Free Republic

   Has the Garden of Eden been located at last? By Dora Jane Hamblin   By using an interdisciplinary approach, archaeologist Juris Zarins believes he's found it--and can pinpoint it for us. The author, a frequent contributor, met Dr. Zarins and his Eden theory when writing of Saudi archaeology (September 1983) and has followed his work since.  "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed" (Genesis 2:8). Then the majestic words become quite specific: "And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence...

<p>Saddam Hussein turned a thriving marshland into a poisoned desert. Can it be restored?</p> <p>The project, which has been discussed only in outline by scientists so far, would be the largest and most ambitious recovery of a wetland ever attempted. It might cost tens of millions of dollars or more, but could be a model for reviving many other natural water reservoirs as the world staves off growing water shortages.</p>

Rock art clue to nomad ancestors of Egyptian pyramid builders Stone age cattle herders left religious imagery which was to re-emerge in Valley of Kings Tim Radford, science editor Saturday April 5, 2003 The Guardian (UK) Rock art etched on cliff walls in the eastern Sahara more than 6,000 years ago could spell out the answer to one of archaeology's great puzzles - where the ancient Egyptians came from. The answer? They were there all the time. The pyramid builders made their first entry in the archaeological record 5,000 years ago. This appearance was so abrupt that it has provoked...

Stone age cattle herders left religious imagery which was to re-emerge in Valley of Kings Rock art etched on cliff walls in the eastern Sahara more than 6,000 years ago could spell out the answer to one of archaeology's great puzzles - where the ancient Egyptians came from. The answer? They were there all the time. The pyramid builders made their first entry in the archaeological record 5,000 years ago. This appearance was so abrupt that it has provoked fantasies of alien landings, mysterious civilisations or an invading master race. But in Genesis of the Pharaohs, published on Monday by...

New DNA evidence suggests "African Eve", the 150,000-year-old female ancestor of every person on Earth, may have lived in Tanzania or Ethiopia. A genetic study has shown that the oldest known human DNA lineages are those of East Africans. The most ancient populations include the Sandawe, Burunge, Gorowaa and Datog people who live in Tanzania. Researchers found a very high amount of genetic variation, or diversity, between the mitochondrial DNA of different individuals in these populations. Mitochondrial DNA is passed down exclusively through the maternal line. The longer a population has existed, the more variation accumulates in its DNA...

<p>DOHA, QATAR — The U.S. military calls it the Karbala Gap, a narrow sandy plain between Lake Buhayrat ar Razzazah on the west and the Euphrates River on the east. On Wednesday, American soldiers raced through the gap on their way to Baghdad, facing only minimal Iraqi opposition.</p>

<p>Two of the largest land mines on the U.S. military's march to Baghdad are a pair of holy sites especially sacred to the Shiite branch of Islam -- Karbala and Najaf.</p> <p>Iraqi fighters loyal to Saddam Hussein hope to exploit the religious significance of these two landmarks of Muslim history, while U.S. and British troops are trying to avoid damaging tombs whose destruction could enrage the Muslim world.</p>

<p>Answering the pleas of archaeologists and scholars worldwide, the Pentagon has ordered ground troops and aircraft to spare Iraq's treasured archaeological sites wherever possible.</p> <p>This is the fabled Mesopotamia of antiquity, the "cradle of civilization" where the first agrarian societies around the Tigris and Euphrates rivers invented writing, the wheel, the first laws, and literature and mathematics -- some more than 6,000 years ago.</p>

WARRIORS OF CLAY BY JARRETT A. LOBELL Terra-cotta cavalrymen lead the way followed by hundreds of chariots and infantrymen. Archaeologists are unsure why the figures at the front of the pit face toward the oncoming cavalry. (Wu Xiang) (Pictures Below) For more exclusive images, see the March/April 2003 issue of ARCHAEOLOGY. undreds of foot-tall terra-cotta warriors, along with horses and chariots, have been discovered in four burial pits at a Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 220) tomb complex some three hundred miles south of Beijing. The ongoing discovery of additional figure-bearing pits has led experts to believe the site may cover...

. The History of the Ancient Near East Electronic Compendium ANCIENT ISRAEL IRAQ EGYPT TURKEY SYRIA LEBANON JORDAN ARABIA CYPRUS BAHRAIN AND WESTERN IRAN Ancient Babylon (Babel) [Babil] The capital of Babylonia situated on the Euphrates River south of Baghdad in modern Iraq. Thc city was occupied from the 3rd millennium BC but became important early in the 2nd millennium under the Kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon. The sixth King of this dynasty was Hammurabi (circa 1792 - 1750 BC) who made Babylon the capital of a vast empire and is best remembered for his code of...

U.S. Marching in the Footsteps of Abraham By ROBERT H. REID .c The Associated Press DOHA, Qatar (AP) - As the U.S.-led coalition rolls by the rivers of Babylon, American troops are marching through the cradle of Western civilization, following in the footsteps of Biblical prophets and ancient conquerors. The modern names - Karbala, Afak, Nasiriyah - may be unfamiliar to most Americans. But the history written around those towns resonates throughout Western civilization thousands of years later. Take Nasiriyah, a Euphrates River crossing where U.S. Marines have been battling Iraqi troops and militiamen for nearly a week. About 20...

Oldest Swords Found in Turkey By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News March 25, 2003 — The most ancient swords ever found were forged 5,000 years ago in what is today Turkey, according to Italian archaeologists who announced the results of chemical analysis at a recent meeting in Florence. Digging at Arslantepe, a site in the Taurus mountains of southeast Anatolia, Marcella Frangipane, professor at the department of historical science, archaeology and anthropology of antiquities of Rome University, found nine swords dating back to about 3,300 B.C. Blade and hilt were cast in one piece; moreover, three swords were beautifully inlaid with...

<p>The U.S. military expedition into Iraq has skirted ancient sites named in Jewish and Christian scriptures and apparently avoided sacred turf where Shi'ite Muslims had their historic and bloody showdown with rival Sunnis.</p> <p>Troops that invaded from the south crossed territory called the cradle of civilization and traditionally considered the site of the Garden of Eden. The troops passed by Abraham's birthplace of Ur and the heart of ancient Sumer, whose poetry told of a creation and flood like that in the book of Genesis.</p>

Two dogs digging for a buried bone in their owner's backyard in Chile found a 2,500-year-old mummy. Ivan Paredes, who lives in Arica, could not believe his eyes when his dogs dug up the ancient body. He told La Cuarta online: "The dogs were trying to find bones buried in the backyard as usual, but they started to bark very loud and I came to check what was going on and found the mummy of child." Archaeologists believe it is the remains of a boy buried by his parents who would probably have been farmers. The mummy, said to be...

The Great Pyramid of Khufu has always fascinated people because it is the only ancient wonder of the world that exists today. It is also possible people are fascinated because Khufu’s pyramid, especially the interior, is very complex. The modern entrance to the pyramid was created in the Ninth Century A.D. by el-Mamoun son of Haroun el-Rhasied. The true entrance is above this one. This passage goes down through the pyramid, and then connects to another corridor that ascends to the King’s and Queen’s Chambers. The original passage continues downwards into an unfinished chamber directly under the pyramid. Discussion about...

Vice minister of foreign affairs Wang Yi summoned Japanese ambassador to China, Koreshige Anami, and made a "formal representation" over Japan's reported leasing of three disputed isles in the East China Sea, state press said early Sunday. Xinhua news agency said Wang Saturday noted that the Diaoyu Islands -- also known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China -- and adjacent islets had been a part of China since ancient times. "Any unilateral action on the islands by the Japanese side is illegal and invalid, which China will not accept," Wang said. "The Chinese government and people have the...

Details about an undersea site reportedly containing ancient city walls more than 10,000 years old will soon be unveiled as the government announced its support for an exploratory project yesterday. Huang Yung-chuan, deputy director of the National Museum of History, announced the project in a press conference. The site, located between Hsichi island and Tungchi island, which belong to Penghu County, has attracted the attention of a group of experienced divers since August because of local legend regarding an undersea temple. "After numerous attempts, we finally discovered the stone walls at the northeast side of Tungchi island at the end...

Ancient history as taught today is a disaster area. The chronology of the first and second millennium BCE is badly wrong. The history of ancient history revisionism offered here is drawn largely from the pages of SIS publications over the last 25 years. The Revision of Ancient History - A Perspective By P John Crowe. An edited and extended version of a paper presented to the SIS Jubilee Conference, Easthampstead Park, Sept. 17-19th 1999 [1] Internet Paper Revision no.1 March 2001 Contents Introduction An Outline History of Revising Ancient History - Up to 1952. 2.1 Exaggerating Antiquity. 2.2 The Early...