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Ancient of silver unearthed in

A farm field in Scotland has yielded a dazzling harvest of ancient silver, left at a prehistoric stone circle more than a thousand years ago by someone who never recovered the treasure.

Surprised researchers found the trove at a site called in northeastern Scotland. The scientists were merely trying to learn more about Gaulcross, where 19th-century farm workers dug up a silver cache that has been almost entirely scattered and lost.

“We hoped we might find the odd fragment,” says archaeologist Gordon Noble of Scotland’s University of Aberdeen. “I don’t think we really expected in our wildest dreams to find more than 100 pieces of silver.” He and his colleagues report the new find in the current issue of the journal Antiquity.

The silver dates back to the 5th or 6th century, after the Romans decamped and before the Vikings stormed onshore. In this time of political and cultural ferment, Scotland was the realm of an enigmatic people known as the Picts. Often stereotyped as tattooed barbarians, the Picts certainly had a talent for war – but also a talent for carving stone and shaping silver.

The Gaulcross hoard, as the treasure is known, includes both Roman handiwork and fine Pictish goods. The Roman items include clippings of silver dishes and silverwork of a kind that adorned Roman military uniforms, says archaeologist Alice Blackwell, Glenmorangie Research Fellow at the National Museums Scotland, who is analyzing the hoard. There are also fragments snapped off Pictish brooches and bits of an extremely rare type of wrist bangle.

Like other hoards, the Gaulcross treasure has “preserved fashions (from) what we think of as the darkest bits of the dark age after the fall of the Empire,” says study co-author Martin Goldberg of National Museums Scotland. “It’s like a little snapshot in time.”

But the key to the mysterious treasure may lie not with the few intact objects but with the many small scraps of silver. Half of the hoard, says, consists of silver pieces smaller than a pinky fingernail, many the remains of hacked-up bracelets. Similar hoards have turned up in Denmark and Germany.

Such chop-shop collections may have been a way to squeeze value out of passé jewelry and worn-out tableware. So perhaps someone left behind the Gaulcross silver with every intention of retrieving it.

On the other hand, the silver was deposited at a stone circle that was already 2,000 years old at the time of the Picts’ rise. A century before the silver was dropped off, a war trumpet had been thrown into a nearby bog as a religious rite. So perhaps the silver, too, was a religious offering.

Whatever its ultimate purpose, these were elite items that would’ve belonged to the most powerful members of society, the researchers write.

“We don’t always see how wealthy past societies were,” says archaeologist Rob Collins of Britain’s Newcastle University. “These hoards really give us a glimpse of that. There’s a lot more glamor and bling that was circulating than we often see.”

Credits: naplesnews.com

tightens controls on paid-for search ads

China's Internet regulator said that search engines should tighten management of paid-for ads in search results, making clear which results are paid-for and limiting their numbers.

Chinese regulators last month imposed limits on the number of lucrative adverts carried by Inc following the death of a student who underwent an experimental cancer treatment which he found using China's biggest Internet search engine.

, 21, died in April of a rare form of cancer, and the case sparked widespread public anger.

The Administration of China said search engines should investigate the "aptitude" of clients offering paid-for ads, set a clear upper limit on such ads and clearly distinguish which are paid-for ads and which come from "natural searches".

"Internet search providers should earnestly accept corporate responsibility towards society, and strengthen their own management in accordance with the law and rules, to provide objective, fair and authoritative search results to users," it said.

Users have been particularly concerned with medical ads, which are a threat to people's health, the regulator added.

Baidu said in a statement that it was committed to providing the best search experience and will fully comply with the law.

"Baidu will work closely with government agencies, Internet users and the community to uphold a healthy Internet environment, and strive to provide objective, impartial, and authoritative search results to our users," it said.

Search engines also have other problems, the regulator said.

"Some search results contain rumours, obscenities, po*******hy, violence, murder, terrorism and other illegal information," it said.

"Some search results lack objectivity and fairness, go against corporate morals and standards, misleading and influencing people's judgement."

Officials say Internet restrictions, including the blocking of popular foreign sites like and , are needed to ensure security in the face of rising threats, such as terrorism.

Foreign governments and business groups have pointed to restrictions on the internet as a broader trade issue. —

Credits: thestar.com.my

's latest mobile app is a conversational travel planner

is a travel search engine with a personality.

Yahoo's latest mobile app wants to help you browse more than just the internet. Radar, which launched today for , acts as your "virtual travel guide" by using machine learning and artificial intelligence (not to mention the travel confirmations in your email) to offer additional recommendations, reviews and activities around your next destination.

In its first version, Radar scans your Yahoo, , , or account to find your travel plans. From there, the app is a little less like a search engine and a little more like a chat bot. Once it finds your next trip to a major US city, it will make some basic suggestions, which you can refine based on some conversational, pre-populated answers like "Adventurous" or "Family friendly." Even without travel plans, you can peruse options in any city in the country. Radar currently draws from sources like TripAdvisor and Yelp to recommend destinations, restaurants and even must-order dishes, but as Yahoo VP of product management Conrad Wai explained to Radar will also surface additional sources from its search engine. Radar will also learn your preferences over time, so it will recommend more of what you like on next year's big vacation as well.

While Radar doesn't yet offer in-app booking for flights or hotels, Wai believes the simple interface will still cut out a lot of the headache of travel planning. "If I can combine some of the 50 tabs I have [when researching trip planning] on-the-go, it would be great," Wai told VentureBeat. "We're trying to aggregate, distill, and combine information for the user across the web."

Radar's iOS version is currently available in the App Store, but no word yet on if or when an version will come along.

Credits: engadget.com