Africa

Egypt
Three well-preserved 2,500-year-old mummies, including one with a remarkable beaded covering, were found at Saqqara.

Ethiopia
New hominid fossil finds dated to 3.8 to 4 million years old may help researchers fill in the gap between 4.4-million-year-old Ardipithecus ramidus and 3.2-million-year-old A. afarensis ("Lucy"). The 12 fossils, which have not yet been assigned a species, were discovered in the eastern region of Afar.

Asia & the Pacific

China
Examination of highly polished ceremonial axes from the Sanxingcun and Liangzhu cultures, dating from 6,000 to 4,500 years ago, suggests that the ancient Chinese may have been using diamonds to grind and polish hard stone millennia before diamonds were thought to be first employed for lapidary use, around 500 B.C.

Hawaii
First Teotihuacan, now Oahu--Wal-Mart has run into another archaeological fire storm. Archaeologists hired by the company are being investigated by the state attorney general's office for alleged desecration of human skeletal remains found at a construction site.

Nepal
Archaeologists discovered an enormous structure, possibly a palace or monastery, about 120 miles southeast of Kathmandu. Scholars suspect the building, estimated to be more than 1,000 years old based on wall engravings, may be a Bengali palace mentioned in historical documents.

Vietnam
The oldest complete shroud in Southeast Asia was found wrapped around the body of an adult male who had been interred in a boat-shaped coffin some 2,300 years ago. The burial, discovered in Dong Xa, 30 miles southeast of Hanoi, was heavily waterlogged, which preserved the hemplike fabric. The fabric has been frozen until it can be treated by conservators.

Central America

Guatemala
Drug traffickers are camping out in the 1,400-year-old site of Piedras Negras. The remote Maya city lies close to the Mexican border, on a smuggling route for cocaine and heroin. The presence of armed criminals at the important site threatens future research, say archaeologists.

Honduras Archaeologists working at the Maya site of Copán announced the discovery of 30 previously unknown buildings in the ancient city. The remains of 69 people were also found, including those of a 12-year-old child who, judging from the wealth of associated burial goods, may have been a very important resident.

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Europe

Near & Middle East

North America

North Carolina Excavators at a site on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hill were surprised to find Middle Woodland period (500 B.C.-A.D. 500) pottery together with atlatl projectile points of a type thought to have gone out of use thousands of years before.

(Courtesy Research Laboratories of Archaeology, University of North Carolina) [LARGER IMAGE]

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© 2005 by the Archaeological Institute of America archive.archaeology.org/0505/newsbriefs/world.html