A mathematical review of the Codex Vergara, a census conducted by the Acolhua-Aztecs in the mid-1500s, shows that the Aztec surveyors were remarkably accurate even without the use of trigonometry.

Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University and Boaz Zissu of Bar Ilan University examined a looted ossuary confiscated by the Israel Antiquities Authority three years ago. They found the stone bone box and its inscription to be authentic. It reads, “Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphus, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri.”

This summer, Parks Canada archaeologists continued to look for the lost ships of the Franklin Expedition, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, but without any luck.

Excavations at the Abyssinian Meeting House in Portland, Maine, uncovered nineteenth-century artifacts such as toys, slate pencils, an inkwell, and marbles. Dishes and pieces of glass were also found. “This is the third oldest African meeting house,” said archaeologist Martha E. Pinello.

A silver coin and a fragment of high-status tile have been found at the site of a former palace of Henry VIII. The tile dates to the fourteenth century, indicating that an important manor house stood on the site before  Elsyng Palace  was built. The coin bears an image of the king’s face.

Here’s more information about Britain’s Yewden Villa, where the remains of 97 newborn babies were excavated in 1912.

At the Mabuni Hantabaru site in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, archaeologists have found two 3,000 to 4,000-year-old forearm bones that belonged to unusually tall men. “It may have been a result of individual variation, or the bones may have been from someone outside the Mabuni group. We want to see if there are any other instances of the bones of tall people being found in the prefecture,” explained Takayuki Matsushita, honorary head of the Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum.

An examination of the bones of Farinelli, the famous eighteenth-century castrato, revealed hormone-related pathologies.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, August 30, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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