Tuesday, November 29
November 29, 2011
Skeletons and colonial-era uniform buttons discovered on Rogers Island in 2006 probably mark the place of a military cemetery dating to the French and Indian War, according to a report compiled by the New York State Museum. “There’s clear evidence of additional burials nearby,†said state archaeologist Lisa Anderson.
The second Bogazköy Sphinx, which was taken to Germany during World War I, has returned to Turkey. The other was returned sometime between 1924 and 1937.
Here’s a map of the Stonehenge landscape—it helps to explain the significance of the two pits discovered to the east and west of the Cursus. “These exciting finds indicate that even though Stonehenge was ultimately the most important monument in the landscape, it may at times not have been the only, or most important ritual focus and the area of Stonehenge may have become significant as a sacred site at a much earlier date,†said Vince Gaffney of the University of Birmingham.
Should Stonehenge be lit up in the evening? The monument was lit up at night in the 1970s and early 1980s, but English Heritage stopped the practice because of an increase in car accidents caused by distracted drivers on the nearby A303.
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Monday, November 28
November 28, 2011
A team of archaeologists from the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection used geophysical imaging techniques to investigate the land around Stonehenge. The scientists found a possible procession route, which could indicate that the site may have been a ritual center long before the stones were placed in position.
Libya’s new government displayed Roman artifacts said to have been confiscated in August from fleeing troops loyal to Gaddafi. “They were captured in cars belonging to Gaddafi militia which shows they were probably planning to smuggle them out of the country to fund their fight,†said Saleh Algabe, the new director of the Antiquities Department.
The Istanbul Archaeology Museum has begun renovating its buildings to make them more earthquake resistant.
Boston’s African Meeting House, the oldest black church in America, will reopen next month after the completion of an extensive restoration project. The three-story brick building was instrumental in the nineteenth-century anti-slavery movement.
The well-preserved leather trappings of an ancient Egyptian chariot have been rediscovered in a storeroom at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. “The trappings should help us to understand more about chariot construction and use, which in turn will be important for our knowledge of ancient Egyptian warfare and elite display,†said Susanna Harris of University College London. No one knows where the artifacts were first found.
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