* Astronomy

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RE: Archaeology

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Stone Age Colour, Glue 'Factory' Found

A once-thriving 58,000-year-old ochre powder production site has just been discovered in South Africa. The discovery offers a glimpse of what early humans valued and used in their everyday lives.
The finding, which will be described in the Journal of Archaeological Science, also marks the first time that any Stone Age site has yielded evidence for ochre powder processing on cemented hearths -- an innovation for the period.
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The Battle of Marathon

After around 2,500 years the Greek victory of the Battle of Marathon will be celebrated this summer. Although that the Ministry of Culture does not have yet the formal program of these celebrations the Greek Parliament Foundation will open first the circle of events and exhibitions dedicated to this famous battle.
Foundation participates in this anniversary celebrations with his own tribute: the exhibition "The Battle of Marathon: History and Legend", the opening of which will be in June the 16 th (8 pm), by the chairman of the House Mr Philip Petsalnikos, at the new site of the Foundation, Amalia 14.
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Ancient shoe steps up archaeological insight

An international team that includes eight researchers and students from UCLAs Cotsen Institute of Archaeology has found a perfectly preserved, 5,500-year-old shoe in a cave in Armenia.
Believed to be the oldest leather shoe ever discovered, the find dates back to around 3,500 B.C. and was announced today (June 9) in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE.
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World's oldest leather shoe found in Armenia

A perfectly preserved shoe, 1,000 years older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt and 400 years older than Stonehenge in the UK, has been found in a cave in Armenia.
The 5,500 year old shoe, the oldest leather shoe in the world, was discovered by a team of international archaeologists and their findings will publish on June 9th in the online scientific journal PLoS ONE
The cow-hide shoe dates back to ~ 3,500 BC (the Chalcolithic period) and is in perfect condition. It was made of a single piece of leather and was shaped to fit the wearer's foot. It contained grass, although the archaeologists were uncertain as to whether this was to keep the foot warm or to maintain the shape of the shoe, a precursor to the modern shoe-tree perhaps?

"It is not known whether the shoe belonged to a man or woman, as while small (European size 37; US size 7 women), the shoe could well have fitted a man from that era" - lead author of the research, Dr Ron Pinhasi, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland.

The cave is situated in the Vayotz Dzor province of Armenia, on the Armenian, Iranian, Nakhichevanian and Turkish borders, and was known to regional archaeologists due to its visibility from the highway below.

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Bulgarian museum to display winged solar disc in exhibition of new Thracian findings

The Yambol city regional history museum possesses an exponent, which was re-interpreted by a team of scientists working on the topic.

"Comparative research on the cult towards the God-sun in the Eastern Mediterranean" - Prof. Dr. Valeria Fol with the Centre of Thracology in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

The exponent represents a winged solar disc. It was discovered in 1973 from the expedition of Prof. Alexander Fol in the Thracian solar sanctuary Paleocastro, Topolovgrad city, and was taken inventory of in the Yambol regional history museum as a stone idol (inventory number I 1270/1974 - Antiquity collection). The scientists established that the object is, in fact, a solar disc of the Sun-God, the left wing of which had been broken. This missing wing was the reason behind the different interpretation proposed at the time of the discovery.

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1,200 flint stones dating back to 250,000 years ago unearthed in Syria

Around 1,200 pieces of flint stones dating back to 250,000 years ago were unearthed at al- Sharar Valley in the southern Syrian governorate Daraa, the official SANA news agency reported on Wednesday.
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A 30,000-year-old siltstone phallus which have been used as a sex toy and as a tool to start fires discovered in Germany sets the new world record for the Oldest Sex Toy.
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When did the First Settlers Come to Iceland?

One of the things that makes Iceland unique in Europe is the fact that Icelanders know the year the first settler, Ingólfur Arnarson, came to Iceland from Norway. The Icelandic script, Islendingabók (Book of Icelanders), written by Ari the wise, tells of the first men coming to Iceland on explorations.
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Orkney Venus

Scotland's earliest human face, the Orkney Venus, went on temporary display at an Argyll museum yesterday.
The 5,000-year-old figurine, which is also known as the Westray Wife, was found last summer by archaeologists excavating the Links of Noltland on the Orkney island of Westray.
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