A little modern archeology pondering.... Today I wandered to one of the big buildings in downtown Chicago for lunch - was reading Ley Hunter and wondered if there were any sacred alignments in the big cities - stuff that was done on purpose that was subliminally integrated into the cityscape. If you look at the big city - you have plenty of modern 'ley' lines - the roads and other paths that lead in from the country. For those who are of the cult of the dollar, there are some temples were the shaman, dressed in ceremonial garb (the suit...), wave their arms, chant, and jump about with the hope that their divinations will turn a profit... But, I digress.... What I was looking for was the modern ley with links to a sacred path - very sublime but still focusing power or guiding to a sacred site. A point where during the Solstice or Equinox, the stars and planets would align and would transform the cold and impersonal concrete into something mysterious and part of the great Earth grid - even for a brief moment. Lunch was over and I wandered back through the crowded streets which lined up with more than just the normal.... de Mike

The chase for the Almighty Dollar has replaced the hunt for the White Stag, Holy Grail, and the interface between this and the Otherworld. Any river is a sacred line of power. E lines radiate across the entire earth for those who believe and can sense them. In the beginning of this topic I placed maps you might wish to check, and if you are truly interested (Stephen has gone missing....) I will hunt more on this subject for you. There are fascinating first person accounts early in this topic, as well, by those who have lived near and trod the ley lines in Southern England. Check Geo 27 for discussions and maps

I saw the restored Last Supper in Milan last year, and even if it isn't mostly original any more, it's still wonderful. Fascinating news about the "workshop"

There has been a lot of discussion about that restoration of Last Supper. I am delighted to hear you think it is still wonderful. Nothing like getting the grime off of the paintings we thought we knew...

The Stonehenge Haul Saga continues..... Ancient stone's modern hitch BY SIMON DE BRUXELLES VOLUNTEERS using prehistoric techniques to take a three-tonne rock from west Wales to Stonehenge yesterday received a helping hand from a crane, a salvage tug and a team of divers from the Royal Maritime Auxiliary Service. The stone from the Preseli mountains plunged into the sea two weeks ago while being carried on a platform between two leather-hulled Stone Age boats. However, yesterday divers from the RMAS's tug Moorfowl placed a harness around the stone 17 metres down on the seabed and a crane winched it to the surface. The tug then sailed to Gelliswick Bay where the stone was taken ashore. It will be hoisted back on to the original vessel and resume its 240-mile journey at the weekend. The volunteers involved in the project had been awarded �100,000 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to follow in the footsteps of the prehistoric monument's builders. Phil Bowen, who helped to organise the operation, said: "I am absolutely delighted. I was worried we would never see the stone again." The stone will be rowed along the coast towards Bristol and then transferred to a replica neolithic barge for a short journey up the River Avon to Bath. The barge will then drift along the Kennet and Avon Canal as far as Honey Street near Devizes. The final stage will see it dragged overland 26 miles to the Stonehenge site. The Millennium Stone project, organised by Menter Preseli, the rural development organisation, has been plagued with mishap and delay since it began in March. Dillwyn Miles, the Welsh historian, said: "They have used modern methods to help the stone on its way and that totally invalidates what they claim to be doing."

The First Pen and Ink? Famed Lindisfarne Gospels Yield Hidden Sketches By Reagan Duplisea What may be the oldest metal-point sketches � drawings in an early version of pen and ink � have been discovered hidden under the texts and elaborate embellishments of the famous Lindisfarne Gospels manuscripts of Britain. Sixty previously undetected drawings were found under the Latin manuscript at the British Library by curator Michelle Brown. They were spotted through a microscope and appear to be made by a metal-tipped pen that left imprints on the calfskin pages. The ancient sketches appear to be practice drawings that were made on the back of each page. The manuscript was mostly written about A.D. 698 by the monk Eadfrith on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumberland. The gospels were then taken to Durham Cathedral for safekeeping from Viking raiders. They now make their home in the London museum. Before this discovery, the oldest metal-point drawings were from the twelfth century. The manuscript is one of Britain's greatest treasures.

Archaeologist uncovers 6th century crozier in Offaly Archaeologists working in a Co Offaly bog have discovered a wooden crozier which may be the earliest of its kind recovered in Ireland, dating from the 6th century AD. The find was made by Ms Ellen O' Carroll of Archaeological Development Services, working for Bord na M�na in advance of its peat harvesting programme at Leamanaghan. The crozier, which is being examined by experts in Dublin, has been preliminarily identified as cherrywood. It was found stuck vertically in the peat beside an ancient track through the bog. Ms O' Carroll said the crozier was carved longitudinally from a stem or branch and then polished. Although broken at several points along its length, it can be fitted together. "When it is fitted it would appear to be 1.25 metres in length and 25 mm in diameter. It would probably have been held along the shaft as its height would inhibit holding it at the crook," she said. "What is really interesting about the crozier is that the crook itself has a Greek cross located in a circle incised into the wood and the tip of the shaft is stepped and pointed. "There may have been a metal point originally positioned on the end but we cannot be sure of that. But we do believe that this is probably the earliest dated in Ireland so far." She explained the crozier was unearthed beside a wooden togher, or pathway, which had been dated by dendrochronology to AD 596. More http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2000/0622/hom5.htm

First tower of London built by the Romans EVIDENCE that a Roman "tower block" stood in the City of London 1,700 years ago has been unearthed by archaeologists. Excavations have revealed the remains of a massive high-status domestic building on a sprawling site near the present Leadenhall Market. The dimensions suggest that the house, up to 131ft wide, could have had four or five floors plus a tower reaching 82ft above the ground. At a time when Roman London was less than safe, a wealthy family could have found refuge there. The discovery has been linked to a 4th-century aristocratic woman whose elaborate sarcophagus was found a year ago in a nearby cemetery at Spitalfields. More... http://www.sunday-times.co.uk:80/news/pages/tim/2000/07/01/timnnfnnf01003.html

Hard to see how site dimensions found in a dig can suggest an 82ft tower. I hope the archaeologists aren't getting a little too speculative. I saw the above sarcophagus as my company for a while owned the site in Spitalfields. Also found in one of the cemeteries on the site (which had repeatedly been used as a cemetery age after age) was a 15th century syphilitic bone, refuting the accepted wisdom that syphilis was brought back to Europe from the Americas.

Thanks for your first hand report. How did they ever keep you out of the dig? One of the most poignant memories of London was a dig on the Bank of Westminster site which bore the sign "volunteers wanted". I had to be dragged away protesting before I plunged into the very deep hole they has excavated. It still haunts me. I always wondered how the syphilis got to the Americas before the Europeans. Thanks for that update, too. Between BJD lurking and digs outside your business, it must make for a busy day!!!

DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for July 5, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - CANADA'S ICEMAN REVISITED Research Begins on Human Remains Found in a Glacier http://www.DISCOVERINGARCHAEOLOGY.COM/articles/070300-iceman.shtml - THE FIRST PEN AND INK? Famed Lindisfarne Gospels Yield Hidden Sketches http://www.DISCOVERINGARCHAEOLOGY.COM/articles/063000-pen.shtml - EGYPTIAN TREASURES IN EUROPE (CD-ROM) Reviewed by Bob Partridge http://www.egyptrevealed.com/062800-statues.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - The Titanic...Finders Keepers? http://washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47686-2000Jul4.html - American Archaeology Professor Detained in Greece http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/w-eur/2000/jul/02/070200981.html - Rising Water and Turkish Treasures http://www.msnbc.com/news/427265.asp - They Got the Wrong Jesse James http://www.foxnews.com/science/063000/jessejames.sml - Desert Cave Pictographs May Not Be Real http://www.foxnews.com/science/063000/egypt_drawings.sml - Season of Discovery http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/000710/lost.htm ----- The Discovering Archaeology Newsletter finds the week's most interesting archaeological stories and presents them to you in a simple, easy to read format on the web. Read these and other interesting features, including Readers Polls, Book Reviews, Archaeological Event Calendars and much more at: http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml

On the subject of the Biblical Flood. There is a new theory concerning it. The authors of this theory are William B.F. Ryan and Walter C. Pitman, two senior geophysicists at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. They hypothosize that the deluge might have occurred in the area of the Black Sea. Using sound waves and coring devices to probe the sea floor, they found that 7600 years ago, the Black Sea was a freshwater lake lying hundreds of feet below the level of the world's rising oceans. When the Mediterranean spilled into the Sea of Marmara causing it to finally burst through the narrow Bosphorus, causing 10 cubic miles of seawater a day to pour into the Black Sea, which was then 500 feet lower. The farms and villages around the shore of the Black Sea were swept away. The sea would have pushed inland for up to a mile each day, causing the inhabitants to flee. Perhaps survivors dispersed across Europe and Asia Minor, carrying their languages, their genes, and their memory of the catastrop e with them? Last summer Robert Ballard found the remnants of a beach near the sea's south shore under 500 feet of water. In the sediments were lakeshore rocks and shells; there were freshwater shells of an age of 7,800 years and saltwater shells of 7,300 years old. Indicating freshwater being inundated by saltwater. Ballard is planning to search for evidence of human settlements along the drown shore. Here is a link to read more about Robert Ballard's expedition: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/events/releases/pr991117.html

Thanks for that, Cheryl. I had heard he was planning this expedition but did not know when or for whom. I am delighted that National Geographic is his sponsor.

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for July 12, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - INTRODUCING KIDS TO THE PAST A Project Takes Archaeology to School and Puts Youngsters in the Field http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/0900toc/9randn11-past.shtml - Pinning the Worth of an Ancient Theft About 3200 years ago, give or take a few hundred years, the merchant Wenamun had a pretty bad trip to Phoenicia. http://www.egyptrevealed.com/051200-wenamun.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - The Hunt for Ghengis Khan's Tomb http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000706/hi_genghis.html - Chefren's Pyramid Reopens http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000706/sc/egypt_pyramid_dc_3.html - Restoring Archimedes' Manuscript http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/07/11/archimedes000711 - Pacific Island Colonists Via Taiwan http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000630/aw_pacific.html - Glyphs Tell of Mayan Horror http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000630/aw_maya.html - Pack Rats as Preservers http://dallasnews.com/texas_southwest/108650_packrats_09tex.html - The Search for Sunken Lands, Gods, and Civilizations http://www.franckgoddio.org/english/projects/backtolight/default.asp

Tuesday July 11 10:00 AM ET Scientists Find Archimedes' Words ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) - Scientists at Rochester Institute of Technology are restoring a 10th century manuscript - the only known copy in the original Greek of some of the writings of mathematician Archimedes. The text, which scholars believe was copied in the 10th century by a scribe from Archimedes' original scrolls, was erased 200 years later by a monk who reused the parchment for a prayer book. It was purchased anonymously at a 1998 auction for $2 million. Using digital cameras and processing techniques as well as ultraviolet and infrared filters, the scientists captured images of the original words and drawings that were washed away and then covered with a new text. ``There is always a residual, traces of what was there,'' said Robert Johnston, an archaeologist and RIT professor emeritus. ``It's amazing what can come out. Soon, nothing will be secret or hidden.'' Archimedes lived from about 287-212 B.C. The manuscript is the only copy in the original Greek of Archimedes' theory of flotation of bodies, which holds that the buoyant force on an object immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. The text and diagrams also detail his mathematical treatises and mechanical theorems and contain the roots of modern calculus and gravitational theory. The team is working on five pages from the text as part of a competition that will determine who will analyze the entire manuscript, which contains more than 170 pages. ``This book is Archimedes' brain in a book,'' said William Noel, curator of the Walters Arts Gallery in Baltimore, where the manuscript is kept. ``What we need to do is X-ray that brain.'' RIT's scientists plan to finish their work by September. The gallery expects to make a selection by the end of the year. The text is on vellum, a writing surface made from animal skin. It was cleaned off in the 12th century and the valuable parchment was reused in a Greek prayer book. The book disappeared from the Convent of the Holy Sepulchre in Constantinople in the 1920s. It resurfaced in the possession of a French family in the 1930s and was sold by the family in 1998.

The latest assault on Stonehenge's environment: http://www.britarch.ac.uk/cba/stone1.html

There's a forensic archeo programme on TV soon this evening looking at a possible ancient murder at Stonehenge. I'll see if I can find anything on it on the net later.

Have read about it on the net and posted about it above - a sacrifice as they all were back then...

DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for July 26, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - RESTORING THE MAP OF ANCIENT ROME Scientists and Computers are Reassembling a Huge Depiction of the Old City http://www.DISCOVERINGARCHAEOLOGY.COM/articles/072600-rome.shtml - Face to Face with Pharaoh Ever since the first tourists and travelers visited Egypt, one aspect of the ancient culture has been of particular fascination - the preserved bodies of the ancient dead. http://www.egyptrevealed.com/071500-mightypharaoh.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Dateline... Mesa Verde http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/mesaverdefire000722.html - The Monkey Lives http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/scopestrial000723.html - Holy Land Rest Stop http://www.eurekalert.org/releases/cu-amp072400.html - An African-American Business in the Old West http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/nevada/2000/jul/23/510540502.html - Titanic Salvagers Race against Time http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000724/hi_titanic.html - Let the Games Begin http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/07/07212000/firstfans_2862.asp - Studying Things Passed http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/07212000/graphb.htm - The Emperor's Private Battleground http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20000725/aw_hi_colosseum.html - The Monk's Remains and Syphilis http://www.ananova.com/news/story/heritage_health-diseases-syphilis-uk_916540.html ----- The Discovering Archaeology Newsletter finds the week's most interesting archaeological stories and presents them to you in a simple, easy to read format on the web. Read these and other interesting features, including Readers Polls, Book Reviews, Archaeological Event Calendars and much more at: http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for August 02, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - WHEN THE RAINS STOPPED Constant Shifts in Climate Molded Much of Human History http://discoveringarchaeology.com/0900toc/9focus1-rains.shtml - Archaeology Live! It's midnight in the middle of the eastern Sahara Desert. Cairo lies some 230 miles to the northeast � and in-between is nothing but four hours of sand. http://www.egyptrevealed.com/073100-archlive.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Chinese Toilet http://www.foxnews.com/science/072600/sky_toilet.sml - Another Civilization's Remains Discovered in Iran http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/entertainment/afp/article.html?s=singapore/headlines/000801/entertainment/afp/3_000-year-old_remains_discovered_near_Tehran.html - Finland's Undersea Museum http://www.latimes.com/news/asection/20000728/t000070685.html - Raising the Hunley http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/07/07262000/hunley_2869.asp - Civil War Blockade Runner Excavated http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000729/us/civil_war_ship_1.html - The Roman Open Aire Museum http://www.villa-rustica.de/indexe.html - Calculate like an Egyptian http://www.bigchalk.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/WOPortal.woa/wa/HWCDA/file?fileid=161183&flt=CAB -----

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for August 09, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - THE EARLIEST MUMMIES Were Mothers in the Andes Trying to Preserve Lost Children? http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/080400-mummies.shtml - STONE FOR THE EMPERORS Purple Porphyry Carved from Egypt Surrounded Roman Royalty http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/0900toc/9feature1-emperors.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - The National Underwater and Marine Agency http://www.numa.net/ - The Remains of the Titanic http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000807/2525421s.htm - The First Americans http://www.sciam.com/2000/0900issue/0900nemecek.html#further - China's Other Great Wall http://www.latimes.com/news/asection/20000804/t000073045.html - Tut's Butt http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/08/08032000/0175-0564-britain-tutankhamen.asp - Creationists Lose in Kansas http://www.academicpress.com/inscight/08022000/grapha.htm - The Oracle at Delphi http://www.sltrib.com/08032000/thursday/8890.htm - Ishi Goes Home http://www7.mercurycenter.com/premium/local/docs/ishi06.htm

Shall we speak of the glamour of Archaology? Stephen has spent his summer working on this project. Nothing like excavating Thames muck. It is hard labour as well. The Archaeology of the Eton Rowing Lake SUMMER EXCAVATION 26th June to 18th August 2000 A large area on the north bank of the river Thames is being excavated in a series of summer seasons in advance of the construction of the Rowing Lake. The site, which is situated in open countryside next to the village of Dorney in South Buckinghamshire, is unique because of the preservation of a substantial channel of the prehistoric river Thames, within which waterlogged wooden structures have been located. The floodplain alongside contains a sequence of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age in situ occupation horizons with flint knapping scatters, hearths and other artefact spreads sealed within the alluvium. On the gravel terraces the cropmarks indicate probably the best surviving Bronze Age landscape in the Middle Thames valley, with settlement, field systems and burials in barrows, flat graves and cremation urns. An enclosed Roman farmstead overlies Bronze Age settlement alongside the former course of the Thames. Results from the work in 1995, 1996 and 1997 exceeded expectations. Six Bronze Age and Iron Age waterlogged timber bridges were found, while a pair of Neolithic middens came to light in a channel. On the floodplain Neolithic knapping areas have been revealed, while on dry ground Bronze Age barrows and waterholes and an Iron Age and Roman farmstead have been excavated. The project is headed by Tim Allen from the Oxford Archaeological Unit. The professional team invites assistance from students from British universities, local archaeological societies, and other interested groups and individuals. A wide variety of experience of archaeological fieldwork and finds is available working with one of the foremost professional Units in the country. The 2000 season will examine the extensive Bronze Age enclosure system and settlement. The site lies west of London close to Windsor Castle, and is easily accessible by rail from London Paddington and by road from the M4, A4 or M40, while Heathrow Airport is also nearby. There are no on-site facilities, but details of local campsites are available. Work will be Monday to Friday, with the weekends off; the standard working day will be from 8 am to 4.30 p.m. http://www.oau-oxford.com/eton.htm

The Eton Rowing Lake The Oldest Bridge across the River Thames The oldest bridge on the River Thames was discovered last summer in excavations at the Eton rowing lake at Dorney in south Buckinghamshire. In fact, the possible remains of two bridges were discovered, one Bronze Age, one Iron Age. The earlier consisted of two lines of timbers on opposing banks of the channel - the surviving timbers did not go right way across. There were unfortunately too few rings for tree-ring dating, but two timbers have been radiocarbon dated by the British Museum, one to 1100 � 50 bc, the other to 1200 � 40 bc which between them calibrate to between 1300 and 1400 BC. Alongside were two parallel lines of timbers forming the later structure, this time running right across the channel, a distance of approximately 35 metres. Again, samples from two of the timbers were sent to the British Museum and radiocarbon dated at respectively 500 �50 bc and 470 � 50 bc. However, as these dates fall into the notorious radiocarbon �wiggle� in the Iron Age, they can only be calibrated loosely to between 800 and 400 BC. http://www.archaeology.co.uk/hilites/eton.htm

Photos and interesting commentary by the head of the dig: http://wtin.simplenet.com/lake.html Best writeup of the history and findings so far (1998) http://www.wargrave.net/history/jun98.html (Would love to see a picture of the guy digging the huge holes and excavating all those "very old snail shells"...)

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for August 16, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - THE EARLIEST MUMMIES HIDDEN HISTORY OF CENTRAL PARK http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/081500-central.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Ice age planetarium http://www.numa.net/ - Dateline... Israel http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/hominid_000811.html - Ancient Sarcophagus Discovered in Iran http://www.sciam.com/2000/0900issue/0900nemecek.html#further - Minoan Tupperware http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/minoanpots000809.html - Archaeologist Buries Findings: http://detnews.com/2000/metro/0008/10/d09-103210.htm - China to Spend $12 million to Save Relics http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000812/wl/china_three_gorges_1.html

A medieval wall painting that was unknown has been discovered in a church near me - at Checkendon near Henley, Oxfordshire. It was found when they removed the old organ. Apparently the victorians stripped a lot of plaster off to get to the brickwork in the rest of the church, stripping the wall paintings at the same time (BTW they did more 'vandalism' then Henry VIII and reformation!). This fragment escaped ob,iteration because they didn't bother to strip behind where the new organ was to go. Part of the painting depicts a man on horseback outlined in red. It's being restored by English Heritage and the Churches Trust. It's supposed to be one of the most important finds of this kind for a lONG while. I haven't been able to get to see it yet as it's not on public display while the restoration takes place.

Took a trip down the length of Hadrian's Wall from Carlisle to Newcastle. Visited a couple of sites. Go visit http://www.vindolanda.com This is the current area of archeological excavation. Vindolanda is one of the forts along the wall. We were surprised to find how much excavation still needs to be done. If you visit the site click on visitor information and then find 'Archaeology and Excavation News' - that will take you to the digs. Look at 'earlier 2000' and you will see the early british huts that have been discovered. The excavation of these is continuing as they find more of them. I saw one entire one which had just been unearthed and two guys were still working on on a further one. The bath house which is the current dig is not open to the public yet, but we could see it clearly. On our trip up to Scotland we visited the Temple of Mithras along the wall. It was amazingly preserved and surprisingly small. The fort by which it stood is no more than a big grass mound now and has not been excavated. However, the temple has the three altar pillars intact. One of these has carving which goes right through the stone and is amazingly fine.

Maggie, thanks for theses goodies. I have a HUGE problem with the Victorian treatment of antiquities. One of the biggest abuses was their fondness for planting copses of trees atop long barrows for "aesthetics". It has made a mess of the interiors with the roots rearranging the structures therein. If they had only stuck to constructing "Follies"

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Newsletter for August 23, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - PRESERVING POTS Huge Collection of Southwest Pottery Wins Grant for Conservation http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/082200-pots.shtml - ONLINE CONTEST! Answer the question correctly and win great prizes from Egypt Revealed! Just for kids! https://orion.he.net/%7Esaa49000/onlinecontest.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - A Cable Car At Machu Picchu http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20000818/2563775s.htm - Research Supports Anasazi Cannibalism Theory http://www.cortezjournal.com/1news699.htm - Dateline... Bulgaria http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000822/wl/bulgaria_archaeology_1.html - The Modern Saga of Spirit Cave Man http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/html98/cave17m_20000817.html - Dateline... South America http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/americas/newsid_842000/842442.stm - Sweden's Ancient Crematorium/Temple http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20000820/wl/sweden_temple_dc_1.html - Searching for Buried Secrets http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_890000/890163.stm - Drought And The Americas http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/08/08212000/climatetrip_2954.asp - Archaeology on Antelope Island http://www.sltrib.com/08202000/utah/14100.htm ----- The Discovering Archaeology Newsletter finds the week's most interesting archaeological stories and presents them to you in a simple, easy to read format on the web. Read these and other interesting features, including Readers Polls, Book Reviews, Archaeological Event Calendars and much more at: http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml

This article will probably offend someone I used to know and love, but it is from The Times, So hang the cost! RETURN OF THE NATIVE An open stones policy at Stonehenge Yesterday came the summer solstice and with it the return of a time-honoured tradition to Stonehenge: it rained. Who knows? - perhaps the sun had spotted all those would-be druids ironing their bedsheets the day before and so decided to join in the general festivities and get out some linen fancy dress of its own. It made its 4.43am entrance swathed in damp sheets of stratus which, judging from the drizzle of accompanying rain, must have been pulled still wet from some celestial washing machine. Not that that mattered to the covens of witches and warlocks, wizards and weirdos who had gathered to welcome it under Stonehenge's triluthon lintels. They tootled their greetings on seaweed-stem horns. Worshippers were grateful, quite simply, to have been permitted entrance, for yesterday was the first time in 16 years that Stonehenge has been admissible to anyone but the man with the mower. Seven thousand or more gathered to give gratitude to the great gods of English Heritage: hordes of hippies and tribes of transcendentalists, scrums of spiritualists, armies of new agers. Some were pagan, others were simply practical: some came with their oak leaves, others with picnic hampers; some with bongo drums, others with umbrellas. But then the only truly traditional thing about the entire event was the rain - which was just as well for, in probably the only first hand account that exists of druidical ceremonies, Pliny describes a ritual slaughter of two white bulls which, in this day and age, would have gone down as badly with the EU abattoir regulators as it would with the animal rights protesters who were very probably among the festive groups. Certainly the only human sacrifice that appears to have been performed, was that made by one, Bob, who disapparelling himself of all but his bobble hat poured out libations of Ice Dragon Cider on the grass. Bogus it certainly is. Today's ancient orders of the druids date back about as far as the Celtic revival of the 1970s which - though that might seem to some readers like remote history - is but the whisk of a dreadlock on Stonehenge's 4,000 year timescale. But still the fact that a horde of would-be barbarians managed to mark the solstice so jubilantly without a single arrest being made, or any damage being done to the site, vindicates the open stones policy of English Heritage. And although cacophonies roused by warring styles of celebration may have broken in on the peace preferred by some druids, at least it would have drowned out the modern rumble of early morning traffic on the A303.

Witches, warlocks, wizards, and wierdos -- that sounds like a show on the Discovery Channel or maybe the History Channel. Did the man with the lawnmower show up eventually?

Wondering that myself. What a job! Been there and I would volunteer to mow the place just to absrob the atmosphere!

I can imagine you with putting the finishing touches on the job by neatly trimming around the stones with garden shears.

There you go! All neat and tidy. You do not think I would pollute such sacred space with a weed whacker...*gasp* Then maybe they would let me play with the archaeologists who arrive from time to time...

(I can't believe I actually posted that. It is one thing to think things. Quite another to post it...)

(yeah, well I didn't get to play with the archeologists working at Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall - they were too busy for the likes of me.... *sigh*)

Understood... and I understand the *sigh* too. *HUGS* Maggie

There are very few hands-on 'public' digs where a visitr can join in. At Vindolanda one can become a friend of the Vindolanda Trust and apply for a place on one of the digs. Both the guys working there when I visited were local - from their Geordie accents. Talking of digs: here's a site to go and look at. This is an ongoing archeological project in Mali. I think the team go back each year. http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~anth/arch/mali-interactive/index.html

Each spring, Archaeology Magazine and Biblical Archaeology Review pubish digs which take volunteers, inluding contact people and what it will cost you. I was jesting in my comment on Stonehenge. Somewhat poignantly, however...

Maggie, I'm sorry you didn't get to work with the archaeologists at Hadrian's Wall.

...me, too! Then I could have visited her...and...and...! *sigh*

Well, it nearly happened this trip - maybe we'll get it (and the money) together one year!!! I did get to stand and watch the hunky males though. First time IRL, only ever seen active digs on TV. Time Team Live are on TV this weekend. They are working in Canterbury. I'll try and find the URL and post it (lost my links on this machine so have to start over...)

Oh *sigh* Now you are telling me that archaeologists are hunks, too?! I think neither of us would be safe if I were there. Perhaps digging a hole in a drained rowing lake? Screening the diggings for artifacts...or very old land snails...I hear there are hunks there, too.

Well, you'd have liked the two guys working at Vindolanda .....Anyway, I had a chaparone .... Haven't heard any more about the Eton rowing lake. Did drive past a while back though.

Was really fed up yesterday afternoon. The Time Team live main 1 1/2 hour broadcast was cancelled because the Benson and Hedges cricket cup final was being played - postponed because of rain from Saturday. Even my husband was annoyed (and he loves cricket...). The excitement of TT live is just that that it is live and you see things as they happen. He's just told me that for some reason the video recorder did not even record the later short Time Team report. Oh well, back to the website for info.

Check out http://www.channel4.com/ and click on the time team picture to get to the current reports site. Just found out from there that there is an extended programme at lunchtime today, so we'll watch that and I'll report on that later ... Here are the reports so far from Canterbury...Chronology of the digs at the three sites opened up: Greyfriars, Blue Boy Yard, Tyler Hill Greyfriars - Saturday 26 August, Sunday 27 August Saturday 26 August Trench One Trench One is situated over the cloisters of the church. 10am Opened up. 11am Top of wall uncovered, possible first sighting of the Friary. 12.20 Sheets of polythene are unearthed, coverings from the 1970s Louise Millard excavations. When Millard finished her dig, she covered the walls with polythene before filling the earth back in. Trench Two Trench Two is situated over the chancel of the Friar�s church. The trench is divided by a wall and split into two parts: Trench 2a - south of the wall, Trench 2b - north of the wall. 10.30 Opened up. 11.30 A bone handle to a knife is found in Trench 2b, probably dated around the 15th/16th century. 12.30 A coin is found in Trench 2b, given a provisional date of the 15th century. 14.00 Two structural supports made of brick from a late 19th century, early 20th century forcing house (greenhouse) are uncovered. Trench Three 1pm The archaeologists begin debating where to start a third trench. Sunday 27 August Trench One 9.15 Extended trench by one metre so that the wall on the other side of the cloister can be uncovered. 10.15 Carved stone window mullion found Trench Two 9.30 In Trench 2b, two pits are uncovered containing tiles, Mark Horton, the tile specialist from Tyler Hill, suggested that the tiles have been produced locally, possibly Tyler Hill and are dated circa 15th century. 10.00 Uncovered possible chancel wall. 10.15 Trench 2a, the diggers have removed, photographed and recorded the greenhouse so that they can continue digging down to medieval layer. Trench Three 10.30 Tiles unearthed last night are identified as being identical to those from Tyler Hill and dated circa 13th century. Blue Boy Yard- Friday 25 August,Saturday 26 August,Sunday 27 August Friday 25 August 18.25 The mechanical digger makes its first inroads into the concrete-covered site at Blue Boy Yard. A 5 metre-square trench is to be dug on the site. Saturday 26 August 12.00 Mechanical digger halted as first finds � of early 16th-century blue and white glazed pottery � are uncovered. 13.00 The first Roman find at Blue Boy Yard � a pottery shard. 14.30 A piece of 12th-century Tyler Hill pottery is uncovered. It is followed by possibly fifth-century Anglo-Saxon pottery shards. 16.00 A coin from the reign of King Cunoblinus (Cymbeline), who died in 42 AD, is found in the spoil heap by a metal detectorist. Sunday 27 August 15.30 The results of soil sample tests by soil scientist Dr Richard MacPhail confirm that the Roman temple precinct area was probably used as a cattle corral after the Romans left. A bone lice comb find, together with large quantities of human hair, sets off the team on a search for lice in the cess pit refuse. The cess pits in general are yielding a wide variety of finds. 16.20 As the finds dry up, the mechanical digger is brought in to clear the final debris from the trench. The non-Roman material is now cleared to prepare for the investigation of the Roman layers tomorrow. 18.00 The team finds its first lice -- in human hair from the cess pits. Tyler Hill Saturday 26 August 8.30 am The security guards open the site for the production crew. Everybody prepares equipment before the archaeologists and cameo specialists arrive. 9.00am The Time Team diggers arrive, led by Mick-the-dig Worthington. Regular Time Team digger Ian Powesland also appears, ready to co-ordinate work with some local Canterbury archaeologists. 9.30am Deturfing (removing the top layer of grass) commences on the first trench. It�s at this stage that features could appear so the diggers follow up deturfing with cleaning back the underlying soil. 9.32am Everyone discovers that the soil here is like concrete! 11.15am Things are a bit stalled on site as the archaeologists and even the mechanical digger are struggling with the soil conditions. More later�

Ah, neither Marcia nor Maggie would be safe with those hunky archaeologist milling about. Would it rather be that said archaeologists wouldn't be safe? Just being silly. Thanks for the detailed posting, Maggie.

They did a special 1 hour Time Team programme lunch time yesterday and a later report back. The finds at Canterbury have been spectacular. They have uncovered an intact medieval tile factory, and excavation will continue to uncover this unique factory site. It is truly immense! Last night was 'Roman' night again on the TV and there was a really good programme about Nero. Then there was another programme about Gladiators which was fascinating, and a further one on Trajan's column which depicts the Dacian wars and is a history of Roman warfare. By 10.30 pm I was completely Roman'd out *grin*

I am so jealous!!! All I have of Canterbury is a small chunk of the original Caen Limestone exterior which they were replacing.

I understand from someone who is on a dig, that it gets to be an old thing. Scholarship calls when your supervisors will only let you dig. I guess that is part of the apprenticeship process (or grad student.) Makes for fantastic physiques, however!

Hmm, physique is a male thing I think!!! Ah, so that's why there are so many hunks on digs....To be truthful I don't think I have the energy to dig really .....Just like the thought of it.

Nit picking in my thing. I'll wash and screen the diggings but I'd really rather pick over the screenings. Digging is not for me. I am far too slender to do heavy digging!

SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN - DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for August 31, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - SWALLOWED BY THE SANDS Archaeologists Hope to Solve the Mystery of Persia's Lost Army of Egypt http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/082800-sands.shtml - ONLINE CONTEST! Answer the question correctly and win great prizes from Egypt Revealed! Just for kids! This week's prize is the Pharoah game CD-Rom by Sierra. https://orion.he.net/%7Esaa49000/onlinecontest.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Discovery at Lake Titicaca Questioned http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000823/wl/bolivia_titicaca_ruins_1.html - Cambodia's Army Profits From Archaeo-Tourism http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/08/08292000/cambodia_2982.asp - Titanic Salvager's Erie Haul http://www.accessatlanta.com/partners/ajc/read/titanic0816.html - Ming Dynasty Bowl Recovered From Spanish Shipwreck http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/afp/article.html?s=singapore/headlines/000830/world/afp/Ming_dynasty_bowl_found_in_wreck_of_Manila_galleon.html - Excavating in Aphrodisias, Turkey http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082900sci-archaeo-turkey.html - This Old House http://www.denverpost.com/news/news0828c.htm - Venice is Sinking http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/082900sci-venice-flooding.html - Do Graffiti, Go to Jail http://www.vernal.com/aug16/fr.defacing.p1.html ----- The Discovering Archaeology Newsletter finds the week's most interesting archaeological stories and presents them to you in a simple, easy to read format on the web. Read these and other interesting features, including Readers Polls, Book Reviews, Archaeological Event Calendars and much more at: http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml

(http://www.volcano-hawaii.com/petroglyphs.htm) Petroglyphs Ancient Hawaiian Rock Art Want to get a true picture of the history of Hawai'i? You can learn a lot from Hawaiian petroglyphs - ancient rock carvings that tell stories about early life on the islands. The Hawaiian petroglyphs is a great mystery of the Pacific. No one knows who made them or why, but it seems that perhaps ordinary people, not artists, etched the linear and triangular figures into the pahoehoe lava. These graphic carvings, more than 3,000 of them, were probably made as part of ritual or prayer and speak of spiritual phenomena - mana. Upon approaching a petroglyphs field, a wonderful cast of characters leap to life. There are dancers, paddlers, fishermen, and family groups. Turtle, dog, ship and horse symbols are also depicted, as well as fish hooks, spears, poi pounders and canoes. There are 135 different petroglyphs sites on six inhabited islands, but most of them are found on the Big Island of Hawai'i.

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly Newsletter for September 06, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - THE REAL VIKING LEGACY Trade, not Terror, was the Hallmark of the Norse http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/090100-vikings.shtml - ONLINE CONTEST! A Contest for kids! Answer the question correctly and win great prizes from Egypt Revealed. This week's prize is the Pharoah game CD-Rom by Sierra. https://orion.he.net/%7Esaa49000/onlinecontest.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Thawing Out Mr. Cool http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000405944438668&rtmo=r2QbXF3X&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/9/3/wmum03.html - Russia's Oldest Book http://www.sptimes.ru/current/news/n_dig.htm - Archaeologists Find Bronze Age City http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000831/sc/bulgaria_bronze_age_1.html - Dateline: Siberia http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-3sep2000-31.htm - Excavations at Olonski, Poland http://www.princeton.edu/~bogucki/oslonki.html

Marcia aren't you glad to know that some of your Danish ancestors had real business acumen and weren't blood-thirsty thugs. Well, some of them might have been that too, as Europe was rapant with blood-thirsty thugs at that time. It was called the Dark Ages. I think the Vikings got really bad press because their favored targets were monasteries. The monasteries were rich, but monks were just about the only people who could write then in Europe. Hence, the Vikings were attacking the very people who wrote the history.

Believe it or not...(funny you should mention it)...in the 1910 Encyclopaedia Britannica there is an article on King Hemming (spelt precisely that way) who managed amongst other things to limit Charlemagne's nothern conquests and King Hemming's southern conquests by treaty. According to them (I Xeroxed it for posterity), he was the only one who was strong enough to limit Charlemagne by treaty. Thanks for noting that some had more than muscles between their ears. Like the Irish slave raiders who took Partick to Ireland, there were bullies in every crowd - even nowadays...

Friday September 8 2:02 AM ET Scientists Uncover Mayan Marketplace http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/ap/20000908/sc/guatemala_lost_city_1.html By WILL WEISSERT, Associated Press Writer GUATEMALA CITY (AP) - Scientists and looters ignored the ruin for nearly a century because it appeared devoid of temples and burial sites that might yield valuable treasures and artifacts. They had no idea what they were missing. Underneath the jungle curtain of mud and dense foliage was a sprawling lost city called ``Cancuen,'' (can-ku-win), one of the most important commercial centers of the Mayan world for more than 1,200 years. Cancuen has been rediscovered by Guatemalan and American scientists working deep in the country's northern jungles. They believe it will take 10 years to fully unearth the city, which dates to 400 B.C. It is buttressed by a 270,000-square-foot Mayan palace. With three floors - each 66 feet high - and 170 rooms, it is among the most grandiose Mayan structures ever discovered, the National Geographic Society announced Friday. The society is a chief sponsor of the Cancuen excavation project. ``We started off working with what we thought was a small palace, part of a small Mayan settlement,'' said Arthur Demerest, a Vanderbilt University archaeologist and head of the Cancuen project. ``What we found was a palace 20 times as large as we were expecting and an important Mayan marketplace that had been forgotten for almost 100 years.'' Built in the shadow of the hulking palace, the 5-square-mile city featured a crowded rectangular layout of heavy stone walls, 11 spacious stone-tiled patios and buildings with cubbyhole-like rooms and thick, multileveled roofs. While Demerest said scientists aren't sure how many Mayan merchants traded in Cancuen, the city is thought to have attracted thousands from nearby highland settlements, including the sprawling, majestic city of Tikal, 85 miles to the northeast. Cancuen, an ancient Maya word meaning ``Place of the Serpent,'' became a key trading post because of the sprawling River Passion in what is known today as southern Peten, Guatemala's northernmost province, Demerest said. First discovered in 1905 by Austrian explorer Tobert Maler, scientists and looters ignored the site for years. ``A city that was built only for commercial purposes and not for religious ones seemed uninteresting to a lot of academics and worthless to a lot of looters,'' Demerest said, adding that the city is now overrun with such jungle-dwelling animals as howler monkeys. Cancuen lacked the breathtaking temples that dominate Tikal and other Mayan sites because its inhabitants worshipped and buried their dead in surrounding highland areas. ``All of the fantastic temples you see at other sites are an effort to copy the altitude of the highlands that surrounded Cancuen,'' said Demerest, who said that being close to the heavens was the cornerstone of Mayan religious practices. ``In Cancuen they had the real thing.'' Though work at the site has been suspended until next spring because of the rainy season, scientists have already recovered dozens of artifacts in nearby mountain caves. Cancuen remained shrouded by jungle until 1967, when a group of Harvard graduate students returned to the city for less than a week and brought back crude sketches of what they thought was waiting to be discovered there. Demerest and scientists from Guatemala's City's Valley University were drawn back to the area in April because hieroglyphics inscribed in artifacts recovered in Tikal and Dos Pilas, the ancient Maya's largest commercial center, made reference to a marketplace called Cancuen and its powerful fourth-century B.C. ruler, Tah Chan Wi, or ``Celestial Fire.'' Frederico Fahsen, the foremost Guatemalan authority on deciphering Mayan hieroglyphics and the Cancuen project's co-director, said the Cancuen ruler married his daughter to the king of Dos Pilas, 55 miles to the northeast, to establish relationships with surrounding settlements rather than go to war with them. ``Mayan cities have been in constant war, with their constructions dedicated to the gods and the heavens,'' Fahsen said. ``Here we have exactly the opposite.''

Marcia, I feel certain that you are a descendent of the astute and diplomatically capable King Hemming. The story of the Mayan discovery is striking news. My Dad was very interested in the great cultures of Mesoamerica, particularly the Maya. It is also a great find in that it is not a ceremonial center, rather a commercial Mayan settlement.

Indeed! about the Mayan ruins... If I were not feeding enough mosquitoes here I would hunger more for the Belize and Guatamala - Yucatan area. Alas, there is so much blood I have to give... It is rare to find non-royal or ritual sites anywhere. Careful study should yield much information on those whose labor kept the kings and priests in the status to which they were accustomed.

News from Ancient Sites Directory 9th September 2000 Hello Everybody, I've been spending quite a lot of my spare time updating The Ancient Sites Directory recently. I've overhauled the "look and feel" of the pages, hoping to make them friendlier to use and navigate (especially for those using 800x600 screen resolutions - which is most of you). New sites are what you'll be wanting to hear about, and I have quite a few of those on-line after our recent trip to Orkney. Some of the new sites were visited on the journey up to get the ferry:- Aviemore - stone circle Cairn O'Get - chambered tomb The Camster Cairns Carn Liath - broch Once on the Orkney Islands we had some old favourites to visit again and some sites on other islands to see for the first time. Plus we were among the first members of the general public to explore the enigmatic Mine Howe, re-discovered just about a year ago. New sites added to the directory from Orkney so far:- Holm of Papa Westray North - chambered tomb Holm of Papa Westray South - chambered tomb + excellent prehistoric carvings Mine Howe - subterranean passages Quoyness - chambered tomb To access any of these pages click on the "contents" button from the home page (http://www.henge.org.uk) and then find "Highland" and "Orkney" in the menu. I have many more sites to add as and when time allows. Shortly after we returned from our visit the discovery of a new chambered tomb on the island of Westray was made public. This is a repeat of our previous visit in 1998 when about a week after we got home the discovery of a tomb at Crantit, just outside Kirkwall was announced. I'm beginning to feel that we're jinxed! For anybody wishing to read more about the Orkney Islands I can highly recommend a visit to Orkneyjar (http://www.orkneyjar.com) a site published by Sigurd Towrie. He covers all aspects of the heritage of the island from the depths of the prehistoric past through local folklore and dialect. Cheers for now, Chris -- Chris Tweed - ICQ: 71688382 For PGP Public Key email pgp@henge.org.uk with subject of "*send pgpkey" Ancient Sites Directory - http://www.henge.org.uk

Tuesday September 12 7:02 PM ET Yemeni Temple Could Uncover Queen of Sheba http://dailynews.yahoo.com/htx/nm/20000912/sc/discovery_yemen_dc_1.html By Rajiv Sekhri TORONTO (Reuters) - A Canadian archeologist said on Tuesday that his team was slowly unraveling the secrets of a 3,000-year-old temple that may have belonged to the Queen of Sheba. Half-buried under the sands of the southern Arabian desert in northern Yemen, the Mahram Bilqis or Temple of the Moon God contains priceless documents and artifacts from the time of the biblical queen. The temple was a sacred site for pilgrims in Arabia from around 1200 BC to 550 AD, the time that fits with history's record of the Queen of Sheba and her visit to King Solomon of Israel. ``To have such historical, religious and cultural connection to one site is tremendous. Not often in archeology do we have that.'' Professor Bill Glanzman told Reuters. Glanzman, who teaches archeology at the University of Calgary and is the project's director, said: ``We've probably excavated less than one percent of the site, with many of its treasures still buried far beneath the sands.'' The discovery and excavation of the temple began in 1951 by the late American archeologist Wendell Phillips. But it was halted abruptly a year later because of political unrest. Work was restarted in 1998 by the American Foundation for the Study of Man, a nonprofit organization that spearheads such projects. Glanzman said the temple could become an ``eighth wonder of the world,'' attracting people from around the world. ``We think it has the potential to become a world-class tourist site, where tourists can walk around and really feel what happened thousands of years ago.'' But another expert disagrees. ``This is the most optimistic of statements at the moment, given the economic and political situation and the problem of raising money for such things,'' said Edward Keall, senior curator of Middle Eastern Archeology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto. ``I do not expect to see it in my lifetime,'' he said. ``As of the moment, the Yemeni government does not have control over the various tribal groups that live in the country and who believe that they own the land,'' Keall said. But Glanzman tries to sell the importance of the excavation, saying it is as important a discovery as the ruins of Pompeii, the pyramids of Giza or the Acropolis. ``The sanctuary is packed with artifacts, pottery, artwork and inscriptions, opening a new door to the ancient civilizations of southern Arabia,'' he said. Glanzman said his team could be finished with the excavation within 15 years.

Thanks again, Maggie - this is fascinating! Maybe even more than digging land snails out of Eton Rowing Lake...*sigh* Sources: Reuters | SPACE.com | AP Wednesday September 13 2:16 AM ET Explorer Finds Evidence of Life Before Great Flood By Sue Pleming WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. explorers said on Wednesday they have found signs of human habitation hundreds of feet below the Black Sea where a catastrophic flood occurred about 7,500 years ago, which some scientists say is linked to the biblical story of Noah. Explorer Robert Ballard, famous for discovering the wreck of the Titanic, said his National Geographic expedition found a ''rectangular structure,'' possibly that of a building, about 310 feet (90 meters) below the sea's surface, indicating people lived there before a massive flood inundated the area. ``We now know people were living on that surface when that event (the big flood) took place because we are now finding evidence of human habitation,'' said Ballard in a telephone interview from the Northern Horizon research ship, about 12 miles (20 km) off the Turkish shore. ``This is an incredible find. It's clear a vast amount of real estate is under water and that a vast amount of people were living around the Black Sea,'' said Ballard, adding that it was far more significant than his Titanic discovery in 1985. Ballard said his team made its finding three days ago, in the second week of a five-week expedition. They hope to make more findings and will do precise mapping and photo documentation before anything is brought up to the surface. ``Our job is to find as many structures as we can, to explore them and to see what they tell us about the people that lived here and present that to the world and let the world draw it's own conclusions,'' he said. Ballard said it was too soon to say whether there was a link between the great flood he believes occurred in the Black Sea and the one depicted in the Bible. ``What we are trying to do is gather facts. We are testing that theory and so far we have not found any holes in it. We will continue to gather data,'' Ballard said. The artifacts found by Ballard's team were captured by sonar and on pictures taken by a roving vehicle called Argus that is about the size of a washing machine and attached by fiber-optic cable to the research ship. The rectangular structure measures about 12-feet (4 meters) in width and is 45-feet (15 meters) long, with carved wooden beams, wooden branches and stone tools collapsed among the mud matrix. ``It's architecture and artifacts were of the Neolithic bronze age, which is from about 7,000 years ago,'' said Ballard. The team's chief archeologist, Fredrik Hiebert, described the finding as the ``Pompeii of landscapes'' and said it was typical of the wattle and daub homes seen on land. ``This is a major discovery that will begin to rewrite the history of cultures in this key area between Europe, Asia and the ancient Middle East,'' said Hiebert, an archeologist from the University of Pennsylvania. ``This looks to me, as an archeologist familiar with this region, like the typical architecture of the people who lived around the Black Sea,'' he said. The cataclysmic flood in that area was tentatively linked to the biblical story of Noah in the book of Genesis by U.S. geologists William Ryan and Walter Pitman of Columbia University in their 1997 book ``Noah's Flood.'' The two geologists believe Noah's flood took place not in the Middle East, as might be assumed from reading the Bible, but in the area around the Black Sea. The geologists theory of a great flood in the Black Sea was based on their discovery of a drowned landscape as seen in seismic profiles and sediment cores. Pitman said he had ``never been so excited in his life'' as he was with Ballard's finding, adding that it would probably revive debate over his Noah's Flood theory. ``I certainly believed that there had to be people living there but finding the structure was like finding a needle in a haystack,'' Pitman said from his home in New York. Ballard said the extraordinary state of preservation of the wood and other organic materials of such great age was most likely due to the site's closeness to the Black Sea's deeper, oxygen-free waters. Hiebert said it was possible human or animal bones could have survived in the waters because organic material that would typically disappear would have been preserved. ``We do think that human remains would be extremely well preserved, opening up the whole Pandora's box of DNA and discovering who these people truly were,'' said Hiebert. Scientists believe the Black Sea was a freshwater lake until it was flooded by the Mediterranean Sea about 7,000 years ago. Ryan and Pitman's research showed today's Black Sea was transformed when melting glaciers raised the level of the Mediterranean, causing water to break through the strip of land separating the Mediterranean from the smaller freshwater lake.

I read somewhere that Bosphorus means "ox crossing". It seems a litte deep to cross oxen there now, unless the bovines are excellent swimmers.

Canoes Show Life in Neolithic Paris http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20000914/wl/france_neolithic_canoes_1.html (picture via link) Thursday September 14 2:33 PM ET By MARILYN AUGUST, Associated Press Writer PARIS (AP) - Thousands of years before the Bateaux Mouches began plying the Seine with sightseers, Neolithic Parisians cruised the river in dugout canoes, fishing and trading with their neighbors upstream. Three 6,000-year-old canoes, unveiled Thursday, suggest human settlements were set up at the location of present-day Paris up to 1,500 years earlier than had been believed. The 20-foot canoes, each hewn from a single oak log, will be the centerpiece of a new wing of the Carnavalet Museum scheduled to open later this year. The dugouts, the earliest of which experts say dates to 4,500 B.C., were unearthed along with thousands of artifacts by French archaeologists in 1990 during a major urban renewal project on the banks of the Seine at Bercy, in southeastern Paris. ``The site is the most spectacular of its kind ever found in Paris and shows that the city is much older than we had thought,'' said Philippe Velay, archaeology curator at the Carnavalet. Other Neolithic remains were found under the courtyard of the Louvre Museum in central Paris when it was undergoing renovations in the early 1980s, he said. But that find, much smaller than the Bercy one, was not studied in depth at the time. Together, the finds suggest two Neolithic communities a few miles apart that had contact with each other via the Seine, which at the time was over a mile wide in parts. Experts had previously put the earliest settlements in the Paris region to around 3,000-2,500 B.C. The Neolithic period, characterized by polished stone tools, pottery and agriculture, ranges from 8,000-3,500 B.C. The Bercy site could have had between a few hundred and a thousand people living in it at one time. Along with a total 11 canoes, archaeologists found some 50,000 objects - including perfectly preserved fragments of ceramic bowls and cups, a flint and a millstone. A double tomb was unearthed containing the skeletons of two children, aged 9 and 5, curled in the fetal position. Also found were a polished ax, wooden bow and a fish hook, as well as beaver, turtle and wolf remains, Velay said. ``This suggests that the earliest city dwellers were concerned primarily with their own survival, and hunted and fished for food,'' he said. The canoes - some large enough to hold six people - were found about 26 feet underground, perfectly preserved in the soil. One boat was split in half inadvertently by a bulldozer working on the site. ``The biggest challenge was figuring out a way to make sure that their discovery was not the first step towards their disappearance,'' said archaeologist Philippe Marquis, who made the discovery in September 1990. ``We had to make sure they didn't just dry out and crumble, and basically, we just kept them wet using an ordinary lawn sprinkler,'' he said. Marquis said that if archaeologists had had the opportunity to stay and excavate longer, they could have unearthed more of the settlement. A public park has since been built over the site. Since their discovery, which was not made public at the time, the canoes underwent a $280,000 treatment at a laboratory in Grenoble to stabilize the condition of the wood. They will be displayed in temperature- and humidity-controlled cases.

Wow, neat! Bet there are handsome and intelligent archaeology grad students digging holes in the sludge there too. Wondering why they do not use undergrads for peon labor. Oh well... I wouldlike a update o n the Eton Rowing Lake but think I wil have to search it out for myself. Mahalo Maggie!

As you wished - http://www.oau-oxford.com/eton.htmThe Archaeology of the Eton Rowing Lake SUMMER EXCAVATION 26th June to18th August 2000 A large area on the north bank of the river Thames is being excavated in a series of summer seasons in advance of the construction of the Rowing Lake. The site, which is situated in open countryside next to the village of Dorney in South Buckinghamshire, is unique because of the preservation of a substantial channel of the prehistoric river Thames, within which waterlogged wooden structures have been located. The floodplain alongside contains a sequence of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age in situ occupation horizons with flint knapping scatters, hearths and other artefact spreads sealed within the alluvium. On the gravel terraces the cropmarks indicate probably the best surviving Bronze Age landscape in the Middle Thames valley, with settlement, field systems and burials in barrows, flat graves and cremation urns. An enclosed Roman farmstead overlies Bronze Age settlement alongside the former course of the Thames. Results from the work in 1995, 1996 and 1997 exceeded expectations. Six Bronze Age and Iron Age waterlogged timber bridges were found, while a pair of Neolithic middens came to light in a channel. On the floodplain Neolithic knapping areas have been revealed, while on dry ground Bronze Age barrows and waterholes and an Iron Age and Roman farmstead have been excavated. The project is headed by Tim Allen from the Oxford Archaeological Unit. The professional team invites assistance from students from British universities, local archaeological societies, and other interested groups and individuals. A wide variety of experience of archaeological fieldwork and finds is available working with one of the foremost professional Units in the country. The 2000 season will examine the extensive Bronze Age enclosure system and settlement. The site lies west of London close to Windsor Castle, and is easily accessible by rail from London Paddington and by road from the M4, A4 or M40, while Heathrow Airport is also nearby. There are no on-site facilities, but details of local campsites are available. Work will be Monday to Friday, with the weekends off; the standard working day will be from 8 am to 4.30 p.m. Application forms may be obtained from the OAU . The telephone number is O1865 243888 and Fax number 01865 793496, or you can email postmaster@oau-oxford.com.

ou may want ot check out http://www.oau-oxford.com/news.html lots of news of digs

Visited the Rollright Stone Circle in the Cotswolds today. I think it is probably my favourite stone circle....you can walk round them and touch them. Across the road is the King stone. Can't get near that, but it is impressive. There is another group of stones in a field near the Rollrights. Here is a site to visit that has lots of pictures for you to see, and info.http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/carolrb/rollright/rollright1.html

As I said before to this lady, if she were not such a special friend, I would be jealously hateful of her treading the sacred ground of my ancestors...*sigh* I am delighted you are appreciating what I can only remember through pictures taken by me ages ago. Thanks!

What really surprised me was the way Hannah remembered it all ...she and I had a special time there yesterday --while house male was taking pix for you ...the last time we were there was when she was 13. For anyone planning to visit ...the stile opposite the king's men stones leading to the king stone is badly broken ...there is a much better, hidden, stile a few yards down the road. The King stone is surrounded by iron fencing and you can only stand and look ...which is a pity becuase it is the one I am most drawn to and would most like to touch. We couldn't find an access point to the whispering stones ..maybe it was further down the road than we looked. They are in the middle of a farmer's field. When you come over next Marcia, we'll definitely go there ... I promise. At least you have been there .....(which is more than I have been for HAWAII!!!!!!! *grin*)

Taking you up on that offer one day, my dear....and the standing invite to the volcano stands... *sigh* one of the delights of hiking to the long barrows and other things on the hilltops is climbing over stiles. No one in the US knows what they are anymore - we use ugly barbed wire everywhere - and I had not seen one until I climbed over my first one. Just more added joy and data for my memory banks! Updated: Wednesday, Sep. 13, 2000 at 09:51 CDT Archaeologists in London may have found woman gladiator's grave By ROBERT BARR Associated Press LONDON -- No one knows her name, or how she died, but archaeologists think she was a gladiator in Roman London. And, from the evidence, a very popular one. The existence of female gladiators in Roman times has long been known to historians, but now what are believed to be the first remains of one -- a young woman in her 20s, buried with high honors -- have been unearthed at a Roman cemetery in London. The Museum of London displayed the evidence for the first time Tuesday. Only a piece of the young woman's pelvis escaped the flames of her funeral pyre -- enough to say that she was in her 20s. The belief that she may have been a gladiator comes from the ceramics buried with her in what was a walled cemetery on the south bank of the River Thames, in present-day Southwark. One dish was decorated with a fallen gladiator and other vessels with symbols associated with gladiators, said Hedley Swain of the Museum of London. Three lamps found in the grave were decorated with images of the Egyptian god Anubis. This jackal-headed deity was associated with the Roman god Mercury, and Swain noted that slaves dressed as Mercury were employed to drag away the bodies from amphitheaters. "The fact that we have this association with gladiators indicates that she was a gladiator, or someone deeply involved with gladiators," said Jenny Hall, curator of early London history at the London Museum. "It is obviously quite a wealthy burial," she added. Hall says its "70 percent probable" that the woman was a gladiator. "It is always the case with archaeology, that you are left with tantalizing glimpses," she said. The grave was excavated in 1996 and the analysis was completed recently. "There is evidence of a very exotic and high-status feast, including dates, almonds, figs and a dove," Swain said. There were also remains of pine cones imported from the Mediterranean, which apparently were burned as incense. It has long been known that women fought as gladiators. An inscription in Pompeii refers to women in the arena, and the Emperor Septimius Severus, who ruled from A.D. 193 to 211, allowed combat by women. Graves excavated at Trier, in Germany, may have remains of male gladiators. Hall said she knew of no other gladiator graves excavated anywhere else in the world. A show opening Oct. 21 at the British Museum includes a second-century relief carving of two women fighting. Each has a short sword and a shield. The inscription, which says that both were granted "an honorable release from the arena," identifies one as Amazonia, the other as Achillea, a feminine form of Achilles. Ralph Jackson, curator of Romano-British antiquities at the British Museum, said he was not convinced that the London Museum had found a woman gladiator. "I would characterize it as possibly a gladiator," he said. "I would say that it is a very notable find, to have a female burial with eight lamps." Jackson noted that gladiators, in general, had a very low status. "The only lower thing was an actor or an actress," he said. Archaeologists from the museum also continue to analyze the results of their excavations of the Roman amphitheater found near the present Guildhall in the financial district. That amphitheater, discovered in 1986, had room for 7,000 spectators, which would have been about a third of the population of Roman London. http://www.Museumoflondon.org.uk

"An archeologist is the best husband any woman can have. The older she gets, the more he is interested in her!" --Agatha Christie

But can't he always dig up her past? Sorry, that is a really old archaelogy joke.

*laugh* Um... yes...but there is something totally charming about younger Archaeologists. They have a passion that is difficult to replicate elsewhere!

The Most-Complete Hominid Skull A 2 million-year-old Skull Emerges From a New South African Site http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/042600-skull.shtml by Robert Locke South African Journal of Science The nearly complete skull of an early hominid has emerged from a rich, new treasure trove of hominid fossils discovered in South Africa. Andre Keyser discovered the skull while working under the auspices of South Africa's University of Witwatersrand. He said Wednesday (April 26) that the skull, which dates to 1.5 million to 2 million years old, is the most complete ever to be scientifically described. The skull, along with its lower jaw (or mandible) and complete set of teeth, is attributed to Paranthropus robustus, which other scientists refer to as Australopithecus robustus. Also found was a second, larger mandible from the same species. Keyser said the smaller specimen probably is that of a female and the larger one of a male. Robustus is generally considered a dead-end species that is not a human ancestor. The hominid had a rather flat face, with a protruding, ape-like jaw and mouth. Its molars were very large, probably to accommodate a vegetarian diet, while the front teeth were quite small. Keyser said the just-reported skull was found in October 1994 at the previously unreported site of Drimolen, about 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) northeast of the famous hominid site of Sterkfontein. The sites are within 100 kilometers (62 miles) of Johannesburg, South Africa. Discovered by Keyser and Rosalind Smith, the fragile pieces of skull were reconstructed by Ron Clarke. The Drimolen site has so far yielded 79 fossil-hominid specimens, including some early species of Homo. Many animal fossils and 24 items identified as bone tools also were reported. Keyser is a retired geologist formerly with the Geological Survey of South Africa. The excavations were under the direction of the University of Witwatersrand's Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research. Also of interest: http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9712/16/baby.skeletons/ Prominent hominid fossils http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/homs/specimen.html

Ah...where DO we put hominid fossils? Paleo? With the Coprolites and gastroliths and petrified wood??? Perhaps they do belong in Archaeology since it deals with humankind. Thanks, Maggie!

Potentially Toxic Artifacts Found By CHRISTINE HANLEY, Associated Press Writer SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - David Hostler learned the troubling news when he journeyed more than 3,000 miles from his Hoopa Valley reservation, California's largest, to dig through troves of tribal artifacts on display and in storage at Harvard University. Arriving at the Ivy League school's Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, which owns the largest collection of American Indian remains outside the Smithsonian, officials suggested he don a pair of gloves and a dust mask before sifting through the collection. ``That's when I found out some of the artifacts had been contaminated,'' said Hostler, a director of the Hoopa museum and a ceremonial leader of the tribe, which has 4,000 members and an 89,000-acre reservation about 40 miles outside the northern California coastal city of Eureka. Two years later, Hostler and fellow Indians across the United States remain unsettled by the notion that human remains and sacred objects being returned to them under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, may be poisoned with heavy metals and pesticides that were used as preservatives. On Friday, representatives of California's 110 tribes began arriving at San Francisco State University for a three-day workshop aimed at raising awareness of the potential health risks that scientists consider especially acute because many of the artifacts - steeped in spiritual significance - have been or will be returned to their traditional use. ``For people who are only hearing about this for the first time, it's only human to be scared and angry,'' said Lee Davis, an anthropology professor at SFSU and consultant for the Hoopa tribe. Pesticides and other toxins, including mercury and arsenic, have been routinely used on all kinds of artifacts to preserve them and keep insects away, with the idea that the objects would only be displayed under glass. But that changed when the repatriation act, passed in 1990, required museums to return headdresses and other regalia to their rightful tribal owners.

...the rest of the message begun above: It is unclear how widespread the contamination may be, since most of the evidence is anecdotal and no official empirical studies have been conducted to determine whether mercury, arsenic, DDT and other toxins used as pesticides or preservatives persist in harmful levels. SFSU on Friday released preliminary findings of a study showing traces of mercury in a handful of items that have found their way back to the Hoopa tribe. There were also low levels of pesticides on some samples, including DDT and naphthalene, an active ingredient in mothballs. But Peter Palmer, a chemical analyst who led the study, questioned whether the results were reliable, saying he was ``not sure how they would hold up in a court of law.'' He and other researchers noted how they are impeded by financial constraints and limited in the types of testing they can do since a lot of the cultural material must remain intact, and removing toxins could be destructive. ``There are no easy answers - a lot of uncertainties,'' Palmer told a large group of other scientists, Indian leaders and observers during one of Friday's sessions, calling the study a ``best effort'' by students. ``At least we've done this much.'' Palmer and other scientists agree more in-depth studies are needed. On Sunday, organizers plan to start drawing up a cohesive plan to address the issues raised at the workshop. ``The ramifications are complex,'' said Jeff Fentress, coordinator of SFSU's artifact testing lab. ``Where did all these contaminants come from? What other contaminants are there? What exposure have we all had all these years? And last, what do we do about it?'' For the tribes, the waiting could mean sacrificing tradition. ``Repatriation is important for preserving our culture and educating our youth, and carrying on our religion as it always was,'' Hostler said. ``At this time, hopefully we'll find solutions on how to get the poisons out.''

Three months after my marriage my new husband began teaching at a tiny college with an even tinier museum. The chemicals were so strong that you could smell them as soon as you entered the building. I wonder if any museums are toxin-free if they have been collecting for many years.

Shrine untouched for 2,000 years found in Croatia By Davor Huic http://uk.news.yahoo.com/001002/80/al8ma.html ZAGREB (Reuters) - An international team of archaeologists has uncovered what may be a pre- Roman pagan shrine that has lain undisturbed beneath the hills of southern Croatia for more than two thousand years. The Croatian-Canadian team says the site, dating from the third century BC, is the only shrine of the ancient Illyrian people ever found. They believe they are the first people to have set foot in it since it was sealed up as Rome's legions marched across Europe. The dramatic discovery was made deep inside a cave at Spila, near the village of Nakovana on the Peljesac peninsula in southern Dalmatia, about 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the Adriatic city of Dubrovnik. Pottery and a huge phallic stalagmite in the cave indicate that it was used as a shrine. "We believe that the centre of the cave served as an altar for some pagan ritual, probably linked to fertility or potency," Dr Staso Forenbaher of the Croatian Institute for Anthropological Research told Reuters. "To our knowledge, this is the only Illy ian sanctuary ever found," he added. MIGRATING SLAVIC TRIBES The Illyrians inhabited the western Balkans before the Romans conquered the region and were assimilated by migrating Slavic tribes in the early Middle Ages. Albanians are their only modern descendants. Forenbaher and Dr Timothy Kaiser of the Royal Ontario Museum discovered deeper channels in the Spila cave almost by accident, during excavations at the entrance in August 1999. They returned a year later to lead the project. The cave contains several layers of archaeological material dating from the early neolithic era, 6,000 years BC. The most valuable findings were hidden behind a mass of stones and earth deep inside. Forenbaher said he believed the entrance might have been sealed on purpose, at some point during the first century BC at the time of the Roman conquest, possibly to prevent the sanctity of the site from being broken. "It looked completely intact. The surface was crusty, and there was no evidence whatsoever that any human or animal had walked there for centuries," said Forenbaher. The fact that the shrine has been completely untouched for two millennia makes its significance even greater. "Hopefully, this will give us a chance to try to reconstruct what had been going on there," Forenbaher sa d. As the team went into the cave, a corridor 50 metres (164 feet) in length and tall enough for a person to stand up in, opened up roughly in the middle of a circular area about 10 metres (32 feet) in diameter. In the middle of this stood a 60-cm (two-feet) tall red and white stalagmite in the form of a phallus. The team believe it played a central role in whatever rituals went on in the cave when it was used as a shrine. PLATES AND CHALICES "We dug around and under the stalagmite and found that it had not grown there naturally. It had to be brought in from someplace else -- perhaps even from the cave itself -- to be installed there by humans," Forenbaher said. Scattered around were hundreds of pieces of Hellenistic pottery, mostly plates and chalices, some of them bearing inscriptions in ancient Greek and Latin. Their function and position around the phallus indicate they were used in some sort of a ritual that included feasting, drinking and probably making offerings to pagan gods. Most pieces seem to have originated from Magna Graecia -- Greek colonies in southern Italy -- and from Greek settlements in the southern Dalmatian islands of Korcula (Korcyra Nigra), Hvar (Pharos) and Vis (Issa). The team dug out about three tonnes of material from the cave, taking everything they could find to the Dubrovnik Archaeology Museum for further research, Forenbaher said. They also found containers with what looked like remains of food that will be sent t Britain to be analysed, while radioactive carbon dating will be done in Croatia. More than 100 kg (200 lb) of collected pottery will be sorted out and put together by local experts. "We expect first reports to come out within a year, and the whole project to take three years," Forenbaher said

http://freespace.virgin.net/philip.dunn/knowlton.htm Check out the aerial view of this Henge group. I remember driving past on the way to Bournemouth to spend the night, and it is startling the number of barrows around this henge group. You cannot miss it on the right as you drive south. TheChristaion church standing in the middle of the largest henge attracts your attenion immediately! This entire site is worth visiting. Very interesting stuff in there - especially about the Gough Cave in Cheddar Gorge! Check it out!

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY - Newsletter for October 04, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - WORLD'S OLDEST BRUSH HUTS Some of the Earliest Homes are discovered in Israel's Jordan Valley http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/100400-huts.shtml FROM EGYPT REVEALED: - Finding the Pharaoh's Vizier More Secrets from the Valley of the Golden Mummies. http://www.egyptrevealed.com/1000toc/100300-pharaoh.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - The Questions in a Dazzling Tomb http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/03/science/03TOMB.html - Roman Shipwrecks Discovered http://www.worldnews.com/?action=display&article=3763371&template=worldnews/search.txt&index=recent - A 2,000-year-old Shrine in Croatia http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/reuters20001002_79.html - Hopis Dispute Cannibalism Theory http://www.abqjournal.com/news/1hopis09-29-00.htm - Outhouse Archaeology http://www.sacbee.com/news/news/local02_20000929.html - Sound Waves Hunt for Artifacts http://unisci.com/stories/20004/1003002.htm - Contaminated Artifacts http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/09/30/MN16969.DTL

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY - Newsletter for October 11, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - THE "FOLSOM" COWBOY The Remarkable Legacy of George McJunkin http://www.DISCOVERINGARCHAEOLOGY.COM/articles/101100-folsom.shtml FROM EGYPT REVEALED: - Finding the Pharaoh's Vizier More Secrets from the Valley of the Golden Mummies. http://www.egyptrevealed.com/1000toc/100300-pharaoh.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Hyena Den Archaeology http://www.telegraph.co.uk/et?ac=000579381554028&rtmo=aqJJK9aJ&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/10/6/nden06.html - Deep Mysteries http://www.latimes.com/news/asection/20001005/t000094667.html - The Father of Underwater Archaeology http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/0399toc/GeorgeBass.shtml - Life Down On The Body Farm http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,195020050,00.html - Virtual Palenque http://www.virtualpalenque.com/ - Nordic Underwater Archaeology http://www.abc.se/~m10354/uwa/ - Contemporary Guide To An Ancient Spice: http://www.saffroninfo.com/ ----- The Discovering Archaeology Newsletter finds the week's most interesting archaeological stories and presents them to you in a simple, easy to read format on the web. Read these and other interesting features, including Readers Polls, Book Reviews, Archaeological Event Calendars and much more at: http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY - Newsletter for October 18, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml Discovering Archaeology Newsletter is sponsored by Rolex. --- Feature Stories --- - MISREADING THE BONES A Brutal Conquistador was Innocent of a Georgia Slaughter http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/1000toc/10randn04-bones.shtml FROM EGYPT REVEALED: - Lost City of the Pyramids A Complex Community Supported the Builders of Egypt's Greatest Monuments http://www.egyptrevealed.com/1000toc/101200-pyramids.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Classic Greek City Found: http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20001017/hi_helike.html - Britain's Stone Age Atlantis http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/10/10162000/atlantis_3155.asp The Lascaux Lunar Calendar http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_975000/975360.stm - Mega Etruscan City Unearthed http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20001016/hi_etruscan.html - Vance Haynes http://www.post-gazette.com/neigh_washington/20001015wadave1.asp - Archimedes' Ancient Text Revealed http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001013/us/archimedes__words_1.html ----- The Discovering Archaeology Newsletter finds the week's most interesting archaeological stories and presents them to you in a simple, easy to read format on the web. Read these and other interesting features, including Readers Polls, Book Reviews, Archaeological Event Calendars and much more at: http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml

Stone Age 'Atlantis' Found in North Sea By The Independent October 16, 2000 SCIENTISTS ARE unearthing the long-lost secrets of Britain's own Atlantis - a vast area of former dry land under what is now the North Sea. The investigations are revealing how ancient Stone Age communities were wiped out by a series of apocalyptic floods which, scientists believe, are a stern warning of the devastation that global warming and rising sea levels can cause. After the last Ice Age, melting ice caused the southern half of the North Sea to rise by some 65ft in 2,000 years, submerging an area in the North Sea the size of modern Britain. But researchers at Durham University have now established that Britain also suffered a series of shorter term but catastrophic floods with terrible effects on human communities, killing 2,000- 3,000 people at a time. Whereas populations were able to adapt to long-term sea level rise, they would have been unable to escape from the periodic super- floods which resulted from it. There were periods in which very large flat areas became vulnerable to tidal surge inundation for several hundred years before becoming permanently submerged. Between 7600 BC and 5900 BC around 1,000 square miles of North Sea region dry land would have been overwhelmed by 15ft-high tidal and storm surges on average four times a century - once a generation. more... http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/10/10162000/atlantis_3155.asp

Yet more background to support the widespread existence of the Flood Legend in many different cultures. Wasn't the Baltic Sea once dry land, as well? I think that the Baltic is supposed to be a relatively shallow sea.

About the Baltic, Yes! Mediterranean too. Probably much of the Caribbean was above seal level once, as well.

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for October 26, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml Discovering Archaeology Newsletter is sponsored by Rolex. --- Feature Stories --- - POTTERY, JAGUARS & HOLIDAY INNS Familiar Images Grease the Wheels of Travel and Commerce http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/1000toc/10commentary1-holiday.shtml FROM EGYPT REVEALED: - Giza the Truth By Ian Lawton and Chris Ogilvie-Herald http://egyptrevealed.com/reviews/gizathetruth.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - The Artifacts of Ancient Ur: http://chicagotribune.com/news/metro/chicago/printedition/article/0,2669,SAV-0010190227,FF.html - The Florida Canoe Caper: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001019/us/ancient_canoes_1.html - The Vikings: http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/20/arts/20VIKI.html - Royal Mummy Relocated in Raid: http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20001023/od/mummy_dc_1.html

DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for November 02, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - OBELISKS IN EXILE Monuments of Stone Stand the Test of Time Around the World http://discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/102500-obelisks.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Dateline... Egypt: http://www.discovery.com/news/briefs/20001031/hi_royalboat.html - The America's First Root Crop http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/31/science/31OBSE.html - Divers Looting D-Day Remains http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/10/10312000/normandy_3233.asp - New Anasazi Connection http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/10/30/anasazi.clues.ap/index.html - The Restoration Of An Ancient Library http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/10/10302000/alexandria_3229.asp - Hunting May Have Started Later Than Previously Thought http://unisci.com/stories/20004/1027006.htm ----- The Discovering Archaeology Newsletter finds the week's most interesting archaeological stories and presents them to you in a simple, easy to read format on the web. Read these and other interesting features, including Readers Polls, Book Reviews, Archaeological Event Calendars and much more at: http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml

Archaeologist Sorry for Planting Artifacts TOKYO (Reuters) - A prominent archaeologist apologized on Sunday for planting artifacts at an excavation site so he could claim credit for discovering Japan's oldest stoneware. "I have nothing more to say except that I am deeply sorry for what I've done," Shinichi Fujimura told a televised news conference. Japanese media said Fujimura, a senior director at the Tohoku Paleolithic Institute, planted eight stoneware pieces at an excavation site and claimed the stoneware dated back to an early stage of the Stone Age. Fujimura made the announcement of his "discovery" on October 27 and initially it enhanced his reputation among his peers as having "a god's hands" for his ability to find artifacts. The archaeologist gave his televised apology after Japanese media gave prominence to a different version of events. The national daily Mainichi Shimbun, on the front page of its Sunday edition, ran video stills of Fujimura placing the stoneware pieces in a hole and covering them up with dirt. The archaeologist said after being caught by the paper that he went out alone to the excavation site several times in the early hours of the morning to bury dozens of artifacts that he claimed he "discovered" later in the day, media reported. Archaeologists believe human communities lived at the excavation site 600,000 years ago.

Never know where to put Neanderthal material, so I am putting this link here and in Archaeolgy, thanks to Dar of Yahoo's anthropology club. It is a great site and the club is full of informative people with a passion for the the subject. Excellent site for all things Neanderthal and other modern forms of mankind: http://www.neanderthal-modern.com/index.html

The 10 families of man who settled Europe are revealed in gene tests By Roger Highfield EUROPEAN men are almost all related to just 10 male lineages whose descendants migrated from the east in three waves over the past 40,000 years, scientists reported last week. A genetic study of 1,007 men across Europe and the Middle East found that 95 per cent of them could be traced to one of 10 categories. On average, more than 80 per cent of European men have inherited characteristics from two waves of Palaeolithic ancestors 40,000 and 25,000 years ago, according to the study published in the journal Science. The oldest male lineage - characterised by a genetic marker called M173 - contributes to half of the genetic make-up of European males. Their advent coincides with the arrival of what archaeologists call the Aurignacian people, known for rock art and finely crafted tools. The second wave is thought to be called the Gravettian culture, known for its Venus figurines and delicate blades. The remainder were thought to have arrived after an ice age some 10,000 years ago, when there was a third - Neolithic - migration of the first farmers from the Fertile Crescent in the Middle East. The higher levels of the latter genetic make up in the south of Europe suggest that some of these farmers travelled by boat along the coast. The international team, led by Dr Ornella Semino, from Pavia University in Italy, studied the "male" chromosome - Y chromosomes - of men. Since its genetic information passes only from father to son, DNA variations on the Y chromosome can be used to trace paternal ancestry. The researchers analysed 22 such markers, and found that nearly all the individuals in the study could be linked to 10 groups of male ancestors. The investigators said: "Two lineages . . . appear to have been present in Europe since Palaeolithic times. "The remaining lineages entered Europe most likely later during independent migrations from the Middle East and the Urals." ...thanks H_H from Yahoo's Prehistory club!

The Y chomosomes are a bit analogous to mitochondrial DNA. While it is true that only men inherit a Y chomosome, while everybody inherits mitochondrial DNA. Yet mitochondrial DNA can only be passed on by the mother. Everyone in the world carries only his or her mother's mitochondrial DNA. This is what led to the Eve theory that everybody in the world can be traced back to a single female ancestor who lived in Africa millena ago.

Archaeologists Find Sarcophagus in Egyptian Tomb ABU SIR, Egypt (Reuters) - Archaeologists excavating a 4,000-year-old tomb near Cairo found an empty sarcophagus on Monday that they said could yield vital clues about the collapse of the pyramid-building era in ancient Egypt. Zahi Hawass, director of the Giza Plateau, told Reuters that a team of Egyptian and Czech archaeologists discovered the stone coffin in a sixth dynasty tomb at the pyramids of Abu Sir 17 miles southwest of Cairo. "This sarcophagus was found empty. It means that some people entered this tomb after it was built 4,200 years ago," said Hawass. He said he expected more sixth dynasty tombs to be found there soon. The sarcophagus came to light as archaeologists explored a bone-littered burial chamber about 60 feet underground. "This is a private tomb from the Old Kingdom, belonging to Inti, a judge and keeper of the city of Nekhen," said Bretislav Vachala, director of the Czech Institute of Egyptology at Charles University in Prague and joint leader of the mission. He said the whole area south of the Abu Sir pyramids was packed with tombs of the Old Kingdom elite. "Here we can witness the period more than 4,000 years ago, the clue to understanding the period when the age of pyramid builders came to an end before the collapse of the Old Kingdom," Vachala said. "The tomb was robbed in ancient times. The stone coffin is broken from one corner and the bones are scattered all over the burial chamber," he said. The treasures may have gone, but hieroglyphic drawings remain to tell the story of the tomb's original occupant. Inti's two sons are depicted along the entrance walls, while on the chapel walls, his wife is drawn kneeling at her husband's feet. Inti himself is shown in several ways: standing with a scepter and stick in his hand, sitting with his wife at his feet, and standing with offerings of food and drink. Vachala and his team began excavating the tomb in October and expect to finish documenting it next month.

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY -Newsletter for November 22, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - OBELISKS IN EXILE Monuments of Stone Stand the Test of Time Around the World http://discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/102500-obelisks.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - In Search of a Religion's Origins http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/11/11202000/wirbuddha_3332.asp - Czech Archaeologist Find Another Tomb http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20001121/wl/egypt_archaeology_3.html - Wisconsin Rock Art http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/11/20/cave.art.ap/index.html - The Case of the Elgin Marbles http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/11/11172000/elginmarbles_3308.asp - The Archaeological Method and Healing http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2000/11/17/MN75981.DTL - Oh, What a Tangled Web We Weave... http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/japan_archaeologist0001105.html - World's Oldest Cave Paintings (?) http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1000000/1000653.stm - The Sarmatic Culture of Western Russia http://unisci.com/stories/20004/1101006.htm - The Pyramids and the Stars http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/pyramids001115.html

OLD WORLD NEWS Perhaps a bit 'old' for this newsletter, but interesting nonetheless, is a report that the 400,000 year-old-remains of a woman indicate she might have had capacity for speech: http://www.newsday.com/coverage/current/discovery/tuesday/nd5778.htm A French archaeologist is claiming to have discovered the remains of a 6000-year-old civilization in Balochistan (watch the wrap) http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/nov2000-daily/24-11-2000/main/update.htm#10 A Czech team has discovered a 4,300 year-old-tomb near Cairo (unfortunately with an empty sarcophagus): http://centraleurope.com/news.php3?id=223363 http://www.spokesmanreview.com:80/news-story.asp?date=112200&ID=s883302 http://www.latimes.com:80/news/science/science/20001123/t000112486.html http://www.msnbc.com:80/news/493234.asp?cp1=1 http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1035000/1035784.stm Last week, listland was all arage in response to Kate Spence's suggestion that star positions could be used to date the pyramids ... here's the coverage (mind the wrap as required): http://209.19.141.102/news/2000/11/11172000/egypt_3319.asp http://helix.nature.com/nsu/001116/001116-10.html http://www.worldnews.com/?action=display&article=4436303&template=worldnews/search.txt&index=recent http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1024000/1024779.stm http://cbc.ca/cgi-bin/templates/view.cgi?/news/2000/11/16/egypt_star001116 http://www.lineone.net/express/00/11/16/news/n3720-d.html http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/11/16/ageofpyramids.ap/index.html http://www.telegraph.co.uk:80/et?ac=000579381554028&rtmo=qxdtMXR9&atmo=99999999&pg=/et/00/11/16/npyr16.html http://www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/pyramids001115.html Also in the world of pyramid theories, the Independent has a report suggesting the Egyptians borrowed the design from Scotland (insert editorial comment of your choice here)(mind the wrap): http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/This_Britain/2000-11/pyramid141100.shtml Also on the 'insert editorial comment of your choice' front, the Belfast Times reports on plans to search for the Ark of the Covenant in, er, Ireland: http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/today/nov16/News/ark.ncml Returning to the Egyptian front, the Express has an article by David Rohl on the search for Cambyses' lost army: http://www.lineone.net/express/00/11/16/features/f0100splash-d.html A couple of reports on what's been found at Umm el-Marra (I think these are about the same site): http://www.latimes.com:80/news/science/science/20001123/t000112488.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A7215-2000Nov12.html The Daily Star has a touristy/historical piece on Persepolis (scroll down quite a bit, if necessary): http://www.dailystarnews.com/200011/18/n0111809.htm#BODY4 'South Nexus' reports on the discovery in Iran of the coffin of a woman dating to ca. 200 B.C.: http://www.southnexus.com/newspopup_news.php?date1=18/11/2000&sequence=1&cnews= The Independent reports on the discovery of a 3,000 year-old megalithic 'temple' bigger than Stonehenge in Wales: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/This_Britain/2000-11/temple261100.shtml Iron Age Scotland was apparently milking cows, according to a BBC report: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1024000/1024888.stm News24 has a brief item on the discovery of a Roman "Titanic" off the coast of Sicily -- some sort of luxury cruise ship with assorted affinities with Pompeii (I'll try to track down more on this one): http://news.24.com/News24/Technology/Science_Nature/0,1113,2-13-46_939109,00.html We also have a report on conservators at the British Museum revealing one of the most detailed images (on a knife) of a Roman gladiator ever found in Britain: http://209.19.141.102/news/2000/11/11142000/wireknife_3307.asp King Arthur's 'round table', which supposedly resides in Winchester Castle, has turned out to probably date from the time of Edward I: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/This_Britain/2000-11/round231100.shtml A wire report tells of excavations in Tilaurakot, home of the Buddha: http://209.19.141.102/news/2000/11/11202000/wirbuddha_3332.asp Xinhua reports on the discovery of an ancient pottery workshop in Mongolia: http://202.84.17.11/english/htm/20001122/232333.htm A piece on the Reuters health wire suggests that evidence from teeth proves that rat-born nasties caused the big plague (and the same techniques might be used to figure out the plague at Athens, apparently) (mind the wrap): http://www.reutershealth.com/archive/2000/11/23/eline/links/20001123elin006.html Completely unaware of the above, apparently, other scholars are claiming that rats were 'framed' for the plague: http://www.express.co.uk/00/11/26/news/n4720.shtml In the world of art history, the latest controversy is over a pile of bones which may or may not belong to Giotto: http://www.spokesmanreview.com:80/news-story.asp?date=112100&ID=s882699 http://abcnews.go.com/sections/science/dailynews/giotto001120.html http://www.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/11/20/italy.giottoremains.ap/index.html I don't know why, but I'm always interested in discoveries of wine from shipwrecks, so here's another example: http://www.winespectator.com/Wine/Spectator/_daily|news1051 Ananova reports on the arrest of a Bulgarian antiquities smuggler: http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_121480.html?nav_src=newsIndexHeadline In a totally unrelated story, Bloomberg reports on assorted antiquities hitting the auction block at Sotheby's: http://www.bloomberg.com/pgcgi.cgi?T=finer99_art.ht&s=AOhPoYBQkQW50aXF1 I don't know how to classify this one, but Sir Ranulph Fiennes' 'perfect adventure' has a sort of leering archaeological/relic hunter feel to it: http://observer.co.uk/life/story/0,6903,402901,00.html NEW WORLD NEWS Japan Times reports that the Japanese are going to contribute funds to help preserve some Maya monuments in Bolivia: http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20001126a4.htm A spelunker has discovered some 1000-year-old cave paintings/etchings in Wisconsin (this one doesn't 'feel right' for some reason) (watch da wrap):

Scientific American Discovering Archaeology Weekly DISCOVERING ARCHAEOLOGY Newsletter for November 29, 2000 http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/newsletter.shtml --- Feature Stories --- - SOUTHERN INDIA'S MYSTERIOUS RULERS A Granite Pillar Records a Royal Family's Gift to its Subjects http://www.discoveringarchaeology.com/articles/112900-india.shtml Plus these Feature Reports: - Science, Swaying Palms, and Sea Breezes http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/11/11272000/micronesia_3340.asp - Japanese Ruins Up for World Heritage Designation http://www.ngnews.com/news/2000/11/11272000/wirunesco_3352.asp - 30 Times Bigger Than Stonehenge http://www.independent.co.uk/news/UK/This_Britain/2000-11/temple261100.shtml - What the Bones Can Tell You http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,230010824,00.html - Cave Tomb Discovered in Nabetieh http://www.dailystar.com.lb/27_11_00/art11.htm - The Virtual Museum of Nautical Archaeology http://ina.tamu.edu/ - Forest Fires Play Archaeologist http://www.latimes.com/news/state/20001128/t000114118.html