August 30th News

Running a little late today, but here's the history related news links for today. There's quite a range of stories too.

New stories as of 1:21 PM:

Thousands Of Bulgarian Artefacts Smuggled Abroad - Daily Telegraph
Sofia Echo
Bulgarian law states that all artefacts found in Bulgaria belong to the state, but thousands of smugglers are illegally exporting archaeological finds abroad...
http://www.sofiaecho.com/article/thousands-of-bulgarian-artefacts-smuggled-abroad-daily-telegraph/id_24631/catid_69

Roman Baths Dangerously Left To Ruin
Malta Star
The flimsy gate guarding the ancient Roman Baths at the picturesque valley leading to Ghajn Tuffieha is about to collapse, just like the roofs of the rooms protecting the priceless mosaics inside them...
http://www.maltastar.com/pages/msFullArt.asp?an=14651

Wigan Was Made In The Iron Age
Wigan Observer
They came looking for evidence of Roman Wigan - but archaeologists believe they may have dug even deeper into the town's ancient past by unearthing artefacts from the Iron Age...
http://www.wigantoday.net/wigan-news/Wigan-was-made-in-the.3162804.jp

The Legacy of Alexander The Great
PR-GB
Alexander the Great. The name alone inspires images of a man with a massive army at his back, his face laden with both the burden and the right to sweep the world and bring it under his rule. During his time, and for centuries afterwards, Alexander the Great, son of the infamous Phillip of Macedon, was hailed as one of the great, if not the greatest military commanders of all time...
http://pr-gb.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13670&Itemid=9

Sending Out An SOS
Isolated on a high hillock in the middle of Lake Nasser, the monumental complex of Qasr Ibrim displays a collection of archaeological remnants of Egypt's various historical epochs that once witnessed a unique civilisation...
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/860/hr1.htm

Burial Clue To Early Urban Strife
BBC News
Archaeologists working in Syria have unearthed the remains of dozens of youths thought to have been killed in a fierce confrontation 6,000 years ago...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6971289.stm

Mesopotamian City Grew Regardless Of Kingly Rule
New Scientist
Contrary to the assumption that ancient cities always grew outwards from a central point, the urban site of Tell Brak in north-eastern Syria appears to have emerged as several nearby settlements melded together, according to researchers' analysis of archaeological evidence...
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12562-mesopotamian-city-grew-regardless-of-kingly-rule.html

UCC Archaeologists Uncover Hilltop Fort From 1200 BC Near Innishannon
The Southern Star
ARCHAEOLOGISTS from University College Cork have uncovered the oldest hilltop fort in Ireland on a ridge near Innishannon overlooking huge tracts of County Cork and believe that it was the first capital of Cork...
http://www.southernstar.ie/article.php?id=287

New Evidence: Urbanization Did Not Originate With Centralized Political Power
Science Daily
Science Daily — Ancient cities arose not by decree from a centralized political power, as was previously widely believed, but as the outgrowth of decisions made by smaller groups or individuals, according to a new study from researchers at Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of Edinburgh.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070830150109.htm

Whack To Head, Not Arrow, Killed Iceman
Discovery News
Aug. 30, 2007 — A final blow to the head, not an arrow wound, killed Ötzi, the 5,000-year-old Iceman found in the Italian Alps, says a new study on the world's oldest and best-preserved mummy...
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/08/30/iceman_arc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070830094500