In Costa Rica, archaeologists have excavated an 800-year-old funeral complex made from river stones that contained 26 sets of human bones placed in baskets. They also found stone and ceramic artifacts.

A draft of an audit report on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act office, conducted by the US Government Accountability Office, reportedly indicates that inadequate resources and poor record keeping have delayed repatriations and made it harder to make decisions on difficult cases. In addition, there were problems in the selection of people for the decision making committee, according to the document. “It was clear NAGPRA staff wanted to prevent strong advocates for science as professional organization representatives,” said Lynne Goldstein of Michigan State University. The report also examines how government agencies have complied with NAGPRA.  

The Associated Foreign Press has picked up on the discovery of a Sican tomb in the Lambayeque region northern Peru.  

Excavations beneath the Palace of Fine Arts in Mexico City revealed ten graves and some 50 artifacts from a pre-Columbian settlement, including figurines, pots, whistles, and jewelry. Archaeologists also uncovered features and ceramics from the colonial period.  

New computer models of the 2,000-year-old ceremonial site in Ohio known as “wooden Stonehenge” suggest that the Moorehead Circle may have more in common with Stonehenge than previously thought. “This was an elaborate construction. All the effort that went into constructing it suggests it was the ceremonial focus of Fort Ancient for a time,” said Robert Riordan of Wright State University.  

The chemistry of one of the Dead Sea Scrolls matches that of the very salty water of the Dead Sea, located near the area of Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. “Our study focused on the parchment, we still don’t know where the scroll was written. We are now planning to analyze the ink,” said Italian physicist Giuseppe Pappalardo, who developed the technology used to test the sample.   

Amateur archaeologist Paul Nevin has studied the images carved into the rocks of the Susquehanna River in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, for 25 years. He and others are involved in a “neighborhood watch” to keep the rock art safe from vandals.  

Part of a third-century marble statue of a boar hunt has been found at a Roman imperial palace in Serbia. The missing piece may have depicted Diana, goddess of the hunt, on horseback.  

The eighteenth-century ship that turned up at Ground Zero will be dismantled and moved. The work will begin next Monday.

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

Comments posted here do not represent the views or policies of the Archaeological Institute of America.