Roman engineers strengthened their mortar with a specific type of volcanic ash. “Although the presence of the high-quality stratlinglite cements does not ensure protection from concrete cracking and failure from earthquake ground shaking, it shows the very well bonded nature of the wall concrete,” said one of the scientists on the project, Marie Jackson of Northern Arizona University.

Prehistoric fishing tackle, sewing tools, and bone jewelry were unearthed near Egypt’s Fayoum Oasis. “The most important item is an awl made of animal bone and granite, which shows that prehistoric man devised many ways to sew leather,” said lead archaeologist Khaled Saad.  

A 3,000-year-old farming settlement with an extensive canal system has been uncovered at a wastewater treatment plant in Arizona. “This has completely revised our understanding of when irrigation agriculture was introduced,” said James Vint of Desert Archaeology, Inc.  

The new visitor center at Stonehenge will be placed a mile and a half away, at a site that is “sustainable and affordable,” according to England’s culture secretary, Andy Burnham. A nearby road will also be closed.  

A government building project in Sacramento, California, yielded 157 boxes’ worth of nineteenth-century artifacts, all of which were reclaimed from privy holes. “Some would say it is junk, but it tells us about consumerism and tracks the development of an area,” explained Marcia Eymann, manager of the Sacramento Archives & Museum Collection Center.  

In New Zealand, archaeologists digging ahead of road construction uncovered a wooden boat thought to be about 100 years old. “After a few hours it became evident that the framework was not in fact a coffin, but a small wooden dinghy much like a punt,” said archaeologist Amanda Young.  

Archaeologists have uncovered one of the oldest streets in Sydney, Australia, in The Rocks. “Early records indicate that when the First Fleet arrived in 1788, this was the track that they walked up, because it was one of the only places that you could come ashore at Sydney Cove at the time,” said archaeologist Wayne Johnson. The road is thought to have been paved in 1860.  

Students at MIT recreated a balsa-wood raft from drawings and descriptions left by Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch explorers who saw the rafts used by Andes and Mesoamerican cultures. They tested their craft on the Charles River.  

A National Historic Landmark, the 2,000-year-old Miami Circle is scheduled to reopen to the public in September, but it will remain encased in protective limestone.  

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, May 13, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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