Lebanese antiquities dealer Ali Abu Taam, who was convicted in absentia in 2004 for helping Tarek al-Seweissi smuggle 280 Egyptian artifacts out of the country, has been arrested in Bulgaria. Egypt’s chief archaeologist, Zahi Hawass, called the arrest a “concrete step toward stopping the trade in illegal antiquities around the world.”

Tens of thousands of wooden tablets have been unearthed at Heijo Palace in Japan. The tablets date to the Nara period (710 to 794 A.D.), in a government office area of the palace. “There is a possibility that we will find important historical data,” said a spokesperson from the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.  

This one wins the award for longest stretch to grab the readers’ attention, and that’s the point – humans crave novelty. Greger Larson of Durham University says that human intervention in natural selection has produced livestock with crazy coat colors that would not have promoted survival in the wild. “The Mesopotamians had different colored farm animals 5,000 years ago, and in that regard they were no different to Paris Hilton, who loves pink Chihuahuas,” he said.  

Descendants of the post-conquest Maya, who moved deep into southern Mexico and Guatemala after the Spanish arrived in 1511 and resisted assimilation, have been living at Lake Mensabak in Chiapas for hundreds of years. Joel Palka of the University of Illinois and Fabiola Sanchez Balderas of Xanvil, a Maya culture and conservation organization, are working together to uncover their history. “The big draw is to work with the Lacandon at the lake and have them helping with the archaeology, recording their interpretations of history and objects as they’re being uncovered,” Palka said.  

The Associated Press has picked up the story of the discovery of a bone-burning oven in Spain, and the use of powdered bones in fortress walls near the Alhambra Palace. “We know this method was used in Greek, Roman, and Celtic structures, but this is the first report of it in a Moorish building,” said Carolina Cardell of Granada University.  

K. Kris Hirst has compiled information about Otzi the Iceman and the recent discovery of moss “in his, umm, interior,” in her blog at About.com.  

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, January 16, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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