Fifty human skulls have been unearthed in Mexico City at the Templo Mayor. Five of the skulls had been pierced, indicating that they had been hung on a rack before they had been buried beneath a sacrificial stone. The rest of the skulls were on found on top of the stone. Raul Barrera of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History thinks that the skulls, which belonged to both men and women, could have been exhumed from other sites and reburied at the Aztec temple. “It provides rather novel information on the use and reuse of skulls for ritual events at the Templo Mayor,” commented Susan Gillespie of the University of Florida.

Jose Huchim of Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History says that watchtowers at the ceremonial ball court at Chichen Itza were used to observe equinoxes and solstices. The towers have been reconstructed based upon their foundations, which remain. Each structure had a small slit running through it, and the reconstructions show that the sun shone through the openings at the winter solstice and formed light patterns at the equinox. The watchtowers may have been used to time the ball games or agricultural seasons.

Madain Saleh is the first Saudi archaeological site to be included on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Its necropolis was carved from the desert sandstone by the Nabataeans in the second century B.C. They accumulated their wealth by dominating the incense and spice routes until their civilization collapsed under the Romans in 106 A.D. A team of Saudi and French archaeologists are investigating the 111 tombs carved from the rock, the wells and hydraulic systems, and cave drawings. Only 40,000 visitors toured the site last year, most of them Saudis and foreign residents, but the Saudi government is beginning to relax the restrictions for permission to visit the pre-Islamic site.

Thousands of artifacts dating as far back as 6,000 years ago have been discovered in British Columbia. In addition to arrowheads, spear points, and hammer stones, archaeologists have uncovered what may have been a fishing net make of flat, notched rocks that once held a net. “Being able to do a project at this level of detail gives us a lot of data we can start to cross-reference and correlate with other information and maybe start to answer more in-depth questions about what people were doing here 4,000 or 5,000 years ago,” said archaeologist Clinton Coates.

The Ness of Brodgar in Scotland’s Orkney Islands holds a huge Neolithic temple complex “that is without parallel in western Europe,” according to Nick Card of the Orkney Research Center for Archaeology. Its dozen temples were connected by walkways and protected by giant, finely crafted walls. “The place seems to have been in use for a thousand years, with building going on all the time,” he said. Excavations have also uncovered painted walls, hearths, and broken stone mace heads. Card adds that early farmers made the first grooved pottery at the Ness of Brodgar, along with the first stone henges. The temple complex seems to have been abandoned in 2300 B.C. after a large feast, when more than 600 cattle were slaughtered.

Police in Thailand working near the border with Cambodia recovered five ancient Khmer statues after pursuing a truck that refused to stop for a search. The statues, which are estimated to be between 1,200 and 2,000 years old, were found in sacks of fertilizer on the truck. The statues were reportedly going to be delivered to an investor in Bangkok who planned to sell them to tourists.

In London, archaeologists have uncovered two wooden stakes bearing metal cut marks that may have been part of a Bronze Age pathway. They were probably part of a network of timber pathways that had been constructed in the area to make traveling through the wetlands easier for hunters. This particular pathway runs along the planned route of a new tunnel and rail link.

Three sites in Spain’s Pinilla del Valle could provide archaeologists with more information about Neanderthals. Excavations so far have uncovered stone tools, nine Neanderthal teeth from individuals that may have been eaten by hyenas, remains of fires, and fossils of aurochs, rhinoceros, and fallow deer. They’ve also found the burial of a small child and a piece of coal that will provide a sample for precise dating. “We are convinced that it was an intentional deposition of the girl’s body; perhaps there were more burials at Neanderthal sites but they were not recognized as such,” said Enrique Baquedano of the Regional Archaeology Museum in Madrid.

When did hominids learn to create fire, control it, and begin cooking? Some scientists argue that Homo erectus began cooking 1.8 million years ago, as evidenced by their smaller jaws and teeth, shorter intestinal tracts, and larger brains than their ancestors. Evidence of campfires has been found at Neanderthal sites dating to 400,000 years ago. But did these Neanderthals start those fires, or did they harness fires that started naturally? Others scientists think that only modern humans used fire, beginning just 12,000 years ago. “I suspect that genetics will help. If we can pin down the genes underlying the adaptation to cooked food, we may be able to date the control of fire close enough to settle the big question,” said Dennis Sandgathe of Simon Fraser University.