Long-Term Project Maps Iran’s Archaeological Sites

TEHRAN, IRAN—Forty-five thousand of Iran’s archaeological sites have been placed on a map that was unveiled earlier this week. “The team began their work in 2009, but in fact, Ezzatollah Negaban (the father of modern Iranian archaeology) should be considered as the founder of this project, which began in 1958,” said team leader Abbas Moqaddam. This is the first phase of a three-phase project. The second phase is expected to take ten years. “It will take future generations centuries to complete the third phase,” added Moqaddam. 

“Sunstone” Recovered From Sixteenth-Century British Ship

ALDERNEY, CHANNEL ISLANDS—Tests indicate that a piece of carved crystal recovered from a sixteenth-century shipwreck at the bottom of the English Channel is calcite. Calcite crystals have been shown to reveal patterns of polarized light around the sun, and could have helped early navigators determine its position in the sky on cloudy days. This crystal was found near the ship’s navigation equipment and may have been used as such an optical compass. These crystals are often found in Iceland and Scandinavia, and may have been the “sunstones” of Norse legends. This is the first time that archaeological evidence has been found to support the “sunstone” interpretation.

Bronze Age Boat Replica Floats!

FALMOUTH, ENGLAND—A replica Bronze Age boat paddled by a crew of 18 has been launched into the sea, in spite of the hungry seagulls that tried to eat the moss and sheep fat that make the craft watertight. Such sewn-plank boats were stronger and more stable than the older animal-skin boats and dug-out canoes. They were probably developed in Britain for trade across the North Sea and for transporting soldiers to hostile shores. “We hope that the project will help us answer a series of important questions about how Bronze Age Britons carried out overseas trade,” said Robert Van de Noort of the University of Exeter. Computer models have helped the researchers determine the boat’s cargo-carrying capacity, stability, and speed.

Europe’s Not-So-Dark Ages

GARCHES, FRANCE—A new study of a preserved human head at University Hospital R. Poincaré suggests that Europe’s medieval doctors may have been more advanced in their thinking than had been thought. The head’s veins and arteries had been filled with a mixture of beeswax, lime, and cinnabar mercury to help preserve it and color its circulatory system. Radiocarbon dating indicates that the body was dissected and prepared between 1200 and 1280 A.D., a time known as the “Dark Ages.” But historian James Hannam thinks this label originated with anti-Catholic sentiments after the Reformation. “There was considerable scientific progress in the later Middle Ages, in particular from the thirteenth century onward,” he said.

Ancient Books Rescued With Assistance From German Embassy

TIMBUKTU, MALI—German diplomats provided invaluable assistance with the rescue of more than 200,000 historic books and manuscripts from Timbuktu’s libraries before they could be destroyed by Islamist rebels. The most important documents were smuggled to safety in secure storage boxes, hidden with shipments of lettuce and fruit. “Now we need to preserve them for posterity,” said Guido Westerwelle, Germany’s Foreign Minister.

Plumbing Problems Could Threaten Solar Boat

GIZA, EGYPT—A sewage pipe has reportedly burst in the Khufu Boat Museum, threatening the 4th dynasty pharaoh’s solar barge. “We are looking into the situation and are not sure if any damage has happened,” said one official. The 4,500-year-old boat was unearthed near the Great Pyramid in 1954 and was restored over a period of 13 years by Ahmed Yousef of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities.

Ironworks Discovered Near Angkor Wat

PREAH VIHEAR, CAMBODIA—While searching for a lost settlement along the ancient road linking Preah Vihear Temple and Stung Treng City, archaeologist Thuy Chanthourn and his students noticed that the construction workers building a new road along the route had unearthed dark soil, small black stones, pottery, and pieces of smelted iron. Further investigation revealed five 1,200-year-old ironworks. The iron was probably used to produce weapons, tools, and chariots for Angkor’s Khmer leaders, and may also have been used in the construction of the temples themselves. “The iron smelter sites need to be preserved as future tourism destinations and for future research and excavation,” commented Preah Vihear’s provincial governor, Oum Mara. 

New Process Extracts Ancient Tobacco Residues

DAVIS, CALIFORNIA—Hunter gatherers smoked tobacco 1,000 years ago in the Pacific Northwest, according to a study led by Shannon Tushingham of the University of California. She and the other researchers developed a way to test organic residues in pipes without damaging them. “We believe Native American use of tobacco and other psychoactive plants is quite ancient. The methods we developed provide an important breakthrough which can be applied on even older pipes throughout the ancient Americas,” she explained.

Scientists Say a Comet Did Not Wipe Out the Clovis Culture

ALBUQUERQUE, NEW MEXICO—An interdisciplinary team of 16 scientists has concluded that the disappearance of the Clovis culture could not have been caused by the collision of a meteor or a comet with the earth some 13,000 years ago. They cite the lack of an impact crater as a major blow to the case. “Despite more than four years of trying by many qualified researchers, no unambiguous evidence has been found [of such an event],” said physicist Mark Boslough of Sandia National Laboratories.

Horse Domestication Date May Be Pushed Back 3,000 Years

AL MAGAR, SAUDI ARABIA—Some 300 stone artifacts crafted by the people of a previously unknown civilization have been unearthed in the desert of the Arabian Peninsula. The tools, arrow heads, scrapers, and statues of sheep, goats, ostriches, and horse-like animals are thought to be 9,000 years old. Some of the horses are shown wearing tack, suggesting that these people may have been the first to domesticate them. “It could possibly be the birthplace of an advanced prehistoric civilization that witnessed the domestication of animals, particularly the horse, for the first time during the Neolithic period,” said Ali bin Ibrahim Al Ghabban of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquties.

Construction Site Yields Colonial-Era Graves and Coins

CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA—Thirty-seven graves thought to date to the colonial era have been found at a construction site in downtown Charleston. “If the date of the burials is what we think they are—the early eighteenth century—it would be the earliest group of people that anyone’s had the opportunity to look at here in Charleston,” said archaeologist Eric Poplin. Two coins were also recovered near the remains of an adult and a child. “The coins themselves, we can’t tell what they are. They’re too corroded at this point, but later on we’ll do some analysis, clean them up and we might be able to get some information off them,” Poplin added. The coins will eventually be reburied with the skeleton. Be sure to watch the raw footage of Poplin at work at the site.