Antiquity, News

Welcome to Antiquity's news page where you can keep up to date with the latest developments in British and World archaeology. The latest news will be displayed through the scrolling banner above, while other news will be presented below.
November 2003: Chipping away at West Heslerton
A huge area of buried buildings, villages and other monuments spanning a 6000 year interval is under threat from farmers. The site, at West Heslerton, North Yorkshire, has been hailed by archaeologists as hugely important. Local farmers, who have previously used the land for pasture, are now being called upon to grow potatoes for a local oven chip factory, which will have a hugely detrimental effect on the archaeology. Talks are now underway between all the interested parties to try to reach a compromise. Further information from BBC North Yorkshire.
November 2003: Piltdown Man anniversary celebrated
Fifty years on from the exposure of the infamous Piltown hoax, the British press have been commemorating it. The discovery of a skull in 1915 had caused frenzied excitement as the supposed 'missing link' between humans and apes, but was exposed as a hoax fifty years ago this month. It was proven that the skull was made of a combination of modern human and orang-utan bones, stained brown to look fossilised. The Natural History Museum in London is currently staging an exhibition entitled Piltdown Man: The Context And Exposure Of A Scientific Forgery to mark the anniversary.
September 2003: Views from the ground
We now have a selection of opinions from around the world on the recent World Archaeological Congress held in Washington DC in June. Please click here to access them.
September 2003: Earliest European human discovery
Bones discovered in Romania are the oldest human remains ever found in Europe. A male adult jawbone has been carbon-dated to between 34 000 and 36 000 years ago, during the period when modern humans and Neanderthals coexisted. The American researchers suggest that the features of the bones support the controversial theory that early modern humans and Neanderthals may have interbred to some extent. Further information: Yahoo News, 22 September 2003
September 2003: Warka Lady recovered
Investigators have recovered the Lady of Warka, one of the most valuable exhibits stolen from the Iraqi National Museum. One source claims that it was recovered from a farmer who had been given it by someone who owed him money. The alabaster structure, dating from 3500 BC, is thought to be one of the earliest representation of the human face, and is known as the Sumerian Mona Lisa.
September 2003: Mesolithic British cemetery dated
Bone fragments from a cemetery in Somerset, south-west England, have been dated to roughly 10 300 years ago. The specimens were removed from the cave early last century and were held in a Bristol museum, where the collection was mainly destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. Only recently have scientists returned to the surviving samples to assess them using modern methods. David Miles, Chief Archaeologist of English Heritage, said: "The dates show that people in Britain were burying their dead in a cemetery in the early Mesolithic period 4000 years earlier then had previously been thought". Further information: BBC News Online, 23 September 2003
September 2003: UK Underwater Mesolithic site discovered
Underwater archaeologists have discovered the UK's second submerged Stone Age settlement in the North Sea. Another slightly more recent site was also found nearby during the training session by the team from Newcastle University. Finds included worked flints, an arrowhead and cutting implements with serrated edges. The sites, dating between 10 000 and 5000 years ago, would have been gradually submerged as sea levels rose after the end of the Ice Age. Source: BBC News Online 11 September 2003
September 2003: Dark Age boat excavated
A 1500 year old wooden canoe has been lifted from intertidal mud near Portsmouth, UK. The boat, discovered in March 2002, is the oldest boat ever found in the Solent, radiocarbon dated to between 400 and 640 AD. It is hollowed out from an oak tree trunk and has been preserved in the anaerobic conditions of the harbour mud. Enviromental evidence from the undisturbed boat and sediment beneath it will provide insights into Dark Age life in this area. Source: BBC News Online 4 September 2003
August 2003: New Ayodhya dispute
Archaeologists are disputing the interpretation of the excavation report of the religious site at Ayodhya, India. The report shows an ancient structure existed on the site, which has been claimed by both Hindus and Muslims. A court is now sitting to decide the history of the site. Source: The Guardian 25 August 2003
July 2003: Ointment tin opened after nearly 2000 years
A pot discovered at a Roman temple complex in Southwark, South London, was opened in front of the media at the Museum of London to reveal cream, complete with finger marks. The composition and function of the substance is still unknown, but it is possibly some kind of face cream. The tin is about six centimetres wide, and its contents were described as being still wet but smelling 'sulphurous'. Source: BBc News Online 28 June 2003
July 2003: Earliest UK cave art to get a new museum
The Palaeolithic cave engraving at Cresswell Crags in Derbyshire, UK, first reported in Antiquity 296 June 2003, will be a major strength in a bid to the Lottery Heritage Fund for money towards a new museum at the site. The cave art, depicting an ibex, is just the latest evidence of Palaeolithic activity in the area, one of the most northerly accessible places in the Ice Age. The proposed musuem will be the first to tell the story of Britain in the Palaeolithic era. The Cresswell Crags Trust hopes that many of the objects removed from Creswell in Victorian times which were distributed to museums throughout the country can be displayed at the new centre. Source: BBC News Online 25 July 2003.
May 2003: Iraq Museums Looting Condemned
Archaeologists have expressed outrage and great sadness at the looting and destruction of artefacts from the National Museum in Baghdad and other sites around the Iraq. They have protested that the US and UK governments were warned of this possibility well in advance and that the looting could easily have been prevented. Letters to British national newspapers testify to this: Dr Harriet Crawford and several other eminent archaeologists wrote to the Independent on 5 March 2003, and Professor Lord Colin Renfrew wrote to the Times on April 24 to point out the warnings and ask why they had not been heeded. For further information, read the June Editorial of Antiquity by the Editor, Martin Carver. This also contains a testimonial from Dr Lamia Al-Gailani Werr, formerly of the Iraq Museum and founder of its Children's Educational Department, telling of her personal feelings about the tragic events.

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