A new study of a 3,500-year-old clay tablet unearthed in Greece determined that its marks are the oldest-known decipherable text in Europe. The tablet was found in a trash heap near an early Mycenaean palace.

A US federal appeals court has ruled that Persian artifacts from Iran that were targeted in a lawsuit in 2004 cannot be seized as compensation for victims of a terror attack in Israel. The artifacts had been housed at the University of Chicago for decades. 

The first batch of artifacts from Machu Picchu has arrived in Peru from Yale University. “They are treasures, even though they’re not made of gold or precious stones, because they represent the dignity and pride of Peru,” said President Alan Garcia. 

A fossilized bone collected by the ancient Greeks will go on display in England. Known as the Nichoria bone, it was presumed lost when it turned up in a cellar at the University of Minnesota. 

The 76^th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology is underway at the Sacramento Convention Center. 

One of the presentations at the meeting is about a survey of wetlands in the Tigris-Euphrates delta and the emergence of Mesopotamian cities. “The early period of settlement is always linked to the development of agriculture,” said Carrie Hritz of Penn State University. 

Turkey celebrated the return of more than 3,000 artifacts that had been smuggled out of the country since 2007. 

Archaeologist Ruben G. Mendoza is studying the light effects at California’s historic mission churches. “If we go back to the medieval era, we know that the churches of Italy would be laid out is such a way that they would plant a post in the ground on the feast of a particular day, wait for the sun to rise and it would cast a shadow. Then the friars would tie a rope and drag it along the shadow and build the church along that alignment,” he explained.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, March 31, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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