An excavation worker inspects pottery shards found in 2003. Construction workers found neolithic ruins which are more than 6,000 years old while building a highway in Romania, archeologists said.(AFP/File)
Posted on 10/19/2004 11:21:59 PM PDT by FairOpinion
BUCHAREST (AFP) - Construction workers for the US firm Bechtel found neolithic ruins which are more than 6,000 years old while building a highway in Romania, archeologists said.
"It is a surprising discovery of great importance for the region," Ion Stanciu, who heads a team of archeologists, told AFP.
He said the ruins consisted of a funeral stone, the remains of several houses from the bronze age, and pieces of pottery.
"We are going to suggest to officials from Bechtel to consider building a museum to house these exceptional discoveries," Stanciu said.
"We expect to find more ruins, perhaps the remains of Roman fortifications," he said.
The highway being built from Brasov in central Romania to the town of Bors on the Hungarian border in the northwest cuts through the historic region of Transylvania and has already caused environmental concern.
England's Prince Charles said on a visit to Romania in May that he was worried about environmental damage from building the highway, which goes through villages in Transylvania that are classified as historically important by the UN organization UNESCO (news - web sites).
The highway, which is to be 415 kilometres (250 miles) long, is expected to cost 2.5 billion euros (three billion dollars) to build and to be finished in 2012.
But why should Bechtel build a museum, instead of the Romanian government?
An excavation worker inspects pottery shards found in 2003. Construction workers found neolithic ruins which are more than 6,000 years old while building a highway in Romania, archeologists said.(AFP/File)
Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on, off, or alter the "Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list --
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Cool. But are the ruins Neolithic or Bronze Age?--different parts of the article seem to imply both.
"You break, you buy!"
(or in the words of John sKerry: "You break, you fix!")
Bechtel has more money.:)
That's George Schultz's outfit; a legacy richer than KBR.
If only the locals had stayed around and waited...they could've had the highway and a Wal-Mart, too...
Please don't say "fix"!
Bump....
Who could have imagined it? A highway in Romania! Actually, notice the attitude of the elites: They're ruining the countryside peopled by these colourful (sic) peasants. Now the peasants will want cars, cell phones, TV's and real economic opportunities. Can't they just be happy with their primitive poverty.
Thank you,
The Talamasca
No, you're right. But maybe he meant that since Romans usually built forts in already populated areas, they expect to find Roman ruins as well as more ancient ones.
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