Stone Pages Archaeo News: April 2010 Archives

April 2010 index:

16 April 2010: Neanderthals and modern humans in Spain; New research undertaken by the Centre for Prehistoric Archaeological Heritage Studies at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona supports the view that modern humans and Neanderthals may have occupied the same...
: Possible new human relative from Siberia; Researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig recently announced that analysis of DNA from a tiny fragment of bone from the Denisova Cave in the Siberian...
: Yellowstone National Park was an ancient summer camp; University of Montana archaeologists have been excavating in Yellowstone National Park and have come to the conclusion that the area was a popular summer camp long before modern day Americans...
: Excavations in Syria shed light on Ubaid Period; Archaeologists from Syria and the United States have been excavating a site known as Tell Zeidan, on the borders of Syria and Turkey. This site is rare in the fact...
: Earliest known human-made structure discovered; A stone wall, built 23,000 years ago, was found in the Theopetra cave near Kalambak in Greece. Optically Stimulated Luminescence testing on quartz grains in the stones confirmed that it...
17 April 2010: 4,000 year-old artifacts found in South Carolina; One of the few nearly intact archaeological sites of the South Carolina Lowcountry (USA) provides a glimpse into life during the Stallings period, 3,500 to 1,000 years BP. The site...
: New method could revolutionize dating of ancient treasures; Scientists described development of a new method to determine the age of ancient mummies, old artwork, and other relics without causing damage to these treasures of global cultural heritage. Reporting...
: Dig for Bronze Age King's Ditch in Herefordshire; Archaeologists have begun excavating a site in Herefordshire (England), which they believe may reveal a 3,000-year-old earth trench called the King's Ditch. Border Archaeology firm is digging in the former...
: Religious beliefs may have originated Palaeolithic art; For years anthropologists, archaeologists and historians of art understood the earliest artistic manifestations as purely aesthetic and decorative motives. Eduardo Palacio-Pérez, researcher at the University of Cantabria (UC), now reveals...
: 4,200 year-old Chinese grave reveals eternal embrace; The Chengdu Municipal Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology recently discovered an ancient grave during an excavation on a large prehistoric site in China, in which a couple was found...
: Large Neolithic settlement unearthed in Syria; Tal Bokrous is a sample of the first agricultural village built according to the architectural style of the Stone Age in Deir Ezzor, (432 kms northeast of Damascus, Syria). The...
: New seminar: Researching Stonehenge & Avebury; A joint research seminar organised by the Prehistoric Society and the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society in association with the Avebury Archaeological and Historical Research Group will be held...
: Stone Age Scandinavians unable to digest milk; The hunter-gatherers who inhabited the southern coast of Scandinavia 4,000 years ago were lactose intolerant. This has been shown by a new study carried out by researchers at Uppsala University...
: Avebury human remains will stay in local museum; After consideration of evidence and extensive consultation, English Heritage have decided that the prehistoric human remains in the Alexander Keiller Museum, Avebury, should be kept in the museum for the...
: Bronze Age finds at Guernsey airport; With the planned development of Guernsey's runway surveying around the airport uncovered the remains of a bronze age settlement in 2008. Archaeological excavation began on the site in March 2009...
: Prehistoric tumuli found in central Serbia; Archaeologists from the museum in the city of Čačak discovered several pre-historic tumuli in the vicinity of the Mrčajevci settlement in the Krnjina region of central Serbia. The four discovered...
: Over a thousand prehistoric sites found on Google Street View; Following the recent expansion of Google Street View to most of the UK's roads, a website called the Megalithic Portal has created a comprehensive map of prehistoric and ancient sites,...
: Climate change did not pose challenges to first Americans; Paleoindian groups occupied North America throughout the Younger Dryas interval, which saw a rapid return to glacial conditions approximately 11,000 years ago. Until now, it has been assumed that cooling...
: Nine megalithic sites in England linked to death rituals; Nine megalithic sites in a remote part of Dartmoor (England), share features in common with Stonehenge, and may shed light on the meaning behind these prehistoric stone monuments, according to...
21 April 2010: The sealed wonders of Sardinia; Sardinia is an Italian island known mainly among archaeologists for its nuraghes - ancient towers somewhat reminiscent of Scottish brochs, but far more numerous and quite elaborate. On the island...
24 April 2010: Australians build a new Stonehenge by the sea; Work on a new Stonehenge 'Down Under' is scheduled to start shortly. In a bid to attract tourists and increase revenue, the Rotary club of Esperance, Western Australia, is leading...
: Turkish lentils are 4,000 years past sell-by date; Turkish arachaeologists have discovered some 4,000 year old, intact, lentil seeds, when excavating in the Seyitomer District of Turkey. The seeds have been germinated in a sterile environment and are...
: Bronze Age ditch found in Hereford; Archaeologists in Hereford (Herefordshire, England) have discovered a Bronze Age earth ditch which much later may have marked the boundary between the king's land and that belonging to the church....
: 18th century account provides a snapshot of Avebury; A poem and illustrated 'blog' written by Charles Lucas give a detailed description of the Avebury neolithic earthworks, stone circles and henge (Wilthsire, England), and denounce the 'vandalism' of that...
: Final Seahenge oak stump completes museum exhibit; After 12 years of preservation efforts, the 8 foot-high oak tree from the center of the Bronze Age Seahenge timber circle joined the rest of the excavated monument in the...
: Arsenic-laced water may have killed ancient peoples in Chile; Poison-laced drinking water killed some of the world's oldest mummies, which are found in the harsh northern deserts of Chile, a new study says. "I believe [these] ancient people were...
: Stalagmite reveals carbon footprint of early Native Americans; Chemical analysis of a stalagmite found in the mountainous Buckeye Creek basin of West Virginia (USA) suggests that native people contributed a significant level of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere...
: 6,000-year-old cave paintings found in China; Chinese archeologists have discovered two 6,000-year-old sites with colored cave paintings and fingerprints in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The discoveries were made in two caves situated in the...
: Findings spur new look at ancient Vietnamese culture; Archaeologists in the central province of Quang Ngai (Vietnam) have unearthed findings dating back some 4,000 years, encouraging scientists to study afresh one of Vietnam's most prominent cultures. Dr. Doan...
: DNA from ancient swines sheds light on farming; Today's pigs in China have a pedigree dating back at least 8,000 years to some of the first domesticated swine, scientists say. The finding provides a more detailed picture about...
: Mysterious desert lines were ancient animal traps; British RAF pilots in the early 20th century were the first to spot the strange kite-like lines on the deserts of Israel, Jordan and Egypt from the air and wonder...
: Early humans may have bred with other species; A new genetic study of nearly two thousand people from around the world suggests that some of our ancestors bred with other species of humans, such as Neanderthals, at least...
: Unauthorized construction may have damaged Effigy mounds; Unauthorized construction projects may have damaged the ancient cultural features that Effigy Mounds National Monument (Iowa, USA) was established to protect. A team of archaeologists is working to determine what,...
: Origin of clothing dated thanks to lice DNA study; Using DNA to trace the evolutionary split between head and body lice, researchers conclude that body lice first came on the scene approximately 190,000 years ago. And that shift, the...