Archaeology News Weekly 13.01.08

Wrapped URLs may require cut-and-paste restoration. Longer URLs have
been shortened using SnipURL. Some articles may "time out" after
several days. The New York Times, along with a few others, requires
free registration (for a third-party user name and password, try
http://bugmenot.com/ ).

Still slow ...

#====================#

Czech archeologists find intact Egyptian tomb chamber
The Earth Times [USA], 05 Jan 2008

Czech archeologists found an intact 4,500-year-old tomb chamber of an
Egyptian dignitary in the Abusir Pyramids area, the Mlada Fronta Dnes
daily reported Saturday. The Egyptologists discovered the bricked-up
entrance to the four- by-two-metre chamber at the bottom of a 10-
metre-deep shaft, the report said. "And then you are standing at the
door of a tomb (that was) not burglarized. One experiences feelings
of Indiana Jones," the newspaper cited Egyptologist Miroslav Barta as
saying. The tomb chamber belonged to sacrificer Neferinpu who had
lived and worked in the area's pyramids in the 24th Century BC, or
during the Egyptian Old Kingdom era of pyramid-building, the
archeologist said.
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/169488.html
See also Radio Prague [Czech Republic]:
http://www.radio.cz/en/article/99324

Archaeologists coining it in at site of hotel
The Bath Chronicle [UK], 10 January 2008

A rare hoard of Roman coins has been found in Bath at the site of a
new city centre hotel. Around 150 coins have so far been unearthed in
the run-up to work on the new Gainsborough Hotel and Thermal Spa. But
the Lower Borough Walls site is expected to yield more than 1,000
coins once the whole haul has been examined. The find has been
greeted with excitement by archaeologists because some of the coins
are thought to date from the middle of the third century, one of the
most poorly represented periods for coins in Britain.
Short URL: http://snipr.com/1x7ce
http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?
nodeId=163490&command=displayContent&sourceNode=163316&contentPK=1950337
8&folderPk=89126&pNodeId=163047

64 rock inscriptions found in Giribawa
Daily News [Sri Lanka], 12 January 2008

Haththicuchchi near Galgamuwa is associated with many legends prior
to the establishment of the Kurunegala Kingdom. Recently, 64 rock
inscriptions were found in Giribawa, close to Galgamuwa. Excavators
expect to discover more inscriptions in the area. It is of
importance, that Haththicuchchi is probably the only place in the
world where a large number of rock inscriptions are found within a
small area. They can be prepared in chronological order as a series
starting from the era B.C. to the Kandyan era. The excavators have
found the inscriptions with the name ‘Rajangana’ and thus the place
was named Haththicuchchi.
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/01/12/news58.asp

Archaeological Fortress Discovered in the town of Kimbiri, Cusco
Living in Peru, 10 January, 2008

A new archaeological fortress, known as Manco Pata, was discovered in
the town of Kimbiri (Cusco), located in the Apurímac-Ene River Valley
(VRAE), announced the mayor of the town, Guillermo Torres. In his
statements, he pointed out that the fortress was located in the rural
community “Unión Vista Alegre”, of the village of Lobo Tahuantinsuyo,
and covers an area of 40,000 square meters. Last December 29, after
clearing the area of brush, beautiful and enigmatic structures built
of large stones were found. They were perfectly cut and formed high
walls. Considering the findings, the mayor explained that this
fortress could be part of the lost citadel of Paititi, which is the
name for a kind of Inca or pre-Inca lost city-state.
Short URL: http://snipr.com/1x7gf
http://www.livinginperu.com/news-5464-travel-tourism-peru-
archaeological-fortress-discovered-town-kimbiri-cusco

BYU research team's special methods find ancient Maya marketplace
Deseret News [USA], Jan. 9, 2008

Coaxing answers from 1500-year-old clues hidden in soil clumps, BYU
environmental scientists identified a marketplace in an ancient Maya
city, calling into question archaeologists' widely held belief that
people of the era relied on rulers to tax and re-distribute goods,
rather than trading them with one another. As reported in the
December issue of Latin American Antiquity, BYU professor of
environmental science Richard Terry and his student team confirmed
the location of a suspected marketplace on the Yucatan peninsula,
giving Maya studies powerful new evidence for understanding the
advanced civilization's economy. Terry's specialty is analyzing soil
from archaeological sites to find chemical traces that indicate what
took place there. Such creative detective work is particularly useful
in tropical areas, where 90 percent of inhabitants' possessions were
made from organic material that has since decomposed. "Looking at
soil residues promises to open up the investigation of ancient Maya
economic systems for the first time," said Bruce Dahlin, lead author
on the new study and archaeologist with Shepherd University."It's the
first way of confirming that an area that looks like a marketplace,
is a marketplace."
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,695242549,00.html

Tongan site dated oldest in Polynesia
Stuff.com [New Zealand], 10 January 2008

Using pottery shards, archaeologist David Burley says they have
confirmed Nukuleka, just east of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, is
Polynesia's birthplace. The confirmation comes as something of a blow
for Samoa which has advertised itself for decades as the "cradle of
Polynesia". Fiji's Sigatoka dunes have also made claims to be
Polynesia's birthplace but they appear now to be several centuries
younger. Archaeologists have focused on Nukuleka for the past five
years following the discovery of rich pickings of Lapita pottery. A
distinctive type of pottery, named for the site in New Caledonia
where it was first found, was carried through Melanesia and into the
Pacific by a mysterious group of people who eventually became the
first Polynesians. Professor Burley, of Simon Fraser University in
Canada, told Matangi Tonga website that a final excavation last year
had nailed Nukuleka's position as Polynesia's first. The pottery was
2900 years old. "Tonga was the first group of islands in Polynesia to
be settled by the Lapita people about 3000 years ago, and Nukuleka
was their first settlement in Tonga," he said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4349525a12.html

Historical site discovered at Kondapur
The Hindu [India], Jan 12, 2008

Historians have discovered a 25-ft high mound spread over 100 acres
at Kondapur in Medak district which they presume to be a Buddhist
stupa with myriad segments throwing light on the Buddhist link of the
present Telangana region. The Archaeological Survey of India has
decided to excavate the site-dating to 200 BC- 200 AD -from April. If
a stupa is unearthed as hoped by the ASI, this will be the first
Buddhist site in Telangana, firmly establishing the belief among
historians that this region too was part of the Satavahana empire
that extended into present Maharashtra and that Kondapur, indeed, was
a city that had a direct connection with Paithan.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/12/stories/2008011254960500.htm

Study points to 500 BC Kerala maritime activity
The Hindu [India], Jan 09, 2008

Kerala, or what later came to comprise it, may have had maritime
contacts with far off lands as far back in time as 500 BC or even
earlier, archaeological studies now suggest. The Kerala Council for
Historical Research (KCHR), which last year conducted archaeological
explorations at Pattanam, 7 kilometres south of Kodungallur in
Ernakulam district, says scientific analyses of material collected
from the area have shown the maritime activity there to be as old as
500 BC “The artefacts recovered from the excavation site suggest that
Pattanam, with a hinterland port and a multicultural settlement, may
have had links with the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea
and the South China Sea rims since the Early Historic Period of South
India,” said P. J. Cherian, Director, KCHR.
http://www.hindu.com/2008/01/09/stories/2008010956451300.htm

Iran Plans on Destroying Tomb of King Cyrus, Friend of the Jews
Arutz Sheva [Israel], January 13, '08

Iran is planning on submerging the tomb of King Cyrus (Coresh), the
Persian King known for authorizing the Jewish exiles to return to
Jerusalem to rebuild the Holy Temple. According to a report by
Omedia, an Iranian organization is demanding that the International
Criminal Court take action against those responsible. The Iranian
ayatollahs are planning on destroying the tomb as part of a general
campaign to sever the Persian people from their non-Islamic heritage;
Cyrus was thought to be a Zoroastrian and was one of the first rulers
to enforce a policy of religious tolerance on his huge kingdom.
Journalist Ran Porat quoted a young Iranian who said that the
measures being taken by the Islamic Republic’s regime include the
destruction of archaeological sites significant to this heritage.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/124898

#====================#

More on:

'Artful codger' who sold fake antiques from his garden shed could
skip jail over health concerns
The Mail [UK], 11th January 2008

Sentencing has been adjourned for a pensioner who fooled the art
world for years by selling "antiques" his son had "knocked up" in his
garden shed. Dubbed the "artful codger", silver-haired conman George
Greenhalgh, 84, would turn up in his wheelchair at art houses and
museums claiming to have "found" or inherited the objects. The
partially-deaf pensioner would feign innocence as he presented the
items to stunned art experts, asking if his supposed family heirloom
was worth anything. In fact each "antique" had been "knocked up" by
his son and carer, Shaun Greenhalgh, 47, - a highly skilled, but
thoroughly dishonest, craftsman. Today George Greenhalgh turned up in
a wheelchair, wearing thick, gold-framed spectacles, slippers and a
shawl over his legs, as he appeared for sentence at Bolton Crown Court.
Short URL: http://snipr.com/1x7bx
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?
in_article_id=507566&in_page_id=1770

#====================#

Continuing Sagas:

#====================#

Features:

Our chessmen were taken, but Scotland is heaving with stolen art
The Guardian [UK], January 12, 2008

National causes can be made of small things - one thinks of Jenkins'
Ear - but few can have had such a charming and witty source as the
collection of small objects known as the Lewis Chessmen that have
since the mid-19th century delighted visitors to the British Museum.
The chessmen inspired the stories of Noggin the Nog; Harry and Ron
Weasley played a game with replicas in the first Potter film. People
take a great shine to them: the queens with their hands to their
cheek looking so wise (or so bored), the wardens or rooks furiously
biting their shields (the "berserkers", the soldiers of Odin). Now
they have been registered as a political grievance. Scotland's first
minister wants them back.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2239705,00.html

City's Own Indiana Unearths Treasures
Express & Echo [UK], 12 January 2008

His real name is Derek Dugdale but all his mates call him Indiana
Jones. He's the man who visited Exeter's very own Temple of Doom and
emerged with a treasure beyond the dreams of avarice. Derek was
digging deep and hard in Princesshay when he saw something strange,
something glinting deep down in the dark pit where no man had trod
since bad King John was on the throne. Was it a trick of the light
from the explorer's flickering head lamp or was it....? Heart
thumping, hand trembling, Derek stretched out across the thick red
mud and grasped the object. What he gripped revealed a treasure trove
that would astound the experts - a complete 800-year-old jug, which
now forms part of a nationally important find dubbed the Princesshay
Treasure. It was found while archaeologists were taking the chance to
look into Exeter's long buried past after work began on building the
new Princesshay shopping development.
Short URL: http://snipr.com/1xbbi
http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?
nodeId=137199&command=displayContent&sourceNode=136986&contentPK=1952665
0&folderPk=79934&pNodeId=137002

Roman bridge put back together again
The Journal [UK], Jan 12 2008

REMAINS of what was one of the biggest Roman bridges to be built in
Britain have been reassembled on the banks of the River Tyne. The
50ft long and 10ft high reconstruction is opposite Corbridge Roman
site in Northumberland and near the spot where the ornate stone
bridge spanned the river. Excavations rescued stonework from the
bridge which was threatened by river erosion. The bridge carried Dere
Street, the main South-North road, over the Tyne to the important
Roman fort and supply base at Corbridge – and was built accordingly.
The excavations revealed that the bridge, built around 160AD, had
between six and 10 arches and was probably highly decorated with
columns, elaborate parapets, altars and statues of gods and the
emperor and his family. “It would have been a magnificent entry point
to the Hadrian’s Wall area,” said Paul Bidwell, senior manager at
Tyne and Wear Museums’ Archaeology.
Short URL: http://snipr.com/1xbbu
http://www.journallive.co.uk/north-east-news/todays-news/2008/01/12/
roman-bridge-put-back-together-again-61634-20341790/

The Lost Town of Port Tobacco Discovered
Southern Maryland Online, January 09, 2008

Archaeologists discovered at least ten Colonial Period and four
prehistoric American Indian archaeological sites in Port Tobacco
during explorations conducted this past summer and fall. A report
detailing the findings has just been issued by the Port Tobacco
Archaeological Project. The archaeological team, headed by Dr. Jim
Gibb of Annapolis and Dr. April Beisaw of Binghamton University,
sought the houses, shops, and warehouses of this one-time Charles
County seat of government, discovering sites from the 1700s and
1800s, as well as thousand-year-old American Indian sites. The
archaeological team discovered that a thick deposit of gravelly
sediment covered much of the town site, preserving artifacts and
remains of buildings that predate the American Revolutionary War.
http://somd.com/news/headlines/2008/6988.shtml

Hadrian the gay emperor
The Independent [UK], 11 January 2008

The bust is classically Roman, the face imperious. But this is no
ordinary emperor. As a major new exhibition at the British Museum
makes clear, Publius Aelius Traianus Hadrianus was not only a
peacemaker who pulled his soldiers out of modern-day Iraq. He was
also the first leader of Rome to make it clear that he was gay.
Hadrian: Empire and Conflict will see the bust make pilgrimages to
both ends of Hadrian's Wall, the first time it has left the British
Museum since being found in the Thames 200 years ago. But it is the
singular life-story of the gay emperor that is likely to capture the
interest of most visitors.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3328406.ece

How Pharaoh sailed to Karnak
Al-Ahram [Egypt], 10 - 16 January 2007

History has a special scent and taste at Karnak Temple. The emotions
it evokes are powerful and timeless. Inside the lofty pylons is
amassed an unsurpassed assembly of soaring obelisks, awe-inspiring
chapels and hushed sanctuaries reflecting the spectacular life and
great civilisation of ancient Egypt. Although most of Karnak has been
thoroughly excavated, the complex still conceals and occasionally
reveals more of the Pharaohs' secrets and mysteries. During 18 months
of excavations at the front of the temple, Egyptian archaeologists
have stumbled upon several important discoveries that are leading
them to reconsider the history and plan of the temples. The
discoveries have included a Ptolemaic ceremonial bath, a private ramp
for the 25th-Dynasty Pharaoh Taharqa, a large number of bronze coins,
an ancient dock and the remains of a wall that once protected the
temples of Karnak from the rising Nile flood.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/879/he2.htm

Dig days: Egypt's top 10: obelisks
Al-Ahram [Egypt], 10 - 16 January 2007

[By Zahi Hawass] Obelisks were signs of victory, and the inscriptions
carved on them record the titles and achievements of the Pharaohs.
The tip of an obelisk, called the capstone or pyramidion, was cased
with gold, its brilliant shine connecting it with the sun-god Re.
Egypt's obelisks were chosen by the Discovery Channel as one of the
top 10 archaeological "discoveries" in Egypt. The ancient Egyptians
cut small obelisks to place inside the funerary temple associated
with each pyramid. The oldest and the largest obelisk still standing,
however, dates from the reign of Sesostris I in the Middle Kingdom,
about 3,600 years ago. The site of the ancient city of Heliopolis,
where this obelisk stands, was the centre for the worship of the sun-
god, and temples dedicated to this deity were built here throughout
much of Pharaonic history.
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2008/879/he1.htm

#====================#

Miscellany:

Egypt to restore "eye of Amenhotep III"
State Information Service [Egypt], January 10, 2008

The Swiss President Pascal Couchepin and Culture Minister Farouk
Hosni singed Wednesday 9/1/2007 a memo of understanding on the
protection and retrieving monuments which illegally went out of
Egypt. Especially as Switzerland is a signatory of UNESCO agreement
on the protection of monuments. The Swiss President said his country
gave back to Egypt one thousand pieces of antiquities. The Swiss
President added that his visit to Egypt was made for signing a memo
of understanding for retrieving by Egypt of the stolen antiquities in
a bid to sign the final agreement in this concern by the two
countries in April next. Meantime, the Secretary General of Egypt's
Supreme Council of Antiquities said that Egypt will restore from
Switzerland a smuggled eye of a statue of king Amenhotep III from
Switzerland, said.
Short URL: http://snipr.com/1x7aa
http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/EgyptOnline/Culture/
000001/0203000000000000000916.htm

Data: cave bears ate berries, roots, each other
Xinhua News Agency [China], 2008-01-09

Our primitive cave-dwelling ancestors did not have to deal with
dangerous dinosaurs, despite Hollywood portrayals to the contrary,
but they did have to stay clear of saber-toothed cats, dire wolves,
giant man-eating birds of prey and cave bears a third larger than
modern grizzlies. Scientists used to think cave bears were
vegetarians that mostly fed on berries and roots. But, now bones from
the Carpathian mountains suggest cave bears could have also been
carnivores, and possibly even cannibals.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/09/content_7393060.htm

#====================#

Curiosa:

Mongols reached America before the Europeans
Xinhua News Agency [China], 2008-01-10

Challenging the long-held notion that it was the Europeans who were
the first non-native visitors to the Americas, a Mongolian professor
of history has claimed that the Mongols reached the American
continent first. "About 8,000 to 25,000 years ago, Mongols with stone
tools crossed the Aleutian Islands and arrived in America first,"
Sumiya Jambaldorj, a history professor from Chingis Khaan University,
said Thursday. Jambaldorj's claim is based on his study of place
names in America and their similarity to names in the Mongolian
language. "More than 20 place names of the Aleutian Islands belong to
the Mongolian language, five of which are still used in modern
Mongolian, such as 'Ataka' and 'Ushka', " Jambaldorj said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-01/10/content_7401721.htm

Chinese Terracotta Tennis Warriors
Group Leisure [UK], 13/01/2008

Groups visiting the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum in the next few
months will be able to see the Chinese Terracotta Tennis Warriors.
The set features the world’s top eight male tennis players, who
competed in the Tennis Masters Cup, Shanghai in 2007. The statues of
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikolay Davydenko, Andy
Roddick, David Ferrer, Fernando Gonzalez and Richard Gasquet will be
on display until the end of March after which they will be given to
each respective player.
Short URL: http://snipr.com/1xbb7
http://www.groupleisure.com/news/news.asp?
sCont=ChineseTerracottaTennisWarriors&sRetList=headline

#====================#====================#

For additional current archaeological news items, see the Bookmarks
section:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ArchNews/links

#====================#====================#

Website URLs are long and difficult to remember. SnipURL allows you
to "snip" your long URLs into small, friendly and persistent links
for sharing and remembering. Free! http://snipurl.com/index.php

#====================#====================#