archeology

Avalin · Senior Member

archeology

Avalin · Senior Member

Re: the cultural thread

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Ruins Suggest Tropical Stonehenge

Associated Press

June 28, 2006 — A group of granite blocks along a grassy Amazon hilltop may be the vestiges of a centuries-old astronomical observatory — a find archaeologists say shows early rainforest inhabitants were more sophisticated than previously believed.

The 127 blocks, some as high as 9 feet tall, are spaced at regular intervals around the hill, like a crown 100 feet in diameter.

On the shortest day of the year — Dec. 21 — the shadow of one of the blocks, which is set at an angle, disappears.

"It is this block's alignment with the winter solstice that leads us to believe the site was once an astronomical observatory," said Mariana Petry Cabral, an archaeologist at the Amapa State Scientific and Technical Research Institute. "We may be also looking at the remnants of a sophisticated culture."

Anthropologists have long known that local indigenous populations were acute observers of the stars and sun. But the discovery of a physical structure that appears to incorporate this knowledge suggests pre-Columbian Indians in the Amazon rainforest may have been more sophisticated than previously suspected.

"Transforming this kind of knowledge into a monument; the transformation of something ephemeral into something concrete, could indicate the existence of a larger population and of a more complex social organization," Cabral said.

Cabral has been studying the site, near the village of Calcoene, just north of the equator in Amapa state in far northern Brazil, since last year.

She believes it was once inhabited by the ancestors of the Palikur Indians, and while the blocks have not yet been submitted to carbon dating, she says pottery shards near the site indicate they are pre-Columbian and maybe older — as much as 2,000 years old.

Last month, archaeologists working on a hillside north of Lima, Peru, announced the discovery of the oldest astronomical observatory in the Western Hemisphere — giant stone carvings, apparently 4,200 years old, that align with sunrise and sunset on Dec. 21.

While the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs built large cities and huge rock structures, pre-Columbian Amazon societies built smaller settlements of wood and clay that quickly deteriorated in the hot, humid Amazon climate, disappearing centuries ago, archaeologists say.

Farmers and fishermen in the region around the Amazon site have long known about it, and the local press has dubbed it the "tropical Stonehenge."

Archeologists got involved last year after geographers and geologists did a socio-economic survey of the area by foot and helicopter, and noticed "the unique circular structure on top of the hill," Cabral said.

Scientists not involved in the discovery said it could prove valuable to understanding pre-Columbian societies in the Amazon.

"No one has ever described something like this before. This is an extremely novel find — a one of a kind type of thing," said Michael Heckenberger of the University of Florida's Department of Anthropology.

He said that while carbon dating and further excavation must be carried out, the find adds to a growing body of thought among archaeologists that prehistory in the Amazon region was more varied than had been believed.

"Given that astronomical objects, stars, constellations etc., have a major importance in much of Amazonian mythology and cosmology, it does not in any way surprise me that such an observatory exists," said Richard Callaghan, a professor of geography, anthropology and archaeology at the University of Calgary.

Brazilian archaeologists will return in August, when the rainy season ends, to carry out carbon dating and further excavations.

"The traditional image is that some time thousands of years ago small groups of tropical forest horticulturists arrived in the area and they never changed — (that) what we see today is just like it was 3,000 years ago," Heckenberger said.

"This is one more thing that suggests that through the past thousands of years, societies have changed quite a lot."

and... in Russia.. they found something too..

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20041115/stonehenge.html

Avalin · Senior Member

When I was in Norway, I visited a sacred sami (lappish) stone. I told about this on the former forum. What I didn't tell , is that next to this stone there was a burial place. Sami people burie their dead under huge flat stones. The graves are empty now. Somewhere in the 1940ies ''archeologists'' dig up the graves, becouse they wanted to loot the place, and proove that sami people where lesser then Norse people. They thought they could proove this by investigating the bones and skulls. All the graves where robbed. Sami people give gifts to the dead, and everything was taken. The bones went to musea: some displayed, some where cut into pieces.

In the 1970ies the sami families from that aerea claimed back their ancestors. That was a major struggle because the authorities first denied everything, and later did not want to give them back. After a long struggle the people got back some of the remains. Can you imagine the skull of your grandfather being displayed in a museum? Two skulls where given back.They other remains where mysteriously disappeared.

(graves, Mortensness, Bearstone)

These graverobberies happen all over the world. The australian aboriginals have tried to stop the digging of ancestral graves, and the first nations of North America fought the same fight-and won.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (or NAGPRA) is a United States federal law passed in 1990 requiring that Native Americans cultural items be returned to their respective peoples if and when they have been excavated, and allows archeological teams a short time for analysis before the remains must be returned. "Cultural items" include human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects of cultural patrimony. Consequently, this legislation also applies to many Native American artifacts, especially burial items and religious artifacts. It has necessitated massive cataloguing of the Native American collections of many museums in order to identify the living heirs, culturally affiliated Indian tribes, and Native Hawaiian organizations of remains and artifacts.

Archaeologists charge that NAGPRA has severely limited their ability to complete their research. Most, however, agree that this legislation is necessary in order to show respect for Native religions and different religious beliefs in general. Contemporary American archaeologists believe that many of their predecessors were grave robbers, and some Native Americans believe that that label can be applied to the profession today. In some cases, NAGPRA-mandated repatriation has greatly improved relations between archaeologists and Native Americans, and this improved trust has occasionally been reported to have paid dividends in archaeological knowledge.

There have been some issues raised by the legislation; most notably in the case of Kennewick Man, where the direct descendants of the person/remains can not be certain. Kennewick Man is a skeleton found near Kennewick, Washington. The Umatilla, Colville, Yakima, and Nez Perce tribes claim that Kennewick Man is their ancestor, and that they should thus be permitted to rebury him. Archaeologists claim that because of Kennewick Man's great age and his caucasoid appearance, there is no evidence of sufficient connection between him and the modern tribes. The age of the remains makes them very valuable scientifically.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_American_Graves_Protection_and_Repatriation_Act

zina · Senior Member

Friday, September 29, 2006 12:50:05 Vietnam (GMT+07)

Ancient burial urns found in central Vietnam

Archaeologists have discovered 30 burial jars belonging to the 2,500-year-old Sa Huynh civilization in central Vietnam.

The graves together with many artifacts were unearthed at the Con Dai archaeological site in Thua Thua-Hue province’s Huong Tra district.

Of the jars, 25 contained ritual offerings like small trays, agate balls, and earrings, all of them still intact. They will be displayed at the Museum of Vietnamese History and the province’s museum.

The archaeologists said the excavation provided further evidence that an early Metal Age culture had once existed in central Vietnam.

The Sa Huynh culture has been dated to roughly the same time as the Dong Son culture (circa 1000 BC-200 AD) but it had a distinctive decorative style of bronze axes, daggers, and ornaments.

In a unique practice, it cremated its dead and buried their ashes in urns covered with lids together with ritually broken offerings

-- Edited by zina at 15:26, 2006-09-29

zina · Senior Member

Thing of beauty: Andrew Morrison, curator of archaeology at the Yorkshire Museum, with the rare Viking gold band. Picture: Gerard Binks.

Armring found by builder's son is bought by museum
Pure gold... rare piece of Viking jewellery returns to the city of York
Brian Dooks
ONE of the rarest pieces of Viking gold jewellery to be found in Britain or Ireland has returned to the City of York.
The arm ring – weighing 325 grammes – was found among the possessions of a former builder after the 88-year-old man died in February, 2004.
It was taken to York coroner, Donald Coverdale, by Douglas Ingle who found the ring while sorting through his father's belongings and realised it had archaeological importance.
A treasure inquest heard that Mr Ingle's father had worked in the building trade all his life and lived in the York area, which was the Viking capital of the North of England. Mr Coverdale declared the ring to be treasure which made it Crown property, but it has now been bought by the Yorkshire Museum in York.
The pure gold arm band is only the third of this type ever to be found in Britain and Ireland.
The York Museum Trust, which runs the Yorkshire Museum, was successful in applying for funding to purchase the arm ring. It will go on display in the next few weeks.
The museum's curator of archaeology, Andrew Morrison, said: "This is only the second arm ring of this type to be found in England and for us to have it is exceptional.
"It is a stunningly nice piece and not only is it gold and Viking but incredibly rare as well. We are delighted that we are able to keep it here in York where it was found."
The bracelet is from the 9th or 10th century and comprises three strands of intertwined gold. It would have been owned by only the most affluent members of Viking society.
Mr Morrison said: "Viking warriors were often awarded silver bands for being successful in battle but a gold one was worn by the rich – most probably Royalty."
He added: "One important point the arm ring illustrates is that York was not just the home of tradesman and a dirty, smelly place to be, as is often the stereotypical image. These bands would have been worn by some of the richest and most powerful people in the country and they lived right here in York."
The arm band was bought by the York Museum Trust with funding from the Victoria and Albert Museum Purchase Grant Fund and the Headley Trust.
29 September 2006

zina · Senior Member

Young N.M. Hiker Finds Prehistoric Bowl

The Associated Press
Friday, September 29, 2006; 8:41 PM

SILVER CITY, N.M. -- A Texas teenager has found what one archaeologist at the Gila Cliff Dwellings in southwestern New Mexico describes as a "pretty big deal."

Andrew Connell, 15, was on a hike with his classmates in the Gila Wilderness this spring when the group was distracted by what sounded like an owl. While looking for the bird, he spotted something among the rocks and oak leaves.

It ended up being an almost intact prehistoric bowl that dates back to the time when the Mogollon people lived in the area.

"It's a pretty big deal. To find something intact where it's been for 1,000 years is pretty unusual," said Gila archaeologist Carol Telles.

Fellow archaeologist Gail Firebaugh-Smith said it has taken some time to announce the find, which sheds some light on the lives of the Mogollon people.

"The fact that it is so complete and that we are able to reconstruct it is so important," she said, noting that the location the bowl was found tells archaeologists how fair the Mogollon would travel from the cliff dwellings for daily work.

After Connell spotted the bowl under a rock wall, trip leaders suggested they return the bowl to the niche and report the find to the visitor center. The group took GPS coordinates, sketched a map and took photos.

Telles said visitors often bring artifacts to the visitor center, ruining any chance for archaeologists to interpret the artifact in its original setting.

Firebaugh-Smith said the bowl, now at the Gila National Forest's office in Silver City, will be researched, reconstructed and likely displayed in a museum or exhibit.

-- Edited by zina at 16:25, 2006-10-01