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Ancient fort excavated in Dorset

The first excavation of a well-known pre-historic monument has shown it to be much older than previously thought. The archaeological dig at Badbury Rings near Wimborne in Dorset (England) has uncovered evidence that the site was inhabited at least 5,000 years ago ... Stone Pages Archaeo News

Reward offered to solve riddle of ancient cliff tombs

Management of a famous Taoist mountain in east China's Jiangxi Province has offered to pay 400,000 yuan (US$48,000) to anyone who can give a convincing explanation of how tombs were built on its steep cliffs more than 2,600 years ago ... Stone Pages Archaeo News

Mars rovers given six more months

NASA's rovers have their missions extended by six months after weathering the Martian winter solstice, announces the space agency ... New Scientist

Digging up history in Bahrain

A Danish archaeology expedition has called for the restoration of the A'ali burial mounds to make them one of the Kingdom's major historical tourism attractions. The expedition, which arrived yesterday headed by Moesgard Museum curator Dr Flemming Hojlund, is making preparations for further excavation work at the A'ali burial mounds in co-operation with the Information Ministry ... Gulf Daily News

Methane on Mars causes controversy

Methane and water vapour have been found together in Mars's atmosphere, and a common cause has been suggested - life ... New Scientist

Noah's Ark Quest Dead in Water - Was It a Stunt?

In April businessman and Christian activist Daniel McGivern announced with great fanfare a planned summer expedition to Mount Ararat in Turkey. The project, he said, would prove that the fabled Noah's ark was buried there ... National Geographic

How Roman's famous road cut through Bath (UK)

Bath's position as a flourishing town in Roman times has been reinforced, thanks to discoveries made during an ambitious excavation project. A two-year dig near the Royal Crescent has unearthed Roman burial sites and buildings, and allowed archaeologists to piece together how the most important road in early Roman Britain cut through the city ... this is bath

Archaeologists uncover 2,400-year-old golden mask

Archeologists in Bulgaria say they have discovered a 2,400-year-old golden mask that was likely made for a monarch's funeral. The mask depicts a full face with moustache and beard. The rare artifact is made of 500 grams of solid gold and "is without paragon in archaeology" ... CBC News

Flying dinosaur had 'bird brain'

Skull scan confirms Archaeopteryx had the mind for flight.

It was half-bird, half-reptile and it soared above the still lagoons of Bavaria 147 million years ago. Researchers have confirmed that Archaeopteryx had a brain and body geared for flight, earning it the moniker of the world's most primitive bird ... Nature

Dispute over life in Antarctic lake

Controversy has erupted over Lake Vostok, one of Earth's last unexplored frontiers, which lies deep under the Antarctic ice. Last week a team of Russian and French scientists claimed the lake is sterile. But American scientists insist that it is a potential source of undiscovered life forms, and are worried that Russian plans to drill right through the ice will contaminate it ... EurekAlert!

Early fish hit land to be better predators

Our distant fishy ancestors first hauled themselves on to land in order to warm up in the Sun ... New Scientist

Beneath Antarctica's ice lies mysterious Lake Vostok

High-tech tools help scientists detail underwater features.

Far beneath the vast ice sheet that covers Antarctica lies a hidden lake more than 40 times larger than Tahoe. Deeper by far than Tahoe, it holds 300 times more water and, quite possibly, countless millions of microbes that have been living in the lake's darkness for a million years or more ... San Francisco Chronicle

Archaeologists continue Roman excavation

A unique project to map the vast extent of a Roman settlement will take place in Bradford on Avon. Archaeologist Mark Corney, working with his team of 20 for the third year on the excavation of the Roman villa site in St Laurence School playing fields, hopes to map the settlement ... This is Wiltshire

Craig Venter's epic voyage to redefine the origin of the species

He wanted to play God, so he cracked the human genome. Now he wants to play Darwin and collect the DNA of everything on the planet ... Wired

New site for British Museum

The British Museum will launch a new website early next year, linking it with twelve museums across the UK. The project is part of an effort to get British culture online, while creating a more interactive and educational site in the process, also offering more for the user ... netimperative

Archaeologists uncover Roman ruin

Archaeologists are unearthing the remains of a Roman bridge. The ruins of the bridge, which would have once crossed the River Tyne, have been undisturbed for thousands of years in Corbridge, Northumberland ... BBC News

Jamestown wine cellar believed unearthed

Eight glass bottles have been unearthed in a brick-walled space that may have been the wine cellar of a house dating from the close of the 1600s in Jamestown ... The Mercury News

Baths ancient and modern on housing estate (UK)

A modern housing estate seems an unlikely place to find Roman baths.

But the historic discovery in the middle of new-builds and starter homes in Swindon, Wiltshire, has got archaeologists into a real lather.

English Heritage has said the site at Groundwell Ridge is “one of the most important Roman sites in England” and recent finds have confirmed their early enthusiasm.

At a press conference from the muddy dig today, a spokesman announced it is now believed to be the site of a major Roman villa complex, complete with stables and outbuildings ... Scotsman

The start of Irish megalithic tradition

Archaeologists are finally in agreement that the Megalithic period in Ireland 'boomed' between the years 4200 BCE and 3500 BCE. The date controversy over the Irish Megalithic period - most significantly characterised by the Carrowmore site in Sligo - was put to rest at an archaeology conference in Sligo. The findings of the conference have just been released even though it took place two years ago ... Stone Pages Archaeo News

Researchers uncover ancient marine fossils in Newfoundland

Unique three-dimensional imprints preserve organisms that lived at time of dramatic evolutionary change.

Canadian fossil hunters have made a rare find of exquisitely preserved marine animals in Newfoundland, remnants of the first complex organisms to evolve on Earth and unlike anything alive today ... Globe and Mail

Dinosaur tooth found in flying reptile's spine

A hundred-million-year-old Brazilian fossil may offer rare evidence of an ancient encounter between a dinosaur predator and a flying reptile ... National Geographic

Huge dinosaur graveyard unearthed in Germany

German scientists have unearthed the biggest collection of dinosaur fossils ever found in the country, including bones that could belong to previously unknown species ... Reuters

Orkney’s prehistoric secrets unearthed

Archaeologists have found the remains of a prehistoric neolithic village on Orkney, which has already unlocked secrets of the island's life, beliefs and rituals ... The Herald

Speed of light may have changed recently

The speed of light, one of the most sacrosanct of the universal physical constants, may have been lower as recently as two billion years ago - and not in some far corner of the universe, but right here on Earth ... New Scientist

Remains of oldest inhabitant of Abu Dhabi found

Remains of the earliest-known inhabitant of Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) have been found on the western island of Marawah by the Abu Dhabi Islands Archaeological Survey, ADIAS ... Stone Pages Archaeo News

An eco-evolutionary dance through deep time

A Talk with paleontologist Scott Sampson:
How did the world of dinosaurs differ from our own? Since we live in a miniscule snapshot in time, most people can’t relate to a thousand years, let alone millions, or billions of years. So how do we get our minds wrapped around Mesozoic timescapes? And once we’re there, how do we then recreate the world of dinosaurs? ... Edge

Huge Etruscan road brought to light

A plain in Tuscany destined to become a dump has turned out to be an archaeologist's dream, revealing the biggest Etruscan road ever found. Digging in Capannori, near Lucca, archaeologist Michelangelo Zecchini has uncovered startling evidence of an Etruscan "highway" which presumably linked Etruscan Pisa, on the Tyrrhenian coast, to the Adriatic port of Spina ... Discovery Channel

Dog's verbal tricks probe origin of language

A word-learning pet dog has given scientists clues that some animals may have the comprehension necessary for language, even though they cannot actually talk. Rico, a smart border collie, was spotted on television by Julia Fischer and her colleagues at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. With a "vocabulary" of 200 words, Rico showed exceptional ability in retrieving specific toys when asked to fetch them ... New Scientist

Ancient graves found on cliffs

A 1,250-year-old cliff-face cemetery has been found in Pembrokeshire revealing the county's early Christian past. Two skeletons dating from the Dark Ages of around 750AD have been recovered and a stone with a carefully chiselled cross has also been found. Archaeologists had to work using ropes to reach the site at Longoar Bay, near St Ishmaels ... BBC News

Interactive map of Stonehenge

English Heritage has just launched their new Stonehenge website. It includes historical information, a frequently asked questions page, and (this is the best part) an interactive map ... mirabilis.ca

Ancient Egyptian cemeteries unearthed

Egypt said Sunday an Australian archeological team has unearthed two ancient Pharaonic cemeteries believed to be 5,000 years old ... The Washington Times

Roman farm excavation in Norway

From the Norway Post: Remains of ancient farm excavated in Oestfold. The remains of a farm dating back to the Roman period is being excavated in a field in Raade in the county of Oestfold. It is believed to be the largest find from the Roman period ever made in the Nordic countries, and seen as unique in this region, according to public broadcaster NRK. The 2000-year find consist of among other things the foundation of a 66-metre long farm building. This is the longest such building found from this period, according to the experts ... mirabilis.ca

Irish Viking settlement

The account of a Viking settlement recently discovered in Ireland is sounding more and more interesting. From the Waterford News and Star: Viking ‘town’ is Ireland's equivalent of Pompeii. The site, located close to the River Suir, is 1.5 km long by 0.5 km wide and so far up to 3,000 artifacts have been found over a distance of 150 yards. From photographs, which have been examined by the country’s leading archaeologists, early indications suggest that the complete original town of Waterford founded by the Vikings remains virtually intact with dozens of streets and dwellings just under the soil surface ... mirabilis.ca

Perfect pterosaur found in fossil egg

Find sheds light on prehistoric flying reptiles.

The preserved bones of ancient creatures allow fossil-hunters to glimpse lives lived millions of years ago. But researchers in China have uncovered the remains of a life that was snatched away before it had even begun ... Nature

'Best' medieval track found in bog

The best preserved example in Wales of a medieval track, which dates back 1,000 years, has been unearthed by archaeologists in Ceredigion ... BBC News

Lost City of Atlantis Found in Spain?

The fabled lost city of Atlantis might lie in a salt marsh region off Spain's southern coast, according to research reported online by the archaeology journal Antiquity.

The study, not yet peer-reviewed by archaeologists, is based on satellite images showing ancient ruins that appear to match descriptions made by the Greek scholar Plato ... Discovery Channel

In China, a new two-sided body of evidence

In the "Cambrian Explosion" story of biology textbook fame, a slew of creatures sporting an array of anatomical blueprints burst onto the scene, or at least into the fossil record, around 540 million years ago. The back story is more muddled, with few fossils to document the evolution of one- celled organisms into the much more architecturally advanced Cambrian creatures. And of particular relevance to human anatomy is the question of how animals with a two-sided, or bilateral, body plan arose ... Newsday.com

Satellite images 'show Atlantis'

A scientist says he may have found remains of the lost city of Atlantis. Satellite photos of southern Spain reveal features on the ground appearing to match descriptions made by Greek scholar Plato of the fabled utopia. Dr Rainer Kuehne thinks the "island" of Atlantis simply referred to a region of the southern Spanish coast destroyed by a flood between 800 BC and 500 BC ... BBC News

Glimpses of genius

Mathematicians and historians piece together a puzzle that Archimedes pondered.

At the start of the 20th century, a Danish mathematical historian named Johan Ludvig Heiberg made a once-in-a-lifetime find. Tucked away in the library of a monastery in Istanbul was a medieval parchment containing copies of the works of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes, including two never-before-seen essays. To mathematicians' astonishment, one of the new essays contained many of the key ideas of calculus, a subject supposedly invented two millennia after Archimedes' time. The essay caused a sensation and landed Heiberg's discovery on the front page of a 1907 New York Times ... Science News Online

A short life in Shanghai 6,000 years ago

The lifespan of people in the Shanghai (China) region, now famous for the longevity of its citizens, seldom exceeded 30 years in ancient times, according to current archaeological research ... Stone Pages Archaeo News

Ancient fort provides insight into history of weaving

Weaving has existed in the Middle East for thousands of years. And yet exactly how far back in the history of the region it goes is a matter of some debate. However, a recent discovery of a cache of clay loom weights at Khirbat al-Mudaybi in Central Jordan is shedding new light on ancient textile crafts and industries ... Stone Pages Archaeo News

New dinosaur stumps scientists

A 50-foot-long sauropod recently unearthed in southern Montana has a mysterious second hole in its skull that leaves researchers baffled ... Wired News

Geological time gets a new period

Geologists have added a new period to their official calendar of Earth's history - the first in 120 years.

The Ediacaran Period covers some 50 million years of ancient time on our planet from 600 million years ago to about 542 million years ago ... BBC News

Four-winged birds may have been first fliers

The first birds were probably four-winged gliders, and only later evolved into the sophisticated flapping fliers with light skeletons and two wings that we see today. This view of avian evolution is supported by a new study of Archaeopteryx, the most famous bird fossil, which reveals it had long feathers on its back and legs, as well as on its wings ... New Scientist

Historic wrecks to be protected

Efforts are being made to simplify the laws protecting historic shipwrecks off the south-west coast of England.

The government and English Heritage have launched a joint consultation to try to disentangle the maze of legislation surrounding them ... BBC News

Stone tools suggest bison hunting site in Alberta on trade route

Archeologists in Alberta have found a large bison kill site containing stone tools that point to an early trade route.

The bison bones are behind wind-swept sand dunes in a small, shallow valley near Purple Springs, Alta., about 70 kilometres from Lethbridge.

Archeologists think more than 1,000 years ago, hunters stalked, slaughtered and processed thousands of the animals at the site, primarily in the winter ... CBC News

Halley's comet portrayed on ancient coin

Could the star shape on the king's crown be Halley's comet?
A rare ancient coin may feature an early record of Halley's comet, researchers say.

The coin features the head of the Armenian king Tigranes II the Great, who reigned from 95 to 55 BC. A symbol on his crown that features a star with a curved tail may represent the passage of Halley's comet in 87 BC, say the Armenian and Italian researchers ... News in Science

Temple of Love found in Athens

The clincher was a small anchor cut from stone. Digging at the site of the Olympic equestrian center, about 30 km southeast of Athens, archaeologist Michalis Sklavos already knew he was onto something — his team had unearthed a cluster of small clay bowls from around the 4th century B.C. followed by several washbasins ... Time Europe

Is Troy true? The evidence behind movie myth

Did the city of Troy really exist? Is the Trojan War myth or military reality? And what about that giant horse? As the blockbuster Brad Pitt film Troy storms the cinemas, archaeologists and historians are shedding light on the ancient city and epic that inspired the movie ... National Geographic News

Turkey displays Troy treasures in time for film

The Istanbul Archaeology Museum threw open the doors Friday to its ancient Troy exhibition, shut for years due to lack of funds, just in time for the world premiere of the mega-budget film "Troy" starring Brad Pit ... Reuters.com

Crater linked to mass extinction

A team of American researchers announced Wednesday that they have identified an ancient impact crater buried off the northwest coast of Australia - a find that supports the theory that a giant meteor caused a mass extinction on Earth approximately 250 million years ago ... Wired News

Mexican Air Force Films UFOs

Pilots conducting drug surveillance over Campeche state filmed 11 unidentified flying objects in early March, after the UFOs appeared to surround the aircraft. Now, Mexican officials release the video ... Wired News

Guidelines for reburial of old Christian bones

After years of uncertainty, archaeologists and church leaders in the UK have agreed a set of guidelines governing excavations of Christian graves.

The move is a response to calls for excavated human remains to be reburied on consecrated ground, and follows controversies over repatriating remains from North America and Australia held in museums ... New Scientist

Physicists probe ancient pyramid

The largest particle detector in Mexico is being built inside a pyramid in the ancient settlement of Teotihuacan. The equipment will detect muons, tiny particles that are created when cosmic rays bombard the Earth's atmosphere.

Dr Arturo Menchaca and colleagues from Mexico's National Autonomous University hope that by tracking the muons through the pyramid, they can find cavities. This could indicate whether the kings of the ancient people who built the site are also entombed within it ... BBC News

Venus crossing Sun for first time since 1283

Children will join amateur and professional astronomers to witness one of the rarest events seen from Britain - the planet Venus moving across the face of the Sun.

So-called "transits" occur when the complex orbits of the Earth and Venus around the Sun result in all three bodies being lined up briefly in space, causing Venus to pass directly between the Earth and the Sun ... Independent.co.uk

Dinosaur discovered in Patagonia - named "Small Head"

Argentine paleontologists have discovered a 13-foot (4-meter) plant-eating dinosaur with a long neck and small head that roamed the southern tip of South America about 70 million years ago.

The team, led by Fernando Novas of the Argentine Museum of Natural Sciences in Buenos Aires, named the dinosaur Talenkauen santacrucensis. Talenkauen means "small head" in the Aonikenk Indian language ... National Geographic News

Dead archaeology

Sir Mortimer Wheeler: "Dead archaeology is the driest dust that blows".

Wooden pipe find excites Irish archaeologists

Archaeologists are dancing with delight after discovering a set of musical pipes believed to have been used 4,000 years ago by prehistoric man in Ireland, making them the world's oldest wooden instruments.

Archaeologists discovered the six wooden pipes, which are not joined, during excavations of a housing development site near the coastal town of Greystones, south of Dublin ... abc.net.au

World's oldest seat of learning found

A Polish-Egyptian team has unearthed the site of the fabled University of Alexandria, home of Archimedes, Euclid and a host of other scholars from the era when Alexandria dominated the Mediterranean ... smh.com.au

Did ancient Britons use returning boomerangs?

A British historian has claimed to have uncovered the world's oldest evidence of the returning boomerang – in Yorkshire. Terry Deary says his research indicates a rock carving on Ilkley Moor in West Yorkshire (England) is of a four-armed boomerang which dates back as far as 4000 BCE ... Stone Pages Archaeo News

Ancient Buzzing: German site yields early hummingbird fossils

Photo: Science.

Excavations in a clay pit in southwestern Germany have yielded two tiny treasures. They're the first fossils of hummingbirds from the Old World and, by far, the oldest ones unearthed anywhere ... Science News

Mayan Queen's Tomb Found in Rain Forest

While excavating an ancient royal palace deep in the Guatemalan rain forest, archaeologists made a rare discovery — the 1,200-year-old tomb and skeleton of a Mayan queen ... Associated Press

Welsh Bronze Age gold hoard declared treasure

A Bronze Age hoard of international significance has been declared treasure today by H.M. Coroner for North East Wales. Dating to the Middle Bronze Age, this hoard includes a torc, bracelet, a necklace pendant and a collection of beads and rings, all of gold ... Stone Pages Archaeo News

Cuneiform Goes Digital: UCLA Professor Illuminates Life in Ancient Iraq

It's not exactly Google, but the stunning cache of information Professor Robert Englund and his colleagues are making accessible on the Web is revolutionary - nearly one million lines of transcribed cuneiform, the earliest form of writing, with much more to come - documenting the social and literary worlds of Sumer, Babylonia, Assyria, and Persia, ancient lands comprising modern Iraq and parts of Iran, Syria, and Turkey ... boston.com

Major dig for Roman bridge

A buried Roman bridge in Corbridge (UK) – thought to have been a spectacular representation of the power of the Empire – will be rescued in a major archeological dig.

It is hoped the remains of the largest stone bridge in Roman Britain will uncover vital clues to the movement of the Romans in Corbridge, and reveal more about the origination of the village itself ... Hexham Courant

Discovery Pushes Back Date of 'Classic' Maya

A discovery of monumental carved masks and elaborate jade ritual objects in 2,000-year-old ruins of a city in Guatemala is raising serious questions about the chronology of the enigmatic Mayan civilization. In many respects, the city appeared to be ahead of its time ... New York Times

River Thames "Mudlarks" Dig Up Medieval Toys

Members of the London-based Society of Thames Mudlarks look very different today from the Victorian street children the group takes its name from. Where ragged waifs once searched for bits of bone and coal to sell, men in overalls, gloves, and rubber boots now comb the River Thames foreshore with metal detectors.

And though these amateur treasure hunters seldom find silver or gold, historians say what they do dig from the mud is transforming our understanding of childhood during the Middle Ages ... National Geographic News

Researchers find evidence that sea turtles navigate with magnetic maps

Among the most accomplished navigators in the animal kingdom, sea turtles often migrate across thousands of miles of open ocean to arrive at specific feeding and nesting sites. How they do so, however, has mystified biologists for over a century ... Science Blog

A new way to view dig at Jamestown

Historic Jamestown took a major step Friday evening when the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and the National Park Service broke ground for an “archaearium.” It's a unique facility to showcase artifacts and the findings of the dig at the original fort of 1607 ... The Virginia Gazette

Scientists, First Nations treasure ancient feather find

By examining 4,300-year-old bird feathers, scientists are gaining a glimpse into the pre-history of the Yukon. Twelve feather samples were sent to the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. after melting out of ice patches in alpine meadows in southern Yukon. The feathers were first discovered several summers ago, attached to ancient arrows or darts ... CBC News

Searching for Atlantis

A quest for the lost island of Atlantis began off the southern shores of Cyprus yesterday.

After a decade of intense study an American, Robert Sarmast, claims to have assembled evidence to prove that the fabled island lies a mile deep in the sea between Cyprus and Syria. He says he has detected "around 48" of the 50 geographical features Plato described the island as having before it was "swallowed up by the earth" ... Guardian

Noah's Ark Found?

Satellite pictures taken last summer of Mount Ararat in Turkey may reveal the final resting place of Noah's ark, according to Daniel McGivern, the businessman and Christian activist behind a planned summer 2004 expedition to investigate the site ... National Geographic News: Archaeology & Paleontology

The Jiroft Civilization

In Iran, an archaeologist is racing to uncover a literate Bronze Age society he believes predates ancient Mesopotamia. Critics say he may be overreaching, but they concede his dig will likely change our view of the dawn of civilization ...