Stone Pages Archaeo News: December 2007 Archives

December 2007 index:

2 December 2007: Ridley Scott to direct 'Stones'; Fox 2000 has attached Ridley Scott to direct 'Stones,' a supernatural thriller scripted by Matt Cirulnick. Scott Free will produce. Project is a big-scale supernatural thriller revolving around the mysterious...
: Rock art in Egypt under threat; Rock art in Egypt is being threatened by the increasing number of tourists trying to seek far and wide for the Egyptian frontiers. Much of the art that has been...
: Oregon city, tribes trying to save 2,500-year-old site; Crumbling asphalt roads and docks still mark where the town of Umatilla (Oregon, USA) once stood, but even deeper are the remnants of the 2,500-year-old tribal village of matalam. Almost...
: Americas populated via Alaska, genetics show; A single population of prehistoric Siberians crossed the Bering Strait into Alaska and subsequently fanned out to populate North and South America, according to a new genetic analysis of present-day...
: Ancient coffin unearthed in central China; Farmers in Jingzhou, in central China's Hubei province, made a rare find: the discovery of a well-preserved ancient tomb. Inside was a coffin dating back more than 2,000 years. Archeologists...
: Sick rams used as ancient bioweapons; Infected rams and donkeys were the earliest bioweapons, according to a new study which dates the use of biological warfare back more than 3,300 years. According to a review published...
: Flood threatens ancient Russian settlement; A large settlement dating back to the first century BCE has been found in the Russian republic of North Ossetia. But since the archaeological site is in a valley next...
: Prehistoric city discovered in east China; Chinese archaeologists said they have discovered the remains of an ancient city in eastern Zhejiang Province. The relic was found near Mojiao Mountain between Liangzhu and Pingyao townships in Yuhang...
: Visitors flock to Scottish Crannog Centre; As their gates have closed for the season, the Iron Age team at the Scottish Crannog Centre are celebrating a remarkable and hugely successful 10th anniversary year. The buzz began...
: Prehistoric remains unearthed in Ohio; On the site beside the Scioto River (Ohio, USA), archaeologists had found fire pits dating to about 550 BCE, shards of pottery, even traces of an ancient building. This week,...
: Megalithic art found at Lismullin souterrain; A decorated stone bearing megalithic art similar to that at Newgrange and Knowth (of Neolithic date c.3000 BCE) has been found incorporated into part of an Early Historic souterrain currently...
9 December 2007: Debate on Kennewick Man still rages on; Scientists hoping to study the ancient skeleton known as Kennewick Man are protesting efforts on two fronts that they say could block them from examining one of the oldest and...
: Archaeologists excavate Chinese Neolithic mound; Since October this year, Chinese archaeologists have been busy excavating a Neolithic shell mound site in city Chongzuo of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southwest China. To date, archaeologists...
: Ancient flood triggered 'Big Chill,' study says; An epic gush of fresh water into the North Atlantic slowed a deep ocean current and triggered a century-long chill in Europe and North America some 8,200 years ago, according...
: 5,000-year-old wheat suggests early China, Middle East trade; Wheat grains nearly 5,000 years old found at a Chinese archaeological site two years ago, have revealed that western man travelled to China much earlier than previously thought. The research,...
: Female skeleton found in ancient Chinese tomb; An intact skeleton of a female has been excavated from an ancient tomb dating back to around 2,200 years ago in central China's Hubei Province. Archaeologists found the skeleton in...
: Ancient wood, ropes discovered in Romania; Archaeologists in Romania have discovered 3,000-years-old well-preserved wood and ropes at Beclean in the country's northern Bistrita-Nasaud County. Valeriu Kavruk, curator of the Museum of the Eastern Carpathians based in...
: Prehistoric skeleton goes on display in Wales; A 29,000-year-old skeleton is being displayed in Wales for the first time since it was discovered in a Gower cave in the 1820s. The Red Lady of Paviland, actually the...
: Ancient metallurgy relics unearthed in Vietnam; An archeological site full of metallurgy tools and pottery dating back nearly 3,000 years ago has been discovered in Vietnam’s central Khanh Hoa province. The Vietnam Archeology Institute found a...
: Stonehenge tunnel plans scrapped; Plans to build a road tunnel under Stonehenge have been scrapped. The decision to axe the 1.3 mile tunnel along with a bypass to the west of the monument and...
15 December 2007: Ancient cairn complex unearthed in Ireland; A 300 million euro world class port facility, which is expected to be operational by 2012, is planned in Drogheda (co Louth, Ireland). But those plans may have to be...
: Fungus once again threatens Lascaux cave paintings; For the second time in a decade, fungus is threatening France's most celebrated prehistoric paintings, the mysterious animal images that line the Lascaux cave in the Dordogne region of southwest...
: Neanderthal-human hybrid 'a myth'; Did modern humans interbreed with Neanderthals and, if so, did the mating result in a half-human, half-Neanderthal hybrid? The answer is possibly 'yes' to the interbreeding but 'no' to the...
: 15,000-year-old flint spear tip found in Ohio; A spear point found in a central Ohio field (USA) by a farmer has been identified by archeologists as being used by hunters to kill mastodons about 15,000 years ago....
: Archaeologists find speared skeleton in Australia; A new report led by an archaeologist on the first evidence of death by spearing in Australia has been published in the journal Antiquity. The paper outlines the collaborative detective...
: Prehistoric toolkit unearthed in Jordan; Before the end of the last ice age, a hunter-gatherer left a bag of tools near the wall of a roundhouse residence, where archaeologists have now found the collection 14,000...
: Stonehenge: so what now?; As plans for the Stonehenge tunnel scheme lay in tatters this week, Salisbury MP Robert Key called on government ministers to set up a Stakeholder Task Force to piece together...
: Winter solstice webcast from Newgrange; Newgrange (co. Meath, Ireland) is best known for the illumination of its passage and chamber by the winter solstice sun. Above the entrance to the passage at Newgrange there is...
23 December 2007: Mysterious Neolithic structure unearthed in Orkney; Before everything is lost to the sea around the island of Westray, Historic Scotland have been carrying out a thorough excavation to learn everything they can about the Links of...
: Swiss, EBay stop sale of 4,000-year-old Iraqi treasure; A 4,000-year-old clay tablet authorities suspect was smuggled illegally from Iraq was pulled from eBay just minutes before the close of the online auction, authorities said. Criminal proceedings have been...
: Historian's race to preserve ancient Scottish site; Local historian Alan Brydon has been instrumental in protecting a site of significant archaeological importance which dates back thousands of years. The ancient site at Midshiels (about 4km SW from...
: Reindeer: it's what was for dinner in prehistory; Reindeer meat went from being an occasional treat to everyday fare among prehistoric cavemen who lived in Southwest France and what is now the Czech Republic, two new studies suggest....
: Bronze Age blow to windfarms in Cumbria; Controversial windfarm plans could be blown away after Bronze Age remains were found at a Cumbrian site (England). West Coast Energy has applied to build nine 335ft-high wind turbines at...
: Ancient find in Montana; Archaeologist Stephen Aaberg was surprised with the results of radiocarbon dating tests just completed on samples taken from trenches dug in Alkali Creek (Montana, USA) last summer. The sample that...
30 December 2007: Ancient stone circle found in Skåne; Ancient remains including a 3,000 year-old stone circle have been discovered near Vitemölla on Österlen in the far south of Sweden. The site extends over two hectares and is older...
: Another perfect Solstice watch at Newgrange; A clear frosty morning ensured perfect conditions at Newgrange last Friday morning as the sun illuminated the chamber of the world-famous megalithic tomb on the 40th anniversary of the discovery...
: Scandinavians invented ice skating in 3000 BCE; Archaeological evidence suggests that the first skates made of animal bones date back to 3000 BCE, helping people travel more widely during frozen winters in Finland, marking the start of...
: Ancient petroglyphs lie amidst suburban sprawl; An ancient 40-ton jungle gym of sorts, the massive burnt umber boulder anchors a neighborhood park and beckons suburban kids to clamber over its mysterious Anasazi etchings. And climb aboard...
: Remains of 2500-year-old civilization discovered in Russia; Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a 2500-year-old advanced civilization at the bottom of Lake Issyk Kul in the Kyrgyz mountains in Russia. The team consisted of Kyrgyz historians, led...
: Research group studies chocolate use from ancient pottery; Kennesaw State University Professor Terry Powis led a research group that determined man first used of chocolate about 1,900 BCE, about 700 years earlier than expected. Almost 4,000 years ago,...