A skull containing a yellow, brain-shaped substance has been found in a pit on prehistoric farmland in York, England. “This could be the equivalent of a fossil. The brain itself would generally not survive. Fatty tissues would be feasted on by microbes,” said Philip Duffey, a neurologist who examined the skull with CT scans.   More images of the find are available here, along with a description of the moment archaeologists realized something was rattling around in the skull.

Italian researchers have analyzed 13 skeletons and layers of volcanic deposits from Pompeii in order to reconstruct the last hours of a family killed during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Be sure to view the slide show.   

Two officials from the Archaeological Survey of India were arrested for demanding and accepting a bribe from a contractor.  

U.S. Fish & Wildlife archaeologist Debbie Corbett tries to locate all of the human remains taken from federal lands in Alaska, identify them, and return them, under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.  

Archaeologists working ahead of the construction of the Pengze-Hukou Expressway in China’s Jiangxi Province have unearthed stone axes, chisels, and net sinkers, and ceramic kettles, pots, and spinning wheels from the late Shang and early Zhou dynasties.  

A tomb discovered in China’s Hubei province in 1979 contains 43 chariots and more than 100 horses, and probably belonged to a king from the Warring States Period. “The great probability is that the tomb is of King Zhao of Chu, named Xiong Zhen, who was the last king of the state,” said Xu Wenwu of Changjiang University.  

Part of New York City’s colonial-era seawall uncovered during the construction of a new subway station has been reconstituted as a display on the station’s mezzanine.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, December 12, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

Comments posted here do not represent the views or policies of the Archaeological Institute of America.