History in the news for June 18

The big story of the day seems to be the origin of the Etruscans.

New stories as of 10:00 PM:

Archaeologists Rescue Clues To Ancient Kingdom From The Rising Nile
EurekAlert
Archaeologists from the University of Chicago have discovered a gold processing center along the middle Nile, an installation that produced the precious metal sometime between 2000 and 1500 B.C. The center, along with a cemetery they discovered, documents extensive control by the first sub-Saharan kingdom, the kingdom of Kush.
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/uoc-arc061407.php

New stories as of 7:20 PM:

Queen For A Day
Al-Ahram
Though not the only female ruler of Egypt, Queen Hatshepsut (1473-1458 BC), which means "united with Amun in front of the nobles", is one of the best known...
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/849/eg3.htm

Sudan Arrests 12 Trying To Smuggle Ancient Mummies
Yahoo News
KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudanese authorities have arrested 12 people accused of smuggling ancient antiquities including two entire mummies, a state news agency said on Saturday...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070616/od_uk_nm/oukoe_uk_sudan_antiquities;_ylt=AnNtGq0sXep25K4D2p0GRrvMWM0F
This one's a couple of days old. I just found it through Archaeology.org.

Premiership Turf Gives New Lease Of Life To Worn-Out Ancient Mazes
The Independent
Shakespeare spoke for many when Titania, the queen of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream, delivered the line: "The quaint mazes in the wanton green, for lack of tread are indistinguishable." The unveiling yesterday of one the few surviving turf mazes, after refurbishment, shows that the Tudors' tricky problem of keeping the grass labyrinths of England in pristine condition is still an issue...
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2675791.ece


Restoration Of Medieval Maze Leaves Its Purpose Still A Puzzle
The Times Online
ALKBOROUGH The conservationists who have restored a rare medieval earth and grass maze say they are no closer to knowing why and when it was made...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1951306.ece


Virtual Qumran Sheds New Light On Dead Sea Scrolls Discovery Site
AScribe
LOS ANGELES, June 18 (AScribe Newswire) -- The mysterious archaeological ruins located paces from where the Dead Sea Scrolls were discovered 60 years ago served first as a fortress before being adopted by a Jewish religious sect, two UCLA researchers contend...
http://newswire.ascribe.org/cgi-bin/behold.pl?ascribeid=20070618.155541&time=16%2030%20PDT&year=2007&public=0
There seem to be a number of these virtual sites these days. This one, Rome, and a mention of a virtual Egypt earlier today.

Ancient Romans Preferred Fast Food
Discovery News
June 18, 2007 — Just as a U.S. Presidential state dinner does not reflect how most Americans eat and socialize, researchers think the formal, decadent image of wining and dining in ancient Rome mostly just applied to the elite...
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/06/18/pompeiifood_arc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070618153030&dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000

Scholars Race To Recover A Lost Kingdom On The Nile
The New York Times
Evidence is mounting that the kingdom of Kush, in its ascendancy from 2000 B.C. to 1500 B.C., exerted control or at least influence over a 750-mile stretch of the Nile Valley...
http://www.nytimes.com/glogin?URI=http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/19/science/19kush.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26hp&OP=622cad18Q2FQ5DdxGQ5DFi6UDii)Q7CQ5DQ7CmmeQ5Dm4Q5DAtQ5DU6Q2AxB6xQ5DAt.kUQ24wQ24)hT
This article requires a subscription to the New York Times, unfortunately. Perhaps another site will pick it up over the next day or so.

Ancient Gold Center Discovered On The Nile
National Geographic News
Evidence of large-scale gold extraction in the ancient Nubian kingdom of Kush has been found along the Nile River, archaeologists will announce today (see pictures)...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/06/070619-gold-nile.html

New stories as of 9:15 AM:

Mysterious Medieval Maze Restored
24dash.com
Conservationists have described how they have restored a rare medieval earth and grass maze in north Lincolnshire, but said they are no closer to solving the mystery of why and when it was made...
http://www.24dash.com/environment/22379.htm

Genetic Studies Link Origin of Etruscans To Turkey
Winston-Salem Journal
NICE, France — Genetic studies of Italians in Tuscany show that their forefathers, the ancient Etruscans, moved to Italy from what is now Turkey, an origin that many archaeologists have dismissed as unlikely...
http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173351680940&path=!nationworld&s=1037645509161

The Enigma of Italy's Ancient Etruscans Is Finally Unraveled
The Guardian Unlimited
They gave us the word "person" and invented a symbol of iron rule later adopted by the fascists. Some even argue it was they who really moulded Roman civilisation...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2105308,00.html

'Greeks On The Black Sea' At The Getty Villa Reveals Cultural Blend
Los Angeles Times
Long before NAFTA, global telecommunications and the international shipping industry, the ancient Greeks did overseas business the old-fashioned way: In boats rowed by slaves, they traveled to distant lands, set up shop, struck deals with the locals and got down to work. They cleared the land, farmed and bought products at bargain rates...
http://www.calendarlive.com/galleriesandmuseums/la-et-greeks18jun18,0,6395244.story?coll=cl-art-features

Egypt Opens Museum At Sinai Peninsula
Brazil-Arab News Agency
Cairo – Egypt has a new museum to tell its millennial history. Early this month, the Egyptian city of Al-Arich, located in the Sinai Peninsula, opened a museum that brings together 2,000 items from the Pharaonic, Greco-Roman, Coptic, Byzantine, and Muslim periods...
http://www.anba.com.br/ingles/noticia.php?id=15045

Roman Road Found in Brecon Beacons
icWales
CONSTRUCTION workers building an £840m natural gas pipeline across Wales have unearthed a Roman road in the heart of the Brecon Beacons...
http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0200wales/tm_headline=roman-road-found-in-brecon-beacons&method=full&objectid=19314258&siteid=50082-name_page.html

Virtual Explorers Comb Egypt's Ruins
The Boston Globe
With a click of his computer mouse, Peter Janosi, a lecturer at the Institute of Egyptology in Vienna, analyzes ancient statues and decodes hieroglyphs unearthed in the distant Giza Necropolis...
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2007/06/18/virtual_explorers_comb_egypts_ruins/

Discovery of The Oldest Adornments In the World
EurekaAlert
The discovery of small perforated sea shells, in the Cave of Pigeons in Taforalt, eastern Morocco, has shown that the use of bead adornments in North Africa is older than thought. Dating from 82 000 years ago, the beads are thought to be the oldest in the world...
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2007-06/c-dot061807.php
Wasn't this in the news a couple of weeks ago?

Medieval Gold Jewelry Found In Thracian Mound In Bulgaria
Novinite.com
A total of eleven gold rings, three bracelets and a pair of ear-rings have been found in a Thracian mound between Bulgaria's villages of Topolchane and Kaloyanovo...
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=81981

Ancient Graves Suggest Human Sacrifice
Discovery News
June 18, 2007 — Physically disabled people may have been ritually sacrificed by European hunter-gatherer tribes as early as 24,000 years ago, according to an investigation into burials from the Upper Paleolithic period...
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/06/18/sacrifice_arc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070618090000