Culmore axe goes on display
The stone axe found in a garden at Culmore, near Derry in Northern Ireland, and mentioned in Archaeo News last week, has gone on display at Derry's Central Library on Foyle Street.
The large Mesolithic mud-stone tool - believed to have been used by hunter-gatherers to fell trees - went on show in a glass case on the 4th of September, where it will remain for three days. It will then be taken to Belfast for recording by the Environment and Heritage Service, before being returned to the father and son who found it, Hugh and Frank Gillespie.
Source: icderry.icnetwork.co.uk (5 September 2003)
Farmers urged to protect ancient sites
Farmers in Northern Ireland are being encouraged to help preserve ancient sites by ensuring proper protection of archaeological sites on their land. Under the Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) Scheme and the Countryside Management Scheme (CMS), farmers receive an annual payment for looking after an archaeological feature.
To qualify for the payment, farmers are not allowed to cultivate in any way the protected area, add drinking troughs for animals, store silage bales, or construct access roads or tracks. Approval must be sought for the use of pesticides, which must only be used to control noxious weeds, and no fertilisers, manure, slurry, sewage, rubbish or lime can be applied to the site. Farmers must also tend to any trees or scrub on the site, although the scrub can be controlled by light grazing.
Northern Ireland is rich in ancient sites, including standing stones, stone circles, souterrains, forts and raths. Many sites have been lost to the plough in the past, or been damaged by farm machinery. These schemes are intended to protect remaining sites for the future.
Source: www.farminglife.com (3 September 2003)
Aboriginal art at Ayers Rock is vanishing
Australian scientists are being asked to help to preserve ancient Aboriginal rock art at Uluru, formerly known as Ayers Rock, which is vanishing because of wind, rain and vandalism. There are about 90 rock art sites around the base of Uluru, depicting the stories and ancestral totems of the Anangu people. But the art, possibly the oldest and most valuable in Australia, is being ravaged by the elements, while graffiti sprayed by tourists is also damaging it.
A team from Melbourne University has started working with the Anangu, the traditional owners of Uluru, to document the paintings for posterity. The scientists are making sketches and digital images of the sites, and recording video footage of Anangu elders recounting the stories associated with them. Three-dimensional images are also being made. The move was initiated at the request of the Anangu, who feared that their history and "Dreamtime" stories might be lost as older generations died. They hope the use of modern technology may re-engage younger people in their 40,000-year-old culture.
The Melbourne team plans to compile a database of the art that will become a resource and educational tool. Cliff Ogleby, co-ordinator of the project, said: "The older people see it as a sort of 'keeping place' where things that are important to them can be kept and looked after." Mr Ogleby said that most of the damage was being caused by vandals. "But wind, rain, bird nests and the occasional wallaby looking for a back scratch are also taking their toll," he added.
Some of the artworks are sacred exclusively either to men or women, and can only be viewed by them. The same applies to the relevant information on the database. Mr Ogleby sent his female postgraduate student to record data from the sacred women's sites. A sophisticated log-in system means only approved people can enter certain areas of the database.
Mr Ogleby said: "The ultimate aim is for Anangu to compile the material themselves, without outside help, and store it in a digital 'keeping place' of their own design. The system is designed so that they can sit down and record through video or photography what they see as important. This might include creation stories, descriptions of rock art or the uses of local bush tucker."
Source: The Independent (5 September 2003)
New findings from under Miami parking-lot site
The archaeological site in the heart of downtown Miami (USA) is beginning to surrender its centuries-old secrets. Scientists digging, combing and filtering soil covered for 50 years by a parking lot found a hand ax fashioned from a conch shell, another small tool called an awl and numerous shards of ancient pottery.
Another significant discovery: South Florida's original residents -- the Tequesta Indians who occupied the site for 2,500 years -- enjoyed bay views as much as the occupants of today's condominiums, hotels and office towers. Archaeologist Bob Carr and his team have uncovered post holes just 30 feet from Biscayne Bay's original shoreline, evidence that the Tequesta lived remarkably close to the shore. ''The challenge is in connecting the dots,'' Carr said. "But it looks like we've found signs, just in this small area, of posts that would support three or four huts.''
The site -- in the center of the city's commercial district on three parking lots north of the Dupont Plaza Hotel -- served for thousands of years as the tribe's main village. The Tequesta also are believed responsible for the Miami Circle, the 38-foot-wide stone carving discovered across the Miami River in 1998 by Carr and other archaeologists.
Soon, the parking lots will become the One Miami development of luxury condominiums, stores and offices. But first, as required by law, the six-acre site must be assessed by archaeologists. Fortunately, Alison Elgart-Berry, a member of Carr's team, first found the four-inch-long hand ax, probably used as to carve wood. Then she found a three-inch-long awl -- a pointed tool that makes holes in wood or leather. Previously, the team found an ax made from non-local basalt, a stone tool that presumably found its way here through ancient trade routes.
Two basalt axes were found years ago at the Miami Circle in nearly mint condition, apparently placed at the Circle for ceremonial purposes; the ax discovered at this latest site was worn and chipped. ''This clearly was a tool that was used regularly,'' Carr said.
The Tequesta -- hunters and gatherers who worshiped animals and the sun -- thrived in the area until they were driven into exile by 1763 and eventual extinction by European explorers and their descendants.
Source: The Miami Herald (3 September 2003)
Did the early Americans come from Oceania?
The accepted theory of how prehistoric humans first migrated to America has been challenged by a study of an ancient set of bones unearthed in Mexico. An analysis of 33 skulls found on the Mexican peninsula of Baja California suggests that the first Americans were not north Asians who crossed to the American continent about 12,000 years ago. The skulls more closely resemble the present-day natives of Australia and the South Pacific, suggesting that there might have been an earlier movement to America across the Bering Strait separating modern Russia from Alaska.
Native Americans today bear a close physical resemblance to north-east Asians and anthropologists have long believed that this is because they are both descended from the same ancestors, some of whom migrated to America across the Ice Age bridge that spanned the Bering Strait. However, a team of scientists led by Rolando Gonzales-José of the University of Barcelona in Spain believes that a different scenario could have occurred prior to the accepted migration of northern Asians.
Dr Gonzales-José and his colleagues analysed the shape and dimensions of 33 skulls of a tribe of people who lived near the western Mexican coast of Baja California between 2,500 and 300 years ago. These relatively long and narrow skulls share a closer affinity to the skulls of the present-day inhabitants of south Asia and the southern Pacific Rim. This suggests that these particular people could not have shared the same ancestor as present-day native Americans whose skulls more closely resemble broad and short shape of northern Asians.
Tom Dillehay, an anthropologist from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said the accepted idea of how America became populated with humans was probably far too simple. "More recent archaeological discoveries suggest that there were several different founding populations, arriving from different places," Dr Dillehay said. "To complicate matters further, it is no longer certain that the first colonisers arrived about 12,000 years ago - some archaeological sites in South America date from 12,500 years ago, which suggests that the first humans arrived at least 15,000 years ago," he said. Dr Dillehay said the ancient people who lived on the long peninsula of Baja California probably became isolated from the rest of the north American population. This meant they retained the much older ancestral trait of a long and narrow skull.
Source: The Independent (4 September 2003)
The Royal Navy in search of prehistoric settlements
Wrecks and ‘drowned’ prehistoric settlements may be among the mysteries of the Solent channel (England) that could be discovered during the most scientifically advanced survey of the area, being undertaken by the Royal Navy.
New hi-tech equipment is being used to produce pictures of what is on and below the seabed in an area. The geophysical survey – part of a £150-£200 million Portsmouth regeneration scheme – is being conducted by the RN Hydrographic surveying squadron’s smallest vessel, the 35ft long HM Survey Motor Launch (HMSML) Gleaner, which started her survey task on September 1 and will continue the work until September 12.
Working under contract to the ministry of defence, the commercial company Wessex Archaeology is assisting a survey which will be carried out using a multi-beam echo-sounder, high-frequency sonar which can detect small items on or below the seabed and, for the first time, a computer-controlled camera system known as Remus.
An initial assessment provided for mod by Wessex Archaeology has found that there are 174 known and documented wrecks and seabed obstructions in the Solent. Ancient wrecks could also be found as the Romans used the Solent sea routes. Other artefacts and structures may date back to the stone and bronze ages as 18,000 years ago the Solent was dry land that gradually became inundated.
Source: Royal Navy News and Events (3 September 2003), 24 Hour Museum News (5 September 2003)
