good thinking! i yell at people in the office and at home for not recycling the stuff that's supposed to be recycled!

I recycle everything I can.

but, i do admit, despite all of my tree-hugging, i am quite wasteful.....

Recycling is absolutely necessary. We so that here rather religiously. In fact, I have avoided buying things with too much packaging. How are you wasteful, Wolfie? I am still wearing things dozens of years old. When fun is digging in the dirt for rocks or relics, old clothes are a necessity !

don't know where to begin---we waste food, buy new things instead of fixing old things or making do with what we have already.....but, when it comes to things around the house such as clothing, toys, furniture, we do love to donate to goodwill or some other organization (not trying to toot horn here). i'd much rather donate than have a garage sale (i know, it's only a few extra bucks)--it's just easier for me. i subscribe to magazines, read them, then take them to work. i must say, though, that my recycle bin is usually fuller than my garbage can, that's a good thing! but today, we cleaned out the fridge of stuff past it's use by date and there were a lot of things being thrown out.

since you have kids you are doing very well on conservation !! Get them out of the house and you'll improve even more. I applaud your efforts at donating. I hate yard sales with a passion, so I understand where you are coming from. Hugs wolfie, it is so good to be back. BTW I have seen a ring with Mystic fire stone in it and it is stunning. How is yours holding up?

i love to GO to garage sales, just not having one of my own......my ring is still fine---though i had a jeweler add more (shoot, what are they called? the little pieces of gold that hold the stone in place).....yeah, those, and one broke off already. haven't lost the stone but i just think it was poorly designed to begin with. needless to say, i don't wear it often and much prefer my alexandrite (did i tell you i bought another one with 3 stones, great color changing properties, in white gold?)

Oh yes, I meant I hate having my own. Occasionally we find good old equipment at yard sales. DB already has a large floor-standing corn sheller in the dining room and an old Singer treadle sewing machine I'd love to get working. Prongs hold stones in place in jewelry settings. OOOH You did get an Alexandrite!! Natural or created? I want one so much... I guess that happens in another lifetime along with the geology/archaeology/astronomy profession.

Prongs should not even snag if they are designed right. You can have a jeweler fix it for you or get you a whole new setting.

Let's hope this one is not a planted fake. So much lately has been just that. First Temple-era seal discovered By ETGAR LEFKOVITS A First-Temple period seal has been discovered amidst piles of rubble from Jerusalem's Temple Mount, an Israeli archaeologist said Tuesday, in what could prove to be an historic find. The small - less than 1 cm - seal impression, or bulla, discovered Tuesday by Bar-Ilan University archaeologist Dr. Gabriel Barkay amidst piles of rubble from the Temple Mount would mark the first time that an written artifact was found from the Temple Mount dating back to the First Temple period. The 2,600 year old artifact, with three lines in ancient Hebrew, was discovered amidst piles of rubble discarded by the Islamic Wakf that Barkay and a team of young archaeologists and volunteers are sifting through on the grounds of a Jerusalem national park. more plus pictures... http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1127787594479

that's cool--as i was rereading the posts above the word "prong" popped in my head. i seem to snag prongs all the time....in fact, my anniversary ring had to be fixed because i snagged a prong (the jeweler was surprised i even noticed it!) yes, i'll have to reset that mystic fire topaz. both of my alexandrites are created (read: affordable and for those that don't know, they are real stones that have been helped).....marcia, they have wonderful color properties!

didn't see a link to a pic of that seal (it's really small, huh?)...

I'll post a link to that seal when it becomes available on the internet. I'm curious about it too. We think we are about a small spool of thread or about the lenth of a quarter (25 cent piece) I try very hard to get rings that are smooth concerning prongs or I'll snag everything and some places on people, too. Ouch! Could you email me if you don't want to post it, which dealer you got your stone from - the alexandrite. I guess I will have to buy one online and I am not too ptoud to have a created gem. They are all but mined out in the real world.

don't remember where i got the first one but the second was found at overstock.com--very nice quality too (just not crazy about white gold)....

here it is: http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?page=proframe&prod_id=1141517

and the first one...the funny thing is i chose my stone, setting, and side stones and couldn't find anything like it on the website, NOW they have the same exact ring in the size and cut stone i ordered---must be pretty popular: http://www.stuller.com/public/product.aspx?prodGrpID=dba3b4b4-47ec-4469-a7e6-43e6e33c4957&categoryID=eff68680-78ee-4aac-b9b2-414b11aedac7

on my last post, mine doesn't turn pink--it goes from purply-blue to a lovely sea green....not sure if i can capture the color change for you or not but will try. the first one from overstock is a deep purply-blue but changes to pink outside.

I have one from Mexico that goes from a purply-blue to a steel blue-green. It isinteresting and I like it very but... I want one that goes from red to green andback again. My other one goes from a purple to a green (class b color change) and neither of them is particularly pretty, but the change is what makes it inetesting. They usually set Alexandrites in sterling silver or white gold. I have one in each. I think I agree it might be prettier in yellow gold, come to think of it. It is just the way the Russians did it for the Tsar in silver.

Jewel of the Magdalenian period A necklace and pendants made 15,500 years ago have been discovered in the Praile I cave; it is the most important Upper Paleolithic find in the Basque Country in recent years Mikel Lizarralde � DONOSTIA (San Sebastian) A Magdalenian treasure of the Upper Paleolithic has lain hidden for the last 15,500 years in the Praile I cave in Deba (Gipuzkoa). Excavations done over the last few years by a team led by the archaeologist Xabier Pe�alver of the Aranzadi Society of Sciences have uncovered spectacular jewellery. Four stunning necklaces of smooth black stone, another one of goats� teeth and a 12-cm pendant made by Cro-Magnon man have been discovered in the cave. There are 29 items in all, each one made by hand and engraved. The find in the Praile I cave is not only the most important in the Basque Country in recent years, but also one of the most significant ones in the European continent as far as the Upper Paleolithic period is concerned. The Praile I cave was discovered in 1983 by Mikel Sasieta and Juan Arruabarrena, members of the Munibe group of Azkoitia (Gipuzkoa), and is one of the Paleolithic�s most significant archeological clusters. http://www.berria.info/english/ikusi.php?id=1832

For the Stonehenge afficiandos amongst us: Yorkshire team find ancient road A TEAM of archaeologists from Sheffield University have revealed significant new insights into the role of Stonehenge after discovering a prehistoric ceremonial road. The team, also from four other universities, discovered the avenue. It proves there was a walkway between a henge (a circular momument) at Durrington Walls, and the River Avon, three miles away, blowing a hole in the theory the standing stones at Stonehenge were a one-off feature. The new find supports the team's theory that Stonehenge was in fact just one part of a much larger complex of stone and timber circles linked by ceremonial avenues to the river. Radiocarbon dates indicate the henge was in use at the same time as the sarsen stones were erected at Stonehenge. The newly-discovered roadway, with its rammed flint surface, is wider than most modern roads and more substantial than any other Neolithic track in Europe. It runs for about 100 metres (328ft) from the timber circle within the great henge to the river. Analysis has shown that the avenue was heavily trampled by prehistoric feet, and archaeologists have unearthed numerous finds along its edge. Prof Mike Parker Pearson, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Archaeology, believes Stonehenge and Durrington Walls, together with its adjacent site of Woodhenge, were linked by the river to form a single complex. He has suggested the entire complex was a funerary monument. The work was filmed for a Channel 4 Time Team special, to be screened next year. http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1223025

wouldn't you know I'd spell aficionado wrong. Arrrrgh

I did that once with a domain name, afirthianado.com.

I'd love to see some graphics on the location of this new track. I know the Durrington Walls / Stonehenge area very well. This fascinated me. We are just beginning to understand what that little remnant is - a bit of a much greater complex. Sort of like finding the high altar of a vanished cathedral.

I wonder just how large the complex was.

yeah, i can't wait to see pics either.

I have looked long and hard and the lay of the land on Salisbury Plain and there is no reason it could not stetch out for miles. The entire area is full of barrows of various ages and types. That plain has been sacred land for so long anything is possible. Now if we could only keep the army from using it for an artillary range !!!

actually, artifacts are what keeps the spot from being used! (in some states over here, anyway)...

Oh yes. DB worked for the Army Corps of Engineers and what he found at sites under consideration for development determined if it secured for future generations or left to the devices of current needs. Of course there is the one high up official during WW2 who wanted Stonehenge demolished because it was at such a great location for an air strip !!!

Project to help Dorset people love ancient barrows A new project aims to increase people's awareness, knowledge and appreciation of the landscape between Weymouth and Dorchester (Dorset, England). It is being launched on November 5 by the Dorset Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty team which hopes the project will appeal to everyone who enjoys the countryside. Among outstanding features of the area are the strange 'lumps and bumps' which litter the skyline between Broadmayne and Hardy's Monument - and which few realise are round barrows that have been there 4,000 years. Some long barrows go back as far as 5,000 years, which experts say is an extraordinary survival feat considering their simple construction from native chalk with soil on top. There are some fine round barrows examples to see while walking the inland South West Coast Path route from Came Down, over Ridgeway Hill and on towards Gould's Hill and Hardy's Monument. The AONB said its project had been designed to encourage local people to get out on foot and explore the area and to get them more involved with it. The team hopes to achieve this with a Lumps and Bumps photographic competition, entries for which will be displayed at the county library in April 2006 and there will also be a watercolours and oils competition. The AONB added that there was even a chance that a few volunteers might be able to help English Heritage surveyors re-survey ancient earthworks. A new booklet is being released at the project's launch, and there will be a free awareness morning at Portesham Village Hall with guest speakers including archaeologist Dr Bill Putnam and reconstruction artist Jane Brayne. A second awareness day is scheduled for Dorset County Museum on November 26. For project details call 01305 756785 or see the href="http://www.dorsetaonb.org.uk/"

4,000-Year-Old Noodles Found in China John Roach for National Geographic News A 4,000-year-old bowl of noodles unearthed in China is the earliest example ever found of one of the world's most popular foods, scientists reported today. It also suggests an Asian�not Italian�origin for the staple dish. The beautifully preserved, long, thin yellow noodles were found inside an overturned sealed bowl at the Lajia archaeological site in northwestern China. The bowl was buried under ten feet (three meters) of sediment. "This is the earliest empirical evidence of noodles ever found," Houyuan Lu of the Institute of Geology and Geophysics at Beijing's Chinese Academy of Sciences said in an e-mail interview. Lu and colleagues report the find tomorrow in the science journal Nature. The scientists determined the noodles were made from two kinds of millet, a grain indigenous to China and widely cultivated there 7,000 years ago. Modern North American and European noodles are usually made with wheat. Archaeochemist Patrick McGovern at the University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia said that if the date for the noodles is correct, the find is "quite amazing." Even today, he said, deft skills are required to make long, thin noodles like those found at Lajia. "This shows a fairly high level of food processing and culinary sophistication," he said. Noodle History Noodles have been a staple food in many parts of the world for at least 2,000 years, though whether the modern version of the stringy pasta was first invented by the Chinese, Italians, or Arabs is debatable. Prior to the discovery of noodles at the Lajia archaeological site, the earliest record of noodles appears in a book written during China's East Han Dynasty sometime between A.D. 25 and 220, Lu said. Other theories suggest noodles were first made in the Middle East and introduced to Italy by the Arabs. Italians are widely credited for popularizing the food in Europe and spreading it around the world. Additional evidence is needed to prove that the noodles found at Lajia are the ancestor of either Asian noodles or Italian pasta. "But in any case, the latter is only documented two millennia later," Lu said. Gary Crawford, an archaeologist at the University of Toronto at Mississauga in Canada, said finding 4,000-year-old noodles in China is not a surprise. "It fits with what we've generally known�that noodles have a long and important history in China," he said. Ingredient Sleuthing To determine what the noodles were made from, Lu and colleagues compared the shape and patterning of the starch grains and seed husks in the noodle bowl with modern crops. The team concluded the noodles were made from two kinds of millet�broomcorn millet and foxtail millet. The grain was ground into flour to make dough, which was then likely pulled and stretched into shape. Foxtail millet alone, the researchers say, lacks the stickiness required to allow the dough to be pulled and stretched into strings. While archaeological evidence suggests wheat was present in China 4,000 years ago, it was not widely cultivated until the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618 to 907), Lu said. According to Crawford, the fact that the noodles were made of millet is not surprising. His own research at a similarly dated site in northern China shows ample millet and rice but very little wheat. However, he added, the discovery of well-preserved millet noodles helps explain the lack of grain seeds found at some archaeological sites. "One suspicion is grain seeds were made into a type of food through boiling and flour production. That would not necessarily leave much in the way of grains to be � recovered," he said. " � and if they were making noodles, that would explain it." According to Lu, in poor, rural areas of northwestern China, millet is still used to make noodles. "These modern millet noodles have a harder texture than the wheat noodles, so they are commonly called iron-wire noodles," he said. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1012_051012_chinese_noodles.html

Beer Brewing Paralleled the Rise of Civilization Kurt Stoppkotte National Geographic News Malting, mashing, boiling, and fermenting � the basic process of brewing beer has remained relatively unchanged for thousands of years. Using his own gravity-fed brewing system, fabricated of Styrofoam coolers, plastic tubes, sliced kegs, and a propane stove, home brewer Steve Marler of Arlington, Virginia, pursues an activity that has been associated with the beginnings of civilization. "I'm just converting starches into sugars, boiling it with hops and adding yeast," Marler said. "Basically, it's very simple, and in a few weeks I will be able to enjoy the fruits of my labor." The brewing methods that Steve Marler employs in the backyard of his suburban home are undoubtedly much like those that were used 6,000 years ago by the Sumarians, whose beer brewing was the first recorded knowledge of the practice. Hailed by Caesar Michael Jackson, author of the World Guide to Beer, says the relatively simple process of converting grain into a palatable substance�or "liquid bread"�is at least as old as civilization. "There is a perfectly respectable academic theory that civilization began with beer," he noted. Some people contend that beer may have been the staple of mankind's diet even before bread was invented. During the Neolithic Revolution, bands of hunters and gatherers began forming organized communities to cultivate the land�the beginning of civilization. "We know that in farming the land, they grew things, and the first thing grown was cereal grains in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East," said Jackson. "The first thing they did with that grain," he added, "was make it into beer. We don't know whether they were trying to make beer, or just trying to find a way to make grain edible." The idea behind the theories about the early emergence of beer is that grains could be grown in poorer soils and required less water to grow than other crops, such as grapes. Unlike grapes, however, grains had no juice to extract. Therefore, they had to be soaked in water, which led to a natural fermentation process that produced what Julius Caesar described as "a high and mighty liquor." So which came first, beer or civilization? Dave Alexander, owner and operator of the Brickskeller in downtown Washington, D.C., argues that "beer is probably the reason for civilization." There is pretty strong evidence that after the first sampling of fermented beverages, man realized he had to end his nomadic life and settle down to grow grains and to continue to produce the beer," Alexander surmised. Simple Process, Varied Results Although the brewing process has remained basically the same, the results now vary considerably. The Brickskeller, a clearinghouse for beers from around the world, opened in 1957 with 51 beers on its menu. Today, it has 971 varieties in stock. The vast selection is what attracts Mike Bengston, who has frequented the Brickskeller for 20 years. "There is always a beer that will fit every mood you are in," he said. The large increase in the range of beers available over the past 15 years stems mainly from the growth of microbreweries and their challenge to large-scale industrial beer production. At the Old Dominion microbrewery in Ashburn, Virginia, 50 kegs of beer are brewed every four hours. "In a big brewery, it looks very complicated, with all the different pipes and pumps and all kinds of things, but really, all they are doing is moving stuff around," said Scott Zetterstom, Old Dominion's master brewer. "You're just making sugar water, and it's really not that complicated." Although the brewing process itself has remained fairly consistent for more than 10,000 years, a beer gets its distinctive flavor from how the grain-derived sugar water is fermented and other ingredients that may be added. Alexander is proud to be able to offer his customers 971 different varieties. Yet he is quick to defend the major breweries from attacks by beer drinkers who tend to treat the products of microbreweries as inherently superior. "The fact of the matter is that it was those [traditional] beers that actually got you to drink in the first place, and they will always be the beers that still get people to like beer," said Alexander. "They have an important place in the world of malted beverages for that reason, and they will always be popular." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/04/0424_kurtbeer.html

Ancient Chocolate Found in Maya "Teapot" By Bijal P. Trivedi National Geographic Today Analysis of residue from a ceramic "teapot" suggests that the Maya, and their ancestors, may have been gobbling chocolate as far back as 2,600 years ago, pushing back the earliest evidence of cacao use more than 1,000 years. "This reopens the whole debate about who first invented chocolate," said Jonathan Haas, curator of the mouthwatering "Chocolate" exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago. The first chemical evidence of cacao use came about 15 years ago after the analysis of residue from a vessel found at the Mayan site of Rio Azul in northeastern Guatemala and belonging to the Early Classic period of Maya culture�approximately A.D. 460. But Michael Coe, co-author of The True History of Chocolate, believes based on a slew of evidence, some linguistic, that the roots of chocolate go much further back to the great Olmec civilization, which preceded the Maya. "The Maya derived a lot of their high culture from the Olmec," said Coe, also professor emeritus of anthropology at Yale. "Even the word 'cacao' is not a native Maya word�it's Olmec." The Olmec lived in the southern Gulf of Mexico between 1500 and 500 B.C., and their influence extended to Guatemala, Honduras, Belize, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. "The new find is hard chemical evidence that the Mayans were drinking chocolate in 500 B.C.," said Coe, suggesting that people were cultivating the cacao tree long before the Maya civilization, which flourished in southern Mexico, the Yucat�n, and the highlands of Belize between 500 B.C. and A.D. 1500. Chocolate is made from the seeds of the cacao tree, which are swaddled in gooey white flesh inside green-yellow pods. The seeds and the pulp are scooped out of the pod and allowed to ferment until the seeds are a rich dark brown. The seeds are then dried, and then roasted before being ground to produce a thick chocolate paste. Chocolate for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner The Maya had a lifestyle many kids would envy�chocolate at every meal. "It was the beverage of everyday people and also the food of the rulers and gods," said Haas. In fact, the scientific name for the cacao tree is Theobroma cacao�"food of the gods." Hieroglyphs that depict chocolate being poured for rulers and gods are present on Maya murals and ceramics. Now the newly-analyzed spouted ceramic pot reveals the deeper darker history of this almost drug-like substance. Mayan teapots have always fascinated Terry Powis, an archaeologist at the University of Texas at Austin, which is how his investigation began. "Spouted vessels are very distinct from other Mayan ceramics and quite rare, typically associated with elite burials," he explained. Fortunately for Powis, fourteen such vessels were excavated in 1981 from a site at Colha, which lies close to the Caribbean coast in northern Belize, and have since been housed at the University of Texas, Austin. The Maya occupied Colha, which is known for its production of stone tools and its Preclassic spouted vessels, continuously from about 900 B.C. to A.D. 1300. The Essence of Chocolate Powis's goal was to determine whether the vessels were indeed used to pour some type of chocolate libation. He scraped residue from the vessels and sent the samples to W. Jeffrey Hurst, who has a delicious job as an analytical biochemist at the Hershey Foods Technical Center in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Using "high performance liquid chromatography coupled to atmospheric-pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry," Hurst analyzed all the samples. The first instrument separates all the components of the mixture and the other measures the molecular weight of each. Cacao is a blend of more than 500 chemical compounds. Of this tasty compendium the signature chemical is a compound called theobromine�the chemical marker of cacao. Of the 14 samples analyzed, 3 were positive for theobromine, "chocolate, that is," said Powis. The study is published in the July 18 issue of the journal Nature. These spouted vessels were first dubbed chocolate pots about 100 years ago. Archaeologists knew from Spanish accounts that the Maya drank liquid chocolate and just assumed that the teapots were used to pour the beverage. "Now we have proof," said Powis. Chilli, Honey and Maize With Your Chocolate? By the time the Spanish reached the Maya, around the 1500s, everyone was drinking chocolate�rich and poor alike. Traces of chocolate have been found in ordinary Maya houses. The Maya drink was very different from America's thin, watery hot chocolate, said Powis. According to Spanish accounts�many of which come from Bishop Diego de Landa, whose descriptions of Maya culture and language are the primary tools used today to translate Maya glyphs�the Maya enjoyed their hot chocolate thick and foamy. While standing, Maya poured the chocolate drink from one vessel to another on the ground. The drop, together with the fatty cacao butter, produced a thick head of rich, dark, chocolate foam�the most coveted part of the drink. Chemical analysis of these vessels is now becoming a standard tool in archaeology. As long as they're not washed, they can be analyzed for ancient residues. Powis hopes to use the same type of studies to reveal the other ingredients used in the chocolate drinks. From Spanish records, Mayanists already know that the chocolate was mixed with maize, water, honey, or chilli. But what other secret ingredients are discovered will be a sweet surprise. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/07/0717_020717_TVchocolate.html

Chocolate and Holidays�A Long History National Geographic News What does Easter have in common with Valentine's Day, Halloween, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Mexico's Day of the Dead? They're all celebrated with chocolate. How did people learn to extract this sublime pleasure from the bitter seeds of the cacao tree? No one knows. When the Europeans reached the capital of the Aztec Empire, they found a people who used cacao seeds to make a frothy, spicy drink used in royal and religious ceremonies. This ancient delicacy and its roots and cultural importance are the subject of an exhibition that opened recently at the Field Museum in Chicago. Interesting facts from the exhibition and companion books published in conjunction with the event: � Obrana cacao, the name of the tree that produces chocolate, means "food of the gods." � In the 19th century, people began adding condensed milk to cocoa to produce milk chocolate. (Cacao refers to the bean or tree; cocoa is a product derived from cacao.) � The Aztecs used cacao seeds as money. � The Aztecs sometimes fed their sacrificial victims chocolate beverages to calm them before the sacrifice. � During World War I chocolate began to be shaped in the form of bars for eating. � White chocolate contains cocoa butter, but no cocoa solids. Chocolate purists argue that the confection should not be called "chocolate" at all. � Cacao seeds are traded on the commodities market�under the name "cocoa"�along with pork bellies and soybeans. � Mexicans today use chocolate as an offering on the Day of the Dead, in the form of mol�, a spicy sauce made with chilies and chocolate. � Foil-wrapped chocolate coins are given to children as Hanukkah "gelt." � In the United States, chocolate has a place in nearly every holiday celebration: heart-shaped boxes of chocolate for Valentine's Day, chocolate bunnies for Easter, wrapped candies for trick-or-treaters at Halloween, and cups of hot cocoa to warm Christmas carolers. � Sales of chocolate products in the United States total $13 billion a year. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2002/03/0328_0328_choclate.html

Maya Murals May Depict Murder of Royal Scribes Hillary Mayell National Geographic News A new study offers a gruesome illustration of the pen being mightier than the sword. It suggests that the official scribes of Maya kings, who were considered important to the kings' power, were especially targeted by enemies in warfare. If captured, they were executed�after their fingers were broken and their fingernails ripped out, according to a researcher who has taken a much closer look at Maya murals. Kevin Johnston, an anthropologist at Ohio State University, first began thinking about the fate of captured scribes when he saw a photo enhancement of a mural from Bonampak in National Geographic. Bonampak is a Maya site in the Chiapas state of southern Mexico. The mural depicts captured scribes�bound, semi-nude, and with their fingers broken and bleeding. Some have already been executed. "I was looking at it and I had a 'eureka!' moment," said Johnston. "I realized they were holding quills, and that I had seen similar depictions in other places. Johnston, whose study is published in a recent issue of the journal Antiquity, said: "Destroying a conquered king's ability to communicate is a powerful act of symbolism." Human Captives During the Classic Maya period, A.D. 250 to A.D. 800, the Maya civilization consisted of 50 or more city-states spread across Mexico, Belize, northern Guatemala, and western Honduras. A king ruled each city-state, which consisted of farmlands surrounding urban centers. Warfare between neighbors was common. Besides the usual spoils of war, the conquerors sought human captives, which were essential for a king to maintain power. One measure of a kingdom's wealth was its large temples, ceremonial plazas, and palaces. Building these monuments required a great deal of manpower, which was often provided by the forced labor of those captured in battle. A king also used captives as human sacrifices to the gods. Human sacrifice was seen as necessary for the king to maintain a relationship with the gods and keep them happy, thereby ensuring healthy, abundant crops. Scribes were important to a king as well, to document his spiritual superiority, success in battle, and political might. Power of the Pen Reading and writing were elite functions in Maya society, and scribes were minor royalty, related to nobles or sometimes even to the king. By immortalizing a king's victory in battle and ready communication with the gods, a scribe played an important and highly visible role in maintaining the king's power. Scribes wrote on a variety of media, including pots, stone, books of deerskin covered with a thin layer of plaster, and other small portable objects, said Johnston. Text was also posted on stelae, tall stone obelisks that frequently surrounded the central plaza. Steve Houston, a Maya scholar at Brigham Young University, has suggested that some of the texts were designed to be read aloud to assembled crowds. In Maya society, Johnston said, "writing was a political tool of persuasion and authority. Scribes were deliberately targeted in warfare to silence the king's mouthpiece, which would compromise his power and reveal his vulnerability." Johnston thinks a king may have had additional motives for executing an enemy's scribes. The conquering king already had numerous scribes of his own and would not need their services, and because the captured scribes were typically related to the defeated king in some way, their loyalty was questionable. Another View Mary Miller, a professor at Yale, is the lead researcher on the Bonampak restoration, for which the computer-enhanced photographs of the murals are being produced. She has a slightly different, if even more gruesome, interpretation of the bleeding fingers depicted in the artwork. Miller believes that the scribes' fingernails are not being ripped out, but the fatty pads on their fingers are being cut away from the bone. She is also not sure that captured artists and scribes were executed. "I've been arguing for years, since at least 1986, that artists are one of the most important pieces of tribute a conquering king could have, and that captive workers were often forced to produce works of art," she said. "After warfare, in many cases you can see styles of art change." Johnston agrees that such artistic tribute was required of captives in some cases. There is very limited evidence at the moment to tell whether artists, scribes, and carvers were treated differently. Reconstruction of the murals at Bonampak are a multi-year project for Miller and her colleagues, and their findings are just beginning to be published. "As more of the data is published," said Miller, "it will engender a lot of discussion, as new details of the richness and complexity of Maya cultural practices emerge and we can take a fresh look at Maya warfare." http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/11/1126_Mayanscribes.html

Oooh goodies ! Chocolate even. But they drank it without sugar. Try it sometime. It'll give you halucinatins, too. I was wondering when the ancient noodles would be posted. Yuck. I think I had some of those with the 1000 yr old eggs in my cupboard in Hilo. I've been sidetracked into some lunatic fringe archaeology reading lately. It is fun even if it isn't true. Don and I have also been discussing the difficulties of curating thousands of tons of plainware and lithics salvaged each year. New laws need to be made or some other source of funding. There simply is not enough room to store all of this stuff and no one can afford to do so anyway. Thanks, Cheryl!

Read this one aloud to yourself AN image of a Roman gladiator wearing only a G-string has been dug from the bed of the River Tees. http://www.teesdalemercury.co.uk/teesdale-news/story,975.html

ohhhhh, chocolate! cheryl, you find some of the neatest articles! marcia, no way!!! where's the picture?

I've been looking for the pictures myself. When I find them, you can bet I will let you know where to see them. Welcome home, Wolfie. I hope everything went well.

thanks marcia *hugs* we had a wonderful time!

So excellent is this news. LIttle wolfies need tending now. They are at "that" age! We're off to Nashville to visit the state archaeologist (I think I recall that is who he is.) In any case the weather is lovely and the fall leaves are gorgeous. We'll have a great time no matter what.

*laugh* your visit to nashville almost sounds like you're going to the doctors or something! *heehee* take pictures of the foliage, we don't have much of that down here!

It should be a great day for the drive to Nashville Marci. What route did you /are you taking?

found this article today about the unearthing of a church in Israel: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/11/06/israel.ancient.church.ap/index.html

The Nashville trip was lovely. That archaeologist we visited has a basemennt worth the envy of the civilized world. It is carpteted and lined with illuminated glass cases full of artifacts he has excavated that were not needed or desired by the establishment sponsoring the dig. Worse, educational institutions are also not interested. In any case he photographs them, makes exhaustive notes and then publishes them to make a record of his finds. I was never so close to such lovely things in my life. I even got to hold some of it. Best of all, he has a pile of artifacts outside his front door full of unlabeled and unclassified things hoping to interest his grandchildren. None have shown any interest yet but I certainly was. The lady of the house gave me a grocery sack and I filled it with potsherds, mineral specimens (many with crystals), lithics (stone tools from the stone ages) and some just plain curious pieces. Next I want to find them in context. I guess I am the only person on the planet who ha not found a single spear point or other stone Indian tool. The leaves were beautiful. Last weekend we were off to Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond for the annual Kentucky Academy of Sciences meetings. DB gace a paper and I got to meet and renew acquaintences with archaeologists from all over the state. It was a great weekend completed by a meeting of the Falls of the Ohio Archaeological Society in Indiana where we heard from one of the men who did the excavation of a riverbank on the Ohio River that was undercut and collapsed taking part of a roadway with it revealing a large Missippisn settlement area.

Today's amazing archaeology article is finding evidence of an earthquake attributed to Archangel Michael: When the Earth moves, beware of snakes, whales and archangels, says Steve Jones Tuesday, in the Orthodox Church, was Michaelmas, the feast of the Archangel Michael, patron saint of grocers and victor over the fiery dragon of Revelations. Like many saints, he was fond of apparitions, and in AD 439 descended with alarming instantaneity on Sant'Angelo, a small town in the boot of Italy. Legend has it that Michael landed with such force as to leave an imprint in the rocks, an event celebrated in a sanctuary that still stands. That Christian monument is on the site of a much older Greek shrine, an entrance to the underworld. Now archaeologists have uncovered a great fault - a step in the rocks - beneath the building's floor. Michael's long-lost footprint is proof of an ancient earthquake that caused one segment of land to slump against its neighbour and the locals, Greek or Christian, to assume that the commotion was due to the bumpy touchdown of a deity rather than the uneasy movements of the Earth. more... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2005/11/08/ecfjones08.xml

Pennsylvania hunters may use prehistoric weapon Pennsylvania hunters may use prehistoric weapon An ancient weapon that struck fear in the hearts of Spanish conquistadors, and that some think was used to slay woolly mammoths in Florida, may soon be added to the arsenal available to Pennsylvania (USA) hunters. The state Game Commission is drafting proposed regulations to allow hunters to use the atlatl, a small wooden device used to propel a 6-foot-long dart as fast as 80 mph. The commission could vote to legalize its use as early as January. It's unclear which animals atlatlists may be allowed to hunt, but the proposal is being pushed by people who want to kill deer with a handmade weapon of Stone Age design. The name, usually pronounced AT-lad-ul, is derived from an Aztec word for �throwing board.� In Alabama, one of a handful of states that allows the use of atlatls for hunting or fishing, few hunters use them during deer season, said Allan Andress, the chief fish and game enforcement officer for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Even spear hunters�Alabama game law also allows spears� outnumber those using atlatls. "As you might imagine, it�s not something that most people have the skill or the patience for," Andress said. To use an atlatl, throwers hook arrow-like hunting darts into the end of the atlatl, which is generally a wooden piece about 2 feet long. The leverage of the atlatl allows them to throw the 5- to 8-foot darts much farther than they could throw a spear. There is evidence that the weapons were used more than 8,000 years ago in Pennsylvania, said Kurt Carr, an archaeologist with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. Prehistoric atlatls have a distinctive counterweight feature called a winged banner stone that has helped confirm their existence at digs in Huntingdon and Bucks counties, among other places, said Carr. Atlatl use goes back as far as 12,000 years elsewhere in North America and far longer in Europe. If the commission gives preliminary approval in January, a final vote in April could clear the way for atlatl hunting in Pennsylvania late next year. Source: Associated Press, CBS 3 (12 November 2005)

It is not uncommon to see atlatl use at archaeological meetings and conferences. I have not yet tried it but watching others is great fun. It is fairly easy to master, as far as I could tell. I'll report on how well I did and how difficult it really is when I get the courage and opportunity next time I get the opportunity to try.

I'm worried about those who go hunting to drink using an atlatl. Okay, it's silly on my part, but every year a few of them do manage shoot one another. Now they might have spear throwers. Tell us how it works out for you when you get a chance to you use one Marcia.

I need to find a good graphic, but essentially it is thrown as any spear is thrown with arm cocked over shoulder. The atlatl has a launcher attached and a bannerstone for added impetus. You use an overhand throwing motion stopping just as it comes by your ear. The bannerstone carries forward and the inertia you have built up launches the spear. I worried immediately about the drinkers in the woods huring spears and making macho jokes about it - then someone loses an eye. (That seesm to be my favorite thing to worry about.)

Thank AE for the following. Fascinating possibilities... A 1,200-Year-Old Murder Mystery in Guatemala By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD Archaeologists and forensic experts in Guatemala have made a grisly discovery among the ruins of an ancient Maya city, Cancu�n. In explorations during the summer, they found as many as 50 skeletons in a sacred pool and other places, victims of murder and dismemberment in a war that destroyed the city and, it seems, served as a beginning of the collapse of the classic period of the Maya civilization. The precipitous decline of the Maya is one of the enduring mysteries of American archaeology. As the scale of the massacre became apparent, the archaeologists called on Guatemalan forensic investigators for their experience with mass burials of modern war. The team, established in 1996 to excavate the mass graves from Guatemala's civil war, has also analyzed sites in Bosnia, Kosovo and Rwanda. Arthur A. Demarest, an archaeologist at Vanderbilt University who directed the excavations, described the discovery yesterday in an announcement by the National Geographic Society and in an interview by telephone from Guatemala City. "This is probably the most important thing I've ever discovered," said Dr. Demarest, who has explored Maya ruins since the 1980's. more... http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/17/international/americas/17maya.html?emc=eta1&pagewanted=print

maybe the mayans were like a cult (remember the kool-aid masacre?) and they were all killed as part of it or something. this is interesting though.

Great suggestion, Wolfie. I was just wondering how they can talk about possible disembowelment when there are only skeletons?! Remember Waco? The guys who were sure their space ship was in the tail of a comet? Be careful, people ! Think !! Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Hi all Picked up a couple of trinkets at the local 'toy' store - they were selling Egyptian scarab beetles (tiny carvings of beetles). Bought two - quite reasonably priced - one had a carving of the deity Bes and the other had a weave pattern between two Horus Hawks perched on baskets. Estimated age 1500 to 2000 BC. Fascinating objects! de Mike

What were they made out of?

One was made out of Steatite (sp?) - possibly both. There were others made out of various materials - Lapis Lazuli, silver, alabaster, etc. These two had very interesting underbelly engravings - I went with those even though there were chips in the top of the beetle over the more intact ones without inscriptions on the bottom. I did some net reading - Bes is the deity of dance and merry making although other info sites described Bes to be a house hold guardian - he was a dwarf with very scary features but benevolent - main job was to scare off demons. The Horus hawks have something to do with the pharoes. Note these were the hawk birds - not the human with hawk head. de Mike

I have a bracelet of scarabs but they are of modern making. How great to have an genuine antiquity. The ones that are here in the house fastinate me. I can look and ponder for a long time knowing someone had to make this to survive. Most of our things are lithic tools and not decorative adornment like scarabs. I guess the folks in long-ago America had real beetles adorning them. *;) Mike, did you know that scarab beetles are dung beetles?

Hi Marci! After I found these scarabs I did some searching for their history plus the significance of the symbols - the scarabs pushed balls of dung which was interpreted to symbolize the movement of the sun across the sky. I had the feeling that here was something made thousands of years ago and who's hands did it pass through? Very interesting on the lithic tools - I have a few arrow points I found in west Texas as well as a scraper tool. Again, who made this, what was its story. Here is something made by hand many generations ago - if the item could only speak and tell its story! This is what I find the most fascinating about antiques and antiquity. de Mike

Mayan treasure found in Guatemala Archaeologists working in Guatemala say they have uncovered one of the most spectacular pieces of artwork created by the ancient Mayan people. They say they have discovered a mural depicting the Mayan creation myth and the coronation of a king, thought to be more than 2,000 years old. Archaeologist William Saturno said it was like finding the Mayan equivalent of the Vatican's Sistine Chapel. 'Unique' find Mr Saturno, of the University of New Hampshire, said the mural - painted in greyish blue, orange and flesh tones - was discovered at the western wall of a room attached to a pyramid. The mural on the wall - measuring 0.9x9m (3x30 ft) - includes four deities, which are variations of the same figure, the son of the maize god, offering a blood sacrifice from his genitals. The first deity stands in the water and offers a fish, establishing the watery underworld, Mr Saturno said. The second stands on the ground and sacrifices a deer, establishing the land; the third floats in the air, offering a turkey to establish the sky; and the fourth stands in a field of flowers, the food of gods, establishing paradise. The crowned Mayan king is depicted at the end of the mural, Mr Saturno said. "It was like discovering the Sistine Chapel if you didn't know there had been a Renaissance," Mr Saturno said at a news conference. "It's like knowing only modern art and then stumbling on the finger of God touching the hand of Adam," he said. Mr Saturno first reported the discovery of the site in 2002. The western wall is thought to be painted about 100 BC, but was later covered when the room was filled in. Archaeologists say the artwork is particularly unique because it dates from hundreds of years before the classical Mayan period. The Mayans - known for their prowess in astronomy and mathematics - dominated southern Mexico and parts of Central America for some 1,500 years. The mural and William Saturno's research will be featured in the January issue of National Geographic magazine. The mural was discovered at the San Bartolo site in northern Guatemala. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4526872.stm

Yes !! The Sistine Chapel of the Maya, so they say. The National Geographic website has some nice closeups of that ceiling. Very impresive. Not like anything Mayan I've ever heard of. Mike, Don has a maul with a groove for lashing it onto a sturdy limb and is dated to 10,000 BP. I can get lost for a long while just pondering what the life of the maker was like and what history had evolved around it. Keep collecting. This stuff is the most contemplative thing I can actually hold in my hand.

MURDERED 2,500 YEARS AGO Clare Raymond Hair, flesh and eyes intact, the two bodies found in an Irish bog looked like recent IRA victims. But they were.. TORTURED, maimed and disembowelled, the two savagely slaughtered bodies were a grisly sight for the Irish peat bog workers who unearthed them. One of the dead men was found in County Meath, Ireland. The other was discovered three months later, just 25 miles away in Co Offaly. With soft flesh, fingernails, masses of red hair, teeth and eyeballs still intact, it seemed that the corpses had been freshly buried. And detectives thought they had stumbled across IRA victims. But when state pathologist Marie Cassidy saw the water-logged graves, she suspected the remains were much older than they seemed. And today, after an 18-month investigation by an international team of experts, it has been revealed that the men were killed 2,500 years ago. Miraculously, their remains have survived from the Iron Age in near-perfect condition, thanks to the moist Irish peat in which they were buried. What emerged from the bog were not skeletons, but well-preserved body parts. The peat had halted decomposition - the bodies did not even carry the stench of a rotting corpse. Advertisement The bog bodies are now at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin. So far they have been seen only by archaeologists and scientists, but they will go on public display at the Museum in May. I am one of the few people to get an early glimpse of them, lying on slabs in a starkly-lit laboratory. Both are covered by white paper sheets. "These are our ancestors and we should treat them with the greatest of respect," says Ned Kelly, Keeper of Irish Antiquities. "They died in a particularly horrific and terrifying manner. "We owe it to them to ensure that their terrible end isn't trivialised or sensationalised. They give us an insight into the dark side of human nature." One sheet is pulled back to reveal the body of Clonycavan man - named after the area in Co Meath where he was unearthed in February 2003. A young man, 5ft 2ins tall, his skin has been dyed brown and his hair turned ginger by the peat. He has a squashed nose and wonky teeth. Pores are visible around his nose and he has a wispy beard. His forearms, hands and lower abdomen are missing, believed to have been hacked off by the peatcutting machine. Even so, it is clear he met a violent end. His skull has been smashed open and there is a slash across his cheekbone. The other bog body has been called Oldcroghan man after the ditch at Croghan Hill, Co Offaly, where he was discovered. The head, lower limbs and body from the hips down were missing. Oldcroghan man was in his early to mid-20s and his arm span indicates he was 6ft 6ins tall. There are two cuts where his nipples would be - a sign that he was tortured. He has been stabbed in the chest and has a cut on his arm. His huge hands are creased with lines and clasped into fists. His fingernails are perfectly preserved, polished and manicured - suggesting he was a man of high status, untroubled by manual labour. This headless bog body was found naked, apart from a plaited leather band around his left arm - something which curator Isabella Mulhall, who has co-ordinated the project, describes as a "very significant find". Of the 150 or so bog bodies that have turned up over the years, only a dozen are well preserved. The last complete one to emerge was in Meenybradden, Co Donegal in 1978. She was a woman in her late 20s or early 30s, dating from the 1570s. The last bog body was found in 1984 at Lindow Moss in Cheshire - a 25-year-old man whose skull had been smashed with a heavy object, he was also strangled with a cord and had his throat cut. He bled for some time before being placed face-down in the bog. Since then, archaeological science has developed greatly. The Dublin team knew to keep these recent finds in wet peat from the sites where they were found. Carbon testing showed that Clonycavan man died between 392- 201 BC and Oldcroghan man from 362-175 BC. From his distorted head, computers can digitally recreate his skull to show us how this Celt looked nearly 2,500 years ago. Analysis of his hair shows that his diet was rich in vegetables, suggesting he died in summer. And he had also been using an Iron Age hair gel of plant oil mixed with a pine resin grown in the south western part of France and Spain - showing that even 2,500 years ago there was trade between Ireland and southern Europe. The clues to headless Oldcroghan man's life lie in his nails. Their high levels of nitrogen indicate he had a protein-rich diet and probably died in the winter when vegetables were scarce and meat was the main source of food. FOOD in his stomach reveals his last meal was wheat and buttermilk. Scars on his lungs show he had pleurisy. If it seems unsettling knowing such intimate details of a man who was brutally murdered so long ago, spare a thought for Head of Conservation Rolle Read. He had to drive the 60 miles from the burial site to the Museum with Oldcroghan man in the back of his family car. "It spooked me for weeks afterwards," says Rolle. "I wasn't comfortable with it at all. I had flashbacks and nightmares. I imagined crashing and feeling his arms on my shoulders. "But as I've been working with these bodies I've become attached to them. They were murdered so I feel sorry for them. I go home and think, 'What did they go through?'" Their discovery has rewritten history. It was once thought that bog bodies were criminals, killed as punishment. But archaeologist Ned Kelly has found that 40 bog bodies were buried on tribal borders or boundaries. "My belief is that these burials are offerings to the gods of fertility by kings, to ensure a successful reign," says Ned. "And that bodies are placed in the borders surrounding royal land or on tribal boundaries to ensure a good yield of corn and milk. "If my theory is true, this is a huge breakthrough in Iron Age studies. That we can come face to face with somebody from more than 2,000 years ago is an extraordinary thing." http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16556771&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=mudered-2-500-years-ago--name_page.html

how fascinating! thanks cheryl!

Those new Irish bog bodies are tne most fascinating reading. Recently I have seen photos of what remains (that the peat cutter didn't get.) How fortuitous it was that they were deposited into the most preserving atmsphere outside a desert that there could possibly be. I hope a good book is written about them as was written about Lindow Man and the Scandanavian finds of a similar nature.

Bog bodies, that has a certain ring to it.

Forensic anthropologists have reconstructed what this bog man might have looked like. I'm absoluely certain he could walk around today and no one would think anything was different about him. Speaking of forensic anthropologists, is everyone familiar with the Bone Farm at University of Tennessee run by Dr. Bill Bass? The resident archaeologist took a course from him in human osteology but has happily never been to the farm.

Body Farm is closer... http://www.rense.com/politics6/flesh.htm

First Knights Templar are discovered April 10, 2006 LONDON: The first bodies of the Knights Templar, the mysterious religious order at the heart of The Da Vinci Code, have been found by archaeologists near the River Jordan in northern Israel. British historian Tom Asbridge yesterday hailed the find as the first provable example of actual Knights Templar. The remains were found beneath the ruined walls of Jacob's Ford, an overthrown castle dating back to the Crusades, which had been lost for centuries. They can be dated to the exact day -- August 29, 1179 -- that they were killed by Saladin, the feared Muslim leader who captured the fortress. "Never before has it been possible to trace their remains to such an exact time in history,' Mr Asbridge said. "This discovery is the equivalent of the Holy Grail to archaeologists and historians. It is unparalleled." http://www.dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story/0,20281,18761160-5001027,00.html

we already knew the knights templar existed....that's neat that they actually found the bodies of a few. amazing that they can get the exact day, how'd they do that?

There are documents in Arabic telling of Saladin's victory over that fortress. By comparing calendars it is easy to know which date it pertains to. His scribes took very good notes and provided the details of time of day and so forth. It really is neat. I have seen many Templar graves in Brtitain but none were of crusaders still on crusade. The ones just found are the real thing in situ.

1,500-year-old royal mummy found in Peru BUT WEAPONS AT SITE PUZZLE ARCHAEOLOGISTS By Thomas H. Maugh II Los Angeles Times Archaeologists in Peru have discovered a 15-century-old mummy of a tattooed Moche woman entombed with a dazzling collection of weapons and jewelry. The woman, clearly a member of royalty, was buried with a sacrificed teenage slave at her feet and surrounded by multiple signs of femininity, including precious jewelry, golden needles and bejeweled spindles and spindle whorls for spinning cotton. But her burial bundle also contained gilded copper-clad war clubs and finely crafted spear throwers -- objects never seen in a Moche woman's tomb. ``Why would a woman be accompanied by weapons?'' asked archaeologist John Verano of Tulane University, who reported the find in the June National Geographic magazine. ``It's somewhat of a mystery who she is.'' Given the quantity and unusual preservation of the artifacts, he added, ``it is going to take archaeologists years of work to try and unravel the mystery.'' Intercity alliances University of California-Los Angeles archaeologist Christopher B. Donnan, who has been working for years in the nearby Jequetepeque Valley, said many of the burial goods are identical to royal artifacts he has discovered there. ``There are implications of contact between royalty in two different valleys,'' he said. ``We've never been able to recognize something like that before.'' The find suggests that the Moche, like other South American cultures, cemented alliances between cities through intermarriage. The mummy was discovered by Verano and Peruvian archaeologists from the National Institute of Culture at a site called El Brujo, or ``The Wizard,'' on the Peruvian coast about an hour's drive north of Trujillo and 300 miles north of Lima. The site was occupied by a variety of groups from about 2500 B.C. through the Spanish colonial period, when it was abandoned. The Moche flourished there from about A.D. 100 to 700. They primarily were farmers who diverted rivers into a network of irrigation canals. A sophisticated culture, the Moche raised huge pyramids of sun-dried adobe bricks, laying their noblest dead inside. Although they had no written language, their artifacts document their lives with detailed scenes of hunting, fishing, combat, punishment, sexual encounters and elaborate ceremonies. Huge pyramid The mummy was discovered in a pyramid called Huaca Cao Viejo, a massive structure 100 feet tall and 150 feet on a side. It was built in several phases, with successive generations enlarging it. The mummy, which dates to about A.D. 450, was placed on a covered patio that was subsequently buried under 15 feet or so of adobe bricks, which protected it from the weather and looters. The mummy bundle ``was huge, obviously symbolic of her status,'' Verano said. But to remove it, the team first had to take out a skeleton lying alongside it. ``It was a well-preserved sacrifice, with a rope around its neck -- the girl had been strangled,'' he said. Some servants were sacrificed at funerals, while others volunteered to accompany their masters into the afterlife. It took eight men to lift the bundle from the grave and carry it to a nearby lab for inspection. The team then carefully removed the hundreds of yards of cotton cloth that encased the body, revealing a woman who was about 5 feet tall -- average for the time -- and in her mid- to late 20s. She was apparently in good health with no signs of nutritional deficiencies, although she had one tooth that would have become abscessed if she had lived longer. Her abdominal skin was wrinkled and collapsed, and bone scarring indicated the woman had given birth at least once. With no obvious cause of death, Verano speculated that it was ``most likely some sudden infectious disease, like pneumonia or bronchitis, that wouldn't leave a mark on the skeleton.'' http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/world/14599200.htm

I have seen notices of this Peruvian find. Thanks, Cheryl, for posting this article. Fascinating ! I wonder contageous some of the viruses are that they had so long ago and for which we have no antibodies!

Buried in love for 5000 years Nick Pisa THEY have lain together, locked in each other's arms, for more than 5000 years. The story of enduring love has been revealed by archaeologists who unearthed the hugging skeletons at a neolithic site at a less-than-romantic industrial estate in Valdaro, northern Italy. Elena Menotti, who is leading the dig, said: "I am so excited about this discovery. We have never found a man and a woman embraced before and this is a unique find. "We have found plenty of women embracing children but never a couple. Much less a couple hugging � and they really are hugging. "They are face-to-face and their arms and legs are entwined." One theory being examined by experts is that the man was killed and the woman then sacrificed so his soul would be accompanied in the afterlife. "It's possible," Ms Menotti said. "From an initial examination they appear young as their teeth are not worn down � but we have sent the remains to a laboratory to establish their age." An initial examination of the couple � dubbed the Lovers of Valdaro � revealed the man (on the left in the picture) has an arrow in his spinal column while the woman has an arrow in her side. "I've done digs at Pompeii, all the famous sites. But I've never been so moved because this is the discovery of something special," Ms Menotti said. Five thousand years ago the surrounding area was marshland and criss-crossed by rivers. The environment helped preserve the skeletons in their near-perfect state. The tribes of the region thrived by hunting and fishing. http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,21187868-5001021,00.html

There is a very evocative photo of the couple en situ on this site as well as more details of the burial. http://dwb.sacbee.com/24hour/healthscience/story/3547650p-12764361c.html A very special Valentine.

Greek archaeologists unearth rich tomb ATHENS, Greece - Archaeologists on a Greek island have discovered a large Roman-era tomb containing gold jewelry, pottery and bronze offerings, officials said Wednesday. The building, near the village of Fiscardo on Kefalonia, contained five burials including a large vaulted grave and a stone coffin, a Culture Ministry announcement said. The complex, measuring 26 by 20 feet, had been missed by grave-robbers, the announcement said. Archaeologists found gold earrings and rings, gold leaves that may have been attached to ceremonial clothing, as well as glass and clay pots, bronze artifacts decorated with masks, a bronze lock and copper coins. The vaulted grave, a house-shaped structure, had a small stone door that still works perfectly � turning on stone pivots. On a nearby plot, archaeologists also located traces of what may have been a small theater with four rows of stone seats, the ministry said. Previous excavations in the area have uncovered remains of houses, a baths complex and a cemetery, all dating to Roman times � between 146 B.C. and 330 A.D. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070405/ap_on_sc/greece_ancient_tomb

The British have a new Viking Hoard on their hands. Lovely stuff. I need to get a link for you but it made the news in the past week. Thanks Cheryl!

Nan Madol is a mysterious "lost city" on Pohnpei in the Caroline Islands sometimes called the "Machu Pichu of the Pacific" or the "Venice of the Pacific". http://www.janeresture.com/micronesia_madol/ http://www.uoregon.edu/~wsayres/NanMadol.html http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf045/sf045p01.htm

Early seafood, makeup found in S. Africa By SETH BORENSTEIN, AP Science Writer WASHINGTON - In one of the earliest hints of "modern" living, humans 164,000 years ago put on primitive makeup and hit the seashore for steaming mussels, new archaeological finds show. Call it a beach party for early man. But it's a beach party thrown by people who weren't supposed to be advanced enough for this type of behavior. What was found in a cave in South Africa may change how scientists believe Homo sapiens marched into modernity. Instead of undergoing a revolution into modern living about 40,000 to 70,000 years ago, as commonly thought, man may have become modern in stuttering fits and starts, or through a long slow march that began even earlier. At least that's the case being made in a study appearing in the journal Nature on Thursday. Researchers found three hallmarks of modern life at Pinnacle Point overlooking the Indian Ocean near South Africa's Mossel Bay: harvested and cooked seafood, reddish pigment from ground rocks, and early tiny blade technology. Scientific optical dating techniques show that these hallmarks were from 164,000 years ago, plus or minus 12,000 years. "Together as a package this looks like the archaeological record of a much later time period," said study author Curtis Marean, professor of anthropology at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University. This means humans were eating seafood about 40,000 years earlier than previously thought. And this is the earliest record of humans eating something other than what they caught or gathered on the land, Marean said. Most of what Marean found were the remnants of brown mussels, but he also found black mussels, small saltwater clams, sea snails and even a barnacle that indicates whale blubber or skin was brought into the cave. Marean figured the early people, probably women, had to trudge two to three miles to where the mussels, clams and snails were harvested and to bring them back to the cave. Then they put them over hot rocks to cook. When the food was done, the shells popped open in a process similar to modern-day mussel-steaming, but without the pot. Marean and colleagues tried out that ancient cooking technique in a kind of archaeological test kitchen. "We've prepped them the same way," Marean said in telephone interview from South Africa. "They're a little less moist (than modern steamed mussels). They definitely lose some moisture." Marean also found 57 pieces of ground-up rock that would have been reddish- or pinkish-brown. That would be used for self-decoration and sending social signals to other people, much the way makeup is used now, he said. There have been reports of earlier but sporadic pigment use in Africa. The same goes with rocks that were fashioned into small pointy tools. But having all three together shows a grouping of people that is almost modern, Marean said. Seafood harvesting, unlike other hunter-gatherer activities, encourages people to stay put, and that leads to more social interactions, he said. Yet 110,000 years later, no such modern activity, except for seafood dining, could be found in that part of South Africa, said Alison Brooks, a George Washington University anthropology professor who was not associated with Marean's study. That shows that the dip into modern life was not built upon, said Brooks, who called Marean's work "a fantastic find." Similar "blips of rather precocious kinds of behaviors seem to be emerging at certain sites," said Kathy Schick, an Indiana University anthropologist and co-director of the Stone Age Institute. Schick and Brooks said Marean's work shows that anthropologists have to revise their previous belief in a steady "human revolution" about 40,000 to 70,000 years ago. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071017/ap_on_sc/early_seafood

Headless Skeletons Help Solve Mystery By Rob Taylor,Reuters CANBERRA (Oct. 30) - A 3,000-year-old burial site in Vanuatu containing 60 headless skeletons and skulls in pots is helping end the mystery over colonization of the Pacific and the first Polynesians, archaeologists said on Tuesday. The remains have enabled scientists to reconstruct the lives and habits of the seafaring Lapita people, who settled Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa from Melanesian islands scattered to the west. "We've got the archaeological record, but until now the actual people have been missing from the story," researcher Stuart Bedford, from the Australian National University, told Reuters. The remains were found in 2003 at an archaeological dig on Efate Island, in the tiny South Pacific nation of Vanuatu, in a cemetery in use by the Lapita at the time of Egypt's Pharaohs. The Lapita are believed to be ancestral Polynesians, moving east from Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands over thousands of miles of ocean, taking with them their crops and animals. The burial site at Teouma, on the southern coast of Efate, was first uncovered by bulldozers clearing land for a shrimp farm, and was excavated by scientists from Britain, New Zealand and Australia. The skeletons were buried with ornate ceramic pots, some in carefully laid south-facing graves, and in one case three heads were laid on the dead person's chest, the researchers wrote in an October article for the journal American Antiquity. None of the remains had an attached skull and the heads may have been removed after burial, the researchers said, with the grouping of three skulls possibly due to mystical significance the islanders had for the number. Bedford said chemical analysis of their teeth revealed vital information about the origins, diets and burial practices of the Lapita. At least four of the 60 had migrated from distant coastal locations, possibly as far as Southeast Asia. "Although they traveled long distances by sea, they nonetheless were farmers as much as they were fisher folk," said Alex Bentley, from Durham University, who led the team. http://news.aol.com/story/_a/headless-skeletons-help-solve-mystery/20071030150009990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

Temple built 4,000 years ago unearthed in Peru Rueters UK LIMA (Reuters) - A 4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in the Americas, a leading archaeologist said on Saturday. The temple, inside a larger ruin, includes a staircase that leads up to an altar used for fire worship at a site scientists have called Ventarron, said Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva, who led the dig. It sits in the Lambayeque valley, near the ancient Sipan complex that Alva unearthed in the 1980s. Ventarron was built long before Sipan, about 2,000 years before Christ, he said. "It's a temple that is about 4,000 years old," Alva, director of the Museum Tumbas Reales (Royal Tombs) of Sipan, told Reuters by telephone after announcing the results of carbon dating at a ceremony north of Lima sponsored by Peru's government. "What's surprising are the construction methods, the architectural design and most of all the existence of murals that could be the oldest in the Americas," he said. Lambayeque is 472 miles from Lima, Peru's capital. Discoveries at Sipan, an administrative and religious centre of the Moche culture, have included a gold-filled tomb built 1,700 years ago for a pre-Incan king. Peru is rich in archaeological treasures, including the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu in the Andes. Until the arrival of the Spanish in the 1500s, the Incas ruled an empire for several centuries that stretched from Colombia and Ecuador in the north to what are now Peru and Chile in the south. "The discovery of this temple reveals evidence suggesting the region of Lambayeque was one of great cultural exchange between the Pacific coast and the rest of Peru," said Alva. http://uk.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUKN1018888320071111?pageNumber=2&sp=true

Such good stuff. Thank you for posting. I have the word of the family archaeologist that he would post things in the topic I made for him if I came back here. Stay tuned. His early American folk archaeology is fascinating and I get to go along when he inspects sites.

May I recommend one of my favorite places on the net for archaeology: The Megalithic Portal: http://www.megalithic.co.uk/

Awesome marci!

Original 'Gladiator's' Tomb Unearthed in Rome Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News Oct. 15, 2008 -- Italian archaeologists have discovered the tomb of the ancient Roman hero believed to have inspired Russell Crowe's character in the hit movie "Gladiator," Rome's officials announced on Thursday at a press conference. Marble beams and columns, carvings and friezes first emerged from the Roman soil during construction work to build a residential complex in Saxa Rubra, not far from the headquarters of Rai, Italy's state-run television station. According to Cristiano Ranieri, an archaeologist who led the excavation at the site, the huge fragments belonged to a monumental marble tomb built on the banks of the Tiber River at the end of the second century A.D. "This is the most important ancient Roman monument to come to light for 20 or 30 years," Daniela Rossi, an archaeologist for the city of Rome, told reporters. Further excavation revealed a huge marble inscription that declares the tomb belonged to Marcus Nonius Macrinus, a general and consul who achieved major victories in military campaigns for Antoninus Pius, the Roman emperor from 138 to 161 A.D., and Marcus Aurelius, emperor from 161 to 180 A.D. Born in Brescia in northern Italy in 138 A.D., Macrinus was one of the emperor's favorite men (his villa on the shores of Lake Garda is currently under excavation). He was consul in 154 A.D. and proconsul of Asia in 170 to 171 A.D (consuls were the highest civil and military magistrates in Ancient Rome). The life of Marcus Nonius Macrinus is believed to have inspired the fictional character Maximus Decimus Meridius in Ridley Scott's film. In the movie, Meridus, also a general and a favorite of Marcus Aurelius, fell from grace after the emperor's death and ended up in exile in North Africa -- to return as a gladiator and take revenge. Although the tomb collapsed long ago, the large marble blocks are intact and perfectly preserved by the Tiber's mud. Reassembling them should not be a difficult task, Rossi said. "We know that the area was subjected to frequent floods in ancient times. Just like Pompeii, a disaster helped preserve the monument. After a particularly strong flood, the mud from the river basically sealed the collapsed marble blocks," Rossi said. While the construction work for the residential complex has been halted, Rome's officials plan to first reassemble the tomb in a 3-D model, and then fully reconstruct it as the centerpiece of a public archaeological display now underway in the area. http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2008/10/16/gladiator-tomb-rome.html