Monster Galaxy May Have Been Stirred Up By Black-hole Mischief

Astronomers using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have obtained a remarkable new view of a whopper of an elliptical galaxy that may have been puffed up by the actions of one or more black holes in its core.

Spanning a little more than one million light-years, the galaxy is about 10 times the diameter of our Milky Way galaxy. The bloated galaxy is a member of an unusual class of galaxies with a diffuse core filled with a fog of starlight where there would normally be a concentrated peak of light around a central black hole. Viewing the core is like seeing a city with no downtown, just houses sprinkled across a vast landscape.

Big Bang and religion mixed in Cern debate

Some of Europe's most prominent scientists have opened a debate with philosophers and theologians over the origins of everything.

The event, in Geneva, Switzerland, is described as a search for "common ground" between religion and science over how the Universe began.

It will focus on the Big Bang theory.

Hyperfast Stars Point to Black Hole Slingshot

The black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy is by far the nearest such supermassive gravitational monster to our sun, yet observing this space-time maelstrom is a challenge because it is 27,000 light-years away and obscured in visible light by intervening star clouds and dust lanes in the galactic plane.

The region of space profoundly warped by the black hole is a little more than a light-year across.

Egypt’s ‘collapsing’ pyramids

My first introduction to working in Egypt was a project in Cairo’s historic old quarter, following the 1992 earthquake that caused widespread and devastating damage. Cintec International won the contract to repair and reinforce a number of badly affected structures, with work commencing in 1998.

The project consisted of some 15 notable mosques and maqaads, successfully strengthened using Cintec’s patented anchoring systems. Most of the essential work was completed by early 2005, with ongoing localised repairs still being undertaken as and when required.

Archaeologists find burnt stucco floor related to astronomical event 1,350 years ago

TECOZAUTLA, MEXICO.- During the excavations in Pañhu, an archaeological zone which will soon open its doors to the public in the municipality of Tecozautla, Hidalgo, archaeologists registered a burn stucco floor, evidence that its main pyramid was desacralized approximately 1,350 years ago. This coincides with an astronomical event which was thought, by its inhabitants, to be a cataclysm. 

Archaeologist Fernando Lopez Aguilar, director of the site’s investigation project promoted by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH – Conaculta), informed that there was a solar eclipse at sunrise the 3rd of August in the year 650 AD. 

History of Hattuşa’s excavation on display

Yapı Kredi Culture Center displays a photography documenting a century of archaeological excavations in the Hattuşa, situated in the northern province of Çorum. The exhibition features photographs drawn from German Archaeological Institute

Istanbul’s Yapı Kredi Cultural Center has opened a new exhibition on Hattuşa, inviting viewers to dig through the history of the past 100 years of archaeological excavations at the ancient Hittite capital in northern Turkey.

Morocco denies destruction of ancient carvings

Yagour, Morocco - Morocco's government has denied claims that Salafists had destroyed stone carvings dating back more than 8,000 years in the High Atlas mountains.

“The reports that these stone carvings were damaged, as you can see, is not true,” Communications Minister Mustapha Khalfi told journalists, on a government organised trip to the Yagour plateau.

'Fox hole' opens passage to Neolithic past, possibly Hades

A Field Museum curator is digging around a cave in Southern Greece that’s been compared to the mythical underworld, Hades.  That cave might help explain why people choose to migrate to big cities or high tail it to the suburbs.

And it has a surprising Chicago tie.

William Parkinson is the associate curator of Eurasian anthropology at the Field Museum. He is on a research team, called The Diros Project, made up of two Greek and two American archaeologists (both Chicago natives).

Высококачественные изображения древних текстов появились в Интернете

Как известно, язык – это не только средство общения, но и инструмент постижения прошлого. Античная цивилизация перестала существовать много веков назад, но человечество сохранило знание древнегреческой письменности. И сегодня мы имеем возможность прочесть "Одиссею" Гомера или сочинение о том, как гениальный Эратосфен ещё в III веке до нашей эры с завидной точностью подсчитал диаметр Земли.

Письменность появилась в разных обществах в разное время и дошла до нас в виде клинообразных штрихов на глиняных табличках или причудливых рисунков на стенах погребальных комнат. Хотя поколениям исследователей уже удалось расшифровать часть древних текстов, многое из того богатства, которым располагают музеи, архивы и библиотеки продолжает оставаться загадкой для большинства учёных.

В Гватемале найдено древнейшее захоронение правителя майя

Жрец, могилу которого нашли гватемальские археологи, был родоначальником цивилизации майя.

Археологи при раскопках археологического комплекса Такалик-Абах близ города Реталхулеу на западе Гватемалы обнаружили могилу верховного жреца майя по имени Кутц Чман, правление которого пришлось на 7 век до нашей эры.

«Кутц Чман был великим правителем, при нем начался переход от культуры ольмеков к культуре майя», -- пояснил Мигель Оррего, один из руководителей раскопок. Вытеснение ольмеков произошло не сразу, они продолжали доминировать в регионе примерно до 4 века до нашей эры, когда майя окончательно захватили ключевые торговые пути.