Would we lie?
Egyptian tombs reveal a complex society
Twenty previously unexcavated tombs, which are several hundred years older than the great pyramids of Giza, are shedding light on the first complex societies on Earth.
Archaeologists have found ancient Egyptians up to 5000 years old curled up in the foetal position in what would have been ancient Egypt's first capital city, Memphis.
Dr Christiana Kohler of the Australian Centre for Egyptology at Sydney's Macquarie University and team unearthed the tombs during a recent excavation at Helwan, 25 kilometres south of Cairo.
"It's a veritable city of dead," said Kohler of the Helwan necropolis, which consists of 100 hectares of 10,000 tombs from Egypt's first and second dynasties.
Rock ’face’ mystery baffles experts
Archaeologists have found a trio of extraordinary stone carvings while charting the phenomenon of prehistoric rock markings in Northumberland, close to the Scottish border in the United Kingdom.
Records and examples of over 950 prehistoric rock art panels exist in Northumberland, which are of the traditional ’cup and ring’ variety, with a typical specimen featuring a series of cups and concentric circles pecked into sandstone outcrops and boulders.
However, archaeologists at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, who are studying prehistoric rock carvings, are baffled by three unusual markings found carved into rocks at separate locations.
Update: More here.
Huge Etruscan Road Brought to Light
A plain in Tuscany destined to become a dump has turned out to be an archaeologist's dream, revealing the biggest Etruscan road ever found.
Digging in Capannori, near Lucca, archaeologist Michelangelo Zecchini has uncovered startling evidence of an Etruscan "highway" which presumably linked Etruscan Pisa, on the Tyrrhenian coast, to the Adriatic port of Spina.
Passing through Bologna, the ancient "two-sea highway" runs just a few meters away from today's modern highway which links Florence to the Tyrrhenian coast.
"It all started with the discovery of four big stones. I realized they could not lie in an alluvial plain by chance. As we dug a sample area, we found a large road still bearing the ruts left by chariots 2,500 years ago," Zecchini told Discovery News.
Antiquities Market update Spanish Police Recover Ancient Mayan, Aztec Art Stolen from Nicaragua
Police in Spain have recovered more than 200 ancient Mayan and Aztec works of art that were stolen from Nicaragua.
Police say they confiscated the 228 pieces from two aid agency doctors in Madrid and Valencia. They say the items are worth about $1,700,000.
The Associated Press reports some of the objects, including necklaces, chalices and musical instruments, are more than 2,000 years old.
A Nicaraguan accused of trafficking the artifacts has been arrested. The doctors are under investigation.
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Cool web site alert Here's an interesting experience from National Geographic. It's an interactive section examining Inca bundle burials. It's got a short film documentary on the mummies and a virtual unwrapping of a bundle mummy.