Jeffrey Quilter, director of the archaeological project at Magdalena de Cao Viejo in Peru, has announced the discovery of a scrap of paper. Early 17th-century writing on it gives corresponding numbers in Spanish, Arabic numerals, and symbols from an unknown language, possibly an extinct one such as Quingnam or Pescadora. Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology has posted a brief video of Quilter speaking about the find.

The Citadel of Raymond de Saint Gilles, built at Tripoli, Lebanon, by Crusaders in 1103 has been shot at with everything from catapults to rpgs. Now it is peaceful, but the relationship between the archaeologist exploring the site and the soldiers based there is uneasy.

Finds in the ruins of a Buddhist temple in northern Thailand include pottery with second-third-century A.D.  Brahmi inscriptions of Indian origin, attesting ancient trade. A gold plaque bears the South Indian name Brahaspathi Sarma.

Shia Labeouf is enthusiastic about another Indiana Jones film in the works, if nobody else is. He told the UK’s Daily Express, “It sounds really cool.” Our online poll showed that the most recent IJ film, the first with Labeouf, is the least liked of all.

Excavations at Pompeiopolis, an ancient city in northern Turkey probably refer to festivals thought to have been started by Roman Emperor Alexander Severus and held every three to five years.

Specialists from Japan’s Sophia University Angkor International Mission have excavated six Buddhist statues from a circular moat at Banteay Kdei temple. The statues are believed to date to the late 12th or early 13th century.

This entry was posted by Archaeology Magazine on Monday, August 23, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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