Italy: In the third century A.D., Roman sailors were known to supplement their meager salaries with tube-shaped tiles that they bought in North Africa when they unloaded cargo there. they then smuggled the tiles on board and resold them at home for a good profit to construction companies building structures with vaulted ceilings. Well, a vessel dating to that time, has been uncovered off the coast of Trapani—and uncovered among the rafters and cargo are many of these tubular tiles.

United States: In Virginia, on one of the farms connected to Monticello, the principal home of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, an exciting find has just been made: two newly uncovered sites include remains of slave homes, some of which date to the time of Jefferson.