Archaeological discoveries, breakthroughs and theories

[Ponyutd]

I would love to own this.

A FOSSILISED PSITTACOSAURUS DINOSAUR IN DISPLAY CASE
the skeleton supported on a black metal stand and mounted in a mahogany and glazed display case.
The dinosaur 89 cm long from end to end in current position, 44cm high, the case 102cm wide x 76cm high x 44cm deep.
£5,000 at auction.

 

[JimW]

Pot full of eggs found in a 2,500 year old tomb: Experts discover eggs in 2,500-year-old tomb in east China

 

[ringo]

Pot full of eggs found in a 2,500 year old tomb: Experts discover eggs in 2,500-year-old tomb in east China

It is worth considering your FEB's in the afterlife.

 

[trabuquera]

^Pondering this a moment: eggs, belly pork, blood sausage, mushrooms ... all Chinese staples ... holy shit, the ancient Chinese emperors invented the FEB !!!! (if it wasn't the archaic alien overlords before them of course)

 

[trabuquera]

Some wonderful, unique, different things found in amazingly good nick in an Anglo Saxon burial chamber in Essex - including a folding chair (!), remains of a lyre, gold, glass, drinking cups etc - all the bling apparently shows it's from the cusp period when pagans went Christian but burials showed traces of both belief systems: The History Blog » Blog Archive » Prittlewell burial keeps some secrets, tells others

 

[Artaxerxes]

Bark shield from 200+ BC found.

'Phenomenal' 2,300-year-old bark shield found in Leicestershire

 

[ringo]

Bark shield from 200+ BC found.

'Phenomenal' 2,300-year-old bark shield found in Leicestershire

This is the kind of stuff archaeologists have wondered about for over a hundred years. These glimpses of what has been missing thus far from the archaeological world are amazing and open doors we never knew existed. Incredible find.

 

[trabuquera]

Genuine Ancient Roman egg unearthed in Britain - first one to be excavated intact - but sadly it doesn't sound as though there's much amazing new science or any big takeaways - it didn't turn out to be some previously unknown breed of chicken or anything:
The History Blog » Blog Archive » Last one in the pit is a rotten (Roman) egg!

 

[JimW]

Fried or boiled?

 

[trabuquera]

Not even scrambled - which is why the excavators consider it a result

 

[extra dry]

Which came first the chicken or the egg....well I buy the chicken first from the butcher...

 

[bluescreen]

Easter Island: the act of quarrying the statues increased soil fertility:

Based on a 5-year excavation of two Moai found within the Easter Island quarry called Rano Raraku, the Easter Island Statue Project released the first definitive study to reveal the quarry as a complex landscape and link soil fertility, agriculture, quarrying and the sacred nature of the Moai. Chemistry testing suggests the soil in the quarry itself was made more fertile by the act of quarrying, with traces of taro, banana and sweet potato in the area.

Unearthing the mystery of the meaning of Easter Island's Moai: Rapanui people likely believed the ancient monoliths helped food grow on the Polynesian island, study reveals

 

[Steel Icarus]

Bark shield from 200+ BC found.

'Phenomenal' 2,300-year-old bark shield found in Leicestershire

Related: some pics here of how they recreated a similar shield
The Enderby Shield — University of Leicester

 

[trabuquera]

More early Romans-in-Britain Foodstuffs News: the UK's earliest-ever pistachio has been unearthed:

Excavating Cataractonium - Current Archaeology

 

[JimW]

This was interesting, once had a big fat book on mesoamerica which I did read but have largely forgotten beyond how advanced their urban and material cultures were:

Mexican farmers find rare female statue in citrus grove

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Farmers digging in a citrus grove near Mexico’s Gulf coast have found a striking, six-foot-tall statue of a female figure who may represent an elite woman rather than a goddess, or some mixture of the two, experts said Friday.

apnews.com

 

[tufty79]

From last year Nazca Lines: Archaeologists discover 2,000-year-old cat figure in Peru

 

[Artaxerxes]

Not Persian mind, Persia was a thousand years later, almost two.

 

[Santino]

Not Persian mind, Persia was a thousand years later, almost two.

I find some of the details of this tweet dubious.

 

[killer b]

there is an article with less bullshit here: Reconstruction of the Face of a 5000-year old Woman in Iran

 

[extra dry]

the next fashion statement? the real Golden Eye

 

[JimW]

Roman chariot found in pretty good nick near Pompeii:

Archeologists find intact ceremonial chariot near Pompeii

MILAN (AP) — Officials at the Pompeii archaeological site in Italy announced Saturday the discovery of an intact ceremonial chariot, one of several important discoveries made in the same area outside the park near Naples following an investigation into an illegal dig.

apnews.com

 

[Idris2002]

Venetian beads in pre-Columban North America? Sure looks that way:

Venetian Glass Beads May Be Oldest European Artifacts Found in North America

Traders likely transported the small spheres from Italy to northern Alaska in the mid-15th century

www.smithsonianmag.com

 

[hipipol]

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC51Kb5sPg57vgK9PLMdpIbg

Cant embed this as Media for some reason but its the home of a massive list of recently released Current Archaeology channel research of UK based work - fascinating

 

[Artaxerxes]

Some brave archaeologists at work here.

 

[killer b]

ah, I was watching the livestream of this earlier and wondering wtf all those people were doing right up next to the lava flow

 

[cyberfairy]

I would give it thousand years or so to be on the safe side

 

[yield]

3,000-year-old ‘lost golden city’ of ancient Egypt discovered
Fri 9 Apr 2021

The team began excavations in September 2020, between the temples of Ramses III and Amenhotep III near Luxor, 500km (300 miles) south of the capital, Cairo.

“Within weeks, to the team’s great surprise, formations of mud bricks began to appear in all directions,” the statement read. “What they unearthed was the site of a large city in a good condition of preservation, with almost complete walls, and with rooms filled with tools of daily life.”

After seven months of excavations, several neighbourhoods have been uncovered, including a bakery complete with ovens and storage pottery, as well as administrative and residential districts.

 

[agricola]

3,000-year-old ‘lost golden city’ of ancient Egypt discovered
Fri 9 Apr 2021

what with this, and Amarna, something really, really strange was happening in Egypt around that time

 

[wayward bob]

i'm really enjoying the youtube documentation of lee berger's current cave site in south africa - much hominid

fossil vault channel

 

[tim]

Yep, storage and preserving is surely one of the most important factors in the success of humans as a species. It's history and use across different cultures would make a great TV series.

It's a shame that since we all got fridges we no longer all do it as a matter of course. The irony being that we use a fridge to preserve food, but it's such a short term solution that we throw away and waste much of what we refrigerate. If preserved using traditional methods we would waste much less food, money and the resources required to produce it.

I imagine at some point it will become much more important again as global warming, the destruction of the rain forests and increases in global population put even more of a squeeze on the world.

It's not a Shame. It is excellent that we have fridges and don't mess around seeking to preserve, losing most of what we seek to preserve and risk poisoning ourselves with the remnant.