Monday, March 28, 2005

Old Chinese camp unearthed in N.Z.


An archaeological dig in Lawrence, a small town on the South Island of New Zealand, has unearthed an old Chinese camp and found a number of historical treasures, local media reported Monday.

A archaeologists team is working on a remote Otago paddock which was once New Zealand's largest Chinese camp. The site was the gateway to the Otago gold fields, the team said.

Thousands of Chinese people went overseas to Otago as gold field labors in 1860s, start of the Chinese immigration to New Zealand.


James ossuary update II The Stone Box

(CBS) Correspondent Bob Simon has a story about the Bible and truth. More precisely, it's about Biblical antiquities and how they can be seen to prove that the stories told in the Bible really happened.

For the last couple of years, the world of biblical archaeology was rocked to its foundations, and all because of a stone box that was discovered in Israel.

The box was an ossuary, an object used to hold the bones of the dead approximately 2,000 years ago, in the time of Jesus.


Seems to be either a transcript or a summary article on a 60 Minutes story on the box. Link to the actual video, too.

Granite Falls bypass's price rising

With each month and each year that passes, the price tag for the Granite Falls alternate route goes up.

An updated estimate for a planned two-mile alternate route for gravel trucks to bypass downtown now puts the cost at $24.8 million. It is scheduled to be completed by 2009, said Steve Dickson, assistant director of Snohomish County Public Works.

That cost is several million dollars more than estimated in recent years. Dickson attributed the increase mostly to inflation. A design report last fall also better identified the project's needs, he said.