The First BIRTHA Postgraduate Women and Religion Conference will be held at Bristol University on 20 November 2010. The keynote speaker will be Dr Carolyn Muessig, Reader in Medieval Religion in the Theology and Religious Studies department of the University of Bristol, and the concluding address with be given by Dr Martin Seeger, Lecturer in Thai Language and Culture, and Director of Thai Studies at Leeds University. This conference brings together doctoral researchers and early career academics from a variety of disciplines and fields to explore the role and place of women in religion. Presenters will be coming from Universities in the UK and from Europe (France and Italy) and panels will include papers on the role and status of women in Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism and Islam both in the present and historically, and from a wide range of perspectives (textual, sociological, historical). Registration is free but required as the number of places is limited. More information and registration form can be found at http://www.bris.ac.uk/arts/gradschool/community/conferences/
A newly discovered 7th century B.C. palace garden near Jerusalem could reveal details about how royals liked to let loose in ancient times.
Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Germany's Heidelberg University uncovered the royal garden at the site of Ramat Rachel, a kibbutz (communal farm) in Israel, and are leading the first full-scale excavation of this type of archaeological site in Israel.
"We have uncovered a very rare find," archaeologist Oded Lipschits of Tel Aviv University said.
The garden was a massive and lush green space royals would use to relax. Such pleasure spots were once the ultimate symbol of power, according to the researchers.
Read more here
THE oldest ground-edge tool in the world has been discovered in Arnhem Land, prompting scientists to reconsider exactly when the technique of grinding to make tools sharp entered the Stone Age.
Unearthed from a sandstone cave in a remote part of south-west Arnhem Land in May, the basalt axe piece measuring 4 centimetres in length has been radio-carbon dated at 35,000 years old.
The discovery is significant as it predates by at least 5000 years the oldest known examples of other ground-edge implements from Japan and Australia, which have been dated at 22,000 to 30,000 years old. By comparison, the earliest ground-edge axes from Europe, West Asia and Africa are about 8,500 years old.
Full story here
The technology giant and Israel announced Tuesday that they are teaming up to give researchers and the public the first comprehensive and searchable database of the scrolls – a 2,000-year-old collection of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek documents that shed light on Judaism during biblical times and the origins of Christianity. For years, experts have complained that access to the scrolls has been too limited.
Once the images are up, anyone will be able to peruse exact copies of the original scrolls as well as an English translation of the text on their computer – for free. Officials said the collection, expected to be available within months, will feature sections that have been made more legible thanks to high-tech infrared technology.
Millennium old Tamil inscription found in Trincomalee
Read more here.
Her life has been celebrated in song, story and a Disney cartoon, but no one knew where Pocahontas tied the knot with a tobacco farmer—until now.
Archaeologist Bill Kelso and his team were digging this summer in a previously unexplored section of the fort at Jamestown, Va., the country's oldest permanent English colony, when they uncovered a series of deep holes. They believe the holes once anchored heavy, timber columns supporting the fort's first church, known to have been built in 1608 and the place where Pocahontas got married in 1614
Read more of Kelly Crow's article here.
The 21st century's three Rs -- Reduce, Reuse, Recycle -- were all the rage in Britain during the last century of Roman rule, a compositional analysis of ancient Roman glass tableware has revealed.
According to the study, published in the Journal of Archaeological Science, large quantities of glass were recycled in Britain during the 3rd and 4th centuries A.D.
The reason wasn’t exactly a desire to go green, but a shortage of raw glass in the northern regions of the Roman Empire during the last centuries of Roman rule.
“It appears much of the glass reaching Britain in the late Roman period was manufactured from recycled material,” Caroline Jackson, at the archaeology department of the University of Sheffield, U.K., told Discovery News.
Believed to have originated in Mesopotamia around 2500 B.C., the art of glass-making spread to Egypt, with the most significant technological revolution -- glass blowing employing a tube -- occurring in the 1st century B.C. in the area of Syria and Palestine.
The Romans exploited the technique, and glass-making spread throughout the empire, with glass becoming a common household material.
Made out of sand, glass takes on the color of the chemical elements present in raw material. For example, sand containing iron produces blue-green glass, while iron and sulfur elements make a brownish glass.
Skilled Roman craftsmen were able to control glass color through a careful selection of the raw materials, and produced colorless glass by adding a decolorizer, an element which oxidizes the chemicals in the sand to remove the color.
“In the Roman period, this element would have been antimony or manganese,” said Jackson.
Resembling crystal, colorless glass was much valued. According to the Roman author, Pliny, the emperor Nero (37-68 A.D.) gave 6,000 sestertia (roughly $250,000) for two clear glass cups of ordinary size, with handles.
A highly developed and successful industry, Roman glass-making still holds some mystery. It is unknown where colorless glass was produced, and scholars still debate how the glass industry was organized.
Read more of Rossella Lorenzi's article here (Discover.com)
East China's Jiangxi Province will launch an underwater archaeological investigation in Poyang Lake next month, China's first such project in inland waters.
"This time, we will go into China's largest fresh-water lake to study its repository of underwater sites and artifacts," said Fan Changsheng, director of Jiangxi Provincial Institute of Archeology.
Archaeologists will start by identifying submerged indigenous sites, waterlogged ancient battlefields, and shipwrecks at "Laoyemiao" , a mysterious and dangerous area in Poyang Lake, according to Fan.
World-class equipment, including advanced sonar sound machines and sand pumps, will be used for the mission, said Fan.
The development of China's underwater archaeology began in the late 1980s when China start salvaging its ancient shipwrecks. While a new field of exploration, it has seen rapid development in recent years.
"China has previously conducted several maritime archaeological projects in its coastal regions, but this will be the first time it will take place in the country's fresh waters," said Fan.
Along with Laoyemiao, the Anhui sections of the Yangtze and Huaihe rivers have been selected as the second coveted spot for such underwater archaeological studies.
Laoyemiao, a narrow water channel linking Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River, was chosen for its historical and archeological significance.According to Fan, ancient vessels carrying famous Jingdezhen-made porcelain ware had to pass this gateway before heading out to destinations outside China.
Read more here
John Roach at National Geographic News has a lot to say about an odd pyramid that had rooftop homes and possible ritual sacrifices ... At rare Peru site, elites linked to copper industry lived on high, experts say.
Yes, it's yielded human remains—including five females who may have been ritually sacrificed. But it's the signs of life that make a half-excavated Peruvian pyramid of the Moche culture stand out, archaeologists say.
"Often these pyramidal mounds were built as mortuaries more than anything else," said excavation co-leader Edward Swenson. (See pictures from the tomb of the Moche "king of bling.")
"In most instances [a pyramid] is not where people live, it is not where they were cooking their food," the University of Toronto archaeologist added.
But the newly exposed 1,400-year-old flat-topped pyramid supported residences for up to a couple dozen elites, who oversaw and perhaps took part in copper production at the site, evidence suggests.
The pre-Inca pyramid dwellers likely presided over important rituals, feasted on roasted llama and guinea pig, and drank corn beer, according to archaeologists working at the site.
Among the signs of occupation are at least 19 adobe stands where large vessels of water and corn beer were stored, as well as scattered llama, dog, guinea pig, and fish bones and traces of coca leaves and red peppers.
"There's a far more robust domestic occupation than what we would have expected," said expedition co-leader John Warner, an archaeologist with the University of Kentucky.
Read more of his great article here.
In the news today:
Headland Archaeology today officially launched an office in Dublin, adding to its Cork, Galway, Belfast, Edinburgh, Glasgow and London locations.
The new office will create five new jobs immediately, with a further 30 roles expected over the next 12 months.
The company, which supplies commercial archaeology services to the UK, Ireland and Europe, said the establishment of a permanent office in Dublin was “the next logical step”."
So, really five jobs have been created - yes, great, but is this really news worthy?
Is that the level of desperation we are at now that 5 new jobs and a probable 30 more is the stuff of headlines??? Especially with no actual guarantee of the 30 other jobs.
Oh dear, archaeology has really been hit hard!
Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) was a Norwegian ethnographer who explored the archaeology of the Pacific and excavated at Easter Island. He fought with the Free Norwegian Forces in World War II, and was decorated for his bravery.
In 1947, he embarked on his legendary Kon-Tiki expedition from Peru to Polynesia, travelling over 6,000 kilometers on a small balsawood raft. The expedition proved that it was possible for such a tremendous journey to be made on a lift raft and affirmed Heyerdahl's belief that this is how the string of islands across the Pacific Ocean came to be populated millennia ago.
His epic journey was filmed, winning Heyerdahl and Oscar for Best Documentary, and turned into a book, selling 60 million copies worldwide.
While on his sea hop Thor enjoyed the simpler things in life, like catching sharks for dinner...!
In 1970, he crossed the Atlantic on a papyrus raft, Ra II, undermining the belief that Columbus was first to cross the ocean. His adventures always included an international crew and they always flew a UN flag, in support of Heyerdahl's internationalism convictions. He was also concerned with the damage to the planet caused by pollution.
An ancient island complex has been discovered in Connemara.
The Crannog site was found in Lough Dú Litir close to Carna and is believed to be over a thousand years old.
Local silversmith and archaeology student Ruairi O'Neill and colleague Sean Foley stumbled upon the crannog while exploring in the area.
ROME — Twenty-first century laser technology has opened a window into the early days of the Catholic Church, guiding researchers through the dank, musty catacombs beneath Rome to a startling find: the first known icons of the apostles Peter and Paul.
Vatican officials unveiled the paintings Tuesday, discovered along with the earliest known images of the apostles John and Andrew in an underground burial chamber beneath an office building on a busy street in a working-class Rome neighborhood.
The images, which date from the second half of the 4th century, were uncovered using a new laser technique that allows restorers to burn off centuries of thick white calcium carbonate deposits without damaging the brilliant dark colors of the paintings underneath.
The technique could revolutionize the way restoration work is carried out in the miles (kilometers) of catacombs that burrow under the Eternal City where early Christians buried their dead.
The icons were discovered on the ceiling of a tomb of an aristocratic Roman woman at the Santa Tecla catacomb, near where the remains of the apostle Paul are said to be buried.
Lecturers from one of Scotland’s leading universities have voted overwhelmingly in favour of industrial action over job cuts.
The move, by academics from Glasgow University yesterday, means there could be a summer of disruption to student admissions and the marking of resit exams.
A ballot was held by the University and College Union (UCU) after the university management refused to rule out compulsory redundancies in ongoing plans for job cuts.
The university has targeted up to 80 jobs in a number of different academic disciplines, including archaeology, biomedical and life sciences, and the education department.
The union argues job losses are unnecessary because the university is heading for a £6 million surplus and will do lasting damage to the university’s academic reputation.
However, the university argues the job cuts are necessary because of specific financial issues in some of the departments, while also warning of future threats to public funding of universities generally.
The announcement on the result of the ballot comes on the eve of a meeting of the univer sity’s ruling court, which will decide on whether to pursue compulsory redundancies.
Mary Senior, UCU Scottish official, said: “There is a clear mandate for industrial action, but we hope the dispute can be resolved without recourse to strikes. The Glasgow University Court cannot ignore its staff and must agree to work together to resolve the situation without forcing job cuts.”
She added: “We are calling on the Court to end the uncertainty for staff in the threatened departments or risk damaging the university’s proud international reputation.”
However, a spokesman for the university said: “We are disappointed at the UCU ballot result as industrial action will only harm students.
“We continue to consult with staff and their unions and Glasgow University will do all in its power to minimise the effects of any action on students and the university as a whole.”
Earlier this year, the university announced plans for up to 80 job cuts in a number of different departments, including the Glasgow University Archaeological Research Division (Guard).
Established in 1989, Guard is a commercial enterprise run by university academics which provides archaeological services to businesses and public bodies across Scotland.
It is best known for its work on Time Team, presented by Tony Robinson, and BBC2’s Two Men In A Trench, co-presented by Neil Oliver and Tony Pollard, head of Guard’s Centre for Battlefield Archaeology.
After the plight of Guard was featured in The Herald, the university’s ruling court gave it a temporary reprieve to allow for closer scrutiny of its finances.
Diego and Paola Meozzi, the Italian archæology journalists who produce the admirable Stone Pages website, have alerted the outside world to an amazing discovery on the Italian island of Sardinia.
It involves a Neolithic site now referred to as tomba della scacchiera (“the chequered tomb”), near Bonorva. Diego and Paola met a local man, Antonello Porcu, who told them about the site.
In 2007, the Bonorva municipality initiated an archæological survey of the area, where there is a known prehistoric necropolis. This led to an excavation programme in 2008. Despite the lead archæologist saying that they hadn’t yet found anything of interest, Porcu noticed that for several consecutive days workers coming down from the excavation area were covered by rock powder. He queried them in Sardinian (not the same as Italian) and they hinted that something remarkable had been uncovered up in the hills. Their curiosity tweaked, Porcu and his brother went up there. They were staggered by what they found.
Peering beneath a groundsheet placed there by the excavators, the Porcu brothers discovered an entrance passage with a rock-cut façade leading into a large tomb with three side cells. The tomb interior has huge bull horns carved on the long side of the main chamber, whose stone roof is carved in a way reminiscent of timber planks and is painted in dark blue and white. But most striking of all is a series of seven bright red ochre spirals, each up to 70cm across, painted on a side cell; they were executed with skillful bravura. On the roof of a side cell there is also a geometric figure very rarely found in a Sardinian tomb – a black and white chequered motif. The best guess so far is that the monument dates to the so-called Ozieri culture (3800 to 2900 BC).
Stirred by this find, Antonello Porcu informed the mayor of Bonorva. The man was astonished, saying he had not been informed about it by anyone connected with the survey. Fortunately for us, Porcu had the presence of mind to take photographs of the tomb’s interior, because a few months later official representatives of the Soprintendenza Archeological for Nuoro and Sassari (the local branch of the Italian Ministry for Heritage) put a massive block of rock in front of the only entrance of the tomb, filling everything with concrete and covering the whole area with a thick layer of soil, sealing the tomb once again. This was done in order “to protect the tomb against looters”.
The local Sardinian archæological author ities are driven by the desire to protect the site and do not want word spread about it, but Diego and Paola Meozzi dis agree. “Our heritage is a national treasure and must be shared: protection is one thing, but hiding an ancient site indefinitely – even if motivated by preservation princ iples – is something else,” Diego comments. “We wonder just how many remarkable monuments have been found, studied and sealed once again over the years by the archæologists in Sardinia with only a few authorized persons aware of them.” He asks that people around the world send messages to the Soprintendente Archeologico for Sassari and Nuoro (Dr. Bruno Massabò – e-mail address: bmassabo@arti.beniculturali), urging a re-think of the closure policy. So go to it, dear readers. Stone Pages, 21 April 2010.
A concluding observation (remember you read it here first): if we look at the picture here of one panel of the tomb’s paintings, showing spirals either side of a thick vertical line, it calls to mind the arrangement of motifs on the entrance stone to the Neolithic passage grave of Newgrange in Ireland – see the picture of that here also and compare. (Indeed, the motif of spirals either side of a vertical line recur on other nearby Boyne Valley monuments too.) One archæo logical researcher has already noted that the tomba della scacchiera spirals are more reminiscent of rock art motifs in Atlantic coastal Europe than, say, the painted spirals inside the Hal Saflieni hypogeum on Malta. This could all have implications as to who came from where in prehistory –what more might Sardinia’s other hidden secrets be able to tell us? (Archæologist George Nash, one of this columnist’s editorial colleagues at Time and Mind, is becoming actively engaged in trying to encourage a differ ent heritage approach by Sardinian archæological author ities. See Time and Mind for updates in due course.)
An ancient Egyptian city believed to be Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos people who ruled 3,500 years ago, has been located by radar, Egypt's culture ministry says.
A team of Austrian archaeologists used radar imaging to find the underground outlines of the city in the Nile Delta, a now densely populated area.
The Hyksos were foreign occupiers from Asia who ruled Egypt for a century.
Avaris was their summer capital, near what is now the town of Tal al-Dabaa.
The radar images show the outlines of streets and houses underneath the green farm fields and modern towns in Egypt's Delta.
Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said in a statement that the area could be part of Avaris, the summer capital of the Hyksos who ruled Egypt from 1664-1569 BC, during the 15th Dynasty.
"The pictures taken using radar [imaging] show an underground city complete with streets, houses and tombs which gives a general overview of the urban planning of the city," Dr Hawass said in a statement.
Irene Mueller, who heads the Austrian team, said the main purpose of the project had been to determine how far the underground city extended.
"The aim of the geophysical survey was to identify the size of the ancient city and the mission managed to identify a large number of houses and streets and a port inside the city," she said.
"The mission also identified one of the Nile river tributaries that passed through the city, as well as two islands," she was quoted as saying in the statement.
(Story Source: BBC)
