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They were two powerful, ancient empires separated by more than 5,000 miles of imposing mountain ranges, barren desert and exposed steppe grasslands. Yet a collection of seemingly unremarkable bones discovered in a Roman cemetery in London has provided new insights into the links between the Roman Empire and Imperial China. Analysis has revealed that two skeletons dating from between the 2nd and 4th Century AD unearthed at the site in the city's Southwark area may have been Chinese.

Large Hominin Teeth Found in Hobbits’ Cave Wednesday, September 21, 2016 NEW SOUTH WALES, AUSTRALIA—According to a report in Nature, archaeologist Thomas Sutikna and geochronologist Richard Roberts of the University of Wollongong say that two teeth from modern humans have been found in the Indonesian cave where the remains of Homo floresiensis were discovered in 2003. The teeth have been dated to 46,000 years ago, making them slightly younger than the estimated date for the extinction of the hobbits some 50,000 years ago. The upper premolar and lower molar are larger than the teeth of H. floresiensis, but some scholars...

Scientists in Italy’s Dolomite mountains have unveiled what they believe to be the world’s oldest snowshoe. Carbon-dating has shown that the rudimentary snow shoe, made of birch wood and twine, was made in the late Neolithic age, between 3,800 and 3,700 BC. “It is the oldest snowshoe in the world so far discovered, dating to around 5,800 years ago,” scientists said in a statement. It was discovered by chance at an altitude of 3,134 metres (10,280ft) on the Gurgler Eisjoch glacier, close to Italy’s border with Austria. The ice and freezing temperatures of the glacier had provided “ideal conditions for...

Scotland’s 5,000-Year-Old Cochno Stone Revealed Wednesday, September 07, 2016 Scotland Cochno Stone(University of Glasgow) CLYDEBANK, SCOTLAND—BBC News reports that Kenny Brophy of Glasgow University is leading a team of researchers in a new study of the Cochno Stone. “This is the biggest and, I would argue, one of the most important Neolithic art panels in Europe,” he said. The stone, which measures about 26 feet by 42 feet and is located in an urban area, was buried in 1965 to protect it from the weather, foot traffic, and vandals who carved graffiti into its surface. As a first step, the...

Dwarka is one of the most ancient cities of India. The city, five miles long and two miles wide, is located 120 feet underwater in the Gulf of Cambay off the western coast of India. The discovery was particularly astonishing to scientists as the area predates all other finds in the area by at least 5,000 years, suggesting a much longer history of the civilization than was first assumed (carbon dating estimates the site to be almost 10,000 years old). Marine scientists used sonar images and sum-bottom profiling to locate the lost ruins and it is believed the area was...

The Rock-Hewn Churches of Lalibela Ethiopian rock churches Megan Sauter • 08/25/2016 While many spectacular churches have been constructed in Ethiopia, perhaps the country’s most famous churches are the ones carved out of stone. Located 150 miles south of Aksum, Lalibela is the best example of Ethiopia’s hypogean (rock-hewn) architectural tradition. With 11 rock-hewn churches, Lalibela is understandably a place of pilgrimage for those in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The site Lalibela was originally called Roha, but it eventually took the name of King Lalibela, who ruled around 1200 C.E. as part of the Zagwe dynasty. King Lalibela is traditionally...

‎SunkenCiv hasn't posted anything since 7‎/‎11‎/‎2016‎ ‎9‎:‎37‎:‎18‎ ‎AM. Anyone know anything?

The Philistines left behind plenty of pottery. But part of the mystery surrounding the ancient people was that very little biological trace of them had been found -- until 2013. That's when archaeologists excavating the site of the biblical city of Ashkelon found what they say is the first Philistine cemetery ever discovered. They say they have uncovered the remains of more than 200 people there. The discovery was finally unveiled Sunday at the close of a 30-year excavation by the Leon Levy Expedition, a team of archaeologists from Harvard University, Boston College, Wheaton College in Illinois and Troy University...

Restorers, after clearing away centuries of dirt, discovered the Church of the Nativity had a seventh mosaicAn Italian team has completed restoration of Crusader-era mosaics in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The mosaics will only be unveiled publicly after work on lighting, electricity and a fire alarm system. The work involved removing the layers of centuries-worth of soot and dirt – a result of the smoke of candles lit by pilgrims coming to venerate the site traditionally believed to be the birthplace of Jesus – from about 1.55 million tiny mosaic pieces that were reviewed and restored. “I...

The sun bears down and dust swirls as Roman centurions, followed by armor-clad legionnaires and bruised gladiators, tramp out of the ancient hippodrome to the trailing sounds of a military march. In the seats all around twenty-first century spectators in modern-day Jordan cheer and applaud the spectacle before them - a one-hour show held in honor of Julius Caesar and part of Jordan's newest tourist attraction. Starting mid-July visitors to Jordan can plunge into the past, reliving in a unique location just north of the capital, Amman, some of the high moments that made the Roman Empire. The setting is...

On the north coast of Africa lie the ruins of a city that came within a hairbreadth of defeating the might of Rome. Now archaeologists digging at the famous Circus of Carthage have revealed a startlingly advanced system to cool down horses and chariots during races... Key to the discovery of the clever cooling system at the Circus of Carthage, the biggest sporting arena outside Rome, was the detection of water resistant mortar... The discovery was made at the spina, the median strip of the circus, around the ends of which the charioteers would turn during races. The spina would...

Skeletons uncovered at a Pembrokeshire burial site may be the remains of contemporaries of the Patron Saint of Wales, archaeologists believe. The discovery was made during the third and final excavation at St Patrick's Chapel at Whitesands Bay, St Davids. It found Christian burial sites dating from the early-6th Century when St David was a bishop. This means a medieval plot found during a previous dig there was not the earliest use of the site. Phil Bennett, cultural heritage manager for the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, which supported the dig, said: "Without doubt some of the people buried in...

...As he and his team began to slice into the mound, located 30 miles east of Stavropol... It took nearly a month of digging to reach the bottom. There, Belinski ran into a layer of thick clay that, at first glance, looked like a natural feature of the landscape, not the result of human activity. He uncovered a stone box, a foot or so deep, containing a few finger and rib bones from a teenager... Nested one inside the other in the box were two gold vessels of unsurpassed workmanship. Beneath these lay three gold armbands, a heavy ring, and...

An inscribed stone slab unearthed at an Etruscan site in Tuscany is proving to contain one of the most difficult texts to decipher. It was believed that the sixth-century B.C. stela would shed light on the still-mysterious Etruscan language, but so far it remains a puzzle. “To be honest, I’m not yet sure what type of text was incised on the stela,” says Rex Wallace, professor of classics at the University of Massachusetts. Inscribed with vertical dots and at least 70 legible letters, the four-foot-tall and two-foot-wide slab had been buried for more than 2,500 years in the foundations of...

Here's What Happened When Neanderthals And Ancient Humans Hooked Up 80,000 Years Ago Dina Spector Jan. 29, 2014, 1:49 PM     Neanderthal REUTERS/Nikola Solic Hyperrealistic face of a neanderthal male is displayed in a cave in the new Neanderthal Museum in the northern Croatian town of Krapina February 25, 2010 By comparing the Neanderthal genome to modern human DNA, the authors of two new studies, both published on Wednesday, show how DNA that humans have inherited from breeding with Neanderthals has shaped us. Modern humans, Neanderthals, and their sister lineage, Denisovans, descended from a common ancestor. The...

The remains that were found were radiocarbon-dated to be about 40,500 to 45,500 years old, and it was determined that Neanderthals butchered and used the bones of their peers as tools, according to a press release from the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen. The findings were published in the journal Scientific Reports. The team identified 99 "uncertain" bone fragments as belonging to Neanderthals, which would make this the greatest trove of Neanderthal remains ever found north of the Alps. The findings also shed light on the genetics of this lost human species, adding to previously collected data on Neanderthal genes....

The legend of the mighty Saraswati river has lived on in India since time immemorial. Ancient Hindu scriptures called the Vedas, recorded thousands of years ago, are full of tantalising hymns about it being the life-stream of the people. In a new radio programme, Madhur Jaffrey recounts the legend of the Saraswati river - and explores startling new evidence that it may not have been a myth after all. Vast and awesome, the Saraswati's holy waters are supposed to have flowed from the Himalayas into the sea, nourishing the land along the way. But as the centuries passed and no...

A 5,000-year-old industrial production center featuring furnaces, hearths, and mud-brick structures has been found in northwest India between two channels of the Ghaggar River. According to a report in Frontline, the settlement, occupied for more than 1,000 years, lacked the fortification walls, streets at right angles, citadel, and area for traders and craftsmen usually seen in Harappan sites. One of the furnaces, used for smelting gold and copper, had a platform where the smith could sit and blow through an underground tube to the fire pit. Nearby hearths were used to produce gold jewelry and copper fish hooks and spear...

In the terminal collapse of the Roman Empire, there was perhaps no greater burden to the average citizen than the extreme taxes they were forced to pay. The tax ‘reforms’ of Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century were so rigid and unwavering that many people were driven to starvation and bankruptcy. The state went so far as to chase around widows and children to collect taxes owed. By the 4th century, the Roman economy and tax structure were so dismal that many farmers abandoned their lands in order to receive public entitlements. At this point, the imperial government was spending...

Archaeological sites suggest climate may not have been directly linked to cultural and technological innovations of Middle Stone Age humans in southern Africa... The Middle Stone Age marked a period of dramatic change amongst early humans in southern Africa, and climate change has been postulated as a primary driver for the appearance of technological and cultural innovations such as bone tools, ochre production, and personal ornamentation. While some researchers suggest that climate instability may have directly inspired technological advances, others postulate that environmental stability may have provided a stable setting that allowed for experimentation. However, the disconnection of palaeoenvironmental records...