Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #108
Saturday, August 12, 2006
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China
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China's Earliest Handicraft Workshop Discovered (3,600 YA)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/09/2006 6:33:26 PM EDT · 4 replies · 129+ views
China.org - Xinhua News Agency | 8-9-2006 | Xu Hong
China's Earliest Handicraft Workshop Discovered? One of the world's oldest handicraft workshops, dating back more than 3,600 years, may have been discovered by Chinese archaeologists in the country's Henan Province. Covering about 1,000 square meters the workshop used turquoise to make elaborate and ornate works of art. The workshop was found in the village of Erlitou of Yanshi City and is part of the ruins of the imperial city belonging to the Xia dynasty (2100 BC-1600 BC), China's earliest. The imperial city was discovered two years ago. At the workshop crafts people made ornaments with inlaid turquoise, said Xu Hong,...
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Worker From The West (Ancient China)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/07/2006 8:21:33 PM EDT · 19 replies · 344+ views
Archaeology Magazine | 7-10-2006
Worker from the West July 10, 2006 Are new DNA findings a surprise or just one more piece of evidence for China's early connections? (Courtesy Victor Mair) According to a news report from China, DNA analysis indicates that at least one of the workers who constructed the tomb of Qinshihuang, the first emperor of China, was in fact of west Eurasian ancestry. ARCHAEOLOGY talked to the University of Pennsylvania's Victor Mair about this announcement and its implications for understanding ancient connections between China and the West. A professor of Chinese language and literature in the university's department of East Asian...
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Asia
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One more Cham tower complex unearthed in central Vietnam
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/09/2006 1:37:12 PM EDT · 1 reply
Thanh Nien news | August 2006 | Tuoi Tre -- Translated by Thu Thuy
Vietnamese archaeologists discovered Thursday a complex of Cham-era towers in the central Quang Ngai province, the second in the area. The complex in Nghia Hanh district, comprising several ruined temples, is located at the foot of Dinh Cuong mountain in An Chi Tay hamlet, some one kilometer from a similar complex found last month. The Hindu Cham civilization dates back to the 7th century and reached its pinnacle in the 9th century in central Vietnam. The first complex, also including several temples -- mostly destroyed with only their foundations remaining -- with front gates facing the East, was discovered while...
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Early Homo and associated artefacts from Asia [ Out of Africa and China? ]
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/11/2006 1:35:51 PM EDT · 9 replies · 93+ views
Nature | 16 November 1995 | Wanpo, Ciochon, Yumin, Larick, Qiren, Schwarcz, Yonge, de Vos & Rink
The site of Longgupo Cave was discovered in 1984 and excavated in 1985-1988 by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Beijing) and the Chongqing National Museum (Sichuan Province). Important finds include very archaic hominid dental fragments, Gigantopithecus teeth and primitive stone tools. Paleomagnetic analysis and the presence of Ailuropoda microta (pygmy giant panda) suggeste that the hominid- bearing levels dated to the earliest Pleistocene1. In 1992, joint Chinese-American-Canadian geochronological research corroborated the age using electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis. We report here that the hominid dentition and stone tools from Longgupo Cave are comparable in age and morphology with...
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Prehistory and Origins
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Going East: New Genetic and Archaeological Perspectives on the Modern Human Colonization of Eurasia
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Posted by Lessismore
On News/Activism 08/11/2006 9:10:23 PM EDT · 3 replies · 172+ views
Sciene | 2006-08-12 | Paul Mellars
The pattern of dispersal of biologically and behaviorally modern human populations from their African origins to the rest of the occupied world between 60,000 and 40,000 years ago is at present a topic of lively debate, centering principally on the issue of single versus multiple dispersals. Here I argue that the archaeological and genetic evidence points to a single successful dispersal event, which took genetically and culturally modern populations fairly rapidly across southern and southeastern Asia into Australasia, and with only a secondary and later dispersal into Europe. Research over the past 20 years has provided an increasingly clear picture...
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Scientists Discover Second Genus of Early Human
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Posted by D. Skippy
On News/Activism 03/21/2001 14:53:19 PST · 184 replies · 184+ views
Yahoo | Adrian Blomfield
Scientists said Wednesday evolutionary thinking had been turned on its head with the discovery in Kenya of a second genus of early human that walked the earth 3.6 million years ago. Until now scientists believed that present-day homo sapiens had a single common ancestor -- Australopithecus afarensis, identified in 1974 with the discovery of the skeleton "Lucy" in Ethiopia. But a team of paleontologists led by mother and daughter Meave and Louise Leakey, say the hominid they found, dubbed Kenyanthropus platyops, is totally different from Australopithecus.
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Navigation
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The Dover Bronze Age Boat!
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Posted by vannrox
On News/Activism 08/26/2002 5:11:40 PM EDT · 17 replies · 245+ views
Current Archaeology 133 | FR post 8-26-2 | Editorial Staff
The Dover Bronze Age Boat A large Bronze Age boat has recently been discovered at Dover. Keith Parfitt, of the Canterbury Archaeological Trust, reports. Right. The main road through Dover is being widened, and the sewers are being rebuilt. Here, behind the coffer dam in the foreground, the Bronze Age boat is being excavated. In 1991, a major new road was constructed through Dover. At the same time, much of the town's Victorian Sewage system was replaced, cutting through most of the maritime quarters of the old town. English Heritage therefore funded the Canterbury Archaeological Trust (C A T)...
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Early humans 'followed coast'
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Posted by LibWhacker
On News/Activism 05/14/2005 4:49:00 PM EDT · 75 replies · 1,069+ views
BBC | 5/14/05
The first humans who left Africa to populate the world headed south along the coast of the Indian Ocean, Science magazine reports. Scientists had always thought the exodus from Africa around 70,000 years ago took place along a northern route into Europe and Asia. But according to a genetic study, early modern humans followed the beach, possibly lured by a seafood diet. They quickly reached Australia but took much longer to settle in Europe. Dr Martin Richards of the University of Leeds, who took part in the study, says the first humans may have moved south in search of better...
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Site Sheds Light on Human Arrival
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Posted by sarcasm
On News/Activism 05/27/2001 06:25:12 PDT · 64 replies · 64+ views
AP via Yahoo
Some chipped tools and stone flakes found on a hill above a remote and wooded stretch of the Savannah River may show humans arrived in America about 3,000 years earlier than first thought. Researchers have generally accepted that the first humans came to America as primitive hunters from Asia 12,000 years ago. But the South Carolina finds are the latest evidence that the continent was inhabited 15,000 years ago, well before the end of the last Ice Age around 10,000 years ago, archaeologists say.
[dead link: try Google] |
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Australia and the Pacific
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Rethinking the Fall of Easter Island [ Jared Diamond refuted ]
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/11/2006 2:51:59 PM EDT · 11 replies · 186+ views
American Scientist | September-October 2006 (issue) | Terry L. Hunt
The oldest dates were only about 800 years old, implying that occupation began around 1200 A.D. The dates from layers closer to the surface were progressively younger, which is inconsistent with the possibility that somehow our samples were contaminated with modern carbon. There was really no way to explain these numbers, at least not within the conventional model of Rapa Nui's development... Lipo and I took a closer look at the evidence for earlier human settlement. We evaluated 45 previously published radiocarbon dates indicating human presence more than 750 years ago using a "chronometric hygiene" protocol. We rejected dates measured...
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Biology and Cryptobiology
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Northern Refuge: White Spruce Survived Last Ice Age In Alaska
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/06/2006 5:06:52 PM EDT · 18 replies · 395+ views
Science News | 8-6-2006 | Sid Perkins
Northern Refuge: White spruce survived last ice age in Alaska Sid Perkins Genetic analysis of white spruce trees at sites across North America suggest that that species endured the harsh climate of Alaska throughout the last ice age, a notion that scientists have debated for decades. ICE AGE SURVIVORS. White spruce trees, common in high-latitude North American forests today, endured in Alaska during the last ice age, a new genetic analysis suggests. Inset shows Alaskan and other sites (red dots) sampled in that study. iStockphoto; (inset) Anderson, et al. Picea glauca, the white spruce, is one of the most common...
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Climate
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The Ends of the World as We Know Them
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Posted by neverdem
On News/Activism 01/01/2005 1:17:55 AM EST · 70 replies · 2,377+ views
NY Times | January 1, 2005 | JARED DIAMOND
GUEST OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR Los Angeles -- NEW Year's weekend traditionally is a time for us to reflect, and to make resolutions based on our reflections. In this fresh year, with the United States seemingly at the height of its power and at the start of a new presidential term, Americans are increasingly concerned and divided about where we are going. How long can America remain ascendant? Where will we stand 10 years from now, or even next year? Such questions seem especially appropriate this year. History warns us that when once-powerful societies collapse, they tend to do so quickly and...
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Ancient Bison Teeth Provide Window On Past Great Plains Climate, Vegetation
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/08/2006 11:20:55 PM EDT · 24 replies · 377+ views
Newswise | 8-7-2006
Source: University of Washington Released: Mon 07-Aug-2006, 15:10 ET Ancient Bison Teeth Provide Window on Past Great Plains Climate, Vegetation Scientists have devised a way to use the fossil teeth of ancient bison as a tool to reconstruct historic climate and vegetation changes in America's breadbasket, the Great Plains.The third molar from a bison jawbone grows to 3 inches in length and has several times more surface area than a quarter. Newswise -- A University of Washington researcher has devised a way to use the fossil teeth of ancient bison as a tool to reconstruct historic climate and vegetation changes...
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PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
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Climate And The Collapse Of Maya Civilization
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/11/2006 5:44:01 PM EDT · 23 replies · 606+ views
American Scientist | July - August | Larry C Peterson - Gerald H Haug
Climate and the Collapse of Maya CivilizationA series of multi-year droughts helped to doom an ancient culture Larry C. Peterson, Gerald H. Haug With their magnificent architecture and sophisticated knowledge of astronomy and mathematics, the Maya boasted one of the great cultures of the ancient world. Although they had not discovered the wheel and were without metal tools, the Maya constructed massive pyramids, temples and monuments of hewn stone both in large cities and in smaller ceremonial centers throughout the lowlands of the Yucat·n Peninsula, which covers parts of what are now southern Mexico and Guatemala and essentially all of...
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Catastrophism and Astronomy
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'Ice Age Time Capsule' Unearthed In America (Missouri)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/22/2003 12:36:24 PM EDT · 49 replies · 437+ views
IOL | 9-22-2003
'Ice Age time capsule' unearthed in America September 22 2003 at 06:15AM Springfield, Missouri - Paleontologist Matt Forir expected to find another 15m trash-filled pit when he went to investigate a cave unearthed by construction workers in southwest Missouri. He could not have been more wrong. The dynamite that blasted into limestone for a new road in Greene County unveiled proof that 630kg short-faced bears roamed the Ozarks during the Ice Age, and they struggled with arthritis and gout. Forir and other researchers are also investigating the possibility that herds of peccary - piglike animals - sought shelter in caves...
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Super Ice Age 'Gave Evolution A Kick-Start'
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 04/09/2003 8:46:19 PM EDT · 32 replies · 250+ views
Independent (UK) | 4-10-2003 | Charles Arthur
Super ice age 'gave evolution a kick-start' By Charles Arthur Technology Editor 10 April 2003 The appearance of the Earth's first multicelled organisms -- which ultimately gave rise to humans -- may have been triggered by the end of a super ice age in which the planet was a "snowball" for millions of years, scientists say. The "snowball" theory suggests that about 750 million years ago the Earth was covered with ice up to a kilometre thick, even in what are now the tropics. By comparison, the last ice age, which ended 10,000 years ago, glaciers reached only as far...
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Ancient Europe
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New Road Reveals Stone Age Site (Earliest Use Of Fire In Europe)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/06/2003 7:10:28 PM EDT · 8 replies · 200+ views
BBC | 10-6-2003
New road reveals Stone Age site Archaeologists believe they may have stumbled upon a major Stone Age site - on the route of a new bypass. The site dates back between 250,000 and 300,000 years and may even provide evidence of one of the earliest uses of fire. Archaeologists discovered a range of items at the location in Harnham, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, including 44 "very rare" flint hand axes - the earliest form of tool used by man. Yet the dig was only organised after the county council unveiled plans to build a relief road for the village. One...
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Image Of Stone Age Death (Oetzi,Picture)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/15/2002 8:20:08 PM EST · 17 replies · 242+ views
BBC | 2-2-2002
Thursday, 7 February, 2002, 11:43 GMTImage of Stone Age death The replica has been constructed from Cat scan data This small object is at the centre of one of the most extraordinary stories in modern archaeology. It is a perfect replica of the flint arrowhead scientists now think killed Oetzi the iceman, the 5,300-year-old hunter who emerged from a melting glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991. We thought that it was a mountain climber or a skier who had had an accident Helmut Simon The copy has been constructed using data from a 3D Cat (Computer-aided tomography) scan of...
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Stone Age Settlements Found Underwater In Britain
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/11/2003 2:37:31 PM EDT · 21 replies · 172+ views
Reuters/Yahoo | 9-11-2003
Stone Age Settlements Found Underwater in Britain Thu Sep 11, 5:38 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - Archaeologists have stumbled across the first underwater evidence of Stone Age settlements in Britain. Missed Tech Tuesday? Become a Wireless Whiz -- get connected in every room and secure your wireless network in six steps A team from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England say they found flint artifacts including tools and arrowheads off the coast near Tynemouth during a training session to prepare them for dive searches elsewhere. They say the items pinpoint two sites dating as far back as...
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Agriculture and Domestication
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Stone Age Elephant Remains Found (England, Slain By Humans)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 06/21/2004 8:37:15 PM EDT · 33 replies · 505+ views
BBC | 6-21-2004
Stone Age elephant remains foundThe skeleton was found at the site of a new station Construction work on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) in Kent has unearthed the 400,000-year-old remains of an elephant. The skeleton was found on the site of the new Ebbsfleet station, an area thought to be an early Stone Age site. Bones from other large animals, including rhinoceros, buffalo and wild horses, have also been found nearby. The remains were preserved in muddy sediment near what was once the edge of a small lake, a spokesman said. The elephant, which has been identified as a...
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Stone Age Man Invented Beer Before Making Bread, Says Expert (11,000 Years Ago)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/14/2002 7:19:09 PM EDT · 85 replies · 2,111+ views
Ananova | 9-14-2002
Stone age man invented beer before making bread, says expert Archaeologists have found that man first discovered alcohol in 9000 BC, more than 5,000 years earlier than previously thought. According to The Sun they reckon pottery was invented because man needed a mug to hold his beer. Until now researchers have assumed the first human settlements, which appeared in the Middle East, were built around farming and growing corn for food. But archaeologist Merryn Dinely, of Manchester University, told the paper that corn was turned into malt, the main ingredient for making beer. Dr Dinely found that almost all ancient...
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Ancient Warfare
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Huge Bronze Age Haul Found In Austria
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 01/14/2003 11:06:58 AM EST · 24 replies · 264+ views
Ananova | 1-14-2003
Huge Bronze Age haul found in Austria Europe's biggest-ever discovery of Bronze Age weapons and jewellery has been made in Austria. Archaeologists believe the hoard could prove Bronze Age Europe rivaled Greece in terms of early society and technology. The scientists from the University of Innsbruck and the Austrian National Memorial Office have so far found 360 pieces buried at the side of a crevice in Moosbruckschrofen am Piller in Tyrol. It is thought they were laid there as part of a ritual offering sometime between 1550 and 1250 BC. As well as swords, axes, spearheads, sickles and jewellery the...
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British Isles
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Huge Temple Found Under Hill Of Tara (Ireland)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/12/2002 5:58:27 PM EST · 54 replies · 353+ views
Irish Examiner | 11-12-2002 | Evelyn Ring
Huge temple found under Hill of Tara The Irish Examiner 12 Nov 2002 Evelyn Ring A HUGE temple, once surrounded by about 300 huge posts made from an entire oak forest, has been discovered directly beneath the Hill of Tara in Co Meath. Conor Newman, an archaeology lecturer at NUI Galway, said the discovery at the ancient site made sense of the positioning of other graves and monuments in the area. Mr Newman, who has been working on the Hill of Tara under the State-funded Discovery Programme since 1992, was delighted by the find. "It fills a very important place...
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Middle Ages and Renaissance
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Medieval village found under Horsham
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/11/2006 11:10:53 AM EDT · 4 replies · 91+ views
Horsham Online | 11 August 2006 | unattributed
Ruins of the previously undiscovered houses, in The Causeway, Horsham, have been buried in St Mary's Church Vicarage garden for over 600 years. A team of historians from Archaeology South East found the small settlement during an investigative dig for developer Chalvington Barns, which is set to build three new homes on the site later this year... "We have suspected for some time that there would have been something here because elements of St Mary's Church date back to the 12th century and we know there was a medieval market in the Carfax.
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Ancient Egypt
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Nefertiti book to become movie?
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Posted by sarahgonul
On General/Chat 08/10/2006 12:41:54 AM EDT · 19 replies · 172+ views
Publishers Weekly | Sarah
According to Publishers Weekly, Michelle Moran just sold a novel about NEFERTITI to a major publishing house for a six figure deal. According to people I've spoken to in the industry, the book is being shopped around and several studios have been interested. I haven't seen the book and I don't think it comes out until July 2007 (at least that's what Moran's website says: www.michellemoran.com). But if the book is turned into a movie, at least the script should be decent. I wonder who they'll get to take the lead role? Last year there was talking of Halle Berry...
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Africa
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Start Of Banana Farming In Africa Pushed Back 2000 Years
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/07/2006 8:59:36 PM EDT · 26 replies · 436+ views
inibap | unknown
Start of banana farming in Africa pushed back 2000 years According to recent evidence from Uganda, the banana may have arrived on the African continent more than 4000 years ago, some 2000 years before the accepted introduction of the fruit on the continent. The finding was published in the January 2006 issue of the Journal of Archaeological Science (Vol. 33(1):102-113). The authors base their claim on banana phytoliths - distinctive microscopic silica bodies that accumulate in plant cells - which they found in sedimentary layers estimated to be 4000-4500 years old. Earlier findings in Cameroon of 2500 year-old banana phytoliths...
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Mesopotamia
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Turkey begins controversial dam
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Posted by Republicain
On News/Activism 08/06/2006 5:38:44 AM EDT · 4 replies · 147+ views
BBC News | 08/05/2006
Turkey has begun building a major dam, despite criticism that the project will ruin an ancient archaeological site and displace thousands of people. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan led a ceremony to begin work on the Ilisu dam in the south-eastern Turkey. Turkey says the $1.55bn (£800m) project will help irrigate vast areas of farmland and provide vital energy. Critics argue that it will destroy ruins and artefacts at the Hasankeyf site dating back thousands of years. Some 4,000 protesters held an overnight vigil near the dam site on the River Tigris, about 45km (28 miles) north of the Syrian...
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Anatolia
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Traces of war god Ares found in city of mother goddess, Metropolis
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/09/2006 1:32:22 PM EDT · 8 replies · 93+ views
Turkish Daily News | Tuesday, August 8, 2006 | unattributed
Metropolis -- dating back to 725 B.C. -- gets its name from the temple of mother goddess Meter Gallesia found in the area and thus means "the city of the mother goddess"... A number of rectangular stones, columns and epitaphs unearthed during the acropolis excavations indicate that Metropolis was the second settlement in Anatolia after Bodrum to house a temple of Ares -- the Olympian war god and son of Zeus in Greek mythology and Mars, the god of war in Roman mythology.
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Macedonia
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Macedonian history unearthed
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/05/2006 2:20:18 PM EDT · 6 replies · 142+ views
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette | Fri, Aug. 04, 2006 | Richard Bangs
In the southwestern quadrant of the country we find Lake Ohrid, the deepest lake in Europe... Here we meet the foremost archaeologist in Macedonia, Pasko Kuzman. He has been excavating 3,000-year-old submerged sites in Lake Ohrid, and the first fortress of King Philip II, Alexander's father, on its shores... Pasko's signature tools include three weighty watches he wears on his left wrist, what he calls his "time machines." With one he says he travels to the Bronze and Neolithic ages. With another to the future. And with the third, his "archaeological watch" with its special sensors, he makes his finds......
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Thrace
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Ancient dagger found in Bulgaria
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Posted by Jedi Master Pikachu
On News/Activism 08/06/2006 10:50:48 PM EDT · 45 replies · 825+ views
BBC | August 6, 2006 | Nick Thorpe
The alloy used suggests sophisticated metal-working skillsArchaeologists have discovered a precious golden dagger dated to about 3,000BC in a Thracian tomb in the centre of Bulgaria. It is the latest find from one of many tombs believed to have formed the cradle of Thracian civilisation. The dagger, made of an alloy of gold and platinum, was found near the village of Dubovo. Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of Bulgaria's National Museum, told Reuters news agency the discovery was "sensational". It is the latest in a string of finds in the area in recent years which has excited archaeologists and has provided...
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Ancient Greece
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Alexander the Great's personal sculptor to get own museum [ Lysippus ]
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/09/2006 1:29:13 PM EDT · 5 replies · 57+ views
Turkish Daily News | Wednesday, August 9, 2006 | AFP
Active in the fourth century B.C., Lysippus is believed to have created 1,500 bronze sculptures, including portraits of Alexander the Great and a statue of legendary Greek hero Hercules, immortalized in a later Roman marble copy known as the "Farnese Hercules." None of Lysippus' original works have been preserved, but archaeologists will craft a collection from moulds of known copies donated by other museums, the local Culture Ministry department's antiquities supervisor Alexandros Mantis told AFP. "We will have around 25 moulds donated from museums in Dresden, Munich, Torino and other parts of Greece," Mantis said. "Among them are statue bases...
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Ancient Rome
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Roman wall unearthed at city site [ Leicester ]
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/09/2006 12:44:40 PM EDT · 1 reply · 1+ view
BBC | Tuesday, 8 August 2006 | unattributed
It is a large section of wall and an archway, believed to be part of a market hall. The building was first discovered in the 1950s under High Cross Street, but this section of the wall had collapsed. It is made out of rough stone, with a series of tiles running through it... The team of 25 archaeologists will now try to discover why the wall collapsed and find out if the exterior of the building was decorated. They have also discovered part of an Anglo-Saxon building dating to the sixth or seventh century attached to the wall.
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Longer Perspectives
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Bill Would Allow Study Of Ancient Remains (Kennewick Man)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/10/2006 7:02:37 PM EDT · 20 replies · 320+ views
Seattlepi | 8-10-2006 | Shannon Dininny
Thursday, August 10, 2006 Bill would allow study of ancient remains By SHANNON DININNY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS YAKIMA -- A federal law governing protection of American Indian graves would be amended to allow scientific study of ancient remains discovered on federal lands if the remains have not been tied to a current tribe, under a bill proposed by Rep. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. The bill marks the latest step in a dispute sparked by the 1996 discovery of Kennewick Man, one of the oldest and most complete skeletons ever found in North America. Indian tribes and researchers battled over rights to...
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Faith and Philosophy
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The Real History of the Crusades
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Posted by traditionalist
On News/Activism 04/07/2002 10:35:39 PM EDT · 123 replies · 5,312+ views
Crisis Magazine | 4/1/2002 | Thomas Madden
With the possible exception of Umberto Eco, medieval scholars are not used to getting much media attention. We tend to be a quiet lot (except during the annual bacchanalia we call the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, of all places), poring over musty chronicles and writing dull yet meticulous studies that few will read. Imagine, then, my surprise when within days of the September 11 attacks, the Middle Ages suddenly became relevant. As a Crusade historian, I found the tranquil solitude of the ivory tower shattered by journalists, editors, and talk-show hosts on tight deadlines eager to...
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Let's Have Jerusalem
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Old Testament Dispute Continues
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/05/2006 3:35:23 PM EDT · 28 replies · 864+ views
Decaur Daily | Richard N Ostling
Old Testament dispute continuesWas King David Judaism's King Arthur? By Richard N. Ostling AP Religion WriterAP Photo/Biblical Archaeology Review by Thomas E. Levy American archaeologist/educator Nelson Glueck's suggestions that a gate lay buried at the entrance to the Iron Age fortress of Khirbat en-Nahas were recently realized when archaeologists discovered a four-chamber gate (only two have been excavated). Radiocarbon dating fixed the date of its construction to the 10th century. Some scholars are busily debunking the Bible's account of the great King David, asking: Was he really all that great? Was he largely legendary, Judaism's version of Britain's legendary King...
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Epigraphy and Language
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More Pieces Of Hidden Bog Book Found (Psalms)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/05/2006 3:19:38 PM EDT · 58 replies · 959+ views
Irish Times | 8-5-2006 | Sean Mac Connell
More pieces of hidden bog book found More fragments of an ancient manuscript concealed in a Co Tipperary bog over 1,000 years ago with a view to later recovery, have been found by the National Museum of Ireland, writes Se·n Mac Connell The discoveries also include a fine leather pouch in which the manuscript was originally kept. Museum experts have excavated the site at Faddan More, in north Tipperary, since the discovery of the manuscript last month by excavator driver Eddie Fogarty. He found the book on July 20th while digging peat on a bog owned by brothers Kevin and...
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Oh So Mysteriouso
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Expert: Tablet may have oldest writings
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Posted by NormsRevenge
On News/Activism 08/05/2006 12:28:38 AM EDT · 50 replies · 873+ views
AP on Yahoo | 8/4/06 | AP
SOFIA, Bulgaria - An almost 7,000-year old stone tablet found in Bulgaria bears carvings that might turn out to be one of the world's oldest inscriptions, a prominent Bulgarian archaeologist said Thursday. "These signs are unique and apparently bear a meaning," Nikolai Ovcharov told a press conference. Ovcharov said he had received the tablet from a private collector who had unearthed it 20 years ago. The collector asked to remain anonymous, because he risked criminal prosecution for looting or criminal possession of antiquities. The tablet, about three inches, carries five distinct signs each made up of two elements, Ovcharov said....
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The old lignite skull
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Posted by vannrox
On News/Activism 01/22/2003 3:45:54 PM EST · 15 replies · 386+ views
Fortean Times Issue FT 139 | November 2000 | Michel Granger & Francois De Sarre
The old lignite skull ANOTHER MYSTERY SKULL... THIS TIME AN ANCIENT EUROPEAN WHICH, SAY FRANCOIS DE SARRE AND MICHEL GRANGER, COULD CHALLENGE THE OFFICIAL VIEW OF HUMAN ORIGINS. 0fficially, the origin of the first true Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) dates back 2.5 million years. Before this time lived other hominids whose bones cannot be confused with those of Homo's lineage. Against this background, we have the 2oo-year old enigma of an 'impossibly' ancient humanoid skull from the mining town of Freiberg, in Saxony, Germany, which, if verified, could be more than 10 million years old - far older than...
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Bronze Age Had Brain Surgeons
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/20/2002 8:27:42 PM EDT · 12 replies · 1,197+ views
The Telegraph (UK) | 8-21-2002 | Roger Highfield
Bronze Age had brain surgeons By Roger Highfield, Science Editor (Filed: 21/08/2002) A Bronze Age skull discovered on the banks of the Thames may have belonged to one of the first Londoners to have major head surgery, archaeologists said yesterday. The hole in the skull suggests a trepanning operation They were intrigued by an irregular hole in the man's skull, measuring approximately 1.75ins by 1.25in. The lack of fractures around the opening ruled out a blow with a blunt instrument. Instead, the bevelled edge suggested that the man had undergone a primitive operation called trepanation. The skull was found on...
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Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
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Lost document reveals Columbus as tyrant of the Caribbean
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 08/09/2006 12:42:20 PM EDT · 15 replies · 186+ views
The Guardian | Monday August 7, 2006 | Giles Tremlett
Christopher Columbus, the man credited with discovering the Americas, was a greedy and vindictive tyrant who saved some of his most violent punishments for his own followers, according to a document uncovered by Spanish historians... Columbus and his brothers were forced to travel back to Spain. Columbus was in chains but, although he never recovered his titles, he was set free and allowed to sail back to the Caribbean. "Columbus and his brothers come across in the text as tyrants," Ms Varela said. "Now one can understand why he was sacked and we can see that there were good reasons...
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Violence Is Blamed On 'Warrior Gene' In The Maoris
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 08/09/2006 9:51:47 PM EDT · 67 replies · 854+ views
The Telegraph (UK) | 8-10-2006 | Paul Chapman
Violence is blamed on 'warrior gene' in the Maoris By Paul Chapman in Wellington (Filed: 10/08/2006) Maori leaders reacted furiously yesterday after a scientist said their race carried a "warrior gene" that predisposed them to violence and criminal behaviour. Dr Rod Lea, a genetic epidemiologist, told the International Conference of Human Genetics in Brisbane that Maori men were twice as likely as Europeans to bear monoamine oxidase, a gene that is also connected with risk-taking behaviour such as smoking and gambling. Performing arts group Pounamu Kai Tahu perform the haka He was reported as saying the discovery went "a long...
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end of digest #108 20060812
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