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: http://www.berkeleydaily.org
December 4, 2007
Zachary Running Wolf and some members of the Ohlone people say the site is sacred, the resting place of villagers who once dwelt along the shores of Strawberry Creek.
“There is no specific, verified evidence of burials,” other than one cited by a consulting archaeologist, said Dan Mogulof, UC Berkeley’s executive director of public affairs.
But Richard Schwartz, a writer with several books on Berkeley history to his credit, says a look at the record raises critical ques
Source: http://kob.com/article
December 3, 2007
Human remains are getting in the way of a plan to expand an Albuquerque elementary school.
Alameda Elementary is supposed to get an upgraded drainage system, and a new playground, track, and soccer field.
But archeologists have found an 800-year-old Indian burial ground under the school, putting a stop to the school's plans.
Now archaeologists must dig up the remains and artifacts before the school can start the renovation process.
Source: AP
December 4, 2007
Zimbabwe's president has a simple answer to why his country's rich farmland is wasting away as inflation soars: colonialism.
While critics in and outside his country blame Robert Mugabe's land seizures and draconian rule for Zimbabwe's crisis, Mugabe told attendees at a recent state dinner that Britain, the former colonial master, was crippling his country.
Applause was loud and long.
European and African leaders want to look ahead to better trade deals, me
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
November 28, 2007
This week, the Bush administration decided not to appeal a federal district court judge’s decision that invalidated a crucial section of Executive Order (EO) 13233, which broadened the rights of presidents and former-presidents to withhold federal records from the public for indefinite periods of time.
On October 1, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly gave historians and researchers a partial, but significant victory in a lawsuit questioning the legality of the Executive Order. The judge s
Source: Lee White at the website of the National Coalition for History (NCH)
November 28, 2007
On November 28, the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum released approximately 122,800 pages of historical materials from the Nixon presidency at the National Archives in College Park, MD.
In the largest release of Nixon-related materials under mandatory review, the Nixon Presidential Library released over 10,000 pages of documents that were previously withheld from public access, and that were re-reviewed for release and/or declassified.
The documents are from the
Source: http://www.independent.ie
December 4, 2007
A vivid portrait of life in early 20th Century Ireland emerged yesterday as public access was granted for the first time to digitised records of the 1911 Census.
Using the National Archives website, those living here and the Irish Diaspora, estimated at 70 million people spread across the globe, can search for their ancestors by name.
The first phase of a project to digitise both the 1901 and 1911 census provides access to the records for Dublin 1911, fully indexed by n
Source: LiveScience
December 3, 2007
Chemical residues found in soil from Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula indicate that ancient Mayans traded food in marketplaces, a practice long considered unlikely by archaeologists.
From examining the sites of ancient Mayan cities, archaeologists have long recognized that the cities were home to more people than the local agricultural capacities could have supported, said Shepherd University archaeologist Bruce Dahlin, who led the new study of the Yucatan soil.
So for years,
Source: Reuters
December 4, 2007
An ancient Roman wood and ivory throne has been unearthed at a dig in Herculaneum, Italian archaeologists said on Tuesday, hailing it as the most significant piece of wooden furniture ever discovered there.
The throne was found during an excavation in the Villa of the Papyri, the private house formerly belonging to Julius Caesar's father-in-law, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, built on the slope of Mount Vesuvius.
The name of the villa derives from the impressive lib
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 4, 2007
Sumptuous pearls which graced the neck of Marie Antoinette, the last queen of France, will go on sale in London next week with an estimate of £400,000.
The 21 jewels were smuggled out of France during the French Revolution by the Countess of Sutherland, wife of the British ambassador and an ally of the extravagant queen.
Source: AFP
December 3, 2007
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France began a three-day visit to Algeria on Monday, denouncing colonialism as “profoundly unjust” but stopping short of apologizing for the atrocities France was accused of committing there.
“Yes, the colonial system was profoundly unjust, contrary to the three founding words of our Republic: freedom, equality, brotherhood,” Mr. Sarkozy said.
But he steered clear of bending to Algerian demands to say he was sorry for atrocities that French
Source: Inside Higher Ed
December 4, 2007
Houghton Mifflin said Monday that the publishing company had agreed to sell its college textbook division to Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Learning) for $750 million in cash. Houghton said the deal would allow it to focus on its elementary and secondary school market, following on its $4 billion purchase this summer of Harcourt Education.
Source: Reuters
December 3, 2007
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The only surviving copy of the 500-year-old map that first used the name America goes on permanent display this month at the Library of Congress, but even as it prepares for its debut, the 1507 Waldseemuller map remains a puzzle for researchers.
Why did the mapmaker name the territory America and then change his mind later? How was he able to draw South America so accurately? Why did he put a huge ocean west of America years before European explorers discovere
Source: NYT
December 3, 2007
Shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War in June 1950, Kim Man-sik, a military police sergeant, received an urgent radio message from the South Korean Army’s Counterintelligence Corps: Go to local police stations, take custody of scores of Communist suspects held there and execute them.
Mr. Kim complied. What he did and saw in those days is etched permanently in his mind.
“They were all tied together with military communications wire,” said Mr. Kim, now 81. “So when
Source: Australian
December 3, 2007
INCOMING education minister Julia Gillard yesterday backed the traditional interpretation of the nation's history, saying she believed Australia was "settled", rather than "invaded".
In a sign that she will adopt an orthodox approach to overseeing Labor's education policies, including the creation of a national schools curriculum, Ms Gillard supported students being exposed to different interpretations of Australian history and reaching their own conclusions.
Source: Scotsman
December 2, 2007
THEY helped bring death, destruction and terror on an industrial scale to an entire continent. And as Europe rebuilt itself following the Second World War, they were imprisoned on a desolate Scottish moor.
Newly uncovered documents have revealed that a Caithness prisoner-of-war camp had an extraordinary secret role as a place where some of the most notorious figures in Hitler's Third Reich were locked up, interrogated and - where possible - subjected to "de-Nazification".
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 3, 2007
The national anthem is not inclusive and should perhaps be changed, Lord Goldsmith, the former attorney general now leading a citizenship review for Gordon Brown, has suggested.
He said that there were problems with some of the later verses of the anthem, which refer to "rebellious Scots" being crushed.
Lord Goldsmith said: "Part of it is not actually that inclusive, but that's if you go on to the later verses.
"Some people have suggeste
Source: AP
December 2, 2007
A Jewish group on Sunday presented a candelabra symbolizing Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust to a Catholic cardinal, a way of underlining positive changes in Jewish-Catholic relations in recent decades.
The candelabra has six branches, in memory of the 6 million Jews killed by German Nazis and their collaborators during World War II.
Source: Daily Mail
December 1, 2007
Behind the Queen's diamond wedding is the extraordinary untold story of how her marriage was almost scuppered by Philip's links to one of Hitler's closest henchmen....
[T]he marriage of Elizabeth and Philip, though a popular fairy tale in the glamour-starved years of post-war austerity and now regarded as a source of stability to Britain's monarchy, was by no means hailed with rejoicing in royal circles 60 years ago.
In fact, evidence that is still held off-limits in secret
Source: Telegraph (UK)
December 3, 2007
India is to have its first museum celebrating the writer Rudyard Kipling, after decades in which the country he loved consigned him to obscurity as a prophet of British imperialism.
A dilapidated bungalow in the grounds of an art school in Bombay, where Kipling was born and lived until he was nearly six, is being restored to house a hoped-for collection of associated memorabilia. The move may be the first sign of his rehabilitation by a people who inspired some his most memorable po
Source: http://www.allheadlinenews.com
November 26, 2007
Rock art in Egypt is being threatened by the increasing number of tourists trying to seek far and wide for the Egyptian frontiers. Much of the art that has been preserved for thousands of years is under risk from more and more people heading toward the sacred areas.
The most impressive of Egypt's rock art is the country's southwest corner, near the Sudanese and Libyan borders, where paintings of prehistoric man and beast are located.
