Recent gas exploration activity in the south east region of the Arabian desert uncovered a skeletal remains of a human of phenomenal size. This region of the Arabian desert is called the Empty Quarter, or in Arabic, 'Rab-Ul-Khalee'.
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Ulema's of Saudi Arabia believe these to be the remains of the people of Aad. Saudi Military has secured the whole area and no one is allowed to enter except the ARAMCO personnel. It has been kept in secrecy, but a military helicopter took some pictures from the air and one of the pictures leaked out into the internet in Saudi Arabia. See the attachment and note the size of the two men standing in the picture in comparison to the size of the skeleton !!
Okay, obvious prank. The link is to Snopes, purveyors of internet debunking. But they provide a link to the site from whence the photo came. Go visit it. Some of the photos are quite good, others not so good, a few just plain dumb. But interesting nonetheless.
Update: Seems to be some problems with the image. We are working to figure out what the deal is. We think Worth1000 might be getting too much traffic from the Snopes story and have taken it down or replaced it.
Update on the Update: Well, forget the whole picture business. Just go look at the original site linked above.
'Siege' Sword Discovered In City
A SWORD possibly dating back to the Siege of Derry could be about to go on public display, it was revealed this week.
The weapon was discovered by local man, Charlie Coyle, while he was renovating his former home.
A neighbour of Mr. Coyle, Frank O'Donnell, subsequently contacted local archaeologist, Ian Leitch, who, on examining the metre-long sword, confirmed that it dated back to the late 17th century.
Yeah, that looks like a real face all right. . . . Unknotting a tangled tale of towels
Tests on a painting, called the Mandylion, revered as a miraculous imprinted image of Christ, have revealed it to have been made in the 13th century. There are several early versions of the image, but the one in Genoa is the first to have been subjected to a thorough scientific examination. The results are being presented at an exhibition (until 18 July) in the city’s Museo Diocesano as part of the European Capital of Culture celebrations. Appropriately, the show is presented as a journey, both spiritual and scientific—since the venerated icon has links with Syria, Turkey, Sinai and Armenia.
More jerks Developers in north determined to bulldoze Bronze Age site for villas
THE COMPANY charged with the destruction of a grade one archaeological site in the village of Kazafani says it will do all it can to go ahead with its project to build luxury housing on the site of an early Bronze Age necropolis.
Reacting to an article that appeared in the Cyprus Mail one week ago, Sercem Construction Ltd boss Cemal Bulutoglulari said: “We have the necessary licences to build on the plot, we have done nothing illegal,” adding that his company had issued an appeal to the Turkish Cypriot antiques and monuments council to have the grade one status of the site at Vounos lifted.
According to a spokesperson at the north’s museums and antiquities department, the antiques and monuments council will be meeting next week to discuss the case.
More on the Stonehenge 'Band of Brothers' Stonehenge: Built by Welshmen?
At least three of the builders of Stonehenge were from Wales, according to archaeologists who found the builders' grave close to the Stonehenge site, and have linked the remains to stones used in the construction of the Salisbury Plain monument.
The finding, which comes just before Sunday's summer solstice, not only sheds light on Stonehenge's origins, but also provides clues to prehistoric migration patterns within Europe following the Stone Age, which was the earliest known period in human culture.
Most historians believe that Stonehenge served as a temple to the gods of the sun and moon.
The Welshmen's bones originally were spotted last year next to a water pipe trench during routine road improvement work in Boscombe Down, which is very close to Stonehenge.
And some still don't have any Class in China dates back to Neolithic days: study
A recent study revealed prototypes of class and rituals already existed in north China in the Neolithic age, at least 5,500 years ago.
Experts say these prototypes may have helped Confucianism, the orthodox school of thought that dominated in China for more than 2,000 years, to take form in the first place.
The conclusion was based on research findings on primeval tombs,temples, altars and dainty jade ware unearthed at Niuheliang and Dongshanzui, sites of the Hongshan culture dating back 5,500 to 6,000 years, in the northeastern province of Liaoning, said Guo Dashun, a leading member of the Archaeology Society of China.
We apologize for that dumb joke.
Well, okay, we only apologize because it wasn't a better one.
The differential treatment of the dead is one of the hallmarks of how archaeologists identify social differentiation archaeologically. Higher status individuals would presumably be buried with more of their worldly goods, whether these goods were things they themselves owned (thus pointing to differential resource allocation) or stuff they were provided with, being of higher status.
Now, this is interesting Mummy wrappings reveal details of ancient Egypt
We know Cleopatra's story -- floating down the Nile and making sweet talk with Mark Antony -- but what did all those other Egyptians do, aside from fanning the queen and making mummies?
The world has long been intrigued by that famous epoch when the sunset of the Greek empire met the dawn of the Roman over the pyramids of the ancient pharaohs. But much of the texture of that time has remained hidden.
Now, new windows into that era are being opened at the University of California-Berkeley, where an international team of researchers is making some of those ancient mummies spill their long-held secrets.
After being wrapped, mummies were encased in "papyrus-mache" coverings made of recycled documents written on papyrus, the plant-based Egyptian equivalent of paper, said Todd Hickey, curator of Berkeley's immense horde of papyri extracted from mummy casings.
More on Bam! Fatal earthquake that wrecked Bam yields archaeological gold
Aerial photographs of the Iranian city of Bam, which was destroyed in an earthquake last year that killed more than 26,000 people, have revealed important new archaeological sites.
One discovery dates from between 2,400BC and 2,600 BC, proving the city is centuries older than experts had thought. Another site, from medieval times, showed that the community then practised religious and cultural tolerance but was threatened by marauding Turkic tribes and the Mongol invasion.
The history of the city rests on an astonishing network of qanats, huge underground irrigation channels, kilometres long.