Archaeologists in a remote region of Switzerland have excavated the ruins of the oldest hut in the Alps, a prehistoric discovery that dates back nearly 3,000 years.
The find in the Silvretta mountains near the Austrian border gives scientists the oldest architectural proof that early Iron Age shepherds spent summers living among the rich alpine grasses, tending to herds and using milk to make cheese, in a way much like farmers today.
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Monday, July 27, 2009
Silvio Berlusconi sex scandal overshadowed by cave row
A row about the discovery of a series of 2,300-year-old caves has emerged as a potentially greater threat to Silvio Berlusconi than allegations he slept call girl Patrizia D'Addario.
The latest extracts of taped bedroom conversations to be released contained an apparently innocuous remark by the Italian prime minister that he had discovered 30 ancient tombs on one of his estates.
He is heard boasting to Miss D'Addario, 42, about the existence of Phoenician tombs, from the 3rd Century BC on his Villa Certosa estate on Sardinia where guests have included Tony Blair.
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The latest extracts of taped bedroom conversations to be released contained an apparently innocuous remark by the Italian prime minister that he had discovered 30 ancient tombs on one of his estates.
He is heard boasting to Miss D'Addario, 42, about the existence of Phoenician tombs, from the 3rd Century BC on his Villa Certosa estate on Sardinia where guests have included Tony Blair.
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Monday, July 20, 2009
Excavation work takes place on Stone Age dwelling
EXCAVATION work was due to finish at the weekend on a Stone Age dwelling unearthed at Ronaldsway.
The 8,000-year-old structure, found during construction of the airport runway extension, is believed to be the oldest house ever found in the Isle of Man.
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The 8,000-year-old structure, found during construction of the airport runway extension, is believed to be the oldest house ever found in the Isle of Man.
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When and wear: the prehistory of clothing
Ask Ian Gilligan about his research project, and he’ll begin with a contradiction.
“My great interest is in clothing, because I think it’s our most important invention,” he says. “But the next thing I’m going to say is that I’m not interested in clothing at all.”
Is this the sign of a confused mind, or a rampant contrarian? Far from it.
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“My great interest is in clothing, because I think it’s our most important invention,” he says. “But the next thing I’m going to say is that I’m not interested in clothing at all.”
Is this the sign of a confused mind, or a rampant contrarian? Far from it.
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Neanderthals Were Few and Poised for Extinction
Neanderthals are of course extinct. But there never were very many of them, new research concludes.
In fact, new genetic evidence from the remains of six Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) suggests the population hovered at an average of 1,500 females of reproductive age in Europe between 38,000 and 70,000 years ago, with the maximum estimate of 3,500 such female Neanderthals.
"It seems they never really took off in Eurasia in the way modern humans did later," said study researcher Adrian Briggs of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
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In fact, new genetic evidence from the remains of six Neanderthals (Homo neanderthalensis) suggests the population hovered at an average of 1,500 females of reproductive age in Europe between 38,000 and 70,000 years ago, with the maximum estimate of 3,500 such female Neanderthals.
"It seems they never really took off in Eurasia in the way modern humans did later," said study researcher Adrian Briggs of the Max-Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany.
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Thursday, July 9, 2009
Did an Ancient Volcano Freeze Earth?
One fine day about 74,000 years ago, a giant volcano on Sumatra blew its top. The volcano, named Toba, may have ejected 1000 times more rock and other material than Mount St. Helens in Washington state did in 1980. In the process, it cooled the climate by at least 10°C, causing a global famine. But could the aftermath have been even worse? A new study puts to rest questions about whether Toba plunged Earth into a 1000-year deep freeze and whether an equivalent event today could jump-start a new, millennia-long ice age.
Giant volcanic eruptions such as Toba briefly cause the opposite of global warming. Although eruptions do emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, volcanoes also spew sulfur dioxide. Combined with water vapor, sulfur dioxide forms sulfate aerosols, which can spread around the globe, blocking solar radiation and chilling the air before becoming acid rain and snow.
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Giant volcanic eruptions such as Toba briefly cause the opposite of global warming. Although eruptions do emit greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, volcanoes also spew sulfur dioxide. Combined with water vapor, sulfur dioxide forms sulfate aerosols, which can spread around the globe, blocking solar radiation and chilling the air before becoming acid rain and snow.
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Archaeologists Discover Mesolithic Human Traces in South-Western Romania
Human traces dating from the Early Mesolithic Period were recently discovered at the Schela Cladovei archaeological site in south-western Romania by experts from the University of Edinburgh and of the “Vasile Parvan” Bucharest Institute of Archaeology.
The unearthed finds indicate the beginning of human sedentary life, the transition from the food-gathering, fishing and hunting stage to a primitive civilization dating from 7100 to 5500 BC, Professor Adina Boroneanţ, the archaeological team’s coordinator recently told the Romanian press agency Agerpres.
“It is the first time when, for a period specific to the Romanian Neolithic, we come upon one of a kind traces. These are the ruins of an artisan centre producing malachite beads. We found such pieces in both unprocessed and processed stage. And what is more interesting, we even found the silex tools used to manufacture these ornaments,” Boroneanţ explained.
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The unearthed finds indicate the beginning of human sedentary life, the transition from the food-gathering, fishing and hunting stage to a primitive civilization dating from 7100 to 5500 BC, Professor Adina Boroneanţ, the archaeological team’s coordinator recently told the Romanian press agency Agerpres.
“It is the first time when, for a period specific to the Romanian Neolithic, we come upon one of a kind traces. These are the ruins of an artisan centre producing malachite beads. We found such pieces in both unprocessed and processed stage. And what is more interesting, we even found the silex tools used to manufacture these ornaments,” Boroneanţ explained.
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Secrets of 'unlucky' Bradford hill fort under the microscope
Described by one archaeologist as the unluckiest hill fort in Wiltshire, the Iron Age past of Budbury in Bradford on Avon remains to this day shrouded in mystery.
Local historians have been trying to unlock Budbury’s secrets ever since eminent archaeologist GJ Wainwright uncovered evidence of a substantial hill fort in the area, which is now developed into housing, dating back to as early as 600BC.
Wainwright believed he was on the verge of uncovering a burial mound, so the discovery of the hill fort, thought to cover up to six acres of land, came as a complete surprise.
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Local historians have been trying to unlock Budbury’s secrets ever since eminent archaeologist GJ Wainwright uncovered evidence of a substantial hill fort in the area, which is now developed into housing, dating back to as early as 600BC.
Wainwright believed he was on the verge of uncovering a burial mound, so the discovery of the hill fort, thought to cover up to six acres of land, came as a complete surprise.
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Saturday, July 4, 2009
No Etruscan link to modern Tuscans
The current population of Tuscany is not descended from the Etruscans, the people that lived in the region during the Bronze Age, a new Italian study has shown.
Researchers at the universities of Florence, Ferrara, Pisa, Venice and Parma discovered the genealogical discontinuity by testing samples of mitochondrial DNA from remains of Etruscans and people who lived in the Middle Ages (between the 10th and 15th centuries) as well as from people living in the region today.
While there was a clear genetic link between Medieval Tuscans and the current population, the relationship between modern Tuscans and their Bronze Age ancestors could not be proven, the study showed.
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Researchers at the universities of Florence, Ferrara, Pisa, Venice and Parma discovered the genealogical discontinuity by testing samples of mitochondrial DNA from remains of Etruscans and people who lived in the Middle Ages (between the 10th and 15th centuries) as well as from people living in the region today.
While there was a clear genetic link between Medieval Tuscans and the current population, the relationship between modern Tuscans and their Bronze Age ancestors could not be proven, the study showed.
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No Etruscan link to modern Tuscans
The current population of Tuscany is not descended from the Etruscans, the people that lived in the region during the Bronze Age, a new Italian study has shown.
Researchers at the universities of Florence, Ferrara, Pisa, Venice and Parma discovered the genealogical discontinuity by testing samples of mitochondrial DNA from remains of Etruscans and people who lived in the Middle Ages (between the 10th and 15th centuries) as well as from people living in the region today.
While there was a clear genetic link between Medieval Tuscans and the current population, the relationship between modern Tuscans and their Bronze Age ancestors could not be proven, the study showed.
Read the rest of this article...
Researchers at the universities of Florence, Ferrara, Pisa, Venice and Parma discovered the genealogical discontinuity by testing samples of mitochondrial DNA from remains of Etruscans and people who lived in the Middle Ages (between the 10th and 15th centuries) as well as from people living in the region today.
While there was a clear genetic link between Medieval Tuscans and the current population, the relationship between modern Tuscans and their Bronze Age ancestors could not be proven, the study showed.
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Friday, July 3, 2009
Iron Age coins declared treasure
One of the UK's largest hauls of Iron Age gold coins has been declared treasure at an inquest in Suffolk.
The 840 handmade coins, called staters, were unearthed in a field near Wickham Market, Suffolk, in March last year.
After Michael Dark made the discovery with his metal detector, archaeologists found more coins, which are now at the British Museum in London.
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The 840 handmade coins, called staters, were unearthed in a field near Wickham Market, Suffolk, in March last year.
After Michael Dark made the discovery with his metal detector, archaeologists found more coins, which are now at the British Museum in London.
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Via Aurelia: The Roman Empire's Lost Highway
French amateur archaeologist Bruno Tassan fights to preserve a neglected 2,000-year-old ancient interstate in southern Provence
At first glance, it didn't appear that impressive: a worn limestone pillar, six feet high and two feet wide, standing slightly askew beside a country road near the village of Pélissanne in southern France. "A lot of people pass by without knowing what it is," Bruno Tassan, 61, was saying, as he tugged aside dense weeds that had grown over the column since he last inspected it. Tassan was showing me a milliaire, or milestone, one of hundreds planted along the highways of Gaul at the time of the Roman Empire. The inscription had worn away ages ago, but Tassan, a documentary filmmaker and amateur archaeologist, was well versed in the artifact's history. This particular stone, set in place in 3 B.C. during the reign of Augustus, was once a perfect cylinder, set along the nearly 50 miles between Aquae Sextiae (Aix-en-Provence) and Arelate (Arles). "It's one of the last standing," Tassan said.
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At first glance, it didn't appear that impressive: a worn limestone pillar, six feet high and two feet wide, standing slightly askew beside a country road near the village of Pélissanne in southern France. "A lot of people pass by without knowing what it is," Bruno Tassan, 61, was saying, as he tugged aside dense weeds that had grown over the column since he last inspected it. Tassan was showing me a milliaire, or milestone, one of hundreds planted along the highways of Gaul at the time of the Roman Empire. The inscription had worn away ages ago, but Tassan, a documentary filmmaker and amateur archaeologist, was well versed in the artifact's history. This particular stone, set in place in 3 B.C. during the reign of Augustus, was once a perfect cylinder, set along the nearly 50 miles between Aquae Sextiae (Aix-en-Provence) and Arelate (Arles). "It's one of the last standing," Tassan said.
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New Fossil Primate Challenges "Missing Link" Ida
Remember Ida? It's been just a month since the fossil primate made her debut on the History Channel where she was called a "missing link" between humans and primitive primates and a "revolutionary scientific find that will change everything." But Ida may be robbed of her claim to that title by a new fossil primate from Asia, published today. "It shows that Ida is out of the running as a [human] ancestor," says the fossil's discoverer, paleontologist K. Christopher Beard of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Researchers have long searched for the earliest anthropoids, advanced primates that were the ancestors of humans, apes, and monkeys. Until recently, most scientists thought anthropoids arose in Africa, where the oldest widely accepted members of the group lived as early as 37 million years ago in the Fayum province of Egypt.
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Researchers have long searched for the earliest anthropoids, advanced primates that were the ancestors of humans, apes, and monkeys. Until recently, most scientists thought anthropoids arose in Africa, where the oldest widely accepted members of the group lived as early as 37 million years ago in the Fayum province of Egypt.
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Bulgaria: Archaeologists Research Balkans’ Oldest Funeral Site
A team of Dutch archaeologists has come to the village of Dzhulyunitsa in central northern Bulgaria in order to research the oldest funeral site in the Balkans.
The site, discovered by Nedko Elenski, an archaeologist from the Regional History Museum of Veliko Tarnovo in 2004, is a funeral of a person of the age between 12 and 13, which dates to 6300 – 6150 BC.
The Neolithic settlement near the modern-day village of Dzhulyunitsa existed between 6300 and 5700 BC. The settlement flourished around 6000 BC but, 300 years later, life there ceased to exist due to reasons that are still unknown to archaeologists.
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The site, discovered by Nedko Elenski, an archaeologist from the Regional History Museum of Veliko Tarnovo in 2004, is a funeral of a person of the age between 12 and 13, which dates to 6300 – 6150 BC.
The Neolithic settlement near the modern-day village of Dzhulyunitsa existed between 6300 and 5700 BC. The settlement flourished around 6000 BC but, 300 years later, life there ceased to exist due to reasons that are still unknown to archaeologists.
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Feature - Grid makes a SPLASH in underwater archaeology
Submerged beneath the waves lies a large part of human history.
For our ancestors, the ancient coastlines were attractive places to settle and experiment with what became the foundations of civilization. As the major glaciers melted between sixteen and six thousand years ago, these sites — where people first began to make fishing equipment, build boats and create permanent settlements — became engulfed by the rising seas.
But rather than destroying these ancient landscapes, the rising sea level instead preserved many of them, and with them many details in the story of our past.
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For our ancestors, the ancient coastlines were attractive places to settle and experiment with what became the foundations of civilization. As the major glaciers melted between sixteen and six thousand years ago, these sites — where people first began to make fishing equipment, build boats and create permanent settlements — became engulfed by the rising seas.
But rather than destroying these ancient landscapes, the rising sea level instead preserved many of them, and with them many details in the story of our past.
Read the rest of this article...
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