This is a follow up post to the earlier one about the the “Young Man of Chan Hol.”

Ritually placed in once dry cavern, Mexico skeleton offers clues to first Americans.

Apparently laid to rest more than 10,000 years ago in a fiery ritual, one of the oldest skeletons in the Americas has been retrieved from an undersea cave along Mexico‘s Yucatán Peninsula, researchers say.

The skeletons found in the Quintana Roo caves could force scientists to rethink their ideas about the initial population of the Americas, Gonzalez said.

For example, the skulls of both the Young Man of Chan Hol and the Woman of Naharon have anatomical features that suggest their owners were descended from people of South Asia and Indonesia—not from northern Asia, like North America’s other known early migrants.

The discovery supports the idea that multiple groups of migrants may have entered North America via the Bering Strait—using the now submerged land bridge that once connected what are now Siberia and Alaska—at different times in history, Gonzalez said.

See link here for photos and more: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100915-oldest-skeleton-underwater-cave-science/

The remains of a prehistoric child that were found in an underwater cave in Mexico four years ago have now been removed by a team of divers.

The skeletal remains of the boy, dubbed the Young Hol Chan, are more than 10,000 years old and are among the oldest human bones found in the Americas.

Scientists hope that the well-preserved corpse will offers clues to ancient human migration.

See here for pictures: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1305929/Ancient-skeleton-prehistoric-child-removed-Mexican-underwater-cave.html#ixzz0xq3p1vuc

Photo Courtesy China Daily

BEIJING, May 25 — Chinese underwater archaeologists hope to make their ongoing efforts to salvage the sunken ship Nan’ao-1 off the coast of Guangdong province an exemplar for other underwater projects.

A total of 20 archaeologists have been working on the centuries-old shipwreck since early April, making it the biggest in-situ underwater archaeological excavation in China since the establishment of its first underwater archaeological team in 1987.

They hope to recover the ship’s full load of over 10,000 pieces of antique porcelain by the end of July before the monsoon season arrives.

Over the past weeks, the excavation team has demonstrated great teamwork, with a clear division of work, according to Cui Yong, executive leader of the recovery team.

Nanhai-1 is believed to be the first ancient vessel discovered on the “Marine Silk Road” of the South China Sea, spurring China to preserve its underwater cultural relics lying along the ancient maritime trade routes.

As one of the oldest and largest medieval vessels sailing on the trade route, Nanhai-1 was found off the coast of Yangjiang in Guangdong in 1987.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/indepth/2010-05/25/c_13313804.htm

(c)Franck Goddio/Hilti Foundation, photo: Christoph Gerig/Used w/Permission

ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – Plunging into the waters off Alexandria Tuesday, divers explored the submerged ruins of a palace and temple complex from which Cleopatra ruled, swimming over heaps of limestone blocks hammered into the sea by earthquakes and tsunamis more than 1,600 years ago.

The international team is painstakingly excavating one of the richest underwater archaeological sites in the world and retrieving stunning artifacts from the last dynasty to rule over ancient Egypt before the Roman Empire annexed it in 30 B.C.

Using advanced technology, the team is surveying ancient Alexandria’s Royal Quarters, encased deep below the harbor sediment, and confirming the accuracy of descriptions of the city left by Greek geographers and historians more than 2,000 years ago.

See here for more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100525/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_egypt_sunken_treasures

A number of ancient Roman statues might lie beneath the turquoise waters of the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri in southern Italy, according to an underwater survey of the sea cave.

Dating to the 1st century A.D., the cave was used as a swimming pool by the Emperor Tiberius (42 B.C. – 37 A.D.), and the statues are probably depictions of sea gods.

“A preliminary underwater investigation has revealed several statue bases which might possibly hint to sculptures lying nearby,” Rosalba Giugni, president of the environmentalist association, Marevivo, told Discovery News.

See here for more:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33058777/ns/technology_and_science-science/