[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #152 Saturday, June 16, 2007
Cubed Roots
Otzi's violent world
	Posted by Clive On News/Activism 06/11/2007 7:57:26 AM EDT · 30 replies · 784+ views National Post | 2007-06-11 | (editorial page) His scientific handle is Similaun Man, but his family likes to call him Otzi, the Iceman. Don't feel excluded: you're a part of Otzi's extended clan. His corpse was discovered by tourists in September, 1991, lying facedown in a glacier at an elevation beyond 10,000 feet in Europe's Otztal Alps. He was in such an excellent state of preservation that he was at first thought to be a victim of the First World War, whose soldiers sometimes still turn up in the ice of the Tyrolean highlands. But it soon transpired that the five-foot-tall Otzi had died on a spring...
Climate
Ice Ages Dried Up African Monsoons
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/10/2007 5:59:59 PM EDT · 26 replies · 655+ views New Scientist | 6-10-2007 Ice ages dried up African monsoons 10:00 10 June 2007 NewScientist.com news service When ice ages held Europe in their grip, Africa also felt the pinch - though in a different way. It has long been suspected that there is a connection between the west African monsoon and climate at higher latitudes - especially over geological timescales, says David Lea at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "But until now, there hasn't been enough supporting evidence." Now Lea, with team leader Syee Weldeab and colleagues, has reconstructed the most detailed history of the monsoon yet, spanning 155,000 years and two...
Africa
The Primal Roots of Red Hair Revealed
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/09/2007 11:59:18 PM EDT · 37 replies · 677+ views LiveScience | May 24, 2007 | LiveScience Staff Primatologists know humans, apes and monkeys can see red, but have quarreled over what initially locked the adaptation into place. Did it first help primates find meals, or was the ability to see a red-headed, red-skinned mate from a mile away the first benefit of full-color vision? A new study shows that apes first evolved color vision to help them forage food, after which nature made red the sexiest color around and spiked apes' evolutionary tree with red hair and skin... Andre Fernandez, an evolutionary biologist at Ohio University and co-author of the paper, explained that neuroscientists have already found...
Prehistory and Origins
Neanderthals Bid For Human Status
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/13/2007 6:23:54 PM EDT · 28 replies · 527+ views New Scientist | 6-13-2007 | Rowan Hooper Neanderthals bid for human status 13 June 2007 NewScientist.com news service Rowan Hooper NEANDERTHALS as innovators? That the concept seems amusing goes to show how our sister species has become the butt of our jokes. Yet in the Middle Palaeolithic, some 300,000 years ago, innovation is what the Neanderthals were up to. This period is usually regarded as undramatic in cultural and evolutionary terms, with little in the way of technological or cognitive development. Palaeoanthropologists get more excited about the changes in tools found later, as the Middle Palaeolithic gave way to the Upper, and as modern humans replaced Neanderthals,...
Neanderthals 'Were Ahead Of Their Time'
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/14/2007 8:56:19 PM EDT · 77 replies · 1,200+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 6-15-2007 Neanderthals 'were ahead of their time' Last Updated: 2:42am BST 14/06/2007 Big, brutish and stupid - it's a commonly held view that our prehistoric predecessors were as wild and unsophisticated as the animals they hunted. Neanderthal man was 'as smart as we are' But Neanderthal man was not as slow-witted as he looked and was in reality as smart as we are, an archaeologist claims. They were actually innovators who used different forms of tools to adapt to the ecological challenges posed by harsh habitats as they spread through Europe. Although our ancestors have become the butt of jokes about...
Ancient Europe
Early Europeans likely sacrificed their own
	Posted by Renfield On News/Activism 06/13/2007 7:21:13 AM EDT · 37 replies · 665+ views MSNBC | 6-11-07 | Heather Whipps Europe's prehistoric hunter-gatherers may have practiced human sacrifice, a new study claims. Investigating a collection of graves from the Upper Paleolithic (about 26,000 to 8,000 BC), archaeologists found several that contained pairs or even groups of people with rich burial offerings and decoration. Many of the remains were young or had deformities, such as dwarfism. The diversity of the individuals buried together and the special treatment they received could be a sign of ritual killing, said Vincenzo Formicola of the University of Pisa, Italy....
British Isles
Bronze Age finds at A38 bypass
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/09/2007 11:51:06 PM EDT · 4 replies · 30+ views BBC | Friday, June 1, 2007 | unattributed Bronze Age pottery and tools have been unearthed by archaeologists working on the site of... the A38 Dobwalls bypass. Workers discovered flint tools and waste flakes. Fragments of pottery dating back 4,000 years were also found under a mound of stones... The results of the analysis will be published in Cornwall's archaeological records after the end of the bypass work in September 2008.
Thrace
Unique Thracian Symbol Of Royalty Discovered In Bulgaria
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/12/2007 9:22:35 PM EDT · 19 replies · 582+ views Novinite | 6-11-2007 Unique Thracian Symbol of Royalty Discovered in Bulgaria 11 June 2007, Monday Archaeologists have discovered the most ancient ruler's symbol on Bulgarian territory, what was once the kingdom of the Thracian tribes. The Bulgarian archaeologists Daniela Agre and Deyan Dichev, who are leading the Strandzha expedition, made the announcement for the exceptional finding on the Bulgarian National Radio on Monday. The artifact was unearthed near the village of Golyam Dervent. Dichev and Agre were researching a dolmen (dolmens were the first Thracian tombs) when they noticed a frieze of intertwined zoomorphic and geometrical elements carved on the entrance of the...
Rome and Italy
More Clues in the Legend (or Is It Fact?) of Romulus[Rome]
	Posted by BGHater On News/Activism 06/13/2007 9:21:26 AM EDT · 23 replies · 847+ views The New York Times | 12 June 2007 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD The story of Romulus and Remus is almost as old as Rome. The orphan twins were suckled by a she-wolf in a cave on the banks of the Tiber. Romulus grew up to found Rome in 753 B. C. Historians have long since dismissed the story as a charming legend. The 19th-century historian Theodor Mommsen said: "The founding of the city in the strict sense, such as the legend assumes, is of course to be reckoned out of the question: Rome was not built in a day." Yet the legend is as imperishable as Mommsen's skeptical verdict, and it has...
Ancient Rome is rebuilt digitally
	Posted by BenLurkin On General/Chat 06/11/2007 5:21:35 PM EDT · 32 replies · 528+ views Associated Press | 6 minutes ago | ARIEL DAVID, ROME - Computer experts on Monday unveiled a digital reproduction of ancient Rome as it appeared at the peak of its power in A.D. 320 -- what they called the largest and most complete simulation of a historic city ever created. Visitors to virtual Rome will be able to do even more than ancient Romans did: They can crawl through the bowels of the Colosseum, filled with lion cages and primitive elevators, and fly up for a detailed look at bas-reliefs and inscriptions atop triumphal arches. "This is the first step in the creation of a virtual time machine, which...
Experts build simulation of ancient Rome
	Posted by Professional Engineer On News/Activism 06/13/2007 6:58:04 PM EDT · 16 replies · 435+ views Connecticut Post | 06/12/2007 | ARIEL DAVID ROME -- Computer experts on Monday unveiled a digital reproduction of ancient Rome as it appeared at the peak of its power in A.D. 320 -- what they called the largest and most complete simulation of a historic city ever created. Visitors to virtual Rome will be able to do even more than ancient Romans did: They can crawl through the bowels of the Colosseum, filled with lion cages and primitive elevators, and fly up for a detailed look at bas-reliefs and inscriptions atop triumphal arches. "This is the first step in the creation of a virtual time machine, which...
Venice, Italy sick of the slovenly tourists [$675 fine for slobs]
	Posted by Sleeping Beauty On General/Chat 06/05/2007 3:31:07 PM EDT · 21 replies · 516+ views Chicago Tribune | May 25, 2007 | Tracy Wilkinson Officials in Venice -- as well as the handful of actual Italians still living in the lagoon city -- have declared themselves fed up with a certain category of tourist: the pot-bellied, bare-chested, food-chomping, trash-spewing hordes that peak from now until autumn. To combat what they see as a scourge, Venice authorities are distributing leaflets and posting posters with a new set of rules. In St. Mark's Square, it is now forbidden to sit or recline under the porticos and on the steps along the Procuratie Nuove and the Ala Napoleonica, the buildings that ring the city's iconic St. Mark's...
Epigraphy and Language
Tablets Tell All: Ancient Athletes Flogged For Sins
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/11/2007 6:58:10 PM EDT · 11 replies · 419+ views The Age | 6-7-2007 | Allan Hall Tablets tell all: ancient athletes flogged for sins Allan Hall, Berlin June 7, 2007 AN ANCIENT training manual for Roman athletes -- carved in marble almost 2000 years ago -- prescribes far worse punishments than a sending off or a week's docked pay if they performed badly in the Colosseum. The manual recommends a flogging to get them to perform better. And the same went if they drank too much mead or behaved disgracefully with the local maidens. The marble tablet was found in 2003 in the town of Alexandria Troas in Turkey, and deciphered only recently by academics at...
India
'Ancient India Was In The Middle Of Global Trade'
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/15/2007 6:44:26 PM EDT · 11 replies · 252+ views The Times Of India | 6-15-2007 Q&A: 'Ancient India was in the middle of global trade' 15 Jun, 2007 l 0142 hrs IST S P Gupta, former director of Allahabad Museum and current chairman of Indian Archaeological Society, is credited with excavating several Indus Valley sites. He spoke to Rohit Viswanath on recent developments in marine archaeology: What are the latest advancements in marine archaeology? We do not use the term marine archaeology anymore. It is called underwater archaeology. That is because the term merely denotes oceanic and deep-sea archaeology. However, underwater archaeology has a wider scope. Fresh-water sources have been historically conducive to human habitation....
Egypt
Lascaux On The Nile
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/15/2007 5:43:08 PM EDT · 4 replies · 139+ views Ahram | 6-15-2007 | Nevine El-Aref Lascaux on the NileOne of the newly discovered rocks featuring three bovids with horns Palaeolithic rock art depicting animal illustrations similar to those found in the Lascaux caves in France have been discovered in the Upper Egyptian town of Kom Ombo, reports Nevine El-Aref The discovery of huge rocks decorated with Palaeolithic illustrations at the village of Qurta on the northern edge of Kom Ombo has caused excitement among the scientific community. The art was found by a team of Belgian archaeologists and restorers and features groups of cattle similar to those drawn on the walls of the French Lascaux...
Agriculture
The significance of kitchens for Ancient Egyptians
	Posted by Renfield On News/Activism 06/15/2007 8:10:15 AM EDT · 31 replies · 653+ views The Daily Star (Egypt) | 6/2/07 | Ahmed Maged CAIRO: There are diverse aspects to the ancient Egyptian civilization that many of us are fascinated by: the building of pyramids, the tombs that store mummies or hoards of gold, as well as the captivating paintings on the walls. But few of us direct our attention to the ancient Egyptians' cuisine and their kitchens. The issue would have remained sidelined, even despite of the fact that the walls in temples and tombs are replete with images showing the Pharaohs' meals as well as the poultry and animals that made up part of their dishes. But when a tour guide's interest...
Helix, Make Mine a Double
Human genome further unravelled ('Junk' DNA not so junky after all).
	Posted by Jedi Master Pikachu On News/Activism 06/15/2007 1:49:42 PM EDT · 31 replies · 484+ views BBC | Thursday, June 14, 2007 The researchers hope to scale the work up to the whole of the genome A close-up view of the human genome has revealed its innermost workings to be far more complex than first thought.The study, which was carried out on just 1% of our DNA code, challenges the view that genes are the main players in driving our biochemistry. Instead, it suggests genes, so called junk DNA and other elements, together weave an intricate control network. The work, published in the journals Nature and Genome Research, is to be scaled up to the rest of the genome. Views transformed...
Biology and Cryptobiology
The Blue People Of Troublesome Creek (Kentucky)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 05/21/2004 11:08:30 PM EDT · 56 replies · 11,553+ views Science | November, 1982 | Cathy Trost THE BLUE PEOPLE OF TROUBLESOME CREEKThe story of an Appalachian malady, an inquisitive doctor, and a paradoxical cure. by Cathy Trost ©Science 82, November, 1982 Six generations after a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek with his redheaded American bride, his great-great-great great grandson was born in a modern hospital not far from where the creek still runs. The boy inherited his father's lankiness and his mother's slightly nasal way of speaking. What he got from Martin Fugate was dark blue skin. "It was almost purple," his father recalls. Doctors were so...
Blue people inhabited Kentucky in 1950s
	Posted by Daffynition On General/Chat 06/15/2007 1:58:19 PM EDT · 32 replies · 383+ views Pravda | 15.06.2007 | Staff Reporter Six generations after a French orphan named Martin Fugate settled on the banks of eastern Kentucky's Troublesome Creek with his redheaded American bride, his great-great-great great grandson was born in a modern hospital not far from where the creek still runs. The boy inherited his father's lankiness and his mother's slightly nasal way of speaking. What he got from Martin Fugate was dark blue skin. "It was almost purple," his father recalls. Doctors were so astonished by the color of Benjamin "Benjy" Stacy's skin that they raced him by ambulance from the maternity ward in the hospital near Hazard to...
China
Chinese Find Shipwreck Laden With Ming porcelain
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/13/2007 6:30:40 PM EDT · 18 replies · 570+ views Yahoo News | 6-13-2007 Chinese find shipwreck laden with Ming porcelain Wed Jun 13, 4:21 AM ET BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese archaeologists have found an ancient sunken ship in the South China Sea laden with Ming Dynasty porcelain, the Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. Divers used satellite navigation equipment to find the vessel, dubbed South China Sea II, which is about 17 to 18 meters (yards) long and lying at a depth of 20 meters. "A preliminary study of the sunken ship shows it may have sunk 400 years ago after striking a reef," archaeologist Dr Wei Jun was quoted as saying. The...
Paleontology
China finds new species of big, bird-like dinosaur
	Posted by EndWelfareToday On News/Activism 06/13/2007 11:09:23 AM EDT · 70 replies · 1,047+ views Yahoo News/Reuters | Wed Jun 13 | Tan Ee Lyn and Ben Blanchard HONG KONG/BEIJING (Reuters) - China has uncovered the skeletal remains of a gigantic, surprisingly bird-like dinosaur, which has been classed as a new species.Eight meters (26 ft) long and standing at twice the height of a man at the shoulder, the fossil of the feathered but flightless Gigantoraptor erlianensis was found in the Erlian basin in Inner Mongolia, researchers wrote in the latest issue of Nature.The researchers said the dinosaur, discovered in April 2005, weighed about 1.4 tonnes and lived some 85 million years ago.According to lines of arrested growth detected on its bones, it died as a young adult...
'Gigantoraptor' uncovered in the desert
	Posted by bruinbirdman On News/Activism 06/13/2007 8:32:31 PM EDT · 23 replies · 1,259+ views The Telegraph | 6/13/2007 | Roger Highfield, Science Editor 'Roadrunner' dinosaur discovered A 3000 lb "big bird" dinosaur called Gigantoraptor has got scientists into a flap. The remains of the gigantic, surprisingly bird-like dinosaur - the biggest toothless dinosaur ever found - have been uncovered in the Gobi desert in Inner Mongolia, China, and challenge current understanding about the origins of birds. The find was made when Chinese scientists were being filmed by a Japanese TV crew in Erlian Basin and they thought a nearby bone was an example of a newly discovered long necked dinosaur, called a sauropod. But as they took a closer look, under the gaze...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
An ancient bathtub ring of mammoth fossils
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/11/2007 11:47:57 AM EDT · 20 replies · 315+ views PhysOrg.com | May 7, 2007 | Pacific Northwest National Laboratory The fossils, in some cases whole skeletons of Mammathus columbi, the Columbian mammoth, were deposited in the hillsides of what are now the Yakima, Columbia and Walla Walla valleys in southeastern Washington, where the elephantine corpses came to rest as water receded from the temporary but repeatedly formed ancient Lake Lewis. PNNL geologists are plotting the deposits to reconstruct the high-water marks of many of the floods, the last of which occurred as recently as 12,000 to 15,000 years ago... Geologists suspect that most of the Ice Age floods in eastern Washington originated from glacial Lake Missoula. The lake formed...
Ancient DNA Traces The Wooly Mammoth's Disappearance
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/11/2007 1:35:44 PM EDT · 38 replies · 1,065+ views Psysorg | 6-7-2007 Ancient DNA traces the woolly mammoth's disappearanceSome ancient-DNA evidence has offered new clues to a very cold case: the disappearance of the last woolly mammoths, one of the most iconic of all Ice Age giants, according to a June 7th report published online in Current Biology. DNA lifted from the bones, teeth, and tusks of the extinct mammoths revealed a "genetic signature" of a range expansion after the last interglacial period. After the mammoths' migration, the population apparently leveled off, and one of two lineages died out. "In combination with the results on other species, a picture is emerging of...
Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
An Old Religion Says No To Billboards (Zoroastrians)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/12/2007 6:02:27 AM EDT · 24 replies · 384+ views Bell South | 6-12-2007 | Ramola Talwar Badam An Old Religion Says No to Billboards Published: 6/12/07, 5:25 AM EDT By RAMOLA TALWAR BADAM MUMBAI, India (AP) - Some might see the towering billboards that rise out of a centuries-old Mumbai funeral ground as a message from beyond the grave. But the signs - which exhort motorists to "Rev up your night life" by buying a popular car - have bitterly divided the city's Parsi community since they were erected last week, with many people saying they desecrate the sanctity of the place. Trustees of the funeral ground, who authorized the billboards, say they are needed to...
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Ancient Tomb Found in Mexico Reveals Mass Child Sacrifice (At least they didn't throw theirs away?)
	Posted by Bladerunnuh On News/Activism 06/13/2007 10:55:30 AM EDT · 45 replies · 655+ views National Geographic | 6-12-07 | Kelly Hearn Construction crews unearthed the burial chamber this spring near the town of Tula, the ancient Toltec capital, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Mexico City (see Mexico map). The chamber contained 24 skeletons of children believed to have been sacrificed between A.D. 950 and 1150, according to Luis Gamboa, an archaeologist at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. All but one of the children were between 5 to 15 years of age, and they were likely killed as an offering to the Toltec rain god Tlaloc, Gamboa said. The Toltec, a pre-Aztec civilization that thrived from the 10th to...
Ancient Tomb Found in Mexico Reveals Mass Child Sacrifice
	Posted by NYer On News/Activism 06/13/2007 11:02:55 AM EDT · 25 replies · 813+ views National Geographic | June 12, 2007 | Kelly Hearn The skeletons of two dozen children killed in an ancient mass sacrifice have been found in a tomb at a construction site in Mexico. The find reveals new details about the ancient Toltec civilization and adds to an ongoing debate over ritualistic killing in historic Mesoamerica. Construction crews unearthed the burial chamber this spring near the town of Tula, the ancient Toltec capital, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Mexico City (see Mexico map). The chamber contained 24 skeletons of children believed to have been sacrificed between A.D. 950 and 1150, according to Luis Gamboa, an archaeologist at Mexico's National...
Faith and Philosophy
Row Erupts In Spain Over Legendary Knight El Cid's Sword
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/11/2007 6:40:38 PM EDT · 17 replies · 706+ views M&C | 6-10-2007 | Sinikka Tarvainen Row erupts in Spain over legendary knight El Cid's sword By Sinikka Tarvainen Jun 10, 2007, 14:33 GMT Madrid - A millennium after the death of the legendary Spanish knight El Cid, a row has erupted over his alleged sword. The solid, 0.75-metre sword with a black handle, called La Tizona, has been known as Spain's answer to King Arthur's Excalibur or Charlemagne's Joyeuse. Until now, nobody doubted that the sword, which was on display at Madrid's Military Museum for more than 60 years, once belonged to the country's national hero. But when the northern region of Castile and Leon...
Middle Ages and Renaissance
(Immense) Subterranean Vault Dating Back To 8th Hejira Century Found Beneath The Citadel
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/09/2007 7:41:54 PM EDT · 18 replies · 705+ views Egyptian State Inrormation Service | 6-9-2007 Subterranean vault dating back to 8th Hejira century found beneath the Citadel An immense subterranean vault was found beneath the Citadel in Cairo on 7/6/2007, said the Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni. The vault dates back to the era of King Al-Nasser Mohamed Ben Qalawun in the 8th century of Hejira, said the Minister. The vault extends along 200 meters between Al-Ablaq Palace and the sideline palaces of the Citadel.
Longer Perspectives
Group announces list of world's 100 most endangered sites (nearly ALL under islamic threat)
	Posted by 2banana On News/Activism 06/11/2007 3:15:16 PM EDT · 9 replies · 578+ views World Monuments Fund | Jun 8, 2007 | World Monuments Fund CONFLICT. Whether past, ongoing, or imminent, conflict has become one of the most severe threats to cultural heritage. Among the sites at grave risk on the 2008 Watch List are: - Cultural Heritage Sites of Iraq, where ongoing conflict has led to catastrophic loss at the world's oldest and most important cultural sites, and where the damage continues. (by islam) - Bamiyan Buddhas, Afghanistan, tragic illustrations of the importance of cultural heritage and the consequences of its destruction, the leftover fragments and historic context remain endangered, and their future in question. (by islam) - Church of the Holy Nativity, Bethlehem,...
Shams and Scams
The Muslims who discovered America
	Posted by swarthyguy On News/Activism 10/11/2002 1:40:55 AM EDT · 78 replies · 5,867+ views WND | 10.11.2002 | Joseph Farah In anticipation of Columbus Day, I've been educating myself on the Muslims who discovered America. You mean you didn't know that Muslims were in America before Columbus? You didn't know Muslim navigators took Columbus by the hand and led him to a little island in the Bahamas known as Guanahani, a settlement of Islamic Mandinkas from Africa? You hadn't heard about the Muslims from both Spain and West Africa who sailed to America at least five centuries before Columbus? Yes, this is the new uni-cultural rage with the U.S. Muslim community. There are seminars in major cities and mosques all...
Oh So Mysteriouso
Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun Loses Funding
	Posted by Renfield On News/Activism 06/12/2007 10:05:58 AM EDT · 8 replies · 203+ views Javno | 6-11-07 | Tatjana Ljubić The hills in Visoko are a natural formation and not pyramids, as Semir Osmanagic wishes to present them, says Bosnian Culture Minister. The Ministry of Culture of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to put an end to the funding of the project "Bosnian Pyramid of the Sun." Opinions on the subject as well as on the pyramid phenomenon are so divided in Bosnia that some public persons, who have denied the existence of pyramids, said that they would set themselves on fire if those were really proven to pyramids. Numerous politicans have given support to the research in...
Navigation
Is This Chaucer's Astrolabe?
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/12/2007 8:54:45 PM EDT · 24 replies · 706+ views Nature | 6-8-2007 | Philip Ball Is this Chaucer's astrolabe?Astronomical instruments were probably made after Chaucer's designs, not before.June8, 2007 Philip Ball The British Museum's 'Chaucerian' astrolabe: not really Chaucer's, of course. British Museum Want to see the astrolabe used for astronomical calculations by Geoffrey Chaucer himself? You'll be lucky, says Catherine Eagleton, a curator at the British Museum in London. Several astrolabes have been suggested to have once belonged to Chaucer. The claims are based on the device in question's resemblance to one described by Chaucer in his Treatise on the Astrolabe, written in the late fourteenth century. Perhaps, the claimants argue, the astrolabe they...
Napoleon
Napoleon's battle sword up for auction (worn during the battle of Marengo in Italy, June 1800)
	Posted by NormsRevenge On General/Chat 06/09/2007 4:03:46 PM EDT · 6 replies · 181+ views AP on Yahoo | 6/9/07 | Marco Chown Oved - ap FONTAINEBLEAU, France - After more than 200 years in the family, the gold-encrusted sword Napoleon carried into battle in Italy will be auctioned off Sunday, across the street from one of his imperial castles. The intricately decorated blade is 32 inches long and curves gently -- an inspiration Napoleon drew from his Egyptian campaign, auctioneer Jean-Pierre Osenat said. "He noticed that the Arab swords, which were curved, were very effective in cutting off French heads" and ordered an imitation made upon his return, Osenat explained. The last of Napoleon's swords in private hands, it has an estimated value of at...
Napoleon's sword sold for $6.4 million
	Posted by BGHater On News/Activism 06/11/2007 12:53:25 PM EDT · 35 replies · 698+ views AP | 10 June 2007 | AP FONTAINEBLEAU, France --A gold-encrusted sword Napoleon wore into battle in Italy 200 years ago was sold Sunday for more than $6.4 million, an auction house said. The last of Napoleon's swords in private hands, it has an estimated value of far less -- about $1.6 million, according to the Osenat auction house managing the sale. Applause rang out in a packed auction hall across the street from one of Napoleon's imperial castles in Fontainebleau, a town southeast of Paris, when the sword was sold. Osenat did not identify the buyer, but said the sword will remain in Napoleon's family, which...
Early America
Thore-La-Rochette Journal: Remembering French Hero of the American Revolution
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism 06/15/2007 7:18:10 AM EDT · 6 replies · 126+ views NY Times | June 15, 2007 | JOHN TAGLIABUE Christophe Calais for The New York Times Michel de Rochambeau at home in Vendume with a portrait of his forebear Jean Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, who fought with George Washington at Yorktown and had a chateau at Thore-la-Rochette. THORE-LA-ROCHETTE, France -- Michel de Rochambeau likes to think that the life span of a tree separates him from his most illustrious ancestor. He recently had dozens of young lime trees planted in a row along the two-mile road that winds along the Loir River leading to his modest chateau in northern France. They replaced trees that had been planted by...
Researchers Seek DNA Link to Lost Colony
	Posted by varina davis On News/Activism 06/11/2007 5:04:04 PM EDT · 64 replies · 1,612+ views WRAL & AP | June 11, 2007 ROANOKE ISLAND, N.C. - Researchers believe they may be able to use DNA to uncover the fate of the Lost Colony, which vanished shortly after more than 100 people settled on Roanoke Island in 1587. Using genealogy, deeds and historical narratives, researchers have compiled 168 surnames that could be connected to settlers in what is considered the first attempt by the English to colonize the New World. The team will try to trace the roots of individuals related to the colonists, to the area's 16th century American Indians or to both.
World War Eleven
Second World War MI5 documents revealed
	Posted by Calpernia On General/Chat 06/15/2007 9:34:59 AM EDT · 13 replies · 196+ views UKTV | 13th June 2007 Second World War MI5 documents revealed MI5 has been criticised for releasing documents that reveal the identities of agents serving in the Second World War. A large number of documents dating from the Second World War have been released by MI5 after more than 60 years. Released to the National Archives, the files contain details about the real identities of a number of spies and double agents working during the war. The documents relate to a camp in Ham, Surrey, that was used to hold and interrogate Nazi spies, many of whom later became double agents working for British intelligence....
Russia declassifies military archives dating back to 1941-1945
	Posted by Calpernia On General/Chat 06/15/2007 9:08:56 AM EDT · 4 replies · 94+ views Interfax | Jun 14 2007 MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The archives of the Red Army and the Soviet Navy dating back to the Soviet Union's war against Nazi Germany in 1941-1945 have been declassified, Russian Defense Ministry's Archive Service chief Col. Sergei Ilyenkov told journalists in Moscow on Thursday. "The documents stored at the Defense Ministry Central Archive in Podolsk, the Central Naval Archive in Gatchina, and the Archive of Military Medical Documents of the Defense Ministry's Military Medical Museum in St. Petersburg have been declassified," Ilyenkov said. The declassified documents include 4 million copies.
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Archaeologists Find Early Executive Toilet In Sheffield Works
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/10/2007 11:03:52 AM EDT · 16 replies · 847+ views 24 Hour Museum | 6-8-2007 | Caroline Lewis ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND EARLY EXECUTIVE TOILET IN SHEFFIELD WORKS By Caroline Lewis 08/06/2007 A grinding workshop at the site. Courtesy University of Sheffield/ARCUS The Victorians were great inventors, and their progress in the field of sewage disposal was not one of their least achievements. Thomas Crapper is famed for popularising the flush lavatory in the 19th century, but not many examples of his early "work" survive. So archaeologists from the University of Sheffield got quite excited when they found a toilet dating back around 150 years in an old cutlery and grinding works, believing it to be an original Crapper. Further...
end of digest #152 20070616

[SunkenCiv]

Forty topics, that's more like it. Around Tuesday someone joked that it was mammoth week, and it seems to me there should be more topics about the mammoth (there are just two), so I guess I'd better check into this.

Issue 156 will be the last issue of the third year of this Digest. Ideas for the gala celebration are of course welcome.

Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #152 20070616

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

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[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #153 Saturday, June 23, 2007
Prehistory and Origins
35,000-Year -Old Mammoth Sculpture Found In Germany
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/20/2007 6:48:04 PM EDT · 30 replies · 990+ views Spiegel | 6-20-2007 35,000-Year-Old Mammoth Sculpture Found in Germany In southwestern Germany, an American archaeologist and his German colleagues have found the oldest mammoth-ivory carving known to modern science. And even at 35,000 years old, it's still intact. The 35,000-year-old mammoth figurine was revealed on Wednesday. REUTERS Archaeologists at the University of T¸bingen have recovered the first entirely intact woolly mammoth figurine from the Swabian Jura, a 220-meter long plateau in the state of Baden-W¸rttemberg, thought to have been made by the first modern humans some 35,000 years ago. It is believed to be the oldest ivory carving ever found. "You can be...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Moose, not men, blamed for mammoth extinction
	Posted by SJackson On News/Activism 05/11/2006 10:11:10 PM EDT · 56 replies · 1,063+ views Globe and Mail | 5-11-06 | ANNE MCILROY Humans have been blamed for slaughtering woolly mammoths and other large ice-age animals into extinction, but new evidence from Yukon suggests this isn't the case. Moose were to blame, at least in part, says Dale Guthrie, a researcher at the University of Alaska. He has found evidence that the climate in Yukon and Alaska was warming between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago, around the time a wave of human hunters moved into North America from Asia. The North was changing from a grassland to a boreal forest and tundra, he says. Moose also arrived, and were better adapted to digest...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
Climate killed off mammoths, not humans: scientist
	Posted by Bubba_Leroy On News/Activism 05/10/2006 4:38:20 PM EDT · 24 replies · 553+ views reuters.com | May 10, 2006 | Reuters Climate shifts were probably responsible for the extinction of the mammoth and other species more than 10,000 years ago, not over-hunting by humans, according to new research published on Wednesday. Radiocarbon dating of 600 bones of bison, moose and humans that survived the mass extinction and remains of the mammoth and wild horse which did not, suggests humans were not responsible. "That is what this new data points out," said Dr Dale Guthrie of the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. "It is not that people weren't hunting these creatures. But climate would have reduced the numbers considerably," he added in...
Mammoth Told Me...
Scientists find mammoth cell fit for cloning
	Posted by Lessismore On News/Activism 02/11/2003 9:35:09 PM EST · 22 replies · 303+ views Vladivostock News | February 6, 2003 Scientists from the Novosibirsk center of virology and biotechnology 'Vector' discovered a living cell in the remains of a mammoth excavated from the ice, and believe it could be suitable for cloning the Ice Age mammal. Oleg Taranov, a researcher from the center, arrived in Yakutsk, the capital of the Russian northeastern republic of Yakutia, Tuesday to report the results to his colleagues at the Institute of Applied Ecology of the North. Last summer a joint team of Russian and Japanese scientists mounted an expedition into Russia's far north with the expressed aim of trying to bring a mammoth back...
Mammoth Skeleton Found In Siberia
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 05/23/2006 4:17:52 PM EDT · 38 replies · 1,092+ views BBC | 5-23-2006 | James Rodgers Mammoth skeleton found in Siberia By James Rodgers BBC News, Moscow It is rare to find mammoth remains in such good condition Fishermen in Siberia have discovered the complete skeleton of a mammoth - a find which Russian experts have described as very rare. The remains appeared when flood waters receded in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region. The mammoth's backbone, skull, teeth and tusks all survived intact. It appears to have died aged about 50. Mammoths lived in Africa, Europe, Asia and North America between about 1.6 million years ago and 10,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. Alexander Kerzhayev, deputy director...
Disgraced Embryonic Stem Cell Researcher Used Money to Clone Mammoths
	Posted by wagglebee On News/Activism 07/25/2006 2:36:25 PM EDT · 37 replies · 751+ views LifeNews | 7/25/06 | Steven Ertelt Seoul, South Korea (LifeNews.com) -- Disgraced scientist Hwang Woo-suk, whose team became an international laughingstock after they faked their entirety of their embryonic stem cell research, appeared in court on Monday in a trial about charges that he embezzled public and private research funds. Hwang admitted he spent more than one million in attempting to clone a mammoth. Hwang was indicted in May by South Korean government prosecutors who say that Hwang misspent public and private dollars intended for research. On Monday, Hwang admitted he spent part of the money, some $1.05 million in failed attempts to clone mammoths, extinct...
Paleontology
Bone-Crushing Wolves Once Roamed Alaska
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/22/2007 8:41:33 AM EDT · 36 replies · 930+ views Live Science | 6-21-2007 | Charles Q Choi Bone-Crushing Wolves Once Roamed Alaska By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience posted: 21 June 2007 12:01 pm ET Email Bone-crushing wolves that specialized in hunting giant prey once roamed the icy expanses of Alaska, an international team of researchers now finds. The scientists unexpectedly discovered what apparently was a novel subspecies of gray wolf (Canis lupus) as they analyzed genes from skeletal remains that had sat in museum collections for up to a few decades after excavation from Alaskan permafrost deposits. The ancient DNA, which dated back 12,500 to 40,000 years, did not match any modern wolves, and closer...
Classical Cuisine
Ancient Romans Preferred Fast Food
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/19/2007 7:25:23 PM EDT · 42 replies · 1,186+ views Discovery | 6-18-2007 | Jennifer Viegas Ancient Romans Preferred Fast Food Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News June 18, 2007 -- Just as a U.S. Presidential state dinner does not reflect how most Americans eat and socialize, researchers think the formal, decadent image of wining and dining in ancient Rome mostly just applied to the elite. According to archaeologist Penelope Allison of the University of Leicester, the majority of the population consumed food "on the run." Allison excavated an entire neighborhood block in Pompeii, a city frozen in time after the eruption of volcano Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Historians often extend findings from Pompeii to other parts...
Rome and Italy
Roman road found at gas pipeline
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/18/2007 1:19:42 PM EDT · 8 replies · 113+ views BBC | Sunday, June 17, 2007 | unattributed The historic roadway was discovered in the Brecon Beacons, on the path of the 190-mile (320km) National Grid pipe from Milford Haven to Gloucestershire. Neil Fairburn, archaeology project manager for National Grid, said the road was found as digging began, but the pipe would still have to cross it... Mr Fairburn said the road, which he estimated as dating from the 1st Century AD, was in "a better condition than we would normally find a Roman road", but a 3m section of it would be lost. "It was in an area where we thought there might be a Roman road,...
British Isles
Roman London's Painted Walls
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/16/2007 11:05:20 PM EDT · 5 replies · 128+ views 50 Connect | June 16/17, 2007 | unattributed One of the best collections of Roman painted wall plaster from London has been discovered on a site on Lime Street, on the edge of Leadenhall Market, in the City of London by the Museum of London Archaeology Service. The plaster is from one room in a high status Roman building, probably dating to about 120 AD and is rare find. The building was just to the east of the Roman forum and basilica, the main market place for London and administrative centre. The excavation has now finished but experts are working to piece together over 40 crates of plaster...
Anatolia
Ancient Etruscans Were Immigrants From Anatolia (Turkey)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/17/2007 7:55:52 PM EDT · 40 replies · 956+ views Eureka Alert | 6-17-2007 | Mary Rice Contact: Mary Rice mary@mrcommunication.org European Society of Human Genetics Ancient Etruscans were immigrants from Anatolia, or what is now TurkeyGeneticists find the final piece in the puzzle Nice, France: The long-running controversy about the origins of the Etruscan people appears to be very close to being settled once and for all, a geneticist will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today. Professor Alberto Piazza, from the University of Turin, Italy, will say that there is overwhelming evidence that the Etruscans, whose brilliant civilisation flourished 3000 years ago in what is now Tuscany, were settlers from...
Thrace
Image of Mythological Minotaur Labyrinth Unearthed in Bulgaria
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/17/2007 12:18:24 AM EDT · 11 replies · 229+ views Novanite | June 14, 2007 | unattributed Bulgarian archaeologists have found an image of the legendary labyrinth of King Minos, the Bulgarian National Radio reported. The exclusive find was unearthed near the village of Golyam Derven last week. The team of Professor Daniela Agre, who are doing excavation works in the area, stumbled upon the unique artefact while researching a an ancient Thracian tomb's entrance stone. The labyrinth image, which is carved on the slate, is perfectly preserved. The legendary labyrinth was considered a just a myth from the Greek mythology until the exclusive finding. According to the legends, King Minos ordered the construction of the labyrinth...
Ancient Europe
Archaeologists discover Iron Age Mickey Mouse
	Posted by WesternCulture On News/Activism 06/16/2007 9:07:02 AM EDT · 40 replies · 1,140+ views www.thelocal.se | 06/08/2007 | Paul O'Mahony Swedish archaeologists have uncovered signs of a Viking precursor to Mickey Mouse. Among the objects found during excavations at UppÂkra in southern Sweden is an iron age figure bearing a strong resemblance to the classic cartoon character.
Archaeoastronomy and Megaliths
Restored -- but medieval maze is still a puzzle after centuries [UK]
	Posted by BGHater On News/Activism 06/20/2007 7:47:34 AM EDT · 56 replies · 1,611+ views Yorkshire Post | 19 June 2007 | Simon Bristow A maze is designed to puzzle, but whoever dreamt up the intricate earth and grass labyrinth that is Julian's Bower can be especially pleased -- it remains a mystery after hundreds of years. The medieval maze in Alkborough, near Scunthorpe, has been reopened to the public after a major returfing project, but experts are no closer to solving the riddle of why or when it was made. The 44ft relic cut into the landscape has many interlocking rings, and the theories surrounding its origins are just as complex. Some have observed how Alkborough's maze is strikingly similar to a floor design...
Egypt
Virtual explorers comb Egypt's ruins
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/18/2007 1:00:11 PM EDT · 10 replies · 92+ views Boston Globe | Monday, June 18, 2007 | Pamela Ferdinand From the comfort of his study in Norwich, England, Colin Newton, a retired television repairman, explores rare Giza maps and expedition diaries in an effort to catalog all Old Kingdom tombs. Meanwhile, Laurel Flentye, an Egyptologist who specializes in art and archaeology, downloads excavation photos and roams inside subterranean chambers, zooming in on relief decorations in tombs around the Sphinx and Great Pyramid from her Cairo home... The Giza Archives Project, established by Boston's Museum of Fine Arts in January 2005, aims to become the world's central online repository for all archaeological activity at the necropolis, beginning with the major...
Epigraphy and Language
Egypt Asks British Museum For Rosetta Stone
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/22/2007 5:33:41 PM EDT · 50 replies · 1,047+ views The Art Newspaper | 6-21-2007 | Martin Bailey Egypt asks British Museum for Rosetta Stone By Martin Bailey | Posted 21 June 2007 LONDON. The Egyptian government has made a formal request to borrow the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum (BM). A letter was sent last month by Dr Zahi Hawass, head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The Art Newspaper can reveal that the request is for a three-month loan in 2012, for the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum, which is being built near the Pyramids. Until now, the BM has been able to fend off questions about the return of the Rosetta Stone, since...
Africa
Ancient gold unearthed in Sudan
	Posted by Jedi Master Pikachu On News/Activism 06/19/2007 5:11:54 PM EDT · 57 replies · 1,103+ views BBC | Tuesday, June 19, 2007 The Kush kingdom was conquered by the Egyptians A team of archaeologists has discovered a huge ancient gold processing centre and a graveyard along the River Nile in northern Sudan.They were part of the 4,000-year-old Kush, or Nubian, kingdom. The scholars say the finds show the empire was much bigger than previously thought and rivalled ancient Egypt. The archaeologists are racing to dig up the Hosh el-Geruf area, some 225 miles from the capital, Khartoum, before the Merowe dam floods the area next year. The dam is due to create a lake 100 miles long and two miles wide,...
Longer Perspectives
US issues deck of cards on Iraq's archaeology
	Posted by BGHater On News/Activism 06/20/2007 8:23:09 AM EDT · 7 replies · 194+ views Telegraph | 20 June 2007 | Tom Leonard American troops in Iraq are being sent another deck of playing cards, this time showing some of the country's most precious archaeological sites and advice on how to respect them. The Pentagon is sending 40,000 new decks to units in Iraq and Afghanistan, four years after it issued soldiers with a more gung-ho pack showing pictures and information about the most-wanted former members of Saddam Hussein's regime. The cards are part of an archaeology awareness programme designed to make troops aware of the damage they can cause to sites and to discourage the illegal trade in artefacts. Archaeologists working at...
Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
Iran's Zoroastrians remember Arab conquest of Persia
	Posted by freedom44 On News/Activism 06/18/2007 3:56:35 PM EDT · 58 replies · 1,210+ views AP | 6/18/07 | AP CHAK CHAK, Iran (AP) - Dressed in white to symbolize purity, a priest recited from the Zoroastrian holy book at a shrine as members of this ancient pre-Islamic religion marked what they see as one of the most bitter events in Iran's history: the 7th century Arab conquest of Persia. The Arab invasion changed history for Persia, the ancient name for non-Arab Iran: Islam was imposed as the new religion, replacing Zoroastrianism, whose followers were dispersed. Thousands of Zoroastrians from Iran's small remaining community and from India, the United States and other countries gathered at this mountain shrine this week...
India
'Ancient India Was In The Middle Of Global Trade'
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/15/2007 6:44:26 PM EDT · 18 replies · 491+ views The Times Of India | 6-15-2007 Q&A: 'Ancient India was in the middle of global trade' 15 Jun, 2007 l 0142 hrs IST S P Gupta, former director of Allahabad Museum and current chairman of Indian Archaeological Society, is credited with excavating several Indus Valley sites. He spoke to Rohit Viswanath on recent developments in marine archaeology: What are the latest advancements in marine archaeology? We do not use the term marine archaeology anymore. It is called underwater archaeology. That is because the term merely denotes oceanic and deep-sea archaeology. However, underwater archaeology has a wider scope. Fresh-water sources have been historically conducive to human habitation....
China
Who were Hunnu? (Mongolian account of Huns)
	Posted by TigerLikesRooster On News/Activism 06/18/2007 3:29:08 AM EDT · 11 replies · 551+ views Mongolia Today Who were Hunnu? Huunu artisan medallion with yak image engraving For many decades the study of ancient history of Mongols was subject to ideological directives and politics. And therefore, with the removal of political and ideological restraints after political reforms of 1990, archeology now experiences a boom.One of the hottest areas is the history of Hunnu, a nomadic tribe that ruled the vast stretches of Central Asian steppes and forced China to go into extreme effort of building the Great China wall in attempt to protect against devastating raids.The name of Atilla, the Hunnu king who led his men...
Navigation
Obsession propels scholar on long, lonesome voyage [ Gunnar Thompson ]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/18/2007 12:36:03 PM EDT · 19 replies · 158+ views Seattle Times | Monday, June 18, 2007 | Ross Anderson Over the course of his 30-year journey, Thompson has written five books, all self-published, detailing what he believes to be conclusive evidence that, long before 1492, the Americas were explored repeatedly -- by the ancient Chinese, Venetians, Egyptians, Romans, Vikings, Irish, English and who-knows-who-else. He argues, for example, that a Chinese admiral named Zheng He, commanding a fleet of Chinese junks in the early 1400s, explored the coasts of the Americas. He believes that Marco Polo sailed with the Chinese into the Strait of Juan de Fuca and perhaps into Puget Sound in the 13th century. He is convinced that...
China beat Columbus to it, perhaps
	Posted by tbird5 On News/Activism 01/14/2006 12:05:19 AM EST · 36 replies · 849+ views The Economist | Jan 12th 2006 | unknown An ancient map that strongly suggests Chinese seamen were first round the world THE brave seamen whose great voyages of exploration opened up the world are iconic figures in European history. Columbus found the New World in 1492; Dias discovered the Cape of Good Hope in 1488; and Magellan set off to circumnavigate the world in 1519. However, there is one difficulty with this confident assertion of European mastery: it may not be true. It seems more likely that the world and all its continents were discovered by a Chinese admiral named Zheng He, whose fleets roamed the oceans between...
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Thousands of pearls found in shipwreck
	Posted by BenLurkin On General/Chat 06/18/2007 3:15:06 PM EDT · 26 replies · 360+ views YAHOOoooo | Sat Jun 16, 11:56 PM ET KEY WEST, Fla. - Salvagers discovered thousands of pearls Friday in a small, lead box they said they found while searching for the wreckage of the 17th-century Spanish galleon Santa Margarita. Divers from Blue Water Ventures of Key West said they found the sealed box, measuring 3.5 inches by 5.5 inches, along with a gold bar, eight gold chains and hundreds of other artifacts earlier this week. They were apparently buried beneath the ocean floor in approximately 18 feet of water about 40 miles west of Key West. "There are several thousand pearls starting from an eighth of an inch...
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Telmex Peru destroys part of 2000 year-old ancient necropolis [ Paracas culture ]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 06/16/2007 11:35:36 PM EDT · 3 replies · 41+ views Living in Peru | June 16, 2007 | (LIP-jl) Alfredo Gonzalez, Ica regional director of the INC, has denounced the telecommunications company for allegedly ruining nearly 400 square meters of a 2,000 year-old ancient burial ground that was registered as part of Peru's national heritage... The Paracas culture was an important society between approximately 750 BCE and 100 CE. Most of our information about the lives of the Paracas people comes from excavations at the large seaside Paracas necropolis, first investigated by the Peruvian archaeologist Julio Tello in the 1920s. The Paracas Necropolis is located in Chincha Province, located approximately 200 kilometers south of Peru's capital city of Lima.
Guillermo Cock
First Known Gunshot Victim In Americas Discovered
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/20/2007 7:08:29 PM EDT · 17 replies · 394+ views National Geographic | 6-19-2007 | Kelly Hearn First Known Gunshot Victim in Americas Discovered Kelly Hearn in Buenos Aires, Argentina for National Geographic News June 19, 2007 The first known gunshot victim in the Americas was an Inca Indian killed by a musket-wielding Spaniard nearly 500 years ago in Peru, scientists announced today. (See pictures and watch video.) The casualty's skeleton was discovered in 2004 while excavating an Inca cemetery in the Lima suburb of Puruchuco -- less than a mile from thousands of Inca mummy bundles discovered by Peruvian archaeologist Guillermo Cock. The individual may have been killed during an Inca uprising against Spanish conquistadors in 1536, according...
Researchers find 'first gun victim'
	Posted by Toddsterpatriot On News/Activism 06/20/2007 11:28:49 AM EDT · 33 replies · 732+ views Yahoo! News | Jun 20, 2007 | RANDOLPH E. SCHMID WASHINGTON - The musket blast was sudden and deadly, the killing nearly 500 years ago of what may have been the first gunshot victim in the Western Hemisphere. "We didn't expect it. We saw this skull and saw the almost round hole and thought people must have been shooting around here recently," said Guillermo Cock, an archaeologist who found the remains near Lima, Peru. But he realized that the skull was ancient, and a recent bullet strike would simply have shattered it, Cock said in a telephone interview. The skull was found among a large group of bones of ancient...
First-ever gunshot victim found (History)
	Posted by CarrotAndStick On News/Activism 06/21/2007 12:13:21 PM EDT · 19 replies · 404+ views AP via The Times of India | 21 Jun, 2007 l 0051 hrs IST | AP WASHINGTON: The musket blast was sudden and deadly, the killing nearly 500 years ago of what may have been the first gunshot victim in the Western Hemisphere. "We didn't expect it. We saw this skull and saw the almost round hole and thought people must have been shooting around here recently," said Guillermo Cock, an archaeologist who found the remains near Lima, Peru. But he realised that the skull was ancient, and a recent bullet strike would simply have shattered it, Cock said. The skull was found among a large group of bones of ancient Incas, who had died violently...
Early America
George Washington's Office Unearthed In Old City (Phil)
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism 06/21/2007 6:44:35 AM EDT · 30 replies · 851+ views CBS 3 Philadelphia | June 20, 2007 | Mary Stoker Smith (CBS 3) PHILADELPHIA The archaeological dig at Independence Mall has uncovered another historical treasure. Archaeologists have been working furiously in Old City for the past couple months, revealing the foundation of George Washingtonís former office. "We could never have expected to find a find like this. Things that have such cultural value," said Ed Lawler of the Independence Mall Association. A foundation fragment from the first presidentís office can now be seen protruding from the ground. "We think that may be the corner where the north wall of the office met the west wall of the office," said Lawler. The...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
New life for an old Civil War sentinel
	Posted by Coleus On General/Chat 06/16/2007 11:42:56 PM EDT · 3 replies · 31+ views Star Ledger | 06.11.07 | Bob Braun Bill Styple and time have a peculiar relationship. He lives in the present, writes about the past and wants to save both the present and the past for the future of his town. "I just want to preserve for our children a little of what I and my parents had in the past," says Styple, 46, who, with others from Kearny, is about to give the Hudson County town, its residents and its children a gift: A statue of a Civil War soldier. A replica of a statue that, for nearly 50 years until 1933, stood mute guard before the...
Let's Have Jerusalem
Biblical Passage And Forensic Analysis Suggest New Theory On Human Remains At Masada
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/22/2007 5:29:50 PM EDT · 14 replies · 1,082+ views IHT | 6-22-2007 | AP Biblical passage and forensic analysis suggest new theory on human remains at Masada The Associated PressPublished: June 22, 2007 MASADA, Israel: An Israeli anthropologist is using modern forensics and an obscure Biblical passage to challenge the accepted wisdom about mysterious human remains found at Masada, the desert fortress famous as the scene of a mass suicide nearly 2,000 years ago. A new research paper published Friday takes another look at the remains of three people found in a bathhouse at the site -- two male skeletons and a full head of women's hair, including two braids. They were long thought...
Faith and Philosophy
Isaac Newton saw end of world in 2060
	Posted by voletti On News/Activism 06/17/2007 10:26:12 PM EDT · 130 replies · 3,130+ views Times of India | 6/18/07 | AP JERUSALEM: Renowned British scientist Sir Isaac Newton, the father of modern physics and astronomy, predicted the world would end in 2060. He made the prediction in a 1704 letter that went on show in Jerusalem on Sunday. A famed rationalist, who secured a royal exemption from the ordination in the Church of England that was normally expected of academics of his day so he would not have to follow its teachings, Newton nonetheless based his prediction on a Biblical text. Working from verses in the Book of Daniel, the elaborator of the classical laws of gravity, motion and optics argued...
A War Between Science and Religon? Ask Isaac Newton (a Scientist Guided by religious fervor)
	Posted by SirLinksalot On News/Activism 06/20/2007 12:05:55 PM EDT · 152 replies · 1,935+ views AOL News | 06/19/2007 | Dinesh D' Souza A Jerusalem exhibit of Isaac Newton's manuscripts has some newly-discovered papers showing Newton's calculations of the exact date of the Apocalypse. Using the Book of Daniel, Newton argues that the world will end not earlier than 2060. "It may end later," Newton writes, "but I see no reason for its ending sooner. This I mention not to assert when the time of the end shall be, but to put a stop to the rash conjectures of fanciful men who are frequently predicting the time of the end, and by doing so bring the sacred prophecies into discredit as often as...
Oh So Mysteriouso
Archaeologist Sparks Hunt For Holy Grail
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/20/2007 6:54:57 PM EDT · 101 replies · 1,991+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 6-20-2007 | Nick Pisa Archaeologist sparks hunt for Holy Grail By Nick Pisa in Rome Last Updated: 8:47pm BST 20/06/2007 An archaeologist has sparked a Da Vinci Code-style hunt for the Holy Grail after claiming ancient records show it is buried under a 6th century church in Rome. The cup - said to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper - is the focus of countless legends and has been sought for centuries. Alfredo Barbagallo, an Italian archaeologist, claims that it is buried in a chapel-like room underneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches which...
Shams and Scams
'No massacre in Nanking,' Japanese lawmakers say
	Posted by skinkinthegrass On News/Activism 06/19/2007 5:55:17 PM EDT · 166 replies · 3,254+ views Reuters, The Associated Press | June 19, 2007 TOKYO: About 100 Japanese governing party lawmakers denounced the Nanjing Massacre as a fabrication on Tuesday, contesting Chinese claims that Japanese soldiers killed hundreds of thousands of people after seizing the Chinese city in 1937.
World War Eleven
Winston Churchill's "Finest Hour" Speech 67 Years Ago Today
	Posted by Colonel Kangaroo On General/Chat 06/18/2007 5:41:58 AM EDT · 14 replies · 137+ views On June 18, 1940, the position of Great Britain looked very shaky. The German army had routed the French forces, ran the British Expeditionary Force out of Europe and France was in the process of giving up the fight. On this dark day, Churchill gave a report on the bleak situation to the House of Commons. At the close of the speech he spoke these memorable words: What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends...
Agriculture
Mass Grave Of Quakers Uncovered (UK)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/22/2007 5:40:36 PM EDT · 4 replies · 391+ views BBC | 6-22-2007 Mass grave of Quakers uncovered A meeting of the Society of Friends in its early days A mass grave believed to contain the bodies of followers of the Quaker religious movement has been uncovered in Cambridgeshire. Environment Agency workers found the rare Quaker burial site while carrying out work for flood defences at St Ives. Sixteen bodies were in the unmarked grave dating back to the late 1600s. Archaeologists described the find as "remarkable and unusual" as it gave an insight into Quaker burial practices just after the movement started. Pipe facet The Society of Friends was still emerging and...
end of digest #153 20070623