A mathematical review of the Codex Vergara, a census conducted by the Acolhua-Aztecs in the mid-1500s, shows that the Aztec surveyors were remarkably accurate even without the use of trigonometry.

Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University and Boaz Zissu of Bar Ilan University examined a looted ossuary confiscated by the Israel Antiquities Authority three years ago. They found the stone bone box and its inscription to be authentic. It reads, “Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphus, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri.”

This summer, Parks Canada archaeologists continued to look for the lost ships of the Franklin Expedition, the HMS Erebus and the HMS Terror, but without any luck.

Excavations at the Abyssinian Meeting House in Portland, Maine, uncovered nineteenth-century artifacts such as toys, slate pencils, an inkwell, and marbles. Dishes and pieces of glass were also found. “This is the third oldest African meeting house,” said archaeologist Martha E. Pinello.

A silver coin and a fragment of high-status tile have been found at the site of a former palace of Henry VIII. The tile dates to the fourteenth century, indicating that an important manor house stood on the site before  Elsyng Palace  was built. The coin bears an image of the king’s face.

Here’s more information about Britain’s Yewden Villa, where the remains of 97 newborn babies were excavated in 1912.

At the Mabuni Hantabaru site in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture, archaeologists have found two 3,000 to 4,000-year-old forearm bones that belonged to unusually tall men. “It may have been a result of individual variation, or the bones may have been from someone outside the Mabuni group. We want to see if there are any other instances of the bones of tall people being found in the prefecture,” explained Takayuki Matsushita, honorary head of the Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum.

An examination of the bones of Farinelli, the famous eighteenth-century castrato, revealed hormone-related pathologies.

Masks worn by actors have been unearthed at the theater in the ancient city of Myra, which is located on the southern coast of Turkey. Excavators also found a family monument at the site.

Here’s an update on the excavation of one of the 35 well-preserved shipwrecks at Theodosius, a fourth-century port found beneath modern Istanbul. The ship had been loaded with amphorae filled with fruits, nuts, olives, and pine cones.

A decorative frieze depicting Zeus and Hera has been removed from the Parthenon and moved to the new Acropolis Museum in Athens. A copy will be put in its place. Five additional original metopes will be moved for safe-keeping.

In West Virginia, a man pleaded guilty to unauthorized excavation of a rock shelter at New River Gorge National River Park.

A tea set and a pair of glasses are among the artifacts recovered at the Montreal site of Canada’s first permanent parliament. The building was destroyed by fire in 1849.

Horses were domesticated 9,000 years ago on the Arabian Peninsula, claims an announcement made by the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities.

Are you interested in King Arthur legends? An earthwork at Scotland’s Stirling Castle has been examined with remote-sensing technologies by researchers from Glasgow University, the Stirling Local Historical Society, and the Stirling Field and Archaeological Society. Known as the King’s Knot, most of the earthwork dates to the seventeenth century, but the survey revealed it had been built upon an older, round feature.