A small, 5,000-year-old tomb has been discovered near Egypt’s Lahun pyramid. “The existence of this tomb is very significant because now we know that Senusret II, the builder of the pyramid, is not the founder of this site,” said archaeologist Abdul Rahman Al-Ayedi.

Swiss art historian Henri Stierlin claims in his new book that the famed bust of Nefertiti, currently housed in a Berlin museum, is actually a fake created in 1912 with ancient pigments recovered from an authentic excavation.  

Independent journalist Suzan Mazur has reviewed the new book The Lost Chalice: The Epic Hunt for a Priceless Masterpiece, by Vernon Silver. She knows the cast of characters in this story of the Euphronios Sarpedon kylix, and she clarifies Silver’s claims.  

Scientists from Chicago’s Field Museum are introducing five archaeologists and one art conservator from Iraq to new technologies. “Their job now is to learn new techniques they were unable to learn about while under the regime of Saddam Hussein, when they couldn’t leave the country,” said James Phillips, director of the project.

The board of the Grand Army of the Republic Museum and Library has rejected a request to test a scrap of pillowcase stained with Abraham Lincoln’s blood. The board president said that there are more questions to be answered about how the artifact would be treated.   

Twelve forensic anthropologists have begun to excavate the mass grave of Australian and British World War I soldiers found in Fromelles, France. “Our primary concern is to ensure that no damage is done to the bodies,” said one of the scientists, Roland Wessling.   Here’s some background information on the Battle of Fromelles and the discovery of the mass grave last summer.  

The bones of 43 executed prisoners, possibly including the remains of well-known bushranger Ned Kelly, should be returned to their families, according to the former chaplain of the old Pentridge Prison in Melbourne, Australia. Kelly was hanged for murder in 1880.  

In Maryland, archaeologists have found pottery, arrowheads, freshwater clam shells, and stains left by a dwelling along the Patuxent River. “For 10,000 years, we think, they were here on this promontory overlooking the river for a period in the spring or fall, then would move on to another camp,” said Al Luckenbach, an archaeologist for Anne Arundel County.  

Science Daily has also picked up on archaeologist Chip Stanish’s article for the May/June issue of ARCHAEOLOGY. Stanish says that eBay has encouraged the production of fakes to be sold in the illicit antiquities market. “For most of us, the Web has forever distorted the antiquities trafficking market in a positive way,” he explained.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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