Computer simulation suggests that Australopithecus africanus was able to chew hard nuts and seeds, important food sources during times of scarcity. “Our research shows that early, pre-stone tool human ancestors solved problems with their jaws that modern humans would have solved with tools,” said Mark Spencer of Arizona State University.

The state of Kentucky has sued the city of Portsmouth, Ohio, and three men for the return of Indian Head Rock. The rock, which is decorated with historic carvings, had been in the Ohio River, and was listed in Kentucky as a protected archaeological object.  

Japanese junior-high school student Shogo Kasai researched and built a pit house in his family’s yard. “The more I study [archaeology], the more questions appear. I want to become an archaeologist,” he explained.   

Here’s more information on the Hawaiian-style rock art that was discovered in Tonga. “In the pre-European era, whether Tongans went to Hawaii, Hawaiians to Tonga, or some other possibility, it illustrates a connectedness of west and east Polynesia in later pre-history that is under-appreciated,” said David Burley of Simon Fraser University.  

See a photograph of one of the 111 cylindrical jars used by the elite of Chaco Canyon’s Pueblo Bonito to sip imported chocolate drinks, and a shot of the room where they were found, at The New York Times.  

The Telegraph has another article on the HMS Victory, the law, and the UNESCO Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage, which Britain agreed to follow in 2005.  Greg Stemm, CEO of salvage company Odyssey Marine Exploration, gave an interview to the German magazine, Spiegel Online.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, February 4, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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