Archaeologists excavating a housing development site found a prehistoric milling area estimated to be 8,000 years old, officials said.
Large arrowheads, hearths and stone slabs used to grind seeds and acorns were among the items found at the site at the base of the Angeles National Forest, according to archeologists from Cogstone Resource Management Inc.
No human or animal bones were discovered, the company said.
Archaeologists to establish true value of Roman silver coins
An archaeologist at the University of Liverpool is examining more than 1,000 Roman silver coins from museums around the world in order to establish their true economic value.
Dr Matthew Ponting, from the University's School of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, is investigating the chemical composition of the coins to further understanding of how and where they were made. Dr Ponting believes that analysis of the coins will also shed more light on the political and economic issues of the Roman Empire.
Dr Ponting and his colleague Professor Kevin Butcher from the American University of Beirut, are using unique analysis techniques to examine the make-up of the coins and establish their silver content. The analysis will also identify particular chemical elements which will help the archaeologists establish where and how the coins were made.
And now. . . .the news from the EEF
Press report: "Ancient Manuscripts Found In Egyptian Monastery"
http://www.forbes.com/2002/05/29/0529conn.html
"A cache of manuscripts up to 1,500 years old has been
discovered in a Coptic monastery in the Western Desert
of Egypt. The find was made at Deir al-Surian, the Monastery
of the Syrians (..). A single completed manuscript [a
9th-century Book of the Holy Hierothos] and hundreds
of fragments [ca. 600; the earliest one from ca 500 A.D.]
were found when reconstruction work was undertaken. "
Another press report on the new sun temple found in Heliopolis
with the statues of Ramesses II, with more detail and a nice
picture of the [usurped] 12th Dynasty style seated statue:
"Giant Ancient Egyptian Sun Temple Discovered in Cairo"
http://snipurl.com/n3d1
[http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/03/0301_060301_
egypt.html?source=rss]
""Perhaps the most exciting [find] is an unusual seated statue that
shows Ramses II in the leopard skin of a priest, showing that he
built this temple as the high priest of Re," Hawass said. " (2 pages)
Some other reports:
http://www.inform.kz/txt/showarticle.php?lang=eng&id=140197
http://snipurl.com/n3nu
[http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8AFA4E17-
30EB-4C73-8BD2-7F3A8592C51C.htm]
In the latter report, some photos of the site and of an artefact
may be found.
A more elaborate photo gallery (photos 2-11!) is at:
http://news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/sc/021903anthroarchaeo/
[Earlier links posted on the forum:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060226/sc_nm/egypt_archaeology_dc
http://snipurl.com/mzfj
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=31&art_id=qw1140990304502R131]
http://www.livescience.com/history/ap_060227_sun_temple.html ]
Press report: "Desert fathers in the limelight"
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/783/heritage.htm
Report on the Third Symposium on Coptic Studies that
took place at the White Monastery of St Shenoude west of
Sohag early this month.
A Q&A session about KV63 with Roxanne Wilson, an
artist/recorder with the KV10/KV63 mission, may be found
on the EEF BBS as a PDF-file:
http://www.egyptologyforum.org/bbs/KV63Q&A.html
Note that a photo of the mentioned youth coffin has appeared
at the bottom of the KV63 website:
http://www.kv-63.com/pages/1/index.htm
Note that the ARTP issue mentioned is further clarified
in a new statement by Dr Nicholas Reeves:
http://www.valleyofthekings.org/vofk/default.htm
Online version of: Jean-Daniel Stanley, Franck Goddio, Thomas
F. Jorstad, Gerard Schnepp, Submergence of Ancient Greek
Cities Off Egypt's Nile Delta - A Cautionary Tale, in: GSA [The
Geological Society of America] Today, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 4-10 (2004)
http://snipurl.com/n1f5
[http://www.gsajournals.org/gsaonline/?request=get-document&doi=
10.1130%2F1052-5173(2004)014%3C4:SOAGCO%3E2.0.CO%3B2]
"Two ancient Greek cities, Herakleion and Eastern Canopus, originally
occupied low-lying delta coastal areas along the Canopic channel of the
Nile. Both were unprotected against flooding, earthquake, tsunami, and
consequent subsidence. These sites, recently discovered in Abu Qir Bay on
the northwestern margin of Egypt's Nile delta, were lowered a total of 8 m
during the past 2500 yr, and now lie at water depths of 5-7 m ... Processes
leading to their submergence are interpreted on the basis of integrated
archaeological, physiographic, geological (including cores), and geophysical
(side-scan sonar, nuclear resonance magnetometer, high-resolution seismic)
information ... Ancient cities discussed here cause us to reflect on
present-day site selection and construction practices in modern deltaic and
associated wetland settings, and potential challenges related to substrate
failure and other coastal hazards."
* Online version of: Bonnie M. Sampsell, The Statuary of Tuthmosis III, in:
The Ostracon, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 8-13 (Summer 2004) - pdf-file (716 KB)
http://www.egyptstudy.org/Ostracon/SampsellStatuesSummer2004.pdf
"One of my favorite Egyptian sculptures is a statue of Tuthmosis III in the
Luxor Museum ... The figure is carved from a fine-grained greywacke and
polished to a smooth luster. The king, whose face is miraculously intact,
appears as a handsome and noble monarch. I think this must be one of the
greatest artistic achievements of ancient Egypt. And yet my admiring
reaction may not have been what the ancient sculptor was striving for, and a
museum was definitely not the setting for which this statue was intended."
* Online version of: Kathleen Nicoll, Recent environmental change and
prehistoric human activity in Egypt and Northern Sudan, in: Quaternary
Science Reviews, vol. 23, pp. 561-580 (2004) - pdf-file (590 KB)
http://www.geog.ox.ac.uk/~knicoll/ww/qsr_nicoll_eg_sud.pdf
"Converging lines of evidence from various geoarchaeological and
interdisciplinary investigations conducted in Egypt and northern Sudan
suggest that significant environmental changes have influenced human
activities throughout antiquity ... This paper compiles available
palaeoenvironmental records from the Late Quaternary in Egypt
and northern Sudan, and describes the spatial and temporal context
of local cultural activities when the region west of the Nile River valley
was most hospitable B9000-6000 BP. During this critical period in
prehistory, rapid hydroclimatic changes played a key role in
geomorphic evolution andre source availability."
End of EEF news