Decapitated skeletons were Vikings: scientists

2010-03-12T05:15:37Z

<div><p>Dozens of decapitated skeletons which were uncovered during an excavation in Dorset were those of 1,000-year-old Vikings, scientist said Friday.</p><p>The macabre discovery in June of a neatly stacked pile of skulls next to a mass of male bones in a Weymouth burial pit sparked speculation about who the victims were.</p><p>Scientists from Australia's first white settlers, said Michael Mansell ...

Indonesia Hobbit

2010-03-06T21:16:42Z

In this photo taken Sept. 14, 2009, Jatmiko, an Indonesian archaeologist, examines a prehistoric stone spall at the Liang Bua cave excavation site where the remains of Homo floresiensis were discovered in Ruteng, Flores island of Indonesia. This world turned upside down may once have existed on the remote island of Flores, where an international team is trying to shed light on the fossilized 18,000-year-old skeleton of a dwarf cavewoman whose dis...

Coins from Alexander the Great found in Syria

2010-03-04T16:15:44Z

<div id="subtitle">250 coins dating back to Alexander the Great's time found in Syria</div><div><p>More than 250 silver coins dating back to the time of Alexander the Great were unearthed in northern Syria, a Syrian archaeologist said Thursday.</p><p>Youssef Kanjo, the head of archaeological excavations in the ancient city of SANA on Tuesday, March 2, 2010, Hellenistic coins dating back to the era of Alexander the Great are seen after they were discovered in northern Syria, the head of the archaeological excavation department in the Aleppo province said Thursday, Marc...

Sudan's land of 'black pharaohs' a trove for archaeologists

2010-03-03T15:02:55Z

<div><p>There is not a tourist in sight as the sun sets over sand-swept pyramids at Meroe, but archaeologists say the Nubian Desert of northern Sudan holds mysteries to rival ancient Egypt.</p><p>"There is a magic beauty about these sites that is heightened by the privilege of being able to admire them alone, with the pyramids, the dunes and the sun," says

Burial chamber of ancient Egyptian queen unearthed

2010-03-03T15:00:19Z

<div id="subtitle">French archaeologists unearth a burial chamber for mysterious ancient Egyptian queen</div><div><p>French archaeologists announced Wednesday the discovery outside Cairo of the burial chamber of a mysterious queen from Egypt's Old Kingdom more than 4,000 years ago.</p><p>The necropolis of Saqqara outside Cairo has yielded a string of new discove...

Archaeologists in Egypt find tomb of mystery queen

2010-03-03T11:17:43Z

<div><p>A French archaeological mission has unearthed a 4,000-year-old rare pink granite sarcophagus belonging to a little known ancient queen of Egypt, the culture ministry said on Wednesday.</p><p>The mystery queen identified as Bahnou, was "one of the queens of the Sixth Dynasty which ruled Egypt from 2374 to 2192 BC," antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said in a statement.</p...

Religion News in Brief

2010-03-03T09:32:50Z

<div id="subtitle">Religion News in Brief</div><div><p>Pope Benedict XVI will make a two-day visit to Spain in November, with a stop in Barcelona to consecrate the famed Sagrada Familia church, his spokesman said.</p><p>The Reuters) - Archaeologists have unearthed the intact sarcophagus of Egypt's Queen Behenu inside her 4,000-year-old burial chamber near her pyramid in Saqqara, chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass announced Wednesday.</p><p>The Old Kingdom queen's chamber was badly damaged except for two inner walls cover...

Former Swiss wine grower uncovers Sudan's ancient roots

2010-03-03T00:16:37Z

<div><p>Charles Bonnet, the 76-year-old doyen of Sudan archaeologists who helped rewrite an ancient chapter of Africa's largest country, has come a long way from the Swiss vineyards he harvested as a youth.</p><p>"As a young person, I was a wine grower. I jumped off my tractor and quickly went to university," he recalled, eyes lighting up, as he sat with an AFP correspondent on the terra...

Greek police arrest 2 with valuable antiquities

2010-02-28T11:31:12Z

<div id="subtitle">2 arrested in Greece for trying to sell valuable sculptures for several million euros</div><div><p>Greek police arrested two men trying to sell several artifacts, including a bronze sculpture of emperor Alexander the Great from the 4th century B.C., for which the asking price was euro7 million ($9.5 million), authorities said Sunday.</p&g...

Mideast Egypt Antiquities

2010-02-28T06:00:26Z

This undated photo released by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities in Cairo, Egypt Sunday Feb. 28, 2010, shows the newly unearthed 3,400- year old red granite head, part of a huge statue of the ancient pharaoh Amenhotep III, at the pharaoh's mortuary temple in the city of Luxor.

Statue head of King Tut's grandfather found in Luxor

2010-02-28T03:15:35Z

<div><p>Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a colossal statue head of the pharaoh whom DNA tests revealed last week was King Tutankhamun's grandfather, the government said on Sunday.</p><p>The red granite head of King Amenhotep III, part of a larger 3,000 year-old statue, was discovered at the site of the pharaoh's funerary temple in Luxor, Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era.</p><p>If the age of the wall is correct, the finding would be an indication that Jerusalem was ho...

Egypt to receive stolen sarcophagus from US

2010-02-22T09:00:08Z

<div id="subtitle">Egypt to retrieve 3,000-year-old stolen sarcophagus from the US</div><div><p>The U.S. will return to Egypt a 3,000 year old wooden sarcophagus confiscated at the Miami airport after being shipped from Barcelona, the Culture Ministry announced Monday.</p><p...

MIDEAST ISRAEL PALESTINIANS

2010-02-22T07:17:40Z

Archeologist Eilat Mazar, center in red, who is leading the excavation of newly discovered fortifications outside the Old City walls, talks to journalists in Jerusalem, Monday, Feb. 22, 2010. Mazar says ancient fortifications newly excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of the Bible's King Solomon and offer evidence for the accuracy of the biblical narrative. (AP Photo/Tara Todras-Whiteh...

SC archaeologists say early octagonal house found

2010-02-21T10:30:27Z

<div id="subtitle">SC archaeologists believe they unearthed early octagonal house along the coast</div><div><p>South Carolina archaeologists believe they might have unearthed the first octagonal house in the United States. The ruins were found last fall on the banks of the May River in the southern coastal town of Bluffton. A letter written in 1796 by a visitor mentio...

CLOSING PARKS: MORE HARM THAN GOOD?

2010-02-20T02:15:22Z

<div id="subtitle">Cost-cutting move could devastate rural areas, critics say</div><div><p> The Nevada Legislature is thinking of closing state parks as it considers how to patch an estimated $900 million budget gap, a move that would save a few million dollars while killing the economies of rural towns and stunting tourism efforts across the state, opponents of the idea say.</p><p>...

Tut's ills won't kill fascination, historians say

2010-02-22T09:06:27Z

<div><p>It turns out Egypt's beloved boy-king wasn't so golden after all — or much of a wild and crazy guy, for that matter.</p><p>But will research showing King Tut was actually a hobbled, weak teen with a cleft palate and club foot kill enthusiasm for a mummy that has fascinated the world for nearly a century?</p>&lt...

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