Seltener Fund aus der Bronzezeit

Zwei Gräber aus der Bronzezeit (um 1 500 v. Chr.) sind bei Bauarbeiten im Willmandinger Gewerbegebiet entdeckt worden. Das archäologische Denkmalamt des Regierungspräsidiums (RP) Tübingen hat umgehend eine sogenannte Rettungsgrabung veranlasst, um die gefundenen Skelette und Grabbeigaben zu bergen. Die Arbeiten in der Thomasstraße sind inzwischen beendet. Nach Angaben von Dr. Frieder Klein, Fachberater Archäologie beim Referat für Denkmalpflege am RP, wurde der Fund erst nach Abschluss der Bergung öffentlich bekannt gemacht, um die Grabungen nicht zu gefährden.[...]
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Rätsel um "Störtebeker-Schädel"

Der Hamburger Archäologe Ralf Wiechmann ist mit einem Totenkopf im Gepäck bis nach Kanada gereist, um das Geheimnis des «Störtebeker-Schädels» zu lüften. Doch eine DNA-Analyse war auch mit Hilfe kanadischer Forensik-Experten nicht möglich.
Das gut 600 Jahre alte Knochenmaterial sei nicht mehr zu entschlüsseln gewesen. Die Erbinformationen sollten eigentlich mit der von möglichen Nachkommen des legendären Seeräubers Klaus Störtebeker (um 1360-1401) verglichen werden. In Norddeutschland leben nach Schätzung des Wissenschaftlers etwa 200 Menschen mit dem Namen Störtebeker.[...]
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"Venus von Pfongau" entzückt Archäologen

Nach rund 2000 Jahren ist sie wieder am Tageslicht: Archäologen in Österreich haben eine Venus-Statue aus der Römerzeit gefunden. Besonders liebevoll behandelt wurde das Abbild der Göttin von seinen früheren Besitzern allerdings nicht.
Es war ein Zufallsfund. Im österreichischen Neumarkt-Pfongau in der Nähe von Salzburg graben Archäologen derzeit einen Großbauernhof, eine Villa Rustica, aus der Römerzeit aus: Auf 5000 Quadratmetern legen sie nach und nach Wirtschaftsgebäude, Ställe und ein großes Lagerhaus frei. Große Überraschungen erwarteten sie nicht. Der Hof war zwar recht groß, zählte aber wohl noch zum Standard in der römischen Provinz Noricum.[...]
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First indication for embalming in Roman Greece

A Swiss-Greek research team co-lead by Dr. Frank Rühli from the Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, found indication for embalming in Roman Greek times. By means of physico-chemical and histological methods, it was possible to show that various resins, oils and spices were used during embalming of a ca. 55 year old female in Northern Greece. This is the first ever multidisciplinary-based indication for artificial mummification in Greece at 300 AD.
The remains of a ca. 55-year old female (ca. 300 AD, most likely of high-social status; actual location: Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki, Greece) shows the preservation of various soft-tissues, hair and part of a gold-embroidered silk cloth. This unique find allows multidisciplinary research on these tissues.[...]
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Rare Documents from Baekje Period Discovered in Naju

A recently discovered wooden document shows that a state-run ironmill once operated in Naju, South Jeolla province. The document also shows that the state had kept meticulous records of the laborers and personnel who worked at the ironmill.
This type of wooden document, which dates back to the Baekje period, had previously only been found in Buyeo, the last capital of Baekje. However, its recent discovery in a region distant from Buyeo is expected to shed new light on Baekje's provincial governing system.[...]
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A Fake Ancient Disc?

Now that we’ve disposed of the bogus “pre-Columbian” crystal skulls, we can consider a potential new hoax: the Phaistos Disc, whose purportedly ancient text has long resisted scientists’ efforts to decipher it. My colleague Bina Venkataraman explains the newest twist on its inscrutability:
The hundred-year-old mystery of a famous ancient artifact, according to one art history scholar, might be summed up with a single word: hubris.[...]
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Stammt der Antikythera-Mechanismus von Archimedes?

Sie gilt als eines der größten Rätsel der Archäologie: Die 2100 Jahre alte Zahnradmaschine von Antikythera soll einst für die alten Griechen Sonnen- und Mondfinsternisse exakt berechnet haben. Doch auch für die Planung sportlicher Großereignisse könnte der Mechanismus getaugt haben.[...]
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Discovering How Greeks Computed In 100 B.C.

After a closer examination of a surviving marvel of ancient Greek technology known as the Antikythera Mechanism, scientists have found that the device not only predicted solar eclipses but also organized the calendar in the four-year cycles of the Olympiad, forerunner of the modern Olympic Games.
The new findings, reported Wednesday in the journal Nature, also suggested that the mechanism’s concept originated in the colonies of Corinth, possibly Syracuse, on Sicily. The scientists said this implied a likely connection with Archimedes.[...]
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Neues Archäologie-Museum in Xanten

Den «Barbaren» rechts und links des Niederrheins stockte vor fast zwei Jahrtausenden sicherlich der Atem. Geradezu gigantisch erhob sich die Basilika Thermarum, die Eingangshalle zur römischen Badeanlage der Colonia Ulpia Traiana, in den trüben germanischen Himmel.
Noch heute nötigt der Bau von den Dimensionen eines modernen, achtstöckigen Wohnblocks dem Besucher der Niederrheinstadt Xanten Bewunderung ab. Wiedererstanden sind - mit den Mitteln heutiger Architektur - wenigstens die äußeren Maße des antiken Super-Baus in Roms nördlicher Provinz. In der stahlgrauen, von senkrechten Fensterbändern gegliederten Basilika-Hülle mit ziegelrotem Satteldach hat das neue RömerMuseum von Xanten seine Heimat gefunden.[...]
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New stage in Trojan excavations

A German archaeologist in charge of excavations in ancient Troy announced that a new dimension will be added to the excavations with the finds of the past 20 years being gathered together for the first time. Member of the teaching staff at Tübingen University, Dr. Ernst Pernicka told the Anatolia news agency Thursday that they were ready to present the intermediate results of the two-decade dig saying, "We will crown the past 20 years of work with publications. This project will be the intermediate results of the past 20 years of work."[...]
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Paintings of the Vijayanagar and Nayaka periods have been vandalised in temples

Some exquisite mural paintings that adorned Tamil Nadu’s temples are lost thanks to neglect and state-sponsored vandalism. These treasures, belonging mostly to the Vijayanagar and Nayaka periods (14th to 17th century), have been whitewashed or sandblasted in the name of temple renovation or kumbhabhishekam (a consecration ritual). Officials of the State Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR and CE) Department have allowed the whitewashing or sandblasting of the murals to present a clean surface to devotees. What is even more appalling is that they justify the acts, which disregard the canons of art conservation, by claiming that devotees do not like to see faded paintings.[...]
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Ancient grave found on Bognor new homes site

Land soon to become a new housing estate has yielded an unexpected treasure – a 2,000- year-old skeleton, believed to be that of a prince, a warrior or a priest. Planning permission has been granted for more than 600 houses in open fields at North Bersted near Bognor.
But before the work could go ahead, an archaeological survey had to be carried out on the site to check if there was anything of historical interest under the topsoil. What the team from the Thames Valley Archaeological Services found was beyond their wildest dreams.[...]
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Many hands painted Lascaux caves

The painted caves of Lascaux in the Dordogne region of France are one of the most famed monuments of Ice Age art. Dating back about 17,000 years, the great Hall of the Bulls and its adjacent chambers proved so popular with visitors that a generation ago the cave had to be closed to save the paintings from encroaching mould. A replica, Lascaux II, was built nearby and has proved equally popular.[...]
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Ruins may be Viking hunting outpost in Greenland

Ruins recently discovered on Greenland may mark the Vikings' most northerly year-round hunting outpost on the icy island, a researcher said on Monday.
Knut Espen Solberg, leader of 'The Melting Arctic' project mapping changes in the north, said the remains uncovered in past weeks in west Greenland may also be new evidence that the climate was less chilly about 1,000 years ago than it is today.
'We found something that most likely was a dock, made of rocks, for big ships up to 20-30 metres (60-90 ft) long,' he told Reuters by satellite phone from a yacht off Greenland. He said further study and carbon dating were needed to pinpoint the site's age.[...]
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Silvrettamassiv wird zum Mekka der Alpin-Archäologen

Studenten der Unis Innsbruck und Zürich gruben sich durchs Silvrettamassiv. Auf der Suche nach ältesten menschlichen Spuren - die sie auch prompt fanden.
2007 war es, als sich Archäologe Thomas Reitmeier, Leiter des Projekts „Rückwege", mit Studenten der Unis Innsbruck und Zürich aufmachte, um einen weißen Fleck auf der inneralpinen Landkarte der Archäologen auszumerzen - die Silvrettaregion. Prompt stießen die Forscher auf Überraschendes, auf österreichischer Seite im Fimber- und im Jamtal, sowie auf der Bielerhöhe.[...]
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Archäologen bergen über 2.500 Jahre altes Schiffswrack

Antikes griechisches Schiff war etwa 500 v.Chr. 800 Meter vor der sizilianischen Küste in einem Sturm gesunken - Weitere Untersuchungen in Portsmouth geplant.
Mit über 2.500 Jahren zählt es zu den ältesten erhaltenen Schiffswracks aus der Antike: Archäologen haben nun die Reste eines aus der griechisch-archaischen Epoche stammenden Schiffes vor der sizilianischen Küste geborgen.[...]
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Saving ancient Pompeii from modern threats

Citing threats to public security and to the site itself, the Italian government has for the first time declared a yearlong state of emergency for the ancient city of Pompeii.
Nearly 2,000 years after Mount Vesuvius buried Pompeii under pumice and steaming volcanic ash, some 2.6 million tourists tramp annually through this archaeological site, which is on Unesco's World Heritage list.
Frescoes in the ancient Roman city, one of Italy's most popular attractions, fade under the blistering sun or are chipped at by souvenir hunters.[...]
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Archaeologists find 9,000-year-old rhino remains in Urals

Archaeologists in the Sverdlovsk Region in Russia's Urals have discovered the 9,000-year-old bones of a rhinoceros, a local museum worker said on Monday.
The excavations during which the bones were discovered were carried out at a site on the bank of the Lobva River, said Nikolai Yerokhin from the Russian Academy of Sciences' Institute of Plant And Animal Ecology department.
It was generally assumed that rhinoceros last wandered the Urals some 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. However, the latest findings seem to prove that they existed in the area a lot more recently.[...]
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Garden stone 80-million-years-old

An unusual stone that has been in a retired police officer's rockery for 15 years has turned out to be an 80 million-year-old fossil. Peter Parvin, 74, of Maidstone, picked up the fossilised fish head from a beach between Pevensey, East Sussex and Dungeness, Kent, during a holiday. It was then in his garden until experts at the town's museum looked at it.[...]
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Archaeologists in search of the Sámi people

Archaeological digs of Sámi settlements carried out in cooperation between universities in Norway, Finland and Sweden.
Summer is fieldwork season in archaeology. In Northern Lapland, a dig of some Sámi settlements is into its fourth week. The dig is part of the three-year BOREAS project, examining settlements and local livelihoods north of the Arctic Circle.
We caught up with Petri Halinen, a researcher from the University of Helsinki, somewhere near Utsjoki, as he was setting off to the dig up in the fells on his all-terrain vehicle.[...]
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Ancient Greek ship fished from sea

An ancient Greek trading ship that had lain on the seabed off the coast of Gela in southern Sicily for 2,500 years was brought to the surface for the first time on Monday. The ancient Greek vessel is 21 metres long and 6.5 metres wide, making it by far the biggest of its kind ever discovered. Four Greek vessels found off the coasts of Israel, Cyprus and France are at most 15 metres long.
The one in Gela is also of particular value for scholars who will be able to delve into Greek naval construction techniques thanks to the amazing find of still-intact hemp ropes used to 'sew' together the pine planks in its hull - a technique described in Homer's Iliad. ''Gela's ancient ship is the patrimony not only of Sicily but of all humanity,'' said Sicily's regional councillor for culture Antonello Antinoro, who watched Monday's operation.[...]
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Archäologen finden das deutsche Stonehenge

In der Magdeburger Börde graben Archäologen derzeit an einem sensationellen Fund: Sie glauben, die deutsche Variante von Stonehenge entdeckt zu haben - in Pömmelte. Das einzige Problem: Weil die Anlage aus Holz und nicht aus Stein erbaut wurde, ist nur wenig übrig geblieben.
Wer mit André Spatzier spricht, der muss sich erst einmal an die Lautstärke gewöhnen. Der junge, braungebrannte Doktorand an der Martin-Luther-Universität in Halle steht auf einer geschäftigen Baustelle. Bagger und LKW machen Lärm. "Wir öffnen gerade die Grabungsfläche", sagt Spatzier. Er steht auf einem Acker unweit der Elbe in Sachsen-Anhalt, ganz in der Nähe stehen einige Häuser des Ortes Pömmelte-Zackmünde.[...]
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Restoring Ethiopia's great obelisk

The slender stone columns which mark the tombs of ancient kings and nobles still stand in a green field at the edge of the modern town of Axum. But these days the site is dominated by a huge tower of scaffolding, topped by a yellow mobile crane, which dwarfs King Ezana's obelisk, the one royal monument still standing.
Inside the scaffolding lies part of the Axum Obelisk, looted by Italian troops in 1937 during their brief occupation of Abyssinia.[...]
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Flint hints at existence of Palaeolithic man in Ireland

The possibility of a Palaeolithic human presence in Ireland has once again presented itself. A flaked flint dating to about 200,000 years ago found in Co Down is certainly of human workmanship, but its ultimate origin remains uncertain.
Discovered at Ballycullen, ten miles east of Belfast, the flake is 68mm long and wide and 31mm thick. Its originally dark surface is heavily patinated to a yellowish shade, and the lack of sharpness in its edges suggests that it has been rolled around by water or ice, Jon Stirland reports in Archaeology Ireland.[...]
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69 more protected monuments in Rajasthan

The timeless allure of historical monuments in Rajasthan holds major fascination. Now in a bid to preserve its enduring heritage, the department of archaeology and museums has granted the status of protected monuments to at least 69 more historical buildings spread across the state. The newly-listed locations and monuments would also be up for adoption under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme.
Even while two of these locations - the Nahargarh ki Baori made the sets of Rang De Basanti and Jodha Akbar was extensively shot at Sambhar - several others were so long subjected to utter neglect in various districts due to paucity of funds.[...]
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Neuer Masterstudiengang "Medieval and Renaissance Studies"

Der neue fachübergreifende Masterstudiengang startet im Wintersemester an der Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB).
Einen neuen, fachübergreifenden Masterstudiengang bieten die Fakultäten für Geschichtswissenschaft und Philologie der RUB in Kooperation mit fünf weiteren Fakultäten an: Medieval and Renaissance Studies (kurz MARS) startet im kommenden Wintersemester und richtet sich an Studierende, die einen Bachelorabschluss in Geschichte, Kunstgeschichte, Anglistik oder Germanistik haben.[...]
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Iron Age warrior's grave a unique find

THE 2,000-year-old grave of an Iron Age warrior has been discovered in the trenches of a new housing development.
The discovery by archaeologists is thought to indicate a burial site unique in the UK – and so important that the find was kept under wraps until the delicate process of moving the remains to a laboratory had been completed. This was for fear of illegal treasure-hunters descending on North Bersted, Bognor Regis.[...]
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Ancient burial site found at Malacca Fort

An ancient burial site dating to the 15th century has been discovered at the Malacca Fort, in the historic Malaysian city of Malacca, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Centre for Archaeological Research Malaysia on Friday unveiled an initial analysis of the site, a press release said.
Malacca was a strategic trading post for South-East Asia in the 15th and 16th century. The burial site is pre-Portuguese and could hold clues to the history of the region.[...]
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2 sets of mammoth bones unearthed in Minsk

Workers building a business centre in Minsk came across the bones of two mammoths thought to be between 25,000 and 45,000 years old, an official from Belarus' Academy of Sciences told AFP on Friday.
The construction workers did not realize the bones could be prehistoric until they discovered tusks and immediately called in experts, said Alexander Medvedev, who heads the Academy's archaeology department. Scientists determined the discovery to be the bones of two young mammoths, Medvedev said.[...]
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Mummies cover-up reversed

Manchester Museum has reversed its decision to cover up its Egyptian mummies in response to public opinion. The museum covered up three unwrapped mummies on display, sparking accusations of political correctness, two months ago.
The cover-up was part of a consultation on how the mummies will be displayed when the museum's ancient Egypt gallery is redeveloped. Nick Merriman, museum director, has said one of the mummies will now be left partially unwrapped in its original display state, while another will be partially covered, leaving its head, hands and feet exposed.[...]
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Response to Spiegel Magazine’s Attack on the Legacy of Cyrus the Great

By Dr Kaveh Farrokh

Greetings to the Distinguished Staff of Der Spiegel Magazine.

Recently a number of my colleagues as well as students have brought the following article to my humble attention:

FALLING FOR ANCIENT PROPAGANDA
UN Treasure Honors Persian Despot
By Matthias Schulz
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/0,1518,564395,00.html (German)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,566027,00.html (English)

If the above report had been written by ideologues, it would not have been very surprising, as historical revisionism and political motivations do often accompany one another. It is however lamentable that a distinguished world-class magazine such as Der Speigel has chosen to perpetuate a series of half-truths that resemble the writings of conspiracy theorists. I will of course expostulate upon the narratives of the latter on item (7) below, but first allow me to briefly examine a number of statements made by Mr. Schulz in items (1) - (6).[...]
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Water To Run Down From Antonine Nymphaeum After 1300 Years

Water will run down from the Antonine Nymphaeum, a monumental fountain located on the north of the ancient city of Sagalassos near Aglasun town of the southwestern Turkish province of Burdur, after some 1300 years.
In an exclusive interview with the A.A, Semih Ercan said on Friday that restoration works on the fountain dated to the reign of Marcus Aurelius (A.D. 161-180) were expected to finish in 2010. Ercan, who heads the restoration works, said, "the fountain with a height of 10 meters and width of 30 meters, is one of the most splendid structures in the ancient city.[...]
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Australia's ancient Aboriginal rock art at risk, experts say

Australia's greatest ancient Aboriginal rock art is at risk of being damaged or destroyed because it sits at the epicentre of the country's resources boom, experts say.
The etchings of men and animals on the rocks of the Burrup Peninsula, some of which are believed to be up to 30,000 years old, lie in Western Australia's remote and mineral-laden Pilbara region.
Images carved onto the red rocks scattering the landscape include kangaroos, lizards and emu tracks as well as the extinct native Tasmanian tiger which died out on the mainland 6,000 years ago.[...]
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Antike Gedächtnisstätte bei Krefeld entdeckt

Archäologen sind bei Ausgrabungen auf dem Gelduba-Gelände in der Nähe von Krefeld auf Überreste einer antiken Gedächtnisstätte gestoßen.
Die sogenannte Cella Memoriae, ein kleines Gebäude über einem Grab, wurde wahrscheinlich in der zweiten Hälfte des vierten Jahrhunderts angelegt, wie die Forscher erläuterten. «Es gibt keine eindeutigen Hinweise darauf, ob die Cella christlich oder heidnisch war, beides ist möglich», so der Krefelder Archäologe Christoph Reichmann vom Museum Burg Linn.[...]
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Kaliningrad: Die Suche nach Wiskiauten geht weiter

Ein deutsch-russisches Archäologenteam hat mit der diesjährigen Sommergrabung nahe von Selenogradsk begonnen. Ziel der Suche: Wiskiauten, die letzte verschollene Handelssiedlung der Wikinger an der Ostsee.
Seit fünf Jahren forscht der Kieler Archäologe und Grabungsleiter Timo Ibsen, ein Fachmann für die frühgeschichtlichen Kulturen an der Küste des einstigen Ostpreußen, nach Spuren des versunkenen Siedlung nahe der Kurischen Nehrung, wo vom 9. bis in das 11. Jahrhundert hinein heidnische Prussen und die aus Gotland angelandeten Wikinger schwunghaften Handel trieben und wohl auch eng zusammen lebten.
Das jedenfalls legen Funde nahe aus dem Gräberfeld Wiskiauten, das im Gegensatz zur eigentlichen Siedlung seit mehr als hundert Jahren bekannt und mittlerweile auch zu einem Großteil erforscht ist.[...]
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Älteste Bibel der Welt online

Der Codex Sinaiticus gilt als älteste überlieferte Bibelabschrift der Welt. Erhalten sind mehr als 800 Seiten und 40 Fragmente, auf denen Auszüge des Alten und das vollständige Neue Testament niedergeschrieben sind. Allerdings liegen die großformatigen Blätter aus Pergament heute über ganz Europa verstreut. Bis 2009 sollen alle Teile der wertvollen Ausgabe aus dem vierten Jahrhundert im Internet einsehbar sein. Den Anfang machen jetzt 110 Bätter aus der Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig und der British Library.[...]
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Predynastic Human Presence Discovered By Core Drilling At The Northern Nile Delta Coast

A small but significant find made during a geological survey provides evidence of the oldest human presence yet discovered along the northernmost margin of Egypt's Nile delta.
A rock fragment carried by humans to the site was discovered in a sediment core section north of Burullus lagoon near the Mediterranean coast. Radiocarbon analysis of plant-rich matter in the mud surrounding the object provides a date of 3350 to 3020 B.C., the late Predynastic period.[...]
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Sakkara - a history hidden in the stones

The titles of functions performed in the state, facts of everyday life, descriptions of ceremonies - this is the type of information that can be found on the stones used by ancient Egyptians to decorate their tombs and estates. Such inscriptions are one of the basic sources of knowledge in research. Dr Kamil Omar Kuraszkiewicz from Warsaw University Institute of Archaeology discussed the finds of the Polish archaeological mission in recent years during a conference "Poles on the Nile".[...]
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Tomb reveals ancient trade network

Ancona, July 24 - The tomb of a woman who died around 2,600 years ago on the eastern Italian coast is helping archaeologists piece together the vast trade network that once linked this area with the Middle East, North Africa and Greece.
Experts working on a tomb near the port of Ancona say the site contains over 650 artefacts from the 7th century BC, including numerous items made in other parts of the world.
"This tomb is of extraordinary importance, as it contains the only known funerary finds in the area of Conero dating from this time," said the Archaeology Superintendent for the Marche region, Giuliano de Marinis.[...]
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Google Earth finds more than 450 new archaeological sites in Afghanistan

More than 450 archaeological sites, some dating back millenia, have been discovered in Afghanistan thanks to mapping website Google Earth. The site makes it possible to find sites of interest in the war-torn country that could not otherwise not be visited by archaeologists.
Talking to Marcus Lush on RadioLive this morning, Melbourne's La Trobe University phD student David Thomas said prior to Google Earth there was only one known archaeological site and the last person to visit for archaeological purposes was in the 1970s.[...]
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Basler Museum der Kulturen baut auf römischen Fundamenten

Bei einer Rettungsgrabung im Innenhof des Museums der Kulturen kam es zu unerwarteten Funden: Unter neuzeitlichen Gebäuderesten entdeckten die Mitarbeitenden der Archäologischen Bodenforschung des Kantons Basel-Stadt mächtige Mauerfundamente eines imposanten römischen Bauwerks. Spuren römischer Gebäude dieser Grösse waren auf dem Münsterhügel bis dahin eine Seltenheit.[...]
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Unique Archeological Find Unearthed in Suzdal

Archeologists have uncovered a unique funerary monument of the first millennium AD on the territory of Opolye, Suzdal.
The discovery of this Finno-Ugric burial ground is a real event for archeologists. In the excavation around 300 square meters large there have been unearthed 11 tombs that make it possible to reveal the earlier unknown facts of ancient history.
The monument dating back to the 3rd-4th centuries has kept Finnish jewelry and is evidence of a rich militarized society, where cattle breeding played an important role. All entombments are located in a row. Judging by their size at least four of them are children burials.[...]
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Germans find Olympic course where Nero raced chariot

German archaeologists using radar technology believe they may have discovered the ancient horse racing track at Olympia where Roman Emperor Nero bribed his way to Olympic laurels. The whereabouts of the racecourse is one of the last remaining mysteries of Olympia, the holy site where the ancient Greeks founded the Olympic Games in the eighth century BC.
The one-kilometer-long course, the largest structure of ancient Olympia, has been lost for more than 1,600-years since the Christian Emperor Theodosius abolished the games because of their pagan past.[...]
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New life given to ancient Egyptian texts stored at Stanford for decades

They're torn and faded and have the woven texture of a flattened Triscuit. At first glance, the ancient Egyptian texts look like scraps of garbage. And more than 2,000 years ago, that's exactly what they were—discarded documents, useless contracts and unwanted letters that were recycled into material needed to plaster over mummies, like some precursor to papier-mâché.
Now they are priceless clues to everyday life in the Ptolemaic Era, bits of history recently cleaned and sandwiched between pieces of glass so researchers at Stanford could begin translating the Greek writing and Egyptian script while studying the worn papyrus it is scribbled on.[...]
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Forscher belegt, dass Troia in Hisarlik lag

Immer wieder gibt es Streit um die Frage, wo eigentlich die Stadt Troia lag. Zuletzt hatte der Literaturwissenschaftler Raul Schrott dargelegt: im Südosten der Türkei. Der Archäologe Ernst Pernicka widerspricht nun. Troia sei das westtürkische Hisarlik. Dafür sprechen zwei Flüsse, Erdschichten und Grabungsfunde.
Der Schauplatz für Homers Epos über den Krieg um Troia liegt nach Überzeugung des Archäologen Ernst Pernicka mit hoher Wahrscheinlichkeit rund um die Ausgrabungen in Hisarlik in der Westtürkei. Der Tübinger Forscher leitet seit dem Tod des Archäologen Manfred Korfmann vor drei Jahren die Ausgrabungen in Troia.[...]
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Several archaeological objects found

"Important cemeteries dating back to the Roman age along with nine statues were unearthed this year among other key discoveries," Culture Minister Farouq Hosni said Monday 21/7/2008.
The burial ground found in Giza's Kom Abou-Billou district housed a number of statutes of some gods, topped by Aphrodite, and several engravings of the Roman age, the Minister told reporters.[...]
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Scholars to reassemble ancient Egyptian boat

Archaeologists will excavate hundreds of fragments of an ancient Egyptian wooden boat and try to reassemble it, Egyptologists announced Saturday.
The 4,500-year-old vessel was entombed in an underground chamber next to Giza's Great pyramid. It is the sister ship of a similar boat removed in pieces in 1954 from another pit and painstakingly reconstructed. Experts believe the boats were meant to ferry the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid in the afterlife.[...]
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800-year-old footprint unearthed in Canada

A footprint of 800 years old has been unearthed at one of Canada's top archaeological sites in the western Manitoba Province, scientists announced Tuesday.
The footprint was discovered when archaeologists dug at the site located in the central area of provincial capital Winnipeg. The area has a rich history that includes aboriginal camping, the fur trade, the construction of the railway, waves of immigration and the Industrial Age.
The place has been determined as the future site of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights and archaeologists have been scraping away at the site for the basement of the building.[...]
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Auf den Spuren Ottos des Großen

Nur wenige Zentimeter groß ist das beidseitig polierte Stück Marmor in der Hand von Rainer Kuhn. Unscheinbar sei der Marmorbrocken aber nur für den Laien, sagt der Archäologe. Das Fragment messe 3,9 Zentimeter in der Stärke, was exakt der Dicke der Grabplatte von Otto des Großen im Magdeburger Dom entspreche. Beide Steine stammten also aus dem gleichen Steinbruch in Italien, sagt Kuhn. Dem Fachmann ließe solch eine Erkenntnis das Herz im Leibe höher schlagen.[...]
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Mumie eines rätselhaften Andenvolks

Vor einem Jahr schon waren Archäologen im Tal des Huaura-Flusses unweit der Küste Perus die Mumie eines Mannes gestoßen. Er gehörte einst zum Volk der Chancay, das hier in der Zeit von 1000 und 1500 n. Chr. siedelte.
Jetzt haben Forscher um Kit Nelson von der Tulane University Neues zu berichten. Offenbar genoss der im Alter von 30 bis 45 Jahren gestorbene Mann einst eine hohe Stellung in der Gesellschaft. Denn seine letzte Reise trat er in zwei edlen Gewändern und einem kostbaren Lendenschurz an. Sein Gesicht war mir roter Farbe bemalt – ein typisches Merkmal für den hohen Rang des Toten.[...]
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Keltisches Heiligtum im Museum für Urgeschichte

Weltweit einzigartig ist das neu errichtete keltische Heiligtum im Freigelände des Niederösterreichischen Museums für Urgeschichte. Aufgrund von Befunden in Roseldorf (Weinviertel) und in Frankreich wurde es für die Sonderausstellung „Heiligtümer der Druiden – Opfer und Rituale bei den Kelten“ erbaut. Das Besondere: Archäologen können erahnen, welcher keltische Gott in Roseldorf verehrt wurde.
Bis vor wenigen Jahren kannte man keltische Heiligtümer nur aus Frankreich. In den vergangenen Jahren haben Archäologen aber auch in Österreich an mehreren Fundorten Überreste entdeckt, die mit kultischen Praktiken der Kelten in Verbindung stehen.[...]
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1708 Tragedy Studied by Ukrainian Archeologists

With cooperation from the Ukrainian government, archeologists are trying to reconstruct a Ukrainian town destroyed by the Russian army during the 18th century. At present Baturyn is a small town, but in the 18th century it was home for Ivan Mazepa, a legendary commander or “ghetman” in Ukrainian.
"Under the patronage of President Victor Yuschenko the revival of ghetman’s capital is happening in the city of Baturyn,” said Vladimir Prihodko, a local administrator. During the Nothern War with Sweden, Mazepa turned on his Russian Rulers, and fought with the Swedish against the Tsar.[...]
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Tanzania: Prehistoric Footprints Stir Fresh Controversy

Archaeological experts are divided on a plan to exhume the hominid footprints at Laetoli for public display, some arguing that this could lead to erosion of the rare imprints. The 3.6 million- year old footprints, discovered in 1978, have since the 1990s been reburied for protection while a replica of the original cast is on display at the site. Government authorities recently intended to exhume the oldest known footprints of human ancestors for public view in order to attract more tourists and researchers.[...]
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Gold Ring from Middle Ages Found in East Iceland

Archeologists discovered a gold ring in a grave in Skriduklaustur in east Iceland where there used to be a monastery. The discovery is considered significant because very few gold rings have been found in archeological excavations in Iceland.
“It looks like a normal wedding ring, but it has been decorated a little,” archeologist Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir, who is responsible for the current excavation project in Skriduklaustur, told Morgunbladid.[...]
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Archaeologists unearth ancient Roman spa in southern Siberia

Archaeologists have discovered a Roman spa of monumental proportions in downtown Prokuplje in southern Siberia. According to a report by B92, the spa was found during works to reconstruct the parochial seat of the local church of Sv. Prokopije in this southern Serbian town.
Roman spas were the equivalent of today’s fitness centers, frequented by the wealthiest and most respected residents of the ancient Hameum, as a matter of prestige, experts explained.[...]
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Archaeologists uncover foundations of a medieval tower in Malta

Archaeologists have uncovered the foundations of a semi-circular bastion or tower dating to the Late Middle Ages in the town of Mdina in Malta, which is being considered an extraordinary discovery which may shed light on one of the darkest periods of Maltese history.
According to a report carried out in the web portal DI-VE, the almost intact foundations were found directly below Council Square and Xara Palace during the course of preparatory works by the Restoration Unit aimed at consolidation of the Mdina bastions.
The remains became visible after the vegetation cover and the superficial layer of soil were removed. Further remains of an earlier line of medieval fortifications were also found on site, said Nathaniel Cutajar, from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage.[...]
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2400 Jahre altes Erbgut enthüllt Frachtgut

Amphoren waren in der Antike das, was heute die Container sind. Welch kostbare Fracht sie einst bargen, bleibt allerdings meist ein Rätsel, weil nur selten Spuren des Inhalts die Zeiten überdauern. Doch jetzt hatten Forscher um Brendan Foley vom Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge ganz besonderes Glück: Sie fanden heraus, was sich einst in zwei Amphoren befand - und zwar indem sie darin enthaltene genetische Spuren untersuchten.[...]
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Prospect of a Second Season of Archaeological Research in Parthian Fortress of Yazdgerd

The director of the archaeological team at Yazdgerd fortress announced a possible second season of archaeological research at the historical site, reported by the Persian service of ISNA on Saturday.
The first season of archaeological research was conducted after 30 years of absence of archaeologists in the area. The archaeological complex was first excavated by Edward J. Keall of Toronto Royal Ontario Museum, who found a collection of artistic symbols, dating back to the Arsacid (Parthian) dynasty (248 BCE-224 CE).[...]
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Medieval fortifications uncovered in Mdina

The foundations of a semi-circular bastion or tower dating to the Late Middle Ages were recently uncovered in Mdina – an extraordinary discovery which sheds light on one of the darkest periods of Maltese history. The almost intact foundations were found directly below Council Square and Xara Palace during the course of preparatory works by the Restoration Unit aimed at consolidation of the Mdina bastions.
“The remains became visible after the vegetation cover and the superficial layer of soil were removed. Further remains of an earlier line of medieval fortifications were also found on site,” Nathaniel Cutajar, from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, told www.di-ve.com.[...]
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Archaeologists google an ancient find

Indiana Jones's next adventure may well be in front of a computer if Hollywood scriptwriters decide to embrace a new approach to archaeological research in war-torn zones. David Thomas, a PhD student in La Trobe University's archaeological program in Melbourne, has used Google Earth to safely uncover historic sites in a remote part of war-torn Afghanistan.
Using the free internet resource, Thomas found up to 450 possible archaeological sites in Registan, which borders Helmand and Kandahar provinces in southern Afghanistan.[...]
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Historic abbey uncovered in dig

Parts of one of Scotland's most influential religious and historic buildings have been uncovered for the first time in centuries. Archaeologists have been digging at Scone Palace and believe they have found the walls of the lost abbey.
Despite the site's significance, there is very little sign of the 12th century building above ground. The team is also examining the Moot Hill - where kings, including Macbeth and Robert the Bruce, were crowned.[...]
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Roman spa unearthed in southern Serbia

Archeologists say they have discovered a Roman spa of monumental proportions in downtown Prokuplje. The spa was found during works to reconstruct the parochial seat of the local church of Sv. Prokopije in this southern Serbian town.
Archeologist Julka Kuzmanović-Cvetković says the discovery is important because it will put Prokuplje on Serbia's map of ancient Roman sites, known as the Trail of Roman Emperors. Roman spas were the equivalent of today's fitness centers, frequented by the wealthiest and most respected residents of the ancient Hameum, as a matter of prestige, experts explain.[...]
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Der Archäologe, der die Toiletten von Pompeji erforscht

Der Mann in den hellen kurzen Hosen hüpft aufgeregt von einem Bein aufs andere. «Hier, hier muss eine gewesen sein!» Behände klettert er über die Absperrung, betritt die Ruine eines Hauses in der Ausgrabungsstätte von Pompeji. «Das Rohr ist der Beweis», sagt Barry Hobson. Tatsächlich verläuft hinten in der Ecke ein vertikales Rohr, zusammengesetzt aus konvex gewölbten Tonteilen. Ein Hinweis darauf, dass es auch hier etwas gegeben haben könnte, dessen Erforschung Barry Hobson heute sein Leben widmet: eine Latrine oder, moderner ausgedrückt, eine Toilette.[...]
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Ancient Egyptian boat to be excavated, reassembled

Archaeologists to excavate hundreds of fragments of 4,500-year-old ancient Egyptian wooden boat.
Archaeologists will excavate hundreds of fragments of an ancient Egyptian wooden boat entombed in an underground chamber next to Giza's Great Pyramid and try to reassemble the craft, Egyptologists announced Saturday.
The 4,500-year-old vessel is the sister ship of a similar boat removed in pieces from another pit in 1954 and painstakingly reconstructed. Experts believe the boats were meant to ferry the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid in the afterlife.[...]
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Ancient Kamrupa empire lay in Assam or Meghalaya?

Is Guwahati the site where the ancient kingdom of Kamrupa existed or is it the Meghalaya? This and many more questions, which are still mired in controversy, could be answered when archaeologists excavate the entire Bhaitbari-Tikrikilla area in West Garo Hills district in the state.
"Further excavations are likely to reveal the remains of the habitation, besides unravelling the historical antiquity of the plains-belt of the state of which very little is known from recorded history," says senior government archaeologist Julies Marak.[...]
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"Science" Unmasks New Knowledge about the Indus Civilization

A recent cover story in the prestigious journal Science reports that the scientific view of the Indus Civilization, of how it compares to its other two contemporary civilizations (Mesopotamia and Egypt), and of what might have happened to it is undergoing a stark and important reconsideration. That scientists consider it to be “Boring No More” and, indeed, the emerging new understanding of the Indus Civilization suggests that it might have been “a powerhouse of commerce and technology in the 3rd millennium B.C.E.”[...]
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DNA survives two millennia underwater to shed light on amphorae

Amphorae were the workaday containers of the ancient world, used to ship everything from aromatic wine to smelly fish sauce around the Mediterranean and beyond. Thousands have been found, in shipwrecks and in fragments at their destinations.
Over the years, certain assumptions have grown up as to what was shipped in particular forms of amphorae and from specific source areas, and the remains of pottery containers have stood proxy for their presumed contents’ significance in ancient economies. In most cases no direct evidence of those contents could be obtained: long burial in the ground or on the seabed had, it was thought, washed away any evidence.[...]
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Persian Gulf's ancient history evoked

In a two day conference the UK's Durham University has studied the Persian Gulf and the ancient trading habits of the seafaring Persians, PressTV reported.
The conference started July 2 at Durham University in northern England and taking a multi-disciplinary approach, it looked at the key role the vital waterway has played in the development of human settlements in the region from the pre-historic to the present.
Speakers presenting papers included British academics as well as scholars from Australia, Italy, the US and France and the Iranian Centre of Archaeological Research (ICAR) in Tehran.[...]
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Culture Minister Liapis holds talks in Rome

Greek Culture Minister Mihalis Liapis arrived here for talks on combatting antiquities smuggling and closer cooperation between Greece and Italy on cultural issues.
Speaking to reporters after his meeting on Tuesday with Italian counterpart Sandro Bondi, Liapis said they agreed to reinforce bilateral relations in the cultural sector through exchanges and common actions, an agreement sealed by the signing of a relevant cooperation memorandum.
"We will coordinate our efforts in a common front aiming at the protection of our cultural heritage and the return to their country of origin of all antiquities that have been stolen by antiquity smugglers," Liapis also noted.[...]
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Academics ponder riddle of church’s ancient stone

An ancient Viking burial stone kept in a south Wirral church has become the centre of an archaeological dispute. The stone at the Church of St Mary and St Helen, in Neston town centre, which has been broken over time prior to its discovery, clearly depicts a man and a woman with an angel flying overhead.
Archaeologist and TV presenter Mark Olly said the stone is “as unique as the death mask of Tutankhamun”, but has disputed the interpretation placed on it by other Viking experts.[...]
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Archäologiepark Altmühltal in Kelheim eröffnet

Im Altmühltal können sich Geschichtsinteressierte künftig in einem Archäologiepark über die Frühzeit informieren. Für das Projekt wurden etliche historische Bauwerke und Grabhügel nachgebaut, beispielsweise Keltenmauern und ein Gehöft aus der Eisenzeit. Die Rekonstruktionen basieren auf Ausgrabungen, die während des Baus des Main-Donau-Kanals zwischen 1976 und 1990 gemacht wurden.
Der insgesamt 39 Kilometer lange Erlebnispfad wird am Freitag in Kelheim eröffnet. Zwischen der niederbayerischen Kreisstadt und Dietfurt gibt es insgesamt 18 Stationen. Der Archäologiepark im Altmühltal hat mehr als eine halbe Million Euro gekostet, die EU hat die Hälfte der Kosten übernommen.[...]
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Excavations lead to new discoveries in Sardis

After 154 years of excavations in the ancient city of Sardis, where the first gold coins were made, new artifacts continue to be unearthed, adding to the richness of Turkey’s legacy as a crossroads of civilizations.
Sardis, the present day Salihli district of western Manisa province, was the capital of the Lydian kingdom and was known as the “Queen of Asia.” The city is believed to have prospered under the Persians and Romans as it was the endpoint of the Royal Road, which stretched from Persia to Anatolia.[...]
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Archaeological digs near Bansko prove settlements

Bansko needs to correct a major fact in its city guide, Katya Melamed, the archaeologist supervising ongoing digs in the vicinity of Bulgaria’s major ski resort, said to The Sofia Echo. All reference books state that the first signs of settlements can be dated back to the 15th century, Melamed said, but recent findings indicate that active life in the area started around fourth century CE.[...]
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Rare Mummy Found With Strange Artifacts, Tattoo in Peru

Disemboweled and decorated with scarlet paint, metal eye plates, and a tattoo, an exquisitely preserved, thousand-year-old mummy has been discovered in Peru.
As anthropologists gingerly removed the layers of ancient textiles swaddling the thirtysomething elite male last month at a Lima lab, offerings both strange and familiar came to light—slingshots, corn, a figurine in identical dress.[...]
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Ancient Sites Being Destroyed by Vandals

Thousands of Nevada's most historic sites are under attack. They have been around for hundreds of years, but one day of off-roading or partying can turn our history into dust -- everything from ancient petroglyphs on rock walls to the smallest pot shards carried hundreds of miles from the Grand Canyon.
The people who deface the ancient art and the ones driving over burial sites try to make a sport of their reckless pastime. But even if you don't know what you're destroying, you could be one of history's vandals.[...]
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Archaeologists find 600-year-old chess piece in northwest Russia

Archaeologists in northwest Russia have discovered a chess piece dating back to the late 14th century, a spokesman for local archaeologists said on Friday. "The king, around several centimeters tall, is made of solid wood, possibly of juniper," the spokesman said.
The excavations are being carried out at the site of the Palace of Facets, in the Novgorod Kremlin in Veliky Novgorod. The palace is believed to be the oldest in Russia. [...]
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Hügelnekropole bei Biengen erforscht

Denkmalpflegereferat des Regierungspräsidiums Freiburg dokumentiert bis jetzt 25 Gräber aus dem frühen Mittelalter.
Bereits 1999 wurden Bereiche des Biengener Alamannenfriedhofs, der unter der „Merowingerhalle“ genannten Mehrzweckhalle von Biengen im Markgräflerland lag, untersucht. Die damals freigelegten Bestattungen erwiesen sich als herausragend. Zur Überraschung der Archäologen fanden sich nicht die in Reihen und Gruppen angeordneten Gräber, sondern einzelne Bestattungen im Zentrum kreisrunder Einfassungsgräben, den Spuren ehemaliger Grabhügel von 10–18m Durchmesser.[...]
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Discovery of a Partho-Sasanian Settlement in Semnan

During an archaeological salvage operation in Kesht-Dasht Tappeh in Semann province, archaeologists have discovered a settlement and numbers of historical cemeteries dating from Parthian (248 BCE- 224 CE) and Sasanian (224-651 CE) dynasties to post-Sasanian period, reported Persian service of CHN on Friday.
The archaeological rescue operation has taken place in order to salvage as many historical relics as possible prior to the construction of Cheshmeh-Ali Road, connecting Semnan to Mazandaran province. Construction of this road will cause extensive damages to the pre-Islamic historical sites in the province.[...]
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Hobby-Archäologe findet Urmenschen-Knochen

Ein Hobby-Archäologe hat in einer Kiesgrube im niedersächsischen Leinetal womöglich die bislang ältesten Urmenschen-Knochen in Deutschland entdeckt. Der Tübinger Anthropologe Prof. Alfred Czarnetzki bestimmte das Alter der beiden Schädelfragmente auf "mindestens 700 000 Jahre".[...]
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The Quest for the origins of the ancient Thracians

The search for the identity of the ancient Thrakiotes (Thracians) lies within the question of just who was a Hellene in the ancient world. Whether through ancient mythology, history or modern archeology and anthropology the search for just who were the ancient Hellenes lead us on a difficult journey with today’s political climate. The fact that the ancient Hellenic people were polyonymous people just add to the friction between scholars with each owns political motives. How do we define the ancient Hellenic ethnos, when it was divided in to tribes, which did not feel a common kindred till later on in history, a process, which in and of itself was slowly realized and crudely selective.[...]
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50,000 exhibits 'missing' from Russian museums

A sweeping government audit has revealed that up to 50,000 pieces are missing from Russia's museums -- everything from Pre-Revolutionary medals and weapons to precious works of art -- a member of the survey team said Thursday.
Former Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the survey after his government was deeply embarrassed in 2006 by hundreds of thefts from the crown jewel of Russia's art world, St. Petersburg's Hermitage gallery.[...]
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Heritage dig yields Zulu artefacts

An archaeological dig at Zulu King Dingane's former royal residence at uMgugundlovu has unearthed artefacts dating to the mid-19th century. These were an iron spearhead and coloured glass beads. Piles of charcoal were also found.
The excavation was undertaken by Amafa, KwaZulu-Natal's heritage body, to locate the outer palisade of an oval-shaped homestead of about 1 500 beehive-shaped, grass-covered dwellings enclosing an open area where the king used to inspect his army and Nguni cattle.[...]
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Archaeologists Trace Early Irrigation Farming In Ancient Yemen

In the remote desert highlands of southern Yemen, a team of archaeologists have discovered new evidence of ancient transitions from hunting and herding to irrigation agriculture 5,200 years ago.
As part of a larger program of archaeological research, Michael Harrower from the University of Toronto and The Roots of Agriculture in Southern Arabia (RASA) team explored the Wadi Sana watershed documenting 174 ancient irrigation structures, modeled topography and hydrology, and interviewed contemporary camel and goat herders and irrigation farmers.[...]
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Archeological discoveries in Syria dates back to 5,000 BC

A number of round buildings that are eight and half meters high and date back to 5,000 BC were discovered al-Hasaka governorate, 650 kilometres northeast of Damascus, a source said Wednesday.
Abdul Massih Baghdo, head of the al-Hasaka Archeology Department also told the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that a temple that dates back to 2,400 BC was discovered at the Tel Baidar site, in addition to chambers on the eastern side of the temple that had decorated doors.[...]
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Älteste Urmenschen-Knochen Deutschlands entdeckt?

Seit fast zwei Jahrzehnten stochert Hobby-Archäologe Karl-Werner Frangenberg jeden Samstag in einer Kiesgrube nahe des niedersächsischen Sarstedt herum. Meist geht er mit leeren Händen nach Hause. Doch jetzt scheint eine wissenschaftliche Sensation perfekt.[...]
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Funde aus der Steinzeit entdeckt!

Die Archäologin Dorothea Talaa fand im Sigleßer Kloaschützwald eine Keramik, die rund 6.000 Jahre alt ist.
Vor rund einem Jahr fand die Archäologin Dorothea Talaa die ersten Awaren-Gräber sowie Grabbeigaben im Kloaschitzwald, die aus den Jahren 800 bis 830 nach Christi Geburt stammen. Seit einem Monat ist Talaa mit ihrem Team wieder am „Schaffen“ und das mit sensationellen Entdeckungen: Nicht nur weitere awarische Gräber und auch ein römischer Urnenfriedhof konnten ausgehoben werden, sondern auch eine Keramik, die 6.000 Jahre alt ist.[...]
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Schiffsfriedhof stoppt die Ostsee-Pipeline

Es ist eines der größten - und vor allem längsten - Massengräber in der Geschichte der Schiffsfriedhöfe, und es entstand nur zu einem Zweck: Weitere Schiffe in die Tiefe zu ziehen und Feinde abzuschrecken. Es war im Jahr 1715, als die schwedische Marine 20 ihrer größten Schiffe mit Gesteinsbrocken belud. Auf hoher See schlugen die Männer die großen Segler leck, ließen sie vollaufen und schickten sie hinab in die eisige Ostsee - südöstlich von Rügen verschwanden die Schiffe auf dem Grund des Greifswalder Boddens.[...]
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Ein Menschenschädel an der Seseke

Dank ehrenamtlicher Unterstützung konnten Archäologen des Landschaftsverbandes Westfalen-Lippe (LWL) bei Renaturierungsmaßnahmen der Seseke bei Kamen (Kreis Unna) einen menschlichen Schädel dokumentieren und bergen. Wann und warum der Schädel in den Boden gelangte, werden die Spezialisten der LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen nun zu klären haben.[...]
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Kopie des Argonauten-Schiffs auf dem Weg

Apostolos Kourtis und seine Gefährten wollten in einer Kopie des Argonauten-Schiffes für den Frieden rudern. Doch die Türkei lässt das Schiff nicht durch den Bosporus.
Es sollte eine mythische Reise werden, und die türkische Passage galt von Beginn an als die tückischste - nun hat sie sich als unbezwingbar erwiesen: Schiffsbau-Enthusiasten haben in Griechenland die sagenumwogte Argo nachgebaut, den fast 30 Meter langen rammspornbewehrten 50-Ruderer der Antike.[...]
[...]Die Nachfahren der griechischen Abenteurer aber sollen dies nun gar nicht erst probieren dürfen - nicht wegen der heiklen Strömungen im Bosporus, sondern wegen anderer Gefahren. Die türkische Zeitung Sabah wusste es schon vor einigen Tagen: Die neue Argo sei "Teil des Versuchs, das Griechisch-Pontische Reich wiederzubeleben".[...]
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Archäologen gegen Raubgräber

Immer öfter schlagen Diebe auf archäologischen Grabungsstätten in der Region zu. Die Täter plündern Grabfelder und holen Tausende Münzen aus dem Boden. In Moers schlugen sie innerhalb eines Monats gleich dreimal zu. Der Schaden ist enorm. Gegen die „Plage“ ist die Polizei fast machtlos.
Marion Brüggler kann es nicht fassen. Erst seit vier Wochen legt die 34-jährige Archäologin von der Außenstelle der rheinischen Bodendenkmalpflege Xanten in Moers ein römisches Gräberfeld aus dem zweiten und dritten Jahrhundert nach Christus frei – und bereits zum dritten Mal sind während der Nacht Plünderer gekommen und haben die abgesperrte Ausgrabungsstelle nach alten Schätzen durchwühlt. „Wir sehen immer nur die Krater, die sie hinterlassen“, stöhnt die Wissenschaftlerin. „Was die Raubgräber mitgenommen haben, können wir ja nicht einmal sagen.“[...]
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Preserving Iraq's Battered Heritage

Archaeologists have feared for Iraq's unique archaeological treasures since war began 5 years ago. Now, despite continued unrest, a team returning from southern Iraq bears surprisingly good news.
In the early morning light of 7 June, an international team of archaeologists examined the ancient settlement of Tell al-Lahm in the flat and fertile plain of southern Iraq for signs of looting. Then three pickup trucks with armed men suddenly arrived on the scene. What followed was a brief but welcome confrontation: The men were part of a security team tasked with protecting such lonely sites from artifact thieves. Five years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein plunged the country into chaos and sparked a looting spree, a semblance of order is returning to the home of humanity's first writing system, cities, and empires.[...]
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So Much for the "Looted Sites"

A recent mission to Iraq headed by top archaeologists from the U.S. and U.K. who specialize in Mesopotamia found that, contrary to received wisdom, southern Iraq's most important historic sites -- eight of them -- had neither been seriously damaged nor looted after the American invasion. This, according to a report by staff writer Martin Bailey in the July issue of the Art Newspaper. The article has caused confusion, not to say consternation, among archaeologists and has been largely ignored by the mainstream press. Not surprising perhaps, since reports by experts blaming the U.S. for the postinvasion destruction of Iraq's heritage have been regular fixtures of the news.[...]
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Chinas dunkle Vergangenheit

Über die Frühzeit in China ist verblüffend wenig Gesichertes bekannt. Entstand die Hochkultur schon vor 5000 Jahren, wie die Tradition es will, oder erst ein Jahrtausend später?
Die Baubranche floriert in China. Das freut besonders die Altertumsforscher des Riesenreichs. Denn Peking hat verfügt, dass jede Großbaustelle in einer sogenannten Kulturschutzzone zu Beginn der Erdarbeiten von Archäologen untersucht werden muss. Nur wenn sie grünes Licht geben, dürfen Bagger und Bulldozer den Boden großräumig abtragen.[...]
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Forscher wollen Geheimtunnel unter mexikanischer Pyramide öffnen

Einst lebten in Teotihuacán 200.000 Menschen - vor 1300 Jahren wurde die Stadt im heutigen Mexiko plötzlich aufgegeben. Warum? Forscher hoffen jetzt, darauf eine Antwort zu finden - in einem geheimen Tunnel unter der legendären Sonnenpyramide.
Dumm gelaufen, müsste man eigentlich sagen. 1971 entdeckten Arbeiter in der Ruinenstadt Teotihuacán einen rund hundert Meter langen Tunnel. Kaum höher als zwei Meter, liegt er rund sechs Meter tief im Erdreich unter der sogenannten Sonnenpyramide - dem zentralen Gebäude der legendären antiken Stadt 40 Kilometer außerhalb von Mexiko-Stadt.[...]
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Magenspiegelung einer Mumie

Helicobacter-Infektion in 700 Jahre alter mexikanischer Mumie entdeckt.
Kolumbus und Konsorten brachten manch üblen Erreger in die Neue Welt - doch im Fall des Magenkeims Helicobacter pylori lautet das Urteil wohl "unschuldig": Das Bakterium hatte Amerika lange zuvor mit den ersten Einwanderern aus dem asiatischen Raum erreicht. Eine mexikanische Mumie zeigt nun, dass der Untermieter nicht nur mitgereist ist, sondern seine unfreiwilligen Wirte auch wirklich infiziert hat.[...]
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Auge gegen den "Bösen Blick"

Schon zur Zeit der Minoer und Mykener stach kaum ein griechischer Kapitän in See, ohne dass er sich des Schutzes der Allmächtigen versicherte. Um sich, die Mannschaft und sein Schiff gegen den „Bösen Blick“ von Feinden, Geistern oder Göttern zu wappnen, ließ er irgendwo ein "Magisches Auge" in die Planken nageln.[...]
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Horse racecourse in ancient Olympia discovered after 1600 years

The site of the ancient hippodrome course in Olympia, where the emperor Nero competed for Olympian laurels, has been discovered. The hippodrome was discovered in Olympia by a research team that included Professor Norbert Müller (a sports historian from Mainz), Dr Christian Wacker (a sports archaeologist from Cologne) and PD Dr Reinhard Senff (chief excavator of the German Archaeological Institute - DAI. "This discovery is an archaeological sensation," commented Norbert Müller of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. The research project extended over several weeks before being completed in the middle of May 2008.[...]
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Excavations throw new light on Bengal’s history

There is a common belief among historians that the history of Bengal started from the period of Palas and Senas. But the recent excavations in South 24-Parganas have stirred up a new debate. The objects unearthed recently are dated prior to the Palas and Senas period.
Mr Debisankar Mirdha founder of the Sunderbans Archeological Research Centre took an initiative to discover the ancient history of Bengal in 1987.
He collected archeological objects from many parts of South 24-Parganas district and built a museum at his own expenses. Mr Mirdha preserved nearly 1200 objects in the museum. Among the objects there were clay idols, earthen pots, bronze idols, tools, bronze weapons and Brahmi and Kharestri lipi (scripts).[...]
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Ulcers Discovered in Mummies

Two Mexican mummies had ulcers when they were alive. Remnants of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori were discovered in gastric tissue from the mummies, human remains believed to predate Columbus' discovery of the New World.
"It is only through the use of the stomach tissue of these incredible mummies that we were able to make this discovery," said researcher Yolanda Lòpez-Vidal. "Infection is established when the micro-organism infiltrates the stomach lining and induces a local inflammatory response. This is unlike colonization, which does not cause such a response and does not occur in the stomach."[...]
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6,000-Year-Old Knife Unearthed At Safety Harbor Park

It started out as a simple plan to erect a pavilion-like shelter at the Marshall Street Park. Then it became an archeology dig.
A city crew erecting the shelter stumbled upon an old knife on Monday, and archeologists today confirmed it is 6,000 to 8,000 years old, said Brad Purdy, the spokesman for the city of Safety Harbor.[...]
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The battle for Tbilisi's soul

"Don't destroy the building," pleaded a placard held by a young demonstrator outside a late 19th Century block in the centre of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.
But it was already too late. As the small group of conservationists held their protest, construction workers were standing nearby, preparing to start knocking it down.[...]
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Archaeological sites in south Iraq have not been looted, say experts

Despite widely publicised fears of damage to ancient sites, a team of specialists found that eight of the most important have not been touched after 2003.
An international team of archaeologists which made an unpublicised visit to southern Iraq last month found no evidence of recent looting—contrary to long-expressed claims about sustained illegal digging at major sites. The visit required the assistance of the British Army, which provided armed protection and a Merlin helicopter.[...]
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Peru officials find pre-Hispanic textiles on sale in Lima tourist market

Shoppers at a tourist market in Peru's capital could have netted greater bargains than they thought — rare, pre-Hispanic textiles costing little more than a Machu Picchu magnet.
Police and archaeologists raiding the block-long, outdoor Indian Market June 27 found swatches of centuries-old cloth — mainly from the Chancay culture — nestled among itchy llama sweaters and other mass-produced Peruvian handicrafts.[...]
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Ancient royal burial ground found in Egypt

Archaeologists have uncovered ancient wooden coffins in what appears to be a royal burial ground near the necropolis of Abydos in southern Egypt, the state-run MENA news agency reported on Saturday.
The agency said that the discovery, made by a team from the Supreme Council of Egyptian Antiquities, could be dated back to the Old Kingdom (3,000 B.C.) -- the golden age of pyramid building in ancient times.[...]
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The hill of slaves

For almost 2,000 years they have been sleeping there, on the hill just beyond the estuary of the Tiber: the man with a broken back due to the harbour’s very hard work, still with the coin in his mouth with which to pay Charon; the woman buried with her small mirror and few other joys of a small uneventful life; the child laid down to rest with much love and with a bracelet of various colours to enable him to buy his passage to the afterlife; the 31-year-old male born with a rare deformation of the mouth with teeth locked together whom some friends must have rudimentally tried to help by knocking off some side teeth to enable him to be fed and to breathe, even while working as a slave.[...]
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2,000-year-old bronze drum unearthed

The ancient drum was found by a farmer in his garden, Village 8, Ha Lam commune, Da Huoai district, in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong. It is now at the Lam Dong Museum.
The 2,000-year-old bronze drum is 55cm wide, 35cm high, with a 12-pointed star and circles on the drumhead. Hac birds fly in opposite directions in the outer circle and stand still in the inner circle. This is the difference between this drum and other bronze drums.[...]
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Buddha's caves

Sand is implacable here in far western China. It blows and shifts and eats away at everything, erasing boundaries, scouring graves, leaving farmers in despair.
It's one of many threats to the major tourist draw of this oasis city on the lip of the Gobi desert: the hundreds of rock-cut Buddhist grottoes that pepper a cliff face outside town. Known as Mogaoku — "peerless caves" — and filled with paradisiacal frescos and hand-molded clay sculptures of savior-gods and saints, they are, in size and historical breadth, like nothing else in the Chinese Buddhist world.[...]
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Iraq to probe stolen Judaic works that turned up in Israel

Iraq has created a special task force to investigate the theft of valuable ancient Judaic manuscripts that later turned up in Israel. The rare books, confiscated during the reign of Saddam Hussein, were rescued from US bombing at the start of the 2003 war and then sent to the US for restoration but later wound up in Israel instead.
At a press briefing at the National Museum in Baghdad, Minister of Tourism and Archaeology Mohammad Abbas al-Uraibi said a working group "will investigate in the US to find out if this is true or not."[...]
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Archaeologists to refuse help over possible Iran strike

Persepolis, once the capital of the Persian empire, and the massive mud-brick Bam citadel are among the nine listed World Heritage Sites in Iran. Yet leading archaeologists are urging colleagues to refuse any military requests to draw up a list of Iranian sites that should be exempted from air strikes.[...]
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Parthian Potteries Found in Khorasan Province

Archaeologists excavating in the southern historical town of Moud in South Khorasan province have unearthed ancient earthenware dating back to the Parthian dynastic era (248 BCE-224 CE).
Excavations were conducted on an ancient mound located near the city of Birjand. Numerous historical artifacts dating back from the pre-historic eras up to the Safavid dynasty were found at the site.[...]
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Modestly nude marble love goddess found

Macedonian archaeologists say they have discovered a well-preserved statue of the goddess of love in the ruins of an ancient Roman city near Skopje.
Archaeologist Marina Oncevska said Thursday that the 5.6-foot-tall marble Venus is a masterpiece of ancient art executed in the late classical Greek tradition. It dates to the second or third century.[...]
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Sex curse found at ancient Cyprus site

An unexpected sexual curse has been uncovered by archaeologists at Cyprus's old city kingdom of Amathus, on the island's south coast near Limassol, according to a newspaper on Friday.
"A curse is inscribed in Greek on a lead tablet and part of it reads: 'May your penis hurt when you make love'," Pierre Aubert, head of Athens Archaeological School in Greece told the English language Cyprus Weekly.[...]
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Phaistos Disc declared as fake by scholar

Some say that its 45 mysterious symbols are the words of a 4,000-year-old poem, or perhaps a sacred text. Others contest that they are a magical inscription, a piece of ancient music or the world's oldest example of punctuation.
But now an American scholar believes that the markings on the Phaistos Disc, one of archaeology's most famous unsolved mysteries, mean nothing at all — because the disc is a hoax.[...]
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Rare 2,500-year-old marble discus found at Yavne-Yam

Rare 2,500-year-old marble discus that was meant to protect ancient ships from the evil eye was found in the sea and turned over to the Israel Antiquities Authority. To date, only four such items have been found in the world.
A marble discus, which dates to the 5th-4th century BCE, was found by David Shalom, a lifeguard, while diving in the antiquities site of Yavne-Yam, next to Palmahim beach. The lifeguard gave the discus to the Israel Antiquities Authority.[...]
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Neuer eBay-Grundsatz zum Handel mit archäologischen Funden

Seid dem 1.Juli 2008 gilt ein neuer eBay-Grundsatz zum Handel mit archäologischen Funden.
Altertümer wie Münzen, Waffen, Grabbeigaben, Keramiken, Schmuck, Werkzeuge etc. dürfen nur noch dann gehandelt werden, wenn ein schriftlicher Nachweis (Pedigree) vorliegt, der die Einhaltung der gesetzlichen Vorschriften in Bezug auf archäologische Funde belegt. Diese Dokumente müssen in dem Angebot abgebildet und gut leserlich sein.
Grundsatz zum Handel mit archäologischen Funden auf eBay

Kuh findet Schmuckstück aus der Römerzeit

Eine Kuh hat in Osttirol ein Schmuckstück aus der römischen Spätzeit freigelegt. Beim Verlassen des Stalls lief das Tier auf einen grasbewachsenen Hang und lockerte das Erdreich, unter dem sich die Gewandspange befunden hatte.
Ein aufmerksamer Nachbar hatte die Entdeckung an das Institut für Archäologien der Universität Innsbruck gemeldet. Beim Fund handelt sich um eine Fibel aus der Römerzeit die ca. 1.500 Jahre ist, erklärt Florian Müller vom Institut für Archäologie.[...]
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Grab aus der Vor-Inka-Zeit entdeckt

Archäologen ist in Peru ein beeindruckender Fund gelungen: Sie sind auf ein unberührtes Grab eines Stammesführers gestoßen, der vor 1600 Jahren gestorben ist - noch vor der Zeit der Inka.
Für die Forscher war der Fund wie ein Sechser im Lotto: In der peruanischen Provinz Lambayeque, knapp 800 Kilometer nördlich der Hauptstadt Lima, hat ein Archäologen-Team ein mit 14 Kronen, Masken und Schmuck gefülltes Grab aus der Vor-Inka-Zeit entdeckt. Es gehört zur sogenannten Moche-Kultur. Bei dem Bestatteten dürfte es sich um einen Stammesführer gehandelt haben.[...]
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Buxtehude-Museum zeigt Grabungsergebnisse aus Immenbeck

Archäologen sind im Buxtehude-Museum bei der Arbeit. Sie bearbeiten Funde, die sie in den Jahren 2000 bis 2004 vor den Toren von Buxtehude gemacht haben. Die Denkmalpflege Buxtehude hat in Zusammenarbeit mit der Bezirksregierung Lüneburg ein altsächsisches Gräberfeld bei Immenbeck ausgegraben. Im Verlauf der fünf Jahre stellte sich heraus, dass mit 214 Körpergräbern der bislang größte kontinentalsächsische Körpergräberfriedhof entdeckt worden war. Außerdem wurden 48 Brandbestattungen ermittelt.[...]
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Größte ägyptische Getreidesilos entdeckt

Eine jahrtausendealte Siedlung ermöglicht Archäologen einen seltenen Einblick in den Alltag der frühen ägyptischen Stadtbewohner.
Die Schriftgelehrten der Stadt Edfu arbeiteten in der 13. Dynastie (1773 bis 1650 vor Christus) in einer großen Säulenhalle aus Holz und getrockneten Lehmziegeln. Auf Scherben oder glatten Steinen erstellten sie unter anderem Warenlisten – Papyrus war im antiken Ägypten einfach zu wertvoll. Außerdem gehörte es zu ihren Aufgaben, versiegelte Körbe und Holzkisten mit Handelsgütern zu öffnen oder Papyrusdokumente entgegenzunehmen.[...]
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Archäologen entdecken bei Gut Warthe alte Gräben und Keramikstücke aus der Früh-Eisenzeit

Reste eines alten Turms hatten sie gesucht – gefunden haben sie die Reste alter Tonkrüge. Enttäuscht sind die Archäologen von den Grabungsergebnissen bei Gut Warthe aber keineswegs. "Für Wewer ist das wirklich sehr interessant", sagt Archäologe Dr. Werner Best und hält ein Bruchstück in die Luft.[...]
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Archäologen legen Dominikanerkloster frei

Am Berliner Schlossplatz legen Archäologen die Reste eines um 1300 errichteten Dominikanerklosters frei. Die Ausgrabungen bereiten den Bau des Humboldt-Forums ab 2010 vor. Zum Tag des offenen Denkmals am 13. und 14. September werden sie der Öffentlichkeit vorgestellt.[...]
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Priceless Treasures Saved From Looters of Baghdad Museum

It is known as one of the worst episodes of the war in Iraq: one of the world's greatest archaeological collections ransacked while American troops stood by, unable or unwilling to act. But now a different picture is emerging of the looting of the National Museum in Baghdad. Only a few dozen significant pieces, not thousands as originally reported, were stolen. And many, a new investigation has found, may have gone missing long before the Americans arrived in the Iraqi capital.[...]
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Über 500 Jahre alte Pläne der Kathedrale von Sevilla gefunden

Im Archiv eines Nonnenkloster in Nordspanien haben Historiker den bisher ältesten Grundrissplan der Kathedrale von Sevilla entdeckt. Auf der mehr als 500 Jahren alten und 46 mal 55 Zentimeter großen Zeichnung seien die fünf Kirchenschiffe sowie 32 Säulen des größten gotischen Kirche der Welt zu sehen, berichtete die Presse am Sonntag.[...]
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Jäger und Sammler in Paris

In Paris haben Archäologen nahe der Seine ein Lager von Jägern und Sammlern entdeckt. Es ist der älteste Nachweis von Menschen in der französischen Metropole.
Vor knapp 10 000 Jahren lebten Jäger und Sammler an der Seine und sind damit wohl die ältesten Bewohner von Paris. Die Archäologen Bénédicte Souffi und Fabrice Marti vom „Institut national de recherches archéologiques préventives“ – dem französischen Institut für Archäologie – haben Spuren dieser wandernden Bewohner entdeckt und deren Alter geschätzt.[...]
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Israeli entdeckt beim Schnorcheln antiken Talisman

Ein israelischer Rettungsschwimmer hat beim Schnorcheln im Mittelmeer einen rund 2.500 Jahre alten Talisman entdeckt. Die Marmorscheibe mit einem Durchmesser von etwa 20 Zentimetern stamme aus dem vierten oder fünften Jahrhundert vor Christus, teilte die israelische Altertümerbehörde am Sonntag mit. Der Talisman sei an Schiffen befestigt worden, um den bösen Blick abzuwehren. Gefunden wurde das Artefakt vor dem Strand von Palmachim. Dort lag einst die historische Hafenstadt Javne-Jam.[...]
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Please do not return our antiquities!

The story of the looted Iraqi antiquities is terrific indeed. What has been published or made public about it fails to provide the right picture of what has happened in reality. We now have organized criminal gangs specialized in the looting and smuggling of Mesopotamian artifacts. These gangs have, since the U.S. invasion of 2003, accumulated good experience to easily sneak through Iraq’s porous borders. Of course the Baghdad government has no guts to open this file because once it unfolds powerful actors, powerful states and powerful personalities and factions will be exposed too.[...]
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Goldschatz in Dachau entdeckt

Ein historischer Goldschatz ist bei Bauarbeiten im Landkreis Dachau entdeckt worden. Es handele sich um elf geprägte Rheinische Golddukaten aus dem 15. Jahrhundert, teilte der Archäologische Verein für Stadt und Landkreis Dachau mit.[...]
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Sex-Fluch an Ausgrabungsstätte aus der Antike entdeckt

Einen Sex-Fluch haben überraschte Archäologen bei Ausgrabungen im antiken Amanthus an der Südküste Zyperns entdeckt. Auf einer Bleiplatte sei auf griechisch eine Verfluchung eingraviert, in der es unter anderem heiße: "Möge Dein Penis schmerzen, wenn Du Liebe machst", berichtete Pierre Aubert vom Athener Archäologischen Institut der Zeitung "Cyprus Weekly" vom Freitag. Abgebildet sei daneben ein Mann mit einem Stundenglas in seiner rechten Hand. Die Inschrift stamme vermutlich aus dem siebten Jahrhundert nach Christus. Die antike Stadt Amanthus wurde um 1500 von Phöniziern gegründet. Unter den Römern war sie eine Regionalhauptstadt, erst im zwölften Jahrhundert wurde sie aufgegeben.[...]
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Pferderennbahn im antiken Olympia entdeckt

Mainzer Archäologen haben nach eigenen Angaben die antike Pferderennbahn – das Hippodrom – im griechischen Olympia entdeckt. Eine Forschungsgruppe des Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts (DAI) in Athen unter Beteiligung des Mainzer Sporthistorikers Norbert Müller sei auf der Suche nach der größten Sportanlage im antiken Olympia fündig geworden, wie das Institut für Sportwissenschaften der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz mitteilte.[...]
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Planungen für Landesarchäologiemuseum kommen voran

Die Planungen für das Haus der Archäologie in Chemnitz kommen voran. Bis Ende des Monats will das Kunstministerium entscheiden, welcher Architekt mit der Umsetzung der seit März vorliegenden Museumskonzeption beauftragt wird, sagte Ministerin Eva-Maria Stange (SPD) am Mittwoch der Deutschen Presse-Agentur dpa. Auch die kommunale Gebäudegesellschaft GGG will nach eigenen Angaben in wenigen Woche über die Vergabe der Bauplanung für die Grundsanierung entscheiden. Ziel bleibe, das Museum 2011 zu eröffnen, sagte GGG-Chefin Simone Kalew der dpa.[...]
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Research casts new light on Ice Age

A Valparaiso University professor’s research into the creation of Kankakee Sand Islands of Northwest Indiana is lending support to evidence that the first humans to settle the Americas came from Europe, a discovery that overturns decades of classroom lessons that nomadic tribes from Asia crossed a Bering Strait land-ice bridge.
Geography professor Dr. Ron Janke began studying the origins of the Kankakee Sand Islands – a series of hundreds of small, moon-shaped dunes that stretch from the southern tips of Lake and Porter counties in Northwest Indiana into northeastern Illinois – about 12 years ago.[...]
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Roman Era tombs unearthed in Krinides

Five intact tombs dating to the Roman era were unearthed in Krinides on Thursday by Philippi municipal water board workers while digging for expansion of the local water supply and drainage network in downtown Krinides.
The town of Krinides (or Crenides) is a town and ancient site that also includes the famed archaeological site of ancient Philippi in the Kavala prefecture in eastern Macedonia, and the seat of the municipality of Philippi.
Krinides is situated just a few kilometers from the world-renowned archaeological site of ancient Philippi, and the modern-day town sits atop the ruins of the ancient city that bore the name of King Philip II of Macedon, and consequently the accidental discovery of archaeological finds is usual in the area, according to archaeologists.[...]
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Cave Men Loved to Sing

Ancient hunters painted the sections of their cave dwellings where singing, humming and music sounded best, a new study suggests.
Analyzing the famous, ochre-splashed cave walls of France, the most densely painted areas were also those with the best acoustics, the scientists found. Humming into some bends in the wall even produced sounds mimicking the animals painted there.[...]
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Archaeologists 'used to destroy heritage'

Archaeologists working on excavations on the controversial M3 motorway feared they would be "sacked, blacklisted or bullied out of their profession" for not supporting the building of the chosen route, it was claimed today.
Speaking at a debate on the motorway near Tara at the sixth World Archaeological Congress (WAC-6) at UCD, Maggie Ronayne, a lecturer at the Department of Archaeology at NUI, Galway, said that pressure was put on site directors and field teams by archaeologists employed by the National Roads Authority (NRA).[...]
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Researchers open secret cave under Mexican pyramid

Archeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican pyramid to look for clues about the mysterious collapse of one of ancient civilization's largest cities.
The soaring Teotihuacan stone pyramids, now a major tourist site about an hour outside Mexico City, were discovered by the ancient Aztecs around 1500 AD, not long before the arrival of Spanish explorers to Mexico.[...]
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"Müritz-Ötzi" hat ein Loch im Schädel

Das Skelett des im Spätsommer 2007 entdeckten Steinzeitmenschen in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern soll in Rostock einer Computer-Tomographie unterzogen werden. Mit der dreidimensionalen Röntgenuntersuchung wolle man Hinweise auf die Todesursache des vor über 4000 Jahren bestatteten Mannes von Vietzen bei Rechlin finden, sagte Landes-Chef-Archäologe Detlef Jantzen in Neustrelitz.[...]
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Die Ausgrabungen an der Werburg haben kleine Schätze zu Tage gefördert

Barocke Bratpfannen, Austernschalen und Mörser - bei der Grabung am Werburger Herrenhaus haben die Archäologen Erstaunliches zu Tage gefördert. Auch über die Vergangenheit der Werburg können sie nun Genaues sagen.
Für den Archäologen Dr. Werner Best ist es ein kleine Sensation. Auch wenn die weiße Tonscherbe, die der Grabungsleiter von der LWL-Archäologie für Westfalen in Händen hält, auf den ersten Blick wenig spektakulär wirkt. "So etwas habe ich noch nie gefunden", sagt er. "Das ist ein Bruchstück eines alten Signalhorns und sehr selten."[...]
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Iraqi artifacts smuggled into Jordan in hands of top Kuwaiti

“A large number of Iraqi artifacts are currently in Kuwait and are known to be in the possession of a famous Kuwaiti businessman,” say sources, adding “the Iraqi Antiquities Department has received information that Uday, son of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, smuggled a large number of ancient relics into Jordan by land and they were later transferred by air to Kuwait, reports Al-Dar daily. Sources say the Iraqi department has documents showing the route of smuggling and has supplied the documents as evidence to international archeological organizations.[...]
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Caesars Britannieninvasion umdatiert

Forscher der Texas State University schreiben die Weltgeschichte um: Julius Caesar fiel mit seiner Kriegsflotte nicht am 26. und 27. August 55 v. Chr. in Großbritannien ein, sondern bereits vier Tage früher. Grund für diesen Datumswechsel ist schlicht und einfach die falsche Flussrichtung des Ärmelkanals während des bislang angenommenen Invasionszeitraums, berichtet der Physiker Donald Olson in der Augustausgabe der Zeitschrift "Sky & Telescope".[...]
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Geschäfte im frühen Ägypten

In der südlich von Luxor gelegenen ägyptischen Stadt Tell Edfu haben Archäologen Teile eines Bezirks freigelegt, in denen die Einwohner vor mehr als 3500 Jahren ihre Finanzgeschäfte abgewickelt haben dürften. Gezahlt wurde seinerzeit mit – Getreide. Gelagert wurde die Währung in Silos, von denen die Forscher um Nadine Moeller von der Universität von Chicago nun sieben ausgegraben haben.[...]
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Bistun Receives UNESCO World Heritage Certificate

Bistun, an ancient Iranian site bearing bas-reliefs and inscriptions of Darius the Great, received the world heritage certificate of UNESCO during a ceremony in Kermashah on Tuesday.
The certificate was handed over by program specialist Ms. Junko Taniguchi from the UNESCO office in Tehran to the Kermashah cultural heritage officials, the Persian service IRNA reported.[...]
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Rare Roman artifact found near Sicily

Italian researchers say a rostrum, used by ancient Romans to ram enemy ships, was found off the coast of Sicily. The rare bronze appendage may have been used in the final naval battle of the First Punic War, ANSA reported Tuesday. The rostrum was recovered about 230 feet below the surface by divers aided by remotely operated vehicles.
Sicily's maritime affairs department department head, Sebastiano Tusa, said the Egadi rostrum confirms his theory that a battle took place northeast of the island of Levanzo between fleets from Rome and Carthage during the Battle of the Egadi in 241 B.C., the Italian news agency said.[...]
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Uncovering an ancient city

The white-colored outlines of rectangular shapes could very well be the markings of a construction site, albeit one that was undertaken more than 700 years ago. “You see the artifacts on the surface, that lets us know we have a site,” said Debbie Swartz, an archaeologist with Desert Archaeology.
Those outlines mark the walls of a Hohokam pit house, part of an ancient city that was uncovered by archaeologists in mid-April at the site of a major road and park project in Marana. The main find is at the future site of the Cortaro-Silverbell District Park. Due to the discovery, park construction has halted to allow archaeologists more time to study the area. Nearby road construction remains on schedule.[...]
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2,278-yr-old mummy dying a slow death

It is a 2,278-year-old mummy of an Egyptian priestess and decaying fast at the city's Albert Hall Museum. Displayed in a glass case, it is a key attraction of the museum but may not be around very soon, as exposure to oxygen and moisture has led to its case crumbling to dust.
Egyptian experts, who had visited the city a few years ago, had said that the mummy bought by Sawai Ram Singh, then ruler of Jaipur, from Cairo in 1887 needed to be kept in an oxygen-free environment.
The cost involved was a meagre $1,000, but the museum authorities seem to be dragging their feet over it, and it may cost the city one of its treasures -the mummy of a priestess of the Ptolemaic dynasty that ruled Egypt for nearly 300 years between 305 BC and 30 BC.[...]
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Vor dem Staatsratsgebäude in Berlin werden Fundamente des Dominikanerklosters freigelegt

Große Erdhügel versperren derzeit den Blick auf das frühere Staatsratsgebäude am Berliner Schlossplatz. Schaut man in die Gruben, dann sieht man Archäologen bei der Arbeit. Die Ausgräber vom Berliner Landesdenkmalamt legen die Fundamente des mittelalterlichen Dominikanerklosters frei, dessen Kirche bis in die Barockzeit Grablege der brandenburgischen Kurfürsten war.
Wie Berlins neuer Landesarchäologe und Direktor des Museums für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Matthias Wemhoff, gestern bei einem Rundgang erklärte, werde nach den Gebeinen der im 16. Jahrhundert in der Klosterkirche der Dominikaner bestatteten Kurfürsten Johann Cicero (gestorben 1499) und Joachim I. (gestorben 1535) und weiterer Mitglieder des Hauses Hohenzollern gesucht.[...]
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Er ist fast 1000 Jahre alt! Brunnen der Slawen entdeckt

An der Bahntrasse auf der Teerhofsinsel wurden jetzt die Reste eines slawischen Brunnens gefunden. Archäologen sprechen von einer sensationellen Entdeckung.
Das Wort „spektakulär“ gehört auch zu diesen Begriffen, deren Auslegung höchst relativ ist. Der Tross der Journalisten, der sich gestern ins idyllische Niemandsland auf der Teerhofsinsel aufgemacht hatte, blickte daher auch einigermaßen sparsam, als man des Fundes ansichtig wurde, der von der Stadtverwaltung eben mit diesem Begriff angekündigt worden war: einige alte Holzbretter in einem Erdloch und ein paar Steine – das war eigentlich alles, was es zu sehen gab.[...]
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Wenn Ausgräber etwas ausprobieren

In Carnuntum entstehen derzeit Rekonstruktionen von zerfallenen Gebäuden, die möglichst originalgetreu sein sollen. Durch gezielte Experimente werden dabei antike Technologien neu entdeckt.[...]
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Menetekel am Fluss

Altamerikanische Jäger und Sammler verschwanden nach Klimaerwärmung.
Im Früh- und Hochmittelalter rappelte sich die europäische Zivilisation langsam wieder aus dem Tief auf, in dem sie mit dem Zusammenbruch der antiken Welt gelandet war. Geholfen hat ihr dabei vielleicht auch das so genannte mittelalterliche Klimaoptimum, eine Warmzeit zwischen dem 9. und dem 14. Jahrhundert. In anderen Weltgegenden hat diese Zeit die menschlichen Kulturen jedoch gravierend geschädigt. Auf dem 6. Weltarchäologiekongress in Dublin berichtete eine US-Archäologin über diese Zeit im heutigen British Columbia.[...]
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Culturecide of the Islamic Republic of Iran

The intolerant monolithic Islamists are on the march, lashing out with fury at non-Islamic people and cultures. This cult of violence and death spares neither the living nor the non-living heritage of humanity: wherever and whenever it can it commits culturecide—wiping out other people’s precious cultural treasures. Not long ago, the Islamists’ destruction of the Buddha statues in Afghanistan shocked the world and exposed the savage nature of this cult of violence depravity. Yet, much more destruction on a broad range is taking place in Iran under the direction of the Islamist theocrats.
The Islamist zealots ruling Iran for the past 30 years have undertaken a systematic campaign of endangering and destroying the cultural sites of pre-Islamic Iran, ignoring the numerous petitions and pleas of the Iranian people.[...]
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Scientists fire cannon recovered from Elizabethan shipwreck off Alderney

The barrel of the cannon had been plugged with a tampion of wood and sealed with candle wax by sailors more than 400 years ago. The stale air of another age whistled out with a hiss when the seal was broken finally last week. Archaeologists gathered around the weapon could smell the gunpowder and hydrogen sulphide as it escaped.
The cannon is one of a set that comprises the first archaeological evidence of a revolution in weaponry that took place during the reign of Elizabeth I – a revolution upon which an empire would be built. The archaeologists have spent the past month raising the cannon from the seabed off the Channel Islands and will use it to determine the power that this revolution bestowed upon the English naval forces.[...]
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Race to save mystery wreck from shipworm

In the depths of Poole harbour there is a magnificent ship in serious trouble. The vessel, lying off the Dorset coast, sank almost 400 years ago but its surviving timbers are now being devoured by Mediterranean shipworms flourishing in the warmer British waters.
Archaeologists from Bournemouth University have recovered from the wreck a spectacular merman, which was part of the decorative carving from the stern. Divers plan to descend again to lift the 8.5-metre (28ft) rudder. The ship, and the fate of hundreds of souls on board, is a mystery.[...]
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Digging up the past at ancient stone circle

WORK will start next week to unearth the secrets of one of Europe's most important prehistoric sites. The Ring of Brodgar in Orkney, the third-largest stone circle in the British Isles and thought to date back to 3000-2000BC, is regarded by archaeologists as an outstanding example of Neolithic settlement and has become a popular tourist attraction in the islands.
It is believed it was part of a massive ritual complex but little is known about the monument, including its exact age or purpose. It is hoped part of the mystery will be explained during a month-long programme of investigations by a 15-strong team of archaeologists and scientists from Orkney College, Stirling and Manchester universities and the Scottish Universities Environment Reactor Centre.[...]
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Puerto Rico archeological find mired in politics

The lady carved on the ancient rock is squatting, with frog-like legs sticking out to each side. Her decapitated head is dangling to the right. That's how she had been, perfectly preserved, for up to 800 years, until the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came upon her last year while building a $375 million dam to control flooding in southern Puerto Rico.
She was buried again last week with the hope that some day specialists will study her and Puerto Rican children will visit and learn about the lives of the Taino Indians who created her.[...]
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Humans Wore Shoes 40,000 Years Ago, Fossil Suggests

Humans were wearing shoes at least 10,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to a new study. The evidence comes from a 40,000-year-old human fossil with delicate toe bones indicative of habitual shoe-wearing, experts say.
A previous study of anatomical changes in toe bone structure had dated the use of shoes to about 30,000 years ago.[...]
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Researchers Find Administration Center for Early Egyptian City

University of Chicago expedition at Tell Edfu in southern Egypt has unearthed a large administration building and silos that provide fresh clues about the emergence of urban life. The discovery provides new information about a little understood aspect of ancient Egypt—the development of cities in a culture that is largely famous for its monumental architecture.
The archaeological work at Tel Edfu was initiated with the permission of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, headed by Zahi Hawass, under the direction of Nadine Moeller, Assistant Professor at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago. Work late last year revealed details of seven silos, the largest grain bins found in ancient Egypt as well as an older columned hall that was an administration center.[...]
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Uncovering Evidence of a Workaday World Along the Nile

Archaeologists have long fixed their sights on the grandeur that was ancient Egypt, the pyramids, temples and tombs. Few bothered to dig beneath and beyond the monumental stones for glimpses into the living and working spaces of ordinary Egyptians.
That is changing slowly but steadily. In the last two or three decades, excavations have uncovered urban remains and swept aside the conventional wisdom that the Egypt of the pharaohs, in contrast to Mesopotamia, was somehow a civilization without cities.[...]
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Der Mann, der den Turm von Babel fand

18 Jahre grub der deutsche Archäologe Robert Koldewey in Babylon. 600 Kisten musste er zurücklassen.
"Wenn ich mir vorstelle, dass mir einer vor sechzehn Jahren gesagt hätte, ich solle Babylon ausgraben, so würde ich ihn für verrückt gehalten haben", schrieb Robert Koldewey zwei Jahre bevor ihn der Einmarsch der britischen Truppen 1917 aus Babylon vertrieb. Im heutigen Irak entdeckte der deutsche Archäologe 1899 Babylon und erweckte so das Reich des durch biblische Erzählungen berühmten Königs Nebukadnezar II. (605-562 v. Chr.) zu neuem Leben. Anlässlich der Ausstellung "Babylon. Wahrheit und Mythos", die gerade im Berliner Pergamonmuseum eröffnete, ist mit dem Band "Auf dem Weg nach Babylon" endlich ein umfassendes Porträt des großen Archäologen Koldewey erschienen.[...]
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Siedlungsspuren unter dem Kurstadt-Asphalt

Planierschichten, Tierknochen und jede Menge Keramikscherben: Was Archäologen derzeit in der Torgauer Straße in Bad Liebenwerda finden, lässt auf eine mittelalterliche Bebauung der heutigen Straße schließen. «Seit den Ausgrabungen, die hier 1998 in Begleitung von Tiefbauarbeiten vorgenommen wurden, wissen wir von einer mittelalterlichen Wüstung in diesem Bereich» , schildert Grabungsleiter Oliver Ungerath von der Wurzel Archäologie GmbH aus Stahnsdorf. «Diese Erkenntnis erhärtet sich nun.»[...]
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Knochen zeugt von Homo erectus

Als erster Mensch verließ Homo erectus unsere afrikanische Heimat. Seine Spuren glauben Forscher um Dusam Mihailovic nun auch auf dem Balkan entdeckt zu haben. In einer Höhle im Süden Serbiens stießen sie auf das Fragment eines Unterkiefers mit drei Zähnen, das jenem des "aufrechten Menschen" ähnelt.[...]
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Iranian, foreign experts to excavate salt men’s necropolis

A joint team of Iranian and foreign experts will collaborate on a project planned to excavate the Chehrabad Salt Mine, where all six of the “salt men” were discovered.
Archaeologists and experts on other related fields from Germany, England, and Austria will participated in the project, which is expected to begin in spring 2009 in the salt mine located in the Hamzehlu region near Zanjan, northern Iran, the Persian service of CHN reported on Monday.[...]
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Newcomer in Early Eurafrican Population?

A complete mandible of Homo erectus was discovered at the Thomas I quarry in Casablanca by a French-Moroccan team co-led by Jean-Paul Raynal, CNRS senior researcher at the PACEA[1] laboratory (CNRS/Université Bordeaux 1/ Ministry of Culture and Communication). This mandible is the oldest human fossil uncovered from scientific excavations in Morocco. The discovery will help better define northern Africa's possible role in first populating southern Europe.[...]
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Archaeologists piece together prehistoric Mann

AS aircraft soar into the sky, a team of archaeologists are busy piecing together the lives of prehistoric Mann. The contrast between the new and the very, very old could not be greater.
Within hours of work starting on the multi-million runway extension project, Ronaldsway was beginning to reveal fascinating and remarkably well preserved evidence of human habitation that had remained unearthed for 5,000 years.[...]
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"Stylish" Roman life found on dig

The "stylish" lives of the affluent have been unearthed at one of the "best preserved" Roman towns in Britain by a TV archaeology team. A bath house, villa and artefacts including a penknife were found at Caerwent, Monmouthshire by Channel 4's Time Team. What are believed to be shop buildings on a Roman high street were also found during the dig by a team of 50.[...]
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