Free Republic

Ancient corncobs unlock riddle By MIKE TONER The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Prehistoric populations in the American Southwest transported corn over long distances -- and used networks of "farm to market" roads that enabled them to support large cities in areas that were unsuitable for agriculture. New studies of ancient corncobs show that large urban complexes like Chaco Canyon that thrived a thousand years ago in New Mexico imported corn from fertile farmlands that were 50 miles or more from major population centers. Archaeologists have long wondered how the sophisticated Chaco civilization, which built huge multistory dwellings in the high desert of...

Riddle of 'Baghdad's batteries' Arran Frood investigates what could have been the very first batteries and how these important archaeological and technological artefacts are now at risk from the impending war in Iraq. I don't think anyone can say for sure what they were used for, but they may have been batteries because they do work Dr Marjorie Senechal War can destroy more than a people, an army or a leader. Culture, tradition and history also lie in the firing line. Iraq has a rich national heritage. The Garden of Eden and the Tower of Babel are said to have...

Can you find the 16 Books of the Bible hidden in the paragraph below? (One minister found 15 books in 20 minutes, but it took him weeks to find the last one.) I once made a remark about the hidden books of the Bible. It was a lulu; kept people looking so hard for the facts….and for others it was a revelation. Some were in a jam, especially since the names of the books were not capitalized. But the truth finally struck home to numbers of our readers. To others it was a real job. We want it to be...