A Roman-era sarcophagus was discovered in Syria, at the ancient city of Daraa. A gold ring found near the occupant’s skull may have once hung by a chain from his or her ear.

Sarah Parcak of the Laboratory for Global Health at the University of Alabama has used satellite images to spot hundreds of new archaeological sites in Egypt.  

An Australian antiques dealer was arrested in Egypt for allegedly trying to smuggle two animal mummies and figurines out of the country.  

Customs officials in Karachi, Pakistan, seized two Gandhara statues of the Buddha on their way to China.  

It has been nine years since 81 artifacts were stolen from Pakistan’s Taxila Museum. This editorial calls for a federal investigation into the “white collar” crime.   

Rare black pottery was found at Bangladesh’s Basu Bihar site. Northern black polished ware was used between 600 B.C. and 100 A.D.  

A Bronze Age tomb and a complete sculpted head and incense burner unearthed within it are said to be important to the history of Oman. Human bones, stone and bronze tools, pottery, and votive objects in the shape of snakes were also found.  

Government officials in Yemen are cracking down on illegal excavations and smuggling.  

Two graves from the seventh century B.C. were uncovered during construction work near the ancient city of Hydai, in Turkey. “We have been living on a cultural treasure for years without knowing it. On the one hand, I am no longer allowed to dig a cesspool in my house; on the other hand, we have discovered a historical finding of great importance. I really do not know if I should be happy or not,” said homeowner Mehmet Çoban.  

Cooking on hot rocks was popular 4,000 years ago. Alston Thoms of Texas A&M University says that the slow cooking method allowed early North Americans to utilize the bulbs of lilies, wild onions, and other plants during times of population growth.  

The Aleutian Island crash site of a B-24D bomber has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979, and has been named to the new Valor of the Pacific National Monument. “There are so many stories where planes just disappeared; they went into the water. In this case, they [the crew] lived to be old men,” explained Ted Spencer, founder of the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum.   

Archaeologists weigh in on the legend of Madoc, a Welsh prince said to have traveled to North America in the twelfth century and built stone walls around the Southeast.  

Here’s another article from a Cuban publication on El Chorro de Maita, a large Arawakan Indian settlement in eastern Cuba that was eventually wiped out by the Spanish. “We have very few cases in the Caribbean where we can point to a certain place and say, ‘This is exactly what happened when Europeans hit the scene,'” said Jim Knight.  

Inhaling bowls, probably used by early inhabitants of the Caribbean islands to snort hallucinogens, may have been passed on from generation to generation as treasured heirlooms, according to analysis of radioactive isotopes by Scott M. Fitzpatrick of North Carolina State University.  

It wouldn’t be a holiday at ARCHAEOLOGY without a Bigfoot story!

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, December 29, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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