From the Trenches	Volume 60 Number 2, March/April 2007

News and Notes from the World of Archaeology

Who's Buried in St. Paul's Tomb? The Vatican recently announced the discovery of what may be the tomb of St. Paul in Rome's second-largest basilica. Waterloo Update The supreme administrative court of Belgium issued a ruling that effectively halted the large-scale development project at the Waterloo battlefield described in the January/February issue of ARCHAEOLOGY ("Reshaping Waterloo"). The court noted that the proposed project could damage or even cause permanent destruction to the site's archaeological remains and thus revoked the permits that had been granted by the Wallonia region and the adjoining towns of Waterloo and Braine-l'Alleud. Local authorities must now decide if they will appeal the court's decision or submit a revised plan for a new battlefield visitors' center. A Moment in Time: 1200 B.C. Mycenaean palaces are destroyed and major population centers of Greece are depopulated. Maize cultivation is introduced into the Southwest from Mexico. The great Sanskrit epic, the Rig Veda, is completed. A major volcanic eruption in Iceland leaves Scotland without summer for two decades. The Lapita people colonize western Polynesia. The chariot is introduced into Shang Dynasty China from the western steppes. War by the Numbers Counting on evidence of warfare

World Roundup Recent discoveries around the globe Books    The Cave Painters    House of Rain    The Lure of Gold Museums    Gold Reality Check: Insolvent Mysteries Erich von Däniken's Mystery Park has closed its doors. Destination Caribbean vacations and archaeology aren't mutually exclusive. Archaeologist William Keegan has a tip. Web Watch Our favorite interactive timelines: www.metmuseum.org/toah Beautiful, expansive, and detailed, this product of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is focused on artifacts. www.timelineindex.com This site aggregates timeline-related information from all over the Web. What it loses in rigor, it gains in range. www.utexas.edu/courses/denbow/worldmap/archworld.htm From the anthropology department at the University of Texas, this colorful map/timeline clearly shows how world cultures overlap. Neanderthals on the Hunt The Neanderthals didn't disappear because they were slouches when it came to hunting, according to a new study.

Photo in the News Iran's Bronze Age site of Shahr-e Sukhteh, the Burnt City, has already produced the world's oldest dice, among other amazing finds. The latest is an artificial eyeball still in the socket of a middle-aged woman who died 4,800 years ago. The prosthetic has fine capillaries and a pupil etched on it, as well as holes to secure it in place. [LARGER IMAGE] Courtesy The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies (CAIS)

© 2007 by the Archaeological Institute of America archive.archaeology.org/0703/trenches/