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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #383 · v 8 · n 19 Saturday, November 19, 2011 |
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14 topics |
Welcome to issue #383 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · Number 19 on the 19th. |
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Posted on 07/16/2004 11:27:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
(Excerpt) Read more at freerepublic.com ...
SC, several of the links in 1338 aren’t working... darn!!
Uh-oh, probably mea culpa. I’ve got an odd problem in the program that I’ve been procrastinating about, and just forget to fix the result file using search and replace.
Thanks, I’ll check it out from work tomorrow. :’)
I hate how work interferes with my web surfing.
Yeah, and it’s overrated. :’)
Will you please add me to your ping list?
Readers can get to the article by clicking on the Posts link. You have to scroll up a little to read the intro to the article but it’s a good workaround.
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #383 Saturday, November 19, 2011 |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Israelis set out to map vast, politically sensitive Mount of Olives necropolis |
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· 11/17/2011 4:44:46 PM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 9 replies · · Washington Post · · 11-17-11 · |
JERUSALEM --- A Jewish group in Jerusalem is using 21st-century technology to map every tombstone in the ancient cemetery on the Mount of Olives, a sprawling, politically sensitive necropolis of 150,000 graves stretching back three millennia. The goal is to photograph every grave, map it digitally, record every name, and make the information available online. That is supposed to allow visitors to find their way in the cemetery, long a bewildering jumble of crumbling gravestones and rubble surrounded by Arab neighborhoods in east Jerusalem. Beset for many years by neglect, it is among the oldest cemeteries in continuous use in... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Israeli history photo of the week: Cave of the Patriarchs |
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· 11/17/2011 5:24:17 PM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 8 replies · · Jerusalem Post · · 11/17/2011 · · Lenny Ben-David · |
JPost special feature: A Library of Congress collection that documents Israel before the creation of the state. The Library of Congress has recently digitalized a collection of over 10,000 photographs, taken by the "American Colony" in Jerusalem, a group of Christian utopians who lived in Jerusalem between 1881 and the 1940s. The photographers returned to the US, and bequeathed their massive collection to the Library of Congress in 1978. The collection includes Winston Churchill's visit to Jerusalem, Jewish expulsions from the Old City during Arab riots, and the building of Tel Aviv. In synagogues around the world this Sabbath, congregations... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Crusader's Arabic Inscription No Longer Lost in Translation |
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· 11/16/2011 9:37:48 AM PST · · Posted by marshmallow · · 14 replies · · Live Science · · 11/14/11 · · Jeanna Bryner · |
A rare Arabic inscription from the Crusades has been deciphered, with scientists finding the marble slab bears the name of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II, a colorful Christian ruler known for his tolerance of the Muslim world. Part of the inscription reads: "1229 of the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus the Messiah."The 800-year-old inscription was fixed years ago in the wall of a building in Tel Aviv, though the researchers think it originally sat in Jaffa's city wall. To date, no other Crusader inscription in the Arabic language has been found in the Middle East. "He was a Christian... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Earliest Sample of Minoan Hieroglyphics Found in Western Crete |
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· 11/18/2011 7:13:57 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · Greek Reporter · · Thursday, November 17, 2011 · · Stella Tsolakidou · |
A four-sided red jasper sealstone is among the finds unearthed during this season's excavation of the Minoan peak sanctuary at Vrysinas, located south of the city of Rethymnon. The whole area was officially announced and included in the archaeological sites list by the Central Archaeological Council of Greece. The sealstone, which is carved on all four surfaces with characters of the Minoan Hieroglyphic script, constitutes the sole evidence to date for the presence of this earliest Minoan style of writing in Western Crete. The excavation, which began in 2004, is conducted by the Ephorate of Prehistoric and Classical Antiquities under... |
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| Greece | |
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| An excavation is no camping trip [huge ancient Greek commercial area on Sicily] |
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· 11/19/2011 1:22:08 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Eurekalert (U of Bonn) · · Monday, November 14, 2011 · · Dr. Gabriel Zuchtriegel · |
Led by Professor Dr. Martin Bentz, Bonn archeologists began unearthing one of Greek antiquity's largest craftsmen's quarters in the Greek colonial city of Selinunte (7th-3rd century B.C.) on the island of Sicily during two excavation campaigns in September 2010 and in the fall of 2011. The project is conducted in collaboration with the Italian authorities and the German Archaeological Institute. Its goal is to study an area of daily life in ancient cities that has hitherto received little attention... Concentration in a certain city district applied primarily to potteries in Selinunte, which were massed on the edge of the settlement... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Ancient bronze artifact from East Asia unearthed at Alaska archaeology site |
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· 11/14/2011 11:20:33 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 16 replies · · U of Colorado at Boulder · · November 14, 2011 · |
Artifact resembles small, broken buckle, could have been horse ornamentA team of researchers led by the University of Colorado Boulder has discovered the first prehistoric bronze artifact made from a cast ever found in Alaska, a small, buckle-like object found in an ancient Eskimo dwelling and which likely originated in East Asia. The artifact consists of two parts --- a rectangular bar, connected to an apparently broken circular ring, said CU-Boulder Research Associate John Hoffecker, who is leading the excavation project. The object, about 2 inches by 1 inch and less than 1 inch thick, was found in August by... |
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| Bronze artifact found on Alaska's Seward Peninsula |
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· 11/15/2011 10:40:50 AM PST · · Posted by El Sordo · · 16 replies · · Yahoo! News · · 11/15/11 · · Dan Joling · |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) --- A research team is attempting to discover the origin of a cast bronze artifact excavated from an Inupiat Eskimo home site believed to be about 1,000 years old. The artifact resembles a small buckle, researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder said in an announcement. How it got to Alaska remains a mystery. |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Archeologists investigate Ice Age hominins' adaptability to climate change (neandering) |
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· 11/17/2011 6:40:41 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 13 replies · · Arizona State U · · November 17, 2011 · |
Complex computational modeling provides clues to Neanderthal extinction -- Computational modeling that examines evidence of how hominin groups evolved culturally and biologically in response to climate change during the last Ice Age also bears new insights into the extinction of Neanderthals. Details of the complex modeling experiments conducted at Arizona State University and the University of Colorado Denver will be published in the December issue of the journal Human Ecology, available online Nov. 17. "It's been long believed that Neanderthals were outcompeted by fitter modern humans and they could not adapt," said Riel-Salvatore. "We are changing the main... |
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| Old Stoners | |
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| The Netherlands: Archaeologists Find Habitation Sites in Port of Rotterdam |
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· 11/17/2011 4:51:06 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Dredging Today · · Tuesday, November 8, 2011 · · unattributed · |
The site of what is now Rotterdam's Yangtzehaven was inhabited by humans in the Middle Stone Age. At a depth of 20 metres, in the sea bed, unique underwater archaeological investigation found traces of bone, flint and charcoal from around 7000 BC. These finds are the very first scientific proof that humans lived at this spot in the Early and Middle Stone Age. Up to now, very little was known about this period in particular, the Early and Middle Mesolithic, so far to the west of the Netherlands... Some 9000 years ago, the area where the North Sea and the... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Ground-breaking technology shows no second chamber at Newgrange |
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· 11/19/2011 1:48:54 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Meath Chronicle · · Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 · · unattributed · |
The technology used in an attempt to find out whether a second passage tomb, which may also be aligned with a solstice event, exists at Newgrange had proved its worth during experimentation by a Slovakian team of scientists who visited the Boyne Valley, an Irish archaeologist said this week. Dr Conor Brady, archaeologist and lecturer at Dundalk Institute of Technology, who lives at Slane, said that while there would be no "dramatic announcements" about discovery of a second chamber at Newgrange at this stage, the microgravitational technology used in the experiments had proven valuable to archaeologists and scientists. The possibility... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Oldest rock art in Egypt discovered |
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· 11/17/2011 4:49:02 PM PST · · Posted by Renfield · · 15 replies · · Yale News · · 11/10/2011 · · Dorie Baker · |
Using a new technology known as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), a team of Belgian scientists and Professor John Coleman Darnell of Yale have determined that Egyptian petroglyphs found at the east bank of the Nile are about 15,000 years old, making them the oldest rock art in Egypt and possibly the earliest known graphic record in North Africa. The dating results will be published in the December issue of Antiquity (Vol. 85 Issue 330, pp. 1184-1193). The site of the rock art panels is near the modern village of Qurta, about 40km south of the Upper-Egyptian town of Edfu. First... |
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| Pyramania | |
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| Egypt closes Great Pyramid after rumors of rituals |
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· 11/12/2011 11:23:45 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · Sun Times · · Friday, November 11, 2011 · · Ben Hubbard, AP · |
Egyptian camel handlers attend Friday prayers at the Giza Pyramids in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Nov. 11, 2011. Egypt's antiquities authority closed the largest of the Giza pyramids Friday following rumors that groups would try to hold spiritual ceremonies on the site at 11:11 on Nov. 11, 2011. The closure follows a string of unconfirmed reports in local media that unidentified groups would try to hold "Jewish" or "Masonic" rites on the site to take advantage of mysterious powers coming from the pyramid on the rare date. [caption] |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Roman DNA project gives voice to the silent majority |
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· 11/19/2011 2:06:49 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · Past Horizons · · Thursday, November 17, 2011 · · unattributed · |
A new project to carry out DNA analysis on a group of skeletons who were immigrants to Rome, has been created by Kristina Killgrove, a biological anthropologist from Vanderbilt University... This project will be the first to study the DNA of immigrants to Rome and will help rewrite the history of everyday life there. At the simplest level, each skeleton reveals key information about the person --- male or female, height, age of death, and long-term diseases, and these can all be found through observation of the bones. Bones and teeth hold additional information about diet and place of origin... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Rethinking the fall of Rome's republic |
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· 11/19/2011 2:32:47 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · MIT news · · November 9, 2011 · · Peter Dizikes · |
Using a variety of sources, from ancient texts to new archaeological evidence, Broadhead has crafted a novel hypothesis about how Caesar --- as well as Sulla a few decades before, and Augustus several years later --- could march on Rome with his own legions. "My interpretation is a demographic one," Broadhead says. "Ancient Italy was a place of high geographical mobility, instead of being a place filled with sedentary peasants, which is the stereotypical image." People in towns throughout the Italian peninsula, from whose numbers the Roman Republic traditionally recruited its army, often traveled either to the newly conquered outposts... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| 17th century shipwreck found off Swedish coast |
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· 11/17/2011 6:59:33 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · Associated Press · · November 16, 2011 · · Malin Rising · |
STOCKHOLM (AP) --- A shipwreck discovered in the murky waters of the Baltic Sea is believed to be a legendary 17th century warship whose captain went down with it in battle rather than surrender to the enemy. Deep Sea Productions, an underwater research team, said Wednesday it believes the 25-meter (82-feet) wooden wreck it found off the island of Oland this summer is the ship Svardet, which sank when Sweden was defeated by a Danish-Dutch fleet in a 1676 naval battle. Malcolm Dixelius, a member of the research team, said that wood samples show the wreck is from the 17th... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Rare 14th century time-telling instrument, marked with badge of Richard II, to sell at Bonhams |
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· 11/19/2011 2:39:54 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · ArtDaily · · November 2, 2011 · · unattributed · |
This quadrant is the earliest of a similar group of three other quadrants dated 1398, 1399 and circa 1400 respectively... Like the others, it is noteworthy for showing equal hours, in which the entire period from midnight to midnight is divided into twenty four equal parts. This technique had developed slowly during the 14th century. Indeed one of the earliest examples in England of an administrative record using equal hours occurs on the occasion of Richard II's abdication on 30 September 1399 stated to have been 'at about the ninth stroke of the clock'. On its reverse, the quadrant features... |
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| Early America | |
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| Ruins of Oldest Protestant Church in America Found at Jamestown |
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· 11/18/2011 11:39:32 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 68 replies · · The Christian Post · · 11-14-11 · · Michael Gryboski · |
Researchers at Jamestown, Va., may have found the site where the first Protestant church in North America was built. Dr. William Kelso, head of the research team at Jamestown, which was founded as a settlement established by the Virginia Company of London in the 17th century, explained in an interview with The Christian Post that the group began excavating at the site where they may have found the church in the summer of 2010. Kelso, an American archaeologist specializing in Virginia's colonial period, believes the ruins found are the church because of a "Record of construction in Spring of 1608,... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Five hidden messages in the American flag |
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· 11/14/2011 2:33:28 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · BBC · · November 13, 2011 · · Megan Lane · |
Until 1912, there was no set design for the Stars and Stripes. And so, hidden in older versions of the flag, its makers laid hints of the country's history and quest for identity. Aptly -- given its national anthem is about the flag -- the Stars and Stripes is a key part of America's identity. It hangs in classrooms and in courtrooms, on state buildings and suburban porches. It has been the national flag since 1777. And the flag that inspired the anthem was enormous. Measuring 30 by 42 feet (9 x 12.8m), it was raised over Baltimore's Fort McHenry during... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Society Plans World War II Oral History Project |
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· 11/14/2011 12:36:00 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 4 replies · · Southington Courant · · November 14, 2011 · · Ken Byron · |
Wants To Record Veterans' Memories Before Generation Disappears -- The Southington Historical Society is undertaking an oral history project to preserve the stories of local veterans of World War II before they are gone. Society President Ken DiMauro said he estimates that 450 people from Southington fought in the war. But with people of that generation move into their 80s, he said perhaps 45 to 60 are still alive. The intent, DiMauro said, is to record interviews as many as possible. "I saw the same thing happen with World War I veterans," DiMauro said. "We need to do an oral history, because... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Evidence of Ancient Lake in California's Eel River Emerges |
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· 11/15/2011 12:58:02 PM PST · · Posted by george76 · · 16 replies · · Science Daily · · Nov. 14, 2011 · |
A catastrophic landslide 22,500 years ago dammed the upper reaches of northern California's Eel River, forming a 30-mile-long lake, which has since disappeared, and leaving a living legacy found today in the genes of the region's steelhead trout...about 60 miles southeast of Eureka. The river today is 200 miles long, carved into the ground from high in the California Coast Ranges to its mouth in the Pacific Ocean in Humboldt County. The evidence for the ancient landslide, which, scientists say, blocked the river with a 400-foot wall of loose rock and debris ... "Perhaps of most interest, the presence of... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Tyrannosaurs were power-walkers |
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· 11/15/2011 8:02:49 AM PST · · Posted by Winstons Julia · · 31 replies · · www.nature.com/news · · 7 November 2011 · · Matt Kaplan · |
But Heinrich Mallison of Berlin's Museum of Natural History is challenging that view. He argues that the structure of dinosaur hind limbs is markedly different from that of modern mammals and birds, meaning the stride formula isn't a good indicator of what dinosaurs can really do. |
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| end of digest #383 20111119 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #383 · v 8 · n 19 Saturday, November 19, 2011 |
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14 topics |
Welcome to issue #383 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · Number 19 on the 19th. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #384 Saturday, November 26, 2011 |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Watery secret of the dinosaur death pose (Simplest explanation of Dino extinction: They drowned) |
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· 11/26/2011 6:26:37 PM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 23 replies · · New Scientist · · 11/23/2011 · · by Brian Switek · |
Recreating the spectacular pose many dinosaurs adopted in death might involve following the simplest of instructions: just add water. When palaeontologists are lucky enough to find a complete dinosaur skeleton -- whether it be a tiny Sinosauropteryx or an enormous Apatosaurus -- there's a good chance it will be found with its head thrown backwards and its tail arched upwards -- technically known as the opisthotonic death pose. No one is entirely sure why this posture is so common, but Alicia Cutler and colleagues from Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, think it all comes down to a dip in... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Nest Full of Baby Dinosaurs Discovered |
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· 11/20/2011 6:29:52 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 24 replies · · Discovery News via Fox · · November 16, 2011 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
A 70-million-year-old nest of the dinosaur Protoceratops andrewsi has been found with evidence that 15 juveniles were once inside it, according to a paper in the latest Journal of Paleontology. While large numbers of eggs have been associated with other dinosaurs, such as the meat-eating Oviraptor or certain duck-billed hadrosaurs, finding multiple juveniles in the same dino nest is quite rare... All were found at Djadochta Formation, Tugrikinshire, Mongolia, where it's believed sand "rapidly overwhelmed and entombed" the youngsters while they were still alive. The researchers conclude that the 15 dinosaurs all show juvenile characteristics. These include short snouts, proportionately... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Whales in the desert: Fossil bonanza poses mystery |
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· 11/20/2011 1:41:13 PM PST · · Posted by Daffynition · · 68 replies · · AP via Phys.org · · November 19, 2011 · · Eva Vergara and Ian James · |
Maybe they became disoriented and beached themselves. Maybe they were trapped in a lagoon by a landslide or a storm. Maybe they died there over a period of a few millennia. But somehow, they ended up right next to one another, many just meters (yards) apart, entombed as the shallow sea floor was driven upward by geological forces and transformed into the driest place on the planet. Today, they have emerged again atop a desert hill more than a kilometer (half a mile) from the surf, where researchers have begun to unearth one of the world's best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Sorry, Strivers: Talent Matters |
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· 11/20/2011 9:02:21 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 73 replies · · Sunday NY Times Review · · 11-20-11 · · David Z. Hambrick and Elizabeth J. Meinz · |
HOW do people acquire high levels of skill in science, business, music, the arts and sports? This has long been a topic of intense debate in psychology. ...what seems to separate the great from the merely good is hard work, not intellectual ability...Malcolm Gladwell observes that...snip "Once someone has reached an I.Q. of somewhere around 120," he writes, "having additional I.Q. points doesn't seem to translate into any measureable real-world advantage."snip.. But this isn't quite the story that science tells. Research has shown that intellectual ability matters for success in many fields --- and not just up to a point.... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Genetic Study Confirms: First Dogs Came from East Asia |
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· 11/23/2011 7:43:40 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 21 replies · · KTH Royal Institute of Technology · · November 23, 2011 · · Katarina Ahlfort · |
Researchers at KTH say they have found further proof that the wolf ancestors of today's domesticated dogs can be traced to southern East Asia --- findings that run counter to theories placing the cradle of the canine line in the Middle East.Dr Peter Savolainen, KTH researcher in evolutionary genetics, says a new study released Nov. 23 confirms that an Asian region south of the Yangtze River was the principal and probably sole region where wolves were domesticated by humans. Data on genetics, morphology and behaviour show clearly that dogs are descended from wolves, but there's never been scientific consensus on... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Darwin's Tongues: Languages, like genes, can tell evolutionary tales |
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· 11/26/2011 5:48:41 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · Science News · · November 19th, 2011 · · Bruce Bower · |
Others suspect Atkinson's analytical approach could be fruitful if informed by more sophisticated assumptions about how languages change. "I think many linguists would praise Atkinson's contribution if it weren't for the fact that his conclusions are so outlandish and contrary to linguistic intuition," says linguist Michael Cysouw of Ludwig Maximilians University Munich in Germany. One problem lies in Atkinson's focus on frequencies of only one linguistic element, phonemes, to retrace language evolution. "That could be compared to tracking the history of vertebrates by counting the number of bones in their skeletons," Cysouw says. The database of phonemes consulted by Atkinson... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| New Theory on When Western Wall Was Built |
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· 11/23/2011 2:12:31 AM PST · · Posted by Never A Dull Moment · · 17 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 11-23-2011 · · By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu · |
The discovery of a new ritual pool [mikveh] under the Western Wall suggests a new theory that the Kotel was completed years later than during the reign of King Herod, as was believed until now. Israel Antiquities Authority excavations of an ancient drainage channel underneath the main street used by pilgrims 2,000 years ago revealed the ritual pool. The excavations beneath the paved road exposed sections of the Western Wall foundations. Dr. Donald Ariel, a native of the United States, said the coins that were discovered in the area were struck by the Roman procurator in the years 17-18 in... |
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| New Find Sheds Light on Ancient Site in Jerusalem |
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· 11/23/2011 8:10:21 AM PST · · Posted by lbryce · · 5 replies · · AP via Yahoo News · · November 23, 2011 · · Matti Friedman · |
Newly found coins underneath Jerusalem's Western Wall could change the accepted belief about the construction of one of the world's most sacred sites two millennia ago, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday. The man usually credited with building the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary is Herod, a Jewish ruler who died in 4 B.C. Herod's monumental compound replaced and expanded a much older Jewish temple complex on the same site. But archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority now say diggers have found coins underneath the massive foundation stones of the compound's Western... |
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| New Find Sheds Light on Ancient Site in Jerusalem |
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· 11/24/2011 7:34:21 AM PST · · Posted by marshmallow · · 7 replies · · AP · · 11/23/11 · · Matti Friedman · |
JERUSALEM (AP) --- Newly found coins underneath Jerusalem's Western Wall could change the accepted belief about the construction of one of the world's most sacred sites two millennia ago, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday. The man usually credited with building the compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary is Herod, a Jewish ruler who died in 4 B.C. Herod's monumental compound replaced and expanded a much older Jewish temple complex on the same site. But archaeologists with the Israel Antiquities Authority now say diggers have found coins underneath the massive foundation stones of... |
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| Coins from 17AD found under Jerusalem's Western Wall hints sacred site NOT built by Herod |
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· 11/26/2011 3:24:42 AM PST · · Posted by Renfield · · 14 replies · · Daily Mail (UK) · · 11-25-2011 · · Rob Waugh · |
The history of one of the world's holiest sites - sacred to both Jews and Muslims - is set to be rewritten, following a surprise discovery in a ritual bath beneath the complex. It proves that the Wall - supposedly built by Herod, the Jewish king who features prominently in the Gospels, was in fact built much later. Newly found coins underneath Jerusalem's Western Wall could change the accepted belief about the construction of one of the world's most sacred sites two millennia ago, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday.... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Mystery of Dead Sea Scroll Authors Possibly Solved |
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· 11/22/2011 7:19:20 AM PST · · Posted by shove_it · · 28 replies · · Yahoo! · · 22 Nov 2011 · · Owen Jarus · |
The Dead Sea Scrolls may have been written, at least in part, by a sectarian group called the Essenes, according to nearly 200 textiles discovered in caves at Qumran, in the West Bank, where the religious texts had been stored. Scholars are divided about who authored the Dead Sea Scrolls and how the texts got to Qumran, and so the new finding could help clear up this long-standing mystery. The research reveals that all the textiles were made of linen, rather than wool, which was the preferred textile used in ancient Israel. Also they lack decoration, some actually being bleached... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Rare 14th century time-telling instrument, marked with badge of Richard II, to sell at Bonhams |
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· 11/19/2011 2:39:54 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · ArtDaily · · November 2, 2011 · · unattributed · |
This quadrant is the earliest of a similar group of three other quadrants dated 1398, 1399 and circa 1400 respectively... Like the others, it is noteworthy for showing equal hours, in which the entire period from midnight to midnight is divided into twenty four equal parts. This technique had developed slowly during the 14th century. Indeed one of the earliest examples in England of an administrative record using equal hours occurs on the occasion of Richard II's abdication on 30 September 1399 stated to have been 'at about the ninth stroke of the clock'. On its reverse, the quadrant features... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Doctors could learn from Shakespeare's deep understanding of mind-body connection |
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· 11/23/2011 7:58:28 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · BMJ-British Medical Journal · · November 23, 2011 · |
Body-conscious Shakespeare: Sensory disturbances in troubled charactersShakespeare was a master at portraying profound emotional upset in the physical symptoms of his characters, and many modern day doctors would do well to study the Bard to better understand the mind-body connection, concludes an analysis of his works, published in Medical Humanities. Kenneth Heaton, a medical doctor and extensively published author on William Shakespeare's oeuvre, systematically analysed 42 of the author's major works and 46 of those of his contemporaries, looking for evidence of psychosomatic symptoms. He focused on sensory symptoms other than those relating to sight, taste, the heart, and the... |
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| Early America | |
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| How Private Property Saved the Pilgrims |
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· 11/24/2011 8:45:34 AM PST · · Posted by FreeKeys · · 23 replies · · Hoover Digest · · January 30, 1999 · · Tom Bethell · |
When the Pilgrims landed in 1620, they established a system of communal property. Within three years they had scrapped it, instituting private property instead. Hoover media fellow Tom Bethell tells the story. There are three configurations of property rights: state, communal, and private property. Within a family, many goods are in effect communally owned. But when the number of communal members exceeds normal family size, as happens in tribes and communes, serious and intractable problems arise. It becomes costly to police the activities of the members, all of whom are entitled to their share of the total product of the... |
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| The General | |
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| What did George Washington Drink? |
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· 11/19/2011 8:35:32 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 46 replies · · Wall St Journal · · NOVEMBER 19, 2011 · · WILLIAM BOSTWICK · |
In the spirit of authenticity, a home-brewer attempts to recreate a founding father's beer recipe. It was last Thanksgiving. I had my heirloom turkey, local yams and organic cranberries. I had donned my waxed-canvas apron and consulted vintage recipe books. I was ready to eat. But on this, the most heritage-chic of holidays, what should one drink? Wine felt too stuffy; a six-pack not ceremonial enough. I was stumped. Then I discovered George Washington's beer. Or, more precisely, a recipe for it, referenced in a few old home-brewing books. Scribbled on the last page of one of Washington's journals is... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Public Education: How Wishful Thinking and Good Intentions Destroyed Public Education |
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· 10/25/2011 4:17:40 PM PDT · · Posted by wayne_shrugged · · 11 replies · · Public Ed Dread · · 10/25/2011 · · Bridgette Wallis · |
New Book on Public Education Public Ed Dread: How Wishful Thinking and Good Intentions Reformed Academics Right Out of Our Public Schools is a must-read for concerned parents, homeschoolers, grassroots reformers, and concerned citizens alike trying to make sense of American public education. This book was written by a teacher with years of experience in the system. The author taught in a low-income, Title I failing school in California where she experienced the politics of whole language and No Child Left Behind. She also taught in a middle-class, suburban school where she witnessed the effects of the accountability reform movement... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| DNA frozen in permafrost muck reveals ancient ecosystems |
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· 11/21/2011 6:15:14 PM PST · · Posted by Renfield · · 14 replies · · Montreal Gazette · · November 19, 2011 · · Ed Struzik · |
EDMONTON --- University of Alberta scientist Duane Froese was on sabbatical last summer when he received a call from a Yukon miner who wanted to give him the heads-up about a site he planned to excavate. Like most Klondike miners, Tony Beets is a character. He's tall, bushy-haired, drives fast and uses colourful language. But he'd also been incredibly helpful over the years, moving in heavy equipment for scientists such as Froese, exposing layers of ancient permafrost that yielded the frozen bones of woolly mammoths, scimitar cats, short-faced bears and other animals that lived in this part of the world... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| American Indian Collectivism: Past Myth, Present Reality |
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· 11/24/2011 4:39:57 PM PST · · Posted by OddLane · · 9 replies · · PERC · · Summer 2006 · · Carlos L. Rodriguez and Craig S. Galbraith · |
In the past, most if not all North American indigenous peoples had a strong belief in individual property rights and ownership. Frederick Hodge (1910) noted that individual private ownership was "the norm" for North American tribes. Likewise, Julian Steward (1938, 253) asserted that among Native Americans communal property was limited, and Frances Densmore (1939) concluded that the Makah tribe in the Pacific Northwest had property rights similar to Europeans.¬' These early twentieth-century historians and anthropologists had the advantage of actually interviewing tribal members who had lived in pre-reservation Indian society. |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Mexico Acknowledges 2nd Mayan Reference To 2012 |
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· 11/24/2011 7:02:11 PM PST · · Posted by edpc · · 53 replies · · AP via Yahoo News · · 24 Nov 2011 · · Mark Stevenson · |
MEXICO CITY (AP) --- Mexico's archaeology institute downplays theories that the ancient Mayas predicted some sort of apocalypse would occur in 2012, but on Thursday it acknowledged that a second reference to the date exists on a carved fragment found at a southern Mexico ruin site. Most experts had cited only one surviving reference to the date in Mayan glyphs, a stone tablet from the Tortuguero site in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. |
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| Peru & the Andes | |
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| Ancient mass grave of children found in Peru |
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· 11/21/2011 8:53:04 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · Reuters · · Monday, November 21, 2011 · · unattributed · |
A Peruvian archaeologist has discovered the remains of 44 infants and young children sacrificed to appease ancient deities in the 14th century at a site in the Andes near the Bolivian border. The remains were found near a stone funeral tower --- known locally as chullpas --- in the Sillustani archaeological site, located some 1300 kilometres south-east of the capital Lima, near Lake Titicaca, which Peru shares with Bolivia... The infants were buried in pairs inside funeral baskets or in ceramic urns near a 10-metre-tall circular stone brick tower known as Chullpa Lagarto (Lizard Chullpa). The children were buried with... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Is this an alien skull? Mystery of giant-headed mummy found in Peru |
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· 11/19/2011 8:07:52 AM PST · · Posted by Perdogg · · 87 replies · · Daily Mail UK · |
A mummified elongated skull found in Peru could finally prove the existence of aliens. The strangely shaped head - almost as big as its 50cm (20in) body - has baffled anthropologists. It was one of two sets of remains found in the city of Andahuaylillas in the southern province of Quispicanchi. |
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| Not-So-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| The John F. Kennedy Assassination Homepage |
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· 11/22/2011 8:20:07 AM PST · · Posted by NEWwoman · · 146 replies · · jfk-assassination.com · · 4 Mar 2006 · |
During his electoral battle tour in the south of the States, John F. Kennedy visited Dallas (Texas) on November 22, 1963. On his arrival at 1140 hours, he was warmly welcomed by the people of Dallas. Kennedy, Governor John Connally and their wives sat down in the limousine of the President which led the motorcade through the town. |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| 40 years later, new evidence unveiled in DB Cooper case |
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· 11/24/2011 4:52:50 AM PST · · Posted by Morgana · · 34 replies · · MSN · · 11/24/2011 · · Chris Ingalls · |
This Thanksgiving marks the 40th anniversary of a legendary Northwest crime. In 1971 skyjacker DB Cooper parachuted into the night sky over Washington and vanished. Now, FBI agents have something they don't often get in a 40-year-old criminal case: new physical evidence. It comes from the clip-on tie left behind on the hijacked plane from the man known as DB Cooper. For three years a team of private scientists has been studying evidence from the Cooper case, at the invitation of the Seattle office of the FBI. "One of the most notable particles that we've found, that had us the... |
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| D.B. Cooper: 40 years later - November 24th, 2011, marks the 40th anniversary of the legendary case |
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· 11/25/2011 2:35:32 PM PST · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 37 replies · · Yahoo! News · · November 24, 2011 · · Yahoo! News · |
D.B. Cooper: 40 years later November 24th, 2011, marks the 40th anniversary of the legendary Cooper case, an unsolved crime that has baffled agents, detectives and amateur sleuths, and spurned one of the greatest manhunts in law enforcement history. The FBI's case file on D.B. Cooper runs some forty feet long. It is located in the basement archives of the Bureau's field office in Seattle, where for four decades agents have hunted for the man who ransomed a passenger jet for a small fortune and parachutes, then jumped out the back over the rural Northwest, during the middle of a... |
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| end of digest #384 20111126 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #384 · v 8 · n 20 Saturday, November 26, 2011 |
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14 topics |
Welcome to 24-topic issue #384 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #385 Saturday, December 3, 2011 |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Muslim Medical Students Boycotting Science Classes on evolution because it clashes with the Koran |
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· 11/27/2011 9:39:54 AM PST · · Posted by mnehring · · 26 replies · · Atlas Shruggs · |
I am surprised the headline wasn't 'Darwin hate speech incites Muslim extremism. The idea that they reject that which conflicts with their belief system is consistent with everything we have suffered in this war on the West. They rewrote the history on Israel and the Middle East (not to mention taking credit for "scientific inventions" invented by others) and the left swallowed it whole - let's see where this goes.Muslim medical students boycotting lectures on evolution... because it 'clashes with the Koran' By Daily Mail Reporter (hat tip Phillipa) Conflict: An increasing number of Muslim biology students are boycotting... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Arabian Artifacts May Rewrite 'Out of Africa' Theory |
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· 12/01/2011 7:11:53 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · LiveScience · · Wednesday, November 30, 2011 · · Charles Choi · |
Newfound stone artifacts suggest humankind left Africa traveling through the Arabian Peninsula instead of hugging its coasts... stone artifacts at least 100,000 years old... more-than-100 newly discovered sites in the Sultanate of Oman apparently confirm that modern humans left Africa through Arabia long before genetic evidence suggests. Oddly, these sites are located far inland, away from the coasts. ...in the Dhofar Mountains of southern Oman, nestled in the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula... of a style dubbed Nubian Middle Stone Age, well-known throughout the Nile Valley, where they date back about 74,000-to-128,000 years... Subsequent field work turned up dozens... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| Deep sea fishing for tuna began 42,000 years ago |
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· 11/27/2011 1:20:29 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 44 replies · · New Scientist · · November 24, 2011 · · Wendy Zukerman · |
Tuna has been on the menu for a lot longer than we thought. Even 42,000 years ago, the deep-sea dweller wasn't safe from fishing tackle according to new finds in southeast Asia. We know that open water was no barrier to travel in the Pleistocene -- humans must have crossed hundreds of kilometres of ocean to reach Australia by 50,000 years ago. But while humans had already been pulling shellfish out of the shallows for 100,000 years by that point, the first good evidence of fishing with hooks or spears comes much later -- around 12,000 years ago. The new... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Prehistoric Men Scarred, Pierced, Tattooed Privates |
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· 11/27/2011 2:55:38 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 80 replies · · Discovery News · · Friday, November 11, 2011 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
Men in prehistoric Europe scarred, pierced and tattooed their penises, likely for ritualistic and social group reasons, according to a new study. Analysis of phallic decorations in Paleolithic art, described in the December issue of The Journal of Urology, may also show evidence of the world's first known surgery performed on a male genital organ. The alteration, or surgery, might have just been for ornamental purposes, or a piercing, the researchers suggest... Angulo and colleagues Marcos Garcia-Diez and Marc Martinez studied male genital representations in portable, mostly handheld sizes of art made in Europe approximately 38,000 to 11,000 years ago.... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Archaeologists make new Stonehenge 'sun worship' find |
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· 11/28/2011 6:59:14 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 15 replies · · BBC · · November 28, 2011 · |
Two previously undiscovered pits have been found at Stonehenge which point to it once being used as a place of sun worship before the stones were erected.The pits are positioned on celestial alignment at the site and may have contained stones, posts or fires to mark the rising and setting of the sun. An international archaeological survey team found the pits as part of the Stonehenge Hidden Landscapes Project. The team is using geophysical imaging techniques to investigate the site. The archaeologists from the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection in Vienna have been surveying... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| One of the earliest known examples of math homework |
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· 12/01/2011 7:56:37 PM PST · · Posted by thecodont · · 27 replies · · BoingBoing · · at 10:42 am Thursday, Dec 1 2011 · · By Maggie Koerth-Baker · |
It's stuff like this that makes me love archaeology. Turns out, we can trace the concept of math homework back to at least 2300 B.C.E., in ancient Mesopotamia. In the early 20th century, German researchers found several clay tablets at the site of Shuruppak. (Today, that's basically the Iraqi city of Tell Fara.) Some of the tablets appear to be the remains of math instruction, including two different tablets that are working the same story problem. A loose translation of the problem is: A granary. Each man receives 7 sila of grain. How many men? That is, the tablets concern... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Mayans Never Predicted December 2012 Apocalypse, Researchers Say |
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· 12/02/2011 11:46:17 AM PST · · Posted by Winstons Julia · · 52 replies · · History · · 12/2/11 · · Staff · |
Various Mayan scholars have attempted to debunk this reading, including Sven Gronemeyer of Australia's La Trobe University, who has studied the Tortugero tablet in great detail. On Wednesday he presented his decoding of the inscription, suggesting that Bolon Yokte's prophesied appearance on December 21, 2012, represents the start of a new era and not the end of days. Proponents of the apocalyptic interpretation have misunderstood the poorly preserved hieroglyphs, he said. |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| THE LAST CODE TALKER |
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· 11/12/2011 4:31:20 PM PST · · Posted by CedarDave · · 35 replies · · The Albuquerque Journal · · Friday, November 11, 2011 · · Journal Staff · |
With gnarled fingers, Chester Nez reverently opened the small box his son Mike had fetched for him at their West Mesa home. Even at 90 years old, Nez's face still beams as he proudly opens it. Careful not to touch the gold medal, Nez shares a secret. "On the other side it says, "'We used our language to defeat the enemy,' and that's what we did," he said. Nez carefully puts the lid back on the box and hands it to his son for safekeeping. Inside is a Congressional Gold Medal -- one of only 29 in existence -- given... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Newly Declassified Memo Reveals Roosevelt Was Warned of Tokyo's Focus on Hawaii |
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· 11/29/2011 7:32:32 PM PST · · Posted by Hojczyk · · 79 replies · · Gateway Pundit · · November 29,2011 · · Jim Hoft · |
A newly released memo revealed that President Roosevelt was warned that Tokyo was focused on Hawaii days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Washington Whispers reported: Three days before the Dec. 7, 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt was warned in a memo from naval intelligence that Tokyo's military and spy network was focused on Hawaii, a new and eerie reminder of FDR's failure to act on a basket load of tips that war was near. In the newly revealed 20-page memo from FDR's declassified FBI file, the Office of Naval Intelligence on December 4 warned, "In anticipation... |
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| Not-So-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| New Kennedy Assassination Tapes Revealed |
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· 11/15/2011 7:31:53 PM PST · · Posted by smokingfrog · · 80 replies · · abcnews.go.com · · 15 Nov 2011 · · Jack Cloherty · |
Nearly 48 years after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, fresh audio evidence from that fateful day has surfaced. The evidence comes in the form of the original reel-to-reel Air Force One radio recording, containing conversations between officials on the plane, the White House situation room, and others. The original tape was long thought to be lost or destroyed. The tape contains never-before-heard conversations between the presidential aircraft and the White House and immediately after the assassination of President Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963. It was held privately for years by President Kennedy's military aide at the time, Chester... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| The National Security Agency Releases Over 50,000 Pages of Declassified Documents |
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· 12/03/2011 3:15:27 AM PST · · Posted by Las Vegas Dave · · 16 replies · · The National Security Agency · · 8 June 2011 · · n/a · |
The National Security Agency (NSA) announces today that it has declassified and released to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) over 50,000 pages of historic records. These records cover a time-frame from before World War I through the 1960s. This release of documents is the first in a series of releases planned over the next two years as part of NSA/CSS's commitment to meeting the requirements outlined in the President's 21 January 2009 Memorandum on Openness and Transparency in Government (Executive Order 13526). Highlights of this release include: ïManuals, charts, and other documents on the development of early computer... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Islamists Take Over Egypt |
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· 11/13/2011 5:52:12 AM PST · · Posted by IbJensen · · 25 replies · · Right Side News · · 11/11/2011 · · Khaled Abu Toameh · |
Library of Alexandria to Be Burned Again; Food for Half-Price The Royal Library of Alexandria in Egypt, the largest and most significant library of the ancient world, is now being targeted by radical Muslims who seek to replace it with a mosque. Radical Islamic groups claim that the library's art programs, which include music and ballet dancing, spread "depravity" in Egyptian society. ª If you like this article, please subscribe to our daily newsletter Library_of_Alexandria_great_hallThe Islamist campaign against the library is taking place under the looking eyes of Egypt's military dictators, who are burying their heads in the sand and... |
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| Egypt Falls into Darkness |
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· 11/16/2011 5:20:57 AM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 16 replies · · FrontPage Magazine · · November 16, 2011 · · Daniel Greenfield · |
Rebuilding the Library of Alexandria some 1300 hundred years after its final destruction at the hands of its Islamic conquerors in a country where blasphemy against Islam is still a crime was always a fool's errand. But it was a fool's errand lavishly embraced by every collection of useful idiots from UNESCO to the National Library of France, which kicked in half a million books. Most of the money was spent constructing a massive edifice housing only a fraction of the books that could be found in the Harvard University Library, the Library of Congress or the British Library in... |
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| Archaeology meets politics: Spring comes to ancient Egypt |
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· 12/01/2011 8:25:02 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Nature · · Wednesday, November 23, 2011 · · Jo Marchant · |
In a secluded stretch of desert about 300 kilometres south of Cairo, hundreds of bodies lie buried in the sand. Wrapped in linen and rolled up in stiff mats made of sticks... their ornate plaited hair styles and simple personal possessions help to reveal details about the individuals in each grave. The bodies date from... when the Pharaoh Akhenaten... moved his capital to remote Amarna, to worship... the Sun disc Aten... Barry Kemp, an archaeologist at the University of Cambridge, UK, and director of the Amarna Project, has been working with his colleagues to excavate the skeletons, and says that... |
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| end of digest #385 20111203 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #385 · v 8 · n 21 Saturday, December 3, 2011 |
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14 topics |
Welcome to 14-topic issue #385 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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Even with these monthly posts it still challenges me to keep up with all of them. I love it! Thank you!
:’) And there’s four of ‘em per month! :’) Lately I’ve had a hard time getting all the interesting ones posted.
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #386 Saturday, December 10, 2011 |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Woolly Mammoth to Be Cloned |
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· 12/06/2011 12:40:09 PM PST · · Posted by Fractal Trader · · 69 replies · · Discovery News · · 5 December 2011 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
Within five years, a woolly mammoth will likely be cloned, according to scientists who have just recovered well-preserved bone marrow in a mammoth thigh bone. Japan's Kyodo News first reported the find. You can see photos of the thigh bone at this Kyodo page. Russian scientist Semyon Grigoriev, acting director of the Sakha Republic's mammoth museum, and colleagues are now analyzing the marrow, which they extracted from the mammoth's femur, found in Siberian permafrost soil. Grigoriev and his team, along with colleagues from Japan's Kinki University, have announced that they will launch a joint research project next year aimed at... |
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| Mammoth Told Me... | |
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| Mammoth Mummies Mysteries |
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· 12/10/2011 8:32:01 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Scientific American 'blogs · · December 8, 2011 · · David Bressan · |
Natural mummies can be preserved in bog deposits, in tar pits, deep inside caves, glacier ice or permafrost -- an environment too cold for an effective decomposition of organic matter. At least 16 species of ice age mammals have been found mummified complete or partially: woolly mammoth, Shasta-, Jefferson's- and Patagonian ground sloth, woolly rhinoceros, Yukon horse, steppe bison, helmeted muskox, Harrington's mountain goat, caribou, giant moose, black-footed ferret, collared pika, snowshoe hare, arctic ground squirrel and vole. The ground sloths and mountain goats were found inside of caves. The woolly rhinoceros and mammoth of Starunia (Ukraine) became "pickled" in... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Neandertals' mammoth building project: Extinct hominids may have been first to build with bones |
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· 12/07/2011 8:13:47 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · Science News · · Friday, December 2nd, 2011 · · Bruce Bower · |
Neandertals... constructed a large, ring-shaped enclosure out of 116 mammoth bones and tusks at least 44,000 years ago in West Asia, say archaeologist LaÃŽtitia Demay of the National Museum of Natural History in Paris and her colleagues. The bone edifice, which encircles a 40-square-meter area in which mammoths and other animals were butchered, cooked and eaten, served either to keep out cold winds or as a base for a wooden building... Mammoth-bone huts previously discovered at Homo sapiens sites in West Asia date to between 27,500 and 15,000 years ago. The new discovery comes from Molodova, a Ukrainian site first... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Excavations in Serbia Raising New Questions About Early Humans in Europe [ Sicevo Gorge ] |
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· 12/06/2011 8:06:30 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Monday, November 28, 2011 · · unattributed · |
The Sicevo Gorge is a rugged, picturesque river canyon cut into the Kunivica plateau in southeastern Serbia... contains a series of caves, at least one of which has yielded evidence of human presence during the shifting glacial times of the Ice Age of present-day Europe... in 2008, anthropologists uncovered a partial human mandible (lower jaw), complete with three teeth, while excavating in a small cave... a fossil specimen, definitely a human that, at least in terms of morphology, predated the Neanderthal and may have had more in common, physically, with Homo erectus, thought by many scientists to be the precursor... |
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| Africa | |
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| Earliest Human Beds Found in South Africa |
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· 12/09/2011 6:40:10 AM PST · · Posted by Fractal Trader · · 29 replies · · Science Magazine Online · · 8 December 2011 · · Michael Balter · |
Sleepy time at Sibudu. Researchers have found microscopic evidence (inset) of 77,000-year-old bedding at this South African cave. "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise," wrote Benjamin Franklin in his Poor Richard's Almanack. That may have held true a couple of hundred years ago, but when it comes to our ancient human ancestors, researchers don't know much about how -- or even where -- they slept. Now a team working in South Africa claims to have found the earliest known sleeping mats, made of plant material and dated up to 77,000 years ago -- 50,000 years earlier than previous... |
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| Cogito Ergo Sum | |
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| Human brains unlikely to evolve into a 'supermind' as price to pay would be too high |
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· 12/07/2011 8:37:47 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 68 replies · · U of Warwick · · December 7, 2011 · |
Human minds have hit an evolutionary "sweet spot" and -- unlike computers -- cannot continually get smarter without trade-offs elsewhere, according to research by the University of Warwick. Researchers asked the question why we are not more intelligent than we are given the adaptive evolutionary process. Their conclusions show that you can have too much of a good thing when it comes to mental performance. The evidence suggests that for every gain in cognitive functions, for example better memory, increased attention or improved intelligence, there is a price to pay elsewhere -- meaning a highly-evolved "supermind" is the stuff of... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Ice Mummy May Have Smashed Eye in Fall |
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· 12/05/2011 9:11:10 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Discovery News · · Monday, December 21, 2011 · · Emily Sohn · |
The official opinion remains that an arrow in his left shoulder was the cause of death for ÷tzi. But the new study raises the possibility -- for some, at least -- that he fell over after being shot by an arrow. And, at higher than 10,000 feet in elevation, his alpine fall may have made the situation much worse. "Maybe he fell down or maybe he had a fight up there, nobody knows," said Wolfgang Recheis, a physicist in the radiology department at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. "With this cut alone, at 3,250 meters, it would have been... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| Bronze age man's lunch: a spoonful of nettle stew |
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· 12/05/2011 9:04:42 AM PST · · Posted by Renfield · · 32 replies · · Guardian (UK) · · 12-03-2011 · · Dalya Alberge · |
Six boats hollowed out of oak tree trunks are among hundreds of intact artefacts from 3,000 years ago that have been discovered in the Cambridgeshire fens, the Observer can reveal. The scale, quality and condition of the objects, the largest bronze age collection ever found in one place in Britain, have astonished archaeologists -- and barely a fraction of the site has been excavated. Unique textile fragments, wicker baskets and wooden sword handles have survived. There are even containers of food, including a bowl with a wooden spoon still wedged into the contents, now analysed as nettle stew, which may... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Skeleton at London Dungeon found to be real |
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· 12/05/2011 9:49:06 AM PST · · Posted by DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis · · 21 replies · · Telegraph · · 12-4-11 · |
A skeleton at the London Dungeon's popular "creepy crypt" exhibit has been found to be real. It is believed that the bones could have been displayed at the attraction since it opened in 1975. Now the skeleton has been found to be genuine, it must be licensed by the Human Tissues Authority at a cost of 2,000 pounds a year. The remains, which include a rib-cage and backbone, have been named Kate -- after model Kate Moss. It is thought she might date from the early days of anatomical research when bodies were regularly smuggled in from the Far East... |
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| Da Vinci Codebreakers | |
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| Artist Believes He's Found Secret Code in the Mona Lisa |
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· 12/09/2011 2:33:14 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 30 replies · · News5 · · 12/9/2012 · |
A New York artist believes he's "cracked the code" of Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" painting. Ron Piccirillo stated on his blog that the painting is an optical illusion with one painting hidden within another. He refers to a "secret that has been hiding for five hundred years" as he claims to have found a lion's head, an ape head and a buffalo head in the painting while turning it around. "I had first Googled this, but could not find anything on it," he stated. "How could something like this have gone unnoticed for five hundred years?" The key to... |
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| India | |
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| Bones kill myth of happy Harappa -- Study shows gender discrimination |
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· 12/04/2011 8:32:52 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 44 replies · · Telegraph · · Monday , November 21 , 2011 · · G.S. Mudur · |
A study of human bones from the ruins of Harappa has revealed signs of lethal interpersonal violence and challenged current thinking that the ancient Indus civilisation was an exceptionally peaceful realm for its inhabitants. An American bioarchaeologist has said that her analysis of skeletal remains from Harappa kept at the Anthropological Survey of India, Calcutta, suggests that women, children and individuals with visible infectious diseases were at a high risk of facing violence. Gwen Robbins Schug studied the skeletal remains of 160 individuals from cemeteries of Harappa excavated during the 20th century. The burial practices and injuries on these bones... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| India set to cut Hindu bias from history books |
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· 06/27/2004 8:32:43 AM PDT · · Posted by CarrotAndStick · · 12 replies · · 340+ views · · SMH.com.au · · June 28, 2004 · · SMH · |
India's new government is poised to rewrite the history taught to schoolchildren after a panel of eminent historians recommended scrapping textbooks written by scholars hand-picked by the previous Hindu nationalist administration. Hundreds of thousands of textbooks are likely to be dropped by the National Council of Educational Research and Training, the central government body that sets the national curriculum for students up to 18. The move, one of the first made by the new Congress-led government, will strongly signal a departure from the program of its predecessor. The "saffronisation" of history, critics of the last government say, depicted India's Muslim... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Volcanic destruction? Not always |
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· 12/05/2011 7:31:04 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · PHYSorg · · December 2, 2011 · · Alan S. Brown · |
Archaeologists long believed the volcano changed Sinagua culture. Yet because the date of the eruption remained elusive, they could not tell how fast those changes occurred. Ort, however, had a geological clock that let him make a better estimate. The Earth's magnetic north pole constantly drifts. Researchers have records of drift going back thousands of years made by measuring how certain minerals are magnetized to align with the magnetic poles as they settle in lake sediments. What Ort needed was a way to link these paleomagnetic measurements to the age of artifacts found in villages abandoned after the eruption. Ort... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| 'Skin Bones' Helped Large Dinosaurs Survive for a Time, Study Finds [ osteoderms ] |
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· 12/09/2011 4:36:01 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · U of Guelph · · November 29, 2011 · · Matthew Vickaryous · |
Bones contained entirely within the skin of some of the largest dinosaurs on Earth might have stored vital minerals to help the massive creatures survive and bear their young in tough times, according to new research by a team including a University of Guelph scientist. Guelph biomedical scientist Matthew Vickaryous co-authored a paper published today in Nature Communications about two sauropod dinosaurs -- an adult and a juvenile -- from Madagascar. The study suggests that these long-necked plant-eaters used hollow "skin bones" called osteoderms to store minerals needed to maintain their huge skeletons and to lay large egg clutches. Sediments... |
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| Ancient meat-loving predators survived for 35 million years |
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· 12/07/2011 8:43:17 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 16 replies · · U of Toronto Mississauga · · December 6, 2011 · |
A species of ancient predator with saw-like teeth, sleek bodies and a voracious appetite for meat survived a major extinction at a time when the distant relatives of mammals ruled the earth. A detailed description of a fossil that scientists identify as a varanopid "pelycosaur" is published in the December issue of Naturwissenschaften -- The Science of Nature. Professors Sean Modesto from Cape Breton University, and Robert Reisz from University of Toronto Mississauga provide evidence that a group of ancient, agile predators called varanopids survived for more than 35 million years, and co-existed with more advanced animals. |
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| New dinosaur species discovered in museum storage |
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· 12/07/2011 7:49:16 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 40 replies · · Digital Journal · · Tuesday, December 6, 2011 · · Leigh Goessl · |
Nearly 100 years after a set of fossil remains were uncovered, an international team of scientists has discovered a new species of dinosaur. The new discovery, a horned dinosaur named Spinops sternbergorum (pronounced "SPIN-ops stern-berg-OR-uhm"), roamed the Earth approximately 76 million years ago, during the Late Cretaceous period, in southern Alberta, Canada, according to a press release. Spinops sternbergorum is named after its spiny face, and combines with the name of the original discoverers, a father and son fossil collecting team. The duo, Charles H. and Levi Sternberg, found the prehistoric remains back in 1916. The Telegraph reports the fossils... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| FReeper Canteen ~ Remembering Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 ~ 07 December 2011 |
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· 12/06/2011 6:08:10 PM PST · · Posted by Kathy in Alaska · · 262 replies · · The Canteen Crew · |
~ The FReeper Canteen Presents ~ ~ Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941 ~ On Sunday, December 7th, 1941 the Japanese launched a surprise attack against the U.S. Forces stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. By planning his attack on a Sunday, the Japanese commander Admiral Nagumo, hoped to catch the entire fleet in port. As luck would have it, the Aircraft Carriers and one of the Battleships were not in port. (The USS Enterprise was returning from Wake Island, where it had just delivered some aircraft. The USS Lexington was ferrying aircraft to Midway, and the USS Saratoga and USS... |
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| Did FDR Provoke Pearl Harbor? |
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· 12/06/2011 3:32:36 PM PST · · Posted by Kaslin · · 92 replies · · Townhall.com · · December 6, 2011 · · Pat Buchanan · |
On Dec. 8, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt took the rostrum before a joint session of Congress to ask for a declaration of war on Japan. A day earlier, at dawn, carrier-based Japanese aircraft had launched a sneak attack devastating the U.S. battle fleet at Pearl Harbor. Said ex-President Herbert Hoover, Republican statesman of the day, "We have only one job to do now, and that is to defeat Japan." But to friends, "the Chief" sent another message: "You and I know that this continuous putting pins in rattlesnakes finally got this country bit." Today, 70 years after Pearl Harbor, a remarkable... |
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| *Vanity* Sinking of USS Panay, 1937 |
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· 12/06/2011 6:39:47 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 5 replies · · Wikipedia · · December 6, 2011 · |
Universal Newsreel -- Panay, 1937This is long but it gets interesting. There was a newsreel cameraman on the Panay. |
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| Submarine escape: A WWII survival tale from Kefalonia |
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· 12/02/2011 11:23:39 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 11 replies · · BBC · · December 1, 2011 · · Tim Clayton · |
Seventy years ago, off the Greek island of Kefalonia, the British submarine HMS Perseus hit an Italian mine, sparking one of the greatest and most controversial survival stories of World War II.The clear waters of the Mediterranean were a death trap for British submarines in World War II. Some were bombed from the air, others hunted with sonar and depth charges, and many, perhaps most, collided with mines. Two fifths of the subs that ventured into the Mediterranean were sunk and when a submarine sank it became a communal coffin -- everyone on board died. That was the rule. In... |
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| Early America | |
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| Laws about gun ownership in early America |
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· 12/09/2011 4:11:50 PM PST · · Posted by neverdem · · 11 replies · · The Volokh Conspiracy · · December 9, 2011 · · David Kopel · |
Regarding Eugene Volokh's post below about an NYU L. Rev. article, "The People" of the Second Amendment: Citizenship and the Right To Bear Arms. I just scanned the article, and there appears to be only a single footnote which directly cites any state statutes from before 1800. Note 125, accurately cites standard statutory compilations from Massachusetts and Connecticut for laws against selling firearms to Indians. Although the author is apparently unaware that by 1661 (Connecticut) and 1688 (Massachusetts) the laws were changed to allow gun sales (and even gun carrying in towns) by friendly Indians. The article suffers very severely... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Experts admit second Mayan prediction of 2012 as end of the world |
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· 12/03/2011 11:46:18 PM PST · · Posted by 2ndDivisionVet · · 43 replies · · Digital Journal · · November 25, 2011 · · JohnThomas Didymus · |
Mexico -- The Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History have admitted that they have a second reference to the date 2012 as "end of the world" on a carved fragment found at an archaeological site in southern Mexico. Salt Lake Tribune reports that archaeologists have long acknowledged that reference to date 2012 as "end of the world" is found on a stone tablet from the Tortuguero site in the Gulf coast state of Tabasco. But on Thursday, the Mexican National Institute of Anthropology and History announced that there is what appears another reference to the same date in an... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| The Use and Abuse of the Bible in the Immigration Debate |
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· 12/03/2011 6:48:09 PM PST · · Posted by rmlew · · 18 replies · · Center for Immigration Studies · · December 2011 · · James K. Hoffmeier · |
James K. Hoffmeier is Professor of Old Testament and Near Eastern Archaeology at Trinity International University. All translations are from the ESV unless otherwise specified. Secularists and liberals, both political and religious, are typically loath to consult the Bible when it comes to matters of public policy. So it is somewhat surprising that in the current debate about the status of illegal immigrants, the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible is regularly cited in defense of the illegal. Debra Haffner, a Unitarian Universalist minister -- a denomination not known for taking Scripture seriously -- offered a recent critique of the Arizona... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Archaeology and the New Testament |
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· 12/03/2011 1:04:14 PM PST · · Posted by GonzoII · · 6 replies · · Apologetics Press, Inc · · 2004 · · Kyle Butt, M.A. · |
Any time a book alleges to report historical events accurately, that book potentially opens itself up to an immense amount of criticism. If such a book claims to be free from all errors in its historical documentation, the criticism frequently becomes even more intense. But such should be the case, for it is the responsibility of present and future generations to know and understand the past, and to insist that history, including certain monumental moments, is recorded and related as accurately as possible. The New Testament does not necessarily claim to... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Will this be the first time the world sees the Ark of Covenant? |
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· 12/05/2011 7:15:50 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 46 replies · · Daily Mail · · 12/05/2011 · · Rick Dewsbury · |
A very British problem of a leaky church roof could be about to give the world the chance to glimpse the legendary Ark of the Covenant. That's because the claimed home of the iconic relic -- a small chapel in Ethiopia -- has sprung a leak and so the Ark could now be on the move. The Ark -- which The Bible says holds God's Ten Commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai -- is said to have been kept in Aksum, in the Chapel of the Tablet, adjacent to St Mary of Zion Church, since the 1960s. According to... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Worst drought in 200 years paralyses Danube river shipping |
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· 12/05/2011 10:48:57 PM PST · · Posted by bruinbirdman · · 15 replies · · The Telegraph · · 12/5/2011 · · Bruno Waterfield, Brussels · |
The worst drought in more than 200 years has paralysed shipping on the Danube river, including popular pleasure cruises, as shrinking water levels expose bombs and debris from the Second World War. The level of Europe's second largest river has fallen to a trickle in places as result of a lack of rain in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. An estimated 80 cargo ships are stranded on the Hungary-Serbia border. "In my many years of experience as a boat captain, I don't remember a drought as harsh as this one," said Anton Balasz, whose Hungarian ship is stranded on an... |
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| end of digest #386 20111210 | |
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Did I get a time out this week? I didn’t receive the ping for the 12/11/11 edition.
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #387 Saturday, December 10, 2011 |
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| You Say It's His Birthday | |
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| How December 25 Became Christmas |
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· 12/10/2011 11:59:31 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 25 replies · · Biblical Archeology Review · · Andrew McGowan · |
On December 25, Christians around the world will gather to celebrate Jesus' birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foods --- these all characterize the feast today, at least in the northern hemisphere. But just how did the Christmas festival originate? How did December 25 come to be associated with Jesus' birthday? The Bible offers few clues: Celebrations of Jesus' Nativity are not mentioned in the Gospels or Acts; the date is not given, not even the time of year. The biblical reference to shepherds tending their flocks at night when they hear the news of Jesus' birth (Luke 2:8)... |
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| Is December 25th Special? |
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· 12/20/2001 2:53:57 PM PST · · Posted by marbren · · 74 replies · · 1,546+ views · |
December 25th has traditionally been celebrated as Jesus' birthday. When you start to examine this closer you find that a September date makes more sense for the actual birthday. December 25th may be special however. I am looking for answers to a few questions. Is December 25th related to Kislev 25 ( the first day of Hanukkah in the Jewish Calendar)?. There might be some neat analogies to the candle lighting and Jesus being the light of the world. Was Hanukkah celebrated around 10 BC ? If we project back our current calendar to the time of Christ's birth do ... |
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| Star of the East | |
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| Have Astronomers Found the Star of Bethlehem? |
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· 12/07/2011 1:31:10 PM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 17 replies · · The Epistle · · Bruce Gerig · |
The modern search for the Star of Bethlehem began with Johannes Kepler (imperial astronomer for Rudolph II of Germany), who shortly before Christmas in 1603 observed a conjunction (pairing) of Jupiter with Saturn from his observatory in Prague. That this occurred in the constellation of Pisces he thought was important as well -- perhaps recalling Rabbi Isaac Abarvanel's belief, noted in his 15th-century commentary on Daniel, that not only does a conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn foretell important events, but in Pisces this holds a special significance for Israel; and such an event might even foretell the coming of the... |
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| THE CHRISTMAS STAR |
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· 12/21/2004 10:26:51 PM PST · · Posted by P-Marlowe · · 14 replies · · 271+ views · · Lambert's Library · · Barry Setterfield · |
The Christmas story with the angels, shepherds, wise men and star has gripped the imagination of many over the last 20 centuries. We are indebted to two Biblical accounts, one in Matthew, and one in Luke. They provide the basic information needed to reconstruct Mid-Eastern history and astronomical events in order to discover exactly what occurred in the night sky on that first Christmas when Messiah was born in the cave at Bethlehem amongst the cattle and horses. Luke records that it was the whim of the Roman Emperor Augustus which sent Joseph... |
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| The Magi and the Star --- Epiphany Explored |
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· 01/06/2010 9:47:58 AM PST · · Posted by Salvation · · 22 replies · · 752+ views · · CatholicExchange.com · · January 4, 2010 · · Michael J. Miller · |
During a 2007 BBC radio interview, the archbishop of Canterbury deconstructed elements of the Nativity story. "Stars simply don't behave like that," Rowan Williams said. Asked about the existence of three wise men, he replied, "It works quite well as legend."But years ago Father Walter Brandm¸ller, president of the Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, published an essay applying the historical-critical method to the question of the Nativity story. (The essay is reprinted without cumbersome footnotes in Light and Shadows: Church History Amid Faith, Fact, and Legend [Ignatius].) He found... |
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| Wise Guys | |
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| Wise Men from the East --- Epiphany |
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· 01/03/2010 1:59:59 PM PST · · Posted by Salvation · · 8 replies · · 463+ views · · IgnatiusInsight.com, · · 01-03-09 · · Sandra Miesel · |
The Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord We Three Kings of Orient are,Bearing gifts we traverse afar. . . . Who were these gift-bearing kings, these Wise Men of the East? What has their mission meant to Christians across the ages? The Wise Men --- not yet called kings --- make only a single appearance in Holy Scripture. St. Matthew's Gospel (Mt 2:1-12) tells of their arrival in Jerusalem shortly after the birth of Jesus. They have come seeking the newborn King of the Jews because they had seen his star rise in... |
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| Straight Answers: Who Were the Magi? |
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· 01/02/2011 1:56:17 PM PST · · Posted by Salvation · · 31 replies · · CatholicHerald.com · · 11/97 · · Fr. William Saunders · |
Who were the Magi? --- A reader in Springfield -- The Gospel of Matthew mentions the Magi who came from the East to worship the newborn Christ child (cf. Matthew 2:1-12). Exactly who the magi were though remains somewhat of a mystery.Oftentimes, the English translations of the Bible use the word astrologers for magi. In Greek, the original language of the Gospel' the word magos (magoi, plural) has four meanings: (1) a member of the priestly class of ancient Persia, where astrology and astronomy were prominent in... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Exciting New Archaeological Evidence Uncovered Could be the Site of Biblical Sodom |
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· 12/14/2011 4:03:27 PM PST · · Posted by GiovannaNicoletta · · 50 replies · · Breaking Christian News · · December 12, 2011 · · Brian Nixon · |
"It may be too early to say, but initial evidence points towards a large-scale destruction from a catastrophic event. I say this because, in that area, the skeletal remains were traumatized by an east-to-west directional event, demonstrating that the catastrophe came from a particular compass point." -- Dr. Collins snip Dr. Collins and his team began digging at a new site [last year], Tall el-Hammam, which corresponded to several factors. Dr. Collins summarized the end result: "To start with, the Tall el-Hammam site has twenty-five geographical indicators that align with the description in Genesis. Compare this with something well known --- like Jerusalem --- that... |
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| Russia Decides to Search for Sodom and Gomorrah-in Jordan |
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· 12/16/2010 7:09:39 AM PST · · Posted by marshmallow · · 27 replies · · Israel National News · · 12/14/10 · · David Lev · |
Russia and Jordan have signed an agreement to search the bottom of the Dead Sea for the remains of the Biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Arabic news media reported over the weekend. According to the report, a Russian company has agreed to conduct the search in cooperation with Jordanian authorities, picking up all costs -- in exchange for exclusive rights to film a documentary of the search. The report quoted one of the Jordanian heads of the project, Zia Madani, as saying that the search would begin in late December. The Russian company that was chosen as a partner... |
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| Climate | |
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| A Dry Dead Sea Before Biblical Times |
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· 12/16/2011 3:38:24 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Discovery News 'blogs · · Thursday, December 8, 2011 · · Emily Sohn · |
The Dead Sea nearly disappeared about 120,000 years ago, say researchers who drilled more than 1,500 feet below one of the deepest parts of the politically contentious body of water. The discovery looms large at a time when the Dead Sea is shrinking rapidly, Middle Eastern nations are battling over water rights, and experts hotly debate whether the salt lake could ever dry up completely in the years to come. New data from drilled deposits are also helping piece together geological history that slices through Biblical times. Further research may offer opportunities to verify whether earthquakes destroyed the cities of... |
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| The Jesus Tomb | |
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| Jesus' tomb story denies the Resurrection |
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· 05/03/2007 8:21:02 AM PDT · · Posted by Clive · · 32 replies · · 1,180+ views · · Toronto Sun · · 2007-05-03 · · Father Thomas Rosica · |
During the initial weeks of Lent 2007 in early March I avoided commenting on the sensational story of the alleged discovery of the tomb of Jesus in a Jerusalem neighbourhood. While it is true that tombs were found in Jerusalem's Talpiot section and the names of Jesus, Mary, Joseph and Matthew seem to have been engraved on the tombs, few people spoke of how common such names were during the first century. The media hype, though short lived, certainly put the theme of the resurrection front and centre of our Lenten and Easter journeys this year. James Cameron's documentary The... |
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| Exegesis | |
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| New PBS Nova Series Exposes Old Testament Fairy Tales |
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· 11/17/2008 4:59:05 AM PST · · Posted by Dr. Scarpetta · · 122 replies · · 3,414+ views · · Yahoo & Reuters/Hollywood Reporter · · 11/16/2008 · · Barry Garron · |
Bill Maher, on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher," frequently refers to the Old Testament of the Bible as the Book of Jewish Fairy Tales. The description might anger the pious and the fundamentalists, but guess what? Maher's close to the truth. A visually stunning two-hour special edition of "Nova" examines decades of archaeological studies that contradict much of what is in the Bible. |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Jerusalem stone carvings baffle archaeologists: The carvings in the The City of David |
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· 12/12/2011 4:33:44 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 29 replies · · 3 News / APTN · · Wednesday, December 7, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Archaeologists have discovered mysterious stone carvings at an excavation site in Jerusalem. The carvings - which were engraved thousands of years ago - have baffled experts. Israeli archaeologists excavating in the oldest part of the city discovered a complex of rooms with three "V" shapes carved into the floor. Yet there were no other clues as to their purpose and nothing to identity the people who made them. Some experts believe the markings were made at least 2,800 years ago and may have helped hold up some kind of wooden structure. Others say an ancient people may have held ritual... |
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| Anatolia | |
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| Preliminary work to unearth ancient city of Isos begins |
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· 12/16/2011 6:24:29 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Today's Zaman · · December 14, 2011 · · unattributed · |
A team of archeologists has begun working on examining the site of the ancient city of Isos in southern Turkey by making use of ground-based sensors to visualize the underground features of the city's structures, the district governor has said... a team of four archeologists got to work at the reported site of the ancient city of Isos, which has been underground for some 500 years in the southern province of Hatay, as part of the work of unearthing the ancient city... Approximately five months ago, excavations at the site where Isos is believed to be revealed ruins of baths... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Team discovers Roman forum |
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· 12/12/2011 4:21:21 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · NDSMC Observer · · Wednesday, December 7, 2011 · · Suzanna Pratt · |
After six grave sites, 133 coins and over 10,000 fragments of animal bone, archaeologists with assistant professor of classics David Hernandez's excavation team hit pay dirt, or rather, pay pavement, in the form of an ancient Roman forum. This summer, Hernandez and a team of Notre Dame undergraduates embarked on a six-week excavation trip to Butrint, Albania, where they made the discovery... Since the 1920s archaeologists have probed the site, producing evidence of a Greek sanctuary of Asclepius, a medieval house, a Venetian castle and now, a Roman forum, he said. The forum was a rectangular plaza surrounded by government... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Bronze coins found in Somerset reveal Roman age of austerity |
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· 12/16/2011 8:30:46 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · This Is Somerset · · Wednesday, December 7, 2011 · · Western Daily Press · |
Archaeologists are celebrating the donation of a hoard of Roman coins --- described as " a hugely significant find" --- to the new Museum of Somerset. The 2,118 bronze coins, found by archaeologists excavating a site at Maundown, near Wiveliscombe, before Wessex Water built a new water treatment plant, may be evidence of financial crisis in Romano-British Somerset. They were found in 2006 and have been donated to Somerset County Council by Wessex Water after a Treasure Inquest at Taunton last week heard that the British Museum disclaimed interest on behalf of the Crown. Stephen Minnitt, Head of Museums, said:... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Evidence for unknown Viking king Airdeconut found in Lancashire |
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· 12/14/2011 10:05:20 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Guardian UK · · Wednesday, December 14 , 2011 · · Maev Kennedy · |
Evidence of a previously unknown Viking king has been discovered in a hoard of silver found by a metal detectorist, stashed in a lead box in a field in Lancashire. The 201 pieces of silver including beautiful arm rings, worn by Viking warriors, were found on the outskirts of Silverdale, a village near the coast in north Lancashire, by Darren Webster, using the metal detector his wife gave him as a Christmas present. It adds up to more than 1kg of silver, probably stashed for safe keeping around AD900 at a time of wars and power struggles among the Vikings... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Forgotten Treasure: Library Janitor Discovers Silver Coin Cache |
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· 12/12/2011 8:13:56 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 6 replies · · ABC News · · December 7, 2011 · |
A curious library caretaker in the Bavarian city of Passau has discovered a treasure trove of ancient silver coins and medals that went overlooked for more than two centuries. The surprise find is reportedly worth as much as six figures. Janitor Tanja Höls had often passed by an unassuming wooden box stowed away in an archive in Passau's historic state library, but it wasn't until about two weeks ago that curiosity got the best of her and she was decided take a look inside. What she found were dozens of coins, most of them made of silver. "I had no... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Pope to Canonize and Name Hildegard of Bingen as Doctor of the Church |
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· 12/16/2011 9:49:00 AM PST · · Posted by marshmallow · · 15 replies · · Rome Reports · · 12/16/11 · |
December 16, 2011. (Romereports.com) Benedict XVI is set to appoint Hildegard of Bingen as a Doctor of the Church in October of 2012. She was a German Benedictine nun and was known for her visions and prophecies. Hildegard of Bingen lived in the twelfth century. In addition to being a nun, she was a composer, philosopher, physicist and ecologist. A multi-talented woman, and a pioneer for many of these fields during the Middle Ages. She came from a wealthy family and when she was only eight years old was sent to study in a monastery. She eventually decided to become... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| 'Witch's cottage' unearthed near Pendle Hill, Lancashire |
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· 12/12/2011 3:54:14 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · BBC · · Thursday, December 8, 2011 · · Nick Ravenscroft · |
Engineers have said they were "stunned" to unearth a 17th Century cottage, complete with a cat skeleton, during a construction project in Lancashire. The cottage was discovered near Lower Black Moss reservoir in the village of Barley, in the shadow of Pendle Hill. Archaeologists brought in by United Utilities to survey the area found the building under a grass mound. Historians are now speculating that the well-preserved cottage could have belonged to one of the Pendle witches. The building contained a sealed room, with the bones of a cat bricked into the wall. It is believed the cat was buried... |
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| China | |
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| China finds 3,600-year-old palace |
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· 12/15/2011 9:41:50 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Beijing Daily · · December 13, 2011 · · tr & ed by People's Daily Online · |
Chinese archaeologists recently found a palace dating back to about 3,600 years ago at the Erlitou Bronze Age site in Henan province. It is the best-preserved palace ever found at the site and may be the prototype for places of worship during the Shang dynasty. In the Erlitou site's palace area, archaeologists found the rammed-earth foundation of the palace, which has at least three courtyards and covers a total area of more than 2,100 square meters. The Erlitou site contains cultural relics ranging from the Yangshao and Longshan cultures about 5,000 years ago to the Eastern Zhou and Eastern Han... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Six-thousand-year-old earth mother statuette found on banks of the Somme... |
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· 12/12/2011 3:41:49 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 30 replies · · Daily Mail (UK) · · Monday, December 12th, 2011 · · Lucy Buckland · |
The unearthing of the extremely rare statue in Northern France has been given the rather grand title of 'Lady of Villers-Carbonnel' and is thought to be connected to a cult who worshipped a specific fertility goddess. Immaculately preserved the 8 inch statue was made from local earth or clay and closely resembles figurines found across the Mediterranean. Earth mother: With a curvacious figure the discovery of the statue found in the ruins of a kiln in Northern France shows how far the essence of beauty has come in the last 6,000 years It is unusual for a find to found... |
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| Japan | |
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| Ancient human bone found in Ishigaki cave [ 24,000 years old ] |
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· 12/13/2011 2:59:32 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · Japan Update · · Friday, December 2, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Archaeologists are ecstatic as they study a 24,000-year-old human bone fragment that's been discovered on Ishigaki Island in southern Okinawa Prefecture. The Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum is among those poring over the bone piece found in the Shirahosaonetabaru cave. Officials believe the bone fragment is part of a rib. The bone's already been tested using direct dating, and scientists now say the latest bone discovery is 4,000 years older than any other bone found in Japan. The testing, using radiocarbon dating, is being supervised by archaeologists at the University of Tokyo to determine the age of the... |
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| Cave Art | |
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| Solving the Mystery of a 35,000-Year-Old Statue |
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· 12/12/2011 4:22:24 AM PST · · Posted by Renfield · · 22 replies · · Spiegel (Germany) · · 12/09/2011 · · Matthias Schulz · |
Using a hand hoe and working in dim light, geologist Otto Vˆlzing burrowed into the earth deep inside the Stadel cave in the Schwäbische Alb mountains of southwestern Germany. His finds were interesting to be sure, but nothing world-shaking: flints and the remnants of food eaten by prehistoric human beings. Suddenly he struck a hard object --- and splintered a small statuette. It was 1939 and Vˆlzing didn't have much time. He had just been called up to serve in the military and World War II was about to begin. He quickly packed the pieces into a box and the... |
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| Is the Lion Man a Woman? Solving the Mystery of a 35,000-Year-Old Statue |
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· 12/12/2011 4:11:46 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · Speigel · · Friday, December 9, 2011 · · Matthias Schulz · · tr by Christopher Sultan · |
Archeologists have discovered previously unknown fragments of a figurine known as the "Lion Man," and are piecing it back together. Could the 35,000-year-old statue actually represent a female shaman? ...Using a hand hoe and working in dim light, geologist Otto Vˆlzing burrowed into the earth deep inside the Stadel cave in the Schwäbische Alb mountains of southwestern Germany. His finds were interesting to be sure, but nothing world-shaking: flints and the remnants of food eaten by prehistoric human beings. Suddenly he struck a hard object --- and splintered a small statuette. It was 1939 and Vˆlzing didn't have much time.... |
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| Cogito Ergo Sum | |
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| Was Darwin wrong about emotions? |
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· 12/13/2011 1:35:17 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 24 replies · · Association for Psychological Science · · December 13, 2011 · |
Contrary to what many psychological scientists think, people do not all have the same set of biologically "basic" emotions, and those emotions are not automatically expressed on the faces of those around us, according to the author of a new article published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. This means a recent move to train security workers to recognize "basic" emotions from expressions might be misguided. This debate isn't purely academic. It has consequences for how clinicians are trained and also for the security industry. In recent years there's been... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Modern Humans Interbred with Archaic Humans in East Asia, Study Says |
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· 11/08/2011 7:16:55 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 27 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · October 31, 2011 · |
It is well-known today, based on various genetic studies, that some of the ancestors of modern humans interbred with Neanderthals, a closely-related human species or sub-species that lived 130,000 - 30,000 years ago in Eurasia. Less known is information that has recently emerged about the possibility that modern human ancestors were also busy with at least one other archaic human species. Additional information comes from a new study by researchers at Uppsala University. The study yielded findings that indicated people in East Asia share genetic material with archaic humans known as Denisovans, suggesting that the modern human ancestors of East... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Scientists Discover Second-Oldest Gene Mutation |
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· 12/15/2011 10:00:15 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 27 replies · · Ohio State U · · 12/14/2011 · · Stephan M. Tanner · |
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A new study has identified a gene mutation that researchers estimate dates back to 11,600 B.C., making it the second oldest human disease mutation yet discovered. Researchers with the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center -- Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute led the study and estimate that the mutation arose in the Middle East some 13,600 years ago. Only a mutation seen in cystic fibrosis that arose between 11,000 and 52,000 years ago is believed to be older. The investigators described the mutation in people of Arabic, Turkish and Jewish ancestry.... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| We do have bigger brains than Neanderthals did |
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· 12/14/2011 9:58:08 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · MSNBC · · Tuesday, December 13, 2011 · · Livescience · |
Modern humans possess brain structures larger than their Neanderthal counterparts, suggesting we are distinguished from them by different mental capacities, scientists find. We are currently the only extant human lineage, but Neanderthals, our closest-known evolutionary relatives, still walked the Earth as recently as maybe 24,000 years ago. Neanderthals were close enough to the modern human lineage to interbreed, calling into question how different they really were from us and whether they comprise a different species. To find out more, researchers used CT scanners to map the interiors of five Neanderthal skulls as well as four fossil and 75 contemporary human... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| The Disappearance of the Elephant Caused the Rise of Modern Man |
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· 12/12/2011 12:40:57 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 26 replies · · American Friends Tel Aviv U · · December 12, 2011 · |
Dietary change led to the appearance of modern humans in the Middle East 400,000 years ago, say TAU researchersElephants have long been known to be part of the Homo erectus diet. But the significance of this specific food source, in relation to both the survival of Homo erectus and the evolution of modern humans, has never been understood --- until now. When Tel Aviv University researchers Dr. Ran Barkai, Miki Ben-Dor, and Prof. Avi Gopher of TAU's Department of Archaeology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies examined the published data describing animal bones associated with Homo erectus at the Acheulian site... |
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| Ain't No Rhyme for Orangutan | |
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| Study of Orangutans Yields New Ideas about Human Evolution |
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· 12/16/2011 6:41:15 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Tuesday, December 13, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Results from research conducted by a team of scholars and scientists on the dietary lives of orangutans in tropical Borneo have given possible clues to how very early human ancestors may have adapted, survived and changed millions of years ago. In addition, the results may help scientists better understand eating disorders and obesity in human populations today. Led by evolutionary anthropologist Erin Vogel of Rutgers University (pictured below, right), the research team analyzed samples of compounds and byproducts in Orangutan urine over a 5-year period to determine the effects of protein recycling in their dietary, or eating behavior. What they... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Saber-tooth squirrel fossil found in Argentina |
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· 11/03/2011 5:35:53 PM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 14 replies · · Associated Press · · Nov. 3, 2011 · |
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) --- Scientists have found a rare fossil of a previously unknown saber-toothed, squirrel-like creature in Argentina, providing new clues to how small mammals lived among dinosaurs more than 93 million years ago. The fossil evidence shows Cronopio dentiacutus had extremely long teeth, a narrow snout and large eye sockets, meaning it probably moved around at night to be able to survive among huge carnivorous beasts in the late Cretaceous period. |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Paleontologists unveil bones of 'biggest' dinosaur in U.S. |
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· 12/10/2011 6:55:40 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Daily Mail · · Sunday, December 11, 2011 · · Nadia Gilani · |
The enormous bones of what is believed to be the biggest dinosaur in the U.S... belong to the sauropod dinosaur Alamosaurus sanjuanensis: a long-necked plant eater related to Diplodocus... Dr Fowler said: 'Alamosaurus has been known for some time, its remains were first described in 1922 from the Naashoibito beds of New Mexico. 'Since then, more bones have been discovered in New Mexico, Utah, some really nice material from Texas, and Mexico, including a few partial skeletons.' He said the sheer size of the new bones had caught the researchers by surprise. He said researchers had believed that a fully... |
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| Dinosaurs with killer claws yield new theory about flight |
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· 12/14/2011 3:48:16 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 9 replies · · Montana State U · · December 14, 2011 · |
BOZEMAN, Mont. --- New research from Montana State University's Museum of the Rockies has revealed how dinosaurs like Velociraptor and Deinonychus used their famous killer claws, leading to a new hypothesis on the evolution of flight in birds. In a paper published Dec. 14 in PLoS ONE, MSU researchers Denver W. Fowler, Elizabeth A. Freedman, John B. Scannella and Robert E. Kambic (now at Brown University in Rhode Island), describe how comparing modern birds of prey helped develop a new behavior model for sickle-clawed carnivorous dinosaurs like Velociraptor. "This study is a real game-changer," said lead author Fowler. "It completely... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Divers Retrieve Prehistoric Wood from Lake Huron |
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· 12/15/2011 9:38:43 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 23 replies · · Science News · · December 12, 2011 · · adapted from Diane Swanbrow, U of M · |
Under the cold clear waters of Lake Huron, University of Michigan researchers have found a five-and-a-half foot-long, pole-shaped piece of wood that is 8,900 years old. The wood, which is tapered and beveled on one side in a way that looks deliberate, may provide important clues to a mysterious period in North American prehistory. "This was the stage when humans gradually shifted from hunting large mammals like mastodon and caribou to fishing, gathering and agriculture," said anthropologist John O'Shea. "But because most of the places in this area that prehistoric people lived are now under water, we don't have good... |
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| Toltecs | |
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| Offerings Discovered at Base of Teotihuacan's Pyramid of the Sun |
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· 12/14/2011 4:54:02 PM PST · · Posted by Winstons Julia · · 13 replies · · History · · 12/14/11 · · staff · |
On Tuesday they revealed the discovery of a collection of treasures on a pile of rubble at the pyramid's center. Thought to have been given as offerings to the gods, the items include pieces of obsidian, pottery, animal bones and three human figures; one of these, a delicately carved serpentine mask, is so lifelike that archaeologists believe it may have been a portrait. The trove's position within the structure suggests it was placed there before construction began, INAH archaeologist Enrique Perez Cortes said in a statement. |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Flood waters unearth 18th century fort in Montgomery Co. (NY) |
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· 12/13/2011 2:30:15 PM PST · · Posted by NYer · · 28 replies · · Fox 23 · · December 13, 2011 · · Katherine Underwood · |
Irene's flood waters tore up the parking lot at the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, uncovering remnants of an 18th century fort.‚ "For the first time we now know where one block house of Fort Hunter was," said Archeologist Michael Roets with the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.Roets talked to reporters Tuesday while standing in middle of a block house, built by the British to accommodate about 20 soldiers.‚ "We never would have had this exposed without the flood," Roets said.During Irene, raging flood waters ripped up the parking lot and unearthed the foundation of a 24-by-24 foot block... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Top 10 Discoveries of 2011 [ Archaeology Magazine ] |
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· 12/17/2011 10:16:26 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Archaeology · · January/February 2012 · · Volume 65 Number 1 · |
Years from now, when we look back on 2011, the year will almost certainly be defined by political and economic upheaval. At the same time that Western nations were shaken by a global economic slump, people in the Middle East and North Africa forcefully removed heads of state who had been in power for decades. "Arab Spring," as the various revolutions have collectively been named, will have far-reaching implications, not just for the societies in which it took place, but also for archaeology. No year-end review would be complete without polling archaeological communities in the affected areas to determine whether... |
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| end of digest #387 20111217 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #387 · v 8 · n 23 Saturday, December 17, 2011 |
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14 topics |
Welcome to the 38-topic issue #387 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #388 Saturday, December 24, 2011 |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| The man who saved The Resurrection (painting) |
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· 12/23/2011 7:30:20 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · BBC · · December 23, 2011 · · Tim Butcher · |
A chance discovery has brought to light the little-known story of how a British Army officer risked a court martial in wartime Italy to save a painting the author Aldous Huxley once described as "the greatest picture in the world". I opened a dead man's suitcase in Cape Town and was transported from today's Africa, via World War II Italy, to Renaissance Tuscany. Inside I found a story of high art, bravery and love, all the more powerful because it is a story not widely known. I was on Long Street, a boisterous city-centre shopping artery, exploring the upper floors... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Frankincense Supply Under Threat Of Drying Up |
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· 12/22/2011 3:27:55 PM PST · · Posted by NYer · · 33 replies · · Red Orbit · · December 21, 2011 · |
Frankincense, a festive fragrance that has been harvested in the wild in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa since ancient times, is declining so dramatically that production of the resin could be halved over the next fifteen years, according to a new study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Frankincense is produced by tapping the gum of trees in the Boswellia genus. It is traditionally used in incense and perfumes around the world and is a key part of the Christmas story ‚Ä" one of the three gifts to baby Jesus by the three wise men;... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Hevron Police Chief: Cave of Patriarchs is Israel's Foundation |
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· 12/22/2011 11:29:35 AM PST · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 2 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 22/12/11 · · Gil Ronen · |
The commander of the Hevron Region of the Israel Police, Col. Yitzchak Rachamim, partook in the candle lighting ceremony at the Cave of Patriarchs Wednesday. "Our primary goal is that not only Jews from Diaspora will visit the Cave of Patriarchs, but also the residents of Israel will all flock in multitudes to this holy site," he said. "We identify fully with the importance of the place -- this is the foundation of the state of Israel," he added. "The policemen and officers of the Hevron Region serve in this dear and holy place out of a sense of mission,... |
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| This Hannukah, Take a Tour to the Real Graves of the Maccabees |
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· 12/21/2011 3:11:50 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 3 replies · · Haaretz · · 12/20/11 · · Moshe Gilad · |
There is no dispute today that the 'official' location of the Maccabean graves, near Modi'in, is not the real site; come and see for yourself where these heroes were actually buried. The Hasmoneans, who ruled a Jewish dynasty in Israel, have been buried in the ground for more than 2,100 years. It's hard to believe it when listening to Zohar Bar'am, who speaks with great excitement of the mystery of their burial and the search for the exact location of their graves. Bar'am has been managing the "Hasmoneans Village" open museum by Modiin for 34 years. The museum, which offers activities... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Tunisia's President Calls on Jews to Return |
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· 12/20/2011 1:01:18 PM PST · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 22 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 20/12/11 · · Elad Benari · |
Tunisia's newly elected president on Monday called the country's Jewish population to return to his country, The Associated Press reported. During a meeting with the country's Grand Rabbi Haim Bittan, President Moncef Marzouki said that Tunisia's Jews are full-fledged citizens and those who had left the country were welcome to return. Today, Tunisia has a Jewish population of only 1,500, but in the 1960s there were 100,000 Jews in the country. Most left following the 1967 Six Day War, but the emigration to Israel started in the 1050's. Most Tunisian Jews now live on the resort island of Djerba, near... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Failure to protect Egyptian historic sites could trigger foreign intervention, warn experts |
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· 12/19/2011 7:37:30 AM PST · · Posted by MontaniSemperLiberi · · 22 replies · · al arabiya via drudge · · Mustafa Suleima · |
The fire that broke out in a Cairo library that houses thousands of rare documents raised concerns over the government's and the army's ability to protect historic sites at times of upheaval and drove several experts to warn of a possible intervention by foreign entities to preserve the heritage at risk. Legal and archeological experts described failure to contain the fire that devoured large parts of the Scientific Complex in downtown Cairo and to rescue the priceless maps, manuscripts, and books kept inside as a disaster and warned that the possibility of similar acts of sabotage would make foreign intervention... |
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| Egypt riots threaten cultural sites as Cairo library goes up in flame[s] |
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· 12/20/2011 3:43:27 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 52 replies · · Ha'aretz · · Monday, December 19, 2011 · · Haaretz, AP · |
Experts say among the manuscripts lost are maps of Napoleon's conquest of Egypt in 1798, as well as a map used in the 1989 Israeli withdrawal from Taba. Hundreds of rare manuscripts and maps, including the maps used in 1989 Israeli withdrawal from Taba, were destroyed this week, as rioters set fire to a library in the Cairo's Scientific Complex in the fourth day of renewed clashes between protesters and security forces... Mamdouh al-Masry, an Egyptian archaeology professor also speaking with Al-Arabiya said the country's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was responsible for the destruction, criticizing for failing to... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Enigmatic standing stele of Al-Rajajil |
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· 12/20/2011 6:42:41 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · · Arab News · · Tuesday, December 13, 2011 · · Roger Harrison · |
JEDDAH: On a lonely exposed hillside a few kilometers outside the capital of Al-Jouf province, Sakkaka, stand clusters of three-meter high fingers of stone. Etched with ancient Thamudic graffiti, these monuments to a long extinct culture have maintained their lonely vigil for six millennia. Many have fallen over and others lean at bizarre random angles. Al-Rajajil ("the men"), the sandstone stele weighing up to five tons each, is popularly called Saudi Arabia's Stonehenge. They are possibly the oldest human monuments on the peninsula. Some time in the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, people living in the area where Al-Jouf is today... |
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| Stonehenge rocks Pembrokeshire link confirmed |
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· 12/19/2011 3:50:17 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 8 replies · · BBC · · December 19, 2011 · |
Experts say they have confirmed for the first time the precise origin of some of the rocks at Stonehenge.It has long been suspected that rhyolites from the northern Preseli Hills helped build the monument. But research by National Museum Wales and Leicester University has identified their source to within 70m (230ft) of Craig Rhos-y-felin, near Pont Saeson. The museum's Dr Richard Bevins said the find would help experts work out how the stones were moved to Wiltshire. For nine months Dr Bevins, keeper of geology at National Museum Wales, and Dr Rob Ixer of Leicester University collected and identified samples... |
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| Stonehenge rocks Pembrokeshire link confirmed |
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· 12/20/2011 6:33:10 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · BBC · · Monday, December 19, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Experts say they have confirmed for the first time the precise origin of some of the rocks at Stonehenge. It has long been suspected that rhyolites from the northern Preseli Hills helped build the monument. But research by National Museum Wales and Leicester University has identified their source to within 70m (230ft) of Craig Rhos-y-felin, near Pont Saeson. The museum's Dr Richard Bevins said the find would help experts work out how the stones were moved to Wiltshire. For nine months Dr Bevins, keeper of geology at National Museum Wales, and Dr Rob Ixer of Leicester University collected and identified... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Income inequality in the Roman Empire |
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· 12/22/2011 5:46:00 AM PST · · Posted by 1010RD · · 22 replies · · December 16, 2011 · · Tim De Chant · |
Over the last 30 years, wealth in the United States has been steadily concentrating in the upper economic echelons. Whereas the top 1 percent used to control a little over 30 percent of the wealth, they now control 40 percent. It's a trend that was for decades brushed under the rug but is now on the tops of minds and at the tips of tongues. Since too much inequality can foment revolt and instability, the CIA regularly updates statistics on income distribution for countries around the world, including the U.S. Between 1997 and 2007, inequality in the U.S. grew by... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Skeletons point to Columbus voyage for syphilis origins |
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· 12/20/2011 1:17:42 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 67 replies · · Emory University · · December 20, 2011 · |
More evidence emerges to support that the progenitor of syphilis came from the New WorldSkeletons don't lie. But sometimes they may mislead, as in the case of bones that reputedly showed evidence of syphilis in Europe and other parts of the Old World before Christopher Columbus made his historic voyage in 1492. None of this skeletal evidence, including 54 published reports, holds up when subjected to standardized analyses for both diagnosis and dating, according to an appraisal in the current Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. In fact, the skeletal data bolsters the case that syphilis did not exist in Europe before... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Massive 1,100+ year old Maya site discovered in Georgia's mountains |
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· 12/22/2011 7:57:09 PM PST · · Posted by LucyT · · 89 replies · · December 21, 2011 · · Richard Thornton · |
Archaeological zone 9UN367 at Track Rock Gap, near Georgia's highest mountain, Brasstown Bald, is a half mile (800 m) square and rises 700 feet (213 m) in elevation up a steep mountainside. Visible are at least 154 stone masonry walls for agricultural terraces, plus evidence of a sophisticated irrigation system and ruins of several other stone structures. Much more may be hidden underground. It is possibly the site of the fabled city of Yupaha, which Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto failed to find in 1540, and certainly one of the most important archaeological discoveries in recent times. |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Pictures: Mysterious Viking-era Graves Found With Treasure -- Who Was the Young Warrior? |
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· 12/17/2011 5:27:43 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 32 replies · · National Geographic News · · Friday, December 16, 2011 · · Traci Watson · |
The burial ground holds not only a hoard of precious objects but also hints of human sacrifice -- and several dozen graves of a mysterious people with links to both the Vikings and the rulers of the founding states of eastern Europe. Researchers are especially intrigued by the Young Warrior, who died a violent death in his 20s. The man's jaw is fractured, his skull laced with cut marks. The sword provides further evidence of a martial life. Objects in the warrior's grave suggest he had ties to one of the region's earliest Slavic monarchs, said the project leader Andrzej... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Was St Edmund killed by the Vikings in Essex? |
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· 12/20/2011 6:28:36 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Past Horizons · · Monday, December 19, 2011 · · unattributed · |
The story of Edmund, king and martyr, has become a kind of foundation myth for the county of Suffolk, but contains at least one element of truth -- in 869 there was a battle between the East Anglians and the Vikings; Edmund was captured and later killed. About 100 years later the story was written down -- soon after, Edmund came to be considered a Christian martyr and the new abbey (founded about 1020) at Bury St Edmunds was dedicated to him. Edmund's remains were believed to be housed in the abbey, miracles were attributed to him, and Bury thus... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| New Suspect in 'Great Dying': Massive Prehistoric Coal Explosion |
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· 12/22/2011 11:59:36 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 43 replies · · Live Science · · December 22, 2011 · · Jennifer Welsh · |
A great explosive burning of coal set fire and made molten by lava bubbling from the Earth's mantle , looking akin to Kuwait's giant oil fires but lasting anywhere from centuries to millennia, could have been the cause of the world's most-devastating mass extinction, new research suggests. The event, called the Great Dying, occurred 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period. "The Great Dying was the biggest of all the mass extinctions," said study researcher Darcy Ogden of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. "Estimates suggest up to 96 percent of all marine species... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| African Lungfish Has Scientists Rethinking 100's Of Millions Of Years Of Evolutionary History |
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· 12/14/2011 10:13:23 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 18 replies · · Business Insider · · 12/14/2011 · · Dina Spector · |
A fish that uses its fins to walk across the floor is causing scientists to rethink the evolution of walking on land, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers at the University of Chicago observed an African lungfish using its pelvic fins "as hind legs to propel itself along the bottom of the tank," reports Victoria Gill and Jason Palmer at BBC News. This could mean that our ability to walk developed underwater -- before creatures grew toes or limbs necessary to move on land -- essentially rewriting hundreds of millions of years of... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Human skull study causes evolutionary headache |
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· 12/20/2011 8:48:05 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 16 replies · · University of Manchester · · December 20, 2011 · |
Scientists studying a unique collection of human skulls have shown that changes to the skull shape thought to have occurred independently through separate evolutionary events may have actually precipitated each other. Researchers at the Universities of Manchester and Barcelona examined 390 skulls from the Austrian town of Hallstatt and found evidence that the human skull is highly integrated, meaning variation in one part of the skull is linked to changes throughout the skull. The Austrian skulls are part of a famous collection kept in the Hallstatt Catholic Church ossuary; local tradition dictates that the remains of the town's dead are... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Christmas 1944, when we said NUTS to the enemy |
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· 12/18/2011 5:50:58 PM PST · · Posted by NEWwoman · · 43 replies · · smithsk.blogspot.com · · December 17, 2011 · · smithsk · |
December 1944 World War Two was in overdrive. The major powers were slugging it out about the world -- in Europe, Africa, and in the Pacific for 5 long years already- since 1939. The United States had entered the fray when the US Congress had declared war on Japan (December 8, 1941) for attacking Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941). Then on December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy had declared war on the United States. We were in the war for the long haul. Early December 1944, we had thought the war, at least in Europe, would be over in a... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| One-off Democracy: When the First Election is the Last |
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· 12/19/2011 8:57:36 AM PST · · Posted by varialectio · · 5 replies · · American Thinker · · December 10 · · Jeff Lipkes · |
Today is the anniversary of the first election in history in which a nation's leader was selected by universal male suffrage. On December 10, 1848, Frenchmen went to the polls for the first time in fifty-six years. For a third time, a revolution had overthrown the king, and for the second time, a republic was proclaimed. But the French voters blew it. The surprise winner was a seedy forty-year-old adventurer who had lived in exile in Switzerland and England, except for two ignominious coup attempts. He ran on a vaguely socialistic platform of hope and change -- his first book... |
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| end of digest #388 20111224 | |
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