[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #123 Saturday, November 25, 2006
Biology and Cryptobiology
Humans Show Big DNA Differences
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/23/2006 10:09:00 PM EST · 35 replies · 1,158+ views BBC | 11-23-2006 Humans show big DNA differences DNA comparisons: Gains (green), losses (red), the same (yellow) Scientists have shown that our genetic code varies between individuals far more than was previously thought. A UK-led team made a detailed analysis of the DNA found in 270 people and identified vast stretches in their codes to be duplicated or even missing. A great many of these variations are in areas of the genome that would not damage our health, Matthew Hurles and colleagues told the journal Nature. But others are - and can be shown to play a role in a number of disorders....
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
Wheat's lost gene helps nutrition
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/24/2006 10:34:31 PM EST · 11 replies · 139+ views BBC News | Friday, 24 November 2006 | unattributed Turning on a gene found in wheat could boost levels of protein, iron and zinc, scientists have discovered. The gene occurs naturally in wheat, but has largely been silenced during the evolution of domestic varieties. Researchers found evidence that turning it back on could raise levels of the nutrients in wheat grains. Writing in the journal Science, they suggest that new varieties with a fully functioning gene can be created through cross-breeding with wild wheat... The researchers identified a gene called GPC-B1, GPC standing for Grain Protein Content... The UC Davis team is already making such varieties, not by genetic...
Navigation
Early Roman Shipwreck Carried Fish Sauce
	Posted by dbehsman On News/Activism 11/14/2006 5:47:35 AM EST · 21 replies · 659+ views Breitbart.com | 11-13-06 | DANIEL WOOLLS A shipwrecked first-century vessel carrying delicacies to the richest palates of the Roman Empire has proved a dazzling find, with nearly 2,000-year-old fish bones still nestling inside clay jars, archaeolgists said Monday. Boaters found its cargo of hundreds of amphoras in 2000 when their anchor got tangled with one of the two-handled jars. After years of arranging financing and crews, exploration of the site a mile off the coast of Alicante in southeast Spain began in July, said Carles de Juan, a co-director of the project, who works for the Valencia regional government. The ship, estimated to be 100 feet...
2,000-year-old shipwreck yields hundreds of jars
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/19/2006 11:08:23 PM EST · 26 replies · 316+ views Knoxville News Sentinel | November 19, 2006 | Daniel Woolls THE FIND: The wreck of a first-century vessel carrying delicacies to the wealthy during the Roman Empire lay for 20 centuries in waters just off the Spanish coast, until it was discovered in 2000.THE CARGO: Its cargo of an estimated 1,500 well-preserved clay amphoras has been found to have contained fish sauce - a prized condiment for wealthy Romans - and includes traces of fish bones, archaeologists said.SIGNIFICANCE: The size of the ship, good condition of its cargo and its easy accessibility in just 80 feet of water are providing important insights.
Giant Roman Shipwreck Yields "Fishy" Treasure
	Posted by Lorianne On News/Activism 11/20/2006 7:14:08 PM EST · 45 replies · 1,144+ views National Geographic | 20 November 2006 | James Owen Sunken treasure with a distinctly fishy flavor has been recovered from a huge Roman shipwreck in the Mediterranean. The 2,000-year-old vessel, discovered off the Spanish coast, was described by marine archaeologists last week as "a jewel of the Old World." However, it wasn't gold or silver that the ship was carrying but hundreds of jars of a foul-smelling fish sauce. The ancient delicacy, known as garum, was usually made from fermented fish guts and blood. Wealthy Romans, experts say, couldn't get enough of the stuff. The sailing ship, dating from the first century A.D. lies about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers)...
Giant Roman Shipwreck Yields "Fishy" Treasure
	Posted by Red Badger On News/Activism 11/21/2006 12:41:03 PM EST · 28 replies · 1,085+ views National Geographic | 11/20/2006 | James Owen Sunken treasure with a distinctly fishy flavor has been recovered from a huge Roman shipwreck in the Mediterranean. The 2,000-year-old vessel, discovered off the Spanish coast, was described by marine archaeologists last week as "a jewel of the Old World." Jars found in Roman shipwreck photo However, it wasn't gold or silver that the ship was carrying but hundreds of jars of a foul-smelling fish sauce. The ancient delicacy, known as garum, was usually made from fermented fish guts and blood. Wealthy Romans, experts say, couldn't get enough of the stuff. The sailing ship, dating from the first century A.D....
Prehistory and Origins
Archeologists to Excavate the 14000-Y-Old Island of Khark
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/23/2006 8:00:40 PM EST · 3 replies · 146+ views Cultural Heritage News Agency | November 23, 2006 | Maryam Tabeshian Archeologists of the Cultural Heritage and Tourism Department of Bushehr province are about to start their excavations to identify historic sites of the southern Iranian Island of Khark, located in the Persian Gulf. Based on the available historic accounts and archeological evidence, about 14000 years ago Khark Island emerged from the depth of the Persian Gulf. The same documents suggest the existence of human settlements on this island as far back as the mid third millennium BC. Remaining evidence from different historic periods, from the Achaemenid dynastic era (550 BCñ330 BC) to the Islamic period, abounds in this Island. Head...
Elam, Persian, Parthia, Iran
Elements Of Forgotten Empire (Sassanids)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/17/2006 6:55:37 PM EST · 21 replies · 395+ views Al-Ahram | 11-16-2006 Elements of forgotten empire While the Sassanids are perhaps best known for their defeat at the hands of Arab forces in 642 CE, a new exhibition reveals more about their empire than its sudden final collapse, writes David Tresilian in Paris Sassanid king Shapur III (reigned 383-388) shown spearing a leopard, fourth century (St Petersburg: Hermitage Museum) Occupying the ground-floor rooms of the Musee Cernuschi in Paris until 30 December, Les Perses Sassanides, Fastes d'un empire oublie (The Sassanid Persians: Splendours of a Forgotten Empire) is an exhibition that brings together items from major European and North American museums and...
Unprecedented Jar Burial of a Dog Observed in Gohar Tepe
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/24/2006 10:21:51 PM EST · 7 replies · 101+ views Payvand's Iran News | 11/15/06 | Soudabeh Sadigh Discovery of a jar containing the skeleton of a dog in a human grave for the first time in Gohar Tepe, northern Iran, has puzzled archeologists. The two skeletons are dated to the 1st millennium BC... Human burials in jars have commonly been observed in different historic sites of Iran. Similar examples of jar burials of humans have also been found in Gohar Tepe. However, this is the first time that the skeletons of a dog are found in a jar. This is why the new discovery has astounded the archeologists... According to Mahforouzi, three daggers and eight arrowheads all...
Holy Cow Statue Discovered in Iran
	Posted by F14 Pilot On News/Activism 09/30/2005 4:09:46 PM EDT · 66 replies · 2,557+ views Iran News | 9/29/05 Tehran, 28 September 2005 (CHN) -- Archaeological excavations in Gohar Tepe, in Mazandaran province in Iran, has led to the discovery of the remains of the statues of some cows which were most probably used in religious ceremonies. The discovery of these sculptures indicates that the people of the region worshiped cows 3000 years ago. Mazandaran is one of the most ancient provinces in Iran. Archaeological excavations indicate that the province has been inhabited by human beings since 400,000 years ago until the present time, and that around 5000 years ago, urbanization flourished in the area. Gohar Tepe is a...
British Isles
3,000-year-old tools to museum
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/24/2006 9:02:43 PM EST · 1 reply · 1+ view BBC | Monday, 20 November 2006 | unattributed A man with a metal detector who came across a hoard of prehistoric bronze tools and weapons has handed over his find to the National Museum Wales. Phil Smith came across the Bronze Age haul on land in Llanbadoc in Monmouthshire and reported his find. Dating between 1,000 and 800 BC, the haul contains axes, fragments of swords and a spearhead as well knives and harvesting tools. The 3,000-year-old pieces are being studied by experts. The treasure was thought to have been buried together in the ground, probably in a small pit, as a ritual gift to the pagan gods...
Let's Have Jerusalem
The Largest City In The Ancient World (Tel Megiddo)
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/20/2006 2:19:01 PM EST · 15 replies · 920+ views Haaretz | 11-20-2006 | Ran Shapira Last update - 00:12 20/11/2006 The largest city in the ancient world By Ran Shapira The Early Bronze Age temple was initially discovered at Tel Megiddo a decade ago. When part of it was first unearthed in 1996, the researchers realized this was a very impressive structure. Since then, evidence accumulated supporting the estimated dimensions: In 2000, two large column bases were excavated. Then last summer, most of the structure was excavated, and the researchers were surprised. The temple, it emerged, was built on a larger area than had been previously assumed, and is an artful construction of excellent materials....
Special Report: Ekron Identity Confirmed [ from 1998 ]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/21/2006 12:03:51 AM EST · 10 replies · 130+ views Archaeology | January/February 1998 | Seymour Gitin, Trude Dothan, and Joseph Naveh An inscription carved into a limestone slab found at Tel Miqne, 23 miles southwest of Jerusalem, confirms the identification of the site as Ekron, one of the five Philistine capital cities mentioned in the Bible. The inscription is unique because it contains the name of a biblical city and five of its rulers, two of whom are mentioned as kings in texts other than the Bible. The only such inscription found in situ in a securely defined, datable archaeological context, it has far-reaching implications for our understanding of the history of Ekron and Philistia... The inscription was found in the...
Ancient Art
At Mideast holy site, what is treasure? (Discoveries at Temple Mount)
	Posted by NYer On News/Activism 11/18/2006 10:04:03 AM EST · 34 replies · 999+ views AP | November 17, 2006 | MATTI FRIEDMAN Off an East Jerusalem side street, between an olive orchard and an abandoned hotel, sit a few piles of stones and dirt that are yielding important insights into Jerusalem's history. They come from one of the world's most disputed holy places -- the square in the heart of Jerusalem that is known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary.The story behind the rubble includes an underground crypt, a maverick college student, a white-bearded archaeologist, thousands of relics spanning millennia and a feud between Israelis and Palestinians which is heavily shaped by ancient history.Among finds that...
The Mediterranean
The Real Prehistoric Religion Of Malta
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/18/2006 1:39:32 PM EST · 9 replies · 456+ views The Malta Independent | 11-17-2006 | Noel Grima The real prehistoric religion of Malta by NOEL GRIMA Forget the goddess theory, which you hear every tourist guide trying to explain the huge statues at the National Museum of Archaeology or while touring Hagar Qim. That may not have been the original religion of Malta. This was the startling starting point in a lecture "Ritual, Space and Structure in Prehistoric Malta and Gozo: New Observations on Old Matters", given by Dr Caroline Malone, co-director, Xaghra Stone Circle excavation during the recent Heritage Malta international conference held at the Grand Hotel in Gozo. Dr Malone is senior tutor at Hughes...
Astronomy and Catastrophism
Icelandic Volcano Caused Historic Famine In Egypt
	Posted by cogitator On General/Chat 11/22/2006 11:44:38 AM EST · 18 replies · 202+ views Terra Daily | 11/22/2006 | Staff Writers An environmental drama played out on the world stage in the late 18th century when a volcano killed 9,000 Icelanders and brought a famine to Egypt that reduced the population of the Nile valley by a sixth. A study by three scientists from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and a collaborator from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, demonstrates a connection between these two widely separated events. The investigators used a computer model developed by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies to trace atmospheric changes that followed the 1783 eruption of Laki in southern Iceland back to their point...
Archaeoastronomy and Megaliths
Sky disc of Nebra shines in Basel
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/23/2006 7:45:15 PM EST · 13 replies · 174+ views SwissInfo | November 22, 2006 | Urs Maurer Made out of bronze with gold embossing, the 3,600-year-old object is an astronomical clock. It connects the sun and the moon calendars together, with the sun giving the day and year and the moon, the month. The moon year is, however, 11 days shorter than the sun year. This was taken into account in ancient times by adding an extra month, leading experts to believe that people in the Bronze Age were already making sophisticated astronomical observations similar to those written about by the Babylonians around 1,000 years later. The disc is thought to be a depiction of the Bronze...
Oh So Mysteriouso
21st century technology cracks alchemists' secret recipe
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/23/2006 7:35:30 PM EST · 3 replies · 140+ views EurekAlert! | November 22, 2006 | Judith H Moore et al Now, writing in Nature, the researchers reveal using petrographic, chemical and X-ray diffraction analysis that Hessian crucible makers made use of an advanced material only properly identified and named in the 20th century. Dr Marcos MartinÛn-Torres, of the UCL Institute of Archaeology, who led the study, explains: "Our analysis of 50 Hessian and non-Hessian crucibles revealed that the secret component in their manufacture is an aluminium silicate known as mullite (Al6Si2O13)... This material was only first described in the 20th century, though Hessian crucible makers were already taking advantage of this peculiar aluminium silicate 400 years earlier: they synthesised mullite...
India
Talakad, a legend buried in time
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/20/2006 11:23:16 PM EST · 7 replies · 110+ views IBN Live | Monday, November 20, 2006 | Deepa Balakrishnan The five Shiva temples in Talakkad have always been submerged in sand. And the ancient legend revolving around them begins with Srirangaraya, a local chieftain... Alamelamma instead committed suicide by jumping into River Cauvery. But locals believe before dying, she cursed the town - Talakadu Maralagili, malangi maduvagali, wodeyar doreyarige makkalagidirali (May Talakad be filled with sand, may Malangi become a whirlpool, May the Wodeyars never have children). Strangely, it's all come true. But is there a scientific explanation for this? ...Ever since this happened, temple authorities in Talakkad have conducted the Panchalingadarshana festival, which takes place every seventh or...
Carved rocks, wall found under sea
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/19/2006 11:34:01 PM EST · 11 replies · 270+ views Chennai Online | Sunday, November 19, 2006 | unattributed Rocks with step-like cuttings, a wall and carved blocks found under the sea in the southern coast near the heritage site of Mahabalipuram are believed to be evidence of an early settlement or a port. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) came across the remains while recently conducting excavations underwater at the site in Tamil Nadu. "Mahabalipuram is a historical place. We started detailed excavation 500 metres from the shore in the sea and recently came across different types of rocks which indicate human activity. We have also found a wall running from the shore into the sea," Alok Tripathy,...
Tsunami throws up India relics - The Tides of Spirituality
	Posted by Red Sea Swimmer On News/Activism 02/12/2005 9:11:11 PM EST · 6 replies · 736+ views BBC News, Delhi | Soutik Biswas The relics have been buried under the sand for centuries. The deadly tsunami could have uncovered the remains of an ancient port city off the coast in southern India. Archaeologists say they have discovered some stone remains from the coast close to India's famous beachfront Mahabalipuram temple in Tamil Nadu state following the 26 December tsunami. They believe that the "structures" could be the remains of an ancient and once-flourishing port city in the area housing the famous 1200-year-old rock-hewn temple. Three pieces of remains, which include a granite lion, were found buried in the sand after the coastline receded...
Asia
Archaeologists Dig Deep To Revive 2,200 Year-Old Ancient (Han) City
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/20/2006 2:35:43 PM EST · 3 replies · 290+ views Peoples Daily - Xinhua | 11-20-2006 Archaeologists dig deep to revive 2,200 year-old ancient capitalFifty years of excavation work on the ancient city of Chang'an, situated in the northwestern part of Xi'an, have now passed and archaeologists have been able to map out a clear layout of the former capital of the Han Dynasty. But there is still much work to be done. Experts, such as Liu Qingzhu, a veteran archaeologist with the Institute of Archeology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), insist that only one thousandth of the total ruins has been unearthed. "Like the ancient site of Pompeii, the study of large-scale...
Corruption alive in China 2800 years ago(court document dug up?)
	Posted by TigerLikesRooster On News/Activism 11/19/2006 9:36:53 AM EST · 15 replies · 291+ views China Daily | 11/19/06 Corruption alive in China 2800 years ago (Xinhua) Updated: 2006-11-19 16:07 XI'AN -- Much has been made of the corruption that has tarnished the image of Chinese local government officials but it seems bribery among the country's authoritative ranks was in full swing more than 2,800 years ago. The inscriptions on two bronze urns unearthed recently in northwest China's Shaanxi province tell the story of how, in 873 B.C., a noble man managed to bribe the judiciary in order to dodge charges of appropriating farmland and slaves. The inscriptions on each urn contain 111 ancient Chinese characters, which detail the...
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
11,000-Year-Old Texans Are Stars Of The Bosque Museum
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/18/2006 1:15:51 PM EST · 19 replies · 508+ views Dallaq Morning News | 11-17-2006 | Mary G Ramos 11,000-year-old Texans are stars of the Bosque Museum 01:31 PM CST on Friday, November 17, 2006 By MARY G. RAMOS / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News A special new exhibit at the Bosque Museum in Clifton, Texas, features the lives of some extremely early Texans. Prehistoric people (called Paleo-Americans by archaeologists) lived in a cave shelter on the western bank of the Brazos River a bit downstream from the Lake Whitney Dam in Bosque County about 11,000 years ago. Paleo-Americans were using the 150-foot by 30-foot shelter before ancient Egyptian civilization began. A Texas archaeologist discovered the shelter,...
Peruvian archaeologists excavate tombs
	Posted by Pharmboy On News/Activism 11/22/2006 1:09:04 PM EST · 22 replies · 418+ views Associated Press via Yahoo | Wed Nov 22, 2006 | MARTIN MEJIA Peruvian workers clean graves containing a trove of pre-Inca artifacts in Ferrenafe, Peru, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2006. Archaeologists in northern Peru said Tuesday they have unearthed 22 artifact-rich graves containing a trove of pre-Inca artifacts, including the first 'tumi' ceremonial knives ever excavated scientifically. The more than 900-year-old tombs were found next to a pyramid in the Pomac Forest Historical Sanctuary, about 680 kilometers (420 miles) northwest of the capital, Lima. They are from the Sican culture, which flourished on Peru's northern desert coast from A.D. 750 to 1375. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia) Archaeologists said Tuesday they have unearthed 22...
Tomb find reveals pre-Inca city
	Posted by csvset On General/Chat 11/22/2006 8:12:38 PM EST · 3 replies · 25+ views BBC | 22 Nov 2006 | BBC Tomb find reveals pre-Inca city The discover of tumis in situ is particularly exciting to scientists Archaeologists working in northern Peru have discovered a spectacular tomb complex about 1,000 years old.The complex contains at least 20 tombs, and dates from the pre-Inca Sican era. Among the discoveries are 12 "tumis", ceremonial knives which scientists have not been able to study in a burial site before, as well as ceramics and masks. The Sican culture flourished from approximately AD 800-1300, one of several metalworking societies which succumbed to drought and conquest. Archaeologists working on the project say the find will...
Faith and Philosophy
Announcing a New Book by Alamo-Girl and betty boop
	Posted by betty boop On News/Activism 11/13/2006 10:34:14 PM EST · 323 replies · 5,534+ views Alamo-Girl and betty boop | November 13, 2006 | betty boop Table of Contents Authors' Foreword Prologue Dramatis Personae The Scene The Dialogue The so-called "Cartesian Split" What is "all that there is?" Pure, blind chance? First reality and second realities What is knowledge? Does science "have it in" for God? Is Intelligent Design science? What is matter? What lies at the beginning of "all that there is?" Aristotle's Four Causes What is "randomness?" First Adam, Second Adam Is science "killing the soul?" The Public Square: a "values-neutral zone?" What is science? What is the universe? What is life? What is reality? Endnotes Appendix Nuts and Bolts Numbers Big and Small Combinatorics,...
Longer Perspectives
How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims
	Posted by FreeKeys On General/Chat 11/18/2006 3:29:36 PM EST · 28 replies · 379+ views The Hoover Digest (The Hoover Institution's r | Jan. 1999 | Tom Bethell When the Pilgrims landed in 1620, they established a system of communal property. Within three years they had scrapped it, instituting private property instead. Hoover media fellow Tom Bethell tells the story. There are three configurations of property rights: state, communal, and private property. Within a family, many goods are in effect communally owned. But when the number of communal members exceeds normal family size, as happens in tribes and communes, serious and intractable problems arise.[...]Thirty years old when he arrived in the New World, Bradford became the second governor of Plymouth ... and the most important figure in the...
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Whether Moon-gods Were The High-gods In South Arabian Religions
	Posted by allahisamoongod On General/Chat 11/18/2006 2:58:32 AM EST · 10 replies · 195+ views Yoel Natan Books Yoel.info | October 2006 | Yoel Natan I. Introduction. This piece is written in response to "Reply to Robert Morey's Moon-God Allah Myth: A Look at the Archaeological Evidence," dated 26 Jun 2006, authored by Saifullah, Juferi & David and published on the Islamic Awareness website. This response is more focused on the issues in question rather than on defending Morey's scholarship. While a few of Saifullah's criticisms of Morey's work are addressed, Morey may wish to issue another pamphlet like the one he wrote answering a prior critic, Shabir Ally.[1][snip] VIII. Conclusion. Most of this essay is extracted from the "Critique of the Revisionist View on...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
The Trial of Akhenaten [ a play ]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/22/2006 12:09:48 AM EST · 4 replies · 65+ views Philadelphia City Paper | Nov 21, 2006 | Rachel Frankford God's been on trial a whole lot lately, poor fellow. Now it's even going on retroactively. For proof, check out Vagabond Acting Troupe's The Trial of Akhenaten, a 25-minute play written specifically to be performed in the Penn Museum of Art and Architecture's exhibit "Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun." The city of Amarna was built by the pharaoh Akhenaten (believed to be the father of King Tut), and razed just a generation later. His legacy turned to rubble so quickly because he angered the Egyptian people by replacing the traditional pantheon of gods with worship of just one,...
Was An Ancient Egyptian City Found In the Grand Canyon?
	Posted by Bill_o'Rights On News/Activism 11/20/2006 3:01:14 PM EST · 60 replies · 2,466+ views Raiders News Network | Nov 19th, 2006 12:51 PM | David H. Childress An Egyptian tomb in the Grand Canyon similar to the Valley of Kings in Luxor, Egypt? An article published on the front page of the Phoenix Gazette on April 5,1909, claimed that just such an Egyptian rock-cut cave was found! The Gazette article, dated April 5,1909, starts with four headlines, "Explorations in Grand Canyon", "Mysteries of Immense Rich Cavern Being Brought to Light", "JORDAN IS ENTHUSED" and "Remarkable Finds Indicate Ancient People Migrated From Orient." From the Gazette article: "...the explorer who found this great underground citadel of the Grand Canyon during a trip from Green River, Wyoming, down the...
end of digest #123 20061125

[SunkenCiv]

That week flew. Figures, I was on vacation. I hope everyone had a nice holiday. Due to the usual post-T-giving situation (too many leftovers), there is emphasis on food and stuff in jars. Bon appetit.

Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #123 20061125

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[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #124 Saturday, December 2, 2006
Australia and the Pacific
Art From The Island Of The Hobbits
	Posted by blam On General/Chat 11/28/2006 6:06:23 PM EST · 11 replies · 194+ views The Epoch Times | 11-21-2006 | Reuters Art From the Island of Hobbits Indonesian statue reshapes Australian gallery Reuters Nov 21, 2006 (National Gallery of Australia)CANBERRAóAn Indonesian weaver and her suckling baby are reshaping Australia's national art gallery. The Bronze Weaver, a tiny 1,400 year-old Indonesian statue, has gone on exhibition at the Australian National Gallery in Canberra in an attempt to lure art-wary Australians away from traditional European masterworks and educate them in Asian forms. "With its intriguing sixth-century dating, The Bronze Weaver may be the most striking, rare and important object of Indonesian ancestral art in existence," Robyn Maxwell, the gallery's senior curator of Asian...
Ancient Art
Prepare to receive the terracotta Chinese soldiers [ if vacationing in Malta ]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/26/2006 4:03:36 PM EST · 1 reply · 1+ view Malta Independent Online | Sunday, November 26, 2006 | unattributed Heritage Malta is organising two lectures in collaboration with the China Cultural Centre as a preview to the exhibition of terracotta soldiers that will open early next year. The lectures are being held on 30 November and 1 December at the National Museum of Archaeology, Republic Street, Valletta at 6pm. In the first lecture on 30 November, Dr Song Xinchao, Director-General of the Department of Museums in China will speak about "The Archaeological Finds of the Yangtze River" and the "Three Gorges Project"... In the second lecture on 1 December, Prof. Li Xiuzhen, from the Archaeological Department of the Museum...
Asia
Teams Explore Roots Of Angkor Civilization
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/29/2006 3:53:10 PM EST · 8 replies · 216+ views Newswise - Earthwatch | 11-29-2006 Teams Explore Roots of Angkor Civilization Newswise ó Five seasons of excavations at Ban Non Wat, in Northeast Thailand, have unearthed 470 human burials covering a time span of more than 2,000 years. Earthwatch-supported research at this great moated site, led by anthropologist Dr. Charles Higham of University of Otago (New Zealand), gives clues to the roots of the famous Angkor civilization. A Year On Earth, a new film about students making a difference through participation in scientific research, features some of these discoveries. ìThe earliest graves, dating to about 2000 BC, contain the remains of the first rice farmers...
India
US museum to showcase Kashmiri art
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/25/2006 3:53:46 PM EST · 3 replies · 53+ views Hindustan Times | Saturday, November 25, 2006 | Rashid Ahmad Two historical sculptures of Hindu deities Lord Vishnu and Goddess Kali of ninth century Kashmir have been selected for exhibition of Kashmiri art in America, next year. The exhibition would be held under the aegis of Asia Society and Queens Museum of Art, New York in October 2007 and 2008. Dr Pratapaditya Pal, scholar and curator of Indian art, Asia Society... is the author of a masterly book on Kashmir's bronze art - Bronze Art in Kashmir... The Zurhama is the 8th finding of the state's Archaeology department in the past three years. The most attractive of these findings was...
ASI survey reveals Delhi's lost heritage toll
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/26/2006 12:13:10 AM EST · 2 replies · 49+ views Indian Express | Sunday, November 26, 2006 | Ravleen Kaur New Delhi, November 25: More than 200 monuments, most belonging to the Mughal period, have vanished in the Capital, a survey conducted by the Department of Archaeology has found. Among them are a garden in front of Krishi Bhavan and a domed building in front of Jantar Mantar, where the NDMC building stands now... A senior Archaeology Department official says that many gates, wells, mosques and shivalays mentioned on the list as being located in the Walled City and elsewhere cannot be traced... Among the missing monuments are Rang Mahal, built by descendants of Bairam Khan, and Chandni Mahal, which...
Elam, Persian, Parthia, Iran
British Experts Started Studies On Zajan's Salt Men In Iran
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/27/2006 2:15:40 PM EST · 13 replies · 510+ views CHN Press | 11-26-2006 British Experts Started Studies on Zanjan's Salt Men in Iran Salt Man No. 1 found in Zanjan's Chehr Abad salt mine in 1993 ñ Picture Courtesy of CAISTwo archeologists from universities of Oxford and York started their studies on the salt mummies found in western Iran. The salt men's diet, health and age before death will particularly be studied by these experts. Tehran, 26 November 2006 (CHN Foreign Desk) -- After months of negotiations between Iran's Archeology Research Center and the British universities of Oxford and York, a team consisting of two archeologists from these universities came to Iran to...
Ancient Egypt
Pyramids were built with concrete rather than rocks, scientists claim
	Posted by Rodney King On News/Activism 12/01/2006 6:55:23 PM EST · 85 replies · 1,760+ views UK Times Online | Today | Chalres Bremner The Ancient Egyptians built their great Pyramids by pouring concrete into blocks high on the site rather than hauling up giant stones, according to a new Franco-American study. The research, by materials scientists from national institutions, adds fuel to a theory that the pharaohs' craftsmen had enough skill and materials at hand to cast the two-tonne limestone blocks that dress the Cheops and other Pyramids. Despite mounting support from scientists, Egyptologists have rejected the concrete claim, first made in the late 1970s by Joseph Davidovits, a French chemist. The stones, say the historians and archeologists, were all carved from nearby...
Amarna: Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun [ U Penn exhibit, open now ]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/25/2006 11:41:47 PM EST · 10 replies · 78+ views University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology | November 2006 | unattributed Tutankhamun, ancient Egypt's famous boy pharaoh, grew up 3,300 years ago in the royal court at Amarna, the ancient city of Akhet-aten, whose name meant the "Horizon of the Aten." This extraordinary royal city grew, flourished -- and vanished -- in hardly more than a generation's time. Amarna, Ancient Egypt's Place in the Sun, a new exhibition at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia, offers a rare look at the meteoric rise and fall of this unique royal city during one of Egypt's most intriguing times. The exhibition, the centerpiece of the Museum's event-filled "Year...
Pharaoh's curse or coincidence?[King Tut]
	Posted by FLOutdoorsman On News/Activism 11/28/2006 3:29:32 PM EST · 26 replies · 758+ views Chicago Sun-Times | 28 Nov 2006 | JIM RITTER Researchers studying Tut hit by huge storm, CT malfunction Scientists who recently conducted a high-tech examination of King Tut's mummy insist they don't believe in the "Curse of the Pharaohs." Still, some awfully strange things happened when the team X-rayed the boy king's body with a medical CT scanning machine. On the way to the Egyptian site, one researcher's vehicle nearly hit a child. Then a huge storm hit. The CT machine, usually reliable, wouldn't work at first. And when researchers finally began the CT scan, one scientist came down with such a violent coughing attack he had to leave....
Astronomy and Catastrophism
Landslide At Mt. Etna Generated A Large Tsunami In The Mediterranean Sea Nearly 8,000 Years Ago
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/29/2006 6:03:09 PM EST · 75 replies · 1,005+ views Science Daily | 11-28-2006 | American Geophysical Union Source: American Geophysical Union Date: November 28, 2006 Landslide At Mt. Etna Generated A Large Tsunami In The Mediterranean Sea Nearly 8000 Years Ago Geological evidence indicates that the eastern flanks of Mt. Etna volcano, located on Italy's island of Sicily, suffered at least one large collapse nearly 8,000 years ago. Pareschi et al. modeled this collapse and discovered that the volume of landslide material, combined with the force of the debris avalanche, would have generated a catastrophic tsunami, which would have impacted all of the Eastern Mediterranean. Simulations show that the resulting tsunami waves would have destabilized soft marine...
British Isles
Roman Sarcophogus Found at London Site
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/01/2006 2:36:10 AM EST · 11 replies · 189+ views NewsDay | November 30, 2006 | Associated Press Archaeologists discovered a rare Roman limestone sarcophagus containing a headless skeleton at the site of an historic London's church, authorities said Friday. The find dates to about 410 A.D. and lay 10 feet below the grounds of the St. Martin-in-the-Fields church near central London's busy Trafalgar Square, outside the boundaries researchers had established for London's Roman city walls. "The find has opened up an exciting new area of Roman London for study," said Taryn Nixon, director of the Museum of London Archaeology Service. Excavators and archaeological teams discovered 24 medieval burial sites in the area above and around the Roman...
Archaeoastronomy and Megaliths
Early sketch of Stonehenge found
	Posted by FLOutdoorsman On News/Activism 11/29/2006 7:27:10 PM EST · 85 replies · 2,083+ views The Guardian | 27 Nov 2006 | Maev Kennedy The oldest detailed drawing of Stonehenge, found in a 1440 manuscript, the Scala Mundi They got the date wrong by some 3,000 years, but the oldest detailed drawing of Stonehenge, apparently based on first hand observation, has turned up in a 15th century manuscript. The little sketch is a bird's eye view of the stones, and shows the great trilithons, the biggest stones in the monument, each made of two pillars capped with a third stone lintel, which stand in a horseshoe in the centre of the circle. Only three are now standing, but the drawing, found in Douai, northern...
Stonehenge Was A Site For Sore Eyes In 2300BC
	Posted by blam On News/Activism 11/27/2006 1:51:42 AM EST · 30 replies · 964+ views The Telegraph (UK) | 11-27-2006 | Nic Fleming Stonehenge was a site for sore eyes in 2300BC By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent Last Updated: 2:48am GMT 27/11/2006 Stonehenge was the Lourdes of its day, to which diseased and injured ancient Britons flocked seeking cures for their ailments, according to a new theory. For most of the 20th century archaeologists have debated what motivated primitive humans to go to the immense effort of transporting giant stones 240 miles from south Wales to erect Britain's most significant prehistoric monument. Druids gather at Stonehenge for sunrise on the summer solstice. A new book suggests the gathering should take place in December...
Epigraphy and Language
A Layered Look Reveals Ancient Greek Texts
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 12/01/2006 1:05:16 PM EST · 3 replies · 37+ views New York Times | November 27, 2006 | Felicia R. Lee An ambitious international project to decipher 1,000-year-old moldy pages is yielding new clues about ancient Greece as seen through the eyes of Hyperides... What is slowly coming to light, scholars say, represents the most significant discovery of Hyperides text since 1891, illuminating some fascinating, time-shrouded insights into Athenian law and social history... [T]here is more to the palimpsest than Archimedes' work, including 10 pages of Hyperides, offering tantalizing and fresh insights into the critical battle of Salamis in 480 B.C., in which the Greeks defeated the Persians, and the battle of Chaeronea in 338 B.C., which spelled the beginning of...
Ancient Greece
Ancient calculator was 1,000 yrs ahead of its time
	Posted by freedom44 On News/Activism 11/29/2006 2:17:09 PM EST · 68 replies · 1,589+ views Reuters | 11/28/06 | Reuters LONDON (Reuters) - An ancient astronomical calculator made at the end of the 2nd century BC was amazingly accurate and more complex than any instrument for the next 1,000 years, scientists said on Wednesday. The Antikythera Mechanism is the earliest known device to contain an intricate set of gear wheels. It was retrieved from a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1901 but until now what it was used for has been a mystery. Although the remains are fragmented in 82 brass pieces, scientists from Britain, Greece and the United States have reconstructed a model of it using...
An Ancient Computer Surprises Scientists (2200yo Roman computer!)
	Posted by Alter Kaker On News/Activism 11/29/2006 2:41:47 PM EST · 102 replies · 2,495+ views New York Times | November 29, 2006 | JOHN NOBLE WILFORD A computer in antiquity would seem to be an anachronism, like Athena ordering takeout on her cellphone. But a century ago, pieces of a strange mechanism with bronze gears and dials were recovered from an ancient shipwreck off the coast of Greece. Historians of science concluded that this was an instrument that calculated and illustrated astronomical information, particularly phases of the Moon and planetary motions, in the second century B.C. The Antikythera Mechanism, sometimes called the world's first computer, has now been examined with the latest in high-resolution imaging systems and three-dimensional X-ray tomography. A team of British, Greek and...
Scientists Unravel Mystery of Ancient Greek Machine
	Posted by Redcitizen On News/Activism 11/29/2006 6:44:39 PM EST · 41 replies · 1,542+ views Live Science | Wed Nov 29, 1:25 PM ET | Ker Than Scientists have finally demystified the incredible workings of a 2,000-year-old astronomical calculator built by ancient Greeks. A new analysis of the Antikythera Mechanism [image], a clock-like machine consisting of more than 30 precise, hand-cut bronze gears, show it to be more advanced than previously thoughtóso much so that nothing comparable was built for another thousand years. "This device is just extraordinary, the only thing of its kind," said study leader Mike Edmunds of Cardiff University in the UK. "The design is beautiful, the astronomy is exactly rightÖIn terms of historical and scarcity value, I have to regard this mechanism as...
In search of lost time (Antikythera Mechanism)
	Posted by neverdem On News/Activism 11/29/2006 9:54:37 PM EST · 14 replies · 598+ views Nature | 29 November 2006 | Jo Marchant The ancient Antikythera Mechanism doesn't just challenge our assumptions about technology transfer over the ages ó it gives us fresh insights into history itself.
Enigma of ancient world's computer is cracked at last
	Posted by ConservativeMind On General/Chat 11/29/2006 11:07:20 PM EST · 7 replies · 127+ views Physorg.com | Nov, 29, 2006 | AFP A 2,100-year-old clockwork machine whose remains were retrieved from a shipwreck more than a century ago has turned out to be the celestial super-computer of the ancient world. Using 21st-century technology to peer beneath the surface of the encrusted gearwheels, stunned scientists say the so-called Antikythera Mechanism could predict the ballet of the Sun and Moon over decades and calculate a lunar anomaly that would bedevil Isaac Newton himself. Built in Greece around 150-100 BC and possibly linked to the astronomer and mathematician Hipparchos, its complexity was probably unrivalled for at least a thousand years, they say. "It's beautifully designed....
Let's Have Jerusalem
Biblical past unearthed in Holy Land construction
	Posted by Alouette On News/Activism 11/29/2006 6:37:19 AM EST · 13 replies · 616+ views YNet | Nov. 29, 2006 Ancient cemeteries, burial caves from biblical times and centuries-old artefacts unearthed during construction work in Israel, forcing contractors by law to call in archaeologists and sometimes halt building projects Reuters Published: 11.29.06, 11:05 Building a housing complex or a road in the Holy Land can often have grave implications. Ancient cemeteries, burial caves from biblical times and centuries-old artefacts have been unearthed during construction work in Israel over the years, forcing contractors by law to call in archaeologists and sometimes halt building projects. In Holyland Park, a complex of apartments being built on a hill in Jerusalem, archaeologists will soon...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Dramatic shift from simple to complex marine ecosystems occurred 250M years ago at mass extinction
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/25/2006 6:34:53 PM EST · 41 replies · 283+ views PhysOrg | November 23, 2006 | Field Museum The earth experienced its biggest mass extinction about 250 million years ago, an event that wiped out an estimated 95% of marine species and 70% of land species. New research shows that this mass extinction did more than eliminate species: it fundamentally changed the basic ecology of the world's oceans... Specifically, the data and analyses concern models of relative abundance found in fossil communities throughout the Phanerozoic. The ecological implications are striking. Simple marine ecosystems suggest that bottom-dwelling organisms partitioned their resources similarly. Complex marine ecosystems suggest that interactions among different species, as well as a greater variety of ways...
Humpback whales have "human" brain cells
	Posted by TigerLikesRooster On General/Chat 11/27/2006 11:43:10 AM EST · 27 replies · 333+ views Reuters | 11/27/06 Humpback whales have "human" brain cells Mon Nov 27, 1:40 AM ET Humpback whales have a type of brain cell seen only in humans, the great apes, and other cetaceans such as dolphins, U.S. researchers reported on Monday. This might mean such whales are more intelligent than they have been given credit for, and suggests the basis for complex brains either evolved more than once, or has gone unused by most species of animals, the researchers said. The finding may help explain some of the behaviours seen in whales, such as intricate communication skills, the formation of alliances, cooperation, cultural...
Prehistory and Origins
Lucy's U.S. Tour: Ape-like female who died 3.2 million years ago may be coming
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/25/2006 3:47:20 PM EST · 28 replies · 330+ views Evansville Courier | Saturday, November 25, 2006 | unattributed A deal between the Ethiopian Natural History Museum and the Houston Museum of Natural Science would bring Lucy, accompanied by 190 other fossils and relics, to the United States next September for a six-year tour. She would stay in Houston until August 2008, and then on to six or more other cities. Some scientists oppose the trip, arguing that Lucy's remains are irreplaceable and too fragile to be moved. They say that her remains would be better saved for scientific study rather than put on display as a tourist attraction. But, as has been noted, other fragile and priceless artifacts...
UGA STUDY OF RETROVIRUSES SHOWS HUMAN-SPECIFIC VARIETY DEVELOPED WHEN HUMANS, CHIMPS DIVERGED
	Posted by forsnax5 On News/Activism 08/02/2002 2:44:30 PM EDT · 42 replies · 786+ views The University of Georgia news bureau | Thursday, August 1, 2002 | Phil Williams ATHENS, Ga. ó Scientists in the past decade have discovered that remnants of ancient germ line infections called human endogenous retroviruses make up a substantial part of the human genome. Once thought to be merely "junk" DNA and inactive, many of these elements, in fact, perform functions in human cells.
Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues
When killer flu struck [ "Spanish Lady" flu, 1918 ]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/29/2006 3:00:07 PM EST · 35 replies · 307+ views News & Observer | http://www.newsobserver.com/105/story/514837.html | Jim Nesbitt, with contributions by David Raynor and Denise Jones With a fast-striking and deadly reach that spanned the globe, the worst influenza outbreak of the 20th century is more than a sepia-toned and horrific sidebar of history. It is also a harbinger for a future influenza disaster that medical researchers say is inevitable and long overdue, a grisly example of the worst nature has to offer... Mabel Allen Boyd was one of at least 13,703 North Carolinians killed by this hyper-lethal flu virus, a mutation that still baffles modern-day scientists. Eighty-eight years after her death, she is still the face of the Spanish flu pandemic for Leon Spencer, 101,...
Faith and Philosophy
Startling Discovery: The First Human Ritual
	Posted by LibWhacker On News/Activism 11/30/2006 2:14:15 PM EST · 52 replies · 1,409+ views LiveScience | 11/30/06 | Robert Roy Britt A startling discovery of 70,000-year-old artifacts and a python's head carved of stone appears to represent the first known human rituals. Scientists had thought human intelligence had not evolved the capacity to perform group rituals until perhaps 40,000 years ago. But inside a cave in remote hills in Kalahari Desert of Botswana, archeologists found the stone snake [image] that was carved long ago. It is as tall as a man and 20 feet long.
World's Oldest Ritual Discovered -- Worshipped The Python 70,000 Years Ago
	Posted by snarks_when_bored On General/Chat 12/01/2006 2:26:00 AM EST · 15 replies · 157+ views The Research Council of Norway (via ScienceDaily) | 30 Nov 2006 World's Oldest Ritual Discovered -- Worshipped The Python 70,000 Years Ago A startling archaeological discovery this summer changes our understanding of human history. While, up until now, scholars have largely held that man's first rituals were carried out over 40, 000 years ago in Europe, it now appears that they were wrong about both the time and place. Python stone. (Photo Credit: Sheila Coulson) Associate Professor Sheila Coulson, from the University of Oslo, can now show that modern humans, Homo sapiens, have performed advanced rituals in Africa for 70,000 years. She has, in other words, discovered mankind's oldest known ritual.The...
Oh So Mysteriouso
Will sue to avoid goblins[Norway]
	Posted by FLOutdoorsman On General/Chat 11/29/2006 4:54:20 PM EST · 10 replies · 221+ views Aftenposten | 29 Nov 2006 | Aftenposten HÂkon Robertsen has refused to tear down a condemned barn for fear of reprisals from 'little people' and is ready to sue local authorities to protect the building. Robertsen continues to resist a local order to tear down the derelict structure, and is currently being fined NOK 300 (USD 47.50) a day until he flattens the barn. Local authorities first ordered the barn demolished in February 2005 after complaints from Robertsen's neighbors and a new order was passed this autumn. Robertsen fears the consequences of tearing the building down. "I don't believe in ghosts, but underworld creatures have taken up...
Longer Perspectives
Was Patriarchy a Women's Scheme to Control Men?
	Posted by SauronOfMordor On News/Activism 10/30/2002 9:58:08 AM EST · 566 replies · 2,309+ views self | 10/30/2002 | SauronOfMordor Does Patriarchy Benefit Women? Much has been said in feminist circles about how women are oppressed by patriarchy. Patriarchy literally means ìrule by fathersî and is a system where men effectively are in control of property and decision-making. An important characteristic of patriarchal systems is that they are generally also patrilineal (a child's descent is described by who his father, and father's father were, rather than through the mother's line). The question I'm putting forth here is: Does the patriarchal/patrilineal system act more to oppress women, or is it actually more a way for women to tap and control...
Middle Ages and Renaissance
The Kulikovo Field Mystery Is Finally Solved [ Russia, 1380 ]
	Posted by SunkenCiv On General/Chat 11/29/2006 2:36:02 PM EST · 1 reply Russia-IC | October 31, 2006 | Anna Kizilova The Kulikovo field mystery ñ the lack of burial grounds ñ has generated many incredible hypotheses: starting with denial of the very fact of this historical battle and ending with suggestion that the battle took place near the walls of Moscow Kremlin. Recent survey by means of a ground-penetrating radar, as well as reconnaissance archeological diggings of the discovered underground heterogeneity, reveals a new approach to the problem... The researchers suggest the objects, discovered by means of the "LOZA" geo-radar, to be the burial grounds of people killed in the Kulikovo battle. Bodies of the deceased were buried in the...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
DNA Tests Help Uncover Forgotten History ("slave ancestors had been raped by their owners")
	Posted by flowerplough On News/Activism 09/23/2006 7:24:32 PM EDT · 95 replies · 2,693+ views DiversityInc.com | September 22, 2006 | "Compiled" by the DiversityInc staff After two years of digging and testing, Alternet.org contributing columnist Christopher Rabb discovered that there is more to a person's heritage than their ancestry. In order to learn more about his black ancestors, Rabb and his family began a series of DNA tests, which unveiled several things he found troubling. "I quickly realized that the more intently I sought to learn about my black ancestors, the more I would have to research the white people who owned them," he says. "A notable subset of the slave owners were also my ancestors." Rabb discovered that some of his slave ancestors had...
end of digest #124 20061202