Excavations have continued in Maryland at Pig Point, a 3,000-year-old American Indian site on a bluff overlooking the Patuxent River. Archaeologists have uncovered unique pots; items from as far away as Ohio, Michigan, and New York; and charcoal dating as far back as 210 A.D. “Some of these artifacts are one of a kind, and we don’t have an easy way of fitting them into our mental template … It’s a great, great site,” said Maureen Kavanagh of the Maryland Historical Trust.

Why have Stone Age artifacts been turning up in Iron Age graves in Norway? “People probably considered old objects as a heritage from their ancestors. Recycling of old burial mounds for new graves is an indication of this relationship,” said German archaeologist Eva Thate.  

Four ancient castles have been uncovered in western Turkey.  

Flooding has prompted the removal of human skeletal remains from the grounds of Central Wyoming College. The bones have been sent to the University of Wyoming for examination.  

Check out the continued discussion about how you can use Google Earth to stop looting.  

Human bones unearthed at the Civil War-era Fort Holmes on North Carolina’s Bald Head Island may have belonged to slaves. “Some of these workers were actually slaves that were loaned from area plantations, others were conscripted freemen,” explained state archaeologist Nathan Henry.  

South Carolina’s General Assembly has passed a new, tougher law against treasure hunting on Hilton Head Island.  

This article in the Yemen Observer states that one person was killed and others were wounded last week at a demonstration at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Zabid. The demonstration was in response to a decision by the local authorities to remove the homes of poor people living near the monument.  

A mass grave containing the bones of some 500 people has reportedly been found near Vladivostok, Russia. Archaeologist Yaroslave Livansky thinks they were killed by Stalin’s secret police in the 1930s.  

The 31 marine fossils found in graves at Palenque are one piece of the puzzle suggesting that the Maya believed their land had once been covered with water. “When gods ordered water to retire, their city emerged and the actual era began. Mayans from Palenque had the notion that the Earth was different a thousand years ago, and that the world was mutable, subject to transformation,” said Martha Cuevas, who was part of a joint study conducted by Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History and the National Autonomous University.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, June 14, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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