On Monday 30th May, 8.30-10.00pm BBC One will show 'Egypt's Lost Cities' … archaeologist Sarah Parak says that just a few per cent of the remains of ancient Egypt are known – a lot of remains to be discovered. She has enlisted the help of satellite imaging with infra-red cameras tp see beneath the sand. This, she claims, has revealed the outlines of what she thinks are lost pyramids, temples and lost cities.
Meanwhile, at www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110523124210.htm … a paper in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology DOI:10.1002/ajpa.21493 (2011) is based on research on mummies and seems to show that irrigation farming had a side effect – it caused water borne parasitic diseases. It is caused by worms that live in freshwater snails.
At www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/74693/title/Geometric_minds_skip_sch… and is all about Amazonian Indian children who appear to have the ability to grasp abstract geometric principles in spite of no formal maths training.
At http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/05/did-llama-dung-spur-the-ri… … in the 17th century a Jesuit preist journeying through the high valleys of the central Andes was struck by the importance of the llama – used for meat, transport and haulage, and for clothes and shoes. Llamas were so important, a new study concludes, that even their dung was important as it kick started maize farming (see Antiquity June 2011). Farmers near Cuzco began raising large herds of llamas and alpacas just as maize farming took off in a big way.
At Popular Archaeology (see http://popular-archaeology.com/issue/april-2011/article/archaeologists-u… is about ongoing excavations at Quito where a pre-Inca civilisation has been discovered that is thought to have flourished between 800-1660AD.