Stone Pages Archaeo News: March 2006 Archives

March 2006 index:

4 March 2006: Bronze Age 'sky disc' deciphered; A team of German scientists claimed it has deciphered the meaning of the mystery-shrouded sky disc of Nebra: it was used as a complex astronomical clock for the harmonization of...
: 5,000-year old earthenware unearthed in NW China; A large earthen jar painted in black and brownish red, which is confirmed by experts to be 5,000 years old, was unearthed recently in Lintao County of northwest China's Gansu...
: Iron Age boat on show at British museum; A boat dating back to the Iron Age has gone on show at a Lincoln museum (Lincolnshire, England). The log boat, which has undergone four years of conservation work, is...
5 March 2006: Imported food trade began 4,000 years ago; The importing of foods has been going on for thousands of years, archaeologists have found. Evidence that crops were being traded as goods 4,000 years ago over distances of hundreds...
: Europe's most ancient graves unearthed in Poland; Five of Europe's most ancient graves, dating back 10,000 years, have been unearthed in the village of Dwreca, central Poland. Archaeologist Marian Marciniak found the graves on the site of...
: Traces of prehistoric civilization discovered in Iran; Discovery of an 8000-year-old oven in Shahrud, a city in Semnan Province (Iran), revealed some evidence regarding the lifestyle of the people who lived in Shahrud Plain around 6000 BCE....
: Thornborough henges may become a theme park; The man who created the Lightwater Valley theme park wants to turn the ancient Thornborough Henges (North prkshire, England) into a tourist attraction. Landowner Robert Staveley outlined his ideas at...
: Prehistoric milling site found in California; Archaeologists excavating a housing development site in California (USA) found a prehistoric milling area estimated to be 8,000 years old, officials said. Large arrowheads, hearths and stone slabs used to...
: Iron Age arrowhead discovered in Iran; The team of archaeologists working at historical sites of Zanjan Province (Iran) recently discovered several dishes and a brass arrowhead dating back to the Iron Age. The discoveries were made...
12 March 2006: Ancient eruption eclipses destruction of Pompeii; The preserved footprints and abandoned homes of villagers who fled a giant eruption of Mount Vesuvius 3,800 years ago show the volcano could destroy modern-day Naples with little warning, Italian...
: Hawk patrolling prehistoric monument, chasing off pigeons; National Park officials are testing the ability of Marie, a raptor trained in bird abatement, to scramble and scare off most of the pigeons that have taken residence in and...
: 'Magdalenian Girl' is thought to have reached adulthood; For years, the skeleton of the Magdalenian Girl (an early modern human dating from 13,000 to 15,000 years ago and housed at the Field Museum in Chicago since 1926) were...
: Ancient Cypriots fed olive oil to furnaces; Italian researchers have discovered that environmentally friendly olive oil was used in furnaces at a site in southern Cyprus up to 4,000 years ago, instead of the fume-belching charcoal used...
: Past, present and future of Tarxien Temples; Unlike the other extensive prehistoric sites in Malta such as Ggantija, Mnajdra or Hagar Qim Temples, Tarxien Temples do not have a monumental bearing on their surrounding landscape; on the...
: Dig planned for a Cumbria valley; Archaeologists hope to unearth Bronze Age treasures after receiving £50,000 to help fund a dig in a Cumbria valley (England). The three-year project in the Duddon Valley in the south...
: Court defeat clears way for motorway near Tara; The way could be cleared for construction work to start by this time next year on the controversial M3 motorway following the failure of a Irish High Court challenge to...
: 4,000-year-old settlement unearthed in Bangladesh; Archaeologists have discovered artefacts at a village in Narsingdi (Bangladesh) that may date to the Chalcolithic, which is around 4,000 years old, and believe the finds are the earliest signs...
: Two prehistoric settlements unearthed in central China; Chinese archaeologists have found two prehistoric settlements, dating back to more than 4,000 years ago, at the Puchengdian ruins in central China's Henan province. The Puchengdian site were designated as...
19 March 2006: 7000-year-old animal-designed clays discovered in Iran; Archaeological excavations in Khuzestan province (Iran) led to the discovery of three earthenware ovens with clays designed with exaggerated pictures of animals called 'Mosabak' in 7000-year-old architectural remains of Tal-e...
: Perthshire Archaeology Month; The fourth Archaeology Month in Perth and Kinross (Scotland) will be celebrated from 27 May to 25 June 2006. The events within the programme are designed to give expert guidance...
: Archaeologists unearth Neolithic settlement in Turkey; A settlement dating back 9,000 years was discovered during archaeological excavations in Seydiþehir, a district of the central Anatolian province of Konya (Turkey). Following a visit to Gökhüyük, where the...
: Tara motorway campaigner is hit with costs for court battle; An environmentalist who lost his court challenge against the routing of the M3 motorway near the Hill of Tara (Ireland) had legal costs of up to 600,000 euros awarded against...
: Artefacts unearthed in crannogs on display in Scotland; Iron Age artefacts unearthed in crannogs have gone on display at the Scottish Crannog Centre in Perthshire. A tiny whistle made from shrub twigs, an arrowhead, an iron knife and...
: Roman carving discovered by a team looking for prehistoric rock art; An ancient rock carving has been uncovered near Chesters Roman Fort (Northumberland, England). The carving of a 40cm high figure, holding a shield in one hand and spear or sword...
: Bronze Age jewellery found in West Sussex; A gold pendant, found near Amberley (West Sussex, England) by a treasure hunter, has turned out to be more than 3,000 years old. The piece of Bronze Age jewellery is...
: Evidence of primitive human activity found in China; Chinese archaeologists have uncovered evidence of human activity dating back at least 10,000 to 20,000 years in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Archaeologists have unearthed more than 5,000 pieces of stone...
: Ruins of 4,500-year-old cities discovered in Shaanxi; Chinese archaeologists have now discovered the ruins of 29 hamlets and towns that date back more than 4,500 years ago. Located in the northern part of Shaanxi, the ancient communities...
26 March 2006: Iran: prehistoric fashion center?; Stylish clothing, jewelry, makeup and textiles, all dating to 5,000 years ago, have been unearthed in Iran, according to recent reports issued by the Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies and...
: Ancient Enotrian site to be explored in Italy; A very rare example of surviving pre-Greek settlement in southern Italy is to be excavated and explored. The site, at Molpa in the hills above Palinuro south of Naples, is...
: Pottery offers clues to origin of Chinese characters; Chinese archaeologists claim that pottery tools dating back 7,000 years ago which bear inscriptions of various symbols are probably one of the origins of Chinese characters. They made the claim...
: Land near Welsh megalithic site is up for auction; A 21 acre plot of land that adjoins the Tinkinswood burial chamber (Vale of Glamorgan, Wales) is up for auction and its guide price is between £80,000-£120,000, corresponding to about...
: Volunteers sought to help run Avebury; Volunteers are being asked to help with a variety of tasks to welcome visitors to the Avebury stones (Wiltshire, England). The National Trust has launched an appeal for volunteers as...
: Findings from Vanuatu may shed light on human migration; Takaronga Kuautonga carefully examines the ancient fragments of pottery. "It's like a big jigsaw puzzle," he says, as he patiently pieces them together. The 3000-year-old pot he is reconstructing was...
: A prehistoric temple model from Malta; One of the most interesting features of the prehistory of the Maltese Islands is the large amount of interesting finds, whether they are the large and impressive temples, or else...