The Archaeology News Network

Kourion excavation hoping for Cyprus first

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sun, 27 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

A team of archaeologists from a Texas theological seminary and the University of Cyprus is hoping to reveal the ordinary domestic lives of Cyprus’ early Christians in a new dig at Kourion (Curium) which was destroyed by a series of earthquakes around 365 AD. The team at the beginning of the dig [Credit: Cyprus Mail] A long-cherished hope of team leader Professor Thomas Davis is that excavations will also uncover the...

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Qatar site may yield clues to Gulf’s history

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sat, 26 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Exploration of two middens (refuse heaps) at Qatar’s prominent archaeological site of Wadi Debayan, with human occupation dating back to about 7,500 years ago, could unravel the story of the Gulf region itself. The exploration of Wadi Debayan, situated on the northwestern of Qatar, to the south of the site of Al Zubara and the Ushayriq peninsula, is part of the Remote Sensing and Qatar National Historical Environment Record...

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Richard Leakey predicts evolution debate will soon be history

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sat, 26 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Richard Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will soon be history. Not that the avowed atheist has any doubts himself. In this 2008 photo provided by the Turkana Basin Institute, paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey discusses the evidence for human evolution over a collection of hominin fossil casts at the Turkana Basin Institute's Ileret research facility in northern Kenya. Leakey predicts skepticism over evolution will...

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A race to shore up the ancient walls of Babylon

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sat, 26 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

The sound of hammers echoes from ancient brick as Iraqi workers battling damage done by wind, water, and modern history race to shore up the crumbing walls of Babylon. World Monument fund workers erect scaffolding to shore up leaning wall of Babylon, Iraq, in February [Credit: Jane Arraf/Christian Science Monitor] “If we don’t do something, in the next 10 years it will disappear completely,” says Thierry Grandin, a...

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Sri Lanka to impose severe penalties for vandalizing artifacts

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sat, 26 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

Sri Lanka Minister of National Heritage Jagath Balasuriya says steps will be taken to amend the Antiquities Ordinance soon to prevent treasure hunting in the country. The colossal Buddha at Avukana, Sri Lanka [Credit: Web] Answering a question at the adjournment debate in the parliament on Friday, the Minister stated that the fines on offences related to antiquities would be increased from 50,000 to two million...

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Uffizi Florence to open 10 new rooms next month

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sat, 26 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

The Uffizi Gallery will shortly open ten new spaces, dedicated to 16th-century painters, mainly from Tuscany, from Andrea del Sarto to Bronzino and Raffaello. There will also be a gallery with Hellenistic sculptures. A sculpture of Sleeping Hermaphroditus, Roman art from the first-second century A.D., in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence [Credit: ANSAmed] The new spaces, a statement reads, will open ''in the coming months."...

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2,500-year-old altar found in Mexico

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sat, 26 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

An altar and a stela estimated to date from as early as 800 B.C. were found at the Chalcatzingo archaeological site in the central state of Morelos, Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, said. The altar is rectangular with carved patterns common in other monuments found in the region [Credit: Meliton Tapia/INAH] The altar is rectangular and covered with engravings representing rain A few...

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Mystery shipwreck in Solent identified

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sat, 26 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

A mysterious shipwreck that lay in the Solent for 160 years has been identified by archaeologists as the 19th Century sailing barque the Flower of Ugie. A diver examines the wreck [Credit: BBC] The wreck lies on a sand bed in the eastern Solent off the Hampshire coast and was first discovered by fishermen in 2003. It is only recently that archaeologists have been able to name the vessel. Hampshire and Wight for...

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Ancient burial mounds looted, driven over

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Sat, 26 May 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Ancient American Indian burial mounds in southern Illinois have been damaged and possibly looted, prompting the state's historical agency to call for the public's help in identifying the culprits. John Schwegman, left, and Jim Modglin point out locations of former houses while visiting Kincaid Mounds in 2008 [Credit: Adam Testa/The Southern] Last month, someone dug several holes in a portion of Kincaid Mounds State Historic...

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Ancient bath complex excavated near Acropolis

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 18:00:00 +0000

A luxury bathing complex dating back to Roman times, between the 2nd and 7th century A.D., was unearthed by archaeologists at a short distance from the southern side of the Acropolis, within the perimeter of the walls of the ancient city, in the Makrygiannis district close to the Acropolis Museum. The Roman era bathing complex excavated in the Makrygiannis [Credit: in.gr] The extremely well-preserved baths, which lie only...

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Evidence of early Jews in Portugal unearthed

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Archaeologists of the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (Germany) found some of the oldest archaeological evidence so far of Jewish culture on the Iberian Peninsula at an excavation site in the south of Portugal, close to the city of Silves (Algarve). On a marble plate, measuring 40 by 60 centimetres, the name "Yehiel" can be read, followed by further letters which have not yet been deciphered. The Jena Archaeologists believe that the...

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“Opus Elgin: The Destruction of the Parthenon,” premieres at Athens Concert Hall

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000

“Opus Elgin: The Destruction of the Parthenon,” the opera’s world premiere, will take place at Athens Concert Hall, Megaron Mousikis, May 29. This opera work is composed by Theodore Stathis, and renowned Peter Tiboris will be the musical director. The performance, organized by the non-profit organization Imeros for Culture, is the artistic response to discussions concerning the restitution of the Parthenon Marbles. People...

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Socrates acquitted in ancient trial re-run

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:30:00 +0000

Judges narrowly acquitted Socrates, the philosopher whose teachings earned him a death sentence in ancient Athens, in a retrial Friday billed as a lesson for modern times of revolution and crisis. US, European and Greek lawyers arrive at the Alexander S. Onassis foundation in Athens to enact the trial of Socrates. Judges narrowly acquitted Socrates, the philosopher whose teachings earned him a death sentence in ancient...

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More on Earliest musical instruments in Europe 40,000 old

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:00:00 +0000

New dates from Geißenklösterle Cave in Southwest Germany document the early arrival of modern humans and early appearance of art and music. Ivory figurines from the Geißenklösterle [Credit: Württembergisches Landesmuseum Stuttgart] Researchers from Oxford and Tübingen have published new radiocarbon dates from the from Geißenklösterle Cave in Swabian Jura of Southwestern Germany in the Journal of Human Evolution. The new...

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More on Neolithic portal dolmen excavated in Wales

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 14:00:00 +0000

Archaeologists are to exhume and analyse human bones found under a prehistoric monument only recently identified as a burial site cap. The Trefael Stone, seen here with a metre-long measuring stick, is probably the capstone of a Stone Age burial chamber [Credit: BBC] The Trefael Stone in Pembrokeshire was thought to be just one of many linked to nearby Bronze Age locations. But it has now been reclassified after a...

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Researchers identify principles that shape kinship categories across languages

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 13:00:00 +0000

Different languages refer to family relationships in different ways. For example, English speakers use two terms -- grandmother and grandfather -- to refer to grandparents, while Mandarin Chinese uses four terms. Many possible kinship categories, however, are never observed, which raises the question of why some kinship categories appear in the languages of the world but others do not. A group portrait of a mother, son and...

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Shift to shore: New model shows extinct tetrapod Ichthyostega couldn't walk

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 12:00:00 +0000

Palaeontology has gone high-tech: no more wax and plaster-cast models. Instead, 3D data from computed tomography (CT) scans is overturning long-held views of how the earliest land animals moved. A fleshed-out reconstruction of the early tetrapod, Ichthyostega [Credit Julia Molnar] Research published today in Nature reveals how a famous extinct animal, the early four-legged vertebrate (tetrapod) called Ichthyostega, moved on...

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Top 10 new species list draws attention to diverse biosphere

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 11:00:00 +0000

The International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and a committee of scientists from around the world announced their picks for the top 10 new species described in 2011. This is the fifth year for the top 10 new species list, which was released May 23 to coincide with the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus, the Swedish botanist who was responsible for the modern system of plant and animal names...

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Rapid coral death by a deadly chain reaction

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:30:00 +0000

Most people are fascinated by the colorful and exotic coral reefs, which form habitats with probably the largest biodiversity. But human civilization is the top danger to these fragile ecosystems through climate change, oxygen depletion and ocean acidification. Industrialization, deforestation and intensive farming in coastal areas are changing dramatically the conditions for life in the oceans. Three different reef-building...

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Madagascar's Lemurs in 'ecological retreat'

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 10:00:00 +0000

New research on the long-term impact of species extinctions suggests that the disappearance of one species does not necessarily allow remaining competitor species to thrive by filling now-empty niches. Young ring-tailed lemur in densely forested area of Madagascar [Credit: Brooke Crowley] Instead, in University of Cincinnati-led research on lemur extinctions over the past 2,000 years, findings suggest that one likely result...

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SpaceX Dragon docks with ISS In spaceflight first

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 09:00:00 +0000

The International Space Station's Expedition 31 crew grappled and attached SpaceX's Dragon capsule to the space station Friday. This is the first time a commercial company has accomplished this type of space operation. The SpaceX Dragon is seen berthed to the International Space Station's Harmony module [Credit: NASA TV] "Today marks another critical step in the future of American spaceflight," NASA Administrator Charles...

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Organic carbon from Mars, but not biological

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:30:00 +0000

Molecules containing large chains of carbon and hydrogen--the building blocks of all life on Earth--have been the targets of missions to Mars from Viking to the present day. While these molecules have previously been found in meteorites from Mars, scientists have disagreed about how this organic carbon was formed and whether or not it came from Mars. This 4.5 billion-year-old rock, labeled meteorite ALH84001, is believed to...

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Wind-driven Mars Tumbleweed Rover to roll through rocky terrain?

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Fri, 25 May 2012 08:00:00 +0000

New research from North Carolina State University shows that a wind-driven "tumbleweed" Mars rover would be capable of moving across rocky Martian terrain -- findings that could also help the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) design the best possible vehicle. The surface of Mars averages one rock per square meter [Credit: North Carolina State University] "There is quite a bit of interest within NASA to...

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Plea to save Iranian Elamite Bas-Relief

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:30:00 +0000

An archaeologist has asked Iran's Cultural Heritage, Tourism and Handicrafts Organization (CHTHO) to save the Elamite rock bas-relief of Kurangun, located in the Baba Meydan region in Fars Province. The Elamite rock bas-relief of Kurangun in the Baba Meydan region of Fars Province [Credit: dynamosquito/Flickr] The Kurangun bas-relief is in very poor condition, Noruz Rajabi of the Marvdasht Islamic Azad University told the...

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More on 200,000 year old site discovered in Malaysia

noreply@blogger.com (TANN) — Thu, 24 May 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Another archaeological find has been unearthed at Jalan Kuangoh in Bingkor indicating what used to be a site for making Palaeolithic stone tools. Dr Mokhtar indicating the layers of earth that have been hiding the Palaeolithic stone tools for thousands of years [Credit: New Sabah Times] The archaeological site about 15 minutes from here had been identified earlier and as of last May 9, excavation work began and is expected...

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