Merry Wanderer of the Night [Search results for Natural Heritage] 

The suit, which names the BLM and the U.S. Interior Department as defendants, argues that the federal government is putting the environment, public health and the region's cultural resources at sites like Chaco Culture at risk by allowing oil and gas development in the lower San Juan Basin, primarily the Lybrook area.

Diné Citizens Against Ruining Our Environment, the San Juan Citizens Alliance, WildEarth Guardians and the Natural Resources Defense Council, with attorneys from the Western Environmental Law Center, collectively filed the complaint in New Mexico's U.S. District Court, arguing that the BLM's ongoing permitting of drilling in the area violates the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, and the National Historic Preservation Act, or NHPA.

The groups also took to the state Capitol Wednesday to try to convince legislators to support a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, production for Mancos Shale oil in the Gallup Play area. The drilling process involves injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure to fracture shale rocks and release the natural gas or oil inside.

On Dec. 30, the BLM said it would defer issuing leases for five Navajo allotment parcels that represent 2,803 acres in response to a protest filed by environmental groups that demanded the agency suspend fracking on public lands near the Chaco park.

The BLM's Farmington Field Office is expected to finalize its amended resource management plan later this year, said Victoria Barr, the BLM Farmington Field Office district manager. Barr declined to comment on the lawsuit.

According to Fides, the project to build a road that should unite the city of Fayoum to an oasis area crossing the territories around the Coptic monastery of St. Macarius, threatens an archaeological area that stretches around a church dating to the fourth century.

Ninety-two kilometers from Cairo, the Monastery of St. Macarius is located in Wadi el-Natrun, the ancient Scetes. In Christian literature, the Scetes refers to one of the three early Christian monastic centers located in the desert of the northwestern Nile Delta.

In addition to the monastery itself, the project also threatens its water supply of the monastery and some cultivated areas belonging to it.

The monks, in recent days, launched an initiative of non-violent resistance. They lied in the path of bulldozers working on the project, led by workers who approached the monastery lands shouting "Allah Akbar."                                                                                  

In the past, the monks submitted various alternative projects to the authorities that would allow the site's historical and natural heritage to be preserved.

To encourage the search for alternative solutions, the Coptic Church also established an ad hoc committee for this purpose.

In addition, the Ministry of Antiquities expressed its opposition to the project, recommending the archaeological be fully protected.

The monastery was founded in 360 A.D. by St. Macarius the Egyptian, a spiritual father to more than 4,000 monks of different nationalities, such as Egyptians, Greeks, Ethiopians, Armenians, Nubians, Asians, Palestinians, Italians, Gauls and Span-lards. Among the monks are men of letters and philosophers, and members of the aristocracy of the time, along with simple illiterate peasants.

Since the fourth century, the monastery has been continuously inhabited by monks.

Source: Zenit [February 27, 2015]

Conservationists have reintroduced the gibbons as part of an ambitious project for the "re-wilding" of Angkor Wat, a vast "temple city" that was once surrounded by forests teeming with deer, monkeys, birds and big cats before the arrival of commercial hunters with guns, traps and an appetite for money.

The re-wilding is being led by Nick Marx, a conservationist who believes the project could become a model for other parts of Southeast Asia hit by the trade in endangered wildlife.

Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument on earth, was made a World Heritage Site to protect its sprawling network of temples. Now conservationists want to restore the surrounding forests of Angkor Archaeological Park to their former glory, Marx said.

"The area of forest is beautiful and mature. It's a unique site but it's devoid of wildlife now," he said. "We want to introduce different species that would be appropriate, such as a cross-selection of small carnivores, herbivores, primates and deer, to try to get a build-up of wildlife populations with sufficient genetic diversity."

Cambodia, like many countries in southeast Asia, has suffered from the illegal trade in wildlife. Large numbers of animals have been shot, trapped, butchered and skinned, or sold alive in one of the many Cambodian food markets.

Spiralling demand for traditional Chinese "medicine" has driven the trade to new heights.

"China has done a pretty good job of decimating its own wildlife and now it is moving into other countries," he said. "There is a certain amount of consumption within Cambodia, but most of the valuable items that can bring a high price such as pangolins and cat skins would be going out either to Vietnam or to China," he said. "With the opening of borders and trade, things are getting worse globally. That means we have to work harder to stop it."

Marx is director of a wildlife rescue service funded by Wildlife Alliance, a New York-based non-governmental organisation that specialises in protecting forests and wildlife. He runs Cambodia's Wildlife Rapid Rescue Team which tackles animal trafficking with undercover operations, armed raids on restaurants and markets, and a network of paid informants willing to provide tip-offs on illegal shipments of live animals and body parts.

"We are known throughout Cambodia. We are feared by wildlife traders. It would be foolish to say there is no risk. We're pissing people off and we are rescuing things like cobras, which often have their mouths stitched up and we have to unstitch them," he said.

Why cobras? "They cut their throats to drink their blood with wine and then eat the flesh. People eat everything, from spiders and grasshoppers up."

Many recovered animals are alive and the aim is to return them to the wild if possible.

"Almost everything we confiscate, about 90 per cent of it - provided it is in recent captivity and is fit and healthy, and of an age it can look after itself - is released back into a safe habitat," Marx said. "If they cannot take care of themselves, we look after them at a rescue centre."

Having established Cambodia's official task force to tackle wildlife crime, Marx said it was time to think about reintroducing species to areas where they once thrived such as Angkor Wat. "We were given permission to release animals back into Angkor last year and we released the first pair of pileated gibbons into this forest last December. This has gone really well. The pair had a baby in September. We've taken up another pair of gibbons and a trio of silver langurs, which are a kind of leaf-eating monkey, which we hope to release later."

Author: Steve Connor | Source: Independent via The New Zealand Herald [December 29, 2014]

Bitlis Eren University academic Associated Professor Mehmet Demirtaş said the ancient city was registered by the Culture and Tourism Ministry in 1986.

The ancient city, part of which is underground and part of which is submerged beneath the lake, had all the traces of a city and settlement, Demirtaş said, adding it should be protected from illegal excavators and those who want to use it for commercial purposes.

Demirtaş called for the ministry and the Van Cultural and Natural Heritage Preservation Board to take action. “The region has a history of 5,000 years. Lots of findings from the 3rd century B.C. have been unearthed there so far. There are two ancient cities in the district; one is in Şahmiran village and the other is this one on the coast of the lake. It is known as the ancient city of Tatvan. There are rock-carved niches, geometric shapes and paintings. These are the most common features of an ancient city and they were all registered in 1986.”

Demirtaş said many structures which had been unearthed during previous excavations remained underground because they were not taken under protection.

“[Potential excavation] work will completely unearth the ancient city. This place will be a focus of interest in the world. But there are those who want the area to be zoned for housing and build a holiday village or drill for water. Also, treasure hunters cause a large amount of damage to this area. A common project should be made for its  protection,” he said.

Source: Hurriyet Daily News [March 25, 2015]

Criteria include recognition of the sites as outstanding examples representing major stages of the world’s history or as masterpieces of human creative genius and, with that criteria in mind, the archaeological site of Philippi undoubtedly deserves a place in that list.

The candidacy of the ancient site for UNESCO’s World Heritage List was revealed by the Theocharakis Foundation in Athens on Monday. The well-known list already includes 17 Greek sites, with the last Greece-based entry being the Old Town of Corfu.

“The area of Philippi hosts a series of archaeological monuments, witnesses to a long historical path during which civilizations intersected and developed,” writes UNESCO’s official site for this amazing ancient city located in eastern Macedonia.

Philippi was established by the king of Macedon, Philip II in 356 BC. This ancient city, most important archaeological site in the eastern Macedonia region of northern Greece, had walled fortifications, a theatre, several public buildings and private houses.

The milestone battle of Philippi, which took place outside the western city walls in 42 BC, was a turning point in the area’s history. The site was conquered by Octavian and, as a Roman colony, developed into a financial, administrative, and artistic centre.

Another important event that marked the city’s history was the foundation of the first Christian Church on European soil by the Apostle Paul in 49/50 AD.

Source: Protothema [March 04, 2015]

Most of the archaeological sites and features, which date back to prehistoric, classical, medieval and early modern periods, were discovered as a result of stringent planning permit monitoring procedures and field surveys carried out by MEPA and the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage (SCH).

These newly unearthed archaeological sites include extensive areas characterised by a high density of prehistoric and classical pottery scatters, classical tombs, rural walls with long stretches of megaliths and ashlar stones, historic paths, ancient enclosures and water systems. Rural structures worthy of preservation such as giren (corbelled huts), apiaries and small vernacular buildings were also identified.

These archaeological sites and features are of local and national importance and contribute towards the understanding of the cultural landscape of the area.

A number of single chamber tombs and small catacombs have been recorded in Mġarr and Żebbiegħ. These tombs indicate a well established human presence in the classical period and could provide data for establishing the location of settlements and ancient roads in this period. The classical period features provide an archaeological landscape which is distinct from the prehistoric one, even if both overlap the same geographical space.

The undeveloped landscape in Mġarr and Żebbiegħ is characterized by the presence of extensive stretches of karstland, interspersed with small pockets of reclaimed agricultural areas. Within the surviving karstland, a large number of cart-rut systems and ancient quarries are recorded. An industrial site containing a kiln complete with water channels and a cistern has also been discovered. Some of these rock-cut archaeological features date as far back as the Bronze Age.

As expected, within such a primarily natural landscape characterized by active agricultural areas, one comes across a number of traditional rural structures in various degrees of conservation. These rural structures include old pathways, apiaries, giren, animal pens (some of which underground), cisterns, silos, post-holes, vine trenches and water channels which have a varying level of cultural or historic importance, but which collectively presents one of the most interesting agricultural and historically rural landscape in Malta.

A WWII shelter at Jubilee Square (Wesgħat il-Ġublew) and Fisher Street have also been scheduled by the Authority.

This area, with its substantial number of archaeological sites as well as rural and military heritage features is one of the most complete and complex rural and cultural landscapes in Malta with a history that spans over 7,000 years.

Source: Malta Today [December 23, 2014]

“This is a salvage operation to get as much as we can,” said archaeologist Jera Davis, who is part of the team excavating the site.

The sites along the bank overlooking the river have been endangered by rapid erosion caused by a shift in the river channel. The salvage effort is a stopgap measure until UA and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can agree on a plan to stabilize the stretch of riverbank along the wooded northern border of the park, according to Matt Gage, director of the UA Office of Archaeological Research.

“Since 2010, we have really seen a major change in what is happening with the erosion in this area,” Gage said.

The university and the Corps are trying to work on a feasibility study, he said.

The stabilization work would likely be funded by local and federal matching funds, with the Corps responsible for the stabilization and the university assisting with the archaeological work at the site.

At a site below the raised walkway that runs along the edge of the bank, the team has been excavating a midden heap — or trash pit — for about a week.

The bank below the excavation is a steep slope of exposed sandy soil where the trunks of toppled cypress and gum trees protrude from the silt at the water’s edge.

Gage estimated the staff has about six to eight months of salvage work along the riverbank on the edge of the park. The salvage by the archaeologists needs to be done before the stabilization work begins and before the valuable archaeological deposits slide down the slope into the river.

Only about 15 percent of the massive Moundville complex has been excavated. The section threatened by the river is among the least explored, according to Davis.

The site overlooking the river was likely one of the first and last places to be occupied at the complex, which was inhabited from roughly the 11th to 16th centuries by Native Americans of the Mississippian culture. The site was a religious and commercial center, home to both elite and commoners of the culture.

Based on materials found in the trash pit, experts say the sites near the river were likely the residential areas for the elite members of the society. The items include such things as shards of elaborate ceramics and mineral pigments from the Midwest, Davis said.

The trash pits offer glimpses of daily life at the sprawling complex, once the second largest of its kind in what is now the United States.

Moundville is eligible as a United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage site, Gage said.

Erosion along the bank is speeding up, he warned.

“Every day, we are losing a little bit of Moundville,” he said.

In the past, a natural jetty formed by silt deposits at the mouth of Carthage Branch to the east of the park helped protect the stretch of riverbank by redirecting the current. The recent changes to the river channel eroded the natural barrier and began to cut away at the bank along the Moundville site, Gage said. He estimated that approximately 30 meters of riverbank has been lost since 1969. The Corps of Engineers stabilized a stretch of riverbank northwest of the park roughly 25 years ago with riprap and other stone to prevent erosion.

While the Corps was previously able to stabilize the riverbank on the northwest corner of the park with aggregate, the erosion occurring now is a more challenging engineering problem because of the steep slope of the bank, which drops almost immediately into the river channel, Gage said.

Gage anticipates the project could cost anywhere from $7 million to $11 million.

“It all depends on what the Army Corps of Engineers decides is a possibility,” he said.

Author: Ed Enoch | Source: The Tuscaloosa News [January 26, 2015]

An estimated 5.5 million tons of copper, one of the biggest deposits in the world, could provide a major export for a war-ravaged country desperately in need of jobs and cash. But the hoped-for bonanza also could endanger rare artifacts that survived the rule of the Taliban and offer a window into Afghanistan's rich pre-Islamic history.

"The copper mine and its extraction are very important. But more important is our national culture," said Abdul Qadir Timor, director of archaeology at Afghanistan's Culture Ministry. "Copper is a temporary source of income. Afghanistan might benefit for five or six years after mining begins, and then the resource comes to an end."

The government is determined to develop Afghanistan's estimated $3 trillion worth of minerals and petroleum, an untapped source of revenue that could transform the country. The withdrawal of U.S.-led combat forces at the end of 2014 and a parallel drop in foreign aid have left the government strapped for cash. It hopes to attract global firms to exploit oil, natural gas and minerals, ranging from gold and silver to the blue lapis lazuli for which the country has been known since ancient times.

Beijing's state-run China Metallurgical Group struck a $3 billion deal in 2008 to develop a mining town at Mes Aynak with power generators, road and rail links, and smelting facilities. Workers built a residential compound, but were pulled out two years ago because of security concerns. Nazifullah Salarzai, a spokesman for President Ashraf Ghani, said the government is determined to finish that project.

Archaeologists are scrambling to uncover a trove of artifacts at the site dating back nearly 2,000 years which shed light on a Buddhist civilization that stretched across India and China, reaching all the way to Japan.

"The more we look, the more we find," archaeologist Aziz Wafa said as he scanned hilltops pock-marked with bowl-shaped hollows where copper powder once was melted down and painted onto ceramics. Excavators have found silver platters, gold jewelry and a human skeleton as they have uncovered the contours of a long-lost town that once hosted elaborate homes, monasteries, workshops and smelters.

Behind Wafa is a cave in which three Buddhas are seated around a dome-shaped shrine known as a stupa. Two are headless; one was decapitated by looters who entered through a tunnel. The other head was removed by archaeologists and placed in storage along with thousands of other items.

Movable objects, including sculptures, coins and ceramics, are stored at the National Museum in Kabul. Larger objects, including stupas measuring eight meters (26 feet) across and statues of robed monks 7 meters (23 feet) tall remain at the sprawling site, which is closed off and protected by a special security force. The roads are lined with armed guards and the archaeologists have no telephone or Internet access.

Experts believe that proselytizing Buddhist monks from India settled here in the 2nd Century A.D. Like today's miners, they were enticed by the copper, which they fashioned into jewelry and other products to trade on the Silk Road linking China to Europe.

The site was discovered in 1942 and first explored in 1963, but the excavations ground to a halt for two decades during the Soviet invasion, the civil war and the brutal rule of the Taliban in the late 1990s. Osama bin Laden ran a training camp at Mes Aynak in the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the subsequent U.S.-led invasion.

Until the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan were dynamited by the Taliban in 2001, few knew that Afghanistan was once a wealthy, powerful Buddhist empire. It still does not feature on the local education curriculum, which ignores the country's pre-Islamic past. But at Mes Aynak the eroded remains of enormous feet testify to the colossal Buddhas that once towered over the valley.

Low world copper prices and a slowing Chinese economy have bought time for the archaeologists to uncover more artifacts, while the government seeks to find a way to unearth the copper without ruining relics.

The government has asked the U.N. cultural agency to survey mining sites and draw up plans to protect and preserve cultural heritage, said Masanori Nagaoka, UNESCO's head of cultural affairs in Afghanistan.

The request is rooted in hope for better days, when tourists might replace the tense guards scanning the valley.

The archaeological value of the site "will outlast the life cycle of the Aynak mine," an anti-corruption group called Integrity Watch Afghanistan said in a report. "The relics found could be a perpetual tourist attraction and would provide a new symbol of the historical foundation of the region and people."

Author: Lynne O'Donnell | Source: Associated Press [February 06, 2015]