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BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, Nov. 14, 2007 – For more than 1,500 years they stood watch over the people of Afghanistan’s Bamyan province. The Buddhas of Bamyan remained untouched, nestled in the heart of the Hindu Kush Mountains until they were destroyed by the Taliban in March 2001. An Afghan National Army soldier stands guard at the ruins of the Buddhas of Bamyan. The Buddhas of Bamyan were two monumental statues of standing Buddhas carved into the side of a cliff in the Bamyan valley of central Afghanistan. Photo by Senior Airman Dilia DeGrego, USAF  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

A researcher investigating underwater rock formations off the coast of Japan believes they are the remnants of an Asian equivalent of Atlantis — an ancient civilisation swallowed up by the ocean. Marine geologist Masaaki Kimura says he has identified the ruins of a city off the coast of Yonaguni Island on the southwestern tip of Japan. He has worked for decades to prove the rocks found by scuba diving tourists in 1985 are from an ancient city, which he says may have sparked the fable of Mu — a Pacific equivalent of the tale of the lost city of Atlantis....

In 1968 a 1600-foot long J-shaped formation of stone blocks was reportedly discovered about one mile off the west coast of North Bimini, Bahamas by a Miami-based biologist, Dr. J. Manson Valentine. The formation was initially thought to resemble a collapsed wall or a road and the unfortunate name “Bimini Road” was attached to it. Media coverage speculated that the site was associated with Atlantis and sensationalized reports about the formation were widely disseminated. Shortly thereafter, four geologists asserted that the formation was nothing but natural limestone. Most archaeologists and geologists have accepted the four geologists’ claims without question. However,...

Ancient Roman Town Ruins Found in Bulgaria 1 May 2007, Tuesday Archaeologists had to dig only 30 centimeters deep to uncover the stone foundations of the houses. photo by Bulgarian National Television. Bulgarian archaeologists have unearthed the remains of an early Roman town near the village of Gorsko Ablanovo, 30 kilometers south of Russe, Bulgaria's national television reported on Tuesday. Initial artefact finds include a bronze duck figurine of a previously unfamiliar design and a silver fibula, only the fifth documented find of its kind in Bulgaria. The stone foundations of the houses have been preserved well despite intensive agricultural...

US asks us to pick up litter while city is in ruins – mayor of Baghdad By Damien McElroy in Baghdad Last Updated: 2:02am GMT 03/03/2007 Women walk past US and Iraqi soldiers on a joint patrol in a commercial district in Baghdad Baghdad's mayor lashed out at the United States yesterday – for spending huge sums on projects to collect rubbish and plant trees while his devastated war-torn city struggles without electricity. At a meeting in the city's Green Zone the mayor, Sabir al-Isawi, interrupted US officials in the middle of a presentation to key Iraqi officials, to say...

Contact: Joshua Weinberg joshua_weinberg@discovery.com 240-328-3988 Discovery Channel Pre-Columbian ruin discovered in PeruFind to be featured in Discovery Channel's new series Chasing Mummies Silver Spring, Md. -- Explorer Keith Muscutt has announced the existence of a previously unknown pre-Columbian ruin in Peru: the Huaca La Penitenciaría de la Meseta, which will be featured in Discovery Channel's new series, CHASING MUMMIES, premiering January 2008. Located in the cloud-forested eastern slope of the Andes mountains, the ruin is believed to belong to the ancient Chachapoya -- a civilization that flourished in the upper Amazon, between its Huallaga and the Marañón tributaries, from about...

Ancient weapons found in ruins in Syria By TARA BURGHART, Associated Press Writer Tue Jan 16, 12:29 PM ET CHICAGO - It was the ancient version of a last stand: Twelve clay bullets lined up and ready to be shot from slings in a desperate attempt to stop fierce invaders who soon would reduce much of the city to rubble. The discovery was made in the ruins of Hamoukar, an ancient settlement in northeastern Syria located just miles from the border with Iraq. Thought to be one of the world's earliest cities and located in northern Mesopotamia between the Tigris...

Mayan ruins said center of mysterious civilization Fri Sep 8, 2006 11:43pm ET TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (Reuters) - Experts are examining the ruins of a pre-Columbian culture in an area of Honduras where there had been no previous evidence of major indigenous civilization. The site, discovered earlier this year, consists of 14 mounds that form part of what are believed to be ceremonial grounds, the Honduran Institute of Anthropology said. "They are part of a very important site, a governing center of a pre-Columbian civilization," Oscar Neils, the institute's head of research, told Reuters. "We had no idea that there was...

CANCUN, Mexico - On a neighborly sightseeing jaunt Thursday with the leaders of Mexico and Canada, President Bush said the three were working to improve vital relationships that can better the lives of all their people. Mexican President Vicente Fox treated Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to an hour-long tour of the ancient Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza before they began two days of talks amid spring breakers in this Caribbean resort city. "This is a good start to a very important series of discussions," Bush said, standing alongside the other two with the massive pyramid called "El...

Source: University of New Hampshire Released: Wed 15-Feb-2006, 09:15 ET NASA, UNH Scientists Uncover Lost Maya Ruins – from Space NASA and University of New Hampshire scientists are using space- and aircraft-based "remote-sensing" technology to uncover remains of the ancient Maya culture using the chemical signature of the civilization's ancient building materials. Newswise — Remains of the ancient Maya culture, mysteriously destroyed at the height of its reign in the ninth century, have been hidden in the rainforests of Central America for more than 1,000 years. Now, NASA and University of New Hampshire scientists are using space- and aircraft-based "remote-sensing"...

Tourists queue for disaster trips in the ruins of New Orleans By Alec Russell (Filed: 07/01/2006) Every morning Isabelle Cossart sets off in her white minibus to pick up tourists from their hotels to take them on a tour of the Big Easy and its swampy surroundings. She has followed the same routine for 27 years. But in recent weeks her guests have headed into more controversial territory as they bump around an area that is not mentioned on any of the city's tourist maps: the Lower 9th Ward, the mainly black and poor neighbourhood that was all but levelled...

Giant crabs colonise Rome’s ancient ruins By Web Editor. Filed under Generalon October 28th, 2005 (ANSA) - A rare species of crab has taken up residence in one of the city’s most important archaeological sites and is not only thriving but also growing to abnormal proportions. The freshwater crab ‘Potamon fluviatile’ was already known to survive in small numbers in rivers and waterways from Sicily to Tuscany, where it generally grows to a length of about 4 cm. But according to three zoologists at the Roma 3 university, an isolated colony of the crabs is also doing very well in...

Once considered one of the most beautiful cities in the world, Havana is today a city in ruins. This is the Havana that the tourists don't see, because the tourists stay in compounds where Cubans are not allowed to enter, but this is the Havana where the real Cubans live! And in addition to destroying Havana, Castro's stupidity, cruelty and mismanagement has destroyed the entire Cuban nation! Thousands of deaths, over 2,000,000 exiles, 46 years without the most elemental freedoms, 46 years without being able to choose their leaders in a free election, 46 years of suffering and sacrifices to...

Ruins of Manichean center discovered in West Azerbaijan Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN (MNA) –- The ruins of what is believed to be the center of Mani (216-276 C.E.), the founder of Manicheanism, was discovered during the seventh stage of excavations at the ancient site of Qalaychi Hill in West Azerbaijan Province which began last month. Experts used to believe that Hasanlu Mound was the major early Manichean center, but the recent excavation seems to prove otherwise. An inscription found at Qalaychi Hill last year showed that Qalaychi Hill, not Hasanlu Mound, was probably Mani’s early center. After the most...

BUCHAREST (AFP) - Construction workers for the US firm Bechtel found neolithic ruins which are more than 6,000 years old while building a highway in Romania, archeologists said. "It is a surprising discovery of great importance for the region," Ion Stanciu, who heads a team of archeologists, told AFP. He said the ruins consisted of a funeral stone, the remains of several houses from the bronze age, and pieces of pottery. "We are going to suggest to officials from Bechtel to consider building a museum to house these exceptional discoveries," Stanciu said. "We expect to find more ruins, perhaps the...

Pre-Inca Ruins Emerging From Peru's Cloud Forests John Roach for National Geographic News September 16, 2004 On the eastern slope of the Andes mountains in northern Peru, forests cloak the ruins of a pre-Inca civilization, the size and scope of which explorers and archaeologists are only now beginning to understand. Known as the Chachapoya, the civilization covered an estimated 25,000 square miles (65,000 square kilometers). The Chachapoya, distinguished by fair skin and great height, lived primarily on ridges and mountaintops in circular stone houses. Sean Savoy, leader of the Gran Saposoa-El Dorado IV Expedition (July-August 2004), points out a stone...

Feb. 3 — An Iraqi dam under construction on the Tigris River threatens to submerge the remains of the spiritual capital of the ancient Assyrian empire in an act archaeologists liken to flooding the Vatican.Much of the city of Ashur, which thrived for more than 1,000 years until the Babylonians razed it in 614 B.C., could vanish under a lake to be created by the Makhoul dam, U.S. and European archaeologists said.More than 60 outlying historical sites are also threatened.Ashur, or Assur, was of such importance that it lent its name to the Assyrian civilization itself."Losing it would be...

China publishes research results on Koguryo Kingdom ruins www.chinaview.cn 2004-07-01 22:53:01 CHANGCHUN, July 1 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese specialists have published four academic papers to report their latest achievements in research on the site of capital cities and tombs of the ancient Koguryo Kingdom of China. The academic papers are the first complete documents on Koguryo issue ever written by Chinese. Before this, the only archaeological report about the Koguryo Kingdom ruins in the world was published in Japan in the 1930s, according to Jin Xudong, head of the Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. The four academic papers,...

Unmasking Sanxingdui Ruins www.chinaview.cn 2004-05-07 00:15:40 CHENGDU, May 6 (Xinhuanet) -- In an out-of-the-way area of southwest China not on the beaten path of most foreign tourists visiting the picturesque home of the giant panda, giant Buddha and Tibetan people lies a little-known site that holds its own unique mystique. Some 100 years ago, Sanxingdui in today's Sichuan Province hadn't seemed to anyone anything more than a typical rural area, and just 20 years ago its significance was not fully known. But when a farmer hollowing out a just-dug ditch in 1929 found some jade he unwittingly opened the door...

Medieval ruins found off Atami? The Asahi Shimbun These steps, archaeologists believe, may be signs of a city from the Kamakura Period. ATAMI, Shizuoka Prefecture-Archaeologists say they may have found ruins of a submerged city from the Kamakura Period (1192-1333) off the coast of Shizuoka Prefecture. They say numerous stone structures at depths of 20 to 50 meters unlikely occurred naturally and appear to have been made deliberately. Archaeologists pinpointed about 20 sites of interest covering a 1-square-kilometer area. While no one is certain, historical evidence points to an ancient city having existed in this part of Sagami Bay. Hyakurensho,...