There’s been a development in the tussle between the British Museum and the National Museum of Iran over the Cyrus Cylinder. Iran’s state-owned Press TV has reportedly published a statement by Hamid Baqaie, head of the state Cultural Heritage Organization, that “The National Museum of Iran has spent about $300,000 for the exhibition [of the Cyrus Cylinder] and we will demand our loss to be compensated for by the British Museum.”

A French company offering tourists visits to ancient sites in southern Iraq has opened for business.  

Roman carvings of a man’s head and torso were found in a temple building at the Stobi site in central Macedonia. “The way the hair and the face of the found head were made, as well as the appearance of the remaining part of the sculpture, suggest that it was of an emperor or an important citizen who lived in the first century,” said Silvana Blahzevska, director of the National Institution Stobi.  

Ditches, walls, and stones excavated in Nottinghamshire, England, could be a Roman temple, according to archaeologist Ursilla Spence. “This is a fascinating site. But, so far, it has raised more questions than it has answered,” she said.  

Here’s a bit more information on the megaliths discovered on Dartmoor in Devon, England. The stones have been dated to 3,500 B.C. “This is a spectacular find and its alignment on the Solstice sun, at the exact same angle as Stonehenge, gives us fresh insights into the knowledge of Stone Age people,” commented Mike Pitts of British Archaeology. 

Researchers are looking for unmarked, African-American graves in Boone Cemetery, North Carolina, with ground-penetrating radar and an electrical resistivity system. Historical records indicate that between 30 to 40 people may be buried there. 

A nineteenth-century farmhouse site has been found in Urbana, Illinois. Archaeologists have unearthed a small cellar, a well, a refuse pit, crockery, china, glass, and bricks.  

James Roberts’ cranium has been passed around Colorado for 100 years, and has now landed at Cripple Creek District Museum.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, April 19, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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