In April 2008, a team of archaeologists and volunteers headed out to Blennerhassett Island in West Virginia. It seems that the famous Blennerhassett family had built a mansion there hundreds of years ago. Everyone knows about that, but it turns out that there may have been a house built before it, that was used as a temporary shelter as the construction of the main house was going on. The search came about because foundations were found behind the main house and it seems that there were large 65 foot long L-shaped buildings there. I guess if this was going on in Europe they wouldn't consider a couple of hundred year old dig as even being archeology.

Some archaeologists believe that even as far back as 2300 B.C. Stonehenge was very popular and people came from all over the countryside to seek cures for their different illnesses. Theories state that Stonehenge was not built all at one time, but in different stages. They say that construction was begun about 3,000 B.C. I guess they had to rely on circumstantial evidence for this guess, since you can't carbon date stones. Timothy Darvill, a professor of archaeology at Bournemouth University has come out with a book, which he hopes will prove that Stonehenge was a healing center. The book is entitled "The Biography of a Landscape". He believes his theory is correct because bones and teeth taken from burial mounds in the area, show that the people who were buried there were not well to start with. Sorry but I don't mean to laugh, but I can't help but think that well people don't need to be buried. Just kidding, I know what he meant and I am sure you do too. The professor states that the rocks that were used to build Stonehenge were the same rocks that came from sacred springs. That is an interesting fact that I had never heard before.

Scientists have found something totally unexpected. The Nasca people are famous for creating those lines and shapes in Peru, that can only be seen from the air. I am sure that most of you have seen photos of them. There are giant spiders, monkeys and even lines that look like landing strips. Archaeologists from Purdue University have now discovered that that the Nasca worked with iron ore. They have found one of their iron ore mines. The Nasca lived before the Incas.

Scientists have found human DNA in caves in Oregon. What makes this find even more important is that it predates the Clovis culture. It has been dated from about 14,300 years ago and shows definite links to Siberia or Asia. That is the conclusion that a team of thirteen scientists came to, after analyzing the DNA. The DNA was found in the Paisley caves which are located about 220 miles southeast of Eugene Oregon. This DNA is the oldest ever recovered in the Americas. It is suspected that the Clovis culture began about 13,200 years ago.

A strange pit was found by archaeologists in the Cornish countryside. Apparently it was used in the 17th century. The area where the pit was found was near Truro, in Cornwall, in England. This is not the first of these pits to be found. Over thirty five of them have been found in the area. When they were excavated, they were found to contain unhatched eggs, human hair, fingernails, dead magpies, swan pelts and parts of an iron cauldron. This stuff has been dated to the 1640s. It is believed that these pits had some connection to the practice of witchcraft, which was being wiped out at that time. As a matter of fact, a death sentence was put on the head of anyone practicing it.

Italian archaeologists have stated that they believe that Iran's archeology is the foundation of modern human civilization in the world. This was stated at a conference in Florence. Attending the conference were over 600 researchers. The Persian culture (Iran) dates back over 3000 years. Iran has resumed excavation of the Gohar Tappeh. This site is important because it is over 5,000 years old. This is actually the fifth phase of digging. The team is composed of Iranian and Polish archaeologists. It is believed that this site will become a major tourist hub. If you think this site is old, seventeen sites have been found in Iran in Zanjan Province that date back about 10,000 years. They span many historical eras such as the copper and iron age.

Sometimes archaeology can be spurred on by other needs. Such is the need in Turkey to excavate the Seyitomer mound. Turkey needs coal and it is suspected that there is coal under the area that the mound is on, because of this, the mound must be excavated before the area is destroyed by mining. The coal reserve is believed to be worth about five hundred million dollars. A team of about forty people are now involved in the dig and anything that is found will be given to museums. The top stratum of the mound belonged to the Romans. There was a temple and altar in it. One archaeologist stated, "The excavation has so far revealed that the mound is about 5,000 years old. We have found that the site was densely inhabited during the Bronze Age and during Phrygian and Roman times. We have also found ceramic moulds that suggest there was a ceramic workshop around 3,000 B.C, . in addition to some other uniquely important artifacts. The ceramic moulds have proven to be one of the world's oldest ceramic workshops,"

A site in India is being re excavated. It is in Kalpetta (Kerala). The first excavation ended 114 years ago and had been conducted by the Kerala State Archeology Department. Neolithic period artifacts, along with some engravings had been found. Tools were also found at the site. There are still stone carvings inside caves in the area and it is believed that some of these carvings, which can be more than six feet long, will shed light on how Neolithic people lived from 4,000 B.C. to 1,700 B.C. The Superintending Archaeologist, Dr. Hemachandran, stated, "During the re-excavation we have got many important artifacts used by these people including a round stone tool used for chiseling and this is a major finding as in earlier trials we did not get artifacts and this will definitely help us in studying more about the engravings and its creators".

Scientists have found what people are calling a "Frogamander". It is a 290 million year old fossil that they think links frogs and salamanders. Scientists have had a hard time trying to figure out the evolution of some amphibians and this find is said to go far in that endeavor. The fossil is known as Gerobatrachus Hottoni or elderly frog, in scientific circles. "It's a missing link that falls right between where the fossil record of the extinct form and the fossil record for the modern form begins," said Jason Anderson of the University of Calgary, Canada, who led the study. "It's a perfect little frogamander," he said.

Something has been found around Lake Titicaca in Bolivia, in South America. It is a giant earthworks and some scientists are saying that the geometric design repetition shows that it was created by intelligent beings. Supposedly the works were built as individual cells with perfectly straight lines. What has really surprised scientists is that they were not detected until this year. They were discovered by orbiting satellites. The combined length is at least as long as Hadrian's 73 mile long wall. Near these works are places that have building construction that just can't be duplicated. For example, about twenty miles away from the lake is the ruins of Tiahuannaco. There is a 400 ton block of stone that had been moved over 200 miles and used in the construction of a building. It is the biggest and heaviest stone ever known to be used in building construction. By the way, that was not 200 miles of flat land, but 200 miles of mountain ranges that went as high as 15,000 feet. Can anyone explain this feat without going into some paranormal theory? This race of people was thought to have lived around 600 B.C. and did not even possess the wheel or a written language. One historian, Arthur Posnansky has studied the area for over fifty years. He states that a flood occurred over 13,000 years ago, burying the area under six feet of sediment. He claims that skulls were found under this sediment, making them even older than the flood. It is said that the skulls that were found had three times the cranial capacity of modern skulls and that they are on display at the museum at La Paz, Bolivia.

A skull has been found in Salonika, Greece. The skull is from the Roman times and shows that there was surgery performed and that the patient lived. We have been hearing more and more about this type of thing lately. It is amazing to think that many of the procedures that we use today, were performed by Roman doctors who's tool kits looked remarkably like the ones used by surgeons today.

Scientists are now using LiDAR, remote sensors, to find what is hidden the forest of Belize. They hope to find out some of the secrets of the Maya. The instruments use lasers and are mapping ruins to an accuracy that has never be achieved before. It turns out that some sites are a lot bigger than first suspected. That is understandable, since the thick jungle canopy covers everything. An example of this is the dig at Caracol. The team first thought that the site was 24 square kilometers, but after using this sensitive instrument, they now believe that the site may be as large as 177 square kilometers, that is quite a difference and shows that the population of the area was much larger than first suspected. Another thing that is being considered, is how the agricultural practices of 1,000 years ago have affected the jungle growth today.

This April saw over 700 antiquities being returned to the museum in Baghdad. They had been looted during the invasion of Iraq. The Syrian government stated that they had seized the items from traffickers over the last five years. Iraq is now in the process of trying to persuade other middle eastern countries that have Iraqi antiquities to return them to Iraq. The National Museum is still closed to the public and there is no indication of when it will reopen.

You never know what might be in your toy box. A man stated that his grandfather gave him a mug to play with in 1945. He never thought there was anything special about it. Well was he wrong. It turned out that the mug was not brass like he thought, but gold and was an ancient Persian artifact. It was rare, so rare that it is expected to fetch more than a million dollars at auction. Experts believe the cup is from the third or fourth century B.C.