A mass grave holding the remains of more than 750 Jewish prisoners killed by the Nazis at the end of World War II will be excavated this week. The grave is located near the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Four ancient Egyptian temples have been found along the military road known as the “Way of Horus” in the Sinai. One grand brick temple in particular may have been constructed to impress armies and foreign delegations as they approached Egypt, according to archaeologist Mohammed Abdel-Maqsoud, chief of the excavation team.  

Childbirth was probably just as difficult for Neanderthal women as it is for modern humans, according to researchers who used fragments of a fossilized Neanderthal pelvis to reconstruct the birth canal with computer technology. Modern human babies twist as they exit the birth canal, but it is unlikely that Neanderthal babies did, however.  

In northeastern Bangladesh, at the 2,500-year-old fort city of Wari-Bateshwar, archaeologists have uncovered a unique brick structure. “The structure can be considered as an inverted house without any opening – windows or doors – surrounded by 12ft high walls,” said Sufi Mustafizur Rahman, who led the excavation team from Jahangirnagar University.  

The Royal Fort, built to defend the city of Bristol during the English Civil War, has been found on the second attempt. The fort was the western headquarters for the Royalist Army until 1645, when it was surrendered to Oliver Cromwell.  

Researchers from the University of Sheffield are looking for male subjects to offer DNA samples.  They want to know if people from Spain and the Balkans moved to Wales as migrant workers during the Bronze Age, bringing their copper-working skills with them.  

Tools and weapons dating to 3500 B.C. were uncovered by archaeologists from the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio. They were asked to inspect the site of a pedestrian bridge over the San Antonio River and ended up digging for three months.

Did the Hobbits of Flores teach humans to make simple tools?

The earthquake in central Italy has revealed vaulted caves used as prehistoric dwellings, according to geologist Gianluca Ferretti.  

Inca stone walls have been found during hotel construction in Cuzco, Peru. “What is odd is that research shows this sector as being used for agriculture – nonetheless, we see that it was occupied and formed part of the Inca urban layout,” said archaeologist Irwin Ferrandiz.  

A two-year mapping project of the Great Wall of China concludes that it is more than 5,000 miles long, or much longer than previously thought. The researchers also learned that much of the wall is threatened by climate change and construction projects.  

The Maya used palygorskite clay as one of the ingredients to create the pigment known as Maya Blue. Scientists want to be able to determine where the clay was obtained.  

Along the banks of South Carolina’s Saluda River, archaeologists have found more than 35,000 artifacts, including arrowheads, spear points, eating tools, pottery, post holes, and a hearth, some of which are 13,500 years old. “Rivers like that were prehistoric highways,” said Albert Goodyear of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology.  

The museum and visitor programs at Ohio’s Fort Ancient earthworks could close, due to state budget cuts. The Ohio Historical Society is looking for an outside funding source and local partners to help manage day-to-day operations.  

Did the people of Fort Ancient carve this 200-pound boulder?  

Here’s some information about the early years of the English colonies at Jamestown and Bermuda.  

The search for Cleopatra and Marc Antony’s tombs remains in the news today. “This could be the most important discovery of the 21^st century,” Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s chief archaeologist, told reporters.    And, the New York Times has a profile of Hawass. “Whether we like it or not, he is a star, and he lives the life of a star,” commented Mahmoud Ibrahim Hussein of Cairo University.   Kathleen Martinez receives some attention from CNN. She’s been searching Abusir for Cleopatra’s tomb for the past three years.  

The story of cardiologist John Sotos, who thinks Abraham Lincoln may have suffered from a rare genetic disorder and cancer, has been picked up by the Associated Press. Sotos has petitioned the Grand Army of the Republic Civil War Museum and Library for permission to test a bit of pillowcase stained with the president’s blood. “I’m not interested in how Lincoln might have died. I’m interested in how he might have lived,”  he said.   

Britain’s Commonwealth War Graves Commission will use DNA to try to identify the remains of 400 soldiers killed at the Battle of Fromelles in 1916. Excavation will begin next month. “Most of the identifying features were removed from the bodies by German troops, in order to give them information on the units they were fighting against,” said the commission’s Peter Francis.