The New York Times, on May 2nd, published a story by Steven Lee Myers on the struggle over the Iraqi archaeological site of Babylon:
“After decades of dictatorship and disrepair, Iraq is celebrating its renewed sovereignty over the Babylon archaeological site — by fighting over the place, over its past and future and, of course, over its spoils.”
The complete story is available at http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/world/middleeast/03babylon.html?_r=1&hp.

The ancient Maya civilization of Central America left behind an intricate and mysterious hieroglyphic script, carved on monuments, painted on pottery, and drawn in handmade bark-paper books. For centuries, scholars considered it too complex to ever understand until recently, when an ingenious series of breakthroughs finally cracked the code and unleashed a torrent of new insights into the Mayas’ turbulent past. NOVA presents the epic inside story of how the decoding was done in “Cracking the Maya Code.”
Professor Stephen Houston is among the researchers featured in this program, and was also on the program’s Advisory Board.
For more information, including a complete transcript of the program, visit pbs.org/nova/mayacode