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: The Cleveland Daily Banner
January 13, 2009
Dr. Richard Jones of Lee University will give a slide lecture on biblical archaeology. The lecture is the last program associated with the Museum Center at Five Points’ current exhibit, “Treasures of the Holy Land: Cleveland’s First Museum.”
The slide lecture, entitled “Biblical Archaeology on the Karak Plateau, Jordan” will be given on Jan. 23 at 10:30 a.m. at the museum center.
Jones’ talk will be on the biblical archaeology uncovered during his work through Lee Univ
Source: China View
January 13, 2009
The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences on Wednesday announced China's six top archaeological discoveries in 2009, including the discoveries of ruins of ancient paper-making workshops and the tomb of Chinese legendary general Cao Cao.
The ruins, spanning from Song Dynasty (960-1279) to Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), were located in the city of Gao'an in eastern Jiangxi Province
Other discoveries are the Lower Xiajiadian site of an ancient civilization between 2200 to 1100 B
Source: BBC
January 13, 2009
A collection of rare travel books, including one which belonged to Captain Cook, has fetched more than £300,000 at auction.
The Northern Lighthouse Heritage Trust sold them to raise money to safeguard other items in its library.
One rare book of maps from 1815 by explorer Nicolas Baudin fetched £32,000 at the sale in Edinburgh.
An early 19th Century atlas of Australia by voyager Matthew Flinders sold for £14,000. Other boo
Source: BBC
January 12, 2009
An inquiry into the Netherlands' support for the invasion of Iraq says it was not justified by UN resolutions.
The Dutch Committee of Inquiry on Iraq said UN Security Council resolutions did not "constitute a mandate for... intervention in 2003".
The inquiry was launched after foreign ministry memos were leaked that cast doubt on the legal basis for the war.
The Netherlands gave political support to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but had no military
Source: BBC
January 12, 2009
Tony Blair's ex-spokesman Alastair Campbell has said he "defends every single word" of the 2002 dossier on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
He told the UK's Iraq war inquiry that parts could have been "clearer" but it did not "misrepresent" Iraq's threat.
The UK should be "proud" of its role "in changing Iraq from what it was to what it is now becoming", he argued.
But he said Mr Blair told President Bu
Source: Telegraph (UK)
January 13, 2009
Greece has shut more than 40 museums, archeological sites, and other popular tourist attractions because of staff cutbacks to save money.
The country, which is mired in recession, has a public spending deficit of 12.7 per cent of GDP and has embarked on a series of measures to rein in spending.
One was to cancel a recruitment drive for 2,584 full-time employees by the ministries of tourism and culture.
The Socialist government released a list of 22 archeol
Source: Americas Program
January 4, 2010
Argentine courts have launched an investigation into crimes committed at the ESMA Navy Mechanics School during the nation's military dictatorship. The landmark human rights trial is one of the most far-reaching attempts to bring crimes of Latin America's bloody past to justice.
For more than three decades, survivors and their families awaited the trial that finally began on Dec. 11, 2009. During Argentina's 1976-1983 dictatorship, the ESMA Navy Mechanics School served as a clandesti
Source: AP
January 13, 2010
Parents, teachers and activists lined up Wednesday for the chance to help shape the way history — topics from the Roman Empire to Texas cosmetics queen Mary Kay Ash — will be taught to millions of Texas children for the next decade.
The State Board of Education began taking testimony ahead of a tentative vote later this week on new social studies curriculum standards that will serve as the framework in Texas classrooms. But, as usual in votes before the conservative-led board, the w
Source: AP
January 13, 2010
Peter Garritano thinks it's time for Vermont to call it quits with America.
The way the 54-year-old automobile salesman sees it, the "empire" is about to implode and tiny Vermont can lead the way by becoming its own independent republic. So he's running for lieutenant governor, topping a slate of secession-minded candidates seeking statewide offices this year.
Their name: Vermont Independence Day.
"The only hope is to just say, 'Look, this is
Source: The Hedgehog Blog
January 11, 2010
Israeli archaeologists have confirmed that an inscribed pottery shard, reliably dated by Carbon 14 testing of organic material found with it to the 10th century BCE--the time of King David-- is in fact written in Hebrew, making the shard the oldest known Hebrew inscription. Moreover, both the location where the shard was discovered --the Valley of Elah, well to the west of the Judaen hills--and the translation of the ancient Hebrew text bolster the case of the "traditionalist school" o
Source: Time.com
January 13, 2010
The scandal has riveted Northern Ireland like few things before. First, Peter Robinson, leader of the province's Protestant-Catholic coalition government, admitted that his 60-year-old wife Iris had embarked on an affair with a teenager two years ago. Then came the allegations that she had obtained $80,000 from two property developers to help her lover set up a café and that Peter Robinson, upon learning of the deal, failed to report it. Now that the Evangelical base of Robinson's Democratic Uni
Source: ScienceDaily
January 13, 2010
The dreaded shipworm is moving into the Baltic Sea, threatening artefacts of the area's cultural heritage. Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, suspect that the unfortunate spread is due to climate change, and are currently involved in an EU project to determine which archaeological remains are at risk.
The shipworm is capable of completely destroying large maritime archaeological finds in only 10 years, and while it has avoided the Baltic Sea in the past, since it d
Source: NYT
January 11, 2010
Joe Rollino once lifted 475 pounds. He used neither his arms nor his legs but, reportedly, his teeth. With just one finger he raised up 635 pounds; with his back he moved 3,200. He bit down on quarters to bend them with his thumb....
On Monday morning, Mr. Rollino went for a walk in his Brooklyn neighborhood, a daily routine. It was part of the Great Joe Rollino’s greatest feat, a display of physical dexterity and stamina so subtle that it revealed itself only if you happened to ask
Source: Polskie Radio (Poland)
January 13, 2010
Police have found Claude Monet’s painting Beach at Pourville, stolen nine years ago and worth millions of dollars.
The painting has been found in Olkusz, southern Poland - 41-year-old Robert Z., suspected of the theft, has been detained.
Beach at Pourville was stolen on 19 September 2000 from the National Museum in the western city of Poznan. The painting, worth from 3 to 7 million dollars, located in the Monet exhibition room, was not properly protected – there were
Source: Times of Malta
January 12, 2010
Centuries ago, come September, galleys would be rowed into Mġarr ix-Xini harbour and loaded with amphorae filled with wine that had been pressed in the valley.
Winemakers would fill shallow basins with grapes and, once pressed, the juice would flow through holes and channels into a deeper collecting holder, all carved into the rock.
These wine presses, said to date back to 500 BC, can still be seen embedded in the Gozitan valley and are being studied and docume
Source: AFP
January 11, 2010
The Hamas-run ministry of tourism and antiquities in Gaza on Monday announced the discovery of ancient artifacts near the Egyptian border town of Rafah.
"The most important of the findings are 1,300 antique silver coins, both large and small," said Mohammed al-Agha, tourism and antiquities minister in the Islamist-run government.
He said archaeologists had also uncovered a black basalt grinder, a coin with a cross etched on it, and the remains of walls and arc
Source: AP
January 13, 2010
The gunman who wounded Pope John Paul II said Wednesday he would answer questions about the 1981 attack after he is released from prison next week.
Little is known about what led Mehmet Ali Agca to shoot at the pope while he was greeting the faithful in St. Peter's Square, but that he has said that foreign powers had conspired to have the Polish-born pontiff killed.
"I will answer to all of these questions in the next weeks," Agca said in a letter written in E
Source: BBC News
January 13, 2010
A statue of Robert the Bruce has taken its place at a Scottish town hall following a 130-year delay.
A plinth was erected above the main entrance when the prominent building was constructed on Annan's High Street in the 19th Century.
However, because of financial problems, the statue was never commissioned.
A local committee started fundraising two years ago and a bronze image of Bruce, Lord of Annandale, has finally been put in place in the town.
Source: AP
January 12, 2010
Pope Benedict XVI should be welcomed when he visits Rome's main synagogue, but he should halt moves to beatify wartime pontiff Pius XII, criticized for not doing enough to stop the Holocaust, a former chief rabbi of Israel said Tuesday.
Israel Meir Lau, a Holocaust survivor and now chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, said Benedict's synagogue visit Sunday would be "appreciated and blessed." But in an interview with Italy's Sky TG24 television, he said he was "surprised" by
Source: Artdaily.org
January 13, 2010
Remains of a prehistoric building, which is the earliest ever discovered in the Tel Aviv region and estimated to be c. 7,800-8,400 years old, were exposed in an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority recently carried out prior to the construction of an apartment building in the “Green Fichman” project in Ramat Aviv. Ancient artifacts that are thought to be 13,000 and 100,000 years old were also discovered there.
According to archaeologist Ayelet Dayan, director
