The machine guns recovered from a fighter plane that crashed in an Irish bog in 1941 were pieced together to create one working weapon, which was later fired by television presenter Dan Snow and a team from the Irish army. “That was the noise that filled the air during the Battle of Britain,” he writes.

Turkish officials are concerned that the country’s museums are not strong enough to withstand an earthquake, putting lives and artifacts at risk. Housing and Development Commission Chairman Idris Güllüce recommended that government building inspectors be supervised and that building codes be enforced.

Rick Scott, governor of Florida, recently slighted the value of a degree in anthropology. Elizabeth Benchley of the University of West Florida has defended the profession and her students in The Pensacola News Journal.

A study of primates suggests that human ancestors may have begun living in bonded social groups at the same time they moved to day-time activity. “If you are a small animal active at night then your best strategy to avoid predation is to be difficult to detect. Once you switch to being active during the day, that strategy isn’t very effective, so an alternative strategy to reduce the risk of being eaten is to live in social groups,” said Suzanne Shultz of Oxford University.

A new experiment supports the idea that cooked food is easier to digest and gave early humans an evolutionary advantage. When food is cooked and pounded, even more energy and nutrients are released.

The Virginia Department of Historic Resources will survey Frederick County’s historic industrial sites, including iron furnaces, mills, and lime kilns.

Connecticut’s state archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni is leading the search for the remains of nineteenth-century abolitionist David Ruggles, who created Mirror of Liberty, considered to be the first magazine published by an African American. Ruggles is thought to have been buried in an unmarked grave in Norwich’s Yantic Cemetery.

A small stone painted with regular red and brown spots has been found in southern Germany’s Hohle Fels Cave. Scientists think that the dots were made with the end of a hazel tree branch some 15,000 years ago. “These spots are anything but accidental,”  said Nicholas Conard of Tübingen University. There’s more information on what is known about early painting in Central Europe at Science Daily.

Members of Congress are debating a new federal highway-building bill that could cut funding to related archaeology projects and other “transportation enhancements,” such as sidewalks, bike trails, and wildlife protection. Funds from expired legislation have assisted some 200 archaeology projects since 1992, for a total of less than one percent of the $12 billion spent on enhancement projects.

National Geographic Daily News has a summary of the structural problems plaguing Pompeii, which have been complicated by heavy rains in southern Italy. “The backlog of maintenance needs to be tackled urgently. Equally, drainage needs to be improved so that rain and groundwater are readily and rapidly removed to prevent the damage,” reads a report compiled by UNESCO.

An ancient human skull turned up in the front yard of a home in Salt Lake City, Utah. Researchers are trying to identify any possible tribal affiliations.