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There are some historical mysteries that may never be solved, from the date that Jesus was born to the identity of Jack the Ripper to the location of Cleopatra's tomb. Sometimes, that's because the relevant excavated material has been lost or an archaeological site has been destroyed. Other times, it's because new evidence is unlikely to come forward or the surviving evidence is too vague to lead scholars to a consensus. The lack of answers only makes these enigmas more intriguing. Here, Live Science takes a look at 14 of these historical questions that may never have definitive explanations. WAS...

"The legend says that Templars, under cover of darkness, sunk a wooden box with golden coins and the Holy Grail," Marek Karolczak, a local historian, told CNN Travel. The lake mentioned in the stories dried out long ago, "and the treasure has either been stolen or lost forever in the swamp," he added.Now, archaeologists are investigating one of the chapels the order built in western Poland upon its return from the Holy Land. The small village of Chwarszczany, in the region of West Pomeranian, is home to the chapel of St. Stanislaus, constructed from red bricks by the Templars as...

Former Monty Python star Terry Gilliam has hit out at the #MeToo Movement, labelling it “a witch hunt”, saying he is “tired, as a white male, of being blamed for everything that is wrong with the world”. The writer and director made comments during an interview where he also said he “better not be a man”. Talking to the Independent, Gilliam said: “Yeah, I said #MeToo is a witch hunt - I really feel there were a lot of people, decent people, or mildly irritating people, who were getting hammered. That’s wrong. I don’t like mob mentality.

Department of Energy's scientists announced this week that they have designed a plastic that can be recycled over and over again. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory wrote in Nature Chemistry that they had designed new plastic, called polydiketoenamine or PDK, that could be disassembled down to the molecular level and reassembled into different shapes, textures or colors multiple times. Modern-day plastics are reinforced with chemicals to make them more resilient and often end up making the material more difficult to fully recycle. ..... < snip > < snip > ..... Even the most recyclable plastic is only being...

Monte Python has given us much more than a lot of laughs. Using scenes from medieval Europe, his troupe sets up the backdrop for a contemporary story that is unfolding before our very eyes. Who can forget the burial crew working their way through the city during the great plague with large pull cart? The cart is loaded with corpses as the lead character cries out, “Bring out your dead!” One poor soul is carried out to be thrown onto the cart as he argues, “But, I’m not dead yet! I’m just hungover!” In another scene, we remember the knight...

A little humor on Election Day;)

LONDON (Reuters) - British police raided an English country pub this week in search of a stolen wooden relic believed by some to be the Holy Grail - a cup from which, according to the Bible, Jesus is said to have drunk at his final meal before crucifixion.

Arthur and his knights begin an earnest - and all together silly - quest for the Holy Grail. In doing so, they will be challenged by vicious knights, vicious rabbits, and Frenchmen who speak in a ree-dik-eweloss ahccent! Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones. Special Møøse effects by Fred Q. Llama.

On Easter Sunday night, more Americans watched “The Ten Commandments” on ABC than any other show, even allowing for the fact that the audience was not as big as last year’s. What was most telling was how it creamed the religious fare shown on the Travel Channel and the Science Channel. The Travel Channel gave us “Greatest Mysteries: Holy Land,” a one-hour presentation that took the viewer on a rambling ride through hidden rooms and caves looking for the Holy Grail; a guest appearance by Heinrich Himmler, head of the Nazi SS, rounded out the first segment. The Shroud of...

Archaeologist sparks hunt for Holy Grail By Nick Pisa in Rome Last Updated: 8:47pm BST 20/06/2007 An archaeologist has sparked a Da Vinci Code-style hunt for the Holy Grail after claiming ancient records show it is buried under a 6th century church in Rome. The cup - said to have been used by Christ at the Last Supper - is the focus of countless legends and has been sought for centuries. Alfredo Barbagallo, an Italian archaeologist, claims that it is buried in a chapel-like room underneath the Basilica of San Lorenzo Fuori le Mura, one of the seven churches which...

  So glorious, so mysterious, the Holy Grail symbolizes an elusive object of desire.   Although now usually identified as the chalice of the Last Supper sought by Arthurian heroes, the Grail has been pictured as a dish, a ciborium, and even a white stone. Indeed, for a long time, its name had a rather mundane meaning.   The word "grail" is derived through Old French from the Latin gradale (by degrees) and refers to a type of deep platter from which foods were served -- course by course -- at a medieval banquet. "Grail" is first recorded in English in...

Spanish historians claim they’ve discovered the 2,000-year-old Holy Chalice, the biblical cup that Jesus Christ used during the Last Supper. Margarita Torres, a medieval history lecturer at León University and Jose Ortiza del Rio, an art historian, penned a new book claiming that years of research has led them to conclude that Christ’s chalice is somehow inside a medieval goblet that has been on display in Spain for 1,000 years, Daily Mail reported. Residing inside the Basilica of San Isidoro, a church in Spain that is located on the site of an ancient Roman temple, the goblet — known as...

Just in time for Easter, from The New York Daily News: Two historians claim the search for the Holy Grail is over.The famous cup used by Jesus Christ during the Last Supper was identified in a book written by Margarita Torres Jose Manuel Ortega del Rio, titled “Kings of the Grail” and published last week, as the jewel-encrusted goblet on display at the San Isidro Basilica in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon.News of the discovery caused masses of people to flock to the historic church to view the precious chalice – forcing the operators of the museum to pull...

Spanish historians say they have discovered what Monty Python could not – the Holy Grail, the legendary cup Jesus supposedly drank from at the Last Supper. The Spaniards – Margarita Torres and José Ortega del Río – believe the 2,000-year-old vessel is in a church in León in northern Spain. The pair spent three years studying the history of the chalice and last week published a book, “The Kings of the Grail,” making their case. The onyx chalice, they explained, was concealed within another antique vessel known as the Chalice of Doña Urruca, which is located in León’s basilica of...

"Standing proudly on the side of an English hill, its religious roots go back 2,000 years. But a single night of vandalism has left an ancient site of pilgrimage in splinters. The Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury has been chopped down in what is being seen by some as a deliberately anti-Christian act. A feature of the skyline surrounding the Somerset town, the tree has been visited by thousands retracing the steps said to have been taken by Joseph of Arimathea, who some say was Jesus’ great uncle. Legend says it sprang from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea, the...

I love living in the United States and love political debates! We had an important senate election here and I proudly chose Scott Brown for senate because Martha Coakley was totally clueless and incompetent. I looked at both candidates for president carefully. John McCain is a true military hero and even worked across the aisle on McCain-Feingold, McCain-Lieberman and McCain-Kennedy. Thry were three very good bills. However, McCain is anti-choice, anti-gay and too pro-gun. Barack Obama was short on experience, but I liked his postions on many issues except for the middle east and he's not agressive enough on the...

Its interesting to think that some of the great present day families of England may have knowledge of the history of the Holy Grail.

A former Holly High School music teacher accused of having sex with two students was sentenced to jail Wednesday and barred from most unsupervised contact with minors. Ranee Sue Proper hugged supporters before facing Oakland Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick, who sentenced her to five years probation, with the first nine months of that in Oakland County Jail. The judge also ordered her to participate in sex offender treatment and not to have any unsupervised contact with minors under 18 other than her own children and relatives’ children.

Satanists have struck at one of Turin's most famous churches, stealing a vial of holy water and a missal, or prayer book. The items were taken from behind the altar at the Chiesa della Gran Madre di Dio, or Church of the Great Mother of God, at the end of last week.   An artist's impression of a Satanist A source at Turin police said a special team of carabinieri military police are investigating the break-in, and that the "most likely explanation" was that "the items were stolen to be used in a rite of black magic". The holy water,...

ROME, Italy (AP) -- It's a new Da Vinci code, but this time it could be for real. An Italian musician and computer technician claims to have uncovered musical notes encoded in Leonardo Da Vinci's "Last Supper," raising the possibility that the Renaissance genius might have left behind a somber composition to accompany the scene depicted in the 15th-century wall painting. "It sounds like a requiem," Giovanni Maria Pala said. "It's like a soundtrack that emphasizes the passion of Jesus." Painted from 1494 to 1498 in Milan's Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie, the "Last Supper" vividly depicts a key...