[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #70 Saturday, November 19, 2005
Climate
Forests Frozen In Time
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 01/15/2005 3:53:29 PM PST · 3 replies · 210+ views Science Frontiers (#51) | May-Jun 1987 | William R. Corliss Axel Heiberg Island in the Canadian Arctic is only 700 miles south of the present North Pole. Little grows there today, but there is on these icy shores the remnant of a forest that flourished 45 million years ago, according to conventional geological dating of the strata... So excellent is the preservation of the forest that its wood cuts as if it were recent lumber and burns readily... Even if the earth was warmer 45 million years ago, could a tropical-type forest survive the nearly six months of total darkness at Axel Heiberg Island? ...Also relevant is the discovery, reported...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
Clare Places: Islands: Mutton Island or Enniskerry (9th century catastrophe in Ireland)
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/18/2005 11:58:58 AM PST · 26 replies · 170+ views Clare County Library | prior to November 19, 2005 | staff writer According to the "Annals of the Four Masters" the island was once called Fitha Island and it formed part of the mainland until the day "the sea swelled so high that it burst its boundaries, overflowing a large tract of country, and drowning over 1,000 persons." This happened on March 16th, 804. Some reports describe it as an earthquake, others as a tidal wave when "the sea divided the island of Fitha into three parts." These three islands are Mutton Island, Inismattle (or Illanwattle) and Roanshee (or Carrig na Ron). There is a fourth island in the area called Carraig...
British Isles
Viking 'Town' Is Ireland's Equivalent Of Pompeii
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 06/13/2004 2:30:31 PM PDT · 22 replies · 274+ views Waterford News And Star | 6-11-2004 | Marion O' Mara Friday, June 11, 2004 By Marion OíMaraViking ëtowní is Irelandís equivalent of Pompeii ITíS likely to be some weeks yet before Minister for the Environment Martin Cullen announces recommendations for dealing with and possibly preserving what historians are now describing as Irelandís first town. The discovery of the Viking settlement, at Woodstown, five miles from the city, which is believed to date back to the mid-9th century, was made as preparatory work got underway on the cityís Ä300m by-pass. The site, located close to the River Suir, is 1.5 km long by 0.5 km wide and so far up to...
Ancient Europe
Archaeologists Find Western World's Oldest Map (500BC)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/17/2005 5:42:59 PM PST · 34 replies · 1,109+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 11-18-2005 | Hilary Clarke Archaeologists find western world's oldest map By Hilary Clarke in Rome (Filed: 18/11/2005) The oldest map of anywhere in the western world, dating from about 500 BC, has been unearthed in southern Italy. Known as the Soleto Map, the depiction of Apulia, the heel of Italy's "boot", is on a piece of black-glazed terracotta vase about the size of a postage stamp. It was found in a dig led by the Belgian archaeologist Thierry van Compernolle, of Montpellier University, two years ago. But its existence was kept secret until more research was carried out. "The map offers, to date, for...
Ancient Greece
Greek Gods And Those Who Doubted Them
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/14/2005 1:54:01 PM PST · 15 replies · 520+ views Redlands Daily Facts | 11-14-2005 | Gregory Elder Greek gods and those who doubted them Gregory Elder For the Daily Facts It was a bad day in the year 406 B.C. Euripides, an elderly playwright, was wandering around the palace, skulking in his gloom. For decades he had dedicated himself to the theater and written and directed more than 90 plays, performed before thousands of people. Yet for all his pains, he had won prizes for only three of his dramas, a minuscule number compared to his rivals Sophocles and Aeschylus. More than once, he had been held up to public ridicule by the tart-tongued comedian Aristophanes. In...
Ancient Rome
Rare Seal Bearing Jesus Image Found In Tiberias
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/18/2005 12:36:58 PM PST · 34 replies · 1,449+ views Haaretz Daily | 11-18-2005 | Eli Ashkenazi Last update - 08:55 18/11/2005 Rare seal bearing Jesus image found in Tiberias By Eli Ashkenazi, Haaretz Correspondent A rare seal bearing a picture of Jesus on one side was discovered at an archeological dig in the old city of Tiberias on Thursday. The other side of the seal, which dates from the sixth century, depicts a cross and bears the inscription "Christos." The seal was discovered by two volunteers, employees of the American and British embassies. Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who is directing the dig, said the seal apparently belonged to a high-ranking church...
Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
How did Trajan succeed in subduing Parthia where Mark Antony failed?
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/14/2005 10:09:55 AM PST · 15 replies · 178+ views Ancient History Bulletin (via GeoCities Italy) | 1990 | Graham Wylie Building a stable bridge of boats across a fast-flowing mountain stream must have been no easy matter, especially under fire from an enemy army assembled on the far side. 'But Trajan had a great abundance of ships and soldiers' -- enough apparently to distract the barbarians while the bridge was flung across. Once a bridgehead was established, enemy resistance collapsed, and a large tract of territory fell into the hands of the Romans, though it is not clear whether one or two campaigns were required. The new province of Assyria included Gordiene, Adiabene and the Kirkuk region.
Ancient Egypt
Egypt to recover 100 stolen antiquities
	Posted by nickcarraway On News/Activism 11/19/2005 1:00:38 AM PST · 4 replies · 124+ views Middle East Times | November 18, 2005 CAIRO -- Egypt is to recover from the United States, Canada and Germany more than 100 stolen antiquities that had been smuggled out by a massive trafficking ring, the official Mena news agency reported on Thursday. Some of the antiquities were located after Egypt's largest-ever trafficking trial in August, which led to heavy prison sentences for seven people, antiquities chief Zahi Hawwas told the agency. He said that members of his Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) had found some of the missing pieces on the Websites of several auctioneers across the world. Hawwas explained that the pieces to be recovered...
No Pork Ban In Ancient Egypt
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/15/2005 11:30:17 AM PST · 48 replies · 641+ views Ansa. it | 12-15-2005 No pork ban in Ancient EgyptItalians find pig bug in mummy's tummy (ANSA) - Florence, November 15 - Italian researchers have found a pig-related disease in a mummy, squashing a common belief that Ancient Egyptians had a dietary ban on pork . Until now historians have found evidence suggesting ancient high priests in Egypt prohibited pig meat, in common with many Middle Eastern peoples who still don't eat pork today . "It has hitherto been thought that there was a sort of religious-hygienic ban on eating pork in Ancient Egypt," said Pisa University historical pathologist Fabrizio Bruschi . The researchers...
Get Medieval
Charles Martel
	Posted by thoughtomator On Religion 11/05/2005 8:39:40 AM PST · 5 replies · 230+ views Catholic Encyclopedia | 2003 | Catholic Encyclopedia Charles Martel Born about 688; died at Quierzy on the Oise, 21 October, 741. He was the natural son of Pepin of Herstal and a woman named AlpaÔde or ChalpaÔde. Pepin, who died in 714, had outlived his two legitimate sons, Drogon and Grimoald, and to Theodoald, a son of the latter and then only six years old, fell the burdensome inheritance of the French monarchy. Charles, who was then twenty-six, was not excluded from the succession on account of his birth, Theodoald himself being the son of a concubine, but through the influence of Plectrude, Theodoald's grandmother, who wished...
Let's Have Jerusalem
Archeology Proves Bible History Accurate
	Posted by Coleus On Religion 11/13/2005 10:16:17 PM PST · 7 replies · 121+ views The Trumpet | December 2005 | Dennis Leap Is the Bible religious myth or accurate history? Some highly educated people say the Bibleís history cannot be trusted. What do you think? Here is an important article to help you clarify your thoughts. The Bible is the only ancient, well-organized and authentic framework in which to fit all the facts of history. The Bible does not record all history. In fact, there are huge gaps in the history contained in the Bible. Yet, without the Bible and what it reveals from prehistory, ancient history and prophecy -- which is history written in advance -- you cannot truly understand any history. No worldly source...
Has the Biblical Goliath Been Found?
	Posted by SJackson On News/Activism 11/10/2005 4:37:28 AM PST · 113 replies · 2,686+ views IMRA | November 10, 2005 CONTACT: Elana Oberlander, Office of the Spokesman, Bar-Ilan University Has the Biblical Goliath Been Found? Bar-Ilan University Archaeologists Unearth Earliest Philistine Inscription in Which Names Similar to Goliath Appear Ramat Gan - A very small ceramic sherd unearthed by Bar-Ilan University archaeologists digging at Tell es-Safi, the biblical city "Gath of the Philistines", may hold a very large clue into the history of the well-known biblical figure Goliath. The sherd, which contains the earliest known Philistine inscription ever to be discovered, mentions two names that are remarkably similar to the name "Goliath". Tell es-Safi/Gath is located in the southern coastal...
Epigraphy and Language
Jehoash Tablet Said Found Near Muslim Cemetery
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/14/2005 1:40:50 PM PST · 14 replies · 533+ views Haaretz Daily | 11-14-2005 | Nadav Shragai Jehoash tablet said found near Muslim cemetery By Nadav Shragai The inscription attributed to King Jehoash whose discovery was announced earlier this week was reportedly found near Jerusalem's Muslim cemetery, outside the eastern wall of the Temple Mount, not far from Golden Gate, according to information obtained by Ha'aretz. Jehoash ruled in Jerusalem at the end of the ninth century B.C.E. The inscription has been authenticated by the National Infrastructure Ministry's Geological Survey of Israel. Three different people and institutions involved in examining the stone told Ha'aretz that representatives of the collector who owns the stone told them it was...
Research On Ancient Writing Linked With Modern Mideast Conflict
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/14/2005 1:25:30 PM PST · 29 replies · 920+ views The State | 11-14-2005 | Ron Grossman Posted on Sun, Nov. 13, 2005 Research on ancient writing linked with modern Mideast conflict BY RON GROSSMAN CHICAGO - Professorial colleagues think Ron Tappy has made a landmark breakthrough in our understanding of the world of the Bible. He himself is waiting for the other shoe to drop. This week, Tappy will formally unveil his discovery at the meetings of the American Schools of Oriental Research. Normally a presentation titled "The 2005 Excavation Season at Tel Zayit, with Special Attention to the Tenth Century BCE" would hardly be noticed beyond the scholars who will gather at the Hyatt Penn's...
Ancient Texts Could Unlock Persian Past
	Posted by freedom44 On News/Activism 11/14/2005 3:11:51 PM PST · 14 replies · 490+ views Jewish Journal | 11-14-05 | Karmel Melamed It took Iranian Jews in the United States nearly three decades in exile from the land their ancestors called home for 2,700 years to appreciate the rich history and culture preserved in their literature. Considered one of the oldest but least- studied Jewish writings in the world, Judeo-Persian writings consist of the Persian language written in Hebrew characters by Jews living in what today are Iran, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and some parts of India during the last 1,000 years. ìIn Iran the Jewish community was not aware of the value of Judeo-Persian writings, but now that they are away from their...
Identity of Croations In Ancient Iran
	Posted by Lorianne On News/Activism 11/12/2005 10:34:05 PM PST · 7 replies · 433+ views Iran Chamber Society | 12 November 2005
Greek treasures unearthed (Minoans, Linear A, Linear B)
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/12/2005 8:42:00 PM PST · 17 replies · 241+ views News 24 dot com | November 12, 2005 | staff writer [T]he finds were excavated at a long-abandoned site on a hill overlooking the port of Chania in Western Crete, which has been identified with the Minoan city of Kydonia. Among the discoveries was an amphora containing an intact text written in linear B, the language of the court at Mycenae where the legendary Agamemnon ruled. Also found were two terracotta tablets containing texts in Linear A, an even older alphabet - used around 1700 years before the common era - which has not yet been deciphered. The ministry said the archaeologists found evidence of a violent fire believed to have...
Bretons Speak Up To Save Their Dying Language
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 09/30/2005 6:10:46 PM PDT · 31 replies · 485+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 10-1-2005 | Colin Randall Bretons speak up to save their dying language By Colin Randall in Brest (Filed: 01/10/2005) They have their own schools, bilingual road signs, vibrant festivals and dubbed Perry Mason repeats on television. But even the most passionate champions of the Breton language admit that its survival is in question. A pupil in Relecq Kerhuon reads Tintin in Breton Native speakers are ageing, their numbers falling by 15,000 a year. And among those remaining, there is anger that the French government does more for Brittany's large influx of British settlers than for those campaigning to save Breton from extinction. Along the...
Irish language recognised by EU
	Posted by RWR8189 On News/Activism 06/13/2005 1:45:27 PM PDT · 85 replies · 1,027+ views BBC News | June 13, 2005 Irish is the 21st language to be officially recognised by the EU The Irish language has been officially recognised as a working language by the European Union.Ireland's national language is the 21st to be given such recognition by the EU and previously had the status of a treaty language. Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said he was pleased by the move, which was announced on Monday. "This affirms at European level the dignity and status of our first official language," he said. "This represents a particularly significant practical step for the Irish language, and complements the government's wider policy...
Gaelic language gets official EU status
	Posted by Brujo On News/Activism 06/15/2005 8:26:05 AM PDT · 31 replies · 504+ views ABC News | 15 June 2005 | SHAWN POGATCHNIK (AP) Gaelic language gets official EU status DUBLIN, Ireland (AP) -- The European Union is saying "Failte!" -- Welcome! -- to Gaelic, Ireland's little-used native tongue. But while official status is a boost to those campaigning to save the language from extinction, the move comes with a price: It will require the hiring of an estimated 30 Gaelic speakers at a cost to EU taxpayers of about $4.15 million annually. Translation costs for the EU's 20 official languages had already been spiraling out of control. In January, officials said the amount was set to pass $1 billion following the entry in...
Anatolia
Armenian Archaeologists Find Large Ancient Settlement Of Early Bronze Age
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/16/2005 9:47:26 PM PST · 11 replies · 112+ views ArCNews - News from Artsakh | Nov 16 2005 | staff writer / translator The monument is unique for its unprecedented scale of an ancient settlement. It occupies a territory of about 100 ha, while the Kur Araks lowland towns are known to occupy not more than 10 ha. The settlement was surrounded with cyclopean fortress. Archaeologists have excavated a 300 sq/m ancient cultural layer so far and found a unique bronze reaping-hook.// Kalantaryan said that an Armenian-American joint expedition near the village of Gegharot, on the northern slope of Aragats, found another unique monument of the Late Bronze Age - a sanctuary of the 15th-12th centuries BC... The sanctuary is unique for the...
Prehistory and Origins
Early Humans Settled India Before Europe, Study Suggests
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/15/2005 11:47:13 AM PST · 42 replies · 653+ views National Geographic | 11-14-2005 | Brian Vastag Early Humans Settled India Before Europe, Study Suggests Brian Vastag for National Geographic News November 14, 2005 Modern humans migrated out of Africa and into India much earlier than once believed, driving older hominids in present-day India to extinction and creating some of the earliest art and architecture, a new study suggests. The research places modern humans in India tens of thousands of years before their arrival in Europe. University of Cambridge researchers Michael Petraglia and Hannah James developed the new theory after analyzing decades' worth of existing fieldwork in India. They outline their research in the journal Current Anthropology....
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Pa. May Let Hunters Use Prehistoric Weapon
	Posted by DarkSavant On News/Activism 11/13/2005 10:29:21 AM PST · 99 replies · 1,899+ views Yahoo News | MARK SCOLFORO HARRISBURG, Pa. - An ancient weapon that struck fear in the hearts of Spanish conquistadors, and that some think was used to slay wooly mammoths in Florida, may soon be added to the arsenal of Pennsylvania's hunters. The state Game Commission is currently drafting proposed regulations to allow hunters to use the atlatl, a small wooden device used to propel a six-foot dart as fast as 80 mph. The commission could vote to legalize its use as early as January. It's unclear which animals atlatlists may be allowed to hunt, but the proposal is being pushed by people who want...
A 1,200-Year-Old Murder Mystery in Guatemala
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism 11/17/2005 3:08:23 AM PST · 27 replies · 624+ views NY Times | November 17, 2005 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD Andrew L. DemarestThe remains of a Maya king, Kan Maax, who was killed about A.D. 800 in CancuÈn with dozens of his royal associates and courtiers. Despite the puzzling slaughter, the bodies were treated with respect. Archaeologists and forensic experts in Guatemala have made a grisly discovery among the ruins of an ancient Maya city, CancuÈn. In explorations during the summer, they found as many as 50 skeletons in a sacred pool and other places, victims of murder and dismemberment in a war that destroyed the city and, it seems, served as a beginning of the collapse of the...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Emancipation Proclamation Copy Auctioned (Signed by Lincoln)
	Posted by wagglebee On News/Activism 11/15/2005 6:19:12 PM PST · 16 replies · 295+ views NewsMax | 11/15/05 | AP NEW YORK -- A souvenir copy of the Emancipation Proclamation autographed by Abraham Lincoln sold for $688,000 Tuesday at an auction of American artifacts collected by the late publishing magnate Malcolm Forbes. The text is believed to be one of about 15 surviving copies of an oversize printing of the proclamation made by a pair of Philadelphians in 1864 to raise money for war relief. The Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in the Confederate states was issued in 1863. Christie's auction house declined to identify the buyer but said it was a New York-based dealer. It had estimated that the...
A Brief History of the HARP Project
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/14/2005 8:05:03 AM PST · 1 reply · 5+ views Astronautix | Last update 28 March 2005 | Richard K Graf On the twentieth of January 1963 the big gun roared for the first time as it fired its first test shot into the clear blue sky. This was the first time in history that a gun of this calibre had been fired at an angle of near vertical. From a cloud of flames and smoke a 315 kg test slug was hurtled into the air. With a launch velocity of 1000 m/s and a flight time of about 58 seconds the wooden slug rose to an altitude of 3000 meters before coming down a kilometre off shore. On 21 January...
Airman discovered in glacier identified
	Posted by SpringheelJack On News/Activism 11/03/2005 8:50:05 PM PST · 26 replies · 1,296+ views Fresno Bee | November 3, 2005 | Mark Grossi The body found last month in a glacier east of Fresno belongs to an airman killed in a 1942 plane crash at Kings Canyon National Park, military officials confirmed Wednesday. Scientists identified a name on the nearly obliterated tag attached to the uniform on the body, said the Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command, the military unit in charge of recovering and identifying the remains of lost soldiers. "The name on the badge matches a name they also found on the clothing," said Army Maj. Rumi Nielson-Green. The body belongs to one of four servicemen aboard an AT-7 training flight from Mather...
Body Believed to Be WWII Airman Recovered
	Posted by JZelle On News/Activism 10/20/2005 11:27:30 AM PDT · 9 replies · 769+ views The Washington Times | 10-20-05 | JULIANA BARBASSA FRESNO, Calif. (AP) -- An ice-encased body believed to be a World War II airman who crashed in 1942 was chipped out of a Sierra Nevada glacier and taken to a laboratory for identification, a deputy coroner said Thursday. Blustery weather kept rangers at Kings Canyon National Park from reaching the frozen remains for two days after ice climbers reported last weekend they had seen a man's head, shoulder and arm protruding from the thick ice. About 80 percent of the body was buried in the glacier on 13,710-foot Mount Mendel. The area can only be reached by hiking two...
Body found in Sierra Nevada glacier believed to be WWII airman
	Posted by NormsRevenge On News/Activism 10/19/2005 11:30:05 AM PDT · 28 replies · 2,114+ views ap on Monterey Herald | 10/19/05 | Juliana Barbassa - ap FRESNO, Calif. - Park rangers were working with military officials Wednesday in a remote Sierra Nevada glacier to excavate a body believed to be that of an airman who crashed in 1942. Two unidentified climbers spotted the frozen head, shoulder and arm of body that is 80 percent encased in ice while climbing the glacier on the 13,710-foot Mount Mendel in Kings Canyon National Park, said park spokeswoman Alex Picavet. A crew of park rangers and specialists will camp on the mountain side, in below-freezing temperatures, for what promises to be long, difficult excavation, Picavet said. The crew includes an...
Body Frozen in Glacier May Be WWII Airman
	Posted by MikeinIraq On News/Activism 10/19/2005 3:08:03 PM PDT · 90 replies · 2,368+ views FoxNews.com | Wednesday, October 19, 2005 | APee FRESNO, Calif. -- Two climbers on a Sierra Nevada (search) glacier discovered an ice-encased body believed to be that of an airman whose plane crashed in 1942. The man was wearing a World War II-era (search) U.S. Army Corps parachute when his frozen head, shoulder and arm were spotted on 13,710-foot Mount Mendel (search) in Kings Canyon National Park, park spokeswoman Alex Picavet said Wednesday. --snip-- "We're not going to go fast," she said. "We want to preserve him as much as possible. He's the serviceman may have been part of the crew of an AT-7 navigational training plane that...
Body Of WWII Airman Removed From Sierra Glacier
	Posted by MAD-AS-HELL On News/Activism 10/21/2005 3:13:19 PM PDT · 29 replies · 1,052+ views KTVU.com & AP | October 20, 2005 | AP Body Of WWII Airman Removed From Sierra Glacier POSTED: 11:17 am PDT October 19, 2005 UPDATED: 10:48 am PDT October 20, 2005 FRESNO -- A glacier-encased body believed to be a World War II airman who crashed into the Sierra Nevada in 1942 was flown off the mountain and into a Fresno laboratory for identification, the county's deputy coroner said Thursday. Blustery conditions kept rangers at Kings Canyon National Park from reaching the frozen remains for two days after two ice climbers reported last weekend they had seen a man's head, shoulder and arm protruding from the thick ice. About...
Frozen Airman May Have Been From St. C Area
	Posted by leadpenny On News/Activism 10/22/2005 11:22:41 PM PDT · 16 replies · 1,115+ views The Intelligencer Wheeling News-Register | 051023 | JENNIFER COMPSTON-STROUGH And CHANA DIEHL More than 60 years have passed since U.S. Army Air Forces aviation Cadet Ernest Munn disappeared along with the rest of his flight crew over the Sierra Nevada Mountains, but investigators and family members believe the Belmont County man's remains may finally have been found. A pilot and three crew members died when their plane crashed into the icy peak, and their names were etched on a military gravestone even though most of their actual remains were not recovered. On Friday, a coroner was examining fresh clues revealed earlier this week by a receding glacier in the Sierra Nevada. She...
end of digest #70 20051119

[SunkenCiv]

Welcome to Digest number 69. A wide variety of topic headers again this week, where applicable and sensible, arranged east to west.

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Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #70 20051119

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[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #71 Saturday, November 26, 2005
British Isles
Ancient Man's Lost Secrets On Test
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/19/2005 6:28:55 PM PST · 35 replies · 860+ views Yorkshire Post | 11-17-2005 | Paul Jeeves Ancient man's lost secrets on test Paul Jeeves TECHNOLOGY from the 21st century will be used to unlock the past to one of Yorkshire's most important archaeological finds from the Bronze Age. Gristhorpe Man, one of the best preserved examples of human remains buried in a hollow oak tree trunk, will leave Scarborough's Rotunda Museum today in specially constructed boxes for Bradford University's Department of Archaeological Sciences. The latest technology will be used to try to extract samples from the remains for analysis to establish how the Bronze Age man died as well as gathering more detail about his lifestyle...
Prehistory and Origins
The Death of "Mitochondrial Eve"
	Posted by CalConservative On News/Activism 01/28/2003 8:46:54 PM PST · 13 replies · 251+ views CreationDigest.com | January 2003 | Brad Harrub, Ph.D. The Death of "Mitochondrial Eve" By: Brad Harrub, Ph.D.*It was not forbidden fruit that caused her demise this time. ìMitochondrial Eve,î as many knew her, has been dethroned and awaits her entombment due to new facts that have recently surfaced. For decades now men have been trying to determine the geographical origin of humans: whether we all came from one specific locale, or whether there were many small pockets of people placed all around the world. It appeared that the battle was won in the late 1980s when geneticists unleashed a startling discovery. They found that DNA located in...
Homo Erectus Ate Crunchy Food
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/22/2005 1:16:13 PM PST · 82 replies · 1,149+ views Discover News | 11-22-2005 | Jennifer Viegas Homo erectus ate crunchy food Jennifer Viegas Discovery News Tuesday, 22 November 2005 Tooth marks suggest Homo erectus ate crunchy foods, like root vegetables (Image: iStockphoto) Homo erectus munched on crunchy, brittle and tough foods, while other early humans seemed to favour softer fare, according to a new analysis of teeth. All the individuals showed signs of eating a variety of foods. H. erectus lived between approximately 2 million to 400,000 years ago and is the first known primate to use significant tools and walk upright. The researchers say H. erectus is the only species they looked at that appears...
Scientists Show We've Been Losing Face For 10,000 Years
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/20/2005 1:21:49 PM PST · 435 replies · 5,270+ views The Times (UK) | 11-20-2005 | Jonathan Leake The Sunday Times November 20, 2005 Scientists show weíve been losing face for 10,000 years Jonathan Leake, Science Editor THE human face is shrinking. Research into peopleís appearance over the past 10,000 years has found that our ancestorsí heads and faces were up to 30% larger than now. Changes in diet are thought to be the main cause. The switch to softer, farmed foods means that jawbones, teeth, skulls and muscles do not need to be as strong as in the past. The shrinkage has been blamed for a surge in dental problems caused by crooked or overlapping teeth. ìOver...
Scientists discover remains of Hobbit-sized humans
	Posted by WestVirginiaRebel On News/Activism 10/27/2004 4:48:25 PM PDT · 33 replies · 953+ views Drudge Report | 10-27-04 | WestVirginiaRebel LONDON-REUTERS Scientists in Austrailia have found a new speicies of Hobbit-sized humans who lived about 18,000 years ago on an Indonesian island in a discovery that adds another piece to the complex puzzle of human evolution.
Ancient Tools At High Desert Site Go Back 135,000 Years (California)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/24/2005 1:02:17 PM PST · 92 replies · 1,843+ views San Bernardino Sun | 11-24-2005 | Chuck Mueller Ancient tools at High Desert site go back 135,000 years Chuck Mueller, Staff Writer BARSTOW - In the multicolored hills overlooking the Mojave River Valley, the excavation of stone tools and flakes reveals human activities from the distant past. A new system of geologic dating has confirmed that an alluvial deposit bearing the stone tools and flakes at the Calico archaeological site is about 135,000 years old. But the site could even be older. Calico project director Fred Budinger Jr. said a soil sample, taken at a depth of 17 1/2 feet in one of three master pits at the...
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
America Prediscovered
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/21/2005 11:40:42 AM PST · 33 replies · 1,299+ views The Times (UK) | 11-21-2005 | Norman Hammond America prediscovered By Norman Hammond, Archaeology Correspondent THE VEXED question of American independence has arisen once again: not, in this case, in 1776, but before Columbus came to the New World. It is generally accepted that the Amerindian population originated in Asia, probably more than 15,000 years ago, but whether there were subsequent transoceanic contacts and influences remains a matter of hot debate. Vikings from Maine to Minnesota, Romans crossing from Africa to Brazil, and Chinese and Japanese voyagers hitting the Pacific coastline have all been proposed. Now a new candidate for transpacific contact has reached a major academic journal....
Chile Mummies Possibly Done In By Arsenic (Chinchorro)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/24/2005 1:20:57 PM PST · 29 replies · 570+ views CNN/Reuters | 11-24-2005 Chile mummies possibly done in by arsenic Thursday, November 24, 2005; Posted: 10:58 a.m. EST (15:58 GMT) SAN MIGUEL DE AZAPA, Chile (Reuters) -- Living in the harsh desert of northern Chile's Pacific coast more than 7,000 years ago, the Chinchorro fishing tribe mysteriously began mummifying dead babies -- removing internal organs, cleaning bones, stuffing and sewing up the skin, putting wigs and clay masks on them. The Chinchorro mummies are the oldest known artificially preserved dead, dating thousands of years before Egyptian mummies, and the life quest of the archeologists who study them is to discover why this early...
Mass Graves Reveal Massacre of Maya Royalty
	Posted by FairOpinion On News/Activism 11/20/2005 9:32:12 PM PST · 19 replies · 740+ views National Geographic | Nov. 17, 2005 | Stefan Lovgren Archaeologists have discovered what they believe was the gruesome scene of a royal massacre in the ancient city of CancuÈn, once one of the richest cities in the Maya empire. The bones of 31 executed and dismembered Maya nobles were found in a sacred reservoir at the entrance to the royal palace in CancuÈn in the PetÈn rain forest of Guatemala. Researchers also found a shallow grave nearby containing the skeletons of two people they believe were the king and queen. The bones of more than a dozen executed upper-class Maya were found at a third burial site north of...
Mass Grave Yields Mayan Secrets (Cancuen - More)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/21/2005 5:51:45 PM PST · 13 replies · 576+ views BBC | 11-21-2005 | Neil Arun Mass grave yields Mayan secrets By Neil Arun BBC News A grisly discovery deep in the Guatemalan jungle may cast new light on one of the ancient world's most beguiling mysteries - the collapse of the Mayan civilisation. Images from the Mayan massacre site. A grave containing some 50 bodies, buried in royal finery and bearing the marks of a vicious death, has been perplexing experts since it was unearthed earlier this year. These are not the victims of "random violence", says Arthur A Demarest, the US archaeologist who has spent the best part of a decade fending off drug...
Let's Have Jerusalem
Historian Says American Settlers Mistook Indians for Israelites
	Posted by SmithL On General/Chat 11/24/2005 8:08:35 PM PST · 12 replies · 154+ views Arutz Sheva - Israel NationalNews | 11/24/5 Israelis are known to be found in every corner of the world, but an American historian has claimed they were thought to be in America 400 years ago. Mark Miller, a history professor at the Roanoke College in Virginia, said that the first European settlers in America believed native Indians were Israelites who had lost their faith. The Indians were mistaken for a "lost Israeli tribe that had been blown off course and landed in America" and became savages, according to the historian.
2,000-Year-Old Seed Sprouts, Sapling Is Thriving
	Posted by Red Badger On News/Activism 11/23/2005 9:23:40 AM PST · 40 replies · 1,034+ views National Geographic | 11/22/2005 | John Roach A sapling germinated earlier this year from a 2,000-year-old date palm seed is thriving, according to Israeli researchers who are cultivating the historic plant. "It's 80 centimeters [3 feet] high with nine leaves, and it looks great," said Sarah Sallon, director of the Hadassah Medical Organization's Louis L. Borick Natural Medicine Research Center (NMRC) in Jerusalem. Sallon's program is dedicated to the study of complementary and alternative medicines. The center is also interested in conserving the heritage of Middle Eastern plants that have been used for thousands of years. Sallon wants to see if the ancient tree, nicknamed Methuselah after...
Kings David & Solomon Were Muslims
	Posted by SJackson On News/Activism 11/21/2005 5:31:54 PM PST · 145 replies · 2,620+ views IMRA | 11-21-05 MEMRI: Jordanian Prof/Terrorist on Saudi Al-Majd TV: Kings David & Solomon Were Muslims Special Dispatch - Saudi Arabia/Antisemitism Documentation Project November 22, 2005 No. 1030 Jordanian Professor/Terrorist on Saudi Al-Majd TV Says Kings David & Solomon Were Muslims Who Today Would Have Fought Israel, Supports Leading Holocaust Denier On November 13, 2005, Saudi Al-Majd TV aired an interview with Jordanian lecturer on religious law Sheikh Dr. Ahmad Nawfal. In the interview, Nawfal discussed Armageddon and quoted Roger Garoudy. Sheikh Dr. Nawfal is a lecturer at the Shari'a Faculty of the University of Jordan, and was associated with Sheikh 'Abdallah 'Azzam,...
Oh So Mysteriouso
Archaeologists Find 4,500-Year-Old Fortune-Telling Instruments
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/23/2005 2:08:02 PM PST · 15 replies · 389+ views Xinhuanet/China View | 11-23-2005 Archaeologists find 4,500-year-old fortune-telling instruments www.chinaview.cn 2005-11-23 19:09:12 BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhuanet) -- A Chinese archaeologist said Wednesday that a 4,500-year-old jade tortoise and an oblong jade article discovered in east China's Anhui Province were China's earliest fortune-telling instruments found so far. The two jade objects were discovered in an ancient tomb in Lingjiatan Village, Hanshan County, Anhui Province. Gu Fang, an expert with the jadeware research committee under the China Society of Cultural Relics, told Xinhua that the jade tortoise is made up of a back shell and a belly shell. Several holes can be found on the jade...
Anatolia
Flints give Cyprus oldest seafaring link in Med
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/22/2005 9:35:31 AM PST · 5 replies · 87+ views Reuters Today | Tue Nov 22, 2005 | Michele Kambas Archaeologists have discovered what they believe is the earliest evidence yet of long distance seafaring in the eastern Mediterranean, undermining beliefs that ancient mariners never ventured into open seas... The flints are unlike anything found in the geological make-up of Cyprus, and more than 1,000 years older than the timing of the first permanent settlers to the island. The discovery adds to a body of evidence contradicting the widespread belief that ancient mariners would never venture out of sight of land or had limited navigational capabilities... Its earliest inhabitants, dated from the 9th millennium BC, are believed to be from...
Ancient Rome
1,700-Year-Old 'Roman Glass' Discovered In East China
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/20/2005 1:31:32 PM PST · 42 replies · 881+ views Xinhua/China.org | 11-20-2005 1,700-year-old 'Roman Glass' Discovered in East China Glass remains over 1,700 years old, possibly imported from ancient Rome, have been discovered in an ancient tomb located in east China's Anhui Province, local cultural relic department said on Sunday. The tomb was found during the latest road project in Zhulong Village of Dangtu County in Anhui. Archaeologists believed the tomb was built in the Eastern Jin Dynasty (317 - 420). Covered with white mantlerock, the glass remains seem to have ancient Roman shapes and craftwork. According to the local cultural relic department, the owner of the tomb was possibly from an...
Salvaging Caligula [Nemi Ships, Caligula, and Mussolini]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/25/2005 4:40:21 PM PST · 10 replies · 123+ views Time | Feb. 4, 1929 | staff Nineteen centuries of foundered orgy looked up at the hydroairplane which last week waltzed high over Lake Nemi in the Alban hills back of Rome. And Giuseppe Cultrera, Etruscan scholar in the plane,* looked down from the vantage of his flying height through Nemi's waters and could see what none but groping divers theretofore had seenóthe sunken Golden Barge whereon epileptic Emperor Caligula, great-grandson of Augustus, and his minions held their carouses.
Claudius' Naumachia on Fucine Lake (Those About To Die, chap III)
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/24/2005 7:45:06 AM PST · 11 replies · 89+ views Those About To Die (via Kurt Saxon) | 1950s (I believe) | Daniel P. Mannix The greatest naumachia of all time was the naval engagement staged by Claudius. As Augustus' lake was too small, the mad emperor decided to use the Fucine Lake (now called the Lago di Fucino) some sixty miles to the east of Rome. This lake had no natural outlet and in the spring it often flooded many miles of surrounding county. To overcome this trouble, a tunnel three and a half miles long had been cut through solid rock from the lake to the Litis River to carry off the surplus water. This job had taken thirty thousand men eleven years...
On the outskirts of Rome, an ancient city rivals Pompeii
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/22/2005 10:48:08 PM PST · 11 replies · 173+ views Seattle Times | November 22 2005 | Kristin Jackson Ostia Antica, once the ancient port of Rome, has hundreds of 2,000-year-old buildings spread over hundreds of acres... Unlike Rome's grandiose ruins and the patrician villas of Pompeii, a visit to Ostia Antica gives a sense of ordinary life long ago. This was a working town, ancient Rome's port near the mouth of the Tiber River (the river's currents and shallows made it too hard for big ships to sail into the heart of Rome). Ships arrived with cargo from all around the sprawling Roman Empire; goods were barged up the Tiber or transferred on carts.
Villa Buried By Pompeii Eruption Is Unearthed
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/21/2005 6:30:58 PM PST · 25 replies · 865+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 11-22-2005 | Hilary Clarke Villa buried by Pompeii eruption is unearthed By Hilary Clarke in Rome (Filed: 22/11/2005) An archaeological dig on the Amalfi coast has revealed the first luxury villa to be built in the idyllic fishing village of Positano, a popular haunt of today's rich and famous. A frescoe on a wall of the villa found in Positano Two storeys of a first century millionaire's abode have been found under a church which was hidden for 2,000 years by the same volcanic eruption that devastated Pompeii in 79AD. During renovation work on the church's crypt last summer, roof beams were found poking...
Ivory Emperor Emerges From Forum (Marcus Aurelius Or Septimius Severus)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/20/2005 1:50:07 PM PST · 8 replies · 335+ views Ansa | 11-20-2005 Ivory emperor emerges from Forum 'Unique' find probably Marcus Aurelius or Septimius Severus (ANSA) - Rome, November 16 - Italian archaeologists have unveiled the latest major find to emerge from the Roman forum - an ivory statue of an emperor, probably Marcus Aurelius or Septimius Severus . The bust is unique - there are no other examples of statues like this made in ivory . Very few ancient Roman ivory objects have survived to the present day because ivory is a biodegradable material . Those that have not withered away over the last 2,000 years are mostly tomb decorations and...
Season Finale: Rome, Episode 12, Kalends of February 9PM EST---Legio XIII Forever!
	Posted by DCBryan1 On News/Activism 11/20/2005 3:52:19 PM PST · 216 replies · 3,402+ views HBO | 20 NOV 2005 | dcbryan1 As a result of their arena exploits, Pullo and Vorenus have become heroes to the Roman rank and file, causing Caesar to reward those he normally would punish. Pullo's unexpected return to Vorenus' household is not appreciated by his former slave Eirene. Caesar decides to overhaul the Senate by adding some unexpected new faces, to the chagrin of the old guard. And Servilia hurdles the final obstacle in her ambitious revenge scenario, at Niobe's expense.
Asia
Archaeologists Look To Find Lost 1,000 Years
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/25/2005 3:07:48 PM PST · 9 replies · 371+ views Shanghai Daily | 11-26-2005 Archaeologists look to find lost 1,000 years 2005-11-26 Beijing Time AN archaeological project is expected to outline the chronology in the prehistoric millennium from 4,500 years ago to 3,500 years ago to decode the origin of Chinese civilization. The government-backed project, called "Pre-research on the Origin of the Chinese Civilization," was launched in June 2004 with an aim to work out the chronology of the Yao, Shun, Yu periods and the Xia Dynasty, said Wang Wei, deputy director of the Archaeological Institute under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. Yao, Shun and Yu are three leaders...
Australia & the Pacific
Bus Stop An Execution Site...1500 Years Ago
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/25/2005 4:07:31 PM PST · 20 replies · 624+ views The Sydney Morning Herald | 11-26-2005 | Richard Macey Bus stop an execution site Ö 1500 years ago By Richard Macey November 26, 2005 Allen Madden and Dr Denise Donion of the University of Sydney with Octavia Man. Photo: Edwina Pickles HIS crime will probably never be known. But "he sure trod on someone's toes", said Allen Madden, cultural and heritage officer for the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. In January, when EnergyAustralia workers laying cables in Ocean Street, Narrabeen, found human bones beneath a bus stop, they called police. The remains have since been identified as those of an Aborigine who died up to 1500 years ago. Next...
Epigraphy and Language
Rosetta Stone
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/25/2005 3:24:22 PM PST · 20 replies · 1,037+ views Al-Ahram | 11-25-2005 | Nevine El-Aref Rosetta stone By Nevine El-Aref The Rosetta stone The black basalt Rosetta stone was found in 1799, a year after the French expedition to Egypt began, in a fortress located on the outskirts of Rashid by a young French officer named Pierre-FranÁois Bouchard. It measured 113cms tall, 75.5cms long and 27cms thick, and contained three distinct bands of writing. The most incomplete was the top band containing hieroglyphics; the middle band was written in the demotic script and the bottom was in Greek. Studies carried out on the stone by scholars revealed that the stone was a royal decree which...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
The Great Dying 250 Million Years Ago
	Posted by RightWhale On News/Activism 01/29/2002 8:41:57 AM PST · 35 replies · 1,069+ views spaceref.com | 29 Jan 02 | Marshall http://www.spaceref.com PRESS RELEASE Date Released: Monday, January 28, 2002 Marshall Space Flight Center The Great Dying 250 Million Years Ago 250 million years ago something unknown wiped out most life on our planet. Now scientists are finding buried clues to the mystery inside tiny capsules of cosmic gas. January 28, 2002: It was almost the perfect crime. Some perpetrator -- or perpetrators -- committed murder on a scale unequaled in the history of the world. They left few clues to their identity, and they buried all the evidence under layers and layers of earth. The case has gone unsolved for ...
Volcanic Warming Eyed in 'Great Dying'
	Posted by LibWhacker On News/Activism 01/20/2005 12:30:29 PM PST · 41 replies · 1,058+ views Yahoo! News | AP | 1/20/05 | Randolph E. Schmid WASHINGTON - An ancient version of global warming may have been to blame for the greatest mass extinction in Earth's history. In an event known as the "Great Dying," some 250 million years ago, 90 percent of all marine life and nearly three-quarters of land-based plants and animals went extinct. Scientists have long debated the cause of this calamity ó which occurred before the era of dinosaurs ó with possibilities including such disasters as meteor impacts. Researchers led by Peter Ward of the University of Washington now think the answer is global warming caused by volcanic activity. Their findings are...
Get Medieval
Ancient Coins Found In Iceland
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/25/2005 3:15:37 PM PST · 16 replies · 625+ views Ice Land Review | 11-25-2005 11/25/2005 | 11:49 Ancient Coins found in Iceland Morgunbladid reports that two coins from the 11th century reign of Norwegian King Haraldur which were found in the ruins of three houses which were discovered last year at H·ls at K·rahnj?kar have now been examined. The house ruins are almost 600 metres above sea level. P·ll P·lsson, farmer at AdalbÛl, found them, and Landsvirkjun (the National Power department) decided to have them examined, a process that was only completed this year. According to Anton Holt, a coin expert at the Sedlabanki Õslands coin collection, these coins are very rare. He says...
Ancient Coins found in Iceland [11th century reign of Norwegian King Haraldur]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/25/2005 8:14:54 PM PST · 4 replies · 17+ views Iceland Review | November 25 2005 | someone who doesn't know what ancient means Morgunbladid reports that two coins from the 11th century reign of Norwegian King Haraldur which were found in the ruins of three houses which were discovered last year... The house ruins are almost 600 metres above sea level... According to Anton Holt... these coins are very rare. He says that today there are only 33 other known specimens of this coin.
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Proclamation about the Day of Thanksgiving by George Washington in 1789
	Posted by kristhumas On General/Chat 11/24/2005 7:27:56 AM PST · 4 replies · 46+ views BASEELIA A PROCLAMATION IN 1789. General Thanksgiving by George Washington, the President of the United States Of America. WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a DAY OF PUBLICK THANSGIVING and PRAYER, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an...
History Of The Turkey!
	Posted by Dallas59 On General/Chat 11/19/2005 10:25:17 AM PST · 27 replies · 228+ views DC Pages | 11/19/2005 | DC Pages Wild Turkey Origins There are two types of wild turkey, both of which are strong fliers (up to 55 mph for short distances) and among the fastest runners (15-30 mph). One type is originally from Yucatan and Guatemala (Agriocharis ocellata; 47 family - Phasianidae) and the other is from Mexico and the US (Meleagris gallopavo; family -Phasianidae). From the fossil record they were once much more widespread. They diverged from pheasants 11 million years ago and were likely "distributed continuously from middle latitudes of North America to northern South America during the Pleistocene". Turkey (Meleagris gallopavo), or "huexolotlin" in the...
COSSACKS in NJ WAGING HISTORICAL BATTLE; Two enclaves fight over fate of priceless relics
	Posted by Coleus On General/Chat 11/25/2005 4:29:43 PM PST · 4 replies · 69+ views COSSACKS WAGING HISTORICAL BATTLE; Two aging and dwindling enclaves fight over fate of priceless relics They were Cossacks. For more than half a century, almost nobody paid attention to New Kuban, a refuge for a people with nowhere else to go. Following World War II, some 300 displaced Cossacks - targeted for extinction by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin - created the 814-acre village in western Atlantic County. There, they laid low and remembered what was. They became guardians of precious artifacts sent from other Cossacks-in-hiding from as far as Australia and China. They preserved the past. Now Russia wants it...
Tests: Skull Fragments May Be Beethoven's
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/19/2005 1:41:24 PM PST · 28 replies · 549+ views Yahoo News/AP | 11-17-2005 | Lisa Leff By LISA LEFF, Associated Press Writer Thu Nov 17,10:30 PM ETTests: Skull Fragments May Be Beethoven's SAN FRANCISCO - A California businessman said Thursday that skull fragments that once belonged to his great-great-uncle in 19th century Europe very likely came from German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Paul Kaufmann made the announcement at the Center for Beethoven Studies at San Jose State University, which helped coordinate forensic testing aimed at authenticating the fragments and determining what killed Beethoven at age 56. The center already has a lock of the composer's hair, which showed he suffered from lead poisoning among other ailments...
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