The burials of 11 people and 16 farm animals have been unearthed in northern Greece. “It is the first time that this strange custom is found at such a scale, and from this particular period of time, the late sixth century and early fifth century B.C.,” said archaeologist Georgia Karamitrou-Mentesidi.

The mud-brick walls of what is thought to be the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Peru have been uncovered in the northern coastal city of Piura. This first Spanish settlement became known as San Miguel. The church and its altar date to 1534.

The Inca used political alliances and ideology to conquer other groups more often than warfare, according to a study of war-related head injuries found on skeletons at Inca-controlled sites near Cuzco, Peru.

In Russia’s Altai Mountains, archaeologists have used a Microdrone md4-200 to take aerial photographs of a looted Scythian burial mound, or kurgan. “The 3-D model we created gives us the possibility to calculate the volume of the kurgan. With this volume and its precise dimensions, the original shape of the kurgan can be reconstructed,” said Marijn Hendrickx of the University of Ghent.

Dropping water levels at the Richland Chambers Reservoir in Corsicana, Texas, have exposed some 20 graves. Archaeologists think the site was a small cemetery for African Americans  that was mainly used during the nineteenth century.

Christopher Watts of the Royal Ontario Museum and Christine White and Fred Longstaffe of the University of Western Ontario analyzed the carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen isotopes present in the tooth enamel of ten individuals whose remains were excavated from the Krieger site in 1949. Although archaeologists had found no evidence of substantial structures or agriculture, the new test results suggest that the Krieger residents consumed plenty of maize.

Ted Banning of the University of Toronto thinks that the monumental buildings in Gobekli, Turkey, could have been used as residences for a large population. It has been argued that the buildings represent the world’s oldest temples.

Archaeologists and volunteers will excavate a footpath in southern England. “There are strong reasons to suggest there is a Roman road buried here because the path is on a land boundary between different estates,” explained project officer Ben Buxton.

Here’s more information on the Roman fort discovered at a construction site in Camelon, Scotland.

The two pieces of Weary Herakles have been reunited in Antalya, Turkey, where the complete statue was unveiled over the weekend.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, October 11, 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.