Tuesday, July 27, 2004

ArchaeoFashion Report Chinese archaeologists find 'world's oldest earrings'

Chinese archaeologists have discovered earrings they believe are the oldest found in the world.

The jade earrings, which date to between 7500 and 8200 years ago, were unearthed at the Xinglongwa culture site in Chifeng city in Inner Mongolia, the Xinhua news agency said yesterday.

The jade rings, called "Jue" in old Chinese, have diameters that measure 2.5 to six centimetres.


And another construction-area find Athletic fields yield artifacts

Taking refuge from the sweltering mid-afternoon sun, archaeologist Richard Franz stood under a large tree, holding in his dusty hands what appeared simply to be a rock.

But to Franz, a chip on that rock is a flake scar or a fracture point. In the eyes of an archaeologist this stone is an artifact, lending clues to the area's history.

A team of four archaeologists finished work last week on an excavation project at Fisk Fields, searching for American Indian artifacts. The borough's youth athletic teams can resume play on the fields, but it will be weeks until the borough learns how it can develop the property.


And another. . . . . Indian artifacts near Ohio River could be sign of ancient village

Remains of an ancient American Indian settlement have been uncovered along the Ohio River shoreline in Clarksville, Ind.

Archaeologists say the discovery of about two dozen artifacts, from pottery shards to stone tools, is significant because the density of the site suggests a prolonged settlement instead of a temporary camp or hunting ground.

The artifacts, found near a two-lane road that collapsed in January, are believed to be 700 to 900 years old, placing the settlement in what is known as the Mississippian period.

Full excavation of the site is expected to start this week.


Well. Iranian Director To Produce Doc On Darius’ Headless Statue

Iranian documentary filmmaker Orod Attarpur plans to produce a film about the headless statue of Persian emperor Darius the Great (580-529 B.C.).

A group of French archaeologists unearthed the statue in 1971 in the historical city of Susa in southwestern Iran. It is headless, but no one is certain about the reason. Now Atapur has decided to make a documentary about the discovery and the ensuing events. Pivotal to the chronicle will be the story of the archaeologists who dug up the statue of Darius I, the great king of the Achaemenid dynasty.

There are several theories explaining the reasons why the statue is headless; from an outburst of resentment by people toward Persian monarchs to a devastating earthquake.


Now there's something you don't see every day, an ancient headless statue.

Historians excited by rare Italian pottery found in dig

In the shadow of a crumbling mansion, a team of archaeologists have made one of the most exciting discoveries of a 10-year dig.

It may only be a small fragment of marbled pottery from northern Italy, dated around 1600 to 1650, but it is the only piece of its kind found in Scotland and is one of only three ever to be found in Britain.
Archeologists at the dig, at Fetternear in rural Aberdeenshire, said that it casts important light on Scotland in the Middle Ages.


Bronze age knife found in veg plot

A NORTH Wales housewife found a bronze age knife crafted 4,500 years ago while digging in her vegetable patch.

Marylyn Sheldon knew she had discovered something special after unearthing the flint blade at her Llanarmon-yn-Iâl home, in Denbighshire.

On Wednesday experts at the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff, confirmed it was a bronze aged blade forged around 2,500BC.

"I was digging in my vegetable patch in April last year to put broad beans in," she said.


We admit we are somewhat perplexed as to how one forges a flint knife.

Skinny chariots Discovery rewrites Chinese vehicle history

The discovery of 3,700-year-old chariot tracks has pushed back the appearance of vehicles in China by 200 years, the country's media has reported.

"It advances the history of China's vehicle use up to the Xia Dynasty (2100 - 1600 BC)," said Xu Hong, who leads the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' archaeological investigation team at the Erlitou archaeological site in Yanshi city, central Henan province.

The two parallel tracks were discovered on the grounds of a palace at the site, Xinhua news agency reported.


'Upped sticks'??? Dig team baffled over tribe who suddenly upped sticks

ARCHAEOLOGISTS are investigating a 2200-year-old mystery surrounding one of Scotland's rare Iron Age clifftop forts.

Excavations have revealed that the unusual fortification, 100ft up a cliff on the Galloway coast, was suddenly and inexplicably abandoned by the Novantae, an early Scottish people.

Work at the prehistoric settlement at Carghidown, near the Isle of Whithorn, has contributed to a better understanding of the little-known tribe who lived in what today is south-west Scotland.


As we posted yesterday, this illustrates one way to interpret how a site was abandoned. Note that they found three floor surfaces, the last of which was unfinished, which suggests fairly rapid abandonment. This has implications for what will be found on the floor surfaces. Do a quick search on the 'Pompeii Premise' over the Web and the findings will explain more on this type of thing.