Stone Pages Archaeo News: February 2005 Archives

February 2005 index:

3 February 2005: Huge pottery find made in Iran; Archaeologists working on a 6000 year-old mountain settlement site in Iran have uncovered more than 600,000 pottery artefacts, including many examples of intact earthenware and huge amounts of shards. Davud...
: Bronze Age axe found in England; A "Finds Day" at Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, Derbyshire, central England, saw a Bronze Age axe head brought in by a member of the public. The public were invited...
: Restoration of Iron Age hillfort planned; A restoration scheme will begin next week to protect the Iron Age hillfort of Kimsbury Camp, a scheduled ancient monument on Painswick Beacon, near Gloucester, south-west England. The plans, which...
: The fight against proposed road continues at Hill of Tara; The campaign to save the historic Tara-Skryne Valley in Ireland is struggling along amidst reports of "dirty tricks" from the Government. Eamon Gilmore, the Labour party's environment spokesman, claims that...
: Scheduled monuments saved from the plough; Farmland containing 28 Scheduled Monuments of national importance is to be protected following a government grant. Bourton Manor Farm, north-west of Devizes, Wiltshire, in south-west England, is home to the...
: Rare Bronze Age gold ring found in England; A rare Bronze Age ring found last year on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England, has gone before a treasure trove inquest. The ring, which is...
5 February 2005: Findings in Oman date back to 2000 BCE; An archaeological survey was conducted recently in the Saluth area (Oman). "The archaeological findings discovered from the Saluth area date back to 2000 BCE and the beginning of 1000 BCE,...
: Abandonment of ancient city is still a mystery; The reason for the planned abandonment of the Achaemenid era city (553 BCE-330 BCE) of Dahaneh Gholaman is still a mystery to archaeologists, even after more than 40 years of...
: English Heritage options to save Silbury Hill; Urgent remedial work must be carried out to save Silbury Hill from collapse, English Heritage said. The threat to the 130ft mound, which is one of the West England's most...
8 February 2005: Ancient engravings found in Somerset cave; Two members of the University of Bristol Spelaeological Society have discovered an engraving in a cave in the Mendip Hills, Somerset (England), which may be at least 10,000 years old....
12 February 2005: Remains of a 3000-year-old city found in Iran; During the first season of archeological studies in the Rostam Abad area of Gilan (Iran), experts discovered the remains of a 3000-year-old fortress within the limits of land once taken...
: UAE's oldest Neolithic settlement unearthed; The oldest archaeological site in the United Arab Emirates dating back to 7,000 years, has been discovered on the island of Marawah, located about 100km west of Abu Dhabi, according...
: 8000-year-old Iranian workshop discovered; Iranian archaeologists discovered an 8000-year-old stone tool workshop during the first archaeological study at an ancient site south of Shahrud, in the northeastern province of Semnan, announced team member Korush...
: Hammers threaten Libyan rock carvings; Halfway up the steep escarpment of the Messak Settafet plateau is one of Libya's national treasures: rock engravings, some possibly dating back 9,000 years or more, created by a prehistoric...
: Tomb raiders beat experts to ancient Chinese vault; Chinese archaeologists have unearthed a rare 2 000-year-old tomb in China only to find nothing left in the main chamber but a modern pair of gloves. The tomb in Xi'an,...
: Bronze Age burial site discovered in Vietnam; An Australian scientist believes the extraordinary discovery of a rare early Bronze Age burial site in northern Vietnam will help trace the origins of agriculture in South-East Asia. Excavations at...
: Texan petroglyph site documented by archeologists; Another piece of the puzzle concerning the prehistory of the Davis Mountains area is being studied by a team of volunteers who are recording a Native American rock art site...
: Bird's eye view of Anglesey's past; Two friends have started a two-year project to capture the archaeological beauty of Anglesey (Wales) from the air. Pilot John Rowlands and photographer David Roberts, both from the island, expect...
: Discovering Cheddar's cannibals; Grisly exhibits including human bones butchered by cavemen thousands of years ago are on display at Cheddar Caves' new museum of cannibalism. A giant skull demonstrating how human heads were...
: North York Moors stones at risk; Hundreds of ancient standing stones on the North York Moors (Yorkshire, England) could be lost for ever because of severe weather and vandals, it is claimed. Eric Frisby, a retired...
13 February 2005: Chinese may have used diamonds to polish stone axes; Researchers have uncovered strong evidence that the ancient Chinese used diamonds to grind and polish ceremonial stone burial axes as long as 6,000 years ago. The finding places this earliest...
: Ancient settlement found in Azerbaijan; An ancient settlement dated, according to experts, back to the 4th millennium BCE was discovered along the section of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline near Beyuk Kesik village of Agstafa region...
: 12,000-year-old cultivated rice discovered in China; Several grains of cultivated rice at least 12,000 years old have been found during an archaeological dig in Hunan province in China. Yuan Jiarong, chief of the Archaeology Research Institute...
20 February 2005: Did humans settle on the Great Plains earlier than thought?; Bones of now-extinct animals and a rock fragment discovered last summer in northwestern Kansas could rewrite the history of humans on the Great Plains (USA). The bones, which appear to...
: New Zealand unveils Stonehenge replica; Nestled into the verdant hills of the New Zealand region of the Wairarapa is the world's newest "Stonehenge" but this henge is no mere pastiche. Instead, Stonehenge Aotearoa is a...
: Late Neolithic site may be ancient Chinese capital; Archaeologists claim that the large-scale city remains they discovered in Dengfeng in central China's Henan Province may be the ruins of Yangcheng, capital of King Yu, founder of the Xia...
: Links to early hunters found in Baja California; For the first time in Baja California (Mexico), archaeologists have found significant evidence of hunters who settled the region between 7,000 and 10,000 years ago. Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology...
: 2,800-year-old pottery set discovered in China; Archaeologists in northwest China's Gansu Province recently discovered two pottery cooking utensils made 2,800 years ago. A pot and a food steamer, excavated from a site in Lintao County of...
: Stonehenge centre decision delayed; A decision over a proposed £67m new visitor centre at Stonehenge has been delayed until the summer. English Heritage has applied for permission for the centre on the outskirts of...
: Anger over plans to develop ancient site; Angry residents have vowed to sell up in Cawston (Norfolk, England) over plans to develop 150 houses on a nearby ancient archaeological site. The plot of land was highlighted by...
: A Scottish interactive dig; Archaeologists working in Skye (Scotland) have secured funding to begin an innovative interactive project. Excavations of a cave at Kilbride in the south-west of Skye are turning up exciting finds,...
: Iron age necklace unearthed in Nottinghamshire; An amateur archaeologist using a metal detector has discovered a rare golden necklace from the iron age buried in a local farmer's field. The delicately twisted torc was probably designed...
: The missing link with Neanderthals was a fraud; It appeared to be one of archaeology's most sensational finds. The skull fragment discovered in a peat bog near Hamburg (Germany) was more than 36,000 years old - and was...
27 February 2005: Altai Republic demands the return of 'Princess of Ukok'; About five thousand residents of Altai Republic demand the return of the so-called "princess of Ukok" mummy which is now kept in Novosibirsk (Siberia) back to the republic. Written appeal...
: Tara decision due within three weeks; A decision is to be made on the final route of the M3 motorway within the next three weeks. Opponents of the plan claim the road will devastate the...
: Perthshire Archaeology Week events unveiled; Perthshire (Scotland) boasts a wealth of prehistoric monuments, the legacy of Roman occupation, ancient burgh towns, picturesque castles and long-abandoned hidden settlements and a nine-day programme of events - set...
: Iceman was wearing 'earliest snowshoes'; Oetzi the Iceman may have been wearing the world’s earliest known snowshoes when he died in the Alps some 5,300 years ago. New analysis of his accoutrements suggests that his...
: Underwater finds dazzle Canadian historians; Archaeologists are showing off a treasure trove they call one of the most significant discoveries of Mi'kmaq artifacts in Nova Scotia (Canada). Hundreds of arrowheads and tools, some 8,000 years...
: Giant panda skeleton found in ancient tomb; The skeleton of a giant panda has been found in a 4,000-year-old tomb in central China. Wu Xianzhu, of the Hubei Provincial Archaeology Research Institute, said pigs and dogs had...
: Joint team to save Bolaghi ancient sites; A joint team of Italian and Iranian experts collected 4000 shards, some dating back to about 2500 years ago, from Tang-e Bolaghi, which will be flooded by the waters of...
: Two concentric rings found in Miami; Archaeologists exploring the heart of downtown Miami (Florida, USA) have unearthed two concentric rings of ancient post holes reminiscent of the Miami Circle that members of the same team discovered...
: Can Cyprus claim world's oldest perfumery?; Musky, with a woody tone and spicy hints of cinnamon - the perfect fragrance for a Bronze Age date. Italian archaeologists have discovered the world’s oldest perfumery and have identified...
: Volunteers needed to discover Marlow’s hidden past; A Call for volunteers to help a major archaeology project has been sounded in Marlow (Buckinghamshire, England). Plans to survey and record some of the area's historic and pre-historic earthworks...
: Achaemenid Era stone fragments discovered near Shiraz; Local farmers working in the Kovar region near Shiraz in Fars Province (Iran) recently discovered fragments of ancient stones buried under the ground. The artifacts date back to the Achaemenid...