Archeologists made an amazing discovery in southern Peru after they discovered the oldest gold necklace ever found. This necklace carries nine small gold tubes with a sequence of round stones, recognized as either greenstone or turquoise.The necklace’s gold beads are further thick and cylindrical in shape with various lengths. “This was a big surprise to us,” lead author Mark Aldenderfer of the University of Arizona said. “It was not expected in the least,” said Mark Aldenderfer, one of the experts. “It’s always fun to find something and go, ‘Wow, what is that doing here?’The beads differed in length from 11.5 to 29 millimeters and weight from 1.5 to 5.2 grams. The corners of the beads displayed characteristic hammer marks and were folded over other than cut. The next oldest gold ornaments was found in this hemisphere date to about 600 years later than this one, Aldenderfer said adding up that the site is as well situated in Peru but farther north.

Marine archaeologists have discovered a 600 ton vessel as luxurious as Titanic.
Marine archaeologists have carried a series of dives on the vessel which is 23 ft inside the water. There are doubts whether it is a cargo ship or a warship.

The Archaeology labs on campus are similar to the artifacts placed within them. They are scattered and have been through some wear and tear.

The labs are currently in three separate buildings on campus. In two to three weeks, they will be moved into the old printing press office in the basement of Old Main. The reason for the move is because of the leaks in the basement of Smith Hall and Old Main, as well as not having enough space for artifacts that arrive yearly.

Many of the artifacts and an ethnographic collection are being stored in boxes in a room on the fourth floor of Smith Hall.

Sociology and Anthropology Department Chair, Anders Linde-Laursen, said the artifacts in the labs and ethnographic collection are unique and teach students about history.

“The archaeology lab and the ethnographic collection in the department hold materials that are of crucial importance for us to understand the past and the world today,” Linde-Laursen said. “Parts of the collections are one of a kind and of world standard.”

Many artifacts and collections are donated to the labs or found by students in the field.

“Most of our collection was donated to us by the Sunrise Museum in Charleston,” Nicholas Freidin, professor of anthropology, said. “They decided to get rid of their ethnographic collection, so they gave us some of it.”

In two other smaller labs located in the basements of Smith Hall and Old Main, tools used for fieldwork and analysis can be found with artifacts such as arrowheads, pieces of pottery, journals and books.

“We are one of only a few places in the state that have fieldwork,” Friedin said. “It is a course at Marshall where students spend the summer working in the ground. Archeology is about people digging, and the only way to actually know how to do that is to do it.”

The new home for the archaeology lab will have more space to display artifacts and hold seminars.

“This move is a great step forward, even if the new location does not meet the physical standards of a permanent home for these important collections,” Laursen said. “It is our hope that resources eventually will become available that will enable us both to secure a permanent home in an environment that preserves the collections indefinitely, as well as facilitate exhibits and other outreach measures that bring the information in the collections to people on campus and beyond.”

Linde-Laursen said he hopes having the labs moved to a larger space will bring more attention to the field.

“My hope is that this will be but one step toward making this part of the resources in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of interest to a much wider group of students, faculty and staff on campus,” Linde-Laursen said.

An Archaeology student has discovered the body of an Australian soldier who died during the first world war. His body has been recovered after a period of 90 years. A student of Bradford university aged 21 years by name Graham Arkley dressed in full kit discovered a skeleton as he was excavating the German trenches near St Yves in Wallonia.

The area was attacked during the first world war on the morning of June 7 1917 by the third division of Australia as a part of the Battle of Messines.

The student who is persuing a degree of B.Sc. Archaeology found the body while he was working with a project set to examine the effectiveness of the training of the 3rd division of Australia during the First world war.
Mr. Arkley was very proud of his recovery of the previously  missing soldier. The soldier would have met unimaginable hardship and has finally met a violent end.

The other items which were found were the German pickelhaube- a spiked helmet worn by the German soldiers. The remains of the soldier have been taken by the Belgian army and it would be given to the common wealth War graves commission, where they would try to identify the body.

About 12,000 years ago, the well-known musical events would have taken place in torch-lit caves beside walls roofed in art, according to new archaeological research taken place in France. Stone Age-era caves there allow paintings placed in the most acoustically booming places, where sound remains or echoes.

The prime cathedrals, theaters and recital halls, researchers now theorize, might have been enthused by musical act held in caves. Iegor Reznikoff of the University of Paris stated Discovery News that he stumbled upon the Stone Age art and music connection.

“I am a specialist of the resonance of buildings and spaces, particularly of the resonance of Romanesque churches,” Reznikoff explained. “The first time I happened to be in a prehistoric cave, I tried the resonance in various parts of the cave, and quickly the question arose: Is there a relation between resonance and locations of the paintings?”