British Tourist Finds Lost Underwater City

A British holidaymaker has uncovered what is believed to be a lost, ancient temple while snorkelling in the Mediterranean.
Michael Le Quesne, 16, was swimming off a popular beach in Montenegro with his parents and his ten-year-old sister Teodora when he spotted an odd looking 'stone' at a depth of around two metres.
It turned out to be a large, submerged building which may have been the centrepiece of an important Greek or Roman trading post, swallowed up by the sea during a massive earthquake.
A British team of experts led by Dr Lucy Blue, presenter of BBC Two show Oceans, is to investigate the significant find in this largely unexplored corner of south east Europe.
Dr Blue said that if the discovery is confirmed to be an underwater temple it would “put Montenegro on the map”.
She added: “Montenegro is largely an undiscovered underwater world.”
The discovery was made while Charles and Vera Le Quesne and their two children, from Princes Risborough, Bucks, was on a trip to their holiday home in the tiny Balkan country last month.
The family has been holidaying in Montenegro since 1994, but had never visited Maljevik, a small bay of sand and shingle, sheltered by pines, near the city of Bar.
Once his son reported the find, Mr Le Quesne, a professional archaeologist, fetched a snorkel and dived down to investigate. He discovered fluted columns, 90cm in diameter, on plinths, which appeared to form part of an ancient Greek or Roman temple, basilica or major public building, similar to those at other archaeological sites around the Mediterranean.
On a clear day, the columns are visible from the surface of the water, but it appears that the remains, which include ancient pottery, have stayed untouched for thousands of years.
Michael said: “When I first swam out, I thought they were just rocks, as most people would, but then I noticed that they were cylindrical and knew that they couldn’t be natural, so I called my dad over.
“I’ve been dragged around a lot of ancient ruins, so if it hadn’t been for that I wouldn’t have looked twice.”
The potential size of the structure and the discovery of other architectural remains nearby suggest the ‘temple’ could have formed part of a large Greek or Roman settlement, dating back as far as the 2nd century BC.
No historical records exist of a major settlement on the site, although the Montenegrin coast is dotted with ancient ruins yet to be documented.
The discovery has been described as “something that could rouse curiosity in the world of science” by Mladen Zagarčanin, the curator of the museum in Bar and archaeologist, who inspected the site the following day.
Work on site later this month as Mr Le Quesne returns to Montenegro as part of a team working for the University of Southampton’s Department of Maritime Archaeology.
Dr Blue and Professor David Peacock, both of the department, will join Mr Le Quesne to explore the underwater settlement next spring.
Mr Le Quesne, an archaeology expert and author on the subject, said: “If it is a monumental building it is not going to be part of a small hamlet, but it is not a missing Atlantis, as we would already know about it. It remains a bit of a mystery.”
“The area was an important, ancient trading route, so it may have been a port.
“There are ancient shipwrecks all along this coast which, unfortunately, are being damaged and looted and which need protecting.”
In recent years, Montenegro’s rich, unexplored ancient history has lured organised crime gangs, which have flourished in the region since the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Valuable Roman and Greek pottery from shipwrecks is being plundered and sold to collectors in western Europe, it is believed.
So far, 2009 has proved an exciting year for underwater archaeology in Montenegro, which is promoting its stunning coastline as a tourism hot spot while building a reputation as a cut-price version of Monaco thanks to a relaxed tax regime.
Before the discovery of the ancient temple, a local team working alongside American experts discovered the remains of two Roman cargo ships at the bottom of Kotor Bay, one of Montenegro most popular tourist attractions.---telegraph.co.uk

British Researchers Unlock the Mystery of Ancient Town

Archaeologists from Britain's University of Nottingham and Greece's Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities of the Ministry of Culture are using digital equipment to unlock the mystery behind the ancient Greek town of Pavlopetri, thought to be the oldest submerged town in the world. Discovered and mapped by researchers of the Institute of Oceanography at Cambridge University in 1968, no other work has since been conducted at the site. This project could fuel underwater archaeology in the future.

The ruins of Pavlopetri, which lie in three to four metres of water just off the coast of Laconia in the Peloponnese, date from at least 2 800 BC. Buildings are still intact, and streets, courtyards, and chamber tombs exist as well. Experts believe the ruins belong to the Mycenaean period (circa 1680-1180 BC).

Dr Jon Henderson from the Underwater Archaeology Research Centre (UARC) at the University of Nottingham is the first archaeologist in 40 years to obtain special permission from the Greek Government to examine the submerged town. This project will help shed light on how the town was developed, when it was occupied, what it was used for, and why it disappeared under the sea.

'This site is of rare international archaeological importance. It is imperative that the fragile remains of this town are accurately recorded and preserved before they are lost forever,' explained Dr Henderson. 'A fundamental aim is to raise awareness of the importance of the site and ensure that it is ethically managed and presented to the public in a way which is sustainable and of benefit to both the development of tourism and the local community.'

The submerged buildings, courtyards, streets, tombs and graves are located close to an area frequented by tourists and campers. The researchers assert that both tourism and industry are having a negative impact on the ruins; tourists looking for souvenirs can be found snorkelling in the area, and boats cause damage as their anchors are dragged along the seabed.

Dr Henderson and his team, working together with Mr Elias Spondylis of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, are using equipment initially developed for the military and offshore oilfield market. Experts believe the equipment could transform underwater archaeological survey and recording.

The researchers will perform a millimetre-accurate digital underwater survey of the area using an acoustic scanner developed by a North American offshore engineering company. The equipment is able to generate photo-realistic, three-dimensional (3D) surveys of seabed features and underwater structures to sub-millimetre accuracy very quickly.

'The ability to survey submerged structures, from shipwrecks to sunken cities, quickly, accurately and more importantly, cost effectively, is a major obstacle to the future development of underwater archaeology,' Dr Henderson pointed out. 'I believe we now have a technique which effectively solves this problem.'

Dr Nicholas Flemming, the man who discovered the site in 1967, is on board. His team from Cambridge surveyed the area with hand tapes in 1968. Dr Chrysanthi Gallou of the University of Nottingham is currently carrying out a systematic assessment of the finds recovered back then.---europa.eu

Boy Finds Old Shekel Coin in Temple Mount Dirt in Jerusalem

A rare half shekel coin, first minted in 66 or 67 C.E., was discovered by 14 year-old Omri Ya'ari as volunteers sifted through mounds of dirt from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The coin is the first one found to originate from the Temple Mount.

For the fourth year, archaeologists and volunteers have been sifting through dirt dug by the Waqf, the Muslim authority in charge of the Temple Mount compound, in an unauthorized project in 1999. The dig caused extensive and irreversible archaeological damage to the ancient layers of the mountain. The Waqf transported the dug up dirt in trucks to another location, where it was taken to Emek Tzurim. 40,000 volunteers have so far participated in the sifting project, in search of archaeological artifacts, under the guidance of Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Yitzhak Zweig. The project is sponsored by Bar Ilan University and funded by the Ir David Foundation with the assistance of the National Parks Authority.

The half shekel coin was first minted during the Great Revolt against the Romans. The face of the coin is decorated with a branch of three pomegranates and ancient Hebrew letters reading "holy Jerusalem." On the flip side, the letters say "half shekel".

The coin that was found in the sifting project, though it was well preserved, showed some damage from a fire. Experts believe it was the same fire that destroyed the Second Temple in 70 C.E.

Dr. Gabriel Barkay explained that "the half shekel coin was used to pay the temple taxes... The coins were apparently minted at Temple Mount itself by the Temple authorities."

The half shekel tax is mentioned in the book of Exodus (Portion Ki Tisa), commanding every Jew to contribute half a shekel to the Temple every year for the purpose of purchasing public sacrifices.

Dr. Barkay added that "this is the first time a coin minted at the Temple Mount itself has been found, and therein lies its immense importance, because similar coins have been found in the past in the Jerusalem area and in the Old City's Jewish quarter, as well as Masada, but they are extremely rare in Jerusalem."

So far, some 3,500 ancient coins have been discovered in the Temple Mount dirt sifting, ranging from earliest minting of coins during the Persian era all the way up to the Ottoman era.

An additional important archaeological discovery in the sifting project was another well preserved coin, minted between 175 and 163 B.C.E. by Antiochus IV Epiphanes, against whom the Hasmoneans revolted. This revolt brought about the re-dedication of the Temple after Antiochus seized the Temple's treasures and conducted idol worship in it. The coin depicts a portrait of Antiochus the Seleucid King.---.haaretz.com

Archeologists Study the Treasures of Wealthy Roman Citizens

The archaeological work around Portus tells us more about how the Romans lived and how important the port was. The Roman empire marched on its stomach and even after the huge artificial harbour of Portus was built – when the volume of freight had become too much for the original harbour at Ostia – ships would still have had to queue to get to the wharves and unload.
They carried basic foodstuffs such as grain, wine, oil and olives, the ubiquitous sauce made of rotted fish which was the ketchup of its day, and luxuries including exotic fruits and spices.
Although thousands of workers would have lived in the port, they might well have seen noble visitors pass by. Emperors kept a close eye on Portus, staying in a palace by the water: if the grain supply failed, there would be riots in Rome.
Luxuries coveted by Rome's increasingly wealthy citizens streamed through the port. Shipwrecks have revealed the scale of the trade: marble to face new imperial buildings, lead and bronze ingots, unguents and fragrances, silks and dyes, Baltic amber, linen and cotton from Egypt and India, gold, silver and gems, marble and bronze statues stripped from temples in Greece.
Other ships bore living cargo: exotic animals from Africa and India and slaves, all destined for rich households – or to provide one bloody afternoon's entertainment in the amphitheatre. - guardian.co.uk

Archaeology as Part of Human History

Archaeology, like many academic words, comes from Greek and means, more or less, ‘the study of old things’. So, it is really a part of the study of history. However, most historians use paper evidence, such as letters, documents, paintings and photographs, but archaeologists learn from the objects left behind by humans of long ago. Normally, these are the hard materials that don’t decompose or disappear very quickly - things like human bones and skeletons, objects made from stone and metal, and ceramics
Sometimes, archaeologists and historians work together. Take, for example, the study of the Romans, who dominated the Mediterranean area and much of Europe two thousand years ago. We know a lot about them from their writings, and some of their most famous writers are still quoted in English. We also know a lot about them from what they made, from their coins to their buildings. Archaeologists have worked on Roman remains as far apart as Hadrian’s Wall in the north of England and Leptis Magna in Libya.
Of course, for much of human history, there are no written documents at all. Who were the first humans, and where did they come from? This is a job for the archaeologists, who have found and dated the bones and objects left behind. From this evidence, they believe that humans first appeared in Africa and began moving to other parts of the world about 80,000 years ago. The movement of our ancestors across the planet has been mapped from their remains — humans went to Australia about 70,000 years ago, but have been in South America for just 15,000 years. The evidence of archaeology has helped to show the shared origin and history of us all.
It is very unusual to find anything more than the hard evidence of history — normally, the bacteria in the air eat away at soft organic material like bodies, clothes and things made of wood. Occasionally, things are different.
A mind-boggling discovery
In 1984, two men made an amazing discovery while working in a bog called Lindow Moss, near Manchester, in the north of England. A bog is a very wet area of earth, with a lot of plants growing in it. It can be like a very big and very thick vegetable soup — walk in the wrong place and you can sink and disappear forever. After hundreds of years, the dead plants can compress together and make ‘peat’, which is like soil, but is so rich in energy that it can be burned on a fire, like coal.
The men were cutting the peat when one of them saw something sticking out - a human foot. Naturally, the men called the police, who then found the rest of the body. Was it a case of murder? Possibly — but it was a death that occured nearly 2,000 years ago. The two men had found a body from the time of the Roman invasion of Celtic Britain. Despite being so old, this body had skin, muscles, hair and internal organs — the scientists who examined him were able to look inside the man’s stomach and find the food that he had eaten for his last meal.
Why was this man so well preserved? It was because he was in a very watery environment, safe from the bacteria that need oxygen to live. Also, the water in the bog was very acidic. The acid preserved the man’s skin in the way that animal skin is preserved for leather coats and shoes.
How did he die?
Understandably, archaeologists and other scientists wanted to know more about the person that they called Lindow Man. His hands and fingernails suggested that he hadn’t done heavy manual work in his life — he could have been a rich man or a priest. They found that he hadn’t died by accident. The forensic examination revealed that he had been hit on the head three times and his throat had been cut with a knife. Then a rope was tightened around his neck. As if that wasn’t enough, he was then thrown into the bog.
So, Lindow Man was killed using three different methods, when just one would have been sufficient. The archaeologists believe that he was sacrificed to three different Celtic gods, called Taranis, Esus and Teutates. Each god required a different form of death, for example, a sacrifice to Teutates required drowning, which is why he was found in the bog. Nobody can tell the complete story of Lindow Man. The Romans said that the Celts made sacrifices every May to make sure that there was enough food that year. Was he a typical ‘routine’ sacrificial victim?
An archaeologist called Anne Ross has suggested that Lindow Man was a special case. Why would an important man be sacrificed to three gods? Perhaps it was in response to the Roman invasion of Britain, which started in the year 43 AD, close to the time that Lindow Man died. He might have been killed to gain the help of the gods against the Romans. It didn’t work. The Romans stayed in Britain for 400 years and Lindow Man stayed in his bog for 2,000.
Lindow Man’s home is now the British Museum in London (although he is currently on long-term loan to a museum in Manchester). Whereas the bodies of the Egyptian kings and queens were intentionally preserved, Lindow Man is with us by accident. Whatever his origins, it is a fascinating experience to see him face to face. I recommend it.
Vocabulary
Five words/phrases from the text:
* decompose: to break down gradually by bacteria or fungi
* sink: to go down below the surface
* compress: to push something into less space
* preserved: kept from being changed or destroyed
* drowning: dying in water because you can’t breathe
Exercise one
Vocabulary gap fill. Now use the five words/phrases to fill the gaps in the sentences below:
The remains of a 2,000-year-old man were found near Manchester in the 1980s. The man may have died by ………[1] when his fellow Celts made his body ………[2] into a bog. The skin and internal organs of the man didn’t ………[3], because dead vegetation combined with the mud to ………[4] and form peat which ………[5] the body
Exercise two
Comprehension: true or false. Decide whether these sentences are TRUE or FALSE according to the text:
1. Which language does the word archaeology come from?
2. How many years have humans been in Australia?
3. What was Lindow Man’s ethnic group?
4. How many years has Lindow Man been buried?
5. What is the name of the museum that has the remains of Lindow Man?
Answers
Vocabulary
1. drowning; 2. sink;
3. decompose;
4. compress;
5. preserved
Comprehension
1. Greek; 2. 70,000;
3. Celtic; 4. 2,000;
5. British

Archaeologists Unearth Jurassic Nest in Tamil Nadu

Geologists in Tamil Nadu have stumbled upon a Jurassic treasure trove buried in the sands of a river bed. Sheer luck led them to hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs, perhaps 65 million years old, underneath a stream in a tiny village in Ariyalur district.

Researchers from the Salem-based Periyar University found clusters of eggs of what they believe to be the most aggressive Carnosaur and the docile, leaf-eating Sauropod at Sendurai village.

While Carnosaurs were large predatory dinasaurs, Sauropods were long-necked, herbivores which grew to enormous heights and sizes.

That dinosaurs once roamed the area was known from the fossils found there on earlier expeditions. But this is the first time that hundreds of nests embedded with hundreds of clusters of dinosaur eggs have been unearthed in the district.

Located on the highway between Chennai and Tiruchi, the Ariyalur and the neighbouring Perambalur geological sites nestle in the northern plains of the Cauvery river. The place is a veritable museum of ancient organisms, dating back to 140 million years. Ever since a British couple -- the Wines -- collected 32 boxes of "strange stone objects" in 1843, the Ariyalur region has drawn geologists from across the world for its rich fossil presence and diversity.

Scientists have found the tiniest marine algae or the nano fossils besides the rare shell-like bivalve, gastropoda, telecypoda and brachiopoda in the geological sites spread across 950sqkm in Ariyalur and Perambalur districts.

"We found clusters and clusters of spherical eggs of dinosaurs. And each cluster contained eight eggs," says Dr M U Ramkumar, geology lecturer of the Periyar University. Each egg was about 13 to 20 cm in diameter and they were lying in sandy nests which were of the size of 1.25 metres.

In the 1860s, a British geologist first recorded the presence of bone remains of dinosaurs in Ariyalur. Over a century and a half later, the egg of a dinosaur was found in a cement factory of the state-owned Tamil Nadu Cements Ltd in 1990s. But officials realized that it was a dinosaur egg only 10 years later.

On a sultry afternoon on September 12 this year, Ramkumar and his research students went to Ariyalur to scour the rocks and sediments as part of a study funded by Indian and German scientific institutions. As they paused by a stream on a grazing land at Sendurai, they found spherical-shaped fossils peeping out of the sand beds. "We got really excited. As I have seen a dinosaur egg, I was sure these were dinosaur eggs," said Ramkumar.

A quick digging revealed clusters of eggs beneath seven layers of sand spread over two sqkm. The eggs may not have hatched due to the Deccan volcanic eruptions or seasonal flooding, surmise the team. "We suspect the extinction of dinosaurs was triggered by the Deccan volcano. Volcanic ashes cap the eggs," said one researcher.

"This is a very significant finding as never before have we found so many dinosaur eggs in the country. Besides the spherical size of the eggs covered with sand and volcanic ash provide significant insight into the possible reasons for extinction of the species," says Dr Jyotsana Rai, senior scientist, Birbal Sahni Institute of Paleobotany in Lucknow. Her team will collect samples of these eggs to determine its exact age.
Because a similar discovery in Jabalpur led to a plunder of the fossilized treasure, the researchers have requested the Ariyalur district administration to cordon off the site. Samples of the eggs will travel to Germany for further research. The vicinity of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh is considered the richest dinosaur field in the country.---timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Archaeologists Found the Palace of Japan's Warrior Queen

Archaeologists believe they have discovered the palace of Japan's "Boadicea" – the warrior Queen Himiko.
The building covering nearly 300 square metres was located close to the city of Sakurai and the former Japanese capital of Nara, 300 miles south-west of Tokyo.
Built on stilts, the structure was found beside three other aligned buildings, leading archaeologists to believe it is the site of Himiko's Yamatai palace.
"A building cluster that is placed in such a well-planned manner is unprecedented in Japan at that period in time," Hironobu Ishino, director of the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Archaeology, told Kyodo News.
The discovery coincided with celebrations today to mark the 20th anniversary of the enthronement of the present emperor.
Queen Himiko is a popular character in Japanese history. She was apparently able to wield great power in the Yamatai Kingdom from around the end of the second century. Legends handed down from the time describe her as "being skilled with magic".
Japanese revere her as a heroic Boadicea-type figure who unified the kingdom after years of fighting with rival tribes, before her death around 248AD.
The precise location of Yamatai has been one of the most bitterly disputed issues in Japanese archaeology, with some claiming the kingdom was in present-day Kyushu. The latest finding supports the claim of central Japan to the queen's lands.
The researchers' conclusions on the palace are supported by a huge traditional keyhole-shape tomb which is nearby and may be the last resting place of the third-century relative of Emperor Akihito.
Excavation of the tomb could settle that debate once and for all, although the Imperial Household Agency appear to have ruled that out.
Security in Tokyo has been stepped up ahead of official celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the emperor's accession to the Chrysanthemum Throne, the longest royal dynasty in the world.
Akihito took over the throne after the death of his father, Emperor Hirohito, in 1989.
Ceremonies are to be held at the Royal National Theatre and 30,000 people are expected to attend a public ceremony later in the day.
More than 16,000 police have been mobilised to provide security and demonstrations by extreme left-wing groups opposed to the imperial system are planned just outside the grounds of the palace in central Tokyo. Clashes with nationalist groups are expected.---telegraph.co.uk