In the late 1800s and early 1900s, residents of Appalachia covered the graves of their dead with grave houses, which resembled the homes of the living. “These structures are disappearing fast. That’s why I’m trying to record as many as I can,” said hobbyist John Waggoner.

Navy chaplain Captain Emilio Marrero, Jr., says that he and others worked to protect Iraq’s archaeological sites from harm, disputing many of the charges against American troops for damage caused by military camps. “We were very conscientious. I really felt like at steward,” he said.  

Katherine Szabo of the University of Wollongong is studying ancient tools made of shells made in Australasia. “It’s not a material that anyone’s looked at or that anyone particularly understands very well,” she said.  

Here’s more information on the cast of a Hobbit skeleton that will go on display next month at Stony Brook University’s Staller Center for the Arts in New York. “A cast of the entire skeleton of the specimen has never been displayed anywhere, inside or outside of Indonesia. This is a real first,” said Stony Brook anatomist William Jungers.  

A prehistoric settlement has been uncovered near an airport runway on the island of Guernsey in the English Channel. “We don’t tend to find archaeology of where people lived – we only seem to get the places where the dead were buried with dolmens and suchlike,” said archaeologist Phil de Jersey.  

Self-described small-town doctor Larry Cartmell also studies ancient diseases in his spare time with physical anthropologist Douglas Owsley. “I actually grew up thinking I would be an archaeologist. I got sidetracked, somehow, and went to medical school,” Cartmell said.  

Archaeologists in Hungary are concerned that the government’s decision to publish listed sites will put them in danger by making them known to looters. The government wants land buyers to know ahead of time if a new property will have to be excavated.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, March 30, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

Comments posted here do not represent the views or policies of the Archaeological Institute of America.