Stone Pages Archaeo News: December 2005 Archives

December 2005 index:

4 December 2005: Wine may have been produced as far back as the Neolithic; Patrick McGovern of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology and Anthropology recently found evidence that the first bottles of wine may have been produced as far back as the...
: Prehistoric settlements found in Greece; Archaeologists in northern Greece have uncovered traces of two prehistoric farming settlements dating back as early as 6,000 BCE. The first site, located on a plot earmarked for coal mining...
: Ancient canals reveal underpinnings of early Andean civilization; Canals discovered in the Peruvian Andes dating back over 5,400 years offer long-sought proof that irrigation was at the heart of the development of one of the earth’s first civilizations....
: Nuragic remains recovered in Porto Torres; Police in Porto Torres (Sardinia, Italy) have recovered 71 ancient items inside private premises. The remains were recovered in two parts of the city and are ascribable to two distinct...
: Study treads on footprint claim; In July, researchers in England claimed the prints proved that humans were in the Americas 40,000 years ago — much earlier than the accepted date of 11,500 years ago. But...
: Wollemi rock art shows Aboriginal Dreaming; Archaeologists surveying rugged bushland outside Sydney (Australia) have discovered evidence that an ancient Aboriginal Dreaming track runs through wilderness where the Jurassic-era Wollemi Pine was found. Dreaming tracks record the...
11 December 2005: 4000-year-old remains unearthed in Iran; A group of archaeologists has recently discovered the remains of an ancient civilization at a site near the Manjil Dam at the basin of the Sefidrud River in Gilan Province....
: Iron Age skeleton found under medieval ship; Workmen have discovered the remarkably well preserved skeletal remains of an Iron Age man beneath a Medieval ship buried in the banks of the River Usk in Newport , South...
12 December 2005: Ancient mound discovered in Azerbaijan; As a result of the archaeological dig in the territory of Agstafa region, through which the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and South Caucasus gas pipelines pass, scientists of the Institute of Archaeology...
: Grant to bring Eden Neolithic heritage to life; Eden District Council's Penrith Museum (England) is celebrating news that they have been awarded over £24,000 from the Local Heritage Initiative, a scheme run by the Countryside Agency on behalf...
: Stonehenge to open over Christmas; One of the world's most popular megalithic monuments is opening over the Christmas period for the first time in a decade. English Heritage says it is responding to visitor demand...
: Irish Govt's chief archaeologist 'has no excavation experience'; Serious questions have reportedly emerged about the qualifications of the Irish Government's chief archaeologist. Reports said Brian Duffy, who advised the Government on matters such as the controversial Tara motorway...
: Cave paintings discovered in Britain are 12,800 years old; Britain's first cave art is more than 12,800 years old, scientific testing has shown. Engravings of a deer and other creatures at Creswell Crags, in Derbyshire (England), have proved to...
: Ancient drought 'changed history'; Scientists have identified a major climate crisis that struck Africa about 70,000 years ago and which may have changed the course of human history. The evidence comes from sediments drilled...
: 'Hobbits' may be earliest Australians; The tiny hobbit-like humans of Indonesia may have lived in Australia before they became extinct about 11,000 years ago. The startling claim comes from archaeologist Mike Morwood, leader of the...
: Grant to Bronze Age copper mine in Wales; A Bronze Age copper mine in Wales is to be turned into a major tourist attraction thanks to a major EU grant. Amlwch Industrial Heritage Trust was awarded an Interreg...
: Prehistoric boat-building site found in New York state; The newest discovery at the northern New York Army post is a prehistoric boat-building site near what would have been the shoreline of Glacial Lake Iroquois. A team of Fort...
: Sialk 6000-year-old secrets to be revealed; Archaeologists will start the final season of excavations in the pre-historical Sialk Tepe site, which dates back to more than 8000 years ago and is one of the most important...
: Donors can save ancient site in New Hampshire; Ken White dreamed of finding evidence of ancient civilizations in the White Mountains (New Hampshire, USA). He was hiking with one of his sons two years ago on Father's Day...
19 December 2005: Rampart work closes Iron Age fort; Parts of an Iron Age hillfort in England are to be closed to the public while essential repair work is carried out. About £40,000 is to be spent repairing badly...
: Skulls raise questions on first Americans; A 10-year study of ancient human skulls from Brazil provides new evidence that two distinct populations of prehistoric people settled the Americas more than 12,000 years ago — a finding...
: Ancient humans brought bottle gourds to the Americas from Asia; Thick-skinned bottle gourds widely used as containers by prehistoric peoples were likely brought to the Americas some 10,000 years ago by individuals who arrived from Asia, according to a new...
: Ancient Chinese may have worn necklaces 20,000 years ago; Archaeologists have found some 100 pieces of ostrich eggshells, as small as nails and dated back to more than 20,000 years ago, which might have been used to make necklaces....
: Iron Age temple discovered in Iran; During the archaeological excavations in the historical site of Qoli Darvish Tepe in Qom, a temple and a brazier dating back to the Iron Age have been unearthed, which are...
: Vandals painted the Swastika Stone; To the west of Ilkley, overlooking the Wharfe Valley (England), vandals have used white paint to circle the late Bronze Age design of the Swastika Stone, perhaps the best known...
: Several finds unearthed on Irish road route; There have been a number of archaeological discoveries along the routes of the proposed new sections of the M7/M8 motorways through Laois (Ireland). Last week the National Roads Authority released...
: 5000-year-old twin grave unearthed in Burnt City; For the first time, a grave in which two twins were buried was unearthed during archaeological excavations in the historical site of Burnt City (Iran). Burnt City historical site, situated...
: Oldest large-scale warfare found in Syria; Excavations at a ruined city on the plains of northeastern Syria have turned up the oldest known example of large-scale warfare — a massive campaign that pummeled the city into...
: 2,300-2,500 years old tombs discovered in Vietnam; Archaeologists recently discovered nine ancient tombs estimated to be 2,300-2,500 years old and one dating back 200 years at Lang Ca site, Viet Tri City, Phu Tho Province (Vietnam). At...
: New row erupts at site near Thornborough henges; Campaigners have strongly criticised the way archaeological work has been carried out at a proposed quarry site close to the 5,000- year-old Thornborough Henges (North Yorkshire, England). The latest row...
: Shedding light on dark age of Cyprus archaeology; A bracelet and a sickle made of stone are among recent archaeological finds that may shed light on the dark age of Cypriot archaeology between the earliest evidence of human...
24 December 2005: 2,800-year-old treasures brought to light in China; Great archaeological progress has been made in the excavation of the large-scale ruins and the tombs of noble lords of the Zhou Dynasty (771-221 BCE) in Liangdai Village of Hancheng,...
: European faces reflect Stone Age ancestry; Europeans inherit their looks from Stone Age hunters, new research suggests. Scientists studied ancient skeletons from Scandinavia to North Africa and Greece, comparing ancient and modern facial features. Their analysis...
: Germany reopens 6,800-year-old circle; At the winter solstice this week, Germany opened a replica of a mysterious wooden circle that is believed to be a temple of the sun built by a lost culture...
: Cloud cover ruins annual Newgrange solstice spectacle; Cloud cover has prevented the sun from shining into the ancient passage tomb at Newgrange in Co Meath (Ireland). Around 30 lucky people had secured access to the monument to...
: Gardener's Bronze Age treasure; A hoard of Bronze Age artefacts which had been discovered in a garden in England has been declared treasure trove. The items which include spears, sword parts and axe heads...
: Ancient sites unearthed in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; Chinese archaeologists unearthed five ancient sites in eastern Saga and northwestern Qiongguo in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, among which, four belong to the Paleolithic and date back 10,000 years. According to...
: Welcome return of the Hollywood Stone; The Hollywood Stone returned home to Glendalough (co. Wicklow, Ireland) after over twenty years of resting in storage in the National Museum in Dublin. Dr. Pat Wallace, Director of the...
: A new 'Stone Henge' planned in Northamptonshire; Daventry District Council (Northamptonshire, England) has agreed unusual plans to build a 'stone henge' at the top of a famous landmark near Crick. The council last week debated plans to...
: Prehistoric tools unearthed in Bengal; Archaeologists will soon visit Labpur, Birbhum (West Bengal, India) where weapons dating back to Stone Age and Iron Age were recently found. They will also excavate details about the civilisation...
: Bronze Age Connections: Cultural Contact in Prehistoric Europe; To mark the occasion of the Ringlemere gold cup being placed on display alongside the Dover Bronze Age Boat in Dover museum, the Dover Bronze Age Boat Trust is organising...
: Prehistoric arrowheads stolen in Florida; Florida State and county authorities are investigating the theft of more than a dozen arrowheads and a ceremonial knife from the Crystal River Archaeological State Park. The items were stolen...
: 20,000 BCE human footprints found in Australia; Hundreds of human footprints dating back to about 20,000 BCE - the oldest in Australia and the largest collection of its kind in the world - have been discovered in...
: Bronze Age axes rescued after eBay sale; A series of 15 axe headswere sold on eBay for £205, a British coroner heard. The 3,000-year-old haul was eventually handed to the British Museum after it was bought by...
: Mnajdra and Hagar Qim temples to be covered; The temples of Mnajdra and Hagar Qim will soon be covered after the Malta Environment and Planning Authority board yesterday gave the green light to the construction of shelters to...
: First houses in Sialk built 7500 years ago; Recent archaeological studies of the ancient Sialk Tepe (Iran) indicate that the first houses were built at the site about 7500 years ago. Sialk Tepe was the first ancient tepe...
26 December 2005: Prostrate figure burial found in Burnt City; The prostrate figure burial of a young man were unearthed for the first time during the archeological excavations in the historical site of Burnt City (Iran) which has surprised archaeologists...
: Valley of Fire rock tours to begin; Ancient rock art adorns the Southern Nevada (USA) landscape and tours of the cultural and archaeological treasures are scheduled monthly through May at the Valley of Fire State Park in...
: Artefacts from the Gozo stone circle to return home; Unique archaeological artefacts, unearthed during excavations at the Gozo Stone Circle in Xaghra close to Ggantija Temples (Malta), are expected to return to Gozo next year after having toured major...
28 December 2005: Fires lit at modern stone circle marked shortest day; Fires were lit at a modern stone circle in Aberdeenshire (Scotland) to mark the winter solstice. The Breemie stones, at Broomhill, by Lyne of Skene, attracted people for quiet reflection...
29 December 2005: French customs seize ancient treasures; French customs agents seized two illegal shipments of artefacts from Africa, including statuettes, prehistoric fossils, jewels and pearl necklaces. The separate seizures in recent weeks in the southern cities of...
: 8,000-year-old campsites unearthed in Texas; A Texas Department of Transportation worker found multiple ancient campsites while working on a construction project in Williamson County (USA). The campsites date back some 8,000 years. Jonathan Budd, an...
: Ancient tomb restored in Abu Dhabi; The Hili Archaeological Park in Al Ain (Emirate of Abu Dhabi), one of the country's major tourist attractions, has a new feature to show visitors, it was announced by the...
31 December 2005: Teesside skull one of UK's oldest; The remains of Teesside's (England) oldest man, at 5,230 years old, were found on Coatham beach by a local butcher as he exercised his dog and he had no doubt...
: Ancient 'Weapons Factory' found in Connecticut; About 3,000 years ago, a group of hunters perched on a ridge near what is now New Haven Harbor in Connecticut (USA) and fashioned quartz into projectile points. The points...
: Divisions emerges in Tara Valley campaign; There has been further disagreement in the Save Skryne Tara Valley campaign with the group’s PRO, Dr Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin, resigning from the group over differences about the alternatives the...
: Ancient tombs unearthed in Inner Mongolia; Archaeologists in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region have unearthed about 500 tombs dating back more than 2,200 years in Horinger County and excavated a large number of relics. The...