Archaeology News - And Lots of It

I just stumbled across a rather unexpected site - Fox News' Archaeology page! They have the latest archaeology news (not always VERY new!) in the following categories:

Latest News (all areas of Archaeology)
Biblical Archaeology
Classical Archaeology
East Asia, South Asia and Pacific
Egyptology
Medieval Archaeology
Pre-Columbian Archaeology
Prehistorical Archaeology
Post-Columbian Americas
Unusual Excavations.

The website can be found here

Major Archaeological Find: Ancient Settlement near Stonehenge

The settlement, located at a site called Durrington Walls, once housed hundreds of people, and dates to around 2600 BC, the scientists said at a press conference this morning. It is the largest settlement from the Neolithic time period ever found in Britain.

Read the entire article here

Unearthing the reality behind the myths surrounding the Jamestown Colony

U.S. News and World Report has a fascinating overview of recent findings about Jamestown colony in Virginia.

Doubt the colonists' savvy? The siting of the fortress itself was testament to their military sense, enabling their artillery to dominate river traffic while sitting beyond the range of ship-borne guns. Question their grit? The construction of the fort in a mere 19 days amid fierce heat and sniping from local Indians was a feat unequaled even by the much better equipped builders of the set of the recent movie The New World. Think the colonists lacked entrepreneurial zeal? Artifacts indicate a rich diversity of industrial and craft ventures, ample proof that those men (and, soon, women) quickly set to work trying to make a profit for their company. Other findings fill in details about life in the first successful English colony in America, showing, for instance, even more interaction and, possibly, intermarriage with Indians than once was thought.

Read the entire article here

Ancient Roman Mosaics in Turkey

PBS NOVA did a show a few years back about a rush archaelogical dig to uncover what they could of the Ancient Roman city of Zeugma in Turkey before it disappeared beneath the waters formed from a newly built dam. They uncovered an amazing series of floor mosaics that were removed and preserved in a local museum.

The related website has extensive coverage of this fascinating dig and is well-worth a look!

NOVA - Lost Roman Treasure

Excavations in Jerusalem...

There's a fascinating excavation taking place in Jerusalem currently that has uncovered some ancient waterways and a bath as well as a colonnaded street from the Roman-Byzantine era.

The new archaeological find uncovers a missing link in the ancient water system, known as the "Lower Aqueduct." This system channeled water from Solomon’s Pools near Bethlehem (located several miles south of Jerusalem) directly to the national focal point of Jewish worship - the Temple Mount.

Solomon’s pools, situated just north of the modern Jewish town of Efrat, cover an area of about 7 acres and can hold three million gallons of water. A lengthy aqueduct conveyed the water from the lowest pool through Bethlehem, across the Gihon valley, along the western slope of the Tyropoeon valley, and into the cisterns underneath the Temple Mount. Today, the water from the pools reaches only Bethlehem due to the destruction of the aqueducts.
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The plastered hewn-stone mikva (ritual bath) unearthed at the excavation is from the Second Temple period. It was originally situated in the foundation level of a private home during the time of the Second Temple. The ritual bath was damaged at a later date when the bedrock cliff opposite it was hewn into a vertical wall that rose up to a maximum height of about thirty feet.

Read the entire article here

hat-tip The Way of the Fathers (Mike has an additional link as well)