Archaeology News: November 13, 2012

Israeli archaeologists are scratching their heads over a possible 8,500-year-old murder mystery after discovering two skeletons at the bottom of an ancient well. Flint sickle blades and arrowheads found in the eight-meter (26 foot)-deep Stone Age well in the Jezreel Valley in Israel's Galilee region, suggest it was used by the area's first farmers.

Contrary to what was believed until now, the results published in PLoS ONE indicate that this blending was not due to an eastward migration of Europeans, but to a demographic expansion of local Central Asian populations, thanks to the technological improvements the Scythian culture brought with them.

The Mumbai-based State Archaeology and Museums Directorate is well known for its apathy towards historic structures, but this attitude touched nadir in the case of Nagardhan Fort. TOI has written how negligence of officials led to the collapse of a wall on the fort's western side. However, instead of repairing it, city-based archaeology officials pulled down the remaining structure, including petals on the top, with the help of a bulldozer, archaeology experts told TOI.

“The Fur Trade in Colorado” will be the third presentation in the Gail Pitts Lecture Series at El Pueblo History Museum. Archaeologist and author William Butler will talk about the fur trade, the trapper's life, the rendezvous, trading posts and more at 1 p.m. Saturday at the museum. The fur trade is an enduring American story of exploration, adventure and hardship in the wilderness, but Colorado often has been ignored, according to Butler. In fact, at least 24 trading posts operated in the state between 1800 and 1850.

A grenade, which dates back to the Second World War, was found under a tree by archaeologist Tim Southern as he was surveying coppice stools. Mr Southern, from Sonning Common, said: “It was on the surface just off a footpath and not far from Gypsy Lane.” He took a photograph of the device, which was encrusted with dirt, and went to show that to a member of the Nettlebed and District Commons Conservators. He then went to Sonning Common police station only to find that it was closed.

As Jon Tucker sifted soil through a screen in September, a corroded lead slug jiggled into view amid the sand and ash excavated from a pit just a few feet from a fenced-off sidewalk and rushing traffic. Tucker waved to his supervisor, archaeologist Taft Kiser, and held up the bullet for him to see.
Hundreds of artifacts followed, along with the contours of a buried cellar holding a rich trove of Civil War history sealed since a ferocious 1862 battle in this Virginia city, which today lies just beyond the suburbs of Washington.

Connecticut’s State Archaeologist, Dr. Nicholas Bellantoni will shed light on one of the Nutmeg State’s most intriguing historical mysteries – The Jewett City Vampires! The Killingworth Library program will take place on Thursday, November 15 at 7 p.m. Although Dr. Bellantoni is a pretty busy guy (typically involved in 150 field reviews, 20 field excavations and 300 municipal project proposals annually in addition to overseeing over 600,000 artifacts), we tracked him down for Patch's own investigation.

The last of the artefacts taken from Machu Picchu by American archaeologist who rediscovered the Inca citadel have been returned to Peru. More than 35,000 pottery fragments and other pieces were flown from Yale University to the Andean city of Cusco. They had been taken to the US by archaeologist Hiram Bingham, who brought the site to international attention in 1911.