Stone Pages Archaeo News: November 2010 Archives

November 2010 index:

8 November 2010: Modern humans emerged earlier than thought; An international team of researchers has discovered well-dated human fossils in southern China that markedly change anthropologists perceptions of the emergence of modern humans in the eastern Old World. The...
: Archaeologists uncover early Neolithic activity on Cyprus; The early prehistory of human civilization on Cyprus may end up being rewritten by archaeologisits from Cornell University who have uncovered evidence that hunter-gatherers began to form agricultural settlements on...
: Ancient megalithic sites discovered in Russia; Archeologists of the Chelyabinsk State University have unearthed an ancient megalithic complex in Kartalinsky District of the Chelyabinsk Region (Russia). According to researchers, it is the first find of the...
: Neolithic knives found at Tirnony Dolmen; Neolithic flint blades, found in the interior of the Tirnony Dolmen (Maghera, Northern Ireland) was likely left with the body of an individual who was buried there 5,500 years ago....
: 10,000-year-old camp site unearthed along USA/Canada border; For the last several weeks a team of archaeologists has been gathering and collecting artifacts along the banks of the Saint Croix River. The property is currently owned by the...
: Bulgarian archaeologist stumble upon 8000-year-old skeleton; Bulgarian archaeologist Boris Borisov and his team from the University of Veliko Turnovo have discovered an 8,000 year old home close to the village of Krum (Haskovo District). Near the...
: Copper Age history of Armenia revealed; Several new finds have given scientists insight into life in Armenia during the Copper Age, 6000-3500 years BCE. In the Arenia-1 cave, Pavel Avetisian and his team from the Institute...
: Silbury Hill's construction process was more important than design; Silbury Hill, the neolithic chalk mound in Wiltshire (England) is Europe's largest prehistoric man-made feature. This ancient monument was believed to have taken many centuries to build, but research by...
: Prehistoric migrants found in Gloucestershire; Scientists have examined the teeth of human remains found during an archeological dig in Cirencester (east Gloucestershire, England). They believe the people were not local, but had travelled here from...
: Tool-making technique is much older than thought; Scientists working at the Blombos Cave in South Africa believe they have found 75,000 year-old evidence of a sophisticated stone-trimming technique called pressure flaking. If they are correct, it will...
: Bronze Age hoard found intact in Essex; Archaeologists have unearthed a collection of Bronze Age axe heads, spear tips and other 3,000-year-old metal objects buried in an Essex field (England). The items include an intact pottery container...
: Ancient Orcadians decorated their houses with homemade paint; Neolithic people were proud of their houses and enjoyed doing DIY, new research has revealed. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that shows ancient people from 5,000 years ago painted the insides...
: British archaeology volunteers trace transport links back 4,000 years; Exciting archealogical finds were made on the first ever field walking workshop held to promote local heritage and distinctiveness in the Eden area (Westmorland, England). Residents of Orton and Tebay...
: ArchaeoNews: Archaeology News in your pocket!; If you are a fan of prehistory, if you are always trying to find out the latest news on breathtaking discoveries and the most exciting digs on the planet, if...
17 November 2010: Was death of an Iron Age man a ritual killing?; In 2008, archaeologists were excavating an area ready for the University of York's new campus to be built (North Yorkshire, England). They had found evidence of an extensive prehistoric farming...
: Community dig of a Bronze Age Canaanite settlement; A Canaanite settlement dating back to the Bronze Age, Tel Esur, has been exposed at a unique excavation project - the biggest community dig ever to be held in Israel,...
: Beer may have helped the rise of civilization, study suggests; May beer have helped lead to the rise of civilization? It's a possibility, some archaeologists say. Signs that people went to great lengths to obtain grains despite the hard work...
: Ancient quern stone found on a golf course; An ancient quern stone was found by greenkeepers at Leighton Buzzard golf course in Bedfordshire (England) as they dug out a new tee. "The guys were digging the fourth tee...
: World's oldest axe found in Australia; Archaeologists revealed they have found a piece of a stone axe dated as 35,500 years old on sacred Aboriginal land in Australia, the oldest object of its type ever found....
: Enthusiasts find Bronze Age artefacts in Dorset; Two treasure hunters have discovered a number of Bronze Age artefacts whilst metal detecting in a field in West Dorset (England). The items, dating back to 800 BCE, consist of...
: Late Mesolithic items found in Wales; The discovery of artefacts during gas mains excavations in Monmouth (Wales) has helped illustrate how the River Wye supported a Stone Age camp. Archaeologists found flint tools and bone fragments...
: Prehistoric Ilkley Moor carvings in 3D; Prehistoric carvings on Ilkley Moor (the moorland between Ilkley and Keighley in West Yorkshire, England) are to be preserved with help from the latest technology so future generations will be...
: Similarity between Neanderthal and human brains at birth; New-born humans' brains are about the same size and of similar appearance to those of Neanderthals, but alter in the first year of life, a new scientific study suggested. After...
: Prehistoric finds on the Isle of Man; Neolithic urns dating back 4,000 years together with Bronze Age burial cists have been uncovered by archaeologists at a dig near the Balthane industrial estate in Ballasalla (Isle of Man)....
: DNA reveals origins of first European farmers; A team of international researchers has resolved the longstanding issue of the origins of the people who introduced farming to Europe some 8000 years ago. A detailed genetic study of...
: Neolithic findings in Syria; Carved panels and archeological findings dating back to the 10th Millennium BCE were unearthed at Tel al-Abar 3 site, left bank of the Euphrates River (Syria). According to the head...
: Stone age etchings found in Amazon basin; A series of ancient underwater etchings has been uncovered near the jungle city of Manaus, following a drought in the Brazilian Amazon. The previously submerged images - engraved on rocks...
19 November 2010: Road driven through Tasmania's Aboriginal history; Archaeologists in Tasmania (Australia) have revealed an exceptional site on the banks of the Jordan River outside Hobart. Eight test pits were dug yielding nearly 1500 artefacts, leading the team...
: Conference sheds light on sounds of the past; Archaeoacoustics, or acoustic archaeology, focuses on the use and experience of sound in past cultures. Researchers at the Acoustical Society of America's recent conference in Cancun recently presented their investigations...
20 November 2010: Ancient structure unearthed near Glasgow; Last week contractors working in the grounds of the former Woodilee Hospital, between Kirkintilloch and Lenzie (East Dunbartonshire, Scotland), unearthed what is thought to be a wooden roundhouse dating back...
: Amazing Bronze Age finds at Cambridgeshire quarry dig; Archaeologists digging at Must Farm quarry near Whittlesey (Cambridgeshire, England) have shown off amazing finds. Hoards of Bronze Age weapons, textiles and even pots full of food and footprints have...
21 November 2010: Archaeological sites vulnerable to global warming and erosion; A call to action has been proposed in the Journal of Coastal Conservation. A study by Leslie Reeder from Southern Methodist University (USA), Torben Rick at the Smithsonian Institution and...
: Did Neanderthals mature faster than modern humans?; A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences presents dental evidence that Neanderthals matured more rapidly than modern humans. The researchers examined 11 teeth from Neanderthals...
24 November 2010: Unravelling the secrets of Irish Iron Age bog bodies; When the remains of one of Ireland's oldest murder victims came out of the bog near Croghan Hill in Co Meath (Ireland) in May 2003, Irish police was called in...
: Improvement of the Megalithic Portal website; One of the latest additions of the Megalithic Portal website are the personal site visit logs. "This is a major new feature for the Megalithic Portal and I would encourage...
: Chinese mine in Afghanistan threatens ancient find; A Chinese company is eager to begin developing the world's second-biggest unexploited copper mine which lies beneath the ruins of a 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery in Afghanistan. Beijing put $3.5 billion...
: World's oldest Copper Age settlement found; A 'sensational' discovery of 75-century-old copper tools in Serbia - up to eight centuries older than what has been found to date - is now compelling scientists to reevaluate existing...
: Neolithic ball bearings to build Stonehenge?; According to a new theory, Neolithic engineers may have used ball bearings in the construction of Stonehenge. The same technique that allows vehicles and machinery to run smoothly today could...
: Three Paleolithic sites found in China; Three Paleolithic sites have been discovered recently to the west of the Lingjing Xuchang Man Site in east-central China's Henan Province by the Lingjing Archaeological Team from the Henan Provincial...
: 3,000-year-old musical instrument unearthed in Vietnam; A set of stone musical instrument dating from 3,000 years ago was unearthed by a farmer in Da Kai commune, Duc Linh district (Vietnam). The music instrument comprises five slabs...
: Huge grant to revamp the area around Stonehenge; Stonehenge is getting a 10 million-pound (US$15.8 million) grant that conservators say will help restore some dignity to a World Heritage site blighted by busy roads and cramped facilities. English...
25 November 2010: Dead Sea drilling to reveal wealth of data; Scientists in Israel are about to realize a long held ambition to drill a core from the bed of the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. Zvi Ben-Avraham and...
: Ancient drilled eggshells discovered in China; A Chinese archeological team from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage recently found two pieces of ostrich egg shells bearing drilled holes in a paleolithic site in the suburb of...
26 November 2010: A prehistoric star map carved on a Welsh capstone?; A recent excavation programme at a standing stone known as Trefael, near Newport (south-west Wales) has revealed that what originally was a portal dolmen in later times was transformed in...
27 November 2010: 3,000-year-old fruit cellar found in China; A 3,000-year-old fruit cellar containing well-preserved apricot and melon seeds has been discovered in Shaanxi province, in southeast China. Found by archaeologists including researcher Sun Zhouyong of the Shaanxi Provincial...
: Iron Age burial urn unearthed in India; A singularly massive megalithic urn with black and red ware, presumably dating back to the early-Iron age, was recently unearthed at Thillayadi in Nagapattinam, India. The 1.5m (5') high urn...