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...