Archaeology's Top Ten

Archaeology magzine's editors have come up with an intriguing top ten discoveries for 2007, including many I covered here--and some interesting things that I missed. The first link in each of the entries below is to the Archaeology story; the second is to my coverage here.

1. Solar Observatory at Chankillo, Peru - Although Chankillo was discovered a long time ago, the astronomical aspects of its 'Thirteen Towers' were not recognized until this year
2. Nebo-Sarsekim Tablet, The British Museum, UK, researchers recognized a cuneiform tablet dated to 595 BC with a reference to a eunuch named Nebo-Sarsekim who appears in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah

The Inca astronomical observatory of Chankillo has a line of thirteen towers which bracket the sunrise and set between the June and December solstices.
Photo Credit: Marion Michelsen
3. New Dates for Clovis Sites, North America, recent radiocarbon dating for Clovis limits the span of the big-game hunting specialists to 250 years, which seems an astoundingly brief period of time for as widespread on the North American continent as Clovis came to be
4. Early Squash Seeds, Peru, Tom Dillehay's research at Ñanchoc Valley pushed back information on the domestication of squash
5. Ancient Chimpanzee Tool Use, discovery of a 4,000 year old site in Ivory Coast that proved that we are not the only tool users
6. Urbanization at Tell Brak, Syria; it turns out that Mesopotamia has a Syrian rival for earliest urbanization in Tell Brak
7. Lismullin Henge, Tara, Ireland, transportation-related archaeology at Tara discovered a new Iron Age henge
8. Polynesian Chickens in Chile, which discovery along with sweet potatoes in Chile supports possible precolumbian trans-oceanic voyaging
Homo habilis & Homo erectus, Kenya, on the discovery of the Ileret skulls which suggests habilis and erectus lived at the same time
9. Greater Angkor, Cambodia, in which researchers recognized a much larger site than previously expected

Others recommended by editors at Archaeology include Otzi and the Great Pyramid construction techniques--and, you know what? as usual, Archaeology magazine has provided a thoughtful, interesting set of articles.