Dancing Men in Renaissance Painting May Be Native Americans

VATICAN CITY—While restoring a fresco painted in 1494 by Pinturicchio on the walls of the Vatican’s Borgia Apartments, Maria Pustka found small images of dancing men that may be the first Western depictions of Native Americans. “The Borgia Pope was interested in the New World, as were the great chancelleries of Europe. It is hard to believe that the papal court, especially under a Spanish pope, would have remained in the dark about what Columbus encountered,” wrote Antonio Paolucci, director of the Vatican Museums. That pope would eventually arbitrate the division of New World lands between Spain and Portugal.

San Antonio’s Spanish Waterways

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS—Waterway features dating to the Spanish colonial period have been unearthed in Brackenridge Park. The dam, built in 1719, is the oldest to be unearthed in the city. Its irrigation waterways served the Mission San Antonio de Valero, which was moved further north after a hurricane in 1724. This is “one of the most concentrated groupings of acequia features [to be found] in the past 10 or 15 years,” said Kay Hindes, city archaeaologist.

California Site Damaged by Logging

CHESTER, CALIFORNIA—Logging equipment has reportedly damaged a prehistoric Native American village site and an ancient trail, and a Maidu grinding stone in northeastern California’s Humbug Valley. “We don’t want to impact a cultural site. We’re very concerned about that,” said Pacific Gas & Electric Company archaeologist James Nelson. Buffer zones around the archaeological sites have been increased. The land is currently conserved by PG&E, but the Maidu Summit has applied to the Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council to assume ownership of the land, the largest intact area that remains of their ancestral homeland.

Moles Retrieve Artifacts From Roman Fort

CUMBRIA, ENGLAND—Volunteers have been spending their time sifting through the piles of dirt left behind by moles in the earthworks at the second-century Roman fort of Epiacum. Over the years, the moles have brought pottery, glass, and even intact artifacts to the surface. “I realize it sounds a bit ridiculous, but it’s actually quite serious. We look at all the finds and we work out what’s going on in different parts of the fort and different kinds of pottery tell us what dates different buildings are,” said archaeologist Paul Frodsham of the North Pennines Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. A recent survey by English Heritage has shown that there is a civilian settlement near the well-preserved fort. 

Moonlight to Blame for General’s Death

SAN MARCOS, TEXAS—On the evening of May 2, 1863, Lieutenant General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson was hit with friendly fire from the 18th North Carolina regiment during the Civil War Battle of Chancellorsville. Jackson later died of complications from his wounds. How could his own troops have mistaken him for the enemy? Astronomer Don Olson of Texas State University and Laurie E. Jasinski of the Texas State Historical Association calculated the position of the moon and its phase that night, and then figured out where Jackson and the Confederate regiment were at the time of the shooting. “Once we calculated the compass direction of the moon and compared that to the detailed battle maps published by [military historian] Robert Krick, it quickly became obvious how Stonewall Jackson would have been seen as a dark silhouette,” Olson said.  

Lucy Returns Home

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA—The Australopithecus afarensis fossils known as “Lucy” have returned to Ethiopia after a five-year tour of the United States. “I am very aware that they sent security from Ethiopia, but that has been supported by local security from the United States, but also she was always surrounded by professionals. So I’m confident that she was secured both from the protection point of view and also the security point of view,” said scientist Zeresenay Alemseged, who traveled with Lucy. The fossils will return to the Ethiopian National Museum in time for the 50th anniversary of the African Union.

Egyptian Artifacts Withdrawn From Auction

LONDON, ENGLAND—Six Egyptian artifacts, including a face carved from red granite and religious stele and statues, have been withdrawn from a sale at Christie’s auction house in London because the person who claimed ownership of the New Kingdom objects was unable to produce supporting documentation. “We asked for its return, since they are ancient Egyptian objects stolen from illegal excavations. Egypt owns objects similar to those on auction,” said Osama El-Nahas, Director General of the Repatriation of Antiquities Department. The artifacts will be handed over to British authorities.

Leather Chariot Fragments Rediscovered at Egyptian Museum

CAIRO, EGYPT—Egyptologists Salima Ikram of the American University in Cairo and Andre Veldmeijer of the Netherlands Flemish Institute in Cairo tracked down a collection of 300 leather fragments in the store rooms of the Egyptian Museum. The extremely rare, embellished leather pieces represent all of the parts of an Old Kingdom royal chariot. “The fragments are in a much better shape than we originally anticipated, and we were able to achieve a sense of how the leather unfolds,” Ikram said. The team plans to build a reconstruction of an ancient chariot next year.

Unauthorized Excavation Damages Buildings

ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT—Cracks have developed in six structures in the Karmouz neighborhood of Alexandria. The damage is thought to have been caused by illegal digging beneath the entrance to an adjacent building. Police arrested a 29-year-old man who had several clay pots in his possession.

Yellow Spheres Discovered in Untouched Tunnel Rooms

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO—Hundreds of small spheres have been spotted by the Tlaloc II-TC robot in the newly discovered chambers beneath the Temple of the Feathered Serpent at Teotihuacán. The spheres have a core made of clay and are covered with a material known as jarosite, which is formed by the oxidation of pyrite. “Pyrite was certainly used by the Teotihuacanos and other ancient Mesoamerican societies. Originally the spheres would have shown brilliantly. They are indeed unique, but I have no idea what they mean,” commented George Cowgill, professor emeritus at Arizona State University. Scholars think they may find the remains of the city’s rulers in these chambers.

Vets Assist Archaeologists With Civil War Artifacts

STATESBORO, GEORGIA—Archaeologists from Georgia Southern University will be assisted by the staff of Gateway Animal Hospital in the conservation of metal artifacts recovered from Camp Lawton, a Confederate prisoner of war camp, where 10,000 Union soldiers were held during the Civil War. Archaeologists want to know if there is any solid metal remaining in the highly corroded artifacts, and veterinarian Gary Edwards will help with the x-rays. “The x-ray will enable us to clearly identify the shape of the artifact,” said graduate student Matt Newberry. Once the metal artifacts have been identified and conserved, they will become part of Camp Lawton’s History Center.

Evidence of Cannibalism Found at Jamestown

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Human bone fragments have been found among the butchered remains of dogs, cats, and horses at Jamestown. An examination of the bones suggests that during the winter of 1609, known as the “Starving Time,” colonists were forced to resort to eating the body of a 14-year-old girl. “The chops to the forehead are very tentative, very incomplete. Then, the body was turned over, and there were four strikes to the back of the head, one of which was the strongest and split the skull in half. A penetrating wound was then made to the left temple, probably by a single-sided knife, which was used to pry open the head and remove the brain,” said forensic anthropologist Douglas Owsley of the Smithsonian Institution. Written accounts hint at cannibalism at the oldest permanent English colony in the Americas. According to lead Jamestown archaeologist William Kelso, these bones are the first direct evidence that it occurred.