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6,000-year-old intact tomb found in France

A French-English team of archaologists have discovered a 6,000-year-old tomb in France. Human bones and ceramic pottery were found inside the tomb. The discovery may help better understanding of Neolithic social structures, according to the French Research Council bulletin.

The tomb was found at the Prissé la Charriere site, where excavations have been carried out since 1992. The newly-discovered tomb is the first one to have been unearthed completely intact.

Six human skeletons (two men, a woman and three children) were found inside the tomb, placed one on top of the other. The researchers also identified two ceramic pots (one of them could date back to 4,300 BCE), a spear and a jewel.

Stonepages

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Roman goddess of love found in German canal

Cologne - Construction workers in the western German city of Cologne have discovered a priceless Roman-era Venus statue, the director of the city's Roman-Germanic Museum said on Monday.

The 1 600-year-old find, unearthed at a depth of five metres during digging for a canal shaft, was "extremely rare for the entire Roman period in Germany", said Professor Hansgerd Hellenkemper.

IOL Discovery

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Hi-tech bid to find ancient treasures

There is something missing from the ornate church in one of Norfolk's most picture-perfect villages.

Twelve stone apostles and one stone Jesus Christ were stripped from it during Henry VIII's Reformation, so folklore goes, before being thrown into the nearby harbour in a bout of religious fervour.

Now the residents of Cley, in North Norfolk, want them back. But instead of relying on divine inspiration, the very traditional village is turning towards rather hi-tech methods to sniff them out.

EDP 24

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Internationaler Verbund der Neandertaler - Forschung

Ein neues EU-Projekt soll erstmalig die internationalen Forschungen über den Neandertaler zusammenführen und im weltweit bisher größten Forschungsverbund zu diesem Thema die Herkunft und Entwicklung des modernen Menschen klären. Durch den Einsatz moderner Medientechnologien wird die größte digitale Sammlung von Neandertalerfunden entstehen.

Archäologie

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'SPECTACULAR' NEW BRIDGE FINDS REVEAL MORE ABOUT ROMAN NORTH EAST

Excavations at Corbridge in Northumberland have unearthed spectacular discoveries that offer fresh insight into what is thought to have been the largest stone bridge in Roman Britain.

Steadily being eroded by the River Tyne, the remains of the bridge were in urgent need of preservation when Tyne and Wear Museums, backed by English Heritage and a £303,500 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, began work earlier this year.

Over the summer, archaeologists, joined by volunteers from the local area and all over the country, unearthed the full length of the bridge’s retaining wall and some of its elaborate decoration.

Experts now believe they have enough information about the bridge to piece together a picture of what an awesome sight it once was.

24 Hour Museum News

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Ancient Artefacts Found in Rock Formations

Archaeologists have discovered ancient remains and buildings in some of the most inaccessible areas in the country, it emerged today. Members of the Severe Terrain Archaeological Campaign (Stac) have been using climbing equipment to explore sea stacks in Lewis and Shetland reports The Scotsman.

Since forming in 2003, the Stac team has visited nine stacks and found buildings from the Iron Age and Bronze age, as well as pottery dating back to the Neolithic period.

The archaeologists are now planning to return to some of the stacks to excavate them before erosion causes the settlements to be swallowed up by the sea, and lost forever.

Megalithic Portal

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Nine Stones and Hellstones dolmen defaced

The Nine Stones stone circle and Hellstones dolmen have recently been defaced with swastikas and six-pointed stars. Portal contributor teufel caught up with the perpetrator.

"He gave his name as Mike Crowley. Said he had a web site but I've not been able to find it. Amiable but quite oblivious to what he was doing, also stated he buries crystals at many sites. [not a good idea either! - Ed]

He says he treats the swastikas as crosses and said he places them sympathetically so as not to harm the stones.

Megalithic Portal

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Canal workers find Roman statue

CONSTRUCTION workers in the western German city of Cologne have discovered a priceless Roman-era Venus statue, the director of the city's Roman-Germanic Museum said today.

The 1600-year-old find, unearthed at a depth of five metres during digging for a canal shaft, was "extremely rare for the entire Roman period in Germany", said Professor Hansgerd Hellenkemper.

The figure, which is missing its head and legs, features a nude torso of carrara marble.

The Australian

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More Money for Bulgaria's Valley of Kings

Bulgaria's archaeological expedition TEMP 2004 will receive additional BGN 20,000 to continue its work in the so-called "Valley of Kings" near the city of Kazanluk.

Kazanluk's mayor Stefan Damyanov will allot the money for the expedition. The mayor also pledged that he would do his best to preserve and protect the region rich in archaeological findings.

Novinite

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FU Berlin gründet Interdisziplinäres Zentrum "Alte Welt"

Der Akademische Senat der Freien Universität Berlin hat beschlossen, ein Interdisziplinäres Zentrum (IZ) zum Thema "Alte Welt" einzurichten. Vertreter der Disziplinen Ägyptologie, Alte Geschichte, Altorientalistik, Klassische Archäologie, Klassische Philologie, Kunstgeschichte, Prähistorische Archäologie, Religionswissenschaft und Vorderasiatische Altertumskunde werden gemeinsam die frühen Phasen der menschlichen Kultur bis in die Zeit um 800 n. Chr. in regionaler und in gesamtweltlicher Perspektive analysieren.

Archäologie

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Noah's Ark Quest Dead in Water -- Was It a Stunt?

In April businessman and Christian activist Daniel McGivern announced with great fanfare a planned summer expedition to Mount Ararat in Turkey. The project, he said, would prove that the fabled Noah's ark was buried there.
Explorers have long searched for the ark on the Turkish mountain. At a news conference in Washington, D.C., McGivern presented satellite images, which he claimed show a human-made object—Noah's ark—nestled in the ice and snow some 15,000 feet (4,570 meters) up the mountain.

"We are not excavating it," McGivern told the audience. "We're going to photograph it and, God willing, you're all going to see it." If successful, he said, the discovery would be "the greatest event since the resurrection of Christ."

National Geographic

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Nunnery site holds huge wealth of secrets

SCOTLAND’s first Cistercian nunnery, founded in a war zone more than 850 years ago, must have been one of the wealthiest religious establishments in the country, its lands alone carrying a modern-day value of up to £1.5 million.

But for all its power and influence, nothing could stop the destruction of St Leonard’s nunnery, which somehow survived for 150 years as battles between the armies of English and Scottish kings raged around its impressive architecture.

An archaeological excavation at the site of the long-abandoned religious house on the outskirts of Berwick-on-Tweed has revealed the importance of St Leonard’s, and has suggested that an ancient community known as Bondington may have existed long before the town became the busiest and most important of all Scottish ports.

The Scotsman

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Ancient Priory history revealed

A long lost pillar from Coventry's Benedictine Priory Cathedral - demolished on the orders of King Henry Vlll - has been uncovered after 460 years.

The precise location of the Norman pillar, or pier, had been guessed at by archaeologists working on excavations ahead of the multi-million pound Phoenix Initiative.

But city conservation chief George Demidowicz was resigned to the fact there was no way of ever seeing more of the remains of the great support structures because they lay beneath the foundations of the eighteenth century buildings in Priory Row.

I C Coventry

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EXPERTS BRIDGE GAP IN ROMAN DIG

A MAJOR archaeological rescue dig revealing the largest stone bridge in Roman Britain is nearing its end.

Experts working on the summer excavation on the River Tyne, in Corbridge, have uncovered the most completely preserved construction of its type in the country.

The dig, carried out by archaeologists from Tyne and Wear Museums, revealed huge stone blocks, up to a ton in weight, and carved masonry, showing the scale and decoration of the bridge.

Hexham Courant

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Bulgarian Archaeologists Unearth 2,400 Year-old Temple

SOFIA (bnn)- Bulgarian archaeologists unearthed a 2,400 year-old temple belonging to the civilisation of the Thracians, which thrived in the Balkans since the Bronze Age till the early Middle Ages, state radio said Saturday.

A team led by famous archaeologist Georgi Kitov discovered the fifth century B.C. temple during excavations at a mound near the central Bulgarian village of Shipka, some 200 kilometres (124 miles) east of Sofia, the report said.

Earlier last week Kitov found a fine crafted bronze head portraying an ancient Thracian ruler in the same area.

Bulgarian News Network

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Bronze Age bands uncovered by metal detector fan

A last-minute decision not to discard scraps of wire uncovered with a metal detector has landed Shaun Raynsford with a prize he could only dream of. For the pieces of metal he almost threw away were found to be pre-historic gold jewellery - thousands of years old. The precious items had lain beneath the Berkshire Downs (England) for 3,000 years before Mr Raynsford and 399 other metal detector enthusiasts began scouring the land.

A delighted Mr Raynsford handed over the Bronze Age wrist and arm bands to excited experts at West Berkshire Museum for safekeeping. He said: "This is my greatest find. The most I have found before are Roman brooches and coins. My initial thought was: it's just wire. I was going to pick it up and throw it away. But as soon as I dug the first one out, I knew it was gold." The timing of the significant find came as Mr Raynsford celebrates 13 years of metal detecting.

Stone Pages

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Castle dig reveals a medieval mystery

DIGGING up clues to the past has unearthed a medieval mystery in the latest excavation to take place within Bamburgh Castle.

For two weeks the Bamburgh Research Project has been excavating the medieval Chapel of St Peter and has turned up an intriguing find.
Along with the expected Anglo Saxon pottery pieces, the archaeologists also found a diagonal wall which strangely cut the 7th century chapel in two.

Northumberland Today

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Brooch is 600 years old

A CHANCE glance in the right direction led to an unusual find for local man Alexzander McBeath.

Mr McBeath was walking along the beach near Ferryden when his attention was drawn to an object lying at the edge of a rockpool. He thought it was a regimental cap badge from World War II and took it to the local museum who sent it on to the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh for further examination. Mr McBeath has now received a letter telling him the object appears to be part of a late mediaeval pewter brooch originating in the Netherlands and dating from around 1350 to 1400.

Stuart Campbell of the Treasure Trove Advisory Panel Secretariat told Mr McBeath that such brooches are reasonably common finds in the mudflats of the Thames and Low Countries but not in Scotland.

Montrose Review

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Brooch is 600 years old

A CHANCE glance in the right direction led to an unusual find for local man Alexzander McBeath.

Mr McBeath was walking along the beach near Ferryden when his attention was drawn to an object lying at the edge of a rockpool. He thought it was a regimental cap badge from World War II and took it to the local museum who sent it on to the National Museums of Scotland in Edinburgh for further examination. Mr McBeath has now received a letter telling him the object appears to be part of a late mediaeval pewter brooch originating in the Netherlands and dating from around 1350 to 1400.

Stuart Campbell of the Treasure Trove Advisory Panel Secretariat told Mr McBeath that such brooches are reasonably common finds in the mudflats of the Thames and Low Countries but not in Scotland.

Montrose Review

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Balzan - Preis geht an Archäologen

Colin A. Renfrew, Großbritannien, ist einer von fünf Preisträgern des Balzan-Preises 2004. Der Balzan - Preis wird jährlich an herausragende Wissenschaftler aus jeweils ausgewählten Fachdisziplinen vergeben.

An Colin A. Renfrew bis 2004 Professor für Archäologie an der Universität Cambridge, schätzen seine Kollegen vor allem seinen herausragenden analytischen Verstand. "Renfrew ist einer der ganz wenigen, die dazu aufgefordert haben, dass die prähistorischen Archäologen nicht nur Nabelschau betreiben, sondern er hat durch seine theoretischen Arbeiten angeregt, dass man die archäologischen Hinterlassenschaften des Menschen möglichst breit betrachtet", sagt Prof. Hermann Parzinger, Präsident des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Berlin.

Archäologie