INTERNET addicts and archaeologists have a lot in common. Both spend ages enthusing about discoveries unearthed from mountains of dross. It鈥檚 fitting then that some of the best Web sites of recent days are devoted to long-term archaeological digs around the world.
The Web site detailing the excavations at Boxgrove in West Sussex, is one of the sites of the day over at New 杏吧原创 Planet Science () this week.
Boxgrove archaeologists are exploring the lifestyle of the earliest Europeans, and the site combines pithy explanations of today鈥檚 research with the significance of the finds. It manages to resist the temptation to use lots of large image files, opting instead for thumbnail versions. So the pages load quickly and any photograph that takes your fancy can easily be expanded by clicking on the thumbnail print.
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Another group of archaeologists spreading the word about their investigation of one of Europe鈥檚 oldest known kingdoms can be unearthed at .
Rather than taking years to publish a book about their finds around the Palace of Nestor in Pylos, Greece, the investigators plumped for fame on the Web. The book-length report with over 600 illustrations is there in its entirety. But you can only view it with Netscape 2.0 and the virtual reality sections of the book require other Unix tools.
A third site with lots of images is at . It details the digs being carried out on Little Cornwallis Island in the Canadian High Arctic.
The site鈥檚 virtual slide show is both the best and the worst thing on offer. It鈥檚 great if you鈥檝e got a very fast connection, but for many of us, it takes far too long to load.
WHAT do all the above have in common? They鈥檙e all based on land, of course. If it鈥檚 underwater archaeology you prefer, you could do a lot worse than a visit to , where the Centre for Research in Maritime Archaeology and History at Bristol University provides a comprehensive set of links.
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