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For Those Interested in Archaeology

Discussion in 'Free Fire Zone' started by GRW, Jan 19, 2009.

  1. KodiakBeer

    KodiakBeer Member

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    I may have addressed this somewhere else, but my amateur metal detecting has turned up all these Johnny Ringo artifacts around the old adobe ruins on my property. I can not definitively attribute these rare and valuable artifacts to Mr. Ringo, but there's no reason they couldn't be his. You have here a couple of hinges, odd bits of metal, a rare piece of angle iron, part of the funnel that Johnny used to get whiskey into his mouth when his hand became unsteady, and the very plow that his Mom used to pull around the field after the mule died. Johnny felt bad about shooting that mule, but it was an old mule and bound to get shot sooner or later. According to local lore, Johnny was very fond of his Ma and used to sip whiskey on the shady porch, while shouting encouragement to her when she hit a rock or something dragging that plow out in the field.

    After plowing all day, Mrs. Ringo would generally shoot a passing javelina and cook Johnny and his gang heaping plates of pinto beans with peppers and javelina knuckles. On Sundays the whole family would put on their best clothes and ride all the way to Fort Bowie to get stinking drunk on green Mezcal and start fights with Mexicans. It was a simpler time and people enjoyed wholesome outdoor fun. And whiskey.

    Johnny Ringo.jpg
     
  2. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    If that list of forts by county is anything to go by, it doesn't appear to be complete.
    "Locations and details of thousands of ancient hill forts found across the landscapes of the UK and Ireland have been mapped in an online database for the first time.
    Researchers have spent five years sifting through and recording information on all the hill forts across England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the Republic of Ireland and the Isle of Man.
    They have discovered there are 4,147 such ancient sites, ranging from well-preserved forts to places where only crop marks and remnants reveal where they once stood."
    Interactive graphic lets you explore 4,000 UK hill forts | Daily Mail Online
     
  3. rkline56

    rkline56 USS Oklahoma City CG5

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    Until he picked a fight with Doc Holliday and friends. Then it was all she wrote. Holliday, "Why Johnny Ringo you look like you just saw a ghost walk over your grave." Pop - thud. One of the best lines from Tombstone. Doc. could really make them up.

    I digress: Back on topic - Very interesting, Hogan. Archaeologists Discover 4,000-Year-Old Homestead…in Ohio

    French Creek near Sheffield OH was settled around 1830 by the European settlers. It is very near Lake Erie and would have supplied great fish for these unnamed natives. A few miles North is the lovely town of Bay Village on the shore of Erie.
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2017
  4. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Love the way they contradict themselves,
    "Human bones discovered in Somerset reveal how cannibal cavemen feasted on each other.
    Now a beauty spot for tourists, Cheddar Gorge was populated by cannibals 14,700 years ago, who decapitated their dead, filleted the flesh from their bodies and made drinking cups from their skulls.
    Archaeologists have now found the first evidence that the cannibals engraved the bones after butchering them.
    It means new mystery over the hunter-gatherer remains in Britain’s most famous Palaeolithic site.
    The zigzag markings carved into the bones could be a savage tribal emblem left by early humans who killed their victims and ate them up.
    Or they may be a funeral rite in tribute to the dead, who died naturally but were eaten by their companions out of necessity when food was scarce.
    Evidence that our cavemen were cannibals was met with much excitement years after the discovery of the bones in Cheddar Gorge in 1987.
    The new findings shed fresh light on ancient dwellers of the West Country.
    They are believed to have lived in a climate rather like modern Scotland, surviving by trapping animals in the gorge and drinking from its stream."
    Bones found in Somerset reveal cavemen's cannibalism | Daily Mail Online
     
  5. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    I know I'm a saddo, but this is genuinely exciting!
    "A trail of 5.7 million-year-old fossil footprints discovered in Crete could upend the widely accepted theories on early human evolution.
    The new prints have a distinctly human-like form, with a similar big toe to our own and a ‘ball’ in the sole that’s not found in apes.
    But, the researchers say the prints found on the Greek island were created during a time when it’s thought early human ancestors were still in Africa – and, when they still had ape-like feet.
    ‘What makes this controversial is the age and location of the prints,’ says Professor Per Ahlberg at Uppsala University, one of the authors on the new study.
    Studies in recent decades have led to the conclusion that all fossil human-ancestors older than 1.8 million years lived and evolved in Africa.
    The new fossil footprints are not the oldest hominin evidence to be found, but they could drive a wedge in the timeline of evolution.
    It’s thought that human ancestors of the last few million years directly derived from a genus known as Ardipithecus.
    And, as a set of ‘reasonably complete’ 4.4 million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus fossils discovered in Ethiopia was found to have an ape-like foot, it was thought that the human-like foot had not yet evolved by that time."
    Fossil footprints could shake up human evolution timeline | Daily Mail Online
     
  6. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    "The ancient remains of a group of late surviving Neanderthals from Croatia are much older than previously thought, new research has found.
    Previous research suggested that the ‘Vindija Neanderthals’ living in Vindija Cave in northern Croatia lived as recently as 32,000 years ago.
    This would have made them among the last known surviving Neanderthals.
    It also implied that modern humans and Neanderthals must have coexisted in central Europe for at least six millennia.
    But a new radiocarbon dating method has found that these remains were actually more than 8,000 years older than this initial estimate.
    This means the Neanderthal group died just before the arrival of modern humans in Europe, the researchers, from the University of Oxford, claim.
    'DNA studies have demonstrated that anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals interbred,' said Dr Thibaut Devièse from Oxford University.
    'There is no question about this. Our work has shown previously that there is an overlap in time between Neanderthals and moderns of between 2500-5000 years, although the two groups for the most part were not living side-by-side it would seem.
    'With this dating work, we continue improving our understanding of where and for how long the two species (Neanderthals and anatomically modern humans) co-existed.' "
    Neanderthal remains are 8,000 years older than thought | Daily Mail Online
     
  7. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Wonder why it hasn't been followed up before?
    "A leading scientist has called for closer scrutiny of ancient migration routes, suggesting an extinct human species called Denisovans first discovered Australia.
    DNA from the Siberian cave-dwellers has been found in the Aboriginal descendants of the first settlers on the continent.
    Although this genetic trace is not a new discovery, one expert believes it shows their presence predates other humans in the area.
    He is calling on future scientific work on the Denisovans and their only known home to focus on unravelling this mystery.
    Professor Richard 'Bert' Roberts, director of the centre for archaeological science at the University of Wollongong, has been working for several years studying the only known home of the Denisovans.
    The archaic species lived in Altai Mountains of southern Russia, yet their DNA shows up in populations across southeast Asia.
    These traces are far higher in Aboriginal people, as well as the Melanesians of Papua New Guinea, than any other modern-day populations worldwide.
    Professor Roberts suggests this indicates a mass movement of Denisovans along this route and into the rest of Australia."
    DNA could rewrite the story of Australia's discovery | Daily Mail Online
     
  8. lwd

    lwd Ace

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    The other alternative would be that the traits were somehow beneficial to the inhabitants of those areas and selected for.

    *** edit for ***

    There's also the question of whether or not they were truly a separate species if we're finding their DNA in modern populations.
     
    Last edited: Sep 15, 2017
  9. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Something really interesting for a change-
    "The lost, underwater continent of Zealandia may have been used by animals and plants to cross continents 80 million years ago, research has found.
    Zealandia, a mostly-submerged landmass in the South Pacific, was declared Earth's newest continent earlier this year.
    Covering five million square kilometres (1.9 million square miles), it includes Lord Howe Island off Australia's east coast, New Caledonia and New Zealand.
    Now experts who have been drilling the area have found it may have been closer to land level than first thought, providing a bridge for wildlife between ancient Australia and Antarctica.
    An international team of scientists found fossilised remains and evidence of large-scale tectonic plate shifts as part of one of the first extensive surveys of the region.
    'The discovery of microscopic shells of organisms that lived in warm shallow seas, and spores and pollen from land plants, reveal that the geography and climate of Zealandia was dramatically different in the past,' said expedition co-chief scientist Professor Gerald Dickens of Rice University in Houston, Texas.
    Expedition scientists drilled deep into the seabed at six sites in water depths of more than 1,250 meters (4,101 feet).
    They took 2,500 meters (8,202 feet) of sediment cores from layers that show how the geography and climate of Zealandia have changed over the last 70 million years."
    Zealandia used by animals and plants to cross continents | Daily Mail Online
     
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  10. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Young Homo naledi surprises
    9 May 2017 - Wits University

    250 000 year old species from Rising Star Cave raises more questions about our origins.

    The Rising Star Cave system in South Africa has revealed yet more important discoveries, only a year and a half after it was announced that the richest fossil hominin site in Africa had been discovered, and that it contained a new hominin species named Homo naledi by the scientists who described it.

    The age of the original Homo naledi remains from the Dinaledi Chamber has been revealed to be startlingly young in age. Homo naledi, which was first announced in September 2015, was alive sometime between 335 and 236 thousand years ago. This places this population of primitive small-brained hominins at a time and place that it is likely they lived alongside Homo sapiens. This is the first time that it has been demonstrated that another species of hominin survived alongside the first humans in Africa.

    Continues...
     
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  11. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Sub-species, no doubt. We separated from the chimps ~7 million years ago. The genus Homo has combined and separated more than once.
     
  12. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Superb. For some reason we didn't already have a story on the Naledi find.
     
  13. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    I was enthralled by the video on the original find. I hope they do one for this one. That cave system is extensive, there's probably more to find. And Lee Berger is the cure for the selfishness of paleo study. I know of one professor who wrote two papers on a find in the forty years he kept it away from any other researcher.
     
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  14. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Teotihuacan is Unique among Ancient Mesoamerican Cities, Archaeologist Says
    [​IMG]
    Arizona State University archaeologist Michael E. Smith has conducted a comparative analysis of Teotihuacan with earlier and later Mesoamerican urban centers and proved, for the first time, the uniqueness of the ancient city. A view over the smaller pyramids on the eastern side of Plaza de la Luna from Piramide de la Luna towards Piramide del Sol at Teotihuacan. Image credit: Daniel Case / CC BY-SA...

    Continues.
    ===========
    Has anyone ever noticed that the pyramids match mountains and hills in the background when viewed from certain other pyramids?
     
  15. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Nowadays, at least in Britain, when funding is provided for digs I believe it's contingent on a report being written within a reasonable time, to save them languishing in drawers for decades.
     
  16. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Better than most systems then. BZ
     
  17. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Love a good mystery.
    "Archaeologists have discovered 400 mysterious stone structures on the edge of volcanoes that could be thousands of years old in a remote desert area in Saudi Arabia.
    The stone structures- which were found using Google Earth - have been dubbed the 'gates' because they appear to look like field gates from above.
    Built across ancient lava domes, some of these strange features are more than four times the length of a football pitch, and experts believe they may be up to 7,000 years old.
    David Kennedy of the University of Western Australia said the purpose and age of these structures, found in the Harrat Khaybar region in Saudia Arabia, remains unknown.
    'Gates are found almost exclusively in bleak, inhospitable lava fields with scant water or vegetation, places seemingly amongst the most unwelcoming to our species', he wrote in a paper due to be published in November in the journal Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy.
    The gates are 'stone-built, the walls roughly made and low', he said.
    Remains of lava flows can be seen on top of some of the gates, suggesting that they are older than some of the lava flows.
    The strange clusters 'appear to be the oldest man-made structures in the landscape', Dr Kennedy wrote.
    The smallest gates are 43 feet (13 metres) in length while the longest are 1,699 feet (518 metres) long, writes Live Science.
    Dr Kennedy said 'no obvious explanation of their purpose can be discerned'.
    Many of the structures have multiple stone walls that form a rectangular design whereas others - called 'I' type gates - have one stone wall with piles of stones at the ends."
    Google Earth reveals 400 mysterious stone structures | Daily Mail Online
     
  18. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Don't find these very often-
    "A large Pictish stone carving has been uncovered during excavation work on a £35m link road in Perthshire.
    The carving, which features a walking figure holding a spear, was discovered by workers on the A9/A85 project. near Perth.
    Contractors Balfour Beatty temporarily stopped works to allow archaeologists to inspect the stone carving.
    Similar Pictish stones have been discovered in Aberdeenshire, the Highlands and Islands and Shetland.
    Mark Hall of Perth Museum and Art Gallery said the stone showed a particular kind of Pictish carving not previously known in the area.
    'Fascinating stone'
    Perth and Kinross Council said the carving suggested a "powerful" local noble and may have acted as a warning for travellers and visitors approaching his territory.
    Council leader Ian Campbell said: "I am led to believe Pictish symbol stones come in many shapes and sizes, and date broadly to the sixth to eighth centuries AD.
    "I understand very little is known about the purpose of Pictish stones and the real meaning of the symbols they carry.
    "I look forward to hearing what the experts conclude from their examination of this clearly fascinating stone."
    Pictish stone uncovered in road dig
     
  19. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Exciting stuff, but watch the conspiracy theories start flying thick and fast.
    "A long-hidden narrow void in the Great Pyramid of Giza has been found by scientists in a discovery that could finally reveal the secrets of the 4,500-year-old monument.
    The void stretches for at least 30 metres (100ft) above the Grand Gallery - an ascending corridor that links the Queen’s chamber to the King’s in the heart of the pyramid.
    It is not known why the void exists or if there are any valuable artefacts inside as it is not obviously accessible.
    But it has similar dimensions to the Gallery, which is 50 metres (164ft) long, eight metres (26ft) high and more than a metre (3.2ft) wide.
    Researchers suggest it could be a 'construction gap' - part of a trench that allowed workers to access the Grand Gallery and King's Chamber while the rest of the pyramid was built.
    The discovery was made after physicists took images of the inside of the pyramid using particles fired to Earth from space.
    These cosmic particles penetrate the rock in a similar way to X-rays, only much deeper.
    The collaborative effort, between archaeologists, historians and physicists, has been hailed as the biggest discovery inside the Giza landmark since the 19th century."
    Hidden structure found inside the Great Pyramid of Giza | Daily Mail Online

    And a good one from my own neck of the woods-

    "Human bones uncovered in Stirling in the late 19th century have been identified as being more than 4000 years old, making ‘Torbrex Tam’ the city’s oldest resident to date.
    The remains of the man in his 20s were found within a chambered cairn, on land occupied by a market garden, in 1872. The cairn, the oldest structure in Stirling, is now surrounded by houses in Coney Park.
    Radiocarbon dating results, released last week, have established that Tam’s bones date from the Bronze Age when Torbrex was a small settlement surrounded by water.
    During the 1870s, workmen digging for gravel hit a stone-lined box or cist. Inside were the remains of a man who would have been in his 20s when he died.
    Nicknamed ‘Torbrex Tam’ they were given to the Smith Museum for safekeeping. As well as Tam’s bones being dated, his facial reconstruction has also been carried out.
    Stirling archaeologist Murray Cook explained: “Torbrex Tam died around 2152 to 2021 BC. He is more than 4000 years old.
    “He’s the oldest individual from Stirling and his facial reconstruction is Stirling’s first recorded face. For anyone from Stirling, Tam is their oldest ancestor. I’m sure I’ve seen his face in people around the town.”
    Dr Cook has been working with Michael McGinnes of Stirling’s Smith Art Gallery and Museum – and Dundee University forensic art and facial identification graduate Emily McCulloch from Stirling, who carried out the work on facial reconstruction – over the last six months.
    A second excavation of the chambered cairn was carried out by Stirling Archaeological Society in 1972 which found another cist and the bones of a second person, likely to be a woman in her 20s. The second cist contained a pot and the remains of a child aged around four."
    Stirling's oldest resident revealed to be 4000-year-old 'Torbrex Tam'
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2017
  20. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    Archaeologists unearth 'masterpiece' sealstone in Greek tomb
    Discovery of a rare Minoan sealstone in the treasure-laden tomb of a Bronze Age Greek warrior promises to rewrite the history of ancient Greek art
    Date:
    November 7, 2017
    Source:
    University of Cincinnati
    Summary:
    Archaeologists are documenting artifacts contained within their amazing 2015 find, the tomb of the Griffin Warrior in Greece. But the 3,500-year-old treasures include their most stunning historical offering yet: an intricately carved gem, or sealstone, that represents one of the finest works of prehistoric Greek art ever found.
    The tiny sealstone depicting warriors in battle measures just 1.4 inches across but contains incredible detail.
    [​IMG]
     

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