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Greek archaeologists expressed their concern on Monday over the abandonment by the state of the site of the mid-5th century BC Temple of Artemis Agrotera, which they described as "one of the most historically important archaeological sites in the center of Athens." The Ionic-style temple, dedicated to the Greek virgin goddess of the hunt was constructed of Pentelic marble. It stands on Ardittou street, in the neighbourhood of Mets, surrounded by modern buildings. In a press release titled "A monument in danger," the Association of Greek Archaeologists says that despite numerous decisions published by the Central Archaeological Council since 1964...

I, brother Odoric, a Czech from Turlania,...crossed the sea and visited the land of the unbelievers intending to harvest some of their souls. I will not mention all that I have seen...For I would have not believed it myself, if I had not heard it and seen it with my own ears and eyes. Thus begins the 'The Journey into the Empire of the Great Khan', a book of recollections written in the 14th century by Czech priest, Odoric of Pordenone, who set out for China in 1318, after being commissioned by the Pope to establish contact with the its...

Disney has revealed it is to axe its famous fireworks display at its Epcot theme park in Florida after almost 20 years. Since 1999, guests at the attraction have been treated to colourful fireworks, music and fire torches as part of the nightly IllumiNations: Reflections of the Earth display. But from next summer, the performance will be scrapped in favour of a new show that will be performed on Epcot's World Showcase Lagoon.

A disagreement between Chinese tourists and a hostel in Stockholm over check-in time has turned into a diplomatic spat between China and Sweden, after Beijing criticised Sweden for violating the human rights of Chinese citizens. [snip] Bizarre video footage posted online shows police carrying the group outside, while the son yells in English: “This is killing. This is killing.” Another clip shows the three lying on the ground crying loudly while the mother wails in Chinese: “Save me.” [snip] “I broke down and lost my mind,” Zeng said. “I was not able to think whether it was appropriate or not....

One of our favorite anomalies over the years has been the ancient "inscribed wall" at Chatata, near Cleveland, in Bradley County, Tennessee. The above quotation marks are intended to warn the reader that said wall may not be man-made, and its inscriptions may be natural rather than artificial... The wall was originally almost completely buried. It attracted attention only because its course was marked on the surface by stones projecting from the ground every 25-30 feet over a gently curving arc about 1,000 feet long. One of these surface stones seemed to be inscribed with strange symbols. Excavations, supported at...

Archaeologists from Aarhus University and Southwest Jutland Museums (Denmark) have been excavating... down to three metres... Thousands of items discovered beneath the streets of Ribe... everything from beads, amulets, coins, and lost combs, to dog excrement and gnawed bones... a piece of a lyre (a harp-like stringed instrument), complete with tuning pegs. This discovery alone gives the Viking trading city of Ribe a whole new soundtrack.Another extraordinary find is the discovery of runic inscriptions...The people who lived here weren't primarily farmers for household purposes but were craftsmen, seafarers, tradesmen, innkeepers, and maybe even lyrists...The early period of Ribe is a...

[excerpted]...passenger car market share dropped to 30.6 percent in the month of August as a tide of crossovers, trucks, and SUVs continued swamping the automotive landscape. Few automakers can say their traditional passenger cars are making headway against the current... ...The Ford Taurus is not among this crowd of holdouts. Scheduled for death and talked about only by fleet managers, its sales dropped 16.8 percent over the first eight months of 2018. Its Lincoln Continental stablemate? Down 29.2 percent. At General Motors, where sales reporting is a quarterly phenomenon, Chevrolet Impala sales fell 11.7 percent at the end of the...

10. Bringing Stinky Food on the Plane – 17 Votes 9. Economy Passengers Using First Class or Economy Comfort Overhead Space – 22 Votes 8. Someone Putting Their Feet on the Seat In Front of Them – 24 Votes 7. Pulling on the Seat In Front of Them To Get Up – 25 Votes 6. Window Shade Raised the Entire Red Eye Flight – 32 Votes 5. Light on for No Reason – 37 Votes 4. Excessive Body Odor – 56 Votes 3. Talking Loudly, Especially on Red Eye Flight – 58 Votes 2. Taking Both Armrests – 61 Votes...

Analysis of bones, from what was once the world's largest bird, has revealed that humans arrived on the tropical island of Madagascar more than 6,000 years earlier than previously thought... A team of scientists led by international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) discovered that ancient bones from the extinct Madagascan elephant birds (Aepyornis and Mullerornis) show cut marks and depression fractures consistent with hunting and butchery by prehistoric humans. Using radiocarbon dating techniques, the team were then able to determine when these giant birds had been killed, reassessing when humans first reached Madagascar. Previous research on lemur bones...

In 2nd century AD Egypt, the legendary Greco-Roman scientist Claudius Ptolemy put the extent of the known world onto paper. From his home in Alexandria, he gathered reports from sailors who had made perilous journeys to India and possibly beyond. Though details were sparse, a voyager named Alexander described a distant port called Kattigara on the Sinus Magna (Great Gulf) to the east of the Golden Chersonese peninsula - widely considered to be mainland Malaysia. Halfway across the world around the same time, the bustling seaport Oc Eo was part of the flourishing Funan Kingdom, the earliest known pre-Angkorian civilisation...

Actress/activist Cynthia Nixon, a socialist who wants to govern the State of New York, is honest about how she intends to do it. “I will tax the rich to fix the subway,” Nixon tweeted on Wednesday. It’s not the first time she’s said that. Her tweet includes a short video, explaining that she takes the subway every day; the system on which New Yorkers depend is broken; and she will do something about it. “It’s not going to be easy,” she admits. “And it’s not going to be cheap. But we don’t have a choice.” …

One of the most dramatic pieces of evidence for a pre-Columbian crossing of the Atlantic is to be found in a single Latin marginalia, that is some words scribbled into the margin of a book. The sentence in question appears in a copy of the Historia rerum ubique gestarum by Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini which was published in Venice in 1477. In that work Piccolomini discusses the arrival of Indians in Europe blown from across the Atlantic at a date when America was unknown to Europeans (another post another day). Next to this passage a reader has written in Latin the...

There are three principal reasons why the 4 B.C. date has prevailed over 1 B.C. These reasons were articulated by Emil Schürer in A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, also published in the 19th century. First, Josephus informs us that Herod died shortly before a Passover (Antiquities 17.9.3, The Jewish War 2.1.3), making a lunar eclipse in March (the time of the 4 B.C. eclipse) much more likely than one in December. Second, Josephus writes that Herod reigned for 37 years from the time of his appointment in 40 B.C. and 34 years from...

Archaeologists conducting excavations near Barczewko discovered the skeleton of a man killed in 1354 during the Lithuanian invasion. This place is called the "Pompeii of Warmia" because the ruins of the city destroyed during the invasion are preserved intact. According to Dr. Arkadiusz Koperkiewicz from the University of Gdaƒsk, who leads the research at Barczewko, the find is yet another confirmation of the unique nature of this archaeological site, which is an invaluable source of knowledge about the beginnings of colonization in Warmia. The skeleton of a man who died almost 700 years ago during the destruction of one of...

"The fire spread to all the sections of the museum and destroyed all its content and destroyed the hall of Pharaonic artefacts, which contained 700 pieces," said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities on Thursday. He cited Egypt's foreign ministry, which is following up on the matter with Egyptian consular and embassy officials in Brazil. The Egyptian artifacts included collectibles of Brazilian Emperor Pedro I, founder and first ruler of the Empire of Brazil, which he purchased in the 19th century from antiquities merchants. It also featured five mummies, one of which was kept in a sarcophagus...

Tomorrow morning I board a flight from Malaga to Santiago de Compostela then, 2 buses later, I arrive in Sarria and immediately start walking 20km to Portomarin. Most people who walk from Sarria to Santiago do it in 5 stages but I will be doing it in 6 so I have more time to sightsee along the way, plus I will have 1 full day in Santiago after I arrive and before my flight back. Weather looks good in the 10 day forecast so it should be a good walk.

Ford won’t be moving production of a hatchback wagon to the United States from China — despite President Donald Trump’s claim Sunday that his taxes on Chinese imports mean the Focus Active can be built in America. Citing Trump’s new tariffs, Ford on Aug. 31 said it was dropping plans to ship the Focus Active from China to America. Trump took to Twitter Sunday to declare victory and write: “This is just the beginning. This car can now be BUILT IN THE U.S.A. and Ford will pay no tariffs!” But in a statement Sunday, Ford said “it would not be...

A Dubai-based engineering firm wants to tow icebergs from Antarctica to Dubai in order to provide the city with a reserve of fresh drinking water. The firm will use satellite imagery to select candidate icebergs. It's eyeing icebergs that are between 2,000 and 7,000 feet long, and weigh around 100 million tons. But the plan is short on details: the firm doesn't know exactly how it will get the icebergs to Dubai, or how the icebergs will be stored. What do you do if you're a fast-growing city in the desert with lots of thirsty people and little freshwater reserves?...

Archaeologists have made a huge discovery with signs of habitation stretching from the Protocycladic era until the 7th-8th century AD, which was unearthed at Vryokastro on the island of Kythnos, the site of an ancient city, and the nearby islet Vryokastraki that was once connected to the island by a narrow isthmus. The excavation work was carried out from June 24 until August 4 and finds include an early Christian basilica with later additions, including two towers and strong exterior walls, a number of rectangular rooms partly carved from rock that was used until late antiquity and obsidian tools and...

What was supposed to be a flight to paradise turned into a smelly debacle when a problem arose with the plane’s restrooms. A woman aboard an American Airlines flight to Kona, Hawaii, from Phoenix said passengers were being asked to urinate in plastic bags and bottles. She took video of a flight attendant asking her to go in a plastic bag.