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Pigs domesticated 'many times'
"Pigs were domesticated from wild boar independently at least seven times around the globe, a new study has said."
"The team found that all domestic pigs in Europe are descended from European wild boar - and not Near Eastern boar - which means farmers travelling west from Turkey were not bringing significant numbers of pigs with them."
Full story:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4337435.stm
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Public Inquiry Will Decide Fate of Controversial Stonehenge Plans
A public inquiry will decide the fate of controversial road plans for Stonehenge, it was confirmed this week.
An inquiry had been on the cards since the £193m scheme for ridding the world heritage site of traffic and returning the stones to an ancient setting was first announced.
Now transport minister Alistair Darling has announced that, because of the barrage of objections to the project, there will definitely be a public hearing, and that it will begin on February 17 next year.
http://www.thisiswiltshire.co.uk/wiltshire/amesbury/news/AMES_NEWS1.html
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Archaeologists Unearth German Stonehenge
German experts on Thursday (07.08.03) hailed Europe’s oldest astronomical observatory, discovered in Saxony-Anhalt last year, a “milestone in archaeological research” after the details of the sensational find were made public.
The sleepy town of Goseck, nestled in the district of Weissenfels in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt shimmers under the brutal summer heat, as residents seek respite in the shade.
Nothing in this slumbering locale indicates that one of the most significant archaeological discoveries of all times was made here. But this is indeed exactly where archaeologists digging in the region last September stumbled upon what they believe is Europe’s oldest astronomical observatory ever unearthed.
On Thursday, German experts toasted the discovery as a "milestone in archaeological research" as details of the find were made public. State archaeologist Harald Meller said the site, which is believed to be a monument of ancient cult worship, provided the first insights into the spiritual and religious world of Europe’s earliest farmers. Francois Bertemes of the university of Halle-Wittenberg estimated the site to be around 7,000 years old. He described its significance as "one of the oldest holy sites" discovered in Central Europe.
Through carbon dating of two arrow heads and animal bones found within the site’s circular compounds, archaeologists have been able to determine the date of the site’s origins. They say that with all likelihood it can be traced back to the period between 5000 and 4800 B.C. If that is the case, it would make the Goseck site the oldest-dated astronomical observatory in Europe.
Observatory had scientific and religious value
But it’s not just its age that makes the Goseck location so unusual.
Compared to the approximately 200 other similar prehistoric mound sites strewn throughout Europe, the Goseck site has striking deviations. Instead of the usual four gates leading into the circular compounds, the Goseck monument has just three. The walled-compound also consists of an unusual formation of concentric rings of man-high wooden palisades. The rings and the gates into the inner circles become narrower as one progresses to the center, indicating perhaps that only a few people could enter the inner-most ring.
Wolfhard Schlosser of the Ruhr University Bochum believes the site's unique construction indicates that it is indeed one of the earliest examples of an astrological observatory.
Schlosser, a specialist in astro-archeology, says the southern gates marked the sunrise and sunset of the winter and summer solstice and enabled the early Europeans to determine with accuracy the course of the sun as it moved across the heavens. Schlosser is convinced the site was constructed for the observation of astronomical phenomena such as the movements of the sun, moon and stars, and for keeping track of time. These celestial cycles would have been important for the sowing and harvesting of crops in the early civilization.
But, Goseck isn’t merely a "calendar construction," Schlosser explains, "but rather is clearly a sacred building." Archeologists have found plenty of evidence to prove that Goseck was a place of prehistoric cult worship. The arrangement of human bones, for instance, is atypical of burial sites, and telltale cut marks on them indicate that human sacrifice was practiced at the site.
Bertemes says it is not uncommon for such astronomical observatories to function as places of worship and centers of religious and social life.
The Goseck site, erected by the earliest farming communities between the Stone and Bronze Age, came 3,000 years before the last construction phase of the megaliths of Stonehenge in Great Britain.
Links between Nebra disc and observatory
Experts are also drawing parallels between the Goseck mounds and another equally spectacular discovery made in the region. "The formation of the site, its orientation and the marking of the winter and summer solstice shows similarities to the world-famous ‘Nebra disc’ – though the disc was created 2,400 years later," Schlosser says.
The 3,600-year-old bronze Nebra disc was discovered just 25 kilometers away from Goseck in the wooded region of Nebra and is considered to be the oldest concrete representation of the cosmos. The 32-centimeter disc is decorated with gold leaf symbols that clearly represent the sun, moon and starts. A cluster of seven dots has been interpreted as the Pleiades constellation as it appeared 3,600 years ago. Schlosser believes the formations on the disc were based on previous astrological observations, which could possibly have been made at Goseck.
Archeologists are certain the observatory with its function of tracking time played a crucial role in a society dominated by the changing seasons. They theorize that both the Goseck observatory and the Nebra disc indicate that astronomical knowledge was tied to a mythological-cosmological world view right from the beginning.
A Mecca for archeologists
Archaeologists first took note of the location of the Goseck site after aerial images taken in 1991 showed geometrically arranged earth mounds. But it wasn’t until last year that excavation actually got underway. Because the site is being used as learning material for students at the University of Halle-Wittenberg, it is only open for excavation for a limited number of weeks in the year. Next year a group of students from the University of California at Berkley will have a chance to dig in the site.
Rüdiger Erben, district administrator of Weissenfels, believes the discovery of the Goseck observatory will probably result in some rather unscientific possibilities. He says he could imagine the site turning into a "Mecca for hobby archaeologists and astronomers."
http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1441_A_942824_1_A,00.html
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Flatley Goes Back to the Bronze Age...
http://www.showbizireland.com/news/may03/01-flatley26.shtml
Lord of the Dance Michael Flatley landed smack-bang in the middle of an important cultural heritage site on the grounds of his new home Castlehyde in Cork on Monday.
Michael Flatley seems to be never far away from controversy and the 6 euro million refurbishment of his mansion in Cork hasn't been without delays and setbacks.
So when his workmen uncovered a 4,000 year old burial chamber while digging a septic tank on the grounds it might have been less complicated for the billionaire to simply cover it up and say nothing.
But not Michael! The talented dancer and businessman is delighted with the find which uncovered two perfect earthenware jars last Monday.
He told the Evening Herald: "It's just incredible. It's possible there is a whole Bronze Age graveyard in this area. There certainly should be a major study done on this site, and what else could be lying undiscovered?"
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Aggregates Levy Money For Amateur-Led Excavation Which Has Made Outstanding Discoveries
An excavation begun 12 years ago by a lone amateur which has turned into one of the biggest and most important archaeological sites in the country has been awarded the first part of a grant that could be worth over £160,000 from a fund providing benefits to the community from the quarry industry.
The Bestwall Archaeological Project has uncovered more than 7,000 years of history at a 55 hectare quarry to the east of Wareham, Dorset. The quarry includes one of the largest areas of Middle Bronze Age landscape ever to be excavated and the most substantial ranges of Bronze Age pottery yet discovered in Britain. Also among the finds are Bronze Age ceremonial jewellery and an enormous Roman coin hoard.
Now English Heritage, who helps administer the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund, has allocated money to enable publication of the amazing results of the excavations which are due to finish later this year and which are set to add substantially to our knowledge about our distant past. Amateur volunteers from all over Dorset have carried out most of the excavation, led by Wareham historian Lilian Ladle who was asked to undertake archaeological excavations at the site prior to commercial gravel extraction. The project is seen as a shining example of how amateurs and professionals can work together to produce work of the highest standard.
Buzz Busby, Assistant Ancient Monument Inspector with English Heritage’s South West Region, who is overseeing the latest part of the project on behalf of the ALSF, said: "We are delighted to support this nationally important excavation through the ALSF. The project is extremely unusual as projects of this size are generally only carried out by professional archaeological units. Thanks to the support of the quarry owners and professional archaeologists, this truly outstanding research has been undertaken by local amateurs."
Among the nationally important finds are rare domestic assemblages of beaker pottery from the Early Bronze Age, a feasting site with ritually placed copper alloy bracelets and ceremonial pottery drinking sets from the Middle Bronze Age and extensive evidence of pottery production from the Late Bronze Age. Altogether more than a twelve thousand pieces of Bronze Age pottery have been discovered,
A vivid picture of the Bronze Age Dorset, previously only visible as burial mounds, has now emerged. On the shores of Poole Harbour generations of prehistoric farmers living in large, well-constructed round houses grew wheat, tended flocks of sheep and enjoyed a good lifestyle. There was plenty to eat and, on occasions, great feasts took place. They made their own pottery, developed trade networks, spun wool and wove it into cloth and adorned themselves with attractive, high-class jewellery.
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More drilling
"English Heritage is now planning to investigate the area of the previously collapsed shaft. As part of this assessment we intend to test the consistency of the backfilling in the lower part of the shaft by drilling a borehole through it from the top. Another borehole will be drilled nearby as a control. The information gathered will help us design long-term remedial work.
The work is due to start during the first week of March 2003 and to be completed on site on 26 March 2003."
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baza lives on the West Pennine Moors in Lancashire.
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