Archaeology News Headlines January 01 to March 31 2018

The events of July 16th to 22nd 1994, when the remnants of a fragmenting comet, P/Shoemaker-Levy 9, bombarded the surface of Jupiter causing fireballs many times the size of our own planet, were an abrupt wake-up call even for those who were aware of them. The historical sciences generally, and Archaeology in particular, have collectively painted a picture of the past as if our planet stands alone in empty space. Nothing could be further from reality. Our resilient planet exists in a solar system that has experienced a very dynamic history over the past 20 to 30 millennia, and it is only from this wider solar system perspective that the true history of human civilisation will ever be fully understood. The Morien Institute archive therefore contains relevant material from many disciplines.

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Image of a revolving globe showing current sea levels since the last ice age, before which many ancient societies like Atlantis flourished all over planet Earth on what are now sunken lands.



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Morien Institute News Headlines Archive

2018

April 01 – June 30 |
July 01 – September 30 |
October 01 – December 31


Marine Archaeology News 2018 |
Astro-Archaeology News 2018

 

 

 


 Today is

Friday, February 24, 2023 



March 2018 News Headlines


“Lost villages from centuries ago found in the Amazon rainforest”


New Scientist (UK)


“2,000-year-old liquor unearthed from ancient tomb”


China.org (China)


“Archaeologists confident they have found body of fabled Chinese warlord Cao Cao”


South China Morning Post (Hong Kong)


“Six-inch human skeleton had multiple disease-associated mutations”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“Some Prehistoric Anatolians Learned to Farm 10,000 Years Ago, Others Thought It for the Birds”


Ha’aretz (Israel)


“Rare antiquities found along eastern Kuwaiti coast”


Arab Times (Kuwait)


“Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba super-volcanic eruption ~ 74,000 years ago”


Archaeology Magazine (USA)


“Germany returns 3,000-year-old relics to Mexico”


Deutsche Welle (Germany)


“Hidden medical text read for the first time in a thousand years”


PhysOrg (USA)



“An influential physician and a philosopher of early Western medicine, Galen of Pergamon was the doctor of emperors and gladiators.

One of his many works, “On the Mixtures and Powers of Simple Drugs” was an important pharmaceutical text that would help educate fellow Greek-Roman doctors.

The text was translated during the 6th century into Syriac, a language that served as a bridge between Greek and Arabic and helped spread Galen’s ideas into the ancient Islamic world.

But despite the physician’s fame, the most complete surviving version of the translated manuscript was erased and written over with hymns in the 11th century – a common practice at the time.

These written-over documents are known as palimpsests.

An international team of researchers is getting a clear look at the hidden text of the Syriac Galen Palimpsest with an X-ray study at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

The early results reveal more of the original words in the underlying text, which runs perpendicular to the direction of the overlying text, enabling scholars to see more information from Galen.”



[Read The Full Story]


[Well done PhysOrg for bringing this story to public attention. It was the practice of Christian monks to overwrite hymns and biblical quotes onto scarce parchments irrespective of what the original ancient content was. How much wisdom from the ancient world we may have lost due to these types of practices we can only speculate about, but it must be vast…..

It’s well worth a visit to read the full long story – Ed.]


“New Pompeii excavations a revelation”


ANSA (Italy)


“Advances in human behaviour came surprisingly early in Stone Age”


Nature (UK)


“Haul of feudal coins in Saitama could total up to 260,000”


The Asahi Shimbun (Japan)


“Archaeologist hails ‘extraordinary’ Viking village find in Dublin”


The Irish Times (Ireland)


“Some dogs were royalty, others were dinner in ancient Mayan culture”


Science Magazine (USA)


“Oldest life on Earth dated to 3.465 billion years shows high diversity”


ABC RN – The Science Show (Australia)


“A big-screen requiem for Ötzi the Iceman”


Nature (UK)


“4,000-year-old Sumerian port found in southern Iraq”


Daily Sabah (Turkey)


“Humans thrived in South Africa after catastrophic Toba eruption 74,000 years ago, study suggests”


ABC Science News (Australia)


“Discovery of sophisticated 115,000-year-old bone tools in China”


Science Daily (USA)


“Ancient Greek medical text found beneath religious psalms on Egyptian parchment”


Tornos News (Greece)


“Ancient Naples port found”


ANSA (Italy)


“Site of huge Iron Age feast celebration found on Orkney”


The Scotsman (Scotland)


“Humans thrived in South Africa through the Toba super-volcanic eruption ~ 74,000 years ago”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“Early humans used ochre and traded tools amid turbulent times in Africa 300,000 years ago”


ABC Science News (Australia)



“As the earth shook and the climate swung between extremes, early humans in East Africa underwent a radical shift in cultural behaviour, according to researchers.

Archaeologists reconstructed the climate of the Olorgesailie Basin and its inhabitants’ behaviour over hundreds of thousands of years, and found the residents became better toolmakers and trade partners when the going got tough.

Not only did the teams unearth the earliest evidence of pigment use so far, they found sophisticated tools made of materials that were sourced from outside the area.

This happens to be around the time anatomically modern Homo sapiens appear in the fossil record.”


[Read The Full Story]


[This is an excellent story from ABC Science in Australia! Yet again we have an instance where good research has shown that the appearance of what is termed earl-modern humans appear many hundreds of millennia before the current wisdom says it should be. It’s well worth a visit to read the full story and follow the many links in the text – Ed.]


“Researchers fired up after finding kiln for ancient temple”


The Asahi Shimbun (Japan)


“Utrecht’s history goes back 11,000 years, archaeologists say”


Dutch News (Netherlands)


“Ancient stone sculpture of dancing Shiva unearthed at Sambalpur”


The New Indian Express (India)


“The Long, Knotty, World-Spanning Story of String”


Hakai Magazine (Canada)


“Ancient sites destroyed to make way for andesite quarry in Ordu in Turkey’s north”


Hürriyet Daily News (Turkey)


“Ancient Nubia—in the footsteps of the Napata and Meroe kingdoms”


PhysOrg (USA)


“Fujairah dig finds treasure trove of 500 Bronze Age artefacts”


The National (United Arab Emirates)


“More than 400 archaeological excavations completed along Trans Adriatic Pipeline’s path”


Tornos News (Greece)


“Facebook Apologises for Censoring Prehistoric Venus Statue”


NDTV (India)


“Archaeologists unearth tombs in ancient Nubia”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“Mayan pilgrimage center was discovered in Sac Actun underwater cave system”


The Yucatan Times (Mexico)


“An 8,000-year-old Slab Holds the ‘Oldest Writing’ Ever Discovered! Or Does It?”


Ancient Origins (Australia)


“Case closed: Oldest known cave art proves Neanderthals were just as sophisticated as humans”


Sentinel Source (USA)



“A red hand stencil. A series of lines that look like a ladder. A collection of red dots.

These images, painted in ochre on the walls of three separate caves in Spain, are the oldest-known examples of cave art ever found.

And new research suggests that all three were created not by humans, but by our ancient cousins the Neanderthals.

In a paper published recently in Science, an international team of archaeologists shows that each of the three paintings was executed at least 64,000 years ago – more than 20,000 years before the first modern humans arrived in Europe.

‘This work confirms that Neanderthals were indeed using cave walls for depicting drawings that had meaning for them’, said Marie Soressi, an archaeologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands who was not involved in the study.

‘It also means that our own group, the one we call anatomically modern humans, is maybe not so special.'”


[Read The Full Story]


[This story in the Sentinel Source complements earlier reports of these findings, and again shows how sophisticated the Neanderthals were.

Doubtless we will hear in the future about the possible link between them and certain megalithic structures wrongly dated due to inferred association with nearby datable organic debris and artifacts. Stone is impossible to date in traditional ways, and too heavy for modern humans to have easily manipulated, but Neanderthals may have found it easy. They were sophisticated enough!

It’s well worth a visit to read the full story – Ed.]


“Scientists discover tattoos on Egyptian mummies”


The Hindu (Italy)


“Ancient Native American burial site found submerged off Florida”


Orlando Sentinel (USA)


“First inhabitants arrived 700 years earlier than previously thought – research”


Malta Independent (Malta)


“Morocco Pledges Broad New Strategy to Preserve National Heritage, Historic Sites”


Morocco World News (Morocco)


“Complex buildings and buried architectural remains unearthed in Valley of Argolis”


Tornos News (Greece)


“Tattoos Detected on 5,000-Year-Old Egyptian Mummies”


Archaeology Magazine (USA)


“7,000yo Native American burial site found off Florida coast”


RT News (Russia)


“Ancient DNA offers clues to remote Pacific islands’ population puzzle”


Nature (USA)


“Researchers Take a Bite Out of Prehistoric Nicotine Use”


Ancient Origins (Australia)


“Archaeology: ancient marine structure discovered in Aqaba”


ANSAmed (Italy)


“Hunting for the Ancient Lost Farms of North America”


Civil Eats (USA)


“Rain in Iraq Ends Drought, Uncovers Historic Ruins”


Asharq Al-Awsat (Saudi Arabia)


“Shelters with echoes thought to be preferred sites for prehistoric rock art”


PhysOrg (USA)

 

an image of a meteor flashing through the sky

 


February 2018 News Headlines


“Ancient DNA reveals genetic replacement despite language continuity in the South Pacific”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“1,500-year-old hidden mini-statue discovered in Yungang Grottoes”


XinhuaNet (China)


“Archaeology in northern Alaska: a race against the clock”


KTOO Public Media (Alaska)


“Ancient city discovered in Central America”


ABC Radio National (Australia)


“8,000-Yr-Old Ceramic Slab with Possibly World’s Oldest Writing Discovered near Nova Zagora”


Archaeology in Bulgaria (Bulgaria)


“Dramatic Whale Hunts Depicted in Ancient Rock Art”


National Geographic (USA)


“Thessaloniki Metro Dig Reveals More Ancient Greek Finds”


Greek Reporter (Greece)


“7th-century site yields traces of grand banquet hall for nobility”


The Asahi Shimbun (Japan)


“Britain’s prehistoric catastrophe revealed: How 90% of the neolithic population vanished… “


The Indepencdent (UK)


“Ancient ‘giant’ handaxes raise questions about mobility of prehistoric European populations”


SciMex (Australia)


“136 archaeological sites found”


The Himalayan Times (Nepal)


“Neanderthals were artistic like modern humans, study indicates”


EurekAlert (USA)


“7,000 year old enigma on rare exhibit at National Archaeological Museum in Athens”
video

Tornos News (Greece)


“Bronze Age artefacts discovered as school building works gets underway”


Swindon Advertiser (England)


“Archaeologists discover ancient necropolis in Cairo”


Deccan Chronicle (India)


“Earliest cave art belonged to Neanderthals, not humans”


Sin Chew Jit Poh (Malaysia)



“The world’s oldest known cave art was crafted by Neanderthals more than 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe, showing that our extinct cousins were capable of symbolic thinking just like us, international researchers said Thursday.

The report in the journal Science is based on new technology that reveals the most accurate age yet of ancient cave paintings at three different archeological sites in Spain.

‘This is an incredibly exciting discovery which suggests Neanderthals were much more sophisticated than is popularly believed’, said co-lead author Chris Standish, an archaeologist at the University of Southampton.

‘Our results show that the paintings we dated are, by far, the oldest known cave art in the world.’

Since they were created some 64,000 years ago — at least 20,000 years before modern humans arrived in Europe from Africa — ‘they must have been painted by Neanderthals’, he added.”



[Read The Full Story]


[An excellent story from Sin Chew. In recent years it has become evident that Neanderthals were nowhere near the brutish, short-lived people they have been portrayed as by mainstream archaeology over the past 100 years and more. It’s well worth a visit to read the full story – Ed.]


“The genomic history of southeastern Europe”


Nature (UK)


“Archaeologists unearth headless Aphrodite statue in Thessaloniki”


Neos News (Greece)


“Secret to Great Pyramid’s Near-Perfect Alignment Possibly Found”


Live Science (USA)


“7,400-year-old rice grains discovered in central China”


XinhuaNet (China)


“Bizarre ‘Spider Stones’ Found at Site of Neolithic Sun-Worshipers”


Live Science (USA)


“Are ancient Peruvians with long skulls aliens? No, they were self-made, says study”


IB Times (Singapore)


“The Beaker phenomenon and the genomic transformation of northwest Europe”


Nature (UK)


“180,000 year-old jawbone places humans outside Africa far earlier than thought”


Cordis News (Luxembourg)


“Mystery of ‘Screaming mummy’, that baffled experts for 132 years, solved”


Zee News (India)


Prehistoric wine discovered in inaccessible caves forces a rethink of ancient Sicilian culture”


Heritage Daily (USA)


“Intriguing discoveries at Vryokastro ancient sanctuary on Kythnos island”


Tornos News (Greece)


“Ancient tomb containing splendid armor found in Kyushu”


“Five surprising things DNA has revealed about our ancestors”


Yahoo News Canada (Canada)



“Researchers recently used DNA from the 10,000-year-old ‘Cheddar Man’, one of Britain’s oldest skeletons, to unveil what the first inhabitants of what now is Britain actually looked like.

But this isn’t the first time DNA from old skeletons has provided intriguing findings about our ancestors.

Archaeologists have known for some time that modern humans and Neanderthals lived together in Europe and Asia, but until recently the nature of their cohabitation was unknown.

In fact, after the first full Neanderthal mitochondrial genome (DNA located in the cell’s mitochondria) was sequenced in 2008, there was still uncertainty among both archaeologists and geneticists as to whether humans interbred with our closest relative.

When the full genome of a Neanderthal was sequenced in 2010, comparisons with modern human DNA showed that all non-African people have pieces of Neanderthal DNA in their genomes.

This could have occurred if humans and Neanderthal had interbred around just 50,000 years ago, a result that was confirmed a few years later.”


[Read The Full Story]


[A really intriguing story from Yahoo News Canada, though what they actually mean by ‘…all non-African people…’ is something even more intriguing considering mainstream archaeologists have told us we all came from African stock originally.

Even so, advances in DNA sequencing has opened up a whole aspect of prehistoric research, and we are consequently getting a clearer picture of our ancient past. It’s well worth a visit to read the full story, and do follow all the links in the text – Ed.]


“Tree rings reveal our past — and our future”


Mother Nature Network (USA)


“Slovak experts pull back veil of ancient Maya civilisation”


The Slovak Spectator (Slovakia)


“Cochasquí: The Immense Pyramids of Ecuador Provide Evidence for a Forgotten Civilization”


Ancient Origins (Australia)


“‘Iron Age evidence’ found in central Myanmar”


Eleven Myanmar (Myanmar)


“2,000 yr old rock art depicting life-size camels and donkeys discovered in Saudi Arabia”


IB Times (UK)


“2nd century Roman temple uncovered in Aswan”


Ahram Online (Egypt)


“Preserving Angkor Wat’s legacy”


Gulf News (United Arab Emirates)


“Archeologists ascertain 4,000-year-old characters on Mongolian pottery”


Global Times (China)


“Clay tablets from the cradle of civilisation provide new insight to the history of medicine”


Science Nordic (Denmark)


“Oldest Dutch work of art found at the bottom of the North Sea”


Dutch News (Netherlands)


“After Cheddar Man: How the mongrel English found their home during the Dark Ages”


The Independent (UK)


“Discovery of ancient Aboriginal remains confirms burial grounds on western Cape York”


ABC News (Australia)


“Archaeologists trace lost settlements of Glencoe”


The Herald (Scotland)


“Wooden tools hint at fire use by early Neanderthals”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“Tracing the roots of Buddhism in Cambodia”


The Phnom Penh Post (Cambodia)


“8,000-Year-Old Heads on Stakes Found in Mysterious Underwater Grave”


Live Science (USA)



“The discovery of a burial containing 8,000-year-old battered human skulls, including two that still have pointed wooden stakes through them, has left archaeologists baffled, according to a new study from Sweden.

It’s hard to make heads or tails of the finding: During the Stone Age, the grave would have sat at the bottom of a small lake, meaning that the skulls would have been placed underwater.

Moreover, of the remains of at least 11 adults placed on top of the grave, only one had a jawbone, the researchers said.

The burial did contain other jawbones, although none of them, except for an infant’s, were human.

While excavating the site, archaeologists found various animal bones, including dismembered jawbones and arms and legs (all from the right side of the body), said study co-lead researcher Fredrik Hallgren, an archaeologist at the Cultural Heritage Foundation in Västerås, Sweden.”



[Read The Full Story]


[What an amazing story from Live Science! That these heads were originally buried underwater, at the bottom of a small lake, makes the find all the more intriguing. Many votive offerings were made into lakes in celtic lands, but this is indeed the strangest I’ve encountered. It’s well worth a visit to read the full story, see the diagrams and follow links to images of the skulls – Ed.]


“Ancient arachnid trapped in amber a missing link in spider evolution”


ABC Science News (Australia)


“Science Notes – Updating radiocarbon-dating techniques”


Current Archaeology (UK)


“Early Anatolian church found in Karabük”


Hürriyet Daily News (Turkey)


“IS destroyed, stole from four historic Iraqi sites”


Kuwait News Agency (Kuwait)


“Neanderthals used fire to fashion tools”


Cosmos (Australia)


“Rare ancient tomb with special drainage system discovered in NE China”


XinhuaNet (China)


“Stonehenge tunnel plans could ‘destroy’ Ice Age site”


BBC News (UK)


“Singapore risks destroying past in race to build, says top archaeologist”


Malay Mail (Malaysia)


“Discoveries from 1,400-year-old Norwegian ice surprise scientists”


The Local (Norway)


“Mummies of early Chinese immigrants unearthed in Peru”


CBC News (Canada)


“New search for hidden chambers in King Tut’s tomb underway”


News.com (Australia)


“No volcanic winter in East Africa from ancient Toba eruption”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“Turkey must be more persistent in repatriation of ancient artifacts”


Hürriyet Daily News (Turkey)


“Millennia-old artefacts found at Oman archaeological site”


Times of Oman (Oman)


“Stone Age man’s top tips for felling prey”


The Times (UK)


“Excavations start at 5,000-yr-old pre-Harappan site in Haryana”


The Indian Express (India)


“Scientists find 60,000 Mayan structures preserved under dense Guatemalan jungle”


ABC Science News (Australia)


“Scientists Shocked By Ancient Stone Tools In India”


Infosurhoy (Venezuela)



“A huge find in India may have tremendous implications as far as our understanding of mankind’s migration out of Africa, and it certainly challenges prevailing theories in the scientific community.

Scientists found stone tools that were dated to about 385,000 yrs ago in the Tamil Nadu region of India.

That is a big deal because current scientific consensus holds that modern humans brought these tools to India less than 140,000 years ago.

The tools were found at Attirampakkam, a site near a stream of the Kortallaiyar River where scientists were able to find lots of stone tools from various settlements, perhaps stretching back to colonies of apes that lived there 1.7 million years ago.

If confirmed, it would mean either that humans in India developed stone tools on their own without the help of a more advanced group of hominins migrating out of Africa, or that those early humans migrated out of Africa far earlier than we realized.”


[Read The Full Story]


[A really good story showing, once again, that mainstream archaeological theories are being challenged by new discoveries which show them to be simply presumptions. Not a long story but worth a visit to read it in full – Ed.]


“Over 70 pct of 5,000-year-old Perga city in southern Turkey still underground”


Daily Sabah (Turkey)


“Mass grave dates from Viking Era”


Heritage Daily (UK)


“Can technology help restore Syria’s lost archaeological heritage?”


The National (United Arab Emirates)


“Archaeologists unearth cave burials in Uttarakhand’s Malari”


NYOOOZ (India)


“High-ranking female official’s 4,400-year-old tomb discovered outside Cairo”


ABC News (Australia)


“Archaeologists may have found architects’ camp for Stonehenge”


The Guardian (UK)


“Maya finds shed new light on lost civilization”


Deutsche Welle (Germany)


“Unusual 2,400-Year-Old Burial Unearthed in Mexico City”


Archaeology Magazine (USA)


“Three burial chambers engraved with hieroglyphics discovered in Giza”


Egypt Independent (Egypt)


“Did Ancient Greeks Sail to Canada?”


Hakai Magazine (Canada)


“Rock-hewn burial shaft uncovered in Egypt’s Abusir necropolis”


Ahram Online (Egypt)


“Mystery surrounds ancient but advanced tools found in India”


ABC Science News (Australia)


“Fresh archaeological season starts near Burnt City”


ZAWYA / Tehran Times (Iran)


“Ancient Iraq: Queen Puabi’s amusing tomb”


Egypt Today (Egypt)


“Stone tools found in India push back human migration timeline”


Outlook India (India)


“World-famous archaeological site to be protected from the sea”


Jersey Evening Post (Jersey)

 

an image of a meteor flashing through the sky

 


January 2018 News Headlines


“Archaeologists find earliest baby’s grave in the Netherlands”


Dutch News (Netherlands)


“Driver ploughs into historic Nazca Lines while trying to dodge highway toll”


IB Times (UK)


“Divers find two centuries-old shipwrecks in the Baltic Sea”


The Local (Sweden)


“Ancient jaw bone found in Israel shows modern humans left Africa 180,000 years ago


ABC Science News (Australia)


“Frozen in time: Glacial archaeology on the roof of Norway”


EurekAlert (USA)


“2,200-yr-old gov’t office ruins unearthed in Shaanxi Province”


XinhuaNet (China)



“Archaeologists in northwest China’s Shaanxi Province have unearthed the ruins of a government office building, which was believed to be a musical department of the Qin Dynasty (221-207 B.C.).

The ruins, 110 meters long and 19.5 meters wide, were composed of four rooms of equal area, with clay walls of around 3 meters thick, said Zhang Yanglizheng, assistant researcher with the provincial research institute of archaeology.

In addition to architecture materials, such as tiles and bricks, pieces of stone chimes, a percussion instrument in ancient China, were found in the ruins excavated in Xixian New Area.

Xu Weihong, excavation team leader of the institute, said 23 pieces of the chime debris were found with inscriptions saying ‘beigongyuefu’, meaning ‘musical department of the north palace’.”



[Read The Full Story]


[What an amazing discovery! A whole musical department as part of government 2,200 years ago. Well done XinhuaNet for reporting this really important discovery. Further analysis of the site and artifacts found will doubtless show another sophisticated society in China in ancient times. It is well worth reading the full story and seeing the many pages of images of the excavation and finds – Ed.]


“Ancient midden found after Semiahmoo Nation pressed for archeological assessment”


The Vancouver Sun (Canada)


“Excavations in Mudhaibi indicate presence of ancient civilisation”


Muscat Daily (Oman)


“10,000-Year Old Artifact Found Near Ancient Lake Could Be World’s Oldest Crayon”


Tech Times (USA)


“New find in Purana Qila pushes Delhi history back by centuries”


The Indian Express (India)


“Mummified macaw indication of trade”


Mexico News Daily (Mexico)


“Researchers Discover Fossilized Jawbone That May Alter Homo Sapiens’ Timeline”


Huffington Post (USA)


“Cambridge Uni archaeologists make new discoveries on Greek island of Keros”


Tornos News (Greece)


“Controversial femur could belong to ancient human relative”


Nature (UK)


“Scientists say glass was made in Africa centuries before Europeans arrived”


The Express Tribune (Pakistan)


“Scythian Prince’s Sprawling Tomb Found in the ‘Siberian Valley of the Kings'”


Smithsonian Magazine (USA)


“Thirsty Greeks ‘Brewed Beer in Bronze Age’”


Greek Reporter (Greece)


“Putting Ancient Recipes on the Plate”


Atlas Obscura (USA)


“Scientists find first evidence of glassmaking in sub-Saharan Africa”


Africa Times (Nigeria)


“The flourished city – Mohenjo-Daro”


Telangana Today (India)


“Ancient Greek mosaic floor discovered in war-torn Syria while digging for mines”


Tornos News (Greece)


“Swiss archaeologist discovers the earliest tomb of a Scythian prince”


Science Daily (USA)


“Rare prehistoric shell mound in Aichi, Japan, suggests possible mid-Jomon shell trade”


The Japan Times (Japan)



“An ancient heap of shells at Sakatsuji Shell Midden in the city of Toyohashi, Aichi Prefecture, most likely served as a clam-processing site in the latter half of the mid-Jomon Period, approximately 4,500 years ago, an investigation conducted by the city’s board of education has revealed.

While there are ruins in eastern Japan that indicate organized production during the mid-Jomon Period – including the Nakazato shell midden, or mound, which is a national historic site in Tokyo’s Kita Ward – it is extremely rare to find one in the Chubu region or further west.

This latest discovery will provide important clues about the culinary lifestyle and economic activities conducted in the Jomon Period.”


[Read The Full Story]


[An interesting report on the discovery of a seafood shell midden in Japan showing that, like their counterparts on the northwest Pacific coast of America, the ancient Japanese peoples of the Jomon period were expert at foraging and processing seafood. It may well be that they were also building ‘clam gardens’ and cultivating them, as did the NW Pacific coastal peoples in the US. I wholely recommend reading the full story – Ed.]


“Hillwalker’s Mayo cave find is 5,000 year old burial site”


The Irish Times (Ireland)


“11,000-yr-old baby tomb found in SW China”


XinhuaNet (China)


“Historic ruins make clear mysterious civilization”


Kaplan Herald (USA)


“Israeli settlers raid archaeological sites near Nablus”


WAFA (Palestine)


“Etruscan settlement found in Sardinia for first time”


ANSAmed (Italy)


“Treasure trove of artefacts found in Oman archaeological site”


ZAWYA (UAE)


“Ancient civilisation unearthed in Odisha”


The Asian Age (India)


“Egypt’s Great Pyramid houses secret throne carved from an ancient meteorite”


New Zealand Herald (New Zealand)


“Bristle Mammoth uncovered under Michigan farm”


The Toledo Blade (USA)


“Saudi Geological Survey: ‘Bronze Age findings in Khybar will be vital to the future’”


Arab News (Saudi Arabia)


“Lucky find gives archeologists glimpse into early hunting technology in Yukon”


CBC News (Canada)


“Houses reused for over 1000 years during Stone Age”


Science Nordic (Norway)


“Sacred Mayan Underwater Tunnel Rediscovered in Yucatan”


Telesur TV (Venezuela)


“Europe’s lost forests – study shows coverage has halved over 6,000 years”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“Han dynasty cliff tomb cluster discovered in Chengdu”


XinhuaNet (China)


“1st century tomb discovered in northern Egypt’s Al-Alamein”


Ahram Online (Egypt)


“Complex engineering and metal-work discovered beneath ancient Greek ‘pyramid'”


The Guardian (UK)



“More than 4,000 years ago builders carved out the entire surface of a naturally pyramid-shaped promontory on the Greek island of Keros.

They shaped it into terraces covered with 1,000 tonnes of specially imported gleaming white stone to give it the appearance of a giant stepped pyramid rising from the Aegean: the most imposing manmade structure in all the Cyclades archipelago.

But beneath the surface of the terraces lay undiscovered feats of engineering and craftsmanship to rival the structure’s impressive exterior.

Archaeologists from three different countries involved in an ongoing excavation have found evidence of a complex of drainage tunnels – constructed 1,000 years before the famous indoor plumbing of the Minoan palace of Knossos on Crete – and traces of sophisticated metalworking.”


[Read The Full Story]


[Another great story from Maev Kennedy at The Guardian. This ‘pyramid’ must really have been an imposing site in the sunshine from many miles around. It’s well worth reading the full article and seeing the images of the site and findings – Ed.]


“Pottery shard holds ancient example of kanji used in Japan”


The Asahi Shimbun (Japan)


“Ancient Jew’s harps found in Altai Mountains as musical instruments reappear after 1,700 years”


The Siberian Times (Russia)


“Ancient Phoenician DNA from Sardinia, Lebanon reflects settlement, integration, mobility”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“Viking centre discovered in Cork city predates Waterford settlement”


The Irish Times (Ireland)


“Archaeologists unveil two major discoveries in Upper Egypt’s Tel Edfu and Kom Ombo”


Ahram Online (Egypt)


“Half a Million Year Old Prehistoric Site Uncovered in Sharon Valley”


Jewish Press (Israel)


“Oldest Buddhist stele found in Tibet”


Telegraph India (India)


“Zhambyl region studies ancient settlements, encourages cultural development”


The Astana Times (Kazakhstan)


“Oracle Bone With 30 Inscribed Characters Discovered At Yaoheyuan Ruins In China”


Inquistitr (USA)


“2 major archaeological discoveries unveiled in Aswan”


Egypt Today (Egypt)


“Tel Aviv dig uncovers prehistoric ‘paradise'”


ABC RN (Australia)


“Two suns? No, it’s a supernova drawn 6,000 years ago, say scientists”


The Guardian (UK)


“Was God Mithras Born on December 25?”


Netral News (Indonesia)


“Cheops’ pyramid: Is there an iron throne in the newly discovered chamber?”


Popular Archaeology (USA)



“In early November 2017, Nature published the results of the Scan Pyramids project, led by Mehdi Tayoubi (Hip Institute, Paris) and Kunihiro Morishima (University of Nagoya, Japan): there is a ‘huge void’, at least 30 meters long, within the Pyramid of Cheops.

Giulio Magli, Director of the Department of Mathematics and Professor of Archaeoastronomy at the Politecnico di Milano, has formulated one of the first hypotheses of interpretation.

‘Cheop’s Pyramid, built around 2550 BC, is one of the largest and most complex monuments in the history of architecture. Its internal rooms are accessible through narrow tunnels, one of which, before arriving at the funerary chamber, widens and rises suddenly forming the so-called Great Gallery.’

The newly discovered room is over this gallery, but does not have a practical function of ‘relieving weight’ from it, because the roof of the gallery itself was already built with a corbelled technique for this very reason.’ So what does that mean?

“There is a possible interpretation, which is in good agreement with what we know about the Egyptian funerary religion as witnessed in the Pyramids Texts. In these texts it is said that the pharaoh, before reaching the stars of the north, will have to pass the ‘gates of the sky’ and sit on his ‘throne of iron’.

We can get an idea of how this object could be, looking at the throne of Cheop’s mother, Queen Hetepheres, which has been found in pieces and reconstructed by Harward University. It is a low chair of cedar wood covered with sheets of gold and faience.

Cheops’ could be similar, but coated with thin iron sheets. Of course it would not be melted iron, but meteoritic iron that is, fallen from the sky in the form of Iron meteorites (distinguishable due to the high percentage of the element Nickel) and again cited in the Texts.

It is certain that the Egyptians knew this material for many centuries before Cheops, and continued to use it for special items designed for the Pharaohs during millennia: just think of the famous Tutankamon dagger.”


[Read The Full Story]


[A really great story in Popular Archaeology showing the analysis of archaeoastronomer Guilio Magli regarding the ‘void’ discovered in the Great Pyramid.

That meteoritic iron was sacred to the ancient Egyptians is well known, as he points out, and it’s possible use as a chair from which the pharaoh could reach the stars by passing the ‘gates of the sky’ and sit on his ‘throne of iron’ is a likely interpretation. It’s well worth reading the full article – Ed.]


“Archaeological artifact discovered in Sohag parking lot”


Egypt Independent (Egypt)


“Israel 500,000-Year-Old Site a Paradise for Prehistoric People”


Newsmax (USA)


“Turkish scientists to crack Neolithic-era DNA code, European funding awarded”


Hürriyet Daily News (Turkey)


“Scraps of paper found on Queen Anne’s Revenge”


The Salisbury Post (England)


“Satellite & Drone Imagery of Prehistoric Silk Road Corridor Reveals Long-Lost Irrigation Network”


Newsweek (USA)


“Dispelling myths: People lived well past 40 before modern medicine, says study”


Zee News (India)


“Study may shed new light on dispersal of early modern humans”


Popular Archaeology (USA)


“Ancient board game has no parallel in Europe”


The Slovak Spectator (Slovakia)


“Depiction of mythical Aztec universe discovered in natural pond near Mexico’s Iztaccihuatl volcano”


IB Times (UK)


“Ancient henge discovered in Yorkshire”


The Yorkshire Post (England)


“Ancient Cave in China Filled With 45000-Yr-Old Stone Tools and Animal Bones: New Excavation”


Newsweek (USA)


“Remains of royal ancient Egyptian artefacts uncovered in Tel Al-Pharaeen”


Ahram Online (Egypt)


“Terminal Pleistocene Alaskan genome reveals first founding population of Native Americans”


Nature (UK)



“Despite broad agreement that the Americas were initially populated via Beringia, the land bridge that connected far northeast Asia with northwestern North America during the Pleistocene epoch, when and how the peopling of the Americas occurred remains unresolved.

Analyses of human remains from Late Pleistocene Alaska are important to resolving the timing and dispersal of these populations.

The remains of two infants were recovered at Upward Sun River (USR), and have been dated to around 11.5 thousand years ago (ka).

Here, by sequencing the USR1 genome to an average coverage of approximately 17 times, we show that USR1 is most closely related to Native Americans, but falls basal to all previously sequenced contemporary and ancient Native Americans.

As such, USR1 represents a distinct Ancient Beringian population.”


[Read The Full Story]


[A really great and interesting study published in Nature which brings us a step or more closer to understanding the details of how and when North America was populated by humans. It’s well worth reading the full abstract, and the full paper is available for a fee. The references are given and it’s well worth following the links – Ed.]


“Rani Pokhari to undergo excavation for three days”


Himalayan Times (Nepal)


“Archaeologists discover ancient tools built with material from space”


Luxora Leader (USA)


“Resting place of leaders of lost kingdom on Strathclyde found”


The Scotsman (Scotland)


“New technique reveals 2,000-year-old writings in mummy cases”


Hindustan Times (India)


“Nazca lines, geoglyphs topic of Jan. 10 archaeological society meeting in Queen Creek”


Queen Creek Independent (USA)


“Otago study re-piecing prehistoric global warming”


Otago Daily Times (New Zealand)


“Tooth scratches reveal new clues to pterosaur diets”


Nature (UK)


“Mound spotted by Nitish Kumar yields 3,000 yr-old potsherds, dates back to 1000 BC”


The Asian Age (India)


“Cambodia’s Angkor revenue exceeds 100 mln USD in 2017”


XinhuaNet (China)


“Remarkably well preserved 1,900-year-old Chinese mirror unearthed intact in Japan”


IB Times (UK)


“Israeli archaeologists find 2,700-year-old “governor of Jerusalem” seal impression”


The Hindu (India)


“5 Major Archaeology Discoveries to Look for in 2018”


Live Science (USA)


“Important Archaeological Pieces Are Returned to Costa Rica”


The Costa Rica Star (Costa Rica)


“The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project”


Cardiff/Athens Universites (Cymru/Greece)



[In October 1900, Captain Dimitrious Kondos was leading a team of sponge divers near the the island of Antikythera off the coast of Greece. They noticed a shipwreck about 180 feet below the surface and began to investigate. Amongst the artifacts that they brought up was a coral-encrusted piece of metal that later archaeologists found was some sort of gear wheel.

The rest of the artifacts, along with the shape of the boat, suggested a date around 2000 years ago, which made the find one of the most anomalous that had ever been recovered from the Greek seas. It became known as The Antikythera Mechanism.

In 2006 the journal “Nature” published a letter, and another paper about the mechanism was published in 2008, detailing the findings of Prof. Mike G. Edmunds of Cardiff University. Using high-resolution X-ray tomography to study the fragments of the anomalous Antikythera Mechanism, they found that it was in fact a bronze mechanical analog computer that could be used to calculate the astronomical positions and various cycles of the Moon – as seen from the Earth: – Ed]


Part of the Antikythera Mechanism


an image of Part of the Antikythera Mechanism, which is also a clickable link directly to the Lichfield Blog story



Antikythera Mechanism Research Project


2000-year-old analog computer recreated


More Antikythera Mechanism Information & Commentary:


“Human Skeleton Found on Famed Antikythera Shipwreck”


Scientific American (USA)


“Scientists decipher purpose of mysterious astronomy tool made by ancient Greeks”


CBC News (Canada)


“Beyond the Antikythera mechanism”


Nature Blogs (UK)


“Archimedes’ legendary sphere brought to life”


Nature News (UK)


“Discovery about the Antikythera Mechanism reveals surprising advances in early Greek science”


University of Puget Sound (USA)


“World’s oldest computer is more ancient than first thought… “


The Daily Mail Online (UK)


“New international mission ready to explore Antikythera shipwreck”


eKathimerini (Greece)


“Return to Antikythera: Divers revisit wreck where ancient computer found”


The Guardian Science Blog (UK)


“In search of lost time”


Nature (UK)


“World’s First Computer Displayed Olympic Calendar”


Wired Gadget Lab (USA)


“Antikythera Mechanism – World’s earliest existing analogue computer”


HotnHit News (India)


“In search of lost time”


Nature (UK)


“Imaging the Antikythera Computer”


Wired Gadget Lab (USA)


“Decoding an Ancient Computer: Greek Technology Tracked the Heavens”


Scientific American (USA)


“2,000 Year Old Computer Yields Her Secrets”


Wired Gadget Lab (USA)


“Watch a video explaining the Antikythera mechanism”


Nature (UK)


“Antikythera mechanism”


Wikipedia (USA)


“World’s First Computer Rebuilt, Rebooted After 2,000 Years”


Wired Gadget Lab (USA)


“Antikythera: A 2,000-year-old Greek computer comes back to life”


The Guardian Science Blog (UK)


Google image search results for The Antikythera mechanism


Google (USA)

 





“Archaeoastronomy:

Introduction to the Science of Stars and Stones”


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Giulio Magli



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“Astronomy & Maths in

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Christopher Cullen



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“Celestial Geometry:

Understanding the

Astronomical Meanings

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Ken Taylor



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“The Mythology of Venus:

Ancient Calendars and Archaeoastronomy”


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Helen Benigni



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“The Stones of Time:

Calendars, Sundials, and Stone Chambers of Ancient Ireland”


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Martin Brennan



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“Archaeoastronomy in East Asia: Historical Observational Records of Comets and Meteor Showers from China, Japan, and Korea”


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David Pankenier,



Zhentao Xu


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Yaotiao Jiang



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“The Sacred Science of Ancient Japan: Lost Chronicles of the Age of the Gods”


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Avery Morrow



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“The Nebra Sky Disc:

cycles in the cosmos”


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M Howard Crowhurst



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“Machu Picchu’s Sacred Sisters: Choquequirao and Llactapata: Astronomy, Symbolism, and Sacred Geography in the Inca Heartland”


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Gary R. Ziegler


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J. McKim Malville



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“The Memory Code:

The Secrets of Stonehenge,

Easter Island and Other Ancient Monuments”


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Lynne Kelly



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“Stolen Legacy”


by


George G. M. James



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“Knowledge and Power in

Prehistoric Societies”


by


Lynne Kelly



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“Archaeoastronomy

and the Maya”


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Gerardo Aldana y Villalobos


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Edwin L. Barnhart



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“Cosmology, Calendars,

and Horizon-based Astronomy

in Ancient Mesoamerica”


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Anne S. Dowd


and


Susan Milbrath



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“Architecture, Astronomy

and Sacred Landscape

in Ancient Egypt”


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Giulio Magli


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Michael A. Morse



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“Ancient Egyptian Sky Lore:

Rethinking the

Conventional Wisdom”


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Joanne Conman



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“Megalithic Sites in Britain”


by


Alexander Thom



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“Megalithic Lunar Observatories”


by


Alexander Thom



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“Megalithic Remains in Britain and Brittany”


by


Alexander Thom



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“Megalithic Measures

and Rhythms: Sacred Knowledge of the

Ancient Britons”


by


Anne Macaulay



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“Sky and Landscape:

A Field Guide to Archaeoastronomy”


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Irene Earis



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“Carnac, The Alignments”


by


Howard Crowhurst



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“Howard Crowhurst in this book has presented the most brilliant analysis of a megalithic site in the entire history of archaeology.

His elucidations of the geometrical, mathematical, and astronomical principles by which ancient Carnac was constructed prove that megalithic science was astonishingly advanced.

The book gives us unprecedented insight into the minds of the intellectuals of a lost civilisation, which we may at last begin to comprehend as a result of what Crowhurst has found during more than twenty years of living on site.

His book is an epochal achievement.”


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“Astronomy & Measurement in Megalithic Architecture”


by


Peter Harris


and


Norman Stockdale



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“Imhotep The African:

Architect of the Cosmos”


by


Robert Bauval


and


Thomas Brophy



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“The Mystery of Skara Brae: Neolithic Scotland and the Origins of Ancient Egypt”


by


Laird Scranton



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an image of a meteor flashing through the sky

 


Morien Institute News Headlines Archive

2018

April 01 – June 30 |
July 01 – September 30 |
October 01 – December 31

 



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