[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #76 Saturday, December 31, 2005
Asia
Genes of history's greatest lover found?
	Posted by aculeus On News/Activism 02/07/2003 9:01:43 AM PST · 39 replies · 254+ views United Press International | 2/6/2003 | By Steve Sailer, UPI National Correspondent LOS ANGELES, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- A new population genetics study may have identified history's greatest lover, at least as measured in millions of descendants in his direct male line. This mighty progenitor was not a celebrated expert in the amorous arts like Casanova. Instead -- and this might say something about human nature that we'd rather not know -- he owed his lineage's staggering reproductive success to his being perhaps history's greatest fighter. The 23 co-authors of a paper published electronically by the American Journal of Human Genetics examined the Y-chromosomes of 2,123 men from across Asia. The Y...
Australia and the Pacific
Footprints Reveal Ancient Outback Life (More)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 12/26/2005 9:35:08 AM PST · 9 replies · 206+ views CBS News | 12-22-2005 Footprints Reveal Ancient Outback Life CANBERRA, Australia, Dec. 22, 2005 (AP) Children meandered around their parents' ankles. A man, likely a hunter, dashed through the mud. Somebody dragged a dead animal along the shores of a lake. Now the footprints they left some 20,000 years ago are giving a fresh perspective on the lives of Australian Aborigines. Since an Aboriginal park ranger stumbled upon the first print in 2003 in Mungo National Park, 500 miles west of Sydney, archaeologists helped by local Aborigines have excavated 457 other prints from the region's shifting sands. "This is the nearest we've got to...
Prehistory and Origins
Did Early Humans First Arise in Asia, Not Africa?
	Posted by SuzyQue On News/Activism 12/28/2005 4:01:34 PM PST · 37 replies · 784+ views National Geographic News | December 27, 2005 | Nicholas Bakalar Did Early Humans First Arise in Asia, Not Africa? Nicholas Bakalar for National Geographic News † December 27, 2005 -----snip------They believe that early-human fossil discoveries over the past ten years suggest very different conclusions about where humans, or humanlike beings, first walked the Earth. New Asian finds are significant, they say, especially the 1.75 million-year-old small-brained early-human fossils found in Dmanisi, Georgia, and the 18,000-year-old "hobbit" fossils (Homo floresiensis) discovered on the island of Flores in Indonesia. -----snip------"What seems reasonably clear now," Dennell said, "is that the earliest hominins in Asia did not need large brains or bodies." These attributes...
New finds of human ancestor jumble evolutionary puzzle
	Posted by Crackingham On News/Activism 10/13/2005 8:12:50 AM PDT · 167 replies · 2,391+ views Christian Science Monitor | 10/13/5 | Peter N. Spotts In their study of the evolutionary ladder, scientists have found that modern humans rubbed elbows with some colorful cousins. But few have been as puzzling as a purported cousin unearthed on the Indonesian island of Flores. The partial skeleton, first reported last October, was stunning. Estimated to stand just over three feet tall, it offered the tantalizing possibility that a new species of mini-human lived 18,000 years ago. But some researchers dismissed the find as a pygmy or the result of a physical defect. Now the research team that gave the world the hobbit-like Homo floresiensis has found what it...
Ancient Egypt
Dwarfs commanded respect in ancient Egypt
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/28/2005 10:57:28 PM PST · 27 replies · 223+ views EurekAlert | 27-Dec-2005 | Amy Molnar Written by Chahira Kozma, M.D., of the department of pediatrics at Georgetown University Hospital, the paper examines biological remains and artistic evidence of dwarfism in ancient Egypt, including both elite dwarfs who achieved important status, and ordinary dwarfs. The earliest biological evidence of dwarfs in ancient Egypt dates to a Predynastic Period called the "Badarian Period" (4500 BCE) in addition to several skeletons from the Old Kingdom (2700 ñ 2190 BCE). Pictorial sources of dwarfism in tomb and vase paintings, statues and other art forms are numerous and indicate that dwarfs were employed as personal attendants, overseers of linen, animal...
Quest for the tomb of Amenhotep I
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/24/2005 4:45:21 PM PST · 25 replies · 197+ views Al-Ahram Weekly | 22 - 28 December 2005 | Zahi Hawass In the area Niwinski found about 250 graffiti, some representing fish, dogs and human figures that could be dated to the pre-dynastic period. Five graffiti were found from the 21st Dynasty belonging to a scribe named, Botig Amun. Earthquakes in the area had shifted the rocks and revealed eight passages behind the temple. These passages had been made by thieves searching for tombs and treasure, and we know from the Abbott papyri that thieves entered the area and reached the bedrock. They also investigated the area horizontally. Inside one of the tunnels more graffiti was discovered. Niwinski found that some...
Africa
Myth of the Lost Ark fuels pride of a nation on brink of war (Lost Ark in Axum?)
	Posted by emiller On News/Activism 12/29/2005 6:54:10 AM PST · 117 replies · 2,539+ views News Telegraph, UK | 12-29-05 | David Blair If Indiana Jones had done his homework, he would have found the Ark of the Covenant by raiding a church in the barren mountains of northern Ethiopia. Many Ethiopians believe that the Ark, containing the stone tablets inscribed with God's Ten Commandments, rests in the church of St Mary of Zion, at the town of Axum, and some western scholars have
Let's Have Jerusalem
A MOSAIC OF PEOPLE: THE JEWISH STORY AND A REASSESSMENT OF THE DNA EVIDENCE
	Posted by NixonsAngryGhost On News/Activism 12/16/2005 3:29:53 PM PST · 35 replies · 911+ views Journal of Genetic Genealogy | Summer 2005 | Ellen Levy-Coffman A MOSAIC OF PEOPLE: THE JEWISH STORY AND A REASSESSMENT OF THE DNA EVIDENCE Ellen Levy-Coffman http://www.jogg.info There is a significant genetic contribution of European and Central Asian peoples in the makeup of the contemporary Ashkenazi population. One important contribution to Ashkenazi DNA appears to have originated with the Khazars, an ancient people of probable Central Asian stock that lived in southern Russia during the 8th-12th centuries CE. The DNA evidence also supports a significant inflow of genes from European host populations over the centuries. The present study analyzes not only the Middle Eastern component of Ashkenazi ancestry, but also...
The Hasmoneans Were Here - Maybe
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 12/28/2005 7:55:37 AM PST · 10 replies · 282+ views Haaretz | 12-28-2005 | Ran Shapira The ruins of the synagogue at Umm al-Umdan. (Alex Levac) The Hasmoneans were here - maybe By Ran Shapira In late 1995, not far from the city of Modi'in, whose construction had begun a short time earlier, several excavated burial caves were found. The find aroused tremendous excitement initially, mainly because on one of the ossuaries an engraved inscription was interpreted to read "Hasmonean." Had they found a burial plot belonging to the family of the Hasmoneans? When the discovery was announced, the archaeologist digging there, Shimon Riklin, explained that this was not the grave built by Simon the son...
Raiders of the Lost Pool [of Siloam] New finds bolster the historicity of John's Gospel
	Posted by ZGuy On Religion 10/27/2005 7:10:00 AM PDT · 4 replies · 194+ views Christianity Today | 10/26/05 | Gordon Govier The Pool of Siloam, considered a metaphor in John's Gospel by some New Testament scholars, was in fact a huge basin at the lowest point in the city of Jerusalem. Recent excavations have uncovered two corners and one side of the pool that stretched for half the length of a football field. "It's very exciting," James Charlesworth, a professor of New Testament at Princeton Theological Seminary, told CT. "It's very important for the study of the New Testament." Some Johannine experts have suggested the story in John 9 of the blind man whom Jesus healed and told to wash in...
True size of Pool of Siloam discovered due to sewer blockage
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/24/2005 5:21:37 PM PST · 4 replies · 38+ views Haaretz | Fri., December 23, 2005 Kislev 22, 5766 | Nadav Shragai Reich says the area of the City of David has become the most excavated area in the country. "We are the 12th expedition to work here, and in no small way it is thanks to the contributions that flow in to the project from the Elad association. They may be disagreed with politically, but without them we would not have been able to make the dramatic discoveries of recent years here, in the place where Jerusalem began, where the story began of the Jewish people in this land."
British Isles
Ancient drowned forest discovered in Scotland
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/28/2005 11:45:44 PM PST · 5 replies · 121+ views The Courier | 16 September 2005 | 12 September 2005 issue Preliminary surveys in the 14 mile long lochócarried out by the Scottish Trust for Underwater Archaeology (STUA) have identified well preserved fallen oak and elm trees as well as a series of oak upright trunks embedded in layers of gravel and silt. Many of the fallen trees have survived in odd shapes, creating a spooky landscape protruding from the loch bed. Timber samples taken by the STUA dive team yesterday produced radiocarbon dates of 3200 BCE and 2500 BCE.
Descendant Of Stone Age Skeleton Found (Cheddar Man - 9,000 Years Old)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 12/30/2005 5:03:20 PM PST · 46 replies · 913+ views Trussel.com/Japan Times | 3-9-1997 The Japan Times, March 9, 1997 Descendant of Stone Age skeleton found LONDON (Reuter) British scientists Saturday celebrated their feat of tracing a living descendant of a 9,000-year-old skeleton and establishing the world's oldest known family tree. In an astonishing piece of detective work, they matched mitochondrial DNA material extracted from the tooth cavity of Britain's oldest complete skeleton with that of a 42-year-old history teacher, Adrian Targett. The genetic material showed without doubt that Targett is a direct descendant through his mother's line of the skeleton known as Cheddar Man, which was found in 1903 in caves in Cheddar Gorge...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Ears of plenty (the story of wheat / The story of man's staple food)
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/26/2005 8:42:55 PM PST · 48 replies · 308+ views The Economist | Dec 20th 2005 [W]heat is losing its crown. The tonnage (though not the acreage) of maize harvested in the world began consistently to exceed that of wheat for the first time in 1998; rice followed suit in 1999. Genetic modification, which has transformed maize, rice and soyabeans, has largely passed wheat byóto such an extent that it is in danger of becoming an "orphan crop"... And with population growth rates falling sharply while yields continue to rise, even the acreage devoted to wheat may now begin to decline for the first time since the stone age... [W]heat is a genetic monster. A typical...
Find Your Paternal-Line Relatives With Y-Chromosome Matches On Line
	Posted by Pharmboy On General/Chat 12/30/2005 4:07:34 AM PST · 38 replies · 237+ views Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation | Dec 30, 2005 | Me If you know your Y-chromosome markers, enter them in the spaces provided in the drop-down menus and it will trace paternal line names and likely countries of origin. Three names popped up in my likely ancestry: Nickle (USA and Scotland), Rogers (USA) and Mahoney (USA). Here is my Place/Time Analysis: Important notes: A match close to 100% for a given time period does not necessarily mean that your paternal-line ancestor lived in that country at that time, only that the closest match in the SMGF database had a paternal-line ancestor living in that place and time. In general, the above...
Anatolia
Traces Of Tsunami In Ancient City Of Patara (Turkey)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 12/29/2005 11:58:05 AM PST · 13 replies · 380+ views Turkish Daily News | 12-27-2005 Traces of tsunami in ancient city of Patara Tuesday, December 27, 2005 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News Archaeologists claim that an ancient lighthouse located in the ancient city of Patara on Antalya's Mediterranean coast might have been destroyed by a tsunami that hit the region in ancient times. The ruins of the lighthouse were discovered two years ago during excavations that are still under way in Patara. Professor Havva ›?kan I?´´k, head of Akdeniz University's archaeology department, which is conducting studies in the ancient city, said they believed the lighthouse was destroyed by a tsunami since a human skeleton was...
Ancient Greece
On a mission to explore deepest Lycia Where Greek language has left its mark
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/30/2005 11:40:22 AM PST · 9 replies · 77+ views Ekathimerini (english edition) | Dec 30 2005 | Christina Kokkinia Oenoanda, as well as Cibyra and Bubona, belong to the northern section of the area, which in antiquity was known by the name of Lycia. No populations from mainland Greece ever settled there, but the Greek language flourished in these lands as much as in Ionia and Aeolis. The local population had already ceased using Lycian from the fourth century BC but never stopped emphasizing their origins and traditions. The Lycian people, as they called themselves, considered themselves part of Hellenism, but unique thanks to their Lycian characteristics. The Mediterranean once favored composite, cosmopolitan identities.
Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy
Gozo's unique archaeological treasures to return home
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/27/2005 9:17:48 PM PST · 6 replies · 29+ views Malta Independent Online | Tuesday, December 27, 2005 It is expected that the unique archaeological artefacts, that were discovered during excavations at the Gozo Stone Circle in Xaghra, will be returned to Gozo next year, following the installation by the Gozo Ministry of state-of-the-art showcases at the Gozo Museum of Archaeology, one of the four museums in the Citadel that are managed by Heritage Malta.
Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
Discovery of the First Prostrate Figure Burial in Burnt City
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/26/2005 8:26:12 PM PST · 3 replies · 53+ views Persian Journal | Dec 25th, 2005 | CHN The prostrate figure burial of a young man were unearthed for the first time during the archeological excavations in the historical site of Burnt City which has surprised archaeologists who were faced with such a strange burial method. It seems that the young man died when he was lying prostrate on the floor some 5000 years ago in the Burnt City and was buried in the same position.
Persepolis Architects Were Geologists Too
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 12/24/2005 8:03:44 PM PST · 17 replies · 438+ views Tehran Times | 12-24-2005 Persepolis architects were geologists, too Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN ñ Recent geological studies at the Persepolis historical site indicate that Achaemenid era architects used their unique knowledge of geology and mines in the construction of Persepolis, the Persian service of CHN reported on Thursday. The experts were well aware of the science of geology and were keen to discover underground sources of water, geologist Azam Zare said. The studies show that the Achaemenid experts had acquired specialized knowledge and technology, but it is unclear how they mastered these skills, she added. ìThe studies of the geological team at Persepolis...
Astronomy and Catastrophism
Cracking the Mystery (Cretaceous, Great Dying, Chicxulub)
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/29/2005 8:32:11 AM PST · 5 replies · 76+ views Time Magazine | May 5 1997 | Anthony Spaeth with Maseeh Rahman/Dahod The Shiva Crater is discussed in a recent article in Memoirs of the Queensland Museum, an Australian scientific journal, by the two scientists. In the early 1990s, based on new geological evidence, Chatterjee surmised that a crater extending from the seabed off the city of Bombay into the state of Gujarat was created by a meteor fall. He named it after Shiva. He also argued that the Shiva Crater was actually one-half of a larger crater; the other part lay undersea near the Seychelle Islands, 2,800 km southeast of India. When pieced together, the original crater (split by continental shifting)...
Radar Reveals Five Double Asteroid Systems Orbiting Each Other Near Earth
	Posted by blam On General/Chat 04/12/2002 6:24:24 AM PDT · 11 replies · 55+ views Science Daily | 4-12-2002 | Cornell Date: Posted 4/12/2002 Radar Reveals Five Double Asteroid Systems Orbiting Each Other Near Earth, Likely Formed In Close Encounters With Planet ITHACA, N.Y. -- Binary asteroids -- two rocky objects orbiting about one another -- appear to be common in Earth-crossing orbits, astronomers using the world's two most powerful astronomical radar telescopes report. And it is probable, they say, that these double asteroid systems have been formed as a result of gravitational effects during close encounters with at least two of the inner planets, including Earth. Writing in a report published by the journalScience on its Science Express web site...
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Ancient "Weapons Factory" Found on Connecticut Ridge
	Posted by Red Badger On News/Activism 12/29/2005 12:59:11 PM PST · 93 replies · 1,569+ views National Geographic | December 29, 2005 | Abram Katz About 3,000 years ago, a group of hunters perched on a ridge near what is now New Haven Harbor in Connecticut and fashioned quartz into projectile points. The points were likely intended to form the lethal end of an atlatl, or spear-thrower, dart. A skillful stalker could wield the weapon, which predated the bow and arrow, with enough force and accuracy to send a dart into a deer, turkey, or other small prey. Those ancient hunter-gatherers have since vanished, but the quartz artifacts survive on the ridge, known as West Rock. Michael J. Rogers, associate professor of anthropology at Southern...
end of digest #76 20051231

[SunkenCiv]

Happy New Year! In 2006, I plan to finish up the big digest of digests project. Wish me luck.

A day early (by about a half hour) for a change.

Here's the weekly Gods Graves Glyphs ping list digest link:

Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #76 20051231

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

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #77 Saturday, January 7, 2006
Prehistory and Origins
Redating The Latest Neanderthals In Europe
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/05/2006 3:34:12 PM PST · 8 replies · 385+ views Washington University-St Louis | 1-5-2006 | Neil Schoenherr Redating of the latest Neandertals in Europe By Neil Schoenherr Jan. 5, 2006 -- Two Neantertal fossils excavated from Vindija Cave in Croatia in 1998, believed to be the last surviving Neandertals, may be 3,000-4,000 years older than originally thought. Erik Trinkaus An international team of researchers involving Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences; Tom Higham and Christopher Bronk Ramsey of the Oxford University radiocarbon laboratory; Ivor Karavanic of the University of Zagreb; and Fred Smith of Loyola University, has redated the two Neandertals from Vindija Cave, the results of which have...
Thoughtful Hunters (Neanderthals)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/02/2006 11:59:40 AM PST · 26 replies · 729+ views Leiden University | 1-2-2006 Thoughtful Hunters An interdisciplinary research programme, 2004-2007, at the Faculty of Archaeology of Leiden University sponsored by the Netherlands Foundation for Scientific Research (NWO). THe Research ProgrammeFrom about 500,000 BP onwards, Europe saw a continuous occupation by occasionally very small and rather isolated groups of hominins. The typical cold-adapted Neanderthals of the last glacial were the product of a long process of Neanderthalisation that developed during the last half million years under severe climatic stress. Over the last five years archaeological studies have shown that these Middle and Late Pleistocene hominins, in contrast to previous opinions, were capable hunters of...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Mammoth Findings: Asian Elephant Is Closest Living Kin
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/02/2006 3:57:57 PM PST · 8 replies · 367+ views Science News | 12-24-2005 | Sid Perkins Mammoth Findings: Asian elephant is closest living kin Sid Perkins A study of a woolly mammoth that died in Siberia several millennia ago has yielded the complete DNA sequence of the creature's mitochondria, the energy factories of the animal's cells. Comparison with the mitochondrial genomes of living elephants indicates that the mammoth is slightly more closely related to the Asian elephant than to the African elephant. COUSIN HAIRY. A new genetic analysis suggests that the woolly mammoth is more closely related to the Asian elephant than to the African elephant. J. Tucciarone Fossil evidence had suggested that woolly mammoths and...
British Isles
Graveyard Yields Secrets Of Ancient World (Ireland)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/05/2006 4:28:43 PM PST · 11 replies · 596+ views BBC | 1-5-2006 | Shane Harrison Graveyard yields secrets of ancient world By Shane Harrison BBC NI Dublin Correspondent Residents of the village of Nobber, north Meath, in the Republic of Ireland, stumbled upon archaeological treasure when they decided to clean up an old graveyard. Now they are hoping that tombs in the shape of Celtic crosses, dating back 1100 years, will put them on the map, alongside such famous archaeological sites as Newgrange. The old graveyard at Nobber, North Meath Until recently, the graveyard in the village of Nobber, about two hours' drive from Dublin, was overgrown with weeds and briars. It is surrounded by...
Brits Got Early Start
	Posted by neverdem On News/Activism 01/04/2006 1:51:36 AM PST · 10 replies · 334+ views ScienceNOW Daily News | 15 December 2005 | Ann Gibbons A set of 32 flint tools uncovered on the east coast of the United Kingdom indicates that humans inhabited northern Europe almost 700,000 years ago--200,000 years earlier than previously thought. The discovery suggests these early people had the social or technological ability to adapt to varied terrain and, perhaps, climates. Although human ancestors ventured out of their African homeland at least 1.8 million years ago, their bones and tools did not show up in northern Europe until half a million years ago. The earliest evidence of human occupation came from Boxgrove, England, where researchers found a 500,000-year-old shinbone and teeth...
Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy
The Majestic Standing Stones Of Callanish
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/03/2006 11:03:14 AM PST · 10 replies · 475+ views The Scotsman | 1-3-2006 | Caroline Wickham-Jones The majestic standing stones of Callanish CAROLINE WICKHAM-JONES STONE circles are evocative places and the stones at Callanish on the Isle of Lewis must be one of the most haunting. Not only is there the imposing physical presence of the stones and their spectacular landscape setting, there is also the atmosphere of mystery. Callanish (or Calanais) is one of the larger stone settings of Britain. The stones tower to a height of nearly four metres and the main monument covers an area of some 5,000 square metres. The circle itself is relatively modest and comprises 13 upright stones with a...
Oh So Mysteriouso
Fuente Magna (The Rosetta Stone Of The Americas)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/03/2006 6:26:08 PM PST · 22 replies · 605+ views Geocities | 11-5-2002 | J M Allen Fuente Magna Rosetta stone of the Americas "Atlantis: the Andes Solution" by J.M.Allen (pub Windrush Press 1998) and basis of the Discovery film "Atlantis in the Andes" by Lisa Hutchison proposes the question "did anyone ever consider that the first reed boats may have crossed from west to east perhaps following the route from the River Plate eastwards across the Atlantic, past the Cape of Good Hope and via the Indian Ocean to enter the Persian Gulf and Red Sea to found the early civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt?" It is obvious that at that time, the author suspected a...
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Earliest known Mayan writing found in Guatemala
	Posted by Mikey_1962 On News/Activism 01/06/2006 9:02:08 AM PST · 41 replies · 545+ views Yahoo | 1/6/06 | Mikey_1962 ANTIGUA, Guatemala (Reuters) - Archeologists excavating a pyramid complex in the Guatemalan jungle have uncovered the earliest example of Mayan writing ever found, 10 bold hieroglyphs painted on plaster and stone. The 2,300-year-old glyphs were excavated last April in San Bartolo and suggest the ancient Mayas developed an advanced writing system centuries earlier than previously believed, according to an article published on Thursday in the journal Science. The glyphs date from between 200 BC and 300 BC and come from the same site in the Peten jungle of northern Guatemala where archeologist William Saturno found the oldest murals in the...
Evidence Found for Canals That Watered Ancient Peru
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism 01/03/2006 3:43:00 AM PST · 23 replies · 552+ views NY Times | January 3, 2006 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD Photograph courtesy of Tom D. DillehayRUNNING WATER The sites of ancient irrigation canals. People in Peru's ZaÒa Valley dug the canals as early as 6,700 years ago to divert river water to their crops. In the Andean foothills of Peru, not far from the Pacific coast, archaeologists have found what they say is evidence for the earliest known irrigated agriculture in the Americas. An analysis of four derelict canals, filled with silt and buried deep under sediments, showed that they were used to water cultivated fields 5,400 years ago, in one case possibly as early as 6,700 years ago,...
Modern Potato Had Roots in Peru
	Posted by Our_Man_In_Gough_Island On News/Activism 10/04/2005 2:00:39 PM PDT · 33 replies · 477+ views BBC | 4 Oct 2005 | Staff US scientists have found that all modern varieties of potatoes can be traced back to a single source - a spud grown in Peru over 7,000 years ago. It had been believed potatoes had a much wider region of origin, stretching from Peru to northern Argentina. The team, led by Dr David Spooner of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, analysed the DNA of about 360 potatoes, both wild and cultivated. Some 300 million tonnes of potatoes are produced around the world every year. The study was sponsored by the US Department of Agriculture. Dr Spooner, a professor of horticulture, said archaeological...
Peru Finds 200 Fishermen Sacrificed to Sea God
	Posted by Tancred On General/Chat 09/30/2002 12:30:04 PM PDT · 6 replies · 124+ views Reuters | September 30, 2002 | Missy Ryan HUARMEY, Peru (Reuters) - The Pacific Ocean had always been the fishermen's lifeblood -- until the day they knelt blindfolded before its blue waters and the knife pierced their hearts, making them offerings to Ni, the god of the sea. In the biggest find of human sacrifices in South America to date, archeologists have uncovered the remains of 200 fishermen savagely stabbed on a beach in central Peru 650 years ago. "This is the first time that human sacrifices on this scale have been documented," said Hector Walde, chief archeologist for the Punta Lobos project, holding a discolored skull recovered...
Pre-Incan Brewery Unearthed in Peru's Andes (Chicha)
	Posted by NormsRevenge On News/Activism 07/30/2004 2:59:04 PM PDT · 39 replies · 434+ views Reuters on Yahoo | 7/30/04 | Reuters - Miami MIAMI (Reuters) - U.S. researchers have unearthed what they say may be the oldest known brewery in the Andes, a pre-Incan plant at least 1,000 years old that could produce drinks for hundreds of people at one sitting. The University of Florida said on Thursday that its archeologists and researchers from the Field Museum in Chicago found the brewery at Cerro Baul, a mountaintop religious center of the Wari empire that ruled what is now Peru hundreds of years before the Incas. At least 20 ceramic, 10- to 15-gallon (38- to 57-litre) vats were found at the site some 8,000...
Ancient Egypt
Ancients Rang In New Year With Dance, Beer
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 12/31/2005 11:28:56 AM PST · 91 replies · 882+ views Discovery | 12-30-2005 | Jennifer Viegas Ancients Rang In New Year with Dance, Beer By Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Dec. 30, 2005 -- Many ancient Egyptians marked the first month of the New Year by singing, dancing and drinking red beer until they passed out, according to archaeologists who have unearthed new evidence of a ritual known as the Festival of Drunkenness. During ongoing excavations at a temple precinct in Luxor that is dedicated to the goddess Mut, the archaeologists recently found a sandstone column drum dating to 1470-1460 B.C. with writing that mentions the festival. The discovery suggests how some Egyptians over 3,000 years ago...
Asia
What Secrets Did Japan's Ancient Emperors Take To The Grave? And Will We Ever Know
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/05/2006 4:14:56 PM PST · 27 replies · 721+ views Asahi.com | 1-5-2006 | Hiroshi Matsubara What secrets did Japan's ancient emperors take to the grave? And will we ever know? 01/05/2006 By HIROSHI MATSUBARA, Staff Writer This is the fourth in a series on issues and topics facing Japan's imperial family. A new challenge is being mounted that may eventually put the Imperial Household Agency in something of a tight corner. Academics have long called on the agency to open imperial tombs to full inspection to resolve riddles of Japan's ancient past and put to rest lingering doubts about the authenticity of some of the final resting places of emperors. All this time, the agency,...
Researchers Shed New Lights On Origin Of Ancient Chinese Civilization
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/02/2006 11:47:34 AM PST · 13 replies · 423+ views China.org | 1-2-2006 Researchers Shed New Lights on Origin of Ancient Chinese Civilization Chinese ancients living 3,500 to 4,500 years ago already had many choices for meal, including millet, wheat and rice, which are still the staple food of the Chinese. They also compiled calendars according to their astronomical observation, which is regarded as one of the symbols of the origin of civilization. They made exquisite bronze vessels to hold wine and food, and some of the bronze vessels were later developed into symbol of the supreme imperial power. But how the Chinese civilization started and evolved remains a magnetic topic that has...
Museum helps GIs in Korea exhibit cultural knowledge
	Posted by Jet Jaguar On General/Chat 01/02/2006 7:29:43 PM PST · 1 reply · 68+ views Stars& Stripes | January 3, 2006 | Teri Weaver and Hwang Hae-rym SEOUL -- Being a soldier means more than learning to maneuver the battlefield. It means learning how to adjust to a new culture, and even a new subway system, according to Staff Sgt. Jesse Crawford. Thatís why Crawford brought a group of U.S. soldiers from Tango Security Force at K-16 to Seoul last week to explore the city and the newly opened National Museum of Korea. ìThereís two reasons,î he said of the trip. ìOne, itís cultural training. And itís training on use of public transportation.î Crawfordís group of American and Korean soldiers werenít the only troops touring the museum...
The Phoenicians
Geoscience Rediscovers Phoenicia's Buried Harbors
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/06/2006 2:55:18 PM PST · 5 replies · 236+ views Physorg | 1-6-2006 Geoscience rediscovers Phoenicia's buried harbors Space and Earth science : January 05, 2006 The exact locations of Tyre and Sidon's ancient harbors, Phoenicia's two most important city-states, have attracted scholarly interest and debate for many centuries. New research reveals that the ancient basins lie buried beneath the medieval and modern city centers. A network of sediment cores have been sunk into the cities' coastal deposits and studied using high-resolution geoscience techniques to elucidate how, where, and when Tyre and Sidon's harbors evolved since their Bronze Age foundations. In effect, ancient port basins are rich geological archives replete with information on...
Ancient Greece
Byzantine Underground City And Cistern Unearthed In Talas (Turkey)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/03/2006 11:17:59 AM PST · 16 replies · 576+ views Turkish Daily News | 1-3-2006 Byzantine underground city and cistern unearthed in Talas Tuesday, January 3, 2006 ANKARA - Turkish Daily News An underground city and cistern dating to the Byzantine era have been discovered at the foot of Mt. Ali in the Talas district of Kayseri. Talas Mayor R´´fat Y´´ldr´´m said archaeologists have so far unearthed 300 meters of the underground city and that the cistern is estimated to be 60 meters in length and 5 meters wide. Noting that they had initiated excavations following reports of the existence of a city and cistern, Y´´ld´´r´´m said: ìWe have unearthed parts of the underground city...
Let's Have Jerusalem
Dig reveals first sign of Jewish life after Second Temple
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 01/01/2006 7:39:12 PM PST · 8 replies · 158+ views Haaretz | January 2 2006 | Amiram Barkat Situated on what was the main road to Nablus 2,000 years ago, and located three Roman miles (or four kilometers) from the city walls of those days - according to Roman records - the site featured spacious dwellings with facades of dressed stone and well-planned lanes between the houses. Signs of the wealth of the inhabitants are evident in the amphoras that were found, which contained wine imported from Italy and Greece. Cosmetic items were also discovered, along with glass rings. Two bathhouses were also unearthed, as well as a large public building whose purpose is still unknown. Scholars usually...
Post-Roman Ancient Jewish Village Discovered
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 01/04/2006 11:24:58 AM PST · 25 replies · 548+ views Jerusalem Post | 1-4-2005 Jan. 4, 2006 13:27 | Updated Jan. 4, 2006 13:44Post-Roman ancient Jewish village discovered Discovery of an ancient village just outside Jerusalem has brought into question one of the strongest images of biblical times - the wholesale flight of Jews running for their lives after the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE. Just beneath the main road leading north from Jerusalem, archaeologists have found the walls of houses in a well-planned community that existed after the temple's destruction. It might lead to rewriting the history books if it was really Jewish. But at least...
Artifacts with links to Bible unearthed
	Posted by wagglebee On News/Activism 01/02/2006 11:14:24 AM PST · 31 replies · 1,244+ views Washington Times | 1/2/06 | Jay Bushinsky JERUSALEM -- Israeli archaeologists, screening tons of rubble scooped out of this ancient city's sacred Temple Mount, have discovered hundreds of artifacts and coins, as well as jewelry, some with biblical links dating back more than three millennia. Most of the stones and earth originally were taken to an organic garbage dump in nearby Bethany, the New Testament town known in Arabic as Al-Azariya, and could not be retrieved. But a substantial portion was diverted to the Valley of Kidron, mentioned in the Old Testament and located just outside the Old City's massive walls. This ambitious archaeological project, known as...
Temple Mount desecration continues
	Posted by Esther Ruth On News/Activism 11/11/2005 5:25:09 AM PST · 13 replies · 512+ views www.jnewswire.com | November 10th, 2005 | Ryan Jones Friday, November 11, 2005 16:19 IST JNW HEADLINE NEWS Temple Mount desecration continues By Ryan Jones November 10th, 2005 Nearly 14 centuries after first occupying Jerusalem's Temple Mount, the Muslims are trying to complete their conquest of Israelís holiest site by erasing the last traces of Jewish connection to the two temples built for the name of the Almighty, archeologists warned this week. In a letter to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the Committee Against the Destruction of Antiquities on the Temple Mount said new plans by Islamic authorities to ìrenovateî an ancient tower adjacent to the compound are part of...
Palestinians Attempt To Eradicate Israelís Temple History (Temple? What Temple?)
	Posted by emiller On News/Activism 12/14/2005 1:58:00 PM PST · 12 replies · 442+ views Oracle | 12-13-05 | Hal Lindsey The Western Wall is the last remnant of both Solomonís Temple, which was destroyed by the Babylonians in the 6th Century BC, and the Second Temple, which was destroyed by the Roman Tenth Legion under Titus in AD70. In the lowest part of what was actually a retaining wall for the Temple platform, huge stones with neat borders remain from Solomonís days. Then on the top of these are smaller, less ornate stones that were installed at the time of the building of the Second Temple. The Western Wall is the only part of the Temple area that was left...
Israel denies Temple Mount excavation
	Posted by anotherview On News/Activism 01/03/2006 6:18:45 AM PST · 41 replies · 697+ views The Jerusalem Post | 3 January 2006 | JPOST.COM STAFF Jan. 3, 2006 14:28 | Updated Jan. 3, 2006 14:42 Israel denies Temple Mount excavation By JPOST.COM STAFFAerial view of Temple Mount Photo: Areil Jerozolimski [file] The Israel Antiquities Authority denied on Tuesday accusations that archeological excavations were currently underway below the Temple Mount and that a synagogue had opened at the site. Israel Antiquities Authority Jerusalem District Archaeologist Yuval Baruch said that all of the gates to the Temple Mount compound had been blocked by massive construction in historical times. "The only gates open today are the official ones - they are open to Muslim worshippers and visitors -...
end of digest #77 20060107