Michelle Moran's Blog, page 101

Pirate's head taken off again

WHEN fearsome Baltic pirate Klaus Stortebeker was executed 600 years ago, his headless body is said to have walked 12m along the length of Hamburg quayside. He had struck a deal with the elders of the port: any of his 70 men he managed to pass in his post-decapitation walk should be spared. The quivering corpse passed 11 fellow pirates before the executioner put out a foot and tripped him up.

Read the rest here.

History in the Remaking: A temple complex in Turkey that predates even the pyramids is rewriting the story of human evolution.

By Patrick Symmes

They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot—the...

First Minoan Shipwreck

by Eti Bonn-Muller
Crete has seduced archaeologists for more than a century, luring them to its rocky shores with fantastic tales of legendary kings, cunning deities, and mythical creatures. The largest of the Greek islands, Crete was the land of the Minoans (3100-1050 B.C.), a Bronze Age civilization named after its first ruler, King Minos, the "master of the seas" who is said to have rid the waters of pirates. According to Thucydides, he also established the first thalassocracy, or marit...

How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race

A painting of what researchers believe Homo floresiensis may have looked like. Illustration: Peter Schouten (see his amazing wildlife artwork here)

by Robin McKie

It remains one of the greatest human fossil discoveries of all time. The bones of a race of tiny primitive people, who used stone tools to hunt pony-sized elephants and battle huge Komodo dragons, were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2004.

Read the rest on the Guardian.

FOR THE FIRST TIME, KING TUT'S DNA IS MAPPED, HIS FAMILY IDENTIFIED, AND HIS SHORT LIFE INVESTIGATED

Will you be watching??

KING TUT UNWRAPPED is airing tonight at 8 PM (ET/PT) and Monday, February 22, at 8 PM (ET/PT).

Revealed: The evidence that might show Elizabeth I's 'lover' had wife killed so he could wed the Queen

It has been the subject of fierce debate for more than 400 years. Now new evidence has emerged that supports the theory that Amy, the wife of Elizabeth I's close friend and suspected lover Robert Dudley, was murdered so her husband could marry the Queen.

Read the rest on the Daily Mail.

Unearthing the splendour of Ur in Iraq

By Mehdi Lebouachera, in Tell al-Muqayyar for AFP

With the country ravaged by war and strife since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, Baghdad's struggling government has had greater priorities than funding large-scale digs at Ur - the birth place of Abraham and one of the cradles of civilisation - where only small teams have been working since 2005.

Read the rest on The Telegraph.

Archaeologists pinpoint long-disputed site of Battle of Bosworth

By Maev Kennedy

Archaeologists announced today that they have located not just the site of the Battle of Bosworth, but the spot where – on 22 August 1485 – Richard III became the last English king to die in battle when he was cut down by Tudor swords.

Read the rest on The Guardian.

Primitive Humans Conquered Sea, Surprising Finds Suggest

Heather Pringle

It wasn't supposed to happen like this.

Two years ago a team of U.S. and Greek archaeologists were combing a gorge on the island of Crete (map) in Greece, hoping to find tiny stone tools employed by seafaring people who had plied nearby waters some 11,000 years ago.

Read the rest on National Geographic.

Pieces of armor owned by ancient emperors unearthed

KYOTO, Feb. 18 (AP) - (Kyodo)—Pieces of iron armor owned by ancient Japanese emperors have been excavated from the ruins of Japan's eighth century capital of Nagaoka-kyo in Kyoto Prefecture,archaeologists said Thursday.

Read the rest on Breitbart.