'Ancient humans' used toothpicks

[BBC]  A team studied hominid jaws from the Dmanisi Republic of Georgia - the earliest evidence of primitive humans outside Africa. They also found evidence of gum disease caused by repeated use of what must have been a basic toothpick.

Bronze Age Sundial Found In Ukraine May Be Oldest Of Its Kind

[Huffington Post] The sundial may have marked the final resting place of a young man sacrificed or otherwise marked as a messenger to the gods or ancestors, said study researcher Larisa Vodolazhskaya of the Archaeoastronomical Research Center at Southern Federal University in Russia.

Archaeology excavation discovers 2700 year old Greek Portico

[Heritage Daily]  “Porticos are well known from the Hellenistic period, from the 3rd to 1st century BC, but earlier examples are extremely rare. The one from Argilos is the oldest example to date from northern Greece and is truly unique,” said Jacques Perreault, who is a specialist of the Greek Archaic period (7th and 6th centuries BC.)

Secrets of evolution lie beneath Scotland’s soil

[The Scotsman]   There are a number of big questions in palaeontology, such as where and under what conditions did life first evolve; what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs; and what were the detailed steps in our own evolution? But one question has stood out for many years as a mystery: what did the earliest vertebrates (animals with backbones) look like, and under what conditions did they emerge on wto land?

In Bolivia, Archeologists Find 1,500-Year-Old Bones And Skulls In Lake Titicaca

[Huffington Post] Gold and silver pieces as well as bones and pottery from 1,500 years ago were discovered in Lake Titicaca by underwater archaeologists, a researcher said Tuesday.

Did the Chinese discover America?

[Daily Mail] A new book claims the Chinese have been sailing to the New World since 40,000 BC across the Pacific Ocean

Leonardo da Vinci painting lost for centuries found in Swiss bank vault

[The Telegraph]  It was lost for so long that it had assumed mythical status for art historians. Some doubted whether it even existed.

Evidence unearthed of Richard III's lost chapel

[Darlington & Stockton Times]  ARCHAEOLOGISTS believe they have found a chapel built by Richard III to commemorate the Yorkist victory in one of the bloodiest battles ever fought on English soil.

Life-size statue of King Ramses II found in Sharqiya

[Ahramonline] Newly-unearthed statue of King Ramses II in Tel-Basta suggests the Nile Delta town was home to a great 19th Dynasty temple.

32,000-Year-Old Plant Brought Back to Life

[National Geographic] The oldest plant ever to be regenerated has been grown from 32,000-year-old seeds—beating the previous record holder by some 30,000 years.