Archaeology news

• Southwestern Clay Figurines Studied

  30-11-2016 06:14 via archaeology.org
  TUCSON, ARIZONA—Western Digs reports that Mark Chenault of Westland Resources found a cache of clay figurines at a pre-contact village site in the Sonoran Desert. Only a few similar objects have been found in the Southwest. It had been proposed that the “long, bulbous objects” were used in ancestor veneration or even as children’s toys, but the new research suggests that they were used as tokens of fertility employing both male and female symbolism. The phallus-shaped fig
  
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• Early Farmers in Israel Adapted to Climate Instability

  02-05-2024 03:43 via archaeology.org
  SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA—According to a statement released by the University of California, San Diego, a now-submerged village site suggests that it was inhabited some 8,200 years ago, during an abrupt shift in climate called the 8.2ka event. It had been previously thought that the cooler temperatures and rising sea levels of the 8.2ka event would have resulted in the abandonment of coastal settlements in the southern Levant. Known as Habonim North, this site was discovered about 10 years ago
  
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• Did the Roman Emperor Augustus Die in This Vesuvian Villa?

  02-05-2024 03:13 via archaeology.org
  TOKYO, JAPAN—According to a Live Science report, researchers led by archaeologist Mariko Muramatsu of the University of Tokyo suggest that they have uncovered the place where Augustus, the first Roman emperor (reigned 27 B.C.–A.D. 14), died. The villa, located on the northern slopes of Mount Vesuvius about five miles from the modern town of Nola, was destroyed by the volcanic eruption in A.D. 79. A second villa constructed at the site in the second century was destroyed by a fifth-ce
  
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• 7,000-Year-Old Settlement Mapped in Serbia

  02-05-2024 03:09 via archaeology.org
  KIEL, GERMANY—According to a statement released by Kiel University, traces of a late Neolithic settlement were mapped during a geophysical survey conducted in northeastern Serbia, near the Tamiš River. “This discovery is of outstanding importance, as hardly any larger Late Neolithic settlements are known in the Serbian Banat region,” said Martin Furholt of Kiel University. The settlement covered more than 27 acres and was surrounded by at least four ditches. Artifacts re
  
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• Second Illyrian Helmet Uncovered in Croatia

  01-05-2024 04:07 via archaeology.org
  ZAKOTORAC, CROATIA—Euronews reports that a helmet dated to the fifth or sixth century B.C. has been recovered from a burial mound in southern Croatia’s Peljesac Peninsula. A similar helmet was found in the same area in 2020. The helmets are thought to be associated with the Illyrians, who came from the eastern Adriatic and the Balkans, and deposited at the site as a cult practice long after the dead had been buried, according to archaeologist Hrvoje Potrebica of the University of Zag
  
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• Sculptures Discovered at Khmer Temple in Cambodia

  01-05-2024 03:41 via archaeology.org
  SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA—The Phnom Penh Post reports that more than 100 pieces of sandstone sculptures were uncovered at Ta Prohm, a temple built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries on the southern edge of the East Baray, an artificial body of water in Angkor, the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire. The temple is thought to have served as a royal monastery during the reign of Jayavarman VII, who ruled from 1181 to 1218, and is known for its construction without mortar. Rese
  
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• Paleolithic Hunter-Gatherers in Morocco Relied on Plants

  01-05-2024 03:20 via archaeology.org
  LEIPZIG, GERMANY—According to a statement released by the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, an international team of researchers analyzed 15,000-year-old remains of hunter-gatherers unearthed in Morocco, and determined that they ate a diet rich in plant foods. It had been previously thought that hunter-gatherers living in North Africa relied heavily on animal foods. The analysis featured zinc and strontium isotope analysis of tooth enamel; carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur ana
  
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• New Kingdom Pharaoh’s Royal Rest House Found

  01-05-2024 03:18 via archaeology.org
  CAIRO, EGYPT—Ahram Online reports that a fortified royal retreat has been uncovered at the Tel Hebwa site, which is located in North Sinai. Mohamed Ismail Khaled of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the mudbrick structure was likely used during the 18th Dynasty reign of Thutmose III (ca. 1479–1425 B.C.). The structure’s entrance, located on its northern side, led to a large hall with three columns, added Hisham Hussein of Sinai Antiquities. This room connected to a s
  
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• Possible Bell Beaker Grave Uncovered in Germany

  30-04-2024 02:24 via archaeology.org
  OPPIN, GERMANY—Newsweek reports that the remains of a man estimated to have been between 40 and 60 years old at the time of his death have been unearthed in central Germany. Preliminary investigation suggests the burial is associated with the Bell Beaker culture and dates to some 4,500 years ago. Archaeologist Susanne Friederich of the State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt said that the man was buried in a crouched position with a large stone placed over his
  
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• Plant DNA Suggests Maya Blessed Their Ball Courts

  30-04-2024 01:45 via archaeology.org
  CAMPECHE, MEXICO—According to a Gizmodo report, an international team of researchers led by David Lentz of the University of Cincinnati analyzed a soil sample taken underneath a 2,000-year-old ball court platform at Yaxnohcah, a Maya city site on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. The analysis detected the presence of Ipomoea corymbose, a type of morning glory also called xtabentun that is known for its hallucinogenic properties; Capsicum, or chili peppers, which were used by the Maya to tr
  
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• Prehistoric Monuments Discovered in Ireland

  30-04-2024 01:43 via archaeology.org
  COUNTY WICKLOW, IRELAND—A lidar survey of farmland in eastern Ireland has detected multiple prehistoric monuments, according to a Live Science report. The monuments include Bronze Age structures and five Neolithic cursus monuments, which are long and narrow earthwork enclosures built some 5,500 years ago. “There’s only about 20 known cursus monuments [in Ireland] and they occur in isolation,” said James O’Driscoll of the University of Aberdeen. The largest of the ne
  
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• Audio News for April 21st through the 27th, 2024

  29-04-2024 19:12 via archaeologychannel.org
  
  
  News items read by Laura Kennedy include:DNA analysis illuminates social practices of an ancient Eurasian warrior empire(details)(details)(details)Preserved Pre-Revolutionary War cherries unearthed at George Washington’s Mount Vernon(details)(details)Rare structures may have guided Neolithic farmers to the afterlife(details)(details)Interdisciplinary research team to investigate whether Stonehenge was designed for lunar alignment(details)(details)
  
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• 19th-Century Steelworks Unearthed in Northern England

  29-04-2024 05:02 via archaeology.org
  SOUTH YORKSHIRE, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that a nineteenth-century steelworks, including a crucible furnace, has been uncovered in northern England in a cellar at the site of Sheffield Castle, which was destroyed in 1648 during the English Civil War. The crucible furnace would have reached more than 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit to refine blister steel into higher quality crucible steel. Curving stone stairs to reach the cellar were found, along with a letter “H” scratched into a b
  
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• Traces of Feasts Found at Roman Necropolis in France

  29-04-2024 05:00 via archaeology.org
  NARBONNE, FRANCE—Excavation of the Robine necropolis, which was discovered in southern France in 2017, has uncovered more than 1,400 graves dating from the first century B.C. to the end of the third century A.D., according to a Live Science report. Researchers from the French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research said that the cemetery served the Roman colony of Narbo Martius, and was well preserved by some 10 feet of silt laid down by flooding of the nearby Aude River.
  
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• Possible Snake Deity Statue Found at Roman Site in Germany

  29-04-2024 04:57 via archaeology.org
  STUTTGART, GERMANY—Newsweek reports that a worn sandstone carving unearthed at the site of a Roman fort in southwestern Germany may represent a hybrid Romano-Germanic deity. Standing about 12 inches tall, the 1,800-year-old carving shows a kneeling figure with a human head. Its arms are positioned at the sides of the upper body, with its hands on the hips and legs. The legs, however, merge into the form of a snake, according to archaeologist Andreas Thiel of the Baden-Württemberg Stat
  
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• Los Angeles Museum Will Repatriate Bronze Sculpture to Turkey

  29-04-2024 04:53 via archaeology.org
  LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA—According to a report in The New York Times, the J. Paul Getty Museum will repatriate a, 2,000-year-old bronze sculpture purchased from an antiquities dealer in 1971. An investigation conducted by the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan district attorney’s office indicates that the sculpture, “Head from a Statue of a Youth,” was likely stolen in the 1960s from Bubon, a Roman-era settlement in southwestern Turkey. The body of the statue ha
  
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• Ancient DNA Reveals Kinship Structure of Eurasia's Avars

  27-04-2024 06:43 via archaeology.org
  LEIPZIG, GERMANY—According to a CNN report, new analysis of ancient DNA samples from the Avars, a population of nomads from the Eurasian Steppe who dominated eastern central Europe for 250 years from the mid-sixth to early ninth century A.D, is shedding light on Avar social and marriage practices. Originating in eastern-central Asia as part of a coalition of tribes known as the Rouran khaganate, which was defeated in A.D. 550 by the Turks, the Avars traveled from Mongolia to Caucasus
  
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• Charred Scroll From Herculaneum Read With AI

  26-04-2024 05:20 via archaeology.org
  NAPLES, ITALY—Graziano Ranocchia of the University of Pisa and his colleagues have used infrared and ultraviolet optical imaging, thermal imaging, tomography, and artificial intelligence to decipher text on pieces of charred papyrus recovered from Herculaneum, a Roman town destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, according to a Live Science report. Some of the fragments, which have been held at the National Library of Naples, belong to a scroll containing a work called &ldqu
  
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• Part of an 18th-Century Water System Found in Scotland

  26-04-2024 04:26 via archaeology.org
  EAST RENFREWSHIRE, SCOTLAND—According to a report in The Glasgow Times, a circular structure made of blonde sandstone was uncovered during a construction project in Barrhead, which is located in west-central Scotland. The eighteenth-century structure is thought to have been part of a gravitational system to provide fresh water to the town. Local residents are advocating for the preservation of the feature and its incorporation into the new construction, while a team from the West of Scotla
  
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• Islamic-Era Sword Identified in Spain

  26-04-2024 03:56 via archaeology.org
  VALENCIA, SPAIN—Newsweek reports that a sword discovered in 1994 in a historic section of Valencia has been dated to the tenth century A.D. by the Archaeology Service of the Valencia City Council (SIAM) through analysis of the sediment layers at the site. Islamic rule of the Iberian Peninsula began in A.D. 711 and ended in 1492, making the sword the first Islamic-era weapon to be found in Valencia. The sword has a slightly curved blade and measures about 18 inches long. Its hilt is decorat
  
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• Gweagal Spears Repatriated to Australia

  26-04-2024 03:41 via archaeology.org
  CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND—The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the Gweagal spears, a collection made up of one hunting spear and three fishing spears that were taken from the Gweagal people of Kamay in 1770 by James Cook, have been repatriated to the La Perouse Aboriginal Community. Cook, a British naval lieutenant at the time, traveled to Australia on the HMB Endeavour. He recorded removing 40 spears from the Gweagal people during his eight-day stay at Botany Bay. Cook also wrote in his journa
  
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• Teotihuacan's Pyramids Damaged By Ancient Earthquakes

  25-04-2024 20:30 via archaeology.org
  MADRID, SPAIN—A new study of pyramids at the ancient city of Teotihuacan by a team of Spanish geologists has documented damage to the structures caused by five devastating megathrust earthquakes that hit the site between about A.D. 100 and 600, Live Science reports. At its height, the population of Teotihuacan, which is located northeast of Mexico City, reached some 100,000 residents. Megathrust earthquakes occur at subduction zones of tectonic plates, and though they tend to happen more i
  
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• Rare Turtle Statue Found in Angkor

  25-04-2024 20:30 via archaeology.org
  SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA—A rare sandstone sculpture of a turtle has been found at Bayon Temple in the Angkor Archaeological Park in Siem Reap, according to a report in The Phnom Penh Post. The Bayon temple was built in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century A.D. during the reign of the Khmer ruler Jayavarman VII (reigned 1181–1220) and is best known for the many enormous carved faces of the Buddha that adorn its highly decorated exterior. The sculpture was found beneath a previousl
  
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• Sacred Spring Unearthed Beneath Roman Ruins in France

  25-04-2024 07:48 via archaeology.org
  PARIS, FRANCE—According to a Live Science report, near the village of Chamborêt north of the French city of Limoges, archaeologists have uncovered a freshwater spring likely dating to between 4,500 and 6,000 years ago below the remnants of a Roman-era pool. The Roman ruins, which date to the third century A.D., probably formed a landscaped basin surrounded by a wall of granite stones. A team of archaeologists from the French National Institute of Preventive Archaeological R
  
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• “Porcelain Gallbladder” Identified in Mississippi

  24-04-2024 05:31 via archaeology.org
  JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI—According to an Atlas Obscura report, a “porcelain gallbladder” has been identified among a woman's 100-year-old bones exhumed from the cemetery at the site of the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum, which operated from 1855 to 1935. A porcelain gallbladder forms through calcium build-up in the wall of the organ, which causes it to harden. Upon initial examination during the course of excavations, researchers did not know what the object, which was approximat
  
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• 18th-Century Foundation Uncovered at Colonial Williamsburg

  24-04-2024 04:53 via archaeology.org
  WILLIAMSBURG, VIRGINIA—The foundation of an eighteenth-century house was uncovered during an excavation at Colonial Williamsburg, according to a WAVY report. The Colin G. and Nancy N. Campbell Archaeology Center is scheduled to be built on the site. Archaeologist Jack Gary of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation said that the house had plaster walls, casement windows, a chimney on at least one side, and a cellar. The thousands of artifacts recovered during the excavation will be conserved,
  
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• Miniature Portrait of Alexander the Great Found in Denmark

  24-04-2024 04:22 via archaeology.org
  RINGSTED, DENMARK—Live Science reports that a miniature bronze alloy fitting bearing a portrait of Alexander the Great was discovered on an island in Denmark by a pair of metal detectorists who were conducting a survey. Alexander the Great succeeded his father as the king of Macedon and eventually created a far-flung empire before his death in Babylon in 323 B.C. at the age of 32. The one-inch round fitting, known as a bracket, shows an engraved image of a man with wavy hair wearing a crow
  
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• Prehistoric Tools Uncovered in Northern England

  23-04-2024 02:13 via archaeology.org
  CUMBRIA, ENGLAND—An excavation conducted in northern England ahead of a road improvement project along an ancient pathway has uncovered flint tools dated to the Upper Paleolithic period, according to a Newsweek report. The tools could be between 10,000 and 14,000 years old, when the climate would have been colder. Hunter-gatherers likely followed herds of reindeer, wild horses, and wild cattle over a wide range, said archaeologist Stephen Rowland. The tools were found in a pit that had bee
  
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• Bottles of 18th-Century Cherries Discovered at Mount Vernon

  23-04-2024 01:53 via archaeology.org
  MOUNT VERNON, VIRGINIA—According to a Washington Post report, two bottles containing liquid and some surviving cherries have been uncovered in the dirt basement of George Washington’s plantation home. The excavation was conducted as part of a project to conserve the mansion’s foundation. Archaeologist Jason Boroughs said that much of the liquid in the bottles may be groundwater that entered the vessels after their corks had deteriorated. While emptying the bottles, members of t
  
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• Bear Bone Engraved by Neanderthals Studied

  23-04-2024 01:51 via archaeology.org
  WROCŁAW, POLAND—IFL Science reports that a team of researchers led by Tomasz Płonka and Andrzej Wiśniewski of the University of Wrocław has examined an engraved bear bone with microscopy and X-ray computed tomography. Discovered in the 1950s in southern Poland’s Dziadowa Skała Cave, the bone has been dated to between 115,000 and 130,000 years ago, and is thought to have been engraved by Neanderthals. The researchers determined that the marks on the bone are o
  
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