Archaeology News Online

A ‘House of the Dead’ has been discovered in Wiltshire dating back 5,000 years by University of Reading archaeologists and students, and could contain the ancestors of those who lived around Stonehenge and Avebury. The site in a farmer's field was identified in aerial photographs  [Credit: University of Reading] As part of the University’s final Archaeology Field School in the Pewsey Vale, students and staff, with the support of volunteers from the area, have investigated the site of a Neolithic long barrow burial mound in a place known as Cat’s Brain – the first to be fully investigated in Wiltshire in half a century. The monument, which predates nearby Marden Henge by over 1,000 years, may contain human remains buried there in around 3,600 BC. The monument was first spotted by aerial photography and followed up by geophysical survey imagery. Dr Jim Leary, Director of the Archaeology Field School, said: “Opportunities to fully investigate long barrows are virtually unknown in rece

The EU-funded TRACSYMBOLS project, which closed in 2015, investigated archaeological sites in South Africa for early use of symbols by homo sapiens, examining painting kits, spear points, beads and ostrich egg shell engravings. They also studied the usage of the reddish iron-rich rock, ochre. And it was to ochre that members of the project team have more recently returned. View of Porc-Epic Cave [Credit: A. Herrero] Recently writing in the open-access journal PLOS ONE members of the TRACSYMBOLS project team explain that ochre is commonly found at Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites. The state in which it is often found, with pieces modified through grinding and scraping to produce red powder along with ochre-stained objects such as lithic and bone tools, lead researchers to treat its presence as an indicator of modern symbolically mediated human behaviour. In this latest research the team analysed the largest known East African MSA ochre collection at Porc-Epic Cave, Ethiopia. It comprised a

An investigation by an architectural researcher from Kumamoto University, Japan has revealed the high possibility that a wooden stage existed in the theatre of the ancient Greek City of Messene during the Greek Classical period (ca. 369 BC). The evolution from the rustic, open theatres of ancient Greece to the magnificent theaters of the Roman times clearly demonstrates the passion that the people had for the theatre. Theatre of Ancient Messene [Credit: © Oleg Znamenskiy/Shutterstock] The ancestor of modern theatre architecture is the theatre of ancient Greece and Rome. The simple and open ancient Greek theatre (around 323 BC -- 31 BC) was composed of a circular orchestra, a stage, and bowl-shaped seating area for the audience. In the Roman times (31 BC -), the stage grew higher and was decorated with marble column pillars which eventually evolved to splendid, closed theatres with integrated audience seating. The development of this theatre construction was thought to involve a change

Israeli authorities arrested two antiquities thieves in the West Bank who were attempting to make off with artefacts dating back to the Byzantine era, the IDF’s Civil Administration said on Monday. Columns from a Byzantine-era church confiscated by the Civil Administration from suspected antiquities traffickers  near the West Bank city of Bethlehem on July 10, 2017 [Credit: Times of Israel] A spokesperson for the Defense Ministry agency — which oversees Israeli civilian activity in the West Bank — said that the two Palestinian suspects were arrested between the West Bank city of Bethlehem and the settlement of Tekoa with three columns from a nearby Byzantine church inscribed with pseudo-Greek text in the back of their work truck. The Civil Administration’s archaeological unit said an investigation into the incident has been opened. Deputy head of the Civil Administration’s archaeological unit Benny Har Even said that the recent arrests showed the need for the Civil Administration to co

Archaeologists from the University of Glasgow have uncovered conclusive radiocarbon evidence of a wooden hut on Iona dating back to the late 6th Century AD, believed to be that of St Columba when he worked at the monastery. Archaeologists have uncovered conclusive evidence that a wooden hut traditionally associated with St Columba  at his ancient monastery (ruins pictured) on the island of Iona dates to his lifetime in the late sixth century  [Credit: University of Glasgow] Radiocarbon tests show samples of charcoaled hazel unearthed from a site excavation 60 years ago, where it is believed Columba’s wooden hut was situated, date back to the exact period it is claimed Columba lived and worked at the monastery. The samples, excavated in 1957 by British archaeologist Professor Charles Thomas, have lain in a garage in Cornwall, preserved in matchboxes, until 2015 when a University of Glasgow team decided to follow up his research. The charcoal samples have now been radiocarbon dated, and

Greek and Italian archaeologists are collaborating on a program to preserve an ancient villa at the bottom of the sea of Ancient Epidaurus. The underwater conservation activities are part of a pilot training program for the conservation of marine archaeological remains, organized and executed in cooperation between the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities and the Italian Archaeological School in Athens. The BLUEMED program is a European project and involves Cyprus, Croatia, Italy and Spain. For the first time this year, the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities will be involved in the program that started with theory (July 3-4, 2017) relating to methods for the on-site conservation of marine archaeological sites, to address bio-degradation and degradation problems and to document, restore and maintain the Underwater Cultural Heritage artefacts in the Italian Archaeological School. The project is to conserve a section of a sunken Roman villa in the Ancient Epidaurus sea. On site practicing t

A team of 15 archaeologists and 20 volunteers has worked at the Arenal de la Virgen and Casa Corona archaeological sites in Villena (Alicante, Spain). This fieldwork campaign represents a first excavation phase and have provided relevant data for the research that is being carried out in the scope of the European research project PALEODEM, on climatic and demographic changes developed from the IPHES (Institut Català de Paleoecología Humana i Evolució Social). At both sites, the excavation has yielded evidences of human occupations during the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, between 9,000 and 5,000 years ago. Excavation at Casa Corona [Credit: IPHES] This first excavation phase included in this project began on 1 March and ended on 30 June, taken place during 4 months of uninterrupted fiekdwork on these sites. Hearths, small stone-pavings and post-holes have been documented among the  habitat structures. In the Arenal de la Virgen, abundant remains of lithic industry, land snails and

Analysis of remains found on Rapa Nui, Chile (Easter Island) provides evidence contrary to the widely-held belief that the ancient civilization recklessly destroyed its environment, according to new research co-conducted by faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Analysis of remains found on Rapa Nui (Easter Island) provides evidence contrary to the widely-held belief  that the ancient civilization recklessly destroyed its environment [Credit: Karen Schwartz/TT] "The traditional story is that over time the people of Rapa Nui used up their resources and started to run out of food," said Binghamton University Professor of Anthropology Carl Lipo. "One of the resources that they supposedly used up was trees that were growing on the island. Those trees provided canoes and, as a result of the lack of canoes, they could no longer fish. So they started to rely more and more on land food. As they relied on land food, productivity went down because of soil

On the afternoon of Thursday the 22nd of June, at the Roman fort of Vindolanda in Northumberland, archaeologists made one of their most important discoveries since 1992. A new hoard of around 25 Roman ink documents, known as the Vindolanda writing tablets (letters, lists and personal correspondence), were discovered lying in the damp and anaerobic earth where they had been discarded towards the end of the 1st century AD. Excavation trench where the tablets were found [Credit: The Vindolanda Trust] These incredibly rare and fragile wafer-thin pieces of wood are often less than 2mm in thickness and about the size of modern day postcards. The documents were uncovered during the research excavation of a small area of the site (three metres in length) and are likely to represent a part of an archive from a specific period. As the archaeological team, carefully and painstakingly extracted the delicate pieces of wood from the earth they were delighted to see some of the letters were complete

A massive archaeological excavation underway at Beijing's Old Summer Palace, or Yuanmingyuan Park, has uncovered more than 50,000 cultural relics so far. The ongoing archaeological excavation in the Ruins of Yuanmingyuan, also known as the Old Summer Palace,  has made substantial progress, with more than 50,000 pieces of relics discovered so far  [Credit: CGTN] The excavation, which was started in 2013 and will be completed in 2020, is the biggest in the ruined Yuanmingyuan Park so far, and has already covered 7,000 square meters. Bronzeware, jadeware and chinaware have been unearthed, and a gilding elephant head is the most precious among all items, according to a statement sent to the Global Times by the Yuanmingyuan Park. All of the excavated relics will be exhibited in the park until October, it said. The project is aimed at building a visible, three-dimensional platform for archaeological achievements and protecting the remains of the palace. "A few sections of the palace

Analyzing pigments in medieval illuminated manuscript pages at the Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source (CHESS) is opening up some new areas of research bridging the arts and sciences. Medieval studies doctoral student Ruth Mullett with a leaf from a 13th-century Italian Antiphonal, one  of the manuscript fragments scanned for chemical composition and trace elements in pigments  [Credit: Rick Ryan/CHESS] Louisa Smieska and Ruth Mullett studied manuscript pages from Cornell University Library’s Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections (RMC), dating from the 13th to the 16th centuries, using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and spectral imaging analysis. “Our initial goal was to learn more about Cornell’s fragments and about trends in pigment use,” said Mullett, a medieval studies doctoral student. “An initial survey using a portable point XRF [p-XRF] instrument uncovered several things we weren’t expecting.” Their research, published in the journal Applied Physics A , was co-authored by La

A sacrificial wolf elaborately adorned with some of the finest Aztec gold ever found and buried more than five centuries ago has come to light in the heart of downtown Mexico City, once home to the Aztec empire's holiest shrines. Gold pieces formed into symbols are seen at a site where a sacrificed young wolf elaborately adorned with some  of the finest Aztec gold has been discovered, adjacent to the Templo Mayor, one of the main Aztec temples,  in Mexico City, Mexico [Credit: Reuters/Henry Romero] The quality and number of golden ornaments is highly unusual and includes 22 complete pieces - such as symbol-laden pendants, a nose ring and a chest plate - all made from thin sheets of the precious metal, lead archaeologist Leonardo Lopez told Reuters. Held in a stone box, the cache was discovered in April near the capital city's bustling main square, the Zocalo, behind the colonial-era Roman Catholic cathedral and off the steps of what was once the most important Aztec ceremonial

During five weeks in May and June 2017, a Swedish team, headed by Professor Peter M. Fischer from the University of Gothenburg, carried out excavations at the Late Cypriot harbour city of Hala Sultan Tekke. The team consisted of 28 students and specialists. Amongst the latter were those trained in osteology, botany, conservation, and Aegean and Near Eastern ceramics. Late Minoan II/IIIA1 complete piriform jar of medium size  [Credit: Dept. of Antiquities, Republic of Cyprus] Hypothetical estimations of the size of the city vary between roughly 25 and 50 hectares. A large-scale geophysical survey was planned for June 2017 which is expected to provide more information about the actual size of the city. In 2017, two areas were of specific interest to the general research objectives of this long-term project: City Quarter 1 (CQ1) and Area A. CQ1 is one of three city quarters which have been discovered by geophysical prospecting and partly exposed by the expedition since 2010. The others ar

A pioneering X-ray technique that can analyse artefacts of any shape or texture in a non-destructive way has been developed by an international team of researchers led by the University of Leicester. Photographs of the archaeology samples (a) Sagalassos tesserae, (b) Roman coin, (c) 16th-century mortar  [Credit: University of Leicester] The technique, which has been showcased in a paper published in the journal Acta Crystallographica A , uses X-ray diffraction (XRD) in order to determine crystallographic phase information in artefacts with very high accuracy and without causing damage to the object being scanned. Using the technique, researchers can identify pigments in paintings and on painted objects -- which could potentially be applied in the future to help to clamp down on counterfeit artwork and artefacts and verify authenticity. The research suggests that the non-invasive technique could also eliminate the frequent need to compromise between archaeological questions that can be