A mass grave holding the remains of more than 750 Jewish prisoners killed by the Nazis at the end of World War II will be excavated this week. The grave is located near the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Four ancient Egyptian temples have been found along the military road known as the “Way of Horus” in the Sinai. One grand brick temple in particular may have been constructed to impress armies and foreign delegations as they approached Egypt, according to archaeologist Mohammed Abdel-Maqsoud, chief of the excavation team.  

Childbirth was probably just as difficult for Neanderthal women as it is for modern humans, according to researchers who used fragments of a fossilized Neanderthal pelvis to reconstruct the birth canal with computer technology. Modern human babies twist as they exit the birth canal, but it is unlikely that Neanderthal babies did, however.  

In northeastern Bangladesh, at the 2,500-year-old fort city of Wari-Bateshwar, archaeologists have uncovered a unique brick structure. “The structure can be considered as an inverted house without any opening – windows or doors – surrounded by 12ft high walls,” said Sufi Mustafizur Rahman, who led the excavation team from Jahangirnagar University.  

The Royal Fort, built to defend the city of Bristol during the English Civil War, has been found on the second attempt. The fort was the western headquarters for the Royalist Army until 1645, when it was surrendered to Oliver Cromwell.  

Researchers from the University of Sheffield are looking for male subjects to offer DNA samples.  They want to know if people from Spain and the Balkans moved to Wales as migrant workers during the Bronze Age, bringing their copper-working skills with them.  

Tools and weapons dating to 3500 B.C. were uncovered by archaeologists from the Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio. They were asked to inspect the site of a pedestrian bridge over the San Antonio River and ended up digging for three months.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, April 21, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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