage acknowledges the building has architectural interest, but argues this is not sufficient to make it “special” and therefore worthy of listing.

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SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS: FLORIDA'S LOST PEOPLE

Location: Florida Length: 28 min.

Before Spanish explorers arrived 500 years ago, Florida was home to a variety of sophisticated and colorful native societies, including diverse groups such as the Calusa, Apalachee, Timacua, and Tequesta. In this film, artist Ted Morris follows his quest to recreate on canvas the lives and spirits of these vanished people. Archaeological evidence from the land and from below the clear waters combines with facial reconstructions and early historical accounts to paint a fascinating picture of people in tune with the subtropical environment.

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Call to save WWII weapons plant

A former chemical weapons factory where British scientists contributed to early atomic bomb technology should be preserved, experts are to say.

The Valley Works at Rhydymwyn, near Mold, Flintshire, produced hundreds of tons of mustard gas in World War Two.

But its history goes back to the 18th Century, according to university researchers who studied the site, now a nature reserve, for five months.

They are to present their findings at a public meeting on Tuesday.

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Rosslyn Trust seeks millions in funding to save crumbling chapel

THE Rosslyn Chapel Trust is hoping to secure £13.3 million to preserve the medieval treasure for future generations, The Scotsman can reveal.

The money would be used to restore the crumbling masonry, replace the roof, install a new heating system and try to repair disastrous renovation work carried out in the past.

The cash would come from Historic Scotland, the Heritage Lottery Fund and other sources of finance such as ticket sales from people visiting the chapel.

Stuart Beattie, the director of the trust, said: "The trust has always had a supportive working relationship with Historic Scotland, the Heritage Lottery Fund and Midlothian Council. This partnership continues as we move towards our final push of the consultation plan, which is a £13.3 million project."

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London's heart of stone

The mysterious "London stone" is going to be rescued from a building due to be demolished. Does it mean that London is going to be saved from an ancient legend?

You couldn't get much less of a romantic setting for an historic monument. It's in a kerbside cage, stuck on the wall of a sports shop in Cannon Street due for demolition.

The only clouds of mystery billowing around it are the car exhaust fumes from the traffic crawling through the City of London.

But this is the neglected setting of the London Stone - an ancient and mysterious object mentioned by Shakespeare, William Blake and Dickens, which has been seen as one of the capital's greatest relics since at least the Middle Ages and probably much earlier.

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Roman centre step closer

AMBITIOUS plans to demolish part of a Grade II listed building in Chester's city centre and replace it with a new visitor centre have moved a step closer.

Later this summer, Chester City Council will be told whether it can develop detailed plans to build a new centre at the Roman amphitheatre.

Last week, the city council agreed that if it makes it through to the next round of bids it will hold an architectural competition for "a design concept for a new multifunctional landmark centre on part of the amphitheatre".

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Fire destroys roof of oldest church in Gdansk

The roof of the oldest church, st Catherine's, in the Polish port city of Gdansk was destroyed Monday by fire which was still not fully out by early evening as 20 fire trucks worked away.

There were fears that the historic tower of the church, with its 49 bells, would collapse. 'We're doing all we can to prevent this,' said fire chief Andrzej Roszkowski.

Television broadcaster TVN 24 said part of the roof collapsed, but a spokesman for the fire department said the building's interior was not threatened.

Emergency crews were also preparing to bring art works housed in the building to safety. 'This is the worst tragedy for Gdansk's landmarks since 1945,' art historian Andrzej Januszajtis told radio reporters.

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Building site was Roman cemetery

Archaeologists have discovered a Roman cemetery on a building site.

During a routine inspection, they discovered 18 cremation urns, most in perfect condition, yards from the Thomas A Becket crossroads in Offington Lane, Worthing.

Project manager Neil Griffin said the unexpected find had caused considerable excitement.

He said it was rare to find vessels dating back to at least 200AD in such fine condition.

Mr Griffin, of Ditchling-based Archaeology South-East, hopes the urns, thought to contain a family group of five people alongside offerings of food and wine to the gods, will be presented to Worthing Museum.

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GEOPHYSICS FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY

We inform that this is the last week AVAILABLE to submit the
application for the XV International Summer School in Archaeology:

GEOPHYSICS FOR LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY

the School is organized from the University of Siena and the Italian
National Research Council and will take place in Grosseto (Tuscany, Italy)
FROM 10 TO 18 July 2006.

List of lecturers:
H. Becker - S.Campana - L. Conyers - M.Dabas - C.Gaffney - D.Goodman -
A.Hesse - Y.Nishimura - S.Piro - D.Powlesland - A.Schmidt - A.Tabbagh -
G.Tsokas - M.Watters

Visit the Website...

Dig turns up a medieval mystery

Archaelogists have discovered what they believe are medieval floor tiles at the site of a former Red Cross ambulance base in Northumberland.

A team from Durham-based Pre-Construct Archaeology have been working at the site on St Helen's Street, Corbridge, all week.

The area has been earmarked by Anvil Homes for a development of up to six homes but before a planning application can be submitted, Northumberland county archaeologist Sara Ruston ordered test excavation to be carried out.

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MEDIEVAL FIND A GOLD CHARM

A GOLD miniature annular brooch, believed to be 13th century, is the latest discovery made by Island metal detectors.

It has been heralded a rare find by Island archaeologists, who have examined the piece found by Allan Hall in the parish of Godshill.

The brooch is inscribed with the letters AGLA, each letter separated by a cross potent (a sort of Medieval full stop), which comes from the Latinised version of a Hebrew phrase, Atha Gebri Leilan Adonai, or Thou Art Mighty Forever o' Lord.

These words are known to have been considered to be a powerful charm against fever in the Middle Ages.

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Caesar seizes his chance to educate young Romans

PARENTS and pupils have been exploring ancient historical sites as part of a school's Roman theme week.

Each class at St Charles Primary School, Tudhoe, has been on a trip accompanied by school staff and a number of parent helpers.

They have visited places including the Museum of Antiquities, in Newcastle, Arbeia Roman Fort, at South Shields, and Hadrian's Wall.

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Ancient Etruscans are unlikely the ancestors of modern Tuscans, study finds

For the first time, Stanford researchers have used novel statistical computer modeling to simulate demographic processes affecting the population of Tuscany over a 2,500-year time span. Rigorous tests used by the researchers have ruled out a genetic link between ancient Etruscans, the early inhabitants of central Italy, and the region's modern day residents.

The findings suggest that something either suddenly wiped out the Etruscans or the group represented a social elite that had little in common with the people who became the true ancestors of Tuscans, said Joanna Mountain, assistant professor of anthropological sciences.

"Very often, we assume the most simple explanation for something," said Mountain, an expert in anthropological genetics. "So when you find in a particular location the archeological remains of people, the simplest explanation is that those people are ancestral to whoever is living there now. How often do you get a chance to check that? Very rarely."

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Egyptian backs Bosnian pyramid claim

An Egyptian geologist said on Wednesday that a hill in central Bosnia appeared to be a primitive human-made pyramid of uncertain age.

Geologist Aly Abd Barakat was sent by Egypt’s government to join the local team researching what Bosnian-born amateur archaeologist Semir Osmanagic says are three 12,000-year-old pyramids — the Bosnian Pyramids of Sun, Moon and Dragon.

“In my opinion, it is a type of pyramid, probably primitive pyramid ... (that) we did not know until now,” Barakat told reporters at the dig on the northeastern side of Visocica hill, where huge stone blocks have been found.

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Tara Burial Unique in Irish Archaeology

A newly discovered burial site near Tara shows features not found in Ireland before.

A cemetery from the first few centuries CE, when Romano-British customs were being introduced into Ireland, includes a variety of burial types and a kind of square-ditched enclosure characteristic of Yorkshire burials

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THE BRITISH MUSEUM EXPLORES SAME SEX DESIRE IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

A fraying 4000 year old papyrus of accounts might seem an unpromising place to look for gay history. But next to the figures is a fragment of the story of Horus and Seth, containing the oldest recorded chat up line in history:

"And the Majesty of Seth said
to the Majesty of Horus: 'How lovely your backside is!
Broad are [your] thighs(?) [...]
And the Majesty of Horus said:
'Watch out or I'll tell this!'"

…and he does: he goes straight round to the palace of his mother, Isis, and says "Seth tried to know me".

The evidence of this Egyptian papyrus - now held at the Petrie Museum is just one of the aspects of male same-sex desire in the ancient world uncovered at the British Museum this month.

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Iron Age fort unearthed in Wiltshire

A dig near Malmesbury town walls (Wiltshire, England) has uncovered a substantial stone-fronted defensive rampart and a deep ditch which could date to the Iron Age. Archaeologists believe the prehistoric hill fort would have had impressive multiple defences rising above the valley of the River Avon.

English Heritage said the results were very exciting and showed how important the town's defences were. A project spokesman said it was the first time that the area outside of the line of defences has been examined archaeologically. The finds add to discoveries recorded during the previous investigation carried out during November 2005 during restoration work on the walls, that revealed new evidence about the nature of the town's defences.

When the collapsing stone of the wall was removed, substantial clay deposits almost 3m (10ft) high were found. Archaeologists identified these as the upper rampart of the Iron Age hill fort on which Malmesbury was later built.

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Brutal lives of Neolithic Britons

A survey of British skulls from the early part of Neolithic, shows societies then were more violent than was supposed. Early Neolithic Britons had a one in 20 chance of suffering a skull fracture at the hands of someone else and a one in 50 chance of dying from their injuries. Details were presented at a meeting of the Society for American Archaeology and reported in New Scientist magazine.

Blunt instruments such as clubs were responsible for most of the traumas.

This is not the first time human-induced injuries have been identified in Neolithic people; but the authors say it is the first study to give some idea of the overall frequency of such traumas.

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Discovery confirms wine-making on Santorini

The excavation at Akrotiri on Thera (modern-day Santorini, Greece) has given more information about viticulture in the Cyclades in the Bronze Age. Thanks to modern methods and techniques, archaeologists have concluded that Akrotiri had one of the richest collections of flora and fauna in the Aegean at that time.

"Among the samples analyzed are traces of vine-wood coal and grape stems that appear with great frequency. That means that viticulture was one of the farming activities on Thera, at least during the 17th century BCE. Grapes are depicted on jars dating from that time, both painted and embossed, indicating that grapes were not simply a product to be traded but a popular foodstuff. Of course, these findings confirm that grapes were cultivated, not necessarily that wine was produced, although for this we have other more tangible indications and references, such as jars with a tap just above a narrow base," said Professor Christos Doumas, director of excavations of the ancient settlement of Akrotiri.

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Pipes upgraded near historic wall

Archaeologists have been called in to make sure workers burying waste pipes do not disturb artefacts in Cumbria.

United Utilities is laying six kilometres of water pipes in Bowness on Solway near Hadrian's Wall, which runs from the River Solway to the Tyne.

If no Roman artefacts are found then work will go ahead on the £6m scheme.

Currently waste water goes into the Solway Firth untreated. The scheme will mean water from Port Carlisle and Bowness will be treated in Glasson.

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A HORSE, A HORSE, MY KINGDOM FOR A HORSE!

According to Shakespeare, Richard III once cried "a horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" during the Battle of Bosworth.

It might be a bit late, but one has finally turned up.

Archaeologists discovered the tiny relic of a horse while searching for the true site of the battle.

It was among a haul of nearly 1,000 artefacts which have been unearthed on a site next to the Bosworth Battlefield Visitors' Centre in Sutton Cheney, near Market Bosworth.

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Bones in togas puzzle Vatican archaeologists

Archaeologists exploring one of Rome's oldest catacombs are baffled by neat piles of more than 1,000 skeletons dressed in elegant togas.

The macabre find emerged as teams of historians slowly picked their way through the complex network of underground burial chambers, which stretch for miles under the city.

They say the tomb, which has been dated to the first century AD, is the first known example of a "mass burial".

The archaeologists are unable to explain why so many apparently upper-class Romans - who would normally have been cremated - were buried in the same spot, apparently at the same time.

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Apes prove to be forward thinking

Apes plan for the future, according to new research that questions whether humans are the only animals to think ahead.

German research published today in the journal Science says apes can choose an appropriate tool to reach a treat and save the tool for the future instead of using it immediately.

The researchers, from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, say that planning for future, not just current, needs is one of the most formidable human cognitive achievements.

This is because it imposes a long delay between performing an action and being rewarded for it.

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'Hobbit' stirs scientific clash

A US-British team of scientists has challenged the idea that the tiny skeleton from Indonesia dubbed the "Hobbit" is a new human species.

Writing in Science magazine, the team presents an alternative theory that the remains could be those of a modern human with a brain disorder.

Their arguments appear in a technical critique of previous research into the Hobbit brain also published in Science.

But the authors of that earlier paper have vigorously defended their work.

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Race of tiny people didn’t exist, scientists say

When scientists found 18,000-year-old bones of a small, humanlike creature on an Indonesian island in 2003, they concluded that the bones represented a new species in the human family tree.

Skull cast and cast of the brain case of a modern adult with microcephaly. Scientists are using the specimen, from the Royal College of Surgeons in London, to argue that the "Flores Man" skull could also have been a microcephalic adult.

This view was widely accepted among scientists and trumpeted by the press. Because of its size, the creature was nicknamed the “Hobbit.”

But a growing number of scientists have raised questions about the claim.

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