Published on Jul 22nd 2010 Archaeology

The marble statue depicts a dog biting a wild boar
It happens frequently that archaeologists dig up something and have no idea what it is. This is, however, the beauty of this trade, you can find anything in the field and then spend years behind a desk and in the library trying to figure out what it is.
At a late Roman archaeological site in Serbia, known as Gamzigrad or Felix Romuliana, excavations have revealed a unique marble statue portraying a dog biting a wild boar.
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Published on Jun 17th 2010 Archaeology
Stravanger University – What’s a Stone Age axe doing in an Iron Age tomb? The archaeologists Olle Hemdorff at the University of Stavanger’s Museum of Archaeology and Eva Thäte are researching older objects in younger graves. They have found a pattern.
“If one finds something once, it’s accidental. If it is found twice, it’s puzzling. If found thrice, there is a pattern”, the archaeologists Olle Hemdorff and Eva Thäte say.
In 2005 the archaeologists investigated a grave at Avaldsnes in Karmøy in southwestern Norway, supposed to be from the late Iron Age, i.e. from 600 to 1000 AD. Avaldsnes is rich in archeological finds. They dot an area that has been a seat of power all the way back to around 300. Archaeologist Olle Hemdorff at the University of Stavanger’s Museum of Archaeology was responsible for a series of excavations at Avaldsnes in 1993-94 and 2005-06. Continue Reading »
Published on Dec 28th 2009 Archaeology

“Some forge beads from the forges.” Photo: Tove Eivindsen/NTNU
NTNU – When archaeologist Ruth Iren Øien noticed a cluster of tiny iron beads in the ground, she knew she was onto something. She did not know, however, that her team had stumbled upon Scandinavia’s oldest and most complex group of iron forges.
And not only that, it would be months before Øien, with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology’s Museum of Natural History and Archaeology, would discover the actual significance of her find.
The iron beads were first found in November 2008, right at the very end of a highly weather-dependent field season
in Norway. With frost about to set in, further investigation had to wait until the summer of 2009. But in July, Øien’s team returned to the site.
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Published on Dec 27th 2009 Archaeology
Published on Oct 23rd 2009 Archaeology
Published on Oct 23rd 2009 Archaeology
Published on Oct 15th 2009 Archaeology
Published on Oct 12th 2009 Archaeology