Archaeologists Peel Away More Layers of Butrint
More than 2,000 years after Julius Caesar came here for provisions and decided to start a veterans colony, a new army has invaded -- a multinational force of archaeologists in what is perhaps the largest ongoing dig in the Mediterranean.
Led by Professor Richard Hodges of the University of East Anglia in England, 100 archaeologists from 19 nations, 60 Albanian undergraduates and dozens of local laborers are rotating in over the course of this summer's two-month digging season.
This is an update on info from yesterday. This seems like a great project we hadn't heard about before now. They seem to have a small web site set up for the excavations. There are some papers accessible online (follow the Publications link) but other than that, little data, or so it appears.
Dam it! DAMMING THE EUPHRATES
In June 2000, the world media gave extensive coverage to the flooding of the Euphrates River behind a dam in southeast Turkey. As the waters rose, Zeugma, an important Roman city containing high quality mosaics, was inundated in the Euphrates' depths. At the same time, towns and villages disappeared beneath the new lake. Raising questions of government policies and sustainable development, this film tells the story of the mosaics as well as that of the displaced people, some of whom turned to antiquities trafficking to replace lost income.
Links to video presentations of other subjects as well.
What would a day be without news from Mehr? Unusual Iron Age steles discovered in Ardebil Province
Over 500 stone steles bearing images of faces of men and women with no mouths were recently discovered at Shahr Yeri in Ardebil Province, the director of the team of archaeologists working at the site announced on Tuesday.
Alireza Hojabri Nuri added that the steles are arranged one after another in the form of a wall and date back to the Iron Age.
Shahr Yeri is located near Pirazmeyan village, 32 kilometers off of Meshkin Shahr in Ardebil Province.
That's it. We'll post more if any comes in over the wires.