ROME, ITALY—Excavation of the ancient sewer system at the Colosseum with robots has discovered the pits of figs, grapes, cherries, blackberries, and nut shells, according to a BBC News report. Alfonsina Russo of the Colosseum Archaeological Park said that the foodstuffs may have been eaten while Roman spectators watched gladiator battles some 2,000 years ago. The bones of bears and big cats, which may have been used during hunting games in which the animals were forced to fight each other and the gladiators, were also found, along with the bones of dogs. Finally, some 50 bronze coins dated from about A.D. 250 to 450, and a second-century A.D. silver coin commemorating 10 years of the reign of the emperor Marcus Aurelius, were also recovered. To read about equipment gladiators used to fight in the Roman arena, go to "Weapons of the Ancient World: Gladiator Weapons."

BASEL, SWITZERLAND—Swissinfo reports that the remains of a woman who was buried wearing a golden brooch, 160 pearls, an amber pendant, and a belt with an iron buckle and silver-inlaid tongue have been found in a seventh-century A.D. cemetery in northwestern Switzerland. The excavation was prompted by local construction work. “It appears to be a hotspot, a special place where particularly wealthy people were buried,” said Basel canton archaeologist Guido Lassau. Last summer, researchers working at the site uncovered the remains of a man who had suffered a sword injury to the head. To read about an iron folding chair discovered in a seventh-century A.D. woman's grave in central Germany, go to "Take a Seat."

GLASGOW, SCOTLAND—According to a statement from the University of Glasgow, Claudia Glatz of the University of Glasgow and her colleagues analyzed animal fat residues found in 5,500-year-old beveled rim bowls from the site of Shakhi Kora in northeastern Iraq. The study suggests that the mass-produced, thick-walled conical vessels, which are found across what was Mesopotamia, were used to serve a variety of foods, but most often were used with dishes containing meat, such as stews or broths flavored with bone marrow, Glatz explained. It had been previously thought that beveled rim bowls were used as bread molds, and to measure cereal grains for distribution to laborers or for the purposes of taxation. How the bowls were used varied locally, Glatz concluded. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. To read about the remnants of a Sumerian boat uncovered in southern Iraq, go to "Sailing in Sumer."

KENT, ENGLAND—A fipple flute has been unearthed near the coast of southeastern England by researchers from Cotswold Archaeology who are investigating the site of a medieval building that may have been used for baking bread or brewing beer, according to a BBC News report. The flute is thought to have been carved from a sheep or goat tibia sometime between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries. It has five finger holes on its top and a thumb hole on its back. A mouthpiece has not been recovered. To read about a musical instrument carved out of a human femur, go to "Bronze Age Keepsakes."

NEW YORK, NEW YORK—The United States repatriated 192 antiquities to Pakistan in a ceremony held at the Pakistan Consulate in New York, according to a CNN report. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr. said that most of the artifacts were linked to a single dealer who has been accused of trafficking Asian antiquities from his Manhattan gallery. The district attorney’s Antiquities Trafficking Unit has seized more than 2,500 artifacts as part of this investigation. The recently returned objects include several so-called Mehrgarh dolls, which date to the Neolithic period and are some of the oldest known figurines in the world. To read about one of the oldest known Buddhist temples that was recently uncovered in the Swat Valley, go to "Around the World: Pakistan."

ANTALYA, TURKEY—Hurriyet Daily News reports that artifacts recovered from two auction houses in the United States have been returned to Turkey as a result of cooperation between Turkey’s Culture and Tourism Ministry, the Antalya and Burdur Museum Directorates, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, and the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The objects include a rare, life-sized bronze statue of the Roman emperor Lucius Verus, fragments of a sarcophagus from the city of Perge, a third-century B.C. marble figurine thought to have come from western Anatolia, a silver figurine of Apollo from northern Turkey, a seated statuette of the god Attis, and a terracotta plate from the southern region of Pisidia. The artifacts are currently housed in the Antalya Museum. To read about excavations of a Roman amphitheater at the ancient city of Pergamon in western Turkey, go to "Saving Seats."

ANTEQUERA, SPAIN—A Roman necropolis dated to the first and second centuries A.D. has been found at a construction site in southern Spain, according to a report in The Olive Press. Traces of 24 cremations and 30 burials have been unearthed to date. One of the graves held a lead sarcophagus containing two teenagers and a baby who died at about three months of age, and a second burial of an adolescent girl and a four-month-old infant. Glass jars of ointments, game tokens, a coin minted in the second century A.D., and some glass beads were also found in the first section of the double burial. Tokens for the same game, glass beads, glass marbles, and a second century A.D. oil lamp were recovered from the second. To read about the discovery of a Roman arch in southern Spain, go to "Making an Entrance."

YSBY, SWEDEN—Ahead of construction of a housing development at a site in southwestern Sweden, archaeologists unearthed a metal amulet in the shape of Mjölnir, the Norse god Thor's hammer, Live Science reports. Dating to the period between the ninth and eleventh centuries A.D., the amulet is the first of its kind to be found in this region. It is decorated with embossed designs, and may have originally been covered in gold or silver. A hole through the hammer's handle would have enabled the amulet to be strung and worn as jewelry. Acoording to archaeologist Per Wranning of the Halland Museum of Cultural History, people might have worn objects like this to signal their religious leanings at the end of the Viking Age, when Christianity began to supplant worship of the old Norse gods in Scandinavia. Researchers have also excavated firepits, postholes, pottery, and other metal items at the site. To read about excavations of a Viking-era Norse temple, go to "Around the World: Norway."

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN—A trove of silver objects dating to some 1,000 years ago was uncovered beneath the remains of a building at a Viking Age settlement outside Stockholm, according to a statement released by Sweden's National Historical Museums. Thus far, archaeologists have unearthed more than 20 houses and other buildings at the site, which was occupied from at least A.D. 400 through the early Middle Ages. The artifacts in the hoard include pearls, neck and arm rings, and coins from both the European and Arab worlds. It is unclear why these objects were buried, said archaeologist John Hamilton, though a common assumption is that people hid items during particularly difficult or troubling times. To read about a massive cache of Viking silver and Anglo-Saxon heirlooms, go to "Secrets of Scotland's Viking Age Hoard."

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA—According to a statement released by the Australian Museum, archaeologists have unearthed two basalt axes and hundreds of stone flakes in a national park on Norfolk Island, an Australian territory in the South Pacific. The tools were made by the island's Polynesian inhabitants between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, before Europeans settled there. Nicola Jorgensen of the University of Sydney said that the wealth of material found indicates that the site was a Polynesian settlement. Only one other such settlement has been identified on Norfolk island. The artifacts have enabled researchers to better understand the movement and behaviors of the island's original Polynesian inhabitants, said Australian Museum archaeologist Amy Mosig Way. To read about a 600-year-old canoe whose design indicates cultural continuity with other places in Polynesia, go to "World Roundup: New Zealand."

REYKJAVÍK, ICELAND—Iceland Review reports that a cottage thought to date to between 1850 and 1920 was in southwestern Iceland during an investigation conducted by archaeologist Hermann Jakob Hjartarson ahead of a construction project. A knife, pottery, plates, cups, glass bottles, and agricultural tools were recovered from the site. No fireplaces were found—it appears that cooking was done in pits, he explained. One of the pits measures about 14 inches deep and contained at least six layers of moss, burnt bones, and charcoal. “Most people here at that time were just cottage farmers,” Hjartarson said. To read about a tenth-century woman whose burial was uncovered in eastern Iceland, go to "Iceland's Young Migrant."

DANILO, CROATIA—The foundations of an ancient building thought to be a Roman temple were spotted during a geophysical survey of the site of an eighteenth-century Christian church in a small village located on Croatia’s southern coastline by a team of Croatian and Polish scientists, according to a Science in Poland report. The site was once the Roman city of Ridit. “The data we have collected indicate that under today’s church and the adjacent cemetery there are relics of a temple, which was part of the forum, the most important part of a Roman city,” said Fabian Welc of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University. A medieval cemetery had been set into the site of the forum’s bathhouse and other Roman residential and utility buildings, added project coordinator Ana Konestra. Fragments of Roman monuments had been reused in the stone walls around the graves, she explained. To read about another find from Croatia, go to "The Venus of Vlakno."

CAMPECHE, MEXICO—According to a statement released by the University of Calgary, an international team of researchers has conducted a lidar survey of more than 36 square miles of forest canopy in southeastern Mexico in the area of Calakmul, the capital of the Kaanul dynasty from about A.D. 635 to 850. Kathryn Reese-Taylor of the University of Calgary explained that the study revealed an immense urban settlement made up of large residential compounds clustered around temples, shrines, and possible marketplaces. Calakmul’s residents were supported by an intensive agricultural system that included canals, terraces, walls, and dams, she added. Calakmul was one of the largest cities in the Americas in A.D. 700, the researchers concluded. To read about a grand monument that celebrates a Maya dignitary's relationship to the ruler of Calakmul, go to "Autobiography of a Maya Ambassador."

HATAY, TURKEY—According to an Anadolu Agency report, excavations in southern Turkey at the ancient city of Antioch have uncovered rooms and offering vessels dated to the Late Roman period. Ayse Ersoy of the Hatay Archaeology Museum said the offering vessels may have been brought to the site by early Christian pilgrims who came to visit the Church of St. Peter, which was carved into the side of Mount Starius in the fourth or fifth century A.D., to fill them with holy water. To read about a fifth-century curse tablet unearthed in Antioch, go to "Hold Your Horses."

KENT, ENGLAND—Art News reports that archaeologists spotted the outlines of a Roman villa complex where wealthy farmers may have lived in southeast England in Google Earth images. Volunteers then assisted archaeologist Richard Taylor of the Kent Archaeological Society to uncover the foundations of the main villa and the adjacent bathhouse. Parts of the hypocaust system that circulated heat through the walls and floors of the bathhouse also survived. “There are many villas spread across Kent, but the fact that there’s a hypocaust system remaining is rare,” Taylor said. “Operating a hypocaust was expensive, requiring a constant supply of fuels—firewood—and a workforce to operate it.” The archaeologists also unearthed a fourth-century A.D. amphora-shaped belt adornment, a small Romano-British key, two fourth-century coins, pottery, and some wall plaster. To read about a mid-fifth century A.D. mosaic uncovered at a Roman villa in Gloucestershire, go to "After the Fall."

COPENHAGEN, DENMARK—Phys.org reports that the Saqqaq people who lived in Greenland as early as 4,500 years ago ate a more varied diet than had been previously thought. An international team of researchers led by Frederik V. Seersholm of the University of Copenhagen identified 42 different creatures when they analyzed some 2,500 bone fragments recovered from middens on the island. The bones include the remains of a now-extinct species of small reindeer and 20 different mammal species; fin, sperm, narwhal, and bowhead whales; nine kinds of fish; and 13 types of birds. Knowing what the Saqqaq ate will shed light on their technology as well, the researchers said. Some of the fish, for example, were small enough that they are likely to have been caught with nets. For more on Greenland's middens, go to "Letter from Greenland: The Ghosts of Kangeq."

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN—The Guardian reports that a shipwreck discovered in 2021 has been identified as the Applet by researchers from the Vrak Museum of Wrecks. Launched in 1629, the Applet was built by the same shipbuilder who constructed the Vasa, a warship that sank with 64 cannon near Stockholm on its maiden voyage. Maritime archaeologist Jim Hansson said that the wreckage looked similar to Vasa, but its identity as a sister ship was confirmed through measurements and wood samples. The hull of the Applet is preserved up to the lower gundeck, while parts of its sides have fallen off, he added. The ship had been decommissioned by Sweden’s royal navy and scuttled to serve as underwater spike strips to damage enemy vessels. “With Applet, we can add another key piece of the puzzle in the development of Swedish shipbuilding,” Hansson explained. For more on Vasa, go to "History's 10 Greatest Wrecks...Mary Rose and Vasa."