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Archaeological Excavations, Survey and Projects
May 30, 2009 - 11:41pm
Part of an answer to how many thousands of years Indians lived on the Treasure Coast can be found in grains of sand 15 feet underground behind the new Indian River County Administration building. In early June, scientists are to drill down to get sand samples for laboratory dating of the site where very ancient Indian bones, dubbed the Vero Man, were unearthed around 1915. That’s part of a two-part initiative that is to include a scientific excavation of a portion of the site next year. For now, “If you line up 20 scientists and go down the line and ask how old are the bones, a third will say they are 10,000 years old,” said Florida State University archaeologist Glen Doran. “A third will say 6,000 years old. “I am among the others who shrug their shoulders and say no one knows for sure” about the age of the Vero Beach bones, he said. “I say let’s see what we can find out.” Elsewhere on the Treasure Coast, the oldest other human remains are dated around 4,300 years ago in Martin County, said Stuart resident Lucille Rieley Right, president of the South East Florida Archaeological Society. [...]
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Archaeology in the Media and Entertainment
May 30, 2009 - 11:37pm
Everyone's favourite archaeologist Indiana Jones is to make a comeback on the Wii, DS, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 console later this year Activision has announced. Traveller’s Tales, the developer that created the first instalment, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures plus a stack of other Lego titles such as the LEGO Star Wars series will be back at the helm for a second time. According to the companies, LEGO Indiana Jones 2 will "present a tongue-in-cheek take on all four cinematic adventures of pop culture’s most iconic archaeologist." Indy fans should be happy that the new game will also let them play out the latest film, the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, as well as, let players create levels of their own. [...]
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Underwater Archaeology
May 30, 2009 - 11:34pm
ontenegrin and U.S. officials visited the research vessel in the Bay of Kotor: The mission of the research vessel “Hercules” in territorial waters of Montenegro is merely the beginning of long-term cooperation on the Montenegrin seabed mapping project in quest for valuable archaeological sites. The underwater archaeological research project is a sign of fostering good relations between the Ministry of Culture and US Embassy in Montenegro. Tivat – “The current days-long mission of the research vessel “Hercules” in territorial waters of Montenegro is merely the beginning of long-term cooperation project regarding mapping Montenegrin seabed in quest for valuable archaeological sites – amphorae and aircraft wrecks from different periods,” it is said yesterday in Perast during the visit of Montenegrin and U.S. officials to the American research vessel “Hercules”, which belongs to the RPM Nautical Foundation from Florida. The staff aboard the vessel presented technical performances of “Hercules”. The vessel is equipped with cutting edge multi-beam sonar, underwater vehicle with ROV technologies, modern hydrograph software and software for analyzing data received from sonar, high resolution underwater cameras, and dynamic positioning system. [...]
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Heritage, Preservation and Conservation
May 30, 2009 - 3:45pm
To launch the project, financed by the Government of Japan, a declaration of intent was signed by Koïchiro Matsuura and the Chilean Minister of Education, Mónica Jiménez de la Jara. The project aims to develop tourism strategies that respect the outstanding universal value of the Rapa Nui National Park, for which the site was inscribed on the World Heritage List. "A society capable of preserving its heritage is capable of preserving its history and its identity," declared Michelle Bachelet Jeria, who also underlined that the project is "a remarkable initiative intended to give the local community a leading role in the enhancement and promotion of their own heritage." Renowned for its moai, the giant Polynesian stone figures, Rapa Nui receives more than 60,000 visitors annually. Thanks to the moai, this inhabited island, isolated from the mainland, has become one of the main tourist destinations in Chile. It is expected that the project will alleviate the growing pressure on the island's fragile ecosystem resulting from tourism. The Director-General trusts that the project will "reduce the negative impact of tourism [...] by finding a balance between the needs for the preservation of the site and the development of the island community". [...]
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Science, Research and Technology Advancements
May 30, 2009 - 3:41pm
Thousands died. But somehow, hundreds of papyrus scrolls survive, sort of, in a villa at Herculaneum thought to have been owned at one time by Julius Caesar's father-in-law. The scrolls contained ancient philosophical and learned writings. But they were so badly damaged, literally turned to carbon by the volcanic heat that they crumbled when scholars first tried to open them centuries later. The remaining scrolls, stored away in Italy and France, haven't been read or even unrolled since 79 AD. Now, a computer scientist from the University of Kentucky hopes that modern digital technology will allow him to peer inside two of the fragile scrolls without physically opening them and unlock secrets they have held for almost 2,000 years. Brent Seales, the Gill professor of engineering in UK's computer science department, will use an X-Ray CT scanning system to collect interior images of the scrolls' rolled-up pages. Then, he and his colleagues hope to digitally "unroll" the scrolls on a computer screen so scholars can read them. "It will be a challenge because today these things look more like charcoal briquets than scrolls," Seales said. [...]
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Archaeological Excavations, Survey and Projects
May 30, 2009 - 3:07pm
An archaeological firm says 71 bodies dating back 150 years are buried near the site of a planned Peoria library expansion. Officials say it could cost as much as $400,000 to dig up the human remains and artifacts near the library, which plans a $4.5 million, 15,000-square-foot expansion project. Midwest Archaeological Research Services of Marengo will handle the excavation. They estimate as many as 708 people may be buried in the area around the library. They say bodies not near the expansion site will be left alone. [...]
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Archaeological Legislation, Legal Proceedings and Criminal Activities
May 30, 2009 - 3:04pm
Authorities are investigating the destruction of a rare cabin near the historic mining town of Oatman. Miners seeking gold in Oatman generally lived in tents or wood cabins. U.S. Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Craig Johnson says this one is different in that in was built with stone and mortar, evidence that it was meant to be more permanent. He's not sure if it served as an office or home. Johnson says he was alerted in March that the Times Gulch cabin's 10-foot walls were battered down to a few feet. He says the area in and around the cabin is littered with beer bottles and shotgun shells. [...]
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Archaeological Excavations, Survey and Projects
May 29, 2009 - 11:15pm
L'équipe maroco-française qui exécute sur le site préhistorique de la carrière Thomas 1 à Casablanca, a déclaré lundi qu'elle vient de découvrir une partie arrière gauche de mandibule humaine qui a été mise à jour le 14 mai dernier.En effet, selon l'équipe de chercheurs, ce fossile appartient à un jeune individu. Les partie révélée sont « la prémolaire » qui est une dent située entre les canines et les molaires, et « la première molaire » de ce jeune préhistorique. Cette retrouvaille s'est effectuée dans un niveau géologique qui avait déjà livré à la même équipe en 2008 des restes humains datant de 500.000 ans au moins, les seuls de cet âge découverts lors de fouilles scientifiques rigoureuses au Maghreb. De sorte l'équipe a réussi à ressaisir la mandibule complète du genre Homo. Rappelons que bien avant l'actuelle découverte et le fossile trouvé en 2008 qui appartient à la variété maghrébine d'Homo « erectus » appelée Homo « mauritanicus », le labeur de cette équipe de recherches se fonde sur un cumul. Un rassemblement d'informations et de données constitués par des prémolaires et une incisive découvertes respectivement en 2006, 1995 et 1994. [...]
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Science, Research and Technology Advancements
May 29, 2009 - 10:56pm
Ancient Roman writing tablets suggest public officials were involved in expenses scandals 2,000 years ago.Writing tablets uncovered near Hadrian's Wall detail hundreds of expenses claimed by Roman officials, Hadrian's Wall Heritage Ltd said. Five of the translated tablets contain 111 lines detailing entertainment claims at the Roman camp of Vindolanda. The items include ears of grain, hobnails for boots, bread, cereals, hides and pigs. The wooden writing tablets - which date from the 2nd Century - were discovered at Vindolanda, the Roman encampment near Hadrian's Wall in 1973. [...]
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Heritage, Preservation and Conservation
May 29, 2009 - 10:52pm
A thousand years ago, the northern and southern branches of the Silk Road converged at this oasis town near the western edge of the Taklamakan Desert. Traders from Delhi and Samarkand, wearied by frigid treks through the world’s most daunting mountain ranges, unloaded their pack horses here and sold saffron and lutes along the city’s cramped streets. Chinese traders, their camels laden with silk and porcelain, did the same.The traders are now joined by tourists exploring the donkey-cart alleys and mud-and-straw buildings once window-shopped, then sacked, by Tamerlane and Genghis Khan.Now, Kashgar is about to be sacked again.Nine hundred families already have been moved from Kashgar’s Old City, “the best-preserved example of a traditional Islamic city to be found anywhere in central Asia,” as the architect and historian George Michell wrote in the 2008 book “Kashgar: Oasis City on China’s Old Silk Road.” Over the next few years, city officials say, they will demolish at least 85 percent of this warren of picturesque, if run-down homes and shops. Many of its 13,000 families, Muslims from a Turkic ethnic group called the Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gurs), will be moved. [...]
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