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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

334 posted on 01/06/2006 10:45:54 PM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this URL -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/pledge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 332 | View Replies ]


To: 7.62 x 51mm; 75thOVI; Adder; Androcles; albertp; asgardshill; bitt; BradyLS; Carolinamom; ...
I hope 2006 is going well for all.

Here's the weekly Gods Graves Glyphs ping list digest link:
Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #77 20060107
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)



335 posted on 01/06/2006 10:48:03 PM PST by SunkenCiv (FReep this URL -- https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/pledge)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 334 | View Replies ]


Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #78
Saturday, January 14, 2006


Biology and Cryptobiology
'Four Mothers' For Europe's Jews
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/14/2006 7:10:07 AM PST · 13 replies · 377+ views


BBC | 1-14-2006
'Four mothers' for Europe's Jews There are now some 8m people of Ashkenazi origin around the world Almost half of Europe's Jews are descended from just four women who lived 1,000 years ago, a study says. Scientists studied the mitochondrial DNA - passed from mother to daughter - of 11,000 women of Ashkenazi Jewish origin living in 67 countries. The Ashkenazis moved from the Mid-East to Italy and then to Eastern Europe, where their population exploded in the 13th Century, the scientists say. One of the authors said the study shows the importance of Jewish mothers. "This I could tell...
 

Study finds why Jewish mothers are so important
  Posted by Brilliant
On News/Activism 01/14/2006 6:42:33 PM PST · 27 replies · 637+ views


Reuters via Yahoo! | 1/14/2006 | Maggie Fox
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four Jewish mothers who lived 1,000 years ago in Europe are the ancestors of 40 percent of all Ashkenazi Jews alive today, an international team of researchers reported on Friday. The genetic study of DNA paints a vivid picture of human evolution and survival, and correlates with the well-established written and oral histories of Jewish migrations, said Dr. Doron Behar of the Technion- Israel Institute of Technology, who worked on the study. The study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, suggests that some 3.5 million Jews alive today all descended from four women. For their...
 

Historical Review: Megadrought And Megadeath In 16th Century Mexico (Hemorrhagic Fever)
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/11/2006 1:33:43 PM PST · 49 replies · 937+ views


CDC | March 28, 2002 | R. Acuna-Soto, D. Stahle, M. Cleaveland and M. Therrell
Megadrought and Megadeath in 16th Century Mexico Rodolfo Acuna-Soto,* David W. Stahle, Malcolm K. Cleaveland, and Matthew D. Therrell *Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ciudad Universitaria, Mexico and University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA The native population collapse in 16th century Mexico was a demographic catastrophe with one of the highest death rates in history. Recently developed tree-ring evidence has allowed the levels of precipitation to be reconstructed for north central Mexico, adding to the growing body of epidemiologic evidence and indicating that the 1545 and 1576 epidemics of cocoliztli (Nahuatl for "pest') were indigenous hemorrhagic fevers transmitted by...
 

The Vikings
What A Viking's Smile Revealed
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/08/2006 2:12:41 PM PST · 57 replies · 1,276+ views


New Scientist | 1-7-2006
What a Viking's smile revealed 07 January 2006 VIKING warriors may have filed deep grooves into their teeth to indicate class or military rank. Caroline Arcini of Sweden's National Heritage Board analysed 557 skeletons from four major Viking-age Swedish cemeteries and discovered that around 10 per cent of men, but none of the women, bore horizontal grooves across the upper front teeth. The marks, which were cut deep into the enamel, are often found in pairs or triplets and appear precisely made. They might have marked certain men as members of a group of tradesmen or warriors, or signified their...
 

Tooth marks link Vikings, Indians
  Posted by Tyche
On News/Activism 01/14/2006 8:32:48 PM PST · 9 replies · 262+ views


CanWest News Service | Jan 13, 2006 | Randy Boswell
A scientist who found deep grooves chiselled into the teeth of dozens of 1,000-year-old Viking skeletons unearthed in Sweden believes the strange custom might have been learned from aboriginal tribes during ancient Norse voyages to North America -- a finding that would represent an unprecedented case of transatlantic, cross-cultural exchange during the age of Leif Ericsson. The marks are believed to be decorations meant to enhance a man's appearance, or badges of honour for a group of great warriors or successful tradesmen. They are the first historical examples of ceremonial dental modification ever found in Europe, and although similar customs...
 

PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
90 years later, Peru battles Yale over Incan artifacts
  Posted by Republicanprofessor
On News/Activism 01/10/2006 4:59:41 AM PST · 54 replies · 480+ views


The Christian Science Monitor | 1/10/06 | Danna Harman
MACHU PICCHU, PERU -- The Incas built this mysterious city here, it is told, to be closer to the gods. It was placed so high in the clouds, at 7,700 feet, that the empire- raiding Spaniards never found, or destroyed, it. Today, visitors to Machu Picchu see well-preserved ruins hidden among the majestic Andes: complete with palaces, baths, temples, tombs, sundials, and agricultural terraces, and also llamas roaming among hundreds of gray granite houses. But they won't find too many bowls, tools, ritual objects, or other artifacts used by the Incas of the late 1400s. To see those, they have...
 

China map lays claim to Americas ( China Won't Stop at Taiwan?)
  Posted by Candor7
On News/Activism 01/14/2006 7:34:00 AM PST · 77 replies · 1,121+ views


BBC NEWS | Friday, 13 January 2006, 13:23 GMT | BBC NEWS (general staff)
China map lays claim to Americas The map clearly shows the Americas and Africa A map due to be unveiled in Beijing and London next week may lend weight to a theory a Chinese admiral discovered America before Christopher Columbus. The map, which shows North and South America, apparently states that it is a 1763 copy of another map made in 1418. If true, it could imply Chinese mariners discovered and mapped America decades before Columbus' 1492 arrival. The map, which is being dated to check it was made in 1763, faces a lot of scepticism from experts. Chinese characters...
 

Australia and the Pacific
Stone Age Footwork: Ancient Human Prints Turn Up Down Under
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/07/2006 2:22:53 PM PST · 25 replies · 446+ views


Science News | 1-7-2006 | Bruce Bower
Stone Age Footwork: Ancient human prints turn up down under Bruce Bower Researchers working near the shore of a dried-up lake basin in southeastern Australia have taken a giant leap backward in time. They've uncovered the largest known collection of Stone Age human footprints. SOLE SURVIVAL. Footprints attributed to a Stone Age person disappear under an Australian dune (top). In an impression of an adult's right foot (inset), the toes stand out. Cupper The 124-or-more human-foot impressions, as well as a few prints left by kangaroos and other animals, originated between 23,000 and 19,000 years ago in a then-muddy layer...
 

Asia
New Archaeological Discovery Rewrites Hong Kong's History Of Human Activity
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/12/2006 11:26:08 AM PST · 3 replies · 204+ views


Peoples Daily - Xinhua | 1-12-2006 | Xinhua
New archaeological discovery rewrites Hong Kong's history of human activity Archaeologists have discovered a new site of human activity in remote antiquity in Sai Kung, Hong Kong. Zhang Shenshui, researcher of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told Xinhua here Wednesday that the important archaeological discovery not only rewrites the history when Hong Kong began having human activity, but also puts forward new topics of research for archaeologists. More than 6,000 artifacts have been unearthed at the site, which is located at the Wong Tei Tung of Sai Kung, covering 8,000 square meters. The site was a field for stone artifacts...
 

Over 4,200 Cliff Tombs Found In W. China City
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/09/2006 10:37:28 AM PST · 5 replies · 290+ views


CRI - China Broadcast/Xinhua | 1-10-2006
Over 4,200 Cliff Tombs Found in W. China City 2006-1-10 1:06:53 CRIENGLISH.com More than 4,220 cliff tombs have been spotted at 680 sites in Shangluo, a city in western China's Shaanxi Province, local archaeologists said Monday. The cliff tombs have large spaces and various conformations and are scattered at a 160-km-long belt joining DanJiang Valley in the east and the Qianyou River in the west, said scientists with the provincial archeological research institute. According to Yang Yachang, a researcher with the institute, most of the single-room tombs are erect stone caves in rectangle shapes and are three meters deep, while...
 

Central Asia
Tashkent's Hidden Islamic Relic (Oldest Koran)
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/08/2006 2:32:15 PM PST · 17 replies · 429+ views


BBC | 1-8-2006 | Ian McWilliam
Tashkent's hidden Islamic relic By Ian MacWilliam BBC News, in Tashkent The Othman Koran is the oldest in the world In an obscure corner of the Uzbek capital, Tashkent, lies one of Islam's most sacred relics - the world's oldest Koran. It is a reminder of the role which Central Asia once played in Muslim history - a fact often overlooked after seven decades of Soviet-imposed atheism. The library where the Koran is kept is in an area of old Tashkent known as Hast-Imam, well off the beaten track for most visitors to this city. It lies down a series...
 

Epigraphy and Language
India Acquired Language, Not Genes, From West, Study Says
  Posted by dennisw
On News/Activism 01/12/2006 7:06:13 PM PST · 33 replies · 679+ views


national geographic | January 10, 2006 | Brian Handwerk
Most modern Indians descended from South Asians, not invading Central Asian steppe dwellers, a new genetic study reports. The Indian subcontinent may have acquired agricultural techniques and languagesóbut it absorbed few genesófrom the west, said Vijendra Kashyap, director of India's National Institute of Biologicals in Noida. The finding disputes a long-held theory that a large invasion of central Asians, traveling through a northwest Indian corridor, shaped the language, culture, and gene pool of many modern Indians within the past 10,000 years. That theory is bolstered by the presence of Indo-European languages in India, the archaeological record, and historic sources such...
 

"Jiroft Inscription", Oldest Evidence of Written Language
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 01/13/2006 10:24:48 AM PST · 19 replies · 192+ views


Persian Journal | Jan 12, 2006
"Five Elamit professional linguists from different countries have studied the brick inscription discovered in Jiroft. According to the studies, they have concluded that this discovered inscription is 300 years older than that found in Susa; and most probably the written language went to Susa from this region. However, more studies are still needed to give a final approval to this thesis," said Yousof Majid Zadeh, head of archeological excavation team in Jiroft... Elamit language is only partly understood by scholars. It had no relationship to Sumerian, Semitic or Indo-European languages, and there are no modern descendants of it. After 3000...
 

Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
Lurestan's Sangtarashan New Discoveries
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/09/2006 11:10:16 AM PST · 5 replies · 179+ views


Persian Journal | 1-8-2006
Lurestan's Sangtarashan New Discoveries Jan 8, 2006 Some delicate and beautiful bronze articles and two iron swords have been discovered during the archeological excavations in historical site of Sangtarashan in Lurestan province, without any evidence of a grave or an architectural structure nearby. The issue has puzzled archeologists about the usage of Sangtarashan area during the first millennium BC. Sangtarashan historical site in Lurestan province had been known to be a cemetery belonging to the third Iron Age (800 to 550 BC). However, no remains of human skeletons have been discovered so far during the archeological excavations. Furthermore, there are...
 

The Phoenicians
Long-lost Phoenician ports found: Old Mediterranean harbours discovered buried under modern cities
  Posted by wagglebee
On News/Activism 01/07/2006 4:28:42 PM PST · 7 replies · 506+ views


Nature.com | 1/6/06 | Philip Ball
Thanks to political tensions easing in Lebanon, archaeologists have finally managed to locate the sites of ancient Phoenician harbours in the seaports that dominated Mediterranean trade thousands of years ago. By drilling out cores of sediment from the modern urban centres of these cities, geologists have mapped out the former coastlines that the sediments have long since buried. From this they have pinpointed the likely sites of the old harbours, and have marked out locations that, they say, are in dire need of exploration and conservation. The modern cities of Tyre and Sidon on the Lebanese coast were once the...
 

Ancient Rome
Ancient Harbors Rise Again
  Posted by flevit
On News/Activism 01/12/2006 4:56:19 AM PST · 11 replies · 420+ views


ScienceNOW Daily News | 9 January 2006 | By Michael Balter
From about 3000 B.C.E., boats anchored in natural coves and bays. At Sidon, for example, the team found crustaceans typical of brackish lagoons in the cores, indicating that the bays were fairly sheltered. By about 1200 B.C.E., the Phoenicians began building artificial harbors, a period which corresponds to other archaeological evidence that ship traffic was increasing at that time. After the invention of concrete by the Romans around 300 B.C.E., sophisticated harbor engineering became possible, and the ports were at their height during the subsequent Greco-Roman and Byzantine periods, from 332 B.C.E. to about 1000 C.E. After that time, Tyre...
 

Underwater Archaeology
Fears For Ancient Remains Below Waves
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/12/2006 11:42:35 AM PST · 23 replies · 873+ views


Isle Of Wight County Press | 1-12-2006 | Martin Neville
FEARS FOR ANCIENT REMAINS BELOW WAVESBy Martin Neville DIVERS face a desperate race against time to recover 8,000-year-old artefacts from the bottom of The Solent before they are lost forever. The underwater site, off Bouldnor, is the only one yet discovered in Britain and dates from when the sea level was 12 metres lower than today, when the IW would have been much larger and The Solent was a dry coastal valley. It remains because it was covered in silt and protected from erosion as the sea rose above it. Most Stone Age sites on land have lost all associated...
 

Ancient Navigation
A Talk With Colin Renfrew [The Third Culture, The Three Dimensions of Human History]
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 01/11/2006 10:28:06 PM PST · 6 replies · 44+ views


The Edge | August 25 1997 | John Brockman
It shows, for instance, that at the beginning of the Neolithic period, the beginning of farming in the Near East, just about everywhere was in contact with everywhere else. There is no early farming village in the Near East that doesn't get obsidian, even though the obsidian sources are hundreds of kilometers to the north. Obsidian from Melos, which is an island in the Aegean, is found way back before farming, 10, 12, 13 thousand years ago, so this meant that the Paleolithic hunter-gatherers must have been traveling in boats. Similar evidence for early seafaring has now been found in...
 

Prehistory and Origins
New reconstruction of Krapina 5, a male Neandertal cranial vault from Krapina, Croatia
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 01/09/2006 9:20:13 AM PST · 22 replies · 166+ views


Wiley InterScience / American Journal of Physical Anthropology | Jan 4 2006 | Rachel Caspari, Jakov Radovi
The Neandertals from Krapina, Croatia represent some of the geologically oldest Neandertals known, and they comprise the largest Neandertal collection from a single site in the world. However, comparisons of the Krapina material with other, later Neandertals have been limited both because of their fragmentary condition and because the sample has a disproportionate number of females and/or young individuals. This paper presents a preliminary description of our new reconstruction of Krapina 5, an adult male, and provides comparisons with females from Krapina and with later Neandertal males from Western Europe. Like other hominid sites with large samples, there is considerable...
 

European Face-Off For Early Farmers
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/09/2006 4:10:54 PM PST · 7 replies · 190+ views


Science News | 1-7-2006 | Bruce Bower
European face-off for early farmers Bruce Bower A new analysis of modern and ancient human skulls supports the idea that early farmers in the Middle East spread into Europe between 11,000 and 6,500 years ago, intermarried with people there, and passed on their agricultural way of life to the native Europeans. C. Loring Brace of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor and his colleagues compared 24 measurements for each of 1,282 skulls from current and prehistoric populations in Europe, the Middle East, and sub-Saharan Africa. The sample included 201 skulls from early farmers and 219 skulls from Bronze Age...
 

Scientists show we've been losing face for 10,000 years (Your face is shrinking)
  Posted by Lorianne
On News/Activism 01/10/2006 6:50:04 PM PST · 41 replies · 556+ views


The Sunday Times (UK) | November 20, 2005 | Jonathan Leake
THE human face is shrinking. Research into people's appearance over the past 10,000 years has found that our ancestors' 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. 'Over the past 10,000 years there has been a trend toward rounder skulls with smaller faces and jaws,' said Clark...
 

Anatolia
Trojan Treasure - 500th Anniversary Looms Over Laocoon
  Posted by NYer
On Religion 01/12/2006 5:34:43 PM PST · 6 replies · 132+ views


Zenit News Agency | January 12, 2006 | Elizabeth Lev
ROME, JAN. 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- The year 2006 represents a great Jubilee of sorts for art historians. This Saturday marks the 500th anniversary of the rediscovery of the Laocoon group, one of the most renowned sculptures of the ancient world. Virgil immortalized Laocoon in the "Aeneid." The Trojan priest of Neptune, Laocoon, when faced with the great wooden horse left by the Greeks outside the walls of Troy, issued one of the most famous warnings in the history of literature. "Men of Troy, trust not the horse! Whatever it be, I fear the Greeks, even when bringing gifts," later shortened...
 

Ancient Greece
Researchers Discover Greek Temple In Albania Dating Back To 6th Century BC
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/07/2006 3:36:42 PM PST · 8 replies · 355+ views


University Of Cincinnati | 1-6-2006
Source: University of Cincinnati Date: 2006-01-06 Researchers Discover Greek Temple In Albania Dating Back To 6th Century B.C. Researchers from the University of Cincinnati's Classics faculty are preparing to make their first public presentation of details surrounding their find of one of the earliest Greek temples in the Adriatic region north of Greece. A fragment of a tablet recovered from the Albanian site. (Image courtesy of University of Cincinnati) The UC researchers, along with colleagues from the International Centre for Albanian Archaeology and the Institute of Archaeology, Tirana, will be presenting on their new work on Friday, Jan. 6, 2006,...
 

Ancient Europe
Sardinia's prehistoric towers
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 01/09/2006 10:13:36 PM PST · 23 replies · 195+ views


Science Frontiers | No. 55: Jan-Feb 1988 | William R. Corliss
Sardina is home to an immense population of mysterious prehistoric stone towers called "nuraghi." (Singular form is "nuraghe.") Over 7,000 of these remarkable dry-stone edifices exist -- a concentration of monumental stone architecture unparalleled in Europe... Over 3,000 years old, the nuraghi have withstood the depredations of weather and later humans by virtue of their excellent design and construction.
 

Iron Age 'Bog Bodies' Unveiled
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/07/2006 3:02:22 PM PST · 24 replies · 1,534+ views


BBC | 1-7-2006
Iron Age 'bog bodies' unveiled Bog bodies have been found throughout north-west Europe Archaeologists have unveiled two Iron Age "bog bodies" which were found in the Republic of Ireland. The bodies, which are both male and have been dated to more than 2,000 years ago, probably belong to the victims of a ritual sacrifice. In common with other bog bodies, they show signs of having been tortured before their deaths. Details of the finds are outlined in a BBC Timewatch documentary to be screened on 20 January. "My belief is that these burials are offerings to the gods of fertility...
 

Climate
Broken Ice Dam Blamed For 300-Year Chill
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/10/2006 2:47:01 PM PST · 93 replies · 2,035+ views


New Scientist | 1-10-2006 | Kurt Kleiner
Broken ice dam blamed for 300-year chill 14:21 10 January 2006 NewScientist.com news service Kurt Kleiner A three-century-long cold spell that chilled Europe 8200 years ago was probably caused by the bursting of a Canadian ice dam, which released a colossal flood of glacial meltwater into the Atlantic Ocean. Two new papers, using different computer models, show that the massive freshwater flood accounts for evidence of the sudden climate change, which cooled Greenland by an average of 7.4?C, and Europe by about 1?C. It was the most abrupt and widespread cool spell in the last 10,000 years. Evidence for the...
 

Cyclical Ice age gets hold of the earth -- how severe will it be by 2012?
  Posted by Lorianne
On News/Activism 01/10/2006 10:42:52 AM PST · 169 replies · 2,813+ views


India Daily | Dec. 29, 2005
Ice ages come every 11,000 years. A mega ice age comes every 105,000 years. Both are due between now and 2012. The 11,000 year cycle happens because of increase and decrease of cyclical underwater volcanic eruption. The 105,000 mega ice age happens because of the changing shape of the orbit of the earth around the sun -- circular to elliptical and then back to circular every 105,000 years. Both the cycles are overdue. They have actually started. Europe right now is in deep freeze. Japan and South Korea are experiencing the worst snowfall ever. Even New Delhi is experiencing the...
 

Catastrophism and Astronomy
1006 AD Supernova (Vanity)
  Posted by Ptarmigan
On General/Chat 01/13/2006 7:51:03 PM PST · 2 replies · 21+ views


A bright star suddenly appears on April 30, 1006 near the star Beta Lupi in the constellation Lupus. This bright star is yellowish-white in color. The star gets brighter, bright to a point, it is brighter than Venus and half Moon. It has a magnitude of -9 at its peak. The star was visible for a year and it disappeared afterwards. The bright star was a supernova. Supernovas are when a star explodes. The Supernova is recorded in Korea, China, Japan, Mesopotamia, and Europe, often by astrologers. The supernova was seen as an omen. The remnants of the 1006 Supernova...
 

Solar Storm 'Could Spark Catastrophe'
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/27/2003 2:49:22 PM PST · 69 replies · 141+ views


Ananova | 10-27-2003
Solar storm 'could spark catastrophe' Scientists are warning a "perfect space storm" that occurred 144 years ago could happen again at any time with catastrophic consequences. Newly uncovered scientific data has shown the true extent of history's most massive electromagnetic storm which blew up on the first two days of September 1859. Like "the perfect storm" at sea which inspired a blockbuster movie, it was the result of a number of titanic events coming together. But in this case the centre of the storm was the sun, not the ocean. A combination of sunspots and solar flares produced an explosive...
 

Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy
Celestial And Mathematical Precision In Ancient Architecture
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/07/2006 3:22:04 PM PST · 36 replies · 840+ views


Manitoban | 1-7-2006 | Melissa hIEBERT
CELESTIAL AND MATHEMATICAL PRECISION IN ANCIENT ARCHITECTUREAnd we think we're advanced MELISSA HIEBERT STAFF Many ancient ruins demonstrate that the people who constructed them had not only a special regard for celestial bodies and mathematics, but also a spot-on accuracy. From Egypt to Mexico, there is no doubt that past civilizations were involved in incredibly complex space calculations, mathematics and architectural endeavours. Although many historians and archaeologists debate exactly what these civilizations did intentionally and what they did by mere chance, here are a few examples of how ancient architecture was created with mathematics and the cosmos in mind. iza...
 

Oh So Mysteriouso
Oldest Hominid Skull In Australia Found Near Bega (7 Million Years Old)
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/13/2006 4:46:20 PM PST · 71 replies · 854+ views


Bega District News | 1-13-2006
Oldest hominid skull in Australia found near Bega Friday, 13 January 2006 THE endocast of a primitive hominid-like skull was recovered from among the rubble of a volcanic plug in the Bega district in May 2005 The find could suggest that a race of ancestral hominids had evolved in Australia from tree-dwelling primate ancestors by seven million years ago. This is well before our primate ancestors supposedly left the trees for a terrestrial existence in Africa around six million years ago! The fossil was discovered by noted prehistory researcher Rex Gilroy of Katoomba NSW, where he operates the 'Australian-Pacific Archaeological...
 

British Isles
Braveheart Killing 'Topped Bill At Fair'
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/08/2006 2:22:49 PM PST · 33 replies · 1,247+ views


Scotsman | 1-8-2006 | George Mair
Braveheart killing 'topped bill at fair' GEORGE MAIR WILLIAM Wallace's execution was the opening attraction of a giant medieval carnival, according to research which sheds new light on the freedom fighter's death in August 1305. The killing of 'Braveheart' Wallace, during which he was hanged, drawn and quartered, is now believed to have marked the opening of Bartholomew Fair - the largest medieval market in England, held annually for centuries to commemorate St Bartholomew's Day on August 24. Tens of thousands flocked to Smithfield - the site of his execution - for the fortnight-long celebration, which featured vast cloth and...
 

end of digest #78 20060114

336 posted on 01/14/2006 10:47:57 PM PST by SunkenCiv (In the long run, there is only the short run.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 334 | View Replies ]

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