Guest Author - Violette DeSantis

Archaeology Magazine names its top 10 discoveries of 2008. They are diverse and from all over the globe. Here is a brief overview of each.

Sacred Maya Blue - Chichen Itza, Mexico

An anthropologist (man that looks for important things in the past, things about man) thinks he knows how the Maya made a special paint (or pigment). The Mayan paint is so cool that it has lasted for years and can be seen in Mayan paintings still found today.

Wari Masked Mummy - Lima, Peru

Archaeologists were able to guess what this woman mummy did for a living based on what she was buried with and where she travelled from to end up in a new location. Unbelievably, this discovery was found close to a Peruvian city. That would be like finding a mummy by a city near you.

Kuttamuwa’s Soul - Zincirli, Turkey

This is an object with writing on it like a gravestone. It is important because it shows how long ago people believed in the afterlife.

American Genes - North America

This is a polite title for the discovery of 14,300 year old poop (feces). Today’s science makes it possible for scientists to get human DNA for the ancient human waste and identify who the first North American people were.

Oldest Oil Paintings - Bamiyan, Afghanistan

Caves in Afghanistan may prove how far back oil paint was used.

First European - Atapuerca, Spain

While North Americans are studying feces, Europe is studying ancient bones in northern Spain to find out how far back in time the first humans came to Europe.

Earliest Shoes -Tianyuan Cave, China

No, they didn’t discover shoes, but scientists did study toes of the oldest modern human discovered in Tianyuan Cave and found that they had a lot of similar qualities to modern shoe wearing humans.

Portuguese Indiaman – Namibia

Archaeologists find a shipwreck off the coast of Namibia Africa. They hope to learn a lot about the time period that it came from, they guess 1525 to 1550.

Imperial Colossi - Sagalassos, Turkey

Statues of famous emperors are being unearthed in Sagalassos, Turkey. The important part of this discovery is the condition in which they are being found.

Origins of Whaling - Chukotka Peninsula, Russia

A carving on a walrus tusk of people hunting a whale may prove how far back whaling goes and who the first whale hunters were.

Some great discoveries that didn’t make the top ten list: Ice Age Figurines – Zaraysk, Russia, Reclining Buddhas – Bamiyan, Afghanistan, and stories on Mammoths: Hitting a Genetic Wall, Our Melting Heritage, Human TB - Tracking a Disease, Can you Help Identify this Roman?, and History Writ (and Painted) Large. Find out more at www. archaeology.org/0901/topten/ where you can read more in depth stories and see incredible pictures of the top ten discoveries of 2008.