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LAS VEGAS, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently some rare and unreleased John Lennon recordings were discovered in a vault. These recordings were taped on August 19, 1980. They were done separately from the mysteriously missing video footage that was filmed at what is believed to be John Lennon's last recording session with his band prior to his death. Even more incredible, these recordings have never been released until now.

Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) city ruins have been discovered in Wuyuan County, Hetao Plain, China's Inner Mongolia. It's said that the scale of the city ruins is rarely seen in Hetao Plain. The city ruins are located in Taal Town of Wuyuan County, Bayannaoer City in China's Inner Mongolia and once covered with grassland. The city wall was about 2 km long and 1 km wide and is made up of compressed earth. The east wall is 2 meters high and remarkably preserved, while, the south wall has already collapsed and is now a road base 80 centimeters high...

The ancient footprints of the artisans who built a stunning 1,700-year-old mosaic floor in Lod were discovered recently, when conservators from the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) were in the process of detaching the huge work of art from the ground. As the conservation experts worked on the plaster bedding to be done before detaching the mosaic, they were surprised to notice there were ancient foot and sandal prints beneath it. Clearly, the builders that had worked on the floor sometimes wore their sandals, and sometimes worked in their bare feet...

The largest-ever known number of coins from the time of Bar-Kochba, the Jewish leader against Roman invaders, has been discovered in the Judean Hills by cave researchers from Hebrew and Bar-Ilan Universities.

A newly found primordial blob may represent the most massive object ever discovered in the early universe, researchers announced today. The gas cloud, spotted from 12.9 billion light-years away, could signal the earliest stages of galaxy formation back when the universe was just 800 million years old. "I have never heard about any [similar] objects that could be resolved at this distance," said Masami Ouchi, a researcher at the Carnegie Institution in Pasadena, Calif. "It's kind of record-breaking." A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, about 6 trillion miles (10 trillion kilometers). An object 12.9 billion light-years...

(IsraelNN.com) Saudi Arabia-funded textbooks distributed in American schools teach that Muslims discovered America and that Jesus was a Palestinian, according to repot by the Institute for Jewish and Community Research. Anti-Zionist propaganda is prominent in the books that were written at Middle East centers at universities, including Harvard, which received a $20 million donation from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal in 2005. The textbooks, distributed in all 50 states in the U.S., also teach that the Almighty revealed the Koran to the Muslim prophet Mohammed and that Jewish civilization contributed "very little" to the arts and sciences.

As if the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy weren't vexing enough, another baffling cosmic puzzle has been discovered. Patches of matter in the universe seem to be moving at very high speeds and in a uniform direction that can't be explained by any of the known gravitational forces in the observable universe. Astronomers are calling the phenomenon "dark flow." The stuff that's pulling this matter must be outside the observable universe, researchers conclude. When scientists talk about the observable universe, they don't just mean as far out as the eye, or even the most powerful telescope, can see....

MADRID (AFP) - Spanish astronomers Wednesday announced the discovery of the smallest planet discovered to date outside the solar system, located 30 light years from earth. The planet, "GJ 436T", was detected through a new technique which "will allow us to discover in less than 10 years the first planet resembling earth in terms of mass and orbit," said Ignasi Ribas of Spain's CSIC scientific research institute. It was discovered by a team led by Ribas through its gravitational pull on other planets already discovered around the same star in the constellation of Leo. "GJ 436T" has a mass five...

Italy: Plague victims discovered after 1500 years Rome, 10 April (AKI) - The remains of hundreds of victims, believed to have been killed in a plague that swept Italy 1500 years ago, have been found south of Rome. The bodies of men, women and children were found in Castro dei Volsci, in the region of Lazio, during excavations carried out by Lazio archaeological office. News of the extraordinary discovery was reported in the magazine, "Archeologia Viva". The victims are believed to have been victims of the Justinian Plague, a pandemic that killed as many as 100 million people around the...

LUXOR, Egypt (AFP) - Egyptian and European archeologists on Saturday announced they had discovered a giant statue of an ancient pharaonic queen on the spectacular south Egypt site of the Colossi of Memnon. The statue represents Queen Tiy, the wife of 18th dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III, and stands 3.62 metres high (almost 12 feet). It was discovered around the site of the massive Colossi of Memnon twin statues that command the road to Luxor's famed Valley of the Kings. Two sphinx representing Tiy and Amenhotep III as well as 10 statues in black granite of the lion-headed goddess Sekhmet, who...

New Babylonian town found Azzaman, March 19, 2008 Iraqi archaeologists have discovered a new Babylonian town 180 kilometers south of Baghdad. The head archaeologist Mohammed Yahya said the town is more than 20,000 square meters in area and includes administrative quarters, temples and other buildings of “magnificent and splendid design” Yahya, who is the head of the provincial Antiquities Department in the Province of Diwaniya, where the new Babylonian town was discovered, said he still lacks evidence on the town’s ancient name. The locals call it Shamiya after a provincial district nearby, he said. “We have dug up a sectional...

State wildlife officials say a destructive species known as the zebra mussel has been discovered in California for the first time. Department of Fish and Game spokeswoman Alexia Retallack says a fisherman found the mollusks while fishing in the San Justo Reservoir in San Benito County. Lab tests conducted Monday confirmed that the creatures were zebra mussels, which are known to clog water pipes and boat engines and alter the chemistry of marine ecosystems. State officials plan to conduct further surveys to determine the extent of the infestation and develop a plan to stop its spread. They're asking fishermen and...

Researchers in a remote jungle in Indonesia have discovered a giant rat - five times the size of a typical city rat - and a tiny possum that are apparently new to science. Unearthing new species of mammals in the 21st century is very rare. The discoveries by a team of American and Indonesian scientists are being studied further to confirm their status. The animals were found in the Foja mountains rainforest in eastern Papua province in a June expedition, said US-based Conservation International, which organised the trip along with the Indonesian Institute of Science. "The giant rat is about...

Rare Maya "Death Vase" Discovered Blake de Pastino National Geographic News Updated December 4, 2007 An extremely rare and intricately carved "death vase" has been discovered in the 1,400-year-old grave of an elite figure with ties to the Maya Empire, scientists say. The vase is the first of its kind to be found in modern times, and its contents are opening a window onto ancient rituals of ancestor worship that included food offerings, chocolate enemas, and hallucinations induced by vomiting, experts say. Archaeologists discovered the vase along with parts of a human skeleton while excavating a small "palace" in northwestern...

NEW YORK - Sixty-five years after an American P-38 fighter plane ran out of gas and crash-landed on a beach in Wales, the long-forgotten World War II relic has emerged from the surf and sand where it lay buried. Beach strollers, sunbathers and swimmers often frolicked within a few yards of the aircraft, unaware of its existence until last summer, when unusual weather caused the sand to shift and erode. The revelation of the Lockheed "Lightning" fighter, with its distinctive twin-boom design, has stirred interest in British aviation circles and among officials of the country's aircraft museums, ready to reclaim...

MANILA (AFP) - A new species of flying fox or fruit bat has been discovered on an island south of Manila, it was reported Monday. The orange-coloured bat with a distinctive white-stripped face was discovered in a protected wildlife area on Mindoro Island, the Philippine Star newspaper said quoting the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). The discovery was a result of joint research between the University of Kansas' Biodiversity Research Center and a team from the Comparative Biogeography and Conservation of Philippine Vertebrates (CBCPV), the paper said. Known as the Mindoro Stripe-Faced Fruitbat for its striking facial features...

1.5 tons of ancient coins discovered in north China + - 21:20, August 30, 2007 A cellar containing 1.5 tons of ancient coins, including some 2,000-year-old ones, have been discovered by a villager in Changzi County, north China's Shanxi Province. The man in Qianwanhu village discovered the cellar with some 10,000 coins, ranging from 3 cm to 1 cm in diameter, on Aug. 23 when he was digging a channel to place pipes for tap water, said Li Lin, an official of the Changzi Center of Cultural Heritage and Tourism. The "money cellar" was 1.5 meters under the earth, with...

KINGSTON LACY RELICS OFFER INSIGHT INTO ANCIENT EGYPT By 24 Hour Museum Staff 22/08/2007 In total, 212 ostraka have been discovered at Kingston Lacey, of which 175 bear identifiable texts. © NTPL A crate of ancient Egyptian relics discovered at a National Trust property has turned out to be a large collection of inscribed pottery sherds known as 'ostraka', used by scribes to write a variety of notes and messages. Among the pieces, found during work in the cellars of Kingston Lacy in Dorset are over one hundred tax receipts given by officials for poll tax, mortgages and income tax,...

Massive Egyptian fort discovered Mon, 23 Jul 2007 Egypt announced on Sunday the discovery of the largest-ever military city from the Pharaonic period on the edge of the Sinai desert, part of a series of forts that stretched to the Gaza border. "The three forts are part of a string of 11 castles that made up the Horus military road that went from Suez all the way to the city of Rafah on the Egyptian-Palestinian border and dates to the 18th and 19th dynasties (1560-1081 BC)," antiquities supreme Zahi Hawwas said in a statement. Teams have been digging in the...

Major Buddhist site comes to light Tuesday July 10 2007 14:16 IST VIJAYAWADA: A chance digging by mulberry farmers in agricultural lands have uncovered major Buddhist architectural finds in Kanthamanenivarigudem of West Godavari district. Two ancient sites are not only seen as prototypes of the present-day temples, but they have also provided the first-ever proof of the existence of another major Buddhist sect apart from the hitherto known Mahayana, Hinayana and Vajrayana sects. Interestingly, the new finds are just 2 km away from the famous Second Century rock-cut Buddhist caves of Guntupalli or Jilakarragudem in West Godavari, known as the...

Orpheus Tomb Discovered? Updated on: 29.06.2007, 17:51 Published on: 29.06.2007, 17:46 Author: Olga Yoncheva Orpheus sanctuary in Rhodope mountains is with thousand years older than the Egyptian pyramids. The sensational discovery was made by an archaeological expedition which investigated the temple of the Thracians near the village of Tatul, informed BNT. The scientists found 6000-year old buildings with preserved tools made of semi-precious stones, crockery, animal remains. According to the archaeologists now it can be claimed that this is the Tomb of Orpheus, which has been visited of thousands of pilgrims from around the antique world. The sanctuary is one...

The most distant black hole ever found is nearly 13 billion light-years from Earth, astronomers announced today. The Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope spotted the bright burst of light the black hole created as it sucked up nearby gas, heating it and causing it to glow very brightly in what's known as a quasar. The distance to the quasar, which sits in the constellation Pisces, was determined by measuring the amount of redshift in the lines of the quasar's spectrum, or prism of light. Because light is "redshifted" to longer wavelengths as an object moves away from an observer, the higher the redshift,...

NEW DELHI - An Indian zoologist said Monday he has found a new species of limbless lizard in a forested area in the country's east. "Preliminary scientific study reveals that the lizard belongs to the genus Sepsophis," said Sushil Kumar Dutta, who led a team of researchers from "Vasundhra," a non-governmental organization, and the North Orissa University. The newly found 7-inch long lizard looks like a scaly, small snake, Dutta said. "It prefers to live in a cool retreat, soft soil and below stones." "The lizard is new to science and is an important discovery. It is not found anywhere...

North America's oldest conifer tree and some ancient scorpion parts are among the fossil treasures found in a newly discovered cave in Illinois. The new discovery also unearthed fossils of plants that may be new to science and revealed evidence of prehistoric forest fires. Scientists date the specimens to nearly 315 million years ago, according to initial findings presented last month at the regional meeting of the Geological Society of America in Lawrence, Kan. "I've never seen anything like this before," said Roy Plotnick, a paleontologist at the University of Illinois at Chicago who discovered the cave with students on...

• Cave off limits to public as research continues • ‘It will add to our knowledge’What’s described as “a significant new cave” has been discovered within Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks in the Central Valley. The discovery was made in August 2006 by four researchers affiliated with the Cave Research Foundation but made public only this week by the National Park Service. The cave has been named Ursa Minor for the Little Dipper constellation. The cave features large passages and rooms – many of which are more than 50 feet wide – and beautiful cave formations, the NPS says....

BOGOTA, Colombia - There's a new chirp in the forest but it may be choked by the slashing and burning of trees by coca farmers, researchers said. The Gorgeted Puffleg, a rare hummingbird that boasts a plumage of violet blue and iridescent green on its throat, has been discovered living in the cloud forests of southwestern Colombia, researchers announced. The species belongs to the Puffleg genus, which appear to have "little cotton balls above their legs," said Luis Mazariegos-Hurtado, who has spent 30 years documenting hummingbirds and founded the Colombian Hummingbird Conservancy. The species — known by its scientific name...

Scientists believe they have for the first time identified an ancient graveyard for gladiators. Analysis of their bones and injuries has given new insight into how they lived, fought and died. The remains were found at Ephesus in Turkey, a major city of the Roman world, BBC Timewatch reports. Gladiators were the sporting heroes of the ancient world. Archaeological records show them celebrated in everything from mosaics to graffiti.Gravestones helped identify the site as a gladiator graveyard

The discovery of a massive ancient lake in Darfur could help explain how the world’s biggest groundwater reservoir came to be under one of the driest parts of the planet. It is also indisputable evidence that the Sahara was once a wet, green region, researchers claim. Eman Ghoneim at the Boston University Center for Remote Sensing in Massachusetts, US, was using satellite imagery to study the ancient hydrology of north-western Sudan when she noticed a dark, 250-kilometre-long segment on the radar images.

Ritual piece of Stonehenge discoveredFeb 20 2007 Sam Burson, Western Mail A MISSING stone which could be an integral part of rituals at Stonehenge may have been discovered by a Welsh archaeologist. Dennis Price, who has done years of research on the mysterious stone structure, believes he has tracked down a previously lost altar stone, identified during one of the first studies of the site in the 17th century. He is convinced it is now in two pieces on either side of a road in a Wiltshire village, just a couple of miles from Stonehenge itself. Mr Price, who is...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 17, 2007 – Coalition forces detained 40 suspected insurgents and discovered large weapons caches this week during raids throughout Iraq, military officials said. Coalition forces detained 28 suspected terrorists yesterday during raids at several foreign terrorist safe houses across Iraq. One senior al Qaida IED coordinator and a weapons dealer in Mosul were among those detained, and in Ramadi ten suspects were detained for their alleged association with foreign terrorists. Elsewhere, nine suspected terrorists were detained and a cache of weapons was destroyed in Yusufiyah. The cache contained AK 47 assault rifles, anti-tank mines, mortar switches and...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 14, 2006 -- Coalition forces killed two insurgents in Ramadi, and Iraqi police and U.S. soldiers discovered enemy weapons in operations yesterday and today in Iraq. Insurgents attacked coalition forces with yesterday with small-arms fire, and the coalition forces retaliated, firing a precision-guided munition and destroying the building. Two insurgents were killed, and there were no reports of civilian or coalition casualties. Elsewhere in Iraq yesterday, Iraqi police discovered three rockets while on patrol in Kirkuk. The insurgents’ rockets were set on fabricated launchers aimed at Forward Operating Base Warrior and were equipped with improvised timing devices....

1,800-year old painted coffin discovered in north China Chinese archaeologists have discovered an ancient coffin painted with colored drawings dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 25-220) in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The funeral objects had already been robbed when the coffin was discovered from a tomb in Siziwang Banner. The coffin, in delicate appearance, was well preserved during excavation of the tomb. "The color drawings, painted at inner sides of the coffin, feature daily life and hunting activities," said Wang Dafang, an official with the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Regional Cultural Relic Bureau The most valuable painting on...

A just-unearthed cave formed more than 1 million years ago could yield new insight into the geological history of the American West, according to scientists, who called the discovery a major find. Four amateur cave explorers uncovered the vast caverns, stretching more than 1,000 feet into a remote mountainside, in August. Visitors to the cave, dubbed Ursa Minor, described seeing millions of crystals that shimmered like diamonds lodged in its walls. Translucent mineral curtains hung from the ceiling, and a lake possibly 20 feet deep filled one of the cave's five known rooms. Passages leading into darkness suggested there was...

Etruscan holy city discovered Fledgling Rome 'trembled' when leaders of 12 cities met (ANSA) - Rome, September 7 - Italian archaeologists believe they have found the mysterious sanctuary which was the religious and political centre of the Etruscan civilisation. The Etruscans were an ancient people known to have lived in the area of Italy between Rome and Florence from the 8th century BC until they were absorbed by Rome about 600 years later. For centuries they dominated the fledgling city on the Tiber and even supplied its first kings. But most traces of the Etruscan civilisation, which produced sophisticated art,...

WASHINGTON, Sep. 1, 2006 – Extremists severely damaged a co-ed school in Afghanistan’s Paktika province today with a makeshift bomb, U.S. military officials reported. The munition caused major damage to the roof and most of the inside of the Malekshay School, whose grand-opening ceremony was scheduled for next week. No one was in the school at the time of the explosion. Afghan National Police secured the area and are investigating the incident. A coalition explosive ordnance disposal team was sent to investigate the site. “This is one more extremist attack on the education system in Afghanistan,” said Lt. Col. Paul...

Prehistoric tools, weapons discovered in Peruvian Andes AFP August 20, 2006 LIMA -- A team of Peruvian and US archaeologists have discovered prehistoric stone tools and weapons some 10,000 years old in an Andean town, the National Institute of Culture announced Friday. Stone axes, spearheads, and weapons were found in the main square of San Pedro de Chavin de Huantar, an Andean town some 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of Lima, officials said. "This discovery represents exceptional evidence of the presence of inhabitants in the Pleistocene era," the Institute said in a statement. The Pleistocene went from about 1.6 million...

Neolithic stone carving of Big Dipper discovered in northwest China A neolithic stone carving of the Big Dipper star formation has been found on Baimiaozi Mountain near Chifeng City in northwest China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to experts. The stone carving was discovered by Wu Jiacai, a 50-year-old researcher in literature and history with Wongniute Banner of Inner Mongolia. Wu found a large yam-shaped stone, 310 centimeters long, onto which 19 stars had been carved. The representation of the Big Dipper is on the north face of the stone. The stars are represented by indentations in the stone. The...

China's Earliest Handicraft Workshop Discovered? One of the world's oldest handicraft workshops, dating back more than 3,600 years, may have been discovered by Chinese archaeologists in the country's Henan Province. Covering about 1,000 square meters the workshop used turquoise to make elaborate and ornate works of art. The workshop was found in the village of Erlitou of Yanshi City and is part of the ruins of the imperial city belonging to the Xia dynasty (2100 BC-1600 BC), China's earliest. The imperial city was discovered two years ago. At the workshop crafts people made ornaments with inlaid turquoise, said Xu Hong,...

88 cuneiform inscriptions discovered at Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN -- Eighty-eight brick inscriptions were recently discovered at the 3250-year-old Chogha Zanbil Ziggurat in southwestern Iran’s Khuzestan Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Wednesday. A team of experts restoring the middle section of the ziggurat discovered the cuneiform inscriptions on the northeastern and southeastern walls. “Only a few of the inscriptions are intact. The inscriptions were discovered when the workers were removing rubble from the bases of the walls,” team director Bijan Heidarizadeh said. French archaeologist Roman Ghirshman had said nothing about the inscriptions in...

Ancient Metal Relics Discovered in Jiroft Jul 19, 2006 The police department of Jiroft succeeded in confiscating 41 metal relics belonging to the pre-historic and historic periods. The most ancient one is a Riton belonging to the third millennium BC. Riton is a kind of goblet with the head of an animal, usually in the shape of a lion, horse, ibex, or winged lion. "The police department of Jiroft found 41 bronze, copper, and silver relics. The most ancient one is a Riton with the head of a humped cow belonging to some 5000 years ago," said Nader Soleimani, archeologist...

Valuable Han Dynasty tomb discovered A large scale Western Han Dynasty (206 BC - 25 AD) tomb was discovered at Fengpengling in Wangcheng County in Hunan Province. Piles of yellow cypress wood were found between the coffin and tomb wall, evidence of a typical Western Han Dynasty burial style reserved for a king during that period. Experts who excavated the Mawangdui Han Dynasty Tomb in Changsha said that after examining the tomb at Fengpengling they believe the status and rank of the buried person in the tomb and the scale of burial have exceeded that of Mawangdui, another famous tomb...

ROME (Reuters) - An underwater volcano with a base larger than Washington D.C. has been discovered just off the shores of Sicily, a scientist with Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology said on Thursday. The volcanic structure, which incorporates peaks previously thought to be separate volcanoes, was named Empedocles after the Greek philosopher who named the four classic elements of earth, air, fire and water. Legend has it that the philosopher died by throwing himself into Mount Etna, the nearby Sicilian volcano. Giovanni Lanzafame, who works at the institute and led the research, said Empedocles was at least 400...

Massive mummy fraud discovered after 2,000 years Maev Kennedy Wednesday June 21, 2006 Not quite what it seems ... Roman period mummy at the Fitzwilliam Museum Modern medical science has exposed the villainy of the crocodile mummy sellers of Hawara, more than 2,000 years after they defied the edict of a Pharaoh and turned neatly bandaged bundles of rubbish into a nice little earner. Before the reopening this month of the Egyptian Galleries at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, curators took their animal and human mummies to the city's Addenbrooke's Hospital, as part of a £1.5m re-display of the internationally...

Tombs of Roman foes discoveredTerracotta, daggers and jewelry in Abruzzo necropolis (ANSA) - L'Aquila, June 7 - Fresh tombs of one of Rome's most implacable foes have been discovered in Italy's mountainous Abruzzo region . Some of the tombs have been dated to the Second Century BC, when Rome was still trying to subdue the warlike peoples that lived in the region . Others date as far back as the 8th century BC, before Rome was founded . A particularly interesting find was a 2nd-Century BC chamber tomb containing terracotta ware, jewelry and a dagger . "It's fascinating to see...

Third century Roman inscriptions discovered in the Basque Country 06/08/2006 Archaeologists in the site of Iruña-Veleia have discovered an epigraphic set "among the most important of the Roman world" with drawings from the third century and a representation of a Calvary. Archaeological site in Iruña-Veleia Archaeologists in the site of Iruña-Veleia have discovered an epigraphic set "among the most important of the Roman world," with a series of 270 inscriptions and drawings from the 3rd century and a representation of a Calvary, "the most ancient known up to this moment." The managers of the archaeological site, located near the Alavan...

ROME - Archaeologists said Tuesday they have dug up a woman skeleton dating to the 10th century B.C. in an ancient necropolis in the heart of Rome. The well-preserved skeleton appears to be that of a woman aged about 30, said Anna De Santis, one of the archaeologists who took part in the excavations under the Caesar's Forum, part of the sprawling complex of the Imperial Forums in central Rome. An amber necklace and four pins were also found near the 5.25 foot-long skeleton, she said. The bones, dug up Monday, would likely be put on display in a museum...

5/28/2006 2:34:00 PM Cylindrical Seal with a Strange Design Discovered in DezfulArcheological excavations in Khuzestan province led to discovery of a cylindrical seal designed with a winged horse with a lion’s head and a cow’s hooves! Tehran, 28 May 2006 (CHN) -- Archeological excavations in Sanjar Tepe in Khuzestan province resulted in discovery of a cylindrical seal with the design of a winged horse on its end. Although it is not the first time archeologists are confronted with the design of a winged horse in Iran, what makes this one special compared to the previous ones is that this winged...

U.S. authorities yesterday found what they believe was an incomplete cross-border tunnel, about 75 yards from a tunnel discovered Monday. Unlike the tunnel found earlier this week, this one had no detectable exit in the United States. It extended about 10 feet north from the border fence, to the west of the tunnel found Monday, and never surfaced, said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. U.S. authorities didn't enter the primitive dirt tunnel because it appeared to be unstable, so they weren't able to determine where it may have gone on the Mexican side, Mack said. However,...

Palace of Darius the Great Discovered in Bolaghi Gorge Discovery of remains of a gigantic palace in Bolaghi Gorge and its similarity to the constructions of the time of Darius I, Achaemenid King, in Persepolis show that it was built during the same period of time. Tehran, 15 May 2006 (CHN) -- Iran-French joint archeology team at Bolaghi Gorge succeeded in discovering and identifying the remains of a gigantic palace, believed to be from the Achaemenid era (648 BC–330 BC), during their second season of excavations in the area. “Before the start of this season of excavations, our geophysical tests...

WASHINGTON, May 12, 2006 – Coalition and Iraqi forces killed three insurgents in two separate incidents, and the Iraqi National Police discovered a large weapons cache in Baghdad between May 10 and yesterday. Coalition forces killed one insurgent and wounded another as they were attempting to plant aroadside bomb east of Hawija in Iraq's Kirkuk province yesterday. During a nighttime aerial reconnaissance mission, helicopters from the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, discovered two insurgents digging near a road in an effort to place a bomb. The aircrews shot both insurgents. A ground team of soldiers from 1st Battalion,...