Free Republic

Excavations from 2015 to 2021 on the ancient site of Motza, just west of Jerusalem, revealed a sprawling settlement with some surprisingly advanced technology. The site dates back to 7100–6700 BCE during the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (PPNB) period...There is evidence of the use of calcitic lime plaster, or calcium carbonate-based plaster, in construction as far back as 10,000 to 12,000 years ago. It later became a dominant, durable building material used by civilizations like the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans. The earliest evidence of its use appeared in the Fertile Crescent, or modern day Jordan and Turkey. The material is produced...

The site of a kiln that was used in the building of Roman Britain's second-largest town is being excavated.Archaeologists and volunteers have spent some of the past three years working to uncover more of the kiln, which they have said was used to build Cirencester, in Gloucestershire, and other places.Tiles from the site at Brandier, a tiny hamlet near Minety in Wiltshire, have markings found on artefacts over a large area - as far as Old Sarum, near Hereford, the Cotswolds and Reading...Neil Holbrook - CEO of Cotswold Archaeology which is running the dig - explained that 200 years ago...

(BEIJING) - Chinese police freed four men found to be working as virtual slaves in a brink kiln in a case similar to one which shook the country last year, but lost three of them while trying to send them home, a report said on Friday. The four were free in late December in the northern province of Hebei, which surrounds Beijing, and had been working in appalling conditions at the kiln for up to a year, the China Youth Daily said. Some were suspected of being mentally disabled, and at least one was totally illiterate, knew neither his name...