Clipmarks | Archaeology Clips

Some pics of the Ig nobel prizes :)

Mon, 06 Oct 2008 11:44:04 GMT

clipped by: balthazarus
clipper's remarks:

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Ig Nobel Prizes

Ig Nobel last year for their research of sword swallowing

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Physics

heaps of hair, or string, will inevitably tangle

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Peace

adopting the principle that plants have dignity

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Nutrition

food tastes better if it sounds better. So, the crispier, the tastier

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Biology

fleas that live on a dog can jump higher than fleas that live on cats

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Archaeology

detailing the ability of armadillos to move artifacts up, down, and even laterally by several yards at archaeological dig sites.

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Medicine

people felt better when they took more expensive fake medicines than cheaper fake medicines.

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Chemistry

Diet Coke's effectiveness as a spermicide.

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Economics

exotic dancers make more money when they are at peak of their fertility cycles.

"some lap dancers have scheduled shifts based on this research."

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Cognitive Science

slime molds can do more than just feed on microorganisms in decaying vegetable matter; they can also solve puzzles.

Clip Source: www.boston.com

Literature

A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations

Tags: nobel prizes

Bird the size of plane found near London

Sat, 27 Sep 2008 09:22:49 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Probably was shot down during the Battle for Britain

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

Scientists have revealed the existence of a huge bird with bony teeth and wings spanning five metres, that once swooped over the wetlands of southern England 50 million years ago.

The creature was discovered in clay, east of London.

Dr Gerald Mayr, writing in the journal Palaeontology, says the bird is about the size of a small plane.

Tags: archaeology

New Ramses II Statue

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:11:33 GMT

clipped by: ramsesemerson
clipper's remarks: Yay!! Egypt!!

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Ancient statue of Ramses II found near Cairo

Egyptian archaeologists located the pink, granite monument at a site in Tell Basta, once the capital of the ancient state 50 miles north of Cairo.

Ramses, also known by his Greek name Ozymandias, commanded a mighty empire during Egypt's new kingdom from 1279-1213 BC.

"The head is 76 cm high (around 30 inches), the nose is broken, and the false beard that was once attached to the king's chin is missing," Mr Hawass said.

"The discovery is important because it may indicate that the excavators are close to the ruins of a major temple of Ramses II in the area".

Archaeologists are still excavating the Tell Basta site in the hopes of discovering the rest of the statue.

Ramses was buried in the valley of the kings at Luxor, but was discovered last century and his mummified remains are now displayed in a Cairo museum.

Tags: archaeology, egyptology, egypt, statue

Preserved mummy of 500-year-old Inca 'Ice Maiden' wows visitors

Sat, 08 Sep 2007 18:15:29 GMT

clipped by: michellezm

Clip Source: www.dailymail.co.uk

She died over 500 years ago yet, with her hands resting on her lap and head falling forward so that her finely braided hair slips across her eyes, this 15-year-old girl looks as peaceful as if she has just fallen into a sleep from which she might wake at any moment.

Her frozen body has been hailed as one of the best preserved Incan mummies ever found and, this week, she went on public display for the first time in the High Mountain Archaeological Museum in Argentina.

Visitors to the museum have been peering at the downy hairs still visible on her arms, the perfectly intact skin on her face and the lice that must have been scurrying through her hair when she died and are still lodged there.

Along with the remains of two younger children, the teenager was plucked from the slopes of a cloudswept volcano in 1999 by a team who battled for three days through driving blizzards and 70mph winds to reach the summit 22,000ft above sea level.

Tags: incas, south america, indians, archaeology, history

Neanderthals 'enjoyed broad menu'

Wed, 24 Sep 2008 12:55:42 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: Still do.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

It seems Neanderthals enjoyed a wide range of foods - a much broader menu than had previously been supposed.

Excavations in caves in Gibraltar once occupied by the ancient humans show they ate seal and dolphin when they could get hold of the animals.

There are even indications that mussels were warmed to open their shells.

The simplistic image of Neanderthals is slowly changing

The findings, reported in the journal PNAS, give the lie to the popular view that Neanderthals ate a diet utterly dominated by meat from land animals.

It is one more example of the greater sophistication now being ascribed to Homo neanderthalensis; and further complicates the story of how modern humans (Homo sapiens) out-competed and out-lived their evolutionary cousins.

"Moderns still had a more efficient way of extracting the maximum out of the environment compared with the Neanderthals," said lead author Chris Stringer from London's Natural History Museum.

"So there still is an element of superiority

Tags: archaeology

'Rare' mammoth skull discovered

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 04:06:24 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

The "extremely rare" fossilised skull of a steppe mammoth has been unearthed in southern France.

The discovery in the Auvergne region could shed much needed light on the evolution of these mighty beasts.

Many isolated teeth of steppe mammoth have been found, but only a handful of skeletons exist; and in these surviving specimens, the skull is rarely intact.

Palaeontologists Frederic Lacombat and Dick Mol describe this skull specimen as being well preserved.

It belongs to a male steppe mammoth (Mammuthus trogontherii) that stood about 3.7m (12ft) tall and lived about 400,000 years ago, during Middle Pleistocene times.

The animal was about 35 years of age when it died, the researchers estimate.

The steppe mammoth is of vital importance for understanding mammoth evolution.

It represents the transitional phase between an ancient species known as the southern mammoth and the more recent woolly mammoth.

But comparatively little is known about this intermediate stage of their evolution.

Tags: archaeology

Sagalassos, city in the clouds

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:15:51 GMT

clipped by: yewtree
clipper's remarks: This is where they found sculptures of the Emperor Hadrian and the Empress Faustina

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

City in the Clouds

In 1706, Paul Lucas, traveling in southwest Turkey on a mission for the court of Louis XIV, came upon the mountaintop ruins of Sagalassos. The first Westerner to see the site, Lucas wrote that he seemed to be confronted with remains of several cities inhabited by fairies. Later, during the mid-nineteenth century, William Hamilton described it as the best preserved ancient city he had ever seen. Toward the end of that century, Sagalassos and its theater became famous among students of classical antiquity. Yet large scale excavations along the west coast at sites like Ephesos and Pergamon, attracted all the attention. Gradually Sagalassos was forgotten...until a British-Belgian team led by Stephen Mitchell started surveying the site in 1985.

Tags: archaeology

Afghanistan’s Secret Treasure

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 02:36:14 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Afghanistan has probably one of the richest cultural and historical heritage, dating back to the third millennium BCE and the land had been a melting pot of Mesopotamian, Harappan, Greek and Chinese civilizations. Unfortunately, the wars and oppressive/dogmatic regimes tried their best to destroy the traces of this brilliant cultural background. Archaeology Magazine's latest issue tells the story of an amazing treasure of ancient artifacts, 95 percent of which was luckily recovered and brought to museums worldwide to be exhibited.

Clip Source: www.archaeology.org

For 20 years the archaeological community believed the artifacts had been destroyed or had disappeared into the antiquities market as a succession of mujahideen warlords won and lost control of Kabul. Finally the Taliban came, and smashed any artifact that seemed vaguely like a religious idol. With the museum collections destroyed or in hiding and the Afghan people struggling to survive, a two-decade rift has opened between the Afghans and the history that defines their nation. An entire generation now entering adulthood has grown up knowing almost nothing about Afghanistan’s place as a melting pot of civilizations from Greece to China.

Tags: archaeology, afghanistan, artifacts, kabul museum

Lifeguard finds evil eye!

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:30:12 GMT

clipped by: ofcapri
clipper's remarks: Monday, July 14, 2008
JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli lifeguard taking his regular morning swim off the Mediterranean coast in southern Israel discovered a 2,500-year-old marble talisman to ward off the evil eye, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Sunday.Go to site

Clip Source: www.sunjournal.com

Lifeguard finds disc that fended off evil eye

Monday, July 14, 2008

JERUSALEM (AP) - An Israeli lifeguard taking his regular morning swim off the Mediterranean coast in southern Israel discovered a 2,500-year-old marble talisman to ward off the evil eye, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Sunday.

The lifeguard turned over the ancient disc that once adorned the bow of an ancient warship or cargo ship to keep evil away, the Israeli archaeology body said.

Experts say the relic, discovered off the coast Palmahim beach where the ancient Yavne-Yam port city once stood, dates back to the 5th or 4th century B.C. The white disc, flat on one side and convex on the other, measures 8 inches in diameter. The center of the disc is perforated, and the remains of two circles are painted around the center of it to represent the pupil of an eye.

Yaakov Sharvit, director of the Marine Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, said the finding confirms mythological tales about superstitious sailors.

Iron Age "Arab" in Denmark

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:06:36 GMT

clipped by: ramsesemerson

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

Researchers say the Iron Age man may have been a soldier serving on the Roman Empire's northern frontier or a descendant of female slaves transported from the Middle East.

The study analyzed 18 well-preserved bodies from two burial sites dating from 0 to A.D. 400 in eastern Denmark. The sites were originally excavated some 20 years ago.

One skeleton had a type of DNA signature—known as a haplogroup—closely associated with the Arabian Peninsula, according to Melchior.

"It's especially found among some Bedouin tribes, but it has also been found in the southern part of Europe," the researcher said.

Other unusual haplogroups were identified, including one representing a prehistoric European lineage which today is found in only about 2 percent of Danes, Melchior said.

Clip Source: news.nationalgeographic.com

"It may have been one of the ancient Nordic types which has been diluted by later immigrations from Scandinavia and Germany," she said.

Tags: scandinavia, denmark, archaeology, arab, dna, graves

Is Phaistos Disc a forgery?

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 02:52:04 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: If Dr. Jerome Eisenberg's claims are true, then it means the Phaistos Disc discovery of 1908 deserves to be recorded as "the biggest archaeological hoax of the century". Could it be possible? Could all the archaeologists and experts of the past 100 years who curiously examined the disc, fail to spot a professionally done forgery? I doubt it but we'll learn the truth soon.

Clip Source: entertainment.timesonline.co.uk

Some say that its 45 mysterious symbols are the words of a 4,000-year-old poem, or perhaps a sacred text. Others contest that they are a magical inscription, a piece of ancient music or the world's oldest example of punctuation.

But now an American scholar believes that the markings on the Phaistos Disc, one of archaeology's most famous unsolved mysteries, mean nothing at all — because the disc is a hoax.

Jerome Eisenberg, a specialist in faked ancient art, is claiming that the disc and its indecipherable text is not a relic dating from 1,700BC, but a forgery that has duped scholars since Luigi Pernier, an Italian archaeologist, “discovered” it in 1908 in the Minoan palace of Phaistos on Crete.

Tags: phaistos disc, archaeology, forgery, hoax, minos, undeciphered scripts

Debate on Messiah and Origins of Christianity

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:01:09 GMT

clipped by: Antara
clipper's remarks: very interesting

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

JERUSALEM — A three-foot-tall tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew that scholars believe dates from the decades just before the birth of Jesus is causing a quiet stir in biblical and archaeological circles, especially because it may speak of a messiah who will rise from the dead after three days.

If such a messianic description really is there, it will contribute to a developing re-evaluation of both popular and scholarly views of Jesus, since it suggests that the story of his death and resurrection was not unique but part of a recognized Jewish tradition at the time.

The tablet, probably found near the Dead Sea in Jordan according to some scholars who have studied it, is a rare example of a stone with ink writings from that era — in essence, a Dead Sea Scroll on stone.

Tags: artifacts, archaeology, religion, christianity, truth

Crumbling Pompeii site in "state of emergency"

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 04:30:34 GMT

clipped by: CrazyRedHead
clipper's remarks: ...the ground above it is being used as an illegal rubbish dump -- a result of the trash crisis in the nearby city of Naples -- and is scattered with tires, fridges and mattresses.

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

The Italian government declared a state of emergency at the Pompeii archaeological site on Friday to try to rescue one of the world's most important cultural treasures from decades of neglect.

Archaeologists and art historians have long complained about the poor upkeep of Pompeii, dogged by lack of investment, mismanagement, litter and looting. Bogus tour guides, illegal parking attendants and stray dogs also plague visitors.

A report in daily Corriere della Sera this week said most of the 1,500 houses at the site are closed to the public, its frescoes have faded to become almost invisible and restoration work that began in 1978 has yet to be completed.

Every year at least 150 square meters of fresco and plaster work are lost for lack of maintenance

Clip Source: www.reuters.com

Two-thirds of the 66 hectare (165 acre) town, home to some 13,000 people in the Roman era, have been uncovered since serious excavations began 260 years ago

Tags: history, archaeology, travel, italy

Grisly Human Sacrifice Revealed at Syria Dig

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 20:59:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Around 2300 B.C., an acrobat was killed during a bizarre sacrificial ceremony in what is now northeastern Syria, according to a new study published in the current issue of the journal Antiquity

Gory evidence of the entertainer's death -- along with the remains of several rare horse-like animals which appear to have been sacrificed as well -- was found in the remains of a building at a site called Tell Brak, which was once the ancient city of Nagar. The findings suggest some ancient cultures may have sacrificed well-known public figures, as well as animals of great personal and monetary worth.

Joan Oates, lead author of the paper, and her colleagues were struck by the arrangement of three human bodies in the reception and main office portion of the ancient building. They describe the skeletal layout as "unusual, indeed strange."

Tags: syria, archaeology, culture

Archaeologists Recreate Aztec 'Whistles of Death'

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 02:02:55 GMT

clipped by: wiccantexan

Clip Source: www.foxnews.com

Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay, skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand.

But no one blew into the noisemakers for nearly 15 years.

When someone finally did, the shrill, windy screech made the spine tingle.

If death had a sound, this was it.

Roberto Velazquez believes the Aztecs played this mournful wail from the so-called Whistles of Death before they were sacrificed to the gods.

The 66-year-old mechanical engineer has devoted his career to recreating the sounds of his pre-Columbian ancestors, producing hundreds of replicas of whistles, flutes and wind instruments unearthed in Mexico's ruins.

Tags: history, archaeology, culture, mexico, aztec, death