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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #365 · v 8 · n 1 Saturday, July 16, 2011 |
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Welcome to the beginning of the eighth year of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #365 Saturday, July 16, 2011 |
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| The Phoenicians | |
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| Carthaginian temples found -- Azores |
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· 07/10/2011 6:57:49 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 49 replies · · Portuguese American Journal · · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · · paj.cm · |
Archaeologists from the Portuguese Association of Archeological Research (APIA) believe to have found in the Azores a significant number of Carthaginian temples, from the fourth century BC, dedicated to the goddess Tanit. The new archaeological sites were found in Monte Brasil, Angra Heroismo, Terceira island. According to APIA archaeologists Nuno Ribeiro and Anabela Joaquinito, "More than five hypogea type monuments (tombs excavated in rocks) and at least three 'sanctuaries' proto-historic, carved into the rock, were found." A monument located at "Monte do Facho" shows inbuilt sink shaped carvings linked to water conduits for libations. "There are 'chairs' carved into the... |
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| The Philistines | |
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| Diggers Unearth Philistines Remains in Israel, Providing scholars with clues to the Bible's bad guys |
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· 07/09/2011 7:09:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 13 replies · · Gather · · 07/09/2011 · · Kate James · |
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of the Philistines in Israel. They are providing scholars with new clues to the Bible's bad guys. The digging in the city of Gath is helping flesh out the picture of the group. Since 1996, digging happens each year in Gath, and this year, over 100 scholars gathered to began excavating the remains of the ancient metropolis whose most famous resident was Goliath. This year, the diggers have unearthed ancient jugs that are more than 3,000 years old, and the decorations on them hint at the Greek origins of the Philistines. How amazing that these... |
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| In Israel, Diggers Unearth The Bible's Bad Guys |
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· 07/10/2011 6:05:19 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 7 replies · · AP · · 7/6/11 · · Matti Friedman · |
TEL EL-SAFI, Israel (AP) -- 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... |
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| Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition | |
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| Majorcan Descendants of Spanish Jews Who Converted Are Recognized as Jews |
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· 07/10/2011 7:04:06 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 160 replies · · The New York Times · · 10 July 2011 · · DOREEN CARVAJAL · |
Centuries after the Spanish Inquisition led to the forced conversion of Jews to Catholicism, an ultra-orthodox rabbinical court in Israel has issued a religious ruling that recognizes descendants from the insular island of Majorca as Jews. The opinion focused narrowly on the Majorcan community of about 20,000 people known as chuetas and did not apply to descendants of Sephardic Jewish converts in mainland Spain or the broader diaspora of thousands of others who scattered to the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish colonies in South and North America. The island, isolated until a tourist boom that began in the late 1960s,... |
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| India | |
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| The Jewish Palate: The Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta, India |
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· 07/09/2011 6:38:05 PM PDT · · Posted by James C. Bennett · · 10 replies · · The Jerusalem Post · · 07/04/2011 · · Dennis Wasko · |
The first Jews arrived in Calcutta sometime in the late 18th century. This group was comprised of Baghdadi Jews who came from Iraq, as well as Syrian and Persian Jews. All of these Jewish settlers were fleeing from Islamic persecution in their native lands. The Jewish refugees who were forced out of their homes found welcoming safety in Calcutta. By 1800, the Jews had established a vibrant community and thrived as diamond merchants, real estate brokers, exporters, spice traders, and bakers. The first generations of Jews in Calcutta spoke Judeo-Arabic, but by the 1890's, English was the language of choice.... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| U.S. Archives Photo History of Expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem |
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· 07/11/2011 9:10:18 AM PDT · · Posted by Nachum · · 14 replies · · inn · · 7/11/11 · · Chana Ya'ar · |
Every now and then, a treasure is unearthed not by archaeologists digging in the ground, but by historians and others seeking information among the stacks of books in a library. Writer and analyst Lenny Ben David was doing exactly that when he came across a massive Library of Congress photo archive of life in Palestine, circa early 1900s. Prior to its rebirth as a commonwealth, the lands of the State of Israel were all referred to as Palestine by the British. Ben David, a former diplomat and lobbyist, writes on his blog, "As I skimmed through the pictures, one theme... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| "Tomb of the Otters" Filled With Stone Age Human Bones |
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· 07/10/2011 7:35:41 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 19 replies · · class="attrib">7-7-2011 · · James Owen · |
Thousands of human bones have been found inside a Stone Age tomb on a northern Scottish island, archaeologists say. The 5,000-year-old burial site, on South Ronaldsay (map) in the Orkney Islands, was accidentally uncovered after a homeowner had leveled a mound in his yard to improve his ocean view. ~~~snip~~~ The underground grave consists of a 4- by 0.75-meter (13- by 2.5-foot) central chamber surrounded by four smaller cells hewn from sandstone bedrock. Capping the central chamber are large water-worn slabs supported by stone walls and pillars. At least a thousand skeleton parts belonging to a mix of genders and... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| Earliest Europeans Were Cannibals, Wore Bling |
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· 07/10/2011 7:44:31 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 28 replies · · Discovery News · · 7-6-2011 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
The earliest known modern humans from southeast Europe wore shell and mammoth jewelry. · The same early humans also likely practiced cannibalism. · The cannibalism was tied to funeral rituals, since the bones were not butchered like meat. Early humans wore jewelry and likely practiced cannibalism, suggest remains of the earliest known Homo sapiens from southeastern Europe. The remains, described in PLoS One, date to 32,000 years ago and represent the oldest direct evidence for anatomically modern humans in a well-documented context. The human remains are also the oldest known for our species in Europe to show post-mortem cut... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| New Evidence of Early Humans Unearthed in Russia's North |
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· 09/06/2001 9:41:07 AM PDT · · Posted by Ada Coddington · · 22 replies · · New York Times · · 9/6/01 · · John Noble Wilford · |
Stone tools, animal bones and an incised mammoth tusk found in Russia's frigid far north have provided what archaeologists say is the first evidence that modern humans or Neanderthals lived in the Arctic more than 30,000 years ago, at least 15,000 years earlier than previously thought. A team of Russian and Norwegian archaeologists, describing the discovery in today's issue of the journal Nature, said the camp site, at Mamontovaya Kurya, on the Usa River at the Arctic Circle, was the "oldest documented evidence for human presence at ... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| PBS Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women |
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· 10/14/2005 9:42:13 PM PDT · · Posted by LauraleeBraswell · · 26 replies · · PBS · · 2004 · · Kathy Svitil · |
The myth of the Amazons, a tribe of bloodthirsty blond women thundering across arid battlefields to the horror of their male foes, has lingered for centuries. Their exploits seized the imagination of the Greek scribes Homer, Hippocrates, and Herodotus. But proof of their existence had always been lacking. Now, a 2,500-year-old mystery may have been solved, cracked by an American scientist whose 10-year odyssey led her tens of thousands of miles in pursuit of the truth. After unearthing a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball followed a trail of artifacts to a remote village... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| New archeological find discovered in Akmola region [ Sarmatian tomb ] |
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· 07/15/2011 1:13:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · Caspionet · · Friday, July 8, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Archaeologists from the Gumilyov Eurasian National University have found a mound, presumably dating back to the Iron age. The tomb of Sarmatian warrior is located near the village of Aidarly in the Akmola region. In the mound, archeologists also found arrowheads, knives, an iron belt badge, ceramic vessels and the bones of sacrificial animals. Sergazy Saken, Archeological Expedition Leader: The body of the middle-class warrior is place with its head towards the south which is peculiar for Sarmatians and dates back to 3rd or 4th centuries BC. The artifacts found in the tomb were placed near the body with two... |
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| Steppe by Steppe | |
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| Mongol Mysteries: Are 'Deer Stones' A clue? |
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· 08/14/2002 10:08:17 AM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 4 replies · · Seattle Times/Washington Post · · 8-14-2002 · · Guy Gugliotta · |
Sometime around 1000 B.C., a Mongolian tribesman climbed on the back of a horse and surveyed the windblown steppe that stretched as far as the eye could see. The weather was turning colder, and there wasn't enough grass for his goats. It was time to move. From the moment that decision was made, a tradition was born. Horses -- yesterday's beasts of burden -- became a means of escape. Soon they would become the tool of conquest, and the people of the steppe -- whether Scythian,... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Russia marks 450 years of St. Basil's Cathedral |
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· 07/12/2011 4:13:50 PM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 24 replies · · Associated Press · · 07/12/2011 · · Mansur Mirovalev · |
He was naked, homeless and fiercely argumentative -- and his name is immortalized in one of Russia's most remarkable buildings, St. Basil's Cathedral. An exhibition detailing the lives of St. Basil and other religious zealots known as "holy fools" opened Tuesday as part of ceremonies marking the 450th anniversary of perhaps Moscow's most famous tourist attraction. After years of restoration work that cost 390 million rubles ($14 million) -- including the reinforcement of the walls and the pile of brightly colored onion domes and spires that crown the architectural fantasia -- the iconic church looks lavish, and a striking contrast... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| The Mysterious Minaret of Jam |
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· 07/10/2011 6:48:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 21 replies · · DRB · · 02 July 2011 · |
The 12-Century Wonder and Mystery of Afghanistan -- Built back in 1190s by the once great Ghorid empire, this enigmatic and intricately-ornamented ancient "skyscraper" stands like a missile pointing at the stars -- a 65-meter high minaret, the second biggest religious monument of its kind in the world. Originally it was topped by the lantern -- making it a sort of the dry land lighthouse (!), surrounded by the 2400m high mountains: (Note a white jeep crossing the river in photo above: there was a bridge before, but it was destroyed during wartime...) Amazingly, this imposing structure was standing forgotten for... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Olympia hypothesis: Tsunamis buried the cult site on the Peloponnese |
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· 07/11/2011 7:08:43 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · Johannes Gutenberg University · · July 11, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Professor Andreas Vött presents new results of geomorphological and geoarcheological investigations on the sedimentary burial of Olympia -- Olympia, site of the famous Temple of Zeus and original venue of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, was presumably destroyed by repeated tsunamis that travelled considerable distances inland, and not by earthquake and river floods as has been assumed to date. Evidence in support of this new theory on the virtual disappearance of the ancient cult site on the Peloponnesian peninsula comes from Professor Dr Andreas Vött of the Institute of Geography of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Vött investigated the site as... |
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| Sunken Civilizations | |
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| A Lost World? Atlantis-Like Landscape Discovered |
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· 07/12/2011 7:24:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 49 replies · · LiveScience · · Sunday, July 10, 2011 · · Wynne Parry · |
Buried deep beneath the sediment of the North Atlantic Ocean lies an ancient, lost landscape with furrows cut by rivers and peaks that once belonged to mountains. Geologists recently discovered this roughly 56-million-year-old landscape using data gathered for oil companies. "It looks for all the world like a map of a bit of a country onshore," said Nicky White, the senior researcher. "It is like an ancient fossil landscape preserved 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) beneath the seabed." So far, the data have revealed a landscape about 3,861 square miles (10,000 square km) west of the Orkney-Shetland Islands that stretched above... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Unsolved Mystery: Origin Of 800-Year-Old Artifacts Eludes Experts (Portland, Oregon) |
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· 10/07/2002 5:12:26 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 68 replies · · Columbian.com · · 10-6-2002 · · Dean Baker · |
With almond-shaped eyes and dreadlocked hair, the faces on the 800-year-old clay amulets have been a mystery since they were first discovered on the banks of the Columbia River more than 80 years ago. Who were these guys who lived around modern Ridgefield at the time Genghis Khan conquered Persia and King John of England signed the Magna Carta? "They were not Chinook Indians," said David Fenton, executive director of the Clark County Historical Museum. "Where they came from and where they... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| New facilities added to Vore Buffalo Jump historic site |
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· 07/10/2011 10:04:53 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 6 replies · · KEVN-Black Hills Fox News · · 10 July 2011 · · Al Van Zee · |
Facilities are being added at the Vore Buffalo Jump Historic site west of Beulah, Wyoming, to make the site more accessible to visitors. And this summer marks the first time scientists working at the site have been protected by a shelter built last year. The Vore Buffalo Jump is one of the most important archeological sites in the Black Hills area. It provides some of the most graphic evidence we have of how Native tribes living in the Black Hills area survived before the coming of Europeans and their horses. There are thousands of individual buffalo bones at the bottom... |
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| The Mayans | |
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| Mexico finds 2 sculptures of Mayan warriors |
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· 07/07/2011 7:45:52 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 15 replies · · Yahoo · · 7/7/11 · · Olga R. Rodreguez -- AP · |
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican archaeologists have found two 1,300-year-old limestone sculptures of captured Mayan warriors that they say could shed light on the alliances and wars among Mayan cities during the civilization's twilight. The life-size, elaborate sculptures of two warriors sitting cross-legged with hands tied behind their backs were found in May in the archaeological site of Tonina in southern Chiapas state along with two stone ballgame scoreboards. The 5-foot (1.5-meter) tall sculptures have hieroglyphic inscriptions on their loincloths and chest that say the warriors belonged to the city of Copan, archaeologist Juan Yadeun said in a news release... |
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| Mammoth Told Me... | |
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| Remains of 60th mammoth found in Hot Springs; Mammoth Site could hold as many as 100 |
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· 07/10/2011 9:52:05 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 31 replies · · Daily Journal · · July 10, 2011 · · none listed · |
The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs recently yielded the remains of a 60th mammoth, the giant, extinct creatures that once roamed the continent. [just a teaser--AP story] |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Last dinosaur before mass extinction discovered |
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· 07/12/2011 5:54:31 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 35 replies · · Yale University · · July 12, 2011 · · Unknown · |
New Haven, Conn. -- A team of scientists has discovered the youngest dinosaur preserved in the fossil record before the catastrophic meteor impact 65 million years ago. The finding indicates that dinosaurs did not go extinct prior to the impact and provides further evidence as to whether the impact was in fact the cause of their extinction. Researchers from Yale University discovered the fossilized horn of a ceratopsian -- likely a Triceratops, which are common to the area -- in the Hell Creek formation in Montana last year. They found the fossil buried just five inches below the K-T boundary, the geological... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Dorset pliosaur: "Most fearsome predator' unveiled |
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· 07/11/2011 12:55:09 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 27 replies · · BBC News · · 7-8-2010 · · Rebecca Morelle · |
A skull belonging to one of the largest "sea monsters" ever unearthed is being unveiled to the public. The beast, which is called a pliosaur, has been described as the most fearsome predator the Earth has seen. The fossil was found in Dorset, but it has taken 18 months to remove the skull from its rocky casing, revealing the monster in remarkable detail. Scientists suspect the creature, which is on show at the Dorset County Museum, may be a new species or even genus. ~~~snip~~~ "It was probably the most fearsome predator that ever lived. Standing in front of the... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Roman-era shipwreck reveals ancient medical secrets |
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· 07/09/2011 2:48:31 PM PDT · · Posted by george76 · · 39 replies · · Telegraph · · 09 Jul 2011 · · Nick Squires · |
A first-aid kit found on a 2,000-year-old shipwreck has provided a remarkable insight into the medicines concocted by ancient physicians to cure sailors of dysentery and other ailments. A wooden chest discovered on board the vessel contained pills made of ground-up vegetables, herbs and plants such as celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa and chestnuts -- all ingredients referred to in classical medical texts. The tablets, which were so well sealed that they miraculously survived being under water for more than two millennia, also contain extracts of parsley, nasturtium, radish, yarrow and hibiscus. They were found in 136 tin-lined wooden vials... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Did Chinese beat out Columbus? (Did Chinese sailors discover America ahead of Europeans?) |
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· 08/13/2009 6:27:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 41 replies · · New York Times · · 6/25/2005 · · Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop · |
Did Chinese sailors really discover America before Columbus? A new exhibition sets the scene, presenting new evidence that lends support to the assumptions made in "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies. "1421: The Year China Sailed the World," in Singapore in a special tent near the Esplanade (until Sept. 11), is primarily a celebration of Admiral Zheng He's seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1423. With a fleet of 317 ships and 28,000 men, Zheng He is generally acknowledged as one of the great naval explorers, but how far he actually went remains a matter of dispute.... |
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| Historian -- Chinese Mapped World Centuries Before Columbus |
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· 10/31/2002 3:18:43 PM PST · · Posted by pistola · · 19 replies · · class="attrib">Reuters · · 10-31-2 · · Tim Castle · |
Debunking Christopher Columbus has become a full-time occupation for retired British submarine commander Gavin Menzies. Next week the urbane 65-year-old begins a global publicity campaign to promote his extraordinary claim that Chinese sailors discovered America 70 years before Columbus and mapped the whole world centuries before European explorers. Despite criticism from academics that his theory is no more than "a tower of hypotheses," publisher Transworld paid 500,000 pounds ($780,000) for the rights to "1421 -- The Year China Discovered the World," a huge sum for... |
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| British Author claims the Chinese, not Columbus, found America First |
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· 01/07/2003 4:49:27 PM PST · · Posted by yankeedame · · 61 replies · · The Sacramento Bee · · Tuesday, January 7, 2003 · · Ted Bell · |
Critics say new book is all junk -- British author Gavin Menzies' controversial book "1421 -- The Year China Discovered America", which goes on sale in the United States this week, claims that America was discovered by Chinese explorers 70 years before Columbus arrived. Part of the alleged proof behind Menzies' theory -- which is being heatedly contested by more traditional historians -- purportedly rests beneath about 40 feet of Glenn County mud in the form... |
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| Not-so-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Could Shakespeare's Bones Tell Us if He Smoked Pot? |
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· 07/09/2011 2:03:24 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 56 replies · · LiveScience · · Article: C6/27/2011 · · Stephanie Pappas · |
A South African anthropologist has asked permission to open the graves of William Shakespeare and his family to determine, among other things, what killed the Bard and whether his poems and plays may have been composed under the influence of marijuana. But while Shakespeare's skeleton could reveal clues about his health and death, the question of the man's drug use depends on the presence of hair, fingernails or toenails in the grave, said Francis Thackeray, the director of the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who floated the proposal to the Church of England. Thackeray... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| The Nanjing Belt [ 5th c aluminum artifact ] |
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· 07/11/2011 8:15:58 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 67 replies · · Bizarre History Blog · · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · · Beachcombing · |
The Nanjing Belt was discovered in a tomb in 1952 around a skeleton. The tomb and the body dated to the Jin Dynasty that brings us back to the early centuries A.D (265-420) and luckily the name of the occupant was established through an inscription. He was one Zhou Chou (obit 297) who died fighting, of all people, the Tibetans. So far so easy: belts and even britches are common in graves around the world from the mysterious dragon buckles of Late Roman mercenaries to the ceremonial belts of the Lords of the Maya. In fact, the problems only really... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Today in History July 9th 1776 Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops |
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· 07/09/2011 3:27:25 PM PDT · · Posted by mdittmar · · 5 replies · · Writings of George Washington · · 7/9/11 · · George Washington · |
To THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS New York, July 10, 1776. Sir: I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your two favors of the 4th and 6th instants, which came duly to hand, with their important inclosures. I perceive that Congress have been employed in deliberating on measures of the most interesting Nature. It is certain that it is not with us to determine in many instances what consequences will flow from our Counsels, but yet it behoves us to adopt such, as under the smiles of a Gracious and all kind Providence will be most likely to promote our... |
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| The General | |
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| One Man's Trash: George Washington's Priceless Refuse |
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· 07/09/2011 10:27:05 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Vol. 3 June 2011 (July 7, 2011) · · Dan McLerran · |
For George Washington, the first U.S. President and Revolutionary War hero, a broken chinese porcelain plate or teacup from his dining table or kitchen would go immediately and directly into his trash pit on the grounds just outside his mansion home, buried and forever forgotten. But as the saying goes, "one man's trash is another man's treasure", and well over 200 years later archaeologists would call them priceless artifacts for understanding and reconstructing history. Such was the case when an archaeological team discovered and excavated a trash pit, or "midden", just outside and south of George Washington's imposing Mount Vernon... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Royal colours ceremony marks end of military era |
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· 07/10/2011 7:20:46 PM PDT · · Posted by ConorMacNessa · · 5 replies · · The Scotsman · · 3 July 2011 · · Tom Peterkin · |
CENTURIES of proud military tradition were laid to rest yesterday in a ceremony that saw the Queen present The Royal Regiment of Scotland with its first stand of colours, the totemic flags that were once a rallying point in battle. The new colours will take the place of those that were carried for hundreds of years by the old Scottish regiments that were controversially amalgamated in 2006 to form Scotland's single infantry unit. The presentation of the new colours consigned the individual colours once carried by The Black Watch, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, The King's... |
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| end of digest #365 20110716 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #365 · v 8 · n 1 Saturday, July 16, 2011 |
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31 topics |
Welcome to the beginning of the eighth year of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #365 Saturday, July 16, 2011 |
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| The Phoenicians | |
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| Carthaginian temples found -- Azores |
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· 07/10/2011 6:57:49 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 49 replies · · Portuguese American Journal · · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · · paj.cm · |
Archaeologists from the Portuguese Association of Archeological Research (APIA) believe to have found in the Azores a significant number of Carthaginian temples, from the fourth century BC, dedicated to the goddess Tanit. The new archaeological sites were found in Monte Brasil, Angra Heroismo, Terceira island. According to APIA archaeologists Nuno Ribeiro and Anabela Joaquinito, "More than five hypogea type monuments (tombs excavated in rocks) and at least three 'sanctuaries' proto-historic, carved into the rock, were found." A monument located at "Monte do Facho" shows inbuilt sink shaped carvings linked to water conduits for libations. "There are 'chairs' carved into the... |
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| The Philistines | |
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| Diggers Unearth Philistines Remains in Israel, Providing scholars with clues to the Bible's bad guys |
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· 07/09/2011 7:09:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 13 replies · · Gather · · 07/09/2011 · · Kate James · |
Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of the Philistines in Israel. They are providing scholars with new clues to the Bible's bad guys. The digging in the city of Gath is helping flesh out the picture of the group. Since 1996, digging happens each year in Gath, and this year, over 100 scholars gathered to began excavating the remains of the ancient metropolis whose most famous resident was Goliath. This year, the diggers have unearthed ancient jugs that are more than 3,000 years old, and the decorations on them hint at the Greek origins of the Philistines. How amazing that these... |
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| In Israel, Diggers Unearth The Bible's Bad Guys |
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· 07/10/2011 6:05:19 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 7 replies · · AP · · 7/6/11 · · Matti Friedman · |
TEL EL-SAFI, Israel (AP) -- 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... |
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| Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition | |
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| Majorcan Descendants of Spanish Jews Who Converted Are Recognized as Jews |
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· 07/10/2011 7:04:06 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 160 replies · · The New York Times · · 10 July 2011 · · Doreen Carvajal · |
Centuries after the Spanish Inquisition led to the forced conversion of Jews to Catholicism, an ultra-orthodox rabbinical court in Israel has issued a religious ruling that recognizes descendants from the insular island of Majorca as Jews. The opinion focused narrowly on the Majorcan community of about 20,000 people known as chuetas and did not apply to descendants of Sephardic Jewish converts in mainland Spain or the broader diaspora of thousands of others who scattered to the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish colonies in South and North America. The island, isolated until a tourist boom that began in the late 1960s,... |
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| India | |
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| The Jewish Palate: The Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta, India |
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· 07/09/2011 6:38:05 PM PDT · · Posted by James C. Bennett · · 10 replies · · The Jerusalem Post · · 07/04/2011 · · Dennis Wasko · |
The first Jews arrived in Calcutta sometime in the late 18th century. This group was comprised of Baghdadi Jews who came from Iraq, as well as Syrian and Persian Jews. All of these Jewish settlers were fleeing from Islamic persecution in their native lands. The Jewish refugees who were forced out of their homes found welcoming safety in Calcutta. By 1800, the Jews had established a vibrant community and thrived as diamond merchants, real estate brokers, exporters, spice traders, and bakers. The first generations of Jews in Calcutta spoke Judeo-Arabic, but by the 1890's, English was the language of choice.... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| U.S. Archives Photo History of Expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem |
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· 07/11/2011 9:10:18 AM PDT · · Posted by Nachum · · 14 replies · · inn · · 7/11/11 · · Chana Ya'ar · |
Every now and then, a treasure is unearthed not by archaeologists digging in the ground, but by historians and others seeking information among the stacks of books in a library. Writer and analyst Lenny Ben David was doing exactly that when he came across a massive Library of Congress photo archive of life in Palestine, circa early 1900s. Prior to its rebirth as a commonwealth, the lands of the State of Israel were all referred to as Palestine by the British. Ben David, a former diplomat and lobbyist, writes on his blog, "As I skimmed through the pictures, one theme... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| "Tomb of the Otters" Filled With Stone Age Human Bones |
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· 07/10/2011 7:35:41 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 19 replies · · 7-7-2011 · · James Owen · |
Thousands of human bones have been found inside a Stone Age tomb on a northern Scottish island, archaeologists say. The 5,000-year-old burial site, on South Ronaldsay (map) in the Orkney Islands, was accidentally uncovered after a homeowner had leveled a mound in his yard to improve his ocean view. ~~~snip~~~ The underground grave consists of a 4- by 0.75-meter (13- by 2.5-foot) central chamber surrounded by four smaller cells hewn from sandstone bedrock. Capping the central chamber are large water-worn slabs supported by stone walls and pillars. At least a thousand skeleton parts belonging to a mix of genders and... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| Earliest Europeans Were Cannibals, Wore Bling |
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· 07/10/2011 7:44:31 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 28 replies · · Discovery News · · 7-6-2011 · · Jennifer Viegas · |
The earliest known modern humans from southeast Europe wore shell and mammoth jewelry · The same early humans also likely practiced cannibalism · The cannibalism was tied to funeral rituals, since the bones were not butchered like meat. Early humans wore jewelry and likely practiced cannibalism, suggest remains of the earliest known Homo sapiens from southeastern Europe. The remains, described in PLoS One, date to 32,000 years ago and represent the oldest direct evidence for anatomically modern humans in a well-documented context. The human remains are also the oldest known for our species in Europe to show post-mortem cut... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| New Evidence of Early Humans Unearthed in Russia's North |
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· 09/06/2001 9:41:07 AM PDT · · Posted by Ada Coddington · · 22 replies · · 1,241+ views · · New York Times · · 9/6/01 · · John Noble Wilford · |
Stone tools, animal bones and an incised mammoth tusk found in Russia's frigid far north have provided what archaeologists say is the first evidence that modern humans or Neanderthals lived in the Arctic more than 30,000 years ago, at least 15,000 years earlier than previously thought. A team of Russian and Norwegian archaeologists, describing the discovery in today's issue of the journal Nature, said the camp site, at Mamontovaya Kurya, on the Usa River at the Arctic Circle, was the "oldest documented evidence for human presence at ... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| PBS Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women |
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· 10/14/2005 9:42:13 PM PDT · · Posted by LauraleeBraswell · · 26 replies · · 467+ views · · PBS · · 2004 · · Kathy Svitil · |
The myth of the Amazons, a tribe of bloodthirsty blond women thundering across arid battlefields to the horror of their male foes, has lingered for centuries. Their exploits seized the imagination of the Greek scribes Homer, Hippocrates, and Herodotus. But proof of their existence had always been lacking. Now, a 2,500-year-old mystery may have been solved, cracked by an American scientist whose 10-year odyssey led her tens of thousands of miles in pursuit of the truth. After unearthing a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball followed a trail of artifacts to a remote village... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| New archeological find discovered in Akmola region [ Sarmatian tomb ] |
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· 07/15/2011 1:13:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Caspionet · · Friday, July 8, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Archaeologists from the Gumilyov Eurasian National University have found a mound, presumably dating back to the Iron age. The tomb of Sarmatian warrior is located near the village of Aidarly in the Akmola region. In the mound, archeologists also found arrowheads, knives, an iron belt badge, ceramic vessels and the bones of sacrificial animals. Sergazy Saken, Archeological Expedition Leader: The body of the middle-class warrior is place with its head towards the south which is peculiar for Sarmatians and dates back to 3rd or 4th centuries BC. The artifacts found in the tomb were placed near the body with two... |
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| Steppe by Steppe | |
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| Mongol Mysteries: Are 'Deer Stones' A clue? |
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· 08/14/2002 10:08:17 AM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 4 replies · · 339+ views · · Seattle Times/Washington Post · · 8-14-2002 · · Guy Gugliotta · |
Sometime around 1000 B.C., a Mongolian tribesman climbed on the back of a horse and surveyed the windblown steppe that stretched as far as the eye could see. The weather was turning colder, and there wasn't enough grass for his goats. It was time to move. From the moment that decision was made, a tradition was born. Horses -- yesterday's beasts of burden -- became a means of escape. Soon they would become the tool of conquest, and the people of the steppe -- whether Scythian,... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Russia marks 450 years of St. Basil's Cathedral |
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· 07/12/2011 4:13:50 PM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 24 replies · · Associated Press · · 07/12/2011 · · Mansur Mirovalev · |
He was naked, homeless and fiercely argumentative -- and his name is immortalized in one of Russia's most remarkable buildings, St. Basil's Cathedral. An exhibition detailing the lives of St. Basil and other religious zealots known as "holy fools" opened Tuesday as part of ceremonies marking the 450th anniversary of perhaps Moscow's most famous tourist attraction. After years of restoration work that cost 390 million rubles ($14 million) -- including the reinforcement of the walls and the pile of brightly colored onion domes and spires that crown the architectural fantasia -- the iconic church looks lavish, and a striking contrast... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| The Mysterious Minaret of Jam |
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· 07/10/2011 6:48:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 21 replies · · DRB · · 02 July 2011 · |
The 12-Century Wonder and Mystery of Afghanistan Built back in 1190s by the once great Ghorid empire, this enigmatic and intricately-ornamented ancient "skyscraper" stands like a missile pointing at the stars - a 65-meter high minaret, the second biggest religious monument of its kind in the world. Originally it was topped by the lantern - making it a sort of the dry land lighthouse (!), surrounded by the 2400m high mountains: (Note a white jeep crossing the river in photo above: there was a bridge before, but it was destroyed during wartime...) Amazingly, this imposing structure was standing forgotten for... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Olympia hypothesis: Tsunamis buried the cult site on the Peloponnese |
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· 07/11/2011 7:08:43 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · Johannes Gutenberg University · · July 11, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Professor Andreas Vött presents new results of geomorphological and geoarcheological investigations on the sedimentary burial of OlympiaOlympia, site of the famous Temple of Zeus and original venue of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, was presumably destroyed by repeated tsunamis that travelled considerable distances inland, and not by earthquake and river floods as has been assumed to date. Evidence in support of this new theory on the virtual disappearance of the ancient cult site on the Peloponnesian peninsula comes from Professor Dr Andreas Vött of the Institute of Geography of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Vött investigated the site as... |
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| Sunken Civilizations | |
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| A Lost World? Atlantis-Like Landscape Discovered |
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· 07/12/2011 7:24:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 49 replies · · LiveScience · · Sunday, July 10, 2011 · · Wynne Parry · |
Buried deep beneath the sediment of the North Atlantic Ocean lies an ancient, lost landscape with furrows cut by rivers and peaks that once belonged to mountains. Geologists recently discovered this roughly 56-million-year-old landscape using data gathered for oil companies. "It looks for all the world like a map of a bit of a country onshore," said Nicky White, the senior researcher. "It is like an ancient fossil landscape preserved 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) beneath the seabed." So far, the data have revealed a landscape about 3,861 square miles (10,000 square km) west of the Orkney-Shetland Islands that stretched above... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Unsolved Mystery: Origin Of 800-Year-Old Artifacts Eludes Experts (Portland, Oregon) |
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· 10/07/2002 5:12:26 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 68 replies · · 722+ views · · Columbian.com · · 10-6-2002 · · Dean Baker · |
With almond-shaped eyes and dreadlocked hair, the faces on the 800-year-old clay amulets have been a mystery since they were first discovered on the banks of the Columbia River more than 80 years ago. Who were these guys who lived around modern Ridgefield at the time Genghis Khan conquered Persia and King John of England signed the Magna Carta? "They were not Chinook Indians," said David Fenton, executive director of the Clark County Historical Museum. "Where they came from and where they... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| New facilities added to Vore Buffalo Jump historic site |
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· 07/10/2011 10:04:53 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 6 replies · · KEVN-Black Hills Fox News · · 10 July 2011 · · Al Van Zee · |
Facilities are being added at the Vore Buffalo Jump Historic site west of Beulah, Wyoming, to make the site more accessible to visitors. And this summer marks the first time scientists working at the site have been protected by a shelter built last year. The Vore Buffalo Jump is one of the most important archeological sites in the Black Hills area. It provides some of the most graphic evidence we have of how Native tribes living in the Black Hills area survived before the coming of Europeans and their horses. There are thousands of individual buffalo bones at the bottom... |
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| The Mayans | |
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| Mexico finds 2 sculptures of Mayan warriors |
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· 07/07/2011 7:45:52 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 15 replies · · Yahoo · · 7/7/11 · · Olga R. Rodreguez - AP · |
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican archaeologists have found two 1,300-year-old limestone sculptures of captured Mayan warriors that they say could shed light on the alliances and wars among Mayan cities during the civilization's twilight. The life-size, elaborate sculptures of two warriors sitting cross-legged with hands tied behind their backs were found in May in the archaeological site of Tonina in southern Chiapas state along with two stone ballgame scoreboards. The 5-foot (1.5-meter) tall sculptures have hieroglyphic inscriptions on their loincloths and chest that say the warriors belonged to the city of Copan, archaeologist Juan Yadeun said in a news release... |
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| Mammoth Told Me... | |
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| Remains of 60th mammoth found in Hot Springs; Mammoth Site could hold as many as 100 |
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· 07/10/2011 9:52:05 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 31 replies · · Daily Journal · · July 10, 2011 · · none listed · |
The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs recently yielded the remains of a 60th mammoth, the giant, extinct creatures that once roamed the continent. [just a teaser--AP story] |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Last dinosaur before mass extinction discovered |
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· 07/12/2011 5:54:31 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 35 replies · · Yale University · · July 12, 2011 · · Unknown · |
New Haven, Conn. -- A team of scientists has discovered the youngest dinosaur preserved in the fossil record before the catastrophic meteor impact 65 million years ago. The finding indicates that dinosaurs did not go extinct prior to the impact and provides further evidence as to whether the impact was in fact the cause of their extinction. Researchers from Yale University discovered the fossilized horn of a ceratopsian -- likely a Triceratops, which are common to the area -- in the Hell Creek formation in Montana last year. They found the fossil buried just five inches below the K-T boundary, the geological... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Dorset pliosaur: "Most fearsome predator' unveiled |
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· 07/11/2011 12:55:09 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 27 replies · · BBC News · · 7-8-2010 · · Rebecca Morelle · |
A skull belonging to one of the largest "sea monsters" ever unearthed is being unveiled to the public. The beast, which is called a pliosaur, has been described as the most fearsome predator the Earth has seen. The fossil was found in Dorset, but it has taken 18 months to remove the skull from its rocky casing, revealing the monster in remarkable detail. Scientists suspect the creature, which is on show at the Dorset County Museum, may be a new species or even genus. ~~~snip~~~ "It was probably the most fearsome predator that ever lived. Standing in front of the... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Roman-era shipwreck reveals ancient medical secrets |
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· 07/09/2011 2:48:31 PM PDT · · Posted by george76 · · 39 replies · · Telegraph · · 09 Jul 2011 · · Nick Squires · |
A first-aid kit found on a 2,000-year-old shipwreck has provided a remarkable insight into the medicines concocted by ancient physicians to cure sailors of dysentery and other ailments. A wooden chest discovered on board the vessel contained pills made of ground-up vegetables, herbs and plants such as celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa and chestnuts -- all ingredients referred to in classical medical texts. The tablets, which were so well sealed that they miraculously survived being under water for more than two millennia, also contain extracts of parsley, nasturtium, radish, yarrow and hibiscus. They were found in 136 tin-lined wooden vials... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Did Chinese beat out Columbus? (Did Chinese sailors discover America ahead of Europeans?) |
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· 08/13/2009 6:27:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 41 replies · · 1,218+ views · · New York Times · · 6/25/2005 · · Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop · |
Did Chinese sailors really discover America before Columbus? A new exhibition sets the scene, presenting new evidence that lends support to the assumptions made in "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies. "1421: The Year China Sailed the World," in Singapore in a special tent near the Esplanade (until Sept. 11), is primarily a celebration of Admiral Zheng He's seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1423. With a fleet of 317 ships and 28,000 men, Zheng He is generally acknowledged as one of the great naval explorers, but how far he actually went remains a matter of dispute.... |
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| Historian - Chinese Mapped World Centuries Before Columbus |
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· 10/31/2002 3:18:43 PM PST · · Posted by pistola · · 19 replies · · 436+ views · · Reuters · · 10-31-2 · · Tim Castle · |
LONDON (Reuters) - Debunking Christopher Columbus has become a full-time occupation for retired British submarine commander Gavin Menzies. Next week the urbane 65-year-old begins a global publicity campaign to promote his extraordinary claim that Chinese sailors discovered America 70 years before Columbus and mapped the whole world centuries before European explorers. Despite criticism from academics that his theory is no more than "a tower of hypotheses," publisher Transworld paid 500,000 pounds ($780,000) for the rights to "1421 -- The Year China Discovered the World," a huge sum for... |
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| British Author claims the Chinese, not Columbus, found America First |
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· 01/07/2003 4:49:27 PM PST · · Posted by yankeedame · · 61 replies · · 1,258+ views · · The Sacramento Bee · · Tuesday, January 7, 2003 · · Ted Bell · |
Critics say new book is all junk -- A British author claims the Chinese, not Columbus, found America first.By Ted Bell -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 a.m. PST Tuesday, January 7, 2003 British author Gavin Menzies' controversial book "1421 -- The Year China Discovered America", which goes on sale in the United States this week, claims that America was discovered by Chinese explorers 70 years before Columbus arrived. Part of the alleged proof behind Menzies' theory -- which is being heatedly contested by more traditional historians -- purportedly rests beneath about 40 feet of Glenn County mud in the form... |
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| Not-so-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Could Shakespeare's Bones Tell Us if He Smoked Pot? |
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· 07/09/2011 2:03:24 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 56 replies · · LiveScience · · Article: C6/27/2011 · · Stephanie Pappas · |
A South African anthropologist has asked permission to open the graves of William Shakespeare and his family to determine, among other things, what killed the Bard and whether his poems and plays may have been composed under the influence of marijuana. But while Shakespeare's skeleton could reveal clues about his health and death, the question of the man's drug use depends on the presence of hair, fingernails or toenails in the grave, said Francis Thackeray, the director of the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who floated the proposal to the Church of England. Thackeray... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| The Nanjing Belt [ 5th c aluminum artifact ] |
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· 07/11/2011 8:15:58 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 67 replies · · Bizarre History Blog · · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · · Beachcombing · |
The Nanjing Belt was discovered in a tomb in 1952 around a skeleton. The tomb and the body dated to the Jin Dynasty that brings us back to the early centuries A.D (265-420) and luckily the name of the occupant was established through an inscription. He was one Zhou Chou (obit 297) who died fighting, of all people, the Tibetans. So far so easy: belts and even britches are common in graves around the world from the mysterious dragon buckles of Late Roman mercenaries to the ceremonial belts of the Lords of the Maya. In fact, the problems only really... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Today in History July 9th 1776 Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops |
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· 07/09/2011 3:27:25 PM PDT · · Posted by mdittmar · · 5 replies · · Writings of George Washington · · 7/9/11 · · George Washington · |
To THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS New York, July 10, 1776. Sir: I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your two favors of the 4th and 6th instants, which came duly to hand, with their important inclosures. I perceive that Congress have been employed in deliberating on measures of the most interesting Nature. It is certain that it is not with us to determine in many instances what consequences will flow from our Counsels, but yet it behoves us to adopt such, as under the smiles of a Gracious and all kind Providence will be most likely to promote our... |
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| The General | |
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| One Man's Trash: George Washington's Priceless Refuse |
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· 07/09/2011 10:27:05 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Vol. 3 June 2011 (July 7, 2011) · · Dan McLerran · |
For George Washington, the first U.S. President and Revolutionary War hero, a broken chinese porcelain plate or teacup from his dining table or kitchen would go immediately and directly into his trash pit on the grounds just outside his mansion home, buried and forever forgotten. But as the saying goes, "one man's trash is another man's treasure", and well over 200 years later archaeologists would call them priceless artifacts for understanding and reconstructing history. Such was the case when an archaeological team discovered and excavated a trash pit, or "midden", just outside and south of George Washington's imposing Mount Vernon... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Royal colours ceremony marks end of military era |
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· 07/10/2011 7:20:46 PM PDT · · Posted by ConorMacNessa · · 5 replies · · The Scotsman · · 3 July 2011 · · Tom Peterkin · |
CENTURIES of proud military tradition were laid to rest yesterday in a ceremony that saw the Queen present The Royal Regiment of Scotland with its first stand of colours, the totemic flags that were once a rallying point in battle. The new colours will take the place of those that were carried for hundreds of years by the old Scottish regiments that were controversially amalgamated in 2006 to form Scotland's single infantry unit. The presentation of the new colours consigned the individual colours once carried by The Black Watch, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, The King's... |
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| end of digest #365 20110716 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #366 Saturday, July 23, 2011 |
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| Egypt | |
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| Why Dr Hawass Resigned [ Egyptian Minister For Antiquities !!! ] |
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· 07/17/2011 7:03:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 55 replies · · Dr. Hawass' weblog · · Sunday, July 17, 2011 · |
"I am leaving because of a variety of important reasons. The first reason is that, during the Revolution of January 25th, the Egyptian Army protected our heritage sites and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, in the last 10 days the army has left these posts because it has other tasks to do. The group now in charge of the protection of these sites is the Tourist Police, but there are no Tourist Police to do this either. Therefore, what happens? Egyptian criminals, thieves (you know, in every revolution bad people always appear), have begun to destroy tombs. They damaged... |
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| Remote Sensing | |
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| 17 lost pyramids discovered in Egypt by space scientists |
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· 05/25/2011 6:12:24 PM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 10 replies · · MSNBC · · May 25, 2011 · · staff & news services · |
Seventeen lost pyramids are believed to have been found in Egypt by a team of space archaeologists from Alabama, according to a report. Sarah Parcak and her team at a NASA-sponsored laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham made the discoveries using a satellite survey, and also found more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements in infrared images that show up buildings underground, BBC News reported. The BBC said that two of the suspected pyramids had been confirmed by initial excavations. "We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Ancient Egyptian Royalty Wielded Serious Weapons |
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· 07/22/2011 5:50:42 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 26 replies · · LiveScience · · Thursday, July 21, 2011 · · Owen Jarus · |
Elite members of ancient Egypt, including the pharaoh himself, likely wielded ornate daggers, swords and axes in battle, or to personally execute prisoners, rather than using the shiny metal for ceremonial purposes, research suggests. The weapons were used during the Bronze Age, a period between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago when the civilization was at its height, according to Daniel Boatright, an Egyptologist at Isle of Wight College in the United Kingdom. This finding is "strange considering the amount of literature that's been composed so far that basically says that all of them were for ritualistic purposes and were never... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Confirmed: Non-Africans found to be part-Neanderthal |
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· 07/18/2011 4:35:40 PM PDT · · Posted by redreno · · 70 replies · · CBS News · · July 18, 2011 2:22 PM · · CBS News · |
Next time you're about to slam somebody for carrying on like a Neanderthal, think twice: You might be hitting close to home. A new study published in the Molecular Biology and Evolution reports that people of non-African heritage carry a chromosome which originates from Neanderthals, offering evidence that the two populations interbred at a certain point in history. |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| Westerners 'programmed for fatty foods and alcohol' |
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· 07/15/2011 7:28:54 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 35 replies · · BBC · · July 14, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Westerners could be genetically programmed to consume fatty foods and alcohol more than those from the east, researchers have claimed. Scientists at the University of Aberdeen say a genetic switch --DNA which turns genes on or off within cells --regulates appetite and thirst. The study suggests it is also linked to depression. Dr Alasdair MacKenzie conceded it would not stop those moving to the west adapting to its lifestyle. > "The fact that the weaker switch is found more frequently in Asians compared to Europeans suggests they are less inclined to select such options. "These results give us... |
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| Trust Anyone Over Thirty | |
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| Few grandparents until 30,000 years ago |
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· 07/23/2011 6:46:46 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Telegraph UK · · July 20, 2011 · · Martin Beckford · |
Grandparents barely existed until as recently as 30,000 years, research suggests, because early humans died so young. But when people did start to survive into older age, it had "far-reaching effects" that led to the development of new tools and art forms. The advantages that humans enjoyed by having larger families with older relatives could have helped them "out-compete" rivals such as Neanderthals, it is claimed... In the article, Rachel Caspari describes how analysis of the teeth of Neanderthals found in Croatia, who lived about 130,000 years ago, suggests "no one survived past 30". Because of gaps in the fossil... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Prehistoric Footprints Show How Our Ancestors Walked |
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· 07/20/2011 7:52:17 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 43 replies · · Discovery News · · Tue Jul 19, 2011 07:00 PM ET · · Jennifer Viegas · |
The ancestor who made the 3.7 million-year-old prints walked in a "less ape-ish way" than some humans do today. The oldest known human ancestor footprints, dated to 3.7 million years ago, reveal that some of the earliest members of our family tree walked fully upright with feet similar to ours, according to new research. The findings, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, push back the date for upright walking in our ancestry by nearly 2 million years. That's because previous studies had concluded this trademark gait emerged in the genus Homo about 1.9 million years ago. The... |
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| Sunken Civilizations | |
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| Submerged prehistory off Scotland: a development-led perspective |
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· 07/23/2011 6:38:11 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Past Horizons · · Sunday, July 17, 2011 · · Dr Andrew Bicket · |
Throughout the 19th century there have been reports and scholarly discussions of submerged forests and artefacts from now-submerged environments around the coasts and seas of Britain (Coles 1998). Since the publication of Doggerland: a speculative study by Prof. Bryony Coles in 1998, there has been significant progress in the active investigation of submerged prehistoric landscapes around the coasts of the UK. To date much of this progress has been focused around the coasts of England and Wales, partly as a consequence of the geographical distribution of available funding streams i.e. the Marine element of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (MALSF).... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Mesolithic 'rest stop' found at new Sainsbury's site |
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· 07/23/2011 6:28:31 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · BBC · · 18 July 2011 · · unattributed · |
Archaeologists believe the remains of burned oak uncovered at the site of the first Sainsbury's in the Highlands to be evidence of an ancient "rest stop". The supermarket and a filling station are being constructed on the outskirts of Nairn, at a cost of about £20m. Headland Archaeologists investigated the site ahead of building work. They radiocarbon-dated the hearth to the Mesolithic period, which started as the last Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago. ...the archaeologists said the fire appeared to have been made to provide heat and not cooking, because no food waste was found... "The dating of... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Archaeologists discover a hoard of silver Roman denarii coins at Vindolanda |
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· 07/22/2011 4:51:17 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 29 replies · · Past Horizons · · Wednesday, July 13, 2011 · · unattributed · |
A hoard of twenty one silver denarii has been recovered during the recent excavation of the foundations of a clay floor in a centurion's apartment of the late Antonine period (cAD180-200) at Vindolanda, northeast England. The hoard had been buried, possibly in a purse or some similar organic package which had long since rotted away, in a shallow pit within the foundation material of the floor of the structure in the middle of the room. Dr Andrew Birley, director of excavations at the site explains, "The coins were tightly packed together and several had corroded onto one another, held together... |
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| Rome & Italy | |
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| Italy: Ancient sarcophagus unearthed near Rome |
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· 07/22/2011 3:18:59 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · adnkronos · · July 5, 2011 · · AKI · |
Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Roman sarcophagus in the central Italian Lazio region surrounding Rome. It is the second sarcophagus discovered during a dig being coordinated by the University of Michigan. The sarcophagus was uncovered in the area of Lazio believed to the site of the ancient Roman city of Gabii, located 18 kilometres east of Rome. Both sarcophagi --- coffins typically adorned with sculptures or inscriptions --- are made of lead and are believed to date from the 1st or 2nd century AD. The first sarcophagus was unearthed in 2009 by archaelogists working on the same dig, the 'Gabii... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Archaeologists Discover High Priest's Bell? |
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· 07/21/2011 3:51:57 PM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 13 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 21/7/11 · |
Archaeologists have discovered a rare gold bell with a small loop at its end. The finding was made during an archaeological excavation in the City of David National Park (near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem) by the Israel Antiquities Authority in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir David Foundation. The directors of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, archaeologists Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, said after the finding, "The bell looked as if it was sewn on the garment worn by a man of high authority... |
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| UNESCO against the Jews |
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· 07/20/2011 6:26:01 PM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 11 replies · · YNet · · 07.19.11 · · Giulio Meotti · |
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted a decision calling on Israel to immediately cease all archaeological works in the Old City of Jerusalem. In particular, UNESCO, one of the UN's most prominent and influential agencies, attacked the renovation of the Mughrabi Bridge that links the Western Wall plaza and Temple Mount The decision, initiated and promoted by Arab states, was adopted by consensus of the Western members of the commission. Indeed, the vote is the latest anti-Jewish initiative launched by the UN office meant to promote culture, education and science around the world. In fact, UNESCO's... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Waqf denies claims that part of Western Wall in danger of collapsing |
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· 08/27/2002 9:01:23 AM PDT · · Posted by liberallarry · · 6 replies · · 310+ views · · Ha'aretz (Israel) · · August 27, 2002 · · Nadav Shragai · |
Adnan Husseini, director of the Muslim trust which supervises the Temple Mount mosque complex, said Tuesday that a bulge in the Western Wall has not grown or shifted for about 30 years and that it is no danger of collapsing. "This bulge is under our monitoring since the 70s," he said. "It is stable, we don't feel that there is any dangerous situation." Husseini's remarks came in response to an urgent letter sent Monday by a citizens' watchdog group to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, warning of "a clear and present danger that the southern part of the Western Wall and... |
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| Al Haram Al Sharif wall repairs completed (Re: Temple Mount) |
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· 01/20/2004 4:06:23 AM PST · · Posted by Thinkin' Gal · · 3 replies · · 107+ views · · Jordan Times · · 20 January 2004 · |
Al Haram Al Sharif wall repairs completed AMMAN (JT) --- Teams from the Ministry of Awqaf wrapped up a yearlong mission to repair the southern wall of Al Haram Al Sharif in Jerusalem, Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Ahmad Hilayel announced on Monday. The repair covered an area of 250 square metres at a cost that exceeded JD100,000, the minister told the Jordan News Agency, Petra. A bulge in the wall was attributed to weather conditions, such as a wide range of temperature from 0-40°C. The situation allowed rainwater to penetrate into the wall, causing disintegration of the... |
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| Authorities fear collapse of section of Temple Mount |
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· 09/26/2004 3:30:28 AM PDT · · Posted by HAL9000 · · 96 replies · · 1,871+ views · · Ha'aretz · · September 26, 2004 · |
The defense establishment fears the Solomon's Stables area on Jerusalem's Temple Mount will collapse under the weight of the hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshippers who are expected to arrive for Ramadan observances which start in another three weeks, Israel Radio reported Sunday morning. The foundations of the mosque at the site are old and unstable and a combination of roofing work on the building and a recent earthquake have worsened its structural condition. Some 200,000 worshippers are expected to attend Friday prayers on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary, during the... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Shabbat boundary rock with Hebrew etching discovered |
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· 07/22/2011 3:31:33 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · Jerusalem Post · · July 12, 2011 · · Oren Kessler · |
An ancient rock inscription of the word "Shabbat" was uncovered near Lake Kinneret this week --- the first and only discovery of a stone Shabbat boundary in Hebrew. The etching in the Lower Galilee community of Timrat appears to date from the Roman or Byzantine period. News of the inscription, discovered by chance Sunday by a visitor strolling the community grounds, quickly reached Mordechai Aviam, head of the Institute for Galilean Archeology at Kinneret College. "This is the first time we've found a Shabbat boundary inscription in Hebrew," he said. "The letters are so clear that there is no doubt... |
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| Africa | |
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| Pipeline archaeology will re-write history of central Africa |
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· 07/22/2011 3:25:52 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Past Horizons · · Tuesday, July 12, 2011 · · unattributed · |
In May this year, researchers from around the world gathered in Yaounde the capital of the west African country of Cameroon, for the International Conference on Rescue Archaeology. At the conference, archaeologists introduced new findings from the book: "Kome-Kribi: Rescue Archaeology Along the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline; 1999-2004". Archaeologists say the results have marked a major breakthrough that will begin a rewrite of the history of Cameroon and the rest of Central Africa. The fieldwork was carried out as construction took place along the line of the underground petroleum pipeline from Chad to the port of Kribi, Cameroon... According to Professor... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Oldest pregnant lizard fossil discovered |
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· 07/22/2011 5:55:54 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 19 replies · · PhysOrg · · July 22, 2011 · · Deborah Braconnie · |
A new paper published in Naturwissenschaft reveals a fossil from 120 million years ago that proves that some lizards were not laying eggs but rather giving birth to live young. The fossil was discovered by Susan Evans, a professor from the University College London Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, in the Jehol region of Northeast China. This area has revealed hundreds of dinosaur, amphibian, reptile, fish, bird, mammal, invertebrate and plant fossils. The lizard in this case has been identified as Yabeinosaurus which scientists believe to be similar to the gecko. Evans did not pay much attention to the... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Yale Scientists Discover the Last Living Dinosaur |
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· 07/16/2011 4:39:22 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 81 replies · · CTV · · Sat Jul. 16 2011 · |
A fossil discovered in Montana has given new momentum to the hypothesis that dinosaurs were thriving right up until a devastating meteor hit Earth 65 million years ago, causing their extinction. Scientists from Yale University have found what is believed to be the youngest dinosaur fossil ever found, thought to be from just before the mass extinction took place. The discovery, described in a study published in the online edition of the journal Biology Letters, contradicts the theory that the dinosaurs slowly went extinct before the cosmic impact. The fossil --- a 45-centimetre horn believed to be from a triceratops... |
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| Hey There Little Insect | |
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| Mysterious Fossils Reveal New Insect Order |
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· 07/20/2011 11:32:22 AM PDT · · Posted by null and void · · 16 replies · · Scientific Computing · · 7/20/11 · |
Coxoplectoptera Adult (upper), Coxoplectoptera Larva (lower) German scientists at the Stuttgart Natural History Museum were leading in the discovery of a new insect order from the Lower Cretaceous of South America. The spectacular fossils were named Coxoplectoptera by their discoverers and their findings were published in a special issue on Cretaceous Insects in the scientific journal Insect Systematics & Evolution. The work group, led by basal insect experts Dr. Arnold H. Staniczek and Dr. Günter Bechly, determined that these fossils represent extinct relatives of modern mayflies. Coxoplectoptera, however, significantly differ from both mayflies and all other known insects in... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Sighted and Recorded |
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· 04/29/2011 12:40:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 45 replies · · Science Daily · · 04-29-2011 · · Naval Research Laboratory · |
Dr. Michael Collins, Naval Research Laboratory scientist and bird watcher, has published an article titled "Putative audio recordings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)" which appears in the March issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The audio recordings were captured in two videos of birds with characteristics consistent with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. This footage was obtained near the Pearl River in Louisiana, where there is a history of unconfirmed reports of this species. During five years of fieldwork, Collins had ten sightings and also heard the characteristic "kent" calls of this species on two occasions. Scientists... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| The Peopling of the Americas: A Scientific, Historical and Scriptural Investigation |
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· 10/12/2006 8:27:21 PM PDT · · Posted by Iscool · · 46 replies · · 712+ views · · West Side Grace Church · · unknown · |
The Peopling of the Americas: A Scientific, Historical and Scriptural Investigation In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain in search of a western route across the Atlantic Ocean to Asia. He landed somewhere in the Bahamas and mistakenly believed that he had landed near the Asian mainland. In reality, Columbus was nowhere near Asia but rather had accidentally stumbled upon a new world so to speak. Successive waves of European exploration solidified the existence of an entire hemisphere, which was populated by native people. These people possessed their own land, language, and culture. Naturally this sent shock waves throughout... |
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| Peru & the Andes | |
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| What Was Machu Picchu For? Top Five Theories Explained [it's a trick, there are six] |
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· 07/22/2011 4:02:11 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · National Geographic News · · July 21, 2011 · · Ker Than · |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Ancient, moss-covered canoe found in Alaska forest |
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· 07/16/2011 8:10:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 75 replies · · Reuters via YahooNews/AP · · Jul 14, 2011 · · staff reporter · |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters Life!) --An unfinished Indian canoe, apparently abandoned 500 years ago, has been discovered in a remote section of an Alaska rain forest, according to officials. The canoe, carved from cedar, was discovered under a thick layer of moss and is surrounded by trees that are several hundred years old, Sealaska Corp., the Alaska Native corporation that owns the land, said in a statement. The artifact was first spotted last winter by a surveyor checking potential timber-harvest sites, but the discovery was kept confidential until now, the company said. |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Archeological Enigmas: Standing Stones In North carolina? |
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· 04/14/2002 3:07:04 AM PDT · · Posted by Hellmouth · · 28 replies · · 703+ views · · Science Frontiers Online · · Nov-Dec 1997 · · William Corliss · |
STANDING STONES IN NORTH CAROLINA? A North Carolina reader recently submitted the accompanying photograph of very large, vertically oriented stones that, if found in western Europe, would be quickly assigned to the megalithic culture. Although similar upright stones are known in New England, we have not heard of any in North Carolina before. The stones in question are located in the Boone/Blowing Rock region of western North Carolina near Foscoe, very close to Grandfather Mountain (second highest peak east of the Mississippi). Although they could well be a product of natural forces, they stand out like the proverbial "sore... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| What is a Founding Father? |
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· 07/07/2011 8:14:19 PM PDT · · Posted by jfd1776 · · 13 replies · · Illinois Review · · July 4, 2011 A.D. · · John F. Di Leo · |
WHAT IS A FOUNDING FATHER? By John F. Di Leo, in Illinois Review, July 4, 2011 A.D. Every year for two centuries plus, the American people have celebrated the events of June and July, 1776 -- those fiery weeks when the Continental Congress debated changing their focus from improving our relationship with the King and Parliament who ruled them, to terminating that relationship once and for all. On a broader scale, on Independence Day, we champion the Founding Fathers, those wise and courageous patriots who managed this transition, who won us our independence and set these United States on the course... |
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| 1812 Undercurrents | |
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| Ottawa to tread carefully in War of 1812 commemorations |
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· 07/16/2011 1:15:25 PM PDT · · Posted by ConservativeStatement · · 70 replies · · Toronto Globe & Mail · · July 15, 2011 · · Steven Chase · |
It's a sticky question. Exactly how should Canada commemorate the 200th anniversary of a war in which our predecessors repelled an invasion by the United States -- now this country's closest ally and most valued trading partner? The bicentennial of the War of 1812 is fast approaching. It's a major formative event in Canada's history -- but like all wars, was wrenching and destructive. Both the White House and early Parliament buildings in Upper Canada were torched during the conflict. |
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| The Crimean War | |
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| Why the Crimean War Matters |
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· 07/11/2011 11:18:33 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 6 replies · · The New York Times · · 08 July 2011 · · Gary J. Bass · |
The Crimean War was the first major war to be covered by professional foreign correspondents, who reported on the disastrous blundering of commanders and the horrors of medical treatment at the battlefront. Today, we remember fragmentary stories: the charge of the Light Brigade, symbolizing the blundering; Florence Nightingale, for the medical treatment. But the real war has faded away, eclipsed by the two vastly worse world wars that were to come. Still, the Crimean War --- in which three-quarters of a million soldiers and untold multitudes of civilians perished --- shattered almost four decades of European peace. It inflamed Russia's... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Revenge on the High Seas! The Union Advances Towards Manassas! |
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· 07/16/2011 6:23:11 AM PDT · · Posted by Upstate NY Guy · · 3 replies · · Civil War Daily Gazette · · July 16, 2011 · · various · |
The Revenge of William Tilghman of the S.J. Waring Rebel privateers in the brig Jeff Davis had captured the S.J. Waring on July 7. For the past week, they had been sailing for a Southern port.... .... William Tilghman, the black steward from the original crew of the Waring, concocted a plan to retake the ship. When the Waring was captured, the Confederates cut up the United States flag to piece together a Confederate flag. Tilghman had vowed revenge and his plan addressed such feelings. Just before midnight, with the Confederate captain and two mates asleep and the ship under... |
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| Historical marker can 'make a difference' (Civil War) |
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· 07/15/2011 9:27:19 AM PDT · · Posted by GrootheWanderer · · 33 replies · · The (Dalton, Georgia) Daily Citizen · · 07/15/2011 · · Charles Oliver · |
On Jan. 2, 1864, Confederate Gen. Patrick Cleburne presented his fellow Southerners with a question about the war they were fighting. "Was the war about independence? Or was the war being fought primarily to preserve slavery?" said former Georgia labor commissioner Michael Thurmond. |
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| Civil War anniversary: Cleburne's proposal to arm, free slaves (for the Confederacy) |
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· 07/10/2011 1:17:20 PM PDT · · Posted by Colonel Kangaroo · · 87 replies · · Dalton Daily Citizen · · July 10, 2011 · · Robert Jenkins · |
On Thursday, July 14, at 10 a.m.. the Georgia Historical Society will be conducting a dedication service to unveil a marker commemorating Confederate Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne's proposal to arm slaves in exchange for their freedom. Cleburne's plan was to provide manpower for the South to face the ever-increasing Federal Army which was beginning to recruit black soldiers and which continued to swell its ranks with immigrants, particularly from Germany and other parts of Europe. It was becoming increasingly clear to Southern officers during the winter of 1863-64 that the South was fast running out of men to continue the... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Brazilian researchers find WWII German submarine |
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· 07/16/2011 6:08:27 AM PDT · · Posted by nuconvert · · 11 replies · · LasVegasSun · · July 15, 2011 · |
-excerpt- Friday's statement says American planes sank the submarine on July 19, 1943. |
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| The Great War | |
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| Vatican Archives Officer told Turkish newspaper about Armenian Genocide |
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· 07/11/2011 2:25:33 AM PDT · · Posted by markomalley · · 2 replies · · News.am · · 7/11/11 · |
Vatican Archives Officer Monsignor Sergio Pagano was interviewed by Turkish Vatan newspaper immediately after he stated Vatican will publish a compilation of secret archi[v]e documents and information on Armenian Genocide. Monsignor Sergio Pagano stressed that back in 1896 the then Pope Leo XIII called on sultan to show sympathy and stop the Genocide. Pagano said that the documents and information about the Armenian Genocide from Vatican's secret archives will be published in a separate book. He cited several stories from the documents. An eyewitness from Erzurum said, "I saw how numerous children were killed. My niece ran away from home... |
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| Not-so-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Secret Files on Jack the Ripper Will Not Be Released to the Public |
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· 07/11/2011 10:02:09 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 62 replies · · Mirror · · 10/07/2011 · · Nick Owens · |
SECRET files which name four new Jack the Ripper suspects will not be released to the public. Retired murder detective Trevor Marriott has fought to have a 900-page dossier on the 1888 Whitechapel ≠murders released. But a tribunal last week ruled they must be kept ≠hidden. Scotland Yard said living ≠relatives of the ≠suspects could be ≠attacked. Advertisement >> It added that releasing the papers which name "grasses" would jeopardise the ≠recruitment of ≠modern-day informants. Yesterday Mr Marriott, who is writing a book about the Ripper, who was never caught, said: "To censor the documents is absurd. "They could help... |
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| H-A-R with a V, V-A-R with a D | |
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| Can You Pass Harvard's 1869 Entrance Exam? (Before there were GPA's and SAT's) |
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· 07/22/2011 10:18:03 AM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 61 replies · · Business Insider · · 07/22/2011 · · Leah Goldman · |
The following 1869 Harvard entrance exam was supposed to be a breeze, believe it or not (via GOOD). In those days colleges had to go out of their way to attract students. Harvard pointed out in a newspaper ad that 185 of 210 candidates passed the entrance test and were accepted in the previous year. But those candidates had the benefit of a focused prep school education. You will find this exam, which ranges from geography to geometry to Latin, extremely difficult. Take a stab at the answers in the comment section. |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Voice of Thomas Edison's talking doll, after 123 years scientists crack code of metal ring |
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· 07/17/2011 6:25:08 AM PDT · · Posted by SanFranDan · · 33 replies · · DailyMail.U.K. · · 15th July 2011 · · John Stevens · |
FULL TITLE: Voice of Thomas Edison's talking doll is heard again after 123 years as scientists crack the code of mysterious metal ring For decades it lay in the bottom of a secretary's desk drawer, its purpose unknown. But now, 123 year after it was made, the secret of this bent metal ring, which was found in Thomas Edison's laboratory, has finally been uncovered. Scientists have found that the microscopic grooves on the ring make up the tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' and mark the world's first attempt at a talking doll and the dawn of America's recording industry... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Coffins Of Habsburgs Arrive In Austria |
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· 07/12/2011 7:14:57 PM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 25 replies · · NPR, AP · · July 12, 2011 · · Associated Press · |
The coffins of the son of Austria's last emperor and his wife have been brought to Austria and are lying in state at a cathedral associated with their dynasty. Family members of the late Otto Von Habsburg and his wife Regina met the coffins as they arrived Tuesday evening at the Mariazell basilica, site of Habsburg marriages, requiems and other ceremonies. The coffins are to be buried Saturday in the Emperor Tomb in Vienna, below the Austrian capital's Capuchin Church. Habsburg died on July 4 at age 98 in his villa in Poecking in southern Germany. His wife, Regina, died... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Editing the genome: Scientists unveil new tools for rewriting the code of life |
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· 07/21/2011 3:42:56 PM PDT · · Posted by posterchild · · 13 replies · · Harvard Gazette · · Thur July 14, 2011 · · R. Alan Leo · |
The power to edit genes is as revolutionary, immediately useful, and unlimited in its potential as was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press. And like Gutenberg's invention, most DNA editing tools are slow, expensive, and hard to use --- a brilliant technology in its infancy. Now, Harvard researchers developing genome-scale editing tools as fast and easy as word processing have rewritten the genome of living cells using the genetic equivalent of search and replace --- and combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears. "The payoff doesn't really come from making a copy of something that already exists,"... |
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| A $1000 genome could be reached by 2013 |
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· 07/22/2011 6:15:05 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 20 replies · · PhysOrg · · 07-21-2011 · · Staff · |
A new report published in the journal Nature describes the new machine created by Jonathan Rothberg of Ion Torrent Systems which uses semiconductors to decode DNA and takes them one step closer to being able to reach the goal of a $1000 human genome test. Their current machine consists of a silicon chip that has 1.2 million sensors consisting of miniature wells. These wells are filled with beads containing the DNA strands to be sequenced. Detectors in the well directly measure the hydrogen ions that are produced during DNA replication. Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, was the first to have... |
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| end of digest #366 20110723 | |
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