Guillermo de Anda of the University of Yucatan thinks that young boys and men were more likely the sacrificial victims of the Maya than young girls. He has studied the bones from 127 individuals recovered from the bottom of cenotes, but says that Maya mythology itself suggests that males were offered to the rain god, Chaac.

Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, announced the discovery of mummies from Egypt’s Roman period in Fayyoum. One of the mummies wore a golden face mask.

This is the first of nine video installments of “Treasure Wars,” produced by National Geographic News. Museum directors, antiquities dealers, cultural officials, and journalists all appear on camera to introduce the issues discussed in the series.

Here’s another article on the three royal tombs uncovered in Yemen. While it contains new information about the tombs themselves, it does not mention anything about the armed guards reported at the site, nor the destruction of one of the tombs.

A team of Chinese archaeologists says they have uncovered a 100,000-year-old skull in Henan province. “More astonishing that the completeness of the skull is that it still has a fossilized membrane on the inner side, so scientists can track the nerves of the Paleolithic ancestors,” said Li Zhanyang of the Henan Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute.   Here’s a second article on the skull from the AFP.

Human bones were found in New York City’s Washington Square Park by utility workers.

Computer-assisted radar tomography is being used to look for the “Lost” sixteenth-century colony on Roanoke Island.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, January 23, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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