Writing in American Antiquity, researchers from Arizona State University and North Carolina State University say archaeologists can use computational modeling to study the long-term effects of varying land use practices by farmers and herders on landscapes.
By using these techniques, archeologists can develop alternative computerized scenarios that can be compared with traditional archaeological records, possibly enhancing previous findings of how humans and the environment interact.
Archaeologists say they have disproved the fifty-year-old theory underpinning our understanding of how the famous stone statues were moved around Easter Island. Fieldwork led by researchers at University College London and The University of Manchester has shown the remote Pacific island's ancient road system was primarily ceremonial and not solely built for transportation of the figures.
A complex network of roads up to 800-years-old crisscross the Island between the hat and statue quarries and the coastal areas. Laying alongside the roads are dozens of the statues - or moai.
If you thought that rapid and potentially catastrophic climate change was all bad, think again. High in the Mackenzie Mountains in Canada, a treasure trove of ancient hunting tools is being revealed as warming temperatures melt patches of ice that have been in place for thousands of years.
Ice patches are accumulations of annual snow that, until recently, remained frozen all year. For millennia, caribou seeking relief from summer heat and insects have made their way to ice patches where they bed down until cooler temperatures prevail. Hunters noticed caribou were, in effect, marooned on these ice islands and took advantage.
In a very trademarky sort of way, I actually stumbled onto the Maps of War. The utility and quality of the short, animated maps varies, but they give you a sense of how dynamic history can be and cram a lot of information into 90 seconds. I find the Imperial History of the Middle East particularly interesting. Those folks have been busy.
Ok, so not Odin, but Hadrian. "By Hadrian's Beard!" has not been uttered in major motion pictures that are insanely popular amongst teenage boys and those with the sense of humor of teenage boys (i.e., all my friends).
Archaeologists have unearthed a cache of cuneiform tablets found to contain a largely intact Assyrian treaty from the early 7th century BCE.
The 43 by 28 centimeter tablet — known as the Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon — contains about 650 lines and is in a very fragile state. "It will take months of further work before the document will be fully legible," said Timothy Harrison, professor of near eastern archaeology in the Department of Near&Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto.
"These tablets are like a very complex puzzle, involving hundreds of pieces, some missing. It is not just a matter of pulling the tablet out, sitting down and reading. We expect to learn much more as we restore and analyze the document."
Archaeologists have begun excavating a proto-urban settlement situated where the Balikh River joins the Euphrates River in Northern Syria. The location was at the crossroads of major trade routes across ancient Mesopotamia that followed the course of the Euphrates River valley.
Known as Tell Zeidan, the town may have been one of the largest Ubaid temple towns in northern Mesopotamia, as large or larger than any previously known contemporary Ubaid towns in the southern alluvial lowlands of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is today southern Iraq.
Historians from the University of Haifa claim that Khirbet Qeiyafa, a provincial town in Israel's Elah Valley region, is 'Neta'im', an adminstrative center mentioned in the biblical book of Chronicles.
Archaeological excavations carried out at Khirbet Qeiyafa have dated the site to the beginning of the 10th century BCE, namely the time of King David's rule. A Hebrew inscription on a pottery shard found at the site also dating back to the 10th century indicates the presence of scribes and a high level of culture in the town.
Archaeologists have integrated textual evidence with archaeological research in order to further understand the impact of China's first emperor Qin Shihauangdi, responsible for initiating construction of the Great Wall. The result of their work, they say, is a more holistic view of China's first emperor and his influence on the eastern province of Shandong.
A report of their research is published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Shihuangdi first unified China in 221 BC but scholars have few details of his distant conquests or how they changed the path of local histories. Records show that in 219 BC the emperor visited Langya Mountain on the southeastern Shandong coast.
Archaeological excavations conducted by researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem have revealed a section of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem possibly built by King Solomon during the tenth century B.C.E.
The section of the city wall revealed is 70 meters long and six meters high and located in the area known as the Ophel, between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple Mount.
Uncovered in the city wall complex are: an inner gatehouse for access into the royal quarter of the city, a royal structure adjacent to the gatehouse, and a corner tower that overlooks a substantial section of the adjacent Kidron valley.
