Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Google launch the Scholar search, Megalithic Portal links in
Google announces: We have just launched the beta version of Google Scholar. This is a free service that helps users search scholarly literature such as peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, preprints, abstracts and technical reports. Just as with Google Web Search, Google Scholar orders your search results by how relevant they are to your query, so the most useful references should appear at the top of the page.
Megalithic Portal
(You can find Google Scholar here and an entry has been added to the Archaeology in Europe Weblog sidebar)
PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES : FIELD WALKING IN WALES
This is the fifth in a series of seven features we are writing in the run up to the forthcoming PAS Roadshows.
When it comes to archaeological finds reported through the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS), Wales has proved to be something of a goldmine.
A series of high profile finds in the north of the country include gold hoards that are allowing archaeologists to pinpoint some interesting new patterns about the late Bronze Age period.
In common with many areas administered by the PAS, the majority of these finds come through a good relationship and frequent contact with the metal detecting community, but in Wales there are also some other major sources.
24 Hour Museum News
Mary Rose meets older sister
THE Mary Rose may be almost 500 years old – but she's a newcomer compared to the latest arrival at Portsmouth's historic dockyard.
Experts from the Mary Rose Trust who preserve King Henry VIII's favourite warship are jubilant after being asked to preserve the remains of a 2,500-year-old Greek trading vessel raised from the deep.
About 700 sodden timbers were transported halfway across Europe last week from a wreck site off Sicily to the trust's conservation facilities.
Portsmouth Today
HELPING TO CAPTURE ISLAND HERITAGE
The three-hour workshops will be held thanks to a grant obtained by the Julia Margaret Cameron Trust from from the Local Heritage Initiative Fund.
The idea is to enable residents to become more aware of the heritage surrounding them, whether it be buildings, wildlife or the landscape.
The workshops will be aimed at all sections of the community who will be able to get help and advice to produce images which can be entered into an exhibition at the museum.
Isle of Wight County Press
Newgrange and Dowth under threat?
A proposal to build an incinerator in Cork Harbour to handle toxic waste has raised fears about its effect on the UNESCO designated World Heritage Site which includes the passage tombs of Newgrange and Dowth.
Megalithic Portal
Monday, November 22, 2004
Stonehenge's past brought to light
Pictures dating back 150 years show how site has developed
The sign advises the solitary car pootling down the deserted road, past the reassuring AA phone box, to "fork left for Exeter" - unless the driver decides to fork right onto the infant A344, park on the grass verge, and pop in for a quick wander among the towering columns of Stonehenge, or for a nice cup of tea and a Bath bun in the newly built Stonehenge Cafe.
The photograph, one of hundreds excavated for a new book by archaeologist Julian Richards, from the National Monuments Archive in Swindon and other public and private archives, dates from around 1930. The car is passing the exact spot of the current furore over what to do about the world's most famous prehistoric site.
Guardian
The ancients: now available in colour
For hundreds of years, Caligula's handsome, marble face has stared out at a fascinated world. Now situated at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen, the celebrated first-century bust of this cruel young Roman emperor is made repellent, yet intriguing, not so much by his petulantly downturned mouth as by the blank, staring eyes chiselled from marble by an unknown sculptor.
It comes as a shock to be confronted with an exact replica with unthreatening hazel eyes. Add garish pink skin and glossy brown hair, and the new painted version of Caligula's bust looks as if it might once have been used to model hats in thewindow of a men's outfitters. Yet, according to the curators of a new exhibition at the Vatican museums, this is a lot closer to what the sculptor intended we see than the white marble to which we are accustomed.
Guardian
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Trading with the enemy: Tudor ship provides clues to Anglo-Spanish ties
Marine archaeologists have found in the mudflats of the Thames estuary the remains of an Elizabethan merchant ship which may have been carrying out a secret trading mission.
The 100ft-long vessel, one of the few Tudor merchant vessels ever found around Britain's coast, is of immense archaeological and historical importance. The ship was built of East Anglian oak at an east coast ship-building centre, probably Ipswich or Aldeburgh, around 1575 and its cargo and armaments suggest it may have been illegally trading with England's arch enemy, Spain.
Independent
REMAINS OF FOOD SHED LIGHT ON ANCIENT WAYS
Exotic spices unearthed beneath the Bath Spa show military administrators lived in the lap of luxury in the city's early days. Food and architectural remains found preserved beneath the remains of Roman buildings provide new evidence of the high living enjoyed by the military rulers of what was then Aquae Sulis in the first century AD.
The remains were discovered in 1999, but have only just finished being analysed.
This is Bath
New English Heritage Director for SW appointed
A new director has been appointed by English Heritage to take responsibility for championing historical sites and buildings in the South West. Dr Robert Bewley has worked for the government body for the last 20 years.
In his new role he will take charge of English Heritage initiatives in the region - including regeneration of city centres and work on archaeological sites.
Megalithic Portal
'Menhir Alleys' found in Russia
Last September, Alexander Ludov, a student of local lore, made a strange discovery not far from a burial mound on the basin of the Aksai river (Russia). He spotted several gigantic stones in the middle of a steppe. The construction consists of vertically erected massive rocks: long 'Menhir alleys' made of stone stretch from East to West. According to results of a geological expedition, the site dates back to approximately 9,000 BCE. Thus, these megaliths could be much older than the other European megaliths.
"These rocks do not contain traces of limestone or any other kinds of rocks that are commonly found in our steppes. These rocks are made of quartz," said Alexander Ludov. "Today, we can only guess about the initial forms of the megaliths. For centuries, people have been looting the archaeological site. However, the damages had not been too drastic. This is the first discovery of megaliths in the European part of Russia; similar stone monuments have been previously discovered only in Caucasus and Siberia." added Ludow.
Stone >Pages
Saturday, November 20, 2004
PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES YORKSHIRE: COMMUNITY ARCHAEOLOGY
Simon Holmes, Finds Liaison Officer for North and East Yorkshire is something of a champion of community archaeology. But this wasn’t always the case.
Having worked as an archaeologist for the past fourteen years he admits that, when it came to metal detecting and its role in deciphering the past, he was definitely of the ‘old school’.
Now, the intervening years of experience and the last three years administering the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) have forced him to have not just a re-think, but a complete volte-face. “Metal detectorists are re-writing history,” he says without a hint of doubt or irony.
24 Hours Museum News
Archaeologist receives top honour
A retired Cambridge archaeologist has been given a top award for his work.
The pioneer of radiocarbon dating which estimates the ages of settlements, Prof Colin A Renfrew, received the Balzan Prize for prehistoric archaeology.
BBC News
Friday, November 19, 2004
Another Stonehenge Found in Russia?
Russian archaeologists have announced that they have found the remains of a 4,000-year-old structure that they compare to England's Stonehenge, according to recent reports issued by Pravda and Novosti, two Russian news services.
If the comparison holds true, the finding suggests that both ancient European and Russian populations held similar pagan beliefs that wove celestial cycles with human and animal life.
Discovery Channel
Ancient Animal Could Be Human-Ape Ancestor
A nearly 13 million-year-old ape discovered in Spain is the last probable common ancestor to all living humans and great apes, a research team says in Friday's issue of Science magazine.
A husband-and-wife team of fossil sleuths unearthed an animal with a body like an ape, fingers like a chimp and the upright posture of humans. The ancient ape bridges the gap between earlier, primitive animals and later, modern creatures.
This newest ape species, Pierolapithecus catalaunicus, is so significant that it adds a new page to ancient human history.
Yahoo News
Historic ship remains recovered
Parts of a medieval ship thought to have lain under the Thames Estuary for the past 500 years have been recovered near Gravesend.
The remains, thought to have been part of an armed merchant vessel, were found during dredging of the estuary.
The Port of London Authority recovered the bow section of the ship relatively intact - virtually unheard of for a ship of this age.
BBC News
Medieval harvests reveal climate change
Leave it to the French to measure global climate change through the archives of 600 years of harvesting the pinot noir grape in Burgundy.
A group of French climatologists and ecologists has pored over records squirrelled away in parish papers and obscure municipal files to find which day the fabled grapes were picked in each year stretching back to 1370.
Globe and Mail
Tall Bronze Age skeletons found in Bulgaria
Archaeologists working near the village of Moguila in the district of Yambol, Bulgaria, have uncovered 3,000 year-old skeletons.
The skeletons were around 2 metres in length, unusually tall compared to other Early Bronze Age remains found in the area. They were found curled up in an embryonic position, which was believed to immortalise the soul.
These people arrived in the region having moved from the Black Sea steppe, mixing with locals to produce the Thracian race. The Thracian heritage of Bulgaria has been highlighted this year by a number of important discoveries in the so-called "Valley of the Thracian Kings", including the unearthing of Europe's oldest skeleton last week.
Stone Pages
Iron Age Cornish hill fort for sale
A hill fort in Cornwall, south-west England, will go on sale next month. Lescudjack Hill Fort, the area's largest Iron Age settlement, is to be auctioned by Fulfords Estate Agents in Penzance on 2 December. The guide price of £28,000 includes a 2.5 acre area of land off Pendennis Road, Penzance, with stunning views over Penzance to Mount's Bay and the Mousehole Peninsula.
Historians and schools have raised concerns about the sale. Local author and historian Ian Addicoat said: "Clearly it is imperative that such an historic and important site is maintained and preserved correctly. I think if there were any plans to develop such an important site there would be an outcry, and I would be very surprised if the planners would allow it. I hope whoever takes it on appreciates its history and considers allowing it to be used as an amenity. I'm not sure the public is aware of its significance. They probably think it's a field with a nice view. But historians are certainly aware of what it represents."
Stone Pages
PORTABLE ANTIQUITIES DEVON: THE METAL MUSHROOM MYSTERY
What kinds of objects land on the desk of a Finds Liaison Officer? If Nicky Powell, the FLO for Devon is anything to go by, the answer is everything from Roman brooches, coins and musket balls to…mushrooms and slugs.
“Looking at my desk now gives you an idea of the breadth of finds that are coming in,” she tells me. “There’s a selection of Roman pottery, medieval items and post-medieval clay pipes. There's a Tudor silver gilt dress pin, which is only the fourth such item found in Devon and we also have a weird thing that looks like an armoured slug.”
24 Hour Museum News
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