The original bluestones at Stonehenge were erected in 2300 B.C., or 300 years later than previously thought. The new dates were obtained from samples taken during the first excavation at the site in 44 years.

A rare inscribed pot sherd was uncovered at the ruins of the San Ignacio church in the Philippines. Spanish conquistador Miguel Lopez de Legazpi noted that the inhabitants of the islands wrote with an alphabet, but very few examples of their script have survived.  

Police in Belize arrested a man and recovered looted Maya artifacts from his home in Orange Walk Town.  

Scroll down to read about the two people arrested in Greece for trying to sell artifacts for 2.2 million euros.  

Quentin Hutchinson says he discovered the Chi-Rho amulet in an untouched, fourth-century Roman grave in Shepton Mallet, England, but his integrity was immediately called into question by those who thought the artifact was a modern hoax. “The truth is I wish I’d never found it, because it ruined by life,” he lamented.  

Trolley tracks from the turn of the century were revealed by construction workers in downtown Ventura, California. A horse-drawn trolley ran along the tracks between 1891 and 1908.  

Ground-penetrating radar and laser scanning are being used to search for the original Spanish Presidio in San Francisco, and nearby Mission Dolores.  

Underwater archaeologists are looking for traces of a French fleet of ships that sank during a hurricane near St. Augustine, Florida, in 1565. The expedition of hundreds of Huguenot troops had been led by Jean Ribault, who was sent by King Charles to supply a new colony near the mouth of the St. Johns River. Most of those who survived the storm were killed by Spanish soldiers.

The Associated Press has picked up the story of the Russian archaeologist who claims to have found Itil, the lost capital of the Khazars, on a junction of the Silk Road 800 miles south of Moscow. Khazar rulers converted to Judaism in the eighth or ninth century, but no Jewish religious artifacts have been uncovered at the site.   

A sleeping Buddha statue was reportedly discovered in a rock temple in a remote jungle in Sri Lanka.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, September 22, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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