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· Saturday, October 30, 2010 · 27 topics · 2617667 to 2613045 · 756 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 328th issue. Last week's issue may have had the incorrect date on it, should have been 10-23 rather than 10-22. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #328 Saturday, October 30, 2010 |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Paradise Lost -- And Found (Jerusalem - irrigated gardens) |
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· 10/28/2010 8:04:10 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 3 replies · · Tel Aviv University · · October 28, 2010 · · Unknown · |
TAU researchers unearth ancient water secrets at royal garden dig -- Ancient gardens are the stuff of legend, from the Garden of Eden to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Now researchers at Tel Aviv University, in collaboration with Heidelberg University in Germany, have uncovered an ancient royal garden at the site of Ramat Rachel near Jerusalem, and are leading the first full-scale excavation of this type of archaeological site anywhere in the pre-Hellenistic Levant. According to Prof. Oded Lipschits and graduate student Boaz Gross of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology, this dig is an unparalleled look into the structure and function... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Carthage unveils 'Young Man of Byrsa' |
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· 10/28/2010 9:22:49 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · Magharebia · · Thursday, October 21, 2010 · · Mona Yahia · |
A corpse buried on Byrsa Hill, above the Gulf of Tunis, is at the heart of a groundbreaking exhibit that opened Friday (October 15th) at the Carthage Museum... French archaeologist Jean-Paul Morel and other researchers determined that the skeleton buried five metres deep on the grounds of the Carthage Museum was that of a young man in the prime of life, aged between 19 and 24 years old. His bones were more than 2,500 years old. He died sometime in the 6th century BC... The re-building process lasted 16 years... Ziad, an employee in the Ministry of Culture, said: "I... |
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| The Phoenicians | |
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| Replica Phoenician ship ends round-Africa journey (Video) |
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· 10/24/2010 2:39:43 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 23 replies · · BBC · · October 24, 2010 · · Lina Sinjab · |
The replica of a Phoenician ship from 600BC has arrived home in western Syria after a two-year voyage circumnavigating the coast of Africa. |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Hunting for the Dawn of Writing, When Prehistory Became History |
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· 10/30/2010 7:17:25 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · New York Times · · October 19, 2010 · · Geraldine Fabrikant · |
One of the stars of the Oriental Institute's new show, "Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East and Beyond," is a clay tablet that dates from around 3200 B.C. On it, written in cuneiform, the script language of ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia, is a list of professions, described in small, repetitive impressed characters that look more like wedge-shape footprints than what we recognize as writing. In fact "it is among the earliest examples of writings that we know of so far," according to the institute's director, Gil J. Stein, and it provides insights into the life of... |
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| Africa | |
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| Papyrus Research Provides Insights into the "Modern Concerns' of the Ancient World |
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· 10/29/2010 7:14:34 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 6 replies · · University of Cincinnati · · October 29, 2010 · · M.B. Reilly · |
A University of Cincinnati-based journal devoted to research on papyri is due out Nov. 1. That research sheds light on an ancient world with surprisingly modern concerns: including hoped-for medical cures, religious confusion and the need for financial safeguards. What's old is new again. That's the lesson that can be taken from the University of Cincinnati-based journal, "Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists," due out Nov. 1. The annually produced journal, edited since 2006 by Peter van Minnen, UC associate professor of classics, features the most prestigious global research on papyri, a field of study known as papyrology. (Papyrology... |
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| Prehistory and Origins | |
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| Bulgarian Archaeologists Stumble Upon 8000-Year-Old Skeleton |
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· 10/28/2010 4:39:00 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 9 replies · · Novinite · · October 24, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Bulgarian archaeologists clearing a plot for highway construction have come across a Neolithic home and a skeleton date back to 6000 BC. The Neolithic Age home was discovered close to the village of Krum in the Haskovo District by the team of archaeologist Boris Borisov, who are excavating a plot designated for the construction of the Maritsa Highway going to the Turkish border. |
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| Anatolia | |
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| Armenian archeologists: 5,900-year-old skirt found |
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· 10/28/2010 9:13:30 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · Washington Post · · Tuesday, October 26, 2010 · · Associated Press · |
YEREVAN, Armenia -- An Armenian archaeologist says that scientists have discovered a skirt that could be 5,900-year-old. Pavel Avetisian, the head of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography in Yerevan, said a fragment of skirt made of reed was found during recent digging in the Areni-1 cave in southeastern Armenia. Avetisian told Tuesday's news conference in the Armenian capital that the find could be one of the world's oldest piece of reed clothing. Earlier excavation in the same location has produced what researchers believe is a 5,500-year-old shoe, making it the oldest piece of leather footwear known to researchers. Boris... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| U of Fla research provides new understanding of bizarre extinct mammal |
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· 10/27/2010 4:45:47 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · EurekAlert · · Monday, October 11, 2010 · · Ben Norman · |
University of Florida researchers presenting new fossil evidence of an exceptionally well-preserved 55-million-year-old North American mammal have found it shares a common ancestor with rodents and primates, including humans. The study published today in the online edition of the Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, describes the cranial anatomy of the extinct mammal, Labidolemur kayi. High resolution CT scans of the specimens allowed researchers to study minute details in the skull, including bone structures smaller than one-tenth of a millimeter. Similarities in bone features with other mammals show L. kayi's living relatives are rodents, rabbits, flying lemurs, tree shrews and primates.... |
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| Biochemistry | |
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| Phosphorus identified as the missing link in evolution of animals |
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· 10/28/2010 3:32:11 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 32 replies · · University of Alberta · · October 28, 2010 · · Unknown · |
A University of Alberta geomicrobiologist and his PhD student are part of a research team that has identified phosphorus as the mystery ingredient that pushed oxygen levels in the oceans high enough to establish the first animals on Earth 750 million years ago. By examining ancient-ocean sediments, Kurt Konhauser, student Stefan Lalonde and other colleagues discovered that as the last glacier to encircle Earth receded, leaving behind glacial debris containing phosphorus that washed into the oceans. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient that promoted the growth of cyanobacteria, or blue-green-algae, and its metabolic byproduct is oxygen. The new, higher oxygen levels... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Neanderthal Children Were Large, Sturdy |
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· 10/25/2010 8:16:27 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 21 replies · · Discovery News 'blogs · · Tuesday, October 19, 2010 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
The remains of this infant -- a lower jaw and teeth unearthed in a Belgian cave -- are the youngest Neanderthal ever found in northwest Europe, according to a study that will appear in the Journal of Human Evolution. Since the remains of two adults were also previously discovered in the cave, the fossil collection may represent a Neanderthal family. If the trio said "cheese" for a family portrait, their smiles would have been hard to miss, since Neanderthal front teeth were larger than those for modern humans. When the infant died, "he already possessed Neanderthal characteristics, notably a strong... |
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| Multiregionalism | |
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| Modern humans emerged far earlier than previously thought (China) |
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· 10/25/2010 2:06:23 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 22 replies · · Washington U in St. Louis · · October 25, 2010 · · Unknown · |
An international team of researchers based at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing, including a physical anthropology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, has discovered well-dated human fossils in southern China that markedly change anthropologists perceptions of the emergence of modern humans in the eastern Old World. The research was published Oct. 25 in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The discovery of early modern human fossil remains in the Zhirendong (Zhiren Cave) in south China that are at least 100,000 years old provides the earliest evidence for the... |
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| Primacy | |
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| Libyan find suggests earlier ancestors came from Asia |
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· 10/27/2010 1:15:20 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 38 replies · · AFP · · October 27, 2010 · · Unknown · |
PARIS (AFP) -- Ancient fossilized teeth of small anthropoid monkeys discovered in Libya suggest our earliest ancestors may have migrated from Asia to Africa, research published Wednesday showed. The origin of anthropoids -- primates including monkeys, apes and humans -- has long been a source of hot debate among palaeontologists. Experts have long argued anthropoids first appeared in Africa -- but recent studies suggest an earlier Asian origin, dating 55 million years ago. Now new fossils, dating 38 to 39 million years ago and discovered in Dur At-Talah in central Libya, further complicate the debate. They reveal the existence of... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Wild Scottish sheep could help explain differences in immunity |
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· 10/28/2010 5:32:18 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 17 replies · · Princeton University · · October 28, 2010 · · Kitta MacPherson · |
Strong immunity may play a key role in determining long life, but may do so at the expense of reduced fertility, a Princeton University study has concluded. An 11-year study of a population of wild sheep located on a remote island off the coast of Scotland that gauged the animals' susceptibility to infection may give new insight into why some people get sicker than others when exposed to the same illness. The answer to this medical puzzle may lie in deep-rooted differences in how animals survive and reproduce in the wild, according to the study, which was led by Princeton... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Secret of Scotland's Shrinking Sheep Solved |
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· 07/04/2009 2:18:03 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 41 replies · 2,487+ views · · ScienceNOW Daily News · · 2 July 2009 · · Nayanah Siva · |
Slimming down. Sheep on the remote Scottish isle of Hirta have been getting smaller.Credit: A. Ozgul/Science Call it the case of the shrinking sheep. On the remote Scottish island of Hirta, sheep have been getting smaller, shrinking an average of 5% over the last 24 years. Don't blame evolution, though. Researchers say climate change is the real culprit. The Hirta sheep belong to a breed known as Soay, after the remote Scottish island where they arose. One of the most primitive forms of domestic sheep, Soays first came to Hirta in 1932. Because Hirta is a remote island,... |
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| Climate | |
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| Climate change shrinks wild sheep: scientists |
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· 07/02/2009 4:12:57 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 36 replies · 986+ views · · AFP on Yahoo · · 7/2/09 · |
PARIS (AFP) -- Climate change has caused a flock of wild sheep on a remote northern Scottish island to become smaller, according to an unusual investigation published on Thursday. The study explains a mystery that has bedevilled scientists for the past two years. The wild Soay sheep live on Hirta, in the St. Kilda archipelago in the storm-battered Outer Hebrides, and have been closely studied for nearly a quarter of a century. The law of evolutionary theory says the brown, thick-coated ungulates should have got progressively bigger. Tough winters mean that bigger sheep have a better chance of survival and... |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Smithsonian does not dispute authenticity of archaeological find in Vero Beach [13K old] |
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· 10/26/2010 8:40:44 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · Indian River County · · Wednesday, October 20, 2010 · · Elliott Jones · |
The Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., has found no reason to dispute the authenticity of an one-of-a-kind archaeological discovery that might help confirm a human presence here up to 13,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age. In early 2009, local fossil collector James Kennedy cleaned off an old bone he found two years earlier and noticed some lines on it -- lines that turned out to be a clear etching of a walking mammoth with tusks. The location where he found it hasn't been disclosed, except that it came from an area north of Vero Beach.... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| PBS Special Last Night |
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· 10/26/2010 5:30:22 AM PDT · · Posted by SMARTY · · 34 replies · · 10-26 10 · · Me · |
Was anyone else able to catch the PBS program last night about the history of Indian wars in the American and Midwest? I missed a lot of it, but saw enough to make some observations. The art direction was spectacular!! However, the program was grinding the same old ax. America is awful and has no right to exist. Period. I mean, it was a perfect laundry list of all the evils of civilization! Of course, Native Americans were entirely blameless and the unqualified textbook image of the noble savage... far above the crude brutality of white settlers and the military.... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Scientists: Columbus Did Not Introduce Syphilis to Europe |
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· 10/26/2010 3:54:58 PM PDT · · Posted by MinorityRepublican · · 25 replies · · AOL · |
(Oct. 26) -- Christopher Columbus has been blamed for instituting slavery in the New World and setting the stage for centuries of bloody conquest. But new evidence might help clear his name in at least one way: Researchers say they now have proof that the famed explorer didn't introduce syphilis to Europe. After making landfall on a number of Caribbean islands -- and changing the course of history in the process -- Columbus and his crew returned to Spain in 1493. Two years later, the first documented case of syphilis was reported in Europe, leading some experts to hypothesize that... |
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| Skeleton dating clears Columbus of importing syphilis to Europe |
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· 10/25/2010 5:12:35 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 17 replies · · The Australian · · 25 Oct 2010 · · Jack Malvern · |
The question of whether Christopher Columbus and his crew were responsible for bringing syphilis to Europe from the Americas appears to have been answered by the discovery of a collection of knobbly skeletons in a London cemetery. A popular theory among experts in tropical diseases is that outbreaks of syphilis in the mid-1490s were a direct result of Columbus and his randy crew returning from their first voyage across the Atlantic in 1492-93. However, the largest excavation of skeletons undertaken in Britain has unearthed seven that suggest the disease was known in England up to two centuries before that. Archaeologists... |
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| Pages | |
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| Famous style of Jane Austen may not be hers after all |
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· 10/26/2010 8:50:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · PhysOrg · · Monday, October 25, 2010 · · Oxford University · |
The polished prose of Emma and Persuasion was the product of an interventionist editor, an Oxford University academic has found. Professor Kathryn Sutherland of the Faculty of English Language and Literature made the discovery while studying a collection of 1,100 original handwritten pages of Austen's unpublished writings for the Jane Austen Fiction Manuscripts Digital Edition. The project, led by Professor Sutherland in collaboration with the Bodleian Libraries, King's College London and the British Library with funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council has reunited in a free-to-access online archive all Jane Austen's handwritten fiction manuscripts for the very first... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Royal Blood May Be Hidden Inside Decorated Gourd |
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· 10/26/2010 9:07:27 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 21 replies · · Discovery News · · Monday, October 25, 2010 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
The gourd, originally used to store gunpowder, was extensively decorated on the outside with a flame tool. Burned into its surface is the text: "Maximilien Bourdaloue on January 21st, dipped his handkerchief in the blood of Louis XVI after his beheading. It is described in contemporaneous accounts that there was a lot of blood in the scaffold after the beheading and that, in fact, many people went there to dip their handkerchiefs in the blood," Carles Lalueza-Fox, lead author of the study and a researcher at Spain's Institute of Evolutionary Biology, told Discovery News. The handkerchief is now missing from... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Today in History October 26th 1774 Minute Men organized in the American colonies |
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· 10/26/2010 5:38:55 PM PDT · · Posted by mdittmar · · 7 replies · · Minute Man National Historical Park · · October 26th 2010 · · nps.gov · |
Why were the colonial soldiers called†minute men? According to Massachusetts colonial law, all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to keep a serviceable firearm and serve in a part-time citizen army called the militia. Their†duty was to defend the colony against her enemies; chiefly the Indians and the French. The colonial militia sometimes fought side by side with British soldiers, particularly during the last French and Indian War in the 1750's and early 60's. However, as a result of the mounting tensions between Great Britain and her American colonies, that would soon change. In October... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Extraordinary X-rays show how 150-year-old dolls were used to smuggle drugs during U.S. Civil War |
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· 10/28/2010 10:28:43 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 24 replies · · dailymail. · · 28th October 2010 · |
Two 150-year-old dolls have been x-rayed in a bid to discover if they were used by Confederate soldiers to smuggle medical supplies past Union blockades during the U.S. Civil War. It is thought the large dolls - Nina and Lucy Ann - had their hollowed out papier-mache heads stuffed with quinine or morphine for wounded and malaria-stricken Confederate troops. The Union blockade lasted from 1861 until 1865 and was intended to thwart the delivery of weapons, soldiers and supplies such as medicine to the South.... |
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| This Day in Civil War History October 23rd, 1864 Battle of Westport, Missouri |
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· 10/23/2010 5:12:50 AM PDT · · Posted by mainepatsfan · · 7 replies · · History.com · |
Oct 23, 1864: Battle of Westport, Missouri Confederate General Sterling Price's raid on Missouri nearly turns into disaster when his army is pinned between two Union forces at Westport, near Kansas City. Although outnumbered two to one, Price managed to slip safely away after the Battle of Westport, which was the biggest battle west of the Mississippi River. Price's six-week raid on Missouri was intended to capture a state that had been firmly in Union hands during much of the war. Price hoped to divert attention from the East, where Confederate armies had not done well in the late summer... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| The 'Green' Economy of the Third Reich |
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· 10/28/2010 1:45:44 PM PDT · · Posted by Olympiad Fisherman · · 30 replies · · Accuracy in Media · · 10/28/2010 · · Mark Musser · |
The Nazis, of course, needed money to fund their national regeneration program. With a very fragile German economy to draw from, they were thus forced to make some important concessions to big business and industry that many Nazis considered a betrayal of their values. Moreover, the Nazi economy was flying by the seat of its pants throughout the 1930's and 40's. Nazi hatred for international Jewish capitalism placed them on a suicidal path of national autarky, economic isolation and destruction. Weighed down with war reparations, a weak economy, and lacking natural resources that had to be imported from abroad, the... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Researcher: US Planned "New Finland" for Refugees in Alaska |
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· 10/23/2010 9:32:31 AM PDT · · Posted by Viiksitimali · · 18 replies · · Yle News · · 23.10.2010 · · Yle · |
In 1940, the United States considered the possibility of settling Finnish refugees from the Winter War in Alaska, according to Lecturer Henry Oinas-Kukkonen of the University of Oulu. Finnish children being evacuated during the Winter War. Image: Museovirasto Speaking at a historical research conference in Jyväskylä on Friday, Oinas-Kukkonen said that the proposal was intended to be carried out if the Soviet Union had conquered Finland. In early 1940, he says, US officials were preparing to set up an "American Finland" in the northernmost state. The US Department of the Interior drew up several proposals to allow Finnish refugees to... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Mysterious 'Time Traveler' Spotted in Charlie Chaplin Film |
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· 10/27/2010 2:22:23 PM PDT · · Posted by fishtank · · 239 replies · · Fox 43 · · fishtank · |
HOLLYWOOD -- 33 years after his death, a 1928 film clip from a Charlie Chaplin movie premier that appears to show a woman talking on a cell phone is sparking debate and controversy. .... more at link |
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| end of digest #328 20101030 | |
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· Saturday, October 30, 2010 · 27 topics · 2617667 to 2613045 · 756 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 328th issue. Last week's issue may have had the incorrect date on it, should have been 10-23 rather than 10-22. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #329 Saturday, November 6, 2010 |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Historical find at Leighton Buzzard golf course |
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· 11/05/2010 7:01:42 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · BBC · · Thursday, November 4, 2010 · · unattributed · |
An archaeological treasure has been unearthed on a golf course in Bedfordshire. A quern stone was found by greenkeepers at Leighton Buzzard golf course as they dug out a new tee... Quern stones were used for grinding corn before the introduction of mill stones, but despite this, it's not actually that common to find one. "Apparently only three have ever been discovered in the south of England so it is quite rare" said Mr Bagshawe, "and even rarer to find one that is completely intact. "It's in very good condition" he added. "You can still see the marks that... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Pompeii's Mystery Horse Is a Donkey |
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· 11/03/2010 8:28:09 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · Softpedia · · Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 · · Smaranda Biliuti · |
Back in 2004, when academics unearthed skeletons found at a house in the ancient Roman town that was covered in ashes in 79 AD, they thought it belonged to an extinct breed of horse... What happened really was that there seems to have been a mix-up in the lab, which led to horse DNA being combined with donkey DNA, creating an artificial hybrid that actually never existed. Six years ago, the skeletons of equids having belonged to a rich Roman household in Pompeii were analyzed. There were found in the stables of a probably wealthy politician, and all five of... |
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| Rome Will Kick Your Butt--TV Series |
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· 11/04/2010 3:02:22 PM PDT · · Posted by BruceDeitrickPrice · · 35 replies · · American Chronicle · · Oct 30, 2010 · · Bruce Deitrick Price · |
(Television series proposal, submitted to History Channel, Discovery Channel, A&E, Learning Channel, Disney, et al, by Word-Wise Productions.) Marketing context: American public education has been dumbed down, neutered, rendered dull and boring. Little is taught. One thing especially is not taught. History. There is thus an unfed hunger for History real, raw, and revelatory. Everything that makes children and adults love History has been eliminated from History. Starting in the 1920s, progressive educators used a gimmick called Social Studies to constrict the teaching of History. Less was taught, and taught in a less interesting way. Throughout the 20th century History... |
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| Tooltime | |
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| Stone Age DIY: How Neolithic man decorated his house with homemade paint |
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· 10/30/2010 8:58:38 PM PDT · · Posted by fightinJAG · · 21 replies · · Daily Mail (U.K.) · · Oct. 30, 2010 · · Staff · |
Neolithic men were house-proud people who enjoyed doing DIY, new research has revealed. Archaeologists have unearthed evidence that shows our ancestors from 5,000 years ago painted the insides of their Stone Age homes to brighten the place up. As well as |
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| How 5000 yr old Neolithic men painted their homes |
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· 11/01/2010 10:04:51 AM PDT · · Posted by Cardhu · · 14 replies · · archaeology daily · · Oct 31st 2010 · · Staff · |
New Kerala A new research has revealed that our ancestors from 5,000 years ago painted their homes to brighten up their places too. They used red, yellow and orange pigments from ground-up minerals and bound it with animal fat and eggs to make their paint, the new study from a Stone Age settlement on the island of Orkney revealed. Several stones used to form the buildings painted and decorated by the locals in about 3,000 BC, most probably to to enhance important buildings and may have been found in entranceways or areas of the building, which had particular significance. "We... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Digger finds Neolithic tomb complex (Orkney Islands) |
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· 10/31/2010 7:12:56 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 22 replies · · BBC · · October 31, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Archaeologists on Orkney are investigating what is thought to be a 5,000-year-old tomb complex. A local man stumbled on the site while using a mechanical digger for landscaping. It appears to contain a central passageway and multiple chambers excavated from rock. There is a large neolithic burial complex nearby called The Tomb of the Eagles where over 300 bodies were found. "Potentially these skeletons could tell us so much about Neolithic people," said Orkney Islands Council archaeologist Julie Gibson. "Not only in relation to their deaths, but their lives." |
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| British Isles | |
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| Bronze Age hoard found intact in Essex field |
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· 10/31/2010 7:07:59 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 13 replies · · BBC · · October 31, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Archaeologists have unearthed a collection of Bronze Age axe heads, spear tips and other 3,000-year-old metal objects buried in an Essex field.The items include an intact pottery container with heavy contents which has been removed undisturbed. The materials are now at a local museum where archaeologists hope to uncover new insights into Bronze Age Britain. "This is a really exciting find," said local archaeologist Laura McLean. "To find a hoard still located in its Bronze Age context, below the level of ploughed soil, is very rare. The fact that there is pottery involved makes the find even more unusual." The... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Archaeologists find pre-historic migrants |
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· 11/02/2010 8:32:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard · · Thursday, October 28, 2010 · · Jeff Berliner · |
Expert analysis has shed new light on the history of Cirencester. Scientists have examined the teeth of human remains found during an archeological dig. They believe the people were not local, but had travelled here from the far south-west -- probably Devon or Cornwall. Also, they lived here before the Romans arrived in the early first century BC. "This is of great regional significance, and it will generate national interest", said Edward Biddulph, senior project manager with Oxford Archaeology which conducted the dig. Mr Biddulph gave details of his find in a talk o Cirencester Archaeological and Historical Society at... |
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| Anatolia | |
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| Ancient settlements discovered in Azerbaijan's Shaki and Gakh |
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· 10/31/2010 7:44:51 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · Azerbaijan News · · Tuesday, October 19, 2010 · · APA · |
A group of archeologists discovered five ancient settlements. A group of archeologists of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences discovered five ancient settlements in the territory of Shaki and Gakh regions of Azerbaijan, head of the archeological expedition Nasib Mukhtarov said. He said the winter settlements discovered in Shaki and Gakh were allegedly founded in the period from 2nd millennium AC until 3rd century AD. Traces of the Gakh settlements were discovered in the territory of a former collective farm. Ceramics and potteries were found there. The archeologists also found ruins of a stone building in one of settlements.... |
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| The Phoenicians | |
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| Ancient tombs discovered on school construction site |
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· 11/02/2010 8:07:04 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · Times of Malta · · Saturday, October 30, 2010 · · Kurt Sansone · |
A group of ancient tombs dating back to the Punic period were discovered during excavation works for the construction of a new primary school at the Archbishop's Seminary in Tal-Virtù... According to Nathaniel Cutajar from the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, the discovery is of "great scientific interest" and "confirms the archaeological importance" of the Tal-Virtù area in Rabat. The superintendence is responsible for all scientific investigation of cultural assets, including archaeological excavations. An investigation of the discovery is under way by its team of archaeologists. The Archbishop's Seminary has a planning permit to build a primary school extension to its... |
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| Sardinia | |
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| Neolithic necropolis under threat in Sardinia |
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· 10/31/2010 7:56:43 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · StonePages · · Saturday, October 30, 2010 · · unattributed · |
Based on a recent site visit by an international team of specialists, including rock-art expert George Nash from the Dept.of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, and conservation archaeologist Jayne Pilkington, it was clear that certain basic protocols enshrined into the Valetta Convention have been violated by Italian authorities. Furthermore, nothing had been considered for the long-term conservation of this and other nearby Neolithic burial-ritual sites, including Tomb No.3 (Tomb of the Spirals) at the Necropolis of Sa Pala Larga which was in an advanced state of deterioration. In addition to in-filling the entrance of the main tomb, the Italian... |
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| Cyprus | |
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| Archaeologists uncover early Neolithic activity on Cyprus |
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· 11/02/2010 8:57:57 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · Cornell Chronicle · · Wednesday, October 20, 2010 · · Daniel Aloi · |
Cornell archaeologists are helping to rewrite the early prehistory of human civilization on Cyprus, with evidence that hunter-gatherers began to form agricultural settlements on the island half a millennium earlier than previously believed... professor of classics Sturt Manning, director of Cornell's archaeology program... "Up until two decades ago, nobody thought anybody had gone to Cyprus before about 8,000 years ago, and the island was treated as irrelevant to the development of the Neolithic in the Near East," Manning said. "Then Alan Simmons (now at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas) discovered a couple of sites that seemed to suggest Epipaleolithic... |
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| Chinese Neolithic | |
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| The Reappearance of Yangshao? Reflections on unmourned artifacts |
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· 11/01/2010 7:17:10 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · China Heritage Quarterly · · September 2010 · · Magnus Fiskesjo · |
The first excavations of Yangshao cultural remains in the 1920s inaugurated the modern discipline of archaeology in China. The recent documentary film Cutting Through the Fog of History: The Re-appearance of the Yangshao Cultural Relics[1] is one of the first Chinese attempts in many years to address the mysterious disappearance, possibly during World War II, of many of the artifacts uncovered in the course of these excavations. In comparison with the seemingly never-ending flood of both science and fiction writings on the lost Peking Man remains, which also vanished during China's war with Japan,[2] it is curious that comparatively little... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, & PreClovis | |
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| Ancient Inca tomb found in Kuelap |
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· 11/02/2010 8:37:09 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Andina (Peru) · · Thursday, October 28, 2010 · · VVS/JOT/PSY/RMB · |
A large tomb dating from ancient Inca times was found in the southern sector of Pueblo Alto of Kuelap fortress, located in the department of Amazonas, director of restoration and conservation Alfredo Narvaez announced. He told Andina that in the vicinity of the tomb, of which excavation ended on Monday, fine ceramic offerings from the Tahuantinsuyo (Inca Empire) were also found, which apparently were taken there from Cusco. "This tomb has an unusual dimension and was sealed by a thick stuffing. As we were cleaning, we run into materials that we had never found before in other structures of... |
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| Archaeologists Hunt Grave Robbers In AZ Backcountry |
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· 11/05/2010 11:53:54 AM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 20 replies · · KPHO · · November 5, 2010 · · Morgan Loew · |
Looters Increase Activity During Bad Economy Grave robbers are looting Arizona's historic ruins at an alarming rate, according to archaeologists and investigators with the Tonto National Forest. "What they're doing out here is disrupting and in most cases destroying human remains while they're seeking out pots to sell," said Scott Wood, an archaeologist for the Tonto National Forest. Wood brought a CBS 5 News team to the scene of one of the most recent lootings. The site is known as Mud Springs Ruins and was inhabited by the people known as the Hohokam 700 years ago. At the center of... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Amenhotep III & sun god Re-Horakhti statue unearthed at pharaoh's funerary temple in Luxor |
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· 11/05/2010 7:21:59 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · Heritage Key · · Thursday, November 4, 2010 · · Ann Wuyts · |
Archaeologists today discovered the upper portion of a statue of Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III at Luxor, Egypt. The find -- part of a double statue featuring King Amenhotep III with the falcon-headed sun god Re-Horakhti -- was made at the pharaoh's funerary temple, located on the west bank of the Nile. In a press statement, Egypt's Minister of Culture, Farouk Hosny said that the discovery was made during routine excavations at Amenhotep III's mortuary temple carried out by the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA)... Previously, the SCA mission already unearthed a double statue of the pharoah and the god Amun,... |
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| Primacy | |
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| Early humans 'more promiscuous and competitive' than modern-day man |
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· 11/03/2010 5:02:12 PM PDT · · Posted by Cardhu · · 77 replies · · Daily Mail · · October 3rd 2010 · · David Derbyshire · |
They are rarely held up as examples of refined, gentle behaviour. Now scientists have found evidence that cavemen really were the violent and competitive knuckleheads depicted in movies and cartoons. A study of fossilised remains suggests that our ancient ancestors had far higher levels of the male sex hormone testosterone than people living today. If the findings are confirmed, it means they were more aggressive and promiscuous than modern men - and that tens of thousands of years of evolution have had a civilising influence on the human race. The study was carried out by British and Canadian scientists who... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| New study re-examines bacterial vaccine studies conducted during 1918 influenza pandemic |
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· 11/02/2010 9:03:47 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 3 replies · · NIH · · November 2, 2010 · · Unknown · |
WHAT: Secondary infections with bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes pneumonia, were a major cause of death during the 1918 flu pandemic and may be important in modern pandemics as well, according to a new article in the Journal of Infectious Diseases co-authored by David M. Morens, M.D., senior advisor to the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The researchers examined 13 studies published between 1918 and 1920. During this time, many scientists erroneously believed that influenza was caused by bacteria, not a virus. As a result, researchers... |
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| Climate | |
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| Atlantic Ocean's Waters Reversed Direction, Study Finds |
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· 11/03/2010 4:57:50 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 31 replies · · LiveScience.com · · 11/3/10 · · Charles Q. Choi · |
Although it's said that still waters run deep, now scientists find that deep waters aren't still - in fact, the deep waters of the Atlantic Ocean seem to have reversed their direction of flow since the last time ice dominated the Earth. Instead of heading southward as they do now, these abyssal waters once flowed northward roughly 20,000 years ago, back when the world saw ice sheets more than a mile high, a new study suggests. The change in flow could have accompanied profound changes in climate, researchers explained. Climate connection In the Atlantic, the Gulf Stream brings warm surface... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Scientist describes toothy microfossils |
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· 11/01/2010 5:09:52 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 13 replies · · PhysOrg · · October 29, 2010 · · Unknown · |
They had rows of sharp, interlocking conical teeth that, while not affixed to a jaw like we know, would rake prey into their mouths kind of like the creature in the movie "Alien." Though scientists have long known about conodonts from their fossilized teeth, Texas Tech University graduate student Nicole Peavey said only recently have scientists begun to understand these enigmatic and relatively successful creatures. She will discuss them and how recent findings may require new names for different species at a poster session Monday (Nov. 1) at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America in Denver. "Conodonts... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| DNA reveals identity of Passenger Pigeon |
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· 10/31/2010 5:11:44 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 47 replies · · Birdwatch · · 30 Oct 2010 · · Birdwatch · |
The extinct Passenger Pigeon, once the most numerous bird species in the world, has had its closest living relatives identified by DNA extracted from museum specimens.The Passenger Pigeon was a forest nomad, breeding in vast colonies and following sporadic crops of acorns and chestnuts around the dense deciduous forests of the eastern and central United States. the forests were once so vast that they could support tens of millions of the birds, which were known to form flocks so huge that they darkened the sky when dispersing. This made them easy prey for hunters' guns, and the greed and over-exploitation... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Remember, Remember the 5th of November ... |
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· 11/05/2010 10:46:48 AM PDT · · Posted by NEWwoman · · 8 replies · · smithsk.blogspot.com · · November 2, 2010 · · S K Smith · |
REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER Remember, remember the fifth of November Gunpowder, treason and plot I see no reason why gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot .... (Traditional English Rhyme - 17th Century) Okay. What is this all about? For starters - "Remember Remember" refers to Guy Fawkes from 17th century English history. On the night of November 4, 1605, Guy Fawkes was caught in the cellars of the Houses of Parliament with several dozen barrels of gunpowder. If this Gunpowder Plot had succeeded, King James I could have been assassinated as well as many in the House of... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| US 9th Rep. Steve Cohen: George Washington & Thomas Jefferson Were Career Politicians |
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· 10/31/2010 11:28:59 AM PDT · · Posted by GailA · · 53 replies · · wreg · · 10/30/10 · · N/A · |
Steve Cohen, who greeted voters at a Democratic event several blocks away in Midtown, said that he had in fact been a part of historic bills to give people tax breaks, not tax hikes. "We voted on the largest tax breaks in United States history in the 111th Congress. In fact, the stimulus bill was 40 percent tax breaks. There have been more tax breaks for 95 percent of the citizens of the middle class," Cohen said. Cohen is not knocking on doors this weekend, but is still passing out his signature buttons that he said he likes to collect.... |
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| Early Java | |
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| Archaeologist creates a field guide to coffee cans |
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· 11/04/2010 6:47:13 AM PDT · · Posted by skeptoid · · 16 replies · · University of Alaska Fairbanks · · Nov 2, 2010 · · Ned Rozell · |
The year is 1905. You are a prospector in Alaska relaxing in your cabin after a chilly day of working the tailings pile. Craving a cup of joe, you pull a tin of coffee off the shelf. Though you can't imagine it, that distinctive red can, the one you will later use for your precious supply of nails, will long outlive you. And it will give an archaeologist a good idea of when you made your Alaska home. The coffee was Hills Bros. The can was vacuum-sealed. |
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| The General | |
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| Today In History, November 2,1783 General George Washington bids farewell to his army |
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· 11/02/2010 1:50:25 PM PDT · · Posted by mdittmar · · 3 replies · · Papers of George Washington · · November 2,2010 · · General George Washington · |
Genll Washington's Farewell Orders issued to the Armies of the United States of America the 2d day of Novr 1783--Rocky Hill, near Princeton, The United States in Congress assembled, after giving the most honorable testimony to the Merits of the Federal Armies, and presenting them with the thanks of their Country for their long, eminent and faithful Services, having thought proper, by their Proclamation bearing date the 18th day of October last, to discharge such part of the Troops as were engaged for the War, and to permit the Officers on Furlough to retire from Service from and after tomorrow,... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Professor Exposes Federally Funded Revisionist History Conference |
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· 11/01/2010 6:22:43 PM PDT · · Posted by combat_boots · · 38 replies · · The Blaze · · 1 Nov 2010 · · Meredith Jessup · |
In July, the (NEH) sponsored a workshop on "History and Commemoration: The Legacies of the Pacific War in WWII" for college professors in Hawaii. Professor Penelope Blake, a veteran professor of Humanities at Rock Valley College in Rockford, Ill., was one of 25 American scholars chosen to attend the workshop, but was reportedly disheartened to find the conference "driven by an overt political bias and a blatant anti-American agenda." Professor Blake is now reportedly calling on Congress to implement better oversight over the NEH. In a letter addressed directly to her Illinois congressman, Rep. Don Manzullo, Blake documents conference details... |
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| Pages | |
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| History and its woes: How Stalin and Hitler enabled each other's crimes (Review of "Bloodlands") |
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· 11/05/2010 12:44:33 PM PDT · · Posted by mojito · · 11 replies · · The Economist · · 10/14/2010 · · Unattributed · |
Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. By Timothy Snyder. Basic Books; 524 pages. IN THE middle of the 20th century Europe's two totalitarian empires, Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union, killed 14m non-combatants, in peacetime and in war. The who, why, when, where and how of these mass murders is the subject of a gripping and comprehensive new book by Timothy Snyder of Yale University. The term coined in the book's title encapsulates the thesis. The "bloodlands" are the stretch of territory from the Baltic to the Black Sea where Europe's most murderous regimes did their most murderous work. The... |
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| Do Students Care About History? |
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· 11/05/2010 4:29:13 PM PDT · · Posted by combat_boots · · 14 replies · · History News Network · · 2001 · · By Anders Henriksson · |
Mr. Henriksson is Professor of History at Shepherd College and author of Non Campus Mentis: 569 Mangled Moments of Western Civilization from Today's "Brightest" College Kids (New York: Workman, 2001). Civilization woozed out of the Nile about 300,000 years ago...Old Testament profits include Moses, Amy, and Confucius...Plato invented reality...During the Dark Ages it was mostly dark...Machiavelli wrote The Prince to get a job with Richard Nixon...Spinning Jenny was a young girl forced to work more than 40 hours a day...Westward expansion ended at Custard's Last Stand...Few were surprised when the National League failed to prevent another world war....Hitler, who had... |
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| Not-So-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Book paints escape-artist Houdini as spy |
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· 10/28/2006 2:42:26 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 19 replies · 828+ views · · AP on Yahoo · · 10/28/06 · · Larry McShane - ap · |
NEW YORK - Eighty years after his death, the name Harry Houdini remains synonymous with escape under the most dire circumstances. But Houdini, the immigrants' son whose death-defying career made him one of the world's biggest stars, was more than a mere entertainer. A new biography of the legendary performer suggests that Houdini worked as a spy for Scotland Yard, monitored Russian anarchists and chased counterfeiters for the U.S. Secret Service -- all before he was possibly murdered. "The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero" will be released on Halloween -- the anniversary of Houdini's untimely... |
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| Houdini Poisoned? Kin Wants Exhumation |
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· 03/23/2007 8:58:25 AM PDT · · Posted by stylecouncilor · · 11 replies · 261+ views · · msn.com · · March 23, 2007 · · AP · |
Houdini Poisoned? Kin Wants Exhumation Mar 23, 7:36 AM EST The Associated Press NEW YORK -- The circumstances surrounding Harry Houdini's sudden death were as murky as the rivers where he often performed death-defying stunts. Despite a medical explanation, rumors that the escape artist was murdered have persisted for decades. Eighty-one years after Houdini died on Halloween 1926, his great-nephew wants to exhume the magician's body to determine if enemies poisoned him for debunking their bogus claims of contact with the dead. "His death shocked the entire nation, if not the world. Now, maybe it's time to take a second... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Freeper BnBlFlag's Obituary (FR Mentioned) |
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· 11/02/2010 6:47:54 PM PDT · · Posted by American72 · · 93 replies · · Tributes.com · |
James Edward "Jack" Sheffield, 66, beloved husband, father, and grandfather, died November 1, 2010. He was a resident of Mont Belvieu, TX. Jack was born in Beaumont, TX July 6, 1944 to James and Louise Sheffield. Following his father's death in 1966, his mother married L.C. Horn, who became a surrogate father to him and his brother, and grandfather to his and his brother's children. He graduated from Beaumont High School in 1962 and Lamar University in 1968. He started his banking career in 1969 at American National Bank in Beaumont. He moved to Houston in 1972 to work at First National Bank, where he stayed for 12 years. Jack continued to work at many banks over the years, but settled at Lone Star Bank in North Shore, which later became Sterling Bank. He was Senior Vice President of Commercial Lending there for 16 years. He finished his almost 40-year career at Crosby State Bank. Over the years as he changed banks, his loyal customers would follow him. He was known as the "kind and gentle banker," helping many small business owners realize their dreams. Jack had many interests, and was a proud member of the Marine Reserves, the Optimist Club, Sons of Confederate Veterans, and as an avid gun enthusiast, the National Rifle Association. He was very proud of his Southern heritage and his fascination of genealogy led him to trace his family history back almost 400 years, finding ancestors from both the American Revolution and the Civil War. Jack was very passionate about his interests, one of which was the medical field. He trained to become an EMT when he was in his 40s. Jack especially enjoyed lively discussions of history and politics. A staunch conservative and Tea Party supporter, he spent a lot of time posting on the political website freerepublic.com. He also enjoyed telling stories of his youth to family and friends. He was preceded in death by his parents and stepfather. Survivors include his wife Linda Sheffield, daughter Michelle Pustejovsky and husband Clint and grandchildren Charles and Rebecca Pustejovsky; son Jason Sheffield and wife Summer and grandchildren Trever Turnbough and Bryce and Hayden Sheffield; brother Robert and wife Kathy, beloved nephews Robert and James Sheffield, and beloved niece Elizabeth Wenner; and numerous other nieces, nephews, and friends. Visitation will be held at San Jacinto Funeral Home 14659 East Freeway, Houston, TX 77015 on Wednesday, November 3, from 6-8 pm and the funeral will be at St. Timothy's Episcopal Church, 13125 Indianapolis St, Houston, TX 77015, The Rev. James E. Hamilton officiating, on Thursday, November 4 at 10 am. Private interment for family members will be in Beaumont. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the American Diabetes Association, Memorial and Honor Program, P.O. Box11454, Alexandria, VA. 22312. |
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| end of digest #329 20101106 | |
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