Hello Don and I hope that you had a very Happy Birthday! Thanks for posting about your work concerning industrial archaeology in relation to the Whiteman paper mill. I must admit that I don't readily associate the Confederacy with industrialization, other than textile mills. That is a shortcoming on my part and I can only learn.

I am in agreement with you, Cheryl. I grew up in the part of the US were the American Revolution was fought. I am also learning about the Confederacy. Imagine life without paper. You can begin with newsapapers and end in the bathroom. Money and messages were all important in wartime and the North had the south blockaded. Things got VERY difficult before they got any better. It is a fascinating work Don is doing. I am fascinated at being in on each new discovery. I am learning with the rest of us. Don is an excellent guide!

Mycenaean cemetery in Vari yields rich finds A cluster of richly furnished ancient graves dating to Mycenaean times has been discovered on the southern outskirts of Athens close to a settlement of the same period, a report said yesterday. According to the Ethnos daily, archaeologists conducting a rescue excavation in Vari have located 26 graves so far, which date from the 15th to the 12th centuries BC. This spans most of the Mycenaean era, the best-known remains of which are the citadels of Mycenae and Tiryns, and the Palace of Pylos in the Peloponnese. Over 100 vases have been recovered, along with terracotta figurines, copper knives, seals, gold beads and steatite pendants. They had been laid in 24 chamber graves � up to three meters wide with approaches up to 4 meters long � and two shaft graves, of the same type as the royal burials in Mycenae. The settlement was 300 meters away. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_2785960_20/08/2002_19950

Cliff-cut Alexander scheme on the rocks A grandiose scheme, inspired by Greek-Americans, to carve an 80-meter-high likeness of Alexander the Great on a cliff in northern Greece has been denounced as a monstrosity by archaeologists and environmentalists alike, who are threatening legal action against the 30-million-euro project. The project's backers, who include local authorities in the area of Asprovalta and Vrasna, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) east of Thessaloniki at the far end of the Halkidiki peninsula, claim the rock-carving will �emphasize the Greekness of Macedonia� and attract tourists. �The archaeologists are calling it a monstrosity, but we say it is the best thing being done in Greece,� local mayor Angelos Frantzis told Kathimerini. �If they want a monument, why don't they do it in front of the town hall?� a local antiquities official countered. �Why destroy the rock. Is it theirs?� http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100016_21/08/2002_19985

Marcia, you're right, what is life without paper. It's so common, that we tend forget how important it is. Was it the Chinese who developed paper as we know it. I do know that the Egyptians had papyrus, made from a kind of reed. I suppose that it may well be classed as a sort of paper. In Europe in the Middle Ages and early Rennaissance, paper was made from cloth rags. I have used 100 percent linen rag paper when I was an art student. I somehow remember some association with the Chinese and paper, though. I know that they made rice paper, but I really don't know who came up with making paper from wood pulp. One last thing about paper, in Japan pre-pakaged food items are enclosed in an edible paper made from the skin that forms on top of tofu during the process of making it. That would be paper from soy beans.

I rather agree with the archaeologists and the environmentalists on the subject of the Alexander sculpture. From the standpoint of archaeology, what undiscovered sites might possibly be compromised or destroyed by the work involved carving the sculpture. Environmentally, what creatures habitats would be distupted by it, as well. Lastly, what about the geological ramifications concerning this particular sculpture. I'm certain that there are reasons in its favor, as well. They just don't seem as compelling to me.

The "paper" Cheryl mentions as wrapping for some foods ( candy mainly ) is edible. In Hawaii it is readily available. It is tasteless. The paper question I will answer tomorrow. In the meanwhile may I suggest a book with just the information you seek. Papermaking: The history and technique of an ancient craft by Dard Hunter. I have a copy and it is full of great information. Published in 1978, it is available in reprint paperback.

Thanks, Marcia.

Shawn, who rents the new construction from me, found a very strange and mysterious artifact today. It's solid bronze. It's a fragment of a sphere and it ahas strange symbols on it. I've never seen anything like it and have no idea what it could be. I took some pictures of it and I'll post them here when I get them transferred out of my camera. It's a fascinating object.

We're waiting to see the object. All we can say from Don's professional view is that it is not prehistoric - American-wise, anyway.

On our way home from Illinois archaeology site inspection we watched the moon rise a bright rosy pink. I wonder how it will appear in Athens: MOONLIT RUINS - Archaeological sites open to the public tonight Dozens of archaeological sites will be open to visitors free of charge from 9 p.m. tonight until 1 a.m., under the Ministry of Culture�s annual policy of allowing public access to selected monuments on the night of the August full moon. Concerts will be held at most of the 56 sites involved, which include the Athenian Agora, Olympia, Delos, Mystras, Dodona and Dion. The Athens Acropolis will be open but without music. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100018_23/08/2002_20063

solid bronze? wow. strange symbols? *humming the twilight zone theme* you know, it could be a relic from skirmishes earlier in this countries history. maybe the symbols are just worn and the only parts you see are making it so you cannot recognize it. can't wait to see the pics!

Just processed them and ftped them to geo.

Don looked carefully at your pictures and asked again where it was found. He said during the Spanish-American War the Mexicans made small cannon balls out of COPPER. He says this one looks very like rough made cannon balls he has seen from that period. b

If nothing else, Shawn has found a piece of History and it makes a good paper weight or bookend.

i'm thinking cannonball too, in fact, before i even got to your suggestion, i was thinking that!

I asked Don if that was what it could be before I showed him the picture. I agree it is most likely that it is a cannonall.

That's my theory also. I wonder if I should take a metal detector to the area where we discoverd this cannonball. I wonder what the markings mean?

Definitelyon the metal detector. He will check but he guesses it might be a foundry mark. Make that the Mexican War. (My error is saying the Spanish American.)1830s is the date for it. 0.70inch round musket balls would also be found in the same area if associated with a battle and not an accidental loss by a collector. Don is curious to know the context in which it was found.

Internet campaign to solve 30 year mystery of stolen pots http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_655335.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology Officials trying to recover more than 100 artefacts stolen three decades ago are mounting a 'no questions asked' internet campaign. Staff at Kolomoki Mounds State Historic Park in Georgia are posting 'wanted' photos of more than 100 pieces of missing pottery on their website. The collection of 1,500-year-old Native American artefacts was stolen from a South Georgia museum in 1974. Park superintendent, Eric Bentley, said: "We're not all that interested in prosecuting the people responsible - we just want our pots back, no questions asked. "We believe they're still out there, on someone's shelf or for sale in some flea market or artefact show." The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports the museum was unguarded and the thieves stole every item on display. Officials admit the trail has gone cold and the internet appeal is a last resort. Pictures of the missing pottery can be found on the park's website. http://www.geocities.com/kolomokistatepark/

YES to the metal detector!!!

Terry, you should also find inch-square thin black translucent pieces of flint used in the muskets a gun flints. Look for them. They make pretty and interesting things to display and to collect. Don has a study box of them from a shipwreck whose happening I found in articles on the internet. They were the first real hard evidence of a historic event I ever held in my hand. The second was minnie (mini or minne) balls which were the bullets fired in the Civil War. Quite unlike anything I had ever seen!

To one and all, thank you for the very kind birthday wishes. At 55, I don't like to think I'm getting older -- just ever closer to retirement when I can devote much more time to the research projects that really interest me. To reurn for a moment to the copper object from Texas (and I hope not being over redundant on comments that Marci has already posted), I suspect the piece is half of a broken canon ball dating to the Mexican-American War of the 1830s. As I recall reading in an archaeological study of the Palo Alto Battlefield, the Mexicans at that time lacked iron foundries but did have copper mines and the facilities to smelt same. The markings likely relate to the factory which made the item. Also recovered at the Palo Alto Battlefield were "small" shot on the order of 1.5 inches (3.8 centimeters) in diameter -- these were also fired from canon in clusters. The types of related artifacts which might be encountered in association with this likely canon ball are ca. 0.70 inch (15.75 mm) diameter round lead balls fired from the smoothbore longarms of that era. I'm not immediately certain of their supply of gunflints -- though these may be black (or oxidized as a dull gray) suggestion production at Brandon, England, France was also exporting some flints (theirs were typically a "honey" yellow in color). I hope these comments help more than confuse the issue.

Thank you for your clarifications, Don. I find if I mess up the message sufficiently well, the person who really knows what I was trying to say will say it as intended. The only gun flints I have seen in real life were black, but I know there are other colors of flint that were used. Thank you for the clarification, again! Of course you know this exists but may I call to your attention the new Americana topic for discoveries in this part of the world dealing with things of American History and Folkways. Geo 81.

I prefer to say, "This is my XXth turn around the Sun", in each of my birthday Don. But I can use your words for retirement. Suddenly I become too close to it. I feel very strange because I was not ready� John

John, with all your electronics background, do you have an amateur radio license?

Albania yields Athena statue BUTRINT, Albania (AP) - Albanian archaeologists say they have discovered a 2,000-year-old statue in the ancient town of Butrint � ancient Greek Buthrotos � their first major find since the site was opened to researchers nearly 75 years ago. The statue, believed to depict Athena, the goddess of wisdom, was found last weekend at a dig in the town 300 kilometers (180 miles) south of Tirana. �We have no other sculpture so big and powerful as this,� said chief archaeologist Dhimiter Condi, happily embracing the statue for photographers. The heavy marble statue, believed to date to the time of the Roman Emperor Octavian Augustus, is 2.16 meters (7.09 feet) tall and 0.65 meters (2.13 feet) wide and stands on a solid base. �It is a vivid figure on the move,� said Auron Tare, manager of Butrint National Park. The Butrint site, located at a lake of the same name, was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1992. Many cultural activities � including the Miss Albania contest, concerts and festivals � are regularly held at an ancient theater on the site that seats 1,500. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100014_28/08/2002_20227

EVENT FOR THE RETURN OF THE NIKE OF SAMOTHRACE An event for the return of the statue of the Nike of Samothrace from the Museum of Louvre to its home, the island of Samothrace in northern Aegean, will take place on August 31 organized by the municipality of Samothrace. A message by the Daily Newspapers Journalists' Association of Macedonia-Thrace will be read by a representative of the association's board of directors in support of the demand. In the message it is stressed that the return of the Nike of Samothrace will be a victory of civilization and the efforts will continue until the goal is met. http://www.goGreece.com/news/headlines/story.html?id=7675

Archaeological dig at Bell's Tavern Park City residents are still learning about the people who built Bell's Tavern. Information about the old tavern has been unveiled in the past through archaeological digs that have taken place at the tavern's ruins. Several items have been unearthed through the digs, which usually take place in September each year. Another archaeological dig is scheduled to take place next week -- Sept. 12-14. Jay Stottman, staff archaeologist with the Kentucky Archaeological Survey, will be heading the dig this year. Helping him will be students from area schools. Students in the fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grades will be taking part in the digs, which will be held at 8:45 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Each session will last approximately an hour. The archaeology digs coincide with the Bell's Tavern Heritage Festival, which will be held Saturday, Sept. 14, and with plans to stabilize the tavern ruins and turn the immediate area around the tavern into a community park. A group of Kentucky masons recently visited the ruins to see what type of work they could do in stabilizing them, said Joy Lyons, chairperson of Bell's Tavern Historical Park Commission, which is overseeing the project. "I like very much the idea of Kentucky craftsmen working on the ruins," Lyons said. "They are Kentucky stone masons who are capable of stabilizing the ruins." At one point, the Bell's Tavern Historical Park Commission had discussed utilizing the services of the Historic Preservation Training Center, which is based in Maryland and is connected with the National Park Service, for stabilizing the tavern's ruins. "They can do it for us, but with our TEA-21 project money we are going to try to get the most we can for every dollar," Lyons said, adding that if the commission decides to work with the Kentucky masons, they would have someone within the state who could do repair work in the future. The city received a $350,000 matching federal grant through the U.S. Department of Transportation's Equity Act for the 21st Century or TEA-21 for Bell's Tavern Historical Park project last November. Approximately $170,000 of the grant money will be used to stabilize the major stones of the Bell's Tavern ruins. The remainder of the money will be used to develop the area around the ruins into a community park. more... http://www.glasgowdailytimes.com/display/inn_local_news/newsb.txt

Don has seen the site above. It is, incidentally, in Kentucky. He is not working on this project, though. I would like to see it...

The quest for the Lost Colony ring By CATHERINE KOZAK, The Virginian-Pilot � September 3, 2002 BUXTON -- Unearthed nearly four years ago, among the broken remnants of an American Indian civilization, there was a ring. Once worn by an English nobleman, the 16th century gold signet ring was no doubt the most spectacular find in archaeological explorations of Croatan, the ancient capital of the only chiefdom that lived permanently on the Outer Banks. Few have seen the ring since. Many want to. more and pictures... http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0903art.html

And more curiousity about the ancient Americans: Ancient Illinois village unearths lode of questions CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Digging under a blazing sun in an Illinois cornfield, archaeologists this summer unearthed a fascinating anomaly: a 900-year-old square hilltop village. The discovery near Shiloh -- about 15 miles southeast of St. Louis -- challenges previous notions of the area's first people and adds a piece to the puzzle that was Cahokia, a huge "mother culture" that suddenly appeared, and just as suddenly vanished, leaving only traces of its majesty and meaning in the 11th century. more and photos... http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-09/uoia-aiv090202.php

The NEW Battle of Marathon? Battle over Marathon finds The revelation that Bronze Age building remains have been found during construction work for a controversial Olympic venue near Marathon in northern Attica took on a political twist yesterday with the opposition leader accusing the government of neglecting antiquities. Premier Costas Simitis canceled a visit planned for this week to the site of the 2004 rowing center at Schinias after New Democracy Chairman Costas Karamanlis arrived there unexpectedly yesterday to inspect the finds, whose existence the government only conceded on Sunday following a Kathimerini report. He complained to journalists that the Early Helladic remains, which, according to a Culture Ministry preliminary report, belong to two insignificant dwellings, �were discovered not as a result of a systematic excavation but during earthworks for the construction of the rowing center.� Construction work at the northern end of an artificial lake has stopped to allow excavation of the finds, which end abruptly at the edge of the lake. �I must point out that this is the spot that the government claimed was under the sea [in antiquity] and allowed to be built on despite objections by archaeologists and historians,� the conservative leader added. The Culture Ministry, which has steadily rejected arguments the venue is being built on the site of the final stages of the 490 BC Battle of Marathon, says the 3000-2000 BC foundations belonged to isolated buildings on the verge of an ancient swamp. Yesterday, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos said he would decide on the fate of the finds once the full excavation report is available. �It is not fitting for the opposition leader to suddenly descend, in the company of television cameras, on an excavation without having first notified the archaeological authorities,� he said. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100010_10/09/2002_20711

Old English mill built from captured US ship Scientists say a water mill in an English village contains ship timbers dating back to the last time the United Kingdom and US were at war. Beams used to build Wickham Mill in Hampshire were taken from the USS Chesapeake. The ship was captured by the Royal Navy off Boston in 1813. To this day, they still bear the signs of cracks and splinter damage caused by cannon fire during fierce fighting in which 93 sailors were killed and 156 wounded. As well as showing the signs of battle damage they also offered a glimpse into the history of the Chesapeake, which negro plantation slaves helped to build in 1799. The 1812 war between Britain and the US arose indirectly from the Napoleonic Wars. Resentment over the Royal Navy stopping and searching neutral American ships bound for blockaded ports spilled over into a conflict that lasted three years. The Star Spangled Banner was written during the war, and the White House was burned by the British. HMS Shannon engaged the Chesapeake in the coastal waters off Boston. The American commander, Captain James Lawrence, was mortally wounded and his last words "Don't give up the ship" passed into US Navy folklore. Describing the story, Dr Robert Prescott from the research team at the University of St Andrew's said: "This was the great age of the frigate. This was where all the dashing young commanders wanted to be. It attracted young hotheads." After repairs, Chesapeake was sold by the Royal Navy in 1819 for breaking up. The following year, a builder called John Prior bought some of her timber for �3,450 for the water mill. The mill's dimensions reflect those of the ship, which was carefully dismantled so that every last inch of the long timbers could be used. Speaking at the British Association Festival of Science at Leicester University, Dr Prescott said: "When you go into the mill you can easily be fooled into thinking you are on board a ship. All the beams over your head which hold up the floor above you are gun deck and quarter deck beams from the ship, and all the lintels that span the openings of doors and windows are from the ship." http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_668004.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Phenomenon at Loch Ness A skeptical Earth scientist throws more cold water on Scotland's liveliest legend. The Loch Ness Monster is a well-known, even beloved icon for all kinds of believers and skeptics. Is the legendary Scottish creature merely the roilings of earthquake gas? Not far from Nessie's home lake, a provocative visitor from Italy has argued just that. The occasion was a 2001 gathering of geoscientists in Edinburgh, Scotland, called Earth System Processes, the first-ever collaboration by the Geological Society of America and the Geological Society of London. Such gatherings are a carnival of science, and the research presented there is fresh, unpublished, speculative, even provocative. Meeting presentations are also considered "gray literature," useful snapshots but not formal publications that are reviewed beforehand by fellow scientists. So the latest Loch Ness theory, presented in a poster session by Luigi Piccardi, was nothing truly serious. Piccardi has been arguing recently that the mythology and sacred places of the ancient Mediterranean owe a lot to geologic activity, like earthquakes or the Delphic Oracle. In Edinburgh, Piccardi presented a poster extending that argument to Scotland. The earliest account of the monster in Loch Ness, from the seventh century, refers to the creature's appearance and disappearance being accompanied by shaking. And the lake happens to lie directly upon the active Great Glen earthquake fault. "In this light," goes his reasoning, "many modern eyewitness reports attributed to Nessie may find a simple natural explanation. > > http://geology.about.com/library/weekly/aa070101a.htm

U.S. Scientists Find Famous Viking Site in Iceland September 16, 2002 07:45 PM ET By Gina Keating LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - California archeologists have discovered a Viking Age farm in northern Iceland that may have been home to Snorri Thorfinnsson, the first European child born in North America and a hero in Norse folk legends, the University of California Los Angeles announced on Monday. More on Reuters-Science John

The local archaeological news is at a site not thought to have any value and under pressure for modern development they found Late Woodland pottery pieces and some human bones. This is very exciting. In this area, these finds have not been made since I have been acquanited with it. I await further developments. Other than being an archaeologist myself, this is a very close exciting second place option.

Stone Age woman ate like a wolf THE thigh bone of a Stone Age woman who ate almost as much meat as a wolf has been found in a dried-up channel of the Trent. It gives archaeologists their earliest look at the development of the British diet. Chemical analysis of the 7,700-year-old femur shows that the �Lady of Trent�, whose remains were unearthed at the Nottinghamshire village of Staythorpe, was not one to eat her greens. Her diet had a meat content more similar to that of a wolf or a lion than of modern man. Further evidence of her diet comes from bones of a similar age belonging to deer and wild cattle, many bearing cut marks typical of human butchery, that were found at the site. The discovery, by scientists from Sheffield University who were monitoring gravel extraction for a housing development, is highly significant. Very few human bones from the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age) have been found in Britain. Glyn Davies, of the university�s archaeological research and consultancy unit, said that the discovery had already cast important light on the lifestyle of Britain�s inhabitants in a little-known period. �This was an extremely rare he said. �It tells us that here was a settlement of humans that lived inland, hunting animals, when people generally moved around seasonally between the hills and the coast.� The Lady of Trent�s thigh bone suggests she was about 5ft 2in. She probably lived in a community of 10-25 individuals, from several families, who would have hunted game with flint-tipped or fire-hardened wooden spears. She lived between 5700 and 5600 BC, radiocarbon dating has shown. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-2-398917,00.html

She may have tall for her time!

The clockwork computer From The Economist print edition The Antikythera mechanism An ancient piece of clockwork shows the deep roots of modern technology WHEN a Greek sponge diver called Elias Stadiatos discovered the wreck of a cargo ship off the tiny island of Antikythera in 1900, it was the statues lying on the seabed that made the greatest impression on him. He returned to the surface, removed his helmet, and gabbled that he had found a heap of dead, naked women. The ship's cargo of luxury goods also included jewellery, pottery, fine furniture, wine and bronzes dating back to the first century BC. But the most important finds proved to be a few green, corroded lumps�the last remnants of an elaborate mechanical device� Much more in: Economist.com, Science & Technology

I remember that set of gears and other clockwork items corroded into what looked like a watch maker's nightmare. How old it is compared with the modern usage of clockwork! Thank you, John, for reminding us that we have forgotten much and still have much to learn!' We went out on another archaeological survey of a site yesterday. This time to Indiana and a national guard training facility. They want to widen a road and move a little stream. Nothing was found archaeologically, but they did have a great static display of armaments, and the only exisitng (as far as we knew) Prisoner of War chapel from WW2. It was built by Italian prisoners. The whole site was built for German and Italian POWs and after the war, was given to the state of Indiana for training of their National Guard troops. We even got to see some. Especially pleasant, it was a beautiful sunny day with deep clear blue skies and cool temperatures. "October's bright blue weather..." How I have missed autmun!

2004 venue�s ancient finds to be saved - Survey: area was under water The battered remains of three 4,500-year-old houses discovered on the site of an Olympic sporting venue near Marathon in northern Attica will be preserved with two of the buildings to be shifted a few dozen meters out of the way, the government said yesterday. The dwellings, which were probably linked to a larger settlement to the north, were discovered last month. But while announcing his determination to save the Early Bronze Age remains from destruction, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos failed to convincingly defend his main argument in favor of the government's controversial decision to build the Olympic rowing course at Schinias on land linked with the 490 BC Battle of Marathon. The findings of a geological survey, conducted last year under Thessaloniki University geologist Antonios Psilovikos and presented yesterday at a press conference hosted by Venizelos, showed that, since Neolithic times, the Schinias area - some 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Athens - has been covered by freshwater swamp and lake, salt marsh, and lagoon. Venizelos has long claimed that Schinias was covered by the sea in the fifth century BC, in order to dismiss critics who say the venue is being built on swampland where the final phase of the battle took place. �For the past 5,500 to 6,000 years, the area was under water,� Psilovikos said. �There is no doubt whatsoever of that.� The 120 soil samples taken by Psilovikos's team revealed traces of aquatic life from which conclusions were taken on the historical morphology of the area. �We found hundreds of shells,� he said, �belonging to freshwater shellfish, shellfish that live in low-saline water and seawater shellfish.� �In this area, any thought not only of battle but even of approach would have been impossible. Anyone trying to get there would have sunk in the mud, and would have been totally unable to advance.� This, however, concurs with ancient historians' accounts of the defeated Persian invaders fleeing their Athenian pursuers into a large swamp which accounted for a large portion of the Persian casualties. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100006_27/09/2002_21379

Roman iron factory uncovered A Roman iron factory has been discovered at a remote moorland site. A team from the University of Exeter unearthed the site during a month-long dig near Brayford, Exmoor. Archaeologists believe large quantities of iron were produced at the 2,000-year-old site for use across the UK and abroad. Excavation director Dr Gill Juleff said: "Clearly what was being produced was over and above the needs of the local population. It would probably have gone to an international market." The team of 20 students and archaeologists dug a 30 metre long trench to uncover an intact factory floor. Furnaces where iron was smelted were also found in the 10-metre-deep trench. Pottery remains also discovered at the site date back to the second and third centuries AD. Dr Juleff said: "The big question is whether it was a site run by local people or whether the work was directed by the Roman Army. She added: "What is interesting about this is that until very recently it was believed that the Romans hadn't reached this far, but now the story is quite different. Archaeologists will continue excavation work on Exmoor next summer. The dig forms part of a four-year project funded by English Heritage. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_677823.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

2004 venue�s ancient finds to be saved Survey: area was under water The battered remains of three 4,500-year-old houses discovered on the site of an Olympic sporting venue near Marathon in northern Attica will be preserved with two of the buildings to be shifted a few dozen meters out of the way, the government said yesterday. The dwellings, which were probably linked to a larger settlement to the north, were discovered last month. But while announcing his determination to save the Early Bronze Age remains from destruction, Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos failed to convincingly defend his main argument in favor of the government's controversial decision to build the Olympic rowing course at Schinias on land linked with the 490 BC Battle of Marathon. The findings of a geological survey, conducted last year under Thessaloniki University geologist Antonios Psilovikos and presented yesterday at a press conference hosted by Venizelos, showed that, since Neolithic times, the Schinias area - some 40 kilometers (25 miles) northeast of Athens - has been covered by freshwater swamp and lake, salt marsh, and lagoon. Venizelos has long claimed that Schinias was covered by the sea in the fifth century BC, in order to dismiss critics who say the venue is being built on swampland where the final phase of the battle took place. �For the past 5,500 to 6,000 years, the area was under water,� Psilovikos said. �There is no doubt whatsoever of that.� The 120 soil samples taken by Psilovikos's team revealed traces of aquatic life from which conclusions were taken on the historical morphology of the area. �We found hundreds of shells,� he said, �belonging to freshwater shellfish, shellfish that live in low-saline water and seawater shellfish.� �In this area, any thought not only of battle but even of approach would have been impossible. Anyone trying to get there would have sunk in the mud, and would have been totally unable to advance.� This, however, concurs with ancient historians' accounts of the defeated Persian invaders fleeing their Athenian pursuers into a large swamp which accounted for a large portion of the Persian casualties. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100006_27/09/2002_21379

Italy to return a fragment of the Parthenon frieze to Greece 30/09/2002 21:19:12 ROME (ANA/L/Hatzikyriakos) - A fragment of the Parthenon frieze presently housed in Palermos Museo Nazionale will be returned to Greece during Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampis official visit to Athens on 6 November, Italian daily La Republica reported on Monday. The 14-by-13.4-inch foot of Pithos, a fragment from the eastern Parthenon frieze, gifted 150 years ago by a British diplomat to the Palermo Museum, will be returned to Athens by the Italian President, the article said, adding that this would be enough to ?rekindle? the confrontation over the return of various archaeological finds, now housed in museums around the world, to their countries of origin. According to La Republica, this is a ?gesture of friendship? providing the Greek authorities with the opportunity to resume the campaign for the repatriation of the Parthenon Marbles that are now housed in Londons British Museum. Sculpted in the fifth century BC, the 176-yard frieze was removed from the Parthenon 200 years ago by Lord Elgin, the British Ambassador to Istanbul at the time. http://www.hri.org/news/greek/apeen/2002/02-09-30.apeen.html

Face of original Londoner revealed The face of a pre-historic British woman can be seen for the first time in over 5,000 years. She has been dubbed the capital's first lady and the original Londoner after becoming the oldest human ever unearthed in the city. Researchers reconstructed her face and now believe she may have come originally from either Derbyshire, the Mendips or perhaps further north. Shepperton Woman, named after the place in the west London suburbs where her grave was found, had her face rebuilt by medical artists using the same procedures used in police investigations when detectives try to find the identity of human remains. The skeleton dates from the Stone Age - between 3,640 and 3,100BC. The face shows a woman with striking but heavy features who died aged between 30 and 40 years. Shepperton Woman will go on display to the public for the first time on October 18 at the Museum of London in the centre of the City. Hedley Swain, head of early history at the Museum, said: "She seems to have travelled quite widely within Britain but not abroad. "Life would have been pretty tough for her. People at that time lived in quite large, extended family groups or tribes. They had to work very hard to struggle for existence." The body was originally recovered from Staines Road Farm, in Shepperton, in 1989 and the remains were reconstructed by facial anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson of Manchester University. Medical artists took two weeks to rebuild it before a plaster cast was made. Clay was then applied and gradually the reconstructed face of the individual appeared - more than five millennia after she died. Photo of her likeness: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_683602.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

someone did a computer likeness of King Tut and it was scary to see!

King Tutankhamun was scary? How so? He was so young!!

the image the computer created looked creepy--but not because it was ugly or anything, just creepy. think i saw it on msn.com or ccn.com.....supposed to have some special about who really did want to take over after him.

here's a link to the King Tut stuff--but, clicking on the article about what he looked like doesn't bring up the pic as I saw it for the first time--this one is less eerie: http://dsc.discovery.com/anthology/unsolvedhistory/kingtut/kingtut.html

Looking... BTW, I think someone is messing around with the graphics and programming. Suddenly I am getting a lot of little boxes amongst the letters of the programming titles and buttons here, but not the posted texts. Interesting! I have no idea what this means. It reminds me of a Japanese webite!

This is the reconstructed likeness - more likely than the stock portrayals: From the website Wolfie cites above. Not nearly as cute as the little statues!

but not ugly, that's for sure. the other picture had more upturned corners of the mouth, making it look like he had scars across his cheeks. but it must've been another website i saw that pic at. will check cnn.com and see what they have.

Hi Wolfie!!! It is fun to be on the same time you are even if we cannot IM. *sigh* Fleshing out the Acropolis bones Nearly 150 years of excavations on the summit of the Acropolis have laid bare the limestone base, now worn slippery by millions of pairs of shoes, on which the monumental buildings of the fifth century BC were erected. But in some years, if plans presented on Sunday by a leading Acropolis expert are implemented, tons of earth will be used to restore the surface of the citadel rock to its classical form. Speaking at the end of an international meeting on the 27-year-old Acropolis restoration project, architect Manolis Korres, who has headed restoration efforts on the Parthenon, proposed covering the exposed bedrock with earth. He said exposure to the elements was damaging the monuments� foundations and destabilizing the rock itself, as well as the enceinte. In classical times, he argued, the soil on the walled summit of the rock was distributed among a series of artificial terraces that contained sanctuaries to the gods. The Acropolis Restoration Service, which manages work on the citadel, wants to implement Korres�s plans after 2006, when a 31.5-million-euro cycle of restoration is due to end. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100016_08/10/2002_21770

Speaking of the Acropolis... In Nashville, Tennessee, there is a full size replica of the Parthenon. I would love to go see it. Perhaps I might get there after all. I just spoke to the person who could get me there and he agreed it would be a great idea to visit. Oooh!!!

Roman statue unearthed in Paphos building site A CYPRIOT pensioner saw a marble elbow protruding from rubble at a building site and unearthed a large 2000-year-old Roman-era statue. "It is in very good condition, it is the best preserved we have found in Paphos," said Efstathios Raptou, head of the Paphos division of the antiquities department. The white marble statue, missing its head, was possibly cast in the mould of a woman who lived at the time, he said. The statue was discovered Paphos on Saturday and has been moved to a local museum for maintenance. Cyprus was under Roman rule from 30 BC to 330 AD. (R) http://www.goGreece.com/news/headlines/story.html?id=9017

marcia, you have got to email me!!!!

Just did!

MoD hoping to strike gold with salvage deal A deal has been struck between the Ministry of Defence and a US salvage company to search for a treasure trove of gold coins worth up to �2.8 billion in a sunken British warship. HMS Sussex, which went down in a storm off Gibraltar in the Mediterranean Sea in 1694, was thought to be carrying nine tonnes of gold coins belonging to the Treasury. When the Sussex sank she was loaded with gold and silver that was headed to Spain to be handed over to the Duke of Savoy to fund his war against King Louis XIV during the war with France. The contract allows Odyssey Marine Exploration, which found the ship in 1998, to claim a share of the booty. Under international law the warship and its cargo is considered to be the property of its home country. The salvage project is expected to begin next year and Odyssey will spend three to six months exploring the wreck, which is a half-mile deep. more... http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_685202.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Australian shipwreck could pre-date Captain Cook Archaeologists believe a shipwreck found buried off Australia's east coast could pre-date the arrival of Captain James Cook The team found the 100ft wreck buried under sand on Fraser Island, about 680 miles north of Sydney. Team leader Greg Jeffreys says a row of four cannons suggests the ship was a European military exploration vessel from the 17th century. "The cannon definitely are not English cannon. We know the style of most of the English cannon, so we are looking at a European ship - probably 1650s around that era," he said. Photographs of the weapons will be sent to experts to verify their age and where they were made. Jeffreys says as the ship is excavated other finds such as dinner plates, glasses, weapons or money could provide more accurate evidence of its origin. Captain Cook is credited with being the first European explorer to find and chart Australia's east coast in 1770. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_685328.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Is the ship Dutch, do you think? I know that the Dutch had been sailing in the vacinity of Australia's west coast around the time of Cook's expedition.

Quite possibly Dutch. Abel Tasman got around there a lot. Burial box is 'proof of Jesus' An archaeologist is claiming an inscription on a burial box is the oldest solid evidence Jesus existed. more and picture http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_694350.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Experts solve crop lines mystery The remains of a massive Iron Age cattle ranch have been identified in North Yorkshire. The ranching operation stretches for more than 10km on a chalky hillside near Malton. It's being hailed as a major find by archaeologists because of its sheer scale. The site has baffled experts since mysterious lines were spotted in crops over it when aerial photographs were taken in the 1950s. But a team of archaeologists, including English Heritage investigator Dave MacLeod, believe they have now solved the mystery. Although there are no physical remains on the site, by using the latest techniques of aerial archaeology combined with ground excavations, the team examined the lines - which are thought to date back to the 2nd century BC. They identified ditches and banks which created funnels used to channel thousands of livestock into droveways leading to the only reliable water source in the area. It's thought the funnels were part of a much bigger system stretching over 20km. Mr MacLeod said: "Nowhere else in the UK do we see funnel structure of this complexity or on such a massive scale. "Essentially we are looking at the remains of a highly sophisticated cattle business that is more reminiscent of the High Chaparral than small scale peasant farming. It paints a vastly different picture of the Iron Age. "English Heritage, which was involved in the project as part of the BBC2 series Time Flyer, says the site will not be protected as there are no physical remains on it. Story filed: 15:48 Friday 25th October 2002 http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_696939.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Thanks Marcia. Will have to look for further details

NASA Images Find 1,750,000 Year Old Man-Made Bridge The Hindustan Times 10-10-2 WASHINGTON (PTI) -- The NASA Shuttle has imaged a mysterious ancient bridge between India and Sri Lanka, as mentioned in the Ramayana. The evidence, say experts matter-of-factly, is in the Digital Image Collection. The recently discovered bridge, currently named as Adam's Bridge and made of a chain of shoals, 30 km long, in the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka, reveals a mystery behind it. The bridge's unique curvature and composition by age reveals that it is man-made. Legend as well as Archeological studies reveal that the first signs of human inhabitants in Sri Lanka date back to the primitive age, about 1,750,000 years ago and the bridge's age is also almost equivalent. more and image... http://rense.com/general30/nasa.htm

Sensational Finding at Samoil Fortress - Golden Mask Alike the Trebenista Ones Excavated (Vest, 3.10.2002) - This is an epochal discovery for the Macedonian, Balkan and European archaeology since it sheds additional scientific light to the widely famous Trebenista necropolis near Ohrid. The tomb and all the items found in there date back to 5th B.C. pointing to the oldest burial within the Lichnidos necropolis. A golden postmortem mask and a golden glove with a golden ring were discovered at the Samoil Fortress three days ago (Monday, 30 September). more and pictures... http://www.culture.in.mk/story.asp?id=4829

Just in time for Hallowe'en: 2,000 bodies found underneath family home A Romanian family plans to move out after finding they were sharing their home with more than 2,000 dead bodies. The find was unearthed in the cellar of the property after plumbers came in to repair a pipe and discovered the skeletons under the floor. The Oana family say they have been living in the house in Sibiu, Transylvania, for half a century but no longer want to return after being told of the find. more... http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_690236.html

Transylvania sounds like a place where a plumber would find some bodies. But 2,000!

*Laugh* You're right, Terry. And no hauntings like in Indian Burials scenarios? I am surprised! Temple to gay love unearthed near Rome A temple devoted to gay love has been discovered by archaeologists in Italy. They found remains which were once dedicated to a lover of the Emperor Hadrian about 20 miles east of Rome. The temple of Antinous dates from 134 AD shortly after his death. Zaccaria Mari, the head archaeologist on the site says archaeologists have dug up parts of the walls of the monumental temple and made a couple of exploratory excavations. He told 365Gay:"We found a series of fountains and planters for interior gardens, niches for statues and very important marble fragments, some with Egyptian hieroglyphics," Mr Mari said. "I'm sure this discovery will cause a lot of controversy, because it flies in the face of previously accepted theories, but only further excavations will give all of the answers." Historians are divided over whether the emperor's favourite lover committed suicide in the river Nile or was pushed in. Antinous was despised by the emperor's jealous aides, but it could never be proven that he was murdered. Other scholars claim Antinous committed suicide before old age destroyed his looks. He was 21. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_710095.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Ancient iceman 'probably killed by his own people' A man frozen in Alpine ice more than 5,000 years ago could have been shot with an arrow by one of his own people. The body of "Otzi the Iceman" was discovered by hikers in 1991 as ice melted in the Schnalstal glacier, high in the Italian Alps. Otzi was found half emerged from the ice and his body was first thought to be that of a modern climber. Closer examination showed he was still wearing goatskin leggings and a grass cape. His copper-headed axe and a quiver full of arrows were found nearby and radio-carbon dating showed the body was more than 5,000 years old. Scientists believe Otzi came from the southern Alps after studying artefacts found with his body. Last year an arrow-head embedded inside the mummified corpse was found and the latest research has helped to narrow the search for the iceman's attacker. Professor Annaluisa Pedrotti, from Trento University in Italy, was called in to examine the arrowhead. She said: "The type of arrowhead found in Otzi's body has a very specific 'tanged' shape. It occurs only in the southern Alps and in northern Italy, not in the northern Alps where the arrowheads tend to have a flat base. That means that the guilty party lived south of the Alps and was probably one of Otzi's own people." She said it was still unclear how Otzi died and that many questions remained to be answered. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_708952.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Scientist: Oldest American skull found (CNN) -- Researchers said it may be the oldest skull ever found in the Americas: an elongated-faced woman who died about 13,000 years ago. But perhaps more significant than the age, researchers said, is that the skull and other bones were found while a well was being dug near Mexico City International Airport. Because the remains were discovered outside the United States, scientists will be able to study the DNA and structure of the skeleton without the objection of Native American groups, who can claim and rebury ancestral remains under a 1990 U.S. law. "Here Mexico is providing the opportunity to see what clues these bones can yield about man's arrival in the American continent," Mexican anthropologist Jose Concepcion Jimenez Lopez said. The oldest skull in the Americas up to now, believed to be that of "Buhl Woman," was found in 1989 at a gravel quarry in Idaho. Scientists said it dates back 10,500 to 11,000 years. But researchers scarcely studied those bones before the Shoshone-Bannock tribe claimed and reburied them. The "Pe�on Woman III" -- which scientists believe is now the oldest skull from the New World -- has been sitting in Mexico City's National Museum of Anthropology since 1959. At the insistence of geologist Silvia Gonzalez, who had a hunch that the bones were older than previously thought, the remains were taken to Oxford University to be carbon-dated. And indeed, tests proved Gonzalez's assertion. Scientists said they believe that the Pe�on Woman died anywhere from 12,700 to 13,000 years ago at the age of 27. Did humans arrive in the Americas by boat? Emboldened by her finding, Gonzalez will try to prove her theory that the bones of the Pe�on Woman belong not to Native Americans, but to descendants of the Ainu people of Japan. She said she bases her hypothesis on the elongated, narrow shape of the Pe�on Woman's skull. Native Americans, she said, are round-faced with broad cheeks. "Quite different from Pe�on Woman," she said. She said she believes descendants of the Ainu people made their way to the New World by island hopping on boats. "If this proves right, it's going to be quite contentious," said Gonzalez, who teaches at John Moores University in England and received a grant last week from the British government to conduct her research. "We're going to say to Native Americans, 'Maybe there were some people in the Americas before you, who are not related to you.' " Gonzalez's theory is controversial but gaining credence in scientific circles, where up to now many believed hardy mammoth hunters were first to arrive in the Americas 14,000 to 16,000 years ago by crossing into Alaska from Siberia. Gonzalez and other scientists said they believe people may have arrived in America as much as 25,000 years ago. She points to evidence of camps -- man-made tools, a human footprint and huts dating back 25,000 years -- that have been found in Chile as evidence of man's imprint on the Americas long before mammoth hunters. Searching for answers to coastal migration Gonzalez will embark on a three-year journey to prove her theory. As part of that journey, she will travel to Baja California to study the Pericue people, who shared the same elongated faces of the Pe�on Woman. She said she believes that the Pericue, who for unknown reasons went extinct in the 18th century, may hold the answers to coastal migration of man from Asia to America. The bones of the Pe�on Woman will have DNA extracted to compare it with genetic matter of the Pericue, she said. Scientists also said they hope to study clothes fibers found near the skeleton and try to piece together how the woman died. Gonzalez said the skeleton does not show any wounds or obvious injuries. "We still have a long way to go," she said. "But we have a good start." This is the link to the article: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/science/12/03/oldest.skull/index.html

Thanks Cheryl. America's earliest written language uncovered Carvings believed to be the earliest form of written language in the Americas have been found in Mexico. Symbols dating back to 650BC were found by archaeologists in the San Andreas region of Tabasco state, near the Gulf of Mexico. They were found on chips from a stone plaque and on a cylinder stone used for printing that were unearthed in a dig at the site of an ancient Olmec city near La Venta. The symbols are 350 years older than the oldest previously discovered American writings. Kevin Pope and Mary Pohl have published their study in the American Science magazine. Mr Pope told The News online: "Only a handful of civilisations have ever made the leap from spoken to written language." The carvings were interpreted to mean "king" and "3 Ajaw", which researchers believe was the name of a ruler. The Olmec's system of carvings for dates and names was adopted by the Mayas, who then developed it into a highly sophisticated language over the next 1,000 years. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_723136.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

A British archaeologist has uncovered what is probably the unluckiest church in the world The church was wrecked by two earthquakes, a flood, and a landslide - all of which happened while it was still being built. It later became an opium den and after it was abandoned most of the remains were washed into the sea. St Phocas' Church was founded on what is now a clifftop at the Turkish city of Sinop, on the shores of the Black Sea, because this is where its patron saint was martyred. The site was discovered when the Sinop museum found pieces of late Roman mosaic washed up at the coastal village of Chiftlik in the mid-1990s. Dr Stephen Hill, from the University of Warwick, was asked to investigate by the museum and he found not just a mosaic, but the site of a large, previously unknown 4th century church. "It will survive into next year but its long-term future is not good. It probably won't see too many more Friday 13ths," he said. The church's founder, St Phocas, the patron saint of gardeners and sailors, was a Christian hermit who dug his own grave the day before he was martyred by Roman soldiers in the 2nd century AD. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_726609.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Treasure in Kythnos sanctum On one of the least developed Cycladic islands, archaeologists have hit on one of the most coveted prizes of Greek archaeology � the unplundered inner sanctum of an ancient temple replete with offerings in precious metals and luxurious pottery items. A team led by University of Thessaly Associate Professor of archaeology Alexandros Mazarakis-Ainian discovered the treasure chamber in a ruined temple of a female divinity at Vriokastro on Kythnos, on the western fringe of the archipelago. The sanctum � called adyton by the ancient Greeks � was forbidden to all but the priests of the temple and contained sacred statues of the divinity as well as offerings brought by worshippers. These could include precious jewels, gifts donated by dignitaries to enhance their own prestige and spoils of war. �Behind the cella (main hall) of the temple, and on the other side of a wall with a threshold in its middle, where nobody would have expected it, we discovered the adyton,� Mazarakis-Ainian said in an interview published in yesterday�s Vima daily. �On the earthen floor and in the destruction layer covering it, in other words, practically on the surface, we found some 1,500 precious objects.� The opulence is impressive. Finds, which dated mostly from the seventh to the fifth centuries BC � thus defining the life span of the temple � included 70 golden artifacts, 150 in silver, 450 in bronze, 70 terracotta figurines, 50 intact and many smashed vases. The majority of the pottery was painted, and some pieces have been linked to master painters. There was also a small stone bead incised with a boat, dating from Minoan times, which could have been a family heirloom. The temple, which may have belonged to Hera or Aphrodite, was probably destroyed by earthquake. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100011_19/12/2002_24404

Neolithic gold on Myconos At the furthest recess of the Bay of Panormos, which cuts deep into the northern coast of Myconos, archaeologists excavating a 7,000-year-old settlement have unearthed well-preserved remains of public buildings and a rare example of the Neolithic goldsmith�s art. Dig head Adamantios Sampson told Kathimerini that this year�s excavation at Ftelia, a beach popular among windsurfers, turned up two small buildings ending in apses that were probably not used as simple dwellings. He believes the structures � whose walls survive to a height of 1.8 meters � may have been granaries, or even cult areas. An earlier building, dating to around 5000 BC, is seen as a precursor of the Megaron type that evolved into the basic unit of the Mycenaean palace and the first Greek temples. This year�s excavations also unearthed large quantities of locally made Neolithic pottery, obsidian blades, terracotta figurines and the fired clay model of a boat, as well as an extremely rare circular gold pendant with a hole in the middle for suspension. http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100014_24/12/2002_24564

bathhouse in Jesus' hometown Archaeologists and Bible scholars have refuted claims a bathhouse unearthed in Nazareth may have been used by Jesus. The remains of the vaulted and tiled room were found under a Nazareth souvenir shop. The structure lies a few paces from a well where Eastern Orthodox churches believe the Angel Gabriel told Mary she would give birth to Jesus. Owner Elias Shama is convinced the edifice is classical Roman and that Jesus himself may have visited it. But Tel Aviv Antiquities Museum archaeologist Tzvi Shacham says all the evidence indicates it was built at least a millennium after Christ. Stephen Pfann, president of the Jerusalem-based University of the Holy Land, added the Roman part of Nazareth covered a small area where the modern Basilica of the Annunciation now stands, and it never extended as far as Mr Shama's shop. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_729492.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

About the Neolithic site at the Bay of Panormos, would that be evidence of the Helladic culture?

Interesting question. I'll ask the resident professional archaeologist.

Rare cannon recovered from Cromwellian wreck Archaeologists have discovered what is believed to be one of the most significant underwater finds ever made. They have found a 17th century iron cannon, thought to be the only one of its kind still in existence. It was recovered from the wreck of the Swan, a small Cromwellian warship lost off Mull while attacking the royalist stronghold of Duart Castle in 1653. Colin Martin of the University of St Andrews, who has been excavating the eroding wreck for 10 years, recently discovered the historic cannon. He has been working at the wreck site in conjunction with the National Museums of Scotland (NMS) and Historic Scotland. Dr Martin said the cannon had the initials of John Browne, King Charles I's royal gunfounder, on it. "In the 1620s Browne developed a completely revolutionary new type of gun - one which was much lighter for the weight of shot it fired, allowing more to be carried on the king's ships," said Dr Martin. "These stronger and lighter new guns were called 'drakes', and the secret of their success was a tapered end to their bores, where the pressure of the gunpowder explosion was greatest." Conservators at the NMS are currently removing layers that have built up on the cannon over hundreds of years. St Andrews University said conservationists hope to find out soon whether the cannon is indeed a drake. Work is expected to reveal that it is probably the only iron example of this type of gun known to have survived into modern times. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_738054.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Huge Bronze Age haul found in Austria Europe's biggest-ever discovery of Bronze Age weapons and jewellery has been made in Austria. Archaeologists believe the hoard could prove Bronze Age Europe rivaled Greece in terms of early society and technology. The scientists from the University of Innsbruck and the Austrian National Memorial Office have so far found 360 pieces buried at the side of a crevice in Moosbruckschrofen am Piller in Tyrol. It is thought they were laid there as part of a ritual offering sometime between 1550 and 1250 BC. As well as swords, axes, spearheads, sickles and jewellery the historians also found part of a bronze helmet. It is thought the helmet could be one of the earliest such finds, Austrian Broadcasting Company ORF reported. The only other helmet thought to be from the 14th or 13th century BC was one that had been discovered on Crete, which the experts say is of a totally different sort. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_739588.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

British archaeologists uncover ancient Egyptian town British archaeologists have discovered the 'Egyptian Lourdes'. The desert town dates back to 2,500 BC and was probably home to priests and builders working on Memphis pyramids. It is thought that the 4,000 people there would have earned a living by selling religious objects and charms. Team leader Ian Mathieson, a 75-year-old retired surveyor from Edinburgh, described the find as "absolutely fabulous". He discovered the town near Saqqara, 15 miles from Cairo, with 10 British archaeologists and said: "Our first guess is that it was inhabited by priests and workers, a bit of a thing like Lourdes." Mr Mathieson said the team stumbled on the town while searching for an ancient road. He said: "We had an idea that there was a road which people used to transport these 50 tonne bits of stone up to the huge sarcophaguses at the temple. "We didn't find a road, we found a lake, and we found that the lake had a town on the side of it." "We're convinced that there was quite a big community making religious objects to be buried in the catacombs at the burial site." Excavation has not yet begun but geo-thermal surveys show that the site covers an area of around one mile by three-quarters of a mile. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_749921.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Scientists discover 'milk of the ancients' Scientists have found what ancient Britons may have eaten by looking at their broken dirty dishes. Research from Bristol Uiversity found people could have been eating dairy foods as long as 6,000 years ago. Although scientists knew settlers in prehistoric Britain kept domestic animals, it was uncertain whether they were raised for their meat, or for products such as wool or milk. Now university chemist Dr Mark Copley has examined potsherds - ancient broken dishes - from archaeological sites across the country to discover ancient eating habits. He and his colleagues looked at material from sites in Britain settled during the Neolithic, Bronze and Iron Ages. He said: "What we looked at are pots which have been used in cooking. When you boil meat or any food you get fats from the food and they get absorbed into the vessel itself. These survive for thousands and thousands of years." Residues from each site indicated the presence of dairy products, but the age of samples involved differed from site to site, pointing to the gradual spread of dairying practice throughout Britain. Of particular interest were three sites with dairy residues from the Neolithic era - a period when consumption of dairy products had previously been uncertain. The researchers suggest the widespread availability of dairy products may have had major impacts on the diet, health and subsistence economy of ancient people. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_744324.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

World's oldest wheel found in Slovenia, claim archaeologists Archaeologists claim to have unearthed the world's oldest wheel in Slovenia. Experts estimate that the wheel is between 5,100 and 5,350 years old. That makes it just 100 years older than the previous record-holders from Switzerland and southern Germany. The wheel, which is made of ash and oak, has a radius of 70 centimetres and is five centimetres thick. It was found buried beneath an ancient marsh settlement near the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana. Dr Anton Veluscek, from the Archeological Institute at the Slovenian Academy of Arts and Sciences, was part of the team that made the find. He said: "The wheel is surprisingly technologically advanced - much more so than the later models found in Switzerland and Germany." http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_754415.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

This article about the most ancient wheel reminds me of the unfinished millstone Don showed me in a creek in Tennessee. You could see where the outline was chipped out but for some reason it was not freed and used. Fascinating!

Hmmmm...Marcia, I'm taking Anthro 280 this semester which is essantially archaeology. I have to do a research paper thats due in May. I was curious if you had any ideas. I'd like to talk about it with you on IM sometime when you get a chance. Thanks. Hugs!

Sure, Julie! I have a paper I am working on which I think would be excellent for your purposes. I have the IM booted and waiting for your arrival on my monitor. Invisible, as always, but I am watching for you. HUGS ! I can even give you my web sources. Anthropology is what the degree is in the US. Only in Europe can you get degrees in Archaeology!!!

With gratitude to the gentleman in charge for the email he sent, please read the following: The first report of the Kythnos excavation is now available at the web site of the University of Thessaly at http://www.ha.uth.gr/gr/department/07.html (in Greek and English). Prof. Alexander Mazarakis Ainian Director of Kythnos Excavations

Load the pfd link and let it load completely. The photographs are splendid. I wish I were there, too. http://www.ha.uth.gr/gr/department/kythnoseng.pdf

I missed this due to travel: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_politics_100011_19/12/2002_24404 Treasure in Kythnos sanctum On one of the least developed Cycladic islands, archaeologists have hit on one of the most coveted prizes of Greek archaeology � the unplundered inner sanctum of an ancient temple replete with offerings in precious metals and luxurious pottery items. A team led by University of Thessaly Associate Professor of archaeology Alexandros Mazarakis-Ainian discovered the treasure chamber in a ruined temple of a female divinity at Vriokastro on Kythnos, on the western fringe of the archipelago. The sanctum � called adyton by the ancient Greeks � was forbidden to all but the priests of the temple and contained sacred statues of the divinity as well as offerings brought by worshippers. These could include precious jewels, gifts donated by dignitaries to enhance their own prestige and spoils of war. �Behind the cella (main hall) of the temple, and on the other side of a wall with a threshold in its middle, where nobody would have expected it, we discovered the adyton,� Mazarakis-Ainian said in an interview published in yesterday�s Vima daily. �On the earthen floor and in the destruction layer covering it, in other words, practically on the surface, we found some 1,500 precious objects.� The opulence is impressive. Finds, which dated mostly from the seventh to the fifth centuries BC � thus defining the life span of the temple � included 70 golden artifacts, 150 in silver, 450 in bronze, 70 terracotta figurines, 50 intact and many smashed vases. The majority of the pottery was painted, and some pieces have been linked to master painters. There was also a small stone bead incised with a boat, dating from Minoan times, which could have been a family heirloom. The temple, which may have belonged to Hera or Aphrodite, was probably destroyed by earthquake. Greek earthquakes strike again. John! They need you!

'Oldest set of human footprints found at volcano' Scientists have found the oldest set of human footprints to be discovered, preserved on an Italian volcano. They were left by three small human-like creatures who scrambled down the side of the mountain between 325,000 and 385,000 years ago. Researchers say it is clear from the tracks that the pigmy hominids, probably no taller than 1.5 metres, walked on two legs. The footprints, found at the Roccamonfina volcano in Campania, southern Italy, are locally known as "devils' trails". Reporting the discovery in the journal Nature, the scientists led by Paolo Mietto, from the University of Padua, Italy, wrote: "We believe that these tracks are the oldest human footprints found so far and that they were made by hominids who had a fully bipedal, free-standing gait, using their hands only to steady themselves on the difficult descent." The tracks, designated A, B and C, are preserved on the surface of a single layer of volcanic ash and descend a steep slope that in places is almost vertical. Trail A consist of 27 footprints, which at one point follow a Z-shaped path presumably made to negotiate the slope more easily. Trackway B is composed of 19 footprints crossing the slope in a single straight line and curving roughly 45 degrees to the right. There is evidence of slipping - an occasional handprint can be seen on the slope beside the track. In contrast trackway C follows a straight line with 10 regular footprints made over a smaller incline. "Although the footprints do not show all of the known features of contouring human bipedalism, there are enough similarities to support the idea that they are indeed human and fully bipedal," said the scientists. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_759683.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Vatican accused of destroying history to build car park The Vatican has been accused of destroying ancient Roman burial grounds to build a new underground car park for tourists. Tempers frayed between Vatican officials and archaeologists after bulldozers uncovered tombs dating back 2,000 years to the time of Nero. Work was temporarily halted to allow archaeologists to examine the site, but officials insisted that it should carry on as they had a tight schedule and urgently needed the 300 space car park. Among the tombs uncovered was one bearing the name of Nero's secretary and his wife, and apart from Roman graves, early Christian ones dating back to the 4th century AD were also found. A Vatican Museum source said:''This whole area is rich with history and heritage and work should stop so a proper excavation can be carried out. We are talking history here but the public works department are just not interested.'' Bishop Giovanni Danzi, of the Vatican public works department, said:''The car park is vital to the Vatican. It is very difficult to park near here and it really does need to be built. ''Yes, some small items were found, but I don't think they were historically very significant. The whole of Rome is full of ancient history so it's not unusual to uncover items such as this, but as I have said the car park is vital.'' Professor Andrea Carandini, who has led numerous digs in Rome, said:''I think the Vatican should really think whether this car park is absolutely necessary, especially if items of a historically value have been discovered.'' http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_759593.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

How can the tomb's of Nero's secretary and his wife not be considered of historical and archaeological importance? Or maybe I'm just being dense.

They are! It seems the Vatican has its own agenda, but I won't go there.

Hungry dogs find 2,500-year-old mummy Two dogs digging for a buried bone in their owner's backyard in Chile found a 2,500-year-old mummy. Ivan Paredes, who lives in Arica, could not believe his eyes when his dogs dug up the ancient body. He told La Cuarta online: "The dogs were trying to find bones buried in the backyard as usual, but they started to bark very loud and I came to check what was going on and found the mummy of child." Archaeologists believe it is the remains of a boy buried by his parents who would probably have been farmers. The mummy, said to be in good condition, is being transferred to the San Miguel de Azapa museum. Archaeologists believe Mr Parades's backyard could be an ancient burial site and want to excavate it. http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_764118.html?menu=news.scienceanddiscovery.archaeology

Has Wolfie read your that last item? She might be amused, furry archaeologists with cold, wet noses. Maybe the dogs could be honorary members of the dig for being the intitial discoverers of the mummy.

The Amesbury Archer The invader who founded Stonehenge The richest Bronze Age burial ever discovered in (Britain) was unearthed in 2002 at Amesbury, only three miles from Stonehenge. Who was he? Where did he come from? Did he have any relationship with Stonehenge? The Burial The main burial had to be uncovered on the day it was discovered, due to security reasons. As is usual in the Bronze Age, it is a crouched burial. but there was a wealth of finds that accompanied the body. In front of his face there were two beaker pots, no doubt filled with beer for the next world. There was a wrist guard on his wrist to protect his arm from the snap of the bow-string. There were two more beakers behind him, and a cache of flints - no doubt all that remains of a a quiver-full of arrows; while by his feet was yet another beaker and more equipment. The archer was 35 to 45 years old when he died and probably walked with a limp due to an injury to his left knee. Preliminary calibrated radiocarbon dates centre on around 2,300 BC. How do we know he was an archer? For one thing, he was buried with numerous flint arrowheads of this distinctive 'barbed-and-tanged' variety that is typical of the beaker period in the early Bronze Age. Another indication that he was an archer came from two wrist-guards, shaped pieces of stone designed to protect his wrist from the backlash of the bow. The Archer was buried wearing (one); the (other) one was by his knees. Another diagnostic find consisted of these three knives, made of copper. They are very similar to the early daggers, but these were so small that they may have been knives. They were made of copper, rather than bronze, suggesting a very early date before the alloying of copper to make it harder had been discovered. The outline of the former handle of wood or horn can be seen on the largest knife, which was by his knees. (The) most diagnostic feature - part of one of the beakers, where a comb had been used to make a pattern. It is very similar to the beakers known as AOC beakers - All Over Cord beakers, which are found all over Europe and have long been used for evidence for widespread beaker migrations, and for a beaker invasion of this country. Where did he come from? This is the most controversial aspect of all. Our teeth contain oxygen, and the oxygen has three different forms, called isotopes, and as we grow up, our teeth preserve the isotopes of the water we drank when we were young. Oxygen isotope analysis of the archer's teeth suggests that he was brought up on the continent. The Archer's teeth showed values (indicating somewhere) from Switzerland up to Scandinavia. This presents a dramatic challenge to current academic interpretations of the Early Bronze Age. Traditionally, 'beakers' were held to mark the spread of a 'Beaker folk' across Europe, in a huge prehistoric migration, similar to the Greek migrations of the early Iron Age,or to the Germanic and Viking migrations in the Dark Ages at the end of the Roman era. However over the past 20 years, many academics have challenged this view, and argued that the spread of beakers marked the spread of a beaker 'cult package' and that there were no migrations at all. The discovery of the Amesbury Archer suggests that this view is sheer nonsense and that there really were beaker invasion after all - here is a beaker invader. If so, this has an important corollary. It has long been recognised that what little pottery has been discovered associated with the stone phases of Stonehenge is beaker. However the nearby monument at Durrington Walls is filled with 'Grooved Ware' pottery, with Beaker only found in the upper, destruction layers when the site was destroyed or abandoned. Is this Amesbury Archer therefore, the leader of the Beaker invaders? Was he the man who led the attack on Durrington, after which it was abandoned? And in place of Durrington, did he decide to build an even more elaborate monument not far away on what had hitherto been a subsidiary site at Stonehenge? If so, he was not so much the King of Stonehenge as rather the founder of Stonehenge. He ordered the construction of the monument, and was buried on a site where from which his spirit could see it arise. http://www.archaeology.co.uk/issues/ca184/archer/archer.htm

OOOH Cheryl, What exciting news about the archer burial. Somehow I am surprised more have not been found. Salisbury Plain was a very labor intensive place. Only the nobles and warriors were granted a barrow burial.

Did you follow the link to view the photos that accompanied the article? You're right though, it is surprising that more haven't been found.

Treasures Looted from Baghdad Museum Feared Lost Mon April 14, 2003 03:44 PM ET By Niala Boodhoo WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Antiquities experts, dismayed that U.S. officials failed to heed their warnings to protect Baghdad's historic artifacts during the war, said on Monday they were concerned the priceless treasures looted from Iraq's main museum may never be recovered. U.S. archeological organizations and the U.N.'s cultural agency UNESCO said they had provided U.S. officials with information about Iraq's cultural heritage and archeological sites months before the war began. University of Chicago professor McGuire Gibson was among a group that met Pentagon officials several times and presented them with a list of archeological and other sites that should be protected, particularly the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad. "We warned them about looting at the very beginning," said the archeologist who has worked extensively in the region. "I was assured it would be secured." Now, he said, the loss was immeasurable. "The Baghdad museum is the equivalent of the Cairo Museum. It would be like having American soldiers 200 feet outside the Cairo museum watching people carry away treasures from King Tut's tomb or carting away mummies," said Gibson. The museum, which housed key artifacts of ancient Mesopotamia, which was among the earliest civilizations, was ransacked and its contents taken or destroyed in a wave of looting that has swept the Iraqi capital since the collapse of President Saddam Hussein's rule last week. UNESCO's deputy director, Mounir Bouchenaki, said on Monday leading archeologists will meet in Paris on Thursday to seek ways to rescue Iraq's cultural heritage. They also plan a fact-finding mission to Iraq. Iraq's ancient dynasties, a cradle of civilization that existed long before the Egyptian, Greek or Roman empires, created the world's earliest forms of writings and built the first major cities of Nineveh, Nimrud and Babylon. Gibson likened the museum's destruction to that of the famed library founded by Alexander the Great in Egypt that was destroyed more than two thousand years ago. Secretary of State Colin Powell told reporters the United States was concerned about the looting at the museum and was working to secure the facility. "The United States understands its obligations and will be taking a leading role with respect to antiquities in general but this museum in particular," he said. CUNEIFORM TABLETS ON EBAY? Powell said the U.S. would work with UNESCO, which earlier urged the U.S. and Britain to take immediate steps to protect and preserve a heritage considered to be "one of the richest in the world." A 1954 Hague Convention mandates protection of cultural property during conflict, an international group of archeologists and antiquities experts warned before the war. While Iraq had ratified the convention, the United States and Britain, both partners in the war in Iraq, have not. Of the more than 170,000 objects in the museum were treasures like an alabaster Uruk Vase that dates back to 3500 B.C., Gibson said. The museum also held tablets of cuneiform writing that still had to be translated. "We understand most of the best pieces are gone," said the Archeological Institute for America's Patty Gerstenblith, adding she heard looters cut off heads of larger statues that could not be moved. Some items have already reportedly shown up for sale in Paris, Gibson said. Two markets for the items would exist: collectors willing to pay millions for the high-end items and others who would pay much less for smaller items like pottery. "Average kind of pottery could well sell on (the Internet auction site) eBay for like $20 or $50," Gerstenblith said, adding small pieces have been smuggled out of Iraq during the U.S. economic embargo. Experts are trying to set up a Web site to provide a catalog of what was in the museum in Baghdad and Gerstenblith said they were appealing to the White House to take emergency measures to order troops to be on the lookout for artifacts. In the meantime, the loss of objects with not only historical and cultural, but scientific and religious value, was devastating, Gerstenblith, a DePaul University professor said: "We have allowed to be destroyed not only our own heritage but the heritage of future generations." http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=focusIraqNews&storyID=2563696

Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure Sat Apr 12, 2:59 PM ET By JOHN F. BURNS The New York Times BAGHDAD, Iraq (news - web sites), April 12 � The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s government this week, it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 50,000 artifacts carried away by looters. The full extent of the disaster that befell the museum only came to light today, after three days of frenzied looting that swept much of the capital. As fires in a dozen government ministries and agencies began to burn out, and as some looters tired of pillaging in the 90-degree heat of the Iraqi spring, museum officials reached the hotels where foreign journalists were staying along the eastern bank of the Tigris River. They brought word of what is likely to be reckoned as one of the greatest cultural disasters in recent Middle Eastern history. A full accounting of what has been lost may take weeks or months. The museum had been closed during much of the 1990's, and like many Iraqi institutions, its operations were cloaked in secrecy under Mr. Hussein. So what officials told journalists today may have to be adjusted as a fuller picture comes to light. It remains unclear whether some of the museum's priceless gold, silver and copper antiquities, some of its ancient stone and ceramics, and perhaps some of its fabled bronzes and gold-overlaid ivory, had been locked away for safekeeping elsewhere before the looting, or seized for private display in one of Mr. Hussein's ubiquitous palaces. What was beyond contest today was that the 28 galleries of the museum and vaults with huge steel doors guarding storage chambers that descend floor after floor into darkness had been completely ransacked. Officials with crumpled spirits fought back tears and anger at American troops, as they ran down an inventory of the most storied items that they said had been carried away by the thousands of looters who poured into the museum after daybreak on Thursday and remained until dusk on Friday, with only one intervention by American troops, lasting about half an hour, at lunchtime on Thursday. Nothing remained, museum officials said, at least nothing of real value, from a museum that had been regarded by archaeologists and other specialists as perhaps the richest of all such institutions in the Middle East. As examples of what was gone, the officials cited a solid gold harp from the Sumerian era, which began about 3360 B.C. and started to crumble about 2000 B.C. Another item on their list of looted antiquities was a sculptured head of a woman from Uruk, one of the great Sumerian cities, dating to about the same era, and a collection of gold necklaces, bracelets and earrings, also from the Sumerian dynasties and also at least 4,000 years old. But an item-by-item inventory of the most valued pieces carried away by the looters hardly seemed to capture the magnitude of what had occurred. More powerful, in its way, was the action of one museum official in hurrying away through the piles of smashed ceramics and torn books and burned-out torches of rags soaked in gasoline that littered the museum's corridors to find the glossy catalog of an exhibition of "silk road civilization" that was held in Japan's ancient capital of Nara in 1988. Turning to 50 pages of items lent by the Iraqi museum for the exhibition, he said that none of the antiquities pictured remained after the looting. They included ancient stone carvings of bulls and kings and princesses; copper shoes and cuneiform tablets; tapestry fragments and ivory figurines of goddesses and women and Nubian porters; friezes of soldiers and ancient seals and tablets on geometry; and ceramic jars and urns and bowls, all dating back at least 2,000 years, some more than 5,000 years. "All gone, all gone," he said. "All gone in two days." An Iraqi archaeologist who has participated in the excavation of some of the country's 10,000 sites, Raid Abdul Ridhar Muhammad, said he had gone into the street of the Karkh district, a short distance from the eastern bank of the Tigris, at about 1 p.m. on Thursday to find American troops to quell the looting. By that time, he and other museum officials said, the several acres of museum grounds were overrun by thousands of men, women and children, many of them armed with rifles, pistols, axes, knives and clubs, as well as pieces of metal torn from the suspensions of wrecked cars. The crowd was storming out of the complex carrying antiquities on hand carts, bicycles and in boxes. Looters stuffed their pockets with smaller items. Mr. Muhammad said he found an American Abrams tank in Museum Square, about 300 yards away, and that five marines had followed him back into the museum and opened fire above the looters' heads. This drove several thousand of the marauders out of the museum complex in minutes, he said, but when the tank crewmen left about 30 minutes later, the looters returned. "I asked them to bring their tank inside the museum grounds," he said. "But they refused and left. About half an hour later, the looters were back, and they threatened to kill me, or to tell the Americans that I am a spy for Saddam Hussein's intelligence, so that the Americans would kill me. So I was frightened, and I went home." He spoke with deep bitterness against the Americans, as have many Iraqis who have watched looting that began with attacks on government agencies and the palaces and villas of Mr. Hussein, his family and his inner circle broaden into a tidal wave of looting that targeted just about every government institution, even ministries dealing with issues like higher education, trade and agriculture, and hospitals. American troops have intervened only sporadically, as they did on Friday to halt a crowd of men and boys who were raiding an armory at the edge of the Republican Palace presidential compound and taking brand-new Kalashnikov rifles, rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons. American commanders have said they lack the troops to curb the looting while their focus remains on the battles across Baghdad that are necessary to mop up pockets of resistance from paramilitary troops loyal to Mr. Hussein. Mr. Muhammad, the archaeologist, directed much of his anger at President Bush (news - web sites). "A country's identity, its value and civilization resides in its history," he said. "If a country's civilization is looted, as ours has been here, its history ends. Please tell this to President Bush. Please remind him that he promised to liberate the Iraqi people, but that this is not a liberation, this is a humiliation." http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=68&ncid=68&e=13&u=/nyt/20030412/ts_nyt/pillagers_strip_iraqi_museum_of_its_treasure