Archeology and History

In only four days, a twin-engine aircraft equipped with an advanced version of lidar (light detection and ranging) flew back and forth over the jungle and collected data surpassing the results of two and a half decades of on-the-ground mapping, the archaeologists said. After three weeks of laboratory processing, the almost 10 hours of laser measurements showed topographic detail over an area of 80 square miles, notably settlement patterns of grand architecture and modest house mounds, roadways and agricultural terraces.

Human seafaring 100,000 years earlier than thought A dramatic find of stone tools dating to at least 130,000 years ago on the island of Crete has revolutionized assumptions about how long humans have been navigating the seas. Crete has been surrounded by sea for five million years or so, and no human species evolved independently on the island, so the tools found there have to have been wielded by people who got there by crossing the water.

The documentary ‘Nasca Lines: The Buried Secrets’, currently airing on the National Geographic Channel, uncovers the mysteries surrounding an ancient and fascinating series of designs carved into the floors of the Nasca – or Nazca – Desert in Peru. The lines depict simple designs as well as more elaborate representations of animals and are as large as 200 meters (600 ft) across. They are believed to be the creations of the Nazca people, a pre-Colombian culture that existed in southern Peru from approximately 1,100 B.C. until 750 A.D.

Archaeologists believe the copper ? and possibly the tin ? was being imported into Britain The trading vessel was carrying an extremely valuable cargo of tin and hundreds of copper ingots from the Continent when it sank

A team of researchers from Spain's Higher Council for Scientific Study (CSIC) are examining a marshy area of Andalusian parkland to find evidence of a 3,000-year-old settlement.They believe that Tartessos, a wealthy civilization in southern Iberia that predates the Phoenicians, may have had its capital in the heart of what is now the Donana national park.

The History Blog « Oysters and hazelnuts: Elizabethan popcorn The oldest Roman coin ever found in Britain The silver denarius was found by a metal detectorist ten years ago in Hallaton, Leicestershire, but it was just one of 5,000 coins in a hoard that included a rare Roman cavalry parade helmet, a decorated silver bowl and the remains of over 300 pigs probably consumed during a ritual feast, so it has taken a decade to date it. The Leicestershire County Council bought the Hallaton hoard and created a special gallery for it at the Harborough Museum in Market Harborough. The coins have been in storage since they were brought to the museum while museum researchers carefully dated and catalogued them. The somewhat worn silver coin dates to 211 B.C., that’s 4 years older than the previous record-holder. The Hallaton Treasure is the greatest number of Iron Age coins ever found in Britain. Archaeologists think the site was a shrine built by the Corieltavi tribe, but they don’t know how such an ancient coin came to be in their possession. Most of the 5,000 coins date to the mid first century A.D., around the time of the Roman invasion. Some archaeologists have however speculated that such Roman Republican coins found their way into Britain before the Roman conquest in 43 AD and were evidence of exchange through trade or diplomacy. Professor David Mattingly of the University of Leicester’s School of Archaeology and Ancient History said: “This hoard has changed our view of just how significant the East Midlands were in this period and this coin is a good example. “It indicates there was contact between this region and the Roman Empire despite the distance between the East Midlands and the parts of Britain the Romans arrived in, like Colchester and Chichester.” He added: “It was minted in Rome at the time of the Hannibalic wars and here it is turning up after what must have been quite a long journey.” The silver denarius would have been a day’s wages for a soldier or an unskilled worker. It features a helmeted goddess — possibly Roma — on one side, and the twins Castor and Pollux riding galloping horses on the other. The wear suggests it passed through a great many hands in its long lifetime before it went to ground in the 1st c. A.D. The coin has a place of honor in the Hallaton Hoard display at the Harborough Museum, and is scheduled to go on tour within the UK this year. This entry was posted on Saturday, January 30th, 2010 at 10:05 pm and is filed under Ancient, Museums, Treasures. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed. RSS feed

January 28, 2010—A thousand-year-old temple complex (including a tomb with human sacrifice victims, shown in a digital illustration) has been found under the windswept dunes of northwestern Peru, archaeologists say.The discovery of the complex, excavated near the city of Chiclayo (map) between 2006 and late 2009, has injected a dose of reality into the legend of Naylamp, the god who supposedly founded the pre-Inca Lambayeque civilization in the eighth century A.D., following the collapse of the Moche civilization.

The History Blog « The battle to save the Staffordshire Hoard 1000-year-old stele with image of Mayan ruler found A 1000-year-old stele engraved with the image of a Mayan ruler was found in the Lagartero archaeological area of Chiapas, Mexico. Archaeologists found the bas relief late last year while excavating the 10th section of Pyramid 4 in Lagartero. The stele depicts the ruler standing above a man at his feet, probably representing a seizure of power. Archaeologist Sonia Rivero Torres, who heads the Lagartero archaeological project, said that the stele or commemorative monument – the first to be found complete on the site – measures 2 meters (6 1/2 feet) long, 55 centimeters (22 inches) wide and 6 centimeters (2 1/3 inches) thick. The stele was sculpted in metamorphic rock, known locally as “heart of stone.”

As recently as a year ago this shipwreck was buried under 9 feet of earth and trees on Washaway Beach along the Pacific Coast in Washington state. Now erosion has revealed the 125 foot-long skeleton of a shipwreck. A week and a half ago the keel peeked out, then the shifting coastline exposed more and more of the ship’s structure.

Photo 1 of 2  |  View Enlarged Photo In this undated photo released by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities on Sunday, Jan. 10, 2010, pottery and bones are seen in a tomb, in Giza, Egypt. Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a new set of tombs of the workers who built the great pyramids, shedding new light on how the laborers lived and ate more than 4,000 years ago, the antiquities department said Sunday. Zahi Hawass, the director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, says the tombs are significant because they show that the pyramids were not built by slaves, but rather free workers.AP Photo/Supreme Council of Antiquities

Scientists claim to have the first persuasive evidence that Neanderthals wore "body paint" 50,000 years ago

this is the first secure evidence for their use of cosmetics," he told BBC News. "The use of these complex recipes is new. It's more than body painting."

A 19th-century illustration by Currier & Ives shows the traditional vision of Noah’s ark. Photograph: Brooklyn Museum/Corbis That they processed aboard the enormous floating wildlife collection two-by-two is well known. Less familiar, however, is the possibility that the animals Noah shepherded on to his ark then went round and round inside.