Underwater Archaeology Website

Readers of this blog will no doubt be interested in a new website for underwater archaeology.

You can find the site here at http://www.underwaterarchaeology.com or from the link in the sidebar of this weblog.

Study in Oxford this summer

The Oxford Experience is a very special summer school that is run by the University of Oxford's Department of Continuing Education.

The summer school is held in Christ Church, the largest and one of the most beautiful of the Oxford colleges. Participants live in the college and meals are taken in the mediaeval college hall (this is the hall that featured in the Harry Potter films).

The programme runs from 1 July to 4 August 2007 includes a number of one-week units on archaeology, history and local history.

You can find out more about the Oxford Experience here...

You can find information on other archaeological summer schools and training digs here...

Genes prove Herodotus right about Etruscans

One of the roots of Roman civilisation has been traced by scientists to western Turkey, confirming an account given more than 2,000 years ago.

Genetics has settled a long- running debate on the origins of the Etruscans, a civilisation that emerged three millennia ago in Italy and profoundly influenced the foundation of the Roman empire.

The study of DNA confirms an account in the 5th century BC by the Greek historian Herodotus that the Etruscan civilisation was founded by seafarers from Turkey.

The Etruscan culture prospered after the 9th century BC in central Italy, and triggered debate for thousands of years among historians and archaeologists.

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2,000 year old star is pier rival

THE famous pier at Wigan may soon play second fiddle to the restored remains of a Roman bath house discovered under a new shopping centre in the town.

The 2,000-year-old bathhouse floor, called a hypocaust, has been described as `the most important discovery in the north west this century', and has raised questions about Wigan's place in the Roman world.

Now, after two years of excavation, which has seen the six by six metre floor removed by archaeologists, a team of Oldham-based restoration experts, Maysand, will be rebuilding it in the £120m Grand Arcade shopping centre on Millgate.

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Torture topped the bill in Roman Chester

Tortures were among the gruesome spectacles staged for the 12,000 people who attended performances at the Roman amphitheatre in Chester some 2,000 years ago, according to new evidence.

A gladiatorial torture block has been discovered in the centre of the arena, which was once the largest in Roman Britain.

The huge stone slab, with an iron fitting fastened into the surface, would have been used for chaining victims during spectacles.

The find has astonished archaeologists, who now realise that two similar stones found in 1975 had been completely misinterpreted until now. They were believed to have simply marked a processional path.

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'Brutal End In The Arena'

Gladiatorial games were probably held at Britain's largest Roman amphitheatre, archaeologists have revealed.

Experts have unearthed new evidence in the remains of the Chester Amphitheatre which suggests gladiators appeared there.

Previously it was thought the arena had only been used for military activities.

While excavating the site, archaeologists from English Heritage and Chester City Council discovered a large stone block with an iron fitting fastened into the surface.

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Gladiators 'fought in Cheshire'

Gladiatorial games, the bloodiest of ancient Rome's traditions, were probably held in the heart of genteel Cheshire, archaeologists say.

Experts have unearthed evidence in the remains of Chester Amphitheatre which suggests gladiators appeared there.

It was previously thought the arena was only used for ceremonial activities.

But archaeologists have found a stone block with iron fastening, suggesting that victims - human or animal - were chained up for gladiatorial spectacles.

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Old pictures wanted for Falmouth museum

Due to a huge response, the Maritime Museum is extending its call for entries to the "Your Falmouth" exhibition by another week.

Anyone with any historic pictures of Falmouth, the River Fal and surrounding towns and villages, is being encouraged not to miss the chance to be a part of the new temporary "Your Falmouth" exhibition at the Museum. The deadline to submit pictures, photographs and documents is now Friday March 1 to give more time to contact the Museum and get involved.

So far, interesting entries have included photographs of a 1920's local tug captain and postcards of 1950's bathing beauties at Swanpool Beach.
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The exhibition will run for three months from late March. Those with a suitable picture, document or photograph telling the maritime history of the towns, waterside or river, and prepared to lend it, send it to the Museum or contact Jo Warbuton on 01326 313388. A team of local experts are reviewing all submissions and helping the Museum put the exhibition together.

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Gladiators fought to the death in Chester

Gladiatorial contests took place at the largest amphitheatre in Roman Britain, according to new evidence unearthed by archaeologists.

Finds at an excavation of the arena in Chester provide the most conclusive proof yet that it played host to grisly fights to the death for public entertainment, and reinforce the view of the town's importance in the Roman Empire.

A stone block with iron fittings was discovered at the centre of the two-storey amphitheatre, which dates back to about AD100. It is similar to one depicted in a 3rd century mosaic found at a Roman villa at Bignor, West Sussex, which shows two gladiators fighting.

It is the third such stone block found at the site and its location suggests the anchors were evenly spaced along the long axis of the arena preventing gladiators from sheltering against the arena wall and thereby giving spectators the best possible view.

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Greek archaeologists discover theater

Sections of an ancient Greek theater were discovered on Thursday during construction work in an Athens suburb, archaeologists said.

Until now, only two such buildings were known in the ancient city where western theater originated more than 2,500 years ago.

Fifteen rows of concentric stone seats have been located so far in the northwestern suburb of Menidi, according to Vivi Vassilopoulou, Greece's general director of antiquities.

"Another section appears to lie under a nearby road," she told The Associated Press.

"(The remains) were discovered during excavation work, supervised by archaeologists, for a new building," Vassilopoulou said. "But it is still very early to offer any conclusions."

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Webcast for Jerusalem excavations

The Israeli authorities have installed cameras to film excavation work being carried out near the Temple Mount or Haram Sharif in East Jerusalem.

The footage will be broadcast live on the internet, in an attempt to ease widespread anger in the Muslim world.

Friday saw angry protests by Palestinians over the start of work to repair an ancient mound near Jerusalem's holiest site.

Israel says the work is needed to repair a walkway up to the compound.

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Navenby Archaeology Group

The Navenby Archaeology Group has a new website which contains, among other information, details of their survey along Ermine Street (The High Dyke Survey Project).

The site is under construction at the moment, but full details will be appearing soon.

You can find the site at http://www.navenbyarchgp.org/ or from the link on the sidebar of this weblog.

RETURN OF THE ROMANS

Archaeologists have discovered a massive Roman burial ground - on a site where workers were digging trenches for new sewers.

Numerous significant finds have been unearthed giving vital evidence to how our ancestors lived 1,700 years ago.

Among them was a skull with 30 other skeletons in what historians believe could be the biggest Roman cemetery to be found in the county.

Experts from Lincoln-based Lindsey Archaeological Services conducted the dig at The Wong, an open public space in Horncastle.

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Cave art site protection work

Work to protect and preserve an Ice Age cave art site has entered its final stage.

Derbyshire County Council has taken up the old B6042 at Creswell Crags and is transforming it into a bridleway which will give horse riders, cyclists and walkers access to the ancient site.

The work – funded by the East Midlands Development Agency and the county council – has involved using specialist equipment and consulting with archaeologists to make sure the natural beauty of this historically important place is in kept intact.

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Digging for history

AN archaeological dig is under-way at a Portishead church as part of a project to expand the Grade I listed building for its swelling congregation.

Leaders at St Peter's Church have spent two days painstakingly removing a wall which leads to the north door of the church.

The wall had to be excavated as part of proposals to build a new chapter house on the side of the church.

Team rector of Portishead, The Rev Alan Taylor, said: "The door can only be seen from the outside of the church so we had to take down the wall and carry out an archaeological dig to see if there were any important remains there.

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Skeleton find could rewrite church history

THE history of Harrow-on the-Hill could be changed forever after a macabre mystery was unearthed at Harrow's oldest church.

Human remains were found last week by parish members as they removed rotting pews from inside St Mary's Church - but the remains could predate the Norman church.

Pauline Chandler, a church warden, said: "There is a rumour that there was a Saxon church on the site before the existing Norman church was built, but we are not quite sure so this finding has shed some light on that.

"In the Doomsday Book it was mentioned that there was a priest there so you would assume there was a church also."

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On the origin of the Etruscan civilisation

One of anthropology's most enduring mysteries - the origins of the ancient Etruscan civilisation - may finally have been solved, with a study of cattle.

This culturally distinct and technologically advanced civilisation inhabited central Italy from about the 8th century BC, until it was assimilated into Roman culture around the end of the 4th century BC.

The origins of the Etruscans, with their own non-Indo-European language, have been debated by archaeologists, geneticists and linguists for centuries. Writing in the 5th century BC, the Ancient Greek historian Herodotus claimed that the Etruscans had arrived in Italy from Lydia, now called Anatolia in modern-day Turkey.

To try and discover more about the Etruscans' movements, Marco Pellecchia at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Piacenza, Italy, and colleagues have analysed mitochondrial DNA in modern herds of Bos Taurus cattle in the north, south and central regions of Italy. This genetic material is passed down the female line from mother to offspring.

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Ancient coin shows Cleopatra was no beauty

Antony and Cleopatra -- one of history's most romantic couples -- were not the great beauties that Hollywood would have us believe, according to British academics.

A study of a 2,000-year-old silver coin found the Egyptian queen, famously portrayed by a sultry Elizabeth Taylor, had a shallow forehead, pointed chin, thin lips and sharp nose.

On the other side, her Roman lover, played in the 1963 movie by Richard Burton, Taylor's husband at the time, had bulging eyes, a hook nose and a thick neck.

History has depicted Cleopatra as a great beauty, befitting a woman who as Queen of Egypt seduced Julius Caesar, and then his rival Mark Antony.

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Ancient coin undermines legend of Cleopatra's beauty

So maybe Mark Antony loved Cleopatra for her mind.

That is the conclusion being drawn by academics at Britain's University of Newcastle from a Roman denarius coin which depicts the celebrated queen of Egypt as a sharp-nosed, thin-lipped woman with a protruding chin.

In short, a fair match for the hook-nosed, thick-necked Mark Antony on the other side of the coin, which went on public display Wednesday at the university's Shefton Museum.

"The image on the coin is far from being that of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton," said Lindsay Allason-Jones, director of archaeological museums at the university, recalling the 1963 film Cleopatra, which ignited the tempestuous romance between the two stars.

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Archaeologist scours region for treasure

ARCHAEOLOGIST Mark Olly will again try to persuade the public to hand over their `valuables' in a new TV series.

The cape-wearing, pistol-packing presenter will hunt for more lost treasures when he returns to our screens in April.

The Granada programme will once again see Warrington-based Mark touring the region in search of interesting items unearthed by anyone with a curiosity for regional history, mystery or archaeology.

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Google Earth gets overlay search feature

Google has created a searchable index of Google Earth data files, a feature that should make it easier for users to find and adopt third-party overlays for this popular mapping application.

Google Earth's search engine now returns KML (Keyhole Markup Language) files which developers have created to add data to the application's maps, the Mountain View, California, company said Wednesday.

"Users can now search through all of the world's KML files, making the millions of Google Earth layers on the Web instantly accessible for geobrowsing and exploration," wrote Chikai Ohazama, a Google Earth product manager in an official company blog. Google expects to later extend this capability to its mapping Web site Google Maps, Ohazama wrote.

Google Earth is a free, downloadable PC application that taps a multiterabyte database of aerial and satellite images to let users "fly" around the globe using a video-game type user interface. By creating overlays in the KML file format, users can create markers to pinpoint places and provide all sorts of information about an area, making Google Earth a repository of local business listings, homes for sale, photos, architectural drawings, videos, historical facts and geographical data.

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Prehistoric skeletons won't be separated

Archaeologists working on the eve of Valentine's Day carefully began digging up the bones of a prehistoric couple on Tuesday, hoping to keep their 5,000-year-old embrace undisturbed forever.

The skeletons unearthed last week were being scooped out of the earth to undergo tests before going on display in the northern Italian city of Mantua, archaeologists said.

The pair, buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago in the late Neolithic period, are believed to be a man and a woman who died young, because their teeth were found intact. Archaeologists have hailed the find, saying that double burials from that period are rare and none have been found in such a touching pose.

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Archaeology URLs.com

Readers of this blog will no doubt be interested in a new site “Archaeology URLs.com” from Koppin22 Media, the parent company of Bits of News.

This excellent site features a newsfeed aggregator page called ArchaeologyURLs.com, where people can get an easy overview of the latest news in archaeology. There are also links to various archaeological topics.

You can find the site here...

The Archaeology of Greece: From Palace to City-State

29 June - 12 July, 2007

This successful, intensively taught, two week long, module is addressed primarily to second and third year students with an academic focus on Aegean and Greek archaeology and related studies. It is conducted by the International Center for Hellenic and Mediterranean Studies (DIKEMES) and validated by the Institute of Archaeology and Antiquity of the University of Birmingham.

The module is suitable for students of ancient history, archaeology and classical studies. Its specific aim is to offer such students the opportunity to acquire a first-hand knowledge of the relevant, major archaeological sites and the material finds associated with them.

Further information...

You can find information on other archaeological summer schools and training digs here...

Start für Nachbau eines antiken römischen Schiffes

Universitätspräsidentin Prof. Monika Auweter-Kurtz gab Mitte Januar den Startschuss für ein spektakuläres Projekt: Im Zusammenhang mit dem Ausstellungsprojekt „Imperium Konflikt Mythos – 2000 Jahre Varusschlacht“ wurde in der Harburger Werft von Jugend in Arbeit Hamburg e.V. der Nachbau eines historischen Römerschiffs feierlich auf Kiel gelegt.

Geschichtswissenschaftler der Universität Hamburg werden unter der Leitung von Prof. Christoph Schäfer ein römisches Kriegsschiff der frühen und hohen Kaiserzeit in Originalgröße rekonstruieren.Unter der Anleitung erfahrener Bootsbauer wir das Schiff nun von jugendlichen Schiffbauern in spe und Studierenden des Faches Geschichte gefertigt. Vorlage sind die etwa 16 Meter langen römischen Schiffe aus dem ersten und zweiten Jahrhundert nach Christus, die 1994 in der Nähe des römischen Kastells von Oberstimm an der Donau gefunden wurden.

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Eine Rückkehr zu den Wurzeln - Picener Funde an ihrem Fundort präsentiert

Eine Ausstellung geht auf Reisen. An sich nichts Ungewöhnliches, macht die Präsentation der eigenen Bestände doch einen Großteil des Alltags von Museen und Sammlungen aus.

Selten jedoch kehren Exponate - wenn auch nur für kurze Zeit - an jenen Ort zurück, an dem sie einst kunstvoll gefertigt wurden. Dies geschieht Anfang 2007, wenn die Exposition "Piceni & Europe" in der italienischen Provinz Ascoli Piceno Station macht. "Dann schließt sich ein Kreis", freut sich Prof. Peter Ettel, Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität Jena. Die wertvollen Exponate stammen nämlich aus der an seinem Institut beheimateten Sammlung. Gefunden wurden sie jedoch einst in Montegiorgio an der mittleren Ostküste Italiens, wo zwischen dem 9. und 4. Jahrhundert vor Christus das Volk der Picener beheimatet war.

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Hofmeyr-Schädel unterstützt "Out of Africa"-Theorie

Die Datierung dieses Schädelfundes in Südafrika liefert den ersten fossilen Hinweis, dass der moderne Mensch zuerst in Afrika entstanden ist.

Vor mehr als 50 Jahren wurde nahe der Stadt Hofmeyr in der südafrikanischen Provinz Ostkap ein menschlicher Schädel gefunden. Einem internationalen Forscherteam um Frederick Grine (Stony Brook University, New York), Richard Bailey (Oxford University) und Katerina Harvati vom Leipziger Max-Planck-Institut für evolutionäre Anthropologie ist es nun gelungen, diesen Schädel zu datieren. Das Ergebnis, ein Alter von etwa 36.000 Jahren, bestätigt genetische Untersuchungen, die darauf hindeuten, dass der moderne Mensch vom subsaharischen Teil Afrikas aus vor etwa 40.000 Jahren die "Alte Welt" besiedelte - die "Out of Africa"-Theorie."Der Hofmeyr-Schädel vermittelt erste Einblicke in die Morphologie dieser subsaharischen Population. Aus dieser Population stammen die Vorfahren aller heute lebender Menschen ab." so Teamleiter Grine. Die Ergebnisse wurden in der Science vom 01/2007 veröffentlicht.

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Photo in the News: Rare "Prehistoric" Goblin Shark Caught in Japan

A rare goblin shark—a "living fossil" that closely resembles ancient shark species—was caught alive recently in Tokyo Bay, only to die within days.

Officials from the Tokyo Sea Life Park discovered the 4.3-foot-long (1.3-meter-long) creature on January 25 during an expedition with local fisherman. The shark had been tangled in fishing nets 500 to 650 feet (150 to 200 meters) deep.

But the animal died on the morning of January 27 after being put on display for the public.

Little is known about the mysterious goblin shark, which normally stays near the bottom of the ocean.

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Medieval remains found under barn

Evidence of a former medieval priory has been found under a Somerset tithe barn undergoing restoration.

Remains of substantial walls pre-dating the 16th Century barn at Dunster were unearthed during work to convert the building into a community centre.

Experts said the two walls, paving and glazed tile fragments were almost certainly part of the Benedictine Priory of Dunster dating back to 1127.

The finds have been recorded and grassed over for safe-keeping.

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Iron Age boat conservation nearly done

AN Iron Age log boat which is one of the largest artefacts of its kind in the UK was today in the final stages of a 10-year conservation project.

The boat, which dates back to around 300BC, was found during dredging in Poole Harbour, Dorset, in 1964.

Its ancient timber is in the final stages of expert cleaning before a glass case is built around it ready to go on display in Poole Museum when it reopens in June.

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Quick-thinking saves Bronze Age remains

FUNERAL remains dating from the Bronze Age have been saved from destruction by a quick-thinking excavator operator at Tidworth.

Bob Gaunt of groundwork contractors Dean and Dyball works as part of the team constructing new service accommodation for Aspire Defence.

It was during excavation works within Bhurtpore Barracks he revealed the graves.
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The area was immediately sealed off to allow specialists from Wessex Archaeology to investigate the find.

Dating back to the time of Stonehenge, the four graves are 3,500 years old, making them the oldest finds in Tidworth.

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Angel dig may have found lost church

ONE of Corbridge’s lost churches may have been unearthed by archaeologists working on what has been called Northumberland’s most important medieval site.

In recent weeks, archaeologists from North Pennines Archaeology Limited, based in Nenthead, have been working against the clock to record every aspect of the site behind the Angel Inn.

Wednesday was the last day of working on the site for the team and the remains are now due to be covered over.

Having already uncovered two skeletons, archaeologists this week found evidence of medieval bronze and iron working on the site, as well as what they say could be one of Corbridge’s lost churches, dating back to before the 13th century.

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Maeshowe winter solstice as viewed by Neolithic man

THE GREAT mound of Maeshowe has dominated the skyline of Orkney for almost 5,000 years. It is a spectacular sight and a visit to the chambered tomb provides one of the highlights for visitors to the Orkney islands. Today, as we stoop to enter and walk down the low 11 metre passage to the chamber with its massive stonework, we are reminded of the ingenuity of those original builders.

Its apparent uniformity masks a long and complex history of change. The story of Maeshowe began at midwinter around 3,000 BC and even today it is the winter solstice that really brings the monument to life.

It was, no doubt, used throughout the year, but the most important time was the midwinter solstice on 21 December. Around this time the setting sun hangs low in the sky and shines directly along the passage to strike across the main chamber into the rear cell. A shaft of light pierces the monument. The angle of the passage is designed to allow a leeway for several days either side of the solstice. So even if midwinter is cloudy, there are likely to be clear days that allow the passage of the sun. The phenomenon attracts people from across the world to this place of ancient worship.

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Terracotta Army on the march

An advance guard of the Terracotta Army is leaving China for the first time to be displayed in Britain.

Some of the greatest finds from the Emperor of China’s treasure trove for the afterlife, which includes an estimated 7,000 life-size terracotta warriors, are to be lent to the British Museum for an exhibition this autumn.

Treasures from the site, which covers an area the size of Cambridge, will form the basis for the largest show to be held at the museum since its Tutankhamun exhibition had visitors queuing around the block in Bloomsbury.

The figures, leaving their homeland after more than 2,000 years, include bureaucrats, musicians and acrobats connected to the First Emperor’s civilian administration.

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Fisherman nets rare medieval cooking pot

A FISHERMAN at Drumdowney Point has found more than the catch of the day in his fishing nets – you might even call it the catch of six to eight centuries.
Sean Doherty, who lives on the opposite shore in Waterford, was fishing at the south Kilkenny spot about 40 metres from the shore line a year and a half ago, when he noticed in his net what he thought was a flower pot.

On second glance he saw that the pot was unusual in that the bottom was rounded rather than flat like a typical pot of today.
His keen eye for observation has been honed over many years picking up different pieces, and his interest in archaeology has been boosted from watching documentaries and other such programmes.

But little did he know that his discovery would end up on display in the National Museum in Dublin.

He initially brought the pot to the Waterford Treasures museum, and they in turn passed it on to the National Museum.

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Spanish police arrest 52 in looting raid

Authorities have arrested 52 people in a major crackdown on a suspected ring of antiquities looters from dozens of sites in southern Spain, the Spanish Civil Guard said Wednesday.

The raids took place in several provinces, including Seville, Madrid and Barcelona, where police searched at least 68 homes, said Civil Guard spokesman Jose Manuel Escudero. Some 300,000 pieces have been recovered, including gold coins, vessels, amphoras and other objects, he added.

He said investigators consider the operation to be the largest against archaeological looting worldwide.

Among those arrested were 30 suspected thieves, 13 middlemen and nine collectors, who appeared to have been often motivated by investment rather than artistic and historical interest, Escudero said. The Civil Guard said the collectors were interested in "selected" pieces of archaeology.

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Ancient Lovers Are Unearthed in Italy

It could be humanity's oldest story of doomed love. Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in a tender embrace and buried outside Mantua, just 25 miles south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale of 'Romeo and Juliet.'

Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, as their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.

'As far as we know, it's unique,' Menotti told The Associated Press by telephone from Milan. 'Double burials from the Neolithic are unheard of, and these are even hugging.'

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Castle defences discovered intact

Archaeologists digging below the entrance to Edinburgh Castle have found sections of its 350-year-old defences still intact.

The 2m-thick artillery wall was the castle's gateway for more than 100 years but a gatehouse was built over it in the 1700s and 1800s.

The wall was built after the stronghold was seized twice in 10 years.

Experts carrying out the excavation said the find was proof the castle still has more secrets left to unearth.

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Prehistoric origins of stomach ulcers uncovered

An international team of scientists has discovered that the ubiquitous bacteria that causes most painful stomach ulcers has been present in the human digestive system since modern man migrated from Africa over 60,000 years ago. The research, published online today (7 February) by the journal Nature, not only furthers our understanding of a disease causing bacteria but also offers a new way to study the migration and diversification of early humans.

The international research collaboration was led by scientists from the University of Cambridge, the Max Planck Institute in Berlin, and the Hanover Medical School. The researchers compared DNA sequence patterns of humans and the Helicobacter pylori bacteria now known to cause most stomach ulcers. They found that the genetic differences between human populations that arose as they dispersed from Eastern Africa over thousands of years are mirrored in H. pylori.

Human DNA analysis has shown that along the major land routes out of Africa human populations become genetically isolated - the further from Eastern Africa a population is the more different genetically it is compared to other human populations. Other research has shown gradual differences in European populations, presumed to be the result of Neolithic farmers moving northwards. The international H. pylori research team found almost exactly the same genetic distribution patterns in their results.

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Prehistoric Lovers Found in Embrace

Feb. 7, 2007 — It could be humanity's oldest story of doomed love. Archaeologists have unearthed two skeletons from the Neolithic period locked in a tender embrace and buried outside Mantua, just 25 miles south of Verona, the romantic city where Shakespeare set the star-crossed tale of "Romeo and Juliet."

Buried between 5,000 and 6,000 years ago, the prehistoric pair are believed to have been a man and a woman and are thought to have died young, as their teeth were found intact, said Elena Menotti, the archaeologist who led the dig.

"As far as we know, it's unique," Menotti told The Associated Press by telephone from Milan. "Double burials from the Neolithic are unheard of, and these are even hugging."

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THE WITNESSES OF SILENCE: DISCOVERING ROME'S CATACOMBS

Location: Italy Length: 32 min.

This film retraces the rediscovery of the catacombs, subterranean burial places and hideouts beneath the streets of ancient Rome. It finds in the dark galleries the traces of early explorers and the signatures, graffiti and inscriptions they left. These early underground explorers include legendary figures such as Antonio Bosio and Giovanni Battista de Rossi, the scholar who laid the scientific basis of modern Italian archaeology. This film sheds new light on an underground world where silence dominates but images retell stories voiced many centuries ago.

Watch the video...

Castle's secrets yet to be fully uncovered

The remains of some strange old building features have just been unearthed, quite by chance, inside Bodiam Castle.

One of most beautiful and spectacular castles in the country, Bodiam was built by Sir Edward Dalyngrigge in 1385 and is now owned and managed by The National Trust.

The exciting discovery happened on Friday February 2 when some earth was being cleared away in the Great Hall ruins. The ground was being made ready for a new gravel base when suddenly the mini-digger struck stone. As the earth was carefully cleared away, with an archaeologist on hand to observe the proceedings, more stonework appeared along with some clay tiles and pieces of rubble. It soon became apparent that this was something substantial: a wall of some kind. Further down the Hall something else appeared, a strange circular construction.

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Pub builders uncover leper colony

Evidence of a medieval leper colony has been uncovered by builders who are renovating a pub in Coventry.

Human remains thought to date back some 900 years were found in the area of the men's toilets at the Four Provinces pub in the Spon End area of the city.

Legs, arms and a jaw bone as well as a skull were found and are to be tested for evidence of leprosy.

An archaeologist said he believed they came from a patient at a hospital that stood in the area centuries ago.

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World's Oldest Rocks Show How Earth May Have Dodged Frozen Fate Of Mars

Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas that has become a bane of modern society, may have saved Earth from freezing over early in the planet's history, according to the first detailed laboratory analysis of the world's oldest sedimentary rocks.


Doctoral student Nicole Cates and Assistant Professor Stephen Mojzsis survey a landscape of ancient rocks in Hudson Bay, Quebec, in Canada confirmed by the CU-Boulder team to date back roughly 3.75 billion years, making them among the most oldest known rocks on Earth. (Image courtesy CU-Boulder)Ads by Google Advertise on this site

Scientists have theorized for years that high concentrations of greenhouse gases could have helped Earth avoid global freezing in its youth by allowing the atmosphere to retain more heat than it lost. Now a team from the University of Chicago and the University of Colorado at Boulder that analyzed ancient rocks from the eastern shore of Hudson Bay in northern Quebec, Canada, have discovered the first direct field evidence supporting this theory.

The study shows carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere could have sustained surface temperatures above freezing before 3.75 billion years ago according to the researchers, led by University of Chicago Assistant Professor Nicolas Dauphas. Co-authors on the study, which appeared online Jan. 16 in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters, included Assistant Professor Stephen Mojzsis and doctoral student Nicole Cates of CU-Boulder's geological sciences department and Vincent Busigny, now of the Institut de Physique du Globe in Paris.

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Bronze Age site to open doors again

FLAG Fen Bronze Age Centre is preparing to open its doors for the first time in 2007 this month.
The site, which is one of the most important of its kind in Europe, will open to visitors tomorrow.

This year is the 25th anniversary of the site being discovered, and there is a packed programme of events and workshops for adults and children, nature lovers, crafts people and budding archaeologists alike.

About 4,000 years ago ancient Britons lived around the Flag Fen basin on the outskirts of modern Peterborough.

During the last 25 years archaeologists have revealed some fascinating evidence about how our ancestors lived, worked and worshipped on the site.

The centre’s general manager Georgia Butters said: “We have a packed programme of events that we hope will be a real success this year.

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'Holy relic' ad angers Russians

The Russian Orthodox Church has expressed indignation at an attempt to sell a skull and bone allegedly belonging to Saint Philipp.

The advert for the remains appeared on a Russian website.

It described the relic as "remains of an Orthodox saint, in good condition, with an inscription on the cranium confirming the saint's name".

The Church has not said whether it thinks the bone and skull are real, but has described the ad as "immoral".

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Time is running out for our medieval shipwrecks

THE slaughterhouse could become one of the finest maritime museums in Europe.

The island’s two major marine archaeology research projects are entering their second phase and campaigners hope the abattoir at the Castle Emplacement will be key to their future.

Maritime Guernsey held a presentation at Castle Cornet with the aim of showing its invited guests what Guernsey had to offer in terms of marine archaeology.

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First Pompeii uncovered

Rome, February 1 - The origins of the famed buried city of Pompeii have emerged from years of excavations, an international conference in Rome was told Thursday.

The first Pompeii was not built by the Romans or even by the Greeks who preceded them, but by an ancient people called the Samnites, Pompeii heritage Superintendent Piero Guzzo told a packed audience of archaeologists and scholars.

Wielding photos of inscriptions, votive offerings and even entire buildings, Guzzo said "a new season of studies has begun". "For the first time we have come to understand how Pompeii was born and not just how it died," Guzzo told a three-day conference here on ten years of work by archaeologists from all over the world.

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Discovered: Britain's very own Colosseum

Archaeologists have discovered that what had been thought to be a relatively small, down-market amphitheatre in Britain was in fact a top-of-the-range, though admittedly more intimate, version of Rome's famous gladiatorial arena.

Indeed, this British Colosseum - in Chester - may well have been built as a replica of the one in Rome, possibly on the orders of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, who was in Britain at the time.

Although it was much smaller than the Colosseum, its outer wall appears to have had a blind arcade of 80 arches, giving it a superficially similar appearance to the one in Rome. If the archaeologists' calculations are correct, Rome and Chester were the only places in the Roman world to have amphitheatres with that number of arches.

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Give us back our bones, pagans tell museums

British museums have become used to requests that foreign treasures be repatriated. Greece has persistently requested the return of the Parthenon marbles, while some administrators have agreed to return the remains of Australian Aborigines. Now the pressure is coming from closer to home.

British pagan groups are increasingly asking for human remains and grave goods from pre-Christian burials to be returned to them as well. The presence of what they see as their ancestors in dusty drawers or under harsh display lights is an affront to their religion. To them, the bones are living beings, whose existence is bound up with their religious descendants and the sacred land.

"This is quite a big issue for museums around the country, but one that was not being discussed," said Piotr Bienkowski, the deputy director of Manchester Museum. "Discussion had been deliberately clamped down in some circles."

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Switzerland to Meet Bulgaria's Oldest Civilizations

The museum in Basel, Switzerland, is bracing to meet some of Bulgaria's outstanding treasures from Thracian and pre-Thracian times.

The exhibition will present also the recently found golden mask of an unknown Thracian ruler, rivaling only few in the world similar artifacts of those period.
Swiss lovers of histories will see also a unique presentation of an ancient salt producing center, unveiled recently in Provadia. In that epoch, around 7400 B.C. salt was even more precious than gold.

The golden set of Vulchitryn treasure, currently exhibited in Sofia-based Archeological Museum, consists of 13 vessels, different in form and size. One of the vessels weighs 4.5 kg - a bowl with two handles, and the overall weight of the set is 12.5 kg, pure gold.

One of the vessels is exceptionally interesting and mysterious and consists of the smaller vessels of leaf-like form and connected with a small tube and having a single handle.

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Cranach im Exil

Aschaffenburg 24. Februar - 3. Juni 2007

Vom 24. Februar bis zum 3. Juni 2007 zeigt Aschaffenburg die große Ausstellung "Cranach im Exil". Zahlreiche Werke von Lucas Cranach d.Ä., einem der bedeutendsten Renaissancekünstler, und seiner Werkstatt werden an drei prominenten Orten zu sehen sein. Kardinal Albrecht von Brandenburg brachte diese Kunstwerke nach Aschaffenburg, nachdem er wegen der Reformation seine Residenz in Halle verlassen musste.

Im Zentrum der Ausstellung steht der restaurierte Magdalenen-Altar, den Cranach für die Stiftskirche in Halle schuf, und der jetzt erstmals wieder in seiner gesamten Pracht zu sehen sein wird.

Die Ausstellung wird von der Stadt Aschaffenburg und der Katholischen Kirchenstiftung St. Peter und Alexander in Zusammenarbeit mit den Bayerischen Staatsgemäldesammlungen, dem Haus der Bayerischen Geschichte und der Bayerischen Verwaltung der staatlichen Schlösser, Gärten und Seen erarbeitet.

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New piece of Castle's history falls into place

FOR years it has lain forgotten, buried beneath the entrance to Edinburgh Castle.

Built after the Castle was seized twice in ten years, first by the Covenanters and then by Oliver Cromwell's forces, the two-metre thick defence wall became the impenetrable gateway to the stronghold for more than a century.
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But after being built over in the 1700s and 1800s as the present Castle Esplanade started to take shape, it was thought to have been lost forever.

But archaeologists tunnelling beneath the Esplanade have been surprised and delighted to discover sections of the 350-year-old defences still intact. They have hailed the find as proof there could be more secrets left to unearth beneath the ancient landmark.

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Experts reveal abbey's long-lost secrets

Archaeological investigations shed light on centuries-old mysteries among the ruins of medieval monastic house

WHEN Sir Vincent Skinner's stately home collapsed in 1602 without an apparent cause it was put down to the wrath of God.

But archaeologists working on the site of a ruined abbey in north Lincolnshire have found it may have owed more to poor construction and boggy ground.

The experts have been at Thornton Abbey, near Scunthorpe, for the past fortnight as part of the £4.5m South Humber Bank Heritage Tourism Initiative to tap the site's potential as a major visitor attraction.

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Majestic structure discovered in Ephesus

A structure discovered in the historic site of Ephesus in Western Turkey is believed to have once been a palace inhabited by the governors of the ancient city, researchers said.

The recent excavation and restoration works in Ephesus, where signs of inhabitants go back to 6000 B.C., uncovered a structure near the ancient theater as archaeological works there entered their 111th year, the Anatolia news agency reported this week.

The ancient city was home to numerous restored magnificent huge structures, such as those in the region called �Yamaç Evler II� (Hillside Houses II), thought to have been inhabited by wealthy families, archaeologist Cengiz İçten said. İçten explained that the discovery of such houses had led them to question, �If the rich families lived in such magnificent houses, where were the governors who used to rule the ancient city on behalf of the emperor living?�

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Why Ancient Greeks are Always Nude

Male nudes are the norm in Greek art, even though historians have stated that ancient Greeks kept their clothes on for the most part. New research suggests that art might have been imitating life more closely than previously thought.

Nudity was a costume used by artists to depict various roles of men, ranging from heroicism and status to defeat.

"In ancient Greek art, there are many different kinds of nudity that can mean many different things," said Jeffrey Hurwit, an historian of ancient art at the University of Oregon. "Sometimes they are contradictory."

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Rome Subway Planners Try to Avoid Relics

In a city where traffic rumbles past the Colosseum and soccer fans celebrate victories among the remains of the Circus Maximus, it comes as no surprise that relics of the glory that was Rome turn up almost every day, and sometimes get in the way of the modern city's needs.

The perennial tug-of-war between preserving ancient treasures and developing much-needed infrastructure is moving underground, as the city mobilizes archaeologists to probe the bowels of the Eternal City in preparation for a new, 15-mile subway line.

Eyesore yellow panels have sprung up over the past months to cordon off 38 archaeological digs, often set up near famous monuments or on key thoroughfares of the already chronically gridlocked historical center.

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Archeology: Bulgaria Presents History Books of 2006

Bulgaria's National Archaeological Museum (NAM) presented Thursday the published in 2006 books of its contributors.

NAM's director, professor Vassil Nikolov is one of the authors. The scientific researches of archaeologists Georgi Kitov, Nikolay Ovcharov and Diana Gergova were among the presented books.

The books exhibited show the different faces of the culture in the Bulgarian lands from prehistory to the Middle Ages, interesting archaeological facts and evidence in the area of numismatics, literature, architecture, art and epigraphy.

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NORFOLK MAMMOTH FINDS - PUBLIC ARE EYES AND EARS SAY EXPERTS

As a team of researchers settle down to study the results of a dig in Norfolk, one of the county’s top geologists has praised the public for their key part in notifying professionals about finds.

The week-long dig in a meadow near Saham Toney was undertaken at the end of January 2007 after a workman operating a digger in October 2006 discovered three woolly mammoth teeth and a couple of bones at the bottom of a gravel pit.

Knowing that Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service (NMAS) offer a free identification service for such finds, the driver contacted Nigel Larkin NMAS Curator of Geology with his finds to see if they were of interest.

“They were basically digging a lake to put fish in it and the digger driver noticed a couple of bones and a couple of teeth,” explained Nigel Larkin, “It’s was interesting because they belong to quite a young individual.”

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How busy badgers are undermining care of ancient heritage sites

The Protection of Badgers Act 1992 has led to such a big increase in the badger population that their incessant burrowing is damaging archaeological sites across the country.

Badgers are particularly drawn to Neolithic mounds, Iron Age settlements and Anglo-Saxon burial sites because the earthworks are much softer on the claws than is hard bedrock. They provide the perfect conditions for the building of the animals’ setts.

But, to the dismay of archaeologists, the badgers are burrowing through ancient sites and churning up the remains. Vital evidence is being lost in the destruction and displacement of archaelogical layers and artefacts, from fragile pottery to human bones found in prehistoric and Anglo-Saxon graves.

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Stonehenge's builders found?

(with video)

Remains of a huge settlement have been found that could have housed the hundreds of construction workers needed to build nearby Stonehenge.
Experts have never found evidence of human habitation near Stonehenge before

Archaeologists also unearthed the largest piles of animals bones ever found at a Neolithic village in the UK, suggesting it was also the place to go for a party.

Excavations have unearthed hundreds of well-preserved houses with imprints of beds and wooden dressers still present on the clay floors.

The finds were made at Durrington Walls, a site not far from the legendary Salisbury Plain monument, where a massive timber circle more than a thousand feet across once stood.

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Wooden counterpart of Stonehenge found

New excavations near Stonehenge have uncovered hearths, timbers and other remains of what archaeologists say was probably the village of workers who erected the monoliths on Salisbury Plain in England, and a wooden counterpart of it.

The archaeologists announced Tuesday that the 4,600-year-old ruins appear to form the largest Neolithic village ever found in Britain.

The houses at the site known as Durrington Walls were constructed in the same period as Stonehenge, less than three kilometers, or two miles, away. The village was probably built as a religious center, presumably for people who worshiped the sun.

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hackled skeleton found in Ávila

A skeleton tied up with shackles and chains and thought to date from the Middle Ages has been found in an archaeological dig in Ávila, behind the city’s Church of San Pedro.

It’s the second such find in the city, although coming in a different place, and it has led experts to think that death occurred during some form of punishment.

Tomorrow, Thursday the latest find will be taken to the Provincial Museum where the skeleton will be studied and protected.

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Emperor's treasures found

ROME The lost treasure of Maxentius, the last preChristian Roman emperor, has been unearthed by archaeologists. Imperial standards, lances and glass spheres, right, were buried on the Palatine Hill by Maxentius before his battle with Constantine the Great in AD312.

Archaeologists believe that he planned to retrieve the treasure if he won. In the event, he and his closest aides were killed, so that no one knew where it was hidden.

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Ancient ditch found as Swansea store comes down

Demolition at the David Evans site in Swansea city centre will start next week.

An archaeological study aiming to discover and preserve items of historical value has been suspended and demolition will begin on Monday (February 5).

Archaeologists found a ditch on the site that once formed part of Swansea Castle.

Historic medallions at the site are to be saved as part of the demolition process.

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Late Roman graves excavated in W Hungary

Budapest, January 31 (MTI) - Archaeologists in Szombathely, W Hungary excavated a number of graves from the late Roman era while exploring the ground where an extension to the local concert hall will be built, a spokesperson of the local Savaria Museum's archaeology team said on Wednesday.

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Greek pupils demand Elgin Marbles

Greek schoolchildren have demonstrated at the Acropolis in Athens to demand that the UK returns marble sculptures taken by Lord Elgin 200 years ago.

Wearing orange jackets bearing campaign logos, about 2,000 pupils formed a human chain around the monument.

The marbles are part of the Parthenon, a 2,500-year-old temple.

Greece has long campaigned for the marbles' return. But the British Museum says they are better off in London, safe from pollution damage in Athens.

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Cavern may hold answers to hobbits riddle

THE chance discovery of an enormous chamber beneath the Indonesian cave where hobbit-like creatures were discovered promises to settle the debate about who - or what - the tiny creatures were.

Scientists are confident the mystery will be solved if they can extract DNA from hobbit remains they expect to find among the rubble of 32,000- to 80,000-year-old bones and stone tools littering the cavern floor.

"Well, well, well, well, well; this will settle the matter," said Colin Groves, a physical anthropologist at the Australian National University in Canberra.

He said obtaining a CSI-style DNA-profile of the 1m-tall creatures - named Homo floresiensis - would prove conclusively if they were members of a new human species, as their discoverers claimed, or deformed modern people, as alleged by sceptics.

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Huge Settlement Unearthed At Stonehenge Complex

Excavations supported by National Geographic at Durrington Walls in the Stonehenge World Heritage site have revealed an enormous ancient settlement that once housed hundreds of people. Archaeologists believe the houses were constructed and occupied by the builders of nearby Stonehenge, the legendary monument on England's Salisbury Plain.

"English Heritage's magnetometry survey had detected dozens of hearths -- the whole valley appears full of houses," said archaeologist Mike Parker Pearson of the U.K.'s Sheffield University. "In what were houses, we have excavated the outlines on the floors of box beds and wooden dressers or cupboards."

The houses have been radiocarbon dated to 2600-2500 B.C., the same period Stonehenge was built -- one of the facts that leads the archaeologists to conclude that the people who lived in the Durrington Walls houses were responsible for constructing Stonehenge. The houses form the largest Neolithic village ever found in Britain; a few similar Neolithic houses have been found in the Orkney Islands off Scotland.

Parker Pearson said the discoveries this season help confirm a theory that Stonehenge did not stand in isolation but was part of a much larger religious complex used for funerary ritual.

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Not in the stars for Stonehenge?

The discovery of a large, prehistoric settlement 2 miles from Stonehenge suggests that the famous stone rings were an ancient memorial, not a Stone Age observatory, archaeologists said Tuesday.
A community of hundreds of people lived there about 2500 B.C., during the time Stonehenge was erected, say the scientists, led by Mike Parker Pearson of the United Kingdom's Sheffield University. Inhabitants most likely raised Stonehenge as a monument to their dead, who were buried there ceremonially.

Stonehenge, a double horseshoe of towering stones near Wiltshire, England, has fascinated people since the Middle Ages. It has figured in numerous debates, both scholarly and whimsical, over its origins. It has been called a prehistoric observatory, an ancient house of worship, even a creation of aliens.

The community was found within the confines of Durrington Walls, a 1,400-foot-wide henge, or a circular flat area, surrounded by a ditch and an earthen bank. Durrington Walls was discovered in the 1960s, and archaeological detective work has continued over the years.

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Unearthed: The wild town next to Stonehenge where the builders partied like it was 2500 BC

By any standards, it was a wild party: piles of half-eaten pig bones were flung to the floor by revellers who then smashed their food bowls into a "filthy" mud floor.

Add to that the fact that this bash took place 4,600 years ago, less than two miles from Stonehenge, and the result is a dramatic step forward in the quest to trace the origins - and purpose - of the world's most famous standing stones.

Archaeologists have revealed the discovery of a huge ancient settlement in Wiltshire used by the builders of Stonehenge and their descendants to celebrate life and death with lavish feasts of freshly slaughtered livestock.

Excavations at Durrington Walls, situated to the north-east of Stonehenge, have uncovered the largest Neolithic village in Britain.

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Timber shrine reveals Stonehenge secret

New excavations near Stonehenge could finally explain its reason for existence: as one half of a much larger temple built to celebrate the living and the dead.

A dig less than two miles away has revealed the largest neolithic village in Britain. The similar dates and designs of the sites have convinced archaeologists that they were elements of a single religious complex.

Stonehenge was designed as a permanent monument to the dead and constructed of rock to symbolise their enduring presence, the research suggests.

The nearby settlement at Durrington Walls was a shrine to the transience of life. Its houses were made of wood, as was a timber circle mirroring the design of Stonehenge.

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Village of Stonehenge builders uncovered

Archaeologists who have unearthed the largest Neolithic village found in Britain believe it housed hundreds of workers who helped build Stonehenge.

The discovery of the settlement, along with tools, pottery and food debris, will help solve some of the remaining mysteries surrounding the country's most significant prehistoric monument and show how people lived 4,500 years ago.

Nine houses have been excavated at Durrington Walls, a huge circular earthwork less than two miles from Stonehenge.

Signs of dozens more clay hearths set in more houses have been identified through magnetic field analysis beneath the 1,400ft-wide enclosure. Researchers believe it was a base for seasonal workers and a festival venue for midwinter solstice celebrations.

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Ancient homes found in road dig

Ancient settlements from Roman times and the Iron Age have been found by the side of a major road development.

Archaeologists were called in to survey the A66 in North Yorkshire to ensure nothing valuable would be destroyed.

Their work has now uncovered the remains of a roundhouse, square buildings, ditches and pits by the Melsonby crossroads, by Scotch Corner.

The finds are thought to link to a larger settlement which would have been on the other side of the road.

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Anthropologist Confirms ‘Hobbit’ Indeed a Separate Species

After the skeletal remains of an 18,000-year-old, Hobbit-sized human were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2003, some scientists thought that the specimen must have been a pygmy or a microcephalic — a human with an abnormally small skull.

Not so, said Dean Falk, a world-renowned paleoneurologist and chair of Florida State University’s anthropology department, who along with an international team of experts created detailed maps of imprints left on the ancient hominid’s braincase and concluded that the so-called Hobbit was actually a new species closely related to Homo sapiens.

Now after further study, Falk is absolutely convinced that her team was right and that the species cataloged as LB1, Homo floresiensis, is definitely not a human born with microcephalia — a somewhat rare pathological condition that still occurs today. Usually the result of a double-recessive gene, the condition is characterized by a small head and accompanied by some mental retardation.

“We have answered the people who contend that the Hobbit is a microcephalic,” Falk said of her team’s study of both normal and microcephalic human brains published in the Jan. 29 issue of the journal PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States).

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'Hobbit' human 'is a new species'

The tiny skeletal remains of human "Hobbits" found on an Indonesian island belong to a completely new branch of our family tree, a study has found.

The finds caused a sensation when they were announced to the world in 2004.

But some researchers argued the bones belonged to a modern human with a combination of small stature and a brain disorder called microcephaly.

That claim is rejected by the latest study, which compares the tiny people with modern microcephalics.

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Stonehenge builders' houses found

A huge ancient settlement used by the people who built Stonehenge has been found, archaeologists have said.

Excavations at Durrington Walls, near the legendary Salisbury Plain monument, uncovered remains of ancient houses.

People seem to have occupied the sites seasonally, using them for ritual feasting and funeral ceremonies.

In ancient times, this settlement would have housed hundreds of people, making it the largest Neolithic village ever found in Britain.

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Home of Stonehenge builders found

A small village has been found by scientists in the United Kingdom at the Durrington Walls that is believed to have belonged to those who built Stonehenge. This is the largest Neolithic settlement to ever be discovered in the U.K., having beleived to house over 100 people.

Scientists say that the village was built around 2,600 B.C. which is roughly when Stonehenge was believed to have been construced.

Inside the areas which would have been the interior of houses at the time, scientists also found "bed" and "cuppard or dresser" outlines. Pieces of pottery and "filthy" rubbish around the site. Animal bones were also uncovered. Arrowheads, stone tools and other relics were also discovered.

"We've never seen such quantities of pottery and animal bone and flint. In what were houses, we have excavated the outlines on the floors of box beds and wooden dressers or cupboards," said Sheffield University archaeologist, Mike Parker Pearson.

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Remains of Village Found Near Stonehenge

A village of small houses that may have sheltered the builders of the mysterious Stonehenge, or people attending festivals there, has been found by archaeologists studying the stone circle in England. Eight of the houses, with central hearths, have been excavated, and there may be as many as 25 of them, Mike Parker Pearson said Tuesday at a briefing organized by the National Geographic Society.

The ancient houses are at a site known as Durrington Walls, about two miles from Stonehenge. It is also the location of a wooden version of the stone circle.

The village was carbon dated to about 2600 B.C., about the same time Stonehenge was built. The Great Pyramid in Egypt was built at about the same time, said Parker Pearson of Sheffield University.

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Irish river find may be first discovery of Viking ship

An ancient boat discovered in a riverbed north of Dublin may be the first Viking longship found in the country, Environment and Heritage Minister Dick Roche said.

The wreck in the River Boyne, close to the northeastern port of Drogheda, was described by Roche as potentially an "enormously exciting discovery".

The vessel, nine metres (30 feet) wide by 16 metres long, was discovered accidentally during dredging operations last November but the find was not made public until now.

"It is described as clinker built, a shipbuilding technology dating from the Viking era but also still in use centuries later," Roche said.

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Private archaeological collection donated to Heritage Malta

Heritage Malta has received a donation of over 300 Punic and Phoenician artefacts which will enrich the national collection. A selection of these artefacts is being exhibited at the National Museum of Archaeology, Valletta. The collection was donated by Chev. Joseph Sammut who inherited them from his late grandfather Ganni Sammut in 1958.

Ganni Sammut was born in 1881; he was a blacksmith of humble origins but with a keen interest in Malta’s history coupled with an inherent talent in identifying and selecting artefacts of intrinsic value.

The majority of this collection is made up of business gifts from local contractors which they found while digging the foundations of various buildings in the early 20th century. Another source of acquisition was direct purchase from local auctions. Ganni Sammut sometimes purchased items to prevent such artefacts being acquired by foreigners and hence being exported from Malta. He never sold any artefact, and the collection remained complete.

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Mitteldeutscher Archäologiepreis

Wer sich mit der Archäologie Mitteldeutschlands beschäftigt, kann sich jetzt an der Ausschreibung des Mitteldeutschen Archäologiepreises beteiligen - Einsendeschluss ist der 15. Februar.

Der mit 5.000 € dotierte Mitteldeutsche Archäologiepreis geht an Personen oder­ Forscher­gruppen, die sich in besonderem Maße um die Archäologie Mitteldeutschlands verdient gemacht haben.

Berücksichtigt werden hervorragende wissenschaftliche Leistungen - Magister- bzw. Diplomarbeiten, Dissertationen, Habilitationsschriften, Forschungsstudien oder inter­disziplinäre Untersuchungen - sowie sonstige herausragende Verdienste für die Archäologie Mitteldeutschlands.

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Paleontologists Discover Most Primitive Primate Skeleton

The origins and earliest branches of primate evolution are clearer and more ancient by 10 million years than previous studies estimated, according to a study featured on the cover of the Jan. 23 print edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The paper by researchers at Yale, the University of Winnipeg, Stony Brook University, and led by University of Florida paleontologist Jonathan Bloch reconstructs the base of the primate family tree by comparing skeletal and fossil specimens representing more than 85 modern and extinct species. The team also discovered two 56-million-year-old fossils, including the most primitive primate skeleton ever described.

In the two-part study, an extensive evaluation of skeletal structures provides evidence that plesiadapiforms, a group of archaic mammals once thought to be more closely related to flying lemurs, are the most primitive primates. The team analyzed 173 characteristics of modern primates, tree shrews, flying lemurs with plesiadapiform skeletons to determine their evolutionary relationships. High-resolution CT scanning made fine resolution of inaccessible structures inside the skulls possible.

"This is the first study to bring it all together," said co-author Eric Sargis, associate professor of anthropology at Yale University and Assistant Curator of Vertebrate Zoology at Yale's Peabody Museum of Natural History. "The extensive dataset, the number and type of characteristics we were able to compare, and the availability of full skeletons, let us test far more than any previous study."

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Ancient Turkish site set to be flooded

The Allianoi archaeological site could soon be under water if authorities carry out their plans to flood a newly constructed reservoir. Located in western Turkey, the site is a well-preserved example of an ancient Roman health spa.

Archaeologist Ahmet Yaras, head of the Allianoi excavation team, is spearheading a campaign to save the site from being submerged. They are trying to rally international support to pressure the authorities to move the reservoir — or at least delay the flooding for another five years so that they can finish the excavations.

Allianoi is a hot-springs area 18 kilometres northeast of the ruins of ancient Pergamon that was used as a spa in Hellenistic times. It was constructed during major public works done under the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian during the second century AD. In addition to the spa, the Allianoi site includes public squares, streets, gates, bridges, fountains and buildings. Together, they encompass about 50,000 square metres, and they could all end up in the middle of the reservoir.

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ARCHAEOLOGICAL FINDS GO ON SHOW AT MELTON CARNEGIE MUSEUM

Melton Carnegie Museum in Leicester is hosting an exhibition that showcases many of the rare archaeological artefacts unearthed by local residents.

The exhibition, Found in Leicestershire, runs until 23 March 2007 and features an array of exciting finds including a wonderful collection of Roman brooches, a rare prehistoric flint dagger, Viking age objects and many medieval items, all from the Melton area.

The display tells the story of everyday life for our ancestors and gives a compelling picture of our past. The finds also include an assortment of domestic items made of metal, stone and pottery, whilst accompanying literature reveals their historical importance and how they were found.

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Normandy grave hints at 300-year defiance of the Roman Empire

A macabre 1,700-year-old mass grave of people and horses, discovered in Normandy, poses perplexing new questions about the Roman conquest of France. Was there a small part of ancient Gaul which refused, Asterix-like, to surrender for 300 years?

The grave site, from the 3rd century, which was discovered by French state archaeologists at Evreux, appears to contain ritual arrangements of human and horse remains. In one, a human skull is clasped between two horse's skulls, like the two halves of a giant shell.

In Gaullish times, 300 years earlier, graves containing both horses and people were common. No such grave has ever been found from the Roman period, and even in the previous era, the remains were kept carefully apart.

In the recently discovered grave, about 50 miles west of Paris, the bones appear to have been intentionally mixed. The skeletons of 40 people and 100 horses have been found so far.

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Sacred Cave of Rome's Founders Discovered, Archaeologists Say

Archaeologists say they have unearthed Lupercale—the sacred cave where, according to legend, a she-wolf nursed the twin founders of Rome and where the city itself was born.

The long-lost underground chamber was found beneath the remains of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine, a 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) hill in the center of the city.

Archaeologists from the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Rome Municipality came across the 50-foot-deep (15-meter-deep) cavity while working to restore the decaying palace.

"We were drilling the ground near Augustus' residence to survey the foundations of the building when we discovered the cave," said Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the area.

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Archaeology checks for developers

Developers building in areas of historic interest in Jersey will have to pay archaeologists to oversee their foundation work under new laws.

The planning guidelines were drawn up to protect sites of potential archaeological importance.

The guidelines will be enforced on large building developments but on private projects, the government will foot the archaeologists' bills.

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Hunting for Hadrian

HISTORIANS hope to unearth evidence that Roman emperor Hadrian once stayed in a fort along the magnificent wall bearing his name.

Archaeologists will be digging along Hadrian’s Wall this summer in an attempt to confirm speculation about why and when it was built.

They hope their work at Vindolanda in Northumbria will prove that the emperor once stayed there on a visit to the wall, as well as unlocking secrets about the Roman army and people’s political and social lives.

The 73-mile stone barrier – stretching east to west from the River Tyne to the Solway Firth – stood as the empire’s most imposing frontier for 300 years.

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DIG COULD UNCOVER ROMAN HORNCASTLE

FINDS from excavations being carried out on The Wong could provide new information about Horncastle's Roman history.

Archaeologists are expected to be working on the site until mid-February and initial findings suggest the area was part of a field settlement in Roman times.

A geophysical survey pointed to the need for a dig, which is being conducted by Lindsey Archaeological Services, in an area where new sewerage pipes are to be laid.

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water explained the waterlogged nature of the ground meant the site to be disturbed for the pipework was twice the size originally expected.

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DIG COULD UNCOVER ROMAN HORNCASTLE

FINDS from excavations being carried out on The Wong could provide new information about Horncastle's Roman history.

Archaeologists are expected to be working on the site until mid-February and initial findings suggest the area was part of a field settlement in Roman times.

A geophysical survey pointed to the need for a dig, which is being conducted by Lindsey Archaeological Services, in an area where new sewerage pipes are to be laid.

A spokeswoman for Anglian Water explained the waterlogged nature of the ground meant the site to be disturbed for the pipework was twice the size originally expected.

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Experts to dig up 'Hobbit' hole

We could be set to learn more about a tiny type of human that lived 12,000 years ago, after scientists were given permission to dig up their home.

The metre tall creatures were found in Indonesia and some people have called them Hobbits because of their size.

Work in the caves where the bones of the Hobbits were found stopped in 2005 after the archaeologists had a row with the Indonesian government.

That's been sorted out, so the Hobbits could soon give up their secrets.

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Archaeologists solve mystery of ancient manor's location

Archaeologists working at the Cowdray Ruins heritage site have discovered evidence of a 13th century manor house.
The find shows the existence of walls and a cobbled floor area.

These were confirmed this week as part of an earlier building which had been demolished before the site was levelled and raised up by tons of soil in preparation for the 1520 building phase of the 'new' Cowdray House.

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Italian police recover marble reliefs of gladiators

Italian police have unearthed the hidden cache of a group of grave robbers, recovering ancient Roman marble reliefs depicting stunningly lifelike gladiators locked in mortal combat, officials said Wednesday.

The 12 panels were found buried in the garden of a private home near Fiano Romano, some 40 kilometres north of Rome, and officials hailed the recovery as a major archaeological find and a blow to the illegal antiquities market.

The reliefs date to the late 1st century BC and are believed to have decorated a tomb, still to be located, in the nearby Roman settlement of Lucus Feroniae, said Anna Maria Moretti, superintendent for antiquities in the area north of Rome.

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RED SALT & REYNOLDS

Location: West Virginia Length: 29 min.

This film interprets the historical archaeology at the Marmet Lock Replacement Project in Kanawha County, West Virginia. The excavations uncovered four salt furnaces, John Reynolds' mansion, the cabin occupied by his slaves, and the cemetery where he and several family members were buried. The film uses historical and industrial archaeology, bioanthropology and historic documents to detail the rise and fall of the Reynolds family and the local salt industry which helped spark the Industrial Revolution in America.

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REMAINS OF LARGE ROMAN BUILDING UNEARTHED IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE

A historic woodland just outside Peterborough could hold the key to finding out more about the area’s Roman past as archaeologists prepare to lift the lid on 2,000 years of history.

Funding has been made available for a study of the 208-hectare woodland of Bedford Purlieus in Cambridgeshire, which archaeologists believe contains the remarkably intact and undisturbed remains of a large but hitherto unknown Roman structure.

“There was some indication of Roman building in the area,” explained Paul Malcolm, Forester with the Forestry Commission. “The site is marked on the OS map but we didn’t know this was going to turn out to be the size that it has. I think the extent of it was a surprise.”

Measuring an impressive 80 metres by 30 metres with several rooms arranged in two ranges by the side of the building, archaeologists believe the hidden structure could possibly be the remains of a villa, or a mansio, which is a kind of Roman way station.

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Hobbit cave digs set to restart

Archaeologists who found the remains of human "Hobbits" have permission to restart excavations at the cave where the specimens were found.

Indonesian officials have blocked access to the cave since 2005, following a dispute over the bones.

But Professor Richard "Bert" Roberts, a member of the team that found the specimens, told BBC News the political hurdles had now been overcome.

The researchers claim that the remains belong to a novel species of human.

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Tracing the route of our shared DNA from Africa to Yorkshire

African blood has run through British veins since at least the 18th century and perhaps since Roman times, a study suggests.

A set of typically West African genes has been found in seven white British men who share the same rare surname, allowing scientists to trace an African heritage that none had any idea he shared.

The African Y chromosome — the packet of genetic material passed down through the male line — probably originated from a man from Senegal or Guinea-Bissau who lived in Yorkshire in the early 18th century and was inherited by his male descendants.

It is even possible that the line goes back farther still, to Roman soldiers from North Africa posted to Hadrian’s Wall 1,800 years ago. This “division of Moors”, which included the earliest known Africans in Britain, included recruits from what is now Morocco.

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Storm damages Cologne mosaic in 100 places

The priceless Roman floor mosaic that was damaged last week in the German city of Cologne by the storm called Kyrill has been chipped in at least 100 places, the city's Roman-Germanic Museum said.

The museum, packed with Roman artefacts dug up in Cologne, was built over the spot where the well-preserved work of art was discovered in 1941 during efforts to dig an air raid shelter in the heart of the city.

On January 18, the storm hurled timber through plate-glass windows, covering the tiny tiles of the Dionysos Mosaic with debris.

"We have found 100 places where it was damaged and expect to find about 150 in all," museum manager Bernhard Ostermann said.

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Antonine Wall now closer to heritage status

Phil Miller Arts Correspondent THE bid to have a historic Scottish landmark recognised alongside the Great Wall of China and the pyramids of Egypt has come a step closer to success.

The Antonine Wall was put forward by Tessa Jowell, the Culture Secretary, as Britain's latest nomination for a site that is worthy of World Heritage Site status.

The 2000-year-old wall, which runs for 37 miles from Bo'ness in West Lothian to Old Kilpatrick in West Dunbartonshire, is one of the most significant Roman remains still in existence.

The structure was built to keep Caledonian tribesman out of the northern part of Rome's empire.

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