There’s evidence of arrowhead technology in South Africa that is at least 60,000 years old, according to Marlize Lombard of the University of Johannesburg. “The invention of the bow and arrow used to be closely linked to the late Upper Paleolithic (Stone Age) in Europe,” she added.

More than 1,000 human bones have been found in the Tomb of the Otters in Orkney. The bones could help archaeologists figure out how long the Neolithic tomb was in use. “This gives us a really good indication of what to expect in the tomb’s other cells and an opportunity to study the people who lived and died in Orkney so many years ago,” said Dan Lee of the Orkney Research Center for Archaeology.

At Israel’s necropolis of Beit She’arim, archaeologists are recording the ancient graffiti left by Jews of the first and second centuries. “They were grapho-maniacal,” said Jonathan Price of Tel Aviv University. Be sure to view all 16 of the photographs that accompany this article at NPR.

Erosion, extreme heat, and salty soil threaten the Sumerian capital of Ur, located in modern southern Iraq. But archaeologists have been reluctant to return to the war-torn region. “It is crucial to show that foreign missions are overcoming fears and restarting missions,” said Franco d’Agostino of Rome’s Sapienza University.

Wind and water threaten historic sites in Iceland.

Michael Carter of Canada’s Brock University offers an explanation for an enigmatic inscription on a gladiator’s tombstone that was discovered in Turkey 100 years ago.

Readers of Fox News guessed what an object known as a Roman dodecahedron might have been in the ancient world.

Here’s more information on the recent announcement from North Carolina’s Office of Archives and History about the shipwreck identified as the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, June 20, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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