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Archaeologists working in Trondheim in Norway are amazed by the discovery of a human skeleton in the bottom of an abandoned castle well. The skeleton provides evidence that confirms dramatic historical events mentioned in the Sagas. The location and contents of the well are mentioned in Sverre's Saga, a chronicle of one of the kings of Norway, and one of very few historical manuscripts describing events in the Norwegian Viking age and medieval period. Scholars have questioned the chronicle's trustworthiness as a historical document. But now, at least one part of the saga seems to hold truth -- down to...

Who Really Discovered America? Did ancient Hebrews reach the shores of the North and South American continents thousands of years before Christopher Columbus? What evidence is there for Hebrew and Israelite occupation of the Western Hemisphere even a thousand years before Christ? Was trans-Atlantic commerce and travel fairly routine in the days of king Solomon of Israel? Read here the intriguing, fascinating saga of the TRUE DISCOVERERS OF AMERICA! William F. Dankenbring A stone in a dry creek bed in New Mexico, discovered by early settlers in the region, is one of the most amazing archaeological discoveries in the Western...

A popular USO port in the Israeli city of Haifa was the center of a bitter dispute over U.S. funding for overseas operations in the late 1980s. Chuck Hagel, the one-time Republican Senator from Nebraska who President Barack Obama may nominate as the next secretary of defense, led the controversial charge to shutter the port during his tenure with the organization. Hagel, who served as president and CEO of the World USO from 1987 to 1990, expressed intense opposition to the USO Haifa Center during a tumultuous 1989 meeting with Jewish leaders, according to multiple sources involved in the fight...

Obviously we’ve seen our share of media lies, but the latest fabrications circulated take a big slice of the cake. The UK Daily Mail reports that I was “in tears” as Todd “rages over Hollywood stars ripping” me in the new film “The Undefeated.” Huh? Really? The beautiful town of Pella, Iowa, was flooded with an army of media covering the premiere of this film. You’d think someone would have caught those tears and rages on tape, right? Well, here’s a video of the remarks I made at the Pella Opera House right after viewing the film. The emotion clearly...

Seahenge saga comes full circle 23 August 2007 The story of Seahenge has turned full circle, as the ancient timbers are returned to Norfolk. But as experts prepare them to go on display at King's Lynn Museum, CHRIS BISHOP finds an enigma that remains unsolved. Nearly 10 years after its controversial excavation, the mystery remains. While the upturned oak tree and its ring of timbers have taught us a few things we didn't know about our ancestors, we still don't know why they built it. Late in 1998, a long-forgotten landscape began re-emerging from beneath the sands of Holme Beach,...

Iceland's Unwritten Saga Volume 60 Number 2, March/April 2007 by Zach Zorich Did Viking settlers pillage their environment? Birch and willow forests like this one at Lake Mývatn used to cover much of Iceland's interior. Viking settlers cleared the forest for their pastures and burned the trees to make charcoal. The forests have never recovered. It is estimated that 90 percent of Iceland's pre-settlement forest is gone. (Sigurgeir Sigurjónsson) Even when the weather is clear, gusts of wind lash the hillsides overlooking the Viking-age farm at Hrísheimar leaving the land raw and strewn with pebbles. A few miles east the...

The Department of Consumer Affairs has assigned a manager with a long history of fixing troubled bureaucracies to begin the task of cleaning up the Board of Chiropractic Examiners. The board has been roiled by disclosures of impropriety and infighting for several weeks. Capitol Weekly also has learned that the former chairwoman of the board, Dr. Sharon Ufberg, was accused of practicing without a license while sitting on the board during 2001. The allegations were among those detailed in one of two lawsuits pending against board managers by current and former staff members. Reached by phone in New York, Ufberg...

Khadijah Ghafur sat silently in hijab and correctional jumpsuit, facing a judge, a lengthy prison term and the complete collapse of her elaborate plans. With a boundless determination that opened eyes and pockets, Sister Khadijah had built a chain of state-funded charter schools that stretched from Sunnyvale to Southern California. Now they were closed, and the self-styled civil rights activist from Selma, Ala., was convicted of stealing tens of thousands of dollars of public money meant for kids. Superior Court Judge R.L. Putnam got right to the point. He sentenced her to 14 years. But even after Ghafur's monthlong trial,...

It is the year 22006 A.D. and through the wonders of literary license, we are able to look down on a group of scientists who have made a stunning and grisly discovery. An archaeological expedition is being led by Professor Ralph Jameson from Belize University. Jameson is one of the foremost authorities in pre-Ice Age antiquity. Jameson's discoveries have changed the way the world views North America's ancient history. During a trip to the North American continent, which for the past 18,000 plus years has been buried under more than a mile of glacial ice, Jameson is accompanied by a...

Mick Jagger and his bandmates will never have to worry about where the next paycheque is coming from. And that is, perhaps, something they should be grateful for judging by the apparent apathy surrounding tickets sales for the Rolling Stones's homecoming concerts in Britain this weekend. Incredibly for the biggest grossing tour band on earth, hundreds official tickets are still available for their Twickenham concert on Sunday and next Tuesday as well as their concerts in Cardiff and Glasgow. Many more are also languishing on the internet auction site eBay with bids starting at as little as one penny. Promoters...

Is John F. Kerry Fit to Serve? - The SWIFT Boat Saga By Jennifer King August 9, 2004 Fast and furious, the rounds have been coming in. Two days ago, a group calling itself "SWIFT Boat Veterans For Truth" (www.swiftvets.com) put out a devastating advertisement about John Kerry's record in Vietnam. The SWIFT boat veterans are all men who served alongside John Kerry during his four month tenure in Vietnam. Among other charges, the SWIFT boat veterans allege: John Kerry was reckless and did not follow orders. Kerry was personally responsible for shooting a fleeing Vietnamese soldier in the back....

Madonna and Britney Spears are so last week. The hot new celebrity kissing couple is Meredith Vieira and ... me? "The View" co-host laid one on me a la Madonna and Britney at the MTV Video Music Awards during my audition Thursday for the open spot on the ABC daytime talk show I had no idea it was coming (though my co-workers placing bets back in the newsroom insisted that I did). But it was good TV. At least I think it was the whole experience was such a blur. This much I remember: In the pre-show meeting, Vieira, Star...

<p>Will the State Department get away with betraying an American mother?</p> <p>No American should ever have the awful choice Sarah Saga faced this week from her precarious sanctuary inside the U.S. consulate in Jeddah: your life and freedom, or your children. Yet that's exactly the choice Saudi Arabia is forcing on Ms. Saga, and other American women just like her.</p>

<p>LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a Viking longhouse that many believe was the home of Snorri Thorfinnsson, thought to be the first European born in the New World.</p> <p>The 1,000-year-old ruins were found in a glacial valley in northern Iceland during a survey of Viking-era buildings led by archaeologists at the University of California, Los Angeles.</p>

Kennewick Man saga lives on This story was published 6/17/02 By Mike Lee Herald staff writer With the fate of the ancient bones found in Kennewick six years ago remaining in legal limbo, Peter Lampson has decided to take action. It's been a year, and the judge still hasn't issued a public pronouncement about the future of Kennewick Man. But the 17-year-old Lampson isn't waiting for the ruling to make his mark. In one of a handful of developments related to the once high-profile case, Lampson is erecting a sign in Columbia Park to commemorate Kennewick's world-famous former resident, who...