Ancient finds at a British bus station dig

Stone Age pits containing tools and pottery have been uncovered during work on a new bus station in Warwickshire (England). Digs for the bus station in Warwick started in early June and archaeologists said they had been impressed with the finds so far.
     Flints and decorated pots dating back about 5,000 years have been found along with the remains of medieval streets. Council leaders said they hoped the finds would eventually go on display at the town's Market Hall Museum. Warwickshire County Council environment spokesman Martin Heatley said some of the finds at the site had been 'fascinating'.

Source: BBC News (18 July 2008)

  Henge unearthed in the grounds of an Oxford college

Archaeologists excavating a mass grave in the grounds of an Oxford (England) college uncovered what could be a monument dating back 5,000 years. The team unearthed between 30 and 40 bodies in the grounds of St John's College, Blackhall Road, in March and returned to the site to find out more. They found evidence of what they believe to be a 150m circular henge monument dating back to about 3,000 BCE. Henges are man-made non-defensive ditches possibly used for ritual or ceremonial purposes. Sean Wallis, Thames Valley Archaeological Services project manager, said: "Henges of any size are quite rare, there are probably 100 in the country."

Sources: Oxford Mail (17 July 2008)

  Stonehenge centre ready for 2012 Olympics?

Ambitious plans for a world-class visitor centre for Stonehenge may have dwindled to a world-class prefab, but both English Heritage and the government pledged it would be built in time for the 2012 Olympics.
     After over 20 years of bitter public debate, the proposed £57m visitor centre collapsed last year when the government abandoned, on cost grounds, the plan to tunnel the A303 where it passes one of the world's most famous prehistoric monuments. Ordered by culture minister Margaret Hodge to sort the site in time for the expected Olympics tourism bonanza, English Heritage launched yet another public consultation, this time on a new quick fix solution: a 'temporary' building lasting up to 20 years, costing up to £20m, and providing a café, a shop and twice as much parking.
     It could be achieved either by drastically upgrading the present site - damned almost 20 years ago by a parliamentary committee as 'a national disgrace' - or on one of four other sites scattered across the edge of the world heritage site. In most options there would be park and ride schemes leaving visitors to walk the remaining 1.25km to the stones, across a landscape spattered with other monuments completely overlooked by most visitors today. In every case the A344 branch road, which passes within yards of the stones, would be closed and turfed over.
     "We have to do this - there is no alternative," said Lord Bruce-Lockhart, chairman of English Heritage. The consultation closes in October, the results go to the government by the end of the year, and English Heritage will then invite design tenders. They hope to win planning permission next summer, start building in 2010, and finish well before the first starting pistol of the London Olympics. Between them the people who attended launch in Amesbury have fought every single previous proposal.
     For the first time there was cautious consensus that now it could just work. "You may not get a perfect solution," Hodge said, "but you will get something which works a million times better than what we've got at present." Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe, now an English Heritage commissioner, who has been working at Stonehenge since 1974, said: "This time I really feel success is within our grasp." Kate Fielden, also an archaeologist and local representative of the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said: "What we need now is to do something gentle, which will allow us to do more and better later."

Source: The Guardian (16 July 2008)

  Syrian settlement dates back to 5,000 BCE

A number of round buildings that are eight and half meters high and date back to 5,000 BCE were discovered al-Hasaka governorate, 650 kilometres northeast of Damascus (Syria).
     Abdul Massih Baghdo, head of the al-Hasaka Archeology Department also said that a temple that dates back to 2,400 BCE was discovered at the Tel Baidar site, in addition to chambers on the eastern side of the temple that had decorated doors. Baghdo, who said that the archeological expeditions in al-Hasaka concluded their second stage, added that several expeditions, including Russian, French, American-Syrian, German- Syrian and Japanese expeditions, will arrive at the site in middle of August.

Source: Monster and Critics (16 July 2008)

  Early irrigation farming traced in ancient Yemen

In the remote desert highlands of southern Yemen, a team of archaeologists have discovered new evidence of ancient transitions from hunting and herding to irrigation agriculture 5,200 years ago.
     As part of a larger program of archaeological research, Michael Harrower from the University of Toronto and The Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia (RASA) team explored the Wadi Sana watershed documenting 174 ancient irrigation structures, modeled topography and hydrology, and interviewed contemporary camel and goat herders and irrigation farmers. "Agriculture in Yemen appeared relatively late in comparison with other areas of the Middle East, where farming first developed near the end of the last ice age about 12,000 years ago," says author Michael Harrower, Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto. "Our findings show farming in southern Yemen required runoff diversion technologies that were adapted to harness monsoon (summer) runoff from the rugged terrain along with new understandings of social landscapes and rights to scarce water resources."
     The researchers used computer Geographic Information Systems (GIS) mapping to determine that ancient forager-herders developed expert knowledge of hydrology and targeted particular small watersheds and landforms for irrigation. Studies of contemporary land and water rights suggest their origins lie at the very beginnings of water management as tribal principles of water equity intertwined with changing ideologies and culture.
     These and other discoveries in southern Arabia have recently helped document the diversity of transitions from foraging to agriculture that in Yemen later gave rise to powerful ancient cities and states with advanced irrigation technologies that transformed deserts into lush, bountiful oases.

Source: ScienceDaily (16 July 2008)

  Cavemen and their relatives in the same village after 3,000 years

Two Germans share the longest proven family tree in the world. The men, Manfred Huchthausen and Uwe Lange, had known each other from living in the same village. But they never knew they were related through a 3,000-year-old shared  ancestor. They only recently found out they are both true descendants of Bronze Age cave-dwellers who lived in the area three millenniums ago.
     Thanks to a DNA test on well-preserved Bronze Age bones found in the Lichtensteinhöhle cave in the foothills of the Harz Mountains in Germany's Lower Saxony, the men can now claim to have the longest family tree in the world. "Before the discovery, I could trace my family back by name to 1550,"  Lange said. "Now, I can go back 120 generations."
     A local team of archaeologists discovered the Lichtensteinhöhle cave, which had been hidden from view, in 1980. But it wasn't until 1993 that they found the Bronze Age remains. The cave was used between 1,000 and 700 BCE, according to archaeological investigations conducted by scientists at the nearby University of Goettingen. One of them, anthropologist Susanne Hummel, confirmed that Huchthausen and Lange share the longest proven family tree.
     They found the bones of 23 people - nine females and 14 males - along with what appeared to be cult objects, prompting speculation among scientists that the cave was a living area and a sacrificial burial place. Scientists found that the bones had been protected from the elements by calcium deposits: water dripping through the roof of the limestone cave had helped to create a sheath around the skeletons. The remains turned out to be from the same family group that had a distinctive and rare DNA pattern. When 300 locals were tested with saliva swabs as part of the archaeological research, two local residents turned out to have the exact same genetic characteristics: Manfred Huchthausen and Uwe Lange. "I could not believe this at first, but I think it's truly fascinating," Huchthausen, whose family has lived in the area since the 18th century, said.

Sources: Times Online (15 July 2008), ABC News (16 July 2008)

  Prehistoric underwater forest explored in Scotland

Underwater archaeologists are taking to Loch Tay (Perthshire, Scotland) to try to uncover more about a submerged prehistoric woodland. The stumps of about 50 trees were discovered in 2005 - some of them are thought to be about 6,000 years old. Meanwhile, a campaign has been launched to help restore the reconstructed crannog, an ancient loch dwelling, which attracts thousands of visitors.
     The Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology will spend the next two weeks inspecting the drowned forest. They will be focusing on two trees - one dating from 4,270 BCE to 4,040 BCE and the other dating from 2,350 BCE to 2,120 BCE. They will be taking samples of the sediment and organic materials to establish if there were any landslips taking place between the Mesolithic and the Bronze Ages.
     Barrie Andrian, who is an underwater archaeologist, said: "Last year, when we took a sample of organic material - because that's one of the beauties of underwater archaeology, all the things are preserved very well underwater generally - we found a sample that had evidence of charcoal, bone and cereal grains. The experts are unsure whether it washed in from another crannog, from the shore, or by another means." She added: "Potentially we could be finding evidence of human impact on the environment from several thousand years ago.
"But in general terms, in underwater archaeology we're looking for remains of people travelling up and down the loch, things they've dropped, how they've used the loch and settlement alongside or in the water, because crannogs were built out in the water.
     Ms Andrian is also the director of the Scottish Crannog Centre, near Aberfeldy, which is visited by an estimated 25,000 people every year. The centre is urgently in need of money to refurbish the reconstructed Iron Age home on the loch. Ms Andrian said: "When we started building in 1994, and it was a total experiment, we were using authentic materials, so no pile drivers, no water proofing, no weather proofing, no creosote, no nothing, just the way it would've been done in the past. We used the same species as the ancient people did - that's mainly alder, we would've liked to use more oak because there was oak in the original houses as well, but obviously oak is very expensive. What we've discovered since then is that alder doesn't last very long in the water - that's because the most exposed parts of the timbers are where the loch level rises and falls between winter and summer and it's causing erosion in that area."
     Staff will now look into ways of naturally protecting the structure and Polish specialists have even visited to give their advice.

Source: BBC News (15 July 2008)

  Wollemi Wilderness yields its ancient secrets

There is a ridge and a creek in the heart of the 500,000-hectare Wollemi Wilderness (New South Wales, Australia) which are so remote they have never been officially named by Europeans. An archaeologist, Wayne Brennan, and his colleagues have called these wild features Forgotten Ridge and Creek and have just completed the first archaeological survey there. They have uncovered six archaeological sites, including a rock shelter with about 100 drawings and stencils.
     A party of bushwalkers - Rik Deveridge, Mark Jessop and Michael Cartier had discovered three rock art sites and on their return they contacted Mr Brennan. They reported an ancestral figure drawn with charcoal - either a half-man half-goanna or someone wearing an elaborate headdress. A few kilometres away they had found another strange motif - possibly a half-rat half-woman - and two ancient red-ochre hand-and-arm stencils. At a third site they found more than 30 axe-grinding grooves.
     Mr Brennan, who along with Paul Tacon and Dr Matthew Kelleher has spent the past five years searching the Wollemi for its secret prehistory, quickly set about getting to the unexplored area. Past discoveries in the wilderness area have included thousands of charcoal and ochre drawings, a one-hectare rock platform named Gallery Rock covered in engravings, two rare stone axes and a number of timber tools, including a firestick.
     "Normally anthropomorphic figures are quite rare … but in the Wollemi there are some very interesting combinations - eagle man … a bat-human, half-kangaroo half-humans, a rat woman, and now a possible goanna man," Mr Brennan said. He and his team were flown by helicopter into the area last month for a five-day survey, and immediately viewed the first site found by the bushwalkers - a large axe-grinding platform. "This would have been a nodal point, a meeting place," Mr Brennan said. "The axe is not just about sharpening and shaping. It's about waiting, down-time, talking. This waterhole would have always been kept clean. There would have been serious talking and axe grinding. It would have been about connecting with the place and the people."
     The following day the bushwalkers guided Mr Brennan into a rainforest and under a series of overhangs. Coming around a corner was a large rock shelter, and on the wall was the suspected goanna man. Professor Tacon, a Griffith University rock art expert, said he believed the reptilian head was probably an elaborate headdress. Near the rock shelter with the rat woman is a deep pool with huge round boulders on the creek bed. In the rock shelter the rat woman charcoal drawing has deteriorated badly.
     While Mr Brennan and other archaeologists recorded details of the finds, Mr Deveridge, Mr Cartier and Mr Jessop set off to scour more unexplored country in search of archaeology. The walkers discovered four sites, including a rock shelter with as many as 100 motifs on its walls. They found a stencil of a child's boomerang, children's hand stencils, and stencils of two of the biggest hands anyone had yet seen. There was also a mysterious figure with numerous heads, and large numbers of human figures. Proper recording of the sites will have to wait until another expedition.

Source: The Sydney Morning Herald (15 July 2008)

  6,000-year-old knife unearthed in Florida

It started out as a simple plan to erect a pavilion-like shelter at Safety Harbor (Florida, USA). Then it became an archeology dig. A city crew erecting the shelter stumbled upon an old knife, and archeologists confirmed it is 6,000 to 8,000 years old, said Brad Purdy, the spokesman for the city of Safety Harbor.
     Plans to put up the shelter were put on hold as various members of the Safety Harbor Museum of Regional History decided to treat the site as an archeological dig. The 4-inch knife was likely used by the Tocobaga Indians, Purdy said. "The edges are so sharp," Ron Fekete, director of exhibits said. "It's in mint condition." It is made of chert, he said.
     City workers had dug a hole roughly three and a half feet deep, to make the new pavilion able to withstand hurricanes, said Bobbie Davidson, director of operations for the museum. Rain fell on the pile of dirt left off to the side, and a city worker spied the knife, she said. After the workers found the blade, they washed it with some water at a fountain, said Purdy. It was then they realized it might be an artifact. A call was placed to the museum. Specifically, they called the curator of archaeology from the Safety Harbor Museum of Regional History, who later confirmed the blade's age, Purdy said.
     A trench has been started at the park, and is now at least three feet deep, said Fekete. The idea is that museum staff members will eventually reach a level of soil that goes back thousands of years, to see if there are any more archeological treasures in the park, he said. Since the knife was found, museum workers have found a piece of a tooth, but it is unknown as of yet what it belonged to, or how old it was, said Davidson. The museum is expected to ask the city for permission to dig in another area of the park to see whether they can piece together the life of the knife.

Source: MSNBC (15 July 2008)

  Search for first Americans to plunge underwater

C. Andrew Hemmings, research associate of the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory (TARL) at The University of Texas at Austin, will lead an underwater archeological expedition in the Gulf of Mexico to search for submerged evidence of the first Americans. Hemmings and James Adovasio, director of the Mercyhurst College Archaeological Institute in Erie, Pa., who serves as co-principal investigator of the project, will study ancient submerged coastlines in the northeastern Gulf to determine where early Americans, known as the Clovis culture, might have lived more than 12,000 years ago when the underwater terrain was dry land.
     Before heading inland, paleo-Indians probably hugged the American coastline, congregating around freshwater rivers, Adovasio said. At the time, much of the world's water was locked up in glaciers, causing ocean levels to be lower and exposing more of the continental shelf. As the earth warmed and water levels rose, evidence of such settlements fell deeper and deeper below water. "There is no question in almost all archaeological minds that the earliest examples of North American occupation are underwater," said Dave Watters, curator and head of anthropology at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.
     The study's findings will contribute to our understanding of early humans in North America, including the timing of their arrival, lifestyles and migration patterns, and could add further proof that the peopling of the western hemisphere was a lengthier and more complicated process than is typically believed," Hemmings said.
     Hemmings and the 12-person research team will embark July 30 on the University of South Florida's research vessel 'Suncoaster' to explore an area near the Florida Middle Grounds 100 to 200 miles off Florida's west coast at depths of 40 to 110 meters. Archeological finds uncovered by past dredging operations, fishermen and geologists point to the area's potential to have hosted human inhabitants long ago, the researchers said.
     In shallow depths, divers will inspect sites to collect artifacts and recover soils for radiocarbon dating. At deeper locations, the research team will use remotely operated vehicles and remote sensing tools to explore submerged sites and search for fossil remains and stone artifacts. "We will start our investigation in shallow areas available to Clovis people 12 to 13,000 years ago, and then proceed to older, deeper landscapes that could have only been inhabited by people older than Clovis," Hemmings said.
     But the real work will begin next year, if the team finds enough evidence to convince someone to fund a longer expedition. "We're going to work for two continuous weeks, as many hours each day as we possibly can," Adovasio said. "If we find something, you better believe we'll go back next year."

Sources: The University of Texas at Austin (14 July 2008), Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (15 July 2008)