Neanderthals, like modern humans, used feathers as personal ornaments, according to a new analysis of data on bird remains from archaeological sites across Eurasia. Cut marks on the wing bones, which do not carry any meat, suggest that the long wing feathers were desired. Dark plumage was probably preferred, since the bones of ravens, crows, rooks, magpies, jackdaws, eagles, vultures, black kites, kestrels, and falcons were used. “I think this is the tip of the iceberg. It is showing that Neanderthals simply expressed themselves in media other than cave walls. The last bastion of defense in favor of our superiority was cognition,” said Clive Finlayson of the Gibraltar Museum.

Jeffrey Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh and his colleagues defended their assertion that the child burial ground at Carthage was not a place for child sacrifice, as recorded in some ancient descriptions. “Some of this might have been anti-Carthaginian propaganda,” he explained. Schwartz thinks that markings on the tooth fragments found in the cremated remains show that they came from fetuses and stillborn babies. Other scientists have argued that cremation would destroy any evidence of an infant’s age at death.

Archaeologists will use ground-penetrating radar to look for traces of a Roman road and spike-filled pits from the Battle of Bannockburn, fought in 1314, in central Scotland. A police headquarters now stands on the possible site, where two standing stones near the entrance are thought to be traditional battlefield markers. King Edward II’s cavalry and foot soldiers traveled the Roman road in an attempt to relieve Stirling Castle. “Robert the Bruce dug pits on either side of the road to stop the English cavalry deploying on either side of the road and to constrict them to a narrow front. When they were met by Randolph they had no way around him and were defeated,” said Murray Cook, Stirling Council archaeologist.

A single human bone was found along the planned 20-mile route of Honolulu’s rapid transit line. “Excavation around the bone fragment will provide better information about the cultural layer in which the bone fragment was found and how best to plan for this area,” said Deborah Ward of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. Hawaii’s Supreme Court halted all construction work on the project until archaeological surveys could be completed, in compliance with the state’s historic preservation and burial protection laws. The Kakaako area, where the bone was found, was called “burial central” by archaeologist Kehaunani Abad during the court case.

Karen L. King of Harvard Divinity School has found a reference in Coptic to “Jesus’ wife” on a scrap of fourth-century papyrus. The collector who owns the papyrus fragment has asked to remain anonymous, and its provenance is unknown, although the scholars who have examined it believe it to be genuine. King believes the scrap is a copy of a second-century Greek text. “This fragment suggests that some early Christians had a tradition that Jesus was married,” she said.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, September 19, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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