A 35,000-year-old bone flute crafted from griffon vulture bone has been unearthed in Germany’s Hohle Fels cave.  “It is unambiguously the oldest instrument in the world,” Nicholas Conard of the University of Tuebingen told the Associated Press.    He talks about the flute and the Venus figurine found in the same cave on National Public Radio.  

There’s more information about what could be the world’s earliest well. Dated to 10,000 years old, the well was unearthed in Cyprus. Neolithic artifacts and skeleton were found in it.  

The face of Meresamun, an Egyptian priestess-musician who lived around 800 B.C., has been recreated by two artists, one who made traditional pencil sketches, and one who used the latest imaging technology. Both artists started with images from CT scans of her skull.   Learn more about Meresamun, and a video clip of Josh Harker’s digital reconstruction, right here at ARCHAEOLOGY.  

Are you yearning to know more about Zahi Hawass, Egypt’s antiquities chief? The San Francisco Examiner has a short profile of the archaeologist and his mission.  

Weather conditions and worms are eating away at chalk carvings in a cave in Royston, England.  Scientists are trying to figure out how to protect them, just as historians are trying to figure out when the carvings were made and what they could mean.  

Two suspects arrested in Utah on charges of looting public lands and trafficking in artifacts may have been involved in a fraud scheme, according to a search warrant unsealed in U.S. District Court yesterday.   

The Zhoukoudian Caves, home to China’s Peking Man, will be shored up against further collapse.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, June 25, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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