Shell mound dilemma: Dig it up or let it erode

"There's a great debate on whether Spanish Mount is a ring or a midden,"

Judge says. It's an important distinction because middens appear to be little more than trash heaps, while rings show an architectural element that signifies something greater than simply a dumping site.

"The question becomes is this garbage, or are they building their midden from nearby middens?" Judge asks. "Is the landfill being utilized for architectural material?"

Today, only a small portion of Spanish Mount remains. The rest has eroded into Scott Creek.

Money seems to be the issue regarding whether to excavate or not. On San Juan Island, we were told that the U- or horseshoe-shaped middens were supposedly piled up that way around a house structure that would provide a certain amount of insulation. Instead of dumping it somewhere else, remains would be piled up around the house. Seems an awfully smelly way to insulate one's house though.

Homo hobbitus update 'Hobbit' hominids were dwarf cretins, say scientists

Anthropologists have fired another salvo in a feud about diminutive "hobbit" people whose fossilised remains were found in a cave on a remote Indonesian island four years ago.

Combatting a bid to have the hobbits enshrined as a separate branch of the human family tree, they argue the tiny cave-dwellers were simply Homo sapiens who became stunted and retarded as a result of iodine deficiency in pregnancy.

Dubbed after the wee folk in J.R.R. Tolkien's tale, the hominids -- just a metre (3.25 feet) tall and with a chimp-sized brain -- lived around 18,000 years ago on the island of Flores.

I dunno, this seems a bit weird. An entire tribe/group of dwarf cretins? Or maybe they were exiled there?

Here's an update on this story. The Ministry says they rarely refuse an exhumation request, but that still may cause delays because an application is required.

Pre-archaeology How primates crossed continents

Several teeth of mouse-sized primitive primates have been unearthed in Mississippi that are older than any other such fossils found in Europe or North America.

The record-breaking tiny chompers suggest that the creatures travelled from Asia to North America across the Bering land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, and then later journeyed on to Europe across another land bridge linking North America to Greenland and Scotland.

Evidence of commerce between ancient Israel and China

Throughout the 12th and 13th centuries - during the time of the Crusades �ceramic vessels reached Acre from: Mediterranean regions, the Levant, Europe, North Africa, and even China � reveals new research, which examined trade of ceramic vessels, conducted at the University of Haifa.

This research, conducted by Dr. Edna Stern under the direction of Prof. Michal Artzy and Dr. Adrian Boasz, examined pottery found during excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority of Crusader period Acre and pottery found in shipwrecks around the Mediterranean coast. According to Dr. Stern, during these centuries, Acre � in addition to being the gateway for Christian pilgrims into the Land of Israel, was one of the busiest commercial ports in the Latin East that had commercial links to Europe, the Islamic world and the Byzantine Empire.

Archeological sites found on Fraser River Bench Lands

Some archeological digging is in store for a couple of areas on the Fraser Bench Lands.

As part of the process of developing the 107-hectare site, an archeological survey was conducted, and two sites were found to be of significance, L&M Engineering planning director Heather Oland confirmed Tuesday.

She said the sites will be excavated once the snow has melted and prior to development taking place in the vicinity.

Skeleton could hold secret to Stonehenge

A SKELETON, which has been on prominent display in Salisbury Museum for nearly a decade, could hold the secret to Stonehenge's mysterious past and show the site to be an arena of gladiatorial combat, an archaeological expert has claimed.

The skeleton, that of a man who had been killed by arrows in 2,300 BC, was discovered in the ditch surrounding the stones during excavation work, carried out by Professor Richard Atkinson and J.G Evans in 1978.

After being analysed, the skeleton was donated to Salisbury museum, where it has been on display as a key part of the museum's Stonehenge exhibit under the title of "the body from the ditch".

Seems a tad bit. . . .imaginative.

Ancient tomb found on Greek island

Road construction on the western Greek island of Lefkada has uncovered and partially destroyed an important tomb with artifacts dating back more than 3,000 years, officials said on Wednesday.

The find is a miniature version of the large, opulent tombs built by the rulers of Greece during the Mycenaean era, which ended around 1100 B.C. Although dozens have been found in the mainland and on Crete, the underground, beehive-shaped monuments are very rare in the western Ionian Sea islands, and previously unknown on Lefkada.

Earlier post on the finding of Ithaca.

Blogging update

Sorry about the lack of posting. This $%#^@$(@^ cold just will.not.quit. I stayed home yesterday (Wed) and actually felt quite OK by the afternoon, but then this morning I was all stuffed up and coughing again. I think I'm on the downside of it, but apparently the stupid bugger takes forEVER to go away. Posting will resume shortly.

Disease update Nasty, nasty cold I've got going. It's lingering. Every day I think I will start to turn the corner, but then I just feel a different kind of lousy. Thankfully not the flu, but still. . . .

Plus, I keep waking up at like 3 am and not getting back to sleep. Too much stress, I guess.

In other news, 10,000 BC starts Friday. No, I won't be going. Probably will watch it on DVD eventually. But at least we know the basic plot:

In the year 10,000 B.C., a hunter (Steven Strait) loses his woman (Camilla Belle) to an evil warlord, so he gathers together a massive army to cross the wilderness fighting all manner of man and beast to find a lost civilization and mount a daring rescue.

Be interesting to see whereabouts this "lost civilization" is/was.

Hmmmmmm. . . Bulgaria Train Fire Hell Targeted Renowned Archaeologist - Colleagues

Rumours that the fire in a Bulgarian train that killed eight was an assassination attempt against a famous archeologist have spread in his hometown of Shumen.

Professor Rasho Rashev, director of the National Archaeological Institute with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, was among those who died in the Sofia-Kardam night train fire.

The 64-year-old renowned expert and lecturer in Bulgaria's Middle Age history was identified following an autopsy and DNA analyses.

Rashev's colleagues local 24 Hours daily an assassination attempt might have been provoked by his efforts against treasure looters.

That's nearly the whole thing. I didn't take it very seriously until the looting aspect was mentioned. Still, I don't know enough about the incident to say either way.

nnovative Archaeological Survey Reveals Unknown Aspects Of China's Past

Imagine future archaeologists trying to understand Illinois, California or New York based on a few excavations in each of those states. They might excavate small areas in city centers, since those sites would probably be the first ruins they would come across. Meanwhile, the archaeologists they might fail to notice or study farms, suburbs, shopping malls, canals and airports.

Although still relatively unknown to the general public, an archaeological method that is being practiced at several locations around the world helps scientists overcome such bias toward large, readily noticeable sites. The method is called a regional settlement pattern survey. It involves walking systematically over a large landscape to find traces of archaeological sites on the surface of the ground. This field procedure can yield a holistic, integrated view of how settlement has shifted in a region over the course of history.

I started to boggle when I learned what this 'innovative' technique really was, but as the article states, it's not something the general public probably knows much about.

Old Indian dugout at Fernbank 'one in a million'

A Waycross man went fishing in a South Georgia river two years ago and caught a 17-footer. It goes on display today at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History.

The catch is a dugout canoe, possibly created more than 300 years ago from a longleaf pine. It turned up in the shallows of the Satilla River one July day in 2006 when a fisherman noticed something odd just underneath his johnboat. What looked like an old log turned out to be a canoe, formed by fire and hand. It is one of just a handful of dugouts known to exist in Georgia.

Repatriation. . . .but not in the US Anger as burial site digs are blocked

Severe cutbacks in researchers' freedom to study bones and skeletons from ancient graves have been imposed without warning by the Ministry of Justice. The move has caused consternation among archaeologists, who say that the restrictions will badly damage their ability to study Britain's past.

The ruling means permission for digs at burial grounds and old churchyards will be denied in some cases, while in others excavated human remains will have to be reburied within two months of their discovery.

While reading through it, I was thinking that if they didn't want archaeologists digging up cemeteries then just don't give them permission rather than allowing it but only for 2 months. Seems that this part of the new rules would apply to mitigation work, too. Seems a bit draconian to me.

Dig is uncovering history feared lost

To the untrained eye, what lies in the burned-out shell of Dyar House does not look like much. White ash, charred debris and twisted metal, orange with rust, cover the floor of the building, which was gutted during the 2003 Cedar fire that burned nearly all of Cuyamaca Rancho State Park's 25,000 acres.

But to the state archaeologists excavating the site, the rubble is priceless. Amid the wreckage lie thousands of artifacts, including Kumeyaay pottery, lanterns and scales once used in a historic gold mine.

Archaeologists appeal for funds to reveal island’s Roman secrets

An excavation is about to start at one of the most important Roman villas in Western Europe. Its spectacular mosaics were saved by readers of The Times five years ago after being placed on the World Monuments Fund’s list of the most endangered sites.

One of Britain’s leading archaeologists is to explore the 1.6hectare (4acre) site around Brading Roman Villa on the Isle of Wight. Barely 15 per cent of it has been excavated and the dig is expected to last five years.

Sir Barry Cunliffe, Emeritus Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford University, said that the north side appeared to suggest a large assembly hall with side aisles.

City of David Dig Reveals Information on Ancient Postal System

Artifacts from City of David excavations in Jerusalem reveal an interesting tidbit of information about the ancient postal system in Israel.

In an archaeological excavation being carried out at the “Spring House,” near the Gihon Spring in the City of David – in the valley east of Jerusalem’s Old City, soil was excavated which contained pottery shards that date to the Iron Age 2 (eighth century BCE).

“Whereas during the ninth century BCE, letters and goods were dispatched on behalf of their senders without names, by the eighth century BCE the clerks and merchants had already begun to add their names to the seals,” concluded the Antiquities Authority.

Medieval wall painting discovered

Fragments of an ancient wall painting dating back to medieval times have been discovered during restoration work at 13th century Stuston church.

Last year villagers rallied to the cause when it emerged that £185,000 was needed for urgent repairs to make the nave, porch and vestry roofs watertight.

English Heritage and other funding bodies promised £165,000 towards the project - on condition that the small community of 140 souls met a December 2007 deadline to prove their commitment to making up the shortfall.

Small and not terribly detailed photo of the painting at the link.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS TO DRILL IN BEXLEY FOR EVIDENCE OF ANCIENT OCCUPATION

Archaeologists from Durham University will be returning to a London borough site where a 19th century historian once found flint tools and animal bones.

This time, however, the latest sonic drilling equipment will be used to take samples from the earth, for the ongoing Ancient Human Occupation of Britain II project (AHOB).

I don't remember linking to this in the past. There's probably a lot of junk sitting around in museums that has had only cursory examination but may suggest locations that still may have material.

In memoriam Leonard D. Cagle, 1930-2005.

That would be my dad and today is his birthday. We lost him to post-operative complications in November of 2005. I miss him a lot. He retired and quit smoking in the early 1990s and had a good retirement. He worked hard all his life and deserved to have some time for himself, which really turned into time for us, too. Because of the labor and smoking he didn't have a lot of energy for fun for most of his life; and, of course, we as kids didn't seem to have enough time for him either. After he retired he just blossomed. I never knew he was that much fun! Or that funny. He would tell stories of growing up in Alabama that we had never heard before. It was the first time I really knew my dad.

I tend to view life differently these days. So many people attended the funeral Mass that I had never met. It touched and amazed me that he had had such a positive impact on so many people. I started to realize what was really important in life after that.

So, I'll be toasting him with a glass of Riesling later on; he discovered wine during those retirement years and Riesling was his favorite. You were a good dad, Dad and it was an honor to be yer kid.