|
Sent
free to subscribers to nzaawebsubscribers at yahoogroups.com
Want to be an archaeologist? -
our page
on Careers
in Archaeology will help.
More
Touring
New Zealand? - look at this page - Archaeological
Sites for the Cultural Tourist. More
Books you can buy on
line: Archaeological
Books
Send
an archaeological heritage e-card
to someone. More
|
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Rabbit plague digs a hole in British history
Global warming strikes archaeology -
They were introduced by the invading Roman legions and now, more than 2,000 years on, rabbits have started to achieve what the Picts never could: the destruction of the empire's most northernmost defences.
Scores of once impregnable sites - among them some of the UK's most valued archaelogical landmarks - are falling victim to a surge in the population of rabbits, first brought to Britain as a gourmet dish by those defending the Roman province.
Archaeologists describe historic sites as 'awash' with rabbits and so pockmarked with burrows that they resemble a 'lunar landscape'. Emergency work has been carried out at some sites to retrieve as much as possible before ruins collapse.
Increasingly mild winters have created a longer breeding season that has seen numbers soar in recent years. Now it is estimated there are 38m rabbits in the UK, and it is once again the most commonly seen mammal."
Pre-human skull found in Georgian republic
Homo erectus remains go back 1.8 million years, archaeologists say.
TBILISI, Georgia - Archaeologists in the former Soviet republic of Georgia have unearthed a skull they say is 1.8 million years old, representing part of a find that holds the oldest traces of humanity's closest ancestors ever found in Europe.
The Homo erectus skull was found this month in Dmanisi, an area about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Tbilisi, said Georgian National Museum director David Lortkipanidze, who took part in the dig.
(Don't miss the video with this item).
Monday, August 29, 2005
Election 2005
I earlier reviewed the parties policies on their websites.
New Zealand First and the Greens had something to offer on theirs as I have linked before.
Jim Anderton's Progressive Party has an Arts, Culture and Heritage policy
here
National still has nothing on their art and culture page.
Labour has added some recent press releases but still posts their 2002 policy.
Act has nothing.
United Futre has no explicit policy but heritage gets a mention in other items on the site, even if heritage is mostly seen in outdoors recreation terms.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Treasure found in ice case e
'A stroke of wonderful luck' has uncovered priceless artefacts from Captain Robert Scott's tragic journey to the South Pole nearly a century ago.
A home-made pony hood thought to be an attempt to stop Scott's horses suffering snow- blindness and a much-repaired backpack will go on display for the first time tomorrow at Canterbury Museum after being uncovered last summer.
The discovery stunned the New Zealand team battling to preserve the relics from the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. Nothing of the kind had been found before at the hut at Cape Evans that Scott left in 1912, never to return.
The team went to the Ice with the assistance of Antarctica New Zealand and included archeologist Neville Ritchie, who found the hood and backpack encased in ice while digging out the foundation of the hut. They were then rushed to conservator Tracey Wedge in Auckland for a three-month treatment to remove salt remnants and prevent continued deterioration.
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Scott relics to go on show
'A stroke of wonderful luck' has uncovered priceless artefacts from Captain Robert Scott's tragic journey to the South Pole nearly a century ago.
A home-made pony hood and a much-repaired backpack will go on display for the first time tomorrow at the Canterbury Museum after being uncovered last summer.
An archaeologist found the items while digging out the foundation of the Scott Hut in Antarctica. "
See also a video item on TVNZ news site TVNZ
Monday, August 22, 2005
Radio Australia - Archeologists discuss lapita findings
Broadcast transcript:
The past year has been an exceptional one for archaeologists in the Pacific. There have been several major discoveries of what seem to have been some of the original settlements of the Lapita people, who brought their distinctive pottery to the region several thousand years ago. Most of the people working in this field of archaeology have just got together in Tonga, for the four yearly Lapita Conference.
SPRIGGS: Last year, about one or two people had been found, their bodies had been found in Lapita sites. And then, this year, the number has rapidly gone up towards to 50, so that's really the major change, I think, that's happened in the last two or three years.
It's that we knew nothing before about Lapita burial practices, how they treated their dead, their rituals, the association of some of the highly decorated pottery with burial, anything like this.
Now we know quite a bit about it. Before we knew nothing about that.
DORNEY: And one of the papers was about DNA testing on some of these bodies?
SPRIGGS: Yes, for the first time. DNA testing, ancient DNA, has been a very experimental technique. Although work was done really in the '90s which showed it could be done, I don't think anyone now trusts those early results. You know, they were never confirmed. "
Climate change marks dawn of man
Prehistoric algae lived in vast East African lakes millions of years ago
Complex variation of the East African climate may have played a key role in the development of our human ancestors.
Scientists have identified extensive lake systems which formed and disappeared in East Africa between 1 and 3 million years ago.
The lakes could be evidence that global climate changes occured throughout this pivotal period in human evolution."
Were there only a few dozen first Americans?
A new study of DNA suggests North America was originally settled by just a few dozen people who crossed a land bridge from Asia during the last Ice Age.
About 14,000 years ago, humans crossed the Bering land bridge from Siberia to North America, most experts agree. But just how many intrepid explorers were involved has not been known.
Aching feet? Early humans figured out solution
Scientist says some sort of arch support goes back 26,000 years
The first supportive footwear was probably modest, but it definitely predates the Nike Empire.
Erik Trinkaus at Washington University in St. Louis s"
Intelligent Design and the Smithsonian - New York Times
The Smithsonian Institution can't seem to disentangle itself from the clutches of the anti-evolution crowd. Earlier this year, the Smithsonian's natural history museum discovered to its dismay that it had agreed to be the host and co-sponsor of a movie intended to undercut the theory of evolution and make the case for 'intelligent design,' the idea that an intelligent agent had a hand in designing the universe. Only after intelligent-design proponents started chortling on the Internet about their stunning coup in co-opting the Smithsonian did museum officials reverse course and withdraw their sponsorship, while allowing the film to be shown."
Wednesday, August 17, 2005
Special day at Otatatara Pa
The spine-tingling sound of voices mingled in karanga and tangi hinted at how much an ancient home means to iwi at a Hawke?s Bay powhiri during Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori. Over a hundred people including guests from throughout the North Island gathered at Otatara Pa Historic Reserve in Taradale on July 27th to unveil a new waharoa at the entrance to the site which is managed by the Department of Conservation (DOC) in association with Ngati Paarau of Waiohiki Marae.
At the powhiri, DOC Area Manager, Ken Hunt acknowledged the many people who have been involved in working for Otatara, including kaumatua, John Hohepa and historian Mary Jeal who have passed on. The unveiling was performed by Reverend Hemi Tuahine, accompanied by beautiful choral singing. DOC Kaupapa Atawhai Manager, Whetu Tipiwai explained that the carvings adorning the waharoa refer to conservation rebuilding, keeping the things of the past alive to be handed on to the next generation.
Scholars swim in choppy waters
Did Polynesians visit Southern California many centuries ago? The evidence some fishhooks, a boat design, and a few words in common is limited. But to some those clues are tantalizing, even persuasive.
In academia no less than Oceania, voyagers are sometimes called upon to sail against the prevailing winds. Polynesian seafarers, equipped with sophisticated boats and navigational skills, may have braved the trade winds in their quest to colonize the Pacific during the first millennium. Now a pair of scholars are making waves by flouting what they call 'the prevailing theoretical orthodoxy of North American archaeology.'"
Professional Resources
NZAA Professional Resources page reorganised and with new material.
This page is especially for archaeologists who undertake work on a professional basis.
Agencies | Legislation / Guides | Documents / Information | Forms / Templates | Practice notes
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Conference 2006
The 2006 conference will be in Waihi in May.
The theme will be: Managing and interpreting Archaeological Sites.
Field trips will be to the gold mining archaeology which is spectacular in this area, and to Maori archaeological sites."
Still on sale T-shirts commemorating NZAA's 50th anniversary.
Colours available: black on white or white on black.
Sizes: Small, medium, large, extra large.
NZD $35.00 each (includes postage and packaging in New Zealand).
Payment by Visa/ Mastercard (card number, expiry date, name and signature) or Cheque.
Orders with delivery address to:
T-shirts
NZAA
PO Box 6337
Dunedin North"
Friday, August 12, 2005
'Mana'- the true face of Lapita unveiled
(This one has the reconstruciton)
The University of the South Pacific today revealed the face of one of the very first people to have lived in the Fiji Islands. The face of Mana - the 3000 year old woman from Fiji, was unveiled by USP Vice-Chancellor Professor Anthony Tarr during a special ceremony organised to mark this historical event.
While something like this is becoming common internationally, this is the first time a face from the Lapita era in the Pacific, has been revealed. The face of Mana was reconstructed using a model of her skull which was discovered by a member of a research team from USP and the Fiji Museum which excavated an early human settlement at Naitabale in the south of Moturiki Island, central Fiji (Map 1) in June-July 2002. The team was led by Patrick Nunn, Professor of Geography at USP, aided by Mr Sepeti Matararaba of the Fiji Museum "
Face of ancient ancestors shows Pacific's past
Three thousand years of history came to life yesterday when scientists unveiled the face of one of the first people to settle Fiji at the start of the colonisation of the Pacific Ocean's far-flung islands.
Pacific Islanders were given the first realistic glimpse of what one of their ancestors looked like after researchers from Fiji and Japan were able to construct a representation of the face of a 3000-year-old female skeleton. "
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
Thursday, August 04, 2005
Stirring up the gene pool
The project's Australia/Pacific chief scientist, Robert John Mitchell, of LaTrobe University in Melbourne, is concerned by the criticism and says indigenous support is essential.
He hopes to allay any fears about blood-testing by taking saliva samples, and wants to persuade the other scientists working on the project internationally to do the same.
'I could not imagine going to a Maori community without Maori people accompanying me, saying 'feel free to fire questions at this guy'. I'd be prepared to write up a local report [on iwi or hapu genealogy] if they wanted it.
'The indigenous people would own their own samples. If they wanted them destroyed, or returned, or housed in a certain centre, that would be done,' says Mitchell. Mitchell is consulting Aboriginal archaeologists, such as Steve Kinnane at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, who is examining the project's ethical standards.
Mitchell can see no likelihood of his findings casting doubt on the Maori tradition of migration from the Pacific to New Zealand, and says the findings will spark further interest in the story of indigenous people. "
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
More looting of Iraq's riches
Iraq's rich cultural heritage continues to be stripped of archaeological sites in the countryside while in Baghdad, the doors of the Iraq National Museum, the fifth most important in the world, remain closed to the public because of fears that its treasures could be stolen in a raid by the well organised antiquities mafia.
On the sidelines of celebrations marking the reconstruction of a 16 th century palace and mosque at Rada, in Yemen, this correspondent was briefed on what is happening in Iraq on the archaeological front by Dr Macguire Gibson of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago. Gibson, who dug for many seasons at the Sumerian site of Nippur in southern Iraq, is president of the American Academic Research Institute."
Riddle of the Bones
New discoveries in an ancient graveyard could help unravel the enigma of the Lapita people - the first humans to reach the South Pacific
She lies curled up as if only asleep, knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped around them, tucked snugly in a nook between the coral boulders. But this woman is long dead, and her bones are as white as the coral branches that have crept among them like tree roots. Around her, lying in other cavities in the sharp rock and covered by volcanic ash, are the resting places of more human bones, all arranged in different positions of repose. Bats wheel above on the wind, which rushes through the coconut palms and sets the blue tarpaulin covering the graves flapping - a humble covering for one of the most important archaeological finds the South Pacific has yet seen. "
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
NZAA Electronic Publications- Survey reports
Walton, Tony, 2005, Site Survey Reports in the site recording scheme central file library. Excel spreadsheet download 314K
Annual update of these.
Appointment to Historic Places Trust
Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Judith Tizard today announced the appointment of Gerard O'Regan to the Maori Heritage Council of the Historic Places Trust for a term of three years.
Ms Tizard expressed her confidence in the new appointment. I welcome Mr O'Regan to the Council. Mr O'Regan's links to the main South Island iwi, Ngai Tahu, and his knowledge of museums and archaeology will bring invaluable skills and experience to the Council, Judith Tizard said."
|
Become
a Member of the N.Z. Archaeological Association
|
Members
get our quarterly magazine, Archaeology in New Zealand and discounts on publications
and events. |
|
|
This
message is intended to be compliant with New Zealand Law: The Unsolicited
Electronic Messages Act 2007. Please communicate with the webmaster on any
issues that may arise in this regard.
|
Opinions
in items linked in this column are not those of the Association.
An
archive of news posts can be accessed at http://www.nzarchaeology.org/blog/archive/
|
|
