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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #341 Saturday, January 29, 2011 |
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| Asia | |
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| Was Genghis Khan history's greenest conqueror? |
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· 01/24/2011 3:54:27 PM PST · · Posted by Fractal Trader · · 77 replies · · Mother Nature Network · · 24 January 2011 · · Bryan Nelson · |
Genghis Khan's Mongol invasion in the 13th and 14th centuries was so vast that it may have been the first instance in history of a single culture causing man-made climate change, according to new research out of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, reports Mongabay.com. Earn Points What's this? Comments (21) Email Facebook Twitter Stumble Digg Share Unlike modern day climate change, however, the Mongol invasion actually cooled the planet, effectively scrubbing around 700 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere. So how exactly did Genghis Khan, one of history's cruelest conquerors, earn such a glowing environmental report card?... |
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| Was Genghis Khan history's greenest conqueror? (Mongol invasion scrubbed 700 million tons of carbon) |
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· 01/25/2011 9:08:45 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 35 replies · · Mother Nature Network · · 01/25/2011 · · Bryan Nelson · |
Genghis Khan's Mongol invasion in the 13th and 14th centuries was so vast that it may have been the first instance in history of a single culture causing man-made climate change, according to new research out of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology, reports Mongabay.com. Unlike modern day climate change, however, the Mongol invasion cooled the planet, effectively scrubbing around 700 million tons of carbon from the atmosphere. So how did Genghis Khan, one of history's cruelest conquerors, earn such a glowing environmental report card? The reality may be a bit difficult for today's environmentalists to stomach, but Khan... |
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| Genghis Khan--environmentalist (Mass slaughter appears to be an environmental plus) |
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· 01/26/2011 7:17:45 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 22 replies · · American Thinker · · 01/26/2011 · · Ethel C. Fenig · |
Environmentalists have a new role model--Genghis Khan. According to this report in England's Daily Mail , Khan was a real greenie whose actions during his long career ultimately improved the atmosphere and reforested the land. But...but...some might sputter, he was an incredibly cruel, murdering invader--not an environmentalist! Uh, well yes on all counts; that's how he improved the environment. Genghis Khan has been branded the greenest invader in history - after his murderous conquests killed so many people that huge swathes of cultivated land returned to forest.The Mongol leader, who established a vast empire between the 13th and 14th... |
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| Climate | |
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| Commentary- Hansen Draft Paper: Paleoclimate Implications for Human-Made Climate Change |
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· 01/24/2011 1:21:37 PM PST · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 17 replies · · Watts Up With That? · · January 24, 2011 · · Anthony Watts · |
Precession of Earth's rotational axis due to the tidal force raised on Earth by the gravity of the Moon and Sun. -- As the saying goes:"If all you have in your hand is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail".It is hopeless to expect that Hansen could possibly analyze data objectively -- all he has in his head is "CO2 climate forcing" and everything else has to be "forced" into that ridiculous paradigm. It makes no difference to him that the predictions... |
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| Easterbrook on the magnitude of Greenland GISP2 ice core data |
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· 01/24/2011 9:39:00 PM PST · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 26 replies · · Watts Up With That? · · January 24, 2011 · · Anthony Watts · |
The GISP2 Greenland ice core has proven to be a great source of climatic data from the geologic past. Ancient temperatures can be measured using oxygen isotopes in the ice and ages can be determined from annual dust accumulation layers in the ice. The oxygen isotope ratios of thousands of ice core samples were measured by Minze Stuiver and Peter Grootes at the University of Washington (1993, 1999) and these data have become a world standard.The ratio of 18O to 16O depends on... |
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| New paleo reconstruction shows warmer periods in Alaska over the past 3000 years |
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· 01/29/2011 6:52:36 AM PST · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 13 replies · · Watts Up With That? · · January 29, 2011 · · Anthony Watts · |
For those worried about tundra melt and methane outgassing, this study might dampen those worries a bit. A new peer-reviewed study by Clegg et al. demonstrates that modern global warming is significantly less than the global warming experienced in the higher latitudes, specifically Alaska, during the summers of the last 3,000 years. It demonstrate that the Current Warm Period (CWP) is not unprecedented, at least for Alaska. The authors suggest a tie in to solar variability.From CO2 science:What was done The authors conducted a high-resolution analysis of midge assemblages found in the sediments of Moose Lake (61°22.45'N, 143°35.93'W) in the... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Clovis Find Reveals Humans Hunted Gompotheres in North America |
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· 01/26/2011 7:57:13 AM PST · · Posted by Renfield · · 21 replies · · Past Horizons · · 1-25-2011 · |
Mexican archaeologists found three projectile points from the Clovis culture, associated with remains of a Gomphotheres -- a now extinct type of elephant - dating back at least 12,000 years, in northern Sonora. The find is of major importance, as this is the first evidence in North America that this animal was contemporary with early humans. The location and date of these remains opens the possibility that in North America the Gomphotheres was still alive, in contrast with previous theories that suggest it had disappeared 30,000 years previously. The finds were made in early January at the site of "World's... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Genetic Origin of Cultivated Citrus Determined: Researchers Find Evidence of Origins of Orange, Lime, Lemon, Grapefruit, Other Citrus Species |
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· 01/26/2011 5:47:23 AM PST · · Posted by Red Badger · · 44 replies · · Sciencedaily · · 01-26-2011 · · Staff · |
Citrus species are among the most important fruit trees in the world. Citrus has a long history of cultivation, often thought to be more than 4,000 years. Until now, however, the exact genetic origins of cultivated citrus such as sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), lemon (C. limon), and grapefruit (C. paradisi) have been a mystery. A team of researchers from China has published a study in the Journal of the American Society of Horticultural Science that provides genetic evidence of the origins of a variety species of today's cultivated citrus. The research team, led by Zhiqin Zhou from Southwest University, analyzed... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Genetic sequencing alone doesn't offer a true picture of human disease |
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· 01/23/2011 3:33:17 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 28 replies · · Duke University Medical Center · · January 23, 2011 · · Unknown · |
DURHAM, N.C. -- Despite what you might have heard, genetic sequencing alone is not enough to understand human disease. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have shown that functional tests are absolutely necessary to understand the biological relevance of the results of sequencing studies as they relate to disease, using a suite of diseases known as the ciliopathies which can cause patients to have many different traits. "Right now the paradigm is to sequence a number of patients and see what may be there in terms of variants," said Nicholas Katsanis, Ph.D. "The key finding of this study says that... |
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| Africa | |
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| Humans 'left Africa much earlier' |
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· 01/27/2011 4:03:33 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 82 replies · · BBC · · January 27, 2011 · · Paul Rincon · |
Modern humans may have emerged from Africa up to 50,000 years earlier than previously thought, a study suggests.Researchers have uncovered stone tools in the Arabian peninsula that they say were made by modern humans about 125,000 years ago. The tools were unearthed at the site of Jebel Faya in the United Arab Emirates, a team reports in the journal Science. The results are controversial: genetic data strongly points to an exodus from Africa 60,000-70,000 years ago. Simon Armitage, from Royal Holloway, University of London, Hans-Peter Uerpmann, from the University of Tuebingen, Germany, and colleagues, uncovered 125,000-year-old stone tools at Jebel... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Humans Would Beat Neanderthals In Marathon |
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· 01/29/2011 4:56:25 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 35 replies · · Discovery News · · Jan 28, 2011 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
Humans, versus other great apes, are built for running fast and long as opposed to very impressive strength, but what about Neanderthals? If a modern human and a Neanderthal competed in a marathon, who would win? (Comparison of Neanderthal and Modern Human skeletons. Credit: K. Mowbray, Reconstruction: G. Sawyer and B. Maley, Copyright: Ian Tattersall) In a short sprint, the Neanderthal might have had a chance, but most fit humans would always win longer races, suggests new research accepted for publication in the Journal of Human Evolution. Anthropologist David Raichlen of the University of Arizona and his colleagues determined that... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Lawsuit Filed Against Evolution |
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· 01/27/2011 6:49:36 AM PST · · Posted by Sopater · · 137 replies · · Christian News Wire · · Jan. 27, 2011 · |
Tom Ritter, who taught physics and chemistry for over a decade, has filed a federal lawsuit against The Blue Mountain School District in the Middle District of Pennsylvania (13:11 - CV - 116), where he resides. This same district that rendered the infamous Kitzmiller decision in 2005. The argument presented in full: Evolution is Unscientific "The theory of evolution by cumulative natural selection is the only theory we know of that is in principle capable of explaining the existence of organized complexity." -- Richard Dawkins, famous Atheist Biology studies organisms. It can also explain how organisms got that way, but... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Nobel Laureate Claims Teleported DNA |
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· 01/22/2011 1:32:46 PM PST · · Posted by The Comedian · · 64 replies · · New Scientist · · via Kurzweil · · 12 January 2011 · · Andy Coghlan · |
A Nobel prizewinner is reporting that DNA can be generated from its teleported "quantum imprint" A STORM of scepticism has greeted experimental results emerging from the lab of a Nobel laureate which, if confirmed, would shake the foundations of several fields of science. "If the results are correct," says theoretical chemist Jeff Reimers of the University of Sydney, Australia, "these would be the most significant experiments performed in the past 90 years, demanding re-evaluation of the whole conceptual framework of modern chemistry." Luc Montagnier, who shared the Nobel prize for medicine in 2008 for his part in establishing that... |
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| Paleotology | |
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| CSI: Manchester -- University team gets forensic on dinosaurs (TV series) |
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· 01/25/2011 12:53:45 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 3 replies · · U of Manchester · · January 25, 2011 · · Unknown · |
A new TV series featuring dinosaur detectives from The University of Manchester looking at how dinosaurs once lived, looked and functioned begins in the UK this week. Presented by University of Manchester palaeontologist Dr Phil Manning, the series will be aired on the National Geographic Channel, starting in the UK on Thursday February 3rd, before being transmitted to many countries around the world. It is the first ever series on dinosaurs commissioned by National Geographic, as previously documentaries have only aired as one or two-hour specials. Jurassic CSI will for the first time provide a detailed forensic look at dinosaurs... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Dating sheds new light on dawn of the dinosaurs |
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· 01/24/2011 2:55:25 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 18 replies · · UC Davis · · January 24, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Careful dating of new dinosaur fossils and volcanic ash around them by researchers from UC Davis and UC Berkeley casts doubt on the idea that dinosaurs appeared and opportunistically replaced other animals. Instead -- at least in one South American valley -- they seem to have existed side by side and gone through similar periods of extinction. Geologists from Argentina and the United States announced earlier this month the discovery of a new dinosaur that roamed what is now South America 230 million years ago, at the beginning of the age of the dinosaurs. The newly discovered Eodramaeus, or "dawn... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| US Textbooks: Muslims Discovered America |
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· 01/22/2011 10:42:23 AM PST · · Posted by ventanax5 · · 64 replies · · you tube · |
"This is a very disturbing video about how our high school students are being brainwashed by Moslems in favor of Islam because our textbook publishers, school principals and teachers do not have the knowledge about Islam to know what is true and what is false. The textbooks are loaded with false positive statements about Islam and false negative statements about Christianity and Judaism." |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| My Love is Like a Red Red Rose |
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· 01/25/2011 5:31:19 AM PST · · Posted by Sparky1776 · · 25 replies · · YouTube · · May 13, 2006 · · Dayfornight · |
0, my love is like a red, red rose, that's newly sprung in June. 0, my love is like a melody, that's sweetly play'd in tune. As fair thou art, my bonnie lass, so deep in love am I, And I will love thee still, my dear, till a' the seas gang dry. Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, and the rocks melt wi' the sun! And I will love thee still, my dear, while the sands of life shall run. And fare the weel, my only love! And fare the well awhile! And I will come again,... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| The piece of paper that proved Hitler was fooled (D-Day) |
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· 01/26/2011 8:08:04 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 41 replies · · BBC · · January 26, 2011 · · Jon Kelly · |
It was an audacious double-cross that fooled the Nazis and shortened World War II. Now a newly-released document reveals the crucial role played by Britain's code-breaking experts in the 1944 invasion of France.All the ingredients of a gripping spy thriller are there - intrigue, espionage, lies and black propaganda. An elaborate British wartime plot succeeded in convincing Hitler that the Allies were about to stage the bulk of the D-Day landings in Pas de Calais rather than on the Normandy coast - a diversion that proved crucial in guaranteeing the invasion's success. Behind the story of this crucial message... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| How Peter Townsend saved the nation [RevWar] |
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· 01/28/2011 9:56:49 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 18 replies · · The Chronicle · · (Orange County, NY) · · Jan. 27, 2011 · · Ginny Privitar · |
The exterior of Peter Townsend's house in Chester, now torn down. Contract for West Point's Great Chain signed in Chester 233 years ago. In these days of intercontinental ballistic missile shields and missile-tracking radar, it's hard to imagine that the national defense once depended on a simple iron chain. During the Revolutionary War, a patriot named Peter Townsend lived on a three-acre lot not far from the corner of present-day Elm and Main streets in Chester. He was a member of an important family from Oyster Bay, Long Island. The family home, Raynham Hall, is today a museum, and... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Education as Neurotoxin: How Public Schools Were Dumbed Down |
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· 01/27/2011 2:02:38 PM PST · · Posted by BruceDeitrickPrice · · 52 replies · · YouTube · · Jan 23, 2011 · · Bruce Deitrick Price · |
[New YouTube video is short, graphical, and has good jazz; this is script for it--] A century ago, Maria Montessori reached a brilliant insight. Observing children at a mental institution, she wondered: "Suppose we created a jazzed-up environment that constantly challenged and inspired young minds...?" Montessori created a new kind of school for impaired children. Quickly, her students were equal to "normal" children. She became the toast of Europe; as she deserved to be. Montessori's vision has to inspire all true educators. But what, after all, is Montessori telling us but common sense? If you want intellectual and cognitive development,... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| 40 Years Ago This Month: Apollo 14 |
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· 01/25/2011 12:35:40 PM PST · · Posted by chimera · · 27 replies · · various · · 01/25/2011 · · chimera · |
After the near-disaster of Apollo 13 some ten months earlier, NASA and the Apollo program badly needed a successful mission. Apollo 14 delivered this more than adequately, although at times it was a close call. The landing site for this mission was the Fra Mauro Formation at the edge of the Imbrium Basin, re-targeted from the ill-fated Apollo 13 flight. Apollo 14 is significant as the first lunar mission to make landfall in a region other than the flat mare topography of the earlier landings. It features a hilly, hummocky, ridge-like topography, and was thought likely to contain ejecta from... |
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| end of digest #341 20110129 | |
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· Saturday, January 29, 2011 · 21 topics · 2664915 to 2661541 · 763 members · |
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Saturday |
Welcome to the 341st issue. It's the 29th issue of the volume, issued on the 29th. Tiny little thing, 21 topics. Should have added 8 topics, no reason. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #342 Saturday, February 05, 2011 |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| University of Toronto anthropologists discover earliest cemetery in Middle East |
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· 02/02/2011 11:17:10 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 15 replies · · University of Toronto · · February 2, 2011 · · Unknown · |
TORONTO, ON -- Anthropologists at the University of Toronto and the University of Cambridge have discovered the oldest cemetery in the Middle East at a site in northern Jordan. The cemetery includes graves containing human remains buried alongside those of a red fox, suggesting that the animal was possibly kept as a pet by humans long before dogs ever were. The 16,500-year-old site at 'Uyun al-Hammam was discovered in 2000 by an expedition led by University of Toronto professor Edward (Ted) Banning and Lisa Maher, an assistant professor of anthropology at U of T and research associate at the University... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Grave robber chase reveals ancient Holy Land church |
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· 02/03/2011 6:30:06 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · Reuters · · Wednesday, February 2, 2011 · · Ari Rabinovitch · · ed by Tim Pearce · |
The hill-top church was destroyed by an earthquake some 1,300 years ago and lay partly buried until detectives from Israel's Antiquities Authority, pursuing a gang of antiquity thieves, noticed an elaborate doorpost poking through the earth. The robbers got away -- they were caught a few months later at a site nearby -- but after weeks of digging, archaeologists uncovered the remains of the church. It was about the size of a basketball court and contained fallen marble pillars and a nearly pristine 10-meter-long mosaic floor. Beneath the church's altar is a burial chamber that the Antiquities Authority said may... |
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| Archaeologists May Have Found Tomb of Prophet Zechariah |
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· 02/03/2011 6:58:03 PM PST · · Posted by SJackson · · 45 replies · · AOL · · Feb 3, 2011 · |
Archaeologists in Israel believe they may have stumbled upon the tomb of the biblical Prophet Zechariah in a newly discovered church. The church, which is more than 1,300 years old, contains massive marble columns as well as exquisite mosaics, the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement. Archaeologists believe that the church, uncovered in Hirbet Madras in central Israel, is the location marked on the Madaba Map as the tomb of Zechariah, according to Haaertz. "The researchers believe that in light of an analysis of the Christian sources, including the Madaba Map, the church at Hirbet Madras is a memorial... |
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| Byzantine Empire | |
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| 1,500-year-old church found in Israel |
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· 02/02/2011 2:37:27 PM PST · · DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis · · 27 replies · · Yahoo News · · January 2011 · · Matti Friedman · |
Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks... |
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| 1,500 Year Old Church Found In Israel |
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· 02/02/2011 2:50:25 PM PST · · Posted by madison10 · · 24 replies · · Associated Press Via Yahoo · · February 2, 2011 · · Matti Friedman · |
Israeli archaeologists presented a newly uncovered 1,500-year-old church in the Judean hills on Wednesday, including an unusually well-preserved mosaic floor with images of lions, foxes, fish and peacocks... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Turkey: 'Seventh Church' of the Apocalypse is Found |
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· 02/02/2011 5:58:00 AM PST · · Posted by 0beron · · 20 replies · · The Eponymous Flower · · 02/02/11 · · Tancred · |
Turkey: 'Seventh Church' of the Apocalypse is Found "Church in Laodicea" has been located with underground radar signals -- The structure is in its basic and original state. Ankara (kath.net/KAP) Archeologists have found the so-called "Seventh Church of Asia" from the biblical testimony of St. John. Turkish Minister of Culture, Ertugrul Gunay said for the Turkish press service [Tuesday] upon a visit to the excavation. The antique city Ladoicea [Laodikeia on Lykos today's Cürüksu Cayi] in the city of Phrygia mentioned in the cryptic Apocalypse at the end of the New Testament mentioned as the place of the seventh Christian... |
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| Ancient church discovered in western Turkey |
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· 02/02/2011 7:49:49 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Hurriyet Daily News · · Monday, January 31, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Culture and Tourism Minister Ertuğrul Günay visited the ancient city of Laodicea on Sunday in Denizli province and was briefed by Professor Celal Simsek, head of the excavation team. The professor said they have discovered the Laodicea Church, one of the seven mentioned in the Bible. Simsek said the church from the fourth century A.D. was found by underground radar search, a system they have tried this year for the first time. "The major part of the church, which is built on an area of 2,000 square meters, has kept its original [status]." ...The minister said the church added to... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| VMI Celebrates Muslim Invasion, Brutal 781-year Occupation of Spain |
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· 02/03/2011 9:41:04 PM PST · · Posted by Islander7 · · 134 replies · · Big Peace · · Feb 3, 2011 · · Patrick S. Poole · |
Stonewall Jackson is rolling over in his grave. Next month his beloved Virginia Military Institute will be convening a celebration commemorating the 1300th anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Spain under the Muslim warlord Tariq ibn Ziyad in 711 A.D. The March 23-25 celebration entitled "711-2011: East Meets West" and organized by VMI's Center for Leadership and Ethics, is scheduled to feature standard Muslim apologists Reza Aslan and Akbar Ahmed. VMI Superintendent Gen. J.H. Binford Peay has even filmed an invitation to the celebration. |
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| Egypt | |
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| About 30 Egyptian mummies found in ancient cache [2009] |
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· 01/29/2011 9:14:13 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · Reuters · · Monday, February 9, 2009 · · Jonathan Wright · · ed. by Janet Lawrence · |
Egyptian archaeologists have found about 30 mummies and at least one unopened sarcophagus in a burial chamber about 4,300 years old... in the desert on the western side of the Step Pyramid of Saqqara, one of the earliest large stone structures in the world, dating from about 2,650 BC. The mummies appear to vary in age. One dates from about 640 BC while the unopened sarcophagus, which is made of limestone and sealed with plaster, is probably much older... ...another sarcophagus, made of wood, had not been opened since pharaohnic times but Karar said ancient grave robbers probably reached it... |
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| Pyramid Schemes | |
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| Great Pyramid May Hold Two Hidden Chambers |
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· 02/02/2011 4:58:08 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 48 replies · · Discovery News · · Thursday, January 27, 2011 · · Content provided by AFP · |
Jean-Pierre Houdin -- who was rebuffed three years ago by Egypt in his appeal for a probe into how the Pyramid was built -- said 3-D simulation and data from a U.S. egyptologist, Bob Brier, pointed to two secret chambers in the heart of the structure. The rooms would have housed furniture for use in the afterlife by the pharaoh Khufu, also known as Cheops in Greek, he told a press conference. "I am convinced there are antechambers in this pyramid. What I want is to find them," he said. In March 2007, Houdin advanced the theory that the Great... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Looters destroy mummies in Egyptian Museum |
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· 01/29/2011 7:52:22 AM PST · · Posted by chessplayer · · 81 replies · · Reuters · |
Looters broke into the Egyptian Museum during anti-government protests late Friday and destroyed two Pharaonic mummies, Egypt's top archaeologist told state television. |
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| Breaking: Images of Egyptian Museum Damage |
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· 01/29/2011 11:56:48 AM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 150 replies · · hyperallergic.com · · Jan. 29, 2011 · · Hrag Vartanian · |
Al-Jazeera has broadcast video of the damage at the National Museum, aka Egyptian Museum. The strange this about these images is that they demonstrate that the damage is certainly more than a few mummies, which is what Reuters reported that Zahi Hawass, chairman of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, said: "Egyptian citizens tried to prevent them and were joined by the tourism police, but some (looters) managed to enter from above and they destroyed two of the mummies," he said. Moreas it develops, though it certainly appears that there are soldiers in the Museum. |
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| Egyptian army storms museum to protect from looters (but not before the "street" drew a line) |
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· 01/29/2011 12:23:53 PM PST · · Posted by Cincinatus' Wife · · 32 replies · · Christian Science Monitor · · January 29, 2011 · · Maggie Michael · |
...Then dozens of would-be thieves started entering the grounds surrounding the museum, climbing over the metal fence or jumping inside from trees lining the sidewalk outside. One man pleaded with people outside the museum's gates on Tahrir Square not to loot the building, shouting at the crowd: "We are not like Baghdad." After the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, thieves carted off thousands of artifacts from the National Museum in Baghdad -- only a fraction of which have been recovered. Suddenly other young men -- some armed with truncheons taken from the police -- formed a human chain outside the... |
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| Looters Destroy Mummies in Egyptian Museum: Official |
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· 01/29/2011 1:34:02 PM PST · · Posted by lbryce · · 49 replies · · Reuters · · january 29, 2011 · · Staff · |
Looters broke into the Egyptian Museum during anti-government protests late Friday and destroyed two Pharaonic mummies, Egypt's top archaeologist told state television. The museum in central Cairo, which has the world's biggest collection of Pharaonic antiquities, is adjacent to the headquarters of the ruling National Democratic Party that protesters had earlier set ablaze. Flames were seen still pouring out of the party headquarters early Saturday. "I felt deeply sorry today when I came this morning to the Egyptian Museum and found that some had tried to raid the museum by force last night," Zahi Hawass, chairman of the Supreme Council... |
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| Were Tut's treasures damaged? (Egyptian Museum Looted) |
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· 01/29/2011 10:03:43 PM PST · · Posted by americanophile · · 32 replies · · MSNBC · · January 28, 2001 · · By Alan Boyle · |
Despite the best efforts of the Egyptian army and a human shield, some of the artifacts inside the century-old Egyptian Museum were damaged during a brief wave of looting, authorities in Cairo say. And it sounds as if the damaged goods include treasures from the tomb of Tutankhamun, based on comments from the country's top archaeologist as well as a little sleuthing by archaeologists looking at video footage shot inside the museum. Margaret Maitland, an Egyptologist at Oxford University in England, matched up shots of the damage with pictures of artifacts from Tut's tomb and said that three gilded wooden... |
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| Would-Be Looters Rip Heads Off Two Egyptian Museum Mummies |
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· 01/30/2011 7:13:45 AM PST · · Posted by KeyLargo · · 24 replies · · The Blaze · · Jan 29, 2011 · · Jonathon M. Seidl · |
CAIRO (The Blaze/AP) -- Would-be looters broke into Cairo's famed Egyptian Museum, ripping the heads off two mummies and damaging about 10 small artifacts before being caught and detained by soldiers, Egypt's antiquities chief said Saturday. Zahi Hawass said the vandals did not manage to steal any of the museum's antiquities, and that the prized collection was now safe and under military guard. |
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| Ancient Treasures Looted, Destroyed in Egypt's Chaos (Zahi Hawass interview) |
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· 01/30/2011 10:42:21 PM PST · · Posted by pillut48 · · 45 replies · · NatGeo · · January 30, 2011 · · David Braun · |
Archaeologist Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, reports that several of the country's museums have been attacked by looters taking advantage of the political turmoil in the country. In the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, looters stole jewelry from the museum shop and smashed a statue of Tutankhamun and other artifacts. In a Sinai store containing antiquities from the Port Said Museum, "a large group, armed with guns and a truck, entered the store, opened the boxes in the magazine and took the precious objects. Other groups attempted to enter the Coptic Museum, Royal Jewellery Museum, National... |
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| Fox News Live Coverage: Cairo Museum Reportedly Catches Fire After Molotov Cocktail Thrown |
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· 02/02/2011 9:11:42 AM PST · · Posted by Zakeet · · 183 replies · · Fox News · · February 2, 2011 · |
All that's in at the present time is the announcement and a link taking the viewer to the live satellite feed. |
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| Dr Zahi Hawass appointed to new Egyptian cabinet as Minister for Antiquities |
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· 02/02/2011 4:23:22 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · Past Horizons · · Tuesday, February 1, 2011 · · unknown · |
On Sunday, 31st January 2011 Dr. Zahi Hawass was appointed to the post of Minister of Antiquities, heading a newly created department that will be charged with the care and protection of all Egyptian monuments and museums. This department will absorb the Supreme Council of Antiquities. ...Hawass[:] The commanders of the army are now protecting the Egyptian Museum, Cairo, and all of the major sites of Egypt (Luxor, Aswan, Saqqara, and the pyramids of Giza) are safe. The twenty-four museums in Egypt, including the Coptic and Islamic museums in Cairo, are all safe, as well. I would like to say... |
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| Egypt Update: Rare Tomb May Have Been Destroyed |
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· 02/05/2011 4:29:15 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · ScienceInsider · · Thursday, February 3, 2011 · · Andrew Lawler · |
Reports of damage to one of the few ancient Egyptian tombs devoted solely to a woman have tempered the news that most of Egypt's priceless antiquities have escaped damage and that teams of foreign archaeologists are safe... One archaeologist present at the famous cemetery of Saqqara, south of Cairo, said that as many as 200 looters were digging for treasure in the area this past weekend before police resecured the area. The excavator, who requested anonymity, added that the tomb of Maya, the wet nurse of King Tutankhamun, was "completely destroyed." Another Western archaeologist said, "We still don't know the... |
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| Africa | |
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| Czech team excavates ancient sites dedicated to Nubian gods |
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· 02/02/2011 7:22:10 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Radio.cz · · Thursday, January 27, 2011 · · Jan Velinger · |
"The site of Wad ban Naqa is one of the most important archaeological sites in the territory of the ancient Kingdom of Meroe. Most of the structures that are located there, some of them were already archaeologically surveyed in the past. During our second excavation season we focussed mainly on the so-called 'small temple', a structure built in either the first century BC or first century AD and continually used as a sacred building until the collapse of the Meroe Kingdom in thefourth century. The temple was likely dedicated to one of the native Nubian lion gods, either Apedemak... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Northern hunters slowed down advance of Neolithic farmers |
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· 02/03/2011 7:52:53 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 13 replies · · FECYT · · February 3, 2011 · · Unknown · |
One of the most significant socioeconomic changes in the history of humanity took place around 10,000 years ago, when the Near East went from an economy based on hunting and gathering (Mesolithic) to another kind on agriculture (Neolithic). Farmers rapidly entered the Balkan Peninsula and then advanced gradually throughout the rest of Europe. Various theories have been proposed over recent years to explain this process, and now physicists from the University of Girona (UdG) have for the first time presented a new model to explain how the Neolithic front slowed down as it moved towards the north of the continent.... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Scientists Find DNA Change Accounting for White Skin (White People "Greatest Cause of Strife"!) |
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· 01/30/2011 5:47:11 PM PST · · Posted by Williams · · 133 replies · · Washington Post · · 1/28/11 · · Rick Weiss · |
Scientists said yesterday that they have discovered a tiny genetic mutation that largely explains the first appearance of white skin in humans tens of thousands of years ago, a finding that helps solve one of biology's most enduring mysteries and illuminates one of humanity's greatest sources of strife. |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Johns Hopkins researchers capture jumping genes |
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· 02/04/2011 2:05:50 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 11 replies · · Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions · · February 4, 2011 · · Unknown · |
RIPs are alive and well -- and moving -- in the human genome. An ambitious hunt by Johns Hopkins scientists for actively "jumping genes" in humans has yielded compelling new evidence that the genome, anything but static, contains numerous pesky mobile elements that may help to explain why people have such a variety of physical traits and disease risks. Using bioinformatics to compare the standard assembly of genetic elements as outlined in the reference human genome to raw whole-genome data from 310 individuals recently made available by the 1000 Genomes Project, the team revealed 1,016 new insertions of RIPs, or retrotransposon... |
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| Australia & the Pacific | |
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| Genetic Study Uncovers New Path to Polynesia |
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· 02/05/2011 4:22:23 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · ScienceDaily · · Thursday, February 3, 2011 · · University of Leeds · |
The islands of Polynesia were first inhabited around 3,000 years ago, but where these people came from has long been a hot topic of debate amongst scientists. The most commonly accepted view, based on archaeological and linguistic evidence as well as genetic studies, is that Pacific islanders were the latter part of a migration south and eastwards from Taiwan which began around 4,000 years ago. But the Leeds research -- published February 3 in The American Journal of Human Genetics -- has found that the link to Taiwan does not stand up to scrutiny. In fact, the DNA of current... |
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| Navigation | |
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| Did Vikings navigate by polarized light? |
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· 01/31/2011 8:30:21 PM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 29 replies · · Nature · · 31 Jan 2011 · · Jo Marchant · |
'Sunstone' crystals may have helped seafarers to find the Sun on cloudy days. A Viking legend tells of a glowing 'sunstone' that, when held up to the sky, revealed the position of the Sun even on a cloudy day. It sounds like magic, but scientists measuring the properties of light in the sky say that polarizing crystals -- which function in the same way as the mythical sunstone -- could have helped ancient sailors to cross the northern Atlantic. A review of their evidence is publishedtoday in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B1. The Vikings, seafarers from Scandinavia... |
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| Farty Shades of Green | |
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| Ireland's Viking Fortress |
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· 02/03/2011 7:02:44 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · · Archaeology, V 64 N 1 · · January/February 2011 · · Erin Mullally · |
Linn Duachaill was founded in A.D. 841, the same year as Viking Dublin. The fortress was used as a center by the Vikings to trade goods, organize attacks against inland Irish monasteries, and send captured Irish slaves abroad. For more than 70 years, Linn Duachaill rivaled Dublin as the preeminent Viking holding on the east coast of Ireland before it was eventually abandoned. The discovery of Linn Duachaill will finally allow archeologists to compare the actual site with medieval documents. The names of leaders of the garrison are recorded, along with extensive accounts of attacks they carried out. The site... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| The enigmatic Mzora stone ring in Morocco |
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· 02/02/2011 7:29:43 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 21 replies · · Stone Pages · · Monday, January 31, 2011 · · The Heritage Journal · |
In Morocco, not far from the Atlantic coast and away from major tourist attractions, lies a remarkable and enigmatic megalithic site. The Mzora stone ring (also spelled variously as Msoura/Mezorah) is situated roughly 11km from the nearest town of Asilah and about 27km from the ruins of ancient Lixus. It is not easy to reach and a small display in the archaeological museum at Tetouan is the most the majority of visitors see or hear of this very interesting site. Plutarch, in the first century CE, may have referred to Mzora in his Life of Sertorius. He describes the Roman... |
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| A new henge discovered at Stonehenge |
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· 02/02/2011 7:39:33 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · Physorg · · Monday, January 31, 2011 · · Provided by University of Birmingham · |
An archaeology team led by the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria discovered a major ceremonial monument less than one kilometre away from the iconic Stonehenge. History is set to be rewritten after an archaeology team led by the University of Birmingham and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Austria discovered a major ceremonial monument less than one kilometer away from the iconic Stonehenge. The incredible find has been hailed by Professor Vince Gaffney, from the University's IBM Visual and Spatial Technology Centre... "This finding... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Top 10 uncracked codes |
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· 02/03/2011 12:33:31 AM PST · · Posted by Daffynition · · 47 replies · · The Telegraph · · 01 Feb 2011 · · Nick Britten · |
1. The Phaistos Disk is considered the most important example of hieroglyphic inscription from Crete. Discovered in 1903, both sides of the clay disc are covered with hieroglyphs arranged in a spiral zone, impressed on the clay when it was damp. Forty five different types of signs have been distinguished, of which a few can be identified with the hieroglyphs in use in the Proto- palatial period. [snip] |
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| Mammoth Told Me... | |
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| Japanese Scientists plan to clone a woolly mammoth |
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· 02/01/2011 11:47:26 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 45 replies · · Digital Trends · · 02/01/2011 · · Jeffrey Van Camp · |
Japanese scientists believe they have the technology and know-how to create a living woolly mammoth, a clone of a species that died thousands of years ago. Finding a fully intact frozen woolly mammoth isn't enough, it seems. Now, a professor at Kyoto University in Japan is planning to bring the species back from extinction through cloning, reports the AFP. Dr. Akira Iritani plans to insert the nuclei of mammoth cells into a modern elephant's egg cell, creating a woolly mammoth embryothat will be brought to term by an elephant mother. The elephant was chosen because it is the nearest... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Cache in Chinese Mountain Reveals 20,000 Prehistoric Fossils (some with soft tissues preserved!) |
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· 02/03/2011 12:44:21 PM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 37 replies · · Live Science · · Dec 2010 · · Charles Q. Choi · |
A giant cache of nearly 20,000 fossil reptiles, shellfish and a host of other prehistoric creatures unearthed from a mountain in China is now revealing how life recovered after the most devastating mass extinction on Earth. This research could help point out which species might be more or less susceptible to extinction nowadays, and how the world might recover from the damage caused by humanity, scientists added. Life was nearly completely wiped out approximately 250 million years ago by massive volcanic eruptions and devastating global warming. Only one in 10 species survived this cataclysmic end-Permian event. Much was uncertain regarding... |
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| Fossil female pterosaur found with preserved egg |
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· 02/01/2011 11:58:12 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 81 replies · · BBC News · · 02/01/2011 · · Jonathan Amos · |
For fossil hunters, it represents one of those breakthrough moments. A pterosaur has been found in China beautifully preserved with an egg. The egg indicates this ancient flying reptile was a female, and that realisation has allowed researchers to sex these creatures for the first time. Writing in Science magazine, the palaeontologists make some broad statements about differences in pterosaurs, including the observation that only males sported a head-crest. David Unwin, a palaeobiologist in the Department of Museum Studies at the University of Leicester, was part of the research team. He told the BBC the discovery was astonishing: "If somebody... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| A New Theory for "Mona Lisa" |
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· 02/02/2011 4:26:26 PM PST · · DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis · · 42 replies · · Yahoo News · · February 2 2011 · · Mike Krumboltz · |
For centuries, people have been speculating about who modeled for Leonardo Da Vinci's "Mona Lisa." Was it Lisa Gherardini, the wife of a Florentine merchant? Was it Isabella of Aragon? Was it the artist himself, as some experts believe? Or was it, as new research suggests, none of the above? An Italian art historian, Silvano Vinceti, believes the model for the "Mona Lisa" was a man named Gian Giacomo Caprotti, better known as Salai, a male apprentice (and possiblelover) of da Vinci... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Rome reopens House of Vestal Virgins |
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· 01/28/2011 3:13:31 AM PST · · Posted by markomalley · · 72 replies · · ANSA · · 1/27/11 · |
After twenty years, Rome has reopened the House of the Vestal Virgins, remains of an ancient Roman palace flanking ruins of the imperial seat of government in the Roman Forum. Major renovations to the structure were inaugurated Thursday with the opening of a new visitors' route through the ruins called Via Nova, which traverses the northwest slope of the Palatine Hill overlooking the Forum and ends at the Atrium Vestae, or ancient palace. The configuration of Via Nova is believed to date back to urban planning made in the wake of a blaze that razed much of Rome in 64... |
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| Early America | |
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| New Milford historian unearths account of America's first mass murder |
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· 01/29/2011 8:27:40 PM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 23 replies · · newstimes (Danbury) · · 1-28-11 · · Nanci G. Hutson · |
New Milford historian and researcher Michael-John Cavallaro, vice-chairman of the Conservation Commission, with a one-of-a-kind Revolutionary War era confession of a local man hanged for a mass murder of the Mallory family in Washington, Ct. Cavallaro tracked down the illusive, 14-page document at the University of Virginia. He will be giving lectures about the murders in New Milford and Washington in February. Photo: Nanci Hutson / The News-Times · · WASHINGTON -- In this sleepy town during the Revolutionary War, a 19-year-old Continental Army soldier committed a murder so gruesome the local historian who unearthed his treachery still mourns the long-dead... |
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| Hot looks for 1775 |
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· 01/16/2011 9:11:15 AM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 72 replies · · Corsican (TX) Daily Sun · · January 15, 2011 · · Janet Jacobs · |
Revolutionary war fashion show comes to Corsicana Corsicana -- Yards and yards of embroidered silk and damask, wool and linen swirled through the Kinsloe House as part of a special 1700s fashion show hosted by the James Blair Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution Wednesday. The creator of the dresses was Carolyn Schiewe of the Captain Molly Corbin Chapter of the DAR in Grapevine. Schiewe researched the dresses and then sewed them for herself and her friends. "Ladies during the revolutionary war were just as interested in fashion as we are today," Schiewe explained. And although she had... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| James Madison chess pieces unearthed at Va. estate |
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· 02/03/2011 8:28:43 AM PST · · Posted by Daffynition · · 26 replies · · WTOP · · February 3, 2011 · |
ORANGE, Va. (AP) -- Archaeologists have unearthed a few pieces of history at former president James Madison's country estate: portions of two pawns from his chess set. Montpelier officials think the pieces are likely from the same set Madison and Thomas Jefferson used in their frequent matches during Jefferson's visits. |
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| Thomas Jefferson's Beer Returns |
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· 01/29/2011 4:34:02 PM PST · · Posted by re_tail20 · · 28 replies · · Fox News · · Jan. 28, 2011 · · Fox News · |
Thomas Jefferson's mountaintop home is teaming up with a local brewery to launch a new ale inspired by the past. The Thomas Jefferson Foundation says it's working with Starr Hill Brewery to offer Monticello Reserve Ale, inspired by what was produced and consumed regularly at Monticello. |
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| end of digest #342 20110205 | |
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