"Sensational" finds unearthed in Kazakhstan

[Caspionet]  A well-known Kazakh archaeologist Viktor Merz has made a new scientific discovery. On the shore of Lake Borly located about 100 kilometres from Pavlodar, his expedition came upon traces of an early settlement of an unknown archaeological culture. Ceramics with anthropomorphic motifs, darts, arrow tips, and other household items were among the finds serving as evidence that many thousands of years ago, the steppes of Kazakhstan were buzzing with life with an active cultural and intellectual exchange taking place. The actual discovery is a round-shaped ancient dwelling dating back to third millennium BC.

2000 year old Roman ship found nearly intact

[Discovery News]  An almost intact Roman ship has been found in the sea off the town on Varazze, some 18 miles from Genova, Italy. The ship, a navis oneraria, or merchant vessel, was located at a depth of about 200 feet thanks to a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) following tips from fishermen who had caught some jars in their nets.  The ship sank about 2,000 years ago on her trade route between Spain and central Italy with a full cargo of more than 200 amphorae. Test on some of the recovered jars revealed they contained pickled fish, grain, wine and oil.

New Fossils Indicate Early Branching of Human Family Tree

[NY Times]  Fossil by fossil, scientists over the last 40 years have suspected that their models for the more immediate human family tree — the single trunk, straight as a Ponderosa pine, up from Homo habilis to Homo erectus to Homo sapiens — were oversimplified. The day for that serious revision may be at hand. The discovery of three new fossil specimens, announced Wednesday, is the most compelling evidence yet for multiple lines of evolution in our own genus, Homo, scientists said. The fossils showed that there were at least two contemporary Homo species, in addition to Homo erectus, living in East Africa as early as two million years ago.

Volcano blast led to thousands of deaths in London in 1258, archaeologists find

[Medievalists.net]  A report to be released tomorrow by the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) will reveal that a mass burial on the site of the Augustinian priory and hospital of St Mary Spital had thousands of victims from a famine that occurred in 1258. The famine was caused by a volcanic blast from the other side of the world, which sent vast amount of ash into the atmosphere and dropped world temperatures.

Nazi war criminals could have lived out their lives in New Zealand

[NZ Herald]  A former police detective who led a 1992 investigation to track down former Nazi collaborators, Wayne Stringer,  spent a year investigating 47 people who arrived in New Zealand as "displaced" people from former Nazi-occupied countries after World War II and were suspected war criminals.

Mexican experts find hundreds of bones piled around skeleton in unprecedented Aztec burial

[Washington Post]  Mexican archaeologists say they have found an unprecedented human burial in which the skeleton of a young woman is surrounded by piles of 1,789 human bones in Mexico City’s Templo Mayor. Researchers found the burial about five meters (15 feet) below the surface, next to the remains of what may have been a “sacred tree” at one edge of the plaza, the most sacred site of the Aztec capital.

Letter to Winston Churchill May Contain First Known Use of ‘OMG’

[New York Magazine]  Letters of Note curator Shaun Usher has pointed out what might be the first known usage of O.M.G., in a September 1917 missive from British admiral John Arbuthnot "Jacky" Fisher (or Lord Fisher) to Sir Winston Churchill. In a letter to Churchill about some "utterly [upsetting]" World War I–era newspaper headlines, Fisher wrote, "I hear that a new order of Knighthood is on the tapis — O.M.G (Oh! My! God!)— Shower it on the Admiralty!!"

Robot and unmanned helicopter to search for pirate treasure

[Daily Mail]  Shaun Whitehead is heading up an archaeological expedition to try to uncover treasure buried on the Pacific island of Cocos worth an estimated £160million. The plunder could contain 113 gold religious statues, 200 chests of jewels, 273 swords with jewelled hilts, 1,000 diamonds, solid gold crowns, 150 chalices and hundreds of gold and silver bars.

Have archaeologists discovered lost Egyptian pyramids using Google Earth?

[io9]  Satellite archaeologist Angela Micol believes she may have stumbled upon two previously unidentified pyramid structures by using Google Earth. Located in Egypt, the sites contain distinct features and orientations that definitely suggest the potential presence of pyramids — a prospect that has local archaeologists eager to check it out.

Possible da Vinci painting found in Scottish farmhouse; could be worth $150 million

[Yahoo News]  Fiona McLaren, 59, had kept an old painting in her Scottish farmhouse for decades. She reportedly didn't think much of the painting, which had been given to her as a gift by her father. But after she finally decided to have the painting appraised, some experts are speculating that it may in fact be a 500-year-old painting by Leonardo da Vinci and potentially worth more than $150 million.

Ancient bridge unearthed in China

[UPI]   A 2,000-year-old wooden bridge found in Shaanxi province, home of the famous Terracotta Army, may have been the world's biggest at that time, scientists say.Remnants of the bridge's piers were unearthed in a suburb of Xi'an, the province's capital, China's state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. The bridge is estimated to have been almost 1,000 feet long and 65 feet wide,

2000 year old roman shipwreck discovered off Italian coast

[BBC]  Divers searching off Italy's northeastern coast have discovered the wreck of a trade ship believed to have sunk there about two thousand years ago. The search followed a tip-off from local fishermen. The divers say the vessel is remarkably well preserved.

Medieval treasure found on Swedish island

[UPI]  More than 600 pieces of medieval silver coins have been unearthed on the Swedish island of Gotland, officials said. The coins were discovered Monday as a landowner was moving soil on his property, The Local.se reported. "This is an amazing find. It's unbelievable that treasures of this scale exist here on Gotland," Marie Louise Hellquist of Gotland's County Administrative Board said.

DNA helps solve a centuries old mystery

[BBC]    DNA mapping has shed light on a 260-year-old mystery of the origins of a child shipwrecked on Anglesey, who helped shape medical history. The boy of seven or eight, who could not speak English or Welsh, washed up on the north Wales coast with his brother between 1743 and 1745. Named Evan Thomas, he was adopted by a doctor and went on to show bone setting skills never seen before in the UK.