Happy New Year!

Hope that 2009 was a good one and that 2010 will be even better!

Legendary Rulers Tomb

The tomb of a legendary ruler has been uncovered in China. The ruler named Cao Cao was the king of Wei and lived between 155-220 ad. The tomb contained the remains of two women and one man along with articles naming Cao Cao.

The Royal Nativity Scene, Caserta Italy

This short video is on an elaborate 18th century royal nativity scene displayed at the Royal palace, Caserta Italy

Merry Christmas

May I extend the best wishes to my viewers and their families that this holiday is a remarkable and joyous season for all.

God Bless.

The Jesus House

Archaeologists working in the biblical town of Nazareth have discovered a home from the area which Jesus grew up as a boy. Pottery shards confirm the era of the structure which may have contained an extended family.

Archaeologists also found a nearby hidden grotto where the family may have hidden from Roman soldiers though the settlement of Nazareth was not attacked by the Romans as the settlement was not strategically placed and too small to bother with.

FOUND!

The sign stolen a couple of days ago from the concentration camp Aushwitz has been found cut in 3 pieces. The infamous sign was believed to have been taken in an attempt to erase history.

Lindbergh's Flight

Here is a compilation of 5 movie cameras taking images of Charles Lindbergh taking off on his famous flight to Europe on Friday May 20 1927 where he became the first solo flight across the Atlantic ocean.

Fakes at the Royal Ontario Museum

Anyone who collects something has purchased a fake now and then. This is a show from the Royal Ontario museum about such objects including the objects presented in the article.

The Work of the Forger

Studies have found that the document kept in the library of the University of Chicago known as the Archaic Mark is a late 19th early 20th century forgery. Though the actual parchment is ancient the text and illustrations including pigments and artistic style are modern and not Byzantine in age.

Would You Like Some Lead with That?

Scientists are studying a can of soup 160 years old like the type taken on the doomed Franklin expedition. The lead levels in the can are said to be the reason the Franklin expedition in the arctic failed poisoning its sailors.

Burial Shroud from Christ's Time

A burial shroud from the time of Christ has been found in a sealed tomb in Jerusalem which is putting some doubt on the shroud of Turin, the supposed burial shroud of Christ.

Blue Santa

Here is what is believed to be the oldest Santa in the round manufactured in c. 1884 by The American Marble and toy manufacturing company.

Flowers for my Honey

Archaeologists have found flowers in a four thousand year old bronze age grave.

1. From Chivalry to Cowardice

It is 2:10 on the morning of April 15 1912 and left on board RMS Titanic are hundreds of men and women who have let women and children in the lifeboats before them.

The stern began to rise revealing the great ships propellers while the Atlantic ocean flooded the electrical generators, everything not secured falling into the ocean including one of the ships great funnels as the band played "Nearer my God to thee".

Suddenly the generators shut down leaving the terrified crowed in darkness as the ships stern continued to rise till finally the ships back broke sending her and all with her to the ocean floor more than 2 miles down.

Scattered on the ocean floor lay hundreds of heroes both men and women many of whom could have escaped except that they followed the noble unwritten law of chivalry "Women and children first".

Back on land nightmares would haunt many of the passengers including male survivors of the sinking who lived with survivors guilt and were viewed as cowards for having survived with rumors circulating that the men had escaped by dressing up as women. The surviving women and children were pitied for their losses with some of the surviving women being turned into heroins.

Just one result of mass media on a tragic historical event!

Lost People of the Amazon

With deforestation in the Amazon basin archaeologists are discovering remains of an unknown culture.

Slave Graveyard

A tragic and deplorable trade in African slaves has left a huge cemetery on the southern Atlantic island of St. Helena of slaves who died on their journey's in captivity before they reached the new world.

Administering the Assyrian Empire

Cuneiform tablets have been discovered in the remains of an Assyrian building which when a new hydro electric dam is built will be submerge under water. The tablets are administrative in nature and give the names of more than 100 women who appear by their names to be foreign.

Tim'sTopTen for 2009

1. My favorite story of the year was about the excavation of statues and material early last century in Syria and the destruction of the excavation material including the shattering of the statues in the second world war and their restoration 60 years later.

2. At the beginning of February a large beautiful pagan mosaic was uncovered under a church in Italy.

3. Early in March an archaeologist claims to have found Vampire in a mass burial of plague victims from 1576!

4. In June a wonderful and unique carved chalk cave was and of course is in need of preservation.

5. A painting long suspected to be by the great painter Rembrandt has been found after the removal of dark varnish it was found to be signed and dated by Rembrandt.

6. Two newly discovered works by Mozart were played on a piano once owned by the composer.

7. Very interesting article on what might have been the last battle of the ruling royal family at the top of a huge pyramid called El Tigre.

8. From this past summer came a mass grave in Dorset of people who had been decapitated with their heads placed in a separate pile next to the bodies of these people.

9. In November it was revealed that lost pieces of astronomer Galileo had been discovered at auction being auctioned off as unknown relics in 17th century box.

10. Climbers have made some recent discovery of sacred Buddhist caves filled with art and manuscripts.

National Geographic's Top Ten

Here is National Geographic's top ten archaeological stories of the year 2009.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/12/091207-top-ten-archaeology-finds-2009.html

Publicity Stunts

The Italian government has returned a small fragment from the Parthenon to Greece where it has been joined to the freeze now on display in Athens new museum.

The presidents of Italy and Greece toured the acropolis museum in a publicity stunt to shame the British museum into handing back the remaining and most important of the surviving marbles.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7634906.stm