While Crow Canyon field archaeologists have moved their operations to Goodman Point Pueblo, researchers in the lab continue to study Albert Porter Pueblo, a large village site test-excavated by Crow Canyon from 2001 through 2004. Archaeological research is such that even long after field excavations have ceased, the lab crew has to keep “digging.”

Last year, we were pleased to report that all the basic analyses for Albert Porter Pueblo had been completed. We had analyzed nearly 170,000 sherds for pottery type and vessel form, almost 75,000 pieces of chipped-stone debitage, and close to 200 projectile points. Even so, much more remains to be done with the Porter artifact assemblage.

Albert Porter figures significantly in the archaeology of the Mesa Verde region because of its great house—a multistory building that contains both masonry rooms and a large, aboveground kiva. Some of the characteristics of the Albert Porter great house are similar to those seen at great houses in Chaco Canyon, located more than 100 miles away in northwestern New Mexico. With its magnificent great houses, Chaco Canyon was the focal point of a regional system that existed throughout the San Juan Basin from the mid-eleventh through the mid-twelfth centuries A.D.—a system referred to by archaeologists as the “Chaco phenomenon.”

Among the many research issues being investigated by Crow Canyon at Albert Porter Pueblo, the possibility of a Chaco connection is one of the most intriguing. What was the nature of the Chaco phenomenon in southwestern Colorado? Just how “Chacoan” are the great houses of the Mesa Verde region? Did sites with such buildings function similarly to their magnificent analogs in Chaco Canyon? What was the role of Albert Porter Pueblo in the social landscape of the Mesa Verde region, and how did that role evolve from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries?

In-depth analyses of the pottery and stone artifacts from Albert Porter Pueblo will help us answer these important questions. Last winter, the laboratory staff and Albert Porter Pueblo project director Susan Ryan selected a sample of about 3,500 pottery sherds that will be examined for evidence of a Chaco Canyon connection. Pottery associated with Chaco Canyon sites has distinctive temper, often consisting of a shiny green rock called trachyte. The laboratory staff will analyze the temper from the Porter pottery sample with a binocular microscope to estimate the quantity of pottery that was manufactured in the vicinity of Chaco Canyon.

Additionally, by estimating the sizes of white ware serving bowls and corrugated gray cooking jars (see photo) and by evaluating painted pottery designs on white ware bowls, the lab staff hopes to determine whether or not Albert Porter Pueblo functioned as a community center from the mid-1000s through the mid-1200s. More large bowls, cooking jars, and elaborately decorated bowls are expected at community centers than at smaller, domestic sites.

The special analyses are not limited to pottery. Albert Porter Pueblo yielded eight obsidian and two turquoise specimens. Because neither of these raw materials is available locally, the artifacts will be subjected to special analyses to determine their origins. The results will allow us to compare Albert Porter with sites in Chaco Canyon, as well as with other great house sites in southwestern Colorado, all part of our goal of assessing the “Chaco-ness” of Albert Porter Pueblo.

Ruins of part of Gyeongbok Palace dating back 600 years ago have been unearthed under a road near Gwanghwamun, the main gate of the palace. The ruins are so well preserved that they are reminiscent of those of Pompeii.

The National Research Institute of Cultural Heritage under the Cultural Heritage Administration, which has been excavating ruins in this area, gave a briefing on the excavation site on Tuesday afternoon. The institute said it unearthed ruins of a wall that stood between Gwanghwamun and Dongsipjagak tower, of Yongseongmun and Hyeopsaengmun gates inside the palace walls between Gwanghwamun and Heungryemun gates, and of a building burned down during the Japanese invasion in the late 16th century.
Among the ruins, foundation stones of the wall, between Gwanghwamun gate and Dongsipjagak tower to the east of the gate had been preserved almost in perfect condition. The wall was some 168 m long and 2.9 to 3.2 m wide. Two of the three layers of foundation stones were probably laid in the 14th century during the reign of King Taejo, the founder of the Chosun Dynasty, and the other in 1860 during the reign of King Gojong.

The wall that stood on the stones was demolished by the Japanese colonial rulers when they built the Japanese government-general. Its ruins were covered with dirt and quite a different kind of fence was built on it.

The ruins of Yongseongmun gate in the west of the inner wall and of Hyeopsaengmun gate in the east were also unearthed. The site of a building was excavated under the ruins of the wall between the gates. The building, whose foundation stones are well preserved, was probably built before the Japanese invasion in the 16th century. It would have been a large symmetrical building, 11.2 m long from east to west and at least 50 m long from south to north. It appears the building was used as an east-west cloister that was built when the palace was dedicated and was used as a waiting place for the royal court officials.

The 5,300 year old human mummy – dubbed Öetzi or ‘the Tyrolean Iceman‘ – is highly unlikely to have modern day relatives, according to new research published today.

A team comprising scientists from Italy and the UK has sequenced Öetzi’s entire mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) genome – which is passed down through the maternal line – and found that he belonged to a genetic lineage that is either extremely rare, or that has died out.
Published in this month’s issue of Current Biology, the research has generated the oldest complete Homo sapiens mtDNA genome to date, and overturns previous research conducted in 1994 on a small section of Öetzi’s mtDNA, which suggested that relatives of Öetzi may still exist in Europe.

“Changes arise only gradually in mitochondrial DNA as it is passed down the generations,” says co-author Professor Martin Richards of the University of Leeds’ Faculty of Biological Sciences, “and so it provides an effective way of tracking ancestry through the female line across many thousands of years, as well as examining evolutionary relatedness across human populations.”

The team, led by Professor Franco Rollo at the University of Camerino and Dr Luca Ermini working at both Camerino and Leeds, used powerful new technologies to sequence Öetzi’s mtDNA and match it with a modern day haplogroup – in genetic terms, a group that shares a common ancestral DNA sequence. He belonged to a branch of haplogroup K1, which is still common throughout Europe today. However, almost all members of K1 sampled from modern Europeans belong to one of three sub-lineages, whereas Öetzi’s lineage was completely distinct.

The Northern Territory Environment Department says an archaeological dig on a vacant lot in the Darwin CBD has uncovered historically significant money and medicine.

The department says among the discoveries they have found a chinese coin, an Australian penny, a pearl shell and metal that may have come off soldiers buckles during World War II.

The excavations have now reached a depth of four metres below the surface and are expected to be finalised by the end of November.

Heritage officer, Patricia Bourke says other materials including shells, bone and charcoal have also been found on the site.
“One of the most exciting finds so far has been a well that was located with help from the Chin family, who were owners of the building for many years.

“The well is a reminder of a time when there was no reticulated water in Darwin and residents relied on wells for drinking water.

Trans Cape, the much anticipated large-scale multimedia exhibition of African contemporary art, has been postponed. Originally scheduled to open on September 23 this year, it will now take place from March 24 to May 2, 2007. The decision to reschedule was prompted by delays in funding from key stake holders and an enormous interest from the corporate sector to support the project in the new financial year, according to CAPE Africa Platform, the organisers of the event.

The exhibition, led by artistic director Gavin Jantjes, is the first in a series of biennial exhibitions planned by CAPE. It says the
exhibition’s title refers to the shifts, changes, disruptions and relocations of people on the African continent as well as the movements and changes in contemporary African visual culture.

Alternative modes of presentation and encounter with contemporary art are intended to help transform the public’s idea of a large-scale exhibition. The event is spread across 24 venues and sites along a cultural route that maps the greater Cape Town metropolitan area, from the city centre to Muizenberg, through township restaurants and B&B’s to the Spier wine estate near Stellenbosch. Exhibition venues include galleries and museums, public sites such as Look-out Hill and the Oliver Tambo Sports Centre in Khayelitsha, Kirstenbosch Gardens, as well as a number of stations on the Cape Town – Muizenberg line. Transport between locations is conceived as part of the curatorial concept: access will be provided through a mix of public transport and vehicles commissioned as artistic projects.

Roughly 70 artists from South Africa, the African continent and diaspora have been selected to participate. Several newly commissioned works will be exhibited alongside existing works, which broadly address the exhibition theme. Aside from biennale regulars such as Willie Bester, William Kentridge and Marlene Dumas, South African artists selected include two Tollman Award winners, Nicholas Hlobo and Mustafa Maluka, mixed media artist Dineo Seshee Bopape, and Nontsikelelo ‘Lolo’ Veleko, whose photographs featured prominently in Okwui Enwezor’s recent Snap Judgments group show, held earlier this year in New York.

Amongst the Pan-African artists joining them are celebrated Ghanaian sculptor El Anatsui, 2004 Turner Prize nominee Yinka Shonibare, and conceptual architect David Adjaye, who recently collaborated with Wangechi Mutu (this issue’s cover artist) at New York’s Salon 94 gallery. Lesser known, locally at least, is Congolese photographer Sammy Baloji, whose work is shown here. French-speaking Baloji has previously collaborated with Belgian photographer and filmmaker Marie-Françoise Plissart (see page 50). Also showing is Dominique Zinkpé, a sculptor from Benin. He has previously shown work on the Dakar and Havana biennales, and exhibited alongside Barthélémy Toguo in France.

Trans Cape is also promoting an artist-led, fringe initiative. Titled X-Cape and curated by Storm Janse van Rensburg, it aims to encourage interaction between artists, cultural practitioners and exhibition visitors.