Archaeology October 2012 Archive

On the coasts of South Africa are enormous mussel shell heaps, among the largest in the world, which were amassed over a period of 1200 years. Closeup of Megamidden at ... Read More

The best known archaeological sites in North America to the public are probably the temples of the classic Maya civilization (~AD 250-900). Uxmal, Bonampak, Tulum, Copán, Tikal—these sites in Mexico, ... Read More

As the American east coast waits anxiously for Hurricane Sandy to make landfall, it may make you feel a tad bit better knowing that human society has survived much worse. ... Read More

The most-talked about man in prehistory must be Otzi, a.k.a. the Iceman or Hauslabjoch Man or Simalaun Man. Found eroding out of a glacier in 1991, the human remains of ... Read More

A story in Science last week reported new findings from Lake Suigetsu in Japan, that promise to allow a better refinement of the radiocarbon dating method. Lake Suigetsu. Image courtesy ... Read More

In Sir Walter Scott's book The Talisman, he recreated the scene of October 1192, when Richard Lionheart of England and Saladin the Saracen met to end the ... Read More

Moundville is the archaeological name for the capital of a Mississippian chiefdom, probably that of Apafalaya, which was visited by Hernando de Soto in 1540. Version of a Winged Serpent ... Read More

The Venus of Laussel is an Upper Paleolithic venus figurine holding a bison horn. Or maybe a crescent moon. Scholars think she might be drinking some potion from it, she ... Read More

Mabila was the Mississippian town where a great battle was fought in 1540, between the Spanish conquistador and explorer Hernando de Soto and the Mississippian chief Tascaluza. De Soto at ... Read More

Atlit-Yam is a 9,000 year old fishing village located off the Carmel coast of what is today northern Israel, and beneath some 26-40 feet of Mediterranean sea water. Diving on ... Read More

Although American archaeology doesn't have a "Pompeii", where a volcanic calamity preserved ancient ruins in a spectacular way, there are a couple of examples you might not know about. One ... Read More