Top Archaeology News: November 9, 2011

New evidence of a lost civilization in an area of the Sahara in Libya has emerged from images taken by satellites. Using satellites and air photographs to identify the remains in one of the most inhospitable parts of the desert, a team from the University of Leicester in England has discovered more than 100 fortified farms and villages with castle-like structures and several towns, most dating between AD 1 to 500.

The site of what is now Rotterdam’s Yangtzehaven was inhabited by humans in the Middle Stone Age. At a depth of 20 metres, in the sea bed, unique underwater archaeological investigation found traces of bone, flint and charcoal from around 7000 BC.

It is prehistoric mystery that has baffled scientists for decades and sparked a long-running debate with archaeologists. But new DNA evidence from ancient horse bones has proved the horses depicted in prehistoric cave paintings actually existed 25,000 years ago.

The colorful history of Minneapolis’ Tangletown area, including the remnants of a long-gone mill, is influencing construction and prep work for a new Lyndale Avenue bridge over Minnehaha Creek.

More than four centuries after English adventurer Sir Francis Drake went to his watery grave off Panama's coast, archaeologists believe they have found two of the last ships he commanded.
In emerald Caribbean waters where the privateer is said to lie buried in a lead coffin, explorers using deep sea oil technology found three large ship sections offering strong clues that they belonged to Drake's Elizabeth and Delight.

Larry Grantham, an archaeologist with the Missouri Department of Transportation's Environmental Studies and Historic Preservation department, said his team has discovered a pair of Native American archaeological sites bookending the Mo. 168 bridge over the North River just west of Palmyra.

In a new examination of Laetoli in northern Tanzania, where a 3.6-million-year-old track of footprints of the bipedal human ancestor Australopithecus is preserved, researchers now argue that the classic understanding of this site is mistaken. The footprints have been buried since the mid-1990s for preservation, but a section recently opened for study as Tanzanian officials make plans for a museum on the site.

The University of Salford has announced a four year archaeology project which will see 9,000 people involved in digs. Dig Greater Manchester, which will also include a study in Blackburn, will see volunteers work alongside experts at 11 sites.

Utah Archaeology Week, to be held May 5-12, 2012, celebrates Utah's rich archaeological and cultural resources with a special week of statewide lectures, programs, activities, demonstrations and tours.

A rare stone sculpture depicting a bullock cart has been found by professor and students of Government First Grade College, HD Kote. The sculpture is assumed to be of the Punnata era.