Six villagers from the Maya Tzeltal and Tzotzil cultures were killed by Mexican police during a raid on the archaeological site of Chinkultic. Hundreds of villagers have occupied the entrance to the site for a month, protesting government management policies. Sixteen police officers were injured in the clash.

And, archaeologists had been pressing for criminal charges to be filed against the organizers of a Placido Domingo concert at Chichen Itza over the weekend. “These monuments are not there so that rich people can hold events at them,” said Cuauhtemoc Velasco, a leader of the archaeologists’ union.   Here’s a short report on the concert itself.  

The National Museum at Herat in western Afghanistan was robbed of 1,300-year-old artifacts by a “very dangerous gang.”  

Satellite images have revealed an adobe pyramid near Peru’s Nazca River and the site of Cahuachi, according to Nicola Masini and Rosa Lasaponara of Italy’s National Research Council.   

Yucca was among the crops grown 1,400 years ago at Joya de Ceren, a Maya village buried in ash from the Loma de Caldera volcano ca. 600 A.D.  Beans, maize, squash, cacao, guava, and chili were also cultivated.  

Using a technique called uranium series dating, scientists have found that Europe’s Palaeolithic cave paintings were created over periods of thousands of years. “If we can date the art, then we can relate that to the artifacts we find in the ground and start to link the symbolic thoughts of these individuals to where, when, and how they were living,” said archaeologist Alistair Pike of Bristol University.  

In central Sweden, archaeologists have found traces of an undisturbed, eleventh-century stave church. A woman had been buried inside it.  

A fragment of a sarcophagus that once held the remains of a Jewish high priest from the Second Temple Period has been found north of Jerusalem. The piece of limestone had been reused 1,000 years ago.   

Researchers entered the caves beneath the French city of Caen. “During the summer of 1944 here, in Caen, 15,000 Caen refugees experienced some of the most terrible conditions imaginable. By visiting these galleries we can better understand what they went through,” said historian Marc Pottier.  

Artifacts discovered in Wakulla Springs, Florida, indicate that people may have instituted Spring Break earlier than previously thought.

Cambodian and Thai troops exchanged gunfire at their disputed border near the ancient Preah Vihear temple. As many as five men were injured. Tensions flared between the two countries and the military standoff began last July, when the Preah Vihear temple was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Archaeologist Ron Lippi may have uncovered the last hideout of Inca general Ruminahui in Ecuador. The general fled the Spanish with the wives and children of the emperor, Atahualpa, who was killed in 1532. “I think there’s probably at least a 50-50 chance that this is where he built,” he said.  

The Navy has confirmed that a shipwreck found off the Aleutian Islands is the USS Grunion, which disappeared during World War II. The submarine had been carrying a crew of 70 men.  

Parts of two Roman-era sculptures were found during a survey of a sunken ancient harbor wall on the Greek island of Kythnos. The fragments had been reused as building material.  

A Mycenaean warrior was reportedly buried with a sword imported from the Italian peninsula. “This is a very rare discovery, particularly because of the gold wire wrapped around the hilt. To my knowledge, no such sword has ever been found in Greece,” said archaeologist Maria Gatsi.  

Yesterday, the discovery of the shoreline where the Romans landed during their invasion of Britain in 43 A.D. was announced. Today, the significance of the medieval dock at the site, which was constructed with parts of the Roman fort, is explained in this article from The Guardian.  “This really leaves us with a lot of questions. I’m going to have to go away and spend the winter thinking hard,” said English Heritage archaeologist Tony Wilmott.  

The Kauai Niihau Burial Council heard five hours of testimony from Hawaiians and their supporters who object to construction on a site where 30 ancient burials are located. Last month, Judge Kathleen Watanabe ruled that the burial council was not consulted on a revised burial treatment plan adopted by the state Historic Preservation Office.  

Ex-archivist Daniel D. Lorello will serve two to six years in prison, and must pay $125,000 in restitution, for stealing artifacts and documents from the New York State Library and Archive and selling them on eBay.  

Brazilian archaeologist Astolfo Gomes de Mello Araujo earned an Ig Nobel award for his discovery that armadillos can move artifacts within an archaeological site. “There is no Nobel Prize for archaeology, so an Ig Nobel is a good thing,” he said.   BBC News has more information on other Ig Nobel winners, just for fun.