Oldest known frescoed tomb is found

A suspected tomb raider has led archaeologists to what experts described Friday as the oldest known frescoed burial chamber in Europe.

The tomb, located on a wheat field north of Rome, belonged to a warrior prince from the nearby Etruscan town of Veio, said archaeologists who took journalists on a tour of the site.

Dating from around 690 B.C., the underground burial chamber is decorated with roaring lions and migratory birds. Experts are hailing it as the earliest example of the funerary decorations that would become common in Greece and Rome.

Picture of part of it here.

Google Earth update Someone on the EEF lists mentioned that Google Earth has updated some of their satellite images of Egypt, especially the Delta. It's true: the Delta can now be viewed at much higher resolution and clarity than before. Do check it out.

And for all the nerds out there A free article from American Scientist. Haven't read the whole thing yet, but having straddled both realms -- computer science and archaeology -- for some time now, a lot of this is a trip down memory lane:

The Semicolon Wars

The creators of a new programming language are not just adding variety for its own sake; they are trying to make something demonstrably better. But the very fact that the proliferation of languages goes on and on argues that we still haven't gotten it right. We still don't know the best notation—or even a good-enough notation—for expressing an algorithm or defining a data structure.

There are programmers of my acquaintance who will dispute that last statement. I expect to hear from them. They will argue—zealously, ardently, vehemently—that we have indeed found the right programming language, and for me to claim otherwise is willful ignorance. The one true language may not yet be perfect, they'll concede, but it's built on a sound foundation and solves the main problems, and now we should all work together to refine and improve it. The catch, of course, is that each of these friends will favor a different language. It's Lisp, says one. No, it's Python. It's Ruby. It's Java, C#, Lua, Haskell, Prolog, Curl.

Pascal roolz, C droolz, btw.

Jade Axes Proof of Vast Ancient Caribbean Network, Experts Say

A discovery of ancient jade could shake up old notions of the New World before Columbus. Scientists say they have traced 1,500-year-old axe blades found in the eastern Caribbean to ancient jade mines in Central America 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) away, New York's American Museum of Natural History announced late last month.

The blades were excavated in the late 1990s by a Canadian archaeologist on the island of Antigua in the West Indies (see map of Antigua and Barbuda).

But the jade used to make the blades almost certainly came from Maya mines in distant Guatemala (see map of Guatemala), says mineralogist George Harlow of the American Museum of Natural History.

Not something I'd heard of before, but it sounds interesting. Yeah, archaeology on Caribbean islands. . . .

Biblical archaeology update In a Ruined Copper Works, Evidence That Bolsters a Doubted Biblical Tale

In biblical lore, Edom was the implacable adversary and menacing neighbor of the Israelites. The Edomites lived south of the Dead Sea and east of the desolate rift valley known as Wadi Arabah, and from time to time they had to be dealt with by force, notably by the likes of Kings David and Solomon.

Today, the Edomites are again in the thick of combat — of the scholarly kind. The conflict is heated and protracted, as is often the case with issues related to the reliability of the Bible as history.

Chronology is at the crux of the debate. Exactly when did the nomadic tribes of Edom become an organized society with the might to threaten Israel? Were David and Solomon really kings of a state with growing power in the 10th century B.C.? Had writers of the Bible magnified the stature of the two societies at such an early time in history?

Katrina archaeology In Katrina's Wake

My day-to-day work during those three months transformed the way I see the archaeology of New Orleans, as well as the archaeology of disaster. I now recognize how emotions, as much as environmental conditions, politics, and economic forces, can shape the archaeological record.
. . .

From my brief deployment after Katrina, I can see that post-K demolition and rebuilding efforts will test the limits of the federal government and state agencies to respond to threats posed to an area with one of the largest concentrations of historic resources in the country. It's likely that Katrina will rewrite how archaeological sites and historic structures are managed in the context of disasters. It's even possible it will reshape preservation practices.

Bones & Bureaucrats March/April 1993

The bones of 420 enslaved Africans found last year under a parking lot two blocks north of New York's City Hall comprise the largest and earliest collection of African-American remains, and possibly the largest and earliest collection of American colonial remains of any ethnic group. The excavation of the old Negros Burial Ground has challenged the popular belief that there was no slavery in colonial New York, and has provided unparalleled data for the Howard University scholars who will study the remains of New York's first African Americans. But as archaeologists removed the remains one by one, they dug up age-old resentment and suspicion with every trowel-full of earth. Scholarly excitement was tempered by the protest of the city's black community, which felt its concerns were not being addressed in decisions about the excavation and disposition of the remains. In the flurry of protests, negotiations, and political maneuverings, the controversy took on an undeniably racial cast. The African Burial Ground, as it is known today, became a "microcosm of the issues of racism and economic exploitation confronting New York City," says Michael L. Blakey, a Howard University anthropologist and the burial ground's scientific director.

Also visit the links there.

Fore! Medieval homes under golf course

The remains of a medieval village have been discovered at the Archerfield estate in East Lothian under the site of a new golf course.
Archaeologists have uncovered several houses from the 12th to 15th centuries in the middle of the 17th fairway of the new course.

Every inch of the medieval homes will be recorded before the golf course is safely created on the top.

Hmmm. Looks like they are going to do some excavation and then cover up whatever remains and landscape the course right over it.

And now. . .the news from the EEF

On the website of David Cintron, some of his papers are
available online (in PDF):
http://www.cintronics.com/cintronics/egyptology.htm
-- "A New Angle on Snefru's Pyramids" (ARCE 2003 letcure)
-- "Aspects of Nephthys"(ARCE 2004 lecture)
-- "Narmer: A Fish out of Water?"
-- "Old Kingdom Egypt: An Insider's Primer"

Actually, that's it. Most everything else has already been posted in one form or another.

End of EEF news

EEF link update

Some EEF links in earlier posts are incorrect. And I can't edit the ones that far back. The correct URL is: http://www.egyptologyforum.org/.

Cradle of an early civilisation

THE Bujang Valley in Kedah was the bustling centre of a rich and prosperous kingdom between the third and 12th century AD.

It was then known as Nusantara, a Sanskrit word which means ‘seat of all felicities.’

The area, which was also called Bujanga or ‘Valley of the Serpent’ was Southeast Asia’s central trading entreport which dealt with cargo brought by Arab, Chinese, Indian as well as maritime traders from the Malay archipelago.

Heh. Bosnian Pyramids: Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Atlantis

If something looks like a pyramid, and every news source says it's a pyramid then you'd have to have a fairly good reason to think there might be something else going on.

Blog entry with quite a bit of discussion and links on the various aspects of it.

And speaking of which: Seductions of Pseudoarchaeology: Pseudoscience in Cyberspace

"[Pseudoarchaeological] perpetrators and their followers seemed to deal with each and every objection by abusing the questioner, twisting facts, or invoking an Egyptological conspiracy that would make Watergate look insignificant," says Wall, who claims to be particularly proud of having been labeled a "sniveling, insinuating little worm" by one preeminent pseudoarchaeological author during an online discussion.

I checked out the Hall of Ma'at web site and it looks like a reasonable addition to the link list.

Is It Long-Ago Reality Or Reality TV? Virtual Worlds Bring Past to Life

Computer technology brings ancient worlds to life, but archaeologists debate whether it resembles long-ago reality or reality TV. Jeffrey Clark, Ph.D., director of the Archaeology Technologies Laboratory at North Dakota State University, Fargo, notes the technology that creates such virtual worlds allows people to explore historical locations in a unique way. At the same time, virtual models of past places and the artifacts found there may portray facts bolstered with assumptions. Clark’s comments are among those featured in the article “Digital Digs” in a recent issue of Nature.

Archaeological site yields dental surprise

Thousands of years before screen idols began beautifying themselves with cosmetic dentistry ancient Mexicans were getting ceremonial dentures.

Researchers report Wednesday that they found a 4,500-year-old burial in Mexico that had the oldest known example of dental work in the Americas.

The upper front teeth of the remains had been ground down so they could be mounted with animal teeth, possibly wolf or panther teeth, for ceremonial purposes, according to researchers led by Tricia Gabany-Guerrero of the University of Connecticut.

More here.

News from Paris. . . . .Texas Archaeologists uncovering history at ranch

Archaeologists are finding and making history at Gene and Ruth Ann Stallings' Hike-A-Way Ranch north of Paris.

Participants in the Texas Archeological Society Field School found evidence this week of the prehistoric Fourche Maline tribe on the Stallings' ranch during a dig. An open house is set for 9 a.m. to noon Friday at the site, so the public can view the dig site.

The Fourche Maline tribe is considered to be a predecessor to the Caddo. Northern Lamar County is the farthest west a Fourche Maline site has been found, Dr. Alan Skinner of AR Consultants Inc. in Dallas said. During the field school, professional and amateur archeologists found evidence of both Caddo and Fourche Maline houses.

Show us the money! Coweta gets grant for archaeology

Coweta County received a grant of $16,810 toward archaeological services at the property where the Battle of Brown's Mill occurred during the Civil War.

The grant, awarded by the American Battlefield Protection Program of the National Park Service, will define the critical area of the Hotchkiss Battery in order to prepare a National Register of Historic Places nomination for the Battle of Brown's Mill.

The Battle of Brown's Mill was an important encounter in the Civil War because it changed the Union's tactics to cut Atlanta's rail connection with the rest of the Confederacy, an NPS press release said.

More Hmmmmmm New glacier theory on Stonehenge

A geology team has contradicted claims that bluestones were dug by Bronze Age man from a west Wales quarry and carried 240 miles to build Stonehenge.
In a new twist, Open University geologists say the stones were in fact moved to Salisbury Plain by glaciers.

Last year archaeologists said the stones came from the Preseli Hills.

Recent research in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology suggests the stones were ripped from the ground and moved by glaciers during the Ice Age.

So they're syaing these things are glacial erratics. TO me that sounds kind of plausible. But then, how could a glacier drop them down in such precise alignments??!!

Okay, kidding. One would assume that there would be some sort of distribution of similar erratics outside of the procurement area that could be used to bolster this idea. OTOH, one would think that a bunch of large erratics would have been noticed by now since these things tend to frost-heave their way to the surface. Maybe they used all the big erratics in the area? Still, seems like a neat hypothesis that one could support in a number of ways.

Personal note: Being from Wisconsin, I have a keen knowledge of erratics. Being composed of largely glacial outwash, south-central Wisconsin is prime erratic area and in fact the farms around the are are nearly all bounded by rock fences built out of the erratics they had to haul out of the field every year due to frost heave. Matter of fact, my maternal grandfather was killed well before I was born while engaging in such activity.

How the bow and arrow helped humans to colonise the world

The invention of the world's first bows and arrows may have played a part in the eventual colonisation of much of the world by Homo sapiens.

In a groundbreaking paper published yesterday, Paul Mellars, one of Britain's leading archaeologists and a Cambridge professor, suggests Homo sapiens' dominance of much of the world was triggered by a technological revolution which caused a demographic explosion between 60,000 and 80,000 years ago. As a result, the population of one particular human ethnic group expanded up to 1,000 times over.

The dramatic population increase then forced tribes to search for new hunting grounds, first within Africa, and then, by 60,000 years ago, outside it.

Hmmmm. Nothing saying why he thinks this. There will probably be more written about this.

A moment of truth for all in the antiquities field

No longer should museums be able to buy antiquities or accept them as a gift while turning a blind eye to the question of where they come from. Nor will it be credible for museums to go through the legal farce practised by the Getty and other US museums in the past of asking the authorities in possible source countries whether they knew that a potential purchase had been illicitly excavated or exported, and then acquiring the item when the answer was in the negative. The museums have been forced to recognise that, by their very nature, illicitly excavated or exported items have a concealed history, so of course the authorities know little or nothing about them.

Opinion piece.

Speaking of which: Stolen Egyptian artifact removed from NY auction

A 4000-year-old Egyptian alabaster container shaped like a duck and used for a funeral offering has been withdrawn from auction because it may be stolen property, Christie's auction house said on Monday.

The Old Kingdom alabaster offering vessel dating from 2575 to 2134 BC was expected to sell for $20,000 to $30,000 before it was withdrawn from the sale, according to the Christie's online catalog for its June 16 sale of antiquities in New York.

Now this is a good idea A multimedia archaeological tour on your mobile phone

An Italian-led research project is developing a service that allows visitors to use their camera-equipped 3G mobile telephones to get a personalised multimedia guide to archaeological sites and museums.
A tour of a big outdoor cultural site can sometimes be a frustrating experience if objects are not easily located, identified or placed in historical context. The Agamemnon project is working on an interactive multimedia system that provides relevant text, videos, speech and pictures with 3D reconstructions, to visitors' mobile telephones, says Matteo Villa, an engineer from the project coordinator, Milan-based TXT e-Solutions.

Agamemnon tailors a visit path based on site visitors’ interests, cultural knowledge and time available. The on-screen itinerary constantly updates as the visitor moves around the site. The system's image-recognition function allows visitors to dial in via a data line, photograph objects they are interested in and receive information about them. Agamemnon also takes voice commands.

A completely updatable, always-on automatic guide system.

Final fight to save 1066 battlefield

The final push in a long-running fight to save the site of the "other battle of 1066" will begin tomorrow.

Campaigners will be appealing against a housing development on a water meadow near the scene of the Battle of Fulford, which is on the outskirts of York.

It was seen by some as a crucial factor in Saxon King Harold's defeat less than a month later by William, Duke of Normandy, at Hastings.

Rock star chart update The Arizona rock art supposedly depicting a well-known supernova has drawn some attention. Ker Than at LiveScience passed along the question we posed as well regarding whether or not the scorpion actually represented the constellation Scorpio to the original author, John Barentine who replied:

“Your readers are right, this announcement very well should be greeted with some skepticism. The identification of what I refer to as a scorpion petroglyph with the classical constellation of Scorpius is, naturally, tentative. I make my case for these glyphs representing the 1006 supernova event largely on the arrangement of the scorpion and the bright star being very similar to the arrangement of these figures in the sky on the night the supernova appeared. Historical research (e.g. that of Richard Hinckley Allen in “Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning”, Dover Publications, 1963) suggests that in virtually every world culture where scorpions are indigenous creatures, the stars of the modern constellation Scorpius were identified with scorpions and their mythology. In fact, I believe Allen refers to this constellation and Taurus as among the “oldest” constellations in terms of their appearance in history.

“That said, of course there is the probability that the appearance of these symbols in proximity to one another is coincidental. Given that the people who created the drawing left no written record of their history, it’s impossible to verify this claim independently. However, we are pursuing the avenue of attempting to date the petroglyph via chemical means. A date roughly corresponding to the early 11th century would, I think, support my claim. Also, there is as much circumstantial evidence for my claim as there is for the famous Crab Nebula pictograph in Chaco Canyon, NM, with which many archaeologists do not agree. So my announcement today is a suggestion, first and foremost, worth further investigation.”

So it's possible that this particular constellation may be linked with a scorpion in different cultures.

And speaking of conservation. . . The Battle to Save the Cave

For more than 17,000 years, the bestiary of the Lascaux cave in southwestern France survived the ravages of history, unseen and undiscovered. Entering it now is like walking into a time capsule, where 12-foot-long bulls and plump yellow horses appear to float across the vaults like religious apparitions. Although the draftsmanship is strikingly Modernist--on exiting the cave in 1940, Pablo Picasso is said to have remarked, "We have invented nothing"--these creations are remnants of the Upper Paleolithic Age, when our hunter-gatherer ancestors acquired the gift of consciousness and a knack for nature drawing.

This will be difficult to deal with, even once/if the fungus is eventually irradicated. One is tempted to just say "Seal it up and hope everyone forgets about it" but that probably can't be done, assuming the cave was not sealed up to begin with; that is, if the stuff inside survived inside an open (to whatever extent) cave, just sealing it up might cause more harm than good. But if you don't seal it up, people will continue to go in. I personally am not confident that anything can be done long-term -- i.e., thousands of years -- to preserve them apart from putting the condition of the cave back to where it was before it was discovered and finding some way to block access.

But it's a good article so read the whole thing.

Irish archeology nears crisis point

THE unprecedented boom in property development and road building has unearthed thousands of archeological artefacts but most of them lie gathering dust in warehouses, hidden from public view.

With nearly 200 times more excavations being carried out than in the early 1990s, new discoveries are no longer being reported and Ireland’s museums no longer have space to house them. As a result, academics claim the country is being denied an opportunity to learn more about its history.

A report prepared by University College Dublin (UCD) and the Heritage Council says an unprecedented amount of new information about Ireland’s ancient cultures remains unpublished because of “systemic failures” and pressure from developers to get archeology “out of the way for the next development”.

Doesn't sound too good. And as we know, for every day of fieldwork there is probably a month of curation, analysis, and publishing to be done. Not to mention housing the stuff.

Search for India's ancient city

Archaeologists working on India's south-west coast believe they may have solved the mystery of the location of a major port which was key to trade between India and the Roman Empire - Muziris, in the modern-day state of Kerala.
For many years, people have been in search of the almost mythical port, known as Vanchi to locals.

Much-recorded in Roman times, Muziris was a major centre for trade between Rome and southern India - but appeared to have simply disappeared.

Now, however, an investigation by two archaeologists - KP Shajan and V Selvakumar - has placed the ancient port as having existed where the small town of Pattanam now stands, on India's south-west Malabar coast.

Archaeological treasures tell of civilizations from long ago

The evidence of those who lived before us is disappearing as rapidly as new developments emerge.

In Sand Lake Coulee, evidence of a 600-year-old village has been found. Some artifacts found there date back 10,000 years.

It is one of two places in the U.S. that archeologists have found preserved, prehistoric farm fields that were buried and it is even listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

But that doesn't necessarily protect it.

“That area has an amazing wealth of archeology,” Robert “Ernie” Boszhardt said. “Unfortunately a lot of this has been lost through development.”

More here.

Lost civilization treasure found returned Looted Maya Treasure Returned Anonymously

A 1,500-year-old Maya stone box that had been looted from a Guatemalan cave has been returned by an unnamed collector.

The artifact was delivered anonymously to officials at Guatemala's Ministry of Culture last week.
Experts had described the artifact as one of the most impressive finds from the Early Classic Period (A.D. 250-600) of ancient Maya civilization.

The vessel's theft, first noticed two months ago, led Guatemalan authorities to launch a national investigation.

Charles F. Brush, Archaeologist Who Piled Adventure Upon Adventure, Dies at 83

Charles F. Brush III, an archaeologist who as president of the Explorers Club persuaded his brethren to take on a singular adventure — admitting women to their den of stuffed polar bears, tarantula appetizers and overstuffed armchairs — died on June 1 in Manhattan. He was 83.

The cause was congestive heart failure, his son, Charles IV, said.

Dr. Brush, who lived in Shelter Island, N.Y., took up mountain climbing at 49, ran his first marathon at 54, and climbed the sheer Devil's Tower in Wyoming at 70, two days after taking up rock climbing. One of the legendary parties he had at his Park Avenue penthouse had Allen Ginsberg sitting in the nude chanting in front of a Buddha sculpture in the living room, The New York Times reported in 1993.

. . .

Charles IV said his father may have become bored with archaeology, so he turned to challenges like mountain climbing and scuba diving.

Bored with archaeology???!!!

I attended a function of Explorers many years ago. They are, indeed, an interesting bunch. They do tend to have an affection for the old-style adventurer aspects of archaeology. One hesitates to dismiss them out of hand as simple dilettantes, since exploration into more remote regions can indeed result in signficant discoveries even today.

A closer look at the Little Salt Spring

Trained archaeologists were at Little Salt Spring Saturday to give area residents the lowdown on Little Salt Spring.

And in the case of North Port's most famous archaeological site, "lowdown" means just that: about 250 feet, the depth of the sinkhole.

The sinkhole is a classic "cenote," a sinkhole caused by the erosion of limestone by underground water. It is fed by underwater springs, and except for the water close to the surface, it is devoid of oxygen in much of its depth.

Archaeologists try to save ancient sites

Government-funded archaeologists are making a push to survey ancient sites across a remote stretch of southern Utah before looters can scoop up the last artifacts.

One team is recovering treasures before they disappear from the ground along Comb Ridge, an 80-mile monocline that Native Americans worship as the very spine of the earth. Another is shoring up the crumbling walls of ancient dwellings at 10 sites in the same region, about 300 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

The efforts come as federal and local agencies celebrate the centennial of the 1906 Antiquities Act, which gives the president authority to create national monuments to preserve the nation's ancient cultural sites and unusual geological features.

Iruña-Veleia
Third-century Basque inscriptions found in archaeological site

The confirmation of this date would cause a revolution on the theories of the origins of the Basque language, since the most ancient documents recorded up to this moment were from the eleventh century.

Remains of Village Halt Track Construction

Just as construction has finally begun on the long awaited harness track in Anoka County, north of Minneapolis, Minnesota, officials have learned that progress will be hindered once again - this time by the discovery of a prehistoric Indian village.

Project officials recently discovered the remains of a prehistoric village on the Columbus Township land, state archaeologist Scott Anfinson told the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

"They're going to do a fairly major excavation to mitigate the development of the track," Anfinson said. "The village material looked to be, some of it, several thousands of years old."

They're only expecting it to take 1-2 weeks so it doesn't appear to be a big settlement, if at all (it mentions extending the excavation if a house is found). Hard to tell what is there actually.

Bosnian pyramid update European archaeologists do not believe in pyramids in Bosnia

Representatives of the European Association of Archaeologists said Friday in Sarajevo they do not believe in the existence of pyramids near the central Bosnian town of Visoko, some 30 kilometres north from Sarajevo.

'We saw the area and what we saw was entirely natural geological structure,' president of the association professor Anthony Harding told reporters in Sarajevo.

Not lookin' good. . . .

Unmarked Gravesites Discovered on Roger's Island

On Roger’s island, in a small field, a white tent covers several partially excavated gravesites. 250 years ago, during the French Indian wars, the island was home to a hospital and as many as 15 thousand soldiers. An expert says other soldiers staying at fort Edward, just across the Hudson River, were buried on the main land.

“But what about the soldiers who camped on Roger’s island?" asks Professor of Anthropology, David Starbuck. “Where were they buried? And no one had ever found out. So, with this new discovery, it tells us where at least one of the cemeteries was.”

Talks could lead to professional excavation of historic site

Talks could soon be under way to excavate what may be a historic burial ground on a Hudson River island.

That's according to scientists from the State Museum in Albany, who yesterday went to examine the site on Rogers Island in Fort Edward, about 40 miles north of Albany.

Several sets of skeletal remains have been uncovered there by amateur archaeologists Richard and JoAnne Fuller. The couple say the site may be a burial ground dating back to the French and Indian War.

Indiana Jones update Sean Connery for next 'Indiana Jones'?

George Lucas has revealed plans to tempt Sean Connery back into the Indiana Jones series.

Lucas is producing the fourth movie in the franchise as Harrison Ford returns as the whip-cracking archaeologist, and the story apparently involves Indy's father, Henry Jones.

"I would love him to be in the next Indiana Jones...maybe I can push him into it," he told Access Hollywood. "We are writing him in whether he wants to do it or not."

That's the whole thing.

Y'all ought to start a write-in campaign to have your favorite archaeological blogger have a cameo appearance.

That would be me, btw.

Links update

The links list over there ( <=== ) has been updated to remove Systematics in Prehistory and add one to a Radiocarbon site. Pity Systematics is no longer available on the web; it's really a remarkable book, even though most people, upon perusing its dense and often seemingly incomprehensible prose might prefer sticking themselves in the eye repeatedly with a Desert-side-notch-tipped stick. Dunnell is one of those writers who you really need to concentrate to understand, but when you put in the effort, it's worth it; even if you disagree, you have a clear idea of what he's said. This is very often a rare commodity in anthro/archaeological writing.

But hit the C14 site; it's got tons of good information and Higham will respond to serious questions with good information.

New study shows much of the world emerged from last Ice Age together

The end of the recurring, 100,000-year glacial cycles is one of the most prominent and readily identifiable features in records of the Earth's recent climate history. Yet one of the most puzzling questions in climate science has been why different parts of the world, most notably Greenland, appear to have warmed at different times and at different rates after the end of the last Ice Age.
However, a new study appearing in the upcoming issue of the journal Science suggests that, except for regions of the North Atlantic, most of the Earth did, in fact, begin warming at the same time roughly 17,500 years ago. In addition, scientists suggest that ice core records from Greenland, which show that average temperatures there did not warm appreciably until about 15,000 years ago, may have remained in a hyper-cold state largely as a result of events triggered by warming elsewhere.

They remark on a dating technique that I hadn't heard of until today and then twice:

The research, led by Joerg Schaefer from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, a member of The Earth Institute at Columbia University, and George Denton at the University of Maine, relied on a method known as cosmogenic or surface-exposure dating, which enabled the scientists to determine how long rock surfaces have been exposed since the glaciers retreated. As cosmic rays penetrating the Earth's atmosphere strike the scoured rock, they form an isotope of the element beryllium, 10Be, at a known rate. By measuring the minute amounts of 10Be in rock samples from glacial moraines in California and New Zealand and comparing these data to previously published results from Wyoming, Oregon, Montana Argentina, Australia and Switzerland, Schaefer and his colleagues were able to narrow down when glaciers around the world began to retreat.

I'd just read a Science article on the possible cause of the Younger Dryas and whether it was a result of the large glacial Lake Aggasiz in Canada suddenly emptying its fresh water into the north Atlantic and shutting down the thermohaline circulation. Haven't seen it used archaeologically though, but I'm not particularly well-read in the areas it might be of use.

Update: Did a little searching and found at least one paper using it (sub only):

Flint procurement strategies in the Late Lower Palaeolithic recorded by in situ produced cosmogenic 10Be in Tabun and Qesem Caves (Israel) Giovanni Verria, Ran Barkaib, Avi Gopherb, Michael Hassc, Peter W. Kubikd, Michael Paula, Abraham Ronene, Steve Weinerf and Elisabetta Boarettog, Journal of Archaeological Science 32(2) 2005, Pages 207-213

The in situ produced cosmogenic beryllium isotope, 10Be, in flint artifacts from different layers in prehistoric caves can provide information on flint procurement. The buildup of 10Be in a flint matrix is related to the exposure time of the flint to cosmic rays. Although this exposure history can be complex, the 10Be content of flint assemblages can show whether the raw material was obtained from shallow mining and/or surface collection as opposed to sediments two or more meters below the surface. Flint artifact assemblages from two Palaeolithic caves in Israel, Tabun and Qesem, were analyzed.

In Tabun cave the flint artifacts from Lower Layer E (Acheulo-Yabrudian, around 400 000–200 000 yr) contain very small amounts of 10Be, which is consistent with flint procured from sediments two or more meters deep. Artifacts from above and below Tabun Lower Layer E show a more complex distribution, as do artifacts from all layers of Qesem cave (Acheulo-Yabrudian). This is probably due to the fact that they were surface collected and/or mined from shallow (less than 2 m) depths. We show here that artifact assemblages have different concentrations of 10Be, indicating different raw material procurement strategies.

They're only using it to distinguish between mined and surface-collected material, reason being that buried sources would have little 10-Be compared to nodules that had been lying on the surface for a long time. Wonder if this could be used on regular old lithics, much the way that obsidian hydration is used. It seems as though the entire chunk of rock would be affected, not just the surface, so you wouldn't be dating the creation of the fresh surfaces. So, eh.

And now. . .the news from the EEF

“High Tech Laser Cleaning Egyptian Tomb”
http://www.technologynewsdaily.com/node/3148
"Dr. Michael Panzner of the Fraunhofer Institute for Material
and Beam Technology IWS in Dresden is the first scientist
to use a laser for cleaning an Egyptian tomb.”
-- Press release by the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and
Beam Technology IWS (basically the same as the above
press report):
http://www.iws.fraunhofer.de/presse/2006/e-pr0602.html
-- The work is being done in the tomb of Neferhotep (TT49);
society dedicated to the conservation of this tomb:
http://www.neferhotep.de/

Press report: "French-Egyptian development project to protect monuments"
http://snipurl.com/rj8h
"An Egyptian-French project to develop the Karnak Temple area in
Luxor aims at protecting the priceless monuments.. The project will
include specific lanes for tourists to head off any damage to the
monuments...Hawass further said that an Egyptian-French expedition
will embark on excavation of a port on the River Nile near Karnak."

Press report: "With 5 coffins down, no mummy to be found"
http://snipurl.com/rj8i
About KV63 and the find of the gold coffinette. Not much new
info, but there's a phone interview with Dr Schaden:
"The team hopes to get a portable X-ray machine and
scanner to the site within "a week or so" to peer into the
last two [coffins], made brittle by ravaging termites. "
[About the pillows in the youth coffin:]
"The coffin yielded six fragile linen pillows. The stuffing hasn't
been analyzed. "There aren't very many pillows known from
ancient Egypt. Some are depicted," he said. "It's probably the
largest collection of ancient pillows from Egypt." Under the
pillows, they were surprised to find the gold coffin. It held no
mummy, just "little lumps of mud," he added."

"Mummy rests peacefully at Naperville Central"
http://snipurl.com/rj9c
"Naperville Central could be the only high school in the country
to have a resident, authenticated mummy. (..) The mummified
young girl (...) was probably 5 or 6 years old when she died
more than 2,000 years ago. She was brought to the school in
the 1940s after being donated by Dr. Winifred Martin of
Naperville, but sat in the basement for decades collecting
dust until a teacher rescued her 22 years ago."

The Royal Cache TT 320 (Luxor), Fifth season, 2006
English version: http://www.cesras.ru/eng/arch/tt320/rep.htm
"On March 1-29, 2006 The Centre for Egyptological Studies of the
RAS and the Institute of Egyptology and Coptology of the Muenster
University carried out the last, fifths, season of archaeological survey
at the Royal Cache TT 320." - See also "general information" on
this website.
-- Website about the Cachette of the Royal Mummies,
Deir el-Bahri TT320:
http://www.tt320.org

Deborah Ruscillo (Ed.), Recent Advances in Ageing and
Sexing Animal Bones. Oxbow Books 2005. Hb, 272 pp.
ISBN 1842171224. US $130.00
Info and TOC:
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/bookinfo.cfm/ID/38227/
"The eighteen papers in this book examine the state of research for various techniques of age/sex determination and assess potential future development."

At the Osirisnet website of Thierry Benderitter, a new
subsection has appeared that is dedicated to the tomb of
Nefersekheru (TT296), with photographs and maps:
http://www.osirisnet.net/tombes/nobles/nefersekherou/e_nfrskhru_01.htm

End of EEF news

Antiquities Act turns 100

Today is the 100th anniversary of a law that allowed for designation of Devils Tower as a national monument and led the way for the creation of Grand Teton National Park.

But it's a birthday Wyoming won't celebrate.

Wyoming is the only state in the country not covered by the so-called Antiquities Act, established on June 8, 1906. It's an ironic twist in the state where the act was first used -- by President Theodore Roosevelt in the designation of Devils Tower National Monument in 1906.

The law gives the president authority to protect lands without approval of Congress.

Huh. Did not know that about Wyoming.

Booze update Wine Production was Well-Developed during Sassanid Era

Archeological excavations in Bolaghi Gorge revealed that this area was one of the main centers for producing wine during the Sassanid era.

Recent geophysical and archeological studies in Bolaghi Gorge led to discovery of the biggest wine production workshops belonging to the Sassanid era (226–650 AD). This is the first time archeologists have succeeded in discovering such a big wine production workshop.

Prior to this, the remains of a wine production workshop belonging to the Sassanid era had been discovered during the archeological excavations by the joint Iranian-Polish team in Bolaghi Gorge under the supervision of Ali Asadi and Barbara Kaim.

Do we know when, say, whiskey, was first produced?

Antikythera update Ancient Astronomy Artifact Bears Hidden Text

A shoebox-sized bronze device scooped out of a Roman-era shipwreck at the dawn of the 20th century has baffled scientists for years. Now a British researcher has stunningly established it as the world's oldest surviving astronomy computer.

A team of Greek and British scientists probing the secrets of the artifact, known as the Antikythera Mechanism, has managed to decipher ancient Greek inscriptions unseen for over 2,000 years, members of the project say.

I just love the name of that thing. Not much new info in this article but it does have a link to an official Antikythera Mechanism web site.

Scientists, historians hope clues put face on legend of slave

Kidnapped from his African homeland at age 7 and sold into slavery in America, Venture Smith would grow into a man of mythically large proportions. He won his freedom and became a successful 18th-century businessman so revered by this river town that its denizens to this day tend his grave.

While state and local historians know Smith's story well, they want to make it as well-known to the rest of the world as the story of Amistad and its hero, Cinque. To do that, they have undertaken an ambitious, international research project that will call on the expertise of scientists, archaeologists, historians and human rights activists.

Two Three Four Al-Ahram pieces

An African kingdom on the Nile

In a lecture at the Canadian Institute of Archaeology in Cairo last month, Krzys Grzymski of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) described the use of modern technology to uncover the origins and topography, history and development of Meroe, an African kingdom which developed along the upper reaches of the Nile about 200km north of Khartoum between 800 BC and 350 AD.

"We began our operations in October 1999, and ancient Meroe is slowly coming to light," Grzymski said. "We first carried out a comprehensive survey of the area, and we are doing our work slowly and thoroughly. There is probably no greater danger to the preservation of an ancient site than hasty excavations, and much of our first season was spent walking over the entire area and recording surface material."

Egypt and Nubia

TO APPRECIATE the significance of this African kingdom, which once controlled important trade routes from central Africa to the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, and in the third century BC held sway over the Nile to within reach of Aswan, it is important to note that Egyptologists tend to regard Lower Nubia as Egyptian territory, virtually an extension of Egypt.

This is not surprising, since it was their colony as far as the Second Cataract, where the powerful Pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom constructed huge fortresses around 2000 BC. This frontier was later pushed further south when, in the New Kingdom (1567-1080 BC), Egypt controlled areas that Thutmose I claimed were "not known to my ancestors". Fine Pharaonic temples were built at Semna, Soleb and Sesibi, and Egyptian viceroys were appointed to govern all of Lower Nubia. For nearly 500 years it remained in the hands of high-ranking officials whose titles included "son of Kush". Egyptians were encouraged to take up residence in Nubia and Egypt's technological capabilities were introduced to the region.

Latter seems to be a background piece on Nubia. It seems incomplete though. The first is by the always informative Jill Kamil.

Update: "Distant Dakhla""
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/798/he3.htm

About the fifth conference of the Dakhla Oasis Project (DOP). (via EEF)

Update II: "Karnak facelift approved"
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/798/fr2.htm
"Rumours of the environmental disaster that would be wreaked
by the Karnak Development Project, approved by the Supreme
Council of Antiquities (SCA) and Luxor City Council (LCC), began
to circulate early in May. The project would, said its detractors,
destroy the context of Karnak Temple (...). Francesco Bandarin,
director of the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, wrote to SCA
Secretary-General Zahi Hawass, suggesting alternative solutions
be sought, and threatening to remove Karnak Temple from
the World Heritage List should the project go ahead as planned."
(Also EEF)

Best headline in a while Stone table of royal power lunch found in seat of democracy

SECTIONS of the King’s Table, a symbol of royal power until it was smashed by Oliver Cromwell, have been found beneath the floor of the Palace of Westminster.
The elaborately carved stone table was used by kings and queens from the 13th century for coronation feasts and state banquets but disappeared under Puritan rule.

It represented the power and authority of the monarch in the same way as the King’s Bench, a court, and the King’s Privy Wardrobe, also known as the Jewel Tower.

Kind of amazing the backstory on the find. Imagine what the interpretation would be if nothing were known about it.

Well, wait, we know what the interpretation would be: "It must have some form of ritual significance." True, but more or less what is always said when we don't know what the devil something was for.

News from Mehr Kangelu may be Mithraist temple: archaeologists

A team of archaeologists working on the Kangelu monument in northern Iran’s Mazandaran Province has found evidence suggesting that it might have been a Mithraist temple during the Sassanid era, the Persian service of CHN reported on Wednesday.

The team recently discovered engravings depicting ibex and cypress trees, an inscription written in Pahlavi, and some structures with Mithraist architectural elements at Kangelu, which experts believed was a Sassanid fortress before the discoveries.

“Mithraist temples were usually built in caves or in lower places. A hole was made facing the sun in such structures. In initial studies, the archaeologists have identified a hole facing west in the lower part of Kangelu’s tower, which shows that a room lies beneath the tower,” team director Saman Surtiji said.

Third century Roman inscriptions discovered in the Basque Country

Archaeologists in the site of Iruña-Veleia have discovered an epigraphic set "among the most important of the Roman world" with drawings from the third century and a representation of a Calvary.

Archaeologists in the site of Iruña-Veleia have discovered an epigraphic set "among the most important of the Roman world," with a series of 270 inscriptions and drawings from the 3rd century and a representation of a Calvary, "the most ancient known up to this moment."

The managers of the archaeological site, located near the Alavan town of Nanclares de Oca, have officially unveiled these findings, identified and analysed last summer.

Extinctions update href="http://www.planetark.com/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/36700/story.htm">Scient
ists Set Out to Discover How Dodo Died

How did the dodo die out? Scientists in Mauritius launched a project
on Wednesday to discover why the giant bird became extinct.


Most theories blame settlers who found the plump flightless bird on the Indian
Ocean island in the 16th century and began to hunt it relentlessly. In an
attempt to provide a scientific answer, the Dodo Research Programme plans to
study fossils from a mass dodo grave unearthed in southern Mauritius last
October and an adjacent site, using carbon dating techniques and DNA analysis.

The aim is to understand the dodo's world in the 10,000 years before humans
discovered Mauritius, then to determine the impact human colonisers had when
they arrived.

Good idea. As we see at Easter Island the simple formula of "people come and
kill everything" is probably oversimplified.

Ancient human fossils find modern virtual home

First discovered 150 years ago, Neanderthals have been studied more
widely than any other form of human. Thanks to a new interactive inventory and online catalogue developed in Europe, scientists worldwide can now probe the secrets of this primitive relative from the comfort of their computer.

Neanderthal humans (Homo neanderthalensis) was once common throughout Europe,
but died out some 30,000 years ago. Since the discovery of Neanderthal remains in Düsseldorf, Germany in 1856, archaeologists have unearthed its fossils at dozens of different excavation sites, including those in Croatia, Belgium, France and Germany.

“These extensive finds explain why most of the scientific analysis of human
evolution has been done on Neanderthals,” says Heinz Cordes, coordinator of the IST project TNT, which stands for The
Neanderthal Tools.

Archaeoastronomy update II Were Greeks 1,400
years ahead of their time?

FOR decades, researchers have been baffled by the intricate bronze
mechanism of wheels and dials created 80 years before the birth of Christ.

The "Antikythera Mechanism" was discovered damaged and fragmented on the wreck
of a cargo ship off the tiny Greek island of Antikythera in 1900.

Now, a joint British-Greek research team has found a hidden ancient Greek
inscription on the device, which it thinks could unlock the mystery.

The team believes the Antikythera Mechanism may be the world's oldest computer,
used by the Greeks to predict the motion of the planets.

Blogging update Blogger was down and slow again, and there may be some problems with my other browser.

Archaeoastronomy update I Ancient rock art may
depict exploding star

A rock carving discovered in Arizona might depict an ancient star
explosion seen by Native Americans a thousand years ago, scientists announced today.

If confirmed, the rock carving, or "petroglyph" would be the only known record
in the Americas of the well-known supernova of the year 1006.

The carving was discovered in White Tanks Regional Park just outside Phoenix, in
an area believed to have been occupied by a group of Native Americans called the Hohokam from about 500 to 1100 A.D.

Eh. It seems rather unlikely. Did they think of that particular constellation as
a scorpian? Are the star positions really that close of a match?

More here.

Blogging update This thing is being really slow and iffy. Blogger is saying they've had some database problems, but who knows. If nothing new comes up for a while, go to the backup, ArchaeoBlog II.

Posting update Blogger was offline most of the day so no posts. Will resume tomorrow.

TV historians to dig for treasure in the Queen's back garden

THE grounds of the Palace of Holyroodhouse are to be dug up on television by Tony Robinson's Time Team.

The site is seen by archaeologists as the most important in Scotland because of the palace's past as a playground for monarchs and their courtiers.

Robinson, best known as Baldrick in TV comedy Blackadder, will lead a team of archaeologists onto the site later this summer for a new series called the Big Royal Dig.

The oldest part of the site around a ruined monastery is expected to be targeted, as well as the ruins of the Chapel Royal and buried remnants of the original palace, which was extensively damaged by fire while being used as a billet for Oliver Cromwell's troops during the Civil War.

And more racing Lethbridge Archaeologists Race Against Time To Unearth 2,500-Year-Old Artifacts

Archaeologists in Lethbridge are excited by the discovery of artifacts which are giving them new insight into southern Alberta's earliest inhabitants. But the researchers now find themselves in a race against time – and thieves - to retrieve what they can from their dig site.

Students from the University of Lethbridge are working long hours to get to the bottom of the area's history by digging up old artifacts just outside of the city.

"You're the first person to touch that bone or stone tool since the people who put it there originally," said archaeology student Courtney Rode, explaining the thrill of the hunt. This is the second year the students have excavated the site, and thanks to carbon dating technology, they now know the bones and tools are a lot older than they first thought.

Skeletons found at Army Ranger site

A husband and wife team of amateur archaeologists have unearthed human skeletons, believed to be about 250 years old, at a burial site here on the Hudson River island that's considered the birthplace of today's U.S. Army Rangers.

Richard and JoAnne Fuller said it's very likely the remains found on private property date back to the French and Indian War, when Rogers' Rangers earned a place in American military lore while operating out of Fort Edward. The couple said the skeletons appear to be buried in an unmarked cemetery that doesn't appear on any colonial or contemporary maps. No other cemeteries are known to have existed on the island over the past 200 years.

Archaeologists are racing earthmovers

Jim Donohue is trying to solve a mystery that has been building for about 12,000 years, but he has only a few days left to gather clues. Donohue, senior archaeologist with the state Archaeological Research Center in Rapid City, is supervising the excavation of a site occupied by generations of ancient hunters off S.D. Highway 79 near Buffalo Gap.

He and his crew have found artifacts, bison bones and two ancient spear points, including a rare Folsom spear point found in late May.

The new Heartland Expressway will be built over the site where ancient hunters made spear points, and other people, probably women, processed meat, scraped hides and boiled the marrow out of bones from now-extinct giant bison and other animals.

They mention this in the article, but it seems to be a very significant site. That early and apparently a base camp.

Archaeology Institute Hopes to Restore Links to Jewish Past

Bar Ilan University announced plans on Monday to build an Institute of Biblical Archaeology which will become part of the Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology.

The $50 million Institute is expected to restore the connection between the science of exploring the past and the Bible, according to The Jerusalem Post.

According to Professor Aren Maeir, director of the Institute, the primarily-observant Jewish university is trying to walk the golden path between “post-modernist revisionist nihilists” and “ideologically-driven conservatives”.

“The university has made a long-term commitment to place archaeology at the forefront of its priorities at a time when archaeology has been pushed to the wayside,” he said in a statement.

Welcome to the Day of the Beast

6-6-06, that is.

There was an email going around probably 10 years ago that listed a number of Things of the Beast. E.g., the Social Security Number of the Beast: 666-66-6666. The Home Mortgage Rate of the Beast: 6.66%. Etc. Have never found it again, so if anyone knows of its existence, post a comment!

Update: My God (am I allowed to say that today?) the Internet is something else:

666 Biblical Number of the Beast
660 Approximate Number of the Beast
DCLXVI Roman Numeral of the Beast
665 Number of the Beast's Older Brother
667 Number of the Beast's Younger Sister
668 Number of the Beast's Neighbor
999 Number of the Australian Beast
333 Number of the Semi-Beast
66 Number of the Downsized Beast
6, uh... I forget Number of the Blond Beast
666.0000 Number of the High Precision Beast
665.9997856 Number of the Beast on a Pentium
0.666 Number of the Millibeast
X / 666 Beast Common Denominator
0.00150150... Reciprocal of the Beast
-666 Opposite of the Beast
666i Imaginary Number of the Beast
6.66 x 102 Scientific Notation of the Beast
25.8069758... Square Root of the Beast
443556 Square of the Beast
1010011010 Binary Number of the Beast
1232 Octal of the Beast
29A Hexidecimal of the Beast
2.8235 Log of the Beast
6.5913 Ln of the Beast
1.738 x 10289 Anti-Log of the Beast
00666 Zip Code of the Beast
666@hell.org E-mail Address of the Beast
www.666.com Website of the Beast
1-666-666-6666 Phone & FAX Number of the Beast
1-888-666-6666 Toll Free Number of the Beast
1-900-666-6666 Live Beasts, available now! One-on-one pacts! Only
$6.66 per minute! [Must be over 18!]
666-66-6666 Social Security Number of the Beast
Form 10666 Special IRS Tax Forms for the Beast
66.6% Tax Rate of the Beast
6.66% 6-Year CD Interest Rate at First Beast Bank of Hell ($666
minimum deposit, $666 early withdrawal fee)
$666/hr Billing Rate of the Beast's Lawyer
$665.95 Retail Price of the Beast
$710.36 Price of the Beast plus 6.66% Sales Tax
$769.95 Price of the Beast with accessories and replacement soul
$656.66 Wal-Mart Price of the Beast (next week $646.66!)
$55.50 Monthly Payments for Beast, in 12 easy installments
Phillips 666 Gasoline Used by the Beast (regular $6.66/gal)
Route 666 Highway of the Beast (where he gets his kicks!)
666 mph Speed Limit on the Beast's Highway
6-6-6 Fertilizer of the Beast
666 lb cap Weight Limit of the Beast
666 Minutes Weekly News Show about the Beast (airs daily from
Midnight to 11:06 a.m., on Cable Channel 666, of course)
666o F Oven Temperature for Cooking "Roast Beast"
666k Retirement Plan of the Beast
666 mg Recommended Minimum Daily Requirement of Beast
Lotus 6-6-6 Spreadsheet of the Beast
Word 6.66 Word Processor of the Beast
Windows 666 Bill Gates' Personal Beast Operating System
#666666 Font Color of the Beast (gray)
i66686 CPU of the Beast
666-I BMW of the Beast
IAM 666 License Plate Number of the Beast
Formula 666 All Purpose Cleaner of the Beast
WD-666 Spray Lubricant of the Beast
DSM-666 (rev) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the Beast
66.6 MHz FM Radio Station of the Beast
666 KHz AM Radio Station of the Beast
66 for 6 A Beastly Score for an Innings (in cricket)
6 for 66 Bowling Figures of the Beast
6/6/6 Birthday of the Beast

John Hawks has a post on the latest Homo hobbitus news purportedly demonstrating that a different set of stone tools was made by H. floresiensis:

I think that logic bears repeating:

1) Modern humans could not have made the ca. 800,000-year-old Mata Menge tools.
2) The Mata Menge tools look similar to the Liang Bua tools.
3) H. floresiensis is at Liang Bua.
4) Therefore, H. floresiensis or its ancestors must have made both the Mata Menge tools and the Liang Bua tools.

. . .

The key question beneath the conclusion of the paper is whether item 2 is accurate -- are the Mata Menge tools really similar to the Liang Bua tools? This is where the paper seems weakest to me. It is really a stretch to claim that these assemblages were linked by any kind of tradition.

Many of the traits supposedly common to both assemblages look pretty general to me, too. And Hawks' point that these similarities would imply a common "tradition" lasting 700k years is also well-taken.

Peruvian calendar update Ancient Calendar Unearthed in Peru

Archaeologists have discovered an enormous prehistoric calendar, formed by sculptures arranged in a circle, at the Temple of the Fox in Buena Vista, Peru.

The calendar, which dates to 2200 B.C., is the oldest known structure of its kind found in the Americas.

Similar monuments erected by the Mayans of Mexico have also been found, but those have dated to approximately 2,000 years ago.

Ancient cave in western France contains rare finds

A 27,000-year-old human skeleton laid out in a room decorated with ancient art and a crude representation of a face are among the rare finds in a cave in western France, officials said Friday.

The state took over ownership of the cave in the Vilhonneur forest on May 12, the French Culture Ministry said in a statement.

It was only the second time that a human body is known to have been placed in a decorated cave from the Upper Paleolithic Period, the ministry said.

Killing ground

Buried deep below a shallow southeastern Alberta valley, punctuated by wind-swept sand dunes, vast grassland and aging cow manure, lies evidence of a slaughter that took place 2,500 years ago.

What was once little more than leased Crown land now doubles as a precious archeological dig, which, with each turn of the trowel, is teaching University of Lethbridge researchers what one of Alberta's few known bison kill sites can tell us about our past.

Listening to archeology professor Shawn Bubel tell the story of how a roaming herd met its demise, it's as though she was there when the nomadic hunters stalked, slaughtered and butchered their prey in a single winter kill.

Aging cow manure. . . .

Heh Newly found mosaic is optical illusion

Archaeologists studying an ancient mosaic found by workers laying cable south of Rome have been astonished to discover that it is an optical illusion.
Viewed one way up it is a bald old man with a beard, but turned the other way round it is a beardless youth.

Roberto Cereghino, a government archaeological official, told the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera that it was "a very beautiful work, of immense significance".

Dang it, no picture.

Expedition seeks clues to lost Bronze Age culture

underwater explorer who found the Titanic and a team of international scientists will soon survey waters off the Greek island of Crete for clues to a once-powerful Bronze Age-era civilization.

The expedition about 75 miles northwest of Crete aims to learn more about the Minoans, who flourished during the Bronze Age, and seeks to better understand seafaring four millennia ago, the scientists said.

U.S. researchers say the Minoans were engaged in broad-based trade with other civilizations, such as the Mycenaeans on mainland Greece and perhaps with peoples as far away as the present-day Middle East.

New Mexico's Chaco Canyon: A Place of Kings and Palaces?

Kings living in palaces may have ruled New Mexico's Chaco Canyon a thousand years ago, causing Pueblo people to reject the brawny, top-down politics in the centuries that followed, according to a University of Colorado at Boulder archaeologist.

University of Colorado Museum anthropology Curator Steve Lekson, who has studied Chaco Canyon for several decades, said one argument for royalty comes from the rich, crypt-style burials of two men discovered deep in a Chaco Canyon "great house" known as Pueblo Bonito several decades ago. They were interred about A.D. 1050 with a wealth of burial goods in Pueblo Bonito, a 600-room, four-story structure that was considered to be the center of the Chaco world, he said.

Archaeologists have long been in awe of the manpower required to build Chaco's elaborate structures and road systems, which required laborious masonry work, extended excavation and the transport of staggering amounts of lumber from forests 50 miles distant, he said. The scale of the architecture and backbreaking work undertaken for several centuries suggests a powerful centralized authority, said Lekson, curator of anthropology at the University of Colorado Museum.

Looks like it ought to be the definitive book on Chaco for some time to come. The issues raised are interesting. I'm not all that well-versed in Chaco archaeology, so the implications will have to be left of others.

Neanderthal update 100,000 year-old DNA sequence allows new look at Neandertal's genetic diversity

By recovering and sequencing intact DNA from an especially ancient Neandertal specimen, researchers have found evidence suggesting that the genetic diversity among Neandertals was higher than previously thought. The findings also suggest that genetic diversity may have been higher in earlier Neandertal periods relative to later periods that approached the arrival of humans in Europe. Changes in genetic diversity over time are thought to reflect population events, such as low-population bottlenecks caused by disease or environmental change, as well as the influence of random genetic change. The findings are reported in the June 6th issue of Current Biology by a group of researchers including Ludovic Orlando and led by Catherine Hänni of Ecole Normale Supérieur in Lyon, France.

...

The Neandertal sequence from Scladina confirms that Neandertals and modern humans were only distant relatives – Neandertal sequences are all closer to each other than to any known human sequence. But the study also reveals that the genetic diversity of Neandertals has been underestimated. Indeed, the mtDNA from the Scladina sample is more divergent relative to modern humans than is mtDNA from recent Neandertals, suggesting that Neandertals were a more genetically diverse group than previously thought.

Ancient engraved chessboards found on Great Wall

Archaeologists have found two ancient engraved chessboards probably used by soldiers on the Great Wall more than 700 years ago at Qinhuangdao, North China's Hebei Province.

The two boards, one for Chinese chess and the other for the ancient game "Tiger Eats Sheep", were engraved on a stone in front of a Great Wall beacon tower possibly in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), said officials with the provincial department of cultural relics.

Archaeologists believe that soldiers from all parts of ancient China used to play chess to while away the time on the remote wall.

"Egypt's New Tomb Revealed" On Discovery Channel.

I thought I'd posted this last week, but that post got killed in the Great Wonkiness that overtook both Blogger.com and my stupid $&@*%@% machine at one point last week.

I watched the first couple segments of this last night and will get to the rest tonight. I agree with Mark Rose over at Archaeology.com that is seems to have been an excellent program, certainly much better than some of the ones that have been put out recently. They didn't go over-dramatic with the implications of the discovery, didn't do a bunch of goofy reenactments involving modern overweight Egyptians in loincloths, and were pretty about letting the archaeologists do their usual fairly circumspect talking. I've met most of the particulars -- Monsour Boraik, Otto, Ted "The Sledge" Brock -- and they came across pretty much like they do in person.

And, of course, Salima Ikram. She astounds as usual.

So, catch it if you didn't the next time it runs.

Forgotten petroglyphs in Baltimore park to be studied, displayed

They're well traveled for prehistoric stone carvings, having been moved from the flood-threatened lower Susquehanna Valley in the 1920s, then to various sites in Baltimore, ending up on concrete platforms in eastern Druid Hill Park, all but forgotten in what is now an overgrown space.

And they'll be traveling again to a Calvert County laboratory.

Eventually the more than two dozen Native American carvings, which may be thousands of years old, will be put on display.

Archaeologists comb Lincoln for the right shovel

Rene Botts wants your shovel — but only if it’s a True Temper No. 2, stamped with the words “light weight” and “heat treated” on the shovel socket.

If you’re willing to sell yours for science, e-mail her at rbotts@nebraskahistory.org or call her office number at (402) 471-4766. For more information, go to www.nebraskahistory.org.

The right kind of used shovel can put a portrait of General Grant in your pocket.

About 10-15 years ago there was a rumor going around that Marshalltown was going to stop producing trowels. I often wondered if that caused a real run on trowels. I still have my first one from my field school in 19-mumble-mumble. It also went to Egypt with me and I carved my name (poorly) in hieroglyphs into the handle. I think my backup got used in a little news segment CNN International did on our field school project in Egypt in 2003.

Never used one of these shovels m'self, though I did learn appropriate skimming technique on some contract work up in the Cascades. Shovels were like this troglodyte method of digging according to us learned academic archaeologist, though I have since climbed down from the ivory tower after learning the wonders of using a pick in Egypt to get through amorphous "fill" (a word I actually can't stand). It's really amazing the skill of some of these guys, skimming off a couple millimeters and then tossing the shovelfull 10 feet into a screen from the bottom of a pit.

The shovel in question:

Whoops Providence construction crew finds human jawbone

Police are investigating the origins of a human jawbone that was found near a strip club's trash bin and spent several months forgotten in the back of a construction supervisor's truck.

Forensic examiners say they have few clues to solve the mystery.

"Normally, I'll see a bone on the site where it was found," said Dianna Doucette, a Pawtucket-based archaeologist who identified the bone as human. "But here, it was handed to me in a plastic CVS bag."

1,300-year-old stele eyed by Chinese, Japanese archaeologists

An important and ancient stele, inscribed with just 29 Chinese characters and looted by Japanese soldiers early last century, could provide experts with some important clues to understanding the mysterious 1,300-year-old Bohai Kingdom.

The Honglujing Stele, which is about 3 meters wide, 1.8 meters tall and 2 meters thick, sits in virtual seclusion in the Japanese imperial palace as a "trophy" of the Japanese army who took it from Lushun in northeastern China's Liaoning Province after the 1904 war between Japan and Russia.

The stele is the only one known to belong to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in northeastern China. It indicates that the first king of the Bohai Kingdom (698-926), a mysterious state during the Tang Dynasty, was conferred with the title by the Tang emperor.

Native relics found in Azusa

Hundreds of pieces of prehistoric artifacts found at an ancient village during the grading of a new-home development go on display Saturday.

About 50 manos, or hand tools, nutcrackers and other grinding-tool relics used by the Tongva/Gabrielino Indians in the village known as Ashuukshanga will be on public view at the Azusa Public Library, 729 N. Dalton Ave.

Ashuukshanga, where Azusa derived its name, was one of the larger villages where the aboriginal people lived in thatched concave enclosures and circular huts.

Dig unearths clues to town origins

ARCHAEOLOGISTS have unearthed the history of some of a town's oldest residents after carrying out a dig at an Iron Age hill fort.

Specialists spent last week carrying out excavation work at the fort, located within the grounds of the RSPB headquarters in Sandy.

By taking soil samples and digging trenches at the site, they have discovered Sandy's ancestors may have been in the area for a lot longer than previously thought.

Cool non-archaeological story Big Bang In Antarctica: Killer Crater Found Under Ice

Planetary scientists have found evidence of a meteor impact much larger and earlier than the one that killed the dinosaurs -- an impact that they believe caused the biggest mass extinction in Earth's history.

The 300-mile-wide crater lies hidden more than a mile beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet. And the gravity measurements that reveal its existence suggest that it could date back about 250 million years -- the time of the Permian-Triassic extinction, when almost all animal life on Earth died out.

Its size and location -- in the Wilkes Land region of East Antarctica, south of Australia -- also suggest that it could have begun the breakup of the Gondwana supercontinent by creating the tectonic rift that pushed Australia northward.

How they did it:

The scientists used gravity fluctuations measured by NASA's GRACE satellites to peer beneath Antarctica's icy surface, and found a 200-mile-wide plug of mantle material -- a mass concentration, or "mascon" in geological parlance -- that had risen up into the Earth's crust.

But there's the dating:

To estimate when the impact took place, the scientists took a clue from the fact that the mascon is still visible.

"On the moon, you can look at craters, and the mascons are still there," von Frese said. "But on Earth, it's unusual to find mascons, because the planet is geologically active. The interior eventually recovers and the mascon goes away."

That seems pretty. . . .wildly speculative inexact to me.

Yes, we give a fig Tamed 11,400 years ago, figs were likely first domesticated crop

Archaeobotanists have found evidence that the dawn of agriculture may have come with the domestication of fig trees in the Near East some 11,400 years ago, roughly a thousand years before such staples as wheat, barley, and legumes were domesticated in the region. The discovery dates domesticated figs to a period some 5,000 years earlier than previously thought, making the fruit trees the oldest known domesticated crop.
Ofer Bar-Yosef of Harvard University and Mordechai E. Kislev and Anat Hartmann of Bar-Ilan University report their findings in this week's issue of the journal Science.

"Eleven thousand years ago, there was a critical switch in the human mind -- from exploiting the earth as it is to actively changing the environment to suit our needs," says Bar-Yosef, professor of anthropology in Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences and curator of Paleolithic archaeology at Harvard's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology. "People decided to intervene in nature and supply their own food rather than relying on what was provided by the gods. This shift to a sedentary lifestyle grounded in the growing of wild crops such as barley and wheat marked a dramatic change from 2.5 million years of human history as mobile hunter-gatherers."

Interesting. Did it continue at other places, or did just this group practice cultivation and then drop it? Of course, pinpointing the "origin" of agriculture is pretty much impossible, if one accepts David Rindos' evolutionary view that some form of plant cultivation has probably formed some small and variable part of human subsistence for a very long time. In that sense, the "origins of agriculture" problem becomes one of determining under what conditions (i.e., the selective environment) domestication/cultivation -- already present in one degree or other -- becomes the dominant mode (or even permanently fixed) of subsistence.

Mystery tomb could hold Tutankhamen's widow

It has been 84 years since Egypt's famed Valley of the Kings revealed its last great riches – the fabulous gold of Tutankhamen's tomb.

Now archaeologists believe they have stumbled across one final secret: The mummified remains of the boy king's widow buried 3000 years ago.

In a mysterious shaft less than 15m from Tutankhamen's burial ground, US archaeologists found seven coffins.

They believe one they have not yet been able to open may contain the remains of Queen Ankhesenpaaten.

This discussion has been making the EEF rounds, and some other news in the EEF News here.

Roman skeleton update Perfect Bronze Age skeleton in the heart of Rome

ARCHAELOGISTS were yesterday celebrating the discovery of an intact 3,000-year-old Bronze Age skeleton in the heart of ancient Rome.

Experts said the body was that of a woman and that she was probably the wife of a tribal leader as she was buried with four bronze bracelets, a ring, two hair-grips and an amber necklace.

Burials within ancient Rome were rare, with cremations more common.

The find has excited experts not just because it dates back to 1,000 years before Christ, but also because it predates the very founding of Rome at 745BC.

Can't help it. . . . .

Artists' conception of what the Bronze Age woman may have looked like:

Hominids' cave rave-ups may link music and speech

It was a dark and stormy night, and in a cave in what is now southern France, Neanderthals were singing, dancing and tapping on stalagmites with their fingernails to pass the time.

Did this Ice-Age rave-up happen, perhaps 50,000 to 100,000 years ago, on a cold night in the Pleistocene Epoch? Or is it purely a figment of the imagination of Steven Mithen, professor of early prehistory at the University of Reading in England?

Impossible to know, Mithen, 45, readily admits, but in his book, "The Singing Neanderthals," he has built a strong case that our hominid ancestors had a musical culture, and a rudimentary form of communication that went with it, that has left traces deeply embedded in modern mankind.

Clan helps search for site of last stand against Russians

Signs of struggle lie buried under a grassy opening in a mist-shrouded forest of hemlock and spruce.

Archaeologists at the Sitka National Historical Park recently unearthed musket shot and cannonballs in this quiet glade where they believe a clan of Tlingit Indians, called the Kiks. Dadi, built a wooden palisade fort and held off Russian attackers for six days in October 1804 until their ammunition was spent.

On the sixth night, the story goes, the Russians on the gunboat Neva heard a mournful ceremonial song rising from the fort. By morning, some 800 women, children, elders and warriors were gone, bound for the far side of their island home and to an island beyond.

I don't usually go for historical archaeology, but this story is rather compelling.

Homo hobbitus Discovery of Ancient Artifacts Rekindles Debate on 'Hobbits'

Scientists said yesterday that stone artifacts found with remains of ancient, tiny "Hobbit"-like people on a remote Indonesian island are similar to much older island artifacts, offering new support for the theory that the fossils represent a unique species of archaic human.

The Australian-Indonesian research team said in the journal Nature that its analysis "negates claims" by critics that only modern humans could have made such tools, and that the Hobbits, with grapefruit-size brains, were modern humans afflicted with microcephaly, a debilitating genetic condition.

"We don't know who made the earlier tools, but they are the same tools, using the same technology," said Australian National University archaeologist Adam Brumm, lead author of the study. "This doesn't support the idea that modern humans made the tools."

Doesn't seem like this will change too many minds.

Update: More from NGS.

And now. . .this week's news from the EEF

Press report: "Farewell to Ramses"
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/796/fr2.htm
"On Friday 25 August, at 6am, when Cairo traffic is at its quietest,
the colossus of the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh Ramses II will begin its
journey from outside Bab Al-Hadid train station to its new home
at the site of the Grand Egyptian Museum (GEM) overlooking
the Giza Plateau. "

(&) An important discovery in KV63: a gilded coffinette.
Announcement and pictures on the KV63 website:
http://www.kv-63.com/index.html
-- A press report [submitted by Katherine Griffis] with the
conjectures of Dr. Boraik about the tomb; informative and
with a fine slideshow of pictures:
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/31/world/africa/31tomb.html
[id and password "eefeef"]
-- The gold coffinette, as well as the pa-Aton seal and the
Osiris seal now have an entry at the Discovery website:
http://snipurl.com/r7uq
[http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/egyptkv63/
explorekv63/explorekv63.html]
-- A lenghty interview with Dr Otto Schaden, about all kinds of
issues, like the pillows found:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12990529/

Press report on the find of the golden coffin:
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2006-05-31-discovery-egypt_x.htm
Listed here only for this part: "While everyone continued "oohing
and ahhing" at the gold coffin, Schaden says he began picking through
mud on the ground that might have inscriptions. For him, one of the
greatest discoveries in the tomb was a ceramic "wine label" from the
same time period and town as wine jars found in Tutankhamen's tomb."

Press report: "The most beautiful of all"
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/797/he1.htm
"Hawass asked the German government to offer the famous bust to
Egypt on a three-month loan so that it could go on show at the
Egyptian Museum in Cairo to coincide with the centenary celebrations
of the German Archeological Institute in Egypt in November 2006.
(...) Hawass told Al-Ahram Weekly that the SCA was willing to
provide the Germans with all the guarantees required to assure the
return of the bust after the completion of the exhibition. "

The Dig Days column of Dr Zahi Hawass tells how experiences
in his past have influenced his policies:
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/797/he2.htm
He also briefly muses about whether there could be a secret
chamber at the end of a shaft in the tomb of Seti I.

Mark Rose of Archaeology Magazine provides a review
(of a preview of) the Discovery Channel program "Egypt's
New Tomb Revealed". See:
http://www.archaeology.org/online/reviews/kv63/
"It's one of the best archaeology shows I've seen in a long time."

A.J. Shortland, M.S. Tite, I. Ewart, "Ancient Exploitation and
Use of Cobalt Alums from the Western Oases of Egypt", in:
Archaeometry, Volume 48, Issue 1 (February 2006), pp.153-168.
Available online in PDF (128 kB) or HTML:
http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/toc/arch/48/1
"Cobalt alums from the Western Oases of Egypt were used in the
second millennium bc as a colorant to produce dark blue glasses
and glazes. A collection of these alums was gathered together
and analysed by a series of techniques to accurately characterize
them. They were then used alongside artificial analogues in
experimental work aiming to determine the process that was
used to convert the raw alum into a suitable pigment that might
be used in a glass."

* There are several digitized articles dealing with ancient Egypt
available in the Fathom Archive, University of Chicago Library:
http://fathom.lib.uchicago.edu/content.shtml

Online articles about the Giza Archives Project:
-- Peter Der Manuelian, Virtual Pyramids - Real Research. The Giza
Archives Project Goes Live Online, in: KMT, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 68-80
(2005) - pdf-file (6 MB)
http://www.gizapyramids.org/pdf%20library/manuelian_kmt16_2005.pdf
"A new endeavor called the 'Giza Archives Project,' represented by a
scholarly research website, now allows for in-depth study of the pyramids,
temples and mastaba tombs at the site."
-- Peter Der Manuelian, The Giza Archives Project, in: Egyptian
Archaeology, vol. 28, pp. 31-33 (2006) - pdf-file (1.2 MB)
http://www.gizapyramids.org/pdf%20library/manuelian_eg_arch28_2006.pdf

Roman remains face obliteration at Southwark site

Archaeologists fear 1,000 years of history may be shovelled into skips as time runs out on a key site in London. Harvey Sheldon, an officer of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society, called the situation at the church of St George the Martyr, in Southwark, where substantial evidence of Roman buildings may be destroyed without being recorded, "a disgrace".
Yesterday he made a last ditch appeal to church authorities to give more time for excavation, before heavy machinery moves onto the site.

. . .

Other sites a stone's throw away have produced startling Roman finds, including a tomb claimed to be that of a woman gladiator, the oldest inscription with the placename "Londinium", and a monumental bronze foot, all that remains of a huge public statue.

Those of a certain age may also be afflicted with this problem: Any mention of "Londinium" immediately brings to mind the old 1960s Batman series (Adam West version) which had a special 2-episode visit to "Londinium" rather than London. It's sad, really.

Archaeologists find first-of-a-kind remains of 3000-year-old Roman woman

Archaeologists said Tuesday they have dug up a skeleton dating to the 10th century BC in a necropolis in the heart of Rome.

The well-preserved skeleton appears to be that of a woman aged about 30, said Anna De Santis, one of the archaeologists who took part in the excavations under the Caesar’s

Forum, part of the sprawling complex of the Imperial Forums in central Rome.

An amber necklace and four pins were also found near the 5.25 foot-long skeleton.

2,500-year-old artefacts lie neglected

A large number of antiques, including an earthen stove of 500 BC, excavated seven years ago have been kept at the Mahasthan Museum without any scientific preservation.

Sources at the Archaeology Department said the stove is among the relics discovered during a Bangladesh-France joint excavation at the Mahasthan site in Bogra in 1999.


The other artefacts that are around 2,500-year old include ring stones, bronze mirrors, a huge collection of coins, bronze statues and terracotta pieces of different periods.

Doesn't sound too good.