Stone Pages Archaeo News: February 2004 Archives

February 2004 index:

3 February 2004: Neolithic settlement found in Niger; Last year a team of paleontologists, led by Dr. Paul Sereno of the University of Chicago, while driving across the scorched and trackless Ténéré Desert of Niger, spotted human skeletons...
: Trash and tracks threaten Nazca Lines; Trash and small-time gold diggers are threatening Peru's fragile Nazca Lines. But also grave robbers, tractor trailers and tourists have left their mark on the mammoth designs carved more than...
: Discovery of a carved rock in Panama causes excitement; An ancient rock covered in carved symbols has been discovered in a South American jungle by Julien Chenoweth, an archaeologist from Cornwall. The discoverer said a date test showed the...
: Symposium on the rock carvings of North and West Europe; The British Academy (10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1, England), in conjunction with the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters History and Antiquities, is hosting a two-day symposium on the Rock...
4 February 2004: Details of ancient burial site in Scotland; An Ancient burial site, which was unearthed by workers preparing land for a massive gas pipeline, has proved to be a mine of information about Scottish people of the Bronze...
7 February 2004: Japanese Paleolithic sites questioned; In Japan, four of 19 sites said to have been inhabited by people in the early Stone Age could have been mistakenly identified, according to a report recently released by...
: Scientists wins ancient bones battle; A US appeals court has given permission to scientists to study a 9,000-year-old skeleton - despite the objections of some Native American tribes. The bones were found by two teenagers...
: Ancient artifact found in Yukon mountains; Alpine melting last summer revealed the oldest artifact recovered from what is now an inventory of 18 archaeological ice patches on Yukon Territory mountains (Alaska, USA). The shaft of a...
: First footprints of a Paleolithic man found in Asia; Footprints of a Paleolithic man, the first to be found in Asia, and fossilized animal tracks dating back to about 50,000 years ago were discovered on Cheju Island (Korea). More...
: Chagas disease found in ancient mummies; Researchers found that Chagas disease, a deadly parasitic blood illness, has infected some South and Central Americans for at least 9,000 years. The Red Cross, alarmed about reports of Chagas...
: Highway threatens stone circle in Japan; Plans to construct a highway in Hokkaido (Japan) have placed an exceptionally well-preserved stone circle excavated last year in Morimachi in danger of being lost forever. The stone monument eloquently...
: Archaeologists shed new light on African rock art; A huge collection of cave paintings in central South Africa, once dismissed as primitive scribblings, have turned out to be 2,000 years older than previously thought. Carbon-dating technology has revised...
: Two Bronze Age barrows discovered in Dorset; Quetly hidden among the rolling hills of Purbeck (Dorset, England) is a unique and important archaeological landscape. A report just published by English Heritage reveals the extent of earthworks, medieval...
: CAPE will highlight Welsh Bronze Age culture; The CAPE (Culture, Archaeology, Prehistory Experience) Project comprises the construction of a visitor centre highlighting the Bronze Age and Celtic culture of north east Wales that could attract up to...
: Showjumping around an Irish Neolithic site; A new cross country course for horse riders has been built around a prehistoric site in Ireland. The course is situated at Ballygraffan in Strangford Conservation Area between Comber and...
: The future of Stonehenge; A public inquiry into plans for a dual carriageway under Stonehenge will stoke the fierce debate on how best to protect the site. The current scheme sees a dual carriageway...
8 February 2004: Amesbury archer was a settler from the Alps; The latest tests on the Amesbury Archer, whose grave was found three miles from Stonehenge and it astonished archaeologists last year with the richness of its contents, show he was...
10 February 2004: Harnessing fire on Bronze Age Thera; Recent findings brought to light during the excavation of foundations for a new roof at the archaeological site at Akrotiri on Thera (Greece) have provided more information on daily life...
11 February 2004: Saving the Hill of Tara from motorway defacement; A campaign was formed in September 2003 following a decision by An Bord Pleanala (Planning Appeals Board) to approve the M3 Clonee-Kells motorway to be built within 2.5 km of...
: Ancient remains found in Northern Ireland; Archaeologists working at the site of a new supermarket in Ballymoney (co. Antrim, Northern Ireland) have found remains which date back to 7000 BCE. Experts commissioned by Tesco to examine...
: Stone circle has made us ill, say ghost detectives; And now some news you must take with a big pinch of salt... A pair of psychic investigators looking at the healing properties of an ancient stone circle claim it...
: Copper Age village found in Bulgaria; A village from the Copper Age was found in northern Bulgaria. The village is situated just 800 metes away from the place where the bridge Vidin-Kalafat was planned to be...
: 3000-year-old settlement discovered in the UAE; An Australian-American archaeological team hosted by the Antiquities Directorate of the Sharjah Department of Culture and Information conducted detailed inspections of the Iron Age site found earlier in Muweileh in...
13 February 2004: Fife Council archaeology funding cuts proposed; Proposals are in place to cut the funding of the archaeology service of Fife Council in eastern Scotland. The Labour Party-run council wants to cut the archaeology budget from £18,000...
: Historic Scotland remains government agency; A review of the structure and functions of Historic Scotland has recommended that it remains as a government agency responsible to the Scottish Executive. The review was announced in December...
14 February 2004: Clovis Man turns 75, plus 13,000; Last week marked 75 years since a local amateur archaeologist discovered Clovis Man at Blackwater Draw, about 14 miles southwest of Clovis in eastern New Mexico (USA). Clovis people lived...
: Survey finds Indian prehistoric evidence; A dozen researchers spent the past three months scouring the Sloan Canyon National Conservation Area (Southern Nevada, USA) for evidence of ancient civilizations. They came away with samples from at...
: Bronze Age dagger retrieved near proposed windfarm; The proposed site for seven huge wind turbines on Denshaw Moor (Saddleworth, England) is home to more than 200 archaeological remains, with many more still waiting to be discovered. Saddleworth...
: English Heritage supports the Stonehenge Improvement Scheme; English Heritage has released a statement in support of the Highways Agency's A303 Stonehenge Improvement Scheme. A spokesperson said: "The scheme will bring a number of major benefits to the...
: Neolithic remains found in Peterborough; Archaeologists have unearthed a series of exciting historic finds at a building site in Woodston, Peterborough (England). Origins of the medieval settlement – along with rare Neolithic remains from 2,500-3,000...
15 February 2004: Undersea lost world mapped by scientists; A prehistoric lost world deep under the North Sea where man once hunted animals has been mapped by scientists with the help of earthquake data. A team of archaeologists, geologists...
21 February 2004: Geophysics survey at Ring of Brodgar reveals massive settlement; Evidence of an extensive settlement to the north of the Ring of Brodgar stone circle in Orkney, Scotland, has been revealed by geophysics scans of the ground. Part of an...
: Bush Barrow treasures loaned to German museum; Treasures from the Wiltshire Heritage Museum in Devizes (England) are to be loaned to a museum in Germany for a prestigious exhibition. Prehistoric items that were excavated at Bush Barrow...
: Ancient necklace found in Israeli cave; Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea have discovered a rare find – a woman's 2500-year-old fashion accessories. The hoard of jewellery, a makeup kit and a small mirror...
: The missing 1,000 years in prehistory; A team of Australian archaeologists have sparked an academic row by claiming to have solved the riddle of a missing 1,000 years in human prehistory. The scientists from Melbourne's La...
: Ancient desert markings imaged from orbit; Visible from ESA's Proba spacecraft 600 kilometres away in space are the largest of the many Nazca Lines; ancient desert markings now at risk from human encroachment as well as...
: 3500-year-old axehead discovered on the Isle of Wight; Harvey Jones, of Cranleigh Gardens, Northwood, was walking boisterous Dexter - a two-year-old labrador - on Bembridge Down (Isle of Wight, England) when he ran off into a massive gorse...
: Bronze Age cremation site unearthed in Derby; The remains of people who lived in Derby (England) 3,500 years ago have been found on the site of a derelict hotel in Littleover. Archaeologists say the Bronze Age cremation...
: Stonehenge public inquiry underway; The inquiry into the controversial plans for Stonehenge (England), announced in September 2003 and reported in Archaeo News (21 September 2003), opened on 17 February 2004. Some 200 people packed...
25 February 2004: Underwater clues to Isle of Man’s prehistory?; A scientist from Douglas (Isle of Man) who is helping explore and visualise the underwater landscape of the Southern North Sea is hoping that the same technology could help historians...
26 February 2004: Oldest stadium and signboard found in India; Recent excavations at the small township of Dholavira, in Kutch, Gujarat (India) have presented to the world some of the oldest stadiums and sign board, built by the Harappan civilization....
: 4000-year-old inscriptions unearthed in Iran; Unearthed inscriptions in Jiroft (Iran) may prove that the civilization of the region had influenced Sumerian civilization. Yusef Majidzadeh, head of the International Archaeological Study Center, said that following the...
: Ten ancient tombs discovered in Vietnam; Archaeologists have discovered 10 ancient tombs still in remarkably good state in the central province of Nghe An (Vietnam). These tombs are believed to be between 12,000 and 15,000 years...
: Ancient stone tomb returns to Dartmoor; A 4,000 year-old grave discovered in Chagford (England) in 1879 is returning to Dartmoor. The prehistoric grave will be relocated to the High Moorland Centre in Princetown early next month...
: Window on an ancient world in Guatemala; Kaminaljuya Park is a rare undeveloped area of Guatemala City, which is providing evidence of the Mesoamerican city which was occupied here from 1000 BCE until its abrupt abandonment around...
27 February 2004: Controlled fire scorches Cornish stone circle; The 4,500-year-old Bronze Age stone circle at Tregeseal, located in a designated "Environmentally Sensitive Area" on the Penwith moors, near St Just (Cornwall, England) has been scorched black by flames...
: The evolution of dragons; Recent finds by Chinese archaeologists may explain the ancient belief that “Chinese people are descended from dragons”. The conclusion is based on jade dragons unearthed at Niuheliang in the northeastern...
: Iron Age enclosure found in Edinburgh; The remains of a 3000-year-old stone enclosure have been found in Edinburgh Scotland. The discovery was made by workmen in the Broomhouse area of the city during work on a...
: Archaeologists uncover Ayrshire village ancient history; A village in Ayrshire has discovered that it could be the oldest continuously-occupied settlement in Scotland, dating back 5,500 years. Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of stone age houses in...
: Restoration of a Bronze Age ring ditch; A major awareness campaign, aimed at highlighting the vast wealth of archaeology found in quarry workings in the Lower Ouse Valley (Cambridgeshire, England) is launched this week. Leading the initiative...
28 February 2004: Did first Americans arrive by boat?; Tools and animal remains found on islands off the California coast have raised the possibility that the first Americans arrived by boat. A report in American Antiquity suggests an alternative...