Cats are our oldest friends

The dog is usually thought of as man's best friend.

But a genetic study published today suggests that cats may actually have been a more constant companion of humans over the millennia.

Ancestors of domestic cats are now believed to have started living alongside humans any time from about 10,000 to 130,000 years ago. In the case of dogs, an earlier DNA study showed that they originated from east Asian wolves a mere 15,000 years ago.

The new DNA evidence shows that cats around the world can trace their origins to the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East, which stretches from the eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, revealing how at least five female ancestors from the region gave rise to all the domestic cats alive today.

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Archaeology expert to carry on campaign over M3 route

Archaeology expert Conor Newman, appointed by Minister for the Environment John Gormley to advise on the excavation of the national monument at Tara, has said he will continue to campaign against the routing of the M3 through the area. Login or subscribe for more.

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DNA research identifies homeland of the domestic cat

The ancestry of the world's household cats can be traced to an ancient region of the near east, suggesting an unusually exotic origin for one of the most aloof animals ever to be domesticated by humans.

A major genetic survey of nearly 1,000 feral and domestic cats has revealed that every breed of household cat alive today originates from just five lineages which lived alongside ancient settlers in the Fertile Crescent, an area stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf.

The earliest archaeological evidence for cat domestication dates to 9,500 years ago, when cats were thought to have been kept as pets in parts of Cyprus. But the researchers believe domestication started 3,000 years earlier, with the family feline having broken ranks with its wild relatives as long as 130,000 years ago.

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Dig discovery is oldest 'pet cat'

The oldest known evidence of people keeping cats as pets may have been found by archaeologists.

The discovery of a cat buried with what could be its owner in a Neolithic grave on Cyprus suggests domestication of cats had begun 9,500 years ago.

It was thought the Egyptians were first to domesticate cats, with the earliest evidence dating to 2,000-1,900 BC.

French researchers writing in Science magazine show that the process actually began much earlier than that.

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TEAM UNEARTHS ANCIENT CIRCLE

A Team of archaeologists from Bath has helped uncover an ancient stone circle in one of Britain's most remote locations.

Members of the Bath and Camerton Archaeological Society (Bacas) have taken part in a two-week excavation on Foula, part of the Shetland Islands.

The team was previously involved in an extensive geophysical survey on the island in May last year.

They were invited back to investigate the possibility that an early Bronze Age ceremonial enclosure, aligned to the midwinter sunrise, had been discovered.

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Iron Age 'royal house' discovered

AN IRON Age "royal residence" - one of the biggest roundhouses ever discovered - has been found during an archaeological dig near Inverurie, Aberdeenshire, it was revealed yesterday.

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Die Prinzessin mit den Seidenstrümpfen

Eine seltene Gelegenheit nutzten die Wissenschaftler des Rheinischen Amtes für Denkmalpflege (RAD), um Erkenntnisse über Leopoldine Eleonore, die 1693 im Alter von 13 Jahren verstorbene Schwester des Kurfürsten Jan Wellem zu gewinnen: anlässlich notwendiger Dekontaminierungsarbeiten am Mausoleum in der Düsseldorfer St. Andreaskirche wurde ihr Sarg veröffnet.

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Ancient virus left us vulnerable to Aids

Ancient virus left us vulnerable to Aids

The discipline of "palaeovirology" sheds light on why we are vulnerable to HIV, reports Roger Highfield

The Aids pandemic is the price humanity now has to pay for our ancestors winning an earlier battle against disease millions of years ago, scientists report.

Human resistance to a virus that infected chimpanzees and other apes four million years ago ironically may be at least partially responsible for the susceptibility of humans to HIV infection.
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These findings, reported by Dr Michael Emerman and colleagues at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centre, Seattle, in the journal Science, provide a better understanding of Aids through the study of an ancient relative, a virus called Pan troglodytes endogenous retrovirus, or PtERV1.

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Exploring Human Origins

Exploring human origins in the Great Rift Valley of east Africa has profound significance for people today. In this interview, Dr. Louise Leakey reflects on current knowledge about human evolution through the lens of her own research at Lake Turkana, Kenya, and her life growing up as the third generation of the Leakey family to engage in paleoanthropological research. With remarkable candor and warm personality, Dr. Leakey shows that exploring the deep human past is far more than a purely academic subject.

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Campaigners to protest over M3 route

Protesters opposed to the M3 motorway being routed near the Hill of Tara will today stage a demonstration at Custom House in Dublin.

The campaigners want the Government to halt works through newly discovered archaeological sites along the historic valley in Co Meath.

TaraWatch will urge the new Green Party Minister for Environment John Gormley to stop the major road construction after a number of monuments were uncovered over the weekend.

It said a stone underground chamber and an underground stone passageway with wooden entrances – apparently linked to a complex of underground souterrains - must be saved.

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Tara campaigners to protest outside Gormley's offices

Heritage campaigners are planning a protest outside the offices of Environment Minister John Gormley today as part of their ongoing campaign against the route of the M3 motorway.

The protestors from the TaraWatch group are demanding that Mr Gormley halt construction on the controversial road following the recent discovery of two more archaeological sites.

The group is rubbishing claims by the National Roads Authority that the sites are not unique.

Spokesman Vincent Salafia says it is absurd for anyone to claim that archaeological remains dating back to before the time of Christ are unimportant.

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'Drive around, not over, archaeological sites'

Five years after the US warned the Iraq war would destroy some of the most precious archaeological sites in the world, what have they done? Sent out some more playing cards.

The five of clubs says: "Drive around, not over, archaeological sites."

Presumably there wasn't room on the card for "do not flatten the heart of ancient Babylon to make a helicopter landing pad and tank park; strive not to fill thousands of wire baskets with potshards, bone fragments and mudbrick inscribed with the name of Nebuchadnezzar; if possible avoid digging trenches into the ziggurat, the original Tower of Babel and part of one of the wonders of the ancient world."

It's enough to make archaeologists weep, and some will.

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Medieval Gold Jewellery Found in Thracian Mound in Bulgaria

A total of eleven gold rings, three bracelets and a pair of ear-rings have been found in a Thracian mound between Bulgaria's villages of Topolchane and Kaloyanovo.

The artifacts were discovered in the tombs of three women by one of Bulgaria's best-known archaeologists, Professor Georgi Kitov.

"In 13th-14th century BC there was a medieval settlement near the mound," professor Kitov explained.

The finds will be preserved in the museum of history in the nearby town of Sliven.

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EMAS Field Trip to Godmersham, Kent

Saturday, 7 July

EMAS, the University of London Extra-Mural Archaeological Society, will be conducting a field trip to Godmersham, Kent.

Click here for further details…

Ancient Human Behavior Uncovered

A major question in evolutionary studies today is how early did humans begin to think and behave in ways we would see as fundamentally modern" One index of 'behavioural modernity' is in the appearance of objects used purely as decoration or ornaments. Such items are widely regarded as having symbolic rather than practical value. By displaying them on the body as necklaces, pendants or bracelets or attached to clothing this also greatly increased their visual impact. The appearance of ornaments may be linked to a growing sense of self-awareness and identity amongst humans and any symbolic meanings would have been shared by members of the same group.

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NRA rejects claims of new archaeological find on M3 route

The National Roads Authority is rejecting a claim that an important archaeological find has been made at a site in the path of the new M3 motorway.

Campaign group "TaraWatch" has claimed that two underground stone chambers, believed to date to the Stone Age, have been found in Lismullen in the Tara Valley.

As a result the group wants work to stop on the M3.

However the NRA has insisted that the find is not new.

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Rare carving on display at Cathedral

An "exceptional" 8th century limestone carving is set to return to permanent public display for the first time in more than 1,100 years.

The return of the Lichfield Angel, which was destroyed by a Viking raid in 873 and lay undiscovered under Lichfield Cathedral until 2003, comes as part of an £8 million development plan to dramatically transform the Cathedral's image. Yesterday senior clergy announced the start of the Lichfield Inspires campaign, which aims to change the way tourists and pilgrims view one of the country's most historic cathedrals.

The proposals, which are still in the development stage, will see improvements to the entrance of the building as well as new educational facilities and a visitor centre. It also features the restoration of the artwork, which depicts the Archangel Gabriel. This will go on show permanently from midday on Sunday.

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Campaigners say new archaeological find lying in path of M3 works

The new Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, is being asked to stop work on the M3 motorway after a new archaeological find.

The TaraWatch group, which is campaigning for the motorway to be re-routed, says the underground stone structures, which are located near another archaeological site, are a significant find.

"Its further evidence for what we have been saying all along about this valley - its just full of archaeological wonders," said member Laura Grealish.

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Angel is back after 1,100 years

An 8th-century limestone religious carving is to go on display for the first time in more than 1,100 years.

The Lichfield Angel was destroyed by a Viking raiding party in 873 and its remains lay buried under Lichfield Cathedral until archaeologists dug it up in 2003. The carving, which depicts the Archangel Gabriel, was made originally in 700, and formed part of a shrine to St Chad. It will go on show at the cathedral from noon tomorrow, after 14 months of conservation work.

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3rd-Century Man Preserved in Salt

During the Roman Empire period, just after the fall of Parthia, a salt mine worker from northwestern Iran lost his life following a catastrophic rock collapse. Approximately 1,800 years later, the man's body — preserved in salt — was discovered in the very spot where he died, according to recent Iranian news service accounts and to a report issued by the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies.

Since salt prevents bacterial growth and acts as a drying agent, the unfortunate accident victim became a rare natural mummy. He is the sixth "salt man" to be found at the Chehr Abad mine in Zanjan province.

Removal of the body from its salty environs could damage it, so archaeologists hope to keep the mummy on site for now.

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