Archaeologists dig in St Cross

ENTHUSIASTIC excavators have been digging for clues near one of Winchester's most historic buildings.

More than 60 members of a Winchester archaeology group have spent the last two weeks exploring the lumps and bumps of a field bordering the Hospital of St Cross.

The dig, which organisers said was hampered by poor weather, uncovered evidence of a 14th century walled garden, which belonged to a now demolished part of the hospital's almshouses.
advertisement

Medieval tiles and stained glass were also found, which, it is thought, was dumped when the site's church was renovated in the 1860s.

Read the rest of this article...

Roman temple found under church

Israeli archaeologists have uncovered the ruins of a Roman temple beneath the foundations of a church.

The building, which dates to the second century AD, was found during an excavation at Zippori, the capital of Galilee during the Roman period.

The temple walls were plundered in ancient times and little more than its foundations now remain.

Coins minted in the town suggest Roman gods Zeus and Tyche may have been worshipped at the site.

Read the rest of this article...

Stone Age skeletons uncovered during tube tunnel excavations

Ancient relics uncovered during ongoing tube tunnel excavations in different neighborhoods of Istanbul continue to shed light on prehistoric periods of the city. Lately unearthed pieces in the Yenikapı district include four graves dating back to pre-Byzantium times

Human skeletons, which experts say could be more than 8,000 years old, were found in four prehistoric graves recently unearthed at the Marmaray tunnel excavation site in the Yenikapı district of Istanbul.

�These graves reveal Istanbul used to be home to some of the earliest types of settlements during the Stone Age when people migrated from Anatolia to the European continent,� said Mehmet Özdoğan, professor of prehistory at Istanbul University. �They also show that the Marmara Sea used to be a small and shallow water in ancient times.�

Read the rest of this article...

Roman Temple Uncovered In Ancient Jewish Capital Of Galilee

Ruins of a Roman temple from the second century CE have recently been unearthed in the Zippori National Park. Above the temple are foundations of a church from the Byzantine period.

The excavations, which were undertaken by the Noam Shudofsky Zippori Expedition led by of Prof. Zeev Weiss of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shed light on the multi-cultural society of ancient Zippori (also known as Sepphoris).

The discovery indicated that Zippori, the Jewish capital of the Galilee during the Roman period, had a significant pagan population which built a temple in the heart of the city center. The central location of the temple which is positioned within a walled courtyard and its architectural relation to the surrounding buildings enhance our knowledge regarding the planning of Zippori in the Roman era.

Read the rest of this article...

Cooking and Cognition: How Humans Got So Smart

After two tremendous growth spurts - one in size, followed by an even more important one in cognitive ability - the human brain is now a lot like a teenage boy.

It consumes huge amounts of calories, is rather temperamental and, when harnessed just right, exhibits incredible prowess. The brain's roaring metabolism, possibly stimulated by early man's invention of cooking, may be the main factor behind our most critical cognitive leap, new research suggests.

About 2 million years ago, the human brain rapidly increased its mass until it was double the size of other primate brains.

Read the rest of this article...

Viking longship returns to home port after epic sail

THE VIKING replica longship Sea Stallion returns to home waters in Roskilde today, after a 2,800 nautical-mile round trip between Denmark and Ireland.

The return of the ship with 60 multinational crew - under sail or rowing, depending on weather - will be greeted by countless vessels at sea, and up to 10,000 people ashore.

Young pupils from Dublin's St Patrick's Cathedral School and choir, along with members of Dublin Civil Defence were among an Irish welcoming party who flew to Denmark from Dublin yesterday.

The Sea Stallion, known in Danish as Havhingsten fra Glendalough, left Dublin port on June 29th, and navigated via the southern English coast and Holland. Project leader Preben Rather Sorensen described the initial return leg between Ireland and England as the "hardest yet", and four crew had to be transferred to the support ship, Cable One.

Read the rest of this article...

Neue Römische Funde an der Porta Westfalica

Archäologen des Landschaftsverbandes Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) sind vielleicht einem 2000 Jahre alten römischen Lager in Porta Westfalica auf der Spur. Erste Grabungen im Stadtteil Barkhausen westlich der Weser haben Münzen und eine Gewandspange zutage gefördert.

Read the rest of this article...

University of Oxford Online Archaeology Courses

Four University of Oxford online archaeology courses are now open for registration. The four courses are:

Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers
Exploring Roman Britain
Origins of Human Behaviour: the evidence from archaeology
Ritual and Religion in Prehistory

The courses begin in September.

You can find further information here…

UNIQUE IRON AGE BURIAL SITE FOUND ON HOUSING DEVELOPMENT

A unique Iron Age burial site has been discovered during work on a new housing development in North Bersted, Bognor Regis.

Because of previous archaeological finds in Sussex, a dig had been included as one of the planning conditions for the site, where Berkeley Homes and Persimmon Homes are building 650 homes on former farmland.

The 2,000-year-old grave of an Iron Age warrior was uncovered by archaeologists, but it was kept a secret until the delicate work of removing remains to a laboratory had been completed.

Read the rest of this article...

ENGLISH HERITAGE LAUNCHES ONLINE HISTORY SHOWS

History fans who want to find out how to lay siege to a medieval castle or watch a re-enactment of the Battle of Hastings can now tune into a series of online TV shows from English Heritage.

The national heritage body is officially launching EHTV, which provides a range of video and audio programmes with information on great moments in English history and behind-the-scenes looks at historic sites.

Programmes on the site include celebrities Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen presenting a show on Eltham Palace and Konnie Huq talking about Osborne House.

Read the rest of this article...

Viking ship sets sail across North Sea

THE VIKING replica longship Sea Stallion is en route across the North Sea on the most demanding leg of its voyage from Ireland to Denmark.

The replica, which is modelled on an Irish-built longship, left Lowestoft on the east English coastline early this week on a light southeasterly wind. Lack of suitable winds for its square sail had forced it to berth for almost a fortnight in the English port.

The longship had to weather gales when it set off from Dublin port in late June on its return voyage to the Danish harbour of Roskilde, home of the Viking Ship Museum and the original Sea Stallion, or Havhingsten fra Glendalough.

Read the rest of this article...

Medieval 'calculator' stays in UK

A rare 14th Century scientific instrument dubbed the "pocket calculator" of its age is to remain in the UK.

The British Museum has raised the £350,000 needed to buy the Canterbury Astrolabe Quadrant which was uncovered during building work in Kent in 2005.

Culture Minister Margaret Hodge placed an export ban on the item after it sold at auction for £138,000 in March 2007.

It is said to be one of only eight examples in the world.

Read the rest of this article...

Ancient rock carvings discovered

More than 100 new examples of prehistoric art have been discovered carved into boulders and open bedrock throughout Northumberland and Durham.

The 5,000-year-old Neolithic carvings of circles, rings and hollowed cups, were uncovered by volunteers.

One of the most interesting discoveries was an elaborately carved panel on Barningham Moor, near Barnard Castle in County Durham.

Read the rest of this article...

Skeletons uncovered in friary dig

Archaeologists in Perth have uncovered more than 50 skeletons at the site of a medieval friary.

The team is excavating land at the corner of Riggs Road and Jeanfield Road before retail units are built.

As well as the bones, the team has discovered pieces of grave slabs, window glass and further evidence of the 13th century Carmelite friary.

Read the rest of this article...

First indication for embalming in Roman Greece

A Swiss-Greek research team co-lead by Dr. Frank Rühli from the Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, found indication for embalming in Roman Greek times. By means of physico-chemical and histological methods, it was possible to show that various resins, oils and spices were used during embalming of a ca. 55 year old female in Northern Greece. This is the first ever multidisciplinary-based indication for artificial mummification in Greece at 300 AD.

The remains of a ca. 55-year old female (ca. 300 AD, most likely of high-social status; actual location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece) shows the preservation of various soft-tissues, hair and part of a gold-embroidered silk cloth. This unique find allows multidisciplinary research on these tissues. In addition to macroscopic and anthropological analyses, electron microscopy and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry examinations were also performed. These showed the presence of various embalming substances including myrrh, fats and resins, but could not demonstrate clearly a conservatory influence of the surrounding lead coffin from Roman period. The findings significantly increase knowledge about the use of tissue-preserving, anti-bacterial and anti-oxidative substances in the mortuary practices of Roman Greece.

Read the rest of this article...

Bones mystery

CREMATED bones thought to date from around 3,500BC to 2,000BC have been unearthed by archaeologists during a dig near Lough Fea.

A team of four archaeologists came across a mound of stones, known as a cairn which often points to a burial site, at the Creagh Concrete plant near Blackwater Bridge.

The find was unearthed when workers from Creagh Concrete were extracting gravel earlier this week. An archaeologist is always present on site when work of this nature is being carried out.

Read the rest of this article...

Greeks followed a celestial Olympics

Chalk up another Olympian feat to a mechanical gadget discovered more than a century ago in a 2,100-year-old shipwreck.

Scientists over the past decades have determined that the device was used to perform complex astronomical calculations, including the prediction of solar and lunar eclipses and the movement of the planets.

Known as the Antikythera mechanism, for the small Greek island near which sponge divers discovered it in 1900, the device is split into 82 fragments and is an agglomeration of disintegrating bronze gears and teeth, encrusted dials and hard-to-read inscriptions. Researchers have long been intrigued by both the gear teeth and inscriptions.

Read the rest of this article...

Discovering How Greeks Computed in 100 B.C.

After a closer examination of a surviving marvel of ancient Greek technology known as the Antikythera Mechanism, scientists have found that the device not only predicted solar eclipses but also organized the calendar in the four-year cycles of the Olympiad, forerunner of the modern Olympic Games.

The new findings, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, also suggested that the mechanism’s concept originated in the colonies of Corinth, possibly Syracuse, on Sicily. The scientists said this implied a likely connection with Archimedes

Read the rest of this article...

Ruins may be Viking hunting outpost in Greenland

OSLO – Ruins recently discovered on Greenland may mark the Vikings' most northerly year-round hunting outpost on the icy island, a researcher said on Monday.

Knut Espen Solberg, leader of 'The Melting Arctic' project mapping changes in the north, said the remains uncovered in past weeks in west Greenland may also be new evidence that the climate was less chilly about 1,000 years ago than it is today.

'We found something that most likely was a dock, made of rocks, for big ships up to 20-30 metres (60-90 ft) long,' he told Reuters by satellite phone from a yacht off Greenland. He said further study and carbon dating were needed to pinpoint the site's age.

Read the rest of this article...

New stage in Trojan excavations

A German archaeologist in charge of excavations in ancient Troy announced that a new dimension will be added to the excavations with the finds of the past 20 years being gathered together for the first time. Member of the teaching staff at Tübingen University, Dr. Ernst Pernicka told the Anatolia news agency Thursday that they were ready to present the intermediate results of the two-decade dig saying, "We will crown the past 20 years of work with publications. This project will be the intermediate results of the past 20 years of work."

Read the rest of this article...