'Rosie the Riveter' from WWII poster dies

[AP]  When a photographer snapped Geraldine Doyle's picture in an Ann Arbor factory during World War II, the 17-year-old had no idea she would inspire others to contribute to the country's war effort. Doyle said it took more than 40 years for her to learn that her image from that photo was placed on the illustrated "We Can Do It!" poster.  More...

Ancient stone alignments in Connecticut?

[Archaeo News]  During the summer solstice, a chunk of white rock in a manmade chamber on the edge of a reservoir in Madison (Connecticut, USA) is illuminated by sunlight in the shape of a dagger. In another part of town, a 7-acre parcel is filled with stone walls that align during the solstices with rocks in the shape of snakes, white quartz boulders, prayer seats and assorted cairns.  More...

Major And Unique Celtic Tomb Found

[Arch News]   Scientists have discovered a 2,600 year-old aristocratic burial, likely of a Celtic noblewoman, at the hill fort site of Heuneburg in southern Germany. The discovery has been described as a “milestone” in the study of Celtic culture.  More...

Archaeologists to probe Sherwood Forest's 'Thing'

[BBC]  A team of experts hope to shed new light on one of Nottinghamshire's most mysterious ancient monuments. A 'Thing', or open-air meeting place where Vikings gathered to discuss the law, was discovered in the Birklands, Sherwood Forest five years ago.  More...

One of King Solomon's fortresses wasn't, after all

[USA Today]  The discovery of a single amphora, or clay jar, found in the ancient fortress of Tel Qudadi in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv could indicate both that the fortress itself is much younger than previously thought, and that trade between the area and Greek city states were much more common.  More...

Fish swam the Sahara, bolstering out of Africa theory

[MSNBC]  Fish may have once swum across the Sahara, a finding that could shed light on how humanity made its way out of Africa, researchers said. The cradle of humanity lies south of the Sahara, which begs the question as to how our species made its way past it. More...

400,000-yr-old remains show 'humans evolved from Middle East, not Africa'

[Sify News]   A new discovery of 400,000-yr-old human remains has raised doubts as to whether the first humans evolved out of Africa....Archaeologists from Tel Aviv University have found eight human-like teeth found in the Qesem cave near Rosh Ha'Ayin, which belong to the Middle Pleistocene Age - and therefore are the earliest remains of homo sapiens yet discovered. These findings by Professor Avi Gopher and Dr Ran Barkai indicate that modern man did not originate in Africa as previously believed, but in the Middle East.  More...

Ancient Bible fragments reveal a forgotten history

[Physorg]   The study by Cambridge University researchers suggests that, contrary to long-accepted views, Jews continued to use a Greek version of the Bible in synagogues for centuries longer than previously thought. In some places, the practice continued almost until living memory.  More...

Neanderthals cooked and ate vegetables

[BBC]  Researchers in the US have found grains of cooked plant material in their teeth.
The study is the first to confirm that the Neanderthal diet was not confined to meat and was more sophisticated than previously thought.  More...

A 60-Year Drought Like That Of The 12th Century Could Be In The Southwest's Future

[Medical News Today]  An unprecedented combination of heat plus decades of drought could be in store for the Southwest sometime this century, suggests new research from a University of Arizona-led team...."Major 20th century droughts pale in comparison to droughts documented in paleoclimatic records over the past two millennia," the researchers wrote. During the Medieval period, elevated temperatures coincided with lengthy and widespread droughts. More
...

Family of WWI veteran looks forward to 110th birthday

[CNN]  Buckles, who was born February 1, 1901, is thought to be the world's oldest living war veteran. More...

Ancient Bone's DNA Suggests New Human Ancestors

[NPR]  DNA taken from a pinkie bone at least 30,000 years old is hinting at the existence of a previously unknown population of ancient humans. It's just the latest example of how modern genetic techniques are transforming the world of anthropology....Anthropologist John Hawks of the University of Wisconsin, Madison says DNA evidence is changing the way anthropologists work. "It's so much more than we knew from the fossil record. It's really like discovering something for the first time," he says.  More...

Archaeologists find wreckage of Confederate gunboat

[CNN]  The Ides of March was indeed a portentous day for the Confederate gunboat Peedee and its the 90-man crew, which heaved three artillery pieces overboard and torched the doomed vessel in the waning weeks of the Civil War.  More...

Treasure trove of medieval manuscripts published

[Media Newswire]  The largest surviving family-owned library of medieval manuscripts in Britain can now be enjoyed by everyone thanks to the publication of a new book telling its fascinating story.   More...

Christ's endangered language gets new lease of life in Oxford

[Guardian UK]  It is the language that Christ spoke, but is regarded as "endangered" with ever fewer scattered groups of native speakers. But in Oxford, Aramaic has been flourishing again, with a course in the ancient language drawing people from as far afield as Liverpool and London.  More...

Scientists track ancient gene 'explosion'

[UPI]  U.S. researchers say an explosion of new genes more than 3 billion years ago created about a quarter of today's DNA blueprint of all life. Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say about 27 percent of all gene families that exist today were born between 3.3 billion and 2.8 billion years ago, ScienceNews.org reported Tuesday.  More...

Seeing daybreak at 'Ireland's Stonehenge'

[BBC]  Newgrange, located 40km north of Dublin and perched high above a bend of the River Boyne, is a prehistoric passage tomb, covered on the outside by a large grassy mound. At over 5,000 years old it is the older cousin of Stonehenge and it predates the pyramids by about 500 years.  More...

Christmas truces between opposing soldiers continued throughout WWI

[BBC]  Dr Thomas Weber, of the University of Aberdeen, says cease-fires continued to take place in 1915 and 1916. However, the academic believes this was played down when it came to official war records.  More...

Sherlock Holmes fans stage last-ditch attempt to save Conan Doyle's home

[History News Network]  A five-year battle to save the former home of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has gone to the High Court after campaigners applied for a judicial review of a decision to allow development of the Grade II listed house.  More...

Rise in Oxygen Drove Evolution of Animal Life 550 Million Years Ago

[ScienceDaily]   Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at the University of Oxford have uncovered a clue that may help to explain why the earliest evidence of complex multicellular animal life appears around 550 million years ago, when atmospheric oxygen levels on the planet rose sharply from 3% to their modern day level of 21%.  More...

Sovereign's Head Identified After More Than Four Centuries

[ScienceDaily]   The skeletons of kings and queens lying in mass graves in the Royal Basilica of Saint-Denis in Paris could finally have the solemn funeral ceremonies they deserve, say experts in the Christmas issue published in the British Medical Journal.  More...

Anglican priests follow ritual from 500-year-old liturgy

[The Australian]  PRIESTS in Australia's new Anglican Ordinariate will celebrate mass facing east, away from their congregations, using 500-year old liturgies. Archbishop John Hepworth, Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion, said the traditional sacred liturgies -- more in the language of Shakespeare than modern vernacular -- would be held in parishes in all capital cities, the Gold and Sunshine coasts, Rockhampton and Torres Strait.The process took a major step forward yesterday when Archbishop Hepworth and Catholic Bishop Peter Elliott announced the establishment of an Australian Ordinariate implementation committee comprising senior Catholic, Anglican and TAC clergy.  More...

Ancient Roman Statue Uncovered In Israel Storm

[Huffington Post]  One of the strongest storms Israel has experienced in recent years brought winds of more than 100 kilometers per hour and sent 10-meter-high waves crashing onto the nation's coast. But the harsh weather also brought about something unexpected: the discovery of an ancient Roman statue in amazing condition.  More...

Ancient Mexicans crossbred wolf-dogs

[AP]  Mexican researchers said Wednesday they have identified jaw bones found in the pre-Hispanic ruins of Teotihuacan as those of wolf-dogs that were apparently crossbred as a symbol of the city's warriors.  More...

Ancient trove of Egypt statues found in Luxor

[AP]  Archaeologists found what may be a trove of 3,400 year old statues on the west bank of the ancient temple city Luxor, said the head of Egypt's antiquities department on Thursday.  More.. 

Mummified Forest Found on Treeless Arctic Island

[National Geographic]  Pines, spruces buried in landslide millions of years ago, when area was warmer.  More...

Bulgarian Archaeologist Discovers World's Likely Oldest Sun Temple

[Novinite]  Bulgarian archaeologist Georgi Ganetsovski has made a new hit discovering by unearthing what might be the world's oldest sun temple.  More...

Spain rethinks reopening of prehistoric art 'Sistine Chapel'

[AFP]  Spain's Altamira cave, dubbed the "Sistine Chapel" of Paleolithic art because of the paintings of animals on its ceiling, will no longer reopen to the public as planned at the end of the year.The cave located some 30 kilometres (19 miles) west of the northern city of Santander has been closed since 2002 because the breath and body heat from visitors threatened the fragile natural pigments used in the cave art.  More...

Bones found on island might be Amelia Earhart's

[AP]  The three bone fragments turned up on a deserted South Pacific island that lay along the course Amelia Earhart was following when she vanished. Nearby were several tantalizing artifacts: some old makeup, some glass bottles and shells that had been cut open. Now scientists at the University of Oklahoma hope to extract DNA from the tiny bone chips in tests that could prove Earhart died as a castaway.  More...

Indonesian fishermen find old sunken ship

[AP]  A sunken ship that may be several centuries old and containing green and gray ceramics has been found off remote Indonesian islands recently hit by a tsunami, officials said Thursday.  More...

Historians discover tiny numbers and letters in the eyes of the Mona Lisa

[Mail Online]   Mona Lisa was at the centre of a new mystery yesterday after art detectives took a fresh look at the masterpiece – and noticed something in her eyes. Hidden in the dark paint of her pupils are tiny letters and numbers, placed there by the artist Leonardo da Vinci and revealed only now thanks to high-­magnification techniques.  More...

Ancient crashes blasted metals into Earth, moon and Mars

[MSNBC]  Gigantic collisions on Earth, the moon and Mars 4.5 billion years ago injected precious elements such as gold and platinum into the developing worlds, a new study suggests.

In the last days of planet formation, a body as big as Pluto likely slammed into Earth after the planet had been clobbered by a Mars-size object, researchers said. Mars and the moon absorbed smaller but still devastating blows, they added.  More...

Jesus' Great-Grandmother Identified

[Discovery]   The great-grandmother of Jesus was a woman named Ismeria, according to Florentine The legend of St. Ismeria, presented in the current Journal of Medieval History, sheds light on both the Biblical Virgin Mary's family and also on religious and cultural values of 14th-century Florence.  More...

WWII Japanese-American draft resister dies at 94

[AP]  A Japanese-American who helped lead draft resistance at a World War II internment camp has died in Southern California.  When the government decided to draft Japanese-Americans in 1944, Emi and six others formed the Fair Play Committee, which argued that Japanese-Americans shouldn't have to fight for freedom abroad when they were denied it at home. Three hundred men from the camps were imprisoned for draft evasion.  More...

Ancient Greek Computer Gets Rebuilt Using Lego

[PC World]  2000 years ago the Greeks built a device designed to calculate the motion of celestial bodies, a computer now called the Antikythera mechanism. Lost for centuries at the bottom of the ocean, it was pulled up in 1901 and has baffled scientists until recently. This year, designer Andrew Carol built the first working copy of the computer out of Lego bricks, the New Scientist reports.  More...

Massive Canadian melt may have triggered flood of biblical proportions

[Canada.com]   A British researcher has published a startling new theory that the remains of untold ancient settlements from a 100,000-year stretch of human history were submerged by the rapidly rising waters of the Persian Gulf around 6,000 BC — the result, in all likelihood, of a catastrophic, planetwide flood triggered in Canada.  More...

'Vandals have hacked at the heart of Christianity': 2,000-year-old Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury is cut down

[Mail Online]   Standing proudly on the side of an English hill, its religious roots go back 2,000 years. But a single night of vandalism has left an ancient site of pilgrimage in splinters.The Holy Thorn Tree of Glastonbury has been chopped down in what is being seen by some as a deliberately anti-Christian act. A feature of the skyline surrounding the Somerset town, the tree has been visited by thousands retracing the steps said to have been taken by Joseph of Arimathea, who some say was Jesus’ great uncle.  More...

Is There A Lost Civilization Under Persian Gulf?

[Arch News]  A once fertile landmass now submerged beneath the Persian Gulf may have been home to some of the earliest human populations outside Africa, according to an article published in Current Anthropology.  More...

Oldest mine in Americas found in Chile

[Sydney Morning Herald]  Archaeologists have discovered an iron oxide mine from 12,000 years ago in northern Chile, making it the oldest mine yet discovered in all the Americas.  More...

"Horse Dragon," Colossus Dinosaurs Found in Utah

[National Geographic]  A shield-toothed horse-dragon may sound like a mythical creature, but the newly described dinosaur once roamed the U.S. West, a new study says.  More...

Titanic Being Eaten by Destructive Bacteria

[Discovery]  A rust stain may be all that will remain of the RMS Titanic in 15 to 20 years, according to new research into the submerged ocean liner wreck.  More...

100,000-yr-old fossilized teeth of cavemen found in Central China

[One India News]  Archaeologists have unearthed fossilized teeth of cavemen dating back 100,000 years, the first such discoveries in central China.  More...

Anne Boleyn death and burial secrets revealed

[Sify News]  A new investigation has shed some light on one of the most bloody episodes of English history-the death and burial of Anne Boleyn, Queen of England and second wife of Henry VIII.  More...

Archaeologist says ancient Americans practiced cannibalism

[Digital Journal]  A report in the Journal of Anthropological Archaeology shows ancient Puebloan Indians, also called Anasazi, practiced cannibalism, a claim seen as taboo by many. The original findings were made in 2005, but were only publicised recently, due partially to the sensitivities involved. Archaeologists first noted possible evidence of the practice in 1969. More...

Ancient Nile Floods Created 'Mega Lakes'

[Our Amazing Planet]  New evidence suggests that the Nile's famous floods were much more extensive than previously thought — in fact, they spread nearly 100 miles west of the river and created "mega-lakes" in the ancient desert.  More...

Medieval Britons were twice as rich as the poor in the Third World today

[Mail Online]  Medieval England was not only far more prosperous than previously believed, it also actually boasted an average income that would be more than double the average per capita income of the world's poorest nations today, according to new research.  More...

Ancient Canoe Recovered in Florida

[First Coast news]  State archaeologists are beaming following a very unexpected discovery in North Florida. They recovered an ancient dugout canoe in a lake south of Tallahassee. They estimate it's anywhere from 500 to 800 years old.  More...

Ancient Burial Site Found in Scotland

[Sci-Tech Today]  Archaeologists have discovered a Neolithic tomb site in Scotland, and bones found carefully placed in gaps in the stones inside the chambers suggest the ancient burial site has never been disturbed. The "once-in-a-lifetime" find is said to be the first undisturbed burial of a Neolithic community to be uncovered in Scotland in 30 years. More...

Mystery shipwreck washes up in Stockholm

[Ice News]  Archaeologists were given a thrill in Sweden this week when the remains of a ship dating from the 1600s were discovered in central Stockholm. The ancient planks, which were found by labourers carrying out renovation works in front the city’s Grand Hotel, are sewn together with rope rather than nailed – a virtually unknown technology.  More...

Stonehenge built by rolling stones in giant wicker baskets

[Australia Courier Mail]  For all the awe-inspiring wonder of the standing stones at Stonehenge no one has ever worked out how our ancient ancestors were able to heave boulders weighing many tonnes over such huge distances.  More...

Shuttle images reveal Egypt's lost great lake

[Science News]   A huge lake once waxed and waned deep in the sandy heart of the Egyptian Sahara, geologists have found.  More...

A prehistoric star map carved on a Welsh capstone?

[Archaeo News]  A recent excavation programme at a standing stone known as Trefael, near Newport (south-west Wales) has revealed that what originally was a portal dolmen in later times was transformed in a standing stone, probably used as a ritual marker to guide communities through a scared landscape.  More...

Discovering the Secrets of Stonehenge

[Science Daily]  A revolutionary new idea on the movement of big monument stones like those at Stonehenge has been put forward by an archaeology student at the University of Exeter.  More...

Picasso Treasure Trove Sparks Controversy

[Discovery]  A 71-year-old retired electrician is at the center of a legal battle after coming forward with more than 200 hitherto unknown paintings by Pablo Picasso, a French newspaper reported Monday.
Experts who have examined the collection have estimated it could be worth some 60 million euros ($80 million).  More...

Experts to unravel mystery behind European-looking Chinese

[Sify]  Anthropologists have begun a study to ascertain if the European-looking Chinese in northwest China are the descendants of a lost army of the Roman Empire.  More...

Kiwi may have solved mystery of the pyramids

[TVNZ]   A Wellington scientist has come up with an explanation that may help solve the question of how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids.  More...

New research explains remarkable preservation of African fossils

[One India]  A team of geologists from the University of Leicester's Department of Geology has solved the mystery of how an abundance of fossils have been marvellously preserved for nearly half a billion years in a remote region of Africa. They have established that an ancient wind brought life to the region - and was then instrumental in the preservation of the dead.  More...

Mystery of the Great Pyramid of Egypt intensifies

[Examiner]  The head of Cairo University Archeology Department, Dr. Ala Shaheen addressing an audience about recent discoveries around the Giza Plateau, the location of the Sphinx and Great Pyramid. In a shock statement he implied there might be truth to the theory that a highly advanced civilization, or benevolent extraterrestrials, helped the ancient Egyptians build the oldest of pyramids, the Pyramids of Giza.  More...

Chinese villagers 'descended from Roman soldiers'

[The Telegraph]  Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two thirds of their DNA is of Caucasian origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a 'lost legion' of Roman soldiers. More...

Mammoth Find Gives Glimpse Of Rockies In Ice Age

[NPR]  A slew of fossilized mammoths, mastodons and other Ice Age creatures have been turning up at a dizzying rate in western Colorado.  More...

Boy, four, unearths 16th Century gold pendant in Essex

[BBC]  A four-year-old boy from Essex using a metal detector with his father unearthed a gold pendant believed to date from the 16th Century.   More...

Ancient Roman soldiers' bathhouse found in Jerusalem

[CNN]  Israeli archaeologists have discovered an ancient Roman bathhouse that was probably used by the soldiers who destroyed the Second Temple in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Monday.  More...

Italy unearths 2,000-year-old temple of 'virgin' Roman goddess

[Sify]  About 2,000-year-old temple the Romans dedicated to Diana, the goddess of virgins and wild animals, has been discovered in a national park in Italy. More...

Relics from King Richard II's tomb discovered

[Reuters] Among hundreds of diaries and notebooks left in boxes not opened for years were contents from the coffin of the ill-fated monarch and sketches of his skull and bones.  More...

Temple of Venus and Roma opens in Rome after 26-year restoration

[Telegraph UK]  The massive Temple of Venus and Roma, in the heart of the Roman Forum and a stone's throw from the Colosseum, was designed and commissioned by the Emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century AD.  More...

Neanderthals 'Lived Fast, Died Young' Compared with Humans

[Live Science]   Taking longer to mature may have given humans an evolutionary edge over Neanderthals by giving their brains and social skills more time to develop. Now dental records of early human fossils show how that developmental delay crept in over time.  More...

Digger finds Neolithic tomb complex

[NEARA]  Archaeologists on Orkney are investigating what is thought to be a 5,000-year-old tomb complex. It appears to contain a central passageway and multiple chambers excavated from rock.  More...

DNA Analyses from Central European Early Neolithic Farmers Reveal Their Near Eastern Affinities

[Bio Scholar]  Based on the information gained, it is now possible to reconstruct the settlement processes that have been so influential for early European history.  More...

Robot Probes Ancient Mexican Pyramid In Search Of Tombs

[NDTTV]  Tourists can climb up and down but it's been about 18 hundred years since anyone has gone inside the mysterious Sun and Moon pyramids of the ancient city of Teotihuacan in Mexico. Now, for the first time, technology is entering...in the form of this robot.  More...

Ancient giraffe-sized creature pole-vaulted into sky

[MSNBC]  Giraffe-sized pterosaurs may have pole-vaulted with their arms to launch themselves, just as vampire bats do, scientists now suggest.   More...

Ancient Roman landscape unearthed near London

[CNN]  Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient Roman landscape beneath a park in west London, with a Roman road, evidence of a settlement, and unusual burials among the finds.  More...

World's oldest Copper Age settlement found

[Yahoo News]  A 'sensational' discovery of 75-century-old copper tools in Serbia is compelling scientists to reconsider existing theories about where and when man began using metal.  More...-

Ancient Tablets Reveal Mathematical Achievements of Ancient Babylonian Culture

[Art Daily]  An illuminating exhibition of thirteen ancient Babylonian tablets, along with supplemental documentary material, opens at New York University’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) on November 12, 2010. Before Pythagoras: The Culture of Old Babylonian Mathematics reveals the highly sophisticated mathematical practice and education that flourished in Babylonia—present-day Iraq—more than 1,000 years before the time of the Greek sages Thales and Pythagoras, with whom mathematics is traditionally said to have begun.  More...

Aboriginal astronomers observed and recorded a supernova impostor event: research

[Archaeology Daily News]  New research by Macquarie University astronomers Duane Hamacher and David Frew supports the assertion that Aboriginal Australians were active observers of the night sky and incorporated significant astronomical events into their oral traditions.  More...

Tropical Forest Diversity Increased During Ancient Global Warming Event

[Art Daily]  Carlos Jaramillo, staff scientist at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and colleagues report in the journal Science that nearly 60 million years ago rainforests prospered at temperatures that were 3–5 degrees higher and at atmospheric carbon dioxide levels 2.5 times today’s levels.  More...

Chinese mine in Afghanistan threatens ancient find

[AP]  It was another day on the rocky hillside, as archaeologists and laborers dug out statues of Buddha and excavated a sprawling 2,600-year-old Buddhist monastery.  More...

Oldest tool-use claim challenged

[BBC]  The idea that human ancestors were using stone tools about 3.4 million years ago has been challenged by a Spanish-led team of researchers.  More...

Egypt archaeologists find new sphinx-lined road in Luxor

{Daily Mail]  Egypt's ever-growing treasure trove of ancient wonders has been further bolstered by the discovery of hundreds of ancient sphinxes.  More...

Muslims clash with police after burning poppy in anti-Armistice Day protest

[The Telegraph, UK]  Muslims clashed with police after burning a large poppy in protest at Britain's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan which was timed to coincide with Armistice Day's two-minute silence.  More...

Eggs with the oldest known embryos of a dinosaur found

[BBC]   Palaeontologists have identified the oldest known dinosaur embryos, belonging to a species that lived some 190 million years ago.  More...

Mammoths, Giant Sloths and an Ice Age Deer Unearthed

[ABC News]  Since October 14, when a bulldozer operator helping to dig a new water reservoir stumbled across bones from an ancient Columbian mammoth, researchers have unearthed what they call one of the most significant fossil discoveries in Colorado history.  More...

Mayans converted wetlands to farmland

[Nature]   The ancient Maya civilization is widely recognized for its awe-inspiring pyramids, sophisticated mathematics and advanced written language. But research is revealing that the complexity of Maya agricultural systems is likely to have rivalled that of their architecture and intellect.  More...

Newly Published Memoir Recalls Horror of Western Front

[Spiegel]    One of the most graphic accounts of World War I, the diary of German author Ernst Jünger, has been published for the first time. Its dispassionate description of life and death on the Western Front is a cold indictment of war -- even though Jünger embraced the conflict throughout as a glorious test of manhood.  More...

Archaeologist finds mystery skulls mailed to Brigham Young University are prehistoric

[AP]  The Utah state archaeologist has determined the age of three mystery skulls mailed to Brigham Young University.KSL-TV reports the skulls were determined to be from about 1100 to 1300 A.D.  More...

Story of Ancient Power Revealed in Royal Garden

[Live Science]  A newly discovered 7th century B.C. palace garden near Jerusalem could reveal details about how royals liked to let loose in ancient times.  More...

Ancient house in Pompeii collapses

[AP]  A 2,000-year-old house in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, which was once used by gladiators to train before combat, collapsed Saturday, officials said.  More...

Egypt: Archaeologists unearth 3,400 pharaoh statue

[History News Network]  Egypt's antiquities chief says archaeologists have unearthed the upper half of a red granite statue of a powerful pharaoh who ruled nearly 3,400 years ago.  More...

The Lost Colony may now be found

[Hampton Roads]  What happened to the Lost Colony, a group of 117 Englishmen who settled on a tiny island off the North Carolina coast and then vanished with barely a trace?  More...

New footage of WW1 shows war-torn battlefields

[BBC]   Extraordinary pictures of the aftermath of WW1, which have been hidden away for nearly a century, have been discovered in a vault in Paris.  More...

Atlantic Ocean flow reversed 10,000 years ago, slowing down again

[Ars Technica]  The flow of top- and bottom-level currents in the Atlantic Ocean appear to be slowing down and may be due for a reversal like one that happened 10,000 years ago, according to new data.  More...

Early medieval manuscripts give new view of English life under the Normans

[University of Leicester]  A new study of early medieval manuscripts written in the English language has revealed that the Normans, who conquered England in 1066, were not the destructive force of popular belief, sweeping away everything that had gone before.  More...

Ancient royal garden discovered near Jerusalem

[Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]  At theRamat Rachel dig near Jerusalem, archeologists have uncovered an ancient royal garden nourished by an intricate irrigation system.Researchers from Tel Aviv University and Heidelberg University in Germany have been working at Ramat Rachel, which is said to have been built by the Judeans. The newly discovered gardens date back to the 7th century B.C.  More...

New study finds headless skeletons in ancient cemetery were Romans

[Medical Daily]  Eighty headless skeletons unearthed between 2004 and 2005 from an ancient English cemetery in the city of York or the then Roman capital Eboracum holds proof that they all lost their heads far away from home.  More...

Israeli archaeologist dies after fall at King Herod dig

[BBC]  Ehud Netzer, the Israeli archaeologist credited with discovering the tomb of the biblical King Herod, has died after falling during a dig.  More...

Digger finds Neolithic tomb complex

[BBC] Archaeologists on Orkney are investigating what is thought to be a 5,000-year-old tomb complex. A local man stumbled on the site while using a mechanical digger for landscaping.  More...

Secret World War II heroine's file released

[AP]  Buried deep in Eileen Nearne's secret World War II file, released Friday by the National Archives, is the secrecy agreement she signed on September 4, 1942. It was a commitment she honored until her death last month at the age of 89.   More...

New find raises the prospect our forebears came out of Asia

[Irish Times]   OUR ANCIENT forebears arose within Africa, or so the evolutionary story goes. New research findings bring this assumption into question however. Our earliest roots could well have been somewhere in Asia.  More...

Researchers unearth ancient water secrets at royal garden dig

[Sify]   Archaeologists have unearthed an ancient royal garden- which dates back to the 7th century B.C.-at the site of Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem.  More...

UN Org.: Rachel's Tomb is a Mosque

[Israel's National News]  The vote called for Rachel's Tomb and the Tomb of the Patriarchs – the burial site of the other Biblical Patriarchs and Matriarchs – to be removed from Israel's National Heritage list.  More...

Ancient asteroid hit New York with tsunamis

[msnbc]  Space rock impact off New Jesey coast may have sent surge of water.  More...

Cornell Archaeologist Makes Neolithic Era Discovery

[The Sun]  Prof. Sturt Manning, classics, and his team of undergraduate and graduate students from Cornell, the University of Toronto and the University of Cyprus, have uncovered new evidence that agricultural settlements had been formed up to half a millennium earlier than previously believed.  More...

8,000 year old boy is Europe's oldest

[Austrian Times]  Scientists have unearthed one of the earliest humans in Europe after discovering an 8,000-year-old skeleton during the building of a motorway in Kroum, Bulgaria.  More...

Armenian archeologists: 5,900-year-old skirt found

[AP]  An Armenian archaeologist says that scientists have discovered a skirt that could be 5,900-year-old. More...

Oldest Modern Human Outside of Africa Found

[National Geographic]  A fossil human jawbone discovered in southern China is upsetting conventional notions of when our ancestors migrated out of Africa.  More...

Mummy Bundles, Child Sacrifices Found on Pyramid

[National Geographic]   A rare undisturbed tomb atop an ancient pyramid in Lima, Peru, has yielded four 1,150-year-old, well-bundled mummies of the Wari culture, archaeologists announced on October 20.  More...

Probe launched after human skulls received at BYU

[AP]  Police and state officials are trying to trace the source of two human skulls received by the history department at Brigham Young University in Utah. Campus police Lt. Arnold Lemmon said Wednesday the skulls were found Monday in a box delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. Investigators say they appear to be ancient artifacts -- possibly a Native American adult and child.   More...

Mystery of why man-made mound at Silbury Hill was built is solved...

[Daily Mail UK] Silbury Hill - one of the most mysterious and striking monument in Britain - was a prehistoric 'cathedral', built layer by layer over 100 years, a new study suggests.The 4,000 year old earth mound, which towers over the Wiltshire countryside, was the tallest man-made structure in Europe until the Middle Ages. But despite its size, and repeated attempts to tunnel into the heart of the mound, archaeologists have long been puzzled about how and why it was created.  More...

FBI seizes looted ancient artifacts

[AP]  The FBI has seized numerous ancient artifacts originating in Mesopotamia, which were looted from Iraq and smuggled into the United States.   More...

Research Reveals Bahama Islands Shaped By Ice Age Megaflood

[Top Wire News]  A team of researchers has uncovered evidence that a Mega-Flood, or series of megafloods, from beneath the Ice Age Laurentide Ice Sheet shaped the Bahama Islands. These Mega-Floods traveled down the Mississippi River Valley and into the gulf of Mexico.  More...

Ancient Indian burial ground and artifacts discovered

[WLBT]  Ancient Indian artifacts have been discovered off of U.S. Highway 61 north. Construction crews were excavating a 33-acre construction site for the U.S. army corps of engineers when they happened upon an extensive Indian burial ground in Rolling Fork [Missouri].  More..

Pompeii heat blast brought death at six miles

[Irish Independent]  The people of Pompeii who died when Vesuvius erupted nearly 2,000 years ago were killed by intense heat rather than suffocation, according to a new study.  More...

Ancient Skulls Vindicate Columbus of Spreading Syphilis

[Fox News]  Skeletons unearthed in a cemetery may have cleared Christopher Columbus as the original transatlantic vector of syphilis.  More...

The Church Where Pocahontas Was married Is Found

[Wall Street Journal]   Her life has been celebrated in song, story and a Disney cartoon, but no one knew where Pocahontas tied the knot with a tobacco farmer—until now.  More...

Asian Neanderthals, Humans Mated

[Discovery]  Early modern humans mated with Neanderthals and possibly other archaic hominid species from Asia at least 100,000 years ago, according to a new study that describes human remains from that period in South China.  More...

Revealed: How British spy lured Hitler's deputy to Britain where he was imprisoned for life

[Daily mail UK]  It has been one of of the enduring mysteries of World War Two - why did Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess come to Britain? Now a new book claims to have solved the riddle - and revealed how a heroic spy played a huge part in his capture.  More...

How mosquitoes helped swarm the redcoats at Yorktown

[Washington Post]   Major combat operations in the American Revolution ended 229 years ago on Oct. 19, at Yorktown. For that we can thank the fortitude of American forces under George Washington, the siegecraft of French troops of Gen. Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, the count of Rochambeau - and the relentless bloodthirstiness of female Anopheles quadrimaculatus mosquitoes.  Those tiny amazons conducted covert biological warfare against the British army.  More...

Insects in Ancient Amber Reveal Unexpected India-Asia Ties

[Live Science]  A cache of ancient insects trapped in amber reveals that the Indian subcontinent wasn't as isolated 50 million years ago as previously believed, according to a new study.  More...

Navy in hunt for John Paul Jones' famous sunken ship, the Bonhomme Richard

[Washington Post]  Bob Neyland, chief archaeologist for the Navy's Underwater Archaeology Branch, is searching for the wreckage of the USS Bonhomme Richard, a Continental Navy ship captained by John Paul Jones during the Revolutionary War that sank on Sept. 25, 1779, off the coast of Yorkshire, England.  More...

Greece seeks Marathon boost for 2,500th anniversary of ancient battle and run

[Canadian Press]  A record 12,500 runners are set to take part in the Athens Classic Marathon on Oct. 31, which will mark 2,500 years since the Battle of Marathon..  More...

Japan finds mass graves on Iwo Jima

[AP]  Two mass graves that may hold the remains of up to 2,000 Japanese soldiers have been discovered on Iwo Jima, one of the bloodiest and most iconic battlesites of World War II, a report said yesterday. More...

1,600-Year-Old Mummies Unearthed in Peru

[Fox News]   Archaeologists unearthed four mummies that could be up to 1,600 years old in Peru's capital Lima, at ruins which apparently house the crypt of a prominent member of the ancient Wari people, researchers said today.  More...

Ancient Egyptian priest’s tomb unearthed in Giza

[The Hindu]  Archaeologists have unearthed a 4,500-year-old tomb of an Egyptian priest which they believe could mark a completely “new-to-science” necropolis, or the city of the dead, in the land of pyramids.  More...

Britain's first hospital discovered

[Telegraph  UK]  A site which may house Britain's earliest known hospital has been uncovered by archaeologists. More...

The housing crisis in 1933, and today

[Marketwatch]  The real-estate market is suffering now, but it was worse then.  More...

Swiss archaeologists find 5,000-year-old door

[AP]  Archaeologists in the Swiss city of Zurich have unearthed a 5,000-year-old door that may be one of the oldest ever found in Europe.  More...

Ancient Dead Sea Scrolls Soon Available Through Google

[ABC News]  The public will be able to access over 30,000 manuscript fragments that date back to the first century, fragments that have significantly contributed to the study of Judaism during Hellenistic times and early Christianity. English translations will be provided.  More...

Eyewitness Accounts of 1641 Irish Rebellion to be Released Online

[Presswire]   ‘Ireland in Turmoil: the 1641 Depositions,’ an exhibition to raise awareness about one of the most bloody and traumatic moments in Irish history, the 1641 Irish Rebellion, will be opened by the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese in Trinity College Dublin’s Long Room, Old Library (Ireland) on October 22nd next. Former DUP leader, Dr Ian Paisley will also be speaking at the exhibition. On the occasion of the exhibition, the transcribed and digitised 1641 Depositions, witness testimonies of the violent massacres of the 1641 Irish Rebellion, will be launched online in a new website.  More...

New Record! Ancient Galaxy is Most Distant Thing in Space

[Space]  An ancient galaxy has broken the record for the most distant point in the sky known to date, with its light taking roughly 13.1 billion years to reach Earth.  More...

Bread was around 30,000 years ago -study

[Reuters]  Starch grains found on 30,000-year-old grinding stones suggest that prehistoric man may have dined on an early form of flat bread, contrary to his popular image as primarily a meat-eater.  More...

A Setback for Neandertal Smarts?

[Science Magazine]  Neandertals are looking sharp these days. Many researchers now credit our evolutionary cousins, once regarded as brutish and dumb, with "modern behavior," such as making sophisticated tools and fashioning jewelry, a sign of symbolic expression. But new radiocarbon dating at a site in France could mar this flattering view.  More...

Ancient Shipwreck Points to Site of Major Roman Battle

[Live Science]  The remains of a sunken warship recently found in the Mediterranean Sea may confirm the site of a major ancient battle in which Rome trounced Carthage.  More...

Egypt Uncovers Ancient 4,500-Year-Old Tomb

[Fox news]  Egypt's antiquities authority says archaeologists have unearthed a nearly 4,500-year-old tomb of a pharaonic priest close to the Giza Pyramids. More...

2012 Mayan Calendar 'Doomsday' Date Might Be Wrong

[Discovery]  The Mayans "predicted" the end of the world with one of their calendars. On this date, doomsayers assert that Earth will be ravaged by a smorgasbord of cataclysmic astronomical events -- everything from a Planet X flyby to a "killer" solar flare to a geomagnetic reversal, ensuring we have a very, very bad day....And now, according to a recent study by an associate professor at UC Santa Barbara, this fundamental "end date" may also be inaccurate. It could be at least 60 days out of whack.  More...

Berlin Hitler Exhibit Breaks Taboos

[AOL News]  The exhibit... is packed with Nazi memorabilia, from swastika-bearing beer mugs to SS uniforms, in a bid to show how pervasive propaganda images of Hitler were throughout German society as the Nazis gained and then held power. By coincidence, it includes one famous image purportedly showing Hitler at at World War I rally that was revealed this week to have almost certainly been doctored. More..

Ancient Observatory Unearthed in Iran

[Fars news Agency]  Iranian archeologists announced on Saturday that they have found an ancient observatory used by Iran's renowned astronomer Khaje Nasireddin Tousi in Alamut Castle, north of Iran. More...

Ancient Life of Slavs Depicted in Ukraine

[The Epoch Times]   Depicting ancient battles, 500 "bogatyrs" (athletes in Ukrainian), from Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Russia, and France recently performed in the village of Kopachev near Ukraine's capital, Kiev.  More...

Giant Pterosaurs Could Fly 10,000 Miles Nonstop

[National Geographic]  Large pterosaurs may have been the frequent-flier champions of the dinosaur age, capable of soaring up to10,000 miles at a stretch, scientists say. Currently paleontologists know of four species of giant pterosaur, some of which were as tall as giraffes and had wingspans of more than 30 feet.  More...

Human Ancestors Hunted by Prehistoric Beasts

[Discovery]  Remains of our early primate ancestors suggest birds and mammals often preyed upon our distant relatives.  More...

Archaeologists excavate unique medieval ruins at the center of a Siberian lake

[Archaeology]  Russia's most mysterious archaeological site dominates a small island in the center of a remote lake high in the mountains of southern Siberia.  More...

Cancer 'is purely man-made' say scientists after finding almost no trace of disease in Egyptian mummies

[Daily Mail]   Cancer is a man-made disease, fuelled by the excesses of modern life, study of ancient remains from fossils to mummies has concluded. A review of Egyptian mummies, fossil records dating back to dinosaurs and classical literature found tumours to be extremely rare until recent times, when factors from pollution to poor diet made life more toxic.  More...

English Civil War records go online

[Webuser.co.uk]  Eight million of London's oldest surviving parish records, charting the history of the city from the 16th Century to modern times, have been put online.You can find parish records for Oliver Cromwell, Thomas Wentworth and Thomas Fairfax as well as other key figures in the English Civil War online.  More...

Turkish dam plan threatens 'remarkable' Roman ruins

[CNN]  Allianoi is being buried in preparation for flooding that will occur when the multi-million-dollar Yortanli dam, which is sponsored by Turkish State Hydraulic Works, opens.The site dates as far back as the second century and features exquisite architecture, mosaics and sculptures.  More...

New fossil finds at Colorado National Monument thrill paleontologists

[KKCO-TV]  Paleontologists are thrilled at the latest fossil find at the Colorado National Monument.  More...

Communism left toxic legacy in Eastern Europe

[Fox]  The flood of toxic sludge in Hungary is but one of the ecological horrors that lurk in Eastern Europe 20 years after the collapse of the Iron Curtain, serving as a reminder that the region is dotted with disasters waiting to happen.  More...

Discovery of ancient Roman village slows water plant construction

[Water Tech Online]  The construction of a new $22 million water purification plant was halted in Turgovishte, Bulgaria, after it was discovered the project had partially destroyed an ancient Roman village and burial ground, The Sofia Echo reported.  More...

Painting that sat behind sofa for 30 years might be a Michelangelo

[USA Today]  An unfinished painting of Jesus and Mary that sat behind a family's sofa near Buffalo for almost 30 years might be a lost Michelangelo worth a fortune, the New York Post reports.  More...

Black Death’s Daddy Was the Bubonic Plague

[Wired]  Piles of bones and historical records tell us the Black Death pandemic wiped out as much as half the population of Europe during the Middle Ages. But how and what, exactly, caused the grisly scourge has sparked a boxing match of sorts within the pages of scientific journals.  More...

Hidden medieval village discovered by students

 [BBC]  Amateur archaeologists in the Vale of Glamorgan believe they have uncovered a lost medieval village.  More...

Nazi bomb under Britain's Olympic stadium?

[Britain News net]  There may be an unexploded Nazi bomb under the Olympic stadium in Britain, a media report said Sunday. The device is feared to be near the surface of the main stadium where the Queen and other world leaders will gather in 2012.  More...

Excavation shines light on ancient Eskimo village

[AP]   What's being called the first large-scale excavation in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta has yielded a treasure trove of ancient Eskimo objects, and sparked a race against global warming along the eroding Bering Sea coast.  More...

Giant mosaic unveiled for Jericho's 10,000th birthday

[UK Guardian]  Visitors to ancient Jericho got a rare glimpse yesterday of a 1,200-year-old carpet mosaic measuring nearly 900 square meters, one of the largest in the Middle East.  More...

Roman helmet sold for £2m

[UK Guardian]   The man who found it last May, using a metal detector on farmland on the outskirts of the Cumbrian hamlet of Crosby Garrett, a currently unemployed graduate in his early 20s from the north-east, will share the price with the landowner, but is now a millionaire.  More...

Ancient tree helps turn Palestinian town into tourism hub

[AP]  With a giant trunk and boughs towering 18-meters high, a gnarled gemmayzeh (sycamore) near the main square of the town some call Jericho has long been touted as the very tree that, according to Christian mythology, a hated tax collector climbed to get a glimpse of Jesus.  More...

Flat containing $3m painting untouched for 70 years

[The Age:Australia] The woman who owned the flat had left for the south of France before the Second World War and never returned. ...Entering the untouched, cobweb-filled flat in Paris' 9th arrondissement, one expert said it was like stumbling into the castle of Sleeping Beauty, where time had stood still since 1900.  More...

Judge Mulls Verdict in Jesus Forgery Trial

[AOL News]  The discovery in 2002 of a limestone burial box with the Hebrew inscription "James son of Joseph brother of Jesus" electrified the world of archaeology. If genuine, the burial box, or ossuary, would be the only archaeological artifact yet found with a possible direct link to Jesus of Nazareth.  More...

Shipwreck may yield secrets of antiquity

[Live Science]  The examination of a Mediterranean shipwreck from the 4th century B.C. could shed light on ancient sea routes and trade, researchers say.  More...

Oldest Evidence for Dinosaurs in Tiny Footprints

[Discovery]  Footprints found in 250-million-year-old rocks suggest dinosaurs evolved a few million years after Earth's most severe extinction event to date.  More

"Hidden" Language Found in Remote Indian Tribe

[National geographic]  "This is a language that had been undocumented, completely unrecognized, and unrecorded," said researcher Gregory Anderson....What's more, the newly identified Koro tongue may be endangered: Only about 800 people are speakers—most of them older than 20—and the language hasn't been written down.  More...

Mystery skeleton found at ancient Cypriot site

[Reuters]  The discovery is reminiscent of three skeletons found embracing in the same area back in the 1980s, the likely victims of a strong earthquake which hit the area around 365 AD.  More...

Neolithic tomb found in garden 'extremely significant'

[Scotsman]  "There is a big slab of stone about eight foot by eight foot and I had always wondered what was underneath it. I had a bit of time at the end of the summer and I thought I would take a look."  More...

Neanderthals Had Feelings Too, Say Researchers

[Science Daily]  Pioneering new research by archaeologists at the University of York suggests that Neanderthals belied their primitive reputation and had a deep seated sense of compassion.  More...

Petain toughened up anti-Jewish law in Vichy France

[Reuters]  The head of the French government which collaborated with the Nazis during World War II personally made harsh anti-Jewish legislation even tougher, a leading Nazi hunter said Sunday, citing a newly unveiled document.  More...

BRONZE Age cities archaeologists say could be the precursor of Western civilisation is being uncovered

[The Australian]  Twenty of the spiral-shaped settlements, believed to be the original home of the Aryan people, have been identified, and there are about 50 more suspected sites. They all lie buried in a region more than 640km long near Russia's border with Kazakhstan.   More...

Archaeologists find statue of Tutankhamun's grandad

[AFP]  Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed part a 3,000-year-old statue of the pharaoh Amenhotep III, believed to be the grandfather of the young King Tutankhamun, antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said on Saturday.  More...

Prehistoric highlanders uncovered

[University of Queensland]  The world's earliest known high-altitude human settlement, dating back 49,000 years, has been found buried under volcanic ash in the mountains of Papua New Guinea.  More...

Did Australian Aborigines reach America first?

[Cosmos]  SYDNEY: Cranial features distinctive to Australian Aborigines are present in hundreds of skulls that have been uncovered in Central and South America, some dating back to over 11,000 years ago.?  More...

Heard for the first time in 2,000 years: Scientists post readings of ancient Babylonian poems online

[UK Daily Mail]  The ancient language of Babylonian can be heard for the first time in almost 2,000 years after Cambridge University scholars posted readings and poems online.  More...

Was Stonehenge an Ancient Tourist Destination?

[AOL News]  New research indicates that Stonehenge may have been an ancient tourist destination, attracting visitors from across Europe. More...

'Haunted' Llantwit Major castle back on the market

[BBC]  The building has been unoccupied since the 18th Century and local legend has it that it is inhabited by the ghost of a Dutch sailor.  More...

Archaeologists on Crete find skeleton covered with gold foil in 2,700-year-old grave

[Canadian Press]  The woman, who presumably had a high social or religious status, was buried with a second skeleton in a large jar sealed with a stone slab weighing more than half a ton. It was hidden behind a false wall, to confuse grave robbers.  More...

The war is over! World War I officially ends Sunday

[Washington Post Blog]   Ninety-six years after Kaiser Wilhelm II led his nation into war, the end is finally in sight. The German Federal Budget for 2010 shows that the final outstanding reparations for World War I owed to the Alliance will be paid by Sunday.  More...

Canadian ornithopter achieves Da Vinci's dream

[Science Daily]  Centuries after the Renaissance inventor sketched a human-powered flying machine, Canadian engineering students say they have flown an engineless aircraft that stays aloft by flapping its wings like a bird.  More...

Genocide Wiped Out Native American Population

[Discovery News]  Physical traces of ethnic cleansing that took place in the early 800s suggest the massacre was an inside job.  More...

China Summons Past to Advance Into Africa

[IPS News]  Chinese archaeologists have been sent to hunt for a long-lost shipwreck off the Kenya coast to support claims that China beat white explorers in discovering Africa.  More...

British Library posts Greek manuscripts to Web

[Google]  The British Library said Monday that it was making more than a quarter of its 1,000 volume-strong collection of handwritten Greek texts available online free of charge, something curators there hope will be a boon to historians, biblical scholars and students of classical Greece alike.  More...

Steering Error Sank The Titanic, Says Author

[Discovery]  A steering error, followed by the deliberate decision to continue sailing, sank the Titanic in the icy waters of the North Atlantic, according to the granddaughter of the ocean liner's second officer. Louise Patten, a British novelist and granddaughter of Charles Lightoller, the most senior Titanic officer to have survived the disaster, claims in her new book, "Good as Gold," that the truth behind the sinking of the liner was intentionally buried.  More...

Child Rearing Practices of Distant Ancestors Foster Morality, Compassion in Kids

[Science Daily]  Three new studies led by Notre Dame Psychology Professor Darcia Narvaez show a relationship between child rearing practices common in foraging hunter-gatherer societies...and better mental health, greater empathy and conscience development, and higher intelligence in children.  More...

Ancient Egypt's Pyramids: Norwegian Researcher Unlocks Construction Secrets

[Science Daily]  Scientists from around the world have tried to understand how the Egyptians erected their giant pyramids. Now, an architect and researcher at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) says he has the answer to this ancient, unsolved puzzle.  More...

Britain's oldest working window frame built 1,000 years ago found buried in wall of Saxon church

[UK Daily Mail]  It has now been revealed after shocked workmen spotted the distinctive frame while renovating the Saxon building, in the village of Boxford, near Newbury, Berkshire.  More...

Ancient Arabian treasure trove unearthed in Germany

[The National]  Archaeologists in northern Germany have unearthed a treasure of Arabian silver dirhams dating back to the first half of the seventh century in a spectacular find that proves brisk trade between the Middle East and northern Europe already existed more than 1,200 years ago.  More...

Congress Approves Honor For Japanese American Vets

[KITV]  The veterans volunteered to fight for the United States even though they were branded "enemy aliens" and some of their families were detained in internment camps.  More...

NC researchers return to presumed Blackbeard wreck

[AP]  North Carolina archaeologists plan six weeks of underwater work at the nearly 300-year-old shipwreck presumed to be Blackbeard's pirate flagship.  More...

Siberians discovered America, claims Russian scientist

[The Times of India]  Scientists at a three-day international scientific conference in Sakhalin have said that the first settlers on Sakhalin, the Russian island in the North Pacific, appeared 100,000-200,000 years ago.   More...

Neanderthals More Intelligent Than Thought

[Discovery]  Anthropologist Julien Riel-Salvatore of the University of Colorado, Denver has studied Italian Neanderthal communities for the last seven years. His work sheds new light on the way we look at Neanderthals and their history.  More...

Cambridge university college dig finds Roman village

[BBC]  An archaeological dig to explore Anglo-Saxon graves at Cambridge University has unearthed "unexpected" evidence that the site was once a Roman village.  More...

Ancient Silk Road to be Revived by Railway

[Fars news Agency]  A senior Iranian legislator who is in China on an official visit underlined the importance of an international rail line which is due to link Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and China in the near future, saying that it would revive the ancient Silk Road.   More...

Holocaust denier tours Nazi sites in Poland

[AP]  Prosecutors in Poland say a British historian who denies the Holocaust is touring World War II sites including former Nazi death camps....The institute's spokesman Andrzej Arseniuk said prosecutors are watching his public statements for any violations of the law that forbids the denial of the Holocaust.   More...

Amazing Horned Dinosaurs Found on 'Lost Continent'

[Fox News]  On a "Lost Continent" that once covered much of the land now occupied by the U.S., paleontologists have discovered fossils of two new dinosaur species, relatives of the famed Triceratops.  More...

Bulgarian Archaeologists Unearth Ancient Roman Highway, Fortress

[Novinite]  A team of archaeologists from the Bulgarian National History Museum has uncovered a highway dating back to the zenith of the Roman Empire.  More...

Moses' parting of the Red Sea: Is there a physical explanation?

[Christian Science Monitor]  A new paper suggests that an area near the Red Sea area could have had favorable characteristics for 'wind setdown' some 3,000 years ago.  More...

The ancient Egyptian facelift: 'Beautiful' Queen Nefertiti had a 'bent nose and wrinkled eyes'

[UK Daily Mail]  An ancient Egyptian queen who was been hailed for thousands of years as the perfect example of beauty may not have been such a looker after all, researchers have claimed.  More...

Ancient crop holds promising potential

[Washington State University]  Today researchers are investigating bringing back camelina because it has some highly valuable properties for something much more modern than lamp oil. With some processing, camelina oil can be used in jet engines.  More...

1,500-year-old Samaritan synagogue found by Beit Shean

[Jerusalem Post]  The ancient Samaritan house of worship was discovered shortly before Rosh Hashanah and is one of the oldest Samaritan synagogues discovered in Israel.  More...

Volcanoes wiped out the Neanderthals?

[USA Today]  Volcanoes wiped out the Neanderthals some 40,000 years ago, suggest archeologists, setting the stage for modern humans in Europe.  More...

Russian Submarine Hunts Clues to Century-Old Mystery

[Spiegal Online]  Legend has it that almost a century ago a series of railway wagons stuffed with gold sank into the depths of a lake in Siberia. This week, researchers, exploring the depths by submarine, may have found the Russian royals' lost gold.  More...

Walker finds skeleton of World War I soldier preserved in astonishing condition buried in glacier on Italian ski resort

[UK mail Online]  An amateur historian has discovered the mummified body of a World War I solider frozen into an Italian glacier.  More...

Laminated Linen Protected Alexander the Great

[Discovery News]  Alexander's men wore linothorax, a highly effective type of body armor created by laminating together layers of linen, research finds.  More...

Mild-mannered bank manager revealed as First World War hero

[UK Telegraph]  A 'mild-mannered' bank manager who never discussed the First World War with his family has been revealed as a hero soldier who fought behind enemy lines.  More...

Tyrannosaurs Were Human-size for 80 Million Years

[National geographic]  Tyrannosaurus rex may have towered over its Cretaceous competition, but for their first 80 million years, most tyrannosaur species were small-timers—no bigger than humans, researchers say.  More...

Fortress uncovered: Co Louth Viking site of international importance

[The Irish Times]  A VIKING fortress of international importance has been uncovered at Annagassan, Co Louth. It is believed to be the longphort (ship fortress) of Linn Duchaill, founded in AD 841 – the same year as Viking Dublin.  More

Astrological Scene Found on Egyptian Tomb Ceiling

[Discovery]  Karakhamun was a priest who lived during the 25th dynasty (755-656 B.C.). His tomb, known as TT223, was first discovered in the 19th century, but then it collapsed and disappeared under the desert sands.  More...

British archaeologist finds cave paintings at 100 new African sites

[UK Guardian]  UK scientist unearths 5,000-year-old rock art, including drawing of a mounted hunter, in Somaliland.  More...

2,000-Year-Old Village Unearthed at London School

[AOL News]  Construction workers building a school in London have unearthed ancient bones of children, and of animals that archaeologists believe are evidence of ritual sacrifices, at a 2,000-year-old Iron Age farming settlement.  More...

Ancient seeds in Mexico help fight warming effects

[Reuters]  More than 500 years after Spanish priests brought wheat seeds to Mexico to make wafers for the Catholic Mass, those seeds may bring a new kind of salvation to farmers hit by global warming.  More...

Ancient sea bird had biggest wingspan

[UPI]  The fossilized skeleton of an ancient bird found in Chile shows the creature had a wingspan of at least 17 feet, twice that of any living bird, scientists say.  More...

True Causes for Extinction of Cave Bear Revealed: More Human Expansion Than Climate Change

[Science Daily]  The cave bear started to become extinct in Europe 24,000 years ago, but until now the cause was unknown.  More...

Undersea Cave Yields One of Oldest Skeletons in Americas

[National Geographic]  Apparently laid to rest more than 10,000 years ago in a fiery ritual, one of the oldest skeletons in the Americas has been retrieved from an undersea cave along Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula.  More...

Skeleton May Be Alexander the Great's Father

[Live Science]  A cremated male skeleton in a lavish ancient Greek tomb is not Alexander the Great's half-witted half-brother, according to a new study.  More...

King Herod's royal theater box uncovered at Herodium

[Jerusalem Post]  Theater box reveals Jewish monarch's luxurious lifestyle, displays rare example of elaborate style of Roman wall painting found outside Italy.  More...

Rescuing Afghanistan's Buddhist History

[Wall Street journal]  A spectacular Buddhist archaeological site is now being excavated by the Afghan government's National Institute of Archaeology....Within three years, the site is slated to be destroyed by Afghanistan's largest single foreign investment, a Chinese-run copper mine.  More...

Ancient Egyptian burial chamber discovered

[Almasryalyoum]  The Egyptian Ministry of Culture on Wednesday announced that archaeologists had discovered a 2600-year-old burial chamber while restoring the tomb of a priest of the ancient Egyptian god Amun.  More...

Medieval book looted during war to go back to Italy

[UK Standard]  A 12th century manuscript will be returned to Italy from the British Library thanks to a new law governing artwork looted during the Nazi era.  More...

Burial offers for forgotten World War spy Eileen Nearne

[UK Mirror]  Personal documents revealed she had been tortured and escaped three times from the SS in occupied France where she was an undercover radio operator.  More...

Lead Poisoning in Samurai Kids Linked to Mom's Makeup

[Live Science]  An analysis of bones of children who lived as many as 400 years ago showed sky-high lead levels, which scientists now think came from their mothers' makeup.  More...