Thursday, September 29, 2005

Navan Centre branded 'expensive failure'


A visitor centre portraying the history, archaeology and legends of the royal capital of ancient Ulster was branded an "expensive failure" by the chairman of a House of Commons committee in a report today.

The Navan Centre, near Armagh, closed in 2001 after receiving more than £5 million of public money during its eight-year existence, but reopened in June this year under the control of the local district council.

The attraction, detailing the background of Emain Macha, which was destroyed around 95BC, became "a classic example of how not to manage a cultural/tourism project", the public accounts committee report said.

And the Northern Ireland Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure has been warned that future projects must be handled with more care.

Read the rest of this article...

Medieval Doddington stronghouse saved


THE remains of a rare medieval stronghouse nestling among the buildings of a working farm near Wooler have been saved by a partnership between the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and English Heritage.
The ruined 16th century 60 foot high Doddington Bastle, on Tom Hanvey's farm in Doddington, is a Grade II* listed building on English Heritage's Buildings at Risk Register.
It was surveyed several years ago when experts proposed a three-phase conservation plan. Defra is funding the first phase of conservation with a grant of £80,000 and English Heritage is over-seeing the work.
Sara Rushton, field monument warden for English Heritage, said: "This is a great example of partnership working, where English Heritage has contributed their expertise and Defra has contributed financial support to save this vulnerable ruin from certain collapse.
"The stronghouse was built for Sir Thomas Grey in 1584 during a transitional time for architecture when people were were feeling more secure as the war with the Scots drew to a close and they were able to invest larger sums of money into creating more elaborate homes, rather than the previously built plain, functional and defensive buildings.
"There are only around 20 of these stronghouses left in Northumberland."
As time went on and peace reigned in the borders, farm buildings slowly enveloped the building. Its current condition is due not to warring Scots but to the weather: a wild storm in 1896 demolished an entire wall.

Read the rest of this article...

ARCHEOLOGISTS UNEARTH SITE OF ROMAN FORT


AN archeological dig in Alcester has unearthed what are thought to be the remains of a Roman fort.

For many years archeologists and historians have thought that a Roman fort existed under part of modern Alcester. But it had not been possible to prove this theory until this week.

Since July, a team from Archaeological Investigations Ltd of Hereford has been digging in Bleachfield Street on the site of a proposed housing development. The excavation, funded by the developer, Laing Homes Limited Midlands, has been very productive.

Read the rest of this article...

New archaeological discovery in Kiev


During the replacement of damp course around Kirill Church, archaeologists excavated ancient foundations. Researchers determine that these are foundations of the temple’s annexes. They are dated to 12th, 17th and 18th centuries. Besides, ancient burial places were found not far away.


Irene Margolina, Kirill Church researcher, says that the excavated foundations have no particular value, but the discovery have pushed to more detailed research of the historical building.

Tourists will not see the ancient remains, as the archaeological dig has been filled up with sand immediately after examination. Scientists decided to conserve it as Ukrainian climate can destroy the bricks.

The conservation can not last too long, but to exhibit the foundation of 12th century is necessary to place it in vacuum sphere. Unfortunately, Ukrainian museums have not enough money and necessary technology.

Read the rest of this article...

Iron Age woman's skeleton found in Denmark


COPENHAGEN, Denmark - Danish archeologists said Wednesday they found the well-preserved skeletal remains of an Iron Age woman while excavating an ancient grave site in a suburb of Copenhagen.

The woman, who was between 20 and 40 when she died, probably lived around the year A.D. 400, said Tom Giersing of the Kroppedal Museum in Taastrup.

"What we find interesting is her bones are well-preserved and she had jewelry - glass pearls and a metal chain - which could indicate that she was wealthy," said Giersing, who headed the excavation.

Denmark's best known Iron Age findings are the well-preserved bog bodies of the so-called Tollund man and Grauballe man, named after the two villages where they found. The Iron Age in Denmark lasted from about 500 B.C. to 750 A.D

Read the rest of this article...

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Construction digs up historical burial site


A well-preserved Iron Age grave is found in a Copenhagen suburb. Archaeologists say the area hides finds dating back to the Stone Age

Archaeologists conducting an inspection of a construction site in the town of Taastrup, near Copenhagen, have found the well-preserved grave of an Iron Age woman. They estimate that the woman was buried around the year 400.

Exhibition site leader Tom Giersing from the Kroppedal Museum said the quality of the find was good, and that such quality finds appear approximately every other year in Copenhagen County.

The woman is believed to have been between 20 and 40 years old, and was buried with glass beads and jewellery.

In addition to the quality of the skeleton, Giersing said that the location of the grave was also promising.

'The skeleton is well-preserved, and it is an exciting discovery, because it lies near the remains of the farm where she lived,' he said.

Read the rest of this article...

Dig will not delay Darts’ stadium


A FOOTBALL club remains confident it will start the next season in its new stadium despite archaeologists digging up the pitch.

After the discovery of Iron Age remains, including tools and coins, a team of archaeologists is now digging up what will be the community pitch area of the eagerly awaited Princes Park Stadium.

Exploration work on the site, which is set to be the new home of Dartford Football Club, started in July.

A more in-depth investigation is now under way and will take two months to complete.

Read the rest of this article...

Preserving a 460 year old wreck


An international team of researchers has analysed the sulphur and iron composition in the wooden timbers of the Mary Rose, an English warship wrecked in 1545, which was salvaged two decades ago. The team used synchrotron X-rays from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (USA) and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (France) in order to determine the chemical state of the surprisingly large quantities of sulphur and iron found in the ship. These new results provide insight to the state of this historic vessel and should aid preservation efforts. They are published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition.

The Mary Rose served as English King Henry VIII's principal warship for 35 years until she went down outside of Portsmouth in 1545. In 1982 the hull was recovered from the sea and is currently undergoing a conservation process. The first author of the publication, Magnus Sandström, and his colleagues showed recently that the accumulation of sulphur within shipwrecks preserved in seawater is common by studying the Swedish warship Vasa, which remained on the seabed for 333 years. Their research concluded that sulphur in contact with oxygen could pose conservation problems. Over time, sulphur can convert to sulphuric acid, which slowly degrades the wood until the hull's stability is lost.

The authors examined the Mary Rose to determine the potential threat and found about 2 tons of sulphur in different compounds rather uniformly distributed within the 280-ton hull. To determine the sulphur species present in the wood, researchers first carried out experiments at SSRL. The team needed to obtain complimentary information in order to know the precise location of sulphur species at the micron scale and they then came to the ESRF. By studying thin wood slices perpendicularly cut to the cell walls at X-ray microscopy beamline ID21, they found high concentrations of organo-sulphur compounds in the lignin-rich areas between the cells, which may have helped preserve the ship while it was submerged in the seawater. This helped to understand how accessible and reactive the different sulphur compounds found are to acid-producing oxidation.

Read the rest of this article...

Regione Basilicata - il consiglio - le pubblicazioni


Regione Basilicata, Italy, has financed with public funds the production of several e-books that are freely downloadable in PDF format. Many of these publications focus on the archaeological heritage of the region, such as a series on daily life in antiquity from prehistory to the Middle Ages. The e-books cover the following areas: archaeology of the water during the Classical period; the Classical sanctuary at Torre Satriano; funerary contexts in the Greek colony of Metaponto,; amber between Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages; and archaeology of the medieval castles. This series of e-books have been published since 1995 and some have been commissioned by Regione Basilicata. All the books are in Italian and have been written by scholars and researchers from universities and the superintendence to the antiquities in the region. A few publications are academic dissertations, such as the e-book on amber. All the books present original research and, perhaps with the exclusion of the series on daily life in antiquity, target a postgraduate audience. This collection of e-books constitutes a reference library for the archaeology of Basilicata.

Read the rest of this article...

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

ARCHAEOLOGISTS UNEARTH SECRETS OF THE EARLIEST SCOTTISH SETTLERS AT MESOLITHIC SITE


Archaeologists hope to unearth the secrets of some of Scotland's earliest settlers during a week-long excavation in the north-east.

A Mesolithic site, dating as far back as 8,000BC, was uncovered on the outskirts of Kintore in October last year.

Murray Cook, who is leading the excavation, now plans to return to the site this weekend to try to piece together the history of the area.

Mr Cook, of Edinburgh-based AOC Archaeology, which recently opened an office in Aberdeen, said: "We are looking at the earliest settlement in Aberdeenshire, if not Scotland.

"The whole of the Kintore landscape is of national significance.

"There are only three or four Mesolithic sites identified in Aberdeenshire."

Read the rest of this article...

CAITHNESS COUNCILLORS HOPE VIKINGS KEY TO TOURISM BOOM


Highland councillors in Caithness yesterday welcomed a scheme which they claim could untap the tourist potential of the county's ancient past.

And they backed a major revamp of the Northland Viking Centre with a £30,000 from the area's share of the Highland 2007 community programme.

Caithness Archaeological Trust is spearheading the £160,000 makeover of the council-owned museum at Auckengill. As well as overhauling the displays, the trust intends establishing it as a broch centre. Nearby at Nybster is one of the best-preserved examples of the Iron Age settlements so well represented in the far north. Area education, culture and sport chairman Roger Saxon said: "This is a brilliant project and will hopefully stop people saying there's no museum north of Inverness."

Four other Caithness projects are also to receive funding from the Highland 2007 programme.

Read the rest of this article...

Where the relics meet the road: Ireland's highway dispute


Archaeologists hope to stop a plan to pave the valley beneath the Hill of Tara.

TARA, IRELAND – A sacred hill, where ancient kings were once crowned and buried, is now at the center of a dispute about the rush of modern life in this newly wealthy country.

In the valley below the famous Hill of Tara - ancient Ireland's ceremonial seat and the island's most important prehistoric site - the government is planning to build a major highway to Dublin.

The highway has bitterly split the country, pitting the preservation of Ireland's Celtic past against its rapidly changing present; the ancient capital against the modern one.

The hilltop commands spectacular views of the valley below, where the ancient elites lived. The highway's opponents say the serene valley will be ruined by a highway that will inevitably bring unwanted development.

Read the rest of this article...

Medieval pottery in the Basque Country (VIII-XIII centuries)


This work tackled that apparently Janusian nature of pottery artefacts and, though risking stating the obvious, underlined the importance of this two-sided character of this branch of archaeology. One facet is the taxonomic tool (chronological indicator) and the second is the hermeneutic tool (historical record or document). Nonetheless, to transform ceramic artefacts into items of historical knowledge, they need to have been previously transformed into reliable chronological indicators. Only after this phase has borne fruit, and aided by other material evidence, are we in a position to obtain information about past societies.

To start with, four aspects we consider to be of prime importance in ceramographological research were studied: the archaeological context, the criteria for quantification needed for statistical analysis, archaeometrical analysis and chronological analysis. The aim is to obtain reliable chronologies of the contexts from stratigraphical analysis, establishing relative sequences to which an absolute chronology may be attributed, whether from coins, radiocarbon analyses or historical data. In this way, we have the conditions to draw up a precise systematisation, and meeting our objective of making medieval pottery a chronological indicator that inverts the path in the manner of feedback and enables the dating of contexts from the artefacts themselves. The end result being sought here is the determination of the chronological context of the pottery finds by precise dating of the pottery artefacts.

With this aim, a systematisation model based on analysis has been drawn up for the various archaeological sites located in Alava and Bizkaia, in the Basque Country with stratigraphies positively identified as being from the VIII to the XIII centuries and which are relevant from a ceramographological perspective. In this way, we drew up a system in which we ordered and characterised the different collections of pottery found in the contexts studied, distinguishing successive levels of analysis, within a praxis that enabled the taking into account of technological, functional and morphological criteria.

Read the rest of this article...

Archaeologists Discover Infants' Remains


VIENNA, Austria - Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of two newborns dating back 27,000 years while excavating a hillside in northern Austria, the scientist in charge of the project said Monday.

Last week's find near the Danube River city of Krems is important because the newborns were buried beneath mammoth bones and with a string of 31 beads — suggesting that the internment involved some sort of ritual, said Christine Neugebauer-Maresch, the project's leader at the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

"They could be twins," she said. "They have the same (length) limbs and were buried together."

The burial — one of the oldest in the region — is also significant in that the children were not simply disposed of after their deaths, Neugebauer-Maresch said. The burial suggests "they were members of society," she said.

Read the rest of this article...

Monday, September 26, 2005

Ancient valuables to go under the hammer


MONEY and gold worth thousands will be going under the hammer on Sunday.

A number of ancient pale gold coins called 'The Shrubland Thrymas' and valued at £21,500 will be among the lots.

Chris Elmy, of Lockdales auctioneers, said: “The Shrubland Thrymas was found by David Cummings, chairman of the Ipswich and District Metal-Detector Club, between 1988 to 2003, on Ladycroft Field,

Shrubland Hall, at Coddenham.”

Several of the coins were on display for some time at the Ipswich Museum and all have been declared and provenanced through the proper channels such as the British Museum.

He added: “These pale gold coins date from between 600 to 700 AD. There are seven pieces in all, four of which are Anglo-Saxon, the others continental of the Merovingian Franks.

Read the rest of this article...

PAN WAS FIND OF A LIFETIME


A Metal detectorist has spoken of his delight that his "find of a lifetime", discovered in a field in the Moorlands, is to be shared between three museums across the country. The Sentinel reported yesterday how the Potteries Museum in Hanley, the British Museum and the Tullie House Museum in Carlisle will share the Staffordshire Moorlands Pan, following a grant provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The priceless Roman artefact was discovered in the Manifold Valley two years ago by metal detector enthusiast Kevin Blackburn, who believes the deal with the museums will mean more people all over the country will be able to enjoy it.

Mr Blackburn, of Stramshall, near Uttoxeter, said: "I think it's a great idea. It means that everyone will have the chance to see it throughout the country.

"It was found in this area and so it has a lot of significance for Hanley museum. It's significant for Carlisle Museum because it actually originated from there, and the British Museum because it is of national importance. When it's at Hanley I'll be able to have a look - I haven't seen it myself in two years."

Read the rest of this article...

Internet Makes Archive World Smaller


Until a few years ago, anyone wanting to use archives, for research, family history, or legal documentation, would spend most of their time finding out what material existed and where it was held, rather than in viewing the material.

The position has been transformed by the Internet, since it allows easy searching from anywhere in the world. The theme of global access has been adopted for the launch event of a new resource for history hunters in Wales, Archives Network Wales, on 22 September, at the Millennium Suite, Millennium Stadium, Cardiff.

The launch is timed to coincide with the anniversary of the day in 1918 when the first telegraph message from Britain to Australia was sent, from transmitter station in Waunfawr, near Caernarfon. The event includes video links with the National Archives of Australia in Canberra and the Waunfawr site, now The Beacon Climbing Centre, Ceunant, and will be attended by archive and museum staff, family historians and history teachers. It has been supported by CyMAL and the Heritage Lottery Fund and forms part of Archives Awareness Campaign 2005.

Archives Network Wales is a free searchable website (www.archivesnetworkwales.info) giving details of more than 5,000 archive collections held by local authority and university archive services, RCAHMW and the National Library of Wales. It has been created by Archives and Records Council Wales with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Read the rest of this article...

Project would recreate Roman monument


When the autumnal equinox peaks at 3:23 p.m. (PDT) on Thursday, Sept. 22, a University of Oregon team working to reconstruct one of the world's most famous solar clocks will savor - and record - the moment by making another observation at a test site on campus.

Historian John Nicols and physicist Robert Zimmerman have joined with architects James Tice and Virginia Cartwright to lead a group of scholars and students seeking to create a replica of the Horologium / Solarium of Augustus, a 60-foot granite obelisk erected at Heliopolis in the seventh century B.C. by Psammetichus II and brought to Rome by Augustus in 10 B.C. The obelisk was to be used as the "gnomon" (the staff against which the shadow is projected from the sun to the ground) of a new solar calendar and "clock."

Read the rest of this article...

Getty Had Signs It Was Acquiring Possibly Looted Art, Documents Show


Museum attorneys say half the masterpieces in its antiquities collection can be traced to suspect dealers. Italy seeks return of 42 items.

Attorneys for the J. Paul Getty Museum have determined that half the masterpieces in its antiquities collection were purchased from dealers now under investigation for allegedly selling artifacts looted from ruins in Italy.

Italian authorities have identified dozens of objects in the Getty collection as looted, including ancient urns, vases and a 5-foot marble statue of Apollo.

The Italians have Polaroid photographs seized from a dealer's warehouse in Switzerland that show Getty artifacts in an unrestored state, some encrusted with dirt — soon after they were dug from the ground, Italians officials say.

Read the rest of this article...

Sunday, September 25, 2005

Dig unearths 1,500 year old 'Tarbat Man'


HUMAN remains have been discovered at Portmahomack - but police will not be called in as the skeleton is thought to be around 1,500 years old and likely to be that of a Pictish monk.

The discovery was made by archaeologists from the University of York who come to the Port each season to dig in the grounds of the Tarbat Old Church, one of the most important Pictish sites in Scotland.

They are excited by the find came in the last week of the archaeological dig and means that the team will return next year in the hope of finding more archaeology.

Cecily Spall, excavation director at the Tarbat Discovery Programme, said: "It was the last week of the dig and the last feature we were going to investigate. We expected it to be a structural feature because it was close to a building but it then became clear it was a grave.

Read the rest of this article...

Castle's old fountain uncovered


The remains of an Elizabethan fountain have been uncovered by archaeological experts in Warwickshire.

A team from Poland used a 3D laser scanner to reveal the fountain in the gardens at Kenilworth Castle.

The 16th Century fountain was part of a garden created in 1575 by Robert Dudley for Queen Elizabeth I's visit.

John Watkins, of English Heritage, said using this kind of technology would help experts reconstruct the fountain. It should be finished by spring 2007.

Read the rest of this article...

Sunken Bridge


Nifty picture reference forwarded by reader Chris Simmons: a medieval bridge, flooded under a Spanish reservoir, reemerging at water levels drop.

Read the rest of this article...

Briton confirmed dead in Greek roof collapse


A British man was killed when a vast steel roof above the Akrotiri archaeological site on the Greek island of Santorini collapsed on Friday, the Foreign Office confirmed on Saturday.

The official said he did not know whether the man, whose family came from Wales, was an archaeologist or a tourist.

The steel structure above the ancient Minoan city of Akrotiri gave in after it was covered with soil to blend in with the Aegean island's environment. Workers had been watering the soil on the roof when it collapsed.

Two Americans, two Slovaks and a German tourist as well as a Greek worker were injured in the accident.

A Greek official on Friday said the contractor and the architect of the 1,000 sq metre (19,400 sq foot) roof had been arrested and would appear before a Greek prosecutor.

Special rescue teams from Athens had to be flown in to assist in lifting the roof, which was installed five years ago to reduce weather damage and to allow further excavations.

Read the rest of this article...

Greek archaeological collapse kills one


ATHENS, Greece - A large metal shelter collapsed at one of Greece's most important archaeological sites on the resort island of Santorini on Friday, killing one person and injuring at least six, authorities said.

Rescuers freed two tourists who were pinned under the debris at the prehistoric site of Akrotiri, Greece's deputy fire brigade chief, Andreas Kois, told The Associated Press.

"We don't know whether there are other people still trapped under the roof," Kois said. "We are still looking."

Three people extracted themselves and were being treated at the island health center, Kois said.

The name and nationality of the dead man was not immediately known. An American was among the six injured.

Read the rest of this article...

Archeologists make historic discovery


POROS, Island of Kefalonia, Greece - The tomb of Odysseus has been found, and the location of his legendary capital city of Ithaca discovered here on this large island across a one-mile channel from the bone-dry islet that modern maps call Ithaca.

This could be the most important archeological discovery of the last 40 years, a find that may eventually equal the German archeologist Heinrich Schliemann’s 19th Century dig at Troy. But the quirky people and politics involved in this achievement have delayed by several years the process of reporting the find to the world.

Yet visitors to Kefalonia, an octopus-shaped island off the west coast of Greece, can see the evidence for themselves at virtually no cost.

The discovery of what is almost certainly his tomb reveals that crafty Odysseus, known as Ulysses in many English renditions of Homer’s “Iliad” and “Odyssey,” was no mere myth, but a real person. Plus, passages in the “Odyssey” itself suggest that modern Ithaca and its main town of Vathi probably were not the city and island of which Homer wrote.

Read the rest of this article...

Czech archaeologists excavate Ancient Greek town flattened by Bohemian Celts


For twelve years, Czech archaeologists have been helping their Bulgarian colleagues in the excavations of an Ancient Greek market town in central Bulgaria. The twelve years of work has yielded valuable results, including a hoard of coins, and discovered a surprising connection between the ancient town and the Czech Lands.

The river port of Pistiros was founded in the 5th century BC by a local Thracian ruler. From the excavations we know that wine from Greece was imported to the town in large amphoras. Other pottery was found in and around the remnants of houses and also a hoard of treasure was unearthed from one of the ruins. Professor Jan Bouzek was head of the team.

"Well, it was a hoard of some 561 coins. They were buried just before the Celtic invasion which came there in 278 BC. They were put into a locally made jar, just in a hurry, because the Celts were apparently already attacking the city."

Over a thousand coins were unearthed on the site, minted in various Greek cities and bearing the portraits of many rulers, including Philip II, who caused considerable damage to Pistiros around the year 345 BC. The city was destroyed by Celtic invaders some fifty years later and never fully recovered. Interestingly, some of the attackers apparently came from what is now the Czech Republic.

Read the rest of this article...

27,000 year-old grave discovered in Austria


more than 27,000 year-old grave with the bodies of two babies has been discovered near Krems in Lower Austria. Archaeologists of the Prehistoric Commission of the Austrian Academy of Scienses (OeAW) excavated the bodies which were covered with an omoplate of a mammoth. This is the oldest grave ever found in Austria.

Read the rest of this article...

Flint remains show the 'Stone Age' life


The exact location of flint found on the North Downs (England) is being plotted. A Stone Age settlement uncovered in the North Downs is being hailed as an important archaeological find. The site at Bletchingly, Surrey, is undisturbed and it could show where people gathered in Mesolithic dwellings. Archaeologist Becky Lambert said: "We are plotting the exact location of the flint, so we might even be able to see patterns of where people were sitting."

Flint is often found during ploughing. This undisturbed site may reveal hearths and where food was made. Ms Lambert added: "It is very exciting to think that people would have actually been sitting where we are, possibly crouched down like this, actually making tools."

Archaeologists at the North Park Farm site, which is within a mile of the M25, have found more than 1,000 finds ranging from shards to complete axes and entire pots. The Mesolithic era, also known as the Middle Stone Age, began around 8000 BCE when the last Ice Age ended. It lasted until 4000 BCE, which is when the Neolithic era, which saw the building of Stonehenge, started.
Items have also been found from the Iron Age, Bronze Age and the Middle Ages.

Read the rest of this article...

3000-year-old settlement found in Switzerland


A settlement believed to be nearly 3000 years old has been discovered near Roman tombs in northern Switzerland, archeologists said. The hamlet near Frick, in Argau district, dated from about 900 BCE, the district's archeological department said. Excavations revealed stone foundations for the Celtic tribespeople's wooden dwellings, ceramics, animal bones and charred grain. Archeologists also found Roman tombs nearby dating from about 100 AD which contained glass containers, bronze ornaments, ceramics and other objects.

Read the rest of this article...

Friday, September 23, 2005

Time team dig in


MOSTON volunteers had a cunning plan to step back in time this week, teaming up with TV archaeologists for a large excavation.

Nine enthusiastic community members joined Channel 4’s Time Team to excavate the site of the city's first cotton mill in Miller Street, and the dig reaped the rewards of their labours, unearthing an 18th Century coin and a child’s shoe, as well as the building’s foundations and a separate workers' house.

The Moston volunteers, Harry and Molly Drummond, Eric Potter, Pat Brierley and Margaret Bates joined presenter Tony Robinson and the team for the three-day dig, using skills they learned in the Dig Manchester project, which took place earlier this year at the site of the former Moston Hall in Lower Broadhurst Clough.

Other amateurs Mark Leigh, Lee Gregory, Andy Coutts and Lorraine Fletcher were also heavily involved in the fascinating project, the third local dig to take place in the city, after the highly successful digs in Moston and a dig in Northenden. The mill, which helped Richard Arkwright start the Industrial Revolution, was turned into a car park after being bombed in World War Two.

Read the rest of this article...

e-Science records Roman finds


Twenty first century e-Science met the ancient Roman world in a Hampshire field this summer. For the first time, archaeologists excavating at the Silchester Roman site used e-Science techniques to record their finds. The techniques will be demonstrated at the e-Science All Hands meeting in Nottingham on 20-22 September.

The archaeologists are participating in a project to build a Virtual Research Environment (VRE) that will enable geographically-dispersed researchers with an interest in the work to collaborate through on-line links. The project is funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC).

Silchester is one of the most important Roman sites in Britain. The town layout remains just as it was when the Romans abandoned it in the fifth century AD because nobody has built on it since. The excavations are of wide interest to Romanists throughout the UK and beyond.

Traditionally, archaeologists dig at the site during eight weeks each summer and record their finds using paper and pencil. These records are digitised the following winter for entry into the York-based Integrated Archaeological Database (IADB), which is held on a server in Reading.

The Silchester VRE project has three main aims. The first is to streamline this data gathering process, so saving time spent later on digitising records. The second is to facilitate on-line collaboration between researchers allowing them to share data and expertise. The third is to make databases inter-operable so that data can be compared easily and new correlations and insights found. "The project is streamlining the flow of data from excavation right through to publication, which traditionally is a very long process," says Mike Rains, a member of the project team from the York Archaeological Trust.

Read the rest of this article...

Czech archaeologists excavate Ancient Greek town flattened by Bohemian Celts


For twelve years, Czech archaeologists have been helping their Bulgarian colleagues in the excavations of an Ancient Greek market town in central Bulgaria. The twelve years of work has yielded valuable results, including a hoard of coins, and discovered a surprising connection between the ancient town and the Czech Lands.

The river port of Pistiros was founded in the 5th century BC by a local Thracian ruler. From the excavations we know that wine from Greece was imported to the town in large amphoras. Other pottery was found in and around the remnants of houses and also a hoard of treasure was unearthed from one of the ruins. Professor Jan Bouzek was head of the team.

"Well, it was a hoard of some 561 coins. They were buried just before the Celtic invasion which came there in 278 BC. They were put into a locally made jar, just in a hurry, because the Celts were apparently already attacking the city."

Over a thousand coins were unearthed on the site, minted in various Greek cities and bearing the portraits of many rulers, including Philip II, who caused considerable damage to Pistiros around the year 345 BC. The city was destroyed by Celtic invaders some fifty years later and never fully recovered. Interestingly, some of the attackers apparently came from what is now the Czech Republic.

Read the rest of this article...

Free talk on dig at East Kirk of St Nicholas Church


A free lunchtime talk next Wednesday will look at what was uncovered during archaeological excavations at the East Kirk of St Nicholas Church earlier this year.

Experts from Aberdeen City Council's Archaeological Unit excavated some small but very deep trenches within East St Nicholas.

The earliest remains included 12th-century pottery, although no traces of a structure of that date were found.

Assistant Archaeologist Alison Cameron, who will give the talk at Aberdeen Maritime Museum, said: "The foundation of the wall of the 15th-century church had been reused as a footing for the 1830s building, a structure which was only in use for 40 years before much of it was razed to the ground in a fire.

Read the rest of this article...

VITAL PIECE OF MARY ROSE JIGSAW TO BE RECOVERED


Endangered items uncovered at the seabed wreck site of the Mary Rose, including the bow stem, are to be brought to the surface thanks to funding from the Ministry of Defence.

The Mary Rose was Henry VIII’s favourite warship and rates alongside Nelson’s Victory as one of Britain’s most famous ships. Although it sunk in the Solent off Portsmouth in 1545, its hull was successfully recovered in 1982 and is now displayed at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard.

Sections of the vessel still remain on the seabed, however, and a new archaeological dive has been announced which plans to recover items in danger of decay.

The dive is funded by the Ministry of Defence in consultation with English Heritage and will start on September 23, continuing until October 14 2005.

Read the rest of this article...

Digging up Roman Driffield on housing site


THE remains of a Roman settlement, complete with pottery and jewellery, has been uncovered in Driffield.
A copper ring, an iron hair pin and clues to the ways of life of the Romans and the earlier Bronze Age were unearthed at Southwood Park, off Auchinleck Close.

They were discovered during an archeological investigation which is part of an ongoing programme of work by Peter Ward Homes to record the deposits within the whole of the housing development.

Ed Dennison, of Beverley based Ed Dennison Archaeological Services, said: "This work confirms similar finds from other development sites in the area, which reflect the region's Roman past. Although the site is not considered to be sufficiently important to merit protection, the work at Southwood Park will help build a clearer picture of the history and origins of Driffield."

Read the rest of this article...

Castle ceiling falls near tourist group


PART of Edinburgh Castle has been cordoned off after a chunk of ceiling collapsed feet away from a group of tourists.

The 17th century ante-room of the Laich Hall will remain out of bounds to members of the public until a thorough investigation has been carried out.

A spokeswoman for Historic Scotland said a large chunk of plaster came away from the ceiling and fell to the floor on Monday afternoon. No-one was injured.

She said: "The ante-room is a small room adjacent to the Laich Hall.

The area will be cordoned off to visitors until the investigation is complete and damage repaired. We apologise if this temporary closure of one room causes any inconvenience to visitors."

One eyewitness, who had been in a group when the plaster fell, said: "There were about a dozen people around when what looked like a bit of masonry fell down. It was lucky no one was hurt. We were all ushered out quickly."

Read the rest of this article...

Missing Mars statue sparks hunt


Historians have appealed for help in solving the decades-old mystery of a missing one-tonne lead statue at a castle in north Wales.
Mars, the Roman God of war, used to guard the entrance of Chirk Castle but disappeared sometime after 1911.

He stood with counterpart, Hercules, for 50 years until they were separated.

Hercules was found in a nearby wood in 1983 and brought back to the castle by helicopter. Experts have now renewed the hunt for the 12ft tall Mars.

Read the rest of this article...

Archaeologists wrap up 2005 excavations in ancient Idalion


Archaeologists wrap up 2005 excavations in ancient Idalion

Nicosia, Sep 22 (CNA) - Excavations in the Lower City of the ancient city-kingdom of Idalion this year brought to the surface workshops as early as the 13th century BC, as well as limestone female sculptures, lamp fragments and terracotta figurines, while other findings indicate that the occupation of the site of ancient Idalion probably began in the Lower City North in the 15th century BC.

According to the Department of Antiquities, the 2005 season of excavation was carried out by the Lycoming College Expedition to Idalion under the direction of Dr. Pamela Gaber.

Read the rest of this article...

Wednesday, September 21, 2005

Archaeologists who have a head for heights


A NEW archaeological survey of sea stacs off the Western Isles has uncovered evidence suggesting that the rocky outposts were inhabited from a much earlier period than previously thought, potentially revolutionising current thinking about who used the stacs and why.

Hundreds of sea stacs in varying shape and size protrude above the sea along coast of Lewis, in the Western Isles. Some stacs are joined to the mainland by a rocky promontory, while others are completely surrounded by water. If a fragment of land is wider than its height it is considered to be an island, but otherwise it is a stac.
Members of STAC prepare to abseil down the cliff face before climbing the stac.

Using the appropriately titled abbreviation STAC, members of the Severe Terrain Archaeological Campaign test their advanced climbing skills to conquer these sheer cliffs and access hitherto inaccessible sites. Established two years ago, the group uses information collected from oral history and old maps before visiting stacs that once showed signs of previous human habitation.

"You get onto the stacs and have a root around," says field archaeologist Ian McHardy. "We try to understand what's there and also do a detailed map of each stac."

Read the rest of this article...

Digging up Roman Driffield on housing site


THE remains of a Roman settlement, complete with pottery and jewellery, has been uncovered in Driffield.
A copper ring, an iron hair pin and clues to the ways of life of the Romans and the earlier Bronze Age were unearthed at Southwood Park, off Auchinleck Close.

They were discovered during an archeological investigation which is part of an ongoing programme of work by Peter Ward Homes to record the deposits within the whole of the housing development.

Ed Dennison, of Beverley based Ed Dennison Archaeological Services, said: "This work confirms similar finds from other development sites in the area, which reflect the region's Roman past. Although the site is not considered to be sufficiently important to merit protection, the work at Southwood Park will help build a clearer picture of the history and origins of Driffield."

Read the rest of this article...

Delay over quarry decision as both sides plead their case


MORE archaeological tests will be conducted before a decision plans to quarry near an earthwork monument.

Councillors have agreed to defer judgement on a planning application by Tarmac Northern to extend Nosterfield Quarry, near Masham, North Yorkshire.

Further studies will be carried out to discover whether the farmland earmarked for quarrying is of national importance to archaeologists.

Protestors have opposed the plans, claiming the extended quarry is a threat to nearby Thornborough Henges, an ancient monument.

Campaigners and quarry workers gathered at Masham town hall yesterday to hear the decision of North Yorkshire County Council's planning committee.

Read the rest of this article...

Monument quarry decision deferred


Campaigners opposing plans for quarrying near an ancient monument in North Yorkshire must wait until the New Year for a decision by councillors.

Tarmac has applied to quarry sand and gravel at Ladybridge Farm, north of Ripon, near Thornborough Henges.

Opponents fear it could destroy clues about the 5,000-year-old earthworks' history but Tarmac says the land could cope with quarrying and conservation.

A decision was deferred on Tuesday to await a full report in January.

On Tuesday North Yorkshire County Council issued a statement saying: "Today's meeting has decided to defer this matter to allow a further archaeological investigation to be carried out.

Read the rest of this article...

See also the Friends of Thronborough Website

Ancient Roman navy soldier surfaces


Ravenna site yields first-ever image of imperial officer
(ANSA) - Classe, September 20 - The first-ever image of a soldier in the Ancient Roman navy has surfaced at a major imperial naval base at Ravenna .

The armour-clad, weapon-bearing soldier was carved on a funeral stone, or stele, in a waterlogged necropolis at Classe (ancient Classis), the now silted-up Ravenna port area where Rome's Adriatic fleet was stationed .

Previous finds at the site have only shown people in civilian garb .

An inscription on the soldier's funeral slab says he was an officer on a small, fast oar-powered ship ('liburna') used to catch pirates .

Read the rest of this article...

Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Diggers discover ancient artefacts


AN archaeological dig in Cookham may have already stumbled upon artefacts dating as far back as the Roman period.

The finds were discovered at the site of the Marlow Archaeological Society's MAS Cookham excavation project.

The project, which is taking place on the paddock of Holy Trinity Church, Cookham, found what archaeologists believe to be an early solid structure underground, possibly a road, wall, or even building foundations.

Early signs of the structure were picked up through a geophysical survey, with high levels of resistivity on a computer indicating the structure was present.

Read the rest of this article...

Historical gems are unearthed


ANCIENT historical sites were opened up to give the public a rare glimpse of the past.

Keston Roman Tombs in Westerham Road and the Keston Windmill in Heathfield Road were two sites which featured in the London-wide Open House weekend.

The tombs are only opened up once a year.

The event was organised by volunteers from the Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit and Bromley and West Kent Archaeological Group, in partnership with Bromley Council.

The circular and rectangular tombs on the site were part of a Roman cemetery used around 300AD.

Read the rest of this article...

Decision awaited on monument site


Campaigners against plans to quarry near an ancient monument known as the Stonehenge of the north are awaiting a final decision by local councillors.

Tarmac has applied to quarry sand and gravel at Ladybridge Farm in North Yorkshire, near Thornborough Henges.

Campaigners fear it could destroy clues about the 5,000-year-old earthworks' history but Tarmac says the land could cope with quarrying and conservation.

The plans will be discussed at a public meeting on Tuesday.

Members of the North Yorkshire County Council planning board visited the site in August and have been recommended to refuse permission by planning officers.

Read the rest of this article...


See also The Friends of Thornborough Website

NEW FUTURE PLOTTED FOR OLD MAPPING


A huge collection of 50,000 maps and 1.5 million aerial photographs from around the world is destined for a number of new homes when it completes its transfer away from current custodian, Ordnance Survey, next month.

The Southampton-based agency’s International Collection is made up of maps and survey information from more than 60 countries – some of it spanning more than 100 years.

“Ordnance Survey merged with the Directorate of Overseas Surveys (DOS) in 1984 and we’ve looked after this treasure trove ever since,” says Ordnance Survey’s International Engagement Manager, Sallie White. “But we now feel it will be of greater benefit and value to the nation if it is made available through a number of specialist institutions. Not only will the move offer safekeeping for what we regard as unique public records – it will also provide access to the information for many more people.”

“In the past, parts of the collection have been used to help with work such as archaeological investigations, primate research, expedition planning, and even the settlement of international boundary disputes at the International Court in the Hague.

Read the rest of this article...

Geordies provide Neanderthal clues


A suggestion that the life of Neanderthals was too brutish and short for them to enjoy adolescence is overturned today by comparing their teeth with those of modern Geordies.

Last year a French analysis of Neanderthal front teeth suggested an accelerated childhood, with adulthood by 15, while our ancestors took at least three more years.

But this is ruled out by researchers from Ohio State University and the Newcastle University, who found that the tooth growth present in Neanderthal fossils was comparable to that of three modern populations: people living at present in Newcastle upon Tyne; indigenous people from southern Africa, and Inuit from Alaska dating from 500 BC until the present.

Read the rest of this article...

The roots of civilization trace back to ... roots


MINNEAPOLIS / ST. PAUL- About five to seven million years ago, when the lineage of humans and chimpanzees split, edible root plants similar to rutabagas and turnips may have been one of the reasons. According to research by anthropologists Greg Laden of the University of Minnesota and Richard Wrangham of Harvard University, the presence of fleshy underground storage organs like roots and tubers must have sustained our ancestors who left the rain forest to colonize the savannah. They have published their research in the October issue of the Journal of Human Evolution.

"You can think of roots as a kind of 'conveyor belt' ... they were somewhat available in the forest, but abundant on the savannah," said Laden. "Once roots were 'discovered,' chimp-like creatures would not only be able to survive on the savannah, but may well have been compelled to extend their range into more and more open habitats."

When our ape ancestors moved -- for reasons unknown -- onto the open, relatively treeless savannah, they left behind the rain forest and its abundance of fruit and leaves, the mainstays of modern chimpanzee diets. Laden and Wrangham believe that savannah-dwellers may have adopted game as their primary food in place of fruit. But for a fallback food, they may well have taken to eating roots and tubers, which are much more abundant on savannahs than in rain forests.

Read the rest of this article...

Monday, September 19, 2005

ARCHAEOLOGIST WHO RESTORED STONE CIRCLE RETURNS TO THE SITE


The archaeologist who helped to save an Aberdeenshire stone circle from destruction returned to the site yesterday to discuss its historical importance.

Professor Richard Bradley, of Reading University, was head of a team of archaeologists and volunteers who set about restoring the Tomnaverie stone circle in Deeside, in 1999.

The circle, near Tarland, dates back to about 4,000 years ago, but was under threat because of the work of a nearby granite quarry.

The restoration work, which was completed in 2000, means the site is the only one of its kind to have been subjected to modern excavation and analysis.

Read the rest of this article...

'Better' DNA out of fossil bones


Improved technologies for extracting genetic material from fossils may help us find out more about our ancient ancestors.

Scientists in Israel have just developed a new technique to retrieve better quality, less contaminated DNA from very old remains, including human bones.

It could aid the study of the evolution and migration of early modern humans, as well as extinct populations such as our close relatives, the Neanderthals.

Many researchers would dearly love to get their hands on DNA samples from hominids further back in time - from those that lived 100,000 years ago or more - to find out how they were related to people alive today.

Read the rest of this article...

Major excavation for Roman relic


North East experts are to investigate reports that a mosaic from Roman times is buried 15ft underground opposite the site of a former Sunderland brewery.

Archaeologists are now hoping to search for the ancient relic on the Vaux brewery site before it is redeveloped.

If they find the mosaic, it would confirm long-held suspicions by some local historians that there used to be a Roman settlement in the city.

The brewery closed in 1999 and will not be redeveloped until digs are complete.

Generations of people from Sunderland have grown up hearing stories of a Roman outpost that used to stand high above the River Wear.

Read the rest of this article...

Medieval ancestors measured up to our height standards


OUR ANCESTORS were as tall as we are, contrary to popular belief. Over the past five millennia the average height of men in Britain has remained stable at about 170cm (5ft 7in), and that of women at 160cm (5ft 3in). We may be surprised at how small the armour worn by the Black Prince or King Henry V was, but such giants on the battlefield were not physically large and were towered over by contemporaries of all classes.

“The enduring myth that people in the past were much shorter than we are today contains a small element of truth,” writes Sebastian Payne, chief scientist at English Heritage, in British Archaeology. “There have been small changes, and average height has increased by an inch or so over the past 50 years,” he says, attributing the increase to better health and nutrition.

The myth seems to stem from such things as low doorways on some medieval houses, and the small suits of clothes and armour in museums. But Dr Payne says that there are plenty of tall doors, and we simply don’t register “normally” sized outfits. “Recruits in 18th and 19th-century military records were considerably below today’s average heights,” he says, but adds: “Recruits are often from poorer families whose average height is less, and were often not fully grown.”

Read the rest of this article...

How toes tell the history of toes


HOW LONG have we worn shoes? The oldest surviving footwear dates back less than 9,000 years, but subtle changes in human toe bones suggest that our ancestors may have been shod at least 25,000 years ago.

Although well-preserved and well-dated prehistoric footwear is largely confined to desert North America, where woven sandals have been preserved in dry caves, there is also some circumstantial evidence suggesting its existence in Eurasia. The arrangement of beads, apparently sewn on to clothing, around the feet of an adult skeleton and two children found at Sunghir, Russia, and dated to 23,000-24,000 years ago, “imply that they were buried with foot protection”, Erik Trinkaus notes in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Other sites of the same period have yielded woven materials, but none are certainly identifiable as shoes. However, the site of Pavlov, Ukraine, yielded clay models of what seem to be boots. Most of the footprints found in Palaeolithic cave sites, where people went to create painted and engraved images on walls from 30,000 years ago onwards, were made by bare feet. But Professor Trinklaus says that within a few millennia “archaeological data suggest that foot protection and insulation were readily available by the second half of the Upper Palaeolithic”.

Read the rest of this article...

3000-year-old settlement found in Switzerland


A settlement believed to be nearly 3000 years old has been discovered near Roman tombs in northern Switzerland, archeologists said. The hamlet near Frick, in Argau district, dated from about 900 BCE, the district's archeological department said. Excavations revealed stone foundations for the Celtic tribespeople's wooden dwellings, ceramics, animal bones and charred grain. Archeologists also found Roman tombs nearby dating from about 100 AD which contained glass containers, bronze ornaments, ceramics and other objects.

Read the rest of this article...

Greek archaeologists unearth large Bronze Age town on Cycladic island


Greek archaeologists have discovered the "well-preserved" remains of a large Bronze Age town dating from at least 1,900 BC on the Cycladic island of Andros, the culture ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Archaeologists found at least four "well-preserved" buildings - one of them retaining its ground floor walls - in the remains of a quarter, and a graded road believed to lead to a square.

A variety of mainly ceramic objects was discovered inside the buildings, including large decorated storage jars, pots and vessels, and stone tools, many of them intact.

Researchers also found a number of rock drawings on the edge of the town, which lies on the south-western Cape Plaka near the fortified site of Strofilas, a Neolithic settlement that dates from 4,000 BC


Read the rest of this article...

Sunday, September 18, 2005

Deep-sea archaeologists look for secrets in ‘Shipwreck 7’


The research vessels: the Elizabeth, a beautiful 20-meter-long boat, and the smaller Orion together with an inflatable IENAE boat.

It all began about 30 years ago, when archaeologist Nikos Tsouchlos was fishing under the western waters of the Pagasitic Gulf near Volos in northeastern Greece.

That’s when Tsouchlos, director of the Institute of Underwater Archaeological Research (IENAE), discovered an old shipwreck. In 2000, the institute had undertaken an initial research trip into the waters, but didn’t find the specific shipwreck they had in mind. They did, however, find another eight.

That’s how interest stirred in “Shipwreck 7,” a project close to Telegraphos Bay some five nautical miles south of the village of Amaliapolis. The shipwrecks and their treasures are dated to the end of the fourth century AD, in the later Roman period.

Read the rest of this article...

Small brain did not stop Hobbit having big ideas


A fossil of a diminutive human nicknamed "the Hobbit" does indeed represent a previously unrecognised species of early Man, according to a new technique that suggests it was a cultured little fellow.

Sceptics had argued that the Hobbit, discovered in Indonesia and first announced last year, could have been an individual who suffered from microcephalya, a disorder that limits brain growth.

The fossils' discoverers had suggested that the Hobbit was either a pygmy form of a known species or a previously undiscovered species of early human.

Yesterday Nathan Jeffery of the University of Liverpool described a new way to study the imprint left by the brain on the inside of fossilised skulls.

Read the rest of this article...

A Number Of Works Of Art Unearthed In Parion Ancient City


CANAKKALE - Archaeologists unearthed a number of works of art including crowns of a prince or a king in the ancient city of Parion (also known as Parium), near Kemer village in Biga town of northwestern Turkish city of Canakkale.

Ataturk University Department of Archaeology Chairman Prof. Dr. Cevat Basaran, who leads the archaeological excavations in the ancient city, said on Monday that they unearthed four sarcophaguses (a stone coffin bearing sculpture and inscriptions) in the city.

''We opened two of those sarcophaguses. We found two crowns of a prince or a king who was believed to have lived some 2 thousand years ago, two golden coins bearing figure of the sun god and several other pieces of jewelry. Also, we unearthed 150 pieces of works of art during the excavations. All these findings reveal the importance of Parion in ancient times,'' he said.

The ancient city had been founded some 3 thousand years ago, and named after Troy King Priam's son Paris. It had been a significant city with its two commercial ports. There were a number of architectural structures, towers and four temples in the city.

Read the rest of this article...

Ancient Rome remodelled in 3D


ANICENT Rome has been brought back to life by a new 3D exhibition, complete with interactive gladiators, thanks to some British ingenuity.

With the help of historians from King's College London and the latest computer technology, the sights and characters of 2,000-year-old Rome have been recreated for tourists.

Visitors to the exhibition, entitled Look at Rome, will be handed 3D glasses so they can interact with the likes of Emperors Julius Caesar and Nero as well as Maximus the Gladiator at the exhibition, in the Trajan's Markets complex in Rome - close to the site of the ancient Forum.

Rome Council's culture superintendent Eugenio La Rocca said: "Our image of ancient Rome has been corrupted by films such as Ben Hur and Cleopatra.

Read the rest of this article...

Digs shed new light on Stonehenge mystery


Three weeks of excavations at Durrington Walls have shed new light on the mysteries of the Stonehenge World Heritage site. The dig, which started on August 21, was due to end September 15, and has attracted interest from eminent archaeologists, who have been regularly visiting the site since the work got underway. On September 10th and 11th, members of the public had the chance to view the excavation sites and talk with members of the team carrying out the research project.

The visits were arranged as part of the Heritage Open Days and they included demonstrations of Neolithic craft, performed by a re-enactment group.

Durrington Walls lies close to Woodhenge and it is one of the key prehistoric monuments of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site. It is a circular henge enclosure - the largest of its kind in Britain - and is surrounded by a bank and ditch that is even bigger than that at Avebury. And it was built at the same time as the first Bluestones were put up at Stonehenge over 5,000 years ago.

Read the rest of this article...

Bronze age town unearthed on Cycladic island


Greek archaeologists discovered the "well-preserved" remains of a large Bronze Age town. The culture ministry said the town dates from at least 1,900 BC on the Cycladic island of Andros.

Archaeologists found at least four "well-preserved" buildings - one of them retaining its ground floor walls, and a graded road believed to lead to a square. A variety of large, mainly ceramic, decorated storage jars, pots and vessels, and stone tools, many of them intact, were discovered inside the buildings.

Researchers found a number of rock drawings on the edge of the town, which lies near the fortified site of Strofilas, a Neolithic settlement that dates from 4,000 BCE. The drawings of boats, a human head surrounded by a pair of open palmed arms, a pair of feet and a circular symbol thought to represent the sun, are compatible with the divinity the town dwellers are thought to have worshipped.

The symbols are similar to sketches found at Strofilas, suggesting that the fortified community's inhabitants moved their lodgings closer to the sea around 3,300 BCE, at the end of the Neolithic period.

Read the rest of this article...

Friday, September 16, 2005

English Heritage Branches Out


For the first time in its history, English Heritage has bought a public house with a view to raising funds for the upkeep of the nearby Abbey which it also owns.

English Heritage has today announced that it has bought a Grade II listed public house in the grounds of Byland Abbey in North Yorkshire.

The purchase of the Inn will safeguard the spectacular setting of the Abbey, once one of the largest and most important Cistercian monasteries in England, which attracts some 10,000 visitors a year.

Profits will go straight back into the conservation of the English Heritage properties in the area, including the Abbey.

The move is a departure for EH, which has in the past only catered for visitors by supplying an ice cream van, or tearooms on site for visitors. A pub, with a highly-regarded restaurant attached, will be more profitable but also more work. It is currently searching for an experienced manager to run the Inn.

Read the rest of this article...

Roman dig tirade claim denied


A CHESTER city councillor has denied launching a tirade against archaeologists working at the Chester amphitheatre dig.

An official complaint has been lodged against city Cllr Michael Poole (Con, Curzon & Westminster) by English Heritage archaeologist Tony Wilmott who is working in conjunction with the city council team.

It is alleged Cllr Poole was shouting through the fence claiming the project was a waste of money. The incident on the afternoon of Friday September 2 took place in front of volunteers and also Mike Morris, head of the Chester Archaeology Service.

But Cllr Poole has strongly denied the accusations and believes he is being targeted because as head of a city council committee he challenged the amphitheatre budget figures.

Read the rest of this article...

Military bulldoze 8,000-year-old Karpas site


REPORTS that the Turkish Cypriot armed forces bulldozed away an 8,000-year-old Neolithic site at the tip of the Karpas peninsula to make way for a flag pole was confirmed by both official and non official sources in the north yesterday.

The site, known as Kastros, lies 4km north of Apostolos Andreas on a steep hillside, the remains of which, if they have survived, now lie under a military road.

“The Neolithic settlement was on the side of a small hill leading to a plateau. The security forces built a road to the plateau which, it seems, has destroyed some or all of the Neolithic site,” head of the ‘antiquities and museums department’ in Famagusta Hasan Tekel told the Cyprus Mail yesterday.

He added, however, that the road would have to be dug up before he could comment on the extent of the damage to the ancient settlement.

Tekel’s statement came soon after the north’s ‘economy and tourism ministry’ made a short statement saying it had only recently received learned that the site had been bulldozed to make way for road leading to a platform upon which the flags of Turkey and the ‘TRNC’ were placed. The flags were allegedly erected on July 18.

Read the rest of this article...

Secret of Delphi Found in Ancient Text


Researchers at the University of Leicester have unravelled a 2,700 year old mystery concerning The Oracle of Delphi – by consulting an ancient farmer’s manual.

The researchers from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History sought to explain how people from across Greece came to consult with the Oracle – a hotline to the god Apollo- on a particular day of the year even though there was no common calendar.

Now their findings, published in this month’s edition of the journal Antiquity, suggests celestial signs observed by farmers could also have determined the rituals associated with Apollo Delphinios

Postgraduate student Alun Salt said: “The manual, Works and Days by Hesiod, dating to the eight century BC, describes the right time to plant crops or harvest by observing a variety of signs. One particular event he frequently looked for was the heliacal rising of a star, its first appearance that year in the morning sky.

Read the rest of this article...

Relitto del XIV secolo a.C.!


Scovato da un cercatore di spugne ben 21 anni fa al largo delle coste turche (Kas) ad una profondità tra i 40 e 60 metri! E’ uno dei relitti più antichi del mondo e ancora le operazioni di recupero non sono terminate, con una avvicendamento di centinaia di sub. L’imbarcazione è in cedro, lunga 15 metri e con un carico variegato, in alcune sue parti, prezioso: lingotti di rame cipriota, lingotti di vetro (blu cobalto, turchese, color lavanda), avorio intarsiato, denti di ippopotamo. Da aggiungere gusci di tartaruga usati come strumenti musicali, ceramiche ciprioti, gioielli di origine cananea e uno scarabeo sacro di origine egiziana.

Read the rest of this article...

Enthusiast uses Google to reveal Roman ruins


Google Earth programme leads to remains of ancient villa.

Using satellite images from Google Maps and Google Earth, an Italian computer programmer has stumbled upon the remains of an ancient villa. Luca Mori was studying maps of the region around his town of Sorbolo, near Parma, when he noticed a prominent, oval, shaded form more than 500 metres long. It was the meander of an ancient river, visible because former watercourses absorb different amounts of moisture from the air than their surroundings do.

His eye was caught by unusual 'rectangular shadows' nearby. Curious, he analysed the image further, and concluded that the lines must represent a buried structure of human origin. Eventually, he traced out what looked like the inner courtyards of a villa.

Mori, who describes the finding on his blog, Quellí Della Bassa, contacted archaeologists, including experts at the National Archaeological Museum of Parma. They confirmed the find. At first it was thought to be a Bronze Age village, but an inspection of the site turned up ceramic pieces that indicated it was a Roman villa.

Read the rest of this article...

Cornish sacred hill up for auction


Brown Gelly, the hill to the south of Dozmary Pool (Cornwall, England) goes up for auction on the 27th September. On the hill are several barrows plus Iron Age settlements. The land has recently become open access land, before that access to the hill was never clear. The guide price for 240 acres of prime Bodmin Moor is £220,000.

The Moor, which has not been on the open market since 1927, has been subject to a recent tenure stewardship scheme, which finished in 2004. The land extends in all to 97.32 hectares (240.4 acres or thereabouts) and is contained within a ring fence of enclosed Moor.

Read the rest of this article...

Thursday, September 15, 2005

Sofia Perched on Huge Ancient Amphitheatre


The ruins of the largest on the Balkans area amphitheatre emerged from beneath the ground in Sofia making Bulgaria's capital the third in Europe perched on such ancient building.

So far, only Madrid and Paris have had large amphitheatres within the city's boundaries.

An ancient amphitheater was unearthed in centre Sofia last year, while an excavator machine was digging up for the fundamentals of an eight-storey hotel in downtown city.

The building company Fairplay has immediately redrafted construction plans with view of including the unearthed parts in the hotel's interior, which is about a fourth of the whole ancient building spreading under the city centre.

The gladiator arena, with address at Sofia's Budapest Street, has so far revealed the "menians" - the seats for noble Roman patricians - while the poor plebeians' seats will probably remain undisclosed, as they are placed higher and excavations means would not provide for those.

Read the rest of this article...

Greek archaeologists unearth large Bronze Age town on Cycladic island


Greek archaeologists have discovered the "well-preserved" remains of a large Bronze Age town dating from at least 1,900 BC on the Cycladic island of Andros, the culture ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

ATHENS (AFP) - Archaeologists found at least four "well-preserved" buildings - one of them retaining its ground floor walls - in the remains of a quarter, and a graded road believed to lead to a square.

A variety of mainly ceramic objects was discovered inside the buildings, including large decorated storage jars, pots and vessels, and stone tools, many of them intact.

Researchers also found a number of rock drawings on the edge of the town, which lies on the south-western Cape Plaka near the fortified site of Strofilas, a Neolithic settlement that dates from 4,000 BC.

Read the rest of this article...

Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Digging up the past


Amateur archaeologists this week began the task of digging up a 1,600 year old home in Liss.
More than 160 volunteers have signed up for a remarkable community project to unearth remains of a 4th century Roman villa on farmland at the edge of the village.

Led by a professional archaeologist they are hoping that their work will bring to light evidence of a Romano British settlement.

Digging began yesterday, and teams of volunteers will continue working until the end of September.

Work will resume in September 2006 and September 2007.

Read the rest of this article...

Dig throws new light on Stonehenge mystery


THREE weeks of excavations at Durrington Walls have been helping to throw new light on the mysteries of the Stonehenge World Heritage site.

The dig, which started on August 21 and is due to end today (September 15) has attracted interest from eminent archaeologists, who have been regularly visiting the site since the work got underway.

And last Saturday and Sunday members of the public got the chance to view the excavations and talk to members of the team carrying out the research project.

The visits were arranged as part of last week's Heritage Open Days and included demonstration of Neolithic craft, performed by a re-enactment group. Durrington Walls lies close to Woodhenge and is one of the key prehistoric monuments of the Stonehenge World Heritage Site.

Read the rest of this article...

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Crystal clumps preserve fossilised DNA


Clumps of mineral crystals in fossil bones preserve DNA better than other parts of the bones, a new study shows. The results promise new hope for research on both ancient humans and extinct animals.

Extraction of DNA from fossil bones promises to be a powerful tool for analysing relationships among vanished populations, tracing their migrations, and finding their closest living relatives. But DNA degradation and potential contamination makes obtaining reliable samples difficult.

The powerful PCR (polymerase chain reaction) technique can multiply tiny traces of DNA to produce large amounts for genetic sequencing. In principle, those sequences could be a road map to relationships among early humans and extinct animals.

Intact mitochondrial DNA sequences have been reported for Neanderthals and a number of extinct ice-age mammals, but the full promise of fossil DNA has yet to be realised. DNA degrades quickly after death, and burial in soil leads to inevitable contamination with foreign DNA.

Read the rest of this article...

Scottish 'Indiana Jones' finds ancient burial path


A VETERAN archaeologist, hailed as Scotland's "Indiana Jones", has discovered one of Egypt's most elusive ancient sites 3,000 years after it was buried in the desert sand.

Ian Mathieson, 78, director of Saqqara Geophysical Survey Project, has located part of a seven-mile ceremonial burial route to the Step Pyramid of Djoser, near Cairo.

Treasure hunters have long tried to pinpoint the Serapeum Way, and in 1798 Napoleon sent 1,000 men.

According to legend, the Greek philosopher Strabo found a partially buried golden sphinx while travelling in 24BC.

A French archeologist, Mariette, unearthed part of the Way, and 134 sphinxes, in 1890 but his notes and the location were lost.

Read the rest of this article...

Japan Boosts Bulgaria's Archaeological Exploits


Japan has granted Bulgaria a donation worth USD 375,000 for the purchase of equipment for terrain and archaeological surveys. The donation also includes audio-visual equipment to the National Archaeological Institute and Museum with the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. An agreement to this effect was signed on Monday by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin and the Japanese Ambassador to Bulgaria Koichiro Fukui.

Read the rest of this article...

Monday, September 12, 2005

Ancient drowned forest discovery


UNDERWATER archaeologists in Perthshire have made the incredible discovery of a drowned forest, thought to date from the neolithic period some 5000 years ago.

Stunned divers spotted the ancient wooded area as they worked in Loch Tay.

The eerie find is sure to excite scientists of all disciplines as it could represent the earliest surviving remains of Scotland’s native woodland.

Preliminary surveys in the 14 mile long loch—carried out by the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology (STUA) over the weekend—have identified well preserved fallen oak and elm trees as well as a series of oak upright trunks embedded in layers of gravel and silt.

Read the rest of this article...

Exciting Finds at the Rushen Abbey Excavations


This year’s archaeological excavations at Rushen Abbey have come to an end with some intriguing discoveries being made. Digging near the heart of the Medieval Abbey complex, archaeologists from the Centre for Manx Studies and the University of Liverpool came across some interesting and unexpected finds.

Manx National Heritage Curator for Archaeology, Allison Fox said:

“We were digging in the Medieval layers of the Abbey – particularly from the time when the Abbey was demolished in the 1500s. So the artefacts that were found can be firmly dated to this time or earlier. Most people know that monasteries were centres of learning as well as religious ones and this year we found the remains of metal book mounts. These would have either held big Medieval manuscripts together or would have been used as decoration, but also to protect the edges and corners of the scripts. We also found a Medieval stylus. This is a Medieval pen, used to write in wax. Again, it was very exciting to find actual physical evidence that the monks were writing.

We found lots of Medieval roof slates, some of which look as if they were imported from Wales especially for use at Rushen Abbey, along with some fragments of quite upmarket French pottery – all of which show that the Isle of Man was by no means isolated after the influence of the Vikings had subsided.

Read the rest of this article...

Search starts for lost settlement


Archaeologists are investigating two Notts fields to see if folklore about a lost settlement is true.

The scientists from the University of Oxford are examining land close to St Mary's Church in Greasley near Eastwood for signs of a medieval village.

A Countryside Agency grant of £30,000 paid for the research after dowsers said they found traces of buildings.

Local historians have always been intrigued by the site because there are remains of a castle but no dwellings.

Neil Hutchinson, local historian said: "We decided a few years ago we would try and establish if there was actually a village in Greasley.

Read the rest of this article...

Church Pulpit Unearthed in Thracian Sanctuary of Perperikon


Archaeologists have found a church pulpit at the peak of the Thracian rock sanctuary Perperikon.

This is the first of the kind finding in Bulgaria, the team's chief Nikolay Ovcharov said. According to him, the pulpit was built at the end of the 4th century AD or the early 5th century during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Honorius and coincided with the period of the christening the Thracians in the Rhodopes area.

It has the form of one-ship basilica of 16.5 m length, which is the most typical form of an early christen religious temple.

The pulpit, which is almost untouched by time, is richly decorated with stone-carved ornaments. An eagle with largely spread wings is clearly seen on the rock.

Read the rest of this article...

Thursday, September 08, 2005

ISLAND COULD HAVE TO SELL HERITAGE


FASCINATING items of Island heritage could be lost for ever without help, the Island's museum service has warned.

Museums officer Dr Mike Bishop said artefacts found on the Island each week had to be turned down because there was not enough money to buy them.

However, businesses could play a vital role in keeping some items on the Island to ensure its heritage was preserved.

The Island was not alone in facing the problem, according to Dr Bishop, who said that across the country museums and local authorities were experiencing drops in the number of items donated, a rise in market values and tight acquisition budgets.
The museum service on the Island has only £3,000 to buy items each year, although other funding was available from groups such as the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Arts Council.

Read the rest of this article...

Treasures of Ancient Persia go on show




An exhibition believed to be the biggest collection of antiquities from the golden age of the Persian Empire seen since its great cities were sacked by Alexander the Great opens tomorrow at the British Museum.

The exhibition, which brings together treasures from the National Museum of Iran, the Louvre and the British Museum itself, aims to tell the story of an empire that, between 550BC and 330BC, was the biggest the world had seen .

Highlights include the "Cyrus Cylinder", a barrel-shaped inscribed foundation deposit sometimes referred to as the first declaration of human rights because of its reference to religious tolerance.

This, say organisers, goes some way to exploding the myth of Persia as a ruthless and despotic war machine.

Read the rest of this article...

City to reveal secrets of historic heart


Thousands of people are expected to visit up to 140 attractions across Norwich over the next few days to discover a hidden facet of the city's heritage.

Numerous attractions not normally open to the public will invite people in free of charge to explore unseen aspects of culture and history from today until Sunday .

Other popular attractions will provide access to nooks and crannies not normally seen by visitors as part of the Heritage Open Days (HOD) festival.

Norwich is the host city for the national event, billed as Britain's biggest celebration of architecture, history and culture, and hoping to bring to a wider audience hidden treasures and the sites not normally open to the public.

Read the rest of this article...

Archaeological finds to be shown


Archaeologists are to reveal their finds from the biggest excavation in Worcester in 15 years on Thursday.

Digging in Newport Street has shown the now quiet road used to be a busy thoroughfare, leading from the medieval bridge to the heart of the city.

The work has uncovered evidence of rich merchants who lived and traded on the road in the 17th Century and before.

The excavations are part of a scheme to build new flats. The site is open to the public on Thursday afternoon.

Read the rest of this article...

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

London and Beijing to exchange archaeological treasures


London and Beijing capped their status as Olympic cities yesterday by announcing an unprecedented exchange by loan of archaeological treasures over the next five years.

This could lead to one or more of China's world-famous terracotta warriors going on show at the British Museum and to Chinese crowds having their first chance to see Egyptian mummies and cuneiform tablets from London.

The directors of the British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum, who are in China with Tony Blair, unveiled the exchange deals after two years of secret preparations.

Article continues
The first result could be as soon as next year, when the V&A expects to host an exhibition of 17th century Chinese porcelain.

The other most wanted objects on each country's list will be agreed in a memorandum of understanding in the next few months.

Read the rest of this article...

Hundreds on pilgrimage to archaeological site


MORE than 300 people have taken a tour of a newly discovered Roman site which a local archeologist believes could be the birthplace of Saint Patrick.

Steve Dickinson, from Ulverston, believes he has found a fort called Banna Venta Berniae, thought by scholars to be where Ireland’s patron saint was born.

The site is located close to Urswick School and has attracted international interest.

Now Mr Dickinson is offering free tours of his findings on the Urswick Origins Discovery Project between 1pm and 5pm every day except Thursday.

Read the rest of this article...

Replicas open door to forbidden world of caveman's art


A replica of the Lascaux caves, home to prehistoric man but out of bounds to his modern descendants, is to go on a world tour to take the art treasures to a wider public.

The caves, discovered by teenagers 65 years ago, have been closed to general view since 1963 to protect their rock paintings of bison and other animals, some depicting successive stages of a hunt.

A small team based near the caves in Motignac, south-west France, is creating the replica for an exhibition expected to visit several international cities, including London.

Renaud Sanson, the team's leader and one of the few people allowed inside the caves, said the use of laser techniques and photographic projection meant that the touring replica would be "better than the real thing".

Read the rest of this article...

In the Shadow of the Volcano: Prehistoric Life in Northern Arizona


Buried beneath a few feet of earth near the sacred San Francisco Peaks are the remains of prehistoric houses and villages up to 1500 years old. This is the land of the Sinagua and Cohonina, ancestors of the Hopi. These were pioneers, farmers and survivors. The most extensive archaeological excavation in the Flagstaff region of northern Arizona has yielded a fascinating story about these early settlers, their connections to the modern Hopi tribe, and how they were affected by the eruption of Sunset Crater in the late 11th Century.

Streaming Video on The Archaeology Channel

Watch the video...

Divers probe home's giant cistern


Specialist archaeological divers hope to uncover treasures dating back more than 400 years when they carry out a survey of a water tank in Kent.
The divers will examine a giant cistern at Knole, a National Trust Property in Sevenoaks, on Tuesday.

Divers first entered the waters in the early 1990s but centuries-old silt was disturbed, making it impossible to see anything properly.

Radar surveys have revealed the tank to have a network of arches and tunnels.

Read the rest of this article...

Ancient painting discovered inside Gorham’s Cave


Archaeologists working deep inside Gorham’s Cave have (Gibraltar) discovered a rare prehistoric painting, that could be up to 13,000 years old, of a deer. To the untrained eye it looks like a series of random scrawls on the cave wall. But with the help of the experts, the outline of an animal crowned with a distinctive set of antlers quickly becomes clearly discernible.

The discovery of the painting follows the previous find of cave art in St Michael’s Cave and highlights the wealth of archaeological remains in Gibraltar.

Alongside the painting, the archaeologists working in Gorham’s Cave have also made important Neanderthal finds during the past two weeks. "What we have now in Gibraltar are eight caves where we know there has been Neanderthal occupation. We also have a number of caves with occupation by modern people, of which at least two have cave art, which is of great heritage value in global terms," said Professor Clive Finlayson, director of the Gibraltar Museum and co-director of the excavation at Gorham’s Cave.

Of the recent discoveries at Gorham’s Cave, the cave painting of the deer is perhaps the most significant. From its style, the experts working in the cave can tell that it is an Upper Paleolithic painting from the Magdalenian period, making it approximately 12,000 to 13,000 years old.

Read the rest of this article...

Discover the secrets beneath St Nicholas East Kirk on Doors Open Day


Rare access to the archaeological dig beneath St Nicholas East Kirk will be provided by Aberdeen City Council's Archaeology Unit on Doors Open Day this weekend (Saturday 10 September).

Archaeologist Alison Cameron, who led the excavation in February will present the results of the dig from the gallery of the East Kirk at 10am, 11am, 12 noon, 2pm and 3pm. Entry is by the main door on the south side of the kirk and no booking is necessary for the tours as places are not limited.

Alison Cameron, Archaeologist with Aberdeen City Council's Archaeological Unit says: 'The Kirk of St Nicholas is arguably the most important and most undervalued building in the royal burgh of Aberdeen. The present structure is mainly of 18th and 19th century date, but incorporates portions of the 12th century church and stands on the site of the 15th century building, which was one of the largest and most prestigious burgh churches in Scotland.

Read the rest of this article...

Saturday, September 03, 2005

New Web Site for Greek Museums


A new site giving information over a number of archaeological museums in Greece has recently appeared on the Internet.

The site gives links to 37 museums containing archaeological material. Each link gives a brief description of the material housed in the museum, the location and telephone number, opening hours and admission charges.

You can find the site at: www.greece-museums.com

Welcome to Heritage Open Days 2005


8-11 September
England's largest voluntary cultural event

Heritage Open Days celebrates England's fantastic architecture and culture by offering free access to properties that are usually closed to the public or normally charge for admission. Every year on four days in September, buildings of every age, style and function throw open their doors, ranging from castles to factories, town halls to tithe barns, parish churches to Buddhist temples. It is a once-a-year chance to discover hidden architectural treasures and enjoy a wide range of tours, events and activities which bring to life local history and culture.

Free of charge and literally on people's doorstep, Heritage Open Days is an event for everyone, whatever their background, age and ability. This year's event will run from Thursday 8 to Sunday 11 September.

Co-ordinated nationally by the Civic Trust in partnership with English Heritage, the event thrives on the enthusiasm and expertise of local people. Thousands of volunteers from all walks of life share their knowledge and memories with some 800,000 visitors every year, making Heritage Open Days England's largest voluntary cultural event.

Read the rest of this article...

VANDALISED PRIORY GETS A REVAMP


Work was under way yesterday on one of Gloucester's most historic buildings. In recent years, the remains of St Oswald's Priory have become a target for vandals and fallen further into disrepair.

But now scaffolding is up around the at-risk building, which dates back to the 9th century.

The work is being paid for through a £40,000 grant from English Heritage and the Wolfson Foundation which is giving £5,000.

A further £11,000 has already been set aside by the city council after it identified the Priory as a priority in its own 'Buildings at Risk' register.

Read the rest of this article...

Boys' booty turns out to be Viking hoard


At first, the Kruze family thought they were just toys their kids had been given.

In among the usual clutter which small boys like to brandish were a strange necklace with a dragon motif, and an enigmatic medallion.

It was only when an ancient-looking brooch appeared in the toybox mix that the Kruzes decided to do some research.

It turned out that twins Arthur and Teodor, aged five, and their cousin Jesper, also five, had not been playing with tat but with 1,200-year-old Viking treasure unearthed in the back garden. "After we checked on the internet, we realised that it was not something from H&M," said Marita Kruze, mother of the twins.

Read the rest of this article...

Unterwasserarchaeologie.de


This German website has been designed by some professional divers involved in underwater archaeology. It offers some introductory texts, both in English and German, about underwater archaeology and shipwrecks. A few illustrated papers, in German only, are available under the section "Publikationen". It is possible to access a list of the papers and abstracts. It is possible then to download the full-text papers in PDF format from each abstract page. Subjects include archaeometric analyses on artefacts found on shipwrecks and concentrate on the Neolithic and Bronze Age of Central Europe. In addition, advice is provided to divers wishing to explore for themselves some of the shipwrecks. (Andrea Vianello)

Read the rest of this article...

ROMAN HISTORY PIECED TOGETHER


THREE intriguing Roman finds are to be unveiled at Corbridge Roman Site.

The three stones have advanced the knowledge of historians about the Roman occupation of Tynedale.

“The stones are pretty hideous in that they are all quite damaged,” said English Heritage curator Georgina Plowright, “but it’s because of the importance of the information they give us that we are putting them on display.

“The three of them together enlarge the knowledge we have of the Roman settlement of Corbridge.”

Read the rest of this article...

Getty Kept Items to Itself in Probe


The J. Paul Getty Trust, which has said it was fully cooperating with an Italian investigation into the antiquities trade, did not disclose a series of letters and photographs showing that its chief antiquities curator maintained close relationships with dealers suspected of selling looted art, according to documents and interviews.

The Getty's antiquities curator, Marion True, is facing trial in Rome this fall on charges that she conspired to traffic in ancient artifacts stolen from Italian ruins and smuggled out of the country. Italian authorities have identified 42 objects — including some of the most prized antiquities in the Getty's collection — as stolen and have demanded their return. The authorities are also investigating other American museums.

The Getty and True maintain her innocence.

According to a confidential memo written in 2001 by the Getty's criminal defense lawyer to Chief Executive Barry Munitz, an internal review of Getty files had turned up a handful of letters from the suspect dealers and True, as well as Polaroid photographs of artifacts.


Read the rest of this article...