The Empire Chronicles

Scientists have found new evidence that the Bering Strait near Alaska flooded into the Arctic Ocean about 11,000 years ago, about 1,000 years earlier than widely believed, closing off the land bridge thought to be the major route for human migration from Asia to the Americas.

(Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )

Archaeologists find 11-millennium-old building in Syria

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Archaeologists said they have discovered an 11-millennium-old building with on the banks of the Euphrates River in northern Syria.

"A remarkable discovery has just been uncovered of a large circular building dating back to 8,800 BC near (the locality of) Ja'de," the head of the French archaeologal team that made the find told AFP.

The building, much larger than normal houses, "had a collective use, probably for all of the village or a group," Eric Coqueugniot said.

24 September 2006

DAMASCUS - Archaeologists said Sunday they had uncovered decorated human skulls dating back as long as 9,500 years ago from a burial site near the Syrian capital Damascus.

“The human skulls date back between 9,500 and 9,000 years ago, (on which) lifelike faces were modelled with clay earth ... then coloured to accentuate the features,” said Danielle Stordeur, head of the joint French-Syrian archaeological mission behind the discovery.

In the News
	Ancient footprints found in Mexico valley MEXICO CITY - A trail of 13 fossilized footprints running through a valley in a desert in northern Mexico could be among the oldest in the Americas, Mexican archeologists said. The footprints were made by hunter gatherers who are believed to have lived thousands of years ago in the Coahuila valley of Cuatro Cienegas, 190 miles (306 kms) south of Eagle Pass, Texas, said archaeologist Yuri de la Rosa Gutierrez of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Invaluable papyrus published at last Scholars turned out in force on Thursday night for the launch of the first full edition of the Derveni Papyrus at the Archaeological Museum of Thessaloniki. The oldest book in Europe, the Derveni Papyrus is an Orphic, eschatological text that discusses the fate of the soul and the role of the Furies. A mystic, often allegorical text, it was written in the last quarter of the fourth century BC. Scholars who have studied it describe it as «the most significant new evidence about ancient Greek philosophy and religion since the Renaissance. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	200,000 years for all trace of Man to vanish from the Earth Light pollution would be the first to go, followed by fields, buildings and cities IF MAN were to vanish from the face of the Earth today, his footprint on the planet would linger for the mere blink of an eye in geological terms. Within hours, nature would begin to eradicate its impact. In 50,000 years all that would remain would be archaeological traces. Only radioactive materials and a few man-made chemical contaminants would last longer — an invisible legacy. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Human figures, wild animal reliefs unearthed in 11,000-year-old Göbeklitepe tumulus ANKARA - Turkish Daily News A team of archaeologists working at the Göbeklitepe tumulus in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa came across human figures without heads as well as reliefs of scorpions, snakes and wild birds on obelisks belonging to the Neolithic period, the head of the team announced on Monday. Speaking at a press conference at the ancient city, excavation team leader Klaus Schmidt of the German Archeological Institute in Berlin stated that Göbeklitepe was an 11,000-year-old site of worship established by the hunter-gatherer people of the time. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Rapid Sea Level Rise in the Arctic Ocean May Alter Views of Human Migration Scientists have found new evidence that the Bering Strait near Alaska flooded into the Arctic Ocean about 11,000 years ago, about 1,000 years earlier than widely believed, closing off the land bridge thought to be the major route for human migration from Asia to the Americas. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Human skulls are 'oldest Americans' Tests on skulls found in Mexico suggest they are almost 13,000 years old - and shed fresh light on how humans colonised the Americas. The human skulls are the oldest tested so far from the continent, and their shape is set to inflame further a controversy over native American burial rights. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Tourists flock to Bosnian hills; experts mock amateur archaeologist's pyramid claims In Bosnia's Valley of the Pyramids, only one man is king. Semir Osmanagic, new-age philosopher and amateur archaeologist, splits his time between Texas and Sarajevo, but these days is mostly to be found scraping away at a hillside 40 minutes north of the Bosnian capital. It is here that he claims to have made the most extraordinary discovery of the millennium: Europe's only pyramids, dating back to the late Ice Age, exceeding in scale and perfection those of ancient Egypt or Latin America. "This is the most magnificent construction complex built on the face of the planet," he said. "These pyramids are so old and so unique, it's hard to compare them to anything else in the world." (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Researchers link ice-age climate-change records to ocean salinity Using chemical traces in fossil shells of microscopic planktonic life forms, called formanifera, in deep-sea sediment cores, scientists reconstructed a 45,000- to 60,000-year-old record of ocean temperature and salinity. They compared their results to the record of abrupt climate change recorded in ice cores from Greenland. They found the Atlantic got saltier during cold periods, and fresher during warm intervals. "The freshening likely reflects shifts in rainfall patterns, mostly in the tropics," Howard Spero of the University of California at Davis said. "Suddenly, we're looking at a record that links moisture balance in the tropics to climate change. And the most striking thing is that a measurable transition is happening over decades." (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Archaeologists find 11-millennium-old building in Syria DAMASCUS (AFP) - Archaeologists said they have discovered an 11-millennium-old building with on the banks of the Euphrates River in northern Syria. "A remarkable discovery has just been uncovered of a large circular building dating back to 8,800 BC near (the locality of) Ja'de," the head of the French archaeologal team that made the find told AFP. The building, much larger than normal houses, "had a collective use, probably for all of the village or a group," Eric Coqueugniot said. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Delving deep into Britain's past Scientists are to begin work on the second phase of a project aimed at piecing together the history of human colonisation in Britain. Phase one of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project (AHOB) discovered people were here 200,000 years earlier than previously thought. Phase two has now secured funds to the tune of £1m and will run until 2010. Team members hope to find out more about Britain's earliest settlers and perhaps unearth their fossil remains. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	9,500-year-old decorated skulls found in Syria 24 September 2006 DAMASCUS - Archaeologists said Sunday they had uncovered decorated human skulls dating back as long as 9,500 years ago from a burial site near the Syrian capital Damascus. “The human skulls date back between 9,500 and 9,000 years ago, (on which) lifelike faces were modelled with clay earth ... then coloured to accentuate the features,” said Danielle Stordeur, head of the joint French-Syrian archaeological mission behind the discovery. (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )
	Scientist: Humans Strange, Neanderthals Normal Neanderthals are often thought of as the stray branch in the human family tree, but research now suggests the modern human is likely the odd man out. "What people tend to do is draw a line from our ancestors straight to ourselves, and any group that doesn't seem to fit on that line is divergent, distinct, unusual, strange," researcher Erik Trinkaus, an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, told LiveScience today. "But in terms of evolution of our family tree, the genus Homo, we're the outliers and the Neanderthals are more toward the core." Humans are not at the inevitable end of a sequence, Trinkaus said. "It just happens that we happen to be alive today and Neanderthals are not." (Follow the Link. Get the whole story . . . )

© All content copyright 2006 Mark Barnette. All Rights Reserved.