The tombs of four ancient kings were destroyed by fire in Kampala, Uganda, sparking riots among the Buganda people and clashes with police. At least three people are dead. The Kasubi tombs were a UNESCO World Heritage Site.   BBC News offers photographs of the destruction. 

Segments of the sandstone gorge at the entrance to Jordan’s Nabataean city of Petra are at risk of collapsing. A rock has already fallen from the walls, and a crack has spurred the creation of an emergency committee to find a way to prevent another rock from falling. “The site is over 2,000 years old, it is very fragile,” said Fawwaz Khraysheh, committee head and director of Jordan’s Department of Antiquities.  

Leslie Cecil of Stephen F. Austin State University in Texas suggests that the minerals used to make “Maya Blue” pigment were widely mined, in addition to being traded, in an article for the Journal of Archaeological Science.  

Hadrian’s Wall was lit up by volunteers wielding torches this past weekend. “It’s magnificent,” commented tourist Matthias Fabian of the Netherlands.  

National Geographic has more information on the 51 headless Vikings unearthed in Weymouth, England.  

Excavation of a metro line in Sofia, Bulgaria, uncovered a twelfth-century church, other early medieval buildings, and graves.  

A polished and carved walrus tusk has been stolen from Sagamore Hill National Historic Site, the historic home of Theodore Roosevelt.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, March 17, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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