Posts Tagged Archaeologists

Found: Ardnamurchan Viking Boat Burial, Fully Intact & Shipwreck of Kublai Khan’s Lost Feet, Possibly

First, the viking:

The term “fully-intact”, used to describe the find, means the remains of the body along with objects buried with it and evidence of the boat used were found and recovered.

The Ardnamurchan Viking was found buried with an axe, a sword with a decorated hilt, a spear, a shield boss and a bronze ring pin.

About 200 rivets – the remains of the boat he was laid in – were also found.

Previously, boat burials in such a condition have been excavated at sites on Orkney.

Now, the shipwreck:

In Japanese legend they are known as The Kamikaze — the divine winds — a reference to two mighty typhoons placed providentially seven years apart which, in the 13th century, destroyed two separate Mongol invasion fleets so large they were not eclipsed until the D-Day landings of World War II.

Marine archaeologists now say they have uncovered the remains of a ship from the second fleet in 1281 — believed to have comprised 4,400 vessels — a meter below the seabed, in 25 meters of water off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan.

via guardian, bbcnews, cnn

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Found: Buried Alive! 34,000-Year-Old Organisms. Resurrected for Science

photo credit Michael Timofeeff

“It was actually a very big surprise to me,” said Brian Schubert, who discovered ancient bacteria living within tiny, fluid-filled chambers inside the salt crystals.

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Schubert, now an assistant researcher at the University of Hawaii, said the bacteria – a salt-loving sort still found on Earth today – were shrunken and small, and suspended in a kind of hibernation state.
“They’re alive, but they’re not using any energy to swim around, they’re not reproducing,” Schubert told OurAmazingPlanet. “They’re not doing anything at all except maintaining themselves.

This sounds more like Groonkus sapiens than an ancient bacteria.

via yahoo news

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Davey Jones Relents Lost Treasure, The Sword of Blackbeard the Pirate Found

This man, Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard

…was the master of dramatic presentation. Seriously, he could give Batman lessons.

Blackbeard cultivated a ferocious appearance to seem even more menacing: a long dark beard, numerous knives, swords and pistols strapped to his chest — even lighted fuses in his hair.

Now we have the remnants of his sword.

It’s one of the latest finds aboard the remains of the ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge, known at one time to be the flagship of Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard. The vessel ran aground on a North Carolina sandbar in 1718 and was abandoned; modern archaeologists have been excavating the shipwreck for more than a decade. The design and ornamentation of this newest discovery have led the researchers to believe it likely belonged to the notorious pirate himself.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Found: New Structure at Stonehenge…The Underhenge? The Pandorica?!

Sadly, it’s not The Pandorica. Maybe a better word would be ‘luckily.’ All you non-Dr Who fans will have to wait a tick for the real science to kick in while we reflect one more time on the 11th Doctor’s recent series finale.

A finale that involved Romans, just about every alien who’s had their plans vanquished by The Doctor, and Stonehenge. The plot takes place under Stonehenge to be exact. The Underhenge.

And inside that henge, The Pandorica(seen below in concept art).

But that’s not what they found.

Enough geeking out over what couldn’t possibly exist.(or could it?). Let’s move on to hard fact.

Using radar, the archaeologists found a circular ditch less than one kilometer away from the iconic stone circle, which is thought to date back to the Neolithic period 2,000 to 4,000 years ago.

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The ditch has internal pits about a meter wide which could have held timber posts. It measures 25 meters (82 ft) in diameter, just five meters less than Stonehenge.

“From the general shape, we would guess it dates backs to about the time when Stonehenge was emerging at its most complex,” Gaffney said.

“This is probably the first major ceremonial monument that has been found in the past 50 years or so.

Maybe our memory is playing tricks cause we’re almost certain a wooden henge was found years ago. Or what it just supposition then?

via news daily

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