Andreas Vött of Johannes Gutenberg University has studied sediments from Olympia, and he’s concluded that a series of tsunamis destroyed the ancient home of the Olympic Games, rather than an earthquake. “In earlier times, Olympia was not 22 kilometers (13.6 miles) away from the sea as it is today. Back then, the coastline was located eight or perhaps even more kilometers further inland,” he explained.

A second lead sarcophagus has been found in Italy’s Lazio region by a team from the University of Michigan.

Researchers from Mexico’s National Anthropology and History Institute report that a sixteenth-century Chinese bronze artifact has been discovered off the Pacific coast of Baja California. The incense burner lid came from a wrecked Spanish galleon that had set sail from Manila.

An effort to stabilize the banks of Moccasin Bend on the Tennessee River has led an American Indian group to claim that burials have been desecrated. Park Service officials say the damage was caused by recent storms, erosion, and looting. “We found these things because this project was occurring. It wasn’t a result of that [work]. And this whole project…is intended to protect against this kind of thing happening in the future,” said Jim Szyjkowski of Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

Thirty bronze coins featuring the Greek god Apollo have been unearthed in Bulgaria, near the Black Sea. The coins date to the fourth and third centuries B.C.  And at the subway construction project in Sofia, Bulgarian archaeologists are excavating several small, medieval Christian churches.

Nicola Stern of La Trobe University will begin a new research project at Australia’s Mungo National Park. “We know surprisingly little about how people actually lived in this landscape over 45,000 years – and that’s really what I’m trying to document,” she said.

Volunteers have been actively involved in the excavation of the homes of two steamboat captains who lived in Pennsylvania’s Monongahela Valley in the nineteenth century. The digs have been led by Marc Henshaw of Michigan Technological University.

Last week, the U.S. returned another batch of artifacts to Iraq, including an ancient bead necklace recovered from an auction house, and terra cotta pottery and plaques.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, July 13, 2011. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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