artifacts

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Syrian Rebels' New Cash Source: Stolen Artifacts

Fighters have become 'archeologists': rebel

(Newser) - Short on funds, Syrian rebels have been turning to a new source of income: selling snatched artifacts. "Some days we are fighters; others we are archeologists," says a rebel who counts ancient Sumerian tablets among his finds. Fighters, who control most of the top archeological areas, say a...

World's Oldest Fish Trap Found Near Sweden

Fish-catching baskets are thought to be 9K years old

(Newser) - Marine archaeologists have discovered fishing traps they think were constructed around 9,000 years ago. "This is the world's oldest find when it comes to fishing," says one expert. The researchers found the remnants of seven wooden traps on the Baltic Sea bed off Sweden, reports the...

Auschwitz Survivor&#39;s Family Must Give Back Gold Tablet
Auschwitz Survivor's Family
Must Give Back Gold Tablet
court ruling

Auschwitz Survivor's Family Must Give Back Gold Tablet

Ancient artifact was stolen from Berlin museum

(Newser) - Usually, it's Holocaust victims suing to get their stuff back from Germany; this time, it's the other way around. A Holocaust survivor's kids must give back a small gold tablet their dad brought to America from Germany, a Brooklyn appeals court has ruled. The court's four...

Thousands of Titanic Artifacts Set for Auction

But you'll need about $200 million

(Newser) - Titanic enthusiasts will soon have a chance to get their hands on a piece—or more accurately, 5,500 pieces—of history. The owner of the biggest collection of artifacts from the ship is preparing to sell the $189 million worth of items next year, the 100th anniversary of the...

Roman Town Found in London
 Roman Town Found in London 

Roman Town Found in London

Village rich with artifacts discovered just below surface

(Newser) - Excavators exploring the site of a planned hotel in west London stumbled upon an amazing archaeological find: well-preserved remains of a Roman settlement. Just a few feet below the surface, archaeologists found several burial sites and a Roman road. So far 11,500 fragments of pottery, 100 coins, and jewelry...

Archaeologists Find Cache of Bronze Age Weapons

Rare, delicate pottery found at site

(Newser) - A huge cache of Bronze Age weapons were unearthed today in Essex, England, the BBC reports. Axe heads, spear tips, and other objects dating back some 3,000 years were found under a field, where they had been buried for safe-keeping by their original owners. "To find a hoard...

Museum Shows Off Galileo's Fingers

Body parts of scientist their top exhibit

(Newser) - Florence’s Galileo Museum will reopen this week with a prized, albeit mildly grisly, new exhibit: two fingers, a thumb, a tooth, and a vertebrae that supposedly belonged to the legendary scientist. According to the museum’s director, the body parts were taken off Galileo Galilei’s corpse by masons...

Egypt Demands Rosetta Stone Back

But the British Museum's intent on keeping it

(Newser) - Egypt’s top antiquities official will head to Britain tomorrow in his quest to goad the British Museum into returning the Rosetta Stone. Dr. Zahi Hawass calls the stone an “icon of Egyptian identity,” and says the museum doesn’t really value it. “They kept it in...

'Jesus Burial Box' Trial Gets Thorny
 'Jesus Burial Box' 
 Trial Gets Thorny 
ANALYSIS

'Jesus Burial Box' Trial Gets Thorny

Judge skeptical after witnesses seemingly contradict own testimony

(Newser) - The public is already frowning on a Tel Aviv man accused of forging the burial box of Jesus' brother James, but the judge in the case has hinted that the case is weak, Matthew Kalman writes in Time. Two scientists, witnesses for the prosecution, have testified that geological conditions could...

US to Return $10M Stolen Art Stash to Italy

'Treasure trove' of looted antiques uncovered in Chicago home

(Newser) - A huge stash of stolen artifacts found in a Chicago home will be returned to Italy by US authorities, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. The artifacts—including letters written by kings and popes, and Etruscan works thousands of years old—were discovered by the homeowner's heirs after his death, and are...

Tech Breathes New Life Into Ancient Manuscripts

Digitization, scanning of crumbling manuscripts preserves history

(Newser) - Ancient documents have long odds of making it to the present intact, between fires and bugs and the other ravages of time. But today’s technology can tease information even out of charred papyrus scrolls, thanks to CT scans, infrared imaging, and X-ray fluorescence. And from there, digital images can...

For Sale: Soviet Sub, Very Rusty

Cold War relic once used in Harrison Ford film is too costly to restore, RI museum says

(Newser) - The former Soviet submarine used in Harrison Ford’s film K-19: The Widowmaker may be sunk for good. The cruise-missile sub, which served as a floating museum in a Rhode Island river until it foundered in a 2007 storm, will be sold for scrap if no one buys it by...

Alps Artifacts Offer Clues to Climate Change

Ancient objects emerge as Swiss glacier melts

(Newser) - A melting glacier in the Swiss Alps has revealed hundreds of ancient artifacts, providing valuable information about both history and climate change through the ages, AFP reports. The area was walkable only during warm periods when the glacier receded. “The site itself is the most important find because we...

Vast Trove Yields Marilyn Secrets
 Vast Trove 
 Yields Marilyn Secrets 
GLOSSIES

Vast Trove Yields Marilyn Secrets

Papers from unearthed Monroe filing cabinets suggest abortion

(Newser) - Filing cabinets stuffed with receipts and letters are opening a window into Marilyn Monroe’s personal life, Vanity Fair reports. Payments for something "medical" coincide with her 1953 hospitalization for a gynecological procedure, suggesting an abortion, and notes she sent to husband Arthur Miller’s children while they were...

Feds Raid Calif. Museums, Gallery in Stolen Art Case

Illegal artifacts donated for inflated tax deductions

(Newser) - Federal agents raided four California museums and a private gallery in a smuggling investigation into stolen foreign antiquities, reports the New York Times. The gallery allegedly imported looted goods from Thailand, Myanmar, and China, and individuals got inflated tax write-offs for donating them to museums. No charges have yet been...

Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru
Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru

Yale Returns Artifacts to Peru

Machu Picchu artifacts have been on display at Yale for a century

(Newser) - A group of artifacts taken from Machu Picchu almost a century ago for Yale's Peabody Museum will be returned, Yale and the Peruvian government announced on Friday. The collection to be returned consists of 380 museum-quality objects, as well as part of those in the research collection. Yale will grant...

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