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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #332 Saturday, November 27, 2010 |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Researchers kick-start ancient DNA |
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· 11/22/2010 5:13:52 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · Binghamton University · · November 22, 2010 · · Unknown · |
BINGHAMTON, NY -- Binghamton University researchers recently revived ancient bacteria trapped for thousands of years in water droplets embedded in salt crystals. For decades, geologists have looked at these water droplets -- called fluid inclusions -- and wondered whether microbes could be extracted from them. Fluid inclusions have been found inside salt crystals ranging in age from thousands to hundreds of millions years old. But there has always been a question about whether the organisms cultured from salt crystals are genuinely ancient material or whether they are modern-day contaminants, said Tim Lowenstein, professor of geological sciences and environmental studies at... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| 20,000 years artificially drilled specimen found in Henan |
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· 11/24/2010 6:19:53 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 30 replies · · People's Daily Online · · Monday, November 22, 2010 · · unattributed · |
On Nov. 21, the archeological team from the State Administration of Cultural Heritage discovered two ostrich eggshells with stone-drilled holes that date back 20,000 years ago at the Xuchang primitive ruins.Experts from the team said that the two ostrich eggshells were the earliest artificially stone-drilled specimens that were ever found in Henan Province and the best-preserved specimens found in China over the age of 10,000 years, which showed that the primitive craftsmanship had developed to a quite high level even at that time. (Photo by Yufen/Chinanews.com) |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Anthropologists looking for Roman legion in China |
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· 11/22/2010 4:06:21 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 31 replies · · Newstrack India · · Sunday, November 21, 2010 · · ANI · |
Experts at the newly established Italian Studies Center at Lanzhou University in Gansu province are looking into the possibility that some European-looking Chinese in Northwest China are the descendants of a lost army from the Roman Empire. They will conduct excavations on a section of the Silk Road, a 7,000-kilometer trade route that linked Asia and Europe more than 2,000 years ago, to see if a legion of Roman soldiers settled in China, said Yuan Honggeng, head of the center, reports China Daily... Before Marco Polo's travels to China in the 13th century, the only known contact between the two... |
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| Chinese villagers 'descended from Roman soldiers' |
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· 11/24/2010 2:29:16 PM PST · · Posted by markomalley · · 34 replies · · The Telegraph · · 11/23/2010 · · NIck Squires · |
Cai Junnian's green eyes give a hint he may be a descendant of Roman mercenaries who allegedly fought the Han Chinese 2,000 years ago Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two thirds of their DNA is of Caucasian origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a 'lost legion' of Roman soldiers. Tests found that the DNA of some villagers in Liqian, on the fringes of the Gobi Desert in north-western China, was 56 per cent Caucasian in origin. Many of the villagers have blue or green... |
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| Chinese villagers 'descended from Roman soldiers' |
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· 11/27/2010 2:33:35 AM PST · · Posted by the scotsman · · 39 replies · · Daily Telegraph · · 27th November 2010 · · Nick Squires · |
'Genetic testing of villagers in a remote part of China has shown that nearly two thirds of their DNA is of Caucasian origin, lending support to the theory that they may be descended from a 'lost legion' of Roman soldiers.' |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Ancient Roman bathhouse discovered in Jerusalem |
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· 11/22/2010 5:05:49 AM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 27 replies · · Jerusalem Post · · 11/22/2010 · · JONAH MANDEL · |
1,800-year-old Roman bathing pool uncovered in Jewish Quarter sheds light on Aelia Capitolina, city founded on Second Temple ruins. A 1,800-year-old Roman bathing pool was recently uncovered in archaeological excavations in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem ahead of the construction of a ritual bath for men (miqve). The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who conducted the excavations at the initiative of the Jerusalem Municipality and the Moriah Company for the Development of Jerusalem, say that the bathing pool was probably part of a bathhouse used by the Tenth Legion -- the very same Roman soldiers who destroyed the Second Temple The... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| UCSD professor reveals evidence about King Solomon's mines |
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· 11/25/2010 8:49:58 AM PST · · Posted by smokingfrog · · 28 replies · · sandiegonewsroom · · 23 Nov 2010 · · Claire Harlin · |
LA JOLLA -- The existence of King Solomon has been a topic of debate and intrigue for countless treasure-seekers and researchers, and an anthropologist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) has uncovered evidence suggesting that the ancient king's splendid, copper- and gold-adorned palaces -- as described in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) -- may very well have existed. Thomas Levy, a UCSD professor of anthropology and Judaic studies, has pioneered three highly sophisticated digging excavations in an area called Khirbat en-Nahas, located in southern Jordan, attracting the attention of NOVA/National Geographic Television, which sent a crew to Jordan... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| PA Declares Western Wall Was not Jewish' until 16th Century AD |
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· 11/22/2010 11:07:45 AM PST · · Posted by Nachum · · 13 replies · · inn · · 11/22/10 · · Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu · |
The Palestinian Authority's rewriting of the Bible has reached a new peak or -- low -- with a "scientific study" claiming that Jews did not begin to claim a connection to the Western Wall (Kotel) until 500 years ago. The Western Wall, also known in pre-State times as the "Wailing Wall," is the outer wall of the Second Temple compound and has been a symbol of the deepest connection between most of the Jewish world, both religious and secular, and Judaism for two thousand years following the destruction of the Second Temple. "Jews did not worship at the Wailing Wall... |
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| Jews have no right to Western Wall, PA 'study' says |
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· 11/22/2010 3:15:47 PM PST · · Posted by HearMe · · 42 replies · · Jerusalem Post · · 11/22/2010 · · KHALED ABU TOAMEH · |
"Muslim tolerance allowed the Jews to stand in front of it and weep,' says Information Ministry official. The Western Wall belongs to Muslims and is an integral part of Al-Aksa Mosque and Haram al-Sharif (the Islamic term for the Temple Mount complex, meaning the Noble Sanctuary), according to an official paper published on Monday by the Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information in Ramallah. The paper, which has been presented as a "study," was prepared by Al-Mutawakel Taha, a senior official with the ministry, to "refute" Jews' claims to the Western Wall. In the past, PA leaders and officials have also... |
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| Climate | |
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| Drilling under the Dead Sea through four Ice Ages [ 500K years ] |
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· 11/24/2010 6:45:44 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · Jerusalem Post · · Wednesday, November 24, 2010 · · Ehud Zion Waldoks · |
An int'l research team at urging of TAU, Hebrew U. professors will drill half a kilometer to study year-by-year climate change from 500,000 years ago... The International Continental Scientific Drilling Program chose the Dead Sea as the site of its next drilling at the urging of Tel Aviv University's Prof. Zvi Ben-Avraham and the Israel Geological Survey's Dr. Mordechai Stein... sponsored by the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities... "We will be taking out a vertical piece about half a kilometer long which will allow us to get a picture of climate change on a year-by-year basis going back 500,000... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Grand Mufti Muhammad Haj Amin al-Husseini in photos: Islamofascism, Arab-Islamic Nazism, Arab racism |
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· 11/21/2010 4:42:25 PM PST · · Posted by PRePublic · · 16 replies · · Google Books · |
Despite Hitler and Nazis' contempt for the "inferior" Arab and all Middle-Easterners' race, who have been considered 'half-apes.' -- Nazi Arabs managed to "rise" above humiliation for the sake of the 'greater common evil' AKA: anti-Semitism [anti-Jew-ism]. Highlights about the infamous Arab Muslim leader from Palestine Jihad on the west During the 1920 and 1930s. Haj Amin al-Husseini was one of the first radical Islamic leaders to issue fatwas, or religious rulings, calling for jihad, or holy war, against Great Britain, the United States, the Jews, and the West. Since World War I, during which al-Husseini served as an officer... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Burnt City woman's face reconstructed |
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· 11/22/2010 9:34:20 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · Press TV · · Sunday, November 21, 2010 · · TE/AKM/MMN · |
The reconstructed version of the 5,000-year-old skeleton was unveiled during a ceremony attended by head of Iran's Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization Hamid Baqaei and Iran's ambassador to Italy Seyyed Mohammad-Ali Hosseini. The woman, whose face has been reconstructed by a group of Iranian and Italian researchers, is famous for carrying the first prosthesis to have been used by man, ISNA reported. This is a great scientific achievement which shows that Persians used innovative medical equipment 5,000 years ago, Baqaei said during the opening ceremony of the exhibition. The unique discovery was the result of excavations in the Burnt... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Ancient astronomy: Mechanical inspiration |
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· 11/25/2010 2:11:38 AM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 31 replies · · Nature · · 24 Nov 2010 · · Jo Marchant · |
The ancient Greeks' vision of a geometrical Universe seemed to come out of nowhere. Could their ideas have come from the internal gearing of an ancient mechanism? Two thousand years ago, a Greek mechanic set out to build a machine that would model the workings of the known Universe. The result was a complex clockwork mechanism that displayed the motions of the Sun, Moon and planets on precisely marked dials. By turning a handle, the creator could watch his tiny celestial bodies trace their undulating paths through the sky.The mechanic's name is now lost. But his machine, dubbed the Antikythera... |
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| Navigation | |
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| Ancient Cossack vessel raised from bottom of Dnipro at Khortytsia [ 18th c AD ] |
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· 11/24/2010 6:09:41 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · Kyiv Post · · Monday, November 22, 2010 · · Interfax-Ukraine · |
Marine archeologists of the Khortytsia National Reserve in Zaporizhia have raised an ancient Cossack warship, a Cossack oak vessel, which had been lying beneath the waters of the reserve for some three centuries. Director of the Pivdenhidroarkheolohia State Enterprise Valeriy Nefedov told Interfax-Ukraine that the 18-meter long Cossack "oak"-type vessel is a "veteran" of the Russian-Turkish war of 1735-1739. "The ancient vessel was discovered in waters near Khortytsia Island in 1999. But it was impossible to lift it due to the lack of assets. Over this time the unique archeological find, which remained lying at a depth of six meters... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Giant Wave Hit Ancient Scotland |
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· 09/07/2001 5:34:41 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 61 replies · 1,480+ views · · BBC · · 9-7-2001 · · Helen Briggs · |
Friday, 7 September, 2001, 18:28 GMT 19:28 UK Giant wave hit ancient Scotland By BBC News Online's Helen Briggs A giant wave flooded Scotland about 7,000 years ago, a scientist revealed on Friday. The tsunami left a trail of destruction along what is now the eastern coast of the country. It looks as if those people were happily sitting in their camp when this wave from the sea hit the camp Professor David Smith, Coventry University Scientists believe a landslide on the ocean floor off Storegga, south-west Norway, triggered the wave. Speaking at the British Association Festival of Science in ... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Dozer Driver Makes Fossil Discovery of the Century |
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· 11/23/2010 9:21:20 AM PST · · Posted by Squidpup · · 63 replies · · FoxNews · · November 20, 2010 · · Loren Grush · |
An accidental discovery by a bulldozer driver has led to what may be the find of the century: an ice-age burial ground that could rival the famed La Brea tar pits. After two weeks of excavating ancient fossils at the Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, Colorado, scientists from the Denver Museum of Natural Science returned home Wednesday with their unearthed treasures in tow -- a wide array of fossils, insects and plant life that they say give a stunningly realistic view of what life was like when ancient, giant beasts lumbered across the Earth. Since the team's arrival in mid-October,... |
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| Naturally Selective | |
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| Dino Demise Led to Evolutionary Explosion of Huge Mammals |
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· 11/25/2010 11:56:18 AM PST · · Posted by Racehorse · · 37 replies · · LiveScience · · 25 November 2010 · · Janelle Weaver · |
Mammals around the world exploded in size after the major extinction at the end of the Cretaceous period 65 million years ago, filling environmental niches left vacant by the loss of dinosaurs, according to a new study published today (Nov. 25) in the journal Science. The maximum size of mammals leveled off about 25 million years later, or 40 million years ago, because of external limits set by temperature and land area, reported an international team led by paleoecologist Felisa Smith of the University of New Mexico. "For the first 140 million years of their evolutionary history, mammals were basically... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| 100-million-year-old crocodile species discovered (Thailand) |
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· 11/25/2010 7:17:25 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · Associated Press · · November 25, 2010 · · Unknown · |
BANGKOK -- A new species of crocodile that lived 100 million years ago has been identified from a fossil found in Thailand, researchers said Thursday. Komsorn Lauprasert, a scientist at Mahasarakham University, said the species had longer legs than modern-day crocodiles and probably fed on fish, based on the characteristics of its teeth. |
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| Peerless Pterosaur Could Fly Long-Distance For Days |
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· 11/25/2010 4:47:02 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 25 replies · · NPR · · November 22, 2010 · · Reid R. Frazier · |
> The pterosaur's wingspan and size have spawned comparisons to dragons. But recently some scientists wondered whether the creature was too big to fly. A pair of papers recently asserted that the biggest pterosaurs may have been too heavy to get off the ground. That seemed implausible to Habib. After all, the biggest birds often have the longest flight range. And Quetzalcoatlus, with its 35-foot wingspan, certainly fits the bill for gigantic. So Habib teamed up with Mark Witton, a British paleontologist, to plug in factors like wingspan, weight and aerodynamics into a computer model. The results, which they presented... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Russia finally admits Stalin did order massacre of Polish officers |
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· 11/26/2010 8:59:16 AM PST · · Posted by Bringbackthedraft · · 13 replies · · AFP · · 11/27/10 · · NS · |
THE Russian parliament agreed in principle a declaration that Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin personally ordered the Katyn massacre of Polish officers in World War II. The lower house, the State Duma, agreed a text that breaks several years of official reluctance to admit that Stalin and the Soviet leadership ordered the killing of thousands of Polish officers in 1940. |
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| The Revolution | |
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| The Framers of the Constitution |
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· 11/26/2010 12:59:37 PM PST · · Posted by Eddie01 · · 21 replies · · usconstitution.net · · June 1778 · · Framers · |
The Framers of the Constitution William Pierce, of Georgia, spoke very little at the Constitutional Convention, but his contributions to what we know of the other delegates to the Convention are invaluable. He wrote short character sketches of each of the delegates; he himself had to leave the Convention early for business reasons. He died two years later; his sketches were published in the Savannah Georgian in 1828. Pierce wrote his sketches in order of state; they are reproduced here in alphabetical order. The Library of Congress has the sketches in their original order as reported in Farrand's Records, Volume... |
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| end of digest #332 20101127 | |
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· Saturday, November 27, 2010 · 21 topics · 2633355 to 2631013 · 758 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 332nd issue, another big thanks to decimon and all others for posting some great stuff. If it seems like it was a slow week, it's because there are only 21 topics and I was quite remiss. I didn't get to waste *all* my spare time on FR these past seven days due to work, shopping, and eating too much. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #333 Saturday, December 04, 2010 |
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| Censers & Sensors | |
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| Coca leaves first chewed 8,000 years ago, says research |
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· 12/01/2010 6:51:18 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 19 replies · · BBC · · December 1, 2010 · |
Peruvian foraging societies were already chewing coca leaves 8,000 years ago, archaeological evidence has shown. Ruins beneath house floors in the northwestern Peru showed evidence of chewed coca and calcium-rich rocks. Such rocks would have been burned to create lime, chewed with coca to release more of its active chemicals. Writing in the journal Antiquity, an international team said the discovery pushed back the first known coca use by at least 3,000 years. Coca leaves contain a range of chemical compounds known as alkaloids. In modern times, the most notable among them is cocaine, extracted and purified by complex chemical... |
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| Agriculture... | |
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| Farmers slowed down by hunter-gatherers: Our ancestors' fight for space |
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· 12/03/2010 4:23:39 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · Institute of Physics · · December 3, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Agricultural -- or Neolithic -- economics replaced the Mesolithic social model of hunter-gathering in the Near East about 10,000 years ago. One of the most important socioeconomic changes in human history, this socioeconomic shift, known as the Neolithic transition, spread gradually across Europe until it slowed down when more northern latitudes were reached. Research published today, Friday, 3 December 2010, in New Journal of Physics (co-owned by the Institute of Physics and the German Physical Society), details a physical model, which can potentially explain how the spreading of Neolithic farmers was slowed down by the population density of hunter-gatherers. The... |
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| ... & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Ancient Lambayeque civilizations domesticated cats 3500 years ago |
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· 11/30/2010 4:17:10 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · en Peru · · November 24, 2010 · · Stuart Starrs et al · |
Recent finds at the Ventarrón archaeological site have revealed some of the oldest examples of ancient Peruvian domestication of animals. The Ventarrón site, belonging to one of the oldest civilizations in the Americas, has already given up a number of amazing discoveries. This latest gives us a look at early animal domestication. Work at the site, under the leadership of Ignacio Alva, son of famous Peruvian archaeologist Walter Alva, has revealed a huge collection of animal bones, mostly felines from the Peruvian Amazon on the other side of the Andes mountains. With such a large number of bones, the archaeologists... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Tribes angry, Everglades projects halt after workers dig up major burial ground but don't tell |
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· 11/26/2010 9:15:31 PM PST · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 54 replies · · The Palm Beach Post · · Nov. 25, 2010 · · Christine Stapleton · |
In May 2008, archaeologists began the tedious task of exhuming the remains of Native Americans at a remote site south of Lake Okeechobee and reburying them at another remote site, to make way for a man-made wetland needed to restore the Everglades. [snip] But the more the archaeologists dug, the more they found. After nearly two years, the tribes learned that what they'd been told were some teeth and bones turned out to be partial remains of 56 men, women and children moved from an ancient burial ground so significant that it would have been eligible for listing on the... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis, & PreClovis | |
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| Cahokia's Woodhenge: a surprising implication |
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· 11/29/2010 8:19:23 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 32 replies · · Examiner.com · · Friday, November 26th, 2010 · · Richard Thornton · |
Today we travel to southern Illinois, where just across the Mississippi River is located the Cahokia Archaeological Zone. Cahokia was the largest known Native American city north of Mexico. At its peak population around 1250 AD, it was larger that London, England. Of course, Cahokia was not its real name. No one knows its real name. Unlike the ancient towns in the Southeast, where direct descendants of the original occupants still live, no one even knows yet what happened to the population of Cahokia, after it was abandoned. There was an indigenous village in the vicinity of Cahokia as early... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Standing stone cup marks may represent star constellations |
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· 11/29/2010 8:11:46 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Past Horizons · · Sunday, November 28, 2010 · · George Nash · |
A recent excavation programme at a standing stone known as Trefael, near Newport in southwest Wales has revealed at least two unique episodes in its early history; firstly as a portal dolmen and secondly as a standing stone, probably used as a ritual marker to guide communities through a sacred landscape. This solitary stone, standing in a wind-swept field has been designated a Scheduled Monument and has over 75 cupmarks gouged onto its upper surface. Following the complete exposure of the capstone through excavation, it is now considered by several astronomers that the distribution of the cupmarks may represent a... |
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| Star of the East | |
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| Did You Know About the Relics of the Three Wise Men? |
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· 01/04/2010 10:43:57 AM PST · · Posted by GonzoII · · 90 replies · 1,881+ views · · cantuar.blogspot.com · · Sunday, January 03, 2010 · · Taylor Marshall · |
When I was in college, I journeyed to Cologne, Germany and visited the city's glorious cathedral. I was a Protestant at the time, but I remember being amazed that people had been building this cathedral for so many centuries. It is one of the greatest Gothic churches of all time. |
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| An Astronomer's Explanation For The Star Of Bethlehem |
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· 12/25/2008 9:15:43 AM PST · · Posted by CE2949BB · · 42 replies · 2,376+ views · · Scientific Blogging · · December 25th 2008 · |
According to the Bible, when Jesus was born three Magi saw a star in the East that signaled the birth of a new king. But just what was it, from an astronomical point or view, that the Magi actually saw? Fred Grosse, a professor of physics and astronomy at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., says there are several popular theories that may answer this question. |
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| Star of Bethlehem |
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· 12/24/2007 7:41:21 PM PST · · Posted by ZULU · · 12 replies · 118+ views · · Michael R. Molnar · · 1997 · · Michael R. Molnar · |
Could the purchase of an ancient coin have led to an important clue about the Star of Bethlehem? The above illustration is a Roman coin from Antioch, Syria which shows the zodiacal sign, Aries the Ram. In trying to understand the meaning behind this coin, I found that Aries was the sign of the Jews. Realizing that this is where ancient stargazers would have watched for the Star of Bethlehem, I embarked on searching for the celestial event that signified the birth of the Messiah in Judea. Superposed on the photograph of the coin is what I found: Jupiter underwent... |
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| Three wise men leading us astray? |
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· 12/20/2007 1:14:02 PM PST · · Posted by Sub-Driver · · 27 replies · 411+ views · · The Australian · |
Could the devil be in the detail of the Christmas story? That's what the leader of the world's Anglicans, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, has implied in a BBC interview. The story of the three wise men following the star to Bethlehem is a legend -- stars don't behave like that, he said -- it is unlikely Jesus was born in December and you can take or leave the virgin birth. He says he believes in it but that's not a pre-condition for... |
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| Date Of The Birth Of Christ (The Star that Astonished the World) |
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· 12/15/2007 6:05:34 AM PST · · Posted by NYer · · 22 replies · 231+ views · · EWTN · · E. L. Martin · |
(Summarized from E. L. Martin, "The Star that Astonished the World," ASK Publications, Box 25000, Portland Or. 1991) The date of the birth of Christ hinges on just one thing, the statement of Josephus (Antiquities 17.6-8) that Herod died shortly after an eclipse of the moon. Astronomers supply the dates for such eclipses around those years: None in 7 or 6 BC. In 5 BC, March 23, 29 days to Passover. Also in 5 BC. Sept. 15,7 months to Passover. In 4 B.C. March 13, 29 days to Passover. 3 and 2 B.C. no eclipses. In 1 BC. January... |
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| The Star of Bethlehem [Bristol Astronomical Society] |
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· 12/19/2006 9:31:25 AM PST · · Posted by Alex Murphy · · 7 replies · 442+ views · · Bath Royal Literary & Scientific · · Rod Jenkins · |
The Star of Bethlehem Meeting chaired by Richard Phillips Rod Jenkins Bristol Astronomical Society 7 January 2005 This talk was originally scheduled for 3 December 2004 -- just before the speaker's paper was published in the Journal of the British Astronomical Association vol. 114 No. 6. A full account with references appears in that publication on pp. 336-341. According to Giotto, the Star of Bethlehem is shown in his painting The Adoration of the Magi as a comet -- presumably Halley's as it appeared during his lifetime. For this reason the space probe sent to study Halley's comet in 1986... |
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| The Christmas Star [re-post] |
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· 11/30/2006 7:59:42 AM PST · · Posted by truthfinder9 · · 4 replies · 681+ views · · Reasons.org · · Dr. Hugh Ross · |
For centuries scholars and laymen alike have speculated on the nature of the star that led the wise men from the east to seek out the Messiah that had come to the Jews. The only reliable account of this event is found in Matthew 2 of the Bible. Three controversial questions arise out of a study of this text: 1. Were the wise men led by astrology? Some people have used the story of the advent of Jesus Christ, specifically the Matthew 2 portion, to suggest that astrology might be okay, at least... |
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| Seeing and believing in the Star of Bethlehem |
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· 12/29/2005 4:21:23 PM PST · · Posted by NYer · · 26 replies · 1,043+ views · · Explorer · · December 29, 2005 · · Renee Schafer Horton · |
Dec. 28, 2005 -- "... during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him.'" -- Matthew 2:1-2 They are requisite figures in every nativity scene: Three elegantly dressed exotic men, camels in tow, weighed down with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. They are always a few steps removed, seeming to defer to the farm animals surrounding the young mother and her newborn. Accuracy is not a hallmark... |
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| Why December 25? The origin of Christmas had nothing to do with paganism |
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· 12/07/2005 2:36:38 PM PST · · Posted by Charles Henrickson · · 408 replies · 6,651+ views · · WORLD Magazine · · Dec 10, 2005 · · Gene Edward Veith · |
According to conventional wisdom, Christmas had its origin in a pagan winter solstice festival, which the church co-opted to promote the new religion. In doing so, many of the old pagan customs crept into the Christian celebration. But this view is apparently a historical myth -- like the stories of a church council debating how many angels can dance on the head of a pin, or that medieval folks believed the earth is flat -- often repeated, even in classrooms, but not true. William J. Tighe, a history professor at Muhlenberg College, gives a different account in his article "Calculating Christmas," published in the... |
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| What Was The Star? |
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· 12/23/2004 11:21:04 AM PST · · Posted by GLDNGUN · · 61 replies · 1,601+ views · · BethlehemStar.net · |
Scholars debate whether the Star of Bethlehem is a legend manufactured by the early church or a miracle which marked the advent of Christ. But if the Star was a real astronomical event, what could it have been? It's an astronomical mystery. A strange star is claimed to have appeared at the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. This site is an investigation of the story found in the Biblical Gospel of Matthew, a story often called the 'Star of Bethlehem.' It brings the words of Roman and Jewish historians alongside the visions of ancient prophets. It mixes "modern" mathematicians with... |
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| Should Christians be celebrating Christmas at all? |
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· 12/06/2004 4:59:08 PM PST · · Posted by Perdogg · · 31 replies · 532+ views · · 12/06/04 · · Perdogg · |
I am a Christian, I believe in Christ. However, why do Christians knowing that Christ was born in the summer time (northern Hemisphere, celebrate Christmas in December? I know that December 25th was a holiday during the Roman Empire. It would make sense if some astronomer could calculate when Christ was born. Also, I am sure other religions have records on when the astological event took place when Christ was Born. I think that God intended Christmas to be treated somewhat differently than Easter. For some reason it seems in the telling of the birth of Christ, there is a... |
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| Were the Magi who visited Jesus -- Persian? |
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· 12/23/2003 10:55:46 PM PST · · Posted by freedom44 · · 38 replies · 4,391+ views · · Christian Farsinet · · 12/23/03 · · Christian Farsinet · |
Magi (Majusian) From old Persian language, a priest of Zarathustra (Zoroaster). The Bible gives us the direction, East and the legend states that the wise men were from Persia (Iran) -- Balthasar, Melchior, Caspar -- thus being priests of Zarathustra religion, the mages. Obviously the pilgrimage had some religious significance for these men, otherwise they would not have taken the trouble and risk of travelling so far. But what was it? An astrological phenomenon, the Star? Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, was erected in 329 by Queen Helena in the area it was believed to be where Jesus was born.... |
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| The Christmas Star |
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· 12/04/2003 8:11:10 AM PST · · Posted by truthfinder9 · · 1 replies · 84+ views · · Reasons.org · · 12/02/2003 · · Dr. Hugh Ross · |
For centuries scholars and laymen alike have speculated on the nature of the star that led the wise men from the east to seek out the Messiah that had come to the Jews. The only reliable account of this event is found in Matthew 2 of the Bible. Three controversial questions arise out of a study of this text... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| A case of Slander, Lies and the Dead Sea Scrolls |
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· 11/30/2010 8:59:07 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 35 replies · · Archaeology News · · Wednesday, November 24, 2010 · · Jewish Journal · |
...Using sophisticated computer programs, Cargill built what he described as "a fully reconstructed, three-dimensional, real time, interactive model of Khirbet Qumran." Taking the building's excavated remains as a blueprint, the model "visualized" that the structure was originally designed as a fortress, then abandoned, and later expanded and repurposed by a group... According to the model, the new inhabitants built an elaborate water system, as well as a scriptorium, where the scrolls were written. The building was destroyed in 70 C.E., or shortly thereafter, by the conquering Roman legions, a view now widely accepted... In early 2007, Cargill was nearing completion... |
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| Facts on the Ground | |
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| Chemists help archaeologists to probe biblical history |
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· 12/01/2010 1:45:37 AM PST · · Posted by 2ndDivisionVet · · 8 replies · · Nature · · November 30, 2010 · · Haim Watzman · |
TEL MEGIDDO -- Fabled as a site of biblical battles and spectacular palaces, Tel Megiddo today is a dusty mound overlooking Israel's Jezreel valley. It is also host to one of the hottest debates in archaeology -- a controversy over the historical truth of the Bible's account of the first united Kingdom of Israel. Ancient Megiddo is said to have been a key administrative and military centre in the kingdom ruled by King David and his son Solomon during the eleventh and tenth centuries BC. But the biblical narrative is challenged by archaeologists such as Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Jewish Presence Near Rachel's Tomb |
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· 09/29/2003 9:28:45 AM PDT · · Posted by Alouette · · 9 replies · 193+ views · · Israel National News (Arutz 7) · · Sept. 29, 2003 · |
Defense Minister Sha'ul Mofaz allowed, only hours before the onset of the Rosh HaShanah holiday, a Jewish group to move in to property adjacent to Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem. Forty people, including students of the Rachel's Tomb yeshiva and other students and their families, spent the two-day holiday there. Even more dramatically, two families hope to move in permanently in the course of the next two weeks -- - the first Jews to live in the city in several decades. Appropriate security measures such as bullet-proof windows have been installed, but the army has required the new occupants to implement... |
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| Court okays Jerusalem-Rachel's Tomb road |
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· 02/03/2005 10:05:30 AM PST · · Posted by Alouette · · 12 replies · 396+ views · · Jerusalem Post · · Feb. 3, 2005 · · Dan Izenberg · |
The High Court of Justice on Thursday rejected a petition filed by the Bethlehem municipality against construction of a bypass road from Jerusalem to Rachel's Tomb and rejected the accusation that the road annexed the tomb, which is located in Palestinian territory. According to the ruling handed down by Justice Dorit Beinisch, "the solution devised by the [state] guarantees freedom of worship to those who come to pray without causing substantial damage to the petitioners' freedom of movement and right to ownership of property. Therefore, we did not find that the solution that was devised at the end of the... |
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| Routing for Rahel [Rachel's Tomb] |
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· 02/12/2005 5:22:05 PM PST · · Posted by Alouette · · 27 replies · 4,018+ views · · Jerusalem Post · · Feb. 12, 2005 · · Dave Bender · |
We've succeeded in saving Rahel's Tomb," says Kever Rahel Fund founder and director Miriam Adani. Adani was responding to the decision by the High Court of Justice last week to dismiss petitions by 18 local Palestinians, together with the Bethlehem and Beit Jala municipalities, against construction of a bypass road leading to the compound. The new route will annex Rahel's Tomb to Jerusalem's municipal boundaries and place it within a segment of the planned "envelope" barrier being constructed along the city's southern perimeter. Adani, who established the Kever Rahel fund in 1999, reveals that for her and her supporters, the... |
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| Climate | |
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| Shuttle images reveal Egypt's lost great lake |
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· 12/03/2010 4:09:49 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 26 replies · · Science News · · Wednesday, November 24th, 2010 · · Alexandra Witze · |
Radar images taken from the space shuttle confirm that a lake broader than Lake Erie once sprawled a few hundred kilometers west of the Nile, researchers report in the December issue of Geology. Since the lake first appeared around 250,000 years ago, it would have ballooned and shrunk until finally petering out around 80,000 years ago... Since then, desert winds have eroded and sands have buried much of the region's landscape, says Maxine Kleindienst, an anthropologist at the University of Toronto. But during next summer's field season, she and her colleagues will be checking for ancient shorelines at the elevations... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Graptolite fauna indicates the beginning of the Kwangsian Orogeny |
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· 12/03/2010 7:34:12 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 35 replies · · Science in China Press · · December 3, 2010 · · Unknown · |
Our research at the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, has shown, based on a refined division and correlation of the graptolite-bearing strata in southern Jiangxi, China, that the Kwangsian Orogeny commenced in the early Katian Age of the Late Ordovician. Because of its significant research value, this study is published in Issue 11 of Science China Earth Sciences. An angular unconformity separating the Lower-Middle Devonian and underlying strata is widespread in the Zhujiang region of South China, and occurs across most of Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. This angular unconformity indicates... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| 2,000-year-old intact female skeleton with gray hair unearthed in Hubei |
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· 12/02/2010 6:00:47 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · · People's Daily Online · · ovember 23, 2010 · · unattributed · |
A 2,000-year-old intact skeleton of an elderly woman was unearthed from a tomb from the early Western Han dynasty at the construction site of an industrial park in the north of Zhuchengjie, a satellite city of Wuhan, capital of east-central China's Hubei Province... The archaeological team said that when exploring the tomb numbered M6 from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Nov. 19, they found a nearly intact outer coffin and almost no water had leaked into it. More surprisingly, there was a well-preserved dark brown skeleton inside the inner coffin, with a lot of gray hair still on the... |
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| Central Asia | |
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| The golden haul of Afghanistan: Priceless 2,000 year old collapsible crown on display in Britain |
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· 11/30/2010 7:46:52 PM PST · · Posted by Pan_Yan · · 21 replies · · Daily Mail (UK) · · 7:29 PM on 30th November 2010 · · Daily Mail Reporter · |
A gold crown -- said to be one of the 'world's most beautiful and priceless objects' -- is set to be the star attraction at a British Museum exhibition of treasures from Afghanistan. More than 200 objects, many of which were hidden away for 25 years, are being loaned from the National Museum of Afghanistan. The 'collapsible' crown was discovered by Soviet archaeologists in 1978 in an elite nomadic cemetery and has never been shown in Britain before. Other objects showing ancient Afghanistan's links through trade with other cultures include classical sculptures, gold ornaments and jewellery, carved ivory attached to... |
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| India | |
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| Burial urn dating to Megalithic period unearthed |
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· 12/02/2010 5:23:16 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · MSN · · Friday, November 25, 2010 · · PTI COR APR · |
A five feet high burial urn dating to the Megalithic period (300 BC to 100 AD) and containing teeth and some other articles was unearthed by construction workers at a village near here today. The urn was found at a depth of about eight feet at the backyard of a house at Thillayadi village and contained pieces of teeth and some articles commonly used by soldiers, officials said. Speaking to reporters after visiting the spot, Tarangambadi Archaeological Curator Muthusamy said the urn was four feet wide, with a 2.5 foot diameter mouth. Two small pots, black and red in colour,... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Tombs Dating Back to 5th Millennium BC Unearthed in Syria |
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· 11/29/2010 8:02:36 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Global Arab Network · · Thursday, November 25, 2010 · · H. Zain · |
The dolmen means "stone table" or the "holy cemeteries". It represents the beginning of human architectural art as the findings indicate that man used this kind of tombs for burial 5,000 years ago. Archaeologist Yasser Abu Noktah said that the discovered dolmens at al-Maysara Spring consist of roofs with huge flagstones, on which animals' drawings are carved, adding that a number of stone and flint tools were also unearthed at the site. Al-Maysara site is one of the most important Syrian sites which date back to the Neolithic Age between 7,000 to 4,500 BC. Abu Noktah added the archaeological expeditions... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Masters of Math, From Old Babylon |
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· 11/27/2010 12:09:10 PM PST · · Posted by pillut48 · · 30 replies · · NYT · · November 26, 2010 · · Edward Rothstein · |
If the cost of digging a trench is 9 gin, and the trench has a length of 5 ninda and is one-half ninda deep, and if a worker's daily load of earth costs 10 gin to move, and his daily wages are 6 se of silver, then how wide is the canal? Or, a better question: if you were a tutor of Babylonian scribes some 4,000 years ago, holding a clay tablet on which this problem was incised with cuneiform indentations -- the very tablet that can now be seen with 12 others from that Middle Eastern civilization at the... |
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| The Greeks | |
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| Archaeologists to embark on quest for 2,500-year-old lost Greek theatre |
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· 11/29/2010 7:55:28 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · Telegraph UK · · Monday, November 29, 2010 · · Nick Squires · |
Alexander Hardcastle spent a decade searching for the fabled theatre, which is said to be buried beneath the remains of Akragas, a city established by Greek colonists six centuries before Christ on the southern coast of Sicily... Hardcastle, a former soldier who had served with the Royal Engineers in the Boer War, believed that remains of the stone-built theatre had survived, despite Akragas being shaken by earthquakes, sacked by the Carthaginians and plundered for its stone. The Harrow-educated gentleman scholar, who was born in Belgravia, spent a fortune on the quest between 1920 and 1930, but lost all his money... |
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| Hear Music, but There's No One There | |
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| 3,000- Year-Old Musical Instrument Unearthed In Vietnam |
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· 11/30/2010 4:19:42 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Bernama · · November 19, 2010 · · unattributed · |
BINH THUAN, Nov 19 (Bernama) -- A set of stone musical instrument dating from 3,000 years ago was unearthed by a farmer in Da Kai commune, Duc Linh district, when he dug holes for planting coffee trees, according to Vietnam news agency on Friday. The music instrument comprises of five slabs of black blue stone, which when arranged from small to big form a trapezoid. This is a typical character of ancient lithophone, different from new lithophones or sounding stone slabs. The instrument has been handed over to the Binh Thuan museum. Earlier, the Binh Thuan museum in coordination with... |
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| Navigation | |
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| Mystery shipwreck found in central Stockholm |
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· 11/30/2010 4:26:07 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 21 replies · · The Local · · Thanksgiving Day 2010 · · TT/AFP · |
The remains of a ship dating from the 1600s have been discovered outside the Grand Hotel in central Stockholm. The vessel was built with an almost completely unknown technology, delighting archaeologists. The planks of the ship are not nailed down, but sewn together with rope. The discovery was made by labourers close to the royal palace and in front of Stockholm's Grand Hotel during renovation works to a quay. "The discovery of the wreck is extremely interesting given the place where it was made. There was a naval shipyard on this spot until the start of the 17th century," Maritime... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Was Christopher Columbus Polish? |
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· 11/30/2010 3:45:13 PM PST · · Posted by Coleus · · 59 replies · · wbj · · 29th November 2010 · · Andrew Shale · |
A Portuguese historian believes he has solved the age-old mystery surrounding the nationality of Christopher Columbus. According to Manuel Rosa, a lecturer at Duke University, North Carolina, the explorer was in fact the son of Polish King Wladyslaw III. It has always been thought that King Wladyslaw III fell in battle against the forces of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Varna in 1444. According to Mr Rosa, however, the king managed to survive the battle unscathed and fled to the Portuguese island of Madeira where he lived out the rest of his life as a hermit and married... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Identifying Eadgyth [granddaughter of Alfred the Great] |
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· 12/02/2010 6:09:52 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · PhysOrg · · November 26, 2010 · · University of Bristol · |
Eadgyth was the granddaughter of Alfred the Great and the half-sister of Athelstan, the first acknowledged King of England. She was sent to marry Otto, King of Saxony, in AD 929, and bore him at least two children, before her death, at around the age of 36, in AD 946. Buried in the monastery of St Maurice in Magdeburg, historical records state that her bones were moved on at least three occasions before being interred in an elaborate tomb in Magdeburg Cathedral in 1510. It was long assumed that this tomb was empty, so, when German archaeologists opened it in... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Today in History November 29th 1775, Sir James Jay invents invisible ink |
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· 11/29/2010 4:43:44 PM PST · · Posted by mdittmar · · 8 replies · · various · · November 29th 2010 · · various · |
During the Revolutionary War, founding father John Jay's brother, Sir James Jay, invented a method for the Patriots to communicate with each other that could not be intercepted by the British. Washington called Jay's invention "sympathetic stain" or "white ink." We would call it invisible ink. |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| A History of the World [in 100 Objects] |
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· 12/04/2010 7:00:17 AM PST · · Posted by AndyJackson · · 26 replies · · British Museum and the BBC · · various · |
This is a website providing access to an online web and video presentation of the history of the world shown through 100 objects that are in the British museaum. Of the 100 British Museum Objects , objects 1-10 are: 1: Mummy of Hornedjitef. 2: Olduvai stone chopping tool. 3: Olduvai handaxe. 4: Swimming reindeer 5: Clovis spear point. 6: Bird-shaped pestle. 7: Ain Sakhri lovers figurine. 8: Egyptian clay model of cattle. 9: Maya maize god statue. 10: Jomon pot. |
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| end of digest #333 20101204 | |
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