[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #38 Saturday, April 9, 2005
Mesopotamia
French Archaeologist Solves Mystery of Ancient Mesopotamian City
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/08/2005 3:35:01 PM PDT · 7 replies · 451+ views Turkish Press | Annick Benoist PARIS - The mystery of an ancient Mesopotamian city has finally been lifted after 25 years of meticulous work by a French archaeologist who has revealed it was one of the first "modern cities", purpose-built in the desert for the manufacture of copper arms and tools. In a new book entitled "Mari, the Metropolis of the Euphrates", Jean-Claude Margueron said the third millennium BC city, in modern day Syria, was "one of the first modern cities of humanity. Created from scratch in one phase of construction with the specific goal of becoming this (metallurgical) centre." This was an astounding concept...
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian treasure shown 16 years after discovery
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat  04/06/2005 12:22:15 PM PDT · 1 reply · 128+ views Yahoo | Tue Mar 15,11:55 AM ET | staff writer The collection, dating back to the Greco-Roman period, features a golden diadem fronted by an image of the god Serapis and a 493-gram (one pound) necklace in the form of a snake ornamented with golden coins from the second half of the second century AD... In addition, photographs of the excavation in Dush's Kharga Oasis, some 700 kilometers (420 kilometers) south of Cairo, and of the items before and after restoration are exhibited.
Ancient Rome
Tiberias Dig Unearths Very Rare Marble Floor
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/08/2005 11:13:37 AM PDT · 83 replies · 1,344+ views Haaretz | 4-8-2005 | Eli Ashkenazi Tiberias dig unearths very rare marble floor By Eli Ashkenazi A marble floor dating from the first century CE was unearthed during this season's excavations of ancient Tiberias. According to archaeologist Professor Yizhar Hirschfeld, director of the three-week dig that ended yesterday, the floor is apparently a remnant of a pavement in the palace of Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great, who ruled the Galilee from 4 BCE to 38 CE.
Asia
Ancient Musical Instruments Unearthed (China)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/07/2005 1:03:17 AM PDT · 11 replies · 288+ views Xinhua | 2005-04-05 BEIJING, April 5 -- Chinese archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of ancient musical instruments from the tombs of Yue State noblemen in East China's Jiangsu Province. Among the discoveries are rare clay instruments called Fou. It was popular during China's Spring and Autumn Period, and the Warring States Period. All together, about 500 musical instruments made from clay were unearthed from the tombs. Experts consider them outstanding in both quantity and quality. This group of instruments has no documentation and scientists named them after their bell-like shape. Six snakes were carved into this one, called Juzuo, pedestals for pillars to hold...
Archaeologists Dig Up Ancient Casting Centre
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/06/2005 11:43:59 AM PDT · 15 replies · 343+ views Vietnam News | 4-5-2005 Archeologists dig up ancient casting centre (05-04-2005) Story in stone: An arterfact found at Den Citadel. ó Archeologists claim to have found the countryís largest Bronze Age metallurgy centre, estimated to be 3,500 years old. The site, located at the Den Citadel in Phu My Hamlet, Tu Lap Commune, Me Linh District, in the northern province of Vinh Phuc, has yielded many discoveries which indicate that the site is the largest centre of bronze casting in Viet Nam to have been discovered so far, said Lam Thi My Dung, director of the Museum of Anthropology. Metallurgy and bronze-casting are representative...
Chinese, Japanese Started Prehistoric Exchanges 7,000 Years Ago: Archaeologists
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  10/11/2003 3:34:55 PM PDT · 17 replies · 136+ views China View | 10-8-2003 Chinese, Japanese started prehistoric exchanges 7,000 years ago: Archeologists www.chinaview.cn 2003-10-08 20:56:41 Å@Å@BEIJING, Oct. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Archeologists say Chinese and Japanese began prehistoric exchanges about 7,000 years ago. Å@Å@More than 200 Chinese and Japanese scholars and archaeologists convened here Saturday for a symposium themed on prehistoric culture exchange between China and Japan. They compared archeological findings in China's Xinglonggou Relics Site in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, also popularly known as "China's first primitive village", and findings in Japanese sites from the Neolithic age, about 10,000 to 4,000 years ago. Å@Å@The cultural exchanges occurred on a route from...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Experts: Dogs originated in ancient Asia
	Posted by presidio9 On General/Chat  02/17/2004 2:20:26 PM PST · 37 replies · 153+ views AP | Tuesday, February 17, 2004 <p>From Yorkshire terriers the size of a teacup to Irish wolfhounds near the size of a small pony, all dogs originated from a single species, probably an East Asian wolf seeking the warmth of the human hearth and an easy meal.</p>
Mammoth remains unearthed in California (SoCal - Moorpark)
	Posted by NormsRevenge On News/Activism  04/07/2005 9:28:36 PM PDT · 41 replies · 669+ views Monterey Herald | 4/7/05 | AP MOORPARK, Calif. - The remarkably well-preserved remnants of an estimated half-million-year-old mammoth - including both tusks - were discovered at a new housing development in Southern California. An onsite paleontologist found the remains, which include 50 percent to 70 percent of the Ice Age creature, as crews cleared away hillsides to prepare for building, Mayor Pro Tem Clint Harper said. Paleontologist Mark Roeder estimated the mammoth was about 12 feet tall, Harper said. Roeder believed it was not a pygmy or imperial mammoth, but he had not yet determined its exact type, Harper said. "It's considered a very significant find,...
'Sighting' Of Tasmanian Tiger Sparks L1.2m Bounty Hunt
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/02/2005 5:47:25 PM PST · 22 replies · 953+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 3-4-2005 | Anna Gizowska 'Sighting' of Tasmanian tiger sparks £1.2m bounty hunt By Anna Gizowska in Sydney (Filed: 03/04/2005) Officially, the last of their kind died out more than half a century ago, their downfall brought about because white settlers believed they had a voracious appetite for sheep. Now the Tasmanian tiger is once again the subject of a manhunt - this time to prove that the species still exists. The Tasmanian tiger was officially declared extinct in 1986 After dramatic claims by a German tourist to have seen one of the mysterious, meat-eating marsupials lurking deep in the Tasmanian wilderness, Australian magazines and...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
Asteroid Theory of Dinosaur Extinction Questioned
	Posted by anymouse On News/Activism  03/01/2004 8:54:16 PM PST · 6 replies · 107+ views Reuters | Mon Mar 1, 2004 | Maggie Fox Scientists probing a vast crater off Mexico's Yucatan peninsula questioned a popular theory about dinosaurs on Monday, saying the collision that formed the crater happened too far back in time to have caused their extinction by itself. Much evidence points to the idea that an asteroid or comet gouged the Earth around 65 million years ago, triggering volcanic and climate changes that eventually wiped out the dinosaurs. When the huge, mostly underwater crater was found off Yucatan, it seemed the perfect candidate. "Since the early 1990s the Chicxulub crater on Yucatan, Mexico, has been hailed as the smoking gun that...
Eighteen Hundred And Froze To Death (The Infamous 'Year Without Summer')
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  03/12/2005 8:10:49 PM PST · 48 replies · 1,708+ views Island Net.com | 4-7-2004 | Keith C. Heidon,PhD,ACM Eighteen Hundred and Froze To Death The Infamous "Year Without A Summer" Of the cold summers in the period 1811 to 1817, the year 1816 has gone down in the annals of New England history as "The Year There Was No Summer," the "Poverty Year" and "Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death." The year began with a moderate but dry winter. Spring was tardy and continued very dry. The growing season from late spring to early fall, however, was punctuated by a series of devastating cold waves that did major damage to the crops and greatly reduced the food supply....
More Temples Pop Out of Sea-Bed (Uncovered by Tsunami)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/02/2005 5:39:19 PM PST · 27 replies · 967+ views The State (India) | March 31 CHENNAI, March 31. ó After the excitement of discovering man made rock structures under sea off Mahabalipuram coast, the excavation team of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has now unearthed traces of two more temples on shore. Adjoining the Shore Temple, these findings could perhaps lend credence to legends about ëSeven Pagodas (temples)í having stood on this historic spot, once a flourishing port town under the Pallavas. 'We are presently excavating the remains of two structural temples on shore, both to the south of the Shore Temple. They appear to be similar in size to the Shore Temple. And,...
"Super volcano" could dwarf Indonesia's earthquake catastrophes
	Posted by AntiGuv On News/Activism  04/02/2005 6:31:22 PM PST · 65 replies · 1,666+ views Agence France-Presse | April 2, 2005 | AFP SYDNEY (AFP) - As Indonesians struggled to recover from the second deadly earthquake to strike them in three months, an Australian expert warned the country faced the prospect of a "super volcano" eruption that would dwarf all previous catastrophes. Professor Ray Cas of Monash University's School of Geosciences said the world's biggest super volcano was Lake Toba, on Indonesia's island of Sumatra, site of both the recent massive earthquakes. Cas told Australian media Friday that Toba sits on a faultline running down the middle of Sumatra -- just where some seismologists say a third earthquake might strike following the 9.0...
Climate
Years Were Longer 1.3bln Years ago: Chinese Scientists
	Posted by vannrox On News/Activism  07/22/2003 7:21:52 PM PDT · 23 replies · 192+ views The Peoples Daily - Science Edition | 7-22-2003 FR Post | Editorial Staff Years Were Longer 1.3bln Years ago: Chinese ScientistsPeople who complain that there aren't enough hours in the day might have preferred to live 1.3 billion years ago. At that time, according to the latest research by a group of Chinese scientists, there were 15 hours in one day, 42 days in a month, and 13 to 14 months, or more than 540 days, in a year. The finding was obtained through a five-year systematic study of stromatolite samples, known as "stone with memory", by several researchers with the Tianjin geology and minerals research institute under the China Geological Survey...
Biggest iceberg threat to penguins, scientists(Global Warming Of Course)
	Posted by Graybeard58 On News/Activism  12/17/2004 2:35:26 PM PST · 48 replies · 1,166+ views Waterbury Republican-American | December 17, 2004 | Associated Press WELLINGTON, New Zealand -- A remnant of the largest iceberg ever recorded is blocking Antarctica's McMurdo Sound, threatening tens of thousands of penguin chicks with starvation and cutting off a supply route for three science stations, according to a New Zealand official. The iceberg, known as B15A, measures about 1,200 square miles, said Lou Sanson, chief executive of the government scientific agency Antarctica New Zealand. He called it "the largest floating thing on the planet right now" and said U.S. researchers estimate it contains enough water to supply Egypt's Nile River complex for 80 years. It is so big it...
World's Biggest Iceberg Begins Moving
	Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach On News/Activism  04/05/2005 1:32:23 AM PDT · 18 replies · 1,033+ views Las Vegas Sun | April 03, 2005 | ASSOCIATED PRESS 7 WELLINGTON, New Zealand The world's biggest iceberg has begun moving nearly three months after it stopped its slow float toward colliding with a huge Antarctic ice tongue, New Zealand officials said Monday. Known as B15A, the giant iceberg, a remnant of a Ross Ice Shelf fracture in 2000, is now moving slowly northward out of McMurdo Sound, where it had been blocking sea access, Antarctica New Zealand chief executive Lou Sanson said. He said the iceberg is moving just over a half-mile a day. Earlier, B15A, which is 1,200 square miles and contains enough water to feed the River...
Let's Have Jerusalem!
Nefertiti's 'Love Affair' With Moses to Hit the Silver Screen
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/08/2005 4:21:11 PM PDT · 150 replies · 1,731+ views Yahoo News! | Fri Apr 8 CAIRO (AFP) - A Hollywood flick on an alleged love affair between pharaonic Queen Nefertiti and the Biblical Prophet Moses is soon to begin shooting in Egypt, renowned British producer John Heyman has revealed to AFP. "Nefertiti married perhaps one of the first monotheists in history and the film will tell their story, which logically enough should be set in Egypt" said Heyman on a brief visit to Cairo. "One can find in the Old Testament that Moses and Nefertiti had a relationship," he added. The movie will also deal "with the return to the worship of the sun god,"...
Rabbinate Recognizes Bnei Menashe as 'Descendants of Israel"
	Posted by SJackson On News/Activism  03/31/2005 9:05:10 AM PST · 25 replies · 585+ views Arutz Sheva | 3-31-05 Rabbinate Recognizes Bnei Menashe as 'Descendants of Israel" 16:47 Mar 31, '05 / 20 Adar 5765 In a historic decision, Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar has decided to formally recognize the Bnei Menashe community of northeastern India as 'descendants of Israel.' The Chief Rabbinate has also agreed to send a beit din (rabbinical court) on its behalf to the region to formally convert them to Judaism. The Bnei Menashe claim descent from the tribe of Menashe, one of the ten tribes exiled from the Land of Israel by the Assyrian empire over 2,700 years ago. They reside primarily in...
Origins and Prehistory
Archaeologist Finds 'Oldest Porn Statue' (7,200 Years Old)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/04/2005 1:22:11 PM PDT · 101 replies · 2,914+ views The Guardian (UK) | 4-4-2005 | Krysia Diver Archaeologist finds 'oldest porn statue' Krysia Diver in Stuttgart Monday April 4, 2005 The Guardian (UK) Stone-age figurines depicting what could be the oldest pornographic scene in the world have been unearthed in Germany. Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be the 7,200-year-old remnants of a man having intercourse with a woman. The extraordinary find, at an archaeological dig in Saxony, shatters the belief that sex was a taboo subject in that era. Until now, the oldest representations of sexual scenes were frescos from about 2,000 years ago. Harald St‰uble of the Archaeological Institute of Saxony, based in Dresden,...
Cross-cultural estimation of the human generation interval...
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat  04/03/2005 9:14:19 PM PDT · 5 replies · 72+ views American Journal of Physical Anthropology (via Wiley InterScience) | Received: 28 March 2004; Accepted: 25 August 2004 | Jack N. Fenner ...for use in genetics-based population divergence studies. Abstract: The length of the human generation interval is a key parameter when using genetics to date population divergence events. However, no consensus exists regarding the generation interval length, and a wide variety of interval lengths have been used in recent studies. This makes comparison between studies difficult, and questions the accuracy of divergence date estimations. Recent genealogy-based research suggests that the male generation interval is substantially longer than the female interval, and that both are greater than the values commonly used in genetics studies. This study evaluates each of these hypotheses in...
Infectious Evolution: Ancient Virus Hit Apes, Not Our Ancestors, In The Genes
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/02/2005 11:48:39 AM PST · 34 replies · 762+ views Science News | 3-5-2005 (issue) | Bruce Bower Infectious Evolution: Ancient virus hit apes, not our ancestors, in the genesMarch 5 Bruce Bower A vicious virus infected ancestral chimpanzees and gorillas in Africa between 4 million and 3 million years ago. Not only did it kill a great many of these primates, but it also infiltrated the surviving animals' genomes, altering the course of evolution. That's the picture emerging from a new analysis of modern-primate DNA. Around 1.5 million years ago, this virus of the class called retroviruses also infected ancestors of modern baboons and macaques, two African monkeys, reports geneticist Evan E. Eichler of the University of...
Evidence for the Orangutan Relationship
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat  04/03/2005 9:23:58 PM PDT · 14 replies · 159+ views Buffalo Museum of Science | circa 2003 | Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz (et al) Evidence for the orangutan being the closest living relative of modern humans is based on at least 35 known characters that appear to be either exclusive to humans and orangutans or largely absent in outgroups.
Hunt for ancient human molecules (Amazing Story!)
	Posted by vannrox On News/Activism  02/16/2004 4:34:29 PM PST · 57 replies · 109+ views BBC | Published: 2004/02/16 22:21:33 GMT | By Richard Black Hunt for ancient human molecules By Richard Black BBC science correspondent in Seattle New technologies may soon allow scientists to identify some of the genes of humankind's oldest ancestors. This raises the possibility of plotting the evolutionary tree of humanity from five million years ago to the present. Professor Hendrik Poinar says DNA fragments should be recoverable from fossils that are a million years old, and proteins from even older times. His comments came at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Seattle. Professor Poinar, from McMaster University in Canada, said the key was to...
Life goes on without 'vital' DNA
	Posted by Michael_Michaelangelo On News/Activism  06/04/2004 8:08:18 AM PDT · 158 replies · 132+ views New Scientist | 6/4/04 | Sylvia Pag·n Westphal It is not often that the audience at a scientific meeting gasps in amazement during a talk. But that is what happened recently when researchers revealed that they had deleted huge chunks of the genome of mice without it making any discernable difference to the animals. The result is totally unexpected because the deleted sequences included so-called "conserved regions" thought to have important functions. All DNA tends to acquire random mutations, but if these occur in a region that has an important function, individuals will not survive. Key sequences should thus remain virtually unchanged, even between species. So by comparing...
Israeli Site Yields 750,000 Year Old Fire Evidence
	Posted by me_newswire On News/Activism  04/29/2004 1:32:24 PM PDT · 54 replies · 159+ views AP-via Duluth-News Tribune | April 29, 2004 | Randolf E Schimd WASHINGTON - More than three-quarters of a million years ago, early humans gathered around a campfire near an ancient lake in what is now Israel, making tools and perhaps cooking food, in the earliest evidence yet found of the use of fire in Europe or Asia. Researchers have found evidence that these early people hunted and processed meat and used fire at a site called Gesher Benot Ya'aqov in the northern Dead Sea valley. Developing the ability to use fire "surely led to dramatic changes in their behavior connected with diet, defense and social interaction," said lead researcher Naama Goren-Inbar...
Fossil Apparently Human Ancestor
	Posted by Vaquero On News/Activism  04/06/2005 10:43:45 AM PDT · 46 replies · 898+ views AP/Yahoo | 04/06/05 | By MALCOLM RITTER Experts: Fossil Apparently Human Ancestor 20 minutes ago Science - AP By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science Writer New fossil finds and a computer skull reconstruction bolster the case that an ancient creature that grabbed headlines in 2002 really is the earliest known ancestor of modern humans, researchers say.
'Old Man Of Chad' Confirmed As First Hominid
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/06/2005 5:37:59 PM PDT · 42 replies · 546+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 4-7-2005 'Old man of Chad' confirmed as first hominid (Filed: 07/04/2005) New evidence shows that a seven-million-year old skull found in the African desert belonged to one of man's earliest ancestors, reports Roger Highfield A squashed, fractured and twisted skull, which has been at the centre of controversy for three years, has been confirmed as the oldest known member of mankind. The skull, between six and seven million years old, was found in the Djurab desert of northern Chad in 2002. Sahelanthropus tchadensis was described variously as "a turning point", "a small nuclear bomb" and "the most important fossil discovery in...
PreColumbian, Clovis, PreClovis
Another Bone Of Contention Over Kennewick Man (John McCain)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/06/2005 11:02:33 AM PDT · 37 replies · 745+ views Seattle Times | 3-5-2005 | Kate Riley Tuesday, April 5, 2005 - Page updated at 01:17 p.m Kate Riley / Times staff columnist Another bone of contention over Kennewick Man Kennewick Man is poised to tell his secrets. Almost nine years after the 9,300-year-old remains were found on the banks of the Columbia River and a fierce legal battle, federal courts agreed unequivocally scientists should be able to study Kennewick Man. However, U.S. Sen. John McCain has colluded with those who want to stifle the stories of similar old bones and the light they can shed on the earliest Americans and where they came from. The Arizona...
Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Was Agnes Sorel, The First Official Royal Mistress Of France, Poisoned?
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/05/2005 12:03:22 PM PDT · 44 replies · 734+ views ESRF | 3-2-2005 Was AgnËs Sorel, the first official royal mistress of France, poisoned? Grenoble (France), 2 April 2005 - The ESRF has gone back in time to study the reason behind the sudden death of the beautiful mistress of French king Charles VII, in the XV century. Thanks to synchrotron light, pieces of AgnËs Sorel's hair and skin have been studied. The evidence obtained makes it possible to suggest plausible causes of death. The way she died is not known yet, however, incredibly high levels of mercury have been found in her remains. This finding opens the door to numerous hypotheses. The...
Norway's old cheese--Viking Viagra? (Norway)
	Posted by franksolich On News/Activism  03/28/2005 3:19:18 AM PST · 28 replies · 845+ views Norway Post | March 27, 2005 | Janice Neider Have you heard of Norway's Gamalost (Old Cheese)? It was originally made by the Vikings over 1000 years ago, who believed it had many medicinal properties.But we'll let Janice Nieder tell you what else she discovered:"Phewww! That stuff is nasty -- smells like my dog's bed, but my Grandpa loves it!" was a typical answer when I asked some teens in Balestand, Norway, if they ate Gamalost cheese.I had just heard about this cheese originally made by Vikings over 1000 years ago. They believed it had many medicinal properties and would nibble on it during long voyages to provide energy...
Revealed: The softer, caring side of the marauding Viking
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/07/2005 12:46:37 AM PDT · 17 replies · 454+ views Scotsman | Thu 7 Apr 2005 | EDWARD BLACK FAR from their marauding, pillaging stereotypes, Viking warriors were homemakers who couldnít wait to ship their wives over to settle the lands they had conquered, new research reveals. Scientists studying Scots of Viking ancestry in Shetland and Orkney have discovered that there must have been far more Viking women in the Dark Ages settlements than originally thought. However, it appears that Viking wives refused to go deeper into Scotland, with little evidence they made it as far as the Western Isles. Researchers from Oxford University took DNA samples from 500 residents of Shetland using a toothbrush to extract some of...
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[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #39 Saturday, April 16, 2005
Let's Have Jerusalem!
Did Nefertiti have 'love affair' with Moses?
	Posted by wagglebee On Religion  04/09/2005 3:15:38 PM PDT · 21 replies · 263+ views Middle East Online | 4/8/05 | Sophie Claudet A Hollywood flick on an alleged love affair between pharaonic Queen Nefertiti and the Biblical Prophet Moses is soon to begin shooting in Egypt, renowned British producer John Heyman has revealed. "Nefertiti married perhaps one of the first monotheists in history and the film will tell their story, which logically enough should be set in Egypt" said Heyman on a brief visit to Cairo. "One can find in the Old Testament that Moses and Nefertiti had a relationship," he added. The movie will also deal "with the return to the worship of the sun god," said Heyman. He was referring...
The Temple Mount's Jewish History: More Than a Matter of Faith
	Posted by familyop On News/Activism  04/11/2005 8:27:52 AM PDT · 34 replies · 570+ views Camera | 11APR05 | Tamar Sternthal The Temple Mount is the site of the first and second Jewish Temples, destroyed in 586 BCE and 70 CE, respectively--a historic fact accepted even by Muslim authorities. Nevertheless, that fact has not stopped some journalists from reporting on the Temple Mount’s significance in Jewish history cautiously, as if its status is a matter of Jewish faith, or “belief,” and not archeologic evidence. Thus, in the context of anticipated demonstrations by right-wing Israeli Jews, Reuters’ Jonathan Saul reported on April 7: The ancient mosque compound is Islam’s third holiest site. It is Judaism’s most sacred site, the place were...
Key Finds In Temple Mount Trash Heap
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/16/2005 3:21:20 PM PDT · 8 replies · 417+ views Washington Times | 4-16-2005 Key finds in Temple Mount trash heap Jerusalem, Israel, Apr. 15 (UPI) -- Archaeologists sifting through piles of rubble discarded by Islamic officials from the Temple Mount have found rare artifacts dating to 3,000 years ago. The artifacts were found in the last five months in a city garbage dump used by Islamic officials six years ago when they built a mosque at an underground area of the Temple Mount, the Jerusalem Post said Friday.
Africa
Obelisk Points to Ancient Ethiopian Glory
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/13/2005 1:21:40 AM PDT · 9 replies · 284+ views BBC | Verity Murphy In northern Ethiopia, in the once-great city of Axum, final preparations are under way for the return of one of Africa's most remarkable archaeological treasures. The Axum obelisk, a 1,700-year-old stone monolith, measuring 24-metres (78 feet) high and weighing 180 tons, is returning home after more than six decades adorning a square in the Italian capital, Rome. It was looted by Italy's fascist dictator Benito Mussolini in 1937 during Italy's brief occupation of Ethiopia and has been a bone of contention between the two countries ever since. The Ethiopian authorities accused Italy of foot-dragging over the issue, while Rome blamed...
Kissin' Wears Out, Cookin' Don't
Importance of alcohol production in the ancient world, study
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/09/2005 12:01:37 AM PDT · 32 replies · 602+ views Medical News Today | 07 Apr 2005 While the modern era has a fondness for the business lunch, the ancient world viewed the feast as an important arena of political action. Yet, new research in the April 2005 issue of Current Anthropology suggests that the story of how the food and drink arrived to the table is just as critical to our understanding of the past as the social behaviors at the table. Since alcoholic beverages were liberally consumed at many of these feasts (often occurring over several days), a sponsor often faced the daunting problem of assembling prodigious amounts of alcohol in the weeks preceding a...
Remains Of Roman Rabbit Uncovered
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/14/2005 2:50:19 PM PDT · 50 replies · 838+ views BBC | 4-13-2005 Remains of Roman rabbit uncovered The remains of a 2,000-year-old rabbit - found at an early Roman settlement at Lynford, Norfolk - may be the earliest example of rabbit remains in Britain. The bones - which show evidence the animal had been butchered and buried - are similar to those of a small Spanish rabbit, common in Roman times. It is thought rabbits were introduced to Britain following the Roman invasion in AD43.The remains will be officially dated at the Natural History Museum in London. The bones themselves had been butchered, possibly the rabbit was to be eaten by a...
Epigraphy and Language
EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY UNLOCKS SECRETS OF THE ANCIENTS
	Posted by tricky_k_1972 On News/Activism  04/16/2005 5:01:00 PM PDT · 36 replies · 774+ views The Scotsman | Sat 16 Apr 2005 | (Drudgereport.com) Scotsman.com EUREKA! EXTRAORDINARY DISCOVERY UNLOCKS SECRETS OF THE ANCIENTS Thousands of previously illegible manuscripts containing work by some of the greats of classical literature are being read for the first time using technology which experts believe will unlock the secrets of the ancient world.
Asia
Ancient Tablet Stirs Authenticity Dispute (Korea)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/13/2005 10:03:19 PM PDT · 7 replies · 228+ views The Korea Times | Kim Ki-tae A newly found ancient tablet, alleged to be the nation's oldest written historic record, is stirring controversy in academia over its authenticity. The Korea Land Corporation's museum on Monday announced that it had found a clay tablet, estimated to date to the third century during the Koguryo Kingdom (37 B.C. A.D. 668). The museum claimed that the tablet, with 290 Chinese characters on historic accounts, was made around 150 years earlier than the Kwanggaetodaewangbi Monument , believed to be Korea 's oldest historical record. The monument was built in 414. ``Around 20 experts have studied and analyzed the material, calligraphic...
India
More research needed on Delhi Iron Pillar: Experts
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/09/2005 1:26:50 AM PDT · 17 replies · 578+ views Press Trust of India | March 13, 2005 The Delhi Iron Pillar, which has withstood corrosion for over 1,600 years, continues to attract the attention of archaeologists and scientists who want to undertake a systematic study to unfold the secret behind its strength. A panel of scientists from across the country has recommended that the Government allow research on the pillar, a symbol of Indian metallurgical excellence, to ascertain its age, as well as for conservation of its underground part and the passive film that has preserved it through the ages. "The Archaeological Survey of India has agreed to allow the use of well-established non-invasive techniques to ascertain...
New Pallava temple complex discovered in Mahabalipuram
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/13/2005 11:01:12 PM PDT · 3 replies · 167+ views Newz | 4/12/05 In a major success, archaeologists in Mahabalipuram district have discovered remains of a 4th century Hindu temple built by the kings of the majestic Pallava dynasty. Archaeologists say the uncovering is the result of the December 26 tsunami that destroyed the beaches of various South Asian countries and claimed thousands of lives. The archaeologists inform that the newly discovered temple is a complex by itself. "We carried out extensive diving offshore and there we found certain remains which suggested some human activity in the region. To confirm and correlate that, we carried out excavation on this land and during the...
Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
Darius Ancient Inscription Found in Boushehr Deciphered
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/13/2005 1:51:24 AM PDT · 47 replies · 1,235+ views Persian Journal | Apr 9, 2005 Archaeologists have succeeded to decipher the text of an old stone tablet found recently in Boushehr, south of Iran. The tablet belongs to Darius the Great, King of Achaemenids. Excavation in the old palace of Bardak-e Siah in Boushehr, in the southern province of Boushehr, at the end of March led to the discovery of a stone tablet, with a written text in New Babylonian and a relief of Darius the Great. Experts of ancient languages succeeded to read and decipher the text, which is evidently part of a larger one. It says: "... I put ... on top of...
Female population predominant in 5000-year-old Burnt City (Iran)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/08/2005 4:10:12 PM PDT · 6 replies · 277+ views Tehran Times | April 5, 2005 | Tehran Times TEHRAN -- Anthropological studies indicate that females constituted about sixty percent of the population of the 5000-year-old Burnt City, director of a team of anthropologists working on the ancient Iranian city said on Monday. “We have excavated 208 graves in the cemetery of the Burnt City within seven phases carried out over the past years. 113 of the graves belonged to the female,” Farzad Foruzanfar added. The Burnt City is located 57 kilometers from the city of Zabol in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan Province and covers an area of 150 hectares. It was one of the world’s largest cities at the dawn...
The scourge from nowhere
	Posted by CarrotAndStick On News/Activism  04/08/2005 9:17:07 PM PDT · 77 replies · 1,184+ views Dawn | 9 April, 2005 | Dawn Nearly a thousand years after his death, the name of Genghis Khan still reverberates down the ages. Scourge of the known world, he sprang out of nowhere to bring death and destruction. For the world of Islam in particular, the Mongol onslaught was a veritable holocaust. From Bukhara to Baghdad, Genghis laid waste to flowering cities and prosperous countries. Operating on the principle of "surrender and live; or resist and die", he and his generals led his ravening hordes in unceasing campaigns from Beijing to Budapest. Even after his death, his successors carried on his mission to bring all mankind...
Ancient Egypt
Case closed on the end of King Tut (Scan Suggests No Murder)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  03/10/2005 10:53:30 PM PST · 8 replies · 276+ views The Guardian | Wednesday March 9, 2005 | Tim Radford, science editor Scan suggests pharaoh was not murdered - but may have been roughly handled by embalmersTutankhamun, the world's most charismatic boy king, probably died of natural causes. A sophisticated scan of the mummy, discovered by British archaeologists in the Valley of the Kings in 1922, reveals a badly broken leg but no sign of foul play. In a statement calculated to end decades of feverish speculation about royal intrigue, religious repression, palace revolution and cold-blooded assassination in the ancient Nile kingdom, Zahi Hawass, head of Egypt's supreme council of antiquities, told Reuters yesterday: "We don't know how the king died, but...
Mummies Undergo CT Scans at Calif. Museum
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/10/2005 2:37:28 AM PDT · 11 replies · 258+ views Yahoo | Thu Apr 7 | BEN FOX SANTA ANA, Calif. - This much experts know: One was a priest from a wealthy family. Another was a young girl who sang during religious rituals. A third was a child, buried in a finely carved wooden coffin. But there is much more to learn about the six Egyptian mummies that were wrapped and buried in strips of resin-encrusted linen thousands of years ago to protect them from the elements. Using 21st century medical technology, curators and radiologists in Southern California are examining the relics of the ancient world on loan from the British Museum to learn more of their...
Team Find Secret Of Mummies' Preservation
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  10/23/2003 5:30:08 PM PDT · 19 replies · 179+ views IOL | 10-22-2003 | Chris Slocombe Team finds secret of mummies' preservation October 22 2003 at 05:18PM By Chris Slocombe London - A German research team has unravelled the mystery of how the ancient Egyptians mummified their dead, using sophisticated science to track the preservative to an extract of the cedar tree. Chemists from Tuebingen University and the Munich-based Doerner-Institut replicated an ancient treatment of cedar wood and found it contained a preservative chemical called guaiacol. "Modern science has finally found the secret of why some mummies can last for thousands of years," Ulrich Weser of Tuebingen University told Reuters on Wednesday. The team extracted the...
Ancient Rome
Research team recreates ancient underwater concrete technology
	Posted by Mike Fieschko On General/Chat  04/09/2005 4:19:02 AM PDT · 18 replies · 197+ views PhysOrg.com | Apr 7, 2005 | unknown Research team recreates ancient underwater concrete technology A University of Colorado at Boulder professor and his colleagues have taken a page from the writings of an ancient Roman architect and built an underwater concrete pier in the manner of those set in the Mediterranean Sea 2,000 years ago. CU-Boulder history Professor Robert Hohlfelder, an internationally known underwater archaeologist, said scholars have long been in awe of the engineering feats of the early Romans. A former co-director of the international Caesarea Ancient Harbor Excavation Project, he said the research effort was spurred by the stunning hydraulic concrete efforts undertaken at...
Prehistoric and Ancient Europe
Pornography in Clay
	Posted by tbird5 On News/Activism  04/15/2005 8:42:19 PM PDT · 65 replies · 1,698+ views DER SPIEGEL | 14/2005 - April 4, 2005 | Matthias Schulz New pornographic figurines from the Stone Age have been discovered in Germany. But researchers can't agree on what the 7,000-year-old sculptures mean. Were our ancestors uninhibited sex fiends, or was reproduction strictly controlled to improve mobility? An increasing number of finds seem to indicate the Stone Age was an orgy of sexual imagination. The project itself was far from extraordinary. Workers near the Eastern German city of Leipzig were digging a ditch for a new gas line. Hum drum. But what they discovered was far from routine. A backhoe unearthed a 7,200-year-old, Stone Age garbage pit -- and it was...
PreColumbian, Clovis, PreClovis
Bones of Contention: A bad bill would throttle American archaeology.
	Posted by The Great Yazoo On News/Activism  04/14/2005 1:24:33 PM PDT · 10 replies · 343+ views NRO.com | April 14, 2005 | John J. Miller If a lucky paleoanthropologist ever unearths hobbit bones on federal land, scientists won’t get to study them — at least not if Sen. John McCain and his allies have their way. I’m not joking about hobbits. Really. You may recall the astonishing reports last year about the discovery of Homo floresiensis, a previously unknown species of human that lived as recently as 13,000 years ago — more recently than the Neanderthals. And unlike the Neanderthals, who are usually described as nasty and brutish, the Flores people were short. A fully grown adult would have been about the same size as...
Oldest printed map of New World goes on display [Waldseemüller's, 1507: first to use name 'America']
	Posted by Mike Fieschko On General/Chat  04/13/2005 9:14:23 AM PDT · 8 replies · 221+ views Daily Telegraph [UK] | Apr 13, 2005 | unknown A "groundbreaking" 16th century map credited with giving America its name has gone on display at Christie's.The map, the oldest printed map of the New World, is one of only four surviving examples and is expected to raise up to £800,000 at auction.As well as using the word America for the first time, after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci, who argued that the land discovered by Columbus in 1492 was a new continent, the map is also the first printed portrayal of the Earth as a globe.It was discovered by chance two years ago when a newspaper picture caught...
Medieval and Renaissance Europe
Search For Lost Ring Leads To Hoard Of Ancient Treasure
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/12/2005 3:53:47 PM PDT · 19 replies · 1,000+ views IC Liverpool/Daily Post | 4-12-2005 | Gary Skentelbery Search for lost ring leads to hoard of ancient treasure Apr 12 2005 By Gary Skentelbery Daily Post Correspondent A QUEST for a missing wedding ring has helped uncover a collection of ancient treasures dating back up to 4,000 years. Thought to be from tombs on the holiday island of Cyprus, the pricesless collection had been collecting dust in a Cheshire attic for nearly 40 years, with the belief they were old holiday trinkets. Their historic value was discovered when Neville Davies enlisted the help of archaeologist and metal detecting enthusiast James Balme, to help track down his son-in-law's missing...
Origins and Prehistory
Geographic Society Is Seeking a Genealogy of Humankind
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism  04/13/2005 3:33:59 AM PDT · 60 replies · 736+ views NY Times | April 13, 2005 | NICHOLAS WADE A five-year project to reconstruct a genealogy of the world's populations and the migration paths of early humans from their ancestral homeland in Africa will be started today by the National Geographic Society and I.B.M., the society said in a statement. The goal of the program is to collect 100,000 blood samples from indigenous populations around the world and analyze them genetically. Researchers at 10 local centers and at the National Geographic Society in Washington will then assign the people who give blood to lineages that trace the routes traveled by their early ancestors. The program is an effort to...
Genes To Help Tell 'Story Of Everybody'
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/13/2005 4:49:43 PM PDT · 18 replies · 346+ views ABC.net | 4-13-2005 Genes to help tell 'story of everybody' Last Update: Wednesday, April 13, 2005. 7:33pm (AEST) The Genographic Project will search for clues about how humans spread around the globe.Indigenous people around the world will be asked to supply a cheek swab to help geneticists answer the question of how humanity spread from Africa. The National Geographic Society and IBM hope to sample 100,000 people or more and look for ancient clues buried in living DNA to calculate who came from where and when. For $US100, anyone who wants to can supply his or her own cheek swab for a personalised...
Prehistoric Jawbone Reveals Evolution Repeating Itself
	Posted by blam On News/Activism  04/16/2005 3:27:42 PM PDT · 9 replies · 257+ views University Of Chicago Chronicle | 4-16-2005 | Catherine Gianaro Prehistoric jawbone reveals evolution repeating itself By Catherine Gianaro Medical Center Public Affairs A 115-million-year-old fossil of a tiny monotreme, an egg-laying mammal related to the platypus, provides compelling evidence of multiple origins of acute hearing in humans and other mammals. The discovery of a prehistoric jawbone, reported in February in the journal Science, suggests that the transformation of bones from the jaw into the small bones of the middle ear occurred at least twice in the evolutionary lines of living mammals after their split from a common ancestor some 200 million years ago. “The earbones are still attached to...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Mammoth's remains found at homes' construction site(12Ft Fossil far too ancient for carbon dating)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/11/2005 11:51:17 PM PDT · 27 replies · 759+ views Michael Owen Baker | April 10, 2005 | Michael Owen Baker Fossil that stood 12 feet tall is far too ancient for carbon datingMOORPARK, CALIF. - The remarkably well-preserved remnants of an estimated half-million-year-old mammoth — including both tusks — were discovered at a new housing development in Southern California. An onsite paleontologist found the remains, which include 50 percent to 70 percent of the Ice Age creature, as crews cleared away hillsides to prepare for building, Mayor Pro Tem Clint Harper said. Paleontologist Mark Roeder estimated the mammoth was about 12 feet tall, Harper said. Roeder believed it was not a pygmy or imperial mammoth, but he had not yet...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
New method for dating ancient earthquakes through cave evidence developed by Israeli researchers
	Posted by Mike Fieschko On General/Chat  04/11/2005 9:44:41 PM PDT · 8 replies · 78+ views Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Apr 11, 2005 | Jerry Barach [?] Photo in the stalactite cave near Beit Shemesh, Israel, shows a collapsed ceiling, evidence of an ancient destructive earthquake. Note the stalactites that were growing prior to the collapse, as well as the stalagmites on top of the ceiling that began to grow only after the collapse. (Photo by Elisa Kagan) Full size image available here A new method for dating destructive past earthquakes, based on evidence remaining in caves has been developed by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Geological Survey of Israel. Using this method, they discovered for the first time evidence of earthquakes...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Archaeologist Reveals Passion for America's Origin (Uncovered the Lost Remains Jamestown)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/13/2005 1:36:54 AM PDT · 24 replies · 554+ views Daily Press | April 11, 2005 | MARK ST. JOHN ERICKSON Nearly 10 years after leading the pioneering dig that unearthed the lost remains of Jamestown, archaeologist William M. Kelso was named 2005 Virginian of the Year by the VPA. With the 400th anniversary of the first permanent English settlement just two years away, the former Williamsburg high school history teacher, who lives on the island, says the full impact of the celebrated excavation has yet to be felt. Q: You first came to Jamestown Island at 21, intent on standing on the exact spot where America began. You returned repeatedly over the next three decades. What's behind this lifelong interest?...
Bodies of Brits From 1798 Battle Found in Egypt (Nelson vs. Napoleon)
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism  04/14/2005 5:32:58 PM PDT · 15 replies · 643+ views Reuters | Wed Apr 13, 2005 CAIRO (Reuters) - An Italian archaeologist has discovered the remains of 30 British troops dating as far back as a decisive naval battle in 1798 between France and Britain off Egypt's north coast, the British Embassy said on Wednesday. Archaeologist Paolo Gallo discovered the bodies on an island in Abu Qir bay, east of Alexandria, where British Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated Napoleon Bonaparte's French fleet in the Battle of the Nile. Gallo had been excavating the island for Greek-Roman artefacts when he discovered the remains of the 30 British sailors and soldiers, some dating to the 1798 battle and others...
Clean-up starts on famed Minster window [York, England, Great East Window]
	Posted by Mike Fieschko On General/Chat  04/11/2005 9:54:17 PM PDT · 4 replies · 101+ views Yorkshire Post | Apr 9, 2005 | Brian Dooks Painstaking work: Senior conservator Nick Teed examines glass taken from the Son of Man panel at the centre of the Great East Window of York Minster, which is to be cleaned and restored in a project that could take 10 years. Picture: Gary Longbottom Stained glass experts have up to 10 years work ahead of them restoring the Great East Window at York Minster – but first they have a great deal of thinking to do. Brian Dooks The York Glaziers Trust has assembled a team of specialists who are meeting monthly to decide how to tackle the multi-million-pound project...
Some Question Discovery Of Blackbeard's Flagship Off N.C. Coast
	Posted by wagglebee On News/Activism  04/09/2005 3:09:07 PM PDT · 22 replies · 482+ views WRAL.com | 4/8/05 | Scott Mason RALEIGH, N.C. -- Nine years ago, researchers believe they found Queen Anne's Revenge, Blackbeard the pirate's flagship. Now, some Archaeologists at East Carolina University are not so sure. Researchers found a major shipwreck at Beaufort Inlet nearly a decade ago. They later located 23 cannons resting on the ocean floor. Archaeologists have recovered some of them, along with other 18th century artifacts, which they say all point to the famous vessel. "I am, from my point of view, personally 1,000 percent sure it is Queen Anne's Revenge. I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever," researcher Phil Masters said.
end of digest #39 20050416