Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #172
Saturday, November 3, 2007
|
Oh So Mysteriouso
(Washington Irving section)
|
French Museum Tries To Return Maori Head
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/27/2007 11:18:20 AM EDT · 30 replies
Yahoo News | 10-24-2007 | Angela Doland
French museum tries to return Maori head By ANGELA DOLAND, Associated Press Writer Wed Oct 24, 11:47 PM ETAP Photo: This photo provided Wednesday Oct. 24, 2007 by the Rouen townhall, Normandy, shows a drawing... PARIS - The Normandy museum only wanted to do what was right: It offered to return a preserved, tattooed Maori head to New Zealand, an attempt to restore dignity to human remains that were long put on display as an exotic curiosity. Instead, authorities in the Normandy city of Rouen got a scolding from the culture minister for not checking with national authorities first. A...
|
|
Hey, the Maoris started it...
|
Ancient Headless Skeletons Found In Island Grave
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/30/2007 11:14:22 PM EDT · 25 replies
Live Science | 10-29-2007 | Jeanna Bryner
Ancient Headless Skeletons Found in Island Grave By Jeanna Bryner, LiveScience Staff Writerposted: 29 October 2007 11:36 am ET More than fifty headless skeletons have been unearthed in one of the oldest Pacific Islander cemeteries in the world. The individuals were members of a socially complex society, traveling between islands hundreds of miles away, a new study suggests. The finding could solve a long-held debate over whether the Lapita people, thought to be ancestors of the Polynesians, were isolated on individual islands or interacted with other distant Lapita tribes to find marriage partners, exchange information and maintain social ties. Results,...
|
|
Australia and the Pacific
|
Dig Uncovers Ancient Desert Dwellers (Australia)
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/01/2007 4:35:49 PM EDT · 9 replies
Science Alert | 11-2-2007
Dig uncovers ancient desert dwellers Friday, 02 November 2007 University of New England New archaeological evidence, published in October in the journal Australian Aboriginal Studies, reveals that Aboriginal people visited the Watarrka Plateau, south-west of Alice Springs, 13,000 years ago. Archaeologists Dr June Ross from the University of New England and Dr Mike Smith from the National Museum of Australia were dropped by helicopter on the Watarrka Plateau as part of a survey of rock art in the Watarrka (Kings Canyon) National Park. "The new finds were unexpected," said Dr Ross (who is pictured here at the Watarrka site). "We...
|
|
Ancient Art
|
Ancient drawing of mammoth found in Cheddar caves
|
| |
Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 11/02/2007 11:50:40 AM EDT · 26 replies
PhysOrg | August 15, 2007 | University of Bristol
Jill Cook, Deputy Keeper in the Department said: "Had I been shown this outline of a mammoth during a visit to one of the well known cave art sites in France or Spain, I would have nodded and been able to accept it in the context of other more obvious pictures. At Gough's, or anywhere in England, it is not so easy. Cave art is so rare here that we must always question and test to make sure we are getting it right. Opinions on this may differ but we do seem to be looking at an area of ancient...
|
|
Prehistory and Origins
|
Ancient Skeleton Was 'Even Older' (Red Lady Of Paviland)
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/30/2007 10:59:59 PM EDT · 34 replies
BBC | 10-30-2007
Ancient skeleton was 'even older' The burial site was in Goat's Hole Cave at Paviland on Gower The Red Lady of Paviland has always been a little coy about her age - but it appears she may be 4,000 years older than previously thought. Scientists say more accurate tests date the earliest human burial found in the UK to just over 29,000 years ago. When discovered in a cave on Gower in the 1820s the bones were thought to be around 18,000 years old, but were later redated to between 25,000 and 26,000. Researchers said it casts a new light...
|
|
Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy
|
Message In The Stones
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/01/2007 4:50:09 PM EDT · 22 replies
Current Archaeology
Message in the Stones Why transport 82 two-tonne megaliths across more than 250 miles of mountain, river and sea to build a stone circle at Stonehenge? This is one of the greatest mysteries of Britain's best-known, but least understood, prehistoric monument. Now Tim Darvill thinks he has the answer: the famous bluestones had healing powers, and the builders of Stonehenge were creating a prehistoric Lourdes. The latest issue of CA tells all. Despite centuries of study, we seem no nearer to answering such basic questions as what is Stonehenge, who built it and why. The publication in 1965 of Stonehenge...
|
|
Scotland Yet
|
Iron-masters of the Caledonians
|
| |
Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 11/01/2007 12:45:26 PM EDT · 6 replies
Current Archaeology | Ross Murray (and editor)
The Roman writer Tacitus says that 30,000 Caledonians massed to stop the Roman invasion under Agricola in AD 84. The bloody battle of Mons Graupius may have been fought near Inverness. Now a major site of the period has been uncovered in the area -- complete with two huge residences, a cluster of smaller houses, and the biggest industrial complex ever found in Iron Age Scotland... In June 2005 we began excavating a palisaded enclosure at Culduthel Farm on the southern outskirts of Inverness in advance of a housing development... we uncovered part of an astonishingly wellpreserved Iron Age settlement...
|
|
British Isles
|
Roman Tombstone Found At Inveresk
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/29/2007 1:26:18 PM EDT · 9 replies
BBC | 10-29-2007
Roman tombstone found at Inveresk The tombstone was found near the line of a Roman road The first Roman tombstone found in Scotland for 170 years has been unearthed at Carberry, near Inveresk. The red sandstone artefact was for a man called Crescens, a bodyguard for the governor who ran the province of Britain for the Roman Emperor. The National Museum of Scotland said the stone provided the strongest evidence yet that Inveresk was a pivotal Roman site in northern Britain. It was found by amateur enthusiast Larney Cavanagh at the edge of a field. It had been ploughed up...
|
|
Rome and Italy
|
Roman villa discovered in western Austria
|
| |
Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 10/30/2007 9:40:47 PM EDT · 8 replies
Digital Journal | October 25, 2007 | dpa im ds
The archaeologists from Innsbruck University stumbled upon references to the 1,800-year-old, long since forgotten building situated near the town Lienz in a manuscript penned in Latin, dating back to the mid-18th century. Tyrolean proto-archeologist Anton Roschmann wrote that he found Roman remains in 1746, but his findings were lost, the Austrian Press Agency reported. During a dig in October the remains of five rooms of a building dating back to Roman times wear unearthed on a 300-square-metre plot. The remains of the walls show colourful wall paintings, the archaeologists said, but the most astounding find were large-scale floor mosaics in...
|
|
Anatolia
|
Cultic City And Fortress -- New Turkish-German Excavations At Sirkeli Huyuk
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/30/2007 11:26:36 PM EDT · 5 replies
Alpha Galileo | 10-30-2007
Cultic City and Fortress -- New Turkish-German Excavations at Sirkeli Huyuk New excavations conducted by the University of Tubingen (Germany) and the Onsekiz Mart University of Canakkale (Turkey) at the site of Sirkeli Huyuk near Adana (southern Turkey) have revealed the remains of a massive bastion fortification dating to the Hittite Imperial Period (ca. 1300 BC). Sirkeli Huyuk, one of the largest settlement mounds in Cilicia during the Bronze- and Iron Ages, was already known to archaeologists and historians because of two Hittite rock reliefs located at the site. The better preserved rock relief of the two shows the Hittite...
|
|
Catastrophism and Astronomy
|
How Old Tree Rings And Ancient Wood Are Helping Rewrite History
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/28/2007 2:05:05 PM EDT · 46 replies
Science Daily | 10-27-2007 | Cornell University
How Old Tree Rings And Ancient Wood Are Helping Rewrite History ScienceDaily (Oct. 27, 2007) -- Cornell archaeologists are rewriting history with the help of tree rings from 900-year-old trees, wood found on ancient buildings and through analysis of the isotopes (especially radiocarbon dating) and chemistry they can find in that wood.Sturt Manning talks to visitors during a demonstration of the tree-ring laboratory following his presentation during Trustee/Council Weekend. At the lecture, Manning explained how students and lab staff members precisely dated a wooden support beam from McGraw Hall to 1870. (Credit: Jason Koski/Cornell University Photography)" By collecting thousands of...
|
|
Egypt
|
Unearthing Egypt's Greatest Temple
|
| |
Posted by BGHater
On News/Activism 11/01/2007 12:33:14 PM EDT · 39 replies
Smithsonian magazine | October 2007 | Andew Lawler
Discovering the grandeur of the monument built 3,400 years ago "Heya hup!" Deep in a muddy pit, a dozen workers wrestle with Egypt's fearsome lion goddess, struggling to raise her into the sunlight for the first time in more than 3,000 years. She is Sekhmet -- "the one who is powerful" -- the embodiment of the fiery eye of the sun god Ra, but now she is caked in dirt and bound by thick rope. As the workers heave her out of the pit and onto a wooden track, the sand shifts and the six-foot-tall granite statue threatens to topple. A half-dozen men in...
|
|
Let's Have Jerusalem
|
150 Israeli Citizens File Landmark Criminal Prosecution Of The Waqf Over Temple Mount Destruction
|
| |
Posted by SJackson
On News/Activism 11/01/2007 9:00:32 AM EDT · 22 replies
IMRA | 11-1-07
November 1, 2007 WAQF Officials to Trial; If Convicted Facing Years in Prison -- A group of 150 Israeli citizens, which represent a broad cross section of the Israeli public, have initiated an unprecedented criminal prosecution of WAQF (Islamic trust) leaders in Jerusalem - alleging that they have engaged in the deliberate destruction of ancient Jewish relics on the Temple Mount. The indictment was filed in the Jerusalem District Court...
|
|
Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
|
Overnight Islamic Republic Has Wiped Out 3000-Years Of Iranian History
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/01/2007 1:41:22 PM EDT · 50 replies
Cais News | 10-30-2007
Overnight Islamic Republic have Wiped out 3000-Years of Iranian History 30 October 2007 Pol-Borideh after its destruction by the Islamic Republic Ministry of Road & Transportation" LONDON, (CAIS) -- The destruction of one of the biggest historical sites in the Chahar-Mahal Bakhtiari province by the Islamic Republic Ministry of Road and Transportation was reported by the Persian service of ISNA on Monday, October 22. "Overnight %60 of the architectural and archeological remains of Pol-Borideh in Chahar-Mahal Bakhtiari province is being destroyed to construct a road. The ancient site was registered on the National Heritage List", said Aliasghar Noruzi, an archeologist...
|
|
Ancient Autopsies
|
Salt Men (Mummies) To Undergo Surgery
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/27/2007 6:26:30 PM EDT · 18 replies
Mehr News | 10-27-2007
Salt men to undergo surgery TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (MNA) -- The Archaeology Research Center of Iran (ARCI) plans to conduct a series of surgical operations on the ancient salt men of Zanjan's Chehrabad Salt Mine, the Persian service of CHN reported on Saturday. The project is being undertaken to complete archaeological studies and carry out other scientific research on the unique mummies, ARCI director Mohammad-Hassan Fazeli Nashli said. The operations will be performed on the salt men's soft tissue and entrails, which have remained intact due to the high quality of the mummification, he added. The project will be carried...
|
|
China
|
5 Guesses On Emperor Qin Shihuang's Tomb
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/02/2007 12:25:47 PM EDT · 15 replies
China Org CN | 10-24-2007
5 guesses on Emperor Qin Shihuang's tomb Qin Shihuang holds a central place in Chinese history for being the first emperor who united the country. He is also well known for his part in the construction of the spectacular Great Wall and his splendid terracotta army. To ensure his rule in the afterlife, this emperor commanded more than 700,000 conscripts from all parts of the country to build him a grand mausoleum as luxurious as any of the palaces he had in mortal life. Legend says that numerous treasures were placed in the tomb. As time passed, no one knew...
|
|
Korea
|
Historical Discovery of Baekje Urns
|
| |
Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 10/29/2007 2:44:49 PM EDT · 9 replies
Korea Times | Monday, October 29, 2007 | Sa Eun-young
A set of gold, silver and bronze urns holding sari, or the remains of a great monk after cremation, from the Baekje Kingdom (18 -660 A.D.) has been discovered, 1,430 years after it was buried... The urns and other sacrificial items were discovered in a Moktap, or wooden Pagoda. It was found in the Wangheungsa Temple grounds established by Baekje King Wideok to honor the death of his son in 577... The bronze cylinder urn carries an inscription consisting of 29 letters, with six rows made. It was translated to read "Jeongyu Feb.15 (577), Baekje King Chang (King Wideok) builds...
|
|
Climate
|
Melting Glacier Reveals Ancient Tree Stumps
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/01/2007 1:28:47 PM EDT · 111 replies
Live Science | 10-30-2007
Melting Glacier Reveals Ancient Tree Stumps LiveScience.com Tue Oct 30, 2:15 PM ET Melting glaciers in Western Canada are revealing tree stumps up to 7,000 years old where the region's rivers of ice have retreated to a historic minimum, a geologist said today. Johannes Koch of The College of Wooster in Ohio found the fresh-looking, intact tree stumps beside retreating glaciers in Garibaldi Provincial Park, about 40 miles (60 kilometers) north of Vancouver, British Columbia. Radiocarbon dating of the wood from the stumps revealed the wood was far from fresh -- some of it dated back to within a few thousand years...
|
|
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
|
Major Archaeological Find In Puerto Rico
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/28/2007 5:01:40 PM EDT · 18 replies
At&T.Net | 10-28-20073 | Laura N Perez Sanchez
Major Archaeological Find in Puerto Rico Published: 10/28/07, 4:25 PM EDT By LAURA N. PEREZ SANCHEZSAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - U.S. and Puerto Rican archaeologists say they have found the best-preserved pre-Columbian site in the Caribbean, which could shed light on virtually every aspect of Indian life in the region, from sacred rituals to eating habits. The archaeologists believe the site in southern Puerto Rico may have belonged to the Taino or pre-Taino people that inhabited the island before European colonization, although other tribes are a possibility. It contains stones etched with ancient petroglyphs that form a large plaza...
|
|
Biology and Cryptobiology
|
Awesome Beasts Roved Ancient Site
|
| |
Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/31/2007 5:31:10 PM EDT · 18 replies
BBC | 10-31-2007 | Paul Rincon
Awesome beasts roved ancient site By Paul Rincon Science reporter, BBC News, Murcia The brown hyena lived in Europe 1.8 million years ago Giant hyenas, sabretoothed cats, giraffes and zebras lived side by side in Europe 1.8 million years ago. The creatures' remains were among a vast fossil hoard unearthed at an ancient hyena den in the Granada region of south-east Spain. The area appears to have been a crossroads where European animals mixed with species from Africa and Asia. About 4,000 fossils have been found at the unique site. They also include gazelles, wolves, wild boar and lynx. The...
|
|
Helix, Make Mine a Double
|
Neanderthals didn't breed with men
|
| |
Posted by Renfield
On General/Chat 10/29/2007 8:17:44 AM EDT · 30 replies
ANSA | 10-26-07
ANSA) - Florence, October 26 - A new study of Neanderthal bones in Italy and Spain claims to have proved they did not breed with humans - potentially settling one of the biggest riddles in anthropology. The DNA study, which involved Italian, Spanish and German scientists, examined fossilised bones found in the northern Italian mountains near Verona and a cave in Asturia, Spain. Analysing a gene involved in the production of the skin pigment melanin, the team concluded that Neanderthals were predominantly fair-skinned and red-headed - like many people in countries like Ireland, Scotland and Wales today. This was consistent...
|
|
Longer Perspectives
|
Redheads really are the world's shrinking violets
|
| |
Posted by Dundee
On News/Activism 10/28/2007 12:19:08 AM EDT · 124 replies
The Australian | October 27, 2007 | Caroline Overington
DEPRESSING news in the September edition of National Geographic: redheads are becoming rarer and could become extinct - some experts say the last redhead could be born by 2060. Others say the redhead gene can disappear for a generation or two in a family and reappear... ...the proportion of the world's population with natural red hair is down to 2per cent... On every level, that's surely a tragedy. Before we let this rare and precious species go, has anyone considered what it might be like to live in a world without redheaded women? ...Groucho Marx once admitted... "I don't know...
|
|
...and Now the Good News
|
Men age faster 'because of Stone Age sex'
|
| |
Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 10/30/2007 9:30:36 PM EDT · 55 replies
Telegraph | Wednesday, October 17, 2007 | Roger Highfield
Roger HighfieldThe reason that women outlive men by an average of around five years is due to sex, harems and violence in the Stone Age, according to a study published today... our prehistoric male ancestors kept female harems and fought over them to procreate: because male life was nasty, brutish and short, evolutionary forces focused on making males big and strong, rather than long lived... What they find is that the difference in life span between males and females in creatures such as red deer, prairie dogs, lions, baboons, geese, mongooses, wild dogs, beavers and others grows in direct proportion...
|
|
Middle Ages and Renaissance
|
Engineers to search for Leonardo fresco [Battle of Anghiari]
|
| |
Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 10/29/2007 2:45:44 AM EDT · 3 replies
Yahoo! | Monday October 22, 2007 | Frances D'Emilio
The hunt for the "Battle of Anghiari," ...which Leonardo began in 1505 to commemorate the 15th-century Florentine victory over Milan at Anghiari, a medieval Tuscan town... unfinished when Leonardo left Florence in 1506... was given new impetus about 30 years ago, when Seracini noticed a cryptic message on a fresco in the hall by Giorgio Vasari, a 16th-century artist famed for chronicling Renaissance artists' labors. "Cerca, trova" -- "seek and you shall find" -- said the words on a tiny green flag in the "Battle of Marciano in the Chiana Valley." ...A few years ago, using radar and X-ray scans,...
|
|
Epigraphy and Language
|
Treasure trove of rare coins found in dilapidated home[PA][Est. worth 100K]
|
| |
Posted by BGHater
On News/Activism 10/27/2007 6:25:18 PM EDT · 58 replies
The Tribune Democrat | 26 Oct 2007 | RANDY GRIFFITH
Jeff Bidelman already was dragging a huge bag of old coins when he noticed a hole in the wall of a dilapidated Windber home. "The woman said when she was a kid, there were always rumors that that's where they threw money," Bidelman said at his business, Rare Collectibles, in The Galleria in Richland Township. Within minutes, Bidelman and the former residents' daughter discovered that the rumors were true. Bidelman found himself literally wading in old, valuable coins. "They think they are going to get (at least) $100,000," Bidelman said. "I think they will probably get $200,000." The home had...
|
|
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
|
Unmasking D.B. Cooper
|
| |
Posted by dickmc
On General/Chat 10/22/2007 1:17:35 PM EDT · 14 replies
n y magazine | October 22, 2007 | geoffery gray
On a rainy night in 1971, the notorious skyjacker jumped out of a 727 and into American legend. But recently, a chance lead to a Manhattan P.I. may have finally cracked the case.
|
|
end of digest #172 20071103
|