Friday, September 30, 2011

Axes, bones, jewellery and 60 pairs of shoes - secrets of Roman fort revealed


ARCHAEOLOGISTS digging at the site of a former jeans factory have uncovered the remains of at least two Roman forts - and artefacts including 60 pairs of shoes.
 
The hoard of leather footwear is believed to be the largest of its kind yet found in Scotland.

Other discoveries include pottery, ovens, coins, bones, jewellery, an axe and a spearhead dating back to the first and second centuries AD, when the forts were in use.
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Pre-Viking burial site unearthed by EirGrid dig for underground power lines


Early Christian remains have been uncovered by contractors working on the largest energy project in the country.

The medieval burial ground was discovered on farmland in Rush, north Dublin, in June as EirGrid laid piping for a high voltage direct current (HVDC) underground power line.

Radiocarbon tests at Queens University, Belfast, have revealed the site dates back to the seventh century, from between 617 to 675 AD.

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Archaeologists uncover slate at Nevern Castle ‘that kept evil spirits at bay’


RARE pieces of inscribed slate unearthed during a dig at one of the nation’s oldest castles may provide valuable clues to life in medieval Wales, experts said yesterday.

Archaeologists involved in a recent excavation on the site of Nevern Castle in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park believe the markings, dating back more than 800 years, indicate some ritualistic methods of warding off evil.

The slates – complete with stars and other designs scratched on them – were found at the site’s 12th century cut-stone entranceway.
 

Stone-age toddlers had art lessons, study says


Research on Dordogne cave art shows children learned to finger-paint in palaeolithic age, approximately 13,000 years ago

Stone age toddlers may have attended a form of prehistoric nursery where they were encouraged to develop their creative skills in cave art, say archaeologists.

Research indicates young children expressed themselves in an ancient form of finger-painting. And, just as in modern homes, their early efforts were given pride of place on the living room wall.

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Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Lost city found in Dardanelles, Turkey : Older than Troy


A group of scientists and archeologists from Canakkale (Dardanelles) University have found traces of a lost city, older than famed Troy, now buried under the waters of Dardanelles strait.

Led by associate professor Rüstem Aslan, the archeology team made a surface survey in the vicinity of Erenkoy, Canakkale on the shore. The team has found ceramics and pottery, what led them to ponder a mound could be nearby. A research on The found pottery showed that the items belonged to an 7000 years old ancient city. The team has intensified the research and discovered first signs of the lost city under the waters of Dardanalles Strait.

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Pair investigated on suspicion of attempting to loot buried treasure from Northamptonshire Roman town


TWO people are being investigated by police on suspicion of attempting to loot buried treasure from the site of a historic Roman walled town in Northamptonshire.

Police confirmed the two suspects remained on bail on suspicion of illegally using a metal detector, the theft of treasure, damage to the land and other offences at a site of “tremendous historical and archeological importance”. They are believed to have attempted to take Roman coins and other historical artefacts.

Police said ‘several’ alleged crimes were being investigated at Chester House Farm, in Irchester, which is regarded by historians as one of the most important sites of its type in the county. Police are now liaising with experts from English Heritage and a national police expert about pursuing a case, which if prosecuted, could be one of the biggest of its kind in the country.

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Das »Internationale Sachsensymposion« lockt rund 100 Experten ins Landesmuseum Hannover


Das »Internationale Sachsensymposion« lockt rund 100 Experten ins Landesmuseum Hannover 

Archäologen, Historiker und Anthropologen aus ganz Europa widmen sich derzeit während einer fünftägigen Konferenz der interdisziplinären Erforschung des frühmittelalterlichen Stammesverbands der Sachsen und ihrer Nachbarvölker im ersten Jahrtausend.
Die Sachsen des frühen Mittelalters haben die politischen und historischen Abläufe in Europa entscheidend geprägt. Am Landesmuseum Hannover bildet die landesgeschichtlich orientierte »Sachsenforschung« einen Schwerpunkt der wissenschaftlichen Forschungsarbeit im Bereich der Ur- und Frühgeschichte. Dabei steht zum einen die Erschließung der umfangreichen Sammlungsbestände des Hauses zur Geschichte des ersten Jahrtausends in Niedersachsen im Vordergrund. Zum anderen werden die Entstehung und Entwicklung des frühmittelalterlichen Stammesverbandes erforscht.

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Monday, September 26, 2011

Minster tributes to Dr Richard Hall


HUNDREDS of people gathered in York Minster today to pay their final respects to world-renowned archaeologist Dr Richard Hall, who died earlier this month at the age of 62.

Reverend Canon Glyn Webster conducted the public service, which was held in the Quire of the Minster this afternoon, ahead of a private family burial.

Dr Peter Addyman, who worked with Dr Hall to raise the profile of the York Archaeological Trust, told the congregation Dr Hall was “as relaxed and assured when he briefed Magnus Magnusson as when giving unforgettable site inductions to new site diggers and recruits”, and had done a great deal to bring York’s Viking history to the public.

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Bronze Age finds at Llangollen's Pillar of Eliseg


Remains dating back to the Bronze Age have been uncovered by archaeologists excavating the site of a 9th Century monument.

The finds were made during the latest dig at the Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen, Denbighshire.

Possible cremated remains and bone fragments are now being examined.

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Ancestors' lifestyle change probed by archaeologists


Archaeologists are investigating islands around Britain to find out why our ancestors gave up being hunter-gatherers 6,000 years ago and turned to farming. 

Academics from the universities of Southampton and Liverpool are hoping to shed new light on the long-standing debate about whether the change around 4,000BC was due to colonists moving into Britain or if the indigenous population gradually adopted the new agricultural lifestyle themselves. 

The experts will be excavating three island groups in the western seaways - the Channel Islands, the Isles of Scilly and the Outer Hebrides - to understand what sailing across this area would have been like in 4,000BC.

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'Witch's graveyard' unearthed in Italy


Archaeologists have unearthed the skeletal remains of an 800-year-old woman with nails driven into her jaw in what could be a 'witch's graveyard' in Italy. 

The bones found at Piombino, near Lucca in Tuscany, were surrounded by 13 nails, were not wrapped in any burial shroud and the woman was not buried in a coffin, Daily Mail reports.

The nails, driven into the woman's jaw, may have been placed there to prevent her from rising from the dead.

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Ancient luxury residence of rich family found in İzmir


A luxury residence dating back about 2,000 years to the Roman era has been discovered in the Aegean province of İzmir. Located in the ancient city of Smyrna, the 400-square-meter residence has many rooms, including a bathroom and kitchen.

“The presence of numerous rooms, a bathroom and kitchen show us that a rich family must have lived here together with slaves. We see many details of their lifestyle from the remains found during excavations,” said archaeologist Akın Ersoy, who leads the excavation works.

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Sunday, September 25, 2011

Identifying an Early Monastic school-house


Inchmarnock is a small island off the west coast of Bute in the Firth of Clyde. Between 2000 and 2004 a wide-ranging programme of survey and excavation of multiple sites throughout the island was undertaken by a team from Headland Archaeology as part of a wider environmental audit on behalf of its new owner.

Among the sites investigated was a rock shelter with Late Iron Age and early medieval occupation deposits, medieval corn-drying kilns, and a building platform on which a 17th-century turf-built longhouse was erected, masking medieval and early medieval activity. But the key site to understanding the island’s history is the 12th-century church whose robbed-out foundations were left partially exposed after local excavations in the 1970s. The Early Christian origins of the site have long been recognised through discoveries of early cross slabs; now radiocarbon dates clearly indicate activity from at least the third quarter of the 1st millennium AD. A late medieval literate presence, possibly associated with regulation of pilgrimage activity on the island, is also clearly evidenced.

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Pompeii shows its true colours


'Pompeiian red' was created when gases from Vesuvius reacted with yellow paint, research reveals

When word spread to Britain of the sensational discovery of the Roman towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the 18th century, "Pompeiian red" became the favoured colour for smart dining-rooms – as it remains today.

But, it seems, it may be time to get out the paint chart. According to new research presented to Sapienza University in Rome last week, large swaths of the vivid "Pompeiian red" frescoes in the town actually began life as yellow – and were turned red by the gases emitted from Vesuvius as it erupted in AD 79.

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Excavation of islands around Britain to establish origins of Neolithic period


Archaeologists at the University of Liverpool are investigating three island groups around Britain to further understanding of why, in approximately 4,000 BC, humans altered their lifestyle from hunting and gathering to farming the land.

Some scholars believe that this change occurred due to colonists from the continent moving into Britain, bringing farming and pottery-making skills with them, but others argue that the indigenous population of Britain adopted this new lifestyle gradually on their own terms.

To shed new light on the debate, , in collaboration with the University of Southampton, are excavating three island groups in the western seaways and producing oceanographic models to understand what sailing across this area would have been like in 4,000 BC. The team will also construct a database of 5th and 4th millennium occupation sites.

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Leicestershire archaeologists find Iron Age skeleton


A team of archaeologists has unearthed an Iron Age skeleton during excavations in Leicestershire. 

Dr Jermey Taylor, who has been examining the bones at the University of Leicester, said they were providing a wealth of information about how ancient people lived.

He believes the remains, found at Burrough on the Hill, could have belonged to an important young man who lived 200 years before the Romans arrived in Britain.

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First Aboriginal genome sequenced


A 90-year-old tuft of hair has yielded the first complete genome of an Aboriginal Australian, a young man who lived in southwest Australia.

He, and perhaps all Aboriginal Australians, the genome indicates, descend from the first humans to venture far beyond Africa more than 60,000 years ago, and thousands of years before the ancestors of most modern Asians trekked east in a second migration out of Africa.

"Aboriginal Australians are descendents of the first human explorers. These are the guys who expanded to unknown territory into an unknown world, eventually reaching Australia," says Eske Willerslev, a palaeogeneticist at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, who led the study. It appears online today in Science1.

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Archaeologists Investigate Origins Of Agriculture In Britain


Archaeologists are investigating three island groups around Britain to further understanding of why, in approximately 4,000 BC, humans altered their lifestyle from hunting and gathering to farming the land.

Some scholars believe that this change occurred due to colonists from the continent moving into Britain, bringing farming and pottery-making skills with them, but others argue that the indigenous population of Britain adopted this new lifestyle gradually on their own terms.

To shed new light on the debate, archaeologists at the at the University of Liverpool, in collaboration with the University of Southampton, are excavating three island groups in the western seaways and producing oceanographic models to understand what sailing across this area would have been like in 4,000 BC. The team will also construct a database of 5th and 4th millennium occupation sites.

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Huge ancient Roman shipyard unearthed in Italy


A large Roman shipyard has been uncovered an ancient port in Rome called Portus, researchers reported. They found the remains of a massive building, dating to the second century, where ancient ships were likely built close to the distinctive hexagonal basin, or "harbor," at the center of the port complex. 

"Few Roman Imperial shipyards have been discovered and, if our identification is correct, this would be the largest of its kind in Italy or the Mediterranean," dig director Simon Keay, of the University of Southampton, said in a statement. [ See image of ancient shipyard ]

Portus was a crucial trade gateway linking Rome to the Mediterranean during the Imperial period (27 B.C. to A.D. 565). The area was initially built during the time of Emperor Trajan (A.D. 98 to 117). Excavation at the site has revealed that it had many uses, including to store grain and as a defensive measure.

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Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Human Skulls Mounted On Stakes Found By Researchers At Stone Age Site In Sweden

Stone Age hunter-gatherers in southeast Sweden mounted the skulls of their dead on stakes and buried them in a lake, according to a team of archaeologists. The researchers unearthed remains and artifacts estimated to be 8,000 years old—including the skulls of 11 individuals—at a site thought to have served as a ceremonial gathering place.

Two years ago, archaeologists found what they believed to be a Stone Age settlement near what was once a shallow lake in Motala, a town in southeast Sweden. Conducted to pave the way for a new railway line, the excavation took an unexpected turn when the researchers discovered skulls and skull fragments from 11 individuals, including men, women, children and infants. Recent carbon dating determined that the items unearthed at the site, which is known as Kanaljorden, are roughly 8,000 years old.

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Friday, September 16, 2011

Vikings: Raiders, Traders and Settlers (Online)


Online Course

Mon 3 Oct to Fri 16 Dec 2011

Ravagers, despoilers, pagans, heathens - the Vikings are usually regarded as bloodthirsty seafaring pirates, whose impact on Europe was one of fear and terror. Yet these Vikings were also traders, settlers and farmers with a highly developed artistic culture and legal system. This course uses recent findings from archaeology to examine these varied aspects of the Viking world.

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Major archeological finds made at Wrexham's Borras quarry


HUNDREDS of ancient artefacts have been unearthed at a quarry.

Fragments of Neolithic pottery and a rare ancient arrowhead have been discovered in one of the most fruitful archaeological digs yet at Tarmac’s Borras Quarry, near Wrexham.

Archaeologists from the Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) said the quarry was slowly giving up its ancient secrets.

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Archaeologists probe Abbey Craig secrets


Archaeologists are leading volunteers in a four-day dig to uncover the hidden history beneath one of Scotland's most famous landmarks.

Experts are hoping to discover more about a tribe that lived in the fort below Abbey Craig in Stirling, on the site of the National Wallace monument.

The fort was destroyed in 780 AD, more than 500 years before William Wallace watched the English army approach.

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Roman baths in Southwark marshlands stun boffins


A rare find of ancient ruins has been made in south London, where Romans used to fear to tread.

Network Rail uncovered the remains of a bath house at London Bridge, last week.

It is shaping up as one of the biggest Roman finds ever made south of the Thames.

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Archaeologists warn against delisting of post-1700 historical structures


HOLY WELLS, bridges, milestones, vernacular buildings, lime kilns and other industrial sites that post-date 1700 will be “left without any protection” following moves to “delist” them, the Institute of Archaeologists of Ireland has claimed.

In what it described as a “very worrying proposal”, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht is seeking to exclude all post-1700 archaeological and historical structures and sites from the national Record of Monuments and Places (RMP).

Finola O’Carroll, the institute’s chairwoman, said this arose from “a perverse Civil Service sense of fair play” because of discrepancies between counties, with Cork having a “very comprehensive record” of monuments and others having little or none at all.

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Thursday, September 15, 2011

Church concealed bath house remains


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NOW here's an old view of Exeter's Cathedral Green which nobody will ever see again except in picture form.

It was taken back in 1959 when Exeter's South Street was undergoing a facelift

Most readers will, I am sure, recognise the cathedral but what on earth was that church with a steeple doing right outside the West Front?

Answer: It was the church of St Mary Major, which became redundant and was demolished in 1970 to open up the West Front approach to the cathedral as we know it today.

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Neanderthal man lived on seafood far earlier than previously thought


Neanderthal man lived on a diet of seafood in the caves of southern Spain much longer ago than previously thought, new archaeological findings show.

Much as modern day man enjoys tucking into a plateful of seafood paella when visiting the Costa del Sol, Neanderthals living on the Iberian coast 150,000 years ago supplemented their diet with molluscs and marine animals.

Archaeological examination of a cave in Torremolinos unearthed early tools used to crack open shellfish collected off rocks along the Iberian coast and found fossilised remains of the early meals.

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Remains of Roman bath house found on Borough High Street


The remains of a Roman bath house have been found by Network Rail engineers working on the site at the corner of Borough High Street and London Bridge Street which is being redeveloped as part of the Thameslink Programme.

The site, formerly occupied by a fish and chip shop and a nightclub, was cleared to make room for the new railway bridge across Borough High Street which was installed earlier this year. A new office building is planned for the corner site.

Network Rail has commissioned a team of specialist archaeologists from Oxford Archaeology and Pre-Construct Archaeology to excavate the site.

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Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Bluestone Henge twin?


new digital reconstruction of the monument, discovered by the Stonehenge Riverside Project in 2009 suggests that the circle of Welsh blue stones found at the southern terminus of the avenue may well have been oval, and not round. If this is correct, it echoes the layout of the Bluestone oval at the centre of Stonehenge.

Henry Rothwell, Creative Lead at Heritage Data Solutions explains;

“The model was created as part of the forthcoming smartphone app ‘Journey to Stonehenge’. When we built the first wire-frame of the circle we ended up with a fairly standard circular representation. We were using a low level aerial image taken by Adam Stanford. It showed the full extent of the excavation, including the socket holes of the blue stones, into which the Stonehenge Riverside Project team had placed upturned black buckets.”

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New Technique for Dating Silk


Strand for strand no fabric can compare to the luxurious feel, luminosity and sheen of pure silk. Since millennia, the Chinese have been unraveling the cocoons of the silk worm (Bombyx mori) and weaving the fibers into sumptuous garments, hangings, carpets, tapestries and even artworks of painted silk.

Now, for the first time, scientists at the Smithsonian's Museum Conservation Institute have developed a fast and reliable method to date silk. This new technique, which is based on capillary electrophoresis mass spectrometry, has great potential to improve the authentication and dating of the priceless silk artifacts held in museum and other collections around the world.

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Pictish beast intrigues Highland archaeologists


A Pictish symbol stone built into the wall of a Highland farm building has been recorded by archaeologists.

The markings show a beast, crescent, comb and mirror.

Archaeologist Cait McCullagh said it was a mystery how it had taken until this year for the stone to be officially recorded.

She said it also suggested that more Pictish stones have still to be documented on the Black Isle where the beast was recorded.

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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Historic Leper Hospital


Archaeologists have uncovered further evidence of one of the country's earliest hospitals, built specifically for people with leprosy. They've been working in a field on the outskirts of Winchester. And, they've been able to find out more about how patients were treated. In his report David Woodland spoke to Dr Simon Roffey from Winchester University.

Watch the video...

Vikings to return to Stamford Bridge


THE Vikings are on their way back to Stamford Bridge to re-enact the famous battle of 1066.

History will come alive next week when a longboat full of warriors will row up the River Derwent to the East Yorkshire village and set up camp before facing up to their Saxon foe.

Several days of activity will start when the boatload of Norwegian invaders arrives on Wednesday September 21, at Barmby, downstream of Stamford Bridge, where there will be displays of combat.


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Bulgarian Archaeology Finds Said to Rewrite History of Black Sea Sailing


Massive ancient stone anchors were found by divers participating in an archaeological expedition near the southern Bulgarian Black Sea town of Sozopol.

The expedition, led by deputy director of Bulgaria's National Historical Museum Dr Ivan Hristov, found the precious artifacts west of the Sts. Cyricus and Julitta island.

The 200-kg beautifully ornamented anchors have two holes in them – one for the anchor rope and another one for a wooden stick. They were used for 150-200-ton ships that transported mainly wheat, but also dried and salted fish, skins, timber and metals from what now is Bulgaria's coast.

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Medieval ‘treasure’ found near Ripon


AN intricately-carved medieval ring discovered near Ripon is an important archaeological find which qualifies as “treasure”, a coroner has ruled.

The piece was found by metal detectorist Lindsey Holland close to Ripon on May 16, 2010 and sent to the British Museum.

In a report to North Yorkshire coroner Rob Turnbull, experts from the museum described the find as an oval silver-gilt seal matrix which would have formed the bezel, or top part, of a finger-ring dating from the 13th or 14th centuries.

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City archaeologists make filthy find


Two 300-year-old latrines unearthed from beneath Kultorvet Square are offering up answers about how everyday Copenhageners traded, ate and suffered in the 18th-century. And those answers are accompanied by some still powerful odours.

”Well, it smells like rotten eggs,” archaeologist and excavation expert Hoda El-Sharnouby told Politiken newspaper.

El-Sharnouby’s team made the stinky but stunning find which includes two outhouses filled with nearly 300-year-old faeces. The privies and their contents are remarkably well-preserved, thanks to the low oxygen content in the city’s soil.

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Experts hail Pictish royal monastery find


AERIAL photographs showing a faint line in fields around a village in Highland Perthshire have mystified archaeologists for decades. Crop marks in the village of Fortingall, famous for its 5,000-year-old yew tree, seem to indicate an ancient boundary long since buried and forgotten.

Now an archaeological dig may have uncovered the secret: the site is believed to have been a royal monastery dating from the time when the Picts were converting to Christianity more than 1,300 years ago.

Dr Oliver O'Grady and a band of local volunteers opened up two exploratory trenches to reveal a wide bank faced with large upright stones that may have once stood as high as two metres.

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Monday, September 12, 2011

Skeletons reveal our ancestors’ fear of the undead


TWO skeletons discovered with stones wedged in their mouths were buried this way around 1,300 years ago to prevent them rising from their graves to haunt the living.

A documentary featuring the work of archaeologists at Institute of Technology, Sligo, to be screened tomorrow, suggests the practice aimed to prevent the corpses becoming "revenants".

The documentary says such "deviant burials" are associated with vampires and revenants — ghosts who were believed to come back among the living — unless steps were taken to keep them in their graves.

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Human-Neanderthal coupling was rare: study


Scientists have shown that modern humans have some traces of genes from Neanderthals, but a study out Monday suggests that any breeding between the two was most likely a rare event.

The new computational model, based on DNA samples from modern humans in France and China, shows successful coupling happened at a rate of less than two percent.

The research suggests that either inter-species sex was very taboo, or that the hybrid offspring had trouble surviving, according to the findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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5 Other Surprise Attacks That Changed History


The headline writers at USA Today put it this way: "9/11: How One Day Changed Our World." National Geographic observed that the attacks of Sept. 11 would "alter the course of history."

But the shocking assaults in 2001 on the World Trade towers, the Pentagon and the planned hit on the Capitol were not the first surprise attacks that changed the way humans do business.

Through the centuries, there have been unexpected strikes on civilian targets that occurred during wars — declared or not — and peacetime attacks that came completely out of the blue. The Sept. 11 attacks fall into the latter category.

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Sunday, September 11, 2011

Perge excavations turn 65 with Turkish archaeologists


Excavations at Perge, an ancient city in Antalya province, have entered their 65th year. The excavation leader believes the ancient city was an artisan workshop
The dig at Perge, the longest-running excavation carried out by Turks, will mark its 65th year on Sept. 15.

Archaeological work at the ancient city of Perge in southern Turkey passed the 65-year mark recently and is successfully restoring many columns along the city’s streets, according the leader of the excavations.

“The Perge excavations are the longest-running in Turkey, and we are honored to be working on the site,” said Haluk Abbasoğlu, who has been leading the excavations since 1985.

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Iron age hill fort excavation reveals ‘possible suburbia


The most intensive investigation ever undertaken of Britain’s largest iron age hill fort is expected to reveal new details of how Britons lived 2,000 years ago – and maybe even that they were almost as suburban as we are.

Stretching across 80 hilltop hectares, behind three miles of ramparts, the fort, at Ham Hill in Somerset, and the outline of its history have been known for many years.

The Durotriges tribe, which lived on the hill, was subdued in AD45 by soldiers of the 2nd Legion under the command of the future emperor Vespasian, but what the Romans found there: a street system lined with houses on their own plots of land, is what archaeologists from Cambridge and Cardiff universities hope to uncover more fully in excavations over the next three summers.

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Iron Age findings help build picture


AN IRON Age community discovered in the Daventry district has been described as of “regional, if not national importance”.


New investigations at the site, which is located at Daventry International Railfreight Terminal (DIRFT), have given a greater insight into what happened at the 2,000-year-old community.

The findings, including evidence of settlement such as hut circles, will be discussed at the Community Landscape Archaeology Survey Project (CLASP) annual meeting on Monday (September 12).

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Dig therapy for injured soldiers on Salisbury Plain


Injured soldiers from Gloucestershire-based 1st Battalion The Rifles, who have returned from front line duties in Afghanistan, are helping with an archaeological dig on Salisbury Plain.

The project is designed to help them recover from battlefield injuries, including combat stress.

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Human Ancestor May Put Twist in Origin Story, New Studies Say


Two-million-year-old bones—and possibly skin—from a pair of primate fossils are offering new insight into the apelike species that may have given rise to the first humans.

Known as Australopithecus sediba, the ancient human ancestor was discovered in the Malapa region of South Africa in 2008 and was described for the first time last April.

Now a suite of five studies, published in this week's issue of the journal Science, is delving deeper into the species' unusual mix of human and apelike traits to help refine A. sediba's place in the time line of human evolution.

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Life in a Saxon hall


The re-enactment society Regia Anglorum is reconstructing an early medieval Saxon hall in Kent using materials and construction methods of the time.

Regia Anglorum is a re-enactment society that aims to recreate as accurately as possible life in Anglo-Saxon and Viking Britain. Over the past 10 years, we have been building the Wychurst project – a fortified manor hall, using materials and construction methods of the time – on three acres of land in Kent. We have a rotation of 60-odd people who work on the project in the middle weekend of each month.

The hall is 30ft high, 60ft long and 30ft wide, and is based on the West Hall at Cheddar, built around 850. No buildings of this type from the period have survived, so we did an enormous amount of research from archaeological dig reports and written accounts. It is built entirely in English oak, mostly sourced from within a mile of the site, which makes it a very accurate reconstruction. It is a great hall, where the local lord would have lived with his family and a few of his men. It would have served as town hall, law court, police station and as a place for protection.

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Echoes of Elgin Marbles: Turkey asks UK to return ancient sculpture


Turkey's government is calling on the United Kingdom to return the head of an ancient marble statue taken more than a century ago.

The object, currently in the stores of London's Victoria & Albert museum, is, says a museum spokesperson, a "life-size marble head of a child, with curling hair, broken off at the neck."

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Experts hail Pictish royal monastery find


AERIAL photographs showing a faint line in fields around a village in Highland Perthshire have mystified archaeologists for decades. Crop marks in the village of Fortingall, famous for its 5,000-year-old yew tree, seem to indicate an ancient boundary long since buried and forgotten.

Now an archaeological dig may have uncovered the secret: the site is believed to have been a royal monastery dating from the time when the Picts were converting to Christianity more than 1,300 years ago.

Dr Oliver O'Grady and a band of local volunteers opened up two exploratory trenches to reveal a wide bank faced with large upright stones that may have once stood as high as two metres.

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Wednesday, September 07, 2011

Henry VIII’s Nonsuch Palace rebuilt in miniature


That which no equal has in Art or Fame, Britons deservedly do Nonesuch name’, translates the comment of a German visitor to Nonsuch in 1568. Nonsuch Palace in Surrey was the greatest piece of dynastic propaganda erected by the English crown before the 19th century. Built by Henry VIII to rival the palaces of the French King, Francis I, Nonsuch no longer survives as it was demolished by a mistress of King Charles II in 1682-90. However, thanks to research carried out over decades by an Oxford professor, a huge model has been unveiled that provides an accurate recreation of the palace that once symbolised the power and the grandeur of the Tudor dynasty.

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Before They Left Africa, Modern Humans Interbred With Archaic Humans, Reports DNA Study


It has become increasingly clear through DNA studies that modern humans may have interbred with Neanderthals in Eurasia following their migration from their ancestral African homeland. Now, based on new DNA research conducted by a team of scientists from the University of Arizona and the University of California, San Francisco, it seems that modern humans had already established a pattern of mixing it up with their more archaic cousins before they even left their southerly African climes.

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Ancient humans were mixing it up


Anatomically modern humans interbred with more archaic hominin forms even before they migrated out of Africa, a UA-led team of researchers has found.

It is now widely accepted that the species Homo sapiens originated in Africa and eventually spread throughout the world. But did those early humans interbreed with more ancestral forms of the genus Homo, for example Homo erectus, the "upright walking man," Homo habilis, – the "tool-using man" or Homo neanderthalensis, the first artists of cave-painting fame?

Direct studies of ancient DNA from Neanderthal bones suggest interbreeding did occur after anatomically modern humans had migrated from their evolutionary cradle in Africa to the cooler climates of Eurasia, but what had happened in Africa remained a mystery – until now.

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Could this be the oldest pub in Scotland?


A historic site's true purpose may have been revealed - as an Iron Age boozer.

Experts believe that 4600 years ago, thirsty natives may have been enjoying a pie and pint at Jarlshof in Shetland.

They say the layout of the stone settlement near Sumburgh Head suggests it may be the oldest pub ever found in Britain.

And a dozen or so quernstones - for grinding barley - indicate it may have served as both a drinking den and a bakery.

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Model of lost Surrey Tudor palace unveiled


A model of a Surrey palace built by Henry VIII and that once symbolised the power and the grandeur of the Tudor dynasty is to be unveiled.

Nonsuch Palace in Cheam was constructed to rival those of the French King, Francis I.

It was demolished by a mistress of King Charles II in the late 17th century.

Research carried out by an Oxford University professor has now led to a 2.2m by 1.2m (7ft 2in by 3ft 11in) model of the palace being made.

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Tuesday, September 06, 2011

1,700-year-old map of Roman roads used for online journey planner


A Dutch historian has used a unique 1,700 year old map of Roman roads to create an online journey planner giving the destinations, distances and timings of routes used by ancient travellers in the days of empire.

Routes are based on the Tabula Peutingeriana, a one of a kind chart, which shows an imperial Roman road network, or curses public's, that stretches from Britain to the river Ganges that flows through India and Bangladesh.

The huge map, last updated in the third or fourth century, shows 2,760 towns with lists of distances and destinations on the Roman roads connecting them, all set out on a scroll of parchment almost 23 feet long.

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Ruins of Roman gladiator school found in Austria


Archaeologists in Austria say they have discovered a large, well preserved school for Roman gladiators.

The remains of the school, at a site east of the modern capital, Vienna, were found using radar imagery.

The school was part of a Roman city which was an important military and trade outpost 17 centuries ago.

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Massive gladiator school is found under Austrian town


A ROMAN gladiator school where men were trained to fight to the death in the arena has been found by archaeologists on the outskirts of the Austrian capital, Vienna - the first to be discovered outside Italy.

Ground-penetrating radar was used to identify the site of the school at a Roman settlement called Carnuntum, a town of 50,000 people 30 miles east of Vienna that flourished about 1,700 years ago. It was a major military and trade outpost linking the far-flung Roman empire's Asian boundaries to its central and northern European lands.

The academy was one of 100 created to train the fighters who were pitted against each other - and against wild animals - for the entertainment of emperors, senators and commoners alike.

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King's College Chapel, Cambridge: 'A gravity-defying hall of light' - video


In the first of seven films celebrating the best British buildings, Andrew Dickson visits King's College Chapel in Cambridge, a powerful example of gothic architecture – covered in Tudor propaganda and topped by the world's largest fan-vault ceiling

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Ruins reveal how Roman gladiators won their spurs



Archaeologists using sophisticated radar equipment say they have located a remarkably well-preserved underground Roman gladiator school that will give them "sensational" new insights into the lives of the fighters 1,700 years ago.

The site, 24 miles east of Vienna, contains the remains of a heated training hall for combatants. It was discovered beneath the former Roman settlement of Carnuntum, which is already home to one the finest amphitheatres ever found. Archaeologists say it is the first gladiator school ever found outside Italy.

Frank Humer, an archaeologist with Vienna's Ludwig-Boltzmann Institute, which found the school while conducting a detailed radar scan of the site, said: "The wooden post that gladiators traditionally used as their mock opponent during training is still visible in the middle of the school's arena."

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Monday, September 05, 2011

Forteviot dig uncovering new story of Scotland's past



The colossal and exquisitely-preserved Iron Age broch uncovered near Dunning is thought to have once been the seat of a Celtic chieftain.

Though just a fraction of the site has been excavated, the findings have already been hailed by the Scottish Government and could have "potentially far-reaching implications" for how we view our history.

The incredible discoveries already made in and around the structure are believed to date from very first contact between the Picts and the Roman Empire. They reveal evidence of trade between the two peoples from the outset, with a variety of high-value items from the continent drawn from the earth.

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Volcanic artifacts imply ice-age mariners in prehistoric Greece



Mariners may have been traveling the Aegean Sea even before the end of the last ice age, according to new evidence from researchers, in order to extract coveted volcanic rocks for pre-Bronze Age tools and weapons.

A new technique which dates obsidian -- volcanic glass which can be fashioned into tools -- suggests that people were mining for obsidian in Mediterranean waters and shipping the once valuable rocks from the island of Melos in modern day Greece as far back as 15,000 years ago.

"Obsidian was a precious natural rock-glass found only in Melos, some in [the modern-day Greek areas of] Antiparos and Yali," explained Nicolaos Laskaris of the University of the Aegean in Greece. "From there it was spread all over the Aegean and in the continent too through contacts of trade."

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Rome monuments attacked by vandals



Three historic monuments have been attacked by vandals in the Italian capital, Rome.

In the first attack, a man was caught on security cameras chipping two pieces off a marble statue on a fountain in the Piazza Navona.

Hours later tourists watched as a man threw a rock at the famous Trevi Fountain in the centre of the city.

Police then said they caught an American student scaling a wall of the Colosseum to chip off pieces of marble.

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Sunday, September 04, 2011

Viking coin haul is officially treasure



A VIKING hoard found in Furness has been officially declared treasure.

The collection of 92 silver coins and artefacts was discovered by a metal detectorist in the Furness area over the Easter weekend.

The hoard was officially declared as treasure by South and East Cumbria Coroner, Ian Smith, yesterday(31).

The hoard was provisionally valued at tens of thousands of pounds when it was first found and is the largest amount of Viking treasure ever found in Furness.

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Amateur treasure-hunter's haul



We take a look at what amateur treasure-hunter David Booth found...

An ANGLO-SAXON STRAP-END and three ANGLO-SAXON COINS, found near Dumfries, have been allocated to Dumfries Museum.

The fragmentary strap-end, above, dates from the ninth century. Such items are not uncommon finds in southern Scotland, but this example is all the more significant in being recovered alongside three Anglo-Saxon coins, which also date from the ninth century.

Medieval experts say this small group of finds is a substantial reminder of the cultural ebb and flow which constituted the Scotland of the Early Historic period.

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Archaeologists dig at Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen



Archaeologists are launching a new dig to try to unearth the secrets of a 9th Century stone monument on a prehistoric mound.

Bangor and Chester university experts will begin excavations at the Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen, Denbighshire.

It is part of work by historical monuments agency Cadw to conserve the mound and better explain it to people.

Last year excavations focussed on the mound, which was identified as an early Bronze Age cairn.

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Gloucester Cathedral's monastic library opens to public



A cathedral in Gloucester is to allow the public access to its monastic library for the first time.

The 14th Century library at Gloucester Cathedral will be opened on 10 September as part of the city's History and Heritage Week.

Some of the delicate manuscripts and deeds in the archive's collection date back to the 13th Century.

Preservation and monitoring work has been carried out to ensure the works are not damaged when people visit.

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Saturday, September 03, 2011

500 years ago, yeast's epic journey gave rise to lager beer



In the 15th century, when Europeans first began moving people and goods across the Atlantic, a microscopic stowaway somehow made its way to the caves and monasteries of Bavaria.

The stowaway, a yeast that may have been transported from a distant shore on a piece of wood or in the stomach of a fruit fly, was destined for great things. In the dank caves and monastery cellars where 15th century brewmeisters stored their product, the newly arrived yeast fused with a distant relative, the domesticated yeast used for millennia to make leavened bread and ferment wine and ale. The resulting hybrid - representing a marriage of species as evolutionarily separated as humans and chickens - would give us lager, the clear, cold-fermented beer first brewed by 15th century Bavarians and that today is among the most popular - if not the most popular - alcoholic beverage in the world.

And while scientists and brewers have long known that the yeast that gives beer the capacity to ferment at cold temperatures was a hybrid, only one player was known: Saccharomyces cerevisiae, the yeast used to make leavened bread and ferment wine and ale. Its partner, which conferred on beer the ability to ferment in the cold, remained a puzzle, as scientists were unable to find it among the 1,000 or so species of yeast known to science.

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Roman Remains Found at Charles Street, Dorchester



Wessex Archaeology has just completed a four week excavation within the southern part of the Charles Street Development in Dorchester. Neil Holbrook, of Cotswold Archaeology has been acting as archaeological consultant on behalf of the developers, Simons Developments and WDDC. A watching brief is currently being maintained on groundwork being undertaken by Cowlin Construction and their subcontractors associated with the construction of West Dorset District Council’s new offices, library and adult learning centre.

As the site occupies an area near to the southern edge of the Roman town of Durnovaria it was predicted evidence of Roman town life would be uncovered during the works. The prediction proved correct; immediately below the modern overburden, the remains of Roman houses were uncovered.

These buildings were built around 100AD and were orientated according to the town’s street plan, which it has been possible to map using evidence from other excavations in Dorchester.

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Ancient Gold Necklace Found in West Fjords



Archeologists and university students recently discovered an ancient gold necklace during an excavation project in Vatnsfjördur in Ísafjardardjúp in the West Fjords, which has been ongoing for the past eight summers.

Scientists from different fields participate in the project, along with international university students, ruv.is reports.

Vatnsfjördur was settled early in the Settlement Era, which sources state began in the 9th century AD, and later became the site of a manor and a chieftain’s residence.

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Archaeologists uncover amphitheatre used to train gladiators near Vienna



The ruins are a 'sensational discovery' with a structure to rival the Colosseum in Rome, archaeologists say

Archaeologists say they have located and excavated the ruins of a huge amphitheatre used to train gladiators east of Vienna, describing it as a "sensational discovery".

They claim that the ruins found through ground radar measurements rival the Colosseum and the Ludus Magnus in Rome in their structure. The Ludus Magnus is the largest of the gladiatorial arenas in the Italian capital, while the Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre ever built in the Roman empire.

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Iron age hill fort excavation reveals 'possible suburbia'



Size of settlement suggests Ham Hill site was a town rather than a defensive structure, archaeologists believe

The most intensive investigation ever undertaken of Britain's largest iron age hill fort is expected to reveal new details of how Britons lived 2,000 years ago – and maybe even that they were almost as suburban as we are.

Stretching across 80 hilltop hectares, behind three miles of ramparts, the fort, at Ham Hill in Somerset, and the outline of its history have been known for many years.

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Bronze Age excavation project begins in Cornwall



A 10-day excavation project at a Bronze Age site in Cornwall has begun.

Organisers hope they will find more information on a settlement at the site near Lanyon.

Previous excavations have revealed Middle Bronze Age and Iron Age artefacts, said archaeologist, Dr Andy Jones.

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Tomb found at Stonehenge quarry site



The tomb for the original builders of Stonehenge could have been unearthed by an excavation at a site in Wales.

The Carn Menyn site in the Preseli Hills is where the bluestones used to construct the first stone phase of the henge were quarried in 2300BC.

Organic material from the site will be radiocarbon dated, but it is thought any remains have already been removed.

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Stone tools shed light on early human migrations


Hominins with different tool-making technologies coexisted.

The discovery of stone axes in the same sediment layer as cruder tools indicates that hominins with differing tool-making technologies may have coexisted.

The axes, found in Kenya by Christopher Lepre, a palaeontologist at Columbia University in New York, and his team are estimated to be around 1.76 million years old. That's 350,000 years older than any other complex tools yet discovered.

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Conditions in Nelson's navy uncovered by scientists



Sailors in Admiral Nelson's navy were plagued by scurvy, ridden with syphilis and often mutilated by amputations but only a minority were from lowest social class, Oxford University archaeologists have found.

An examination of 340 skeletons from three 18th and 19th century Royal Navy graveyards found that a "surprisingly high" proportion suffered from scurvy and infected wounds.

The bones, excavated from sites in Greenwich, Gosport and Plymouth, also found that more than six per cent of sailors in Nelson's navy, were amputees, many of whom died as a result of operations that went wrong.

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