Free Republic

One day, or perhaps one night, in the late seventh century an unknown party traveled along an old Roman road that cut across an uninhabited heath fringed by forest in the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. Possibly they were soldiers, or then again maybe thieves—the remote area would remain notorious for highwaymen for centuries—but at any rate they were not casual travelers. Stepping off the road near the rise of a small ridge, they dug a pit and buried a stash of treasure in the ground. For 1,300 years the treasure lay undisturbed, and eventually the landscape evolved from forest clearing...

A series of scientific tests are now being carried out to find the age of the boat which could be from 1,000BC to 600AD - from the Iron Age to the time of the Anglo-Saxons. After the boat was carefully excavated from 2m of silt clay it was taken to the York Archaeological Trust where preservation work and extensive dating tests, including soil and pollen dating, will be carried out to pinpoint the age of the boat.... The discovery is the third major archaeological find in the region during the last few months, with evidence of a human settlement from...

There is then the larger question of the Iranian theocracy and its continual, arrogant intervention in our affairs: its export of violence and cruelty and lies to Lebanon and Palestine and Iraq and its unashamed defiance of the United Nations, the European Union, and the International Atomic Energy Agency on the nontrivial matter of nuclear weapons. I am sure that I was as impressed as anybody by our president's decision to quote Martin Luther King—rather late in the week—on the arc of justice and the way in which it eventually bends. It was just that in a time of crisis...

SUNDAY DECEMBER 02 2001 Genetic survey reveals hidden Celts of England JOHN ELLIOTT AND TOM ROBBINS THE Celts of Scotland and Wales are not as unique as some of them like to think. New research has revealed that the majority of Britons living in the south of England share the same DNA as their Celtic counterparts. The findings, based on the DNA analysis of more than 2,000 people, poses the strongest challenge yet to the conventional historical view that the ancient Britons were forced out of most of England by hordes of Anglo-Saxon invaders. It suggests that far from being ...

It's the end of the world!! Head for the hills!!! No, wait. Don't head for the hills—they're full of Islamist terrorist camps. Let me put it in a slightly bigger nutshell: much of what we loosely call the Western world will not survive the twenty-first century, and much of it will effectively disappear within our lifetimes, including many if not most European countries. There'll probably still be a geographical area on the map marked as Italy or the Netherlands—probably—just as in Istanbul there's still a building known as Hagia Sophia, or St. Sophia's Cathedral. But it's not a cathedral; it's...

A stone marking a pet cat's grave fetched more than £200,000 at Sotheby's yesterday after experts said it was a 1,100-year-old Anglo-Saxon carving. The relief depicting St Peter was found in a salvage yard 20 years ago by a stonemason, Johnny Beeston, who took it back to his home in Dowlish Wake, Somerset, where he and his wife Ruth decided it would make a headstone for their cat Winkle. After Chris Brewchorne, an amateur archaeologist from the town, realised its significance as he walked past, experts identified it as probably part of a Christian cross from 900AD. Yesterday an anonymous...

The ancient split between the English and Scots is older than previously thought, an Oxford don said today. Traditionally the difference between the English and Scots, Welsh, Irish and Cornish was attributed to the foreign influence of invading forces such as the Anglo-Saxons, Celts and Vikings settling in different areas of Britain hundreds of years ago. But Professor Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford University, believes the difference originates much further back in history. In a book tracing humankind from its origins in Africa 80,000 years ago, Prof Oppenheimer develops a theory of the original inhabitants of Britain. The professor of clinical...

10:43am (UK)Fabulous Finds as Saxon King's Tomb Is Unearthed By Tony Jones, PA News The tomb of an East Saxon king containing a fabulous collection of artefacts has been unearthed, it was announced today. The burial chamber, believed to date from the early 7th century, has been described by experts as the richest Anglo-Saxon find since the Sutton Hoo ship burial in Suffolk – one of Britain’s most important archaeological locations. The site in Prittlewell, Southend, Essex was filled with everything a King might need in the afterlife, from his sword and shield to copper bowls, glass vessels and treasures...