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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #363 Saturday, July 7, 2011 |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| 2,000-Year-Old Priestly Burial Box Is Real, Archaeologists Say |
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· 06/29/2011 11:05:58 PM PDT · · Posted by Beowulf9 · · 10 replies · · Foxnews.com · |
JERUSALEM -- Israeli scholars say they have confirmed the authenticity of a 2,000-year-old burial box bearing the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas of the New Testament. The ossuary bears an inscription with the name "Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri." To confirm the authenticity of the ossuary, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who discovered the ancient burial box turned to Dr. Boaz Zissu of the Department of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology of Bar Ilan University and Professor Yuval Goren of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Matzah and Marco Polo |
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· 06/29/2011 4:01:20 PM PDT · · Posted by GiovannaNicoletta · · 22 replies · · The Omega Letter · |
Explorer Marco Polo traveled from Venice to China in the year 1260 AD, returning a few years later with tales of black stones that heated rooms (coal), clothing laced with gold, and the presence of prosperous Jews in Beijing. These outlandish claims earned him the nickname "man of a million lies." Two hundred years later Jesuit missionaries confirmed, at least, the presence of Jews in Beijing. Jesuit Matthew Ricci, in 1605, encountered a young Chinese man, Ai T'ien. In stark contrast to the rest of the Chinese population, Ai T'ien claimed to worship a single God. Further questioning (after Ai... |
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| The Crusades | |
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| Archaeologists Uncover Ruins of Crusader City |
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· 06/24/2011 7:23:36 PM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 14 replies · · AP via Fox News · · June, 19, 2011 · |
A tunnel built by knights of the Templar order under the old port city of Acre, on the Mediterranean coast in northern Israel. Off the track beaten by most Holy Land tourists lies one of the richest archaeological sites in a country full of them: Acre, where the busy alleys of an Ottoman-era town cover a uniquely intact Crusader city now being rediscovered. Off the track beaten by most Holy Land tourists lies one of the richest archaeological sites in a country full of them: the walled port of Acre, where the busy alleys of... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Vidovdan and Christianity --Remembering the Serbian sacrifice on June 28th. |
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· 06/28/2011 10:43:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Ravnagora · · 9 replies · · Heroes of Serbia · |
Kosovska Devojka The Kosovo Maiden -- Today, June 28, 2011, marks the anniversary of perhaps the most sacred day in Serbian history. It can be said, too, that it is a sacred day in Christian history. On this day, in 1389 on Kosovo field, 70,000 Serbian men, the entire Serbian Army, gave its life to defend Christianity against the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks and Islam. They chose the "Heavenly Kingdom" over the earthly one. For them, Christianity was worth fighting for. Sincerely, Aleksandra Rebic |
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| Anatolia | |
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| Letters Home Part 10: Going underground [ Turkey ] |
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· 06/28/2011 8:45:00 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · Letters Home to You 'blog · |
Remember the two underground cities we visited south of the "central" Cappadocia area? We headed off in that direction, but instead of going to the same ones because they're now just another parking lot crowded with white tour buses, we turned east to explore a town called Guzulyurt. It means beautiful home and is mentioned in Lonely Planet as also having an underground city and church frescoes, but much less visited because it's a little out of the way. What a delight. Drove through some very stark landscape that at times reminded me of our long sweeps through the emptier... |
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| Long Way from Byblos | |
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| An Israeli algorithm sheds light on the Bible |
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· 06/30/2011 7:44:16 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 25 replies · · Associated Press · |
JERUSALEM (AP) --- Software developed by an Israeli team is giving intriguing new hints about what researchers believe to be the multiple hands that wrote the Bible. The new software analyzes style and word choices to distinguish parts of a single text written by different authors, and when applied to the Bible its algorithm teased out distinct writerly voices in the holy book. The program, part of a sub-field of artificial intelligence studies known as authorship attribution, has a range of potential applications --- from helping law enforcement to developing new computer programs for writers. But the Bible provided a... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Video on The Temple Mount Some Don't Want You To See |
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· 06/26/2011 6:20:37 AM PDT · · Posted by ps2 · · 15 replies · · YouTube · |
According to the site "The Arabs who occupy the land of Israel want this video to be removed . Feel free to copy this video and help spread the truth the palestinians seek to deny." |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Jewish bodies found in medieval well in Norwich [the Blood Libel] |
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· 07/01/2011 8:37:27 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · BBC · |
...scientists who used a combination of DNA analysis, carbon dating and bone chemical studies in their investigation. The skeletons date back to the 12th or 13th Centuries at a time when Jewish people were facing persecution throughout Europe... discovered in 2004 during an excavation of a site in the centre of Norwich, ahead of construction of the Chapelfield Shopping Centre. The remains were put into storage and have only recently been the subject of investigation. Seven skeletons were successfully tested and five of them had a DNA sequence suggesting they were likely to be members of a single Jewish family...... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Ancient stones a mystery for archeologists, scientists [ Los Lunas Decalogue ] |
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· 06/28/2011 6:07:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 129 replies · · Your Houston News · |
...if they had the means to explore various parts of Europe and Asia by boat, then they certainly had the means to cross the seas to the Americas. One such item of interest is a large stone that was found in a dry creek bed in New Mexico. This stone discovered by early explorers contains the entire Ten Commandments written in Ancient Hebrew script. Today, this large stone still lies where it was originally found in the early 1800's on the side of Hidden Mountain near Los Lunas, New Mexico, about thirty-five miles south of Albuquerque. Scholars who have studied... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Micro-camera Provides First Peek Inside Mayan Tomb |
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· 06/26/2011 7:21:15 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · LiveScience · |
A Mayan tomb closed to the world for 1,500 years has finally revealed some of its secrets as scientists snaked a tiny camera into a red-and-black painted burial chamber. The room, decorated with paintings of nine figures, also contains pottery, jade pieces and shell, archaeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reported Thursday (June 23). The tomb is located in Palenque, an expansive set of stone ruins in the Mexican state of Chiapas. According to the INAH, the tomb was discovered in 1999 under a building called Temple XX. But the stonework and location prevented exploration. By... |
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| Some Hindu, Some Hindon't | |
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| Treasure estimated at $10 Billion found in secret vaults in Indian temple |
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· 07/01/2011 8:54:57 PM PDT · · Posted by cold start · · 19 replies · · Times of India · |
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The legend of El Dorado was definitely not set on the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. But the seven-member panel, which is drawing up a list of assets at the famed shrine here, had a feel of the lost city of gold as they set foot in one of the two secret vaults located inside the sprawling granite structure which gives the Kerala capital its name. On Thursday, the team assisted by personnel from the fire services and archeology department opened the locks of vault A to find a narrow flight of stairs leading down to an underground granite cellar. Oxygen... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Peking man differing from modern humans in brain asymmetry |
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· 06/30/2011 3:22:33 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · PhysOrg · |
Compared with modern humans, Peking man's brain casts have small brain size, low height and low position of the greatest breadth, flat frontal and parietal lobes, depressed Sylvian areas, strong posterior projection of the occipital lobes, anterior positioning of the cerebellar lobes relative to the occipital lobes, and relative simplicity of the meningeal vessels. The study shows that the absolute hemisphere volumes and surface areas exhibited no significant asymmetries in the Peking man or in modern specimens. However, the relative hemisphere volumes against surface areas differed between the two groups, suggesting that brain asymmetries originated from relative brain sizes rather... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Ryedale Windy Pits skeletons were 'sacrificial' |
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· 07/01/2011 8:59:25 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · BBC · |
A new investigation has revealed that human skeletons discovered in caves on the North York Moors were likely to have been the victims of ritual sacrifice 2,000 years ago. A forensic examination of their bones, for the BBC's History Cold Case series, has revealed evidence that at least one of them had been scalped... While it has always been clear the bones had experienced some kind of trauma it has taken a new forensic investigation to reveal more about how these people might have met their deaths. Evidence suggests the caves were used by people from the late Neolithic period,... |
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| Ice, Ice, Iceman to Go | |
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| Iceman's Stomach Sampled --- Filled With Goat Meat |
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· 06/28/2011 8:44:47 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 44 replies · · news.nationalgeographic · |
Hours before he died, "Oëtzi" the Iceman gorged on the fatty meat of a wild goat, according to a new analysis of the famous mummy's stomach contents. The frozen body of the Copper Age hunter was discovered in 1991 in the Alps of northern Italy, where he died some 5,000 years ago. The circumstances surrounding Oëtzi's death are not fully known, but the most popular theory --- based in part on the discovery of an arrowhead in his back --- is that he was murdered by other hunters while fleeing through the mountains. Scientists previously analyzed the contents of Oëtzi's lower intestine and determined... |
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| Arctic | |
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| Rapid Melting of Arctic Sea Ice Possibly Explained [new theory?] |
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· 07/01/2011 6:46:52 PM PDT · · Posted by smokingfrog · · 31 replies · · Eye on the Arctic · |
Arctic researchers have discovered a clue as to why sea ice in the North is melting so much faster than anyone thought it would. Scientists have long puzzled over why Arctic sea ice is retreating at up to three times the rate that climate models say it should. In an effort to answer that question, a group of U.K-based explorers walked more than 500 kilometres of sea ice in the High Arctic, taking temperature readings of the ocean below them. They found a layer of cold, salty water about 200 metres down that they suspect has come from the melting... |
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| Antarctic | |
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| Fossilized pollen reveals climate history of northern Antarctica |
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· 07/01/2011 7:58:45 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · PhysOrg · |
A painstaking examination of the first direct and detailed climate record from the continental shelves surrounding Antarctica reveals that the last remnant of Antarctic vegetation existed in a tundra landscape on the continent's northern peninsula about 12 million years ago. The research, which was led by researchers at Rice University and Louisiana State University, appears online this week and will be featured on the cover of the July 12 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences... In the warmest period in Earth's past 55 million years, Antarctica was ice-free and forested. The continent's vast ice sheets, which... |
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| Zymurgy | |
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| Ancient beer may serve as future model |
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· 02/10/2011 5:39:47 AM PST · · Posted by Red Badger · · 56 replies · · WTHI tv · |
HELSINKI --Finnish scientists are analyzing a golden, cloudy beverage found in a 19th century shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, hoping new beers can be modeled on an ancient brew. The VTT Technical Research Center of Finland said Tuesday that through chemical analysis it aims to determine the ingredients and possibly the recipe used in brewing what it called "one of the world's oldest preserved beers." VTT scientist Arvi Vilpola said he had "the honorable task" of being the one on the research team to sample the brew. "It was a little sour and you could taste... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| History Cookbook (recipes from thru out many eras) |
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· 06/23/2011 5:10:48 PM PDT · · Posted by dynachrome · · 45 replies · · CookIt! · |
Welcome to the history cookbook. Do you know what the Vikings ate for dinner? What a typical meal of a wealthy family in Roman Britain consisted of, or what food was like in a Victorian Workhouse? Why not drop into history cookbook and find out? This project looks at the food of the past and how this influenced the health of the people living in each time period. You can also try some of the recipes for yourself. We have a wide range of historical recipes from Brown Bread Ice Cream to Gruel (Why not see if you would be... |
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| Egypt | |
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| French Egyptologist who saved Nubian temples dies [Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt] |
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· 06/26/2011 7:30:52 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · Yahoo! · |
French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, known for her books on art and history and for saving the Nubian temples from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam, has died at the age of 97, her editor Telemaque said Friday. In a career spanning more than half-a-century, Desroches-Noblecourt also helped preserve the mummy of King Ramses II, which was threatened by fungus, and became the first French woman to lead an archaeological dig in 1938... Desroches-Noblecourt's greatest accomplishment came in 1954 when the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to build a new dam with a capacity of 157 billion cubic metres, which... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Setting the Desert on Fire: How Rome linked Britain and the Arab world |
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· 06/28/2011 7:24:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Setting the Desert on Fire 'blog · |
We spent a few hours deciphering Roman inscriptions when I studied Latin at school, but unfortunately not long enough for any of what I learnt to stick. Which is a pity for they yield a lot of information. When I spotted the elegantly-lettered tombstone of Cautronius, a standard-bearer of the Italian troop [I think], when I visited Lebanon last year, I thought it worthy of a photograph.* An inscription I saw in a museum in St Albans a while ago points to some interesting linkages across the Roman world, and hints at a tragic love story. It is dedicated to... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Never Give Up Your Weapons |
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· 05/31/2010 4:14:19 AM PDT · · Posted by Man50D · · 52 replies · · 1,422+ views · · American Thinker · |
History demonstrates that destruction awaits those who attempt to placate their enemies by surrendering their weapons. In 149 BC, half a million citizens of Carthage tried to appease Rome by turning over their armaments. But instead of buying peace, they only facilitated their own destruction. Ninety percent of the Carthaginians were killed, and the city of Carthage was razed. Those who survived were sold into slavery, and Carthaginian civilization was forever wiped from the face of the earth. The story of how the Carthaginians sealed their fate by delivering their weapons into the hands of their enemy is chronicled in... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Existence of 200 "uncontacted' tribal people in Brazilian rainforest confirmed |
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· 06/25/2011 1:10:11 PM PDT · · Posted by Candor7 · · 63 replies · · Int'l Business Times · |
The Brazilian government has confirmed the existence of about 200 unidentified tribal people in the Amazon rainforest. Satellite pictures in January revealed this community was living near the border with Peru. A flight expedition over the area in April confirmed that they are about 200 in numbers. Along with Survival International (Funai), an organization working for tribal people's rights worldwide, Brazilian authorities found that these people are living in three clearings in the Javari Valley in the western Amazon. According to Fabricio Amorim, who led Funai's overflight expedition, illegal fishing, hunting, logging, mining, cattle ranching, missionary actions, drug trafficking and... |
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| Incredible Video Of A Tribe Meeting White People For The First Time |
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· 06/25/2011 8:11:55 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 35 replies · · TBI · · Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry · · June 24, 2011 · |
This 15 minute video is from 1976 and shows a tribe in Papua New Guinea encountering white people for the first time. The reactions going from fear to wonder to curiosity to joy are incredible to behold. Watch:(Click to the site to view the video)(snip) |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Ancient Leicestershire hillfort to reveal ancient secrets [ Burrough Hill, near Melton Mowbray ] |
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· 06/30/2011 4:48:50 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · AlphaGalileo · |
An ancient Leicestershire hillfort will reveal some of its historic secrets over the next month, as archaeologists from the University of Leicester welcome the public to visit the second season of major excavation of the site. Situated on the Jurassic scarp with commanding views of the surrounding countryside, Burrough Hill near Melton Mowbray is one of the most striking and frequently visited prehistoric monuments in central Britain. ... Trenches dug within the fort last summer revealed part of its stone defences, along with a cobbled road, a massive timber gateway and a 'guard' chamber built into the entrance rampart. This... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Archaeologists furious over councillor's 'bunny huggers' jibe |
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· 06/30/2011 3:43:20 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · Guardian UK · |
Archaeologists have condemned a Tory council leader's threat to dismantle all archaeological controls on development, saying that the regulations are necessary to protect the UK's unique national heritage. Alan Melton, leader of Fenland District Council, dismissed opponents of development as "bunny huggers" in a speech last week. Archaeologists fear his views reflect a national threat to all heritage protection as a result of the government's determination to simplify the planning process to encourage development. The principle that developers must pay for archaeological excavation --- before construction work destroys sites --- has led to a string of major discoveries in the... |
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| The Consequences of Not Voting Republican | |
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| Don't Know Much About History |
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· 06/21/2011 4:54:41 AM PDT · · Posted by chickadee · · 31 replies · · Wall Street Journal · |
'We're raising young people who are, by and large, historically illiterate," David McCullough tells me on a recent afternoon in a quiet meeting room at the Boston Public Library. Having lectured at more than 100 colleges and universities over the past 25 years, he says, "I know how much these young people --- even at the most esteemed institutions of higher learning --- don't know." Slowly, he shakes his head in dismay. "It's shocking." |
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| Age of Sail | |
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| Treasure Hunters Find $500k Ring at Atocha Wreck |
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· 06/26/2011 4:09:06 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 18 replies · · NBC Miami · |
A crew from Mel Fisher's Treasures found the 10-karat emerald piece on Thursday The famed Atocha shipwreck site in the Florida Keys coughed up another treasure Thursday when salvagers said they discovered a 10-karat emerald ring initially valued at $500,000. A crew with historic salvagers Mel Fisher's Treasures found the ornately carved gold ring while searching for the long-lost sterncastle of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the Keys during a hurricane in 1622. The ring was found with two silver spoons and two other silver-encrusted artifacts about 35 miles west of Key West, within 300... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| 8 French Soldiers Died in Van Cortlandtville [NY] During Revolutionary War |
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· 06/27/2011 5:34:18 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 24 replies · · Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch · |
Seven are buried in unmarked graves near Old St. Peter's Church, which was used as military hospital during fight for American independence. Memorial stone in front of Old St. Peter's Church honors the eight French soldiers who died in Van Cortlandtville during the Revolutionary War.Credit Jeff Canning Photos France sent 44,000 soldiers and sailors across the Atlantic Ocean to help the infant United States win its independence from British rule during the Revolutionary War. Five thousand of them died during the conflict, eight of them in Van Cortlandtville. The body of one, an officer who was a member of the... |
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| New Book Challenges Popularly Held Views of the American Revolution |
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· 06/29/2011 9:52:17 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 27 replies · · PR Web · |
Arsonist: The Most Dangerous Man in America defies conventional wisdom, elevating one obscure rebel to prominent position and describing a revolutionary process that was far more coordinated and earth-shattering than previously thought. "Serious students of the American Revolution Öwill find this comprehensive book a fascinating read. Allen is a thorough researcher and skillful writer Ö a highly readable book that is never dull." ForeWord Clarion Reviews --- Five Stars (out of Five) Westport, CT (PRWEB) June 29, 2011 Arsonist, to be published July 4, 2011, explores the world of colonial Massachusetts from the 1740s through the 1760s and is one... |
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| [UK] Historian [Simon] Schama Makes Newsweek Debut Bashing Tea Partiers Over Respect for Founding Fathers |
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· 06/27/2011 5:57:47 PM PDT · · Posted by chessplayer · · 82 replies · · Newsbusters · |
Columbia University professor Simon Schama made his Newsweek debut yesterday with a blog post that indirectly attacked Tea Party activists and conservatives for what Schama considers a historically illiterate ancestor worship of the Founding Fathers. "The Constitution's framers were flawed like today's politicians, so it's high time we stop embalming them in infallibility," snarked the subheading for Schama's June 26 post. |
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| American Revolutionary War Museum to Honor Al-Jazeera [Maine] |
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· 07/01/2011 5:55:37 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 42 replies · · Right Side News · |
The General Henry Knox Museum is honoring a representative of Al-Jazeera, the channel associated with various terrorist organizations, on July 28 on the stage of The Strand Theatre in Rockland, Maine. The museum says that an intimate Gala dinner and reception will follow at 7:30 p.m. at Camden National Bank's historic Spear Block location in Rockland. Knox played a significant role in the American war for independence from Britain and was close to General George Washington. The idea of an American museum devoted to patriotism honoring a representative of a foreign-funded channel, described by Middle East experts such as Walid... |
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| The Framers | |
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| Journal of the Federal Convention June 28th 1787 |
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· 06/28/2011 2:40:28 AM PDT · · Posted by Jacquerie · · 8 replies · · Avalon Project · |
Seventh Resolution. Proportional Representation in First Branch. Dissolution. Madison Speech. Equal Representation of States in First Branch. In Convention Mr. L. MARTIN resumed his discourse, contending that the Genl. Govt. ought to be formed for the States, not for individuals: that if the States were to have votes in proportion to their numbers of people, it would be the same thing whether their representatives were chosen by the Legislatures or the people; the smaller States would be equally enslaved; that if the large States have the same interest with the smaller as was urged, there could be no danger in... |
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| Early America | |
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| Restoration of cannons found on Arch Cape beach reveal surprising history (OR) |
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· 06/25/2011 2:22:20 PM PDT · · Posted by jazusamo · · 6 replies · · The Oregonian · |
It's not exactly a process that goes off with a bang. More than three years after a Portland-area girl and her dad found a pair old cannons on the beach in Arch Cape, restoration on one of the cannons is finally finished and work has begun on the other. It's slow-going for sure, but patience has paid off in a number of clues to the first gun's origins. Tualatin beachcombers Miranda Petrone and her father, Michael Petrone, found the cannons in February 2008. Oregon Parks and Recreation took possession of the old guns, storing them in water tanks, then driving... |
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| CA: 130-year-old outhouses yield treasures |
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· 07/17/2007 8:29:12 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 17 replies · · 502+ views · · AP on Yahoo · |
VENTURA, Calif. --The spot where a pair of outhouses stood 130 years ago is proving to be a treasure trove for archaeologists who braved the lingering smell in the dirt to uncover some 19th Century artifacts --- and a mystery. The one-time site of privies for men and women has been built upon repeatedly. Recently, crews demolished a former school bus barn on the 3.5-acre downtown site in order to build a condominium complex and a parking garage. But first, archaeologists were called in. Beginning in late May, they started digging into the ground in a discovery process that... |
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| The Wild West | |
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| Last portrait of Billy the Kid sells for $2.3M |
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· 06/26/2011 10:16:04 AM PDT · · Posted by lowbridge · · 10 replies · · NY Post · |
What is believed to be the only surviving authenticated portrait of Billy the Kid went up for auction in Denver on Saturday and sold for $2.3 million. The tintype on Saturday evening went to private collector William Koch at Brian Lebel's 22nd Annual Old West Show & Auction, where auction spokeswoman Melissa McCracken said the image of the 1800s outlaw was the most expensive piece ever sold at the event. A 15 percent fee was added to the bidding price, making the selling price more than $2.6 million. Organizers had expected it could fetch between $300,000 and $400,000. The tintype... |
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| Billy the Kid tintype photograph sells for $2.3 million at Denver auction |
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· 06/27/2011 2:26:47 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 18 replies · · NYDailyNews · |
The last remaining original portrait of one of the Wild West's most notorious outlaws sold at auction Saturday for a whopping $2.3 million. The only known tintype photograph of Billy the Kid sold at Brian Lebel's 22nd Annual Old West Show & Auction in Colorado to a 71-year-old Florida businessman. "I love the Old West," said William Koch, who lives in Palm Beach. "I plan on enjoying it and discreetly sharing it. I think I'll display it in a few small museums." The photograph, believed to have been taken outside a saloon at Fort Sumner, New Mexico in either 1879... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Civil War Diaries and Letters Digital Collection: Civil War Diaries Transcription Project |
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· 06/24/2011 1:28:25 AM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 12 replies · · U of Iowa Libraries · |
"Thanks to the development of "crowdsourcing" or collaborative transcription of manuscript materials, libraries are now able to use the knowledge and interest of the general public to meet goals that they would never have the time, financial, and staff resources to achieve on their own. Please help us transcribe the 3011 diary pages in this collection. Simply select a diary and enter the text as it appears on the digitized image." |
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| Equid Twilight | |
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| Custer and Little Bighorn: 135 years ago and questions remain |
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· 06/25/2011 8:15:40 PM PDT · · Posted by EveningStar · · 206 replies · · The Dickinson Press · |
Today marks the 135 anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn near present day Garryowen, Mont. After all this time the death of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer remains a mystery. |
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| Underwater Archaeology | |
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| Confederate sub upright for first time since 1864 |
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· 06/24/2011 4:10:05 PM PDT · · Posted by Hunton Peck · · 48 replies · · Associated Press · |
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship is upright for the first time in almost 150 years, revealing a side of its hull not seen since it sank off the South Carolina coast during the Civil War. Workers at a conservation lab finished the painstaking, two-day job of rotating the hand-cranked H.L. Hunley upright late Thursday. The Hunley was resting on its side at a 45-degree angle on the bottom of the Atlantic when it was raised in August 2000 and scientists had kept it in slings in that position in the lab... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Unexploded shell found in Kake is a blast from past |
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· 06/25/2011 9:38:09 PM PDT · · Posted by skeptoid · · 11 replies · · Anchorage Daily News · |
Della Cheney remembers playing with a family heirloom growing up in Kake, a rather strange-looking metallic object that wasn't easily moved about. "It was very heavy," Cheney said. "At least 25 pounds." The heirloom? A roughly 12-inch long, 30-pound unexploded round of ammunition fired by the U.S. military on the village more than 140 years ago in what villagers and other descendents still refer to as "The Kake War." |
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| Fon Gock, Pick Ass Oh, Go Gan | |
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| Paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh and Gauguin stolen in £1m raid on gallery |
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· 04/27/2003 5:32:09 PM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 37 replies · · 368+ views · · UK Independent · |
Three paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh and Gauguin worth a total of £1m were stolen from a Manchester art gallery over the weekend in a "well planned" theft by professional art thieves, police said. Staff at the Whitworth Gallery only discovered the three works were missing when they turned up for work at about midday yesterday. The paintings are believed to have been in the same room at the museum, which has a world-renowned collection of 40,000 works by artists ranging from Lucian Freud to Toulouse Lautrec. Detectives said the thieves had broken into the building at some point after... |
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| The Political Seduction of Common Sense | |
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| Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure |
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· 04/12/2003 4:24:15 PM PDT · · Posted by Mister Magoo · · 54 replies · · 3,425+ views · · New York Times · · John F. Burns · |
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12 --- The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein's government this week, it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters. Advertisement The full extent of the disaster that befell the museum only came to light today, as the frenzied looting that swept much... |
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| Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure |
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· 04/13/2003 12:28:39 AM PDT · · Posted by JohnHuang2 · · 44 replies · · 2,363+ views · · New York Times · · John F. Burns · |
BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12 --- The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein's government this week, it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters. The full extent of the disaster that befell the museum came to light only today, as the frenzied looting that swept... |
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| Iraqis selling Antiquities ( FLASHBACK 1996) |
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· 04/15/2003 11:20:06 PM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 26 replies · · 998+ views · · U of San Francisco · · Barbara Crossette · |
Browsing the antiques markets of London a few years ago, McGuire Gibson, an expert on Mesopotamian art and archaeology at the University of Chicago, found some of his worst fears confirmed. In the stalls of Portobello Road and the shops of Bond Street, dealers offered him antiquities probably smuggled from Iraq, a modern nation in distress that sits astride the remains of several ancient civilizations. Cylinder seals, which were once used on tablets of wet clay in something like an ancient version of notarization, were for sale by... |
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| Experts: Looters had keys to Iraqi antiquity vaults |
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· 04/17/2003 8:31:57 AM PDT · · Posted by Oldeconomybuyer · · 134 replies · · 261+ views · · Associated Press · |
PARIS (AP) --- Some of the looters who ravaged Iraqi antiquities had keys to museum vaults and were able to take pieces from safes, experts said Thursday at an international meeting. The U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO, gathered some 30 art experts and cultural historians in Paris on Thursday to assess the damage to Iraqi museums and libraries looted in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion. |
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| Iraqis Say Museum Looting Wasn't as Bad as Feared |
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· 04/17/2003 12:01:36 PM PDT · · Posted by TroutStalker · · 94 replies · · 528+ views · · The Wall Street Journal · |
BAGHDAD, Iraq --- Last week's looting of the Iraq National Museum, which saw numerous items disappear from a vast collection spanning eight millennia of Mesopotamian history, has provoked world-wide outcry --- and criticism of the U.S. military for its failure to protect Iraq's priceless cultural heritage. |
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| Looting was work of organised traffickers: UNESCO experts |
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· 04/17/2003 4:13:39 PM PDT · · Posted by Oldeconomybuyer · · 51 replies · · 602+ views · · Agence France-Presse (AFP) · |
PARIS, April 17 (AFP) --Much of the looting of treasures at Iraq's national museum was carried out by organised gangs who traffic in works of ancient art, according to experts at a United Nations conference called on Thursday to examine the war-damage to the country's cultural heritage. "It looks as if at least part of the theft was a very deliberate, planned action," said McGuire Gibson, of Chicago University's Oriental Institute, who is president of the American Association for Research in Baghdad. "Probably (it was done) by the same sorts of gangs that have been paying for the destruction... |
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| Experts Thieves Pillaged Iraqi Museums |
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· 04/17/2003 8:39:43 PM PDT · · Posted by Unwavering Conservative · · 38 replies · · 229+ views · · Biloxi Sun Herald · · Jocelyn Gecker · · Associated Press · |
PARIS --Professional thieves, likely organized outside Iraq, pillaged the nation's priceless ancient history collections by using the cover of widespread looting --and vault keys --to make off with irreplaceable items, art experts and historians said Thursday. The bandits were so efficient at emptying Iraqi libraries and museums that reports have already surfaced of artifacts appearing on the black market, some experts said. Certain thieves apparently knew exactly what they wanted from the irreplaceable Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections, and exactly where to find them. "It looks as if... |
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| Many Others Are Museum Looters (must read for those following the "looting" story) |
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· 04/18/2003 12:12:32 AM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 17 replies · · 229+ views · · Wheeling News Register · · The Intelligencer · |
Looting of the Iraq National Museum, long home to many rare and unique antiquities, has been big news. While much of the concern expressed about the fate of the museum certainly is genuine, at least some of the discussion has been driven by the anti-war crowd. If only the United States and the Coalition force had not invaded, their argument goes, then precious artifacts would not have been lost. But there's much more to the story. Like much else about the regime of Saddam Hussein, the museum was run with great secrecy about what it actually possessed. It seems that... |
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| 3 resign from U.S. art panel to protest Iraq museum looting [Clinton appointees] |
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· 04/18/2003 8:16:09 AM PDT · · Posted by Incorrigible · · 64 replies · · 227+ views · · Newark Star Ledger (AP) · · Associated Press · |
WASHINGTON --- Three members of the White House Cultural Property Advisory Committee have resigned to protest U.S. military unresponsiveness as Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities was looted, even though reports suggest the thefts may have been carried out by professional thieves. FBI Director Robert Mueller, meanwhile, said his agency was in on the hunt for looted Iraqi treasures. Martin E. Sullivan, Richard S. Lanier and Gary Vikan, each appointed by former President Clinton, said they were disappointed by the military's failure to protect... |
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| Expert Thieves Took Artifacts, UNESCO Says (Don't blame the US!) |
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· 04/18/2003 9:38:21 AM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 2 replies · · 190+ views · · The Washington Post · |
Matsuura said top museum officials tried to protect the institution, but the thieves may have succeeded in paying off guards or other low-ranking personnel. He said he doesn't blame the U.S. military, even though UNESCO had urged the U.S. government before the war to safeguard it and other cultural sites. "If I were to blame somebody, it would be those armed bandits who looted their own cultural treasury," Matsuura said. The museum was assaulted during "a power vacuum" following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government, and "anything could happen in such confusion and turmoil," he said. |
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| Looters return objects to museum |
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· 04/18/2003 8:22:14 PM PDT · · Posted by knak · · 57 replies · · 252+ views · · ic Liverpool · |
Baghdad residents returned 20 looted pieces from Iraq's ransacked national collection holding some of the earliest artefacts of civilisation. Iraq's antiquities chief, Jabar Hilil, yesterday called looting of Iraq's national museum following entry of US forces the "crime of the century." And he questioned why US forces made no move to safeguard it in the days of chaos that followed the toppling of President Saddam Hussein's government. But Hilil left open the possibility that losses were not as absolute as first thought. With no electricity in Baghdad, he said, museum operators had yet to make a full assessment of the... |
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| U.S. accused of crime of century |
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· 04/19/2003 12:55:38 AM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 26 replies · · 235+ views · · Gulf News, Dubai · |
U.S. troops committed the cultural "crime of the century" when they failed to protect priceless Iraqi artefacts from looters and likely trampled archaeological sites during the invasion, top antiquities officials here charged yesterday. They also said a small number of "valuable" missing museum pieces were returned after appeals by religious leaders, but denied reports from a UN conference that Iraqi officials may have been involved in an organised theft. "With what I'm expecting has happened in the (archaeological) sites in the field and what happened to the Iraq museum, I would say it's the crime of the century because it... |
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| Most antiquities found, unharmed |
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· 05/05/2003 7:41:04 AM PDT · · Posted by sjersey · · 81 replies · · 499+ views · · Philadelphia Inquirer · |
BAGHDAD --The vast majority of the Iraqi trove of antiquities feared stolen or broken have been found inside the National Museum in Baghdad, according to American investigators who compiled an inventory over the weekend of the ransacked galleries. A total of 38 antiquities, not tens of thousands, are now believed to be missing. Among them is a single display of Babylonian cuneiform tablets that accounts for nine missing items. The single most valuable missing piece is the Vase of Warka, a white limestone bowl dating from 3000 B.C. |
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| Missing (Baghdad) museum artefacts found safe in vaults |
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· 05/08/2003 4:30:35 PM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 47 replies · · 289+ views · · The Straits Times · |
WASHINGTON --More than 700 artefacts and tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts that had been missing from the National Museum in Baghdad have been recovered by teams of investigators in Iraq, US officials said on Wednesday. Some of the missing works were stored in underground vaults before the United States-led invasion of the country. The US investigators located the vaults over the past week. They forced them open, revealing hundreds of artefacts that had apparently been stored there to protect them from being damaged in a US assault. The find included ancient jewellery, pottery and sarcophaguses, officials said. The... |
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| The museum sacking that wasn't |
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· 05/27/2003 4:51:54 AM PDT · · Posted by Cincinatus · · 45 replies · · 272+ views · · Townhall.com · |
If you only read The New York Times, you might think the only truly important recent event in Iraq was the looting of the Iraqi National Museum. For art lovers, this branded the U.S. occupation with the worst of all possible labels, worse than "imperialist," worse than "illegal" --- "Philistine." Robert Deutsch, an archeologist at Haifa University and a licensed antiquities dealer, shakes his head at all the coverage of the museum sacking. The Times originally reported that 170,000 pieces had been stolen. "Nonsense," says Deutsch. He points out that there would have to be "miles and miles" of display... |
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| 'Looted' Treasures Found In Baghdad |
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· 06/07/2003 5:12:40 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 13 replies · · 236+ views · · Independent (UK) · · Andrew Clennell · |
Almost all the items feared looted from the Iraqi National Museum in April have been found safe in a secret vault, the US announced yesterday. In a separate find, the world-famous treasures of Nimrud, one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, which have not been on public display since before the first Gulf War, have also been located. They were found in good condition in a different vault, at Iraq's central bank. US occupation authorities said fewer than 50 major exhibition items from the National... |
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| Mother of Media Myths (Undoubtedly written by Paul Greenberg so you know it's great!) |
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· 06/13/2003 5:58:15 PM PDT · · Posted by Durmundstrang · · 15 replies · · 516+ views · · Arkansas Democrat-Gazette · |
What's THE biggest media myth to come out of the Iraq? War and its messy aftermath? Forget Maureen Dowd's attempt to trash George W. Bush by altering the president's words. That kind of "journalism" has become just standard operating procedure at the New York Times. (" All the News Fit to Distort") No, for sheer, long-lasting stamina, we nominate the urban legend about the pillaging of Baghdad's archaeological museum. Remember how it was supposed to have been emptied by looters? It was THE RAPE OF CIVILIZATION! The anguished comments from distinguished archaeologists sounded more like tabloid headlines. The Death of... |
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| Iraqi treasures to tour US |
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· 08/02/2003 1:26:45 AM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 6 replies · · 228+ views · · BBC · |
The Baghdad museum is lending some of its greatest treasures to the US, just months after fearing much of it had been looted. The museum in the Iraqi capital was hit by a wave of looting in the days following the fall of Baghdad. But after recovering much of what was thought to have been stolen, the Iraq museum is keen to show off its items of cultural importance. Among the valuables which will form part of a travelling exhibition is the collection of Assyrian jewellery known as the Nimrud artefacts. The priceless array of 650 bracelets, necklaces, royal tiaras... |
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| end of digest #363 20110702 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #364 Saturday, July 9, 2011 |
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| Archaeoastronomy & Megaliths | |
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| Is an Eclipse Described in the Odyssey (and does it date the return of Odysseus to Penelope) |
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· 07/08/2011 11:33:43 AM PDT · · Posted by wildbill · · 37 replies · · PNAS June 2008 · · June 2008 · · Marcelo Magnasco · |
"Now when did Odysseus return to Penelope? The date is given with a precision most unusual in epic poetry." "Because the lines describing the alleged eclipse are considered suspect, we shall use other passages in the Odyssey to shed some light on the issue, without assuming an eclipse. Given an interpretation of certain passages in the Odyssey as describing astronomical phenomena, we will look for dates in which the phenomena match. We shall find that the most likely day matching these other phenomena is 16 April 1178 B.C., suggesting there may be corroborating information in the epic for the eclipse... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| The tsunamis of Olympia |
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· 07/08/2011 7:10:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Past Horizons · · Thursday, July 7, 2011 · · Johannes Gutenberg U · |
Olympia, the Sanctuary of Zeus and venue of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, was probably destroyed by tsunamis that reached far inland, and not as previously believed, by earthquakes and river flooding... Palëotsunamis that have taken place over the last 11,000 years along the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean. The Olympic-tsunami hypothesis has been put forward due to sediments found in the vicinity of Olympia, which were buried under an 8 metres thick layer of sand and other debris, and only rediscovered around 250 years ago. "The composition and thickness of the sediments we have found, do not fit... |
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| Here Comes the Flood | |
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| Archaeology: Black Sea's ancient coast found -- report |
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· 07/08/2011 6:50:13 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Sofia Echo · · Thursday, July 07, 2011 · · staff · |
Bulgarian scientists have found the ancient shores of the Black Sea, currently deep beneath the waves, which they claim were the original shores about 7500 years ago, when the Black Sea at the time was just a fresh water lake... The team, led by Professor Petko Dimitrov of the Institute of Oceanology in Varna, which is part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), returned from an expedition aboard the research vessel Akademik, saying that they have found the ancient coastline close to the Cape of Emine. Archaeological evidence suggest that this particular spot was part of the ancient coastline,... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| First Temple findings reinforce Jewish Jerusalem |
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· 07/04/2011 12:47:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 32 replies · · Jewish Chronicle · · June 30 2011 · · Nathan Jeffay · |
Claiming one in the eye for the Palestinian trend of "Temple denial", Israeli archaeologists are preparing, for the first time, to open buildings from the First Temple era to the public. In recent years Palestinians, including leaders of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, have claimed in growing numbers that there was never a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The new finds mean that not only can Israel cite archaeological evidence of the Second Temple but that it can also boast a major a complex of excavations from the First Temple, built some five centuries earlier. The new excavations, which will open to... |
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| Home from Biblical Kingdom Of Israel Discovered on Haifa Coast |
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· 07/03/2011 1:22:36 PM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 19 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 3/7/11 · · Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu · |
A well-preserved, 3,000-year-old four-room house from the Biblical Kingdom of Israel has been discovered on Haifa's southern coast by University of Haifa archaeologists. They also found remains of a Persian city, dating back 2,400 years, and of a 1,500-year-old Byzantine town. The discoveries at the Shikmona Nature Reserve site involved what experts said was detective work, due to the site's having been excavated 42 years ago but since covered with garbage and earth. Archaeologists from Haifa University re-examined the structure and were amazed to find that it had remained well preserved and is in fact the best-preserved "Four-Room House" dating... |
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| Uncovering a kingdom (Kingdom of Israel) |
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· 07/05/2011 7:32:19 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · · University of Haifa · · July 3, 2011 · · Editor · |
Exceptional detective-archaeological work at the first season of archaeological digs at Tel Shikmona, on the southern edge of Israel's city of Haifa, has uncovered the remains of a house dating back to the period of the Kingdom of Israel. The site was excavated about 40 years ago and due to neglect and layers of earth and garbage that piled up over the decades, the historical remains were hidden and little was known about what lay below. Upon re-exposing the structure, archaeologists from the University of Haifa were amazed to find that it had remained well preserved and is in fact... |
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| The Philistines | |
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| In Israel, diggers unearth the Bible's bad guys |
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· 07/08/2011 5:19:43 AM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 67 replies · · Charlotte observer · · 7-8-11 · |
TEL EL-SAFI, Israel At the remains of an ancient metropolis in southern Israel, archaeologists are piecing together the history of a people remembered chiefly as the bad guys of the Hebrew Bible. The city of Gath, where the annual digging season began this week, is helping scholars paint a more nuanced portrait of the Philistines, who appear in the biblical story as the perennial enemies of the Israelites. Close to three millennia ago, Gath was on the frontier between the Philistines, who occupied the Mediterranean coastal plain, and the Israelites, who controlled the inland hills. The city's most famous resident,... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| The Origins of Archery in Africa |
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· 07/06/2011 4:15:09 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 15 replies · · · |
It is well understood that projectile weapons allow lethal killing power at a safe distance and their use is near universal among human groups. Before the firearm began it's rise to prominence over the last 500 years the most popular projectile weapons systems were the atlatl (spearthrower/dart) and the bow and arrow. Most researchers consider these as ""true'' projectile technologies, distinguishing them from thrown spears, throwing sticks and other hurled weapons. There is considerable archaeological consensus that projectile weapons were in use by the Late Palaeolithic at least 30,000 years ago. However, last year, anthropologist Marlize Lombard of South Africa's... |
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| Africa | |
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| Archeological Findings Reveal Central African History [...humans settled Cameroon 5000 years ago] |
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· 07/08/2011 4:03:51 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · Voice of America · · Wednesday, July 6, 2011 · · Ntaryike Divine Jr · |
Artifacts from hundreds of archeological sites from southern Chad to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Cameroon... research was conducted between 1999 and 2004 as construction was underway on the underground petroleum pipeline... which is more than 1000 kilometers long.... 472 archeological sites along the area in both Cameroon and Chad were found .some dating back to as long ago as 100,000 years. He says, "we found sites where people had lived, where people had stored food, where people had made tools of iron. Before people in this area used iron, they made a whole variety of different... |
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| Australia & the Pacific | |
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| Finding showing human ancestor older than previously thought offers new insights into evolution |
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· 07/04/2011 8:45:25 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 30 replies · · Eurekalert! · · Wednesday, June 29, 2011 · · James Devitt · |
Homo erectus is widely considered a direct human ancestor -- it resembles modern humans in many respects, except for its smaller brain and differently shaped skull -- and was the first of our ancestors to migrate out of Africa, approximately 1.8 million years ago. Homo erectus went extinct in Africa and much of Asia by about 500,000 years ago, but appeared to have survived in Indonesia until about 35,000 to 50,000 years ago at the site of Ngandong on the Solo River. These late members of Homo erectus would have shared the environment with early members of our own species,... |
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| Human Ancestor in Indonesia Died Out Earlier Than Once Thought |
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· 07/05/2011 4:52:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 12 replies · · Popular archaeology · · 6-30-2011 · |
A 1996 expedition resulted in conclusions that the ancient early human species, Homo erectus, coexisted for a time with modern humans in Indonesia. The most recent expedition suggests otherwise, challenging a widely held hypothesis of human evolution. Homo erectus, an ancient human ancestor that lived 1.8 million -- 35,000 years ago, is said by theorists of human evolution to have lived alongside Homo sapiens (modern humans) in Indonesia, surviving most other Homo erectus populations that became extinct in Africa and most of Eurasia by 500,000 B.P. Perhaps not so, according to an international team of researchers, after conducting archaeological investigations... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Counting On Progress: Roman numerals were fine for adding and subtracting. Fibonacci saw that... |
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· 07/07/2011 9:17:30 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 26 replies · · Wall St Journal · · Thursday, July 7, 2011 · · reviewed by Alan Hirshfeld · |
For popular historians, there is a constant tension between patching up a holey narrative and honoring a commitment to the facts, as rickety as these often are. Perhaps authors of historical fiction have an easier time of it; they use facts as the yeast to grow fully formed characters, convincing dialogue and a credible story line. We are eager partners in these literary deceptions, for the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with Renault's Alexander or Graves's Claudius. Nonfiction historians are hogtied; no amount of speculative verbiage can truly fill an absence of facts. Such is the case with Fibonacci... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Hoard of Viking silver coins unearthed in Furness |
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· 07/04/2011 7:38:45 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 28 replies · · BBC · · 1 July 2011 · · unattributed · |
A metal detectorist uncovered a Viking hoard of silver coins and artefacts in the Cumbrian countryside. The collection, which has been provisionally valued at tens of thousands of pounds, was found in an undisclosed site in Furness. It is being examined by experts at the British Museum and is expected to be declared as treasure. Experts at Barrow's Dock Museum hope to acquire the hoard and said it was an exciting find for the area. It consists of 92 silver coins and artefacts including ingots and a silver bracelet. Among the coins is a pair of Arabic dirhams. Experts believe... |
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| The Vikings | |
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| Dorset burial pit Viking had filed teeth |
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· 07/05/2011 4:10:12 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 10 replies · · BBC · · 7-4-2011 · |
Archaeologists have discovered one of the victims of a suspected mass Viking burial pit found in Dorset had grooves filed into his two front teeth. Experts believe a collection of bones and decapitated heads, unearthed during the creation of the Weymouth Relief Road, belong to young Viking warriors. During analysis, a pair of front teeth was found to have distinct incisions. Archaeologists think it may have been designed to frighten opponents or show status as a great fighter.... |
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| Fierce, fashionable Vikings filed their teeth and ironed their clothes |
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· 07/08/2011 11:43:14 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 36 replies · · io9.com/ · · 07-08-2011 · · Staff · |
A mysterious cache of dozens of humans skulls discovered earlier this year in Dorset, England belonged to Viking raiders. Anthropologists figured this out when they examined the teeth, and found that elaborate patterns had been filed into them. That's right -- the Vikings filed their teeth, and probably put pigment into the designs to make them look even more badass. No other European groups were known to file their teeth at the time these Vikings were beheaded about a millennium ago, though it was a common practice in Africa and Paleoamerica. Were the filed teeth these Norsemen's attempt to make... |
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| Have Mercia | |
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| Staffordshire Hoard 'to help rewrite history' |
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· 07/03/2011 9:17:20 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 27 replies · · BBC · · July 2, 2011 · · Unknown · |
A haul of Anglo-Saxon gold discovered beneath a Staffordshire farmer's field could help rewrite history, experts say.Historians believe the Staffordshire Hoard could hold vital clues to explain the conversion of Mercia -- England's last great Pagan kingdom -- to Christianity in the 7th Century. The hoard was found buried on a farm in Staffordshire in July 2009. The 1,500 pieces of gold are thought to be the spoils of an Anglo-Saxon battle. 'Warring kingdoms'TV historian Dan Snow believes the find has the potential to rewrite the history books. Speaking on BBC1's The Staffordshire Hoard, he said the conversion of Mercia... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Woman's skeleton found at Sedgeford dig sheds light on Norfolk 4,000 years ago |
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· 07/05/2011 4:22:20 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 14 replies · · EDP24.co.uk · · 7-4-2011 · · Chris Bishop · |
Curled up in her burial pit with her amber beads, an ancient woman's remains show our ancestors farmed a lush Norfolk valley thousands of years earlier than previously believed. ~~~snip~~~ "It was a total surprise to us," he said. "You don't bury people anywhere other than near where they live, so what we can say is that people were farming the land here 4,000 years ago.".... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Archaeologists Puzzle Over Opulent Prehistoric Burial Find |
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· 07/01/2011 8:54:25 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 34 replies · · Spiegel Online · · 01 July 2011 · · Matthias Schulz · |
When archeologists recently excavated a 3,800-year-old palace near the eastern German city of Weimar, they discovered about 100 valuable weapons buried next to a massive structure. Now they are puzzling over how an ancient chieftain buried nearby became so rich. In 1877, when archeology was still in its infancy, art professor Friedrich Klopfleisch climbed an almost nine-meter (20-foot) mound of earth in Leubingen, a district in the eastern German state of Thuringia lying near a range of hills in eastern Germany known as the Kyffhëuser. He was there to "kettle" the hill, which entailed having workers dig a hole from... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Legendary Viking Home Site Found (Snorri) |
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· 10/05/2002 2:31:00 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 44 replies · · 366+ views · · CNN.com · · 10-3-2002 · |
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a Viking longhouse that many believe was the home of Snorri Thorfinnsson, thought to be the first European born in the New World. The 1,000-year-old ruins were found in a glacial valley in northern Iceland during a survey of Viking-era buildings led by archaeologists at the University of California, Los Angeles. |
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| Legendary Viking home site found |
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· 10/07/2002 9:51:37 PM PDT · · Posted by stainlessbanner · · 8 replies · · 344+ views · · cnn.com · · October 3, 2002 · · AP · |
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a Viking longhouse that many believe was the home of Snorri Thorfinnsson, thought to be the first European born in the New World. The 1,000-year-old ruins were found in a glacial valley in northern Iceland during a survey of Viking-era buildings led by archaeologists at the University of California, Los Angeles. |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Ancestry of polar bears traced to Ireland |
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· 07/07/2011 12:36:25 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 29 replies · · Penn State · · July 7, 2011 · · Unknown · |
An international team of scientists has discovered that the female ancestor of all living polar bears was a brown bear that lived in the vicinity of present-day Britain and Ireland just prior to the peak of the last ice age -- 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University and one of the team's leaders, explained that climate changes affecting the North Atlantic ice sheet probably gave rise to periodic overlaps in bear habitats. These overlaps then led to hybridization, or interbreeding -- an event that caused maternal DNA from brown... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| The rise and rise of the flying reptiles |
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· 07/06/2011 12:25:59 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 9 replies · · University of Bristol · · July 6, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Pterosaurs, flying reptiles from the time of the dinosaurs, were not driven to extinction by the birds, but in fact they continued to diversify and innovate for millions of years afterwards.A new study by Katy Prentice, done as part of her undergraduate degree (MSci in Palaeontology and Evolution) at the University of Bristol, shows that the pterosaurs evolved in a most unusual way, becoming more and more specialised through their 160 million years on Earth. The work is published today in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. "Usually, when a new group of animals or plants evolves, they quickly try out... |
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| Egypt | |
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| 5,200 year-old Ancient Egyptian drawing unearthed |
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· 07/04/2011 11:32:04 AM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 10 replies · · Associated Press · · July 4, 2011 · |
CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's Antiquities Authority says archaeologists have unearthed a 5,200-year-old rock drawing depicting a royal festival during Ancient Egypt's earliest dynasty. The ministry says the scenes were part of a series of rock drawings featuring hunting, fighting and celebrations along the banks of the Nile River. |
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| Rock This Town | |
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| Riddle of the Pyramids: Why De Mille didn't need all those slaves |
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· 12/31/2001 12:33:44 PM PST · · Posted by John Farson · · 103 replies · · 1,263+ views · · The Observer · · Sunday December 30, 2001 · · Paul Webster in Paris · |
Like millions of tourists, from the Ancient Greeks on, the Blairs may have been victims of one of the world's oldest confidence tricks when they walked round the Pyramids on the Prime Minister's holiday trip to Egypt. To the uninitiated eye, the 2.3 million blocks of stones rising to a 146-metre peak on the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid near Cairo look as solid as pure granite. But French architects and scientists believe they are nothing more than weathered concrete blocks, moulded on the spot, stone by stone and layer by layer, from the ground upwards. The theory, being explored by ... |
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| Pages | |
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| What Are You Reading Now? -- My Quarterly Thread |
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· 07/07/2011 12:57:12 PM PDT · · Posted by MplsSteve · · 186 replies · · class="attrib">7/07/11 · · MplsSteve · |
Hi everyone! I hope your 4th of July was a good one. it's time again for my quarterly "What Are You Reading Now?" thread. As you know, I consider Freepers to be among the most well-read of those of us on the Internet and I like to see what other Freepers are reading these days. It can be anything -- a classic novel, a trashy pulp romance, a technical journal, etc. Please do not deile this thread by posting "I'm reading this thread". it became very unfunny a long time ago. I'll start. I'm just finishing "Chancellorsville 1863: The Souls... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| "We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient..." |
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· 07/04/2011 6:36:29 AM PDT · · Posted by EternalVigilance · · 33 replies · · American Minute · · July 4, 2011 · |
American Minute with Bill Federer July 4 The Declaration of Independence was approved JULY 4, 1776. John Hancock signed first, saying "the price on my head has just doubled." Benjamin Franklin said "We must hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately." Of the 56 signers: 17 served in the military; †11 had their homes destroyed; 5 were hunted and captured; Abraham Clark had two sons imprisoned on the British starving ship Jersey; John Witherspoon's son was killed in battle; Francis Lewis' wife was imprisoned and died from the harsh treatment; many, such as Thomas Nelson and Carter Braxton,... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| The Dogs (and Bears, and Camels) of [Civil] War |
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· 07/07/2011 4:46:39 PM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 41 replies · · NYT · · July 6, 2011 · · CATE LINEBERRY · |
As Union and Confederate soldiers left the comforts of home for the grim realities of war, many brought along family pets or adopted stray or wild animals, which quickly took on semi-official roles. Regiments from the North and the South kept dogs, cats, horses, squirrels and raccoons as mascots. Some chose more unusual animals, including bears, badgers, eagles, wildcats, even a camel. |
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| The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913 |
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· 07/03/2011 5:17:31 PM PDT · · Posted by BigReb555 · · 91 replies · · Canda Free Press · · July 3, 2011 · · Calvin E. Johnson, Jr. · |
Fifty years had passed since the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1st- 3rd, 1863. |
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| Anniversary Of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Today |
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· 11/19/2001 1:35:22 AM PST · · Posted by PaulJ · · 107 replies · · 1,440+ views · · class="attrib">11/19/1863 · · A. Lincoln · |
Today is the Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It might do us all well to take a moment to re-read it and reflect on it's meaning to us then and how it applies today. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of ... |
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| Not-so-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| 1879 London murder mystery solved |
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· 07/06/2011 7:02:39 PM PDT · · Posted by nuconvert · · 19 replies · · AFP · · · |
A murder mystery dating back to 1879 has been finally resolved aftera skull unearthed in BBC legend David Attenborough's garden was formally recognised as that of a woman murdered by her maid 132 years ago. Julia Martha Thomas, a wealthy widow aged 55, was killed by her 29-year-old housekeeper Kate Webster very close to Park Road in well-to-do Richmond, but her head was never found. The case became known as the 'Barnes Mystery', which gripped London at the time. |
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| Turns of Phrase | |
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| Now, a Database of Brit's Weirdest Words |
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· 07/04/2011 11:18:06 AM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 28 replies · · The Times of India · · Jul 4, 2011 · |
Heard of bobowler, baffies, bishybarnabee, tittermatorter? Well, these are some of the weirdest words used in Britain. For the first time, the British Library is keeping track of the nation's regional words and has developed a word bank of around 4,000 entries. The words were submitted by visitors to the British Library in central London or to a series of events at provincial libraries as part of its Evolving English exhibition. According to experts, many local dialects died off in recent decades, squeezed out by the increasing standardisation of the language thanks to population mobility as well as the influence... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Dutch Carpenter Builds Full-Size Replica of Noah's Ark |
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· 07/01/2011 8:03:35 PM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 61 replies · · TIME Newsfeed · · 7/1/11 · · Zachary Cohen · |
Johan Huibers just finished a building a new ark that is even bigger than his original one, pictured here.It turns out somebody actually knows what a cubit is. Because one man converted the Biblical measurements to create a scale model of Noah's ark. And it's big. Really big. Johan Huibers of the Netherlands had a dream in 1991 that Holland was flooding. Three years and $1.6 million later, Huibers has a shiny new tourist attraction. The boat, which is as long as football field and four stories high, will be opened to the public as a tourist attraction with a... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Endgame for the Hapsburgs |
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· 07/05/2011 8:54:06 PM PDT · · Posted by bruinbirdman · · 39 replies · · Presseurop · · 7/5/2011 · |
"Otto von Habsburg was the last man to have a real idea of ‚Äã‚Äãthe democratic metamorphosis of the Austrian Empire in Europe." Thus Die Presse reports the death of the eldest son of the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary at the age of 98. The funeral of the former MEP will "revive the nostalgia of the Austrians", the Vienna daily continues, for "Otto was the last intellectual and biographical link with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.... The biography of this man," who lived through the Anschluss of Austria to Germany and especially the "homecoming' of Hitler, "is the history... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Italy revives Sicily bridge plan [ Straits of Messina bridge, 2009 ] |
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· 07/05/2011 8:15:12 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · BBC News · · Friday, March 6, 2009 · · unattributed · |
Italy's government has revived plans to build a controversial bridge linking the island of Sicily to the mainland. The Messina bridge, whose centre span of 3.3km (two miles) would make it the longest in the world, has been a pet project of Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. His 2001-2006 government backed it, before the succeeding administration scrapped it. It is part of a massive 17.8bn-euro (£15.9bn) public works programme to create new jobs and boost the economy. The programme was announced on Friday after being approved by the cabinet and various government departments. Funding for the programme is a mix of public... |
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| "Hidden treasure' worth Rs. 90 crore found in Puri's Emar Mutt[India][[18 Tons] |
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· 02/26/2011 9:21:49 PM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 12 replies · · The Hindu · · 26 Feb 2011 · · Satyasundar Barik · |
Officials stumble upon 522 old silver slabs weighing about 18 tonnes In one of the biggest findings of "hidden treasure" from a religious place, Orissa's Endowment Department officials and the police stumbled upon 522 silver slabs weighing about 18 tonnes from a mutt in Puri on Saturday. As per the present market price, the value of the metal is estimated to be around Rs. 90 crore. The huge stock of silver was found from four sinduka (wooden containers) placed inside a room, closed from all sides by brick walls, in the Emar Mutt in front of the Sri Jagannath Temple.... |
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| end of digest #364 20110709 | |
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