More than 800 artifacts stolen during Afghanistan’s years of civil war in the 1990s have been returned to the Kabul Museum. Many of the artifacts were seized by airport police in London. One was recovered in Japan.

British soldiers who had been injured in Afghanistan participated in a rehabilitation program known as Operation Nightingale, in which they excavated an endangered ancient cemetery on the Salisbury Plain. To their surprise, they uncovered the remains of a 1,400-year-old Anglo-Saxon warrior. He had been buried with a spear, a shield, and a wooden drinking cup decorated with bronze bands. “Knowing that as a modern-day warrior I have unearthed the remains of another fills me with an overwhelming sense of respect,” said participant Mike Kelly. The site was being damaged by burrowing badgers.

More than 600 silver coins, pieces of jewelry, and part of an ax have been recovered on the Baltic island of Gotland. A landowner first noticed the cache while moving some soil, and then called in an archaeologist. “We’ve found coins dated 1130,” said Marie Louise Hellquist of the County Administrative Board.

Archaeologists are working to stabilize a kiva at the edge of Cliff Palace, a large dwelling at Colorado’s Mesa Verde National Park. The thirteenth-century structure had been built on a sloping floor, and water is seeping in through cracks, causing the problems. Wooden braces are being used to support the kiva, but the area is closed to visitors.

How old is the jaw bone discovered in Kents Cavern, located on England’s Devon coastline, and does it belong to a modern human or a Neanderthal? Last year, scientists announced that the contaminated sample had been dated to between 41,500 and 44,000 years old, using animal bones found above and below the jawbone. Such an early date would suggest that modern humans entered Europe earlier than previously thought and spread east rapidly. A new, controversial paper questions that conclusion, stating that the exact location of where the bone was found in 1927 is unclear, and that the sediments in the cave may have been disturbed. “What is at stake is the entire [prehistory] of Neanderthals and early modern humans in Europe,” said Paul Pettitt of the University of Sheffield.

Traces of chocolate have been found for the first time on a 2,500-year-old plate at the Paso del Macho site in Mexico. “This indicates that the pre-Hispanic Maya may have eaten foods with cacao sauce, similar to mole,” according to a statement released by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History. It had been thought that cacao beans were only prepared as beverages for consumption by the elite.

The Sechelt Nation of British Columbia has been working with archaeologist Terence Clark of the Canadian Museum of Civilization and Gary Coupland of the University of Toronto at a 4,000-year-old chieftain burial site. In 2010, they excavated more than 350,000 stone beads from the grave of a man thought to be a Shishalh chief. The beads probably adorned a robe that has disintegrated. Since then, students from the band have assisted archaeologists with the excavation of additional graves. “Our ultimate goal is to have this land protected and returned to the Band,” said Sechelt Indian Band chief Garry Feschuk.

In Antakya, Turkey, construction workers building a hotel uncovered a portion of the ancient city of Antioch. The developer responded by funding a full-scale excavation by archaeologists from around the world. They uncovered layers of the ancient city, including a Roman-era mosaic measuring more than 9,000 square feet. A new architect was brought in to the project to design a hotel and a museum that would sit above the archaeological site. “This represents a positive example of the coordination between cultural heritage management and modern urban development,” said Hatice Pamir of Mustafa Kemal University.

Mosaic floors from the Byzantine city of Kourion have been unearthed in Cyprus. Excavators think the mostly intact floors may have been part of a seaside luxury villa. An additional floor fragment that was found was probably associated with a cistern. Cisterns were used after an earthquake destroyed the city’s aqueduct system in 365 A.D.

The remains of a church and a monastery have been unearthed during the expansion of the airport in Najaf, Iraq. The church is thought to be 1,700 years old, and one of the earliest Christian buildings in the country. It may also be part of the city of Hira, an important center of the early church known from historical sources. “I know if we were to work more, we will find more and similar churches,” said archaeologist Ali al-Fatli. The church’s stone crosses and artifacts have been moved to the National Museum in Baghdad.