The contents of a septic tank beneath an apartment building in Herculaneum have revealed much about the diet of the average Roman. “What we’ve found is a fantastically good snap shot of what the Romans were using in their kitchens, from pots and pans to glassware and broken cups,” said Andrew Wallace-Hadrill of the Herculaneum Conservation Project from the British School at Rome.

Did the early residents of what is now southern France brew beer? Laurent Bouby of the Centre de Bio-Archeologie et d’Ecology found traces of barley in ceramic vessels and on the floor of a dwelling near a hearth and oven.

Researchers from Northwestern University have recreated copper artifacts produced by the Mississippians of Cahokia some 600 years ago. “I am delighted that through the scientific process we were able to confirm some of the techniques and end some of the disputes about how the copper artifacts were made,” said anthropologist James Brown.

Scientists have been unable to confirm the identity of human remains recovered from a cemetery in Central Texas. Archival clues suggest that the grave belonged to Texas Ranger James Coryell, who was killed in 1837.

A team from the University of Maryland is excavating the Annapolis home of James Holliday, who was born a slave in 1809 and freed in 1819. Holliday worked as a messenger for the superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy, and he purchased the middle-class home in 1850.

Some kids in Wyoming thought they had found a piece of a dinosaur egg, but it turned out to be a piece of human skull. The authorities went back to the site and found other bones.

In this recording, Irving Finkel of the British Museum does his best to speak Akkadian, the language of ancient Mesopotamia.

Two archaeology-themed board games are reviewed in the “Geek Dad” column at Wired.com.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, June 14, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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