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Welcome to
History Buff, a blog for history lovers everywhere! History Buff brings
news stories about archaeology from around the world together on one site.
From finds in ancient Egypt to new discoveries in anthropology, History
Buff wants to know. And feel free to stop by History Buff's
Author Interviews for Q&As with authors of historical fiction. Enjoy!
As an
historical fiction writer I am fascinated by news stories featuring the
past as it's unearthed and reimagined and brought to life. I spend a
large quantity of time searching for news in archaeology and history.
Once in a great while a new archaeological discovery will act as an inspiration
for what I'm currently writing. But most of the time the news stories
I read are simply interesting tidbits of history. Unfortunately, I have
disallowed comments because I travel so frequently that I can neither
monitor nor respond to them. But I would still love to share the history
that I find fascinating each day. So welcome! And feel free to visit my
website at www.michellemoran.com
or contact me at authormichellemoran at hotmail dot com.
Logo designed by Shaun Venish
Blog designed by Mia Pearlman Design
Lincoln letter to schoolboy sells for $60,000
(CNN) -- Less than a month before the Civil War's start, a newly inaugurated President Lincoln took time from his frantic schedule to write to an Illinois boy whose classmates didn't believe he'd met the president.
Sophisticated hunters not to blame for driving mammoths to extinction
by Ian Sample
Woolly mammoths and other large, lumbering beasts faced extinction long before early humans perfected their skills as spearmakers, scientists say.
'Hobbits' are a new human species -- according to the statistical analysis of fossils
Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York have confirmed that Homo floresiensis is a genuine ancient human species and not a descendant of healthy humans dwarfed by disease. Using statistical analysis on skeletal remains of a well-preserved female specimen, researchers determined the "hobbit" to be a distinct species and not a genetically flawed version of modern humans. Details of the study appear in the December issue of Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society, published by Wiley-Blackwell.
The Vanished Army: Solving an Ancient Egyptian Mystery
In 525 B.C., the Persian Emperor Cambyses dispatched 50,000 of his soldiers to lay waste to an oasis temple in the Sahara because its oracle had spoken ill of his plans for world domination.
Read the rest in Time Magazine.Heart Disease Found in Egyptian Mummies
ScienceDaily — Hardening of the arteries has been detected in Egyptian mummies, some as old as 3,500 years, suggesting that the factors causing heart attack and stroke are not only modern ones; they afflicted ancient people, too.
Quest to find out what the Romans dropped down the drain
(Gareth Iwan Jones): The Great Drain, which carries the overflow from the Roman Baths, needs unblocking
Britain’s oldest bath overflow is to be given its first thorough inspection nearly 2,000 years after it was built.
Read the rest on the Times Online.
Israel displays coins from ancient Jewish revolt
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel displayed for the first time Wednesday a collection of rare coins charred and burned from the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple nearly 2,000 years ago.
Maya "Painted Pyramid" Reveals 1st Murals of Daily Life
Read the rest on National Geographic.
Man finds 3,000-year-old sword
Read the rest here.
Were rats behind Easter Island mystery?
Easter Island's mystery — brooding statues atop a treeless Polynesian island — fascinates tourists and scholars alike. And inspires debate.
Read the rest on USA Today.
Evidence for kings David and Solomon
The Ten Dan Stele
Read the rest on the Times Online.
Humans Still Evolving as Our Brains Shrink
Read the rest here.
Remains of what appears to be Queen Himiko's palace found in Nara
Donegal brain surgeon at work in AD 800, burial site reveals
Read the rest on the Irish Times.
Digitized inscriptions reveal ancient messages
Four thousand years ago, a government bureaucrat in Mesopotamia jotted down a tally of slave laborers on a clay tablet.
Read the rest on the San Francisco Chronicle.Secrets from a sunken Egyptian city
Scholars unveiled inscriptions discovered in a sunken Egyptian city on Monday.
Vanished Persian Army Said Found in Desert
Hundreds of bleached bones and skulls found in the desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert may be the remains of the long lost Cambyses' army, according to Italian researchers. Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni
The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago might have been finally located, solving one of archaeology's biggest outstanding mysteries, according to Italian researchers.
Read the rest on Discovery.Priestess of Cahuachi
Tomb discovered of an elite child dating to the early Nasca Period. With the mummy were various pieces of jewellery made from gold, silver and precious stones.
2012: Six End-of-the-World Myths Debunked
The end of the world is near—December 21, 2012, to be exact—according to theories based on a purported ancient Maya prediction and fanned by the marketing machine behind the soon-to-be-released 2012 movie.
Read the rest on National Geographic.Reassessing Artworks of Ancient Rome
ROME — Painting was more prized than sculpture by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and easel paintings more than frescoes, which were considered essentially decorative. Yet not a single easel painting of the kind described by Pliny the Elder in his encyclopedic “Natural History” of the first century A.D. has come down to us.
PICTURES: "Extraordinary" Ancient Skeletons Found
Archaeologists Track Infamous Conquistador Through Southeast
ScienceDaily — Archaeologists at Atlanta's Fernbank Museum of Natural History have discovered unprecedented evidence that helps map Hernando de Soto's journey through the Southeast in 1540. No evidence of De Soto's path between Tallahassee and North Carolina has been found until now, and few sites have been located anywhere.
More on novice metal detector man who discovers 'stunning' treasure hoard
David Booth, first-time treasure hunter
Read the rest here.
In the Mediterranean, Killer Tsunamis From an Ancient Eruption
Read the rest on the NYT.
Chinese challenge to 'out of Africa' theory
by Phil McKenna
The discovery of an early human fossil in southern China may challenge the commonly held idea that modern humans originated out of Africa.
Read the rest on The New Scientist.Iron age gold treasure found in Scotland
A metal-detecting enthusiast has unearthed a 2,000-year-old treasure hoard worth an estimated £1m, it was revealed today.
Read the rest here.British holidaymaker discovers lost underwater 'city'
Michael Le Quesne, 16, was swimming off a popular beach in Montenegro with his parents and his ten-year-old sister Teodora when he spotted an odd looking 'stone' at a depth of around two metres.
Read the rest on The Telegraph.Riddle of 200-year-old Irish grave in New York
Workers uncovered a young Irishman's grave in New York's Greenwich Village more than 200 years after he died.
Cromwell's legacy damages tomb of Black Prince
Stained glass windows overlooking the tomb of Edward, Prince of Wales, were destroyed by Puritan iconoclasts in the 1640s, allowing damaging UV rays to enter the cathedral unfiltered. Since then, clear replacements have been installed and the deterioration of the paintwork on the 14th century canopy surrounding the prince's resting place has continued.
Read the rest here.Remains of 1,000 people recovered at medieval site
THE skeletal remains of more than a thousand people have been recovered from what experts believe was one of the country’s largest medieval cemeteries.
Read the rest on the Irish Examiner.