http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article1222308.ece

Neanderthals were much more advanced than has been thought, according to a new examination of finds from a famous cave site that indicates that the creatures designed and made their own jewellery.

It had been assumed ornaments found with their bones were "borrowed" from ancestors of modern humans, or copied. This is now believed to have been a mistake.

Neanderthals lived in Europe long before the early modern humans, Homo sapiens, 40,000 years ago. The two sub-species existed side-by-side for about 10,000 years, after which the Neanderthals vanished.

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Dig unearths round table evidence at Windsor Castle

Evidence of a building linked to the myth of King Arthur and the knights of the round table has been found at Windsor Castle.

The circular structure was built by Edward III in the 14th century to house the round table intended to seat the original 300 Knights of the Garter. Archaeological proof of the building was uncovered by members of Channel 4's Time Team in the castle's quadrangle.

Although the stones have been removed, rubble in-fill where they were originally located remained in place. The show's presenter, Tony Robinson, said the discovery could help settle years of debate among historians over the existence of the building. "The round table building is one of our most significant ever archaeological finds. It is something that helped to establish Arthurian legends of the knights of the round table.

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Rare Saxon belt goes on display

A rare Anglo-Saxon belt buckle found by a treasure hunter with a metal detector is going on public display for the first time.

The copper alloy buckle dates from between AD600 and AD720 and is only the second one of its type found in England.

It was unearthed recently on the outskirts of London by Bill Robson, who handed it to the Museum of London.

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There is a little Neanderthal in a lot of us

People who have large noses, a stocky build and a beetle brow may indeed be a little Neanderthal, according to a genetic study. But the good news is that other research concludes that Neanderthals were much more like us than previously thought.

People of European descent may be five per cent Neanderthal, according to a study published in the journal PLoS Genetics, which suggests we all have a sprinkling of archaic DNA in our genes.

"Instead of a population that left Africa 100,000 years ago and replaced all other archaic human groups, we propose that this population interacted with another population that had been in Europe for much longer, maybe 400,000 years," says Dr Vincent Plagnol, of the University of Southern California, who with Dr Jeffrey Wall analysed 135 different regions of the human genetic code.

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Augustus' tomb to get rehab

Roman officials hope that the mausoleum of Augustus, founder of the Roman empire, can be restored to its ancient glory.

The tomb was stripped of much of its travertine marble in the middle ages and surrounded by an ugly piazza under Mussolini. The city is holding an international competition for plans to renovate the mausoleum and its surroundings, the Italian news agency Ansa reported.

Archaeologists say the work will also give them a chance to explore the site.

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Chester's Roman plans lie in ruins after lottery blow

AMBITIOUS plans for a new visitor centre at Chester's famous Roman amphitheatre have suffered a serious blow after failing to gain support from funders.

Chester City Council has been told by the Big Lottery Fund it will not pay for a feasibility study to build the centre after the demolition of part of a Grade II listed building in the city centre.

Cllr Ann Farrell, Chester's cabinet member for culture, said the Roman heritage was a key part of the city's appeal to tourists and last year the amphitheatre was the second most visited site in Chester after the cathedral.

She pledged the plans would not be dropped despite the set-back, and they would seek other sources of funding.

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Archaeological Study Tour to Provence - June 2007

Friday, 1 to Saturday, 9 June 2007

An Archaeological Study Tour to the Luberon area of Provence.

Leaving from London Embankment

Full details can be found here...

Castle visitors to relive life of Medieval soldiers

VISITORS to Craigmillar Castle can experience life as a soldier in the Middle Ages this weekend.

An archery display and an exhibition of 15th century weaponry will take place on Sunday.

Nick Finnigan, Historic Scotland events manager, said: "It's a chance to discover the difference between a crossbow and a warbow, a sword and a great sword.

"And visitors will be able to find out what life was like for real Scottish medieval soldiers."

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Treasure found!

A FATHER and son metal detecting in a Clitheroe farm field unearthed 28 medieval coins.

And an inquest ruled the coins are officially treasure and Ron Blair and his son, James, must now wait for an offer of "reward" from the British Museum.

"We have no idea how much it will be, but we are not expecting a fortune," said Ron (60), of Windermere Avenue, Clitheroe. "When we were given permission to search the land we agreed to split anything we found of value 50/50 with the landowner and that is what we will be doing."

Ronald and his son, James (37), of Nelson Street, Clitheroe, initially started finding coins on the ploughed land near Clitheroe on March 18th. They found more coins the following day and returned a week later to complete the search.

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DIGGING DEEP TO BRING BENTLEY HISTORY TO LIFE

An archaeological dig at a site which played a major role in two episodes in British history has been awarded new funding of almost £25,000.

Bentley Hall Cairn provided shelter for King Charles II when he fled from Cromwell's troops after the Battle of Worcester in 1651. And in 1743, it was the scene of a riot by a mob demanding the prosecution of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, after he preached there.

A geophysical survey - funded by the Darlaston Local Neighbourhood Partnership and the Bentley Cairn Restoration Group has already been carried out.

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A pivotal foreign institution

A double anniversary for the establishment known as the American School of Classical Studies

Excavators with drive. The American School of Classical Studies began excavations at the Ancient Agora in Athens in 1931. This is a photo of the west side of the Agora at the start of excavations. It is taken from the north toward the hill of Kolonos Agoraios and the Hephaesteion.

When the American School of Classical Studies at Athens (ASCSA) was founded 125 years ago, it had only seven members and 12 collaborating universities and its location was a small building on Amalias Street. Today, the school accepts the most distinguished students in archaeology and classical studies from its 168 affiliated universities in North America and is a vital part of cultural life in Greece, both through the important excavations that it conducts on ancient sites, its specialized publications and the Gennadius Library.

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Russian museum plunderers arrested

Russian police have arrested two men and charged them with stealing $100 million in artifacts from St. Petersburg's Hermitage Museum.

Information from a Moscow art dealer reportedly led to the arrest of the two suspects, one the husband of the museum's late curator, and the other her son, a correspondent for London's Independent newspaper reported.

Former curator Larisa Zavadskaya died of a heart attack in October last year, when the Hermitage began the inventory that led to the discovery the museum had been robbed of 221 items over six years.

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Tag der offenen Grabung am Sempachersee, Kanton Luzern

Das Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität Bern führt in Zusammenarbeit mit der Kantonsarchäologie Luzern bis Mitte August eine Notbergung auf der Halbinsel Zellmoos in Sursee durch, da die spätbronzezeitlichen Schichten auf der Mariazell-Halbinsel akut von der Austrocknung bedroht sind. Neben hoch interessanten Funden aus dem Alltag der "Pfahlbauer" kam ein sehr seltener Befund einer spätbronzezeitlichen Bodenkonstruktion zum Vorschein.

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York Minster: now available on eBay and in suburban gardens

TO THE dismay of conservationists, York Minster is helping to fund the restoration of its East Front by selling off original medieval stonework from the West Front.
Fashioned with religious devotion by master masons in the 14th century, carved stones that once formed an integral part of the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe have found themselves reposing as ornaments in suburban gardens after a sale last week that raised a disappointing £12,000 towards a £23 million refurbishment project.

Other buyers have disclosed that they intend to cut the ancient stones into small pieces and sell them as souvenirs of Old England on the internet, in the hope of lively interest from American buyers.

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Traces of war god Ares found in city of mother goddess, Metropolis

Excavations conducted in the ancient city indicate that Metropolis is the second settlement in Anatolia believed to have housed a temple of Ares -- the Olympian god of war and son of Zeus in Greek mythology

Excavations since 1989 to unearth the ancient city of Metropolis, located in İzmir's Torbalı district, have uncovered archaeologically significant structures and artifacts.

Metropolis -- dating back to 725 B.C. -- gets its name from the temple of mother goddess Meter Gallesia found in the area and thus means "the city of the mother goddess�.

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Hinter die Schnittkante sehen - Tag der offenen Grabung in Isingerode

Am Sonntag, den 13.8. 2006 sind alle Archäologiebegeisterten eingeladen die Grabungen am der spätbronze- /früheisenzeitlichen Wallanlage bei Isingerode, Kreis Wolfenbüttel zu besuchen. Seit Juni diesen Jahres werden die Ausgrabungen von Mitgliedern des Vereins "Freunde der Archäologie im Braunschweiger Land" (FABL) unter der Leitung von Wolf-Dieter Steinmetz, Kustos des Braunschweiger Landesmuseums durchgeführt.

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Ancient structures in Hasankeyf will collapse if moved, archaeologist warns

The construction of Ilısu Dam continues, and so do the warnings from scholars that plans to relocate the ancient city of Hasankeyf -- to be submerged under the dam's waters -- would cause it to be lost forever.

Professor Abdulselam Uluçam, head of excavations at Hasankeyf, said on Sunday that the ancient structures in the town cannot be relocated because they would immediately crumble.

“As a scientist, I say that the artifacts in Batman's Hasankeyf district cannot be relocated. If you try to move those artifacts without reinforcing them, they will collapse. A committee will decide on the issue in the coming days,” said Uluçam in his evaluation of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's speech over the weekend, in which he stated that the ancient city would be moved.

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Another Ancient Tomb Discovered in Egypt?

Just months after archaeologists gleefully clamored over the first tomb to be found in Egypt's Valley of the Kings since 1922, there may be another.

Located just meters from the last tomb — KV-63 excavated earlier this year — Nicholas Reeves of the Amarna Royal Tombs Project, working under the Valley of the Kings Foundation, claims the group has detected what he believes will turn out to be another tomb, and possibly a royal one at that.

"This new discovery is important on several levels," he said in an e-mail. "First of all, for what it might turn out to be — perhaps the burial place of Akhenaten's missing women and not impossibly Nefertiti herself, the most beautiful woman of the ancient world.

"Second, for what, in strategic terms, it might do for archaeology in the Valley of the Kings — by its staggering potential to pull Egyptologists up short and ensure that work in the Valley slows down, focuses itself, prepares adequately and doesn't miss a trick either within or outside the tombs when the digging begins."

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Experts search for Ice Age man in excavation at cave beauty spot

EXPERTS are searching a northern beauty spot for clues about Ice Age artists who etched pictures of animals on to cave walls some 13,000 years ago.

The engravings of animals were found at Church Hole cave, Creswell Crags, at Welbeck near Worksop three years ago and are evidence the limestone gorge near Worksop is one of the most northerly areas explored by man in the Ice Age.

Yesterday a team from the University of Sheffield and the British Museum started digging outside the cave in the hope that over the next two weeks they will unearth more major findings at the site.

It is the first major excavation at the site since the 1920s.

Dr Paul Pettit from Sheffield University's Department of Archaeology, who is leading the dig, said: "This is a fantastic opportunity to work at such and important site. We know that Church Hole was excavated very rapidly by the Victorians in the 1870s and very little is known about the animals and people who inhabited this cave during the Ice Age.

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Drought unearths treasure trove of ancient monuments

THE summer drought has unearthed a treasure trove of finds for historians taking a birds eye view of Wales.

Heatwave conditions, which have parched the Welsh countryside, proved ideal for aerial archaeologists.

Last night they were described as the best for at least adecade with a host of buried sites revealed from the air.

The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales made major discoveries using light aircraft to survey the Welsh landscape.

"It has been absolutely astounding. Discoveries have been made across Wales visible both as cropmarks in ripening crops and scorched grassland," said a spokesman.

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