Salvage of the Lord Clive, sunk by Spanish guns in the River Plate in 1763, is due to begin in months with suspected hoard of cannon and coins the lure
Treasure! And Rum!
Well, maybe rum, it has been underwater for a long time.
It sounds like an artifact from an Indiana Jones film: a 1,000-year-old ancient Buddhist statue which was first recovered by a Nazi expedition in 1938 has been analyzed by scientists and has been found to be carved from a meteorite. The findings, published in Meteoritics and Planetary Science, reveal the priceless statue to be a rare ataxite class of meteorite.
I have an idea for a sci-fi/virus outbreak story that has become an almost permanent fixture on the “will do one day, honest” list. Parts of the backstory would probably take place in an abandoned Soviet science town. None of those in this impressive collection of images, but the desolation of some of these abandoned Antarctic outposts could serve as good reference for the art if the story becomes a comic as planned.
The Sudanese invaded Egypt in 730BC and ruled the country until 656BC. Whilst they were there, they were so impressed by the tradition of pyramid building, that they took it back with them. At first only royals merited a pyramid, but the practice trickled down to the nobility over time, leading to graveyards full of mini pyramids.
I’m watching Sea Hunters, Clive Cussler’s marine archaeology TV series, and they’re looking for the Habbakuk prototype built in a Canadian lake from an ice/wood pulp mix called pykrete. I’ve been fascinated by this project for a while, stealing the concept for the eponymous carrier in Heavensent.
Cult Archaeology program Time Team visited Manchester this week to excavate Arkwright-Simpson’s Mill. On the 21st floor of the nearby CIS tower I was only a few feet away from a window affording a good view of all the activity.
Manchester Region Industrial Archaeology Society were there giving out leaflets with a potted history of the site on them. I think there’s going to be a site visit some time early next month, though I don’t know what there will be to see as the holes were all filled in afterwards.
At present the official Time Team page at Channel Four has no information on when the show might be airing. When it does I may have to ask someone to record it to their PC so I can watch it.
I took a few phonecam shots, from my vantage point and ground level, over the three days. You can see the Flickr gallery here.
Dig Manchester (2005 – 2008) is a three year community archaeology project bringing together volunteers and children to work alongside professional archaeologists on a series of excavations in Northenden and Moston.
The project is open to all ages and abilities. No experience is necessary.
The aim of the project is to offer opportunities for people and school children to get involved with real archaeology in a practical and ‘live’ environment.