Dogs trained to sniff out historic human remains will be employed in Port Angeles, Washington, in an ongoing waterfront archaeological survey. “This is not something that has been widely done up to this point in archaeology. We are going to give it a shot,” said the city’s archaeologist, Derek Beery. Port Angeles spent more than $90 million on a construction project before having to abandon it when 300 sets of human remains and the Klallam village of Tse-whit-zen were uncovered.

An amphitheater was unearthed in western Turkey at the ancient Greek city of Laedicea. The excavation has been managed by local authorities in Denizli, and has been partially funded by local businesses. “Something has taken place here that is unseen in the rest of the country. … This is the finest example of taking care of an ancient city,” said Celal Simsek of Denizli Pamukkale University.

Turkish archaeologist Cevat Basaran found golden earrings, rings, and crown pieces adorned with gems in a 2,200-year-old sarcophagus while working in the necropolis of the ancient city of Parion.

Archaeologists discovered a cosmetics case that belonged to a wealthy Etruscan woman within her intact tomb. The ornate case was filled with bronze rings, a pair of tweezers, two combs, and an Egyptian alabaster jar containing an expensive cream. “This is almost unique in archaeology. Even though more than 2,000 years have passed, the oxidation of the organic material has not yet been completed,” said Erika Ribechini, a chemist at Pisa University.

An 8,000-year-old dwelling was found during runway construction at Isle of Man Airport. “This building was constructed from substantial pieces of timber, and had a hearth for cooking and warmth. Its occupants lived here often, or long enough to leave behind over 12,000 pieces of worked flint together with the tools needed to flake them,” said Andrew Johnson of Manx National Heritage.

K. Kris Hirst has written a review of the new Time Team America program on the Topper site in her archaeology blog for About.com. Archaeologist Al Goodyear recently made headlines by claiming there is a 50,000-year-old site beneath the known Clovis one at Topper, which is located in South Carolina.

In Maryland, field school students are helping to excavate a nineteenth-century immigrant village known as Texas. The Irish workers who lived there quarried limestone.

An Inca road leading to Machu Picchu from Wuarqtambo was found last week by archaeologists from the Peru National Culture Institute. They think the road was used by spiritual leaders traveling up and down the mountain.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, July 13, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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