More than 100 pre-Columbian artifacts smuggled out of Panama by an Oregon man were returned yesterday. He had illegally dug up the artifacts while working at a U.S. military base in Panama in the 1980s.

A fourteenth-century oven used to bake animal bones has been uncovered in Spain. The bones were used as an ingredient in the protective coating on the walls surrounding Granada.  

The Archaeology Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released a list of the country’s most important archaeological discoveries of 2008.  

In Iran, archaeologists are studying the water system of the ancient city of Parsa, located near Persepolis.

Here’s another article on the evidence for chemical warfare at Dura-Europos, Syria. An army of the Sasanian Persian empire laid siege to the Roman garrison there in 256 A.D.   

Umberto Broccoli’s plan to bring gladiators back to Rome’s Colosseum is still in the news. Broccoli is head of archaeology for the city of Rome. “Less sacredness and more showmanship,” he explained.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, January 14, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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