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: History Today
Apr 11, 2006
Scientists have begun work on a new restoration programme of the Great Sphinx at Giza, Egypt. The work will focus on the head and the chest of the statue, which have suffered extensive damage through sand erosion and desert winds. The Supreme Council of Antiquities, who is carrying out the work, said that this programme will repair damage caused by earlier renovations, which used cement to reconstruct the statue. “When you put cement on its body, it stops the breathing of th
Source: BBC
Apr 11, 2006
A female secret service agent has been honoured by the Royal Air Force - 63 years after first complaining at the "injustice" of not getting her "wings".
Pearl Cornioley, formerly Witherington, became the leader of 1,500 French freedom fighters during World War II.
She was recommended for the Military Cross but, as a woman, was not allowed to receive it. She turned down an MBE, saying it was a "civil decoration".
Source: NYT
Apr 11, 2006
One hundred years ago next Tuesday, the San Andreas fault off San Francisco broke, setting off the earthquake that made clear the seismic perils facing West Coast cities.
The scientific repercussions continue, as researchers still look to data from the 1906 earthquake — which released 30 times as much energy as the 1989 Loma Prieta quake — to prepare for the next great one. Last month, results of two years of computer simulations recreating the groun
Source: WSJ
Apr 10, 2006
1. "Churchill: A Study in Greatness" by Geoffrey Best (Hambledon & London, 2001).
2. "Jefferson and His Time" by Dumas Malone (Little, Brown, 1948-81).
3. "Herndon's Lincoln" by William Henry Herndon and Jesse W. Weik (Belford, Clarke, 1889).
4. "Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy (Harper, 1956).
5. "President Reagan" by Richard Reeves (Simon & Schuster, 2006).
Source: rinf.com
Apr 10, 2006
An Egyptian archaeological team has discovered a series of structures in the southwestern town of Fayoum that could yield vital data as to how a Middle Kingdom temple was built, the culture minister said on Thursday.Farouk Hosni said that the structures included administrative buildings, granaries and residences believed to have belonged to priests of the temple, which was dedicated to Renenutet, the goddess of harvest, as well as the crocodile-god Sobk and falcon-deity Horu
Source: Press Release -- Archivist of the United States Statement on Declassification of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Air Force
Apr 10, 2006
Today the redacted “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the National Archives and Records Administration and the United States Air Force” was released. Archivist of the United States Allen Weinstein said, “I applaud the release of this document. It is an important first step in finding the balance between continuing to protect national security and protecting the right to know by the American public. This release underlines the cooperation of our Federal partn
Source: Science Now
Apr 10, 2006
Italian researchers in Iraq claim to have stumbled upon an important cache of ancient clay tablets in one of the world's oldest cities. But others dispute the claim, and Iraqi authorities say the scientists have been acting illegally.No archaeologist has been given permission to do excavations since the U.S. invasion in March 2003 toppled Saddam Hussein. But last month, Italy's National Research Council announced that it had discovered some 500 rare tablets on the surface of
Source: Cultural Heritage News Agency
Apr 10, 2006
Archeological excavations in area no. 73 of Bolaghi Gorge historical site with the aim of finding cultural evidence from the fourth millennium BC led to the discovery of the remains of a big construction belonging to the Achaemenid era.
“Prior to this discovery, the remains of an Achaemenid architectural style was found by Iranian-Italian joint team in area no. 73 of Bolaghi Gorge, but the discovery of the remains of clay ovens belonging to the fourth millennium BC headed us to thi
Source: scotsman.com
Apr 10, 2006
"CRUDE, boorish and slow- witted" - even dictionaries give Neanderthals a hard time. But our prehistoric cousins were in reality just as smart as we are and did not die out as a result of a lack of brain power, according to a new archaeological study.
Until now, the leading theory of why the Neanderthals disappeared has been that a lack of intelligence meant they were less efficient hunters. But a team of US archaeologists believe they met their
Source: BBC
Apr 10, 2006
Four-hundred years old this week, the union jack is one of the world's oldest national flags... if you overlook the fact it's only meant to be flown at sea, the proportions are wrong and no one can agree on its name.
Its striking red, white and blue design harks back to a time when Britannia ruled the waves, but the history of the union jack is as tangled as all the mothballed bunting it decorates.
It is a story about custom over clarity, assumption over assertion, an
Source: NYT
Apr 10, 2006
The Boeing Co. and the Smithsonian Institution announced this morning that the aviation giant is giving $15 million to the National Air and Space Museum.
The gift, the largest corporate gift in Smithsonian history, will go to the planned expansion of the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, the Virginia annex of the main museum on the National Mall. The center, which opened in December 2003, cost $311 million--including the cost of the expansion. With the Boeing money, the museum still has
Source: NYT
Apr 10, 2006
Mr. Hussein's first trial, in which he has now admitted ordering the execution of 148 men and boys from the Shiite village of Dujail to punish an assassination attempt, is now moving toward its final stage. If he is convicted and draws the expected death sentence, the genocide trial may never take place. That would be perverse.
The Dujail trial has been far too flawed to stand as Mr. Hussein's ultimate reckoning with the law. And the Kurds have had to wait far too long for the full
Source: NYT
Apr 10, 2006
For Jacob G. Zuma, a charismatic figure of South Africa's liberation struggle, the last year has been a series of shocks: fired as deputy president, ousted as the front-runner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki, indicted on bribery charges, and, most recently, put on trial on charges of raping the daughter of a family friend.
Now Mr. Zuma has begun to fight back. And it is his critics' turn to be shocked.Taking the stand for the first time
Source: NYT
Apr 10, 2006
One of the many unexpected things about the small graveyard here where Xi Qingsheng buried his mother during the mayhem of the Cultural Revolution is that it still exists.
The rusted front gate, locked for many years, opens into a walled cemetery that amounts to a time capsule from an era the Communist Party wants to forget. Revolutionary slogans, long since discredited, are etched onto huge, ornate tombstones, including the large concrete marker that Mr. Xi built for his mother whe
Source: Sun-Sentinel (Fl)
Apr 10, 2006
These are the shipwrecks whose remains lie scattered like busted skeletons on the sea floor off South Florida. In Broward County, officials aim to locate and chart their number, which they say could top 30, but any treasure they tally will be in terms of the wrecks' cultural, historical and recreational value.
"You've got a whole cross-section of Florida maritime history out there off the beach," said state underwater archaeologist Roger Smith. "There's anything from
Source: BBC
Apr 10, 2006
A man digging his back garden in Cardiff uncovered Roman pottery, which has prompted months of excavation. The find at the house on the Pentrebane estate is the first evidence of Roman activity in this part of the city.
Archaeologists have so far uncovered 300 pieces of pottery shards which they believe date back nearly 2,000 years and could be a manufacturing site.
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch
Apr 10, 2006
Descendants of 17th century Virginia pioneers joined with British officials Monday to mark the anniversary of the Virginia Charter, which created a company that started the first permanent English settlement in North America four centuries ago.The London Virginia Company in 1606 sent out settlers who landed the following year along the James River on the coast of Virginia. The settlement barely survived Indian raids, disease and severe food shortages, but managed to endure.
Source: Independent (UK)
Apr 10, 2006
A French artist and art historian claims to have cracked the real Da Vinci code - the mystery of how Leonardo painted the Mona Lisa. Jacques Franck - a controversial figure but an acknowledged authority on Leonardo da Vinci - believes he has solved a conundrum which has defeated art experts for almost 500 years. In The Da Vinci Code, the best-selling thriller by Dan Brown, the Mona Lisa is said to contain clues to a 2,000-year-old conspiracy to deny the real character of Jes
Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Apr 10, 2006
For 66 years, two murals depicting the lynching of an American Indian have hung in a now-abandoned county courthouse in Idaho's capital, monuments to prevailing attitudes that once dominated the West but today have become uncomfortable reminders of America's expansion to the Pacific Ocean.Starting in 2008, the Idaho Legislature plans to meet in the courthouse as its century-old Statehouse undergoes a $115 million revamp.
Historic preservationists say they'll fig
Source: National Geographic News
Apr 10, 2006
Around 1479 B.C. King Hatshepsut guided Egypt through 20 years of peace, prosperity, and artistic expression. But there's a twist: Hatshepsut was a woman.
"She's the most significant female ruler in ancient Egypt," said Catharine Roehrig, an Egyptologist at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Some of the fruits of Hatshepsut's prosperous reign—statues, jewelry, papyrus, and more—make up a recently opened traveling exhibition at the Met through J
