When did early humans master fire? A new survey of archaeological sites in Europe suggests that hominins may have survived the cold climate for 600,000 years without fire. “We assumed fire had to be an element of the human toolkit to survive northern-latitude winters,” said Francesco d’Errico of the University of Bordeaux. 

A team of scientists will study the thousands of sets of human remains recovered from Egypt’s Lower Nubia region when the Lower Aswan Dam was enlarged in the early twentieth century, but first they will review the work done by George Reisner and Grafton Elliot Smith. “The archives give us clues as to where the material has gone, how and why it went to particular countries and institutions, what the dispersal patterns were. We also want to know about any tests that have been done with them, and find what information we can about material or remains that haven’t survived,” said Rosalie David of the University of Manchester. 

The New York Times has more information about Donny George, who played a key role in recovering artifacts that were stolen from Iraq’s National Museum in 2003. Dr. George died suddenly last Friday. 

There’s also more on the pre-Roman road unearthed in western England.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, March 15, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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