New radiocarbon dates at Grotte du Renne in central France suggest that its archaeological layers are so mixed up that ornaments and tools thought to be the work of Neanderthals could have been made by modern humans.

The youngest Neanderthal ever unearthed in northwest Europe was approximately 18 months old at the time of death, and was “large, sturdy, and toothy,” according to a study published in the Journal of Human Evolution. Two adults have also been found in the Belgian cave.  

People may have been baking flat bread as early as 30,000 years ago with a paste made from starchy roots and water, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Starch grains have been detected on grinding stones in Italy, Russia, and the Czech Republic.  

A third bronze ram has been discovered in the Mediterranean Sea, perhaps marking the site of the final battle of the first Punic War. “This particular naval battle was the ultimate, crushing defeat for the Carthaginians,” said Jeffrey G. Royal of the PRM Nautical Foundation.    

A new textbook has published an argument made by Gerardo Aldana of the University of California, Santa Barbara, that the Maya long count calendar will not end on December 21, 2012, but could be off by as many as 50 to 100 years.  

Entrepreneur Jeff Morgan founded Global Heritage Fund in order to send archaeologists and conservationists to restore heritage sites in developing countries and to train the locals to continue the work. “Global heritage sites can be the number one industry for many countries,” he explains.  

The Dead Sea Scrolls will be available online to everyone.  

Evidence of nineteenth-century prostitution was uncovered during Boston’s “Big Dig” in the early 1990s.

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

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