The 1,800-year-old tomb of a general and his wife has been excavated in Xiangyang, China. The general is thought to have served under Cao Cao and his son, Cao Pi, during the beginning of the Three Kingdoms period. The two bodies had been placed in wooden coffins, and set within the multi-roomed tomb, along with weapons, a life-sized bronze horse, a bronze mirror, a model of a two-storied house made of pottery, gold and silver disks, crystal and agate beads, and gold jewelry. Animal figurines include a finely detailed jade pig and a barking dog made of pottery.

The Minnesota Historical Society has handed over thousands of artifacts to the Bois Forte Band of Chippewa and the Bois Forte Heritage Museum. The more than 7,000 objects were excavated without the permission of tribal members from the Nett Lake village site, which is now part of the museum. The artifacts range in age from 800 to 3,000 years old. “Standards have changed over the years,” explained head of archaeology for the Minnesota Historical Society, Pat Emerson. The Bois Forte Heritage Museum has also recovered items from tribal lands that had been held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, the Peabody Museum at Harvard University, and the Science Museum of Minnesota.

Construction work in a village on the Bulgarian coast of the Black Sea broke open a second-century tomb built for veterans of Rome’s eighth legion of Augustus. The tomb contained gold medallions and jewelry, a needle, beads, and scrapers.

The harbor of the ancient city of Akko, or Acre, has been discovered near its southern seawall by archaeologists from the Israel Antiquities Authority. This port is thought to have been the most important in Israel during the Hellenistic period. Stones with holes that were used to moor boats 2,300 years ago confirmed that the site was a harbor and not a large building. Pottery imported from islands in the Aegean Sea and other Mediterranean ports was also found. “For the first time, parts of the harbor are being discovered that are adjacent to the ancient shoreline and the Hellenistic city. Unfortunately, parts of the quay continue beneath the Ottoman city wall – parts that we will probably not be able to excavate in the future,” said Kobi Sharvit, director of the Authority’s Marine Unit.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, July 17, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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