According to a new study, more than half of the modern Maya genome is derived from ancient populations who migrated to the Yucatán Peninsula from southern Central America and South America at least 5,600 years ago. A team led by archaeologist Keith Prufer of the University of New Mexico, geneticist David Reich of Harvard University, and archaeologist Douglas Kennett of the University of California, Santa Barbara, analyzed DNA from human remains recovered from two rock shelters in southern Belize. They discovered that a group of the individuals whose remains were radiocarbon dated to between 5,600 and 4,000 years ago are ancestors of present-day Chibchan-speaking populations that live between Costa Rica and northern Colombia. “These people moved into the area in fairly small numbers over a period of perhaps five hundred to one thousand years and mixed with local populations,” Kennett says.

This migration coincided with the introduction to the Yucatán of improved varieties of maize. Maize had originated in southwestern Mexico around 9,000 years ago and was dispersed to South America before being fully domesticated. It was then reintroduced to the north. Isotope analysis of the remains of the people found in the rock shelters revealed that their consumption of maize jumped significantly starting 4,700 years ago. Along with new maize varieties, and possibly other crops such as manioc and chilies, Kennett explains, the migrants likely brought horticultural knowledge that eventually led to the development of intensive agriculture in the Maya region. “By four thousand years ago, corn was a staple grain in their diet,” he says. To see an image of excavations at one of the rock shelters in Belize, click here.

On the western side of the ancient necropolis of Abusir, a team of archaeologists led by Miroslav Bárta of Charles University has unearthed the largest cache of embalming equipment ever found in Egypt. More than 370 vessels were buried in clusters during the second half of the sixth century B.C. in a 46-foot-deep shaft, which seems to be associated with an adjacent, as-yet-unexcavated tomb.

In the top layer of the cache, the researchers discovered four canopic jars, which were typically used to store the embalmed viscera and organs that were removed during mummification. “These jars should have been buried with the deceased in his tomb, but they were discovered clean and empty in the cache,” says Egyptologist Jiří Janák of Charles University. “We are still trying to determine whether they were copies, used only symbolically, or used for storage during the embalming process.” Inscriptions on the jars identify the deceased, Wahibre-mery-Neith, who is likely interred in the unopened tomb, and his mother, Lady Irturu. Janák suggests Wahibre-mery-Neith and Irturu may have been relatives of two individuals buried in a tomb within 165 feet of the embalming cache. He says this may be evidence that this area of Abusir was an elite family cemetery. For additional images, click here.

A 158-year-old piece of unexploded ordnance was discovered just 10 inches underground during an archaeological survey at the site of a key Civil War battle in Georgia. The survey was conducted prior to the creation of a new hiking trail through Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, where Union and Confederate forces clashed between June 19 and July 2, 1864. The 10-pound cylindrical projectile has a curved nose and is of a type mainly used by the Union Army. Named a Parrott shell after Captain Robert Parker Parrott, who invented the cannon from which it was fired, the ordnance was much more accurate and deadly than traditional round cannon shot. The shell was designed to explode upon impact, but its percussion fuse apparently failed to ignite. Nevertheless, it is believed to still be live and may be slated for a controlled detonation.

The Battle of Kennesaw Mountain witnessed some of the bloodiest fighting of the Atlanta Campaign, as Union troops under General William Tecumseh Sherman swept across the South. Although Sherman was dealt a tactical defeat at Kennesaw Mountain, suffering 3,000 casualties, his progress was unimpeded and he took the strategic Confederate city of Atlanta two months later