Archaeologists with radar equipment probed a cemetery Wednesday for something that has eluded generations of historians: the unmarked mass grave of 15 Kentuckians massacred during the War of 1812.
"There have been historians who spent a lifetime trying to find out what happened to these remains," said John Trowbridge, director of the Kentucky Military History Museum, who was among those overseeing the project.
Researchers are now banking that modern technology will yield an answer. Ground-penetrating radar, a device resembling a computerized baby buggy, was wheeled slowly around Kentucky's 1850 state battle monument in the center of the Frankfort Cemetery.
Good news! No, wait, bad news. No, wait, good news! Um. . . YMCA site still subject to archaeology survey
The letter received by YMCA Chief Executive Officer Steve Ira was good news.
An archaeological survey, which could hold up construction of a new YMCA on South Illinois Street, was not needed after all.
However, the July 20 letter was wrong.
Anne Haaker, deputy state historic preservation officer for the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, said Tuesday that the computer generated letter sent out over her signature was sent in error.
An archaeological survey is necessary, she said. But a state spokesman said there's a pretty good chance a survey won't hold up construction.
A true lost city, found Iranian Three-Story Underground City Served As Haven
Archaeologists believe that a three-story underground city, recently unearthed in central Iran, used to function as a collective shelter for its residents in wake of relentless invasions.
The city, lying beneath the small town of Nushabad near Kashan, features labyrinth-like architectural structures, starting 2.5 meters under the surface and running 18 meters deep. Nushabad residents had been reporting about underground corridors and chambers when they were digging wells in their yards for sewage, since most Iranian cities lack a sewage network.
Working on the tip-off, archaeologists started digging the area, but to their chagrin, they failed to find any clue, until during the second week of excavation, an 18-year-old digger by the name of Ali Reza Khabbazi did finally discovered something that turned out to be an underground city, whose three stories are interconnected by several flights of stairs.
We always thought every village and town should have had one of these. Invading army comes a-knocking, everybody just disappears, invading army looks about a bit, goes to next town, thinks to itself "Who were we supposed to be conquering again?" Probably be pretty irritated if they found out though.
Yet more graves unearthed during construction Workmen uncover medieval graves
Archaeologists say they have found a town's largest medieval burial site yet after workmen dug up human remains.
Evidence of 50 burials has been found at the site near the 16th Century Litten Chapel in Newbury, Berkshire.
The dig was started after contractors carrying out road improvements at the junction of Newtown Road and Pound Lane found remains in July.
So far the age and sex of just 21 bodies - seven men, five women and nine children - have been identified.
Wine-not Sardinian discovery rewrites the history of wine
A trowelful of pips and sediment is in the process of overturning the centuries-old snobbery with which mainland Italian connoisseurs have regarded the rustic wines of Sardinia. The world's largest wine producer has discovered that it owes a massive debt to the island's growers.
Dutch and Italian archaeologists digging in the fertile Sardara hills north of Sardinia's capital Cagliari said yesterday that they had discovered grape pips and sediment dating to 1,200BC. Sardinia, it seems, may be the cradle of European wine culture.
Good show Hiker stumbles onto unique tomb nearly 5,000 years old
A tomb dating to the Hafeet era (3,200 BC to 2,600 BC) that may be the only well-preserved piece of construction from the period has been discovered by a British hiker on a mountainous ridge in Taffif.
Barbara Couldrey, a resident in Ras Al Khaimah, who has been hiking for many years in various countries, recognised the ancient construction as a Hafeet tomb and later gave the location and all other information to the archaeology section at the Ras Al Khaimah Museums and Antiques Department, which confirmed the discovery.
"In the mountains, I observe everything around me and see whether anything is of archaeological value," Couldrey said. She said she normally takes a GPS system with her and takes down readings, the size and rough description of what she sees during her hikes.