Stone Pages Archaeo News: December 2010 Archives

December 2010 index:

2 December 2010: Sounds of the Peruvian past come alive; Scientists have discoved conch shell musical instruments at a 3,000 year old pre-Inca site in Peru. The shells come from Strombus galeatus, a gastropod found in the Pacific Ocean. They...
: Farmer uncovers clues to coastal California history; Fifty years ago George Silva began collecting artifacts he discovered while working his Watsonville, Calfiornia (US) farm. Located 20 miles inland in the Pajaro Valley, about 70 miles south of...
: Neolithic site discovered in China; A Neolithic site was discovered at the excavation site of two previously-discovered ancient tombs in China. Wang Jiping, leader of the archaeological team from the Xinzhou Heritage Management Office, said...
: Chinese noodle dinner found after 2,500 Years; Noodles, cakes, porridge, and meat bones dating to around 2,500 years ago were recently unearthed at a Chinese cemetery. As the cakes were cooked in an oven-like hearth, this may...
: A virtual dig for archaeology students; Indiana University of Pennsylvania has carved out a virtual dig for its archaeology students in Second Life. Second Life is a popular online destination for people who want to socialize,...
: New geophysical technique applied to rock art; There is a need to record and document rock art images as they face deterioration from environmental, industrial and human impacts. A new pilot project by Jennifer Lynn Milani (Flinders...
: Did humans cause megafauna demise?; Fossils from a recently discovered cave in south western Australia suggest climate change was not solely responsible for the demise of early giant marsupials. A team led by Dr Gavin...
: Coca leaf use started 8,000 years ago; South Americans were chewing coca leaves at least 8,000 years ago, an international team of researchers has discovered. The researchers, who were led by Dr. Tom Dillehay of the Vanderbilt...
5 December 2010: Iranian rock tombs destroyed by explosives; The only known reliefs and rock tombs in Baghmalek district (Khuzestan Province, Iran) known as Roudno have been totally destroyed with explosives. The reason for destruction remains unknown. Despite the...
: 4,000-year-old buildings and other findings unearthed in Syria; The Syrian-French archaeological mission which ended the works for the current season at the site of Tal Faras in Hasaka province (North-eastern Syria) unearthed a number of buildings dating back...
6 December 2010: The lake city of the Indus Valley civilisation; The Indus Valley Civilization was a Bronze Age civilization (3300-1300 BCE) which was centred mostly in the western part of the Indian Subcontinent and which flourished around the Indus River...
: Bronze Age hoard in the lab; Earlier this year a rare Bronze Age hoard, buried within a pot in an Essex field (England), was excavated by archaeologists after being discovered by metal detectorists. In late September...
7 December 2010: Oldest mine of the Americas found in Chile; Archaeologists have discovered a 12,000-year-old iron oxide mine in northern Chile, making it the oldest mine yet discovered in all the Americas. The iron oxide mined by the Huentelauquen Indians...
: Evening walks to Stonehenge; The Wiltshire Heritage Museum is organizing a series of evening walks at Stonehenge, led by WHM director, David Dawson. This is a wonderful opportunity to inspect (but no touching) and...
9 December 2010: Burial cairn found at nuclear dump site in Scotland; A large Bronze Age burial cairn has been uncovered at the site of a proposed £100m nuclear waste dump on the north coast of Caithness, in the Highland area of...
: Australian firestarters; A new study by a team of 19 scientists headed by palaeoecologist Dr Scott Mooney of the University of New South Wales indicates that Australias earliest settlers, who arrived around...
10 December 2010: Climate change - learning from the past; Whilst modern climate change is a contenscious subject, we may be able to learn some lessons from the past. Archaeologists from the University of Ottowa, in Canada, have been studying...
12 December 2010: Catalhoyuk more accessible with 3D imaging; The University of California at Merced's Kolligian Library (5200 North Lake Rd, Merced, California, USA) is taking up two stories to host a unique exhibit. In conjunction with Prof. Maurizio...
: Prehistoric footprints found on a British beach; Prehistoric human footprints have been found along a 4 km strip of coast between Formby and Ainsdale (England) that date back some 5,000 years. Archaeologists dubbed the discovery 'sensational', claiming...
: Turkish skeleton found with arrow tip in spine; The body of a man with an arrow tip still lodged in his spine was found during ongoing excavations in Bursa's Aktopraklık tumulus (Turkey). Archeologists believe that the man had...
: 8,270-year old human bones found in Argentina; Anthropologists found human skeletal remains some 8,270 years old on a lakeside beach in the central province of Santa Fe (Argentina). The remains were found together with the bones of...
13 December 2010: Persian Gulf sites hint at prehistoric people; A study published in the newest issue of Current Anthropology by archeologist Jeffrey Rose of the University of Birmingham (UK) suggests early human habitation 100,000 years ago in a Persian...
: New discoveries at Chiapa de Corzo, Mexico; Chiapa de Corzo is an archaeological site of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, located in the Central Depression of Chiapas of present-day Mexico. Along with about a half dozen other centers, this site...
16 December 2010: Neanderthals may have made earliest human bone tool; Palaeoanthropologist Christine Verna or the Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology suggests that parts of a Neanderthal skull excavated at La Quina in southwest France were used as a tool for...
: Iron Age settlements unearthed in Oman; Biubwa Ali Al Sabri, Director of Excavation and Archaeological Studies at the Ministry of Heritage and Culture in Oman has unearthed evidence of Iron Age (2000-3000 BCE) settlements in the...
17 December 2010: New Woodhenge just a fence?; The Woodhenge in question should not be confused with the more famous Neolithic Class I henge and timber circle located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in Wiltshire (England), which...
: Ancient temple of the sun discovered in Bulgaria; The team of Georgi Ganetsovski, an archaeologist from the Vratsa Regional History Museum who specializes in Paleolithic settlements, has uncovered a structure that might be the world's oldest sun temple,...
18 December 2010: Iron Age dwellers inspire new visitor centre in Somerset; At the foot of Glastonbury Tor (Somerset, England) stretching west towards the sea is the distinct landscape of the Avalon Marshes. The Iron Age inhabitants of this area might have...
: Bronze Age man with broken neck found in Spain; Archaeologists exploring a Bronze Age fortress at La Motilla del Azuer (Spain), have come across a very lucky man. One of the skeletons is of a man that lived more...
19 December 2010: Amateur claims the discovery of a 35km-long rock painting; An Indian amateur archaeologist has claimed to have discovered a prehistoric rock painting stretching up to 35 kilometres in the Garadha area of Bundi district (northwest India). "The rock painting...
: 2,000-year-old petroglyphs damaged in Arizona; Petroglyph panels at Agua Fria National Monument (Arizona, USA) have been damaged by white paint and obscenities scrawled on nearby boulders, the Bureau of Land Management reported. Although the petroglyph...
22 December 2010: Cannibalism among prehistoric re-colonisers of Britain; New research methods show that tooth marks on prehistoric human bones were made by other humans. The findings, to be released in January's issue of The Journal of Human Evolution...
: Ancient findings may stop development in Canada; Opponents of development in the Beaver Pond forest of Kanata - in the western part of Ottawa, Ontario (Canada) - say they have found new tools for the fight. Stone...
: Prehistoric burials unearthed in Vietnam; Archaeologists from Vietnam's Archaeological Academy and the Ha Giang Provincial Museum have excavated the Khuoi Nang cave (North Vietnam), discovering remains that date back between 4,000 and 7,000 years. Associate...
23 December 2010: Climate linked to cultural changes in prehistoric USA; Though climate change seems a particularly modern predicament, scientists are finding evidence that climate fluctuations did influence cultural change among inhabitants of prehistoric New England (USA). Research by Samuel Munoz...
: New insight into Neanderthal family groupings; Following the discovery of the remains of a group of Neanderthals, in a cave in Northern Spain, analysts have uncovered new information which leads to the belief that rather than...
24 December 2010: Jordanian dolmens saved from destruction; A new archaeological preserve in the Jordan Valley will save hundreds of prehistoric tombs from destruction. According to the Jordanian Department of Antiquities (DoA), a new protected area has been...
: Winter solstice celebrations at Stonehenge and Newgrange; Snow and ice failed to keep people away from Stonehenge as they gathered to see the sun rise on the winter solstice. More than 2,000 people came together at the...
: Scientists study Oetzi bacteria samples; A team of Swedish scientists is currently examining specimens of stomach bacteria from Oetzi the Iceman, who lived about 5,300 years ago, at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute (KI). Oetzi was discovered...
: New human ancestors found in Siberian cave; DNA taken from a pinkie bone at least 30,000 years old is hinting at the existence of a previously unknown population of ancient humans. The pinkie bone in question was...
26 December 2010: Prehistoric artifacts neglected in Vietnam; Thousands of artifacts dating back to prehistoric age and the Sa Huynh Culture (a culture in central and southern Vietnam that flourished between 1,000 BCE and 200 CE) excavated from...
: Rare ancient bead found in Suffolk; An ancient gold personal ornament, which was found in Glemsford, near Sudbury (Suffolk, England), may date back to prehistoric times, according to The British Museum. Janina Parol, assistant treasure registrar...
27 December 2010: 6,000-year-old stone workshop discovered in China; Chinese archaeologists have discovered the ruins of an ancient workshop dating back 6,000 years that processed jade and other stone objects. The ruins are located in Tonglu county in Zhejiang...
: Ancient stone alignments in Connecticut?; During the summer solstice, a chunk of white rock in a manmade chamber on the edge of a reservoir in Madison (Connecticut, USA) is illuminated by sunlight in the shape...
31 December 2010: Wind farm plan may help reveal ancient settlements in England; Archaeologists believe plans to connect a network of huge wind farms in the North Sea to an existing sub-station in Cottingham (East Riding of Yorkshire, England) offer the chance to...
: 400,000-year-old remains may be earliest Homo sapiens; Eight human teeth dating back as far as 400,000 years ago and found at the prehistoric Qesem Cave near Rosh Ha'ayin (Central Israel) could be 'the world's earliest evidence' of...
: Dental exam finds Neanderthals ate their veggies; Researchers from George Washington University and the Smithsonian Institution have discovered evidence to debunk the theory that Neanderthals' disappearance was caused in part by a deficient diet - one that...
: Aquatic creatures from the Sahara bolsters 'out of Africa' theory; Fish may have once swum across the Sahara, a finding that could shed light on how humanity made its way out of Africa, researchers said. The cradle of humanity lies...
: A prehistoric map painted on a cave in India; A team of researchers from the Archaeological Survey of India has unearthed maps depicted on the roof of a cave in Karnataka (India) that date back to 1500-2000 BCE. What...
: Australian rock art's colours come from micro-organisms; A particular type of ancient rock art in Western Australia maintains its vivid colours because it is alive, researchers have found. While some rock art fades in hundreds of years,...
: Rich Celtic tomb discovered in Germany; Archeologists in Germany have discovered a 2,600-year-old Celtic tomb containing ornate jewellery of gold and amber. They say the grave is unusually well preserved and should provide important insights into...