January/February 2015 Issue

NEW ZEALAND: Following a storm, a large piece of a 600-year-old canoe emerged from a beach on South Island. Now undergoing conservation and study, the canoe suggests connections with places across the South Pacific. It is made of local black pine, but employs a sophisticated oceangoing design with ribs and a girder, and has a carving of a turtle on the hull. Both the design and carving were unknown or rare in New Zealand at the time, and represent some sort of cultural continuity with the rest of Polynesia. —Samir S. Patel

KAZAKHSTAN: Using Google Earth and satellite imagery, scientists have recently found some 50 geoglyphs, some up to a quarter-mile across, made up of patterns of discrete mounds, in the northern steppes. Excavations, remote sensing, and other studies are under way. It appears there are no structures buried within the mounds, and the purpose of the enigmatic earthworks remains unknown. They may help track early human migration across the region. —Samir S. Patel

EGYPT: In a study of more than 100 skulls excavated from the site of Amarna, some 28 had remains of preserved hair, which is allowing a unique look into hairstyles and ethnicity in this part of ancient Egypt 3,300 years ago. Among them were several with extensions braided into the natural hair, including one on which there were approximately 70 extensions fastened in different places and layers. —Samir S. Patel