EurekAlert! - Archaeology

The premier online source for science news since 1996. A service of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

• Experts question claim that Alexander the Great's half-brother is buried at Vergina

  (University of Bristol) Claims that a tomb at Vergina, Greece, the ancient burial place of the Macedonian royal family in the fourth century B.C., contains the body of King Philip III Arrhidaios, half-brother of Alexander the Great, and not Philip II, Alexander's father, are called into question by researchers from the Universities of Bristol, Manchester and Oxford.

• A new center is attracting researchers worldwide

  (University of Copenhagen) DNA researcher professor Eske Willerslev and his team open their new Centre for Geogenetics, the first of its kind anywhere in the world. Even prior to its opening the center has attracted great attention in scientific circles because of its unique focus on DNA research in connection with the mapping of human migration, extinct and lost human races and fauna, and in particular our understanding of climate and environmental changes in the past.

• Carnegie Mellon hosting first conference to explore scientific use of gigapixel imagery

  (Carnegie Mellon University) Scientists who are pioneering the use of gigapixel imagery will discuss how they are leveraging this new technology Nov. 11-13 at the first Fine International Conference on Gigapixel Imaging for Science, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University. The deadline for early conference registration is Sept. 13.

• Ancient brew masters tapped antibiotic secrets

  (Emory University) A chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians shows that they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer. The finding is the strongest evidence yet that the art of making antibiotics, which officially dates to the discovery of penicillin in 1928, was common practice nearly 2,000 years ago. The Emory University study finds that it's likely this prehistoric population was using empirical evidence to develop therapeutic agents.

• Roots of the British come under new scrutiny

  (University of Leicester) What constitutes "Britishness" is turning out to be more complicated than many people previously believed. An innovative multidisciplinary research program led by the University of Leicester is set to investigate its many dimensions and components.

• Archaeological study shows human activity may have boosted shellfish size

  (North Carolina State University) In a counter-intuitive finding, new research from North Carolina State University shows that a species of shellfish widely consumed in the Pacific over the past 3,000 years has actually increased in size, despite -- and possibly because of -- increased human activity in the area.

• Feasts at a funeral

  (National Science Foundation) A University of Connecticut (UConn) anthropologist says there is new evidence that nearly 12,000 years ago, feasts were used to celebrate burial of the dead, bringing about the world's first established communities.

• Impact hypothesis loses its sparkle

  (Washington University in St. Louis) The warming that following the last ice age was interrupted by a cold snap that killed off megafauna such as the giant ground sloth and the woolly mammoth. Could this crisis have been caused by an asteroid impact or a comet breaking up in the atmosphere? Unfortunately the geological evidence for such a dramatic event has not stood up to scrutiny. In PNAS a group of scientists challenges the catastrophists last, best hope: shock-synthesized nanodiamonds.

• First clear evidence of feasting in early humans

  (University of Connecticut) Community feasting is one of the most universal and important social behaviors found among humans. Now, scientists have found the earliest clear evidence of organized feasting, from a burial site dated about 12,000 years ago. These remains represent the first archaeological verification that human feasting began before the advent of agriculture.

• Mayan pool in the rainforest

  (University of Bonn) Archaeologists from the University of Bonn found a water reservoir the size of a soccer field, whose floor is lined with ceramic shards, in the Mexican rainforest. It seems that in combination with the limestone on top, the shards were supposed to seal the artificial lake. The system was built about 1,500 years ago. It is the first example of this design found for the Maya. It is not yet known whether the reservoir's entire floor is tiled.