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Archaeology Magazine News Archive
2008-2012


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Tuesday, May 26
May 26, 2009

 A piece of an early human jaw bone was discovered in a quarry in Casablanca, along with the bones of gazelles, antelopes, warthogs, bears, and monkeys. Homo erectus fossils have been found in the Thomas I quarry site in the past.

Bones were also found in a barbershop’s basement in Albany, Indiana. Forensic anthropologist Stephen Nawrocki of the University of Indianapolis examined the bones and said that the three individuals were American Indians who died before the time of European contact.  

A booming business in World War II aircraft is fueling a race between the U.S. military, hoping to cover pilots’ remains, and relic hunters. “The salvaging of the plane leaves us with little to go on. The opportunity to evaluate all the evidence has been lost,” said historian Chris McDermott of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command.  

Archaeologists have uncovered a village dating to 9800 B.C. in western Iran, according to Iran’s Press TV.  

A 4,000-year-old walkway made of woven tree branches surfaced along the shore in Swansea, England. It was probably built through a marshy area, when the sea level was lower.  

Archaeologist Jaime Awe and his team have mapped 53 caves in central Belize, where they found evidence of offerings made to the Maya gods during times of drought. “They were asking for more water from caves seen as a water source and home of the gods,” he said.  

A new sound and light system has been installed at Mexico’s Maya site of Uxmal. “We’re not offering a discotheque-type show. We respect the original design, our roots, and the work of anthropologists,” said Yucatan Tourism Secretary Juan Jose Martin.  

In Pakistan, the seventeenth-century imperial tombs in the decimated Dilkusha Gardens, across the Ravi River from the Lahore Fort, are crumbling after years of neglect and use as farm buildings.  

The color of the main dome of the Taj Mahal no longer matches the rest of the seventeenth-century monument, which was treated with a “mud pack,” according to this article in The Times of India.  

Some New Englanders are ready to protect their historic stone walls as part of their cultural heritage.  

Lobstermen working in the waters around Cuba pulled up a bronze cannon cast in 1777 in Seville, Spain.

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Friday, May 22
May 22, 2009

Scientists have re-examined prehistoric artifacts from a cave in southwest France, and they think that early modern humans may have used Neanderthal body parts as ornaments, and perhaps even food. The study “opens up a whole world of possibilities” about how humans and Neanderthals could have interacted, according to bioanthropologist Colin Groves of Australian National University.

The footprints of men, women, and children have reportedly been found along a 2,000-year-old military route in China. “We also found an arrowhead close to the footprints. Judging from its location, we assumed whoever left the footprints had been its targets,” said Zhang Zaiming of the Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology.  

Anne W. Patterson, the US Ambassador to Pakistan, visited the Alamgiri Gate at Lahore Fort to celebrate the completion of a conservation project funded by the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation. “It is a beautiful and historic gateway to Lahore’s past,” she said.  

A team of Polish and American archaeologists working at an ancient Red Sea port in Egypt have unearthed pottery inscribed in 12 different languages.  

Here’s more information on the Byzantine frescos that were stolen from Italy and recovered from a private home on a Greek island, and the 250 artifacts plundered from Italy that were returned from a Swiss art gallery.  

This video from BBC News features an excavation in Dorset, England, of a 4,000-year-old settlement along the coast.  

Hawaiian Air will transport a wax phonograph recording of King Kalakaua made in 1891 to a lab in California to see if the voice quality can be improved. The airline made a gift of money and travel to the Bishop Museum to help it accomplish its outreach mission.

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