A new section of the Inca Trail has been found in Cusco, Peru, that connected the Chakiqocha part of the trail to the Qantupata archaeological site. The section is nearly three miles long, and was built with a retaining wall, drainage channels, and a paved platform. Some of this section of the trail has been damaged by landslides and the growth of vegetation.

Members of the Arab community in Timbuktu have formed an armed group to protect the tombs of ancient Muslim saints from members of Ansar Dine (Defenders of the Faith). Ansar Dine has claimed responsibility for the destruction of historic sites that its members say are forbidden by Islam.

A hoard of gold coins has been uncovered in Arsuf, Israel. The 1,000-year-old coins had been stored in a ceramic jar and hidden beneath a tile floor in a Crusader castle, where England’s King Richard I was victorious over the Muslim leader Saladin. The castle was later destroyed after a Muslim siege in 1265. “It is a rare find. We don’t have a lot of gold that had been circulated by the Crusaders,” said Oren Tal of Tel Aviv University.

X-ray imaging technology is being used to examine hoards of Roman coins found in England. Thousands of high-resolution images are assembled into 3D images of the coins before they are excavated and cleaned. “Excavating and cleaning just a single coin can take hours or even days, but this technology gives us the opportunity to examine and identify them quickly and without the need for conservation treatment at this stage. It also has potential for examining many other archaeological objects,” said Graeme Earl of the University of Southampton.

A fourth-century Christian tomb with multi-colored murals depicting the resurrection of Lazarus on two walls has been discovered in Bulgaria, at the necropolis of Philippopolis. The other two walls are decorated with Christian symbols. The burial was discovered during work on the infrastructure of the city of Plovdiv.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Wednesday, July 11, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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