Bone fragments unearthed at a planned development site turned up what archaeologists believe are the five-thousand-year-old remains of two American Indians.
The remains were accompanied by trash pits, charcoal, carbonized seeds and tools, suggesting a camp used by nomadic hunters. Kentucky Heritage Council archaeologist David Pollack says the hunters might have gathered medicinal herbs and food in the area around three-thousand B-C.
And Salt Lake City human remains update Indian bones to stay where found
At first, 13-year-old Alex Baker didn't think much of it when his shovel stuck a brittle, round object in the pit he was digging.
Alex tossed the object aside. Then he, his cousin Hayden Schofield and his friend Scott Paulsen examined the ball. Hayden saw what they believed was marrow spilling from it.
It was the first clue that the boys had discovered more than the hangout they were trying to construct. State archaeologist Kevin Jones says the three appear to have found the remains of an American Indian, possibly 1,000 years old.
Heh. Note this: The plan was to dig a hole 6 feet deep, 10 feet long and 6 feet wide, equip it with couches, an audio system and a disco ball and cover the top with boards.
See, when we were kids, we would have filled the thing with enough plastic, wood, and rubber military gear to equip a medium sized Central American junta's army. Kids these days. . . . .
(Still, a disco ball??? Serious intervention is needed here)
Mohr from Mehr Archaeologists to resume work at Paleolithic site in Lorestan
A joint Iranian and Belgian team of archaeologists plans to begin excavations at the ancient Yafteh Cave near Khorramabad in Lorestan Province in early May.
They will be resuming efforts to discover the remains of early inhabitants of the region with the cooperation of Belgium’s University of Liege and Iran’s Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (CHTO).
And still mohr from Mehr Parthian era Phraaspa Castle discovered in Atropatene region
Phraaspa, an ancient castle of the Parthian province of Atropatene, was discovered during the archaeological studies near Zahak Castle in Hashtrud, in Iran’s northwestern province of East Azarbaijan.
“Due to the historical documents indicating that Phraaspa was located somewhere in Azarbaijan, our team began studying some areas around Zahak Castle, which dates back to the Parthian era. After finding more than 20 habitation sites and eight barbicans from the Parthian era, we were certain we had discovered the ancient castle,” said Mohammad Feizkhah, an expert of the East Azarbaijan Cultural and Tourism Department.
'Cultural tourism' is latest trend bringing people to Wyoming
With historic and cultural sites among Wyoming's top new tourist attractions, the state needs to take special care to make sure those sites remain viable, a state archaeologist said.
Speaking Monday at the Governor's Hospitality & Tourism Conference in Casper, assistant state archaeologist Danny Walker said sites like Hell Gap in eastern Wyoming, with its tepee rings, were becoming more popular.
"A big draw is what they call cultural tourism, and that includes historic sites," Walker said.
Such sites pose particular challenges, Walker said. Because they're off the beaten path, there are increased risks of vandalism, theft and accidental damage from overuse.
"Most of the places we send people are ones that have caretakers at them," Walker said.
The conference continued Tuesday.
That's the whole thing. We think being one of a handful of states with Sinclair Gas stations is enough reason to visit. Or at least drive through.
Sri Lankan archaeologists tour India
A team of nine Sri Lankan archaeologists are in India to interact with Indian experts on epigraphy, restoration and heritage monument conservation.
The team, who are on a two-week visit, will tour Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh as part of an outreach programme organised by the Sri Lankan High Commission and the University of Peradeniya in Sri Lanka.
That's the whole thing.
CSI: Fort Edward (no, really this time!)
CSI team helps solve murder mystery
A CSI team is back in one North Country town hoping to solve a two-century-year-old murder mystery.
Forensics experts from New York and Florida were in Fort Edward to exhume the remains of Jane McCrea once again.
McCrea was scalped and killed back in 1777 by Indians that were fighting for the British during the American Revolution.
TV corner
Check out The Science Channel's Geology of Civilization: Hot Rocks. We just happened upon this show and it's been a nice surprise. It's told from the perspective of a geologist (Iain Stewart) rather than an archaeologist, so you get a slightly different take on things. In the first episode we saw a short tour of the Mediterranean basin and how the gology of three regions constrained the building efforts of the Egyptians, Romans, and Greeks. The effect that the type of local rocks had on building practices may have been a touch overdone, but he was spot on that there is some influence, and this is often glossed over in strictly archaeological presentations. For instance, most Egyptology-type programs will mention the local source of the limestone for the pyramids, but in this case we learned that this stone was formed during a transgression of the Tethys (see earlier post on this) and that this type of stone (limestone) was particularly easy to form into blocks because the bedding planes tended to fracture this way naturally. We also liked how he covered the three main types of rock when using each civilization: limestone and sandstone (=sedimentary) for Egypt, metamorphic (=marble) for Greece, and igneous (=ash for concrete) for the Romans.
All in all, an interesting take on things and probably worth watching. It's apparently on all this coming week.