New radiocarbon dates for Neanderthal bones unearthed in Russia indicate that they are at least 10,000 years older than previously thought. The dates are the result of a new method to remove contamination that was developed by Thomas F.G. Higham of Oxford University. Further statistical analysis of other Neanderthal sites in Europe suggests that Neanderthals and modern humans had only a small window of time for contact.

Archaeologists investigating caves in northern Spain recently spotted 25,000-year-old paintings of horses and human hands. The Montreal Gazette has published an enhanced image of one of the horses.

Here’s another article about Madinet Madi, site of a Middle Kingdom temple in Egypt’s Fayoum region. The temple was dedicated to the cobra-headed goddess Renenutet, and the crocodile-headed god Sobek of Scedet. Edda Bresciani of Pisa University has uncovered evidence of a crocodile nursery, where the animals were raised and eventually killed, embalmed, and sold to pilgrims.

CNN features biographical information about Sada Mire, Somaliland’s first archaeologist, and her identical twin sister, physician Sohur Mire. In 2007, Sada Mire discovered 5,000-year-old rock art at Dhambalin, a sandstone shelter near the Red Sea.

Restoration work at a Roman stadium in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

Three sites in Costa Rica hint at what life was like before the arrival of the Spanish in 1502.

Is it possible to preserve a space suit for future generations?

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, May 10, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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