[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #212 Saturday, August 9, 2008
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
A Potted History of Milk
	08/08/2008 11:30:55 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 43+ views PhysOrg.com | August 2008 | University of Bristol Humans were processing cattle milk in pottery vessels more than two thousand years earlier than previously thought... In work published online in Nature this week, Professor Richard Evershed and colleagues describe how the analysis of more than 2,200 pottery vessels from southeastern Europe, Anatolia and the Levant extends the early history of milk by two millennia to the seventh millennium BC... Organic residues preserved in the pottery suggest that even before 6,500 BC milk was processed and stored, although this varied regionally depending on the farming techniques used. Cattle, sheep and goats were familiar domesticated animals by the eighth millennium...
Helix, Make Mine a Double
Study uses genetic evidence to trace ancient African migration
	08/05/2008 10:34:02 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 13 replies · 251+ views PhysOrg | Monday, August 4, 2008 | Stanford University Medical Center Using a genetic technique pioneered at Stanford, the team found that animal-herding methods arrived in southern Africa 2,000 years ago on a wave of human migration, rather than by movement of ideas between neighbors. The findings shed light on how early cultures interacted with each other and how societies learned to adopt advances. "There's a tradition in archaeology of saying people don't move very much; they just transfer ideas through space," said Joanna Mountain, PhD, consulting assistant professor of anthropology. Mountain and Peter Underhill, PhD, senior research scientist in genetics at Stanford's School of Medicine, were the study's senior authors....
Ancient Autopsies
Tutankhamun Fetuses To Get Paternity Test
	08/07/2008 10:43:00 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 23 replies · 317+ views New Scientist | Wednesday, August 6, 2008 | staff and Reuters Egyptian scientists are doing DNA tests on stillborn children found in Tutankhamun's tomb in the hope of confirming if they are the pharoah's offspring and confirming his family tree. British archaeologist Howard Carter found the mummified fetuses when he discovered the tomb in 1922. Archaeologists assume they are the children of the teenage pharaoh, but this has not been confirmed. The identity of their mother is also still unknown. Many scholars believe their mother to be Ankhesenamun, the boy king's only known wife. Ankhesenamun is the daughter of the queen Nefertiti, who was renowned for her beauty. "For the first...
Prehistory and Origins
Little teeth suggest big jump in primate timeline
	08/07/2008 10:27:32 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 10 replies · 188+ views PhysOrg | Monday, August 4, 2008 | Duke University Just 9-thousandths of a square inch in size, the teeth are about 54.5 million years old and suggest these early primates were no larger than modern dwarf lemurs weighing about 2 to 3 ounces... Previous fossil evidence shows primates were living in North America, Europe and Asia at least 55 million years ago. But, until now, the fossil record of anthropoid primates has extended back only 45 million years... In addition to stretching the primate timeline, the specimens represent a new genus as well as a new species of anthropoid, which the researchers have named Anthrasimias gujaratensis by drawing from...
Neandertal / Neanderthal
Scientists map mitochondrial DNA of prehistoric Neanderthal
	08/07/2008 12:37:19 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 29 replies · 446+ views AFP | Aug 7, 2008 | Unknown The bones of a Neanderthal man's skeleton, found during several excavations undertaken in 1856, 1997 and 2000. Researchers announced Thursday that they have sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of a Neanderthal, using genetic material recovered from a 38,000-year-old bone. (AFP/DDP/File/Michael Latz) WASHINGTON (AFP) - Researchers announced Thursday that they have sequenced the mitochondrial DNA of a Neanderthal, using genetic material recovered from a 38,000-year-old bone. Scientists said the breakthrough, published in the August 8th issue of the scientific journal Cell, will help resolve lingering questions about the genealogical relationship between the prehistoric hominids and modern man.
Epigraphy and Language
Nigerian Monkeys Drop Hints on Language Origin
	05/23/2006 4:32:06 PM PDT · Posted by neverdem · 29 replies · 574+ views NY Times | May 23, 2006 | NICHOLAS WADE Researchers taping calls of the putty-nosed monkey in the forests of Nigeria may have come a small step closer to understanding the origins of human language. The researchers have heard the monkeys string two alarm calls into a combined sound with a different meaning, as if forming a word, Kate Arnold and Klaus Zuberb¸hler report in the current issue of Nature. Monkeys are known to have specific alarm calls for different predators. Vervet monkeys have one call for eagles, another for snakes and a third for leopards. But this seems a far cry from language because the vervets do not...
Deep Life, Panspermia, Archaea
"Slow Life' and its Implications
	08/07/2008 8:52:36 AM PDT · Posted by LibWhacker · 12 replies · 252+ views Centauri Dreams | 8/6/08 Imagine a form of life so unusual that we cannot figure out how it dies. That's exactly what researchers are finding beneath the floor of the sea off Peru. The microbes being studied there -- single-celled organisms called Archaea -- live in time frames that can perhaps best be described as geological. Consider: A bacteria like Escherichia Coli divides and reproduces every twenty minutes or so. But the microbes in the so-called Peruvian Margin take hundreds or thousands of years to divide. "In essence, these microbes are almost, practically dead by our normal standards," says Christopher H. House (Penn State)....
Oh So Mysteriouso
Biology and Cryptobiology
What was the Montauk monster?
	08/07/2008 11:51:26 AM PDT · Posted by ari-freedom · 59 replies · 2,233+ views Tetrapod Zoology | August 4, 2008 | Darren Naish Unless you've been hiding under a rock, or spending all your time on Tet Zoo, you will almost certainly have heard about the 'Montauk monster', a mysterious carcass that (apparently) washed up on July 13th at Montauk, Long Island, New York. A good photo of the carcass, showing it in right lateral view and without any reference for scale, surfaced on July 30th and has been all over the internet. Given that I only recently devoted a week of posts to sea monsters, it's only fitting that I cover this too. I'm pretty sure that I know what it is,...
Asia
Mysterious ancient Buddhist box opened
	08/07/2008 10:41:16 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 37 replies · 1,095+ views China.org | 07 Aug 2008 | China.org Chinese archaeologists on Wednesday opened a 1,000-year-old steel case that was believed to contain Buddhist relics. A pagoda top wrapped in silk emerged after archaeologists removed two steel panels of the cube-shaped case, which is 0.5 meter long, 0.5 meter wide and 1.34 meters high. Hua Guorong, vice curator of the Nanjing City Museum where the case was opened, said an initial analysis showed the object was a pagoda about 1 meter high. He said Buddhist relics, which were formed from the ashes of cremated Buddhist masters and were an important aspect of the religion, were likely to be under...
Greece
Greek archaeological site reburied [ Akrotiri Santorini ]
	08/04/2008 10:55:31 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 3 replies · 155+ views Spero Forum | Friday, August 1, 2008 | Stephen Brothwell (Athens News) Three year after part of a protective roof collapsed killing a British tourist, the ancient Minoan site of Akrotiri on Santorini remains closed. Excavations have halted and the reconstruction of its roof is stuck in the wheels of bureaucracy. Tourism businesses on the island say they are losing money and prestige as a result. In September 2005, part of a new 1,000m2 roof designed to cover and protect the excavations collapsed without warning, killing Richard Bennion and injuring many others. The site was immediately closed for investigation but inexplicably has remained so for the last 34 months. "I can't say...
What a Pane
The Nature of Glass Remains Anything but Clear
	08/03/2008 6:56:52 PM PDT · Posted by neverdem · 40 replies · 1,634+ views NY Times | July 29, 2008 | KENNETH CHANG It is well known that panes of stained glass in old European churches are thicker at the bottom because glass is a slow-moving liquid that flows downward over centuries. Well known, but wrong. Medieval stained glass makers were simply unable to make perfectly flat panes, and the windows were just as unevenly thick when new. The tale contains a grain of truth about glass resembling a liquid, however. The arrangement of atoms and molecules in glass is indistinguishable from that of a liquid. But how can a liquid be as strikingly hard as glass? "They're the thickest and gooiest of...
Rain of Frogs
Incredible Discoveries Made in Remote Caves
	08/02/2008 3:03:00 AM PDT · Posted by Fred Nerks · 35 replies · 1,227+ views LiveScience | 31 July 2008 | Robert Roy Britt, LiveScience Managing Editor Scientists exploring caves in the bone-dry and mostly barren Atacama Desert in Chile stumbled upon a totally unexpected discovery this week: water. They also found hundreds of thousands of animal bones in a cave, possibly evidence of some prehistoric human activity. The findings are preliminary and have not been analyzed. The expedition is designed to learn how to spot caves on Mars by studying the thermal signatures of caves and non-cave features in hot, dry places here on Earth. Scientists think Martian caves, some of which may already have been spotted from space, could be good places to look for...
Swastika a Butt Pucker?
Scent of a Fuehrer
	08/02/2008 12:31:38 AM PDT · Posted by uglybiker · 47 replies · 845+ views The Smart Set | Tony Perrottet Hitler wanted to control the world. But he couldn't even control his flatulence. Guests at the Berghof, Hitler's private chalet in the Bavarian Alps, must have endured some unpleasant odors in the otherwise healthful mountain air. It may sound like a Woody Allen scenario, but medical historians are unanimous that Adolf was the victim of uncontrollable flatulence. Spasmodic stomach cramps, constipation and diarrhea, possibly the result of nervous tension, had been Hitler's curse since childhood and only grew more severe as he aged. As a stressed-out dictator, the agonizing digestive attacks would occur after...
Vikings
Viking ring is "treasure" and will be valued at British Museum[UK]
	08/04/2008 9:54:08 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 8 replies · 758+ views Bridlington Free Press | 31 July 2008 | Alexa Copeland TREASURE dating back to the time of the Vikings has been found in a Bridlington field. The Viking finger ring has a silver content of 98% which, combined with its age, meets the criteria for it to be officially classed as treasure. The ring, found by Paul Rennoldson, has been sent to the British Museum in London where it will be valued. Alan Worth, chairman of the Bridlington Metal Detecting Society, said finding any items dating back to the Viking age was very rare. "The Vikings were around in about 700AD which is an incredibly long time ago," said Mr...
Underwater Archaeology
Exploring the blue depths of the Aegean and Mediterranean
	08/04/2008 4:27:23 PM PDT · Posted by Fred Nerks · 10 replies · 260+ views TurkishPress.com | Monday, Aust 4, 2008 | By Levent Konuk The coasts of Anatolia are sprinkled with ancient cities whose harbours bustled with ships engaged in the thriving sea trade of the Aegean and Mediterranean. But not every ship made it safely to harbour. Many were wrecked in storms and sank with their cargoes to the seabed, and the remains of these have lain hidden on the seabed for long centuries. Wrecks of both merchant and warships each have their historical tale to relate, and are among the underwater sights that fascinate divers today. No other region of the world is so rich in sunken history as the seas around...
Anatolia
Zeugma Ancient City To Be Covered With Glass Bell Jar
	08/04/2008 4:34:39 PM PDT · Posted by Fred Nerks · 10 replies · 230+ views TurkishPress.com | Monday, August 4, 2008 | U/A GAZIANTEP - Governor Suleyman Kamci of southeastern province of Gaziantep said Friday ancient city of Zeugma would be covered with a structure resembling a "glass bell jar" in an effort to make the historical site a more attractive place for tourists. Kamci said the historical artifacts unearthed in Zeugma were currently being displayed at Gaziantep Museum in order to protect the pieces from harsh weather conditions. "However, these artifacts would be more attractive for tourists if they could be preserved and exhibited in their original location," Kamci said. He said some of the artifacts that are on display at the...
Let's Have Jerusalem
Biblical Proof of Jeremiah Unearthed at Ancient City of David
	08/03/2008 11:10:36 AM PDT · Posted by ScaniaBoy · 26 replies · 694+ views ArutzSheva | August 3, 2008 | Hana Levi Julian (IsraelNN.com) Archaeologists have unearthed proof of another Biblical story at Jerusalem's ancient City of David, this time corroborating the Book of Jeremiah. A completely intact seal impression, or "bula", bearing the name Gedaliahu ben Pashur was uncovered. The bula is actually a stamped engraving made of mortar. Gedaliahu ben Pashur's bula was found a bare few meters away from the site where a second such seal, this one belonging to Yuchal ben Shlemiyahu, an elder in the court of King Tzidkiyahu, was found three years ago, at the entrance to the City of David. According to Professor Eilat Mazar of...
Old Testament 'proof': Royal seal discovered
	08/05/2008 3:59:43 AM PDT · Posted by Convert from ECUSA · 22 replies · 393+ views World Net Daily | 8/3/08 | Joe Kovacs A team of archaeologists in Israel has unearthed what's believed to be the royal seal of an Old Testament prince who is said to have tossed the prophet Jeremiah down a well. Royal seal bears name of Gedaliah, a prince to Judah's King Zedekiah, mentioned in the Old Testament Book of Jeremiah. (courtesy Dr. Eilat Mazar) The stamped engraving, known as a "bulla," was discovered earlier this year about 600 feet south of the Temple Mount, but is just now making headlines. Team leader Dr. Eilat Mazar of Jerusalem's Hebrew University says the imprint was found in clay, astonishingly well-preserved,...
Phoenicians
4,000-year-old Canaanite warrior found in Sidon dig[Lebanon]
	08/07/2008 9:48:09 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 12 replies · 764+ views The Daily Star | 05 Aug 2008 | Mohammed Zaatari The British Museum's excavation team in Sidon have recently unearthed a new grave containing human skeletal remains belonging to a Canaanite warrior, archeology expert and field supervisor Claude Doumet Serhal told The Daily Star on Monday. According to Serhal, the delegation made the discovery at the "Freres" excavation site near Sidon's crusader castle. "This is the 77th grave that we have discovered at this site since our digging activities has started ten years ago with Lebanese-British financing," she said. According to Serhal, the remains go back to 2000 B.C., with a British archeologist saying the warrior had been buried...
Thrace
Bulgarian archaeologists discover ancient chariot
	08/07/2008 8:52:37 AM PDT · Posted by bamahead · 10 replies · 666+ views Yahoo / AP | August 7, 2008 | VESELIN TOSHKOV Archaeologists have unearthed a 1,900-year-old well-preserved chariot at an ancient Thracian tomb in southeastern Bulgaria, the head of the excavation said Thursday.
Neolithic Art
Ancient Burial Site Discovered In Batu Niah [ Malaysia ]
	08/04/2008 11:04:56 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 2 replies · 113+ views Yahoo! | Saturday, August 2, 2008 | Bernama A research team from the Centre For Archaeological Research Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) and the Sarawak Museum Department has discovered an ancient burial site, believed to be from the Neolithic period, at Gua Kain Hitam in the Niah-Subis limestone hills in Batu Niah, Miri division. Sarawak Museum Department deputy director Ipoi Datan said today the excavations at the site, funded by the National Heritage Department in 2007 and the USM Research University Grant last year, has so far uncovered more than eight human skeletons, dating back 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. "The human skeletons as well as the associated...
Australia and the Pacific
European woman 'arrived in New Zealand before Captain Cook'
	08/05/2008 10:22:17 PM PDT · Posted by nickcarraway · 26 replies · 603+ views The Telegraph | Paul Chapman The discovery of a European skull dating back more than 260 years has cast doubt that Captain James Cook was the first Westerner to step foot on the shores of New Zealand. Captain Cook recorded in his log, a tale told to him by a Maori chief, of a ship having been shipwrecked many years earlier Scientists are baffled after carbon dating showed the skull, a woman's which was found near the country's capital, Wellington, dates back from 1742 -- decades before Cook's Pacific expedition arrived in 1769. The discovery was made by a boy walking his dog on the...
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Energy Boom in West Threatens Indian Artifacts
	08/04/2008 10:38:49 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 26 replies · 311+ views The New York Slimes | August 2, 2008 | Kirk Johnson Less than a fifth of the park has been surveyed for artifacts because of limited federal money. Much more definite is that a giant new project to drill for carbon dioxide is gathering steam on the park's eastern flank. Miles of green pipe snake along the roadways, as trucks ply the dirt roads from a big gas compressor station. About 80 percent of the monument's 164,000 acres is leased for energy development. The consequences of energy exploration for wildlife and air quality have long been contentious in unspoiled corners of the West. But now with the urgent push for even...
Longer Perspectives
Military Advantage in History
	08/06/2008 4:16:07 PM PDT · Posted by gandalftb · 17 replies · 507+ views Mother Jones | July, 2002, Declassified August, 2008 | Office/Sec./Defense/Net Assessment This paper examines the nature of military advantage by exploring the character of major hegemonic powers in history and seeks to gain a better understanding of what drives US military advantage; where US vulnerabilities may lie; and how the US should think about maintaining its military advantage in the future.Case studies of Macedonia under Alexander the Great, Imperial Rome, the Mongols, and Napoleonic France compose the core of the analysis as they illustrate important themes that remain relevant to the US' position today.The case studies focus on two key questions:What were the sources of military advantage in history?What made military...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Top secret E German bunker open for short time (Huge underground facility; photos and video avail.)
	08/04/2008 1:21:27 PM PDT · Posted by Stoat · 35 replies · 1,083+ views Euronews / various others | August 1, 2008 Holidaymakers feeling nostalgic for the Cold War can now tour what was once a top secret bunker in the former East Germany. Opened to the public for the first time on Friday, it was meant to house the ruling Communist elite in the event of a nuclear attack.Something some visitors said they were relieved was no longer a concern:"What goes through my mind is that it is quite nice to stand around here, look at the bunker and talk to each other peacefully," one man said.Close to the size of a football field, the bunker was designed to function...
World War Eleven
Sea unearths secret Nazi bunkers that lay hidden for more than 50 years
	08/04/2008 4:48:22 AM PDT · Posted by Stoat · 40 replies · 1,930+ views The Daily Mail (U.K.) | August 3, 2008 Three Nazi bunkers on a beach have been uncovered by violent storms off the Danish coast, providing a store of material for history buffs and military archaeologists. The bunkers were found in practically the same condition as they were on the day the last Nazi soldiers left them, down to the tobacco in one trooper"s pipe and a half-finished bottle of schnapps. (edit) They were located by two nine-year-old boys on holiday with their parents, who then informed the authorities. Archaeologists were able to carefully force a way, and were astounded at what they found.'What's so fantastic is...
Revealed: The astonishing D-Day tanks found at the bottom of the English Channel
	08/06/2008 6:36:41 AM PDT · Posted by DemonDeac · 71 replies · 2,644+ views Daily Mail | 05th August 2008 | DEBRA KILLALEA "Scuba divers searching for hidden treasures at the bottom of the English Channel got more than they bargained for when they stumbled across two massive army tanks on the ocean floor." "Divers found the massive vehicles were relatively well preserved with guns still intact even after more than 64 years under sea. And by painstakingly checking minute details on the sunken vehicles against historical records, investigators managed to identify them as rare British Centaur CS IV tanks. The historic weapons were destined for battle during the D-Day landings but never arrived. Historians discovered the tanks fell overboard when a landing...
Sunken D-Day tanks found
	08/06/2008 8:14:43 AM PDT · Posted by cups · 7 replies · 1,085+ views Revealed | Debra Killalea Scuba divers searching for hidden treasures at the bottom of the English Channel got more than they bargained for when they stumbled across two massive army tanks on the ocean floor. The divers, who were eight miles of the West Sussex Coast, were left baffled as to how the Second World War tanks came to be at the bottom of the Channel. But the mystery was soon solved after a lengthy investigation involving more than 80 dives at the site which is 65ft under water. (has pictures)
Climate
Climate Cycles in China as Revealed by a Stalagmite from Buddha Cave(Journal Review)
	07/08/2003 3:48:19 PM PDT · Posted by PeaceBeWithYou · 58 replies · 971+ views CO2 Science Magazine | July 08, 2003 | Staff Reference Paulsen, D.E., Li, H.-C. and Ku, T.-L. 2003. Climate variability in central China over the last 1270 years revealed by high-resolution stalagmite records. Quaternary Science Reviews 22: 691-701. What was done In the words of the authors, "high-resolution records of 13C and 18O in stalagmite SF-1 from Buddha Cave [33°40'N, 109°05'E] are used to infer changes in climate in central China for the last 1270 years in terms of warmer, colder, wetter and drier conditions." What was learned Among the climatic episodes evident in the authors' data were "those corresponding to the Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age and...
Age of Sail
Lord Nelson and Captain Cook's shiplogs question climate change theories
	08/04/2008 3:18:54 AM PDT · Posted by Cincinatus · 47 replies · 2,094+ views Daily Telegraph (UK) | August 4, 2008 | Tom Peterkin The ships' logs of great maritime figures such as Lord Nelson and Captain Cook have cast new light on climate change by suggesting that global warming may not be an entirely man-made phenomenon. Scientists have uncovered a treasure trove of meteorological information contained in the detailed logs kept by those on board the vessels that established Britain's great seafaring traditition including those on Nelsons' Victory and Cook's Endeavour.
Ice Age
Last Ice Age happened in less than year say scientists
	08/02/2008 2:28:28 PM PDT · Posted by Renfield · 74 replies · 1,305+ views The Scotsman | 8-02-08 | angus howarth THE last ice age 13,000 years ago took hold in just one year, more than ten times quicker than previously believed, scientists have warned. Rather than a gradual cooling over a decade, the ice age plunged Europe into the deep freeze, German Research Centre for Geosciences at Potsdam said. Cold, stormy conditions caused by an abrupt shift in atmospheric circulation froze the continent almost instantly during the Younger Dryas less than 13,000 years ago -- a very recent period on a geological scale. The new findings will add to fears of a serious risk of this happening again in the...
Arctic
Undersea 'Black Smokers' Found Off Arctic
	08/04/2008 5:58:31 PM PDT · Posted by krb · 32 replies · 960+ views Discovery | August 4, 2008 | AFP Jets of searingly hot water spewing up from the ocean floor have been discovered in a far-northern zone of the Arctic Ocean, Swiss-based scientists announced Monday. The so-called "black smokers" were found 73 degrees north, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between Greenland and Norway, in the coldest waters yet for a phenomenon first observed around the Galagapos islands in 1977.The earth's plumbing system of hydrothermal vents contain their own, unique ecosystems given the absence of sunlight at depths, in this case, of 7,874 feet, with vinegar-like water attaining temperatures of up to 752 degrees Fahrenheit. A team from...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
Ancient Vegetation, Insect Fossils Found in Antarctica
	08/05/2008 9:56:54 AM PDT · Posted by Scythian · 45 replies · 939+ views Fox News Fourteen million years ago the now lifeless valleys were tundra, similar to parts of Alaska, Canada and Siberia -- cold but able to support life, researchers report. The moss was essentially freeze dried, he said. Unlike fossils, where minerals replace soft materials, the moss tissues were still there, he said. "The really cool thing is that all the details are still there," even though the plant has been dead for 14 million years. "These are actually the plant tissues themselves." ==================================================== And they redicule me for believing in the bible ... 14 million years, ya right
Moderate Islam
The Rush to Save Timbuktu's Crumbling Manuscripts
	08/03/2008 11:38:38 PM PDT · Posted by FreedomCalls · 28 replies · 643+ views Der Spiegel | 08/01/2008 | Matthias Schulz and Anwen Roberts Fabled Timbuktu, once the site of the world's southernmost Islamic university, harbors thousands upon thousands of long-forgotten manuscripts. A dozen academic instutions from around the world are now working frantically to save and evaluate the crumbling documents. Bundles of paper covered with ancient Arabic letters lie on tables and dusty leather stools. In the sweltering heat, a man wearing blue Muslim robes flips through a worn folio, while others are busy repairing yellowed pages. An astonishing project is underway in Timbuktu, Mali, one of the world's poorest countries. On the southern edge of the Sahara Desert, experts are opening an...
Libraries in the sand reveal Africa's academic past
	11/12/2006 7:03:58 AM PST · Posted by Valin · 29 replies · 867+ views Reuters | 11/10/06 | Nick Tattersall Researchers in Timbuktu are fighting to preserve tens of thousands of ancient texts which they say prove Africa had a written history at least as old as the European Renaissance. Private and public libraries in the fabled Saharan town in Mali have already collected 150,000 brittle manuscripts, some of them from the 13th century, and local historians believe many more lie buried under the sand. The texts were stashed under mud homes and in desert caves by proud Malian families whose successive generations feared they would be stolen by Moroccan invaders, European explorers and then French...
Faith and Philosophy
322nd Anniversary of "The Battle of Vienna" (Polish king saves Europe from Islam)
	09/12/2005 5:06:39 PM PDT · Posted by bummerdude · 180 replies · 6,029+ views http://campus.northpark.edu/history/WebChron/EastEurope/ViennaSiege.html One of the most important battles of the 17th century was the Battle of Vienna, which was fought on September 12, 1683... This victory freed Europe from the Ottoman Turks and their invasions and secured Christianity as the main religion in all of Europe.
The Real History of the Crusades
	05/10/2005 7:20:05 AM PDT · Posted by robowombat · 59 replies · 4,639+ views Christianity Today | Week of May 2, 2005 | Thomas F. Madden Christianity Today, Week of May 2 The Real History of the Crusades A series of holy wars against Islam led by power-mad popes and fought by religious fanatics? Think again. by Thomas F. Madden | posted 05/06/2005 09:00 a.m. With the possible exception of Umberto Eco, medieval scholars are not used to getting much media attention. We tend to be a quiet lot (except during the annual bacchanalia we call the International Congress on Medieval Studies in Kalamazoo, Michigan, of all places), poring over musty chronicles and writing dull yet meticulous studies that few will read. Imagine, then, my surprise...
Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy
Bones mystery [ near Lough Fea in Ireland ]
	08/04/2008 11:22:30 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 4 replies · 286+ views Mid Ulster Mail | Thursday, July 31, 2008 | Staff reporter Cremated bones thought to date from around 3,500BC to 2,000BC have been unearthed by archaeologists during a dig near Lough Fea. A team of four archaeologists came across a mound of stones, known as a cairn which often points to a burial site, at the Creagh Concrete plant near Blackwater Bridge. The find was unearthed when workers from Creagh Concrete were extracting gravel earlier this week. An archaeologist is always present on site when work of this nature is being carried out. Following excavation of the site, the archaeologists discovered two small cist burials, one octagonal in shape, around 45...
Scotland Yet
Ancient palace found in dig on hill[UK]
	08/02/2008 7:28:38 AM PDT · Posted by BGHater · 6 replies · 576+ views The Press and Journal | 02 Aug 2008 | Alistair Beaton Archaeologists uncover Aberdeenshire's hidden history on slopes of Bennachie Archaeologists have uncovered ancient traces, from tiny bead ornaments to massive walls, of a forgotten prince's palace on the slopes of Bennachie in Aberdeenshire. Only yards from a busy car park used by walkers visiting the landmark hill, a 15-strong team rediscovered remains of Maiden Castle just below the surface of a wooded hillside mound. A stone's throw from the Rowantree car park, near Pitcaple, and also close to one of the most important Pictish carved monuments in the country, the two-week dig confirmed the importance of the 2,000-year-old fort area....
Britain
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Dig reveals The Theatre - Shakespeare's first playhouse
	08/05/2008 10:16:09 PM PDT · Posted by bruinbirdman · 5 replies · 436+ views The Times | 8/6/2008 | Fiona Hamilton Every year hundreds of thousands of visitors make their way to Stratford-upon-Avon and the Globe Theatre, on the Thames, to explore Shakespeare's intriguing past. Not surprisingly, an unremarkable plot of land on New Inn Broadway, just north of London's medieval City wall, does not rate a mention on the Shakespeare tourist trail, since before now only the most fervent history buffs were aware of the site's significance in the playwright's life. However, that history can be laid bare after an archaeological dig at the Shoreditch site uncovered the remains of The Theatre - one of the capital's first playhouses -- ...
Sex in the City
Are Couch Potatoes More Creative?
	05/10/2005 6:18:02 PM PDT · Posted by kingattax · 16 replies · 1,217+ views ABC Science Online | May 10, 2005 | Judy Skatssoon We're smarter and more creative lying down than standing up, says a researcher who believes this helps to explain Archimedes' eureka moment. Darren Lipnicki from the school of psychology at the Australian National University (ANU) found that people solve anagrams more quickly when they are on their backs than on their feet. He said his research, which will be published in the journal Cognitive Brain Research, relates to how neurotransmitters are released. Lipnicki tested 20 people, who were asked to solve 32 five-letter anagrams, such as 'osien' and 'nodru' while standing and lying down. "I found anagrams were solved more...
end of digest #212 20080809

[SunkenCiv]

Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #212 20080809 · Saturday, August 9, 2008 · 41 topics · 2058700 to 2055288 · 675 members ·
	Saturday Aug 09 2008 v 5 n 2 view this issue	Welcome to the 212th issue. I'm pretty sure I don't know how to count anymore, as 208 should have been the last of volume 4, and 209 the first of volume 5. I'd often wondered what a handbasket looks like, and I just found a YouTube video of my brain in one. And it was going places. I guess my brain is again one step ahead of me. Apparently, at some point(s) or other(s) in the history of the GGG ('the history of the GGG', interesting idea) I forgot to advance the issue number. Or somethin'. Or perhaps there's really nothing wrong. The super humungous plan was to alter the layout a bit in year five, but I've not done it yet. The FR software is in a never-ending evolution to cooler / faster / more and better / etc, and that should be enough for me and anyone else. What I plan to do is make the big digest message look like this ping message (and of course, both to look suspiciously like the faux-blog on my profile page). Due to the suspensions / firings that happened last week, I'll have to work seven straight days. And that assumes I don't have to wind up working on Monday, my next day off. I appreciate the overtime, but I really need a new job. I could find a part time job that pays twice as much (uh, I'm pretty sure, trust me) and work 3/4 as much, using the extra to pay for my own health insurance. Now there's a product I should be selling... Visit the Free Republic Memorial Wall -- a history-related feature of FR.
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[SunkenCiv]

Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #213 Saturday, August 16, 2008
Navigation
Ancient Mediterranean craft traditions to lead to new computing paradigm
	08/09/2008 7:10:35 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 11 replies · 296+ views AlphaGalileo | Monday, August 4, 2008 | University of Leicester 'Tracing Networks' combines archaeology, archaeological science and computer science to investigate networks across and beyond the Mediterranean region, encompassing Greek, Punic and other peoples, from the late bronze age through classical times (c.1500-c.200 BCE). The research focuses on crafts-people, asking how and why traditions, techniques and technologies changed and crossed cultural boundaries. The period under investigation saw major developments, including the emergence of states, involving new ways of organising production and consumption. Professor Foxhall commented: "We look at objects ranging from cooking wares and coins to wall paintings and loom weights. We trace the links between the people who made,...
Anatolia
Stone Age skeletons uncovered during tube tunnel excavations
	08/11/2008 3:04:01 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 16 replies · 340+ views Turkish Daily News | August 11, 2008 | Mustafa Kınalı Human skeletons, which experts say could be more than 8,000 years old, were found in four prehistoric graves recently unearthed at the Marmaray tunnel excavation site in the Yenikapi district of Istanbul. These graves reveal Istanbul used to be home to some of the earliest types of settlements during the Stone Age when people migrated from Anatolia to the European continent", said Mehmet Ozdocan, professor of prehistory at Istanbul University. "They also show that the Marmara Sea used to be a small and shallow water in ancient times. Ozdocan said the graves, two of which were smaller than the others,...
Paleontology
Reading Archaean Biosignatures
	08/11/2008 1:23:03 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 4 replies · 139+ views SpaceDaily | July 29, 2008 | Astrobiology Using a new instrument that can locate elements on the nanometer scale, NASA scientists are exploring tiny bits of organic matter that could be the oldest traces of terrestrial life. Possible "biosignatures" have been found in rocks dating back 3.3 to 3.5 billion years, long after deformation by heat and pressure would have obliterated any whole-cell fossils these rocks may once have contained. These biosignatures would be embodied in suggestive concentrations of elements, like carbon and nitrogen, that are associated with life, and in the ratios of specific isotopes... NanoSIMS is a fine-scale elaboration on SIMS, also called an "ion...
Helix, Make Mine a Double
Human Evolution: Tale of the Y
	08/10/2008 4:21:37 AM PDT · Posted by Soliton · 58 replies · 698+ views newsweek | 8/8/08 | Sharon Begley Nothing against fossils, but when it comes to tracing the story of human evolution they're taking a back seat lately to everything from DNA to lice, and even the DNA of lice. A few years ago scientists compared the DNA of body lice (which are misnamed: they live in clothing, not the human body) to that of head lice, from which they evolved, and concluded that the younger lineage split off from the older no more than 114,000 years ago, as I described in a cover story last year. Since body lice probably arose when a new habitat did, and...
Prehistory and Origins
Long-lost cousins
	08/12/2008 6:19:02 AM PDT · Posted by Soliton · 14 replies · 323+ views The Guardian | Adam Rutherford At Nature, we often find that our most read, downloaded or listened to studies are those about our more ancient relatives, whether it's the hobbit of Flores or the oldest human ancestor, Toumai. Last week, a paper in the journal Cell uncovered the first completed sequence of the Neanderthal genome, and some fascinating insights into our evolutionary cousins. Expect more revelations from this project very soon. The demise of the Neanderthals is one of the great mysteries about the origin of our species. They were on a side branch in the human tree, co-existing with our direct ancestors for maybe...
Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
How the First Farmers Colonized the Mediterranean
	08/15/2008 11:05:45 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 11 replies · 261+ views New York Times | August 11, 2008 | Nicholas Wade The invention of agriculture was a pivotal event in human history, but archaeologists studying its origins may have made a simple error in dating the domestication of animals like sheep and goats. The signal of the process, they believed, was the first appearance in the archaeological record of smaller boned animals. But in fact this reflects just a switch to culling females, which are smaller than males, concludes Melinda Zeder, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution. Using a different criterion, that of when herds first show signs of human management, Dr. Zeder finds that goats and sheep were first domesticated...
Neandertal / Neanderthal
Cooking Stimulated Big Leap In Human Cognition
	08/12/2008 4:23:21 PM PDT · Posted by Soliton · 56 replies · 605+ views Slashdot | August 12, @06:09PM | Hugh Pickens "For a long time, humans were pretty dumb, doing little but make 'the same very boring stone tools for almost 2 million years,' says Philipp Khaitovich of the Partner Institute for Computational Biology in Shanghai. Then, 150,000 years ago, our big brains suddenly got smart. We started innovating. We tried different materials. We started creating art and maybe even religion. To understand what caused the cognitive spurt, researchers examined chemical brain processes known to have changed in the past 200,000 years.
Doomed to Repeat
Gene Variant May Be Responsible For Human Learning
	05/12/2007 4:36:10 PM PDT · Posted by blam · 11 replies · 438+ views New Scientist | 5-12-2007 Humans have a unique variant of a gene linked with learning and memory. This may help explain how we rapidly cut loose in intellect and language from our closest relatives. The gene, KLK8, makes the protein neuropsin II, which in mice is vital for memory and learning. Bing Su and his colleagues at the Kunming Institute of Zoology in China had earlier demonstrated that neuropsin II is made by humans but not by lesser apes and old-world monkeys. Now they have shown that orang-utans and...
Catastrophism and Astronomy
Yellowstone supervolcano is only lukewarm
	08/11/2008 9:30:34 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 44 replies · 785+ views New Scientist | August 8, 2008 | Catherine Brahic How hot is the Yellowstone hotspot? At 80 kilometres beneath the Earth's surface it's about 1450°C, say researchers -- which, for a supervolcano, is only lukewarm. That doesn't mean we won't get another eruption. The last explosion, some 642,000 years ago, created the Yellowstone caldera and blanketed half of the present day US in ash. But Derek Schutt of Colorado State University believes the relatively tepid temperature means the supervolcano could be on its last legs... The team determined that the temperature at [80 km depth] was likely to be between 50°C and 200°C hotter than the...
Australia and the Pacific
Prehistoric giant animals killed by man, not climate: study (Tasmania)
	08/12/2008 4:53:23 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 36 replies · 614+ views AFP | Aug 12, 2008 | Madeleine Coorey The chance discovery of the remains of a prehistoric giant kangaroo has cast doubts on the long-held view that climate change drove it and other mega-fauna to extinction, a new study reveals. He said that it was likely that hunting killed off Tasmania's mega-fauna -- including the long-muzzled, 120 kilogram (264 pound) giant kangaroo, a rhinoceros-sized wombat and marsupial 'lions' which resembled leopards. The finding of the latest study has already been contested, with Judith Field of the University of Sydney saying the idea that humans killed the giant creatures was "in the...
Africa
Prehistoric mom and dad (Iberomaurusian child care)
	08/11/2008 3:29:12 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 15 replies · 363+ views iafrica.com | Aug 6, 2008 | Unknown Contrary to popular belief, the people who roamed north Africa in prehistoric times cared deeply for their children, recent discoveries by a team of Moroccan and British archaeologists show. "For years these people have wrongly been thought of as individuals whose only wish was to eat, reproduce, and protect themselves from the elements and predators," said Abdeljalil Bouzouggar of Morocco's Institute of Archaeology and Heritage. "Now we discover that 12000 years ago they granted their babies the same rights as adults." Bouzouggar jointly led a team that excavated a cave at Taforalt in eastern Morocco earlier this year along with...
Climate
US scientists find stone age burial ground in Sahara
	08/14/2008 12:40:47 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 20 replies · 430+ views AFP | Aug 14, 2008 | Jean-Louis Santini A US-led team of archaeologists said Thursday they had discovered by chance what is believed to be the largest find of Stone Age-era remains ever uncovered in the Sahara Desert. Named Gobero, the site includes remarkably intact human remains as well as the skeletons of fish and crocodiles dating back some 10,000 years to a time when what is now the world's largest desert was a swampy wetland.
Graves Found From Sahara's Green Period
	08/15/2008 1:06:10 AM PDT · Posted by TigerLikesRooster · 20 replies · 779+ views NYT | 08/15/08 | John Noble Wilford When Paul C. Sereno went hunting for dinosaur bones in the Sahara, his career took a sharp turn from paleontology to archaeology. The expedition found what has proved to be the largest known graveyard of Stone Age people who lived there when the desert was green. The first traces of pottery, stone tools and human skeletons were discovered eight years ago at a site in the southern Sahara, in Niger. After preliminary research, Dr. Sereno, a University of Chicago scientist who had previously uncovered remains of the dinosaur Nigersaurus there,...
Greece
'Virtual archaeologist' reconnects fragments of an ancient civilization [ Thera ]
	08/15/2008 10:39:26 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 10 replies · 213+ views Eurekalert | Friday, August 15, 2008 | Chandra Shekhar Laser Rangefinder: A team of Princeton computer scientists has developed an automated system for reconstructing an excavated fresco, mosaic or similar archaeological object. Collaborating closely with archaeologists in Greece, the team has created a system that employs a combination of powerful computer algorithms and a processing system mirroring the procedures traditionally followed at excavation sites. Here, a fragment is placed on a turntable and a laser rangefinder measures its visible surface from various viewpoints. Credit: Frank WojciechowskiExamining Fresco Fragments In Santorini: Tim Weyrich, a postdoctoral teaching fellow in computer science at Princeton, examines fresco fragments in Santorini. Weyrich is...
Epigraphy and Language
In search of Western civilisation's lost classics
	08/11/2008 1:45:29 PM PDT · Posted by LibWhacker · 31 replies · 598+ views The Australian | 8/6/08 | Luke Slattery The unique library of the Villa of the Papyri in Herculaneum, buried beneath lava by Vesuvius's eruption in AD79, is slowly revealing its long-held secrets -- Stored in a sky-lit reading room on the top floor of the Biblioteca Nazionale in Naples are the charred remains of the only library to survive from classical antiquity. The ancient world's other great book collections -- at Athens, Alexandria and Rome -- all perished in the chaos of the centuries. But the library of the Villa of the Papyri was conserved, paradoxically, by an act of destruction. Lying to the northwest of ancient Herculaneum, this...
Ancient Autopsies
Three 9,000-Year-Old Skulls Found in Galilee
	08/15/2008 11:10:38 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 12 replies · 348+ views Israel National News | Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu Archaeologists have discovered three 9,000-year-old skulls at the Yiftah'el dig in the Lower Galilee, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Wednesday. Experts said the placement of the skulls confirms the worship of ancestors from during that time, practiced by displaying skulls inside houses. The skulls were apparently placed on benches in a house where they would inspire the younger generation to continue in the ways of their forefathers. A similar custom was also identified in Syria, Turkey and Jordan. The skulls are 8,000-9,000 years old and were buried in a pit adjacent to an excavated large public building. They were discovered...
Let's Have Jerusalem
Hebrew U. archaeological excavations uncover Roman temple in Zippori (Sepphoris)
	08/11/2008 11:11:31 AM PDT · Posted by decimon · 5 replies · 207+ views The Hebrew University of Jerusalem | Aug 11, 2008 | Unknown Findings show signs of mixed city of Jews, pagans and ChristiansRuins of a Roman temple from the second century CE have recently been unearthed in the Zippori National Park in Israel. Above the temple are foundations of a church from the Byzantine period. The excavations, which were undertaken by the Noam Shudofsky Zippori Expedition led by of Prof. Zeev Weiss of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, shed light on the multi-cultural society of ancient Zippori. The discovery indicated that Zippori, the Jewish capital of the Galilee during the Roman period, had a significant pagan population...
Moderate Islam
Egyptian Gov. Publication: Questioning the Sanctity of Jerusalem in Islam (MEMRI)
	10/03/2003 11:56:15 PM PDT · Posted by AdmSmith · 6 replies · 350+ views MEMRI Special Dispatch - Egypt No. 583 | October 3, 2003 | Ahmad Muhammad 'Arafa Egyptian Ministry of Culture Publication: The Al-Aqsa Mosque and Dome of the Rock were Built to Divert the Pilgrimage from Mecca; Jerusalem was Not the Center of Worship for the Followers of the Prophet Muhammad -- On August 5, 2003 Ahmad Muhammad 'Arafa, a columnist for the Egyptian weekly Al- Qahira, which is published by the Egyptian Ministry of Culture, wrote an article rejecting the established Islamic doctrine that the Prophet Muhammad's celebrated "Night Journey" (Koran 17:1) took him from Mecca to Jerusalem. 'Arafa, presenting a new analysis of the Koranic text, asserts that the Night Journey in Surat Al-Isra' (that...
PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
The Secret Of Maya Green
	08/10/2008 11:41:54 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 13 replies · 335+ views Times Online | Norman Hammond A pigment unknown to art historians has been identified on ancient Maya artefacts from Mexico. The blue-green colour of veszelyite seems to have been chosen to blend in with and even imitate jade, the most precious substance used by the Maya... Tomb 4 was identified as that of the ruler Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ak', "Smoking Jaguar Paw", who was born in AD649 and reigned from 686 to 695, when he was apparently defeated by Jasaw Chan K'awiil I of Tikal, Calakmul's rival to the south. Whether Yuknoom was killed in this battle or died sublater is not known but he was...
Cave Art
Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found
	08/15/2008 5:57:23 AM PDT · Posted by stockpirate · 19 replies · 949+ views MSNBC via Reuters | Aug. 14, 2008 | Miguel Angel Gutierrez Mexican archeologists have discovered a maze of stone temples in underground caves, some submerged in water and containing human bones, which ancient Mayans believed was a portal where dead souls entered the underworld.
Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy
German scientists dig for their own Stonehenge
	08/10/2008 9:27:01 AM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 5 replies · 217+ views Reuters | Wednesday, August 6, 2008 | Madeline Chambers Archaeologists have discovered traces of a Bronze Age place of worship in Germany in what they say might be the country's answer to Stonehenge. Scientists from a university in Halle are excavating a roughly 4,000 year-old circular site in eastern Germany which contains graves that bear a strong resemblance to Stonehenge, a prehistoric stone circle of towering megaliths in southern Britain. "It is the first finding of this kind on the European mainland which we have been able to fully excavate and which shows a structure we have until now only seen in Britain," Andre Spatzier, head of the excavation...
Middle Ages and Renaissance
Treasure hunter finds £25,000 gold cross with metal detector
	08/09/2008 10:42:09 PM PDT · Posted by SunkenCiv · 16 replies · 606+ views Telegraph | Wednesday, August 6, 2008 | unattributed A treasure hunter using a metal detector has discovered a pure gold cross dating from the 7th century - and worth at least £25,000. The Anglo Saxon artefact is set with red gemstones and might have originally held a relic such as bone from a Disciple or fragment of the Cross. Measuring just over an inch long, the 18 carat gold cross has been decorated with fine detail and is thought to have been worn as a pendant. It is English made with gold that was probably melted down from Merovingian French coins. Two of the red cabochon gemstones are...
Longer Perspectives
The Upright Ape
	05/02/2008 2:53:53 AM PDT · Posted by Ethan Clive Osgoode · 15 replies · 700+ views Amazon | July, 2007 | Aaron Filler The Upright Ape: A New Origin of the Species, Aaron Filler, 2007.Editorial review:Did apes evolve from humans? Sudden abrupt changes in which entirely new types of organisms come into existence almost instantaneously do not fit the model of Modern Evolutionary Theory and the Darwinian model. In this remarkable 288 page book written by Harvard trained evolutionary biologist Aaron Filler, MD, Ph.D.--a student of Stephen Jay Gould and Ernst Mayr--we learn how modern biological evidence finally proves that sudden non-Darwinian evolution has played a major role in a number of major events in the history of life including the origin of...
Theorist: Darwin Had it Wrong
	04/22/2004 8:46:34 AM PDT · Posted by Michael_Michaelangelo · 194 replies · 428+ views Star News Online | 4-17-04 | Daniel Conover S.C. professor says life forms arose without common origin -- In the beginning, it was just the proteins. The way biochemist Christian Schwabe saw it, Darwinian evolution should have given closely related animals similar sets of proteins. It was a simple idea, just a way to prove the cellular legacy of millions of years of common ancestry. Only it didn't work. The mismatched proteins were just a stray thread in the grand tapestry of life, yet the flaw gnawed at the back of the professor's...
Faith and Philosophy
Syrian monastery gives visitors taste of ancient spiritual life [Ecumenical]
	08/14/2008 1:42:51 PM PDT · Posted by NYer · 7 replies · 179+ views CNS | August 14, 2008 | Brooke Anderson A sixth-century monastery in the desert of western Syria is giving today's visitors the experience of ancient spiritual life. Named after St. Moses, an Ethiopian monk, the Mar Musa monastery is about 20 miles from the nearest town, Al-Nebek. The monastery and its church are staffed with Catholic and Orthodox nuns and priests, and the compound has become a center for Muslim-Christian interfaith dialogue. With its vegetable garden and goat herd, the desert monastery is a model of sustainability. "I felt like I had a calling to come here, and I felt at home in Mar...
Oh So Mysteriouso
An Open Letter to Journalists (About the Shroud of Turin and the failures in reporting facts)
	08/09/2008 1:52:58 AM PDT · Posted by Swordmaker · 118 replies · 1,060+ views Shroud Story | Daniel R. Porter (Freeper Shroudie) A few weeks before he died in 1963, Washington Post publisher Philip Leslie Graham described journalism as the "first rough draft of history." Here is what he said: So let us today drudge on about our inescapably impossible task of providing every week a first rough draft of history that will never really be completed about a world we can never really understand. It is a wonderful quote. Journalists love it for it justifiably elevates the significance of what they do. But there is an admonition in the last dozen words that should not be overlooked. All of us can...
Biology and Cryptobiology
Bigfoot Body: "Georgia Gorilla" Will Shock The World
	08/12/2008 5:26:11 PM PDT · Posted by Perdogg · 105 replies · 6,260+ views Cryptomundo | 08.12.08 I have just talked with Robert Barrows, R.M. Barrows, Inc., Advertising & Public Relations, Burlingame, California, who informed me the following release has been distributed to news agencies worldwide. It is now in the hands of the media at large, and they will be going with this story. The embargo on the news is lifted. Therefore, here it is for Cryptomundo readers.
Underwater Archaeology
Devastation of Pearl Harbour revenge attacks revealed in BBC project 2,000 feet below Pacific
	08/10/2008 5:54:54 PM PDT · Posted by decimon · 51 replies · 1,555+ views Mail Online | Aug 10, 2008 | Daily Mail Reporter Hollywood duo Josh Hartnett and Ben Affleck portrayed the American desire to avenge the infamous Pearl Harbour bombings playing two US pilots in Michael Bay's hit 2001 epic. But, the true devastation of the revenge attacks on Japanese forces in 1944 has been captured in one of the most ambitious underwater projects ever undertaken. Operation Hailstorm was two years in the making - but on February 17, 1944, American forces blitzed the Chuuk Islands, in the south western region of the Pacific Ocean, sinking 70 Japanese ships, 270 aircraft and killing close to 3,000 people - though the official death...
World War Eleven
This day in History: Atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki (Happy Nagasaki Day!)
	08/09/2008 3:50:28 AM PDT · Posted by abb · 120 replies · 1,571+ views History Channel | August 9, 2008 | Staff On this day in 1945, a second atom bomb is dropped on Japan by the United States, at Nagasaki, resulting finally in Japan's unconditional surrender. The devastation wrought at Hiroshima was not sufficient to convince the Japanese War Council to accept the Potsdam Conference's demand for unconditional surrender. The United States had already planned to drop their second atom bomb, nicknamed "Fat Man," on August 11 in the event of such recalcitrance, but bad weather expected for that day pushed the date up to August 9th. So at 1:56 a.m., a specially adapted B-29 bomber, called "Bock's Car," after its...
Toejam and his Treason
Diary shows Tojo resisted surrender till end
	08/12/2008 4:42:04 PM PDT · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · 81 replies · 1,459+ views Associated Press | August 12, 2008 | MARI YAMAGUCHI Japanese World War II leader Hideki Tojo wanted to keep fighting even after U.S. atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki, accusing surrender proponents of being "frightened," a newly released diary reveals. Excerpts from the approximately 20 pages written by Tojo in the final days of the war and held by the National Archives of Japan were published for the first time in several newspapers Tuesday. "The notes show Tojo kept his died-in-the-wool militarist mentality until the very end," said Kazufumi Takayama, the archives curator, who confirmed the accuracy of the published excerpts. "They are extremely valuable."
Swastika a Butt Pucker?
Nazi Archives Finally Made Public
	12/08/2007 8:52:02 AM PST · Posted by america4vr · 69 replies · 343+ views CNN | November 28, 2007 | Associated Press After more than 60 years, Nazi documents stored in a vast warehouse in Germany were unsealed Wednesday, opening a rich resource for Holocaust historians and for survivors to delve into their own tormented past. The archive's index refers to 17.5 million people in its 16 linear miles of files. The treasure of documents could open new avenues of study into the inner workings of Nazi persecution from the exploitation of slave labor to the conduct of medical experiments. The archive's managers planned a conference of scholars next year to map out its unexplored contents. The files entrusted to the International...
Pages
Russian revisionism: Holocaust denial and the new nationalist historiography (book review)
	08/15/2008 4:18:51 PM PDT · Posted by mnehrling · 7 replies · 116+ views Intenta Connect Abstract: Holocaust denial has appeared in Russia only recently and has attracted almost no attention in the academic sphere, and relatively little from monitoring organizations. The research for this article - examining the place of Holocaust denial in contemporary Russia - was conducted over three months in Russia and on the Internet. The results indicate that the phenomenon remains of marginal significance and that the majority of material is of western origin. While there are several factors that make the development of Holocaust denial probable - the comparatively high level of antisemitism in Russia, post-Soviet suspicion of historiography and lack...
Early America
Legendary gold stays shrouded in mystery(Lost Dutchman Treasure)
	07/27/2006 8:27:56 PM PDT · Posted by Marius3188 · 17 replies · 1,242+ views East Valley Tribune | 27 July 2006 | Art Martori Mike Johnson slumped his big frame onto a rock formation in the foothills of the Superstition Mountains, pulled off his baseball cap and ran a hand through his long, sweaty hair. "Wicked," he said in a thick New England accent. Johnson and his companions took a breather Monday morning, exhausted from the 95-degree heat and the hike up the looming fortress of stone. After a few minutes, he dug a battered walking stick into the dirt and continued the ascent. The hikers intended to press deep into the mountains in search of a fortune some say is only legend: The...
Civil War
Last widow of Civil War Vet dies
	05/31/2004 1:03:21 PM PDT · Posted by WinOne4TheGipper · 96 replies · 1,806+ views AP via Guardian (UK) | 5/31/04 | Philip Rawls Alberta Martin, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died on Memorial Day, ending an unlikely ascent from sharecropper's daughter to the belle of 21st century Confederate history buffs who paraded her across the South. She was 97. Martin died at a nursing home in Enterprise of complications from a heart attack she suffered May 7, said her caretaker, Dr. Kenneth Chancey. She died nearly 140 years after the Civil War ended. Her May-December marriage in the 1920s to Civil War veteran William Jasper Martin and her longevity made her a celebrated final link to the...
Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
100 Years Ago Today - December 17, 1903 - The Day Man First Flew
	12/16/2003 9:05:45 PM PST · Posted by SamAdams76 · 6 replies · 213+ views State Library of North Carolina Thursday, December 17 dawned, and was to go down in history as a day when a great engineering feat was accomplished. It was a cold day with winds of 22 to 27 miles an hour blowing from the north. Puddles of water near the camp were covered with ice. The Wrights waited indoors, hoping the winds would diminish. But they continued brisk, and at 10 in the morning the brothers decided to attempt a flight, fully realizing the difficulties and dangers of flying a relatively untried machine in so high a...
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