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A nearly 7,000-year-old ceramic prism with what might be pre-alphabetic writing has been unveiled to the public for the first time by the Regional Museum of History in Bulgaria’s Black Sea city of Burgas. The prism-shaped prehistoric artifact featuring the supposedly pre-alphabetic signs on its four sides was discovered during the excavations of an Early Chalcolithic settlement mound near Burgas back in 2008, and has never been shown to the public before. The artifact (and the Burgas Chalcolithic Mound where it was found) dates back to the Early Chalcolithic (Aeneolithic, Copper Age) – 4,900 / 4,850-4,600 / 4,550 BC, the...

This image released by the Diputacion Floral de Bizkaia on Friday May 27, 2016, shows a cave drawing. Spanish archaeologists say they have discovered an exceptional set of Paleolithic-era cave drawings that could rank among the best in a country that already boasts some of the world's most important cave art. Chief site archaeologist Diego Garate said Friday that an estimated 70 drawings were found on ledges 300 meters (1,000 feet) underground in the Atxurra cave, Berriatua, in the northern Basque region. He described the site as being in "the Champions' League" of cave art, among the top 10 sites...

The cave joins that at Altamira as one of Spain’s most exciting and best-preserved set of cave paintings and for Garate, marks a career high. "Without doubt it is the most important discovery of my career," he told The Local. "I have been searching the caves of the Basque Country for ten years and have discovered lots of new caves but none as important as Atxurra. It could very well be the cave with the most animal figures in the Basque Country," he added. The Atxurra caves were originally discovered in 1929, but as the paintings are at a depth...

The data obtained by Teresa Fernández-Crespo in seven megalithic graves in La Rioja and Araba-Álava suggest that certain individuals were excluded from burial on the basis of age and sex. The research Demographic evidence of selective burial in megalithic graves of northern Spain by Teresa Fernández-Crespo and Concepción de la Rúa of the Department of Genetics, Physical Anthropology and Animal Physiology of the UPV/EHU-University of the Basque Country challenges the widely-held view that societies were egalitarian during the late Neolithic and Chalcolithic ages. This work, published in the leading Journal of Archaeological Science, comes from Fernández-Crespo’s PhD thesis entitled Antropología...

A rare cache of jewelry and silver coins, minted during the reign of Alexander the Great, has been discovered in a stalactite filled cave in northern Israel, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Monday. The 2,300-year-old treasure was found by three members of the Israeli Caving Club who wriggled through a narrow passage at the entrance of the stalactite cave and wandered inside for several hours. Stashed inside a niche, one of the spelunkers, Hen Zakai, spotted two ancient silver coins. On one side of the coins was an image of Alexander the Great, while the other side portrayed...

The earliest evidence of the use of olive oil in the country, and possibly the entire Middle East, was unearthed at an excavation site in the Lower Galilee, the Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday. The discovery was made after Dr. Ianir Milevski and Nimrod Getzov directed an archeological salvage excavation at Ein Tzipori between 2011 and 2013. The excavation led to research that indicated that olive oil was already being used in the country 8,000 years ago, during the 6th millennium BCE... These tests revealed that the pottery, dating to the Early Chalcolithic period, contained olive oil, the researchers concluded... Of...

Round and rectangular buildings with grain silos at a Copper Age site in Israel suggested social stratification to the excavators. Using micromorphology, the author demonstrates that while the rectangular building was occupied by people, the round ones had contained animals, perhaps as providers of milk, and dung for fuel. While this removes the direct indication of social variance, it strengthens the argument that animals, as well as grain, formed the basis for the creation of surplus.

Archaeologists stumble on sensational find 4 October 2007 Prokuplje -- Serbian archaeologists found evidence of the what could be the oldest metal workshop in all of Europe. According to National Museum archaeologist Dušan Šljivar, experts found a “copper chisel and stone ax at a location near Prokuplje in which the foundation has proven to be 7,500 years old, leading us to believe that it was one of the first places in which metal weapons and tools were made in prehistory.” Archaeologists hope that this find in southern Serbia will prove the theory that the metal age began a lot earlier...

In a presentation at the Seventh World Congress on Mummy Studies, researchers from the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman revealed that they had finally located the iceman known as Otzi’s stomach and determined his last meal. They were also able to successfully sequence his entire genome. Researchers from the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Italy divided the presentation into three different topics. The first part of the presentation was given by microbiologist Frank Maixner. He had recently examined old tomography scans taken of Otzi back in 2005 and was able to finally locate the stomach which was...

A civilisation parallel to Harappa? Experts wonder Abhishek Kapoor Vadodara, December 11: Was Gujarat the cradle of an independent civilisation, contemporary of the classical Harappan civilisation around the Indus Valley? This view is gaining academic credence in the community of archaeologists specialising on the subject across the country. The Sorath (present Saurashtra) region civilisation, dating back to 3700 BC at some places, was distinct from the classical Harappan as it developed in the Indus Valley, say researchers in the field. ‘‘It maintained its separate identity in many ways even as a cultural, economic and technological exchange took place between the...

Bulgaria-Unearthed Temples A Millenium Older than Egypt Pyramids Lifestyle: 18 February 2007, Sunday. Temples that archaeologists have unearthed in the eastern Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria are about a thousand years older than the pyramids in Egypt and the Mesopotamian civilization, experts claim. Archaeologists Ana Raduncheva and Stefanka Ivanova said in an interview for BTA that the whole system of temples in the Rhodope region dated back to the Vth millenium B.C. This is almost 4,000 years before the Thracian people settled on these lands. At the end of the Chalcolithic Age, the rock temples were abandoned for a large period...

7000-year-old artifacts discovered in Bushehr region Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN (MNA) –- A joint Iranian and British archaeological team recently discovered 7000-year old artifacts and ruins dating back to the Chalcolithic era (7000? to 3500? B.C.) in northern Bushehr. The Iranian director of the team, Hossein Tofiqian, said on Tuesday that the team began the first stage of their activities last month and made significant finds. “The team began their work with the aim of discovering the social and economic status of the historical site during the Chalcolithic era in the fifth and sixth millennia B.C., while the previous...

Archaeologists discover more than 70 ancient settlement areas in Yozgat Thursday, August 24, 2006 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Archaeologists working at the ancient settlement of Tavium located in what is today Yozgat have discovered more than 70 previously unknown ancient settlements in the area. The Central Anatolian province, mostly famous for the Chalcolithic Period discoveries at its Aliþar Tumulus and the Hittite era artifacts at Kerkenes, is likely to hold much more archaeological wealth than previously believed, and archaeologists say the new studies will shed more light on history. Austrian archaeologist Professor Karl Strobel, who is currently heading surveys...

With range of dramatic finds in excavations ahead of highway expansion, archaeologists trace 10 millennia of human development A remarkable archaeological find in the Judean lowlands southwest of Jerusalem includes a six-millennia-old cultic temple and a 10,000-year-old house. The ancient sites were located in routine archaeological digs conducted ahead of a planned expansion of Route 38, the main access road to Beit Shemesh. The building is the oldest ever found in the area, and constitutes remarkable “evidence of man’s transition to permanent dwellings,” researchers said Monday. Labeling it “a fascinating glimpse into thousands of years of human development,” the Israel...

A joint Jordanian-German archaeological team has discovered a statue in Jordan's eastern desert that dates back 6,000 years, media reports said Wednesday. The discovery shed new light on a little-known ancient Bedouin civilization that once thrived in the desert connecting Jordan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, the Department of Antiquities was quoted as saying. The 35-centimetre-high statue, nicknamed 'Dalish,' was found near the Jordanian-Saudi border by the team, which is co-led by Hans Georg Gebel of the Free University in Berlin and Hamzeh Mahasneh of the Jordanian Mutah University. The statue, which has a long nose and a bearded, abstract face,...

The ancient city of Liangzhu is rectangular in shape with rounded corners, and faces north. The city extends 1,500-1,700 meters from east to west, and 1,800-1,900 meters north to south. The 6 kilometers of wall surround an area of 2.9 million square meters: the size of the Summer Palace. The adobe walls, built on stone foundations, are the widest existing walls found thus far... The Liangzhu culture is a prehistoric culture, dating back to BC 5,000- BC 4,000. The sphere of its influence reached as far as Shanxi to the north, and to Guangdong in the South. It is among...

A team of archaeologists have unearthed additional evidence of what may have been Europe's first civilization at a site located near the town of Pazardzhik in southern Bulgaria. Known as Yunatsite, it is a Tell (mound containing archaeological remains) about 110 meters in diameter and 12 meters high, rising above fields next to a small Bulgarian village by the same name. The Tell contains remains of an urbanized settlement dated at its earliest to the early fifth millenium BC.Directed by Yavor Boyadzhiev of the National Institute of Archaeology and Museums, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, excavators have unearthed artifacts such...

A professor of archaeology at the Jahangirnagar University has stirred a controversy with misleading claims about and unauthorised excavation at an archaeological site. Professor Sufi Mustafizur Rahman, who led the excavation of an 18 by 16 metre area at Owari-Bateshwar in Belabo upazila of Narsingdi, claimed in April 2004 that the excavation had led to the discovery of a road, a citadel and a raft of artefacts that dated back to 450BC. Sufi told the media that his findings indicated to the oldest civilisation to have been discovered so far, and would redefine the history of eastern India and substantiate...

Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered a 7 000-years-old settlement close to the northeast city of Shumen. The village dates back to the Stone-Copper Age, and is located in the locality of Chanadzhik, near the village of Sushina and the Ticha Dam. The archaeologists have discovered over 300 finds, most of which are made of marble. "These items are extremely rare. They were worn by very specific people. These are decorations that were not available to the masses. There are also others that are made of clay or bone," explained Stefan Chohadzhiev, an archaeology professor at the Veliko Tarnovo University, as quoted...

Ancient bodies believed to be 8,500 years old have been unearthed at a burial mound in the Akçalar area of the Marmara province of Bursa. The five bodies, reportedly belonging to two adults and three children aged between 3 and 5, were found at the Aktopraklek mound... One of the children were hogtied while the other children were found between the legs of the adults, he said... Karul said it was too early yet to determine whether the bodies belonged to a single family, whether they had been punished, their exact age or any other particular details... "We have...