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Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Ancient invalid / Stonehenge skeleton / Trampling of Artifacts

The first known ancient invalid cared for by Hunter-gatherers

 Just for illustration


An ancient Hunchback that lived 500,000 years ago is the most elderly ancient human ever found (45 years old when died). He has been named "Elvis" after his pelvis and lower backbone were found in Spain. 
"His spine was bent forward so, to keep an upright posture, he possibly used a cane, just like elderly people today," says Alejandro Bonmatí of the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain. (Source)
More on this topic:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19568-huntergatherers-cared-for-first-known-ancient-invalid.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

Stonehenge skeleton came from Mediterranean

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonmarulanda/3736708170/
It is said that the "The Boy with the Amber Necklace" (he was wearing amber beads) buried near the Stonehenge monument came from the Mediterranean. He is dated to 1,550 B.C. and believed to be from a rich family.
"The find adds considerable weight to the idea that people traveled long distances to visit Stonehenge, which must therefore have had a big reputation as a cult center," Timothy Darvill said. "Long distance travel was certainly more common at this time than we generally think." (Source)
More on this:
http://www.argus-press.com/news/international/article_b7a880e7-3650-567b-900c-0aa6b0d09ae0.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39440606/ns/world_news-europe/

What happens when a Artifact gets Trampled? 

Just for illustration © Copyright Bill Boaden
Around the world, the hooves of water buffaloes, goats, and other large animals may have propelled countless Stone Age artifacts back in time, at least as far as archaeologists are concerned. In wet areas, wild or domestic animals' heavy footfalls can push stone artifacts deep into the ground, making them seem older than they really are—in some cases, thousands of years older—according to a new study. (Source)
This is fascinating! Read here how to identify such a site and all the implications of this! There is also a picture of this study in India!  

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100929-trampling-stone-age-artifacts-dating-goats-science/

6 comments:

  1. Hey Lu! I'm dropping by just to tell you how awsome your blog looks!

    That invalid at the top is scary!!!! But its so cool and weird to see that there were hunchbacks back then (I know I sound silly, obviously there would have been, but we never get to see any evidence of such things)

    Love the photos on this blog! So amazing and you look so cool!

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  2. Hi,

    Re: The Boy with the Amber Necklace (Stonehenge) - there's been a misunderstanding about the isotope results. Apparently the press release about his Mediterannean origins went out from the BGS before the Beaker Isotope Project had reviewed the data. When they did, they found there's a better match in the Wessex series, so he's almost certainly NOT from the Mediterannean after all. (Info from Prof. Mike Parker Pearson at the "Solving Stonehenge" debate on 2nd Oct 2010 at Salisbury Museum).

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  3. @Niecole - Thanks so much much!

    @Akhen - Thank you so much for the update! Someone dropped the ball about that it seems :)

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  4. Hi,
    would like to know about other artifacts found at Henge that date back to the same estimated time period of the first stone erections. would also like to know if there are any theories on how the holes in the stones were drilled ?

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  5. @pspsup - the canonical book on the subject is Ros Cleal et al's 1995 "Stonehenge in its Landscape - 20th Century Excavations" (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stonehenge-Its-Landscape-Excavations-Archaeological/dp/1850746052).

    The artifacts (and, incidentally the theories) are too numerous to lay out here properly.

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  6. Thanks so much for your help akhen3sir!

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