Gulf Times

On a deserted stretch of coastline in the far north-west of Qatar lie the ruins of an old fort, one of several which lie along the coast between Zubara and Al Ruwais. The coast is fringed with mangroves, which thrive in the shallow water. The name of the fort, Al Ruwaida, is a diminutive of the Arabic word  rawda' meaning a fertile area in a depression.

Gulf News

Fujairah: Perched at a 20-metre high rocky hill, Fujairah Fort has an imposing presence and, lit at night, it can be seen from kilometres away, a glowing picture of a time gone by.

Wales Online

HISTORIANS will be reviewing more than 5,000 medieval seals relating to Wales, held at the National Library of Wales, as part of a new research project.

Time Magazine

For a set of craggy rocks in an English field, Stonehenge's ability to capture the imagination is impressive. The ancient monument - composed of massive stones arranged into concentric circles by unknown builders - is referenced almost as far back the Norman Conquest, when an English historian remarked in 1130 A.D. that "no one can conceive how such great stones have been so raised aloft, or why they were built here." That certainly hasn't kept many from trying. It seems like everyone has a theory for why the ruins were constructed. Some are more plausible than others.

Science Daily

A church that dates to the Byzantine period which is paved with breathtakingly beautiful mosaics and a dedicatory inscription was exposed in an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting near Moshav Nes-Harim, 5 kilometers east of Bet Shemesh (at the site of Horvat A-Diri), in the wake of plans to enlarge the moshav.

AFP

Egyptian antiquities authorities on Thursday revealed an ancient pharaonic embalming bed unearthed from a mysterious tomb near Luxor used to prepare bodies for mummification more than 3,000 years ago.

Birmingham Star

Dead men do tell tales. Researchers are now extracting history from the teeth of crew members Christopher Columbus left on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola after his second voyage to America in 1493-94.

Telegraph

A predatory monster lobster that lived in the sea more than 500 million years ago has been identified from pieces of a fossil jigsaw.

Todays Zaman

At a 6,000-year-old site in Izmir's Urla district archaeologists are performing Turkey's first underwater excavation.

San Diego Union Tribune

Skeletal remains unearthed at the University of California San Diego more than 30 years ago have sparked a fresh debate between the interests of science and culture  and the university is caught in the crossfire.