U.S. Returns Christopher Columbus Letter to Italy

After his initial voyage in 1493, Christopher Columbus wrote a letter to his patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, which was reprinted and distributed to spread information about the New World. According to a report published in Live Science, a joint American-Italian investigation team has determined that one of the 80 surviving copies of the letter, donated to the Library of Congress, has been stolen from the Riccardiana Library in Florence. Italy, where a forgery had been left in its place. The forged document, in addition to having mismatched stitching, lacked an original Riccardiana Library stamp. Investigators also found that bleach had been used to remove the Riccardiana Library's stamp from the letter in the  Library of Congress. How the theft took place is still under investigation.

Decorated Human Jaw Unearthed in Mexico

According to a ongoing study of a 1300 year old carved and painted human mandible discovered in a ceremonial area at the Zapotec site of Dainzu- Macuilxo, located in southern Mexico. The jaw bone is thought to have been worn as a pendant. The excavation team also recovered thousands of fragments of smashed ceramic whistles may have made owl-like sounds, while the figurines may have represented Xipe Totec, a Mesoamerican god associated with human sacrifice and agriculture. But Pink and the researchers think the decorated human bones belonged to ancestors of the site's residents, who were probably going into the tombs of their ancestors and bringing the remains of their ancestors out.