A column capital is missing from a Byzantine church in Ancient Olympia, Greece. Officials there believe it has been stolen.

Parts of a colossal statue have been unearthed at the sanctuary of Apollo in Hierapolis, Turkey.  

British archaeologists working on Easter Island say the red hats worn by some moai on the coast were carved from volcanic rock and rolled down an ancient road. “These hats run all the way down the side of the volcano into the valley. We can see they were carefully placed. The closer you get to the volcano, the greater the number,” said Colin Richards of the Rapa Nui Landscapes of Construction Project.  

Peter Savolainen of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockhom examined mitochondrial DNA taken from dogs all over the world. He thinks that wolves may have been first domesticated in southern China and kept for their meat. Last month, a team from Cornell University concluded that dogs were first domesticated in Africa.   

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has objected to the governor of Giza’s announcement of an annual “Giza Day” on August 23. “There is no clear text from the ancient history [that states] when the Great Pyramid was built,” Hawass explained. Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni has canceled all future Giza Day celebrations until a more thorough investigation is completed.   

Dan Poore, Oxford Archaeology’s head of fieldwork, defends his company’s recovery of the remains of World War I soldiers in Fromelles, France. “The task has been to excavate, record, and exhume all the individuals buried at the site, along with the personal effects they were buried with,” he said.

This week, defense attorneys for Tel Aviv antiquities collector Oded Golan, who was charged with counterfeiting artifacts, will try to show that scientific evidence supports their client’s case. 

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, September 8, 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.