Sunday Round Up: Archaeology and Anthropology News 3/06/2011

Discovery by Oregon archaeologist looks 12,000 years into past at people who settled the West Coast

A trove of Stone-Age tools, discarded shells and animal bones unearthed by a University of Oregon anthropologist and others open a new window on lives of the long-vanished people who settled the West Coast more than 12,000 years ago.

Gettysburg work tracks Civil War remains Contractors are taking extra precaution when they dig up streets in Gettysburg this summer, as part of several multi-million dollar roadway upgrades. After all, this is historic Gettysburg, and you never know what crews may unearth. “Everybody is just a little bit more careful when they do road work or projects around here, because it’s Gettysburg,” says Borough Manager Florence Ford, previously of nearby Cumberland Township.

Roman remains found at Weston College but will not proceed to examine Weston College has said it will not pay for a full study of a skeleton, coins and stone foundations uncovered during a six-week dig at its Knightstone Campus. The decision comes despite archaeologists proclaiming the dig as the first clear evidence of a Roman settlement in the town. This week, the college, which paid for the initial excavation under a planning agreement to refurbish its Hans Price building, said ‘the investigation was complete’.

Altar of the Twelve Gods sees the light Renovation work on the aged Piraeus-Kifissia electric railway (ISAP) on the stretch between the central Athenian neighborhoods of Monastiraki and Thisseio have brought to light one of the most exciting archaeological discoveries of recent years.

Antiquities at risk in Arab world Though reportedly safe for now, as the tension escalates in Libya, the fate of the country's archaeological heritage is increasingly uncertain, experts say. Meanwhile, in Egypt, threats to national treasures may resurface, after a pause. The last of the foreign archaeologists working in Libya were evacuated Feb. 26, according to Nature News. The 11 archaeologists with the Italian-Libyan Archaeological Mission in the Acacus and Messak are studying ancient archaeology and rock art in the country. Doing Anthropology-MIT Cultural Anthropology is a social science that explores how people understand - and act in - the world. But what, exactly, is it that Cultural Anthropologists do? How do they approach their research? In this short film, three members of MIT's Anthropology Department, Stefan Helmreich, Erica James, and Heather Paxson, talk about their current work and the process of doing fieldwork.

"S" Twist Handaxes, a Palaeolithic enigma, a close examination of these evocative items

Egyptology: Zahi Hawass confirms resignation Egypt's chief antiquities official, Zahi Hawass, has confirmed his resignation late this week from his post, amid political turmoil and the looting of antiquities.

Signs of early life found in Alaska Some 11,500 years ago one of America's earliest families laid the remains of a three-year-old child to rest in their home in what is now Alaska. The discovery of that burial is shedding new light on the life and times of the early settlers who crossed from Asia to the New World, researchers report in the journal Science . The bones represent the earliest human remains discovered in the Arctic of North America, a "pretty significant find," said Ben A. Potter of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Post colonial Archaeology Takes Over the World By Michael Smith I really dislike postcolonial theory and postcolonial archaeology, so I was not thrilled to see that the current issue of World Archaeology is devoted to this topic. Issue editor Peter van Dommelen (2011) contributes an introduction to the papers.

Click on the keywords for the full articles. Have a great Sunday from Ancient Digger.