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POPSCaral: The first city in the New World A brief article on a stunning archaeological discovery in South America. About six years ago, Peruvian/American archaeologist Ruth Shady , introduced the "oldest city in America" to the world. It was Caral; an ancient city on the Pacific coast of Peru, with trade centers, temples and a pyramid complex not less impressive than its counterparts in Mexico and Guatemala. The most exciting thing about Caral was its age: The city was carbon dated to ca. 3000 BCE, which strongly suggested a radical change in history textbooks. All evidence show Caral was not an exception in the region and there are many more ancient towns, waiting to be discovered. Another interesting thing about Caral is, its surprisingly peaceful social order. Archaeologists found no city walls, no forts, no signs of an army and even not a single weapon in Caral. Once again, thanks to Ruth Shady for this fantastic discovery.
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POPSArt of the DEAD: Ancient Irish High Cross Art
"About 200 of them survive, in varying condition, many of them decorated with scriptural scenes. This iconography, some of it simple, some of it ingeniously complex, has been meticulously explored by archaeologist/art historian Dr Peter Harbison in his definitive three volume study, The High Crosses of Ireland (Bonn, 1992). It is a major work which is yet to be published in Ireland. In it Harbison has identified ancient Christian Rome from AD 400 onwards as the most likely inspiration for the Irish crosses, "but the figure sculpture may have come to our shores largely through the filter of the empire of Charlemagne and his sons in central Europe". The compositions for the biblical panels on the Irish crosses are often similar to those found on frescoes in continental churches. " During the past 20 years or so, several of the high crosses have been moved indoors in an attempt to prevent further erosion. One of the first to be relocated was the cross at the Rock of Cashel which was re
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POPSIs Phaistos Disc a forgery? If Dr. Jerome Eisenberg's claims are true, then it means the Phaistos Disc discovery of 1908 deserves to be recorded as "the biggest archaeological hoax of the century". Could it be possible? Could all the archaeologists and experts of the past 100 years who curiously examined the disc, fail to spot a professionally done forgery? I doubt it but we'll learn the truth soon.
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POPSThe World's Oldest Temple - 12,000 year-old Gobekli Tepe From Archaeology Magazine's November/December 2008 issue... The press here is fond of calling the site "the Turkish Stonehenge," but the comparison hardly does justice to this 25-acre arrangement of at least seven stone circles. The first structures at Göbekli Tepe were built as early as 10,000 B.C., predating their famous British counterpart by about 7,000 years.
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POPSAboriginal Rock Art at Risk But the peninsula is also seeing increasing industrial activity, including a gas processing plant, a fertiliser factory and iron ore port facilities, making it the only place in Australia to feature on the World Monuments Fund's list of the most endangered sites. Smalldon believes the rock art has suffered since mining took off in the Pilbara, which holds some of the richest mineral deposits on earth, in the 1960s. "We had nearly one million panels of rock art," Smalldon said.
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POPSExplore Peru's oldest city We owe this amazing discovery to a devoted Peruvian/American archaeologist, Ruth Shady, who has spent her last 12 years unearthing Caral - the ancient city that would change the history textbooks. Applauses to Ruth.
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POPSInside the palace of Augustus - pics Lived in by Augustus before he became Rome's first emperor in 27BC, the house is situated above the grotto where Romans may have worshipped Romulus, the city's founder, and was also handy for watching horse racing in the Circus Maximus at the foot of the hill. "Augustus wanted to be near the grotto, but could also see the races from up here," said Italy's culture minister, Francesco Rutelli. The restoration, begun after the house was found in the 1970s, has reconstructed shattered frescoes in deep reds, yellows and blues featuring theatrical masks and mythical animals. "The extremely high quality of the frescoes befits the owner, although these were the fashions of the time and don't offer much insight into Augustus's individual taste," said Angelo Bottini, Rome's archaeological chief. Tourists - who will be allowed in five at a time - may be surprised to see how modest the study, bedroom, entrance hall and dining room were. Augustus, Julius Caesar's great nephew, avoided excess
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POPSAncient cave found under church Half a dozen sources (including Fox News) used this news story with the headline "First Church In The World". Of course, they also omitted archaeologist Thomas Parker's words: "It's quite possible that there was a cave with earlier occupation which was later converted to Christian use. But to make the jump that this was actually used by Christians fleeing Jerusalem in the 1st century A.D. seems like a stretch to me."
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POPSRise of man theory ‘out by 400,000 years’ A very controversial, unorthodox and exciting new theory on the history of humanity. Professor Helmut Ziegert from Germany, a very experienced and bright archaeologist, comes up with new findings that could shake all we know about the distant past of homo sapiens and the starting point of the Neolitic Age, which was the beginning of our civilization. Sean Kingsley, an archaeologist and the managing editor of Minerva, said: “This research is nothing less than a quantum leap in our understanding of Man’s intellectual and social history. For archaeology it’s as radical as finding life on Mars. “As a veteran of over 81 archaeological surveys and excavations . . . Ziegert is nothing if not scientifically cautious, which makes the current revelation all the more exciting.”
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POPSFake eye - prosthetics from 4,800 years ago. Harris said the primary reason for the artificial eyeball would not have been medical. "She could have worn a patch, but perhaps her family wanted her to look her best for public appearances," he explained. Damn the wealthy!!;) I'm sure all the other girls back then would have wanted the fake eye too.
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POPSNoble or savage? We have been solving them, too. Pessimists will point out that each solution only brings us face to face with the next crisis, optimists that no crisis has proved insoluble yet.
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