Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Online Courses in Archaeology

Cave paintings, castles and pyramids, Neanderthals, Romans and Vikings - archaeology is about the excitement of discovery, finding out about our ancestors, exploring landscape through time, piecing together puzzles of the past from material remains.

Our courses enable you to experience all this through online archaeological resources based on primary evidence from excavations and artefacts and from complex scientific processes and current thinking. Together with guided reading, discussion and activities you can experience how archaeologists work today to increase our knowledge of people and societies from the past.

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Archaeologists uncover large Roman statue of Augustus

Archaeologists in have discovered fragments of a 2,000-year-old bronze Roman equestrian statue of Emperor Augustus in a stream near Giessen, the Hessian state science ministry has announced.

"There has never been a find of such quality and preservation in Germany," a statement from the ministry said, adding that it was a "sensational" discovery.

On August 12, archaeologists pulled the gold-gilded, life-sized head of a horse and a shoe of the emperor – who ruled the Roman Empire between 23 BC and 14 AD – from a stream in what was once the Roman outpost Germania Magna. Experts there have uncovered several bits of the statue among some 20,000 artefacts uncovered at the site in recent years.

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Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Excavations reveal Roman history

Archaeological excavations at the site of a former plant nursery, set to be developed for housing, have found evidence of Iron Age and Roman use.

The dig at the former Unwins Nursery at Impington, Cambridgeshire, found occupation dating from about 100BC with evidence of an Iron Age roundhouse.

The site was developed in Roman times with a series of ditches and pottery found is from the 2nd and 3rd Century.

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Excavations reveal Roman history at Impington

Archaeological excavations at the site of a former plant nursery, set to be developed for housing, have found evidence of Iron Age and Roman use.

The dig at the former Unwins Nursery at Impington, Cambridgeshire, found occupation dating from about 100BC with evidence of an Iron Age roundhouse.

The site was developed in Roman times with a series of ditches and pottery found is from the 2nd and 3rd Century.

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Dig could reveal Norfolk's Roman secrets

In 1929 a picture snapped from an RAF aircraft showed the pattern of a Roman town among the fields of Caistor St Edmund and made the front page of national newspapers. Reporter Dan Grimmer reports how, 80 years later, excavations are set to start which could finally unlock Venta Icenorum's secrets…

The first major dig of a Roman town on the outskirts of Norwich, which archaeologists say could be of international importance, will start this month - on the 80th anniversary of the first excavations there.

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Dig sheds new light on Roman life

IT'S been 25 years since any new sections of Arbeia Roman Fort in South Shields were excavated.

But a pioneering dig which recently got under way could tell us more about the lives of those inside and outside of its walls.

We got down and dirty with the archaeologists and volunteers working on the dig.

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Monday, August 17, 2009

Hadrian’s Wall was built of wood

A HEXHAM archaeologist has challenged perceived wisdom with startling claims that Hadrian’s Wall was originally built of wood.
Hxwoodwall

In a 65,000 word thesis published on his website, Geoff Carter says his hypothesis answers some age-old questions.

Archaeologists have long wondered why the ditch that runs parallel is several feet away from the Wall itself, reducing its effectiveness as a deterrent to invaders.

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Archaeologists discover full Roman bath suite in the Isle of Wight

A team of professional archaeologists, along with volunteers, has discovered a full Roman bath suite, complete with hot baths and a cold plunge pool, in the town of Banding, in the Isle of Wight, UK.

“We are extremely pleased with the find,” British archaeologist Professor Sir Barry Cunliffe, who led the archaeological team, told Isle of Wight news.

“It’s slightly ruined around the foundations, but you can clearly see the baths. The suite is tucked well away from the rest of the villa, so I think it might pre-date the villa to when there was a timber house on the site,” he said.

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Army of Roman experts heads for Hadrian's Wall

MORE than 300 of the world's top experts on Roman history and archaeology will be visiting Hadrian's Wall this month.

From August 17 to 23 they will gather to share ideas and information on the frontiers of the Roman Empire World Heriatge Site.

The international specialists meet every three years to discuss the Roman frontiers - from Hadrian's Wall and the Antonine Wall, along the banks of the Rhine and the Danube, to the deserts of North Africa.

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National award for Roman museum

The Corinium Museum in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, has been accredited by a national scheme in recognition of the standard of its care and collections.

The award, from the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), looks at how a venue is run and managed and the services it offers to visitors.

The Corinium Museum holds nationally important collections of archaeology, social history and old photographs.

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Friday, August 14, 2009

Roman relics found at Carlisle Sainsbury's store site

Roman remains have been found under the site of a proposed Sainsbury’s store in Carlisle which is poised for approval next week.

The remains – said to be potentially significant – were discovered underneath the site of the convenience store in Stanwix – but should not delay any building work significantly.

Councillors will debate revised plans for a Sainsbury’s Local and nine flats next Friday but they have been recommended for approval by planners.

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