What I wrote @Forbes and @mental_floss in May

In case you missed it, here's your monthly roundup of skeleton-newsy stuff I've written for a general audience:

Forbes

• 11 May - Did Toxic Rum Kill These 19th Century British Soldiers?  This is a nice study of Pb and Hg poisoning in a colonial context on Antigua.

• 13 May - No, This Is the Second-Youngest Mummified Egyptian Fetus.  So there was a news story going around about a young fetus mummy found in a British museum, but there's a younger one, also in a British museum.

• 16 May - Roman Subway Construction Uncovers Possible Mass Grave of Elite Soldiers.  I have some questions about this one.  Reports on the supposed barracks of the Roman Praetorian Guard abounded, but there were literally no details on the human skeletons found in some sort of secondary burial context.

• 23 May - Archaeologists Draft Ancient Chinese Beer Recipe. It included rotten tubers! Yum!  

• 26 May - Mystery of Morbid Aztec Skull Masks Solved by Archaeologists. A new study tackles the creation of Aztec skull masks and asks who the people were who became masks.

mental_floss

• 4 May - Matchsticks Once Sickened and Deformed Women and Children.  From phossy jaw to glow-in-the-dark puke, things were much worse before OSHA.

• 31 May - 13 Offbeat Ancient Recipes from Around the World.  Want to make some porpoise porridge or pig vulva sausage for your next dinner party?  Look no further, because here are some amazingly weird ancient recipes for you.