Newsbriefs, November/December 1996 - Archaeology Magazine Archive


Index of Newsbriefs	Volume 49 Number 6, November/December 1996

(Click on the title of a newsbrief to see the full text.)

Latest News	Check out the latest news from ARCHAEOLOGY Online.
Siberian Fluted Point	Discovery of a fluted bifacial point at the site of Uptar in northeastern Siberia may force archaeologists to reconsider the origins of the Clovis point, a hallmark of the New World Paleoindian tradition. It is the first fluted point to be found in the Old World.
Hunting Hazor's Royal Archive	Discovery of four cuneiform tablets at Hazor has strengthened archaeologist Amnon Ben-Tor's belief that he may be on the verge of finding the first Bronze Age royal archive ever to be excavated in Israel.
Redating Serpent Mound	New radiocarbon dates suggest that Serpent Mound, a one-quarter-mile-long earthen effigy of a snake in south-central Ohio, was built as many as 2,000 years later than previously thought, by people of the Fort Ancient culture (A.D. 900-1600) rather than those of the Adena culture (1000-100 B.C.), to whom it had long been attributed.
Ekron Identity Confirmed	An inscription discovered at Tel Miqne, in central Israel, confirms that the site was ancient Ekron, one of five Iron Age (1200-600 B.C.) Philistine capitals.
James Fort Found	Traces of the first James Fort, built in 1607 by English settlers on what is now Jamestown Island, Virginia, have been found, dispelling the long-held belief that the site had eroded into the James River.
Assyrian Wall-Reliefs for Sale	Three 2,700-year-old wall-reliefs from the throne-room suite of the Assyrian king Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh, Iraq, have appeared on the antiquities market, according to Columbia University art historian John Russell.
Secret Religion of Slaves	Five caches of artifacts have been found in a house in the historic district of Annapolis, providing evidence of the secret religious life of enslaved African Americans.
Caesarea Cache	A cache of 11 Late Roman and early Byzantine (A.D. 324-640) gold ornaments intended to decorate a leather belt or scabbard has been found under a stone-paved floor in a domestic quarter of Caesarea, Israel.
Angkor Hotel Dispute	Construction of a government hotel complex and five privately funded hotels at Angkor in Cambodia has drawn fire from conservationists who worry that ancient Khmer temples there will be damaged by a parade of tourists.
Accessing the Spirit World	Depictions of two hallucinogenic plants have been identified in 4,000-year-old wall paintings at rock-shelters throughout the Pecos River region of southwest Texas and northern Mexico.
Live Civil War Ammo Found	A cache of 63 unexploded Civil War-era mortar bombs has been discovered by sport divers in Mirror Lake, near Calais, Vermont.
Masada Discoveries	A decorated reception hall that may have been used to welcome guests at Herod's palace at Masada, Israel, was discovered this past summer.
Ancient Ebola Virus?	The plague of Athens, which wiped out one fourth of the city's population between 430 and 427 B.C., was the earliest known outbreak of ebola, according to a recent article in Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Unmarked Gettysburg Grave	Human remains discovered by a visitor to the Gettysburg National Military Park are probably those of a Civil War soldier, according to National Park Service archaeologists.
Jungle vs. Jars	Jungle overgrowth is gradually destroying the 2,000-year-old stone containers dotting the so-called Plain of Jars in northern Laos.
Field Notes	Royal Body Part Rediscovered; Skullduggery; Overdue Loans; King William County Finds; Metro Tunnel Moved