Big Digs - the year 2016 in Archaeology

2016 had its fair share of exciting discoveries in the world of archaeology. Together, they reveal the human characteristics that unite us all and expose the impacts that past peoples continue to have on life today. Here's a selection of the most inspiring findings of the year.


source:

I think I was napping when a number of these came out ("Britain's Pompeii"? but this well-written article from BBC includes some beautiful photos and the summary of this collection of finds is well done. The photo of the little cat mummy is very charming.

Thankfully, they left out the mess that was "Nefertiti's tomb" (I suspect he'll be back in a couple of years with a new location.) They also left out Giza since there was nothing yet - other than "well that looks interesting - wonder what it is" (not the same as a find)) on the Giza pyramid scans.

a reply to: Byrd

That's a pretty nice overview of the last year. I had missed a couple of these also like the domestication of cats and surprisingly, the Hohokam woman with Scoliosis which I was much more interested in. Thanks for posting it, hopefully there will be others who missed one or two of these as they dropped over the last 12 months.

a reply to: Byrd
I know nothing. I registered and everything

a reply to: gription

Gobekle tepe? spelling? Where is the data?

originally posted by: gription
a reply to: gription

Gobekle tepe? spelling? Where is the data?

No big finds there this year.

This is about big new finds.

a reply to: Byrd

Do not forget about the pools and rivers of liquid mercury, i wonder when they are going to show us pictures?


Probably never, because they are liars and thieves,

a reply to: Byrd

Do you believe the "chamber of knowledge" exists?

a reply to: Byrd

Gortex wrote a thread about Britain's 'Pompeii' if I remember.

Best preserved Bronze Age Village

They found a cartwheel, pieces of textiles, complete pottery examples etc all preserved by the peat bogs - it was brilliant.
The Star Carr pendant was my favourite though:



Thanks for the list, and a happy, healthy new year to you

The Starr Carr pendant was my favourite too.
Love that stoneage bling!

Thanks for the linky.

originally posted by: solve
a reply to: Byrd

Do not forget about the pools and rivers of liquid mercury, i wonder when they are going to show us pictures?


Probably never, because they are liars and thieves,

That was in 2015. The article reviewed 2016.

Also (I checked) it said "large quantities" and didn't say how much "large" was. It could be something the size of a plate of soup - that actually would be a large quantity.

originally posted by: Peeple
a reply to: Byrd

Do you believe the "chamber of knowledge" exists?

Nope.

Think of our libraries... that's essentially a big collection that's been curated by a group of librarians who said "we want this but not that." I've been inside the modern Library of Alexandria, and the thing is huge... ten or twelve times the size of our local library - at least four times the size of the Dallas municipal library.

But even the modern Library of Alexandria doesn't have all the books, all the histories, all the plays, etc available in our world today (it doesn't have copies of the books I've been published in, for instance.)

The same number of scrolls would have taken up twenty or thirty times that space (imagine putting the Game of Thrones series on scrolls!)

IN a metaphorical sense, the Earth itself is our "chamber of knowledge" - but most people can't read it (most here don't know the layers in the rocks and when they were formed and how to follow them as they dive under the landscape and what that means... most don't know their local butterflies (heck, even scientists don't) or local trees... etc, etc, etc.) Me, I'm learning every day how to read this... frog calls, insects, bird flight patterns, types of trees, traffic patterns, human words and stories... everything.

originally posted by: beansidhe
a reply to: Byrd

Gortex wrote a thread about Britain's 'Pompeii' if I remember.

Best preserved Bronze Age Village

They found a cartwheel, pieces of textiles, complete pottery examples etc all preserved by the peat bogs - it was brilliant.
The Star Carr pendant was my favourite though:

Thanks for the list, and a happy, healthy new year to you

And Happy new year to you, too!

I loved the look of the little pendant, there. I know it looks simple, but it took someone more than a day to make.

a reply to: Byrd
Any insider news about the Hawara Complex digs? What's your take on Carmen Boulter?

originally posted by: MaxTamesSiva
a reply to: Byrd
Any insider news about the Hawara Complex digs?

Not that I've seen. Recent announcements have been about a new Dutch Egyptology magazine, a French language website on Theban Tomb 33, the announcement of some deaths in the Egyptological community (elderly people... not unexpected), a French language publication with a number of articles, several conference announcements and a couple of calls for papers.

What's your take on Carmen Boulter?

My take is... very unkind.

a reply to: Byrd

Not that I've seen. Recent announcements have been about a new Dutch Egyptology magazine, a French language website on Theban Tomb 33, the announcement of some deaths in the Egyptological community (elderly people... not unexpected), a French language publication with a number of articles, several conference announcements and a couple of calls for papers.

So does that mean nothing much happening at Hawara worth translating for the English speaking public or there's something very interesting that the academics are keeping for themselves?

My take is... very unkind.

Not even a gratuitous little compliment for effort in making The Pyramid Code? How about a decent original score for the documentary by Michael Damon?

originally posted by: MaxTamesSiva
a reply to: Byrd

Not that I've seen. Recent announcements have been about a new Dutch Egyptology magazine, a French language website on Theban Tomb 33, the announcement of some deaths in the Egyptological community (elderly people... not unexpected), a French language publication with a number of articles, several conference announcements and a couple of calls for papers.

So does that mean nothing much happening at Hawara worth translating for the English speaking public or there's something very interesting that the academics are keeping for themselves?

It means that I haven't seen anything. Given the huge volume of publications - and that it's not a site I follow - there's nothing significant about not seeing anything.

Most digs were suspended after the revolution and sites are slowly being opened. There's been a number of changes in the Department of Antiquities (now run by an Egyptologist, thank goodness, instead of a business man) and permits were in limbo with all the changes. Egyptian Egyptologists are getting more digs (but any field reports would be in Arabic, which I don't read.) Universities in Europe have been quicker to get students and professors back in the field - the Dutch digs at Dier-El-Medina were active when I was there two years ago.

If they have an official blog, they may post weekly or monthly updates but only if it's worth posting - and it'd be in the native language of whatever group is doing the dig (French, German, Egyptian, etc.) Otherwise, "cleared 4 meters in pit 1, sifting showed pottery fragments, cleaning continues on coffin, transcription of first panel continues" is not really anything to report.

My take is... very unkind.

Not even a gratuitous little compliment for effort in making The Pyramid Code?

Nope. And I am familiar with the process of getting documentaries made. One of my students makes (and has sold in the past) documentaries. I don't honor bad speculation passed off as science.

How about a decent original score for the documentary by Michael Damon?

Couldn't get past the first fifteen minutes of the documentary.

Hi Byrd,
I am surprised you missed this one,

westerndigs.org...

Archaeologists in Texas thought they’d made an important discovery in the 1990s, when they unearthed a trove of stone tools dating back 13,000 years, revealing traces of the oldest widespread culture on the continent.

But then, years later, they made an even more powerful find in the same place — another layer of artifacts that were older still.

About a half-hour north of Austin and a meter deep in water-logged silty clay, researchers have uncovered evidence of human occupation dating back as much as 16,700 years, including fragments of human teeth and more than 90 stone tools.

a reply to: punkinworks10

Not me.

Just posted the BBC article.

a reply to: Byrd
Okay, I dig it. Thanks.