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Archaeologists associated with Mexico’s National Institute of Archaeology and History (INAH) made a strange discovery earlier this month at the Templo Mayor, the temple complex at the center of Mexico City, formerly ancient capital of Tenochtitlan. The INAH archaeologists uncovered a ritual offering of starfish, about 160 in total, enveloping the skeleton of a jaguar, according to a recent video released by the institute. Like the majority of the offerings found at the Templo Mayor, the starfish were dedicated to the two-sided god Huehueteotl-Xiuhtecuhtli, who represents both water and fire, agriculture and war. The starfish were first discovered in 2019...

The little slave room contains three beds, a ceramic pot and a wooden chest.Pompeii archaeologists said Saturday they have unearthed the remains of a "slave room" in an exceptionally rare find at a Roman villa destroyed by Mount Vesuvius' eruption nearly 2,000 years ago.The little room with three beds, a ceramic pot and a wooden chest was discovered during a dig at the Villa of Civita Giuliana, a suburban villa just a few hundred metres from the rest of the ancient city.An almost intact ornate Roman chariot was discovered here at the start of this year, and archaeologists said...

Founded by the Phoenicians and later conquered by the Romans, the ancient city of Leptis Magna in Lybia is often described as the "Rome of Africa". UNESCO classified these ancient ruins as a World Heritage Site. In 2016, this site along with four others were placed on the list of endangered sites. For the head of the Leptis Magna Control Committee, neglect is the greatest enemy. "The threats that this city faces are indirect. Such threats come in different forms such as the lack of supplies, which never existed in the first place, the fact that archaeological missions have been...

It’s already ‘Parks & Wreck’ and it may get a whole lot worse! Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday the budget-battered Parks Department is in line for additional cuts even as the existing pare-downs have left many city green spaces covered in trash. “It’s going to be a struggle to keep them as clean as we want them to be, if we have to go through with more layoffs,” Hizzoner told reporters during his daily press briefing.

The eyes of a visiting archaeologist lit up when he was shown the 10 tiny, tarnished discs that had sat unnoticed in storage for two and a half years at a dig on a southern Japan island. He had been to archaeological sites in Italy and Egypt, and recognized the “little round things” as old coins, including a few likely dating to the Roman Empire. “I was so excited I almost forgot what I was there for, and the coins were all we talked about,” said Toshio Tsukamoto of the Gangoji Institute for Research of Cultural Property in Nara, an...

The long-lost Biblical city of Sodom — a city that the Bible claims was destroyed by God because of its immorality — may finally have been found. Archaeologists have uncovered a slew of monumental structures and artifacts in a Jordan Valley mound known as Tall el-Hammam offering evidence of a city-state that is believed to have thrived during the Bronze Age when other Holy Land cities were being abandoned or were in decline. Based on the location, dates of occupation, and the remains of other ancient cities nearby, archaeologists think it's the best candidate yet for what was once Sodom....

f all the Jonathan Gruber videos released so far, this one could be the most damaging. Revealed on Tuesday's Greta Van Susteren program on Fox News, the latest blockbuster has the Obamacare architect explaining if your state doesn't set up an exchange, its residents aren't eligible for tax credits, precisely the opposite of what the Administration is arguing before the Supreme Court. The question before the Supreme Court is whether the language of the Affordable Care Act restricts the premium subsidies (in the form of tax credits) to residents buying insurance from a state-run exchange, and prohibits the credits on...

The federal government shutdown claimed another casualty Monday - the annual American Indian ceremony on Alcatraz in protest of Columbus Day. Indian activists and their supporters could not take the morning ferry to Alcatraz, as they've done since the mid-1980s, for prayers, songs, dancing and speeches because the island - part of the National Park Service - is closed. Instead, they gathered at Pier 33, from where they usually depart, and marched to Washington Square Park in North Beach, heart of the city's Italian heritage and Columbus Day festivities, then headed for Coit Tower to protest by the Christopher Columbus...

Symbolizing the dramatic decline of Motor City, many buildings and structures in the former manufacturing mecca of Detroit, Mich. lay in crumbling and weather-beaten ruins. In his bestselling book, "The World Without Us," Alan Weisman (who has reported from abandoned cities such as Chernobyl, Ukraine and Varosha, Cyprus) wrote that structures crumble as weather does unrepaired damage and other life forms create new habitats. A common structure would begin to fall apart as water eventually leaks into the roof, erodes the wood and rusts the nail, he wrote. Without intervention, many of Detroit's abandoned structures would eventually succumb to nature's...

Live Out Your Walking Dead Fantasies In This Abandoned Tennessee Prison - Modern Ruins We're going to have to wait until season three of The Walking Dead TV show to see the zombie-filled prison. But if you're near Nashville, you can visit the Tennessee State Prison, an abandoned penitentiary. It looks like the zombies got to it first. Even before it fell into decay, this prison suffered plenty of woes at the hands of its prisoners. In 1902, a group of prisoners blew out a wing of the facility, killing one prisoner and allowing others to escape (two were never...

In which I complain about a federal agent dropping the hammer on an 11-year-old for having the temerity to rescue a protected species of woodpecker. The fine on the young girl has since been rescinded, not thanks to common sense, but thanks to media coverage.

The earth shuddered. According to an American observer, "every Building rolled and jostled like a Ship at Sea; which put in Ruins almost every House, Church, and Publick Building, with an incredible Slaughter of the Inhabitants." Fires broke out all across the city, and the river rose 20 feet, breaking its banks and engulfing the lower elevations. It was Nov. 1, 1755, and without warning, Lisbon, capital of the Portuguese empire, became a wasteland. Earthquake, fire and flood left 15,000 people dead (reports at the time mistakenly put the number at 50,000); 17,000 of the city's 20,000 homes were destroyed....

The woman wailed outside the ruins of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Port-au-Prince, the iconic Roman Catholic church that symbolized Haiti's religious fervor. "This is what God did!" she cried Friday morning. "See what God can do!" Tuesday's earthquake brought down the roof of the enormous pink-and-cream church, filling the apse and nave with tons of rubble. The quake punched out its vivid stained glass windows, twisted its wrought-iron fencing and sliced brick walls like cake. The western steeple, which had soared more than 100 feet, toppled onto parishioners praying at an outdoor shrine to St. Emmanuel. Flies buzzed around...

Searching Among A Haitian Cathedral's Ruins The collapse of Notre Dame Cathedral in Port-au-Prince struck at the heart of a religiously fervent people. By Tracy Wilkinson January 16, 2010 Reporting from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti - The woman wailed outside the ruins of the Notre Dame Cathedral of Port-au-Prince, the iconic Roman Catholic church that symbolized Haiti's religious fervor. "This is what God did!" she cried Friday morning. "See what God can do!" Tuesday's earthquake brought down the roof of the enormous pink-and-cream church, filling the apse and nave with tons of rubble. The quake punched out its vivid stained glass windows,...

Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) city ruins have been discovered in Wuyuan County, Hetao Plain, China's Inner Mongolia. It's said that the scale of the city ruins is rarely seen in Hetao Plain. The city ruins are located in Taal Town of Wuyuan County, Bayannaoer City in China's Inner Mongolia and once covered with grassland. The city wall was about 2 km long and 1 km wide and is made up of compressed earth. The east wall is 2 meters high and remarkably preserved, while, the south wall has already collapsed and is now a road base 80 centimeters high...

So heres my trip to Chernobyl in pictures.The trip was booked with http://www.tourchernobyl.com. I just emailed info@tourkiev.com, and got in touch with the guy who runs the whole place, Sergei. Really, really helpful guy who talked me through the whole process and answered numerous dumbass emails i sent him. You can book everything through them, from the flights (cost me about 500 euro) to hotel (160 euro for 2 nights), to a pickup at the airport and dropoff when leaving ($40 each). First off we need to give props to our guide, Yuri. Yuri has worked in the zone for...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has landed himself on yet another national magazine cover. Except this one isn't so flattering: "Girly-Man Ruins State," is how the National Review headlines the piece. The full story is not available online, but Chris Reed, editorial writer for the San Diego Union-Tribune, excerpts parts of the piece. Key line: "Conservatives were cheap dates and missed the subtle signals that Arnold lacked the fierce spirit of liberty that characterized (President Ronald) Reagan's approach to governance."

The remains of the 855-foot stone wall that gives Fort Mountain its name wind like a snake around the northeast Georgia park,and its very presence begs a question:Who put them there? A Cherokee legend attributes the wall to a mysterious band of "moon-eyed people" led by a Welsh prince named Madoc who appeared in the area more than 300 years before Columbus sailed to America. A plaque at the wall says matter-of-factly it was built by Madoc and his Welsh followers,but most professional archeologists give no credence to the legend. "There has been no archaeological evidence to back up stories...

(IsraelNN.com) Hamas terrorists have videoed themselves amidst the ruins of the former Jewish town of Atzmona in Gush Katif, Gaza - singing, dancing and play-acting their militaristic plans against Israel. The set for most of the act is the destroyed synagogue of Atzmona. It can be seen here in its former glory. Other former houses in Atzmona appear to be part of a training ground for urban-area fighting. The video, which also contains long sections of a woman terrorist speaking in Arabic, is being circulated by Jewish sites partly as a warning of what Hamas has in mind for additional...

Eighteen stone pillars have been excavated (Pics: Sanjib Mukherjee) Indian archaeologists say they have found remains which point to the existence of a city which flourished 2,500 years ago in eastern India.The remains have been discovered at Sisupalgarh near Bhubaneswar, capital of the eastern state of Orissa. Researchers say the items found during the excavation point to a highly developed urban settlement. The population of the city could have been in the region of 20,000 to 25,000, the archaeologists claim. The excavations include 18 stone pillars, pottery, terracotta ornaments and bangles, finger rings, ear spools and pendants made of...