A cache of ostrich eggshells etched with geometric patterns has been uncovered in South Africa. The shells date to about 60,000 years ago. “The diversity of design motifs is impressive. It is an important new addition to the corpus of evidence for the development of modern human symbolic and artistic expression in Africa,” explained Stanley Ambrose of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.  See close-ups of the eggshells at Wired Science.

Archaeologists are digging up a late nineteenth-century Wild West town in Sandpoint, Idaho, complete with Chinatown, saloon, brothel, jeweler, blacksmith, and courthouse jail. Prehistoric artifacts will also be removed before highway construction begins.  

The public has contributed some £500,000 to the campaign to keep the Staffordshire Hoard in England’s West Midlands.  

Most of the 600 terracotta horses discovered in the tomb of Qinshihuang were modeled after geldings, according to Yuan Jing, an archaeologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.  

On the island of Ilheu de Pontinha, archaeologist Bryn Walters is said to have found a large nail, along with three skeletons and three swords, one of which is inscribed with the cross of the Knights Templar. The nail is thought to have been revered by the Knights as a holy relic of Christ’s crucifixion.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, March 2, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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