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: AFP
June 19, 2011
Standing before the imposing ziggurat which was once part of a temple complex at the Sumerian capital of Ur, Iraqi archaeologist Abdelamir Hamdani worried about the natural elements that are eating away at one of the wonders of Mesopotamia.
The buried treasures of Ur still beckon foreign archaeologists who have begun cautiously returning to Iraq, but experts like Hamdani say that preserving the sites is more urgent than digging for more.
Despite security conc
Source: Live Science
June 17, 2011
An enigmatic message on a Roman gladiator's 1,800-year-old tombstone has finally been decoded, telling a treacherous tale.
The epitaph and art on the tombstone suggest the gladiator, named Diodorus, lost the battle (and his life) due to a referee's error, according to Michael Carter, a professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada.
Source: LA Times
June 19, 2011
After examining thousands of artifacts and digging through historical data, maritime archaeologists have a verdict: A ship off North Carolina is all but certainly the Queen Anne's Revenge. ]
North Carolina's top marine archaeologists were pretty sure the wreck was the Queen Anne's Revenge, the cannon-heavy flagship of the notorious pirate Blackbeard that ran aground here in 1718.
Source: USA Today
June 20, 2011
Nicknamed Otzi, for his resting place in the Ötztal Alps, the "Iceman" was outfitted with a copper ax, flint knife and bearskin hat, a surprise to archaeologists because they all were so well-crafted.
Source: BBC
June 18, 2011
A convicted murderer, who was India's oldest inmate, has been released from prison at the age of 108.
Brij Bihari Pandey, a Hindu priest, was serving a life sentence for the murder of four people in 1987, when he was 84.
Officials at Gorakhpur jail in Uttar Pradesh state say Mr Bihari, who requires regular hospital visits, was freed on humanitarian grounds.... ....
Source: BBC
June 20, 2011
Glasgow's new £74m Riverside Museum will be officially opened later.
The venue, on the banks of the River Clyde, will showcase the city's transport, shipbuilding and engineering heritage.
It was designed by prize-winning architect Zaha Hadid and houses more than 3,000 exhibits, in about 150 displays.
The Riverside Museum will be the third home for Glasgow's transport collection since the 1960s and the first major museum the council has built since The Burrell Collection
Source: BBC
June 20, 2011
Ancient remains uncovered in Ukraine represent some of the oldest evidence of modern people in Europe, experts have claimed.
Archaeologists found human bones and teeth, tools, ivory ornaments and animal remains at the Buran-Kaya cave site.
The 32,000-year-old fossils bear cut marks suggesting they were defleshed as part of a post-mortem ritual.
Details have been
Source: Telegraph (UK)
June 20, 2011
They are among Britain’s most bitter rivals, but despite two world wars and any number of football matches, it would seem we are closer to the Germans than many might imagine. Geneticists claim that as many as half of Britons have German blood, a consequence of Anglo-Saxon migration after the Roman Empire fell.
Source: CNN
June 20, 2011
Officials from New York and the United States Mint unveiled the 9/11 National Medal on Monday just three months before the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The one-ounce silver medal's heads side features Lady Liberty with the inscription "always remember 2001-2011," while the reverse side portrays an eagle against the backdrop of cascading water.
The medal, which went on sale Monday, is available at an introductory rate of $56.95 through August 18, after which the price will go up to $66.95.
Source: LA Times
June 20, 2011
The dress that famously billowed up around Marilyn Monroe as she stood over a subway vent while filming "The Seven-Year Itch" sold for $4.6 million on Saturday at an auction of memorabilia belonging to actress Debbie Reynolds."Oh, do you feel the breeze from the subway?" Monroe said in the 1955 film. "Isn't it delicious?"Delicious indeed -- the winning bid for the "subway grate" dress easily outstripped the $1 million to $2 million estimated value placed on the frock by dealer Profiles in History.
Source: National Parks Traveler
June 20, 2011
Creaking on the tides under the weight of its three masts and 55 miles of rigging, the Friendship is a floating reminder of a time when the upstart United States laid a commercial claim to the high seas.From tiny Salem, Massachusetts, up the coast from another Massachusetts seaport that soon would become known as the whaling capital of the world, ships set out to navigate the globe and return home with spices, water buffalo hides, silks, and porcelains.
Source: Deutsche Welle (Germany)
June 19, 2011
Germany's invasion of the USSR was the largest excess of violence in modern history. Millions of soldiers and civilians lost their lives, but it took decades for both countries to come to terms with the past.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
June 20, 2011
The set of four goblets - emblazoned with a swastika, spread-winged eagle, and the dictator's initials, A.H., are expected to fetch up to £8,000 when they are auctioned on Tuesday.Auctioneer Jonathan Humbert, of J.P Humber auctioneers, in Towcester, Northants, said his firm were "excited" to be selling the pieces.He said: "There is every chance that Adolf Hitler himself sipped from these very glasses.
Source: Telegraph (UK)
June 20, 2011
The work shows Saint Augustine poring over his books at a desk and has been dated to around 1600, when the artist would have been 28.The oil on canvas piece was unattributed until it was restored and showed Caravaggio’s characteristics.Fewer than 50 of Caravaggio’s paintings survive and this new discovery will appear in print for the first time next month.
Source: BBC News
June 20, 2011
Thousands of pages from one of the world's biggest collections of historic books, pamphlets and periodicals are to be made available on the internet.The British Library has reached a deal with search engine Google about 250,000 texts dating back to the 18th Century.It will allow readers to view, search and copy the out-of-copyright works at no charge on both the library and Google books websites.The library gets more than a million visitors a year.
Source: WaPo
June 19, 2011
Half a century after many Virginia public schools shut their doors rather than accept black students, the state is offering college scholarships to compensate those whose education suffered in the era of “massive resistance” to desegregation. Among the recipients: white students.
Source: NYT
June 19, 2011
TOKYO — Japan and the United States will probably agree to delay the relocation of an American air base on Okinawa, Japan’s defense minister said, a decision that could encourage calls to rethink the stalled relocation plan.
Source: NYT
June 19, 2011
TULSA, Okla. — With their guns firing, a mob of white men charged across the train tracks that cut a racial border through this city. A 4-year-old boy named Wess Young fled into the darkness with his mother and sister in search of safety, returning the next day to discover that their once-thriving black community had burned to the ground.
Source: AP
June 20, 2011
VIENNA (AP) — Authorities say a suspected Nazi war criminal sought by Croatia has died at 98 in Austria.They say Milivoj Asner died Tuesday at a home for the aged in the southern city of Klagenfurt.Austrian authorities had said Asner, a naturalized Austrian citizen, suffers from dementia and was not healthy enough to be extradited to Croatia for trial on alleged atrocities....
Source: WSJ
June 20, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C.—A consensus is emerging on how to compensate thousands of men and women sterilized in one of the largest state eugenics programs in the U.S. But North Carolina's budget troubles make it unlikely that the aging victims will get cash payments anytime soon.A perennial legislative proposal to pay as many as 3,000 sterilized people $20,000 each got a boost this spring after Republicans took over North Carolina's House and Senate following the November elections.
