Archaeology News: May 28, 2012

In 2089 Elizabeth Shaw, an archaeologist, chips through a cave wall in the bleak mountains of Scotland and finds out that the human race is not alone. Illuminated by her torchlight is a 35,000-year-old painting of people worshiping a giant, who is pointing to a cluster of stars.

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Israeli archaeologists have discovered a rare trove of 3,000-year-old jewelry, including a ring and earrings, hidden in a ceramic jug near the ancient city of Megiddo, where the New Testament predicts the final battle of Armageddon.

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Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered an ornamented dagger belonging to a Western European knight during excavations of the fortress wall at the entrance of the Black Sea town of Sozopol.

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Bulgarian archaeologists have found a church dating back to the late Antiquity period, which is located near the village of Sarafovo, on the Black Sea coast. The site, which is close to the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Burgas, has been excavated by the team of Prof. Dr. Lyudmil Vagalinski, who is the Director of the National Archaeology Institute and Museum at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, since the start of May 2012.

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Climate change led to the collapse of the ancient Indus civilization more than 4,000 years ago, archaeologists believe. The Indus civilization was the largest - but least known - of the first great urban cultures that also included Egypt and Mesopotamia.

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Archaeologists in Tianjin announced on Monday they have excavated two shipwrecks that were buried for centuries under the Grand Canal, the longest artificial waterway in the world. More than 600 artifacts have been recovered from the sunken vessels, which date back to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), according to the Tianjin Cultural Heritage Protection Center.