The reinvention of Luxor as a tourist destination continues to draw criticism from archaeologists and people whose homes have been torn down. “We’re talking about destruction for the public good. There are victims for every development,” said Samir Farag, who heads the project.

An Austrian expedition has discovered the Saharan cave where German intelligence agent Laszlo Almasy stashed supplies, during his mission to smuggle Nazi spies into British-occupied Egypt in 1942. The movie The English Patient was very loosely based on Almasy and his desert explorations. 

Hair analysis has confirmed that Andean mummies discovered in northern Chile suffered from arsenic poisoning. “In antiquity, the bounty of harvesting from the Pacific Ocean and living in naturally arsenic contaminated areas was, in a way, a fatal attraction. These ancient populations were unknowingly poisoning themselves,” reads the study published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.  

DNA tests of the bones of Stone Age people living in southern Scandinavia 4,000 years ago reveal that they were unable to digest milk into adulthood, suggesting that modern inhabitants may have descended from a different group of people.  

Three workers were injured when part of a stage set up for an Elton John concert at Chichen Itza collapsed. The stage had been set apart from the ruins at the site to prevent any damage to them.  

Angus Quinlan, executive director of the Nevada Rock Art Foundation, offered an introduction to rock art at a recent gathering of his organization. Here are the highlights.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Friday, April 2, 2010. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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