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A gigantic, previously unknown set of galaxies has been found in the distant universe, shedding light on the underlying skeleton of the cosmos. "Matter is not distributed uniformly in the universe," said Masayuki Tanaka, an astronomer with the European Southern Observatory (ESO) who helped discover the galactic assemblage. "In our cosmic vicinity, stars form in galaxies and galaxies usually form groups and clusters of galaxies." But those collections of matter are just small potatoes compared to larger structures long-theorized to exist. "The most widely accepted cosmological theories predict that matter also clumps on a larger scale in the so-called 'cosmic...

DALLAS — The skeletal remains of a 93-year-old woman may have remained on a couch in her living room for months while other people continued living in the house, authorities said. Neighbors reported seeing cars come and go from the home as recently as this week before police, doing a welfare check at the request of a neighbor, found a body inside Monday.

Skeleton May Show Ancient Brain Surgery The skeleton of a young woman from a 3rd century A.D. grave in Veria, northern Greece, is seen in this undated handout photo provided by the Greek Culture Ministry on Tuesday, March 11, 2008. Archaeologists believe a large hole on the front of the skull, above the eyes, was caused by -- apparently failed -- brain surgery nearly 1,800 years ago. Although references to such delicate operations abound in ancient writings, discoveries of surgically perforated skulls are uncommon in Greece. (AP Photo/Greek Culture Ministry) (AP) -- Greek archaeologists said Tuesday they have unearthed rare...

Skeleton could hold secret to Stonehenge The skeleton discovered at Stonehenge in 1978, which has been on display in Salisbury Museum. A SKELETON, which has been on prominent display in Salisbury Museum for nearly a decade, could hold the secret to Stonehenge's mysterious past and show the site to be an arena of gladiatorial combat, an archaeological expert has claimed. The skeleton, that of a man who had been killed by arrows in 2,300 BC, was discovered in the ditch surrounding the stones during excavation work, carried out by Professor Richard Atkinson and J.G Evans in 1978. After being analysed,...

Many historians have assumed that Europe’s deadliest plague, the Black Death of 1347 to 1351, killed indiscriminately, young and old, hardy and frail, healthy and sick alike. But two anthropologists were not so sure. They decided to take a closer look at the skeletons of people buried more than 650 years ago. Their findings, published on Monday in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that the plague selectively took the already ill, while many of the otherwise healthy survived the infection. Although it may not be surprising that healthy people would be more likely to survive an...

"Skeleton of Giant" Is Internet Photo Hoax James Owen for National Geographic News December 14, 2007 The National Geographic Society has not discovered ancient giant humans, despite rampant reports and pictures. The hoax began with a doctored photo and later found a receptive online audience—thanks perhaps to the image's unintended religious connotations. A digitally altered photograph created in 2002 shows a reclining giant surrounded by a wooden platform—with a shovel-wielding archaeologist thrown in for scale. (Photo Gallery: "Giant Skeletons" Fuel Web Hoax) By 2004 the "discovery" was being blogged and emailed all over the world—"Giant Skeleton Unearthed!"—and it's been enjoying...

Skeleton find points to ancient murder Science writer | December 21, 2007 A BURNT skeleton found beneath a bus shelter in northern Sydney is proof of murder - 4000 years ago. The victim, a tall, well-built man in his mid-30s, was set on by spear-wielding attackers, who then set his body alight and left it unburied on the crest of a sand dune. Peter Veth, an archeologist with the National Centre of Indigenous Studies at the Australian National University in Canberra, said: "This is the first example of death by spearing from Australia. The find is highly significant for Australian...

Found in a farmer's field: The 2,000-year-old skeleton of the lost lady of Rome By CHRIS BROOKE Last updated at 09:14am on 23rd November 2007 In her lifetime she was a member of a wealthy family based in a bustling British outpost of the world's mightiest empire. The imperial glory has long faded. But, almost 2,000 years on, archaeologists have discovered a corner of an English field that is forever Rome. They have unearthed a coffin containing a remarkably well-preserved skeleton in the village of Aldborough, near Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire - once the site of a major Roman town, Isurium...

Ancient skeleton was 'even older' The burial site was in Goat's Hole Cave at Paviland on Gower The Red Lady of Paviland has always been a little coy about her age - but it appears she may be 4,000 years older than previously thought. Scientists say more accurate tests date the earliest human burial found in the UK to just over 29,000 years ago. When discovered in a cave on Gower in the 1820s the bones were thought to be around 18,000 years old, but were later redated to between 25,000 and 26,000. Researchers said it casts a new light...

Marine scientists in Canada and abroad are puzzled by bizarre photographs that appear to show the skeleton of a large mammal jutting out of an iceberg that recently drifted past Newfoundland's east coast. The six pictures show what looks like a brown rib cage and spinal column, slightly bent, sticking out of a crust of ice. But researchers throughout Canada, Greenland and Norway are unable to determine the origin of the skeleton, said Garry Stenson, a marine mammal scientist with the federal Fisheries Department. "It's definitely unusual," Stenson said Monday. "It's not something that I've encountered before." His colleagues have...

Rare skeleton, jewels found in Bolivia pyramid Wed May 2, 2007 9:46PM BST TIWANAKU, Bolivia (Reuters) - Archeologists have uncovered the 1,300-year-old skeleton of a ruler or priest of the ancient Tiwanaku civilization together with precious jewels inside a much-looted pyramid in western Bolivia. The bones are "in very good condition" and belong to either "a ruler or a priest," Roger Angel Cossio, the Bolivian archeologist who made the discovery, told Reuters on Wednesday. He said the tomb -- containing a diadem and fist-sized carved pendant of solid gold -- survived centuries of looting by Spanish invaders and unscrupulous raiders...

Skeleton holds key to origin of man By Roger Highfield, Science Editor Last Updated: 2:24am BST 03/04/2007 A skeleton of a possible hybrid between modern and more ancient humans has been found in China, which challenges the theory that modern man originated in Africa. Most experts believe that our ancestors emerged in Africa more than 150,000 years ago and then migrated around the world. However, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof Erik Trinkaus and colleagues provide details of a skeleton found in 2003 from Tianyuan Cave near Beijing. The skeleton is 42,000 to 38,500 years old,...

Researchers Find Ancient Couple in Single Grave The remains of two people were discovered in a grave from the Neolithic age in the Yeosoo area of South Cheolla Province. It is the first time that bones from two people have been unearthed from the same Neolithic grave. Gwangju National Museum chief Cho Hyun-jong who led the excavation of the shell mound grave said that the taller of the two skeletons, at 158 cm, had a shell bracelet on the right arm and belonged to a woman. The gender of the other person who was 165 cm has not yet been...

Skeleton crew digs up the past The skeleton of an Anglo-Saxon lord has been recovered as the hunt for buried treasure continues at a city allotment site. The removal of the seventh Century body follows the discovery of a rare ceremonial brass bowl on the site at Palmerston Road, Woodston, Peterborough. The priceless Coptic bowl, which was made more than 1,300 years ago in the Mediterranean, has led historical experts to conclude they had discovered the grave of an extremely wealthy Anglo-Saxon – probably a prince or a powerful warlord from the ancient kingdom of Mercia. Excavation by archaeologists from...

Shackled skeleton found in Ávila By h.b. Wed, 31 Jan 2007, 14:05 The famous Ávila city walls in recent snow - Photo EFE A skeleton tied up with shackles and chains and thought to date from the Middle Ages has been found in an archaeological dig in Ávila, behind the city’s Church of San Pedro. It’s the second such find in the city, although coming in a different place, and it has led experts to think that death occurred during some form of punishment. Tomorrow, Thursday the latest find will be taken to the Provincial Museum where the skeleton will...

Penon WomanPenon WomanScientists in Britain have identified the oldest skeleton ever found on the American continent in a discovery that raises fresh questions about the accepted theory of how the first people arrived in the New World. The skeleton's perfectly preserved skull belonged to a 26-year-old woman who died during the last ice age on the edge of a giant prehistoric lake which once formed around an area now occupied by the sprawling suburbs of Mexico City. Scientists from Liverpool's John Moores University and Oxford's Research Laboratory of Archaeology have dated the skull to about 13,000 years old, making it...

The skeleton of the fossilised, 3.2 million-year-old human ancestor known as Lucy, will go on display in the US, Ethiopian officials say. After four years of negotiations with the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Texas, Ethiopia agreed to lend the bones for scientific study until 2013. It is hoped Lucy's 11-leg tour will boost tourism and increase Ethiopia's profile as the "home of all humanity". She will leave her country of origin - and the origin of mankind - in June. As well as Lucy, the travelling exhibition will also include about 190 other Ethiopian artefacts including humankind's earliest...

Although the Republican National Committee chairman this week called her “a prehistoric Democrat,” and Rep. Nancy Pelosi referred to herself as “an Italian-American Catholic grandmother,” archaeologists in Rome today said there is no conclusive connection between Rep. Pelosi and a recently unearthed 3,000-year-old female skeleton. While some Congressional Republicans point out that the House Minority Leader and the 10th century B.C. skeleton have never been seen in public together, archaeologists call that evidence “circumstantial and speculative.” “We would have to take DNA samples to be sure,” said the unnamed researcher, who noted that “just in case, the dig team has...

ROME - Archaeologists said Tuesday they have dug up a woman skeleton dating to the 10th century B.C. in an ancient necropolis in the heart of Rome. The well-preserved skeleton appears to be that of a woman aged about 30, said Anna De Santis, one of the archaeologists who took part in the excavations under the Caesar's Forum, part of the sprawling complex of the Imperial Forums in central Rome. An amber necklace and four pins were also found near the 5.25 foot-long skeleton, she said. The bones, dug up Monday, would likely be put on display in a museum...

Mammoth skeleton found in Siberia By James Rodgers BBC News, Moscow It is rare to find mammoth remains in such good condition Fishermen in Siberia have discovered the complete skeleton of a mammoth - a find which Russian experts have described as very rare. The remains appeared when flood waters receded in Russia's Krasnoyarsk region. The mammoth's backbone, skull, teeth and tusks all survived intact. It appears to have died aged about 50. Mammoths lived in Africa, Europe, Asia and North America between about 1.6 million years ago and 10,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. Alexander Kerzhayev, deputy director...

EXPERTS FIND RARE ROMANI DNA IN NORWICH ANGLO SAXON SKELETON By Sarah Morley 12/05/2006 The recent discovery of Romani DNA in an Anglo Saxon skeleton has made experts re-think the nature of the city's early population. Picture courtesy Sophie Cabot. © HEART Experts from Norfolk Archaeology Unit based at Norwich Castle have discovered a rare form of mitochondrial DNA identified as Romani in a skeleton discovered during excavations in a large area of Norwich for the expansion of the castle mall. The DNA was found in an 11th century young adult male skeleton, and with the first recorded arrival of...

Ancient American Skeleton Has European DNA Link[Original headline: Sinkhole Skeleton Skeleton’s DNA Could Shed Light on American Migrations] Vanlue, Ohio [AP] — The discovery of prehistoric tools from an Ohio cave is one of several finds that has scientists questioning the identity of settlers thought to have moved in 11,000 years ago. A just completed excavation of Sheriden Cave in Wyandot County, 100 miles southwest of Cleveland, revealed tools made from flaked stone and bone. The items are scheduled to go on display next year at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. Kent State University archaeologist Kenneth Tankersley, who led...

UD anthropologist finds signs of evolution in ancient skeleton Karen Rosenberg, chairperson and associate professor of anthropology at UD 10:03 a.m., March 2, 2006--Recent analysis of a Stone Age skeleton shows that human brain size relative to body size had increased dramatically from ancestors by the Middle Pleistocene, about 260,000 years ago, Karen Rosenberg, chairperson and associate professor of anthropology at the University of Delaware, said. Rosenberg, who analyzed the fossil with Lü Zuné of Peking University in Beijing and Chris B. Ruff, director of the Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine...

CESANA, Italy - Zach Lund, the top slider on the U.S. skeleton team, was banned from the Turin Olympics on Friday for taking a common hair-restoration pill that can be used to mask steroids. The Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that Lund should serve a one-year suspension, retroactive to Nov. 10 and enforced immediately. Lund told CAS that he was misled by the Web site for the governing body of his sport, which listed finasteride both as a "prohibited substance" and a "specified substance." Lund told CAS he failed to check the prohibited list in 2005. The CAS panel...

Archeologists Unearth 1,300 Skeletons Jan 24, 2006 A large medieval cemetery containing around 1,300 skeletons has been discovered in the central English city of Leicester, archaeologists said Tuesday. The bones were found during a dig before the site is developed as part of a 350 million-pound ($630 million) shopping mall. University of Leicester archaeologists say the find promises to shed new light on the way people lived and died in the Middle Ages. "We think, probably outside London, this must be one of the largest parish graveyards ever excavated," said Richard Buckley, director of University of Leicester Archaeology Services. "Archaeology...

The Japan Times, March 9, 1997Descendant of Stone Age skeleton found LONDON (Reuter) British scientists Saturday celebrated their feat of tracing a living descendant of a 9,000-year-old skeleton and establishing the world's oldest known family tree. In an astonishing piece of detective work, they matched mitochondrial DNA material extracted from the tooth cavity of Britain's oldest complete skeleton with that of a 42-year-old history teacher, Adrian Targett. The genetic material showed without doubt that Targett is a direct descendant through his mother's line of the skeleton known as Cheddar Man, which was found in 1903 in caves in Cheddar Gorge...

BreakPoint with Charles Colson January 4, 2005 Note: This commentary was delivered by Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley. On Election Day, initiatives defining marriage as one man and one woman passed overwhelmingly in all eleven states that had them on the ballot. But this victory isn’t necessarily permanent. Unless we continue to make a compelling case for the sanctity of marriage, public opinion is quite likely to drift in the other direction. And it’s going to be increasingly difficult to make that case unless we deal with some of the skeletons in our own closet. Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, a...

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez urged Venezuelan parents not to dress their children in costumes for Halloween, calling it a U.S. custom that has no place in the South American country's cultural traditions. Speaking during his weekly radio and television show Sunday, Chavez called Halloween a "gringa," or North American, custom. "Families go and begin to disguise their children as witches," Chavez said. "That is contrary to our ways." Chavez said he was urging Venezuelans to reflect on the subject. In recent years it has become common to see Venezuelan parents holding parties for children dressed as ghouls,...

Iran: Female Gambler Skeleton Comes out of Grave Tehran, 4 October 2005 (CHN) – Archaeologists excavating the ancient cemetery of Gohar Tepe of Mazandaran, north of Iran, discovered some 600 pieces of bone used in a gambling game inside the tomb of a woman. Gohar Tepe is one of the key archaeological sites of Mazandaran province, providing experts with surprising ancient evidence in the last four seasons of work there. People resided in the region since 5000 years ago to the first millennium BC, enjoying a civilization and urban life characteristics. The game pieces found in the tomb belong to...

Scientists to begin study of ancient skeleton over Indian protest By William McCall ASSOCIATED PRESS 2:05 p.m. June 28, 2005 PORTLAND, Ore. – After nearly a decade of court battles, scientists plan to begin studying the 9,300-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man next week. A team of scientists plans to examine the bones at the University of Washington's Burke Museum in Seattle beginning July 6, according to their attorney, Alan Schneider. Four Northwest Indian tribes had opposed the study, claiming the skeleton could be an ancestor who should be buried. The Interior Department and the Army Corps of Engineers had...

LOS ANGELES (AP) - A human skeleton found in the chimney of an abandoned South Los Angeles building last week was probably there for two years, authorities said Monday. The remains belonged to a young black male between the ages of 13 and 19 and there were no signs of trauma to the body, county coroner's spokesman Craig Harvey said. A forensic anthropologist examined the skeleton on Monday and determined the time of death to be about two years ago. Children discovered the remains Friday while looking for a ball on the roof of a building near Main and 89th...

The Lagoa Santa (or "Luzia") Group (Minas Gerais, Brasil) A skull belonging to a roughly 20 year old woman was unearthed in Brazil by the French archaeologist Annette Laming-Emperaire in the 1970s. She died before being able to do much work on her dicovery. Annette Laming-Emperaire at work in her Lapa Vermelha excavation. The skull was later re-discovered by Brazilian Prof. Walter Neves and analyzed. He also excavated more remains in the same cemetery-like site where the original "Luzia" had been found. Neves named the ancient lady "Luzia" in analogy to the famous and much older African "Lucy" - the...

3,000-Year-Old Bodies Studied in Australia 25 minutes ago Add Science - AP to My Yahoo! SYDNEY, Australia - Headless bodies buried 3,000 years ago in the oldest cemetery in the Pacific could reveal much about the earliest settlers of Vanuatu, Fiji and Polynesia, Australian archeologists said on Friday. The burial site — which was accidentally uncovered by a bulldozer driver building an embankment for a prawn farm — contains the oldest human remains yet found in the region. Archeologists say the discovery will unearth many clues about the appearance and culture of the Lapita people — some of the earliest...

Scientists Win New Battle Over Skeleton Tue Apr 20, 7:34 AM ET PORTLAND, Ore. - Anthropologists seeking to study the ancient Kennewick Man skeleton scored another victory when the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a request by four Northwest tribes for a rehearing in the lengthy dispute. Tribal lawyers sought to have the case reheard by the full court after a three-judge panel ruled in February that the tribes had no right to the 9,300-year-old remains under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. A brief order issued Monday by the court denied the request from the...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Denying a request by American Indian tribes who sought an immediate burial, a U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that scientists should be allowed to continue testing on a 9,000-year-old skeleton. "It's terrific," said Robson Bonnichsen director of Texas A&M University's Center for the Study of the First Americans and a plaintiff in the case. "The court has upheld the principle for scientific study of very early human remains." The legal battle pitting Bonnichsen and seven other scientists against the U.S. government and Indian tribes dates back to 1996, after two teenagers discovered a skeleton near...

Earlier I posted an article titled Bye, Bye Beringia (8,000 Year Old Site In Florida. I just turned on The Learning Channel and caught about ten minutes of the ending of a program titled, 'Secrets Of The Bog People: Windover', it is about this 'Windover' site in Florida. A doctor Gregory from Cornell said that preliminary DNA samples taken from the brains of some of the people indicate they are European. They also showed a reconstructed face of one of the skulls. I checked my TLC schedule and it indicates that another showing will be at 11:00PM CST tonight. This...

Cave skeleton is European, 1,300 years old. Sunday September 29, 2002 By Rick Steelhammer STAFF WRITER MORGANTOWN — The man who first advanced the theory that markings carved on in a Wyoming County cave are actually characters from an ancient Irish alphabet has found human remains at the site, which tests indicate are European in origin and date back to A.D. 710, he maintains. Robert Pyle of Morgantown says that a DNA analysis of material from the skeleton’s teeth roots was conducted by Brigham Young University. That analysis, he says, shows that the skeleton’s DNA, when compared to samples from...

"Lammentations of a Dieter" Posted by Doc Farmer < http://www.chronwatch.com/site_search.asp?auth=90 > Saturday, May 24, 2003 I've made no secret of the fact that I'm fat, bald, and ugly. For those who think I'm putting myself down, though, I'm not. There's a difference between that and simple honesty of self. If I can't be honest with myself, how can I be expected to be honest with anybody else? That said, though, I don't like being fat. Bald is okay, mind you (thank God for the Gillette Mach 3) and ugly keeps me from being mistaken for a Hollywood type. But fat...

Tribes fail to halt study of ancient skeleton 01/09/03 RICHARD L. HILL Four Northwest tribes lost another round in federal court Wednesday in their effort to halt a scientific study of the ancient skeleton called Kennewick Man.U.S. Magistrate John Jelderks in Portland rejected the tribes' request to delay the study until the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals can hear the legal dispute. In August, Jelderks ruled that eight anthropologists who sued the federal government could proceed to study the 9,300-year-old remains. The Nez Perce, Umatilla, Colville and Yakama tribes appealed his decision and later asked Jelderks to delay the...

LONDON (Reuters) - British scientists have found the remains of a man who died of tuberculosis more than 2,200 years ago, shattering theories the deadly disease was brought to England by the conquering armies of ancient Rome. The Iron Age skeleton was found in a pit in the tiny village of Tarrant Hinton in southwest England. His damaged spine led scientists to suspect he was a tuberculosis victim and DNA tests confirmed it. Carbon dating shows he lived between 400 and 230 BC, long before Julius Caesar launched Rome's first tentative invasion of Britain in 55 BC. "It's tremendously important,"...

Cave skeleton is European, 1,300 years old, man says Archaeologist group wants a look at evidence Sunday September 29, 2002 By Rick Steelhammer STAFF WRITER MORGANTOWN — The man who first advanced the theory that markings carved on in a Wyoming County cave are actually characters from an ancient Irish alphabet has found human remains at the site, which tests indicate are European in origin and date back to A.D. 710, he maintains. Robert Pyle of Morgantown says that a DNA analysis of material from the skeleton’s teeth roots was conducted by Brigham Young University. That analysis, he says, shows...

Wednesday, 4 September, 2002, 18:32 GMT 19:32 UKNeanderthal skeleton rediscovered Neanderthals became extinct more than 20,000 years ago By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor The beautifully preserved and extremely rare skeleton of a newborn Neanderthal, thought to have been lost to science for almost 90 years, has been rediscovered. It could lead to new insights into the evolution of modern humans and our relationship with our extinct cousins. Anthropologists during the first half of the 20th Century were not interested in juvenile specimens Bruno Maureille The fossil is of a baby Neanderthal that was just four months...

Skeleton 'may be John the Baptist' A professor claims a skeleton discovered near where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found may be the remains of John the Baptist. He suggests the phrophet who annointed Christ may also have been the leader of the tribe to which the burial ground belonged. Israeli archaelogists say his theory is far-fetched and that the burial site unearthed is probably that of an 18th century Bedouin man. US professor Richard Freund at a Centre for Judaic Studies in Connecticut, has been art of an expedition in the Judean Desert. Professor Freund says there is "circumstantial...

1,900-year-old skeleton dug up nearly intact By Erika Schmidt Russell, Community Editor May 10, 2002 Erika Schmidt Russell/The Register The skeleton of a woman buried 1,900 to 1,400 years ago was discovered when archeologists were working on the now defunct Lawrenceburg west-side levee project. Forget celebrating 200 years in Lawrenceburg, try celebrating 2,000 years or 10,000 years. People have been settling along this portion of the Ohio River for thousands of years. A recent archaeological dig for the defunct west-side levee project unearthed evidence of human settlement in the bottoms along the riverbank and Tanners Creek, dating to 6400 B.C....

Egypt announces discovery of 30,000 year-old skeleton Wednesday, 8 May 2002 The skeleton of a human being who lived more than 30,000 years ago has been discovered in southern Egypt by Belgian archaeologists, an Egyptian official announced. "Anthropologists have set his, or her, age to be between 30,000 and 33,000 years ago," Zahi Hawass, director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said. It was the oldest skeleton ever found in northern Africa, Mr Hawass said. A team from the University of Leuven found the skeleton buried in a seated position facing east, with the head turned upward, the director of...

Egypt announces discovery of 30,000 year-old skeleton Wednesday, 8 May 2002 The skeleton of a human being who lived more than 30,000 years ago has been discovered in southern Egypt by Belgian archaeologists, an Egyptian official announced. "Anthropologists have set his, or her, age to be between 30,000 and 33,000 years ago," Zahi Hawass, director of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, said. It was the oldest skeleton ever found in northern Africa, Mr Hawass said. A team from the University of Leuven found the skeleton buried in a seated position facing east, with the head turned upward, the director of...