This weekly feature is a place to discuss new developments in fields of history and archaeology. This can be newly discovered documents and archaeological sites, recent publications, documents that have just become publicly available through digitization or the opening of archives, and new theories and interpretations.
Livescience had a neat article about a carved and painted human jaw bone found in Oaxaca, Mexico
Well I don't know what's new in history, but what's new in bad journalism about history, the UK newspapers/tabloids have been passing this terrible, stupid story around. Let's check off the sins:
Running random, unevidenced assertions of an elderly person? check
Total lack of following up on actual facts of matter? check
No attempt to discuss with relevant experts who might be able to argue for or against assertions? check
Totally stupid scientific assertions? ("The metal’s been lying there for 71 years. At some point it will decay and then we will have a second Chernobly on our hands" — what?) check
Typos that indicate how quickly this was copied-and-pasted from another tabloid? ("Chernobly") check
NAZIS? check!
ATOMIC BOMBS? check!
...sigh. Final verdict: total, utter trash journalism.