Shakespeare's death mask on display for the first time

[Daily Mail]  The bard's death mask will be shown at the University of Edinburgh's Anatomy Museum from January 28, when it unveils a macabre collection of medical artefacts to the public.

UK scientists find 'lost' Darwin fossils

[AP]  The unearthed fossils — lost for 165 years — show there is more to learn from a period of history scientists thought they knew well.

JRR Tolkien snubbed by 1961 Nobel jury, papers reveal

[BBC]  JRR Tolkien was passed over for the 1961 Nobel literature prize after the storytelling in his Lord of the Rings trilogy was described as second rate. Newly-released documents - declassified after 50 years - show that he was nominated by fellow author CS Lewis.

Scientists Discover 'Geoglyphs' In Amazon

[Huffington Post] Ancient land formations, referred to as geoglyphs, have been discovered in Brazil that may reveal more about the history of human civilization than any other discovery in recent memory.

Yemen unearths Paleolithic sites

[Bikyamasr]  Some 200 never-before-known Paleolithic tombs were unearthed in Yemen’s western al-Mahwit region, the state-run Saba news agency reported. According to the report, the tombs consist of embalmed mummies and other funerary items.

2000 Year-Old Cave Paintings Found in Mexico

 [Hispanically Speaking News] The oldest images refer to rites of passage, healing, prayers for rain and mountain worship, and were created by ancient hunter-gatherer societies that occupied the area during the first centuries A.D.

Could Siberian Volcanism Have Caused the Earth's Largest Extinction Event?

[Science Daily] Around 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian geologic period, there was a mass extinction so severe that it remains the most traumatic known species die-off in Earth's history.

Most Recent European Great Ape Discovered

[Science Daily]  Scientists from Germany, Bulgaria and France have documented that great apes survived in Europe in savannah-like landscapes until seven million years ago. More...

Oldest Representation of the Tower of Babel discovered?

[Discovery]  Carved on a black stone, which has already been dubbed the Tower of Babel stele, the inscription dates to 604-562 BCE.  More...

Evidence of a Lost World of Ancient Huron Caribou Hunters

[The Vancouver Sun] The scientists believe these prehistoric people - who would have been among the earliest inhabitants of the continent - had a "kill site" along a ridge along the present-day U.S.-Canada border that was eventually submerged by rising waters when the glaciers melted at the end of the last Ice Age.  More...

 

Ancient Lost City in Missouri: New Findings

[The Atlantic Cities] A new round of archaeological digs, done in preparation for a bridge being constructed across the Mississippi River between Missouri and Illinois, has unearthed evidence of "a sophisticated, sprawling metropolis stretching across 13 kilometers on both sides of the Mississippi" that existed about a thousand years ago. More...

Stone Age temple on Orkney built centuries before Stonehenge

[Herald Scotland] Project manager Nick Card said the discoveries are unparalleled in British prehistory and that the complexity of finds is changing the "whole vision of what the landscape was 5000 years ago." He said it was of "a scale that almost relates to the classical period in the Mediterranean with walled enclosure and precincts". More...