September/October 2012 Issue

Canada: The permafrost of the highest Arctic reaches of the Northwest Territories can make it difficult to inter the dead underground. The Inuvialuit and Inuinnait people of the region buried their dead above ground, covered with large flat stones. Archaeologists have recently documented four examples of these graves dating to either 700 years ago or the 19th century. The graves will be left undisturbed, but nearby sites, including food caches, will be examined to learn more about the cultures that made them.

England: "Can this cockpit hold/ The vasty fields of France? Or may we cram/ Within this wooden O the very casques/ That did affright the air at Agincourt?" The "wooden O" from the prologue to Shakespeare’s Henry V has been found behind a pub in Shoreditch. There, archaeologists uncovered the remains of the Curtain Theatre, which was home to the bard's theatrical company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, for two years before the Globe opened. The playhouse likely saw the first performances of Henry V and Romeo and Juliet.

Ireland: While dredging for a wastewater treatment plant on the Cork coast, workers uncovered the previously undocumented wreck of a ship from the 16th or 17th century. While little is known of the ship just yet, marine archaeologists found that it carried an exotic load—seven coconuts, all stamped with an unknown mark. Found amid barrels and fragments of Seville olive jars, the coconuts might have been cargo from the Caribbean or North Africa.