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Researchers from several institutions, led by Ernst Pernicka, scientific director of the Curt-Engelhorn Center for Archaeometry (CEZA) at the Reiss-Engelhorn Museums in Mannheim and director of the University of Tübingen’s Troy project, applied a portable laser ablation system (pLA) to analyse samples of Bronze Age jewellery found in Troy and Poliochni...Poliochne, often cited under its modern name Poliochni, was an ancient settlement on the east coast of the island of Lemnos. It was settled in the Late Chalcolithic and earliest Aegean Bronze Age, and is believed to be one of the most ancient towns in Europe, preceding the construction of...

The remarkable find was made at Penn Museum in Philadelphia, in the basement of the building where other archaeological artefacts are displayed. The skeleton had been left in the basement for 85 years before being rediscovered and represents a rare find. While the museum has other remains from ancient Ur, about 10 miles (16 km) from Nassiriya in southern Iraq, "Noah" - as the skeleton was named - is about 2,000 years older than any remains uncovered during the excavation at the site. The museum said the discovery had important implications for current research. Scientific techniques that were not available...

Iraq, its domain and the 'terrorist-funding' owner By Kieren McCarthy Posted: 09/04/2003 at 11:54 GMT The war against Iraq may be drawing to a close but the war over its Internet future is just beginning. As with the overthrow of the Afghanistan regime by US forces, it is widely thought that the removal of Saddam Hussein from power will see the Middle Eastern country catch up with the rest of the world in terms of Internet infrastructure and use. Currently, there is limited, expensive and state-controlled Internet use in Iraq, beamed via satellite since sanctions on the country have...

Bible History Daily Website (Biblical Archaeology Society) Robin Ngo • 08/12/2014 A 6,500-year-old skeleton from the site of Ur in present-day Iraq was recently rediscovered in the basement of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. The skeleton had originally been uncovered in 1929–30 during the joint British Museum/Penn Museum excavation at Ur led by Sir Leonard Woolley. For 85 years, the skeleton has been lying in a wooden box in the Penn Museum’s labyrinthine basement; any associated documentation that may have once been attached to the skeleton or storage box has long been missing. The remarkable rediscovery...

Isn’t it extraordinary how something long in existence can be suddenly re-proposed as a brilliant new idea? Politicians and educators, hoping we have memory problems, often do this to fool us into thinking they are working hard to improve a situation. Another audacious example of this strategy was recently provided by the Holy See’s support of a proposal for a “United Religions”. The proposal came from former Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Shimon Peres. At a private audience with Pope Francis this September 4th, Peres “proposed the founding of a United Religions organization — modelled after the United Nations...

British archaeologists have unearthed a giant complex near the ancient city of Ur in southern Iraq. The area is believed to have been home to Abraham, father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. As the find is 4,000 years old, roughly the same age as Abraham himself, it raises the tantalising possibility of a direct link with one of history's most significant religious figures. Complexes of that size from 2,000BC are extremely rare, according to Dr Campbell.

Crammed into a single large gallery, the Penn Museum show -- filled with delicate cylinder seals and alabaster pots, and glittering strings of gold, carnelian and lapis lazuli beads -- is at once frustratingly old-fashioned and deliberately retro in its design. Musical selections from the expedition's record collection play in the background. The texts are well-written but long and somewhat dense. They are supplemented by archival and contemporary images of the site and computer terminals displaying the exhibition's Web site and other Web resources and offering visitors a chance to "live blog" about the show.

An Iraqi tour guide looks on as Soldiers from the 4th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division explore what is thought to be the biblical home of Abraham. The ruins were discovered near the Great Ziggurat of Ur, built by the Sumerians four thousand years ago to honor their moon god, Nanna. Photo courtesy of the 1st Armored Division. COB ADDER — More than 40 Soldiers from 4th Special Troops Battalion, 4th Brigade, 1st Armored Division "Strike Force," were recently given the opportunity to tour the historical Great Ziggurat of Ur here. A local Iraqi man who has...

OUR effort in Iraq passed a major milestone today: Our troops are leaving the cities. Advisers remain in place. Joint patrols will still occur. And our forces will wait nearby to respond to Iraqi calls for support. But the last of the bases and US-only outposts within Iraq's urban centers will be vacated. Terrorists have already begun testing the new security arrangements. Iraqi forces won't always pass with flying colors. Yet this situation seemed a pipe dream not so long ago: Iraq's security forces, serving an elected government, assume primary responsibility for the good order of their own country. We...

As reported at Socialist Worker.org, a Communist website: Socialistworker.org February 9, 2009 STUDENTS AT the University of Rochester (UR) and their supporters from the community occupied a campus building February 6 in solidarity with the victims of Israel's siege of Gaza--and in a matter of half a day declared victory after winning important concessions from the administration. The university agreed to a public forum to discuss UR's financial policies, and its investments in Israel and companies that do business in Israel. It also promised support for a campus-wide fund drive for Palestine, donations to Gaza of surplus supplies, and international...

A recent mission to Iraq headed by top archaeologists ... found that, contrary to received wisdom, southern Iraq's most important historic sites ... had neither been seriously damaged nor looted after the American invasion. This, according to a report by staff writer Martin Bailey in the July issue of the Art Newspaper. The article has caused confusion, not to say consternation, among archaeologists and has been largely ignored by the mainstream press. Not surprising perhaps, since reports by experts blaming the U.S. for the postinvasion destruction of Iraq's heritage have been regular fixtures of the news. Up to now ......

An unpublicized survey last month of eight of southern Iraq's most important archaeological sites by a team of international specialists found no evidence of looting since the invasion of the country in 2003 by the U.S. coalition, despite earlier, widespread claims of extensive damage. The 25-person mission, titled the Cultural Heritage Initiative, included four international archaeologists, three Iraqi archaeologists, a helicopter crew and military personnel for protection, reported the Art Newspaper. The group began their three-day survey on June 3 from Basra, staying overnight at another airbase 180 miles southeast of Baghdad. The helicopter and armed protection was provided by...

My friend who works at the University says they are in lockdown mode because there is a gunman on the loose in the library. Anyone have more info?

Va. —  The University of Richmond was placed on lockdown Tuesday afternoon while police searched for a man who was reportedly seen carrying a gun. University spokeswoman Linda Evans and police said no shots were fired. Evans said witnesses reported seeing a man with a handgun in Boatwright Memorial Library at about 2:50 p.m.. She said the man was wearing a dark-colored shirt or jacket with the word "Sheriff" on the back, and maybe a fake beard. Evans said the man refused to identify himself to library workers.

French archaeologist says Ur royal tomb artifacts came from Burnt City TEHRAN, Dec. 14 (MNA) -- French archaeologist Michèle Casanova said that the artifacts unearthed from the royal tombs in the ancient Sumerian city of Ur came from Iran’s 5200-year-old Burnt City, the Persian service of CHN reported on Friday. “Now, we are almost certain that the beautiful artifacts discovered in the city of Ur had been brought from the Burnt City, Jiroft, and Central Asia. This fact raises many questions, including why trade relations were established between the regions,” Casanova said. Casanova, who is also an expert on ornamental...

Italians find ancient Ur tabletsWritings could lead to buried library (ANSA) - Rome, March 28 - Italian archeologists working in Iraq have found a trove of ancient stone tablets from the fabled civilisation of Ur . The tablets bear around 500 engravings of a literary and historical nature, according to team leader Silvia Chiodi . "This is an an exceptional find," she said, noting that the area in question had previously only yielded prehistoric artefacts . She said the tablets, made of clay and bitumen, were discovered by chance at an archaeological site not far from the location of the...

Unbeknownst to most Americans, federal prosecutors opened their case recently in the terrorism trial of a young American who studied under two Taliban-tied imams in California and whose grandfather was Pakistan’s minister of religion in the 1980’s. The trial of Hamid Hayat, 23, is not taking place in the dark of night nor in a military tribunal from which the media is barred. It is in an open California courtroom, the very kind that has been overrun for trials of the likes of Scott Peterson and O.J. Simpson. Yet in the month of February, the New York Times had exactly...

December 28, 2005 Defense Lawyers Plan Challenges Over Spy Efforts By ERIC LICHTBLAU and JAMES RISEN WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 - Defense lawyers in some of the country's biggest terrorism cases say they plan to bring legal challenges to determine whether the National Security Agency used illegal wiretaps against several dozen Muslim men tied to Al Qaeda.The lawyers said in interviews that they wanted to learn whether the men were monitored by the agency and, if so, whether the government withheld critical information or misled judges and defense lawyers about how and why the men were singled out. The expected...

UR student killed by ex-boyfriend Gunman kills himself; victim detailed 2 months of torment BY MARK BOWES AND MARK HOLMBERG TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS Dec 7, 2005 "I am living in fear and I want it to end." De'Nora Hill's desperate plea came in a criminal complaint she filed a week before the person she most feared, former boyfriend Joe Casuccio, gunned her down Monday night. The 24-year-old University of Richmond senior had just returned home from her part-time bartending job when she was shot in the face, back and lower body. After shooting Hill, Casuccio ended his own life with...

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- Insulting alumni and donors probably isn't the best way to show that you are trying to improve your university's national profile, as the president of the University of Richmond has found. During a "state of the university" speech in October at the private liberal arts college, William E. Cooper discussed the school's efforts to become more academically competitive by attracting more talented students. "The entering quality of our student body needs to be much higher if we are going to transform bright minds into great achievers instead of transforming mush into mush, and I mean it,"...