“Extraordinary” Ancient Skeletons Found

skeleton of a woman buried in a seated position was discovered during an archaeological survey before the planned construction of a high-speed train track in central Germany, scientists said in a statement.

This “extraordinary” skeleton of a woman buried in a seated position was discovered during an archaeological survey before the planned construction of a high-speed train track in central Germany, scientists said in a statement.
The woman, who lived in the early Bronze Age (roughly 2200 to 1600 B.C.), was found near the town of Bad Lauchstadt and is one of several burials found so far during the dig, which runs from September 2008 to June 2010.
“From an archaeological point of view, the excavation is a great chance to learn about the development of settlement on the Querfurter Platte,” a geological plate between the Saale and Unstrut river valleys, according to Ralf Bockmann, a spokesperson for the Saxony-Anhalt Office for Monument Protection and Archaeology in Saale, Germany, via email.
For example, according to the statement, “the broad range of traces from ancient cultures and the number and quality of the individual finds show how important this region has been for thousands of years not just as a settlement area, but as a transport route.”
Bockman added: “The region has fertile soils and has been used for settlement for a very long time. But until now there had been no large-scale excavations in that region.”

Archaeologists celebrate 80th anniversary of Peking man discovery:

Some 300 paleoanthropologists gathered in Beijing Tuesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the discovery of the first complete skull of Peking man, the Homo erectus that lived near Beijing 700,000 years ago.
“This is the largest ever symposium on the discovery of the skull”, said Gao Xing, deputy director and research fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Palaeoanthropology (IVPP), which organized the gathering.
“Just like the Great Wall, the skull of Peking Man has become a national symbol of China,” said Robin Dennell, a professor with the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, “And the experts are gathering here because of it.”
Peking Man was previously believed to have lived in Zhoukoudian Caves, in current suburban Fangshan District, about 400,000 to 500,000 years ago, but in March, Chinese scientists revealed they were actually 200,000 years older. The finding was published in London-based science journal Nature.
Dennell visited Zhoukoudian in 1999, but he still remembered the experience. “It was really impressive,” he said.
The site struck Nikolay Drozdov, rector of the Astafiev Krasnoyarsk State Pedagogical University, as very interesting when he made his first visit to it in 1991.
“Since then, we had conducted many exchanges with Chinese archaeologists,” he said.
The first complete skull was found by Chinese archaeologist Pei Wenzhong in December 1929, and in 1936, technician Jia Lanpo, who later became an archaeologist, unearthed three skulls.
Fossils unearthed in the caves were found to belong to 40 individuals, with more than 100,000 stone tools. Large scale excavation ceased in 1937 when the Japanese army invaded China.

Zhoukoudian Caves was listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage site in December 1987.

THE SOCIETY FOR MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY

The society for medival archaeology exists to further the study of the period from the 5th to the 16th century A.D. by publishing a journal of international standing dealing primarily with the archaeological evidence and by other means such as by holding regular meetings and arranging conferences. While maintaining a special concern for the medieval archaeology of Britain and Ireland, the society seeks to support and advance the international study of this period (as broadly defined above) in Europe. It also aims to serve as a medium for coordinating the work of archaeologists with that of historians and scholars in any other discipline relevant to this field.	The Society for medival archaeology
New Student Discussion List: A Discussion list for student members of the Society for Medieval Archaeology is now available. Members of the Society’s Council will distribute information here about forthcoming Society events, and other events that may be of interest to student members of SMA. Subscribers to this list should be student members of the Society for Medieval Archaeology or members of Council. All are welcome to discuss or promote matters of interest to medieval archaeologists. Please note that all views expressed here are personal to the author of the email and do not necessarily represent the views of the Society for Medieval Archaeology. To subscribe to this list please go to the following url: http://lists.shef.ac.uk/sympa/info/sma-students
A ‘lost’ palace of the bishops of Winchester Our current special feature is a contribution from Society Member Nicholas Riall who goes in search of the ‘lost’ palace of the bishops of Winchester.	The 'lost' palace of the bishops of Winchester.
RETROSPECT and PROSPECT 2007 marked the fiftieth birthday of the Society for Medieval Archaeology. It was on the afternoon of Tuesday 16th April 1957 at Burlington House, Piccadilly, that Donald Harden, the newly appointed Director of the London Museum, first outlined proposals for a new ‘society for Dark Age and Medieval Studies’. The idea was a simple one; a new society with a new journal, occasional meetings and an annual conference, all to be dedicated to the period ‘from the end of the Roman period until the end of the Middle Ages in Britain. To read more of Christopher Gerard’s article celebrating 50 years of The Society for Medieval Archaeology. The Medieval Archaeology Gallery Society members were asked to submit a series of images that depicted some of the fascinating work they have carried out in the field of Medieval Archaeology. More details about these members can be found on the projects page. To launch this new feature we have chosen a wonderful selection of photographs exhibited with the kind permission of Historic Scotland. The Society for Medieval Archaeology welcomes more submissions and would like to build a collection of photographic, diagrammatic and cartographic images that document the research work of Society members.

Bid to find lost Persian armada

The jar that contained the sauroter was also home to an octopus	The amphoras presumably come from a shipwreck
The sauroter, held by Katerina Dellaporta, fitted a spear	Archaeologists explored the ocean floor using a submersible

Archaeologists have embarked on an epic search for an ancient fleet of Persian ships that was destroyed in a violent storm off Greece in 492 BC.
The team will search for sunken remains of the armada – sent by Persian king Darius to invade Greece – which was annihilated before reaching its target.
Waters off Mount Athos in northern Greece, the site of the disaster, have yielded two helmets and a spear-butt.Experts will return to the site in June to look for more remains of the fleet.
“This is an extraordinarily target-rich area for ancient shipwrecks,” Dr Robert Hohlfelder, a maritime archaeologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, US, told BBC News Online.
“Usually, when shipwrecks are found, the archaeologists are asked to create the history around them. We have the history, now we’ve got to find the shipwrecks.”

Historical cue

An account of the 492 BC disaster is related in The Histories, by the 5th Century BC Greek writer Herodotus. He says the ships were smashed against Mount Athos.
Last year, the team discovered a shipwreck containing amphoras, pottery containers used for transporting foodstuffs. How, if at all, this wreck relates to the disaster is not known.
The archaeologists also found a bronze spear-butt, called a sauroter, at a site where, in 1999, local fisherman raised two Greek classical helmets from the seafloor.
The sauroter was found in the possession of an octopus, which had dragged the spear-butt inside a jar in which it had made its sea-floor home.
The survey could help resolve arguments about how triremes – ancient galley warships used by the Persians and Greeks – were constructed.

Recycled boats

In trireme battles, victory hinged on slamming other ships with a heavy bronze ram on the front of the ship.
Not a single trireme wreck has ever been found and archaeologists on the survey are divided over the likelihood of finding one on this expedition.
“We will not find a trireme. They contained very little ballast so they floated. Although the rams may have sunk,” team member Michael Wedde told BBC News Online. Classical texts refer to triremes being rescued, towed to dry land and repaired to be reused.
“There’s some question over whether they sank,” said Dr Shelley Wachsmann of Texas A&M University in College Station, US. “Most ships we find have cargoes because those bring them to the bottom,”
But Dr Hohlfelder said there was a possibility a trireme could have sunk to the sea bed: “Underwater archaeologists have wish lists. A trireme is certainly one of the top ones on most people’s lists. And I think this is one of the best places to look for them.”
It is also possible that supply ships – which supported the warships – were carried to the bottom, weighed down by their cargoes.
The project is collaboration between the Canadian Institute of Archaeology and the Greek Archaeological Service.
Katerina Dellaporta, of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities in Greece, and Dr Wachsmann are leading the research.
Around 20,000 men were lost in the disaster, which shook Persia at a time when it had its sights on assimilating mainland Greece within its empire.
If you interested read more underwater archaeology news

Overhaul for historic buildings

Two of York’s historic public buildings are closing this weekend for refurbishment.
The city’s central library is being shut for major modernization work. The Yorkshire Museum is also closing for a £2m redesign.

Both projects are expected to completely transform the buildings, making them far more accessible to residents and visitors.
The library will reopen in April and the Yorkshire Museum in August 2010.
The City of York Council said the modernisation of the library, which was built in the 1920s, would make it a far better centre for adult learning, as well as reading and reference.
During the work the library service will also be merging the local history library and city archives to offer researchers improved facilities.

‘York’s treasures’

Fiona Williams, head of libraries for York council, said: “It is really time to refresh the service to ensure we’re providing something that will be relevant for the next 80 years or so.”
First opened in 1830, the Yorkshire Museum is one of the oldest purpose-built museums in the country.
A key part of the plan is to reveal more of the original Grade I listed building.
Janet Barnes, chief executive of York Museums Trust, said: “The Yorkshire Museum is home to a thousand stories which can be told through some of the most significant archaeological finds and scientific collections in Europe.
“With this investment we hope to create a space to proudly show off York’s treasures.”

Mummies: Secret of the Pharaohs Blu-ray Review

Mummies

Secret of the Pharaohs Blu-ray Review

Secret of the Pharaohs Blu-ray Review

Mummies

Egyptology is a like a gateway drug for anthropologists. One minute you have a mild obsession with mummies and the next you’ve committed all twelve volumes of The Golden Bough to memory and churned out a 500-page dissertation on arctic shamanism and the societal ramifications of Inuit throat singing.
Okay, so maybe I’m hyperbolizing the standard career path, but it’s hard to undersell the allure of Egypt, where ancient mysteries lie hidden just beneath the shifting sands. In my mind, Egypt has always existed in a kind of 19th century, Romantic-with-a- capital-R travelogue, where I’m dressed like an imperialist in a white linen suit and straw hat, leading a cavalcade of sleepy-eyed camels over endless desert dunes in search of half-buried antiquities.
Like most made-for-museums IMAX movies, Secrets of the Pharaohs is one part science to one part docu-drama, the ideal formula for “get ‘em in the seats and back out to the exhibitions in under forty minutes” edutainment. The film examines mummies from the perspectives of three different timelines.
First, we’re given an overview of the religious beliefs of ancient Egyptians, who wanted their bodies preserved so that they might make an easy transition into the afterlife and be reunited with their souls. Through dramatic reenactments we meet Ramses II—otherwise known as Ramses the Great, or, if you know your Shelly, Ozymandias—and learn some facts about his 67-year reign.
Much is made of the idea that Ramses, who was the supposed pharaoh of the Exodus and who now rests inside a glass case in Cairo, is perhaps the only face from the Bible that we’re ever likely to physically see.

Archeologists find ‘Joseph-era’ coins in Egypt

Archeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins

Archeologists have discovered ancient Egyptian coins bearing the name and image of the biblical Joseph, Cairo’s Al Ahram newspaper recently reported. Excerpts provided by MEMRI show that the coins were discovered among a multitude of unsorted artifacts stored at the Museum of Egypt.
According to the report, the significance of the find is that archeologists have found scientific evidence countering the claim held by some historians that coins were not used for trade in ancient Egypt, and that this was done through barter instead.
The period in which Joseph was regarded to have lived in Egypt matches the minting of the coins in the cache, researchers said.
“A thorough examination revealed that the coins bore the year in which they were minted and their value, or effigies of the pharaohs [who ruled] at the time of their minting. Some of the coins are from the time when Joseph lived in Egypt, and bear his name and portrait,” said the report.
The discovery of the cache prompted research team head Dr. Sa’id Muhammad Thabet to seek Koranic verses that speak of coins used in ancient Egypt.
“Studies by Dr. Thabet’s team have revealed that what most archeologists took for a kind of charm, and others took for an ornament or adornment, is actually a coin. Several [facts led them to this conclusion]: first, [the fact that] many such coins have been found at various [archeological sites], and also [the fact that] they are round or oval in shape, and have two faces: one with an inscription, called the inscribed face, and one with an image, called the engraved face – just like the coins we use today,” the report added.

Ancient monument lost in modern concrete jungle

Alarm bells for the twin Khandagiri and Udaygiri hills! Archaeologists today said rapidly growing concrete jungle around the historic sites has threatened its very survival.
Mindlessly rising human activities and encroachments have posed a serious threat to the rock-cut ancient architecture which has now been stripped of its green cover, Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of India, Orissa, AK Patel said.
Sprouting of buildings and concrete structures around these historic Jain sites have affected the aesthetics, while population explosion and vehicular traffic have caused damage. Vibration caused by the heavy vehicles near the monuments have had deleterious effects on the decomposed brittle sand stones of which the caves were excavated, he said adding tourism promotion is multiplying traffic and transportation.<br /.

Patel said, taking off and landing of aeroplanes create serious problems and called for a “no fly zone” notification over the hills.
Addressing a seminar on “Anthropogenic impact on Udayagiri and Khandgiri,’’ organised by Orissa Environmental Society (OES), he said, blasting and mining done in the past had destructive impact on the monuments.
The ASI man was critical of the encroachment of the hills and loss of forest cover.
“People with vested interests have encroached upon the land of the ancient monuments

Archaeologists today said rapidly growing concrete jungle around the historic sites has threatened its very survival.

and even within them. They use muscle power as well as political influence to encroach upon the cultural property which belongs to the Government of India. The ASI not being a law enforcement agency is dependent on district and State administrations.
The monuments should be free from illegal activities,’’ he said.
The substance of the rock of the twin hills is soft, porous, incoherent and easy to excavate but unsuitable for finished carving. Brittle in nature, the ancient caves have fallen prey to inclement weather causing wear and tear of the edifices.
Patel said the entire hill was once covered with forests and wild games and located away from the habitation but human activities through urbanisation, buildings and farming have left the area truncated.
Former Superintendent of Orissa State Archaeology Dr Bijay Kumar Rath too echoed the concerns and said over zealousness to promote tourism has proved bane for the ancient hills.
“The light and sound system has damaged the Rani Gumpha, most important feature of the caves, changing the nomenclature of the site. The systems should not have been installed in the first place,’’ he said.
The seminar was inaugurated by CESU Chairman Vivek Pattanayak.
OES president Prof Satyananda Acharya, working president SN Patro and convenor of Indian Science Congress Association JK Panigrahy spoke.

Reference more news.

Flood ravages Kurnool museum

Kurnool museum

The unprecedented floods that rocked the state have badly affected the Kurnool District Archaeological Museum damaging the priceless Arabic Quran, Persian manuscripts both belonging to the 18th century and several paintings of Jodhpur, Kulu and Mewar schools.
The bows and arrows made up of wood are covered with fungus and several archaeological evidences made up of iron have developed rust.
A major loss to the Indian archaeological fraternity was averted when the guards locked the gates of the museum before leaving the premises on the day of devastation.
Deputy Director of Museums Dr K S B Keshav, said that the present plight of the Museum will showcase the level of destruction that the floods have caused in the state.
“The Museum, which is on the banks of Handri River, has a rare collection of archaeological evidences from ancient times,” he said.
The water marks in the Museum were at five feet level but the museum was constructed 10 feet above the ground level, means the river has flown almost 15 feet high in the area,” he added.

After the flood waters receded, the museum developed a few cracks in the walls, parts of compound wall collapsed and the complete electricity system was destroyed.

Infrastructure, some records of the museum and display cases made of plywood were damaged,” he added.
“We will work to restore the objectives to their normal state, using chemical conservation process,” said Dr P Gayathri, Deputy Director of the Chemical Conservation Department of Museums, who accompanied Dr Keshav during his visit to the Kurnool Museum. Though, Dr P Gayathri says that, in some cases, it will not be possible to repair the artifacts.
“We have already brought some manuscripts for restoration using chemical conservation process,” she said. Dr Keshav said that they have also visited the Alampur site museum, where the compound wall collapsed and it also developed cracks.
The main problem in the Alampur Museum was the removal of the mud, which was almost one feet high. The Museum didn’t lose any archaeological items, he added.
“We are assessing the total damage to both the museums by the floods, in monetary terms as well as the articles that have suffered, said Dr P Chenna Reddy Director of Archaeology and Museums.
He requested the state government to extend support to the department of Museums in restoring the historical museums.

More archaeological latest news reference.

Archaeology boss hunt skips babus

Archaeology boss hunt skips babus

The culture ministry has adopted an IIT-like search-cum-selection method to fill the post of the director-general of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) instead of following the usual selection process, done through the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The move marks a departure from the convention of having bureaucrats head top government institutions, and is being seen as the beginning of a process to get professionals in key departments. Ads have been put out for the post.
“With the new process, we hope to get the most talented professionals to head important institutions,’’ culture secretary Jawahar Sircar told The Telegraph.
Although there was stiff opposition from the department of personnel and training to discarding the UPSC selection process, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh intervened and backed the entry of professionals.
“The Prime Minister was all for bringing in professionalism into the government machinery. His support helped us override all kinds of resistance,’’ a ministry official said.
Under the new system, the search-cum-selection committee will be allowed to pick the best candidate even if the person hasn’t applied. It is understood the department of personnel had criticised this particular provision the most, suggesting it would lead to nepotism and corruption.
“All appointments (of professionals) will be made on contract basis and suitable candidates will be offered remuneration on a par with the best in the market,’’ the official said.
He said candidates up to the age of 67 could apply for the ASI chief’s post and would remain in the job till they turned 70.
The new process will focus on professional achievements, not qualifications. “If we follow the UPSC model, which goes strictly by qualifications, we will not get the best candidate. We have realised that from experience and decided to go by achievements,’’ the official said.
The ministry plans to fill the remaining vacant posts the same way once the ASI gets a new chief.