Media corner Well, we were somewhat disappointed with last night's What the Ancients Knew on The Science Channel. It was on Egypt and, unfortunately, they spent far too much time on the pyramids. We may be biased because we're very familiar with Egyptian archaeology, but it still seemed to concentrate an awful lot of things that many other programs have covered many times. The nicest parts were the demonstrations of actual engineering devices that were used for levelling and generating straight lines and proper angles. Those are the bits that most programs leave out while they obsess on how the big blocks were moved up to the pyramid construction site. They also seemed to waste time on the current work (important as it is) on the workers' village at Giza, although the aspect of the amount of administrative complexity required was a good angle. Zahi Hawass put it very well: "The pyramids built Egypt."

They could have done much more. The irrigation system -- arguably the first thing that built Egypt -- wasn't mentioned. They could have spent some time in the Valley of the Kings examining how those tombs were built; in many ways, these used more sophisticated engineering methods than the pyramids since they had to maintain straight lines underground for many, many meters, as well as creating square corners in soft limestone chock full of chert nodules. Their mining methods -- especially getting Aswan granite out in large, solid pieces -- were barely mentioned, and the issue of raising an obelisk was also neglected.

So, eh, pretty standard stuff. Enjoyable, in parts new and interesting, but mostly the same old recycled stuff. We're looking forward to the China segment next week, mostly because China is terra incognita to most of the world. Let's just hope they concentrate on something besides gunpowder.

Lost civilization. . .found! Excavation of tomb complex leads to puzzling findings

Chinese archaeologists have completed the excavation of an ancient tomb complex in the Lop Nur Desert in northwest China, but researchers say the finds are puzzling and need more time to be understood.

By mid March, archaeologists in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region unearthed 163 tombs of the Xiaohe Tomb complex, which sprawls on a 2,500-square-meter oval-shaped dune, 174 km from the ruins of the Loulan Kingdom, an ancient civilization that vanished 1,500 years ago.

The complex contains about 330 tombs, but about 160 of them were spoiled by grave robbers, Idelisi Abuduresule, head of the Xinjiang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute, which launched the project in October 2003.

Mummy specialists uncover secrets of ancient Egyptian queen

SKELETAL remains held by the National Museum of Scotland have been identified as a lost Egyptian queen and her child.
The discovery has been made by scientists who used forensic investigative techniques to attempt to solve the mystery of the remains.
The bodies were acquired for the collection a year after being discovered by Sir Flinders Petrie in 1909 at Qurna, a village on the west bank of the Nile, which has been the focus of illegal excavations.

Well now. Peruvian family claims Machu Picchu

Peru's poor Zavaleta family has only one thing to say to the thousands of tourists who trek along the Inca trail to the renowned citadel Machu Picchu every year: "Hey you, get off our land!"

The family says it is the lawful owner of a large part of the Machu Picchu sanctuary, Peru's most famous national treasure, and will start proceedings next week to sue the state for recognition of its ownership rights.

"The Zavaletas bought the land in 1944 and have title deeds that date from 1898," their lawyer Fausto Salinas told Reuters on Monday. "But I have checked and the site has been private property since 1657," he said, adding he had proof in the form of parchment documents wrapped in goatskin.

Face of History's Forgotten Ruler on Display

A coin which rewrote the history of the Roman Empire is going on public display today, just 10 miles from the muddy field where it was dug up.

The 1,700-year-old find, part of a hoard discovered by a metal detecting enthusiast near Oxford in April, 2003, proved the existence of Domitianus, dubbed the forgotten emperor.

The discovery, which stunned archaeologists when it was made public last year, is returning to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford where it will eventually form a centrepiece to a new gallery to be devoted to money.

Merritt Island dig reveals evidence of ancient village

Larry Anders’ shovel scrapes aside soft orange sand with the precision of a surgeon’s knife.

Each stroke peels back thin layers of time and clues to how humans once lived on Merritt Island, more than 3,000 years before Christ.

“Not knowing what’s at the next level, I guess that kind of keeps you going,” said Anders, one of about a dozen volunteers with the Indian River Anthropological Society who dig nearly every weekend at Pine Island Conservation Area.

‘Bhimbetka paintings over 25,000 yrs old’

CONTESTING THE claim of the Western scientific community that Indian rock paintings are comparatively quite modern than those found in their part of world,

eminent city archaeologist Dr Narayan Vyas has come up with a path-breaking research work that seeks to prove that Bhimbetka rock paintings are as old as the oldest rock paintings known in the world — i.e around 25,000 years.

The post-doctoral research work titled ‘A comparative study of rock paintings of Raisen District, with special emphasis on Bhimbetka’ has earned Dr Narayan Vyas