Historical data is unearthed in city

STRONG evidence has emerged that one of the city’s earliest Christian settlements was located in the northside district of Kileely.

Two reports submitted by Lynch Archaeological Consultancy and Noel Quirke of Limerick Civic Trust’s history department, indicate that a Round Tower and church stood in the vicinity of St Lelia’s Cemetery in Kileely. They have been lodged with the Public Works.

Cllr Michael Hourigan was instrumental in securing the involvement of the Civic Trust, responding to the local people’s desire to have what is believed to be the city’s oldest cemetery restored.

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How turtles got their shells... and other evolutionary mysteries solved

The fossilised remains of an ancient reptile that lived 220 million years ago may have solved the puzzle of how the turtle got its shell and, in the process, cleared up one of the most enduring mysteries of animal evolution.

It is the oldest known turtle-like fossil and its shell appears to be only half-formed, covering its belly but leaving its back unprotected. Scientists believe it shows the evolutionary transition from the shell-less state of the earliest turtle ancestor to the fully formed shell of all living turtles.

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Medieval library site to be dug

Archaeologists are to examine a site near a medieval Herefordshire building before a new library is built.

The dig will take place near the Master's House in Ledbury before it is extended to house a new library.

Herefordshire Council said a viewing platform will be put up so people can observe the work taking place during the three-week dig from 5 January.

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Thracian funeral mould found near Pravets

An archaeological discovery of a great importance has been during an anti-treasure hunting action.

During an inspection damages on the mould have been noticed and that provoked a further investigation of the site.

At the level of the antique terrain a funeral ritual had been performed.

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Climate change wiped out cave bears 13 millennia earlier than thought

Enormous cave bears, Ursus spelaeus, that once inhabited a large swathe of Europe, from Spain to the Urals, died out 27,800 years ago, around 13 millennia earlier than was previously believed, scientists have reported.

The new date coincides with a period of significant climate change, known as the Last Glacial Maximum, when a marked cooling in temperature resulted in the reduction or loss of vegetation forming the main component of the cave bears' diet.

In a study published in Boreas, researchers suggest it was this deterioration in food supply that led to the extinction of the cave bear, one of a group of 'megafauna' – including woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, giant deer and cave lion – to disappear during the last Ice Age.

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Scythian village and cemetery unearthed in Northeast Hungary

Workers at a business park construction project near the northeast Hungarian town of Nagykálló have unearthed a series of graves and the remains of a Scythian village that enjoyed prosperity in the time of the Roman Empire, reports historical portal mult-kor.hu.

The contents of the graves are expected to be particularly rich as the custom of the time dictated that knives, broaches, and bronze figures, as well as dishes and ceramics containing food be buried with the dead to ease their passage in the afterlife.

A gold hair-band and a silver mirror have already been recovered from the site.

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Return of the Neanderthals

If we can resurrect them through fossil DNA, should we?

Here's the next question in the evolution debate: We know roughly how the sequence of life ran forward in time. What about running it backward? How would you feel about rewinding human evolution to a species that's almost like us, but not quite?

Last week in Nature, scientists reported major progress in sequencing the genome of woolly mammoths. They reconstructed it from two fossilized hair samples. One was 20,000 years old; the other was 65,000 years old. Now, according to Nicholas Wade of the New York Times, biologists are discussing "how to modify the DNA in an elephant's egg so that after each round of changes it would progressively resemble the DNA in a mammoth egg. The final-stage egg could then be brought to term in an elephant mother."

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VIDEO: Roman "Jewel" Promoted

November 25, 2008—Archaeologists are touting a "jewel" of the Roman Empire: the city of Viminacium in modern-day Serbia.

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Photos reveal Hadrian's history

Archaeologists have uncovered 2,700 previously unrecorded historic features along the length of Hadrian's Wall by studying thousands of aerial pictures.

The English Heritage experts found ancient burial mounds, medieval sheep farms and 19th Century lead mines.

They were working from more than 30,500 pictures taken during the past 60 years as part of a push to map and interpret archaeological sites across England.

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Grant helps archaeologists dig into archives

Funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation will support a project at the University of York to find exciting new ways of making academic research material available online.

The New York-based Foundation has awarded $250,000 to the study led by Professor Julian D Richards, Head of the Department of Archaeology and Co-Director of the online journal, Internet Archaeology.

Professor Richards is examining ways of using the benefits of online publication to allow researchers to link their work to related databases, video, audio and other information in a way that traditional paper-based formats do not allow.

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BRITISH ARCHAEOLOGICAL AWARDS 2008

The biennial British Archaeological Awards are the most prestigious awards in British archaeology. Since their foundation in 1976, they have grown till they now encompass 10 awards covering every aspect of British archaeology.

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60th Birth Anniversary Ian Hodder and more

New websites at International institute of Anthropology:

60th Birth Anniversary Ian Hodder
http://www.iianthropology.org/ianhodder60thbirthanniversary2008.html

On the changing face of the 21st century Anthropology:
http://www.iianthropology.org/anth21stcentury.html

Archaeologists as people: Douglass Bailey:
http://www.iianthropology.org/douglassbailey.html

Chariot that travelled to the afterlife

Sofia Archaeologists are working on a Thracian bronze chariot, which they unearthed near the village of Karanovo in southeastern Bulgaria. More than 10,000 Thracian burial mounds are scattered across central and southeastern Bulgaria, which is considered to have been the home of the ancient society that lived in the region between 4000BC and AD300.

Digging in the mound near Karanovo was begun because local authorities feared looting. The chariot had probably been buried in the tomb of a rich man in line with the Thracian belief that belongings accompanied the dead into the afterlife, archaeologists said. “It is an ancient four-wheel chariot with a richly ornamented framework and a yoke of figured bronze,” Veselin Ignatov told national radio.

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Delving into the past in Roscommon

A FEW WEEKS ago archeologists digging at the site of a medieval castle in Co Roscommon found a treasure trove of Iron Age pottery and flint tools that are at least 3,000 years old. Not what you expect when you are investigating the foundations of a 16th-century building - but not that surprising given that the site is a stone's throw from Rathcroghan, reputed to be the burial ground and inauguration site of the ancient kings of Connacht.

At first glance Cruachan Aí Heritage Centre, in Tulsk village, looks no more than an inviting coffee shop on the banks of the picturesque Ogulla river, near a busy crossroads about 18km from Roscommon town.

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Dig unearths fragments of the past

POTTERY fragments which could date back centuries have been discovered in Peterborough's historic Cathedral Square.

An archaeological dig is being carried out in areas of the square prior to the installation of a series of water features.

The project is being led by Opportunity Peterborough and should be completed by the end of today.

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Metal detector enthusiast discovers treasure

FRAGMENTS of a medieval brooch and 16 Roman coins discovered by a metal detector enthusiast from Thakeham have been declared to be treasure at inquests.

Anthony Gill, who has been "detectoring" for more than 30 years, discovered two pieces of the silver brooch buried at farmland in Steyning in April and the 16 copper alloy coins on downland in Storrington in June.

And at two inquests at Worthing Town Hall on Tuesday (November 18), West Sussex Coroner Penelope Schofield gave the verdict both finds were treasure.

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Clues to why modern humans migrated...

In a cave 70 000 years ago, something strange was beginning to happen.

The occupants, who once lived in the cave, were behaving differently from their forefathers.

They were producing some of the first examples of jewellery and developing new technologies that were to give them an edge in years to come.

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Die Paläste des Kaisers

Neueste Erkenntnisse über die Kaiserpaläste auf dem Palatin in Rom stehen im Mittelpunkt eines Kolloquiums, das das Institut für Klassische Archäologie der Universität Würzburg veranstaltet. Nachwuchswissenschaftler aus Deutschland und Frankreich werden dort die Ergebnisse ihrer Arbeiten vorstellen.

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Der älteste Schuh in Herne

Ausstellung zeigt Anfänge der Schuhe

Wann der Mensch den ersten Schuh erfand und wie er ihn in Jahrtausenden bis zum heutigen Designerschuh weiterentwickelte, erzählt die internationale Ausstellung "Schuhtick - Von kalten Füßen und heißen Sohlen". Der Landschaftsverband Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) präsentiert die Schau über die Kulturgeschichte des Schuhs mit über 400 Exponaten vom 6. Dezember 2008 bis 5. Juli 2009 im LWL-Museum für Archäologie in Herne. Anschließend geht die Ausstellung nach Bremen und Mannheim.

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Massive Prehistoric Fort Emerges From Welsh Woods

Cloaked by time's leafy shroud, the prehistoric settlement of Gaer Fawr lies all but invisible beneath a forest in the lush Welsh countryside.

Commanded by warrior chiefs who loomed over the everyday lives of their people, the massive Iron Age fortress once dominated the landscape.

Now the 2,900-year-old structure lives again, thanks to a digital recreation following a painstaking survey by the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

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