entire Web this site home > archeo-news archeo-news archive Archeo-news: Latest from the world of the past Dig pinpoints Stonehenge origins (Sep 22, 2008) Archaeologists have pinpointed the construction of Stonehenge to 2300 BC – a key step to discovering how and why the mysterious edifice was built. The radiocarbon date is said to be the most accurate yet and means the ring's original bluestones were put up 300 years later than previously thought. The dating is the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by Profs Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright. Read more. Source: BBC Head of Roman empress unearthed (Aug 14, 2008) Archaeologists digging in Turkey have found the colossal marble head of a Roman empress. It was discovered in a rubble-filled building where parts of a huge statue of the emperor Hadrian were unearthed last year. The discovery, at the ancient site of Sagalassos, is thought to show Faustina the Elder, wife of Roman emperor Antoninus Pius. Read more. Source: BBC Doubt over date for Brit invasion (Jul 2, 2008) Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain in 55BC could not have occurred on the dates stated in most history books, a team of astronomers have claimed. The traditional view is that Caesar landed in Britain on 26-27 August, but researchers from Texas State University say this cannot be right. Dr Donald Olson, an expert on tides, says that the English Channel was flowing the wrong way on this date. Read more. Source: BBC 'Neanderthal tools' found at dig (Jun 23, 2008) Dozens of tools thought to have belonged to Neanderthals have been dug up at an archaeological site called Beedings in West Sussex. Dr Matthew Pope, of University College London, said the discovery provides new insights into the life of a thriving community of hunters at the site. The tools could have been used to hunt horses, mammoth and woolly rhinoceros. Read more. Source: BBC Stonehenge 'a long-term cemetery' (May 29, 2008) Stonehenge served as a burial ground for much longer than had previously been believed, new research suggests. The site was used as a cemetery for 500 years, from the point of its inception. Archaeologists have said the cremation burials found at the site might represent a single elite family and its descendents – perhaps a ruling dynasty. Read more. Source: BBC Rare Elizabeth I portrait found (May 27, 2008) A rare portrait of Queen Elizabeth I as a young princess has been discovered in a private collection at a stately home in Northamptonshire. The portrait, dating from 1650 to 1680, was found in the Duke of Buccleuch's collection at Boughton House. It shows Elizabeth with siblings Edward VI and Mary I, father Henry VIII and his jester, Will Somers. Read more. Source: BBC Ancient bust of Caesar found in French river (May 15, 2008) French archaeologists have discovered a marble bust of Julius Caesar, believed to be the oldest found, at the bottom of the Rhone in Arles – a town founded by the Roman emperor. They believe the life-sized representation, showing a balding man in his fifties, dates from about 46BC, two years before his assassination. Read more. Source: Daily Telegraph 'Breakthrough' at Stonehenge dig (Apr 9, 2008) Archaeologists carrying out an excavation at Stonehenge say they have broken through to a layer that may finally explain why the site was built. The team has reached sockets that once held bluestones – smaller stones, most now missing or uprooted, which formed the site's original structure. The researchers now need to extract organic material from these holes to date when the bluestones first arrived. Read more. Source: BBC Necklace is 'oldest in Americas' (Apr 1, 2008) A necklace found near Lake Titicaca in southern Peru is the oldest known gold object made in the Americas, archaeologists say. Radiocarbon dating puts its origin at about 4,000 years ago, when hunter-gatherers occupied the area. The researchers say it appears to have been fashioned from gold nuggets. Read more. Source: BBC Grim secrets of Pharaoh's city (Jan 26, 2008) Evidence of the brutal lives endured by some ancient Egyptians to build the monuments of the Pharaohs has been uncovered by archaeologists. Skeletal remains from a lost city in the middle of Egypt suggest many ordinary people died in their teenage years and lived a punishing lifestyle. Many suffered from spinal injuries, poor nutrition and stunted growth. Read more. Source: BBC Underwater city could be revealed (Jan 15, 2008) Britain's own underwater "Atlantis" could be revealed for the first time with hi-tech underwater cameras. Marine archaeologist Stuart Bacon and Professor David Sear, of the University of Southampton, will explore the lost city of Dunwich, off the Suffolk coast. Dunwich gradually disappeared into the sea because of coastal erosion. Read more. Source: BBC 'Mythical Roman cave' unearthed (Nov 23, 2007) Italian archaeologists say they have found the long-lost underground grotto where ancient Romans believed a female wolf suckled the city's twin founders. The cave believed to be the Lupercal was found near the ruins of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine hill. Read more. Source: BBC Pre-dating the love of chocolate (Nov 13, 2007) Chemical and archaeological evidence has pushed back the earliest known use of cacao, the key ingredient of chocolate, by 500 years. The chemical compound, theobromine, which only occurs in the cacao plant, has been found on pottery vessels dating back to as early as 1000 BC. Experts say the vessels were used to serve a fermented cacao drink that was made from the sweet pulp of the plant. Read more. Source: BBC King Tut's face unveiled to world (Nov 4, 2007) The face of one of Egypt's most mysterious ancient rulers, the boy king Tutankhamun, has been put on public view for the first time on Sunday. Archaeologists took the mummy from its stone sarcophagus and placed it in a climate-controlled case inside his tomb in Luxor's Valley of the Kings. The event comes exactly 85 years after the site was discovered by the British explorer Howard Carter. Read more. Source: BBC Roman tombstone found at Inveresk (Oct 29, 2007) The first Roman tombstone found in Scotland for 170 years has been unearthed at Carberry, near Inveresk. The red sandstone artefact was for a man called Crescens, a bodyguard for the governor who ran the province of Britain for the Roman Emperor. The National Museum of Scotland said the stone provided the strongest evidence yet that Inveresk was a pivotal Roman site in northern Britain. Read more. Source: BBC Jews' Roman 'escape route' found (Sep 11, 2007) Archaeologists in Jerusalem say they have found an underground drainage channel that was used by Jews to escape from the Romans in 70 AD. The channel was buried under the rubble of the Second Temple, which was destroyed by Roman conquerors in the Siege of Jerusalem. Scores of people are thought to have sheltered and lived in the tunnel until they were able to flee the city. Read more. Source: BBC Giant statue of Hadrian unearthed (Aug 10, 2007) Parts of a huge, exquisitely carved statue of the Roman Emperor Hadrian have been found at an archaeological site in south-central Turkey. The original statue would have stood 4m-5m in height, experts estimate. His achievements include the massive wall built across the width of northern Britain which bears his name. Read more. Source: BBC China finds secret tomb chamber (Jul 1, 2007) A mysterious underground chamber has been found inside the Chinese imperial tomb guarded by the famous Terracotta Army, Chinese archaeologists say. Historical records describing the tomb of Qin Shihuang, China's first emperor, do not mention the room which is 30 metres (98 feet) deep. The unopened chamber was found at the site near the old imperial capital of Xian using remote sensing technology. Read more. Source: BBC BACK TO TOP

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