Forgotten cabins from a forgotten century - National Architecture & Design. Throughout the interior of Eastern North America, early 18th century English-speaking explorers and settlers encountered European-style masonry structures.
Their surviving ruins have “flown under the radar” of historic preservationists. Who built this enigmatic architecture? The latest issue of People of One Fire announced yet another terrace complex in the Southern Highlands. This one is about 41 miles southwest of the Track Rock complex. It includes a spectacular double-tiered wall that apparently was the support for a temple platform. Far more stone architecture complexes have been discovered in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Virginia during the past three years than have been detailed by this column. Most of these terrace complexes are in remote, rugged terrain, not conducive to European style agriculture. There is an unexpected pattern being found in the stone ruins. These are not locations at which any sane American frontier farmer would have homesteaded. Drum excavations unearth medieval sanitation system - Donside Piper and Herald. Archaeological excavations currently under way at Drum Castle have revealed ground flushed with medieval sanitary arrangements.
The dig is gradually revealing substantial remains of long-lost structures that once surrounded the 14th-century Tower of Drum. The excavations are part of the ongoing National Trust conservation project which saw the tower reopened to the public last month after a year behind scaffolding. A trench in the castle courtyard is concentrating on exploring Drum’s historical sanitary arrangements. London’s Paddington Station in the Victorian Era. London’s Paddington Station in the Victorian Era Monday, September 22, 2014 LONDON, ENGLAND—Excavations ahead of the construction of a new underground station, garage, and cement factory near Paddington Station have uncovered Victorian railway foundations laid by civil engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Brunel is remembered for his Great Western Railway, which ran its first steam trains in 1838 on broad-gauge train tracks. Bulgarian Vampire Buried With Iron Stake Through Heart. If you’re worried that a wooden stake won’t keep a vampire from rising from the grave, go for an iron one.
That’s apparently what some medieval vampire believers did to a corpse whose skeleton was recently discovered in southern Bulgaria. The finding was made by a team digging under the direction of archeologist Nikolai Ovcharov among the ruins of Perperikon, an ancient city dating back to 5,000 BC and once inhabited by the Thracians, Indo-European tribes mentioned in the Iliad as allies of the Greeks in the Trojan War. Perperikon is also believed to be the site of the Temple of Dionysius, the Greek God of wine and fertility.
The well-preserved skeleton appears to be from around the 13th century and is a of a male between the ages of 40 and 50. The “stake” was actually a heavy iron ploughshare and the man’s left leg was also cut off below the knee and placed next to the body. The ploughshare weighs almost two pounds and is dug into the body into a broken shoulder bone. Massive Roman Coin Hoard Unearthed in England. Massive Roman Coin Hoard Unearthed in England Friday, September 26, 2014 EAST DEVON, ENGLAND—Archaeologists and conservators from the British Museum have announced that an amateur metal detectorist has found one of the largest hoards of coins ever discovered in Britain.
The hoard is comprised of no less than 22,000 coins dating to between A.D. 260 and 350 that were in very good condition when they emerged from the ground, Devon County Council archaeologist Bill Horner told The Independent. Ancient Earthquake Damage Found in Israel. Ancient Earthquake Damage Found in Israel Wednesday, October 01, 2014 HAIFA, ISRAEL—A team led by Michael Eisenberg of the University of Haifa has uncovered the northern section of the first-century basilica at Hippos, a center of Greek and Roman culture located near the Sea of Galilee.
The roof of the structure collapsed during an earthquake in 363, killing the occupants, whose skeletons were found beneath the rubble. Among the victims was a woman who had been wearing a gold dove pendant. Eisenberg and his team used coins to date the collapse and attribute it to the earthquake. Ancient Earthquake Damage Found in Israel Wednesday, October 01, 2014 (Michael Eisenberg) Living the Life on the Roman Frontier. Living the Life on the Roman Frontier Friday, September 26, 2014 NOVAE, BULGARIA—The surprisingly luxurious lives of Roman legionnaires on the eastern edges of the empire are being uncovered by a team of archaeologists from the University of Warsaw.
Two of the most notable Roman legions were stationed at the fort of Novae—the Eighth Augustan, in the mid-first century A.D., and the First Italic, who replaced the Augustan in A.D. 69. This year’s archaeological campaign has been especially successful, unearthing luxury items such as several dagger handles made of ivory, three finely crafted second-century A.D. bronze figurines, and several bronze lamps. Ancient Musical Chamber Discovered in Turkey. Ancient Musical Chamber Discovered in Turkey.
Students Unearth Sweat Lodge at Cahokia Mounds. Students Unearth Sweat Lodge at Cahokia Mounds Wednesday, October 01, 2014 SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI—Students from Saint Louis University discovered three partial house basins and the entire basin of a burned sweat lodge during their field school at the Fingerhut Tract of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site this summer.
The sweat lodge measures nine feet in diameter and would have had a domed roof. Charcoal within the sweat lodge will be radiocarbon dated. The students also uncovered many microdrills. Students Unearth Sweat Lodge at Cahokia Mounds Wednesday, October 01, 2014 (Courtesy Saint Louis University) SAINT LOUIS, MISSOURI—Students from Saint Louis University discovered three partial house basins and the entire basin of a burned sweat lodge during their field school at the Fingerhut Tract of Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site this summer. First House of Nazareth Discovered. Reconstructing London's Temple of Mithras.
Reconstructing London's Temple of Mithras.
Medieval Friary Excavated in Scotland. Medieval Friary Excavated in Scotland Monday, September 29, 2014 (© GUARD Archaeology) STIRLING, SCOTLAND—A thirteenth-century Dominican friary that was destroyed during the Reformation in 1559 is being excavated by a team from GUARD Archaeology. Animal bones, medieval ceramics, a section of wall, and architectural stones have been unearthed. Garden soils have also been recovered. Emperor Augustus’ Frescoes Restored in Rome. Emperor Augustus’ Frescoes Restored in Rome Tuesday, September 23, 2014 (Wikimedia Commons)