By Jan Myrers

COSHOCTON -- "I've never in my life found anything that old!" exclaimed Jeff Dilyard, a Wayne County volunteer who found a base of a Crowfield fluted point at a rockshelter archaeological dig in Coshocton County.

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NEW YORK — New York is seeing red over the decision to turn the city's highest beacon — and one of America's symbols for free enterprise — into a shining monument honoring China's communist revolution Wednesday night.

Read the rest on Fox News.

Archaeologists in Rome claimed today to have found the remains of a legendary revolving dining room built by Emperor Nero to impress his guests. Digging on the Palatine Hill, archaeologists stumbled on the remnants of a circular room, 16 metres (53ft) in diameter, which they believe formed part of Nero's palace, built in the first century AD.

Read the rest on the Guardian.

TEHRAN -- A team of Iranian archaeologists plans to conduct a season of excavation near the Soltanieh Dome in Zanjan to search for the grave of the Ilkhanid ruler Arghun Shah.

Read the rest in Tehran Times.

ScienceDaily — Recent research on the Cohen Y chromosome indicates the Jewish priesthood, the Cohanim, was established by several unrelated male lines rather than a single male lineage dating to ancient Hebrew times.

Read the rest on Science Daily.

ScienceDaily — When pondering the demise of a famous dinosaur such as 'Sue,' the mighty Tyrannosaurus rex whose fossilized remains are a star attraction of the Field Museum in Chicago, it is hard to avoid the image of clashing Cretaceous titans engaged in bloody, mortal combat.

Read the rest on Science Daily.

A number of ancient Roman statues might lie beneath the turquoise waters of the Blue Grotto on the island of Capri in southern Italy, according to an underwater survey of the sea cave.

Read the rest on Discovery.

Today's Scandinavians are not descended from the people who came to Scandinavia at the conclusion of the last ice age but, apparently, from a population that arrived later, concurrently with the introduction of agriculture.

Read the rest on ScienceDaily.

Adolf Hitler may not have shot himself dead and perhaps did not even die in his bunker, it emerged yesterday. A skull fragment believed for decades to be the Nazi leader’s has turned out to be that of a woman under 40 after DNA analysis.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

When a comet crashed into the Yucatan Peninsula 65 million years ago, all hell broke loose. Scientists have guessed at the scene: a world enshrouded in ashen darkness leftover from the cosmic impact that left almost nothing -- including the dinosaurs -- standing.

Read the rest on Discovery.

Four silver coins dating from Norman England have been found in Gloucestershire. It is believed they were minted in Gloucester in 1073-1076 and represent an unrecorded type of penny.

Read the rest on the BBC.

WIESBADEN, Germany — A team of archaeology students and experts believe they have unearthed remnants of a Roman settlement from the second or third century near the construction site of an Army housing project, but the discovery isn’t expected to affect the project.

Read the rest here.

Read the rest on Discovery.

by Maev Kennedy

A harvest of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver so beautiful it brought tears to the eyes of one expert, has poured out of a Staffordshire field - the largest hoard of gold from the period ever found.

Watch the Video.

Read the rest on the Guardian.

A gold strip with a Biblical inscription was among the 1,500 pieces unearthed in an English field.

LONDON, England (CNN) -- A man using a metal detector in a rural English field has uncovered the largest Anglo-Saxon gold hoard ever found -- an "unprecedented" treasure that sheds new light on history, archaeologists said Thursday.

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ANKARA (Reuters) - Archaeologists in the ancient city of Troy in Turkey have found the remains of a man and a woman believed to have died in 1,200 B.C., the time of the legendary war chronicled by Homer, a leading German professor said on Tuesday.

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AP: JERUSALEM - Israeli archaeologists say they have uncovered a ritual bath in Jerusalem that was likely used by Jewish pilgrims coming to the temple two millenia ago.

Read the rest on MSNBC.

ON TV Egypt Unwrapped: The Pyramid Code airs Monday, September 21, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the National Geographic Channel. Preview The Pyramid Code >>

The Egyptians started building the Great Pyramid of Giza on August 23, 2470 B.C., according to controversial new research that attempts to place an exact date on the start of the ancient construction project.

Read the rest on National Geographic.

By G.A.S. Gamaethige

An archaeological site more than 3330 years old has been found in the Udaranchamadama area in Embilipitiya, by a group of local archaeologists.

Read the rest on the Daily Mirror.

Read the rest on CNN.

It looks like the aftermath of a massacre - the decapitated, naked bodies of at least 51 young men found thrown into an old quarry and their heads piled on top.

Read the rest on the BBC.

A perfectly preserved pair of glass drinking cups was found when the grave of an Anglo-Saxon warrior was unearthed during building work on a new pub, Yourswale reports.

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In an "unexpected" discovery, a rattle-wielding elite male has been found buried among powerful priestesses of the pre-Inca Moche society in Peru, archaeologists announced Monday. (See pictures of Moche treasures from the tomb.)

Read the rest on National Geographic.

Archaeologists are working at a ships' graveyard known as the Purton Hulks in Gloucestershire to expose and record the remains of a barge.

Read the rest on the BBC.

by Christine Sexton

A 2,000-YEAR-OLD Roman salthouse has been discovered during archaeological excavations at the planned £1.5billion port at Coryton.

Read the rest on the Echo.

Read the rest on Discovery.

A skeleton, found at one of the most important, but least understood, Roman sites in Britain is puzzling experts from The University of Nottingham. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Nottingham)

ScienceDaily — A skeleton, found at one of the most important, but least understood, Roman sites in Britain is puzzling experts from The University of Nottingham.

Read the rest on Science Daily.

By Jessica Ravitz

(CNN) -- Easy tip number one, if you want to talk like a pirate: Add "me hearties" to the end of any sentence. The meaning is simple -- "my friends, my mates" -- said John "Ol' Chumbucket" Baur, before offering as way of example, "Turn your head and cough, me hearties. Or, fill it up with regular, me hearties."

Read the rest on CNN.

(CNN) -- A pint-sized version of the Tyrannosaurus rex, with similarly powerful legs, razor-sharp teeth and tiny arms, roamed China some 125 million years ago, said scientists who remain startled by the discovery.

Read the rest on CNN.

Ralph Eshelman, who helped lead the recovery of the artifacts in 1980, aboard a pontoon boat Sept 5. on the upper Patuxent River near the site where the wreck was found. (Steve Vogel - The Washington Post )

By Steve Vogel

Washington Post Staff Writer

Aboard a pontoon boat chugging past the marshland of Maryland's upper Patuxent River on a recent Saturday, Ralph Eshelman pointed to the spot where the muddy brown water hides a shipwreck nearly two centuries old, part of the American flotilla that defended the Chesapeake Bay when the British burned Washington during the War of 1812.

Read the rest on the Washington Post.

Archaeologists from Newcastle University are joining forces with English Heritage to carry out the first systematic excavation of a cemetery on Hadrian's Wall.

Read the rest here.

I apologize to my loyal readers for not posting more stories recently. I promise that all of that will change next week after the debut of my third novel, Cleopatra's Daughter!!!!

The book comes out tomorrow, so you can only imagine the emails and phone calls bombarding my in-boxes recently (I have 241 unanswered emails at last count). Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way :]

For those of you who like contests and live in Plano Texas, Legacy Bookstore, a wonderful new Indie, is hosting a fabulous giveaway. The prize is a wonderful basket of goodies, including an Egyptian jewelry box, a replica of a canopic jar, a silk scarf, Egyptian linens, a beautiful necklace depicting my narrator, Selene - and more! To enter, visit Legacy Books in Plano and ask about the contest at the register!


And for those of you don't live near Dallas, perhaps you live near one of these fabulous 60 Bookstores participating in the DIGGING FOR CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER TREASURE HUNT! The hunt begins tomorrow, September 15th, and will contiune until all prizes are discovered!

by Josh Levs

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Fossilized bones of a saber-toothed cat and dinosaurs that may be 100 million years old are among "priceless" artifacts that the United States handed over to China in a ceremony Monday.

Read the rest on CNN.

by Simon Mundy

Archaeologists from Glasgow University yesterday began digging in the grounds of Paisley Abbey, hoping to shed light on life in a medieval Scottish monastery. The team, backed by volunteers from Renfrewshire Local History Forum, is carrying out a 12-day excavation of an ancient drain that lay undisturbed until its discovery in 1990.

Read the rest here.

It didn't look like much at first, just a broken, mud-caked stone mug. But when archaeologists in Jerusalem cleaned the 2,000-year-old vessel, they discovered ten lines of mysterious script.

Read the rest on National Geographic.

By Kevin Flower

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- In what was slated to be the site of a new 122-room hotel, archaeologists say they have discovered one of the world's oldest synagogues in Northern Israel.

Read the rest on CNN.

A colossal statue of Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, light, music and poetry, has emerged from white calcified cliffs in southwestern Turkey, Italian archaeologists announced.

Read the rest on Discovery.

By Steve Connor

One of the skulls discovered in Georgia, which are believed to date back 1.8 million years

The conventional view of human evolution and how early man colonised the world has been thrown into doubt by a series of stunning palaeontological discoveries suggesting that Africa was not the sole cradle of humankind. Scientists have found a handful of ancient human skulls at an archaeological site two hours from the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, that suggest a Eurasian chapter in the long evolutionary story of man.

Read the rest on the Independent.

Archaeologists believe they have solved one ancient mystery surrounding the famous Easter Island statues.

At 2,500 miles off the coast of Chile, the island is one of the world's most remote places inhabited by people.

Read the rest on the BBC.

by TIM O'BRIEN

THE REMAINS of a 9,000-year-old fishing basket uncovered at Clowanstown in Co Meath, a monastic bell-making facility at Clonfad in Co Westmeath and an “exceptional” raised wooden trackway close to the Dromod-Roosky bypass, were described at an archaeology seminar yesterday.

Read the rest on Irish Times.

A lost world populated by fanged frogs, grunting fish and tiny bear-like creatures has been discovered in a remote volcanic crater on the Pacific island of Papua New Guinea.

Read the rest on the Guardian.

An archaeological dig in Jerusalem has turned up a 3,700-year-old wall that is the largest and oldest of its kind found in the region, experts say.

Read the rest on CNN.

The team of Bulgarian archaeologist, Professor Nikolay Ovcharov, has discovered relics of a medieval saint at the fortress of Perperikon in the Rhodoppe Mountains.

Read the rest here.

AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL dig in North Wales has unearthed Iron Age remains thought to be about 3,000 years old.

Read the rest here.

By Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent

A British-based academic has uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest Bible hiding underneath the binding of an 18th-century book.

Read the rest on the Independent.

Archaeologists working Canterbury Cathedral have had parts of the structure dated to the time of William the Conqueror and the Domesday Book.

Read the rest on the BBC.

The Bronze Age lived on at Loch Tay yesterday, as a replica of a 3000-year-old logboat successfully completed its maiden voyage.

Read the rest on the Herald.

ARCHEOLOGISTS digging at Kents Cavern have found a 15,000-year-old weapon carved from a reindeer antler.

Read the rest here.

by Rachel de Carlos

The excavations at the archeological site at Akrotiri in Santorini are ongoing, so there is scaffolding everywhere and supports in place to stabilize walls, windows and doorways that might otherwise collapse.

Read the rest on the Examiner.

By DAVID BEDEIN, Middle East Correspondent

Jerusalem – A spacious edifice from the 3rd Century was recently exposed in the excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority that is carrying out a major excavation in the 'City of David', located in the heart of Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Read the rest on the Bulletin.

by Rachel de Carlos

Excavations at Akrotiri, Santorini. Copyright 2009 Rachel de Carlos

As in Pompeii, the volcanic covering of the archeological site at Akrotiri on Santorini, has kept an ancient settlement from disintegrating over time. The site was found by accident when the Suez Canal was being constructed in 1860. Workers quarrying Santorini's volcanic ash discovered the ruins, but serious excavations at the site didn't begin until 1967. An unfortunate collapse of the roof in 2005, which killed a British tourist, caused the site to be closed. It's scheduled to be reopened sometime after 2010. Greek bureaucracy has brought the repairs of the building to a halt, which has caused Santorini's tourist trade to suffer.

Read the rest on the Examiner.

By Ishaan Tharoor

The ancient cities of the Indus Valley belonged to the greatest civilization the world may never know. Since the 1920s, dozens of archaeological expeditions have unearthed traces of a 4,500-year-old urban culture that covered some 300,000 square miles in modern day Pakistan and north-western India.

Read the rest on Time Magazine.

By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH

Although Egyptian-Israeli relations have been frosty in recent years, ties between the two lands were vibrant around 3,000 BCE during the Early Bronze Age - at least according to Tel Aviv University and University College London archeologists who discovered a rare, four-centimeter-long stone fragment at the point where the Jordan River exits Lake Kinneret.

Read the rest on the Jerusalem Post.

By NICHOLAS PAPHITIS

ATHENS, Greece — Archaeologists said Friday they have unearthed a lavish burial site at the seat of the ancient Macedonian kings in northern Greece, heightening a 2,300-year-old mystery of murder and political intrigue.

Read the rest here.