Stone Pages Archaeo News: May 2012 Archives

May 2012 index:

11 May 2012: How was Europe repopulated after Ice Age?; Scientists have used DNA analysis to gain important new insights into how human beings repopulated Europe as the Ice Age relaxed its grip. Dr Maria Pala, from the University of...
: Neolithic burial discovered in Qatar; In a major development for the archaeological excavations across Qatar, an unmarked grave has been discovered at Wadi Debayan, one of the earliest Neolithic-Chalcolithic sites in the Gulf. The exploration...
: Analysis suggests France cave art is 'oldest'; The smooth curves and fine details in the paintings of bears, rhinoceroses and horses in the Chauvet cave in southern France are so advanced that some scholars thought they dated...
: Ancient language discovered on tablets found in Turkey; Archaeologists have discovered evidence for a previously unknown ancient language - buried in the ruins of a 2800 year old palace in Turkey. The discovery is important because it may...
: 6,000-year-old settlement found in Ireland; Archeologists have uncovered evidence of pre-farming people living in the Burren more than 6,000 years ago - one of the oldest habitations ever unearthed in Ireland. Radiocarbon dating of a...
12 May 2012: A possible additional chamber in an Orcadian tomb; The chambered tomb at Banks, in South Ronaldsay (Orkney, Scotland), continues to throw up yet more surprises, including the discovery of what appears to be a sixth chamber within the...
: 4000-year-old rock art discovered in Mongolia; Eighteen rock art sites dating back over 4,000 years have been discovered by archaeologists in northern China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The prehistoric art was discovered in the Yinshan Mountains...
: Bronze Age remains X-rayed in England; Early Bronze Age remains from a burial site in Dartmoor National Park (south Devon, England) will be X-rayed at Salisbury District Hospital. The items were found in a burial cist,...
: Bones of early American disappear from underwater cave; One of the first humans to inhabit the Americas has been stolen - and archaeologists want it back. The skeleton, which is probably at least 10,000 years old, has disappeared...
: Volunteers race to save hill fort in Devon; A team of archaeologists will be surveying and excavating the remains of a hill fort before it is lost to the waves forever. The work at Embury Beacon in Hartland...
14 May 2012: Ancient Swedish stone structure spurs debate; Ancient Scandinavians dragged 59 boulders to a seaside cliff near what is now the Swedish fishing village of Kaseberga. They carefully arranged the massive stones - each weighing up to...
: New study chronicles the rise of agriculture in Europe; As reported in the 27 April issue of the journal Science, an analysis of 5,000-year-old DNA taken from the Stone Age remains of four humans excavated in Sweden is helping...
: Mexican experts find ancient blood on stone knives; Traces of blood and fragments of muscle, tendon, skin and hair found on 2,000-year-old stone knives have given researchers the first conclusive evidence that the obsidian blades were used for...
: Did ancient Germans steal the pharaoh's chair design?; Roughly 3,500 years ago, folding chairs remarkably similar to ones found in Egypt suddenly became must-have items in parts of northern Europe. The simple design consists of two movable wooden...
15 May 2012: The Dolmen at Monticello; The village of Monticello - near Finale Ligure, in the west of Italy, is located along the western slopes of Gottaro. The dolmen is located in Valeggia, 199 metres above...
: Human migrations: Eastern odyssey; Some 74,000 years ago, a volcano called Toba on the Indonesian island of Sumatra unleashed one of the greatest eruptions ever known, spreading ash across southern Asia. The catastrophe had...
17 May 2012: Upper Palaeolithic revealed at Mas d'Azil cave; Mas d'Azil is an immense cave, and one of the major prehistoric sites in France. The first research was carried out in 1860, with Felix Garrigou presenting the general stratigraphy...
: Prehistoric farming village discovered in Cyprus; The oldest agricultural settlement ever found on a Mediterranean island has been discovered in Cyprus by a team of French archaeologists. Previously it was believed that the first Neolithic farming...
: Bronze Age boat replica fails to float; A half-size replica of Dover's Bronze Age boat started to sink as it was lowered into the water at Dover Marina (Kent, England), and had to be hoisted out again...
22 May 2012: Anthropologists discover earliest form of wall art; Anthropologists working in Abri Castanet - a rock shelter formerly occupied by a group of Aurignacian reindeer hunters in southern France - have determined that a block of engraved limestone...
23 May 2012: Popularity of rock art images shifted over time; Cambridge archaeologist Mark Sapwell is using software to analyse thousands of Bronze Age images imprinted by generations of semi nomadic people on two granite outcrops the size of football pitches....
26 May 2012: Ice Age Scapa Flow mapped; A team from the universities of St Andrews, Wales, Dundee, Bangor and Aberdeen (UK), led by Orkney based archaeologist Caroline Wickham-Jones, have just completed mapping what would have been the...
: Sussex Bronze Age monument under threat; Fears have been raised by heritage campaigners in Sussex (England) that the proposed route for power cables from a new wind farm, passing through the South Downs National Park, may...
: Stronger protection to Welsh cave art site after vandalism; An ancient cave which proves the existence of human life in Wales more than 12,000 years ago is set to receive greater protection from heritage body Cadw after vandals destroyed...
31 May 2012: Prehistoric twins discovered in Spain; Researchers at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) have discovered the remains of newborn twin girls in the archaeological site of Olèrdola in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). They date back to...