An analysis of the calcified plaque left behind on Neanderthal teeth from northern Spain suggests that they ate a diet rich in roasted plants. Some of the compounds that were identified came from bitter-tasting plants that could have been used as medicines. Very few lipids or proteins from meat were found. “The idea that Neanderthals were largely meat-eaters has been hard for me to accept given their membership in a mainly vegetarian clade,” commented Richard Wrangham of Harvard University.

A separate study of Neanderthal skeletons investigated the possible causes for the occasional over-development of their right arm bones. It had been thought that such strong right arms were the result of hunting with spears, but Colin Shaw of Cambridge University thinks that scraping hides with rocks in order to create warm clothing could be responsible. “The skeletal remains suggest that Neanderthals were doing something intense or repetitive, or both, that had a significant role in their lives. If it was hunting, it was taking up a great deal of their time. Not surprisingly, that theory has colored our view of Neanderthal ‘the hunter,’” he explained.

In Pakistan, the local government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is petitioning for the possession of the Gandhara artifacts seized from a smuggler’s truck in Karachi two weeks ago. Gandhara objects are known to originate in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in Afghanistan. Archaeologists are examining the seized items in an effort to determine their origins and authenticity. Their official report is due next week.

The excavation of a Chumash village at a Santa Barbara, California, construction site revealed shell beads, glass beads and bead drills obtained from Spanish colonists, arrow tips, fish hooks, stone tools, a bone hairpiece, and animal remains, including a whale vertebra that archaeologist Lynn Gamble thinks may have been used as a stool. Digging stopped when human remains were uncovered.

A North Carolina gem and mineral shop has handed over to Japan a skull from its museum section. The skull, which is thought to have belonged to a Japanese soldier, was said to have been collected in the field by an American soldier after the Battle of the Solomon Islands during World War II. An anonymous visitor to the shop alerted the Japanese Embassy when she spotted it. “We appreciate that you are cooperating to return the remains to Japan,” said the Deputy Consul General Joji Miyamori, who came to North Carolina to retrieve the remains.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, July 19, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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