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Ah, here we are discussing one of my favorite subjects, archeology. There is always something that excites me about this subject. I like nothing more than actually seeing, and touching, something that I know was used hundreds or thousands of years ago by people of the time. I know that touching some things is forbidden, I truly try and not touch these things but sometimes the temptation is just too great. A case in point was when I visited the home of Robert Burns in Scotland. In case you didn't know, he was Scotland's greatest poet. There I was standing right next to the desk he used and there wasn't another soul around. I said to myself "Ken don't do what you are thinking of doing", but the temptation was too great. I actually went through his 300 hundred year old desk. I opened every cubby and pulled out every drawer and nobody ever knew. For me this was a great thrill. I was very gentle and was careful not to damage anything, but I guess this is no excuse. Oh well back to the subject at hand.

In Guatemala there is something known as Site Q. This site has been the subject of a 45 year long search. Looted items kept appearing on the market, but no one knew where they were coming from. That mystery has been solved. An archeologist was trying to escape the ever biting mosquitoes and stumbled across a buried ancient city. The city is known as La Corona. It doesn't look like much right now, just a small amount of ruins, but looks can be deceiving. A large trench was found that contained a panel made of limestone that had hieroglyphics in it. Most of the writing found around the area seems to indicate that the same person wrote most of the tablets. The ruins are those of a Maya city.

Digs in Cremona, in northern Italy, show that the city was destroyed and most likely validate an ancient tale by the historian Tacitus. Until now, most people believed that Tacitus was just telling a story, but it seems that the city was destroyed by Vespasian as revenge against his rival Aulus Vitellus. Vespasian was famous as one of the Emperor's of ancient Rome. A layer of ash from fires was found along with the remains of people that had been put to the sword. The historian tells how over 40,000 men stormed the city and of their unbridled cruelty. Cremona had lasted 286 years before it's destruction.

Should the discovery of ancient cities and ruins be announced if they are not to be protected? In 1999 the ruins of Gran Saposoa were discovered in the mountains of Peru. The ruins were about 330 miles from Lima. They were revisited in 2005 and to the horror of the archeologists, they had been looted. The tombs were opened, head stones destroyed and artifacts taken. The point of the 2005 trip was to map areas that needed protection. This was too little and too late. The ruins are actually thought to be the city of Chajamarqilla but weren't named that because that fact was yet to be verified.

U.S. soldiers have helped to find ancient ruins in Ladenburg, Germany in the 1950s. Ladenburg is an ancient German city near Heidelberg. A German archeologist along with the town's people had noticed that crops grew unevenly. The archeologist made a request to the U.S. Army stationed in Heidelberg for air surveillance over the crop area. He stated in his letter that he was sure that there were ancient wonders buried in the fields. The outlines of ruins could be seen from the air. When the dig was began, with the help of the soldiers, an ancient Roman wall and Roman columns had been found. Today that same dig is yielding many more clues to the town's ancient past. It is now believed that the town dates back to the first century A.D.

German archeologists are petitioning the Turkish government for permission to continue digging in the ancient city of Troy. What many people don't realize is that there are more ruins in Turkey than anywhere else. There are even more Roman ruins in Turkey than in Italy. The Germans want to build a museum in Troy. I think Hector would have liked that.

Haft Tepe was a city in Iran. or what was then ancient Persia. A new archaeological excavation has produced 50 Akadi cuneiform mud inscriptions. These are official city records from over 3,500 years ago. Haft Tepe has a history that goes back over 4,000 years. The writing will be translated on a future date.

I guess the ancients had their weather problems also. The ruins of an ancient temple in southern India are being excavated and the temple shows signs that it may have been destroyed by some ancient tsunami. This temple ruins were found after the last tsunami hit on December 26, 2004. The temple is located just north of Mahabalipuram, a port town. Does this prove that this area is prone to tsunamis? The temple was found one layer below another existing temple and is believed to date back to about 100 years B.C. The tsunami of 2004 uncovered many unknown ruins in the area.

Cyprus is a place that we haven't talked about much. Idalion ruins have recently been found in the Lower City of the ancient kingdom of Idalion. In these ruins were pieces of statues, lamp fragments and terra cotta figurines. Ruins of work shops were also found. The site dates back to 1500 B.C. This is the same city that was known as Edi-il to the Assyrians. A large temple was found in 2004 and believed to have been dedicated to the goddess of Cyprus, the Queen of Heaven, later known to the ancient Greeks as Aphrodite.

The ancient city of Patara has been discovered in Turkey. It is a small sea town with a large parliament building and this building is still intact. When I said that Turkey had more Roman ruins than Italy I neglected to also state that it has more Greek ruins than Greece. The Turks want to understand what they call the dark ages of early Mediterranean history. They are referring to 1200 to 800 B.C. The Iliad mentions Patara. The city was used by the Persians in 500 B.C.

Have the ruins of King David's palace been found? An archeologist in Jerusalem believes that she has found it. The ruins were found in the neighborhood know as the City of David. It is just south of Jerusalem's Old City. Jerusalem was around 2,000 years before David was born. The structure that was found is said to be massive but digging has just begun this year and more exciting finds are hoped for in the years to come.

Nearer to home, underwater archeologists have begun to search for John Paul Jones' Ship, Bonhomme Richard. If the ship is found, it will be the most significant archaeological find in U.S. Naval History.

Archeologists were surprised when excavating a site in Iran know as Rabat Tepe. What surprised them was the find of 3,000 year old flag stones that were of a type only previously found in Roman and Iraqi sites. What are these stones doing here and how did they get here? Hopefully these questions will be answered as the dig continues.