17 new pyramids has been discovered by a satellite

17 lost pyramids has been discovered by a satellite survey at Egypt amongst thousands of tombs and ancient settlements.

Scientists made the discovery using infrared images which enabled them to identify underground structures.

The existence of two pyramids have already been confirmed by researchers on the ground.

This cutting edge form of “space archaeology” is being pioneered by a team of archaeologists from the University of Alabama in Birmingham lead by US Egyptologist Dr Sarah Parcak.

The team analysed images from satellite-cameras so powerful they can zoom in on objects less than 1m in diameter on the earth's surface.

Infra-red imaging was then used to identify different materials undeground.

Read more ....... TNT Magazine

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Millions of mummified dogs beneath the Egyptian desert

Photo by Scott Williams, Cardiff University

An elaborate labyrinth of sacred tunnels, containing the mummified remains of millions of dogs, has been excavated under the Egyptian desert.

The Catacombs of Anubis project, led by Paul Nicholson of the School of History, Archaeology and Religion, is examining a labyrinth of tunnels beneath the desert at Saqqara in Egypt. The tunnels make up the catacomb for the burial of animals sacred to the dog or jackal-headed god Anubis.

The Dog Catacomb has been known since the 19th Century but has never been properly excavated before. The excavation team’s latest estimate is that some 8,000,000 animals – most of them dogs or jackals - were buried there. Work on the animal bones suggests that they were only hours or days old when they were killed and mummified. It is likely the dogs were bred in their thousands in special puppy farms around the ancient Egyptian capital of Memphis.

Dr Nicholson said: "Our findings indicate a rather different view of the relationship between people and the animals they worshipped than that normally associated with the ancient Egyptians, since many animals were killed and mummified when only a matter of hours or days old. These animals were not strictly ‘sacrificial’. Rather, the dedication of an animal mummy was regarded as a pious act, with the animal acting as intermediary between the donor and the gods."

Anubis

The project has just won the Andante Travels Archaeological Award for 2011 for a work which has both archaeological significance and public appeal. Andante Travels is a British company specialising in archaeological tourism and the £2000 award will support further work, including radiocarbon dating of the construction phases of the catacomb.

The team is hoping that the geological work on the catacomb will help the Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities, who have generously permitted the work, in monitoring the site for its long term preservation.

The work has been funded in part by the School of History, Archaeology and Religion and by National Geographic.

Source - Cardiff University

~ Library of weird and wonderful news blog ~

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Largest tomb found at Egypt's Saqqara pyramid

Egyptian archaeologists led by Dr. Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, have unearthed the largest tomb yet discovered at the Ras El Mudir area at Saqqara, near the entrance point of the archaeological site.

Simply cut into limestone, the burial, which dates to the 26th Dynasty (664 -525 B.C.), extends from a large rock-hewn hall into a number of corridors and small rooms.

One of two tombs found, which were carved out of stone, consists of a vast chamber that branches off into many alcoves. One alcove contained skeletons, pottery, coffins and eagle mummies, and led to another chamber with a seven-metre-deep (23-foot) well.

"This is the largest tomb in Saqqara," Hawass told AFP. "It took me two hours to look round all of it."

At the northern end of the tomb, Hawass said archaeologists found another alcove that contained mummified falcons - symbols of the sky god Horus - and well-preserved pottery.

However, he said the tomb did appear to have been looted. Pottery was found in the other, much smaller, tomb.

The 2,500-year-old tomb had been opened several times during its history. Most likely, it was robbed at the end of the Roman period.

"This discovery... confirms that the Saqqara area still contains undiscovered secrets," Hawass said.

Via - AFP

Photos: courtesy of Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA)

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Archaeologists found tomb of ancient Chinese ruler Cao Cao

Archaeologists in China have unearthed the tomb of Cao Cao, a legendary ruler who features as a cunning and deceitful politician in folklore stories.

They have excavated a 8,000 square-foot (740-square metre) chamber in Xigaoxue, a village in Henan province, according to the China Daily newspaper.

Cao Cao's military talents in the third century AD led him to be the inspiration behind many popular stories.

The leader of the Anyang Xigaoxue Tomb Archaeological Team, Pan Wenbing says they found armored clothes, swords and spears believed to be once used by Cao Cao.

"Cao Cao commonly uses broadswords and short spears for defense. We have found six of them in the tomb.”

The excavation team also found the skull of a man in his 60s - corresponding to Cao Cao's age at his death. The remains of two women were also found in the cave.

The Chinese equivalent of the English phrase "speak of the devil" is "speak of Cao Cao and Cao Cao arrives".

In one fictional tale, he is quoted as saying: "Better for me to wrong the world than for the world to wrong me."

Cao Cao was the final chancellor of the Eastern Han dynasty, who formed his own state during the political turmoil of the Three Kingdoms period. He died in 220 AD in Luoyang, the capital of the Eastern Han dynasty. He was named, after his death, Emperor Wu of the Wei state that he founded.

Tablets carrying the inscription "King Wu of Wei", Cao's posthumous title, were seized from people who had apparently stolen them from the tomb, the report said.

"The stone tablets bearing inscriptions of Cao's posthumous reference are the strongest evidence," archaeologist Liu Qingzhu, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, was quoted as saying.

"No one would or could have so many relics inscribed with Cao's posthumous reference in the tomb unless it was Cao's."

Via - Sky News , NTDTV

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Golden discovery of Iron Age gold worth more than £1 million

An amateur Scottish treasure hunter discovered a hoard of Iron Age gold worth more than £1 million ($1.6m) on his first outing with a metal detector.

The safari park warden David Booth, 35, bought the £240 detector online because he thought it “might be fun” to look for treasure and struck gold just five days after it was delivered.

He parked his car by field in Stirlingshire and made the find after taking just a few paces. Three of the necklaces or “torcs” are in almost perfect condition and one, which shows signs of Mediterranean craftsmanship, is of a type never seen before in Britain.

Mr Booth said he had not studied archaeology but knew there were some ancient sites in the area and was given permission by a local landowner to try out his new detector.

Until then he had only used the device around his home – detecting knives and forks in the kitchen - to familiarise himself with it.

He set out on his day off on September 29 and was back home within an hour with Scotland’s biggest find of Iron Age gold.

Speaking at the unveiling of the torcs at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh yesterday he said he started in one particular field only because the owner said he could.

He added: “I parked and decided I might as well start on some flat ground just behind the car. “I had only gone about seven paces when I got a sound telling me that I may have found gold. I used a spade and found the torcs together only six to eight inches underground.

“Half of me thought I had found something very interesting and half of me thought it might just be children’s toys. It is absolutely unreal.”

Mr Booth, chief game warden at the Blair Drummond Safari Park outside Stirling, took the artifacts home and washed them in cold water.

Some quick online research suggested to him that he may have found important items from the 1st to 3rd centuries BC – 200 years before the Romans arrived in Britain.

He filled in a form on the Scottish Treasure Trove website and sent a photograph to the unit at the national museum. Members of staff opened the email the following morning and were at the secret site within three hours.

They have since excavated the area, which shows signs of an Iron Age building, but revealed no more treasure.

The Scottish Archaeological Finds Allocation Panel is now valuing the items and Mr Booth will receive the market value for them.

His girlfriend Carolyn Morrison, 28, who also works at the safari park, was at home when he returned with the treasure but “couldn’t believe” that he had found something so important.

He added: "I've no clue how much this lot is worth. People are talking about a million pounds and that would be lovely, but Carolyn is expecting our first child in February and it would be nice just to pay off the Ford Focus."

He is already resigned to the fact that he is unlikely to find anything as exciting again. Experts said the gold necklaces would "revolutionise the way Scotland's Iron Age inhabitants were viewed, and proved they were much less isolated than previously believed.

Fraser Hunter, principal curator for Iron Age and Roman collections, said the craftsmanship of one of the torcs - a hoop made of multiple gold wires twisted together with ornate decorations and gold terminals - suggested it was made by someone who learned his craft in the Mediterranean and combined the style with local Scottish/Irish designs.

He added: "It's a missing link. It's the first time we've seen one that combines these two styles.”

There are also two gold ribbon torcs, of Scottish/Irish design, and a fourth torc which is broken but probably comes from Toulouse in southern France.

David is set to earn a reward equivalent to market value of the torcs, which he says "would be lovely".

Via - Telegraph.co.uk

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Clay Lamps and Glass Kohl Jars Found in Horta Site in Hama

The excavations of the National-Polish Joint Expedition during 2009 in the site of Horta, 15 kilometers north of the ancient city of Apamea in Hama, uncovered a number of clay lamps and glass kohl jars dating back to the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Representative of the Syrian side in the expedition Nadim al-Khouri pointed out that the Horta site has two levels, one Roman and one Byzantine, and that excavations for this season focused on uncovering a temple dedicated to the god Mithras, the principal figure of the Greco-Roman religion of Mithraism.

A big part of the temple was uncovered, particularly the altar and the main hall. The walls of the main hall bear frescos depicting Mithras and other gods associated with him.

The roof western side of the temple is almost completely collapsed, and the clay lamps and glass kohl jars were found during the process of clearing the rubble from that area, in addition to uncovering remains pottery that possibly date back to the Byzantine period since they bear the sign of the cross.

Excavations also uncovered the remaining parts of a clay container that was discovered in 2003.

The expedition will work in upcoming seasons to uncover the exterior parts of the temple, which has an area of approximately 200 square meters.

Earlier excavations in the Horta site uncovered the Alexandros church, one of the oldest churches in the region, dating back to 421 AD.

Meanwhile, the Syrian-Japanese Archeological Expedition uncovered a burial chamber dating back to the Bronze Age circa 2000 BC at Tel Ghanem al-Ali site, which is located on the Eastern bank of the Euphrates River east of al-Raqqah city.

The burial chamber contained several clay jars and plates, beads, and bronze drill. The National Archeological expedition working at the Maslama bin Abdel-Malek Keep site, which is located 70 kilometers north of al-Raqqah, uncovered the praying niche of mosque, painted in white plaster from the inside and covered in carved bricks on the outside, with a floor made of bricks.

The same expedition uncovered buildings and bath-houses near al-Imara Castle, in addition to a well, bronze artifacts and clay pots.

H. Sabbagh / Kh. Aridi



Source - SANA

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World’s oldest submerged town dates back 5,000 years

Archaeologists surveying the world’s oldest submerged town have found ceramics dating back to the Final Neolithic. Their discovery suggests that Pavlopetri, off the southern Laconia coast of Greece, was occupied some 5,000 years ago - at least 1,200 years earlier than originally thought.

These remarkable findings have been made public by the Greek government after the start of a five year collaborative project involving the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and The University of Nottingham.

As a Mycenaean town the site offers potential new insights into the workings of Mycenaean society. Pavlopetri has added importance as it was a maritime settlement from which the inhabitants coordinated local and long distance trade.

The Pavlopetri Underwater Archaeology Project aims to establish exactly when the site was occupied, what it was used for and through a systematic study of the geomorphology of the area, how the town became submerged.

This summer the team carried out a detailed digital underwater survey and study of the structural remains, which until this year were thought to belong to the Mycenaean period - around 1600 to 1000 BC. The survey surpassed all their expectations. Their investigations revealed another 9,000 square metres of new buildings as well as ceramics that suggest the site was occupied throughout the Bronze Age - from at least 2800 BC to 1100 BC.

The work is being carried out by a multidisciplinary team led by Mr Elias Spondylis, Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Hellenic Ministry of Culture in Greece and Dr Jon Henderson, an underwater archaeologist from the Department of Archaeology at The University of Nottingham.

Dr Jon Henderson said: “This site is unique in that we have almost the complete town plan, the main streets and domestic buildings, courtyards, rock-cut tombs and what appear to be religious buildings, clearly visible on the seabed. Equally as a harbour settlement, the study of the archaeological material we have recovered will be extremely important in terms of revealing how maritime trade was conducted and managed in the Bronze Age.”

Possibly one of the most important discoveries has been the identification of what could be a megaron - a large rectangular great hall - from the Early Bronze Age period. They have also found over 9,000 square metres of new buildings including what could be the first example of a pillar crypt ever discovered on the Greek mainland. Two new stone built cist graves were also discovered alongside what appears to be a Middle Bronze Age pithos burial.

Mr Spondylis said: “It is a rare find and it is significant because as a submerged site it was never re-occupied and therefore represents a frozen moment of the past.”

The Archaeological Co-ordinator Dr Chrysanthi Gallou a postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Nottingham is an expert in Aegean Prehistory and the archaeology of Laconia.

Dr Gallou said: “The new ceramic finds form a complete and exceptional corpus of pottery covering all sub-phases from the Final Neolithic period (mid 4th millennium BC) to the end of the Late Bronze Age (1100 BC). In addition, the interest from the local community in Laconia has been fantastic. The investigation at Pavlopetri offers a great opportunity for them to be actively involved in the preservation and management of the site, and subsequently for the cultural and touristic development of the wider region.”

The team was joined by Dr Nicholas Flemming, a marine geo-archaeologist from the Institute of Oceanography at the University of Southampton, who discovered the site in 1967 and returned the following year with a team from Cambridge University to carry out the first ever survey of the submerged town. Using just snorkels and tape measures they produced a detail plan of the prehistoric town which consisted of at least 15 separate buildings, courtyards, streets, two chamber tombs and at least 37 cist graves. Despite the potential international importance of Pavlopetri no further work was carried out at the site until this year.

This year, through a British School of Archaeology in Athens permit, The Pavlopetri Underwater Archaeology Project began its five year study of the site with the aim of defining the history and development of Pavlopetri.

Four more fieldwork seasons are planned before their research is published in full in 2014.

Source - The University of Nottingham

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Al-Hasakah Tel - Ancient Civilizations, Incessant Human Settlement

The 2.5 hectare archeological Al-Hasakah Tel (hill) located at the center of the city of al-Hasakah, 309.25 m above sea level, is an archeological landmark telling the story and secrets of a number of the ancient and most deep-rooted historical eras and civilizations of varying cultures and traditions.

"The excavation works for 2008 showed the non-stop human settlement in al-Hasakah from the 4th century until today." Head of the national archeological mission working at the site Abd al-Masih Baghdo said Friday.

Three archeological platforms dating back to different historical periods were unearthed during the first excavation season conducted last year.

Adobe buildings were revealed in the first platform, inside which there were archeological findings dating back to the Arab and Islamic epoch between the 2nd and 3rd centuries A.D.

Excavations at the second platform which dates back to the Byzantine Era in the 5th century uncovered gypsum plastered basins as well as a part of a cathedral building made of basalt.

The western wall of the cathedral was 2.10 m high and 17.75 long. An 83 cm wide second entrance was located 3.21 m to the northwestern corner of the wall, leading to the service section sited in the northwestern part of the cathedral.

A plastered stone-covered cemetery was also discovered within the second platform. Inside the cemetery a skeleton for a man aged between 40 and 45 was found with iron nails indicating death under torture.

A basin daubed with gypsum plaster in the western part of the cathedral building was believed to be a wine press.

"The cathedral building, with its decorated stone pillars, the cemetery and the tiled floor, is the first of its kind in al-Hasakah reflecting the importance of architecture during that period." Member of the Executive Bureau of Tourism and Archeology Sector in al-Hasaka governorate George Elias said.

Adobe walls coated with gypsum plaster were unearthed in the third archeological platform, dating back to the Neo-Assyrian Era between the 11th and 8th centuries B.C.

Haifa Said /Ghossoun


Archeology news from SANA

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French archeologist discovers ancient sacred lake in northern Egypt

Egyptian and French archeologists have unearthed a sacred lake 12 metres underground at the San al-Hagar archaeological site in the ancient city of Tanis, Egypt's eastern Nile Delta. 120 kilometres northeast of Cairo, Egypt's Minister of Culture announced Thursday.

The lake, which is 15 metres long and 12 metres wide, is part of a temple which was built in ancient Egypt to honour the goddess Mut, who was the wife of Amun, god of wind and the breath of life, according to a statement by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA).

"This is the second lake to be discovered in Tanis city. The first was discovered in 1928, and was dedicated to the temple of the ancient god Amun, Mut's husband," Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass was quoted in the statement as saying.

Tanis is a city in the north-eastern Nile delta of Egypt and was founded in the late twentieth dynasty. It became the northern capital of Egypt during the following dynasty.

The lake is made of limestone blocks and is in a good condition. The chief deities of Tanis were Amun, Mut, and their child Khonsu.

The first sacred lake was found in 1928, Egypt's Culture Ministry said.

Via - Reuters

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Mini-Colosseum Excavated in Rome

Ulysses - A statue of Ulysses, also known as the famous Greek epic hero Odysseus. A 'mini-Colosseum' that lies beneath an airport may have hosted Roman emperors. With the help of ground penetrating radar, the archaeologists have uncovered luxuriously decorated rooms, a colonnaded garden, and this finely carved marble head, among other artifacts.

Beneath Rome's Fiumicino airport lies a "mini-Colosseum" that may have played host to Roman emperors, according to British archaeologists.

The foundations of the amphitheater, which are oval-shaped like the much larger arena in the heart of Rome, have been unearthed at the site of Portus, a 2nd century A.D. harbor near Ostia's port on the Tiber River.

The Palace - The western view of the imperial palace appears above. The luxurious materials found in the amphitheater pf the palace suggest that the building was used for private venues by a high status official, or even emperors.

The Arena - Archaeologists work on the site of the amphitheater

A monumental seaport that saved imperial Rome from starvation, Portus is now reduced to a large hexagonal pond on a marshy land owned by a noble family, the Duke Sforza Cesarinis.

The two-square-mile site has been known since around the 16th century, but only in the 1860s was it seriously excavated by the Italian archaeologist Rodolfo Lanciani, who marked the remains of what he believed was a theater.

More reading at Discovery Channel

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Archaeologists found Prehistoric site near UK's Stonehenge

Archaeologists have discovered a smaller prehistoric site, a mile away from Britain's famous circle of standing stones at Stonehenge.

Researchers have dubbed the site 'Bluehenge' after the color of the 27 Welsh stones that were laid to make up a path.

The new circle, unearthed in secret over the summer, is one of the most important prehistoric finds in decades. The site is about a mile (2 kilometers) away from Stonehenge, which is believed to have been built around 2500 B.C.

Bluehenge, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) southwest of London, is thought to date back to the same period, but the exact circumstances of Bluehenge's construction aren't clear.

Bluehenge was put up 5,000 years ago – around the same time as work began on Stonehenge, and appears to be a miniature version of it, researchers say.

The two circles stood together for hundreds of years before Bluehenge was dismantled.  Researchers believe its stones were later used to enlarge Stonehenge.

Bluehenge lies at the end of the 'Avenue' – a pathway that connected Stonehenge to the Avon. All that remains of the smaller circle are the holes of 27 giant stones set on a ramped mount. Chips of stone found in the holes appear to be the same as those used in Stonehenge.

The stone, made of Preseli Spotted Dolerite – a chemically altered igneous rock which is harder than granite – were mined in the Preseli Mountains in Pembrokeshire and dragged and floated 200 miles to the site on the banks of the river.

The new monument was discovered by Professor Mike Parker Pearson, of Sheffield University, who believes the monuments were linked to rituals of life and death.

Other archaeologists believe it is impossible to be certain about their purpose, and that given Stonehenge was created, used and modified over 1,400 years that it was likely to be used for many different things.

Professor Geoffrey Wainwright, who found the source of the Stonehenge stones in Wales with Professor Darvill, said: 'This [new] henge is very important because it forms part of the picture of ceremonial monuments in the area and puts Stonehenge into context.

'It's no longer Stonehenge standing alone, but it has to be seen in context with the landscape.' Professor Tim Darvill, an expert on the monument, from Bournemouth University, sai he wouldn't be surprised if more circles were still to be found.

Stonehenge was built and rebuilt over 600 years in three main phases. The first, which began in 3000BC saw the creation of a ditch and bank which later enclosed a circle of 56 holes for posts or stones.

Around 2600BC the site was transformed into two circles of 82 blue stones brought from the Welsh mountains. Then, 150 years later, the ancient Britons set up 50-ton sarsen stones quarried at Marlborough, 25 miles away.

The blue stones were dug up and repositioned, and the sarsens used to create the Stonehenge familiar today.

The new find changes this account of this history. It suggests that the creators of Stonehenge originally built two circles – one with 56 stones at Stonehenge, and another with 27 at Bluehenge, with the stones of the smaller circle eventually incorporated into the bigger one.

Via - Telegraph

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Geologists say they have found hundreds of dinosaur egg clusters

Geologists in southern India say they have found hundreds of dinosaur egg clusters which could be about 65 million years old.

Are those really dinosour's egg clusters? Maybe they're true maybe something else.

It was a chance find discovered when a team of scientists were locating a place to excavate an ancient riverbed in the state of Tamil Nadu.

As they dug deeper they saw layers of what looked like fossilised eggs.

The photos and samples were then sent to various universities who confirmed that they were dinosaur eggs.

Each egg is the size of a football - about 13 to 23cm in diameter, lying buried in sandy nests.

The leader of the team, MU Ramkumar, told the BBC the finding is significant and could help to unravel the mystery about the extinction of dinosaurs.

'Infertile'

"The important finding is that these eggs have been found in different layers that means the dinosaurs came to the place over and over year after year," he said.

More reading at BBC News

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Indus Valley Civilisation mystery

The undeciphered script of the Indus Valley civilisation holds the key to a question with sharp political overtones: were the people of the subcontinent’s earliest recorded civilisation Aryans or Dravidians? Or neither?

In 1946, an India's archaeological survey team was at one of its favourite digs when it stumbled upon 37 skeletons. Two lay on the steps of a well with visible marks of head injury. Five were on the steps of another well room. A few others were hastily buried as if times were so bad that the dead could not be taken to the cemetery.

‘Men, women, children seemed to have been massacred in streets and left dying or, at best, crudely covered without any last rite,’ wrote Mortimer Wheeler, who led the expedition.

Archaeologists were at a site on the west bank of River Indus that is now Pakistan's Sindh province. For veterans of this dig, the area's local name seemed appropriate. The Sindhis called it Moenjo Daro, meaning mound of the dead, but for the University of London-educated Wheeler, it was time to revisit history textbooks.

As an undergraduate, he had learnt by rote a sentence in the Cambridge History of India: The history of India is, in large measure, a struggle between newcomers and earlier inhabitants.

More than 1,500 sites of the Indus Valley civilisation have been discovered since 1924 when Moenjo Daro and Harappa were first excavated. Archaeologists believe the area is roughly a quarter of Europe. Dholavira in Gujarat is the last major site discovered. It was excavated in the 1990s.

More reading at Dawn.com , 18 Sept 2009

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Extremely rare discovery of bones

Bones recovered from an ancient burial site in the Highlands could provide fresh insight of life in the Bronze Age, archaeologists have said. Parts of a skull, some bones and teeth were in a cist - a rectangular stone chamber - uncovered by a digger operator in Sutherland in February.

In a report to Historic Scotland, archaeologists have described the find as "extremely rare" and "valuable".

They have recommended detailed analysis of the remains and the cist. Wood, wicker and evidence of fur were retrieved from the burial site. It was thought the body was wrapped in animal fur.

Specialist analysis

Police and Historic Scotland were alerted to the discovery at Langwell Farm in Strath Oykel by farmer Jonathan Hampton.

The bones were taken to Dornoch Police Station, but later handed over to archaeologists. Experts from Highland Council have been involved in investigations of the site. Historic Scotland commissioned Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (Guard) to assess what was found.

Its report, which has also been sent to Highland Council, recommends specialist analysis of the excavated materials and radio carbon dating.

The document's authors wrote: "The Langwell Farm cist is an extremely rare and valuable find with the potential to reveal a great deal about contemporary life and burial practice."

Bronze Age technology came to Britain from Europe about 4,000 years ago and historians see it as a crucial link between the Stone and Iron Ages.

A News from BBC News , 18 Sept 2009

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A gemstone engraved with the portrait of Alexander the Great

A new discovery by a team directed by Dr. Ayelet Gilboa of the University of Haifa and Dr. Ilan Sharon of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a gemstone engraved with the portrait of Alexander the Great was uncovered during excavations by them. Is that really a portrait of Alexander the Great?

The stone is less than a centimeter high and its width is less than half a centimeter. Dr. Gilboa, Chair of the Department of Archaeology at the University of Haifa said, "The emperor is portrayed as young and forceful, with a strong chin, straight nose and long curly hair held in place by a diadem."

This tiny gem was unearthed by a volunteer during excavation of a public structure from the Hellenistic period in the south of Tel Dor, excavated by a team from the University of Washington at Seattle headed by Prof. Sarah Stroup. Dr. Jessica Nitschke, professor of classical archaeology at Georgetown University in Washington DC, identified the engraved motif as a bust of Alexander the Great. This has been confirmed by Prof. Andrew Stewart of the University of California at Berkeley, an expert on images of Alexander and author of a book on this topic.

Via - redOrbit.com, 15 Sept 2009

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Giant human skeletons

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Archaeologists revealed Easter Island Red Hat Mystery

One of the unsolved mystery, but able to be solve now, said British archaeologists. They believe they have solved the ancient mystery of how the giant stone statues on Easter Island acquired distinctive red hats.

The researchers said the key to the mystery lies in their discovery of a road on the tiny Pacific island.

The hats were built in a quarry hidden inside the crater of an ancient volcano, and then rolled by hand or on tree logs to the site of the statues, said the team from the University of Manchester and University College, London.

The archaeologists examined the way the hats, each weighing several tons and made of red scoria, a pumice-like volcanic rock, were moved by Polynesians between 500 and 750 years ago.

They were placed on the heads of carved stone human figures known as moai standing on ceremonial platforms which encircle the island's coastline.

But the riddle of how they were raised and attached remains unsolved. There are no evidence of bulldozer, no crane and so on being used to build the statues. So what are they use?

More reading at Discovery Channel , 8 Sept 2009

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Chinese culture at the crossroads

[ScienceNology] - Recent archaeological discoveries from far-flung corners of China are forcing scientists to reconsider the origins of ancient Chinese civilization – and a new crop of young archaeologists are delving into the modern nation's roots. In the August 21 issue of the journal Science, a group of articles by Science news writer Andrew Lawler explore how, over several millennia, the most populous and economically vibrant nation in the world evolved from a much wider array of peoples and cultures than once imagined.

Lawler crisscrossed China recently for three weeks, traveling from the country's steamy southeastern plains to the rugged westernmost province of Xinjiang, interviewing dozens of archaeologists at a host of sites. This special news package puts a spotlight on how the various archaeological findings of the past decade are challenging what the Chinese people once thought about their country and themselves. As a construction boom continues to alter the physical face of the country – inadvertently uncovering vital clues to China's past, illuminating ancient trade routes and long-lost cultures – a new and more complex history of the Chinese people is emerging right before their very eyes.

The wealth of these recent archaeological discoveries demands a re-write of some history books – and young scholars are even now questioning the existence of a legendary Chinese dynasty, the Xia. Less willing to take ancient texts at face value than their predecessors, this new generation of Chinese researchers is relying on physical data – and more "Western" methods – in their attempts to accurately retrace Chinese history.

But looting and development threaten to destroy the country's heritage. In a land full of wealthy tombs and poor farmers, grave robbing has been an ancient tradition. China's current construction boom poses yet another threat to archaeological sites, though new laws are attempting to halt such damage. Those who destroy evidence of the country's rich history now face jail time and even the death penalty (though no one appears to have been executed for looting yet). Meanwhile, archaeologists are finding novel ways to work with developers and provincial governments to rescue at least some ancient sites from the destruction that comes with the country's economic growth.

"The exciting discoveries made recently across China, coupled with the country's fast-paced development, make this an opportune time to dig into new questions about China's origins, the state of its threatened ancient sites, and the increasing expertise of its archaeologists," says Andrew Lawler, author of the Science news package.

Lawler's special news package on Chinese archaeology covers the accidental discovery and later excavation of Jinsha, an ancient site located near downtown Chengdu in Sichuan, and about 600 miles (1000 kilometers) from the traditional center of Chinese civilization along the Yellow River. Long assumed to have been a cultural backwater, researchers have only recently gleaned the real history of Sichuan's surprisingly ancient and rich culture, which is thousands of years older than they had once believed. Now, thanks to a group of savvy archaeologists and their allies in the city government, Jinsha has become a museum, protected from looters and complete with adjacent land reserved for further archaeological digs in the future.

Another article by Lawler illuminates the earliest Silk Road which brought valued goods like bronze from the west and possibly the staple grain of ancient China, millet, to the west. These recent discoveries have led Chinese researchers to acknowledge significant outside influence on their ancient culture, breaking an old taboo put in place when China was largely closed to the outside world.

Contact: Natasha Pinol
npinol@aaas.org
202-326-7088
American Association for the Advancement of Science



An Archeology News from EurekAlert! , 20 August 2009

Photo credit to : http://www.chinaexpress.ca

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Archaeologists find cache of cuneiform tablets in 2,700-year old Turkish temple

Excavations led by a University of Toronto archaeologist at the site of a recently discovered temple in southeastern Turkey have uncovered a cache of cuneiform tablets dating back to the Iron Age period between 1200 and 600 BCE. Found in the temple's cella, or 'holy of holies', the tablets are part of a possible archive. The cella also contained gold, bronze and iron implements, libation vessels and ornately decorated ritual objects.

"The assemblage appears to represent a Neo-Assyrian renovation of an older Neo-Hittite temple complex, providing a rare glimpse into the religious dimension of Assyrian imperial ideology," said Timothy Harrison, professor of near eastern archeology in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations and director of U of T's Tayinat Archaeological Project (TAP). "The tablets, and the information they contain, may possibly highlight the imperial ambitions of one of the great powers of the ancient world, and its lasting influence on the political culture of the Middle East."

Partially uncovered in 2008 at Tell Tayinat, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Palastin, the structure of the building where the tablets were found preserves the classic plan of a Neo-Hittite temple. It formed part of a sacred precinct that once included monumental stelae carved in Luwian (an extinct Anatolian language once spoken in Turkey) hieroglyphic script, but which were found by the expedition smashed into tiny shard-like fragments.

"Tayinat was destroyed by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III in 738 BCE, and then transformed into an Assyrian provincial capital, equipped with its own governor and imperial administration," said Harrison. "Scholars have long speculated that the reference to Calneh in Isaiah's oracle against Assyria alludes to Tiglath-pileser's devastation of Kunulua - i.e., Tayinat. The destruction of the Luwian monuments and conversion of the sacred precinct into an Assyrian religious complex may represent the physical manifestation of this historic event."

The temple was later burned in an intense fire and found filled with heavily charred brick and wood which, ironically, contributed to the preservation of the finds recovered from its inner chambers. "While those responsible for this later destruction are not yet known, the remarkable discoveries preserved in the Tayinat temple clearly record a pivotal moment in its history," said Harrison. "They promise a richly textured view of the cultural and ethnic contest that has long characterized the turbulent history of this region."

TAP is an international project, involving researchers from a dozen countries, and more than 20 universities and research institutes. It operates in close collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Turkey, and provides research opportunities and training for both graduate and undergraduate students. The project is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Institute for Aegean Prehistory (INSTAP), and receives support from the University of Toronto.



A News from the University of Toronto , 07 August 2009

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