The grave of a man in his 50s that was found beneath a Maya home in Guatemala is being called the oldest known burial of a Maya ruler. A black incense burner found with the skeleton depicts the Maya jester god headdress, a symbol of Maya royalty. “We have older Maya burials, but don’t have ones with grave goods that include a royal symbol,” said John Tomasic of the University of Kansas.

The ruins of 2,000-year-old buildings that collapsed in an earthquake were uncovered in Nepal. 

A new study of 52 mummies has collected more information about ancient Egyptians and atherosclerosis. “These data point to a missing link in our understanding of heart disease, and we may not be so different from our ancestors,” said Gregory Thomas of the University of California, Irvine. 

Sediment cores show that rising tides may have propelled maritime culture in southeastern China 5,000 years ago, and eventual voyages to Taiwan. “People of the Fuzhou Basin lived on little islands in an estuary that favored maritime activities and seafaring. Rice farming was not part of the equation,” said Barry Rolett of the University of Hawaii. It had been thought that rice cultivation to the north triggered population growth that spread to the south and to Taiwan.

In Egypt, armed robbers broke into the antiquities warehouse at the site of Tel El-Dabaa. Archaeologists are taking an inventory in order to determine exactly what was stolen. 

Scholars weigh in on the lead codices said to have been created in Jordan during the early decades of Christianity. “This is not going to pass the smell test in the end run,” commented Jeff Chadwick of Brigham Young University. 

The remains of 118 people were disinterred piecemeal at the construction site of a cultural center at the site of the first Catholic cemetery in Los Angeles. “It truly pains me that this…has unfolded in this manner and in this way. And I’m truly sorry for it,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Gloria Molina apologized to a meeting of the state Native American Heritage Commission. 

Nanotechnology will be used to clean, restore, and protect the surfaces of ancient rock tombs cut into the cliffs in Dalyan, Turkey. 

The history of Vancouver dates back 9,000 years. “In my mother’s words we’ve been here all the time,” explained Larry Grant, and elder of the Musqueam First Nations. 

Will there be a movie based on the life of nineteenth-century archaeologist Gertrude Bell?