Scholars are translating Maya glyphs describing the practices of a priest who lived in the eighth century A.D. The glyphs are inscribed on seashell earrings and manta ray stingers that had been buried with the priest, whose remains were excavated 11 years ago in southeastern Mexico. “It is the longest Maya hieroglyphic script ever found to date in Tabasco,” said a statement released by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History.

Students surveying the ruins of a medieval settlement in Dartmoor, England, discovered a 700-year-old stone cross. Win Scutt of City College Plymouth explained that such crosses were “placed in the more remote parts of the parish, so people were reminded to go to church.”  

Hundreds of ancient American Indian artifacts were uncovered during the construction of an industrial plant in southwest Ohio.  

A retired teacher thinks a battle of the Mexican War of Independence took place 197 years ago on his property in Somerset, Texas. He’s found bones, weapons, and a silver button inscribed with the year 1813.   

Historic hammans, or bathhouses, are falling into disrepair across the Middle East. “The historic ones have never been fully protected, many have disappeared. In places like Cairo and Damascus, many have been demolished. The decline is amazing,” said Magda Sibley of the University of Manchester School of Architecture.  

England’s city of Bath, named for its Roman baths, is featured in a new UNESCO website.

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

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