Software engineer Andy Carol has constructed a Lego device that performs the same calculations as the Antikythera Mechanism, dubbed the world’s oldest computer. The Guardian has You Tube video of the Lego device in action, in addition to information on the original Greek instrument.

A 17-year-old has been charged with spray painting graffiti with a gang enhancement on rock art in Red Rock Canyon, located near Las Vegas. “This is not a very good city to be a tagger in. We are going to find you and we are going to arrest you,” said Detective Scott Black.  

CNN has investigated the state of conservation efforts at Pompeii. “The financial resources available for restoration and conservation have always been negligible. Instead it is preferred to dig, rather than preserve what has already been discovered,” explained former superintendant of the ancient city, Pietro Giovanni Guzzo.  

Ceramic fragments and greenstone beads have been recovered from the water-filled crater of the Nevado de Toluca Volcano in Mexico.  

When the Environmental Protection Agency cleans up toxic waste at Superfund sites, it is required to determine if significant historic features are present. Sometimes archaeologists are asked to retrieve artifacts while wearing hazmat gear and respirators.   

Zooarchaeologist Natalie Munro of the University of Connecticut talks about her study of animal skeletal remains at archaeological sites, including Hilazon Tachtit, where archaeologists think they have unearthed evidence of ritual feasting 12,000 years ago.  

Live Science has more information on the idea that early modern humans lived on the Arabian Peninsula 125,000 years ago. The Neolithic settlements that have been found on the shores of the Persian Gulf had stone houses, trade networks, pottery, domesticated animals, and boats.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, December 10, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

Comments posted here do not represent the views or policies of the Archaeological Institute of America.