An analysis of the calcified plaque left behind on Neanderthal teeth from northern Spain suggests that they ate a diet rich in roasted plants. Some of the compounds that were identified came from bitter-tasting plants that could have been used as medicines. Very few lipids or proteins from meat were found. “The idea that Neanderthals were largely meat-eaters has been hard for me to accept given their membership in a mainly vegetarian clade,” commented Richard Wrangham of Harvard University.

A separate study of Neanderthal skeletons investigated the possible causes for the occasional over-development of their right arm bones. It had been thought that such strong right arms were the result of hunting with spears, but Colin Shaw of Cambridge University thinks that scraping hides with rocks in order to create warm clothing could be responsible. “The skeletal remains suggest that Neanderthals were doing something intense or repetitive, or both, that had a significant role in their lives. If it was hunting, it was taking up a great deal of their time. Not surprisingly, that theory has colored our view of Neanderthal ‘the hunter,’” he explained.

In Pakistan, the local government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is petitioning for the possession of the Gandhara artifacts seized from a smuggler’s truck in Karachi two weeks ago. Gandhara objects are known to originate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in Afghanistan. Archaeologists are examining the seized items in an effort to determine their origins and authenticity. Their official report is due next week.

The excavation of a Chumash village at a Santa Barbara, California, construction site revealed shell beads, glass beads and bead drills obtained from Spanish colonists, arrow tips, fish hooks, stone tools, a bone hairpiece, and animal remains, including a whale vertebra that archaeologist Lynn Gamble thinks may have been used as a stool. Digging stopped when human remains were uncovered.

A North Carolina gem and mineral shop has handed over to Japan a skull from its museum section. The skull, which is thought to have belonged to a Japanese soldier, was said to have been collected in the field by an American soldier after the Battle of the Solomon Islands during World War II. An anonymous visitor to the shop alerted the Japanese Embassy when she spotted it. “We appreciate that you are cooperating to return the remains to Japan,” said the Deputy Consul General Joji Miyamori, who came to North Carolina to retrieve the remains.

The Maya of Tikal used a water delivery system of old quarries and waterproofed reservoirs, canals, and sluices that held collected rainwater during the wet season and distributed it during Guatemala’s four-month-long dry season. “The people were able to use their land and water resources in a sustainable manner for as long as 1,500 years without significant interruption,” said Vernon Scarborough of the University of Cincinnati. A primitive filtration system did not completely clean the water, however. Boiling the water or using it to make alcohol was required to make it safe to drink.

Human bones have been recovered from a crypt buried beneath the Convent of Saint Ursula in Florence. Scientists think they may be the remains of Lisa Gheradini, believed to be the model for Leonardo De Vinci’s Mona Lisa. She became a nun after her husband’s death and lived at the convent until her death in 1542. DNA from the bones will be compared to DNA from other graves in the area, where Lisa’s children had been buried.

The construction of a new bridge across the Mississippi River has prompted the excavation of 1,200 dwellings and 70 deep pits in a residential area of Greater Cahokia in East St. Louis, Illinois. Most of the ancient mounds in the city were destroyed during development in the nineteenth century and then buried under a deep layer of fill. This dig offers a rare chance to learn more about Cahokia and its population. “There will be perhaps an impact on our understanding of how Cahokia functioned through time and how it related to not only that site (East St. Louis), but also the mounds in St. Louis and other sites in this sort of suburban area,” said Bill Iseminger, Cahokia Mounds Assistant Site Director.

A team of forensic dogs has been hired by local tribal people to search the desert near Ocotillo, California, for ancient cremated human remains because a wind-turbine project is scheduled to be built over some 12,000 acres that could contain hundreds of cremation sites. There are no plans to excavate the potential sites found by the dogs, which are trained to sit down when they smell old bones and dried teeth. The chief executive officer for the developer, Pattern Energy, said that the company has “reserved judgment on the results because we are not aware of research that supports canine searches as a reliable and proven method for identifying ancient cremation sites.”