Daily Dose of Archaeology: 5.0

Lowell2 · Jul 2, 2015

An ancient, two thousand year old ritual bath (miqwe) was discovered below a living room floor during renovations carried out in a private house in the picturesque neighborhood of ‘Ein Kerem in Jerusalem. Archaeologists of the Israel Antiquities Authority were amazed to discover that a pair of wooden doors beneath a stylized rug in the middle of a pleasant family’s living room concealed an ancient ritual bath.

Lowell2 · Jul 3, 2015

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150630202044.htm
An international research team led by the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa has discovered a milk-and ochre-based paint dating to 49,000 years ago that inhabitants may have used to adorn themselves with or to decorate stone or wooden slabs.

While the use of ochre by early humans dates to at least 250,000 years ago in Europe and Africa, this is the first time a paint containing ochre and milk has ever been found in association with early humans in South Africa, said Paola Villa, a curator at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History and lead study author. The milk likely was obtained by killing lactating members of the bovid family such as buffalo, eland, kudu and impala, she said.

Lowell2 · Jul 4, 2015

History of Fireworks :: PyroUniverse.com most historians believe that the very first pyrotechnic composition - a precursor to gunpowder - was first discovered sometime during the Sui and Tang dynasties (~600-900 A.D.) in China. It was most likely discovered accidentally by alchemists who were experimenting with sulfurous mixtures in an attempt to create an elixir of life. the alchemists kept records of certain poisonous and dangerous compositions that should never be mixed - including one particular mixture consisting of sulfur, saltpeter (potassium nitrate), honey, and arsenic disulfide. The texts make reference to such a mixture igniting accidentally while being cooked over a fire, resulting in a large, bright, hot flame that burned the hands and faces of the alchemists tending to it, and even burnt down the shack there were cooking it in! The Chinese used their gunpowder to create a variety of explosives, including crude bombs and "fire arrows" - bamboo firecrackers attached to regular arrows and shot at the enemy. The initial intent behind the early Chinese bombs was simply to practice psychological warfare - the terrifying, earth-rattling, lightning-like explosions had never been created by any man-made device, and they could easily frighten and confuse enemies, forcing them to flee.

the Italians had been fascinated with fireworks ever since the explorer Marco Polo brought back firecrackers from the Orient in 1292. During the Renaissance in Europe (1400-1500), the Italians began to develop fireworks into a true art form.

Around the 1730s, firework shows in England became huge public displays rather than just the private entertainment of royalty.

Lowell2 · Jul 5, 2015

The Archaeology News Network: Roman-era granaries revealed at ancient Tripolis Structures from 1,900 years ago have been unearthed during archaeological excavations in the ancient city of Tripolis, located in the western province of Denizli’s Buldan district. The structures were used as granaries, according to officials.

Lowell2 · Jul 5, 2015

The bow of a ship believed to be from a 13th century Mongolian invasion attempt, off Matsuura, Nagasaki Prefecture [Credit: University of the Ryukyus]

Lowell2 · Jul 6, 2015

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/06/150630121210.htm While studying Yersinia pestis, the bacteria responsible for epidemics of plague such as the Black Death, scientists found a single small genetic change that fundamentally influenced the evolution of the deadly pathogen, and thus the course of human history. They demonstrated how the acquisition of a single gene caused the shift of Y. pestis from causing a primarily gastrointestinal infection to a more serious and often fatal respiratory disease and how later modifications lead to infections associated with the bubonic plague.

Lowell2 · Jul 7, 2015

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150706090037.htm Engineers, imagers and anatomists are helping Art historians to try to understand how the two mysterious Renaissance bronzes were made and why they look the way they do by making accurate replicas of the originals. The latest technology -- neutron imaging, XRF analysis, 360 degree laser scanning, 3D printing, and real-time x-ray videography -- has been involved in this Renaissance ‘whodunnit’.

The University of Warwick has also provided scientific examination of the sculptures' anatomy provided by Professor Peter Abrahams, Clinical Anatomist at Warwick Medical School, who commented:

"There are anatomical features on the bronzes that could only have been known by someone who had dissected the human body or who had attended dissections

Lowell2 · Jul 8, 2015

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150707213241.htm Some of the oldest marine animals on the planet, including armoured worm-like forms and giant, lobster like sea creatures, survived millions of years longer than previously thought, according to a spectacularly preserved fossil formation from southeastern Morocco.

The Lower Fezouata formation has been revealing exciting discoveries about life in the Ordovician -- around 485 -- 444 million years ago -- since its discovery just five years ago. They include animals which would have looked perfectly at home during the Cambrian: armoured lobopodians -- worm like creatures with spines on their backs and short, stubby legs, and anomalocaridids -- huge segmented animals with remarkable feeding limbs, which are some of the largest marine creatures of the time.

As well as demonstrating the longevity of fauna thought to have been extinct millions of years previously, the Fezouata proves that other creatures evolved far earlier than previously thought.

Lowell2 · Jul 8, 2015

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150707101952.htm
An improved age for Earth's latest magnetic field reversal using radiometric dating
Date:
July 7, 2015
Source:
Research Organization of Information and Systems
Summary:
The Earth's magnetic field experiences reversals such that north becomes south. The age of the latest reversal is unclear. Researchers have dated volcanic ash that was formed immediately before the last reversal. This result and chronology of the associated sedimentary rock identifies the age of the reversal as 780,000 years ago. This new age will contribute calibrating the geological time scale.

Lowell2 · Jul 9, 2015

The Archaeology News Network: Tea cultivation in China began earlier than thought New archaeological discoveries in Ningbo, Zhejiang province, suggest that China may have been cultivating tea plants more than 3,000 years earlier than previously thought.

Sun said that soil around the roots showed traces of manual digging, proving that the plants were placed intentionally by humans and did not sprout naturally. "There were also relics of pottery pieces scattered around where the roots were discovered, further indicating that there were human activities nearby,

Lowell2 · Jul 10, 2015

The Archaeology News Network: 6,500 year old burial discovered in Egypt Traces of intentional injury in the form of cuts on the femur have been discovered on the remains of one of the dead found during this year's excavations carried out in the Western Desert in Egypt. It is the first known case of such treatment from the Neolithic period in this part of Africa.

Lowell2 · Jul 11, 2015

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150708072520.htm Two thusand years ago, Norway produced iron in significant quantities. Much of it was exported both southward and northward from Trøndelag in central Norway, a new study confirms. Finding slag heaps Ore for iron production was gathered in marshes in the springtime, and smelting took place in autumn. After the iron was reduced, slag remained. Around 400 places in Trøndelag alone show traces of early iron production.

The conditions for iron production were ideal in Trøndelag and in Jämtland province in Sweden, with widespread access to both pine trees and ore. "A lot of this iron contains about 0.2 percent carbon. That's on par with the best iron a blacksmith can get," says Espelund.

The production was so high that some 40 tonnes of iron per year were produced in Trøndelag around the year 200 CE. Much of the iron was probably exported south to the European continent, where phosphorus-free welding steel was sought after.

Around the year 600 CE the entire production stopped and lay fallow for several years.

Lowell2 · Jul 12, 2015

The Archaeology News Network: Human presence in Scotland earlier than thought Archaeologists working on the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate in Aberdeenshire have uncovered evidence that people were active in this mountainous landscape thousands of years earlier than previously thought. Excavations at sites deep in the Cairngorm glens have produced radiocarbon dates which demonstrate a human presence as far back as 8,100 BC, with some places being revisited over many thousands of years.

Radiocarbon dates of 6,200 - 6,100 BC from a site in Glen Geldie are remarkable because they coincide with the most dramatic climatic deterioration seen since the last ice age, in which permanent snow fields would have been a feature of the Cairngorms, and glaciers may have started reforming.

Lowell2 · Jul 13, 2015

Radioactive Wreck of WWII Aircraft Carrier Discovered Near San Francisco Bay | Western Digs After more than 60 years — and some of the most intense action that a military vessel has ever seen — a World War II-era aircraft carrier has recently been re-discovered off the coast of San Francisco, still larded with its final cargo: hundreds of barrels of radioactive waste. The U.S.S. Independence was found in April by archaeologists using sonar-equipped submersible vehicles near the Farallon Islands, some 65 kilometers from San Francisco, California, not far from where it was intentionally sunk by the U.S. Navy 64 years ago.

Lowell2 · Jul 14, 2015

5th-Century Mosaic Adorned with Elephants and Cupids Stunning mosaics have turned up during an archaeological dig of a fifth-century synagogue in northern Israel.

Tiny earth-hued stones in the mosaics swirl to form images of women surrounded by cupids holding discs, mythological creatures, a rooster, expressive theater masks and symbols of Dionysus (Bacchus), the Greco-Roman god of wine. And painted ivy crawls up columns covered with plaster. These recent discoveries add context and scenes to previously uncovered mosaics and inscriptions on the same and adjacent panels.
Elephant mosaics found in an earlier excavation of different sections of the same and adjacent panels hinted at the synagogue's less religious take on décor. The armored pachyderms "indicate that the scene depicted in the elephant mosaic is not a biblical story,"

Tairusiano · Jul 15, 2015

Maya Pyramid at Tonina Is One of the Biggest

CHIAPAS, MEXICO—News.com Australia reports that recent excavations at Tonina by archaeologists from Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History have shown the Maya city to be twice as large as predicted, with clearly defined districts, including areas of palaces, temples, housing, and administration. It had been thought that the Tonina acropolis had been built on a hill, but the excavations have shown that the mound covers a pyramid more than 240 feet tall, with 208 stone steps from its base to its apex.

Maya Pyramid at Tonina Is One of the Biggest - Archaeology Magazine

Tairusiano · Jul 15, 2015

4,000-Year-Old Floored Structure Found in Ohio

SHEFFIELD, OHIO—A team led by Brian Redmond of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History is excavating a 4,000-year-old site in northeastern Ohio. So far, they have uncovered a three-inch-thick floor made from layers of yellow clay that was carried to the site. A basin was built into the floor, along with cooking pits and storage holes that held hickory nuts. Post holes show where hickory saplings were placed and then tied together to create a framework covered with cattail mats.

4,000-Year-Old Floored Structure Found in Ohio - Archaeology Magazine

Lowell2 · Jul 15, 2015

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150713103525.htm
If not for a single genetic mutation, each kernel on a juicy corn cob would be trapped inside a inedible casing as tough as a walnut shell. The mutation switches one amino acid for another at a specific position in a protein regulating formation of these shells in modern corn's wild ancestor, according to a new study. Corn was domesticated in Mexico around 9,000 years ago from the wild grass teosinte. Teosinte seeds are protected by a hard casing that makes them impractical to eat, but ancient plant breeders developed varieties with "naked kernels." In these plants, the structures that form the seed case instead turn into the cob in the center of the ear, leaving the seed exposed for us to eat.

Besides having lost the inconvenient seed case, corn kernels today remain firmly attached to the cob, rather than scattering easily as they do in teosinte. The cobs are also much larger, and the corn plant has fewer leaf branches than its ancestor. Gene changes for these traits were discovered by Doebley and his colleagues over the past few decades.

Left: Teosinte ear; right: corn ear; center: ear from the first generation hybrid of a cross between teosinte and corn.
Credit: John Doebley

Lowell2 · Jul 15, 2015

Two of South Africa's most famous archaeological sites, Sibudu and Blombos, have revealed that Middle Stone Age groups who lived in these different areas, more than 1,000 km apart, used similar types of stone tools some 71,000 years ago, but that there were differences in the ways that these tools were made .But this was not the case at 65,000 years ago when similarities in stone tool making suggest that similar cultural traditions spread across South Africa.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150710160925.htm
Although elements of similarity are certainly present, the manufacturing differences observed between the Sibudu and Blombos Still Bay-type tools considerably weaken their grouping into the same cultural entity. In other words, at 71,000 years ago stone tool making at Sibudu and Blombos did not share the same rules and traditions

Lowell2 · Jul 16, 2015

Bronze Age Gold Spirals May Have Been Sacrificed to Gods A pile of 2,000 tangled gold spirals that bring to mind heaps of the fairy tale princess Rapunzel's golden locks were recently unearthed in Denmark.

Archaeologists discovered the 3,000-year-old delicate, glittering coils — each one measuring up to 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) long — in the town of Boeslunde, on the Danish Island of Zealand, which hosts almost half of Denmark's population.

Search

Search

Daily Dose of Archaeology: 5.0

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

Tairusiano

Tairusiano

Lowell2

Lowell2

Lowell2

More History Discussions

Recent History Discussions

Trending History Discussions