YAVNE, ISRAEL—According to a CNN report, a mosaic dated to between A.D. 300 and 400 has been unearthed at Tel Yavne, which is located in central Israel. The multicolored, rectangular floor features geometric motifs surrounded by a black frame. “It’s the first time in Yavne that they found a colored …

PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND—Live Science reports that a team of researchers led by Kevin Smith of Brown University has investigated a stone structure in Surtshellir Cave, which is located near a volcano in Iceland. The volcano is known to have erupted about 1,100 years ago, shortly after the island was colonized …

A team of paleoanthropologists from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, CNRS and the University of Toronto has examined artifacts and sediments found in Wonderwerk Cave, a 140-m-long cave located in the eastern flanks of the Kuruman Hills, between the towns of Danielskuil and Kuruma, in the Northern Cape Province of …

Mars is a dry and cold world. However, billions of years ago, there were rivers and lakes, although the planet receives three times less sunlight than Earth. So how was Mars’ climate warm enough to keep water liquid? The authors of a new study – scientists from the University of …

ORKNEY, SCOTLAND—BBC News reports that a fingerprint has been found on a 5,000-year-old piece of pottery at the Ness of Brodgar, a Neolithic complex of buildings located in northern Scotland on the island of Orkney. The potter’s print was spotted by ceramics specialist Roy Towers of the University of the …

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA—Gizmodo reports that a new study of a human ancestor’s shoulder blade and collarbone suggests that Australopithecus prometheus was able to swing through trees some 3.7 million years ago. Discovered in South Africa in the 1990s, the fossilized remains of an individual known as “Little Foot” were carefully …

NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA, GERMANY—Live Science reports that a metal detectorist working with Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe archaeologists has discovered more than 150 objects at Wilzenberg, an Iron Age hillfort site in western Germany. The objects include bent weapons, fragments of shield bosses, tools, belt hooks, parts of a horse’s bridle, three …

DORCESTER COUNTY, MARYLAND—Herald Mail Media reports that traces of a cabin that belonged to Ben Ross, Harriet Tubman’s father, have been unearthed in the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Born into slavery as Araminta Ross in 1822 on the Thompson farm, she and her mother were separated …

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS—According to a statement released by the University of Chicago Press Journals, a team of researchers including J. Oller Guzmán, D. Fernández Abella, V. Trevín Pita, O. Achon Casas, and S. García-Dils de la Vega has investigated three buildings at Wadi Sikait, a Roman-era emerald mine in Egypt’s eastern …

EL PASO, TEXAS—According to a statement released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and National Park Service representatives handed over more than 500 stone artifacts to Mexican consul General Mauricio Ibarra Ponce de León at the Mexican Consulate last week. Special agents traced the smuggled knives, …