It's confirmed. Cassini has turned back to the Earth and is sending data. No Huygens probe data has been downloaded yet, but researchers are waiting expectantly.
"We have 40 more minutes of suspense, then we'll know if everything worked properly," said John Dodsworth, Huygens ground manager at ESOC.
Link has updated entries every few minutes.
The first (we believe) human artifact on the moon of another planet. Everybody write down the date so our future colleagues don't have to guess at the date when they find it.
Hopefully pictures later.
Update: More archy blogging this afternoon.
Titan update
16km up showing a shoreline (actually liquid methane?):
Picture from the surface:
Many more here.
And now, actual archaeology news:
New prehistoric rock carvings discovered in Northern England
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, which goes live today, 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.
Great idea U. Museum, engineers join forces
For the first time in Penn history, the University Museum has joined forces with the School of Engineering in an interdisciplinary attempt to improve the quality and efficiency of archaeological research.
As part of a project aimed at studying the remains of an ancient city in Tiwanaku, Bolivia, archaeologists from Penn's University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, the University of Denver and the University of Arkansas are employing advanced technology from the School of Engineering and Applied Science to locate and model subterranean artifacts with increased accuracy.
Read the whole thing.
Way overdue. Archaeologists need to become far more technology savvy, not just so we can be all techy and cool, but to increase the amount and quality of data we gather. And it's easier to distribute. Computing power is finally getting cost effective enough to put a lot of data online.
More tsunami-related archaeology Was ancient Indian town swallowed by 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.
We submit that northwestern North American sites will be found that have been impacted by tsunamis as well. One hit the Oregon coast in 1964 we believe, so it's a common occurrence in this part of the world.
Surprise, surprise. . . Ancient Artifacts Found At Construction Site
A Rochester construction project is on hold while city officials try to figure out what to do about ancient artifacts found at the site.
State archaeologist Scott Anfinson says he'd like to see the sewer project moved by 300 feet to avoid the spot where the artifacts, including ancient tools, were found.
He says he'd like to do more digging at the site once the ground thaws.
Anfinson says the site is probably ten thousand years old and may have been occupied by the first humans who were in the area.
Another problem is the ownership of the land. The site is on private property, so the city can't stop artifacts from being removed. Anfinson says he'd like to see the city buy that piece of land.
That's the whole thing.
Yeah, where were you the last time. . . Makah elder tells Port of Port Townsend that Native remains unlikely on designated graving yard sites
A Makah tribal elder who has lived most of her life in Port Townsend on Wednesday told Port commissioners they won't find tribal remains on two sites they proposed for a Hood Canal Bridge reconstruction project dry dock.
``You won't find bones in the first place,'' said McQuillen, 72, who is also a former member of the Jefferson County Historical Society.
Forest Service Works To Recover From '04 Storms
Archaeologists are working carefully to recover artifacts threatened by last fall's torrential floods in western North Carolina.
The work is focusing on the banks of Bent Creek, which is considered a significant historical site. September floodwaters tore through a portion of the creek, washing away about six feet of its bank.
One piece of pottery recently found on the site could date to A.D. 200. One archaeologist says workers have already found pottery and a few stone tool fragments.
This work is a less visible part of the U.S. Forest Service's major effort to recover from back-to-back tropical storms that damaged miles of trails, roads and stream banks across the Pisgah and Nantahala national forests.
That's the whole thing. That's another thing that unearths sites: rivers cut away at banks and reveal previously buried remains.
Homo hobbitus update New species may have relatives in next village
A growing number of scientists are challenging the sensational discovery last year of a new species of one-metre-tall intelligent humans whose 13,000-year-old bones were said to have been found in an Indonesian cave.
Now a leading critic of the Homo floresiensis theory is to send researchers to a village near the cave where the bones were excavated to measure an extended family group whose males may be just a few inches taller than the skeleton.
The Guardian has travelled to the village and interviewed three male members of the family, the shortest of whom was 1 metre 25cm (4ft), compared with the estimated 1 metre of the skeleton.
Curiouser and curiouser. . . . .
University opens Indian longhouse on campus
Nearly 20 years after it was proposed, the University of Oregon has opened an American Indian longhouse on campus.
The 3,000-square-foot building stands as a symbol of two generations of effort, project leaders said.
"You can't help but be overwhelmed just to see the structure, to see all the new faces and all the old faces," said Jason Younker, a recent anthropology doctoral graduate who was among those who helped see the longhouse project to completion.
We say, put a dozen freshmen into it for an even better idea of What Life Was Like.
Antiquities Market update Changing hands
As prices of Egyptian antiquities auctioned abroad continue to rise, Jill Kamil considers the role smuggling continues to play in the trade
So long as there is a demand for the produce, illegal excavations and the smuggling of antiquities will continue. Unscrupulous connoisseurs are always on the lookout for interesting artefacts to add to their private collections, or to donate to the nation. As a result, high quality relics are freely available on the international market, and interested parties are prepared to pay large sums in order to acquire the objects of their desire. The appetite for Egyptian antiquities is undiminished, as is clear from a glance at the recent auction catalogues of houses such as Bonhams, Christie's or Sotherby's.
Another excellent article by Jill Kamil.
Update on the Hipparchus star catalog story LSU researcher solves ancient astronomy mystery
An ancient mystery may have been solved by LSU Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy Bradley E. Schaefer.
Schaefer has discovered that the long-lost star catalog of Hipparchus, which dates back to 129 B.C., appears on a Roman statue called the Farnese Atlas. Hipparchus was one of the greatest astronomers of antiquity and his star catalog was the first in the world, as well as the most influential. The catalog was lost early in the Christian era, perhaps in the fire at the great library in Alexandria.
We'll put up the weekly EEF news tomorrow.