At the site of Perperikon, famous Bulgarian archaeologist Nikolay Ovcharov has unearthed a cache of gold and silver coins from the medieval period. The coins had probably been buried during the Ottoman invasion. Perperikon dates to the Thracian period and is known for its citadel and churches.

Heavy rains uncovered Maori bones at a public park near New Zealand’s Waihi Beach. The local government is working to correct the erosion problem and rebury the human remains. “Our intention is to get the matter resolved and reinstate the site to make it safe for the public and to give these koiwithe proper respect,” explained Peter Watson of the Western Bay of Plenty District Council.

China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang, created a sprawling tomb complex for himself before he died in 210 B.C. Ancient sources indicate that the tomb was encircled with rivers of liquid mercury, which was thought to bestow immortality. The tomb is also said to contain all of the objects he would need in the afterlife, in addition to clay reproductions of his armies, concubines, administrators, and servants. Only soldiers from his terra cotta armies have been excavated so far. Tests indicate that the soil around the tomb is contaminated with high levels of mercury. Scientists and China’s government are waiting for the right time to open the vast tomb. This photo gallery features pictures of the terra cotta warriors unearthed at the first emperor’s tomb.

The Taliban destroyed Afghanistan’s Bamiyan Buddhas as religious idols in 2001. Now, a group of archaeological conservationists known as the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) wants to rebuild them, despite UNESCO’s decision that there wasn’t enough left of the larger statue to make that possible. Others argue that the money would be better spent developing infrastructure for the region and protecting culture heritage resources that haven’t been intentionally damaged. “Give it time and illicit treasure hunting, earthquakes, and old-fashioned freeze-thaw action will destroy more than the most single-minded iconoclast could ever dream of,” said Llewelyn Morgan, who has written a history of the sculptures.

Bulgarian archaeologists investigating the town of Tsarevo on the southern Black Sea coast have discovered a Thracian settlement dating to the fourth or fifth century B.C. This suggests that the area was settled 2,500 years earlier than previously thought.

New information on the length of an average generation for gorillas and chimpanzees has made it possible for scientists to recalculate the split between the ancestors of modern humans and apes. Molecular anthropologist Linda Vigilant of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology used data from genome sequencing to estimate the number of mutations per generation, and then used the new information on the length of an average generation to derive the yearly mutation rates. She adds that the resulting number would be more accurate than the current estimate of between four and six million years ago, which is based upon estimated mutation rates using fossils from other primate species. The new numbers suggest that the ancestors of humans and chimps split at least seven to eight million years ago, and the split from the ancestors of gorillas happened between eight and 19 million years ago. But have mutation rates remained constant?