Free Republic

MACHU PICCHU, PERU – The Incas built this mysterious city here, it is told, to be closer to the gods. It was placed so high in the clouds, at 7,700 feet, that the empire- raiding Spaniards never found, or destroyed, it. Today, visitors to Machu Picchu see well-preserved ruins hidden among the majestic Andes: complete with palaces, baths, temples, tombs, sundials, and agricultural terraces, and also llamas roaming among hundreds of gray granite houses. But they won't find too many bowls, tools, ritual objects, or other artifacts used by the Incas of the late 1400s. To see those, they have...

JERUSALEM -- Israeli archaeologists, screening tons of rubble scooped out of this ancient city's sacred Temple Mount, have discovered hundreds of artifacts and coins, as well as jewelry, some with biblical links dating back more than three millennia. Most of the stones and earth originally were taken to an organic garbage dump in nearby Bethany, the New Testament town known in Arabic as Al-Azariya, and could not be retrieved. But a substantial portion was diverted to the Valley of Kidron, mentioned in the Old Testament and located just outside the Old City's massive walls. This ambitious archaeological project, known as...

One day in a spring, an elderly man walked alone on a stone road lined by young willows in Xuzhou in East China's Jiangsu Province. At the end of the road was a museum that few people have heard of. A Chinese theology professor says the first Christmas is depicted in the stone relief from the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220). In the picture above a woman and a man are sitting around what looks like a manger, with allegedly "the three wise men" approaching from the left side, holding gifts, "the shepherd" following them, and "the assassins" queued...

Seeks to retrieve relics taken from Machu Picchu LIMA -- Peru is preparing a lawsuit against Yale University to retrieve artifacts taken nearly a century ago from the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, a Peruvian cultural official said yesterday. Peru in recent years has held discussions with Yale seeking the return of nearly 5,000 artifacts, including ceramics and human bones that explorer Hiram Bingham dug up during three expeditions to Machu Picchu in 1911, 1912 and 1914.

A lead seal from the sixth century depicting Jesus was recently discovered in excavations by the Antiquities Authority in the Old City of Tiberias. The other side of the seal has a cross with an abbreviation of the name “Christos.” This is the first time a seal with the image of Jesus has been discovered in excavations in Tiberias. A number of similar seals have been found in Caesaria, which in ancient times was the capital of the province.

Rosetta stone By Nevine El-Aref The Rosetta stone The black basalt Rosetta stone was found in 1799, a year after the French expedition to Egypt began, in a fortress located on the outskirts of Rashid by a young French officer named Pierre-François Bouchard. It measured 113cms tall, 75.5cms long and 27cms thick, and contained three distinct bands of writing. The most incomplete was the top band containing hieroglyphics; the middle band was written in the demotic script and the bottom was in Greek. Studies carried out on the stone by scholars revealed that the stone was a royal decree which...

Before sentencing a Whitefish Bay art dealer on her second conviction stemming from an initial crime, a federal judge said Monday he hadn't really seen a "clear portrait" of the defendant and that what he did see was "impressionistic." But U.S. District Judge Charles N. Clevert Jr. said he had enough perspective to throw the book at Marilyn Karos, concluding that she had once more thumbed her nose at the law in the case that comprised a Libyan businessman, Renaissance-era astronomical devices, a hidden-camera videotape made at the Pfister Hotel and a Mob-style beat-down in the North Shore. Clevert sentenced...

Stone Age Cemetery, Artifacts Unearthed in Sahara Brian Handwerk for National Geographic News October 21, 2005Archaeologists have excavated a trove of Stone Age human skeletons and artifacts on the shores of an ancient lake in the Sahara. The seven nearby sites include an extensive cemetery and represent one of the largest and best preserved concentrations of ancient skeletons and artifacts ever found in the region, researchers say. Harpoons, fishhooks, pottery, jewelry, stone tools, and other artifacts pepper the ancient lakeside settlement. The objects were left by early communities that once thrived on the former lake's abundant fish and shellfish. "They...

WATCH THE VIDEO HEREThe video is about the recent "Forgotten Empire" exhibition at British Museum in London

LONDON: Much of Ancient Persia's history is known to us only through the sophisticated literary culture of the Greeks. They often represented Persians as the barbarian "other," an image formed in the wake of the Greek defeats during the wars of 490 to 480 B.C. Later, the Greek picture of Ancient Persia and its history is drawn from the perspective of the conqueror, following Alexander's capture of Persepolis in 330 BC. The West inherited that Greek narrative as the Persians themselves seem to have been too busy living and creating an empire to write self-consciously about their own history or...

Statues of Ancient Goddesses Discovered By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 42 minutes ago ATHENS, Greece - The life-sized marble statues of two ancient Greek goddesses have emerged during excavations of a 5,000-year-old town on the island of Crete, archaeologists said Friday. The works, representing the goddesses Athena and Hera, date to between the second and fourth centuries — during the period of Roman rule in Greece — and originally decorated the Roman theater in the town of Gortyn, archaeologist Anna Micheli from the Italian School of Archaeology told The Associated Press. "They are in very good condition,"...

Tehran, 28 September 2005 (CHN) -- Archaeological excavations in Gohar Tepe, in Mazandaran province in Iran, has led to the discovery of the remains of the statues of some cows which were most probably used in religious ceremonies. The discovery of these sculptures indicates that the people of the region worshiped cows 3000 years ago. Mazandaran is one of the most ancient provinces in Iran. Archaeological excavations indicate that the province has been inhabited by human beings since 400,000 years ago until the present time, and that around 5000 years ago, urbanization flourished in the area. Gohar Tepe is a...

Customs officials in Florida have seized more than 300 ancient Peruvian artefacts smuggled into the US. The artefacts include a clay vessel thought to be 3,500 years old. The operation was one of the largest of its kind and was launched after officers received a tip-off. One person has been arrested. This pre-Columbian collection will now be returned to Peru, but customs officers say many other artefacts have not been found. Transit point The 322 objects recovered in Florida include decorated pottery, burial shrouds and gold jewellery - all dating from civilisations which flourished hundreds of years before the arrival...

The Kensington Runestone, one of Minnesota’s most debated artifacts is not a hoax — according to geologist Scott Wolter. Wolter spoke to a Minnesota History class at Anoka Ramsey Community College - Cambridge Campus Monday, Sept. 12. He has been researching the Runestone for five years along with Richard Nielsen, an engineer from Houston. Wolter, a geologist by education and profession works for Twin Cities Testing, performing detailed examinations on concrete and rock to determine if there are flaws in concrete projects. Wolter explained the Runestone was found by Olof Ohman in 1898 while clearing trees off his land in...

Archeologists uncover ancient coins in the heart of Athens Thu Aug 11,11:46 AM ET ATHENS (AFP) - Scores of silver coins dating back well over two millennia have been unearthed in the heart of Athens, officials announced. More than five kilos (11 pounds) of silver pieces dating primarily from the 4th century BC were discovered in an excavation project of the American School of Archeology, a statement from the ministry of culture said. Some 45 of the silver pieces are believed to date back to the 5th century BC. The discovery at the Athens Agora -- the chief marketplace and...

Sometime in the past 200 to 400 years, an artist from an exclusive Crow religious society painted two sacred figures on the walls of a protected rock shelter on the edge of the Pryor Mountains. He had meticulously drawn a man and a woman adorned with sacred hats worn by Crow participants in Tobacco Society rituals. The artist probably created his intense red paint by combining blood and urine with ocher, a reddish clay that crops up occasionally in the ancient mountain range. Pieces of ocher that the artist would have crushed to a fine powder for mixing his paint...

Mosaic inspired image of England's favourite saintBy Norman Hammond, Archaeology CorrespondentTHE earliest known template for the image of St George slaying the dragon has been found in Syria, archaeologists believe. A mosaic floor dating from approximately AD260 depicting the figure who became the patron saint of England has been found in the city of Palmyra in the Syrian desert. Experts say that the portrait is one of the finest classical mosaics yet uncovered and may even be the source of the St George legend. George was reputedly a Roman soldier, martyred in Palestine some 1,700 years ago. The mosaic shows...

Thracian Gold Found at Tatul Temple 23-carat Thracian gold has emerged from the Tatul sanctuary in the Rhodopes. Photo by sinia-planeta.com Lifestyle: 2 July 2005, Saturday. Archeologists have found a piece of 23-carat Thracian gold in south Bulgaria. The team was examining the Tatul sanctuary near Kardzhali when they picked the precious find. It was discovered in a layer from the Late Bronze Age. Experts believe that the piece was a part of a gold-trimmed stone mask. Tatul, an extremely rich archeological site, is expected to bring to the surface sensational finds, specialists say. They have already discovered a thin...

BAGHDAD -- Archaeological sites in southern Iraq have been systematically looted for over two years, but experts say that the dig will have to go much deeper to find out where thousands of lost artifacts have ended up. "The complete lack of knowledge is devastating," says archaeologist Elizabeth Stone, who spent years excavating the Old Babylonian city of Mashkan Shapir. "One article said that 1 billion Iraqi dinars worth of artifacts had been smuggled to Syria, but that's absurd. We just don't know what's gone," she says. The mystery has emerged as new site protection forces finally begin to make...

Titanic survivor's letters stun exhibit's staff June 03, 2005 BY DAVID N. DUNKLE Of The Patriot-News Most Titanic artifacts are plucked at great expense from a watery grave 12,500 feet down in the North Atlantic. But a few recently walked in the front door of the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts, carried by the grandson of a Titanic survivor. Documents delivered by Thomas G. Bell, a vice president at PNC Bank in Harrisburg, tell the story of William J. Mellors, of Chelsea, England, who was a second-class passenger of the Titanic. "They were in my mother's attic in...