James Cuno, director of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Lord Renfrew, former director of the McDonald Institute for archaeological research at Cambridge University, discussed antiquities of uncertain provenance on BBC Radio.

The Vatican returned a fragment of the Parthenon Marbles to Greece on a one-year loan, following a request from Orthodox Archbishop Christopoulos in 2006. “This is a very important event. It should be an example to follow for the return of the Parthenon Marbles,” said Greek Culture Minister Michalis Liapis.  

Archaeologist John Hunter of England’s University of Birmingham examined the supposed grave of Venerable John Henry Cardinal Newman, who was buried in 1890. Cardinal Newman is being considered for sainthood by the Vatican, and was exhumed, but no remains were found. “It is very interesting from a forensic point of view to find a body that has completely decayed within this amount of time. … If we have extreme soil conditions that take away human bones, they would also take away coffin handles, which are still there,” he said.   Britain’s Daily Mail indulges in some speculation about where Newman’s bones might be.  

Sugar Loft Mound, thought to be the last remaining Cahokia burial mound in St. Louis, is for sale. The present owner wants to sell to someone who will act as a custodian for the site. St. Louis was known as “Mound City” in the nineteenth century.  

Here’s some more information on the 12,000-year-old grave of a Natufian woman identified as a shaman by a team from Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, November 5, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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