Archaeologist William Kelso is certain he's discovered the remains of the oldest Protestant church in the United States, standing between two holes he insists once held wooden posts.

In 1614, Pocahontas was "married right here, I guarantee," Kelso told AFP at the Jamestown, Virginia

Libya displays seized Roman-era artefacts

2011-11-26T13:30:12Z

Libya displayed on Saturday a treasure trove of Roman-era artefacts which officials allege Kadhafi loyalists were planning to sell to finance attacks.

The objects were seized in August on the day Tripoli fell to former rebels who had been fighting since mid-February to end the rule of now slain dictator Moamer Kadhafi

Coins show Herod built only part of Second Temple walls

2011-11-23T17:30:22Z

Israeli archaeologists have uncovered ancient coins near the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City which challenge the assumption that all of the walls of the Second Temple were built by King Herod.

The coins, which date back to around 15 AD, were found inside a Jewish ritual bath located at the foot of the western wall of the Second Temple, which w...

Old coins force re-think on Jerusalem's Western Wall

2011-11-23T04:30:21Z

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli archaeologists Wednesday said they had found ancient coins that overturned widely-held beliefs about the origins of Jerusalem's Western Wall, one of Judaism's holiest sites.

For centuries, many thought the wall was built by King Herod - also infamous, ...

Archeological star emerges from obscurity

2011-11-22T02:30:12Z

Marcahuamachuco, an enigmatic 1,600-year-old archeological complex built from stone in the northern Peruvian Andes, is emerging bit by bit from oblivion and could become a beacon of tourism on the scale of Machu Picchu.

Spread over 590 acres (240 hectares) on a plateau more than 12,000 feet (3,700 meters) high in the mountains, the pre-Incan site embodies all the ev...

Cave-painters of ancient horses were realists: study

2011-11-07T18:30:27Z

An international team of researchers said Monday they have found the first evidence that spotted horses, often seen depicted in cave paintings, actually existed tens of thousands of years ago.

That means ancient artists were drawing what they saw around them, and were not abstract or symbolic painters -- a topic of much debate among archeologists -- said the findings in the WILMINGTON, North Carolina (Reuters) - Archeologists raised another cannon on Wednesday from the sunken wreck of pirate Blackbeard's legendary ship off the coast of North Carolina.

The eight-foot (2.4-meter) cannon, which had rested at the bottom of Beaufort Inlet sinc...

Wall collapses at Pompei after flash storms

2011-10-22T15:30:09Z

Part of an ancient Roman wall has collapsed at the archaeological site of Pompei in southern Italy following flash floods and storms across the country, a spokeswoman said Saturday.

The wall, built with the Roman "opus incertum" technique using irregularly shaped stones and concrete, collapsed on a stretch of the ancient city's external walls, near the Porta di Nola, in an area open to the public.

An archaeological team i...

Viking boat burial site found intact in Scotland

2011-10-19T10:00:23Z

The first fully intact Viking boat burial site to be found on British soil has been uncovered by a team of archaeologists in Scotland.

The five metre-long (16-foot) grave, thought to contain the remains of a high-status Viking, was discovered at a site estimated to be 1,000 years old.

The Viking was buried with an axe, a sword and a spear in a ship held together with 200 metal rivets.

The excavation project's co-director, ...

Meet the Gauls -- minus the dolmens

2011-10-19T02:30:07Z

Feisty forest-dwellers in winged helmets, with a fondness for roast boar, strong wine and Roman-bashing. That is the pen portrait of the Gaul as summed up by the pint-sized comic hero Asterix -- and it is wrong from start to finish.

Drawing on three decades of archaeology, "Les Gaulois", an exhibition opening this week at Paris' Cite des Sciences, debunks popular myths about the Celtic tribes, known collectively as the Gauls, who peopled modern-day Italian Alps veered off a marked footpath and stumbled upon one of the world's oldest and most important archeological finds: Oetzi, "The Iceman".

Oetzi fast became a sensation, not just because he proved to be more than 5,000 years old, but because his remains were so well-preserved, allowing paleontologists to uncover new details about the Stone Age in ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Four decorated clay disks have been discovered at a prehistoric site in Alaska, apparently the first artifacts of their type discovered in the state, the Universi...

Libya combs priceless ruins for war damage

2011-09-07T15:30:30Z

Libyan archaeologists are beginning to inspect the country's priceless historical sites, hoping part of their cultural heritage and economic future has not been ruined by war.

"It is the first time I go there since the war, Kadhafi's troops were inside and I want to know what happened," said Fadel Ali Mohammed, Libya's freshly appointed minister for antiquities.

Setting out from the Trip...

Saudi find shows horses used 9,000 years ago

2011-08-25T13:30:35Z

Saudi Arabia has found traces of a civilisation that was domesticating horses about 9,000 years ago, 4,000 years earlier than previously thought, the kingdom said.

"This discovery shows that horses were domesticated in the Arabian Peninsula for the first time more than 9,000 years ago, whereas previous studies estimated the domestication of horses i...

Saudi Arabia discovers 9,000 year-old civilization

2011-08-24T11:30:12Z

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia is excavating a new archeological site that will show horses were domesticated 9,000 years ago in the Arabian peninsula, the country's antiquities expert said Wednesday.

Bulgaria subway expansion digs up Roman city

2011-08-14T13:30:16Z

Cars zoom by on the boulevards overhead as work progresses on expanding the subway underneath -- and in between a full-fledged Roman city has emerged right in the heart of the Bulgarian capital.

Archaeologists have little by little unearthed well-preserved stretches of cobbled Roman streets, a public bath, the ruins of a dignitary's house and the curved wall of an early Christian basilica, all dating back to the 4th century AD.

If all goes well, the ruins will be fashioned in...

Israelis link ancient sword to fall of Herod's temple

2011-08-08T13:30:34Z

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a Roman sword from the time of the destruction of the second Jewish temple in 70 AD, officials said on Monday as Jews prepared to mourn the anniversary.

The Israel Antiquities Authority said that the 60-centimetre (23.6-inch) long weapon and its leather scabbard were found during excavations in a 2,000-year-old drainage channel in the City of D...

New smart phone app lays bare Londinium

2011-08-08T06:00:29Z

LONDINIUM (Reuters) - Finding London's Roman ruins amid the tangled network of streets and lanes that make up the ancient part of a contemporary city is a challenge for even the most experienced urban explorer.

Now, a free mobile application for the iPhone,

Greek taxi strikers give tourists free ride

2011-08-02T03:00:05Z

ATHENS (Reuters) - Striking Greek taxi drivers tried to placate angry tourists Tuesday, giving them a free ride into the western town of Patras and letting them enter a major archaeological site on the island of Crete without paying.

The protesters have been on strike for 16 days against government plans to issue new taxi licenses -- par...

New York's Met to return 19 artifacts to Egypt: MENA

2011-07-30T03:30:09Z

CAIRO (Reuters) - New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art has agreed to return to Cairo 19 artifacts dating back to the time of ancient Egypt's teena...

Mesolithic "rest stop" found at UK supermarket site

2011-07-19T10:00:38Z

(Reuters Life!) - An early prehistoric hearth has been discovered on the planned construction site for a branch of major British supermarket chain Sainsbury's.

The charcoal remains, excavated from the site in Nairn, a town in the Scottish Highlands, date back to the Mesolithic period (10,000 to 4000 BC). They are believed to...

Lawsuit threat over Canadian mine project in Transylvania

2011-07-18T15:30:32Z

Opponents of a Canadian gold mine project at an ancient Roman site in Transylvania threatened to sue authorities on Monday after Romania's culture ministry issued a permit for the mine.

"We will go to court to contest the archaeological discharge certificate" delivered by a local department of the ministry, Eugen David, chairman of Alburnus Maior association, told AFP.

Alburnus Maior has brought together scores of vil...

US signs deal with Greece on trafficking of artefacts

2011-07-17T15:30:13Z

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton signed an agreement with Greece on Sunday aimed at clamping down on the import and sale of stolen archaeological artefacts.

Under the new agreement, the import of protected archaeological artefacts will be illegal if they have not first been cleared by the Greek authorities.

Clinton signed the agreement with Bucharest issued an archaeological discharge certificate for an area in northwestern Romania where a Canadian firm wants to establish a gold mine, the culture ministry said Friday.

The decision was criticized by groups defending the patrimony of the region's ancient Roman site.

"The department for culture and national patrimony in the Alba region issued an archaeological discharge ...

Chaos threatens Philippines' cultural treasures

2011-07-14T13:30:20Z

Thieves and art dealers are the usual suspects, but mildew and flashbulbs are just as dangerous for some of the Philippines' beleaguered cultural treasures.

From a 30,000-year-old skull fragment of one of its first human inhabitants to imposing churches built during Spanish colonial rule, the Southeast Asian archipelago has a stunning display of artefacts showcasing its diverse history.

But they are under threat on every f...

U.S. returns recovered artifacts taken from Iraq

2011-07-07T16:00:11Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An ancient bead necklace, terra cotta tablets from ancient Babylonia depicting Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, and posters of deposed leader Saddam Hussein were among artifacts that U.S. officials returned to the Iraqi government on Thursday.

The repatriation of the relics -- some as old as 4...

In shadow of Minoan Palace, cleaner laments her plight

2011-07-07T06:00:20Z

KNOSSOS, Greece (Reuters) - Rania Pelekanaki is anxious about everything.

The 43-year-old mother of four worries about her husband's job, about her own salary, about her unemployed eldest son, about higher food prices -- in short, about the future.

"It's a mess," she says. "I don't know about tomorrow."

Pelekanaki, a cleane...

Peru celebrates 100 years of Machu Picchu 'discovery'

2011-07-07T03:30:10Z

Peruvians celebrate this month the centennial of the "discovery" of Machu Picchu, a world tourist attraction and archeological marvel that has yet to reveal all its secrets.

This 15th-century Inca city of carved stone structures, built high on an Andean mountain range in southeastern Peru, was introduced to the world by American explorer Peru decorated Zahi Hawass, Egypt's antiquities minister, Monday for helping retrieve a cache of ancient artifacts taken from the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu nearly 100 years ago.

Hawass was in Lima with other archeologists for an international conference on protecting and rep...

India police guard temple treasure haul

2011-07-04T10:30:24Z

Armed commandos cordoned off a medieval Hindu temple in south India on Monday after gold coins and precious stones worth billions of dollars were found in its vaults.

The chief minister of southern Kerala state, Oommen Chandy, said local authorities needed to take precautions and had set up a three-tier security ri...

Ancient Egypt treasure gate unearthed in Luxor

2011-07-03T15:30:18Z

Egyptian and French archaeologists have unearthed a 2,700-year-old stone gate belonging to Nubian King Shabaka while digging near Luxor's Karnak temple, the ministry of antiquities said on Sunday.

The gate, which was found to be "in good condition," once led to the room holding the king's treasures, the ministry said.

"It is the first time an item of the 25th dynasty has been found in such good condition, and wasn't ruined by the 26th...

Cambodian 'puzzle' temple reopens after 50 years

2011-07-03T10:30:12Z

An ancient Angkor temple in northwestern Cambodia was reopened to the public on Sunday following the completion of a decades-long renovation project described as the world's largest puzzle.

The restoration of the 11th-century Baphuon monument, one of the country's largest after Angkor Wat, was celebrated with a high-profile ceremony attended by Cambodian

French Egyptologist who saved Nubian temples dies

2011-06-24T21:30:07Z

French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, known for her books on art and history and for saving the Nubian temples from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam, has died at the age of 97, her editor Telemaque said Friday.

In a career spanning more than half-a-century, Desroches-Noblecourt also helped preserve the mummy of King Ramses II, which was threatened by fungus, and became the first French woman to lead an archaeological ...

Tiny camera reveals inside of ancient Mayan tomb

2011-06-23T18:30:38Z

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A tiny remote-controlled camera peered inside the tomb of a Mayan ruler that has been sealed for 1,500 years, revealing red frescoes, pottery and pieces of a funerary shroud made of jade and mother of pearl.

The tomb was discovered in 1999 inside a pyramid among the ruins of the Mayan city of Giza pyramids for more than 4,500 years.

A mission from Japan's Waseda University, the Japanese In...

Iraq's ancient Ur treasures 'in danger'

2011-06-19T06:30:19Z

Standing before the imposing ziggurat which was once part of a temple complex at the Sumerian capital of Ur, Iraqi archaeologist Abdelamir Hamdani worried about the natural elements that are eating away at one of the wonders of Mesopotamia.

"Is there anybody thinking about preserving these monuments?" asked the doctoral student from New York's <...

Egypt's revolution may save Neolithic treasure

2011-06-02T06:00:25Z

LAKE QARUN, Egypt (Reuters) - Egypt's popular uprising may have arrived just in time to save a Neolithic site that holds the country's oldest evidence of agriculture and could yield vital clues to the rise of Pharaonic civilization.

The site lies in a protected nature reserve along the shore north of Lake Qarun that until recently had remained virtually untouched...

Titanic launch 100 years ago marked in Belfast

2011-05-31T13:30:48Z

Descendants of the men who built the Titanic marked the 100th anniversary Tuesday of its launch in Belfast in a moving ceremony aimed at restoring the city's maritime pride after years of shame.

A single flare was fired above the Harland and Wolff shipyard at 1113 GMT -- exactly a century on from the moment the ill-starred ocean liner, the...

NASA satellite 'helps find 17 Egypt pyramids'

2011-05-26T13:30:30Z

Archaeologists have uncovered as many as 17 buried pyramids in Egypt with the help of NASA satellite imagery, according to a documentary to be aired by the BBC on Monday.

Led by US researcher Sarah Parcak at the Reuters) - Britain is bursting with ancient buried treasure and the masses have been bitten by the bug for digging it up -- ironically with the full approval of the government and leading museums.

Latest figures released by the British Museum on...

North Carolina team to pull up pirate ship's anchor

2011-05-19T06:30:10Z

WILMINGTON, North Carolina (Reuters) - North Carolina archeologists will attempt to retrieve an anchor this week from the wreckage of the notorious pirate ship Queen Anne's Revenge -- just as its resurrected on the big screen in the new movie release of "Germany Friday agreed to return a 3,500-year-old statue of a sphinx to Turkey where it was dug up, ending a war of words between Berlin and Ankara.

"Following talks between German and Turkish experts on the question of the Hittite sphinx it was agreed today in Berlin that the statue, whi...

Romania recovers priceless ancient treasure

2011-05-11T15:30:46Z

Romania has recovered more of a priceless ancient treasure, stolen years ago from the archaeological site of Sarmisegetusa Regia, the head of the national history museum said Wednesday.

A total of 232 artifacts, including a gold bracelet, two iron shields and gold and silver coins were bought back from a German collector, Ernest Tarnoveanu told a press conference.

The 933-gram (two pound) bracelet is the 13th such art...

Exhibit aims to inspire next Indiana Jones

2011-05-09T14:30:48Z

A museum in Montreal is showcasing the on-screen discoveries of Hollywood's fictional adventurer Indiana Jones, in hopes of inspiring a new generation of young archaeologists.

"Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology: The Exhibition," marking the 30th anniversary of the famed character's silver screen debut, takes visitors on a virtual tour of sites depicted in the adven...

Egypt to demand Germany return Nefertiti

2011-05-03T15:30:27Z

Egypt will make a formal request to Germany for the return of the 3,400 year-old bust of fabled Queen Nefertiti, the state minister for antiquities said Tuesday but Germany said the bust will remain in Berlin.

Zahi H...

Museum promotes 'Indiana Jones' archeology

2011-05-02T13:30:17Z

A museum exhibit in this Canadian metropolis opened this week showcasing on-screen archeological discoveries of Hollywood's fictional adventurer Indiana Jones.

Presented by the National Geographic Society with the support of Lucasfilm, "Indiana Jones and ...

Giant statue of Amenhotep III unearthed in Egypt

2011-04-26T12:30:33Z

Archaeologists have discovered a giant statue of Egypt's famous pharaoh Amenhotep III at his mortuary temple in the southern city of Luxor, the antiquities authority said on Tuesday.

The 13-metre-tall (43-foot) statue was found buried in seven pieces at the mortuary temple of Amenhotep III at Kom al-Hitan.

It was one of two statues placed at the northern entrance of the temple, an...

Archaeologists find statue of Tut's grandfather

2011-04-26T09:30:13Z

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed the biggest statue of Tutankhamun's grandfather Amenhotep III and another of the goddess Sekhmet, the country's antiquities chief Zahi Hawass said on Tuesday.

Both statues were discovered at th...

Grotto galleries show early Somali life

2011-04-25T05:30:18Z

A galaxy of colourful animal and human sketches adorn the caves in the rocky hills of this arid wilderness in northern Somalia, home to Africa's earliest known and most pristine rock art.

But in a region ravaged by two decades of relentless civil unrest and lawlessness, the archeological site is at risk of destruction, looting and clandestine excavation.

The 10 caves in Laas Geel, Somali...

Guards, guns secure Egypt's ancient treasures again

2011-04-18T12:32:01Z

CAIRO (Reuters Life!) - Security has been tightened around Egypt's antiquities trove, the target of looters during mass protests, the country's top archaeologist said on Monday, adding he would now resume a quest to repatriate prized items.

Several Pharaonic-era treasures went missing when looters broke into the

Sands, not lights, cover Gaza archaeology sites

2011-04-14T04:00:18Z

KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza (Reuters) - Five thousand years of fascinating history lie beneath the sands of the Gaza Strip, from blinded biblical hero Samson to British general Allenby.

The flat, sandy lands on the Mediterranean's southeastern shore have been ruled by Ancient Egyptians, Philistines, Romans, B...

2,000-year-old nails 'may be tied to crucifixion'

2011-04-13T13:30:49Z

Two Roman nails dating back 2000 years, found in the burial cave of the Jewish high priest who handed Jesus over to the Romans, may be linked to the crucifixion, an Israeli filmmaker has claimed.

The gnarled bits of iron, which measure around three inches (eight centimetres) each, were shown to reporters in Jerusalem on Tuesday at the premier of a television documentary series examining the question of whether they coul...

Film claims discovery of nails from Jesus's cross

2011-04-12T02:30:07Z

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Could two of the nails used to crucify Jesus have been discovered in a 2,000-year-old tomb in Jerusalem?

And could they have mysteriously disappeared for 20 years, only to turn up by chance in a Tel Aviv laboratory?

That is the premise of the new document...

About '1,000 relics' stolen during Egypt uprising

2011-04-10T07:30:05Z

Thieves stole around 1,000 relics from museums and archeological sites across Egypt since protests against the government broke out in January, Egypt's minister for antiquities Zahi Hawass said Sunday in a newspaper interview.

"We are investigating all the incidents to find the items. Up until now we have identified many culprits, criminals who were looking for gold or mummies and who la...

Rare Roman art ends up in museum after looting

2011-04-08T13:30:34Z

Rare Roman artefacts dug up in Bulgaria by looters and only recently seized by police ended up in Sofia's national museum of history on Friday.

The highlight of the collection, containing some 100 pieces including exquisite examples of Roman sculpture and ceramics, is a marble sarcophagus from the first century AD, richly carved with garlands, floral ornaments, women's faces and figures of dea...

Bodies found from London's old Bedlam hospital

2011-04-08T04:30:20Z

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Archaeologists have unearthed hundreds of skeletons at a 16th Century burial ground in the heart of the city that once served London's most notorious psychiatric hospital, the original "Bedlam."

The bones are expected to yield valuable information about mortality, diet and disease in the period.

They were disco...

Archeologists dig for secrets in Mexico tunnel

2011-04-07T03:30:14Z

Archeologists are unearthing a 2,000-year-old tunnel outside bustling modern day Mexico City searching for clues to one of the region's most influential former civilizations.

Heavy rains at the site of Teotihuacan, some 25 miles (40 kilometers) from the capital, accidentally provided the first sign of the tunnel's existence in 2003, when the water made a tiny hol...

Man sanctioned for defacing 1,000-year-old Native carving

2011-04-05T13:30:10Z

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A North Carolina man was sentenced to 60 months probation by a federal judge for scrawling his name on an Arizona carving that is at least 1,000 years-old, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Neil Wake

Peru welcomes back Machu Picchu artefacts from Yale

2011-03-30T19:30:33Z

Peru on Wednesday gave a grandiose welcome to several hundred artefacts returned one century after they were "loaned" to Yale University from the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu.

Some 600 police oversaw the transfer of the 30 containers from Lima airport to the presidency in a convoy of trucks, broadcast live on TV.<...

Egypt antiquities chief becomes minister

2011-03-30T08:30:21Z

Egypt's chief archaeologist Zahi Hawass, the guardian of some of the world's most important treasures, was on Wednesday named minister of antiquities, the official MENA news agency reported.

Hawass had served as head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and later became minister of state under ousted president...

Priceless Egypt artefacts still missing

2011-03-25T09:30:19Z

Egyptian officials said on Friday that 800 priceless artefacts were still missing after armed robbers raided a warehouse near the canal city of Ismailiya in the unrest following a popular revolt.

"An inventory of the East Qantara warehouse which houses antiquities from the provinces on the Suez Canal and Sinai has revealed the theft and damage of a large number of artefa...

Exhibition: A rare Thracian collection

2011-03-25T04:30:08Z

SOFIA (Reuters Life!) - Bulgarian mogul Vasil Bozhkov is opening up his private collection of rare Thracian artefacts, offering a glimpse of a little-known ancient civilization which has left no written records.

"Thrace and the Ancient World" runs until June 21 and shows over 200 artefacts including objects of Greek classical art, some of which are being displayed in public for the first tim...

America's first settlers lived 15,000 years ago: study

2011-03-24T16:30:47Z

Scientists excavating a creek bed in Texas found tools and other artifacts dating back 15,500 years, making it the oldest settlement site ever found in North America, a study reported Thursday.

The objects unearthed at an archaeological dig in the Buttermilk Creek complex near Austin suggested that humans settled the continent some 2,000 years earlier than previously bel...

Victorian smokers had rotten teeth to match lungs

2011-03-09T15:00:09Z

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - Smoking was as bad for the Victorians as it is for anyone today, but back in those days it seems it did far more damage to their teeth. In the mid-19th century, prior to the invention of the cigarette, when tobacco was copiously consumed through clay pipes, smoking often resulted in nasty dental disfigurement.

A Germany's culture minister hinted Wednesday that a priceless 3,500-year-old sphinx could be on its way back to Turkey where it was dug up, potentially ending a war of words between Berlin and Ankara.

Speaking after a meeting with his Turkish counterpart, Bernd Neumann said: ...

Relics of early American seafaring life discovered

2011-03-03T19:30:17Z

Relics of early seafaring life discovered in California support theories that human migration to the Americans occurred thousands of years earlier than previously thought.

The 12,200 to 11,400 year old objects -- which include scores of stemmed projectile points and crescents believe to be used in hunting and fishing -- were discovered in three sites on California's C...

Libya's Roman sites unscathed by unrest so far

2011-02-26T22:30:04Z

RABAT (Reuters) - Libyans appear determined to safeguard their rich cultural heritage during the popular unrest against leader Muammar Gaddafi, protecting it from the looting seen in neighboring Eg...

Alaska remains are oldest found in Arctic North America

2011-02-25T16:30:47Z

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The 11,500-year-old cremated remains of child discovered in Alaska are the oldest human remains found in the far north of North America and the second-youngest Ice Age child ever found on the continent, sc...

Ancient Peruvian site forces experts to re-think past

2011-02-25T14:30:42Z

Archeologists have discovered a group of ancient tombs in the mountainous jungle of southeastern Peru they say is as important as the discovery of the lost city of Machu Picchu.

The tombs belonging to the Wari culture were found on the jungle-covered eastern slope of the Andes in Cuzco department at a long-abandoned city thought to be the last redoubt of Inca re...

Scientists find oldest sub-Arctic human remains

2011-02-24T16:30:39Z

Scientists on Thursday announced they have discovered the oldest human remains ever found in sub-Arctic North America, offering a new window into the lives of the continent's earliest inhabitants.

The discovery of the partially-cremated skeletal remains was made at an fire pit within an ancient dwelling at Alaska's Upward Sun River site, according to an article appearing in the February 25 edition of the journal...

Return our sphinx or else, Turkey tells Germany

2011-02-24T14:30:42Z

Turkey's culture minister on Thursday demanded Germany return an ancient sphinx uncovered from a German archeological dig nearly a century ago or it would revoke permits for other excavations.

Ertugrul Gunay told the Tagesspiegel daily in an interview that German authorities had until the start of the digging season in June to hand back the priceless artefact, thou...

Egypt says finds fourth stolen Pharaonic treasure

2011-02-17T06:00:12Z

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptian antiquities authorities have recovered a statue of the renegade Pharaoh Akhenaten that was stolen along with eight other items during protests that brought down President Hosni Mubarak.

Minister of State for Antiquities Zahi Hawass

Egypt says major pieces looted from famed museum

2011-02-13T14:30:13Z

Looters who raided Egypt's famed museum during the unrest that toppled Hosni Mubarak hauled off a trove of ancient treasures, including a statue of King Tutankhamun, officials said on Sunday.

The plundered artefacts include a gilded wooden statue showing the boy pharaoh being carried by a goddess and parts of another sta...

Third-century Roman sculptures discovered

2011-02-09T14:31:01Z

Archaeologists have unearthed a set of six marble sculptures in Rome that likely belonged to a high-ranking official of the Roman Empire, Italy's culture ministry said Wednesday.

Led by Roberto Egidi, the group of archaeologists dug up five marble heads representing members of the Severan imperial dynasty as well as a statue of the Greek god Zeus while excavating a public ...

Egypt begins restoring damaged artifacts

2011-02-09T09:00:08Z

CAIRO (Reuters) - Egypt's pharaonic treasures have survived the unrest almost unscathed and restoration work has started on the few artifacts damaged in a raid on the Egyptian Museum, the head of antiquities said Wednesday.

Reuters Life!) - Top British archaeologists are urging the government to rethink a law requiring human remains be reburied, warning it risks undermining years of research into the island's ancient peoples and study of their DNA.

The row stems from the reinterpretation of a law introduced in 2008 by the Ministry of Justice. The rule states human bones discovered in Cairo's Tahrir Square. Behind it lies the world-famous Egyptian Museum.

After a break-in late last month left a number of glass cabinets smashed and 70 precious objects damaged, including two mummies, a significant...

U.S. Silk Road show to open without Chinese artifacts

2011-02-04T17:00:13Z

PHILADELPHIA, Feb 4 (Reuters Life!) - A exhibition about the ancient Silk Road trade route connecting Europe and Asia will open without artifacts and mummies from China that would...

Experts fret for Egypt's treasures, ancient sites

2011-02-03T17:30:59Z

Archaeologists voiced deepening concern on Thursday after fresh street battles erupted around Cairo's Egyptian Museum housing the gold sarcophagus of King Tutankhamun and other priceless relics.

Websites and chat-rooms buzzed with anxiety after a break-in last Friday that left a number of glass cabinets smashed and precious objects damaged, i...

Church unearthed in Israel may hold Zechariah tomb

2011-02-02T14:30:38Z

Israeli archaeologists unveiled on Wednesday the remnants of a newly discovered Byzantine-era church they suspect is concealing the tomb of the biblical prophet Zechariah.

The church, with intricate and well-preserved mosaic floors, was discovered on the slopes of the Judaean hills at Horbat Midras, the site of a Jewish community in Roman times, southwest of Jerusalem.

Underneath is a second layer of mosaics datin...

Museums on high alert for ancient Egyptian loot

2011-02-02T14:00:22Z

LONDON (Reuters) - International museums are on high alert for looted Egyptian artifacts and some archaeologists have even offered to fly to the country to help safeguard its ancient treasures, museums said on Wednesday.

Egypt has been rocked by an unprecedented nine days of demonstrations against JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The pursuit of a gang of grave robbers has led to the discovery of an ancient church outside Jerusalem that may contain the burial place of the biblical prophet Zechariah, Israeli authorities said Wednesday.

The hill-top church was destroyed by an earthquake some 1,300 years ago and lay partly buried until detectives fro...

Greece's Acropolis: no crisis for restoration

2011-02-02T02:30:20Z

Like the victory goddess it honours, Athens' ancient Temple of Athena Nike stands free of scaffolding for the first time in nine years in a testament to another triumph -- the prolific restoration of the Acropolis.

Greece may be struggling to ward off financial collapse but nothing will crush the ambitious plan -- first star...

Looters destroy mummies in Egyptian Museum: official

2011-01-29T06:30:06Z

CAIRO (Reuters) - Looters broke into the Egyptian Museum during anti-government protests late Friday and destroyed two Pharaonic mummies, Egypt's top archaeologist told state television.

The museum in central Cairo, whi...

Berlin shows off real-life 'Indiana Jones' treasures

2011-01-28T04:30:21Z

A treasure trove of 3,000-year-old giant birds, lions, and goddesses goes on show in Berlin with a past so incredible that it could rival archaeology action film hero Indiana Jones.

The story kicks off nearly 100 years ago when Max von Oppenheim, the son of a rich German banker, fell in love with the United Arab Emirates suggests modern humans may have left Africa over 100,000 years ago, much earlier than typically thought, researchers said Thursday.

The findings by a team of British and German archeologists have sparked debate among scientists over whether they provide sufficient evidence that homo sapiens could have traveled d...

Jerusalem dig completes tunnel under Old City wall

2011-01-25T10:30:27Z

Israeli archaeologists have finished work on a tunnel which starts at a site near the flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound inside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, officials said on Tuesday.

The controversial 600-metre (-yard) tunnel, originally built as a drainage channel during the Second Temple period, starts at an archaeological site just south of the area known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif

Egypt demands Germany return Nefertiti

2011-01-24T14:30:24Z

Egypt's antiquities chief said Monday that Cairo has demanded that Germany return the 3,400 year-old bust of fabled Queen Nefertiti, 98 years after it was uncovered on the banks of the Nile.

BERLIN/CAIRO (Reuters) - A German foundation rejected Monday an Egyptian request to return the 3,400-year-old bust of Queen Nefertiti, a sculpture which draws over one million viewers annually to a Berlin museum.

Boy George has given back to Cyprus an 18th century icon after unwittingly buying the stolen artefact 26 years ago from a London dealer, the Cyprus Orthodox Church said Thursday.

An eagle-eyed priest had spotted the post-Byzantine icon of Christ hanging on the former Culture Club singer's wall during a Dutch...

Scientists find 'oldest ever' winery in Armenia

2011-01-11T13:30:16Z

Archaeologists said Tuesday they had found the world's oldest known winery in a cave in Armenia, indicating that humans were distilling grapes during the Copper Age, more than 6,000 years ago.

"This is, so far, the oldest relatively complete wine production facility, with its press, fermentation vats and storage jars in situ," said Hans Barnard, the lead author of an article about the study published Tuesday in the peer-rev...

At 6,000 years old, wine press is oldest yet found

2011-01-10T22:00:08Z

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Archeologists have unearthed the oldest wine-making facility ever found, using biochemical techniques to identify a dry red vintage made about 6,000 years ago in what is now southern Armenia.

The excavation paints a picture of a complex society where mourners tasted a special vintage made at a caveside cemetery...

New call to protect Romanian site from gold mine project

2011-01-05T15:00:52Z

The Romanian Academy on Wednesday urged the ministry of culture to include a former Roman site in its tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage to protect it from a Canadian gold mine project.

Two other organisations involved in the conservation of cultural heritage, Pro Patrimonio and the Romanian branch of the International island of Crete have found startling evidence that early humans could navigate across open water thousands of years earlier than previously thought, officials said Monday.

A team of US and Greek archaeologists reached that conclusion after finding stone tools and axes dating from at least 130,000 years ago on Crete, which was ...

Early humans could navigate, Greek evidence shows

2011-01-03T12:30:25Z

Archaeologists on the Greek island of Crete have found startling evidence that early humans could navigate across open water thousands of years earlier than previously thought, officials said Monday.

A team of US and Greek archaeologists reached that conclusion after finding stone tools and axes dating from at least 130,000 years ago on Crete, which was ...

Cretan tools point to 130,000-year-old sea travel

2011-01-03T08:30:21Z

Greek officials say 130,000-year-old tools on Crete point to early sea travel

Greece's culture ministry says archaeologists on the island of Crete have discovered what may be evidence of one of the world's earliest sea voyages by humans

A ministry statement says archaeologists from Greec...

Greece Ancient Seafarers

2011-01-03T08:31:44Z

This undated hand out photo provided by the Greek Culture Ministry on Monday, Jan. 3, 2011, shows an Early Stone Age axe discovered by a US-Greek team of archaeologists on the southern island of Crete. A ministry statement said Monday that this and other similar finds, dating back at least 130,000 years, point to what may be one of the earliest sig...

Mideast Israel Ancient Teeth

2010-12-27T10:30:21Z

Professor Avi Gopher, left, and Dr. Ran Barkai from the Institute of Archeology of Tel Aviv University inspect an archeological site where ancient teeth were discovered near Rosh Haain, central Israel, Monday, Dec. 27, 2010. Israeli archaeologists say they...

Search For Amelia

2010-12-17T12:01:47Z

This photo provided Friday, Dec. 17, 2010, by The International Group For Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) shows TIGHAR archaeologist Megan Lickliter-Mundon working at the dig site on the uninhabited island of Nikumaroro, in the South Pacific, where researchers say they found bone fragments that could help prove that famed aviator

Mideast Israel Palestinians Roman Pool

2010-11-22T08:01:39Z

A worker of the Israel Antiquities Authority works at an excavation site in Jerusalem's Old City, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010. Israeli archaeologists preparing the ground for a new Jewish ritual bath in Jerusalem's Old City say they have made a coincidental discovery, an 1,800 year-old-swimming pool built by the same Roman legion that destroy...

Mideast Egypt Antiquities

2010-11-15T09:00:34Z

This undated photo released by the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities on Monday Nov. 15, 2010, shows Egyptian workers at the site of the newly excavated Avenue of the Sphinxes on a sandstone section of a road that dates back from 380-362 B.C., at the city of Luxor, southern Egypt. Egypt's antiquities...

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Priceless Egypt artefacts still missing

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Return our sphinx or else, Turkey tells Germany

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Looters destroy mummies in Egyptian Museum: official

Berlin shows off real-life 'Indiana Jones' treasures

Jerusalem dig completes tunnel under Old City wall

Egypt demands Germany return Nefertiti

Scientists find 'oldest ever' winery in Armenia