Although at first glance it may seem like nothing more than a bunch of rocks, this ancient settlement discovered in 1994 was constructed roughly 9,000 years ago and is currently the one of the oldest examples of complex/monumental architecture in the world, predating the pyramids by thousands of years.
Art students, an archaeology store, and some cool technologies
Read and find more great archaeology blogs at: Archaeology Blog Project
Shalom from Huqoq, Israel!
Read and find more great archaeology blogs at: Archaeology Blog Project
March 2013
Read and find more great archaeology blogs at: Archaeology Blog Project
Drawing the line between privacy and research
Henrietta Lacks didn’t get to decide whether her cells would be used for research. Over 60 years later, the NIH will give the Lacks family its say.
Çatalhöyük Week 5: Making sense of an unusual multiple burial
Source: http://bit.ly/16jFGvc
(image)Child with wooden object placed over its head and buried with an adult While it’s been a much slower season in terms of burials excavated this year, the quality of the finds thus far has been exceptional. One particular burial in Building 52 alone – still in the process of excavation – has already provided a number of very exciting discoveries. When the grave cut in the northwest platform was opened several weeks ago we were confronted with what seemed a jumble of disarticulated juvenile skulls and and other loose bones. As the grave fill was gradually removed, however,………. Read MoreRead and find more great archaeology blogs at: Archaeology Blog Project
Sacrificed Incan Children Died Full of Coca and Alcohol | Motherboard
Researchers ran tests on three creepily well-preserved mummies—a boy and a girl who were four or five, and one 13-year-old girl. They were discovered in 1999 in a shrine near a the summit of a volcano in Argentina, buried some 500 years ago.
Forensics tests on the teenage girl revealed that, for the last year of her life, she switched from eating potatoes to a diet of llama meat and maize. An analysis of her hair—performed by researchers just as if she were a potential employee—revealed that during the same period her consumption of coca spiked as well. Coca is the plant that cocaine is extracted from, and a large lump of coca quid was found in the mummy’s mouth.
The coca leaves contain only trace amounts of the alkaloid that is turned into coke, but the coca levels detected in the mummy were much higher than other ancient coca-leaf chewers. The tests also revealed that she ingested a large amount of alcohol (probably from fermented corn) in her last final weeks of life.
Did you actually know? – Easter Island is the world´s most remote inhabited island
The world’s most remote international airport is Mataveri International Airport on Easter Island. Flights are operated by LAN Chile and from Santiago de Chile it is an approx. 6 hours flight. You can connect to Easter Island also from Papeete (French Polynesia).
For your next Chile holidays, we invite you to discover all mystics that exist on Easter Island. A rich history, volcanoes, moais and blue lagoons will amaze you. Enjoy the lovely people, palm trees, beaches and the tropical weather on the most isolated island in the world!
25 July 2013
With a blend of science and detective work, it’s surprising how much ancient bones can tell us about life and death in prehistoric times. Researchers working on Neanderthal remains have recently found evidence of a type of benign bone tumour which still affects humans today. Examining a large cavity in a rib fragment (at the top of the picture) revealed signs of fibrous dysplasia, a genetic disease that causes portions of bone to grow abnormally because of uncontrolled cell division. The bone shown below displays the thin bony plates, or trabeculae, that would be expected in a healthy rib; in life, the cavity in the top rib would instead have been filled with fibrous tissue. Found in a rocky shelf in Croatia, the remains are thought to be at least 120,000 years old, making this discovery the oldest trace of this type of bone tumour in the archaeological record.
Written by Emmanuelle Briolat
—
Danish chemist Kaare Lund Rasmussen has helped to develop a new methodology that would help archaeologists learn “an unheard amount of details from very shortly before a person’s death”.
Rasmussen worked with anthropologists on the excavation of an 800 year old child’s grave in Ribe, Denmark. Soil samples were taken from the precise locations the child’s organs would have occupied before they decomposed. By performing a chemical analysis on these soil samples Rasmussen was able to determine that the body was exposed to large amounts of mercury - which was previously used in medicine - shortly before the child’s death.
This technique has been used by Rasmussen’s team on 19 other medieval burial sites in two cemeteries.
Giant Maya Carvings Found in Guatemala
Maya archaeologist Francisco Estrada-Belli and his team were excavating a tunnel left open by looters when they happened upon the frieze. “The looters had come close to it, but they hadn’t seen it,” Estrada-Belli said.
According to Estrada-Belli, the frieze is one of the best preserved examples of its kind. “It’s 95 percent preserved. There’s only one corner that’s not well preserved because it’s too close to the surface, but the rest of it isn’t missing any parts,” said Estrada-Belli, who is affiliated with Tulane University, Boston University, and the American Museum of Natural History and who is also a National Geographic Explorer.
Bent Sword, part of the finds in a noble’s grave at Oss (The Netherlands). Circa 826-600 BC.
Courtesy the Ambiorix, King of the Eburones exhibition at the Gallo-Roman Museum, Tongeren, Belgium. Photo taken by vintagedept.
