Frontenac, Canada: Local experts to deliver afternoon lecture series at Pump House Steam Museum

From Frontenac This Week:  Local experts to deliver afternoon lecture series at Pump House Steam Museum 

The Pump House Steam Museum is offering a series of afternoon lectures to Kingstonians this fall.
On Nov. 10, Jeff Seibert, senior archeologist with the Cataraqui Archeological Research Foundation, will present a talk on recent excavations that have been executed in the Limestone City.
“I hope people will find it interesting because it deals with their history, history [that is right] on their own doorstep,” said Seibert. “The history of Kingston is much livelier than people realize. It’s much more interesting.  It’s tied to events like the War of 1812. Kingston was a real hub of activity in the past, probably more than people realize.”
This summer, staff at CARF spent their time excavating the site of the old Naval Hospital. Built at some point between 1813 and 1814, the team managed to excavate plenty of interesting artifacts, including rotten nails, ceramics and broken glass. Even more exhilarating though, was unearthing the structural remains of the old building.
“We weren’t entirely sure we were going to have a lot of luck finding it, [but] we found basically the entire footprint or trace of the hospital,” said Seibert.
This discovery will be the focus of his upcoming lecture.
“It’s a real sort of thrill to find something that old, something that hasn’t been seen for hundreds of years,” said Seibert.
During his presentation, Seibert will also discuss the Can You Dig It? program, which provides an opportunity for people of all ages to experience archaeology in the city through hands-on workshops and field excavation. Since its inception in 1996, the program has offered participants experience in all aspects of work related to archaeological excavation.
The afternoon lecture series began last week with a presentation by Dr. Anne Foley of Queen’s University’s department of classics.
Dr. George Clark of Queen’s University’s department of English will host the next lecture on Nov. 3. His talk will cover Vikings, including the word itself, its origins and its changing meanings up to the present. He will also discuss heroes of the Viking age.
Up next is Siebert’s lecture on Nov. 10.
On Nov. 17, Beth Abbott from the Kingston Handloom Weaver and Spinners will deliver the final lecture on Icelandic Fleece.
Until Nov. 24, the museum is also offering hands-on programs for people of all ages. These programs are included with admission from 10 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
These Viking and archeology-themed programs are part of the Viking Exhibit that is running at the Pump House Steam Museum until Dec. 1.
Lectures begin at 3 p.m. and will run until approximately 4:30 p.m.
For more information on these and other programs, visit http://www.steammuseum.ca.
The Pump House Steam Museum is located at 23 Ontario St.

 

Wisconsin: Historical Society doing archeological search at Beaver Dam Park

From Beaver Dam Daily citizen:  Historical Society doing archeological search at Beaver Dam Park

The Dodge County Historical Society is beginning celebration of its 75th anniversary a little early with an archeological dig in Waterworks Park.
Next year will mark the dodranscentennial of the society. Historical society curator and Wisconsin Archeological Society president Kurt Sampson said the society is planning to have at least one event per month starting in December that will invite the public to get involved in the history of the area.
However, Sampson got started a little early with the dig.
“Being an archeologist, this is right up my alley,” Sampson said of the undertaking. “This is a good spot to dig, just because it’s a fairly undisturbed area with a long history of known Indian occupation.”
He said he wants to start digging this fall and, once the ground freezes, he will wait until spring to finish the work.
“May is archeology month in Wisconsin,” Sampson said. “We’re shooting for May to do an excavation here.”
He said that the main information about the park comes from a book published in 1941 about the history of Dodge County.
“It just claims that Denning’s Point here, near Waterworks Park, was an old Indian encampment and that there was a large amount of stone artifacts, arrowheads, things of that nature, that were found in this area,” Sampson said.
He said he’s hoping to find not only pre-historic (before recorded history) occupation, but also some evidence of early historic (recorded history) occupation by Potawatomi or Winnebago Indian tribes.
“Those types of artifacts would include any type of early trade goods, from iron, glass beads, musket balls, any kind of stuff that they would have been trading with the Indians early on that would have survived in the soil,” Sampson said.
He said the digging is a system of testing spots in lines every three meters hoping to find artifacts. The testing spots are holes dug approximately 30 centimeters deep and 25 centimeters across.
“This whole process of shovel testing is really kind of hit or miss,” Sampson said. “I’m hopeful.”
He said that they do tests in three meter intervals. If they find something, they will then do test holes one meter away from the original test hole.
Sampson said even doing tests that way, there might be something in between the test spots that gets missed.
However, he said that usually doing test spots systematically allows archeologists to identify areas where there is something significant to excavate.
Sampson started digging on Tuesday and has already found a few small artifacts, including small pottery shards and what he calls “waste flakes” which are small pieces of stone that would have been flaked off of a larger stone when shaping something.
He said there is a long history of archeological activity in Dodge County, dating as far back as the 1840s and 50s.
“I’m just hoping to continue that and identify more sites,” Sampson said.
The process of digging in the park took a little bit of time, requiring the Historical Society to gain permission from the city and, because the dig is on public land, permits from the state. He said before issuing permits, the state likes to know that archeologists have a reason for wanting to dig in a specific place.
“They don’t like you just to go out and dig anywhere,” Sampson said. “Usually, you want to do some background research on the property you’re digging on to see if there is something that makes it more likely that there’ll be something that you’ll find there. You have to know what you’re doing, basically.”
He said if they find any kind of human remains, they will have to stop digging.
“There’s a possibility that there could be human remains in this park that are ancient remains,” Sampson said. “If I were to find any type of human remains in this park, I would have to stop. The police department would have to be contacted and the state archeologist. They would send somebody out from the state and probably a forensics person to look at those bones to determine if in fact it was an ancient burial or a more recent burial.”
He said there is a slight possibility that they could find human remains, especially since there is a possibility that there are unidentified effigy mounds in close proximity.
He said he tries to dig on Mondays and Tuesdays from around 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. when it isn’t raining heavily.
“There may be a Sunday or two, but I don’t like to miss the Packer games on Sunday,” Sampson said. “They do have a bye week coming up pretty soon, so we might be out here on that bye week.”
He said anyone in the community who is interested in helping can contact him at the Historical Society at 887-1266.
Sampson said they are hoping to be able to do other events next year as well, including a reception and possible open house events at the museum.
“We’re trying to put together engaging public events every month for the next year to get the word out about the historical society, about what we do in the community, about preserving the history and engage people in the history in their community,” Sampson said.

 

Industrial history tour of Bellows Falls planned for Saturday

From Brattleboro Reformer:  Industrial history tour of Bellows Falls planned for Saturday

BELLOWS FALLS -- Those who choose to attend an industrial history tour on Saturday won't just be walking around the village. They'll be taking a step back in time.
The Northern New England chapter of the Society for Industrial Archeology has planned a walking tour of Bellows Falls to educate people on the area's formerly rich culture of factories and manufacturing. The tour is meant to illustrate how residents lived and worked when the village's economy was fueled by International Paper and other companies.
David Dunning, the president of the SIA's Northern New England chapter, said the tour will start at the Bellows Falls Waypoint Center - which houses numerous photographs and information of yesteryear - at 9:15 a.m. and conclude at the Adams Grist Mill & Historical Museum at 4:30 p.m. It is free but donations of $5 would be appreciated.
Dunning will act as the tour guide, though he won't be the only one speaking. Employees from a few of the establishments the tour hits, including the railroad, will also say a little something about the significance of the local history.
The tour's first stop, Dunning said, will be the Green Mountain Railroad repair shop to see first-hand how trains - a big factor in how the United States became an industrial giant - are fixed.
"We all go to see where our cars are repaired. We're going to see where trains are repaired," Dunning said. "Bellows Falls used to be a big railroad town."

Dunning and other SIA members are trying to get permission to enter the Bellows Falls hydroelectric generating facility's visitors' center to show guests what sort of work is done there. What used to be powered by humans is now remote controlled, Dunning said. If permission is granted, a hydroelectric dam employee will likely speak to guests, he said.
The tour will head slightly upstream to the roller gate dam to see how it operates and then mosey just a stone's throw away to the Bellow Falls Canal, which Dunning told the Reformer was the first one built in America with locks.
The next stop will be a visit to the Vilas Bridge and a lesson on its predecessors. A double-arch stone bridge was built in that spot in 1785, making it first to be constructed across the Connecticut River. It wasn't until 10 years later that a bridge spanning the body of water was built in Springfield, Mass.
Dunning said the original bridge was replaced by the Tucker Toll Bridge in 1840 and the Vilas replaced that one in 1931. Rosemarri Roth, executive director of the Bellows Falls Downtown Development Alliance, has previously said the two-span open-spandrel, arch bridge was financed by the roughly $67,000 donated by Charles S. Vilas. Roth said the man died before the project was completed and it was dedicated as a "Symbol of Friendship" between New Hampshire and Vermont.
Roth said the 82-year old bridge was closed in 2009 after NHDOT agents deemed it unsafe to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. It was recently named to the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance's Seven to Save list, which is comprised of historic structures the group is dedicated to saving.
Tour guests will then see the spots that once hosted large factories - International Paper, the Vermont Farm Machinery Company, Abenaque Machine Works - that employed hundreds of locals. The paper industry was particularly strong and left a profound legacy in the area.
"Bellows Falls used to be the paper-making capital of the country," Dunning said.
The tour will end at the Adams Grist Mill & Historical Museum, which Dunning said was restored for educational purposes. The mill is right next to the tunnel that trains enter to go under Main Street. Dunning said the tunnel had to be lowered a few years ago to allow bigger Amtrak trains to enter. He said the engineer on that project will be present to speak with tour guests.
"It's good for people to learn about our own industrial history, which is right in our own backyard," Dunning said. "It's not all about video games - people used to work real jobs and build real things."
He said all guests will receive a handout detailing the stops of the tour. Dunning said his chapter conducts two tours a year - one in the autumn in Bellows Falls and one in the spring in Claremont, N.H. He said there were about 50 guests in the spring.
More details about Saturday's tour can be found at www.siaweb. org/chapters/nnec/index.htm. The event is rain or shine. Refreshments will await guests at the Waypoint Center.

Bones of 'living fossil' found in Texas

Okay, this is actually paleontology, but:

From UPI.com:  Bones of 'living fossil' found in Texas

UNIVERSITY PARK, Texas, Oct. 24 (UPI) -- A 100-million-year-old coelacanth fossil discovered in Texas is that of a new species of the fish often called a "living fossil," paleontologists say.
The coelacanth has one of the longest lineages -- 400 million years -- of any animal, and they were thought to have gone extinct 70 million years ago until live specimens were caught off the coast of Africa in 1938. Today, they can be found swimming in the depths of the Indian Ocean.
The coelacanth is often called a "living fossil" because it has not evolved significantly since reaching its current form about 400 million years ago.
Southern Methodist University paleontology graduate student John F. Graf discovered the Texas fossil, the first found in the state that has been dated to the Cretaceous period extending from 146 million years ago to 66 million years ago.
The new species, found in ancient marine sediments in North Texas and dubbed Reidus hilli, is now the youngest coelacanth fossil identified in the Lone Star State, he said.
Previously the youngest was a 200-million-year-old coelacanth from the Triassic.
"What makes the coelacanth interesting is that they are literally the closest living fish to all the vertebrates that are living on land," Graf said. "They share the most recent common ancestor with all of terrestrial vertebrates."
While coelacanth fossils have been found on every continent except Antarctica, few have been found in Texas, an SMU release said.

UK: Prehistoric find among archaeology from Bury St Edmunds dig on show at town museum

From Bury Free Press:  Prehistoric find among archaeology from Bury St Edmunds dig on show at town museum 


Prehistoric flint and what archaeologists describe as a ‘star find’ an intact tin glazed 17th century apothecary jar, are among the finds that have gone on show at Moyse’s Hall Museum in Bury St Edmunds.

Oxford Archaeology East made lots of finds big and small while digging a 50m by 30m site off Cotton Lane. The site is due to become retirement homes.
The team returned to dig a smaller section at the site this week. The items will be on display for several weeks.

China building first vessel for underwater archaeology

From Xinhuanet:  China building first vessel for underwater archaeology

BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China plans to build its first vessel capable of retrieving archaeological findings from the sea by the end of 2013, a major step to strengthening the underwater search abilities of Chinese archaeologists who currently rely on rented shipping boats.
The 4.8-metre wide and 56-metre long boat, to be powered by an integrated full electric propulsion system, will "basically" meet China's underwater archaeological needs, according to a statement released by the State Administration of Cultural Heritage (SACH) on Wednesday.
With a displacement of 860 tonnes, the vessel will be used in China's coastal areas and could sail as far as waters off the Xisha Islands, or the Paracel Islands, in the South China Sea, if sea conditions are good, it said.
Archaeologists will be able to use the ship to detect, locate, map, videotape and excavate underwater archaeological findings, according to the SACH.
The vessel is being designed by the 701 research institute of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation and built by the Changhang Dongfeng shipbuilding corporation in Chongqing.
The news will be a boon for Chinese archeologists who have long struggled with the inconvenience of having to ride fishing boats along China's 18,000 km-long coastline in order to uncover the country's massive quantities of underwater relics.
Many speculators and fishermen have joined this hunt for treasures in the South China sea, a busy sea lane which is said to have at least 122 wrecked ships on its bottom.
Many of the wrecked ships date back to the Tang (618-907) and Song (960-1276) dynasties, when China's trade with foreign countries was thriving.
Many speculators and local fishermen surveying the area have used crude means to retrieve underwater relics, prompting authorities to take action.
The protection of China's underwater relics faces "severe challenges" from rampant looting of underwater relics, the SACH said in the statement, adding that the country needs to improve its talent tool of archaeologists and related facilities.

 

Spitfire WWII Fighter Planes In Myanmar Excavation Could Flood Vintage Plane Market

From HuffPost: Spitfire WWII Fighter Planes In Myanmar Excavation Could Flood Vintage Plane Market


YANGON, Myanmar — As many as 140 World War II Spitfire fighter planes – three to four times the number of airworthy models known to exist – are believed to be buried in near-pristine condition in Myanmar. A British-Myanmar partnership says it will begin digging them up by the end of the month.
The go-ahead for excavation came earlier this week when the Myanmar government signed an agreement with British aviation enthusiast David J. Cundall and his local partner. Cundall, a farmer and businessman, earlier this year announced he had located 20 of the planes, best known for helping the Royal Air Force win mastery of the skies during the Battle of Britain.
On Thursday, however, a retired Myanmar geology professor who has assisted in the recovery operation since 1999 said there are about 140 Spitfires buried in various places around the Southeast Asian country, which until 1948 was a British colony called Burma. He did not explain the discrepancy in estimates.
Soe Thein said the British brought crates of Spitfires to Myanmar in the closing stages of the war, but never used them when the Japanese gave up the fight in 1945. The single-seat version of the fighter plane was 9.14 meters (30 feet) long with an 11.3 meter (37 foot) wingspan.
The U.S. Army was in charge of burying the planes after British forces decided to dispose of them that way, he said, adding Cundall interviewed at least 1,000 war veterans, mostly American, to gather information about the aircraft's fate.
He said a ground search was started in 1999 using magnetometers and ground radar, but faced difficulties. Only in recent years did technology become advanced enough to be more certain of the finds, he said.
Each plane was kept in a crate about 12.2 meters (40 feet) long, 3.4 meters (11 feet) high and 2.7 meters (9 feet) wide, said Soe Thein.
The plans under a two-year contract are to recover 60 planes in the first phase: 36 planes in Mingaladon, near Yangon's current air base and international airport; 18 in Myitkyina in Kachin state in the north; and six in Meikthila in central Myanmar. Others are to be recovered in a second phase.
The Myanmar government will get one plane for display at a museum, as well as half of the remaining total. DJC, a private company headed by Cundall, will get 30 percent of the total and the Myanmar partner company, Shwe Taung Paw, 20 percent.

British Prime Minister David Cameron eased the way to an agreement when he visited Myanmar President Thein Sein in April.
Cundall has said his quest to find the planes involved 12 trips to Myanmar and cost more than 130,000 pounds ($210,000), not including the planned excavation expenses.
Spitfires in working shape are rare and popular with collectors. In 2009, a restored but airworthy Spitfire was sold by British auction house Bonhams for >1,739,500 ($2,544,130)
The excavation agreement was signed Tuesday by Civil Aviation Director-General Tin Naing Tun, Cundall on behalf of DJC, and Htoo Htoo Zaw, managing director of Shwe Taung Paw.
"It took 16 years for Mr. David Cundall to locate the planes buried in crates. We estimate that there are at least 60 Spitfires buried and they are in good condition," Htoo Htoo Zaw said Wednesday. "We want to let people see these historic fighters, and the excavation of these fighter planes will further strengthen relations between Myanmar and Britain."
The British Embassy on Wednesday described the agreement as a chance to work with Myanmar's new reformist government to restore and display the planes.
"We hope that many of them will be gracing the skies of Britain and as discussed, some will be displayed here in Burma," said an embassy spokesman, who spoke anonymously because he was not directly involved in the excavation agreement.
Myanmar from 1962 until last year was under the rule of the military, which changed the country's name from Burma in 1989. Thein Sein's reformist government has turned away from the repression of the military government and patched up relations with Western nations that had previously shunned it.
The state-owned Myanma Ahlin daily on Wednesday cited Transport Minister Nyan Tun Aung as saying the Spitfire agreement amounts to the British government's recognition of the democratic reforms.

What's that sound? NJ ghost hunters keep listening for signs

From My Central Jersey.com:  What's that sound? NJ ghost hunters keep listening for signs

They may not see dead people — but they certainly can hear or sense them.
As Halloween approaches, several area ghost hunters and paranormal experts will be making appearances to explain their craft and offer proof of what they say are real-life hauntings.
Garden State paranormal experts these days are about as ubiquitous as ghost-hunting television shows, including the long-running “Ghost Adventures” on the Travel Channel and “Ghost Hunters” on Syfy.
“We’re tripping over each other,” said Tom Petuskey, 71, an East Brunswick resident and member of Scope NJ, a paranormal research group founded in 2007.
“We are looking for scientific confirmation of paranormal events,” he said. “One of the things we try to do is see if there are natural causes for what’s happening.”
Scientists might balk at paranormal researchers’ techniques, but these ghost buffs use real equipment and adhere to what could be considered ghost-industry standards.
One of their favorite tools is a device found at any electronics store: an audio recorder.
Serious ghost hunters might shell out hundreds or thousands of dollars for complex and highly sensitive microphones and recording hardware. But Charles “Chuck” Lehman, 47, of Monroe makes do with a simple $70 recorder and free audio software Audacity.
The recorders are supposed to pick up what is known as electronic voice phenomena, or EVPs, which cannot be heard by the people in the room.
EVPs may be of ghosts whispering words like “hello,” or phrases like, “get out of here!”
Lehman, an amateur ghost hunter who likes to capture EVPs at historic battlefields and cemeteries, compares them to dogs picking up low frequency sound waves. He has clips of EVPs from cemeteries in Jamesburg and Bound Brook on his website, www.chucksghosts.com.
The ghost hunters say they don’t manipulate the recordings except to enhance the sound.
Petusky, whose group posts its evidence from investigations at www.scopenj.com, said in one instance his team couldn’t make out a garbled EVP from an investigation at a 1919 Manville home.

 

Houston, TX: Dig this: More Ancient Indian artifacts, bones found at Grand Parkway site

From  khou.com: Dig this: More Ancient Indian artifacts, bones found at Grand Parkway site 

HOUSTON—Long before skyscrapers sprouted from the soil of downtown Houston, Native Americans apparently settled near Cypress Creek and established what may have been an ancient trading post.
Archeologists digging around a piece of property in what’s now northwest Harris County have discovered not only human bones, but also tools and bowls and other artifacts of what may have been our area’s first settlers. Indeed, the settlement may date back as far as 14,000 years.
"The size of the site, the density of materials, the number of graves suggest there was a village there, and that that village was actually at cross roads of a major trade network that linked wide areas of North America," said Dr. Ken Brown, a professor of archeology at the University of Houston.
But now, it’s at the crossroads of a controversy between historic preservationists, Native Americans and the Texas Department of Transportation. Whatever sat on that patch of land now sits directly in the projected path of a new freeway, the Grand Parkway in northwest Harris County.
Archeologists hired by TXDOT first started probing the site over the summer, turning up what appeared to be the bones of at least two humans that the state said were about 2,000 years old.　 But Brown said in court documents that other archeologists found the remains of as many as ten humans.
Some of the artifacts found at the site were made from material that apparently came from several hundred miles away, suggesting Native Americans brought them to this area for trade.　
"We’ve got everything from axes, knives, projectile points, scrapers, the full tool kits people used in their daily lives," Brown said.
The Harris County Attorney’s Office, which has already lost one round in court, is trying to delay the freeway’s construction to give archeologists more time to assess the site’s significance.
"The purpose of that is to force the Texas Department of Transportation to take another look at what’s going on and not do something which we consider to be astoundingly ignorant," said Terry O’Rourke, an assistant county attorney.
TXDOT declined comment because the matter is still under litigation.

 

 

The Archeologist Technologist

From Innovation Excellence:  The Archeologist Technologist

Archeologists look back to see what was; they scratch the ground to find what the past left behind; then they study their bounty and speculate backward in time.
But what makes a good archeologist? In a word – belief. Archeologists must believe there’s something out there, something under the dirt waiting for them. Sure, they use their smarts to choose the best place to dig and dig with the best tools, but they know something’s out there and have a burning desire to find it. The first rule of archeology – don’t dig, don’t find.
There’s almost direct overlap between archeologists and technologists, with one difference – where archeologists dig to define the past and technologists dig to define the future.
Technologists must use their knowledge and experience to dig in the right place and must use the best analytical digging tools. Creativity and knowledge are required to decide where to dig, and once unearthed the technologist must interpret the fragments and decide how to knit together the skeleton. But to me, the most important part of the analogy is belief – for the archeologist belief that fossils are buried under the dirt waiting to be discovered and for the technologist belief that technology is buried and waiting to be discovered.
Before powered flight, the Wright brothers believed technology was out there waiting for them. Their first flight was a monumental achievement, and I don’t want to devalue their work, but think about it – what did they create that wasn’t already there? Yes, they knit together technologies in new ways, but they didn’t create the laws of aerodynamics used for the wings (neither did the earliest aerodynamicists); they did not create the laws of thermodynamics behind the gasoline engine (neither did the early thermodynamicists who measured existing phenomena to make the laws); and they didn’t create the wood for the structure. But what they did do is dig for technology.
Space travel – for most of our history just a dream. But decades before rocket technology, it was all there waiting – the periodic table to make the fuel, the physics to make thrust, and the mechanics to create the structure. Natural resources and technologies were quilted together and processed in new ways, yes. But the technologies, or the rules to create them, were already there waiting to be discovered. And what Goddard did was dig.
The archeologist-technologist analogy can be helpful, but the notion of preexisting technology is way out there – it smacks of predestination in which I don’t believe.
But what I do believe in is belief – belief you have the capability to discover a forward-looking fossil – a future genus that others thought impossible. But only if you dig.
The first rule of technology – don’t dig, don’t find.

 

Ancient Mosaic Helps Biologists Piece Together Mediterranean Fish’s Human-Eating History

From ArtInfo:  Ancient Mosaic Helps Biologists Piece Together Mediterranean Fish’s Human-Eating History


Unintentionally, art can become more than just a cultural record, but an environmental one as well. The distribution of animals in Paleolithic France can be analyzed through the Lascaux cave paintings, and an extinct animal can sometimes only be seen through an old rock carving, as is the case with the buffalo-like “Great bubalus” in Africa. This has been particularly true with mosaics, one of the best preserved types of ancient art, in which detailed depictions of animals both living and extinct can be examined for indications of how and where they lived.
The Mediterranean mosaic fish that caught the interest of University of Salento biologist Paolo Guidetti and Stanford University biologist Fiorenza Micheli was the dusky grouper, Scientific American reports. A massive fish, the dusky grouper can grow longer than four feet and weigh more than 100 pounds, with a large gaping jaw. However, it used to be even bigger, at least according to the mosaic that Guidetti came upon when perusing an ancient art book. In it, a dusky grouper swims among an array of earth-hued sea creatures, and from its wide mouth hangs the legs of a poor human it is in the process of consuming (see above).
Unfortunately, despite its hulking shape and formidable mouth, the grouper is a popular prey for its savory flesh, and it has been overfished and declared endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Few groupers even come near the surface now, decreasing their chances of taking on a man for a meal.
To get an idea of what the grouper’s profile used to be, Guidetti and Micheli investigated mosaics in museums and books, finding 73 scenes with fish or fishing, 23 of these with groupers, dating from the first to fifth centuries. In the Etruscan, Greek, and Roman mosaics, the groupers are as much monster as fish, spiked fins rising up from their monolithic bodies. While the one eating a person appeared to be an anomaly, possibly an artistic flourish, they were frequently shown to be of startling size.
The researchers’ discoveries were published last year in the “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment” journal. Their examinations reveal a fish larger than any of those found today, as well as fishing techniques like harpooning and nets that indicate groupers once swam close to the surface. Of course, as all art is interpretive, no matter how representational, it can only offer hints. But the researchers are confident that there is something to be learned from non-scientific sources when directing the conservation efforts of a species.
As Micheli told Scientific American: “For these types of questions, we must be willing to consider the importance of less quantitative, more anecdotal evidence. We wanted to emphasize art as a form of information.”

 

Old logs in river a sunken treasure for one company

From WWay News Channel:  Old logs in river a sunken treasure for one company

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) -- There's much more to the Cape Fear River than meets the eye. Beneath the surface, there's hundreds of years of history that one local company is turning into a flourishing business.
Underneath the murky Cape Fear River water, there's a hidden treasure.
"They were floating them down the river, and the very best logs were the ones that were so dense, and if they got away from the raft that they were built into they just sank," said Bill Moore, owner of Cape Fear Riverwood, which is trying to recover old logs that sunk years ago in the river.
These long leaf pines are a part of our history, chopped down hundreds of years ago, but the lost ones can be reclaimed and turned into something new.
Using sonar and GPS, Cape Fear Riverwood can find them and set up shop.
To get the logs out of the river and onto the barge, the crew uses a grapple, a huge giant claw that weighs about 13,000 pounds, that scoops the logs up and gets them out.
With high-quality wood like this, woodworkers can turn it into almost anything.
"A lot of flooring, a lot of paneling," Moore said. "We do a lot of counter top work, as well as custom furniture and custom moldings."
These logs get a chance to sprout anew when they come up for air; fulfilling their original purpose from a huge industry from years ago.
"There still could be millions of board feet left in the Cape Fear River Basin," Moore said.
That means these logs could be the gift that keeps on giving, for a long time.
While digging out the logs, many historic artifacts come up too. Cape Fear Riverwood teams up with the North Carolina Underwater Archeological Center at Fort Fisher to preserve anything crews find.

Mammoth ivory workshop discovered in Germany

From Examiner.com:  Mammoth ivory workshop discovered in Germany


An international group of archeologists, anthropologists, and paleontologists reported the discovery of the world’s oldest ivory carving workshop found at the mammoth hunting site of Breitenbach near Zeitz Germany in a press release at the Alpha Galileo web site on September 26, 2012.
The site dates to 35,000 years ago and is the oldest known evidence of mammoth tusk carving operations in the world.
The scientists found three separate locations at the dig site that included a storage facility for mammoth tusks, a tusk splitting operation, and a carving shop. The researchers also discovered beads and decorative rods that the researchers consider art forms.

Venus de Brassempouy fragmentary ivory figurine from the Upper Palaeolithic discovered in a cave at Brassempouy, France 

 Photo credit: 

PHGCOM I, the copyright holder of this work, release this work into the public domain. 

 

The mammoth tusks could have been recovered from deceased mammoths or retrieved from hunting.
The site is considered to be the work of early modern man because the dating precludes work done by Neanderthals. The level of organization and the art infers a mental capacity equivalent to modern men.
The Breitenbach site is one of the largest Upper Paleolithic human habitations ever found. The site is at present known to be 20,000 square meters in area.
This site is uniquely not a cave dwelling. The open space allowed more freedom of development of highly involved manufacturing than a cave environment could.
Archeologists from the Monrepos Archaeological Research Centre and Museum for the Evolution of Hominin Behaviour, part of the Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, (RGZM), the Landesamt für Denkmalpflege and Archäologie in Saxony-Anhalt, the Faculty of Archaeology at the University of Leiden (NL), the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology (ArchPro) in Vienna, the Institute of Geoinformatics i3mainz of the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz, and the Institutes of Geosciences at the universities of Mainz, Tübingen and Cologne.collaborated in the discovery.

 

Mayan Tomb May Belong to Warrior Queen

From Yahoo News:  Mayan Tomb May Belong to Warrior Queen

Archaeologists say they've discovered what could be the tomb of one of the greatest Mayan rulers, the seventh-century warrior queen Lady K'abel.

The tomb was revealed during digging at the ancient Maya city of El Perú-Waka' in the rain forest of northern Guatemala. Alongside the body, excavators found a white jar shaped like a conch shell with the head and arm of a woman carved at the opening. The artifact had four hieroglyphs that suggest it belonged to K'abel.

"Nothing is ever proven in archaeology because we're working with circumstantial evidence. But in our case we have a carved stone alabaster jar that is named K'abel's possession," David Freidel, an archaeologist working on the site, explained in a video. Freidel, of Washington University in St. Louis, said the find is "as close to a smoking gun" as you get in archaeology.

The plazas, palaces, temple pyramids and residences of El Perú-Waka' belong to the Classic Maya civilization (A.D. 200-900). K'abel was part of a royal family and carried the title "Kaloomte'," which translates to "Supreme Warrior," meaning she had even higher in authority than her king husband, K'inich Bahlam, according to Freidel and his excavation team. K'abel is believed to have reigned with him from about A.D. 672-692. [Top 12 Warrior Moms in History]
Ceramic vessels found in the burial chamber and carvings on a stela (stone slab) outside of it also indicate the tomb belongs to K’abel, as does a large red spiny oyster shell found on the lower torso of the remains, the researchers said.
"Late Classic queens at Waka', including K'abel, regularly wore such a shell as a girdle ornament in their stela portraits while kings did not," the researchers wrote in a report on the finds.
An examination of the remains indicated the buried person was a "mature individual," the researchers wrote. But the bones were too deteriorated for scientists to determine whether they belonged to a male or female.

Excavations have been underway at El Perú-Waka' since 2003. The K'abel find has not yet appeared in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

NJ: Colloquium reflects on artifacts, erosion

From the Daily Targum:  Colloquium reflects on artifacts, erosion

Christopher LePre, assistant instructor in the Department of Geological Sciences, announced yesterday that the Department of Earth and Planetary Science plans to offer a fluvial geology graduate seminar in the spring.
LePre and Craig Feibel, associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, will teach the seminar, which will focus on the geology of rivers and flood plains, LePre said at the Department of Earth and Planetary Science’s colloquium at the Wright-Rieman Auditorium on Busch campus.

“We’re not going to incorporate a lot of archeology to the class — it’s going to be a geology class,” he said.
He said he wanted to incorporate topics like fluvial architecture and stratigraphy interpretation of archaeological sites because the information can build a better understanding of how artifacts get deposited and shifted through time.
“This prospect of predictability is really attractive to a geologists,” LePre said “We like to know where the artifacts are right off the back, instead of going to survey them.”
Artifacts that exist in the accumulation of sediments caused by erosion are beneficial to archeologists because it helps them understand the history of items found in dig sites, he said.
LePre said the value of the collection contains useful artifacts of human occupancy from a particular period in time. 
“One of the most difficult things about looking at archeological sites is understanding what they mean,” he said.
Interpreting behavior from an archeological site is important because the artifacts give insight to what human behavior was like years ago, LePre said.
“It’s not [a] one-to-one relationship between what humans were doing at a particular moment in time and what the archeological site is made up of,” he said. “There’s a lot of distortion that has gone on, a lot of transformation that has gone on as a result of natural processes.”
Archeological records can be distorted through environmental causes, like an earthquake and weathering at the Earth’s surface, LePre said.
“What a site may have looked like 100 years ago — 1,000 years ago is not what you find when you start excavating it,” he said.
The further back in time the sites go, the more transformative factors will have distorted the archeological record, he said.
Although records get distorted over time, the Pompeii exhibit serves as an example of a site that remained preserved over time, LePre said.
There were dense accumulations of stone tools found to have cut marked bones and smashed bones, which archeologists since interpreted the site as a cluster of artifacts that could reflect human behavior, he said.
“What you’re looking at something that they call living floors or home bases, places where humans were congregating on landscape,” he said.
Other archeologists hypothesized the idea of the clustered artifacts to have formed through hydrologic means, he said.
“You have rivers coming by and basically reworking and concentrating all the artifacts as a lag deposit, and this lag gives the impression [of] your living floor or a place that was repeatedly occupied by humans,” LePre said.
Rapid sedimentation influences rapid burial of artifacts, which affected the preservation of archeological records, he said.
“As a consequence, we have a different [perspective] on the archeological record,” LePre said.
The archeological records of Pompeii leave LePre questioning how it survived erosion better through time than the artifacts did, which were accumulated over a short time.
Ben Schuber, a School of Environmental and Biological Sciences senior, said though the lecture did not interest him, he would attend other colloquiums because it has to do with his field of study.
Ying Reinfelder, an associate professor in the Department of Geological Sciences, said there would be weekly colloquiums that introduce top-of-the-line scientists and the most recent scientific discoveries to the University.

 

Randolph founder’s uncovered privy revealed

From WickedLocal:  Randolph founder’s uncovered privy revealed

Randolph — The Randolph Historical Society, in observance of Massachusetts Archeology Month, will present a program on the life and times of the town's founder, Samuel Bass, as revealed in the archeological investigation of the privy, or outhouse, that was uncovered in the spring of 2001 during excavation for the foundation of the elevator addition at the historic Jonathan Belcher House, 360 North Main St., Wednesday, Oct. 10, at 7:30 p.m.

 

In 1782, Bass, a young attorney and the son of wealthy Col. Jonathan Bass, married Sarah Lawrence, the daughter of the minister in Lincoln. The couple built a handsome mansion on the present location of Stetson Hall. The privy was built to the southeast of the main house.

In early 1793, Bass led the effort of local residents to petition the state legislature for the separation of the South Precinct of Braintree as a separate town, which led to the incorporation of the Town of Randolph in March 1793.

Six months after Samuel Bass' death in February 1842, his house was moved to the rear of the house lot, and Stetson Hall was erected. The remains of the privy were lost in time until they were uncovered in the spring of 2001.

Town Historian Henry Cooke will discuss the excavation of the privy site, the structures found, the artifacts recovered, and what they reveal about life in the early years of the town. A selection of artifacts recovered from the site, including a c.1780 English made teapot, and an early 19^th century paint bucket, will be on display at the meeting and at Stetson Hall.

Admission is free.
Upcoming Randolph Historical Society programs also will be discussed.
For information, contact Cooke at 781-963-9645 or hcooke4@verizon.net.

 

Canada: UBC Arts signs agreement that lets anthropology students train at World Heritage Site

From ArtsWire: UBC Arts signs agreement that lets anthropology students train at World Heritage Site


The Faculty of Arts at UBC (University of British Columbia.) signed a 10-year partnership with the Institute of Archeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences this week, an agreement that will allow UBC Anthropology students to learn field skills at a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Anyang, China.

The site is at Yinxu, the central area inhabited by the last nine Shang Kings, circa 1250 – 1050 B.C. The Shang was the earliest literate civilization in East Asia.

Professor John Hepburn (Vice President Research and International at UBC), on behalf of Dean Gage Averill, and Professor Wang Wei (Director of the Institute of Archaeology at the CASS ) signed the agreement at a ceremony in Beijing on Sept. 26th, one attended by senior members of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and scholars from the Institute of Archaeology.

This agreement marks the first time the Institute of Archeology has partnered with a foreign university, said UBC Anthropology professor Jing Zhichun, who also attended the signing ceremony.

“(This agreement will) create a lot of opportunities for UBC students and scholars, including field school, field archaeological investigation, laboratory analysis of excavated human and animal remains and artifacts such as bronzes, jades, and pottery, museum exhibitions, and exchanges of students and scholars,” said Prof. Jing.
UBC Anthropology students are familiar with the site. Prof. Jing led nine undergraduate and graduate students through field training at Yinxu from May 13 to June 20, 2012, unearthing pottery kilns, bones and artifacts of the Shang.

Organized through Go Global and the Department of Anthropology, students in the Archeological Field School learned how to excavate and carry out replicative experiments of bronze casting and pottery making.

Students, archeologists get to follow dinosaur tracks in Texas

From Fox News: Students, archeologists get to follow dinosaur tracks in Texas

Students and archeologists in Texas got to experience history Friday after the waterline at a lake dropped, revealing dinosaur tracks in what used to be a ‘Jurassic Park.’

The tracks, which are along the banks of Grapevine Lake, were discovered in 2006 and have been preserved by the Army Corps of Engineers, which has been covering them up with gunite and dirt, MyFoxDFW reports.
With the help of a grant from a teacher in nearby Southlake, students hope to use molds and digital scans of the tracks to create an environmental center exhibit that others can visit.

Dinosaur tracks were first uncovered at the lake in the early 1980s.

October is Texas Archeology Month

From Big Sandy-Hawkins Journal : October is Texas Archeology Month 

Texas Archeology Month (TAM) is just around the corner in October, and the Texas Historical Commission (THC) has created a system for gathering TAM event information online. The THC invites anyone hosting an archeology-related event in conjunction with TAM to submit their information to the agency using the link entitled TAM Event Form at http://www.thc.state.tx.us/archeology/forms/tam.aspx. The deadline for submissions is September 15. Information submitted will be used to create an electronic TAM Calendar of Events that will be available on the THC website at the above link in late September. There will not be a printed calendar due to budget constraints. THC staff is urging contributors to use the electronic form and not send TAM event information by mail or email.

The THC cosponsors TAM in association with the Texas Archeological Society and the Council of Texas Archeologists. For more information, contact the THC’s Archeology Division at 512.463.6096.
RTHLs, and HTC designations, contact the THC’s History Programs Division at 512.463.5853.