The graves of three crewmembers from the HMS Investigator have been found in the Northwest Territories in Canada.

Officials estimate that the graves, which are in undisturbed condition, are about 60 metres from the Investigator cache site.

“They’re on the plains just coming up from the beach towards the cache site, and they just look exactly like you’d imagine a freshly dug grave shaft to be, with evidence of the cuts around the sort of oval-shaped boundaries, and then the earth mounded in the centre,” Cary said.

The fact that there are mounds of earth on the graves suggest that the bodies underneath may still be in good condition, Cary added.

“Generally, what happens is as the bodies decompose, the earth begins to collapse in,” he said. “And so instead of getting a mound, you get a divot or a slumping.”

Edward Eastaugh, an anthropology lab manager from the University of Western Ontario, used a magnetometer — a sophisticated metal detector of sorts — that showed the presence of some kind of metal in the graves.

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A drought in Oxfordshire has revealed several Bronze Age graves.

Hot air balloon pilot Michael Wolf, of Reading Road, Wallingford, was training another pilot near North Stoke when they spotted several dark circles in a farmer’s field.

Crops had grown at different speeds because of ancient ditches hidden beneath the soil which once surrounded prehistoric burial mounds.

The site dates back 3,500 years but is hidden under fields and normally cannot be seen.

The 52-year-old said: “In twelve years of ballooning, I have never seen anything as clear as this. It was like looking down on a map.

“I have flown over this field before, and never seen any marks. The hot weather must have created absolutely perfect conditions for seeing the marks.”

He added: “There were seven or eight big circles. It was absolutely fantastic.”

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A well-preserved gladiator burial ground may have been found in York, England.

Dozens of skeletons found beneath the garden of a former 18th Century mansion are probably those of professional fighters who fought, and died, for the entertainment of the ruling Romans.

The remains of around 80 people were discovered during building work at a site to the west of the city centre in 2004, but their likely origins are only now being revealed thanks to extensive forensic analysis.

Almost all the corpses are of robust young males, many of whom met their death by decapitation between the late first and fourth centuries AD.

Archaeologists initially suspected that they were Roman soldiers loyal to Emperor Severus who were executed in the bloody aftermath of his traitorous son Caracalla’s coup in 211 AD.

But researchers from the York Archaeological Trust, which is leading the investigation, have now discovered tantalising evidence that the men were actually Gladiators brought to Britain from across the Mediterranean to fight at an as-yet-undiscovered amphitheatre.

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Graves recently excavated in Macedonia show that funeral offerings were dramatically scaled back from gold to clay, probably by Royal decree.

The graves in Pydna, a prominent city in the ancient Macedonian kingdom elevated to fame by Alexander the Great, contained gold jewels, elaborate vases and ivory-plated beds in the fourth century BCE, Besios said.

But a century later, under King Cassander of Macedon, these offerings were phased out in favour of cheaper materials such as clay.

“At the close of the fourth century, a decree issued by Cassander’s commander in Macedon-occupied Athens forbade the building of elaborate funeral monuments and limited spending on ceremonies,” Besios, the deputy supervisor at the Pydna excavations, told the daily.

“It was like the period we are going through today — one that will possibly be found by an archaeologist of the future,” he jibed.

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Researchers are using ground-penetrating radar to search for the unmarked graves of 30-40 African-Americans at Boone Cemetery in Iowa.

Under the direction of Keith C. Seramur, an adjunct assistant research associate in the Department of Geology, and Cowan, students used the equipment to measure electrical resistance between two electrode probes every two feet along a 100-by-100 foot grid. Variances in the electric current can indicate a disturbed soil below the surface and confirm the location of potential unmarked graves identified by the earlier GPR survey.

This initial effort only completed a portion of the grid so additional surveys will be conducted in the future.

While an exact number of gravesites has yet to be determined, historical records indicate that between 30-40 African-Americans died in Watauga County when the cemetery was in use.

“Our work at the Boone cemetery is providing geology students hands on experience with geophysical equipment,” Seramur said. “We also hope to contribute to the preservation of part of Boone’s history and respect for those buried in these unmarked graves by completing this study.”

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