A salvage excavation at the site of a new housing development near Aarhus, Denmark, has revealed the remains of sacrificial victims, including a headless woman and eight dogs, who were dropped into a bog more than 2,000 years ago. Per Mandrup of Denmark’s Moesgaard Museum led the excavation. While the bodies of humans preserved in bogs have received a lot of scholarly attention, less is known about dogs. “It’s always surprising to find so many dogs and also find a human,” says Mandrup. “It was the jackpot.” The dogs appear to have been a breed similar to border collies that was probably used for sheep herding. Leashes were found with some of the dogs, but how they were killed is not known. Other sacrifices have been found in another nearby bog, including burned human bones, iron weapons, and 13 more dog skeletons. According to Mandrup, “We can see there was a lot of sacrifice in that area, which is not normal.”

While installing a drainage pipe in his wheat field, a Michigan farmer was surprised to unearth a section of mammoth pelvis. A team led by University of Michigan paleontologist Daniel Fisher then excavated there and recovered 20 percent of the animal’s bones, including its skull and tusks. Fisher notes that the bones were arranged in the correct anatomical order, which means they likely never lay on the surface, exposed to the elements and scavengers. He thinks that’s because the mammoth was probably butchered by humans, who then stored some of the meat in a pond for future use. Boulders found near the skull might have been used to help weigh down the carcass. “Maybe something happened to the people, or maybe they didn’t need the meat,” says Fisher. “But for whatever reason, they never came back.” 

Korean archaeologists have uncovered a ninth-century Buddhist statue from the Unified Silla period (A.D. 676–935) at a temple site in Yangyang County, Gangwon Province. The statue is the largest known Buddha from the era, and also one of the most intricately decorated from the entire Silla Dynasty (57 B.C.–A.D. 935). The gilt-bronze Buddha measures about 16 inches in height, but when the statue is assembled as a complete set, with the mandorla (halo) on top and pedestal on the bottom, it is taller than 20 inches, say researchers at the Hanbit Institute of Cultural Properties. Buddhist statues from this era are usually about half that size. It is also very rare to find gilt-bronze Buddhist statues in Korea that include the mandorla and pedestal.

Researchers say the way the figure is holding the kundika (the water vessel used in Buddhist ceremonies) is also unusual. The vessel is held by its handle, whereas in most images of Buddha, the figures are holding the vessel by its long neck or mouth. Scholars are currently studying the statue further, and given its artistic and academic value, they expect it to be designated a state treasure.