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Arctic yields fresh evidence for Elizabethan gold swindle

Canadian scientists say they've found conclusive proof that a tiny, barren Arctic island was the site of Canada's first, and perhaps greatest, mining fraud.

In 1577 and 1578, Kodlunarn Island, in what is now Frobisher Bay, was the site of British mariner Martin Frobisher's infamous Arctic Eldorado turned New World financial nightmare. Now two Laval University scientists say there's solid evidence that Frobisher and his chemists were in on a massive fraud that was an Elizabethan-era "prelude to Bre-X."

Since the scandal broke more than 400 years ago that the tons of black rock Frobisher brought back to London from the Canadian Arctic near present-day Iqaluit were worthless, there's been speculation about what happened. Was this a massive con job on Elizabeth I and her court, or did Frobisher's assayers mistakenly dupe themselves into believing they'd found gold?

One intriguing hypothesis, put forward by now retired University of Ottawa mineralogist Dr. Donald Hogarth, argued that Frobisher's assayers inadvertently contaminated their samples with gold from the lead used in the assay process.

Archaeopolitics Knesset Education Committee Members to Visit The City of David

Members of the Knesset Education & Culture Committee today are scheduled to visit Ir David (The City of David). They will view some of the historical significance of the community, as well as the ancient system that carried water to Jerusalem residents.

Israel Antiquities Authority official Shuki Dorfman said the visit by committee officials permits the illustration of the historical side of Israel and days of old. He added that it also permits a meeting between public officials and the world of archaeology and newly uncovered artifacts in the capital.

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Old water Some 4,000-year-old canal unearthed in Zhejiang

Archaeologists in the eastern province of Zhejiang have unearthed a section of ancient canal dating back more than 4,000 years in Huzhou city of east China's Zhejiang Province.

The 15 meters wide and 2 meters deep canal with unknown length was discovered by archaeologists during a recent excavation at the Pishan Ruins, a historic site with a history of 5,300 years.

Pishan Ruins is about 2.5 kilometers to the north of Huzhou. It was unearthed in 1957 and archaeologists have found a host of pottery wares and tortoise shells and a piece of bronze dagger there.

The canal is adjacent to the famous Taihu Lake in the southern part of neighboring Jiangsu province. The course of the local Sanliqiao river, which sees busy transportation by ships, intersects with the canal and is similar to the canal in terms of width and depth.

Any large construction project (especially one involving mass irrigation) is important.

Loving it to death Unesco sounds final warning for Inca city

Machu Picchu, the Inca citadel discovered a century ago in the Peruvian Andes, may be placed on the United Nations list of endangered world heritage sites.

After decades of unrestricted tourism, landslides and warnings from scientists that the city could slip off its mountain saddle, UN experts are considering whether to issue the ultimate sanction to the Peruvian government by placing it on their danger list.

The degradation of the city, which was built around 1450, was discussed at a Unesco world heritage conference in China.

The UN has been told that mass tourism is endangering the citadel, which was made a world heritage site in 1983.

"Being placed on the list means there has been such a degradation of the site that the very qualities which make it a world heritage site are being damaged, perhaps irrevocably," a Unesco spokesman said.

More on the great Utah site story In Utah, Ancient Ruins Are Revealed After Long Wait

Archaeologists pulled aside a curtain on Wednesday to reveal what can only be called a secret garden: the pristinely preserved ruins of an ancient civilization that was long ago lost to the mists of time in the remote cliffs of eastern Utah, then resolutely protected over the last 50 years by a stubborn local rancher who kept mum about what he knew.

The ruins, called Range Creek, are spread over thousands of acres, much of it in inaccessible back country and reachable only through a single-track dirt road once owned by the rancher and recently bought by the State of Utah. Preliminary research dates the settlement from about A.D. 900 to 1100, during the period of the Fremont Indian culture.

University looks back 15,000 years

RESEARCHERS are hoping that a computer program will map all of Scotland and give a virtual impression of the landscape as far back as 15,000 years ago.

The team, from the University of Stirling, has started by modelling the village of Kilmartin in Argyll as it was 15,000 and 4,500 years ago. The pictures of 15,000 years ago depict the area as under sheets of ice and a glacier where Loch Awe is now. The pictures of 4,500 years ago depict the area, now lush agricultural land, as dense woodland.

The technology was developed in six months by researchers at the university’s School of Biological and Environmental Sciences.

The university has set up a Virtual Landscape Centre to help bring history to life. The centre’s director, Sandy Winterbottom, said it was unnerving standing in a virtual-reality reconstruction of thousands of years ago of an area she knew well.

Full magazine article alert Secrets of the Maya: Deciphering Tikal

Tikal was one of the most powerful city-states in the Americas. Though magnificent, the ruins of Tikal visible today represent but a fraction of the original city-state. During its heyday, archaeologists say, "downtown" Tikal was about six square miles, though research indicates that the city-state's population may have sprawled over at least 47 square miles. Yet most of Tikal has not even been excavated.

For much of the 20th century, Maya experts followed the lead of Carnegie Institution of Washington archaeologist J. Eric Thompson, who argued that the Maya were peaceful philosophers and extraordinary observers of celestial events content to ponder the nature of time and the cosmos. Thompson, who died in 1975, theorized that Tikal and other sites were virtually unpopulated "ceremonial centers" where priests studied planets and stars and the mysteries of the calendar. It was a beautiful vision—but nearly all wrong.

The link includes a link to the full article, which may or may not be subscriber-only. If not, give it a read. Another excellent book on the topic is The Lost Chronicles of the Maya Kings by David Drew. It's not only a good overview of what is known about Maya civilization, but also gives a very nice history of the archaeological work.

More from Iran Khwaja Mountain, Secret Access-Key to History of Iranian Civilization and Culture

According to cultural heritage experts in Zabol, Sistan's Khwaja Mountain provides the secret access-key to the history of Iranian civilization and culture. Standing at a height of 900 meters, the mountain with its trapezoid formation is situated 25 kilometers southwest of Zabol

Khwaja Mountain with its Hamun Lake is like a dreamy island, having a landscape that appears like hallucination standing firm in the heart of the desert.

A wide building, a Zoroastrian fire temple, two castles constructed with mud bricks, an ancient road, different fortresses, several shrines belonging to the Islamic era and numerous stone tombs are among the historical sites of this mountain and their antiquity traces back to Arsacides and Sassanid eras. Located on the eastern slope, an ancient fortress is one of the most significant monuments on the mountain. The fortress is called both "Rustam" and "Kaferan."