Stone Pages Archaeo News: December 2006 Archives

December 2006 index:

3 December 2006: Iron Age Scots fur farm clue; Iron Age man reared foxes to make fur-trimmed clothes, archaeologists believe. Experts say the pelts were used to make sought-after fur-trimmed coats, loin cloths and blankets. Researchers at York University...
: 2,000-year-old road under threat in Ohio?; Plans for an extension of a road in Ohio (USA) are under way, but national magazine coverage has stirred up tension between developers and an archaeologist. Bradley Lepper, of the...
: Early sketch of Stonehenge found; They got the date wrong by some 3,000 years, but the oldest detailed drawing of Stonehenge, apparently based on first hand observation, has turned up in a 15th century manuscript....
: Mystery of ancient astronomical calculator unveiled; An international team has unravelled the secrets of a 2,000-year-old computer which could transform the way we think about the ancient world. Professor Mike Edmunds and Dr Tony Freeth, of...
: Illegal diggers smash ancient Iranian artifacts; Archeological excavations in the 3000-year-old cemetery of Babajilan in western Iranian province of Lorestan had to be put off due to heavy rains and snows in the mountainous regions of...
: Snake carving in Botswana may be first sign of worship; A new archaeological find in Botswana shows that our ancestors in Africa engaged in ritual practice 70,000 years ago — 30,000 years earlier than the oldest finds in Europe. This...
: Ancient tsunami devastated the Mediterranean; A volcano avalanche in Sicily 8,000 years ago triggered a devastating tsunami taller than a 10-story building that spread across the entire Mediterranean Sea, slamming into the shores of three...
: Barra find dates back to Bronze Age; Human remains discovered on Barra (Western Isles, Scotland) exactly a year ago, have been confirmed as dating from nearly 4000 years ago. After many months of investigation by Historic Scotland,...
: Museum reveals rare Iron Age spoons; There are only 23 more of them in the world and it's been 80 years since anybody found some before these ones turned up. What are these rare artefacts? They...
: Ancient skull unearthed in New York state; A human skull was found at the site of the old James Hotel in Water Mill (Suffolk County, New York, USA), indicating that the land may contain an ancient Native...
10 December 2006: Dam threatens ancient Pakistani rock-art sites; Leading German archaeologists had mapped out thousands of years old archaeological remains which would be lost forever as a result of the construction of Diamer-Bhasha dam, in the Northern Areas...
: Men plead guilty to looting site in Kentucky; Two Ohio men pleaded guilty to stealing Native American artifacts from federal land in western Kentucky (USA), authorities said. Richard C. Kirk and David A. Whitling, pleaded guilty to violations...
: Neolithic stone axe head found by a dog; A dog proved to be a canine Indiana Jones by finding a stone axe head dating back thousands of years in Aberdeenshire (Scotland). Rowan the inquisitive black labrador unearthed the...
: Ancient arrowhead identified in Pennsylvania; A weapon used by early man 12,000 years ago is now a tool in a grassroots environmental campaign to build support for the Middle Spring watershed - an area that...
: Newgrange big draw at Winter Solstice; From December 19 to 23 — if the weather cooperates — 20 lucky people a day will crowd into an ancient Irish monument's main chamber. There, they'll bathe in 17...
: Why altruism paid off for our ancestors; Humans may have evolved altruistic traits as a result of a cultural 'tax' we paid to each other early in our evolution, a new study suggests. The research also changes...
: Grant sought for Flag Fen digs; The team behind one of the most important Bronze Age sites in Europe are making a bid for a £1 million grant. Flag Fen Bronze Age Centre in Fengate, Peterborough...
: 176 prehistoric caves discovered in Thailand; Scientists have recently made significant cave discoveries in the Pang Mapha district of Mae Hong Son (Northern Thailand). A few of the caves will be opened to tourists but most...
: Fort Ancient best preserved earthwork in America; Fort Ancient remains a mystery. The extensive earthen mounds and walls in southwest Ohio (USA) are unlikely a fortress, although they might have been used for social gatherings and religious...
17 December 2006: 4800-year-old artificial eye discovered in Iran; A team of archaeologists working at the Burnt City (Iran) recently discovered an artificial eye at the 5200-year-old site in Sistan-Baluchestan Province, southeastern Iran. "The eye belonged to a woman...
: Scientists solve riddle of faces on Pacific artifacts; The strange faces drawn on the first pottery made in the South Pacific more than 3,000 years ago have always been a mystery to scientists. Now their riddle may have...
: Protecting ancient Welsh forts from modern invasion; Ancient Welsh people from the Iron Age were defended by forts, often built on cliff-top promontories for extra security. The very reasons they chose these locations create problems today with...
: Seahenge on display in 2008?; Conservation work on the Seahenge wooden circle is continuing apace – but it will be at least a year before the Bronze Age monument will be on display in Lynn...
: Aboriginal language had ice age origins; Aboriginal languages may be much older than people think, argues a linguistic anthropologist who says they originated as far back as the end of the last ice age around 13,000...
: Palaeolithic stone tools found in China; Archaeologists have discovered 21 sites and thousands of stone tools dating back to the Palaeolithic Age - more than 20,000 years back - in northwest China's Shaanxi province. "Over 20,000...
: 3,000-year-old dam revives farming in Turkish village; In Alacahoyuk, a central Turkish village, peasants and archaeologists celebrate a unique achievement - a 3,246-year-old dam, once buried under mud and slime, is back in service to irrigate farmlands....
: A Slovenian river full of ancient treasures; Archaeologist Andrej Gaspari is haunted by pieces of the past. His hometown river, the Ljubljanica, has yielded thousands of them — Celtic coins, Roman luxuries, medieval swords—all from a shallow...
: Dig shows Spokane was inhabited 8,000 years ago; A new archaeological dig shows the Spokane area (Washington, USA) to be one of the oldest areas of continuous human habitation in the state. According to evidence verified by radiocarbon...
: Visualising the past in 3D: The River Arun; Archaeologists at Wessex Archaeology have completed a 3D animation that reveals a prehistoric landscape, now submerged under the English Channel, as it might have appeared 8000 years ago. At the...
: Highways Agency and English Heritage sign agreement; The British Highways Agency will work with English Heritage to protect the historic environment. English Heritage and the Highways Agency signed an agreement on working together to protect the historic...
: Proposed land train to Stonehenge too 'intrusive'; A proposal to run a land train as part of plans for a new £67.5m Stonehenge visitors centre has come under fire during the second week of the Salisbury public...
: Bronze Age excavation in Kuwait enters new phase; The team from the Kuwait-Slovak Archaeological Mission (KSAM) is expected to embark on the third phase of their excavation project at the Al-Khidr site from the Bronze Age, situated on...
22 December 2006: Shrouded 5000-year-old child unearthed in Iran; The skeleton of a 5000-year-old child wrapped in a winding sheet was discovered at the foot of a wall in the Taleb Khan Mound, which is located near the Burnt...
: Ancient site in Colorado becomes a jewel; Thirteen thousand years ago, people lived in northern Colorado's Lindenmeier Valley, (USA) hunting ancient, giant bison. Five hundred years ago, people there built stone tipi rings and dug earthen ovens....
: Archeology team finished for season in Canada; The archaeology team has completed its field work for the season on the dispute Caledonia site in southern Ontario (Canada). This fall, a crew of field directors and field assistants...
: Australian Government rejects listing for ancient site; Australian Federal Environment Minister Ian Campbell has turned down an application for emergency heritage listing of the Burrup Peninsula rock art site, which is under threat from a major gas...
: Solstice celebrations at megalithic sites; Twenty sun worshippers braved the cold to mark the winter solstice at Avebury (Wilthsire, England). Druid keeper of the stones Terry Dobney led a ceremony marking the important day on...
: Timor cave may reveal how humans reached Australia; An archaeologist has discovered the oldest evidence of occupation by modern humans on the islands that were the stepping stones from South-East Asia to Australia. A cave site in East...
: Stone Age Exhibition in Dubai; An Archaeological exhibition has been organized by the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) at the Sheikh Saeed Al Maktoum House in Al Shindagha as part of the...
26 December 2006: Avebury tourist office to close in 2007; Kennet District Council is to close its tourist office at its World Heritage site at Avebury (Wiltshire, England). Despite the ancient stone circle attracting huge numbers of visitors every year...
: Huge wind farm may threat Hebridean archaeology; The company behind the UK's largest onshore wind farm project, proposed for the Hebridean island of Lewis (Outer Hebrides, Scotland), has unveiled revised plans for the scheme. The reworked proposal...
: Biru 'e Concas: a Sardinian megalithic wonder; Near the village of Sorgono, in Sardinia (Italy) lies what is probably one of the lesser known megalithic wonders of the world. An impressive Neolithic site of about 200 tall...
31 December 2006: Ongoing parking problems at Avebury; The National Trust has presented its options appraisal to Kennet District Council with regard to the future of car parking and overnight stays during pagan observances at Avebury (Wiltshire, England)....
: Amateur archaeologists close in on their ultimate goal; A dedicated band of volunteers in Sutton is throwing light on Bronze Age people who settled, worked and traded in East Cambridgeshire (England). For more than three years now, a...
: Logboat provides insight into Bronze Age technology; A Bronze Age logboat which had lain unseen in the River Tay (England) for 3,000 years is being studied by archaeologists. It is hoped the find will yield important new...
: Ancient trade in Papua New Guinea; A team of archaeologists investigating prehistoric trade and exchange in the East Sepik region (Papua New Guinea) find a connection between obsidian found there with Manus province. Research focused on...
: 9,000-year-old artifact stirs archaeological excitement; The black flint stone shaped like a spearhead immediately caught Joan Rennick's eye during a routine beach stroll one summer afternoon seven years ago. She started wearing the rock around...
: 4000 year old rice found in China; 20 grains of rice, more than 4,000 years old, have been found at Gu Ye Bei Qiu ruins in Guangdong province, south China. This and other finds are shedding light...
: Smashed statues may solve riddle of Greek island; A Greek-British team of archaeologists have unearthed a cache of deliberately broken prehistoric statues that could help finally solve the Keros riddle. This barren islet was of major importance to...