Abbey reveals itys ancient secrets

It was once home to Augustinian canons, but the ravages of time have left barely any trace of their existence.

Masked by trailing ivy and ancient oaks, all that was visible was a long wall, the remains of a decorated column and a pinnacle of flint rubble.

This was the first glimpse that TV presenter and historian Tony Robinson and his Time Team had when they arrived at the ruins of a historic Suffolk abbey.

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Archaeological worries over barrage plan

IRREPLACEABLE treasures dating back millions of years will be lost if plans to build the Severn Barrage go ahead, experts have warned.

Creating the 10-mile structure across the Severn Estuary could lead to a catastrophic rise in its tide levels, which one of Wales’ leading academics has warned will “drown” ancient relics buried deep within the waters.

The estuary is home to some of the country’s – and the world’s – best-loved archaeological finds, including the remains of Iron Age settlements and the prehistoric footprints. It is one of only two sites on Earth that offers a rare glimpse into life millions of years ago before modern civilisations developed.

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Boulder could have been a calendar – 5000 years ago

AN amateur archaeologist believes a giant boulder on a hill overlooking Loch Ness was used as a guide for crop sowing and harvesting by residents of in the Great Glen more than 5000 years ago.

John Forsyth, who lives in Lower Foyers and describes himself as a natural naturalist, is convinced the five-metre wide rock, which he can see on the horizon opposite his home, was intentionally placed there by early man.

The 76-year-old — who was voted a corresponding member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland for services to archaeology — believes the boulder was positioned and sculpted so people could use it as a marker against the sun to signal when their crops should be planted in spring and harvested in autumn.

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Excavation in Turkey set to rewrite history of Iron Age

Japanese researchers digging in Turkey have pushed back the start of the Iron Age, until now presumed to have begun around 1500 B.C., with the discovery of fragments of an iron tool that predate previous finds by several centuries.

The implication of the excavations at Kaman-Kalehoyuk, about 100 kilometers southeast of Ankara, is that the history of iron tool production may have to be rewritten.

Researchers of the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan have worked the Kaman-Kalehoyuk site since 1985.

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Ironware piece unearthed from Turkey found to be oldest steel

A piece of ironware excavated from a Turkish archaeological site is about 4,000 years old, making it the world's oldest steel, Japanese archaeologists said on Thursday.

Archaeologists from the Middle Eastern Culture Center in Japan excavated the 5-centimetre piece at the Kaman-Kalehoyuk archaeological site in Turkey, about 100 kilometers southeast of Ankara, in 2000. The ironware piece is believed to be a part of a knife from a stratum about 4,000 years old, or 2100-1950 B.C., according to them.

An analysis at the Iwate Prefectural Museum in Morioka showed that the ironware piece was about 200 years older than one that was excavated from the same site in 1994 and was believed to be the oldest steel so far made in 20th-18th centuries B.C.

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Italian dig uncovers "oldest" temple in Cyprus

An Italian archaeologist says she has discovered what is believed to be the oldest site of religious worship in Cyprus, a temple which is about 4,000 years old.

The find at the Pyrgos-Mavroraki site close to the southern city of Limassol predates any other discoveries in Cyprus by about 1,000 years, Italian archaeologist Maria Rosaria Belgiorno said.

"This is the first evidence of religion in Cyprus at the beginning of the second millennium BC," she was quoted as telling the Cyprus Weekly newspaper from Rome.

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Archaeologists call for a dig under a caravan business

THE potential for prehistoric and Roman archaeological finds under a caravan showroom in St Georges could scupper plans to build nine homes on the site.

Davan Caravans is proposing to downsize its forecourt in Bristol Road to provide space for the development.

But an archaeologist is demanding a trial excavation on the site before any work takes place.

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More on Robin Hood Manuscript Discovery

Last week we reported on a discovery made by Dr. Julian Luxford of the University of St. Andrews that a passage exists in a 15th century manuscript that reveals new information about the legendary figure Robin Hood - see this article for more details.

We have now posted an Interview with Dr. Luxford, which is posted on our main Medievalists.net site. We ask about how he came across this interesting passage about Robin Hood and his work on the topic.

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Majority support excavations under city church

Politicians look set to approve excavation work under city landmark church for the new Metro City Ring

A majority in parliament are ready to support excavation for a new Metro rail station around Frederik’s Church, reports public broadcaster DR.

The proposal had been under fire for putting the city church - also known as the Marble Church - at risk of collapse. But now the Social Democrats, Liberals, Conservatives, Social Liberals and Danish People’s Party have all agreed to support the creation of the new station, which is part of the Metro City Ring extension.

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James will lose his beard and hair for charity

A CITY archaeologist is shaving off his beard and hair for a hospice caring for seriously ill children.

James Dinn, Worcester City Council archaeological officer, is swapping his salt and pepper locks for a barber’s buzz cut to raise cash for Acorns Children’s Hospice.

He said losing the beard that has been with him since he left university about 30 years ago was just a small price to pay.

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Salisbury Cathedral gets the Time Team treatment - 26/03/2009

A new exhibition at Salisbury Cathedral will display artefacts uncovered during a recent archaeological excavation by Channel 4’s Time Team.

Running from the 1st May until the end of October, the exhibition, located in the cathedral cloisters, will revisit the dig providing a full archaeological report that details additional insights that were not originally broadcast. Artefacts, photographs, text and audio visual material from the Channel 4 programme will be displayed, and visiting groups will be able to explore Salisbury’s social history as well as the archaeological and architectural story of the bell tower dig.

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Germany's stone age cannibalism

Tens of thousands of ancient human bones found in Germany suggest that victims were not killed just to satisfy hunger, writes Pierre Le Hir in Le Monde

The German city of Speyer, in Rheinland-Palatinate, well known for its ­Romanesque cathedral, also boasts some much more macabre relics. A collection of skulls, shin bones and vertebrae might not seem unusual in an archaeology museum, but these particular remains are special. They all show signs of having been cut, scraped or broken, indicating that their owners were cannibalised.

"Look at these grooves, running from the base of the nose to the back of the neck, or here on the temples," says Andrea Zeeb-Lanz, the regional head of archaeology, holding up a skull.

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5,000-year-old home of capital's first farmers discovered

THE remains of a hilltop home believed to be about 5,000 years old have been discovered on the outskirts of Edinburgh, The Scotsman can reveal.

The Neolithic roundhouse, found on a site where a quarry is due to be expanded, is one of the oldest prehistoric buildings to be discovered in the capital.

Archaeologists have hailed it as one of the most important finds ever made in Edinburgh because of its age – about the same as Skara Brae in Orkney – and unique location.

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Mud yields secrets of Newport's medieval ship

IT looks like gloop from the River Usk. But as Mike Buckingham finds out, where there's muck there's an historical treasure trove.

MUD, mud, apparently inglorious mud stored in 50 building waste bags may contain historical gold relating to Newport's mediaeval ship.

"And just as the old prospectors panned for gold we are going to have to sift through this lot to get it to reveal its treasure" Charles Ferris who has led the campaign to save the ship says.

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Roman wall escapes archaeologists' trowels

MEDIEVAL recyclers may have helped themselves to parts of Gloucester's Roman wall to build their own homes. That's one of the more unusual theories to come out of an archaeological investigation in the centre of Gloucester.

Gloucestershire County Council's archaeology team was given the chance to explore an area where the Kimbrose Triangle meets Southgate Street before work begins in the summer to connect the Docks to the city centre in a more defined way.

And although they made a number of significant discoveries, they were frustrated in their search for the line of the old Roman wall. The section between Parliament Street and Ladybellegate Street is the only piece of the city's Roman wall that has not been physically accounted for.

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Worthing metal detector enthusiast finds rare penny worth £2,000

AFTER years of searching, the penny finally dropped for a Worthing metal detectorist when he found a coin worth £2,000.

Clive Nobbs discovered the 1200-year-old penny in the middle of a 20-acre ploughed field near Worthing.

"This is easily the most important thing I've ever found," said the amateur archaeologist and historian.

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Bronze Age sauna discovered on site earmarked for park and ride scheme

A Bronze Age sauna and one of the oldest prehistoric roundhouses in the UK have been unearthed on a site earmarked for a park and ride scheme in Somerset

Archaeologists have uncovered 3,000 years of history at the site near the junction of the A358 and the M5 at Cambria Farm, in Taunton, Somerset.

The Iron Age roundhouse with a diameter of 56ft (17m) is one of the largest prehistoric roundhouses ever found in Britain.

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Greek fisherman nets 2,200-year-old bronze statue

A Greek fisherman must have been expecting a monster of a catch when he brought up his nets in the Aegean Sea last week. Instead, Greek authorities say his haul was a section of a 2,200-year-old bronze statue of a horseman.

A Culture Ministry announcement said Monday the accidental find was made in waters between the eastern islands of Kos and Kalymnos. The fisherman handed over the corroded metal figure to authorities, who have started the cleaning process.

Dating to the late 2nd century B.C., the statue represented a male rider wearing ornate breast armor over a short tunic and armed with a sheathed sword. The trunk of the horseman and his raised right arm have survived.

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Medieval murder mystery at Kilkenny Castle

A HUMAN skull believed to be that of a murder victim dating back to medieval times has been unearthed embedded in the walls of the moat of Kilkenny Castle.

The moat walls were discovered on Tuesday by archaeologists working on the Parade development. The moat is believed to date back some 800 years to 1209. "This is the most significant find since we began our excavations last April. We always believed that the moat existed but it was never found and we thought that it was located closer to where the Kilkenny Design Centre presently is," consultant archaeologist Patrick Neary told the Kilkenny People.

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Druids Committed Human Sacrifice, Cannibalism?

ON TV Secrets of the Druids airs Sunday, March 22, at 10 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel. Details >>

Recent evidence that Druids possibly committed cannibalism and ritual human sacrifice—perhaps on a massive scale—add weight to ancient Roman accounts of Druidic savagery, archaeologists say.

After a first century B.C. visit to Britain, the Romans came back with horrific stories about these high-ranking priests of the Celts, who had spread throughout much of Europe over a roughly 2,000-year period.

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