New research sheds light into Middle East geometric structures

New research sheds light on thousands of stone structures in the Middle East. that form geometric patterns.

OSL dating reveals that two of the "wheel" shaped structures were constructed around 8,500 years ago. Also one cluster of "wheels" appear to be aligned to sunrise on the winter solstice.

Additionally new stone structures have been found in Saudi Arabia including five located on a volcano slope (image in story's photo gallery).

http://www.livescience.com/52944-huge-geometric-shapes-in-middle-east-revealed.html

1,700 Year-Old Cupid Ring Discovered in England

A 1,700 year-old gold ring depicting a nude image of Cupid has been discovered in England. He is shown holding a torch with one hand while leaning on a column.

The ancient philosopher Apuleius wrote that Cupid often stripped naked and was known for "running at night here and there through homes that are not his own, corrupting marriages through indiscriminate seductions, authoring outrages on an enormous scale..."

http://www.livescience.com/52884-ancient-ring-depicts-nude-cupid.html

Lucky Roll! 14-face die Discovered in Heavily Looted Tomb

The remains of a board game called "bo" or "liubo" have been discovered in a heavily looted 2,300 year-old tomb in China. Among the discoveries is a 14 face die made of animal tooth.

http://www.livescience.com/52808-ancient-board-game-found-in-china-tomb.html

Great Pyramid May Hold Lost Tomb

An update on a story done in 2013 that incorporates the new thermal imaging.

http://www.livescience.com/52780-great-pyramid-may-hide-undiscovered-tomb.html 

Kazakhstan Geoglyphs Actually Date Back 2,800 years

The archaeologists investigating the geoglyphs in Kazakhstan say that they actually date as far back as 2,800 years, not the 8,000 reported in the New York Times. Also only 60 have been confirmed to exist so far, not 260.

http://www.livescience.com/52700-mysterious-geoglyphs-in-kazakhstan-revealed.html

Tomb Tells Tale of Family Executed by female emperor of China

Archaeologists have discovered a 1,300 year-old tomb containing epitaphs which tell the tale of a family executed by Wu Zetian, a female emperor of China. They describe how the occupant, Yan Shiwei helped her rise to power only to be executed later, along with his entire family.

http://www.livescience.com/52659-tomb-tells-tale-of-family-executed-by-china-s-1st-female-emperor.html

Statement in regards to New York Times

To all interested as the reporter who broke the Kazakhstan geoglyph story one year ago I have a statement to make. http://bit.ly/ZG0nnE

Much of the story reported by @ralphblu in @nytimes about the Kazakhstan geoglyphs is false. I've been in touch with archaeologists doing the work. They've discredited much of the story published by @ralphblu in @nytimes.  I've contacted @ralphblu and @nytimes about this and will be writing a follow-up article on the (real) research taking place next week.

One year ago the archaeologists generously took the time to talk to me about their initial results and share some of their findings. I'm saddened that @ralphblu and @nytimes have treated those same archaeologists so shabbily.

The names of the actual archaeologists are Irina Shevnina, Andrew Logvin and Giedrė Motuzaitė Matuzevičiūtė. Most of the people that @ralphblu and @nytimes reported on are not archaeologists and are not doing the research. I'm linking below to the story I published on the glyphs one year ago. I'm also copying the abstract of the paper presented in Istanbul last year.

(EAA 2014) Steppe Geoglyphs Mark the Ancient Routes of Human Migration Across Central Asia: Introduction to the Research
Andrey Logvin (National University of Kostanay, Kostanay), Irina Shevnina (National University of Kostanay,
Kostanay), Giedrė Motuzaitė Matuzevičiūtė (Vilnius University/Institute of History of Lithuania, Vilnius), Abai Seitov (National University of Kostanay, Kostanay)
Geoglyphs in the Torgai region of Northern Kazakhstan were serendipitously found while analysing satellite images from Google Earth. In a past few years over 20 such geoglyphs have been identified in the Torgai region. These unique objects
have not been known in the territory of Kazakhstan before, nor in the neighbouring countries.
The diameter of those geoglyphs ranges from 90m to 400m. According to the construction type, they could be grouped into two groups: the first type
of geoglyphs are constructed from the earth mounds which form lines, rings, crosses, squares and squares with crosses. The second group of geoglyphs is constructed from earth trenches and ramparts.
In the past year, the archaeological expedition from the Kostanay University in collaboration with Vilnius University began the investigation of the Torgai geoglyphs. The applied research methodology involved archaeological excavations, GPR work, radiocarbon and OSL dating as well as aerial photography. In this talk we are going to present the recent research results that allowed us to take a closer look at the timing, function and reasoning behind these unique and mysterious constructions.

http://www.livescience.com/47954-geoglyphs-discovered-in-kazakhstan.html