Llama dung mites track Inca fall

Scientists believe they have found a new way to track the rise and fall of some ancient civilisations - by studying fossilised mites that thrive in the dung of their livestock.
A team from America, France and Britain have been studying mites from the soil in the Andes in Peru and say the tiny creatures can provide clues to changing patterns of trade and of disease epidemics through history...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6490389.stm

Trouble in Pakistan

Many Pakistani archaeological sites from its thousands of years of rich history are crumbling away as officials tussle over who should look after them. A cradle of ancient civilizations and crossroads of Greek, Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim cultures, Pakistan has a treasure-trove of ruins but many are being built over, pilfered by art thieves and villagers or succumbing to the elements....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070319/wl_nm/pakistan_ruins_dc_1;_ylt=ArNk3MhYP4Gt4emzcZNeRLZFeQoB

Ancient Pompeii vandalism

Ancient Pompeii column tumbles by vandalism or was it.....

A huge column in the garden of an ancient Roman villa at Pompeii was toppled in what officials said Wednesday was an act of vandalism.
"This isn't a simple act of vandalism, which, while bad enough, could be explained by ignorance," superintendent Giovanni Guzzo said, calling it "an act of intimidation."...

http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/22/Worldandnation/Ancient_Pompeii_colum.shtml

Louvre Abu Dhabi

By business news
The Louvre is selling the use of its name to Abu Dhabi for $520 million. The building will cost a mere $108 million to build, but to slap the Louvre name on it, Abu Dhabi will have to part with more than half a billion dollars!Is a name really worth that much? I can understand a cola maker wanting to use the Coke name or a shoe maker wanting to use the Nike name, but how does a museum justify paying $520 million to use the Louvre name?For an extra $747 million the Louvre is throwing in management advice, art loans, and special exhibitions. This brings the deal to almost $1.3 billion.NYTimes says there may be more to the deal than just art.. "For France the agreement signals a new willingness to exploit its culture for political and economic ends. In this case, it also represents something of a payback: the United Arab Emirates has ordered 40 Airbus 380 aircraft and has bought about $10.4 billion worth of armaments from France during the last decade." NY Times (may require free registration)

Human Evolution

Newsweek has a great cover article on Human Evolution with a great new family tree (with all your family favorites are back, including Australopithecus afarensis, Homo habilis and everyone’s favorite Homo sapien). The best part of the article is the discussion of how three genes clicked on at the right time, 200,000-50,000 when we were leaving Africa and talking; 37,000 years ago when symbolic thinking came about; and the third gene clicked in at about 5,800 just before people started to establish cities. While I am sure next week there will be a totally new and different theory, it does make you go hmmmm….

Check out Newsweek March 19, 2007 for the full story.

The British are not Celts, Romans, Angles, Saxons, Vikings, or Normans!

Stephen Oppenheimer, a medical geneticist at the University of Oxford, says that the principal ancestors of today's British and Irish populations arrived from Spain about 16,000 years ago, speaking a language related to Basque!...

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/03/05/news/web.0305BRITS.full.php

Film costumes for sale

What's it like to slip into James Bond's three-piece suit? What about disappearing beneath Obi-Wan Kenobi's rough wool cloak? Or maybe strapping on Supergirl's blue elastic leotard and red knee-high boots? If cost nothing to find out. However, owning the look was another matter...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070306/ap_en_mo/film_costume_auction

Jesus Tomb Found?

So a new documentary claims to have found the tomb of Jesus. Everyone is getting in their two cents…read for yourself and decide…



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/jesus_s_burial;_ylt=AhxaE9GNusTzFhIax1xp.BtFeQoB

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/26/AR2007022600442.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6397373.stm

Two Pablo Picasso Paintings Stolen

At least two Pablo Picasso paintings have been stolen from the Paris apartment of the grand-daughter of Picasso, Diana Widmaier-Picasso. The works are estimated to be worth more than $60 million US dollars.They include a 1938 portrait of Pablo's daughter Maya holding a doll and a portrait of his second wife Jacqueline Roque.Mainstream news has picked up the story, so there's plenty of reports out there. Here's what they are saying..The BBC says.. "There was no evidence of a break-in at the home of Diana Widmaier-Picasso, in Paris's chic seventh arrondissement. The organised crime squad of the Paris police force is investigating."The Sydney Morning Herald says.. "Police said they were examining a door lock to see if it was broken, and that they were unsure if the alarm system was turned on at the time.Once inside, the burglars cut the edges of one painting, "Maya and the Doll," to take it out of its frame, a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing."NY Times says.. "Ms. Widmaier-Picasso and her mother, Maya, the daughter of Picasso’s longtime mistress Marie-Therese Walter, were asleep in the house when the theft occurred. "They heard a noise, went downstairs and saw nothing," Ms. Astolfe said. "They went to bed and the following morning they saw that two paintings were missing."And CBC says.. "Art experts have said that stolen works — like Maya with Doll and Portrait of Jacqueline — could never be sold on the open market because the canvases, and the theft of them, are too well known around the globe."That pretty much sums up every report on the stolen Picasso that I read online!
From Art News Blog