El mundo romano está de moda (Palencia)

El mundo romano está de moda (Palencia)

Todos coinciden: lo romano está de moda. Primero estaban 'Espartaco', 'La caída del Imperio Romano', 'Aníbal', 'Ben-Hur' y hasta 'La vida de Brian'. Luego llegó el boom de la novela histórica y el retorno del peplum, –las películas de aventuras ambientadas en la Roma Antigua-, con 'Gladiator', 'Troya' y 'Alejandro'. Ahora, aunque en otro plano, está la villa romana La Olmeda, situada en Pedrosa de la Vega (Palencia), que ha contribuido a poner en el candelero de nuevo la importancia de la cultura "a la romana".
Al menos así lo reconocieron una veintena de expertos, representantes de los principales yacimientos romanos de España, que se han reunido sobre estos vestigios del Bajo Imperio y coincidieron en que La Olmeda es "una buena receta" de por donde tiene que ir los tiros.
Pedro Mencía, director de la villa romana de Almenara-Puras fue más lejos todavía, al afirmar que La Olmeda "es un conjunto magnífico, tanto por el contenedor como por el contenido" y aseguró que con Almenara-Puras, "Castilla y León tiene en Palencia y Valladolid las dos villas mejor conservadas de toda España".
Cerca del público
El caso es que directores y arqueólogos de museos, yacimientos, villas romanas, parques, conjuntos y zonas arqueológicos, se pasearon por La Olmeda y hablaron de gestión y programas de actuación, debatieron sobre el futuro de la musealización, compartieron inquietudes, preocupaciones y estrategias para aprovechar todos los mecanismos y fórmulas disponibles y ponerlos al servicio de cada recurso, con el objetivo final de aproximar el patrimonio al publico.
Y es que si hubo dos cosas que quedaron muy claras ayer es que "lo romano siempre ha estado de moda" y que una vez superada la fase de concienciar a la sociedad sobre la conservación del patrimonio, "hay que apostar por devolver a la sociedad lo que ha invertido en ese patrimonio en forma de conocimiento".
Esto lo dijo Pedro Ángel Fernández de la Vega, director del Museo de Arqueología y Prehistoria de Cantabria y director del yacimiento de Julióbriga y Camesa, en Cantabria. Pero también lo compartió el director del Museo Nacional de Tarragona y director de las villas romanas de Centcelles y Els Munts, en Tarragona, Francesc Tarrast. Habló de socializar el conocimiento porque "los museos no son para los eruditos, son para la sociedad". Una sociedad por cierto globalizada en la que "todos tenemos que mirar a todas partes, buscar lo mejor de cada uno, debatir ideas, sugerencias, inquietudes y sobre todo dar a la sociedad lo que demanda".
Recuperar el tiempo
Un mundo globalizado en el que se reconoció que Castilla y León "está recuperando a mucha velocidad el tiempo perdido", colocándose en posiciones de cabeza en cuanto a la conservación y promoción del patrimonio.
De hecho Tarrast aseguró que las capacidades se han equilibrado y Castilla y León "ha pillado" a Cataluña, hasta ahora ejemplo de gestión del patrimonio. "Calladitos están haciendo una operación muy buena de sensibilidad y de operativa social, recuperando elementos del pasado, integrándolos y generando programas y propuestas muy sociales", sostuvo.
En esta línea, el director de Almenara Puras aseguró incluso que esta comunidad está invirtiendo la tendencia y acortando distancias con otras comunidades españolas, que como Cataluña, le sacaban ventaja. Y es que Castilla y León tiene repartidos por su geografía numerosos recursos romanos que se complementan unos a otros: las minas de las Médulas, en León, la ciudad romana de Asturica Augusta, el teatro de Clunia, las villas señoriales del Bajo Imperio Romano de La Olmeda y Almenara. "Conocer un centro invita a conocer otro", apuntó Mencía porque a través de todos los vestigios que hay en Castilla y León se pueden reconstruir casi todos los aspectos de la vida romana. Una vida que forma parte de nuestra esencia individual y colectiva, porque somos descendientes directos de esa civilización, de la que sin duda seguimos bebiendo hoy en día.

Fuente: El Mundo: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/06/23/castillayleon/1277314583.html

Rare 4,600-year-old Ontario burial lifts lid on prehistoric Canada (Canada)

Rare 4,600-year-old Ontario burial lifts lid on prehistoric Canada (Canada)

A 4,600-year-old burial has been discovered in a remote corner of northern Canada – and could hold the key to how ancient Canadians lived. The remarkable find has been made at the mouth of the Bug River, near Big Trout Lake, Ontario. Today the region is home to the Kitchenuhmaykoosik Inninuwug First Nation, an indigenous tribe numbering around 1,200.
The discovery was made by First Nation fishermen as water levels fell at the lake, exposing the burial. The site is currently being handled by an archaeological team from Lakehead University, Thunder Bay. The discovery is particularly rare as Canadian ethics laws largely forbid excavations.
The skeleton discovered is that of a man aged in his late-30s or 40s. Around five-and-a-half feet tall, the man had a “very, very robust muscular build,” according to team leader Prof Scott Hamilton. The man would have held high status in his day thanks to a seemingly formal burial. “There's a flat slab of granite that's associated directly with the bones,” adds Prof Hamilton. “It looks very much like a purposeful grave. We'll be taking a closer look at the stone as part of our analysis to see if we can find any evidence of function.”
Another aspect due further study is a red ochre found on the man's bones and nearby sediment. It is thought the colour was added to his body before burial, a practice seen throughout the world, including prehistoric North America.
The man lived at around the same time the Great Pyramids were being built in ancient Egypt, and great cities such as Babylon were popping up across the Near East. Yet life at Big Trout Lake, where temperatures can plummet to -30°C, was very different. “These folks are adapted to the kinds of resources one finds in the boreal forest,” says Hamilton. “These resources are highly seasonal in their availability – and the season of comparative plenty is often spring, summer and perhaps early fall.”
Isotope testing has so far shown that the man enjoyed a fish-based diet, with a side of hunted land mammals such as caribou (reindeer). The Spartan lifestyle, and migratory nature of food, meant Ontario's prehistoric tribes travelled huge distances in small numbers. “The winter seasons are generally a time of some scarcity and hardship as spatially concentrated food disappears,” says Hamilton.
“That means sub-Arctic people, in order to survive year in, year out through generations, have to have a seasonal cycle that’s highly mobile,” adds Hamilton. “They can place themselves on the landscape where they can predict resources will be available and follow the seasonal cycles of availability.”
It may seem an ancient lifestyle, but Canada's tribes have followed this ancient practice for millennia. “The past is very recent in the far north,” says Hamilton. Even the appearance of Europeans in the 17th century did nothing to alter the indigenous way of life, and Hamilton says prehistoric traditions are still alive today: “(The First Nation) may be gathering and harvesting resources with European technology but they’re (still using a) fairly significant amount of traditional technology – canoes, snowshoes, footwear, clothing.”
“What we see is this really interesting mix, an admixture, of traditional technology and the incorporation of new technology to practice a traditional life.” First Nation Chief Donny Morris insists the man will be reburied after tests are completed, in the traditions of his forebears. Yet it seems we'll learn a lot more from him yet.

Fuente: The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/archaeology/news/rare-4600yearold-ontario-burial-lifts-lid-on-prehistoric-canada-2008310.html

Bulgarian Archaeologists Hope to Find Constantine's Palace (Bulgaria)

Bulgarian Archaeologists Hope to Find Constantine's Palace (Bulgaria)

A large ancient building located under the St. Nedelya Cathedral in downtown Sofia might turn out to be a palace of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, according to Bulgarian archaeologists.
The building might also turn out to be the ancient thermae, or public baths of the ancient Roman city of Serdica, today’s Sofia, according to architect Konstantin Peev, head of the EKSA company, which is helping the Sofia Municipality with the excavation and restoration of the archaeological heritage of the Bulgarian capital.
The excavations at the Sofia Largo and the so called Metro Station 2-8 next to the Tzum retail store were made necessary by the construction of the second line of the Sofia Metro.
According to Peev, the bouleuterion of the city of Serdica was located under the northwestern corner of today’s building of the Sheraton Sofia Hotel Balkan. The bouleuterion was a small amphitheater-like building which housed the council of the citizens in the Antiquity period. The Serdica bouleuterion had a diameter of about 20 meters.
Peev also said that the archeaological excavations in the spring of 2010 have so far revealed a number of Roman insula, i.e. homes closed off among four streets.
He pointed out that the archaeologists have revealed the main streets of the Roman city of Serdica – the main street, decumanus maximus, connecting the Eastern and Western Gates, was wide about 7-8 meters and paved with huge pave stones. The cardo, the secondary street, went in the north-south direction.
Architect Peev stated that the municipality and the Culture Ministry were currently considering various options for conserving and displaying the archeaological heritage of Sofia.

Fuente: Novinite: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=117418

India's Village of the Dead (India)

India's Village of the Dead (India)

There's no clear path to Hire Benakal in the hills north of the Tungabhadra River in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. If you have to double back only two or three times on the way, you've done well. University of Chicago anthropology graduate student Andrew Bauer leads me through the thorns and boulders until we emerge on a high plain surrounded by ridges. He points out knee-high aligned stones and propped-up slabs that mark the edges of the site. As we navigate through it, we walk around a pile of house-sized boulders, and the massive scale of Hire Benakal, like a city skyline in the distance, becomes apparent.
On a gentle slope are scores of dolmens (megalithic tombs) resembling houses of cards—if playing cards were slabs of granite 10 feet tall and weighed 10 tons or more. The monuments were built over more than 1,000 years spanning the southern Indian Iron Age (1200-500 B.C.) and Early Historic (500 B.C.-A.D. 500) periods, and there are more than 1,000 of them across nearly 50 acres, from modest rock enclosures to mausoleum-like tombs.
Historical sources are vague, but Hire Benakal's existence may have been documented as early as the 1850s, and the site was first examined in detail by historian A. Sundara of Karnatak University in the 1960s. In 2007, Bauer conducted the first systematic survey of the site and its environs. It was long thought that the Iron Age people of India were nomadic, making a megalithic site such as Hire Benakal difficult to explain. But recent surveys, including Bauer's, have turned up many settlements, including two within a mile of Hire Benakal, that show the people lived in villages and practiced agriculture and pastoralism. “The site appears to be a principal center of culture in the region,” says Sundara.
Though visiting the site today is an eerie experience—akin to walking through a ghost town of stone—Bauer has concluded that Hire Benakal was more than just an isolated cemetery; it was also a part of an active landscape, and a place where social status and inequality first began to develop. “We really understand the site much more in context now, because I surveyed all around it,” he says. It was important socially and is absolutely overwhelming to the eye. If it were not so remote, Hire Benakal might be a national treasure.

Fuente: Archaeology Magazine: http://www.archaeology.org/1005/etc/india.html

Archaeological excavations begin in ancient city of Rhodiapolis (Turkey)

Archaeological excavations begin in ancient city of Rhodiapolis (Turkey)

Archaeological excavations began in the ancient city of Rhodiapolis near Kumluca in the popular resort city of Antalya in southern Turkey.
Associate Professor Isa Kızgut from Akdeniz University said it was the fifth year of excavations in the ancient city, adding: "Some 60 people will join this year's excavations, which will last for two months. During the excavations in the last four years, we succeeded in unearthing an important part of the ancient city," he said.
Rhodiapolis
Located near the village of Sarıcasu, Rhodiapolis received its name from the Rhodians, who colonized the city. The ancient city was discovered after a forest fire in 2000. Excavations in Rhodiapolis began in 2006.
The best known figure from the city was Opramoas, who lived in the period of Antoninus Pius (138-161 A.D.). He was the richest man in Lycia and the most renowned philanthropist. His best known work was his own monumental tomb.
Most of the visible ruins in the ancient city dated from the Roman and Byzantine periods. The remains include a theatre, a bathhouse, a public forum, temples, a church, cisterns, a cenotaph (a statue commemorating the dead), a necropolis (a structure for graves) and houses. More than 60 coins were also unearthed during the excavations

Fuente: Daily News: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=archaeological-excavations-begin-in-ancient-city-of-rhodiapolis-2010-06-23

Descubren una ermita románica del siglo XII en el valle de la Guzpeña (León)

Descubren una ermita románica del siglo XII en el valle de la Guzpeña (León)

Como ocurre con tantos otros vestigios históricos, era la memoria popular la única que recordaba tanto la localización exacta de estos restos como su advocación concreta: «Santa Marina» o «la iglesia vieja» es como llaman en el pueblo de Robledo de la Guzpeña a un conjunto de paredes de piedra que se alzan, cada año en peor estado, en una apartada ladera cercana a esta aldea del municipio de Prado. Nunca recibieron el interés de las instituciones, aunque ahora han sido perfectamente identificados por los historiadores Siro Sanz y Eutimio Martino. Además, la asociación Promonumenta tiene previsto, entre sus actividades próximas, acudir a la zona para limpiar la maleza que casi cubre los restos por entero.
Confirma Sanz que la ermita de Santa Marina de Robledo de la Guzpeña «presenta las características del románico popular del siglo XII». «Se trata de un edificio de unos 11 metros de largo por 5 de ancho, tiene planta de una sola nave, con cabecera recta más estrecha que la nave y sin apenas decoración», continúa este experto, añadiendo que los materiales con los que está construida son los propios del entorno: «Piedra caliza sin apenas desbastar, sólo aparece labrada en los dinteles, esquinazos y base de la cabecera».
«La advocación a Santa Marina -”informa Sanz-” se prodiga en todo el entorno de Peñacorada: existe una Santa Marina en Ocejo de la Peña, y dos en Santa Olaja de la Varga, todas en ruinas y perdidas ya en el bosque. Esta ermita, junto a las anteriormente citadas y las de San Andrés de Yera y San Vicente de Yera (Cistierna), y los restos de otras aulas santas en el valle del Tuéjar, además de la documentación del poderoso monasterio de Sahagún, otorgan a Peñacorada una gran importancia en el periodo Alto y Pleno Medieval».
«El origen de alguna de ellas es remotísimo -”avisa Siro Sanz-”, pudiendo hundir sus raíces en la antigüedad pagana o el periodo visigodo, pues es bien sabido que los repobladores utilizaban infraestructuras anteriores. La antigüedad de la de Robledo es grande si atendemos al nombre Marina (recuerdo del dios Marte), y a los materiales que aparecen, como por ejemplo la teja de reborde, embutidos en la fábrica medieval».
«No olvidemos, además, que esta ermita está levantada al pie del castro de Robledo, un núcleo vadiniense de especial importancia», recuerda este historiador, autor de varios libros sobre la Montaña Oriental.


Fuente: Diario de León: http://www.diariodeleon.es/noticias/noticia.asp?pkid=536413

Reclaman a Cultura la limpieza del campamento romano de Petavonium (Zamora)

Reclaman a Cultura la limpieza del campamento romano de Petavonium (Zamora)

El Ayuntamiento de Santibáñez de Vidriales reclama ante el Servicio Territorial de Cultura la limpieza de los campamentos romanos de Petavonium que se encuentran invadidos por la maleza. A través de un escrito dirigido al Servicio de Cultura de la Junta de Castilla y León, el alcalde Claudio Delgado, advierte de la situación en que se encuentra el enclave arqueológico y las continuas quejas que viene recibiendo por parte de los visitantes ante la dificultad que tienen para realizar un recorrido por los yacimientos.
La altura que presenta ya la proliferación de hierba no permite visualizar ni recorrer el espacio desde la caseta de recepción de visitantes hasta las torres que recrean las puertas del recinto.
El Ayuntamiento de Santibáñez advierte a Cultura de que las persistentes lluvias acaecidas durante el pasado invierno «han deteriorado considerablemente» algunos elementos de las excavaciones. Una circunstancia que ofrece «un aspecto de dejación del yacimiento arqueológico con las consiguientes críticas sobre su estado de conservación», explica el alcalde en su misiva. Parte de la valla que circunda el foso de la parte sur se encuentra apuntalada y a punto de desplomarse como ha podido comprobar en la mañana de ayer este diario. Las críticas de los visitantes no se circunscriben únicamente a los campamentos de Petavonium, sino que las extienden también a la «imposibilidad de visualizar algunos dólmenes como el de San Adrián en el término de Granucillo de Vidriales, cuyo acceso permanece oculto por la proliferación de la maleza.

Fuente: La Opinión de Zamora: http://www.laopiniondezamora.es/benavente/2010/06/24/reclaman-cultura-limpieza-campamento-romano-petavonium/445377.html

Últimas investigaciones en el Alcázar del Rey Don Pedro de Sevilla

Últimas investigaciones en el Alcázar del Rey Don Pedro de Sevilla
Antonio Almagro Gorbea
Fecha: jueves, 24 de junio de 2010
Hora: 19:30 - 21:00
Lugar: Carmen de la Victoria (Albayzín, Granada)

El próximo jueves 24 de junio en el marco del seminario permanente del Grupo de Investigación Andaluz HUM-104: Jueves Mínimos en la Cuesta del Chapiz, dedicado a la “Actualidad investigadora en el LAAC”, Antonio Almagro Gorbea hablará a las 19:30 horas en el Carmen de la Victoria (Cuesta del Chapiz, 9, Granada) sobre las "Últimas investigaciones en el Alcázar del Rey Don Pedro de Sevilla".

Será la sesión de clausura de este primer seminario Jueves Mínimos, que esperamos continuar próximamente con nuevos temas.

(Asistencia gratuita hasta completar el aforo)

Programa: http://www.laac.es/pdf/jueves-minimos.pdf

Seis enterramientos de la época almohade encontrados en Ceuta

Seis enterramientos de la época almohade encontrados en Ceuta

Unas excavaciones arqueológicas en el yacimiento de Pasaje Fernández, en Ceuta, han permitido localizar hasta seis enterramientos de la época almohade y otras construcciones pertenecientes al siglo XIV.

En las labores de excavación, además de las seis tumbas han sido localizados tres edificios nuevos, una calle principal y dos perpendiculares, todo ello perteneciente a la época almohade y de gran importancia.

Para este trabajo de campo, el arqueólogo municipal, Fernando Villada, y dos arqueólogos de la empresa Figlina, han tenido dos meses de plazo, y las excavaciones las ha financiado la Consejería de Educación, Cultura y Mujer, que se encargará de difundir el valor del yacimiento.

Lo que han dejado entrever estos trabajos, que han tenido lugar en una superficie de 900 metros cuadrados, es una estructura urbanística del siglo XIV, la última de dominio islámico.

"Las excavaciones han dejado al descubierto una calle principal con dos edificios completos, han encontrado otro muy bien conservado y uno más que conserva parcialmente la estructura de los muros", ha explicado a Efe una de las arqueólogas, Macarena Lara.

Además, dispuestas de manera perpendicular a la calle se encuentran otras dos secundarias, además de una tercera que es en realidad un callejón sin salida, un adarve. Respecto a la función de esos edificios, las primeras hipótesis apuntan a que debieron de ser viviendas, al menos alguna de las construcciones, ya que se han encontrado piezas de cerámica de cocina.

Fuente: El Mundo: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/06/23/cultura/1277291460.html

Lucy fossil gets jolted upright by Big Man (Ethiopia)

Lucy fossil gets jolted upright by Big Man (Ethiopia)

An older guy has sauntered into Lucy’s life, and some researchers believe he stands ready to recast much of what scientists know about the celebrated early hominid and her species.
Excavations in Ethiopia’s Afar region have uncovered a 3.6-million-year-old partial male skeleton of the species Australopithecus afarensis. This is the first time since the excavation of Lucy in 1974 that paleoanthropologists have turned up more than isolated pieces of an adult from the species, which lived in East Africa from about 4 million to 3 million years ago.
A nearly complete skeleton of an A. afarensis child has been retrieved from another Ethiopian site (SN: 9/23/06, p. 195).
Discoverers of the skeleton, led by anthropologist Yohannes Haile-Selassie of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, consider this a Desi Arnaz moment. As the late actor often exclaimed on his classic television show, “Lucy, you got some ‘splainin’ to do!” But other researchers are not so convinced that the new fossil changes much of what they already knew about Lucy and her kind.
Haile-Selassie’s team has dubbed its new find Kadanuumuu, which means “big man” in the Afar language. At an estimated 5 to 5½ feet tall, he would have towered over 3½-foot-tall Lucy. Excavations between 2005 and 2008 in a part of Afar called Woranso-Mille — about 48 kilometers north of where Lucy’s 3.2-million-year-old remains were found — yielded fossils from 32 bones of the same individual.
Big Man’s long legs, relatively narrow chest and inwardly curving back denote a nearly humanlike gait and ground-based lifestyle, according to a preliminary report published online June 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Lucy has often been portrayed as having had a fairly primitive two-legged gait and a penchant for tree climbing.
Big Man’s humanlike shoulder blade differs as much from those of chimpanzees as it does from those of gorillas, Haile-Selassie says. The shape of that bone, combined with characteristics of five recovered ribs, suggest to Haile-Selassie’s team that Big Man’s chest had a humanlike shape. Earlier reconstructions of Lucy’s rib cage had endowed her with a chimplike, funnel-shaped chest.
So despite chimps’ close genetic relationship to people, he says, this new fossil evidence supports the view that chimps have evolved a great deal since diverging from a common human-chimp ancestor roughly 7 million years ago and are not good models for ancient hominids.
Big Man’s shoulder blade bolsters recent analyses of 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus that also challenge traditional views of ancient hominids as chimplike (SN: 1/16/10, p. 22).
Estimates of Lucy’s build were based on comparisons to chimps and indicated to some scientists that she lacked the easy, straight-legged stride of people today. Haile-Selassie and his colleagues suspect that their final reconstruction of Big Man’s anatomy will provide a better model for assessing what Lucy looked like.
“Whatever we’ve been saying about afarensis based on Lucy was mostly wrong,” Haile-Selassie says. “The skeletal framework to enable efficient two-legged walking was established by the time her species had evolved.”
Lucy’s legs were short because of her small size, he adds. If Lucy had been as large as Big Man, her legs would have nearly equaled his in length, Haile-Selassie estimates.
Although lacking a skull and teeth, Big Man preserves most of the same skeletal parts as Lucy, as well as a nearly complete shoulder blade and a substantial part of the rib cage.
“This beautiful afarensis specimen confirms the unique skeletal shape of this species at a larger size than Lucy, in what appears to be a male,” remarks anthropologist Carol Ward of the University of Missouri in Columbia.
A long-standing debate over how well Lucy’s kind walked and whether they spent much time in the trees appears unlikely to abate as a result of Big Man’s discovery, though. “There’s nothing special I can see on this new find that will change anyone’s opinion” on how the species navigated the landscape, comments Harvard University anthropologist Daniel Lieberman.
Haile-Selassie’s team disagrees. Big Man demonstrates that A. afarensis spent most of the time on the ground, the researchers conclude.
They were good walkers, but we don’t know how well they ran,” Haile-Selassie says. Big Man’s long-legged stride indicates that members of his species could have made 3.6-million-year-old footprints found more than 30 years ago at Laetoli, Tanzania (SN Online: 3/22/10),
Anthropologist Owen Lovejoy of Kent State University in Ohio, a coauthor of the new paper, regards Big Man as having been an “excellent runner.” His pelvis supported humanlike hamstring muscles and, as indicated by the Laetoli footprints, his feet had arches, Lovejoy holds.
Fossil hominid skeletons as complete as Big Man “are few and far between,” says anthropologist William Jungers of Stony Brook University in New York. But the new find mostly confirms what was already known about Lucy, he asserts. Lucy’s kind, including Big Man, were decent tree climbers, even if they couldn’t hang from branches or swing from limb to limb as chimpanzees do, he says.
“Riddle me this,” asks Jungers in considering Hailie-Selassie’s emphasis on a ground-dwelling A. afarensis. “Where did they sleep? Did they wait for fruit to fall to the ground? Where did they go to escape predators?”
Groups of A. afarensis individuals must have devised ground-based strategies to ward off predators, Lovejoy responds. Some big cats would have negotiated trees better than Lucy’s kind, he notes.
Jungers also doubts Lovejoy and Haile-Selassie’s contention that a nearly humanlike gait had evolved in A. afarensis. Big Man includes only one nearly complete limb bone, from the lower left leg, which makes it difficult to estimate how long his legs were relative to his arms, Jungers contends.
Limb remains of hominid species that came after afarensis indicate that they evolved increasingly longer legs and a more efficient walking stance, Jungers adds.
In his view, hips conducive to walking slowly with legs wide apart evolved in an even earlier hominid, 6-million-year-old Orrorin tugenensis (SN: 3/29/08, p. 205)
and characterized later Australopithecus species, including Lucy’s kind.
Haile-Selassie counters that features of Big Man’s pelvis related to walking closely resemble those of a 1.4-million to 900,000-year-old female Homo erectus from another Ethiopian site (SN: 12/6/08, p. 14).
Big Man’s legs also demonstrate that the comparably long legs of nearly 2-million-year-old South African hominids don’t represent a transition to the Homo genus (SN: 5/8/10, p. 14), Haile-Selassie asserts.
Haile-Selassie doubts that additional pieces of Big Man’s skeleton will turn up. “If anything more was there, we would have found it by now,” he says with a resigned laugh.

Fuente: Sciencie News: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/60454/title/Lucy_fossil_gets_jolted_upright__by_Big_Man

Digs in Cyprus uncover more of Phoenician fort (Chipre)

Digs in Cyprus uncover more of Phoenician fort (Chipre)

Digs in Cyprus have uncovered what may be soldiers' barracks belonging to a sprawling Phoenician fortress that was the island's largest ancient administrative hub dating back at least 2,500 years, the Cypriot Antiquities Department director said Monday.
Maria Hadjicosti said the discovery this year of the two building complexes in the ancient kingdom of Idalion, some 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of the modern-day capital Nicosia, offers more proof of the site's significance.
"The discoveries further reinforce Idalion's role as the island's largest center of administration in ancient times," Hadjicosti said.
She said Cypriot and Greek archaeologists found two separate building complexes attached to a large tower overlooking the entire fortress. Pieces of a bronze shield and other metal weapons were found in some of the complexes' rooms, suggesting they were used as barracks by soldiers assigned to guard duty on the tower.
The Phoenician kings of Kition, a southern coastal town about 14 miles (23 kilometers) southeast of Idalion — now known as Larnaca — had conquered the Greek-ruled city in the middle of the 5th century B.C. and governed it for around 150 years.
Ink inscriptions on 300 marble slabs and pottery shards found at the site over nearly two decades of digs in the 2-square kilometer (square-mile) site indicate how Phoenicians collected taxes from Idalion's residents.
Excavations on Cyprus have uncovered settlements dating back to around 9000 B.C. Cyprus then saw successive waves of colonization, including Mycenaean Greeks, Phoenicians, Romans and, in the Middle Ages, Franks and Venetians. The island was conquered by Ottoman Turks in 1571 and became part of the British Empire in 1878 before winning independence in 1960.
Other discoveries in earlier digs at the site include a triple olive press — a unique find in the eastern Mediterranean — and large clay vessels used to store wine and olive oil, which were the area's main products.
Hadjicosti said that, although archaeologists have yet to unearth definitive proof, "it would be reasonable to assume" that the fort overlaid an older palace used by the Greek kings of the city that according to legend was founded by the ancient Greek Trojan war hero Chalcanor.
Idalion was first mentioned in Assyrian written sources of the 7th century B.C. Its name survives in the modern village of Dali.

Fuente: Associated Press: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iAJ8NxDIsVPVriXWg9MBbkjPnEIgD9GFPI0G0

Roman fort found in Cornwall 'rewrites history' (United Kingdom)

Roman fort found in Cornwall 'rewrites history' (United Kingdom)

A Roman fort which has been discovered in Cornwall is challenging previous historical views about the South West.
Pottery and pieces of slag have been found at the undisclosed location near St Austell, suggesting an ironworks.
Experts said the discovery challenges previous thinking about the region's history as it had been thought Romans did not settle much beyond Exeter.
John Smith, from Cornwall Historic Environment Service, said: "This is a major discovery, no question about it."
'Crucial' find
Mr Smith said: "For Roman Britain it's an important and quite crucial discovery because it tells us a lot about Roman occupation in the South West that was hitherto completely unexpected.
"The other Roman sites we know about [in Cornwall] have occupation in the 1st Century AD, of about AD50 to AD80, and that fits in with what we know about Exeter.
"In finding the pottery and glass, it's saying the occupation is much longer and goes from AD60 up to about AD250, which turns the whole thing on its head.
"It certainly means a rewrite of history in the South West."
The site had previously been regarded as an Iron Age settlement, but the recent discovery of pottery and glass was found to be of Roman origin.
Archaeological enthusiast Jonathan Clemes discovered various artefacts by studying the earth after it had been ploughed.
He said: "You've got to know your pottery.
"If you come across a bit of pottery and you know what it is, it can tell you a great deal about the activity that went on in that area."
Following the discovery of the artefacts a geophysical survey of the site was conducted, which uncovered a fort, marching camp and various annexes.
Mr Smith said that prior to this discovery, it was believed that Roman forts had only been positioned close to the Devon border, because after settling for about 30 years, the Romans left the region for south Wales.
It will now be considered whether to excavate the area, or to leave it for a future excavation when techniques have advanced.

Fuente: BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/cornwall/10372659.stm

VI Simposio de arqueología Visigodos y Omeyas. Asturias entre visigodos y mozárabes (Madrid)

VI Simposio de arqueología Visigodos y Omeyas. Asturias entre visigodos y mozárabes (Madrid)

A través de este simposio se pretende alcanzar dos objetivos. El primero de ellos responde a la necesidad de dar continuidad a una reunión científica que desde sus inicios trató de contribuir al debate generado en torno a la transición entre la Antigüedad tardía y la alta Edad Media hispana, y cuya valía se ha puesto de manifiesto mediante el excelente recibimiento de las correspondientes publicaciones que recogen sus actas. El segundo objetivo será el de dar a conocer y contextualizar adecuadamente los resultados del proyecto de investigación Análisis arqueológico de la arquitectura altomedieval en Asturias: prospección, estratigrafía y cronotipología. Gracias al desarrollo de este trabajo ha sido posible un detallado análisis de las producciones constructivas y decorativas vinculadas a la corte asturiana (iglesias de San Miguel de Lillo, Santo Adriano de Tuñón y Santianes de Pravia).

Fecha: 8, 9 y 10 de septiembre.
Lugar: Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (CSIC). C/Albasanz, 26-28, Madrid.
http://www.cchs.csic.es/es/content/vi-simposio-de-arqueolog%C3%AD-visigodos-y-omeyas-asturias-entre-visigodos-y-moz%C3%A1rabes

La ciudad fenicia de Chiclana (Cádiz)

La ciudad fenicia de Chiclana (Cádiz)

En el Cerro del Castillo parece que siempre vivió alguien. Hubo pobladores indígenas en la Edad del Bronce. Los fenicios crearon una ciudad, los romanos la mantuvieron y llegaron a crearse almacenes para cereales en época medieval. Ahora en esta zona de Chiclana (Cádiz) hay edificios de casas, un colegio y varias naves pero bajo estos inmuebles quedan vestigios de las civilizaciones pasadas.
Es el resumen de casi 3.000 años de historia vividos en este municipio y que han conseguido descifrar los pequeños sondeos y las reducidas excavaciones arqueológicas. El grupo de investigadores aboga por seguir indagando. Porque cree que la mayoría de preguntas que han generado estos hallazgos todavía no pueden ser contestadas.
Los primeros datos sobre este yacimiento, conocido en 2006, cambiaron la forma de entender la historia de Chiclana. El municipio acababa de celebrar el séptimo centenario de su fundación. Esas excavaciones retrotrajeron el origen de la ciudad a más de 2.000 años antes.
Los trabajos, encargados como paso previo a la construcción de unas viviendas, detectaron unos muros que demostraban la posible existencia de una ciudad fenicia construida sobre un promontorio, al lado del río Iro y muy cerca del islote de Sancti Petri, donde se cree que los fenicios pudieron levantar el templo de Melkart.
Fue toda una revolución porque los arqueólogos responsables dataron su origen en el siglo VIII antes de Cristo. Así Chiclana se convertía en la ciudad más antigua de la provincia de Cádiz en pugna con Doña Blanca, en El Puerto de Santa María, o Gadir, en la capital gaditana.
El inventario de estas excavaciones, que acumulan cuatro años de indagaciones, reúne ya 15.000 piezas. Hay algunas que corresponden a la población indígena que en el Bronce final ocupaba esta parte del cerro. Son coetáneas en el tiempo al asentamiento fenicio, cuyos restos más antiguos han sido señalados en el siglo VIII antes de Cristo.
Son las más antiguas pero también las peor conservadas. Se han hallado monedas, cerámicas, vasijas, platos y paredes y restos de un muro. La pared de lo que podrían ser habitaciones, cocinas o dependencias comerciales de una ciudad fenicia. "Ratifican lo que siempre pensamos. Que podemos hablar de un hábitat durante el siglo VIII antes de Cristo", señala Paloma Bueno, la arqueóloga responsable.
Hay más construcciones, mejor custodiadas por el paso del tiempo, que corresponden a siglos posteriores también de un asentamiento fenicio. "Hay construcciones, cimentaciones, alzados, muros, casas, habitaciones, piedras sueltas, cerámicas y cultura material. Las mejores cimentaciones, sobre todo, son las del siglo IV antes de Cristo, que sobresalen al nivel de calle actual", explica la arqueóloga. Existe también un muro bien conservado del siglo V antes de Cristo construido en longitud con un metro de altura. Los restos más recientes sitúan también la posterior llegada de los romanos y una ocupación medieval, con el hallazgo de unos silos en forma de oquedades en el suelo, que sirvieron para guardar cereales.
Lo malo del amplio material hallado es que muchas de las incógnitas que plantea no pueden ser resueltas todavía. "Nos falta tiempo y posibilidad de seguir excavando", se lamenta la investigadora. Sus trabajos han sido un encargo del Ayuntamiento de Chiclana, que se ha mostrado dispuesto a recuperar esta zona y hacerla visitable para dar a conocer su importancia.
Pero las labores no pueden continuar por algunas zonas por existir riesgo para los edificios colindantes. Los arqueólogos también han advertido de que en una parte del cerro, la más expuesta a los fenómenos meteorológicos, en la calle Ánimas, se están destruyendo piezas a diario. "Es necesaria una intervención urgente para evitar más daños al patrimonio", sugiere Bueno. Tampoco se ha podido determinar a qué tipo de edificación corresponden algunos de los muros. Si fueron dormitorios, cocinas o almacenes. Para averiguarlo habrá que seguir excavando.

Fuente: El País: http://www.elpais.com/articulo/andalucia/ciudad/fenicia/Chiclana/elpepiespand/20100622elpand_25/Tes