More than 250 new examples of England's finest array of prehistoric rock art carvings, sited close to the Scottish border, have been discovered by archaeologists compiling a unique database. Now over one thousand of the 'cup and ring' carvings can be admired on a new website, which carries 6,000 images and is said to be the most comprehensive of its kind in the world.
The site includes the 250 panels unearthed during a two-and-a-half year trawl of some of England's remotest countryside, in the expansive moorlands of Northumberland.
With a picture!
More here.
Tse-whit-zen update Tse-whit-zen existed before Christ walked the Earth
Tse-whit-zen is 1,000 years older than scientists originally thought.
The Native American village may be as old as 2,700 years, Frances Charles, chairwoman of the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe, said Saturday at a healing ceremony at the site.
Charles said archaeologists had based their new findings on the results of radiocarbon dating, also known as carbon 14 dating.
Carbon 14 is a radioactive isotope found in organic materials that decays at a measurable rate.
Scientists tested animal bones and fire pits to reach the 2,700-year figure.
Tse-whit-zen (pronounced cha-wheet-zen) already has been called the largest Native American archaeological site in Washington and one of the most significant in the nation by scientists.
During archaeological excavation that began in August 2003 and lasted last month, archaeologists uncovered burials, the remains of longhouses and more than 13,000 artifacts that included brooches, fish hooks and combs.
That's the whole thing. Notmuch info except for the date.
Antiquities Market update Pre-Incan artefact among 28,000 artworks recovered in Italy
Italy is to formally hand over to Peru next week a millennium-old artefact recovered by specialist art police here after it had been stolen in southern Peru, officials said.
A photograph of the copper and gold funerary mask dating from the pre-Inca Sican period was exhibited along with around 100 other artworks recovered by specialized culture ministry police in Rome.
They included paintings by 14th-century Italian artist Pinturecchio and French realist painter Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot as well as a bust of Roman emperor Trajan (98-117 AD).
In all, police said some 28,000 pieces, including complete artefacts and artworks but also fragments like pottery shards and coins, were recovered in 2004.
U.S.-Led Forces Damaged Ancient Babylon-Report
U.S.-led forces, using Iraq (news - web sites)'s ancient city of Babylon as a military base, have caused "substantial damage" to one of the world's most renowned archaeological treasures, a British Museum report said.
The report, quoted in Saturday's Guardian newspaper, said U.S. and Polish military vehicles had crushed 2,600-year-old pavements in the city, a cradle of civilization and home to one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. Archaeological fragments were used to fill sand bags, it added.
Excavation in Barabati fort complex to begin soon
Excavation of the earthen mound in the 13th century Barabati fort complex here will commence soon even as the district administration was initiating action to remove encroachments around it, official sources said today.
The eviction will begin in a phased manner and the Public Works Department had been directed to demolish ten buildings constructed within the fort premises, District Collector Deo Ranjan Kumar Singh said.
Other buildings constructed illegally within the complex would be demolished subsequently, he said.
Utah site update Site yields ancient bones
A southern Utah woman's property has turned out to be a graveyard for some ancient remains.
An excavation crew digging the basement for a home Jamie Church is building in Parowan unearthed what is believed to be the 1,000-year-old remains of a Fremont Indian family, a man, woman and two children.
''It was kind of creepy, but I'm trying not to think that way,'' Church said.
Same stuff mostly we posted a couple days ago. It's a flaky site (Web site, that is), so don't bother clicking if you've already seen the other one.
More stuff at a construction site Corpus Christi road part of ancient burial site
Construction on an area road has been delayed partly because of its location on an ancient American Indian burial site, state transportation officials said.
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"There was the potential for Indian artifacts all through this," Texas Department of Transportation district engineer Craig E. Clark said Thursday while speaking to the Rotary Club of Corpus Christi.
The transportation department knew about the burial grounds before construction began in June 2000, but it didn't become public until Thursday.
Way cool Aussies find bronze age canoe
AUSTRALIAN archaeologists have unearthed one of the oldest log canoes ever found in South-East Asia.
A team from the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra and conservators from the National Museum of Australia excavated a 2.5m section of the boat last month at Dong Xa, about 50 kilometres southeast of the capital Hanoi.
The boat was used for burial and contained the body of an adult.
It would have been about 10m long and was believed to have been used in the Red River delta area around 100BC by a people known as the Dongson, ANU's Peter Bellwood said.
We initially read that as a "bronze canoe" which would be cool, too.
Different take on the ancient Indian tsunami ndian town sees evidence of ancient tsunami
For generations, the people of Poompuhar have spoken of the days when their sleepy fishing town was the capital of a powerful kingdom, and traders came from Rome, Greece and Egypt to deal in pearls and silk.
Then, more than 1,500 years ago, it was gone. The thriving town, according to ancient Tamil-language texts, was "kodalkol" -- "swallowed by the sea."
Perhaps, archaeologists and historians thought, the sea water had gradually risen. Or, some think now, perhaps it was something else.
EEF news
"Antiquities appear in Aswan":
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o060125p.htm
On Elephantine Island, buildings from dyn 26 were found. Further, restoration projects for the temples of Aswan and
other sites are being planned:
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o110125d.htm
Three spin-off's to the CT-scanning of Tutankhamun (see below):
-- Not everybody was charmed by the plans to move&prod the boy-king's mummy:
" Drop the Mummy, and Nobody Gets Hurt"
http://www.egypttoday.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=3383
Mark R Nelson, "The mummy's curse: historical cohort study",
in: BMJ vol. 325 (2002), pp. 1482-1484; in PDF (330kB):
http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/325/7378/1482.pdf
[Eds. Subscription only. Abstract follows:]
Objective: To examine survival of individuals exposed to the "mummy's curse" reputedly associated with the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamen in Luxor, Egypt, between February 1923 and November 1926.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Participants: 44 Westerners identified by Howard Carter as present in Egypt at the specified dates, 25 of whom were potentially exposed to the curse.
Main outcome measures: Length of survival after date of potential exposure.
Results: In the 25 people exposed to the curse the mean age at death was 70 years (SD 12) compared with 75 (13) in those not exposed (P=0.87 for difference). Survival after the date of exposure was 20.8 (15.2) v 28.9 (13.6) years respectively (P=0.95 for difference). Female sex was a predictor for survival (P=0.02).
Conclusions: There was no significant association between exposure to the mummy's curse and survival and thus no evidence to support the existence of a mummy's curse.
We seem to recall Don Ryan doing a similar study some time ago and reaching basically the same conclusion: that the openers of Tut's tomb had a longer life expectancy than the public at large.
-- After Tutankhamun, more mummies will be scanned - the Egyptian Mummy Project (cooperation between SCA, Siemens and National Geographic):
http://www.sis.gov.eg/online/html12/o060125s.htm
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0106_050106_tut_scan.html
[Eds. Remaining stuff posted as-is with no direct linking. We're having severe computer problems.]
* Krings M, Salem AH, Bauer K, Geisert H, Malek AK, Chaix L, Simon C,
Welsby D, Di Rienzo A, Utermann G, Sajantila A, Pääbo S, Stoneking M:
"mtDNA analysis of Nile River Valley populations: A genetic corridor or a
barrier to migration?", in: Am. J. Hum. Genet. 1999, 64:1166-1176; in
PDF (326 kB):
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/resolve?AJHG980585PDF
Theorizes about human migrations in the Valley by looking at mtDNA
differentiation. The greater similarity between Nubia and Egypt
(rather than Sudan) could be a reflection of the known historical
interactions between both areas during the Pharaonic period.
* Nicole Maca-Meyer, Ana M González, José Pestano, Carlos Flores,
José M Larruga1 and Vicente M Cabrera, "Mitochondrial DNA transit
between West Asia and North Africa inferred from U6 phylogeography",
in: BMC Genetics, Vol. 4 (2003); in PDF (392 kB):
http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2156-4-15.pdf
Based on the distribution of Mitochondrial DNA, the authors theorize
about population movements in N. Africa, namely of proto-Afroasiatic
speakers, proto-Berbers, and proto-Gaunches.
[An earlier research of the authors gives the larger background to the
study: id, "Major genomic mitochondrial lineages delineate early human
expansion", in BMCR Genetics, Vol. 2 (2001), in PDF (528 kB)
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/picrender.fcgi?artid=55343&blobtype=pdf
The following letters in Science, vol. 306, Dec. 2004, p.1680, highlight
some of the controversies about the homeland of Afroasiatic (in PDF,
206 kB):
http://www.zoo.ufl.edu/courses/pcb4044/2004Fall/Fire(Science).pdf ]
End of EEF news