Israel National News reports that ancient footprints, left by the artisans who constructed the Lod mosaic 1,700 years ago, have been uncovered. Some of the prints were made by shoes, others by bare feet. “It’s exciting. This is the first time I have ever encountered personal evidence such as this under a mosaic,” said Jacques Neguer of the Israel Antiquities Authority.  

Cooks who camped in Edmunton, Canada, 2,000 years ago made a soup of pronghorn, rabbit, whitefish, trout, wild onion, and sunflower. Their camp sat by a river and was surrounded by currant shrubs, chokecherry, and roses.  

Archaeologists are finding evidence of trade between the Vikings and the Dorset in the Canadian Arctic. The Dorset are known to researchers by their fish weirs, tent rings, and drying racks, and are thought to have disappeared ca. 1200 to 1300 A.D.  

Traces of what may have been a public building dating to the late 1500s or early 1600s have been found in St. Augustine, Florida.   

Steps are being taken to protect and preserve Judaculla Rock, a boulder covered in pictographs considered sacred in Cherokee culture. “Many people in this part of the state had become aware of Judaculla and the effects on it from visitors and weather forces,” said Lorie Hansen, project director of the North Carolina Rock Art Survey.  

The Emali Coins have returned to Antalya, where they will be exhibited at the Antalya Archaeology Museum. The coins were smuggled out of Turkey in 1984, and were on display in Ankara since they were returned in 1999. “The Emali treasure will be back where it belongs. We have been making efforts for a couple of years now. The coins should be kept in the region where they were produced and where they were once used,” said local politician Sadik Badak.  

How did our habits for butchering meat develop? Here’s more information on the study of cut marks on bones from Israel’s Qesem Cave.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, October 14, 2009. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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