January/February 2024 Issue

A construction crew in downtown St. Augustine unearthed a well-preserved 19th-century ship lying around 8 feet beneath the current street level. The single-mast, flat-bottomed boat, which would have measured around 28 feet long, was probably used to fish or collect shellfish from local waterways. It likely sank or was abandoned along the shoreline before being gradually silted over and buried. Archaeologists also found a kerosene lamp, a pair of shoes, and coconut-shell cups.

Mexican authorities announced the discovery of an extensive 1,500-year-old palace and residential area in the Maya city of Kabah on the Yucatán Peninsula, a site famous for its temple complexes decorated with images of the rain god Chaac. The recently uncovered palace is 85 feet long and has a porticoed facade with 8 pilasters, or flat columns. The building’s architectural features suggest that Kabah may have been founded by immigrants from Maya settlements in the Petén region of present-day Guatemala between A.D. 250 and 500.

Although seaweed is considered a superfood, it’s rarely found on dinner tables in much of the Western world. This was not always the case. Analysis of dental plaque from dozens of individuals found in ancient sites across Europe, from northern Scotland to southern Spain, revealed that as far back as 8,000 years ago, people regularly ate seaweed as well as freshwater aquatic plants. It was only in recent centuries that the nutrient-rich vegetable was taken off the menu.