A mass grave containing 49 Aztec skeletons was unearthed in Mexico City’s Tlatelolco area, where archaeologists were searching for a palace complex. “We were completely taken by surprise. We didn’t expect to find this massive funeral complex,” said archaeologist Salvador Guilliem.

The excavated Assyrian palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nimrud, Iraq, is crumbling after 20 years of neglect, and has been listed as one of the most endangered sites by the World Monuments Fund since 2002. “Before, there was more attention paid to it. From the occupation to date, there has been no renovation at all – there’s no money,” said the Iraqi site manager.  

A votive stupa was found at the Buddhist monastery at Vadnagar, in western India. The stupa was probably built by a devotee as a sign of gratitude.  

In Ankara, Turkey, police arrested two men selling looted Byzantine coins, belt buckles, a bracelet, and copper artifacts.  

A dig in Scotland uncovered a thirteenth-century ceramic face jug.  

Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s chief archaeologist, opened a newly discovered, 2,600-year-old sarcophagus for the press yesterday.  

Live Science has picked up on Tim Stinson’s idea to build a DNA database for the animal-skin pages of medieval manuscripts. The English professor from North Carolina State University has suggested that knowing where and when an animal lived will help provide scholars with dates and places of origin for manuscripts made with parchment pages.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, February 11, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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