Wreck of Canadian schooner found in Lake Ontario

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  In this undated photo provided by ShipwreckWorld.com is a mid 1800's Canadian schooner

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) — After 105 years, the three masts of the Queen of the Lakes still stand erect — all the more remarkable because the 19th-century Canadian schooner has sat in the dark depths of Lake Ontario since it wrecked in 1906.

"We think it hit bow first because the bowsprit is broken off, but the rest of the ship looks pretty nice," undersea explorer Jim Kennard said Friday.

Kennard and fellow shipwreck enthusiasts Dan Scoville and Roland Stevens located the 129-foot-long vessel using side-scan sonar in 2009. They confirmed the find and captured images of it in early July using a remotely operated submersible.

Loaded with 480 tons of coal, the 53-year-old ship ran into a stiff gale in November 1906, sprung a leak and sank rapidly some 10 miles off Sodus Bay on the lake's southern shore. The crew of six clambered aboard a yawl and rowed to safety.

The ship sits on the lake bed at a depth of 200 to 300 feet. Its masts extend as much as 100 feet upward in calm, frigid waters deprived of oxygen, conditions that account for how well it's preserved.

"When you have a temperature of, like, 39 degrees and you're at a depth where there's no wave action or current, the only thing that can damage the wood would be zebra or quagga mussels as they collect and grow in big clumps and fall off," Kennard said.

The invasive mussels were not introduced to the lake system until the past 15 years or so, he said. "Years ago, all you would see on the ship was just a dusting of silt," he added.

Its rigging and sails have long since disintegrated and the large, tapered spar extending forward from the bow is gone.

But both anchors and the mussel-coated wheel are firmly in place. Cables that held the masts in place lie in coils on the deck and a steam-powered winch that might have been added in the early 1900s is visible in the bow section.

The ship was sailing from Rochester to Kingston, Canada, when it began taking on water.

"I've read the most important item on such ships was the bilge pump," Kennard said. "A vessel that old was pushing its limits. In a Northeast storm, things are really getting jostled around and, all of a sudden, the bottom fell out. The crewmen were only within 50 feet of the boat when it sank. It went down really quickly."

In 2008 in Lake Ontario, Kennard's team located the wreck of the HMS Ontario, the oldest shipwreck ever found in the Great Lakes. During the American Revolution in 1780, the 22-gun British warship was lost in a gale with barely a trace and as many as 130 people aboard.

Since 1970, Kennard has helped find more than 20 wrecks in the Great Lakes and about 180 others in Lake Champlain, New York's Finger Lakes and the Mississippi and Ohio rivers.

Tug-of-war over Iraqi Jewish trove in US hands

• In this June 20, 2011 photo, Alaa Jassim, a member of the library restoration staff, …
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  This 2003 file photo shows books and documents found by U.S. troops in a secret police …

LAGOS, NIGERIA (Aladdin Sodiq Blog) — A trove of Jewish books and other materials, rescued from a sewage-filled Baghdad basement during the 2003 invasion, is now caught up in a tug-of-war between the U.S. and Iraq.

Ranging from a medieval religious book to children's Hebrew primers, from photos to Torah cases, the collection is testimony to a once vibrant Jewish community in Baghdad. Their present-day context is the relationship, fraught with distrust, between postwar Iraq and its Jewish diaspora.

Discovered in a basement used by Saddam Hussein's secret police, the collection was sent to the U.S. for safekeeping and restoration, and sat at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in Maryland until last year, when Iraqi officials started a campaign to get it back.

Initially contacts went well, but now the deputy culture minister, Taher Naser al-Hmood, says "The Americans are not serious" about setting a deadline for getting back the archive.

U.S. officials deny that they are delaying its return. They say they only recently got the roughly $3 million needed to clean up the materials — the whole point of bringing them to the U.S. — and they question the rush to return the collection now, when the goal is so close.

"It is not U.S. government material, and we have every intention of returning it," said Phil Frayne, a spokesman for the State Department's Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs.

"We understand the frustration over the delay but we're happy that this is going to finally move forward," he said.

But al-Hmood was skeptical, saying he had not been told about the money. "Let the American side prove its goodwill," he said. "We cannot trust the Americans. They have not fulfilled their previous promises."

The case is complicated by the knee-jerk suspicions that cloud everything related to Jewish history in the Arab world, Iraq's attempts to assert its sovereignty after years of U.S. domination, and a diaspora trying to recover its history.

There are claims of Jewish pressure to prevent the return of the collection, and questions about why the U.S. didn't prevent the looting of Arab and Islamic treasures during the invasion but was able to bring the Jewish collection to safety in America. Among those voicing indignation about the transfer of the archive to America is Liwa Smaysim, the minister of archaeology, who belongs to a fiercely anti-American party in the government coalition.

On the other hand, once returned to Baghdad, the archive would likely be beyond the reach of Jewish scholars, especially Israeli ones, given the absence of diplomatic ties with Israel, and the anti-Semitism that exists here. Iraqi officials have vowed to restore the materials and digitize them so they're available outside of Iraq as well.

Besides parchments and photos accumulated over the years, the collection includes books printed in Baghdad, Warsaw and Venice, one of them a Jewish religious book published in 1568, and 50 copies of a children's primer in Hebrew and Arabic.

They are the lost heritage of what was once one of the largest Jewish communities in the Middle East, which dated to the 6th century B.C. and ended with an exodus after the creation of Israel in 1948. Today fewer than ten Jews are believed to be left here.

After the collection was found by a U.S. military team searching for weapons of mass destruction, the U.S.-headed agency temporarily governing Iraq signed an agreement with the Maryland archive to take its contents to the U.S.

It stipulated that the U.S. would restore and display the materials before returning them to Iraq., but that the Iraqi government could have them back any time it asked, regardless of whether the work was complete.

Iraqi Culture Ministry officials say they appreciate the U.S. efforts to save the materials, but are frustrated about getting them back.

They say that in meetings and conversations last year with the State Department and NARA, a decision was reached to return half the materials by the end of 2010, and the rest to be restored and displayed before also coming back to Iraq.

A NARA report, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by The Associated Press, says Saad Eskander, the head of the Iraqi National Library and Archives, met with U.S. representatives on June 23, 2010 and they decided upon a plan, including the immediate return of half the archive. But for reasons no one can entirely agree upon, things began to fall apart.

Al-Hmood said that when the December deadline passed, the Iraqis decided to officially ask for the archive back, and repeated the request six months later. In response, he said, the U.S. sent messages discussing what he says are "technical issues" and which he considers procrastination.

However, the Iraqi government seems in two minds about the matter. Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abawi, whose ministry is Kurdish-run and has close ties to the U.S. government, said it prefers the U.S. do the restoration, on the grounds that Iraq lacks the capability.

But Eskander and al-Hmood say the Iraqi Cabinet tasked their offices — not the Foreign Ministry — with recovering missing documents, and they're trying to do their job. A letter from the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S. agency that ran Iraq after the invasion, and obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, confirms the Ministry of Culture is charged with making decisions about the Jewish archive.

Eskander shepherded his library through the violence that followed the invasion and is getting a new five-story expansion project now being built. The rattle of gunfire has been replaced by the boom of construction, while staff repair other, similarly mold-infested documents — proof, Eskander says, that Iraq can and will do the needed restoration on the Jewish materials.

He himself is a Faihly, a member of a small Shiite-Kurdish minority persecuted under Saddam. He says it is vital that Iraqis know their history and that they be made aware that Jews were once part of this country.

He and al-Hmood also are pushing for the return of millions of sensitive security-related documents believed to be in CIA and Pentagon hands. These would be much more significant for the Iraqi people, but for now the Jewish archive has been the focus of activity.

Al-Hmood said "There are Jewish organizations that exert great pressure to prevent the return of the archive, claiming that there are no Jewish people in Iraq any longer."

The State Department says it has not succumbed to any pressure and is simply fulfilling its part of the agreement to restore the materials before returning them to Iraq.

Frayne said he understands the frustration over the delay but adds that with nearly $3 million in U.S. taxpayer money allocated, restoration can move ahead.

NARA will hire about ten people to do the work, and part of the money will go toward bringing Iraqi archivists to the U.S. and training them in restoration, said Doris Hamburg, NARA's director of preservation programs.

Frayne said the U.S. has reached out repeatedly to the Iraqi side to appoint an archival team to help draft an addendum to the 2003 agreement, but has received no response.

Although Al-Hmood and Eskander said they had not been told about the $3 million, Al-Hmood said talks could resume if a firm timeline was set for the archive's return.

The role, if any, of outside Jewish groups in the dispute is unknown, but Andrew Baker of the American Jewish Committee questioned why Iraqi officials were in such a rush and wondered who in the Jewish community would be able to make use of the collection once it is taken to Iraq.

A member of the Iraqi Jewish diaspora who follows the talks closely said it initially was hoped the archive would serve as a line of communication with the Iraqi government on other issues such as protecting Jewish cemeteries and shrines in Iraq.

But the perceived involvement of American Jewish organizations led to suspicions they were trying to block the archive's return, and the archive became an impediment to further talks, he said. He requested anonymity, citing the sensitivity of the archive issue.

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On the Net:

NARA's 2003 report on the Archive: http://bit.ly/qqn4VM

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Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra in Baghdad and investigative researcher Randy Herschaft in New York contributed to this report.

Florida divers find new treasure from famed wreck

A large emerald ring is pictured in the hand of Sean Fisher, in this photograph

KEY WEST, Florida (Reuters) - Divers in the Florida Keys have recovered a large emerald ring and two silver spoons believed to come from Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a shipwrecked Spanish galleon that has already yielded one of the greatest treasures ever recovered from the sea.

Employees of Mel Fisher's Treasure, the salvage company that has worked the shipwreck site since 1969, believe the latest haul signals they are close to finding the sterncastle, a key missing portion of the ship.

"The sterncastle is where the clergy and elite were with their personal items," said Sean Fisher, spokesman for the family business and grandson of its late founder, Mel Fisher.

The Atocha was headed back to Spain with a load of gold and silver from the New World when it sank and broke up in a hurricane not far from Key West in September 1622.

After a 16-year-search, Mel Fisher and his crew found the "mother lode" of the shipwreck in September 1985. They hauled up more than 40 tonnes of gold and silver, including more than 100,000 Spanish silver coins known as "Pieces of Eight," along with Colombian emeralds and other artifacts. The company estimated its worth at nearly $500 million.

Since then, Sean Fisher said the crew has made many other discoveries within a ten-mile (16-km) spread of the original site, and in a straight line.

"This tells us we are moving in the right direction," he said. "We have virgin territory around our search area and will be in there next."

After the original wreck, currents and additional hurricanes moved the broken parts around. "It broke in two and then banged around for hundreds of years and that is why what we are finding is scattered," Fisher said.

RING VALUED INITIALLY AT $500,000

He was on the company's salvage ship JB Magruder on June 23 when diver Tim Meade came up with the large square emerald mounted in a gold ring, whose worth the company estimates at $500,000.

Divers also came up with two silver spoons and other artifacts that will have to be treated at the Fisher labs in Key West before being exposed to fresh air. Unlike the gold ring, the other items are encrusted and a value can't be placed on them at this time.

"I think one item is a hinge and another is a lid, so it's possibly pieces from a jewelry box," Fisher said.

He has a copy of the Atocha's manifest and going by it, he expects to find at least 100,000 coins, 400 silver bars and personal jewelry at the sterncastle location.

"We have already found more gold than is on the manifest," he said with a smile. "There was a lot of smuggling so the clergy and nobility wouldn't have to pay the king's tax. We expect there will be many items around the sterncastle that are not on the manifest."

Fisher described the thrill of seeing and touching the treasure, and being the first person to do so in almost 400 years. "I was 15 when I found my first silver," Fisher said. "I was 17 when I first found gold. Silver is great, but gold shines, even after more than 300 years in the water."

The dive for treasure is a group effort, Fisher said. Two divers search the selected area at a time, while other crew members stay on deck. The whole crew participates and when the value of the search is determined, bonuses are given out.

Fisher said 90 percent of treasure hunting involved finding out where the treasure isn't.

"Technology has helped us above the water," he said. "Below the water our search hasn't changed much over the years."

The company uses "mailboxes," large round tubes on the stern of the salvage ship that force air below the waterline to blow away the top layer of debris and sand on the bottom.

The Magruder pulled into its slip at Safe Harbor Marina, outside Key West, last Thursday after discovering the ring and other artifacts about 35 miles away.

Fisher popped open a champagne bottle to celebrate even as the company's other 100-foot (30-meter) salvage ship, Dare, prepared to go out to continue the treasure hunt.

Each ship has a crew of six or eight and stays out about 10 days at a time, weather permitting.

(Editing by Todd Eastham)

Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' jacket sells for $1.8 million at auction

Michael Jackson's "Thriller" jacket sold for $1.8 million at this weekend's Julien's auction in Beverly Hills, California.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: One of Jackson's crystal-covered gloves sells for $330,000, 10 times the estimate
• A bidder pays $1.8 million for the red and black jacket that he made famous in "Thriller"
• Other items auctioned this weekend were from Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra and Elvis
• The cape that the Beatles' Ringo Starr wore in "Help!" sold for $37,500

(Aladdin Blog) -- In an auction featuring memorabilia from the Beatles, Madonna and Elvis Presley, it was Michael Jackson who proved to be king.

The red and black jacket, winged shoulders and all, that the late pop star wore during his zombie-ridden "Thriller" video fetched a $1.8 million bid at this weekend's Julien's auction in Beverly Hills, California, according to the auctioneer's website.

The winning price was exponentially above the estimated bid of $200,000 to $400,000. Part of the proceeds will go toward the Shambala Preserve where Jackson's two Bengal tigers, Thriller and Sabu, have been living the past five years.

The jacket had been given to Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush, the singer's longtime costume designers, to use as a reference for concert performances of the "Thriller" song. It includes an inscription to them on the jacket's lining, and the sleeve is signed, "Love Michael Jackson."

Its sale came exactly two years after the then 50-year-old Jackson was killed by a surgical anesthetic called Propofol, which a Los Angeles coroner ruled killed the singer in combination with several sedatives found in his blood.

The jacket wasn't the only piece of history from the late King of Pop that was part of the auction. The signature fedora Jackson wore during his Bad Tour was sold for $16,250, a handwritten note to friend Elizabeth Taylor went for $5,625 and a signed pillowcase fetched $3,584. And a bidder paid out $330,000 -- more than 10 times what Julien's had expected to get -- for one of the famous, shiny, crystal-covered gloves that Jackson wore during the 1980s.

"Michael Jackson has an unbelievable fan base," Darren Julien, the auction house's president, told CNN earlier this month.

Other pieces of history, from other members of music royalty, were also featured at the auction. While gold records and instruments were common items, others were more practical -- like Frank Sinatra's boots (selling for $2,500) and his 1986 Jaguar car ($19,000). as well as the U.S. Army-issued sewing kit of Elvis Presley's that went for $1,536.

The King of Pop's closest competition at the auction was the Beatles, which had a number of items for sale. A signed postcard from Liverpool's finest sold for $5,504 and Paul McCartney's bass guitar fetched $14,080. But oft-diminished drummer Ringo may have gotten the last laugh, with the cape he wore in the movie "Help!" selling for $37,500 -- about five times the estimate.

Source: CNN Entertainment

T. Rex Leech & Titanic Bacteria Make Top 10 New Species List

News – Bioluminescent Mushroom (Mycena luxaeterna) Common name: Eternal light mushroom. Lighting up the top …

A pancake-shaped batfish, a leech with titanic teeth found inside a human's nose and an iron-eating bacterium snagged spots on the Top 10 New Species list, announced Monday (May 23) by the International Institute for Species Exploration at Arizona State University and a committee of taxonomists.

This year's top 10 come from around the world, including Brazil, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean, Madagascar, the North Atlantic Ocean, Oregon, Peru, the Philippines, South Africa and West Africa. [See a Gallery of Top 10 New Species]

The top 10, in no specific order, include:

• T.-rex leech: The Tyrannobdella rex leech, which sports gigantic teeth, was found in the nostril of a 9-year-old girl by Peruvian physician Renzo Arauco-Brown.
• Titanic bacterium: Found at the bottom of the ocean, at the site of the RMS Titanic shipwreck, this iron-eating bacterium named Halomonas titanicae. The bacterium sticks to steel surfaces, creating knob-like mounds of corrosion products, called "rusticles."
• Pancake batfish: The odd fish seems to hop on its thick, arm-like fins as it moves awkwardly in the water, resembling a walking bat. It was discovered in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Glowing fungus: Lighting up the top 10 is a luminescent fungus collected in São Paulo, Brazil, which have gel-coated stems that emit a bright, yellowish-green light constantly.
• Jumping cockroaches: As if cockroaches weren't creepy enough on the ground, one discovered last year has legs that are highly modified for jumping, putting its ability on par with grasshoppers. Named Saltoblattella montistabularis, the cockroach was discovered in the Mountain National Park in South Africa.
• Monitor lizard: At more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) in length, a fruit-eating monitor lizard discovered in the Philippines is the lengthiest species to make this year's top 10. The blue, black, green and gold lizard, named Varanus bitatawa, weighs in at 22 pounds and spends most of its time in trees.
• Dead antelope: A new antelope, named Philantomba walteri, was discovered in West Africa, but sadly it was already dead: it was discovered at a bushmeat market.
• Raspy cricket: Glomeremus orchidophilus made the list for its distinction of being the only pollinator of the rare and endangered orchid Angraecum cadetii in the Mascarene Archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
• Gilled mushroom: Called Psathyrella aquatica, this gilled mushroom was found in the northwestern United States submerged in the clear, cold, flowing waters of the upper Rogue River in Oregon.
• Giant orb-weaver: A giant orb-weaving spider discovered in Madagascar makes webs that can span rivers, streams and lakes. Its silk is more than two times stronger than any other known spider silk. [Gallery: Spooky Spiders]

This annual top 10 new species announcement commemorates the anniversary of the birth of Carolus Linnaeus, who initiated the modern system of plant and animal names and classifications. The list is issued annually by ASU's International Institute for Species Exploration to shine attention on biodiversity. Nominations were invited through the ASU website and also generated by institute staff and an international committee of experts.

"We can only realistically aspire to sustainable biodiversity if we first learn what species exist to begin with. Our best guess is that all species discovered since 1758 represent less than 20 percent of the kinds of plants and animals inhabiting planet Earth," Quentin Wheeler, an entomologist who directs the International Institute for Species Exploration, said in a statement.

Mike Picker (University of Cape Town, South Africa)

"A reasonable estimate is that 10 million species remain to be described, named, and classified before the diversity and complexity of the biosphere is understood," he said.

World's Best Ruins

By Christine Sarkis

Machu Picchu, Peru

Photo: Thinkstock/iStockphoto

More from SmarterTravel.com

Ruins reach across centuries to fire the imagination and fuel travel plans. The very best make you feel young, small, and utterly amazed by the architectural chops of the ancients. Among the many amazing ruins that still exist today, a few stand out as the trip of a lifetime.

No matter which ruins you visit, a few rules hold true: Time your trip for the less crowded times of day, often early or late. Give yourself plenty of time, as some ruins require days of exploration. Hire a knowledgeable guide, since the history is rich but the signage is often cursory. And get beyond the most popular parts of the ruin; you'll need a bit of quiet space to appreciate this kind of ancient majesty.

Machu Picchu, Peru

The journey to Machu Picchu is epic even with relatively newfangled transportation like trains. But each year, about 25,000 people forgo the more direct routes and walk for days along the 27-mile Inca Trail to reach the ruin. Since its rediscovery a century ago, this treasure of the Inca set high in a cloud forest of the Peruvian Andes has captured imaginations worldwide. The massive stone blocks tell the story of both a sprawling agricultural zone with terracing and ancient food storehouses and an urban zone replete with temples, squares, tombs, and living quarters. If you're considering a trek to Machu Picchu, plan ahead: You can only make the hike with a licensed company, and spots book up quickly, especially in high season.

Acropolis, Greece

Photo: Thinkstock/iStockphoto

Acropolis, Greece

Waiting for the traffic to speed past at a crowded intersection in Athens, you're likely to forget that history keeps constant watch over the city. Glance up, however, and you'll catch the view Athenians and visitors alike have been admiring for the last 2,500 years. Time has battered the once-pristine temples and gates that crown the hill of the Acropolis, leaving stone ruins that retain a familiar splendor even after thousands of years of wear and destruction. The elegant proportions of the fifth-century B.C. Parthenon and the Temple of Athena Nike—both dedicated to the city's patron deity—are a reminder of how much we still rely on ancient Greece for our concepts of beauty.

Mesa Verde, United States

Photo: Thinkstock/iStockphoto

Mesa Verde, United States

Great ruins aren't always an ocean away: Some of the best preserved Native American cliff dwellings in North America reside in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado. Home to the Ancestral Puebloans—whose descendants became 20 different Southwestern tribes, including the Hopi and Zuni—Mesa Verde traces 700 years of history across 4,000 archeological sites. Visit mesa-top pueblos and the dwellings built beneath massive overhanging cliffs. Ascend steep trails and ladders, or crawl through tunnels to explore ancient architecture such as the 150-room Cliff Palace or the hard-to-reach Balcony House. The park's hours vary by season, and not all sites are open year-round.

Angkor, Cambodia

Photo: Thinkstock/iStockphoto

Angkor, Cambodia

War or natural disaster might have weakened the Khmer Empire's ancient capital, but ultimately, it was the jungle that conquered this ninth- to fifteenth-century urban center. Today, the densely forested 150-square-mile Angkor Archaeological Park protects part of a vast cluster of ancient capitals, many of which remain buried. The park's most famous temple, Angkor Wat, is the world's largest religious building. But the park's dozens of other ruins, including Bayon temple with its wall of 11,000 carved figures, offer quieter glimpses into the art and architecture of this culturally rich 600-year period.

Great Pyramids And Memphis, Egypt

Photo: Thinkstock/iStockphoto

Great Pyramids And Memphis, Egypt

Political unrest or no, a roundup of the world's best ruins can't exclude Egypt. The last existing ancient wonder of the world, the Great Pyramid of Giza stands as a lone window into the far past. With more than 4,000 years to ponder the question, experts still can't agree on how the builders placed more than 2 million stone blocks so perfectly. The rest of the Giza Necropolis holds more wonders: two more Great Pyramids, built during 80 years by 20,000 to 30,000 workers, plus the Great Sphinx, cemeteries, and the ruins of a village. The pyramids are part of a larger UNESCO World Heritage site that includes Memphis, the capital of the Old Kingdom of Egypt. A trip can even include some up-close-and-personal time: Visitors can explore the interiors of some of the pyramids. And the recent drop in tourism offers intrepid travelers the rare chance to experience the pyramids without the usual crowds.

Tikal, Guatemala

Photo: Thinkstock/iStockphoto

Tikal, Guatemala

Stay overnight in the national park for the ultimate experience at Tikal, an ancient Maya city in northern Guatemala that was home to 90,000 people before being abandoned in the tenth century. Early the next morning, before the park opens to the general public, join a small group making the trek through a jungle awash in the pre-dawn symphony of birds and insects. Climb to the top of Temple IV, the Temple of the Two-Headed Serpent, to witness a sunrise that reveals ancient temples and pyramids rising from the verdant forest blanket. You've still got hours to explore this vast complex of pyramids, temples, and plazas before the big crowds roll in. Along the way, catch glimpses of brown coatis, toucans, howler monkeys, and some of the hundreds of other species to call Tikal home.

Petra, Jordan

Photo: Thinkstock/Photos.com

Petra, Jordan

Hailed as a "rose-red city half as old as time" in a 19th-century poem, the ancient city of Petra was half built and half carved into red sandstone cliffs. Nabataean Arabs established the city in the sixth century B.C., and for hundreds of years it thrived as a trade center for frankincense, myrrh, and spices. Now, as then, enter the ruins of the city through a narrow, half-mile-long gorge squeezed between cliffs nearly 300 feet high. Inside, explore architecturally elaborate tombs and temples, sacrificial altars, and even a Roman-style amphitheater. Most people explore on foot, but visitors can also ride camels and donkeys. The sun lights up the red cliffs of Petra most dramatically in mid-morning and late afternoon, so be sure to time your visit accordingly.

Colosseum, Italy

Photo: Thinkstock/Hemera

Colosseum, Italy

Digitally reimagined in Hollywood blockbusters such as Gladiator, the camera really shaves millennia off Rome's Colosseum. But the 2,000-year-old ruins are so evocative up close that special effects seem superfluous. With a bloody history of fights to the death between gladiators, slaves, prisoners, and wild animals, the Colosseum held 50,000 spectators or more in its heyday. Later, Romans used the abandoned arena as a quarry: Stones from the Colosseum are part of the cathedrals of St. Peter and St. John Lateran. Last summer, entirely new sections of the ruin—including the basement— were opened for tours.

Great Wall Of China, China

Photo: Thinkstock/Hemera

Great Wall Of China, China

Like a dragon, the Great Wall of China slithers its way across the landscape for about 4,500 miles, and, like a dragon, the wall protects something treasured. Constructed to shelter China's people and culture from the outside world, the "Long Wall of 10 Thousand Li" was built during 2,000 years by many imperial dynasties. While some parts of the wall are in ruins or have disappeared entirely, other sections have been restored or preserved. The most popular section today is the Badaling Great Wall, close to Beijing. Slightly farther from the capital city and offering a more rugged (and less crowded) experience is the Great Wall at Mutianyu. In Qinhuangdao City, the Laolongtou Great Wall actually stretches into the sea, and is said to resemble a dragon drinking water.

Palmyra, Syria

Photo: Thinkstock/Photos.com

Palmyra, Syria

Twice a day, at sunrise and sunset, the Bride of the Desert blushes, even 18 centuries after her birth. Palmyra, also known as Tadmor, is in the desert northeast of Damascus, Syria, and was once a wealthy caravan oasis along the Silk Road, linking Persia, India, and China with the Roman Empire. At a crossroads of cultures, the ruins of grand colonnaded streets, temples, funerary towers, and aqueducts demonstrate a mingling of influences that made this an awfully cosmopolitan place for the second century. Palmyra was also home to the warrior queen and conqueror Zenobia, and tour guides tell exciting tales that give this seemingly isolated place a starring role in world history.

Little-Known Man-Made Wonders of the World

Not all of the world's wonders get the attention they deserve. We searched the globe to find nine marvels that are so awe-inspiring, you'll find it hard to believe that they were crafted by human hands—and so far off the beaten path, chances are you've never heard of them

It took 90 years to carve the 233-foot-tall
Leshan Giant Buddha out of a remote
Chinese mountainside in the 8th century.

Photo: Ariel Steiner/Wikimedia Commons

More from BudgetTravel.com

Of course you've heard of Machu Picchu and Angkor Wat, but have you heard about an Incan city that seems truly lost to today's travelers, or the complex of 52 pre-Angkorian temples so deep in the Cambodian jungle that it takes a local to guide you there? These destinations are jaw-dropping, but they don’t pull in the massive western crowds for a reason: Some of them are remote. That's where we come in with suggested tour operators to make the experience easier and well worth it.

Sichuan, China

A Buddha so large it took 90 years to build

It took almost the entire 8th century to carve the 233-foot-tall Leshan Giant Buddha out of a mountainside in central China—about 1,400 miles west of Shanghai (and far out of sight and mind for most travelers)—but the result still stands as one of the world's largest Buddhas. Its ears alone are more than 23 feet in length (that’s the height of a two-story building), and even its smallest toe is large enough to sit on comfortably. But it’s not only the Buddha’s giant scale that’s impressive. On its head are 1,021 intricate, twisted hair buns hiding a complex drainage system that helps preserve the statue. The Mount Emei area itself has enormous religious significance; Buddhism was first introduced to China here. Thrill seekers can get up close to witness the Buddha’s sheer size by navigating down a steep, 250-step zigzag path along its side; those looking to take in the statue from a distance (and see additional figures carved into the cliff) can opt for a boat ride—the statue sits at the confluence of where three rivers meet.

The Church of the Transfiguration of Our Savior on Kizhi Island, Russia.

Photo: Olivier Martel/Corbis

Karelia, Russia

An open-air museum of elaborate wooden churches

It requires a flight or overnight train ride from Moscow or St. Petersburg and then a ferry ride to reach Kizhi Island, part of the 1,650-island chain on northern Russia’s remote Lake Onega. Your reward is becoming one of the choice few to explore the one-of-a-kind State Kizhi Museum, made up of nearly 90 wooden structures, including chapels, windmills, and granaries. Its most remarkable portion, set on a narrow strip of land on the island’s southern tip, is Kizhi Pogost, a walled enclosure that houses an octagonal bell tower and two 18th- century wooden churches. Twenty-two cascading bulbous cupolas fashioned from aspen shingles top the 121-foot Church of the Transfiguration of Our Savior. Amazingly enough, this masterpiece was built without a single nail. Legend has it that a sole axe was used to carve the shingles and the interlocking corner joinery that hold the majestic structure up, and after its completion, was tossed into the water so a similar marvel couldn’t be built.

The belowground church of St. George in Lalibela, Ethiopia.

Photo: Julien Demade/Wikimedia Commons

Lalibela, Ethiopia

Medieval churches made out of volcanic red rock

Unless you're from Ethiopia, chances are you don't know about these 11 medieval churches in the small mountain village of Lalibela. The destination is first and foremost a place of worship, which explains why the Ethiopians haven't done more to market it to tourists. You don't have to be devout, however, to marvel at the churches' unusual design. Legend has it that a visit to Jerusalem after its fall to a Muslim general in the 13th century inspired King Lalibela to rebuild the holy city in Ethiopia. He commissioned workers to dig these churches out of the area's red volcanic rock. One remarkable group of four—the House of Emmanuel, House of Mercurios, House of Gabriel, and House of Abba Libanos—was created from the same massive piece and connected by underground passageways. Light filters into the cruciform structures through cross-shaped windows. Another church, the Beta Medhane Alem (House of the Saviour of the World), rests some 35 feet below the surface of the desert.

Cambodia's little- known hidden temple complex of Sambor Prei Kuk, whose structures were built during the 7th century and predate those at Angkor Wat by some 600 years.

Photo: Baldiri/Wikimedia Commons

Kampong Thom Province, Cambodia

Cambodia's oldest temple complex

Built during the 7th century, the 52 standing temples of Sambor Prei Kuk are part of the remains of the former capital of Chenla, an ancient kingdom that once ruled much of present-day Cambodia. Spread across three square miles of jungle in Cambodia's Kampong Thom province, the complex predates even the oldest temples of Angkor by some 600 years. Amazingly, it's also far beneath the radar of most travelers—a meager 5,000 annual international visitors make it out to this destination, compared to the million-plus tourists who visit Angkor Wat (that may have something to do with the fact that getting to Sambor Prei Kuk entails a three-hour drive from either Siem Reap or Phnom Penh along the bumpy, stray-dog-ridden National Route No. 6). If you do want to visit, the new Isanborei community tourism project provides local English-speaking guides who will take you around the temples on a tuk tuk. If you’re looking for a truly authentic experience, opt for one of their homestays—you can live with a family, learn how to cook traditional dishes, and even help harvest rice.

The interior of a megalithic temple on Malta.

Photo: Courtesy Malta Tourism Authority

Malta and Gozo

World's oldest freestanding monuments

The stone temples on these small Mediterranean islands wedged between Sicily and Tunisia don't get much attention these days; you won't see them in a big-screen thriller or from a mega cruise ship. But as far back as 5000 B.C., millennia before work began on the Great Pyramid of Giza, they were drawing hordes of worshippers. Hagar Qim, the grandest temple complex, commands attention from its hilltop location on Malta’s southern coast. It was constructed from enormous limestone slabs raised to form doorways with lintels (similar to those at Stonehenge) and semicircle formations; one slab stands a commanding 20 feet high and, weighing nearly 20 tons, is believed to be among the largest of any temple. Hagar Qim’s best statues—three “fat lady” figurines and a slimmer Venus of Malta—were excavated in the mid-20th century and are now housed in the National Museum of Archaeology in the Maltese capital city of Valletta. But if you look closely while at Hagar Qim, you’ll find carvings of spirals, animals, and goddesses—all the more impressive given the builders' limited tools: flints and obsidian blades.

A 15th-century wall at Choquequirao, whose nearly 200 slope terraces were built about 6,000 feet above the glacier-fed Apurímac River.

Photo: Courtesy Gihan Tubbeh/PromPeru

Choquequirao, Peru

The truly lost Incan city

These 15th-century ruins, which consist of a central plaza and dozens of slope terraces built some 6,000 feet above the glacier-fed Apurímac River, received fewer than 7,000 visitors in 2006. That’s just a little more than 1 percent of those that made the trek to its far more famous sister site, Machu Picchu, whose nickname “The Lost City of the Incas” seems misleading given its typical tourist crowds. But at its height, Choquequirao was no less significant: It was roughly the same size as Machu Picchu and believed to be the last main religious center of the Incan Empire before its fall. From the tiny town of Cachora (about 100 miles away from Cuzco), getting to Choquequirao is an arduous 20-mile trek. You’ll pass arid country full of cacti and agave before the vegetation turns lush. Take a breather to spot the occasional condor, and exhale with the jagged, snow-capped Vilcabamba Range in the distance.

Naqsh-e Jahan Square in Isfahan, Iran, is bounded by four monumental structures: the mosaic-tiled Royal Mosque to the south, the Portico of Qaysariyyeh to the north, the Mosque of Sheykh Lotfollah to the east, and the magnificent entrance to Ali Qapu palace and the royal gardens to the west.

Photo: Nick Taylor/Wikimedia Commons

Isfahan, Iran

An unexpected royal city

When Shah Abbas chose to relocate the capital of the Persian Empire to Isfahan around 1600, he was determined to make a big impression. So surely he'd be disappointed to know that centuries later his masterpiece remains hidden in plain sight—at least for Americans, who are largely restricted from and cautioned against visiting Iran. The Shah's massive building centered on grand Naqsh-e Jahan Square, which he surrounded with four monumental structures: the gleaming, mosaic-tiled Royal Mosque to the south, the Portico of Qaysariyyeh to the north, the Mosque of Sheykh Lotfollah to the east, and the magnificent entrance to Ali Qapu palace and the royal gardens to the west. Ali Qapu's grand covered balcony was where the shah and his guests would watch polo matches, horse races—even public executions. Inside, spiral staircases connect each floor, and the walls are adorned with intricate bird-patterned murals. Even more impressive is its sixth floor Music Room, covered with ornately decorated stucco niches and cutouts in the shapes of pots and vessels that once reverberated the sounds of the ensembles who performed there.

The little-known Mirador Basin, hidden among 2,000 years of jungle growth in northern Guatemala, consists of five Preclassic Mayan cities, each larger and older than the nearby (and far more famous) Tikal by 1,000 years.

Photo: Wilbur E. Garrett/National Geographic/Getty Images

El Mirador, Guatemala

A Mayan complex that's still unearthing marvels

The little-known Mirador Basin, hidden among 2,000 years of jungle growth in northern Guatemala, is called the Cradle of Maya Civilization—and for good reason. Its five Preclassic Maya cities—El Mirador, Nakbe, Xulnal, Tintal, and Wakna—are each larger and older than the nearby (and far more famous) Tikal by at least 1,000 years. Among their astounding innovations are super-size temples and pyramids, including La Danta, the largest -known pyramid in the world measured by volume, and the remains of the world's first highway system. And there may be more to uncover: Just two years ago, archaeologists discovered a massive limestone frieze that dates back to 200 B.C. But illegal logging and tree clearing to make way for cash crops like corn are threatening the forests (an alarming 70 percent has been destroyed in just a decade). In an effort to preserve the region, an international effort led by the Global Heritage Fund with help from the Guatemalan and U.S. governments is underway to establish an 810,000-acre national park in the region.

Gateway to the entrance of Bara Imambara, a palace complex containing an elaborate maze in Lucknow, India.

Photo: Sayed Mohammad Faiz Haider Rizvi/Wikimedia Commons

Lucknow, India

A gravity-defying palace

Few people have heard of Lucknow, capital of the eastern region of Uttar Pradesh in India, and even fewer know of the maze-like palace complex—a blend of European and Arabic architecture—that is located there. It was the brainchild of 18th-century ruler Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula, who put nearly 22,000 city residents to work during a severe famine (struggling noblemen were rumored to have come in at night to avoid being identified among the crew). Bara Imambara's magnificent central arched hall—which stretches 50 meters long (roughly half the length of a soccer field) and about three stories high—is held up, amazingly, without any pillars, girders or beams. Instead, the hall was constructed solely with interlocking brickwork. Another one of its mysteries is the Bhulbhulaiya, a dense labyrinth of more than 1,000 narrow stairway passages meant to thwart any possible intruders—some stairways lead to abrupt drops, others have dead ends. It’s possible to roam around the secret maze, preferably with an approved guide, and to explore the adjacent mosque and manicured gardens.

Shipwreck find may be Blackbeard's sword

Is this the hilt of Blackbeard's sword?

It's one of the latest finds aboard the remains of the ship the Queen Anne's Revenge, known at one time to be the flagship of Edward Teach, a.k.a. Blackbeard. The vessel ran aground on a North Carolina sandbar in 1718 and was abandoned; modern archaeologists have been excavating the shipwreck for more than a decade. The design and ornamentation of this newest discovery have led the researchers to believe it likely belonged to the notorious pirate himself.

Click image to see Blackbeard's recovered ornaments

NC Department of Cultural Resources

An imposing figure to begin with, according to historians, Blackbeard cultivated a ferocious appearance to seem even more menacing: a long dark beard, numerous knives, swords and pistols strapped to his chest -- even lighted fuses in his hair. In May of 1718, he used the ship to blockade the port of Charleston, S.C., and effectively hold the city hostage until he collected a considerable ransom.

[Photos: Explorers discover massive cave with room for jungle, skyscrapers]

He was eventually killed in battle off North Carolina by the Royal Navy, his head suspended from a naval sloop to warn other pirates.

[Discovery: One of the earliest photos of people]

Photos courtesy of the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources. For more pirate finds, visit the department's dedicated website, the Queen Anne's Revenge Shipwreck Project.

Titanic expedition provides new images, but hurricane puts survey on hold

This image released on Saturday shows the starboard, or right, side of the Titanic’s bow. (Premier Exhibitions Inc.-Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution via AP)

Associated Press / August 31, 2010

ST. JOHN’S, Newfoundland — A team surveying the wreck of the Titanic is showing off some crisp images of the world’s most famous shipwreck, but it has temporarily headed back to shore because of rough weather.

Officials from Expedition Titanic said Sunday that they were returning to Newfoundland because high seas and winds brought on by Hurricane Danielle were preventing researchers from carrying out their work.

The team of scientists has been using a pair of robots to take thousands of photographs and hours of video of the wreck, which lies roughly 2.5 miles below the surface. The high-resolution images include shots of the ship’s bow, clearly showing the railing and anchors.

The expedition left Newfoundland earlier this month to the spot in the Atlantic where the ship struck an iceberg in 1912 and sank. More than 1,500 passengers and crew perished on the ship’s maiden voyage.

Scientist are using imaging technology and sonar devices never utilized before on the Titanic wreck. They are probing nearly a century of sediment in the debris field to seek a full inventory of the ship’s artifacts.

The expedition is a partnership between RMS Titanic Inc., which has exclusive salvage rights to the wreck, and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts.

The team will not collect artifacts but is scheduled to probe a 2-by-3-mile debris field where hundreds of thousands of artifacts remain scattered.

Expedition officials say they intend to return to finish their work after a delay of a few days.

Since oceanographer Robert Ballard and an international team discovered the Titanic in 1985, most of the expeditions have either been to photograph the wreck or gather thousands of artifacts, like fine china, shoes, and ship fittings.

James Cameron, who directed the film “Titanic,’’ has also led teams to the wreck to record the bow and the stern, which separated during the sinking and now lie one-third of a mile apart.

Double meteorite strike 'caused dinosaur extinction'

Double trouble for dinosaurs: Did more than one meteorite strike cause their demise?

The dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago by at least two meteorite impacts, rather than a single strike, a new study suggests.

Previously, scientists had identified a huge impact crater in the Gulf of Mexico as the event that spelled doom for the dinosaurs.

Now evidence for a second impact in Ukraine has been uncovered.

This raises the possibility that the Earth may have been bombarded by a whole shower of meteorites.

The new findings are published in the journal Geology by a team lead by Professor David Jolley of Aberdeen University.

When first proposed in 1980, the idea that a meteorite impact had killed the dinosaurs proved hugely controversial. Later, the discovery of the Chicxulub Crater in the Gulf of Mexico, US, was hailed as "the smoking gun" that confirmed the theory.

Double trouble

The discovery of a second impact crater suggests that the dinosaurs were driven to extinction by a "double whammy" rather than a single strike.

The Boltysh Crater in Ukraine was first reported in 2002. However, until now it was uncertain exactly how the timing of this event related to the Chicxulub impact.

In the current study, scientists examined the "pollen and spores" of fossil plants in the layers of mud that infilled the crater. They found that immediately after the impact, ferns quickly colonised the devastated landscape.

Ferns have an amazing ability to bounce back after catastrophe. Layers full of fern spores - dubbed "fern spikes" - are considered to be a good "markers" of past impact events.

However, there was an unexpected discovery in store for the scientists.

They located a second "fern spike" in a layer one metre above the first, suggesting another later impact event.

Professor Simon Kelley of the Open University, who was co-author on the study, said: "We interpret this second layer as the aftermath of the Chicxulub impact."

This shows that the Boltysh and Chicxulub impacts did not happen at exactly the same time. They struck several thousand years apart, the length of time between the two "fern spikes".

Uncertain cause

Professor Kelley continued: "It is quite possible that in the future we will find evidence for more impact events."

Rather than being wiped out by a single hit, the researchers think that dinosaurs may have fallen victim to a meteorite shower raining down over thousands of years.

What might have caused this bombardment is highly uncertain.

Professor Monica Grady, a meteorite expert at the Open University who was not involved in the current study, said: "One possibility might be the collison of Near Earth Objects."

Recently, Nasa launched a program dubbed "Spaceguard". It aims to monitor such Near Earth Objects as an early warning system of possible future collisons.