A necropolis near Rome is yielding information about first-century longshoremen and other manual laborers. The well-preserved skeletons show signs of wear and tear, including joint and tendon inflammation, compressed vertebrae, hernias, and spinal problems.  This second article offers more information about the artifacts found with the skeletons.

A room from Aztec emperor Montezuma’s palace complex has been uncovered in downtown Mexico City. Archaeologist Elsa Hernandez and her team found pieces of a wall and a basalt floor that they think were once the Casa Denegrida, or Black House, described by the Spanish as a windowless room painted black.  

Two female mummies and one male mummy have been moved from their tombs in the Valley of the Kings to the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, where they will undergo CAT scans and DNA analysis. “Maybe one of them could be Nefertiti or Tiye or Kiya, we do not know,” said Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities.  

Three years ago, a date of 1.3 million years ago was obtained for controversial indentations thought to be human footprints in Mexico’s Valsequillo Basin. Now, using a new dating method called optically stimulated luminescence, scientists have dated the marks to 40,000 years ago.   

Here’s another article with more information on the cave discovered beneath St. Georgeous church in Jordan, called “the world’s oldest church,” by archaeologist Abdel-Qader Hussein.  

Members of the Tseycum First Nation from Vancouver Island received the remains of 55 of their ancestors from the American Museum of Natural History yesterday. “Our people are humans; we aren’t tokens,” said Chief Vern Jacks.  

The Bridgeport Wood Finishing Company was a thriving factory in the nineteenth century that now sits in a Connecticut state archaeological preserve. “It’s the history of the Industrial Revolution,” said state archaeologist Nick Bellantoni. But tree roots are toppling the factory’s walls.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, June 10, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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