Interesting archaeology news from outside the Southeast
Virginia archaeological site donated to ensure its preservation A February 14, 2011, story from the Martinsville Bulletin reports on the Archaeological Conservancy's preservation of the site. Read it at http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=27329 Amazon digs indicate advanced Indian civilizations A February 5, 2011, story from NPR reports on the ongoing revelations that are changing science's views on the Amazon's prehistory. Read it at http://www.npr.org/2011/01/12/132853997/Amazon-Once-Was-Home-To-Advanced-Civilizations Trees tell tales of Mesoamerican megadroughts A new, detailed record of rainfall fluctuations in ancient Mexico that spans more than 12 centuries promises to improve understanding of the role drought played in the rise and fall of pre-Hispanic civilizations. Read the February 3, 2011, story from Newswise at http://www.newswise.com/articles/trees-tell-tales-of-mesoamerican-megadroughts National Science Foundation: Genome of extinct Siberian cave-dweller linked to modern-day humans Sequencing of ancient DNA reveals new hominim population that is neither Neanderthal nor modern human. Read the December 22, 2010, story at http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=118270&org=NSF&from=news
Archaeology lab bores into U.S. history at Thomas Jefferson's home Members of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology at Indiana
University Bloomington are working with Monticello archaeological staff
to help restore Monticello to its appearance as it was during
Jefferson's lifetime. Read the April 7, 2010, story from Indiana University at http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/14014.html
Ancient Indian village in Rhode Island pits preservation against property rights Archaeological evidence of the Narragansetts’ early presence in Rhode Island has ignited a debate over private development on a site that some consider to be culturally and historically significant. Read the April 6, 2010, story from The New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/realestate/commercial/07indian.html
Rule poses threat to museum bones A federal rule unveiled on 15 March could give Native Americans a way
to claim these bones — and some researchers fear that this could
empty museum collections. Read the March 31, 2010, story from Nature.com at http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100331/full/464662a.html
Stone basins may be California Indian salt 'factory' A granite terrace in the Sierra Nevada the size of a
football field holds hundreds of mysterious stone basins representing
what geologists believe is one of the earliest known "factories"
created and used by ancient Miwok Indians to make tons of salt to trade
with tribes up and down California. Read the December 30, 2009, story from SFGate.com at http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2009/12/30/MN571AV6P0.DTL
American Indian artifacts unearthed on Ohio plant site Several hundred prehistoric artifacts were recovered, mostly fragments
from arrowheads, spearheads and evidence of stone toolmaking, according
to a archaeological firm’s report. The items recovered date back to the
Archaic and Woodland periods, between 8000 B.C. and 1200 A.D. Read the December 30, 2009, story from the Middletown Journal at http://www.middletownjournal.com/news/middletown-news/american-indian-artifacts-unearthed-on-coke-plant-site-469741.html
Native American artifacts halt Rhode Island sewer project Archaeologists
retained by the Warwick Sewer Authority have been unearthing a variety
of artifacts in test trenches for more than three years and recently
issued a report stating that the Mill Cove area was probably home to
generations of Native Americans, with artifacts from about 3,000 years
ago through the 1600s. Read the November 24, 2009, story from Projo.com at http://www.projo.com/news/content/warwick_artifacts_sewer_24_11-24-09_MEGIHJD_v11.3b4547f.html
Trials in Utah artifact looting cases to be set in early 2010 Trials should be scheduled
early next year for nearly two dozen defendants in a major artifacts
looting and trafficking case in the Four Corners area, a federal
magistrate said November 23. Read the November 23, 2009, story from The Salt Lake Tribune at http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_13850630
'Treasure trove'of history found in Philadelphia In the last month, archaeologists have found hundreds of relics left behind by
people who lived along the Delaware River not 300 years ago, but 3,500.
The cache, found in the southwest corner of the property, constitutes
the largest single discovery of Native American artifacts in
Philadelphia. Read the November 18, 2009, story from The Philadelphia Inquirer at http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_page/20091118_Treasure_trove_of_history_found_at_SugarHouse_site.html
Kanawha Valley Fort Ancient people might be related to Sioux Native people of the Fort Ancient culture, who lived in
stockade-encircled villages along the Ohio and Kanawha rivers from
about 1000 to the mid-1600s, may be more closely related to the Sioux. A November 7, 2009, article from Wvgazette.com reports on a paper given at the West Virginia Archaeological Society. Read it at http://wvgazette.com/News/200911070375
Cascades artifacts a window on thousands of years ago Archaeological digs in two Washington State national parks continue to reveal
artifacts that debunk the myth that indigenous people didn’t
gather food and plants from the upper reaches of the Cascades.
Read the November 15, 2009, story from Theolympian.com at http://www.theolympian.com/southsound/story/1037115.html
Discovery launches science news Web site It will cover the latest scientific and world archaeological discoveries. See the site at http://news.discovery.com/
Signs of man, Ice Age beast found together in Mexico Scientists have found evidence that PaleoIndians near the U.S.-Mexican border were butchering gomphotheres, elephant-like beasts from the Ice Age that had been believed to be nearly extinct in North America by the time humans appeared there.
Images capture details of ancient Iraqi tablets High-quality scans of ancient documents discovered in Iran are shedding
new light on Imperial Aramaic, the dialect used for international
communication and record-keeping in many parts of the Assyrian,
Babylonian, and Persian empires. Read the October 15 story on Futurity.org at http://futurity.org/top-stories/images-capture-details-of-ancient-tablets/
University of Michigan to review policies on returning Indian remains Facing criticism for still holding the remains of
about 1,400 Native Americans in its archaeological collection, the
University of Michigan will be reviewing its policies on how to
properly deal with Indian bones and artifacts.
Read the October 16 story from the Chicago Tribune at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-mi-university-indian,0,4039354.story
Perseverance pays off in discovery of early settlement near Jamestown, Virginia Archaeologist Alain C. Outlaw has found the site of Argall Towne, once ranked among the largest and most ambitious if ultimately short-lived English settlements in North America outside nearby Jamestown. Read the October 15 story on Dailypress.com at http://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-local_digger_1017oct17,0,3951638.story
Did U.S. Corps of Engineers learn nothing from the Kennewick Man case? An editorial column published by The Seattle Times on Sept. 15, 2009, challenges the Corps' process for protecting human skeletal remains found on Corps-managed property. Read it at http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2009872884_guests16schneider.html
Europe's oldest stone hand axes emerge in Spain A new analysis finds that human ancestors living in what is now Spain
fashioned double-edged stone cutting tools as early as 900,000 years
ago, almost twice as long ago as previous estimates for this
technological achievement in Europe. Read the September 2 story from ScienceNews at http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/46964/title/Europe%E2%80%99s_oldest_stone_hand_axes_emerge_in_Spain
Shawnee Lookout may be largest continuously occupied hilltop Native American site in United States A September 4 story on ScienceDaily.com reports on the discoveries in Ohio of a team of University of Cincinnati students. Read it at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/09/090903110816.htm
Looting of Indian artifacts targeted What has become the nation's biggest crackdown on dealers of black-market Native American artifacts doesn't lack for intrigue. Armed raids. Secret informers. Sacred objects. Read The Arizona Republic's August 27 story at http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/08/27/20090827looters.html
Clues To Caribbean's Earliest Inhabitants Discovered A prehistoric water-filled cave in the Dominican Republic has become a
"treasure trove" with the announcement by Indiana University
archaeologists of the discovery of stone tools, a small primate skull
in remarkable condition, and the claws, jawbone and other bones of
several species of sloths. Read the August 18 story on ScienceDaily at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090818083228.htm
The Keeper of the Keys and the Mystery of the Bactrian Gold A great story from The Wall Street Journal on August 12 reports on how a fabulous Afghan archaeological treasure was saved from looters. Read the story at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125003659066824383.html
Early modern humans heat treated stone for tools Evidence shows people living on the tip of Africa 72,000 years ago used heat to increase the quality of their stone. Read the August 13 story from ScienceDaily at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090813142137.htm and a related story from Scientific American at http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=cooked-results-modern-toolmaker Proposed LA museum expansion 'dead, done, killed' A dust-up between the Autry National Center and
defenders of the Southwest Museum of the American Indian has left a
$175 million museum expansion dead and LA's oldest museum gravely
wounded. Read the August 13 story from the Los Angeles Daily News at http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_13049678
Native American settlement uncovered in Huron County, Ohio Five weeks of digging this summer by professional and amateur archaeologists from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, guided by magnetic readings, have confirmed the presence of a major site. Read the July 20 story on Cleveland.com at http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2009/07/cleveland_museum_of_natural_hi.html
Ohio earthworks to pay homage to past pilgrimages This year, as part of the celebration surrounding Newark Earthworks
Day, the event organizers have planned a 60-mile walk from the Hopewell
Culture National Historical Park in Chillicothe to the Newark
Earthworks as tribute to the pilgrimages made years ago. Read the August 5 story on Newarkadvocate.com at http://www.newarkadvocate.com/article/20090805/COMMUNITIES02/908060320
Endangered effigy mound is shored up after flood An August 4 story on Madison.com reports on preservation efforts in Madison, Wisconsin. Read it at http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/local/460621
Iowa archaeologists take archaeology on the road They're taking part in a 472-mile bicycle ride that will point out archaeological and historical sites along the route. Read the July 14 press release at http://media-newswire.com/release_1094673.html
Mother, daughter admit to looting, selling ancient Indian artifacts Two Utah women pleaded guilty in federal court July 6 to illegal trafficking in American Indian artifacts, the first of what could be manymore plea deals resulting from a 2 1/2-year investigation into grave robbing and relic theft. Read the July 6 stroy from The Salt Lake Tribune at http://www.sltrib.com/ci_12762067?source=most_viewed
Ancient hunting site may rest under Lake Huron Deep beneath Lake Huron, signs of the Great Lakes' first human settlers are emerging. Read the June 30 story on JSOnline.com at http://www.jsonline.com/news/49467082.html
And now you know the rest of the story.... Feds link artifact suspects to Ponzi scam The Utah doctor who killed himself after he and his wife were indicted on felony charges of selling ancient American Indian artifacts may also have been involved in a Ponzi scam, federal authorities allege. Read the June 24 story from The Salt Lake Tribune at http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_12682922
Washington state stone tools could be 9,000 years old State archaeologists believe they've found one
of the best preserved sites of human activity from what's known as the
Olcott period, 4,500 to 9,000 years ago. Read the June 22 story on Heraldnet.com at http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20090621/NEWS01/706219813&news01ad=1
Editor's note: For a little irony, go to Google News and search the terms "Indian artifact". Note the stories about the controversial Utah looter bust , and all the ads on the right for Indian artifacts for sale. Now you know why Southeastern Archaeology News is ad-free! (except for Amazon.com) http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=Indian+artifact
Utah town unsettled by doctor's suicide and an inquiry into artifact looting A June 20 story in The New York Times reports on the continuing controversy on the recent bust of artifact collectors in Utah. Read the story at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/us/21blanding.html?ref=global-home
Interest abounds in St. Louis's Sugar Loaf Mound Under a plan that tribal officials said has the support of Osage Chief
Jim Gray, the tribe would buy the mound, demolish the homes and develop
the property as an interpretive site. Read the June 17 story from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at http://www.columbiatribune.com/news/2009/jun/17/interest-abounds-sugar-loaf-mound/
Curator digs through classic work of Ohio archaeology Instead of searching for a body of the sort once found in Adena and
Hopewell burial sites in Clark County, the curator of the Clark County
Historical Society’s archaeological collection is trying to flesh
a body of work — the substantial body of work left behind by
amateur archaeologist Arthur R. Altick. Read the June 14 story in the Springfield News-Sun at http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/springfield-news/curator-digs-through-classic-work-of-clark-county-archaeology-163006.html
The Southwest's good 'ol artifact boys After federal raids last week on the somewhat casual, small-town
traffic in illicit Southwest artifacts, one prominent pot hunter is
dead and nearly a dozen more are under indictment. Read the June 15 story from the LA Times at http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-childs15-2009jun15,0,4543986.story
24 charged in crackdown on Native American artifact looting Striking at a longtime practice in the Four Corners area, federal
authorities Wednesday unsealed indictments against 24 people in what
they called the largest investigation ever into the looting of Native
American artifacts on public lands. Read the June 11 story from the Los Angeles Times at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-artifacts11-2009jun11,0,7158558.story
Discoveries cloud Wisconsin bypass options Allied groups comprised of area landowners, scientists and
organizations, including Citizens for Fond du Lac Ledge Preservation,
have joined ranks to stop a relocation plan for a portion of Fond du
Lac County's Highway 151 Bypass. Read the April 26 story on Fdlreporter.com at http://www.fdlreporter.com/article/20090426/FON0101/904260598/1985/FONent
Maya archaeology is still in its golden age. There's probably another 20 years of great discoveries ahead of us... What's the next great field? The Amazon?...The oceans?...Mars?... Archaeologists begin recovery of great Mayan city in Yucatan Ichkabal may be a vast site. Read the story in the Latin American Herald Tribune at http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=331237&CategoryId=14091 California artifacts being washed away Experts are racing to save what's left before rising seas, erosion take more. Read the April 5 story on MSNBC at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30014339/
Researchers study Lewis & Clark camp in SW Wash Excavations over several years lead archeologists to believe a spot
near the mouth of the Columbia River may have been home to one of the
Pacific Northwest's most decorated and influential Indian chiefs. Read the March 12 story on Seattlepi.com at http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420ap_wa_station_camp.html
Researchers make major Mayan archaeological discoveries The government of Guatemala has announced the recent discovery of a
series of major archaeological discoveries – including ancient
detailed panels – in an area known as the Mirador Basin of
northern Guatemala and part of southern Campeche, Mexico. Read the March 7 press release from Idaho State University at http://www2.isu.edu/headlines/?p=1711
US and France battle for rights over shipwreck found in Lake Michigan A ghostly length of timber protruding from the sandy bottom of a vast
American lake has become the object of an international legal battle
among France, the
state of Michigan, and a private team of American explorers and history
buffs who say it and other buried relics are the remains of a French
ship that sank in a storm more than 300 years ago. Read the February 16, 2009, story from The Guardian at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/16/france-us-shipwreck-lake-michigan
5 indicted for American Indian artifact looting The South Dakota U.S. Attorney’s Office has indicted five men, accusing them of looting or trading ancient items. Read the January 25 story from GrandForksHerald.com at http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=103579
YouTube clips prompts arrest of man for stealing artifacts His alleged actions were posted on the Internet. Read the December 21 story from The Sacramento Bee at http://www.sacbee.com/ourregion/story/1489762.html
Remains of 600 American Indians back in West Virginia They were unearthed in a 1963 excavation and now will be reburied. Read the September 16 story on wvgazette.com at http://wvgazette.com/News/200809150664
UK experts say Stonehenge was place of healing Archaeologists Geoffrey Wainwright and Timothy Darvill said the content of graves scattered around the monument and the ancient chipping of its rocks to produce amulets indicated that Stonehenge was the primeval equivalent of Lourdes, the French shrine venerated for its supposed ability to cure the sick. Read the September 22 Associated Press story at http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i55z9vq47vnFMeo1MGW-6uT2ZoegD93C2SO80
Editor's note: This fascinating research raises the question, what else are we wrong about? It's also a rare case of archaeology making a case for helping present day people: From the abstract: "Understanding long-term change in coupled human-environmentsystems relating to these societies has implications for conservationand sustainable development, notably to control ecological degradationand maintain regional biodiversity."
'Pristine' Amazonian region hosted large, urban civilization, study finds Ancient settlements in the Amazon, now almost entirely obscured by tropical forest, were once large and complex enough to be considered “urban” as the term is commonly applied to both medieval European and ancient Greek communities. Read the August 28 press release from the University of Florida at http://news.ufl.edu/2008/08/28/urban-amazon/
Ancient Americans may have traveled south slowly New data reported by researcher Tom Dillehay from the famed Chilean site of Monte Verde in the May 9 issue of Science confirms the site dates back 14,000 years. Read reports at
Maryland woman donates husband's archaeology book collection to library The writings of an 81-year-old man who died in February may someday help future archaeologists. Read the May 4 story on WJC.com at
Arizona development co-existing with antiquity A May 1 story in the Arizona Daily Star reports on how a 87-acre community in Tucson will be built around a Hohokam site. Read the story at
'Mysteries of LaBelle' outlined by ship's lead archaeologist Dr. Jim Bruseth, director of the archeology division at the Texas Historical Commission, and deputy state historic preservation officer, was the keynote speaker Friday at the Texas Maritime Museum speaking about “Mysteries of LaBelle.” Read the January 23, 2008, story in the Rockport Pilot at http://www.rockportpilot.com/articles/2008/01/23/news/news00.txt
New exhibit opens at the Falls of Ohio A new display at Falls of the Ohio State park will feature finds from an archeological dig in Harrison County. Read the December 11 story on NewsAndTribune.com at http://www.news-tribune.net/floydcounty/local_story_345093631.html
Archaeologists take 2nd look at cannon An archaeologist is taking a second look at a small cannon found by fishermen off the Virginia coast more than two decades ago in hopes of determining how it got to the bottom of the ocean — and who left it there. Read the September 24 Associated Press story at http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jlp7Q82YA1UHRc2w0ciEqwLliABA
Team discovers first ancient manioc fields in Americas A University of Colorado at Boulder team excavating an ancient Maya village in El Salvador buried by a volcanic eruption 1,400 years ago has discovered an ancient field of manioc, the first evidence for cultivation of the calorie-rich tuber in the New World. Read the August 20, 2007, press release at http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-08/uoca-ctd082007.php
Tribe reclaims Wisconsin mound State transfers property from Department of Transportation. Read the story on Wiscnews.com at http://www.wiscnews.com/wde/news/154711
Champion of convicting artifact thieves, vandals retires A February 12 story in The Salt Lake Tribune looks back at the career of the assistant U.S. attorney who would become the national leader in fighting looters and vandals who damage the nation's cultural heritage. Read it at http://www.sltrib.com/ci_5210015
Oregon man will do time for selling Indian skeleton
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) -- A Redmond man was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Wednesday for trafficking in an American Indian skeleton. Read the November 2 story on YakimaHerald.com at http://www.yakima-herald.com/page/dis/294789747854470
Ohio excavation revealing signs of an ancient people
For the past three summers, a team of Cleveland Museum of Natural History archaeologists and volunteers has teased the secrets of what is called the Danbury site from its silty clay soil in Danbury Township on the Ottawa County peninsula north of Sandusky. Read the October 5 story from the Akron Beacon Journal at http://www.ohio.com/mld/ohio/news/15687358.htm
Famed Meadowcroft rock shelter to get $2 million shelter
After years of lobbying efforts, the Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum in Pennsylvania has landed a $2 million state grant to help build a shelter to protect the dig site and display it to the public. Read the September 23 story on Post-Gazette.com at http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06266/724317-85.stm
Stone nearly 3,000 years old shows America's oldest known writing
Carved across the surface of a 26-pound stone slab unearthed in Veracruz, Mexico is the oldest known writing ever discovered in the Americas, according to a paper publishing in the Sept. 15 issue of the journal Science by a 7-person team of archaeologists, including Dr. Richard A. “Dick” Diehl, professor of anthropology at The University of Alabama. Read the September 14 story from The University of Alabama News at http://uanews.ua.edu/anews2006/sep06/writings091406.htm
Revitalization planned for Illinois' Dickson Mounds site
LEWISTOWN - Dickson Mounds Museum Director Michael Wiant plans the ultimate expansion of the facility - one in which there are no walls at all. Read the September 3 story on PJStar.com at http://www.pjstar.com/stories/090306/REG_BAMTQ07Q.017.shtml
Indian bowls, pottery taken from Southern Arkansas University
An invaluable collection of intact bowls and bottles crafted centuries ago by Caddo Indians has been stolen from a storeroom at Southern Arkansas University, where they were awaiting return to members of the tribe. Read the August 5 story from the Associated Press at http://www.nwaonline.net/articles/2006/08/06/news/0806arartifactsstolen.txt
Forgotten Jamestown well holds centuries-old artifacts
Mississippian site in Wisconsin could develop into major visitor site
The Friends of Aztalan State Park is launching a $1 million fund drive this month to help build a visitors' center with interpretive displays that could make what is touted as Wisconsin's premier archaeological site come alive. A park master plan approved in 2003 estimates 400,000 or more visitors could be drawn each year by a center and other improvements. Read the June 9 story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
University students dig into prehistoric Indiana
Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne archeology researchers are studying a site where they believe Paleoindians killed caribou and wild turkeys with spears 10,000 years ago. Read the June 4 story on FortWayne.com.
Archaeologists seek to plumb mysteries of ancient Virginia tribe
MONETA, Va. (AP) Archaeologists are seeking funding to learn more about the Saponi Indians, a little-known tribe that centuries ago lived at what is now the site of the Smith Mountain Dam. Read the May 26 story from the Associated Press.
Excavation at Indiana's Angel Mounds finds pottery workshop
The prehistoric Native American community that once thrived at Angel Mounds along the Ohio River at Evansville is renowned among archaeologists for the quality of the pottery left behind there.
Now a dig at the state historic site is promising to shed light on how that pottery was made. Read the May 28 story in the Evansville CourierPress.
Press Release
Source: APVA Preservation Virginia
Historic Jamestowne Archaearium Debuts Archaeological Treasures Thursday May 18, 5:20 am ET
JAMESTOWN, Va., May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Objects belonging to Jamestown colonists 400 years ago, unearthed from the long lost James Fort site, are now on display for the first time in the Archaearium at Historic Jamestowne. The new exhibition showcases the world-renowned archaeological discoveries at the first permanent English settlement in the New World and the birthplace of America.Developed by APVA Preservation Virginia, the 7,500 sq. ft., $4.9 million facility links history, archaeology and place to tell the story of Jamestown during the fort period from 1607 to 1624. Overlooking the James River and the fort site, objects are displayed within view of the sites where they were last used by the colonists to create an immediate and powerful connection with the past.
Open in time for Jamestown's 400th anniversary in 2007, the Archaearium is the centerpiece of a $63 million master plan for Historic Jamestowne created with the National Park Service that includes a new visitor center with a 360- degree theater and exhibits about Jamestown's history and the Indians, Europeans and Africans who lived there. Plans also include a riverside restaurant, enhanced visitor transportation opportunities and outdoor exhibits.
In the Archaearium, exhibits reveal a new understanding of the English settlers, their relationship with the Virginia Indians, their endeavors and struggles, and how they lived, died and shaped a new society. Visitors will discover how archaeologists found the fort and see arms and armor, medical instruments, personal objects, ceramics, tools, coins, trade items, musical instruments, games and food remains. Interactive virtual viewers overlooking the site will show them what the fort looked like 400 years ago and what archaeologists have found.
William Kelso, director of archaeology, said evidence of the earliest known surgery in English America, attempts at industry and metallurgy, architecture, trade with the Indians, adaptation to the environment in the midst of the worst drought in 770 years, and other discoveries dispel the lingering view held by some historians that the Jamestown settlers were lazy, ill-prepared and incompetent. Exhibits also provide evidence of friendly as well as hostile interactions with the Indians.
Dead men's tales are also told. The results of forensic research on the remains believed to be those of Capt. Bartholomew Gosnold, a founding father of Jamestown, and the preliminary analysis of over 70 other burials and facial reconstructions of three early settlers will bring visitors face-to-face with human stories from the past.
Built over the remains of the last Statehouse (1660-1698), the Archaearium offers a glimpse of the excavated ruins of the Statehouse through sections of glass flooring and reminds visitors that Jamestown was the birthplace of our representative government.
At the James Fort site, walls have been built over the footprint of the fort, so visitors can stand in the exact spot that marks the epicenter of the beginning of the United States. They can also watch archaeologists as they reveal more of the past. Featured in numerous documentaries, the discovery of the fort was announced in 1996, dispelling the long-held belief that it had eroded into the river. Since then, the remains of palisades, buildings and wells, and over a million artifacts have been found.
Visitors may also tour the 17th-century tower and reconstructed church, walk with a park ranger through the settlement and watch glassblowers. Driving tours explore the island and offer wildlife sightings.
The story of Jamestown is not without controversy or conflict, but it is emblematic of the American spirit of endurance, survival and adaptation. John Smith and other Englishmen established Jamestown as a commercial venture and built a fort to protect themselves from the Spanish domination of the New World. Their contact with Pocahontas and the Virginia Indians changed the world forever -- a new nation was created, the native people nearly erased. The first representative government assembly was held here in 1619, a giant step toward the creation of a future American democracy that would ultimately free and give voting rights to African slaves that began arriving that same year. Tobacco trade strengthened the economy, and Jamestown served as the capital of Virginia until 1699.
Archaeologist says Virginia sites bolster claim on how people got to America
The Smithsonian archaeologist pursuing the contentious claim that ancient Europeans fleeing the Ice Age settled in America says artifacts unearthed in the Chesapeake Bay region support his theory. Read the May 11 story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch at
Archeologists working high in the Peruvian Andes have discovered the oldest known celestial observatory in the Americas — a 4,200-year-old structure marking the summer and winter solstices. Read the May 14 story in the Los Angeles Times at
The Midwest’s immense earthworks, structures built by ancient Native American cultures, have been all but lost to plow and pavement. No longer. An ambitious effort by the University of Cincinnati has rebuilt the mounds of two millennia ago. These virtual earthworks will soon be set to travel. Read the April 19 announcement by the University of Cincinnati.
New exhibits bring Jamestown to life
Next year, Jamestown will celebrate its 400th anniversary as America's first permanent English colony. And new and enhanced exhibits at its two major sites -- based on archaeological research and a half-million artifacts -- will tell the story of people who battled overwhelming odds, including a terrible drought, to establish an English foothold in North America.
As early as next month, visitors to Historic Jamestowne will be able to view real artifacts and use virtual viewers to scan the landscape to see 17th century scenes re-created before their eyes in the new $5 million, 7,500-square-foot Archaearium. Read the April 30 story from The Raleigh News & Observer.
Attention Southeastern archaeologists: You could do this for the Southeast!
Egyptologist launching online encyclopedia
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Frustrated with the poor quality of many Web sites dealing with ancient Egypt, a professor at the University of California has decided to create an online encyclopedia devoted to Egyptology. Read the April 28 story on CNN.com.
Archaeologists decry relic hunters' digs
Archaeologists are outraged about "safari" digs on Civil War sites in Virginia. Read the April 26 story from The Washington Post reprinted in The State.
Archaeologists to explore thousands of acres in Virginia
Archaeologists will launch one of the biggest investigations of its kind in Virginia history when they begin to explore thousands of acres on the Middle Peninsula this summer. Read the March 27 story in the Richmond Times-Dispatch at
The March 13 cover story of Time reports on Kennewick Man and the growing debate over First Americans.
Did first Americans come from Europe?
The first humans to spread across North America may have been seal hunters from France and Spain.
The new thinking was outlined in St. Louis Sunday by Smithsonian scientist Dennis Stanford at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Read the February 19 story on MSNBC.com.
Cahokia Mounds to expand, protect archaeological sites
For years, Cahokia Mounds' administrators longed to snatch up more property near the ruins of the prehistoric city but lacked the money to do it, fearing all the while that artifacts on the coveted private land could be forever lost to development.
Their concerns eased a bit Thursday, when the state finally released funds — $837,800 — earmarked years ago for expanding the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, now spanning 2,200 acres of the 4,000 that comprised the once-thriving city of up to 20,000 American Indians. Read the February 17 story on SuburanChicagoNews.com.
10,000-year-old site found in Oregon
Another archaeological site on the Southern Oregon coast has been determined to be about 10,000 years old, making it the second-oldest known site in the state, according to Oregon State University researchers. Read the January 28 story in the Corvallis Gazette-Times.
Scientists sequence DNA of Wooly Mammoth
A team of genome researchers at Penn State University and experts in ancient DNA at McMaster University in Canada has obtained the first genomic sequences from a woolly mammoth, a mammal that roamed grassy plains of the Northern Hemisphere until it became extinct about 10,000 years ago. The team's research on bones preserved in Siberian permafrost will be published on 22 December 2005 by the journal Science on the Science Express website. The project also involved paleontologists from the American Museum of Natural History (USA) and researchers from Russia, the United Kingdom, France, and Germany.
Indiana looters dig up human bone fragments in search of artifacts
NEW AMSTERDAM, Indiana -- Looters apparently digging for American Indian artifacts left behind piles of dirt littered with human bone fragments and animal bones, authorities said.
Corps of Engineers seeks public help to protect Arkansas artifacts
Contact: Rick Hightower
Release No: 109-05
Phone (479) 636-1210
CORPS SEEKS PUBLIC’S HELP TO PROTECT ARTIFACTS AT BEAVER LAKE
ROGERS, Ark., Dec 12 – The Army Corps of Engineers is reminding everyone it is against the law to remove Indian arrowheads and other artifacts from public lands at Beaver Lake. Also, the agency is seeking the public’s help to prevent artifact theft that has increased because the lake’s low level is making artifacts easier to find along stretches of exposed lakebed.
Beaver Lake’s level has been about elevation 1,106.6 since late October. During this time, Corps park rangers have noted increased incidents of people hunting for artifacts. The rangers say this is illegal and can be punished by severe fines or jail time.
Depending on the circumstances and severity of the thefts, fines can run as high as $250,000 and jail terms can be up to 10 years. Laws covering removing artifacts from public lands include the Archeological Resources Protection Act of 1979, which protects any item of archeological interest that is more than 100 years old, and Title 36 of the US Code of Federal Regulations, which deals with theft or destruction of public property. Minor offenses can lead to misdemeanor charges, while more serious offenses or second offenses can lead to felony charges and convictions.
The Arkansas Archeological Society explains that when individuals pursue what they consider a harmless hobby digging or picking up artifacts, they are destroying the past. By removing Indian artifacts or relics for a personal collection or to sell, the shadows and context are destroyed. This can wipe out the evidence of centuries of human experience. Many just don’t realize the harm they are doing. Others care more about profit than preserving the past.
The park rangers are asking all lake visitors to help protect these public resources that belong to everyone. They urge lake visitors to keep a watchful eye out for artifact seekers and report such illegal activities.
If you observe someone removing artifacts along from Beaver project lands, call the Corps’ project office at 479-636-1210 ext. 328. If the office is closed, leave a message. The park rangers ask that everyone please refrain from destroying our local heritage and history and assist in preserving our natural resources for future generations.
Ancient humans brought bottle gourds to the Americas from Asia
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Dec. 13, 2005 -- Thick-skinned bottle gourds widely used as containers by prehistoric peoples were likely brought to the Americas some 10,000 years ago by individuals who arrived from Asia, according to a new genetic comparison of modern bottle gourds with gourds found at archaeological sites in the Western Hemisphere. The finding solves a longstanding archaeological enigma by explaining how a domesticated variant of a species native to Africa ended up millennia ago in places as far removed as modern-day Florida, Kentucky, Mexico and Peru.
Oldest known Maya mural, tomb reveal story of ancient king
Archaeologists revealed the final section of the earliest known Maya mural ever found, saying that the find upends everything they thought they knew about the origins of Maya art, writing, and rule. Read the December 13 story by National Geographic and the December 14 story in The New York Times.
Skull suggests differing stocks for First Americans
Some of the first Americans may have been Australians. A new study of Brazilian skulls ranging from 11,000 to 7,500 years old has revealed that they have more in common with Aboriginal Australians and Melanesians than modern Native Americans.
Archaeologists excavating the ruined Guatemalan city of Cancuen have stumbled across the remains of what they believe is one of the pivotal events in the collapse of the Maya civilization -- the desperate defense of the once-great trading center and the ritual execution of at least 45 members of its royal court. Read the story republished November 17 in the Baltimore Sun (originally published in the Los Angeles Times) at
Researchers unearthing (Mississippian pre)history begin to wrap up
Scientists who've spent the past three weeks unearthing insights into an American Indian village that existed about 900 years ago will pack up their gear today.
The dig on a farm outside Jeffersonville, Ind., near the River Ridge Commerce Center has yielded artifacts that should reveal information about the daily lives of people during the Mississippian period, according to one of the lead researchers.
Read the November 13 story in the Louisville Courier-Journal at
Pennsylvania may let hunters use prehistoric weapon
An ancient weapon that struck fear in the hearts of Spanish conquistadors, and that some think was used to slay wooly mammoths in Florida, may soon be added to the arsenal of Pennsylvania's hunters.
The state Game Commission is currently drafting proposed regulations to allow hunters to use the atlatl, a small wooden device used to propel a six-foot dart as fast as 80 mph. The commission could vote to legalize its use as early as January.
Read the November 13 story in The Washington Post at
One of the most ambitious Missouri Department of Transportation projects this year won’t improve roads or bridges, but it is exploring the state’s past.
In an unprecedented $5 million undertaking, the state is paying archaeologists to unearth, inspect, sort and save broken tools, utensils, weapons and scrap rock left behind at Indian settlements along the Mississippi River for some 9,000 years.
Read the October 3 story in The Kansas City Star at
Indiana state archaeologist Rick Jones has been displaying one of Indiana's oldest man-made relics at public events for so long that he never considered the possibility someone might steal it.
But earlier this month at the Indiana State Fair, someone walked away with a 12,000-year-old stone spear point that Jones said is among the rarest items in the state's collection of relics.
"It is possibly the earliest evidence of human occupation in Indiana. It may be the earliest artifact you would ever find in Indiana made by human hands," said Jones, who is with the Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology in the Indiana Department of Natural Resources.
Read the August 30 story in the Indianapolis Star at
Prehistoric dig at dam site running out of time, money
An excavation at the site of a future reservoir in Colorado has the public asking "how much is enough?" when it comes to paying for archaeology. Costs soared to $800,000 this summer as scientists continued to find artifacts, and the final price tag could exceed $1 million once 40,000 items are fully analyzed.
Archaeologists working near Stockton, Missouri, believe they have found some of the oldest evidence of human activity in North America, but their window on tens of thousands of years of history is weeks away from closing forever.
University of Kansas' American Indian artifacts are being neglected
A group of graduate students has started a campaign to improve conditions for the University of Kansas' anthropology collections. They're hoping the university will step up its care for the American Indian collection, and for about 4,800 artifacts representing cultures in other parts of the world.
Beneath a bluff by the Rhode River, oyster shells are falling out of the bank, which is eroding so readily that several big trees have toppled into the water.
Atop the sandy bluff, archaeologists are digging holes, and the ones close to the water contain fragments of shells and pottery at least 1,000 years old.
"Oysters don't have legs, so somebody brought them up here and ate them," said Al Luckenbach, Anne Arundel County's chief archaeologist.
Future of the past pits preservationists against developers
Centuries ago, when Native Americans were the principal inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, many bands favored riparian settlement sites, owing to their fertile soils, defensible positions and proximity to food sources and transportation routes. Albeit for different reasons, many of the watershed’s contemporary inhabitants also favor waterfront dwellings.
At two such riverfront sites about 100 miles apart, one on the Susquehanna and another on the Potomac, modern development plans have landed atop remnants of Native American culture, challenging local leaders to strike a delicate balance between the past and future.
An excellent article in the July/August edition of the journal of the Alliance For The Chesapeake Bay at
PHOENIX -- Archaeologists working at a proposed development site in Mesa say they have unearthed one of the largest integrated canal systems the Hohokam Indians ever built in the Phoenix area. Read the July 11 story in The Washington Post at
Researchers think they may have found footprints in southern Mexico that mark the oldest evidence for the presence of humans in the Americas.
The impressions, preserved in volcanic ash outside the city of Puebla, have been dated to about 40,000 years ago, beating the oldest accepted evidence of humans in the Americas by some 25,000 years. If proven, the prints would lend support to controversial theories that people reached this land much earlier than previously thought.
Indiana town's residents support archaeological/historical park
More than two dozen people turned out Thursday to voice support for an archaeological park in Clarksville, Indiana, at a site which is significant because it is part of the original town, is adjacent to the Corps of Discovery's 1803 launch site and is part of a massive Mississippian-era village that surrounded the Falls of the Ohio about 1,000 years ago. Read the July 2 story in The Jeffersonville Evening News at
SunWatch excavation may give clues to Fort Ancient-Mississippian relationship
In the first excavation in 18 years, the Dayton Society of Natural History and the Ohio State University anthropology department have struck a vein of archaeological gold in the SunWatch Indian Village. Read the July 1 story in the Dayton Daily News at
New Mexico archaeologist finalist for national award
The Service to America Medals program announced today that Army Corps of Engineers archaeologist John Schelberg will be considered for one of the seven 2005 awards honoring the highest achievements of federal employees.
When he bought his farm outside Jeffersonville in the late 1960s, T. Harold Martin had no idea that the gentle slopes on the property were part of an American Indian village from some 900 years ago.
A federal grant of $49,025 was announced this month by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to do more studies at Martin's farm -- known by experts as the "Prather site," a reference to a previous landowner. Cheryl Ann Munson, a research scientist in Indiana University's anthropology department, will join a team of researchers at Martin's property in October to collect more artifacts and try to understand the history of the four mounds.
Read the June 27 story in the Louisville Courier-Journal at
A university professor believes he has solved one of the oldest Stonehenge mysteries - the exact location in Wales where the bluestones were quarried. Read more from the BBC News at
The bits and pieces were little more than trash, discarded by Native Americans hundreds of years ago. But those artifacts will help researchers find new clues about the people who once made Angel Mounds a regional center of the Mississippian culture.
Staffan Peterson, from the Glen Black Laboratory at Indiana University, led a six-week dig at the Angel Mounds State Historical Site that wrapped up last week. The excavations uncovered thousands of pieces of material that will take at least a year to sort out and catalog.
In an eerie, cryptlike, environment-controlled vault in a museum in Seattle lie the skeletal remains of one of the earliest Americans -- and a forbidding mystery some 9,300 years old: Kennewick Man.
Scientists say a study of Kennewick Man’s 9,400-year-old remains should begin early next month at the University of Washington’s Burke Museum in Seattle.
Scientists are taking a new look at an old and controversial idea: that ancient Polynesians sailed to Southern California a millennium before Christopher Columbus landed on the East Coast.
The scientists, linguist Kathryn A. Klar of UC Berkeley and archaeologist Terry L. Jones of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, had trouble getting their thesis of ancient contact between the Polynesians and Chumash published in scientific journals. But after grappling for two years with criticisms by peer reviewers, Klar and Jones' article will appear in the archaeological journal American Antiquity in July.
Read the June 20 story in the San Francisco Chronicle at
Archaeological dig may be finding earliest record of campsites in Great Plains
GOODLAND, Kan. - Archaeologists have returned to a dig in rural Sherman County for a third summer, but this year's dig has taken on new importance. Radiocarbon dating results finished in February showed that mammoth and prehistoric camel bones found at the site near Kanorado, about a mile from the Colorado border, dated back to 12,200 years ago. That would mean people who once camped at the site may have arrived in the Great Plains 700 years before historians previously thought.
While the Navy has been using Naval Air Station Patuxent River near Washington, D.C., for testing and evaluating naval aircraft during the last 60 years, recent findings at the construction site for the upcoming Presidential Helicopter Program Facility show it had been used for creating weapons as far back as 4,500 years ago. Read the June 2 story at DCmilitary.com at
