archaeology – Museum of the Weird

Posted on January 8, 2016 by MOTW Admin

What’s better than finding a skeleton under the schoolyard?

Facial reconstruction by forensic archaeologist, Hayley Fisher, shows what the man might have looked like. See the original article from Herald Scotland.

What’s better than finding a skeleton under the schoolyard? How about finding that skeleton might be an executed pirate?!

As part of excavating a playground last year at the Victoria Primary School in Edinburgh the AOC Archaeology Group performed an archaeological survey. This is a common practice, especially in historical areas like where the school resides. Researchers anticipated finding remnants of the Newhaven dockyards, an old harbor and shipbuilding facility from the reign of King James IV. Instead they found the skeletal remains, which were not in good condition.

Around the skeleton they also found shards of 4,000-year-old Bronze Age pottery. They naturally assumed that everything was from the same era until radiocarbon dating showed the skeleton to actually be from the 16th or 17th century. They estimated that the individual was about 50 years old at the time of death and did not die peacefully.

Hanging of William Kidd — Captain Kidd, who was tried and executed for piracy, hanging in chains

Further research into the history of the area showed that there was a gibbet on the Newhaven dockyards. This is reserved for the really bad guys that need to be an example to others. Pirates often fell into this category. It was a sort of cage or other display where an executed pirate would be hung, usually until their body fell apart. The smell must have been lovely.

What do the kids think of this gruesome discovery in their playground?Laura Thompson, Head Teacher at Victoria Primary School, said:

“The pupils think it’s fantastic that a skeleton was found deep underneath their playground. The archaeologists will hold a special lesson with some of the children about how they have used science to analyse the remains and it will be a good learning opportunity for them.”

The video at the end covers a little more detail. Be sure to visit the Museum of the Weird and learn about our own pirate connection.

Posted on May 1, 2013 by MOTW Admin

STONEHENGE A SETTLEMENT 3,000 YEARS BEFORE ITS CONSTRUCTION

In Amesbury, in Wiltshire, archaeologists have unearthed new evidence that points to a human settlement that existed on the site nearly 3,000 years before the construction of Stonehenge. One mile from the location of the stone ring, archaeological remains of a human occupation dating back to 7,500BC were recently excavated. The dig was supported by Dr Josh Pollard from Southampton University and led by Open University archaeologist David Jacques, along with his team of volunteers, utilizing a small budget of redundancy money.

The project has been a quest of David Jacques since his time as a student at Cambridge University. During that time he spied an, until then, unnoticed “blind spot” in aerial-view photographs of Stonehenge taken in 1906 that showed a site referred to as Vespasian’s Camp a mile away. The area, at the time, was thought to have been landscaped during the 18th century. Thus, a full archaeological investigation of the area had never been conducted.

“The whole landscape is full of prehistoric monuments and it is extraordinary in a way that this has been such a blind spot for so long archaeologically,” he said in an interview with the BBC. “But in 1999 a group of student friends and myself started to survey this area of Amesbury.”

Due to the location of the site near a natural spring, it was only logical to Jacques that this would have been the ideal location for a human settlement at the time. He began his investigation by first exploring areas where he thought animals would visit in search of food and fresh water, which his reasoning predicted would also be the same locations for human settlements to form. His assumptions proved correct. Since first beginning to pursue the dig artifacts from one of the earliest semi-permanent settlements in the Stonehenge area (7,500 to 4,700BC) have been unearthed. Carbon dating of these relics revealed people resided in the area every other millennium during the Mesolithic era.

Sometimes it is the smaller projects that uncover the greatest mysteries. David Jacque’s excavation project is certainly a great example of this. Leading archaeologists around the world are abuzz with the news and its historical implications.

In the same article on the BBC website, Professor Peter Rowley-Conwy, from Durham University, said: “The site has the potential to become one of the most important Mesolithic sites in north-western Europe.”

The investigation of the site continues as additional funding is sought for a more in-depth pursuit. According to Dr Pollard of the Stonehenge Riverside Project this should hopefully prove easier going forth since “being able to demonstrate that there were repeated visits to this area from the 9th to the 5th millennia BC” is a crucial aspect of humanity’s history that has yet to be explored and further unravels the enigma that is Stonehenge. A deeper look at the people who resided in the area before its construction will give the world insight into its construction and its true purpose throughout the ages.

Posted on April 20, 2013 by MOTW Admin

EASTER ISLAND — THE MYSTERY OF MOAI

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=946w7SBqDmc&version=3&hl=en_US]

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Steve Busti — 1 Comment

8000 YR OLD CIVILIZATION FOUND OFF INDIA COAST?

Did the coastline of the Konkan, from Shrivardhan in Raigad to Vengurla in Sindhudurg, have human habitation around 8,000 years ago? Did that population have well-developed engineering skills? Was there a unique Konkan culture in existence in 6,000BC? The latest discovery in the field of archaeology, below the sea waters of Konkan coast, could answer these questions with a big resounding‘Yes!’

In what could turn out to be a major discovery,researchers have found a wall-like structure, which is 24km long, 2.7m in height, and around 2.5m in width. The structure shows uniformity in construction. “The structure is not continuous from Shrivardhan to Raigad, but it is uniform. It has been found 3m below the present sea level. Considering the uniformity of the structure, it is obvious that the structure is man-made,” said Dr Ashok Marathe, department of archaeology, Deccan College Postgraduate and Research Institute, Pune.

This joint expedition carried out by Deccan College, Pune and Department of Science and Technology, Central Government, has been in progress since 2005. “We were actually studying the impacts of tsunami and earthquake on western coast when we first found this structure in Valneshwar,” said Marathe.

However, the age of the structure was decided on the basis of sea level mapping. “There have been exhaustive studies about the sea water coming inside the land. Based on the calculations, experts from the National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) pegged the age of the wall at around 6,000 BC,” Marathe informed.

The discovery has raised a number of questions, such as how these huge stones were brought to the shore? What was the purpose behind building this wall? If the date of the wall is accurate, then is it the same age as the Indus civilisation? Why have none of the researchers till date, found or made any mention of this civilisation? Marathe, who will be retiring in July 2011, has asked more people to try to find answers to these questions.