TAC FESTIVAL 2008 PREVIEW

Location: Worldwide Length: 26 min.

The world’s best films and videos on archaeology and indigenous peoples are showcased at The Archaeology Channel International Film and Video Festival, to be held 20-24 May 2008 in the Soreng Theater at the Hult Center for the Performing Arts in Eugene, Oregon, USA. The Keynote Speaker will be Dr. Donny George, former Iraq Museum Director. This preview includes a short clip from each of the 18 competing productions. Film-makers from 17 countries submitted 81 entries for this event, which is one of the world’s few contests for heritage film.

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Emperor Nero's gate discovered in Cologne

The gate, found complete with 11 meters of wall, was a goods-delivery entrance to the Roman town from its river port outside on the Rhine.

Cologne, Germany -- A town gate that was probably built with a grant from Roman Emperor Nero has been discovered in Cologne, Germany during work on a new underground train line, archaeologists said.

"This is finest Roman handiwork," said Hansgerd Hellenkemper, director of the Roman museum in the city.

The gate, found complete with 11 meters of wall, was a goods-delivery entrance to the Roman town from its river port outside on the Rhine. The sturdy Roman wall protected Cologne for 1,000 years.

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Bronze Age axe 'factory' survey

Archaeologists are hoping to unearth evidence of what they believe to have been one of Bronze Age Britain's largest axe-making "factories".

Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) said the axes, made from a distinctive type rock - known as picrite - had been found throughout the country.

A three-week survey at the 4,000-year-old site will start soon in Hyssington, near Welshpool, Powys.

The trust's Chris Martin said it may have been a large industrial centre.

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Cave woman is laid to rest after 1,900 years

THE remains of a woman have been laid to rest in a hidden location in the Yorkshire Dales – about 1,900 years after she died.
She was returned in a special ceremony to the mysterious limestone cave where she was discovered by two Yorkshire divers more than a decade ago.

Phillip Murphy, an academic at Leeds University, and his friend Andrew Goddard found the woman's skull by chance during a diving mission at the cave, dubbed the Wolf Den, in 1997.

Carbon dating tests confirmed that the remains dated back to Roman times, and further visits to the site unearthed the bones of some medieval wild dogs and the first set of prehistoric cave footprints ever seen in Britain.

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Neandertals Ate Their Veggies, Tooth Study Shows

Tiny bits of plant material found in the teeth of a Neandertal skeleton unearthed in Iraq provide the first direct evidence that the human ancestors ate vegetation, researchers say.

Little is known about diet of Neandertals (also spelled Neanderthals), although it's widely assumed that they ate more than just meat.

Much of what is known about their eating habits has come from indirect evidence, such as animal remains found at Neandertal sites and chemical signatures called isotopes detected in their teeth.

The new hard evidence is microfossils of plant material that investigators found in the dental plaque of 35,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth, said lead study author Amanda Henry, a graduate student in hominid paleobiology at The George Washington University.

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Plague killed Roman grave bodies

A study into a mass Roman grave excavated in Gloucester appears to show the dead had been killed by plague.

The remains of around 91 individuals, uncovered in 2005, are part of Wooton cemetery which was the burial ground for the fortress at nearby Kingsholm.

The bodies appear to have been thrown in haphazardly during the second half of the 2nd Century.

Oxford Archaeology who analysed the remains say they are the victims of an epidemic, perhaps the Antonine Plague.

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Historian hopeful fort will be found

THE END of a 40-year search for Dorchester's Roman Fort could be in sight for leading archaeologist Bill Putnam.

He is pinning his hopes on builders exposing a road that tracked across the area that became the Roman town of Durnovaria.

Part of the road has already been found during excavations in the town centre.

But the fort itself has eluded the retired Bournemouth University archaeology lecturer.

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LINDOW MAN - A BOG BODY MYSTERY AT MANCHESTER MUSEUM

One of the British Museum’s most popular exhibits is on loan to Manchester Museum for the next year.

Lindow Man was discovered in 1984 on Lindow Moss in Cheshire. Since then scientists, archaeologists, historians, curators - and the public - have been eager to find out more about him.

A Bog Body Mystery looks at the story of Lindow Man through seven different inquisitive minds, including those of a forensic archaeologist, a peat digger, a curator and a druid priest.

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Ancient timbers restored by sugar

Timbers from three medieval bridges in Leicestershire are being restored after a donation of 40 tonnes of sugar.

The 11th Century timbers were found in Hemington Quarry in 1993 and are being preserved at Snibston Discovery Park.

The wood is immersed in liquid sugar as part of the conservation process. The sugar crystals gradually replace the water in the wood and prevent warping.

The final batch of sugar - donated to the county council by British Sugar - was delivered on Tuesday.

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Turkish site a Neolithic 'supernova'

URFA, Turkey - As a child, Klaus Schmidt used to grub around in caves in his native Germany in the hope of finding prehistoric paintings. Thirty years later, as a member of the German Archaeological Institute, he found something infinitely more important: a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable.

"This place is a supernova," said Mr. Schmidt, standing under a lone tree on a windswept hilltop 35 miles north of the Syrian border.

"Within a minute of first seeing it, I knew I had two choices: go away and tell nobody, or spend the rest of my life working here."

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Terracotta army has egg on its face

China's terracotta army, a collection of 7000 soldier and horse figures in the mausoleum of the country's first emperor, was covered with beaten egg when it was made, scientists say.

According to German and Italian chemists who have analysed samples from several figurines, the egg was as a binder for colourful paints, which went over a layer of lacquer.

"Egg paint is normally very stable, and not soluble in water ... This makes it less sensitive to humidity and moisture," says German co-author Catharina Blaensdorf, a scientist at the Technical University of Munich.

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Archaeologists in city centre dig

Archaeologists have started digging up a site in the centre of Birmingham to try and find out more about the city's industrial heritage.

The dig is taking place at the home of the new city centre library, between Baskerville House and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in Centenary Square.

Experts said they hoped to uncover the remains of an old canal, a mill and a brass works.

The work is expected to last a total of four weeks.

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Ancient finds unearthed at dig site

THE Romans certainly knew how to build well.

Archaeologists have discovered the remains of the original turf wall built on the edge of the River Medway in about 70AD.

Their discoveries, found in the winter but kept secret until now, were made while they were exploring the flint-and-brick wall that eventually replaced it.

Archaeology South-East carried out the dig at the Rochester Riverside site as part of the preparations by Medway Renaissance, the council's regeneration team.

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Finding Pre-Clovis Humans in the Oregon High Desert: An Interview with Dennis Jenkins

Location: Oregon Length: 40 min.

The 2008 announcement of early human DNA from desert rockshelters in eastern Oregon may be the final nail in the coffin of the Clovis-first hypothesis. In this interview, Dr. Dennis Jenkins, speaking from the site where his field team recovered clearly pre-Clovis coprolites, relates why and how the excavation was carried out, explains the significance of the find and shares his personal reflections on making a momentous discovery. Images within the interview show the surrounding environment and the student field crew.

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Time Team archaeologists dig deep to find ancient village

THE site of a North-East medieval village is to be the subject of a television programme.

The Channel 4 archaeology documentary Time Team spent three days excavating in Ulnaby, on the outskirts of Darlington.

The series, which is presented by Tony Robinson, who played Baldrick in the comedy series Blackadder, was trying to establish when the village was founded.

The village is a Scheduled Ancient Monument because it is so well preserved.

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Iron Age man's remains on display

The remains of an Iron Age man found nearly 2,000 years after his death have gone on display in Manchester.

Lindow Man, who has been nicknamed Pete Marsh, was found in peat on Lindow Moss near Mobberley, Cheshire, in 1984.

Chemicals in the bog preserved the body and researchers found his throat was slit and he was garrotted, possibly as a sacrificial victim.

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Flores 'hobbit' walked more like a clown than Frodo

Tolkien's hobbits walked an awful long way, but the real "hobbit", Homo floresiensis, would not have got far.

Its flat, clown-like feet probably limited its speed to what we would consider a stroll, and kept its travels short, says Bill Jungers, an anthropologist at the State University of New York in Stony Brook.

"It's never going to win the 100-yard dash, and it's never going to win the marathon," he says.

He presented his conclusion at last week's meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Columbus, Ohio.

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Neues Forschungsinstitut für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie geplant

Schleswig-Holstein plant die Einrichtung eines neuen Forschungsinstituts für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie. Langfristiges Ziel des Landes sei es, das Forschungsinstitut für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft zu verankern, sagte Schleswig-Holsteins Wissenschaftsstaatssekretär Jost de Jager bei einer Tagung in Schloß Gottorf.

Das Land Schleswig-Holstein plant, ein neues Forschungsinstitut für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie einzurichten. Das kündigte Wissenschaftsstaatssekretär Jost de Jager am 17. April am Rande einer Sitzung des Verwaltungsausschusses der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft im archäologischen Landesmuseum Schloß Gottorf an. Basis des neuen Instituts soll die bestehende Forschung des archäologischen Landesmuseums sein. Langfristiges Ziel des Landes Schleswig-Holstein sei es, das Forschungsinstitut für baltische und skandinavische Archäologie in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft zu verankern, sagte de Jager.

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Grunt Work: Scientists Re-Create Neanderthal Speech

After a nearly 30,000-year silence, Neanderthals are speaking once more, thanks to researchers who have modelled the hominids' larynx to replicate the possible sounds they would have made, scientists say.

The work, led by Robert McCarthy, an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University at Boca Raton, is based on Neanderthal fossils found in France.

The item includes an audio snippet in which a computer synthesizer replicates how a Neanderthal would say an "e" and compares this with the same sound as made by modern humans.

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Neanderthals speak out after 30,000 years

Talk about a long silence – no one has heard their voices for 30,000 years. Now the long-extinct Neanderthals are speaking up – or at least a computer synthesiser is doing so on their behalf.

Robert McCarthy, an anthropologist at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton has used new reconstructions of Neanderthal vocal tracts to simulate the voice. He says the ancient human's speech lacked the "quantal vowel" sounds that underlie modern speech.

Quantal vowels provide cues that help speakers with different size vocal tracts understand one another, says McCarthy, who was talking at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Columbus, Ohio, on April 11.

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