ARCHAEOLOGY - Europe's Treasure Trove

"Europe’s dry summer yields an archaeological treasure trove" PBS NewsHour 8/31/2018

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SUMMARY:  Prolonged, extreme heat in parts of Europe this summer has meant sweaty suffering for residents.  But one group celebrated the unusually warm and dry conditions: archaeologists.  Crop marks and glacial melt have revealed a treasure trove of historic landmarks.  Julia Griffin shares the intriguing discoveries of a summer swelter.

NEWSHOUR SHARES - Old Buried Ships

"Old buried ships unearth this city’s seafaring past" PBS NewsHour 5/2/2018

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SUMMARY:  In our NewsHour Shares moment of the day, as the city of Alexandria, Virginia, develops new construction projects, a team of archaeologists is on hand to help preserve a particularly remarkable discovery - three ships from the 1700s hidden in the soil.

NEWSHOUR SHARES - The Dino Artist

"This artist brings dinosaurs back to life" PBS NewsHour 3/15/2017

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SUMMARY:  In our NewsHour Shares moment of the day, a childhood love of prehistoric creatures inspired a unique and prolific career for artist Julius Csotonyi, who uses his skills to bring fossilized bones back to life.

Julius T. Csotonyi's Paleoart and Scientific Illustration

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ARCHAEOLOGY - London, Over and Under Ground

"London skyline rising but the history below ground is far more fascinating" PBS NewsHour 7/29/2016

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SUMMARY:  Where once stood a 16th Century theater that first staged Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a new London complex, including a 37-story residential tower, is rising.  As the skyline changes at a head-spinning clip, archaeologists, by law, are digging down, uncovering fascinating artifacts.  The theater excavation will be part of the new development, aptly called, “The Stage.”  Jeffrey Brown reports.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  Along London's famous skyline, cranes and towers of all kinds, and hundreds more under construction or in the planning stages.

The recent Brexit vote may raise new questions about the future, but there's no question this city has been going through an unprecedented reshaping.

Financial Times architecture critic Edwin Heathcote.

EDWIN HEATHCOTE, Financial Times:  In the center of the city, there's never been anything on this scale.  And when I say never, I mean, really, there never has been anything on this scale.  So, even after the Great Fire of London, things were only rebuilt to five or six stories.

JEFFREY BROWN:  When you say never, you mean — because there's a lot of history here.

EDWIN HEATHCOTE:  A lot of history.

JEFFREY BROWN:  You mean never.

EDWIN HEATHCOTE:  I mean never.

(LAUGHTER)

JEFFREY BROWN:  In this global financial capital, property prices have skyrocketed, along with the demand to build, and there's no place to go but up.

While Heathcote sees individual buildings he likes, he worries about the larger picture.

EDWIN HEATHCOTE:  Now we have a much more generic, much more globalized city, in which the architecture is much more like Chicago or Singapore.

And so it is changing in the texture and the architectural language and the materials and the scale.

JEFFREY BROWN:  But even as this city's future grows skyward, another part of London's story, its past, is being explored in a very different direction, below ground.

HEATHER KNIGHT, Archaeologist, Museum of London:  If we were standing here on, say, a lovely summer's afternoon in the 1590s, we'd actually be standing on the stage of the Curtain Playhouse.

ARCHAEOLOGY - Long-Lost Human Ancestor

"Trove of fossils from a long-lost human ancestor is greatest find in decades" PBS NewsHour 9/10/2015

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SUMMARY:  Scientists have discovered a new human-like species, deep in a cave system in South Africa.  Researchers have said that the discovery could change our conception of human ancestry.  For more on the discovery, Jeffrey Brown speaks to Jamie Shreeve of National Geographic Magazine and excavation team member Becca Peixotto.

GWEN IFILL (NewsHour):  Researchers announced a fossil discovery today that some consider one of the greatest in the last 50 years, and one that could provide an important link in the family tree for all humans.

Jeffrey Brown has the story.

JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour):  The bones were found in a deep cave 30 miles northwest of Johannesburg.  And the way they were found and then gathered is another incredible part of the story.

In all, 1,500 fossil remains were brought up and contained remains of 15 individuals of all different ages.  Scientists named the new species Homo Naledi and created this rendering.

The quest is chronicled in the new issue of “National Geographic” and in a special documentary airing on “NOVA” next week called “The Dawn of Humanity.” (link to full show, 1:53:07)

Here’s a short clip.

NARRATOR:  As the analysis goes on, the bones from the Rising Star cave are finally ready to be presented to the world.

MAN:  We have got a new species of early human in the genus Homo, and that’s tremendously exciting.

We have never had anything in that transition period between the late Australopithecus and the earliest members of our genus in any kind of abundance, and, boy, we have it in abundance now.

NARRATOR:  To members of the team, the fossils suggest a creature unlike anything ever found before.

MAN:  We are looking at creatures that are humanlike in their feet, humanlike in their hands, humanlike in their teeth.  Everything that interacts directly with the environment is Homo, and everything that’s sort of central, you know, the trunk, the architecture of the vertebral column, the brain, those sorts of things are more primitive.  It’s like evolution is crafting us from the outside in.