Bricks fell off of a section of Rome’s ancient Aurelian walls yesterday. “Their maintenance is a recurrent problem for Rome. We have a huge restoration project ready to be implemented but do not have enough funds to carry it out,” said Umberto Broccoli, head of archaeology for the city council.

Workers in China’s Shaanxi Province discovered a brick vault filled with coins minted during the Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279), and Yuan (1279-1368) dynasties. Archaeologists are counting the coins at a local museum.  

Cao Wei, director of the museum at the tomb of China’s first emperor, says that special care will be taken to preserve painted details when more life-size terracotta warriors are excavated from the tomb’s main pit. Exposure to air oxidizes the paint and causes it to fade.   This article adds that archaeologists will look for a statue that appears to be “in command” of the terracotta army.  

A Thracian tomb that had been looted in antiquity was looted again last year. Four people were detained by police for digging in the tomb, which is located in southern Bulgaria.  

Two third-century Roman skeletons were uncovered in Leicester, England, by people digging a garden pond. “After the bones are removed, we will carefully look at the area within the footprint of the pond and if nothing else is found, work on the pond can continue. If there is a cemetery, we would not want to disturb it,” said city archaeologist Chris Wardle.  

This afternoon, after a two-year undercover investigation, federal authorities will announce criminal charges for looting archaeological sites in southern Utah and the Four Corners area.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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