Farming Arrived in Europe with Asian Migrants, Isotopic Study Reveals

[Sci-News.com]  Strontium isotope data from the Danube Gorges in the north-central Balkan show Europe’s first farmers were immigrants.

Richard III: Greatest archaeological discovery of all?

[BBC] It has attracted global attention with its blend of detective work and dark historical deeds but where does the discovery of Richard III's grave rate among England's greatest archaeological finds?

Ice Age Art at the British Museum: 'Not even Leonardo surpassed this'

[The Guardian]    Ice Age Art is subtitled Arrival of the Modern Mind. Its thesis is that 40,000 years ago, when humans migrated from Africa into a comparatively temperate Europe, and were then caught for thousands of years amid the freezing temperatures and furry beasts of the last great freeze, something miraculous happened. Art appeared: art so sophisticated, it proves that the cognitive faculties we value so highly today were fully evolved tens of thousands of years ago (the works here were made between 40,000 and 10,000 years ago). Only a modern human mind, the argument goes, could create a masterpiece like the Zaraysk bison (it is named after the town near Moscow where it was discovered).

Scientists reconstruct ancient languages with software

[Gizmag]  Imagine the wealth of knowledge we could uncover if it was possible to travel back in time and re-construct ancient languages. While that’s impossible right now, scientists at UC Berkley and the University of British Columbia reckon they’ve managed the next-best thing, by developing new software which uncovers existing fragments of “proto-languages” from languages still in use.

Tutankhamun 90th Anniversay: Ancient Treasures To Be Shown At Carnarvon's Highclere Castle

[Huffington Post]   Saturday marks the 90th year since the discovery of Tutankhamun - a dig that sparked an enduring public fascination with the ancient boy king. The Egyptian pharaoh was virtually unknown when British archaeologist Howard Carter found the dusty sarcophagus in a tomb full of golden treasures, in a discovery that was to define his career.

Was Soma the Forbidden Fruit of Genesis?

[Yucatan Times]  The late ethno-mycologist Robert Gordon Wasson proposed that the mythological apple in Genesis was a symbolic substitution for the bright red Amanita muscaria, a hallucinogenic mushroom commonly referred to as the Fly-agaric mushroom. Wasson further proposed, and presented substantial supporting evidence, that the mystery plant Soma from the Rig Veda was the same Amanita muscaria mushroom

New study slams theory that meteorite struck ice-age Canada and killed off mammoths

[Ottawa Citizen]  A controversial theory that a massive meteorite struck Canada about 13,000 years ago — then wreaked havoc on global climate, Ice Age mega-mammals and early human occupants of North America — has taken yet another scientific hit, perhaps dooming the impact hypothesis to the same fate as the woolly mammoths whose extinction it purportedly helped explain.

Ancient temple discovered in Peru

[Fox News] Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered what they believe is a temple, estimated to be up to 5,000 years old, at the site of El Paraíso, north of Lima.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/02/15/ancient-temple-discovered-in-peru/#ixzz2L4ugdtJN

Online Battle Over Sacred Scrolls, Real-World Consequences

[NY Times] A father-son battle erupts over the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Guatemalan family uncovers ancient Mayan murals on their kitchen walls during home renovation

[NY Daily News]  The kitchen of a house in the impoverished town of Chajul, Guatemala, is the unlikely site of a major archeological discovery: centuries-old Mayan murals found under layers of paint.

LEGOs Used to Conserve Ancient Mummy Case

[Labaratory Equipment]  Thanks to an ambitious conservation project and some tiny pieces of plastic, the ancient Egyptian mummy case of Hor is now on display in the Fitzwilliam Museum, at Cambridge Univ. The conservation of the cartonnage mummy case was undertaken with the assistance of the Department of Engineering, who helped construct clever frames to support the delicate case during conservation and a new display case with internal supports using LEGO.

World's first color film footage discovered in England

[The Verge]  Researchers at the UK's National Media Museum have unearthed the world's first color moving pictures, dating back to 1902. As the BBC reports, the footage was shot by Edward Raymond Turner as part of a test reel that includes images of marching soldiers, birds, and Turner's own children. The film had been gathering dust in a tin for more than a century before being discovered by Michael Harvey, Curator of Cinematography at the National Media Museum.

Lost Turner painting which may be worth £20MILLION 'unearthed in Oxfordshire'

[Mail Online]  It could be one of the art finds of the century. Art experts believed they have tracked down a long-lost Turner painting - potentially worth a staggering £20 million - after an artist stumbled across one that could be the first attempt by the celebrated artist.

Unearthed scarab proves Egyptians were in Tel Aviv

[MSNBC]  A rare scarab amulet newly unearthed in Tel Aviv reveals the ancient Egyptian presence in this modern Israeli city.

Richard III skeleton reveals 'hunchback king'

[The Telegraph]  More than 500 years since he was killed in battle, archaeologists believe they have finally found the skeleton of King Richard III, buried deep beneath a council car park.

Woolly mammoth tooth unearthed by builders in downtown San Francisco is hailed by experts as 'significant find'

[Mail Online]  The tooth, which still has intact enamel, was dug up by a crane operator during an excavation for a new transit centre in the city. The ten inches long, mud-coloured tooth has been called a ‘significant find’ by local paeleontologists who believe it could be 11,000 years old

Discovery: Ancient fort aided Caesar conquest of Gaul

[Live Science]  Archaeologists say they've identified the oldest known Roman military fortress in Germany, likely built to house thousands of troops during Julius Caesar's conquest of Gaul in the late 50s B.C. Broken bits of Roman soldiers' sandals helped lead to the discovery.

Hair from ancient Alaskans offers clues to coastal diet, lifestyle

[adn.com]  Dozens of 700-year-old sod homes being excavated for the past few years near the Southwest Alaska village of Quinhagak have yielded thousands of Yup'ik tools, pots and carvings that for centuries were preserved in now-thawing permafrost. Human hair has also been discovered in the excavations, and scientists are learning more about the diet and lifestyle of the inhabitants.

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2012/09/07/2615293/ancient-human-hair-found-in-southwest.html#storylink=cpy

Only 2nd photo of Emily Dickinson discovered, scholars believe

[New Haven Register]   Scholars at Amherst College in Massachusetts believe a collector may have what would be just the second known photo of Emily Dickinson. The college says a local collector who wishes to remain anonymous bought the photo in 1995 in Springfield and brought it to the college in 2007. They say they’ve been researching it since.

Israeli archaeologists uncover 3,000-year-old cistern in Jerusalem

[Haaretz]  A large public water cistern, dating back to the period of the First Temple, was recently discovered in archaeological excavations conducted in Jerusalem. The cistern is the first of its kind to be uncovered in Jerusalem.