Historians hustle as flood threatens ancient town

A large settlement dating back to the first century BC has been found in the Russian republic of North Ossetia. But since the archaeological site is in a valley next to a hydroplant under construction, there's a race to unlock its secrets, before it's flooded.

Most of the 60 people working at the site in the Zaramag Valley are amateurs with professionals guiding them.

Every day they antique jewellery, tools, weapons and crockery that once belonged to the ancient tribe of Alans, the ancestors of modern Ossetians.

But in just a few weeks time, the whole valley will be flooded. It will become a reservoir for Zaramag hydroplant. Once built, it will solve North Ossetia's energy problems.

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A VIKING LANDSCAPE: THE MOSFELL ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROJECT

Location: Iceland Length: 16 min.

This video describes the Mosfell Archaeological Project, an interdisciplinary research project employing saga studies, archaeology, physical anthropology, and environmental sciences. The project's goal is to construct a picture of human habitation and environmental change in the Mosfell region of southwestern Iceland. Work at Kirkjuhll in 2002 revealed a conversion period wooden stave church and a Christian cemetery with skeletons. The Mosfell Project contributes to the larger study of Viking Age and later medieval Iceland.

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KEN FINDS HIS MIDAS TOUCH IN THE FIELDS

Fields of gold could be lacing the countryside after a second ancient coin was discovered.

Ken Jacobs (60), chairman of the Scunthorpe Metal Detectors' club, found a whole noble - dating from the 14th century - in a field near Winteringham.

The find comes just weeks after Craig Addison featured in the Telegraph after he dug up a half noble in the Roxby area.

Mr Jacobs' 32mm find, which dates back to the era of Edward III, would have been worth thousands of pounds then. Today it is worth about £500.

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Ancient Roman road map unveiled

The Tabula Peutingeriana is one of the Austrian National Library's greatest treasures.

The parchment scroll, made in the Middle Ages, is the only surviving copy of a road map from the late Roman Empire.

The document, which is almost seven metres long, shows the network of main Roman roads from Spain to India.

It is normally never shown to the public. The parchment is extremely fragile, and reacts badly to daylight.

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Roman burial site uncovered

A ROMAN burial ground has been discovered on land in Staverton near Trowbridge.

Over the past two months archaeologists have extracted the remains of four Roman people from the ground. Some of the graves contained two skeletons.

They believe the field behind New Terrace is on the edge of a Roman settlement dating back to about 55AD.

Known locally as Blacklands the field is a source of much superstition for locals who have passed on folklore from generation to generation about the ghosts that lurked beneath the soil.

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Lupercale expert sceptical of 'Romulus, Remus' cave

A LEADING Italian archaeologist said that the grotto whose discovery was announced this week in Rome is not the sacred cave linked to the myth of the city's foundation by Romulus and Remus.

The Culture Ministry and experts who presented the find said they were “reasonably certain” the cavern is the Lupercale - a sanctuary worshipped for centuries by Romans because, according to legend, a wolf nursed the twin brothers there.

But Adriano La Regina, Rome's superintendent of archaeology from 1976 to 2004, said ancient descriptions of the place suggest the Lupercale is elsewhere - 50 to 70 metres northwest of the cave discovered near Emperor Augustus' palace.

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Gene study supports single main migration across Bering Strait

Did a relatively small number of people from Siberia who trekked across a Bering Strait land bridge some 12,000 years ago give rise to the native peoples of North and South America?

Or did the ancestors of today’s native peoples come from other parts of Asia or Polynesia, arriving multiple times at several places on the two continents, by sea as well as by land, in successive migrations that began as early as 30,000 years ago?

The questions – featured on magazine covers and TV specials – have agitated anthropologists, archaeologists and others for decades.

University of Michigan scientists, working with an international team of geneticists and anthropologists, have produced new genetic evidence that’s likely to hearten proponents of the land bridge theory. The study, published online in PLoS Genetics, is one of the most comprehensive analyses so far among efforts to use genetic data to shed light on the topic.

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Knights Templar to Seek Traces of Order's Members in Bulgaria

The Knights Templar are to launch excavation works in the Danube town of Russe to find out traces of order's members, who have once passed through Bulgaria and the Balkans.

The statement was made at a Saturday press conference, given by the Order in the National Palace of Culture in Sofia.

The order is to finance the initiative, called "Nisovo Project", is to be launched after Russe citizens signalled they noticed "interesting stone crosses" in the region.

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Bear hunting altered genetics more than Ice Age isolation

It was not the isolation of the Ice Age that determined the genetic distribution of bears, as has long been thought. This is shown by an international research team led from Uppsala University in Sweden in the latest issue of Molecular Ecology. One possible interpretation is that the hunting of bears by humans and human land use have been crucial factors.

Twenty thousand years ago Europe was covered by ice down to Germany, and the climate in the rest of Europe was such that several species were confined to the southern regions, like the Iberian Peninsula and Italy. These regions were refuges, areas where species could survive during cold periods and then re-colonize central and northern Europe when it got warmer. But the brown bear was not limited to these regions­it could roam freely across major parts of southern and central Europe. The current study analyzed mitochondria from bear remains. Some of the fossils are 20,000 years old. The analysis shows that the genetic pattern in these ancient brown bears differed from that of bears living today.

“Previously today’s genetic structure was interpreted as showing that the brown bear was isolated in southern Europe, just like many other species. But our study shows that this was not the case,” says Love Dalén, one of the Swedes participating in the study.

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'Dramatic' ancient cemetery found

A freelance archaeologist has uncovered what is thought to be the only known Anglo-Saxon royal burial site in the north of England.

Spectacular gold jewellery, weapons and clothing were found at the 109-grave cemetery, believed to date from the middle of the 7th Century.

Excavations were carried out after Steve Sherlock studied an aerial photo of the land near Redcar, Teesside.

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Römisches Bauen in Hessen

Baubeginn für zwei römische Häuser vor den Toren der Saalburg
Planzeichnung der beiden römischen Streifenhäuser (Grafik: Römerkastell Saalburg)

Vor den Toren des Römerkastells Saalburg in Bad Homburg , im Bereich des früheren Kastelldorfes, haben die Bauarbeiten für zwei Häuser begonnen, die einmal Kasse, Museumsshop und Kiosk aufnehmen sollen.

Die beiden Häuser werden im Stil sogenannter Streifenhäuser errichtet, die für die römischen Dörfer (vici) charakteristisch waren: langrechteckige Häuser mit einem Vordach, die mit der Schmalseite zur Straße stehen. Der Bau der beiden unterschiedlich großen Häuser soll im Sommer 2008 abgeschlossen sein.

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Czech archaeologists find unique Virgin Mary statuette

PRAGUE, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- Czech archaeologists uncovered a unique eight centimeter-long ceramic statuette of Virgin Mary with Jesus from the late 14th century in the center of Usti nad Labem of the Czech Republic, head of the archaeological research Marta Cvrkova said on Tuesday.

Similar finds are very rare in the country, the Czech news agency CTK quoted Cvrkova as saying.

The elaborated artifact, which was probably part of a family alter-piece, is only slightly damaged, CTK said.

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Anglo-Saxon gold jewellery is uncovered at burial site

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have uncovered a 1,400-year-old burial ground filled with gold jewellery and ancient artifacts at a secret location in the North-East, it was revealed last night.

Experts hailed the find as one of the best examples of an Anglo-Saxon burial ground ever uncovered - and may even have been the final resting place of a king or queen.

The 109-grave cemetery was discovered on land in Loftus, east Cleveland.

It is arranged in a rectangular pattern and dates from the middle of the 7th Century.

The cemetery, bed burial and high status objects are considered to all indicate the people buried must have connections with Anglo-Saxon royalty.

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Rome uncovers its founding moment

Rome has revealed what its leading archeologist says is "one of the greatest discoveries ever made", a lost shrine dedicated to the ancient city's mythical founders.

Andrea Carandini told a press conference yesterday that a large vaulted hall beneath the Palatine hill was almost certainly the fabled Lupercale - a sanctuary believed by ancient Romans to be the cave where the twin boys Romulus and Remus were suckled by a she-wolf. The professor acknowledged the evidence was as yet not totally conclusive, but said only "one doubt in thousand" remained.

Decorated with seashells and coloured marble, the domed cave was found close to the site of the palace of the first emperor, Caesar Augustus, by archaeologists. Ancient texts indicate that the sanctuary was indeed near the palace; a document from the 16th century, when it was still accessible, recorded that the emperor had embellished it with a white imperial eagle.

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What is the secret of the Pit of Bones?

I'm standing on a bunch of boring hills, on the edge of the high and dusty Castilian plains. This is the kind of Spain that tourists avoid.

Yet in archaeological terms this site is El Dorado. Because these hills of the Sierra Atapuerca have recently given up treasures which promise to change our ideas of human evolution - and the entire history of religion.

A few weeks back, for instance, the archaeologists in the so-called Elephant Pit found a humble human tooth. But it was a tooth with an ancestry: it was 1.2m years old.

Previously, the theory was that mankind evolved in Africa, and then fanned out across the world, about one million years ago. As part of this dispersal, man migrated northwards and westwards into Europe, maybe around 800,000-600,000BC.

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FUTURE OF CATTEDOWN MAN BONES IS SECURED

An ancient skull and jawbone excavated from prehistoric caves in Cattedown will undergo vital preservation work after the city museum secured a £5,000 grant.

Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery will work on the bones thanks to the Preservation of Industrial and Scientific Material (PRISM).

They were originally excavated in 1886-7 by local historian Robert Worth who also discovered bones of Ice Age woolly rhinoceroses, woolly mammoth, hyena and reindeer in the limestone caverns.

Jan Freedman, the museum's assistant keeper of natural history, said: "The material from the caves is probably the largest collection of early human remains found in the UK and, once they're properly researched, should be able to tell us a great deal about some of western Europe's earliest people."

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Archaeologists unearths buried treasure

A FREELANCE archaeologist has unearthed one of the most dramatic finds of Anglo Saxon materials within an ancient burial ground in the North-East.

The Royal Anglo-Saxon cemetery - with some of the finest gold jewellery to be found in Britain - has been discovered on land in Loftus, east Cleveland.

The 109-grave cemetery is arranged in a rectangular pattern and dates from the middle of the 7th Century.

The cemetery, bed burial and high status objects are considered to all indicate the people buried must have connections with Anglo-Saxon royalty.

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Rome founders' sanctuary discovered

Italian archaeologists said today they believe they have found one of the ancient city's holiest sites, the cave venerated as the place where, according to myth, a female wolf nursed the city's founders, twin brothers Romulus and Remus.

Decorated with seashells and marble, the vaulted space lies buried 16 metres inside the Palatine hill, the centre of power in imperial Rome.

Archaeologists said they were convinced the site was the long lost site of worship known as Lupercale, a name taken from lupa, the Latin for a female wolf.

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MYSTERY OF HORSE BONES FOUND IN 17TH CENTURY YORKSHIRE LIME KILNS

When a Yorkshire archaeology group began excavating some 17th century lime kilns in the Dales National Park, they expected to find remains linked to the once important industry.

Instead, they found a mysterious collection of horse bones buried inside the kilns, which had then been backfilled.

Members of the Ingleborough Archaeology Group are now looking for clues to the significance of the strange burial. One theory is that the remains were ritually buried to ward off evil before the kilns were abandoned.

“These were not animals that fell in or were thrown in,” said David Johnson, Chairman of the archaeology group.

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Sanctuary of Rome's 'Founder' Revealed

ROME (AP) — Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.

Decorated with seashells and colored marble, the vaulted sanctuary is buried 52 feet inside the Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome, the archaeologists said at a news conference.

In the past two years, experts have been probing the space with endoscopes and laser scanners, fearing that the fragile grotto, already partially caved-in, would not survive a full-scale dig, said Giorgio Croci, an engineer who worked on the site.

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Royal burial ground unearthed

A royal Anglo-Saxon burial ground and some of the finest gold jewellery ever unearthed in the country has been discovered by a freelance archaeologist.

The 109-grave cemetery is arranged in a rectangular pattern and dates from the middle of the 7th Century.

The cemetery, bed burial and high status objects are considered to all indicate the people buried must have connections with Anglo-Saxon royalty.

Traditionally, Anglo Saxon royalty were always buried in the south of England and it is thought the royals buried at the Cleveland site could be linked to the Kentish Princess Ethelburga who travelled north to marry Edwin, King of Northumbria.

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Grotto linked to Rome's mythical founder

ROME – Archaeologists on Tuesday unveiled an underground grotto believed to have been revered by ancient Romans as the place where a wolf nursed the city's legendary founder Romulus and his twin brother Remus.

Decorated with seashells and colored marble, the vaulted sanctuary is buried 52 feet inside the Palatine hill, the palatial center of power in imperial Rome, the archaeologists said at a news conference.

In the past two years, experts have been probing the space with endoscopes and laser scanners, fearing that the fragile grotto, already partially caved-in, would not survive a full-scale dig, said Giorgio Croci, an engineer who worked on the site.

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Noah's flood turned tide of agriculture

The flood associated with the story of Noah's Ark led to the spread of agriculture across Europe, researchers have discovered.

Archaeologists have dated the flooding of the Black Sea to around 6,300BC and believe the sudden rise in sea levels in south-east Europe pushed communities west, where they continued to farm and make pottery.

The date at which the Black Sea was connected to the Mediterranean had previously been placed at somewhere between 5,600BC and 7,600 BC, but a re-analysis of radiocarbon dating of freshwater molluscs and seashells found in the area has pinned this down to the period immediately prior to the spread of agricultural food production across western Europe.

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Archaeology student finds Roman remains in garden

AN ARCHAEOLOGY student struck lucky when he began digging the garden of his new home - and discovered ancient Roman remains.

Chris Bevan had no idea that a historic find was lurking inches beneath his feet when he moved into the house at Holme-on-Spalding Moor.

Now he and his fellow University of York students are using their spare time to carry out a survey of the garden in High Street and a neighbouring field where the ancient pottery was unearthed.

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Baltic yields 'perfect' shipwreck

A near-intact shipwreck apparently dating from the 17th century has been found in the Baltic Sea, Swedish television has said.

The discovery was made during filming for an under-water documentary series.

Public service SVT television said the wreck could be from the same era as the famous Vasa warship, which sank on its maiden voyage in August 1628.

The broadcaster said the Baltic's low oxygen content and low temperature had helped preserve the wreck.

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Gönner, Geber und Gelehrte. Die Gießener Antikensammlung und ihre Förderer

Die Sonderausstellung "Gönner, Geber und Gelehrte" im Oberhessischen Landesmuseum Gießen nimmt die fast zweihundertjährige Geschichte und Entwicklung der international renommierten Antikensammlung der Universität Gießen in den Fokus.

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Balkan heritage (BH) field school

Balkan heritage (BH) field school (established 2003) implements projects (field school sessions, workcamps) in the areas of study, protection, restoration and promotion of sites, artifacts and practices presenting cultural heritage of Southeastern Europe. BH participants are students , scholars and volunteers from all over the World.

www.bhfieldschool.org

BH projects in 2008:

AVGUSTA TRAIANA-BEROE-BORUI rescue excavation (Bulgaria) - July - August 2008. Rescue excavation of Roman, Late Antique and Medieval sites beneath modern Stara Zagora, Bulgaria.

"FRESCOES-HUNTING" PHOTO EXPEDITION TO MEDIEVAL CHURCHES OF WEST BULGARIA - May 11–25, 2008. An expediition to 3-5 abandoned West Bulgarian medieval churches and chapels (in bad condition) to document frescoes preserved inside.

KALOYANOVETS Cataloging Project (Bulgaria) - June 15 - July 14, 2008. Field surveys and cataloging an artifact collection from Late Neolithic site Kaloyanovets (6-th millenium B.C.) at the museum of Stara Zagora, Bulgaria.

STARA ZAGORA heritage workcamp (Bulgaria) - July 16-30, 2008. Balkan Heritage. Rescue excavations and maintenance of archaeological sites in the town of Stara Zagora.

BITOLA heritage workcamp (Macedonia) - August, 2008. Balkan Heritage. Excavations and maintenance of archaeological sites in the ancient town of Heraclea Lyncestis near Bitola, Macedonia.

HERACLEA LYNCESTIS (Macedonia) - July, 2008 (season dates). Excavation at the Hellenistic, Roman, Late Antique town near Bitola, Macedonia.

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LINCOLN'S MOST FAMOUS VESSEL... THE IRON AGE LONGBOAT

The canoe built by the City of Lincoln Community College pupils is clearly impressive.

Yet we need to go back to the Iron Age to find what might well be Lincoln's most famous vessel.

The longboat on display at The Collection museum in Lincoln is 7m long.

Amazingly, the dugout boat was made from a single hollowed-out tree trunk. It was discovered in 2001 during flood defence improvement work by the Environment Agency on the River Witham at Fiskerton.

And the site has proved to be rich in archaeological treasures.

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Eco-ruin 'felled early society'

One of Western Europe's earliest known urban societies may have sown the seeds of its own downfall, a study suggests.

Mystery surrounded the fall of the Bronze Age Argaric people in south-east Spain - Europe's driest area.

Data suggests the early civilisation exhausted precious natural resources, helping bring about its own ruin.

The study provides early evidence for cultural collapse caused - at least in part - by humans meddling with the environment, say researchers.

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Rome adds a 'final jewel' to its archaeological crown

In Rome, you never know what you find underneath your home once you start digging. For Enrico Gasbarra, President of the Provincial Administration of Rome, his curiosity to find what Roman treasures might be hiding in underground spaces below his office headquarters, the Valentini Palace, has resulted in one of the most exciting finds of recent years in the ancient city.

Presenting the result of two years of excavations at the World Travel Market (WTM) fair in London Wednesday, Gasbarra described the discovery of a splendid and affluent Roman home (domus) directly underneath his offices as the "final jewel" in the array of historical treasures his administration has to offer.

More than 187 lorry loads of waste and rubble, including office debris and old photocopying machines, had to be removed from the "trash dump" in the courtyard of the Valentini Palace to reveal a new archaeological site consisting of splendid rooms, marbled baths and exquisite mosaics.

"Of course, in a city like Rome it is not unusual to make such discoveries, but this find is of extreme historical significance," Gasbarra said in London.

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New human fossil find adds millennia to China's history

BEIJING, Nov. 13 (Xinhua)-- Chinese archaeologists said they have found fossilized remains of a primitive human species that lived about 2.04 million years ago in the Three Gorges Area in southwest China, the earliest ever found in the country.

The findings, including a lower jawbone fragment, an incisor and more than 230 pieces of stone tools, prove that what is called Wushan man was more than 300,000 years older than Yuanmou man, which was discovered in southwestern Yunnan Province in the 1960s and previously recognized as China's earliest human species.

An expert team led by Huang Wanbo, a professor with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, reached the conclusion after more than two decades of excavation at the Longgupo Site in Wushan County in Chongqing Municipality.

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Science and Technology: Excavations in Anatolia to continue

A group of Turkish archaeologists will continue excavations in the eastern Anatolian province of Bitlis, team leader Kadir Pektas said on Tuesday (November 6th). Significant archaeological findings have been unearthed at the site this year, including a number of coins, ceramic pieces and tobacco ringlets.

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Greek philosopher Aristotle's ancient wrestling school, a victim of official apathy

Athens, Nov 13: A wrestling school said to have been a part of Greek philosopher Aristotle's famous Lyceum, has fallen victim to the ravages of time and official apathy.

Unearthed in 1996, the wrestling school and other institutions in the Lyceum was a significant centre of study and research in diverse fields.

Opened in 335 BC, the school promoted the development of Western science and philosophy and was named for its sanctuary to Apollo Lykeios. Alongside these intellectual pursuits, physical exercise was also undertaken, as the excavation of a wrestling ring has illustrated.

Though the appearance of the site on Rigillis Street in Athens looks maintained overall because of some greenery, the condition of the wrestling school has been worsening since its discovery.

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Tides turn up child’s Bronze Age remains

HIGH tides and winds that have battered the Northumberland coast served up a burial mystery for archaeologists yesterday .

Erosion by the sea and weather has revealed what seems to be the remains of a Bronze Age child, which have emerged from the coastal edge at Druridge Bay.

But what perplexed archaeologists yesterday was a layer of hard white material which appears to have been moulded around the body, like a casing.

“I have never seen anything like this material. It has obviously been applied deliberately and it is intriguing and baffling,” said Sara Rushton, Northumberland County Council archaeologist.

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Ruins of late-Roman-era fortress found in Bulgaria

Sofia, Nov 14: Archaeologists have found ruins of a late-Roman-era fortress during an excavation in Svalenik village, nowadays Northern Bulgaria.

The ruin, which was a part of the defence system of the Romans, had been raised in the IV Century as a watch fortification, controlling the road in the River Valley of Malki Lom River.

Archaeologists have so far revealed the south wall and two inner rooms of the fortress, reports News.bg.

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A CLATSOP WINTER STORY

Location: Oregon Length: 22 min.

The Clatsop of coastal Oregon, descendants of Coboway and Cusculah, welcomed traders from the tall ships and the explorers that came from the east, the Lewis and Clark expedition. They called them all "cloth men." Clatsop oral histories go back many hundreds of years—even today they tell stories of the first encounters with the cloth men. And stories of Captains Lewis and Clark, the Shoshone woman, and the winter (1805-1806) they spent near the Oregon coast. This is one of their winter stories and the Clatsop still are here to tell them.

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Prehistoric women had passion for fashion

PLOCNIK, Serbia (Reuters) - If the figurines found in an ancient European settlement are any guide, women have been dressing to impress for at least 7,500 years.

Recent excavations at the site -- part of the Vinca culture which was Europe's biggest prehistoric civilization -- point to a metropolis with a great degree of sophistication and a taste for art and fashion, archaeologists say.

In the Neolithic settlement in a valley nestled between rivers, mountains and forests in what is now southern Serbia, men rushed around a smoking furnace melting metal for tools. An ox pulled a load of ore, passing by an art workshop and a group of young women in short skirts.

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Stone Age feminism?

The Neanderthal extinction some 30,000 years ago remains one of the great riddles of evolution, with rival theories blaming everything from genocide committed by "real" humans to prehistoric climate change.

But a recent study introduces another explanation: Stone Age feminism. Among Neanderthals, hunting big beasts was women's work as well as men's, so it's a safe bet that female hunters got stomped, gored, and worse with appalling frequency. And a high casualty rate among fertile women - the vital "reproductive core" of a tiny population - could well have meant demographic disaster for a species already struggling to survive among monster bears, yellow-fanged hyenas, and cunning Homo sapien newcomers.

A spate of recent discoveries has yielded intriguing clues about humanity's closest cousin. Neanderthals and humans split from a common ancestor some 500,000 years ago. Neanderthals had Europe to themselves until Homo sapiens started swarming out of Africa about 45,000 years ago - the beginning of the end for these archetypical cave dwellers, although they hung on for 15 millennia.

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Roman Fortress Found Near Ruse

Ruins of a little late-Roman fortress, part of the defense system of the Romans in nowadays Northern Bulgaria, archaeologists have found by excavations in Svalenik village.

The fortress was raised in IV Century as a watch fortification, controlling the road in the River Valley of Malki Lom River.

For now archaeologist revealed the south wall and two inner rooms of the fortress.

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Mammoth hunters' camp site found in Russia's Far East

KHABAROVSK, November 12 (RIA Novosti) - Archaeologists have found a 15,000 year-old hunters' camp site from the Paleolithic era near Lake Evoron in Russia's Far East, a source in the Khabarovsk archaeology museum said on Monday.

"The site dates back to the end of the Ice Age, a period which is poorly studied" Andrei Malyavin, chief of the museum's archaeology department said. "That is why any new site from this period is a discovery in itself."

The site, found during a 2007 archaeological expedition to Lake Evoron, is the largest of four Stone Age sites, discovered near the Amur River so far, and was most likely established by mammoth hunters.

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ASHMOLEAN TO CREATE ONLINE CENTRE OF ISLAMIC & EASTERN ART

Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum is to create an online centre for the study of Islamic and eastern art.

An unspecified but ‘substantial’ donation from philanthropist Mr Yousef Jameel will be used to create the Yousef Jameel Online Centre for Islamic and Eastern Art, aiming to broaden access to the museum’s renowned collection.

There are also plans to open a study centre of Islamic and eastern art at the Ashmolean along with a scholarship programme for students at the University of Oxford.

The online centre is planned to be ready in time for the completion of the museum’s current redevelopment in 2009.

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Archeologists Discovered a 10th Century Tomb in Pskov

Another chamber entombment dating back to the epoch of Princess Olga (approximately 10th century) has been found at the Starovoznesensky digging site in Pskov.

According to the director of Pskov Archeological Centre Elena Yakovleva, the grave is not smaller than the two other tombs discovered in the previous years.
“The findings are in a very bad condition; it is difficult to say whether the remains are those of a man or a woman” - she says. Most probably the buried person once belonged to a noble family.

Let us recall that in the end of 2003 a grave of a Scandinavian woman of the tenth century was found at the 4 meters depth. The archeologists called the finding “a Varangian guest”. The second similar tomb was excavated in 2006. In the course of digging works the archeologists found out that the entombment had been pillaged some centuries earlier.

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Das Klima schreibt Geschicht

Professor Dr. Wolfgang Behringer, der an der Universität des Saarlandes Geschichte der Frühen Neuzeit lehrt, hat die 20.000-jährige Kulturgeschichte des Klimas seit der letzten Eiszeit erforscht. Sein Fazit: Der Einfluss des Klimas auf die Geschichte wurde bislang unterschätzt.

Aufstieg und Niedergang ganzer Kulturen sieht Behringer vom Klima beeinflusst; die Hexenverfolgung sei ebenso durch das Klima mitverursacht wie der Beginn der industriellen Revolution.

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Archaeological excavations on Monte S.Martino

Since a few days, the archaeological inquiry on the top of “San Martino” mount in Trentin, in the mountain range between Lomaso and Altogarda, undertaken by the Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage of the Independent Province of Trent, concerning the ancient fortress which was brought to light 4 years ago has restarted.

It is reachable by just one hour and a half on foot from Lundo, and it is bringing back to life a barbarian fortress, the last, isolated bulwark of the ancient Garda system and of the rich towns in the Po plain: Verona and Brescia.

The excavation campaign, which has reached its fourth year, will go on up to the end of August. The excavation site has reached an extreme importance: this is why the experts all around Europe are already promoting and studying this case.

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15th-century castle reopens to the public

A Highland castle with a bloody past reopened to the public yesterday after a three-year programme of safety and conservation work by Historic Scotland.

The 15th-century Auchindoun Castle near Dufftown in Moray was built for John, Earl of Mar, but he was imprisoned by his own brother, King James III, in 1479, and died in Craigmillar Castle south of Edinburgh.

Auchindoun Castle passed to Thomas Cochrane, one of the king's favourites, who himself came to an unpleasant end when he was hanged from Lauder Bridge in 1482 by jealous noblemen.

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Excavations to continue in Bitlis

Significant archaeological findings have been unearthed during this year's excavations in the eastern Anatolian province of Bitlis.

Head of excavations, Kadir Pektaş, from Denizli-based Pamukkale University said a number of coins, ceramic pieces and tobacco ringlets were found during excavations which focused on the bath, city walls in the East of the city and İç Kale (palace) region, speaking to the Anatolia news agency.

�This year we conducted the digs at three points in the region. We unearthed the rectangular shaped structures belonging to the 18th and 19th century in the bath area. The tandoor, a cylindrical clay oven, as well as some other findings here indicate that these structures used to be houses,� he said.

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The Iceman cometh amid debate over how he went

For 10 years Angelika Fleckinger has had an intimate relationship with a most unusual man.

Her partner? Otzi - the world famous Iceman whose mummified body was found in an alpine glacier on the border of Italy and Austria in 1991.

Fleckinger is the director of the Italian museum built in 1998 to house Otzi, who is 2000 years older than Tutankhamen. She has written three books about him. While other scientists might know more about their own specific areas of research, Fleckinger says, "I may be the person who is closest to the Iceman."

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The Scariest Thing about Neanderthals

Who knew the Weasley family trademark—a shock of bright red hair—was tens of thousands of years old?

Fictional wizards and J.K. Rowling aside, researchers Carles Lalueza-Fox of the University of Barcelona, Spain and Holger Rompler of the University of Leipzig in Germany announced last week that Neanderthals, who died out 35,000 years ago, had the same distribution of hair and skin color as modern human European populations. By inference, that means that about 1 percent of Neanderthals must have been redheads, with pale skin and freckles.

The idea of Neanderthals with red hair and freckles is just plain charming. But it's also scary because it underscores the fact that Neanderthals were so much like us, and now they're gone.

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Race is on to excavate monument

Archaeologists are in a race against time to excavate a 4,000-year-old burial ground discovered just 20ft from a crumbling cliff edge.

The Bronze Age barrow was unearthed at Peacehaven Heights, east of Brighton, where cliffs are eroding at the rate of 2ft a year.

The mound is inching ever closer to the edge and will begin falling 200ft into the sea within ten years.

Project leader Susan Birks said: "We are trying to uncover the barrow's secrets before it goes to a watery grave.

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Stonehenge's huge support settlement

Archaeologists working near Stonehenge have uncovered what they believe is the largest Neolithic settlement ever discovered in Northern Europe.

Remains of an estimated 300 houses are thought to survive under earthworks 3km (2 miles) from the famous stone rings, and 10 have been excavated so far.

But there could have been double that total according to the archaeologist leading the work.

"What is really exciting is realising just how big the village for the Stonehenge builders was," says Professor Mike Parker Pearson of Sheffield University.

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Body of child from Bronze Age found

THE remains of a Bronze Age child have been discovered by archaeologists carrying out a dig at a Suffolk school.

Culford School, in Culford, near Bury St Edmunds, asked for an archaeological survey to be carried out by Suffolk County Council's archaeological service before building work began on a new tennis court next to the school's sports centre.

Archaeologists, who have been working on the site for two weeks, first discovered some human teeth, then fragments of bone before finding a skull which is believed to be a child of seven or eight. It was discovered with a food vessel and some flints which archaeologists believe was left as an offering for the afterlife.

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Sea Stallion from Glendalough: Newsletter 20

Newsletter 20. issue - November the 5th, 2007 from the Sea Stallion from Glendalough Website is now online.

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Archaeologists Unearth Rare State Seals from 1st Bulgarian Empire

Archaeologists have made a sensational finding on Saturday, dated back to the first Bulgarian Empire (years 681-1018) in the ancient Bulgarian capital of Pliska.

The team of archaeologists found state seals, which belonged to the rulers Simeon and Petar.

The interesting thing is that the seals were found in the base of one of the wooden fortified walls, quite far from the Tzar palace.

The archaeologists unearthed the findings, while they were having excavations at a chain of living and public buildings. The scientists were very surprised when, among the tools, the bone and medal jewelry and pots they found also archbishop and ruler's insignia.

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Video: Medieval Church Rolls 7 Miles

A flatbed trailer hauled a medieval church to its new home in eastern Germany. The technically ambitious move has cleared the original site for mining.

Watch the video...

Part of ancient wall ringing Rome collapses

ROME — A 6.5-metre ection of Rome's ancient Aurelian Wall collapsed near the capital's central train station after days of heavy rain, a conservation official said Friday.

The wall, part of a 16th century restoration, crumbled into a pile of bricks Thursday evening after water infiltrated the section, said Paola Virgili, an official in charge of the wall's restoration. No one was reported hurt.

The Aurelian Wall — named after the third century emperor who built it to defend the city against the first barbarian onslaughts — surrounds Rome with more than 17 kilometres of fortifications, towers and gates.

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Roman villa discovered in western Austria

Archaeologists in the western Austrian province Tyrol unearthed the remains of a large-scale Roman villa, complete with extensive floor mosaics that may have been also a source for a number of local legends.

The archaeologists from Innsbruck University stumbled upon references to the 1,800-year-old, long since forgotten building situated near the town Lienz in a manuscript penned in Latin, dating back to the mid-18th century. Tyrolean proto-archeologist Anton Roschmann wrote that he found Roman remains in 1746, but his findings were lost, the Austrian Press Agency reported.

During a dig in October the remains of five rooms of a building dating back to Roman times wear unearthed on a 300-square-metre plot. The remains of the walls show colourful wall paintings, the archaeologists said, but the most astounding find were large-scale floor mosaics in three of the rooms.

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Badgers moved to protect cemetery

A badger sett has been moved to stop it damaging a medieval cemetery in Pembrokeshire.

The animals were resettled to stop them destroying bones at Brownslade Barrow on the Castlemartin military range.

Once they were moved archaeologists were able to examine the site and uncover some of its secrets.

The project has won the Silver Otter Trophy awarded by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) for conservation work carried out on its land.

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Medieval Ruins Found Near Stockholm Castle

Archaeologists have found the foundations of medieval buildings near the Royal Palace in Stockholm, dating from the city's early years.

The palace occupies the site of Stockholm's medieval castle. John Hedlund of the Stockholm Stadtmuseet told The Local the discovery of what appears to be a house, warehouse or combination of the two sheds new light on early Stockholm's appearance.

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Some Neanderthals Were Redheads

Like bringing to life a naked mannequin, scientists are using genetic and physical evidence found in fossils to clothe the skeletal remains of our closest hominid relatives, the Neanderthals.

More and more, they seem familiar.

Bones from two Neanderthals yielded valuable genetic information that adds red hair, light skin and perhaps some freckling to our extinct relatives. The results, detailed online today by the journal Science, suggest that at least 1 percent of Neanderthals were redheads.

"We can't say anything for the actual fossils we looked at, but we can be sure that part of the Neanderthal population was red-haired," said study team member Michael Hofreiter of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

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The souls of Silbury Hill are bared in burial mound dig

Archaeologists are unlocking the secrets of Silbury Hill, one of Britain's greatest historical mysteries.

Researchers have long been mystified as to why the giant prehistoric mound in Wiltshire was built. But following one of the UK's most extensive and expensive digs, they appear to have found their answer: Silbury Hill may well have been a tomb, not for bodies, but for the souls of the dead.

The English Heritage dig, which cost £1m, tunnelled 85 metres into the 40-metre-high man-made hill, discovering that its Neolithic builders had incorporated hundreds of heavy sarsen stones into its matrix. Sarsen, the silicified sandstone still found in great quantities in Wiltshire, was also used to build Stonehenge and Avebury. Heavier than other types of stone, archaeologists have long suspected that the material was regarded as sacred by Neolithic man.

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Archaeologists dig royal grounds

Archaeologists are hoping to unearth some ancient secrets at three of the Queen's residences over the weekend.

Digs will take place in the grounds of Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh.

Among the treasures the archaeologists hope to uncover is evidence of a Roundhead fortress from the English Civil War at Buckingham Palace.

The historical excavations are being undertaken for Channel 4's archaeology programme Time Team.

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ARCHAEOLOGISTS REVEAL BRUNEL FACTORY SITE AT SS GREAT BRITAIN

Visitors to Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s steamship Great Britain in Bristol have been able to watch an archaeological dig unfold before them.

On October 22 they were able to glimpse the excavations of a tannery yard built on top of the site of the Great Western Steam Engine Factory, which is being investigated prior to work starting on the building of the Brunel Institute conservation and learning centre and new flats.

“We knew about the existence of the tannery yard, but it is interesting to witness the dig unfold and to be able to contribute to the Brunel archive – this will be one of the best recorded tannery yards in England,” said Phil Andrews, Senior Project Officer for Wessex Archaeology who are conducting the dig.

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Archaeologist uncovers 11,000-year-old artefacts in Syria

Latest discoveries in Syria date back to start of Neolithic era in Epipalaeolithic period.

Deep in the heart of northern Syria, close to the banks of the Euphrates River, archaeologists have uncovered a series of startling 11,000-year-old wall paintings and artefacts.

"The wall paintings date back to the 9th millennium BC. They were discovered last month on the wall of a house standing two metres (6.6 feet) high at Dja'de," said Frenchman Eric Coqueugniot, who has been leading the excavations on the west bank of the river at Dja'de, in an area famous for its rich tradition of prehistoric treasures.

The etchings are "polychrome paintings in black, white and red. The designs are solely geometric, and only figurative. The composition is made up of a system cross-hatched lines, alternating between the three colours," Coqueugniot said.

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Archeologists discover Serbia's oldest tomb

Archeologists from a Novi Pazar museum came across what they say is the oldest tomb ever discovered in the country.

The find is located in the village of Sugubine, near Sjenica, in southwestern Serbia, archeologist Dragica Premović-Aleksić told reporters Friday.

The tomb dates back to 9th century AD and has a huge historical and scientific significance, she added.

"Before they converted to Christianity, the Serbs, just as other Slavic pagans, burned the bodies of their dead," Premović-Aleksić explained, adding this is the first time the remains that have not been burned were discovered in a grave dating back to that era.

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Remains unearthed on a Welsh burial mound

The Brownslade Barrow Project 2004-06, run by the South Pembrokeshire Ranges Recording Advisory Group (Wales), unearthed an archaeological monument on a Bronze Age burial mound. More than 1000 bone fragments, some of them human, were found at the site. They are currently being analysed by specialists at the University of Lampeter, Ceredigion.

Brownslade Barrow on Castlemartin Range is a bronze age burial mound designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. In 2001 range staff noticed human bones on the ground close to the barrow, they had been disturbed by badgers living close to the monument. Carbon dating revealed that these bones came from a cemetery dating from the early medieval period. Action was required to prevent further disturbance to this newly discovered cemetery and to stop the badgers reaching the protected area.

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Cave Speak: Did Neandertals Talk?

Discovery of the human variant of the FOXP2 gene in Neandertals suggests they may have had language skills

German researchers have discovered Neandertals apparently had the human variant of a gene that is linked to speech and language. A team of scientists, primarily from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, made the discovery during efforts to reconstruct a full genome of the extinct hominid.

The findings push back the estimated timing of the FOXP2 gene's selective sweep (rapid spread of a gene mutation due to the survival advantage it conferred) from 200,000 to 350,000 years ago, when the common ancestor of Neandertals and humans roamed the earth.

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Turkish Dam May Leave Mosques, Mosaics to Tigris Scuba Divers

Hasankeyf in southeast Turkey has been home to Assyrians, Romans, Byzantines and Ottomans over the past 3,000 years, and has the monuments to prove it. Visitors may soon need scuba gear to see them.

Turkey plans to build a $1.7 billion dam to generate power from the Tigris River, which flows through Hasankeyf en route to Iraq. Archaeologists are fighting the project so they don't have to choose between moving fragile structures like Hasankeyf's Silk Road bridge or seeing them submerged under 100 feet (30 meters) of water.

The town's history unfolds down the sandstone cliffs that line the Tigris. On the plateau above the river lie the ruins of a castle built by Byzantine emperor Constantine the Great. Caves carved into the sheer walls three millennia ago were inhabited until the 1960s. Near the river, archaeologists have uncovered a complex of medieval mosques, palaces and shops.

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Archaeologists in Moravia discover 7000 year-old sculpture

The find of the century is what Czech archaeologists are calling the discovery of a 7000 year-old statue in Masovice, a village just west of Znojmo, South Moravia. Although only the lower parts of the sculpture have been found, experts say that Hedvika, as the statue has been named by those who discovered it, is a unique find in a European context.

On Wednesday, experts from the Brno Archaeological Institute marked a discovery that could change the way historians look at the era of 7 000 years ago, known as the Neolithic Age. During an emergency survey on a building site in the community of Masovice, some 8 km north of Znojmo in South Moravia, they discovered fragments of a ceramic female sculpture. Archaeologist Zdenek Cizmar, who was the first to lay his hands on this unusual find, explains the significance of the discovery.

"The sculpture is unique for two reasons; one of them is its size. The fragment we have found is 30 centimetres tall, from its feet to the waistline. We therefore estimate its overall original height to be 55 to 60 centimetres; this means that it is the largest statue of the Moravian Painted Ware culture ever found in the whole Middle Danube Basin".

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The Cave of Archaeology in Villa Doria (Genoa - Italy)

Saturday, the 16th June 2007, the Cave of Archaeology, an area of experimental archaeology has been introduced and opened to the public, realized inside the anti-aerial shelter of Villa Doria in Genoa (Italy) and it’s targeting people interested in re-living the prehistory of Liguria.

Among the trees at “Parco di Villa Doria”, behind Piazza Bonavino di Pegli, the entrance of an anti-aerial shelter is situated, dug on a side of the hill. Its appearance is similar to that of a cave, also thanks to the setting in which it’s placed, safe and distant from the city noise.

The refuge, dug during the Second World War to protect the citizens of Pegli from the bombardments, now welcomes this underground space inspired by the caves of Liguria, in which the public may enter, discover and test tools, instruments, daily objects, monuments, difficulties and experiences of the daily life during the prehistoric era.

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Neanderthals had key speech gene, researchers say

Neanderthals may have a reputation in popular culture as a lumbering, grunting people, but researchers have discovered that they did have a gene thought to play a key role in speech.

Samples of DNA were retrieved from two Neanderthal fossils found in a cave in northern Spain. Careful examination revealed that the pair both had the FOXP2 gene. The human version of this gene is different from the chimp version in two places, leading scientists to speculate that these changes are responsible for our ability to speak. The Neanderthals both had the human version.

The findings push back the emergence of a particular gene in the human family tree by some 300,000 years, to the time when the Neanderthal and modern human populations diverged. Previously, the gene was thought to have swept through the modern human population just 50,000 years ago.

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Medieval pond restored

NOT so long ago, a walk around the Eynsham Abbey Fish Ponds was difficult - at times almost impossible.

Walkers had to battle their way through undergrowth, scrub, knee-high vegetation, and fallen trees to complete the journey at this seven-acre site. Most preferred not to attempt walking the perimeter, instead choosing to use the main pathway, that passes through this area.

Now the site has been opened up. There's a picturesque expanse of open water, surrounded by trees in the centre where one of the original abbey fishponds would have been, and a clear pathway encircling the entire space. Ditches have been cleared, overhanging branches pruned back, and 150 saplings planted throughout. There's even a sturdy new wooden bridge over the stream, and several bat and bird boxes are hidden in the trees. It's all very beautiful. Peaceful too.

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Chance to dig up county's history

BUDDING archaeologists are invited to take part in a project which has already unearthed pre-Roman remains in Warwickshire.

The quest for buried historical treasure will continue in Bidford, near Stratford, tomorrow from 11am to 3pm, following a successful fieldwalk last week, in which more than 50 enthusiasts gathered at Wixford Lodge Farm to help archaeologists.

Together they discovered interesting relics including worked flint which identifies human activity in the area thousands of years ago, long before the Romans.

County experts are also hoping to find further evidence of Roman occupation after pottery and tile were discovered.

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Saxon graves found at school

WHEN workmen discovered human remains as they cleared a site for new classrooms at a Twyford school, staff briefly thought they had a crime scene on their hands.

The panic soon turned into a historical feast for pupils and teachers alike, however, when it turned out the bones found at Twyford School were more than 1,000 years old.

Now, work on the site has halted as archaeologists try to find out more about what they think is a Saxon burial site - a very rare find.

A full excavation of the area is underway to make sure all remains are recorded and taken away for further investigation.

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You can find photos at the Wessex Archaeology Flickr site

Cave clue to 'first beachcombers'

The waste from shellfish dinners discarded in a South African cave is said to be the earliest evidence of humans living and thriving by the sea.

The material was found by scientists working in a sandstone opening at Pinnacle Point on the Cape.

Researchers tell the journal Nature the remains were buried in sediments that are 164,000 years old.

The exploitation of coastal resources is thought to have been key in allowing early humans to move across the globe.

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Czech Archaeologists Find 7,000 Year-Old Unique Statue

Czech Archaeologists have uncovered a part of a half-meter high statue of a woman nearly 7,000 years old in the country, which was called "a find of the century," the daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) reported on Thursday.

Experts from Brno's Masaryk University confirmed the unique character of the statue uncovered in Masovice, South Moravia area of the Czech republic, the paper said.

The hollow legs and haunch of the female statue, made of ceramic, originate in 4,800 - 4,700 B.C., MfD wrote.

Nothing similar has been uncovered so far, according to the experts.

The statue was made by the people of the prehistorical culture known as "Moravian Painted Ceramic".

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Mysterious carved stone found at Whitby Abbey

Experts are studying a carved stone recently uncovered on Whitby Abbey Headland in North Yorkshire (England) to see if it represents the first Bronze Age artefact from the site. St Hild founded an abbey on Whitby Headland in 657 CE, which is now an important historical site. An archaeological team came to the site this autumn for a six-week dig, and found an intriguing object – a mysterious stone carved with linear markings. Measuring about 40cm by 50cm, it appears to be of the type of Bronze Age carved stones found on the North York Moors in 2003, dating from 2000 BC-700 BCE. "We need to wait for detailed analysis before we draw firm conclusions. If it is Bronze Age, then it underlines that the headland has a long history of settlement, well before St Hild founded the Abbey in 657 CD,” said archaeologist Sarah Jennings.

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Vandals target Long barrow in Lancashire

A 5,000 year old monument has been targeted by vandals in Lancashire (England). A prominent spiral-shaped design has been carved into the ancient Pike Stones - a long barrow burial chamber - on Anglezarke Moor in Chorley. United Utilities, who own the land on which the monument stands, claim it is one of the earliest man-made structures in the county.

The Pike Stones are protected by law and it is an offence to deface them, a spokeswoman from English Heritage said. Dr Jennie Stopford, English Heritage's ancient monuments inspector, said: "Anyone defacing or the stones or the area around them is committing an offence. But, more importantly, they are also destroying the heritage of present and future communities."

Vandalism of the Pike Stones has been a problem for many years according to Hazel Gannaway from United Utilities. "This carving in particular has made us fearful that the culprits may return to add further carvings and symbols in the near future," she said. What the carving actually means is a mystery.

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EC to begin action against Ireland over Tara motorway

The European Commission is reportedly expected to begin legal action against the Government today over the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara.

Reports this morning say Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas will ask his colleagues to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.

Mr Dimas will reportedly say that Irish law does not offer enough protection to archaeological sites and that a new Environmental Impact Assessment should have been carried out after the discovery of the Lismullen monument in the route of the motorway.

This morning's reports say the EC action will not stop the construction of the M3, but will force the Government to defend its decision to build the motorway in an archaeologically sensitive area.

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EU to sue Govt over Tara road build

The EU Commission is to take the Irish government to court over the route of the M3 through the Tara valley.

The Government could face fines as well as Europe-wide adverse publicity but will unlikely be forced to reroute the controversial road away from the national monument.

Environment commissioner Stavros Dimas will tell his commissioner colleagues at a meeting in Brussels today that the National Monuments Act in the Republic does not offer enough protection for important archaeological sites.

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Ancient Russian Birchbark Manuscripts Now on the Web!

Russian scholars have set about translating relic birchbark manuscripts into English, the Novgorod Museum Reserve informs. The translated texts will be posted on the already existing web site www.gramoty.ru.

The project on translating texts of birchbark manuscripts and placing them on the internet is realized for the first time ever – a representative of the Novgorod Museum Reserve added.

The unique site already presents 1049 manuscripts of the 11th – 15th centuries, discovered during archeological excavations in Veliki Novgorod, Vitebsk, Zvenigorod, Tver, Torzhok, Pskov, Staraya Russa and Rurik site. On www.gramoty.ru you will find photos of the burchbark manuscripts (gramoty in Russian) and their text copies in the Old Slavonic language and translations into the modern Russian, as well as basic information about the archeological rarities.

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After 2,500 years, Parthenon treasures move to new home

Campaign for return of Elgin marbles receives historic propaganda boost

A collective gasp filled the air early yesterday as a blue crate containing a 2.5-tonne slab of marble universally viewed as one of the most important works of antiquity, was hoisted by a giant crane from the Acropolis. For those who had come to watch, this was history in the making, the first sculpture to officially leave the ancient citadel since Phidias carved the artworks, 2,500 years ago.

The moment, heavy in symbolism, was not lost on Greece's culture minister, Michalis Liapis. "For the first time, after 25 centuries, the sculptures are being transferred to the new Acropolis museum. It is awe-inspiring and deeply moving," he said after witnessing the metal crate make the 400-yard journey to the spectacular cement and glass building that will be the artworks' new home. "It naturally raises our demand for the reunification of the Parthenon marbles"

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Cranes move Acropolis sculptures

Greece has begun moving the ancient sculptures from the Acropolis in Athens to a new home - a museum at the foot of the hilltop citadel.

Crowds of bystanders watched the first of the monuments gingerly lifted by cranes at the 2,500-year-old Parthenon.

Thousands of antiquities will be moved, mostly marble sculptures from the fifth and sixth centuries BC.

Greek officials hope the new site will boost the country's long campaign for the return of the Elgin Marbles.

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Just what did the Mary Rose tell us?

The raising of the Mary Rose in 1982 was greeted with feverish excitement, but what has this landmark find actually told us in the 25 years since?

At the tail end of 1982 it seemed like you couldn't switch on Newsround without seeing something to do with Mary Rose.

Our fascination with the ship that met a sticky end while firing at a French invasion fleet in 1545 has flared at times in the years since. It is almost a rite of passage for some school children to go and see this emblem of the Tudor age.

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Fear and fury among the Marbles

The Elgin Marbles in the British Museum are marvellous - but they're a bit, well, colourless, aren't they?

That isn't how it was for the ancient Greeks. The sculptures were painted in vivid colour. High up on the sides of the Parthenon temple in Athens, they had to be.

Now a new film on permanent show in the room next to the Marbles adds the colour - and the fear and the violence.

"When we started to apply the colour it brought a lot of the emotion to life," says Dyfri Williams, Keeper of Greek and Roman Antiquities at the British Museum.

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Medieval church is rebuilt at St Fagans

A medieval church which was dismantled and rebuilt stone-by-stone 50 miles away is being opened by the Archbishop of Canterbury today.

St Teilo’s Church has been moved from the West Wales community of Pontarddulais to the St Fagans National History Museum in Cardiff and renovated in a project that has lasted almost a decade.

Carpenters and painters have rebuilt and decorated it to look as it did in the 1520s, using inspiration from a set of rare wall paintings dating from the period which were found when the building was being dismantled.

The painstaking project is thought to be the first of its kind attempted in Europe.

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Greece hoists Parthenon sculptures to new home

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece on Sunday began moving the ancient sculptures from the temples of the Athens Acropolis to a new museum, designed specifically to prod the British Museum into returning its own prized collection of Parthenon marbles.

Dozens of bystanders, some in tears, watched as three cranes relayed a massive stone slab from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon. It was carved with four youths leading bulls to sacrifice to the goddess Athena.

"I am trembling, it touches my soul," said pensioner Pelagia Boulamatsi, 71, unable to hold back tears. "This is an ancient civilization that is the foundation of the world."

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http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=86380

Were Neanderthals direct ancestors of contemporary humans or an evolutionary side branch that eventually died out?

This is one of the enduring questions in human evolution as scientists explore the relationship of fossil groups, such as Neanderthals, with people alive today. Two recent papers describing the sequencing of Neanderthal nuclear DNA from fossil bone held promise for finally answering this question [1, 2].

However, the two studies came to very different conclusions regarding the ancestral role of Neanderthals. Jeffrey D. Wall and Sung K. Kim from University of California San Francisco now reveal in PLoS Genetics what they found when they reanalyzed the data from the two original studies.

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Ancient Necropolis Earthed in Busy District in Bulgaria's Coastal Varna

Builders, working on a construction site near the market place of the Bulgarian coastal town of Varna, earthed a second century necropolis containing two sarcophagi.

The graveyard was discovered in a region known as the Odessos necropolis and contained the skeletons of a 30-year-old woman and a man, who are believed to have been a poor family.

An ancient coin was found, which is believed to have been put under the tongue of the dead man. He was to give the coin to ferryman Charon to transport his souls across the river Styx into the underworld.

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Think Archaeology

Archaeology, ancient art and ancient history

Think Archaeology is a part of ThinkWords.net, a new web project born to collect news and intesting rumors and tips from all over the world wide web.

You can find Think Archaeology here, or go to the link under "Archaeological Weblogs" in the sidebar.

Archaeological website launch

A NEW website will be created to promote archaeological objects in the region - thanks to a £40,000 cash injection.

Under the Recognition Scheme funded by the Scottish Government and managed by the Scottish Museums Council, important collections are protected and promoted to a wider audience.

And Dumfries and Galloway museum service’s archaeology collection is one of five museums and galleries in Scotland to land a financial boost.

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Historians want end to heritage grant cuts

Some of Britain's best-known historians are joining the chairman of English Heritage in imploring the government to reverse a decade of cuts in heritage funding which they claim have lost the sector more than £100m.

The fact that heritage was not even mentioned in this week's spending review has left them fearing the worst. The culture secretary, James Purnell, will tell the Arts Council this morning how much it is getting, but English Heritage will not learn its fate until next week.

After a decade of standstill funding or actual cuts, some of its grants schemes are now surviving only with lottery or charity help.

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Knights Templar win heresy reprieve after 700 years

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Knights Templar, the medieval Christian military order accused of heresy and sexual misconduct, will soon be partly rehabilitated when the Vatican publishes trial documents it had closely guarded for 700 years.

A reproduction of the minutes of trials against the Templars, "'Processus Contra Templarios -- Papal Inquiry into the Trial of the Templars"' is a massive work and much more than a book -- with a 5,900 euros ($8,333) price tag.

"This is a milestone because it is the first time that these documents are being released by the Vatican, which gives a stamp of authority to the entire project," said Professor Barbara Frale, a medievalist at the Vatican's Secret Archives.

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BBC4 to unearth Silbury Hill's history

Coast presenter Neil Oliver will explore the interior of the largest man-made mound in Europe in a one-off documentary for BBC4.

In Lion Television's Silbury Hill, the archaeologist will team up with social anthropologist and Castaway presenter Mary-Ann Ochota in his attempt to find out why Silbury Hill was built and to uncover the story of the people who helped build it.

English Heritage granted Lion access to the Wiltshire mound and the work of its archaeologists and engineers for the 60-minute doc.

Silbury Hill was commissioned by BBC specialist factual commissioner Martin Davidson. George Williams directed and produced the doc for Lion, with Chris Corden as co-producer and Bill Locke as executive producer.

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Priory yields medieval security secrets

They lay hidden from view for hundreds of years, guarding silently the secrets of a tumultuous history.

But when archaeologists working on a £900,000 conservation project at Binham Priory, in north Norfolk, uncovered two medieval windows dating back to the 13th century, they knew the discovery would provide a rare glimpse into the site's past.

Historians are now working to find out whether or not the two windows at the site's gatehouse were part of a room possibly inhabited by a monk who would have kept a watchful eye on all people, animals and carts entering or leaving the monastery.

The two dressed stone windows had been blocked out when previous owners built a reinforced concrete pen to house a bull on the existing mediaeval building, bricking in the ancient walls.

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Mary Rose 'at risk of being lost'

The Mary Rose is a national treasure which could soon be lost.

That is the stark warning from the team that helped to raise the Tudor warship from the Solent 25 years ago.

The Mary Rose Trust needs £35m to complete conservation work and to house the vessel in a new, permanent museum - but it can only raise £14m by itself.

Admiral John Lippiett, chief executive of the trust, said the ship's fate is now once again in the hands of the Heritage Lottery Fund, which is considering an application for the remaining £21m.

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Dry run for transfer of antiquities to new Acropolis Museum completed

A dry run for the transfer of artifacts and antiquities from a small outdated museum atop the Acropolis to the new ultra-modern Acropolis Museum on Makrygianni street, some 400 metres away and off the Acropolis' south side, was successfully completed at the site on Thursday in optimum weather conditions, ahead of the actual transfer operation on Sunday.

Three large industrial cranes set up on the renowned archaeological site -- one within the remains of the classical-era theatre of Dionysus and one adjacent to the Acropolis Museum -- successfully manoeuvred a container carrying a 2.5-ton block of marble from atop the Acropolis hill to the new glass-&-steel facility.

The first stage of the transfer will take place on Sunday, during which the three cranes will carry out an aerial transfer of a section of the western frieze of the Parthenon Temple -- one of the heaviest exhibits to be transported -- from the old museum to the top floor of the new museum, which has been named the Parthenon Hall.

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Video: Greek Sculptures to "Hover" to Museum

Athens's cutting edge new Acropolis Museum will begin receiving 4,000 ancient works next week, many of them arriving by crane from the old museum.

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Archaeologists in Portugal net haul of Roman coins

LISBON, Portugal (AP) - Archeologists in Portugal have found more than 4,500 Roman coins bundled together inside the wall of a blacksmith's house dating from the fourth century.

Antonio Sa Coixao, who is leading excavations in Coriscada in northeastern Portugal, said Wednesday by telephone the 4,526 copper and bronze coins were inside a hollow walland covered by dirt and tools. The coins had apparently been put in a sack which had mostly disintegrated, he said.
«It looks like someone was trying to hide them, but they never went back to get them,» Sa Coixao said.

Archeologists excavating the site, which is believed to be a Roman village, came across the coins Friday, he said.

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Catapults Invented Before Theory Explained Them

Ancient Greek craftsmen didn't need fancy math to cobble together the first catapult, a new study of ancient texts suggests. Archimedes' laws and theories just helped make the weapon better.

The first catapult in Europe flung into action around the fourth century B.C., prior to the invention of mathematical models that revolutionized ancient technologies, said Mark Schiefsky, a Harvard University classics professor who led the study.

"It seems that the early stages of catapult development did not involve any mathematical theory at all," Schiefsky said. "We are talking about so-called torsion artillery, basically an extension of the simple bow by means of animal sinews into something like the crossbow."

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Human Ancestors Walked Upright, Study Claims

The ancestors of humanity are often depicted as knuckle-draggers, making humans seem unusual in our family tree as "upright apes."

Controversial research now suggests the ancestors of humans and the other great apes might have actually walked upright too, making knuckle-walking chimpanzees and gorillas the exceptions and not the rule.

In other words, "the other great apes we see now, such as chimps or gorillas or orangutans, might have descended from human-like ancestors," researcher Aaron Filler, a Harvard-trained evolutionary biologist and medical director at Cedars-Sinai Institute for Spinal Disorders in Los Angeles, told LiveScience.

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