Did volcanoes wipe out the Neanderthals? Russian anthropologist Liubov Golovanova says that volcanic dust deposits in a cave in the Caucasus suggest that an ecological catastrophe may have been to blame for their demise.

The seventeenth-century French ship La Belle, which was discovered in Matagorda Bay, will eventually be freeze dried at Texas A&M University. “The French wanted to put a colony [along the Mississippi River’s coast] to be in direct opposition to the Spanish,” explained Peter Fix of the Conservation Research Laboratory.  

Researchers from the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources will try to treat a dozen cannons still underwater at the site of the shipwreck thought to be the Queen Anne’s Revenge. “It’s imperative that we stop the damaging effects of salt water on these treasures,” said field director Chris Southerly.  

A burial mound that may have been used by the ancient Bulgars has been found beneath the medieval town of Pliska, Bulgaria, near the northern Black Sea coast.  

Bulgarian archaeologist Ivan Hristov has been excavating a Roman fortress and horse-changing station along a section of Roman road described as “a real highway of the antiquity.”  

Discovery News offers an aerial view of the Samaritan synagogue uncovered near the city of Beit Shean in Israel.  

Hundreds of people have donated money to help purchase a rare Roman parade helmet for the Tullie House museum in Carlisle, England. The bronze helmet was discovered by a young man with a metal detector and is due to be auctioned off next month. “We’re getting checks, children’s pocket money as well as lots of money donated on the Just Giving website and we’re also hoping that larger organizations can help us too,” said museum staffer Andrew MacKay.  

The Coast Guard is working with a private recovery team to try and find three men and the J2F-4 Grumman Duck biplane they were flying in 1942 when they were lost off the southeast coast of Greenland.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, September 21, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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