A WALKER has discovered a mysterious stone inscribed with 1200-year-old Viking graffiti which could provide the first tangible evidence that the fearsome Norse raiders gave up raping and pillaging to live alongside native Scots.
Mystery of sacred site shaped by stars
Thornborough is the only triple henge complex in the world and the only one to share the same astronomical alignment as the pyramids at Giza in Egypt.
A recent theory is that the henges' alignment may follow that of Orion's Belt in the constellation of Orion.
The site, which may have been chosen because of its proximity to the River Ure, was first used about 3500BC and it continued to be a centre for religious ritual worship, drawing pilgrims from across the North, at least until 2500BC.
Cool web site alert: Archaeology Magazine's Interactive Dig at Hierakonpolis Hierakonpolis (or "HK") is one of the more important sites in Egypt, dating as it does to the very beginning of the Dynastic state. Make sure to check out Ali's Recipes and the original home page for the HK excavations, Hierakonpolic.org
Most inscrutable headline du jour: Toe think again... relic of The Bruce
HE STOLE into the abbey in the dead of night, intent on stealing a personal memento of Scotland’s greatest king.
Not a thief nor a grave robber but a respected town dignitary and "man of science", Joseph Paton found himself irresistibly drawn to the body of this icon of Scotland’s 14th-century fight for independence.
Reaching forward, he snapped off a toe from the remains of Robert the Bruce and held aloft the trophy before wrapping it in a fragment of the king’s golden shroud. In satisfying his urge to steal the Royal digit, Paton was risking his reputation by defiling the Bruce’s skeleton, which had been uncovered by workmen in 1818 where it lay inside Dunfermline Abbey.
Experts work to save Easter Island statues
A TEAM of conservationists is working on a ‘miracle cure’ to save the famous giant heads of Easter Island from crumbling away.
Experts from Germany are investigating the use of a chemical to stabilise the stone monoliths, which have become severely eroded.
The Moai stone heads with their famous long faces and large noses were carved out of rock that was originally volcanic ash by the island’s inhabitants between 1100 and 1650.
They are one of the main sources of income for the island, known as Rapa Nui, drawing in more than 20,000 tourists a year and an annual revenue of more than £1.5m.
Anthropologists Hail Romania Fossil Find
BUCHAREST, Romania - Experts analyzing remains of a man, woman and teenage boy unearthed in Romania last year are convinced that the 35,000 year-old fossils are the most complete ever of modern humans of that era, a U.S. scientist said Saturday.
International scientists have been carrying out further analysis to get a clearer picture on the find, said anthropologist Erik Trinkaus, of Washington University in St. Louis. But it's already clear that, "this is the most complete collection of modern humans in Europe older than 28,000 years," he told The Associated Press.
"We are very excited about it," said Trinkaus on the telephone, adding that the discovery of in a cave in southwestern Romania "is already changing perceptions about modern humans."
More on laser scanning Laser scan captures heritage sites' every angle
Imagine a device with spiderlike tripod legs, connected to a large cube that shoots a green laser beam. The beam scans the Orinda Theatre, then boomerangs back to a wired laptop computer.
No, it's not Star Wars. The laser won't blow things up or slice them in half.
Instead, the beam from a Cyrax camera will take a picture of the building, recording all aspects of its dimensions, down to every nook and cranny.
It is a job a surveyor would take days to complete, still being unable to capture what the Cyrax camera can in seconds.
Ancient Inca mummies discovered
Archaeologists in Peru have uncovered an Inca burial site intact outside Lima containing adult and child mummies dating back to the 15th Century.
A team working on the site on a barren hill outside the capital located 26 tombs containing an unknown number of mummies and funereal artefacts.
It was allowed to search the area, part of a known ancient cemetery, ahead of the construction of a new road.
WHERE MONEY TALKS: The enemy within
Many Asians are complicit in ransacking and exporting their own past, says Sunanda K Datta Ray
The announcement of next month’s sale in London of treasures that belonged to Robert Clive reminded me of Hun Sen, Cambodia’s Prime Minister, saying that the West has stolen his country’s culture. But the sale’s real significance lies in what it reveals of Asian complicity in ransacking Asia.
This isn't really news. Most "ransacking" in the past by foreigners and continuing into the present day was carried out generally with the permission of the governments in charge, and usually with the cooperation of the locals who could make good money from looting.
Bovines, rejoice! Did a Comet Trigger The Great Chicago Fire?"
March 5, 2004 — Perhaps it was not Mrs. O'Leary's cow kicking over a lantern that sparked the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which destroyed the downtown area and claimed 300 lives.
New research lends credence to an alternative explanation: The fire, along with less-publicized and even more deadly blazes the same night in upstate Wisconsin and Michigan, was the result of a comet fragment crashing into Earth's atmosphere.
I know nothing about this and can't really comment. Worth looking into though.