Rows over protection of Tara

Eighteen months after An Bord Pleanála’s decision, and almost nine months after Meath Co Council and the NRA finally revealed the extent of the archaeology that had been uncovered by their testing, the Irish Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche, has issued directions for the excavation of upwards of 38 archaeological sites between Dunshaughlin and Navan in order to pave the way for a motorway to cut through Ireland’s premier cultural landscape.

The minister says that his directions 'protect heritage' and 'do not deny the people of Meath and the surrounding counties the modern transport infrastructure that they need' He also states that 'heritage protection remains a priority in this area.' But many people believe what is happening is just the opposite, as a uniquely important and ancient landscape has been sacrificed in the interests of protecting a private/public partnership contract.

Strong words were also exchanged between the director of the Irish National Museum, Dr Pat Wallace, and the Irish Government's chief archaeologist, Brian Duffy, over the plan to run the M3 motorway past the Hill of Tara. Dr Wallace said 'there appears to be an attempt to downplay the importance' of some of the archaeological sites along the route.

Stone Pages

Bronze Age burial site found in Germany

The skeletal remain of a Bronze Age lord, along with his retainers have been discovered in a burial mound at the most celebrated of archeological sites in Germany.

Archeologist Olaf Schroeder said the 4,200 year-old mound was one of at least eight barrows still intact at the holy site, which, in 1991 yielded the Nebra Celestial Disc, the earliest known depiction of the heavens. After receiving a tip that treasure hunters were digging for gold in the area, Government Archeologists began excavating the area and found the first of the skeletons, a sentry, just inside the burial chamber entrance.

"We kept on digging," Schroeder said, "deep in the barrow, we found the Bronze Age burial chamber. It was two meters square with a roof that had sagged to about half-a-meter high. It was fully lined with sandstone slabs."

Stone Pages

British Bomb Detonated Near Pompeii Ruins

Bomb disposal experts today detonated a 250lb World War II bomb unearthed near the ruins of the ancient Roman town of Pompeii, a police official said.

Residents and tourists were forced to evacuate the area. The archaeological site remained closed for the day, Pompeii’s archaeological office said.

The British-made bomb, discovered last week during construction works on a road near the ruins, was detonated after a wall of earth had been constructed around it to cushion the impact of the explosion, a police official in Pompeii said.

The bomb was located some 490ft from the entrance to the ruins of the Roman city, which was buried by the volcanic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD79.

The Scotsman

Celtic Coins

Archaeologists have uncovered 17 ancient Celtic coins in a field in the south of the Netherlands, the first hoard of such coins found in the country.

Amsterdam's Free University excavated the site in April and will display the coins, which are made of silver and mixed with copper and gold, in the Limburgs Museum in the city of Venlo on Saturday.

They are estimated to date from 20-50 B.C., shortly after Julius Caesar began the Roman conquest of the region.

ABC News

New life for Elizabeth I's 'lost' garden 430 years on

An elaborate "lost" garden created in 1575 for Queen Elizabeth I is to be restored after archaeologists stumbled across its ruins.

Experts believe that the find will provide some of the most important clues on garden construction of that era that they have ever seen.

The garden, which has intrigued experts for decades, was created at Kenilworth Castle, Warwicks, by Robert Dudley, the Earl of Leicester, specifically for the Queen, but all surviving elements of it were thought to have been lost.

Last year, archaeologists from English Heritage found evidence of its foundations underneath the current garden, including rubble that made up a 4ft central fountain.

The Telegraph

Roman conquerors had woolly socks

The sartorial elegance of the Italians has been shattered, with news that woolly socks helped their ancestors' conquest of northern England.

The evidence has emerged among archaeological objects found in the River Tees at Piercebridge, near Darlington in County Durham.

Among the items was an unusual Roman razor handle, made of copper alloy and in the shape of a human leg and foot.

The 5cm high foot is wearing a sandal with a thick woollen sock underneath.

BBC News

Italy indicts Getty curator

ROME --In a long-running legal battle with broad implications for museum collections worldwide, a senior curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has been indicted in Italy on criminal charges involving the acquisition of precious antiquities in this archaeologically rich country, authorities in Rome said.

Marion True, 56, curator for antiquities at the prestigious museum and director of the Getty Villa, an adjunct site near Malibu that once was home to the main museum, is accused of criminal conspiracy to receive stolen goods and illicit receipt of archaeological items. It also is alleged that True essentially laundered goods that were purchased by a private collection and then sold to the Getty in paper transactions that created phony documentation.

If the prosecution is successful, the Italians intend to pursue additional cases at other museums. The plunder of Italy for its artwork is a crime tantamount to "stealing history," the indictment reads in part. By attempting to prosecute an official from the world's richest art museum, Italian authorities hope to send a clear message that they no longer will tolerate the vast and systematic robbing of antiquities from a country so replete with historical treasures.

The Sun Herald

'Grand vision' sought for castle

The people of Nottingham are being offered the chance to have their say over the future of the city's most famous landmark.
Design consultants want to create what's described as a "grand new vision" for the castle.

In the past it has been criticised as being disappointing for tourists and, of course, not a real castle.

The authorities say it is important people's ideas for the future of the attraction are heard.

The castle manager Dave Green said: "It is important that we do something for everyone - the bread and butter customer is the local person who contributes to the castle in many ways.

BBC News

Mining hope for Bronze Age site

Mining for copper and zinc could return to Anglesey's Parys Mountain mine after an absence of almost 100 years.
As a result of recent increases in world metal prices, owners Anglesey Mining plc are starting exploratory drilling work.

Finance director Ian Cuthbertson said they were confident of "significant reserves" at the site, which has been mined since the Bronze Age.

It could lead to more than 100 jobs at the site, near Amlwch.

"There have been quite a number of attempts to revive [mining at the site], but the world situation now is different and we are upbeat about the prospects," said Mr Cuthbertson.

BBC News

ROMAN FIND BYPASS HITCH

AN UNDISCOVERED stretch of Hadrian’s Wall has been unearthed by archaeologists on the route of the £30 million Carlisle Northern Development by-pass.

The team of archaeologists from Cumbria County Council have discovered a section of the Roman wall and fragments of ancient pottery on the banks of the River Eden near Stainton, west of Carlisle. The discovery is directly on the line of the planned Northern Development Route and could mean further delays to the long-awaited by-pass – now more than three years late.

The Northern Development Route (CNDR), which will provide a vital link between West Cumbria and the M6, should have opened last December. Work on the road, which is seen as crucial in relieving crippling traffic congestion in Carlisle, was to start in 2006 and be complete in 2008

Cumbria On-Line

Britain's Lost Colosseum - Timewatch

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Britain's Lost Colosseum

Wherever the Romans conquered, they built amphitheatres. Most British ones were simple earthworks - dug-out arenas with turf-covered banks. However, buried in Chester's city centre are the remains of an enormous, stone-built Roman amphitheatre. It was partially excavated in the 1960s by Hugh Thompson (who found evidence of a timber amphitheatre built on the site before the stone one). Last year another team dug down through the "archaeological layer cake" in the hope of finding out more about this lost arena. Films about archaeological digs can be a gamble because there's no guarantee anything exciting will be found. But what's discovered at Chester seems to discredit Thompson's theory.

Radio Times

Roman soldiers help new fight against windfarm

ANCIENT Roman legions who once marched through South Yorkshire could soon be playing a part in a new battle—this time to halt a green scheme.

Image Campaigners fighting to stop three towering wind turbines springing up on green belt land at Loscar, near Harthill, say the site is surrounded by evidence of Roman settlements dating back to the first century.

Now local historian Paul Rowland has unearthed evidence to show that even the country lane along which heavy equipment for the three 311 feet high turbines will be brought is an old Roman road, once known as Ryknild Street.

Mr Rowland, from Harthill, recently unearthed a number of four inch square dressed limestone cobbles alongside ancient Packman Lane, between Harthill and Thorpe Salvin, which leads to the Loscar windfarm site owned by farmer John Wilks.

Limestone cobbles were used to dress Roman roads of importance—those made for rapid movement of troops and supplies. Now the stones are being examined by other experts.
Evidence already exists of a Roman camp close to Kiveton Park Station, another at nearby Markland Grips, Derbyshire, and a third at Thurcroft—and Roman coins and pottery have been found throughout the area.

Now campaigners say evidence is building up that the windfarm site could be of such historical importance that developers npower renewables should carry out a full archaeological survey of the area before the project is allowed to go ahead.

Rotherham Advertiser

Amphith-eater fans enjoyed fast-food too

FOOTBALL wouldn't be the same without the obligatory burger vans and stalls selling cheap scarves outside the ground.

But the latest finds by archae-ologists working at Chester Amphitheatre suggest things may not have changed much in the last 2,000 years.

The dig, jointly carried out by English Heritage and Chester City Council, has uncovered a large number of animal bones discarded by fast-food loving spectators in the 8,000 seater stadium.

Experts have also discovered remains of a number of miniature bowls, decorated with pictures of gladiators, which may have been sold as cheap souvenirs to fans.

English Heritage archaeologist Tony Wilmott said: 'In many ways nothing's changed. People liked fast food snacks and throwaway souvenirs just as sports fans do today.

'One of the interesting things about this dig is what we've been able to find out about the area immediately outside the amphitheatre.

IC Chester

German Scientists: Europe's Oldest Script Found in Bulgaria

Ancient tablets found in South Bulgaria are written in the oldest European script found ever, German scientists say.

The tablets, unearthed near the Southern town of Kardzhali, are over 35-centuries old, and bear the ancient script of the Cretan (Minoan) civilization, according to scientists from the University of Heidelberg, who examined the foundings. This is the Cretan writing, also known as Linear A script, which dates back to XV-XIV century B.C.

The discovery proves the theory of the Bulgarian archaeologists that the script on the foundings is one of the oldest known to humankind, the archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov announced Wednesday.

Ovcharov, who is heading the archaeological expedition in the ancient Perperikon complex near Kardzhali, called the discovery "revolutionary". It throws a completely different light on Bulgaria's history, he said in an interview for the National Television.

Novinite

Archaeologist tells of digs in Central Asia

Victor Sariyiannidis has spent his life searching for traces of Greeks

Findings from the royal Bactrian graves. A statuette of a goat (right), exquisitely fine work cast in gold, a gold ring engraved with a seated Athena and an inscription, and a gold clasp . These are just some of the 20,000 ancient pieces of jewelry Sariyiannidis unearthed at the site of Tilia Tepe in 1979 in what is now Afghanistan.

When Victor Sariyiannidis discovered the 20,000 pieces of gold jewelry in 1979 in Tilia Tepe in Afghanistan — an area once occupied by the Hellenistic state of Bactria (Bactriana) — some thought he was just very lucky.

Some consider Sariyiannidis one of the most distinguished experts of our time, since after excavating with persistence for more than 30 years, he last year brought to light the cradle of the ancient religion of the Zoroastrians. The Zoroastrians lived in the Karakum desert in what was once the ancient kingdom of Margush, or Margiana, in southeastern Turkmenistan.

Today, Sariyiannidis, born 74 years ago in Tashkent, lives in poverty in Greece on a paltry pension from the farmers’ fund, which the Greek state granted him five years ago.

Kathimerini

Panonian gladiators

THE success of the recent movie Gladiator demonstrates continuing public interest in the ancient past. Hungary has some of the richest remains of the ancient Roman Empire. Sites such as Brigetio (Szôny), Arrabona (Gyôr), Aquincum (Óbuda), Campona (Budatétény), Gorsium (Tác), Savaria (Szombathely), Sopianae (Pécs), and Intercisa (Dunaujváros) were just a few of the flowering colonial seats.

After the Via Appia, Pécs has the largest system of Early Christian catacombs. There is a stunning bronze portrait bust of Emperor Marcus Aurelius is in the collection of the Museum of Antiquities of Pécs. Ruling from AD 121-180, his conquest of the Germanic tribes in the north is seen in the opening scenes of Gladiator, (with the aging Emperor played by Richard Harris). Known as the "Philosopher-Emperor", Marcus Aurelius wrote part of his Meditations in Pannonia (western Hungary).

Ongoing archaeological digs and research reveal more and more details about the varied peoples who lived in the western part of the Carpathian Basin under the mighty Roman Empire from the first to the fifth centuries AD. For more than 500 years, from circa 30 BC to 495 AD, the area between the Danube and the Dráva Rivers was known to the Roman world as the colony of Pannonia.

The Budapest Sun

Earliest European 31,000 years old

Fossilised human bones found in the Czech Republic have been dated back to some 31,000 years, which scientists say confirms them as the oldest known examples of Homo sapiens found in Europe.

Austrian and US scientists publish their carbon-dating results in today's issue of the journal Nature.

An upper jaw, teeth and the skull of a female were found in a cave in Moravia in the 19th century, but scientists have debated how old they are.

University of Vienna researcher Dr Eva Wild and colleagues used a technique called accelerator mass spectrometry to analyse carbon 14 isotopes in the dental remains.

News in Science

Research fuels debate over die-off of prehistoric Neanderthals

For decades, scientists have argued over the disappearance of Neanderthals from prehistoric Europe about 30,000 years ago. Did they die from some mysterious disease? Or did modern humans simply supplant them, either by obliterating them or by interbreeding?

In research reported today in the journal Nature, an Austrian-led team has added more fuel to the debate, confirming that fossil remains from a famous archaeological site in the Czech Republic are 31,000 years old — putting them right at the period when Neanderthals vanished.

The bones from the Mladec Caves represent the only known remains in Europe that can be linked directly to "Aurignacian" stone and bone tools, ornaments and other artifacts made 30,000 to 40,000 years ago, when humans first began to fashion objects with aesthetic as well as utilitarian purposes.

While the bones, from six separate individuals found in the caves, are generally regarded as "modern," some of the fossil skulls show "archaic" features — among them heavy brow ridges and protruding bone in the back of the head — that are more associated with Neanderthals.

"These characteristics could be explained by interbreeding, or seen as Neanderthal ancestry," said team leader Eva Maria Wild, of the University of Vienna. "The finds are essential in the ongoing debate over the emergence of modern humans in Europe. The discussions will continue."

Seattle Times

Cypriots took wine to the world

The ancient Greeks took wine to the masses, the Romans to the world. But it was the innovation of Cypriots that showed them how, say archaeologists.

Italian experts claim to have unearthed evidence suggesting not only did Cyprus introduce clay drinking goblets and wine jars for transportation further afield, but it had at least a 1,500 year head start on any of its Mediterranean cousins on the art of making wine.

"It's an amazing discovery," says research head Maria Rosaria Belgiorno.

"The most ancient wine seems to have been found in a 5,000-5,500 BC vase in Ajjii Firuz Tepe in Iran ... but in the Mediterranean, the earliest examples of wine-making have been in Cyprus."

MSN News

Origin of new British Museum exhibit looks a bit wobbly

Visitors to the British Museum unfamiliar with the date of the wheel's invention may have been puzzled by a primitive painting in the Roman Britain gallery this week, showing a caveman pushing a supermarket trolley.

The earliest recorded wheels, as every schoolboy knows, are from Mesopotamia around 5,500 years ago. Trolleys were first used in the Piggly-Wiggly Supermarket chain [really], Oklahoma City, in 1937. The bizarre exhibit, stuck to a wall with double-sided tape and labelled "Early Man Goes to Market" was, of course, a hoax.

The British Museum had fallen victim to Banksy, Britain's most notorious and inventive "art terrorist" who specialises in sticking fake objects to the walls of major galleries and museums and waiting to see how long it takes for curators to notice.

Embarrassingly for the British Museum, it may have been several days.

The Telegraph