Top 10 Archaeology Stories of 2007
Posted by Ivica Miskovic in Nature, Science
10. Ancient "Salt Cured" Man Found in Iranian Mine (July 3, 2007)The functioning mine is located in the Hamzehlu region near Zanjan, a northwestern Iranian province.
Scientists believe the man was a Roman Empire-era salt mine worker killed by falling rocks during an earthquake.
full story
9. Photo in the News: "Unusual" Tomb of Egyptian Courtier Found (May 21, 2007)Scientists from Belgium's Leuven Catholic University discovered the intact tomb in the Deir Al-Barsha necropolis in El Minya, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of Cairo, while excavating another burial site, Egypt's culture ministry reported Sunday.
The tomb is of Henu, a courtier and real estate manager during the tumultuous First Intermediate period (2181 to 2050 B.C.) of Egyptian history.
full story
8. Photo Gallery: Frozen Inca Mummy Goes On Display (September 11, 2007)full story
7. Photo in the News: Skeleton "Valentines" Won't Be Parted (February 13, 2007)Discovered last week during construction not far from Verona, the setting of Romeo and Juliet, the roughly 5,000-year-old couple has already become an icon of enduring love to many.
Like Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers, the prehistoric twosome appear to be young, as evidenced by the condition of their teeth. But that's about all that is known about them so far. They could just as easily be two brothers.
6. Japan's Ancient Underwater "Pyramid" Mystifies Scholars (September 19, 2007)
Submerged stone structures lying just below the waters off Yonaguni Jima are actually the ruins of a Japanese Atlantis—an ancient city sunk by an earthquake about 2,000 years ago. That's the belief of Masaaki Kimura, a marine geologist at the University of the Ryukyus in Japan who has been diving at the site to measure and map its formations for more than 15 years.
Each time he returns to the dive boat, Kimura said, he is more convinced than ever that below him rest the remains of a 5,000-year-old city.
"The largest structure looks like a complicated, monolithic, stepped pyramid that rises from a depth of 25 meters [82 feet]," said Kimura, who presented his latest theories about the site at a scientific conference in June.
5. Sacred Cave of Rome's Founders Found, Scientists Say (January 26, 2007)
Archaeologists say they have unearthed Lupercale—the sacred cave where, according to legend, a she-wolf nursed the twin founders of Rome and where the city itself was born.
The long-lost underground chamber was found beneath the remains of Emperor Augustus' palace on the Palatine, a 230-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) hill in the center of the city.
Archaeologists from the Department of Cultural Heritage of the Rome Municipality came across the 50-foot-deep (15-meter-deep) cavity while working to restore the decaying palace.
4. Jesus' Tomb Found in Israel, Filmmakers Claim (February 26, 2007)
A tomb that once held the remains of Jesus of Nazareth—and those of his wife and son—has been found in a suburb of Jerusalem, said the makers of a controversial film in a press conference today. The filmmakers base their claims on the study of ten ossuaries—stone boxes used to hold the bones of the dead—that were unearthed at an Israeli construction site in 1980.
Inscriptions on the boxes, in addition to DNA tests of tiny bits of tissue found inside, suggest that the cave was the final resting place of Jesus, his disciple Mary Magdalene, and their son, the filmmakers said.
The claims, if verified, could threaten key tenets of the Christian faith, most notably that Jesus never married or had children and that he was resurrected three days after his death.
3. Egypt's Female Pharaoh Revealed by Chipped Tooth, Experts Say (June 27, 2007)
A broken tooth has become the key to identifying the mummy of Hatshepsut, the woman who ruled ancient Egypt as both queen and king nearly 3,500 years ago. For decades speculation has raged over which of two female mummies found in a simple tomb in Egypt was the remains of the gender-bending queen.
Was she the dainty, fine-boned mummy gathering dust in the attic of the Egyptian Museum in Cairo?
Or was she the bosomy matron left lying on the floor of a rough tomb 445 miles (720 kilometers) south of the Egyptian capital in the Valley of the Kings?
This morning authorities revealed that the larger, fleshy mummy is the real Hatshepsut.
2. Stonehenge Settlement Found: Builders' Homes, "Cult Houses" (January 30, 2007)
A major prehistoric village has been unearthed near Stonehenge in southern England. The settlement likely housed the builders of the famous monument, archaeologists say, and was an important ceremonial site in its own right, hosting great "feasts and parties"
Excavations also offer new evidence that a timber circle and a vast earthwork where the village once stood were linked to Stonehenge—via road, river, and ritual. Together, the sites were part of a much larger religious complex, the archaeologists suggest.
1. Mass Plague Graves Found on Venice "Quarantine" Island (August 29, 2007)
Ancient mass graves containing more than 1,500 victims of the bubonic plague have been discovered on a small island in Italy's Venetian Lagoon.
Workers came across the skeletons while digging the foundation for a new museum on Lazzaretto Vecchio, a small island in the lagoon's south, located a couple of miles from Venice's famed Piazza San Marco.
The island is believed to be the world's first lazaret—a quarantine colony intended to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
credited to news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/12/071220-archaeology.html
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