Emeril does archaeology
Oldest Iranian Qanat Found in Bam
The oldest qanat (underground aqueduct) of Iran, dating to the time of the Seleucids-Achaemenids, was discovered during the preliminary studies in a historical city which surfaced near Bam as a result of the earthquake of 26th of December 2003.
Archaeologists discovered an old city and qanats dating to more than two thousand years ago in a three hectare area, three kilometers south of Bam.
Bam!
Dumb joke. We apologize. But still, we needed a pop culture reference for today so there you have it.
Odd Terminology du jour Blast blower some 2,500 years old discovered in Xinjiang
Archaeologists claim that as early as 2,500 years ago people living in the current northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region had begun to use blast blowers, as they discovered a bronze blowpipe in the Yanghai Tombs in Turpan.
"The function of the blowpipe is much like that of the blast blowers which people are using now," said Lu Enguo, a research member with the Xinjiang archaeological research institute.
"Although we discovered bronze blowpipes several years ago in Kuqa County and the northern part of Xinjiang, they were all made in the Han (206 B.C.-220) and the Tang (618-907) dynasties," said Lu.
We are assuming this refers to aerating a furnace for metalworking.
Not about computers and archaeology Bit by bit, dig uncovers history
Looking for history, Bryan Harrell takes a pointed trowel and slowly scrapes the bottom of a square pit.
He shaves the dirt in fractions of an inch, throwing it into a sifter and watching for fragments of pottery or other artifacts of a people who lived more than 1,000 years ago.
"We live our lives in bits and pieces," said Harrell, a graduate anthropology student at Florida State University.
Harrell and about a dozen other FSU students were digging Saturday in the Letchworth Mounds Archaeological State Park, an 80-acre site just off U.S. Highway 90 in the western part of the county.
Hopefully, more than the hardcore geeks will get the joke above. But as we all know, there are 10 kinds of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't.
This story has so many choice quotes in it:
"It takes a long time to get an answer from a hole in the ground."
"I've had this appreciation for dirt that I've never had before."
We Heard that, too Heard Museum pulls artifacts
The Heard Museum has removed a group of artifacts deemed "culturally sensitive" from its current show, "The Collecting Passions of Dennis and Janis Lyon."
The items include Hohokam and pre-Pueblo jewelry and historic pots. In all, 59 items in three display cases were returned to collectors Dennis and Janis Lyon. The items may be funerary relics and their display is therefore considered offensive to some Tohono O'odham tribal members. The Tohono O'odham are generally believed to be the descendants of the Hohokam civilization that prospered in central Arizona from 200 B.C. to A.D. 1450.
Dig uncovers a Roman bath house
A Roman bath house thought to be part of a large villa has been found by archaeologists digging on a building site in Maidstone.
The bath house was found centimetres below the ground surface on land due to have five houses built on it.
The experts think the villa was probably constructed towards the end of the first century AD.
Artefacts found there are being held in safe keeping until a permanent place for them to be displayed is found.
Ruins of 8th century 100-meter pagodas found
Ruins where finials (ornaments) of two seven-storied pagodas at Todaiji temple are believed to have been produced were discovered in the former compound of the temple in Nara, the Archeological Institute of Kashihara announced Thursday.
A wooden tablet with names of the parts and the manufacturing process also was discovered, according to the institute.
The institute said the discovery is evidence of the existence of the two pagodas, which are believed to have been built on the eastern and western sides of the compound in the mid-eighth century when the temple was constructed. The tablet will help researchers learn more about the pagodas.
Rebuild the Pharos Exciting find beneath the sea at Alexandria
A team from the Alexandrian Studies Centre has recently found pieces of rose granite that rep- resent the lower part of the famous statue of Isis found four years ago underwater in the vicinity of the Qaitbay Citadel in Alexandria.
The pieces provide the statue's legs, and ankles.
The team has also found part of a large I granite stele that bears the tax law enforced in the reign of Ptolemy L The bulk of the panel had been lifted from the sea bed a few years ago.
However, the most important of recent finds are huge granite masses, one of which weighs 15 tons, found ten metres underwater.
The pieces proved to be remains of the old Alexandria light- house one of the seven won ders of the world.
The find is so important that it could revive the idea of rebuilding the lighthouse. Zahi Hawass, Secretary- General of the Supreme Council for Antiquities, said that the lighthouse was built by Sostratos in the age of Ptolemy p (285-246 BC).
We may have commented on this before, but we're beginning to think the idea of rebuilding the dumb thing isn't so far-fetched after all. Not far-fetched in the sense of it actually being possible but in the sense of actually doing it. They've created a new library of Alexandria so there is some apparent will to recreate some of the ancient glories. On the other hand, a library is actually functional; lighthouses are nearly useless today given the ubiquity of GPS navigation. And there's the problem of a fortress sitting on the site of the former lighthouse as well.
Hmmm. Maybe we're not so optimistic after all.
News from Iran I International Archaeologists to Carry Out Specialized Studies at Burnt City
The Burnt City is set to undergo an eighth season of scientific explorations by Iranian and international experts in late September.
The crucial studies will be focused on paleoethnobotany, zooarchaeology and anthropology, expected to last two months.
The explorations are scheduled to be led by archeologist Mansur Sajjadi. Head of the local cultural heritage and tourism department Mohammad Mohsen Sargazi said a group of Italian archeologists were to take part in the explorations.
They are expected to study seals discovered in the Burnt City, located 57 km west of Zabol.
The eighth season is going to start with field work and continue with explorations on specific spots before ending with restoration works on relics found.
The Burnt City is considered one of the major centers of Bronze Age in eastern Iran.
That's the whole story.
News from Iran II Marlik Ancient Graveyards to Become Open Archaeological Museums
The 3,000-year-old cemetery on the Marlik hilltops in Iran is to be turned into open archaeological museums in a bid not only to showcase the magnificence of this historical site and the style of burying the dead in a few millenniums ago but also to attract more cultural tourists.
The historical site of Marlik, first excavated in 1963, is one of the oldest and richest archeological venues in Iran.
Archaeologists’ explorations have found several unique artifacts in the 53 tombs of this burial ground, some of which such as golden chalices are internationally renowned.