Other sources appear to disagree. For instance, according to the Ancient History Encyclopedia, "the history of the alphabet started in ancient Egypt," which had a set of hieroglyphs as early as 2700 BC. These hieroglyphs weren't used as an actual alphabetic system, however. That didn't come along until the middle Bronze Age when "an apparently 'alphabetic' system known as the Proto-Sinaitic script is thought by some to have been developed in central Egypt around 1700 BCE for or by Semitic workers..." (Emphasis added).
"DNA from the 8,500-year-old skeleton of an adult man found in 1996, in Washington, is more closely related to Native American populations than to any other population in the world, according to an international collaborative study conducted by scientists at the University of Copenhagen and the Stanford University School of Medicine." Source: Stanford Medicine News Center.
Note: This still hasn't resolved the controversy surrounding Kennewick Man. According to NBC News, "[s]ome of the scientists who have studied the 8,500-year-old skeleton known as Kennewick Man, also known as the Ancient One, say they could learn more from further studies — and they'd be reluctant to see the remains handed over to the Native American tribes that claim him."
Comment: Some archaeological discoveries are so tied up with identity politics that it's hard to trust anything that's said about them, even when it comes from apparently unimpeachable sources. Assuming that this DNA study is accurate, however, I'm still not sure what it means to say that Kinnewick Man is "more closely related to Native American populations than any other population in the world." (Emphasis added)
The term "Native American" is a misnomer since the first paleo-indians to arrive in North America came here from Asia. Technically speaking, Native Americans are only "native" to the continent in the sense that they may have been the first arrivals (an issue which is still up in the air). And who were these prehistoric Asians / paleo-indians in the first place?
Europeans migrated into Asia. Their ancestors probably originated somewhere in central Asia. During their migrations, Europeans mixed with Asian populations and some of their ancestors may have crossed the Bering Land Bridge into North America. Another DNA study shows that native americans have European roots, so the reality of Kinnewick Man is a lot more complicated than it seems.
"Despite general resistance, representatives of tribes in the US recently gave their blessing for DNA analysis of the remains of a Stone Age child. Research conducted on the boy's genes indicate that Native Americans have European roots." Source: Der Spiegel (2014)
"This group appears to have contributed DNA to present-day Europeans, as well as to the people [the paleo-indians]who travelled across the Bering Strait into the Americas more than 15,000 years ago."
Comment: It appears that modern Europeans evolved somewhere in Asia, possibly in the region around the Black Sea, and then migrated both west and east.
"Islamic State group jihadists have mined the spectacular ancient ruins in Syria's Palmyra, an antiquities official and monitor said Sunday, prompting fears for the UNESCO World Heritage site." Source: AFP via Yahoo News.
"The reports came one month after the extremist group overran the central Syrian city."
Note: This report comes from Maamoun Abdulkarim, Syria’s director general of antiquities and museums. Assuming that he doesn't work for the CIA or some other group, the news is probably accurate. The purpose of the mining is still unclear. The ISIS lunatics may be planning to blow up Palmyra or they may be trying to prevent government forces from overrunning the site.
Update (6.23.15): " Islamic State militants have blown up two ancient shrines they consider sacrilegious in Palmyra, a 2,000-year-old UNESCO World Heritage site in central Syria, the ultra hardline Sunni Muslim group said on Tuesday." Source: Reuters via Huffington Post.
Note: There's a good chance that these explosives were either paid for or directly provided by the US and British governments. Diehard flag-wavers may find this hard to believe, but ISIS receives millions of dollars from western governments and NGOs.
Notes: "[The Domus Aurea or Golden House,] Nero's residence after the fire of AD 64, [was] notorious for its novelties and extravagance," according to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed. revised). "Nero was particularly castigated [apparently by Suetonius and Tacitus] for turning a vast area [125 acres] of the center of Rome into a regal park, with residential nuclei dispersed within landscaped gardens extending from the Palatine to the Oppian and Caelian around an artificial lake."
The Domus Aurea was reopened to the public in 2014 after restoration /reconstruction required to protect the site from "ground instability and water infiltration," according to Italy Magazine. A virtual reconstruction of Nero's first house -- the Domus Transitoria (destroyed in the Great Fire) -- was put on display back in 2010, according to Discovery News.
As usual, the Discovery News story mentions the accusation that the "tyrannical" Nero started the Great Fire himself, but this is one of those legends that probably never happened. See The Great Fire of Rome for a complete account of what actually took place.
Note also that Nero was "castigated" for his extravagance by Tacitus, an upper-class conservative traditionalist, and Seutonius, a sensationalist who passed on all sorts of scurrilous rumors about the nobility. This is kind of like The American Conservative magazine and the National Enquirer teaming up to attack a self-indulgent Hollywood actor for conspicuous consumption.
Note: "The Roman domus [home] was much more than a place of dwelling for a Roman familia. It also served as a place of business and a religious center for worship. The size of a domus could range from a very small house to a luxurious mansion." Source: Ancient History Encyclopedia. This particular domus would have belonged to a relatively wealthy family.
Note: "The House of the Tragic Poet (also called The Homeric House or The Iliadic House) is a typical 2nd century BC Roman house in Pompeii, Italy. The house, or villa, is famous for its elaborate mosaic floors and frescoes depicting scenes from Greek mythology." Source: Wikipedia.
Note: If you're interested in medieval castles, I can recommend "The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts And Walled Cities Of The Middle Ages." Highly detailed with hundreds of illustrations and photographs, "this superb and comprehensive examination of military strongholds in the period [1100-1500 AD] describes the diverse keeps and barricades built throughout Europe and beyond, analyzes the origins and evolution of castles and other walled defenses, details the major components of such constructs, and offers the reasons for their eventual decline."
Fortifications were built for good reason in the ancient and medieval worlds, a fact explained in frequently chilling detail in Ancient Siege Warfare, another great book I can highly recommend, especially if you're interested in the methods used to attack these castles. If you don't feel like reading anything, however, just watch this video instead. It'll give you a general impression of the atmosphere of the times.