Previously unkown Maroon site discovered in Jamaica's Blue and John Crow Mountains

As Jamaica's first world heritage site, the Blue and John Crow Mountains offer an incredibly diverse and rugged landscape which also served as a refuge for those resisting the European colonial system, whether the indigenous Tainos or subsequently Maroons, who were formerly enslaved peoples.

In its continuing archaeological study of the region, the Jamaica National Heritage Trust has recently discovered a previously unknown Maroon site, known as Quao, named after a Maroon leader who signed a peace agreement with the British in 1739. While exploration of the site is ongoing, evidence found so far points to sugar production and associated activities.

This will undoubtedly be an interesting story to watch to see what other discoveries are made regarding this and other Maroon sites in South-Eastern Jamaica.

Bold claims of a new underground city discovered in Turkey's Cappadocia region

Tureky's Hürriyet Daily News has reported this week on bold claims by Mr. Hasan Ünver, Mayor of Nevşehir, a city near Göreme National Park famed for its volcanic landscape . The area, inscribed as a world heritage site since 1985, boasts hundreds of man-made caves carved into the soft volcanic rock dating back to the early Christian period.

While these caves were generally used for storage and temporary shelter from marauders, Mr. Ünver is claiming that the discovery of a previously unknown underground city near Nevşehir fortress whose residents lived there permanent will "rewrite" the history of Cappadocia

The mayor indicated that plans are being made for the opening of the first part of the underground city in 2017, with excavations being undertaken under the direction of the Culture and Tourism Ministry.

Earliest European Christian church in the tropics excavated in Cabo Verde

University of Cambridge has reported this week that a team of archaeologists from the university have unearthed the earliest known European Christian church in the tropics. Dating from ca1470, the church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição was built by Portguese in Cidade Velha, the former capital of Cabo Verde, and the country's only world heritagesite.

Excavation site (photo credit: University of Cambridge)

Thanks to its role as a trans-shipment point between Africa and the Americas for the Portuguese slave trade, Cidade Velha became the second richest country in the Portuguese empire. And fascinatingly the archaeologists found a burial site under the church where more than 1,000 people were buried before 1525, including both Africans and Europeans.

I look forward to learning more about the archaeology of this site in the months and years to come.

Exciting new research on El Salvador's Pompeii

The Joya de Cerén Archaeological Site, a world heritage site in El Salvador, rivals Pompeii for its exceptional remains of a pre-Columbian agricultural community that was buried under several meters of volcanic ash during an eruption of the Laguna Caldera Volcano in approximately 660 CE.

Ceren archaeological site

This week the University of Colorado in Boulder published a fascinating article on recent archaeological research at the site, which challenges the common perception that the common people of time were lorded over by ruthless elites. As well, the research has underscored the complexity of local social structures and relationships.   

Given that the historical record of indigenous Latin America is dominated by the observations of the early Spanish conquistadors and their hangers-on, archaeological research of the sort being pursued by the University of Colorado is a welcome corrective to the traditional narrative.