Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Eggstinct - But Scientists Hope For DNA Clues
Scientists are hopeful of finding out more about ancient birds and why they died out after extracting DNA from a huge fossilised elephant bird egg.
Professor Mike Parker Pearson, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Archaeology, discovered the eggshells in Madagascar.
The research team now plans to study eggshells from a number of archaeological sites in New Zealand to investigate how humans interacted with another giant bird, the moa, which became extinct 600 years ago due to hunting pressures.
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Historic Furness sites under threat
PARTS of Walney are being washed away at a rate of a 100m every 30 years and archaeological remains stretching back 3,000 years are at risk of vanishing along with the sand and shingle, according to a major regional survey.
Of 39 most “at risk” historic coastal sites in the area from Scotland to the Welsh border, all but 25 are packed into the stretch from Drigg to Greenodd.
Delegates at an annual archaeological forum arranged by the Centre for North-West Regional Studies at Lancaster University heard that Walney’s historic sites – from pre-history to the Second World War – faced the biggest risk from coastal erosion.
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Byzantium: Splendour and Everyday Life - Exhibition in Bonn, Germany
The Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn is presenting more than 600 magnificent and historically meaningful exhibits and important artefacts from collections and archaeological excavations the exhibition shed light on many aspects of the history, archaeology and art of the Byzantine Empire.
It will offer an overview of the “Byzantine Millenium” (from the foundation of Constantinople by Constantine the Great in 324 A.D. to the conquest by the Ottomans in 1453), but will concentrate above all on the prospering of the Empire from the time of Justinian I (527–565 A.D.) until the plundering of Constantinople by western crusaders in 1204. Precious ivories, spectacular icons and manuscripts, architectural fragments, sculptures and everyday objects are presented in their original contexts.
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Staffordshire Hoard returning to Birmingham with unseen items
UNSEEN relics that form part of the Staffordshire Hoard will be added to a display returning to Birmingham this Saturday.
Helmet fragments will be featured alongside 59 items from the world’s largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon treasure.
Huge crowds are again expected as the city is hit by a second ‘gold rush’.
And the new display announcement comes as it was revealed that the appeal to raise enough funds to bring it permanently to the Midlands has hit £1.5 million.
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New centre for replica Iron Age attraction
A new eco-friendly visitors centre is set to be built at a replica Iron Age farm.
Butser Ancient Farm, in Chalton Lane, Chalton, has seen its visitors soar by 10,000 to 20,000 over the last 10 years.
A bid had now been launched to build a £150,000 visitors centre at the site, which was founded in 1972 as an archaeological research site.
Reconstructed roundhouses and a villa at the farm give an insight into the life of Romans and Celts in ancient Britain.
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DNA from fossilised eggshells could help reconstruct lives of extinct birds
Ancient DNA has been extracted from the fossilised eggshells of birds for the first time, and will eventually yield clues about their physiology, diet and how they went extinct
Scientists have collected DNA from the fossilised eggshells of birds that died hundreds and in some cases thousands of years ago.
The oldest eggshell to yield DNA came from an Australian emu that died around 19,000 years ago. It is the first time that scientists have succeeded in extracting ancient DNA from the fossilised eggshells of a bird.
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Digging into Shakespeare's later life at New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
A ground-breaking investigation into Shakespeare’s later life is due to start in Stratford-upon-Avon on 26 March 2010, as archaeologists prepare to excavate the remains of Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-upon-Avon, and the public are invited to come along and watch as the latest story about the world’s most famous writer unfolds…
The archaeological dig will take place at New Place, the house that Shakespeare owned for 19 years and occupied at the time of his death in 1616. The ‘Dig for Shakespeare’ will see a team of archaeologists from Birmingham Archaeology, along with a hardy crew of volunteers, excavate three locations within the grounds of New Place in a dig where visitors will be able to interact with the archaeological team. A special scaffolding walkway and viewing platform is being installed so that visitors can have a close view of the trenches and will be invited to talk to the archaeologists as they work.
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DNA of extinct birds extracted from ancient eggshell
Researchers have found that eggshells of extinct bird species are a rich source of preserved DNA.
An international team isolated the delicate DNA molecules of species including the massive "elephant birds" of the genus Aepyorni.
The Proceedings of the Royal Society B research demonstrated the approach also on emu, ducks and the extinct moa.
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Kerala's possible Mediterranean links unearthed by researchers
Did the Mediterranean region of megalithic age have any links with the state of Kerala in southern India?
A wide range of megalithic burials recently discovered in some northern districts of Kerala during a research project have thrown light on
possible links between the Mediterranean and Kerala coasts in the prehistoric stone age that occurred between 6000 BC and 2000 BC.
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Ancient Norse colonies hit bad climate times
Temperatures in Iceland plummeted soon after settlers arrived
New research reveals just how bad an idea it was to colonize Greenland and Iceland more than a millennium ago: average temperatures in Iceland plummeted nearly 6°Celsius in the century that followed the island’s Norse settlement in about A.D. 870, a climate record gleaned from mollusk shells shows.
The record is the most precise year-by-year chronology yet of temperatures experienced by the northern Norse colonies, says William Patterson, an isotope geochemist at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Canada, who led the new work. The study will appear online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Tuesday, March 09, 2010
Saxon pottery at Wisbech playground site
Archaeologists have unearthed Saxon pottery at the site of a new adventure playground in Cambridgeshire.
Further excavations will now take place at the site in Waterlees, Wisbech.
A dig took place ahead of the £800,000 project, which will not be delayed by the discovery, Cambridgeshire County Council said.
Archaeologists are expected to carry out more digs in the Roman Bank end of the site, the opposite end to where construction is due to begin.
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Pipeline Engineers Find Historic Shipwrecks in Baltic Sea
Engineers surveying the Baltic Sea for a pipeline project have discovered several historic shipwrecks on the seabed, including an ancient Viking longboat and several ships from the 16th to 18th centuries.
Engineers building a pipeline under the Baltic Sea have discovered a number of old shipwrecks on the seabed near the Swedish island of Gotland, including a 1,000-year-old Viking longboat.
The vessels were discovered during a survey of the seabed being conducted by Nord Stream, a consortium building a 1,200 kilometer (746 mile) pipeline to pump Russian gas from the port of Vyborg in Russia to Greifswald on the German Baltic coast.
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Life of Vikings seen through soil
A scientist and a composer are working together to explore a thousand years of human history through soil samples.
The pair have built an installation in Dundee which tells the story of Viking settlers in Greenland going back to the year 900.
Images of soil samples gathered by Dr Paul Adderley have been set to audio by Dr Michael Young.
Dr Young said: "Hidden in the soil is this story about people and the environment. We explore that."
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Dozen shipwrecks found off the coast of Sweden
A dozen previously unknown shipwrecks, some of them believed to be up to 1,000 years old, were discovered in the Baltic Sea during a probe of the sea bed to prepare for the installation of a large gas pipeline, the Swedish National Heritage Board said Monday.
"It's an important find," said Peter Norman from The Swedish National Heritage Board. "Three of them are three whole hulls. They are standing straight up, 100 metres down on the bottom of the seabed. They are now sealed off and are really of great historical value."
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Finding Clovis
Location: South Carolina Length: 27 min
This is an archaeological adventure at the Topper Site in Allendale County, South Carolina, famous for Clovis and possibly pre-Clovis artifacts. Here, early humans were coming to ancient chert quarries, making rudimentary knives and other tools. Recent evidence found by the team lead by Dr. Al Goodyear may support the idea that a comet suddenly wiped out the Clovis Culture 13,000 years ago. World-renowned scientists offer their opinions about these significant first Americans—where they came from, how they lived, and what may have been their fate.
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Neolithic remains delay bypass
THE CONSTRUCTION of a major dual-carriageway to bypass Ballymena, Co Antrim, is being delayed after the discovery of neolithic remains at the site.
Archaeologists have uncovered a rare late-neolithic ring fort, one of just four such forts found in Ireland.
Initial excavations took place over an eight-week period between June 2009 to September 2009, and a team of 20 archaeologists have recovered objects, including flint chippings, small blades and a leaf-shaped arrowhead.
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5,000-year-old Westray wife tours Scotland
A Neolithic carving found in the Orkney Islands last year is to go on tour around Scotland.
The 5,000-year-old figurine, known as the Westray Wife, was discovered in the Links of Noltland on the Orkney island of Westray and is the only Neolithic carving of a human form found in Scotland.
Measuring just 41mm by 31mm and made of sandstone, the Venus figure will go on tour around Scotland before returning to Orkney for the summer.
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Trove of shipwrecks found in Baltic Sea
A dozen previously unknown shipwrecks have been found on the bed of the Baltic Sea; some of them are thought to up to 1,000 years old, the Swedish National Heritage Board said on Monday.
The underwater treasure trove of nautical antiquities was discovered during a probe of the sea bed to prepare for the installation of a large gas pipeline.
"We have managed to identify 12 shipwrecks, and nine of them are considered to be fairly old," Peter Norman, a senior advisor with the heritage board, told AFP.
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Archaeologist demands survey of bridge route
An archaeologist is demanding a survey be carried out on the planned route for a third Don crossing in Aberdeen over fears that historical sites could be lost under the road.
Aberdeen City Council has drawn up the £14.5million bridge scheme in the hope of easing gridlock and paving the way for major new developments.
The proposed route would link the A90 Parkway to St Machar Drive, via Gordon’s Mills Road and Tillydrone Avenue.
But Judith Stones, keeper of the council’s archaeology, museums and galleries department, has called for a special condition to be included if the scheme wins planning permission.
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Oldest Settlement Known to Man Identified
Archaeologists claim to have found the oldest continually habited village in the history of humanity.
Czech diggers have found remains of an about 150,000-year-old prehistoric settlement in Arbil, north Iraq.
The archaeologists revealed a high number of items, mainly prehistoric stone tools, about nine metres under the ground in Arbil, capital of the Kurdish autonomous region.
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