Europe's earliest farming site found

[Examiner]  The discovery of one of the oldest farming communities in Europe that used domesticated animals was reported by Susan Allen, a professor in the University of Cincinnati (UC) Department of Anthropology and Ilirjan Gjipali of the Albanian Institute of Archaeology. Vashtëmi, located in southeastern Albania, is one of the earliest known Early Neolithic farming sites ever discovered in Europe and dates to 6500 B.C.

Hidden from the Revolution: Russian treasure unearthed

[Antiques Trade Gazette]  Workers restoring an 18th century house in St Petersburg have unearthed an extraordinary cache of Tsarist-era artefacts once owned by one of Russia’s most prominent noble families.

American Chestnut Returns to New York City

[ScienceDaily]  The once-mighty American chestnut tree, which was virtually wiped out by a pathogenic fungus that arrived in New York City more than 100 years ago, will return April 18 to the area where it was first discovered in the Bronx.

1.5 million pages of ancient texts to be made accessible online

[Ars Technica] This week the University of Oxford and the Vatican announced a plan to collaborate in digitizing 1.5 million pages of rare and ancient texts, most dating from the 16th century or earlier....The digitized pages will include early printed books—called incunabula—from Rome and the surrounding area; Greek manuscripts including early church texts and works by Homer, Sophocles, Plato, Hippocrates; and Hebrew manuscripts from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Spitfires buried in Myanmar could be uncovered

[Radio New Zealand]   British and Myanmar authorities could work together to find 20 Spitfire fighter planes buried in Myanmar at the end of the World War II, officials say.

Denver-area's Lamb Spring archaeological dig could rewrite human history

[Denver Post]  Further excavation of Lamb Spring could show human activity between 13,000 and even 25,000 years ago, in which case "there would be a lot of rewriting of the peopling of North America."

Collapse of Antarctic Ice Sheet Linked to Ancient 'Mega Flood'

[Live Science]  Dramatic warming at the end of the last ice age produced an intense rise in sea level and a massive ice sheet collapse in the Antarctic. The sea level rise is known as Melt-Water Pulse 1A, and new research indicates it increased sea level by about 45 feet (14 meters) sometime between 14,650 and 14,310 years ago, during the same time as a period of rapid climate change known as the Bølling warming.

Secrets of the earliest Britons could be hidden in 5,000-year-old tomb

[UK Independent] Archaeologists have discovered the remains of a Neolithic portal dolmen, one of Western Europe's oldest ritual burial chambered monuments, in an isolated field in Wales.

Has robot unearthed Jesus tomb?

[Times of India]  Using a robotic arm equipped with a camera, archaeologists unearthed human bone boxes and the inscription in a 1st century Christian burial chamber beneath a tower block in Jerusalem. They believe that this is the proof of the site being the final resting place of Jesus.

Antibiotic resistant bacteria found in four million-year-old cave

[Global Post] Researchers said they discovered ancient bacteria resistant to both natural and synthetic antibiotics while investigating a 4-million-year-old cave in New Mexico.The finding, may have implications for both the understanding of drug resistance and ways of preventing it.

Viking-era 'piggy bank' yields silver treasure

[The Local]  A bronze, Viking-era "piggy-bank" containing thousands silver coins dating from the 11th century has been unearthed on the Baltic island of Gotland in what Swedish archaeologists have described as a "fantastic" treasure find.

"Breathtaking" Mummy Coffin Covers Seized in Israel

[Scientific American]  The confiscated wooden covers are adorned with hieroglyphics and highlight what is a seemingly vast black market for mummies.  The ancient covers are made of wood and adorned with "breathtaking decorations and paintings of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics," says the Israel Antiquities Authority.