The Struggle to Save Pompeii

POMPEII, ITALY—The Great Pompeii Project seeks to preserve the UNESCO World Heritage Site and improve its accessibility to tourists with $137 million from the European Union. “The project is going to reshape the way things are dealt with. If we don’t preserve Pompeii, then the state has failed,” said Fabrizio Barca, Italy’s minister for territorial cohesion. Critics claim that red tape, organized crime, lack of long-range planning, and limited personnel have hindered past attempts to improve Pompeii’s condition. Stefano De Caro, who headed archaeological work at Pompeii from 1977 to 1984, thinks that too much of the site has been uncovered since excavations began in the eighteenth century. “The city has been excavated to an extent that it cannot be properly preserved, so we should just rebury parts of it. This way isn’t working, and to maintain things the way they are means certain death,” he said.

Confederate Graves Will Be Identified

LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA—Some 50 graves have been found in the Confederate section of Lynchburg’s historic Old City Cemetery, where soldiers who died of smallpox were buried. Cemetery officials will use their records to try to identify the dead and remark their graves. “Every year, we have descendants visit and ask us where their ancestors are buried. For most of them, it’s easy to point out. But for these folks, it can be really disappointing to know you got this far and all you get is an open field,” said Ted Delaney, the cemetery’s archivist and curator. It may take several years to complete the project.

High-Status Burial Unearthed in Windsor

BERKSHIRE, ENGLAND—The remains of a woman buried some 4,400 years ago with a large, finely made beaker against her hip have been uncovered in a quarry near Windsor. Her necklace, adorned with five small, tubular sheet gold beads and beads made of lignite; fragments of amber buttons; and her bracelet of lignite beads suggest that she may have been from an elite family. The gold probably came from southern England or Ireland, and the lignite from eastern England. The amber may have been collected from the island’s east coast, or it may have been imported from the Baltic. “It is interesting to think who this woman was within her community. She was probably an important person in her society, perhaps holding some standing which gave her access to prestigious, rare and exotic items,” said archaeologist Gareth Chaffey. This is the first time a Copper Age woman has been found buried in Britain with such high status items.

Robot Will Assist in Exploration of Teotihuacan

MEXICO CITY, MEXICO—Archaeologists from the National Anthropology and History Institute plan to use a robot to investigate the far reaches of a tunnel found beneath the Temple of the Plumed Serpent at Teotihuacan. The chamber is estimated to be 2,000 years old, and may have been used as a place for royal ceremonies or burials. The three-foot-long robot is equipped with arms to deal with any obstacles it may encounter on the journey.

Australia’s Long-Lasting Rock Art

BURRUP PENINSULA, AUSTRALIA—A new study by geologist Brad Pillans of the Australian National University shows that engravings on Pilbara rocks from the Burrup Peninsula could last for 60,000 years. “The combination of hard rock and low rainfall means low erosion, so we have the potential for preserving rock art for much longer periods of time than in many other places,” he explained. People first reached Australia sometime between 35,000 and 42,000 years ago, so some of the estimated one million surviving petroglyphs may be tens of thousands of years old.

Stonehenge May Have Mesolithic Roots

AMESBURY, ENGLAND—A Mesolithic settlement dating to 7500 B.C. has been found about a mile away from Stonehenge. Archaeologist David Jacques of Open University began examining the area, which has a freshwater spring, thinking that hunter-gatherers would gather near water, where they could find animals. The people who lived in this settlement may have been responsible for erecting the first wooden posts at Stonehenge between 8500 and 7000 B.C. “The whole landscape is full of prehistoric monuments and it is extraordinary in a way that this has been such a blind spot for so long archaeologically,” he said.

Medieval Treatments for Scoliosis

LEICESTER, ENGLAND—The skeleton identified as the remains of King Richard III shows signs of idiopathic adolescent-onset scoliosis, a condition that would have developed when the monarch was about ten years old. Mary Ann Lund of the University of Leicester speculates that he may have been treated for the disease, which was thought to have been caused by an imbalance in the body’s humors. Treatments at the time included ointments, massages, and possibly traction and a back brace made of wood or metal. “Historical accounts describe him as an active fighter in battle, so he was clearly able to do strenuous physical activity. On the other hand, it seems likely that the condition was painful and would have restricted his lung capacity,” she said. No sign of such treatments have been found on the bones, however.

Reports Suggest Anthedon Damaged by Construction

GAZA—Bulldozers are reportedly digging at the site of the 3,000-year-old port of Anthedon, along the coast of Gaza City. The work, ordered by Hamas, is to build a new military installation. An interior ministry official says that the work is limited and will not damage archaeological remains, but concerned citizens have contacted officials from UNESCO and Hamas Premier Ismail Haniyet, asking them to protect the site’s mosaics and pillars.

Medieval Cookbook Discovered

DURHAM, ENGLAND—A medieval recipe book has been found in Durham Cathedral’s monastery. The collection of twelfth-century recipes, one of which is known to have come from France, was intended to improve health and cure certain ailments. The book also contains recipes for ointments. “The sauces typically feature parsley, sage, pepper, garlic, mustard, and coriander, which I suspect may give them a Mediterranean feel when we recreate them,” said Giles Gasper of Durham University. Restaurant chefs will prepare some of the dishes for workshop participants. A translation of the book is also in the works.

Stolen Tapestry Returned to Spain

WASHINGTON, D.C.—A tapestry stolen in the 1970s from a cathedral in northeastern Spain has been returned by agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The agents seized the tapestry, which first surfaces in Brussels in 2008, from an identified Texas business that had purchased it. “Today’s repatriation is an example of what can be accomplished when law enforcement partners from around the world work together in the effort to ensure that stolen and looted priceless cultural objects like this are returned to their rightful owner,” said John Morton, director of the ICE.

Roman Beauty Tools May Have Been Used to Treat Eye Disease

OXFORD, ENGLAND—Tools in ancient Roman beauty kits may have been used to treat the symptoms of trachoma, a leading cause of blindness even today. The bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis roughens the inner surface of the eyelid and causes the eyelashes to turn inward, scraping and damaging the cornea. “We have ethnographic examples from modern Africa and historical examples from ancient India that show utensils, such as tweezers and rasps, were used to pluck in-turned eyelashes and to scour away the afflicted eyelids,” said Wendy Morrison of the University of Oxford. She thinks that the Romans may have also used tweezers to pluck irritating eyelashes, what had been thought of as nail cleaners to scrape growths off eyelids, “cosmetic grinders” to make eye salves, and “earwax scoops” to apply medicine to eyes.