Archaeology

Highest stone circle in southern England found on Dartmoor

“Highest stone circle in southern England found on Dartmoor”

Via “The Guardian“

The highest stone circle in southern England has been found on a weather-battered slice of moorland in Devon.

Situated 525 metres (1,722ft) above sea level, the ancient site is the first stone circle to be found on Dartmoor for more than a century.

The circle is the second largest on the moor and archaeologists believe it was probably part of a “sacred arc” of circles around the north-eastern edge.

Its discovery adds weight to the theory that there was some kind of planning and liaison between the communities living on Dartmoor in the late Neolithic/early Bronze Age 4,000 to 5,000 years ago.

Many stone circles were prodded and probed in Victorian times and before, so the opportunity to apply modern scientific methods to a previously unexamined one is particularly exciting.

Archaelogists say the stone circle provides an exciting opportunity to apply modern scientific methods to a previously unexamined circle. Photograph: Dartmoor National Park

Jane Marchand, senior archaeologist at Dartmoor national park, said: “The discovery is providing an opportunity for investigation using the very latest archaeological scientific methods to provide long-awaited insights into the chronology, construction and the purpose of these most elusive and iconic of Dartmoor’s prehistoric monuments.”

With a diameter of 34 metres (112ft), the circle consists of 30 recumbent stones, plus one more lying in a gap just outside the circle and now incorporated into an unfinished enclosure wall.

The stones probably came from the nearby Sittaford Tor itself and are of a fairly uniform size, suggesting they were carefully chosen. Packing stones visible around the bases of some of these indicate that they were originally upright. . . . .

“Are these the remains of a two-million-year-old playground? Stones found at Chinese site could be toys used by man’s early relatives, say scientists”

The problem of Modern archaeology. The item is either a gift fro a mother that shows the loves caringly placed into making it or random stone fragments. We’re not really sure. **EB

“Are these the remains of a two-million-year-old playground? Stones found at Chinese site could be toys used by man’s early relatives, say scientists”

by Julian Robinson via “Daily Mail“

Scientists believe they may have uncovered evidence of a two-million-year-old playground in China.

Researchers found more than 700 stone artefacts in an area of less than six square metres in the Nihewan Basin, Hebei province.

Experts working at the Heitugou site have suggested the items were toys made by early hominids between 1.77million and 1.95million years ago.

Discovery: Scientists believe they may have uncovered evidence of a two-million-year-old playground in China (file picture)

The leader of the project, paleoanthropologist Wei Qi, has described the discovery as ‘amazing’.

The South China Morning Post quotes the Chinese Academy of Sciences expert as saying: ‘The site is a treasure chamber that may hold some useful clues to answer a lot of important questions, from the social structure of the early hominids to whether, when and how they arrived in Asia all the way from Africa.’

Close to 20,000 fragmented pieces but larger items – the majority between 20 and 50mm long – are believed to have been made by women and children.

Wei said one ‘finely made and beautifully shaped’ item was possibly a gift made by a mother for her child adding that ‘you can almost feel the maker’s love and passion’.

Researchers said the lack of evidence of animal remains and large stone tools added weight to the argument that the area was used by children rather than adults.

Scientists dated the site, discovered in 2002, using a special geochronological tool.

Researchers found more than 700 stone artefacts in an area of less than six square metres in the Nihewan Basin (pictured), Hebei province

The items have been excavated and documented with the findings due to be published in an archaeological journal in China.

Nihewan Basin used to be a huge lake and it is thought the items were buried in a sudden landslide.

However, a debate has surfaced over the findings and researcher Gao Xing of the CAS Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology said it was important to determine whether the artefacts were all hand made.

The South China Morning Post report him as saying: ‘It is difficult to rule out the possibility that they were just stone fragments created by natural forces.

‘To determine whether they were hand-made artefacts may go beyond the limit of science today.’

Huge tomb of Celtic prince unearthed in France: ‘Exceptional’ 2,500-year-old burial

“Huge tomb of Celtic prince unearthed in France:

‘Exceptional’ 2,500-year-old burial”

The tomb of an Iron Age Celtic prince has been unearthed in a small French town.

The ‘exceptional’ grave, crammed with Greek and possibly Etruscan artefacts, was discovered in a business zone on the outskirts of Lavau in France’s Champagne region.

The prince is buried with his chariot at the centre of a huge mound, 130 feet (40 metres) across, which has been dated to the 5th Century BC.

The biggest find at the site was a huge wine cauldron. Standing on the handles of the cauldron, is the Greek god Acheloos. The river deity is shown with horns, a beard, the ears of a bull and a triple mustache

A team from the National Archaeological Research Institute, Inrap has been excavating the site since October last year.

They recently dated it to the end of the First Iron Age – a period characterised by the widespread use of the metal.

Its discovery could shed light on Iron Age European trade, researchers say.

The 2,500-year-old burial mound has at its heart a 14 square metre burial chamber, not yet opened, of an ancient royal.

An Iron Age Celtic prince lay buried with his chariot at the center of this huge mound in the Champagne region of France, according to the country’s National Archaeological Research Institute (Inrap)

Eight lioness heads decorate the edge of the cauldron (right). Inside the cauldron, the archaeologists found a ceramic wine vessel, called oniochoe (left)

A team from the National Archaeological Research Institute, Inrap has been excavating the site since October last year. Pictured is part of the cauldron found

‘It is probably a local Celtic prince,’ Inrap president Dominique Garcia told journalists on a field visit.

WHAT WERE THE KEY FINDS?

The prince is buried with his chariot at the centre of a huge mound. His chamber has not yet been opened.

This biggest find was a large bronze-decorated cauldron that was used to store watered-down wine.

The cauldron has four circular handles decorated with bronze heads that depict the Greek god Acheloos.

Another interesting discovery was a perforated silver spoon that was part of the banquet utensils, presumably to filter the wine.

The mausoleum contained a decorated ceramic wine pitcher made by the Greeks.

The most exciting find, he said, was a large bronze-decorated cauldron that was used to store watered-down wine. It appears to have been made by Etruscan craftsmen from an area that is today in Italy.

The cauldron has four circular handles decorated with bronze heads that depict the Greek god Acheloos.

The river deity is shown with horns, a beard, the ears of a bull and a triple mustache.

Eight lioness heads decorate the edge of the cauldron.

The mausoleum contained a decorated ceramic wine pitcher made by the Greeks.

Decorations on the vessel reveal the god Dionysus, lying under a vine and facing a woman.

The archaeologists also found remains of a iron wheel, from a chariot buried with the prince.

Another interesting discovery was a perforated silver spoon that was part of the banquet utensils, presumably to filter the wine. . . . .

by Ellie Zolgfagharifard via “Daily Mail“
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What the Sumerians did for art

“What the Sumerians did for art”

by P.W. via “The Economist“

GOLD-encrusted and splendid, Tutankhamun’s tomb changed perceptions of archaeology in Europe and the United States on its discovery by Howard Carter in 1922, and the resulting wave of Egyptomania influenced everything from fashion to furniture. “From Ancient to Modern: Archaeology and Aesthetics”, a new exhibition at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) in New York, explores the impact that the Tutankhamun hoard had on two near contemporaries of Carter, Leonard Woolley and Henri Frankfort, who worked on separate digs in what is now southern Iraq—as well as the public response to their finds.

The pieces that the English Woolley and the Dutch Frankfort uncovered were from the Sumerian civilisation (c.3100BC-2100BC) and helped change the public perception of ancient societies and artefacts. They included jewels and luxury goods at Ur (Woolley) and dozens of stone carvings from the nearby Diyala Valley (Frankfort).

Woolley’s team struck gold, literally and metaphorically, in 1927. A large cemetery was uncovered with 1,800 graves, including 16 that were said to be royal tombs, since they contained bodies ornamented with precious materials. The remains of Queen Puabi, buried with a retinue of murdered servants to ensure her care in the afterlife, became Woolley’s Tutankhamun. Her elaborate gold headdress, topped by a spectacular star-studded comb, was reconstructed by Woolley’s wife, as was the queen’s cloak of long strands of semiprecious stones. An imagined facsimile of the queen wearing this garb was soon on display at the British Museum.

The stone figures (pictured) found by Frankfort’s mission, which started work in 1930, depict men with huge eyes and bare chests. Their long skirts seem to have been made of feathers or leaves, though scholars now say the material was cotton tufts. From the first Frankfort referred to them as sculptures not artefacts. For him, as for thousands after, they were works of art.

Following Carter’s example, the two archaeologists sought to ensure maximum publicity for their finds, and were rewarded with some lurid news stories. “Evidence that the Queen of Ancient Ur was clubbed to Death,” screamed a 1928 piece in the Washington Herald. “Grim Tragedy of Wicked Queen Shubad’s 100 Poisoned Slaves,” ran a 1934 account in thePhiladelphia Inquirer. Agatha Christie’s 1935 mystery, “Murder in Mesopotamia”, was inspired by Woolley’s dig.

ISAW’s fascinating, tightly packed show has many jewels and ten of the stone figures, as well as contemporary archaeological records with detailed drawings and measurements, on-the-spot diaries and photographs of the teams. In a second room are works by 20th- and 21st-century artists who saw the stone carvings, among them Henry Moore and Alberto Giacometti. But this display, while attractive, is unpersuasive: an artist can see an object, even be captivated by it, without it having a lasting influence; yet such an influence is claimed. While the drawings Giacometti made in 1935 from Sumerian sculpture on view at the Louvre are of some interest, it was Etruscan art that more powerfully influenced his work. As for the cast-concrete Moore figure from 1929 that is on display, the fact that the work’s folded hands may owe something to the Sumerian statues does nothing to support the idea that Moore’s subsequent more celebrated sculpture was similarly influenced.

Islamic Coins Discovered in Viking’s Shield Boss

“Islamic Coins Discovered in Viking’s Shield Boss”

via “Archaeology.com“

Last year, a metal detectorist discovered a sword from the Viking Age in a field in central Norway. Archaeologists from the Museum of Natural History and Archaeology at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology excavated the site, and found a grave dating to about A.D. 950 that contained the remains of a Viking and his shield, in addition to the inscribed, high-quality sword. Hidden inside the shield boss they found a leather purse that contained several Islamic coins. Norwegian Vikings arrived in Spain in the 800s, where they may have come in contact with Islamic culture, or perhaps the coins were obtained through trade. “We have not managed to find out who owned the sword, but we know that he was a well-traveled man,” archaeologist Ingrid Ystgaard told NRK, as reported by ThorNews. The shield boss also bears combat scars. “The shield boss has a clear cut mark by an ax or a sword. If he died in combat, we do not know,” added Ystgaard. To read about the earliest Norse raids, see “The First Vikings.”