Free Republic

BEIJING, March 2 – A Chinese art collector identified himself on Monday as the winning bidder in last week’s Paris auction for two sculptures looted from Beijing in the 1800s but said that, as a patriot, he had no intention of paying. Christie’s, which had triggered Chinese anger by holding the sale, would not say what action it would take against the bidder, only that the bronze sculptures of the heads of a rat and a rabbit would not be released until it had been paid. Cai Mingchao, a collector and adviser to a private foundation in China that seeks...

Your unborn baby cast in bronze ... it's the new foetal attractionSophie Goodchild, Health Editor 02.01.09 A CLINIC is offering mothers bronze models of their unborn babies.The London Ultrasound Centre, near Harley Street, is the first in the country to offer the service, which allows parents to "celebrate" their babies in the womb.A 3D printer uses ultrasound images to build a cast of the child. The models cost £1,200, take up to two-and-a-half weeks to make, and are created when the mother is at a safe stage of pregnancy at 24 weeks.Doctors say the technology could also help improve...

ATHENS, Greece – Authorities say a hoard of 4,500-year-old copper weapons recovered off a northern beach is the largest of its kind ever found in Greece. A Culture Ministry statement says the discovery includes at least 110 ax and hammer heads, but several more should be extracted from compacted masses of corroded metal. The ministry says they were probably buried at a time of unrest or war. The hoard would have represented a fortune at the time.

SOFIA, Bulgaria (AP) -- Archaeologists have unearthed an elaborately decorated 1,800-year-old chariot sheathed in bronze at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, the head of the excavation said Friday. "The lavishly ornamented four-wheel chariot dates back to the end of the second century A.D.," Veselin Ignatov told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from the site, near the southeastern village of Karanovo. But he said archaeologists were struggling to keep up with looters, who often ransack ancient sites before the experts can get to them. SNIP

Bronze Age axe 'factory' survey Part of a Bronze Age axe made from picrite rock Archaeologists are hoping to unearth evidence of what they believe to have been one of Bronze Age Britain's largest axe-making "factories". Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT) said the axes, made from a distinctive type rock - known as picrite - had been found throughout the country. A three-week survey at the 4,000-year-old site will start soon in Hyssington, near Welshpool, Powys. The trust's Chris Martin said it may have been a large industrial centre. The trust carried out a preliminary survey last year, but it did...

The market for antimicrobial doorknobs, hospital fixtures and other products that kill germs on contact may be about to take on a coppery sheen. The Copper Development Association, a trade group for copper companies, said Tuesday that federal regulators had approved its application to market a group of copper alloys, including brass and bronze, as capable of killing bacteria and microbes effectively enough to protect human health. Copper ions can penetrate the cell walls of microbes and can disrupt reproduction and other cell functions. The approval is the first time that the Environmental Protection Agency has allowed health claims to...

FORT HUACHUCA — The commanding general of the U.S. Army Intelligence Center and Fort Huachuca will present the Bronze Star Medal to World War II veteran Hans Spear on Wednesday. The event for the 89-year-old Tucson resident will be at 10:30 a.m. at Alvarado Hall. Maj. Gen. John Custer will make the presentation. Every member of Spear’s unit, with the exception of him and another German-born Jewish soldier, received the Bronze Star for supervising interrogation under fire. He was denied the medal due to anti-Semitism and discrimination because Spear was categorized an enemy alien. The Army awards regulation, in effect...

Royal Goddesses of a Bronze Age State Volume 61 Number 1, January/February 2008 by Marco Merola Its arms arranged in a gesture of prayer, the figurine at right probably depicts a living queen worshipping the statuette of a dead royal, left. (Courtesy Maura Sala) It's been more than 30 years since Italian archaeologists found a vast archive of 17,000 cuneiform tablets at the Bronze Age site of Ebla in northern Syria. But the ancient city is still surprising those who work there. Last year archaeologist Paolo Matthiae's team discovered two almost perfectly preserved figurines that confirm textual evidence for a...

Treasure hunters find Bronze Age axes Last Updated: 2:06am GMT 22/01/2008 An amateur treasure hunter has unearthed a hoard of bronze age axe heads thought to be worth about £80,000. Tom Peirce started combing a field with his metal detector after dropping off a school coach party at a farm. Within a few minutes it began beeping and he found the first axe head fragment 10in into the soil. When he dug deeper, Mr Peirce found dozens more and, over the following two days, he and a colleague, Les Keith, uncovered nearly 500 bronze artefacts dating back 3,000 years. The...

Unknown persons destroy ancient bronze coffin discovered recently [17 January 2008] IBB, Jan. 17 (Saba) - Unknown persons devastated early morning on Thursday an ancient bronze coffin and stole another one completely were in an archaeological location in al-Asibia area in Dhefar valley of Ibb province. The director general of Antiques and Cultural Properties Protection in the General Authority for Antiquities and Museums Hesham al-Thawr held the director general of the security office in the al-Saddah district responsible for destroying the location and disinterring the bronze coffin. Al-Thawr said that the security official has ordered the military patrols, which have...

Ancient bronze coffin discovered in Ibb province [14 January 2008] Ancient bronze coffin discovered in Ibb province SANA'A, Jan. 14 (Saba) - The excavation operations at al-Asibia area of Ibb province have revealed a stone grave and bronze coffin in a marble-walled room dating back to the Sheba era. The discoveries were found out last Wednesday at Jabal Esam eastern of Raidan Fort which is considered as an extension to Dhafar city the capital of Sheba and Dhu Raidan Ancient Kingdom, director general of the antiques office at Ibb province Khalid al-Ansi was quoted as saying. The characteristics of the...

It was inevitable, the media and her vast army of consultants, aides and hired attack dogs assured us, Hillary Clinton would walk all the way to the presidency with easy victories over a slate of lackluster rivals in the primaries. To hear them tell it you would have thought her campaign was a powerful locomotive speeding down the rails to the White House, unstoppable. Thursday night it came off the tracks, derailed by the equivalent of the little train that wouldn’t say no. Barack Obama, a relative newcomer to national politics, a year ago largely unknown, not only defeated Hillary...

500-year-old bronze disc is found in fieldJul 3 2007 By Mark Davison A HORSE harness decoration thought to have belonged to a lord of the manor at Bletchingley more than 500 years ago has been unearthed in a field. Chris Andre, a member of the Reigate-based Weald and Downland Metal Detecting Club, handed the artefact to an archaeological expert for identification. David Williams, Surrey County Council's finds liaison officer, has revealed that the small circular bronze disc may have been a personal belonging of Henry Stafford, who held the manor of Bletchingley in the late 15th century, or one of...

Comets and disaster in the Bronze AgeCosmic impact is gaining ground as an explanation of the collapse of civilisations, writes Benny Peiser At some time around 2300BC, give or take a century or two, a large number of the major civilisations of the world collapsed. The Akkadian Empire in Mesopotamia, the Old Kingdom in Egypt, the Early Bronze Age societies in Israel, Anatolia and Greece, as well as the Indus Valley civilisation in India, the Hilmand civilisation in Afghanistan and the Hongshan Culture in China - the first urban civilisations in the world - all fell into ruin at more...

Boat provides historical insight The boat would have been powered by up to 12 men A Bronze Age logboat which had lain unseen in the River Tay for 3,000 years is being studied by archaeologists. It is hoped the find will yield important new information about how human ancestors lived. Although the boat, made from the trunk of a single oak, was found five years ago, it was only lifted out of the Tay during the summer. Repairs carried out on the 30ft vessel have already given experts an insight into Bronze Age technology. The boat, which would have been...

Gristhorpe Man 'was Bronze Age warrior chieftain' Reports by Roger Highfield and Nic Fleming (Filed: 07/09/2006) Gristhorpe Man, who was found buried in a tree trunk in the 19th century, has been identified as a Bronze Age warrior chieftain by archaeologists. The skeleton of Gristhorpe Man, excavated near Scarborough in 1834 Although a few examples of burial in a scooped-out oak tree have been found in Scotland and East Anglia, it was an unusual method and the example found near Scarborough, North Yorks, was the best preserved. The remains were discovered in 1834 by William Beswick, a local landowner, in...

Archaeologists working on a gas pipeline near Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire have unearthed what they believe to be a 3,400-year-old canoe. Work has stopped on a section of the pipeline near St Botolphs to allow the Bronze Age oak relic to be recovered. It is the first such discovery in Wales and only 150 exist across Europe. Senior archaeologist Neil Fairburn said: "You could never have expected to find anything like this in this small wetland area, it's just awesome." The team has also found evidence of a small settlement, a small amount of property and other items, such as...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2006 – The Army has authorized award of the Bronze Star Medal for Service to the living Canadian veterans of the 1st Special Services Force for their service to the U.S. Army during World War II. The unit was known as “the Devil’s Brigade” during the war and was one of the first U.S. special operations forces units in the war. The unit included U.S. Army soldiers and soldiers of the 2nd Canadian Parachute Battalion and 2nd Canadian Special Service Battalion of the Special Operations Group. From 1942 to 1944, about 2,500 soldiers served in the unit...

U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Mirza Fejzic Sergeant Receives Bronze Star for Heroism By Lance Cpl. Christopher J. Zahn 2nd Marine Division CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C., June 30, 2006 — A Marine from 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment was awarded the fourth highest military award within the Department of Defense. Sgt. Mirza Fejzic, a 22-year-old native of Hackettstown, N.J., was awarded the Bronze Star with combat distinguishing device in a ceremony here, June 22. He was presented with the award for heroic actions while serving as a squad leader for 3rd Platoon, Company G. On Oct. 26, 2005, Fejzic and a...

Expedition seeks clues to lost Bronze Age culture By Richard C. Lewis Thu Jun 1, 4:11 PM ETReuters Photo: Deep-sea explorer Robert Ballard speaks at the National Geographic Society in an undated file photo.... PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island (Reuters) - An underwater explorer who found the Titanic and a team of international scientists will soon survey waters off the Greek island of Crete for clues to a once-powerful Bronze Age-era civilization. The expedition about 75 miles northwest of Crete aims to learn more about the Minoans, who flourished during the Bronze Age, and seeks to better understand seafaring four millennia ago,...