Archaeologists make unbelievable Discoveries In Tunnel Sealed 2,000 Years Ago MEXICO CITY — A years-long examination of a tunnel sealed almost 2,000 years ago at the olden city of Teotihuacan yielded thousands of relics and the discovery of three chambers that could hold more significant finds, Mexican archaeologists said.

Project leader Sergio Gomez said researchers newly reached the end of the 340-foot (103-meter) tunnel after particularly working their way down its length, collecting relics from seeds to pottery to animal bones.

A large contribution found near the entrance to the chambers, some 18 meters under the Temple of the Plumed Serpent, suggests they could be the tombs of the city’s best.

“Because this is one of the most revered places in all Teotihuacan, we believe that it could have been used for the rulers to … obtain divine endowment allowing them to rule on the surface,” Gomez said.

Unlike at other per-Colombian ruins in Mexico, archaeologists have never found any remains supposed to belong to Teotihuacan’s rulers. Such a discovery could help shine light on the leadership organization of the city, including whether rule was inherited.

“We have not lost hope of finding that, and if they are there, they must be from someone very, very important,” Gomez said.

So far Gomez’s team has excavated only about 60 centimeters into the chambers. A full exploration will take at least one more year.

Early studies by the National Institute of Anthropology and History show the tunnel functioned until about A.D. 250, when it was closed off.

Teotihuacan long dominated central Mexico and had its tip between 100 B.C. and A.D. 750. It is believed to have been home to more than 100,000 people, but was discarded before the rise of the Aztecs in the 14th century.

Today it is a significant archaeological site on the bounds of Mexico City and a major tourist draw known for its broad avenues and massive pyramids.

Archaeologists found a 1,800 year old eagle statue in london during excavation of hotel.

The statue was designed in limestone from the Cotswolds and stands two feet tall. The right wing was broken otherwise the statue looks good.
A large stately tombs were also found at the site. Experts have came to the conclusion that the sculpture once adorned the tomb of a Roman-era Londoner, maybe a high-ranking official or a prosperous merchant.

Life in Londinium

During the time of statue’s carving , London was called Londinium. Londinium was a walled city stretching along the Thames River, with a population around 30,000. The mausoleum apparently rise along a road leading out of the city, in a graveyard just outside the city walls. Today the neighborhood is near the Tower of London.
Experts believe that the decorative image of the eagle devouring a serpent represents the triumph of good over evil. In Roman mythology, In Roman mythology, Jupiter’s symbol was the eagle, a chief god of the Roman pantheon.The eagle was thought to bring the soul of a deceased emperor to the heavens, making it an appropriate subject for a tomb ornament.

Historic Artwork

The sculpture is an amazing piece of art—the finest work done by a Roman-British sculpture ever uncovered in London. In its day, wealth and culture would have been a public statement , a sign that even in this distant outpost the deceased was familiar with the customs and beliefs of people in Rome.
The statue’s discovery was made during the final hours of an excavation that lasted several months. The statue was covered with mud when archaeologists took the statue out of the ground.
Preliminary cleaning reported that carving so crisp that the artifact seemed at first to be a garden ornament from the Victorian era.
The Museum of London plans to exhibit this piece for the next six months. Continuing studies should expose new insights into ancient graveyards and tombs, and the life and death of Roman London’s inhabitants.

A tribute to Howard carter’s 138th birthday

Birth:
Howard Carter was born on May 9th, 1874 in the small town of Kensington, London, England.
Career Beginning:
Howard Carter was born on May 9, 1874 in London, and at the age of 17, he was sent out by the Egypt Exploration Fund to help Percy Newberry in the excavation and recording of Middle Kingdom tombs at Beni Hasan.Even at the young age he was innovative in improving the methods of copying tomb decoration.In 1899, Howard was appointed the first chief inspector of the Egyptian Antiquities Service (EAS). Cartor monitored scores of excavations at Thebes (now known as Luxor)
Later work and discoveries:
On 4 November 1922, Carter’s excavation group found the steps leading to Tutankhamun’s tomb, by far the best preserved and most intact pharaonic tomb ever found in the Valley of the Kings.Following his discovery, Howard Carter retired from archaeology and became a part-time agent for museums, including the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Death:
He died of lymphoma, a type of cancer, in Kensington, London, on 2 March 1939 at the age of 64.[9] The archaeologist’s (natural) death so long after the opening of the tomb, despite being the leader of the expedition, is the piece of evidence most commonly put forward by sceptics to refute the idea of a “curse of the pharaohs” plaguing the party that violated Tutankhamun’s tomb.

During the last ten days of June 2008, the Baranov Museum of Kodiak sponsored a community archaeology project on its property and in the adjacent Sargent Park to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the A.D. 1808 construction of the Russian-America Company magazin (warehouse), which houses the Baranov Museum. Also known as the Erskine House National Historic Landmark, the magazin is the oldest standing building in Alaska and the earliest documented wooden building on the U.S. West Coast.

The Baranov Museum Bicentennial Archaeology Project was coordinated with its Kodiak Historical Society parent and included support from the City of Kodiak and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
As initially conceived by Baranov Museum Executive Director Katie Oliver, this project was intended to involve local community volunteers and students along with professional archaeologists to understand the entire human land use history of this small part of the present-day city of Kodiak.
Mark Cassell (Territory Heritage Resource Consulting, Anchorage) served as principal investigator, with Margan Grover (Bold Peak Archaeological Services, Eklutna) as field director and Patrick Saltonstall (Alutiiq Museum, Kodiak) supervising volunteers. We were honored to have the assistance of Dr. Don Clark, longtime subarctic archaeologist and native of Kodiak. The archaeological excavations amounted to just 10 m2 of the 4500 m2 of the properties, or a 0.22% sample. In the course of its expectedly brief but surprisingly successful run, the project documented approximately 3500 years of human land use at this little piece of Kodiak. All this was conducted by dozens of volunteers and students and witnessed by hundreds of community and cruise ship visitors.

The history of the Baranov Museum and Sargent Park study block is nested within that of Kodiak. While no pre-European archaeological sites had previously been found within the city, sites occur throughout the Kodiak archipelago representing archaeological traditions dating from ca. 5500 B.C. to A.D. 1750; the latter date is roughly consonant with the development of regional indigenous Alutiiq society. The Russians set up a permanent post on Kodiak Island in 1784, and the Russian-America Company (RAC) established its Alaskan capital at the present city of Kodiak in 1792, using Native Alaskans as the primary fur trade labor source.

In 1867, Russia transferred Alaska to the U.S. government, including the RAC holdings. With transfer, the Alaska Commercial Company (ACC) obtained a commercial monopoly, using the previous RAC facilities in Kodiak and being headquartered at the 1808 RAC magazin. W. J. Erskine joined the ACC as Kodiak factor in 1908, and in 1911 bought out the ACC’s Kodiak interests, including the magazin, where he set up his own commercial company and lived with his wife, renowned for her extensive, successful, and innovative gardens.

The Erskines built an annex onto the magazin which, like many buildings in the city and region, collapsed from the heavy ashfall of the 1912 Mt. Novarupta volcanic eruption (known as the Katmai eruption). Mr. and Mrs. Erskine resided in the magazin building until their deaths in the 1940s. Next to the Erskine’s magazin residence, the Sargent family built their house about 1910.

World War II brought tens of thousands of American military personnel to Kodiak Island and the city, and the expansion of the city that had proceeded at a modest pace since 1792 suddenly exploded in a frenzy of development. Residential, commercial, and agency buildings were set up in the study block. Tenants sporadically used the magazin for residential and/or commercial purposes into the 1960s, and the building soon fell into disrepair.

The 1964 Good Friday earthquake in south Alaska created a tsunami that leveled much of Kodiak, spawning what is locally known as the Eurban renewals period: much of the existing city was bulldozed to remove traces of prior unplanned development and to begin anew. The magazin and adjacent block, located on a low bluff in Kodiak, were not damaged by the tsunami. Nonetheless, existing structures on the study block were razed during “urban renewal,a leaving only the magazin standing. The rapidly deteriorating building found its salvation in the 1967 creation of a community museum there by the Kodiak Historical Society. Enclosing the area that once contained a microcosm of life in Kodiak, the current grass-covered Sargent Park was created in 1980, with only a modicum of hand grubbing to modestly level the ground surface.
Period illustrations, maps, and photographs from the 1790s into the 1950s describe a burgeoning and then-vibrant social and material landscape in the study block surrounding the magazin, as represented by the presence of and changes in numerous buildings, fences, and roads. This archival background, together with known artifact finds on the property, formed the basis for the excavation areas. Four locations were chosen for excavation on the museum and park properties. To the north of the magazin, two 1 x 1 m units were picked due to the suspected proximity to the annex collapse after the 1912 ashfall; it was hoped that these units would yield information concerning the building interior vs. exterior due to changes in construction and ashfall content. Two 1 x 1 m units were opened to the northwest of the magazin to see what might exist amidst the structures shown there in period graphics. West of the magazin, near the back door of the former Sargent house, two 1 x 1 m units were laid out to see if any remains could be found directly related to the Sargent tenure. Finally, two adjacent sets of two 1 x 1 m units were opened immediately south of the magazin, as gardening activities a couple years back had yielded a number of Russian-era materials there.

Source from : http://www.sha.org

archaeology research project from alaska

Current research alaska

otzi iceman

Ötzi – the Iceman is the oldest known wet mummy in the world. His body was discovered in 1991 in the Schnalstal glacier and remains on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology. In November 2007 his story came to life at the National Maritime Museum, Darling Harbour.

Be immersed in the fascinating mystery of Ötzi’s life and death. Examine a replica of the mummy as he was found encased in ice, or fix your eyes on the reconstructed model of the man.

Journey through the history of the Iceman, investigate the extraordinary scientific discoveries, see a unique collection of Neolithic artefacts and learn about Copper Age living.

Through video projections, photographs and interactive stations find out the incredible facts of Iceman – the story of Ötzi.

Exhibition shown at Australian National Maritime Museum 9 November 2007 – 17 February 2008.