This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Science News
April 22, 2010
Two fossil hobbits have given what’s left of their arms and legs to science. That wasn’t enough, though, to quell debate over hobbits’ evolutionary status at the annual meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists on April 17.
Since 2004, the discoverers of unusual “hobbit” fossils on the Indonesian island of Flores have attributed their find to a pint-sized species, Homo floresiensis, that lived there from 95,000 to 17,000 years ago. These researchers also suspec
Source: Science News
April 22, 2010
For once lice are nice, at least for scientists investigating the origins of garments.
Using DNA to trace the evolutionary split between head and body lice, researchers conclude that body lice first came on the scene approximately 190,000 years ago. And that shift, the scientists propose, followed soon after people first began wearing clothing.
The new estimate, presented April 16 at the American Association of Physical Anthropologists annual meeting, sheds light on a p
Source: AP
April 22, 2010
Egypt's antiquities chief, speaking at a preview of a King Tut exhibition, renewed his attacks on museums he claims have refused to return artifacts that rightfully belong in Egypt.
Zahi Hawass, secretary general of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said Wednesday he had a wish list of objects he wants returned. He singled out several museums, including the St. Louis Art Museum, which he said has a 3,200-year-old mummy mask that was stolen before the museum acquired it.
Source: Salisbury Journal
April 22, 2010
BUDDING archaeologist Sam Clark did exactly the right thing when he found what he thought was an Iron Age coin in his garden.
He sent his find (pictured) to Wessex Archaeology with a letter asking if experts could identify it.
Sadly, Sam forgot to send them his address or phone number.
Source: UPI
April 22, 2010
Archaeologists in Italy unearthed the remains of what they say may be an ancient temple with components inscribed with instructions for assembly.
The archaeologists are likening the possibly 6th-century temple discovery in Torre Satriano, Italy, to Ikea furniture, the inexpensive home furnishings the purchaser assembles at home, the British Daily Telegraph and the Times of London reported Thursday.
The head of archaeology at Basilica University, Professor Massimo Osann
Source: Reuters
April 23, 2010
A French-funded archaeology team is working on the first excavations in Iraq's northern Kurdish areas after seven years of conflict, the latest effort to save the country's treasures from ruin.
Iraq, which the ancient Greeks called Mesopotamia or 'land between the rivers' because of the Tigris and Euphrates that flow through it, is regarded by archaeologists as a cradle of civilization.
But historic sites have been neglected and damaged by decades of war, sanctions and
Source: Boston Globe
April 23, 2010
Dassault Systèmes and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, said they are joining forces to apply the power of "experiential 3D," or three-dimensional, technology to archeology.
Dassault Systèmes is a French company specializing in 3D and product lifecycle management software. Its 3DVIA brand division, which focuses on "virtual reality platforms," has offices in Concord.
A digital initiative called the Giza Archives Project is housed at the MFA. The pro
Source: AP
April 23, 2010
There may be some marital tension in the home of Orlando Figes, a celebrated author and Russian scholar embroiled in a scandal involving vicious reviews posted on Amazon's website.
The anonymous reviews attacked books written by Figes' rivals, and last week his wife, law professor Stephanie Palmer, said she was responsible. But now Figes admits he actually wrote the nasty putdowns, which built up his reputation at other authors' expense.
Figes specifically apologized to
Source: BBC
April 23, 2010
Roman altar stones dating back almost 2000 years have been found at a cricket pavilion in Musselburgh, East Lothian.
The stones have been described as the most significant find of their kind in the past 100 years.
Renovations were planned at the pavilion but archaeologists had to survey the protected building before work could begin.
Their unearthing of the stones and other artefacts has postponed the planned developments on the pavilion.
Source: BBC
April 23, 2010
A Pageant of St George has taken place in the City of London for the first time in 425 years.
St George paraded through the streets of the Square Mile, for the first time since 1585, when Elizabeth I was on the throne.
The patron saint of England was mounted on horseback with traditional figures of a king and his daughter and a lamb led by a maiden in the parade.
The pageant started at Armourers Hall in Coleman Street.
The occasion was an an
Source: BBC
April 23, 2010
A pilot wrongly accused over the 9/11 attacks in the US has won his legal battle for compensation.
Lotfi Raissi, an Algerian-born British resident, was arrested in the UK shortly after the attacks amid claims that he was a key member of the plot.
He was held in custody for nearly five months before being released when a judge found there was no evidence to link him to any form of terrorism.
The Ministry of Justice has said Mr Raissi was "eligible&quo
Source: BBC
April 22, 2010
Records from an inquest into the notorious 1881 shootout at the OK Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, have been discovered in a court storeroom.
The scrawled notes are a transcript of a witness statement about the shootout between lawmen including Wyatt Earp and three outlaws, who were killed.
The documents were last seen about 1960 when they were photocopied.
Researchers hope that restoration by archivists will reveal margin notes not visible on the reproduct
Source: BBC
April 22, 2010
A Rwandan opposition leader has been conditionally released after being arrested on Wednesday.
Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza was accused of collaborating with a terrorist group and denying the genocide.
Ms Ingabire, who plans to challenge President Paul Kagame in August's election, has been ordered to report to the authorities twice a month.
She is also banned from leaving the capital city, a Kigali court ruled on Thursday.
Source: Orange County Register
April 22, 2010
Labeled, shipped and reshelved, an estimated 40 million-plus pages of letters, photographs and other documents will arrive in Yorba Linda over the next several weeks as the Richard M. Nixon presidential archive finishes its 2,600-mile ride from Maryland.
The archive will arrive from College Park at an interval of three trucks per week until the end of May.
By then, all classified and unclassified materials – except for the notorious White House tapes – will be available
Source: Washington Post
April 23, 2010
Col. Robert Grimes, 87, an Army Air Forces pilot who evaded capture in World War II when his B-17 bomber was shot down over Nazi territory, and who later was a Prince William County schools administrator, died April 21 at his home at Fort Belvoir. He had complications from prostate cancer.
Only in recent years did Col. Grimes speak extensively of his wartime experiences, in part, he said, because the military had ordered airmen to treat their experiences as secret. When he sat down
Source: LA Times
April 23, 2010
Whitney R. Harris, one of the original prosecutors of Nazi crimes after World War II, died Wednesday from complications of cancer at his home in Frontenac, Mo. He was 97.
Harris was part of the team, led by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, that began the prosecution of war criminals in Nuremberg, Germany, shortly after the war's end. In 1945, Harris led the team's first case, that of Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the highest-ranking leader of the Nazi Security Police to
Source: Telegraph (UK)
April 23, 2010
Leonard Nimoy has announced he will step down from his role as Spock, the Vulcan, after more than 40 years on Star Trek.
The 79-year-old actor, who was part of the original Star Trek cast when the series began in 1966, has announced his retirement.
Nimoy, one of the cult show's best-known characters, said he wanted to "get off the stage" in order to let Zachary Quinto, the young actor who assumed the role for the Star Trek movie last year, take over.
Source: AP
April 22, 2010
Archaeologists unearthed 383 bronze coins dating back to King Ptolemy III who ruled Egypt in the 3rd century B.C. and was an ancestor of the famed Cleopatra, Egypt's antiquities authority announced Wednesday.
The statement said one side of the coins were inscribed with hybrid Greek-Egyptian god Amun-Zeus, while the other side showed an eagle and the words Ptolemy and king in Greek.
Founded by one of Alexander the Great's generals, the Ptolemaic Dynasty ruled Egypt for s
Source: Honolulu Weekly
April 21, 2010
As State lawmakers and community members continue to push for a managerial audit of the State Historic Preservation Division, division officials insist that they’re being blamed for a series of potential problems that would first need to be solved by the Legislature.
Dozens of community members turned out for a meeting with SHPD administrators at Wilson Elementary School on April 14 to air grievances about the division’s operations. Community members voiced concerns over whether anc
Source: Lee White at the National Coalition for History
April 16, 2010
The National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) has issued a proposed rule that would remove individuals from eligibility for NHPRC grants, and change the time for posting of grant opportunity announcements from four to three months before the application deadline.The NHPRC’s rationale is that it is more effective for el
