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TOP 100 HISTORY SITES SORTED BY POPULARITY. Catalogue - National Library of Ireland. History Tours - Home. Holocaust Resources for Teachers - StumbleUpon. The Mayans reveal their darkest mysteries: New excavation reveals secrets of the Mayan calendar - including black-clad figures and symbols never seen before. Wall covered in calculations relating to Mayan calendarLine-up of men in black uniformsAstrological calculations not fully understoodDates seem to stretch 7,000 years into FUTUREContradicts 'doomsday' predictions about 2012First paintings found on walls in Mayan dwellingsHuge city in Guatemala finally reveals its secrets By Rob Waugh Published: 18:04 GMT, 10 May 2012 | Updated: 10:46 GMT, 11 May 2012 A vast city built by the ancient Mayan civilisation and discovered nearly a century ago in modern day Guatemala is finally starting to yield its secrets - including a hint that apocalyptic predictions around the 'end' of the Mayan Calendar may be wrong.

Excavating for the first time in the sprawling complex of Xultzn in Guatemala's Peten region, archaeologists have uncovered a structure that contains what appears to be a work space for the town's scribe. Scroll down for video: Angelyn Bass cleans and stabilizes the surface of a wall of a Maya house that dates to the 9th century A.D. Top 10 Most Important Historical Finds.

For as long as there have been civilizations on earth, man has been curious about his ancestors. Our need to connect to our past fuels the study of anthropology and the many important sites and artifacts uncovered through archaeology have opened our eyes to the lives of those that came before us. 10. Qin Shi Huang’s Terracotta Army A farmer in Xi’an named Yang was drilling for water when he found the Terracotta Army in 1947.

Importance The Terracotta Army is our doorway to understanding how the real Qin Dynasty army functioned. 9. The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of ancient, mostly Hebrew manuscripts that were found at several sites on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea. The discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls is widely considered the greatest manuscript find of all time. 8. A collection of around 25,000 clay tablet fragments, the Library of Ashurbanipal was discovered in the mid 19th century by Austen Henry Layard at the Mesopatamian city of Nineveh (in what is now Iraq). 7. 6. 4. The Greatest Story Never Told --Part 1.

Archaeologists unearth 5,000-year-old 'third-gender' caveman. Archaeologists investigating a 5,000-year-old Copper Age grave in the Czech Republic believe they may have unearthed the first known remains of a gay or transvestite caveman, reports the Telegraph. The man was apparently buried as if he were a woman, an aberrant practice for an ancient culture known for its strict burial procedures. Since the grave dates to between 2900 and 2500 BC, the man would have been a member of the Corded Ware culture, a late Stone Age and Copper Age people named after the unique kind of pottery they produced. Men in this culture were traditionally buried lying on their right side with their heads pointing west, but this man was instead buried on his left side with his head pointing east, which is how women were typically buried.

"From history and ethnology, we know that people from this period took funeral rites very seriously so it is highly unlikely that this positioning was a mistake," said lead archaeologist Kamila Remisova Vesinova. AncientWorlds. The Ancient Web - The Ancient World's Great Civilizations. Archaeology Magazine.

World-wide Ancient Site Database, Photos and Prehistoric Archaeology News with geolocation. Archaeology Magazine. Industrial revolution advertisements. Primary Source Materials & Document Based Questions. Primary Source Materials & Document Based QuestionsAn Internet Hotlist on Document Based Questions created by Paula GoldsteinNassau BOCES Introduction | Primary Source Materials | Document Based Questions | Assessments | General Resources | Constructed Response Questions Introduction Don't depend on someone else's interpretation of a document.

Read it yourself and draw your own conclusions. Listen to speeches and hear for yourself, who said what. Document based questions (DBQs) are a major focus in schools today. To be answered correctly, students must be adept at analyzing and synthesizing the information provided. Primary Sources | Social Studies Central. Digital Collections & Programs. Historic Newspapers Enhanced access to America's historic newspapers through the Chronicling America project. Historic Sound Recordings The National Jukebox features over 10,000 78rpm disc sides issued by the Victor Talking Machine Co. between 1900 and 1925. Performing Arts Collections, articles and special presentations on music, theater and dance materials from the Performing Arts Encyclopedia.

Prints and Photographs Catalog of about half of the Library's pictorial holdings with over 1 million digital images. Veterans History Project Experience first-person stories of wartime service through personal artifacts, audio and video interviews. TOP 100 HISTORY SITES SORTED BY POPULARITY. Primary source. This wall painting found in the Roman city of Pompeii is an example of a primary source about people in Pompeii in Roman times. Primary sources are original materials that have not been altered or distorted in any way.[1] Information for which the writer has no personal knowledge is not primary, although it may be used by historians in the absence of a primary source. In the study of history as an academic discipline, a primary source (also called original source or evidence) is an artifact, a document, a recording, or other source of information that was created at the time under study.

It serves as an original source of information about the topic. Similar definitions are used in library science, and other areas of scholarship, although different fields have somewhat different definitions.[2] In journalism, a primary source can be a person with direct knowledge of a situation, or a document written by such a person. The significance of source classification[edit] Other fields[edit] History. From the earliest times, walls surrounded cities and palaces, often of enormous thickness and of great height, some were surrounded by a moat, others flanked by towers. Some ancient fortifications date from periods so remote as the walls of Babylon and the curtain wall of Ashur from about 1600 B.C. The main function of all castles was defense, everything else was secondary. They were always surrounded by a curtain wall, which was often supplemented by a reinforced shield wall at strategic points. Crenellated battlements and arrow slits protected the defenders, and attackers often also had to overcome a series of several gates.

From the 16C on castle walls had to be made increasingly thicker and stronger in response to the development of artillery. . Rhodes. Castles. The Normans were master castle builders. After 1066, England witnessed a massive castle building programme on the orders of William the Conqueror. First, motte and bailey castles were built. Once William had firmly established his rule in England, he built huge stone keep castles. By the time of Edward I, concentric castles were being built. Castles were a very good way for the Normans to expand their grip on the English people. Castles were a sign of Norman power and might. The castles also gave the Norman soldiers a safe place to live.

Motte and bailey castles: made of woodquick to put upeasy to repairbig enough to house soldiers in safetyhad advantage of height as the castle was built on a motte; the Normans could see the English during the daya motte was a man-made hillyou could keep animals in one as a food supplyas they were high up, local peasants could easily see them But motte and bailey castles had a number of weaknesses : Square keep castles: made of stone so they lasted longer. Ballygally Castle. Ballygally Castle is in the village of Ballygally, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, located approximately three miles north of Larne. The castle overlooks the sea at the head of Ballygally Bay. Now run as a hotel, it is the only 17th century building still used as a residence in Northern Ireland, and is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in the province.[1] Features[edit] The castle is described as "a living postcard—a charming, almost teal-colored Scottish baronial castle overlooking the sea in Northern Ireland.

"[2] It was strongly Scots influenced in style featuring corbelled cylindrical tourelles with conical roofs on top.[3] It was built with high walls, steep roof, dormer windows and corner turrets. The walls are five feet thick with loopholes for muskets. History[edit] Reputed hauntings[edit] In 2003, owner Olga Henry had said after spending some time in the hotel, "I'm sort of very skeptical about the whole supernatural thing and ghosts. See also[edit] References[edit] Parts of a Castle. Ancient Civilizations_British Museum. Rome Reborn.