Construction workers discovered a 4,000-year-old Canaanite tomb in Bethlehem. They called archaeologists, who excavated the intact burial of two individuals.

Traces of wild barley were found in an 11,300-year-old granary uncovered in Jordan. Grain was domesticated in the Middle East about 1,000 years later.

Neanderthals wore tailored clothing and dried and cooked meat, according to a study to be published in the Journal of Archaeology. “It is … likely that frying over the camp fire was the usual method [of cooking] in Neanderthal communities, since no containers for boiling have been found,” said the author, Bent Sorensen of Roskilde University.

A Thracian settlement has been found in Bulgaria. Archaeologists have uncovered stored grain, looms, pottery, and items made of bronze, glass, bone, gold, silver, and copper.

Protesters from TaraWatch want Ireland’s Minister for the Environment, Heritage, and Local Government to resign.  “By failing to let the EU or UNESCO protect Irish heritage sites, John Gormley has done the exact opposite of what a Minister for the Environment is supposed to do,” said TaraWatch spokesperson Vincent Salafia.   The Minister, however, denies the accusations.

Were Australia’s giant, prehistoric kangaroos wiped out by humans or by climate change? A new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences favors overzealous hunting as the cause.

Archaeological evidence, pollen samples, and tree-ring dating suggest that the collapse of Angkor can be attributed to overdevelopment of water infrastructure and extreme climate fluctuations.  “Although there was ongoing conflict with neighboring states, it was this over-built, inflexible (water) infrastructure that locked them into this trajectory of decline,” said Dan Penny of Sydney University, one of the authors of the study conducted by the Greater Angkor Project.

Kenneth B. Tankersley of the University of Cincinnati says he has found what he thinks is the earliest known example of the Cherokee script, in a cave in southeastern Kentucky. This article appears in The New York Times.  See also “Sequoyah Was Here,” by Eric A. Powell in the July/August issue of ARCHAEOLOGY.

Here’s more information on the underground quarry found in the Jordan Valley during an archaeological survey of the area. “When we arrived at the opening of the cave, two Bedouins approached and told us not to go in as the cave is bewitched and inhabited by wolves and hyenas,” said Adam Zertal of the University of Haifa.

Google will promote Mexico’s archaeological and historical sites with maps on Google Earth and interactive and virtual tours. Tourism to Mexico has dropped dramatically following the swine flu outbreak.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, June 23, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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