Anatomically modern humans living is southeastern Europe 32,000 years ago wore shell and mammoth jewelry and may have performed post-mortem rites on human corpses. “Through our work in progress, some of the expected results could help to better understand the transition period of late Neanderthal and early Homo sapiens settlements in Europe,” said Stephane Pean of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.

The bones of six sacrificed humans have been found in a cenote at the Maya site of Chichén Itzá in Mexico. Archaeologist Guellermo Anda thinks the ritual killing was intended to appease the Maya rain god, Chaak, during a time of drought.

This month marks 100 years since American explorer Hiram Bingham arrived at Machu Picchu. Historical records show that at least two Germans, a Briton, a Frenchman, and many Peruvians knew about the Inca citadel, but Bingham is remembered for putting it on the map, and transporting 44,000 artifacts to Yale University.

Archaeologists have returned to the site of a 3,000-year-old house in Tel Shikmona, Israel. “We had seen the structure in the old photographs and were sorry that such a rarely preserved finding had disappeared due to neglect. We were not even sure that we would be able to find it again,” said Shay Bar and Michael Eisenberg of the University of Haifa.

A Roman basilica has been uncovered in Egypt’s port city of Alexandria.

What is being called the largest Christian church along Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast has been excavated by a team of archaeologists from the National Archaeology Institute of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. The monastery church dates to the last days of the Byzantine Empire.

Jordan has updated its computerized system for cataloguing more than 9,000 archaeological sites and artifacts, with assistance from the Getty Conservation Institute and the World Monuments Fund. A similar program is under development for Iraq’s cultural heritage sites.

A student working at Bamburgh Castle in Northumberland, England, discovered a gold ornament dating to 800 A.D. “I think everyone was absolutely over the moon, the students were all very excited,” said Graeme Young, director of the project.

The trial of three men charged with defacing rock art in Idaho’s Red Elk Rock Shelter has been delayed for a third time.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, July 7, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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