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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #412 · v 8 · n 47 Saturday, June 9, 2012 |
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Welcome to the recent newbies. |
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Posted on 07/16/2004 11:27:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
(Excerpt) Read more at freerepublic.com ...
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #412 · v 8 · n 47 Saturday, June 9, 2012 |
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21 topics |
Welcome to the recent newbies. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #413 Saturday, June 16, 2012 |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| 13th century volcano mystery eruption may be solved (Little Ice Age cause?) |
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· 06/15/2012 1:49:41 PM PDT · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 18 replies · · watts Up With That? · · June 15, 2012 · · Anthony Watts · |
A photo of the Rinjani caldera in Indonesia, while Lavigne won't name the volcano until his paper is published, insiders suggest this a likely candidate for the missing 1258 AD eruption. Image: Wikipedia From ScienceNews: Indonesia implicated as location of biggest eruption in last seven millennia By Alexandra Witze SELFOSS, Iceland -- One of the biggest mysteries in volcanology may finally have a solution. An eruption long thought to have gone off in the year 1258, spreading cooling sulfur particles around the globe, happened the year before in Indonesia, scientists report.Until now, researchers have known a big volcano went off... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Humans Did Not Kill Off Mammoths; Comet, Climate Change Helped, Studies Show |
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· 06/12/2012 7:03:32 PM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 115 replies · · Indian Country Today · · June 13, 2012 · · ICTMN Staff · |
Although human hunting played a part in the demise of the woolly mammoth about 10,000 years ago, homo sapiens were but bit players in a global drama involving climate change, comet impact and a multitude of other factors, scientists have found in separate studies. Previous research had blamed their demise on tribal hunting. But new findings "pretty much dispel the idea of any one factor, any one event, as dooming the mammoths," said Glen MacDonald, a researcher and geographer at the University of California in Los Angeles, to LiveScience.com. In other words, hunting didn't help, but it was not instrumental.... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Monmouth ruin find could pre-date pyramids |
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· 06/16/2012 10:56:54 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · BBC News · · June 13, 2012 · · unattributed · |
Monmouth Archaeology, which found the wooden foundations, said they dated to at least the Bronze Age, but could be early Neolithic, about 6,500 years old... Steve Clarke of Monmouth Archaeology, who has 55 years' experience, claimed nothing like it had been discovered in Britain before and he was checking if something similar had been unearthed on mainland Europe. He said the structure, possibly a long house, had been built on the edge of a long-lost lake, which had silted up over time. The building's foundations were made from entire tree trunks, measuring about a metre wide... Mr Clarke said the... |
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| Neandertals / Neanderthals | |
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| Spain claims top spot for world's oldest cave art (Is it a Neanderthal "painting?") |
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· 06/15/2012 8:06:11 AM PDT · · Posted by LibWhacker · · 11 replies · · Nature · · 6/14/12 · · Ewen Callaway · |
Archaeologists say red disk that is more than 40,000 years old could have been painted by Neanderthals. [Snip... Photos at link] It's no Mona Lisa, but a smudged red disk in northern Spain has been crowned the world's earliest cave painting. Dated to more than 40,800 years ago, the shape was painted by some of the first modern humans to reach the Iberian Peninsula -- or it may have been done by Neanderthals, residents of the Iberian peninsula for more than 200,000 years. "There is a very good chance that this is Neanderthal," says Alistair Pike, an archaeological scientist at... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Scientists are accused of distorting theory of human evolution by misdating bones |
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· 06/13/2012 3:28:02 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · The Observer · · Saturday, June 9, 2012 · · Robin McKie · |
Britain's leading expert on human evolution, Professor Chris Stringer, of the Natural History Museum, has warned in the journal Evolutionary Anthropology that the team in charge of La Sima has got the ages of its fossils wrong by 200,000 years and has incorrectly identified the species of ancient humans found there. Far from being a 600,000-year-old lair of a species called Homo heidelbergensis, he believes the pit is filled with Neanderthal remains that are no more than 400,000 years old. The difference in interpretation has crucial implications for understanding human evolution... La Sima de los Huesos was discovered by potholers... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Book Review: George Washington's Military Genius |
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· 06/12/2012 7:10:47 PM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 48 replies · · Human Events · · 6/12/2012 · · Jarrett Stepman of review · |
George Washington is justifiably called the "Father of America" for his military and civilian leadership during the American Revolution and his two terms as America's first president, however, in the new book, George Washington's Military Genius, General David Palmer persuasively argues that Washington's strategic military talent was key to his success. Gen. Palmer, who is a former superintendent of West Point, attempts to bust the myths surrounding Washington's American Revolutionary War experience and to put the accomplishments on the battlefield in perspective. Some historians view Washington as an incompetent bungler who merely got lucky in a few engagements with the... |
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| The Framers | |
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| George Washington's Constitution Up for Grabs Next Week |
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· 06/14/2012 11:53:56 AM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 12 replies · · Webpronews · · 6/14/2012 · · Todd Rigney · |
George Washington's copies of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, both of which are 223 year-old, are scheduled to hit the auction block at Christie's next week. The documents, which are bound in a book containing notes by the first President of the United States himself, were made available to the press earlier this week. Those who are looking to own a piece of history will have an opportunity to do so on June 22nd. Potential bidders better have plenty of money in the bank, as the documents are expected to fetch upwards of $3 million. What separates this... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Presidential Election History from 1789 to 2008 [Re-elected Ones *Gain* Votes!] |
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· 06/12/2012 12:14:11 PM PDT · · Posted by SoFloFreeper · · 17 replies · · Procon,org · · 6/12/12 · · SFF · |
[The final call on Rush Limbaugh today referred to the history of Presidential elections and the re-election history of our Presidents. A review of this history shows the depth of the problems for Barack Hussein Obama.]The presidential candidates and their political parties, number of electoral and popular votes received, and vice presidential candidates for every election from 1789 to 2008 are listed below, in reverse chronological order. Every candidate that received either more than 100,000 popular votes or at least one electoral vote has been included. |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Is this the hand of John the Baptist?... |
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· 06/15/2012 6:12:49 AM PDT · · Posted by C19fan · · 38 replies · · UK Daily Mail · · June 15, 2012 · · Chris Brooke · |
When archaeologists claimed to have found the bones of John the Baptist amid the ruins of an ancient Bulgarian monastery experts were understandably sceptical. But carbon dating tests carried out at Oxford University have provided scientific evidence to support the extraordinary claim. A knucklebone has been dated to the 1st Century AD - a time when the revered Jewish prophet is believed to have lived. |
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| Famous Cave Paintings Might Not Be From Humans |
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· 06/15/2012 8:47:02 AM PDT · · Posted by dead · · 80 replies · · NPR.org · · June 15, 2012 · · Christopher Joyce · |
The famous paintings on the walls of caves in Europe mark the beginning of figurative art and a great leap forward for human culture. But now a novel method of determining the age of some of those cave paintings questions their provenance. Not that they're fakes -- only that it might not have been modern humans who made them. The first European cave paintings are thought to have been made over 30,000 years ago. Most depict animals and hunters. Some of the eeriest are stencils of human hands, apparently made by blowing a spray of pigment over a hand held... |
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| New dating puts cave art in the age of Neanderthals |
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· 06/15/2012 9:26:33 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 25 replies · · post-gazette · · June 15, 2012 · · John Noble Wilford · |
Stone Age artists were painting red disks, handprints, clublike symbols and geometric patterns on European cave walls long before previously thought, in some cases more than 40,000 years ago, scientists reported Thursday, after completing more reliable dating tests that raised a possibility that Neanderthals were the artists. A more likely situation, the researchers said, is that the art -- 50 samples from 11 caves in northwestern Spain-- was created by anatomically modern humans fairly soon after their arrival in Europe. The findings seem to put an exclamation point to a run of recent discoveries: direct evidence from fossils that Homo... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| The Birth of Bureaucracy (Where Long Lines, Red Tape & Arcane Rules Began; 1650 to 1100 B.C.) |
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· 06/13/2012 7:32:01 PM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 17 replies · · Archaeology · · July/August 2012 · · Amanda Summer · |
The Birth of Bureaucracy At the site of Iklaina, excavations are revealing new evidence of how the Mycenaean state functioned - Pylos, in Greece's southwestern Peloponnese, is known for its miles of soft sandy beaches, rocky islets soaring out of the water marking the edges of the Bay of Navarino, and the mountains that cut it off from the rest of Greece. The surrounding region, known as Messenia, is also home to dozens of archaeological sites. Since the nineteenth century, Messenia has attracted archaeologists hoping to uncover remains of Greece's Mycenaean age, the period from approximately 1650 to 1100 B.C.,... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| New book offers definitive account of Lindbergh kidnapping |
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· 06/12/2012 4:50:52 PM PDT · · Posted by Robwin · · 20 replies · · Daily Caller · · 06/12/2012 · · Arthur T. Vanderbilt, II · |
Through some incredibly persistent sleuthing, consultation with specialists in modern criminal investigative analysis, and a good dose of luck, author Robert Zorn has solved what has been correctly called "the crime of the century": the Lindbergh kidnapping. And so the [Hauptmann] case ended with as many questions open as answered, all of which are laid out in Cemetery John with precision. And then, with new evidence and equal precision, the author proceeds to answer each one. |
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| end of digest #413 20120616 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #413 · v 8 · n 48 Saturday, June 16, 2012 |
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13 topics |
Happy mid-June, this is every Triskaidekaphobiacs nightmare -- |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #414 Saturday, June 23, 2012 |
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| Multiregionalism | |
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| Re-Examining the "Out of Africa" Theory and the Origin of Europeoids in Light of DNA Genealogy |
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· 06/20/2012 2:19:55 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 36 replies · · scirp.org · · May 2012 · · Anatole A. Klyosov, Igor L. Rozhanskii · |
Seven thousand five hundred fifty-six (7556) haplotypes of 46 subclades in 17 major haplogroups were considered in terms of their base (ancestral) haplotypes and timespans to their common ancestors, for the purposes of designing of time-balanced haplogroup tree. It was found that African haplogroup A (originated 132,000 ± 12,000 years before present) is very remote time-wise from all other haplogroups, which have a separate common ancestor, named β-haplogroup, and originated 64,000 ± 6000 ybp. It includes a family of Europeoid (Caucasoid) haplogroups from F through T that originated 58,000 ± 5000 ybp. A downstream common ancestor for haplogroup A and β-haplogroup, coined the α-haplogroup emerged 160,000 ± 12,000 ybp. A territorial origin of haplogroups α- and β-remains unknown; however, the most likely origin for each of them is a vast triangle stretched from Central Europe in the west through the Russian Plain to the east and to Levant to the south. Haplogroup B is descended from β-haplogroup (and not from haplogroup A, from which it is very distant, and separated by as much as 123,000 years of "lat- eral" mutational evolution) likely migrated to Africa after 46,000 ybp. The finding that the Europeoid haplogroups did not descend from "African" haplogroups A or B is supported by the fact that bearers of the Europeoid haplogroups, as well as all non-African haplogroups do not carry either SNPs M91, P97, M31, P82, M23, M114, P262, M32, M59, P289, P291, P102, M13, M171, M118 (haplogroup A and its subclades SNPs) or M60, M181, P90 (haplogroup B), as it was shown recently in "Walk through Y" FTDNA Project (the reference is incorporated therein) on several hundred people from various haplogroups. |
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| British Isles | |
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| Welsh people could be most ancient in UK, DNA suggests |
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· 06/20/2012 5:01:13 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 54 replies · · BBC · · Tuesday, June 19, 2012 · · unattributed · |
Professor Peter Donnelly, of Oxford University, said the Welsh carry DNA which could be traced back to the last Ice Age, 10,000 years ago. The project surveyed 2,000 people in rural areas across Britain. Participants, as well as their parents and grandparents, had to be born in those areas to be included in the study. Prof Donnelly, a professor of statistical science at Oxford University and director of the Wellcome Trust centre for human genetics, said DNA samples were analysed at about 500,000 different points. After comparing statistics, a map was compiled which showed Wales and Cornwall stood out. Prof... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Ancient North Africans got milk: Herders began dairying around 7,000 years ago |
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· 06/22/2012 3:53:25 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Science News · · Wednesday, June 20th, 2012 · · Bruce Bower · |
Animal herders living in what was a grassy part of North Africa's Sahara Desert around 7,000 years ago had a taste for cattle milk, or perhaps milk products such as butter. Researchers have identified a chemical signature of dairy fats on the inside surfaces of pottery from that time. Dairy products played a big part in the diets of these ancient Africans, even though they did not live in farming villages as the earliest European milk users did, reports a team led by biogeochemists Julie Dunne and Richard Evershed, both of the University of Bristol in England. Dairying may have... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| How the Chicken Conquered the World: The epic begins 10,000 years ago in an Asian jungle... |
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· 06/18/2012 7:06:22 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 42 replies · · Smithsonian magazine · · June 2012 · · Jerry Adler and Andrew Lawler · |
The chickens that saved Western civilization were discovered, according to legend, by the side of a road in Greece in the first decade of the fifth century B.C. The Athenian general Themistocles, on his way to confront the invading Persian forces, stopped to watch two cocks fighting and summoned his troops, saying: "Behold, these do not fight for their household gods, for the monuments of their ancestors, for glory, for liberty or the safety of their children, but only because one will not give way to the other." The tale does not describe what happened to the loser, nor explain... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Massive Gold Trove Sparks Archeological Dispute |
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· 06/21/2012 5:36:03 PM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 8 replies · · Spiegel Online · · 21 June 2012 · · Matthias Schulz · |
A 3,300-year-old treasure trove of gold found in northern Germany has stumped German archeologists. One theory suggests that traders transported it thousands of miles from a mine in Central Asia, but other experts are skeptical. Archeologists in Germany have an unlikely new hero: former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. They have nothing but praise for the cigar-smoking veteran Social Democratic politician. Why? Because it was Schröder who, together with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, pushed through a plan to pump Russian natural gas to Western Europe. For that purpose, an embankment 440 kilometers (275 miles) long and up to 30 meters (100 feet)... |
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| Archaeological Dispute Erupts over Gold Trove |
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· 06/22/2012 3:50:22 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Spiegel · · Solstice Day, June 21, 2012 · · Matthias Schulz, DPA · |
...former Chancellor Gerhard Schrˆder... pushed through a plan to pump Russian natural gas to Western Europe. For that purpose, an embankment 440 kilometers (275 miles) long and up to 30 meters (100 feet) wide had to be created from Lubmin, a coastal resort town in northeastern Germany, to Rehden in Lower Saxony near the northwestern city of Bremen. The result has been a veritable cornucopia of ancient discoveries. The most beautiful find was made in the Gessel district of Lower Saxony, where 117 pieces of gold were found stacked tightly together in a rotten linen cloth. The hidden treasure is... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Research finds Stonehenge was monument marking unification of Britain |
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· 06/22/2012 3:40:45 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · U of Sheffield · · Friday, June 22, 2012 · · Amy Stone · |
The teams, from the universities of Sheffield, Manchester, Southampton, Bournemouth and University College London, all working on the Stonehenge Riverside Project (SRP), explored not just Stonehenge and its landscape but also the wider social and economic context of the monument's main stages of construction around 3,000 BC and 2,500 BC... Previous theories have suggested the great stone circle was used as a prehistoric observatory, a sun temple, a place of healing, and a temple of the ancient druids. The Stonehenge Riverside Project's researchers have rejected all these possibilities after the largest programme of archaeological research ever mounted on this iconic... |
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| Australia & the Pacific | |
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| How Easter Island's statues walked |
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· 06/21/2012 3:47:03 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Cosmic Log · · Wednesday, June 20, 2012 · · Alan Boyle · |
Did Easter Island's famous statues rock, or roll? After doing a little rocking out themselves, researchers say they're sure the natives raised the monumental figures upright, and then rocked them back and forth to "walk" them to their positions. Their findings mesh with a scenario that casts the Polynesian island's natives in the roles of resourceful engineers working with the little that they had on hand, rather than the victims of a self-inflicted environmental catastrophe. "A lot of what people think they know about the island turns out to be not true," Carl Lipo, an archaeologist at California State University... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Australians Find Huge Mega-Wombat Graveyard |
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· 06/21/2012 7:34:41 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 46 replies · · Gulf Times · · 6/22/2012 · |
Australian scientists yesterday unveiled the biggest-ever graveyard of an ancient rhino-sized mega-wombat called diprotodon, with the site potentially holding valuable clues on the species' extinction. The remote fossil deposit in outback Queensland state is thought to contain up to 50 diprotodon skeletons including a huge specimen named Kenny, whose jawbone alone is 70cm long. Lead scientist on the dig, Scott Hocknull from the Queensland Museum in Brisbane, said Kenny was one of the largest diprotodons he had ever seen and one of the best preserved specimens. Pigeon-toed and with a backward-facing pouch large enough to carry an adult human, Hocknull... |
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| Geography is Destiny | |
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| How geography shapes cultural diversity |
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· 06/11/2012 5:43:13 PM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 10 replies · · Nature · · 11 June 2012 · · ZoÃŽ Corbyn · |
Study offers evidence that long countries give better protection to languages than those that are wide. One reason that Eurasian civilizations dominated the globe is because they came from a continent that was broader in an east-west direction than north-south, claimed geographer Jared Diamond in his famous 1997 book Guns, Germs and Steel. Now, a modelling study has found evidence to support this 'continental axis theory'.Continents that span narrower bands of latitude have less variation in climate, which means a set of plants and animals that are adapted to more similar conditions. That is an advantage, says Diamond, because it means... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Deadly bubonic plague found in Oregon: Back to the Middle Ages? |
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· 06/17/2012 12:29:52 AM PDT · · Posted by Olog-hai · · 19 replies · · New Jersey Newsroom · · Saturday, 16 June 2012 11:00 · · Bob Holt · |
A man has been hospitalized in Oregon who is believed to be suffering from the black plague, a disease that killed about one-third of the population of Europe during the Middle Ages. The unidentified man in his 50s became ill several days after being bitten when he tried to get a mouse out of the mouth of a stray cat, according to OregonLive.com. The man was listed in critical condition in a Bend hospital on Tuesday. NZ Herald News reported that the man showed classic symptoms of the plague -- swollen lymph nodes in the groin and armpits. But doctors said he... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| New Indo-European Language Discovered |
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· 06/21/2012 5:14:04 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 12 replies · · Sci-News.com · · 6-19-2012 · · John Shanks · |
A linguistics researcher at the Macquarie University in Australia has discovered that the language, known as Burushaski, which is spoken by about 90,000 people who reside in a remote area of Pakistan, is Indo-European in origin. Prof Ilija Casule's discovery, which has now been verified by a number of the world's top linguists, has excited linguistics experts around the world. An entire issue of the eminent international linguistics journal the Journal of Indo-European Studies is devoted to a discussion of his findings later this month. More than fifty eminent linguists have tried over many years to determine the genetic relationship... |
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| Navigation | |
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| Roman jewellery found in ancient Japan tomb |
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· 06/22/2012 3:03:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · Nineman.com.au · · Friday, June 22, 2012 · · AFP · |
Glass jewellery believed to have been made by Roman craftsmen has been found in an ancient tomb in Japan, researchers said Friday, in a sign the empire's influence may have reached the edge of Asia. Tests have revealed three glass beads discovered in the Fifth Century "Utsukushi" burial mound in Nagaoka, near Kyoto, were probably made some time between the first and the fourth century, the Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties said. The government-backed institute has recently finished analysing components of the glass beads, measuring five millimetres (0.2 inches) in diametre, with tiny fragments of gilt attached. It... |
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| The Roman Empire | |
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| So what have the Romans ever done for us? Ireland's links with the Roman empire are being investigated in a new archaeological project in which science plays a large part |
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· 06/20/2012 6:42:38 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 40 replies · · Irish Times · · Thursday, February 16, 2012 · · Anthony King · |
Roman artifacts including coins, glass beads and brooches turn up in many Irish counties, especially in the east. Cahill Wilson investigated human remains... using strontium and isotope analysis and carbon dating. Remarkably, this allowed her say where they most likely spent their childhood. One burial site on a low ridge overlooking the sea in Bettystown, Co Meath, was dated to the 5th/6th century AD using radiocarbon dating. Most of the people were newcomers to the area, Cahill Wilson concluded. The clue was in their teeth. Enamel, one of the toughest substances in our body, completely mineralises around the age of... |
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| Farty Shades of Green | |
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| Did St. Patrick sell slaves to the Irish? |
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· 03/17/2012 3:03:31 PM PDT · · Posted by caldera599 · · 35 replies · · 1+ views · · MSNBC · · 3/16/2012 · · MSNBC Staff · |
LONDON -- St. Patrick, patron saint of Ireland, may well have been a tax collector for the Romans who fled to Ireland where he could have traded slaves to pay his way, according to new research by a University of Cambridge academic published on Saturday. The generally accepted account of the saint's life, albeit based on scant evidence, says Patrick was abducted from western Britain as a teenager and forced into slavery in Ireland for six years during which time he developed a strong Christian faith. Afterwards, the account continues, he escaped his captors and went back to Britain before... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Bones of John The Baptist Possibly Discovered |
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· 06/16/2012 6:14:34 PM PDT · · Posted by Aliska · · 36 replies · · ABC News Online · · June 16, 2012 · · Russell Goldman · |
A team of researchers believe a knuckle bone found buried beneath a Bulgarian church may belong to John the Baptist, the New Testament prophet who heralded the ministry of Jesus. (Photo Included in article) |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| The Moslem Conquest (of India) |
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· 02/14/2004 6:33:32 PM PST · · Posted by ml/nj · · 82 replies · · 8,838+ views · · Our Oriental Heritage · · 1936 · · Will Durant · |
The Mohammedan Conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precarious thing, whose delicate complex of order and liberty, culture and peace may at any time be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within. The Hindus ... had failed to organize their forces for the protection of their frontiers and their capitals, their wealth and their freedom, from the hordes of Scythians, Huns, Afghans, and Turks hovering about India's boundaries and waiting for national weakness to let them in. For four hundred... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: DNA gives new insights into Michelle Obama's roots |
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· 06/17/2012 6:14:05 AM PDT · · Posted by Cronos · · 44 replies · · The New York Times · · 17 Jun 2012 · · Rachel L Swarns · |
Joan Tribble held tightly to her cane as she ventured into the overgrown cemetery where her people were buried. There lay the pioneers who once populated north Georgia's rugged frontier, where striving white men planted corn and cotton, fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves The settlers interred here were mostly forgotten over the decades as their progeny scattered across the South, embracing unassuming lives. But one line of her family took another path, heading north on a tumultuous, winding journey that ultimately led to the White House The white men and women buried here are the forebears of Mrs.... |
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| Meet Your Cousin, the First Lady: A Family Story, Long Hidden [Her White Forbears] |
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· 06/17/2012 10:28:28 AM PDT · · Posted by Steelfish · · 29 replies · · NY Times · · June 16, 2012 · · Rachel L. Swarns · |
Joan Tribble at the grave of her great-great-grandfather, Henry W. Shields, a Georgia slave owner who is also an ancestor of Michelle Obama. -- Joan Tribble held tightly to her cane as she ventured into the overgrown cemetery where her people were buried. There lay the pioneers who once populated north Georgia's rugged frontier, where striving white men planted corn and cotton, fought for the Confederacy and owned slaves. The settlers interred here were mostly forgotten over... |
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| Michelle Obama's ancestors traced to Ulster slave owner |
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· 06/18/2012 2:16:58 AM PDT · · Posted by 2ndDivisionVet · · 43 replies · · The Belfast Telegraph · · June 18, 2012 · · Paul Melia · |
US First Lady Michelle Obama's ancestry can be traced to a slave owner from what is now Northern Ireland, who emigrated to America in the 1700s. A new book claims that Andrew Shields, who fought against the British in the American War of Independence, was Mrs Obama's great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather and his family were slave owners. Her great-great-great-grandmother Melvinia was a slave who had children by Charles Shields, grandson of Andrew Shields. One of those children, Dolphus Shields, born in 1859, was Michelle Obama's direct ancestor. The claims are made in American Tapestry: The Story of the Black, White and Multiracial Ancestors... |
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| Early America | |
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| Archives burst at seams with Maryland history |
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· 06/18/2012 4:40:04 AM PDT · · Posted by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · · 14 replies · · The Washington Times · · June 17, 2012 · · David Hill · |
Annapolis -- The Maryland State Archives collection is among the largest in the country with nearly 400 years of history, including Colonial-era paintings, keepsakes of the state's governors, and thousands of land, court and genealogy records. With all that history, the Archives has run out of space. The agency first filled its Annapolis headquarters to capacity in 2000, then leased and filled a warehouse. It leased a second warehouse and a third before brokering a deal to store some of its property at the Baltimore City Archives. All of the facilities are now full, and state archivists have been pushing... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Washingtonianism -- The Father of his Country's vision for the American Founding |
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· 06/19/2012 2:54:22 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 14 replies · · City Journal · · Spring 2012 · · Myron Magnet · |
For we who believe that great men, not impersonal forces, make history, George Washington is Exhibit A. As the Revolution's commander in chief, president of the Constitutional Convention, and first president of the United States, he was luminously the Founding's indispensable man, in biographer James Flexner's pitch-perfect phrase. A pragmatic visionary -- that familiar American combination -- he conceived from his hard-won experience in the French and Indian War the central Founding ideas of an American union under a strong executive three decades before the Constitutional Convention, and his hardships in the Revolution led him to forge that vision into a plan. An ambitious... |
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| The General | |
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| James Madison Letter to General Washington |
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· 06/16/2012 12:52:03 PM PDT · · Posted by Jacquerie · · 32 replies · · The Constitution Society · · April 16th 1787 · · James Madison · |
Two hundred and twenty five years ago, and one month before the Philadelphia Convention, aka the Constitutional Convention, Congressional delegate James Madison responded to a letter from George Washington. He offered thoughts on his new plan of government, the Virginia Plan. Compared to the Articles of Confederation it was radical, yet it was structurally close enough to the mixed governments of the States to be familiar as well. It would emerge in modified form five months later as The Constitution of the United States of America.To George Washington New York, April 16 1787 Dear Sir, I have been honoured with... |
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| The Framers | |
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| George Washington's U.S. Constitution up for auction [today at New York City's Christie's] |
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· 06/22/2012 6:02:22 AM PDT · · Posted by ETL · · 27 replies · · Reuters · · June 13, 2012 · · Chris Michaud · |
(Reuters) -- A gold-embossed piece of U.S. history will go up for sale this month, when Christie's auctions off George Washington's personal copy of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights. The documents, which date to 1789 and are signed and annotated by the first U.S. president, are poised to fetch from $2 million to $3 million when they hit the block on June 22, the auction house said on Wednesday. The bound papers constitute Washington's personal copy of the Acts of Congress. These include the Constitution, whose preamble promises to "secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Reagan Remembers Dr. Joseph Warren, hero at Bunker Hill (June 17,1775) |
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· 06/17/2012 6:10:01 PM PDT · · Posted by gusopol3 · · 18 replies · · revolutionarywaranimated.com · |
"On the eve of our struggle for independence a man who might have been one of the greatest among the Founding Fathers, Dr. Joseph Warren, President of the Massachusetts Congress, said to his fellow Americans, 'Our country is in danger, but not to be despaired of.... On you depend the fortunes of America. You are to decide the important questions upon which rests the happiness and the liberty of millions yet unborn. Act worthy of yourselves.'" Map animation of the battle fought today, 237 years ago. |
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| The Second Amendment | |
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| Arms and the Greeks |
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· 06/14/2012 9:13:24 AM PDT · · Posted by marktwain · · 17 replies · · davekopel.org · · August, 1999 · · David Kopel · |
The founders didn't conjure up the right to bear arms out of thin air. They learned its value from the founders of Western civilization. The creators of America's republican form of government did not make everything up as they went along. American political philosophy -- including the right to keep and bear arms -- was firmly grounded in historical experience and in the great works of philosophy from ancient Greece through 18th-century Britain. The Declaration of Independence was derived from what Thomas Jefferson called, "the elementary books of public right, as Aristotle, Cicero, Locke, Sidney, etc." What did Aristotle -- ... |
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| Wild Wild West | |
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| How the Wild West REALLY looked: Gorgeous sepia-tinted pictures ... |
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· 06/13/2012 12:22:33 AM PDT · · Posted by brityank · · 48 replies · · Daily Mail · · 25 May 2012 · · Rob Cooper · |
Gorgeous sepia-tinted pictures show the landscape as it was charted for the very first time. These remarkable 19th century sepia-tinted pictures show the American West as you have never seen it before -- as it was charted for the first time. The photos, by Timothy O'Sullivan, are the first ever taken of the rocky and barren landscape. At the time federal government officials were travelling across Arizona, Nevada, Utah and the rest of the west as they sought... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Germans recover Stuka bomber wreck from Baltic Sea |
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· 06/11/2012 1:43:47 PM PDT · · Posted by greatdefender · · 45 replies · · AP-Yahoo! · · June 11, 2012 · · David Rising · |
Berlin (AP) -- German military divers are working to hoist the wreck of a Stuka dive bomber from the floor of the Baltic Sea, a rare example of the plane that once wreaked havoc over Europe as part of the Nazis' war machine. The single-engine monoplane carried sirens that produced a distinctive and terrifying screaming sound as it dove vertically to release its bombs or strafe targets with its machine guns. There are only two complete Stukas still around. The Stuka wreck, first discovered in the 1990s when a fisherman's nets snagged on it, lies about 10 kilometers (6 miles)... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Happy Birthday Nikola Tesla |
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· 07/06/2006 7:02:41 PM PDT · · Posted by eleni121 · · 168 replies · · 2,380+ views · · NikolaTesla Memorial Society · · July 6, 2006 · · Me · |
The Nikola Tesla Monument within Queen Victoria Park, Niagara Falls (Canadian Side) will be unveiled on July 9, 2006 at 12 noon celebrating the 150th birthday of Nikola Tesla. |
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| end of digest #414 20120623 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #414 · v 8 · n 49 Saturday, June 23, 2012 |
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29 topics |
Digest #414 is a prime one, with its 29 topics -- and we have but three more to go in the eighth year of the Digest. Lots of early America and modern or nearly-modern topics this week, some from the FRchives. You realize of course that the 4th of July is motoring up right now, right? That isn't about shootin' off fireworks.· view this issue ·Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR sometimes gets shared here, that's my story and I'm sticking with it: Remember in November.Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by a power obtainable at any point of the universe. This idea is not novel. Men have been led to it long ago by instinct or reason; it has been expressed in many ways, and in many places, in the history of old and new. We find it in the delightful myth of Antheus, who derives power from the earth; we find it among the subtle speculations of one of your splendid mathematicians and in many hints and statements of thinkers of the present time. Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic! If static, our hopesare in vain; if kinetic -- and this we know it is, for certain -- then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of Nature. -- Nikola Tesla [Experiments with alternate currents of high potential and high frequency, February 1892] |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #415 Saturday, June 30, 2012 |
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| The Revolution | |
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| MI: Washington honored soldier he sent to spy on British |
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· 06/24/2012 6:42:26 PM PDT · · Posted by SandRat · · 7 replies · · Sierra Vista Herald/Review · · Bill Hess · |
WASHINGTON HEADQUARTERS, NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- On Aug. 7, 1782, General George Washington issued an order for the establishment of The Badge of Military Merit. Part of his order for the badge's creation was it would be in the shape of a heart and made of purple cloth on which the word merit would be embroidered. It was to be worn on the left breast of the recipient. Only three are known to have been awarded by Washington, all in 1783 at his Newburgh headquarters with one on display at the New Windsor Cantonment. All involved bravery. Two were awarded for what... |
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| Book containing George Washington's copy of Constitution fetches nearly $10M |
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· 06/23/2012 7:34:03 AM PDT · · Posted by ETL · · 24 replies · · FoxNews.com · · June 22, 2012 · · Maegan Vazquez · |
A book owned by George Washington and containing his own annotated copy of the Constitution sold for almost $10 million at Christie's, more than three times what it was expected to draw. A fierce bidding war between two unidentified parties forced the price up, and applause erupted in the venerable auction house when the hammer came down and the 223-year-old book sold for $9,826,500 to the Mount Vernon Ladies Association.The Acts of Congress volume includes a copy of the Constitution, a draft of the Bill of Rights, and acts creating the executive, State and Treasury department. The book was printed... |
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| Early America | |
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| Archaeologists Unearth Rare 17th Century Find at Jamestown Excavations |
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· 06/26/2012 9:44:52 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 18 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Thu, Jun 21, 2012 · · Anon. · |
The pocket-sized ivory sundial likely belonged to one of the early English gentlemen colonists. It was discovered while archaeologists were carefully digging fill soil above a cellar dated to the early James Fort period (1607-1610) at Jamestown, Virginia, the site of North America's first successful English colony. The artifact was the lower leaf of an ivory pocket sundial known in the 17th century as a diptych dial. It clearly bore the name of its maker, Hans Miller, who was a 17th century craftsman known to have made sundials in Nuremberg, Germany. Like many objects found at the Jamestown excavations, it... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Sallie, Mascot of the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteers |
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· 06/23/2012 5:18:40 PM PDT · · Posted by PaulZe · · 21 replies · · nycivilwar.us · |
It was during the first month of training in 1861 for the new 11th PA Volunteer Infantry Regiment when a stranger from town brought to the captain a puppy, barely four to five weeks old, and presented it to the regiment. She was a pug-nosed brindle bull terrier that soon won the admiration of all the men in the unit. She was cute, and the men named her after one of the local beauties in West Chester, PA, the site of training. In the weeks and months that followed, Sallie could count on the hundreds of uniformed men to play... |
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| British Isles | |
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| King's Lynn: Bronze Age burial pot find excites experts |
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· 06/27/2012 3:00:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Lynn News (UK) · · Friday, June 22, 2012 · · unattributed · |
An exciting find of an intact Bronze Age burial urn has been made by a team of archaeological experts working on the site of a new link road under construction at Lynn. The team had already unearthed Iron Age timber posts beside the route of the road which will take traffic from the A149 Queen Elizabeth Way to Scania Way on the Hardwick Industrial Estate, where the new Sainsbury's superstore is being built. Ken Hamilton, Norfolk County Council's senior historic environment officer, said now a collared urn, believed to contain cremated human remains from about 2,500 years ago, had been... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Rome Icon Actually Younger Than the City |
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· 06/25/2012 7:49:47 PM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 10 replies · · Discovery News · · Mon Jun 25, 2012 · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
The icon of Rome's foundation, a life-size bronze statue of a she-wolf with two human infants suckling her, is about 1,700 years younger than its city, Rome's officials admitted on Saturday. The official announcement, made at the Capitoline Museums, where the 30 inch-high bronze is the centerpiece of a dedicated room, quashes the belief that the sculpture was adopted by the earliest Romans as a symbol for their city. "The new dating ranges between 1021 e il 1153," said Lucio Calcagnile, who carried radiocarbon tests at the University of Salento's Center for Dating... |
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| The Roman Empire | |
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| The Ivy League of Ancient Roman Gladiator Schools |
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· 06/27/2012 11:17:49 AM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 6 replies · · IO9 · · Jun 22, 2012 · · Keith Veronese · |
The Ivy League of Ancient Roman Gladiator Schools If you got sent back in time 2,000 years to ancient Rome, you probably wouldn't want to choose a career as a gladiator. After all, it was a messy existence, with a fairly low life expectancy. But if you were up to your eyeballs in debt, or wanted a chance at fortune or fame, you could break in at the top, by going to gladiator school. And four different Roman gladiator academies rose above the nearly 100 others, to become the best of the best. At these schools, you'd learn specific fighting... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Yeshiva University Team Discovers the Arch of Titus Menorah's Original Golden Color |
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· 06/25/2012 4:50:54 PM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 9 replies · · Yeshiva University · · June 22, 2012. · |
From June 5 to 7, 2012 an international team of scholars led by the Yeshiva University Center for Israel Studies in partnership with the Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Roma undertook a pilot study of the Arch of Titus in the Roman Forum, the ancient civic center of Rome, Italy. The focus of attention was the Menorah panel and the relief showing the deification of Titus at the apex of the arch. The arch was originally dedicated after the Emperor Titus' death in 81 CE and celebrates his victory in the Jewish War of 66-74 CE, which climaxed... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| DNA clues to Queen of Sheba tale |
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· 06/23/2012 9:34:37 PM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 17 replies · · BBC · · 21 June 2012 · · Helen Briggs · |
Clues to the origins of the Queen of Sheba legend are written in the DNA of some Africans, according to scientists.Genetic research suggests Ethiopians mixed with Egyptian, Israeli or Syrian populations about 3,000 years ago. This is the time the queen, mentioned in great religious works, is said to have ruled the kingdom of Sheba. The research, published in The American Journal of Human Genetics, also sheds light on human migration out of Africa 60,000 years ago.According to fossil evidence, human history goes back longer in Ethiopia than anywhere else in the world. But little has been known until now... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Egyptian Islamists Target Bikinis, Pyramids |
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· 09/02/2011 8:57:43 AM PDT · · Posted by bayouranger · · 35 replies · · investigativeproject.org · · Sept 01, 2011 · · IPT news · |
With the Egyptian economy already worsening since the revolution began in January, Muslim Brotherhood operatives are demanding stricter regulations on behavior and dress that could damage the country's tourism industry. The Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), which functions as the Brotherhood's political wing, wants to ban alcohol consumption on Egyptian streets and ban bikinis on the beach. "Beach tourism must take the values and norms of our societies into account," FJP Secretary-General Muhammad Saad al-Katatny told Egyptian tourism officials Monday. "We must place regulations on tourists wishing to visit Egypt, which we will announce in advance." For their part, Egyptian... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Iraq cuts US archaeology cooperation over Jewish archives |
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· 06/27/2012 3:46:20 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Middle East Online · · Tuesday, June 26, 2012 · · Mohamad Ali Harissi · |
Iraq has cut cooperation with the United States on archaeological exploration because Washington has not returned Iraq's Jewish archives, Tourism and Archaeology Minister Liwaa Smaisim has said. The fate of the archives, which were removed from Iraq following the 2003 US-led invasion, is a long-running point of contention between Washington and Baghdad, which has for years sought their return. Smaisim, a member of powerful anti-US Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement, said in an interview with AFP that Iraq will use "all the means" to pursue the return of the archives. "One of the means of pressure that I used against... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| UNESCO designates Church of the Nativity as endangered site (bad news) |
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· 06/30/2012 12:43:13 AM PDT · · Posted by Olog-hai · · 7 replies · · AP via Christian Science Monitor · · June 29, 2012 · · Dalia Nammari & Karin Laub, AP · |
The Palestinians on Friday persuaded the U.N. cultural agency to list the Church of the Nativity -- the place where Christians believe Jesus was born -- as an endangered World Heritage site despite misgivings by churches in charge of the basilica.The Palestinians hailed the nod by UNESCO as a step forward in their quest for global recognition of an independent Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967. The centuries-old basilica is located in a part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank where the Palestinians have self-rule. UNESCO's decision was seen by them as validation of their rights to... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Syria's stonehenge': Mysterious ruins in desert could be 10,000 years old |
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· 06/25/2012 12:56:29 PM PDT · · Posted by Fractal Trader · · 30 replies · · Daily Mail Online · · 25 June 2012 · · Rob Waugh · |
A mysterious ancient building in Syria, described as a 'landscape for the dead' could be as old as 10,000 years ago - far older than the Great Pyramid. But scientists have been unable to explore the ruins, unearthed in 2009, because of the conflict in the region. The strange stone formations were uncovered in 2009, by archaeologist Robert Mason of the Royal Ontario Museum, who came across stone lines, circles, and tombs in a near-lifeless area of desert. The strange stone formations were uncovered in 2009, by archaeologist Robert Mason of the Royal Ontario Museum, who came across stone lines,... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| ScienceCasts: The Surprising Power of a Solar Storm |
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· 06/29/2012 3:14:56 PM PDT · · Posted by tired&retired · · 8 replies · · NASA Science · · March 22, 2012 · · NASA Science · |
A flurry of solar activity in early March dumped enough heat in Earth's upper atmosphere to power every residence in New York City for two years. The heat has since dissipated, but there's more to come as the solar cycle intensifies. At 2:16 minutes into the video it very clearly says that the CO2 is one of the most efficient coolants in the atmosphere and that it reflected 95% of the radiation back into outer space. This entire series of videos is excellent. |
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| Climate | |
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| The Intriguing Problem Of The Younger Dryas -- What Does It Mean And What Caused It? |
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· 06/21/2012 10:11:38 AM PDT · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 40 replies · · watts Up With That? · · June 19, 2012 · · Guest post by Don J. Easterbrook · |
This is a follow up posting to Younger Dryas --The Rest of the Story!Guest post by Don J. Easterbrook Dept. of Geology, Western Washington University.The Younger Dryas was a period of rapid cooling in the late Pleistocene 12,800 to 11,500 calendar years ago. It followed closely on the heels of a dramatically abrupt warming that brought the last Ice Age to a close (17,500 calendar years ago), lasted for about 1,300 years, then ended as abruptly as it started. The cause of these remarkably sudden climate changes has puzzled geologists and climatologists for decades and despite much effort to find... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Creative Individuals Travelled to the South Swedish Inland 9,000 Years Ago |
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· 06/26/2012 8:11:51 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Science News · · Monday, June 25, 2012 · · U of Gothenburg, via AlphaGalileo · |
Despite its good ecologic status, there were no permanent settlements in the south Swedish inland 9,000 years ago. Yet the area was visited by people who wanted to express their individuality and creativity and thereby gain status... Carl Persson's doctoral thesis in Archaeology is based on archaeological material discovered in connection with the construction of the E4 highway by Markaryd, Sweden. The finds consisted of a few very small pieces of flint that had been left behind in connection with visits to what used to be a small island in the outlet of a long-gone lake. The wear marks on... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| La Draga Neolithic site in Banyoles yields the oldest Neolithic bow discovered in Europe |
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· 06/29/2012 2:01:29 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 17 replies · · Phys.org · · June 29, 2012 · · Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona · |
Archaeological research carried out at the Neolithic site of La Draga, near the lake of Banyoles, has yielded the discovery of an item which is unique in the western Mediterranean and Europe. The item is a bow which appeared in a context dating from the period between 5400-5200 BCE, corresponding to the earliest period of settlement. It is a unique item given that it is the first bow to be found in tact at the site. According to its date, it can be considered chronologically the most ancient bow of the Neolithic period found in Europe. The study will permit... |
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| Complex Thinking Behind the Bow and Arrow |
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· 06/26/2012 8:18:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 32 replies · · Science News · · Monday, June 25, 2012 · · Universitaet Tubingen, via AlphaGalileo · |
Using archaeological finds and ethnological parallels, the two researchers reconstructed the steps needed to make a bow and arrows. These are complimentary tools -- separate, but developed interdependently. The bow is the controlling element, while the arrows can be used more flexibly and are interchangeable. About 2.5 million years ago, humans first used tools to make other tools then to make tools assembled from different parts to make a unit with particular qualities, such as wooden spears with stone spearheads (ca. 200,000-300,000 years ago.) The bow and arrow and other complementary tool sets made it possible for prehistoric humans to... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Oldest Pearl in Human History Found in UAE -- From a Grave |
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· 06/28/2012 4:30:02 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 10 replies · · Emirates 24/7 · · Thursday, June 28, 2012 · |
Researchers have discovered the world's oldest natural pearl in Umm Al Quwain, UAE, which is believed to be originated between 5547 and 5235 BC, Discovery News said in a report. The report said that the pearl was discovered not from the sea but grave. Researchers said that findings at local necropolis revealed that pearls were often placed on the deceased's face, often above the upper lip. The research was carried out by French researchers. The discovery suggests that pearl oyster fishing first started in Gulf Arab peninsula not in Japan - as previously believed by researchers. In 5,000 BC, half-drilled... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, & PreClovis | |
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| Ancient Text Confirms Mayan Calendar End Date |
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· 06/28/2012 4:34:15 PM PDT · · Posted by Perdogg · · 25 replies · · yahoo · |
A newly discovered Mayan text reveals the "end date" for the Mayan calendar, becoming only the second known document to do so. But unlike some modern people, ancient Maya did not expect the world to end on that date, researchers said. "This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," Marcello Canuto, the director of Tulane University Middle America Research Institute, said in a statement. "This new evidence suggests that the 13 bak'tun date was an important calendrical event that would have been celebrated by the ancient Maya; however, they make no apocalyptic prophecies whatsoever regarding the date." |
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| Maya archaeologists unearth new 2012 monument |
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· 06/29/2012 7:28:41 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 13 replies · · PHYS.ORG · · JUNE 28, 2012 · · Tulane University · |
Archaeologists working at the site of La Corona in Guatemala have discovered a 1,300 year-old year-old Maya text that provides only the second known reference to the so-called "end date" for the Maya calendar on December 21, 2012. The discovery, one of the most significant hieroglyphic find in decades, was announced today at the National Palace in Guatemala. "This text talks about ancient political history rather than prophecy," says Marcello A. Canuto, Director of Tulane's Middle American Research Institute and co-director of the excavations at the Maya ruins of La Corona. "This new evidence suggests that the 13 Bak'tun date... |
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| China | |
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| Pottery 20,000 years old found in a Chinese cave |
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· 06/28/2012 4:37:18 PM PDT · · Posted by Dysart · · 17 replies · · Newsvine.com · · 6-27-12 · |
Pottery fragments found in a south China cave have been confirmed to be 20,000 years old, making them the oldest known pottery in the world, archaeologists say. The findings, which will appear in the journal Science on Friday, add to recent efforts that have dated pottery piles in east Asia to more than 15,000 years ago, refuting conventional theories that the invention of pottery correlates to the period about 10,000 years ago when humans moved from being hunter-gathers to farmers. The research by a team of Chinese and American scientists also pushes the emergence of pottery back to the last... |
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| end of digest #415 20120630 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #415 · v 8 · n 49 Saturday, June 30, 2012 |
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29 topics |
I do apologize -- I've been falling asleep at the keyboard, and managed to get mixed up a little and sent the actual Digest, instead of just this pointer message, to the entire list. Ouch! Mea GULPa. |
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WOW..maybe I didn’t notice before..but I love this format!! THank you, thank you!
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #416 Saturday, July 7, 2012 |
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| The Revolution | |
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| July 2, 1776 - Birth of the American Republic Begins: New York Abstains, John Dickenson is Absent |
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· 07/02/2012 6:26:18 PM PDT · · Posted by maggiesnotebook · · 15 replies · · Maggie's Notebook · · July 2, 1776 · · Maggie@MaggiesNotebook · |
On the night of July 1, 1776, after a steamy heat-and-storm-laden day, the Continental Congress took a break from debating declaring independence from Britain. Nine colonies, a majority, voted for independence, but there was a desperate need for a unanimous vote. That night, came the dreadful news of 100 British warships off the shores of New York City. The final vote came the next day, on July 2nd. New York abstained (and we thank them). John Dickinson of the divided Philadelphia delegation was absent. We thank him too. This has been my traditional Independence Day post for several years now. Taken... |
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| Fleming: What Life Was Like in 1776 |
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· 07/04/2012 5:11:52 AM PDT · · Posted by afraidfortherepublic · · 33 replies · · WSJ · · 7-4-12 · · Thomas Fleming · |
Almost every American knows the traditional story of July Fourth -- the soaring idealism of the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress's grim pledge to defy the world's most powerful nation with their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. But what else about revolutionary America might help us feel closer to those founders in their tricornered hats, fancy waistcoats and tight knee-breeches? Those Americans, it turns out, had the highest per capita income in the civilized world of their time. They also paid the lowest taxes -- and they were determined to keep it that way. By 1776, the 13 American colonies had... |
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| The General | |
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| The Wisdom of Washington |
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· 07/01/2012 7:33:34 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 23 replies · · NY Post · · June 30, 2012 · · Maureen Callahan · |
His annotated Constitution was worth $9.8 million at auction -- but was priceless to a nation When George Washington's personal, annotated copy of the Constitution sold last week for $9.8 million at auction in New York, it didn't just set a record. It allowed us to see, for the first time, how cautiously our first president assumed the office, his eyes not toward history but the future. "This shows that he let the presidency define him, rather than for him to define the presidency," says Edward Lengel, military historian and author of two books on Washington. "He was a man... |
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| Facts in the Ground | |
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| Archaeology uncovers truths |
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· 07/09/2012 4:10:25 PM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 6 replies · · Cleveland Jewish News · · July 9, 2012 · · Cliff Savren · |
The Arab line following the creation of the state of Israel was that Israel was a colonialist foreign entity plopped down in the Arab Middle East. Nothing exposes the fallacy of such an argument as powerfully as archaeological finds that literally lay bare the Jewish presence here from ancient times. It must have been thrilling for the early Zionists who made their way to Israel in the late 19th century and early 20th to see newly uncovered archaeological finds attesting to Jewish life here 1,500 to 2,000 years earlier. One of my favorite spots is the ancient mosaic synagogue floor... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Mosaic in Israel Shows Biblical Samson |
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· 07/05/2012 4:40:04 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 7 replies · · CNN · · 7/4/12 · · Joe Sterling · |
(CNN) -- Archaeologists are reveling in the discovery of an ancient synagogue in northern Israel, a "monumental" structure with a mosaic floor depicting the biblical figure of Samson and a Hebrew inscription. The synagogue -- dating to the fourth and fifth centuries in both the Talmudic and late Roman periods -- is in Huqoq, an ancient Jewish village in the country's Galilee region, the Israeli Antiquities Authority said. Jodi Magness, a professor of early Judaism in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said the building was found in a recent excavation. She... |
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| Exegesis | |
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| Was Ezekiel an epileptic? |
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· 11/18/2001 6:31:29 PM PST · · Posted by Phil V. · · 18 replies · · 182+ views · · The Jerusalem Post · · November, 19 2001 · · By Judy Siegel · |
Ezekiel's visions may have resulted as much from disease as from divine inspiration, according to a California neuroscientist, who believes the prophet suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy. Dr. Eric Altschuler, of the University of California at San Diego, presented his theory about Ezekiel and epilepsy before last week's meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego and reported in the latest issue of New Scientist. Altschuler said a careful reading of the Book of Ezekiel shows he had "all the classic signs of the ... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| England's Saints Have Been Written Out of History |
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· 06/23/2011 11:51:56 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 39 replies · · Catholic Herald (UK) · · 6/23/11 · · Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith · |
Our isle was once a land of saints, but now there is a trend to consign all religious people to the dustbin of historyToday, under the old dispensation, which may yet return, would have been Corpus Christi, and at least in the Cathedral town of Arundel, it still is, and thousands of people will be rushing down to West Sussex to see the magnificent carpet of flowers and to take part in the solemn Mass and procession at 5.30pm. I, sadly, cannot be with them, and for those in that position, I offer some consolation in a reflection of today's... |
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| Farty Shades of Green | |
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| Saint Patrick [Apostle Of Ireland] |
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· 03/17/2002 3:36:13 PM PST · · Posted by Lady In Blue · · 39 replies · · 2,398+ views · · Catholic Encyclopedia · · 00/00/1911 · · Patrick Francis CARDINAL Moran · |
A Litany of Saints By Ann Ball. Includes a history of the Litany of the Saints, with profiles of the individual saints mentioned in the litany. More... Visit Catholic Freebies to get free... |
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| No, No, Rudolph, the *Schmidt* House! | |
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| How St. Nicholas Became Santa Claus: One Theory |
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· 12/20/2005 7:20:30 PM PST · · Posted by NYer · · 36 replies · · 863+ views · · Zenit News Agency · · December 20, 2005 · |
Jeremy Seal on an Epic History BATH, England, DEC. 20, 2005 (Zenit.org).- The modern persona of Santa Claus is a far cry from its origins: St. Nicholas, bishop of Myra. So how did he go from a charitable saint to an icon of Christmas consumerism? Travel writer Jeremy Seal embarked on an international search to answer that question and recorded his findings in "Nicholas: The Epic Journey from Saint to Santa Claus" (Bloomsbury". Seal told ZENIT what he discovered tracking the cult of Santa Claus across the globe and why he thinks St. Nicholas and his charism of charity still... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Mali: Islamists destroy Timbuktu heritage sites |
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· 06/30/2012 10:02:45 AM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 25 replies · · Associated Press · · June 30, 2012 · · BABA AHMED · |
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) -- Islamist fighters with ties to al-Qaida have destroyed tombs classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site in Mali's historic city of Timbuktu, a resident and U.N. officials said Saturday. Irina Bokova, who heads the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, cited in a statement Saturday reports the centuries-old Muslim mausoleums of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi, Moctar and Alpha Moya have been destroyed. |
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| Islamist rebels destroy UNESCO World Heritage sites in historic Mali city of Timbuktu |
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· 06/30/2012 11:27:02 AM PDT · · Posted by ColdOne · · 17 replies · · WaPo · · 6/30/12 · · ap · |
BAMAKO, Mali -- Islamist fighters with ties to al-Qaida have destroyed tombs classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site in Mali's historic city of Timbuktu, a resident and U.N. officials said Saturday. Irina Bokova, who heads the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, cited in a statement Saturday reports the centuries-old Muslim mausoleums of Sidi Mahmoud, Sidi, Moctar and Alpha Moya have been destroyed. |
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| The Vikings | |
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| Legendary Viking town unearthed |
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· 07/03/2012 7:16:38 PM PDT · · Posted by Engraved-on-His-hands · · 38 replies · · ScienceNordic · · July 2, 2012 · · Niels Ebdrup · |
Danish archaeologists believe they have found the remains of the fabled Viking town Sliasthorp by the Schlei bay in northern Germany, near the Danish border. According to texts from the 8th century, the town served as the centre of power for the first Scandinavian kings. But historians have doubted whether Sliasthorp even existed. This doubt is now starting to falter, as archaeologists from Aarhus University are making one amazing discovery after the other in the German soil. "This is huge. Wherever we dig, we find houses -- we reckon there are around 200 of them," says Andres Dobat, a lecturer... |
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| Age of Sail | |
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| 500-year-old global map found in Munich (with continent named America) |
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· 07/04/2012 6:59:28 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 16 replies · · dw · · July 3, 2012 · |
History 500-year-old global map found in Munich Munich librarians have found a rare 16th century world map that first gave America its name as a continent. The version by German cartographer Martin Waldseem¸ller survived World War II sandwiched between geometry books. The Munich version is smaller than the 500-year-old global map found in a German monastery in 1901 and handed over by German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2007 to the US Library of Congress. Only four smaller versions were previously known to have survived. The word "America" on the larger Library of Congress map Waldseem¸ller (1470-1522) was... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Sky 'Crucifix' in Ancient Text May Be Mystery-Solving Supernova |
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· 07/01/2012 9:22:00 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 28 replies · · Livescience · · Friday, June 29, 2012 · · Life's Little Mysteries Staff · |
According to an Old English manuscript chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons, a mysterious "red crucifix" appeared in the "heavens" over Britain one evening in A.D. 774. Now astronomers say it may have been the supernova explosion that sprinkled unexplained traces of carbon-14 in tree rings that year, halfway around the world in Japan. Jonathon Allen, an undergraduate student at the University of California, Santa Cruz, made the connection this week after listening to a Nature podcast. He heard a team of Japanese scientists discussing new research in which they measured an odd spike in carbon-14 levels in tree rings... |
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| The Phoenicians | |
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| Archaeological report: Razed ruins not Phoenician port |
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· 07/03/2012 6:26:00 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · The Daily Star · · June 29, 2012 · · Justin Salhani · |
Beirut's Minet al-Hosn construction site does not contain the remains of a Phoenician port as maintained by the Directorate General of Antiquities and the former Culture Minister, according to an archaeological report obtained by The Daily Star. The Archaeological Assessment Report on the Venus Towers Site states: "While the site ... is intriguing, it does not fit the known parameters for a port, shipyard, or shipshed facility." The report, written by Dr. Ralph Pederson of Marburg University following an extensive investigation, maintains that there is nothing to connect the site to ships or shipbuilding. "The trenches could not have functioned... |
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| Terracotta in China | |
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| More terracotta warriors unearthed in China |
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· 06/30/2012 9:41:10 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 31 replies · · .upi. · |
Over 8,000 unearthed terracotta warriors stand in formation in a massive underground tomb (Pit 1) built for Emperor Qinshihuang's protection in his afterlife just 100 miles north-west of Xi'an, one of the oldest cities in China and the capital of Shaanxi Province on June 28, 2012. The Museum of the Terracotta Army has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. |
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| Australia & the Pacific | |
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| Polynesian paddle fetches nearly $340,000 |
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· 04/17/2010 5:10:34 PM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 18 replies · · 669+ views · · upi · · April 17, 2010 · |
ISLE OF WIGHT, England - A 100-year-old wooden paddle used in Polynesian dance ceremonies before becoming a household ornament fetched nearly $340,000 at a British auction. Bidders in London and Brussels quickly upped the price on the paddle after bidding started at just $4,629, The Times of London reported. The ceremonial paddle, known as a rapa, originated on Easter Island in the southeastern Pacific, where performers used the paddles to accentuate movements in dances and ceremonies. Tim Smith of Isle of Wight auctioneers Island Auction Rooms in Shanklin set a guide price of $15,341. "When the money started going up,... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, & PreClovis | |
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| Calls made to repatriate Beothuk remains |
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· 06/30/2012 6:02:20 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · Yahoo Canada · · Saturday, June 23, 2012 · · CBC · |
Aboriginal groups want bones of the extinct Beothuk people to be removed from museum vaults and brought back to Newfoundland. A woman named Shanawdithit was the last known member of her people, with her 1829 death in St. John's marking the end of the Beothuk. Disease, persecution and the Beothuk's decision to withdraw from coastal communities have been cited as causes of wiping out the Beothuk. The location of Shanawdithit's grave is not known, but the skulls of her aunt and uncle -- a chief -- languish in a museum in Edinburgh, Scotland. The remains of at least 22 Beothuk... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| "Frankenstein" Bog Mummies Discovered in Scotland |
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· 07/08/2012 5:46:50 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 27 replies · · National Geographic · · 6-6-2012 · · Rachel Kaufman · |
In a "eureka" moment worthy of Dr. Frankenstein, scientists have discovered that two 3,000-year-old Scottish "bog bodies" are actually made from the remains of six people. According to new isotopic dating and DNA experiments, the mummies -- a male and a female -- were assembled from various body parts, although the purpose of the gruesome composites is likely lost to history. The mummies were discovered more than a decade ago below the remnants of 11th-century houses at Cladh Hallan, a prehistoric village on the island of South Uist (map), off the coast of Scotland. The bodies had been buried in the fetal position 300... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Farming in Dark Age Britain |
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· 07/06/2012 4:50:58 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 26 replies · · Suite 101 · · 3-18-2011 · · Brenda Lewis · |
In the Dark Ages, the early Anglo-Saxon settlers in Britain led a hard life farming the land, in total contrast to their Romano-British predecessors. When the Romans invaded Britain in 43AD, they found a land of thick forests, heath and swampland. There were no towns, no roads - or nothing that a Roman would have recognized as proper roads - and no bridges. After the Romans However, by the time the Romans abandoned Britain four centuries later, they had turned it into a quite different place. The Anglo-Saxon settlers who began to arrive in large numbers in around 450AD found... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| Mystical marks in virgin forest explained |
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· 07/04/2012 6:07:40 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 48 replies · · Science Nordic (?!?) · · June 27, 2012 · · Nina Kristiansen · |
During a recent mapping of the rare virgin forest in and around the ÿvre Dividalen National Park in Troms, Norway, scientists noticed some scars reappearing on the trees. Many trees had some of their bark cut away on one side, leaving marks that were hard to explain. Arve Elvebakk of the University of Troms (UiT) headed the study. He worked together with Andreas Kirchhefer, an expert in dating old trees by tree-ring analysis. He had already used ancient pines to chart weather and climate conditions. Could the cuts in the bark have been left by settlers who started farms in... |
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| Zymurgy | |
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| Whisky windfall: Man finds rare 100-year-old bottles hidden in the attic |
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· 07/06/2012 5:38:52 PM PDT · · Posted by yorkie · · 76 replies · · NY Daily News · · July 6, 2012 · · Meghan Neal · |
When a Missouri man decided to install central air-conditioning and central heat in the attic of his historic house, he found much more than he bargained for. Bryan Fite, of St. Joseph, Mo., discovered 13 bottles of century-old whisky under the floorboards in the attic of his 1850s house. He didn't recognize his good fortune right away, thinking the bottles were tubes or oddly shaped installation pipes. But Fite soon discovered he was sitting on a goldmine of antique whisky - the bottles are likely worth several hundred dollars each, and possibly more. |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| World's Oldest Purse Found -- Studded With a Hundred Dog Teeth? |
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· 06/30/2012 6:07:51 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 35 replies · · National Geographic News · · Wednesday, June 27, 2012 · · Andrew Curry · |
The world's oldest purse may have been found in Germany -- and its owner apparently had a sharp sense of Stone Age style. Excavators at a site near Leipzig (map) uncovered more than a hundred dog teeth arranged close together in a grave dated to between 2,500 and 2,200 B.C. According to archaeologist Susanne Friederich, the teeth were likely decorations for the outer flap of a handbag... The dog teeth were found during excavations of the 250-acre (100-hectare) Profen (map) site, which is slated to become an open-pit coal mine in 2015. So far the project has uncovered evidence of... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| CSIC recovers part of the genome of 2 hunter-gatherer individuals from 7,000 years ago |
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· 06/30/2012 5:31:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Eurekalert · · Thursday, June 28, 2012 · · Spanish National Research Council · |
A team of scientists, led by researcher Carles Lalueza-Fox from CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), has recovered -- for the first time in history -- part of the genome of two individuals living in the Mesolithic Period, 7000 years ago. Remains have been found at La BraÃ’a-Arintero site, located at Valdelugueros (León), Spain. The study results, published in the Current Biology magazine, indicate that current Iberian populations don't come from these groups genetically. The Mesolithic Period, framed between the Paleolithic and Neolithic Periods, is characterized by the advent of agriculture, coming from the Middle East. Therefore, the genome found is... |
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| Climate | |
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| 'Britain's Atlantis' found at bottom of North sea -- a huge undersea world swallowed by the sea... |
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· 07/06/2012 10:07:44 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 33 replies · · Daily Mail (UK) · · Monday, July 2, 2012 · · Rob Waugh · |
Doggerland, a huge area of dry land that stretched from Scotland to Denmark was slowly submerged by water between 18,000 BC and 5,500 BC. Divers from oil companies have found remains of a 'drowned world' with a population of tens of thousands -- which might once have been the 'real heartland' of Europe. A team of climatologists, archaeologists and geophysicists has now mapped the area using new data from oil companies -- and revealed the full extent of a 'lost land' once roamed by mammoths... The research suggests that the populations of these drowned lands could have been tens of... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Caravaggio Discovery: to Find 100 New Works Is Simply Astonishing |
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· 07/05/2012 6:41:55 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 13 replies · · The Telegraph · · 05 Jul 2012 · · Mark Hudson · |
Telegraph critic Mark Hudson wonders at the possible discovery of 100 Caravaggio works in Italy and says if confirmed it could throw fresh light on the artist's reputationThe prospect of a hundred newly discovered works by any great artist of the past is little short of astonishing. The entire oeuvres of several of great figures -- Vermeer and Giorgione for example -- barely gets into double figures. When you think that 200 works is a pretty respectable total for the average, world-changing old master, then the prospect of an extra hundred constitutes a massive increase, that is likely to significantly... |
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| Finiculi, Finicula | |
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| Tuscan village on sale on Ebay for 2.5 million euros |
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· 07/05/2012 3:34:27 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · Medievalists.net · · June 28, 2012 · · unattributed · |
A medieval village, set in the Tuscan hills of Italy among castles and monasteries, can be yours for €2.5 million. Pratariccia, which is situated about 25 miles east of Florence, has now been put on sale through ebay, the popular online shopping website. The village consists of 25 homes and eight hectares of land. The village has been abandoned for over fifty years, so many of the buildings are in a ruined state and electricity lines would need to be established. Also, no roads exist that lead to the village. Local estate agent Carlo Magni said in an interview, "It's... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| "Beautiful" Squirrel-Tail Dinosaur Fossil Upends Feather Theory |
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· 07/03/2012 4:40:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 63 replies · · National Geographic · · 7-2-2012 · · Christine Dell'Amore · |
A newfound squirrel-tailed specimen is the oldest known meat-eating dinosaur with feathers, according to a new study. The late-Jurassic discovery, study authors say, strikes down the image of dinosaurs as "overgrown lizards." Unearthed recently from a Bavarian limestone quarry, the "exquisitely preserved" 150-million-year-old fossil has been dubbed Sciurumimus albersdoerferi -- "Scirius" being the scientific name for tree squirrels. Sciurumimus was likely a young megalosaur, a group of large, two-legged meat-eating dinosaurs. The hatchling had a large skull, short hind limbs, and long, hairlike plumage on its midsection, back, and tail... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Dinosaurs were Warm-blooded Reptiles |
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· 07/02/2012 5:46:24 PM PDT · · Posted by null and void · · 22 replies · · Scientific Computing · · 6/29/12 · |
Reconstruction of a dinosaur from the Catalan pre-Pyrenees, about 70 milion years ago. Courtesy of "scar Sanisidro. A study of extant mammals refutes the hypothesis that dinosaurs were ectotherms. The work was carried out by researchers from ICP and UAB. It has been published in Nature. The study analyzed the lines of arrested growth (LAG) in the bones of around a hundred ruminants, representative of the specific and ecological diversity of that group of mammals. The results show that the presence of these lines is not an indicator of ectothermic physiology (does not generate internal heat), as had previously been... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Incredible 3D Stereoscopic Civil War Photos |
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· 07/07/2012 1:11:19 PM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 29 replies · · Wild Ammo · · Eric S · |
Incredible 3D Stereoscopic Civil War Photos Stereoscopic images basically involve taking 2 or more static images, from slightly different angles, to create a 3D effect that tricks the eye into noticing the depth of field, angles and perspective of the image. Thus, it's possible to take a flat image and create 3D depth to it. When applied to older photographs, it's an amazing technique, because it brings life to history. Take for example, these Civil War photographs that use a stereoscopic effect! |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| In South Pacific, search is on for Amelia Earhart's plane |
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· 07/04/2012 11:17:03 PM PDT · · Posted by Rabin · · 10 replies · · Stars & Stripes · · July 4, 2012 · · Laura J. Nelson · |
"I have a feeling that there is just about one more good flight left in my system, and I hope this trip is it," Earhart said before she left. Now, a group of historians, salvage workers and scientists think they know |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Churchill, puffing on cigar and wearing dashing aviator glasses while being tailed by the Luftwaffe |
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· 07/08/2012 6:16:40 PM PDT · · Posted by Dysart · · 43 replies · · Daily Mail · · 7-8-12 · · Chris Parsons · |
Flight Officer Ron Buck kept back his own pictures from the trip that was later described as the 'Most Daring Flight of the Whole War.' Churchill had crossed the Atlantic by ship in order to lobby President Roosevelt, but rashly decided to fly home from Bermuda. With some of his most senior colleagues, the Prime Minister embarked on what was to become a perilous 18 hours flight. |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| What John Roberts really did for us |
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· 06/30/2012 11:52:15 AM PDT · · Posted by Starman417 · · 105 replies · · Flopping Aces · · 06-30-12 · · DrJohn · |
Pyrrhus was king of the Hellenistic kingdom of Epirus whose costly military successes against Macedonia and Rome gave rise to the phrase' Pyrrhic victory'. In 281 BC Tarentum, a Greek colony in southern Italy, asked his assisstance against Rome. Pyrrhus crossed to Italy with 25,000 men and 20 elephants. He won a complete, but costly, victory over a Roman army at Heraclea. In 279 Pyrrhus, again suffering heavy casualties, defeated the Romans at Asculum. His remark 'Another such victory and I shall be ruined' gave name to the term 'Pyrrhic victory' for a victory obtained at to great a... |
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| The Roman Empire | |
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| Superficial similarities between presidents and Roman leaders -- kinda cool, ultimately meaningless |
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· 03/13/2009 12:53:09 AM PDT · · Posted by Jubal Harshaw · · 5 replies · · 559+ views · · class="attrib">having too much time on my hands · · now · · me · |
I was just going over a list of Roman leaders, and was struck by similarities to our own leadership over the recent decades. I started with Nixon, and this is what I have: Caesar had a history that was superficially like Nixon's: Julius Caesar came to leadership during the Roman "social wars," a time of, well, social warring and unrest. Granted, the nominal issues during the Roman social wars were different than the issues raised during the American internal unrest of the late 1960s and early 1970s, but the widespread civil violence was a point of similarity. Both Caesar and... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Metal Detector Hobbyists Find Rare Heap Of Celtic Coins |
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· 07/01/2012 4:57:12 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 25 replies · · NPR · · 6/30/2012 · |
June 30, 2012 For more than 30 years, Richard Miles and Reg Mead scoured the fields of their native Jersey with metal detectors, hoping to one day come across an ancient coin or two. Earlier this week, the detector beeped and they found the world's largest-ever stash of Celtic coins. Host Scott Simon speaks with Reg Mead about their find. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Reg Mead and Richard Miles began to scour a field on their home island of Jersey... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Buried "treasure" in Southeastern Pennsylvania Freeper help needed |
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· 07/01/2012 6:03:48 PM PDT · · Posted by OL Hickory · · 19 replies · · treasureNet · · June-2012 · · SEPaMAN · |
Family tradition has it that my grandfather buried numerous hoards throughout the township, however we have only one set of clues. Whenever I searched for the hoard I usually swept the area with a metal detector in case any other treasures happened to be near. My father, who I believe was in the know, said that the location of the hoard was a clue to finding other buried caches - one of them in a barrow containing my grandfather! |
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| Common Criminals | |
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| Former church caretaker arrested for the Codex Calixtinus theft -- manuscript recovered |
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· 07/05/2012 2:58:40 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Medievalists.net · · Wednesday, July 4, 2012 · · unattributed · |
A former caretaker of the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, along with his wife, son, and another women, have been arrested by Spanish police in connection with the theft of the Codex Calixtinus, an important 12th-century manuscript. The manuscript has not yet been recovered, but police believe that they will soon find it. The Director General of Police, Ignacio Cosido, said in an interview, "I think we're in the right direction to solve the case. The investigation is ongoing, but the main objective is to find the Codex." The police have also recovered ?1.2m in cash, eight other copies of... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| U.S. Government: No Evidence of Aquatic Humanoids (i.e., "Mermaids") Has Ever Been Found. |
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· 07/03/2012 8:51:47 AM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 38 replies · · NOAA · · July 2012 · · NOAA · |
No evidence of aquatic humanoids has ever been found. Mermaids -- those half-human, half-fish sirens of the sea -- are legendary sea creatures chronicled in maritime cultures since time immemorial. The ancient Greek epic poet Homer wrote of them in The Odyssey. In the ancient Far East, mermaids were the wives of powerful sea-dragons, and served as trusted messengers between their spouses and the emperors on land. The aboriginal people of Australia call mermaids yawkyawks -- a name that may refer to their mesmerizing songs. The belief in mermaids may have arisen at the very dawn of our species. Magical... |
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| end of digest #416 20120707 | |
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My pleasure, glad you like it!
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #416 · v 8 · n 52 Saturday, July 7, 2012 |
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38 topics |
Well, sure, this is two days late, and the *38* topics are somewhat poached from next week's issue, but hey -- this Digest is the final one of the *eighth* volume, which is a big deal, because I've been doing this more than eight years. Maybe I'll do the dishes to celebrate. By way of full disclosure, I must point out that the issue count is now corrected to #52, last week's said #49 which was incorrect by two. I'm not sure when that error crept in.· view this issue ·Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR sometimes gets shared here, that's my story and I'm sticking with it: Remember in November. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #417 Saturday, July 14, 2012 |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Solar System Ice: Source of Earth's Water |
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· 07/14/2012 6:12:51 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · Carnegie Institution · · Thursday, July 12, 2012 · · unattributed · |
Scientists have long believed that comets and, or a type of very primitive meteorite called carbonaceous chondrites were the sources of early Earth's volatile elements -- which include hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon -- and possibly organic material, too. Understanding where these volatiles came from is crucial for determining the origins of both water and life on the planet. New research led by Carnegie's Conel Alexander focuses on frozen water that was distributed throughout much of the early Solar System, but probably not in the materials that aggregated to initially form Earth... It has been suggested that both comets and carbonaceous... |
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| Climate | |
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| Climate was HOTTER in Roman, medieval times than now: Study |
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· 07/10/2012 2:53:04 PM PDT · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 25 replies · · The Register · · 10th July 2012 11:44 GMT · · Lewis Page · |
Americans sweltering in the recent record-breaking heatwave may not believe it - but it seems that our ancestors suffered through much hotter summers in times gone by, several of them within the last 2,000 years. Phew, what a scorcher, Marcus. Let's get in the frigidarium A new study measuring temperatures over the past two millennia has concluded that in fact the temperatures seen in the last decade are far from being the hottest in history. A large team of scientists making a comprehensive study of data from tree rings say that in fact global temperatures have been on a... |
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| The Roman Empire | |
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| An Army Sacrificed in a Bog [ Alken, Denmark, 2K ago ] |
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· 07/11/2012 4:45:07 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · Past Horizons Archaeology · · July 2012 · · Aarhus University · |
The unique discovery at the east end of Lake Mossø of a slaughtered army dating to around two thousand years ago, was revealed by Danish archaeologists in 2009. They had found skeletal material from up to 200 warriors, who may have all come from the same battle. Cuts and slashes on the skeletons showed they had died violently but nothing is as yet known about the identity of the killers, or their victims. In February this year it was announced that the Carlsberg Foundation has granted 1.5 million DKK for further research and excavations in Alken Wetlands. Archaeologists and other... |
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| Age of Sail | |
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| De Soto discovery could change history books |
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· 07/09/2012 7:05:53 PM PDT · · Posted by Engraved-on-His-hands · · 38 replies · · Ocala [FL] Star Banner · · July 8, 2012 · · Fred Hiers · |
Hernando De Soto's route through Florida is as elusive to modern archaeologists as the gold the famed Spanish explorer sought throughout the southeastern United States. Ever since De Soto's 600 men set foot on the shores of Tampa Bay, arriving from Cuba almost 500 years ago, historians have debated the exact direction of his failed treasure-hunting expeditions as far north as Tennessee and North Carolina. But in north Marion County, an archaeologist has found what his contemporaries deem rarer than the gold De Soto was seeking -- physical evidence of the explorer's precise journey through Marion County and enough information... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Islamists destroy 2 more tombs in Mali's Timbuktu |
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· 07/10/2012 5:20:20 PM PDT · · Posted by EBH · · 7 replies · · ap · · 7/10/12 · · Baba Ahmed · |
Islamic extremists destroyed another two mausoleums in the northern Malian city of Timbuktu on Tuesday, attacking a graveyard attached to the city's most picturesque mosque, according to a historian specializing in the area's heritage. Salem Ould Elhadj, a researcher at the Ahmed Baba Institute in Timbuktu, said the members of the radical sect set out with picks and shovels to raze the tombs of two of Timbuktu's scholars, Baba Babadje and Mahamane Foulane, both of whom are considered saints. Their mausoleums are in a cemetery attached to the nearly 700-year-old Djingareyber mosque, built in 1325. It's made of mud and... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Calls to Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids Begin |
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· 07/10/2012 4:42:17 AM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 97 replies · · FrontPage Magazine · · July 10, 2012 · · Raymond Ibrahim · |
According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids -- or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi'i, those 'symbols of paganism,' which Egypt's Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain's 'Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs' and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to 'destroy the Pyramids... |
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| Calls to Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids Begin |
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· 07/10/2012 9:22:57 AM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 114 replies · · AINA/Front Page Magazine · · 7-10-2012 · · Raymond Ibrahim · |
According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids--or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi'i, those "symbols of paganism," which Egypt's Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not." This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen,... |
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| Calls to Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids Begin |
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· 07/10/2012 2:54:42 PM PDT · · Posted by Dallas59 · · 50 replies · · AINA · · 7/10/2012 · · AINA · |
According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids--or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi'i, those "symbols of paganism," which Egypt's Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what the Sahabi Amr bin al-As could not." This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's companion, Amr bin al-As and his Arabian tribesmen,... |
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| Egypt's Government Planning to Destroy the Great Pyramids? |
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· 07/10/2012 5:39:49 PM PDT · · Posted by dewawi · · 51 replies · · Christian Post · · · |
An online magazine has offered translations to Arabic news sources that purportedly indicate that Egypt's Salafi party has come forth with plans to demolish Egypt's Great Pyramids in an effort to bring down what it calls "symbols of paganism." Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, has reportedly urged Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not," according to conservative political publication FrontPage Magazine. Al-Mahmoud's comments relate to Amr bin al-As, a companion of the Islam's founder Muhammad, who invaded Egypt in 641 and began... |
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| Calls to Destroy Egypt's Great Pyramids Begin |
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· 07/11/2012 5:47:24 PM PDT · · Posted by Paleo Conservative · · 79 replies · · FrontPageMagazine.com · · July 10, 2012 · · Raymond Ibrahim · |
According to several reports in the Arabic media, prominent Muslim clerics have begun to call for the demolition of Egypt's Great Pyramids -- or, in the words of Saudi Sheikh Ali bin Said al-Rabi'i, those "symbols of paganism," which Egypt's Salafi party has long planned to cover with wax. Most recently, Bahrain's "Sheikh of Sunni Sheikhs" and President of National Unity, Abd al-Latif al-Mahmoud, called on Egypt's new president, Muhammad Morsi, to "destroy the Pyramids and accomplish what Amr bin al-As could not." Has the sun finally set for Egypt's Great Pyramids? This is a reference to the Muslim Prophet Muhammad's companion,... |
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| The Crusades | |
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| The Crusaders' last stand: Pot of gold worth £300,000 found in fortress |
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· 07/11/2012 6:56:15 AM PDT · · Posted by afraidfortherepublic · · 20 replies · · The Daily Mail · · 7-11-12 · · Rob Waugh · |
A pot of gold from the Crusades worth up to $500,000 has been found buried in an ancient Roman fortress in Israel. The coins were buried by Christian soldiers of the order of the Knights Hospitalier as the Crusaders faced an unstoppable attack by a huge Muslim army. The knights were annihilated in April 1265. The coins - worth a fortune even in 1265 when they were thought to have been buried - were deliberately hidden inside a broken jug to prevent them being discovered. The fortress was destroyed in April 1265 by forces of Mamluks who overwhelmed the Crusaders... |
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| Hoard of gold coins found at Israel Crusades site |
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· 07/11/2012 2:33:03 PM PDT · · Posted by shove_it · · 18 replies · · Yahoo/Reuters · · 11 Jul 2012 · |
HERZLIYA, Israel (Reuters) - A 1,000-year-old hoard of gold coins has been unearthed at a famous Crusader battleground where Christian and Muslim forces once fought for control of the Holy Land, Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday. [Related: Ancient road discovered in Greece] The treasure was dug up from the ruins of a castle in Arsuf, a strategic stronghold during the religious conflict waged in the 12th and 13th centuries. The 108 coins - one of the biggest collections of ancient coins discovered in Israel - were found hidden in a ceramic jug beneath a tile floor at the cliff-top... |
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| Hoard of Gold Coins Found at Israel Crusades Site |
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· 07/12/2012 6:41:20 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 6 replies · · Reuters · · 7/11/12 · |
(Reuters) - A 1,000-year-old hoard of gold coins has been unearthed at a famous Crusader battleground where Christian and Muslim forces once fought for control of the Holy Land, Israeli archaeologists said on Wednesday. The treasure was dug up from the ruins of a castle in Arsuf, a strategic stronghold during the religious conflict waged in the 12th and 13th centuries. The 108 coins - one of the biggest collections of ancient coins discovered in Israel - were found hidden in a ceramic jug beneath a tile floor at the cliff-top coastal ruins, 15 km (9 miles) from Tel Aviv.... |
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| Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran | |
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| Astronomy Picture of the Day -- Teimareh Petroglyphs and Star Trails |
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· 07/12/2012 3:09:43 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · NASA · · July 12, 2012 · · (see photo credit) · |
Explanation: Engraved in rock, these ancient petroglyphs are abundant in the Teimareh valley, located in the Zagros Mountains of central Iran. They likely tell a tale of hunters and animals found in the middle eastern valley 6,000 years ago or more, etched by artists in a prehistoric age. In the night sky above are star trails etched by the rotation of planet Earth during the long composite exposure made with a modern digital camera. On the left, the center of the star trail arcs is the North Celestial Pole (NCP), the extension of Earth's axis into space, with Polaris, the... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Scientists place 500-million-year-old gene in modern organism (Ruh-Roh!) |
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· 07/11/2012 1:21:48 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 92 replies · · Phys.org · · 11 July 2012 · · Georgia Inst of Tech · |
It's a project 500 million years in the making. Only this time, instead of playing on a movie screen in Jurassic Park, it's happening in a lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Using a process called paleo-experimental evolution, Georgia Tech researchers have resurrected a 500-million-year-old gene from bacteria and inserted it into modern-day Escherichia coli(E. coli) bacteria. This bacterium has now been growing for more than 1,000 generations, giving the scientists a front row seat to observe evolution in action. "This is as close as we can get to rewinding and replaying the molecular tape of life," said scientist... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Very round ancient turtle warmed readily in Sun |
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· 07/13/2012 7:11:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · New Scientist · · Thursday, July 12, 2012 · · Will Ferguson · |
Why be really, really round? It turns out that the precisely circular carapace of a newly discovered species of fossil turtle may have made the ancient creature too wide to be swallowed by predators - and helped it warm up in the sun. Edwin Cadena at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, and colleagues, uncovered the 1.5 metre long fossil buried at the Cerrejón Coal Mine in north-western Colombia. Puentemys mushaisaensis is thought to have lived 60 million years ago, shortly after the extinction of the dinosaurs. It is the most recent discovery in a string of super large reptiles... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Most complete skeleton of ancient relative of man found |
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· 07/13/2012 5:18:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 41 replies · · Telegraph UK · · Thursday, July 13, 2012 · · AFP · |
The remains of a juvenile hominid skeleton, of the newly identified Australopithecus (southern ape) sediba species, are the "most complete early human ancestor skeleton ever discovered," according to Lee Berger, a paleontologist from the University of Witwatersrand. "We have discovered parts of a jaw and critical aspects of the body including what appear to be a complete femur (thigh bone), ribs, vertebrae and other important limb elements, some never before seen in such completeness in the human fossil record," said Prof Berger. The latest discovery was made in a one-metre-wide rock that lay unnoticed for years in a laboratory until... |
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| Australia & the Pacific | |
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| Bush tucker feeds an ancient mystery |
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· 07/13/2012 7:38:52 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · HeritageDaily · · Tuesday, July 10, 2012 · · Contributing Source: UNSW · |
As sabre tooth tigers and woolly mammoths were wandering around Europe, unique, giant prehistoric animals were living in Australia -- three metre tall kangaroos and wombat-like creatures, the size of a four-wheel drive, were just some of the curious creatures Down Under. Yet mysteriously, sometime during the last 100,000 years, they disappeared forever. The extinction of these giant animals, known as megafauna, has generated great debate. One group advocates "human blitzkrieg" -- those asserting the first Australians hunted these beasts to extinction. Others, myself included, find there is too little evidence to confidently attribute responsibility to any particular factor. Nonetheless,... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Native Americans descended from three Asian groups: study |
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· 07/11/2012 11:22:20 AM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 57 replies · · AFP · · 11 July 2012 · · AFP · |
Native Americans spread out today from Canada to the tip of Chile descended not from one but at least three migrant waves from Siberia between 5,000 and 15,000 years ago, a study said Wednesday. The finding is controversial among geneticists, archaeologists and linguists -- many of whom have maintained that a single Asian ancestral group populated the Americas. But the new study, claiming to be the most comprehensive analysis yet of Native American genetics, claims to have found incontrovertible proof that there were three immigration waves -- a theory first put forward in 1986. Most Native Americans, said the study,... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, & PreClovis | |
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| Fossilized human feces hints at long-lost, 13,500-year-old West Coast culture |
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· 07/12/2012 2:19:04 PM PDT · · Posted by Sopater · · 40 replies · · Fox News · · July 12, 2012 · · Gene J. Koprowski · |
Maybe the 1992 movie Brendan Fraser film Encino Man wasn't too far from the mark? Fossilized human feces and other evidence from a West Coast cave demonstrates the existence of a long-lost, 13,500-year-old American culture, scientists said Thursday. The fossilized feces, known to researchers as a coprolite, from the Paisley Caves in Oregon has turned assumptions about the history of the Americas on its ear. |
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| Oregon cave discovery suggests lost ancient American culture (Pre-Clovis) |
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· 07/13/2012 5:29:43 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 13 replies · · Christian Science Monitor · · 7-12-2012 · · Wynne Parry · |
Ancient stone projectile points and fossilized feces suggest a previously unknown culture that existed on the West Coast some 13,000 years ago. Ancient stone projectile points discovered in a Central Oregon cave complex have cast new light on the identity of the first Americans. ~~~snip~~~ These stone points, a type known as Western temmed points, are narrower and lack the distinctive flute, or shallow groove, found on Clovis points. Researchers believe the two types of points represent different technologies, produced by different cultures.... |
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| Native Americans arrived to find natives already there, fossil poo shows |
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· 07/14/2012 9:58:45 AM PDT · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 46 replies · · The Register · · 13th July 2012 11:23 GMT · · Lewis Page · |
Ancient darts also found in possible prehistoric pub The ancient people who have long been thought to be the first humans to colonise North America were actually johnny-come-latelies, according to scientists who have comprehesively analysed the ancient fossilised poo of their predecessor Americans. The new revelations come to us courtesy of Copenhagen university, where some of the investigating boffins are based. The scientists say that their results demonstrate conclusively their somewhat controversial thesis: that the "Clovis" culture dating from around 13,000 years ago - which has long been thought to be the earliest human society in the Americas - was... |
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| Peru & the Andes | |
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| Ancient pre-Inca tomb found in northern Peru |
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· 07/13/2012 4:24:58 PM PDT · · Posted by csvset · · 18 replies · · France24 · · 14 July 2012 · |
Archeologists said Friday they have discovered a tomb about 1,200 years old, from the pre-Inca Sican era, in northern Peru. Human remains and jewelry were found July 4 along with the tomb, likely that of a member of the aristocracy of the Sican or Lambayeque elite, head researcher Carlos Wester La Torre told AFP. A gold earflap, a silver-plated crown, and some 120 silver and copper ornaments that served as emblems of power, along with 116 pieces of pottery and seashells were found in the tomb. The tomb was located in a burial chamber some six meters (20 feet) deep... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| The "Best Earthly Inheritance" Our Founders Bequeathed |
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· 07/04/2012 1:52:00 PM PDT · · Posted by Twotone · · 1 replies · · Oregon Catalyst · · July 4, 2012 · · Kathryn Hickok · |
Every July much is said by eloquent historians, civic and religious leaders, and -- thanks to blogs and social media -- Americans everywhere, about the Declaration of Independence, the meaning of the American Experiment, and the price of freedom. Independence Day is a moment to be grateful for the blessings of liberty and to remember the gifts many sacrificed so much to leave us. But this year we also mark the 180th anniversary of the death in 1832 of the last surviving signer of the Declaration. Charles Carroll's life spanned nearly a century. By the fiftieth anniversary of July 4, 1776, Carroll had outlived... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Secret Message in Lincoln's Pocketwatch, 1861 |
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· 07/10/2012 7:18:19 PM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 45 replies · · Retronaut · · Retronaut · |
Secret Message in Lincoln's Pocketwatch, 1861 "In 2009 the Smithsonian found a "secret" message engraved in Abraham Lincoln's watch by a watchmaker who was repairing it in 1861 when news of the attack on Fort Sumter reached Washington, D.C. "In an interview with The New York Times April 30, 1906, 84-year-old Jonathan Dillon recalled he was working for M.W. Galt and Co. on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, where he was repairing Lincoln's watch. The owner of the shop announced that the first shot of the Civil War had been fired. Dillon reported that he unscrewed the dial of the watch,... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Romanovs' Fate Revealed |
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· 07/11/2012 7:01:18 AM PDT · · Posted by C19fan · · 32 replies · · Wall Street Journal · · July 10, 2012 · · Jonathan Earle · |
Nicholas Romanov, the deposed czar of Russia, and his family were awakened in the middle of the night on July 16-17, 1918, and told to get dressed. They were being moved to a safe location, their Bolshevik captors said, away from the White army that was closing in on Yekaterinburg, in the southern Ural Mountains. The soldiers shepherded the family and four servants -- a cook, valet, doctor and maid -- into the basement of the house where they were being held. Nicholas carried his ailing son, Alexei, in his arms. Once all were assembled, a death sentence was read aloud, twice, and the... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Long-Lost Language |
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· 07/08/2012 1:17:48 PM PDT · · Posted by djone · · 46 replies · · Field & Stream! · · David E. Petzal and Philip Bourjaily · |
"One of the small things I like about hunting is that it takes you into the countryside where people say things you thought no one actually says anymore. Bits of old-fashioned speech hang on outside of town. Hearing them opens a little window into the past.--"Just remembered what the old folks would say if they hadn't seen you in awhile :Man I thought you fell in....'He's so tight, he squeaks when he walks.'..."He couldn't cut his way out of a wet paper bag with two butcher knives".....remembered another I always liked: my old landlord, a German farmer, used "young" for... |
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| end of digest #417 20120714 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #417 · v 9 · n 1 Saturday, July 14, 2012 |
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38 topics |
Welcome to the first issue of the ninth year of the Gods, Graves, Glyphs digest. I'd planned to do something really special, such as changing the format as I did a year ago, or maybe that has been two years. What I decided on was to post this a day late, IOW a whole day earlier than last week's issue. Pretty special. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #417 · v 9 · n 1 Saturday, July 14, 2012 |
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38 topics |
Welcome to the first issue of the ninth year of the Gods, Graves, Glyphs digest. I'd planned to do something really special, such as changing the format as I did a year ago, or maybe that has been two years. What I decided on was to post this a day late, IOW a whole day earlier than last week's issue. Pretty special. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #418 Saturday, July 21, 2012 |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Neanderthal Arm Morphology Caused by Scraping, Not Spear Thrusting |
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· 07/21/2012 6:55:13 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Wednesday, July 18, 2012 · · PLoS ONE · |
It was scraping hide, not thrusting spears, that caused dominant strength on their right sides. Unique arm morphology in Neandertals was likely caused by scraping activities such as hide preparation, not spear thrusting as previously theorized, according to research published July 18 in the open access journal PLoS ONE*. The researchers, led by Colin Shaw of the University of Cambridge, took muscle measurements of modern men performing three different spear thrusting tasks and four different scraping tasks. They found that muscle activity was significantly higher on the left side of the body for spear thrusting tasks relative to the right... |
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| PreHistory, & Origins | |
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| 300 000 year old flint tools found in Northern France |
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· 07/17/2012 8:15:24 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 24 replies · · Past Horizons · · Monday, July 16, 2012 · · Source: INRAP · |
The deposits at Etricourt Manancourt in the Picardie region of France documents the history of early European settlements, revealing at least five prehistoric levels, ranging between 300,000 and 80,000 years old... Archaeologists from Inrap looked at 17 hectares in 2010, which revealed a Palaeolithic level and more evidence was found in 2012, when 3,200 square metres were excavated over 4 month period. The most recent occupation comes from the Middle Paleolithic (80,000 years old) and belongs to the Neanderthals. Twenty sites of this period are already known in northern France. The next two levels are also Neanderthal and belong to... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Neanderthals Had Knowledge Of Plant Healing Qualities |
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· 07/19/2012 9:56:13 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports · · Thursday, July 19, 2012 · · Naturwissenschaften · |
A team of researchers has provided the first molecular evidence that Neanderthals not only ate a range of cooked plant foods, but also understood their nutritional and medicinal qualities... The researchers, led by the Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona and the University of York, combined pyrolysis gas-chromatography-mass spectrometry with morphological analysis of plant microfossils to identify material trapped in dental calculus (calcified dental plaque) from five Neanderthals from the north Spanish site of El Sidrón. Their results provide another twist to the story -- the first molecular evidence for medicinal plants being used by a Neanderthal individual. According to a prepared... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| An olive stone from 150BC links pre-Roman Britain to today's pizzeria |
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· 07/21/2012 7:25:39 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 36 replies · · guardian.co.uk · · Thursday 19 July 2012 · · Maev Kennedy · |
Iron Age Britons were importing olives from the Mediterranean a century before the Romans arrived with their exotic tastes in food, say archaeologists who have discovered a single olive stone from an excavation of an Iron Age well at at Silchester in Hampshire. The stone came from a layer securely dated to the first century BC, making it the earliest ever found in Britain -- but since nobody ever went to the trouble of importing one olive, there must be more, rotted beyond recognition or still buried. The stone, combined with earlier finds of seasoning herbs such as coriander, dill... |
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| Climate | |
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| Little Ice Age (Solar Influence) |
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· 12/20/2002 3:38:20 PM PST · · Posted by PeaceBeWithYou · · 41 replies · · 744+ views · · CO2 Science Magazine · · December 18, 2002 · · Staff Summary · |
How much of an influence the sun has exerted on earth's climate during the 20th Century is a topic of heated discussion in the area of global climate change. The primary reason for differing opinions on the subject derives from the fact that although numerous studies have demonstrated significant correlations between certain measures of solar activity and various climatic phenomena (Reid, 1991, 1997, 1999, 2000), the magnitude of the variable solar radiative forcing reported in these studies is generally so small it is difficult to see how it could possibly produce climatic effects of the magnitude observed (Broecker, 1999). Supporters... |
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| Central Asia | |
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| Wet climate may have fueled Mongol invasion |
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· 07/20/2012 6:55:45 PM PDT · · Posted by rjbemsha · · 38 replies · · NBC News · · July 20, 2012 · · Stephanie Pappas · |
Consistent rain and warm temperatures may have given the Mongols the energy source they needed to conquer Eurasia: grass for their horses (huge amount of grass needed to feed the 10 horses for each Mongol warrior). |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| How Big is the Entire Universe? |
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· 07/21/2012 12:57:15 AM PDT · · Posted by LibWhacker · · 43 replies · · Starts with a Bang · · 7/18/12 · · Ethan Siegel · |
(25) Millenium simulation from Volker Springel et al., from the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics. "The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." --Stephen Hawking. The Universe is a vast, seemingly unending marvel of existence. Over the past century, we've learned that the Universe stretches out beyond the billions of stars in our Milky Way, out across billions of light years, containing close to a trillion galaxies all told.Image credit: NASA, ESA, S. Beckwith (STScI) and the HUDF Team. And yet, that's just the observable Universe! There are good reasons to believe that the... |
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| Age of Sail | |
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| Ships' logs give clues to Earth's magnetic decline |
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· 05/13/2006 9:51:41 AM PDT · · Posted by Crazieman · · 59 replies · · 1,699+ views · · New Scientist · · May 11, 2006 · · Patrick Berry · |
The voyages of Captain Cook have just yielded a new discovery: the gradual weakening of Earth's magnetic field is a relatively recent phenomenon. The discovery has led experts to question whether the Earth is on track towards a polarity reversal. By sifting through ships' logs recorded by Cook and other mariners dating back to 1590, researchers have greatly extended the period over which the behaviour of the magnetic field can be studied. The data show that the current decline in Earth's magnetism was... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Ancient Map Shows Egg-Shaped England |
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· 06/06/2004 5:45:19 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 54 replies · · 281+ views · · The Guardian (UK) · · 6-6-2004 · · Vanessa Thorpe · |
It is known as a catalogue of 'marvel for the eyes' and tomorrow the public will be able to judge for themselves at last. A previously unknown medieval Arabic map with the earliest representation of an identified 'England' -- a tiny, egg-shaped lump -- is to go on public display in Oxford. The unique and, until now, unseen map is part of a manuscript called the Book of Curiosities of the Sciences and Marvels, which was originally put together, probably in the Nile... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Gold coins from the Crusades found in Israel |
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· 07/17/2012 5:13:53 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 14 replies · · cna · · July 16, 2012 · |
Tel Aviv, Israel, Jul 16, 2012 / 04:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- Israeli archeologists have found more than one hundred gold coins from the time of the Crusades, when conflict arose between Muslims and Christians over control of the Holy Land. "It is an unusual find. We don't have much gold from the time of the Crusades," said Oren Tal, a professor at the University of Tel Aviv who led the investigation. The treasure was found in the ruins of a castle in Arsuf, a strategic bastion during the Crusades of the 12th and 13th centuries. The 108 coins... |
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| No, No, Rudolph, the *Schmidt* House! | |
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| How Ancient Greeks Named Their Puppies |
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· 07/16/2012 10:00:55 PM PDT · · Posted by afraidfortherepublic · · 45 replies · · The Smithsonian · · 7-9-12 · |
Dogs played a special role in ancient Greek society and mythology; Cerberus guarded the gates of Hades, the goddess Artemis used dogs in her hunt, and Greek citizens employed dogs for hunting and protection. To the ancient Greeks, picking your new pup was an important decision, just as it is today. But, according to Stanford University researcher Adrienne Mayor, writing for Wonders & Marvels, the process could have been just a little bit different. Like moderns, the ancients looked for an adventurous and friendly nature, but one test for selecting the pick of the litter seems rather heartless today. Let... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Younger Dryas --The Rest of the Story! |
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· 06/21/2012 2:16:17 PM PDT · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 8 replies · · watts Up With That? · · June 16, 2012 · · Anthony Watts · · Rodney Chilton · |
WUWT readers may recall this recent story: New evidence of Younger Dryas extraterrestrial impact. The story below provides much more detail about the Younger Dryas event and the split that has developed in the scientific community over the cause. I've added this graph below from NCDC to give readers a sense of time and magnitude of the event. |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Impact melt products as evidence for cosmic airbursts/impacts 12,900 years ago |
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· 07/14/2012 6:00:04 AM PDT · · Posted by rjbemsha · · 11 replies · · PNAS · · 10 July 2012 · · Ted Bunch et al. · |
This paper supports the proposal that fragments of an asteroid or comet impacted Earth, deposited silica-and iron-rich microspherules and other proxies across several continents, and triggered the Younger Dryas cooling episode 12,900 years ago. |
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| Comet May Have Collided With Earth 13,000 Years Ago(MEXICO) |
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· 07/15/2012 5:03:34 PM PDT · · Posted by ForGod'sSake · · 49 replies · · Spacedotcom · · March 6, 2012 · · Clara Moskowitz · |
Central Mexico's Lake Cuitzeo contains melted rock formations and nanodiamonds that suggest a comet impacted Earth around 12,900 years ago, scientists say. CREDIT: Israde et al. (2012) New evidence supports the idea that a huge space rock collided with our planet about 13,000 years ago and broke up in Earth's atmosphere, a new study suggests. This impact would have been powerful enough to melt the ground, and could have killed off many large mammals and humans. It may even have set off a period of unusual cold called the Younger Dryas that began at that time, researchers say. The... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, & PreClovis | |
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| Small Dig, Big Discovery: Chumash Jaw Bone Found Under Vets Center |
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· 07/21/2012 6:13:02 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · Santa Barbara Independent · · Thursday, July 19, 2012 · · Nick Welsh · |
The past and future recently collided in the dirt five feet beneath Santa Barbara's Veterans Memorial Building on Cabrillo Boulevard ...could well knock out of consideration long-simmering plans to erect a three-story museum in the courtyard behind the vets building honoring Santa Barbara's servicemen and women who fought in all foreign wars since World War I. The archeological work took place this June... along the waterfront was once the site of Syuxtun, a major Chumash community for about 1,000 years with about 500 people in its prime, so UCSB archeologist and anthropology professor Lynn Gamble... overseeing a team of UCSB... |
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| Mayans | |
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| Mayans used reservoir, sand-filtered water to support urban population at Tikal |
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· 07/16/2012 5:47:59 PM PDT · · Posted by rjbemsha · · 10 replies · · Science Daily · · 16 July 2012 · · Vernon Scarborough et al. · |
Around 700 AD, Tikal had the largest dam built by the ancient Maya of Central America, used sand filtration to cleanse water entering reservoirs, a "switching station" that accommodated seasonal filling and release of water, and the deepest, rock-cut canal segment in the Maya lowlands. All this to support a population at Tikal of perhaps 60,000 to 80,000 inhabitants and an estimated population of five million in the overall Maya lowlands. |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Where Have the Hawk-Sized Insects Gone? |
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· 07/17/2012 2:44:00 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 60 replies · · ScienceNOW · · June 4, 2012 · · Sid Perkins · |
Around 300 million years ago, dragonflies with the wingspans of hawks flitted above coal-producing swamps. Such giants don't exist today, partly because oxygen levels in the atmosphere are much lower. But another reason is that the evolution of birds and their increasing agility in the air forced flying insects to shrink, according to a new study. Like all multicellular animals, insects fuel their metabolism by taking in oxygen. Unlike creatures with lungs, however, insects draw in air through holes in their shell-like exoskeletons. The oxygen diffuses from those holes to the creatures' tissues through a dense network of tubes. Because... |
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| Beat Rick's Nuts -- Wait, What? | |
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| (Vavavooom!) 600-year-old bra and underwear discovered in an Austrian castle |
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· 07/20/2012 10:24:09 PM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 52 replies · · IO9 · · Jul 18, 2012 · · Annalee Newitz · |
600-year-old bra and underwear discovered in an Austrian castle Contemporary bras are more comfortable, modified versions of corsets -- or so it was believed, until a 2007 discovery changed the way we see women's underwear. Working with a team of her colleagues, archaeologist Beatrix Nutz recently publicized her discovery of several linen bras and some underwear in a medieval castle. Nutz has presented academic papers about her discovery, and even analyzed the underwear for DNA (see picture). But the public didn't hear about the medieval bras until a BBC history program showed pictures of them. Nutz and colleagues also found... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Cash-strapped Berlin stalked by 450-year-old trillion-Euro debt |
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· 07/19/2012 8:41:06 PM PDT · · Posted by JerseyanExile · · 7 replies · · Reuters · · July 19, 2012 · · Reuters · |
The sleepy hamlet of Mittenwalde in eastern Germany could become one of the richest towns in the world if Berlin were to repay it an outstanding debt that dates back to 1562. A certificate of debt, found in a regional archive, attests that Mittenwalde lent Berlin 400 guilders on May 28 1562, to be repaid with six percent interest per year. According to Radio Berlin Brandenburg RBB.L, the debt would amount to 11,200 guilders today, which is roughly equivalent to 112 million euros. Adjusting for compound interest and inflation, the total debt now lies in the trillions, by RBB's estimates.... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| History Repeating Itself: The Vendee Genocide |
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· 07/20/2012 1:11:30 AM PDT · · Posted by Perseverando · · 7 replies · · Barnhardt · · July 18, AD 2012 10:20 AM MST · · Ann Barnhardt · |
Here's my latest video recorded by the good folks at FreedomTalkNetcast.com down in Pueblo, Colorado. This presentation covers the almost unknown war and genocide against the people of the Vendee region of France during the proto-Marxist French Revolution. This genocide by the atheist, godless, totalitarian French Revolutionaries against the Church killed 450,000 people, and has served as a the tactical template for Marxist governments who have fomented statist schisms and then entered into open war against the Church over the last century, including the Soviets and Mexicans in the early 20th century, and the Red Chinese and Vietnamese, and Marxist... |
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| 6 Factors in the Decline of the Roman Empire (and perhaps America) |
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· 06/25/2009 11:16:21 PM PDT · · Posted by Osnome · · 84 replies · · 4,150+ views · · Osnome · · 6-25-09 · · Osnome · |
Six Most Important Factors that destroyed Roman Civilization: 1)Overtaxation 2)Opression of the Provences by the Central Government 3)Government topheavy with bureaucracy 4)Military power overextended across the world(their world at the time) 5)The Populace diverted by degenerate mass entertainment 6) The Borders poorly defended against increasing foreign migration(in their case, Barbarians) |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Search for Earhart's Wrecked Plane Continues |
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· 07/19/2012 3:18:06 PM PDT · · Posted by P.O.E. · · 9 replies · · Discovery News · · 07-16-2012 · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
After some technical problems, the search for the wreckage of Amelia Earhart's Lockheed Electra has begun near the reef slope off the west end of Nikumaroro, a tiny uninhabited island between Hawaii and Australia where the legendary aviator may have landed and died as a castaway 75 years ago. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) is carrying on the the hunt, which relies on a torpedo-shaped Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) called Bluefin-21 and a Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV). |
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| Common Criminals | |
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| Did Yugoslav dictator Tito poison Stalin? |
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· 07/18/2012 7:09:07 AM PDT · · Posted by C19fan · · 20 replies · · UK Daily Mail · · July 18, 2012 · · Staff · |
When Russian leader Josef Stalin died, on March 5 in 1953, a letter was found in his office that had been written by Yugoslavian leader Josip Broz Tito. The two leaders were bitter enemies, after Tito had used World War II as an opportunity to spark a revolution and lead Yugoslavia to independence from Soviet influence. A combination of pride, fear and jealousy had spurred Stalin to attempt to have Tito killed -- and no less than 22 assassination attempts had been made in the years after the war. |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| 5 men withstand 1.7 kiloton nuclear explosion |
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· 07/19/2012 7:42:23 PM PDT · · Posted by moonshot925 · · 37 replies · · Youtube · · 3 November 2011 · · atomcentral · |
On July 19, 1957, five men stood at Ground Zero of an atomic test that was being conducted at the Nevada Test Site. This was the test of a 2KT (kiloton) MB-1 nuclear air-to-air rocket launched from an F-89 Scorpion interceptor. The nuclear missile detonated 10,000 ft above their heads. A reel-to-reel tape recorder was present to record their experience. You can see and hear the men react to the shock wave moments after the detonation. The placard reading "Ground Zero; Population Five" was made by Colonel Arthur B. "Barney" Oldfield, the Public Information Officer for the Continental Air Defense Command in Colorado Spring who arranged for the volunteers to participate. The five volunteers were: Colonel Sidney Bruce, Lt. Colonel Frank P. Ball (technical advisor to the Steve Canyon tv show), Major Norman "Bodie" Bodinger, Major John Hughes, Don Lutrel, and George Yoshitake, the cameraman (who wasn't a volunteer). See George discuss his work photographing atomic and nuclear explosions in "Atomic Filmmakers." |
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| end of digest #418 20120721 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #418 · v 9 · n 2 Saturday, July 21, 2012 |
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24 topics |
There ain't nothin' in ramblin', either run around... |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #419 Saturday, July 28, 2012 |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Polar bears' ancient roots pushed way back |
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· 07/25/2012 6:22:06 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 28 replies · · Science News · · Monday, July 23rd, 2012 · · Devin Powell · |
...A new analysis of its DNA suggests that Ursus maritimus split from the brown bear between 4 million and 5 million years ago -- around the same time when, some scientists believe, the Arctic's thick sea ice first formed. With such old origins, the creature must have weathered extreme shifts in climate, researchers report online July 23 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Simulations of how the DNA changed over time suggest that polar bear populations rose and fell with the temperature. After thriving during cooler times between 800,000 and 600,000 years ago, the bears seem to... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Little animals spread sperm for smelly mosses |
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· 07/25/2012 4:05:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Science News · · Friday, July 20th, 2012 · · Susan Milius · |
Male moss plants don't make pollen, but instead send sperm off to try to swim through dew to find a female moss. Earlier research in dry lab containers showed that the sperm can hitchhike on mites and little arthropods called springtails... Now, lab tests with two moss species show that in more natural, dewy conditions, springtails increased moss fertilization. With water alone, sperm found female moss in roughly a third of moss test clumps, but water plus springtails raised the number to almost half, Eppley and her colleagues report online July 18 in Nature. The new paper improves the case... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, & PreClovis | |
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| Utah dig unearths large Fremont Indian structure |
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· 07/25/2012 1:04:12 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 12 replies · · AP via Indian Country News · · July, 2012 · · unlisted · |
Source is AP story, so only able to post a short excerpt; much more at the link.Archaeologists have struck gold at a dig near the town of Goshen about 35 miles south of Provo: the largest Fremont Indian structure ever found. Jim Allison, anthropology professor at Brigham Young University, said the 850-square-foot structure is unique because it served as a communal area that brought the entire village together. It's several times larger than typical Fremont structures, which average between 80 and 90 square feet. |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Prehistoric human remains found along Hwy 99 (Harris County in Texas) |
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· 07/26/2012 4:53:28 PM PDT · · Posted by a fool in paradise · · 24 replies · · ABC News KTRK Channel 13 Houston · · July 26, 2012 · · Deborah Wrigley · |
Work crews clearing the land for the Grand Parkway expansion have made a surprising discovery -- human remains which are being described as 'prehistoric.' The remains were found in the stretch of land known as Grand Parkway segment E. The Grand Parkway segment between I-10 and Highway 290 has been under construction for nearly a year. Last month, in advance of bulldozers moving in, a state archeologist working on the project found something not unexpected for those who seek out the past -- a handful of bones dating back to prehistory. "I know it's a rare find, but knowing this... |
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| Hills in Them Thar Gold | |
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| Stylized Figure Pendant, 5th-7th century Panama; International Style Gold |
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· 07/25/2012 10:18:23 AM PDT · · Posted by muawiyah · · 15 replies · · metropolitan museum of art · · 1977 · · Alice K. Bache · |
Cast in gold over a core, this stylized anthropomorphic figure fluidly integrates human and animal traits. A realistic human face capped by a sweeping headdress extends forward from the abstract body. The generalized depictions of crouching legs, outspread wings, and notched fishtail may connote earth, sky, and sea. The pendant is part of a group of ornaments of uniform style and technology. Both the puzzling combination of elements from different creatures and the superbly finished surfaces set the pendants in the group apart from other Central American goldwork. The group is widely distributed -- they are known from Colombia in the south... |
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| The Mayans | |
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| "Dramatic" New Maya Temple Found, Covered With Giant Faces [ El Zotz ] |
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· 07/22/2012 8:12:13 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 81 replies · · National Geographic News · · Friday, July 20, 2012 · · Ker Than · |
Some 1,600 years ago, the Temple of the Night Sun was a blood-red beacon visible for miles and adorned with giant masks of the Maya sun god as a shark, blood drinker, and jaguar. Long since lost to the Guatemalan jungle, the temple is finally showing its faces to archaeologists, and revealing new clues about the rivalrous kingdoms of the Maya. Unlike the relatively centralized Aztec and Inca empires, the Maya civilization -- which spanned much of what are now Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico's Yucatan region (Maya map) -- was a loose aggregation of city-states. "This has been a growing... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Ancient Poop Gives Clues to Modern Diabetes Epidemic |
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· 07/25/2012 9:13:27 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 35 replies · · Live Science · · 7-24-2012 · · Stephanie Pappas · |
The ancient Native Americans of the desert Southwest subsisted on a fiber-filled diet of prickly pear, yucca and flour ground from plant seeds, finds a new analysis of fossilized feces that may explain why modern Native Americans are so susceptible to Type II diabetes. Thousands of years of incredibly fibrous foods, 20 to 30 times more fibrous than today's typical diet, with low impact on the blood sugar likely left this group vulnerable to the illness when richer Anglo foods made their way to North America, said study researcher Karl Reinhard, a professor of forensic sciences at the University of... |
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| Climate | |
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| Greenland Ice Melt every 150 years is "right on time' |
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· 07/24/2012 7:44:35 PM PDT · · Posted by Rocky · · 14 replies · · Watts Up With That? · · July 24, 2012 · · Anthony Watts · |
"Ice cores from Summit show that melting events of this type occur about once every 150 years on average. With the last one happening in 1889, this event is right on time," says Lora Koenig, a Goddard glaciologist and a member of the research team analyzing the satellite data. I covered this over the weekend when Bill McKibben started wailing about the albedo going off the charts. I thought it might be soot related. The PR below and quote above is from NASA Goddard. I had to laugh at the title of their press release, where they cite "Unprecedented... |
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| The Roman Empire | |
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| Tree-rings prove climate was WARMER in Roman and Medieval times than it is now |
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· 07/21/2012 8:40:01 PM PDT · · Posted by dennisw · · 30 replies · · dailymail. · · 11 July 2012 · · Science Reporter · |
How did the Romans grow grapes in northern England? Perhaps because it was warmer than we thought. A study suggests the Britain of 2,000 years ago experienced a lengthy period of hotter summers than today. German researchers used data from tree rings -- a key indicator of past climate -- to claim the world has been on a "long-term cooling trend' for two millennia until the global warming of the twentieth century. This cooling was punctuated by a couple of warm spells. These are the Medieval Warm Period, which is well known, but also a period during the toga-wearing Roman... |
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| Vesuvius, 79 AD | |
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| House of the Telephus Relief: raising the roof on Roman real estate |
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· 07/27/2012 7:47:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Guardian UK · · Monday 23 July 2012 · · John Hooper in Ercolano · |
With several dozen rooms, the House of the Telephus Relief was "top-level Roman real estate", said Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, the director of the Herculaneum Conservation Project (HCP). It was more of a palace or mansion, thought to have been built for Marcus Nonius Balbus, the Roman governor of Crete and part of modern-day Libya, whose ostentatious tomb was found nearby. The most lavishly decorated part of the immense residence was a three-storey tower. On the top floor was a nine-metre high dining room with a coloured marble floor and walls, a suspended ceiling and a wrap-around terrace... ...the wind changed direction... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| 10 Civilizations That Disappeared Under Mysterious Circumstances |
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· 07/24/2012 7:54:00 PM PDT · · Posted by Sir Napsalot · · 51 replies · · io9 · · 7-23-2012 · · Annalee Newitz · |
For almost as long as we've had civilization, we've lost it. There are records going back hundreds of years of explorers discovering huge temples encrusted with jungle, or giant pits full of treasure that were once grand palaces. Why did people abandon these once-thriving cities, agricultural centers, and trade routes? Often, the answer is unknown. Here are ten great civilizations whose demise remains a mystery. 1. The Maya The Maya are perhaps the classic example of a civilization that was completely lost, its great monuments, cities and roads swallowed up by the central American jungles, and its peoples scattered to... |
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| Were The Dark Ages Really Dark? |
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· 12/10/2002 11:12:37 AM PST · · Posted by Mike Darancette · · 18 replies · · tripod · · September, 1999 · · Greg Bryant · |
.... snip ... Physical Aspects Of The Dark Ages Let's first look at the onset of "the" Dark Ages in the sixth century AD. The Roman Empire was finished, nothing was happening in the sciences, and worse was happening in nature. The Italian historian Flavius Cassiodorus wrote about conditions that he experienced during the year AD 536 : "The Sun...seems to have lost its wonted light, and appears of a bluish colour. We marvel to see no shadows of our bodies at noon, to feel the mighty vigour of the Sun's heat wasted into feebleness, and the phenomena which accompany... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Discovery of early medieval royal stronghold in southwest Scotland [ the Picts ] |
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· 07/27/2012 9:55:32 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 24 replies · · Past Horizons · · Thursday, July 26, 2012 · · unattributed · |
Trusty's Hill, near Gatehouse of Fleet in Dumfries and Galloway, is best known for the Pictish Symbols carved into a natural rock outcrop at the fort's entrance. However, in recent years, many historians have begun to doubt whether these carvings were genuine, some even suggesting that the carvings are forgeries... As well as an abundance of domestic waste, including animal bones, stone and metal tools and a spindle whorl, from 'dark soil' occupation deposits sealed by the collapsed ramparts of the fort, the excavators recovered numerous crucible and clay mould fragments, metalworking debris and a variety of iron pins and... |
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| Farty Shades of Green | |
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| Kerry island structure may be due to tsunami waves in medieval times |
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· 07/26/2012 8:31:59 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Irish Central · · Thursday, July 26, 2012 · · Patrick Counihan · |
Alan E Hayden, the director of more than 200 medieval excavations in Ireland, believes the grouping of islands off the Kerry coast suggests earthquake and tsunami wave style damage... The Times report adds: "A folk tale collected by a teacher in the early part of the last century offers an explanation for local place names connected to a road that ran from Dolus Head through the islands to Skellig. "The road, a pre-medieval structure, is called Bothar na Scairte, or road of the cataclysm, and it is traceable for some distance on Valentia. In the folk tale the road and... |
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| Middle Ages & the Renaissance | |
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| Mona Lisa's Skeleton Found? |
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· 07/22/2012 1:11:04 PM PDT · · Posted by BenLurkin · · 20 replies · · Discovery News · · Wed Jul 18, 2012 01:01 PM ET · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
Archaeologists say they have found a complete skeleton buried beneath the floor of an abandoned nunnery in Florence, Italy, which might belong to Lisa Gherardini, the woman believed to have inspired Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The bones were found beneath the remains of an altar in the church of the now derelict Convent of St. Orsola. "That altar was certainly in use at Lisa Gherardini's time," said Valeria D'Aquino, an archaeologist at the Tuscan Superintendency |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Archaeologists uncover Palaeolithic ceramic art |
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· 07/27/2012 5:43:10 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · Phys.org · · Wednesday, July 25, 2012 · · U of Cambridge · |
Evidence of a community of prehistoric artists and craftspeople who "invented" ceramics during the last Ice Age -- thousands of years before pottery became commonplace -- has been found in modern-day Croatia. The finds consist of 36 fragments, most of them apparently the broken-off remnants of modelled animals, and come from a site called Vela Spila on the Adriatic coast. Archaeologists believe that they were the products of an artistic culture which sprang up in the region about 17,500 years ago. Their ceramic art flourished for about 2,500 years, but then disappeared... Most histories of the technology begin with the... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| 6,500 year old hunting trophy found in eastern Croatia |
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· 07/27/2012 7:52:49 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · · Croatian Times · · Wednesday, July 25, 2012 · · unattributed · |
Archaeologists in Bapska, eastern Croatia have stumbled across 6,500 year old deer antlers. The hunting trophy was found hanging on the wall of prehistoric house along with valuable items of jewellery, writes website dalje.com. "We have the oldest deer hunting trophy in Croatia," said Marcel Buric, the head researcher at the Department of Prehistoric Archaeology of the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb. According to Buric, local hunters from Bapska have estimated that the deer, where the antlers trophy has come from, would have weighed between 220 and 250 kilograms and would have been extremely strong due to its 12 antlers.... |
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| Egypt | |
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| First Dynasty funerary boat discovered at Egypt's Abu Rawash |
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· 07/27/2012 7:34:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · Ahram Online · · Wednesday, July 25, 2012 · · unattributed · |
During routine excavation works at the Archaic period cemetery located at Abu Rawash area northeast of the Giza Plateau, a French archaeological mission from the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology in Cairo (IFAO) stumbled on what is believed to be a funerary boat of the First Dynasty King Den (dating from around 3000BC). The funerary boat was buried with royalty, as ancient Egyptians believed it would transfer the king's soul to the afterlife for eternity. Unearthed in the northern area of Mastaba number six (a flat-roofed burial structure) at the archaeological site, boat consists of 11 large wooden planks reaching... |
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| Pharaoh's playground revealed by missing fractals |
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· 07/27/2012 7:37:52 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · New Scientist · · Friday, July 20, 2012 · · Colin Barras · |
The Dahshur royal necropolis in Egypt was once a dazzling sight. Some 30 kilometres south of Cairo, it provided King Sneferu with a playground to hone his pyramid-building skills -- expertise that helped his son, Khufu, build the Great Pyramid of Giza. But most signs of what went on around Dahshur have been wiped away by 4500 years of neglect and decay. To help work out what has been lost, archaeologists have turned to fractals. All around the world, river networks carve fractal patterns in the land that persist long after the rivers have moved on (see picture). "You can... |
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| Alexander the Great | |
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| Alexander the not so Great: History through Persian eyes |
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· 07/25/2012 9:39:37 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 31 replies · · BBC · · 7-14-2012 · · Ali Ansari · |
Alexander the Great is portrayed as a legendary conqueror and military leader in Greek-influenced Western history books but his legacy looks very different from a Persian perspective. Any visitor to the spectacular ruins of Persepolis -- the site of the ceremonial capital of the ancient Persian Achaemenid empire, will be told three facts: it was built by Darius the Great, embellished by his son Xerxes, and destroyed by that man, Alexander. ~~~snip~~~ He razed Persepolis to the ground following a night of drunken excess at the goading of a Greek courtesan, ostensibly in revenge for the burning of the Acropolis... |
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| The Trojan War | |
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| 'Myths' Are More Plausible than Fiction |
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· 07/24/2012 8:31:13 PM PDT · · Posted by rjbemsha · · 16 replies · · Daily Telegraph via Europhysics Letters · · 25 July 2012 · · Nick Collins · |
[Research] "findings support historians' belief that ancient myths ... may be based, at least in part, on real communities and people." Researchers from Coventry University analysed the texts of three ancient stories and compared the complex web of characters' relationships with the type of "social networks" that occur in real life. The results showed that the societies depicted in the stories strongly mirrored real social networks that had been mapped out by others. But modern fiction differed from the ancient myths, as well as from real social networks, in telltale ways. |
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| Early America | |
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| Ohio's Mysteries: The Old Stone Fort |
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· 07/24/2012 5:51:29 PM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 90 replies · · nbc4i.com · · July 23, 2012 · · Anon · |
It's believed to be the oldest building in Ohio, and possibly the Midwest. But the mystery remains: who built it and why? COSHOCTON, Ohio -- It's believed to be the oldest building in Ohio, and possibly the Midwest -- built nearly a century before the American Revolution. But the mystery remains: who built the Old Stone Fort and why? On an ordinary plot of farm land on County Road 254 in eastern Coshocton County sits what is arguably one of the most important buildings in Ohio history. It is believed that the Old Stone Fort was built sometime around... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Did any Hessian troops imprisoned in Reading [PA] stay in America after the Revolutionary War? |
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· 07/26/2012 5:42:40 PM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 31 replies · · Reading Eagle · · 7-26-12 · · Ron Devlin · |
Ask Ron Devlin: Country they fought against became home Reading Eagle: Tim Leedy The state historical marker for Hessian Camp on Mineral Spring Road. Dorothy Johnston, who grew up near Hessian Camp in Reading, wondered what happened to the German mercenaries imprisoned in Reading during the Revolutionary War. First, some background. Faced with open revolt in its American Colonies, Britain arranged with the Prince of Hesse-Cassel, the Duke of Brunswick and other German nobles to send troops to the Colonies. By some estimates, 30,000 German mercenaries, including those called Hessians, were sent to help the British squelch the rebellion. After... |
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| Princeton: Battlefield group appeals Planning Board finding |
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· 07/25/2012 9:38:25 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 12 replies · · Princeton Packet · · July 24, 2012 · · Jennifer Bradley · |
The Princeton Battlefield Society has filed an appeal of the Princeton Regional Planning Board's decision to allow the Institute for Advanced Study to build faculty housing on a part of the battlefield known as Maxwell's Field on Friday, and is also seeking funds to support the society's fight. According to the society, the proposed development area of the battlefield is believed to be the site of a winning counterattack lead by George Washington during the Battle of Princeton. The appeal includes 12 counts that challenge the Planning Board's decision. "The Planning Board failed numerous times to properly support its decision... |
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| Underwater Archaeology | |
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| Button is clue to sunken ship's history |
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· 07/24/2012 6:03:20 PM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 2 replies · · The St. Augustine Record · · July 23, 2012 · · Marcia Lane · |
A ship's bell from a wreck found off St. Augustine has yielded another clue to the possible identify of the ship that may date from the American Revolution. The clue: a button found in the concretion still attached to the bronze bell that was discovered in 2010 by archaeologists with the Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program. "It's in rough shape," Sam Turner, director of archaeology at the St. Augustine Lighthouse and Museum, said of the button. Even so, the top part of a crown can be seen on the button and similar crowns are found on Royal Provincial buttons plus the... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Remarkable photos capture life in besieged Washington during the Civil War |
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· 07/26/2012 6:07:43 AM PDT · · Posted by C19fan · · 15 replies · · UK Daily Mail · · July 26, 2012 · · Staff · |
These are the striking black-and-white images which capture America on the cusp of monumental change during the Civil War. But instead of portraying dramatic events such as the bloody Battle of Antietam or Abraham Lincoln's historic address at Gettysburg, the images reveal day-to-day life for those caught during wartime in Washington DC. Defending the nation's capital, which was ripe for invasion by Confederate forces that had set their sights on the city, became a top priority for the U.S. government. |
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| Before the Airplane | |
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| America steams ahead: Incredible black-and-white pictures capture how railroads and steamboats helped forge its future at the turn of the 20th century |
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· 07/20/2012 6:29:52 AM PDT · · Posted by C19fan · · 23 replies · · UK Daily Mail · · July 19, 2012 · · Staff · |
They are images of a nation in motion -- of a country building its future with expanding railroads and industrial opportunities. These glorious black-and-white photographs, which have been released by the Library of Congress, reveal America reveling in its new-found productivity, at a time when steam engines and steamboats were forging the nation ahead. The images, taken between 1870 and 1920, capture the determination with which America tackled the new century -- and how the country also began enjoying the fruits of the 19th century's industrial labour, in what was termed the Gilded Age. |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Latest Amelia Earhart search falls short |
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· 07/23/2012 11:52:52 PM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 16 replies · · CBS News · · July 24, 2012 · · AP · |
A $2.2 million expedition that hoped to find wreckage from famed aviator Amelia Earhart's final flight is on its way back to Hawaii without the dramatic, conclusive plane images searchers were hoping to attain. But the group leading the search, The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery, still believes Earhart and her navigator crashed onto a reef off a remote island in the Pacific Ocean 75 years ago this month, its president told The Associated Press on Monday. "This is just sort of the way things are in this world," TIGHAR president Pat Thrasher said. "It's not like an Indiana... |
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| Two Submarines | |
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| Search team returning to Churchill River after release of sonar images showing suspected Nazi submarine |
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· 07/27/2012 6:48:39 AM PDT · · Posted by Squawk 8888 · · 10 replies · · National Post · · July 26, 2012 · · Jake Edmiston · |
Until this week, proof of a sunken Nazi submarine in Labrador was confined to old rumours of dark shadows in the Churchill River. The stories go back decades, suggesting that German U-boats had snaked along the river bottom and deep into Labrador. Now newly released sonar images depicting a mysterious submerged shape near Happy Valley-Goose Bay have generated excitement among those who believe the old tales and skepticism among those who don't. |
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| German U-boat Found 100 Kilometers Inland in Labrador |
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· 07/27/2012 8:01:04 AM PDT · · Posted by JerseyanExile · · 36 replies · · Canadian Broadcasting Corporation · · July 25, 2012 · · CBC News · |
An important piece of history from the Second World War may be sitting in a river in Labrador. Searchers believe they've found a German U-boat buried in the sand on the bottom of the Churchill River. The discovery has yet to be authenticated. Two years ago, searchers scoured the bottom of the Churchill River with side-scanning sonar. They were looking for three men lost over Muskrat Falls. When they reviewed the footage from that search, they made an unexpected discovery. "We were looking for something completely different, not a submarine, not a U-boat -- I mean, no one would ever... |
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| Explorers find downed German U-Boat off Mass. |
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· 07/27/2012 4:03:08 PM PDT · · Posted by robowombat · · 39 replies · · Associated Press · · Jul 27, 5:22 PM EDT · · Jay Lindsay · |
BOSTON (AP) -- Divers have discovered a World War II-era German submarine nearly 70 years after it sank under withering U.S. attack in waters off Nantucket. The U-550 was found Monday by a privately funded group organized by New Jersey lawyer Joe Mazraani. It was the second trip in two years to the site by the team, some of whom had been searching for the lost U-boat for two decades. Using side-scan sonar, the seven-man team located the wreck listing to its side in deep water about 70 miles south of Nantucket. Sonar operator Garry Kozak said he spotted the... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Doolittle Raiders share memories of their exploits at EAA |
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· 07/25/2012 2:30:04 PM PDT · · Posted by GOP_Party_Animal · · 15 replies · · Milwaukee Journal Sentinal · · 7-25-2012 · · Meg Jones · |
Oshkosh -- As they flew over Tokyo, Richard Cole and David Thatcher realized with relief that Japanese anti-aircraft gunners had never before fired at enemy planes. As the first Americans to strike Japan's home islands during World War II, Cole and Thatcher found that the ack-ack-ack of the flak guns did little damage to the 16 B-25B Mitchell medium bombers that achieved fame as the Doolittle Raiders. It was only four months after the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and Japanese military commanders had promised their nation that it was invulnerable. The American crews lost all their planes and their... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Fundamentally Freund: Jewish unity and Joseph's Tomb |
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· 07/25/2012 7:41:13 PM PDT · · Posted by Former Fetus · · 5 replies · · The Jerusalem Post · · 7/25/2012 · · MICHAEL FREUND · |
Last week, in the most unlikely of places, I came face to face with the power of Jewish unity. It was well after midnight when the convoy of heavily-guarded Israeli cars and buses began the short drive through the deserted streets of Shechem (Nablus). Posted along the way were young men in IDF uniforms, keeping a watchful eye on the hundreds of Jews who were braving the late hour and our hostile neighbors to visit an ancient Jewish holy site in the heart of Palestinian-controlled territory. For years, I had wanted to visit Joseph's Tomb, the burial place of one... |
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| Bytes of Reality | |
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| Researchers Produce First Complete Computer Model of an Organism |
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· 07/21/2012 9:27:35 AM PDT · · Posted by onedoug · · 22 replies · · Science Daily · · 21 JULY 2012 · · Max McClure, Stanford University · |
In a breakthrough effort for computational biology, the world's first complete computer model of an organism has been completed, Stanford researchers reported last week in the journal Cell. A team led by Markus Covert, assistant professor of bioengineering, used data from more than 900 scientific papers to account for every molecular interaction that takes place in the life cycle of Mycoplasma genitalium, the world's smallest free-living bacterium. .... |
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| Panspermia | |
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| SETI and Intelligent Design |
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· 12/02/2005 8:35:59 AM PST · · Posted by ckilmer · · 213 replies · · space.com · · posted: 01 December 2005 · · Seth Shostak · |
SETI and Intelligent Design By Seth ShostakSETI Instituteposted: 01 December 200506:37 am ET If you're an inveterate tube-o-phile, you may remember the episode of "Cheers" in which Cliff, the postman who's stayed by neither snow, nor rain, nor gloom of night from his appointed rounds of beer, exclaims to Norm that he's found a potato that looks like Richard Nixon's head.This could be an astonishing attempt by taters to express their political views, but Norm is unimpressed. Finding evidence of complexity (the Nixon physiognomy) in a natural setting (the spud), and inferring some deliberate, magical mechanism behind it all,... |
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| Didn't Get the Memo? Fiction Has To Make Sense | |
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| 1987 Time Capsule of Predictions on 2012 by Sci-Fi Authors |
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· 07/25/2012 10:09:45 AM PDT · · Posted by JerseyanExile · · 61 replies · · Writers of the Future · |
ISAAC ASIMOVAssuming we haven't destroyed ourselves in a nuclear war, there will be 8-10 billion of us on this planet -- and widespread hunger. These troubles can be traced back to President Ronald Reagan who smiled and waved too much. GREGORY BENFORD YOUR FUTURE AND WELCOME TO IT -- 25 years from now. World population stands at nearly 8 billion. The Dow-Jones Industrial Average stands at 8,400, but the dollar is worth a third of today's. Oil is running out, but shale-extracted oil is getting cheaper. The real shortage in much of the world is water. Most Americans are barely literate, think in... |
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| Africa | |
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| Massive Underground Water Supply Found In Desert African Country (Supply could last 400 years) |
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· 07/21/2012 12:25:47 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 51 replies · · Business Insider · · 07/21/2012 · · Michael Kelley · |
A newly discovered water source could supply half of Africa's driest sub-Saharan country with 400 years of water, reports Matt McGrath of BBC. The new aquifer -- called Ohangwena II -- flows under the border between Angola and Namibia, covering an area of about 43 miles by 25 miles on Namibia's side. The water is up to 10,000 years old and cleaner to drink than many modern sources. Project manager Martin Quinger told BBC that the stored water could last 400 years based on current rates of consumption. Currently the 800,000 people living in the northern part of the country... |
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| Primatology | |
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| Gorillas filmed performing amazing feat of intellectual ability |
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· 07/24/2012 7:44:59 PM PDT · · Posted by Engraved-on-His-hands · · 28 replies · · PhysOrg · · July 23, 2012 · · Bob Yirka · |
Researchers working in Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda have filmed gorillas dismantling snares set by poachers to catch smaller game. Previously, anecdotal evidence had suggested that silverback gorillas had been seen dismantling snares. In this instance it was two young blackback, mountain gorillas that were involved. The team, part of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund's Karisoke Research Center, filmed first a silverback motioning towards the snare. Next, two young male blackbacks arrived on the scene, surveyed the situation, then proceeded to take apart the snare, avoiding being caught in it in the process. |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Buddha tree alive and healthy at age 2,500 |
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· 07/22/2012 6:21:13 PM PDT · · Posted by TigerLikesRooster · · 33 replies · · UPI · · 07/20/12 · |
Published: July 20, 2012 at 5:54 PM BODH GAYA, India, July 20 (UPI) -- The 2,500-year-old tree under which Gautama Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment is alive and healthy, Indian scientists said Thursday. The Bodhi tree, a large Sacred Fig (Ficus religiosa,) is in Bodh Gaya in India's eastern state of Bihar, about 60 miles from the state capital of Patna. "The Bodhi tree is fully healthy," Subhash Nautiyal of the Forest Research Institute in India's northern state of Uttarakhand said. Nautiyal and colleagues examined the tree after removing the cement slabs around its base, China's Xinhua News... |
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| end of digest #419 20120728 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #419 · v 9 · n 3 Saturday, July 28, 2012 |
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39 topics |
39 topics?!? Clearly, you've all been working too hard this week. Keep it up! And many thanks from me and on behalf of all. |
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LOL
Loved the Back to the Future reference.
cheers
:’) Thanks.
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