Mycenean Palace and Linear B Tablets Discovered in Sparta Area.

By A. Papapostolou

A new excavation in the Xirokambi area of Aghios Vassilios west of Sparta, in the Peloponnese, Greece, has revealed a richness of Mycenean artefacts in the area, including the remains of a palace, Linear B tablets, fragments of wall paintings, and several bronze swords.

The excavation, led by emeritus ephor of antiquities Adamantia Vassilogrambrou, was presented publicly at the biennial Shanghai Archaeology Forum at the end of August as one of 11 sites showcased from different parts of the world.

The Aghios Vassilios excavation began in 2010, after Linear B tablets were found in the area in 2008, pointing to the existence of a powerful central authority and distribution system. The deciphered texts were devoted to perfume and cloth production, the trade of which was controlled by a palace administration in the Mycenean era.

Evidence of a central palace administration was confirmed also by the architecture, which is dated to the 14th century BC, while contact with Crete was confirmed by the finding of a double axe, a feature of the island’s palace culture.

Artefacts found include seals, a multitude of ceramic and bronze vessels, and 21 bronze swords. According to the evidence, a sudden fire that broke out either at the end of the 14th century or the beginning of the 13th destroyed the three buildings on the site which were never rebuilt at the same location.

Italian archaeologists reproduce the wine of ancient Rome.

by Tom Kington from www.theguardian.com

Archeologists in Italy have set about making red wine exactly as the ancient Romans did, to see what it tastes like.

Based at the University of Catania in Sicily and supported by Italy's national research centre, a team has planted a vineyard near Catania using techniques copied from ancient texts and expects its first vintage within four years.

"We are more used to archeological digs but wanted to make society more aware of our work, otherwise we risk being seen as extraterrestrials," said archaeologist Daniele Malfitana.

At the group's vineyard, which should produce 70 litres at the first harvest, modern chemicals will be banned and vines will be planted using wooden Roman tools and will be fastened with canes and broom, as the Romans did.

Instead of fermenting in barrels, the wine will be placed in large terracotta pots – traditionally big enough to hold a man – which are buried to the neck in the ground, lined inside with beeswax to make them impermeable and left open during fermentation before being sealed shut with clay or resin.

"We will not use fermenting agents, but rely on the fermentation of the grapes themselves, which will make it as hit and miss as it was then – you can call this experimental archaeology," said researcher Mario Indelicato, who is managing the programme.

The team has faithfully followed tips on wine growing given by Virgil in the Georgics, his poem about agriculture, as well as by Columella, a first century AD grower, whose detailed guide to winemaking was relied on until the 17th century.

"We have found that Roman techniques were more or less in use in Sicily up until a few decades ago, showing how advanced the Romans were," said Indelicato. "I discovered a two-pointed hoe at my family house on Mount Etna recently that was identical to one we found during a Roman excavation."

What has changed are the types of grape varieties, which have intermingled over the centuries. "Columella mentions 50 types but we can only speculate on the modern-day equivalents," said Indelicato, who is planting a local variety, Nerello Mascalese.

"To sweeten up their wine, which could be vinegary, the Romans added honey and water to it," he said. "They made better stuff for nobles and cheaper, more vinegary stuff for slaves. We will try and make both types."

The drinking habits of Romans have also changed in two millennia. Whereas Italians today drink moderately with meals, their ancestors were more given to drunken carousing.

"An edict was issued in the first century AD halting the planting of vineyards because people were not growing wheat any more," said Indelicato.

"The Romans took the concept of getting together for a drink from the Greeks after they conquered the Greek-controlled Italian city of Taranto in the third century BC.

"They drank at festivals to mark the pending harvest, after the harvest. In fact, any occasion was good for a drink."

Archaeologists Just Found Another British Noble Buried Under a Parking Lot

By Adam Clark Estes.

There's a sad lesson about urban planning in the trend of major archaeological finds turning up under parking lots in the United Kingdom. Or maybe it's a happy lesson. It's hard to tell.

Archaeologists just announced the discovery of headstone bearing the marks of nobility at the site of a new building being constructed in Edinburgh. Though they've yet to analyze the remains, they believe the knight was buried sometime in the 13th century. "This find has the potential to be one of the most significant and exciting archaeological discoveries in the city for many years, providing us with yet more clues as to what life was like in medieval Edinburgh," said Richard Lewis, a member of the City of Edinburgh Council, in a statement.

Funnily enough, the site of the discovery is a parking lot once used by the University of Edinburgh's archaeology department. This is even funnier when you consider the fact that the long lost remains of King Richard III showed up underneath a parking lot in Leicester. On one hand, the tandem discoveries show that the Brits paved over a lot of important piece of land to build parking lots. On the other hand, the fact that these remains were well preserved and untouched in modern times also suggests that parking lots work as pretty good shields from earth movers. 

It turns out that a lot of great archaeological treasures are found under parking lots. They are, after all, both plentiful and protective. And the recent discovery also shows that the Brits are giving due diligence to having archaeologists on hand when they break ground. While not everybody is thrilled about what historian Edward Tenner refers to as an "exhumation craze," it's encouraging to see workers take care to treat the ground beneath historical locations gingerly.

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Archaeologists believe Stonehenge may have been a burial site.

by: Shane McGlaun

One of the great mysteries in archaeology for decades has been exactly what Stonehenge was used for. Archaeologists and scientists have also attempted over the decades to figure out exactly how prehistoric humans could have constructed such an elaborate site using massive and incredibly heavy stones. Over the weekend, archaeologists offered up a new theory on what I Stonehenge might’ve been used for.

The archaeologists believe that centuries before the first massive sarsen stone was put in place at Stonehenge, the monument could’ve been a giant burial ground. The archaeologists report that they’ve discovered over 50,000 cremated bone fragments from 63 different individuals. These bone fragments were excavated and studied for the first time by a group of archaeologists headed by Professor Mike Parker Pearson.

Pearson has been working with Stonehenge and nearby monuments for decades. According to Pearson, he believes the earliest burials of the site are much older than the monument itself in its current form. According to Pearson, the smaller standing stones were carried to the site from Wales and placed as grave markers at approximately 3000 BC.

He believes that the site remained as a graveyard for at least 200 years with sporadic burials after that time. The archaeologists and his team used new techniques and were able to determine the first time that the burials at the location were not only of adult men. According to the new investigation there are almost equal numbers of men and women including children. The archaeologists discovered artifacts such as an incense bowl leading them to believe that the people buried at the site could’ve been religious and political leaders along with their immediate family.

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Giant camel fossil unearthed in the Arctic.

by: Erin Wayman.

The long-lost cousins of today's camels once roamed the high Arctic, browsing open forests in regions that are near-barren landscapes today. That's the conclusion from an analysis of the fragmentary remains of an ancient leg bone unearthed on Canada's Ellesmere Island, which lies just west of northern Greenland. The find also adds to the tantalizing clues about how these moose-sized, presumably shaggy progenitors fit into the camel family tree—a lineage that today boasts only two species of true camels but includes plenty of South American relatives such as llamas, alpacas, guanacos, and vicuñas.

Today, camels inhabit arid regions stretching from northern Africa to the interior of Asia. But ancestors of the creatures first evolved in North America about 45 million years ago, says Natalia Rybczynski, a paleontologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. Some of these animals crossed a land bridge from what is today Alaska to eastern Siberia—and that meant they were living, even thriving, at latitudes where few mammals can now subsist.

The fossils, dug up by Rybczynski and her colleagues in recent field seasons, came from a gravel-rich layer of sediments laid down more than 3.4 million years ago. The 30 or so bits of bone, none more than 7 centimeters long, have suffered much since they were entombed: Ice sheets have scoured Ellesmere Island several times in the past few million years, and today's freeze-thaw cycles continue to splinter fossils into ever-smaller fragments, Rybczynski says. The sizes and shapes of the bone bits suggest that they came from a tibia (a lower leg bone), but from those clues alone it's impossible to identify the species or group of mammal the fossils came from. However, some bone features clearly indicate that the creature was an artiodactyl, a broad group that today includes deer, cows, and camels.

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SWISS DOLMEN REVEALS RITUALS OF THE NEOLITHIC

Source: www.pasthorizonspr.com

A sensational archaeological discovery has been made in the region of  Bern, Switzerland, consisting of a communal dolmen grave dating back to over 5,000 years, containing 30 bodies and Neolithic artefacts. It represents the first intact burial chamber to be found north of the Alps.

Unexpected discovery

In October 2011, specialists from the Archaeological Service of the Canton of Bern began investigation of the large granite slab weighing in at 7 tonnes. The glacial erratic measured 3 metres long, 2 metres wide and was nearly 1 metre thick – what they did not realise at first was that it still covered a grave belonging to a Neolithic community.

The site was originally found when a farmer decided to try and remove the glacial boulder that he had to mow around when cutting grass in his field.

The boulder is from the last glacial maximum – some 20,000 years ago – and used by the early farmers during the 4th millennium BCE for burial purposes.

According to a report in the Berner Zeitung, Roman and medieval artefacts were found directly overlying the Neolithic layers and show the dolmen was a visible feature in the landscape until at least the 13th century CE. Most of the sediments that cover the site are flood deposits from the nearby river.

Like winning the lottery

The site director of the Oberbipp dolmen excavation, Marco Amstutz comments, “What we found here is like winning the lottery. “

An intact Neolithic communal burial is slowly coming to light, after fears the grave may have been ransacked in the past. The uprights are slightly tilted due to constant flooding from the nearby river, but despite this, the site is reasonably intact.

The excavation of the burial chamber has revealed over 30 individuals as well as what must represent grave goods from the period, including flint arrowheads pendants made of animal teeth and one bead, probably of limestone.

DNA testing of the occupants as well as sophisticated analysis of their teeth will be taking place over the next two years.

Italian Archaeologists discovered the temple of Jupiter Stator in Rome

The Temple of Jupiter Stator was first vowed, according to ancient tradition, by Romulus after a battle with the Sabines. The city of Rome was hardly more than a settlement on the Palatine Hill, and the battle was taking place in the valley, in the Forum Romanum. The Romans were forced to retreat up hill by the Via Sacra, but at the Porta Mugonia they managed to regroup and hold their ground against the Sabines, who were eventually defeated.

Romulus consecrated a templum to Jupiter Stator, "The Stayer", at the spot, just outside the Porta Mugonia. The sanctuary was not an aedes, more likely it was an altar enclosed by a low wall or fence.

In 294 BCE Marcus Atilius Reguilus made a similar vow in a similar situation, when the Romans were losing a battle against the Samnites, but then miraculously turned around, regrouped and held their ground against the enemy. Afterwards he had an aedes, a temple building, constructed on the site of the archaic altar.

On November 8, 63 BCE consul M. Tullius Cicero convened the senate to a meeting in the Temple of Jupiter Stator, where he held his famous first oration against Catiline, denouncing an attack on the state, which he then ruthlessly suppressed.

The location of the Temple of Jupiter Stator is not known with absolute certainty. The written sources give some hints, such as near or just outside the Porta Mugonia (but it is not known where that was), on the higher end of the Via Sacra or just on the Palatine.

There is a fair amount of consensus on a location just besides the Arch of Titus on the N. slope of the Palatine Hill. When a medieval tower was demolished in 1827, the ruins of an ancient building appeared, and these remains are frequently identified as the foundations of the Temple of Jupiter Stator.

The Italian archaeologist Filippo Coarelli places the Temple of Jupiter Stator closer to the forum, between the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina and the Basilica of Maxentius, where the so-called Temple of Romulus  stand. His line of reasoning is based on the course of the Via Sacra before the construction of the Basilica of Maxentius, the known borders of the ancient administrative regions of the city and literary sources listing the monuments in each region. The location near the Arch of Titus does not fit, since it is in the wrong administrative region and not in the right position relative to the other buildings listed by ancient writers, but the Temple of Romulus on the Via Sacra is a perfect match.

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