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Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #306
Saturday, May 29, 2010 |
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| A Maize of Corn |
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Tracking the Ancestry of Corn Back 9,000 Years
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· 05/25/2010 6:22:11 PM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 71 replies · 855+ views ·
· New York Times ·
· Monday, May 24, 2010 ·
· Sean B. Carroll · |
Many botanists did not see any connection between maize and other living plants. Some concluded that the crop plant arose through the domestication by early agriculturalists of a wild maize that was now extinct, or at least undiscovered. However, a few scientists working during the first part of the 20th century uncovered evidence that they believed linked maize to what, at first glance, would seem to be a very unlikely parent, a Mexican grass called teosinte... George W. Beadle, while a graduate student at Cornell University in the early 1930s, found that maize and teosinte had very similar chromosomes....
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Ancient Mexican Maize Varieties
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· 06/26/2008 1:14:31 PM PDT ·
· Posted by blam ·
· 2 replies · 137+ views ·
· Physorg ·
· American Society of Plant Biologists · |
Maize was first domesticated in the highlands of Mexico about 10,000 years ago and is now one of the most important crop plants in the world. It is a member of the grass family, which also hosts the world's other major crops including rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, and sugar cane. As early agriculturalists selected plants with desirable traits, they were also selecting genes important for transforming a wild grass into a food plant. Since that time, Mexican farmers have created thousands of varieties suitable for cultivation in the numerous environments in the Mexican landscape -- from dry, temperate...
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120 Researchers Use Database to Unlock Corn's Genetic Code
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· 03/26/2005 10:02:29 AM PST ·
· Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach ·
· 20 replies · 531+ views ·
· Naharnet.com ·
· 18 Mar 05, 16:33 ·
· staff · |
A trade group overseeing an effort to unlock corn's genetic code says more than 120 researchers have already used a Web database created to speed up development of biotech crops.The National Corn Growers Association said this week that the researchers, representing 35 academic institutions, accessed maize gene sequences catalogued in the database. "There are only little pieces of gene sequences available in the public domain," said Jo Messing, a professor of molecular biology at Rutgers University, who has used the database. "The private collection offers a lot of those missing pieces." The 8-month-old Web site pools research done on the...
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| Epigraphy & Language |
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Endangered Language: Native American Sign Speech
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· 05/22/2010 10:43:01 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 10 replies · 335+ views ·
· LiveScience ·
· May 2010 ·
· unattributed · |
Known as "Hand Talk," Indian nations across America once used sign for trade and social communication. Now researchers seek to capture this subtle "speech" before it disappears permanently. NOTE: This video is open-captioned.
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis |
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Tonina is One of the Greatest Mesoamerican Cities [Chiapas, Mexico]
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· 05/22/2010 12:12:26 PM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 4 replies · 258+ views ·
· Art Daily ·
· Saturday, May 22, 2010 ·
· (possibly) Liz Gangemi · |
Restoration and consolidation work conducted by specialists from the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) at the northern part of the Acropolis of Tonina Archaeological Site in Chiapas, have confirmed that it is one of the greatest constructions in Mesoamerica, only comparable to those at Tikal and El Mirador in Guatemala... It has been determined that the 75 meters-high section of the Acropolis is integrated by several structures and artificial terraces. As a reference, the Sun Pyramid in Teotihuacan, Estado de Mexico, is 65 meters high. After INAH acquired adjacent terrains, labors allowed to create a tridimensional map of...
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| Pyramania |
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Could Djedefre's Pyramid be a Solar Temple? Not According to New Research by Baud
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· 05/22/2010 11:43:01 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 4 replies · 268+ views ·
· Heritage Key ·
· May 11, 2010 ·
· Owen Jarus · |
Vassil Dobrev stated that the pyramid may actually be a solar temple. However, Baud dismisses these claims.... Nearly 4,500 years ago, in the time of the Old Kingdom, the pharaoh Khufu built one of the greatest monuments on earth -- the Great Pyramid. His pyramid was actually a complex of monuments at Giza. Using up 2.7 million cubic meters of stone, it incorporated three queens' pyramids, a satellite pyramid and hundreds of mastaba tombs for his officials. At a height of nearly 147 meters it was the tallest human-made monument in the world -- up until the construction of the...
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| Biology and Cryptobiology |
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Male Antelope Scare Females Into Staying for Sex
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· 05/22/2010 7:14:41 AM PDT ·
· Posted by JoeProBono ·
· 47 replies · 1,504+ views ·
· nationalgeographic ·
· May 21, 2010 ·
· Nick Wadhams · |
During mating season, male topi antelope trick females with false alarms of nearby danger to boost chances for sex, a new study says. If a female starts wandering out of a male's territory, the male will begin snorting and staring, ears pricked, at nonexistent predators. "The female will be walking away, and the male runs in front, looks not at the female but where she's going, makes this snort, and she typically stops," said lead researcher Jakob Bro-Jörgensen of the University of Liverpool. The researcher, who observed the topi's tricky behavior in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve, noted that the...
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Male Antelope Scare Females Into Staying for Sex
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· 05/22/2010 11:06:18 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 1 replies · 439+ views ·
· National Geographic News ·
· Friday, May 21, 2010 ·
· Nick Wadhams in Nairobi · |
During mating season, male topi antelope trick females with false alarms of nearby danger to boost chances for sex, a new study says. If a female starts wandering out of a male's territory, the male will begin snorting and staring, ears pricked, at nonexistent predators... The researcher, who observed the topi's tricky behavior in Kenya's Masai Mara National Reserve, noted that the males issue fake warnings only when the wandering females are in heat... One day a year females are in heat, and during that period they will have sex with an average of four different mates, 11 times each......
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Bigfoot: Alive and Living in Greater Minnesota?
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· 05/22/2010 11:23:45 PM PDT ·
· Posted by shibumi ·
· 76 replies · 1,483+ views ·
· KSAX (ABC) ·
· 5/22/2010 ·
· Megan Brown · |
BENA, Minn. - Bigfoot alive and living in northern Minnesota? The co-founders of the Northern Minnesota Bigfoot Society say, "100 percent yes." They said they have received more than 75 reports of sightings, captured images, and Bigfoot footprints in just three years. They're sharing their insight while sorting fact from fiction as they take KSAX on the hunt for Bigfoot. "I'm a skeptic of Bigfoot because I've trapped this whole area and never, ever did we see any Bigfoot tracks or see Bigfoot anywhere," William Tucker of Bena said. Long time trapper William Tucker is anything but a believer, but...
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double |
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Tiny microbes make us who we are, scientist says [Viruses and Evolution]
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· 12/05/2004 4:16:24 AM PST ·
· Posted by PatrickHenry ·
· 44 replies · 1,439+ views ·
· Macon Telegraph ·
· 05 December 2004 ·
· PAT BRENNAN · |
A University of California, Irvine scientist says viruses are much, much more than nasty little microbes that infect us with the flu. If he is right, they have infected all of life - with evolution. In an astonishing set of papers and a new book, UCI virologist Luis Villarreal contends viruses are largely responsible for shaping how we look, how we speak, even how we think. In fact, he says, they are an overlooked evolutionary force, one that has been powerfully influencing the shape of living things since life began - actually, since a little before life began. "I'm saying...
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'Stress' protein could halt aging process, say scientists
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· 05/24/2010 7:22:52 AM PDT ·
· Posted by decimon ·
· 9 replies · 498+ views ·
· University of Liverpool ·
· May 24, 2010 ·
· Unknown · |
HSP10 (Heat Shock Protein), helps monitor and organise protein interactions in the body, and responds to environmental stresses, such as exercise and infection, by increasing its production inside cells. Researchers at Liverpool, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of California, found that excessive amounts of HSP10 inside mitochondria -- 'organs' that act as energy generators in cells -- can halt the body's ageing process by preserving muscle strength. HSP10 occurs naturally in all living organisms and scientists believe that study into its functions could prove significant for the design of future health care for the elderly, who are particularly...
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| Prehistory and Origins |
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Meet our oldest human ancestor ... the cannibal:
How earliest species was toothy little devil
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· 05/28/2010 7:13:35 AM PDT ·
· Posted by C19fan ·
· 8 replies · 426+ views ·
· Daily Mail ·
· May 28, 2010 ·
· Staff · |
Many people will admit to having the odd rogue ancestor. But now scientists believe we may all be related to cannibals. The claim comes after the discovery of what is thought to be the oldest human species: a toothy tree swinger named Homo gautengensis. The new species emerged more than two million years ago and died out approximately 600,000 years ago, according to Dr Darren Curnoe, the anthropologist who identified him.
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Odd Dental Features Reveal Undocumented Primate:
Previously Unknown Species Complicates Understanding of African Evolution
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· 05/22/2010 8:46:31 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 7 replies · 286+ views ·
· ScienceDaily ·
· May 11, 2010 ·
· National Science Foundation · |
Seiffert says during the last 30 years or so, three major primate groups were established as being present in Africa some 55 to 34 million years ago: early monkeys, lemur-like primates, and an extinct group called adapiforms. But the newly discovered primate's teeth place Nosmips in Africa at the same time. What's more, its teeth suggest it could be an evolutionary oddity that is not closely related to any of these groups... Right now Nosmips is one of those rare mystery fossils and so far is only known by 12 teeth, most of which were found in isolation at a...
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Missing link between man and apes found
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· 04/04/2010 12:26:50 AM PDT ·
· Posted by bruinbirdman ·
· 52 replies · 1,944+ views ·
· The Telegraph ·
· 4/3/2010 ·
· Richard Gray · |
The new species of hominid, the evolutionary branch of primates that includes humans, is to be revealed when the two-million-year-old skeleton of a child is unveiled this week. Scientists believe the almost-complete fossilised skeleton belonged to a previously-unknown type of early human ancestor that may have been a intermediate stage as ape-men evolved into the first species of advanced humans, Homo habilis. Homo habilis lived 2.0-1.6 million years ago and had a wide distribution in Africa Experts who have seen the skeleton say it shares characteristics with Homo habilis, whose emergence 2.5 million years ago is seen as a key...
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| Longer Perspectives |
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It Was Brawn Over Beauty in Human Mating Competition, Anthropologist Says
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· 05/22/2010 9:00:51 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 48 replies · 914+ views ·
· ScienceDaily ·
· May 13, 2010 ·
· Penn State · |
"Other animals have antlers or long canines and claws," said Puts. "Why don't we have them?" According to Puts, men do have weapons. They make them. Bows and arrows, spears, knives -- men have always manufactured weapons. Other male traits also seem to imply competition. Males have thicker jawbones, which may have come from men hitting each other and the thickest-boned men surviving. Competition may explain why males have more robust skulls and brow ridges than women... According to Puts, humans and chimpanzees create male coalitions that are often strengthened by kinship. Coalitions can help males defend females from other...
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Human/chimp DNA similarity - Evidence for evolutionary relationship?
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· 04/28/2005 8:22:20 AM PDT ·
· Posted by DaveLoneRanger ·
· 17 replies · 1,943+ views ·
· Answers in Genesis ·
· Don Batten · |
The idea that human beings and chimps have close to 100% similarity in their DNA seems to be common knowledge. The figures quoted vary: 97%, 98%, or even 99%, depending on just who is telling the story. What is the basis for these claims and do the data mean there really is not much difference between chimps and people? Are we just highly evolved apes? The following concepts will assist with a proper understanding of this issue: Similarity ("homology') is not evidence for common ancestry (evolution) as against a common designer (creation)....
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| Agriculture and Animal Husbandry |
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'Survival of the Cutest' Proves Darwin Right
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· 01/26/2010 2:10:25 PM PST ·
· Posted by autumnraine ·
· 39 replies · 1,400+ views ·
· Science Daily ·
· 01/21/2009 · |
Domestic dogs have followed their own evolutionary path, twisting Darwin's directive 'survival of the fittest' to their own needs -- and have proved him right in the process, according to a new study by biologists Chris Klingenberg, of The University of Manchester and Abby Drake, of the College of the Holy Cross in the US. The study, published in The American Naturalist on January 20, 2010, compared the skull shapes of domestic dogs with those of different species across the order Carnivora, to which dogs belong along with cats, bears, weasels, civets and even seals and walruses. It found that...
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The Human-Influenced Evolution of Dogs
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· 07/18/2006 9:06:26 AM PDT ·
· Posted by PatrickHenry ·
· 198 replies · 4,134+ views ·
· Seed Magazine ·
· 18 July 2006 ·
· Emily Anthes · |
Thanks to their domestication and favored pet status, dogs have enjoyed a genetic variability known to few other species. It may be time to revise that old maxim about humans and their canine companions. A man, it seems, is a dog's best friend, and not vice versa. A paper in the June 29th issue of Genome Research presents evidence suggesting that the domestication of dogs by humans has given rise to the immense diversity of the canine species by allowing otherwise harmful genetic mutations to survive. "Dogs that would have otherwise died in the wild would have survived because humans...
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| Not So Ancient Autopsies |
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Astronomer Copernicus reburied as hero in Poland
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· 05/22/2010 5:52:31 PM PDT ·
· Posted by DogByte6RER ·
· 55 replies · 1,030+ views ·
· AP ·
· May 22, 2010 ·
· Vanessa Gera · |
FROMBORK, Poland -- Nicolaus Copernicus, the 16th-century astronomer whose findings were condemned by the Roman Catholic Church as heretical, was reburied by Polish priests as a hero on Saturday, nearly 500 years after he was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. His burial in a tomb in the cathedral where he once served as a church canon and doctor indicates how far the church has come in making peace with the scientist whose revolutionary theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun helped usher in the modern scientific age. Copernicus, who lived from 1473 to 1543, died as a...
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| Death Rays from Space!!! |
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New Study Reveals Link Between 'Climate Footprints' and Mass Mammal Extinction
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· 05/22/2010 7:49:33 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 20 replies · 304+ views ·
· Wiley ·
· May 18, 2010 ·
· Ben Norman · |
"Between 50,000 and 3,000 years before present (BP) 65% of mammal species weighing over 44kg went extinct, together with a lower proportion of small mammals," said lead author Dr David Nogues-Bravo working from the Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate in University of Copenhagen. "Why these species became extinct in such large numbers has been hotly debated for over a century." During the last 50,000 years the global climate became colder and drier, reaching full glacial conditions 21,000 years before present time. Since then the climate has become warmer, and this changing climate created new opportunities for colonization of new...
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As Mammoths Died Out, Earth Chilled
(mammoth burp and fart levels dropped, contributing to cooling)
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· 05/24/2010 5:46:13 PM PDT ·
· Posted by Free ThinkerNY ·
· 22 replies · 403+ views ·
· news.discovery.com ·
· May 23, 2010 ·
· Marlowe Hood · |
The rapid decline of mammoths and other megafauna after humans spread across the New World may explain a bone-chilling plunge in global temperatures some 12,800 years ago, researchers reported Sunday. The 100-odd species of grass-eating giants that once crowded the North American landscape released huge quantities of methane -- from both ends of their digestive tracks. As a heat-trapping greenhouse gas, methane is 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2). It was not enough to trigger runaway global warming. But when all that gaseous output suddenly tapered off, it caused or at least contributed to a prolonged freeze known...
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| China |
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Revealing China's ancient past
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· 05/24/2010 2:16:46 PM PDT ·
· Posted by decimon ·
· 5 replies · 231+ views ·
· Washington University in St. Louis ·
· May 24, 2010 ·
· Neil Schoenherr · |
An archeologist at Washington University in St. Louis is helping to reveal for the first time a snapshot of rural life in China during the Han Dynasty. The rural farming village of Sanyangzhuang was flooded by silt-heavy water from the Yellow River around 2,000 year ago. Working with Chinese colleagues, T.R. Kidder, PhD, professor and chair of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, is working to excavate the site, which offers a exceptionally well-preserved view of daily life in Western China more than 2,000 years ago.
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Ancient general's tomb unearthed in Henan
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· 05/22/2010 8:06:12 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 9 replies · 298+ views ·
· China Daily ·
· May 18, 2010 ·
· Xinhua · |
Archaeologists excavate a tomb confirmed to belong to Cao Xiu, a noted general from the Three Kingdoms period (220-280 AD), in Mangshan county, Luoyang city, Central China's Henan province on May 17, 2010. The 50 by 21-meter tomb, which was found at the end of 2009, has a similar structure to that of Cao Cao, King Wu of Wei kingdom in the Three Kingdoms period (AD 208 to 280). A newly unearthed bronze seal engraved with Cao Xiu's name reveals the tomb owner's identity, and the Henan provincial bureau of cultural relics confirmed it at a press conference held in...
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| Let's Have Jerusalem |
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Pagan Relic Found at Ashkelon Hospital Site
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· 05/24/2010 12:05:24 PM PDT ·
· Posted by markomalley ·
· 23 replies · 561+ views ·
· Shalom Life ·
· 5/21/2010 · |
Israeli archaeologists have unearthed an ancient incense altar that is believed to be pagan at the future site of a hotly contested emergency room that has been fraught with controversy over haredi claims that graves found there are Jewish. The relic was found while the site was being excavated in preparation for the construction of the ER for Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. The archaeologists stated that the find is conclusive proof that the ancient graves unearthed at the site are not Jewish, but pagan. The future location of the ER has been a source of uproar for ultra-Orthodox Jewish protestors...
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| Egypt |
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Synchrotron probes Egyptian beads [faience]
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· 05/23/2010 8:51:25 PM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 6 replies · 239+ views ·
· Australian Broadcast Corp ·
· Tuesday, May 18, 2010 ·
· Dani Cooper · |
...using synchrotrons to analyse the synthetic turquoise that was popular during the reign of Pharaoh Akhenaten around 1300BC. Archaeologist Dr Mark Eccleston... says Egyptian 'faience', a fine-glazed quartz ceramic of distinct turquoise colour, was a common material used in items ranging from simple beads to religious artefacts. He says while it was known that larger factories were used to produce the faience, his research has shown less prestigious pieces could also have been produced in ovens in household courtyards... "Large state industries were effectively sub-contracting labour and the household would get something in return, for example more food." ...Eccleston says...
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57 ancient tombs with mummies unearthed in Egypt
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· 05/23/2010 10:22:18 AM PDT ·
· Posted by Free ThinkerNY ·
· 24 replies · 542+ views ·
· Associated Press ·
· May 23, 2010 · |
CAIRO (AP) -- Archeologists have unearthed 57 ancient Egyptian tombs, most of which hold an ornately painted wooden sarcophagus with a mummy inside, Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said Sunday. The oldest tombs date back to around 2750 B.C. during the period of Egypt's first and second dynasties, the council said in a statement.
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy |
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Divers explore sunken ruins of Cleopatra's palace
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· 05/25/2010 10:18:39 AM PDT ·
· Posted by Free ThinkerNY ·
· 13 replies · 766+ views ·
· Associated Press ·
· May 25, 2010 ·
· JASON KEYSER · |
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt (AP) -- Plunging into the waters off Alexandria Tuesday, divers explored the submerged ruins of a palace and temple complex from which Cleopatra ruled, swimming over heaps of limestone blocks hammered into the sea by earthquakes and tsunamis more than 1,600 years ago. The international team is painstakingly excavating one of the richest underwater archaeological sites in the world and retrieving stunning artifacts from the last dynasty to rule over ancient Egypt before the Roman Empire annexed it in 30 B.C.
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Salvaging Cleopatra's Watery Palace
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· 05/26/2010 1:50:41 PM PDT ·
· Posted by Biggirl ·
· 8 replies · 426+ views ·
· http://www.foxnews.com/ ·
· May 26,2010 ·
· Biggirl · |
May 25: The recently excavated statuette of a boy Pharaoh, dating from the 4th or 5th century B.C., is shown with other artifacts onboard the Princess Duda research boat, anchored in the harbor of Alexandria, Egypt. An international team of archaeological divers led by French underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio is using advanced technology to explore the submerged ruins of a palace and temple complex from where Queen Cleopatra ruled.
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| Ancient Art |
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Greek Police Seize 2 Statues From 2 Farmers
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· 05/23/2010 8:02:33 PM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 8 replies · 368+ views ·
· NPR ·
· May 18, 2010 ·
· Associated Press · |
Police in southern Greece have seized a rare twin pair of 2,500-year-old marble statues and arrested two farmers who allegedly planned to sell them abroad for euro10 million ($12.43 million), authorities said Tuesday. Police said two Greeks aged 42 and 48 were arrested in the Peloponnese area late Friday as they were loading the illegally excavated figures of young men into a truck. Authorities are seeking a third man suspected of belonging to a smuggling gang that planned to spirit the 6th century B.C. works out of the country.
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| The Greeks |
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Lords of the Sea: The Epic Story of the Athenian Navy and
the Birth of Democracy by John R. Hale
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· 05/26/2010 5:53:42 PM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 19 replies · 341+ views ·
· Shvoong (that's really what it says) ·
· May 19, 2010 ·
· reviewed by Lukas Dieter (et al; and 'Civ) · |
When the Persians decided to add Greece to their already enormous Empire at the beginning of the fifth century BC, the Greek city states obviously objected violently. They formed an alliance under the double leadership of Sparta and Athens. The Spartans led operations on land while Athens did the same on sea... At the time, Herodotus wrote down the deeds of the Athenians and Spartans, making sure that Themistocles and Leonidas remained in people's memory. Themistocles had pounded Athenian heads until they built the navy that would defeat the Persians at Salamis under his command; King Leonidas of Sparta held...
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| Ancient Autopsies |
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Men & ideas on the move: settled lands & colonized minds
[review of "Empires and Barbarians"]
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· 05/24/2010 5:55:55 PM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 6 replies · 223+ views ·
· Gene Expression 'blog ·
· April 30th, 2010 ·
· Razib Khan · |
...There are cases, such as the Etruscans, where the migration is clear from the genetics, both human and their domesticates. The peopling of Europe after the last Ice Age is now very much an open question. The likelihood that the present population of India is the product of an ancient hybridization event between an European-like population and an indigenous group with more affinity with eastern, than western, Eurasian groups, is now a rather peculiar prehistoric conundrum. It also seems likely that the spread of rice farming in Japan was concomitant with the expansion of a Korea-derived group, the Yayoi, at...
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| A Sale of Two... |
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Revealed: The teenage mistress who mesmerised Charles Dickens
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· 05/22/2010 6:21:12 AM PDT ·
· Posted by C19fan ·
· 13 replies · 1,078+ views ·
· Daily Mail ·
· May 21, 2010 ·
· AN Wilson · |
On June 9, 1865, the 'tidal train', as the Victorians called the train which picked up cross-Channel passengers, was making its way from Folkestone to London, rattling through Kent at 50 miles per hour. Between Headcorn and Staplehurst, a gang of platelayers was working on the line and had taken up 50 feet of track. Their foreman had miscalculated the time of the approaching train. A crash was inevitable. The train careered over a little bridge into a stream. Ten passengers were killed and 40 injured.
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| Pages |
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Mark Twain to tell all - 100 years after death
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· 05/24/2010 3:36:11 AM PDT ·
· Posted by Daffynition ·
· 44 replies · 1,065+ views ·
· The Hindustan Times ·
· 24/5/2010 ·
· staff reporter · |
Mark Twain's autobiography is finally to be published later this year, and a section is on his scandalous relationship with a woman who became his secretary after his wife died. The writer, who created Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, had instructed that his autobiography should not to be published till 100 years after his death. Mark Twain died April 21, 1910. He left behind nearly 5,000 unedited pages of memoirs along with handwritten notes that said he didn't want them to be published for at least a century. The Independent reported Monday that the University of California, Berkeley, will release...
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| Ancient Dentistry |
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The joke is on us: A new interpretation of bared teeth in archaeological artifacts
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· 05/22/2010 8:53:08 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SunkenCiv ·
· 8 replies · 475+ views ·
· Eurekalert ·
· May 12, 2010 ·
· Courtney Cecale · |
Bared teeth are a prominent and eye-catching feature on many historical and archaeological artifacts, and are commonly interpreted as representing death, aggression and the shamanic trance. But a study in the forthcoming issue of Current Anthropology argues that the bared-teeth motif often expresses something a bit less sinister: the smile. Alice V. M. Samson, Faculty of Archaeology at Leiden University, the Netherlands, and Bridget M. Waller, Department of Psychology, University of Portsmouth, examined the bared-teeth motif (BTM) of the TaÃŒno, who lived in the Greater Antilles (the Caribbean) from AD 1000 to the early decades of European contact (1492-1550). Here...
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| Quintillions Ripen'd & ...Quintillions Green |
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Lincoln With a Smile (Chattanooga artist paints a smiling Lincoln)
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· 05/23/2010 1:56:00 PM PDT ·
· Posted by Colonel Kangaroo ·
· 6 replies · 514+ views ·
· Chattanooga Times-Free Press ·
· 5-23-2010 ·
· Ann Nichols · |
About three years ago, local attorney Jeff Boehm began reading a number of books about Abraham Lincoln. He became fascinated by this president who invited so many of his detractors to be in his cabinet of advisors. But it was Carl Sandburg's six-volume account of Lincoln that really engaged him. "The strategies of the Civil War don't interest me as much as the personalities and motivations of the major figures in our history," said Mr. Boehm. Having already acquired a bust of Thomas Jefferson and a portrait of George Washington, Mr. Boehm wanted to add a likeness of Lincoln to...
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| The General |
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Experts say: George Washington's honesty a sign of stupidity
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· 05/27/2010 9:45:22 AM PDT ·
· Posted by SeekAndFind ·
· 41 replies · 1,051+ views ·
· American Thinker ·
· 05/27/2010 ·
· Peter Wilson · |
It is no secret that many of us who reject Obama's neo-communist agenda have turned to the Founding Fathers for guidance; when you think your country's founding principles are under attack, it's natural to re-acquaint yourself with the writings of the extraordinary group of men who wrote our founding documents. When we examine this genius cluster, George Washington is perhaps the best loved. Last week Glenn Beck recommended the four-year old, 1208-page tome, George Washington's Sacred Fire, which discusses pop culture fave topics like the religious beliefs of our first President. The book shot to number one on Amazon's bestseller...
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America's 'Lost Monarchy': The Man Who Would Be King
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· 10/11/2008 8:36:57 AM PDT ·
· Posted by Oyarsa ·
· 27 replies · 1,130+ views ·
· Newsweek.com ·
· 10/08/08 ·
· Kurt Soller ·
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The children of Paul Emery Washington think of their father as an unpretentious, generous guy who climbed the corporate ladder to become regional manager at CertainTeed manufacturing, a building-supply company. Now 82, he takes care of his wife, who suffers from Alzheimer's disease, while spending time on the San Antonio, Texas, property that he shares with his children. "I think he would've been a great king," says son Bill Washington -- a statement, we admit, that might seem a little odd. Except that Paul Emery Washington is a direct descendant of George Washington, our nation's first president and perhaps the only man...
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| Faith and Philosophy |
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Questioning the Delphic Oracle
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· 07/15/2003 10:26:59 AM PDT ·
· Posted by presidio9 ·
· 17 replies · 358+ views ·
· Scientific American ·
· August 2003 issue ·
· John R. Hale, Jelle Zeilinga de Boer,
Jeffrey P. Chanton and Henry A. Spiller · |
The temple of Apollo, cradled in the spectacular mountainscape at Delphi, was the most important religious site of the ancient Greek world, for it housed the powerful oracle. Generals sought the oracle's advice on strategy. Colonists asked for guidance before they set sail for Italy, Spain and Africa. Private citizens inquired about health problems and investments. The oracle's advice figures prominently in the myths. When Orestes asked whether he should seek vengeance on his mother for murdering his father, the oracle encouraged him. Oedipus, warned by the oracle that he would murder his father and marry his mother, strove, with...
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance |
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The many mysteries of Rosslyn Chapel (Another 'DNA of Jesus' story)
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· 11/01/2005 7:51:17 AM PST ·
· Posted by gobucks ·
· 54 replies · 2,022+ views ·
· Scotsman ·
· 31 Oct 05 ·
· DIANE MACLEAN · |
AS A BUILDING, Rosslyn Chapel, on the outskirts of Edinburgh, is intriguing. The exterior features Gothic gargoyles and flying buttresses, while inside there are ornate pillars, carvings and an extraordinary ceiling. As a place of mystery, it is a magnet for those with exotic - some might say outlandish - theories. Built in the mid-15th century by some of the best stonemasons in Europe, the chiselled scenes and symbols would have been easily understood by their medieval audience but seem baffling to us today. The most striking example of their craft is the Apprentice Pillar, which is beautifully carved and...
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| Oh So Mysteriouso |
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Scientists discover wooden structure believed to be Noah's Ark
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· 04/28/2010 5:56:26 AM PDT ·
· Posted by NYer ·
· 71 replies · 2,768+ views ·
· cna ·
· April 27, 2010 · |
<p>A Chinese explorer inside one of the wooden structures on Mt. Ararat. Credit: Noah's Ark Ministries International.</p> <p>Ankara, Turkey, Apr 28, 2010 / 01:05 am (CNA/EWTN News).- A Chinese-Turkish exploration team reported on Sunday that they have discovered a wooden structure on the top of Mt. Ararat in Turkey which they believe to be the biblical Noah's Ark.</p>
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Noah's Ark Discovery News Conference (in English)
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· 05/02/2010 7:56:48 AM PDT ·
· Posted by FootBall ·
· 60 replies · 1,717+ views ·
· YouTube.Com ·
· April 27th, 2010 ·
· Noah's Ark Ministries International · |
YouTube video of Noah's Ark Ministries International News Conference in Hong Kong (In English) Click Picture Below for YouTube video.
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Noah and the Missing Link
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· 05/03/2010 2:41:20 PM PDT ·
· Posted by FootBall ·
· 6 replies · 517+ views ·
· One News Now ·
· May 3rd, 2010 ·
· Peter Heck · |
I have to wonder where Zimansky and these other critics were less than a year ago when another earth-shattering discovery was touted by media reports. Then, rather than being a potential find that would go a long way to validate the biblical record of history.... it was the reported discovery of the so-called Darwinian "missing link." Click Here for Link
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Noah's Ark nestled on Mount Ararat
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· 05/04/2010 3:52:00 PM PDT ·
· Posted by FootBall ·
· 66 replies · 1,550+ views ·
· The Peninsula - Qatar's Leading English Daily ·
· January 19th, 2008 ·
· SATISH KANADY · |
Dogubayazit (Turkey's Iran-Armenian Border) -- For the first time in the seven decade-long history of the search for the legendary Noah's Ark, a Turkish-Hong Kong exploration team on Tuesday came out with "material evidence", to prove that the Ark was nestled on Mount Ararat, Turkey's highest mountain peak bordering Iran and Armenia. A panel of experts, comprising Turkish authorities, veteran mountaineers, archaeologists, geologists and members of Hong Kong-based Noah's Ark Ministries International, also displayed an almost one-metre-long peice of petrified wood before the media and specially invited international experts. The experts claimed it to be a part of a long...
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Update: Chinese Explorers refutes Dr. Randall Price
claims of Noah's Ark Discovery as a Hoax....
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· 05/06/2010 6:53:01 PM PDT ·
· Posted by FootBall ·
· 6 replies · 502+ views ·
· YouTube.com ·
· May 6th, 2010 ·
· Noah's Ark Ministries International · |
VIDEOYoutube Video
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Chinese Explorers seek Experts for next Noah's Ark Expedition...
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· 05/18/2010 9:10:48 AM PDT ·
· Posted by FootBall ·
· 6 replies · 411+ views ·
· Noahs Ark Ministries International ·
· May, 2010 ·
· Noah's Ark Ministries International · |
Recruitment of Experts for an Expedition Noah's Ark Ministries International (NAMI) would like to recruit experts, scholars and scientists from around the world to join our team. Anyone who is capable to offer contributions for further exploration can reply our application form. In addition, we will have an Exploration Forum for our latest search discovery in mid June, 2010 in Dogubayzait, Eastern Turkey to seek advice and methodology from experts for our next expedition. Interested parties are welcome to fill in their contact information below. Details of the Forum will be sent by email to those interested parties on or...
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| Religion of Pieces |
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Next Year, 2011, marks 60 Years to the FARHUD
brutal pogrom on innocent Iraqi Jews by Muslims
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· 05/24/2010 3:59:53 PM PDT ·
· Posted by PRePublic ·
· 2 replies · 135+ views · |
Next Year, 2011, marks 60 Years to the FARHUD brutal pogrom on innocent Iraqi Jews by Muslim masses, and the fascist al-Futuwwa ("Hitler-youth" type, Arab-Islamic) group, initiated by Iraqi army, incited by Palestinian Mufti It came after a wave of Muslims attacks on Christian Assyrians. Identity, conflict and cooperation in international river systems, Jack Kalpakian, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2004 [ISBN 0754633381, 9780754633389, page 134] The Jewish community was among the mid-sized communities in the country at the time of Iraq's creation. At a time when Iraq's population was much smaller, it numbered somewhere between 100,000-300,000 making it a significant player...
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| end of digest #306 20100529 |
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