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UN Warns UK Must Protect Heritage
The UN is threatening to put the Tower of London on its list of world heritage sites in danger after its experts accused the UK of damaging globally significant sites such as Stonehenge, the old town of Edinburgh and the Georgian centre of Bath, the Guardian has learned.
Unesco, the UN's cultural agency, has told ministers in London and Edinburgh that it wants urgent action to protect seven world heritage sites which it claims are in danger from building developments, and said in some cases the UK is ignoring its legal obligations to protect them.
Their complaints range from decisions to approve new tower blocks in central London, such as the 66-storey "shard of glass" at London Bridge, to the failure to relocate the A344 beside Stonehenge despite promising action for 22 years, to a proposed wind farm which threatens neolithic sites on Orkney.
For all seven sites, it has asked the UK to write detailed progress reports replying to its concerns by February.
Unesco's world heritage centre in Paris is also sending two teams of inspectors to Edinburgh and Bath this winter to investigate its concerns that new buildings in both cities will damage their "integrity" and their "outstanding universal value."
In its strongest criticism, Unesco's world heritage committee has said it "deeply regrets" the decision by Edinburgh city council to press ahead with a hotel, housing and offices development called Caltongate next to the Royal Mile, despite expert evidence it will ruin the medieval old town's unique form.
In the committee's final report after its annual meeting in July in Quebec, which has just been released, it also accuses the UK of breaching world heritage site guidelines by failing to warn it in advance about the Caltongate scheme. Last month, Koichiro Matsuura, Unesco's director general, told the Scotsman there was growing concern about Edinburgh. "It is crucial that its outstanding features are preserved and protected," he said.
Leading architects and conservationists, including Sir Terry Farrell and Marcus Binney, chairman of Save Britain's Heritage, have said they share Unesco's anxieties. Farrell, appointed Edinburgh's "design champion", told the Guardian the city urgently needed a proper urban design masterplan. "I'm very supportive of Unesco's position," he said. . .
. . . John Graham, chief executive of Historic Scotland, said he shared Unesco's anxieties about plans for high rises in Edinburgh's Leith docks and a tower to replace the St James' centre, a 70s concrete shopping centre in the New Town due for demolition.
But he had no fears about the Unesco inspectors' visit in November.
"The judgments we've reached are sound and defensible; that is the stance we will be taking when the mission arrives," he said.
(Full article at link) The UN is threatening to put the Tower of London on its list of world heritage sites in danger after its experts accused the UK of dam... more -
World's oldest busker at 112 years old
112 year old Hadisono Rukinem wanders the streets of Bantul in Indonesia with her ancient Javanese xylophone called the Gender in the hope of preserving a disappearing tradition. She has been playing the xylophone since she was 20 and has taught her children and grandchildren how to play the ancient musical instrument in the hope that they will carry on the tradition. She says she doesn't do it for money although she is given some when on the streets. 112 year old Hadisono Rukinem wanders the streets of Bantul in Indonesia with her ancient Javanese xylophone called the Gender in the ... more
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Greek god media figures - a pantheon of media gods
Aphrodite Coulter, Oprah Hestia, Hermes Colbert. These are the names of some of the portraits in A Pantheon of Media Gods by Jessie Rauch.
Rauch describes the project as, “A series that transforms media celebrities into Greek Gods as metaphorical commentary on the power that individual pundits and journalists have in controlling access to information and in the shaping of public opinion.”
For example, the caption of the O’Reilly Ares portrait says, ‘Hail to O’Reilly, father of the NO-SPIN ZONE. His Mighty power dares to challenge truth itself. He works with woe embitter human life.”
Beyond being humorous and sarcastic, the series opens our eyes to the power these news and media personalities hold over a large number of people. Aphrodite Coulter, Oprah Hestia, Hermes Colbert. These are the names of some of the portraits in A Pantheon of Media Gods by Jessie Ra... more -
King Tut's daughters
Archaeologist Howard Carter made King Tut a star in 1922 when he opened the pharaoh's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. Soon, scientists may make Tut a parent. DNA tests will show if he fathered two fetuses found in the tomb with him. Archaeologist Howard Carter made King Tut a star in 1922 when he opened the pharaoh's tomb in Egypt's Valley of the Kings. S... more
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A new monument shines on Ethiopia
An awesome ceremony marked the Axum obelisk settlement, in Ethiopia, yesterday. Italian government payed for its transportation and rebuilding the sum of 5 millions of euros. The obelisk, a majestic monument stolen from fascists during the occupation of Ethiopia ( 1936-41), represents a symbol of Axum reign, whose legendary history can be read on books. Axum was affluent from 400 a.c. to 900 d.c. and had steady and important relationships with ancient Romans and Greeks. It was an exceptional example of possibility to found a city far away from the rivers, or the sea.
Now the obelisk looks at the sky and a new friendhip between Italians and Ethiopians has just been made. An awesome ceremony marked the Axum obelisk settlement, in Ethiopia, yesterday. Italian government payed for its transportation and re... more -
Obama giving some black Republicans 'heartburn'
Armstrong Williams is an African-American conservative commentator who is thinking about making a decision that he says is so agonizing, it gives him heartburn.
This fall, he may vote for Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic presidential nominee.
The nationally known radio talk show host is a proud third-generation Republican who chuckles when African-American friends tell him it's time to "return home" to the Democratic Party.
Though he still hasn't decided for whom he'll cast his ballot, there's something about Obama's presidential candidacy that excites him.
"History, brother," Williams said. "It cannot be anything else.
"There's very little that I agree with Obama on. Since the founding of our country, there have only been white men who have occupied the White House. ... To have someone break through that barrier and say to some kids, you can be president. Whether you like it or not, symbolism is important."
Obama's presidential candidacy is causing a political identity crisis among some black conservatives. Torn between ideology and the chance to make history, some don't know what they're going to do when they enter the voting booth in November.
Story continued at link ... Armstrong Williams is an African-American conservative commentator who is thinking about making a decision that he says is so agonizin... more -
Oldest Skeleton in Americas Found in Underwater Cave?
Deep inside an underwater cave in Mexico, archaeologists may have discovered the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas.
Dubbed Eva de Naharon, or Eve of Naharon, the female skeleton has been dated at 13,600 years old. If that age is accurate, the skeleton—along with three others found in underwater caves along the Caribbean coast of the Yucatán Peninsula—could provide new clues to how the Americas were first populated.
The remains have been excavated over the past four years near the town of Tulum, about 80 miles southwest of Cancún, by a team of scientists led by Arturo González, director of the Desert Museum in Saltillo, Mexico (see map of Mexico).
"We don't now how [the people whose remains were found in the caves] arrived and whether they came from the Atlantic, the jungle, or inside the continent," González said.
"But we believe these finds are the oldest yet to be found in the Americas and may influence our theories of how the first people arrived."
In addition to possibly altering the time line of human settlement in the Americas, the remains may cause experts to rethink where the first Americans came from, González added.
Clues from the skeletons' skulls hint that the people may not be of northern Asian descent, which would contradict the dominant theory of New World settlement. That theory holds that ancient humans first came to North America from northern Asia via a now submerged land bridge across the Bering Sea (see an interactive map of ancient human migration).
"The shape of the skulls has led us to believe that Eva and the others have more of an affinity with people from South Asia than North Asia," González explained.
Concepción Jiménez, director of physical anthropology at Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History, has viewed the finds and says they may be Mexico's oldest and most important human remains to date.
"Eva de Naharon has the Paleo-Indian characteristics that make the date seem very plausible," Jiménez said.
Ancient Floods, Giant Animals
The three other skeletons excavated in the caves have been given a date range of 11,000 to 14,000 years ago, based on radiocarbon dating.
*CONTINUES* Deep inside an underwater cave in Mexico, archaeologists may have discovered the oldest human skeleton ever found in the Americas. ... more -
McCain and Palin conservatism needs explaining
Ms. Palin has advocated criminalizing all abortions nationwide. Some of our most right-wing lawmakers have said they personally believe that abortion is wrong and should be against the law, but that the issue should be left to each state. Not all right-wingers have forgotten their conservative principles. Ms. Palin has advocated criminalizing all abortions nationwide. Some of our most right-wing lawmakers have said they personally believ... more
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Henry VIII will not get fat
Producers of the BBC show The Tudors have revealed that they will not portray the famously expanding waistline of the show's main character, Henry VIII.
The English king is thought to have been over 20st when he died, but the maker's of the show said that they didn't want to destroy the good looks of Johnathan Rhys Meyers, who plays Henry, thinking it might lessen the show's appeal. Producers of the BBC show The Tudors have revealed that they will not portray the famously expanding waistline of the show's main... more -
Georgia should hold a referendum, but has begun war
Georgia should hold a referendum, but has begun war with Ossetia
History of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic: the Political scientist Natalia Narochnitskaja has reminded legal aspects of an exit of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic from Soviet Union. Georgia should hold a referendum, but has begun war with Ossetia ... more -
A hybrid car from the times of yore
"We today talk of a Toyota Prius or a Chevrolet Volt that does minimal harm to the environment but even decades ago people had their ways to compose a hybrid variant. At that point in time it was dubbed the Helix Car and was powered by a propeller to let go the wheels.
For the translation woes we do have a certain amount of confusion but even then we are pretty much sure that it was the first hybrid variant of sorts. The only clear survivor of this rare car is now owned by a Frenchman, Jean Francois Bouzanquet. This rare survivor was bought by his grandfather almost nine decades ago.
It was powered by a Twin-cylinder 1203 cc British Engine. Do not ask me more for the translation woes restrict me but yes, do remember this car as one of the most ancient hybrid version of all time..." "We today talk of a Toyota Prius or a Chevrolet Volt that does minimal harm to the environment but even decades ago people had th... more -
Bodies Found in Tutankhamun's Tomb are Twin Daughters
Two foetuses found buried with Tutankhamun may have been his twin daughters, an expert has claimed.
Professor Robert Connolly, an anatomist who is working with Egyptian authorities to analyse the tomb of the Egyptian Pharaoh, says that preliminary tests on the mummified remains of the two still-born babies indicate that Tutankhamun may have fathered them both. He will present the new findings at the Pharmacy and Medicine in Ancient Egypt Conference at the University of Manchester today.
Professor Connolly, who first studied the remains of Tutankhamun in the Sixties, said: “The two foetuses in the tomb of Tutankhamun could be twins, despite their very different size and thus fit better as a single pregnancy for his young wife [Ankhesenamun]. This increases the likelihood of them being Tutankhamun's children.”
“I studied one of the mummies, the larger one, back in 1979, determined the blood group data from this baby mummy and compared it with my 1969 blood grouping of Tutankhamun. The results confirmed that this larger foetus could indeed be the daughter of Tutankhamun.
“Now we believe that they are twins and they were both his children.”
Professor Connolly, a physical anthropologist at the University of Liverpool, said: “It is a very exciting finding which will not only paint a more detailed picture of this famous young king's life and death, it will also tell us more about his lineage.”
The foetuses have been stored at the Faculty of Medicine in Cairo University since the archaeologist Howard Carter discovered them in the teenage king's tomb on the west bank of Luxor in 1922. Egyptologists have long debated whether they were his children or if they were placed in the tomb with the symbolic purpose of allowing the famous pharaoh to live on as newborns in the afterlife.
The answer to this hereditary puzzle is closer because the two foetuses are to undergo CT scans and DNA testing to determine possible diseases and their relation to Tutankhamun. The smaller foetus is about five months in gestational age and the larger foetus is estimated to be between seven and nine months. The results of the remaining tests are due in December.
“We are very proud to have Professor Connolly speaking at the conference and are extremely excited about his new findings,” said the conference director Rosalie David, of the University of Manchester's Faculty of Life Sciences.
“Tutankhamun is such an important figure in Egyptology. He was a fascinating character whose tomb and indeed body has given us so much information about life in Ancient Egypt, and it seems that he will continue to do so for some time yet.”
More than 100 delegates from ten countries will be attending the conference. It intends to bring together the two elements of Ancient Egyptian healthcare practices — pharmacy and medicine. Two foetuses found buried with Tutankhamun may have been his twin daughters, an expert has claimed. ... more -
Shroud of Turin stirs new controversy
A Colorado couple researching the shroud dispute radiocarbon dating of the alleged burial cloth of Jesus, and Oxford has agreed to help them reexamine the findings. A Colorado couple researching the shroud dispute radiocarbon dating of the alleged burial cloth of Jesus, and Oxford has agreed to hel... more
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Who was Noah and what is Ararat
Who was Noah? The Bible tells us little. He was the flood hero of course, but what else? A drunken viniculturist who lived to the age of 950; who was 600 at the time of the flood and 500 when he fathered Shem, Ham and Japheth. His wrinkled bottom was ogled by his 100-year-old sons when he passed out from drunkeness in his tent one night. But was he not also an ‘upright man’ and a man who ‘walked with God’? Who was Noah? The Bible tells us little. He was the flood hero of course, but what else? A drunken viniculturist who lived to the age ... more
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Ancient gold treasure puzzles Greek archaeologists
ATHENS, Greece - A priceless gold wreath has been unearthed in an ancient city in northern Greece, buried with human bones in a large copper vase that workers initially took for a land mine.
The University of Thessaloniki said in a statement Friday that the "astonishing" discovery was made during its excavations this week in the ruins of ancient Aigai. The city was the first capital of ancient Macedonia, where King Philip II — father of Alexander the Great — was assassinated.
Gold wreaths are rare and were buried with ancient nobles or royalty. But the find is also highly unusual as the artifacts appear to have been removed from a grave during ancient times and, for reasons that are unclear, reburied in the city's marketplace near the theater where Philip was stabbed to death.
"This happened quite soon after the original burial; it's not that a grave robber took it centuries later and hid it with the intention of coming back," excavator Chryssoula Saatsoglou-Paliadeli told The Associated Press. "It probably belonged to a high-ranking person."
The "impressively large" copper vessel contained a cylindrical golden jar with a lid, with the gold wreath of oak leaves and the bones inside.
"The young workman who saw it was astounded and shouted 'land mine!'" the university statement said.
Saatsoglou-Paliadeli, a professor of archaeology at the university, said the find probably dates to the 4th century B.C., during which Philip and Alexander reigned.
"Archaeologists must explain why such a group ... was found outside the extensive royal cemetery," the university statement said. "(They must also) work out why the bones of the unknown — but by no means insignificant — person were hidden in the city's most public and sacred area."
During the 4th century B.C., burials outside organized cemeteries were very uncommon.
In a royal cemetery at Vergina, just west of Aigai, Greek archaeologists discovered a wealth of gold and silver treasure in 1977. One of the opulent graves, which contained a large gold wreath of oak leaves, is generally accepted to have belonged to Philip II. The location of Alexander's tomb is one of the great mysteries of archaeology.
The sprawling remains of a large building with banquet halls and ornate mosaics at Aigai — some 520 kilometers (320 miles) north of Athens — has been identified as Philip's palace.
Aigai flourished in the 6th and 5th centuries B.C., attracting leading Greek artists such as the poet Euripides, who wrote his last tragedies there. The Macedonian capital was moved to Pella in the 4th century B.C., and Aigai was destroyed by the Romans in 168 B.C. ATHENS, Greece - A priceless gold wreath has been unearthed in an ancient city in northern Greece, buried with human bones in a large ... more -
Barack Obama's Symphony of a Speech
No one is covering the speech just 12 hours later - all the media is 100% focused on McCain's home-run selection of, you konw who... Here are my first impressions after watching Sen. Obama's amazing acceptance speech. What a historical night! No one is covering the speech just 12 hours later - all the media is 100% focused on McCain's home-run selection of, you konw who... more
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JOURNEY OF MANKIND - The Peopling of the World
Here is a fantastic Flash depiction of the Journey of Mankind.
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'Lost towns' discovered in Amazon
The remote Amazon river basin was once home to densely populated towns and villages, Science journal reports.
This part of the Amazon, once thought to be virgin forest, has in fact been touched by extensive human activity.
Researchers found traces of a grid-like pattern of settlements connected by road networks and arranged around large central plazas.
There is also evidence of farming and wetland management, including possible remains of fish farms.
The settlements are now almost completely overgrown by rainforest.
The ancient urban communities date back to before the first Europeans set foot in the Upper Xingu region of the Brazilian Amazon in the 15th Century.
Urban planning
Professor Mike Heckenberger, from the University of Florida, in Gainesville, said: "These are not cities, but this is urbanism, built around towns."
"They have quite remarkable planning and self-organisation, more so than many classical examples of what people would call urbanism," he said.
Dam used to funnel fish into submerged weirs (Science)
In modern settlements, dams are used to funnel fish into weirs
Although the remains are almost invisible, they can be identified by members of the Kuikuro tribe, who are thought to be direct descendents of the people who built the towns.
The tell-tale traces included "dark earth" that indicated past human waste dumps or farming, and concentrations of pottery shards and earthworks.
The researchers also made use of satellite images and GPS navigation to uncover and map the settlements over the course of a decade.
The communities consisted of clusters of 60-hectare (150-acre) towns and smaller villages spread out over the rainforest.
Road network
Like medieval European and ancient Greek towns, those forming the Amazonian urban landscape were surrounded by large walls. These were composed of earthworks, the remains of which have survived.
Concentrations of pottery and earthworks were found at the site
Each community had an identical road, always pointing north-east to south-west, which are connected to a central plaza.
The roads were always oriented this way in keeping with the mid-year summer solstice.
Evidence was found of dams and artificial ponds - thought to have been used for fish farming - as well as open areas and large compost heaps.
The people who once lived in the settlements are thought to have been wiped out by European colonists and the diseases they brought with them.
We've alot to learn from the past... I kinda like the way they all had a solstice road system. The remote Amazon river basin was once home to densely populated towns and villages, Science journal reports. ... more -
Martin Luther King: 'I Have a Dream'
Today is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s historic "I Have a Dream" speech.
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