pointblank's blog

Europe's Oldest Civilisation

From: http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=48570

For the Record: 11 June 2005, Saturday.

By David Keys
The Independent

Archaeologists
have discovered Europe's oldest civilisation, a network of dozens of
temples, 2,000 years older than Stonehenge and the Pyramids.

More
than 150 gigantic monuments have been located beneath the fields and
cities of modern-day Germany, Austria and Slovakia. They were built
7,000 years ago, between 4800BC and 4600BC.

'Brazilian Stonehenge' discovered

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4767717.stm

May 13, 2006

By Steve Kingstone

The stones are well preserved and each weighs several tons

Brazilian
archaeologists have found an ancient stone structure in a remote corner
of the Amazon that may cast new light on the region's past.

Ancient Manuscript Discovery has 'Da Vinci Code' Touch

From: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4474894

By Gemma Collins and Vicky Shaw PA

An
ancient document likened to something which could have been featured in
best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code was being analysed at a top
auction house for its significance today.

Keros mystery cracked

From: http://www.athensnews.gr/athweb/nathens.print_unique?e=C&f=13188&m=A32&aa=2&eidos=S

JOHN PSAROPOULOS

A panoramic view of the excavation at Kavos on the Cycladic island of Keros

ARCHAEOLOGISTS say they have discovered a 4,500-year-old ceremonial centre, the oldest ritual site in Greece.

Carved stone still mystifies scholars

From: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/07/19/mystery.stone.ap/index.html

Wednesday, July 19, 2006 Posted: 1619 GMT (0019 HKT)

No one knows for sure who made this stone (discovered in 1872), why, how, or when it was made.

CONCORD,
New Hampshire (AP) -- In 1872, so the story goes, workers digging a
hole for a fence post near Lake Winnipesaukee in the central part of
this New England state found a lump of clay that seemed out of place.

There
was something inside -- a dark, odd-looking, egg-shaped stone with a
variety of carvings, including a face, teepee, ear of corn and starlike
circles.

Australian meteor caused
mass extinction 251 millions year ago

By Guy Gugliotta

The Washington Post

May 11,2004. WASHINGTON — Scientists say they have found
evidence that a huge meteorite or comet plunged into the coastal
waters of the Southern Hemisphere 251 million years ago, possibly
triggering the most catastrophic mass extinction in Earth's history.

NASA Images Discover Ancient Bridge between India and SriLanka

From: http://www.indolink.com/displayArticleS.php?id=022405021405

NASA
reveal a mysterious ancient bridge in the Palk Strait between India and
Sri Lanka. The bridge currently named as Adam´s Bridge is made of chain
of shoals, c.18 mi (30 km) long.

Meet an ancient member of birds' family tree

From: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/06/15/ancient.birds.ap/index.html

Thursday, June 15, 2006 Posted: 2321 GMT (0721 HKT)

This photo from the journal Science shows a nearly complete fossil skeleton of Gansus yumenensis.

WASHINGTON
(AP) -- The first detailed look at the ancestor of modern birds -- a
grebe-like waterbird that would look normal even today -- was shown off
Thursday by scientists who discovered fossil remains in a remote lake
bed in China.

"A world lost for more than 100
million years was being revealed to us," as layers of mud were peeled
back like the pages of a book, said Hai-lu You of the Chinese Academy
of Geological Sciences.

Tooth gives up oldest human DNA

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5052414.stm

By Helen Briggs BBC News science reporter

It was extracted from the tooth of a Neanderthal child found in the Scladina cave in the Meuse Basin, Belgium.

The study, reported in Current Biology, suggests our distant cousins were more genetically diverse than once thought.

Their diversity had declined, perhaps because of climate change or
disease, by the time modern humans arrived in Europe about 35,000 years
ago.

Tut's gem hints at space impact

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5196362.stm

July 19, 2006

Thing of beauty: Tutankhamun's Pectoral with desert glass scarab

In
1996 in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, Italian mineralogist Vincenzo de
Michele spotted an unusual yellow-green gem in the middle of one of
Tutankhamun's necklaces.