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A SCOTTISH archaeological expedition, operating on a shoestring budget, has uncovered an ancient Egyptian city, buried by the sands of time. The expedition, which scrapes together £10,000 a year to maintain its dig near Memphis, the ancient Pharaonic capital, has written a new page of Egypt’s history. For the newly-discovered town, situated near the necropolis of Saqqara, 15 miles from Cairo, is almost certainly where the workmen who built the pyramids lived with their families. The presence of large temples, some nearly 200ft square, a number of tombs and the mix of large and small dwellings indicate a place...

Link post: Geology Picture of the Week, February 2-8, 2003

A combined oceanographic and geologic image today. Click the image below to see the larger image, which is only 515 MB. I was struck both by the phenomenon caught by the satellite and also the amazing colors of the Namibian landscape. See the link at the bottom for another Namibian feature of note, which is north of the area seen in this image. Web page: Sulfur plume off Namibia Brandberg Massif The Brandberg Massif is a highly- visible geologic feature that is familar to astronauts.

The missing sun temples Six Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty built massive sun temples at Abu Sir in addition to their pyramids, but only two have so far been found.Jill Kamil talks to the head of the Czech archaeological mission In a presentation on Abu Sir given at the American University in Cairo last week head of the Czech mission Miroslav Verner told the audience that his team had recently been focusing on the "vast and remarkable monuments", the sun temples raised by the Pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty who ruled from 2494 to 2345 BC. "Their plan (main...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 December 24 Spring Dust Storms at the North Pole of Mars Credit: MSSS, JPL, NASA Explanation: Spring reached the north pole of Mars in May, and brought with it the usual dust storms. As the north polar cap begins to thaw, a temperature difference occurs between the cold frost region and recently thawed surface, resulting in swirling winds between the adjacent regions. In the above image mosaic...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 December 16 Night and Day in Melas Chasma on Mars Credit: Arizona State U., JPL, NASA Explanation: What types of terrain are found on Mars? Part of the answer comes from thermal imaging by the robot spacecraft 2001 Mars Odyssey currently orbiting Mars. The above picture is a superposition of two infrared images, a black and white image taken during Martian daylight and a false-color image taken...

Sand-covered Huns city unearthed 10/08/2002 XI'AN: Chinese archaeologists recently discovered a unique, ancient city which has lain covered by desert sands for more than 1,000 years. It is the first ruined city of the Xiongnu (Huns) ever found, said Dai Yingxin, a well-known Chinese archaeologist. The Xiongnu was a nomadic ethnic group, who for 10 centuries were tremendously influential in northern China. The unearthed city occupies 1 square kilometre in Jingbian County, in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, adjacent to the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the north of the country. It is believed that the city was built by more...

<p>SYDNEY, Australia (Reuters) --Captain Cook fans who credit the English explorer-adventurer with the formal "discovery" of eastern Australia may have to think again.</p> <p>History teacher Greg Jefferys said on Tuesday he believed he had found remains of a Portuguese warship buried under a beach in what is now the state of Queensland and he had dated the wreck to as much as 200 years before James Cook landed in Botany Bay.</p>

<p>VIRGINIA BEACH - In the Sandbridge resort community, the beach is so eroded that during high tide waves crash against bulkheads protecting summer cottages and million-dollar mansions from the sea.</p> <p>Now, after years of negotiation between the city and the federal government, an agreement has been reached to have the federal government pay 65 percent of the cost of beach replenishment for at least the next 46 years. Sandbridge residents and renters will pay the remaining 35 percent from property taxes and taxes on rental homes.</p>

Stock Rally Runs Into Sand Tue Jul 30, 6:01 AM ET By Gerrard Raven LONDON (Reuters) - A spectacular stock market rally shuddered to a halt in Europe on Tuesday, leaving investors divided over whether the tide has finally turned on the grimmest bear run for decades. But with Wall Street staging a dizzying revival overnight, the dollar pushed ahead to erase more of its recent losses. The 24 hours before European markets opened had provided investors despairing at their dwindling fortunes with the recently elusive elixir of hope. The FTSE Eurotop 300 index ended Monday 5.9 percent higher, its...

Mystery shrouds IOP's floating orb Thursday, June 13, 2002 BY GLENN SMITHOf The Post and Courier Staff      <!summ!>ISLE OF PALMS-When a giant silver orb washed up in front of her rented beach house Monday night, Marie Segneri wondered for a moment if aliens had landed in the middle of her family reunion.<!end!>     The smooth, metallic ball was at least 3 feet in diameter and weighed a couple hundred pounds or more. Aside from a series of numbers stamped on its slightly dimpled surface, the sphere offered few clues as to its origin.     "It looked like it may have...

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 June 4 A Martian Metamorphosis Credit: Malin Space Science Systems, MOC, MGS, JPL, NASA Explanation: Is it an Escher, or Mars? Three different types of surfaces visible in the North Polar Cap of Mars morph into each other in a way perhaps reminiscent of the works of M. C. Escher. On the far left dark sand covers the ground, while the center shows a transition to a...