Free Republic

The fourth of the 12 Caesars, Caligula — officially, Gaius Julius Caesar Germanicus — was a capricious, combustible first-century populist remembered, perhaps unfairly, as the empire’s most tyrannical ruler. As reported by Suetonius, the Michael Wolff of ancient Rome, he never forgot a slight, slept only a few hours a night and married several times, lastly to a woman named Milonia. During the four years that Caligula occupied the Roman throne, his favorite hideaway was an imperial pleasure garden called Horti Lamiani, the [fake news edited out] of its day. The vast residential compound spread out on the Esquiline Hill,...

Unearthed: the humble origins of world diplomacy By David Keys, Archaeology Correspondent 19 January 2003 Archaeologists have discovered evidence of an invasion of the Middle East by one of the world's first superpowers, which destroyed much of the region 33 centuries ago. Under the ruins of a 3,800-year-old royal palace in western Syria they have found part of an ancient diplomatic and administrative library, the most important archaeological discovery of its kind for more than 20 years. Accounts on clay tablets describe the region's conquest by one of the Bronze Age's superpowers, the Hittite Empire, in 1340BC. This helped to...

Weekly Standard reporter John McCormack has unearthed an old video from 2003, when President Barack Obama was running for the U.S. Senate from Illinois, in which he defends his position favoring late-term abortions. OBAMA: “I am pro-choice.” REPORTER: “In all situations including the late term thing?” OBAMA: “I am pro-choice. I believe that women make responsible choices and they know better than anybody the tragedy of a difficult pregnancy and I don’t think that it’s the government’s role to meddle in that choice.”

BINH THUAN, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- A set of stone musical instrument dating from 3,000 years ago was unearthed by a farmer in Da Kai commune, Duc Linh district, when he dug holes for planting coffee trees, according to Vietnam news agency on Friday. The music instrument comprises of five slabs of black blue stone, which when arranged from small to big form a trapezoid. This is a typical character of ancient lithophone, different from new lithophones or sounding stone slabs. The instrument has been handed over to the Binh Thuan museum. Earlier, the Binh Thuan museum in coordination with...

DAMASCUS, Syria – Scientists have unearthed a camel jawbone in the Syrian desert that they think may be a previously unknown tiny species of the animal and say dates back a million years.

Ancient skeletons unearthed at Reepham 02 June 2008 A glimpse of mediaeval life - and death - in the heart of Norfolk has been revealed after more than 60 skeletons were found under a town centre street. Contractors charged with laying pipelines in part of Reepham, in north Norfolk, made the grim discovery as they opened a trench in the town's Church Street. But the road's name gave some clue to the fate of the bodies. Archaeology work carried out since the discovery last year has found that underneath Church Street there was part of an old graveyard. Just 70cm...

Egypt's Earliest Agricultural Settlement UnearthedA fragment of a bangle made of a shell found only at the Red Sea suggests possible trade links with the cradle of agriculture in the Near East. (Credit: Copyright UC Regents) ScienceDaily (Feb. 15, 2008) — Archaeologists from UCLA and the University of Groningen (RUG) in the Netherlands have found the earliest evidence ever discovered of an ancient Egyptian agricultural settlement, including farmed grains, remains of domesticated animals, pits for cooking and even floors for what appear to be dwellings. The findings, which were unearthed in 2006 and are still being analyzed, also suggest possible...

Church's pre-historic past unearthed Feb 14 2008 By Tony Henderson Work on a town’s church has revealed that the site may have been used for ritual and worship for thousands of years. Major refurbishment work on the Grade I-listed St Michael and All Angels church in Houghton-le-Spring, Tyne and Wear, began last month and has involved digging up the floor to install a new heating system. The church, dating back to Norman times, is the oldest building in the town. A carved stone above a tiny doorway, featuring a carving of mysterious intertwined animals known as the Houghton Beasts, may...

Quarry used for Jewish temple unearthed in Israel By Rebecca Harrison Sun Sep 23, 11:22 AM ETReuters Photo: Ultra-orthodox Jewish boys walk through a quarry in Jerusalem September 23, 2007. Israeli archaeologists have... JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Archaeologists have found an ancient quarry where King Herod's workers may have chiselled the giant stones used to rebuild the second Jewish temple in Jerusalem some 2,000 years ago. The Israel Antiquities Authority said on Sunday experts believe stones as long as 8 meters (24 feet) were extracted from the quarry and then dragged by oxen to building sites in Jerusalem for major projects...

7th Century Saxon pendant unearthedApr 10 2007 A TREASURE seeker from Shepshed has discovered a 7th Century pendant near his home. Stacey Spiby, 36, found the rare and valuable Anglo Saxon piece of jewellery while combing a nearby field with a metal detector. The oval pendant, which is about 2.5cm long and 1.8cm wide still needs to be valued, but according to Peter Liddle, Leicestershire County Council’s keeper of archaeology, it may be worth “in the region of a few thousand pounds.” Mr Liddle told the Echo:“ This find is very unusual - it is very much like the items...

Bulgaria-Unearthed Temples A Millenium Older than Egypt Pyramids Lifestyle: 18 February 2007, Sunday. Temples that archaeologists have unearthed in the eastern Rhodope Mountains in Bulgaria are about a thousand years older than the pyramids in Egypt and the Mesopotamian civilization, experts claim. Archaeologists Ana Raduncheva and Stefanka Ivanova said in an interview for BTA that the whole system of temples in the Rhodope region dated back to the Vth millenium B.C. This is almost 4,000 years before the Thracian people settled on these lands. At the end of the Chalcolithic Age, the rock temples were abandoned for a large period...

Shrouded 5000-year-old child unearthed in southeastern Iran TEHRAN, Dec. 19 (MNA) -- The skeleton of a 5000-year-old child wrapped in a winding sheet was discovered at the foot of a wall in the Taleb Khan Mound, which is located near the Burnt City in Sistan-Baluchestan Province. “The skeleton was discovered in a room of a house, while remnants of a white cloth were found around it. The cloth shows that the child had been shrouded before burial,” Mehdi Miri, the director of the archaeological team working at the site, said on Tuesday. “It was common for children to be buried...

Ancient Stonehenge Houses Unearthed Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Oct. 13, 2006 —Nine Neolithic-era buildings have been excavated in the Stonehenge world heritage site, according to a report in the journal British Archaeology. The structures, which appear to have been homes, date to 2,600-2,500 B.C. and were contemporary with the earliest stone settings at the site's famous megalith. They are the first house-like structures discovered there. Julian Thomas, who worked on the project and is chair of the archaeology department at Manchester University in England, said Stonehenge could have been a key gathering place at the Neolithic era's version of a...

8,400-year old settlement unearthed in Ýzmir’s Ulucak Tumulus Monday, September 25, 2006 ÝZMÝR - Turkish Daily News A team of archaeologists working at the Ulucak tumulus, located in Ýzmir's Kemalpaþa district, have unearthed a Neolithic settlement area dating back some 8,400 years, an archaeologist announced last week. Archaeologist Fulya Dedeoðlu of Ege University told the Doðan News Agency that excavations had been under way in the area since 1995. She said they believed their latest discovery could be the oldest settlement dating from the Neolithic period unearthed to date and added that further excavations on the lower levels could reveal...

Ancient gold treasures unearthed in Thracian tomb near Black Sea The Associated Press Published: September 4, 2006 SOFIA, Bulgaria A 2,200-year-old set of gold jewelry was unearthed from a Thracian burial mound on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast, the archaeologist who led the excavations said Monday. Daniela Agre said her team in late August found dozens of tiny jewelry pieces in the tomb of a woman, most likely a Thracian priestess, near the resort of Sinemorets, about 500 kilometers (310 miles) southeast of the capital, Sofia. The discovery included two earrings, crafted like miniature chariots, as well as parts of gold...

Tomb of 1st emperor's grandmother unearthed www.chinaview.cn 2006-07-29 20:19:32 XI'AN, July 29 (Xinhua) -- After more than a year's excavation and research in a large tomb in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Chinese archaeologists have concluded that the tomb belonged to the grandmother of Qinshihuang, the country's first emperor.   Zhang Tian'en, an expert with the Shaanxi Provincial Archaeology Institute, told Xinhua on Saturday that the tomb was chronologically the closest to the mysterious mausoleum of Qinshihuang, and was probably built on the emperor's orders. "We are hoping that the excavation of his grandmother's tomb will help unravel the mystery about...

ATHENS, Greece - A well-preserved underground tomb belonging to a prominent Roman-era family has been unearthed on the island of Crete, archaeologists said Wednesday. The large first or second century A.D. structure beside one of the main gates to the walled city of Aptera was looted during Christian times, archaeologist Vanna Niniou-Kindeli said. It still yielded a wealth of finds, including 10-inch pottery statuettes of the ancient Greek love deity Eros, glass and pottery vases and lamps. Built of large stone blocks, the grave is reached by a flight of steps. It has an antechamber and a main room measuring...

Human remains unearthed in Miami form picture of Tequesta Indian life By Madeline Baró Diaz Miami Bureau Posted January 19 2006 Ancient Florida history is meeting the modern building boom in downtown Miami, where archaeological excavations at two construction sites have unearthed 2,000-year-old human remains. Archaeologists said the discoveries are helping them piece together what life was like for the ancestors of the Tequesta Indians, who lived at the mouth of the Miami River in what is now the Brickell section of Miami. Archaeologists had previously found evidence of a village in the area, but not a cemetery. The remains...

Ancient ‘kitchen’ unearthed in southern IndianaFrom The Associated PressCHARLESTOWN — Workers building a boat ramp at southeastern Indiana’s Charlestown State Park have uncovered the apparent remains of a 4,000-year-old “kitchen” ancient American Indians tribes may have used to prepare their winter food supply. The discovery of the site in eastern Clark County prompted the state to temporarily halt work on the Ohio River boat ramp project. Bob McCullough, who heads an archaeological survey team from Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, said the low-lying area was probably used by nomadic tribes of hunters and gatherers. He said they appear to have...

Tomb of ancient coin collector unearthed www.chinaview.cn 2006-01-15 14:05:53 XI'AN, Jan. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Archaeologists in northwest China's Shaanxi Province have discovered an ancient tomb, possibly of a coin collector, dating back more than 600 years. During a recent excavation at a Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) tomb in the suburb of Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi, archaeologists found over 150 coins of different dynasties, together with 60 ceramic utensils. Twenty kinds of coins were in circulation in the dynasties of Tang (618-907), Song (960-1279) and Jin (1115-1234), spanning about 600 years. They might have been collected by the owner of the tomb...