To the map room, Indy!

archaeologicalnews:

A wooden beam that has long been the focus of the search for a 17th century shipwreck in northern Lake Michigan was not attached to a buried vessel as searchers had suspected, but still may have come from the elusive Griffin or some other ship, archaeologists said Wednesday.

Shipwreck hunter Steve Libert discovered a 10.5-foot section of the timber jutting from the lake bed twelve years ago in an area where he was convinced that the Griffin, commanded by the French explorer Rene Robert Cavelier de la Salle, sank in 1679. French experts who inspected the beam in recent days said it appeared to be a bowsprit — a spur or pole that extends from a vessel’s stem — that was hundreds of years old. Read more.

Ancient West African Megacities

Recent Archeological findings have discovered ancient west African Mega cities dating back to 500 BC possibly rivaling other early urban civilizations such as Mesopotamia. Long before the coming of Islam and the days of the Songhay, Mali and Ghana Empires.

The Archeologists state they have not seen any signs of war & waring, therefore it seems like they lived in relative peace. Some of the cities were twice the size of Timbuktu (Medieval Timbuktu was twice the size of London).

What is most interesting about this information that it emphasizes how little we know of ancient Africa’s past.

(via jangojips)

Archaeological News: 7 thousand years old chocolate flint mines discovered

archaeologicalnews:

Chocolate flint mining site has been found in the Holy Cross Mountains by archaeologists from Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw. Flint was used for making tools by the Lublin-Volyn culture population living in the area in the late fifth and fourth millennium BC.

Researchers from…

I keep reading this as chocolate mint, and then I am sad because it’s actually about flint.

(via zomganthro)

archaeologicalnews:

MEXICO CITY – Archaeologists have discovered a previously unknown Mayan city in the southeastern state of Campeche, which for its vast extension and characteristics is believed to have been a seat of government some 1,400 years ago, Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, said.

A team of experts headed by Slovenian archaeologist Ivan Sprajc has christened the site Chactun.

“It is one of the largest sites in the Central Lowlands, comparable in its extent and the magnitude of its buildings with Becan, Nadzcaan and El Palmar in Campeche”, Sprajc said in a statement released by INAH.

The complex covers more than 22 hectares (54 acres). Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

It is known that in a long lost town in the Oxfordshire of AD 79 an Italian immigrant died.

The discovery of the tombstone of Lucius Valerius Geminus - a veteran of the Second Augustan Legion - has revealed to archaeologists the first known biography of any person to have lived in the county.

It was discovered in fragments in a field, once the bustling Iron Age town of Alchester, near modern day Bicester. It has been reassembled so it can go on public display.

Dr Chris Ferguson, curator of archaeology at Oxfordshire Museum Service, said: “His biography is probably the earliest for a veteran in the entire province of Britannia, and he is certainly the earliest for this region of Roman Britain.” Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

When Tatar parents want to show their children the exquisite wash basins that were excavated at the ancient town of Bolgar, they have to pack up and head to Moscow’s State Historical Museum.

Due to the legacy of Soviet and Russian laws on artifacts, the lion’s share of Tatarstan’s archaeological treasures wind up in large national museums far from the republic.

“Always the best, shiniest gold and silver discoveries were sent to the State Historical Museum or the Hermitage in St. Petersburg,” says Fayaz Khuzin, a professor of history at the History Institute of the Tatarstan Academy of Sciences and a leading expert on the Bolgar civilization.

As a result, major archaeological sites like the one at Bolgar — the epicenter of the Volga-Bolgar state that flourished from the seventh century until the Mongol period — have languished, unable to attract any but the most serious visitors. Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

Located near the small coastal town of Maryport in northwestern England, remains of the ancient Roman fort of Alauna were first uncovered by amateur archaeologist Joseph Robinson in the late 19th century. Among the finds were an assemblage of no less that 22 stone altars, some bearing inscriptions, that tell a story of successive Roman commanders who commanded this, one of Imperial Rome’s northernmost outposts during the height of the Roman Empire’s expanse. The altars now grace the nearby Senhouse Museum, which serves as a popular tourist attraction.  

Now a team of archaeologists and volunteers have returned to the site where the original stone altars were found to uncover more clues about the layout of the fort and its associated settlement, and about the lives of the military officers and soldiers who manned this remote garrison. Led by Newcastle University’s Professor Ian Haynes and site director Tony Wilmott, the archaeologists have been here before. Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

LIMA, Peru — Gladiz Collatupa, an archaeologist, once stashed six mummies at her parents’ house for safe keeping. That was when she dug for artifacts in the dirt of Peru, rich with the leavings of past cultures like the Inca and the Moche. Now she digs through packages at the post office instead, searching for ancient treasure being smuggled out of the country.

Ms. Collatupa and a colleague, Sonia Rojas, an art historian, are a pair of Indiana Joneses in reverse. Instead of swashbuckling around the world looting ruins, they try to keep Peru’s ancient riches from being spirited out of the country by mail.

“With less danger,” noted Ms. Rojas, a petite woman in glasses with a keen interest in colonial Peruvian paintings. She wears a khaki vest with a large button that says, “I defend my cultural heritage.” Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

Guangzhou Metro is facing a public outcry after contractors destroyed a group of ancient imperial tombs in the Menggang district during construction of Line 6 of its subway system.

The tombs, ranging from 2,200 to more than 3,000 years old and still being studied by archaeologists, were wrecked by excavators on Friday night.

The protected site, on the eastern slope of Da Gong mountain, had been sealed off by the Guangzhou Archaeology Research Centre, with warning signs posted and red lines marking the protected area.

It was fine when archaeologists left on Friday but had been torn up by the time they returned on Saturday. Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

The theater at Denizli’s ancient city of Hierapolis, known for its healing water, will be hosting artistic performances to celebrate the completion of restorations that started two years ago

Renovations at the theater of the ancient city of Hierapolis, which is on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, have been completed.

The stage of the ancient theater in the Aegean province of Denizli, which has traces from the Hellenistic era and Christianity, has been renovated. The ancient city of Hierapolis is known for the healing water in its springs. Renovations there started two years ago with the aim of restoring the stage in accordance with its original form. The area, which draws many tourists every year, will be hosting cultural activities from now on. Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

FAIRBANKS, Alaska - On a small hill surrounded by boggy muskeg in the Tanana River Valley, prehistoric skin scrapers made of schist, polished slate tools and glass beads were uncovered in the last week.

Based on the design of the tools and the way the animals were butchered, it appears to be an Athabascan campsite from the turn of the 20th century.

“These are very typical Athabascan tools. But you usually think of polished stone tools with the Eskimo area, not in the Interior, so it’s very interesting,” says Chuck Holmes, the archaeologist who first discovered the site several decades ago.

He’s leading a team of 10 graduate students and volunteers at the excavation through June. Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

ABU SIR AL MALAQ, Egypt — Monica Hanna’s reputation as an archaeologist has grown far beyond her native Egypt — but not without risk.

As she and several journalists documented looting at an ancient burial site here, several men – one with a shotgun slung over a shoulder — threatened her.

“I heard one man say, ‘Beat her and take her camera,’ ” Hanna said afterward. When the men phoned for police, she hid her camera’s memory card in her shirt. After 45 minutes of argument, she was allowed to leave.

“The locals, who are a part of the looting, don’t want the photos out there because then their business stops,” she explained.

Hanna, 30, is a leader in exposing the antiquity-looting that has exploded since Egypt’s 2011 revolution. She appears on Egyptian television debating government officials, takes reporters to looted sites, and encourages Egyptians to protect their heritage. Read more.

trowelblazers:

A projected photo of Sally Binford (L) c. 1980s, created as part of an art project by EG Crichton and Gabriella Ripley-Phipps (R) [used with EG’s kind permission]

“I’m not here to cook; I’m here to dig”

Sally Schanfield (later Binford)’s life echoes some much earlier trowelblazers, not only a first-rate, game-changing archaeologist, she also forged a revolutionary path in other areas.

As a divorced single parent in the 1950s, Sally faced off sexism, and decided to study anthropology in order to be independent. She fought rampant misogyny within the male-dominated world of American universities, criticised for her “tight sweaters and makeup”, and refusing to do all the cooking on her first archaeological dig.

Her PhD was a huge survey of early prehistory in the Sahara, and by 1962 as a postdoc she was excavating a cave in Israel, having already been digging Neandertal sites in France.

Sally’s major impact in archaeology is tied up with her marriage to a younger student who became one of 20th century archaeology’s biggest names (Lewis Binford). Sally was the co-founder of the New Archaeology, an immensely influential movement that promoted a more scientific approach. Yet Lewis is often given credit, despite the fact Sally was instrumental from the start, co-editing the paradigm-shifting publication (New Perspectives in Archaeology 1968), and performing the first ever computer analysis of stone tools in collaboration. Without her first-hand knowledge of French assemblages, the infamous “Bordes-Binford” debate on stone tool variability would never have happened.

In 1969 Sally left both Lewis and anthropology, and his contining career undoubtedly led to her own achievements being eclipsed. However, Sally’s fierce commitment to following her own radical path continued, as she became one of the most important sexual liberation and feminist pioneers of the 1970s and 80s.

Just before her 70th birthday she ended her remarkable life voluntarily in order to avoid becoming physically dependent on others, and so she could remain, in her words, “toujours soixante-neuf!” [forever sixty-nine].

Written by Becky (@LeMoustier)
Posted by Suzie (@suzie_birch)

Much of the above information is sourced from the rather jaw-dropping interview with Sally here (be warned it is NSFW, sexually explicit), originally published in this book, and Susie Bright’s post about Sally’s ‘checking-out’. This article by Alice Beck Kehoe mentions the importance of Sally’s work to Lewis Binford’s fame.

We learned all about Lewis Binford in our Archaeological Theory class.  Saly Binford was never so much as hinted at.

archaeologicalnews:

A colorful, well-preserved “mural tomb,” where a military commander and his wife were likely buried nearly 1,500 years ago, has been uncovered in China.

The domed tomb’s murals, whose original colors are largely preserved, was discovered in Shuozhou City, about 200 miles (330 kilometers) southwest of Beijing. Researchers estimate that the murals cover an area of about 860 square feet (80 square meters), almost the same area as a modern-day bowling lane.

Most of the grave’s goods have been looted, and the bodies are gone, but the murals, drawn on plaster, are still there. In a passageway leading into the tomb, a door guard leans on his long sword watching warily. Across from him, also in the passageway, is a guard of honor, supported by men on horses, their red-and-blue uniforms still vivid despite the passing of so many centuries. Read more.

archaeologicalnews:

Contrary to reports by famous Greek historian Herodotus, the ancient Egyptians probably didn’t remove mummy guts using cedar oil enemas, new research on the reality of mummification suggests.

The ancient embalmers also didn’t always leave the mummy’s heart in place, the researchers added.

The findings, published in the February issue of HOMO – Journal of Comparative Human Biology, come from analyzing 150 mummies from the ancient world.

In the fifth century B.C., Herodotus, the “father of history,” got an inside peek at the Egyptian mummification process. Embalming was a competitive business, and the tricks of the trade were closely guarded secrets, said study co-author Andrew Wade, an anthropologist at the University of Western Ontario. Read more.

(via wtfhistory)