In Beirut, protesters are demanding the resignation of Lebanon’s current Culture Minister, Gaby Layyoun, who allowed an archaeological site to be destroyed so that a skyscraper could be built. Under the previous culture minister, the site was said to be a Phoenician port and received the protection offered by law. “There is a conviction that there is no Phoenician port in Minet al-Hosn,” Layyoun told reporters.

An excavation at the Profen site, which is located near Leipzig, Germany, has uncovered a grave containing more than 100 dog teeth arranged in a pattern resembling the outer flap of a modern handbag. “Over the years the leather or fabric disappeared, and all that’s left is the teeth,” said Susanne Friederich of the Sachsen-Anhalt State Archaeology and Preservation Office. Dog teeth and mussel shells were used as decoration used by Stone Age peoples in Europe, but this is the first time archaeologists have uncovered direct evidence of such a bag.

It had been thought that hunter-gatherers remained in isolated groups, but a new genetic study of skeletons from the Mesolithic period suggests that bands of hunter-gatherers across Europe were highly mobile and had contact with each other. Archaeological evidence, such as red deer teeth used as ornaments, could also indicate cultural similarities between Mesolithic peoples. Scientists caution, however, that the sample set of Mesolithic skeletons that was tested is small, and further research is necessary.

Australopithecus sediba ate bark, leaves, fruit, and wood, according to a new study of teeth from two individuals. Dental wear, carbon isotopes, and plant fragments in dental tartar were all examined. “We’ve for the first time been able to put together three quite different methods for reconstructing diet and gotten one cohesive picture of the diet of this ancient species and that picture is really quite different from what we’ve seen in other hominins,” said Amanda Henry of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig.

The Bureau of Land Management conducted an undercover investigation in the Four Corners region that ended in 2009 with the arrest of two dozen people, most of whom were charged with illegal artifact trafficking. Most of those arrests resulted in guilty pleas and probation, but one man, Dr. James Redd, committed suicide the day after his arrest by more than 100 federal agents. U.S. District Court Judge Ted Stewart wrote that “the overwhelming show of force alleged was a serious intrusion into Dr. Redd’s privacy, and it is not clear to the court that a governmental interest justified its use.” Other claims made by Redd’s estate have been dismissed.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, June 28, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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