Vitamin K Refusals Put Newborns at Deadly Risk: A ProPublica investigation reports that growing numbers of U.S. parents are declining the routine vitamin K shot given to newborns, exposing infants to a rare but often catastrophic bleeding disorder. Vitamin K deficiency bleeding can cause seizures, brain bleeds, organ failure, and death, yet it is largely preventable with a single inexpensive injection at birth. Doctors say misinformation, post-pandemic distrust of medicine, and social media claims about “toxins” have fueled refusals, even though major medical bodies and the World Health Organization recommend the shot. A national study found that more than 5% of U.S. babies did not receive vitamin K in 2024, up 77% from 2017. Specialists warn that poor tracking hides the full toll. (ProPublica)

Possible Lost Maya Refuge City Found in Chiapas Jungle: Archaeologists may have found Sac Balam, the long-lost Maya refuge city founded in 1586 by the Lacandon Ch’ol after Spanish forces destroyed their earlier capital at Lakam Tun. The proposed site, Sol y Paraíso, lies deep in Mexico’s Montes Azules Biosphere Reserve and matches Spanish chronicle descriptions of travel distances, springs, small houses, and communal buildings. Earlier visits revealed mounds and late precolonial or early colonial ceramics. In 2025, Yuko Shiratori’s team dug test pits that uncovered ceramic fragments, a monkey figurine, and a 16-meter stone wall matching accounts of Sac Balam’s public architecture. Some archaeologists remain cautious, calling for evidence of more communal buildings, colonial metal, or burning from the Spanish attack. Still, the site offers a promising glimpse of Maya resistance. (Science)

High-Mountain Cave Points to Prehistoric Copper Work in the Pyrenees: A cave more than 2,200 meters above sea level in the eastern Pyrenees is reshaping assumptions about how prehistoric groups used high mountain environments. Archaeologists excavating Cova 338 found a dense sequence of occupation, including 23 hearths and many burned green mineral fragments that resemble malachite, a copper-bearing mineral. The site’s oldest charcoal dates back about 6,000 years, while later hearths span roughly 5,500 to 3,000 years ago. Researchers argue the repeated burning was deliberate, not accidental, suggesting possible early copper processing or mining activity. A child’s finger bone, baby tooth, and pendants made from shell and bear tooth add burial and symbolic dimensions to the site. (EurekAlert!)

Scottish Crannog Reveals a 5,000-Year-Old Wooden Island Beneath the Stones: A prehistoric artificial island in Loch Bhorgastail on Scotland’s Isle of Lewis has turned out to be far older and more complex than it appears from the surface. Archaeologists from the University of Southampton and University of Reading used excavation, coring, radiocarbon dating, and stereophotogrammetry to document a crannog built on a circular wooden platform about 23 meters across. The earliest phase dates to more than 5,000 years ago, making it older than Stonehenge. Later Bronze Age and Iron Age additions show the island was reused across millennia. Submerged Neolithic pottery and an underwater causeway suggest this was not merely a practical structure, but part of a long-lived ritual or social landscape. (Phys.org)

Neolithic Motza Pushes Back a Roman-Linked Plaster Technology by Millennia: A study of plaster floors from Motza, near Jerusalem, suggests that a sophisticated building technology long associated with Roman engineering was already being used in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B period. Researchers found evidence for dolomitic lime plaster, a harder and more water-resistant material than ordinary calcitic lime plaster. Making it requires heating dolomite stone under controlled conditions, a technically demanding process. Before this research, the earliest known examples were linked to ancient Rome and later historical use. At Motza, however, Neolithic builders appear to have distinguished between calcite and dolomite and selected both for construction. The finding complicates simple narratives of technological progress and shows that early settled communities possessed highly refined materials knowledge. (Phys.org)

A Roman Souvenir Bowl May Have Traveled from Hadrian’s Wall to Spain: A brightly decorated 1,900-year-old Roman bowl found in Berlanga de Duero, Spain, may have begun its life far away on the empire’s northern frontier. Researchers argue that the artifact’s painted designs depict Hadrian’s Wall, the 73-mile fortification across northern Britain. The bowl’s surviving inscription may preserve the names of four forts along the wall: Cilurnum, Onno, Vindobala, and Condercum. Lead isotope analysis suggests it was made in northern Britain using local materials, sometime between about 124 and 150 C.E. The study proposes that a Roman officer may have acquired it as a souvenir or retirement gift, then carried it home to Spain, turning military service into portable memory. (Smithsonian Magazine)

Dog Walk in the Forest of Dean Turns Up a Bronze Age Ax Head: A routine walk in England’s Forest of Dean led to an unexpected archaeological find: a 3,400-year-old bronze palstave ax head. John Smith noticed the greenish object among tree roots while retrieving his dog and turned it over to Forestry England, which brought in Cotswold Archaeology for identification and conservation. Specialists date the ax to roughly 1400–1275 B.C.E., based on its form and material. Palstave axes were cast in two-part molds and attached to wooden handles, often with a loop for securing cord. The find adds to evidence of Bronze Age activity in the forest, where earlier discoveries include a ring cairn. Its landscape context may prove as important as the artifact itself. (Smithsonian Magazine)

Bronze Age Mines in Spain May Help Explain Scandinavian Metal Networks: Archaeologists working in Extremadura, southwestern Spain, have identified six previously unknown Bronze Age mining sites that may help explain where some Scandinavian metal objects originated. The survey, led by researchers from the University of Gothenburg’s Maritime Encounters program with Spanish collaborators, documented extraction areas near Cabeza del Buey in Badajoz. One site contained about 80 grooved stone axes used to crush or process ore. The mines contain copper, lead, and silver, all crucial to Bronze Age economies. Earlier chemical and lead isotope studies had already pointed toward southwestern Spain as a source for metals in Scandinavian artifacts. These new mines provide archaeological ground truth for a far-reaching exchange system more than 3,000 years old. (ScienceDaily)

Da Vinci Lineage Study Turns to Archaeology and Ancient DNA: A new phase of the Leonardo da Vinci DNA Project links genealogy, archaeology, and paleogenomics in an effort to reconstruct the artist’s male lineage. Researchers have traced the Da Vinci family tree across 21 generations and more than 400 individuals, identifying living male-line descendants whose Y chromosomes can be compared with historical remains. Excavations at the Church of Santa Croce in Vinci have located a family tomb believed to contain relatives including Leonardo’s grandfather, uncle, and half-brothers. Bone fragments have been recovered, and one male specimen consistent with the family’s period has undergone early paleogenomic testing. If preserved Y-chromosome fragments match living descendants, researchers could strengthen the documentary lineage and possibly identify biological traces linked to Leonardo himself. (ScienceDaily)

U.S. Returns 657 Looted Antiquities to India: The United States has repatriated 657 artifacts to India after investigations into antiquities trafficking, according to a report summarized by Archaeology Magazine. The objects were returned during a ceremony at the Consulate General of India in New York. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said the scale of the return reflected the size of trafficking networks that had targeted Indian cultural heritage. Among the returned objects were a bronze figure of Avalokiteshvara, discovered in 1939 near the Lakshmana Temple and later smuggled into the United States in 1982, and a sandstone Ganesha figure looted from a temple in Madhya Pradesh in 2000. The story is less about excavation than cultural repair: provenance, restitution, and the unfinished work of returning stolen heritage. (Archaeology Magazine)

Central Poland Emerges as Major Amber-Working Center Beyond Rome: Archaeologists have identified evidence for large-scale amber production in east-central Poland during the third and fourth centuries A.D. According to a Science in Poland report summarized by Archaeology Magazine, researchers found up to 10 workshops across five settlements in Masovia. The finds include raw amber, partially worked pieces, finished beads, and pendants. One workshop alone yielded more than 20,000 amber fragments, suggesting production for exchange rather than only local use. The region was then associated with the Przeworsk culture, better known for iron production. Adam Cieśliński of the University of Warsaw described Masovia as perhaps the largest amber-working center outside the Roman Empire. The discovery reframes amber trade as a dynamic frontier industry, not simply a Roman luxury pipeline. (Archaeology Magazine)

New Maya Site El Jefeciño Registered in Southern Quintana Roo: Mexican archaeologists have registered a previously unknown Maya settlement, El Jefeciño, in Othón P. Blanco, Quintana Roo, after local residents alerted authorities during Maya Train-related work. INAH researchers have identified about 80 structures spread across at least 100 hectares, with architecture associated with the Petén style. The site likely dates to the Classic period, roughly A.D. 250–900. Its core includes five monumental buildings arranged around a C-shaped plaza, with structures reaching 11 to 14 meters high. Researchers also recorded preserved Maya vaults, stucco mural fragments in white, orange, and red, and possible human skeletal remains in a funerary context. Future LiDAR work could clarify the site’s full extent and regional connections. (Mexico News Daily)

COPY II (2-3 PARAGRAPHS)

IMAGE CREDIT: NASA.