Radiocarbon dating of seeds, baskets, textiles, and plant stems and fruit held in museums in the United States and Europe have established dates for the ruling dynasties of ancient Egypt, according to Christopher Ramsey of Oxford University. “I think scholars and scientists will be glad to hear that our small team of researchers has independently corroborated a century of scholarship in just three years,” he said.

The United States has returned the sarcophagus of Empress Wu Huifei, who ruled between A.D. 699 and 737, during China’s Tang Dynasty. The sarcophagus had been sold to an American businessman for $1 million. “If looters cannot send the items to buyers in the United States or other foreign countries, they are less likely to risk raiding an archaeological site,” said Li Boqian of Peking University.  

Two new building complexes attached to a tower have been discovered at the site of Idalion, in Cyprus. Storage vessels, pieces of a bronze shield, and other metal weapons were found inside the buildings.  

The analysis of strontium and oxygen isotopes in some medieval teeth allowed scientists to identify the remains of Queen Eadgyth. This technique has led to some other interesting insights into how people in the past traveled over long distances.  Historian Michael Wood offers more information about Eadgyth’s life.  

Neolithic flints and pottery shards have been unearthed in Norfolk, England, in addition to traces of organized farming from the Middle Bronze Age.  

Book dealer Raymond Scott is now on trial for the theft of a valuable Shakespeare first edition stolen from Durham University in 1998. When he asked staff members at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., to authenticate the volume, they contacted the authorities. The folio had been “damaged, brutalized, and mutilated” in an attempt to disguise it.  

The ancient Roman town of Ulpia Serdica has been located beneath modern-day Sofia, Bulgaria. “It’ll be a perfectly preserved underground museum,” said Deputy Culture Minister Todor Chobanov.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, June 18, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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