PORTSMOUTH, N.H. -- Many people in Portsmouth want a colonial burial ground to stay right where it is.
The state archaeologist held a hearing in the city Thursday to hear suggestions on what to do with remains of African descendants discovered during a construction project last fall. Almost all of the 30 people attending the meeting told Richard Boisvert that the remains should be returned to the site determined to be a "Negro Burial Ground" identified on a 1705 city map.
Many said if the remains are buried at the original cemetery, a monument should be built and the area closed off to traffic. Some also said memorializing the site would right the wrongs of those who built a road over the burial ground.
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Story involving Troy the movie # 8,342 Turkey hopes for Troy boost
Turks living near the ancient site of Troy are hoping to cash in on the epic Hollywood film of the same name, starring heart-throb Brad Pitt as the Greek warrior Achilles, now showing in cinemas worldwide.
The governor of the province where the ruins of Troy are located said he expected to triple the number of tourists visiting the site where, according to legend, ancient Greeks used a giant wooden horse to destroy their Trojan adversaries after failing to beat them in 10 years of war.
"Our target is not so huge. We plan on a million foreign tourists visiting the city of Troy," Suleyman Kamci, governor of Canakkale, told Reuters Television this week. At present about 300,000 people a year, mainly Turks, visit the site.
Jeffersonian archaeology Tiny clues help scholars reconstruct Jefferson's life, times
Pick a subject, no matter how obscure.
As long as it's associated with the life, era or legacy of Thomas Jefferson, chances are someone at the International Center for Jefferson Studies is looking into it.
Want to find out what foods were on Jefferson's grocery list? Or how the third president dealt with creditors when he became immersed in debt?
While most tourists to Monticello may come to marvel at the Roman neoclassic architecture or the semi-automatic dining room doors, just a short distance away, visiting scholars are picking apart every piece of Jefferson's life. The center, now in its 10th year, was established by the University of Virginia and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation, which owns and operates Monticello.
Interestingly, Jefferson conducted one of the first stratigraphic excavations in North America and also was one of the first to argue that the extant Amerindians were, in fact, responsible for building many of the large mound structures dotting eastern North America. Many had attributed mound building to, among others, Vikings, India-indians, and one of the 12 lost tribes of Israel. An inherent racism certainly played a part in these speculations, but it must also be remembered that Amerindian populations were almost wiped out by infectious disease, much if not most of it occurring before Europeans ever set foot into their territories. Consequently, the remaining small populations -- current estimates of the extent of depopulation sit at about 85% -- could easily be viewed as far too small to have supplied the manpower and administrative structure to manage the building of these immense structures.
A nice review of Jefferson's archaeology can be found here.
A recent (relatively) review and original research on infectious disease at contact is Vectors of Death by Ann Ramenofsky.
More Vikings Waterford Viking settlement may be 'find of the century'
Archaeologists have stated that a newly-discovered Viking settlement near Waterford City may be the historical find of the century.
Experts had believed that the site at Woodstown was a modest settlement, but recent examination has revealed a bustling town of approximately 4,000 people, with access to an impressive fleet of ships.
Ariel photography of the area shows a pattern of streets and houses that stretch for more than a kilometre along the river Suir.
One researcher on the site commented that this may be Ireland's version of Pompeii, and the most significant piece of Viking history ever discovered in Europe.
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