Prehistoric caves - Astronomy News

Blobrana

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Date: Nov 20 17:36 2007

Lupercale	Permalink

Italian archaeologists believe they have found the cave where a she-wolf suckled Romulus and Remus, the twin founders of Rome, according to legend. An underground cavity decorated with seashells and mosaics was discovered near the ruins of Emperor Augustus's palace on the Palatine hill. It is likely to be the long-lost worship place known as Lupercale, the archaeologists said. Read more __________________

Blobrana

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Date: Nov 1 13:51 2007

St Blaize Cave	Permalink

Mossel Bay Tourism has begun a project to upgrade the facilities at the St Blaize Cave, the most easily accessible of all the archaeological sites in the area. The Eden district municipality has given Mossel Bay Tourism a grant to fund development. Some of the money will be used to repair and paint the boardwalks and the paving around Cape St Blaize. Read more __________________

Blobrana

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Date: Oct 31 01:14 2007

RE: Prehistoric caves	Permalink

The Red Lady of Paviland has always been a little coy about her age - but it appears she may be 4,000 years older than previously thought. Scientists say more accurate tests date the earliest human burial found in the UK to just over 29,000 years ago. Read more __________________

Blobrana

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Date: Oct 30 17:20 2007

Goat’s Hole Cave	Permalink

The oldest known buried remains in Britain are 29,000 years old, archaeologists have found 4,000 years older than previously thought. The findings show that ceremonial burials were taking place in western Europe much earlier than researchers had believed. New dating techniques developed by Oxford University and British Museum researchers have pinpointed the age of the Red Lady burial site in Wales, previously thought to be 25,000 years old, to 29,000 years old. The finding suggests that the origins of human burial may be found in western Europe, and perhaps Britain, rather than elsewhere, although further dating work is required. The skeleton of the Red Lady, actually that of a young male, is housed in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, having been first discovered and excavated in Wales in 1823 by William Buckland, then Professor of Geology at Oxford University. The Red Lady owes its name to the red ochre covering the bones. The burial site lies in Goats Hole Cave, Paviland, on the Gower Peninsula in Wales. Ivory wands, bracelets, and periwinkle shells were found near the remains when the site was excavated. Read more __________________

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Oct 23 12:52 2007

On Your Knees Cave	Permalink

On Your Knees Cave (site 49-PET-408) is located at the northern tip of Prince of Wales Island near Sumner Strait. It was discovered in 1993 during a logging unit survey and mapped by members of the Tongass Cave Project. The cave is about one km from the coast and about 125 meters above sea level, and it is located along a ledge on the south-facing side of a deep valley. The cave has a small entrance room (2 meter diameter), which was partly blocked off by a large pile of rock and soil that had fallen from the cliff slope above. The original entrance was one meter in diameter and difficult to find under the dense forest vegetation (see photos below). The cave itself consists of two horizontal crawlways, each about 30 meters long. Prior to excavation these crawlways were very tight and difficult to negotiate. The left branch, named the Bear Passage, consisted of two small rooms separated by a tight spot. A small spring emerges in the Second Room and forms a stream that continues down the remainder of the Bear Passage, which is a very tight bedrock passage. The right branch, named the Seal Passage, loops around to a second entrance (Ed's Dilemma). Originally this crawlway was so tight that there was no room to turn around in its entire length, and even wearing a helmet was difficult in places. Read more Human remains estimated to be more than 10,000 years old that were found in a cave in the Tongass National Forest rightfully belong to the southeast Alaska Tlingit tribes, the federal government said. Now, 11 years after they were found during a U.S. Forest Service archaeological survey, the remains will be returned to the tribe, agency officials announced Friday. It will be the first time a federal agency has handed custody of such ancient finds over to an indigenous group under the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, they said. Read more __________________

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Sep 24 18:41 2007

Tasmanian caves	Permalink

Humans had reached Tasmania by 35 000 years bp and were in residence at the peak of the last ice age. Curiously, the settlements in the coldest period are concentrated in the highest and most southerly places, and the colder the weather became, the more sites were occupied. The author deduces that early people specially sought out the rock shelters of the highlands to combat wind chill. Read more "The only real evidence we have for Tasmanian Aboriginal people during the ice age is in that very coldest, windiest southwest corner and that's a paradox" - Ian Gilligan. "In terms of human tolerance of cold, it's not the air temperature it's wind chill that's important. Half of that is air temperature, the other half is wind. Whilst the temperature may be somewhat colder in that area, what the southwest offered to humans during the glacial maximum was protection from wind" - Ian Gilligan. __________________

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Sep 9 13:56 2007

RE: Prehistoric caves	Permalink

Prehistoric Cave Found in South Anhui Sealed away from the outside world for millions of years, a mountain cave located in Xintian Town, Xuancheng City, southern Anhui Province has recently been excavated and classified by archaeologists as a prehistoric cave. It harbours a trove of animal fossil bones and vessels. A huge crescent fossil bone weighing two kilograms was unearthed during the discovery. Experts have verified it as an Asian elephant tooth, the first one of its kind to be excavated from southern Anhui Province. The discovery is the direct result of personal efforts by a 57-year-old local villager named Bi Lin. Read more __________________

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Aug 24 01:14 2007

El Miron Cave	Permalink

A prehistoric Spanish hunting group that may have even had its own gang symbols appears to have drawn, hunted, crashed in a cave, eaten, recycled waste and moved on, suggests a new study. Like a good detective story, the research hinged on one major clue a buried pile of mysterious black bones found in a dark, dank room at the interior of El Mirón Cave near the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. This cave was like a residential hotel for travelling groups of Stone Age hunters, according to lead author Ana Belén Marín Arroyo, who worked with Lawrence Straus and other scientists. Read more __________________

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Jul 19 16:33 2007

Meghalaya caves	Permalink

In the past decade, at least 1,000 ancient caves have been discovered in Meghalaya. Yet mushrooming cement factories and indiscriminate coal mining are posing a great threat to these fragile and little known natural wonders in this northeastern state. These formations are of great scientific value and have great tourism potential as well. The state boasts of the 25.5 km-long 'Krem Liat Prah-Um Lm-Labit' cave, which is located in the Jaintia hills district and said to be the longest cave system in the country. Read more __________________

Blobrana

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Posts: 131433

Date: Jun 30 12:29 2007

RE: Prehistoric caves	Permalink

Scientists in Spain say that they have found a tooth from a distant human ancestor that is more than one million years old. The tooth, a pre-molar, was discovered on Wednesday at the Atapuerca site in northern Spain's Burgos Province. Read more __________________

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