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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #367 · v 8 · n 3 Saturday, July 30, 2011 |
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Welcome to issue #367 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #367 Saturday, July 30, 2011 |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Are these ruins of biblical City of David? |
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· 07/23/2011 7:21:31 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 28 replies · · CNN · · July 2011 · · Matthew Chance · |
Professor Israel Finkelstein, of Tel Aviv University, pointed out that the remains are not evidence of a powerful biblical state. He said: "We are not talking about some great empire ruled from a wonderful capital, the way we look at Assyria in the 9th century B.C., or even the northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th century B.C. We are here in a formative phase of the rise of Judah." Finkelstein added: "Khirbet Qeiyafa does not make Judah a great empire with great armies." Garfinkel argued that even if it was not the great empire of the bible, its existence... |
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| The Philistines | |
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| In Palestinian city, diggers uncover biblical ruin |
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· 07/23/2011 6:59:35 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 20 replies · · Associated Press · · July 22, 2011 · · Matti Friedman · |
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) --- Archaeologists unearthing a biblical ruin inside a Palestinian city in the West Bank are writing the latest chapter in a 100-year-old excavation that has been interrupted by two world wars and numerous rounds of Mideast upheaval. Working on an urban lot that long served residents of Nablus as an unofficial dump for garbage and old car parts, Dutch and Palestinian archaeologists are learning more about the ancient city of Shekhem, and are preparing to open the site to the public as an archaeological park next year. |
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| 3,000-year-old altar uncovered at Philistine site suggests cultural links to Jews |
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· 07/29/2011 9:24:00 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · Ha'aretz · · Wednesday, July 26, 2011 · · Nir Hasson · |
Head of the archeological dig on Tel Tzafit Prof. Aren Maeir says the find indicates that the two peoples thought of as bitter enemies may have been closer than we think. A stone altar from the 9th century BCE was found in an archeological dig on Tel Tzafit, a site identified with the biblical Philistine city of Gat. The altar is reminiscent of Jewish altars from the same period and sheds light on the cultural links between the two peoples, who fought each other for centuries. The altar is approximately one meter tall, half a meter wide and half a... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Biblical Jewish Roots Irrelevant, Says PA Activist |
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· 07/24/2011 11:00:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 30 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 24/7/11 · · Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu · |
The Bible is an "ancient holy book" that is irrelevant to the Palestinian Authority's aim to take over all of Judea and Samaria from the Jews, a PA activist said in a rare debate last week with a "settler" in a Washington synagogue. The Bible is full of "medieval" traditions that should not be considered or influence decisions on whether or not to create the Palestinian Authority as an independent state within Israel's borders, Dr. Hussein Ibish, Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, said in the debate with David Ha'Ivri, director of the Shomron (Samaria) Liaison Office.... |
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| PA Uses Archaeology "To Rewrite History of Palestine' |
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· 07/27/2011 11:49:53 AM PDT · · Posted by rhema · · 8 replies · · IsraelNationalNews.com · · 7/25/11 · · Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu · |
The Palestinian Authority is renewing an archaeology dig in Shechem, which the Bible records was bought by Jacob (Yaakov). The director of the PA's Department of Antiquities, Hamdan Taha, says the dig will help in "writing or rewriting the history of Palestine." Muslim clerics often have rewritten the Bible, claiming that the "binding of Isaac (Yitzchak)" actually refers to Ishmael. Clerics in the Palestinian Authority and the entire Muslim world also have frequently argued that the Holy Temples never existed and that Rachel's Tomb at Bethlehem actually is an ancient Muslim holy site. Shechem appears to be next in line.... |
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| Facts are in the Ground | |
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| Ancient Bell Found in Jerusalem Old City Sewer Rings Again |
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· 07/25/2011 6:52:05 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 11 replies · · Fox News · · July 24, 2011 · |
JERUSALEM -- A tiny golden bell pulled after 2,000 years from an ancient sewer beneath the Old City of Jerusalem was shown Sunday by Israeli archaeologists, who hailed it as a rare find. The orb half an inch in diameter has a small loop that appears to have been used to sew it as an ornament onto the clothes of a wealthy resident of the city two millennia ago, archaeologists said. When Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority shook it Sunday, the faint metallic sound was something between a clink and a rattle. The bell's owner likely "walked in... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Oxford University wants help decoding Egyptian papyri [ Oxyrhynchus ] |
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· 07/27/2011 6:59:15 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · BBC · · Tuesday, July 26, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Oxford University is asking for help deciphering ancient Greek texts written on fragments of papyrus found in Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of images have gone on display on a website which encourages armchair archaeologists to help catalogue and translate them. Researchers hope the collective effort will give them a unique insight into life in Egypt nearly 2,000 years ago... The collection is made up of papyri recovered in the early 20th Century from the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, the so-called "City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish". At the time the city was under Greek rule. Later the Romans settled the... |
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| Central Asia | |
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| Bit By Bit, Afghanistan Rebuilds Buddhist Statues |
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· 07/27/2011 3:47:58 PM PDT · · Posted by Pan_Yan · · 12 replies · · NPR · · July 27, 2011 · · Joanna Kakissis · |
When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan a decade ago, they were fanatical about eliminating everything they considered un-Islamic. Their biggest targets --- literally and figuratively --- were the two monumental Buddha statues carved out of the sandstone cliffs in central Afghanistan. One stood nearly 180 feet tall and the other about 120 feet high, and together they had watched over the dusty Bamiyan Valley since the sixth century, several centuries before Islam reached the region. Despite international opposition, the Taliban destroyed the statues with massive explosions in 2001. At the time they were blown up, the statues were the largest Buddha... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Ancient City Mysteriously Survived Mideast Civilization Collapse |
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· 07/30/2011 7:26:54 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · LiveScience · · Thursday, July 28, 2011 · · Owen Jarus · |
As ancient civilizations across the Middle East collapsed, possibly in response to a global drought about 4,200 years ago, archaeologists have discovered that one settlement in Syria not only survived, but expanded. Their next question is --- why did Tell Qarqur, a site in northwest Syria, grow at a time when cities across the Middle East were being abandoned? "There was widespread abandonment of many of the largest archaeological sites and ancient cities in the region and also large numbers of smaller sites," said Jesse Casana, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas. "At Tell Qarqur and probably... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Tomb of St. Philip the Apostle discovered in Turkey's Denizli |
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· 07/27/2011 6:39:32 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 167 replies · · World Bulletin · · 5/27/11 · |
D'Andria said the structure of the tomb and the writings on it proved that it belonged to St. Philip the Apostle, who is recognized as a martyr in the history of ChristianityThe tomb of St. Philip the Apostle, one of the original 12 disciples of Christianity's central figure Jesus Christ, has been discovered during the ongoing excavations in Turkey's south-western province of Denizli. Italian professor Francesco D'Andria, the head of the excavation team at the Hierapolis ancient city in Denizli, told reporters on Tuesday that experts had reached the tomb of St. Philip whose name is mentioned in the Bible... |
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| Archeologists discover church remains in Turkish ancient city [ Pisidian Antioch ] |
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· 07/28/2011 8:56:43 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · WordBulletin · · Monday, July 25, 2011 · · Dunya Bizim · |
Associate Professor Mehmet Ozhanli, the head of Suleyman Demirel University's Archeology Department who heads excavations in the ancient city of Pisidian Antioch, said they had discovered remains of a church during their excavations. "We have found the remains of a three-nave church one and a half meters below the surface," Ozhanli told AA correspondent. Ozhanli said the building was constructed as a Pagan temple, however it was converted to a church after the spread of Christianity. "This is the fifth church we have brought to daylight in this ancient city," Ozhanli said. Ozhanli said this recently found church was also... |
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| Anatolia | |
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| Xanthos excavations turned over to Turkish archaeologists |
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· 07/28/2011 9:06:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Hurriyet Daily News · · Tuesday, July 26, 2011 · · Dogan News Agency · |
Turkish archaeologists will now be responsible for a dig at the ancient city of Xanthos in the Mediterranean province of Antalya due to the slow pace of excavations under French teams that have been working at the site for 60 years. Bordeaux University has passed on the excavations to a team under the guidance of Professor Burhan Varkavanç, head of the Archaeology Department at Akdeniz University in Antalya. Turkish scientists have already begun excavations at Xanthos, which had historical significance as the Lycian capital in the 2nd century BC. Akdeniz University's 23-member team will conduct excavations at the site for... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Relief found in W Turkey shows chariot race in ancient times |
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· 07/28/2011 9:19:47 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Hurriyet Daily News · · Wednesday, July 27, 2011 · · Anatolia News Agency · |
A relief depicting a 2,000-year-old chariot race scene and new gladiator names has been discovered at an archeological dig in Mugla, proving the area was an important center for sporting events. "We have found a block with a relief of a chariot race scene," said Professor Bilal Sˆg¸t, head of the excavation from Pamukkale University. "The chariot race scene provides us information on cultural and sporting activities. The chariot race relief also gives us considerable characteristic details of the carts and harness of that period." Ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Stratonikeia located in the Aegean province of Mugla... |
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| Roman Britain | |
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| UK: Roman Jug Unearthed at Site of New Theater |
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· 07/29/2011 10:24:37 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Secret History, fr.sott.net · · Thursday, July 21, 2011 · · Doncaster Free Press · |
Archaeologists working on the site of Doncaster's new civic and cultural quarter have unearthed a rare Roman glass jug dating back to around AD150. The area is believed to have been the site of a Roman cemetery where cremations took place. And on Saturday visitors will be able to tour the excavation site in the company of archeologists to learn about the jug and other finds, as well as about the town's important Roman history... The unearthed vessel, which is 15cm tall and was found close to the site of the new performance venue, would have been filled with rich... |
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| Roman skeleton unearthed on Watton building site |
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· 07/27/2011 2:40:40 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · BBC · · July 22, 2011 · · unattributed · |
The remains of a male believed to date back to the Roman occupation of Britain have been discovered in Watton, west Norfolk. The bones were unearthed during work to turn a former RAF base into housing and are thought to have been buried around AD43 to 410. BBC Radio Norfolk's Elizabeth Dawson spoke to site developer Edward Parker and lead archaeologist Mark Holmes to find out more about the discovery. |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| 3,000 Roman 3rd Century coins found in Montgomery field |
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· 07/28/2011 8:31:25 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 40 replies · · BBC · · Wednesday, July 27, 2011 · · unattributed · |
...The hoard of copper alloy coins, dating from the 3rd Century, was unearthed in Montgomery, Powys, several weeks ago. About 900 were found by a member of a Welshpool metal detecting club, with the rest of the discovery made with help from archaeologists. The exact location is being kept secret to protect the site. The Powys coroner will determine whether they qualify as treasure. Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT), which helped unearth the coins, said the discovery had the potential to reveal more about Roman life in mid Wales in the late 3rd Century. The find in Montgomery is a few... |
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| The Etruscans | |
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| Ancient Etruscan 'holy site' found near Viterbo |
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· 07/28/2011 8:14:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno · · Wednesday, July 26, 2011 · · ANSA · |
Italian archaeologists have discovered a sacred mountain where ancient Etruscans worshipped gods and burned sacred objects in their honour during the Bronze Age 3000 years ago. Experts from the Archeological Superintendency for southern Etruria and La Sapienza University in Rome found the site at Mount Cimino near Viterbo, 80 km north of Rome. The discovery is considered one of the most important in the early history of Lazio, the region surrounding Rome, with archaeological remnants dating back to 1000 BC. Working on the summit of the 1000-metre high mountain, the team of archaeologists led by Professor Andrea Cardarelli has carried... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Iceman's 'Girlfriend' Found [ Lady of Introd ] |
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· 07/25/2011 3:49:54 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 53 replies · · Discovery News · · Wednesday, July 20, 2011 · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
Italian workers building an addition to a kindergarten have unearthed a well preserved female skeleton who might be relatively contemporaneous with Öetzi, the Iceman mummy discovered 20 years ago in a melting glacier in South Tyrol. The "Lady of Introd" or "Öetzi's girlfriend," as the skeleton was nicknamed in Italy, was found in the tiny Alpine village of Introd, in the Val d'Aosta, famous to be the preferred vacationing spot for both Pope John II and his successor Benedict XVI. According to archaeologists and anthropologists, the woman has been lying on her right side, with her head facing west, for... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Epigenetic 'memory' key to nature versus nurture |
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· 07/24/2011 7:28:13 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 30 replies · · BBSRC · · July 24, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at the John Innes Centre have made a discovery, reported this evening (24 July) in Nature, that explains how an organism can create a biological memory of some variable condition, such as quality of nutrition or temperature. The discovery explains the mechanism of this memory -- a sort of biological switch -- and how it can also be inherited by offspring. The work was led by Professor Martin Howard and Professor Caroline Dean at the John Innes Centre, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC. Funding for the project came... |
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| But for Wales | |
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| 'Extraordinary' genetic make-up of north-east Wales men |
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· 07/23/2011 7:26:30 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 69 replies · · BBC · · 19 July 2011 · · BBC · |
Experts are asking people from north-east Wales to provide a DNA sample to discover why those from the area carry rare genetic make-up. So far, 500 people have taken part in the study which shows 30% of men carry an unusual type of Y chromosome, compared to 1% of men elsewhere the UK. Common in Mediterranean men, it was initially thought to suggest Bronze Age migrants 4,000 years ago. Sheffield University scientists explain the study at Wrexham Science Festival. 'Quite extraordinary' A team of scientists, led by Dr Andy Grierson and Dr Robert Johnston, from the University of Sheffield is... |
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| Prehistory of Santa Claus | |
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| Tests confirm age of prehistoric carving in Wales |
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· 07/29/2011 9:43:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Stone Pages · · Thursday, July 28, 2011 · · Edited from Dr George Nash PR · |
Recent discovery of a stylized reindeer engraving in a South Wales by Dr George Nash from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, now has been scientifically dated. The date of the flowstone that covers the head of the reindeer is 12,572 +/- 659 years Before Present, and the rock-art below may be much earlier. It is now confirmed that the carved reindeer is one of Britain's earliest examples of engraved figurative rock art. Dr Nash discovered the faint engraving while visiting the Gower Peninsula caves near Swansea in September 2010 with students and members of the Clifton... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Modern humans crowded out Europe's Neanderthals |
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· 07/28/2011 2:57:29 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 39 replies · · AFP · · July 28, 2011 · · Unknown · |
A swell of modern humans outnumbered Neanderthals in Europe by nearly 10 to one, forcing their extinction 40,000 years ago, suggested a study of French archaeology sites on Thursday. Scientists have long debated what caused the Neanderthals to die off rather suddenly, making way for the thriving population of more advanced Homo sapiens who likely moved in from Africa. The latest theory, published in the journal Science, is based on a statistical analysis of artifacts and evidence from the Perigord region of southern France, where lies the largest concentration of Neanderthal and early modern human sites in Europe. Researchers at... |
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| Africa | |
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| Malapa Fossils |
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· 07/26/2011 7:46:44 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · National Geographic News · · August 2011 · · Josh Fischman · |
The first two skeletons removed from the pit were a young adolescent male, 12 or 13 years old, and an adult female. Berger, a paleoanthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and his colleagues made the announcement in April 2010. The site, an eroded limestone cave called Malapa, is in a region already so famous for its ancient human fossils that it is often referred to as the Cradle of Humankind. Much of that reputation rests on finds from the early 1900s, back when South Africa harbored the best evidence for early human evolution, including Australopithecus africanus, at... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Are cancers newly evolved species? |
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· 07/26/2011 3:42:55 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 37 replies · · University of California, Berkeley · · July 26, 2011 · · Robert Sanders · |
BERKELEY --- Cancer patients may view their tumors as parasites taking over their bodies, but this is more than a metaphor for Peter Duesberg, a molecular and cell biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Cancerous tumors are parasitic organisms, he said. Each one is a new species that, like most parasites, depends on its host for food, but otherwise operates independently and often to the detriment of its host. In a paper published in the July 1 issue of the journal Cell Cycle, Duesberg and UC Berkeley colleagues describe their theory that carcinogenesis -- the generation of cancer... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Experts Baffled by Mysterious Underground Chambers |
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· 07/26/2011 11:28:17 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 42 replies · · Spiegel Online · · 22 July 2011 · · Matthias Schulz · |
There are more than 700 curious tunnel networks in Bavaria, but their purpose remains a mystery. Were they built as graves for the souls of the dead, as ritual spaces or as hideaways from marauding bandits? Archeologists are now exploring the subterranean vaults to unravel their secrets. Beate Greithanner, a dairy farmer, is barefoot as she walks up the lush meadows of the Doblberg, a mountain in Bavaria set against a backdrop of snow-capped Alpine peaks. She stops and points to a hole in the ground. "This is where the cow was grazing," she says. "Suddenly she fell in, up... |
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| Not-so-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Madrid begins search for bones of Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes |
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· 07/28/2011 7:05:05 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · Past Horizons · · Tuesday, July 26, 2011 · · Giles Tremlett · |
...Prado's team have won the support of local authorities and Madrid's archbishopric to hunt for the remains of the creator of the would-be knight-errant Don Quixote, who famously tilted at windmills, and of his sidekick, Sancho Panza. Experts said his bones should be easy to identify as they would bear the marks of wounds suffered during the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571. Cervantes received wounds to his chest and arms during a battle which saw a Spanish-led fleet defeat their Ottoman enemies in the Gulf of Patras off western Greece... Cervantes' bones went missing in 1673 when building work... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| First Nation artifacts discovered, divert highway |
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· 07/27/2011 2:45:54 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · CBC News · · unattributed · |
For years archaeologists suspected the First Nations history might go way back because there had been small, individual finds, but Hurricane Earl helped reveal even more. But for the first time, a large campsite has been uncovered that proves people moved through the area when ice still covered parts of the province. "We have individual finds and that's how we knew people were here," said Brent Suttie, archaeologist in charge of the site. The site is near Pennfield but the precise location is being kept secret for now. "We had individual spear points that we knew were that old. But... |
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| The Mayans | |
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| Fossils Reveal that Maya People Knew about Prehistory |
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· 07/29/2011 10:04:57 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · ArtDaily · · July 2011 · · unattributed · |
For Palenque inhabitants, marine fossils were the convincing proof of the land being covered by the sea long time ago, and parting from this fact they created their idea of the origin of the world, declared archaeologist Martha Cuevas, responsible, with geologist Jesus Alvarado, of research conducted by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Ongoing for 3 years, the investigation is oriented to understand symbolism given by ancient Mayas to Prehistoric vestiges, specifically the 31 specimens found at the archaeological site. The INAH researcher mentioned that petrified rests have been... |
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| The Olmecs | |
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| Mexican Archaeologists Find 2,800-Year-Old Monument [ Olmecs ] |
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· 07/29/2011 9:25:44 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 24 replies · · Latin American Herald Tribune · · Thursday, July 28, 2011 · · EFE · |
A group of Mexican archaeologists have discovered a 1.5 ton stone relief from the Olmec culture created more than 2,800 years ago, the National Institute of Archaeology and History, or INAH, said. The discovery was made at the archaeological site of Chalcatzingo in Morelos state, "the only pre-Columbian site known in central Mexico with large bas-reliefs," INAH said in a communique. The work --- standing more than 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall --- was discovered in late April on the north slope of Chalcatzingo as archaeologists were building a containing wall and protective roofs for the other monoliths in the... |
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| Longer Perspectives (2002) | |
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| Ancient human and animal remains are melting out of glaciers, a bounty of a warming world |
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· 09/20/2002 10:29:33 AM PDT · · Posted by vannrox · · 41 replies · · 563+ views · · US News · · 9/16/02 · · Alex Markels · |
As he hiked near Colorado's Continental Divide in the summer of 2001, Ed Knapp noticed a strange shape jutting from a melting ice field at 13,000 feet. "It looked like a bison skull," the building contractor and amateur archaeologist recalls. "I thought,'That's strange. Bison don't live this high up.'" Knapp brought the skull to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where scientists last month announced that it was indeed from a bison–one that died about 340 years ago. "This was an extraordinary discovery," says Russ Graham, the museum's chief curator, adding that it could alter notions... |
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| Climate | |
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| It wasn't CO2: Global sea levels started rising before 1800 |
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· 07/27/2011 9:51:14 AM PDT · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 36 replies · · JoNova · · July 26th, 2011 · · Joanne · |
Fans of man-made global warming frequently tell us seas are rising, but somehow forget to mention the rise started 200 years ago, long before our coal-fired electricity plants cranked up, and long before anyone had an electric shaver, or a 6 cylinder fossil-fuel-spewing engine. Something else was driving that warming trend.Here is the data from tide gauges going back 300 years from a paper by Jevrejeva et al 2008. [Graphed by Joanne Nova based on data from Jevrejura et al located at this site PMSML]This graph was calculated from 1023 tide gauge records [Jevrejeva et al., 2006] going back to... |
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| China | |
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| Ancient battlefield canteen found in north China |
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· 07/25/2011 8:23:04 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Xinhua · · July 24, 2011 · · English.news.cn · |
Archaeologists in north China's Shanxi Province have discovered an ancient canteen that is believed to have been used during the Battle of Changping (262 BC). The Battle of Changping was one of ten decisive battles that would reshape the country's central region during the Warring States period (475-221 BC). The canteen is believed to date back to approximately 2,200 years ago and is located between the city of Gaoping and Lingchuan County in Shanxi Province. It is located north of the Qinling Mountains in close proximity to the Bailishi section of the Great Wall. The canteen is believed to have... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| July 29, 1967 USS Forrestal Vietnam Memorial |
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· 07/24/2011 8:34:47 AM PDT · · Posted by Revski · · 27 replies · · o7jimmy · · 7-24-2011 · · Revski · |
Memorial of the US Naval Disaster of the aircraft carrier, USS Forrestal --CVA-59, July 29, 1967 in North Vietnam, Golf of Tonkin. Song of this Memorial video is, Pray For Me, sung by the Blind Boys of Alabama. |
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| Paleontology | |
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| How early reptiles moved |
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· 07/27/2011 9:19:08 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 6 replies · · http://www.physorg.com · · 07-27-2011 · · Staff · |
Modern scientists would have loved the sight of early reptiles running across the Bromacker near Tambach-Dietharz (Germany) 300 million years ago. Unfortunately this journey through time is impossible. But due to Dr. Thomas Martens and his team from the Foundation Schloss Friedenstein Gotha numerous skeletons and footprints of early dinosaurs have been found and conserved there during the last forty years. "It is the most important find spot of primitive quadruped vertebrates from the Perm in Europe," says Professor Dr. Martin S. Fischer from the University Jena (Germany). The evolutionary biologist and his team together with the Gotha... |
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| end of digest #367 20110730 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #367 · v 8 · n 3 Saturday, July 30, 2011 |
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34 topics |
Welcome to issue #367 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #368 Saturday, August 6, 2011 |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| What can the Ancient Greeks do for us? |
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· 08/04/2011 6:28:10 AM PDT · · Posted by COBOL2Java · · 12 replies · · guardian.co.uk · · 1 August 2011 · · Charlotte Higgins · |
The Greeks may have got the idea of coinage from their neighbours across the Aegean in Lydia, but the Greek world was the first society to use money in much the same way as we do -- state-issued currency as a universal and guaranteed form of exchange. Money was probably introduced in the early part of the 6th century BC -- and was a wild success. Its first mention, notes Richard Seaford in his book Money and the Early Greek Mind, comes in the laws written by the 6th-century Athenian reformer Solon, which, prosaically enough, lay down prices to... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Half of European men share King Tut's DNA |
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· 08/01/2011 10:50:56 PM PDT · · Posted by annie laurie · · 72 replies · · Reuters · · Mon Aug 1, 2011 · · Alice Baghdjian · |
Up to 70 percent of British men and half of all Western European men are related to the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, geneticists in Switzerland said. Scientists at Zurich-based DNA genealogy centre, iGENEA, reconstructed the DNA profile of the boy Pharaoh, who ascended the throne at the age of nine, his father Akhenaten and grandfather Amenhotep III, based on a film that was made for the Discovery Channel. The results showed that King Tut belonged to a genetic profile group, known as haplogroup R1b1a2, to which more than 50 percent of all men in Western Europe belong, indicating that they share... |
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| King Tut and half of European men share DNA |
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· 08/04/2011 7:57:05 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 56 replies · · medicalxpress · · 08-03-2011 · · Staff · |
According to a group of geneticists in Switzerland from iGENEA, the DNA genealogy center, as many as half of all European men and 70 percent of British men share the same DNA as the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, or King Tut. For a film created for the Discovery Channel, scientists worked to reconstruct the DNA of the young male King, his father Akhenaten and his grandfather Amenhotep III. They discovered that King Tut had a DNA profile that belongs to a group called haplogroup R1b1a2. This group can be found in over 50 percent of European men and shows the researchers... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Ancient Egypt was destroyed by drought, discover Scottish experts |
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· 08/04/2011 5:51:22 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 47 replies · · Scotsman, Tall and Handsome Built · · Tuesday, August 2, 2011 · · Lyndsay Buckland · |
...the fall of the great Egyptian Old Kingdom may have been helped along by a common problem which remains with us now -- drought... a severe period of drought around 4,200 years ago may have contributed to the demise of the civilisation. Using seismic investigations with sound waves, along with carbon dating of a 100-metre section of sediment from the bed of Lake Tana in Ethiopia, the team were able to look back many thousands of years. They were able to see how water levels in the lake had varied over the past 17,000 years, with the sediment signalling lush... |
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| Comets, Meteors & Myth: New Evidence for Toppled Civilizations and Biblical Tales |
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· 11/13/2001 1:26:01 PM PST · · Posted by Darth Reagan · · 24 replies · · 178+ views · · Space.com · · November 13, 2001 · · Robert Roy Britt · |
Tuesday November 13 08:37 AM EST Comets, Meteors & Myth: New Evidence for Toppled Civilizations and Biblical Tales Comets, Meteors & Myth: New Evidence for Toppled Civilizations and Biblical Tales By Robert Roy BrittSenior Science Writer, SPACE.com "...and the seven judges of hell ... raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight into darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup." -- An account of the Deluge from the Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2200 B.C. If you are fortunate enough to ... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Earliest Image of Egyptian Ruler Wearing 'White Crown' of Royalty Brought to Light |
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· 08/06/2011 5:34:24 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Science News · · August 5, 2011 · · Yale University · |
...The site had been partially damaged in recent years, and the Yale-led team -- which also included Egyptologists from the University of Bologna, Italy and the Provinciale Hogeschool of Limburg, Belgium -- relied on Habachi's photos (now stored with the Epigraphic Survey in Luxor) and cutting-edge digital methodology to reconstruct and analyze the images and hieroglyphic text inscribed in several areas within the larger site. According to Maria Carmela Gatto, director of the project, the group of images and the short inscription represent the earliest depiction of a royal Jubilee, complete with all the identifying elements of the Early Dynastic... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Egypt's Lost Fleet -- It's Been Found |
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· 08/02/2011 8:07:48 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 29 replies · · Discovery magazine · · July 28, 2011 · · Andrew Curry · |
The scenes carved into a wall of the ancient Egyptian temple at Deir el-Bahri tell of a remarkable sea voyage. A fleet of cargo ships bearing exotic plants, animals, and precious incense navigates through high-crested waves on a journey from a mysterious land known as Punt or "the Land of God." The carvings were commissioned by Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's greatest female pharaoh, who controlled Egypt for more than two decades in the 15th century B.C. She ruled some 2 million people and oversaw one of most powerful empires of the ancient world. The exact meaning of the detailed carvings has... |
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| Climate | |
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| Six Million Years of African Savanna |
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· 08/04/2011 1:43:48 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · · National Science Foundation · · August 3, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Scientists using chemical isotopes in ancient soil to measure prehistoric tree cover--in effect, shade--have found that grassy, tree-dotted savannas prevailed at most East African sites where human ancestors and their ape relatives evolved during the past six million years. "We've been able to quantify how much shade was available in the geological past," says University of Utah geochemist Thure Cerling, lead author of a paper titled "Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years" on the results in this week's issue of the journal Nature. "It shows there have been open habitats for the last six million... |
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| Africa | |
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| Water's edge ancestors: Human evolution's tide may have turned on lake and sea shores |
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· 08/02/2011 7:56:32 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Science News · · August 13th, 2011 · · Bruce Bower · |
Marean proposes that it was there, where the Arizona State University archaeologist now conducts excavations, that humankind's mental tide turned sometime between 164,000 and 120,000 years ago. Seaside survivors learned to read the moon's phases in order to harvest heaps of shellfish -- brain food extraordinaire -- during a few precious days each month when ocean tides safely retreated. Tantalizing traces of complex thinking and behavior, including lunar literacy, have turned up at South Africa's Pinnacle Point, a cave-specked promontory that juts into the Indian Ocean. Chunks of dark red pigment and strikingly beautiful seashells found by Marean's team in... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Sewer repairs reveal early visitors to Sitka? [Paleolithic Alaska?] |
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· 08/02/2011 7:38:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · KCAW · · July 28, 2011 · · Robert Woolsey · |
An anthropologist has found what she believes are stone tools in a street excavation in downtown Sitka. The finds -- if they are confirmed -- could help shed light on Paleolithic humans who either lived in, or passed through, the region... "It's a simple tool where you have a certain kind of rock, and you drop that rock on another rock and a flake comes off. And if it's nice and sharp along there you'll use it for a while. You grip it like that -- use it as a skin scraper, or for whatever you're scraping. Then, when it... |
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| Peru & the Andes | |
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| Ancient Sacrificer Found With Blades in Peru Tomb? |
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· 08/01/2011 12:35:48 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 6 replies · · National Geographic News · · 7-28-2011 · · Ker Than · |
~~~snip~~~ The new tomb discovery was made during excavations of a section of Chotuna-Chornancap that was used to perform crop-fertility rituals, according to the team. The skeleton belonged to a male between 20 and 30 years old, and that the tomb was built sometime in the late 1200s or early 1300s A.D., toward the end of the Sic·n period, they say. The cause of death of the tomb's inhabitant is unknown, but based on the kind and quantity of artifacts buried with him -- including ceramic pots, a skirt made of copper disks, and ornate copper knives -- the team thinks he was a... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Ancient Graves Reveal When Elderly Gained Power |
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· 08/04/2011 7:49:45 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · Live Science · · August 4, 2011 · · Stephanie Pappas · |
It's not easy to study the elderly in a society where life was all too often cut short by disease, childbirth and injuries. But new research on people living in the Bronze Age suggests the elderly began to gain power over a 600-year period in Austria. The findings rely on skeletal aging and a comparison of objects placed in graves of individuals of different ages. As time passed in the small farming hamlets of lower Austria, researchers reported online July 15 in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, older men began to be buried with copper axes, a privilege not granted... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Unearthed, a great Tudor local [ Three Tuns tavern ] |
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· 08/06/2011 4:48:26 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · London Evening Standard · · Friday, August 5, 2011 · · Bo Wilson · |
Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be one of London's oldest pubs. The 16th century tavern, The Three Tuns, was unearthed next to Holborn Viaduct, with parts in such good condition that it is possible to stand on the remains of the Tudor street and look through its window. David Saxby, a senior archaeologist at the Museum of London, uncovered a basement bar room, a serving hatch and an inscription "Lotte" -- possibly as part of the name Charlotte -- at the foot of the staircase. Other treasures include a bottle's glass medallion, which has the pub's logo of... |
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| Britain | |
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| Armada wreck discovered off Donegal |
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· 08/06/2011 5:45:50 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · Belfast Telegraph · · Friday, August 5, 2011 · · unattributed · |
The wreckage of a sunken vessel believed to be from the Spanish Armada has been discovered off the Donegal coast... in shallow waters in Rutland Harbour, near Burtonport. Evidence uncovered during a dive survey revealed the vessel was likely to be a 16th-century ship, possibly part of the 1588 Spanish Armada. Heritage minister Jimmy Deenihan... said the discovery was a major find of significance not only to Ireland but also to the international archaeological, historical and maritime communities. "If, in fact, it proves to be an Armada vessel, it could constitute one of the most intact of these wrecks discovered... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| What is war good for? Sparking civilization, suggest UCLA archaeology findings from Peru |
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· 07/25/2011 8:52:27 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 7 replies · · UCLA · · July 25, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Warfare, triggered by political conflict between the fifth century B.C. and the first century A.D., likely shaped the development of the first settlement that would classify as a civilization in the Titicaca basin of southern Peru, a new UCLA study suggests. Charles Stanish, director of UCLA's Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, and Abigail Levine, a UCLA graduate student in anthropology, used archaeological evidence from the basin, home to a number of thriving and complex early societies during the first millennium B.C., to trace the evolution of two larger, dominant states in the region: Taraco, along the Ramis River, and Pukara, in... |
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| Sign of Advancing Society? An Organized War Effort |
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· 08/04/2011 4:27:06 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 3 replies · · NY Times · · August 1, 2011 · · NICHOLAS WADE · |
Some archaeologists have painted primitive societies as relatively peaceful, implying that war is a reprehensible modern deviation. Others have seen war as the midwife of the first states that arose as human population increased and more complex social structures emerged to coordinate activities. A wave of new research is supporting this second view. Charles Stanish and Abigail Levine, archaeologists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have traced the rise of the pristine states that preceded the Inca empire. The first villages in the region were formed some 3,500 years ago. Over the next 1,000 years, some developed into larger... |
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| If Only It Would Come Out of its Shell | |
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| The last 3 million years at a snail's pace: a tiny trapdoor opens a new way to date the past |
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· 08/04/2011 1:24:23 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 7 replies · · University of York · · August 4, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Scientists at the University of York, using an 'amino acid time capsule', have led the largest ever programme to date the British Quaternary period, stretching back nearly three million years.It is the first widespread application of refinements of the 40-year-old technique of amino acid geochronology. The refined method, developed at York's BioArCh laboratories, measures the breakdown of a closed system of protein in fossil snail shells, and provides a method of dating archaeological and geological sites. Britain has an unparalleled studied record of fossil-rich terrestrial sediments from the Quaternary, a period that includes relatively long glacial episodes -- known as... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Full Dinosaur Skeleton Found in Alaska, Plus Photos of Rare Dinosaur Fossils |
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· 07/30/2011 7:44:38 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 16 replies · · IBTimes San Francisco · · July 29, 2011 · · staff reporter · |
A 200 million year old reptilian fossil was discovered by Alaskan scientists along the shores of Tongass National Forest. It was the low tide that made the discovery possible as a rare marine creature called Thalattosaurs was submerged in water and rocks. The last Thalattosaurs to survive was after the Triassic period, roughly 200 million years ago. An almost complete skeleton was recovered along with an outline of the body embedded onto surrounding rocks. The creature is usually between 3 to 10 feet long with padded limbs and flat tails. The snout turns downward and contains both pointy teeth for... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Ancient dog skull unearthed in Siberia |
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· 08/03/2011 9:53:08 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 29 replies · · BBC · · August 3, 2011 · · Hamish Pritchard · |
A very well-preserved 33,000 year old canine skull from a cave in the Siberian Altai mountains shows some of the earliest evidence of dog domestication ever found. But the specimen raises doubts about early man's loyalty to his new best friend as times got tough. The findings come from a Russian-led international team of archaeologists. The skull, from shortly before the peak of the last ice age, is unlike those of modern dogs or wolves. The study is published in the open access journal Plos One. Although the snout is similar in size to early, fully domesticated Greenland dogs from... |
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| Panspermia | |
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| Amino acid found in deep space |
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· 07/18/2002 10:17:50 AM PDT · · Posted by nuda_veritas · · 120 replies · · 848+ views · · New Scientist · · 10:57 18 July 02 · · Rachel Nowak · |
10:57 18 July 02 Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition An amino acid, one of the building blocks of life, has been spotted in deep space. If the find stands up to scrutiny, it means that the sorts of chemistry needed to create life are not unique to Earth verifying one of astrobiology's cherished theories.This would add weight to ideas that life exists on other planets, and even that molecules from outer space kick-started life on Earth.Over 130 molecules have been identified in interstellar space so far, including sugars and ethanol. But amino acids are a particularly important find... |
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| Early America | |
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| Second Piece of Historic Ship Discovered at WTC Site |
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· 08/06/2011 5:14:25 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · DNAinfo, Digital Network Associates · · August 4, 2011 · · Olivia Scheck · |
Archaeologists helping to excavate the World Trade Center site have uncovered a second piece of the more than 200-year-old ship that was discovered there last summer. The find, made last Friday, came as workers began digging up the east side of the construction area, which once housed the World Trade Center complex... Archaeologists first noticed remnants of the ship -- curved pieces of wood buried 25 feet below street level -- last July and spent two weeks excavating the artifact, which turned out to be a 32-foot-long section of the boat's hull. The piece that was found last Friday belongs... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Last Surviving Pilot of 1942's Astonishing 'Doolittle Raid' Col William Bower; History/Memorial |
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· 08/05/2011 2:46:23 AM PDT · · Posted by Reaganite Republican · · 7 replies · · Reaganite Republican · · August 5, 2011 · · Reaganite Republican · |
A great and genuine American hero The audacious US Army air attack upon the Japanese home islands in April of 1942 that came to be known as the Doolittle Raid was the very first American offensive inflicted upon the Japanese motherland in WWII. As intended, it came as a hideous shock to both the military regime and Japanese people... In the event, actual military and economic damage was unsubstantial -- but by exposing 'invincible' Japan as vulnerable, the heroic bombing run brought us a much-needed morale boost... Americans got their first taste of vengeance in the wake of the sneak-attack on Pearl Harbor just the previous year.... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Russians print new info linked to Raoul Wallenberg |
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· 07/31/2011 6:02:31 PM PDT · · Posted by Hunton Peck · · 3 replies · · Associated Press · · 7/31/2011 · · ARTHUR MAX · |
AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Russian archivists have published new material from a German officer imprisoned after World War II who shared a cell with Raoul Wallenberg, the missing Swedish diplomat credited with rescuing tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews. Publication of the statements from Willy Roedel came as a surprise since the Russians had previously denied they existed, say two independent scholars who have researched the Wallenberg mystery for decades, in a paper released Monday. That raises suspicions that Moscow may be withholding information which could help solve the 66-year-old puzzle of Wallenberg's arrest and disappearance in the gulag, the vast... |
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| end of digest #368 20110806 | |
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