Hosted by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

TRANSCRIPT – WAN – 01/17/2012

POMPEII

On December 22nd, A courtyard column of a Roman house at the ancient site of Pompeii – a UNESCO World Heritage site – collapsed, the latest in a series of crumbling buildings and infrastructure at the site (the previous collapse occurred on October 21st, following a day of torrential rains and flash flooding in Italy, when a section of a roman wall gave way and collapsed on a stretch of the site’s external walls). For those of you who are familiar with the site –the October 21st collapse happened in a public area near the Porta di Nola.

In October the recently appointed Culture minister Giancarlo Galan – released a statement in which he reiterated how worried he was about the effect that violent rains could potentially have on Pompeii.

Adding that the ministry was working on a plan to salvage and secure the site and calling on curators to “act immediately to put in place the most urgent security measures”.

In November of 2010 a 12meter stretch of wall also collapsed after torrential rains – a few weeks following the collapse of walls at the frescoed Gladiator’s house and the House of the Moralist… and I think a year before that the House of the Chaste Lovers collapsed.

Italy even declared a ‘state of emergency’ at the site back in July 2008.

So one has to wonder what’s being done to protect the site especially now – with Italy’s uncertain economical state.

Italy’s national association of architects said in a statement last October that “There is a continued lack of ordinary maintenance, which is the only way to save the site. Our fear is that the coming months will see ever more frequent and serious incidents.”

Maria Pia Guermandi, a council member at Italian heritage organisation Italia Nostra stated that “The hiring of new archaeologists to help protect the site was included in a new bill but was then omitted from the final text. In the meantime, funds have actually been diverted to support museums in nearby Naples.”

She added that archaeological sites across Italy were at risk as the government pushed through budget cuts and that for example “the Forum in Rome and the underground spaces at the Coliseum were both completely flooded by the rains last Fall.”

Tsao Cevoli, president of the Italian association of archaeologists, told reporters that Pompeii’s buildings -renowned for their well-preserved state – are now falling apart on a daily basis.

He added that “Every morning the custodians collect pieces of crumbling walls and hide them before the tourists arrive, to stop tourists from taking them away and to hide the real situation at the ancient site”.

Johannes HAHN, EU Commissioner for Regional Policy, on November 7th visited Pompeii to familiarise himself with the reconstruction plans at the site. Hahn told reporters that the European Commission is making available 105 million Euros to restore Pompeii.

Also an agreement was signed by Ass. Dir-Gen for Culture, Francesco Bandarin on Nov 29th – which states that UNESCO will provide expert advice to the Italian Gov. on ways to improve the sites conservation – this advice will include World Heritage Committee recommendations. UNESCO participation will be financed by the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities.

KV64 – VALLEY OF THE KINGS

This week everyone is talking about the latest tomb to be discovered in Egypt’s Valley of the Kings – the second tomb only to be discovered there since King Tut’s tomb exactly 90 year ago. It’s identified as KV64 – Kv63 the only other tomb to be discovered since 1922 was located in 2005 and accessed in 2006.

A Swiss archaeological team lead by University of Basel archaeologists Elena Pauline-Grothe and Susanne Bickel discovered KV64′s entrance on January 25 2011 near Karnack – right at the start of the Egyptian uprising. Surprisingly they were able to keep it secret and safe – it was immediately covered with an iron door and therefore protected until archaeological teams were able to return to the site earlier this month.

The un-looted tomb is described as having only one room, containing a single sarcophagus adorned with yellow hieroglyphs and decorations. However, the researchers believe that an even older burial, from the 15th century BCE, lies beneath about 1 metre of debris – this is based on artefacts found inside tomb.

According to a brightly coloured inscription – the 3000-year-old mummy discovered in the sarcophagus is Nehemes-Bastet, a singer of Amon Ra during the Twenty-Second Dynasty – from about 945 to 712 BCE and daughter to the High priest of Amon Ra at Karnack.

The coffin was opened on Monday January 16th and Bickel told the BBC that they found a “nicely wrapped” mummy.

Pauline-Grothe told reporters that the discovery was made accidentally – the archaeological team wasn’t even looking for new tombs. It was simply located close to another tomb discovered 100 years ago.

This is apparently the first time that a mummy that isn’t linked to any ancient Egyptian royal family has been found in the valley.

KV64 marks the 64th tomb to be discovered in the Valley of the Kings.

ASTROLOGY BOARD

A research team has discovered what may be the oldest astrologer’s board, engraved with zodiac signs and used to determine a person’s horoscope.

Radiocarbon dating shows that the ivory used to create the zodiac images dates back to around 2,200 years ago.

The discovery was reported by Professor Alexander Jones, from the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University and Professor Stašo Forenbaher, a researcher with the Institute for Anthropological Research in Zagreb – in the most recent edition of the Journal for the History of Astronomy.

The board was discovered in Croatia, in a cave overlooking the Adriatic Sea. The surviving portion of the board consists of 30 ivory fragments engraved with signs of the zodiac – they include images of Cancer, Gemini and Pisces.

The archaeological team was digging near the entrance of the Croatian cave in 1999 –they determined that the cave had been sealed off in the first century BCE.

What they had yet to realise was that the cave had a section that had also been sealed off. After burrowing through the debris, they team discovered a wide and low 10m long passageway that lead into an unexplored section of the cave.

Archaeological investigation revealed a phallic-shaped stalagmite – which appears to have been a centre for religious ceremonies and offerings- as well as numerous Hellenistic drinking vessels, and many very tiny bits and pieces of ivory.

For years the team tried to assemble these tiny pieces and tried to figure out what they were used for.

Professor Jones told reporters that ‘This is probably older than any other known example. It’s also older than any of the written-down horoscopes that we have from the Greco-Roman world.’

Archaeologists still do not know where the board was originally made, how it came to be in the possession of the Illyrians, or why it was hidden in the cave.

Perhaps the board came from Egypt to Greece via a ship on the Adriatic Sea – A Greek astrologer could have made his way to the cave. Or perhaps the Illyrians stole or traded for the board.

MAYAN TOBACCO

Archaeologists have revealed the first physical evidence for the use of tobacco by ancient Mayans while examining late period Mayan containers.

The study published in Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry describes the flask as being marked with Mayan hieroglyphics which translate to “the home of its/his/her tobacco – making it only the second case in which an exterior inscription on a Mayan vessel corresponds to its ancient use.

“Investigation of food items consumed by ancient people offers insight into the traditions and customs of a particular civilization,” explains Jennifer Loughmiller-Newman from the University at Albany in New York. “Textual evidence written on pottery is often an indicator of contents or of an intended purpose, however actual usage of a container could be altered or falsely represented.”

Many of the Mayan flask vessels from the Kislak collection of the Library of Congress examined in this study were filled with other substances, such as iron oxide used in burial rituals, making it difficult to detect the original content.

For the current investigation, researchers analyzed samples extracted from the Late Classic Maya period (600 to 900 CE.) using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS).

Nicotine—the signature alkaloid in tobacco—was identified as the major component of the extracts from one of the 150 vessels in the collection. The flask was determined to have been made in southern Campeche, Mexico and dates to around 700 CE.

Prior to the current discovery, the only existing evidence showing a Mayan vessel to have the same content as indicated by hieroglyphic text was the identification of theobromine, an alkaloid found in cacao, more than 20 years ago.

While the flask is likely to have stored tobacco leaves, the Maya also ground tobacco into a powder from which they could make a powerful alcoholic drink or even use as snake repellent. Loughmiller-Newman, told MSNBC that the traces came from a very strong tobacco, much stronger than it is today, ‘Nicotiana rustica was nearly hallucinogenic.’

According to her it could have been used for treatment of bug bites, or to ward off snakes, or perhaps as a snuff.

RED-DEAD PROJECT

A World Bank-led Red Sea-Dead Sea Water Conveyance Study Programme report has concluded that several ancient archaeological sites in Jordan could be affected by the construction of the Red-Dead Water Conveyance Project.

The International Red-Dead project would transfer about 1 billion cubic meters of water from the Red sea to the Dead sea every year in order to stop the receding waters – the Dead sea is actually shrinking about one meter per year and could completely disappear within 50 years – this is largely due to the diversion of water from the Jordan River for agricultural and industrial use. It is estimated that it has lost 25 meters in the last 50 years.

The archaeological site assessment reports that many sites will potentially be affected by components of the Red-Dead project and suggests that any impact to these sites should be avoided by relocating the relevant elements of the conveyance system( such as tunnels, pipeline, desalination stations, etc.

Identified in the report – the sites of Wadi Finan, Bir Mathkour, Ghor Fifa, Qasr Tlah and several other sites in Wadi Araba.

Wadi Finan is a complex of sites of regional and international significance because it documents human activities at the very beginning of settled and agricultural societies, along with the earliest use of metals in the region, the report said, highlighting the importance of one these sites.

The Study Program, involving Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed to analyze the probable impact of the project on the environment and society. One option to help protect part of the area is proposing the Finan area for inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List.

To avoid potential hazards from the conveyance project, the study program also suggests some alternatives to save the Dead Sea.

There are many other options examined under the Study of Alternatives, including the option to restore the Jordan River and of course the option to take no action at all. The report states that ‘The Study Program has most definitely not assumed that the best solution to the Dead Sea problems is the conveyance of sea water from the Red Sea.’

MUMMIFYING ALAN

A UK taxi driver who was terminally ill with lung cancer – donated his body to be mummified in the same way as the ancient Egyptian pharaohs did – and the whole process was featured in a documentary on Channel 4 in the Uk – called Mummifying Alan.

Alan – the taxi driver had read an ad in the paper asking if anyone wanted to be mummified. The goal of the study was to replicate ancient Egyptian techniques to further researcher’s knowledge about the practice of mummification.

The team was composed of a forensic archaeologist, Stephen Buckley, as well as Bill Bass, an expert in human decomposition and Maxine Coe, a pathology technician.

To begin the mummification process Alan’s internal organs were removed, then he was coated in a sesame oil solution and left in a salt-water bath for 35 days.

The body was in excellent condition when it came out of the bath however on day 49 maggots were found in Alan’s ear. Luckily, the team was able to rectify the problem.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EVENTS

In Dijon (France) on January 19th – there will be a seminar entitled « Actualités dans le domaine du traitement et de la représentation de l’information spatiale en archéologie et en histoire – the event will take place at l’Esplanade Erasme at the Campus of the Université de Bourgogne

On January 26th in Paris (also in France) – at the Italian institute of culture – there will be a table ronde entitled ‘Les missions archéologiques italienne et française en Libye”. Present at the event will be Mario Luni, archaeologist and director of the Italian archaeological mission of l’université de Urbino at Cyrène (Libya), Vincent Michel director of the french archaeological Mission for ancient Libya and Jean Michel Mouton who is responsible for the archaeological mission of Surt also in Libya.

On February 8th, the Oriental Institute in Chicago (In the United States) will host the “Neolithic of Jordan: From Mega-sites to Elaborate Villages” AIA National Lecture by Alan H. Simmons.

The Tenth Anniversary Meeting of the Midwestern Consortium on Ancient Religions – entitled ‘The Stuff that Dreams are Made of’: The Interpretation, Divination and Use of Dreams in Ancient Mediterranean Religions will take place on February 24th at The Ohio State University.

Hosted by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

TRANSCRIPT – WAN – S03E04 – 04/03/2011

CANADA| Yukon shipwreck yields Gold Rush tunes

Archaeologists in Northern Canada have found new clues about the music early Klondike stampeders were listening to during the Yukon Gold Rush, thanks to recordings found aboard a 110-year-old shipwreck. The three records and a gramophone were discovered last summer in the A.J. Goddard, a sternwheeler that sank in Lake Laberge, north of Whitehorse – in the Yukon – in October of 1901. Lindsey Thomas, a Texas-based archeology graduate student who has been heading up research on the ship, told reporters that the discovery gives valuable insight into daily operations, and into the importance of music during the period. Thomas added that the three recordings, including Rendezvous Waltz and a rare 1896 minstrel recording of Ma Onliest One, were previously unknown to Gold Rush-era music experts.

CANADA – UNITED STATES| Scientists probe Lake Huron for signs of pre-historic caribou hunters
A team of American scientists is preparing to search the bottom of Lake Huron for ancient artifacts along an underwater ridge that straddles the U.S.-Canada border — a place the researchers believe was a caribou-hunting hot spot about 10,000 years ago. The planned probe of the Alpena-Amberley Ridge — named for the Michigan and Ontario towns that respectively mark the western and eastern ends of the 160-kilometre-long feature — is expected to involve remotely operated sonar devices for mapping the underwater terrain, as well as a team of scuba divers to comb the long-submerged landscape in search of spearheads and other signs of hunting activity from the end of the last ice age. University of Michigan researchers first announced in 2009 that they’d discovered rock formations along the drowned ridge that appeared similar to well-documented caribou-hunting structures used in prehistoric times by the “Paleo-Indian” peoples who once occupied Canada’s Arctic and sub-Arctic territories. University of Michigan marine engineer Guy Meadows told  reporters that these unusual rock formations constitute “promising” but not definitive evidence of an ancient hunting culture – researchers will also be looking for fire pits, tool making sites and other hunting structures. Meadows added that the Michigan team is working to enlist Canadian researchers — including paleo-environment specialist Lisa Sonnenburg from McMaster University in Hamilton — to help profile the corridor. Now under about 35 metres of water, the Lake Huron ridge was once a 16-km-wide upland corridor in a lake-dotted landscape that linked caribou wintering grounds in the south to their summer ranges in present-day Northern Ontario and beyond.

UNITED STATES| This seafood buffet was held 11,000 years ago
The earliest colonizers of the Americas enjoyed seabirds, seals and sardines. That’s according to findings from three new archaeological digs on the Channel Islands off Southern California. The sites have yielded dozens of delicate stone tools and thousands of bone and shell fragments from meals more than 11,000 years old. The finds reveal more about how early North-Americans lived and ate, explained study researcher Torben Rick, a curator of North American archaeology at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. The tools found also link the seafaring people of the Channel Islands to populations living far inland in North America, including the area that is now Utah and Nevada. The findings are reported in this week’s issue of the journal “Science”.

UNITED STATES| Professor pleads guilty in artifacts case
A Chicago archaeology professor has pleaded guilty to taking “Folsom and Clovis points” from federal land in New Mexico, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 66 year old David Amick, chairperson of the anthropology department at the Lake Shore campus of Loyola University of Chicago, entered a guilty plea to one misdemeanour count of violating the Archaeological Resources Protection Act – he was ordered to serve one year of probation. According to sources – on June 3, 2007, during a field trip with two others, Amick removed 12 archaeological artifacts from unidentified federal land in New Mexico – the next day, they removed five more. According to Loyola’s website, Amick received his doctorate in anthropology from The University of New Mexico in 1994.

UNITED STATES| Mitegen Announces Release of MicroRT™ Aligner
Mitegen LLC, a provider of innovative consumables for X-ray diffraction, crystallography and protein crystallization to researchers around the world, announced the release of the MicroRT™ Aligner, an alignment tool for researchers performing room and variable temperature diffraction. The new MicroRT™ Aligner simplifies the use of Mitegen’s MicroRT™ Capillary System, and provides researchers with a fast and easy method to collect room temperature diffraction data. Until recently, crystallographers have avoided room temperature because the traditional glass capillary method for mounting samples is too difficult. With the MicroRT™ Aligner and polymer MicroRT™ capillaries, researchers can go from a crystal in its growth solution to the X-ray beam in as little as one minute, with near perfect chance of success. If diffraction is first screened at room temperature, large amounts of time now wasted optimizing, cryoprotecting and flash cooling crystals that are too poorly ordered to yield structures can be eliminated.

UNITED STATES| 1823 Whaling Shipwreck Found in Hawaii
Linked to Moby-Dick and skippered by a man who ate his own cousin – albeit ‘relunctantly’, the whaling ship Two Brothers has been lost on a remote Pacific reef since 1823. Now experts say they’ve found hard evidence of the ship 970 kilometres off Honolulu. If confirmed, the discovery would be the first of a wrecked whaler from Nantucket, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the U.S. whaling industry. The shipwreck was found at French Frigate Shoals in the remote Papah-nau-mo-kuakea Marine National Monument. At its peak, from the 1820s to the 1840s, Nantucket was home to several dozen whaling ships. Whaling crews hunted whale’s for their blubber, which was boiled down into oils that were used in everything from lamps to perfume to machine lubricants.

UNITED KINGDOM| Ice-age Britons drank from skull cups
Ice-age Britons drank from human skulls and may even have eaten flesh and bone marrow. That’s the conclusion of experts studying the oldest known examples of “skull cups,” found in a cave in southwest England. Scientists say they are the oldest known carbon-dated skull cups, estimated by experts to be about 14,700 years old. British scientists writing in the Public Library of Science journal maintain the cups were fashioned in such a meticulous way that the only credible explanation for their manufacture is that they were used as bowls to hold liquid. If the hunters and gatherers simply wanted to eat the deceased person’s brains, there would have been far easier ways to get at them, scientists added. Experts believe the rare cups — two made from adults skulls, one from a child thought to be about three-years-old — were used in some sort of ritual, as was common in many parts of the world.

UNITED KINGDOM| Stirling Castle’s 16th Century defences unearthed
Archaeologists have found fragments of Stirling Castle’s 16th Century outer defences. The discovery was made during work to extend the castle’s main shop and ticket office. Historic Scotland said the find would help establish exactly where the defences stood. European experts are believed to have been used to apply the latest Italian military engineering techniques at the castle in the 1540s. They were brought in by Mary of Guise, widow of James V, at a time when intermittent warfare with England made it essential to have fortifications that could protect against heavy artillery in a siege.  Much was changed at the castle between 1711 and 1714 when the old defences were demolished during a programme of modernisation. Further alterations took place when the esplanade was created in the early 19th Century. Peter Yeoman, from Historic Scotland, said the discovery gave a “tantalising glimpse” of the fortifications created for Mary of Guise and paid for by the French king Henri II. Yeoman added they were probably designed by the Italian engineer Signor Ubaldini, who was working on a similar defensive spur at the time at Edinburgh Castle.

UNITED KINGDOM| 17th century shopping centre that drew the bargain-hunters to Dunluce
A trove of 17th century treasure has been uncovered which sheds new light on how people once shopped in the lost town of Dunluce. The settlement near the north coast castle’s walls was once destined to be the region’s great commercial centre — but fell into decline after the 1641 Rebellion.  Archaeologists have spent the last few summers excavating what appeared to be a peaceful field topping the rugged cliffs of Dunluce, only to uncover a settlement that was once a hub of trade and a byword for fine living. Last summer they also discovered the remains of a medieval hall in the castle, which could well date back to the days of the Gaelic McQuillans, who were pushed out in the 1550s by the McDonalds. The nearby town was established by Randal McDonald in 1607/1608 and settled exclusively by merchants from Scotland. Bone combs, dress fastenings, decorated thimbles, buckles and pieces from 17th century board games were found, plus part of a wine glass and coins from the days of Elizabeth and Charles I.

GERMANY| How a 27,000-piece jigsaw puzzle was solved
A collection of ancient statues destroyed during the British bombing of Berlin in World War II have been painstakingly restored and are being displayed. It has taken nine years to piece together the 27,000 fragments of the 3,000-year-old Tell Halaf treasures taken from what is now Syria by the German archaeologist and wealthy collector Max von Oppenheim early in the 20th century. Lutz Martin, co-ordinator of the restoration project, told reporters that his team started the restoration process back in 2001. The first step was to lay out all the fragments on an area of 600 square meters and then to sort the material. The results are now the focus of an exhibition in Berlin’s Pergamon Museum that attracted 10,000 visitors in its first three days.

NETHERLANDS| The Iceman Mummy: Finally Face to Face
Brown-eyed, bearded, furrow faced, and tired: this is how Ötzi the Iceman might have looked, according to the latest reconstruction based on 20 years of research and investigations. Realized by two Dutch experts,  Alfons and Adrie Kennis, the model was produced with the latest in forensic mapping technology that uses three-dimensional images of the mummy’s skull as well as infrared and tomographic images. The new reconstruction shows a prematurely old man, with deep-set eyes, sunken cheeks, a furrowed face and ungroomed beard and hair.

ITALY| Neanderthals were fashionable in feathers
Researchers in Italy have announced that Neanderthals plucked the feathers from falcons and vultures, perhaps for symbolic value. This new discovery adds to evidence that our closest known extinct relatives were capable of creating art. Scientists investigated the Grotta di Fumane in northern Italy, a site loaded with Neanderthal bones. After digging down to layers to about 44,000 years old, the researchers discovered 660 bones belonging to 22 species of birds, with evidence of cut, peeling and scrape marks from stone tools on the wing bones of birds that had no clear practical or culinary value. “The first traces on the bones of large raptors were found in September 2009,” explained researcher Marco Peresani, a paleoanthopologist at the University of Ferrara in Italy. At that time the team decided to re-examine the whole bone assemblage recovered from that layer. The birds included red-footed falcons, bearded lammergeyers – a type of vulture, Alpine choughs – a relative of crows and common wood pigeons. The birds’ plumages included a variety of colors — the gray of the red-footed falcon, the orange-shaded slate gray of the bearded lammergeier, the black of the Alpine chough, and the blue-gray of the common wood pigeon.

GREECE| Altar of the Twelve Gods sees the light
Renovation work on the aged Piraeus-Kifissia electric railway – on the stretch between the central Athenian neighbourhoods of Monastiraki and Thisseio have brought to light remnants of the famed Altar of the Twelve Gods, one of Athens’s most ancient monuments and a landmark that marked the very center of ancient city, from which all distances were measured. The vestiges were found during construction in the area of the Ancient Agora, on the north-western slope of the Acropolis.
The Altar of the Twelve Gods (a small section of which is visible in the Ancient Agora) is almost completely buried under the lines of the ISAP train. Archaeologists are certain of the identity of the find, because the altar is one of the Athenian monuments that have been described in relevant literature. According to Thucydides, the Altar of the Twelve Gods was founded during the tyranny of Peisistratus by his grandson – son of the tyrant Hippias in 522-521 BCE. ISAP has yet to grant archaeologists the time they need to collect evidence from the new find or to draw up a plan about how to handle it.

EGYPT| King Tut Statues Stolen From Egypt Museum
In Egypt – it appears that earlier news regarding the state of the National Museum was premature. It was first reporterd that although some items had been vandalized, none had been taken – well now Zahi Hawass, who under Mubarak was named minister of antiquities – has altered his statement.  Some 18 objects went missing following a break-in at the museum on Jan. 28, 2011. The news broke after the staff of the database department at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, reported on the inventory of objects at the museum following the break in. They discovered that objects were indeed missing from the museum – these include a limestone statue of Akhenaten holding an offering table (previously announced to have been under restoration following the break in), and two gilded wood statues of King Tutankhamun, one of the boy king being carried by a goddess, the other of the pharaoh harpooning.
Thankfully, the limestone statue of the Pharaoh Akhenaten was recovered beside a garbage bin near the Museum.  The unique statue, which dates from the Amarna Period – between 1353 and 1336 BCE – is 37 centimetres high and depicts the king standing, wearing a blue crown, and holding an offering table in his outstretched hands. The statue is made of painted limestone, and stands on a base of Egyptian alabaster. The statue was found by a 16-year-old boy near a trash can in Cairo’s Tahrir Square near the southern wall of the museum. After taking it home, the boy’s family immediately called the Ministry of State for Antiquities Affairs to arrange for the statue’s return to the Museum.

ETHIOPIA| “Lucy” Was No Swinger, Walked Like Us, Fossil Suggests
An unprecedented fossil foot bone appears to confirm that Australopithecus afarensis—the early human ancestor made famous by the “Lucy” skeleton—walked like modern humans, a new study claims. Unearthed at a known Australopithecus afarensis  fossil trove in Hadar, in Ethiopia, the 3.2-million-year-old fossil is a metatarsal, one of five long bones that connect the large bones in the back of the foot to those of the toes. The fossil’s size and shape allowed scientists to determine that the foot it had belonged to was stiff and had a well-defined arch—two features that help modern humans spring forward and that cushion the shocks of bipedal walking.
Scientists have known for a while, thanks to pelvis fossils and other remains, that afarensis could walk on two legs and no longer had the apelike “foot thumbs” used by other human ancestral species for grasping and climbing.

AFGHANISTAN| Buddha statue dynamited by Taliban to be rebuilt?
German scientists announced last Monday that it may be possible to reconstruct one of two giant 1,500 year-old Buddha statues dynamited by the Taliban in central Afghanistan 10 years ago, which prompted a worldwide outcry and left behind only towering cliff caverns. Researchers have studied several hundred fragments of the sandstone statues that once towered up to 60 meters high in Bamiyan province, and found that they were once brightly coloured in red, white and blue, said Erwin Emmerling of Munich’s Technical University. The professor of restoration and conservation science, who has been visiting the UNESCO world heritage site since 2007, told reporters that research has shown that the smaller one of the pair — some 42 meters high — could be reconstructed with the recovered parts. Conservation of the fragments would require the construction of a small factory in the Bamiyan Valley — alternatively some 1,400 rocks weighing up to two tons each would have to be transported to Germany,” the university added in a statement.

PAKISTAN| Games played a big role 4,000 years ago
Games of leisure played a key part of life 4,000 years ago in the Indus Valley – in present-day Pakistan, according to an archaeologist at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden who found that dice and other game pieces make up nearly 10 percent of the artifacts recovered in the ancient city of Mohenjo-Daro. Archaeologists often recover play-related artifacts, but usually dismiss them as unimportant for research or regard them as ritual objects or signs of social status, explained Elke Rogersdotter, who studied the play-related artifacts for her doctoral thesis. She argues that studying play can give archaeologists insight to the social structure of ancient societies. For example, at Mohenjo-Daro, not only is there an abundance of play-related objects, they also appear to follow a repetitive pattern of spatial distribution. This may indicate specific locations where games were played, such as gaming parlours.

NEPAL| Previously unknown Himalayan cave culture discovered
Finally in Nepal, A previously unknown Himalayan cave culture has been uncovered in upper Mustang. According to the Department of Archaeology (DOA), archaeologists and other experts discovered the remains of an ancient cave people following an extensive 5-year project. Researchers discovered the remains of 27 individuals buried in the caves – adult men, women, adolescents and children. The researchers believe the culture they have uncovered carried with it the origins of the sky burial practice of the Tibetan plateau. The caves, explored by archaeologists and experts led by American archaeologist and National Geographic grantee Dr. Mark Aldenderfer, are believed to date back some 3,000 years. Many of the bones bear cut marks that point to a previously unknown Himalayan death ritual. The corpses—many of which had been stripped of flesh—were placed in the high mortuaries some 1500 years ago. Nearly 67 percent of the bodies’ had been defleshed, most likely with a metal knife, explained the researchers, who found the remains back in 2010. After the de-fleshing process, the corpses were probably laid to rest on wide wooden shelves – due to centuries of exposure, the bones and bunks—and much of the caves themselves—had collapsed by the time the team entered the chambers. Also discovered were goat, cow and horse remains—perhaps sacrificial offerings for the dead, though their purpose remains a mystery.

EVENTS

(USA – March, 11th to 13th) TAS Archeology Academy – Archeology 101: Recognizing and Documenting Archeological Sites will be offered in San Antonio, at Mission San Jose, with a field day at Rancho de las Cabras in Wilson County. Dr. Harry Shafer has agreed to teach, and Marybeth Tomka will be the PI. This will be in partnership with the National Park Service. Fees include a CD manual, lunch and snacks during the class sessions. TAS is a provider of professional development accredited through SBEC. Credits may be received by teachers attending classes.

(Canada, March 12th) The « L’analyse céramique: questions anthropologiques, technologiques, environnementales et archéométriques » workshop will take place on March 12th from 9am to 5pm at the University of Quebec in Montreal – Canada.
This course will be an introduction to the various approaches to ceramic and the numerous analytical aspects needed for its study in order to place it in a well defined socio-economical context.
Using media elements, the workshop will aim to illustrate the methods of study for ceramics through numerous examples from anthropology as well as technological, environmental and archaeometric studies.
The course will be given by Frédéric Dessène, postdoctoral Researcher at the Archaeology Laboratory of Laval University.

(USA – March 22nd) The Archaeological Institute of America – East Tennessee Society will hold the “Coastal archaeology of Israel: Tel Abu Hawam, Akko, Tel Nami” talk given by Michal Artzy from the University of Haifa. The event will be held on March 22nd at 7:30 pm at the The University of Tennessee’s Deparment of Classics.

(USA – March 25th – 28th) The Southern Arizona – Hohokam & San Pedro Valley Tour will visit archaeological sites in the San Pedro River Valley and view ceramics found at these sites in the archives of the Amerind Foundation. The second day will include a study tour of the Hohokam cultures at sites around Tucson. In the San Pedro valley, participants will see evidence of migrations from the Safford Basin and Mogollon Highlands, as well as of Kayenta/Tusayan peoples, relatives of the Hopi. Guides will be distinguished archaeologists – Jeffrey Clark of the Center for Desert Archaeology and Paul and Suzanne Fish of the University of Arizona. The tour takes place between March 25th and 28th.

(UAE – March 30th – 31st) The Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (ADACH) is organizing an international conference on archaeology in Al Ain on March 30th and 31st. The conference which will bring together local and international experts is part of the Authorities strategy to examine, protect, preserve and promote the rich array of archaeological sites that can be found in Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

(USA – March 30th – April 2nd) Finally, the 76th Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology will be held from March 30th to April 2nd in Sacramento, California.

Hosted by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

1. CANADA| Nunavut heritage sites face climate threat
2. UNITED STATES| Chinese say U.S. museum can’t exhibit mummies
3. UNITED STATES| Archaeology field schools run by the UCLA Cotsen Institute have been temporarily cut because of funding problems
4. MEXICO| Did droughts doom cultures of ancient Mexico?
5. MEXICO| An Unknown Son of Pakal II of Palenque has Been Identified by Mexican Archaeologists
6. UNITED KINGDOM| Unearthed African skeleton was ‘Roman soldier’
7. UNITED KINGDOM| A new henge discovered at Stonehenge
8. ISRAEL| 1,500-year-old church found in Israel
9. EGYPT| Egypt Antiquities Restoration Under Way
10. SOMALIA| ‘First-aid’ needed for 5,000-year-old Somali cave paintings
11. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES| Modern Humans Reached Arabia Earlier Than Thought
12. JORDAN| Earliest known cemetery found?

TRANSCRIPT – WAN – S03E03 – 11/02/2011

CANADA| Nunavut heritage sites face climate threat

Nunavut archaeological sites threatened by climate change may be saved thanks to new high-tech equipment, explained the territory’s director of culture and heritage. Doug Stenton told reporters that new 3D technology and a ground-penetrating radar system can be used to quickly map the surface and sub-surface, and could be used to deal with sites affected by coastal erosion and melting permafrost. Canada’s University of Manitoba has received funding to buy the technology and plans to use it in the Arctic. It will help researchers identify areas that need special attention…and help plan strategies to protect the site, [such as] stabilization methods, explained Stenton.

He added that there are about 12,000 documented sites in Nunavut, dating as far back as 4,500 years. As an example of a threatened site, Stenton pointed to photos containing artefacts from the Tuniit or Dorset people, who predate the Inuit. A large section of the site near Pond Inlet, in Nunavut, has fallen into the ocean.  Discoveries include items such as stone tools, clothing, bone and stone carvings, and masks. The technology will be purchased in 2011 and researchers hope to put it to use in Nunavut in 2012.

UNITED STATES| Chinese say U.S. museum can’t exhibit mummies

Some of China’s most treasured antiquities — the mummies of Xinjiang — have been museum-hopping in the US for the past few months – And they’ve been seen by tens of thousands of visitors at museums in Santa Ana, Calif., and Houston. But a much-anticipated final stop in Philadelphia — where the mummies are meant to headline the Secrets of the Silk Road exhibit at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology — recently ran into an unexpected roadblock involving the Chinese government.

A Chinese diplomatic official told reporters that two mummies and other ancient artefacts from China were never approved for display at the Philadelphia museum. The embassy spokesman in Washington added that the “Secrets of the Silk Road” exhibit was approved only for museums in California and Texas. Chinese officials initially refused to allow the artefacts to be displayed in Pennsylvania. Instead, the long-planned exhibit recently opened with fake mummies and life-size photos of the artefacts.
Well now, according to a release from the museum, the exhibition will include the full complement of artefacts beginning next Friday. The museum will continue the abridged exhibit until Sunday, when it will prepare the full display.

UNITED STATES| Archaeology field schools run by the UCLA Cotsen Institute have been temporarily cut because of funding problems

The UCLA Cotsen Institute of Archaeology recently closed its undergraduate field research schools for the year because of financial pressures. Over the past few months, budget cuts and insurance risks have led to a deficit in funding for the program, which once thrived with more than 200 students enrolled at 20 sites worldwide.

The Cotsen Institute will, however, likely offer three field schools this summer for volunteers, but not for academic credit. Institute Director Charles Stanish is also currently looking to re-establish the field schools next year through the summer sessions program, instead of through the UCLA International Education Office’s travel study program.

MEXICO| Did droughts doom cultures of ancient Mexico?

Major droughts may have spurred the demise of multiple cultures and cities in pre-Hispanic Mexico over the last millennium. A new dendrochronological study has pinpointed four severe droughts in the region over the last 1,200 years. Some were far more intense and prolonged than anything ever seen in modern meteorological records, and many coincided with major historical events. One, for example, lasted for 25 years around the year 900 and accompanied the end of a flourishing era of Mayan city-states. By dating droughts to precise periods of time, the work puts the region’s current drought problems into perspective, said David Stahle, a geoscientist at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. The findings should also help researchers figure out the factors that have driven moisture out of the area again and again throughout history

MEXICO| An Unknown Son of Pakal II of Palenque has Been Identified by Mexican Archaeologists

Also in Mexico – Parting from the reintegration of two fragments from the Northern Tableau of the Temple of the Sun Sanctuary, in Palenque, a new lecture of the glyphic text was conducted in which the name of another son of Pakal II, unknown until now, may have been mentioned. Both sculptural fragments were recovered in 1993 by archaeologist Arnoldo Gonzalez, from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and were recently incorporated to the Northern Tableau at the Archaeological Site of Palenque, in the Mexican state of Chiapas. Epigraphist Guillermo Bernal Romero has interpreted the secondary text of the tableau, integrated by the pair of fragments salvaged. In a preliminary expression of the glyphs ordered in columns, the date that corresponds to September 9th 687 is mentioned, when Palenque forces broke into the city of Po in the name of their ruler K’inich Kan B’ahlam, firstborn child of K’inich Janaab’ Pakal, known also as Pakal II.

UNITED KINGDOM| Unearthed African skeleton was ‘Roman soldier’

A 1,700-year-old skeleton shows that people of African descent have lived in Warwickshire for far longer than was previously thought. The skeleton of an African man was discovered buried in Tiddington Road, at Stratford-upon-Avon, back in 2009. Archaeologists now believed the man may have been a Roman soldier who chose to retire in Stratford after serving in an African unit.. Malin Holst, of York Osteoarchaeology Ltd, told reporters that he had identified elements of the mature African male skeleton in bones unearthed from a Roman-period cemetery. Stuart Palmer, from Archaeology Warwickshire, added that: African skeletons have previously been found in large Romano-British towns like York and African units are known to have formed part of the Hadrian’s Wall garrison, but researchers had no reason to expect any in Warwickshire and certainly not in a community as small as Roman Stratford.  The bones revealed the man was heavily built and used to carrying heavy loads. He had suffered arthritis in one of his shoulders, his hips and lower back.

UNITED KINGDOM| A new henge discovered at Stonehenge

An archaeology team led by the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria have discovered a major ceremonial monument less than one kilometre away from Stonehenge.

Professor Vince Gaffney, from the University’s IBM Visual and Spatial Technology Centre explained that this new discovery will completely change the way researchers think about the landscape surrounding Stonehenge – adding that people have tended to think that as Stonehenge reached its peak it was the paramount monument, existing in isolation.

The new “henge-like” Late Neolithic monument is believed to be contemporaneous to Stonehenge and appears to be on the same orientation. It comprises a segmented ditch with opposed north-east/south-west entrances that are associated with internal pits – up to one metre in diameter and could have held a free-standing, timber structure.

ISRAEL| 1,500-year-old church found in Israel

Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks. The Byzantine church was discovered southwest of Jerusalem, and has been excavated over the last two months. The small basilica with an exquisitely decorated floor was active between the fifth and seventh centuries CE, explained the project lead, Amir Ganor of the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Archaeologists began excavation at the site, known as Hirbet Madras, in December. The Antiquities Authority discovered several months earlier that looters had begun plundering the ruins, which lie on an uninhabited hill not far from an Israeli farming community. Though an initial survey suggested the building was a synagogue, the excavation revealed stones carved with crosses, identifying it as a church. Under the remains of the building, archaeologists also discovered the remains of a Roman occupation, approximately 500 years older. The church is set to be reburied for its own protection.

EGYPT| Egypt Antiquities Restoration Under Way

On Monday, Egypt announced that restoration work is under way for antiquities damaged during a looting attempt at Cairo’s Egyptian Museum in late January. Museum officials say very little was damaged and that nothing was destroyed or stolen from the museum.

During the early days of the Egyptian revolt, approximately six looters entered the museum, located adjacent to Cairo’s Tahrir Square, and damaged priceless antiquities. But restoration work got underway quickly on the objects in question.
Hoda Abd El Hamid, Museum Conservator told reporters that, among the 70 artefacts vandalized during the anti-government protests, most of them are in good shape – about 25 items do, however, require restoration.

The most significant are a statue of King Ahkenaten wearing the blue crown and holding an offering table, King Tutankhamun’s gilded walking stick, a wooden statue of King Tut standing on the back of a panther and a few unidentified mummies. The looters broke into the museum through its windowed ceiling using ropes. Zahi Hawass, the Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, told reporters that one of them fell on a showcase while going down using the rope – he was injured and could not escape. The man, along with 10 more people who tried to scale the western museum surrounding wall were arrested by the military.

SOMALIA| ‘First-aid’ needed for 5,000-year-old Somali cave paintings

Prehistoric paintings of antelope, snakes and giraffes that have survived for around 5,000 years are now under threat from looting and a lack of protection. The rock paintings, which include renderings of dogs and sheep as well as human figures, were discovered at Dhambalin, in a unique sandstone shelter close to the Red Sea in Somaliland, a breakaway state from war-torn Somalia. They were found by Dr. Sada Mire in 2007, in what she says was the first ever survey initiated and led by a Somali archaeologist in the region. Since then, Mire has discovered 100 cave and rock art sites across Somaliland, but they need desperately to be preserved. Mire said the sites are not only vital to the understanding of pre-history across the Horn of Africa, but also important in bolstering cultural pride in the people of Somaliland.

According to Francesco Bandarin, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Culture, Somalia is one of the few member states not to have ratified its 1972 World Heritage Convention, meaning that its sites are not eligible for World Heritage status.  Another problem faced by Mire is the lack of museums in which to store objects – museums in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, and in the second largest city Hargeisa, have suffered severe looting during the ongoing civil war. Somaliland still lacks a museum.

While human sweat is enough to damage the delicate rock paintings, burial sites nearby are often looted for artefacts that are sold on the black market. Looting tends to be done by locals, who are unaware of the archaeological significance of their sites, explained Mire. Despite these issues, however, progress is being made. Mire is creating an inventory of sites across Somaliland and drafting antiquities laws to protect them. She has also elected local Somalis to be custodians of the sites and hopes that they can benefit in future from tourism.

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES| Modern Humans Reached Arabia Earlier Than Thought

Artefacts unearthed in the United Arab Emirates date back 100,000 years and imply that modern humans first left Africa much earlier than researchers had expected. In light of their excavation, an international team of researchers led by Hans-Peter Uerpmann from Eberhard Karls University in Tubingen, Germany suggests that humans could have arrived on the Arabian Peninsula as early as 125,000 years ago – directly from Africa rather than via the Nile Valley or the Near East, as researchers have suggested in the past. The timing and dispersal of modern humans out of Africa has been the source of long-standing debate, though most evidence has pointed to an exodus along the Mediterranean Sea or along the Arabian coast approximately 60,000 years ago.

The team of researchers, including lead author Simon Armitage from Royal Holloway, University of London, discovered an ancient human toolkit at the Jebel Faya archaeological site in the UAE. It resembles technology used by early humans in east Africa but not the craftsmanship that emerged from the Middle East, they explained. This toolkit includes relatively primitive hand-axes along with a variety of scrapers and perforators – using luminescence, Armitage calculated the age of the stone tools to about 100,000 to 125,000 years old.

Uerpmann and his team also analyzed sea-level and climate-change records for the region during the last interglacial period, approximately 130,000 years ago. They determined that the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which separates Arabia from the Horn of Africa, would have narrowed due to lower sea-levels, allowing safe passage prior to and at the beginning of that last interglacial period. This new research appears in the 28 of January issue of Science.

JORDAN| Earliest known cemetery found?

Scientists from Canada and the UK have discovered a 16,500-year-old cemetery with human remains — buried alongside those of a red fox — suggesting that humans may have had a soft spot for the animals well before dogs became man’s best friend.
The site at ‘Uyun al-Hammam in northern Jordan is the earliest known formal burial ground in the Middle East, pre-dating other cemeteries in the region by a few millennia, explained Edward Banning, an anthropologist at the University of Toronto who is leading the excavations. He added that the site is certainly the earliest known in the Middle East where people were repeatedly buried with grave goods such as mortars and pestles, a bone spoon, animal parts and red ochre – commonly sprinkled on bodies in prehistoric times. Beyond the site’s age, the researchers were intrigued by the presence of a red fox that was used in two burials.
The graves also have bones of other animals, but only the fox bones were treated in the same way as the humans. Both, for example, were sprinkled with red ochre. And in the original burial, the fox was completely interred, not just parts as is often the case with food offerings.

Banning cautioned that the significance of the fox can’t be known for sure, but given strong similarities to the way dogs were treated in Natufian burials a few thousand years later, a pet-like analogy rises to the surface. The new study is published in PLoS ONE.

EVENTS

Now here are the main upcoming archaeological events:

(CANADA – Feb12th June 26th) Starting January 12th, the widely acclaimed “The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army” exhibit will be on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. This major exhibition of archaeological works will take visitors on a journey covering over 1000 years of Chinese history. Thanks to the exceptional co-operation of the province of Shaanxi and loans from 16 of that regions most important archaeological research institutes and museums, 240 remarkable artefacts, including many that have only recently been excavated, will be presented. The exhibit not only outlines the life and death of Emperor Ying Zheng, who lived from 259 to 210 BCE, but also sheds light on the creation of a new cultural an geopolitical cohesion that would have a profound impact on China for centuries to come.

The Exhibit includes 10 terracotta sculptures: two high-ranking officials, four soldiers, a civic official, an acrobat and two horses. Also on display, rare bronze sculptures, never-before-exhibited relics, funerary figurines, ornaments, swords, coins and much more. The event makes its final North-American show here in Montreal, Canada until June 26th – before returning to China.

(FEB 18th-21st) The 22ND ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF HAWAI’I AND THE PACIFIC will take place from February 18th to 21st. This year’s theme will be READING COASTAL FOOTPRINTS: ECOLOGY AND MARITIME ARCHAEOLOGY IN THE PACIFIC. The event will take place in Hilo on the Big Island of Hawai’i.  Please note that this conference qualifies as Conference Attendance for the NAS Part II Intermediate Certificate in Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology. Participants must have already completed the Introduction and Part 1 requirements in order to qualify.

(FEB 25th – 26th)  The 8th Nordic Stratigraphy Conference, will be held in Sweeden on February 25th and 26th. The theme of this year’s conference will be “Modern Times – New Epochs & New Roads over Familiar Ground”. Main sessions will cover post-Medieval excavations, burial archaeology and landscape archaeology.

(FEB 25th-26th) Also taking place February 25th and 26th, the conference “BIG: Monumentality and Meaning in the Ancient World’ aims to further Professor Kurt Raaflaub’s mission of energizing comparative studies of human phenomena in the ancient world. A keynote event, highlighting the work of faculty and students associated with Brown University’s Program in Early Cultures, will take place on the evening of Friday, February 25th. The main event will take place on Saturday, February 26th, at the Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World, on the Brown campus in Providence, Rhode Island.

Hosted by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

1. UNITED STATES| Neanderthal life spans similar to modern humans
2. UNITED STATES| Famous Apple chip studied by digital archaeologists
3. MEXICO| Pyramid that Contains Maya Tomb at Palenque Archaeological Zone Restored
4. BELIZE| Maya Research Resumes
5. PERU| Scientists claim new geoglyph find in Nazca, Peru
6. PERU| Tomb of pre-Columbian noble discovered in Peru
7. CHILE| Swiss collector returns 4 ancient mummies to Chile
8. UNITED KINGDOM| Archaeologists survey Churchill’s secret headquarters
9. GERMANY| What Did Iron-Age Beer Taste Like?
10. FINLAND| Third brand of antique champagne found
11. ISRAEL| Jerusalem dig completes tunnel under Old City wall
12. EGYPT| King Tut’s tomb to remain open
13. EGYPT| Egypt: Missing pieces of colossal statue unearthed
14. TANZANIA| Archaeologists discover ancient ruins along Tanzanian coastal area
15. ARMENIA| Earliest known winery found in Armenian cave
16. NEPAL| UNESCO Project to Conserve Buddha’s Birthplace in Nepal Begins
17. CHINA/UK| Major Archaeological Project Examines Interactions That Changed China
18. INDONESIA| Megalithic site found in South Sumatra

TRANSCRIPT – WAN – S03E01 – 26/01/2011

Here are your archaeological headlines

1)    UNITED STATES| Neanderthal life spans similar to modern humans

Those who investigate Neanderthal remains have long known of a puzzling gap — elderly individuals are rare. Scientists have thus suggested that these prehistoric humans might have had an inherently shorter life expectancy than us modern humans, with our lineage ultimately outnumbering theirs, and so contributing to their demise. Not so, according to a new study. Anthropologist Erik Trinkaus at Washington University in St. Louis analyzed fossil records to gauge the adult life spans of Neanderthals and early modern humans, which coexisted in different regions for about 150,000 years. He found roughly the same number of 20- to 40-year-old adults and adults older than 40 in both Neanderthal and early modern human populations, suggesting life expectancy was probably the same for both. Trinkaus told reporters at LiveScience that Arguments for longer survival among early modern humans causing the demise of the Neanderthals have, in fact, no basis.

2)    UNITED STATES| Famous Apple chip studied by digital archaeologists

A team of chip archaeology enthusiasts is making headway on ‘imaging’ for posterity the hugely-influential but now little-understood MOS 6502 chip that almost single-handedly launched the home computer and games console revolution a generation ago. The 8-bit 1MHz MOS Technology 6502, designed by Chuck Peddle in 1975, had a major impact on computing history.  Invented to undercut the cosy duopoly of Intel’s 8080 and Motorola’s 6800, the 6502 was eventually used in the Apple 1 and II, the Commodore PET, as well as in the the Atari 2600 and the Nintendo Entertainment System game consoles that changed the course of digital entertainment. The 6502 was also at the heart of the BBC Micro that kick-started home computing in the UK and was a huge influence on the ARM chip designs that now power many of the world’s most famous smartphones.

3)    MEXICO| Pyramid that Contains Maya Tomb at Palenque Archaeological Zone Restored

The pyramidal building known as Temple 20 at Palenque Archaeological Zone, in Chiapas – Mexico, where the existence of a funerary chamber that contains the remains of a high ranking person has been confirmed, is being reinforced and restored by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) with the aim of guaranteeing its structural stability and the possibility of public visit in the future. Martha Cuevas, researcher at INAH and director of the preservation efforts at the 1,400 years old Prehispanic construction, explained to reporters that the relevance of Temple 20 lies in its dating, which goes back to the Early Classic period, between 430-600 CE, an obscure moment of occupation at the ancient city: almost every construction that can be admired today dates from the Late Classic period, between 600 and 850CE; the earlier periods of occupation at the site are scarcely known.

4)    BELIZE| Maya Research Resumes

A Memorandum of Understanding signed between the University of California – Santa Barbara and Belizean dignitaries which will launch a new collaborative preservation program in the ancient Maya city of El Pilar. The Agreement renews a previous contract signed back in 2005 and creates a new archaeology program to preserve the city and its surrounding area. The agreement is part of a collaborative management plan that enlists Belize and Guatemala to safeguard the site while allowing UCSB researchers to perform studies there.UCSB associate anthropologist Anabel Ford, director of the UCSB Mesoamerican Research Center’s El Pilar Program, first mapped the site back in 1983. Ten years later, she began campaigning for its conservation and the city ultimately received protected status in both Belize and Guatemala. The program’s goal is to restore the city to its original state, as it stood between 600 and 900 CE.

5)    PERU| Scientists claim new geoglyph find in Nazca, Peru

Two scientists from Yamagata University in Japan reported finding two new geoglyphs in southern Peru’s Nazca province. The new geoglyphs depict a human head and an animal figure that the researchers have yet to identify. According to the archaeology faculty chief at Yamagata, Yoichi Watanabe, the drawing of the human head is 4.2 meters long and 3.1 m wide. The geoglyphs have most probably not been identified in aerial surveys before because of their small size. The researchers are now working to determine the period that the geoglyphs belong to. The research team, headed by Masato Sakai, also found close to a hundred other geoglyphs in 2006 – various lines and triangles carved into the desert.

6)    PERU| Tomb of pre-Columbian noble discovered in Peru

Peruvian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of an ancient pre-Columbian lord buried with gold and silver ornaments in coastal northern Peru. The 1,100-year-old tomb in the Lambayeque region of northern Peru belonged to a noble from the Sican culture, explained Carlos Elera, director of the Sican Archaeology Project. The noble was buried “sitting on a litter, with a mask, crown and several gold and silver objects that show his high rank. Important pre-Columbian people were routinely transported on litters until the practice was banned by the Spanish conquistadors in the 16th century. The tomb, which was in an excellent condition, was discovered in early January in the Lambayeque’s Bosque de Pomac historical sanctuary. The Sican culture flourished between the 750 and 1375CE with its apogee between the years 900 and 1,100 CE.

7)    CHILE| Swiss collector returns 4 ancient mummies to Chile

A Swiss collector has returned four pre-Columbian mummies to Chile, including two that are believed to be up to 7,000 years old. The Swiss government says the unnamed collector agreed to voluntarily hand the mummies over to Chile. They were discovered near the country’s northern Atacama desert. Two of the mummies date back to the Chinchorro period that lasted from 5,000 to 1,500 BCE. A third mummy belongs to an unspecified pre-Columbian period while the fourth dates to the time of the Spanish arrival in what is now Chile in the early to mid-1500s.

8)    UNITED KINGDOM| Archaeologists survey Churchill’s secret headquarters

Archaeologists are surveying the remains of Winston Churchill’s secret headquarters in the hope of uncovering a new underground operations base. The Coleshill estate was the English headquarters of a highly trained guerrilla volunteer force during World War II. The house and its grounds, on the Oxfordshire/Wiltshire border, are now owned by the National Trust. The survey has been organised by the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team – set up by Tom Sykes to research, document and preserve the history of the guerrilla volunteer force, known as auxiliary units. These units were set up to hamper a successful invasion by the German army. Sykes, who is leading the project with local landscape archaeologist John Winterburn, explained to reporters that there is a large area of woodland to cover and that the teams has experts on hand to help. The findings will be published on the team’s website

9)    GERMANY| What Did Iron-Age Beer Taste Like?

An early Celtic brewery in what’s now south-western Germany was apparently capable of turning out large quantities of a beer with a dark, smoky, slightly sour taste, or so new evidence suggests. Six specially constructed ditches previously excavated at Eberdingen-Hochdorf a 2,550-year-old Celtic settlement, were used to make high-quality barley malt, a key ingredient in beer, explained archaeobotanist Hans-Peter Stika of the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart.Thousands of charred barley grains unearthed in the ditches about a decade ago came from a large malt-making enterprise. Stika bases that conclusion on a close resemblance of the ancient grains to barley malt that he made by reproducing several methods that Iron Age peoples might have used. He also compared the ancient grains to malt produced in modern facilities. Upon confirming the presence of malt at the Celtic site, Stika reconstructed malt-making techniques there to determine how they must have affected beer taste.
Stika reports in a online paper in Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences

10)    FINLAND| Third brand of antique champagne found

A third brand of fine champagne has been identified in the remains from a shipwreck near the Finnish province of Aaland. The bottles of Heidsieck were in the cargo hull of a two-masted schooner thought to have been en route to St. Petersburg when it sank in the early 19th century.Divers salvaged 168 bottles of champagne from the shipwreck last July, and by last November, experts had identified the world’s oldest bottles of Juglar and Veuve Clicquot among the stash based, on markings on their corks. Champagne expert Richard Juhlin told reporters that he wouldn’t be surprised if the newly identified Heidsieck turned out to be the most sought-after and expensive of the three brands. The Finnish government, which claims rights to the shipwreck loot, plans to auction off the bottles at a recurring international wine auction held on Aaland. Experts estimate that the prized champagne could fetch more than $100,000USD per bottle.Journalists who attended a tasting last November  reporters that he Juglar and Veuve Clicquot vintages tasted like honey, perhaps with hints of mushroom and linden blossom.

11)    ISRAEL| Jerusalem dig completes tunnel under Old City wall

After seven years of excavation, Israeli archaeologists have finished work on 600-metre long tunnel, originally built as a drainage channel during the Second Temple period, which runs from an archaeological site just south of the Haram al-Sharif Sanctuary. , which houses the third holiest site in Islam. The tunnel leads to the City of David, an archaeological site located in the volatile neighbourhood of Silwan which lies just outside Dung Gate, immediately south of the Old City walls.The project, which started in 2004, has sparked controversy due to its proximity to the Al-Aqsa mosque compound and its funding from Elad, a hard-line settler group.Over the past years, the tunnel was partially opened to the public but officials hope that it will soon be completely opened. The tunnel so far can only be accessed from the Silwan side, but there are plans to create an exit at the other end in the coming months.

12)    EGYPT| King Tut’s tomb to remain open

Although many reports over the past few weeks announced the closure of King Tutankhamun’s tomb by the end of this year , Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, is confident that, even though the site is suffering from the wear and tear caused by tourism, the burial won’t close its doors so soon. It is a long-term plan that has not been decided upon yet,” Hawass told Discovery News. The long-term plan involves a $10 million USD project called the “Valley of the Replicas.” Visitors will be directed to exact reproductions of the original tombs. The first three replicas will be the tombs of Tutankhamun, and the already closed burial sites of Seti I and Queen Nefertari in the Valley of the Queens. The three original tombs will remain open to tourists willing to pay a very hefty fee, perhaps as high as $8,500USD per visit.

13)    EGYPT| Egypt: Missing pieces of colossal statue unearthed

Archaeologists have unearthed six missing pieces from a 3,400-year-old colossal double statue of a powerful pharaoh and his queen. The Supreme Council of Antiquities announced that the fragments of the statue of Amenhotep III and Queen Tiye were discovered on the west bank of the Nile in the southern city of Luxor. An Italian team restored the statue after it was first unearthed in 1889, filling in the missing pieces with modern stonework. The recovered fragments were from the right side of Amenhotep III’s chest, crown and leg, and a section of the queen’s leg, left arm and foot.

14)    TANZANIA| Archaeologists discover ancient ruins along Tanzanian coastal area

Tanzanian archaeologists and historical experts have announced the discovery of dozens of ancient ruins along the coastal area, dating as far back as the 13th century. The new finds will shed new light on life during the period, the identity of coastal dwellers, and possible trade with other seafaring nations across the oceans, in particular the Gulf area. It is believed from initial assessment that Arabic traders, and also the Portuguese in later centuries, had made landfall in what is now Tanzania and established settlements able to provide water and food to the ships and also trade for commodities in demand back then. The experts were following clues on slave trade routes and coastal centers, and during their exploration stumbled across some relatively well-preserved ruins.

15)    ARMENIA| Earliest known winery found in Armenian cave

The earliest known winery has been uncovered in a cave in the mountains of Armenia. A vat to press the grapes, fermentation jars and even a cup and drinking bowl dating to about 6,000 years ago were discovered in the cave complex by an international team of researchers. While older evidence of wine drinking has been found, this is the earliest example of complete wine production, according to Gregory Areshian of the University of California Los Angeles’s Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, co-director of the excavation. The installation, located in southern Armenia near the border with Iran shows signs of an organized effort to press and distil grapes during the Copper Age. The roof of the cave had collapsed long ago, sealing in the rudimentary winery and preserving the remnants under an airtight layer of rock and other debris, leading to the remarkable find. The findings, announced by the National Geographic Society, are published in the online edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.

16)    NEPAL| UNESCO Project to Conserve Buddha’s Birthplace in Nepal Begins

An international team of archaeologists has begun a three-year survey, coordinated by UNESCO, of the archaeological ruins of Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha in Nepal. Lumbini is a world-renowned Buddhist pilgrimage destination and has been classified a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1997. The project, funded by the Japanese Government and coordinated by the UNESCO office in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, aims to identify the presence, or absence, of archaeological deposits, so that appropriate placing of pilgrim facilities can be made without damaging valuable archaeological resources. The team of archaeologists, including experts from Nepal’s Department of Archaeology and the Lumbini Development Trust, is directed by Robin Coningham, UNESCO Archaeological Expert and Professor of Archaeology, University of Durham.

17)    CHINA/UK| Major Archaeological Project Examines Interactions That Changed China

The Oxford Centre for Asian Archaeology, Art and Culture, based in Oxford University’s School of Archaeology, has received its first major research award since its launch in October last year. The Leverhulme Trust has awarded a grant of almost half a million pounds for the research project ‘China and Inner Asia (1,000-200 BC): Interactions that changed China’. The project, led by Dame Jessica Rawson, Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology at the University of Oxford, will look at how the early Chinese societies made use of different foreign materials and technologies. Researchers will track how the Chinese, with their highly organised, relatively dense population, were able to react fast and on a large scale.

18)    INDONESIA| Megalithic site found in South Sumatra

Finally in the news,  a prehistoric megalithic site with a mass grave was recently uncovered on a one-hectare plot of land in a South Sumatra village – in Indonesia. So for, discovered material includes a grave stone carved with batik-like motifs – 50 centimetres high and 15 centimetres wide and a small statue – found about 30 meters away from the grave. A researcher from Palembang Archaeology Center, Kristantina Indriastuti, told reporters that it was most probably a residential area from the prehistoric period, as indicated by the statue that predates the spread of Islam in Indonesia.

EVENTS

Now here are the main upcoming archaeological events:

(UK – Jan 29th) Britain’s Nautical Archaeology Society will once again offer an Introduction course,  the first stage in the NAS Training programme. This one day course will offer an introduction to archaeology and maritime archaeology, combining a mixture of classroom and practical sessions. The course aims to promote archaeology to anyone who is interested.
As well as an introduction to the basic principles of archaeology, the Course will also introduce topics such as dating methods used in archaeology and how the current legislation applies to our underwater cultural heritage.  The course takes place on January 29th at Fort Cumberland, in Portsmouth in the UK.

(NEW ZEALAND – Feb 2nd, 5th 2011) The Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies will be holding its Eight Biennial International Conference from Feb 2nd to 5th. The society’s mandate is to promote medieval and early modern studies in Australia and New Zealand. It was formed in 1996 by the merger of the Australian and New Zealand Association of Medieval and Renaissance Studies with the Australian Historians of Medieval and Early Modern Europe. The event will be hosted by the University of Otago, in Dunedin, New Zealand.

(UK – Feb5th 2011) The 29th International Shipwreck Conference – titled Shipwrecks, Diving and Marine Archaeology – will be held on February 5th.  The aim of the conference is to provide a meeting place for divers, explorers, archaeologists and salvors as well as government and commercial organisations. The organisers are all divers with interests in maritime archaeology and history and the varied nature of the speakers reflects this. The conference provides high quality speakers for considerably less cost that the other conferences, this conference is not just for the academics.  This is the only regular conference of its kind in the UK and one of the few in the world where archaeologists and salvors can meet.  Admission is £15 or £10 for students. The event starts at 11:00 AM until 10:30 PM and takes place at the Robbins Conference Centre in Plymouth, in the UK

(CANADA – Feb11th June 26th) Starting January 12th, the widely acclaimed “The Warrior Emperor and China’s Terracotta Army” exhibit will be on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. This major exhibition of archaeological works will take visitors on a journey covering over 1000 years of Chinese history. Thanks to the exceptional co-operation of the province of Shaanxi and loans from 16 of that regions most important archaeological research institutes and museums, 240 remarkable artefacts, including many that have only recently been excavated, will be presented. The exhibit not only outlines the life and death of Emperor Ying Zheng, who lived from 259 to 210 BCE, but also sheds light on the creation of a new cultural an geopolitical cohesion that would have a profound impact on China for centuries to come.The Exhibit includes 10 terracotta sculptures: two high-ranking officials, four soldiers, a civic official, an acrobat and two horses. Also on display, rare bronze sculptures, never-before-exhibited relics, funerary figurines, ornaments, swords, coins and much more. The event makes its final North-American show here in Montreal, Canada until June 26th – before returning to China.

Hosted by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

Archaeology News:

1. UNITED STATES| Humans first wore clothing 170,000 years ago
2. UNITED STATES| Egypt Threatens Removal of Ancient Central Park Obelisk
3. UNITED STATES| New technology gives on-site assessments in archaeology
4. GUATEMALA| 1,600-yr-old Mayan King’s tomb found in Guatemala
5. UNITED KINGDOM| London’s oldest structure discovered
6. SYRIA| Archaeologists: Byzantine and Roman Tombs Unearthed in South of Syria
7. ISRAEL| Ancient Israeli Fortress Yields Surprise: A Greek Vase
8. ISRAEL| Teeth may be oldest evidence of human remains
9. IRAQ| Archaeology resumes in war-ravaged Iraq
10. IRAN| Southern Iran yields 5,000-year-old site
11. AUSTRALIA| Scientists drill 18,000-year-old tooth to recover hobbit’s DNA

Archaeological Events:

1. (FRANCE – JAN 13th) “Nécropoles et rites funéraires en Égypte – Évolution des pratiques sur un site du Delta occidental”. Lille, Université Lille 3.
2. (UK – JAN 22nd) Britain’s Nautical Archaeology Society Introduction course – first stage in the NAS Training programme. Edinburgh.
3. (FRANCE – Jan 20th – 22nd) « L’enfant et la mort dans l’Antiquité, des pratiques funéraires à l’identité sociale ». Aix-en-Provence, Centre Camille Jullian, France
4. ( AUSTRALIA – Feb 2nd-5th) The Australian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies “Eighth Biennial International Conference”. Dunedin, University of Otago, New Zealand.

Presented by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

1. UNITED STATES| Archaeologists are scrambling as accelerated erosion sweeps away artifacts on Alaska’s Arctic coast
2. UNITED STATES| Getty Villa gets first major loan from Sicily
3. MESOAMERICA| A good many years before Goodyear
4. UNITED KINGDOM| Medieval window unearthed at Rochester Cathedral
5. UNITED KINGDOM| Flint findings in Kent reveal new era of prehistory
6. FRANCE| French archaeologists dig up 30-year-old banquet
7. GERMANY| Charlemagne grave a mystery
8. ITALY| Ancient Etruscan home found near Grosseto
9. GREECE| Greek police seize 2 statues from 2 farmers
10. CYPRUS| Crews stumble on 2-millennia-old coffins
11. EGYPT| 57 ancient tombs with mummies unearthed in Egypt
12. EGYPT| Divers Explore Sunken Ruins Of Cleopatra’s Palace
13. EGYPT| 3,300-year-old tomb of Ancient Egyptian official Ptah Mes discovered at Saqqara
14. SOUTH AFRICA| Oldest human species found: May have been cannibal?
15. SOUTH AFRICA| Stone Age Color, Glue ‘Factory’ Found
16. INDIA| Two Harappan sites unearthed in Surendranagar
17. INDIA| India wants UK to return Kohinoor, Buddha
18. CHINA| Ancient general’s tomb unearthed in Henan
19. CHINA| 2,000-year old ‘icebox’ unearthed in NW China
20. JAPAN| 13,000-year-old clay figure found
21. VIETNAM| Archaeologists unearth Metal Age furnaces
22. NEW ZEALAND| Rockslide hits Otago rock drawing site

Presented by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

1. CANADA| All Roads Lead to Archaeology: Interdisciplinary Crossroads
2. WORLD| Edna Gagner 2010 | International Archaeology Bursary
3. UNITED STATES | Work begins to preserve QAR artifacts on ocean’s floor
4. UNITED STATES| Discoveries might reveal origins of Southeastern N.C.’s first inhabitants
5. MEXICO| Mexico to restore Mayan figureheads
6. MEXICO| Maya plumbing, first pressurized water feature found in New World
7. UNITED KINGDOM| Buried by a Welsh beach for 60 years, the World War II fighter that has emerged from the seas
8. UNITED KINGDOM| Uncovering Nottingham’s hidden medieval sandstone caves
9. UNITED KINGDOM| Medieval African Found Buried in England
10. UNITED KINGDOM| Carlisle Castle’s decade dig is completed
11. SPAIN| Egyptian blue found in Romanesque altarpiece
12. ITALY| Chunks of mortar fall off Rome’s Colosseum
13. ROMANIA| Around 100 Dacian ovens discovered at Mediesu Aurit
14. BULGARIA| Bulgarian Capital to Invest Big in Downtown Archaeology Complex
15. GREECE| Greek archaeologists uncover ancient austerity
16. GREECE| Crete fortifications debunk myth of peaceful Minoan society
17. SYRIA| ‘Palestine existed in Syria, Turkey’
18. ISRAEL| Regards from the Past: Ancient Water Bridge Found in Jerusalem
19. EGYPT| Ptolemaic statue and temple gate discovered at Taposiris Magna
20. EGYPT| Church and Nile-o-meter discovered on Egypt’s Avenue of Sphinxes
21. ETHIOPIA| Scientists zero in on ancient Land of Punt
22. OUT OF AFRICA| Humans Interbred with Neanderthals, Study Suggests
23. IRAQ| Iraqi antiquities officials receive Artifacts from Third Dynasty of Ur
24. INDIA| 18 wooden pegs were found at a depth of four metres
25. SOUTH KOREA| Joseon-era mummy found at construction site
26. CHINA| ‘Ghostly’ pictures of Great Wall of China taken from underwater
27. CHINA| 114 Terracotta Warriors discovered at museum pit
28. JAPAN| 16th century feudal warlord’s sauna unearthed in Kyoto
29. NEW ZEALAND| Archaeologist’s tool wins $50,000 grant

Presented by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

1. CANADA| Ancient tools revealed by melting Arctic ice
2. UNITED STATES| Appalachian professor’s research finds no evidence of cannibalism at Donner Party campsite
3. UNITED STATES| The British Are Back: A Revolutionary War Shipwreck Re-emerges
4. BELIZE| Classic Maya history is embedded in commoners’ homes
5. IRELAND| 18th century quay identified in Connemara
6. UNITED KINGDOM| Archaeologists resite Battle of Prestonpans
7. UNITED KINGDOM| Archaeologists to probe newly-discovered tunnels
8. GERMANY| 300-year-old shoes found in castle wall during restoration
9. SWITZERLAND| Switzerland signs stolen antiquities agreement with Egypt
10. ITALY| Ancient IKEA building’ discovered by Italian archaeologists
11. MACEDONIA| Archaeologists Unearth New Finds near Strumica in Eastern Macedonia
12. TURKEY| Source of Bible Covenant with God discovered?
13. TURKEY| 4,000-year-old lentils ready to be planted in Kütahya
14. TURKEY| Evangelists claim ‘Noah’s Ark’ discovery on Turkish mountain
15. SYRIA| Archaeologists: Ancient texts show similarities between Arabic and Ugaritic languages
16. SYRIA| Tower Tombs Unearthed in Palmyra
17. EGYPT| Archaeologists unearthed ancient city in the Egyptian eastern borders
18. EGYPT| Hoard of 2,000-Year-Old Coins Found in Egypt
19. EGYPT| Hoard of 2,000-Year-Old Coins Found in Egypt
20. EGYPT| Tomb of ancient scribe unearthed in Egypt
21. IRAQ| French archaeologists begin digs in north Iraq
22. IRAN| Italians study Iran’s Pasargadae
23. INDIA| Unearthed: 2,000-yr-old study centre
24. VIETNAM| 4,000-year-old relics spur new look at Sa Huynh culture
25. CHINA| Chinese pigs ‘direct descendants’ of first domesticated breeds
26. CHINA| China measures Great Wall’s oldest section for preservation

Presented by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

1. CANADA| Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’ reveals more secrets
2. PERU| Peru Gets $1 Million to Preserve Archaeological Treasure
3. PERU| Machu Picchu Reopens in Peru
4. CHILE| Chile earthquake takes heavy toll on historical sites
5. UNITED KINGDOM| New Written Language of Ancient Scotland Discovered
6. SPAIN| Archaeologists find clues to the appearance of modern human
7. SWEDEN| Stone Age Scandinavians unable to digest milk
8. ITALY| Parts of Golden Palace’s ceiling collapse
9. ITALY| Ancient Roman gluten death seen
10. ITALY| Cows are key to 2,500 years of human progress
11. GREECE| Archaeologists Excavate Previously Inaccessible Site in Border Region
12. SYRIA| Archaeologists Uncover Land Before Wheel; Site Untouched for 6,000 Years
13. EGYPT| King Tut Wore Orthopedic Sandals
14. EGYPT| Egyptian Archaeologists Discover Greco-Roman Tombs in Desert
15. SOUTH AFRICA| New Face in Human Family Tree
16. IRAQ| Archaeologists discover Old Testament-era tablet
17. INDIA| Indus Valley east theory challenged
18. JAPAN| Digging into Fuji’s religious side – Archaeologists searching for clues to history of worship on mountain
19. CHINA| China Starts Salvaging Ancient Vessel off Southern Coast
20. NEW ZEALAND| UK scientists to unearth Ice Age secrets from preserved tree rings

Presented by Matt Thompson.

Sponsor: The Trowel Shop – Great archaeology tools and equipment at great prices!

In this episode:

1. PERU| Ceremonial huaca found at Salapunku site
2. Greenland Vikings ‘had Celtic blood’
3. UK| Dig may find signs of Viking town in Thetford
4. FRANCE| Medieval Child’s Brain Found Preserved
5. SWEDEN | Earliest Signature of Renaissance Artist Raphael Found in Painting
6. UKRAINE| Ukrainians uncover Crimean British Navy vessel
7. ITALY| Lava bread, anyone? Pompeii snack bar rises from ashes after 2,000 years
8. BULGARIA| Unique Archaeology Site Discovered During Metro Construction in Bulgaria’s Capital
9. GREECE | 23,000 year old stone wall found at entrance to cave in Greece
10. GREECE| Mycenaean tombs discovered might be evidence of classless society
11. TURKEY| Archaeologists Unearth World’s Oldest Temple in Turkey
12. SYRIA | 188 houses from Neolithic era unearthed in Middle Euphrates Region
13. EGYPT| A giant statue of Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom, has been found in Luxor.
14. RUSSIA| DNA identifies new ancient human dubbed ‘X-woman’
15. INDIA| 3,000-year-old history unearthed, archaeologists believe Jajmau mound could be holding more
16. CHINA| 4,200 year-old grave excavation reveals eternal embrace
17. CHINA| Tea leaves found in famous Chinese tomb
18. NEW ZEALAND| Shipwrecks to get protection