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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #278 Saturday, November 14, 2009 |
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| Early America | |
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| Evidence found in Ga. of Spanish explorer's trail- Hernando de Soto in Georgia |
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· 11/05/2009 3:53:22 PM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 27 replies · · 791+ views · · hosted · · Nov. 5, 2009 · |
An archaeologist says excavations in southern Georgia have turned up beads, metal tools and other artifacts that may pinpoint part of the elusive trail of the 16th-century Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto. Dennis Blanton of the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta was scheduled to present his findings Thursday to the Southeastern Archaeological Conference in Mobile, Ala. Excavations since 2006 in rural Telfair County uncovered remains of an Indian settlement along with nine pea-sized glass beads and six metal objects, including three iron tools and a silver pendant. Blanton says the artifacts are consistent with items Spanish explorers traded... |
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| Mayans | |
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| Maya Murals Give Rare View of Everyday Life |
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· 11/09/2009 1:13:31 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 19 replies · · 819+ views · · Live Science · · Nov 9, 2009 · · Andrea Thompson · |
Recently excavated Mayan murals are giving archaeologists a rare look into the lives of ordinary ancient Maya. The murals were uncovered during the excavation of a pyramid mound structure at the ancient Maya site of Calakmul, Mexico (near the border with Guatemala) and are described in the Nov. 9 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. |
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| World's Largest Pyramid Discovered, Lost Mayan City Of Mirador, Guatemala? - VIDEO |
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· 11/10/2009 12:44:51 AM PST · · Posted by restornu · · 21 replies · · 1,134+ views · · CNN · · October 27, 2009 · · Posted by majestic · |
Just in time for the 2012 craze, CNN reports on a brand new massive Mayan pyramid discovery, including an amazing stone frieze showing the Maya sacred creation story, the Popol Vuh: World's Largest Myran Pyramid Discovered VIDEO |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, PreClovis | |
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| Severed heads among discovery at Sacsayhuamán |
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· 11/13/2009 5:35:44 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · 310+ views · · En Peru 'blog · · November 13, 2009 · · unattributed · |
Above the Inca capital of Cusco (Q'osco) sits the important ceremonial site and one of human-kinds most impressive constructions called Sacsayhuamán, which despite its global fame still offers up secrets to investigators. Yesterday the discovery was announced of three burials, one of which contained the severed heads of the Inca's enemies. The discovery was made within the archaeological park of Sacsayhuamán in the area of Qowikarana, under threat from illegal settlements of the city's poor. Chief on-site archaeologist Washington Camacho explains that three separate burials were found -- one of an older man buried with a ceremonial knife, one of... |
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| The Last Laugh, a.k.a. The Father of History | |
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| Legendary Lost Persian Army Found in Sahara |
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· 11/09/2009 5:18:05 PM PST · · Posted by LibWhacker · · 55 replies · · 1,620+ views · · FOXNews · · 11/9/09 · · Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni · |
Herodotus wrote of a 50,000-man strong army that set out on foot into the Egyptian desert in 525 B.C. and was never heard from again ... until today.A pair of Italian archaeologists have uncovered bronze weapons, a silver bracelet, an earring and hundreds of human bones in the vast desolate wilderness of the Sahara desert. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni are hopeful that they've finally found the lost army of Persian King Cambyses II. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Cambyses II and his armied were buried by a cataclysmic sandstorm in 525 B.C. He wrote, "a wind... |
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| Is this the legendary lost Persian army |
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· 11/09/2009 8:05:43 PM PST · · Posted by Charlespg · · 13 replies · · 837+ views · · Daily mail · · 10th November 2009 · · Cher Thornhill · |
The legend of the lost Persian army has survived over two and a half millennia - despite a blatant lack of hard evidence. But now two Italian experts believe they have found its remains. Twin brothers Angelo and Alfredo Castiglioni uncovered hundreds of human bones, weapons and jewelery in the Sahara desert, west Egypt, that they believe belonged to the 50,000-strong army. |
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| Archaeologists May Have Found Remains of Lost Persian Army |
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· 11/12/2009 11:19:30 AM PST · · Posted by FromLori · · 15 replies · · 956+ views · · Boing Boing · · 11/10/09 · |
2,500 years ago, an army of 50,000 men left an oasis in western Egypt and were never heard from again. Now, archaeologists think they may have uncovered the missing troops, who were probably killed in a sandstorm. ...the team decided to investigate Bedouin stories about thousands of white bones that would have emerged decades ago during particular wind conditions in a nearby area. Indeed, they found a mass grave with hundreds of bleached bones and skulls. "We learned that the remains had been exposed by tomb robbers and that a beautiful sword which was found among the bones was sold... |
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| Veterans Day 2009 | |
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| Happy 234th! USMC |
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· 11/10/2009 7:26:45 PM PST · · Posted by SgtBob · · 26 replies · · 235+ views · |
To my Brothers, and Sisters: Happy Birthday! WE LOVE YOU!!! |
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| Freedom's Destruction through Constitutional Deconstruction |
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· 11/13/2009 8:07:21 AM PST · · Posted by wysiwyg · · 8 replies · · 194+ views · · Tenth Amendment Center · · 24 October 2009 · · Timothy Baldwin · |
During the Constitutional Convention, from May to September 1787, delegates from the colonies were to gather together for the express purpose of amending the Articles of Confederation to form a "more perfect union" (NOT a completely different union!). The men that met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were under direct and limited orders from their states to attend the Federal Convention explicitly to preserve the federation and State rights and to correct the errors of the existing federal government for the limited purposes of handling foreign affairs, commerce among the states and common defense. Yet, during that private and secret convention, there... |
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| One Man's Solemn Mission to Recover WWII Remains |
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· 11/11/2009 12:23:44 PM PST · · Posted by fishhound · · 20 replies · · 715+ views · · AOl/ Sphere · · 11/11/09 · · Steve Freiss · |
(Nov. 11) -- At first, it seemed like a sick joke or, worse, some sort of scam. The caller from North Carolina was telling John Lenox that the wreckage of his father's plane had been located. Staff Sgt. Alvin Lenox had been dead for two weeks longer than his 66-year-old son, John, had been alive. The Army Air Force radio operator crashed with four others in a cargo plane flying a supply mission from Yantai, China, to Joraht, India, in August 1943. They went down in a treacherous mountain region known as The Hump, which swallowed about 600 U.S. planes... |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Mini ice age took hold of Europe in months |
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· 11/13/2009 4:48:50 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 37 replies · · 732+ views · · New Scientist · · Nov 11, 2009 · · Kate Ravilious · |
JUST months - that's how long it took for Europe to be engulfed by an ice age. The scenario, which comes straight out of Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow, was revealed by the most precise record of the climate from palaeohistory ever generated. Around 12,800 years ago the northern hemisphere was hit by the Younger Dryas mini ice age, or "Big Freeze". It was triggered by the slowdown of the Gulf Stream, led to the decline of the Clovis culture in North America, and lasted around 1300 years. Until now, it was thought that the mini ice age took... |
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| Cave Study Links Climate Change To California Droughts |
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· 11/13/2009 6:27:10 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · 205+ views · · ScienceDaily · · November 10, 2009 · · unattributed · |
California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new study by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oster and geology professor Isabel Montañez. The finding, which comes from analyzing stalagmites from Moaning Cavern in the central Sierra Nevada, was published online Nov. 5 in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The sometimes spectacular mineral formations in caves such as Moaning Cavern and Black Chasm build up over centuries as water drips from the cave roof. Those drops of water pick up trace chemicals in... |
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| Stone Age humans crossed Sahara in the rain |
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· 11/12/2009 5:56:28 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 50 replies · · 529+ views · · New Scientist · · November 9, 2009 · · Jeff Hecht · |
Wet spells in the Sahara may have opened the door for early human migration. According to new evidence, water-dependent trees and shrubs grew there between 120,000 and 45,000 years ago. This suggests that changes in the weather helped early humans cross the desert on their way out of Africa... While about 40 per cent of hydrocarbons in today's dust come from water-dependent plants, this rose to 60 per cent, first between 120,000 and 110,000 ago and again from 50,000 to 45,000 years ago. So the region seemed to be in the grip of unusually wet spells at the time. That... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Petroglyphs in Southeast Alaska |
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· 11/09/2009 9:03:11 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 20 replies · · 671+ views · · CCW · · 04 Nov 2009 · · Bonnie Demerjian · |
Scattered across the beaches of Southeast Alaska, and indeed along the entire Northwest Pacific coast from Kodiak to the Columbia River, are intensely staring eyes, totemic animals and geometric patterns carved into boulders and bedrock. These mysterious petroglyphs, carvings in stone, raise questions that have perplexed archeologists and casual observers for well over a century. Most of those questions remain unanswered and may ultimately be unanswerable. Perhaps because of these mysteries, petroglyphs arouse fascination in anyone fortunate enough to see them, particularly if they are still embedded in their original location. Questions about petroglyphs-their age, purpose, makers and method of... |
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| 'Hardwired' to create rock doodles; professor says ancient art was 'an instinct' |
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· 11/13/2009 6:01:02 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · 226+ views · · Prescott Daily Courier · · Monday, November 09, 2009 · · Bruce Colbert · |
Images pecked in stone hundreds to thousands of years ago could be for religious reasons, to mark territories or simple doodles such as those still made today by children and adults. That is according to Dr. Ekkehart Malotki, a preeminent researcher into the history of rock art. "Creating art is a distinct piece of our biological make-up," he told about 50 people Saturday during his lecture at Deer Valley Rock Art Center. "It is an instinct." Malotki, a professor emeritus of languages at Northern Arizona University, said no one would ever know the true meaning of images pecked or painted... |
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| Multiregionalism | |
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| Chinese challenge to 'out of Africa' theory |
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· 11/10/2009 8:39:50 PM PST · · Posted by TigerLikesRooster · · 49 replies · · 753+ views · · New Scientist · · 11/03/09 · · Phil McKenna · |
Chinese challenge to 'out of Africa' theory 00:01 03 November 2009 by Phil McKenna The discovery of an early human fossil in southern China may challenge the commonly held idea that modern humans originated out of Africa. Jin Changzhu and colleagues of the Institute of Vertebrate Palaeontology and Palaeoanthropology in Beijing, announced to Chinese media last week that they have uncovered a 110,000-year-old putative Homo sapiens jawbone from a cave in southern China's Guangxi province. |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| Longevity Tied to Genes That Preserve Tips of Chromosomes |
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· 11/11/2009 4:03:13 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 35 replies · · 607+ views · · Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University · · November 11, 2009 · · Unknown · |
(BRONX, NY) -- A team led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has found a clear link between living to 100 and inheriting a hyperactive version of an enzyme that rebuilds telomeres -- the tip ends of chromosomes. The findings appear in the latest issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Telomeres play crucial roles in aging, cancer and other biological processes. Their importance was recognized last month, when three scientists were awarded the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for determining the structure of telomeres and discovering how they protect... |
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| The Survey Said... | |
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| Top 10 Things that Make Humans Special |
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· 11/11/2009 7:11:15 AM PST · · Posted by wildbill · · 17 replies · · 640+ views · · Live Science · · Nov. 2009 · · Charles Choi · |
Humans are unusual animals by any stretch of the imagination, ones that have changed the face of the world around us. What makes us so special when compared to the rest of the animal kingdom? Some things we take completely for granted might surprise you. - |
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| Climate | |
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| Central Africa's tropical Congo Basin was arid, treeless in Late Jurassic |
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· 11/10/2009 3:23:21 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 11 replies · · 263+ views · · Southern Methodist University · · Nov 10, 2009 · · Unknown · |
Geochemical analysis of rare ancient soil produces new paleoclimate data. The Congo Basin -- with its massive, lush tropical rain forest -- was far different 150 million to 200 million years ago. At that time Africa and South America were part of the single continent Gondwana. The Congo Basin was arid, with a small amount of seasonal rainfall, and few bushes or trees populated the landscape, according to a new geochemical analysis of rare ancient soils. The geochemical analysis provides new data for the Jurassic period, when very little is known about Central Africa's paleoclimate, says Timothy S. Myers, a paleontology... |
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| I'm Driftin' I'm Driftin'... | |
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| New fossil plant discovery links Patagonia to New Guinea in a warmer past |
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· 11/10/2009 1:51:51 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 7 replies · · 149+ views · · American Journal of Botany · · Nov 10 2009 · · Unknown · |
How revising an ancient species can change what we know of a lineage's historical distribution and the climate in which it livedFossil plants are windows to the past, providing us with clues as to what our planet looked like millions of years ago. Not only do fossils tell us which species were present before human-recorded history, but they can provide information about the climate and how and when lineages may have dispersed around the world. Identifying fossil plants can be tricky, however, when plant organs fail to be preserved or when only a few sparse parts can be found. In... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Key to Success? Dinosaurs May Have Been Warm-Blooded |
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· 11/11/2009 12:32:37 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 22 replies · · 426+ views · · Live Science · · Nov 10, 2009 · · Charles Q. Choi · |
Many dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded just like mammals or birds, potentially explaining their extraordinary success before their extinction. For decades, scientists assumed that because dinosaurs resembled lizards, they were cold-blooded as well, their internal temperature rising and falling with the outside world. However, birds are warm-blooded, and the fact that birds seem to be descended from dinosaurs raises the question of whether their ancestors were as well. If dinosaurs were warm-blooded, they would have possessed the potential for athletic abilities rivaling those of mammals and birds. They could have survived in colder habitats that would kill cold-blooded creatures, such... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Early life stress 'changes' genes |
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· 11/09/2009 11:55:52 AM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 21 replies · · 467+ views · · bbc · · 8 November 2009 · · Victoria Gill · |
A study in mice has hinted at the impact that early life trauma and stress can have on genes, and how they can result in behavioural problems. Scientists described the long-term effects of stress on baby mice in the journal Nature Neuroscience. Stressed mice produced hormones that "changed" their genes, affecting their behaviour throughout their lives. This work could provide clues to how stress and trauma in early life can lead to later problems...... The team found that mice that had been "abandoned" during their early lives were then less able to cope with stressful situations throughout their lives. The... |
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| Uracil Made in the Lab |
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· 11/09/2009 4:17:24 PM PST · · Posted by IronKros · · 9 replies · · 271+ views · · AstroBiology Magazine · · 11/8/2009 · |
NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing pyrimidine exposed to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life. Pyrimidine is a ring-shaped molecule made up of carbon and nitrogen and is the basic structure for uracil, part of a genetic code found in ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA is central to protein synthesis, but has many other roles. "We have demonstrated for the first time that we can make uracil, a component of RNA, non-biologically in a laboratory... |
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| NASA Reproduces A Building Block Of Life In Laboratory |
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· 11/13/2009 4:12:59 PM PST · · Posted by OldNavyVet · · 18 replies · · 503+ views · · Science Daily · · 11 November 2009 · · NASA · |
NASA scientists studying the origin of life have reproduced uracil, a key component of our hereditary material, in the laboratory. They discovered that an ice sample containing pyrimidine exposed to ultraviolet radiation under space-like conditions produces this essential ingredient of life. Pyrimidine is a ring-shaped molecule made up of carbon and nitrogen and is the basic structure for uracil, part of a genetic code found in ribonucleic acid (RNA). RNA is central to protein synthesis, but has many other roles. "We have demonstrated for the first time that we can make uracil, a component of RNA, non-biologically in a laboratory... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Ancient penguin DNA raises doubts about accuracy of genetic dating techniques |
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· 11/10/2009 10:54:53 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 154 replies · · 1,360+ views · · Oregon State University · · Nov 10, 2009 · · Unknown · |
CORVALLIS, Ore. - Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent. In other words, a biological specimen determined by traditional DNA testing to be 100,000 years old may actually be 200,000 to 600,000 years old, researchers suggest in a new report in Trends in Genetics, a professional journal. The findings raise doubts about the accuracy of many evolutionary rates based on conventional types of genetic analysis. "Some... |
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| Method, not a Body of Knowledge | |
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| Scientists decipher the formation of lasting memories |
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· 11/10/2009 7:19:06 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 22 replies · · 560+ views · · Karolinska Institute (SWEDEN) · · Nov 10, 2009 · · Karlen, Olson, et. al. · |
[PRESS RELEASE, 10 November 2009] Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism that controls the brain's ability to create lasting memories. In experiments on genetically manipulated mice, they were able to switch on and off the animals' ability to form lasting memories by adding a substance to their drinking water. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal PNAS, are of potential significance to the future treatment of Alzheimer's and stroke. Lars Olson Photo: Camilla Svensk "We are constantly being swamped with sensory impression," says Professor Lars Olson, who led the study. "After a while, the brain must... |
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| China | |
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| Han Dynasty city ruins discovered in China's Inner Mongolia |
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· 11/13/2009 7:02:25 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · 217+ views · · People's Daily Online · · November 11, 2009 · · unattributed · |
Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) city ruins have been discovered in Wuyuan County, Hetao Plain, China's Inner Mongolia. It's said that the scale of the city ruins is rarely seen in Hetao Plain. The city ruins are located in Taal Town of Wuyuan County, Bayannaoer City in China's Inner Mongolia and once covered with grassland. The city wall was about 2 km long and 1 km wide and is made up of compressed earth. The east wall is 2 meters high and remarkably preserved, while, the south wall has already collapsed and is now a road base 80 centimeters high... |
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| Rome and Italy | |
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| Traces of Mithras in Malta |
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· 11/10/2009 10:11:25 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 8 replies · · 350+ views · · The Malta Independent · · Nov 10, 2009 · · Noel Grima · |
The Mithraic Mysteries was a mystery religion that became popular among the military in the Roman Empire, from the 1st to 4th centuries AD. Information on the cult is based mainly on interpretations of monuments, which depict Mithras as born from a rock and sacrificing a bull. His worshippers had a complex system of seven grades of initiation, with ritual meals and they met in underground temples. Little else is known for certain. |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Israel displays coins from ancient Jewish revolt |
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· 11/11/2009 1:51:52 PM PST · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 11 replies · · 416+ views · · AP on Yahoo · · 11/11/09 · · Michael Barajas - ap · |
JERUSALEM ñ Israel displayed for the first time Wednesday a collection of rare coins charred and burned from the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple nearly 2,000 years ago. About 70 coins were found in an excavation at the foot of a key Jerusalem holy site. They give a rare glimpse into the period of the Jewish revolt that eventually led to the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple in A.D. 70, said Hava Katz, curator of the exhibition. The Jews rebelled against the Roman Empire and took over Jerusalem in A.D. 66. After laying siege to Jerusalem, the Romans... |
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| Minoans | |
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| Remains of Minoan-style painting discovered during excavations of Canaanite palace |
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· 11/10/2009 8:30:40 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · 445+ views · · Eurekalert · · Monday, November 9, 2009 · · Amir Gilat, Ph.D., Rachel Feldman · |
The remains of a Minoan-style wall painting, recognizable by a blue background, the first of its kind to be found in Israel, was discovered in the course of the recent excavation season at Tel Kabri. This fresco joins others of Aegean style that have been uncovered during earlier seasons at the Canaanite palace in Kabri. "It was, without doubt, a conscious decision made by the city's rulers who wished to associate with Mediterranean culture and not adopt Syrian and Mesopotamian styles of art like other cities in Canaan did. The Canaanites were living in the Levant and wanted to feel... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Austrian archaeologists make Babylonian find in Egypt [sync'd with Hyksos] |
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· 11/10/2009 8:06:42 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · 318+ views · · Austrian Times · · Friday, October 9, 2009 · · Lisa Chapman · |
Austrian archaeologists have found a Babylonian seal in Egypt that confirms contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos during the second millennium B.C. Irene Forstner-M¸ller, the head of the Austrian Archaeological Institute's (÷AI) branch office in Cairo, said today (Thurs) the find had occurred at the site of the ancient town of Avaris near what is today the city of Tell el-Dab'a in the eastern Nile delta. The Hyksos conquered Egypt and reigned there from 1640 to 1530 B.C. She said a recently-discovered cuneiform tablet had led archaeologists to suspect there had been contact between the Babylonians and the Hyksos.... |
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| Near East | |
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| Soldiers help preserve Iraq's ancient history |
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· 11/09/2009 3:54:39 PM PST · · Posted by SandRat · · 3 replies · · 178+ views · · Multi-National Force - Iraq · · Sgt. Jon Soles, USA · |
>Nouri Obeyd Kathem (left), an archaeologist with the Iraqi Ministry of Antiquities and Tourism, explains the Sobbar Abu Habba site to Maj. Charles Morrison (center) and Capt. Ross Boyce with the 120th Combined Arms Battalion, Nov. 4. Photo by Sgt. Jon Soles, Multi-National Division -- Baghdad. BAGHDAD -- What may look like large, weathered mounds of dirt on rural farmland near Mahmudiyah are actually artifact-filled ruins of an ancient civilization. Soldiers of the North Carolina National Guard's 120th Combined Arms Battalion, 30th Heavy Brigade Combat Team here surveyed the sites recently with officials from the Government of Iraq's Ministry of... |
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| Epigraphy and Language | |
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| Digitized inscriptions reveal ancient messages |
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· 11/10/2009 11:44:46 PM PST · · Posted by neverdem · · 14 replies · · 898+ views · · LA Times via sfgate.com · · November 8, 2009 · · Duke Helfand · |
Four thousand years ago, a government bureaucrat in Mesopotamia jotted down a tally of slave laborers on a clay tablet. The bureaucrat left behind the count in wedge-shaped symbols that proved hard to fully decipher with the naked eye. Until now. Researchers at the University of Southern California's West Semitic Research Project have helped uncover its hidden narrative with the aid of lighting and imaging techniques that are credited with revolutionizing the study of ancient texts. Over the last three decades, the USC project has produced thousands of crisp images of inscriptions and other artifacts from biblical Israel and other... |
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| Long Before the Vikings | |
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| Man finds 3,000-year-old sword |
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· 11/13/2009 6:04:57 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 50 replies · · 1,374+ views · · United Press International · · Friday the 13th of November 2009 · · unattributed · |
A Norwegian man said experts told him the sword he found abandoned at a roadside four years ago dates back 3,000 years. Ernst Skofteland said he asked a team of archaeologists digging on a farm near his home to look at the sword, which he discovered at the side of a lumber road in a forest area four years ago, and they told him it dates from around 1100-900 B.C., Aftenposten reported Friday. "When they told me how old it was, I thought they were kidding me," Skofteland said. He said he turned the sword over to government authorities for... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| Cromwell's Legacy Damages Tomb of Black Prince |
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· 11/10/2009 10:00:03 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 18 replies · · 474+ views · · The Telegraph · · 02 Nov 2009 · |
Damage caused by Oliver Cromwell's army 350 years ago is threatening to ruin the tomb of the Black Prince in Canterbury Cathedral.Stained glass windows overlooking the tomb of Edward, Prince of Wales, were destroyed by Puritan iconoclasts in the 1640s, allowing damaging UV rays to enter the cathedral unfiltered. Since then, clear replacements have been installed and the deterioration of the paintwork on the 14th century canopy surrounding the prince's resting place has continued. The brilliant colours of the artworks that look down on the bronze figure of the prince are fading rapidly and the red pigment used by the... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| 71 Years Ago--> Kristallnacht "The Night of Broken Glass |
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· 11/08/2009 7:10:27 PM PST · · Posted by Shellybenoit · · 25 replies · · 726+ views · · The Lid · · 11/8/09 · · The Lid · |
Kristallnacht also known as Night of Broken Glass was an anti-Jewish pogrom in Nazi Germany on November 9th-10th 1938. Kristallnacht was the day Hitler's final solution "came out of the closet" It is viewed by many historians as the beginning of the final solution, leading towards the genocide of the Holocaust In a coordinated attack on Jewish people and their property, 99 Jews were murdered and 25,000 to 30,000 were arrested and placed in concentration camps. 267 synagogues were destroyed and thousands of homes and businesses were ransacked. This was done by the Hitler Youth, Gestapo,and the SS. Kristallnacht also... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Stalin Declassified |
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· 11/13/2009 1:18:10 PM PST · · Posted by mainestategop · · 5 replies · · 266+ views · · Yotube · |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KHcQsjFdC8&feature=channel Joseph Stalin declassified. Newly revealed documents about Stalin and the founding of the USSR and his inner circle. About the purges and memos concerning STalin. |
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| Lost Charlie Chaplin film bought on eBay for $5 |
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· 11/07/2009 12:40:44 PM PST · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 17 replies · · 1,153+ views · · Telegraph.co.uk · · 06 Nov 2009 · · Telegraph.co.uk · |
Lost Charlie Chaplin film bought on eBay for $5 A lost Charlie Chaplin film has been discovered in a can of nitrate film bought on eBay for £3.20 ($5). Morale Park from Henham, Essex, purchased the tin simply because he liked the look of it. He was amazed to discover its fragile contents: a previously unknown seven-minute film Chaplin film called Zepped. His interest was piqued, he said, when he could not find any mention of it on the internet. The film features footage of Zeppelin airships flying over England during the First World War, and out-takes from three pictures... |
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| end of digest #278 20091114 | |
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· Saturday, November 14, 2009 · 38 topics · 2386092 to 2379523 · 730 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 278th issue. I missed adding the keyword to the De Soto topic last week, and it would have been perfect since there were so many topics about the Americas, therefore it gets top billing this issue. :') |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #279 Saturday, November 21, 2009 |
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| It's a Fair Cop, but Society's To Blame Right, We'll Be Charging Them Too |
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| Scientific Fraud Caused by Social Pressures |
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· 11/21/2009 6:46:20 AM PST · · Posted by grey_whiskers · · 9 replies · · 254+ views · · Softparanorma web site · · August 10, 2009 · · Dr. Nikolai Bezroukov · |
<snip>2.4 Diagnosis #4: The Attraction of Magnificent Academic Trusels. A "trusel" is an idea or a finding that is widely perceived to be true, but which is largely useless (or even of negative value). (The idea that a truth may lack value may be disturbing, but it is true, although it is not a trusel and probably will not be thought to be magnificent.) A "Magnificent Academic Trusel" (MAT) is a trusel that has been widely acknowledged for its intellectual content (explicitly or implicitly), but without a corresponding amount of attention being given to its utility or even to its... |
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| Oh, Darwin, If You Weave Me | |
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| Just like old times: Generating RNA molecules in water |
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· 11/20/2009 10:57:11 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · 199+ views · · American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology · · Nov 20, 2009 · · Unknown · |
Appearing in the Nov. 27, 2009, issue (Vol. 284, No. 48) of JBCA key question in the origin of biological molecules like RNA and DNA is how they first came together billions of years ago from simple precursors. Now, in a study appearing in this week's JBC, researchers in Italy have reconstructed one of the earliest evolutionary steps yet: generating long chains of RNA from individual subunits using nothing but warm water. Many researchers believe that RNA was one of the first biological molecules present, before DNA and proteins; however, there has been little success in recreating the formation on... |
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| Artificial molecule evolves in the lab |
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· 01/09/2009 10:46:53 AM PST · · Posted by Coyoteman · · 66 replies · · 1,264+ views · · New Scientist · · January 8, 2009 · · Ewen Callaway · |
A new molecule that performs the essential function of life - self-replication - could shed light on the origin of all living things. If that wasn't enough, the laboratory-born ribonucleic acid (RNA) strand evolves in a test tube to double itself ever more swiftly. "Obviously what we're trying to do is make a biology," says Gerald Joyce, a biochemist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. He hopes to imbue his team's molecule with all the fundamental properties of life: self-replication, evolution, and function. Joyce and colleague Tracey Lincoln made their chemical out of RNA because most researchers... |
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| On the Origin of Life on Earth |
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· 01/16/2009 12:31:14 PM PST · · Posted by js1138 · · 51 replies · · 2,155+ views · · Science · · January 8, 2009 · · Carl Zimmer · |
An Amazon of words flowed from Charles Darwin's pen. His books covered the gamut from barnacles to orchids, from geology to domestication. At the same time, he filled notebooks with his ruminations and scribbled thousands of letters packed with observations and speculations on nature. Yet Darwin dedicated only a few words of his great verbal flood to one of the biggest questions in all of biology: how life began. |
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| Method, not a Body of Knowledge | |
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| Catholic universities plan scientific examination of evolutionary theory [Al Gore not invited] |
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· 09/16/2008 2:00:59 PM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 11 replies · · 391+ views · · CNA · · September 16, 2008 · |
Vatican City, Sep 16, 2008 / 10:50 am (CNA).- Two universities from different sides of the Atlantic announced plans today to hold an international conference to discuss Charles Darwin's work "The Origin of the Species." The conference will approach Darwin's theory of evolution from a scientific standpoint, rather than an ideological one, an organizer explained. "Biological Evolution: Facts and Theories. A Critical Appraisal 150 years after 'The Origin of Species'" is scheduled for March 3-7, 2009 in Rome and is being sponsored by the University of Notre Dame (USA) and the Pontifical Gregorian University. The congress, while being sponsored by... |
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| Brave New World | |
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| Human species 'may split in two' |
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· 11/14/2009 11:12:03 AM PST · · Posted by sodpoodle · · 73 replies · · 1,539+ views · · BBC News · · Tuesday, 17 October 2006, · · BBC News · |
Human species 'may split in two' Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said. Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge. The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology. People would become choosier about their sexual partners, causing humanity to divide into sub-species, he added. The descendants of the genetic upper class would be tall, slim, healthy, attractive, intelligent, and creative and a... |
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| Sexualizing Lactose Intolerance | |
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| Heart and bone damage from low vitamin D tied to declines in sex hormones |
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· 11/15/2009 7:59:03 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 8 replies · · 571+ views · · Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions · · Nov 15, 2009 · · Unknown · |
Effects of vitamin D deficiency amplified by shortage of estrogenResearchers at Johns Hopkins are reporting what is believed to be the first conclusive evidence in men that the long-term ill effects of vitamin D deficiency are amplified by lower levels of the key sex hormone estrogen, but not testosterone. In a national study in 1010 men, to be presented Nov. 15 at the American Heart Association's (AHA) annual Scientific Sessions in Orlando, researchers say the new findings build on previous studies showing that deficiencies in vitamin D and low levels of estrogen, found naturally in differing amounts in men and... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Evolutionary history rewritten for NZ giant birds |
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· 11/18/2009 6:39:44 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 11 replies · · 184+ views · · University of New South Wales · · November 18, 2009 · · Bob Beale · |
The evolutionary history of New Zealand's many extinct flightless moa has been re-written in the first comprehensive study of more than 260 sub-fossil specimens to combine all known genetic, anatomical, geological and ecological information about the unique bird lineage. That lineage ended only about 600 years ago after a journey through time that most likely began about 80 million years earlier on the prehistoric supercontinent of Gondwana, according to the study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by an international team of researchers. Found on the south and north islands of New Zealand, the evolutionary history and... |
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| Werewolves, Not of London | |
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| Funny, you don't look related [how did (extinct) Falkland Island wolf first get there?] |
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· 11/14/2009 9:44:11 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 23 replies · · 948+ views · · UCLA · · 12-Nov-2009 · · Stuart Wolpert · |
Falkland Wolf (added by Pharmboy) UCLA biologists, colleagues solve mystery contemplated by Charles Darwin When Charles Darwin visited the Falkland Islands during the voyage of the Beagle in 1835, he saw a wolf-like species, wrote about it in his diaries and correctly commented that it was being hunted in such large numbers that it would soon become extinct. Darwin was baffled by how this animal got on the islands, and it figured heavily in the formation of his ideas on evolution by natural selection. Now, UCLA biologists and colleagues have analyzed DNA from museum specimens, including one collected by Darwin,... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Ancient Penguin DNA Raises Doubts About Accuracy Of Genetic Dating Techniques |
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· 11/13/2009 5:53:02 PM PST · · Posted by Natural Law · · 14 replies · · 551+ views · · Science Daily · · Nov. 10, 2009 · · Oregon State Univ et al · |
ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2009) -- Penguins that died 44,000 years ago in Antarctica have provided extraordinary frozen DNA samples that challenge the accuracy of traditional genetic aging measurements, and suggest those approaches have been routinely underestimating the age of many specimens by 200 to 600 percent. |
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| I'm Sure It Had Parents | |
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| Starvation 'wiped out' giant deer |
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· 11/16/2009 9:47:20 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 35 replies · · 739+ views · · BBC · · 16 Nov 2009 · · Matt Walker · |
The giant deer, also known as the giant Irish deer or Irish elk, is one of the largest deer species that ever lived. Yet why this giant animal, which had massive antlers spanning 3.6m, suddenly went extinct some 10,600 years ago has remained a mystery. Now a study of its teeth is producing tantalising answers, suggesting the deer couldn't cope with climate change. As conditions became colder and drier in Ireland at the time, fewer plants grew, gradually starving the deer. The discovery is published in the journal Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. The giant deer (Megaloceros giganteus) has become famous over... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Car-Sized Creature Whacked with Tail's Sweet Spot (until 10,000 years ago) |
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· 11/15/2009 12:39:09 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 30 replies · · 757+ views · · Natural History Magazine · · Nov 15, 2009 · · Harvey Leifert · |
When Alex Rodriguez swings for the fences or Venus Williams tries to ace her serve, they do well to connect at the "sweet spot" of their bat or racket. That aim was apparently shared by some unlikely contenders: glyptodonts, armored mammals with clublike tails that roamed the Americas until about 10,000 years ago. The sweet spot, or center of percussion, is the point on a tool where powerful blows should be landed to maximize impact and minimize the risk of injury to the user. |
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| Prehistoric man, giant animal coexisted |
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· 11/16/2009 10:13:24 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 14 replies · · 818+ views · · Arizona Daily Star · · Tom Beal · |
The secret is out: Man and gomphotheres once coexisted in Sonora. Tools and spear tips found with fossil bones at a remote Sonoran site suggest that Clovis-era hunters butchered two juvenile specimens of the elephantlike megafauna about 13,000 years ago. It's the first discovery of such recent evidence of gomphotheres in North America, said Vance Holliday, a University of Arizona anthropologist. It's also the first time gomphothere fossils were found together with implements made by Clovis people, the oldest known inhabitants of North America, Holliday said. The discovery, on a remote ranch in the Rio Sonora watershed, was actually made... |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Extinction of Giant Mammals Changed Landscape Dramatically |
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· 11/19/2009 6:16:45 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 24 replies · · 476+ views · · Live Science · · Nov 19, 2009 · · Jeanna Bryner · |
The last breaths of mammoths and mastodons some 13,000 years ago have garnered plenty of research and just as much debate. What killed these large beasts in a relative instant of geologic time? A question asked less often: What happened when they disappeared? A new study, based partly on dung fungus, provides some answers to both questions. The upshot: The landscape changed dramatically. "As soon as herbivores drop off the landscape, we see different plant communities," said lead researcher Jacquelyn Gill of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, adding the result was an "ecosystem upheaval." Gill and her colleagues found that... |
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| Sophisticated hunters not to blame for driving mammoths to extinction |
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· 11/20/2009 8:15:28 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · 246+ views · · Guardian · · Thursday, November 19, 2009 · · Ian Sample · |
The animals, which included mammoths, elephant-sized mastodons and beavers the size of black bears, were probably picked off by more inept hunters who only much later developed specialised weapons when their prize catches became scarce. "Some people thought humans arrived and decimated the populations of these animals in a few hundred years, but what we've found is not consistent with that rapid 'blitzkrieg' overkill of large animals," said Jacquelyn Gill, a PhD student at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who led the research team... Gill's team rules this out by putting a more accurate date on the decline and fall... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, PreClovis | |
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| Digging for History at the Williams Creek Campground (Crater Lake - Mt. Mazama) |
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· 11/18/2009 8:37:37 AM PST · · Posted by JimSEA · · 8 replies · · 300+ views · · KEZI.com · · 11/17/2009 · · Lindsey Do · |
ROSEBURG, Ore. -- Mount Mazama's catastrophic volcanic eruption created Crater Lake over 7,600 years ago. But it also created a sort of time capsule for Oregon scientists. Now researchers from the Umpqua National Forest and the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology are digging in. This Passport in Time project actually started last summer, but was put on hold after the Williams Creek fire broke out in July. Now dozens of volunteers and researchers are back to unearth Oregon's history. These archaeologists spend hours sifting and digging, all in hopes of finding something ancient. "We're looking for artifacts that will demonstrate... |
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| Microbial Pyromania | |
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| Study Finds Signs of Life in Ancient Lava |
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· 04/26/2004 10:14:40 AM PDT · · Posted by Junior · · 17 replies · · 384+ views · · Science - Reuters · · 2004-04-23 · |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Tiny, bacteria-like organisms made their home in hardened lava some 3.5 billion years ago, scientists reported on Friday in a finding that pushes the limits of when life is known to have started on Earth. The microbes, known as archaea, dug into volcanic rock to form long tubes. A team from the United States, Norway, Canada, and South Africa found evidence of the lava-burrowing archaea in 3.5 billion-year-old rock in South Africa. "Our evidence is among the oldest evidence for life found so far," said Hubert Staudigel, a research geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at... |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| Shaped from clay [origin of life] |
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· 11/04/2005 5:00:06 AM PST · · Posted by PatrickHenry · · 346 replies · · 3,821+ views · · Nature Magazine · · 03 November 2005 · · Philip Ball · |
Minerals help molecules thought to have been essential for early life to form. A team of US scientists may have found the 'primordial womb' in which the first life on Earth was incubated. Lynda Williams and colleagues at Arizona State University in Tempe have discovered that certain types of clay mineral convert simple carbon-based molecules to complex ones in conditions mimicking those of hot, wet hydrothermal vents (mini-volcanoes on the sea bed). Such complex molecules would have been essential components of the first cell-like systems on Earth. Having helped such delicate molecules to form, the clays can also protect them... |
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| Multiregionalism | |
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| 'Hobbits' are a new human species -- according to the statistical analysis of fossils |
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· 11/19/2009 5:39:35 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 30 replies · · 699+ views · · physical science news · · 19-Nov-2009 · · Dawn Peters · |
Homo floresiensis not diseased sub-population of healthy humans Researchers from Stony Brook University Medical Center in New York have confirmed that Homo floresiensis is a genuine ancient human species and not a descendant of healthy humans dwarfed by disease. Using statistical analysis on skeletal remains of a well-preserved female specimen, researchers determined the "hobbit" to be a distinct species and not a genetically flawed version of modern humans. Details of the study appear in the December issue of Significance, the magazine of the Royal Statistical Society, published by Wiley-Blackwell. In 2003 Australian and Indonesian scientists discovered small-bodied, small-brained, hominin (human-like)... |
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| Australia and the Pacific | |
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| Nan Madol: The City Built on Coral Reefs |
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· 11/16/2009 7:33:16 PM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 5 replies · · 387+ views · · Smithsonian Magazine · · 03 Nov 2009 · · Christopher Pala · |
One of the oldest archaeological sites not on a heritage list, this Pacific state, like Easter Island, is an engineering marvel We zigzag slowly in our skiff around the shallow coral heads surrounding Pohnpei. The island, a little smaller than New York City, is part of the Federated States of Micronesia. It is nestled in a vast tapestry of coral reefs. Beyond the breakers, the Pacific stretches 5,578 miles to California. A stingray dashes in front of us, flying underwater like a butterfly alongside our bow. Our destination is Nan Madol, near the southern side of the island, the only... |
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| Professor Twist | |
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| Strange Ancient Crocodiles Swam the Sahara |
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· 11/19/2009 11:21:14 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 23 replies · · 731+ views · · Live Science · · Nov 19, 2009 · · LiveScience Staff · |
Paleontologist Paul Sereno and his colleagues unearthed a bizarre bunch of crocodile remains in the Sahara. The crocs sported snouts and other traits that resembled some modern-day animals and inspired nicknames, including SuperCroc (weighed 8 tons), BoarCroc (upper right), PancakeCroc (lower right), RatCroc, DogCroc and DuckCroc. Credit: Photo by Mike Hettwer, courtesy National Geographic. From a crocodile sporting a boar-like snout to a peculiar pal with buckteeth for digging up grub, an odd-looking bunch of such reptiles dashed and swam across what is now the Sahara Desert some 100 million years ago when dinosaurs ruled. That's the picture created by... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Heart Disease Found in Ancient Mummies |
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· 11/17/2009 4:25:10 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 22 replies · · 380+ views · · Live Science · · Nov 17, 2009 · · Charles Q. Choi · |
Scientists have uncovered heart disease in 3,500-year-old Egyptian mummies, suggesting the risk factors behind it are not just modern in nature. Heart disease is often ascribed to modern risk factors, such as smoking, unhealthy diets rich in saturated fats, salt and processed sugars, or sedentary lifestyles. But then cardiologists touring the Egyptian National Museum of Antiquities in Cairo during a medical conference last year noticed the nameplate of the pharoah Merenptah, who ruled from 1213 B.C. to 1203 B.C. It read that when Merenptah died at roughly age 60, he was afflicted with atherosclerosis, or thickening of the arteries due... |
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| Heart Disease Found in Egyptian Mummies (Pre-McDonalds) |
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· 11/17/2009 10:51:58 PM PST · · Posted by bogusname · · 7 replies · · 234+ views · · Science Daily · · Nov. 17, 2009 · · ScienceDaily · |
Hardening of the arteries has been detected in Egyptian mummies, some as old as 3,500 years, suggesting that the factors causing heart attack and stroke are not only modern ones; they afflicted ancient people, too. Study results are appearing in the Nov. 18 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and are being presented Nov. 17 at the Scientific Session of the American Heart Association at Orlando, Fla. "Atherosclerosis is ubiquitous among modern day humans and, despite differences in ancient and modern lifestyles, we found that it was rather common in ancient Egyptians of high socioeconomic status... |
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| India / Harappa | |
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| Indus Valley's Bronze Age civilisation 'had first sophisticated financial exchange system' |
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· 11/20/2009 7:55:16 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · 50+ views · · Telegraph · · Tuesday, November 17, 2009 · · Dean Nelson · |
According to a new study of clay pots and ceramic tablets discovered almost 70 years ago in Harappa, now in Pakistan, the people of the Indus Valley had a detailed system of commodity value, weights and measures. Dr Bryan Wells, a researcher based at India's Institute of Mathematical Sciences, told The Daily Telegraph he had begun work on his thesis ten years ago when he first saw photographs of the clay pots with markings which appeared to be in proportion to their relative size. But he was not able to test his thesis until he visited New Delhi earlier this... |
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| Religion of Peace | |
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| Hindu Genocide |
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· 01/26/2006 4:38:11 AM PST · · Posted by voice of india · · 17 replies · · 1,880+ views · · Shrinandan Vyas · |
Now Afganistan is a Moslem country. Logically, this means either one or more of the following must have happened: a) original residents of Hindu Kush converted to Islam, or b) they were slaughtered and the conquerors took over, or c) they were driven out. Encyclopedia Britannica (3) already informs us above about the resistance to conversion and frequent revolt against to the Moslem conqueror's rule from 8 th thru 11 th Century AD. The name 'Hindu Kush' itself tells us about the fate of the original residents of Gandhaar and Vaahic Pradesh during the later period of Moslem conquests, because... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Jerusalem stone and the genocide of Titus |
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· 11/19/2009 7:02:50 AM PST · · Posted by US Navy Vet · · 10 replies · · 404+ views · · American Thinker · · November 19, 2009 · · James Lewis · |
Israel's high rise buildings in Jerusalem are built out of Jerusalem stone, a beautiful natural building material that makes even the new city look gloriously resurrected from the very hills themselves. Obama is a Third World socialist, meaning that he sees everything through the lens of revenge against Western colonialism of the 19th century. Where Obama sees "settlements," Israelis see 900 units of beautiful high-rise buildings made out of the living rock of the land. |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Evidence for kings David and Solomon |
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· 11/16/2009 9:53:22 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 8 replies · · 657+ views · · Times Online · · 16 Nov 2009 · · Norman Hammond · |
"King David and King Solomon lived merry, merry lives, With many, many concubines and many, many wives. But when old age crept after them, with many, many qualms, King Solomon wrote the Proverbs and King David wrote the Psalms." There are several versions of this anonymous rhyme, but the problem, some biblical archaeologists argue, is that there is little evidence that either king existed: archaeological remains have been assigned to their reigns on the basis of cryptic verses in the Old Testament, and then used to "prove" the date of similar buildings at other sites. Until 15 years ago, Professor... |
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| Abraham's Burial Site |
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· 11/20/2009 7:28:26 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · 552+ views · · Koinonia House · · June 1997 · · Chuck Missler (I guess) · |
Jews had long suspected that the entrance to the real burial chamber must be here, and because of that they placed their prayer slips of paper in wall cracks on the exterior of the building at this same location... Dr. Jevin... recounted to Nachrichten aus Israel (News from Israel) how he forced himself through a narrow entrance, went down 16 steps and crawled along a 20-meters long, 60-cm high and 100-cm wide tunnel in order to finally reach a 3.5 x 3.5 meter room. The chamber, tunnel and steps were all made of the same worked stones as the building... |
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| Epigraphy and Language | |
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| New Exhibit: 2,000 Year-Old Temple Mount Coins |
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· 11/14/2009 6:00:33 AM PST · · Posted by GonzoII · · 7 replies · · 386+ views · · israelnationalnews.com · · 11/05/09 · · Hana Levi Julian · |
The exhibit was organized by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the East Jerusalem Development Company with funding from the William Davidson and Estanne Fawer Foundation. It is intended to be the first of several exhibitions to be presented at the Davidson Center in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden. |
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| Fake! Fake! Fake! Fake! | |
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| Palestinian Historian: Egyptians Had the Right to Force the Jews to Build Pithom and Raamses |
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· 11/17/2009 5:42:14 AM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 38 replies · · 587+ views · · IMRA · · 11-17-09 · |
MEMRI: Palestinian Historian Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: Ancient Egyptians Had the Right to Force the Jews to Work Building Pithom and Raamses; Benjamin Franklin Warned against the Jews MEMRI No. 2260| November 16, 2009 Palestinian Historian Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: Ancient Egyptians Had the Right to Force the Jews to Work Building Pithom and Raamses; Benjamin Franklin Warned against the Jews Following are excerpts from an interview with Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar, a lecturer on Islamic history at the Islamic University of Gaza. The interview aired on Al-Aqsa TV on July 31, 2009. To view this clip, visit http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2260.htm Dr. Ibrahim Al-Sinwar: The... |
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| Agriculture and Animal Husbandry | |
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| Valley in Jordan inhabited and irrigated for 13,000 years |
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· 11/20/2009 8:24:09 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · 19+ views · · PhysOrg · · Wednesday, November 18, 2009 · · Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research · |
Dutch researcher Eva Kaptijn succeeded in discovering -- based on 100,000 finds -- that the Zerqa Valley in Jordan had been successively inhabited and irrigated for more than 13,000 years. But it was not just communities that built irrigation systems: the irrigation systems also built communities... she has been applying an intensive field exploration technique: 15 metres apart, the researchers would walk forward for 50 metres. On the outward leg, they'd pick up all the earthenware and, on the way back, all of the other material. This resulted in more than 100,000 finds, varying from about 13,000 years to just... |
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| Turf Toe | |
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| Cerne Abbas Giant: is he older than we thought? |
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· 11/20/2009 8:07:32 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · 374+ views · · Times o' London · · November 17, 2009 · · Jack Malvern · |
The gardens were built when the Abbey of Cernes was transformed into a country mansion in the mid-16th century after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. One resident who may have been responsible for the gardens was Denzil Holles, a characterful MP who fought for the Parliamentarians but was a Royalist at heart and who occupied the house from 1642-66. The Rev John Hutchins, a local historian writing in 1774, claimed that he was told that the giant was "a modern thing" cut by Lord Holles. The National Trust, which owns the field where the giant is carved, suggests that the... |
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| Greece | |
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| Origins: The First Act -- An irredeemable debt to ancient Greek theater |
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· 11/16/2009 7:18:00 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · 155+ views · · Biblical Archaeology Review · · Rush Rehm · |
The Theater of Dionysus lies on the south slope of the Acropolis, on whose heights rose Athens's most sacred temples. Open to the sky, and looking down over the southern part of town, the theater belonged fully to the political and social world of its audience -- unlike our indoor theaters (which cut off the outside world). The beginnings of Greek theater were associated with another radical invention of the ancient Athenians: democracy. Although we find obscure references to earlier dramatists, our first secure date for tragic performances at the City Dionysia comes shortly after the expulsion from Athens of... |
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| Thrace / Bulgaria | |
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| Bulgaria Archaeologists Present Unique Thracian Tomb Finds [pics] |
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· 11/21/2009 8:44:26 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · 151+ views · · Novinite · · Tuesday, November 17, 2009 · · unattributed · |
A team of Bulgarian archaeologists led by Veselin Ignatov formally presented Tuesday their finds from the tomb of an aristocrat from Ancient Thrace near the southern town of Nova Zagora. In October and November 2009, Ignatov's team found a burial tomb of dated back to the end of 1st century and beginning of 2nd century AD, located outside of the village of Karanovo, in southern Bulgaria. The finds at the lavish Thracian tomb include gold rings, silver cups and vessels coated with gold and clay vessels. Those include two silver cups with images of love god Eros, and a number... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Chilling words that triggered the bloody massacre of clan MacDonald at Glencoe to go on display |
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· 11/21/2009 8:59:07 AM PST · · Posted by Dysart · · 12 replies · · 217+ views · · The Scotsman · · 11-21-09 · · Tim Cornwell and Oliver Tree · |
THEY were the words that launched one of the darkest episodes in Scottish history, remembered and resented to this day. Clan Campbell murdered Clan MacDonald in Glencoe in 1692 Now the original handwritten order for the massacre at Glencoe "to fall upon the rebels ... and put all to the sword under seventy" goes on show in Edinburgh this week. Sent to Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, in 1692, the simple 20-line letter triggered the murder of 38 members of the MacDonald clan and is the centrepiece of an exhibition of cultural "treasures" at the National Library of Scotland. It is... |
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| Among My Souvenirs | |
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| Museum: Galileo's fingers, tooth are found |
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· 11/20/2009 12:52:47 PM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 27 replies · · 481+ views · · lasvegassun · · Nov. 20, 2009 · |
Two fingers and a tooth removed from Galileo Galilei's corpse in a Florentine basilica in the 18th century and given up for lost have been found again, a Florence museum said Friday. Paolo Galluzzi, director of the Museum of the History of Science, said three fingers, a vertebra and a tooth were removed by enthusiastic admirers from the astronomer's body in 1737, 95 years after his death, while his corpse was being moved from a storage place to a monumental tomb, opposite the tomb of Michelangelo, in Santa Croce Basilica in Florence. One of the fingers was recovered soon after,... |
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| Kernels Save the General | |
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| Returning to their roots, health |
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· 11/17/2009 6:49:34 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 21 replies · · 270+ views · · Milwaukee Journal Sentinel · · Nov. 17, 2009 · · Karen Herzog · |
Mark HoffmanSurrounded by white corn drying the traditional way, manager Jeff Metoxen talks about the benefits of white corn to a group of visitors from Germany last month at the Tsyunhehkwa Agricultural Center in Oneida. Oneida embrace planting, harvesting of white corn as a staple of diet, culture Mark HoffmanWhite corn has far fewer rows of kernels than its sweet corn cousin. Oneida - George Washington's troops at Valley Forge may have starved to death without the white corn an Oneida Indian chief gave them in the winter of 1777 during the Revolutionary War. Now, the Oneida, like other... |
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| Early America | |
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| This Day in History,November 15,1777, Articles of Confederation Adopted by Congress |
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· 11/15/2009 6:15:23 PM PST · · Posted by mdittmar · · 12 replies · · 268+ views · · various · · 11/15/09 · · various · |
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent and eventually led to the Constitutional Convention in 1787. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789. |
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| The Framers | |
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| Our 'Constitutional Moment' |
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· 11/15/2009 10:32:33 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 8 replies · · 402+ views · · WSJ · · 13 Nov 2009 · · JAMES TARANTO · |
The New York newspaperman says our founding document is especially vital today, in an age of expanding state power. Seth Lipsky has a knack for seeing the bright side of things. A nearly 20-year veteran of this newspaper, including its editorial page, he cheerfully acknowledges the obvious: This is far from a golden age of free-market conservatism. Of President Obama, he tells me over lunch, "I sense that he has a very leftist, socialist-oriented worldview." Yet this makes Mr. Lipsky anything but grim: "I for one find this very exciting. . . . We're just at a great moment." Why?... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Abraham Lincoln letter goes up for sale |
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· 11/19/2009 7:51:44 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 25 replies · · 337+ views · · Guardian · · 18 Nov 2009 · · Ed Pilkington i · |
The lesson of history for any small child is that if you are lucky enough to be presented to the future president of the US, then make sure you have evidence of the encounter before bragging about it to your classmates. George Patten, aged eight, discovered the bitter truth of that maxim in 1860 after he boasted at school about having met Abraham Lincoln, having been introduced to the then presidential candidate with his journalist father. The boy's friends thought he had made the story up, and bullied him. To settle the matter, Patten's teacher wrote to the White House... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| A Truly Remarkable Series: World War II in HD - Video |
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· 11/19/2009 6:27:07 PM PST · · Posted by Federalist Patriot · · 7 replies · · 100+ views · · Freedom's Lighthouse · · November 19, 2009 · · BrianinMO · |
The History Channel is airing this week a truly remarkable series - World War II HD: WWII in HD is the first-ever World War II documentary presented in full, immersive HD color. Culled from thousands of hours of lost and rare color archival footage gathered from a worldwide search through basements and archives, WWII in HD will change the way the world sees this defining conflict. Using footage never before seen by most Americans--converted to HD for unprecedented clarity--viewers will experience the war as if they were actually there, surrounded by the real sights and sounds of the battlefields.Here are... |
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| Normandy 1944. Then and Now. |
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· 11/18/2009 6:52:28 PM PST · · Posted by GSP.FAN · · 22 replies · · 761+ views · · AcidCow · · 2 September 2009 · · Acidcow · |
Amazing collection of photos taken during the WW2 and nowadays. The WW2 photos were taken during the invasion of Normandy on and after D-Day. |
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| Climate | |
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| Skeptics Handbook II! Global Bullies Want Your Money |
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· 11/20/2009 3:24:58 PM PST · · Posted by AFPhys · · 10 replies · · 211+ views · · www.icecap.us · · Nov. 20, 2009 · · Joanne Nova · |
Big Government has spent $79 billion on the climate industry, 3000 times more than Big Oil. Leading climate scientists won't debate in public and won't provide their data. What do they hide? When faced with freedom-of-information requests they say they've "lost" the original global temperature records. Thousands of scientists are rising in protest against the scare campaign. Meanwhile $126 billion turned over in carbon markets in 2008 and bankers get set to make billions. Twenty pages of concise commentary and cartoons: The short synopsis of how we paid to find a crisis. The... |
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| Are Brains Fish Food? | |
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| Gene protects brain-eaters from mad cow-type disease |
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· 11/18/2009 5:41:26 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · 334+ views · · Reuters · · Nov 18, 2009 · · Maggie Fox · |
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Villagers in the highlands of Papua New Guinea who ritualistically ate human brains but did not die of a brain disease called kuru have a genetic mutation that protects them, researchers said Wednesday. Their study of the unusual cannibalistic practice shows evolution in real time in the human population, and might lead to a treatment for similar brain-wasting conditions, the researchers reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. Kuru once wiped out entire generations of women in remote Papuan villages. It was traced to a now-defunct mortuary ceremony in which women and children ate the brains... |
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| Brain-eating tribe enriches understanding of mad cow disease |
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· 11/19/2009 6:57:03 AM PST · · Posted by TigerLikesRooster · · 33 replies · · 782+ views · · The Times(UK) · · 11/19/09 · · Mark Henderson · |
November 19, 2009 Brain-eating tribe enriches understanding of mad cow disease Mark Henderson, Science Editor A cannibalistic ritual in which the brains of dead tribespeople were eaten by their relatives has triggered one of the most striking examples of rapid human evolution on record, scientists have discovered. In the middle of the 20th century the Fore tribe of the Eastern Highlands province of Papua New Guinea was devastated by a CJD-like disease called kuru, which was passed on by mortuary feasts in which the brains of the dead were consumed. Although the practice was banned in the 1950s and kuru... |
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| Rare Headshrinking Footage Confirmed? - Warning Video contains graphic images |
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· 11/16/2009 11:16:01 AM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 27 replies · · 1,271+ views · · nationalgeographic. · · November 13, 2009 · |
What could be the only footage of an actual human headshrinking ceremony in South America--which shows heads being boiled and dried--may be real, says an explorer in a new documentary. Warning Video contains graphic images In its special, author and explorer Piers Gibbon set out to find out if the film is genuine. The film was made in 1961 by Polish Explorer Edmundo Bielawski, who, with a team of seven, set out to explore and document the worlds largest rain forest: The Amazon. Head-shrinking was only practiced by one portion of the Amazon jungle-dwelling population- the Shuar. Headshrinking was a... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Man says 30-foot 'monster' lurking in canals of Madeira Beach |
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· 11/17/2009 7:07:06 PM PST · · Posted by Redcitizen · · 42 replies · · 1,947+ views · · Tampa Bay Online · · 11-16-09 · · By ROD CHALLENGER · |
There's something strange and big swimming in the canals of Madeira Beach along the Pinellas County coast. Those who have seen it say it's no fish and think it could be a sea serpent. Russ Sittlow, 78, has seen it. He calls the creature "Normandy Nessie" because he lives on Normandy Road. The retired engineer said he first saw "Nessie" in April. "His head come up out of the water, and then he rolled up in a double roll behind him and he was long he was huge," he said of that first sighting. |
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| Somethin' Ain't Cricket! | |
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| Diary entry may offer proof that baseball came from England |
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· 09/11/2008 3:29:28 PM PDT · · Posted by C19fan · · 35 replies · · 451+ views · · AP · · 09/11/2008 · · By Staff · |
Baseball is as American as ... tea and crumpets? |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Astronomical Clocks -- Literally and Metaphorically |
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· 11/18/2009 8:33:43 PM PST · · Posted by tired1 · · 2 replies · · 234+ views · · news-world.us · |
Clocks are clocks are clocks -- or so you may think. However, some clocks are astronomical both literally and metaphorically. Here is a great selection of astronomical clocks of Europe. |
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| Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas | |
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| Happy Kwanzaa - (Exposè of sordid, concocted origins) |
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· 12/08/2004 12:44:17 PM PST · · Posted by CHARLITE · · 76 replies · · 3,081+ views · · FRONT PAGE MAGAZINE.COM · · DECEMBER 26, 2004 · · PAUL MULSHINE · |
On December 24, 1971, the New York Times ran one of the first of many articles on a new holiday designed to foster unity among African Americans. The holiday, called Kwanzaa, was applauded by a certain sixteen-year-old minister who explained that the feast would perform the valuable service of "de-whitizing" Christmas. The minister was a nobody at the time but he would later go on to become perhaps the premier race-baiter of the twentieth century. His name was Al Sharpton .... With money also comes forgetfulness. As those warm Kwanzaa feelings are generated in a spirit of holiday cheer, those... |
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| Faith and Philosophy | |
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| Bible written by different writers at different times for different people |
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· 12/06/2001 6:32:57 AM PST · · Posted by Weatherman123 · · 404 replies · · 6,473+ views · · me · · 12/6/01 · · me · |
Good morning folks. I came up with a new example that I think gives excellent evidence that different writers wrote different parts of the Bible. Tell me what you think. Like I could stop you! :) Let's talk about just the first two chapters of Genesis, the creation story/myth. Gn 1:1-2:4a versus Gn 2:4b-25. Can you see two distinctly different stories here? Please go read them both. Here's one example: Gn 1:1-2 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over ... |
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| The Pagan Origin of Easter |
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· 04/16/2006 9:07:24 AM PDT · · Posted by The Lumster · · 106 replies · · 2,060+ views · · Last Trumpet Ministries · · unknown · · David J. Meyer · |
Easter is a day that is honered by nearly all of contemporary Christianity and is used to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The holiday often involves a church service at sunrise, a feast which includes an "Easter Ham", decorated eggs and stories about rabbits. Those who love truth learn to ask questions, and many questions must be asked regarding the holiday of Easter. Is it truly the day when Jesus arose from the dead? Where did all of the strange customs come from, which have nothing to do with the resurrection of our... |
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| Is Burial Box That of Christ's Brother? |
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· 10/21/2002 9:35:21 AM PDT · · Posted by wallcrawlr · · 382 replies · · 793+ views · · National Geographic News · · 10.21.02 · |
Researchers may have uncovered the first archaeological evidence that refers to Jesus as an actual person and identifies James, the first leader of the Christian church, as his brother. The 2,000-year-old ossuary -- a box that held bones -- bears the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus." Until now, all references to the three men have been found only in manuscripts. The ossuary is not quite rectangular, like most burial boxes found so far, but trapezoid in shape. It is about 20 inches long, 10 inches wide, and 12 inches high. The image on top shows the inscription "James, son of Joseph,... |
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| Rome and Italy | |
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| Basilica bones are St Paul's, Pope declares after carbon dating tests |
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· 06/29/2009 6:42:19 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 61 replies · · 2,156+ views · · Timesonline · · June 29, 2009 · · Richard Owen · |
Pope Benedict XVI said last night that bone fragments found inside the tomb of St Paul in Rome had been carbon dated for the first time, "confirming the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul". He said that archaeologists had inserted a probe into the white marble sarcophagus under the Basilica of St Paul's Outside the Walls which has been revered for centuries as the tomb of St Paul. The pontiff said: "Small fragments of bone were carbon dated by experts who knew nothing about their provenance and results showed they were from... |
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| Indiana Jones and the Christian catacombs? Not quite |
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· 07/28/2009 1:34:14 PM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 15 replies · · 843+ views · · cns · · July 23, 2009 · · Cindy Wooden · |
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Sometimes a job is just a job, even when from the outside it looks like it involves the stuff of an Indiana Jones movie. Fabrizio Bisconti is the newly named archaeological superintendent of the Pontifical Commission for Sacred Archaeology, which oversees the upkeep and preservation of 140 Christian catacombs from the third and fourth centuries scattered all over Italy. Most of the time, he said, the job is just work and study. Staff members can spend a full month with surgical tools and cotton balls cleaning a third-century sarcophagus, but then there are those stunning, shocking,... |
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| end of digest #279 20091121 | |
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