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December 2004
December 7
"Lost"
Treasures of Afghanistan Revealed
In a secret vault, more than 22,000 antiquities survived the Taliban and
25 years of conflict.
"King
Tut" Treasure To Return to U.S.
After 26 years, the world's most famous Egyptian tomb trove is coming to
museums in 2005.
Pharaoh's
Firstborn, Proof of the Plagues?
The Discovery Channel's Rameses: Wrath of God or Man? seeks to determine
if God really killed Pharaoh's oldest son.
Another
Stonehenge Found in Russia? Nov. 17, 2004
Russian archaeologists have announced that they have found the remains of
a 4,000-year-old structure that they compare to England's Stonehenge, according
to recent reports issued by Pravda and Novosti, two Russian news services.
Mexican
tomb reveals gruesome human sacrifice
The burial chamber found in the 'Pyramid of the Moon' suggests that the
people of Teotihuacan may have been bloodthirsty warmongers.
Ancient
ape gives clue to family origins
Fossil from 13 million years ago sheds light on human split from apes.
November 2004
November 21
US
archeologist: Yadin finds are Temple artifacts.
In the hour-long NOVA documentary, airing on PBS stations on November
23, Richard Freund, director of the Center for Judaic Studies at the University
of Hartford in Conneticut, challenges some of the groundbreaking ideas of
famed soldier and archeologist Yigael Yadin. See also Ancient
Refuge in the Holy Land.
Noah's
Ark Quest Dead in Water -- Was It a Stunt?
In April businessman and Christian activist Daniel McGivern announced
with great fanfare a planned summer expedition to Mount Ararat in Turkey.
The project, he said, would prove that the fabled Noah's ark was buried
there. The choice of expedition leader—a Turkish academic named
Ahmet Ali Arslan, who claims to have climbed Mount Ararat 50 times in 40
years—also raised a red flag with those familiar with previous expeditions.
Arslan was involved in a 1993 documentary, aired on CBS television, which
claimed to have found the ark. Some of the evidence presented in that documentary
turned out to be a hoax, raising concerns about Arslan's testimony.
Atlantis
Buried Between Cyprus, Syria? Nov. 15, 2004
U.S. researcher Robert Sarmast claimed Sunday to have found proof that the
mythical lost city of Atlantis actually existed and is located under the
Mediterranean seabed between Cyprus and Syria.
Ship from
the time of David and Solomon?
One may have been discovered on Israel's Mediterranean coast - by a dog!
Who wrote
the Dead Sea Scrolls?
University of Chicago professor contends the scrolls were the product of
many hands and represent a broad range of perspectives rather than just
the thinking of a tight-knit religious group.
The
story behind the dating of the silver scrolls
Background on the silver scrolls containing the priestly benediction. The
second link includes a good photograph of the scrolls. See also A
Benediction Revealed.
Summary
of the finds at the Jordanian site of Deir Ain Abata
Deir Ain Abata ("Monastery of the Abbot's Spring") is a Byzantine
monastery built at the traditional site of "Lot's cave" in the
mountains near today's Ghor al-Safi, Biblical Zoar (see article in Bible
and Spade, Summer 1999).
Queen
of Sheba Exhibit at the Bowers Museum, Santa Ana CA
Exhibit examines the question of the historicity of the Queen of Sheba.
See also Treasure
fit for a queen.
3,500 year old Bronze Age Temple in Jordan. Madaba Plains Project.
King
Tut Death Mystery To Be Probed. Nov. 15, 2004
The mummy of Tutankhamun will be CAT scanned in the attempt to uncover how
the pharaoh died a teenager more than 3,000 years ago, Egypt's chief archaeologist
announced.
Garbage
betrays date of earliest village life
The occupants of the first permanent settlements were forced to develop
a strategy for getting rid of rubbish.
November 8
Mini
Human Species Unearthed
In what is being hailed as one of the most spectacular paleoanthropological
finds of the past century, researchers have unearthed the remains of a dwarf
human species that survived on the Indonesian island of Flores until just
13,000 years ago. The discovery significantly extends the known range of
physical variation in our genus, Homo, and reveals that H. sapiens shared
the planet with other humans much more recently than previously believed.
See also Little
lady of Flores forces rethink of human evolution.
Rameses: Wrath of God or Man?
A new find in Egypt's
Valley of Kings opens an investigation
into what just might be a royal murder mystery, and probes the question:
Did Egypt's greatest pharoah really refuse to let the Hebrews go? The show
premieres December 5, but you can see a preview right now. View
the Clip Using Windows Media.
October 2004
October 24
More on Bible texts on silver amulets dated to First Temple period
The authenticity of some artifacts found in 1979 bearing the 'Priestly Benediction'
and predating the Dead Sea Scrolls has been confirmed with new technology.
See also Solving
a Riddle Written in Silver and Ancient
benediction gets an ‘Amen’.
Qumran
and Dead Sea Scrolls
Recent dig uncovers evidence supporting the connection between the Qurnan
community and the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Full
Excavation for Irish Viking Village? By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery
News. Oct. 19, 2004
Preliminary work to build a bypass road in an Irish village has yielded
what could be the most significant piece of Viking history in Europe: a
virtually intact town that some have already called Ireland's equivalent
of Pompeii.
Resurrected:
Lost Raphael painting of Christ
An unknown work confidently believed to be by Raphael has been found
beneath a later painting which had been put into the wall of an Umbrian
church and forgotten (The Guardian, London).
October 10
Bible texts on
silver amulets dated to First Temple period
U.S. and Israeli researchers claim to have discovered proof that the
Five Books of Moses were in existence during the First Temple period. (Ha'aretz,
Israel) In a scholarly report published this month, the research team concluded
that the improved reading of the inscriptions confirmed their greater antiquity.
The script, the team wrote, is indeed from the period just before the destruction
of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. by Nebuchadnezzar and the subsequent exile of Israelites
in Babylon.
Dead
Sea Scrolls coming to Houston
They have been called a window in time. Some of the earliest surviving Biblical
texts will be on exhibit in Houston beginning Friday. (KHOU, Texas)
Incas Destroyed
Own Site Before Leaving. Sept. 21, 2004
Incan pilgrims smashed and burned their own temple, and a tower containing
a golden statue of a king, rather than let them fall into Spanish hands,
says an Australian archaeologist.
Lice tell mankind's
story
Study of head louse suggests that Homo erectus transmitted parasite to Homo
sapiens.
September 2004
September 13
Turkey denies
Honolulu man’s bid to find Noah’s Ark.
A Honolulu businessman's plan to take an expedition to Mount Ararat
in search of Noah's Ark ended this week when the Turkish government refused
to permit it because of security concerns about the area, which borders
Iran and is 150 miles from Iraq.
Update—Finds
or Fakes?
Did a tongue loosened by alcohol unmask a massive forgery enterprise? Is
the Israel Museum the unwitting home to scores of fake inscriptions? Duke
University professor outs paleographer accused of probably lying.
Dig
renews debate over Dead Sea Scrolls
Researchers in dispute over sect's lifestyle (San Francisco Chronicle).
Did John the Baptist really eat locusts? A survey of the "debate" (Christopher Howse, The Telegraph, London).
Native
Americans Weren't the First. Sept. 6, 2004
DNA analysis of skulls found in Baja California that belonged to an extinct
tribe called the Pericues reveal that the Pericues likely were not related
to Native Americans and that they probably predated Native Americans in
settling the Americas, according to an announcement Monday.
Iceman
Spent Days in Pain Before Death. Sept. 6, 2004
Ötzi the Iceman, the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy, might
have spent at least three days in excruciating pain before he died, according
to new research presented at the 5th World Congress on Mummy Studies in
Turin.
Study:
Gypsies Came From India. Sept. 7, 2004
Legend has it that European Gypsies came from Egypt, but a new genetic study
has shown they came from a small population that emerged from ancestors
in India around 1000 years ago.
Mummy's
Face Revealed with CT Scans
Scientists have reconstructed the face of a mummified Egyptian man without
removing his 3,000-year-old bandages.
August 2004
August 31
Ancient
tomb uncovered in Cairo suburb. Cairo
A domed Pharaonic tomb dating back to the 7th century BC was uncovered in
a residential Cairo suburb, officials at the Supreme Council for Antiquities
said on Wednesday.
Ruins Found in Peru From BEFORE the Incans
Scraps
Of Prehistoric Fabric Provide A View Of Ancient Life. PHILADELPHIA
Fragments of ancient fabric – some dating back to the time the Coliseum
was built in Rome – may give researchers better insight into the lives
of Native Americans who lived in eastern North America some 800 to 2,000
years ago.
August 23
Scholars
Debate ''The Cave of John the Baptist''
Archaeologists say they found the cave where John baptized many of his followers;
Scholars keep a critical yet hopeful eye on the discoveries. See also John
the Baptist’s cave: speculation & sensation and Bring
Me the Stead of John the Baptist?
DNA
to reveal source of Dead Sea Scrolls
Authorities are hoping that DNA testing of animal bones discovered in excavations
at the Qumran plateau will reveal the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls (The
Jerusalem Post).
Scholars
disagree on early inhabitants of Qumran.
Rival groups of scholars excavating this dusty plateau overlooking the
Dead Sea are arguing over who lived here in biblical times — ordinary
farmers or the Essenes, a monastic sect seen by some as a link between Judaism
and early Christianity (Associated Press). See also Archaeologists
insist there was a community at Qumran.
Student
dig seeks link to King Solomon.
Digs this summer at Megiddo, Israel, did not reveal definitive evidence
to link Solomon's Palace to the biblical king, but some nice figurines of
horses' heads were found above the stables.
3500-year-old
Bronze Age temple discovered in Jordan.
TALL AL-UMAYRI, Jordan: A 3,500 year old temple from the Late Bronze Age
has been discovered at Tall al-Umayri just south of Amman. The discovery
is particularly exciting because the Late Bronze Age has yielded few structures
of any kind in the central hills of Jordan and because it is one of the
best preserved buildings and areas of worship that has been found. It contributes
to the belief that there were more settled inhabitants in the area at the
time than previously thought.
Contrasting Insights of Biblical Giants. BAR Interviews Elie Weisel and Frank Moore Cross.
Ancient
Persian fleet surrenders its mysteries.
A team from Greece, Canada and the United States has just completed a second
expedition to retrieve artefacts from 300 ships of the Persian King Darius
that were wrecked in a storm off the Mt Athos Peninsula, northern Greece,
in 492BC or 493BC.
Holograms
Help Identify Sham Script
Scientists have developed a new tool for fighting forgers. The hologram-based
technique produces a three-dimensional image of a handwriting sample that
can be used to compare two John Hancocks and determine if they were both
jotted by the same John.
INEEL Develops Computer Tool To Help Save Archaeological Treasures.
Ancient
Mask, 'Olympic' Ring Found in Thracian Tomb. SHIPKA, Bulgaria (Reuters)
A Bulgarian archaeologist has unearthed an ancient gold mask and a ring
featuring an "Olympic" rower in what he called an unrivalled find
in the study of classical antiquity.
August 17
John
the Baptist cave Discovered?
Archaeologists claim they have found a cave where they believe John the
Baptist anointed many of his disciples – a huge cistern with 28 steps
leading to an underground pool of water. See also John
the Baptist's cave 'found' .
Digging
up the Bible
A new cadre of Bible scholars and archaeologists, some with an overtly political
agenda, has argued that the great Israelite kingdom, depicted in the books
of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles, never really existed (Forward).
US Army helps
restore antiquities associated with Nineveh
Two major historic sites dating back to the 8th century B.C. – the
Nergal Gate and King Sennacherib’s palace – are being restored
with help from the 416th Civil Affairs Battalion.
August 8
Archeologists
claim Essenes never wrote Dead Sea Scrolls
Israeli archaeologists now argue that Qumran "lacks any uniqueness"
(Haaretz, Tel Aviv).
DECONSTRUCTING
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GENETICS AND RACE
The notion of human 'race' has had a troubled history, in both social and
scientific circles. But can human populations legitimately be divided
into groups? The authors argue that dividing humans on the basis of
genetic similarity might be more reliable than using common 'racial' subdivisions,
and that this information will be most useful for understanding our genetic
ancestry and improving human health.
July 2004
July 25
Death
on the Nile.
Recent discoveries at Abydos including the evidence for human sacrifice
when early Egyptian kings were buried.
50
Minoan graves found.
Archaeologists have found 50 graves in a Late Minoan cemetery at Aghios
Ioannis in Crete. Artifacts indicate that some are warrior burials and others
are family tombs.
Ancient
DNA Reveals Skin Color July 19, 2004
Researchers may be able to make more accurate reconstructions of what ancient
humans looked like with the first ever use of ancient DNA to determine hair
and skin color from skeletal remains.
Family
words came first for early humans
A trawl of a thousand languages suggests that common family words may have
come from the Neanderthals.
July 18
Three Debates about
Bible and Archaeology See
The Spanish translation is at: Tres
Debates sobre Biblia y Arqueología.
Ice
Age 'Sistine Chapel' Found. July 13, 2004
An elaborately decorated cave ceiling with artwork dating to 13,000 years
ago has been found in Nottinghamshire, England, according to a press release
issued today by the University of Sheffield.
Growth Study Of Wild Chimpanzees Challenges Assumptions About Early Humans.
July 10
IS the Exodus a fusion of a Hyksos and Ramesside expulsion as preserved by Manetho.
Explorers
of Noah's Lost Ark
Citing new satellite images, team seeks to 'solidify the faith of many Christians.'
By Gordon Govier.
Ancient
African Skull Fills Gap, Fuels Debate
Remains of the hominids that lived in Africa between a million and half
a million years ago are frustratingly rare in the fossil record. Bones from
this time period have been recovered in Europe and Asia, but the paucity
of finds from Africa has prevented a full understanding of just what members
of the species Homo erectus looked like. A new discovery is helping to fill
the fossil gap.
64,800-Year-Old
Hair Yields DNA. June 23, 2004
Hair and fur could be our window to the past, according to scientists who
have just extracted and cloned DNA from a 64,800-year-old bison and hairs
purportedly from famed physicist Sir Isaac Newton.
Egyptian
Mummy Unwrapped in 3D By Rossella Lorenzi, Discovery News. July 5, 2004
Cutting-edge computer technology and state-of-the-art medical scanning techniques
have turned a 2,800-year-old mummy into a fully interactive 3-D experience,
London's British Museum has announced.
June 2004
June 20
Pool
of Siloam found
Ancient Pool of Siloam found near Gihon Spring in Jerusalem.
Date
of Dead Sea Scroll cache at Qumran in error?
Greg Doudna, in his article "Redating the Dead Sea Scroll Deposits
at Qumran: The Legacy of an error in Archaeological Interpretation,"
calls into question the dating of the Qumran text deposits to the time of
the First Jewish Revolt against Rome in 70 AD.
Egyptian
tombs reveal a complex society.
Twenty previously unexcavated tombs, which are several hundred years
older than the great pyramids of Giza, are shedding light on the first complex
societies on Earth.
Ancient
"Highway" Still Shows Chariot Tracks June 16, 2004
A plain in Tuscany destined to become a dump has turned out to be an archaeologist's
dream, revealing the biggest Etruscan road ever found.
Trove of ancient artifacts in way of Blair road project.
Ancient
Maps And Corn Help Track The Migrations Of Indigenous People. MADISON
Maps are tools to show you where you are going, but they can also show you
where you came from. That principle drives the work of Roberto Rodríguez
and Patrisia Gonzales, who study ancient maps, oral traditions and the movement
of domesticated crops to learn more about the origins of native people in
the Americas.
June 13
Dealing with
the Devil
David R. Cartlidge - What happened after the Fall? A collection of ancient
apocryphal tales supplements the brief biblical account of what happened
to Adam, Eve and Satan east of Eden.
Is Homer Historical?
An Interview with Gregory Nagy
The last several decades have completely altered our understanding of Homer’s
Iliad and Odyssey. It tuns out that these poems may not have
been composed by a man named Homer; instead, they probably began as an amorphous
group of myths, which, over the course of a millennium, evolved into the
epics we know today. To get a sense of the real “Homer,” we turned
ot Harvard professor Gregory Nagy, one of the scholars most responsible
for changing our minds.
Rat DNA
clues to sea migration.
Scientists have used DNA from rats to trace migration patterns of the
ancestors of today's Polynesians.
May 2004
May 30
Evidence of Ancient
University Unearthed in Alexandria.
A team of Polish archaeologists has recently uncovered the first material
evidence of the ancient University of Alexandria in Egypt. Known as the
intellectual center of the ancient world, Alexandria was home to the famous
library that was founded in 295 B.C. and burned to the ground in the fourth
century A.D.
Ancient
tombs of royal standard discovered in Shaanxi.
A large-scale tomb group of the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century B.C.-
771 B.C.) was discovered at the Zhougong Temple site in Qishan County in
northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Chinese archaeologists said Tuesday.
The James L. Kelso Bible Lands Museum, in the basement of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, is a "small archaeological treasure." Its collection of 16mm movies show Kelso and early archaeological luminaries on digs going back to the 1920s and the daily life of the local Arabs at that time.
Microbes
Found In Mayan Ruins May Deteriorate Stone From Inside Out. NEW ORLEANS
– May 27, 2004
Researchers from Havard University have discovered the presence of a previously
unidentified microbial community inside the porous stone of the Maya ruins
in Mexico that may be capable of causing rapid deterioration of these sites.
They present their findings at the 104th General Meeting of the American
Society for Microbiology.
May 23
Halley's
Comet Portrayed on Ancient Coin. May 19, 2004
A rare ancient coin may feature an early record of Halley's Comet, researchers
say. The coin features the head of the Armenian king Tigranes II the Great,
who reigned from 95 to 55 B.C. A symbol on his crown that features a star
with a curved tail may represent the passage of Halley's comet in 87 B.C.,
say the Armenian and Italian researchers.
Early man had
mining in mind
Flint analysis sheds light on our ancestors' digging skills. 18 May 2004.
May 16
Key Mayan
City Discovered. May 6, 2004
An Italian archeologist said Tuesday he had uncovered ancient objects that
show an unexplored site in Guatemala's Peten region to be one of the most
significant preclassic Mayan cities ever found. "I think Cival was
one of the largest cities of the Preclassic Maya, maybe housing 10,000 people
at its peak," the archeologist from Nashville's Vanderbilt University
said at a news conference.
An exhibit of Native American petroglyphs has opened quietly in the Columbia River Gorge, featuring 43 boulders that had been overshadowed by the Dalles Dam. See Petroglyphs.
Troy's Fallen! Movie Review of Troy.
May 9
Scientists
to search for Noah's ark on Turkish mountain
Expedition will study 'man-made object' shown by satellite photos (The
Guardian, UK).
Four-Horned
Altar Discovered in Judean Hills
Yoel Elitzur and Doron Nir-Zevi - A stroll on the West Bank leads to a remarkable
find: a Biblical-era stone altar for animal sacrifice.
Oldest
Evidence of Bedding Found. May 5, 2004
An Upper Paleolithic camp, once submerged by the waters of the Sea of Galilee,
has yielded the world's oldest evidence of bedding, according to Israeli
archaeologists.
Colonizing
Cretans.
Europe's oldest civilization, the Minoans of ancient Crete, were also
the continent's first colonialists, according to investigations in Turkey
and elsewhere. While archaeologists have long been aware of Minoan . trading
activity along the Anatolian coast, excavations at Miletus in southwest
Turkey are revealing how 3,700 years ago they expanded to the Asian mainland
to set up at least one permanent colony. The discoveries lend credence to
an ancient Greek myth of a Minoan colony there.
May 2
Expedition
will seek to find Noah's ark
An expedition is being planned for this summer to the upper reaches of Turkey's
Mount Ararat where organizers hope to prove an object nestled amid the snow
and ice is Noah's Ark (Associated Press) See also http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040427/ap_on_sc/noah_s_ark.
Rush
to Judgment?
Israel Antiquities Authority's 'findings' bother many archaeologists. By
Gordon Govier.
Surprisingly
rapid growth in Neanderthals
FERNANDO V. RAMIREZ ROZZI AND JOSÉ MARIA BERMUDEZ DE CASTRO.
See also http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994937
Charred
remains may be earliest human fires.
Archaeologists in Israel may have unearthed the oldest evidence of fire
use by our ancestors. The site, on the banks of the Jordan River, dates
to about 790,000 years ago.
Best
of Egypt: Recent Discoveries and More
Who built the pyramids? What’s inside? Get the answers and our latest
Egypt news stories.
Maya
“Masterpiece” Uncovered in Guatemala
Find out how archaeologists suffered death threats and recently unearthed
what they say is one of the greatest Maya treasures ever found.
April 2004
April 25
Ancient
inscribed slab brought to light. Potsdam
A team of German and Egyptian archaeologists working in the Nile Delta has
unearthed "quite a remarkable" stele dating back 2 200 years
to Ptolemaic Egypt which bears an identical inscription in three written
languages - like the famed Rosetta Stone. t shows a royal decree, written
in ancient Greek, Demotic and Hieroglyphs, that mentions King Ptolemy III
Euergetes I along with the date 238 BC.
Ancient
shell jewellery hints at language
Early humans strung shells together at least 75,000 years ago, suggesting
advanced concepts of symbolism already existed.
Italian Skeletons Reveal Old World Diseases.
Researchers
Find Important Mayan Remains
U.S. and Guatemalan Researchers Find Important Mayan Monuments Covered With
Texts.
April 11
Controversy
revisits Shroud of Turin By Dan Vergano, USA TODAY
A documentary on the Shroud of Turin suggests the cloth, a religious relic
once believed to be the burial shroud of Christ, might be authentic, and
some archaeologists are crying foul.
Jewish
remains give clues on crucifixion.
Jesus is the best known victim of crucifixion. But thousands of other Jews
were put to death on the cross by the Romans, trying to quash Jewish rebellions
in the Holy Land in the first century. Yet strangely the remains of
only one victim have ever been found. He was Yehohanan Ben Hagkol, a Jewish
man whose heel bone, excavated by archaeologists near Jerusalem in 1968,
still had a nail embedded in it. "It is the only case ever found in
the world where there is indisputable evidence of crucifixion," said
Joe Zias, a physical anthropologist who examined the remains of Yehohanan
Ben Hagkol.
Builders Of Ancient
Tombs And Temples Followed Sun And Stars. Milton Keynes - Apr 01, 2004
Two studies of ancient monuments in southwest Europe reveal the influence
the Sun and stars had on their builders according to Dr Michael Hoskin,
a historian of astronomy at Cambridge University.
NASA Radar Aids
High-Tech Digs. Pasadena CA - Apr 08, 2004
History can be hard to find. A forgotten letter molders in an attic. An
ancient temple hides beneath jungle greenery. Even knowing that something
is there doesn't necessarily make it easier to find - the classic needle
in the haystack.
April 4
Dating
Water and Tracing Bones.
Dating water and tracing bones to high precision will be more widely available
for geological and biomedical applications thanks to state-of-the-art atom
counting techniques. In a pair of new papers, Zheng-Tian Lu of Argonne National
Laboratory (lu@anl.gov) and his colleagues
have demonstrated two new applications of Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA;
see Update
460), in which researchers trap desired isotopes with lasers and magnetic
fields and then count them with laser techniques.
Artifacts support
evolution of symbolic thinking in Middle Stone Age. Tempe - Apr 01,
2004
New finds from an open-air archaeological site in the Serengeti National
Park in Tanzania have intriguing implications for the evolution of modern
human behavior, including further indications that symbolic thinking developed
in humans earlier than the currently accepted date of about 35,000 years
ago.
First
Frontal Portrait of Pharaoh Found in Egypt
CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptologists have pieced together fragments of the first
known ancient portrait of a pharaoh drawn from the front rather than in
profile, a Spanish archaeologist said on Thursday.
March 2004
March 28
IT'S A FAKE!
An ivory
pomegranate inscribed with the words "Belonging to the Temple of
Yahweh, holy to the priests" and displayed at the Israel Museum is
a fake according to information received by Israel Antiquities Authority
investigators. The investigation into suspected forged antiquities began
following the discovery of the item known as the "Yehoash Inscription."
Subsequently dozens of forged items have been discovered. The investigators
maintain that at the center of the ring is the collector Oded Golan, the
owner of the "James Ossuary" and the "Yehoash Inscription."
Golan rejects all accusations, but the investigators say that they have
many items that originated with the suspect and were sold through intermediaries.
7,400-year-old
jar gives clue to phoenix-worshipping history.
A 7,400-year-old pottery jar stamped with the design of two flying phoenixes
has been excavated recently in central China's Hunan
Province, helping archaeologists unveil the secret of the "birth"
of the sacred bird.
Bones hint
at first use of fire.
Tests show that 1.5-million-year-old bones from Swartkrans Cave, South Africa,
had been heated to high temperatures, possibly making them the first evidence
of fire use by humans.
March 21
Did Noah
really build an ark?
In the Bible, God tells Noah he has to build an ark and load a pair of every
kind of animal before a great flood engulfs the world. It is widely regarded
as a myth, but could it actually be true?
Remains
of an ancient civilization discovered in the depths of the Northern sea.
While some scientists spend all their time and efforts in search of Atlantis,
others have already discovered remains of an ancient civilization that had
existed on the same territory as present-day Northern sea. With the help
of modern technology, archaeologists were able to get a better glimpse of
the ancient world. Approximately 10 000 years ago the entire bottom of the
Northern sea had been a blossoming valley, inhabited by ancestors of modern-day
Europeans. Scientists from the Birmingham University were able to reach
such conclusion after reconstructing local landscape by means of computers.
Archaeologists analyzed data of earth's crust's fluctuations and using a
specially designed program managed to come up with a 3D image of the area.
The region connects today's British Isles with continental Europe.
Cosmic
dust may unlock secret tombs.
Remnants of space dust that constantly showers the world are helping to
unearth the secrets of a 2000-year-old Mexican pyramid where the rulers
of a mysterious civilisation may lie buried. Deep under the huge Pyramid
of the Sun north of Mexico City, physicists are installing a device to detect
muons, sub-atomic particles left over when cosmic rays hit Earth.
Grave
of Egyptian king's courtiers uncovered. Cairo
A grave believed to belong to courtiers or servants of King Aha, the first
king of ancient Egypt's first dynasty, was uncovered by an American excavation
mission in Abydos in Upper Egypt, a culture ministry statement said on Sunday.
March 14
Israeli
scientists: Retest the Joash tablet
The debate over the authenticity
of the James ossuary may have cooled, but another archaeological debate
that many observers thought settled has reignited.When Israel's Antiquities
Authority called
the James Ossuary inscription a forgery, it also called the Jehoash Tablet
a fake. The tablet,
which contains wording very similar to 2 Kings 12, is reportedly owned by
Oded Golan, who also owns the James Ossuary.While Biblical Archaeology Review
has defended the James Ossuary, it has been more antagonistic to the Jehoash
(Joash) Tablet, calling
it a fake months before the IAA's assessment. Now the magazine has changed
its position, publishing an article suggesting that the inscription may
be authentic after all."What do we really know about the Hebrew of
official royal inscriptions of Judah in the ninth to eighth centuries B.C.E.?
The answer is rather simple: not much," writes University of California
at, San Diego historian David
Noel Freedman. "To say, therefore, that the language of the Jehoash
inscription is inconsistent with what we would expect of such a royal inscription
from the time of Jehoash is to assert an authority that is not merely audacious,
but imaginative. … for the moment, we must conclude with a Scottish
verdict: not proven. The verdict at this time is in effect a non-verdict.
We simply don't know with any reasonable certainty whether it is a fake
or authentic." "Four leading scientists" agree, and are calling
for a new examination of the tablet, according to the Tel Aviv newspaper
Ha'aretz.
Animals
into the ark two by two? Not if you believe the BBC
The Biblical story of Noah's ark is a "great myth", devoid of
any scientific or historical credibility according to a new BBC program
about the great flood (The Daily Telegraph, London).
PBS
has passion for religious documentaries.
PBS has struck a deal to produce two three-hour documentaries based on author
Bruce Feiler's best sellers "Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through
the Five Books of Moses" and "Abraham: A Journey Through the Heart
of Three Faiths" (The Hollywood Reporter).
Roman
treasure found in pond dig.
A man unearthed a priceless hoard of 20,000 Roman coins as he dug a new
fishpond in his back garden. Experts say the money may date from the 4th
Century and could be the biggest find of its kind in Britain.
March 7
The Seventh
Sample
IAA Report Shows Evidence for Authenticity of “Jesus.” Hershel
Shanks. Even according to the scientists who claim that the “James,
brother of Jesus” inscription is a fraud, a key part of the inscription
may well be authentic.
Don’t
Rush to Judgment
David Noel Freedman. Some have claimed that the text and spelling of the
controversial Jehoash tablet indicate an obvious forgery. Not so fast, counters
a leading Bible scholar.
Marisa Tomb
Paintings
Recently Discovered Photos Show Long-Lost Details. David Jacobson. For a
century, our only record of spectacular wall paintings at an important Hellenistic-era
site have been fanciful—and inaccurate—color lithographs made
a century ago. Now view for the first time the lovely photographs made of
these important art works immediately after they were discovered.
At
a mountain monastery, old texts gain digital life
A monk uses digital tools to preserve manuscripts in an Egyptian monastery.
Here at St. Catherine's, in the world's oldest continuously inhabited Christian
monastic community, a Greek Orthodox monk from Texas is working with some
of the world's highest-resolution digital technology to help preserve the
monastery's 3,300 priceless and impressively intact ancient manuscripts
including some of the world's oldest Bibles. (The New York Times).
Tuscan
'Excalibur' Mystery to be Unearthed. March 1, 2004
Archaeological digging might soon unveil the mystery surrounding a sword
buried in a Gothic abbey in Tuscany, Italian researchers announced. Known
as the "sword in the stone," the Tuscan "Excalibur"
is said to have been plunged into a rock in 1180 by Galgano Guidotti, a
medieval knight who renounced war and worldly goods to become a hermit.
Fresh
Bronze Age treasure find.
An "exceptional" hoard of buried treasure has been found in Wrexham
just two years after another major find of Bronze Age treasure there. The
14 pieces of priceless gold and bronze jewellery and pottery, dating back
more than 3,000 years, were found by three metal detector enthusiasts in
the last few weeks.
Excavations begin
to unearth Tiberias of the Talmudic era.
Excavations to uncover the ancient city of Tiberias began this week, as
part of a project to reconstruct the old city and operate an archaeological
park on the site.
Mystery
Roman Emperor Existence Proven.
The discovery of a coin appears to confirm the brief rule of Domitianus,
a mysterious Roman emperor whose very existence had been doubted, according
to a museum curator.
Drawing
the Lines
In a Yale University library sits a map depicting the New World that predates
the landing of Columbus by 60 years--if it isn't a fake. Although the lines
on the so-called Vinland map are faded, those between scientists on the
controversy are sharp. New salvos regarding its authenticity now come from
both sides.
February 2004
February 29
Early
makeup kit may confirm biblical story.
Excavation: Israeli archaeologists find 2,500- year-old accessories, which
likely belonged to Jews who returned from exile in Babylon. JERUSALEM --
Israeli archaeologists excavating caves near the Dead Sea discovered jewelry,
a makeup kit and a small mirror -- 2,500-year-old fashion accessories for
women. The trove apparently belonged to Jews who returned from exile in
Babylon in the 6th century B.C., said Tsvika Tsuk, chief archaeologist for
the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. "This find is very rare. Both
for the richness of the find and for that period, it is almost unheard of,"
Tsuk said Friday.
Seafaring
clue to first Americans.
People in North America were voyaging by sea some 8,000 years ago, boosting
a theory that some of the continent's first settlers arrived there by boat.
EternalEgypt.org
The Egyptian government and IBM have launched a new feature-rich website
at EternalEgypt.org, where multimedia
content on ancient Egyptian
culture and civilization is available in English, French, and Arabic.
Prehistoric
row erupts over hunter-gatherer riddle.
A team of Australian archaeologists have sparked an academic row by claiming
to have solved the riddle of a missing 1,000 years in human prehistory.
The scientists from Melbourne's La Trobe University have found remnants
of grains on the shore of the Dead Sea in Jordan that they believe help
fill the 1,000-year gap in our knowledge of man's transition from nomad
to farmer.
Primitive
man remains from 10,000 years ago found in China.
Almost-fossilized remains, believed to belong to a primitive pithecanthropus
man who lived over 10,000 years ago, have been discovered in a cave in central
China's Hunan Province.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
CONFERENCE:
Critical Issues in Early Israelite History: Conference and Consultation.
March 26-28, 2004.
February 22
Fake
ossuary leads Israel to look into sellers of antiquities
An Israeli documentary Wednesday claimed the James ossuary, the ancient
burial box bearing a discredited inscription mentioning Jesus, is just the
tip of a long-running forgery ring that has duped antiquities collectors
worldwide for the last 15 years (USA Today).
Television report
says 'Jesus ossuary' owner ran fraud ring
Oded Golan, who is suspected of forging the inscription "James the
brother of Jesus," on a first century ossuary, worked with a ring of
counterfeiters who sold dozens of forged articles to antiquities dealers
and collectors, Channel 2's "Fact" program reports (Ha'aretz,
Tel Aviv).
JERUSALEM
(Reuters)
The collapse of part of Jerusalem's Western Wall during a rare snowstorm
sparked a row between Jewish and Muslim clerics Sunday as one rabbi called
it a miracle no worshippers were hurt. The collapse late Saturday of an
800-year-old embankment next to where Jewish women pray at the site commonly
known as the "wailing wall" sent people fleeing from tumbling
rocks.
Tourists
To Look for Ancient Persian Army Feb. 13, 2004
Tourists traversing Egypt's desert may solve a mystery that has puzzled
archaeologists for centuries: what happened to the 50,000-man Persian army
of King Cambyses. Set up by tourist operator Aqua Sun Desert, the Cambyses
project will comb the desert sands using four-wheel-drive vehicles packed
with paying tourists eager to find the remains of the lost army swallowed
in a sandstorm in 524 B.C., according to the account of the ancient Greek
historian Herodotus.
Prehistoric
row erupts over hunter-gatherer riddle.
A team of Australian archaeologists have sparked an academic row by claiming
to have solved the riddle of a missing 1,000 years in human prehistory.
The scientists from Melbourne's La Trobe University have found remnants
of grains on the shore of the Dead Sea in Jordan that they believe help
fill the 1,000-year gap in our knowledge of man's transition from nomad
to farmer. But not everyone agrees, and the Australian team is now muscling
up for an academic arm wrestle next month with the exponents of different
theories in France.
A cup at
the end of the rainbow
The British medieval scholar Richard Barber examines how the concept of
the Holy Grail evolved (The New York Times).
February 15
The Crossing of the Red Sea: Where was it?
Incan
Counting System Decoded? Jan. 29, 2004
The Inca invented a powerful counting system that could be used to make
complex calculations without the tiniest mistake, according to an Italian
engineer who claims to have cracked the mathematics of this still mysterious
ancient population.
German
Archaeologist Throws Light on Pyramid Origin. CAIRO (Reuters)
Egypt's ancient pyramids are probably a byproduct of a decision to build
walls around the tombs of kings, a leading expert on early Egyptian royal
burials said Wednesday.
February 8
Well-known
Israeli Archeologist Casts More Doubt on Authenticity of James Ossuary.
by Dr. Eric Meyers. Ossuary spotted in dealer's shop lacking the “brother
of Jesus” element of the inscription.
Study:
Red Sea Parting Possible. Feb. 2, 2004
The parting of the Red Sea and the subsequent escape of thousands of Jewish
slaves, which is described in the Bible's book of Exodus, can be explained
by science, according to two Russian researchers.
Augustus Takes
the Cure
David Soren - According to the poet Horace, Augustus (27 B.C.-14 A.D.) bathed
in frigidly cold water to ease the pain of an abcessed liver. Since 1995
archaeologists have been excavating a large, spring-fed pool 90 miles northwest
of Rome that may well be the spot where the ailing emperor was restored
to health.
The Minoans
of Crete: Europe’s Oldest Civilization
Deciphering Cretan Scripts - Barry B. Powell. The decipherment of Linear
B in 1953, by the English architect Michael Ventris, was one of the great
intellectual accomplishments of the 20th century. But Linear B is just one
of the scripts known from Bronze Age Crete. Two earlier forms of writing—Cretan
hieroglyphics and Linear A—are found on the island. Why haven’t
they been deciphered?
Fossilized
footprints from Stone Age men found in South Korea. SEOUL
Fossilized footprints from Stone Age men have been discovered for the first
time in Asia in South Korea, cultural authorities said on Friday. Some 100
detailed footprints from the Paleolithic Age, which dates back 50,000 years,
were found on the southern coast of the southern island of Jeju last October,
the Cultural Properties Administration said.
Archeologists
Win Court Case. (AP)
Scientists can study the Kennewick Man - 9,300-year-old remains found in
Washington state - despite the objections of some American Indian tribes,
a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.
Fabulous finds
as Saxon king's tomb is unearthed
Burial chamber, believed to date from the early 7th century, contain two
gold foil crosses, found which suggest king was a newly-converted Christian
(The Scotsman)
February 1
Pollen
traces shipwrecks' roots
Serge Muller, of the University of Montpellier II in France, says the range
of pollen found on a shipwreck gives a snapshot of the plant species local
to the boat's birthplace. The sticky resin used to seal a boat's hull can
catch and trap pollen, giving the boat a biological 'birth certificate'.
Mexico
Scientists Find Ancient Settlement. MEXICO CITY
Archaeologists say they have discovered an ancient Teotihuacan settlement
in central Mexico City, 30 miles from the pyramids where the culture flourished
nearly 2,000 years ago.
World's
first bowling alley discovered
The Italian team excavating at Madi city in Fayyoum has unearthed an open
structure dating back to the Ptolemaic age that might be the first bowling
alley.
January 2004
January 25
Red
Sea parting was possible: ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, Jan. 21 (UPI)
Russian mathematicians have determined the legendary parting of the Red
Sea that let the Jews flee Egypt was possible, the Moscow Times reported.
The study, published in the Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences,
focused on a reef that runs from the documented spot where the Jews escaped
Egypt, which in Biblical times, was much closer to the surface, according
to Naum Volzinger, a senior researcher at St. Petersburg's Institute of
Oceanology, and a colleague based in Hamburg, Alexei Androsov.
What’s
in a Name?
Jeffrey H. Tigay - Personal names in the Bible often contain the names of
gods—leading many scholars to view them as evidence of rampant polytheism
in ancient Israel. But the overwhelming preference for names that include
the divine name Yahweh suggests just the opposite might be true.
Peter in Rome.
The apostle Peter is forever linked in the Christian imagination with Rome,
where he is supposed to have been martyred and buried. But what is the evidence?
Have his bones been found?
Canadian
finds signs of ancient Greek battle: Archeologist uncovers artifacts of
Persian invasion.
With help from Herodotus and an Aegean Sea octopus, a Canadian-led scientific
expedition appears to have discovered the site of a turning point in world
history: The sinking of a massive Persian invasion fleet in a fierce storm
that saved Greece at the dawn of western civilization.
Bronze
artifacts recovered off Egyptian coast: CAIRO, Egypt (AP)
A French archaeological team has retrieved more than 1,000 bronze artifacts,
including statues and busts of Pharoanic gods and goddesses, from the site
of an ancient port city off Egypt's northern coast, officials said Sunday.
January 18
New NEAS Website
The Near East Archaeological Society (NEAS) was founded in 1957 with a goal
of promoting research in the lands of the Bible, the modern Middle East,
from an evangelical perspective.
Evidence
Found of Egyptian Lion Worship. Jan. 14, 2004
A mummified lion found in a bone-cluttered tomb in the Nile Valley has confirmed
long-running suspicions that the pharaohs viewed the great animal as sacred,
French archaeologists report on Thursday.
4,500-year-old
city excavated in NW China's Shaanxi.
Archaeologists in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have unearthed the
ruins of an ancient city dating back 4,500 years on a mountain in Jiaxian
County.
January 11
Raising the anchor.
A wooden anchor from Roman times that may have belonged to King Herod's
royal yacht was discovered three weeks ago in the Dead Sea by archaeologist
Gideon Hadas of Kibbutz Ein Gedi.
Tourists
flock to the historical Latin America sites that some LDS scholars say are
described in The Book of Mormon.
In 1979, a group of researchers established the Foundation for Ancient Religion
and Mormon Studies, known as FARMS. In 1997, FARMS became an official part
of LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University, with one of its mandates being
to study the cultural, linguistic and archaeological milieu of Mesoamerica.
Until the past few decades, many Latter-day Saints thought
Book of Mormon peoples roamed from one end of the Americas to the other,
winding up in an apocalyptic battle in New York state near where Smith lived.
Now FARMS scholars seem convinced most of the events were limited to Central
America, primarily Guatemala and Mexico.
Archeologists
find ancient cemetery in Egypt. Cairo
Polish and Egyptian archeologists have unearthed an ancient cemetery containing
the 4,000-year-old tomb of a royal official, Egypt's antiquities officials
announced Wednesday. Culture Minister Farouk Hosni said the necropolis near
the pyramids of Saqqara, about 25 kilometres south of Cairo, contained the
tomb of Ny-Ankh-Nefetem, identified in hieroglyphic writing as the god's
servant of the pyramids of kings Unas and Teti, who ruled successively from
2375 to 2291 B.C.
Subway
excavations in Naples turn up ancient Roman ship, amphorae. NAPLES (AP)
Italian archeologists have discovered a Roman ship and hundreds of amphorae
dating to the second century during excavation works for a new subway in
the southern city of Naples.
'Viking
Village' Hopes Cruelly Dashed. LONDON (Reuters)
Archaeologists were excited to find what they thought was the first evidence
of ninth century Viking settlement in Scotland. Only when the area was completely
excavated and materials analyzed did the horrible truth dawn -- the stones
were nothing more significant than a 1940s sunken patio.
January 4
2,000-year-old
leper found in Jerusalem
"This is the oldest archaeological finding of leprosy in the Middle
East," says archaeologist Shimon Gibson. "Leprosy is mentioned
in the Bible, but until now, we could not be sure whether these biblical
references are to the disease we know as leprosy, or to something else."
(Ha'aretz, Tel Aviv).
Recreating
the silver trumpets in the Old Testament
A SCOTTISH musicologist is bringing a little harmony to the Middle East
by recreating an instrument that has not been heard since the days of the
Old Testament. Among the instruments that could be recreated are the hazerot,
which consists of a pair of joined silver trumpets and is mentioned in the
Old Testament. Although no surviving instruments have ever been found, a
representation can be found on the Arch of Titus, which portrays how they
were used by defending forces when Roman Emperor Titus sacked of Jerusalem
in 70AD. The instrument was used in conjunction with the shofar - which
is carved from a ram’s horn - to gather people to tribal meetings,
to alert camps of danger and to signal in warfare.
'Jesus
ossuary' analysis flawed, says geologist.
An Israeli analysis - dismissing as a forgery an inscription naming Jesus
on an ancient burial box - was flawed, American geologist James Harrell
wrote in an article published Friday in the Biblical Archaeology Review.
What Jesus
Learned from the Essenes
Magen Broshi - Jesus absorbed two key teachings from the ascetic Jewish
sect. What are they and how did he learn them?
The Context
of Scripture
Archival Documents from the Biblical World, volume 3 Edited by William W.
Hallo and K. Lawson Younger. (I highly recommend all three volumes).
On
the path of the ancient pathogen: DNA research laboratory.
Try unravelling forensic mysteries from 3,000-year-old bits of bone or an
ancient tooth. How about finding the cause of death in a mummified man from
the 18th century? Such challenges face the scientists at Lakehead University's
Paleo-DNA Laboratory, one of Canada's most unusual contributions to international
science. Nowhere in the country do history and high technology meet in more
intriguing circumstances. The lab is headed by Mr. Matheson, a molecular
biologist, and El Molto, the bio-anthropologist who founded the centre in
1996. Together, they have carved an important niche in the blossoming business
of historical genetics, a rapidly emerging field of inquiry that is shedding
light on the origins, evolution and migrations of the human race.