"Ancient lakes of the Sahara"

The Sahara has not always been the arid, inhospitable place that it is today ? it was once a savannah teeming with life, according to researchers at the Universities of Reading and Leicester.

In their article ?Ancient lakes of the Sahara?, which appears in the January-February issue of American Scientist magazine, Dr Kevin White of the University of Reading and Professor David Mattingly of the University of Leicester explain how they used satellite technology and archaeological evidence to reveal new clues about both the past environment of the Sahara and of human prehistory in the area.

?The climate of the Sahara has been highly variable over the millennia and we have been able to provide much more specific dating of these changes,? said Dr White. ?Over the last 10,000 years, there have been two distinct humid phases, separated by an interval of highly variable but generally drying conditions between roughly 8,000 and 7,000 years ago. Another drying trend took place after about 5,000 years ago, leading to today?s parched environment.
Full article:
Ancient lakes of the Sahara:

"Mongolia looks to archaeologists and dinosaur hunters to help create jobs"

BAGA GAZRYN CHULU, Mongolia (AP) Archaeologists and dinosaur hunters are digging up Mongolia's vast countryside, seeking to retrace thousands of years of history in this storied but still mysterious land.


It was from here that Genghis Khan's armies conquered China and threatened Europe some 700 years ago, and where untold herds of dinosaurs once roamed.

To the newswire:
Mongolia looks to archaeologists

Storm brews over treasures sunk in 1814

HALIFAX -- A U.S. treasure hunter's bid to scavenge a famed War of 1812-era shipwreck off the coast of Nova Scotia has met a storm of protest from underwater experts, who say the province's rich maritime history is being pillaged by modern-day pirates.

HMS Fantome was laden with loot believed to have been stolen from Washington -- including from the White House and Capitol building -- when it ran aground on a treacherous shoal south of Halifax in November, 1814. The crew of the British naval vessel survived, but its cargo was lost to the stormy sea.

Now, a Pennsylvania-based treasure hunter has obtained a licence from the Nova Scotia government to excavate what is believed to be the wreck site, a move that has angered divers and underwater archeologists who say the ship's bounty could include priceless historical artifacts, which should not be sold for profit.


Storm brews over treasures sunk in 1814

World at its Hottest Since Prehistory

Scientists in Bern, Switzerland, and Oregon analyzed levels of the gas in tiny air bubbles trapped in Antarctic ice during the past 650,000 years. They found current levels were 27 percent greater than the highest level over that period. The UK's Chief Scientist said the last time levels of the gas were that high was 60 million years ago.

World at its Hottest Since Prehistory  

Is the little levity can wait until we're all not busy ?

It's been a Canadian tradition for almost 400 years for levees to be held Jan. 1, according to history books.

The first recorded event was in 1646 in Chateau St. Louis by the Governor of New France, which later became Quebec. Citizens came with well wishes and to hear news from overseas.

The ritual was carried on by British colonial governors, then governor generals and eventually down the line to mayors and councillors.

The word levee itself comes from the French word lever, meaning to rise. It started with King Louis XIV back in the 1600s, who made a habit of receiving his subjects in his bed chamber just after he woke. Levees developed to become a vital means of spreading information.

Now more like a reception, New Year's levees are still popular across the country. Mayors in Toronto, Mississauga, London, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec and Waterloo will all be shaking hands.

"The other side of a traitor

Tom Desjardin is tackling an American legend with his latest book.

Desjardin, a Maine native with a Ph.D. in U.S. history, has written a book about some of the good things Benedict Arnold did during the American Revolution before becoming our country's most famous traitor.

Desjardin has written "Through A Howling Wilderness - Benedict Arnold's March to Quebec, 1775." The book details Arnold's leading 1,100 soldiers on a secret mission through Maine to seize British Quebec.

Desjardin, 41, is originally from the Lewiston/Auburn area and now lives in Pittsfield. He works as a historic site specialist for the state of Maine and has written four books.
The other side of a traitor:
"