More than 100 years ago, archaeologists first excavated the cave of La Chapelle-aux-Saints in southwestern France and made a spectacular discovery—what seemed to be an intact Neanderthal burial. However, excavation methods in the early twentieth century were sloppy by modern standards, and the 20 or so Neanderthal “burials” found since then have all been seriously questioned—many believe they are the result of natural features and depositional processes. Now, a research team led by Cédric Beauval of the private company Archéosphère and William Rendu, a researcher at France’s National Center for Scientific Research, have reexamined La Chapelle-aux-Saints and found evidence that the burial is authentic. Their analysis shows that the burial pit is not a natural feature, and probably was dug by Neanderthals. But Rendu does not believe these burials were common—a 2011 reanalysis of a purported Neanderthal burial at Roc de Marsal showed that it was the result of natural processes. “Some of the Neanderthals in some regions, in very particular moments, made these kind of burials,” Rendu says. Having burial practices suggests that Neanderthals possessed spiritual beliefs, but what they may have been is anybody’s guess.

About 70 miles north of Tampa, Florida, lies the spring-fed source of the Chassahowitzka River. Its name means “a place for the hanging pumpkins” in Seminole, and until recently it was blocked by septic tank runoff and algal overgrowth. When the Southwest Florida Water Management District decided to clean the spring up last year, it brought in SEARCH, a local cultural resources management company. Good thing, too, since amid the refuse was thousands of years of history.

Artifacts pulled out over the four-and-a-half-month effort include a Suwannee point that, according to Michael Arbuthnot, an archaeologist with SEARCH, likely dates to 10,000 years ago. Dredgers also found a rare, intact Pasco Plain ceramic vessel, dating back 2,000 years to the Woodland period, as well as pottery brought to the Americas by Spanish explorers and a toy cap gun dating to the mid-twentieth century. “Florida springs are widely known as magnets for human activity, both prehistoric, historic, and modern,” says Arbuthnot. “For the relatively low cost of having an archaeologist present, we’ve opened up the Chassahowitzka Springs and the material it held for all to see.”

Archaeologists digging in Obernai, a commune in northeastern France, discovered a deformed female skull in a necropolis containing 18 burials dating to the fifth century A.D., or the early Middle Ages. The entombed woman was adorned with gold pins, two pendants, and a silver mirror. The deformation of her skull, says Clément Féliu, an archaeologist with the National Institute of Preventive Archaeological Research, was absolutely intentional. It is likely an aristocratic signifier, he explains, created by linking small boards around a newborn’s head to make the skull taller and narrower. “I think the peoples who were buried in Obernai belong to a little group of ‘Barbarians,’” from the east, where the practice was more common, says Féliu.