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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.

Michelle Moran
Historical fiction author








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3.31.2010

Macedonian Archaeologists Discover Ancient Coins near Ohrid

Around 20 coins with the image of the father of Alexander the Great, Philip II of Macedon, and “other ancient Macedonian rulers” were found by archaeologists during excavations along the road between the south-western Macedonian towns of Ohrid and Struga, national media reported today.

Read the rest on Balkan Travellers.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 31, 2010



New Written Language of Ancient Scotland Discovered

Jennifer Viegas

The ancestors of modern Scottish people left behind mysterious, carved stones that new research has just determined contain the written language of the Picts, an Iron Age society that existed in Scotland from 300 to 843.

Read the rest on Discovery.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 31, 2010



Rosslyn Chapel was haven for bees

The pinnacle concealing a hidden hive being removed
The bees entered the hive through a carved flower

An ancient chapel has revealed a new mystery with the discovery of a 600-year-old hive built into the stones.

Read the rest on the BBC.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 31, 2010


3.30.2010

Ceiling of Nero's Palace collapses in Rome following heavy rain

By Nick Pisa

A large section of the ceiling of Roman emperor Nero's 2000-year-old Golden Palace has collapsed in Rome following heavy rain. About 60 square meters collapsed from the vault in one of the galleries inside the complex, which was built by Nero in the first century AD and is commonly known by its Latin name Domus Aurea.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 30, 2010



Lead "Burrito" Sarcophagus Found Near Rome: Ancient coffin may hold a gladiator or a Christian dignitary, experts say.

Christine Dell'Amore
National Geographic News

A 1,700-year-old sarcophagus found in an abandoned city near Rome could contain the body of a gladiator or a Christian dignitary, say archaeologists who are preparing to examine the coffin in the lab.

Read the rest on National Geographic.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 30, 2010


3.29.2010

Pyramid of Mystery Pharaoh Possibly Located

By Rossella Lorenzi

The missing pyramid of an obscure pharaoh that ruled Egypt some 4,300 years ago could lie at the intersection of a series of invisible lines in South Saqqara, according to new astronomical and topographical research.

Read the rest on Discovery.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 29, 2010



Remains of Errol Flynn's son found?

AP: PHNOM PENH, Cambodia - Forensic tests will be conducted on what two searchers believe are the remains of photographer Sean Flynn, son of Hollywood star Errol Flynn, who disappeared during the Cambodian War 40 years ago, the U.S. Embassy said Monday.

Read the rest on MSNBC.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 29, 2010



‘Shovel tests’ reveal long-buried artifacts in Southport

By Amy Hotz

Before Southport was Southport – even before it was Smithville – Fort Johnston brought life and a little bit of action to this small piece of land near the mouth of the Cape Fear River.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 29, 2010



4,200 year-old grave excavation reveals eternal embrace

Loving couples always wish to die on the same day, and a couple who lived 4,200 years ago in the Sanxing Village of Mimou Township, Qingbaijiang District, fulfilled such a wish.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 29, 2010


3.27.2010

Binge Britain 1904: The rogues' gallery that shows war on booze is nothing new

Minnie Osborne
Angry, bewildered and shame-faced these Edwardian drunks stare into the lens of the police camera. They were 'habitual drunkards' whose offenses included being caught while in charge of a horse, carriage and even a steam engine.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Saturday, March 27, 2010


3.26.2010

First Ever Southern Tyrannosaur Dinosaur Discovered

ScienceDaily — Scientists from Cambridge, London and Melbourne have found the first ever evidence that tyrannosaur dinosaurs existed in the southern continents. They identified a hip bone found at Dinosaur Cove in Victoria, Australia as belonging to an ancestor of Tyrannosaurus rex.

Read the rest on Science Daily.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Friday, March 26, 2010



Dig for Bronze Age King's Ditch in Herefordshire

Archaeologists have begun excavating a site in Herefordshire, which they believe may reveal a 3,000-year-old earth trench called the King's Ditch.

Read the rest on the BBC.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Friday, March 26, 2010


3.25.2010

Summers Were Wetter in the Middle Ages Than They Are Today

ScienceDaily — The severe epidemic of plague known as the "Black Death" caused the death of a third of the European population in the 14th century. It is probable that the climatic conditions of the time were a contributory factor towards the disaster.

Read the rest on Science Daily.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 25, 2010



Denmark's Little Mermaid statue leaves Copenhagen for the first time in nearly 100 years

Denmark's famed Little Mermaid statue left its perch in the Copenhagen harbour for the first time in nearly 100 years yesterday.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 25, 2010


3.24.2010

Off with their heads! France brings back the guillotine - but just in a museum as it's put on display for the first time

By Peter Allen

A guillotine has gone on show in France for the first time since the deadly contraption was made redundant three decades ago.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 24, 2010



'Outstanding' collection of illuminated royal manuscripts set to fetch £16m at auction

by Rebecca English

The most valuable collection of historic illuminated manuscripts ever to be offered at auction was unveiled for the first time today.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 24, 2010



Gene research reveals fourth human species

By Clive Cookson in London

A fourth type of hominid, besides Neanderthals, modern humans and the tiny “hobbit”, was living as recently as 40,000 years ago, according to research published in the journal Nature.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 24, 2010



New Branch of Human Family Tree?

AP: NEW YORK -- Scientists using DNA to investigate the story of humankind have decoded genetic material from an unidentified human ancestor that lived in Siberia -- and conclude it might be a new member of the human family tree.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 24, 2010


3.23.2010

Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria’s Great Female Scholar

By Sarah Zielinski

One day on the streets of Alexandria, Egypt, in the year 415 or 416, a mob of Christian zealots led by Peter the Lector accosted a woman’s carriage and dragged her from it and into a church, where they stripped her and beat her to death with roofing tiles. They then tore her body apart and burned it. Who was this woman and what was her crime? Hypatia was one of the last great thinkers of ancient Alexandria and one of the first women to study and teach mathematics, astronomy and philosophy.

Read the rest in the Smithsonian Magazine.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 23, 2010



New method could revolutionize dating of ancient treasures

SAN FRANCISCO — Scientists today described development of a new method to determine the age of ancient mummies, old artwork, and other relics without causing damage to these treasures of global cultural heritage. Reporting at the 239th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), they said it could allow scientific analysis of hundreds of artifacts that until now were off limits because museums and private collectors did not want the objects damaged.

Read the rest on Eurekalert.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 23, 2010



Scientists use carbon-dating to check wine vintages: study

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Ever paid top dollar for a bottle of wine that says on the label it's from a much-sought-after year, only to find that it tasted like cheap, non-vintage plonk?

Read the rest on Yahoo.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 23, 2010


3.22.2010

Archaeologists discover a sixteenth-century cloister in the monastery of Gerri de la Sal Lleida

Archaeologists discovered a sixteenth-century cloister in the monastery of Gerri de la Sal Lleida.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 22, 2010



A love seat fit for a king: The antique chair that gives an eye-popping insight into Edward VII's debauched youth

love seat
Second throne: The special chair made for the playboy Prince Bertie, the future Edward VII, to take his weight during lovemaking in a Parisian bordello

By Eugene Costello

Among the bordellos of Victorian Paris, Le Chabanais was the most exquisite, and the most lavish. Over the years this ‘maison de tolerance’ — the word ‘brothel’ was considered too tawdry — saw visitors as illustrious as Humphrey Bogart, Mae West and Cary Grant.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 22, 2010


3.20.2010

Oldest temple in the world found in Turkey

ANKARA, Turkey (UPI) -- Archaeologists say a temple being excavated in southeastern Turkey is 12,000 years old and is likely the oldest temple ever uncovered.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Saturday, March 20, 2010


3.19.2010

Hobbit Ancestors Once Colonized Indonesia Island

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Ancestors of a hobbit-like species of humans may have colonized the Indonesian island of Flores as far back as a million years ago, much earlier than thought, according to a new study published Thursday.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Friday, March 19, 2010


3.18.2010

In Search of Key Blue Ingredient in Ancient Egyptian Pottery


Pottery decorated in a distinctive pale blue color was in vogue in New Kingdom Egypt, particularly during the reign of Amenhotep III and Ramesses II. The pale blue is due to cobalt that may have been derived from a mineral mined at an oasis in the eastern Saharan desert. (Credit: Colin A. Hope/ Monash University)

ScienceDaily— Jennifer Smith, PhD, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was belly crawling her way to the end of a long, narrow tunnel carved in the rock at a desert oasis by Egyptians who lived in the time of the pharaohs.

Read the rest on Science Daily.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 18, 2010



Huge monkey god statue found

CAIRO - EGYPTIAN archaeologists have discovered a colossal ancient statue of the pharaonic deity of wisdom, Thoth, in the shape of a baboon, the council of antiquities said in a statement on Tuesday.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 18, 2010



A Host of Mummies, a Forest of Secrets

by NICHOLAS WADE

In the middle of a terrifying desert north of Tibet, Chinese archaeologists have excavated an extraordinary cemetery. Its inhabitants died almost 4,000 years ago, yet their bodies have been well preserved by the dry air.

Read the rest on the NYT.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 18, 2010


3.17.2010

St. Patrick's Day 2010: Irish Shamrock Shortage & More

John Roach

Today, St. Patrick's Day 2010, millions of people will don green and celebrate the Irish with parades, good cheer, and perhaps a pint of beer. But pinning a shamrock to your lapel in 2010 may require a heaping helping of the luck of the Irish.

Read the rest on National Geographic.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 17, 2010



Jaws -- 4 Million BC: How an Extinct Shark Attacked Its Prey

ScienceDaily — It might sound like a mashup of monster movies, but palaeontologists have discovered evidence of how an extinct shark attacked its prey, reconstructing a killing that took place 4 million years ago.

Read the rest on Science Daily.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 17, 2010


3.16.2010

Swiss Company Unveils Watch Made From Dinosaur Poop


Looking for a unique gift to get that special someone? Perhaps you should check out the latest creation from Swiss watchmaker Artya and designer Yvan Arpa.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 16, 2010



3,400-Year-Old Statues Unearthed in Egypt

AP: A team of Egyptian archaeologists have discovered a 13-foot statue of the ancient god of wisdom and part of a statue of one of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs in the southern city of Luxor.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 16, 2010


3.15.2010

Meat-Eating Amphibian Predated Dinos

By Jennifer Viegas

An interesting "rock" initially tossed aside at a FedEx site near Pittsburgh International Airport turns out to be the skull of a meat-eating, early terrestrial amphibian that lived 70 million years before the first dinosaurs emerged, according to a paper released today in Annals of Carnegie Museum.

Read the rest on Discovery.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 15, 2010



Medieval Child's Brain Found Preserved

medieval child brain
This brain was found inside the skull of a 13th century A.D. 18-month-old child from northwestern France.
Heinz Sonderegger, Institute of Anatomy, University of Zurich

By Rossella Lorenzi

An international team of researchers has identified intact neurons and cerebral cells in a mummified medieval brain, according to a study published in the journal Neuroimage.

Read the rest on Discovery.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 15, 2010



Headless Man's Tomb Found Under Maya Torture Mural

John Roach
for National Geographic News

The tomb of a headless man adorned with jade has been discovered beneath an ancient Mexican chamber famously painted with scenes of torture.

Read the rest on National Geographic.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 15, 2010


3.12.2010

Mummy of Egypt's monotheist pharaoh to return home

By PAUL SCHEMM

CAIRO (AP) - The DNA tests that revealed how the famed boy-king Tutankhamun most likely died solved another of ancient Egypt's enduring mysteries - the fate of controversial Pharaoh Akhenaten's mummy. The discovery could help fill out the picture of a fascinating era more than 3,300 years ago when Akhenaten embarked on history's first attempt at monotheism.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Friday, March 12, 2010



The dental crown jewels: How Queen Victoria wore her daughter's tooth on a brooch

 Brooch, 1847
Memento: The milk tooth of Princess Vicky was inserted into a brooch

by Rebecca English

Between them they produced nine children and adored each and every one of their large brood. As far as Queen Victoria and her beloved husband, Prince Albert, were concerned, no event was deemed unworthy of commemoration.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.


# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Friday, March 12, 2010


3.11.2010

Artisans in bid to solve mystery of ancient carvings

EASTER Ross artisans are taking part in a research project, trying to solve the mysteries of ancient carvings. Fearn sculptor Barry Grove and Tain glass artist Brodie Nairn are working with the National Museum of Scotland and Aberlady Heritage in a project to see if empty eye sockets in historic carvings could have been filled with a form of glass eye. And Mr Grove is attempting to re-create a 14ft Pictish carved stone, working with a 2ft fragment of the original found at Aberlady, East Lothian.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 11, 2010



Decapitated bodies found in Dorset burial pit were executed Vikings

Fifty beheaded young men found in a burial pit last year were probably executed Vikings, archaeologists revealed today.

Read the rest on the Mirror.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 11, 2010


3.10.2010

Digging into Shakespeare's later life at New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon


A ground-breaking investigation into Shakespeare’s later life is due to start in Stratford-upon-Avon on 26 March 2010, as archaeologists prepare to excavate the remains of Shakespeare’s house in Stratford-upon-Avon, and the public are invited to come along and watch as the latest story about the world’s most famous writer unfolds…

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 10, 2010



Searching for Zheng: China's Ming-Era Voyager

One of the more famous paintings of the medieval Ming dynasty, which ruled China for about three centuries, is that of a court attendant holding a rope around a giraffe. An inscription on the side says the animal dwelled near "the corners of the western sea, in the stagnant waters of a great morass." According to legend, the giraffe was found in Africa, along with zebras and ostriches, and brought back with the grand 15th century expeditions of Zheng He, China's greatest mariner.

Read the rest on Time Magazine.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 10, 2010



Bronze-era Buddhist sites discovered

The Italian archaeological mission in Pakistan has discovered a large number of Buddhist sites and rock shelters in Kandak and Kota valleys of Barikot in Swat in the North West Frontier Province which depicted the carvings and paintings from the bronze and iron ages.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 10, 2010


3.09.2010

Ancient Norse colonies hit bad climate times

By Alexandra Witze

New research reveals just how bad an idea it was to colonize Greenland and Iceland more than a millennium ago: average temperatures in Iceland plummeted nearly 6°Celsius in the century that followed the island’s Norse settlement in about A.D. 870, a climate record gleaned from mollusk shells shows.

Read the rest on Science News.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 09, 2010



Roman and Byzantine Graveyards Unearthed near Damascus



Among the more frequented archeological sites in Syria are: Mary, Ebla, Ugarit, Apamea, Bousra, Bill temple and tombs, Castles of Aleppo, Krak des Chevaliers, Salah ed-Din, Seman, Ras Shamra, Khan As'ad Pasha, Palmyra Theater, as well as tens of museums, scattered all over the country.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 09, 2010



Life of Vikings seen through soil

A scientist and a composer are working together to explore a thousand years of human history through soil samples.

Read the rest on the BBC.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 09, 2010



Centuries-Old Shipwrecks Found Well-Preserved in Baltic Sea

AP: STOCKHOLM — A dozen centuries-old shipwrecks — some of them unusually well-preserved — have been found in the Baltic Sea by a gas company building an underwater pipeline between Russia and Germany.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 09, 2010


3.08.2010

Ancient Mural Portrays Ordinary Mayans

By Stéphan Reebs

Very old artworks provide a fascinating glimpse of ancient life, but not without limitations: They typically portray the lifestyles of the rich and famous (rulers, royals, generals, and priests), abandoning the masses to the mists of history.

Read the rest on Live Science.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 08, 2010



Archaeological find Roman baths unearthed in Tarragona

It seems the baths fell into disuse as the Roman city became busy and eventually became a habitat area, and a first dating points to the late start of V or VI century.

Read the rest on the Barcelona Reporter.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 08, 2010



Czech archaeologists find oldest settlement in Arbil, north Iraq

Plzen, West Bohemia, March 5 (CTK) - An expedition of Czech archaeologists has found remains of an about 150,000-year-old prehistoric settlement in Arbil, north Iraq, which has been the so far oldest uncovered in this part of northern Mesopotamia, team head Karel Novacek told reporters Friday.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 08, 2010


3.07.2010

Exciting find for museum bosses

Patrick Tostevin at Ribchester Museum Finds Day
Patrick Tostevin at Ribchester Museum Finds Day

A ROMAN quern stone discovered near Chaigley has sparked excitement in archaeological circles.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Sunday, March 07, 2010



Homo sapiens may have reached India 74,000 yrs ago

Kalyan Ray New Delhi

Pushing the clock backwards, archeologists have dug up ancient stone tools in Andhra Pradesh, suggesting arrival and survival of modern human beings in India as early as 74,000 years ago.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Sunday, March 07, 2010



'Templar crucifixion nail' a fantasy, says Madeiran archaeologist

by Chris Cunnyngham

Archaeologist Élvio Sousa of the Center for the Study of Modern and Contemporary Archeology (CEAM) on the Portuguese island of Madeira has released a statement calling the alleged discovery there of three Templar skeletons and a 'crucifixion nail' dating from the Roman era "a fantasy." CEAM conducted archaeological work on the site from 2004 to 2006.

Read the rest on the Examiner.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Sunday, March 07, 2010


3.06.2010

How the Alphabet Was Born from Hieroglyphs

By Orly Goldwasser

To the Asiatics, as they were called, the lush Nile Delta, with its open marshlands rich with fish and fowl, was a veritable Garden of Eden. From earliest times, Canaanites and other Asiatics would come and settle here. Indeed, this is the background of the Biblical story of the famine in Canaan that led to Jacob’s descent into Egypt.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Saturday, March 06, 2010



Egyptian Queen Offered Bread, Jug of Beer at Funeral

By Rossella Lorenzi

One loaf of bread and one jug of beer: that's what Egypt's Queen Behenu was offered during her funeral, according to a translation of hieroglyphics engraved on white stone found in her 4,000-year-old burial chamber this week.

Read the rest on Discovery.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Saturday, March 06, 2010



Quiron Hospital of Barcelona has reconstructed the face of an Egyptian mummy from 2000 years ago

Quiron Hospital of Barcelona has reconstructed the face of an Egyptian mummy from 2000 years ago.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Saturday, March 06, 2010


3.05.2010

It's official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs

By Kate Kelland, Health and Science Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) – A giant asteroid smashing into Earth is the only plausible explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs, a global scientific team said on Thursday, hoping to settle a row that has divided experts for decades.

Read the rest on Yahoo.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Friday, March 05, 2010


3.04.2010

250 Alexander the Great era coins found in Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A Syrian archaeologist says more than 250 silver coins dating back to the era of Alexander the Great have been unearthed in northern Syria.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 04, 2010



Mysterious image of snake appears on 400-year-old painting of Queen Elizabeth I

A mysterious image of a coiled snake has appeared in a portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, the National Portrait Gallery said today.

A mysterious image of a coiled snake has appeared in a 16th century portrait of Queen Elizabeth I
PA: Revealed once more: The image of a snake has appeared in a 16th century portrait of Queen Elizabeth I. A faint outline of the coils can be seen superimposed on her hand, while the serpent's body, - seen as dark shading - follows the line of the flowers she is holding and also passes beneath her fingers

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 04, 2010



Ancient Egyptian Queen's Burial Chamber Discovered

By Rosella Lorenzi

French archaeologists working at Saqqara have unearthed the burial chamber of a 4,000-year-old queen, Dr. Zahi Hawass, secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), announced today.

See the photos here!

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 04, 2010



Da Vinci's Huge Horse Statue Proven Feasible

By Rosella Lorenzi

Virtual simulations demonstrate that Leonardo da Vinci's calculations were totally on mark in his plan to build the masterpiece that never came to be.

Read the rest on Discovery.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Thursday, March 04, 2010


3.03.2010

Engraved Eggs Suggest Early Symbolism

by Michael Balter

What do Homo sapiens have that our hominid ancestors did not? Many researchers think that the capacity for symbolic behaviors—such as art and language—is the hallmark of our species. A team working in South Africa has now discovered what it thinks is some of the best early evidence for such symbolism: a cache of ostrich eggshells dated to about 60,000 years ago and etched with intricate geometric patterns.

Read the rest on Science Magazine.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 03, 2010



Spell-covered burial chamber found in Egypt's Saqqara

CAIRO (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.

Read the rest on Reuters.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Wednesday, March 03, 2010


3.02.2010

Syria's Stonehenge: Neolithic stone circles, alignments and possible tombs discovered

For Dr. Robert Mason, an archaeologist with the Royal Ontario Museum, it all began with a walk last summer. Mason conducts work at the Deir Mar Musa al-Habashi monastery, out in the Syrian Desert. Finds from the monastery, which is still in use today by monks, date mainly to the medieval period and include some beautiful frescoes.

Read the rest on The Independent.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 02, 2010



Nail from Christ's crucifixion found?

The four-inch long nail is thought to be one of thousands used in crucifixions across the Roman empire.

Read the rest on The Telegraph.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 02, 2010



New Agatha Christie mystery: Christie family trunk yields diamonds worth thousands

A battered old trunk bought for £100 at an Agatha Christie auction has revealed contents as mysterious as the woman to whom they once belonged.

Read the rest on BBC homes and Antiques.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 02, 2010



Dynasty of Priestesses

By Eti Bonn-Muller

Evidence of a powerful female bloodline emerges from the Iron Age necropolis of Orthi Petra at Eleutherna on Crete

For a quarter century, Greek excavation director Nicholas Stampolidis and his dedicated team have been unearthing the untold stories of the people buried some 2,800 years ago in the necropolis of Orthi Petra at Eleutherna on Crete. Until now, the site has perhaps been best known for the tomb its excavators dubbed "A1K1," an assemblage of 141 cremated individuals, all but two of whom were aristocratic men who likely fell in battle in foreign lands.

Read the rest on Archaeology.org.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 02, 2010



DNA Shows that KV55 Mummy Probably Not Akhenaten

by Kate Phizackerley

The paper Ancestry and Pathology in King Tutankhamun's Family by Hawass al. (Journal of American Medicine, 2010 - JAMA. 2010;303(7):638-647), states that the mummy in KV55 is “probably” Akhenaten – hereafter “the JAMA paper”. The media has accepted the attribution as affirmed fact, although the attribution has attracted considerable comment and debate with a number of writers questioning the forensic data. I believe, however, that the correct focus of dissent to the attribution should be the STR analysis which shows that the KV55 mummy is highly unlikely to be Akhenaten and that an alternative family tree is a better fit to the genetic findings of the Hawass study.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 02, 2010



Experts pin hopes on public to decipher 500-year-old English inscription discovered in church

Conservator Tom Beattie examines the lettering
Conservator Tom Beattie examines the lettering which was revealed after a 350-year-old monument was removed

What is believed to be the first ever example of English written in a British church has been discovered. Problem is, no-one can read it. The 500-year-old inscription was found on a wall in Salisbury Cathedral, Wiltshire, hidden behind a monument dedicated to an aristocrat.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Tuesday, March 02, 2010


3.01.2010

"Vampire of Venice" Unmasked: Plague Victim & Witch?

by Christine Dell'Amore

The finished recreation of the
The finished re-creation of the "Vampire of Venice." Image courtesy National Geographic Television

A female "vampire" unearthed in a mass grave near Venice, Italy, may have been accused of wearing another evil hat: a witch's.

Read the rest on National Geographic.

Watch a preview

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 01, 2010



Statue head of King Tut's grandfather found in Luxor

A picture released by Egypt's Antiquities Department on February 28, 2010 shows a 3,000 year-old red granite head of King Amenhotep III. Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a colossal statue head of the pharaoh whom DNA tests revealed last week was King Tutankhamun's grandfather, the government has said.
A picture released by Egypt's Antiquities Department on February 28, 2010 shows a 3,000 year-old red granite head of King Amenhotep III. Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a colossal statue head of the pharaoh whom DNA tests revealed last week was King Tutankhamun's grandfather, the government has said.

AFP - 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.

Read the rest here.

# Posted by Michelle Moran @ | Monday, March 01, 2010