Seven skeletons discovered in a remote New Mexico canyon were victims of a brutal massacre that may have been part of an ancient campaign of genocide, archaeologists say. The victims—five adults, one child, and one infant—were members of an obscure native culture known as the Gallina, which occupied a small region of northwestern New Mexico around A.D. 1100
Thirty years ago the archaeological scientists Garman Harbottle and Edward Sayre used neutron activation analysis to show that turquoise mosaics from Mexico, found as far away as the great Maya city of Chichén Itzá in Yucatan and dating back to around AD900, used raw material originating in the Cerrillos mines between Albuquerque and Santa Fe in New Mexico, an overland distance of some 3,200 km (2,000 miles).
A 45-foot canoe, buried for more than a thousand years and used by a long-dead culture of Native Americans was used to paddle over the open waters of the bay — unlike the other ancient canoes uncovered in Florida which were used to ply the calmer waters of lakes and rivers.
Hundreds of prehistoric dogs found buried throughout the southwestern United States show that canines played a key role in the spiritual beliefs of ancient Americans, new research suggests.
Ludmilla Lelis |Sentinel Staff Writer April 29, 2008 NEW SMYRNA BEACH – Scores of Native American mounds have been lost through time, but the one thought to be the nation’s highest –Canaveral National Seashore’s Turtle Mound — survived. Preservation of the mound has saved many of its secrets, clues to the past never unearthed. That’s why [...]
Searching the soil beneath this present-day farm, the researchers
have discovered almost a time capsule of relics from past cultures,
from pottery that dates back as many as 4,000 years to about 30 or 40
feet of a log fort built by Indians 600 to 700 years ago. Farther down, workers last year unearthed a cluster of rocks that
date back 10,000 years,
On the northernmost tip of Captiva Island stands a piece of southwest Florida history that may help scientists unlock the mysteries of an ancient culture. From the road lined with high-priced homes in the secluded South Seas Plantation, a mound with several peaks built by the Calusa Indians more than 2,000 years ago looks like any other clump of mangroves and vegetation.
One little arrowhead has caused quite a stir among local amateur
archaeologists. But one arrowhead is all it took to turn Ebberts Spring Site 36FR367, two miles south of Greencastle, from a typical archaeological dig into a super site.
A study of ancient human remains and artifacts found in the Guadalupe
River floodplain of south Victoria County shows that a relatively advanced people who had contacts with others living hundreds of miles
away populated the area.
In ancient Illinois, small dogs were made to carry or pull sacks of firewood until the tips of their vertebrae broke. Sometimes their heads were lopped off with stone axes during sacrificial ceremonies. Most often, they were buried with the trash.
An archaeological dig at southern Indiana’s Angel Mounds complex has uncovered a pottery-making operation that reveals the artistic skills of the Indians who lived there hundreds of years ago.
OAKVILLE, Iowa — The prehistoric Indian village that was excavated near here a year ago has been covered up again, but analysis of what was found will take several more months, and the questions raised may never be answered. A portion of the village — determined to be a “significant” cultural site — was excavated [...]
The Nikwasi Mound in North Carolina was once the site of a historic Cherokee village. Read more about the latest research on this mound below: On Friday, June 12, 1761, Lt. Col. James Grant and his expedition, who were pushing through Cherokee forces along the Little Tennessee River, stopped in Nikwasi (what is now Franklin) [...]
A new discovery unearthed at Angel Mounds near Evansville, Indiana is helping to reveal new secrets about this mysterious culture. The discovery is a pot which was found whole, a rare event in archaeology. From a newspaper article on the find: An archaeology dig normally results in little more than dirt, rocks and pottery chards. [...]
The Ohio Historical Society has a new online exhibit entitled Virtual First Ohioans which includes videos and photos of artifacts found at many of Ohio’s most important archaeological sites. The site covers every archaeological period in Ohio from the Archaic to the Woodland to the Mississippian. The exhibit includes extensive information on the most important [...]
A new book has collected photographs of every known Native American head pot in existence. Head pots are a very rare and unique form of pre-historic Native American pottery found almost exclusively in northeast Arkansas and the adjacent bootheel region of Missouri. They are distinguished from other native North American pottery in that the entire [...]
A 15-inch-long prehistoric bone fragment found near Vero Beach, Florida contains a crude engraving of a mammoth or mastodon on it. Tests so far have shown it to be genuine. If so, it appears to be “the oldest, most spectacular and rare work of art in the Americas,” wrote Dr. Barbara Purdy, emeritus professor of anthropology at [...]
Bill Green has supervised exploration of more than 250 potentially historic sites around the Southeast. And he knew the group working atop a bluff along the lower Saluda River was onto something special. Over eight months, each shovelful of dirt revealed new finds — arrowheads, spear points, eating tools, pottery shards, dwelling posts, a hearth [...]
“We Walk in Two Worlds” at the Historic Arkansas Museum in Little Rock, Arkansas tells the story of Arkansas’s first people, the Caddo, Osage and Quapaw Indian tribes from early times to today. The exhibit is told through objects and research. Approximately 158 objects, such as pottery, clothing and weapons, will be on exhibit. The exhibit has [...]
Some 1,700 years ago, the people who live in what is known officially as archaeological site “13LA582” west of Oakville, Iowa, were hunter-gatherers who also grew native crops like sunflower seeds. They lived in a doughnut-shaped village around a communal area and occupied 20 to 25 tree branch and bark wigwams capable of housing up [...]
The recent excavation of a prehistoric American Indian burial site on Ossabaw Island revealed cremated remains, an unexpected find that offers a glimpse into ancient Indian culture along Georgia’s coast. State archaeologist David Crass of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources said prehistoric cremations were rare, particularly during the early time in which preliminary evidence [...]
“ A lot of people don’t realize these amazing sites are basically in their backyard. They think you have to go to Egypt or all these exotic places, but this is just as interesting here.”Bryan Haley, University of Mississippi Surrounded by soybean fields and modern farm machinery, the Carson Mounds in western Coahoma County may [...]
Turtle Mound in Florida which is a massive oyster-shell midden is being re-investigated. Archaeologists have found 1,200 year old pottery and other artifacts for radio-carbon analysis. Turtle Mound is the highest shell midden in the country being 35 feet tall at this point but may have been 54 feet tall before erosion. There are 35,000 cubic feet of oyster shells. [...]
Ray Reser, director of the Central Wisconsin Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, described the object as a copper “celt,” a type of ax blade with no perforations or grooves. He said the celt was probably a functioning tool. The piece probably dates from 3,000 to 5,000 years ago.
