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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #309 Saturday, June 19, 2010 |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| Neolithic men were prepared to fight for their women. |
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· 06/13/2010 4:47:14 PM PDT · · Posted by Little Bill · · 21 replies · · 841+ views · · The London Telegraph · · 02 Jun 2008 · · Roger Highfield, Science Editor · |
Many archaeologists have argued that women have long motivated cycles of violence and blood feuds throughout history but there has really been no solid archaeological evidence to support this view. Now a relatively new method has been used to work out the origins of the victims tossed into a mass grave of skeletons, and so distinguish one tribe from another, revealing that neighbouring tribes were prepared to kill their male rivals to secure their women some 7000 years ago. ....... |
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| Diet and Cuisine | |
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| Prehistoric Europeans Hunted, Ate Lion? Knife-scarred bones suggest early humans took on big cat |
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· 06/18/2010 7:27:41 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · 193+ views · · National Geographic News · · June 14, 2010 · · Brian Handwerk · |
The cut marks show that the animals were gutted, just like the many deer, horses, bison, and other common prey animals found at the site, according to study leader Ruth Blasco of Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain. The gutted remains also show that the early humans might have had first crack at the corpse by killing it themselves, Blasco said. If other animals had killed the lion, she said, the tasty viscera would have been long gone by the time the early humans arrived... Blasco and colleagues unearthed 17 bones of the extinct cave lion Panthera leo fossilis,... |
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| Neandertals / Neanderthals | |
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| Did Neandertals Think Like Us? |
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· 06/14/2010 7:09:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 40 replies · · 648+ views · · Scientific American · · June 2010 · · Editors · |
For the past two decades archaeologist João Zilhão of the University of Bristol in England has been studying our closest cousins, the Neandertals, who occupied Eurasia for more than 200,000 years before mysteriously disappearing some 28,000 years ago. Experts in this field have long debated just how similar Neandertal cognition was to our own. Occupying center stage in this controversy are a handful of Neandertal sites that contain cultural remains indicative of symbol use -- including jewelry -- a defining element of modern human behavior. Zilhão and others argue that Neandertals invented these symbolic traditions on their own, before anatomically... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Prehistoric mammal hair found in Cretaceous amber |
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· 06/14/2010 2:14:31 PM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 51 replies · · 1,130+ views · · bbc · · 14 June 2010 · · Matt Walker · |
Palaeontologists have discovered two mammal hairs encased in 100 million-year-old amber. While older 2D fossilised hairs are known, those preserved in the amber are the oldest 3D specimens known. The hairs, found alongside a fly pupa in amber uncovered in southwest France, are remarkably similar to hair found on modern mammals. That implies that the shape and structure of mammal hair has remained unchanged over a vast period of time. |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| 'Junk' DNA reveals vital role [ultra-conserved sequences] |
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· 05/10/2004 4:01:16 AM PDT · · Posted by PatrickHenry · · 40 replies · · 379+ views · · Nature Magazine · · 07 May 2004 · · Helen Pearson · |
If you thought we had explored all the important parts of our genome, think again. Scientists are puzzling over a collection of mystery DNA segments that seem to be essential to the survival of virtually all vertebrates. But their function is completely unknown. The segments, dubbed 'ultraconserved elements', lie in the large parts of the genome that do not code for any protein. Their presence adds to growing evidence that the importance of these areas, often dismissed as junk DNA, could be much more fundamental than anyone suspected. David Haussler of the University of California, Santa Cruz, and his team... |
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| Extremophiles | |
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| Deep Under the Sea, Boiling Founts of Life Itself |
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· 09/09/2003 11:04:45 AM PDT · · Posted by presidio9 · · 53 replies · · 512+ views · · The New York Times · · September 9, 2003 · · William J. Broad · |
What started as a hunch is now illuminating the origins of life. A few years back, Dr. Derek R. Lovley and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts found that a few kinds of bacteria used iron as a means of respiration (just as humans use oxygen to burn food) and that a surprising but common byproduct of this form of microbial breathing was magnetite, a hard black magnetic mineral. The scientists wondered if hidden swarms of microbes might account for the vast deposits of magnetite that dot the earth and sea. So they turned to one of the strangest, most... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| NIH-funded scientists find 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine protects mice from 1918 flu virus |
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· 06/15/2010 1:06:20 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 17 replies · · 249+ views · · NIH · · June 15, 2010 · · Unknown · |
WHAT: Mice injected with a 2009 H1N1 pandemic influenza vaccine and then exposed to high levels of the virus responsible for the 1918 influenza pandemic do not get sick or die, report scientists funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health. The new vaccine works against the old virus because the 1918 and the 2009 strains of H1N1 influenza share features that allow vaccine-generated antibodies to recognize both viruses. To learn more, similar challenge studies need to be conducted in other animals, including monkeys, but the investigators say their results... |
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| Death Rays from Space!!! | |
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| Sun's Strange Behavior Baffles Astronomers |
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· 06/14/2010 7:43:23 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 119 replies · · 2,106+ views · · Space.com · · 6/14/10 · · Denise Chow · |
The sun's temper ebbs and flows on what scientists had thought was a pretty predictable cycle, but lately our closest star has been acting up. Typically, a few stormy years would knock out a satellite or two and maybe trip a power grid on Earth. Then a few years of quiet, and then back to the bad behavior. But an extremely long stretch of low activity in recent years has scientists baffled and scrambling for better forecasting models. An expected minimum of solar activity, between 2008 and 2009, was unusually deep. And while the sun would normally ramp up activity... |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Lethal Thermal Impact at Periphery of Pyroclastic Surges: Evidences at Pompeii |
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· 06/18/2010 5:51:26 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · 278+ views · · Public Library of Science · · June 2010 · · Giuseppe Mastrolorenzo et al · |
The evaluation of mortality of pyroclastic surges and flows (PDCs) produced by explosive eruptions is a major goal in risk assessment and mitigation, particularly in distal reaches of flows that are often heavily urbanized. Pompeii and the nearby archaeological sites preserve the most complete set of evidence of the 79 AD catastrophic eruption recording its effects on structures and people. Here we investigate the causes of mortality in PDCs at Pompeii and surroundings on the bases of a multidisciplinary volcanological and bio-anthropological study. Field and laboratory study of the eruption products and victims merged with numerical simulations and experiments indicate... |
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| Egypt | |
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| New analysis on problems between archaeology and pharaonic chronology, based on radiocarbon dating |
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· 06/17/2010 1:57:51 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 29 replies · · 448+ views · · American Associates · · Ben-Gurion U of the Negev · · June 17, 2010 · · Unknown · |
In a just published article in Science magazine (June 18, 2010), Prof. Hendrik J. Bruins of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev presents novel implications related to new developments in the radiocarbon dating of Pharaonic Egypt. The article reports that, for the first time, it is possible to relate the Minoan Santorini eruption with Egyptian Historical Chronology solely on the basis of radiocarbon dates. Thus, it appears that the eruption preceded the 18th Dynasty and occurred during the Hyksos Period. Moreover, conventional association of... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| The Yardangs of Mars |
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· 01/01/2005 11:18:55 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · 507+ views · · Geological Society (UK) · · July 24, 2004 · · staff · |
Loose sand and rock fragments, transported by high winds, impact on the bedrock and slowly remove parts of the surface - the natural effect mimicked by a sand-blaster. If these winds blow in the same direction for long enough, 'wind-lanes', as seen in the picture, can form given the right ground conditions. The linear walls of rock left standing are called yardangs. Where the rock is more resistant, the erosive force of the wind may not be enough to cause this sandblasting. Such variation in erodability might be the reason for the three flat, relatively unsculpted regions (in the foreground... |
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| The Phoenicians | |
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| Diggers discover Phoenician army complex in Cyprus [ Trojan War connection ] |
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· 06/18/2010 6:00:03 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · 262+ views · · Reuters Life! via Yahoo! · · Friday, June 18, 2010 · · Michele Kambas, ed Paul Casciato · |
Archaeologists in Cyprus have discovered what could be the remains of a garrison used by Phoenician soldiers in an ancient city founded by a hero of the Trojan war. Buildings overlooking a previously discovered Phoenician complex more than 2,000 years old were found at the ancient city of Idalion, the island's Antiquities department said on Friday. The complex, linked by a tower, were found to discover metal weapons, inscriptions and pieces of a bronze shield. "The complex may have been used by the soldiers who guarded the tower," the department said in a news release. Idalion was founded by Chalcanor,... |
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| Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Seitas, sacred places of the indigenous Saami people, have become subjects of renewed interest |
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· 06/15/2010 6:34:48 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · 237+ views · · Helsingin Sanomat Int'l Ed · · Tuesday, June 15, 2010 · · Jussi Konttinen · |
The low rays of the sun caress the rough surface of a strange stone arrangement on the shore of Inari Lake in Sápmi, or Finnish Lapland. In the shallow water sits a boulder, on top of which rests the Päällyskivi ("Top Stone"), the shape of which resembles the head of an elk. The top stone is supported by three smaller stones. "Everything suggests that this is a seita", says Inari Sámi seita expert Ilmari Mattus, while observing the construction... Seitas, or the old sacred places of the Sámi people, have become the subject of renewed interest. The name varies, depending... |
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| Agriculture and Animal Husbandry | |
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| Stonehenge Builders' Village Found |
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· 06/15/2010 2:16:33 PM PDT · · Posted by Beowulf9 · · 18 replies · · 521+ views · · National Geographic · · June 15 2010 · · National Geographic · |
A prehistoric village has been discovered in southern England that was likely home to the builders of Stonehenge, archaeologists announced on January 30, 2007 (read the full story). The village, located 1.75 miles (2.8 kilometers) from the famous stone circle, includes eight wooden houses dated back to around 2500 B.C. The remains of a cluster of homes include the outlines of floors, beds, and cupboards. Tools, jewelry, pottery, and human and animal bones were also found. The excavated houses formed part of a much bigger settlement dating back to the Late Stone Age, according to project leader Mike Parker Pearson... |
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| Celts, Gauls, Gaels, Galicians, etc | |
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| Gene Study Shows Ties Long Veiled in Europe [repost] |
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· 06/16/2010 8:44:40 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 21 replies · · 603+ views · · New York Times · · April 10, 2001 · · Nicholas Wade · |
From studying the present day population of the Orkneys, a small archipelago off the northeast coast of Scotland, geneticists from University College, in London, have gained a deep insight into the earliest inhabitants of Europe. Of the medley of peoples who populated Britain, neither the Anglo-Saxons nor the Romans ever settled the distant Orkneys. The Romans called the islands' inhabitants picti, or painted people. The Celtic-speaking Picts dominated the islands until the arrival of the Vikings about A.D. 800. The islanders then spoke Norn until the 18th century when this ancient form of Norse was replaced by English, brought in... |
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| English and Welsh are races apart DNA |
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· 06/16/2010 12:25:16 AM PDT · · Posted by restornu · · 49 replies · · 1,151+ views · · BBC · · Sunday, June 30, 2002 · |
Genetic tests show clear differences between the Welsh and English It suggests that between 50% and 100% of the indigenous population of what was to become England was wiped out, with Offa's Dyke acting as a "genetic barrier" protecting those on the Welsh side. had genes that were almost identical. But there were clear differences between the genetic make-up of Welsh people studied. The research team studied the Y-chromosome, which is passed almost unchanged from father to son, and looked for certain genetic markers. Ethnic links: Many races share common bonds The English and Frisians studied had almost identical genetic... |
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| New Stone Age is 5000 Years Old | |
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| Neolithic finds unearthed by Ormesby St Michael dig [ 1,500 BC ] |
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· 06/18/2010 6:15:19 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · 171+ views · · BBC · · Thursday, June 17, 2010 · · unattributed · |
The Neolithic pottery shards are some of the earliest ever found in Britain. Some of the earliest pottery ever found in Britain has been unearthed on farmland on the Norfolk Broads. The Neolithic flints and pottery shards dating back more than 5,000 years were found by the Oxford East Archaeology unit next to Ormesby Broad. They include a loom weight for weaving cloth and a rare whetstone, used for sharpening tools, something normally only found in burial grounds. The dig preceded the creation of 12 man-made silt lagoons for the broad. They will hold sediment from the eastern arm of... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Boudicca's Warpaint Puts Farmer On The Woad To Recovery |
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· 09/28/2003 4:36:12 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 30 replies · · 609+ views · · The Telegraph (UK) · · 9-28-2003 · · Sarah Lonsdale · |
Boudicca's warpaint puts farmer on the woad to recovery By Sarah Lonsdale (Filed: 28/09/2003) Woad, the plant whose deep blue pigment was used as a warpaint by the ancient Britons to frighten their enemies, is to be farmed commercially in Britain for the first time in 500 years. Large-scale production of woad, which was most famously used by the warrior queen Boudicca, finally died out in the 16th century when cheaper dyes imported from India made it uneconomic. Now, however, farming of the spinach-like plant, which produces colours ranging from pale blue to indigo, is to be resumed by a... |
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| Chunks of King Arthur In My Crap | |
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| Warrior Queen Is Unearthed (1,500 Years Old - Anglo-Saxon) |
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· 09/20/2003 4:51:38 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 64 replies · · 805+ views · · Linconshire Echo · · 9-20-2003 · |
WARRIOR QUEEN IS UNEARTHED 10:30 - 20 September 2003 A 1,500-year-old Anglo-Saxon "warrior queen" has been found buried just two feet under the surface of a county field. Lincolnshire's own 6ft tall "Boadicea" has been described as one of the best Anglo-Saxon finds of its kind in the county. She was still holding her shield and had a dagger at her side when she was found. On either side of her at the site just outside Lincoln were the remains of a man and a woman who were possibly her attendants. The woman was wearing an amber necklace and had... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| St. Edward the Confessor, 1042-1065, (Catholic, Anglican Caucus) |
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· 10/13/2008 7:22:35 PM PDT · · Posted by Salvation · · 23 replies · · 1,254+ views · · EnglishMonachs · · not given · · English Monachs history · |
EARLY LIFE Edward the Confessor, the son of Ethelred the Redeless and Emma of Normandy, was born at Islip in 1004. He was of medium height and was said by some chroniclers to be an albino. He is described as "most comely" and was of a medium stature, his hair distinguished by a milky whiteness. Edward had accompanied his father into exile in Normandy in 1016. Brought up in Normandy from the age of twelve, he had acquired the tastes and outlook of a Norman and was extremely fond of his Norman relations including his cousin... |
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| The Rural Framework Was Complete | |
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| This Day In History October 14, 1066 The Battle of Hastings - Norman Conquest of England |
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· 10/14/2005 4:35:26 AM PDT · · Posted by mainepatsfan · · 65 replies · · 3,469+ views · · History Channel · |
This Day In History · General Interest · October 14 1066 · The Battle of Hastings King Harold II of England is defeated by the Norman forces of William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings, fought on Senlac Hill, seven miles from Hastings, England. At the end of the bloody, all-day battle, Harold was killed -- shot in the eye with an arrow, according to legend -- and his forces were destroyed. He was the last Anglo-Saxon king of England. Just over two weeks before, William, the duke of Normandy, had invaded England, claiming his right to the English throne. In 1051, William is believed... |
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| Oubliette | |
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| Torture pit where Robin Hood was imprisoned found under Nottingham Galleries of Justice[UK] |
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· 02/27/2009 10:49:38 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 42 replies · · 2,030+ views · · Culture 24 · · 26 Feb 2009 · · Ben Miller · |
A bottle-necked pit where hated outlaws including Robin Hood were imprisoned and starved or driven to insanity in the Middle Ages has been discovered by archaeologists in the underground caves of the Galleries of Justice Museum in Nottingham. Known as an oubliette ("to forget" in French), the hole was used as a holding cell for dissenters against the Sheriff of Nottingham, and the city's favourite wealth-regulating son is believed to have been cast into it after being arrested by the Sheriff and his men at the nearby St Mary's Church. "The opening was bricked over centuries ago, probably in the... |
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| Not So Ancient Autopsies | |
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| The Mystery of Germany's Aristocratic Mummies |
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· 06/18/2010 1:51:36 PM PDT · · Posted by csvset · · 9 replies · · 422+ views · · Spiegel Online · · 06/14/2010 · · Frank Thadeusz · |
When they died, Germany noble families of the 18th century did what the Egyptians had done before them: They had themselves mummified. As an increasing number of such well-preserved corpses are found, scientists are trying to find out why. Baron von Holz had a difficult lot. During the Thirty Years' War, von Holz fought in the Swedish army as a mercenary, but he was not granted a hero's death on the battlefield. He was cut down, rather less heroically, at the age of 35 by either the flu or blood poisoning. And it was only in death, that his situation... |
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| Church Bones 'Belong to Caravaggio', Researchers Say |
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· 06/16/2010 3:43:21 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 8 replies · · 257+ views · · BBC · · Wednesday, 16 June 2010 · |
Human remains found in a church in Tuscany almost certainly belong to Renaissance artist Caravaggio, Italian researchers said. The team said they were 85% sure that the set of bones of a man who died in about 1610, aged between 38 and 40, were that of the painter. The remains had been kept in an ossuary in a church crypt in Porto Ercole, after reportedly being exhumed in 1956. Caravaggio was known for his "chiaroscuro" painting technique. The method, in which light and shadow are sharply contrasted, revolutionised painting. Mystery The researchers, from four Italian universities, said they believed Michelangelo... |
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| Latest Very Postmortem Find: 13th Century Saint Rose of Viterbo's Blocked Heart |
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· 06/13/2010 8:38:19 AM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 5 replies · · 310+ views · · AOL News · · June 12, 2010 · · Theunis Bates · |
Scientists: 13th-C. Saint Died From Blocked Heart Researchers examining Saint Rose of Viterbo's mummified body have concluded that she died of a heart condition, rather than tuberculosis, as had previously been thought. (June 12) -- The miracles performed by Rose of Viterbo are well known to many Catholics. Legend has it the 13th-century Italian saint stood for hours on a raging pyre without being burned (a useful skill if you want to impress and convert pagans) and could foretell events. But exactly how this godly young prodigy died in 1252 at the age of just 18 or 19 -- some... |
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| Math Lessons | |
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| How British Names Conquered The World |
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· 08/30/2006 6:28:00 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 41 replies · · 1,343+ views · · The Telegraph (UK) · · 8-31-2006 · · Charles Clover · |
The biggest concentration of people called Salt is in Stoke-on-Trent, as is the greatest number of people called Pepper, according to a new study which maps the spread of British names across the globe. The number of people with either surname is roughly equal so the reason for this is likely to be that both Salts and Peppers derived their names from people who made pots for condiments in the Potteries, according to the authors of the study, published at the Royal Geographical Society's annual conference yesterday. What the... |
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| Bartender, a Bourbon | |
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| Indian said to be first in line to lost French throne |
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· 03/05/2007 5:22:41 AM PST · · Posted by FLOutdoorsman · · 44 replies · · 832+ views · · ZeeNews · · 04 March 2007 · · ZeeNews · |
Balthazar Napolean de Bourbon, a jovial Indian lawyer and part-time farmer settled in Bhopal, has been told that he is the first in line to the lost French throne. According to media reports, "Bourbon may soon make his first trip to Paris, after he was visited by a relative of Prince Philip, who told him that he is the first in line to the lost French throne." This Indian father of three is being feted as the long-lost descendant of the Bourbon kings who ruled France from the 16th century to the French revolution. A distant cousin of Louis XVI... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Roman dwelling find at Jersey church 'a first' |
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· 06/18/2010 5:56:13 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · 186+ views · · BBC · · Friday, June 18, 2010 · · unattributed · |
The discoveries were made at Grouville Parish Church. Ancient remains have been found in Jersey, which could be the first Roman dwellings found in the island. Excavations were made at Grouville Church as part of work to extend the building, when archaeologists were called in to monitor the work. The Reverend Mike Lange-Smith, rector of the church, said a post hole of a Roman period building was uncovered with pottery remains. He said the finds had been sent to England for dating. Mr Lange-Smith said the discoveries change the understanding of the church's history as the earliest known record... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis | |
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| Skulls show New World was settled twice: study |
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· 06/15/2010 6:36:50 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 64 replies · · 1,028+ views · · Yahoo · · Monday, June 14, 2010 · · AFP · |
Two distinct groups from Asia settled in the New World and not one single migration as suggested by previous genetic studies, experts said Monday after comparing the skulls of early Americans. Paleoanthropologists from Brazil, Chile and Germany compared the skulls of several dozen Paleoamericans, dating back to the early days of migration 11,000 years ago, with the more recent remains of more than 300 Amerindians. "We found that the differences between Early and Late Native American groups match the predictions of a two-migration scenario far better than they do those of any other hypothesis," they said. "In other words, these... |
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| Strange Carvings Discovered In Amazon Jungle Using Google Earth |
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· 06/16/2010 3:39:07 AM PDT · · Posted by Fred Nerks · · 33 replies · · 1,291+ views · · Treasure Hunting News · · January 2, 2010 · · in Archaeology, Research · |
Signs of what could be a previously unknown ancient civilisation are emerging from beneath the felled trees of the Amazon. Some 260 giant avenues, ditches and enclosures have been spotted from the air in a region straddling Brazil's border with Bolivia. The traditional view is that before the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese in the 15th century there were no complex societies in the Amazon basin -- in contrast to the Andes further west where the Incas built their cities. Now deforestation, increased air travel and google Earth are telling a different story. "It's never-ending," says Denise Schaan of... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Founding Fathers have a new fan base that is growing daily |
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· 06/05/2010 2:13:15 PM PDT · · Posted by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · · 31 replies · · 1,246+ views · · The Sarasota Herald-Tribune · · June 5, 2010 · · Krissah Thompson, Wash Post · |
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Earl Taylor has spent 31 years teaching that "the Founding Fathers have answers to nearly every problem we have in America today." Only in recent months has he found so many eager students. On a recent Saturday, he held the rapt attention of 70 of them. The eight-hour seminar held at a roadside inn here was one of half a dozen "Making of America" sessions nationwide that day, all sponsored by a little-known organization based in Idaho. Two years ago, Taylor, president of the National Center for Constitutional Studies, made about 35 trips to speak to small... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Grant to aid Bernardo Plantation [ Republic of Texas, Sam Houston ] |
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· 06/16/2010 4:59:59 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · 137+ views · · Waller County News Citizen · · Wednesday June 16, 2010 · · unattributed · |
The Texas Historical Commission recently received a $45,000 grant from Houston Endowment Inc. to assist with ongoing archeological work at the first and largest plantation site in the Republic of Texas. The sprawling pasture that is currently Bernardo Plantation in Waller County was once home to more than 100 people who lived and worked along the east bank of the Brazos River. In 1836 the plantation served as a staging area for Gen. Sam Houston's troops before the Battle of San Jacinto... The historic site was discovered by Gregg Dimmick M.D., of Wharton, who is a member of the Houston... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Bald Head Island bones from 19th Century; possibly slaves |
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· 06/16/2010 5:05:06 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · 322+ views · · Charlotte NC News 14 · · Friday, June 11, 2010 · · Julie Fertig · |
Archeologists from the Office of State Archeology in Fort Fisher believe remains discovered on Bald Head Island in February belong to three slaves from the Civil War era. Renovations on a golf course turned up the human remains. Initially, archeologists thought they could belong to Confederate soldiers. "The buttons are perfect matches for Civil War period and they were found right in the middle of what was Fort Holmes during the Civil War," explained Nathan Henry, a state archeologist who studies historic artifacts. After carefully examining the artifacts found alongside the remains, Henry determined soldiers would have had more decorated... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Mich. sailor who died in Pearl Harbor laid to rest |
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· 06/13/2010 11:43:20 AM PDT · · Posted by americanophile · · 7 replies · · 631+ views · · AP Via Chicago Tribune · · June 13, 2010 · · AP · |
HANCOCK, Mich. -- A Michigan sailor whose remains were identified nearly 70 years after he died in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor has been laid to rest in his home state. More than 130 friends and relatives of U.S. Navy Fireman Third Class Gerald G. Lehman filled a Hancock church Saturday for the funeral. Lehman was later buried at Forest Hill Cemetery in Houghton. Lehman's nephew, John Herres, called his uncle's return home for burial "a joyous day." Herres was six years old when his uncle died at age 18 when Japanese planes sank the USS Oklahoma on Dec.... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Why So Few Gospels? Inquiring Muslims Want To Know! |
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· 06/13/2010 6:41:27 PM PDT · · Posted by markomalley · · 72 replies · · 1,340+ views · · National Catholic Register · · 6/12/2010 · · Jimmy Akin · |
A correspondent writes: I'm just in need of a helping hand from you, because I'm in the middle of a debate with a muslim friend. While we're in the middle of discussion, he happen to addressed me with a question that blew me away, because I don't have any idea on how I could tackle his question. This is what he said, "Could you also tell me that there are hundreds of Gospels, then how come only four made it through the New Testament?" I know that the "Books or Gospels" contained in the New Testament are all inspired by... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Genetic testing raises an age-old question -- are the Jews a people, or a religion? |
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· 06/13/2010 3:38:27 AM PDT · · Posted by Scanian · · 199 replies · · 2,178+ views · · NY Post · · June 13, 2010 · · MAYRAV SAAR · |
Two new genome studies of Jews worldwide prove that the Jewish people -- long called the "People of the Book," the "Chosen People" or, in unkind circles, "those people" -- are, indeed, a people after all. The first study, by researchers at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, found that Jews across the globe share distinct genetic traits that are different from other groups and that trace back to the ancient Middle East. Researchers say the study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, puts to rest age-old questions about whether Jews are a group... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| June 15 1834 - Safed Israel "Palestine" - Islamic anti-Jewish plunder massacre |
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· 06/06/2010 3:57:25 AM PDT · · Posted by PRePublic · · 3 replies · · 287+ views · |
June 15 1834 - Safed Israel "Palestine" - Islamic anti-Jewish plunder massacre 1834-06-15 - Rioters in Safed Palestine kills many Jewshttp://www.historyorb.com/religion/judaism?p=3The goodly heritage: memoirs describing the life of the Jewish ... Abraham Yaari, Israel Schen, Isaac Halevy-Levin - 1958, Page 37 Revolt broke out on the 15th June, 1834. The Arab villagers, together with the townspeople, armed themselves and attacked the Jews, raping their women and destroying their synagogues. The riots in Safed went on for 33 days. One a day: an anthology of Jewish historical anniversaries for ... - Page 168 Abraham P. Bloch - 1987 - 376 pages... |
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| end of digest #309 20100619 | |
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· Saturday, Jun 19, 2010 · 37 topics · 2537754 to 2533699 · 749 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 37 topics of the 309th issue. I believe I forgot to change the topic count in the header or last week's Digest ping message, I blame myself. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #310 Saturday, June 26, 2010 |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Dionysian ecstatic cults in early Rome |
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· 06/22/2010 6:04:02 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 16 replies · · University of Gothenburg · · June 21, 2010 · · Unknown · |
A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that, in contrast to traditional scholarly claims, Dionysian cultic activities may very well have occurred in archaic Rome in the decades around 500 BC. A strong scholarly tradition rooted in the 19th century denies the presence of Dionysian ecstatic rites, cults, and satyr plays in Roman society. Although people in nearby societies evidently engaged in such behaviour around the same time in history, the Romans simply did not, according to early scholars. British scholars often stressed how much their people had in common with the Romans, not least as... |
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| Anatolia | |
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| Archaeological excavations begin in ancient city of Rhodiapolis |
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· 06/24/2010 6:39:23 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · Hurriyet Daily News · · Wednesday, June 23, 2010 · · Anatolia News Agency · |
Archaeological excavations began in the ancient city of Rhodiapolis near Kumluca in the popular resort city of Antalya in southern Turkey. Associate Professor Isa Kizgut from Akdeniz University said it was the fifth year of excavations in the ancient city, adding: "Some 60 people will join this year's excavations, which will last for two months. During the excavations in the last four years, we succeeded in unearthing an important part of the ancient city," he said. Rhodiapolis Located near the village of Saricasu, Rhodiapolis received its name from the Rhodians, who colonized the city. The ancient city was discovered after a... |
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| Caucasians | |
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| Unique archaeological discovery in Adjara [ Republic of Georgia, Roman Empire ] |
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· 06/24/2010 6:44:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · The Georgian Times on the Web · · Monday, June 21, 2010 · · Rustavi2 (?) · |
Archaeologists have made unique discovery in Adjara. The scientists have found the sepulchres, which date back to the epoch of ancient Rome. The archaeologists found the dishes made of glass and clay, coins made of bronze and silver in the village of Makho. The discovery is unique because this is the eldest sepulchre, where the glass dish was found. Arguably, the dishes date back to the third century AD. According to the preliminary examination, the scientists conclude that it was an imported product, because no glass dish was made in Georgia in that epoch. The discovery confirms the presumptions about... |
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| Balkans | |
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| Well-preserved Roman road found in southern Serbia |
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· 06/24/2010 6:46:33 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · Monsters and Critics · · Thursday, June 24, 2010 · · DPA · |
Archaeologists have discovered the well-preserved remains of a Roman road dating back to the first century in south- eastern Serbia, Belgrade media reported Thursday. The Roman military road, or Via militaris, near the town of Dimitrovgrad used to connect the western parts of the Roman empire with the eastern parts, archaeologists said. 'This road was one of the main roads of the Roman empire,' archaeologist Miroslav Lazic told the Novosti daily. 'We are working on preservation of the site and preparing a presentation for European academic circles,' he said, adding that the road 'was built in the mid-first century and... |
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| Byzantium | |
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| Bulgarian Archaeologists Hope to Find Constantine's Palace |
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· 06/25/2010 6:58:16 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · Novanite · · Tuesday, June 22, 2010 · · unattributed · |
A large ancient building located under the St. Nedelya Cathedral in downtown Sofia might turn out to be a palace of Roman Emperor Constantine the Great, according to Bulgarian archaeologists. The building might also turn out to be the ancient thermae, or public baths of the ancient Roman city of Serdica, today's Sofia, according to architect Konstantin Peev, head of the EKSA company, which is helping the Sofia Municipality with the excavation and restoration of the archaeological heritage of the Bulgarian capital. The excavations at the Sofia Largo and the so called Metro Station 2-8 next to the Tzum retail... |
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| King Arthur | |
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| Roman fort found in Cornwall 'rewrites history' |
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· 06/24/2010 6:20:05 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · BBC · · Tuesday, June 22, 2010 · · unattributed · |
A Roman fort which has been discovered in Cornwall is challenging previous historical views about the South West. Pottery and pieces of slag have been found at the undisclosed location near St Austell, suggesting an ironworks. Experts said the discovery challenges previous thinking about the region's history as it had been thought Romans did not settle much beyond Exeter. John Smith, from Cornwall Historic Environment Service, said: ... "For Roman Britain it's an important and quite crucial discovery because it tells us a lot about Roman occupation in the South West that was hitherto completely unexpected. The other Roman sites... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Baby deaths link to Roman 'brothel' in Buckinghamshire |
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· 06/25/2010 9:54:48 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 27 replies · · bbc. · · 25 June 2010 · |
Archaeologists investigating a mass burial of 97 infants at a Roman villa in the Thames Valley believe it may have been a brothel. Tests on the site at Hambleden in Buckinghamshire suggest all died at 40 weeks gestation, very soon after birth. Archaeologists suspect local inhabitants may have been systematically killing unwanted babies. Archaeologist Dr Jill Eyers said: "The only explanation you keep coming back to is that it's got to be a brothel." With little or no effective contraception, unwanted pregnancies could have been common at Roman brothels, explained Dr Eyers, who works for Chiltern Archaeology. And infanticide may... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| The Destruction of Pompeii -- God's Revenge? |
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· 06/24/2010 9:58:14 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 44 replies · · Biblical Archeological Review · · Jul/Aug 2010 · · Hershel Shanks · |
Nine years, almost to the day, after Roman legionaries destroyed God's house in Jerusalem, God destroyed the luxurious watering holes of the Roman elite. Was this God's revenge? That's not exactly the question I want to raise, however. Rather, did anyone at the time see it that way? Did anyone connect the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 C.E. with the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in 70? First the dates: The Romans destroyed the Second Temple (Herod's Temple) on the same date that the Babylonians had destroyed the First Temple (Solomon's Temple) in 586 B.C.E. But the exact date of... |
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| Faith and Philosophy | |
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| Excavations link ancient prison to apostle's last days |
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· 06/25/2010 9:48:55 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 23 replies · · The Daily Telegraph · · 25 June 2010 · · Nick Squires · |
Archaeologists have discovered evidence to support the theory that St Peter was imprisoned in an underground dungeon by Nero before being crucified. The Mamertine Prison, a dingy complex that now lies beneath a Renaissance church, has long been venerated as the place where the apostle was shackled before he was killed on the spot where the Vatican now stands. It has been a place of Christian worship since medieval times, but after months of excavations, Italian archaeologists have found frescoes and other evidence indicating that it was associated with St Peter in the seventh century. Dr Patrizia Fortini, of Rome's... |
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| 4th century icons of Peter and Paul found in Rome.... |
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· 06/22/2010 9:35:09 AM PDT · · Posted by TaraP · · 26 replies · · Yahoo News · · June 22nd, 2010 · |
ROME -- The earliest known icons of the Apostles Peter and Paul have been discovered in a catacomb under an eight-story modern office building in a working-class neighborhood of Rome, Vatican officials said Tuesday. The images, which date from the second half of the 4th century, were discovered on the ceiling of a tomb that also includes the earliest known images of the apostles John and Andrew. They were uncovered using a new laser technique that allowed restorers to burn off centuries of thick white calcium carbonate deposits without damaging the dark colors of the original paintings underneath. |
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| Roman archaeologists find oldest images of Apostles in a catacomb |
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· 06/22/2010 9:36:41 AM PDT · · Posted by GonzoII · · 13 replies · · Faith World · · Jun 22, 2010 · |
Archaeologists and art restorers using new laser technology have discovered what they believe are the oldest paintings of the faces of Jesus Christ's Apostles. The images in a branch of the catacombs of St Tecla near St Paul's Basilica, just outside the walls of ancient Rome, were painted at the end of the 4th century or the start of the 5th century. |
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| Lasers uncover first icons of Sts. Peter and Paul (from 4th century) |
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· 06/23/2010 1:37:42 PM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 13 replies · · Yahoo News · · June 23, 2009 · · Nicole Winfield · |
ROME -- Twenty-first century laser technology has opened a window into the early days of the Catholic Church, guiding researchers through the dank, musty catacombs beneath Rome to a startling find: the first known icons of the apostles Peter and Paul. Vatican officials unveiled the paintings Tuesday, discovered along with the earliest known images of the apostles John and Andrew in an underground burial chamber beneath an office building on a busy street in a working-class Rome neighborhood. The images, which date from the second half of the 4th century, were uncovered using a new laser technique that allows restorers... |
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| Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy | |
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| New Agers, neo-pagans see Stonehenge solstice |
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· 06/21/2010 8:16:18 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 18 replies · · LAT · · June 21, 2010 · · staff reporter · |
Salisbury, England -- Thousands of New Agers and neo-pagans danced and whooped in delight Monday as a bright early morning sun rose above the ancient stone circle Stonehenge, marking the summer solstice. About 20,000 people crowded the prehistoric site on Salisbury Plain, southern England, to see the sunrise at 4:52 A.M. (1152EST), after an annual all-night party. The event typically draws thousands of alternative-minded revelers to the monument, as they wait for dawn at the Heel Stone, a pockmarked pillar just outside the circle proper, which aligns with the rising sun. |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Geologist investigates canyon carved in just three days in Texas flood |
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· 06/21/2010 7:40:31 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 38 replies · · PhysOrg · · 06/21/2010 · |
In the summer of 2002, a week of heavy rains in Central Texas caused Canyon Lake -- the reservoir of the Canyon Dam -- to flood over its spillway and down the Guadalupe River Valley in a planned diversion to save the dam from catastrophic failure. The flood, which continued for six weeks, stripped the valley of mesquite, oak trees, and soil; destroyed a bridge; and plucked meter-wide boulders from the ground. And, in a remarkable demonstration of the power of raging waters, the flood excavated a 2.2-kilometer-long, 7-meter-deep canyon in the bedrock. |
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| Climate | |
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| Answer to what ended the last ice age may be blowing in the winds, paper says |
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· 06/25/2010 9:47:25 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 16 replies · · Columbia University Earth Institute · · June 25, 2010 · · Unknown · |
A chain of past natural events may hold lessons for the futureScientists still puzzle over how Earth emerged from its last ice age, an event that ushered in a warmer climate and the birth of human civilization. In the geological blink of an eye, ice sheets in the northern hemisphere began to collapse and warming spread quickly to the south. Most scientists say that the trigger, at least initially, was an orbital shift that caused more sunlight to fall across Earth's northern half. But how did the south catch up so fast? In a review paper published this week in... |
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| Death Rays from Space!!! | |
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| Fungi, Feces Show Comet Didn't Kill Ice Age Mammals? |
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· 06/24/2010 8:43:43 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 14 replies · · National Geographic · · 22 June 2010 · · John Roach · |
Tiny balls of fungus and feces may disprove the theory that a huge space rock exploded over North America about 12,900 years ago, triggering a thousand-year cold snap, according to a new study. The ancient temperature drop, called the Younger Dryas, has been well documented in the geologic record, including soil and ice core samples. The cool-down also coincides with the extinction of mammoths and other Ice Age mammals in North America, and it's thought to have spurred our hunter-gatherer ancestors in the Middle East to adopt an agricultural lifestyle.But the theory that a comet or asteroid explosion is behind the... |
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| Diet and Cuisine | |
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| More than skin deep, tanning product of sun's rays (and vita,in D and folate) |
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· 06/21/2010 1:07:49 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 19 replies · · Penn State · · June 21, 2010 · · Unknown · |
People who remain pale and never tan can blame their distant ancestors for choosing to live in the northern reaches of the globe and those who easily achieve a deep tan can thank their ancestors for living in the subtropical latitudes, according to Penn State anthropologists. "The variation of ultraviolet radiation, especially in the middle and high latitudes is great," said Nina Jablonski, professor of anthropology and chair of Penn State's anthropology department. "Tanning has evolved multiple times around the world as a mechanism to partly protect humans from harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation." Jablonski, working with George Chaplin, senior... |
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| Pyromania | |
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| New Theory for Life's First Energy Source [ pyrophosphite ] |
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· 06/22/2010 4:03:15 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · LiveScience · · June 7, 2010 · · Zofi Macintosh · |
An obscure compound known as pyrophosphite could have been a source of energy that allowed the first life on Earth to form, scientists now say. From the tiniest bacteria to the complex human body, all living beings require an energy-transporting molecule called ATP to survive. Often likened to a "rechargeable battery," ATP stores chemical energy in a form that can be used by organic matter. "You need enzymes to make ATP, and you need ATP to make enzymes," said researcher Terence Kee of the University of Leeds in England. "The question is: Where did energy come from before either of... |
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| The Vikings | |
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| Archaeologists uncover Harald Bluetooth's royal palace |
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· 06/24/2010 6:04:33 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Copenhagen Post · · Thursday, June 24, 2010 · · unattributed · |
In what they describe as a 'sensational' discovery, archaeologists from ≈rhus find the remains of 10th century king's royal residence. After speculating for centuries about its location, the royal residence of Harald Bluetooth has finally been discovered close to the ancient Jellinge complex with its famous runic stones in southern Jutland. The remains of the ancient wooden buildings were uncovered in the north-eastern corner of the Jellinge complex which consists of royal burial mounds, standing stones in the form of a ship and runic stones. Harald ruled Denmark between 940 and 985 AD and is reputed to have conquered Norway... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| Magna Carta |
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· 06/22/2010 6:35:06 AM PDT · · Posted by ZULU · · 19 replies · · Yale Law School · · June 15, 1215 · · Unknown · |
Preamble: John, by the grace of God, king of England, lord of Ireland, duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and count of Anjou, to the archbishop, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciaries, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his bailiffs and liege subjects, greetings. Know that, having regard to God and for the salvation of our soul, and those of all our ancestors and heirs, and unto the honor of God and the advancement of his holy Church and for the rectifying of our realm, we have granted as underwritten by advice of our venerable fathers, Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Springfield remembers Revolutionary War battle 230 years ago |
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· 06/25/2010 8:16:38 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 20 replies · · Star Ledger · · Friday, June 25, 2010 · · Karl de Vries · |
Springfield celebrated the 230th anniversary of the Battle of Springfield with a dedication of a clock and benches in Patriot Park on Wednesday. Springfield resident and member of the 3rd New Jersey Regiment Mark Hurwitz tells the story of the battle. Springfield was burned to the ground by the English. -- Springfield paused this week to remember a time 230 years ago when it was under siege. snip... On June 23, 1780, Springfield stood in the way of the British army's attempt to attack Washington's Morristown headquarters. The Americans held their ground there, despite being outnumbered nearly three... |
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| What If ... The US revolt had failed |
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· 06/24/2010 3:59:51 PM PDT · · Posted by 2ndDivisionVet · · 14 replies · · New Statesman · · June 24, 2010 · · Dominic Sandbrook · |
With only ten years to go until the much-anticipated 400th-anniversary celebrations of the Pilgrim Fathers, it is no wonder Prime Minister Barack Obama spent much of this week locked in planning meetings with Buckingham Palace. Whether the Whig-Labour coalition will still be going in 2020 is a moot point. Some even wonder whether the United Kingdom of Great Britain and North America will still exist at all. More and more, it seems, critics look back to the failed rebellion of the late 1770s and wonder what might have been. That so few schoolchildren today learn the details of those tumultuous... |
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| The Framers | |
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| The Feuding Fathers |
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· 06/26/2010 7:02:43 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 10 replies · · WSJ · · 26 June 2010 · · Ron Chernow · |
In the American imagination, the founding era shimmers as the golden age of political discourse, a time when philosopher-kings strode the public stage, dispensing wisdom with gentle civility. We prefer to believe that these courtly figures, with their powdered hair and buckled shoes, showed impeccable manners in their political dealings. The appeal of this image seems obvious at a time when many Americans lament the partisan venom and character assassination that have permeated the political process. Unfortunately, this anodyne image of the early republic can be quite misleading. However hard it may be to picture the founders resorting to rough-and-tumble... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| This Day in Civil War History June 26th, 1862 Battle of Mechanicsville |
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· 06/26/2010 6:23:33 AM PDT · · Posted by mainepatsfan · · 5 replies · · This Day in History · |
Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia strikes Union General George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac, beginning the Seven Days' Battles. Although the Confederates sustained heavy losses and did not succeed in decisively defeating the Yankees, the battle had unnerved McClellan. During the next week, Lee drove him from the outskirts of Richmond back to his base on the James River. This was Lee's first battle as commander of the army. On June 1, 1862, he had replaced Joseph Johnston, who was severely wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks. McClellan's... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Libraries fading as school budget crisis deepens |
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· 06/24/2010 10:46:40 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 44 replies · · hosted · · Jun 24 · · Donna Gordon Blankinship · |
Bellevue, Wash. (AP) -- Students who wished their school librarians a nice summer on the last day of school may be surprised this fall when they're no longer around to recommend a good book or help with homework. As the school budget crisis deepens, administrators across the nation have started to view school libraries as luxuries that can be axed rather than places where kids learn to love reading and do research..... |
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| Egypt | |
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| 3,500-Year-Old Underground Town Found in Egypt |
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· 06/20/2010 4:15:55 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 14 replies · · Sindh Today · |
Archaeologists have found a 3,500-year-old Egyptian town buried under the earth in the country's northeastern region of the Nile delta. The city, discovered by a team of Austrian archaeologists in Tell El-Dab'a, is likely to be Avaris, the capital of Hyksos rulers who ruled Egypt from 1664 B.C. to 1569 B.C., Egyptian Cultural Minister Farouk Hosni was quoted as saying by Xinhua. Meanwhile, Zahi Hawaas, an eminent Egyptian archaeologist and secretary general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA) said radar imaging showed the outlines of streets, houses and temples of the underground town and a whole view of its... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| King Tut died of blood disorder: German researchers [ sickle cell disease ] |
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· 06/25/2010 7:24:40 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Yahoo! · · Wednesday, June 23, 2010 · · AFP · |
Legendary pharaoh Tutankhamun was probably killed by the genetic blood disorder sickle cell disease, German scientists said Wednesday, rejecting earlier research that suggested he died of malaria. The team at the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine in the northern city of Hamburg questioned the conclusions of a major Egyptian study released in February on the enigmatic boy-king's early demise. That examination, involving DNA tests and computerised tomography (CT) scans on Tutankhamun's mummy, said he died of malaria after suffering a fall, putting to rest the theory that he was murdered. But the German researchers said in a letter published... |
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| Not So Ancient Autopsies | |
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| The Lonely Bones |
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· 06/20/2010 4:18:12 PM PDT · · Posted by Willie Green · · 11 replies · · Lancaster Online · · Jun 20, 2010 · · Jon Rutter · |
For long-buried Irish railroad workers, the story of Duffy's Cut is finally beng told. Missing molar gives clue. In late April 1832, a ship carrying laborer John Ruddy rounded the Irish headlands and plowed west across the Atlantic. Ruddy, 18 and poor, was sailing for Philadelphia with dreams of a better life. By August, his body lay buried near the new railroad he'd been building in Chester County. His skull, unearthed last year, had been crushed, as if someone had smashed it with a blunt instrument or projectile. That's the way Dr. Matthew Patterson sees it. Patterson is a Lancaster... |
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| Underwater Archaeology | |
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| Lake Michigan shipwreck found after 112 years |
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· 06/24/2010 1:04:40 PM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 35 replies · · hosted · · Jun 24 · · Dinesh Ramde · |
MILWAUKEE (AP) -- A great wooden steamship that sank more than a century ago in a violent Lake Michigan storm has been found off the Milwaukee-area shoreline, and divers say the intact vessel appears to have been perfectly preserved by the cold fresh waters. Finding the 300-foot-long L.R. Doty was important because it was the largest wooden ship that remained unaccounted for, said Brendon Baillod, the president of the Wisconsin Underwater Archaeology Association..... |
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| Mammoth Told Me There'd Be Days Like These | |
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| Next stop France for oldest baby mammoth |
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· 06/26/2010 10:43:31 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Yahoo · · Monday, June 21, 2010 · · Patrick Filleux (AFP) · |
Name: Khoma. Looks like: A baby mammoth. Age: somewhere above 50,000 years. Discovered in the permafrost of northern Siberia just last year, this rare example of prehistoric monster is on its way to Paris to be analysed, treated for the germs it's harbouring and eventually placed on display... Khoma is the eldest of six baby mammoths found in Siberia over the past 200 years, said Bernard Buigues, a noted French expert on the herbivores who works in close collaboration with Russian authorities... "It wasn't possible to use carbon 14 to date it, which means it's more than 50,000 years old... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| World's Largest Dinosaur Graveyard Found [ Alberta Canada ] |
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· 06/25/2010 7:40:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · Discovery News · · Tuesday, June 22, 2010 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
The world's largest dinosaur graveyard has been discovered in Alberta, Canada, according to David Eberth of the Royal Tyrrell Museum and other scientists working on the project. The Vancouver Sun reports that the massive dinosaur bonebed is 1.43-square miles in size. Eberth says it contains thousands of bones belonging to the dinosaur Centrosaurus, which once lived near what is now the Saskatchewan border. Centrosaurus was a plant-eating, cow-sized dinosaur from the Late Cretaceous, around 75 million years ago. It cut quite a figure back then, with its top-of-the-head frills and rhino-like nose horn. There is some evidence that it engaged... |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| Lucy's Ancestor, 'Big Man,' Revealed: Could reshape what scientists know about Lucy & her species |
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· 06/21/2010 11:50:06 PM PDT · · Posted by 2ndDivisionVet · · 19 replies · · Discovery News · · June 21, 2010 · · Bruce Bower · |
An older guy has sauntered into Lucy's life, and some researchers believe he stands ready to recast much of what scientists know about the celebrated early hominid and her species. Excavations in Ethiopia's Afar region have uncovered a 3.6-million-year-old partial male skeleton of the species Australopithecus afarensis. This is the first time since the excavation of Lucy in 1974 that paleoanthropologists have turned up more than isolated pieces of an adult from the species, which lived in East Africa from about 4 million to 3 million years ago. A nearly complete skeleton of an A. afarensis child has been retrieved... |
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| Neandertals / Neanderthals | |
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| Separation between Neanderthal and Homo sapiens might have occurred 500,000 years earlier |
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· 06/23/2010 8:53:54 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 26 replies · · University of Granada · · June 23, 2010 · · Unknown · |
The separation of Neardenthal and Homo sapiens might have occurred at least one million years ago, more than 500.000 years earlier than previously believed after DNA-based analyses. A doctoral thesis conducted at the National Center for Research on Human Evolution (Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana) -associated with the University of Granada-, analysed the teeth of almost all species of hominids that have existed during the past 4 million years. Quantitative methods were employed and they managed to identify Neanderthal features in ancient European populations. The main purpose of this research -- whose author is Aida Gómez Robles- was... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| 'Bigfoot' Spotted Again in Western N. Carolina |
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· 06/21/2010 2:33:53 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 18 replies · · The Epoch Times · · Jun 19, 2010 · · Jack Phillips · |
Bigfoot, or something like it, was reportedly spotted near a North Carolina man's backyard this week. Older reports and supposed photos of Bigfoot show that he has dark brownish hair, but this time Cleveland County resident Tim Peeler told the Charlotte Observer that this Bigfoot has blond hair. "I tried to call him," Peeler told the WCNC News Channel 36 as he blew a device to simulate the sound of a coyote. "This thing was 10 foot tall," he told the news station. "He had beautiful hair. He scared me." Peeler, who was calling for coyotes on his property, located... |
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| When the Chimps Are Down | |
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| Chimps kill each other for territory, study finds |
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· 06/21/2010 6:34:12 PM PDT · · Posted by Willie Green · · 31 replies · · World Science · · June 21, 2010 · · staff · |
Chimps, just like humans, kill each other for territory, researchers have found. "Chimpanzees kill each other. They kill their neighbors. Up until now, we have not known why. Our observations indicate that they do so to expand their territories at the expense of their victims," said John Mitani of the University of Michigan, a member of the research group. The slayings usually are committed by small groups of males on patrol, said the scientists. But unlike in much human warfare -- where armies are sometimes willing to attack other, comparably sized armies -- the chimp killers specifically seek out lone or badly outnumbered victims... |
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| Chimp Gangs Kill to Expand Territory |
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· 06/22/2010 7:56:35 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 18 replies · · National Geographic · · June 21, 2010 · · John Roach · |
Some gangs of chimpanzees beat their neighbors to death in bids to expand their turf, according to a new study. While scientists have long known that chimps will kill each other on occasion, the finding shores up a long-held hypothesis that humans' closest living relatives sometimes turn to violence to annex valuable parcels of land. Researchers observed predominantly male patrol groups sent out by a 150-strong chimp group at Ngogo in Kibale National Park in Uganda. The chimp gangs killed 21 of their neighbors between 1999 and 2008. "Just fists and feet" were used in the attacks, study leader John... |
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| end of digest #310 20100626 | |
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