Archeology

Makkah realtors cash in on ‘jinn’ rumors

// MAKKAH: There are widespread rumors among Makkawis claiming some abandoned buildings and estates are possessed by jinns. According to the widely circulated gossip, residents of these buildings located in various districts of the holy city, especially on the outskirts, say they vacated their dwellings after supernatural forces had harmed […]

Fossils in Saxony shed light on ancient lizard life

cientists in Saxony have discovered 290-million-year-old fossil skeletons of a previously unknown, tree-dwelling lizard species in a perfectly preserved petrified forest that casts new light on the habits of ancient reptiles. The researchers in Chemnitz have found five well-preserved fossil skeletons of a reptile species that lived more than 50 […]

Ibn-Batuta and Muslim Geography

Andrew J. Mogensen, Valparaiso University The prominence of geography in Muslim scholarship—and perhaps even the existence of a distinct field of Muslim geography—stems from two factors: 1) the fact that Islam itself is concerned with proper cardinal directions and 2) that trade with distant lands demanded accurate maps or descriptions. […]

Hidden treasure found under Nepalese palace

KATHMANDU: A huge stash of gold and silver ornaments has been discovered by workers renovating a former royal palace in the Nepalese capital Kathmandu, the government said Tuesday. The treasures, thought to be more than 500 years old, were hidden in a store room under the sprawling 16th-century Hanuman Dhoka […]

Way To Go: Mali

By Bunmi Ajiboye June 17, 2011 The Republic of Mali is one of the countries in West Africa which offers sublime tourist destinations. This once French-colonised country is bordered by Algeria, Niger, Senegal, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mauritania. The capital city is Bamako and the country gained independence […]

New dinosaur found at brickworks

A new species of dinosaur found at a brickworks in East Sussex is believed to be the world’s smallest. The fossil of the bird-like dinosaur, which measures between 13 and 16 inches in length, was found in one of the pits at the Ashdown Brickworks near Bexhill, East Sussex. The […]