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· Saturday, February 27, 2010 · 44 topics · 2460335 to 2455192 · 743 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 293rd issue. Last week's 40 topics didn't make it to Digest form until today, and I do apologize. Here's issue 292. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #293 Saturday, February 27, 2010 |
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| The Facts Are IN the Ground | |
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| Hebrew University archaeologist discovers Jerusalem city wall from tenth century B.C.E. |
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· 02/22/2010 4:34:40 AM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 72 replies · 851+ views · · Hebrew Univ of Jerusalem · · 2-22-10 · |
Jerusalem, February 22, 2010 - A section of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem from the tenth century B.C.E. - possibly built by King Solomon -- has been revealed in archaeological excavations directed by Dr. Eilat Mazar and conducted under the auspices of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The section of the city wall revealed, 70 meters long and six meters high, is located in the area known as the Ophel, between the City of David and the southern wall of the Temple Mount. Uncovered in the city wall complex are: an inner gatehouse for access into the royal quarter... |
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| Archaeologist Sees Proof For Bible In Ancient Wall |
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· 02/22/2010 5:58:22 PM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 52 replies · 1,063+ views · · AP via NPR · · February 22, 2010 · · Anon · |
An Israeli archaeologist said Monday that ancient fortifications recently excavated in Jerusalem date back 3,000 years to the time of King Solomon and support the biblical narrative about the era. If the age of the wall is correct, the finding would be an indication that Jerusalem was home to a strong central government that had the resources and manpower needed to build massive fortifications in the 10th century B.C. That's a key point of dispute among scholars, because it would match the Bible's account that the Hebrew kings David and Solomon ruled from Jerusalem around that time. While some Holy... |
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| Dig Supports Biblical Account of King Solomon's Construction |
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· 02/22/2010 7:32:11 PM PST · · Posted by bogusname · · 8 replies · 305+ views · · Israel National News · · February 22, 2010 · · Maayana Miskin · |
(IsraelNN.com) Even as Muslim spokesmen try to deny Jewish claims to the Holy Land, archaeological discoveries have recently been coming in fast and furious proving the veracity of the Biblical account of history. Hebrew University archaeologists have revealed an ancient path in Jerusalem believed to date back to the time of King Solomon, along with structures including a gateway and the foundation of a building. Dr. Eilat Mazar, the leader of the archaeological dig, said the findings match finds from the time of the First Temple. Arutz Sheva TV's Yoni Kempinski visited the archaeological dig where the ancient wall was... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Patriarchs' Cave in heritage plan-PM gives in to pressure |
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· 02/21/2010 10:16:52 AM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 6 replies · 160+ views · · Jerusalem Post · · 2-21-10 · |
PM gives in to pressure from Shas ministers, right-wing groups, lobbyists. The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem will be included on the list of heritage sites marked for state renovation and preservation, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared at Sunday's cabinet meeting. The announcement came following pressure from Shas ministers as well as from Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau and right-wing groups. Earlier on Sunday, the Knesset Lobby for Greater Israel planned to visit the cave to protest the site's previous exclusion from the heritage plan, which marks 100 historic, religious and cultural sites for preservation... |
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| Palestinian objection to Israeli "Heritage" ties to biblical sites illustrates absence of pluralism |
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· 02/22/2010 3:50:26 PM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 6 replies · 188+ views · · IMRA · · 2-22-10 · |
Document: Palestinian NGO's objection to Israeli "Heritage" ties to biblical sites illustrates absence of pluralism Dr. Aaron Lerner - IMRA: Here is where we are: 1. There are numerous places in the "Holy Land" beyond the "Green Line" that are intimately linked to Jewish history and thus to Jewish identity and heritage. Recognizing these historical links in now way rules out a priori that some of these places may not be under Israeli control in a final status arrangement. 2. There are numerous places in "Historical Palestine" within the "Green Line" that are intimately linked to the history of Arab... |
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| US slams Israel over designating heritage sites |
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· 02/25/2010 9:28:21 AM PST · · Posted by Never A Dull Moment · · 93 replies · 1,903+ views · · ynet · · Feb 25, 2010 · · Associated Press · |
The Obama administration criticized Israel for designating two shrines on Palestinian territory as Israeli national heritage sites. The criticism came as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday she hopes long-stalled peace talks between Israelis and the Palestinians will resume. Clinton told a congressional committee that groundwork is being laid to restart the talks with the help of US envoy George Mitchell. Toner said US displeasure with the designations of the Cave of the Patriarchs in the flash point town of Hebron and the traditional tomb of the biblical matriarch Rachel in Bethlehem had been conveyed to senior Israeli... |
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| What The Press Isn't Telling You About the "Unrest" in Hebron |
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· 02/24/2010 7:38:32 AM PST · · Posted by Shellybenoit · · 11 replies · 264+ views · · The Lid/Various · · 2/24/10 · · The Lid · |
For the past three days the Palestinians have been protesting in the city of Hebron (Chevron in Hebrew). The reason, Israel added two West Bank sites to their "Heritage Sites" list, The Tomb of Rachel and the Cave of the Patriarchs. This designation means that resources would be invested in infrastructure and in making holy sites more accessible to more worshipers. Israel would continue to uphold its policy of freedom of worship for all faiths. Hamas and Fatah are using the move to rile up the public saying that it is an Israeli takeover of their land. The Mainstream Media... |
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| The Exact Replica of the 3rd Temple is Being Built (YouTube) |
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· 02/15/2010 3:13:56 PM PST · · Posted by GiovannaNicoletta · · 269 replies · 2,378+ views · · YouTube Video · |
Jews in the town of Mitzpe Yericho are taking practical steps to prepare for the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem, by preparing descendents of Cohanim (priests) and Levites for service. At the Mitzpe Yericho school, Temple priest hopefuls learn exactly how to conduct the daily Temple service and offer the required sacrifices. "Today is really a historical event for the Jewish people, organizer Levi Chazan said as another part of the school was completed. It is the beginning of the work for the Third Temple. The school will include an exact replica of the Temple. The latest addition to... |
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| Epigraphy and Language | |
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| Ancient Bible Manuscript Fragments Reunited [Song of the Sea] |
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· 02/26/2010 7:58:57 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · 180+ views · · Discovery News · · Friday, February 26, 2010 · · Karoun Demirjian, Associated Press · |
Two parts of an ancient biblical manuscript separated across centuries and continents were reunited for the first time in a joint display Friday, thanks to an accidental discovery that is helping illuminate a dark period in the history of the Hebrew Bible. |
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| Greece | |
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| First Minoan Shipwreck: An unprecedented find off the coast of Crete |
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· 02/23/2010 5:38:02 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · 513+ views · · Archaeology Magazine · · January/February 2010 · · Eti Bonn-Muller · |
Depictions of ships abound on Minoan seals and frescoes. They are detailed enough to show that the vessels were impressive: generally, they had 15 oars on each side and square sails, and were probably about 50 feet long. But little more was known about actual Minoan seafaring--until Greek archaeologist Elpida Hadjidaki became the first to discover a Minoan shipwreck... For nearly a month, she and a team of three sponge and coral divers aboard a 20-foot-long wooden fishing boat trolled up and down the island's shores. Together with George Athanasakis of Athens Polytechnic University, they used side-scanning sonar and detected... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Prince's Palace Found in Volcanic Crater [where Romulus and Remus were educated] |
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· 02/26/2010 7:50:53 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · 237+ views · · Discovery News · · Friday, February 26, 2010 · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
The residence of Sextus Tarquinius, the prince who sparked the revolt that led to the foundation of the Roman Republic, may have been found. The palace was found at the site where, according to legend, Romulus and Remus were educated... The building dates to the sixth century B.C and boasts the highest intact walls from the period ever found in Italy, standing at around 6.56 feet high... Fabbri and colleagues from Rome's Archaeological Superintendency believe that the residence was furiously demolished, probably during the Roman revolt in 510 B.C. that ultimately led to the foundation of the Roman Republic. The... |
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| Golden Bough from Roman mythology 'found in Italy' |
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· 02/23/2010 6:45:35 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · 517+ views · · Telegraph · · February 18, 2010 · · Nick Squires · |
In Roman mythology, the bough was a tree branch with golden leaves that enabled the Trojan hero Aeneas to travel through the underworld safely. They discovered the remains while excavating religious sanctuary built in honour of the goddess Diana near an ancient volcanic lake in the Alban Hills, 20 miles south of Rome. They believe the enclosure protected a huge Cypress or oak tree which was sacred to the Latins, a powerful tribe which ruled the region before the rise of the Roman Empire. The tree was central to the myth of Aeneas, who was told by a spirit to... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Microbes Leave Gold on Corpses, May Complicate Forensics |
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· 02/25/2010 9:11:57 AM PST · · Posted by cajuncow · · 15 replies · 331+ views · · Yahoo News · · 2-25-10 · · Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience Contributor · |
Metals found in the hair of corpses have solved all kinds of mysteries. For instance, high levels of arsenic found in Napoleon's hair suggest the former emperor of France might have been poisoned to death, intentionally or unintentionally. However, scientists now find that bacteria can sprinkle gold dust onto the hair of corpses, which suggests microbes could deposit arsenic and other poisonous metals on bodies as well, potentially complicating criminal and archaeological investigations. |
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| Egypt | |
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| Ancient Egypt Rises Again as Water Recedes |
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· 02/23/2010 6:52:38 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · 391+ views · · FrontLines · · December 2009-January 2010 · · Analeed Marcus · |
Medinet Habu lies miles away from the more famous Luxor and Karnak Temples but, unlike these two World Heritage Sites on the Nile's East Bank where a USAID-funded dewatering project has slowed the rate of deterioration, the West Bank temple continues to decay due to groundwater intrusion. Building structures become porous and cracked by rising groundwater levels. The wall surfaces where hieroglyphics and drawings are etched have begun falling away. "The surface is sloughed off the stone, like skin," Johnson said. Though some buildings have stood since 2000 B.C., neighboring sugarcane irrigation has caused water levels to rise and bring... |
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| Faith and Philosophy | |
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| Putative Skull of St. Bridget Probably Not Authentic |
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· 02/23/2010 7:02:12 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · 204+ views · · Archaeology Daily · · Monday, February 22, 2010 · · Science Daily · |
"One skull cannot be attributed to Bridget or Catherine as it dates back to the period 1470-1670. The other skull, thought to be from Saint Bridget, is dated to 1215-1270 and is thus not likely to be from the 14th Century when Bridget lived. It cannot, however, be completely excluded that the older skull is from Bridget if she had a diet dominated by fish, which can shift the dating results. But this is unlikely," says Göran Possnert. "The results from both methods support each other. Our DNA analyses show that we can exclude a mother and daughter relationship. This... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Woman who found coin ... in garden becomes first to be prosecuted for not reporting treasure [UK] |
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· 02/26/2010 3:55:33 PM PST · · Posted by Daffynition · · 97 replies · 1,856+ views · · Daily Mail · · 26th February 2010 · · Andy Dolan and Dalya Alberge · |
A woman who found a 700-year-old silver 'coin' whilst digging in her garden as a child has become the first in the country to be convicted of failing to hand in suspected treasure. Kate Harding, 23, was prosecuted under the Treasure Act after she ignored orders to report the coin-like artefact to a coroner. A court heard the silver piedfort marking Charles IV's ascension to the French throne in 1322 was discovered by Miss Harding 14 years ago as she worked in the garden with her mother at their home in Tenbury Wells, Worcestershire. Following her mother's death a short... |
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| Africa | |
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| China, Kenya to search for ancient Chinese wrecks |
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· 02/26/2010 9:33:12 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · 214+ views · · Associated Press · · Feb 26, 2010 · · Unknown · |
China and Kenya plan to search for ancient Chinese ships wrecked almost 600 years ago off Africa's east coast. Between 1405 and 1433, Zheng He -- whose name is also spelled Cheng Ho -- led armadas with scores of junks and thousands of sailors on voyages to promote trade and recognition of the new dynasty, which had taken power in 1368. |
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| China | |
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| China Discovers Old Bricks Made 7,000 Years Ago |
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· 02/23/2010 5:42:17 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · 226+ views · · CRIEnglish / Xinhua · · February 20, 2010 · · Web Editor: Zhang · |
Bricks dating back 5,000 to 7,000 years have been unearthed in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, adding between 1,000 to 2,000 years onto Chinese brick-making history, archaeologists claimed Saturday. "The five calcined bricks were unearthed from a site of the Yangshao Culture Period dating 5,000 to 7,000 years ago. Previously, the oldest known bricks in the country were more than 4,000 years old," Shaanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology researcher Yang Yachang said. The bricks, including three red ones and two gray ones, all uncompleted, Yang said. The site under excavation is located at Liaoyuan Village of Baqiao District, and Huaxu Town,... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| How a hobbit is rewriting the history of the human race |
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· 02/23/2010 5:47:15 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · 423+ views · · The Guardian (UK) · · Sunday, February 21, 2010 · · Robin McKie · |
The bones of a race of tiny primitive people, who used stone tools to hunt pony-sized elephants and battle huge Komodo dragons, were discovered on the Indonesian island of Flores in 2004... These remains came from a species that turned out to be only three feet tall and had the brain the size of an orange. Yet it used quite sophisticated stone tools. And that was a real puzzle. How on earth could such individuals have made complex implements and survived for aeons on this remote part of the Malay archipelago? Some simply dismissed the bones as the remains of... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, PreClovis | |
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| Scientists turn migration theory on its head |
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· 02/26/2010 10:41:37 AM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 16 replies · 418+ views · · The Vancouver Sun · · 26 Feb 2010 · · Randy Boswell · |
U.S. anthropologists hypothesize that ancestors of aboriginal people in South and North America followed High Arctic route Two U.S. scientists have published a radical new theory about when, where and how humans migrated to the New World, arguing that the peopling of the Americas may have begun via Canada's High Arctic islands and the Northwest Passage -- much farther north and at least 10,000 years earlier than generally believed. The hypothesis -- described as "speculative" but "plausible" by the researchers themselves -- appears in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology, which features a special series of new studies... |
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| PreColumbian Middle Ages | |
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| Copper men: Archaeologists uncover Stone Age copper workshop near Monk's Mound | |
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· 02/23/2010 6:07:26 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · 417+ views · · News-Democrat · · Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010 · · George Pawlaczyk · |
But there is something unique about a particular excavated area beside a rather plain looking mound -- Mound 34 -- that lies about 200 yards east of the world famous and huge Monk's Mound at Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site. The carefully sifted soil at this excavation has revealed evidence of the only known copper workshop from the Mississippian-era, a culture that peaked about 1250 A.D. throughout the middle and southern portions of America. The overall Illinois state site was the location of a large, prehistoric city of perhaps 20,000 that archaeologists call Cahokia... ...the bits and pieces of the... |
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| The Andes | |
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| Secrets of the Lost City of Z |
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· 02/23/2010 8:16:55 AM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 15 replies · 637+ views · · CBS · · 21 Feb 2010 · · Anthony Mason · |
Since the dawn of the modern age, the notion of a pre-historic world, hidden deep in the jungle and untouched by the passage of time, has captivated our imaginations. Before "Jurassic Park," before "King Kong," there was "The Lost World." Written in 1912 by Sherlock Holmes' creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "The Lost World" was in turn largely inspired by the real-life adventures of one remarkable man: Col. Percy Harrison Fawcett. David Grann, a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine, says in his time Fawcett was a larger-than-life figure: "Oh, he really was. I mean, he was the last... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Ancient Human Ancestors Faced Fearsome Horned Crocodile |
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· 02/24/2010 5:14:22 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · 773+ views · · Live Science · · Feb 23, 2010 · · Charles Q. Choi · |
A newfound horned crocodile may have been the largest predator encountered by our ancestors in Africa, researchers now suggest. Scientists have even found bones from members of the human lineage bearing tooth marks from this reptile, whose scientific name, Crocodylus anthropophagus, means "man-eating crocodile." This predator, which lived some 1.84 million years ago, possessed a deep snout that would have made it look more robust than modern crocodiles. It also had prominent triangular horns. "They would have been visible mostly from the side as projections behind the eye," said researcher Christopher Brochu, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Iowa.... |
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| Giant predatory shark fossil unearthed in Kansas |
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· 02/24/2010 9:51:06 AM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 60 replies · 1,270+ views · · bbc · · 24 February 2010 · · Matt Walker · |
The fossilised remains of a gigantic 10m-long predatory shark have been unearthed in Kansas, US. Scientists dug up a gigantic jawbone, teeth and scales belonging to the shark which lived 89 million years ago. The bottom-dwelling predator had huge tooth plates, which it likely used to crush large shelled animals such as giant clams. Palaeontologists already knew about the shark, but the new specimen suggests it was far bigger than previously thought. The scientists who made the discovery, published in the journal Cretaceous Research, last week also released details of other newly discovered giant plankton-eating fish that swam in prehistoric... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| New species of dinosaur found in eastern Utah rock |
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· 02/23/2010 2:19:37 PM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 22 replies · 525+ views · · Associated Press · · Feb. 23, 2010 · · Mike Stark · |
Fossils of a previously undiscovered species of dinosaur have been found in slabs of Utah sandstone that were so hard that explosives had to be used to free some of the remains, scientists said Tuesday. The bones found at Dinosaur National Monument belonged to a type of sauropod -- long-necked plant-eaters that were said to be the largest animal ever to roam land. The discovery included two complete skulls from other types of sauropods -- an extremely rare find, scientists said. |
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| Anatolia | |
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| History in the Remaking |
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· 02/23/2010 8:21:35 AM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 30 replies · 630+ views · · Newsweek · · 19 Feb 2010 -- · · Patrick Symmes · |
A temple complex in Turkey that predates even the pyramids is rewriting the story of human evolution. They call it potbelly hill, after the soft, round contour of this final lookout in southeastern Turkey. To the north are forested mountains. East of the hill lies the biblical plain of Harran, and to the south is the Syrian border, visible 20 miles away, pointing toward the ancient lands of Mesopotamia and the Fertile Crescent, the region that gave rise to human civilization. And under our feet, according to archeologist Klaus Schmidt, are the stones that mark the spot -- the exact spot -- where humans... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Perperikon Reveals Its Epigraphic Mysteries |
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· 02/23/2010 6:15:18 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · 256+ views · · Standart News · · February 13, 2010 · · Irina Angelova · |
The first epigraphic monuments in Perperikon were discovered. They are dated back to the second half of 3rd century AD. All of them are in Latin, according to Prof Vassilka Gerassimova, one of Bulgaria's outstanding experts in ancient monuments. The archeological team of Prof Nikolay Ovcharov ran across the written monuments during the excavation works in Perperikon near the Roman road which was discovered last summer and branching towards the Rock Town. "Thus the Roman necropolis of Perperikon has been localized and will be studied," Ovcharov said. "Thanks to the decoded epigraphs, we now have the names of people... |
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| DHARMA Wine Hatch Discovered in Israel |
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· 02/20/2010 5:40:31 AM PST · · Posted by mom4kittys · · 19 replies · 766+ views · · thefoodsection · · 2/18/10 · · Posted by Josh Friedland · |
You may have hard the news that archaeologists have discovered a 1,400-year-old wine press in Southern Israel -- 25 miles south of Jerusalem -- an area which was once part of the Byzantine Empire. According to the scientists, the exceptionally large size of the press -- measuring 21 feet by 54 feet -- suggests that it was used to produce wine for export to Egypt, or Europe. But, could these archeologists have the story all wrong? To any "Lost" devotee, the unique octagonal shape of the press and its proximity to Egypt and Tunisia will bring to mind the work... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Ancient giant cattle genome first |
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· 02/20/2010 5:30:54 PM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 28 replies · 742+ views · · bbc · · 17 February 2010 · · Steven McKenzie · |
Scientists have analysed the DNA of ancient giant European wild cattle that died out almost 400 years ago. They have determined the first mitochondrial genome sequence from aurochs (Bos primigenius) from bone found in a cave in England. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is passed down from a mother to her offspring....... One of the researchers involved, Dr Ceiridwen Edwards, has previously investigated the remains of a polar bear found in the Scottish Highlands.... The species became extinct when a female animal died in a forest in Poland in 1627. Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar was said to have been impressed... |
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| Leaf Her Alone | |
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| This Tree's a Lady! |
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· 02/20/2010 2:46:11 PM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 37 replies · 720+ views · · livescience · · 04 February 2010 · |
Scientists have discovered the female sex hormone progesterone in a walnut tree, shaking up what's known about the different between plants and animals. Until now, scientists thought that only animals could make progesterone. A steroid hormone secreted by the ovaries, progesterone prepares the uterus for pregnancy and maintains pregnancy. A synthetic version, progestin, is used in birth control pills and other medications. "The significance of the unequivocal identification of progesterone cannot be overstated," write Guido F. Pauli and colleagues in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Natural Products. "While the biological role of progesterone has been extensively studied in mammals,... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Study shows how viruses changed human evolution |
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· 02/19/2010 4:51:16 PM PST · · Posted by cajuncow · · 9 replies · 195+ views · · Yahoo News · · 2-18-10 · · Reuters · |
LONDON (Reuters) -- Italian scientists said on Friday they had found evidence of how viruses helped change the course of human evolution and said their discovery could help in the design of better drugs and vaccines. They found more than 400 different mutations in 139 genes that play a role in people's risk of catching viruses -- a finding that may also help explain why some people sail through flu season unscathed while others seem to catch every bug around. Researchers from the Scientific Institute IRCCS, Milan University and the Politecnico di Milano analysed the genomes of 52 populations from... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| The dark hours for Thomas Jefferson |
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· 02/23/2010 11:24:57 AM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 37 replies · 605+ views · · Boston Globe · · 23 Feb 2010 · · Michael Kranish · |
MASSACHUSETTS FACED a crisis in 1778. In the midst of the Revolutionary War, some 4,000 British and Hessian prisoners were living in miserable conditions in camps around Boston. Rumors surged that a British force would try to free them by force. The cry went up: get these prisoners out of Massachusetts. Enter Thomas Jefferson and his Virginia neighbors. Thinking like a current-day congressman, Jefferson regarded the prisoners as an economic opportunity for the remote valley near his home at Monticello. The prison camp would pump money into his hometown of Charlottesville, along with much-needed craftsmen and laborers. It would be... |
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| Letters shed new light on British despair during the American War of Independence |
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· 02/19/2010 2:17:25 PM PST · · Posted by bruinbirdman · · 56 replies · 1,067+ views · · The Telegraph · · 2/19/2010 · · Philip Sherwell · |
Remarkable archive of letters has thrown new light on the despair of British commanders during the American War of Independence Their downbeat perspective contrasts dramatically with the exhortations of George III and his ministers in London who come across as hopelessly out-of-touch and absurdly optimistic. The letters show how British generals despaired at the hopeless optimism of King George III, left The documents, part of a collection that have been in private possession for more than two centuries, reveal a much gloomier analysis by British generals than previously believed. According to the collection which goes on sale at Sotheby's in... |
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| The Framers | |
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| The Classical Education of the Founding Fathers |
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· 02/21/2010 10:56:00 AM PST · · Posted by Lorianne · · 23 replies · 356+ views · · Memoria Press · · Spring 2007 · |
"Americans view the Founding Fathers in vacuo, isolated from the soil that nurtured them," says Traci Lee Simmons in his book, Climbing Parnassus: A New Apologia for Greek and Latin. For the Founders, says Simmons, these virtues came principally from two places: "the pulpit and the schoolroom." We are already fairly familiar with the explicitly Biblical influences on America's founding, but we are far less familiar with the classical influences on the Founders -- and how these two influences worked in concert to mold their education and their thinking. It is a well-known fact that literacy was prevalent in colonial times. "A... |
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| The General | |
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| Geo. Washington Presidential Library: $38 million gift to build library at Mount Vernon |
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· 02/20/2010 7:57:16 PM PST · · Posted by HokieMom · · 40 replies · 445+ views · · Washington Examiner · · 2/19/10 · · Matthew Barakat · |
There were no presidential libraries in the days of George Washington, so his papers and writings are scattered around the world. Some are lost forever -- Martha Washington, for instance, burned nearly all of her personal letters from her husband shortly before she died. But an unprecedented $38 million donation will allow George Washington's Mount Vernon estate to establish a library dedicated to scholarship on the nation's first president, in many ways filling the role of the modern presidential library. The Fred W. Smith National Library for the Study of George Washington is expected to open... |
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| The Example of Our First President |
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· 02/22/2010 9:31:27 AM PST · · Posted by Ed Hudgins · · 18 replies · 212+ views · · The Atlas Society - The Center for Objectivism · · 2/22/2004 · · Edward Hudgins · |
From the Archives:The Example of Our First President By Edward Hudgins February 22, 2004 -- George Washington unfortunately has become a clichÈ. For an older generation, he was too often treated as such a mythic figure that it was difficult to appreciate his true importance. In today's politically correct society many treat him as a white, male oppressor. Most of us celebrate his birthday by shopping the sales at the mall. This is not a bad use of our time, but it is appropriate to take a moment to reflect on the real greatness of the real Washington and the... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Amazing Original Photographs from the Civil War |
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· 02/24/2010 10:13:37 AM PST · · Posted by navysealdad · · 59 replies · 2,322+ views · · Angelfire · |
Whether you like history or not... These are pretty amazing considering they were taken up to 145 years ago: A compendium of photos from the Civil War era. Truly fortunate that so many of these have survived. Probably a million wet plate photos were made during the civil war on glass plate. |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Video: 140 Year Old Hot Dog Found On Coney Island |
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· 02/25/2010 8:32:23 AM PST · · Posted by AtlasStalled · · 59 replies · 1,856+ views · · Friends of Ours · · 02/25/10 · · Friends of Ours · |
A 140-year-old hot dog has been discovered with a contemporaneous receipt encased in ice under one of the old buildings on Coney Island which formerly housed a restaurant operated by Charles Feltman who is credited with inventing the tasty treat. |
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| Between the Wars | |
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| 'Metropolis' Now |
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· 02/23/2010 4:53:09 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · 354+ views · · WSJ · · February 11, 2010 · · A.J. Goldmann · |
83 years after its Berlin premiere, "Metropolis" can finally be seen as Lang originally intended it. Well, almost. A restored version that incorporates over 20 minutes of newly discovered footage was screened last Friday at the 60th Berlin International Film Festival. Tickets to the gala, featuring the original score performed by a live symphony orchestra, sold out quickly. But throngs of cinéphiles braved subfreezing temperatures to congregate at Pariser Platz, where the film was beamed onto a screen set up at the Brandenburg Gate. Since the 1980s, there have been multiple attempts to reconstruct the film using imperfect sources. Until... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| The Crusades: When Christendom Pushed Back |
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· 02/20/2010 6:35:24 PM PST · · Posted by ventanax5 · · 37 replies · 1,383+ views · · New American · · Selwyn Duke · |
he year is 732 A.D., and Europe is under assault. Islam, born a mere 110 years earlier, is already in its adolescence, and the Muslim Moors are on the march. Growing in leaps and bounds, the Caliphate, as the Islamic realm is known, has thus far subdued much of Christendom, conquering the old Christian lands of the Mideast and North Africa in short order. Syria and Iraq fell in 636; Palestine in 638; and Egypt, which was not even an Arab land, fell in 642. North Africa, also not Arab, was under Muslim control by 709. Then came the year... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Vampire Squid Turns "Inside Out" |
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· 02/23/2010 9:01:20 AM PST · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 27 replies · 833+ views · · National Geographic · |
The vampire squid can turn itself "inside out" to avoid predators -- as seen in a video just released by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute to emphasize the need to protect deep-sea species from the effects of human activities. This menacing looking squid is just one of many species "out of sight and out of mind" that could be threatened by human activities far away from the part of the ocean in which they live. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute has released this video of the vampire squid to emphasize a report that raises a red flag about the earth's... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Small Dogs Originated in the Middle East |
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· 02/23/2010 5:26:03 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · 372+ views · · Discovery News · · Tuesday, February 23, 2010 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
Small dogs the world over can all trace their ancestry back to the Middle East, where the first diminutive canines emerged more than 12,000 years ago. A new study, which appears in BMC Biology, focused on a single gene responsible for size in dogs. Researchers found that the version of the gene IGF1 that is a major determinant of small size in dogs probably originated as a result of domestication of the Middle Eastern gray wolf, which also happens to be smaller than many other wolves. In terms of which came first, big dogs or small dogs, the answer is... |
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| Australia & the Pacific | |
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| Megalithic site found in South Sumatra |
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· 02/23/2010 6:56:23 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · 335+ views · · Jakarta Post · · Wednesday, February 17, 2010 · · unattributed · |
PALEMBANG, South Sumatra: A megalithic settlement has recently been unearthed at Skendal village, 10 kilometers from the town of Pagaralam in South Sumatra. Irfan Wintarto, an official at the Lahat Culture and Tourism Agency's Historical and Archeological Preservation Department, said local residents had discovered around 36 types of rocks on a 150-by-300-meter plot in the middle of a 2-hectare coffee plantation. The site is currently being investigated by the Archeological Region Conservation and Heritage Center (BPPP). "The findings are believed to date back to around 5,000 B.C.," Irfan said. "The types of rocks and megaliths found are quite diverse." Among... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| A Millennium Conundrum [Indus Valley Script] |
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· 02/23/2010 5:55:43 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · 221+ views · · Asian Age · · 2010 · · Latika Padgaonkar · |
In what appears to be a new ground-breaking study, Unsealing the Indus Script: Anatomy of Its Decipherment released in November last year, author Malati J. Shendge claims that the riddles of the Harappan graphs which have bedevilled archaeologists, palaeographers and linguistic and other scholars for nearly a century have been largely deciphered. Shendge has decoded many of the seals, and the field is now open for a further understanding of a civilisation that came to an end with the invasion by the Indo-European peoples... Scholars tried to read linguistic elements into it; at times, the script was regarded as... |
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| end of digest #293 20100227 | |
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· Saturday, February 27, 2010 · 44 topics · 2460335 to 2455192 · 743 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 293rd issue. Last week's 40 topics didn't make it to Digest form until today, and I do apologize. Here's issue 292. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #294 Saturday, March 6, 2010 |
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| Egypt | |
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| DNA Shows that KV55 Mummy Probably Not Akhenaten [Smenkhare] |
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· 03/02/2010 7:00:36 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · 340+ views · · KV-64 blog · · Tuesday, March 2, 2010 · · Kate Phizackerley · |
If we identify the KV55 mummy as Smenkhare and assume that Akhenaten remains missing, we can add Akhenaten and Nefertiti into the family tree, while retaining KV55 (Smenkhare) as the father of Tutankhamun as shown by the Hawass team. It's tempting to consider that KV21B and the Younger Lady are also daughters of Akhenaten and Nefertiti. While not essential for my revised theory, this would neatly fit historical facts. In considering whether the DNA data would fit the revised family tree, it seems appropriate to consider that KV21B and the Younger Lady may also have been daughters of Akhenaten and... |
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| Massive head of pharaoh unearthed in Egypt |
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· 02/28/2010 11:56:11 AM PST · · Posted by Jet Jaguar · · 38 replies · 964+ views · · AP · · February 28, 2010 · |
Egypt's Culture Ministry says a team of Egyptian and European archaeologists has unearthed a large head made of red granite of an ancient pharaoh who ruled Egypt some 3,400 years ago. A ministry statement Sunday said the team discovered the head of Amenhotep III wearing the traditional white crown of the southern kingdom buried in the pharaoh's mortuary temple on the west bank of the Nile in the southern city of Luxor. |
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| Statue head of King Tut's grandfather found in Luxor |
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· 02/28/2010 12:48:20 PM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 9 replies · 465+ views · · AFP · · Feb. 28, 2010 · |
AFP -- Egyptian archaeologists have unearthed a colossal statue head of the pharaoh whom DNA tests revealed last week was King Tutankhamun's grandfather, the government said on Sunday. The red granite head of King Amenhotep III, part of a larger 3,000 year-old statue, was discovered at the site of the pharaoh's funerary temple in Luxor, Egypt's culture ministry said in a statement. "The newly discovered head is intact and measures 2.5 metres (8.2 foot) high," antiquities chief Zahi Hawass was quoted as saying. "It is a masterpiece of highly artistic quality and shows a portrait of the king with very... |
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| Mammoth Told Me There'd Be Days Like These | |
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| New Waco museum reveals a mammoth undertaking |
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· 03/06/2010 5:08:14 AM PST · · Posted by wolfcreek · · 11 replies · 241+ views · · Austin American Statesman · · 3.6.2010 · · Pamela LeBlanc · |
WACO -- It's been more than 30 years since two men out hunting snakes pulled the first mammoth bones from a dry creek bed on the outskirts of Waco, but for the first time, the site has opened to the public. In all, 26 Columbian mammoths have been uncovered at the Waco Mammoth Site, and scientists think more might be buried on the 105-acre property, owned by Baylor University and the City of Waco, a few miles west of Interstate 35. |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| It's official: An asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs |
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· 03/04/2010 1:37:39 PM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 123 replies · 1,540+ views · · Reuters · · March 4, 2010 · |
LONDON (Reuters) -- A giant asteroid smashing into Earth is the only plausible explanation for the extinction of the dinosaurs, a global scientific team said on Thursday, hoping to settle a row that has divided experts for decades. A panel of 41 scientists from across the world reviewed 20 years' worth of research to try to confirm the cause of the so-called Cretaceous-Tertiary (KT) extinction, which created a "hellish environment" around 65 million years ago and wiped out more than half of all species on the planet. Scientific opinion was split over whether the extinction was caused by an asteroid... |
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| Early-bird dinosaur found in New Mexico |
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· 12/10/2009 11:32:45 AM PST · · Posted by LibWhacker · · 13 replies · 522+ views · · Guardian · · 12/10/09 · · Ian Sample · |
Palaeontologists delighted to discover 213m-year-old remains of feathered meat-eater that retain intact air sacs in their bones The remains of a two-legged meat-eating predator that roamed the Earth at the dawn of dinosaurs have been uncovered in an ancient bone bed by fossil hunters. |
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| In Fossil Find, 'Anaconda' Meets 'Jurassic Park'(Snake Devouring Baby Dinosaur Eggs) |
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· 03/02/2010 9:37:54 AM PST · · Posted by Dallas59 · · 42 replies · 942+ views · · NPR · · 2/02/2010 · · NPR · |
Scientists have discovered a macabre death scene that took place 67 million years ago. The setting was a nest, in which a baby dinosaur had just hatched from an egg, only to face an 11-foot-long snake waiting to devour it. The moment was frozen forever when, apparently, the nest was buried in a sudden avalanche of mud or sand and everything was fossilized. Scientists have discovered a macabre death scene that took place 67 million years ago. The setting was a nest, in which a baby dinosaur had just hatched from an egg, only to face an 11-foot-long snake waiting... |
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| Climate | |
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| 'Snowball Earth': Glaciers, ice packs once met at Equator |
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· 03/05/2010 12:55:48 PM PST · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 32 replies · 498+ views · · The Register · · 5th March 2010 12:47 GMT · · Lewis Page · |
American boffins say they have discovered evidence that almost the entire world was covered in sea ice and glaciers at certain points in the remote past, during so-called "snowball Earth" periods where the polar ice sheets met at the Equator. It were grim in the old days. Geologists probing conditions seen in the ancient world have long considered that there was a cold spell known as the Sturtian Glaciation about 716 million years ago. However there has been disagreement in boffinry circles as to just how severe this glaciation was. Now, researchers from Harvard uni in the States, funded by... |
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| Ice Once Covered the Equator |
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· 03/05/2010 6:15:13 PM PST · · Posted by cajuncow · · 10 replies · 308+ views · · LiveScience · · 3-5-10 · · LiveScience Staff · |
Sea ice may have covered the Earth's surface all the way to the equator hundreds of millions of years ago, a new study finds, adding more evidence to the theory that a "snowball Earth" once existed. The finding, detailed in the March 5 issue of the journal Science, also has implications for the survival and evolution of life on Earth through this bitter ice age. Geologists found evidence that tropical areas were once covered by glaciers by examining ancient tropical rocks that are now found in remote northwestern Canada. These rocks have moved because the Earth's surface, and the rocks... |
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| The big picture: 65 million years of temperature swings |
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· 02/26/2010 10:45:29 PM PST · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 34 replies · 755+ views · · JoNova · · February 18th, 2010 · · Joanne · |
Greenland Temperatures -- last 10,000 years. Are we headed for an ice age? (See below for more detail.) David Lappi is a geologist from Alaska who has sent in a set of beautiful graphs -- including an especially prosaic one of the last 10,000 years in Greenland -- that he put together himself (and which I've copied here at the top).If you wonder where today's temperature fits in with the grand scheme of time on Earth since the dinosaurs were wiped out, here's the history. We start with the whole 65 million years, then zoom in, and zoom in again to the last 12,000... |
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| New Study Says Global Warming May Be Signal of Impending Ice Age |
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· 03/03/2010 6:49:16 PM PST · · Posted by Shellybenoit · · 28 replies · 742+ views · · The Lid/Helmholtz Assoc of German Research Centres · · 3/3/2010 · · The Lid · |
Back in the 1970s before people were screaming about global warming, scientists were warning us that the next ice age may be just around the corner. The big freeze scare was eventually pushed aside by the great man-made global warming hoax. Now a new study has been released that global warming may be just the Earth's warning that a new Ice Age is near. In the Earth's history thus far, there have been periods where glaciers covered much of Europe, each lasting about 100,000 years. These are separated by warmer interglacial periods lasting around 10,000 years. We are currently at... |
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| Were short warm periods typical for transitions between interglacial and glacial epochs? |
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· 03/03/2010 6:50:20 PM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 7 replies · 207+ views · · eurekalert.org · · March 2, 2010 · |
Researchers evaluate climate fluctuations from 115,000 years ago Halle (Saale)/Leipzig/Moscow. At the end of the last interglacial epoch, around 115,000 years ago, there were significant climate fluctuations. In Central and Eastern Europe, the slow transition from the Eemian Interglacial to the Weichselian Glacial was marked by a growing instability in vegetation trends with possibly at least two warming events. This is the finding of German and Russian climate researchers who have evaluated geochemical and pollen analyses of lake sediments in Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Russia. Writing in Quaternary International, scientists from the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Saxon Academy... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| 'Pompeii-Like' Excavations Tell Us More About Toba Super-Eruption |
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· 03/04/2010 7:13:24 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · 506+ views · · ScienceDaily · · March 3, 2010 · · University of Oxford · |
Newly discovered archaeological sites in southern and northern India have revealed how people lived before and after the colossal Toba volcanic eruption 74,000 years ago... The seven-year project examines the environment that humans lived in, their stone tools, as well as the plants and animal bones of the time. The team has concluded that many forms of life survived the super-eruption, contrary to other research which has suggested significant animal extinctions and genetic bottlenecks. According to the team, a potentially ground-breaking implication of the new work is that the species responsible for making the stone tools in India was Homo... |
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| Climate, Culture, and Catastrophe in the Ancient World |
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· 02/27/2010 11:58:34 AM PST · · Posted by Little Bill · · 11 replies · 315+ views · · Sanford University · · 2001 · · Meehan · |
This page presents a summary narrative of and links to geological and paleoclimatalogical data bearing on the remarkable events of 3000 BCE (calendar years BC), when urban/technological society began. Most of ouromes from referenced scientific literature, although some of the studies, such as of the Mesopotamian delta,and certain sea level interpretations, are the author's. You will also find a handy chronological index HERE. A summary graph of events around 3200 BC will be found here. |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Early Humans Used Brain Power, Innovation and Teamwork to Dominate the Planet |
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· 03/04/2010 6:47:52 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · 218+ views · · Scientific American · · February 27, 2010 · · David Despain · |
The expression of capacities, Hill and Marean said, can be summed up, namely, as exceptional cognition, culture and cooperation. Each of the three C's was a topic of focus for the scientists. One of their goals at the conference was to pinpoint specific markers of these expressions, and then use them to identify the emergence of humans within the paleoanthropological record. |
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| Africa | |
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| Stone Age engraving traditions appear on ostrich eggshells [ Africa ] |
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· 03/04/2010 7:40:48 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · 308+ views · · Science News · · Monday, March 1st, 2010 · · Bruce Bower · |
...researchers say a cache of ostrich eggshells engraved with geometric designs demonstrates the existence of a symbolic communication system around 60,000 years ago among African hunter-gatherers. The unusually large sample of 270 engraved eggshell fragments, mostly excavated over the past several years at Diepkloof Rock Shelter in South Africa, displays two standard design patterns, according to a team led by archaeologist Pierre-Jean Texier of the University of Bordeaux 1 in Talence, France. Each pattern enjoyed its own heyday between approximately 65,000 and 55,000 years ago, the investigators report in a paper to be published this week in the Proceedings of... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Lost Jewish tribe 'found in Zimbabwe' |
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· 03/06/2010 5:29:06 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 13 replies · 310+ views · · BBC · · Mar 6, 2010 · · Steve Vickers · |
In many ways, the Lemba tribe of Zimbabwe and South Africa are just like their neighbours. But in other ways their customs are remarkably similar to Jewish ones. They do not eat pork, they practise male circumcision, they ritually slaughter their animals, some of their men wear skull caps and they put the Star of David on their gravestones. Their oral traditions claim that their ancestors were Jews who fled the Holy Land about 2,500 years ago. It may sound like another myth of a lost tribe of Israel, but British scientists have carried out DNA tests which confirm their... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Israel's Latest Sin -- Honoring Its Heritage |
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· 03/02/2010 4:19:23 AM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 11 replies · 257+ views · · Frontpagemagazine · · 3-2-10 · · P. David Hornik · |
When the Israeli cabinet announced the other day that the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, would be included in a list of Israeli "heritage" sites, it touched off a wave of Palestinian violence and threats -- along with diplomatic protests that were all too concordant with the Palestinian bullying.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has launched the "heritage" program as a way of strengthening Israelis' connection with their Jewish and Zionist roots, initially left the two West Bank sites (though other West Bank sites were included) off the list, apparently fearing various kinds of fallout. Netanyahu... |
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| The Facts Are IN the Ground | |
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| Why Palestinians Riot Over Jewish Heritage Sites |
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· 03/03/2010 5:14:49 AM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 12 replies · 352+ views · · Frontpagemagazine · · 3-3-10 · · Moshe Dann · |
Last week saw an upsurge in Palestinian riots and attacks against Israeli vehicles in Gaza and the West Bank. What crime did Israel commit to invite the wave of violence? Israel's government simply announced that it intended to honor the country's heritage by including the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, and Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem in a list of Israeli national "heritage" sites. The violence-fueled Palestinian reaction may seem entirely disproportionate to Israel's offense. But a look at the historical background shows that it is not without grim precedent. For several decades, Palestinians have been attacking Jewish worshipers at... |
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| Faith and Philosophy | |
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| Egyptian priests lived on junk food diet |
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· 02/27/2010 7:42:48 AM PST · · Posted by TigerLikesRooster · · 56 replies · 1,185+ views · · Telegraph · · 02/26/2010 · |
The food of the gods in Ancient Egypt was more likely to guarantee an early grave than immortality, scientists have discovered. Delicious and bountiful banquets offered to the gods and eaten by Egyptian priests and their families were laden with artery-clogging saturated fat, research shows. The evidence comes from hieroglyphic inscriptions on temple walls and the priests' mummified remains -- which bear the unmistakable signs of damaged arteries and heart disease. Sumptuous meals of beef, wild fowl, bread, fruit, vegetables, cake, wine and beer were given up... |
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| Diet and Cuisine | |
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| Scientists catalog zoo of bacteria inside our guts |
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· 03/03/2010 3:22:06 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 38 replies · 500+ views · · Associated Press · · Mar 3, 2010 · · Seth Borenstein · |
The first results of an international effort to catalog the millions of non-human genes inside people found about 170 different bacteria species thriving in the average person's digestive tract. The study also found that people with inflammatory bowel disease had fewer distinct species inside the gut. More than 99 percent of the different types of genes in our bodies are not in fact human, but come from microbes. "I think it's important that people realize that we are not really human -- we are a walking colony of bacteria and they are crucial for our well being... |
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| Gut bacteria gene complement dwarfs human genome |
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· 03/04/2010 12:16:08 AM PST · · Posted by neverdem · · 15 replies · 379+ views · · Nature News · · 3 March 2010 · · Andrew Bennett Hellman · |
Sequencing project finds that Europeans share a surprising number of bacteria. Researchers have unveiled a catalogue of genes from microbes found in the human gut. The information could reveal how 'friendly' gut bacteria interact with the body to influence nutrition and disease. "This is the most powerful microscope that's been used so far to describe microbial communities," says George Weinstock, a geneticist at Washington University in St. Louis who was not involved in the study. The human body contains about ten times as many microbes as human cells, and most of them live in the gut. The new study, published... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| How the cell's powerhouses turn deadly - Mitochondria can trigger a lethal immune response after... |
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· 03/03/2010 10:26:45 PM PST · · Posted by neverdem · · 35 replies · 1,179+ views · · Nature News · · 3 March 2010 · · Heidi Ledford · |
Mitochondria can trigger a lethal immune response after injuries. Carl Hauser's patient was dying. A broken pelvis had brought the patient to the hospital, and now it seemed that a severe bacterial infection was killing him. Hauser -- a trauma surgeon at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson -- and his colleagues performed test after test, but could not find any sign of infection. Finally, with nothing left to try and time running out, Hauser removed a 30-litre mass of clotted blood. His patient immediately recovered. It would take Hauser over 15 years to determine why the patient's... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Female Dung Beetles Evolved Elaborate Horns to Fight for the Choicest Poop |
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· 03/04/2010 6:18:11 PM PST · · Posted by cajuncow · · 21 replies · 335+ views · · Discover Magazine · |
Male animals often use their horns to fight over females, but at least one species' females use their horns to fight over excrement. The species, no surprise, is the dung beetle. Unlike many of the animals we usually associate with elaborate horns, antlers, or other head weaponry -- in which the male has the most impressive set -- dung beetle females have horns that put the male version to shame. |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Research points to early horse castration |
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· 03/04/2010 6:53:14 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · 475+ views · · Horse Talk (New Zealand) · · March 2, 2010 · · unattributed · |
Most of the horses in the terracotta army in a Chinese emperor's tomb had no testicles, pointing to the possibility of equine castration some 2000 years ago. Yuan Jing, an archaeologist with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, studied the more than 600 terracotta horses within the tomb of Qinshihuang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty, who ruled from 221 BC to 207 BC. He noted that all the 520 horses that pulled chariots had penises but no testicles. However, some of the 116 cavalry horses were found to have testicles. Yuan said his findings gave some indication of... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Ring fort may have held Bronze Age sports arena [ Ireland ] |
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· 03/02/2010 7:33:04 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · 288+ views · · Irish Times · · February 25, 2010 · · Michael Parsons · |
A mysterious ring fort in Co Tipperary holds "massive potential for discoveries" according to archaeologists who have carried out the first survey of the site. Their initial findings suggest that the site may have been used for Bronze Age sporting contests in an arena that is the ancient equivalent of Semple Stadium. Archaeologists have long been curious about the origins of the Rathnadrinna Fort located about 3km south of the Rock of Cashel -- one of Ireland's most important heritage locations and seat of the High Kings of Munster. The unusually large and distinctive landmark is still subject to many... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Revealed: The African queen who called York home in the 4th century |
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· 02/27/2010 4:53:54 PM PST · · Posted by rdl6989 · · 29 replies · 751+ views · · Mail Online · · 27th February 2010 · |
Startling new forensic research has revealed that multicultural Britain is nothing new after discovering black Africans were living in high society in Roman York. A study of various remains and artefacts from the 4th century at the Yorkshire Museum shows North Africans were living there thousands of years ago. The most exciting results came from analysis of the so-called 'Ivory Bangle Lady' whose remains were found in 1901 on the city's Sycamore Terrace. Her skull was found buried with a range of jewellery including jet and elephant ivory bracelets, earrings, pendants and a glass mirror indicating she was wealthy and... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Dynasty of Priestesses [ Iron Age necropolis of Orthi Petra at Eleutherna on Crete ] |
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· 03/02/2010 7:16:04 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · 303+ views · · Archaeology · · March 1, 2010 · · Eti Bonn-Muller · |
For a quarter century, Greek excavation director Nicholas Stampolidis and his dedicated team have been unearthing the untold stories of the people buried some 2,800 years ago in the necropolis of Orthi Petra at Eleutherna on Crete. Until now, the site has perhaps been best known for the tomb its excavators dubbed "A1K1," an assemblage of 141 cremated individuals, all but two of whom were aristocratic men who likely fell in battle in foreign lands. Excavated between 1992 and 1996, this elaborate rock-cut tomb was brimming with fantastic burial goods that date from the ninth to the seventh century B.C.,... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, PreClovis | |
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| Bringing bison back to North American landscapes |
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· 03/02/2010 7:08:12 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 49 replies · 483+ views · · University of Calgary · · Mar 2, 2010 · · Unknown · |
University of Calgary wildlife biologists involved in American bison international surveyThe next 10 to 20 years could be extremely significant for restoring wild populations of American bison to their original range, including the Canadian Rockies; but for this to happen, more land must be made available for herds to roam free, government policies must be updated and the public must change its attitude towards bison, according to a new international study on the species co-authored by University of Calgary experts. The publication released today by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, American Bison: Status Survey and Conservation Guidelines 2010,... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Rare fossil helps scientists trace ancestry of polar bears to brown bears |
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· 03/01/2010 4:35:36 PM PST · · Posted by cajuncow · · 14 replies · 281+ views · · Cox News · · 3-1-10 · · Randolph E. Schmid · |
WASHINGTON (Associated Press) -- When it comes to bears, the polar species seems to be the new kid on the block. A rare fossil jaw found in Norway's Svalbard archipelago is helping researchers confirm that polar bears evolved from brown bears only about 150,000 years ago. Polar bears live much of the year on the Arctic sea ice and have become something of a symbol of the threat of global warming, which is melting that ice. "Our results confirm that the polar bear is an evolutionarily young species that split off from brown bears some 150,000 years ago and evolved... |
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| Epigraphy and Language | |
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| Oldest example of written English discovered in church |
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· 03/02/2010 6:23:06 AM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 51 replies · 1,115+ views · · Telegraph · · 01 Mar 2010 · · Telegraph · |
What is believed to be the first ever example of English in a British church has been discovered. It was written half a millennia ago and its message was serious enough to be painted carefully on the wall of England's finest cathedral. But now it seems no one can quite decipher exactly what the inscription on the wall of Salisbury Cathedral in Wiltshire actually says. It was hidden for 350 years behind a monument to a local aristocrat who was 'martyred' in the English Civil War for his support of King Charles I but rediscovered in January by astonished conservators.... |
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| A Secret Handshake Instead of a Kiss | |
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| Nail from the time of Christ's crucifixion found in a dig |
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· 03/02/2010 9:53:59 AM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 24 replies · 1,153+ views · · mirror.co.uk · · March 2, 2010 · · Euan Stretch · |
A nail from the time of Christ's crucifixion which was hidden by the same knights who featured in The Da Vinci Code has been found in a dig. The four-inch Roman relic, stored in an ornate box, was uncovered by archaeologists working at a fort thought to have been a former Knights Templar stronghold. It was buried with three skeletons and three swords, including one with the religious order's cross on its blade, on the tiny island of Ilheu de Pontinha, off Madeira. The iron nail is of the type used in thousands of crucifixions -- but it is special.... |
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| The Apple | |
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| An apple a day? Study shows soluble fiber boosts immune system |
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· 03/02/2010 2:43:08 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 21 replies · 430+ views · · U of Ill @ Urbana-Champaign · · Mar 2, 2010 · · Unknown · |
URBANA -- A new University of Illinois study touts the benefits of soluble fiber -- found in oats, apples, and nuts, for starters -- saying that it reduces the inflammation associated with obesity-related diseases and strengthens the immune system. "Soluble fiber changes the personality of immune cells -- they go from being pro-inflammatory, angry cells to anti-inflammatory, healing cells that help us recover faster from infection," said Gregory Freund, a professor in the U of I's College of Medicine and a faculty member in the College of Agriculture, Consumer and Environmental Sciences' Division of Nutritional Sciences. This happens because soluble fiber causes increased production of an... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Pieces of rare biblical manuscript reunited |
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· 02/27/2010 3:36:10 AM PST · · Posted by shove_it · · 7 replies · 583+ views · · Yahoo (AP) · · 26 Feb 10 · · Karoun Demirjian · |
JERUSALEM -- Two parts of an ancient biblical manuscript separated across centuries and continents were reunited for the first time in a joint display Friday, thanks to an accidental discovery that is helping illuminate a dark period in the history of the Hebrew Bible. The 1,300-year-old fragments, which are among only a handful of Hebrew biblical manuscripts known to have survived the era in which they were written, existed separately and with their relationship unknown, until a news photograph of one's public unveiling in 2007 caught the attention of the scholars who would eventually link them. Together, they make up... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Lasers lift dirt of ages from artworks |
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· 03/04/2010 7:35:58 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · 344+ views · · BBC · · March 2010 · · Doreen Walton · |
Physicists have applied the same laser techniques commonly used for tattoo removal to clean several famous works of art, including wall paintings. Laser cleaning is well established for stone and metal artefacts already. It has now been successfully applied to the wall paintings of the Sagrestia Vecchia and the Cappella del Manto in Santa Maria della Scala, Siena, Italy... Among them are Lorenzo Ghiberti's gilded bronze panels Porta del Paradiso, or Gate of Paradise, and Donatello's Renaissance bronze statue of David... The team says the technique is now having a significant impact in the field of cultural heritage conservation. Wall... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Tyrannical English king 'buried in Scotland' [ Richard II ] |
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· 03/04/2010 6:33:57 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · 408+ views · · The Scotsman · · Thursday, February 25, 2010 · · David Maddox · |
...further tests for full DNA analysis would require extra money which would not be covered by any planning conditions. Mr Pelling, a keen amateur historian, raised the issue of extra funding and possible repatriation during Scottish questions in Westminster yesterday... He added: "If Richard was discovered to be the Stirling skeleton, then the government would have to consider what the appropriate ceremony would be for repatriating the remains to England, and laying them to rest beside Richard's beloved wife, Anne of Bohemia. "This would then beg the question of who has lain in Westminster Abbey as Richard II for the... |
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| The Framers | |
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| Theory of a founding father's (Alexander Hamilton) African ancestry |
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· 07/23/2004 1:57:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Coleus · · 96 replies · 9,442+ views · · The Record · · July 23, 2004 · · Lawrence Aaron · |
As much as I thought I knew about Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary, nobody ever told me he was black. Yes. You heard it here first, folks. And you'll think about it from now on every time you take out a $10 bill. Hamilton biographer Ron Chernow is the latest one to explore the theory.I was totally blown away by that information when a friend casually mentioned Hamilton's link to two significant anniversaries -- the 250th anniversary of Columbia University, originally Kings College where he was schooled, and... |
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| The General | |
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| George Washington: "the Constitution is sacredly obligatory upon all.' |
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· 03/05/2010 7:14:11 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 13 replies · 226+ views · · The North Star National · · March 4th, 2010 · · Dan Sherrier · |
Our first president had some excellent advice in his farewell address to the nation, which he delivered via newspaper publication in September 1796. The entire speech remains worth reading today. Some of his points were specific to a time when the United States was young and fragile -- the Constitution was less than a decade old, after all -- but much of his wisdom continues to hold value. Pay attention. Pay attention. It doesn't hold value simply because he's George Washington, Super-President of Historical Myth and Noble Chopper of the Cherry Tree and Crosser of the Delaware. (Even Washington was not a perfect human... |
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| Hope 'n' Change | |
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| North Carolina school board votes to scrap diversity policy in favor of neighborhood schools |
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· 03/02/2010 5:36:48 PM PST · · Posted by cajuncow · · 34 replies · 629+ views · · Cox News · · 3-2-10 · · Mike Baker · |
RALEIGH, N.C. (Associated Press) -- A North Carolina school board has voted to scrap a policy of assigning students by socio-economic background in favor of a system of neighborhood schools. The 5-to-4 vote on Tuesday night approved a resolution to begin moving away from busing to achieve diversity. It was an illustration of the Wake County Public School Board's makeup. Board members in favor of the change were swept into office by a group of vocal parents who complained that the current student assignment plan took their children too far from home. |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Glacier Girl: The Back Story |
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· 02/27/2010 1:52:27 PM PST · · Posted by caveat emptor · · 25 replies · 892+ views · · Air & Space Magazine · · July 01, 2007 (reprint-1993) · · Karen Jensen · |
The journey on which the world's most famous fighter airplane [was recovered from beneath 268 feet of ice on Greenland's ice cap]. Great Britain was holding off Nazi Germany and the United States was rushing warplanes to British airfields. In 1942, Glacier Girl was a brand new Lockheed P-38F, one of hundreds of airplanes sent as part of U.S. Army Air Force had its pilots base-hop across the North Atlantic from Maine to Scotland. Not all squadrons made it across, and this particular one was forced down by weather to an emergency landing on an ice cap in Greenland. For... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Victor Davis Hanson: Tomorrow's Wars -- Enormous, massively destructive engagements may again be... |
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· 03/02/2010 5:22:03 PM PST · · Posted by neverdem · · 32 replies · 997+ views · · City Journal · · Winter 2010 · · Victor Davis Hanson · |
Enormous, massively destructive engagements may again be on the horizon. "Have we not seen, then, in our lifetime the end of the Western way of war?" Two decades ago, I concluded The Western Way of War with that question. Since Western warfare had become so lethal and included the specter of nuclear escalation, I thought it doubtful that two Western states could any longer wage large head-to-head conventional battles. A decade earlier, John Keegan, in his classic The Face of Battle, had similarly suggested that it would be hard for modern European states to engage in infantry slugfests like the... |
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| Shorter Perspectives | |
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| Report Finds College Students Fail Basic Civics Test |
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· 02/28/2010 7:59:59 PM PST · · Posted by SFC Chromey · · 132 replies · 1,731+ views · · The New American · · Friday, 26 February 2010 14:48 · · Joe Wolverton, II · |
"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it" is one of the most oft-quoted aphorisms of Edmund Burke, an 18th-century Irish-born member of the British Parliament and fearless friend of liberty. Judging from the results of a recent survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), most of the 14,000 college students who participated sadly will be repeating history. Considering that most of the 14,000 students who completed the exam (7,000 seniors and 7,000 freshmen) scored an F on the portion of the test covering basic American history and institutions... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Popular Science Posts It's Entire 137 Year Archive Online For Free |
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· 03/04/2010 9:55:43 PM PST · · Posted by Dallas59 · · 46 replies · 1,135+ views · · PopSci · · 3/3/2010 · · PopSci · |
Linky TO Archives |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Police hunt for PNG dinosaur |
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· 03/11/2004 7:12:33 PM PST · · Posted by Piefloater · · 85 replies · 399+ views · · AAP/Ninemsn · · 12 Mar 2004 · |
Reports a live dinosaur had been sighted on a volcanic island of Papua New Guinea prompted the deployment of heavily-armed police in search of the mystery creature. Villagers in the superstitious island province of East New Britain this week said they fled in terror after seeing a three-metre tall, grey-coloured creature with a head like a dog and a tail like a crocodile. They said the creature was living among thick green plants in a mosquito-ridden marsh just outside the provincial capital Kokopo, near the devastated town of Rabaul which was buried by a volcanic eruption in 1994. Kokopo's Mayor... |
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| end of digest #294 20100306 | |
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