Record arrowhead discovered in western Kentucky creek (EEUU)

Record arrowhead discovered in western Kentucky creek (EEUU)

For Darrel Higgins, finding an ancient arrowhead in a creek isn't surprising, it's actually expected. Finding a record-setting artifact that dates back to an estimated 14,000 to 18,000 years? Definitely unexpected.
Higgins has been hunting creek beds for artifacts since he began finding them on farmland when he was a child. But nothing he had found compared to the 9 3/4 inch by 2 3/4 inch specimen he recently found in western Kentucky. The item, described as a clovis point made of buffalo river chert, was submerged in a creek bed when Higgins stumbled upon it.
“As soon as I picked it up, I knew what I had,” he said. “It's usually a long walk back to my truck. Not that day, I was walking on air.”
Higgins was reluctant to specify where he found the clovis, but said he immediately went to his long-time friend and artifact expert Tom Davis in eastern Kentucky to have the item authenticated. Davis dated the clovis back to the days of when prehistoric man roamed the earth and hunted large game. By measurement, it sets a North American record.
“There are some skeptics because of the size of it. But it's a record. There's one as long found in Washington state but it's not as wide,” Higgins said.
Higgins had it authenticated again during the Genuine Indian Relic Society show in Temple, Texas and was able to show it off to enthusiasts. He said he has had some buyer interest but is looking for the right price to take it off his hands. It currently is securely locked away.
“It's worth as much as someone is willing to pay and as much as I am willing to take,” he said.
The process of discovering an item that has been buried for so long is mainly fueled by rain and erosion. Higgins said that arrowheads, spearheads and other artifacts were left behind or lost at campsites and kill sites near creeks. A creek served as a source for water for early man as well as a place to find wild game to hunt for food.
Over time, the sites were covered up. As the creeks have changed paths and continued to cut through the earth, portions of the sites have become exposed, bringing the artifacts back to the surface.
“Erosion washes away the dirt, especially after deep rains. A deep freeze followed by a deep rain knocks chunks of dirt off and then a second or third rain exposes anything in the dirt,” Higgins said.
To find artifacts, Higgins walks up and down creek beds while keeping his eyes locked on the ground. He doesn't dig or excavate, but looks for what the rains and water have exposed. His eyes are trained to look for perfectly straight edges and sharp points among the rocks and pebbles.
“Creekwalking,” as Higgins calls it, now takes up most of his free time. A typical day of creekwalking could take anywhere from five to ten hours and empty a tank of gas as he travels around the region.
“I've hung up my (fishing) rods and guns a long time ago,” he said. “You don't always find stuff but you can't get discouraged.”
Higgins lives in Hickman County but said he has found items in the Lynn Grove area of Calloway County and knows people who have uncovered artifacts in the Clarks River. As he has collected items over the years, he has sold some and kept others, but is always looking for more.
“As soon as you spot one it's like a time warp. You wander back through time and think about when it was used and when it was lost,” Higgins said.

Fuente: Murray Ledger & Times: http://www.murrayledger.com/articles/2010/06/20/top_story/news01.txt

Archaeological excavations of the city of Tigranakert in Artsakh get under way (Armenia)

Archaeological excavations of the city of Tigranakert in Artsakh get under way (Armenia)

The archaeological excavations of the city of Tigranakert in Artsakh have got under way and will be due by August 25, the head of the Artsakh archaeological group of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography at National Academy of Sciences of Armenia Hamlet Petrosyan told Panorama.am. He said, Nagorno-Karabakh government has financed the 70-day excavations.
According to him, this year the group will be working in the acropolis, to open the northern wall, as well as they will carry out works in the Central district, the cemetery of early-Christian era.
In 2005 their group discovered the city of Tigranakert founded by the Armenian King Tigran the Great and in 2006-2009 they carried out archaeological excavations in this territory. This is the only residence named after Tigran to have been precisely discovered and undergoing archaeological observations.
HamletPetrosyan said the excavations revealed 100m of the walls of the city acropolis, the rock-carved bases of “Amratsvats” district, and the basilica of the Central district has been fully studied.
The castle dating back to early medieval times on the left bank of Khachenaget river has also been observed, he said.

Fuente: Panorama Armenia: http://www.panorama.am/en/society/2010/06/21/tigranakert/

Lasers used to map giant burial mounds in 3-D (Japan)

Lasers used to map giant burial mounds in 3-D (Japan)

KASHIHARA, Nara Prefecture (Kyodo) Nara-based archaeologists said they have succeeded in drawing three-dimensional maps of the surface of large burials mounds for the first time by flashing them with laser beams at a rate of more than 100,000 times a second from a helicopter.
The new method, revealed at an academic conference Saturday in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, is an important advance because archaeologists don't have free access to most of the large ancient mounds, which are managed by the Imperia Household Agency.
"With this epoch-making technology, we can precisely measure (the mounds) without entering the compounds. It will be very useful for our research," said a researcher from the Archaeological Institute of Kashihara.
The helicopter flew around the Konabe burial mound in Nara in December and the Gobyoyama mound in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, in February, at a speed of 70 kph and an altitude of 500 to 650 meters.
The 3-D patterns matched those based on measurements taken in the past by the Imperial Household Agency, the archaeologists said.
The mounds are covered with woods, but the laser beams penetrated the tree cover enough to reach the ground and create a detailed 3-D map of the surface, the researchers said.

Fuente: The Japan Times: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/rss/nn20100628a4.html

El Museo de Albacete se hace cargo del 'tesoro' musulmán de Liétor (Albacete)

El Museo de Albacete se hace cargo del 'tesoro' musulmán de Liétor (Albacete)

Ha ingresado en el Museo Provincial de Albacete una importante muestra de piezas del periodo musulmán, procedente de Liétor, y reunida gracias al párroco de la localidad, Francisco Navarro Pretel, quien, a lo largo de las últimas décadas, ha propiciado la recuperación de este importante patrimonio para su exhibición en el Museo Parroquial de Liétor y, a partir de ahora, en el Museo de Albacete. La colección está basada en el 'Ajuar de los Infiernos', un importante lote de piezas que fueron halladas en una cueva en el paraje que le da nombre. Está compuesta por más de un centenar de objetos, fechados entre los siglos X y XI, que por su variedad constituyen una importante muestra para conocer los útiles cotidianos del periodo musulmán, dedicados a actividades como la agricultura, la pesca, mobiliario y objetos de uso doméstico. Entre los objetos presentes en la colección, destacan una serie de piezas de factura excepcional, como un candil de bronce con el asa decorada en forma de cierva y un candelabro de hierro. La colección se completa con un gran número de piezas cerámicas, pertenecientes a diferentes periodos.

Fuente: La Verdad de Albacete: http://www.laverdad.es/albacete/v/20100629/provincia/museo-albacete-hace-cargo-20100629.html

Declaran como bien catalogado el poblado Cabezo de Asno (Lorca, Murcia)

Declaran como bien catalogado el poblado Cabezo de Asno (Lorca, Murcia)

El yacimiento arqueológico de Cabezo del Asno, perteneciente a la cultura de El Argar, localizado entre los municipios de Lorca y Mazarrón será protegido por la Administración regional, que ha incoado el expediente para declararlo bien catalogado por su relevancia cultural. El yacimiento se corresponde con un asentamiento de la Edad del Bronce, cuyos restos están fechados entre el año 2.200 y el 1.500 antes de nuestra era. Está situado en la cima de un cerro de 433 metros de altitud sobre el nivel del mar y en su momento fue un poblado fortificado. Los expertos han localizado muros de mampostería correspondientes a casas cuadrangulares, restos de un lienzo de muralla de 200 metros, así restos de dos torreones de planta rectangular, junto con cerámica, y paredes con superficies bruñidas.

Fuente: La Verdad de Murcia: http://www.laverdad.es/murcia/v/20100628/lorca/declaran-como-bien-catalogado-20100628.html

4,000-year-old necklace found in dumpster (Ireland)

4,000-year-old necklace found in dumpster (Ireland)

A 4,000 year old necklace is in The National Museum of Ireland after it was found in a dumpster.
Worn by early kings the necklace, called a lunala, and discs were worn by the early kings of Ireland. It is thought to day from between 2,300 and 1,800 BC.
In March 1945 it was found in Coggalbeg, County Roscommon by farmer Hubert Lannon. He found it in a bog while he was cutting turf and kept it in his home.
Two years later he passed the necklace on to a local chemist Patrick Sheehan, in Strokestown, who kept the priceless piece of history in his shops' safe. There it remained until February 2009 when two thieves grabbed the safe during a burglary.
In March this year two men pleaded guilty for the burglary and were given three year suspended sentences. Working with the police curators from the National Museum’s Irish Antiquities Division found out that the jewelry along with other documents and papers from the Sheehan’s safe had been left in a dumpster in Dublin.
By the time the police had received this information they literally had hours to locate the dumpster before the trash would be collected. The detectives who waded through a dumpster of trash to find the delicate jewelry, which weighs just 78 grams, were rewarded on the retrieval of the treasures.
The three pieces, the necklace and two discs, are thought to be one of the most important archaeological discoveries for many years. As the Museum director Pat Wallace said himself “There is a whole lot of conjoined freaks of good luck to make it possible.

Fuente: Irish Central: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/4000-Year-Old-necklace-found-in-dumpster-97144989.html

I CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL SOBRE ESTUDIOS CERÁMICOS (CÁDIZ)

I CONGRESO INTERNACIONAL SOBRE ESTUDIOS CERÁMICOS (CÁDIZ)

El I Congreso Internacional sobre Estudios Cerámicos. Homenaje a la Doctora Mercedes Vegas es una reunión de primer nivel científico. Este proyecto nace, por un lado, con el ánimo de rendir un merecido reconocimiento profesional a una de las mayores y más importantes investigadoras españolas en cerámicas protohistóricas y romanas, de prestigio internacional, la Dra. Mercedes Vegas; y, por otro, contribuir al desarrollo de las nuevas líneas de investigación sobre estudios cerámicos que están en boga dentro de la Comunidad Científica.
La Organización de este Congreso pretende, por vez primera, la celebración de una Comisión Científica de alto nivel entre los más grandes y consensuados especialistas en cerámica internacionalmente reconocidos de España, Reino Unido, Alemania, Italia, Francia, Portugal y Estados Unidos. Esta diversidad científica junto a los jóvenes investigadores pondrá a debate y acercará, no sólo, posturas generacionales, sino también, cuestiones metodológicas. Esto crea, por tanto, una oportunidad excelente de reunir, de forma excepcional, el conocimiento y la experiencia acumulados durante toda un vida dedicada a la investigación arqueológica y las iniciativas de jóvenes generaciones y, con ello, encontrar el beneplácito científico, a partir de un estudio crítico constructivo, de los grandes especialistas sobre algunos temas a debate como los que se plantearán en las sesiones temáticas.

Fecha: 1, 2, 3 y 4 de Noviembre
Lugar: Cádiz

Info@congresointernacionaldeestudiosceramicos.com
http://www.congresointernacionaldeestudiosceramicos.com/presentacion.htm

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