Unusual 17th-century Dutch horse burial site found
Archeologists have uncovered a mass grave with the complete skeletons of 51 horses buried side-by-side, probably the long-forgotten equine victims of a 17th century battle over a strategic Dutch river.
It was the largest known equine burial ground in Europe, although chief archaeologist Angela Simons said Wednesday that many such sites have probably existed and have been plowed up over the centuries by unwitting farmers.
The archaeological team had been looking for evidence of prehistoric human settlements in the area when they came across the unexpected find.
“From the first shovel, it was horses, horses and more horses,” said Angela Simons, of the Hazenberg company, which was employed by the Dutch government to survey the ground ahead of a construction project.
The horses showed signs of being buried quickly: their bodies were not carefully arranged, and the skeletons occasionally overlap.
“It’s easy to imagine this is how cavalry men might dispose of dead mounts in war time,” Simons said. Disease or a plague could not be ruled out.
It also was unclear whether the horses were buried out of respect, or because of the fear of contamination from so many decomposing corpses.
The skeletons were in a ditch in a field near the Maas River in Borgharen, around 2 miles (3 kilometers) north of the Dutch border city of Maastricht.
Initial carbon testing dated the bones to the 17th century, when the Netherlands was still struggling to emerge as a nation.
If the horses were killed in a battle, likely candidates include a fight in 1632 during the Eighty Years’ War, when Dutch rebels quartered in Borgharen repelled a surprise charge by the Spanish cavalry.
Another possibility is the 1673 siege of Maastricht by soldiers of French “Sun King” Louis XIV. That battle is considered a milestone in siege warfare, because of how the attacking French used zigzagging ditches to give their soldiers cover from the city’s battlements.
Both engagements were fought during the summer.
No traces of bridles or saddles were found in the shallow 130-foot (40-meter) -long grave, suggesting they were removed. The researchers discovered just one stirrup and several horseshoes.
One horse had a bullet in its skull just behind the eye-socket, probably an injured horse shot to prevent further suffering, Simons said.
Evidence suggests they were cavalry horses. Most appeared to be around 4 years old, and their size and bone structure suggests they were for riding, not draft horses.
Simons, who is German, said it was possible the animals had some connection with several French soldiers whose skeletons were uncovered on a riverbank in Borgharen in 2004. The human skeletons were identified as French from their coat buttons.
Stocks jump as retail, tech stocks advance
Wall Street is getting a little daring once again.
Investors shook off weak economic readings Thursday and placed bets on retail and technology stocks after several companies posted better-than-expected sales and profit reports. The major indexes gained more than 1 percent, including the Dow Jones industrial average, which rose 106 points.
Retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Macy’s Inc. turned in better-than-expected sales figures for January.
Wal-Mart’s sales beat Wall Street’s forecasts after the chain drew shoppers focused on necessities like groceries. Macy’s, which this week said it would slash 7,000 jobs, on Thursday raised its fourth-quarter and full-year forecasts after reporting its sales.
The industry’s overall numbers were still weak as consumers again curtailed their spending, but not as bad as investors feared when they beat retail stocks down in recent months.
“We’re being overly pessimistic on things like retailers,” said Chris Cordaro, chief investment officer at RegentAtlantic Capital LLC in Morristown, N.J. “People realize you’re going to have shop somewhere.”
The technology-laden Nasdaq composite index led the major market indicators after Akamai Technologies Inc. said its fourth-quarter earnings rose a better-than-expected 13 percent as more customers signed up for its Internet traffic-management services.
“The economy at some point will recover and when it does, tech is a pretty interesting play,” said Subodh Kumar, global investment strategist at Subodh Kumar & Associates in Toronto. “It will likely be one of the first movers.”
The reports helped the market overcome a flurry of bad economic news. Unemployment benefits claims rose last week to a 26-year high, and factory orders fell for the fifth straight month in December. However productivity rose by 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter, more than twice what analysts expected.
Investors are bracing for Friday’s January employment report from the Labor Department. The monthly reading is one of the most important economic indicators because rising unemployment cuts into how much consumers spend. Consumer spending accounts for more than two-thirds of U.S. economic activity.
“There are some indications tomorrow’s unemployment report might not be as bad as expected,” said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer of Johnson Illington Advisors in Albany, N.Y.
A poor reading could deliver a big blow to the market, though expectations are low. Economists predict the unemployment rate rose to 7.5 percent in January from 7.2 percent in December. That would be the highest rate in 17 years.
The Dow industrials rose 106.41, or 1.34 percent, to 8,063.07. The Dow fell as much as 111 points early in the session. The blue chips hit their lowest level during trading since Nov. 21, which many investors are hoping will market the bottom in the stock market’s decline from its October 2007 high.
Broader stock indicators also rose. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 13.62, or 1.64 percent, to 845.85, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 31.19, or 2.06 percent, to 1,546.24.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 6.60, or 1.47 percent, to 455.08.
Advancing issues outnumbered losers by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.63 billion shares.
Bond prices were mixed Thursday. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite to its price, fell to 2.92 percent from 2.94 percent late Wednesday. The yield on the three-month T-bill fell to 0.26 percent from 0.28 percent late Wednesday.
The gains in stocks came as investors again looked to Washington for help on the economy. Wall Street is waiting for a $920 billion economic stimulus plan to pass the Senate. Debate in the Senate continued for the fourth day Thursday.
Financial stocks recovered from early losses and helped lift the market following speculation the government could funnel aid to regional banks. Bank stocks also rose on reports that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and other top officials are nearing completion of a plan to overhaul the government’s $700 billion financial rescue program. A Treasury official told The Associated Press that Geithner will deliver a speech on Monday outlining the new plan.
Bank stocks moved higher. JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 50 cents, or 2.1 percent, to $24.54, and PNC Financial Services Group Inc. rose $1, or 3.5 percent, to $29.83.
Regional banks also rose. Huntington Bancshares Inc. jumped 35 cents, or 24 percent, to $1.79. Regions Financial Corp. rose 33 cents, or 13 percent, to $2.83.
MasterCard Inc. jumped $19.69, or 14 percent, to $159.84 after its fourth-quarter earnings easily beat analysts expectations.
Retailers climbed after issuing their sales reports. Wal-Mart rose $2.14, or 4.6 percent, to $48.56, while Macy’s rose 43 cents, or 5.2 percent, to $8.75. Target Corp. rose 95 cents, or 3 percent, to $32.29. Discount clothing retailer Ross Stores Inc. rose $2.38, or 8.4 percent, to $30.63.
Among tech stocks, Akamai rose $2.56, or 18 percent, to $16.73.
The dollar was mostly higher against other major currencies. Gold prices also climbed.
Light, sweet crude rose 85 cents to settle at $41.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Overseas, Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.01 percent, Germany’s DAX index rose 0.39 percent, and France’s CAC-40 slipped 0.09 percent. Japan’s Nikkei stock average fell 1.11 percent.
NASA delays Discovery mission to space station
The space shuttle Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed at least one week to February 19 for additional testing of a flow control valve, NASA said Tuesday.
The Discovery had been scheduled for blastoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida on February 12. But during a flight readiness review, “NASA managers decided Tuesday to plan a launch no earlier than February 19,” the space agency said.
The valve, one of three that channel gaseous hydrogen from the shuttle engines to the external fuel tank, needed more “analysis and particle impact testing,” NASA said in a statement.
The shuttle’s valves have come under close scrutiny after a valve aboard space shuttle Endeavour was found to be damaged after its 16-day mission in November to the orbiting ISS.
“As a precaution, Discovery’s valves were removed, inspected and reinstalled. The Space Shuttle Program will convene a meeting on February 10 to assess the analysis,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said.
“On February 12,” it added, “NASA managers and contractors will continue the flight readiness review, which began Tuesday, to address the flow control valve issue and to select an official launch date.”
Discovery’s STS-119 mission is to take seven astronauts to the ISS to continue building the space station. The mission is set to fly the S6 starboard truss segment and a new station crew member to the orbital outpost.
The S6 truss, with its set of large US solar arrays, “will complete the backbone of the station and provide one-fourth of the total power needed to support a crew of six,” NASA said.
The ISS is scheduled to be completed in 2010, also the target date for the retirement of the US fleet of three space shuttles.
Sex and the City Sequel: SJP & Co. Make it Official!
Break out the bubbly—the Sex and the City sequel is finally official!
I can exclusively reveal that all four stars—Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, Kim Cattrall and Kristin Davis—and writer-director Michael Patrick King have now signed their deals for another round of Carrie Bradshaw & Co.
“Everything was finalized yesterday afternoon,” a source reports.
Until now, everyone had agreed to do a sequel, but there were no contracts signed with New Line, the studio behind the megahit.
As it is, King has yet to write a script, but shooting will reportedly begin this summer with a release date sometime in summer 2010.
Reps for the stars and the studio did not immediately comment.
In its first weekend alone, Sex and the City opened with almost $58 million in ticket sales, reportedly making it the biggest R-rated comedy opener ever. Budget to make the movie? A cool $65 million.
Quick recap in case you were one of the few who missed it: When we last left Carrie, she had married Mr. Big even after he left her at the altar. Samantha and her young beau (Jason Lewis) split, while Miranda and Steve (David Eigenberg) patched things up after he cheated on her. Charlotte and Harry (Evan Handler) not only adopted a baby girl, but Charlotte gave birth to a second daughter.
So what should happen next? Let the suggestions begin!
Sample Post 3
This is an example of a WordPress page, you could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages like this one or sub-pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Fusce euismod commodo ante. Suspendisse potenti. Nunc pellentesque quam vel pede. Ut a lorem non urna molestie euismod. Fusce consequat tortor eu urna. Pellentesque aliquam, pede eget tincidunt feugiat, nunc massa hendrerit magna, non ultricies neque lectus nec dui. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed feugiat quam eget lectus. Fusce at pede. Morbi sagittis tristique tortor. Sed erat justo, blandit ac, dignissim in, pretium ut, urna.
Sample Post 2
This is an example of a WordPress page, you could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages like this one or sub-pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Fusce euismod commodo ante. Suspendisse potenti. Nunc pellentesque quam vel pede. Ut a lorem non urna molestie euismod. Fusce consequat tortor eu urna. Pellentesque aliquam, pede eget tincidunt feugiat, nunc massa hendrerit magna, non ultricies neque lectus nec dui. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed feugiat quam eget lectus. Fusce at pede. Morbi sagittis tristique tortor. Sed erat justo, blandit ac, dignissim in, pretium ut, urna.
Sample Post
This is an example of a WordPress page, you could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages like this one or sub-pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Fusce euismod commodo ante. Suspendisse potenti. Nunc pellentesque quam vel pede. Ut a lorem non urna molestie euismod. Fusce consequat tortor eu urna. Pellentesque aliquam, pede eget tincidunt feugiat, nunc massa hendrerit magna, non ultricies neque lectus nec dui. In hac habitasse platea dictumst. Sed feugiat quam eget lectus. Fusce at pede. Morbi sagittis tristique tortor. Sed erat justo, blandit ac, dignissim in, pretium ut, urna.
