Ancient Tablets Unearthed In Sivas

SIVAS - Tablets belonged to Hittite and Asurian trade colonies, and stone-relief of Hittite gods were unearthed during excavations in Kayalipinar ruins near Yildizeli town of central Turkish city of Sivas, sources told the A.A on Tuesday.

German Marburg University Department of Archaeology Chairman Prof. Dr. Andreas Muller Karpe headed this year's excavations in the ruins.

During the 50-day excavations, tablets belonged to Hittite and Asurian trade colonies, and stone-relief of Hittite gods were brought to light.

Ancient people of Asia Minor and Syria who flourished from 1600 to 1200 B.C., the Hittites, a nation of Indo-European connection, were supposed to have entered Cappadocia around 1800 B.C.

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Experts warn of huge cost of excavating prison site

The site for the proposed new 'super-prison' in west Dublin is embroiled in fresh controversy today, with archaeologists reportedly warning that it will cost tens of millions of euro to excavate.

Reports this morning said the archaeologists were predicting that the site would cost millions more to excavate than the €30m the Government has paid for it.

The prediction is based on aerial photographs of the Thornton Hall site, which experts say is part of an archaeological landscape stretching back to prehistoric times.

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Mary Rose weighs anchor at last

The anchor and a section of the bow from Henry VIII's flagship Mary Rose have been raised on the anniversary of the recovery of its hull.

Tuesday's operation was carried out in the Solent, off Portsmouth, Hampshire.

The anchor was raised to the surface just after 1030 BST - 460 years after the warship sank - with part of the bow following just over an hour later.

The operation coincided with the anniversary of the raising of the main section of the hull in 1982.

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More Flores 'Hobbits' described

Scientists have discovered more remains of the strange, small people that once lived on Flores island, Indonesia.

The announcement last year detailing a single, partial skeleton caused a sensation when it was claimed to be a human species new to science.

Homo floresiensis, as it was called, was little more than a metre tall and lived 18,000 years ago.

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Skelett im Wald entdeckt

Wertbühl: Kinder finden «historische» Überreste eines Menschen

wertbühl. In einem Wald bei Wertbühl fanden Knaben letzte Woche einen Schädel. Für die Mordkommission ist er eindeutig zu alt. Jetzt ermittelt das Amt für Archäologie.

Der siebenjährige Pascal Egger aus Wertbühl staunte nicht schlecht, als ihm plötzlich ein Kiefer vor die Füsse fiel. Das war am letzten Mittwoch gewesen. Pascal war gerade damit beschäftigt, an der Höhle zu graben, die er mit seinen beiden Brüdern, seinem Cousin und weiteren Freunden aus dem Steilhang grub. Die Stelle liegt im Wald nördlich von Wertbühl.

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Footsteps from the past: the ancient village of Skara Brae

SCOTLAND'S towns and settlements are proud of their roots, but few can boast the antiquity of Skara Brae on the Orkney Islands.

Originally built around 3100BC to house a small group of Neolithic farming families, the abandoned houses with their stone dressers, beds and hearths provide a remarkable glimpse of a lifestyle that has long disappeared.

Of course the village developed slowly, as any village today, but Skara Brae is notable for the quality of its remains. The historic site still provides a powerful message, even for the 21st century visitor used to home comforts which the early Orcadians never knew.

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Greek archaeologists unravel 1,400-year-old grave tragedy

Deep under a quiet valley in southern Greece, archaeologists are struggling to unravel a 1,400-year-old tragedy that wiped out a rural Byzantine community.

Sometime in the late 6th century, a group of at least 33 young men, women, and children sought sanctuary from an unknown terror in a sprawling subterranean network of caves in the eastern Peloponnese.

Carrying supplies of food and water, oil-lamps, a large Christian cross and their small savings, the refugees apparently hunkered down to wait out the threat. But experts believe the sanctuary became a tomb once supplies ran out.

"In the end, they knew there was no hope of escape and just lay down to die in the pitch black," archaeologist Dimitris Hatzilazarou told The Associated Press.

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Raising of bow may solve mystery of the 'Mary Rose'

One of the enduring mysteries of British naval history moved a step closer to being solved as archaeologists raised remaining parts of the Mary Rose.

Historians have been baffled as to why Henry VIII's flagship foundered and sank in the Solent off Portsmouth in 1545, watched by the monarch, as it set sail to repel a French invasion force. But after a painstaking two-year project to recover the central part of the ship's bow, which also resulted in the raising of its massive anchor, specialists will have one of the final pieces in the Mary Rose jigsaw. Until now, the design and shape of the front of the ship has been unknown.

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Security of Archaeological Heritage

First Announcement
Welcome to the international meeting "Security of Archaeological Heritage"!

"Archaeological Consulting" Co. Ltd. was founded in 2004 and works in the field of protection and popularization of archaeological heritage at the Russian North-West. From the very beginning of our activity we came to idea of preparation of the international meeting devoted to security of archaeological heritage. It is obvious for each archaeologist that the providing of security for the archaeological sites, their preservation in the conditions of modern growing building or any other economic activity is one of the most important topics for today archaeology all over the world. Especially this problem is very urgent for the archaeologists in Russia and the other post-Soviet countries as far as the appropriate legislative base was formed there just a few years ago and the accepted laws just start to work. On the other hand, right now the capital development is growing in Russia very rapidly. One more aspect of this topic is (alas still) modern military actions and the archaeological sites.

We consider this conference as a special meeting, which will pursue the following goals:
international exchange of the experience in all fields of preservation of archaeological heritage (legislative initiatives, public activity, field works, etc.);
informational support of the issues, which will be discussed at the meeting via mass media;
assistance for integration of Russian archaeological heritage into world-wide context.

And of course we sincerely hope that the meeting will provide wide opportunities for foreign archaeologists to become more closely to Russian archaeological heritage and, on the other hand, - will involve more Russian archaeologists into world-wide archaeology.

Further details from the Website ...

Low tide reveals lost city find

Archaeologists believe that photographs taken along the Suffolk coast may prove that the ancient city of Dunwich may have been connected with shipbuilding.

Recent exceptionally low tides have revealed timbers and banks that experts say may be connected with shipbuilding at Dunwich nearly 500 years ago.

Photographs taken by members of the Suffolk Underwater Studies group show piles driven into the sea bed.

Director Mr Stuart Bacon said "They might well be a shipyard slipway."

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Archaeology gang’s big adventure

A LAKE District trip into the past is proving to be just the ticket for one of the north’s most popular archaeological gatherings.

Monks and miners, farmers and raiders will be put under the spotlight, along with the last working metal mine in the area, near Keswick, at the fourth Lake District Annual Archaeology Conference on November 26.

The event promises to be a feast of fieldwork and research.

It is traditionally a sell out and organisers at the Lake District National Park Authority urge people to book early

Anyone wanting further information on the conference, which will be held at Lakes School, Troutbeck Bridge, Windermere, should call 01539 724555

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Discovery of a Roman dike in Raversijde

In Raversijde (near Ostend) archaeologists recently found a dike from the Roman period. According to the excavators, the discovery will shed new light on the settlement history of the Flemish coast during the Roman period. Since 1992 a medieval fishermen's village is under excavation in Raversijde. Occasionaly older material was found, but the dike is the first structural remain from the Roman period. The dike is at least 12 m long and 1 m high.

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Pyramid probe may find mystery chamber

Egypt will send a robot up narrow shafts in the Great Pyramid to try to solve one of the mysteries of the 4,500-year-old pharaonic mausoleum, Egypt's top archaeologist said.

Zahi Hawass said he would inspect a robot designed to climb the two narrow shafts which might lead to an undiscovered burial chamber in the pyramid of Cheops at Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo.

Hawass said the shafts and stone panels which block them could mark the location of the burial chamber of Cheops, also known as Khufu. That would mean none of the chambers already discovered in the pyramid were the pharaoh's real tomb.

The shafts were last probed in September 2002, when a robot drilled a hole through one of the stone panels to reveal a small empty space at the end of which lay another panel, which appeared cracked and fragile.

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Farming endangers prehistoric roads

SOME OF Britain’s oldest roads are being endangered by environmental change caused by rural development, a study in the Somerset Levels has found. Two late prehistoric wooden trackways, both scheduled ancient monuments, have been completely lost because of the drying out of prehistoric wetlands by arable farming. A unique Iron Age wetland settlement of about 400 BC has also been badly damaged, along with nine other nationally important waterlogged archaeological sites.

The study has shown that other fragile archaeological sites could be all but destroyed by agricultural drainage within a century. The threat to these sites is in the summer, when the ground-water table drops below the level of the waterlogged remains, drying them out. Current farming practices are not providing sufficient irrigation of peat soil to preserve the monuments. While the Sweet Track, dated at about 3800 BC, is within the Shapwick Heath National Nature Reserve where a purpose-built pumping system protects it from desiccation, it is an isolated instance of a protected site.

The focus was on 13 of the most important sites on the Somerset peat moors near Glastonbury, including prehistoric trackways, villages and other monuments. It showed that some sites had already been lost while others were suffering gradual decay.

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Cave discovery dispels lynx myth

Bones found in a cave in North Yorkshire 100 years ago have dispelled myths about the extinction of one of Britain's hunting cats.

Four bones of a lynx were discovered in Moughton Fell Fissure Cave, near Settle, in the early 19th Century.

Experts had believed the lynx became extinct in the UK 4,000 years ago but new carbon dating suggests they were still around in early medieval times.

The findings have been described as of "national significance" by researchers.

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Andritsa Cave's chamber of secrets

Late 6th-century finds retrieved from the Argolid cave and exhibited at theByzantine and Christian Museum begin to unfold the story of a group of peoplewho sought refuge there and slowly starved to death

A NATURAL shelter in case of inclement weather and dangerous situations, and occasionally the place to practise cult rituals, caves often keep their secrets hermetically sealed. The Andritsa Cave in the Municipality of Lerna in southwestern Argolid, a beautiful location with a rock decoration of stalactites and stalagmites, has its own story to tell: a violent, tragic incident from the so-called dark ages of Byzantium. It's just beginning to yield its secrets.

A preliminary investigation in the end of January 2004 brought to light a sealed archaeological assemblage with no signs of later human intervention dating from the last quarter of the 6th century. The work was done by the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Speleology of Southern Greece and the Greek Speleological Exploration Society, whose head, Konstantinos Zoupis, carried out the initial mapping of the cave. A large number of clay vessels (amphoras, pithamphoras, jugs and oinochoai) and lamps and many metal artefacts and coins lay scattered in the cave's large chamber measuring about 75x65m, among the remains of human skeletons. Representative finds retrieved from the cave are currently displayed in large clusters - as they were found - on the ground floor (Villa Ilissia) of the Byzantine and Christian Museum, modelled to resemble the interior of a cave for the purposes of the temporary exhibition Andritsa Cave - Fateful Refuge running till November 15.

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Aboriginal remains will be returned

Aboriginal body parts that scientists and explorers took to Britain in the 19th and 20th centuries can be returned to Australia, after the enactment of a new British law.

The British Museum and the Natural History Museum are among nine institutions that now plan to return human remains to indigenous communities around the world.

The Culture Minister, David Lammy, said the British Government had changed the law in "response to the claims of indigenous peoples, particularly in Australia, for the return of ancestral remains".

The newly enacted section of the Human Tissue Act allows museums to return remains that "are reasonably believed to be under 1000 years in age".

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Cambridge University Professor Paul Cartledge Discusses Parthenon in Lecture

He Maintains That Parthenon Sculptures in British Museum Should be Returned to Greece

Paul Cartledge, a professor of Greek History at Cambridge University, presented the Winslow lecture titled “Reuniting the Parthenon Marbles?” in the College Chapel on October 4. In his talk, Cartledge discussed different conceptions of the Parthenon and addressed his belief that the Parthenon sculptures currently being housed in the British Museum should be returned to Greece.

The Parthenon, which was constructed between 447 and 432 B.C., is, as Cartledge noted, “famous for being famous.” It is an icon for modernity as much as it is also an ancient ruin. In 1687, the Parthenon was hit by cannonfire and 28 of its 58 columns were destroyed. Later, in 1801, Lord Elgin was granted a permit to work on the Acropolis, and he ended up removing many of the broken sculptures to England; some were even cut down for ease of transportation. Eventually, as Cartledge explained, the British Museum purchased Elgin’s marbles on behalf of the House of Commons; these sculptures have been in the Museum’s possession since 1816.

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Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens opens 25th anniversary symposium on Monday

The Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens (AAIA) is celebrating the 25th anniversary of its foundation with a three-day symposium that opens Monday in Athens.

President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias has been invited to attend the symposium, which is supported by the Australian Embassy in Athens and the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE), while guest speakers include eminent academicians from nine Australian universities, while New South Wales governor Prof. Marie Bashir will also be attending.

The Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens was established on 23 April 1981 following negotiations with the Greek government. The Institute is similar to other scholarly institutions in Athens maintained by major European and American countries, some of these have been in existence for well over a century.

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An 'African Stonehenge' discovered in Tunisia

An ancient megalithic site, similar for its sheer size to the famous Stonehenge complex, has been recently discovered in Africa by a team of Italian archaeologists. According to an article published by "Archeologia Viva" magazine, a team of environmental scientists from the L'Aquila University found a huge megalithic site in Tunisia. The site consists of 18 dolmens made with stone slabs up to 3 tons in weight and surrounded by megalithic walls, with a series of stone circles and an impressive stone row with 30 standing stones aligned to the East-West axis. The megalithic site is considered the largest ever found in Africa.

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