Archaeology News: July 2011

Ancient City Mysteriously Survived Mideast Civilization Collapse

As ancient civilizations across the Middle East collapsed, possibly in response to a global drought about 4,200 years ago, archaeologists have discovered that one settlement in Syria not only survived, but expanded. Their next question is — why did Tell Qarqur, a site in northwest Syria, grow at a time when cities across the Middle East were being abandoned?

photo © Tell Qarqur Expedition

Ancient Sacrificer Found With Blades in Peru Tomb?

With ancient ceremonial knives at his side, an elite 14th-century executioner—a key player in human-sacrifice rituals—has been uncovered in a tomb at a pre-Inca site in Peru, archaeologists suggest.

USS SCORPION Project 2011 Day by Day: Week Three | Naval History Blog

Today, we were back in the Patuxent trenches continuing our efforts to delineate the boundaries of the suspected USS Scorpion wreck. So far, the team has been successful in uncovering ship timbers in test units placed on the upstream and downstream extremities of the site.

Holy Apocalypto: Ancient War Resulted in ... Civilization? UCLA Researchers Say Hooah to That

Research suggests that ancient battles of the Apocalypto variety might have spawned the earliest vestiges of civilization, namely buildings, religions and political systems.

What’s lurking under our heels in Heeley?

Heeley City Farm and Sheffield University are inviting families to take part in an archaeological project to uncover Heeley’s past.

Rebuilding Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas

German art historian Bert Praxenthaler continues the quest to rebuild Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. He says that up to half of the pieces of the statues have been recovered from the rubble.

Ancient City Mysteriously Survived Mideast Civilization Collapse

As ancient civilizations across the Middle East collapsed, possibly in response to a global drought about 4,200 years ago, archaeologists have discovered that one settlement in Syria not only survived, but expanded. Their next question is — why did Tell Qarqur, a site in northwest Syria, grow at a time when cities across the Middle East were being abandoned?

Who dug the Erdstalls of southern Germany?

Who dug the Erdstalls of southern Germany and why? These narrow dirt tunnels and galleries are thought by some to the homes of elves, gnomes, or spirits. Archivist Josef Weichenberger thinks they were medieval hiding places.

Heritage and conservation: Poor restoration practices ‘ruin monuments’

Participants at the seminar, Heritage Preservation in Pakistan- International Principles and Practices, discussed the collective responsibility to preserve social heritage.

Children’s archaeology dig at Pascack Museum

Volunteers at the Pascack Historical Society Museum, 19 Ridge Avenue, Park Ridge, are sprucing up their two raised archeology beds in their museum’s backyard in anticipation of "Stones & Bones," a children’s archaeological dig for grades two through six, scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 25 from 10 .a.m. to 1 p.m.

Time team dig up the dirt: experts push back origins of farming in city’s history

ARCHAEOLOGISTS working at a Sheffield farm have dug up a mystery – the remains of a settlement which could date back 8,000 years to the Iron Age.

Isle of Wight's sunken World War II tanks studied

Maritime archaeologists have investigated ways for World War II tanks at the bottom of the sea near the Isle of Wight to be protected.

Archaeologists search for lost graves at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site

Archaeologists from The University of Western Ontario and the Ontario Heritage Trust will begin to search for unmarked graves at Uncle Tom’s Cabin Historic Site in Dresden.

Shower of eggs greets Moscow's chief archaeologist

Leonid Kondrashev, Moscow’s chief archeologist, had an unwelcome start to his new job when he was pelted with eggs and mayonnaise by angry political protestors on Triumfalnaya Ploshchad on Thursday.