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Archaeologists uncover 12,000-year-old settlement August 1 2003 Israeli archaeologists said today they had discovered a 12,000-year-old neolithic settlement west of Jerusalem which they believe is the largest of the period ever discovered in the Holy Land. The settlement, in Motza 5km west of Jerusalem, was home to 2,000 people and dates to 9,500 BC, Hammadid Khalife, head of the archeological team, told AFP. "We discovered a real treasure on the site consisting of 58 flint blades, found together, which at the time served as a kind of currency," Khalife said. "The origin of the stone and the way the blades...

Zoroastrians are the followers of the great Iranian prophet, Spitaman Zarathushtra (known to the Greeks as Zoroaster). Zarathushtra lived and preached somewhere around the Aral Sea, about three and a half thousand years ago, circa 1500 B.C.E. The Background Iran, at the time of Zarathushtra's birth, was a land where many pagan gods and goddesses were being propitiated through ignorance and fear. The prophet Zarathushtra, in his sublime hymns, the Gathas, revealed to mankind that there was the One, Supreme, All-Knowing, Eternal God of the good creations---Ahura Mazda, the Lord of Wisdom, who was wholly Wise, Good and Just. Ahura...

<p>Archaeologists excavating the site of a major Roman temple in London have found a sealed box containing a white cream still bearing the fingermarks of the person who last used it, nearly 2,000 years ago.</p> <p>"This is of major significance," said Museum of London curator Francis Grew on Monday.</p>

I do not pretend to call the Roman Empire the United States, but it seems to me there are some similarities as if history is repeating itself. Why did Rome Fall? There are some adherents to single factors, but more people think Rome fell because of a combination of such factors as Christianity, decadence, lead, monetary, and military problems. Even the rise of Islam is proposed by some who think the Fall of Rome happened at Constantinople. Since not all viewpoints are available on the Internet, this list of theories about the Fall of Rome is limited: *Decay *Financial Problems...

Stuffed dormice a Roman favourite The remnants of a Roman hare stew Archaeologists in Northamptonshire are unearthing the recipe secrets of the Romans. Excavations in the county have shown the dish of the day 2,000 years ago was freshly-grilled hare and stuffed dormice. The excavations are at Whitehall Villa, Nether Heyford, just yards from the Grand Union Canal, are revealing the secrets of Northamptonshire's Roman Heritage, including their unusual diet. Archaeologist Martin Weaver said a burned bowl found at the site contained the remnants of hare stew. "They also ate dormice - stuffed - and oysters. They loved their oysters,"...

Posted 7/16/2003 2:45 PM Scientists hunt for evidence of Noah's flood in Black Sea NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (AP) — In 1994, archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert rode around northern Turkey in a dirty white Toyota van looking for evidence of ancient civilizations around the Black Sea. Every time he and his team would ask locals for the whereabouts of centuries-old ruins, they'd get the same response. "Everyone kept pointing us to the sea," Hiebert recalled. Hiebert knows now why they did. After some preliminary trips, the University of Pennsylvania professor and other scientists will go on a first-ever effort to excavate ancient ships...

<p>In 1994, archaeologist Fredrik Hiebert rode around northern Turkey in a dirty white Toyota van looking for evidence of ancient civilizations around the Black Sea. Every time he and his team would ask locals for the whereabouts of centuries-old ruins, they'd get the same response. "Everyone kept pointing us to the sea," Hiebert recalled.</p>

July 15 2003 Headline: New mosque signals 'return of Islam' to Spain -- Detail Story GRANADA :It is more than 500 years since the Spanish reconquered the Iberian peninsula, killing or expelling every confessed Muslim who could be found and conclusively ending 800 years of Islamic rule. But on Thursday, a "muezzin" (Man who calls for prayers) is calling Spanish Muslims to pray at the first mosque to be opened in Granada since the reconquista, the culmination of a 22-year-old project that has been plagued by controversy. For those who built the Great Mosque of Granada, which looks out onto...

FERRARA, Italy -- The tension between Germany and Italy, unleashed in recent days by the incautious words of Stefano Stefani, our tourism minister, has played out since ancient times. Long before Mr. Stefani, who resigned on Friday, accused German tourists of invading Italy's beaches and conducting burping contests, there has existed an ambivalent relationship of attraction and repulsion between our countries. Though this dynamic has stimulated culture, it has also brought about disquieting, even disastrous, political outcomes. It all began with Rome under the emperor Augustus, when Varus's Roman legions were exterminated by the German forces under Arminius in 9...

Spain Opens First Mosque in 500 Years Thursday July 10, 2003 2:39 PM By DANIEL WOOLLS Associated Press Writer GRANADA, Spain (AP) - An imam recited verses from the Quran on Thursday as the former seat of Moorish rule in Spain unveiled its first mosque in more than 500 years. Dignitaries from Arab and Muslim countries worldwide attended the opening of the Great Mosque of Granada for prayer, crowning a fitful and emotionally charged project that began in 1981. The hilltop mosque commands a sweeping vista of one of history's prime pieces of real estate: the Alhambra, the reddish 14th-century...

Egypt to Put Ancient Mummified Pets on Show CAIRO (Reuters) - Ancient Egyptians loved their pets so much they even wanted to take them into the after life. Mummified cats, dogs, monkeys and even crocodiles -- lovingly preserved in the same way as the pharaohs -- will be on display later this month in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Egyptian antiquities chief Zahi Hawass told Reuters Television that ancient Egyptians were not only pet lovers who wanted to preserve animals for life after death, but also held some animal forms as sacred. "The ancient Egyptians worshipped the god Thoth, the...

After a wait of more than 500 years, Spanish Muslims have finally succeeded in building a mosque of their own in the shadow of the Alhambra, once the symbol of Islamic power in Europe. The opening, by Muslim and Spanish officials on Thursday, will be rich in symbolism. As Al-Jazeera television broadcasts the event live, a muezzin will climb the minaret of Granada's Great Mosque and call the faithful to prayer for the first time in half a millennium. It is, say its builders, the symbol of the revival of Islam in Europe and Spain's "glorious Islamic heritage". For that...

Stone circle is exciting gynaecologists, reports Science Editor Robin McKie Stonehenge has dominated the Wiltshire landscape for more than 4,000 years and is one of the world's most important heritage sites, but its purpose has remained a mystery. Some researchers have claimed the stone circles were used as a giant computer; others that Stonehenge was an observatory for studying stars and predicting the seasons; and a few have even argued that its rings acted as a docking pad for alien spaceships. Now a University of British Columbia researcher who has investigated the great prehistoric monument for several years has announced...

MORALISTS WITHOUT MORALS I would fain flee to Sarmatia and the frozen Sea when people who ape the Curii[1] and live like Bacchanals dare talk about morals. In the first place, they are unlearned persons, though you may find their houses crammed with plaster casts of Chrysippus;[2] for their greatest hero is the man who has brought a likeness of Aristotle or Pittacus,[3] or bids his shelves preserve an original portrait of Cleanthes.[4] Men's faces are not to be trusted; does not every street abound in gloomy-visaged debauchees? And do you rebuke foul practices, when you are yourself the most...

Y chromosomes rewrite British historyAnglo-Saxons' genetic stamp weaker than historians suspected 19 June 2003 HANNAH HOAG Some Scottish men's Y's are remarkably similar to those of southern England. © GettyImages A new survey of Y chromosomes in the British Isles suggests that the Anglo-Saxons failed to leave as much of a genetic stamp on the UK as history books imply1. Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Danes, Vikings and Normans invaded Britain repeatedly between 50 BC and AD 1050. Many historians ascribe much of the British ancestry to the Anglo-Saxons because their written legacy overshadows that of the Celts. But the Y chromosomes of...

Inca may have used knot computer code to bind empire By Steve Connor, Science Editor 23 June 2003 They ran the biggest empire of their age, with a vast network of roads, granaries, warehouses and a complex system of government. Yet the Inca, founded in about AD1200 by Manco Capac, were unique for such a significant civilisation: they had no written language. This has been the conventional view of the Inca, whose dominions at their height covered almost all of the Andean region, from Colombia to Chile, until they were defeated in the Spanish conquest of 1532. But a leading...

Italian Archeologist: Anatolia - Home to First Civilization on Earth Prof. Dr. Marcella Frangipane is trying to convince scientists that Anatolia is the source of civilization on earth, and not Mesopotamia, as historians have claimed. 20/06/2003 13:20 After 13 years of work in the Aslantepe Mound Orduzu, Malatya, Frangipane says the archefacts she uncovered prove that the first civilization was established in Anatolia. According to Frangipane, the swords he found in Aslantepe and the palace, are the oldest in the world. These findings contradict everything in history books. Frangipane held a seminar, accompanied by a slide show, entitled 'Anatolia and...

Was 0 a good year? June 21 2003 at 09:45AM Beijing - Aged wines don't get much older than this. Archaeologists in western China discovered five earthenware jars of 2 000-year-old rice wine in an ancient tomb and its bouquet was still strong enough to perk up the nose, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Saturday. Xinhua said five litres of the almost clear blue-tinged liquor was found, enough to allow researchers their best opportunity yet to study ancient distilling techniques. Archaeologist Sun Fuzhi was quoted saying the tomb dated from the early Western Han dynasty, which held sway over...

MUCH ABOUT HISTORY Pharaoh's chariots found in Red Sea? 'Physical evidence' of ancient Exodus prompting new look at Old Testament -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: June 21, 2003 1:00 a.m. Eastern By Joe Kovacs © 2003 WorldNetDaily.com "And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided." (Exodus 14:21) One of the most famous stories of the Bible is God's parting of the Red Sea to save the Israelites from the Egyptian army and the subsequent...

A few days before the fall of Constantinople to the armies of Ottoman jihad, some six centuries ago, a strange debate was taking place inside the imperial city. Constantinople then had a very loud senate, stubborn theologians, and merciless philosophers. It was the heir to Greco-Roman civilization, but also host to hot debates — so hot that they effectively isolated the city's elites from the realities of then-world politics. The political establishment of the Eastern Rome was consumed in complex rhetoric — what historians would later call "Byzantine debate." Just days before the city fell to the Islamic armies...