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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #388 Saturday, December 24, 2011 |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| The man who saved The Resurrection (painting) |
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· 12/23/2011 7:30:20 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · BBC · · December 23, 2011 · · Tim Butcher · |
A chance discovery has brought to light the little-known story of how a British Army officer risked a court martial in wartime Italy to save a painting the author Aldous Huxley once described as "the greatest picture in the world". I opened a dead man's suitcase in Cape Town and was transported from today's Africa, via World War II Italy, to Renaissance Tuscany. Inside I found a story of high art, bravery and love, all the more powerful because it is a story not widely known. I was on Long Street, a boisterous city-centre shopping artery, exploring the upper floors... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Frankincense Supply Under Threat Of Drying Up |
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· 12/22/2011 3:27:55 PM PST · · Posted by NYer · · 33 replies · · Red Orbit · · December 21, 2011 · |
Frankincense, a festive fragrance that has been harvested in the wild in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa since ancient times, is declining so dramatically that production of the resin could be halved over the next fifteen years, according to a new study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Frankincense is produced by tapping the gum of trees in the Boswellia genus. It is traditionally used in incense and perfumes around the world and is a key part of the Christmas story ‚Ä" one of the three gifts to baby Jesus by the three wise men;... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Hevron Police Chief: Cave of Patriarchs is Israel's Foundation |
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· 12/22/2011 11:29:35 AM PST · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 2 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 22/12/11 · · Gil Ronen · |
The commander of the Hevron Region of the Israel Police, Col. Yitzchak Rachamim, partook in the candle lighting ceremony at the Cave of Patriarchs Wednesday. "Our primary goal is that not only Jews from Diaspora will visit the Cave of Patriarchs, but also the residents of Israel will all flock in multitudes to this holy site," he said. "We identify fully with the importance of the place -- this is the foundation of the state of Israel," he added. "The policemen and officers of the Hevron Region serve in this dear and holy place out of a sense of mission,... |
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| This Hannukah, Take a Tour to the Real Graves of the Maccabees |
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· 12/21/2011 3:11:50 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 3 replies · · Haaretz · · 12/20/11 · · Moshe Gilad · |
There is no dispute today that the 'official' location of the Maccabean graves, near Modi'in, is not the real site; come and see for yourself where these heroes were actually buried. The Hasmoneans, who ruled a Jewish dynasty in Israel, have been buried in the ground for more than 2,100 years. It's hard to believe it when listening to Zohar Bar'am, who speaks with great excitement of the mystery of their burial and the search for the exact location of their graves. Bar'am has been managing the "Hasmoneans Village" open museum by Modiin for 34 years. The museum, which offers activities... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Tunisia's President Calls on Jews to Return |
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· 12/20/2011 1:01:18 PM PST · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 22 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 20/12/11 · · Elad Benari · |
Tunisia's newly elected president on Monday called the country's Jewish population to return to his country, The Associated Press reported. During a meeting with the country's Grand Rabbi Haim Bittan, President Moncef Marzouki said that Tunisia's Jews are full-fledged citizens and those who had left the country were welcome to return. Today, Tunisia has a Jewish population of only 1,500, but in the 1960s there were 100,000 Jews in the country. Most left following the 1967 Six Day War, but the emigration to Israel started in the 1050's. Most Tunisian Jews now live on the resort island of Djerba, near... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Failure to protect Egyptian historic sites could trigger foreign intervention, warn experts |
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· 12/19/2011 7:37:30 AM PST · · Posted by MontaniSemperLiberi · · 22 replies · · al arabiya via drudge · · Mustafa Suleima · |
The fire that broke out in a Cairo library that houses thousands of rare documents raised concerns over the government's and the army's ability to protect historic sites at times of upheaval and drove several experts to warn of a possible intervention by foreign entities to preserve the heritage at risk. Legal and archeological experts described failure to contain the fire that devoured large parts of the Scientific Complex in downtown Cairo and to rescue the priceless maps, manuscripts, and books kept inside as a disaster and warned that the possibility of similar acts of sabotage would make foreign intervention... |
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| Egypt riots threaten cultural sites as Cairo library goes up in flame[s] |
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· 12/20/2011 3:43:27 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 52 replies · · Ha'aretz · · Monday, December 19, 2011 · · Haaretz, AP · |
Experts say among the manuscripts lost are maps of Napoleon's conquest of Egypt in 1798, as well as a map used in the 1989 Israeli withdrawal from Taba. Hundreds of rare manuscripts and maps, including the maps used in 1989 Israeli withdrawal from Taba, were destroyed this week, as rioters set fire to a library in the Cairo's Scientific Complex in the fourth day of renewed clashes between protesters and security forces... Mamdouh al-Masry, an Egyptian archaeology professor also speaking with Al-Arabiya said the country's Supreme Council of the Armed Forces was responsible for the destruction, criticizing for failing to... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Enigmatic standing stele of Al-Rajajil |
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· 12/20/2011 6:42:41 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · · Arab News · · Tuesday, December 13, 2011 · · Roger Harrison · |
JEDDAH: On a lonely exposed hillside a few kilometers outside the capital of Al-Jouf province, Sakkaka, stand clusters of three-meter high fingers of stone. Etched with ancient Thamudic graffiti, these monuments to a long extinct culture have maintained their lonely vigil for six millennia. Many have fallen over and others lean at bizarre random angles. Al-Rajajil ("the men"), the sandstone stele weighing up to five tons each, is popularly called Saudi Arabia's Stonehenge. They are possibly the oldest human monuments on the peninsula. Some time in the Chalcolithic, or Copper Age, people living in the area where Al-Jouf is today... |
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| Stonehenge rocks Pembrokeshire link confirmed |
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· 12/19/2011 3:50:17 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 8 replies · · BBC · · December 19, 2011 · |
Experts say they have confirmed for the first time the precise origin of some of the rocks at Stonehenge.It has long been suspected that rhyolites from the northern Preseli Hills helped build the monument. But research by National Museum Wales and Leicester University has identified their source to within 70m (230ft) of Craig Rhos-y-felin, near Pont Saeson. The museum's Dr Richard Bevins said the find would help experts work out how the stones were moved to Wiltshire. For nine months Dr Bevins, keeper of geology at National Museum Wales, and Dr Rob Ixer of Leicester University collected and identified samples... |
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| Stonehenge rocks Pembrokeshire link confirmed |
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· 12/20/2011 6:33:10 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · BBC · · Monday, December 19, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Experts say they have confirmed for the first time the precise origin of some of the rocks at Stonehenge. It has long been suspected that rhyolites from the northern Preseli Hills helped build the monument. But research by National Museum Wales and Leicester University has identified their source to within 70m (230ft) of Craig Rhos-y-felin, near Pont Saeson. The museum's Dr Richard Bevins said the find would help experts work out how the stones were moved to Wiltshire. For nine months Dr Bevins, keeper of geology at National Museum Wales, and Dr Rob Ixer of Leicester University collected and identified... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Income inequality in the Roman Empire |
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· 12/22/2011 5:46:00 AM PST · · Posted by 1010RD · · 22 replies · · December 16, 2011 · · Tim De Chant · |
Over the last 30 years, wealth in the United States has been steadily concentrating in the upper economic echelons. Whereas the top 1 percent used to control a little over 30 percent of the wealth, they now control 40 percent. It's a trend that was for decades brushed under the rug but is now on the tops of minds and at the tips of tongues. Since too much inequality can foment revolt and instability, the CIA regularly updates statistics on income distribution for countries around the world, including the U.S. Between 1997 and 2007, inequality in the U.S. grew by... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Skeletons point to Columbus voyage for syphilis origins |
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· 12/20/2011 1:17:42 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 67 replies · · Emory University · · December 20, 2011 · |
More evidence emerges to support that the progenitor of syphilis came from the New WorldSkeletons don't lie. But sometimes they may mislead, as in the case of bones that reputedly showed evidence of syphilis in Europe and other parts of the Old World before Christopher Columbus made his historic voyage in 1492. None of this skeletal evidence, including 54 published reports, holds up when subjected to standardized analyses for both diagnosis and dating, according to an appraisal in the current Yearbook of Physical Anthropology. In fact, the skeletal data bolsters the case that syphilis did not exist in Europe before... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Massive 1,100+ year old Maya site discovered in Georgia's mountains |
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· 12/22/2011 7:57:09 PM PST · · Posted by LucyT · · 89 replies · · December 21, 2011 · · Richard Thornton · |
Archaeological zone 9UN367 at Track Rock Gap, near Georgia's highest mountain, Brasstown Bald, is a half mile (800 m) square and rises 700 feet (213 m) in elevation up a steep mountainside. Visible are at least 154 stone masonry walls for agricultural terraces, plus evidence of a sophisticated irrigation system and ruins of several other stone structures. Much more may be hidden underground. It is possibly the site of the fabled city of Yupaha, which Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto failed to find in 1540, and certainly one of the most important archaeological discoveries in recent times. |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Pictures: Mysterious Viking-era Graves Found With Treasure -- Who Was the Young Warrior? |
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· 12/17/2011 5:27:43 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 32 replies · · National Geographic News · · Friday, December 16, 2011 · · Traci Watson · |
The burial ground holds not only a hoard of precious objects but also hints of human sacrifice -- and several dozen graves of a mysterious people with links to both the Vikings and the rulers of the founding states of eastern Europe. Researchers are especially intrigued by the Young Warrior, who died a violent death in his 20s. The man's jaw is fractured, his skull laced with cut marks. The sword provides further evidence of a martial life. Objects in the warrior's grave suggest he had ties to one of the region's earliest Slavic monarchs, said the project leader Andrzej... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Was St Edmund killed by the Vikings in Essex? |
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· 12/20/2011 6:28:36 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Past Horizons · · Monday, December 19, 2011 · · unattributed · |
The story of Edmund, king and martyr, has become a kind of foundation myth for the county of Suffolk, but contains at least one element of truth -- in 869 there was a battle between the East Anglians and the Vikings; Edmund was captured and later killed. About 100 years later the story was written down -- soon after, Edmund came to be considered a Christian martyr and the new abbey (founded about 1020) at Bury St Edmunds was dedicated to him. Edmund's remains were believed to be housed in the abbey, miracles were attributed to him, and Bury thus... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| New Suspect in 'Great Dying': Massive Prehistoric Coal Explosion |
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· 12/22/2011 11:59:36 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 43 replies · · Live Science · · December 22, 2011 · · Jennifer Welsh · |
A great explosive burning of coal set fire and made molten by lava bubbling from the Earth's mantle , looking akin to Kuwait's giant oil fires but lasting anywhere from centuries to millennia, could have been the cause of the world's most-devastating mass extinction, new research suggests. The event, called the Great Dying, occurred 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period. "The Great Dying was the biggest of all the mass extinctions," said study researcher Darcy Ogden of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. "Estimates suggest up to 96 percent of all marine species... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| African Lungfish Has Scientists Rethinking 100's Of Millions Of Years Of Evolutionary History |
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· 12/14/2011 10:13:23 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 18 replies · · Business Insider · · 12/14/2011 · · Dina Spector · |
A fish that uses its fins to walk across the floor is causing scientists to rethink the evolution of walking on land, according to a new study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Researchers at the University of Chicago observed an African lungfish using its pelvic fins "as hind legs to propel itself along the bottom of the tank," reports Victoria Gill and Jason Palmer at BBC News. This could mean that our ability to walk developed underwater -- before creatures grew toes or limbs necessary to move on land -- essentially rewriting hundreds of millions of years of... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Human skull study causes evolutionary headache |
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· 12/20/2011 8:48:05 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 16 replies · · University of Manchester · · December 20, 2011 · |
Scientists studying a unique collection of human skulls have shown that changes to the skull shape thought to have occurred independently through separate evolutionary events may have actually precipitated each other. Researchers at the Universities of Manchester and Barcelona examined 390 skulls from the Austrian town of Hallstatt and found evidence that the human skull is highly integrated, meaning variation in one part of the skull is linked to changes throughout the skull. The Austrian skulls are part of a famous collection kept in the Hallstatt Catholic Church ossuary; local tradition dictates that the remains of the town's dead are... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Christmas 1944, when we said NUTS to the enemy |
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· 12/18/2011 5:50:58 PM PST · · Posted by NEWwoman · · 43 replies · · smithsk.blogspot.com · · December 17, 2011 · · smithsk · |
December 1944 World War Two was in overdrive. The major powers were slugging it out about the world -- in Europe, Africa, and in the Pacific for 5 long years already- since 1939. The United States had entered the fray when the US Congress had declared war on Japan (December 8, 1941) for attacking Pearl Harbor (December 7, 1941). Then on December 11, 1941, Germany and Italy had declared war on the United States. We were in the war for the long haul. Early December 1944, we had thought the war, at least in Europe, would be over in a... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| One-off Democracy: When the First Election is the Last |
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· 12/19/2011 8:57:36 AM PST · · Posted by varialectio · · 5 replies · · American Thinker · · December 10 · · Jeff Lipkes · |
Today is the anniversary of the first election in history in which a nation's leader was selected by universal male suffrage. On December 10, 1848, Frenchmen went to the polls for the first time in fifty-six years. For a third time, a revolution had overthrown the king, and for the second time, a republic was proclaimed. But the French voters blew it. The surprise winner was a seedy forty-year-old adventurer who had lived in exile in Switzerland and England, except for two ignominious coup attempts. He ran on a vaguely socialistic platform of hope and change -- his first book... |
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| end of digest #388 20111224 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #389 Saturday, December 31, 2011 |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Scholarly world abuzz over Jewish scrolls find [ Afghanistan ] |
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· 12/31/2011 10:12:25 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Jerusalem Post · · Saturday, December 31, 2011 · · Gil Shefler · |
The Jewish scholarly world is abuzz over the discovery of ancient Jewish scrolls in a cave in Afghanistan's Samangan province, Channel 2 reported on Friday. According to Arab Affairs correspondent Ehud Yeari, if validated the scrolls may be the most significant historical finding in the Jewish world since that of the Cairo Geniza in the 19th century. "We know today about a couple of findings," Haggai Ben-Shammai, Professor Emeritus of Arabic Language and Literature at Hebrew University was quoted as saying. "In all, in my opinion, there are about 150 fragments. It may be the tip of the iceberg." The... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Second Temple Era Seal Unveiled |
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· 12/25/2011 5:19:51 AM PST · · Posted by exbrit · · 14 replies · · Israel National News · · 12/25/11 · · Gavriel Queenann · |
The Israel Antiquities Authority unveiled a rare ancient seal that underscores the bond of the Jewish people to Jerusalem. Archaeologist Eli Shukron of the Antiquities Authority, and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, who oversaw the excavation, explained to reporters the significance of the coin. "This is the first time an object of this kind has been found. It is direct archaeological evidence of Jewish activity on the Temple Mount during the Second Temple era," they said. |
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| Ancient seal found in Jerusalem linked to ritual |
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· 12/25/2011 3:08:23 PM PST · · Posted by neverdem · · 13 replies · · Associated Press · · NA · · NA · |
JERUSALEM (AP) -- A rare clay seal found under Jerusalem's Old City appears to be linked to religious rituals practiced at the Jewish Temple 2,000 years ago, Israeli archaeologists said Sunday. The coin-sized seal found near the Jewish holy site at the Western Wall bears two Aramaic words meaning "pure for God." Archaeologist Ronny Reich of Haifa University said it dates from between the 1st century B.C. to 70 A.D. -- the year Roman forces put down a Jewish revolt and destroyed the second of the two biblical temples in Jerusalem. The find marks the first discovery of a written... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Rare Cuneiform Script Found on Island of Malta |
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· 12/24/2011 9:27:13 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 46 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Thursday, December 22, 2011 · · Vol. 5 December 2011 · |
A small-sized find in an ancient megalithic temple stirs the imagination. Excavations among what many scholars consider to be the world's oldest monumental buildings on the island of Malta continue to unveil surprises and raise new questions about the significance of these megalithic structures and the people who built them. Not least is the latest find -- a small but rare, crescent-moon shaped agate stone featuring a 13th-century B.C.E. cuneiform inscription, the likes of which would normally be found much farther west in Mesopotamia. Led by palaeontology professor Alberto Cazzella of the University of Rome "La Sapienza", the archaeological team... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Deciphered Ancient Tablet Reveals Curse of Greengrocer |
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· 12/24/2011 9:37:45 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · LiveScience · · Wednesday, December 21, 2011 · · Owen Jarus · |
Written in Greek, the tablet holding the curse was dropped into a well in Antioch, then one of the Roman Empire's biggest cities in the East, today part of southeast Turkey, near the border with Syria. The curse calls upon Iao, the Greek name for Yahweh, the god of the Old Testament, to afflict a man named Babylas who is identified as being a greengrocer. The tablet lists his mother's name as Dionysia, "also known as Hesykhia" it reads. The text was translated by Alexander Hollmann of the University of Washington. The artifact, which is now in the Princeton University... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Pillar at Pompei villa collapses |
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· 12/24/2011 9:22:05 AM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · Monsters and Critics · · Thursday, December 22, 2011 · · Deutsche Presse-Agentur · |
A pillar has collapsed at one of Pompeii's most well-preserved buildings, officials in Italy said Thursday, the latest in a series of accidents to befall the treasured archaeological site. The collapse took place on an external area of the House of Loreius Tiburtinus -- also known as the House of Octavius Quartio -- the office of Archaeological Heritage of Naples and Pompeii, said in a statement. Officials were in the process of inspecting the causes and extent of the damage, the statement added. The House of Loreius Tiburtinus is renowned for its artwork and large gardens. In October a portion... |
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| Africa | |
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| Sudan's Ancient Civilization: Nubian Kingdoms and the Christian Era |
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· 12/25/2011 5:42:02 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Sudan Vision · · Sunday, December 25, 2011 · · A. S. Alkoronki · |
Christianity had entered Sudan through the persecuted followers who escaped Egyptian territories which was occupied by the Romans who fought the new religion at first, but when Christianity became the Empire's religion the missionary movement became active and took a formal push in the reign of the Emperor Justinian in the years 517 AD --565 AD. The first mission sent from Constantinople to Nubia was under the chairmanship of a priest called "Julian" in 543 AD. With the support of Empress "Theodora", "Julian" stayed in Nubia and succeeded to some extent in spreading Christianity among the Nubian Gentiles. Then at... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| The mystery of 666 Explained -- Nero! {Ecumenical thread} |
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· 12/22/2011 1:01:18 PM PST · · Posted by Cronos · · 213 replies · · ecclesia.org · · 2009 · · Richard Anthony · |
Apocalypse 13:16-18 is based on Ezekiel 8 and 9. The "mark" symbolized the spiritual condition of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The ones with the "mark" were in allegiance with God. However, in Apocalypse, the mark is reversed. That is to say, the mark was on those who were against God and had allegiance to the "beast." John wrote that the number "is the number of a man's name; and his number is 666." This tells us that those who received the "mark" were actually in allegiance with a "man," an actually person of the first century. So, who was he?... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Eric Hobsbawm on 2011: 'It reminds me of 1848...' |
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· 12/26/2011 8:38:11 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · BBC World Service News · · Thursday, December 22, 2011 · · Andrew Whitehead · |
The renowned historian Eric Hobsbawm has watched the revolutions of 2011 with excitement -- and notes that it's now the middle class, not the working class, that is making waves... He has lived his life in the shadow, or the glow, of revolutions. Born just months before the Russian revolution of 1917, he was a Communist for most of his adult life -- as well as an innovative and influential writer and thinker. He has been a historian of revolution, and at times an advocate of revolutionary change. "Today's most effective mass mobilisations start from a new modernised middle class... |
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| Greece | |
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| Ancient lines of defence |
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· 12/27/2011 8:35:28 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · Athens News · · Sunday, December 25, 2011 · · John Leonard · |
Rhamnous and Sounion became especially important in the late 5th century BC, when the Spartans followed the advice of the traitorous Athenian Alcibiades and seized the strategic hill of Dekeleia, north of Athens, in 412BC. Having thus cut off the city's major food supply, the Spartans forced the Athenians to seek alternative routes for their vital shipments of Evia grain and other foodstuffs. Rhamnous' twin harbours replaced the more northerly port of Oropos and served as a naval base from which Athenian warships could safeguard the newly crucial shipping lanes that extended around Cape Sounion to Piraeus... Visible at Rhamnous... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| An Ancient Greek Debt Solution |
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· 09/30/2011 2:11:57 AM PDT · · Posted by Cronos · · 14 replies · · Wall Street Journal · · 28 Sep 2011 · · Matthew Dalton · |
...The year was around 400 B.C.; Plato was an up-and-coming young philosopher; and Dionysius of Syracuse*, a noted tyrant, had a problem: He'd borrowed too much money from his subjects. .., Dionysius ordered all money handed over to the government upon pain of death. He then reminted every coin, turning each one-drachma coin into a two-drachmae coin. The tyrant was then able to pay all his debts in full; maybe no one noticed that the real value of the coinage had been halved. ...It should be noted that Dionysius enjoyed several advantages over the contemporary Greek state. First, he was... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| D'oh, it's Homer McSimpson! Stunned Scottish couple unearth '800-year-old' stone head |
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· 12/25/2011 10:51:11 AM PST · · Posted by Nachum · · 45 replies · · Daily Mail · · 12/25/11 · · Charles Walford · |
Whoever carved the statue would not have had TV's favourite cartoon anti-hero in mind -- but there is no doubting the resemblance of this stone head to Homer Simpson It was found by Rosalind and Donald McIntyre when they were clearing the bottom of their garden at their home in Fife, Scotland, earlier this year. The couple were working in their garden when Mrs McIntyre picked up the head. She took it to St Andrews Museum, and the discovery has been referred to the National Committee for Carved Stones of Scotland. |
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| Anatolia | |
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| 9500 year old obsidian bracelet shows exceptional craft skills |
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· 12/29/2011 10:36:07 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 65 replies · · Past Horizons · · Tuesday, December 27, 2011 · · LTDS press release · |
Researchers have analysed the oldest obsidian bracelet ever identified, discovered in the 1990s at the site of Asikli Hˆy¸k, Turkey. A high level of technical expertise Using high-tech methods developed by LTDS to study the bracelet's surface and micro-topographic features, the researchers have revealed the astounding technical expertise of craftsmen in the eighth millennium BCE. Their skills were highly sophisticated for this period in late prehistory, and on a par with today's polishing techniques. This work is published in the December 2011 issue of Journal of Archaeological Science, and sheds new light on Neolithic societies. Dated to 7500 BCE, the... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Irikaitz archaeological site: only for the tenacious |
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· 12/27/2011 6:52:39 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 4 replies · · Basque Research · · December 27, 2011 · |
The recent discovery of a pendant at the Irikaitz archaeological site in Zestoa (in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa) has given rise to intense debate: it may be as old as 25,000 years, which would make it the oldest found to date at open-air excavations throughout the whole of the Iberian Peninsula. This stone is nine centimetres long and has a hole for hanging it from the neck although it would seem that, apart from being adornment, it was used to sharpen tools. The discovery has had great repercussion, but it is not by any means the only one uncovered... |
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| Multiregionalism | |
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| Viewpoint: Has 'one species' idea been put to bed? |
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· 12/30/2011 12:06:29 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 21 replies · · BBC · · December 30, 2011 · · Clive Finlayson · |
Here, Prof Clive Finlayson looks back at the year's developments in human evolution research and asks whether recent discoveries rule out a well known idea about our ancestors. Hobbits on Flores, Denisovans in Siberia, Neanderthals across Eurasia and our very own ancestors. Given this array of human diversity in the Late Pleistocene, we might well be forgiven for thinking that Ernst Mayr's contention that "in spite of much geographical variation, never more than one species of man existed on Earth at any one time" had finally been put to bed. It now seems that a high degree of diversity was also... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Last Neanderthals near the Arctic Circle? |
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· 12/29/2011 10:14:08 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 33 replies · · Past Horizons · · Tuesday, December 27, 2011 · · CNRS press release · |
Dating of butchery marks crucial A multi-disciplinary team of French CNRS researchers, working with Norwegian and Russian scientists, studied the Byzovaya site in the Polar Urals in northern Russia. Using carbon 14 dating and an optical simulation technique, the team was able to put an accurate date on sediments and on mammoth and reindeer bones abandoned on the site. The bones bore traces of butchering by Mousterian hunters. The results intrigue scientists in more ways than one. They show that Mousterian culture may have lasted longer than scientists had originally thought. What's more, no Mousterian presence had ever been identified... |
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| To Build a Fire | |
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| Model unlocks human impact on Africa's fire regimes |
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· 12/30/2011 4:18:21 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 5 replies · · BBC · · December 30, 2011 · · Mark Kinver · |
A model has helped shed light on how human-started fires shaped Africa's landscape, researchers report.Before human activity became widespread, most fires were caused by lightning strikes during the continent's wet seasons, they said. As the human population expanded, more fires occurred during the dry season, triggering a shift in the impact of fires on Africa's ecology, they added. > It has been estimated that early humans could have had the ability to start fires about 300,000 years ago, but the real impact was from about 70,000 years ago as human populations became more widespread. > |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| "Golden Chief" Tomb Treasure Yields Clues to Unnamed Civilization |
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· 12/26/2011 6:35:46 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 40 replies · · National Geographic News · · December 21, 2011 · · James Owen · |
"Spectacular find" includes gold, jewels, and a small army of likely sacrifices. Newfound tombs in Central America are yielding thousand-year-old gold, gems, and even hints of murder by pufferfish. But the real treasure is the excavation's clues to the unnamed civilization of the so-called golden chiefs of Panama, archaeologists say. "It's really a very spectacular find. ... probably the most significant" for this culture since the 1930s, when the nearby Sitio Conte site, also in central Panama, yielded a wealth of gold artifacts, anthropologist John Hoopes said. Until now, Sitio Conte provided the only major evidence of the golden-chiefs culture,... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| The Human Lake |
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· 12/24/2011 8:43:23 AM PST · · Posted by grey_whiskers · · 9 replies · · Discover · · March 31, 2011 · · G. Evelyn Hutchinson · |
I went recently to San Francisco to give a talk to a conference of scientists. The scientists were experts in gathering together mountains of biological data -- genome sequences, results of experiments and clinical trials -- and figuring out how to make them useful: turning them into new diagnostic tests, for example, or a drug for cancer. The invitation was an honor, but a nerve-wracking one. As a journalist, I had no genome scan to offer the audience. We science writers do have one ace in the hole, though. Instead of being lashed to a lab bench for years, carrying out experiments to illuminate... |
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| Trunken Spree | |
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| Elephant's sixth 'toe' discovered |
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· 12/26/2011 8:28:17 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 57 replies · · BBC News · · Rebecca Morelle · |
A mysterious bony growth found in elephants' feet is actually a sixth "toe", scientists report. For more than 300 years, the structure has puzzled researchers, but this study suggests that it helps to support elephants' colossal weight. Fossils reveal that this "pre-digit" evolved about 40 million years ago, at a point when early elephants became larger and more land-based. The research is published in the journal Science. Lead author Professor John Hutchinson, from the UK's structure and motion laboratory at the Royal Veterinary College, said: "It's a cool mystery that goes back to 1706, when the first elephant was dissected... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Over 65 million years North American mammal evolution has tracked with climate change |
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· 12/26/2011 1:07:37 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 20 replies · · Brown University · · December 26, 2011 · |
Rise and fall of groups of fauna driven by temperaturePROVIDENCE, R.I. -- History often seems to happen in waves -- fashion and musical tastes turn over every decade and empires give way to new ones over centuries. A similar pattern characterizes the last 65 million years of natural history in North America, where a novel quantitative analysis has identified six distinct, consecutive waves of mammal species diversity, or "evolutionary faunas." What force of history determined the destiny of these groupings? The numbers say it was typically climate change. "Although we've always known in a general way that mammals respond to... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| 'Jurassic Park' scientist aims to hatch a dinosaur using DNA from birds |
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· 12/29/2011 6:15:04 PM PST · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 36 replies · · Daily Mail · · Dec. 29, 2011 · · Ted Thornhill & Zoe Brennan · |
Some might say that only a bird brain could come up with such a plan, but scientist Jack Horner is hoping to use living birds to hatch a dinosaur. Horner, the technical adviser on Jurassic Park and professor of palaeontology at Montana State University believes that a modern bird's DNA contains a genetic memory that could be "switched on' again, resurrecting long-dormant dinosaur traits. What's more, he's looking for a helper to assist in the retro-engineering of a prehistoric beast. He told LiveScience: "I'm looking for a postdoctoral researcher. An adventurous postdoc who knows a lot about developmental biology and... |
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| Extremophiles | |
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| Deep-sea creatures at volcanic vent |
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· 12/28/2011 8:21:06 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 22 replies · · BBC · · December 27, 2011 · · Rebecca Morelle · |
Remarkable images of life from one of the most inhospitable spots in the ocean have been captured by scientists.Researchers have been surveying volcanic underwater vents -- sometimes called black smokers -- in the South West Indian Ridge in the Indian Ocean. The UK team found an array of creatures living in the super-heated waters, including yeti crabs, scaly-foot snails and sea cucumbers. They believe some of the species may be new to science. |
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| Biology... | |
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| Badwater Basin: Death Valley Microbe Thrives There |
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· 12/27/2011 5:07:37 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 13 replies · · National Science Foundation · · December 22, 2011 · |
View a video showing the bacteria BW-1 swimming in the direction of the magnetic field. Nevada, the "Silver State," is well-known for mining precious metals. But scientists Dennis Bazylinski and colleagues at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) do a different type of mining. They sluice through every water body they can find, looking for new forms of microbial magnetism. In a basin named Badwater on the edge of Death Valley National Park, Bazylinski and researcher Christopher Lef√‹vre hit pay dirt. Lef√‹vre is with the French National Center of Scientific Research and University of Aix-Marseille II. In this week's... |
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| Rare 'faceless and brainless' fish seen off UK coast |
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· 12/29/2011 2:48:47 PM PST · · DeoVindiceSicSemperTyrannis · · 35 replies · · MSNBC · · 12-29-11 · |
A rare species of fish described as "faceless and brainless" was among the unusual finds made by marine scientists off Britain's coast, according to a Scottish government report published on Thursday. The prehistoric amphioxus species, which grows to about two inches long and has no fins, was recorded off Orkney, part of the Northern Isles that lie off the far northern coast of mainland Scotland. The elusive fish is regarded as a modern representative of the first animals that evolved a backbone, the Scottish government said. With a nerve cord down its back, it has no specific brain or... |
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| ... & Cryptobiology | |
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| The Yeti, a severed finger spirited from Nepal, and a famous film star. |
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· 12/27/2011 4:38:01 AM PST · · Posted by Daffynition · · 39 replies · · DailyMail · · 27th December 2011 · · Matthew Hill · |
The full edited title: The Yeti, a severed finger spirited from Nepal, and a famous film star. DNA tests will finally solve a truly bizarre mystery Set high in a remote Himalayan mountain range stands the Pangboche Buddhist monastery. During heavy snowstorms, it can be found only by travellers who listen for the monks' ceremonial horns. The walls are lined with traditional Nepalese paintings depicting the treacherous tracks to the monastery. And among them are pictures of the legendary ape-like creature we refer to as the Yeti. |
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| Underwater Archaeology | |
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| Researchers: Excavation Of Shipwreck Warranted |
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· 12/27/2011 8:56:31 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · CBS Detroit · · December 19, 2011 · |
Tests performed at the bottom of northern Lake Michigan have provided enough evidence for researchers to recommend an excavation of the site of a shipwreck to determine if it's the Griffin, a French vessel that was loaded with furs when it sank in 1679, the project's lead investigator said Monday. Sonar scans of the lake bottom and profiling below it showed a mass consistent with other images of a buried ship hull, said Ken Vrana, director of the Laingsburg-based Center for Maritime and Underwater Resource Management. "The consensus among the professionals ... who have reviewed the data so far is... |
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| Hull of ancient ship revealed [ Cyprus ] |
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· 12/27/2011 9:04:28 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · Cyprus Mail · · December 24, 2011 · · unattributed · |
The Department of Antiquities has completed a second season of excavations of the Mazotos shipwreck. The team continued the systematic excavation of a trench, first opened in 2010, at the southern part of the assemblage, which the archaeologists have taken to be the bow of the ancient ship. Meanwhile, transport amphorae recovered at the site came from the island of Chios in the Aegean. One amphora from Cos was also found outside the main assemblage and it may have been part of the crew's provisions. Parts of two anchor stocks were also excavated which, added to the one found last... |
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| Five ancient shipwrecks found in central Stockholm |
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· 12/28/2011 9:14:14 PM PST · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · Yahoo News · · Tuesday, December 20, 2011 · · AFP · |
Five shipwrecks dating from the 1500s to the 1700s have been found during renovation work on a quay in central Stockholm, the Swedish Maritime Museum said on Monday." |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| The 16 Greatest Cities In Human History |
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· 12/25/2011 7:01:09 AM PST · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 24 replies · · Business Insider · · 12/25/2011 · · Robert Johnson & Gus Lubin · |
Cities have played an important role in human history for over 9,000 years. Jericho, the oldest city on record with a population of 2,000, was the center of commerce and learning in its day. So was Uruk, Mari and other great cities through history to Tokyo, which is the largest city today. Cities are becoming even more important as we passes through the biggest wave of urbanization in human history. Determining the population of any city prior to the late 1700's is no easy task. Even the most casual census was unheard of before then, and studies to nail down... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| 1st Pennsylvania Regiment filled with good shots |
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· 12/30/2011 8:21:05 PM PST · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 35 replies · · Reading Eagle (PA) · · 12-30-11 · · Bruce Posten · |
What made Revolutionary War riflemen in the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line so special? They were good shots using the right gun, a Pennsylvania long rifle with curved grooves in the barrel and a soft lead ball, according to reenactors. "These were sharpshooters who usually fought in pairs and were accurate in hitting a target within 200 to 300 yards," said Gregory A. Kreitz, 62, of Lower Heidelberg Township, a reenactor with the 1st Pennsylvania Regiment. Using the Pennsylvania long rifle, a second sharpshooter was usually ready to fire when the first one finished, often from behind the... |
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| Farty Shades of Green | |
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| Why Irish soldiers who fought Hitler hide their medals |
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· 12/27/2011 7:46:14 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 49 replies · · BBC · · December 27, 2011 · · John Waite · |
Five thousand Irish soldiers who swapped uniforms to fight for the British against Hitler went on to suffer years of persecution. One of them, 92-year-old Phil Farrington, took part in the D-Day landings and helped liberate the German death camp at Bergen-Belsen -- but he wears his medals in secret. Even to this day, he has nightmares that he will be arrested by the authorities and imprisoned for his wartime service. "They would come and get me, yes they would," he said in a frail voice at his home in the docks area of Dublin. And his 25-year-old grandson, Patrick,... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| How Germany's feared Scharnhorst ship was sunk in WWII |
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· 12/25/2011 5:27:04 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 51 replies · · BBC · · December 25, 2011 · · Claire Bowes · |
On 26 December 1943 one of the great sea battles of World War II took place.Germany's most famous battleship -- the Scharnhorst -- was sunk by Allied forces during the Battle of the North Cape. Norman Scarth was an 18-year-old on board the British naval destroyer HMS Matchless, which was protecting a convoy taking vital supplies to the Russian ports of the Arctic Circle. In a BBC World Service interview he described how he witnessed the sinking of the Scharnhorst: We could still hear voices calling from the black of that Arctic winter night, calling for help, and we... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Having a cow can be a heart healthy choice |
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· 12/26/2011 3:56:48 PM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 37 replies · · Penn State · · December 21, 2011 · |
Lean beef can contribute to a heart-healthy diet in the same way lean white meats can, according to nutritional scientists. The DASH diet -- Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension -- is currently recommended by the American Heart Association to lower cholesterol and reduce risk of heart disease. People following the DASH diet are encouraged to eat fish and poultry, but not much beef. According to the Centers for Disease Control about 26 percent of American deaths are caused by heart disease. "The DASH diet is currently the gold standard for contemporary diet recommendations," said Michael Roussell, nutrition consultant and recent... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| This Ancient, Deadly Disease Is Still Killing In Europe |
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· 12/30/2011 3:33:45 PM PST · · Posted by blam · · 35 replies · · TBI · · 12-30-3011 · · John Donnelly · |
This Ancient, Deadly Disease Is Still Killing In Europe John Donnelly, GlobalPost Dec. 30, 2011, 12:53 PM GENEVA, Switzerland -- On the sidelines of a conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, just three months ago, a senior health official from Belarus met privately with Mario Raviglione, whose job here at the World Health Organization's headquarters is to control the spread of tuberculosis around the world. Belarus needed help. It had just confirmed a study that found 35 percent of all TB cases in the capital of Minsk were multi-drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) -- the highest rate in the world ever recorded for... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Decades Later, a Cold War Secret Is Revealed |
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· 12/26/2011 5:30:15 AM PST · · Posted by Daffynition · · 62 replies · · AP via FoxNews · · December 25, 2011 · · Helen O'Neill · |
DANBURY, Conn. -- For more than a decade they toiled in the strange, boxy-looking building on the hill above the municipal airport, the building with no windows (except in the cafeteria), the building filled with secrets. They wore protective white jumpsuits, and had to walk through air-shower chambers before entering the sanitized "cleanroom" where the equipment was stored. They spoke in code. |
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| Decades Later, a Cold War Secret Is Revealed |
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· 12/26/2011 4:55:55 PM PST · · Posted by Captain Beyond · · 26 replies · · Associated Press · · 12-25-2011 · · Helen O'Neill · |
This undated image made available by the National Reconnaissance Office is a declassified image of a man standing next to a satellite control section from the Hexagon program. DANBURY, Conn. -- For more than a decade they toiled in the strange, boxy-looking building on the hill above the municipal airport, the building with no windows (except in the cafeteria), the building filled with secrets. They wore protective white jumpsuits, and had to walk through air-shower chambers before entering the sanitized "cleanroom" where the equipment was stored. They spoke in code. Few knew the true identity of "the customer" they met... |
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| end of digest #389 20111231 | |
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