RenoVous

 In a three month period, archaeologists found two cannonballs from the famous Battle of Alamo, 1836. The one on the left is from the Mexican side, and is made of bronze. The one on the right is from the Texas side, made of iron. While many other pieces of ammunition and shrapnel have been found around the site, these are the first examples of "solid shots" they have ever found. The battle was part of the Texas Revolution, and it became a state 10 years later in 1846. It was the westernmost slave state, and today is Juneteenth. The day that the news of freedom finally reached Galveston in 1865. The Bolivar Archaeological Project has recovered artifacts belonging to pioneering Black entrepreneurs during Reconstruction.   Tom Cook

  In some follow up on yesterday's topic, I realized I didn't have any other mention of Dr. Louis Leakey. A paleoanthropologist and archaeologist, he found significant hominid fossils, including those of Homo habilis, demonstrating that humans evolved in Africa.  Homo rudolfensis' skull is on the left, with Zinjanthropus boisei on the right, a species of Australopithecus. From these findings and other curiosities, he helped pioneer the field of primatology. They discovered crude tools at the Olduvai Gorge site, identifying the oldest known stone tool-making tradition in the world.  Leakey felt that studying primates might help them better understand the behaviors of early hominids. Jane Goodall, as we know, studied chimpanzees.  Dian Fossey studied gorillas, and Birute Galdikas studied orangutans.

  After a mention of James Cook in the Book Club, I came across an article stating the final resting place of his  HMS Endeavor . It was the first European ship to reach the east coast of Australia.  They set sail from England in 1768 with an objective of documenting undiscovered southern land.  Cook and his crew charted the coasts of New Zealand as well. Upon its return to Britain, the ship was sold and renamed.  (Hilariously, Lord Sandwich).   It served in the American War of Independence, transporting British troops.  It was eventually repurposed as a prison ship for American prisoners of war in Newport Harbor, Rhode Island. It is there, in the muddy seabed, that the shipwreck lies. The search began in 1999, when the Australian National Maritime Museum teamed up with the Rhode Island Marine Archaeology Project.

  Found in the Arctic permafrost of Siberia, scientists have recovered the first Saber-Toothed kitten. Mummified over 35,000 years, the subzero temperatures have kept the specimen in a remarkable state of preservation, with its fur, head, torso and limbs all intact. Study confirms the animal has "significant differences from a modern lion cub of similar age," displaying an unusual shape of the muzzle, a large mouth opening, small ears, elongated forearms, and a chunky neck region.  These are classic adaptations to living in cold climates. This particular species, Homotherium latidens, lived in the Eurasia region.  It is distinct from its counterpart which lived in North America, Homotherium serum, where most remains have been found. "The discovery of H. latidens  mummy in Yakutia radically expands the understanding of distribution of the genus and confirms its presence in the Late Pleistocene of Asia," the authors write. The permafrost of Siberia should continue to ...

  A cave in Nevada contains massive gypsum glaciers, epsomite and gypsum chandeliers, and crystals the size of cars.  Researchers also discovered a newly identified formation called scabbards - formed in water, these calcium castings are similar to shells but once contained selenite gypsum crystals. These are not known to exist anywhere else in the world. The cave also preserved ancient artifacts from Native Americans, including a torch in the rock and some bits of pottery.  This one still has rope around it to carry. More pictures:

 Boab trees grow large and live long.  The oldest in Australia is about 1500. So it's no surprise that dendroglyphs have been found in the Tanami Desert, belonging to the Jaru people. Brenda Garstone is Jaru, and she teamed up with archaeologists to find and document these carvings.  So far, they have found 12. The above is a snake, as were most of the findings, but others were of emu and kangaroo tracks.  The team also spotted grinding stones and tools around the trees. Boabs disintegrate after death, which leaves little behind.  Preservation and documentation is all the more important in order to maintain these ancestral connections to the land. There is mention of how these carvings link to "King Brown Snake Dreaming."  I found two Indigenous renderings. From 1986, Billy Japaljarri Hogan From 2009, Darryl Bellotti  Science News

  Above is a Greek fresco found in the ancient Bosporan Kingdom, the first truly Hellenistic state, where a mixed population adopted Greek language and civilization.  It was an area originally inhabited by the Cimmerians, a nomadic Indo-European people, in what is now present-day Ukraine. The Bosporan Kingdom later became a Roman client state, and one of the longest that survived.  It was eventually overrun by the Huns.  Centuries later, it was revived under Byzantine and Bulgarian protection. By the end of the 7th century, most Bulgar tribes had migrated and the remains of the state were absorbed by the Khazars. But Kyiv culture began in the 3rd century, and is considered to be the first identifiable Slavic archaeological culture. The city of Kyiv was established as part of the Khazar state.  During this time, several Slavic tribes were native to Ukraine: the Polans, the Drevlyans, the Severians, the Ulichs, the Tiverians, the White Croats, and the Dulebes. The...

  Welsh government officials have proclaimed this crash site, of an American WWII Lockheed P-38 Lightning, to be protected for its historic and archaeological interest.  It has been nicknamed the Maid of Harlech, after a 13th century castle. The plane lies two meters below the seabed, but under certain conditions, it becomes visible in the sand. She crashed in September 1942 when the pilot, Second Lt. Robert F. Elliott, ran into difficulties during a gunnery practice mission.  Elliott walked away, but was reported MIA a few months later. Matt Rimmer, a local aviation historian, has long advocated for preservation. "I feel it not only acknowledges the significance of this particular aircraft in a historical context, but also the important role played by Wales in the air war against Nazi Germany and the thousands of air crew from many countries who trained here." In 2016, Elliott's nephew was able to visit the site, which remains a confidential location. The Guardian

Dolmen De Guadalperal - Spanish Stonehenge A drought occurring in the Valdecañas reservoir of the Tagus River has revealed the 7,000 year old monument for the first time in over 50 years. German archaeologist Hugo Obermaier had excavated the site in the 1920's.  The area was flooded in 1963 with the construction of a dam.   Though it appears to be an open air structure, it is believed that it was originally enclosed with a roof, and was a place of burial and worship of the sun.  Like Stonehenge in the UK, it is oriented around the summer solstice. Teams want to relocate the monument before it floods again and suffers further erosion. Obermaier found Roman remains, such as a coin, ceramic fragments and a grinding stone - they also found axes and flint knives as well as houses, charcoal and ash stains, suggesting a settlement was nearby. Link Wiki