Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Helen
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 05:49 PM

This totally doesn't fit the thread name, but where else am I going to post it? :-D

Oh well, maybe it does fit the thread. The structure is over 200 years old and was a marvelous piece of engineering and construction.

The Secret Life Of Lighthouses
Documentary

"Presenter Rob Bell takes us on a voyage around Britain and Ireland to reveal the hidden secrets that make offshore lighthouses such extraordinary feats of engineering. Braving the awesome might of the North Atlantic to the tempestuous moods of the North Sea, Rob takes a look behind closed doors to crack the code of these of these enigmatic structures."

I've watched the two episodes aired so far on Oz TV station SBS.

Yesterday while busking on St Pat's Day across the road from a new high-rise building construction with a humongous counterweighted crane on top, I was thinking of the episode on the Bell Lighthouse which I had been watching the day before. Robert Stevenson, the engineer who designed and project-managed the construction of that lighthouse also had the bright idea to use a counterweight on large construction cranes.

The site of the Bell Lighthouse is a reef of rocks submerged except at low tide so construction was problematic, and some people said it was impossible. I also like the idea of the huge interlocking stone pieces used in the tower so that it could withstand onslaughts from the sea. The parabolic reflectors and later the Fresnel lenses to project the light were also interesting.

It was built between 1907 and 1810.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 03:45 PM

Lucy is over 3 million years old. Your beach friend is a youngster.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 02:36 PM

I saw something on TV last night that I didn't know about. Apparently, on the beach at Happisburgh (Norfolk coast) ancient footprints of very early human beings have been discovered. They are about 800,000 years old, and only Africa has any older ones.
Oi orlways reckon'd wair bin hair a roit lorng toim bor!

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 11:48 AM

Do you suppose the Ancient Egyptians realized carrying heavy stones beneath their ships would allow for heavier loads and stability?
Meso Americans knew this trick. It also appears the Olmec had ocean trade routes to obtain jade.

40,000 year old ice age art
Great show worth the $1.99 if you don't have the science channel.
Even back then we were fscinated by cats, but probably for different reasons.

I love Mammouth cave.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 10:26 AM

thanks, stilly

it is so easy to remove stuff - tho sometime stuff gets returned

The Mystery Of The Uluru 'Curse' Take photos but leave the rocks. It's Australia's most famous rock and annually there are 300,000 people who visit the World Heritage listed site.
Sadly, a portion of those visitors feel that they want to take home more than just photos and memories. They "souvenier" a piece of the rock itself. Apart from it being an ethically and environmentally adverse thing to do, there are many who feel that the rocks they take from the rock are cursed.
While there is no curse that the Anangu, the traditional custodians, are aware of, they acknowledge that the removing of rocks from the area is hugely disrespectful to their beliefs and culture. It can also be expensive! Tourists caught trying to take pieces of nature from the national park can face fines of up to $8500 ... (read on & learn about the Sorry Rocks)

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 09:54 AM

I edited that second link. I worked in the Mammoth Cave area years ago; the friend who owned the commercial cave where I was working used to be a guide in the dry Mammoth Cave (National Park Service). There is a lot of evidence of human activity in there and the speleological folks drag out artifacts by the trash bag full. Including coprolites. All of it is supposed to be left in place, but there is no enforcement in there, apparently.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 12:55 AM

wow! Face of incredibly preserved 700-year-old mummy found by chance

oops, 2nd link above doesn't work, so I tried blickifying again. When I paste this in the last 3 digits won't appear - TWICE, https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/archaeologists-match-300-year-old-clump-fecal-matter-bishop-made-it-007058 so pop it into your own search engine

sandra

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 17 Mar 21 - 12:44 AM

yuk! Whole Rattlesnake Including Fangs Found Inside Lump of Fossilized Human Poo

Archaeologists Match 300-Year-Old Clump of Fecal Matter to the Bishop that Made

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 13 Mar 21 - 08:15 AM

"Maybe, like me, they just think it's the best place on Earth..." (Steve)...and the fertile earth!

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 13 Mar 21 - 07:11 AM

Getting the sun to revolve around the earth was standard operating procedure back then. There is another way to make a hollow tube without a lathe. The mind that conceived of this 'eclipse predictor' is the real mystery and not just the mechanism. For a seafarer, a compass would be more valuable. Ancient polynesians used more subtle human senses for navigation. The ancient Ronco home dial a planet gizmo still remains cool and fragile.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Mar 21 - 02:07 AM

Scientists may have solved ancient mystery of 'first computer' - Researchers claim breakthrough in study of 2,000-year-old Antikythera mechanism, an astronomical calculator found in sea

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 06:56 PM

Naples is the third-largest urban area in Italy, taking in over three million people, most of whom live between Vesuvius on one side and Campi Flegrei on the other :-) You'd think that it was one of the most dangerous places on earth to live, and it probably is, but the Vesuvius observatory is pretty high-tech and keeps a wary eye on anything moving around underground. There's a huge contingency evacuation plan in place should there be adverse rumblings. But three million...?

The wonderful thing if you're a tourist is that Sorrento (a busy, lovely town: contact me for info on the best gelateria...) at one end and Naples at the other are connected by the Circumvesuviana railway. The whole journey from one end to the other is less than an hour and a half, and it costs next to nothing, and the trains are frequent. But en route you can stop off at stations for Stabiae, Pompei and Herculaneum, and you will! Beat that!! In Naples you have the archaeological museum, which is hot, steamy, un-air-conditioned and utterly stunning. To get to Pozzuoli and the Solfatara volcano you take a Metropolitana train from Naples, half an hour. Watch your pockets! And you simply must have a pizza in Napoli!

We stayed for a week just outside Sorrento, in a scruffy but brilliant place called Marina Grande. From there we could see right across the Bay of Naples to Naples and Vesuvius, and wonder why all those millions choose to live so dangerously. Maybe, like me, they just think it's the best place on Earth...

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 06:27 PM

wow!

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 03:40 PM

Agreed, and I'd also fancy a detour for a swim in nearby Cala di Nisida - Location on Google Maps

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 03:04 PM

That was an interesting detour from the things I intended to be doing right now!

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 02:13 PM

The town of Pozzuoli is a workaday sort of place, but at the bottom of the town is the Macellum, or market place, which has three upstanding marble columns which have signs of erosion caused by molluscs a long way up them, showing that the ground level was much lower in Roman times, another example of the bradyseism I mentioned. It's a bit of an uphill slog from there, passing some unexcavated Roman remains below the road at one point, until you reach the Solfatara crater. In 2013 it was €6 to go in, but you can bet it's gone up since then. The crater floor is flat and covered in a stark white deposit. There are plenty of menacing fumaroles spouting sulphureous fumes accompanied by loud hissing. There are also areas of boiling mud pools, one of which was the scene of a tragedy in 2017 when a young boy and his parents died - the lad fell in and the parents died trying to rescue him. In the early 4th century San Gennaro, patron saint of Naples, and San Proculus, patron saint of Pozzuoli, were both beheaded in the Solfatara. You can still see San Gennaro's bones in the crypt of the duomo in Naples (if you really want to). There was a phreatic eruption (ground water reacting with the underlying magma chamber) in 1198, so you wonder whether the volcano is flexing its muscles...

There are two amazing Roman villas in nearby Stabiae (where Pliny The Elder died during the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius). If you take a look at the satellite photo on wiki you can clearly make out the circle of the caldera, and you can see the little white patch which is the Solfatara crater. And plenty more. I don't half rattle on a lot about that area, but it's my absolute favourite place in the whole world. Sorry about that!

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 11:40 AM

I've poked around that part of the planet using Google Earth in the past. A visit today offered up an interesting photo of a sulfur vent Solfatara Volcano. I grew up around sleeping volcanoes (the Pacific Rim of Fire runs under the Cascade Mountains in the Pacific Northwest) but would think more than twice about living in such close proximity as the Naples community is situated.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 09:33 AM

Correcting misinformation is not a dig. I'm simply asking you to check information before you post. Accurate information posted in threads such as this makes for a more pleasant experience.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 09:04 AM

There you go with a personal dig as always. Some new and challengable evidence is in the last links I provided. I can see how pockets remained longer than we thought. I too think climate and floods share extinction factors.

Also new is CRISPR technology so we can write new inheritable code into our DNA. Now that use for our 7,000 genetic diseases is reasonable imo but going beyond that is a risky and dangerous path fraught with unknowable results. China has already crossed the line. Believe me or not, individuals will sooner than later have home devices that can read and write inheritable genes.

The CRISPR application to ancient paleological and anthropological is greater than we may be able to know today.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 06:19 AM

There is no evidence that Neanderthals were extant 20,000 years ago. Even 30,000 years is a stretch, with only scant and inconclusive evidence. The best estimate, based on solid evidence, is extinction around 40,000 years ago, and that the sharp cooling after the Campanian Ignimbrite, which lasted for at least a year, with acid rain being another adverse environmental factor for years afterwards, were quite likely pivotal in their extinction. I prefer to look things up before I post...

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 12 Mar 21 - 05:39 AM

I've only watched scuba diving shows of that caldera.
The ol Neanders' were out and about even 200,000 years ago. They faded away as little as 20,000 years ago, Assimilated along with at least 5 other hominid species we are still a diversity of other hominids in our genes. For example Sherpas in Nepal have more denosovian genes and Europeans have more ancient South east asian genes. wtf?
There has been a whole lotta sex and travel goin on for some time.
Science trys to show a detailed path of mankind.
Maybe our gene pot is so stirred by now, linear trends may only be an illusion
or not.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 11 Mar 21 - 08:12 PM

I've always been very interested in the area near Naples known as Campi Flegrei, or the Phlegraean Fields, which is a caldera eight miles across, largely submerged in the Bay of Naples but with some manifestations on land, the Solfatara volcano for example. There was a huge supereruption of Campi Flegrei around 39000 years ago which measured 7 on the VEI scale (which basically means a very big eruption, the biggest in Europe for 200,000 years). Very shortly after the eruption there was a sharp climatic cooling, and at the same time the Neanderthals died out in Europe, to be replaced by modern humans. There are notions afoot, not settled by science, that these events were linked to the eruption. The caldera is still active, with a shallow magma chamber "hotspot" that was recently shown to be linked to the one under Vesuvius, about 12 miles away. The Solfatara crater is full of boiling mud pools and fumaroles, a great place to visit (there's a nice café/bar at the entrance and a nearby campsite that provides smelly nights). The area is noted for its rather scary bradyseism, large areas of land rising and falling in response to the magma underneath shifting around. In the early 80s the town of Pozzuoli was uplifted very sharply over a couple of years by several feet, and was evacuated for fear of an eruption. That time all was well. Like Yellowstone, it's a place worth keeping a wary eye on.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Mar 21 - 07:49 PM

Now, they have published data revealing how these 'Neanderthalized' brain organoids behave.

On Thursday, a team, including Muotri, published a study in the journal Science detailing brain organoids they grew with the Neanderthal variant of NOVA1, a gene that influences neurodevelopment and function.

The addition, in turn, caused the organoids to differ from those strictly of the Homo sapien variety: They developed slower, expressed different electrophysical properties, and displayed higher surface complexity.

Muotri tells Inverse it’s fair to say these changes would influence specific abilities. “We know that even small perturbations during early development might have a dramatic impact on human behavior,” he says.

And while it’s premature to say Neanderthals acted in one way or another, the results do add to our understanding of the differences between these extinct humans and us. It’s understood we evolved to be a unique type of human. Cells in a dish may explain why.

WHAT’S NEW — This study helps explain why modern humans are different from Neanderthals by recreating a potential version of the past.
“This reverse-engineering approach can teach us how the archaic version of the gene behaves in the relevant cell types,” Muotri says.
“By knowing this, we can then create hypotheses on why these differences emerged.”

Genomic analysis comparing the genomes of Neanderthals to a diverse population of modern humans revealed there are 61 protein-coding genes different between the two groups. The study team decided to zero in on the gene NOVA1 because it’s “a master regulator of hundreds of other genes during neurodevelopment,” Muotri says.

Neanderthal brain organoids
The brain organoids with the Neanderthal version of NOVA1 developed uneven surfaces.Muotri Lab/UC San Diego

With the help of CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing technology, the team replaced the modern human allele of the NOVA1 gene in human pluripotent stem cells with the archaic NOVA1 gene from the Neanderthal genome.

Observations revealed this reintroduction caused changes in “alternative splicing” in genes involved in neurodevelopment, proliferation, and synaptic connectivity. Alternative splicing is a mechanism the nervous system uses to generate complexity and variability, Muorti explains. NOVA1 typically regulates alternative splicing in developing nervous systems.

“The archaic NOVA1 targets these genes to be spliced in different ways, generating new isoforms that we don’t detect in modern humans or will only appear at different stages,” Muorti says.

The organoids looked different too. Modern human brain organoids have a smooth surface, while the archaic versions have uneven surfaces.
Human brain organoids
Modern human brain organoids, without the archaic version of NOVA1.Muotri Lab/UC San Diego
Brain organoids, for their part, differ from actual brains in important ways. Their gene expression generally mirrors that of a developing brain in utero, but they are not a perfect reproduction of brain cell types, and there is some concern growing organoids can introduce unintended mutations. In a 2019 interview with Inverse, Muotri emphasized brain organoids are human-like — but not exactly human.

But experts suggest they do have the potential to revolutionize medical research when it comes to disease modeling and drug screening. And now, it appears they may revolutionize our understanding of what it means to be human.

WHY IT MATTERS — These results suggest the modern human version of NOVA1, which likely became a fixed part of Homo sapien DNA after our ancestors diverged from Neanderthals, some 500,000 to 800,000 years ago, was critical to our species’ evolution.

brain organoids
A tray of modern human brain organoids.Muotri Lab/UC San Diego
“The neural network consequence of the archaic NOVA1 is something we are super excited about and what to explore further,” Muotri says.

If we can watch brain organeles from Neanderthals beave next to sapian organelles you know damn well we could watch a neanderthal infant grow up this decade. CRISPR goes beyond our current ethics and philosphies imo.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Mar 21 - 07:31 PM

My fav You look just like Mr. Pinski!

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 11 Mar 21 - 07:10 PM

I've been reviewing Neanderthals lately regarding birth, pelvic size, early cranial growth and immunity factors. Basicly they are much like us but with high tinny voices. We are mostly Cro Magnon.

One of the better sites I found: https://www.inverse.com/science/the-abstract-vikings-neanderthals-setting-the-genetic-record-straight

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 10 Mar 21 - 08:26 PM

Ancient Origins is a great site for fact & pseudoarchaeology.

I read the facts, tho not usually the pseudoarchaeology. Tho in my younger days I owned several books by von danikin (or however he spells it.)

sandra (older - yes, & wiser? - dunno)

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Mar 21 - 11:45 AM

Checking out other links beside that story about the modern murder victim dressed up as an ancient mummy, a Pict male was violently murdered a very long time ago. The facial reconstruction is interesting.

As a child I remember reading about the Picts - how they were portrayed as mysterious, dark, short people who were ruthless fighters; that was, of course, the classic disreputable attempt to diminish foes by the winners of whatever battles took place back then. Wikipedia "Pict" entry is nicely populated with material about society, religion, art, writing, culture. . . it makes interesting reading.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 10 Mar 21 - 10:18 AM

Whimsey is one thing but the absence of evidence and my grasp on sanity prevents me from believing in an alien connection as seen on TV.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-idiocy-fabrications-and-lies-of-ancient-aliens-86294030/

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 09 Mar 21 - 05:09 PM

Thats more hideous than Piltdown man.

In the realm of pseudo archeology are my musings of highly advanced civilizations of the zep tepi or older that did not build in stone and left virtually no trace like our own perishable buildings of today. They could be 10 to fourteen thousand years old when the ice age gave way in great pulse melts. I ponder lost recipees of thin cement/concrete that mimics stone or semi opaque buildings of silica. Based on actual geologic events I can't rule out advanced civilizations by humans 50 to 70,000 years ago. The imagination of fantasy writers can run wild in such places.
Fragile remnants are found in deserts and peat bogs but little fragility remains under the great rising water of the ocean

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Mar 21 - 05:07 PM

Mummy Cold Case: Tracing the Identity of the Mystery ‘Persian Princess’

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 07:17 PM

interesting reading Wikipedia The Yonaguni Monument also known as "Yonaguni (Island) Submarine Ruins", is a submerged rock formation off the coast of Yonaguni, the southernmost of the Ryukyu Islands, in Japan. It lies approximately a hundred kilometres east of Taiwan.
Marine geologist Masaaki Kimura claims that the formations are man-made stepped monoliths.[1] These claims have been described as pseudoarchaeological.[2] Neither the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs nor the government of Okinawa Prefecture recognise the features as important cultural artifacts and neither government agency has carried out research or preservation work on the site.[3]

Lots of great photos on all types of sites (diving & pseudoarchaeological)

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 06:19 PM

I know this odd underground city well. Underwater cities weren't always underwater

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: WalkaboutsVerse
Date: 05 Mar 21 - 04:34 PM

There is a programme on the BBC just now looking at the honeycomb-like construction of Çatalhöyük in Turkey, where folks moved about not by roads or paths but via the roof's of neighbours - arriving home via a kind of chimney.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 02 Mar 21 - 09:41 AM

Ferrari is hoping the chariot is one of theirs. ;^/
Pompei shows the life of the common and rich Romans alike.
The conveniences and luxuries of life in 97 AD has many similarities with today.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 28 Feb 21 - 09:48 AM

Two victims of Vesuvius eruption discovered in Pompeii.

Several of these casts made the museum rounds years ago, and I saw some of these casts (of what once were apparently just air gaps in the site, then someone decided to fill it in and see what had been there - and the shapes of people appeared.) I saw them at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 28 Feb 21 - 06:52 AM

That Pompei find is amazing. It's a wonderful place and there's still a lot more excavating to do. The young new director's stated philosophy is to go slowly and carefully and to leave much unexcavated for now because new techniques in the future might yield better results than are possible today.

I've been twice to Pompei, once in 1968 (on a school trip: I have fond memories of the priest leading the trip standing at the entrance of the little street that contained the prostitutes' houses, the ones with erotic frescoes, with his arms folded, firmly denying us access) and once in 2013 (I made a beeline for that street, of course). The years peeled away... A full day's visit wouldn't do Pompei justice. It's huge and it's fabulous and it's confusing, even if you have a guide book. You can go round with a guide, but that misses things out and is all a bit "potted."

And, next day, go to Herculaneum!

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 27 Feb 21 - 08:13 PM

Pompeii archaeologists find intact ceremonial chariot at site of illegal dig

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 25 Feb 21 - 10:15 PM

I visited a couple of friends who were rangers at Petrified Forest and spent time hiking - we parked in a narrow area of the park, walked out onto private property where there is just as much petrified wood, and picked some up. We walked back through the park and tried not to look like we were each carrying 50 pounds of rocks. :)

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 25 Feb 21 - 11:19 AM

I love petrified wood. petrified forest
I have some. In Australia petrified wood has opalized.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 25 Feb 21 - 03:03 AM

'Unique' petrified tree up to 20m years old found intact in Lesbos First came the tree, all 19.5 metres of it, with roots and branches and leaves. Then, weeks later, the discovery of 150 fossilised logs, one on top of the other, a short distance away.

Nikolas Zouros, a professor of geology at the University of the Aegean, couldn’t believe his luck. In 25 years of excavating the petrified forest of Lesbos, he had unearthed nothing like it.

“The tree is unique. To discover it so complete and in such excellent condition is a first. To then discover a treasure trove of so many petrified trunks in a single pit was, well, unbelievable.” (read on)

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 15 Feb 21 - 04:35 AM

Discovery of ancient Bogong moth remains at Cloggs Cave gives insight into Indigenous food practices 2000 years ago (Australia) see also links at end of article


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Emu_(book) Dark Emu: Black Seeds: Agriculture or Accident? is a 2014 non-fiction book by Bruce Pascoe. It reexamines colonial accounts of Aboriginal people in Australia, and cites evidence of pre-colonial agriculture, engineering and building construction by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
In Dark Emu: Black seeds: agriculture or accident?, Pascoe examines the journals and diaries of early explorers such as Charles Sturt and Thomas Mitchell[5] and early settlers in Australia,[1] finding evidence in their accounts of existing agriculture,[6][7] engineering and building, including stone houses, weirs, sluices and fish traps, and also game management.[8][9] This evidence of occupation[10] challenges the traditional views about pre-colonial Australia[11] and "Terra Nullius".[12] The book also gives a description from Sturt's journal of his 1844 encounter with hundreds of Aboriginal people who were living in an established village in what is now Queensland (then part of New South Wales), in which a welcoming party offered him "water, roast duck, cake and a hut to sleep in".

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 13 Feb 21 - 07:56 PM

World's oldest known beer factory may have been unearthed in Egypt

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 11 Feb 21 - 05:04 AM

Conch shell in French museum found to be 17,000-year-old wind instrument

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Feb 21 - 11:40 PM

Neanderthal glue was a bigger deal than we thought

Making birch tar at all is a fairly complex process. It takes multiple steps, lots of planning, and detailed knowledge of the materials and the process. So the fact that archaeologists have found a handful of tools hafted using birch tar tells us that Neanderthals were (pardon the pun) pretty sharp.

But the Zandmotor Beach flake tells us more than that. Making birch tar adhesive for tools was so routine that Neanderthals would do it even for a simple domestic tool like a small flake—even in the extreme environment of Ice Age Northwestern Europe, in the shadow of glaciers at the very northern edge of where Neanderthals could survive. And all the while, they were using fairly advanced methods for more efficient production.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 31 Jan 21 - 07:26 PM

Talking about building on top of ancient things, a few years ago we went to Minori, on the Amalfi Coast in Italy. In one place there are ancient Roman ruins - with modern blocks of flats perched right on top!

I suppose it does at least preserve the ruins... I can't recall too clearly but I think we saw a similar thing in Herculaneum.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Jan 21 - 07:11 PM

I post, then head for the news & find this - Tasmanian ship graveyard & related articles

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Jan 21 - 06:57 PM

I also wondered about the graves not being disturbed, the buildings must have had very shallow foundations or none. Perhaps the site was a garden or a park, so the builders might have had a level site to work with & not needed to dig down. If it was built during the Depression or even after the Depression, maybe lots of blokes with wheelbarrows did all the work ...

I'm reminded of a dig in Sydney several decades back. The new building, a Youth Hostel was being built on top of a concrete carpark (also decades old) & an enormous part of very early Sydney was sealed underneath.

The Big Dig Archaeology Education Centre is part of Sydney Harbour YHA in The Rocks heritage precinct of Sydney. The centre facilitates hands-on archaeology educational experiences and opens the archaeological site to the public.

pics of the site & some finds The Big Dig site is underneath a youth hostel in The Rocks area of Sydney, and guests walk through part of it to get to Reception upstairs. There are also a couple of display cases containing some of the objects found in the area. Wonderful!

google maps - The Rocks YHA

panels evoking the old streetscape displayed out on the streets

I was in the Rocks while it was being excavated in 2008 so took pics thru the mesh fence. One pic shows a pit with a broken china bowl poking out of the wall.

I also have pics of the YHA taken 2 years later. The building is in 2 parts, with the ruins in the middle so everyone (public & residents) can walk thru. It was put above the foundations so most of them (all of them??) were preserved.

sandra

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 31 Jan 21 - 10:01 AM

Sandra, that Cambridge location makes me wonder about how those buildings were constructed. One sees heavy earth-moving equipment working on the foundations of buildings when dormitories or other campus buildings are put up. These graves would have been just a few feet below the surface in that construction zone, so it sounds like they may have been pier and beam (no foundation)? Just posts in the ground?

That Roman bottle is gorgeous, quite a work of art!

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 31 Jan 21 - 09:36 AM

Anglo-Saxon graveyard discovered in Cambridge Graves found under demolished student halls are providing valuable insight into life in a post-Roman settlement.
An early medieval graveyard unearthed beneath student accommodation at Cambridge University has been described as “one of the most exciting finds of Anglo-Saxon archaeology since the 19th century”.

Subject: RE: Armchair Archaeologist (via Google Earth)
From: Donuel
Date: 28 Jan 21 - 06:00 PM

!..? Good luck, it sounds like a novel about love in the time of pandemic:*)

I have a very expensive art encyclopedia from the 1960's that includes many photos of the art objects from Iraq that are now missing.
The orthodoxy of that era is however silly in retrospect.