ScienceDaily: Archaeology News

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03/30/11--07:10: Protein from bones of 600,000-year-old mammoth extracted successfully (chan 2001174)

Researchers from the University of York and Manchester have successfully extracted protein from the bones of a 600,000-year-old mammoth, paving the way for the identification of ancient fossils.


04/07/11--07:16: iPad helps archaeologists (chan 2001174)

A new approach to conducting archaeological research is revolutionizing methods of recording history, a field that is steeped in tradition.


04/11/11--08:10: Tourism does not harm all caves, study suggests (chan 2001174)

Unlike the situation in other caves, damage caused by tourists at the Aguila cave in Avila, Spain is "imperceptible", despite it receiving tens of thousands of visitors each year, according to new research.


04/13/11--09:10: South America's oldest textiles identified with carbon dating (chan 2001174)

Textiles and rope fragments found in a Peruvian cave have been dated to around 12,000 years ago, making them the oldest textiles ever found in South America, according to a new report.


04/13/11--10:29: Loch fossils show life harnessed sun and sex early on (chan 2001174)

Remote lochs along the west coast of Scotland are turning up new evidence about the origins of life on land. A team of scientists exploring rocks around Loch Torridon have discovered the remarkably preserved remains of organisms that once lived on the bottom of ancient lake beds as long as a billion years ago.


05/04/11--05:09: Battle scars found on an ancient sea monster (chan 2001174)

Scars on the jaw of a 120-million-year-old marine reptile suggest that life might not have been easy in the ancient polar oceans. The healed bite wounds were probably made by a member of the same species. Such injuries give important clues about the social behavior of extinct sea creatures from the time of dinosaurs.


05/10/11--09:15: Student archaeologists on trail of Yorkshire gem's hidden past (chan 2001174)

Archaeologists are revealing intriguing traces -- hidden for more than two centuries -- of the forerunner of one of Yorkshire’s great country houses in England.


05/16/11--04:59: Freedom in the swamp: Unearthing the secret history of the Great Dismal Swamp (chan 2001174)

Anthropologists have been researching maroons (African-Americans who permanently escaped enslavement) and other communities in the Great Dismal Swamp's approximately 200 square miles of densely wooded wetlands in southeast Virginia and northeast North Carolina.


05/17/11--09:18: Ancient Egyptian princess now known to be first person in human history with diagnosed coronary artery disease (chan 2001174)

Researchers have used whole body computerized tomography (CT) scanning to visualize the coronary arteries of the Egyptian princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon, who lived in Thebes (Luxor) between 1580 and 1550 BC. Results show her to be the first person in human history known to have diagnosed coronary artery disease. Surprisingly, she lived on a diet rich in vegetables, fruit and a limited amount of meat from domesticated (but not fattened) animals. Wheat and barley were grown along the banks of the Nile, making bread and beer the dietary staples of this period of ancient Egypt. Tobacco and trans-fats were unknown, and lifestyle was likely to have been active.


05/24/11--12:35: Population genetics reveals shared ancestries: DNA links modern Europeans, Middle Easterners to Sub-Saharan Africans (chan 2001174)

More than just a tool for predicting health, modern genetics is upending long-held assumptions about who we are. A recent study casts new light on the intermingling and migration of European, Middle Eastern and African and populations since ancient times.


06/08/11--09:20: Silver from the Americas may have entered the Spanish economy later than thought (chan 2001174)

European metal dominated Spanish silver coinage up until the reign of Philippe III (1578-1621) and it was only in the 18th century that it was completely replaced by Mexican metal. Using mass spectrometry analyses, researchers have succeeded in determining the provenance of coinage circulating in Spain after 1492. These results call into question the hypothesis according to which the massive influx of metals from the New World was directly responsible for the inflation that occurred in Spain in the 16th and 17th centuries.


06/14/11--06:57: Cave researchers explore stream-filled cavern at entrance to Jerusalem (chan 2001174)

Researchers have conducted an initial survey of what appears to be an important, ancient water source in a cave that was been discovered during excavation work for a new train station being constructed at the entrance to Jerusalem.


06/15/11--06:45: Dawn of agriculture took toll on health (chan 2001174)

When populations around the globe started turning to agriculture around 10,000 years ago, regardless of their locations and type of crops, a similar trend occurred: the height and health of the people declined. The pattern holds up across standardized studies of whole skeletons in populations, say researchers in the first comprehensive, global review of the literature regarding stature and health during the agriculture transition.


06/20/11--07:38: Ancient Mycenaean fortress uncovered (chan 2001174)

New research in Cyprus reveals the remnants of a Late Bronze Age (1500-750 B.C.) fortress that may have functioned to protect an important urban economic center in the ancient world.


06/24/11--08:19: Hidden lives of Baltimore's Irish immigrants unearthed for first time (chan 2001174)

Archaeologists are unearthing a unique picture of early Irish immigrants in the Baltimore area -- of city children taught at home to read and write before widespread public education or child labor laws, and insular rural communities defying assimilation.


07/05/11--07:43: Best-preserved house from the period of the Kingdom of Israel is uncovered at Tel Shikmona (chan 2001174)

Exceptional detective-archaeological work at the first season of archaeological digs at Tel Shikmona, on the southern edge of Israel's city of Haifa, has uncovered the remains of a house dating back to the period of the Kingdom of Israel. Upon re-exposing the structure, archaeologists were amazed to find that it had remained well preserved and is in fact one of the best-preserved "Four-Room House" dating back to that period known today.


07/13/11--06:21: Separated for 20 million years: Blind beetle from Bulgarian caves clarifies questions (chan 2001174)

One of the smallest ever cave-dwelling ground beetles has recently been discovered in two caves in the Rhodopi Mountains, Bulgaria, and described under the name Paralovricia beroni. The beetle is completely blind and is only 1.8-2.2 mm long.


07/19/11--16:43: Heavy metal hardens battle: Body armor hindered Medieval warriors (chan 2001174)

The French may have had a better chance at the Battle of Agincourt had they not been weighed down by heavy body armor, say researchers. A new study shows that soldiers carrying armor in Medieval times would have been using more than twice the amount of energy had they not been wearing it. This is the first clear experimental evidence of the limitations of wearing Medieval armor on a soldier's performance.


07/25/11--13:25: What is war good for? Sparking civilization, suggest archaeology findings from Peru (chan 2001174)

Raiding, triggered by political conflict in the 5th century BC, likely shaped the development of the first settlement that would classify as a civilization in the Titicaca basin in southern Peru, suggests a new study.


08/04/11--05:18: 'Amino acid time capsule': New way to date the past (chan 2001174)

British scientists are using an 'amino acid time capsule' to date the Quaternary period, stretching back nearly three million years. It is the first widespread application of refinements of the 40-year-old technique of amino acid geochronology. The refined method measures the breakdown of a closed system of protein in fossil snail shells, and provides a method of dating archaeological and geological sites.


08/04/11--19:04: Earliest image of Egyptian ruler wearing 'white crown' of royalty brought to light (chan 2001174)

The earliest known image of an Egyptian ruler wearing the "White Crown" associated with Egyptian dynastic power has been brought to light by archaeologists.


08/09/11--07:43: Archaeologists uncover 3,000-year-old lion adorning citadel gate complex in Turkey (chan 2001174)

Archaeologists in southeastern Turkey have unearthed the remains of a monumental gate complex adorned with stone sculptures, including a magnificently carved lion. The gate complex provided access to the citadel of Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina (ca. 950-725 BCE), and is reminiscent of the citadel gate excavated by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley in 1911 at the royal Hittite city of Carchemish.


08/29/11--11:25: 2,000-year-old burial box could reveal location of the family of Caiaphas (chan 2001174)

A professor in Israel has authenticated an inscription on an ancient ossuary thought to come from a burial site at the legendary location of the battle between David and Goliath. The unusually detailed inscription could reveal the home of the family of the high priest Caiaphas prior to its exodus to Galilee.


08/29/11--14:37: Black Death bacterium identified: Genetic analysis of medieval plague skeletons shows presence of Yersinia pestis bacteria (chan 2001174)

A team of German and Canadian scientists has shown that today's plague pathogen has been around at least 600 years. The Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of Europeans in just five years from 1348 to 1353. Until recently, it was not certain whether the bacterium Yersinia pestis -- known to cause the plague today -- was responsible for that most deadly outbreak of disease ever.


09/08/11--07:42: Fossil discovery supports evolutionary link between Australopiths and Homo (chan 2001174)

Skeletal remains found in a South African cave may yield new clues to human development and answer key questions of the evolution of the human lineage, according to a new series of papers.


09/08/11--07:42: Fossil discovery could be our oldest human ancestor (chan 2001174)

Researchers have confirmed the age of possibly our oldest direct human ancestor at 1.98 million years old.


09/15/11--05:41: Seaside fortress was a final stronghold of early Islamic power (chan 2001174)

Researchers have said that a Roman-influenced bath house at the fortress of Yavneh-Yam, located on a peninsula near present-day Tel Aviv, indicates that Arabic rulers maintained control of the site until the 12th century A.D. Military officers in the fortress, he suggests, were responsible for hostage negotiations between Arabic powers and Christian Crusaders, and the harbor itself was used for prisoner exchange.


09/19/11--08:38: Continents influenced ancient human migration, spread of technology (chan 2001174)

New research pieces together ancient human migration in North and South America. Researchers have found that technology spread more slowly in the Americas than in Eurasia. Population groups in the Americas have less frequent exchanges than groups that fanned out over Europe and Asia.


09/21/11--04:47: Did the orientation of the continents hinder ancient settlement of the Americas? (chan 2001174)

In an intriguing original look at the history of the first Americans, a new study finds evidence that the north-south orientation of the American continents slowed the spread of populations and technology, compared to the east-west axis of Eurasia.


09/22/11--06:37: Archaeologists uncover evidence of large ancient shipyard near Rome (chan 2001174)

Archaeologists, excavating Portus - the ancient port of Rome, believe they have discovered a large Roman shipyard. The team has uncovered the remains of a massive building close to the distinctive hexagonal basin or 'harbor', at the center of the port complex.


09/22/11--09:14: Asia was settled in multiple waves of migration, DNA study suggests (chan 2001174)

Researchers studying DNA patterns from modern and archaic humans has found that the Denisovans, a recently discovered hominin group, contributed genes to several populations in Asia and that modern humans settled Asia in more than one migration.


09/22/11--11:18: Aboriginal Australians: The first explorers (chan 2001174)

In an exciting development, researchers have, for the first time, pieced together the human genome from an Aboriginal Australian. The results re-interpret the prehistory of our species.


09/23/11--09:54: Excavation of islands around Britain to establish origins of Neolithic period (chan 2001174)

Archaeologists are investigating three island groups around Britain to help understand why people changed from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to farming the land.


10/05/11--11:37: Ancient road found at Maya village buried by volcanic ash 1,400 years ago (chan 2001174)

A research team excavating a Maya village in El Salvador buried by a volcanic eruption 1,400 years ago has unexpectedly hit an ancient white road that appears to lead to and from the town, which was frozen in time by a blanket of ash.


10/08/11--10:03: Documentary brings world's oldest underwater city back to life (chan 2001174)

Movie industry computer graphics and the very latest digital marine technology have brought the world's oldest submerged city back to life in a new documentary. Just a few metres under the sea, off the southern coast of Greece, lies Pavlopetri -- the oldest submerged city in the world. A team of archaeologists has spent the last three years surveying the site which was first discovered in the late 1960's. This summer the city, which dates back over 5,000 years, became the first underwater city to be fully digitally mapped and recorded creating a highly detailed stone by stone plan in photo-realistic 3-D.


10/17/11--07:25: Genetic study of cave millipedes reveals isolated populations and ancient divergence between species (chan 2001174)

Cave millipedes of the genus Tetracion are found on the southern Cumberland Plateau in Tennessee and Alabama, USA. New genetic analyses show that their populations are generally isolated and genetically distinct. Genetic divergence between two species of Tetracion suggests they diverged several million years ago.


10/17/11--08:16: Archaeologists find blade 'production lines' existed as much as 400,000 years ago (chan 2001174)

Archaeologists report that large numbers of long, slender cutting tools were discovered at the Qesem Cave outside Tel Aviv. They report that every element of the system points to a sophisticated tool "production line" to rival technologies used hundreds of thousands of years later.


10/19/11--15:12: New evidence for the oldest oxygen-breathing life on land (chan 2001174)

New research shows the first evidence that oxygen-breathing bacteria occupied and thrived on land 100 million years earlier than previously thought.


10/19/11--23:57: Ancient depiction of childbirth discovered at Etruscan site in Tuscany (chan 2001174)

An archaeological excavation at Poggio Colla, the site of a 2,700-year-old Etruscan settlement in Italy's Mugello Valley, has turned up a surprising and unique find: two images of a woman giving birth to a child. Researchers who oversee the Poggio Colla excavation site some 20 miles northeast of Florence, discovered the images on a small fragment from a ceramic vessel that is more than 2,600 years old.


10/20/11--05:48: Face-to-face with an ancient human (chan 2001174)

A reconstruction based on the skull of Norway’s best-preserved Stone Age skeleton makes it possible to study the features of a boy who lived outside Stavanger 7,500 years ago.


10/20/11--11:50: First North American hunters 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, speared mastodon fossil shows (chan 2001174)

A new and astonishing chapter has been added to North American prehistory in regards to the first hunters and their hunt for the now extinct giant mammoth-like creatures -- the mastodons. New research has shown that the hunt for large mammals occurred at least 1,000 years before previously assumed.


10/23/11--11:38: Viking buried with axe, sword and spear found with fully intact Viking boat burial in UK (chan 2001174)

The UK mainland's first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been discovered by archaeologists working in the Scottish Highlands. The 5m-long grave contained the remains of a high status Viking, who was buried with an axe, a sword with a beautifully decorated hilt, a spear, shield boss and bronze ring-pin.


10/25/11--07:23: Computer scientist cracks mysterious 'Copiale Cipher' (chan 2001174)

More than three centuries after it was devised, the 75,000-character "Copiale Cipher" has finally been broken. The mysterious cryptogram, bound in gold and green brocade paper, reveals the rituals and political leanings of a 18th-century secret society in Germany.


11/02/11--09:56: Analysis reveals malaria, other diseases as ancient, adaptive and persistent foes (chan 2001174)

One of the most comprehensive analyses yet done of the ancient history of insect-borne disease concludes for the first time that malaria is not only native to the New World, but it has been present long before humans existed and has evolved through birds and monkeys.


11/02/11--13:10: Jawbone found in England is from the earliest known modern human in northwestern Europe (chan 2001174)

A piece of jawbone excavated from a prehistoric cave in England is the earliest evidence for modern humans in Europe, according to an international science team. New dating of the bone, which shows that it is between 44,000 and 41,000 years old, is expected to help scientists pin down how quickly modern humans spread across Europe during the last Ice Age. It also helps to confirm the much-debated theory that early humans coexisted with Neanderthals.


11/02/11--13:12: Helping unravel causes of Ice Age extinctions (chan 2001174)

Did climate change or humans cause the extinctions of the large-bodied Ice Age mammals such as the woolly rhinoceros and woolly mammoth? Scientists have for years debated the reasons behind the Ice Age mass extinctions, which caused the loss of a third of the large mammals in Eurasia and two thirds of the large mammals in North America.


11/02/11--16:00: Hospital tests reveal the secrets of an Egyptian mummy (chan 2001174)

An ancient Egyptian mummy has had quite an afterlife, traveling more than 6,000 miles, spending six decades in private hands, and finally, in 1989, finding a home at the World Heritage Museum (now the Spurlock Museum) at the University of Illinois. The mummy's travels did not end there, however. It has made two trips to a local hospital -- once in 1990 and again this year -- for some not-so-routine medical exams.


11/07/11--09:14: Castles in the desert: Satellites reveal lost cities of Libya (chan 2001174)

Satellite imagery has uncovered new evidence of a lost civilization of the Sahara in Libya's south-western desert wastes that will help re-write the history of the country. The fall of Gaddafi has opened the way for archaeologists to explore the country's pre-Islamic heritage, so long ignored under his regime.


11/07/11--13:22: Ancient DNA provides new insights into cave paintings of horses (chan 2001174)

An international team of researchers has used ancient DNA to shed new light on the realism of horses depicted in prehistoric cave paintings. The team, which includes researchers from the University of York, has found that all the colour variations seen in Paleolithic cave paintings – including distinctive ‘leopard’ spotting - existed in pre-domestic horse populations, lending weight to the argument that the artists were reflecting their natural environment.


11/08/11--04:54: Ice Age paintings from the Swabian Jura, Southwestern Germany document the earliest painting tradition in Central Europe (chan 2001174)

Recent excavations conducted by the University of Tübingen at Hohle Fels Cave in the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany have produced new evidence for the earliest painting tradition in Central Europe about 15,000 years ago.


11/14/11--08:23: Ancient bronze artifact from East Asia unearthed at Alaska archaeology site (chan 2001174)

Archeologists have discovered the first prehistoric bronze artifact made from a cast ever found in Alaska, a small, buckle-like object found in an ancient Eskimo dwelling and which likely originated in East Asia.


12/05/11--15:19: Ancient dry spells offer clues about the future of drought (chan 2001174)

As parts of Central America and the US Southwest endure some of the worst droughts to hit those areas in decades, scientists have unearthed new evidence about ancient dry spells that suggest the future could bring even more serious water shortages. Three researchers have presented new findings about the past and future of drought.


12/06/11--07:14: Ancient meat-loving predators survived for 35 million years (chan 2001174)

A species of ancient predator with saw-like teeth, sleek bodies and a voracious appetite for meat survived a major extinction at a time when the distant relatives of mammals ruled the earth.


12/12/11--09:46: Disappearance of the elephant caused rise of modern humans: Dietary change led to modern humans in Middle East 400,000 years ago (chan 2001174)

Scientists have connected evidence about diet with other cultural and anatomical clues to conclude that the disappearance of the elephants led to the emergence of Homo sapiens in the Middle East much earlier than first suspected. The findings set the stage for a new, revolutionary understanding of human history.


12/12/11--19:10: Divers retrieve prehistoric wood from Lake Huron (chan 2001174)

Under the cold clear waters of Lake Huron, researchers have found a five-and-a-half foot-long, pole-shaped piece of wood that is 8,900 years old. The wood, which is tapered and beveled on one side in a way that looks deliberate, may provide important clues to a mysterious period in North American prehistory.


12/20/11--10:41: Skeletons point to Columbus voyage for syphilis origins (chan 2001174)

Skeletal evidence that reputedly showed signs of syphilis in Europe and other parts of the Old World before Christopher Columbus made his voyage in 1492 does not hold up when subjected to standardized analyses for diagnosis and dating, according to a new appraisal. This is the first time that all 54 previously published cases have been evaluated systematically, and bolsters the case that syphilis came from the New World.


01/03/12--10:54: Scientists crack medieval bone code (chan 2001174)

The existence of brucellosis, an infectious disease still prevalent today, has now been confirmed in ancient skeletal remains.


01/04/12--08:50: In ancient Pompeii, trash and tombs went hand in hand (chan 2001174)

Trash and tombs went hand in hand in ancient Pompeii. That's according to research that provides new insights into daily life of that city before the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79.


01/23/12--12:25: Ancient domesticated dog skull found in Siberian cave: 33,000 years old (chan 2001174)

A 33,000-year-old dog skull unearthed in a Siberian mountain cave presents some of the oldest known evidence of dog domestication and indicates that modern dogs may be descended from multiple ancestors, with advancing glaciers thwarting early domestication efforts.


01/26/12--09:37: Following genetic footprints out of Africa: First modern humans settled in Arabia (chan 2001174)

A new study, using genetic analysis to look for clues about human migration over sixty thousand years ago, suggests that the first modern humans settled in Arabia on their way from the Horn of Africa to the rest of the world.