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Turkish mayor demands cancellation of Ilisu dam project
2006-12-12 12:35:01
A Turkish official appealed Thursday for the cancellation of a dam project in his country, saying it would destroy cultural heritage and do little to boost economic development. "Of course we want economic and social development ... but development should not disregard people, nature and history," said Osman Baydemir, president of the Union of South Eastern Anatolia Municipalities and mayor of
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Ancient ape ruled out of man's ancestral line
2006-12-12 12:35:01
The remains of the apeman, dubbed Little Foot, were discovered in a cave complex at Sterkfontein by a local South African team in 1997. Its bones preserved in sediment layers, it is the most complete hominid fossil skeleton ever found. Little Foot is of the genus Australopithecus, thought by some to be part of the ancestral line which led directly to man. But research by Dr Jo Walker and Dr Bob
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Buried Babies Suggest Prehistoric Compassion
2006-12-12 12:35:01
Infants may have been considered equal members of prehistoric society, according to an analysis of burial pits found in Austria. Two separate pits, one containing the remains of two infants [image] and the other of a single baby [image], were discovered at the same Stone Age camp of Krems-Wachtberg in Lower Austria. Both graves were decorated with beads and covered in red ochre, a pigment
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Computer hilft beim Verständnis der Antike. Ein Kolloquium a
2006-12-12 12:35:01
Berichte antiker Historiker und Geographen, alte Küsten- und Wegstrecken-Beschreibungen sowie die wenigen kartographischen Belege aus antiker Zeit sind wesentliche Ausgangspunkte historisch-geographischer Untersuchungen. Für ihre Interpretation kann die EDV wichtige Beiträge leisten. So können die antike Umwelt mit ihren sozialen, wirtschaftlichen und infrastrukturellen Gegebenheiten oder auch
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Photos of the ?Church of the Ark?
2006-12-12 12:35:01
A site containing 25 excellent photos of the ?Church of the Ark?. (Thanks to Christine who posted this link on Mirabilis) You can view the photos here. . .
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'Little Foot' too young to be our ancestor
2006-12-08 18:31:02
The human family tree will have to be redrawn in the wake of a discovery that an apeman skeleton is not as old as originally thought, suggesting it may not be a direct ancestor of humankind.Known as "Litt le Foot " and found in 1997 in a cave in South Africa, the skeleton was remarkably complete and thought to be between two million and four million years old, suggesting this kind of hominid could have paved the way for the first tool makers.With its combination of human and ape-like features, scientists hoped that the well-preserved hands and feet of Little Foot would shed light on when early hominids began using tools and walking upright.But now the apeman has been dated precisely to 2.2 million years old by scientists at the Universities of Leeds and Liverpool, making it about 400,000 years too young to be a part of man's family tree.Read the rest of this article...
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St Paul's tomb found under altar
2006-12-08 18:31:02
The tomb of St Paul the Apostle has been found under one of Rome's largest churches and the stone coffin will shortly be raised to the surface to allow pilgrims to see it.The remains of St Paul , one of the Christian Church's most important leaders and the supposed author of much of the New Testament, have been hidden under an altar at St Paul Outside-the-Walls for almost 200 years."I have no doubt that this is the tomb of St Paul, as revered by Christians in the fourth century," said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who made the discovery.Dr Filippi will present the results of his scientific tests on the remains of the saint on Monday at the Vatican. St Paul's sarcophagus was found after five years of extensive excavations at the church, which is second only in size to St Peter's in Rome. Dr Filippi began looking for the tomb at the request of Archbishop Francesco Gioia, within whose jurisdiction the church falls.Read the rest of this article...
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Inquiry opens into fate of Stonehenge visitor centre
2006-12-08 18:31:02
ENGLISH Heritage has called on the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Ruth Kelly to seize a once-in-a-generation opportunity' and approve plans for the controversial Stone henge visitor centre.It made the plea on Tuesday at the opening of the two-week public inquiry into plans to build the centre on land east of the Countess Road roundabout in Amesbury.First to give evidence was the chairman of English Heritage, Sir Neil Cossons, who spoke of the importance of Stonehenge and the need for the scheme.Describing the world heritage site as the "most important, best known and most visited monument in the country", Sir Neil said that English Heritage had developed a proposal that balances conservation and protection of the stones with improving the access and enjoyment that visitors get out of the site.Read the rest of this article...
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Digging dog's archaeological find
2006-12-08 00:29:01
A dog proved to be a canine Indiana Jones by finding a stone axe head dating back thousands of years in Aberdeenshire. Rowan the inquisitive black labrador unearthed the Neolithic find at the Drum Estate. She dropped it on owner Alec Gordon's foot and he took it for examination, with early analysis estimating it as perhaps 6,000 years old. Mr Gordon said: "I wonder if she knew it was something special." Read the rest of this article...
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Age of archaeology turns 100
2006-12-08 00:29:01
From the Grand Canyon to Governors Island, ancient Alaskan villages to Virgin Island reefs, American archaeology is quietly celebrating a centennial.At two national parks ? El Morro (N.M.) and Montezuma Castle (Ariz.) national monuments ? simple commemorations Friday will mark 100 years since the federal Antiquities Act was signed by President Theodore Roosevelt."The Antiquities Act absolutely was a major step for professional archaeology," says archaeologist Jane Waldbaum, head of the Archaeological Institute of America. "The act raised up the public image of archaeology to a highly responsible one," she says, particularly after Congress chartered her organization two months after the signing of the law June 8, 1906."Teddy Roosevelt didn't waste any time," says El Morro superintendent Kayci Cook Collins of the National Park Service. Roosevelt proclaimed 18 national monuments, starting with Wyoming's Devils Tower on Sept. 24, 1906. Most notably, he set aside Arizona's Grand Canyo...
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Vatican archaeologists find tomb believed to be that of Apos
2006-12-08 00:29:01
Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul that had been buried beneath Rome's second largest basilica.The sarcophagus, which dates back to at least A.D. 390, has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and was completed last month, the project's head said this week."Our objective was to bring the remains of the tomb back to light for devotional reasons, so that it could be venerated and be visible," said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who headed the project at St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica.The interior of the sarcophagus has not yet been explored, but Filippi didn't rule out the possibility of doing so in the future.Two ancient churches that once stood at the site of the current basilica were successively built over the spot where tradition said the saint had been buried. The second church, built by the Roman emperor Theodosius in the fourth century, left the tomb visible, first ...
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Digging in for gravel victory
2006-12-08 00:29:01
CAMPAIGNERS who fought against plans to extract gravel from land around Dorchester are delighted that their claims to the area's archaeological importance have been vindicated.They have welcomed news that a team from Oxford University is planning major digs around the village during the next few years because the site is so important.Chris Gosden, Professor of European Archaeology at Oxford University, said the area had a massive concentration of important archaeology, from pre-history to the present.Read the rest of this article...
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Lost hoard of 2,000-year-old gold refound
2006-12-08 00:29:01
A priceless collection of Afghan gold, thought to have been destroyed by the Taliban, resurfaced in Paris yesterday after mysteriously disappearing almost 20 years ago.A hundred items from the so-called Hoard of Bactrian Gold ? a trove of stunning artefacts from the first century AD ? are now on public display in the Guimet museum near the Eiffel tower. The delicate masterpieces include granite or turquoise encrusted necklaces, goblets, cupids, dolphins, dragons, and a thumb-sized ram figurine.The exhibition, Afghanistan ? the Refound Treasures, displays 228 objects dating from 2000 BC to the third century AD. They form part of a hoard of 21,618 items of gold, ivory and precious stone unearthed by archaeologists in 1979 from six Bactrian tombs at a site in Tillya Tepe, in the north of Afghanistan.For years, experts feared the objects had been spirited out of the country to be sold to private collectors from the bazaars of Peshawar, or melted down and sold to fund Islamic Jihad.Read ...
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Kabul's lost treasure goes on show
2006-12-08 00:29:01
A sumptuous trove of ancient Afghan treasure went on show in a Paris museum yesterday after escaping the destruction of the Taleban regime while hidden in vaults under the presidential palace in Kabul.The items, some dating from the great civilisations before the Roman Empire, owe their survival to a scheme involving seven keys that would have befitted a central Asian fable.At the heart of the exhibition, in the Guimet museum, is a collection of jewellery, dress and other artifacts of gold and precious stones from the first century AD that were found in 1978 by Soviet archeologists at Tillia-Tepe, in northern Afghanistan.The ?hoard of Bactrian gold?, never before seen in public, had been give up for lost until 2003, when President Karzai announced that it was part of a haul of 21,618 treasures that had been discovered in the presidential vault. French experts have cleaned and restored the 228 objects at the show, which was promoted by President Chirac and President Karzai. Read the ...
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Neanderthal man was driven to cannibalism
2006-12-07 12:28:01
An unusual haul of Neanderthal bones has disclosed how our beetle-browed cousins eked out such a meagre existence that they were probably driven to eat each other.Evidence of cannibalism has come from the analysis of samples from 43,000-year-old remains in north-west Spain. Fossilised clay contains the footbones and ribs of Neanderthal man found in Asturias Antonio Rosas of the National Museum of Natural Science in Madrid and colleagues led by Javier Fortea of Oviedo University excavated an underground cave system at El Sidrón, in Asturias, where eight Neanderthal skeletons have been found in the past six years."What is absolutely new is to find remains of at least eight individuals concentrated in a very small space inside the cave, and more importantly, with virtually no animal remains" said Dr Rosas. "This is really strange."Read the rest of this article...
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Neandertals Turned to Cannibalism, Bone Cave Suggests
2006-12-07 12:28:01
Struggling for survival, Neandertals turned to cannibalism?even brain-eating?some 43,000 years ago, says a new study of mutilated bones discovered in a Spanish cave. The fossil remains also suggest that these prehistoric humans looked different from their northern counterparts. Bone s from at least eight individuals showed clear signs of cannibalism, including defleshing, dismemberment, and skinning, according to the study team. The report provides some of the clearest evidence yet that Neandertals (often spelled "Neanderthals") ate their own kind, says paleoanthropologist Antonio Rosas of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. Rosas is the lead researcher for the study, which is published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read the rest of this article...
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Roman "Curse Tablet" Discovered in England
2006-12-07 12:28:01
Archaeologists in Leicester, England , have recently uncovered a treasure trove of Roma n and medieval artifacts, including a 1,700-year-old Roman "curse tablet." Curse tablets were metal scrolls on which ancient Romans wrote spells to exact revenge for misdeeds, often thefts of money, clothing, or animals. Such tablets have been discovered previously in Britain, often near ancient Roman temple sites, but this is the first one to be found in Leicester (see United Kingdom map). The Leicester tablet, which was uncovered near the ruins of a large Roman townhouse dating from the second century A.D., was found unrolled. Curse tablets were typically rolled up and nailed to posts inside temples or shrines.Read the rest of this article...
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Rare Greek Antiquities Go on Display
2006-12-07 12:28:01
Warned that the barrage of Persian arrows would hide the sun at Thermopylae, the Spartan hero Dienekes replied with cool bravado, It will be pleasant to fight in the shade.Known for their terse, unflinching way of speaking, these consummate warriors from the Lakonia region of Greece were known as laconic, or sparing of words. The term also applies to their art.'Athens-Sparta,' opening Wednesday at the Onassis Cultural Center, presents 289 archaeological artifacts from the paramount city states of ancient Greece to illustrate their very different social and artistic legacies.Read the rest of this article...
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Gendered Division Of Labor Gave Modern Humans Advantage Over
2006-12-07 12:28:01
Diversified social roles for men, women, and children may have given Homo sapiens an advantage over Neanderthals, says a new study in the December 2006 issue of Current Anthropology. The study argues that division of economic labor by sex and age emerged relatively recently in human evolutionary history and facilitated the spread of modern humans throughout Eurasia."The competitive advantage enjoyed by modern humans came not just from new weapons and devices but from the ways in which their economic lives were organized around the advantages of cooperation and complementary subsistence roles for men, women, and children," write Steven L. Kuhn and Mary C. Stiner (University of Arizona).Kuhn and Stiner note that the rich archaeological record for Neanderthal diets provides little direct evidence for a reliance on subsistence foods, such as milling stones to grind nuts and seeds. Instead, Neanderthals depended on large game, a high-stakes resource, to fuel their massive body mass and h...
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Excavation unearths tomb of the apostle
2006-12-07 12:28:01
Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the St Paul. The sarcophagus, which dates back to at least 390AD, had been buried beneath Rome`s second largest basilica.It has been the subject of an excavation that began four years ago and was completed last month.Read the rest of this article...
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Vatican archaeologists unearth St Paul's tomb
2006-12-07 12:28:01
Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul that had been buried beneath Rome's second largest basilica.The sarcophagus, which dates back to at least 390AD, has been the subject of an extended excavation that began in 2002 and was completed last month, the project's head said."Our objective was to bring the remains of the tomb back to light for devotional reasons, so that it could be venerated and be visible," said Giorgio Filippi, the Vatican archaeologist who headed the project at St. Paul Outside the Walls basilica.The interior of the sarcophagus has not yet been explored, but Filippi didn't rule out the possibility of doing so in the future.Read the rest of this article...
More About: Earth , Vatican , Near , St Paul

Hungry Neanderthals 'ate each other'
2006-12-06 00:26:01
Neanderthal Man was a cannibal who supplemented a meagre diet with occasional meals of meat from his own species, new research has suggested.An analysis of Neanderthal bones and teeth from 43,000 years ago has revealed important details of their diet and lifestyle, including some of the best evidence yet for cannibalism among the close relatives of modern human beings.Many of the skeletons found in a cave at El Sidrón, in Asturias, Spain, carry cut marks consistent with having been butchered for meat, scientists studying the remains of eight Neanderthal individuals have found.Other long bones from the arms and legs have been broken apart, apparently to remove nutritious bone marrow to eat, and some of the skulls show signs of having been opened to get at the brains. Read the rest of this article...
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SHREWSBURY MUSEUM REVEALS RARE IRON AGE SPOONS
2006-12-06 00:26:01
There are only 23 more of them in the world and it's been 80 years since anybody found some before these ones turned up.What are these rare artefacts? They are mysterious bronze spoons, always found in pairs, dating from 800 BC ? 100 AD, and Shrewsbury Muse um is the proud owner of the most recently discovered set.Local metal detectorist Trevor Brown found the spoons in mid-Shropshire in 2005, and reported them to the Portable Antiquities Scheme. Archaeologists recognised the spoons as coming from the Iron Age, but what they were used for is uncertain.Read the rest of this article...
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Like being a highly evolved species? Thank a woman.
2006-12-06 00:26:01
At least that's the word from the most recent edition of Current Anthropology. Here's a brief write-up on a new theory of why humans may have advanced beyond their Neanderthal cousins: Kuhn and Stiner note that the rich archaeological record for Neanderthal diets provides little direct evidence for a reliance on subsistence foods, such as milling stones to grind nuts and seeds. Instead, Neanderthals depended on large game, a high-stakes resource, to fuel their massive body mass and high caloric intake. This lack of food diversity and the presence of healed fractures on Neanderthal skeletons -- attesting to a rough-and-tumble lifestyle -- suggest that female and juvenile Neanderthals participated actively in the hunt by serving as game drivers, beating bushes or cutting off escape routes. The Middle Paleolithic Neanderthal record also lacks the artifacts commonly used to make weather-resistant clothing or artificial shelters, such as bone needles. Thus, it was the emergenc...
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Did starving Neanderthals eat each other?
2006-12-06 00:26:01
Neanderthals lived a desperately tough life, sometimes so close to starvation that when one of them died their compatriots would fall upon the body and devour it, according to new research. Scorned as clumsy, idiotic brutes with little in the way of developed culture, our pitiless modern view of Neanderthals may be tempered by new findings that provide insight into the terrible life our evolutionary cousins faced.Antonio Rosas, of the National Museum for Natural Sciences in Madrid, Spain, and colleagues studied 43,000-year-old Neanderthal remains found in the El Sidrón cave in the north of the Iberian peninsula. The cave is extraordinarily rich in Neanderthal remains. About 1300 Neanderthal fossils have been excavated since its accidental discovery in 1994. And the picture emerging from analysis of the remains is now enriching our understanding of the much-maligned species.Read the rest of this article...
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Neanderthals Were Cannibals, Study Confirms
2006-12-06 00:26:01
Neanderthals suffered periods of starvation and may have supplemented their diet through cannibalism, according to a study of remains from northwest Spain.Paleobiologists studied samples from eight 43,000-year-old Neanderthal skeletons excavated from an underground cave in El Sidrón, Spain since 2000. The study sheds light on how Neanderthals lived before the arrival of modern humans in Europe.Researchers found cut marks and evidence that bones had been torn apart, which they say could indicate cannibalism. "There is strong evidence suggesting that these Neanderthals were eaten," said the study's lead author, Antonio Rosas of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales in Madrid. "That is, long bones and the skull were broken for extraction of the marrow, [which] is very nutritious."Read the rest of this article...
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Hungry ancients 'turned cannibal'
2006-12-06 00:26:01
Starvation and cannibalism were part of everyday life for a population of Neanderthals living in northern Spain 43,000 years ago, a study suggests. Bones and teeth from the underground cave system of El Sidron in Asturias bear the hallmarks of a tough struggle for survival, researchers say. Analysis of teeth showed signs of starvation or malnutrition in childhood and human bones have cut marks on them. Details appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read the rest of this article...
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Emperor's artefacts unearthed in Rome
2006-12-04 12:24:02
ITALIAN archaeologists have unearthed remarkably well-preserved imperial insignia that belonged to Emperor Maxentius and were buried for safekeeping after he was defeated by his Christian rival Constantine.Excavation under Rome 's Palatine Hill near the Colosseum turned up items including three lances and four javelins that experts said were striking for their completeness - digs usually turn up only fragments - and the fact that they are the only known artefacts of their kind.Some of the objects, which accompanied the emperor during his public appearances, are believed to be the base for the emperor's standards - rectangular or triangular flags, officials said. An imperial sceptre with a carved flower and a globe, and a number of glass spheres, believed to be a symbolic representation of the earth, also were discovered. Read the rest of this article...
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Emperor Maxentius Insignia Found in Rome
2006-12-04 12:24:02
Archaeologists have unearthed what they say are the only existing imperial insignia belonging to Emperor Maxentius _ precious objects that were buried to preserve them and keep them from enemies when he was defeated by his rival Constantine.Excavation under Rome 's Palatine Hill near the Colosseum turned up items including three lances and four javelins that experts said are striking for their completeness _ digs usually turn up only fragments _ and the fact that they are the only known artifacts of their kind.Clementina Panella, the archaeologist who made the discovery, said the insignia were likely hidden by Maxentius' people in an attempt to preserve the emperor's memory after he was defeated by Constantine I in the 321 A.D. battle of the Milvian Bridge _ a turning point for the history of the Roman empire which saw Constantine become the unchallenged ruler of the West."Once he's lost, his objects could not continue to exist and, at the same time, could not fall in the hands o...
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ANGER AS SHOP FILLS IN HISTORIC WELL
2006-12-04 12:24:02
MEMBERS of Stratford-upon-Avon Town Council and the Stratford Society reacted in anger to news this week that national chemist Superdrug filled in a medieval well at their new High Street shop without consultation.Town councillor Maureen Beckett said yesterday she and other councillors had heard the news in dismay after Tuesday?s meeting and instructed town clerk Sarah Summers to find out if the council could take action.Read the rest of this article...
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