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: Art Daily
July 13, 2009
Peruvian archaeologists and Spanish technicians have discovered an Inca road unknown until now and apparently held sacred that led to the citadel of Machu Picchu, the Project Ukhupacha team said Friday in Lima.
The discovery was made early this week by archaeologists from the Peru National Culture Institute and technicians from Jaume I University in Castellon, Spain.
The Inca road is made of stone masonry approximately 1 meter (3 1/4 feet) wide, with sustaining walls al
Source: SBS.com
July 13, 2009
The head of a team of archaeologists examining 33 mummies found in Peru says the bodies were human sacrifices.
Utah University professor Haagen Klaus is an expert in bio-archaeology and has been analysing and examining the human remains found in 2007 at the Chotuna Huaca, a site located north east of Chiclayo.
"(The) majority of them were sacrificed using a very sharp bladed instrument, probably a copper or bronze tummy knife. And for the majority there are a sever
Source: WAFF
July 12, 2009
Private Amos McKinney fought against segregation many years ago and now, historians have fought for a memorial in his honor.
Amos McKinney was a soldier and a slave. He fought for the union during the Civil War in an integrated company.
Now, decades after his service to our country, Private amos mckinney was recognized for his inner and outward bravery with a military grave marker.
"It means that finally my grandfather is getting recognition for what
Source: Deutsche Welle
July 13, 2009
The first bottle of eau de Cologne was created by Giovanni Maria Farina, an Italian expatriate living in the eastern German city of Cologne. On July 13, 1709, Farina opened a luxury goods shop where the fragrance was sold.
In a letter to his brother dated in 1709, Farina wrote, "I have discovered a scent that reminds me of an Italian spring morning, of daffodils and orange blossoms after the rain." He named it after the city he lived in.
Source: Stone Pages Archaeo News
July 13, 2009
Previous studies have suggested that Indonesia's Toba supervolcano, when it erupted about 74,000 years ago, triggered a 1,000-year episode of ice sheet advance, and also may have produced a short-lived 'volcanic winter,' which drastically reduced the human population at the time. Previous climate model simulations of the eruption have been unable to produce the glaciation, and there are no climate observations to support the volcanic winter.
Source: Stone Pages Archaeo News
July 13, 2009
The Festival of British Archaeology 2009 is an annual extravaganza of heritage events coordinated by the Council for British Archaeology. Each year the Festival helps museums, local societies, national and countryside parks, universities and heritage organisations hold hundreds of events showcasing the very best of British archaeology. The Festival aims to give everyone the opportunity to learn about their local heritage, to see archaeology in action, and to get involved. Events ranging from exc
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
July 13, 2009
Move reflects official efforts to rewrite Stalin's role and to cover up Nazi-Soviet pact.
A group of British academics including the historian Orlando Figes and the poet and translator Robert Chandler have spoken out after authorities in Russia closed down a website dealing with the country's controversial Soviet past.
On 19 June the home affairs ministry in St Petersburg shut down the site www.hrono.info. The website had been Russia'
Source: NYT
July 12, 2009
President Obama is facing new pressure to reverse himself and to ramp up investigations into the Bush-era security programs, despite the political risks.
Leading Democrats on Sunday demanded investigations of how a highly classified counterterrorism program was kept secret from the Congressional leadership on the orders of Vice President Dick Cheney.
Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, who is the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on Fox News
Source: Peninsula Daily News (Washington)
June 11, 2009
The city's archaeologist, Derek Beery, intends to employ specially trained dogs to sniff for human remains at least a century old for his ongoing waterfront archaeological survey.
He is drafting requests for proposals for dogs and handlers schooled in "canine forensics," he said.
"Historical human remains detection dogs" are specially trained to detect buried remains more than 100 years old, said Adela Morris, founder and president of the Institute f
Source: BBC
July 13, 2009
A fraudster who stole hundreds of pounds from a friend has blamed his crime on a Nazi chalice he was given.
Derick Smith, 58, of Stanley, County Durham, forged Lesley Shaw's cheques after promising to use the chalice as a bank guarantee to start a business.
He was fined after admitting fraud at Newcastle Crown Court.
The former show jumper is now blaming the silver cup, which was looted from Herman Goering's mansion in 1945, for a string of misfortunes.
Source: Foxnews
July 13, 2009
President Obama's allies are calling for investigations into the Bush administration's prosecution of the War on Terror -- but such developments could prove a distraction to the president's domestic agenda.
Early in the year, the president said he wanted to "look forward" and suggested he was not interested in opening high-profile investigations into the activities of the Bush administration.
But a series of developments halfway through Obama's first year
Source: CNN
June 13, 2009
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton showed a rare flash of frustration Monday — calling the vetting process for Obama administration nominees "ridiculous" and "a nightmare."
"Let me say it's not for lack of trying," Clinton replied. "The process — the clearance and vetting process — is a nightmare," she told the staff. "It takes far longer than any of us would want to see. It is frustrating beyond words."
Drawing laughs
Source: WSJ
July 13, 2009
A secret Central Intelligence Agency initiative terminated by Director Leon Panetta was an attempt to carry out a 2001 presidential authorization to capture or kill al Qaeda operatives, according to former intelligence officials familiar with the matter.
The precise nature of the highly classified effort isn't clear, and the CIA won't comment on its substance.
According to current and former government officials, the agency spent money on planning and possibly some trai
Source: Foxnews
June 12, 2009
President Obama says slavery is a terrible part of the United States' history and should be taught in a way that connects that past cruelty to current events, such as the genocide in Darfur.
During an interview with CNN while traveling in Ghana, Obama compared the legacy of slavery to the history of the Holocaust. He said both are horrible historical points that cannot be ignored and that their lessons must not be forgotten.
Obama, his wife, Michelle, and their daughte
Source: CNN
June 12, 2009
President Obama has ordered national security officials to look into allegations that the Bush administration resisted efforts to investigate a CIA-backed Afghan warlord over the killings of hundreds of Taliban prisoners in 2001.
The inquiry stems from the deaths of at least 1,000 Taliban prisoners who had surrendered to the U.S.-backed Northern Alliance in late 2001.
But The New York Times, citing government officials and human rights organizations, reported Friday tha
Source: CNN
June 13, 2009
Alleged Nazi camp guard John Demjanjuk was formally charged Monday with being an accessory to about 27,900 murders during World War II.
The German court originally accused him of complicity in about 29,000 murders. The prosecutor's office said it revised the number downward because some of those who had allegedly died in the camp when Demjanjuk was there were already dead during the transport to Sobibor.
The court has not announced a date for the trial to begin, but Win
Source: Independent (UK)
July 12, 2009
Spanish bishops broke decades of silence at the weekend to apologise for the killing of 14 priests by Francisco Franco’s troops during the civil war, asking forgiveness for the church’s collusion with the dictator’s cause
The bishop of Vitoria celebrated a memorial service in the cathedral of the Basque regional capital yesterday to mark the execution 73 years ago by Francoist troops of 14 priests who had never received a funeral, and whose deaths were never officially recorded.
Source: BBC
July 12, 2009
The existence of the programme, set up after 9/11, was hidden for eight years and even now its nature is not known.
Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein confirmed CIA chief Leon Panetta told Congressional committees he had abandoned the project on hearing of it.
He said that Mr Cheney was behind the secrecy, Sen Feinstein said.
Source: WaPo
July 12, 2009
In the beginning, the purpose of the nation's oldest civil rights organization was well defined: to achieve equal justice under the law for black Americans.
One hundred years later, as 5,000 members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People gather here to set an agenda, little is so clear-cut.
The NAACP faces a slew of questions: Has the election of the first black U.S. president marked the end of the civil rights agenda? Must an organization tra
Source: Telegraph (UK)
July 12, 2009
Bishops in the Basque Country have urged the Roman Catholic Church to apologise for its silence over the killing of priests by General Francisco Franco's Right-wing forces during the Spanish Civil War.
Spain's Catholic Church supported Franco's uprising against the elected Left-wing Republican government. While the Church has always honoured the thousands of clergy who died at the hands of the Republicans, those who were killed by Franco have been officially ignored.
