The transformation of ancient Hawaii from a loose collection of chiefdoms into the beginnings of a formal society may have happened in as little as 30 years, according to new evidence from 400-year-old temples.
Researchers employed an unusual technique to test the age of eight temples on the islands of Maui and Molokai and found that all were apparently built from about 1565 to 1638.
Anthropologists had previously believed the temples — which served as religious and economic centers — were built over a period of 250 years.
This is interesting RIVER EXPOSES ANCIENT SITE
Remnants of the long-lost Rumsen Indian village of Ixchenta were again uncovered this week by the stream of water flowing from the Carmel River to the sea.
Hank Smith, longtime volunteer with the Carmel Steelhead Association, which works to preserve the steelhead trout run on the river, saw them while walking on the beach Thursday.
Whoops Construction destroys tower, tombs
A furore has erupted over the construction of an aluminium plant in North China's Shanxi Province, which is alleged to have led to the damage of irreplaceable cultural heritage.
"Bulldozers have ruined a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) beacon tower and dozens of ancient tombs have been destroyed," claimed Shi Weiguo, a senior engineer from the Yuanping Cultural Relics Bureau's exploration centre.
He said the tombs were believed to be from the Han Dynasty (206BC-AD220).
But what do the Illuminati think? Hertford, home of the Holy Grail
An ancient secret society; a demand for a papal apology; and a network of hidden tunnels. Strange things have been stirring in Hertfordshire recently. Oliver Burkeman goes in search of the Knights Templar and, perhaps, the cup of Christ
One of the problems with secret societies - especially the kind whose members exert a shadowy influence on the course of world events - is that they can be a bit difficult to track down. Never was this more true than of the Knights Templar, the ancient Catholic order rumoured, among other things, to know the whereabouts of the Holy Grail. Officially, the Templars don't exist, having been driven underground by the pope more than 600 years ago; in The Da Vinci Code, they are described as inhabiting "a precarious world where fact, lore and misinformation had become so intertwined that extracting a pristine truth was almost impossible". Nobody even seems to agree on what the Holy Grail is: some say it is the cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper; others that it was used to collect his blood at the crucifixion. Needless to say, the Templars haven't been too eager to clarify any of this publicly.
So many possible quotes and pictures come to mind right now we can't possibly post them all.
Another year-end review 2004 in Review-Archaeological treasure discovered
BULGARIA'S ancient Thracian heritage was thrust into the spotlight in 2004 with a number of key archaeological discoveries in the so-called "Valley of the Thracian Kings".
A team of Bulgarian archaeologists, led by Professor Georgi Kitov, discovered a 2400-year old golden mask in the tomb of an ancient Thracian king on August 19. The mask bears the image of a human face and is made of 500 grams of solid gold. The discovery was made near the town of Shipka, in the heart of the Stara Planina Mountain.
Dozens of Thracian mounds are spread throughout this region, which archaeologists have called 'the Bulgarian valley of the kings,' a reference to the Valley of the Kings near Luxor, which is home to the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs.
Now they're just like the ones in Egypt, Mexico, Peru. . . Archeologists recount actions of bold looters
Sergeant Janis Albuquerque, a US Army reservist from Virginia, was in street clothes walking through a bazaar in Baghdad when a man approached and offered her a clay cup purportedly dating from ancient Babylon.
Albuquerque, who served for 14 months in Iraq, recognized that the man might be one of the legions of illegal art dealers who have smuggled thousands of artifacts from the country since US troops captured Baghdad in 2003. Relating the encounter to archeologists who gathered in Boston yesterday, she said she reported the man to the military.
Albuquerque's story illustrated the way looters and art smugglers in Iraq have become bolder since the US occupation began in April 2003. Two years after US troops entered Iraq, the national museum remains in a virtual lockdown, thousands of artifacts are missing, and archeologists say it is too dangerous to go to Baghdad.
Persepolis Erosion Under Study
The steps to the Apadana entrance and the doorway to the 2500-year-old palaces in Persepolis have been eroded by 1 to 2 mm.
The erosion in the world heritage site of Persepolis has made the experts so anxious that they have begun a special study of the Achaemenid capital to find out about the reasons of the erosion of bas relieves and the other parts of this ancient site.
"According to our studies, the traffic of visitors of which the number in some days goes up to 20 thousand is one of the reasons for the erosion of the floor of the steps and doorways in Persepolis", Hassan Rahsaz, a technician in Persepolis historical complex, told CHN.