Archology news for April 6-12

[archersangel]

Yuctan archaeology races to keep up with development

Mexican archaeologists are racing to keep up with development on the Yucatan peninsula as suburbs of the colonial city of Merida swallow Mayan settlements.

Fed by an increasing number of U.S. retirees, some Merida suburbs are expanding at a rate of 7 percent a year, especially to the north and south of the city, which was known in the Mayan era as T’Ho.

Yucatan state has more than 3,500 known archaeological sites but just 22 government archaeologists. While attention focuses on big ruins such as Chichen Itza or Uxmal, only about 17 of the state’s sites are even open to the public.

Archeologists discover Israel's oldest glass works

Archaeologists who uncovered some of the oldest glass kilns in the world at the foot of Mount Carmel in Israel say they’re the “missing link” in the production of Judean glass, which was widely used in the Roman Empire during the fifth century.

The kilns were found last summer when an Israel Antiquities Authority inspector overseeing work on a railway being built from Haifa to the east observed chunks of glass, a floor and a layer of ash inside a trench. Construction was halted to prepare for an archaeological excavation, which uncovered the kilns.

Archeologists search for Roman ruins in Gloucester

After uncovering a castle on a par with the Tower of London underneath the old prison in Gloucester, yet more artifacts have been dug up.

Since the castle was found in December work has been on-going at both the Castle site and around Blackfriars.

Possible wine-production site found at Imperial Roman estate

Wine was produced in the first-century A.D. on an industrial scale at Vagnari, an imperial estate in Italy, according to an excavation conducted by archaeologists from the University of Sheffield.