Newsdesk Archive

Archaeologists are planning to build a copy of an ancient boat found in Dover and sail it from Britain to France. The £200,000 project is intended to demonstrate how the boat might have been used thousands of years ago. The boat is one of the best preserved examples of a coastal vessel from the bronze age and was found in a chance discovery in 1992. Funding is now needed and the project could attract EU money thanks to a partnership with French museums.

Scientists have re-constructed part of the genetic code that would have existed in a common ancestor of placental mammals, including humans. The creature, thought to be a nocturnal shrew-like animal, lived alongside dinosaurs about 75 million years ago. The researchers used computer analysis to compare and contrast modern mammal genomes and then modelled a sequence that would have been common to all. The work is reported in the December issue of the journal Genome Research. The project was led by David Haussler, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of California, Santa Cruz, US.

QUETTA, Nov 29: The leader of opposition in the Balochistan Assembly, Mr. Kachkol Ali, has criticized the government for not taking steps to introduce historical forts and the cultural heritage of the province at international level. He said in a statement issued here that the Mehar Garh archaeological site was 9,000 years old and the Chakar Fort in Sibi and Puno Qila in Turbat had historical importance. He said that the federal government was spending billions of rupees on the preservation of ancient buildings, forts and other archaeological sites in Sindh, Punjab and the NWFP but had taken no step in this regard in Balochistan. "Due to the government's negligence the historic places in Balochistan are in a bad condition," the opposition leader. He said even a road had not be constructed up to the archaeological site in Mehar Garh, Bolan district, for archaeologists. He appealed to the federal and provincial governments to take notice of negligence of the officials of the departments concerned. He said the federal ministry concerned should make arrangements for introducing the cultural heritages of Balochistan at the international level.

The Superintendence of Cultural Heritage is taking steps to protect archaeological remains that have come to light in Rabat (Malta). The Superintendence is concerned that unauthorised work could have a negative impact on these sensitive archaeological remains, unless the necessary measures are taken. The extensive remains were discovered during recent work undertaken at Santa Margherita cemetery in Rabat. These remains include large stone blocks similar to those at the Roman domus, just across the street. A short stretch of wall has also been uncovered, as well as a rectangular rock-cut feature which may be an Arab or medieval tomb. An quantity of Roman pottery has already been identified on the site.

No fewer than 27 new archaeological sites, 13 of them in Rabat, were unearthed over the past year, following close scrutiny by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. During the year Mepa received 350 applications for proposed development within archaeologically sensitive areas. In nearly a third of these applications, the development required an Archaeological Watching Brief, by which Mepa archaeologists and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage monitor the works to ensure no damage is done. At a news conference yesterday, the authority patted itself on the back as it published its annual report for the year ending September 2004. Though the authority registered improvements in several sectors, its deficit for the period under review remains high at Lm717,000.

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iranian police have smashed an antiquities smuggling ring, arresting 36 people and recovering more than 940 stolen treasures, the Web site of the state Cultural Heritage Organization said Tuesday. Police in the central Zagros mountain province of Chaharmahal-Bakhtiari recovered gold and silver coins, swords, figurines, vases, mirrors and inscribed tablets from pre-Islamic dynasties such as the Seleucids and Sassanids. Looting of archaeological sites has been widespread in Iran, with private collectors in Europe and the United States offering high prices for masterpieces of Persian art.

It is now eight years since an innovative programme was set up in Sinai to preserve and nurture the heritage of a local community. Jenny Jobbins reports on the St Catherine's Bedouin project

Fascination with the Holy Grail has lasted for centuries, and now the Bletchley Park code-breakers have joined the hunt. But what is it that's made the grail the definition of something humans are always searching for but never actually finding? Could an obscure inscription on a 250-year-old monument in a Staffordshire garden point the way to the Holy Grail - the jewelled chalice reportedly used by Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper?

In the latest round of archeological excavations at the historical site of Enshan, Fars province, Iranian and American archeologists have unearthed several inscribed bricks and a seal dating back to the mid-Elamite era (1100 BC).Enshan is regarded as one of the capitals of the Elamites and is rich in cultural heritage artifacts ranging from the Elamite to the Achamenid era (3500 BC to 500 AD).

BORDEAUX, France (AFP) - French archaeologists said this week they had discovered an exceptional Gallic war treasure in the south of the country, including rare war trumpets and ornate helmet. The some 470 objects, or fragments of objects, were found at the end of September during a dig at Naves, in the department of Correze in southern France, in a ditch hollowed out of a Gallic-Roman temple, they said.

Cape Town - International divers have discovered several cave sites along the Cape Peninsula coast where ancient lost civilisations might have lived. The team embarked on their search earlier this month after Dr Bruno Werz, a marine archaeologist, found a prehistoric axe, that could be 1.5m years old, in Table Bay nine years ago.

Archaeologists have hailed the discovery of an early Bronze Age cemetery as one of the most significant in Britain after new technology enabled them to pinpoint the date of graves. The remains of more than 35 men, women and children who lived between 1900BC and 1600BC have been uncovered at a previously unknown settlement at Skilmafilly, north-west of Peterhead in Aberdeenshire. Among the cremated bones, which were buried in pottery urns, scientists found a wide range of artefacts which signify that the community had widespread trade links with other parts of Britain and probably shared a common belief in an afterlife.

The site of a stone age settlement, preserved under layers of silt, has been discovered off the coast of the Isle of Wight. Included in the find is a fire pit, presumed to be an oven, which was first used about 9,000 years ago. The settlement, now thirty feet beneath the sea and 500 yards off the coast of Bouldnor, was found by divers.

Danish experts will travel to the U.S. to study evidence that the Vikings landed in the New World five centuries before Columbus. A controversial parchment said to be the oldest map of America could, if authentic, support the theory that the Vikings arrived first. The map is said to date from 1434 and was found in 1957. Some people believe it is evidence that Vikings, who departed from Greenland around the year 1000, were the first to land in the Americas.

After four years' work, a joint team of Japanese and Mongolian archaeologists announced on October 4 that they had found what they believe to be the true mausoleum of Genghis Khan (1162-1227). The ruins, dated to between the 13th and 15th century, were found at Avraga, around 250 kilometers east of Ulan Bator, the capital of the People's Republic of Mongolia. Team members said that they expect the discovery to provide clues to the whereabouts of the khan's actual burial site, which they believe may be within 12 kilometers of the mausoleum. There is a preexisting mausoleum in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, rebuilt by the government in 1954. Most historians agree that Genghis Khan died in 1227 when going out to battle in the Liupan Mountains in today's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, but they do not agree on where he was buried

A cyclopean task will put to an end a decades-long diplomatic dispute between Italy and Ethiopia over a looted obelisk, according to a bilateral agreement signed last week in Rome. Signed by Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin and Italian Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Alfredo Mantica, the deal set up the final details over the transport of a 160-ton granite stele from Rome to the city of Axum.

A long-standing theory says that more than four centuries ago Spanish explorers ventured into the foothills of what is now North Carolina. They stayed long enough to possibly change the course of European settlement in the New World, then vanished into the fog of time, the story says. Until recently historians regarded a 16th-century Spanish presence this far north in North America as more theory than fact. But archaeologists working in a farm field near the tiny community of Worry Crossroads might change that perception.

A LOST medieval village has been discovered by a scientist who led a search for Moors Murder victims. Professor John Hunter and a team of 15 have discovered what is believed to be a buried medieval crofting settlement while carrying out general field survey work in and around a harbour village in the Western Isles. Artefacts buried under the clachan of Rodel, on south Harris, may provide evidence that the community was once an international trading centre, with vessels arriving from Scandinavia and also the Mediterranean. It is not yet known what remains could be found if further investigation is carried out.

A stone tortoise, believed to belong to the Le dynasty, dating back 500 years, was unearthed in Ha Noi last week. The limestone tortoise was discovered on Nov. 15 at a depth of 1.3-1.4 m underground, near the Thang Long Royal Citadel. The tortoise shell is 2.01-m long, 1.58-m wide and 0.43-m high. Its head and left leg were missing. The newly-discovered tortoise and the 82 stone tortoises in the Temple of Literature have contributed to enriching Ha Noi's historical archive, giving the capital city the largest collection of stone tortoises of this size and beauty.-Enditem

The first phase of work to reinforce caves where the 500,000-year-old Peking Man was found has been completed, with six relic sites threatened by collapse successfully saved. The project at the Zhoukoudian area, a World Heritage site 50 kilometres southwest from downtown Beijing, started in July after archaeologists reported 21 areas at the site inn danger of geological calamity. The second work phase will be carried out next year,protecting a further group of seven ruin sites, according to the Zhoukoudian management. The project, which is the most complete effort since the 1920s when the first complete Peking Man skull was unearthed, is expected to last until 2007.

Islamabad, Nov 22 : The Pakistan government's archaeology department has discovered eight antiquities dating back to the first century AD, including rare sculptures of 'future' Buddha, Hindu God Indra and his bodyguard from an ancient archaeological site very near to Taxila, considered as a seat of learning during the Buddhist period. According to the Daily Times, experts from the archaeology department's preservation and restoration team unearthed the treasures while carrying on preservation work at the world renowned Dharmarajika Stupa and monastery dating back to 3rd century BC to 5th Century AD, regarded as the epitome of the Gandhara civilization. Archaeologists have confirmed that one of the antiquities excavated depicts in exact detail the 'the reappearance of Buddha' as told in Buddhist mythology.

Athens - Archeologists have discovered an unraided tomb with various artifacts dating from the Mycenaean period more than 3 000 years ago in southern Greece, officials said in Athens on Monday. The vault-shaped tomb, carved in natural rock, was found during earthworks near Peristeri, 50km south of the town of Sparta. Two graves and the bones of eight people were brought to light, the Greek Culture Ministry said in a statement. Of particular interest were artifacts neatly placed around the skull and bones of a young person found in the grave. They included a seal and buttons made from soapstone, glass and amber beads, as well as a bronze ring, razor, knife and hairclip.

Iranian and American archaeologists currently working at the Elamite city of Anshan recently discovered ancient architectural ruins and artifacts, it was announced on Monday. The archaeologists found the ruins and artifacts, which are estimated to date back to 3000 to 1000 B.C., during the third stage of excavations at the site by a joint team of Iranian and American archaeologists that began in mid-October. On the new discovery, Ahmad Abdi, the head of the archaeological team at Anshan, said that archaeologists had found ruins dating back to the very early (3000-2800 B.C.) and mid (1500-1100 B.C.) Elamite era.

Dr Zahi Hawass is one of the most powerful men in history - at least of archaeology - and he is angry. The 57-year-old is secretary-general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities but, as any Egyptologist will tell you, this is the least of his titles. The self-styled guardian of the pharaohs, commonly referred to as the "Big Zee", is the minder of 4000 years of history, 500 kings, scores of legends, thousands of tourists and hundreds of competing archaeologists. Yet the theatrical, outspoken and Stetson-wearing Egyptian with a string of academic credits to his name and the power to dictate what the world is told about Ancient Egypt is being challenged relentlessly by two plucky French amateurs.

BAGHDAD, Nov. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Police in Iraq's southern city of Nasiriyah, some 350 km south of Baghdad, retrieved 70 stolen antiques and gave them back to the city's museum, local newspaper Al Sabah reported on Monday. Nasiriyah's antiquity protection police force, which was established to prevent the smuggling of the ruins and antiques, managed to seize 70 stolen antiques of the ancient times in the regions of Oma and Jokha with the help of the Italian police, said the report. The Nasiriyah antiquity inspection committee received these antiques from the police and restored them to the museum, added the report. Museums throughout Iraq, especially the Iraqi National Museum located in Baghdad, witnessed a wave of rampant robberies and lootings shortly after the US-led coalition forces launched the waron Iraq in March 2003, and thousands of antiques have been stolen and smuggled out of the country.

The Italian government has granted Syria on Thursday a six million Euro aid to help the upgrading of the General Directorate of Museums and Antiquities work in many directions. The Directorate and the Italian government inked an agreement in this concern That calls to distribute the grant money in three ways : the first is to rehabilitate Damascus Castle and the National Museums and the second is to rehabilitate and support Aleppo, Idlib and Palmyra museums, while the third is to develop laboratories and technical factories in the field of restoration and reservation of archeological findings.

LONDON, Nov 20 (IranMania) - A member of the Instructors Training (Tarbiat-e Modaress) University's faculty has announced that for the first time in Iran, archeologists from the university have successfully conducted DNA studies on skeletons found in the ancient cemetery of Azure Mosque of Tabriz. Javad Mowla told ISNA that genetic specialists along with the archeological group of the university were involved in conducting DNA tests studies on about 44 pieces of human bones and skeletons dating back to 3,000 to 3,500 years ago which were discovered along with swords, crowns and ornaments.

Was the Egyptian queen Cleopatra just a sexy seductress, or was she in fact a scientist and philosopher? Recent research shows that Arab scholars in the medieval period respected her intellectual prowess, and it challenges some modern preconceptions about the relationship between science and Islam. It is said that history is written by the winners, which perhaps accounts for our persisting perceptions of Cleopatra as a kohl-eyed man-eater who committed suicide with the aid of a snake; the Romans who defeated her in 31 BC wrote the accounts which now underpin our historical perspectives of the period. But an alternative view has emerged from research to be published in early December: Cleopatra as a woman of superior intellect who actively pursued philosophical and scientific debate with her peers. According to Okasha El Daly, an Egyptologist with the Petrie Museum of Egyptian Archaeology at University College London (UCL) in the UK, this was how Arabic scholars perceived the ill-fated queen more than 800 years after her death.

A team of international scuba divers have located an underwater cave which reveals "promising signs" of prehistoric human activity. Maritime archaeologist Dr Bruno Werz described the site in False Bay on the Cape coast as "worthy of international exploration and excavation". He said: "The cave has the correct overhang and orientation for prehistoric cave dwellers. It would have been raised above the landscape allowing the inhabitants to spot game and command a strategic view.

For hundreds of years, Caligula's handsome, marble face has stared out at a fascinated world. Now situated at the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek museum in Copenhagen, the celebrated first-century bust of this cruel young Roman emperor is made repellent, yet intriguing, not so much by his petulantly downturned mouth as by the blank, staring eyes chiselled from marble by an unknown sculptor

Author Peter Marshall has opened a new website. From his site: Peter Marshall is a philosopher, historian, biographer, poet and travel writer. He has written fourteen highly acclaimed books which have been translated into ten languages. An occasional broadcaster, his circumnavigation of Africa was made into a 6-part TV series and his voyage around Ireland into a radio series. Recognized as a profound and original thinker, he has made a major contribution to fields as diverse as anarchism, ecology, alchemy, astrology and archaeology. In his life and writing, he has been motivated by a search for meaning and truth and by a wish to expand freedom so that all beings can realize their full potential. Born in 1946 at Bognor Regis, England, a stone's throw from the sea, Marshall became a boarder at Steyning Grammar School in the Sussex Downs. He then sailed around the world as a cadet in the P & O Shipping Company before teaching English in Senegal, West Africa. He returned to England to take a B.A. Honours in English, French and Spanish from London University and a M.A. and a D.Phil. in the History of Ideas from Sussex University. He taught philosophy and literature at several British universities. In the 1970s Marshall was a founder member of a libertarian commune in Buckinghamshire called Redfield. He went in 1980 with his companion Jenny Zobel to Snowdonia in North Wales for a winter to finish his first book and stayed on for 21 years, first living in a remote cottage in the mountains and then down by the sea. He has two children, Emily and Dylan, and now lives on a smallholding by the River Tamar in Devon with the photographer Elizabeth Ashton Hill. Peter Marshall continues to travel widely throughout the world. He is a trustee of the Tree Shepherds, a member of the Society of Authors and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

More than 22,000 ancient cultural treasures from Afghanistan, feared lost or destroyed after decades of war and Taliban rule, have been taken out of dusty crates and safes in Kabul and inventoried for safekeeping, said a U.S. archeologist on Wednesday. The objects, including 2,500 years' worth of gold and silver coins and ancient sculptures, represent a "Silk Road" of goods once traded from China, India, Egypt, Greece, Rome and ancient Afghanistan.

BEIRUT: It's been almost 15 years since Lebanon's bloody civil war came to an end with the Taif Accord. In that time much of the country has been rebuilt with new roads, buildings and infrastructure emerging in all the major cities especially the capital. Yet as important as the reconstruction has been for Lebanese citizens today it has had an equally important effect for the Lebanese citizens of the past - or rather what it tells us about the people who lived in this land thousands of years ago.

A challenge by two plucky French amateurs to Egypt's self-styled 'guardian of the pharaohs' has unearthed a scandal of ambition, greed, pride and television ratings in archaeology's top echelons. Alex Duval Smith reports from Paris

JAKARTA (AFP) - In the blue waters of the Java Sea, a drama is unfolding around an ancient cargo of sunken treasure, but with corruption and bureaucracy never far from the surface in Indonesia, the tale owes more to Franz Kafka than Indiana Jones. A team of divers, including two Australians, two Britons, two French, a Belgian and a German, has been working for months to excavate a vessel laden with rare ceramics which sank more than 1,000 years ago off Indonesia's shores. Their finds, including artefacts from China's Five Dynasties period from 907 to 960 AD and ancient Egypt, are already causing a stir among archaeologists who say the cargo sheds new light on how ancient merchant routes were forged.

A new space observatory has been launched to hunt down and study the most powerful explosions seen in the Universe since the Big Bang itself. The Swift satellite will detect and analyse gamma-ray bursts - very intense but fleeting flashes of radiation. Scientists think they may signal the birth of black holes which are created when giant stars fall in on themselves.

A new space observatory was rocketing into orbit yesterday preparing to scan the universe for the most violent celestial explosions since the Big Bang. The $250m (£135m) Nasa probe - named Swift for its speedy pivoting and pointing - will detect and analyse gamma ray bursts, which astronomers believe represent the birth screams of black holes. Lasting just a few seconds on average, the bursts appear out of nowhere like flashlight beams and are thought to signal the formation of black holes.

Scientists have unearthed remains of a primate that could have been ancestral not only to humans but to all great apes, including chimps and gorillas. The partial skeleton of this 13-million-year-old "missing link" was found by palaeontologists working at a dig site near Barcelona in Spain.

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of a medieval lodge linked with the abbey at Bury St Edmunds. The team of archaeologists from Suffolk County Council has discovered the foundations of a historic building at a site off Eastern Way, Bury, which is thought to date from the 13th or 14th centuries. The site is on land belonging to Proflat Roofing, of Station Road, which is due to be re-developed. However, the company agreed to the archaeological dig prior to development and has contributed towards the cost of the excavation and given the team extra time to complete the work.

Bulgarian archeologists have discovered 3,000-year-old human skeletons, just weeks after Europe's oldest skeleton was unearthed in the country. The skeletons, discovered near the village of Moguila in the district of Yambol, are about two meters tall, which is unusual for the people who inhabited the region in the Early Bronze era. The skeletons are balled up in an embryo position, which, ancient peoples believed, immortalized the soul, archeologists explained.

Long before pioneers, loggers and wealthy retirees discovered the charms of Lake Coeur d'Alene, its shores were considered prime real estate. Going back thousands of years, families have lived along the lake, fishing for mammoth bull trout in its blue depths and digging water potatoes near the shore. Archaeologists are now gathering evidence of prehistoric lakeside dwellers. In some areas, remnants of ancient villages have been found buried under deep layers of sediment. Some sites, however, have yielded only small flecks of charcoal from prehistoric hearths.

The Afghan government is to request the return of the "Dead Sea Scrolls of Buddhism" from the British Library, amid concerns the priceless manuscripts were looted during civil war in the early nineties. Afghanistan's Minister of Culture will formally ask for the 2000-year-old scrolls to be sent from London to the newly restored Kabul Museum in the next few weeks as part of a campaign to bring home stolen treasures from foreign collections.

Discovery Channel announced today world-renowned Egyptologist Kent Weeks' discovery and possible identification of a skull that he believes could be that of Rameses II's firstborn son, who may have been killed during the 10th plague described in Exodus. Discovery Channel funded Weeks' expedition, which blends archaeology, state-of-the-art digital technology and the latest in forensic science to determine the identity of the skull and its possible place in history.

Russia now has a Stonehenge of its own. In the summer, a 4,000-year-old megalithic structure was uncovered at a Spasskaya Luka site, in the central Russian region of Ryazan. This structure, which, archeologists believe, was built as a sanctuary, sits on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Oka and the Pron rivers. The surrounding area has always been seen as an "archeological encyclopedia," a kaleidoscope of cultures ranging from the Upper Paleolithic to the Dark Ages.

NICOSIA (Reuters) - An American researcher on the trail of the lost city of Atlantis has discovered evidence of man-made structures submerged in the sea between Cyprus and Syria, a member of his team said Saturday. Robert Sarmast, who is convinced the fabled city lurks in the watery depths off Cyprus, will give details of his findings Sunday. "Something has been found to indicate very strongly that there are man-made structures somewhere between Cyprus and Syria," a spokesperson for the mission told Reuters. The mystery of Atlantis, both whether it existed and why it disappeared, has fired the imagination of explorers for decades.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt plans to run tests on the mummy of Tutankhamun to find out what killed the king who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and died while only a teenager. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni agreed Tutankhamun's mummified body could be moved from its tomb to the Cairo Museum for the tests, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. The mummy was packed with treasures when it was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 and has been kept in the tomb in Luxor, southern Egypt, ever since.

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt plans to run tests on the mummy of Tutankhamun to find out what killed the king who ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and died while only a teenager. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni agreed Tutankhamun's mummified body could be moved from its tomb to the Cairo Museum for the tests, Egypt's official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. The mummy was packed with treasures when it was discovered by British archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 and has been kept in the tomb in Luxor, southern Egypt, ever since.

An author and well-known archaeologist whose 15-year-long quest has been to unravel the mystery surrounding the disappearance of famed pilot Amelia Earhart is on Guam and will join other regional and national archaeologists and historians in Tinian later this week with the hope of proving -- or disproving -- the latest hypothesis on her disappearance.

Cairo - German archaeologists have discovered a rare wooden Pharaonic sarcophagus in the southern city of Luxor, the first such find in nearly two centuries, the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities said on Tuesday. Halil Ghali, a senior antiquities official for southern Egypt, said the empty sarcophagus, from the 13th Dynasty (1785-1680 BC), "is believed to be the biggest of its type". It is 2,7m long, 1,5m high and one metre wide. A hieroglyphic inscription on its face revealed that it belonged to an official called "Amni", said the council.

PATNA: A large number of sculptures belonging to Pala and Sena School of Art was found during the recent excavation at Viratpur in Saharsa district. The present excavation is considered as a landmark in archaeology of Bihar as it was the first scientific excavation conducted by the directorate of state archaeology, Bihar, in the Kosi region. The site is situated as 7 to 8 km north of Sonbarsa block in Saharsa district. This village is, incidently, a native village of the art and culture minister of Bihar.

It was a time when our climate was cooler. Great ice sheets covered the northern areas of what was to become the United States. At the Topper Site in what is now Allendale County, South Carolina, artifacts have been found that show early humans were coming to ancient chert quarries, making rudimentary knives and other tools. This South Carolina Educational TV documentary covers the careful study and analysis of artifacts, let by Dr. Albert C. Goodyear, leading to evidence of early humans that dates back 15,000-20,000

new piece of the Titanic's hull has been found deep in the North Atlantic, according to the company granted exclusive rights to salvage the ship. RMS Titanic Inc says the 30-metre hull section was part of a massive debris field, found more than 3 kilometres underwater. The find comes as a U.S. researcher presents his new theory about why the ship that carried 2227 passengers and crew struck an iceberg four days into its maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York.

Archaeologists were yesterday aghast over a plan by MPs loyal to Silvio Berlusconi to legalise the private ownership of archaeological treasures in Italy. One called the measure a "looters' charter". At present, all antiquities found in Italian soil are deemed to be the property of the state and are meant to be handed over to the authorities. But under the proposed legislation, treasure hunters who declare their finds can keep and own them if they pay the state 5% of the object's estimated value.

International experts in early human art are calling for greater protection to save many of these ancient paintings from destruction. The rock art survived the harsh climate but is now under threat from people. They say rock paintings by early man in Africa are particularly at risk, as human populations grow, and expose sites to vandalism and graffiti. Near Nairobi this week, experts saw for themselves the problem facing rock art.

Scientists are none the wiser as to what awaits the Huygens space probe on Saturn's moon Titan when it lands, despite a close pass by its mothership. The Cassini spacecraft will release the piggybacked Huygens probe towards Titan's atmosphere on Christmas Day. It is thought Huygens could land on an ocean of liquid hydrocarbon, on solid ice, or squelch down on sludge.

The giant statue of Ramses II will finally say farewell to its current noisy, fumy and bustling location in Cairo's most crowded square to rest in the Giza Plateau's Saqqara area, said Zahi Hawas, Chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities. The transporting operation will be carried out on February 1, 2005, Hawas said in statements on Saturday. The new location will be temporary until the monolithic granite statue is positioned permanently at Ramaya Square in Giza at the entrance to the Grand Museum that will be built in the Cairo-Alexandria Desert Road, said Hawas.

Sofia, Nov. 7: A Bulgarian archaeologist has discovered a 9,000-year-old human skeleton and the remains of a farm dwelling from the same period, the Standard newspaper reported today. "This woman skeleton is five centuries older than those which were found in the Balkans and belong to the first generation of farmers that inhabited this region," archaeologist Georgy Ganetsovski, who made the discovery, told the newspaper, according to an agency report.

As evidenced by archeological documents, the ancient city of Kish, the wall of the ancient city of Gorgan, Takht-e Suleiman and part of the Portuguese Castle are submerged in Iran's coastal waters. Although Iran's underwater archeological activities are over half a century old, this topic is yet to be treated in a suitable manner. Two centuries have passed and archeology has yet to achieve its rightful position in Iran. This science needs full revision, as Iran has special importance in human civilization and its role in establishing other cultures inspired by its civilization is undisputed. For this reason, Iran Cultural Heritage Organization (ICHO) is not able to take charge of many historical grounds. Dissemination of information is so poor that many in our society still consider archaeologists as treasure hunters! On the other hand, Iranian archaeologists are deprived of the most elementary facilities, with credits being allocated to field activities being grossly disproportionate with the vast expanse of historical sites.

THE LONGEST and the oldest period in the history of mankind is the second period of the Stone Age, known as the Paleolithic Age. It started one and a half to two million years ago, and lasted till the end of the last ice age, approximately 10,000 years ago. During this immense period of time, mankind gradually adapted to new climate conditions and developed into the modern human beings we are today, populating all the continents, with the exception of Antarctica. But the number of people on the earth was still very small, that being one reason why there was little interference in nature.

Finnish scientists discovered the most significant relics of antiquity in recent Bolivian history. In the excavations on Pariti Island in Lake Titicaca, in the highlands of Bolivia, the historical-archaeological research team of the University of Helsinki discovered a ritual offering site with well-preserved pieces of ceramics. The find adds substantially to what is known about the Tiwanaku culture, which flourished before the Incas and for which the island was probably an important religious site.

A reinterpretation of Neolithic plastered skulls from Jordan, Syria, Israel and Turkey is changing the way scholars think about cult, death and the afterlife in the Neolithic and the ancient Middle East. Current findings, based on scientific studies as well as bioarchaeological evidence, support an interpretation of a funerary practice that focused on the special treatment of the skulls of adult females, males and children.

The robot experiment inside Cheops Pyramid in Giza will be repeated next year but this time by a different institution, said Chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Zahi Hawas. The University of Singapore is currently designing a robot to reach beyond the door which blocked the route of the robot used by the US National Geographic in September 2003, said Hawas in statements on Saturday. The new experiment will be conducted in October 2005, added the SCA head. The Geographic's tiny robot crept through the Great pyramid in a bid to demystify what is inside the Pyramid only to face a new puzzle.

Archaeologists may need to change their view of Pompeii's role in trade and commerce, after a ceramics expert's recent discovery. Australian researcher Jaye Pont from the Museum of Ancient Cultures at Sydney's Macquarie University says people who lived in Pompeii bought their pottery locally and didn't import it. Pont said the find could "make waves" among archaeologists looking at trade in the Mediterranean. And she said researchers may have to rethink shelves of museum pottery once thought to be from the eastern Roman Empire.

Kent Weeks, the American archaeologist charged with planning the rescue of the Valley of the Kings originally went to Egypt to make a map. While there, he poked around in a dirty, unimportant-looking hole in the ground and discovered the biggest tomb in the Valley of the Kings. In doing so, he secured a place for himself in the history of archaeology. Weeks's career began in Nubia in the 1960s, salvaging stuff about to be submerged by the Aswan Dam, and at Giza and in the Nile delta. But it was in 1979 that he and his colleagues decided to make an accurate map of the 60-odd tombs in the Valley of the Kings. The earliest maps had been little more than fantasies: no accurate study of the whole valley had ever been done. He thought it would take a few seasons. "I'm always a hopeless optimist. I don't know where on earth I ever got that silly idea," he says. "And 20 years later, the project was finished."

Myanmar plans to next year begin retrieving cultural treasures that have been buried under riverbeds for centuries, a local cultural journal reported Wednesday. Foreign experts will train people from Myanmar's archaeology and water resources departments in underwater archaeology skills next year, and the hunt should start soon after, Flower News said. The journal quoted Hla Gyi Maung Maung, director-general of the Archaeology Department, as saying the search would focus on the Ayeyarwaddy River along which the ancient cities of Bagan, Tagaung and Amarapura once flourished.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Archaeologists have begun excavating ancient skeleton remains believed to be those of possibly five people, probably Anasazis. The bones were found on private land at the eastern edge of Kanab in southern Utah last week when a turf farmer was digging a trench to install an irrigation line. "I was on a backhoe ... when the guy I was working with yelled at me. I saw a big femur bone sticking up," said Tom Willardson, the owner of Tommy's Turf. "I stopped digging out of respect for who (the bones) belonged to," Willardson said Monday.

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- As NASA's Mars rovers keep rolling past all expectations of their useful lives, scientists have a happy mystery: For some reason one of the vehicles has actually gained power recently. Opportunity recently experienced an unexplained rejuvenation from what can so far be described only as two or three significant "cleaning events," said Jim Erickson, the rover project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

VANCOUVER, Washington (CNN) -- A new lava dome inside Mount St. Helens' crater has sprouted a growth that extends upward nearly 330 feet, U.S. Geological Survey officials said Saturday. The exposed rock face, with a temperature between 752 and 952 degrees Fahrenheit, casts a red glow that can be seen from the north on clear nights, survey geologist Willie Scott said. Temperatures have spiked at nearly 1,300 degrees.

The formula of the red, shiny and intense colour that dominated Pompeii's wall paintings 2000 years ago has been discovered by an Italian researcher. Buried in the catastrophic eruption in 79 AD, the brilliant Pompeian red has been preserved forever by the lava of Mount Vesuvius and still makes an impressive show in several frescoes. "Though it consists of simple cinnabar pigment, Pompeian red is really unique. It certainly stands out when compared to normal cinnabar paint layers," said Daniela Daniele, a researcher working at Berlin's Staatliche Museen.

SHIPKA, Bulgaria (Reuters) - Georgi Kitov's hands trembled as he cradled the glittering visage of an ancient king unearthed from a tomb in southern Bulgaria. "This is the face of an evil ruler!" cried the archaeologist, marveling at the cruel gaze from the mask of solid gold, the size of a dinner plate. The mask dates back to the 5th century BC -- the golden age of the little-known Thracians -- and has been hailed as an unrivalled find in the study of classical antiquity. If Kitov and other archaeologists from Bulgaria have their way, it is just a glimpse of what is to come.

LONDON (Reuters) - Thieves have stolen 15 rare items of medieval Chinese jewelry from the British Museum, including historically important gold earrings, amulets and hair pins, a museum spokeswoman said on Monday. The items, dating from between 700 and 1400 AD, were taken from a glass cabinet in the Oriental Antiquities Gallery on Friday, but their loss was only spotted by security staff on Saturday.

New light is shed on the nation's buried past with the announcement of 47,000 archaeological finds which were unearthed last year by members of the public. The objects span almost 500,000 years and range from the weapons of prehistoric Essex man to a Victorian antidote to witchcraft. All have been found by amateur archaeologists, metal detectorists, gardeners, farmers, builders and walkers and reported to the Portable Antiquities Scheme, the nation's largest community archaeology project.

NAGAOKA, Niigata -- A number of ancient relics at a Nagaoka museum fell to pieces after toppling over in the powerful earthquakes that struck Niigata Prefecture on Oct. 23. Officials at the Nakaoka Municipal Science Museum, which holds the valued "kaen doki" vessels, articles representing earthenware from the ancient Jomon Period, said 17 items were broken. The kaen doki items themselves were being displayed in Germany at the time of the earthquakes and were not affected. But other items were completely destroyed. "Some of the items are completely destroyed, and repairing them this year will be impossible," said a museum official.

NEW DELHI, OCT 30: Finally the mystery has been demystified. The Roopkund riddle, dating back to the 9th century AD, that haunted scientists, historians and mountaineers from around the world for many years, has finally been cracked. The National Geographic Channel with the help of scientists and anthropologists from India and abroad has cleared many theories and myths surrounding the age-old tragedy.

The French archaeological mission operating in the Al-Deir area in the Kharga oasis unearthed a Ptolemaic-era tomb containing six complete mummies and two limestone sarcophagi. A source from the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) Saturday said that large parts of a funerary bed emblazoned with numerous painted shapes with palm-fibre rug beside it were found for the first time inside this discovered tomb.

FOUR human cremation burial plots have been uncovered at the Kingslaw opencast site on the outskirts of Kirkcaldy. And it is understood they form part of complex religious ceremonies carried out by settlers thousands of years ago. The discovery was made by Fife Council archaeologists as they removed the 4000-year-old Bogleys Standing Stone from the Kingslaw development, which is currently being mined by Lanarkshire-based GM Mining, before being turned into a business and leisure facility. Moving and protecting the ancient Bronze Age stone was part of an archaeological condition laid down before planning permission was given. Fife Council archaeologist Douglas Speirs told The Press: "The Bogleys Stone was probably erected about 4,000 years ago.

LONDON (Reuters) - Pieces of Britain's past, including a second-century silver ring and a 500-year-old Tudor trade weight, are among artefacts being peddled daily on the Internet to the alarm of experts at the British Museum. "We have been monitoring sites such as (online auctioneer) eBay for six months now. We are finding several items each week," Roger Bland, the British Museum's head of treasure, told Reuters on Wednesday. "The most notable one I've seen was a beautiful gold fitting for a dagger's scabbard dating back to the Anglo Saxon era," he said. "It was offered for sale at several hundred pounds."

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK -- The lure of sleeping beneath the stars in Yellowstone apparently is nothing new. Long before nylon tents and posh RVs, some of the park's earliest visitors arrived in the early summer on foot and camped on the shores of Yellowstone Lake. While they were there, some 10,000 years ago, they made and repaired tools, hunted, prepared hides and may have rafted out to one or more of the lake's several islands.

It has been a mystery for more than a century - is a skull in an Austrian basement really that of arguably the greatest composer of all time, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart? Over the weekend a group of archaeologists began to answer the question by digging up the remains of Mozart's close relatives. In a controversial operation, the scientists exhumed several skeletons from Mozart's family vault in Salzburg, where the composer spent most of his life.

In the central province of Hama, the Belgium mission finished its works at Aphamia ancient site, excavating archeological sites close to the Temple of God of Happiness. The mission also unearthed a building believed to be a governmental building from the Byzantine and Roman periods. The building's floor is covered with mosaic with a square that has eastern and western entrances. In Tel al-Asharneh, the Canadian mission excavated a tower on top of the hill that dates back to the crusade wars in the 11th century A.D. For its part, the Japanese mission is following up excavations and scientific research in the Syrian central city of Palmyra in the cemetery of Taboul Family.

Archaeologists in eastern Fujian Province have unearthed 31 tombs dating back about 4,000 years from the bottom of a reservoir in Fuqing. The 31 prehistoric tombs are scattered in an area of 800 squaremeters at the bottom of the Dongzhang Reservoir, which has dried up due to continual droughts. Archaeologists with the provincial archaeological research institute have excavated the area during the past two months, unearthing 123 funeral objects from the tombs. The relics range from pottery to stone tools to jade ware. Each of these tombs is about two meters long and 0.5 to 0.6 meters wide.

When Peter and Christine Johnson decided on a whim to shut their fitness shop early one day last year to try their luck at treasure-hunting, their metal detectors had hardly been used. Armed with a plastic bag for any swag, they expected to come back ruddy-cheeked and empty-handed after their first trek out into the fields of Kent. Twenty minutes later, they had uncovered a precious hoard of 360 coins dating back to the Iron Age - two of them of a kind never previously found in Britain. The extraordinary collection has since been classified as an official treasure. The British Museum is also keen to acquire it.

The Norfolk gardener was quite irritated at finding bits of rubbish mixed with the expensive topsoil he had bought: he picked out what he took to be foil from a champagne bottle and unrolled it - to reveal a lost world of Roman magic. Experts from the British Museum and Oxford University have been poring over the scrap of gold foil, no bigger than a postage stamp, which went on display for the first time yesterday, with other archaeological finds reported in the past year. "It meant nothing to me at first, I wondered if it was a scrap of decoration from a garment or a piece of furniture," said Adrian Marsden, the finds officer in Norwich whose desk it first landed on. "Then I suddenly saw the Greek letter A, and I knew what we must have."

CHICAGO--The Field Museum is embarking on a two-year project that could help bridge cultural and scientific barriers exacerbated by the Iraq war. With the support of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the museum recently began to study, catalog and reconcile the scattered but priceless collections of materials from the famous 5,000-year-old archaeological site of Kish, 50 miles south of Baghdad. Kish is one of the world's oldest cities and site of the earliest evidence of wheeled transport.

There are concerns for part of Cumbria's Roman heritage, which is being damaged by erosion. Roman invaders buried and cremated their dead at Beckfoot, which lies north of Maryport. Now the site is being badly damaged by the sea and work is being done to try to save its relics. Local volunteers have been gathering artefacts which are being found on the beach and an underground survey of the site has now started.

QUETTA: Mehrgarh necropolis is one of the archaeological sites discovered in Balochistan during the last five decades, where a city had been buried for centuries under tons of earth. It tells us about the oldest human settlements in the South Asian region. The site, 140 kms southeast of the provincial capital, is located on the bank of the Bolan river near a settlement of Raisani tribe in the Bolan district. Archaeologists say it is one of the three oldest villages in the world, the other two being in Palestine and Iraq.

Prime Minister (and Culture Minister) Costas Karamanlis had to intervene personally to end the funding shortfall that had bedeviled the makeover of the archaeological site of Akrotiri on Santorini (or Thera, to give the island its ancient name). The Archaeological Society owed 4 million euros to the contracting company that had undertaken the replacement of the old roof with a new one, as well as a more general revamp of the major prehistoric site. One of the largest pioneering works to take place at an archaeological site, work restarted this week when the money was provided to pay off the debt, following visits earlier this year by Deputy Culture Minister Petros Tatoulis, Alternate Culture Minister Fanni Palli-Petralia and General Secretary Christos Zachopoulos.

Another 26 cave paintings have been discovered in the Fingal Cave at Naeroey in Troendelag. When the cave was discovered in 1961, 21 paintings were registered. The 47 paintings depict both people and animals. -The cave paintings may be more than 3000 years old, archaeologist Melanie Wrigglesworth at the Science Museum says to NRK. She believes the find may give us more knowledge of how human beings in the late Stone Age and in Older Bronze Age percieved the world around them. The cave is both dark, wet and cold, and she believes that no one lived there, but that it was possibly used for some sort of religious practice, and that the paintings of animals and people were made in this connection.

COLLINSVILLE, Illinois -- A thousand years ago along the banks of the Mississippi River, in what is currently southeast Illinois, there was a city that now mystifies both archeologists and anthropologists. At its zenith, around A.D. 1050, the city that is now called Cahokia was among the largest metropolitan centers in the world. About 15,000 people lived in the city, with another 15,000 to 20,000 residing in its surrounding "suburbs" and outlying farmlands. It was the region's capital city, a place of art, grand religious rituals and science.

MONTE ALBAN, Mexico (Reuters) - The majestic pyramids and temples of the ancient Zapotec kingdom of Monte Alban sit spectacularly atop a hill in Mexico's southern state of Oaxaca. More than 1,000 years ago, Monte Alban was the bustling capital of a pre-Colombian realm, one of Mexico's oldest civilizations, and an early exponent of writing. It is one of Mexico's top archeological attractions, visited by people from the world over. But, like many such sites in Mexico, it is underfunded for investigation, embroiled in land conflicts and being spoiled by the sheer number of visitors. UNESCO puts Mexico in the world's top 10 nations for archeological locations, with 172 of its 32,000 sites open to the public. Experts believe twice that number are waiting to be discovered.

Thousands of tourists gathered at Abu Simbel Temple early Friday morning to watch the sun rays while falling perpendicularly on the face of King Ramsis II's statue inside the sanctuary hall to greet him on his birthday. The fascinating scene was cheered by the crowd when the sun rays illuminated the face of the King for 20 minutes.

Staring out from an ancient piece of pottery, the mysterious face of a bearded man has given scientists a unique glimpse of what the first settlers of Fiji may have looked like. Researchers say the "extraordinary discovery" is a vital clue in mapping out how the South Pacific came to be inhabited some 3,000 years ago, suggesting the first direct link to islands some thousands of kilometres away.

Egypt is indisputably a part of the Biblical tradition. This much is clear, not only from the role the country plays in providing the setting for certain famous episodes in both Old and New Testaments, but in the contribution made to the Hebrew worldview by its language, culture and thought.

A 16th Century painting by artist El Greco, valued at £500,000, has been discovered in an envelope in Spain. The Spanish family that has owned the oil-on-wood portable altarpiece, The Baptism of Christ, since the mid-19th Century, did not know what they had. It was only discovered when they took it to a routine Christie's valuation.

They look like scraps of paper covered with lines of ornate faded script and mounted between sheets of glass. But to Matt Malczycki, they're a time machine offering glimpses into the commerce of medieval Egypt. Malczycki, a Ph.D. student in history at the University of Utah, has been translating and analyzing the 777 documents and fragments of the Utah Papyri Collection, believed to be the largest collection of Arabic papyri in North America. And he has found that 1,000 years ago, Egyptian businessmen were sophisticated, polite and literate.

They look like scraps of paper covered with lines of ornate faded script and mounted between sheets of glass. But to Matt Malczycki, they're a time machine offering glimpses into the commerce of medieval Egypt. Malczycki, a Ph.D. student in history at the University of Utah, has been translating and analyzing the 777 documents and fragments of the Utah Papyri Collection, believed to be the largest collection of Arabic papyri in North America. And he has found that 1,000 years ago, Egyptian businessmen were sophisticated, polite and literate.

Researchers with Exploramar discovered at depths of 600 to 750 meters a group of unusual megalithic structures which they decided to call MEGA. Upon the announcement of the finding by the press, diverse opinions as to its origin have captured the popular imagination. Some have spoken of a "submerged city", of the remains of "Atlantis", among other similar ideas. This report written by Manuel Iturralde-Vinent, senior researcher of the Natural History Museum and associated reseracher with Exploramar, provides a summary of the hypotheses that are now under analysis and the evidences upon which such conceptions are based. Included in the materials studied in order to draw this report are submarine video footage, pictures of the features and objects observed, side scan sonar-generated mosaics, aerial photographs, highly detailed bathymetric data, some samples gathered from the sea bottom, topographic maps and scientific literature related with the western part of Cuba. This report is updated regularly, as new information is gathered. After examining the available information, the following points are discussed:

A section Pingyao Ancient Town's historic wall, a world cultural heritage site in North China's Shanxi Province, collapsed on Sunday due to lack of maintenance. The 17.3-metre-long ancient wall, part of the South Gate enclosure at the more than 500-year-old ancient town, collapsed Sunday afternoon, officials with Pingyao County Cultural Relics Bureau, said. A long-time lack of maintenance is believed to be the reason for the collapse, an official with the bureau surnamed Gao said yesterday. "The section of ancient wall looks fine on the outside but the tamped earth inside the layer of bricks had slackened," Gao told China Daily via a telephone interview.

Minister of Culture Farouq Hosni gave the green light to the Egyptian mission to resume excavation works in an area known as the valley of mummies in the Bahreya Oases in Giza governorate. Dr. Zahi Hawas, Secretary-General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), said in statements on Wednesday that the Egyptian mission would not use foreign help during unearthing operations which were suspended three years ago. Hawas added that the work of the mission in the past five years was carried out with pure Egyptian expertise.

HARLINGEN, Texas (AP) - Archaeologists have discovered a cache of artifacts near South Padre Island they say could be up to 5,000 years old, potentially providing new clues about early peoples of the Texas coast. The items, found in a protective clay dune about 6 feet underground, appear to be part of a fishing camp for a nomadic group of hunter-gatherers, archaeologist Robert Ricklis said. They include fragments of shell tools, chipped flint projectile points, and a fish earbone, or otolith, that can be analyzed for information about the bay environment of the time. Ricklis said the find was significant because so little is known about the ancient Rio Grande Valley. Most early manmade items would have been eroded by sand and sea air, or washed out by the ever-changing course of the waterways of the Rio Grande basin near the Mexican border.