Lots of archaeology today, dig in.
- Explorers have discovered a treasure trove of centuries-old Buddhist murals in a remote part of Nepal, thanks to a shepherd who took shelter in the caves.
- Should Harvard graduate Liesl Clark be credited for the discovery? Nup, the Nepalese shepherd wins the cookie.
- A wooden block retrieved from the submerged ruins of Dwaraka will be carbon-dated and could provide an age for this ancient city by the Arabian Sea.
- The Khampa people in the wild east of Tibet live a relaxed lifestyle that has so far avoided the paranoid authority of China.
- The world’s tallest Buddhist pagoda, almost 154 metres high, has been rebuilt in China. Lucky Bruce Lee didn’t have to fight his way up that one.
- The May issue of FATE magazine has a brilliant article by Paul Stonehill discussing the mysteries of a remote valley in Sichuan Province. A whole audience disappeared halfway through a screening of The Fog remake.
- The intrepid Paul Stonehill is everywhere, investigating the enigmatic Golden Woman of Ugra in Western Siberia.
- Archaeologists have excavated a 1’300-year-old skeleton together with precious jewels in a Bolivian pyramid, miraculously missed by looters.
- Mind-blowing photo gallery of ruins and monoliths found at mysterious Tiwanaku.
- The Israel Museum has unveiled an incredible 2’200-year-old stele that provides insight into the story of Heliodorus and the Temple in Jerusalem.
- An archaeologist in the UK was surprised to find an 18th century sword whilst diving in a river. But he can’t expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at him.
- A 500-pound boulder decorated in centuries-old petroglyphs has been stolen from federal land in Arizona. Where were you last weekend, Gary? 😉
- Video report of evidence that the eruption of Santorini 3’500-years-ago not only destroyed the Minoan civilisation on Crete, but devastated parts of Egypt.
- A Here Be Dragons! exhibit studies dragon myths across the globe, and the origin of the infamous cartography warning.
- What do pages 81-82 of an Air Force communications manual order pilots to look for between 3’000 and 22’000 nautical miles above the Earth?
- A video news report revisits the Chicago O’Hare UFO incident.
- Mutilated cattle drained of blood and bearing no wound marks are no bull, with hundreds and perhaps thousands reported worldwide each year.
- A recently published academic paper from the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center has cold fusion skeptics out in the cold.
- Britain’s leading scientists accuse the US oil company ExxonMobil of secretly funding groups to undermine the scientific consensus on climate change.
- In the library of painter Robert Lenkiewicz (who died in 2002), opening a 16th-century book on witchcraft could land you a pressed mummified Elizabethan frog. Kat’s already packed her Hogwarts uniform and is booking a flight to the UK right now.
- A short piece on the myth of the Basque Witches, burnt at the stake in 1610.
- A Chicago man legally purchases human skulls on Ebay, but police say reports are false that they found one boiling in a pot.
- Doug Skinner says he is the first poor soul to translate Giovanni Battista Nazari’s Three Dreams on Metallic Transmutation.
- Scientists are closer to understanding Fibonacci spirals in nature.
Quote of the Day
Sir Bedevere: What makes you think she’s a witch?
Peasant: She turned me into a newt!
Sir Bedevere: A newt?
Peasant: [pauses, embarrassed] … I got better.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail