|
|
|
| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #357 Saturday, May 21, 2011 |
|
|
|
|
| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
|
|
|
| Jesus' Great-Grandmother Identified |
|
|
· 05/19/2011 6:07:52 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 48 replies · · Discovery News · |
The great-grandmother of Jesus was a woman named Ismeria, according to Florentine medieval manuscripts analyzed by a historian. The legend of St. Ismeria, presented in the current Journal of Medieval History, sheds light on both the Biblical Virgin Mary's family and also on religious and cultural values of 14th-century Florence. "I don't think any other woman is mentioned" as Mary's grandmother in the Bible, Catherine Lawless, author of the paper, told Discovery News. "Mary's patrilineal lineage is the only one given." "Mary herself is mentioned very little in the Bible," added Lawless, a lecturer in history at the University of... |
|
|
|
| Faith & Philosophy | |
|
|
|
| Forgeries in the Bible's New Testament? |
|
|
· 05/19/2011 11:50:25 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 71 replies · · Discovery News · |
Nearly half of the New Testament is a forgery, according to a provocative new book which charges that the Apostle Paul authored only a fraction of letters attributed to him, and the Apostle Peter just wrote nothing. Written by Bart Ehrman, a former evangelical Christian and now agnostic professor of religious studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, the book claims to unveil "one of the most unsettling ironies of the early Christian tradition:" the use of deception to promote the truth. "The Bible not only contains untruths of accidental mistakes. It also contains what almost anyone today... |
|
|
|
| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
|
|
|
| Art Appreciation/Education Series II "class" #2: Romanesque and Gothic Art and Architecture |
|
|
· 10/08/2005 8:08:00 AM PDT · · Posted by Republicanprofessor · · 37 replies · · 13,421+ views · |
In our last "class" on Greco-Roman, Early Christian and Byzantine Art, we saw how the realism of Greece and Rome was repudiated for more spiritual abstraction. The Christians saw the soul as more important than the weighty, physical body, and thus their works were flat and filled with the gold of paradise. My connection to spiritual twentieth century abstraction received mixed results, but that's fine. Today, we'll see how artists gradually added some bulk and realism to their work from 1000-1400. Then in the next "class," we'll study how the Italian Renaissance united a rebirth of Greco-Roman realism with Christian... |
|
|
|
| Navigation | |
|
|
|
| New power elite emerged in medieval Iceland as the island became Norwegian |
|
|
· 05/16/2011 3:00:41 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 25 replies · · University of Gothenburg · |
As Iceland became part of the Norwegian kingship 1262, a new power structure in the shape of an Icelandic aristocracy appointed by the king of Norway was established. This development is discussed in a doctoral thesis in History from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, that sheds light on a period in the Icelandic history that previously has not received its due attention. 'The 14th century has never received a great deal of attention in Icelandic history writing. This is surprising since this period is at least as important as the considerably more frequently discussed so-called Free State period (around 930/64)... |
|
|
|
| Scotland Yet | |
|
|
|
| Did William Wallace Aspire to be King of Scotland? |
|
|
· 05/19/2011 11:45:14 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 33 replies · · Past Horizons · |
A newly discovered English source, which also marks the earliest record of Wallace's gruesome execution, confirms outright what historians had only suspected before: the reason that Edward I dealt so harshly with Wallace was that he viewed him as a pretender to the Scottish crown. Accounts of King Edward I's Exchequer for the financial year 1304-1305, known as the "Pipe Roll', describe Wallace as, "a robber, a public traitor, an outlaw, an enemy and rebel of the king, who in contempt of the king, throughout Scotland had falsely sought to call himself king of Scotland."..... |
|
|
|
| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
|
|
|
| The Rosslyn Code |
|
|
· 05/20/2011 7:48:16 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 8 replies · · Slate · |
The real mystery lurking in the chapel where Dan Brown set The Da Vinci Code. From the outside, the Rosslyn Chapel does not look like a suitable place to hide Jesus' head. It's not much bigger than a country church, standing inconspicuously on a small hill in the miniature Scottish town of Roslin, a few miles south of Edinburgh. Its Gothic pinnacles, flying buttresses, and pointed arches have been battered by 500 years of capricious weather, and for years it has been encased in an exoskeleton of scaffolding as restoration efforts plod along. Until recently, it was covered by a... |
|
|
|
| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
|
|
|
| Patterns of ancient croplands give insight into early Hawaiian society, research shows |
|
|
· 05/16/2011 8:52:39 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 18 replies · · Ohio State University · |
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- A pattern of earthen berms, spread across a northern peninsula of the big island of Hawaii, is providing archeologists with clues to exactly how residents farmed in paradise long before Europeans arrived at the islands. The findings suggest that simple, practical decisions made by individual households were eventually adopted by the ruling class as a means to improve agricultural productivity. The researchers believe the data also provides insight into the structure of Hawaiian society at the time. "We know that there was a single chief for each district and a series of lesser chiefs below that,"... |
|
|
|
| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
|
|
|
| Absence of Mitochondrial Proteins May Prevent Age-Related Diseases, Increase Lifespan |
|
|
· 05/12/2011 8:45:07 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 20 replies · · Daily Tech · |
Researchers hope to control a group of mitochondrial proteins that attack and damage other functional cell parts, which leads to age-related diseases Thomas Nystrˆm, study leader and a researcher in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Gothenburg, and a team of researchers, have discovered that a group of mitochondrial proteins may be responsible for age-related diseases. Scientists have theorized that the mitochondria, which are the power stations of cells, are responsible for human aging. This theory comes from the fact that mitochondria not only produce the body's energy, but also create harmful byproducts. These byproducts... |
|
|
|
| Epigraphy & Language | |
|
|
|
| Mysterious Ancient Rock Carvings Found Near Nile |
|
|
· 05/16/2011 3:51:11 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 56 replies · · Live Science · |
An archaeological team in the Bayuda Desert in northern Sudan has discovered dozens of new rock art drawings, some of which were etched more than 5,000 years ago and reveal scenes that scientists can't explain. The team discovered 15 new rock art sites in an arid valley known as Wadi Abu Dom, some 18 miles (29 kilometers) from the Nile River. It's an arid valley that flows with water only during rainy periods. Many of the drawings were carved into the rock faces -- no paint was used -- of small stream beds known as "khors" that flow into the... |
|
|
|
| Cave Art | |
|
|
|
| Cave of Forgotten Dreams |
|
|
· 05/17/2011 8:45:28 AM PDT · · Posted by flowerplough · · 25 replies · · World Magazine · |
In a film that blends paleontological wonders with existential pondering, Cave of Forgotten Dreams asks the question, "What constitutes humanness?" German director Werner Herzog creeps deep into Chauvet Cave in southern France, where researchers say they have found the earliest known cave paintings. The charcoal paintings etched on the curved walls of the cave -- some say from 32,000 B.C., others say 10,000 B.C. -- look as though someone scratched them there last week. A landslide sealed the cave thousands of years ago, creating a perfectly preserved time capsule until explorers discovered it in 1994. Only a few scientists are allowed inside, and Herzog... |
|
|
|
| Prehistory & Origins | |
|
|
|
| Did Early Humans Stand Upright to Punch Better? |
|
|
· 05/20/2011 7:34:35 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 28 replies · · History Channel · |
Carrier's findings may also shed light on another mystery: why multiple studies have amply proven that -- statistically speaking, at least -- women find taller men more attractive. If downward blows strike harder, as Carrier's punching experiment suggested, a tall male has the advantage over a shorter contender. "Early in human evolution, an enhanced capacity to strike downward on an opponent may have given tall males a greater capacity to compete for mates and to defend their resources and offspring," he said. "If this were true, females who chose to mate with tall males would have had greater fitness for... |
|
|
|
| From the FRchives | |
|
|
|
| Why Intelligent Design Is Going to Win |
|
|
· 10/07/2005 4:03:19 AM PDT · · Posted by gobucks · · 257 replies · · 3,612+ views · · Tech Central Station · |
It doesn't matter if you like it or not. It doesn't matter if you think it's true or not. Intelligent Design theory is destined to supplant Darwinism as the primary scientific explanation for the origin of human life. ID will be taught in public schools as a matter of course. It will happen in our lifetime. It's happening right now, actually. Here's why: 1) ID will win because it's a religion-friendly, conservative-friendly, red-state kind of theory, and no one will lose money betting on the success of red-state theories in the next fifty to one hundred years. I've said it... |
|
|
|
| Early America | |
|
|
|
| Freedom in the swamp: Unearthing the secret history of the great dismal swamp |
|
|
· 05/16/2011 3:37:59 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 18 replies · · American University · |
Swamp was once a refuge for Indigenous Americans, runaway slaves and othersIt's the year 1800. You're a slave in southeast Virginia. You manage to escape. Your freedom is only going to last as long as you can hide. Where do you go? Would you believe the Great Dismal Swamp? According to Dan Sayers, assistant professor of anthropology and an historical archaeologist at American University, that's exactly where you could have gone for immediate sanctuary. "There are interesting parallels. What was once more of a human refuge is now a natural refuge," said Sayers of the swamp, which officially became the... |
|
|
|
| The Revolution | |
|
|
|
| Jewish patriot honored at Kew Gardens Hills memorial [Haym Salomon] |
|
|
· 05/20/2011 10:16:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 12 replies · · yournabe.com · |
Haym Salomon, a Polish immigrant who funded the Revolutionary army, celebrated at annual event Jonathan Ridgeway (l.), chairman of the state Sons of the Revolution Color Guard, marches with fellow guard member Ambrose Richardson, who is carrying a flag bearing the symbol of Revolution-era organization the Sons of Liberty. Photo by Joe Anuta America pays tribute to Paul Revere and George Washington with legends, statues and even currency, but a small crowd gathered in Kew Gardens Hills Sunday to remember an unsung hero of the Revolutionary War. Haym Salomon was a Polish Jew who immigrated to the 13 Colonies and... |
|
|
|
| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
|
|
|
| Sam Colt's Dress Blues, A New Find, Sheds Light On Brief Chapter In Civil War |
|
|
· 05/15/2011 6:40:51 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 44 replies · · Hartford Courant · |
In May 1861, Samuel Colt was Hartford's richest, most famous citizen. A charismatic, driven entrepreneur, Colt possessed inventive genius, boundless imagination and unsurpassed marketing prowess. He had built an internationally renowned business centered in a state-of-the art armory in Hartford's South Meadows that produced the revolving handguns bearing his name. Instruments of "moral reform,'' Colt once sardonically called his artful, deadly devices. How they were used, and by whom, did not trouble him much. |
|
|
|
| end of digest #357 20110521 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #358 Saturday, May 21, 2011 |
|
|
|
|
| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
|
|
|
| Population genetics reveals shared ancestries |
|
|
· 05/24/2011 1:06:30 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 45 replies · · Harvard Medical School · |
More than just a tool for predicting health, modern genetics is upending long-held assumptions about who we are. A new study by Harvard researchers casts new light on the intermingling and migration of European, Middle Eastern and African and populations since ancient times. In a paper titled "The History of African Gene Flow into Southern Europeans, Levantines and Jews," published in PLoS Genetics, HMS Associate Professor of Genetics David Reich and his colleagues investigated the proportion of sub-Saharan African ancestry present in various populations in West Eurasia, defined as the geographic area spanning modern Europe and the Middle East. While... |
|
|
|
| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
|
|
|
| Clues to Neanderthal hunting tactics hidden in reindeer teeth |
|
|
· 05/24/2011 6:46:09 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 17 replies · · PhysOrg · |
Scientists have found that our cousins the Neanderthal employed sophisticated hunting strategies similar to the tactics used much later by modern humans. The new findings come from the analysis of subtle chemical variations in reindeer teeth.Reindeer and caribou are nowadays restricted to the northernmost regions of Eurasia and America. But many thousands of years ago, large reindeer herds roamed throughout Europe and were hunted by the Neanderthal people. Kate Britton, an archaeologist now at the University of Aberdeen, and her colleagues were part of a team at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, that studied the Jonzac Neanderthal... |
|
|
|
| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
|
|
|
| Battle royale: Prehistoric cave bears versus cave lions |
|
|
· 05/23/2011 5:23:23 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 34 replies · · BBC · |
Sleeping on its bed, a giant cave bear opens one eye, alert to any intruder.It stands, lifting its massive 400kg frame and bares its teeth. In front of it is an equally sized cave lion; a giant predatory cat, and the cave bear's mortal enemy. Only one will survive, while the bones of the fallen will litter the cave floor for millennia. New evidence reveals how such titanic struggles likely took place in caves across central Europe in the Upper Pleistocene epoch, which ended around 11,500 years ago. While excavating caves in Germany and Romania, scientists have unearthed the bones... |
|
|
|
| Anatolia | |
|
|
|
| Göbekli Tepe - The Birth of Religion |
|
|
· 05/23/2011 8:23:10 AM PDT · · Posted by No One Special · · 27 replies · · National Geographic · |
We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world's oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization. Every now and then the dawn of civilization is reenacted on a remote hilltop in southern Turkey. The reenactors are busloads of tourists -- usually Turkish, sometimes European. The buses (white, air-conditioned, equipped with televisions) blunder over the winding, indifferently paved road to the ridge and dock like dreadnoughts before a stone portal. Visitors flood out, fumbling with water bottles and MP3 players. Guides call out instructions and explanations. Paying no attention, the visitors... |
|
|
|
| Prehistory & Origins | |
|
|
|
| Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank |
|
|
· 05/22/2011 6:31:53 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 15 replies · · BBC · |
Fractured human remains found on a German river bank could provide the first compelling evidence of a major Bronze Age battle.Archaeological excavations of the Tollense Valley in northern Germany unearthed fractured skulls, wooden clubs and horse remains dating from around 1200 BC. The injuries to the skulls suggest face-to-face combat in a battle perhaps fought between warring tribes, say the researchers. > The archaeologists also found remains of two wooden clubs, one the shape of a baseball bat and made of ash, the second the shape of a croquet mallet and made of sloe wood. Dr Harald Lubke of the... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| "Early Bronze Age battle site found on German river bank" |
|
|
· 05/22/2011 6:37:56 AM PDT · · Posted by Covenantor · · 36 replies · · BBC · |
Fractured human remains found on a German river bank could provide the first compelling evidence of a major Bronze Age battle. Archaeological excavations of the Tollense Valley in northern Germany unearthed fractured skulls, wooden clubs and horse remains dating from around 1200 BC. The injuries to the skulls suggest face-to-face combat in a battle perhaps fought between warring tribes, say the researchers. The paper, published in the journal Antiquity, is based primarily on an investigation begun in... |
|
|
|
| Epigraphy & Language | |
|
|
|
| In Ruin, Symbols on a Stone Hint at a Lost Asian Culture |
|
|
· 05/25/2011 6:02:59 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · New York Times · |
In an unexpected benefit of the cold war's end, Russian and American archaeologists say they have discovered an ancient civilization that thrived in Central Asia more than 4,000 years ago, before being lost in the sweep of history. The people of that area, the archaeologists say, built oasis settlements with imposing mud-brick buildings and fortifications. They herded sheep and goats and grew wheat and barley in irrigated fields. They had bronze axes, fine ceramics, alabaster and bone carvings and jewelry of gold and semiprecious stones. They left luxury goods in the graves of an elite class. The accomplishments of those... |
|
|
|
| The Greeks | |
|
|
|
| Ancient Greek City Uncovered in Russia [Temple of Demeter] |
|
|
· 05/23/2011 9:09:16 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 24 replies · · EU Greek Reporter · |
What is considered to be a unique discovery has been made in Taman, South Russia, at the Black Sea. The ruins of an ancient Greek city, dated around the 6th century BC, came to light. Archeologists are stunned both by the number of the findings and the condition they were found in. The excavations are proceeding with extreme caution, in order to avoid damaging the city's ancient fortress. According to historians, it is assumed that the ruins are the temple of Dimitra, the ancient goddess of fertility and agriculture, while they were able to determine the very spot of the altar.... |
|
|
|
| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
|
|
|
| Mummies tell history of a 'modern' plague |
|
|
· 05/23/2011 9:09:42 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 13 replies · · Emory University · |
Mummies from along the Nile are revealing how age-old irrigation techniques may have boosted the plague of schistosomiasis, a water-borne parasitic disease that infects an estimated 200 million people today. An analysis of the mummies from Nubia, a former kingdom that was located in present-day Sudan, provides details for the first time about the prevalence of the disease across populations in ancient times, and how human alteration of the environment during that era may have contributed to its spread. The American Journal of Physical Anthropology is publishing the study, led by Emory graduate student Amber Campbell Hibbs, who recently received... |
|
|
|
| Egypt | |
|
|
|
| Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images (17!) |
|
|
· 05/25/2011 5:56:52 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 30 replies · · BBC News · |
Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt. More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements were also revealed by looking at infra-red images which show up underground buildings. Initial excavations have already confirmed some of the findings, including two suspected pyramids. The work has been pioneered at the University of Alabama in Birmingham by US Egyptologist Dr Sarah Parcak. She says she was amazed at how much she and her team has found. "We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as it was... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Egyptian pyramids found by infra-red satellite images |
|
|
· 05/25/2011 9:36:00 AM PDT · · Posted by bigbob · · 36 replies · · BBC News · |
Seventeen lost pyramids are among the buildings identified in a new satellite survey of Egypt. More than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements were also revealed by looking at infra-red images which show up underground buildings. Initial excavations have already confirmed some of the findings, including two suspected pyramids. The work has been pioneered at the University of Alabama at Birmingham by US Egyptologist Dr Sarah Parcak. satellite image of pyramid An infra-red satellite image shows a buried pyramid, located in the centre of the highlight box. She says she was amazed at how much she and her team has... |
|
|
|
| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
|
|
|
| First images from Great Pyramid's chamber of secrets |
|
|
· 05/26/2011 10:18:42 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 47 replies · · New Scientist · |
A robot has sent back the first images of markings on the wall of a tiny chamber in the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt that have not been seen for 4500 years. It has also helped settle the controversy about the only metal known to exist in the pyramid, and shows a "door" that could lead to another hidden chamber. The pyramid is thought to have been built as a tomb for the pharaoh Khufu, and is the last of the seven wonders of the ancient world still standing. It contains three main chambers: the Queen's Chamber, the Grand... |
|
|
|
| Scotland Yet | |
|
|
|
| Skeleton of Amazon warrior discovered |
|
|
· 05/26/2011 5:29:47 PM PDT · · Posted by afraidfortherepublic · · 4 replies · · The Scotsman · |
THE discovery of the remains of an aristocratic Scottish "Amazon", killed in battle during the Wars of Independence, is set to rewrite the history books. Her skeleton was among the remains of five "high status" individuals - all of whom had suffered violent deaths - found beneath the paved floor of the "lost" Royal Chapel at Stirling Castle. The woman - simply known as "skeleton 539" - was a robust and muscular female, standing 5ft 4in tall. Archaeologists had previously suspected she had been a courtier at the Royal palace during the reign of Alexander 11. But detailed forensic tests... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Skeleton of Amazon warrior discovered |
|
|
· 05/26/2011 5:30:06 PM PDT · · Posted by afraidfortherepublic · · 42 replies · · The Scotsman · |
THE discovery of the remains of an aristocratic Scottish "Amazon", killed in battle during the Wars of Independence, is set to rewrite the history books. Her skeleton was among the remains of five "high status" individuals - all of whom had suffered violent deaths - found beneath the paved floor of the "lost" Royal Chapel at Stirling Castle. The woman - simply known as "skeleton 539" - was a robust and muscular female, standing 5ft 4in tall. Archaeologists had previously suspected she had been a courtier at the Royal palace during the reign of Alexander 11. But detailed forensic tests... |
|
|
|
| Farty Shades of Green | |
|
|
|
| Decapitated Head Of St. Vitalis, Patron Saint Of Genital Disease, To Be Sold At Auction |
|
|
· 05/27/2011 5:11:51 AM PDT · · Posted by Second Amendment First · · 126 replies · · AOL · |
The term "VD" is slang for venereal disease, but, in this case, it can also stand for "Vitalis' Dome," as in St. Vitalis, the patron saint for genital diseases. Soon, some lucky collector of rare artifacts may know the joy that only comes when you have the decapitated skull of a Catholic saint in your possession. On May 29, the noggin of St. Vitalis of Assisi will be sold at auction in Duleek, Ireland. The macabre memento has a pre-auction value between $1,100 and $1,700. The family selling the saintly skull are an Anglo-Irish family based in County Louth, the... |
|
|
|
| Navigation | |
|
|
|
| NOAA and partners explore the hidden world of the maritime Maya |
|
|
· 05/24/2011 4:30:37 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 7 replies · · NOAA · |
NOAA-sponsored explorers are searching a wild, largely unexplored and forgotten coastline for evidence and artifacts of one of the greatest seafaring traditions of the ancient New World, where Maya traders once paddled massive dugout canoes filled with trade goods from across Mexico and Central America. One exploration goal is to discover the remains of a Maya trading canoe, described in A.D. 1502 by Christopher Columbus' son Ferdinand, as holding 25 paddlers plus cargo and passengers. Through the end of May, the team is exploring the remote jungle, mangrove forests and lagoons at the ancient port site of Vista Alegre ("happy... |
|
|
|
| Peru & the Andes | |
|
|
|
| Inca success in Peruvian Andes 'thanks to llama dung' |
|
|
· 05/22/2011 4:51:51 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 36 replies · · BBC · |
One of the world's greatest ancient civilisations may have been built on llama droppings, a new study has found.Machu Picchu, the famous Inca city set in the Peruvian Andes, celebrates the centenary of its "'discovery" by the outside world this July. Dignitaries will descend on site for a glitzy event in July marking 100 years since US explorer Hiram Bingham came upon the site, but the origins of Machu Picchu were far less glamorous. According to a study published in archaeological review Antiquity, llama droppings provided the basis for the growth of Inca society. It was the switch from hunter-gathering... |
|
|
|
| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
|
|
|
| 440-year-old document sheds new light on native population decline under Spanish colonial rule |
|
|
· 05/26/2011 6:07:24 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · Eurekalert · |
Analysis of a 440-year-old document reveals new details about native population decline in the heartland of the Inca Empire following Spanish conquest in the 16th century. According to the analysis, the native Andean population in the Yucay Valley of Peru showed a remarkable ability to bounce back in the short term from the disease, warfare, and famine that accompanied the initial Spanish invasion. However, it was the repetition of such disasters generation after generation, along with overly rigid colonial administration, that dramatically reduced the population over the long term... The analysis is based on an unusually detailed survey of the... |
|
|
|
| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
|
|
|
| Comet Theory Comes Crashing to Earth |
|
|
· 05/23/2011 5:43:19 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 33 replies · · Miller-McCune · |
It seemed like such an elegant answer to an age-old mystery: the disappearance of what are arguably North America's first people. A speeding comet nearly 13,000 years ago was the culprit, the theory goes, spraying ice and rocks across the continent, killing the Clovis people and the mammoths they fed on, and plunging the region into a deep chill. The idea so captivated the public that three movies describing the catastrophe were produced. But now, four years after the purportedly supportive evidence was reported, a host of scientific authorities systematically have made the case that the comet theory is "bogus."... |
|
|
|
| Climate | |
|
|
|
| Significant Role of Oceans in Onset of Ancient Global Cooling |
|
|
· 05/26/2011 1:27:37 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 17 replies · · National Science Foundation · |
Thirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic. The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were half what they are today. A debate has been ongoing in the scientific community about what changes in our global climate system led to such a major shift from the more tropical, greenhouse climate of the Eocene to modern and much cooler climates. New research results published in this week's issue of the... |
|
|
|
| Paleontology | |
|
|
|
| Anthropologist discovers new fossil primate species in West Texas |
|
|
· 05/23/2011 8:35:16 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 21 replies · · PhysOrg · |
Physical anthropologist Chris Kirk has announced the discovery of a previously unknown species of fossil primate, Mescalerolemur horneri, in the Devil's Graveyard badlands of West Texas. Mescalerolemur lived during the Eocene Epoch about 43 million years ago, and would have most closely resembled a small present-day lemur. Mescalerolemur is a member of an extinct primate group -- the adapiforms -- that were found throughout the Northern Hemisphere in the Eocene. However, just like Mahgarita stevensi, a younger fossil primate found in the same area in 1973, Mescalerolemur is more closely related to Eurasian and African adapiforms than those from North... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Fossil of giant ancient sea predator discovered (w/ video) |
|
|
· 05/28/2011 7:47:24 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · PhysOrg · |
The creatures, known as anomalocaridids, were already thought to be the largest animals of the Cambrian period, known for the "Cambrian Explosion" that saw the sudden appearance of all the major animal groups and the establishment of complex ecosystems about 540 to 500 million years ago. Fossils from this period suggested these marine predators grew to be about two feet long. Until now, scientists also thought these strange invertebrates -- which had long spiny head limbs presumably used to snag worms and other prey, and a circlet of plates around the mouth -- died out at the end of the... |
|
|
|
| The Revolution | |
|
|
|
| Ben Franklin, Peace Titan |
|
|
· 05/28/2011 8:37:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 5 replies · · Investor's Business Daily · |
Benjamin Franklin owed the French for recognizing American independence, loaning money and entering the Revolutionary War against Britain. None of that, though, stopped Franklin from putting America's interests first and risking antagonizing the French when he negotiated a peace treaty with Britain. America won much better terms from the Treaty of Paris, signed in September 1783, than the Colonists had hoped for. On top of Britain's acceptance of U.S. independence, the treaty set America's boundary in the West at the Mississippi River -- giving the young nation plenty of room and resources to grow. The problem was France, as well... |
|
|
|
| The Civil War | |
|
|
|
| Park Ranger provides glimpse into San Francisco's Civil War past |
|
|
· 05/24/2011 2:08:49 PM PDT · · Posted by mgstarr · · 9 replies · · Digital Journal · |
San Francisco - On the south side of the Golden Gate Bridge at the entrance of San Francisco Bay is Fort Point. Windy and dusty it sits underneath the Golden Gate Bridge as something from another place and time. Constructed in 1861 just as the Civil War was begriming, the old fort with its seven-foot-thick walls, was actually one of dozens of forts and sentries established to defend the San Francisco Bay from invasion. [snip] From its beginnings as a sleepy little village of the Ohlone tribe, San Francisco then called Yerba Buena by arriving Europeans, was a distant outpost... |
|
|
|
| World War Eleven | |
|
|
|
| "MIHAILOVICH and I" by Major Richard L. Felman, U.S.A.F. / A True Story |
|
|
· 05/27/2011 7:37:49 PM PDT · · Posted by Ravnagora · · 11 replies · · www.generalmihailovich.com · |
General Draza Mihailovich Major Richard L. Felman, USAF ***** Aleksandra's Note: The following memoir was first published in 1964 by Major Richard L. Felman of the United States Air Force. It is his personal true story of his extraordinary experiences during World War Two. It is also the story of the great Serbian patriot and Western Ally General Draza Mihailovich and the Serbs who saved the lives of over 500 Americans who were shot down over Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia in 1944. In honor of Memorial Day 2011 it's worthwhile to revisit this moment in history. As much as his story honors... |
|
|
|
| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
|
|
|
| Clausewitz: Master of War |
|
|
· 05/21/2011 8:13:10 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 41 replies · · The American Interest · |
I'm busy reading final papers for the grand strategy seminar at Bard this spring, and the students are finishing up their exams and thinking about summer. It's already time to start reading and thinking about the syllabus for the fall course in Anglo-American grand strategy. British and American strategic thinkers and policy makers developed a new form of global strategy in the last 300 years that enabled the two English speaking powers to build a global political and security order resting on a foundation of liberal capitalism. Understanding the grand strategy that shaped the modern world is surely something that... |
|
|
|
| end of digest #358 20110528 | |
|
|
|
