Archaeology News: July 17, 2014

Ancient Digger brings you the latest archaeology news and headlines everyday of the week!

Archaeologists Discover 9,000 Year-Old Talisman Meteorite That Was Worshipped By Primitive People




A meteorite fragment dating back 9,000 years was discovered in a shaman's hut by archaeologists, leading to speculation that it was worshipped as a magical object, UK MailOnline reported. Since prehistoric Stone Age humans witnessed the talisman fall from space, it had gained a status of being from another world.

Archaeologists Are Hunting for the Lost French Fleet That Nearly Conquered Spanish Florida


A new archaeological investigation off the coast of Cape Canaveral could shed light on one of the defining moments of Florida's history--when the Spanish definitively kicked the French out of the territory they'd claimed as their own.

When you think of the oldest European settlements in what is now the United States, Jamestown, The Lost Colony, Plymouth and St. Augustine might come to mind. But the French settlement of Fort Caroline, older than all of them, almost never gets a mention.

NC Archaeologist Has Find-Of-A-Lifetime, 3 Years In A Row

A team of archaeologists turned up another mosaic. Part of the image depicts an elephant with shields tied to its side.

"Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible are there stories with elephants in them," Magness says. "So clearly this scene is not drawn ... from the Old Testament." This is the first time that a non-Biblical story has been found in any ancient synagogue.Jodi Magness suggests that the image might be a depiction of a legend about a meeting between Alexander the Great and a Jewish high priest. This conjecture will require intense study.

10,000yo Indian cave paintings of ‘aliens, spaceship’ puzzle archaeologists

Prehistoric paintings in a cave in India may indicate that alien travelers visited the site eons ago, an archeologist says. The paintings depict what appear as humanoids with featureless faces and a tripod object that could be a vehicle.



Archaeologists to dig at Luas site after 17th Century body find

A team of archaeologists were called to a site outside the front gates of Trinity College Dublin yesterday after the remains were discovered. The alarm was raised after 9am as workers were removing utilities ahead of the installation of the new Luas route. A hip bone and two leg bones were found 1.5 metres underground. They had been buried in a crouching position. An initial inspection revealed the remains could date back to the 17th Century.

Archaeologists Find 8,000-Year-Old Skull, but It’s What Was Inside That Counts

Researchers are not yet sure if it’s human, but an ancient skull found at a Norwegian archaeological dig site is exciting scientists because of what they think they discovered inside — brain matter. The bones, thought to be about 8,000 years old, were uncovered at a camp in Stokke, Norway, and could be evidence of a Stone Age man.

Archaeologists Discover New Extinct Elephant Relative

The new evidence puts the gomphothere in North America at the same time as a prehistoric group of paleo-Indians known as the Clovis culture, whose beautifully crafted projectile points helped bring down giant Ice Age mammals, includingmammoths. This is the first time gomphothere fossils have been discovered with Clovis artifacts.

Cambridge University archaeologists unearth prehistoric bookkeeping system

Excavations have unearthed an ancient token-based recording system which was believed to have been rendered obsolete by the invention of writing.