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For Those Interested in Archaeology

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

  1. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Actually, I'm with her on this. Now you look at Stonehenge, it looks like the floor plan of a round house.
    Could still be complete crap though, but it's certainly plausibl.e
    "One of the biggest mysteries surrounding Stonehenge is how any of it is still standing, given the predations of souvenir-hunters and vandals including the great 17th-century architect Sir Christopher Wren.
    He paid many visits to the ancient monument on Salisbury Plain and his surname can still be seen carved on one of its stones.
    The Victorians were even more destructive, renting chisels to visitors so they could take great chunks of Stonehenge home, and over the centuries farmers purloined stones for building their barns.
    Perhaps they might all have had more respect for the monument, now a Unesco World Heritage site, had they heard the extraordinary theory being put forward in a new book by 62-year-old landscape architect Sarah Ewbank.
    She would have us believe that the Stonehenge we see today represents the ruins of a majestic building which once had a spectacular thatched roof.
    As mind-boggling as contemplating an upright Tower of Pisa or a Day-Glo Taj Mahal, this may seem as barking as other ideas expounded about Stonehenge over the centuries: that its layout was based on the female private parts, or that it was a site of human sacrifice or a landing pad for aliens.
    But Sarah is deadly serious, and she backs up her arguments with the rather ferocious electric saw she keeps in the garage of her pretty Cotswolds cottage near Lechlade, Gloucestershire.
    The feisty grandmother does not use this to intimidate those who disagree with her — although she is rather frustrated with the academics who have repeatedly refused to engage with her idea that Stonehenge was a Neolithic version of the Royal Albert Hall.
    No, the saw is used to fashion ever-more detailed models of how she thinks Stonehenge might have looked. Each has taken about two months to complete and they have got bigger each time."
    www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9750957/Architects-concept-Stonehenge-rocks-base-Neolithic-temple-brought-life-models.html?offset=280&max=100&jumpTo=comment-715604929#comment-715604929
     
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  2. Prospero Quevedo

    Prospero Quevedo Well-Known Member

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    I think it's a possibility remote but something worth speculating kings of civilizations or countries have always built things to one up others. Most of the wonders of the world were built mostly for that purpose to one up previous or future generations. lol mentioning the Taj Mahal makes me think of mars attacks when they blow it up. The Vegas hotel destruction was real the landmark hotel scheduled for demo delayed for the filming of the movie so it could be filmed being destroyed.
     
  3. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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  4. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    "Earth's earliest-known animals may have been found, in the form of sponges that lived 890 million years ago in what is today Canada's northwest, a study reported.
    Palaeontologist Elizabeth Turner of the Laurentian University in Sudbury, Canada, found sponge like-structures in the fabric of rocks from the fossilised Little Dal reefs.
    The tiny, tube-like structures resemble those found in some types of modern sponges, and were found around calcium carbonate reeds constructed by bacteria.
    If the microstructures do indeed turn out to be the remains of ancient sponges, such would predate the current oldest-known sponges by some 350 million years.
    Moreover, they would be evidence that animal life emerged 90 million years earlier than previously, thought based on changing atmospheric oxygen levels.
    It had been assumed that animal life did not appear on the scene until after oxygen levels had been driven up in the so-called Neoproterozoic oxygenation event."
    www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9835413/Fossils-Sponges-890-MILLION-year-old-reefs-Canada-Earths-earliest-known-animal.html
     
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  5. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Like it but don´t we have bacteria that live inside underwater springs in heavy temperatory and non-oxygen situation? Or am I wrong ? Just curious. Cheers mate, keep em coming!
     
  6. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    You may be right actually.
     
  7. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Nice little find.
    "Archaeologists in Morocco have announced the discovery of North Africa’s oldest Stone Age hand-axe manufacturing site, dating back 1.3 million years, an international team reported on Wednesday.
    The find pushes back by hundreds of thousands of years the start date in North Africa of the Acheulian stone tool industry associated with a key human ancestor, Homo erectus, researchers on the team told journalists in Rabat.
    It was made during excavations at a quarry on the outskirts of the country’s economic capital Casablanca.
    This “major discovery … contributes to enriching the debate on the emergence of the Acheulian in Africa”, said Abderrahim Mohib, co-director of the Franco-Moroccan Prehistory of Casablanca programme.
    Before the find, the presence in Morocco of the Acheulian stone tool industry was thought to date back 700,000 years.
    New finds at the Thomas Quarry I site, first made famous in 1969 when a human half mandible was discovered in a cave, mean the Acheulian there is almost twice as old."
    www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/7/28/archaeologists-in-morocco-announce-major-stone-age-find
     
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  8. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    "Unique" Gulf of Finland shipwreck may be 400 years old

    A previously unknown shipwreck has been discovered at a depth of 85 metres in waters at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland. Found during seabed mapping, the vessel is believed to be a cargo vessel that possibly dates back to the early 17th century.

    The marking on the ship says it was made in 1636.
     
  9. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    Notice the posting above,too.

    Archaeological sensation - Öland's largest ancient castle found

    The castle - which has been a bit of a myth - is mentioned in a writing from the early 18th century. Since then, it has not been seen, despite many archaeologists searching for its site. Now the researcher Jan-Henrik Fallgren has found Öland's largest ancient castle, Sörby Borg. Something of an archaeological sensation. 
     
  10. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Lovely find. I remember when part of the Roman road through Stirling was discovered running through several back gardens in the older part of town; a few months later, one of the houses went up for sale for a vastly exaggerated price and made a great play of the fact the road was there.
    "A early section of Hadrian's Wall which lay undiscovered close to a busy road has been found on the outskirts of Newcastle by workmen.
    The ten-foot segment of the Roman feat of engineering was stumbled upon by staff at Northumbria Water while they carried out mains work.
    It is believed the newly-discovered section of the wall is from one of the earliest phases of the historical landmark as it was constructed using such large blocks of stone."
    www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9885623/Northumbria-water-workers-discover-long-lost-section-Hadrians-Wall.html
     
  11. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    And...we're 'rewriting America's history'. Again.
    "Thirteen thousand years ago, most of Michigan was covered in a wall of ice up to a mile high. Archaeologists believed this kept some of the continent’s earliest people, a group called Clovis after their distinctive spear points, from settling in the region.
    But an independent researcher along with University of Michigan researchers have identified a 13,000-year-old Clovis camp site, now thought to be the earliest archaeological site in Michigan. The site predates previously identified human settlements in the Michigan basin and potentially rewrites the history of the peopling—or settling—of the Great Lakes region.
    The site was likely occupied by a small group of people, about six or seven, who briefly lived on a river in southwest Michigan toward the end of the Pleistocene. The finding also suggests this is the northwestern-most Clovis settlement in the Great Lakes region. The researchers describe their findings in a paper published in the journal PaleoAmerica."
    Farm field find rewrites archaeological history in Michigan
     
  12. OpanaPointer

    OpanaPointer I Point at Opana Staff Member WW2|ORG Editor

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    They'll be grubbing through the dirt as long as it's above sea level.
     
  13. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Absolutely fascinating story here. Hadn't heard the trm 'Austronesians' before.
    "In 2015, archaeologists from the University of Hasanuddin in Makassar, on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, uncovered the skeleton of a woman buried in a limestone cave. Studies revealed the person from Leang Panninge, or "Bat Cave," was 17 or 18 years old when she died some 7,200 years ago.
    Her discoverers dubbed her Bessé' (pronounced "bur-sek")—a nickname bestowed on newborn princesses among the Bugis people who now live in southern Sulawesi. The name denotes the great esteem local archaeologists have for this ancient woman.
    She represents the only known skeleton of one of the Toalean people. These enigmatic hunter-gatherers inhabited the island before Neolithic farmers from mainland Asia ("Austronesians") spread into Indonesia around 3,500 years ago.
    Our team found ancient DNA that survived inside the inner ear bone of Bessé", furnishing us with the first direct genetic evidence of the Toaleans. This is also the first time ancient human DNA has been reported from Wallacea, the vast group of islands between Borneo and New Guinea, of which Sulawesi is the largest.
    Genomic analysis shows Bessé' belonged to a population with a previously unknown ancestral composition. She shares about half of her genetic makeup with present-day Indigenous Australians and people in New Guinea and the Western Pacific. This includes DNA inherited from the now-extinct Denisovans, who were distant cousins of Neanderthals.
    Burial of a Toalean hunter-gatherer woman dated to 7,200 years ago. Bessé’ was 17-18 years old at time of death. She was buried in a flexed position and several large cobbles were placed on and around her body. Although the skeleton is fragmented, ancient DNA was found preserved in the dense inner ear bone (petrous). Credit: University of Hasanuddin
    In fact, relative to other ancient and present-day groups in the region, the proportion of Denisovan DNA in Bessé' could indicate the main meeting point between our species and Denisovans was in Sulawesi itself (or perhaps a nearby Wallacean island)."
    https://phys.org/news/2021-08-ancient-woman-dna-evidence-mysterious.html
     
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  14. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Great find. It's often thought now that what we call hillforts were actually proto-towns.
    "A Bronze Age hillfort in France may represent a lost Celtic capital city, archaeologists said after finding treasures there including jewellery, weapons and chariot parts.
    The priceless trove was unearthed near Gannat in France's Allier department, some 80 miles northwest of Lyon, by experts from the University of Toulouse–Jean Jaurès.
    Excavations revealed a large — 30 hectares in total — fortified settlement which would have sported a double row of ramparts and 20-feet-high stone walls.
    The site has yielded hundreds of items thought to have been buried in around 800 BC as part of a religious ritual. Such abundance is rare from French hillforts.
    Indeed, it represents one of the richest metal deposits sites from the Bronze Age ever discovered in Europe, experts have said.
    The excavations also represent something of a victory for posterity over looters — who had begun to plunder some of the treasures from the site back in 2017.
    During the time of the Gannat Hill Fort, the Allier region had significant economic value due to the navigable Sioule river and local tin deposits for making bronze."
    www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9942967/Archaeology-Bronze-Age-hillfort-filled-treasure-unearthed-France-lost-capital-city.html
     
  15. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    And my mind keep being boggled.
    "Stone tools and ancient animal fossils have revealed that early humans were in Arabia 400,000 years ago. Prehistoric climate change may have encouraged their travels across what are now vast stretches of desert, according to new research.
    This is the oldest dated evidence for humans in Arabia, which includes Saudi Arabia and other countries across the Arabian Peninsula.
    Saudi Arabia's deserts are some of the driest regions in the world, but it was a different story hundreds of thousands of years ago. Environmental changes occurred after periods of heavy rainfall in the desert, creating lush grasslands that served as the perfect backdrop for early human ancestors migrating to and from Africa.
    In the hollows between large dunes, researchers found evidence of ancient lake formation at the Khall Amayshan 4 archeological site and Jubbah Oasis in the Nefud desert, located in northern Saudi Arabia. Between 400,000 and 55,000 years ago, these periodical lakes formed and filled at five different times that were associated with the discovery of stone tools.
    The stone tools help document how these early human cultures and their materials shifted over time. The oldest tools belong to cultures that relied on handaxes, like early human ancestors Homo erectus and Homo heidelbergensis. This transitions to more developed stone tool technology that could have belonged to early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals."
    Ancient climate change helped early humans migrate across the Arabian desert - CNN
     
  16. Prospero Quevedo

    Prospero Quevedo Well-Known Member

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    Hey they had a show on that on expedition x, that show is pretty interesting the host goes all over the world investigating all sorts of historical subjects lol, pretty tuff on some of his producers and film crews they had a few were the show almost loses a few guys fortunately they just get a few bump and bruises the worst I've seen so far a cameraman falls and dislocates his shoulder and then they put back in. Hope the show has really good insurance. Love the historic background they include I've learned a lot on watching some shows on there.
     
  17. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    Two for the price of one.
    "Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia that were originally thought to be 2,000 years old actually date back 8,000 years, new analysis has revealed.
    The discovery makes them almost twice the age of Britain's Stonehenge, where stones were hauled into their unique circle around 2500 BC.
    It had previously been estimated that the 21 camel, horse and other equid figures — found covered in stone in the Saudi desert in 2018 — were about 2,000 years old and had been made after the end of the Iron Age.
    This is because they share similarities with artworks in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra, which was half-carved into rock around two millennia ago.
    However, cutting-edge dating methods revealed that the estimate was out by 6,000 years, with the sculptures likely to date back to around 6000 BC when the now arid deserts of northern Saudi Arabia were 'a savannah-like grassland scattered with lakes and trees'."
    www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9992791/Life-size-camel-carvings-Saudi-Arabia-TWICE-age-Stonehenge.html

    "Researchers believe they may have identified the oldest-known work of art — a sequence of five hand and footprints thought to date back up to 226,000 years.
    According to researchers led from China's Guangzhou University, the impressions are at least 3–4 times older than the cave paintings of France, Indonesia and Spain.
    Found in 2018 on a rocky outcrop in Quesang, on the Tibetan Plateau, the prints may have been 'prehistoric graffiti' left by young Denisovan children, the team have said."
    www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9994107/Oldest-artwork-Hand-footprints-discovered-Tibetan-Plateau-date-226-000-years.html
     
  18. Prospero Quevedo

    Prospero Quevedo Well-Known Member

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    So how much is this going to rewrite human history. Like all the stuff that was found that scientists said we didn't have the tech to do it. If civilizations were here far longer back than they thought then could such have progressed to build intricate devices with gears thought to have developed centuries later. Built huge structures with long lost technology and skills. We are still finding vast long lost civilizations in remote parts of South America. Who knows where other long lost civilizations could be out there in Europe, Africa, or Asia, buried somewhere waiting to be rediscovered.
     
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  19. GRW

    GRW Pillboxologist WW2|ORG Editor

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    That's a good point. We still seem to be at the point of denigrating past cultures because we can't believe they could possibly have been as clever as us; I get annoyed with the whole 'aliens-must-have-shown-the-Egyptians-how to-build-pyramids' mindset , because I see it as bloody patronising. Who said they didn't have geniuses, or created structures/artwork in their spare time because they could? Why do cave paintings etc always need to have a 'ritual' purpose? Maybe it was just to brighten the environment up, or started when they were bored.
     
  20. Kai-Petri

    Kai-Petri Kenraali

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    It´s funny how they try to bring with a small boat a 3 ton stone to the pyramids. Modern people can only sink the ship...The ancient people were so clever.
     

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