ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIGS RESUME IN DOMINICAN REPUBLIC;

DISCOVERY CHANNEL TO COVER LIVE ON INTERNET

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Live Internet coverage of the excavation of an ancient native site known as La Aleta, which was discovered by IU explorers in the Dominican Republic, is scheduled on the Discovery Channel's Web site on Wednesday (July 9). In addition, daily news updates will be posted on the same Web page each day during the July 7-21 expedition.

The live satellite telephone and audio coverage on the Net will begin at 9 p.m. Central Standard Time at www.discovery.com/area/live/live.html.

It can also be accessed by opening the network's Web page at www.discovery.com and clicking on the word "live" in the list just below the network's logo.

Faculty and student researchers sponsored by the underwater science lab of the Indiana University School of Health, Physical Education and Recreation have resumed their exploration of the abandoned city and the sinkhole filled with artifacts left by the ancient Caribbean civilization, the Taino tribe, that were the first natives to encounter Europeans in the New World. The IU researchers discovered the sites last fall and spring.

On July 17, the faculty and student researchers will interact from the field, via satellite telephone, with 50 Indiana high school students who will be in Bloomington attending the Careers in Science institute. The students will view earlier videos of the site plus digitized new images from the Internet during their live discussion at 6 p.m. in IU's Wright Education Building, Room 1120.

IU's research team is working in the Dominican Republic with a similar team of faculty and students from that nation. Their findings have excited archaeologists and historians around the world with the hope of new knowledge about the obscure tribe believed to be the first natives to meet European explorers 500 years ago.

For more information, contact Ellen K. Mathia, 812-855-0085 or 812-855-3911, emathia@indiana.edu