Steven Churchill of Duke University thinks that signs of injury on a Neanderthal rib discovered in Iraq could have been caused by a projectile weapon-a technology developed by modern humans. “We’re not suggesting there was a blitzkrieg, with modern humans marching across the land and executing the Neandert[h]als. … We think the best explanation for this injury is a projectile weapon, and given who had those and who didn’t, that implies at least one act of inter-species aggression,” he explained.

A thirteenth-century monastery and a silver ring from France were unearthed in the central Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo. 

The residues from gourds and squashes used as dishware 4,000 years ago at the Buena Vista site in Peru have been analyzed by researchers from the University of Missouri. Traces of manioc, potato, chili pepper, arrowroot, and algarrobo were detected.  

In Washington State, students are assisting in the excavation of a 700-year-old fishing camp, once used by the ancestors of the Squaxin Island tribe. The wet shoreline location has preserved items such as a toy war club, portions of a cedar bark gillnet, baskets, arrows, spears, and shell jewelry.  

Fifteen Hohokam dwellings have been found during road construction in Pima County, Arizona. The road will probably be redesigned to protect the prehistoric settlement.  

Australian relatives of World War I soldiers killed during the Battle of Fromelles are waiting to learn if DNA testing is a possible means of identifying the remains removed from mass graves. German authorities have provided researchers with a list of 191 names of Australian and British soldiers killed in the battle.  

The reburial of more than 60 individuals from the Fort Craig cemetery in New Mexico has been completed. Among the dead were three African-American soldiers who served at the fort as members of the 125^th United States Colored Troops during the Civil War.  

More than 12,500 burial mounds are scattered across Minnesota, and state archaeologist Scott Anfinson is responsible for authenticating them. “A big part of my job is disappointing people. If you have graves on your property, you are done,” he said.  

Work has picked up for Minnesota’s Cultural Resource Unit, since federal stimulus money has brought about a new bridge project.   

Archaeologists have returned to Virginia City, Nevada, to learn more about life there in the 1860s and 1870s. “This was the dynamic time when Virginia City was taking shape, and Samuel Clemens arrived in town, eventually taking the name Mark Twain while working as a reporter,” said historic preservation officer Ron James.

The heavy, scaled armor of Silla Dynasty cavalrymen has been unearthed in Korea’s historic Jjoksaem District. The armor, made for people and horses, was probably used sometime between the fourth and sixth centuries, and up until this discovery, had only been seen in tomb paintings.

In Alabama, a large stone mound thought to be 1,000 years old is being undermined by earth movers. The fill taken from beneath the site, which sits on top of a mountain, is slated for the foundations of a Sam’s Club store at its base. Archaeologists from the University of Alabama found pottery under the rocks, but no sign of human remains. “It’s just a pile of rocks is all it is,” said the town mayor.  

Archaeologist Michael Mueller-Karpe of Germany’s Roman and Germanic Museum in Mainz has followed a court order and surrendered a gold vase he thinks was looted from a royal grave in Iraq. The artifact has been claimed both by Iraq and a German auction house.  

Hexagonal diamonds found among soot on the Northern Channel Islands could indicate that a comet hit the Earth 12,900 years ago. Such an impact could be responsible for mass extinctions of animals at this time. Other theories have suggested that overhunting by Clovis people, or climate change, wiped them out.   

A population boom in south Asia between 35,000 and 28,000 years ago could be attributed to technological innovation, according to Michael Petraglia of the University of Oxford, and Ravi Korisettar of Karnatak University.  

Roman masks unearthed in Pompeii 200 years ago have been rediscovered. The 15 masks are life-sized, but very heavy and made with closed mouths, meaning they were used as models for lighter masks that actors could wear.  

A family in England waits to hear if the remains of an ancestor killed in 1916 in the Battle of Fromelles will be identified from those of hundreds of soldiers buried in mass graves in France. “It would be amazing if we could lay him to rest properly in the cemetery they are creating in Fromelles especially for those who died,” said Rosina Clark, grand niece of Private Walter John Deverell.