September/October 2014 Issue

GUATEMALA: A pair of Maya council houses, home to myriad political and religious rituals, has been uncovered at Nixtun-Ch’ich’. The unusual presence of two such structures side by side suggests that the city might have been governed by a pair of lords. The Chakan Itza people ritually destroyed the site and moved the seat of their power around A.D. 1500, according to researchers. Among other finds there are sculpted parrots and turtles, as well as an incense burner in the shape of Itzamna, a creator god.

BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS: In English folklore, iron has the power to repel evil. It looks like the tradition made it across the Atlantic, as archaeologists have found 15 pieces of iron grapeshot, or small cannon balls, buried under two postholes of an 18th-century plantation house. At another site, a similar deposit contained a plugged shell, pins, and the bones of a headless Puerto Rican racer snake. Such caches might have offered luck and peace of mind for what was at the time a vulnerable colony.

OHIO: In the 18th and 19th centuries, millstones in the Midwest could be made of local chert or stone imported from France. It is said that millers preferred the French variety, but it can be hard to distinguish the similar-looking stones. Geologists have now found a way to identify these durable artifacts using tiny marine fossils embedded in them. While Ohio chert comes from an ancient marine environment, the French stone, from near Paris, has fossils of freshwater snails and algae. The French variety indeed appears to have been more popular.