Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Funny how we post a couple days about a PORN story and the hit rate goes up by about 50%.

Now we know where the minds of archaeologists really are. . . . .

Kennewick Man update Another bone of contention over Kennewick Man

Kennewick Man is poised to tell his secrets.

Almost nine years after the 9,300-year-old remains were found on the banks of the Columbia River and a fierce legal battle, federal courts agreed unequivocally scientists should be able to study Kennewick Man.

However, U.S. Sen. John McCain has colluded with those who want to stifle the stories of similar old bones and the light they can shed on the earliest Americans and where they came from. The Arizona Republican, who is chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, supported a sweeping policy change in Senate Bill 536, which is billed erroneously as a technical corrections bill.


Real money quote: "In response to the federal court ruling, the Indian Affairs Committee approved SB 536, which would insert two seemingly innocuous words into the repatriation law. It would read: "... is, or was, indigenous. ... " That means modern tribes could claim remains with no discernible link to them except that they were found in an area where the tribes lived."

This simply throws out any requirement for establishing ancestor-descendant relationships between modern tribes and ancient remains for the purposes of repatriation. But, since this story is really an opinion piece, we'll look into this a bit more to see if this is really the case.

Head north! Found - Ancient Tools: April is Alaska Archaeology Month

Last summer Petersburg Ranger District timber sale administrator Ted Sandhofer and forester Bryan Rice responded to a fire caused by a neglectful camper. As Sandhofer was grubbing up the duff and humus he noticed rocks rattling about his feet. He soon realized the rocks were actually stone tools that were resting on a flat-topped boulder. Apparently the three tools were left on the boulder centuries ago and hidden beneath a thick layer of duff.


Duff?


CSI: Leith


Mystery of bones find at church

MYSTERY surrounds the discovery of six bodies dating back to the 16th century in the grounds of a historic church in Leith.

Archaeologists uncovered four skeletons and the remains of at least another two bodies during construction work on the 19th-century St Mary’s Star of the Sea Church in Constitution Street.

Carbon dating by scientists has revealed the bodies date back to around the time of the Siege of Leith from 1559 to 1560, which involved French, English and Scots forces.


Chicks rule Female population predominant in 5000-year-old Burnt City

Anthropological studies indicate that females constituted about sixty percent of the population of the 5000-year-old Burnt City, director of a team of anthropologists working on the ancient Iranian city said on Monday.

“We have excavated 208 graves in the cemetery of the Burnt City within seven phases carried out over the past years. 113 of the graves belonged to the female,” Farzad Foruzanfar added.


Odyssey suspends Sussex wreck search for two weeks

Odyssey Marine Exploration is suspending its operations at the shipwreck site believed to be HMS Sussex for 15 days.

The Spanish government wants to review the archaeological methods and administrative issues relating to the project and to discuss protocols for the exploration and protection of Spanish shipwrecks that Odyssey finds in the area or elsewhere throughout the world, the company said.


Oldest Iranian Stylus Discovered in Fars Province

The oldest Iranian Stylus, dating to the Middle Elamite era, 1550-1000 BC, which were used for inscribing mud tablets, has been discovered from Bondul Tepe, Fars province.

Bondul Tepe is one of Fars' major archaeological sites where architectural remains, clay and metal objects have been discovered, revealing information about the economic and social conditions of the people living in the area from the fourth millennium BC to the Achaemenid era, and Islamic period.


Archeologists dig up ancient casting centre

Archeologists claim to have found the country’s largest Bronze Age metallurgy centre, estimated to be 3,500 years old.

The site, located at the Den Citadel in Phu My Hamlet, Tu Lap Commune, Me Linh District, in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, has yielded many discoveries which indicate that the site is the largest centre of bronze casting in Viet Nam to have been discovered so far, said Lam Thi My Dung, director of the Museum of Anthropology.


Fight! Fight! Group wants judge to reconsider decision to dissolve Graves Museum

Several Broward County Archaeology Society members are asking a federal judge to reconsider his decision to give away the Graves Museum's collection of dinosaur bones and artifacts.

They also want to keep the board that ran the Dania Beach museum intact.

Last week, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Paul Hyman approved a trustee's plan to donate the collection, valued at $1.9 million, to Broward Community College and Florida State University.