Fighting in Syria continues to take its toll. A stone footbridge leading into Syria’s Citadel of Aleppo and a gate into the fort have reportedly been damaged by insurgents. Syrian archaeologists have also accused government forces of damaging the World Heritage site with mortar fire.

Two dams have been demolished along Washington’s Elwha River by the National Forest Service in order to restore the river and its salmon runs. The draining of the Elwha Dam reservoir has revealed Elwha tribal lands that have been submerged since 1913. Two cultural sites have been revealed: the first is a sacred rock, known as the Lower Elwha Klallam tribe’s creation site. “It isn’t a myth. It’s a reality, what our elders have been saying all along,” said Tribal Chairwoman Frances Charles. The other site shows signs of human habitation 8,000 ago, and is one of the oldest known archaeological sites on the Olympic Peninsula.

An early Islamic site in Cairo is threatened by rapid development. The site includes an eighth-century mosque and several mausolea, known to be among the oldest in the Arab world. An eighth-century tomb has yielded ceramics, coins, glass weights, bone and wood objects, baskets, papers, papyri, and cloth items such as shrouds used to wrap the deceased. Five aqueducts and a hammam, or bathroom, dating to the eleventh century have also been found.

The Internet is abuzz with the idea that two pyramid complexes may have been revealed in a Google Earth satellite imagery survey conducted by Angela Micol of North Carolina. “The images speak for themselves. It’s very obvious what the sites may contain but field research is needed to verify they are, in fact, pyramids,” she said.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Monday, August 13, 2012. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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