Latest news with #archeology
CBC
20 hours ago
- General
- CBC
Toronto provides update on ancient Indigenous remains found on Withrow Avenue
The city of has provided an update on ancient Indigenous remains found on Withrow Avenue more than a year ago. As CBC's Lane Harrison reports, city crews found the remains during waterline work on the street.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
More mastodon bones found in NY backyard: What to know about the rare discovery
After a complete mastodon jaw bone was unearthed from the backyard of a residence near Scotchtown last year, a handful of students and instructors from SUNY Orange felt there was more to uncover. They were right. In only six weeks of archeological work, 12 students and two professors found multiple vertebrae, additional jaw fragments and rib bones of the same mastodon, which they're estimating to be between 10,000 and 13,000 years old. "This is such a big deal," student Kierra Moore said. "How often can you be in the right place at the right time to have a once-in-a-lifetime experience?" Here's what to know about the latest discovery. What led to the initial discovery? In 2024, a full, well-preserved mastodon jaw belonging to an adult, a piece of a toe bone and a rib fragment were recovered after the homeowner decided to take a closer look after initially finding two teeth covered by the leaves of a plant on their property, unearthing two additional teeth buried mere inches underground, before calling the discovery in. The fossils underwent carbon dating and a comprehensive analysis to find out the age, diet and habitat of the mastodon over the course of its lifetime, according to the state Department of Education. Over 150 mastodon fossils have been found statewide to date, with about a third discovered in Orange County, the state Department of Education said at the time of the first discovery. See the photos: Mastodon jaw unearthed in New York backyard What's next? The mastodon findings have been sent to the New York State Museum for examination and curation while a number of other smaller unidentified bones and skeletal fragments found during the dig are currently being stored at SUNY Orange's Middletown campus. 'When I visited the site, it filled my heart to see our students out there digging, sifting, discovering, and learning,' SUNY Orange President Dr. Kristine Young said. 'SUNY Orange was uniquely positioned. I'm so proud of our faculty for stepping up to offer this opportunity, and just as proud of our students for grabbing hold of it with both hands ... It's the kind of moment that reminds you what's possible when talent meets opportunity at community colleges.' Emily Barnes reports on consumer-related issues for the USA TODAY Network's New York Connect Team, focusing on scam and recall-related topics. Follow her on X and Instagram @byemilybarnes. Get in touch at ebarnes@ This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: More mastodon bones found in NY backyard: What to know about discovery Solve the daily Crossword
CBC
6 days ago
- Science
- CBC
Family unearths ancient spearhead at their Paris, Ont., farm in 'freak' discovery
The two pieces were buried under the earth for possibly more than 12,000 years. This summer, they were accidentally unearthed on a Paris, Ont., dairy farm. For Laura Vellenga, finding what are believed to be two parts of an ancient spearhead is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. "I knew right away this was something special," she said, carefully admiring two pieces of light grey flint in her cupped hands. "You can tell that it was made by a person and chiselled by a person.... We found it here in the cornfield, at the back of the farm, about kilometre away from the house. It was just a freak chance that we found this here." The two pieces she found connect like a puzzle to create a roughly seven-centimetre-long piece. Vellenga wonders if a third piece remains hidden on their farm because the spearhead is missing its tip. Vellenga found the pieces while working on the farm with her husband, Mike Vellenga. He was driving their ATV through the cornfield when he heard it bump against something hard in the soil. "My husband looked down here and he sat kind of half buried in the dirt; he thought [it] was like a piece of plastic." After picking the two pieces up and tapping them against their ATV, the Vellengas immediately knew they were no ordinary rocks. They decided to take the pieces home, carefully, and began looking for an archeology expert to tell them more about their unique find. "A human being from 13,000 years ago, before the pyramids, before any of the history that we know about of civilization held this in their hand and made it, and used it and lived here," Laura said. "It's exciting to think how different the world was back then during the [last] ice age ... then it got lost and now we're holding it 13,000 years later." 'Scarce as hen's teeth' To help learn more about what the family believes is a rare find, the family turned to Christopher Ellis, a leading expert in Paleo and Archaic archeology from the Great Lakes area. Ellis, a professor emeritus at London's Western University, has spent his 50-year career unearthing and identifying spearheads like the one discovered by the Vellengas. He has not had a chance to hold the artifact, but has studied it using detailed pictures. He said the kind of point the family found "is a style that we know is characteristic of the oldest documented people in Ontario," and noted that with the modern calendar, it would date it to 10,000 BC. Ellis said he was shocked to see that the family had accidentally stumbled upon a fluted point spear tip. "Fluted points ... are scarce as hen's teeth. They are like a needle in a haystack," Ellis told CBC News. "I only know of maybe seven points from all the Brant County that have been reported over the years. There's not very many of them and they're distinctive." Material from present-day Ohio Ellis said the spearhead is made of chert flint rock — a material not naturally found in the area where the farm is located. "It's from an Ohio source, from south central Ohio, which would be about 300 or 400 kilometres away," he said, adding the spearhead may have been carried over to Ontario by a hunter-gatherer looking for food, family and love. "Part of the reason [for travelling] is that people were living in very small groups. The whole population of southern Ontario might have been 150 people and in small groups, so they maintain contact over wide areas because... they're exchanging tools and raw materials with people in Michigan, and Ohio, and New York state and so on over large areas." Ellis described the chert flint rock as easy to flake and glass-like. He said it would have taken considerable skill and patience to shape the spearhead into a perfect point. "They were almost an art form. It was a lot more to them than just tools. They went out of their way to get certain raw materials for them, the best quality. They wanted them to look very nice."
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Neolithic moms decorated baby carriers with dog teeth
Preparation work for a high-voltage powerline project in eastern Germany has revealed a very unexpected archeological find: the gravesites of multiple women and infants dating back nearly 4,500 years. While somber, their remains and burial goods are helping experts better understand class, gender, and parenting dynamics of late Neolithic society known as the Corded Ware Culture. The discoveries are located near Krauschwitz, a small village about 53 miles northeast of Dresdeb. The site is one of multiple currently overseen by the country's State Office for Heritage Management and Archaeology of Saxony-Anhalt. According to their announcement on July 9, archeological teams have already identified numerous ancient burials along the 105-mile SuedOstLink electrical grid route. However, none of them compared to the rare artifacts found close to Krauschwitz. Researchers are particularly astounded by the remains of leather bags intricately decorated with drilled dog teeth. Although the organic material decomposed long ago, the dental adornments remained arranged in overlapping patterns similar to roofing shingles. Archaeologists estimate each bag measured 11.8 inches by 7.9 inches, and featured as many as 350 teeth, usually sourced from dogs similar to today's Small Münsterländer pointers. The artisanry required to craft each satchel implies that their owners were elite women in their communities. Their placement in relation to each body also suggests the bags were worn slung around the front torso. However, many of these bags weren't empty at the time of their burial. In multiple cases, archeologists discovered infant bones either inside or near a woman's bag. In one instance, a bag was in the grave of a woman who died during pregnancy, which researchers believe indicates the baby carriers were 'personal, non-inheritable belongings.' Some of the infants' heads and limbs were also found wrapped in scarf-like textiles. These sashes included even more embroidered teeth, usually molars, possibly to function as protective wear for the babies. Taken altogether, the bags were likely both ceremonial and practical for their wearers. Today, they speak to both the harsh environment of the time, as well as the care that went into honoring the dead. [ Related: Viking woman buried in ceremonial boat with her dog. ] Archeologists also discovered older burial mounds from the Baalberg Culture dating to around 4000 BCE. These structures were built from trapezoidal wooden frames, then covered in loess—silt-sized sediment formed from wind-blown dust. The repeated use of the area as resting places for the deceased speaks to a longtime sense of reverence and community among the region's ancient peoples. A 20-person team will continue working on-site through the end of July to excavate and conserve additional artifacts. From there, the items will be further examined and likely displayed in museums. Once completed, the SuedOstLink power line will stand atop these locations—a symbol of humanity's technological advancements above ancient, poignant evidence of community and family.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Archaeologists Found a 5th-Century Church Inscribed With a Message to Early Christians
Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: Excavation work in Turkey's ancient Olympus revealed intricate mosaic patterns and inscriptions at a church entrance. Known as Church No. 1, the mosaics contained within are dated to the fifth century. Details from the inscriptions show who supported the church's construction. A mosaic adorning the entrance to a fifth-century church in Turkey's ancient city of Olympus is both just the tip of the iceberg. The mosaic itself extends from the entrance to inside the church, and it's just one of many ruins from the time period that archeologists have recently discovered, even after years of excavating the city. As crews continued to excavate Olympus' ancient Kumluca district, they discovered the mosaic outside the early Christian church, known as Church No. 1. The entrance bears an inscription which translates to: 'Only those on the right path may enter here,' according to Turkey's Ministry of Culture and Tourism, as reported by Türkiye Today. 'This mosaic inscription is strategically placed at the very entrance of the church,' Gokcen Kutulus Oztaskin, associate professor at Pamukkale University and excavation director on the project, said according to Anadolu Agency. The mosaics throughout the church contain both geometric patterns and botanical motifs, stretching from the main entrance into multiple areas of the building. Additional inscriptions reveal the names of churchgoers who financially backed the construction of the church. 'These finds confirm Olympus as one of the richest ancient cities in the Lycia region in terms of mosaic flooring,' said Oztaskin, according to Türkiye Today. 'Olympus continues to surprise us with its rich mosaic heritage.' Beyond Church No. 1, the team discovered a residential structure atop a Roman-era burial ground. Experts believe that the site was repurposed during the Byzantine period to help house the region's growing populations, highlighting a change in urban planning. The residential building—complete with a stone floor and also originally constructed in the fifth century—appeared to have been reconstructed (in accordance with the original design) in the sixth century following a fire. It came complete with additional artifacts, including a large clay storage vessel known as a pithos, which are now housed in the Antalya Archaeology Museum. While crews have been on site since 2006 sifting through the city's Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine remains, plans still call for continued exploration of the city (including what could be a temple in the city center). Already, teams have discovered examples of the masonry technique known as bossage, which features protruding blocks in finely cut stone walls, which they took to mean that the structure was likely a key religious building. Soon, the team will excavate a bishop's palace and Church No. 3. Already known as one of the most mosaic-rich ancient regions in Turkish history, crews hope to find even more patterns and inscriptions that help tell the story of ancient Olympus. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
