Fundraising for political campaign - Campaign to Save Tara

The Campaign to Save Tara intends to mount a political campaign for the
upcoming General Election in Ireland that is due in May/June 2007. We
consider this to be the final opportunity to Save Tara. With that in
mind, the Campaign is mounting a fundraising effort to finance this
endeavour.

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Castell Aberlleiniog

Following the article "New life for castle that has kept its secrets for 900 years" published on this weblog on Saturday, March 24, Mark Morgan (of Egyptology Blog) has written to say that there are online pictures of the castle at:

http://www.anglesey.info/Ancient-monuments-page-5.htm

CAVE SURVEY SHOWS WHAT MADE DES-RES DWELLINGS FOR PREHISTORIC MAN

Modern house hunters might be looking for on-street parking or easy access to the shops, but a new survey of caves in the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales is helping to show how prehistoric man chose his dwellings.

The three-year-long survey looked at some 190 caves in the Peak District and 230 in the Yorkshire Dales and was organised by archaeologists from the University of Sheffield and the University of Bradford.

The project team systematically recorded the setting and dimensions of each cave and looked for archaeological deposits in them to establish what features made particular caves attractive for use in the past. Many previously unrecorded caves were included in the study.

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THE HOME-HUNTING HABITS OF CAVEMEN

Pre-historic cave-dwellers may have placed the same emphasis on finding the right location for their homes as modern house-hunters, a new study has revealed.

Four hundred caves in the Peak District and Yorkshire Dales National Parks were studied for the £95,000 project funded by English Heritage.

It found that the size of the cave, the direction of view from its entrance and its location were all important in determining whether particular caves were used 6,000 years ago.

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Archaeology study on site of possible reservoir

Teams of archaeological experts will be scouring part of the countryside near Lewes for evidence of historic finds.
Archaeologists are to carry out detailed site investigation work on land at Clay Hill, just outside Ringmer.

The work forms part of two-year-long planning, geological and environmental surveys being carried out by South East Water to determine if the site is suitable for a new reservoir.

Archaeology experts will use both conventional methods and 21st century technology to carry out the investigations this spring and summer. They will also be consulting with Ringmer Historical Society.

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Man's earliest direct ancestors looked more apelike than previously believed

First humans retained surprisingly apelike features, NYU study reveals

Modern man"s earliest known close ancestor was significantly more apelike than previously believed, a New York University College of Dentistry professor has found.

A computer-generated reconstruction by Dr. Timothy Bromage, a paleoanthropologist and Adjunct Professor of Biomaterials and of Basic Science and Craniofacial Biology, shows a 1.9 million-year-old skull belonging to Homo rudolfensis, the earliest member of the human genus, with a surprisingly small brain and distinctly protruding jaw, features commonly associated with more apelike members of the hominid family living as much as three million years ago.

Dr. Bromage"s findings call into question the extent to which H. rudolfensis differed from earlier, more apelike hominid species. Specifically, he is the first scientist to produce a reconstruction of the skull that questions renowned paleontologist and archeologist Richard Leakey"s depiction of modern man"s earliest direct ancestor as having a vertical facial profile and a relatively large brain – an interpretation widely accepted until now.

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Viking woman had roots near the Black Sea

The bones of one of the women found in one of Norway's most famous Viking graves suggest her ancestors came from the area around the Black Sea.

The woman herself was "Norwegian," claims Professor Per Holck at the University of Oslo, who has conducted analyses of DNA material taken from her bones.

But Holck says that while she came from the area that today is Norway, her forefathers may have lived n the Black Sea region.

Holck, attached to the anthropological division of the university's anatomy institute (Anatomisk institutt), isn't willing to reveal more details pending publication of an article in the British magazine "European Archaeology" later this year.

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Fundraising for archaeological report on Tara / M3

TaraWatch group started a fundraising towards the cost of generating a professional archaeological assessment of the M3 motorway at the Hill of Tara (Ireland). TaraWatch has opened a PayPal account for the sole purpose of raising money to pay for an archaeological consultancy company to assess the 38 sites being excavated between Navan and Dunshaughlin and generate a report. This report wil be used for complaints to the European Union, World Monuments Fund, and other bodies. This is considered an emergency situation, and time is of the essence, as this may be the last realistic hope for saving Tara from the M3 motorway.

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Shipwreck mystery uncovered on beach

Have the shifting sands of Montrose beach revealed the other half of a 19th century shipwreck uncovered last year?

It was about this time last year that the bow section of a wooden boat, long buried beneath the sands, was exposed for a brief period by the movement of the tides at the north end of the beach.

Last week another wreck partially reappeared, around half a mile further along the beach.

“It is of similar construction to last year’s wreck and this time it is a stern section, with the rudder still clearly visible,” said local shipping historian John Aitken.

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Save Tara float wins prize in Trim parade

The Campaign to save Tara participated in three festival parades in
County Meath on Saturday in Athboy, Trim and Navan. The Campaign is a
cultural and environmental collective of voluntary organisations and
concerned citizens who feel strongly that the Tara Skryne valley is of
national and international importance and its integrity should be
preserved.

The Campaign entry in each of the parades consisted of two floats and a
colour party with three women symbolizing the three ancient Goddesses of
Ireland; Ériu, Banbha, and Fódhla, who traditionally stand for
Sovereignty, Wisdom and Justice. The triple Goddesses upheld that these
three principles are being breached by the the routing of the proposed
M3 tolled motorway through the Tara/ Skryne Valley.

On a day when Irish culture, history, values and identity were being
celebrated worldwide the Campaign to save Tara called on members of the
Government, particularly the Taoiseach, the Minister for Transport and
the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government to
reverse the decision to build the M3 on a landscape which is both
timeless and priceless.

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Spain and Britain to dive for treasure on 1694 wreck

Three hundred years after the British warship Sussex sank in a storm off southern Spain, researchers are preparing to dive to the site to see if it was carrying a fortune in gold coins.

Spain and Britain said on Friday they had agreed to start underwater exploration to find the ship that sank near Gibraltar in 1694. Any treasure will be claimed by Britain, the Spanish foreign ministry said in a statement.

According to the Council for British Archaeology's (CBA) website, the Sussex was taking money to the Duke of Savoy in Italy in exchange for his help in the war against French King Louis XIV.

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New life for castle that has kept its secrets for 900 years

AN ancient castle which has been off limits to the public since it was built in 1088 is about to reveal its secrets for the first time.

Aberlleiniog Castle, located on the south east corner of Anglesey, has been witness to a long and fascinating series of owners and events.

The little-known castle has been the site of a murder mystery, love triangles and even fatal duels, but few people are aware of its significance and no one has been allowed to visit for almost a thousand years.

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Delving into past of Roman village sites

ARCHAEOLOGISTS who have unearthed six former Roman villa estates in the west of the county will unveil their latest findings at the end of the month.
More than 100 volunteers, consisting of historians, archaeologists and villagers have conducted a detailed analysis of the landscape around Bugbrooke, Flore, Harpole, Nether Heyford and Weedon in the last three years.

Although nine Roman settlements were found in total, they have successfully identified six Roman villas dating from the third and fourth centuries.
The Community Landscape Archaeology Project, called Local People, Local Past, has been funded by a £15,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery fund through the Countryside Agency and £6,000 from parish collections.

The project has been spearheaded by Stephen Young, an archaeologist who helped excavate several Roman sites in the Nether Heyford area during the past 10 years.

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Why the Greeks could hear plays from the back row

An ancient theatre filters out low-frequency background noise.

The wonderful acoustics for which the ancient Greek theatre of Epidaurus is renowned may come from exploiting complex acoustic physics, new research shows.

The theatre, discovered under a layer of earth on the Peloponnese peninsula in 1881 and excavated, has the classic semicircular shape of a Greek amphitheatre, with 34 rows of stone seats (to which the Romans added a further 21).

Its acoustics are extraordinary: a performer standing on the open-air stage can be heard in the back rows almost 60 metres away. Architects and archaeologists have long speculated about what makes the sound transmit so well.

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Norman House find

Contractors working on the £12 million revamp of Shrewsbury’s Music Hall have made a startling discovery after uncovering a Norman house within its structure.

An archaeological evaluation of the site has revealed that Vaughan’s Mansion, which was originally thought to date back to Tudor times, is actually a defensive house which could be 800 years old.

Councillor Charles Armstrong, portfolio holder for leisure, said the Music Hall was a “time capsule of history” and said the shock discovery would lead to the Mansion becoming a key focal point for the whole scheme.

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Turning back time to York 1300

RESEARCHERS from York Archaeological Trust have identified a remarkable artefact which shows that in 1300, York was at the forefront of science and engineering.

The object, a small circular copper-alloy disc, was discovered during excavations on the site of the former York College For Girls in Low Petergate.

It has been cleaned to reveal an abbreviated Latin inscription around its edge - SIGNUM ROBERTI HOROLOGIARII - which translates as "The seal of Robert the clockmaker".

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Contested Getty antiquities arrive in Greece

The J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has returned two ancient masterpieces long claimed by Greece on grounds of illegal provenance, the Greek culture ministry said on Friday.

The items, a gold funerary wreath and a marble woman's torso, arrived on Thursday evening on an Olympic Airlines flight from New York in "excellent condition", a ministry official told AFP.

"The antiquities will be stored at the Archaeological Museum in Athens, and will be officially presented by Minister George Voulgarakis on March 29," she said.

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Italy recovers hundreds of artifacts

Italian police said Thursday they have recovered about 300 ancient artifacts and thousands of fragments believed to have been illegally excavated in central Italy.

Six people were under investigation on possible charges that included trafficking of antiquities, but nobody has been arrested, Rome Carabinieri police said.

The items recovered include vases, jars and cups. Among the most precious objects was an 11-inch Greek vase dating to 600 B.C.-580 B.C. and featuring black figures. Some of the items were sold at the Porta Portese flea market, held every Sunday in Rome.

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Archaeology may delay flats plan

Archaeologists could be called in to search for the remains of a medieval hospital on the site of a former nightclub in Shropshire.

The Hospital St John is thought to have been situated where the Old Vic club is currently, on the corner of Victoria Road and Roft Street in Oswestry.

Developers want to convert the Victorian building into 24 apartments, adding an extension on the east side.

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Archaeologists sniff out world's oldest perfumes

Archaeologists have unearthed the world's oldest perfumes on the island of Cyprus - 4,000-year-old sweet smelling concoctions brewed from lavender, bay, rosemary, pine or coriander, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The discovery was made at a 43,000 sq ft site at Pyrgos, on the south of the island, where the Italian team believes there was a vast perfume-making facility. Among the equipment left after the area was buried by an earthquake around 1850 BC were distilling stills, mixing bowls, and alabaster perfume amphorae. Lead archaeologist Maria Rosa Belgiorno enthused: "We were astonished at how big the place was. Perfumes must have been produced on an industrial scale."

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