Watching Archaeology |
Keeping Tabs on the World of Archaeology |
Temple of Mithras comes home | UK news | The Guardian:
“Construction work forces return of remains of Roman temple to the god Mithras to original London home after 58 years”
New federal regulations have researchers, tribes clashing over bones – USATODAY.com:
“Researchers would come to herald the bones — dating back nearly 10,000 years — as a potential treasure trove for understanding the earliest human history of the continental United States. But a local tribal group called the Kumeyaay Nation claimed that the bones, representing at least two people, were their ancestors and demanded them back several years ago.”
BBC News - Icelandic rocks could have steered Vikings:
“Vikings used rocks from Iceland to navigate the high seas, suggests a new study.”
The Goddess Goes Home | History & Archaeology | Smithsonian Magazine:
“From the look on Renzo Canavesi’s face, our first encounter was not going to end well. The strapping, barrel-chested octogenarian stared down at me from the second-floor landing of his home in the foothills of the Swiss Alps while a dog barked wildly from behind an iron gate. I had traveled more than 6,000 miles to ask Canavesi about one of the world’s most contested pieces of ancient art: a 2,400-year-old statue of a woman believed to be Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love.
Is This Your Long-Lost Ancestor? | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network:
“In the spring of 2010, the world met Australopithecus sediba, a nearly two-million-year-old human relative whose remains were found at a site just a short drive from Johannesburg, South Africa. By all accounts, it was an extraordinary discovery: two beautifully preserved partial skeletons–a juvenile male and an adult female–with the promise of more individuals to come. “
Mexico archaeologists acknowledge 2nd Mayan reference to 2012 | The Salt Lake Tribune:
“Mexico’s archaeology institute downplays theories that the ancient Mayas predicted some sort of apocalypse would occur in 2012, but on Thursday it acknowledged that a second reference to the date exists on a carved fragment found at a southern Mexico ruin site.”
“Recent excavations conducted by the University of Tübingen at Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany have produced new evidence for the earliest painting tradition in Central Europe about 15,000 years ago. This period is referred to as the Magdalenian and is named after the site of La Madeleine in France.”
Ancient Tools Point to Early Human Migration Into Arabia - ScienceNOW:
“More than 100,000 years ago, a group of early humans stood on the western shore of the Red Sea, gazing across the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait at the Arabian Peninsula. The land was lush and verdant, beckoning them to cross. But did they? A new analysis of stone tools discovered in Oman suggests that they did, indicating that humans may have ventured into Arabia tens of thousands of years earlier than many scientists believed.”
Tar Shrank Heads of Prehistoric Californians Over Time?:
“A long-term health decline—including a gradual shrinking—among prehistoric Indians in California may be linked to their everyday use of tar, which served as “superglue,” waterproofing, and even chewing gum, scientists say.”
Helping unravel causes of Ice Age extinctions:
“Did climate change or humans cause the extinctions of the large-bodied Ice Age mammals (commonly called megafauna) such as the woolly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth? Scientists have for years debated the reasons behind the Ice Age mass extinctions, which caused the loss of a third of the large mammals in Eurasia and two thirds of the large mammals in North America.”
