DNA discovery reveals Greenland's warm past

Scientists have uncovered evidence that within the past million years southern Greenland was warmer than previously thought, and even covered in lush forests, a discovery suggesting its ice sheet could be more stable than previously thought against climate change temperature rises.

An analysis of DNA found at the bottom of ice cores drilled to a depth of more than a mile (2km) in south Greenland, and dated to between 450,000 and 800,000 years ago, has shown a surprising variety of plant and insect life was present then.

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Romano-Briton helps to open water works

HAISTHORPE'S £12 million water treatment works was officially opened with the help of a villager from an Romano-British settlement and Bridlington MP Greg Knight.

The settlement, which is thought to date back to approximately 2AD, was unearthed during the construction of the works and archaeologists who led the dig displayed the unearthed artefacts at the opening.

Children from Burton Agnes Primary School were also invited and they met the Romano-Briton (David Shackleton), who was from The Vicus re-enactment society.

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Italy's crackdown on art looting keeps plunderers in check, for now

It used to be so easy for the "tombaroli," Italy's tomb raiders.

Pietro Casasanta had no Indiana Jones-type escapes from angry natives or booby-trapped temples. He worked undisturbed in daylight with a bulldozer, posing as a construction worker to become one of Italy's most successful plunderers of archaeological treasures.

When he wasn't in prison, the convicted looter operated for decades in this countryside area outside Rome, benefiting from what he says was lax surveillance that allowed him to dig into ancient Roman villas and unearth statues, pottery and other artifacts which he then sold for millions of dollars on the illegal antiquities market.

"Nobody cared, and there was so much money going around," he recalled in an interview with The Associated Press. "I always worked during the day, with the same hours as construction crews, because at night it was easier to get noticed and to make mistakes."

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Cathedral goes back to Caen stone

Caen stone of the type originally used to build Canterbury Cathedral is to be used in conservation work there for the first time in 100 years.

The stone, from Plain de Caen in northern France, was brought to Kent by the Normans when they built their cathedral in the late 11th Century.

The present building boasts examples of Caen stonework from medieval times.

A shortage of supply at the end of the 19th Century forced stonemasons to use poorer quality stone from elsewhere.

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Roman Maryport marches ahead

Maryport's unique Roman site will be the focus of attention during the summer, thanks to a project planning grant of £50,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), it was announced today (Tuesday).

The award, together with a matching grant from Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd, will enable the Senhouse Museum Trust, working with the landowners, Mr and Mrs Harold Messenger, to develop plans to undertake further archaeological research and develop new visitor facilities on the site.

The HLF money is for a Project Planning Grant to undertake important studies for the proposals. Three of these are an Audience Development Plan, a Conservation Management Plan and an Access Plan, all of which will be undertaken by Atkins Heritage of Leeds. The fourth is a Research Framework which will be undertaken by York Archaeological Trust.

Excavations by the Maryport and District Archaeological Society in 2005 indicated that Maryport may contain not only one of the largest but also one of the oldest Roman forts on the northern frontier of the Empire.

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Archaeologists set to unearth secrets of Scone and its kings

IT IS one of the most evocative sites in Scotland's turbulent history - the place where Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scots before his victory over the English at Bannockburn.

From the reign of Kenneth MacAlpin in the ninth century, every Scots king assumed the mantle of power, seated on the Stone of Destiny, on the ancient mound now known as Moot Hill at Scone in Perthshire.

Despite its role at the very heart of Scottish power, little is known about the archaeology of the ancient site or that of nearby Scone Abbey, the "lost" Augustinian monastery founded in 1114 by Alexander I and sacked and burned by an angry mob at the height of the Reformation.

Next week, however, a major archaeological investigation is set to get under way in the grounds of Scone Palace, the home of the Earl and Countess of Mansfield, to unlock some of the secrets of Scone and to shed fresh light on the two historic sites.

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Archaeologists rise to solstice circle discovery

ARCHAEOLOGISTS working on a remote Scottish island have discovered an ancient stone ceremonial enclosure that is perfectly aligned to the winter and summer solstices.

The find was made by members of the Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society (Bacas) working on the island of Foula.

The stones were found on the last day of an extensive geophysical survey at an area called Da Heights. The group found stones rising from the ground in a curve which did not look like they were placed naturally.

Extensive research has shown the stones were part of an early Bronze Age ceremonial enclosure. The structure would have been built some time between 3500 and 2000BC.

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Ancient remains found by pupils

Teenagers who joined archaeologists on a dig in an historic village uncovered the 1,000-year-old remains of a woman.

Pupils from different schools in Cambs and Suffolk were on a higher education course digging near Halesworth when their spades hit a skull.

Cambridge University archaeologist Carenza Lewis said they do not know all that much about the body they found.

"We think she may be Anglo Saxon or from before the Norman Conquest. She is ancient, adult and female," she said.

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Unique Bronze Age serpentine mound found in western England

An archaeologist has made a find in western England that he hopes will help illuminate the ritual life of Britain's Bronze Age inhabitants — a 60-meter (65-yard) serpentine mound paved with cracked stones believed to be the first of its kind discovered in Europe.

Mounds of "burnt stones" — so-called because they have been cracked by heating and rapid cooling — litter northern Europe; some experts believe they are piles of ancient kitchen trash. The use of the stones to cover the snakelike "Rotherwas Ribbon" mound, however, suggests that they were also used in rituals by people 4,000 years ago, said Herefordshire County archaeologist Keith Ray.

"It's the only structure we have from prehistory from Britain or in Europe, as far as we can tell, that is actually a deliberate construction that uses burnt stones," Ray said. "This is ... going to make us rethink whole chunks of what we thought we understood about the period."

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BARONSTOWN MONUMENT DESTROYED UNDER COVER OF DARKNESS

The huge archaeological monument of Baronstown, a possible candidate for
a National Monument, was destroyed in the early hours of Wednesday 4th
July when machinery moved onto the site at 4am. When protesters arrived
at 6am the entire site had been completely razed to the ground. This was
an extraordinary site described recently by archaeologist Joe Fenwick as
a “multi-period, archaeological complex” that was much more extensive
than the declared National Monument of Lismullin.

According to documents seen by the Campaign to Save Tara Baronstown had
been recommended for National Monument status a number of months ago by
archaeologists on-site, but that this was rejected by the NRA chief
archaeologist and former Minister for Enviroment Dick Roche.
Dr Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin said: “That they are destroying our heritage
under cover of darkness says it all. We demand that the Government calls
a moratorium on all construction work in the Gabhra Valley at least
until the new committee convened by Minister John Gormley has submitted
its deliberations and until the EU Petitions Committee who visited Tara
also submit their report.”

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Sea Stallion from Glendalough 2007

This is the official Website for the Sea Stallion from Glendalough – the reconstruction of the Viking longship (Skuldelev 2) which sailed on Sunday from Roskilde and is intended to reach Dublin in six weeks’ time.

This interesting Website contains a wealth of information over the voyage, including a Google Earth satellite picture showing the Sea Stallion’s current position.

You can also sign up to receive a daily newsletter about the voyage.

You can find the Website at : www.havhingsten.dk

Vikings set sail

A Viking ship leaves Danish shores for Ireland to retrace the journey of the Nordic tribe.

At the Danish port of Roskilde, the Sea Stallion, a ship crafted from 300 oak trees, set sail for Ireland in a bid to recreate the adventures of the Vikings.

Thousands of people came to wave off the reconstructed Viking ship and to enjoy the delights that a Viking market had to offer.

Blacksmiths, carpenters and craftsmen provided spectators with a show that transported them back to the time of the original Nordic tribe.

The vessel's sixty strong crew are aiming to answer questions about viking ship-building and travel. Like the vikings, the Sea Stallion crew will brave the elements and be put to the test of spending time at sea in an open ship.

The journey is expected to take six weeks.

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Viking ship sets sail for Dublin

A Viking ship has set sail for Dublin from the Danish port of Roskilde, in an attempt to recreate the voyages undertaken by early Norsemen.

The 30m (100ft) long replica, called Sea Stallion, is said to be the world's largest reconstructed Viking vessel.

It is based on a ship made nearly 1,000 years ago in Ireland, which in 1962 was excavated from the Roskilde fjord.

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Bid to uncover Scone’s buried past

A TEAM of archaeologists equipped with the latest underground scanning tools are set to descend on one of Scotland’s most significant medieval centres.

Scone Palace will play host to investigators attempting to discover more about the lost rich abbey of Scone and the famous Moot Hill, where Robert Bruce was crowned King of Scots in 1306.

Visitors to the top tourist attraction will be able to witness the team at work.

In ancient times, Scone was a centre of royal and ecclesiastical power.

The abbey was a centre of kingship in medieval Scotland, and archaeologists are amazed such an important place has left so little trace above ground.

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DNA testing to uncover Czech noble mysteries

Prague - DNA testing will be used in a unique scientific project to solve a more than thousand-year mystery over the noble occupants of Dark Age graves in Prague castle, a team of Czech specialists announced on Tuesday.

DNA tests on remains from 19 bodies, thought to belong to the Czech noble Premyslid family, considered the founders of the Bohemian kingdom who ruled the country for 400 years, will be used to determine who is who. In parallel, 50-70 tests will be carried out on remains from ordinary graves found around the ancient castle site.

"This is a unique project in the scale of what is being done. Nothing this big has ever been attempted in the world before," DNA forensic expert Daniel Vanek, who worked for three years on identifying genocide victims in Bosnia and will use techniques finetuned from then, said.

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500-year-old bronze disc is found in field

A HORSE harness decoration thought to have belonged to a lord of the manor at Bletchingley more than 500 years ago has been unearthed in a field.

Chris Andre, a member of the Reigate-based Weald and Downland Metal Detecting Club, handed the artefact to an archaeological expert for identification.

David Williams, Surrey County Council's finds liaison officer, has revealed that the small circular bronze disc may have been a personal belonging of Henry Stafford, who held the manor of Bletchingley in the late 15th century, or one of his retinue.

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Was Lucy a Brutal Brawler?

These legs were made for fighting.

Anthropologists have long assumed that the short stature of australopithecines like Lucy was related to treetop living: Having short legs makes it easier to climb trees and gives stability when balancing on branches. David Carrier, a biologist at the University of Utah, has another idea. After taking measurements and collecting observations on nine living primate species, including humans, Carrier concluded that the living apes with the shortest legs for their body size, like gorillas and orangutans, are those that spend the least time in trees. They’re also the ones whose males exhibit especially aggressive behavior.

Carrier doesn’t rule out that Australopithecus may have spent time in trees, but he insists a more likely explanation for why short legs persisted is that Lucy and her ilk were particularly prone to fighting. According to this hypothesis, it was advantageous for males to remain short because it gave them an edge when grappling with one another for access to females. “With short legs, you have a lower center of gravity. You’re more stable, and you have greater leverage,” Carrier says.

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'Royal' Iron Age roundhouse found

One of the biggest Iron Age roundhouses ever found in Scotland has been uncovered during an archaeological dig near Inverurie in Aberdeenshire.

The 2,000-year-old stone building was found in the Bennachie hills on the site of an earlier Bronze Age fort.

The archaeologists who uncovered it said the size of the building suggested it was inhabited by society's elite.

But they said it was impossible to say what relationship the owners had with Roman soldiers living in nearby camps.

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Million-year-old human tooth found in Spain

Spanish researchers on Friday said they had unearthed a human tooth more than one million years old, which they estimated to be the oldest human fossil remain ever discovered in western Europe.

Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, co-director of research at the Atapuerca site said the molar, discovered on Wednesday in the Atapuerca Sierra in the northern province of Burgos, could be as much as 1.2 million years old.

"The tooth represents the oldest human fossil remain of western Europe. Now we finally have the anatomical evidence of the hominids that fabricated tools more than one million years ago," the Atapuerca Foundation said in a statement.

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Restaurierung von bedeutendem römisch-antiken Mosaik in Köln

Das infolge des Sturms Kyrill zu Beginn des Jahres beschädigte Dionysosmosaik im Römisch-Germanischen Museum Köln wird seit letzter Woche vom Fachbereich Konservierung und Restaurierung der FH Erfurt restauriert. Es handelt sich dabei um eines der bedeutendsten römisch- antiken Mosaiken nördlich der Alpen.

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