http://precedings.nature.com/tags/Archaeology Recently posted documents tagged with 'Archaeology' Nature Publishing Group en Nature Precedings http://precedings.nature.com/images/header_logo.gif http://precedings.nature.com http://precedings.nature.com/documents/2153/version/1 A recent computer-aided-design investigation of the Neolithic 56 Aubrey Hole circuit at Stonehenge has led to the discovery of an astonishingly simple geometrical construction for drawing an approximately regular 56-sided polygon, feasible with a compass and straightedge. In the present work, we prove analytically that the aforementioned construction yields as a byproduct, an extremely accurate method for approximating a regular heptagon, and we quantify the accuracy that prehistoric surveyors may have ideally attained using simple pegs and ropes. We compare this method with previous approximations, and argue that it is likely to be at the same time the simplest and most accurate. Implications of our findings are discussed. http://precedings.nature.com/documents/2153/version/1 Tue, 05 Aug 2008 11:12:58 UTC Pegs and Ropes: Geometry at Stonehenge hdl:10101/npre.2008.2153.1 2008-08-05 Alberto Pimpinelli Nature Precedings 2008-08-05T11:12:58Z Manuscript Earth & Environment http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ http://precedings.nature.com/documents/1900/version/1 Silk is an important economic fiber, and is generally considered to have been the exclusive cultural heritage of China. Silk weaving is evident from the Shang period, though the earliest evidence for silk textiles in ancient China dates to more than a millennium earlier. New study of fibers from Harappan bronze artifacts reveals surprising early evidence for knowledge of silkworking in South Asia, the earliest evidence in the world for any silk outside China, and roughly contemporaneous with the earliest Chinese evidence for silk. This important new finding brings into question the traditional historical notion of sericulture as being an exclusively Chinese invention. http://precedings.nature.com/documents/1900/version/1 Fri, 23 May 2008 19:55:00 UTC New Evidence for Early Silk in the Indus Civilization hdl:10101/npre.2008.1900.1 2008-05-23 Irene L. Good Nature Precedings 2008-05-23T19:55:00Z Manuscript Ecology Earth & Environment http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/