Discovery News has picked up the story on the discovery of a 40,000-year-old site in Tasmania, adding that the area had been a meeting ground for three tribes of Aboriginal people, and their last refuge when European colonists arrived in the late eighteenth century. “The Tasmanian government must immediately declare it a protected site, not just for Aboriginal people but for peoples of the world,” said Michael Mansell of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre.

Polished axes, chisels made from sea shells, and pottery were uncovered in northern Cuba. Archaeologists think there may have been a settlement close to the shore and agricultural fields inland.  

A World War II camp and what may have been a seventeenth-century military camp held by Oliver Cromwell have been found at the site of a proposed water treatment plant in Scotland. “There are also some written reports of Oliver Cromwell staying with a local landowner nearby, and we have uncovered musket balls which could possibly date from that era,” said project manager Bruce Glendinning.  

Double burial, or the practice of digging up decomposing bodies in order to detach the limbs and head and then reburying the all of the parts, was practiced by the people of the Cape Region of Baja California Sur for 4,500 years. Not much else is known about the culture.  

Bulgaria’s Starosel Tomb has been re-dated to the fourth century B.C., during the reign of the Thracian king Amatokos II.   

Five people have come forward claiming to be descendants of Edward Salter, who is believed to have been a member of Blackbeard’s pirate crew. Skeletal remains that may have belonged to Salter have been held at the state archaeologist’s office of North Carolina since 1986. “The Office of State Archaeology is working with all of the claimants to reach a consensus regarding the disposition of the human skeletal remains,” according to a recent report.   

Here’s more information on the ancient coffin recently returned to Egypt by U.S. customs officials.  

Villagers are reportedly encroaching upon the tomb of Cyrus I, which was discovered in 1960. The site is on Iran’s National Heritage List.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, March 11, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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