Archaeologists face special challenges when trying to date the Palaeolithic site of Irikaitz, which is located in a geologically rare area in the Basque Country on the Iberian Peninsula. Last year, a pendant that may have been used to sharpen tools was found. It could be 25,000 years old.

Butchering marks have been found on mastodon bones at the Coats-Hines site in Cool Springs, Tennessee. The site is more than 14,000 years old.

Humayun’s Tomb in New Delhi is being restored using traditional methods by the Archaeological Survey of India and other agencies and foundations. The sixteenth-century tomb is surrounded by medieval Islamic monuments, a garden, and a village.

A small, 2,000-year-old clay seal has been unearthed in Jerusalem’s Old City. Ronny Reich of Haifa University says the seal is related to second Temple rituals.

In Norwich, Connecticut, archaeologists are looking for the grave of famed abolitionist David Ruggles, who was buried in his family’s plot in 1849. “According to the radar, there are clearly three unmarked graves there. Who they are will take some sleuthing. The only way to make a positive identification is by excavation,” said state archaeologist Nicholas Bellantoni.

Italy’s Institute of the Pathology of the Book specializes in conserving ancient and damaged books. “This interdisciplinary institute was the first or its kind in the world,” said Marina Bicchieri, head of the institute’s chemistry department.

This travel story in The New York Times will whisk you away to Ostia Antica, an ancient seaport of Rome. Artifacts from Ostia are housed in Rome at the Via Ostiense Museum.

Volunteers assisted archaeologists and local American Indians with the clearing of overgrowth from Indian Mounds Park in Quincy, Illinois. “It was an arduous process to measure, to see how they’ve changed. Even though they’re protected, natural factors take their toll,” said Dave Nolan of the Illinois State Archaeological Survey.

Striking workers closed the Athens Acropolis on Christmas Eve.“We are working people. We have seen our salaries greatly reduced because of the economic crisis and we can’t keep working without getting paid,” said Yannis Mavrikopoulos, president of the guards’ union.

Five ships dating from the 1500s to the 1700s have been unearthed in central Stockholm, where a naval shipyard was once located.

Researchers will excavate a shipwreck site in northern Lake Michigan to try to determine if it is the Griffin, which was built and sailed by French explorer Rene-Robert Sieur de La Salle. The Griffin was loaded with furs when it sank in 1679.