Archaeology News: October 26, 2011

The "surreptitious and unscientific" removal of hundreds of bodies from ancient Muslim graves in Jerusalem violates international and Israeli law, a group of archaeologists warned Friday.

A US bomber which crashed in Scotland during World War II may not have been on the plane's officially recorded flightpath, according to an archaeologist. All nine crew of the B-17G Flying Fortress were killed when the aircraft clipped cliffs and crashed in Trotternish, on Skye, on 3 March 1945.

A legally blind archaeology student uncovered one of the oldest depictions of childbirth yet found, inscribed on a pottery sherd from an Etruscan temple site, perhaps 2,700 years old.

When archaeologists raise an eight-foot cannon Wednesday, Oct. 26, from the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge, students from East Carolina University will be receiving hands-on experience, not just observing from the decks of the recovery vessels. The cannon has been resting at the bottom of Beaufort Inlet since Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, wrecked off North Carolina’s coast in 1718.

Old Town in BHUBANESWAR is dotted with temples and water bodies. However, with the passage of time, these temples have borne the brunt of rapid urbanisation and vagaries of nature. Due to rampant encroachment and lack of upkeep, water bodies are either drying up or squeezed.

This October, Istanbul will commemorate Osman Hamdi Bey, the Ottoman master of museum heritage. Pera Museum is hosting ‘Osman Hamdi Bey and the Americans: Archaeology, Diplomacy, Art,’ which provides visitors with a chance to rediscover the great scholar’s personal history.

One of the first Viking settlements in Ireland, Linn Duchaill, has been found. “Dublin developed more as a trading town, this appeared to be more of a raiding town,” explained researcher Micheál McKeown. He estimates that there were 5,000 Vikings and 200 ships at this defended position on the River Glyde during the ninth century.

Having shorter legs may have helped Neanderthals and other mammals move more efficiently over mountainous terrain. It had been thought that shorter limbs helped Neanderthals stay warm in cold environments.