‘Underworld of the pharaohs’ allegedly found under Giza Pyramids

September 23rd, 2009 LONDON - Researchers have discovered that many pyramids in Mexico were created by the ancient Mayans to create "raindrop" music to communicate with their rain god. Take for example, Mexico's El Castillo pyramid in Chichen Itza.

September 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A controversial new research has placed an exact date on the start of the ancient construction project of the Great Pyramid of Giza, as August 23, 2470 B.C. According to a report in the National Geographic News, a team of Egyptian researchers arrived at the date based on calculations of historical appearances of the star Sothis, which is today called Sirius.

September 21st, 2009 WASHINGTON - Archaeologists have uncovered two abandoned pyramids and nine palaces "frozen in time" at the ancient site of Kiuic (KIE-yuk), which may help unravel the mystery of the ancient Maya. They have explored the pyramids and, most intriguingly, plantation palaces on the ridges ringing the centre.

September 8th, 2009 SOFIA - The lyre of Orpheus, the string instrument which the Thracian and ancient Greek mythological musician played with mastery, has been recreated and will be displayed in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv. According to a report carried in the Balkan Travellers, the lyre was recreated as part of a 150,000-euro project between Bulgaria, Spain and Italy.

August 19th, 2009 LONDON - Egypt's head of antiquities Zahi Hawass has warned that the tombs of the pharaohs in Valley of the Kings may disappear within 150 to 500 years if they remain open to tourists. The Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, where Ancient Egypt's royalty was mummified, is home to the tombs of legendary pharaohs such as the boy king Tutenkhamun and Queen Nefertiti.

August 12th, 2009 EDINBURGH - Archaeologists in Perthshire, Scotland, have unearthed a spectacular early Bronze Age grave containing a gold-banded dagger still wrapped in its 4,000-year-old sheath, which means it is as old as the pyramids. According to a report in The Scotsman, while few traces survive of the body buried in the primitive stone coffin, found near the village of Forteviot, several clues suggest the remains are those of a tribal leader or warrior of "tremendous importance".

July 31st, 2009 2 indicted in $1 million Army bribery schemeWASHINGTON — A federal grand jury has indicted two men for allegedly trying to bribe a U.S. Army contracting official with $1 million to win a road construction project in Afghanistan.

July 9th, 2009 CAIRO - Archaeologists have unearthed a cache near the Western gate of the National Museum in Cairo, which contained a table made of limestone, a fragment of a slab with hieroglyphic inscriptions, some stones, and the base of a pharaonic pillar, which date back to the pharaonic period around 1,300 years BC. "This type of slab was quite widespread during the era of the Pharaohs, who used it to mark a special occasion," Hawass told The Egyptian Gazette.

June 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a study lasting two decades, archaeologists have uncovered a number of secrets of daily life among the great pyramids of Giza in Egypt. According to a report in The Columbus Dispatch, archaeologists Ana Tavares and Mark Lehner have been digging for two decades in Egypt, digging up a lost city where Giza pyramid builders lived.

June 22nd, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of archaeologists, in eastern Snohomish County, US, has found a treasure trove of artifacts from the Olcott period, 4,500 to 9,000 years ago, which even predates the first known pyramids in Egypt. "The developer accidentally bought himself one of the most significant sites in Washington State," Allyson Brooks, the state's historic preservation officer told The Herald.

June 4th, 2009 Obama to address Egypt, Muslim worldWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is reaching out to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims with a speech in Egypt. The high-stakes speech at Cairo University, billed by aides as a "truth-telling address," is meant to ease long-held Muslim grievances against the United States.

May 29th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Archaeologists, excavating the ancient Maya river port in Southeast Mexico, have found 23 artifacts from about 600 BC, thus strengthening the historic importance of the Maya city of Moral-Reforma. According to a report in Art Daily, the archaeological site, which is 87 hectares (217 acres) in size, is located adjacent to the ranching community of Reforma.

April 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A 1,500-year-old tomb of the Moche Indian "king of bling", found in Peru at the base of an eroded mud-brick pyramid, has yield a treasure trove of artifacts, which are shedding light on ancient times in the country. According to a report in National Geographic News, the finds include 19 golden headdresses, various pieces of jewelry, and two funerary masks, as well as skeletons of two other men and a pregnant woman.

April 1st, 2009 WASHINGTON - A new study has suggested that some of Egypt's most magnificent pyramids were deliberately designed to follow a pattern of invisible diagonal lines, which would point towards Heliopolis, the city of the Sun God. These invisible lines would connect most of the funerary complexes raised by the kings of the Old Kingdom between 2630 and 2323 BC, Giulio Magli, professor of archaeoastronomy at Milan's Polytechnic University, told Discovery News.

March 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - Archaeologists in Egypt have found ancient golden jewelry in the tomb of a senior official who died about 3,500 years ago. According to a report by the Voice of America, ancient golden jewelry found in a pharaonic era tomb thought to belong to a senior official under Egypt's most powerful queen Hatshepsut, on the west bank of the Nile river in Luxor, Egypt.