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On this stick from the 1200s found in Bergen, two men named Sigurd and Lavran have written their names both in code and with regular runes. This helped runologist Jonas Nordby to solve the Jötunvillur code. For the first time, the Jötunvillur runic code is cracked. It can help to solve the mystery of the Vikings’ secret codes. Why did the Vikings use codes when they wrote runes? Was it a secret message or other reasons that they encrypted runic texts? This, we still know little about. But runologist Jonas Nordby think he may be one step closer to the...

The largest haul of Anglo-Saxon gold ever found has been discovered by a metal detector enthusiast on farmland in Staffordshire, it was revealed today. Experts say the hoard, which is at least as significant as any other treasure from the Anglo-Saxon era ever unearthed, is worth millions and could have belonged to a king. The discovery of at least 1,345 different items, thought to date back to the seventh century, is expected to redefine perceptions of the period. Terry Herbert, from Burntwood, Staffordshire, came across the collection as he searched a field near his home with his trusty 14-year-old detector...

Native lore tells the tale: There's been a whole lotta shakin' goin' onContact: Vince Stricherz vinces@u.washington.edu 206-543-2580 University of Washington This illustration depicts a late 19th century interior ceremonial screen from Port Alberni, on British Columbia's Vancouver Island. It shows Thunderbird carrying Whale in its talons, a common native depiction of seismic activity. The original screen is in the American Museum of Natural History. The image is taken from "Northwest Coast Painting – House Fronts and Interior Screens" by Edward Malin, ©1999, Timber Press, Portland, Ore. Stories of two-headed serpents and epic battles between Thunderbird and Whale, common among Northwest...

A researcher inspects the 5,000-year-old mummy known as Oetzi in this file photo from 2000. Oetzi is kept in a sealed-off chamber which researchers now worry may have been penetrated. Updated: 10:02 p.m. ET June 13, 2005ROME - Researchers suspect the corpse of a 5,000-year-old mummy frozen in the Italian Alps might have been contaminated by bacteria since its discovery in 1991, a doctor who cares for the body said Monday.

JERUSALEM, June 11 - Israeli doctors and scientists have succeeded in germinating a date seed nearly 2,000 years old. The seed, nicknamed Methuselah, was taken from an excavation at Masada, the cliff fortress where, in A.D. 73, 960 Jewish zealots died by their own hand, rather than surrender to a Roman assault. The point is to find out what was so exceptional about the original date palm of Judea, much praised in the Bible and the Koran for its shade, food, beauty and medicinal qualities, but long ago destroyed by the crusaders.

Archaeologists unearthed a ceramic goblet and a large number of small, silver coins in the courtyard of a house between Stepanska and Skolska streets in the centre of Prague last week, said Vojtech Kaspar from the Archaia archaeological society. The coins were minted in Kutna Hora in the middle or late 15th Century. According to experts, the finding is unique since such a large number of coins is seldom unearthed in Prague. The so-called "Lostice goblet" was covered under the floor of a Gothic stone house. Archaeologists unearthed its foundations under the tarmac covering of the courtyard. There were about...

'Old man of Chad' confirmed as first hominid (Filed: 07/04/2005) New evidence shows that a seven-million-year old skull found in the African desert belonged to one of man's earliest ancestors, reports Roger Highfield A squashed, fractured and twisted skull, which has been at the centre of controversy for three years, has been confirmed as the oldest known member of mankind. The skull, between six and seven million years old, was found in the Djurab desert of northern Chad in 2002. Sahelanthropus tchadensis was described variously as "a turning point", "a small nuclear bomb" and "the most important fossil discovery in...

Researchers find rare letters from fifth century Gaza Strip Mon Jan 24, 3:48 PM ET Mideast - AFP GENEVA (AFP) - Swiss researchers have uncovered a rare exchange of letters written in ancient Greek during the fifth century in what is now the Gaza Strip , the University of Fribourg said. The discovery offers proof of a rich intellectual society in a region that is better known today for a bitter and bloody standoff between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, said one of the researchers, Professor Jacques Schamp. Located amid mounds of manuscripts stored at the Marciana National Library in...

New theory on Stonehenge mystery Experts believe the stones may have been levered into place A fresh theory on how Stonehenge was built has been tested out by a group of experts and enthusiasts. Gordon Pipes, of the Stonehengineers group of scientists and archaeologists, has suggested that levers may have been used to move the giant stones. They have tested his "stone-rowing" theory which involves a 45-tonne stone being levered on a track of logs. "It's akin to rowing a boat, weights can be picked up with levers using body mass and balance," said Mr Pipes. Mr Pipes, from Derby,...

Pompeii's burial not its first disaster Sid Perkins From Denver, at a meeting of the Geological Society of America Recent excavations reveal that the ancient city of Pompeii, famed for its burial by an eruption of Italy's Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79, suffered through several devastating landslides in the centuries preceding its volcanic demise. About three-fourths of Pompeii has been excavated, says Jean-Daniel Stanley of the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. However, most of the digs in the city have extended down only to the ground level of dwellings that were standing in the 1st century. In...

Ruins of Manichean center discovered in West Azerbaijan Tehran Times Culture Desk TEHRAN (MNA) –- The ruins of what is believed to be the center of Mani (216-276 C.E.), the founder of Manicheanism, was discovered during the seventh stage of excavations at the ancient site of Qalaychi Hill in West Azerbaijan Province which began last month. Experts used to believe that Hasanlu Mound was the major early Manichean center, but the recent excavation seems to prove otherwise. An inscription found at Qalaychi Hill last year showed that Qalaychi Hill, not Hasanlu Mound, was probably Mani’s early center. After the most...

ARCHEOLOGISTS MAKE UNIQUE FIND IN SOUTHERN RUSSIA MOSCOW, August 25 (RIA Novosti) - Archeologists working in the Russian republic of North Ossetia, in the Caucasus, have made a unique find. They have unearthed remains of a horse with outfit. The horse is reported to have belonged to a dignitary of Alan, the state that presumably existed here in the 7th-9th centuries. The horse's outfit is elaborately decorated with gold-plated silver pendants, openwork pendants, and jingle bells, says Ruslan Dzatiati, a senior official at the North Ossetian Humanities Institute. Scholars believe that the horse was buried together with its owner to...