For Those Interested in Archaeology

Time to burn me longboat and celebrate.
"New research has shown that a corroded, damaged helmet unearthed in Yarm, Stockton-on-Tees, in the 1950s is a rare, 10th century Anglo-Scandinavian (Viking) helmet, the first ever found in Britain and only the second nearly complete Viking helmet found in the world."
www.prestonparkmuseum.co.uk/preston-park-museum-britains-first-ever-viking-helmet-discovered/?fbclid=IwAR3W0VvTer_KZtimcTEHKqlIBx8of2EwoyEzgeeUG3HtjBhs2EBjvV7DS0s

 

..''surprising'' there are not more....I'm disappointed ..they have a bunch of shields, it looks like ..why is this?

 

Could well be because the shields are often found in waterlogged conditions, which aids the preservation of wood as opposed to corroding iron.,

 

Actually waterlogged conditions can also preserve iron if the dissolved oxygen content of the water is low as is often the case in peat bogs. Rust only occurs where there is oxygen present.

 

Another lucky so and so-
"A metal detectorist has discovered artefacts in the Scottish Borders dating back 3,000 years, including a preserved horse harness and a sword in its scabbard.
Archaeologists called to the site near Peebles also excavated decorated straps, buckles, rings, ornaments and chariot wheel axle caps.
Evidence of a decorative 'rattle pendant' from the harness was also discovered – the first one to be found in Scotland and only the third in the UK.
The hoard has been moved from the site in a large block of soil and taken to the National Museums Collection Centre in Edinburgh.
Experts, who described the objects as 'nationally significant', have dated them to the Bronze Age, which began around 2,000 BC and lasted for nearly 1,500 years."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8610275/Metal-detectorist-unearths-nationally-significant-Bronze-Age-hoard.html

 

Another lucky find.
"The fossilised bone of a dinosaur that died more than 166 million years ago has been found by a scientists while running along the shore to meet her research team.
Elsa Panciroli made the 'serendipitous discovery' on the Isle of Eigg. It is the first fossil belonging to a stegosaurian to be found in Scotland outside Skye.
A research affiliate for National Museums Scotland, Dr Panciroli said she 'ran right over it' and wasn't exactly sure what type of dinosaur it belonged to initially.
She said that in 200 years of searching the area 'no-one has found a dinosaur before, so this is quite special' and a 'hugely significant find'.
Globally, Middle Jurassic fossils are rare and until now the only dinosaur fossils found in Scotland were on the Isle of Skye.
'This bone is 166 million years old and provides us with evidence that stegosaurs were living in Scotland at this time,' said Dr Panciroli.
The bone dates to the Middle Jurassic period and is about 200 inches long - it was found in a boulder on the foreshore of the island.
Though it had been badly damaged by the waves, enough remained for a team of palaeontologists to study it and discover more about the creature.
The bone was extracted and taken to a laboratory to be removed from the rock, where it was found to be part of the hind limb of a stegosaur."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8666829/Beach-runner-stumbles-dinosaur-fossil-Scottish-island.html

 

Just a remerk of my favourite maybe not archaeological but very old "toys" that could have changed the history:

1.
Antikythera
Antikythera mechanism - Wikipedia

This artefact was retrieved from the sea in 1901, and identified on 17 May 1902 as containing a gear by archaeologist Valerios Stais,[11] among wreckage retrieved from a shipwreck off the coast of the Greek island Antikythera.[12][13] The instrument is believed to have been designed and constructed by Greek scientists and has been variously dated to about 87 BC,[14] or between 150 and 100 BC,[5] or to 205 BC.

It is a complex clockwork mechanism composed of at least 30 meshing bronze.

Detailed imaging of the mechanism suggests that it had 37 gear wheels enabling it to follow the movements of the Moon and the Sun through the zodiac, to predict eclipses and even to model the irregular orbit of the Moon, where the Moon's velocity is higher in its perigee than in its apogee.



2.
Aeolipile

An aeolipile (or aeolipyle, or eolipile), also known as a Hero's engine, is a simple, bladeless radial steam turbine which spins when the central water container is heated. Torque is produced by steam jets exiting the turbine, much like a tip jet[1] or rocket engine.[2] In the 1st century AD, Hero of Alexandria described the device in Roman Egypt, and many sources give him the credit for its invention.

The aeolipile which Heron described is considered to be the first recorded steam engine or reaction steam turbine.

It is not known whether the aeolipile was put to any practical use in ancient times, and if it was seen as a pragmatic device, a whimsical novelty, an object of reverence, or some other thing. A source described it as a mere curiosity for the ancient Greeks, or a "party trick".[8] Hero's drawing shows a standalone device, and was presumably intended as a "temple wonder", like many of the other devices described in Pneumatica.[clarification needed].

 

Sure I saw something recently where they discovered another aspect of the Antikythera mechanism, something to do with a previously unnoticed function.
Need to have a delve.

 

"ARCHAEOLOGISTS were thrilled when they made a breakthrough in finding what has been dubbed the "world's first city" thanks to photos taken during the Cold War.
Satellite images were snapped by the US Central Intelligence Agency Directorate of Science and Technology with substantial assistance from the US Air Force. The Corona satellites were used for photographic surveillance of the Soviet Union, the People's Republic of China (PLC), and other areas beginning in June 1959 and ending in May 1972. But, hidden beneath mounds of Earth, in the fertile crescent of the Middle East, the satellite images also recorded networks of small settlements unbeknown at the time.
They were spotted by Dartmouth College anthropology Professor Jesse Casana who spent years scanning the declassified files for evidence of the past.
He combined them with modern multi-spectral images and digital maps of the Earth’s surface to create a new method to map 14,000 settlements, spanning back 8,000 years, in 23,000 square kilometres of northeastern Syria.
But, the Smithsonian Channel’s ‘Age of Earth: Age of Humans’ series revealed how one stood out from the rest....The narrator explained how an ancient city in Syria was uncovered.
He continued: “In 2007, the spy images heralded a breakthrough, revealing details that are causing experts to reclassify one settlement as the world’s first city.
“4,000 years older than the Great Pyramid, it’s called Tell Brak.
“Settlements like this only start to appear after a dramatic event transforms the environment.
“It’s the end of the last Ice Age, Earth’s climate radically shifts.
“The planet is at its warmest point in 100,000 years and where Tell Brak lies is an area known as the Fertile Crescent.”
www.express.co.uk/news/world/1332879/archaeology-breakthrough-cold-war-spy-photo-soviet-union-tell-brak-middle-east-syria-spt

 

Although Yorkshire still has the world's oldest house which is about 10,000 years old
The house found at the Star Carr archaeological site in 2010 is not only the oldest known dwelling in the United Kingdom, but it is most likely the oldest house in the world that has been discovered so far. A team of archaeologists from the universities of Manchester and York also uncovered a wooden platform, which they believe is the oldest example of carpentry in Europe.

According to archaeological research, the remains of the house have been carbon dated to about 8500 BCE.

 

Lovely! There's an 8,000 year old one about 20 miles from me. Not nearly as impressive though.

 

"ARCHAEOLOGISTS have successfully sequenced the DNA of some of the earliest Neanderthals ever discovered in Europe.
An 80,000-year-old Neanderthal tooth discovered on the floor of modern-day Poland’s Stajnia Cave is shedding light on our ancient ancestors’ secrets. Viable mitochondrial DNA locked inside the molar has been analysed for the first time.
Dubbed S5000, the Neanderthal molar tooth was recovered by archaeologists along with a variety of stone instruments and animal bones.
The discoveries have all been dated to between 82,000 and 71,000 years ago.
The timeframe coincides with the era of the Micoquian culture, which stretched from Poland to the shores of the Caspian Sea."
www.express.co.uk/news/science/1333786/archaeology-news-neanderthal-tooth-dna-mitochondrial-genome

 

I liked sorta reading that methods (medical?) used in the 50's were considered 80% totally false according today'sstandards. Wonder how they laugh at us in 2090....

 

The way things are going in 2090 they may be wondering how they get back to 8,000 BC technological levels

 

"A milk tooth belonging to one of Italy's last Neanderthal children has been found near Venice.
The canine tooth belonged to a pre-teen, likely 11 or 12 years old, and dates back 45,000 years.
Neanderthals went extinct around 40,000 years ago after being out-competed for food and shelter by the more intelligent Homo sapiens.
A milk tooth belonging to one of Italy's last Neanderthal children has been found near Venice.
The canine tooth belonged to a pre-teen, likely 11 or 12 years old, and dates back 45,000 years.
Neanderthals went extinct around 40,000 years ago after being out-competed for food and shelter by the more intelligent Homo sapiens.
It was discovered in a rock shelter at an archaeological site called 'Riparo del Broion' on the Berici Hills in the Veneto region, near Venice.
The tooth is the first ever human remain to be found at the site.
Genetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA preserved inside the tooth, as well as analysis of the enamel and shape, reveal it is from a Neanderthal and not a Homo sapien."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-8747693/Milk-tooth-Italy-belonged-Neanderthal-child.html

 

So it seems from this that Neanderthals are considered ‘human’?

 

Yes as also are Denisovans also a human hominid. We share some DNA with them although not as much as Neanderthal

BTW nobody knows why the Neanderthals went extinct and we didn't. It may have had nothing to do with intelligence but merely that we were lucky enough to have been physically better able to adjust to changes in the environment. DNA analysis shows that we came pretty close to going as well at one point.

 

There’s even evidence it was volcano smoke destroying 2/3 of the Neanderthals range...

 

The Neanderthals' range had already shrunk a good deal before the Campanian Ignimbrite super eruption. Still, the volcanic eruption appears to be the cause of extinction for the Neanderthals outside of Western Europe. There are also others that argue that the eruption did lead to catastrophic changes in European climate that helped to finish off the remaining Neanderthal pocket there.

 

And yet more of this fossilised forest has been revealed by storms.
"ARCHAEOLOGISTS were stunned as more of an ancient forest off the west coast of Wales was uncovered by extreme weather.
This summer the UK has experienced a series of tumultuous weather fronts and several storms, including Storm Francis. When Francis hit Wales, finding its way to the west coast, its gales blew away debris, uncovering even more of the ancient forest that was buried by sand some 4,500 years ago. The forest previously had swathes of it exposed over the preceding ten years, and can often be seen in Borth, Ceredigion.
After the most recent storm, new trees can now be seen 13 miles (21km) south in Llanrhystud.
Tests are now being carried out at the Llanrhystud site to determine its age.
Dr Hywel Griffiths, from Aberystwyth University, said the find was "both exciting and worrying".
He is part of a joint research project between groups in Wales and Ireland."
www.express.co.uk/news/world/1337529/archaeology-news-ancient-history-wales-news-Ceredigion-history-news-Storm-Francis-spt?fbclid=IwAR2YXT1qDbpX2e5VcU6ZXX2H25JdXg6rNdtNBLDPEHQ8NdqsS_h_fZkuV_o