A new calibration curve will extend radiocarbon calibration and improve earlier parts of the curve. “It is significant because this agreed calibration curve now extends over the entire normal range of radiocarbon dating, up to 50,000 years before today,” said Ron Reimer of the Queen’s School of Geography, Archaeology, and Palaeoecology.

Flat-footed walking is energy efficient, according to a new study by David Carrier of the University of Utah. “Our ancestors were hunter gatherers, so anything that improved walking would make a lot of sense to hang on to,” he explained.  

Renovations to a golf course on Bald Head Island, North Carolina, revealed human bones dating to the 1800s. The island was known for pirate activity, and a Civil War camp had been located there, before it became a vacation resort. 

A survey by English Heritage revealed shallow hedge banks surrounding Stonehenge. Did a thorny hedge surround the stone circle 3,600 years ago? “To date nobody has really considered the vegetation around the stones,” said archaeologist David Field.  

A North Carolina power company plans to build a tie-in station a half mile away from a mound known as Kituwah, which Cherokee tradition holds was the site of their sacred flame and the tribe’s ancestral home. “We’re continuing to work, as well as continuing to have conversations with the Cherokees to better understand the sensitivities of the site and ways to mitigate the impact,” said spokesperson Jason Walls.   

Permission has been granted for an endoscope to be used to look inside the tomb of sixteenth-century Englishman Fulke Greville. Some claim that Greville authored works attributed to Shakespeare, and that he was buried with those original manuscripts and other writings.  

Two men were arrested in northern Florida and charged with excavation of artifacts on state lands. They showed officers the 50 shallow holes they had dug.  

Al-Ahram has more information on the renovations underway at the Avenue of Sphinxes in Luxor, Egypt.  

Heavy rains in Greece have exposed eight tombs dating between the end of the fourth century B.C. and the beginning of the third century B.C.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, February 12, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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