Antarctic Peninsula started warming 600 years ago

[Chicago Tribune]  Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula started rising naturally 600 years ago, long before man-made climate changes further increased them, scientists said in a study on Wednesday that helps explain the recent collapses of vast ice shelves. The study, reconstructing ancient temperatures to understand a region that is warming faster than anywhere else in the southern hemisphere, said a current warming rate of 2.6 degrees Celsius (4.7 Fahrenheit) per century was "unusual" but not unprecedented.

'Mr Treasure' finds Nottinghamshire's biggest hoard of ancient weapons

[This is Nottingham]  The Bronze Age sword blades, axe and spear heads were declared treasure at Nottingham Coroner's Court this week so they can be bought by a museum. Experts hailed his efforts and say it is probably the biggest-ever haul of its type found in the county.

Prehistoric druidical rock shelter found in Srikakulam

[The Hindu]  The cluster of unique oval-shaped standing rock formations each measuring about eight metres in height and 28 metres in circumference and having well-defined ledge cuts and postholes used for wooden canopy like shelter, could have been a habitation and a place of worship. That a prehistoric circular hut existed here is indicated by circular postholes found on boulders opposite to the cluster of standing rocks within a radius of 3.05 metres.

Letters, Documents Found In 100-Year-Old Package From Norway

[Huffington Post]  was a mystery 100 years in the making. On Friday, the contents of a mysterious package from Otta, Norway were finally revealed. The package, which dates back to 1912, appeared to hold a collection of historical documents, letters, newspapers and national decorations.

Arizona man finds what he believes are ancient artifacts

[AZ Family]  Boston University professor Curtis Runnels has seen photos of the artifacts and told 3TV they are worth more investigation. “He sent me these photographs of these stone tools that are strikingly like the ones I am familiar with that came out of my own research on the island of Crete," said Runnels.

2,000-year-old tombs bear secrets of ancient Tibetan kingdom

[The Global Times]   Four tombs recently unearthed in Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region are believed to contain relics from an ancient Tibetan kingdom that thrived more than 2,000 years ago. The tombs, found in Gar County of Ngari Prefecture, were found to contain wooden caskets with human remains, copperware, swords and the skeletons of cattle believed to have been buried as sacrificial items, said Dr. Tong Tao from the archeological institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Archaeologists begin dig to uncover grave of Richard III in Leicester

[The Independent]  The son of a descendant of Richard III's eldest sister was on site today as what is believed to be the first ever search for the lost grave of an anointed King of England began in a city centre car park. Canadian-born Michael Ibsen watched as archaeological experts from the University of Leicester used ground penetrating radar equipment to find the best spots to begin their search today at the car park off Greyfriars in Leicester. His mother Joy Ibsen, who died four years ago aged 82, was a direct descendant of the King's eldest sister Anne of York,

Bronze Age pottery sherd from Isles of Scilly could be earliest British depiction of a boat

[Culture 24]  For Sean Taylor, an archaeologist with the Cornwall Council Historic Environment Service (CCHES), the find could be hugely significant for our understanding of the Bronze Age.
“The sherd is part of a small thick-walled vessel, perhaps a cup or beaker, and it’s highly unusual in that it has been inscribed, prior to firing, with a freehand design,” he explains. “If this is a ship, and it does look like a masted ship, then this is the earliest representation of a boat ever found in the UK.”

Divers find wreck of legendary pirate treasure ship

[Telegraph]  Divers in Tonga have discovered the wreck of a vessel said to be a historic pirate ship containing a legendary hoard of sunken treasure.

35-year-old Voyager 2 is NASA's longest mission ever

[CBS]   The iconic Voyager 2 spacecraft celebrated its 35th birthday Monday (Aug. 20) in a milestone for NASA's longest-running mission ever.  Voyager 2 launched in 1977 just 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1. The probes were tasked chiefly with studying Saturn, Jupiter and the gas giants' moons, but have continued on through the solar system and are now about to cross into interstellar space. Voyager 1 is due to cross first, becoming the first manmade object to travel beyond our solar system, and Voyager 2 is not far behind.

Ice Age Irish plant is still thriving 150,000 years later experts discover

[Irish Central]  Researchers have discovered a plant that has survived in Ireland since the Ice Age. According to the Irish Times, a team from NUI Maynooth, led by ecologist Dr Conor Meade, used an advanced DNA sampling method to show that the plant, Fringed Sandwort, has lived in Ireland for up to 150,000 years.

'Village' which may pre-date Romans discovered in Devon

[This Is South Devon]   Excavation work has uncovered the remains of a round house, the type of houses lived in by native Britons during the Iron Age and unlike the Roman houses which were usually square. The presence of Roman pottery indicates that the round house was still used after the Romans arrived.

Mother of Many Modern Languages Traced to Ancient Turkey

[Live Science]  English is one member of a large family, the Indo-European languages, that are now spoken by a huge swath of the world. But where they originated is the subject of controversy, with experts undecided between two areas of western Asia. Borrowing a technique used to reconstruct family trees for viruses, an international research team has come down squarely on one side of the debate: Indo-European languages originated in Anatolia, a southwestern Asian peninsula that is now part of Turkey, between 8,000 and 9,500 years ago, and were carried, at least in part, by the spread of agriculture.

Roman Curses Appear on Ancient Tablet

[Discovery]  An ancient Roman lead scroll unearthed in England three years ago has turned out to be a curse intended to cause misfortune to more than a dozen people, according to new research. Found in East Farleigh, U.K., in the filling of a 3rd to 4th Century AD building that may have originally been a temple, the scroll was made of a 2.3- by 3.9-inch inscribed lead tablet. Popular in the Greek and Roman world, these sorts of "black magic" curses called upon gods to torment specific victims.

Amazing ancient bronzes given up by Calabrian sea

[The Art Newspaper]  Three divers have discovered ancient bronze artefacts, believed to be Greek or Phoenician, off the coast of Calabria, in southern Italy. The finds include two statues and the remains of an ancient ship. The site is around 50km south of the spot where the Riace Bronzes were discovered 40 years ago, in 1972.  The divers have told the Italian press that they have seen many more treasures lying on the seabed.

Expedition may have found pieces of Amelia Earhart's plane

[LA Times]  amination of high-definition underwater video obtained from the Pacific island of Nikumaroro has revealed what appear to be pieces of aircraft wreckage that might have come from Amelia Earhart's plane, according to researchers from the International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, commonly known as TIGHAR. Although the pieces may not be readily apparent to the naked eye in the images, forensic scientists say they could be a pulley, a fender and a wheel.

Unreleased Martin Luther King Jr. interview unearthed in attic

[q13fox]  In a dusty old attic in Chattanooga, Tennessee, Stephon Tull was rummaging through dilapidated boxes left there by his father many years before, when he came across an interesting find.

In one of the battered boxes was an audio reel marked, "Dr. King interview, Dec. 21, 1960." "I'm a rummager, a packrat," said Tull. "That piqued my interest." Tull acquired a reel-to-reel player and listened to what sounded like his father interviewing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. about nonviolence and the civil rights movement. "I could not believe what I was hearing," said Tull.

Sardinian family declared world's oldest

[ABC]  Consolata Melis, whose family has been officially declared the longest-living family in the world, celebrates her 105th birthday today, and it's a party in her small remote hill town on the island of Sardinia. Four of Melis' eight siblings -- three brothers and five sisters -- are in their 90s, three are in their 80s and "la piccolina" (the little one) is 78. On June 10, all nine a combined age of 818 years, 205 days, and received a certificate from the Guinness World Records for "highest combined age, nine living siblings."

Antarctic Peninsula started warming 600 years ago

[Reuters]  Temperatures in the Antarctic Peninsula started rising naturally 600 years ago, long before man-made climate changes further increased them, scientists said in a study on Wednesday that helps explain the recent collapses of vast ice shelves. The study, reconstructing ancient temperatures to understand a region that is warming faster than anywhere else in the southern hemisphere, said a current warming rate of 2.6 degrees Celsius (4.7 Fahrenheit) per century was "unusual" but not unprecedented.

Huge dinosaur fossil found in Alberta

[CBC]  Palaeontologists took 12 long days unearthing the 2,000-kilogram — or 4,460-pound — triple-horned herbivore earlier this summer in a location that's about a 30-minute drive from Drumheller. Dr. François Therrien, curator of dinosaur palaeoecology at the Royal Tyrrell Museum, said it looked like a huge “log jam” of bones in the dirt. Therrien says a former employee noticed the 65-million-year-old fossil that was poking up after being exposed by erosion.

Historic Torah Scrolls Unearthed in Polish Town

[The Forward]   Two Torah scrolls, one complete and one incomplete, were found in Poland’s Sokolow Podlaski district. The Torah scrolls found Aug. 20 are believed to have belonged to a synagogue in nearby Wegrow. A local policeman brought the scrolls to the municipal offices in Sokolow and gave them to Marcin Pasik, Sokolow Commune Head. “The policeman is known in the local community because of his interest in history. That’s why he was contacted by a woman living in a nearby village. She asked him to help her sell the old scrolls. The policeman thought, however, that such a precious treasure should go to a museum,” Slawomir Tomaszewski, Sokolow police press officer, told JTA.

Archaeologists believe they have found the remains of a medieval village in Herefordshire

[BBC]  Excavation work began a week ago on land in the Brockhampton Estate, near Bromyard and experts say it gives a glimpse of rural 13th Century life. They believe the remains, on the estate that is managed by the National Trust, includes part of a building that may have been a manor house.

Human Skull Begins to Fill in 20,000-Year Gap in Fossil Record

[Discover]  Back in the day, in the northern part of modern-day Laos, an early modern human died and its corpse washed into a nearby cave. Sure, it doesn’t sound like a particularly noteworthy event. But researchers dated the remains of this human’s skull to at least 46,000 years ago, making it the oldest modern human ever discovered in Southeast Asia.

Ancient Lion's Head And Armor Discovered Off Coast Of Italy

[Huffington Post]   According to AFP, the hulking head is said to weigh 33 pounds and it would reach a little over a foot-and-a-half in height. The remains of vases and other statues, along with armor in bronze and copper, were found near the lion, ANSA details.  An expert reportedly told the daily newspaper Il Quotidiano di Calabria that the artifacts were possibly from a Greek or Phoenician ship that sank nearby.