Figuring out how to craft stone tools boosted the brain power of early humans and paved the way for language, according to neuroscientist Aldo Faisal of Imperial College London. Areas in the right hemisphere of the brain become more active when more advanced stone tools are made. Some of these areas are also involved in language processing.

Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt’s antiquities department, announced that the upper half of a red granite statue of Amenhotep III has been uncovered in Luxor.  

In a letter to the newspaper El Peruano, Peru’s President Alan Garcia has asked President Barack Obama to intervene in the dispute with Yale University over artifacts from Machu Picchu.  

A 45-year-old man has been sentenced for stealing artifacts from the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area in Washington State. As part of his punishment, he has been banned from the recreation area for three years.  

In Bedfordshire, England, a 2,000-year-old quern stone, used for grinding corn, turned up at a golf course. “Apparently only three have ever been discovered in the south of England so it is quite rare, and even rarer to find one that is completely intact,” said club captain Neil Bagshawe.  

Renovation of a hair salon in Lincolnshire, England, revealed a sixteenth-century Inglenook, or chimney corner fireplace with a cozy alcove. “I knew there was a lot of history to the building so I requested an archaeological contractor to work alongside the project,” said building owner John French.  

Indian Head Rock will return to Kentucky today, where it is registered as a historic artifact. Ohio residents pulled the 8-ton boulder from the Kentucky side of the Ohio River three years ago.  

A 3D model of the A.J. Goddard, which sank in 1901 while transporting gold prospectors, was made this past summer in Canada. Underwater archaeologists also discovered a phonograph and discs, corked bottles, and shoes on board. “The A.J. Goddard is not only a testament to the ingenuity, sense of adventure and determination of those men and women who took part in the Klondike Gold Rush, but also to the key role that the river and sternwheelers played in the economic development of Yukon,” said Elaine Taylor, tourism and culture minister.  

Prospectors in Alaska relied on Hills Brothers Coffee because it was packed in vacuum-sealed cans. Bureau of Land Management archaeologist Steve Lanford has created a chronology from 1900 to 1963 based upon those cans. “These coffee cans show up often enough in their dumps to give us good information,” he explained.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, November 4, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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