Ireland: Bagged up Bog Body

A bog body was found part-buried in a leather bag in Portloaise by Bórd na Móna diggers yesterday - saved in the nick of time from the machine cutters by a keen-eyed employee. Now removed for study at the National Museum, the remains are believed to be 3000 years old. Chemicals in the surrounding peat preserved the exposed legs and leather bag, but the torso, head and arms that were covered in the leather bag did not survive. The area surrounding the remains has provided a number of exciting archaeological finds in recent years, including an axe heads, shoes and bog butter.

Read RTÉ's story here, including more pics.

Arnos Vale Cememtery survey

What a fantastic opportunity to test out the EDM equipment - thanks to Lindsay (pictured below) for letting me help out. You can read more about Arnos Vale here http://www.arnosvale.org.uk/

11,500 Year Old Human Remains Discovered in Alaska

Burial of 3-Year Old Child is the Earliest Example of 'behavior associated with the death of an individual' Yet Recovered

Some 11,500 years ago one of America's earliest families laid the remains of a 3-year-old child to rest in their home in what is now Alaska. The discovery of that burial is shedding new light on the life and times of the early settlers who crossed from Asia to the New World.

The bones represent the earliest human remains discovered in the Arctic of North America, a "pretty significant find," said Ben A. Potter of the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

While ancient Alaskan residents were known to hunt large game, the newly discovered site shows they also foraged for fish, birds and small mammals, he explained. "Here we know there were young children and females. So, this is a whole piece of the settlement system that we had virtually no record of."

The site of the discovery, Upper Sun River, is in the forest of the Tanana lowlands in central Alaska, Potter and his colleagues report.

Read more here

World's Oldest Shoe

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1285331/Is-world-oldest-shoe-5-000-year-old-leather-laced-boot-cave-Armenia.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

A 5,000-year old leather shoe, found in Armenia, may be the oldest shoe ever found.

This item does not seem to be decorated, so would appear to have been purely functional,

The excellent preservation (including the lace) is due to the unusual conditions of the cave where it was buried (along with pots of food and a child's skeleton).