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New museum to display rich Palestinian history
Jawdat N. Khoudary will open the first museum of archeology this summer in Gaza. The aim is to show Palestinian patriotism and how the now "Gray Gaza" was once a thriving multicultural crossroad.
The exhibition will be in a hall made of saved stoned from old houses, discarded wood ties from former railroads, bronze lamps and marble columns. Jawdat N. Khoudary will open the first museum of archeology this summer in Gaza. The aim is to show Palestinian patriotism and how t... more -
Perhaps Elvis is alive after all
A statue of Elvis was chiseled in Rome some 1,800 years ago, so perhaps Elvis is still alive somewhere - if he survived 1,800 years, it is just as likely that he is still among us today... Could he be the elusive Saint Germain? ;) A statue of Elvis was chiseled in Rome some 1,800 years ago, so perhaps Elvis is still alive somewhere - if he survived 1,800 years, i... more
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Rare mummy found with strange artifacts and tattoos
A thousand-year old mummy has been discovered in Peru decorated with scarlet paint, metal eye-plates that denote high status, and tatoos.
"As anthropologists gingerly removed the layers of ancient textiles swaddling the thirtysomething elite male last month at a Lima lab, offerings both strange and familiar came to light—slingshots, corn, a figurine in identical dress."
The mummy gives astoishing insights into the little-studied Chancay civilisation between A.D. 1000 and 1500, before finally falling to the unstoppable Inca Empire. A thousand-year old mummy has been discovered in Peru decorated with scarlet paint, metal eye-plates that denote high status, and tato... more -
Climbing the Great Pyramid with Japanese Know-How
For nearly 5,000 years, the Great Pyramids of Egypt have instilled wonder and awe in mankind. In the last half a dozen centuries, they have also become a tempting lure for many to climb them - especially the Great Pyramid of Cheops. Pyramid climbing has been a temptation ever since the limestone casing of the Great Pyramid collapsed from an earthquake during the Middle Ages. Among some of the more famous climbers of the past was Mark Twain. He climbed up to the top in the mid-Nineteenth Century or rather he was dragged and carried up to the top by enterprising locals for a small bit of baksheesh (tip money). Financially and physically, Twain came off better than modern British author Graham Hancock.
Hancock, the author of Fingerprints of the Gods, believes that a very ancient civilization pre-dating the Egyptians built the pyramids on the Giza Plain long before Cheops, or Khufu, as the Ancient Egyptians called him, was even born. Unlike Twain, Hancock had to climb the Pyramid under his own steam while paying out close to $300 in bribes.
Pyramid climbing had been permissible up to the 1980s until Egyptian authorities forbade it following the deaths of several climbers. Despite the ban, the Great Pyramid is still climbed periodically as author Hancock had done, generally in the dead of night. Sometimes guards are bribed and guides hired to show intrepid climbers the way up. Other climbers prefer to forgo paying unnecessary bribes and find ways of avoiding opportunistic guards.
Interestingly enough, the leading nationality of these thrifty nocturnal climbers are the Japanese. Young Japanese travelers in Egypt have made Pyramid Climbing virtually a profession. They even have a handwritten book about how to do it in one of the hotels in Cairo.
"Never Give Up!" is the Japanese climber's motto for surmounting the Pyramid, or as it is written in their book: "Never Up Give!"
The temptation to climb the Great Pyramid proved too great even for me to ignore despite my academic background in historical preservation and, more importantly, my fear of heights. I had climbed pyramids in Mexico and a minor pyramid or two in Egypt but Cheops just laughed at me. After all, what were these pitiful things compared to the Great Pyramid?
At 450 feet (135 meters), the Great Pyramid is nothing to sneeze at, especially when you’re clinging to the side of it for dear life in the dark, 200 feet up and a sneeze would send you tumbling to the ground in a broken bloody heap.
Before going, I diligently consulted the Japanese book for the necessary information. The book was a compilation of various personal accounts and advice from successful climbers written in both Japanese and English. In addition there were detailed maps on how to sneak into the area and which side to climb.
For nearly 5,000 years, the Great Pyramids of Egypt have instilled wonder and awe in mankind. In the last half a dozen centuries, they... more -
Ancient Egyptian pharaoh's boat to "sail" once more
Archaeologists will excavate hundreds of fragments of an ancient Egyptian wooden boat entombed in an underground chamber next to Giza's Great Pyramid and try to reassemble the craft, Egyptologists announced Saturday.
The 4,500-year-old vessel is the sister ship of a similar boat removed in pieces from another pit in 1954 and painstakingly reconstructed. Experts believe the boats were meant to ferry the pharaoh who built the Great Pyramid in the afterlife.
Starting Saturday, tourists were allowed to view images of the inside of the second boat pit from a camera inserted through the a hole in the chamber's limestone ceiling. The video image, transmitted onto a small TV monitor at the site, showed layers of crisscrossing beams and planks on the floor of the dark pit.
"You can smell the past," said Zahi Hawass, director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities.
Experts will begin removing around 600 pieces of timber in November, said professor Sakuji Yoshimura of Japan's Waseda University, who is helping lead the restoration effort with the antiquities council.
The discovery of the boat pits more than 50 years ago by workmen clearing a large mound of wind-blown debris from the south side of the Great Pyramid is considered one of the most significant finds on the plateau. They are the oldest vessels to have survived from antiquity.
The reconstructed ship is on display in a museum built above the pit where it was discovered. It is a narrow vessel measuring 142 feet with a rectangular deckhouse and long, interlocking oars that soar overhead.
The cedar timbers of its curved hull are lashed together with hemp rope in a technique used until recent times by traditional shipbuilders along the Red Sea, Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.
The unexcavated boat, made from Lebanese cedar and Egyptian acacia trees, is thought to be of similar design, but smaller and less well preserved.
John Darnell, an Egyptologist at Yale University, said new research into the second boat could fill in some blanks about the significance of the vessels and help determine whether they ever actually plied Nile River waterways or were of purely spiritual import.
"In Egypt, almost everything real had its counterpart meaning or significance in the spiritual world. But there's a lot of debate as to whether these vessels ever were used or not," Darnell said.
Those who argue the vessels may have touched water point to rope marks on the wood that could have been caused by the rope becoming wet and then shrinking as it dried.
But Hawass believes these were symbolic vessels, not funerary boats used to bring the pharaoh Khufu's embalmed remains up the Nile from the ancient capital of Memphis for burial in the Great Pyramid, the oldest and largest of Giza's pyramids.
He said solar symbols found inside the second pit offer more evidence that those who disassembled and buried the boats believed Khufu's soul would travel from his tomb in the pyramid through a connecting air shaft to the boat chambers and that he would use the boats to circle the heavens, like the sun god, taking one boat by day and the other by night.
Archaeologists will excavate hundreds of fragments of an ancient Egyptian wooden boat entombed in an underground chamber next to Giza'... more -
Grunting fish give clues to origins of voice
Fish that use grunting vocalizations to attract mates or see off intruders, such as mud fish or midshipman fish are being studied for clues of how vocal communication developed. Scientists have discovered that the area of the fish's brain that drives vocalization is extremely primitive, suggesting that the evolution of voice communications appeared very early on in the evolution of vertebrates. The most interesting discovery was that when traced back, the neural pathways and areas of the brain involved in controlling vocalizations in fish, birds, frogs, etc are all the same, suggesting a common - vocal - ancestry, making the use of vocalizations very ancient indeed. Fish that use grunting vocalizations to attract mates or see off intruders, such as mud fish or midshipman fish are being studied for ... more
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Ancient bones could help combat TB
Ancient bones from the city of Jericho are to be used by British scientists to develop treatments for tuberculosis. The project is part of a new scientific discipline in which archaeologists and medical researchers are cooperating to gain insights into modern ailments.
The team, which also includes Israeli, Palestinian and German researchers, will be following up pioneering work by British archaeologist Kathleen Kenyon. In the Fifties she made a series of important digs at Jericho and found bones from thousands of humans, some dating back 8,000 years.
When these bones were examined, it was discovered many had lesions, indicating that the city's men and women had suffered from tuberculosis. The walls of Jericho may have come down, not with a trumpet blast, but with epidemic of coughing, it seems.
TB infects nine million people a year - 450,000 with a strain that is resistant to first-line drugs, according to the World Health Organization.
Ancient bones from the city of Jericho are to be used by British scientists to develop treatments for tuberculosis. The project is par... more -
Ancient curse: "May your penis hurt when you make love"...
An unusual curse has been found inscribed on a lead tablet in the Anciet city of Amathus in Cyprus. The curse was inscribed in Greek, depicting a man holding what looks like an hourglass and some text, part of it reading, "man your penis hurt when you make love." The inscription is thought to have been made by shamans in the 7th Century AD. An unusual curse has been found inscribed on a lead tablet in the Anciet city of Amathus in Cyprus. The curse was inscribed in Greek,... more
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How did archaeologists find half a million artifacts at George Washington's boyhoo...
Archaeologists announced on Wednesday that they had unearthed George Washington's boyhood home at a site not far from Fredericksburg, Va. Over the course of a seven-year excavation, the researchers found more than 500,000 artifacts. How can there be half a million artifacts at one site? Archaeologists announced on Wednesday that they had unearthed George Washington's boyhood home at a site not far from Fredericksburg, ... more
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Archeologists open secret cave under Mexican pyramid
Archeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican pyramid to look for clues about the mysterious collapse of one of ancient civilization's largest cities.
The soaring Teotihuacan stone pyramids, now a major tourist site about an hour outside Mexico City, were discovered by the ancient Aztecs around 1500 AD, not long before the arrival of Spanish explorers to Mexico.
But little is known about the civilization that built the immense city, with its ceremonial architecture and geometric temples, and then torched and abandoned it around 700 AD.
Archeologists are now revisiting a cave system that is buried 20 feet beneath the towering Pyramid of the Sun and extends into a tunnel stretching for some 295 feet (90 meters) with a height of 8 feet.
Archeologists are opening a cave sealed for more than 30 years deep beneath a Mexican pyramid to look for clues about the mysterious c... more -
Ancient Acrobat's Last Dance of Death
An acrobat known as hub-ki (trans: 'always jumping about'), two others and several rare horse-like donkey-hybrids were killed as part of a sacrificial ceremony in around 2300 BC, say archeologists at a dig in northeastern Syria. The team was excavating a building on the site of the ancient city of Nagar, possibly the world's oldest city, when the discovery came to light.
What makes the find so unusual is the manner of the sacrifice. Not only had the three victims been beheaded, with their heads were missing, they had not been buried, but were instead left on the floor of the building, which was then filled-in around them. Other artifacts found included the remains of a dog and its water-bowl and some items of fine silver jewelry.
Archeologists at the dig speculate that the acrobat may have taken part in some sort of acrobatic ritualistic performance that culminated in their own beheading. An acrobat known as hub-ki (trans: 'always jumping about'), two others and several rare horse-like donkey-hybrids were killed as part ... more -
* Games Aztec ‘Whistles of Death’
Spooky.........Grrrrrrrrrrrr
OK
Anyway this is Archeology
MEXICO CITY — Scientists were fascinated by the ghostly find: a human skeleton buried in an Aztec temple with a clay, skull-shaped whistle in each bony hand.
But no one blew into the noisemakers for nearly 15 years.
When someone finally did, the shrill, windy screech made the spine tingle.
If death had a sound, this was it. Spooky.........Grrrrrrrrrrrr OK Anyway this is Archeology ... more -
Fossil of most primitive 4-legged creature found
Scientists unearthed a skull of the most primitive four-legged creature in history, said a study in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature.
The well-preserved remains, discovered from 370-million-year-old rocks in Latvia, has features in between those of fish and land animals.
The fierce-looking creature probably swam through shallow brackish waters, measured about one meter long and ate other fish, scientists said in the study.
"If you saw it from a distance, it would look like a small alligator, but if you look closer you would find a fin in the back," said Per Ahlberg, a professor of evolutionary biology at Uppsala University in Sweden.
It has long been accepted that all land animals with backbones -- including humans -- are descended from one small group of fish that left the water about 365 million years ago.
This suggests our understanding of the evolutionary transition from fish to tetrapod is beginning to face review, they said. Scientists unearthed a skull of the most primitive four-legged creature in history, said a study in Thursday's issue of the journal Na... more -
Jordan archaeologists unearth 'world's first church'
Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed what they claim is the world's first church, dating back almost 2,000 years, The Jordan Times reported on Tuesday.
"We have uncovered what we believe to be the first church in the world, dating from 33 AD to 70 AD," the head of Jordan's Rihab Centre for Archaeological Studies, Abdul Qader al-Husan, said.
He said it was uncovered under Saint Georgeous Church, which itself dates back to 230 AD, in Rihab in northern Jordan near the Syrian border.
"We have evidence to believe this church sheltered the early Christians -- the 70 disciples of Jesus Christ," Husan said.
These Christians, who are described in a mosaic as "the 70 beloved by God and Divine," are said to have fled persecution in Jerusalem and founded churches in northern Jordan, Husan added.
He cited historical sources which suggest they both lived and practised religious rituals in the underground church and only left it after Christianity was embraced by Roman rulers.
The bishop deputy of the Greek Orthodox archdiocese, Archimandrite Nektarious, described the discovery as an "important milestone for Christians all around the world."
Researchers recovered pottery dating back to between the 3rd and 7th centuries, which they say suggests these first Christians and their followers lived in the area until late Roman rule.
Inside the cave there are several stone seats which are believed to have been for the clergy and a circular shaped area, thought to be the apse.
There is also a deep tunnel which is believed to have led to a water source, the archaeologist added.
Rihab is home to a total of 30 churches and Jesus and the Virgin Mary are believed to have passed through the area, Husan said.
Archaeologists in Jordan have unearthed what they claim is the world's first church, dating back almost 2,000 years, The Jordan Times ... more -
'Missing pyramid' unearthed
Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the "missing pyramid" of a pharaoh and a ceremonial procession road where high priests carried mummified remains of sacred bulls, Egypt's antiquities chief said Thursday.
The pyramid -- of which only the base remains -- is believed to be that of King Menkauhor, an obscure pharaoh who ruled for only eight years more than 4,000 years ago.
In 1842, German archaeologist Karl Richard Lepsius mentioned Menkauhor's pyramid among his finds at Saqqara, calling it the "Headless Pyramid" because its top was missing. But the desert sands covered Lepsius' discovery, and no archaeologist since was able to find it.
Only the pyramid's base -- or the superstructure as archeologists call it -- was found after a 25-foot-high mound of sand was removed over the past year and a half. The base was in a 15 foot-deep pit dug out by workers, with heaps of huge rocks marking its entrance and walls. A burial chamber also was discovered.
Archaeologists have not found a cartouche -- a pharoah's name in hieroglyphs -- of the pyramid's owner. Egyptian archaeologists have uncovered the "missing pyramid" of a pharaoh and a ceremonial procession road where high priests carried ... more -
Stonehenge was a cemetery
This page has a great video showing the life of Stonehenge. It's amazing what people can do when they have lots of free time on their hands. This page has a great video showing the life of Stonehenge. It's amazing what people can do when they have lots of free time on their ... more
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Flamboyant archeologist believes he has identified Cleopatra's tomb
A flamboyant archeologist known worldwide for his trade-mark Indiana Jones hat believes he has identified the site where Cleopatra is buried.
Now, with a team of 12 archeologists and 70 excavators, Zahi Hawass, 60, the head of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, has started searching for the entrance to her tomb.
And after a breakthrough two weeks ago he hopes to find her lover, the Roman general Mark Antony, sharing her last resting place at the site of a temple, the Taposiris Magna, 28 miles west of Alexandria.
Hawass has discovered a 400ft tunnel beneath the temple containing clues that the supposedly beautiful queen may lie beneath. “We’ve found tunnels with statues of Cleopatra and many coins bearing her face, things you wouldn’t expect in a typical temple,” he said.
A fortnight ago Hawass’s team discovered a bust of Mark Antony, the Roman general who became Cleopatra’s lover and had three children with her before their ambitions for an Egyptian empire brought them into conflict with Rome.
They committed suicide – he with his sword, she reputedly by clutching an asp to her breast – after being defeated by Octavian in the battle of Actium in 31BC. “Our theory is that both Cleopatra and Mark Antony are buried here,” said Hawass.
The archeologist, best known in Britain for demanding the return of the Rosetta Stone from the British Museum and for promoting the Tutankhamun exhibition at the O2 dome in London, believes the temple’s location would have made it a perfect place for Cleopatra to hide from Octavian’s army.
Work on the site has been suspended until the summer heat abates and is due to resume in November, when Hawass will use radar to search for hidden chambers.
The queen’s life and death were immortalised in Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra, and the Hollywood movie Cleopatra – starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, who fell in love during the filming – but the location of her tomb has remained a mystery.
If Hawass is right, he could make the greatest archeological discovery in Egypt since Tutankhamun’s tomb was uncovered by the British archeologist Howard Carter in 1922.
Other experts are cautious, though. John Baines, professor of Egyptology at Oxford University, warned that searching for royal tombs often proved a “hopeless” task. He also doubted that Antony would be buried alongside his lover.
“It’s unlikely Mark Antony would have a tomb that anyone would be able to discover because he was the enemy at the time he died,” he said.
Hawass, however, remains defiant. “This is our theory. Others may disagree, but we are searching to see if we can prove it,” he said. A flamboyant archeologist known worldwide for his trade-mark Indiana Jones hat believes he has identified the site where Cleopatra is ... more -
Skull & Decker: does Indiana Jones know he's chasing fake skulls?
Does Indiana Jones, who's back in action this bank holiday weekend in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, know he's risking life and limb for a bunch of fake artifacts? Experts analyzed two skulls held by the British Museum and the Smithsonian that were once thought to be pre-Columbian Mesoamerican relics, and concluded that they are modern fakes. The findings are published in the May 2008 edition of the Journal of Archaeological Science.
British and American researchers used modern techniques to uncover the quartz crystal skulls' secrets. Using electron microscopes and X-ray scanning methods, the teams found that modern industrial techniques had been used to fashion the stone. The British Museum skull was manufactured using rotary tools and an abrasive substance such as crystallized aluminum oxide or diamond particles, while the Smithsonian skull has been fashioned with a silicon carbide abrasive.
The British Museum skull first surfaced in 1881 in a Parisian antiques shop. It was bought at auction by Tiffany & Co, who then sold in on to the museum, at a profit, in 1897. The Smithsonian skull was donated anonymously in 1992. It was left with a note that said it had been purchased in Mexico in the 1960s.
"There are about a dozen or more of these crystal skulls. Except for the British Museum skull and one in Paris, they seem to have entered public awareness since the 60s, with the interest in quartz and the New Age movement," said Cardiff University Professor and study researcher Ian Freestone, speaking to the BBC. "It does appear that people have been making them since then. Some of them are quite good, but some of them look like they were produced with a Black & Decker in someone's garage."
Suspecting their skull was a fake, the Smithsonian first carried out research on their relic in 1992. Meanwhile the British Museum list their skull as being "probably European, 19th century AD" and "not an authentic pre-Columbian artifact".
A simple search on the internet could have saved Indiana Jones the bother of coming out of retirement. Rather than chasing halfway around the world after these forged antiquities, leaving a path of destruction in his wake, it would have been far more efficient it he'd bought a lump of quartz and a power tool from Home Depot to satisfy his quest for a crystal skull.
http://www.dailymantra.com Does Indiana Jones, who's back in action this bank holiday weekend in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, know he's risking life and lim... more -
'Breakthrough' at Stonehenge dig
New insights into the construction and timeline of Stonehenge.
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Iceman: Centuries-old human called Kwaday Dan Ts'inch.
Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi means "long ago person found" in the Southern Tutchone language and refers to the remains of the young aboriginal hunter found frozen in a glacier in August 1999. The well-preserved condition of the remains has allowed scientists the rare opportunity to study in detail everything about the ancient man's lifestyle, from the source of clothing he wore, to what he ate and drank in the hours before his death on the glacier. Kwaday Dan Ts'inchi means "long ago person found" in the Southern Tutchone language and refers to the remains of the young aboriginal ... more
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Archeology
