Archeology

Summer excavations at Bosnia and Herzegovina's Mt. Visocica yielded results, but not the kind an entrepreneur turned amateur archaeologist was looking for. Semir Osmanagic, a US businessman of BiH origin, has invested large amounts of his own money in a personal quest to unearth what he says are Europe's first pyramids. His claims have not yet been corroborated. Instead, an archeological team said over the summer that it has unearthed significant artefacts from a more recent era. These include eight pieces of Gothic architectural carvings and parts of glass vials dating back to the 14th and 15th centuries, imported from Venice and principalities of today's Germany, as well as numerouspieces of ceramic.

They have also found 20 silver objects dating from the 15th-century. "This demonstrates that much attention was devoted to the town where the medieval Bosnian kings resided from time to time," team leader Lidija Fekeza told the media. "Once we remove the ... vegetation from the top of Mt. Visocica, we will finally see how this medieval Bosnian locality used to look," she added. Not everyone welcomes the research. On August 7th, vandals suspected of political opposition to the study of medieval Bosnian statehood flung a stone slab into a well of the old fortress. References to the medieval town of Visoki, on top of Mt. Visocica, appeared in writing for the first time in 1355; however, archaeologists believe its construction dates back as early as the 12th century. They consider it,along with the ancient royal town of Bobovac in central Bosnia, one of the most significant historical finds in BiH. According to the archaeologists, Visoki played a significant role in the medieval Bosnian state. Officials penned some landmark documents in this town-fortress, most pertaining to trade deals of the old Bosnian state with the then-existing Dubrovnik Republic. BiH scholars have demanded that the government cancel permits for digging atop Mt. Visocica issued to Osmanagic, the self-proclaimed archaeologist.

View: Full Article | Source: Southeast European Times

Mystery surrounds a series of drawings and symbols on a Pictish tablet that could be an ancient language.Some experts believe the symbols represent words rather than being simply drawings and that they have linguistic meaning however others have cast doubt on this analysis. A linguistic mystery hasarisen surrounding symbol-inscribed stones in Scotland that predate the formation of the country itself.

The stones are believed to have been carved by members of an ancient people known as the Picts, who thrived in what is now Scotland from the 4th to the 9th Centuries.

View: Full article | Source: BBCNews

An ancient building discovered in Britain and dating back 10,500 years is the country"s oldest known house.The prehistoric home was built 6000 years before Stonehenge and would have provided shelter from the elements for the earliest nomadic hunters that roamed the countrside at the end of the last ice age. It is cramped,draughty and unlikely to win any design awards.

But, according to archaeologists, this wooden hut is one of the most important buildings ever created in Britain. The newly discovered circular structure – as shown in our artist’s impression – is the country’s oldest known home.

View: Full article | Source: DailyMail

Divers have found the world"s oldest known drinkable champagne in a shipwreck from the 1780s in the Baltic Sea. Divers have discovered what is thought to be the world"s oldest drinkable champagne in a shipwreck in the Baltic Sea. Diving instructor Christian Ekstrom said the bottles are believed to be from the1780s and likely were part of a cargo destined for Russia.

"We brought up the bottle to be able to establish how old the wreck was. We didn"t know it would be champagne. We thought it was wine or something," he said.

View: Full article | Source: DailyMail