Thai troops have reportedly pulled back from the thirteenth-century Ta Moan Thom temple, located several hundred miles west of Preah Vihear temple, near the border between Thailand and Cambodia.   The Thai News Service also claims that the number of troops at Preah Vihear temple will be reduced before the foreign ministers of the two countries meet again for talks later this month.   This editorial in the International Herald Tribune gives some historical background on the land dispute.

A 4,000-year-old skeleton unearthed in Sidon, Lebanon, is being called a Canaanite warrior. The young man had been buried with a spear and two stamps.  

A study of genetic variations on Y chromosomes from men living in eastern and southern Africa suggests that animal-herding methods arrived in southern Africa 2,000 years ago, with a wave of Nilotic-language speakers. Agriculture arrived later with Bantu-language speakers. “I like the fact that the linguistic, genetic, and archaeological evidence all line up,” said doctoral student Brenna Henn.  

Italy will soon return more than 90 artifacts that were smuggled out of Pakistan and recovered last year.   

A 900-year-old lead ampoule containing scented holy oil was uncovered near a fortification wall in the Bulgarian town of Veliko Tarnovo.   

Excavations continue in historic Virginia City, Nevada, at Thomas Maguire’s Opera House, which opened in 1863 and burned down in 1875. The theater featured the best actors during the days of the silver boom.   

Archaeologists are excavating the entrance to the abandoned mine tunnel where U.S. Forest Ranger Ed Pulaski led his 45-man fire-fighting crew to safety in 1910 during one of the worst fires in Idaho’s history. Pulaski invented an important fire-fighting tool the following year. The dig was prompted by recent looting at the site.   

The Revolutionary War gunboat Spitfire has been added to the Register of Historical Places. The Spitfire sank in 1776 during the Battle of Valcour Island, which delayed the British advance until 1777.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Tuesday, August 5, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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