|
|
|
| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #406 Saturday, April 28, 2012 |
|
|
|
|
| Roman Empire | |
|
|
|
| Smuggled Cargo Found on Ancient Roman Ship |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 7:12:45 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · Discovery News · · Wednesday, April 25, 2012 · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
Following an analysis of the jars and their contents, Tusa and colleagues concluded that the 52- by 16-foot ship was sailing from North Africa when she sank some 1,700 years ago, probably while trying to enter the local river Birgi. In North Africa the vaulting tubes cost a quarter of what builders paid for them in Rome. "It was a somewhat tolerated smuggling activity, used by sailors to round their poor salaries. They bought these small tubes cheaper in Africa, hid them everywhere within the ship, and then re-sold them in Rome," Tusa said. According to Frank Sear, professor of... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| In a bronze inscription, a remnant of Roman might |
|
|
· 04/22/2012 8:41:38 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 23 replies · · Times of Israel · · Saturday, April 21, 2012 · · Matti Friedman · |
We do not know the name of the Roman war veteran who owned this bronze certificate, which marked his discharge from active service 1,922 years ago. His name was engraved on the tablet when it was issued in Rome, but that part is missing. We do know that he was discharged in 90 CE and that he served in one of the empire's combat units stationed in the unruly province of Judea. Because a Roman soldier served 25 years before being released, we can deduce that this anonymous fighter was in active service as a younger man during one of... |
|
|
|
| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
|
|
|
| Archaeological Find Supports Biblical Portrait of the Davidic Kingdom |
|
|
· 04/23/2012 6:45:30 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 37 replies · · The Sacred Page · · April 20, 2012 · |
In 2008 I first ran a story about a major archaeological discovery at Khirbet Qeiyafa. The Israeli Antiquities Authority is releasing the preliminary report of the finds at Khirbet Qeiyafa. As I explained then, the findings are challenging skeptical scholars' claims. As I explained then, according to skeptical scholars the accounts of the kingdoms of David and Solomon are myths--essentially the Israelite equivalent of Arthurian legends of Camelot and the Roundtable. In short, in their view, it was simply fabricated. After Israel's Babylonian exile, the Jewish leaders invented these stories. The Israelites simply "idealized" their past; the Davidic traditions... |
|
|
|
| Faith & Philosophy | |
|
|
|
| Israeli researcher: Mikvehs show that Galilee cave dwellers were likely kohanim |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 7:56:11 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Ha'aretz · · Friday, April 27, 2012 · · Eli Ashkenazi · |
The caves in which the purification baths were found were 'caves of refuge,' where Jews who lived in the area sought shelter under Roman rule. A fifth mikveh has been found in the caves on the Galilee's Cliffs of Arbel, indicating that the people who lived there under Roman rule were most likely kohanim, Jews of the priestly class, said Yinon Shivtiel, one of the researchers who found the ritual bath... The caves in which the purification baths were found were "caves of refuge," where Jews who lived in the area sought shelter under Roman rule, particularly during the Jewish... |
|
|
|
| Religion of Pieces | |
|
|
|
| Temple Denial |
|
|
· 04/24/2012 4:42:07 PM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 15 replies · · Daily Beast · · Apr 24, 2012 · · Benny Morris · |
Leafing through a popular Palestinian tourist guidebook, Palestine: A Guide, by Mariam Shahin, I came across the following sentence concerning the Temple Mount compound (in Arabic, al-haram al-sharif, the noble sanctuary) on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem's Old City: "It is this whole area that fanatic Israelis want to destroy in order to 'rebuild' a temple, which they claim once stood there." Of course, there are a handful of Israeli "fanatics" who would like to destroy the compound's two Muslim mosques -- the Dome of the Rock and al-Aksa -- and rebuild the Jewish Temple on the site. The overwhelming majority of Israelis reject them... |
|
|
|
| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
|
|
|
| Robert Spencer Asks: Did Muhammad Exist? |
|
|
· 04/23/2012 4:47:09 AM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 93 replies · · FrontPage Magazine · · April 23, 2012 · · Bruce Thornton · |
Editor's note: Robert Spencer's acclaimed new book, Did Muhammad Exist?: An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins, is now available. One of the jihadists' most potent psychological weapons is the double standard Muslims have imposed on the West. Temples and churches are destroyed and vandalized, Christians murdered and driven from the lands of Christianity's birth, anti-Semitic lunacy propagated by high-ranking Muslim clerics, and Christian territory like northern Cyprus ethnically cleansed... |
|
|
|
| Ancient Autopsies | |
|
|
|
| Ancient Egyptian Mummy Suffered Rare and Painful Disease |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 7:44:50 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · LiveScience · · Friday, April 27, 2012 · · Owen Jarus · |
Around 2,900 years ago, an ancient Egyptian man, likely in his 20s, passed away after suffering from a rare, cancerlike disease that may also have left him with a type of diabetes. When he died he was mummified, following the procedure of the time. The embalmers removed his brain (through the nose it appears), poured resin-like fluid into his head and pelvis, took out some of his organs and inserted four linen "packets" into his body. At some point the mummy was transferred to the 2,300 year-old sarcophagus of a woman named Kareset, an artifact that is now in the... |
|
|
|
| Diet & Cuisine | |
|
|
|
| Spaniards once ate elephant meat |
|
|
· 04/24/2012 1:07:25 PM PDT · · Posted by robowombat · · 18 replies · · Spero News · · April 24, 2012 06:00 · |
Spaniards once ate elephant meat Tuesday, April 24, 2012 By Spero News Researchers have found cut and percussion marks in elephant bones in the site of Preresa. Article Tools Discuss Humans that populated the banks of the river Manzanares (Madrid, Spain) during the Middle Palaeolithic (between 127,000 and 40,000 years ago) fed themselves on pachyderm meat and bone marrow. This is what a Spanish study shows and has found percussion and cut marks on elephant remains in the site of Preresa (Madrid). In prehistoric times, hunting animals implied a risk and required a considerable amount of energy. Therefore, when the... |
|
|
|
| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
|
|
|
| Evidence of the earliest human activity found in Chile's south |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 8:46:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 18 replies · · The Santiago Times · · 22 April 2012 · · Jason Suder · |
University archaeologists found 14,000-year-old knives while studying elephant ancestors. Archaeologists and anthropologists excavating a site in the south of Chile have uncovered stones that are believed to have been used as tools by humans 14,000 years ago. Scientists from Universidad Cat√›lica de Temuco and Universidad Austral de Chile (UACh) were able to determine these were tools because they exhibit the marking congruent with ancient knives and cutting utensils. The Volcano of Osorno nearby the site where scientists uncovered 14,000-year-old tools. (Photo by Claudio Sep˙lveda Geoffroy/Flickr) "There are rock detachments from a simple, intentional blow that demonstrate that they were doctored,... |
|
|
|
| Underwater Archaeology | |
|
|
|
| Bones of early American disappear from underwater cave |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 7:49:16 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · New Scientist · · Wednesday, April 25, 2012 · · Frank Nowikowski · |
One of the first humans to inhabit the Americas has been stolen -- and archaeologists want it back. The skeleton, which is probably at least 10,000 years old, has disappeared from a cenote, or underground water reservoir, in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. In response, the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) in Mexico City has placed "wanted" posters in supermarkets, bakeries and dive shops in and around the nearby town of Tulum. They are also considering legal action to recover the remains. The missing bones belong to a skeleton dubbed Young Man of Chan Hol II, discovered in 2010. The... |
|
|
|
| Navigation | |
|
|
|
| Japanese kayaker hopes to show Kennewick Man could have traveled by boat |
|
|
· 04/23/2012 9:44:02 PM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 30 replies · · Tri-City Herald · · 10 April 2012 · · John Trumbo · |
By week's end, Ryota Yamada hopes to slip his sea kayak gently into the Columbia River at Clover Island, embarking on the first leg of a 10,000-mile adventure to Japan. The retired scientist who did nanotechnological research intends to paddle downriver to the ocean, then via the Inland Passage north to Alaska, and eventually across the Bering Strait to the Asian continent. It will take him four summers, but if he succeeds in reaching his homeland, Yamada said, he will have shown that Kennewick Man could have made his way by boat 9,300 years ago from Japan to North America.... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Did Ancient Drifters 'Discover' British Columbia? |
|
|
· 04/25/2012 4:58:58 PM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 27 replies · · The Tyee · · 03 April 2012 · · Daniel Wood · |
Legends and bits of evidence tell a story of Asians arriving here long, long ago. Part one of two. "Even pale ink is better than memory." -- Chinese proverbAs the tide creeps over the sand flats of Pachena Bay south of Bamfield, it brings ashore the flotsam of the Pacific that -- on occasion -- hints at extraordinary travels and a mystery of historic proportions. Amid the kelp, in decades past, hundreds of green-glass fishing floats would arrive intact on the Vancouver Island coast, having ridden the powerful Japanese Current in year-long transits from Asia. But on rare occasions, entire... |
|
|
|
| Age of Sail | |
|
|
|
| Anniversary of Mutiny on the "Bounty": Pitcairn Island Photos |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 2:20:14 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 15 replies · · National Geographic · · April 27, 2012 · · Andrew Howley · |
223 years ago this Sunday, on April 29, 1789, Fletcher Christian and 24 other sailors held the domineering Captain Bligh at bayonet point against the mast of His Majesty's Armed Vessel Bounty in the most famous mutiny in history. One month ago, National Geographic embarked on a journey through their footsteps, but with the very different goal of studying the pristine coral reefs of the area (read blogs). Bligh was set adrift in the ship's small launch with 18 loyal shipmates, a compass, his journals, some tools, supplies, cutlasses, and food, rum, wine, and water. He navigated the castaways through... |
|
|
|
| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
|
|
|
| 'Junk DNA' Can Sense Viral Infection: Promising Tool in the Battle Between Pathogen and Host |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 3:27:49 AM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 11 replies · · ScienceDaily · · Apr. 24, 2012 · · NA · |
Once considered unimportant "junk DNA," scientists have learned that non-coding RNA (ncRNA) -- RNA molecules that do not translate into proteins -- play a crucial role in cellular function. Mutations in ncRNA are associated with a number of conditions, such as cancer, autism, and Alzheimer's disease. Now, through the use of "deep sequencing," a technology used to sequence the genetic materials of the human genome, Dr. Noam Shomron of Tel Aviv University's Sackler Faculty of Medicine has discovered that when infected with a virus, ncRNA gives off biological signals that indicate the presence of an infectious agent, known as a... |
|
|
|
| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
|
|
|
| Researchers make alternatives to DNA and RNA |
|
|
· 04/21/2012 10:34:28 AM PDT · · Posted by OldNavyVet · · 6 replies · · The Los Angeles Times · · 21 April 2012 · · Eryn Brown · |
DNA and RNA molecules are the basis for all life on Earth, but they don't necessarily have to be the basis for all life everywhere, scientists have shown. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Enzymes grow artificial DNA |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 11:37:57 AM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 4 replies · · Nature News · · 19 April 2012 · · Helen Shen · |
Synthetic strands with different backbones replicate and evolve just like the real thing. Nearly all organisms share a single genetic language: DNA. But scientists have now demonstrated that several lab-made variants of DNA can store and transmit information much like the genuine article. Researchers led by Philipp Holliger, a synthetic biologist at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, say that the alternative molecules could help others to develop new drugs and nanotechnologies. They publish their results today in Science1. DNA is made up of nucleic acid bases -- labelled A, C, G and T -- ... |
|
|
|
| India | |
|
|
|
| Ancient hero stone with inscriptions unearthed |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 8:01:04 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · The Hindu · · Friday, April 27, 2012 · · Special Correspondent · |
An ancient hero stone with inscriptions has been unearthed at Karattampatti near Thuraiyur, about 35 km from here. The hero stone was discovered from a field at a village during a field study taken up by a research team led by Subash Chandira Bose, advisor for the archaeological wing of the Centre for Cultural Studies, Coimbatore, following a tip-off given by Durairaj, a local resident. Mr.Bose, in a press release, said the bas-relief hero stone measuring 30 centimetres in width and 92 centimetres in height has been carved within a rectangular vertical frame with excellent craftsmanship. It depicts a warrior... |
|
|
|
| Greece | |
|
|
|
| Ancient Temple Discovered in Messinia |
|
|
· 04/28/2012 4:54:47 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · Greek Reporter · · April 24, 2012 · · Areti Kotseli · |
Archaeological research reveals an ancient temple in the mountains between Ilia and Messinia, opposite the well-known imposing temple of Epicurean Apollo. The area around the newly discovered temple was full of architectural tools that were used to build a small temple, while former head of the 38th Ephorate of Antiquities, archaeologist Dr. Xeni Arapogianni explains that when the small temple was demolished in order to build a new one, topmasts, triglyphs and other parts of the ancient temple were found. The excavation started back in 2010, revealing the temple as well as bronze items and a great number of... |
|
|
|
| Epigraphy & Language | |
|
|
|
| The History of U.S. Paper Money |
|
|
· 04/24/2012 6:25:55 PM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 19 replies · · Numismaster.com · · April 23, 2012 · · Arlyn G. Sieber · |
Excerpted from Warman's Coins and Paper Money by Arlyn G. Sieber, available from http://www.ShopNumisMaster.com. During the Revolutionary War, the states and Continental Congress continued to issue paper money, but its backing in hard currency was spotty at best. Inflation ensued, and the notes' values plummeted. Some were called "shinplasters" because early Americans put them in their boots to help keep their feet warm. The saying "not worth a Continental" had its roots in the devaluation of Continental currency. Designs on state notes varied, but most featured inscriptions within elaborate borders. Coats of arms and crowns were also common. During the... |
|
|
|
| Longer Perspectives | |
|
|
|
| Powerful Government Equals Powerful Problems |
|
|
· 04/19/2012 12:54:46 PM PDT · · Posted by Kaslin · · 8 replies · · Townhall.com · · April 19, 2012 · · Jackie Gingrich Cushman · |
History is not simply dates, events and results. Instead, it's people's lives, their hopes and dreams, their situation and their outcomes based on their and other people's actions. While history is learned by looking backward, knowing the outcome, life is lived marching forward, unsure of what might happen. To understand history, it helps to understand the circumstances of the time. How did people live, who was in charge, who had rights, power and money? What is commonplace in one time and place would be unthinkable in another. For example, most Americans understand that by law, they have individual rights.... |
|
|
|
| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
|
|
|
| Never-before-seen photos from 100 years ago tell vivid story of gritty New York City |
|
|
· 04/27/2012 1:25:02 PM PDT · · Posted by lowbridge · · 37 replies · · ap/daily mail · · april 24, 2012 · |
Almost a million images of New York and its municipal operations have been made public for the first time on the internet. The city's Department of Records officially announced the debut of the photo database. Culled from the Municipal Archives collection of more than 2.2 million images going back to the mid-1800s, the 870,000 photographs feature all manner of city oversight --from stately ports and bridges to grisly gangland killings. |
|
|
|
| end of digest #406 20120428 | |
|
|
|
|
|
|||
| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #406 · v 8 · n 42 Saturday, April 28, 2012 |
|||
21 topics |
It's the 21 topic issue #406, rife with modern or other non-ancient history topics, as well as some dredged up from the FRchives.· view this issue ·Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR sometimes gets shared here, that's my story and I'm sticking with it: I may have used this before, but regardless, I'm using it now: |
||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
|
|
|
| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #407 Saturday, May 5, 2012 |
|
|
|
|
| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
|
|
|
| Ancient migration: Coming to America |
|
|
· 05/02/2012 10:12:27 PM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 76 replies · · Nature · · 02 May 2012 · · Adam Curry · |
For decades, scientists thought that the Clovis hunters were the first to cross the Arctic to America. They were wrong --- and now they need a better theory The mastodon was old, its teeth worn to nubs. It was perfect prey for a band of hunters, wielding spears tipped with needle-sharp points made from bone. Sensing an easy target, they closed in for the kill. Almost 14,000 years later, there is no way to tell how many hits it took to bring the beast to the ground near the coast of present-day Washington state. But at least one struck home,... |
|
|
|
| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
|
|
|
| Experts solve mystery of ancient stone monument near Atlanta |
|
|
· 04/12/2011 12:01:12 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 29 replies · · Examiner · · 11 April 2011 · · Richard Thornton · |
Rock art specialists from around North America have finally solved this century old archaeological riddle. The stone slab is evidence that native peoples from Puerto Rico or Cuba once lived within the interior of Eastern North America. One day, long before Christopher Columbus claimed to have landed on the eastern edge of Asia, a forgotten people cut steps in the rocks leading up a steep bluff near the Chattahoochee River in the northwest section of the State of Georgia. They carved a supernatural figure on a four feet by one foot granite slab and erected it on the top of... |
|
|
|
| Australia & the Pacific | |
|
|
|
| Did humans devastate Easter Island on arrival? |
|
|
· 03/10/2006 4:17:24 AM PST · · Posted by S0122017 · · 27 replies · · 482+ views · · New Scientist · · 9 March 2006 · · Bob Holmes · |
Early settlers to the remote Easter Island stripped the island's natural resources to erect towering stone statues (Image: Terry L Hunt)Related Articles What caused the collapse of Easter Island civilisation? 25 September 2004 Last of the great migrations 24 April 2004 Histories: Carteret's South Sea trouble 11 February 2006 The first humans may have arrived on Easter Island several centuries later than previously supposed, suggests a new study. If so, these Polynesian settlers must have begun destroying the island's forests almost immediately after their arrival. Easter Island... |
|
|
|
| Climate | |
|
|
|
| Ancient network of rivers and lakes found in Arabian Desert |
|
|
· 05/03/2012 3:57:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · PhysOrg · · May 1, 2012 · · Oxford U · |
Satellite images have revealed that a network of ancient rivers once coursed their way through the sand of the Arabian Desert, leading scientists to believe that the region experienced wetter periods in the past... Over the course of five years the researchers will study the landscape features and excavate sites of likely archaeological interest, using the network of water courses as a map. They will use the latest dating techniques to pinpoint the ages of fossils of animals, plants and different stone tool technologies and compare the similarities and differences displayed in the region's rock art. The team's main focus... |
|
|
|
| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
|
|
|
| Three-toed horses reveal the secret of the Tibetan Plateau uplift |
|
|
· 04/29/2012 3:17:02 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 34 replies · · PhysOrg · · Tuesday, April 24, 2012 · · Inst. of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology · |
The Tibetan Plateau has gradually risen since the Indian plate collided with the Eurasian plate at about 55 Ma. Regardless of the debates over the rising process and elevation of the plateau, there is no doubt that the Himalayas have appeared as a mountain range since the Miocene, with the appearance of vegetation vertical zones following thereafter. Open grasslands per se have no direct relationship to elevation, because they can have different elevations in different regions of the world, having a distribution near the sea level to the extreme high plateaus. On the other hand, the southern margin of the... |
|
|
|
| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
|
|
|
| MtDNA tests trace all modern horses back to single ancestor 140,000 years ago |
|
|
· 04/29/2012 5:53:32 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · PhysOrg · · January 31, 2012 · · Bob Yirka · |
For many years archeologists and other scientists have debated the origins of the domesticated horse. Nailing down a time frame is important because many historians view the relationship between man and horse as one of the most important in the development of our species. Horses allowed early people to hunt for faster prey, to wander farther than before and to create much bigger farms due to pulling plows. Now, new evidence has come to light suggesting that all modern horses, which are believed to have been domesticated approximately 10,000 years ago, descended from one mare around 140,000 years ago. The... |
|
|
|
| Navigation | |
|
|
|
| Another Genetic Quirk of the Solomon Islands: Blond Hair |
|
|
· 05/04/2012 7:46:30 AM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 14 replies · · The New York Times · · 03 May 2012 · · Sindya N. Bhanoo · |
In the Solomon Islands, about 10 percent of the dark-skinned indigenous people have strikingly blond hair. Some islanders theorize that the coloring could be a result of excess sun exposure, or a diet rich in fish. Another explanation is that the blondness was inherited from distant ancestors --- European traders and explorers who came to the islands. But that's not the case, researchers now report. The gene variant responsible for blond hair in the islanders is distinctly different from the gene that causes blond hair in Europeans. "For me it breaks down any kind of simple notions you might have... |
|
|
|
| Epigraphy & Language | |
|
|
|
| Hebrew seal bearing the name 'Matanyahu' uncovered in Jerusalem |
|
|
· 05/03/2012 3:51:06 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs · · 1 May 2012 · · Israel Antiquities Authority · |
The remains of a building dating to the end of the First Temple period were discovered below the base of the ancient drainage channel that is currently being exposed in Israel Antiquities Authority excavations beneath Robinson's Arch in the Jerusalem Archaeological Garden, adjacent to the Western Wall of the Temple Mount. This building is the closest structure to the First Temple found to date in archaeological excavations. According to Eli Shukron, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "the name Matanyahu, like the name Netanyahu, means giving to God. These names are mentioned several times in the... |
|
|
|
| Ancient Autopsies | |
|
|
|
| Ötzi the Iceman: scientists find 5,000-year-old blood sample |
|
|
· 05/03/2012 12:42:52 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · Guardian (UK) · · Wednesday, May 2, 2012 · · Tom Kington · |
As cold cases go, it does not get much colder than ÷tzi the Iceman, whose body was found frozen solid in the Italian Alps 5,300 years after he died from an arrow wound. Since he was discovered by trekkers in 1991, scientists have mapped his DNA and figured out everything from what ailments he suffered from (Lyme disease and a weak heart) to the last meal he ate (venison and ibex) before he was shot in the back, probably by an enemy tribesman. Now, using advanced nanotechnology, they have located traces of ÷tzi's blood, the oldest blood sample ever retrieved.... |
|
|
|
| Not-so-Ancient Autopsies | |
|
|
|
| Synchrotron scientists and international team reveal tales told by old bones |
|
|
· 05/03/2012 12:47:54 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · PhysOrg · · April 30, 2012 · · U of Saskatchewan · |
Using the presence of trace amounts of lead and strontium as clues, the team is using the CLS to hunt for the presence of these elements in tiny shards of bones from sailors and others interred in a Royal Navy cemetery in the late 1700s to early 1800s. The work is published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Bone is a living tissue, formed as we grow and healing after it breaks. It is also constantly being rebuilt and recycled by the body. As new bone is laid down, there is the chance that metals in the body will... |
|
|
|
| Age of Sail | |
|
|
|
| Rewriting History: Alwyn Ruddock and John Cabot |
|
|
· 05/04/2012 8:05:33 PM PDT · · Posted by kiryandil · · 14 replies · · web.mac.com · · Sunday, July 11, 2010 · · Douglas Hunter · |
Alwyn Ruddock, an 89-year-old historian, had all her notes & research materials detailing perhaps tremendous discoveries relating to John Cabot's voyages to the New World in the late 1490s posthumously destroyed. This article, Rewriting History: Alwyn Ruddock and John Cabot, gives a lengthy retelling of that tale. From what I can tell, it looks as though our good friend "Peer Review" or its relatives, well-known to us from the phony Global Warming money scam, is mostly responsible for the destruction of her astonishing research on Cabot and his predecessors. Dr Evan Jones and his research partner, Margaret Condon, have set... |
|
|
|
| Early America | |
|
|
|
| Is this Walter Raleigh's 'lost colony' drawn in invisible ink?.. |
|
|
· 05/03/2012 11:57:48 AM PDT · · Posted by C19fan · · 20 replies · · UK Daily Mail · · May 3, 2012 · · Simon Tomlinson · |
It is a mystery that has perplexed historians for more than 400 years - what ever became of the 120 settlers who tried to establish England's first colony on the north-east coast of America? Queen Elizabeth I and famed explorer Sir Walter Raleigh had hoped the expedition in the 1580s would create a capital in the New World, but something went terribly wrong. The men, women and children simply vanished - possibly massacred by native American Indians - any evidence of a settlement disappeared and the infamous 'lost colony' became rooted in American folklore. But solving the centuries-old mystery may... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Researchers say they have new clue to Lost Colony |
|
|
· 05/04/2012 9:48:24 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 18 replies · · http://phys.org · · 05-04-12 · · Martha Waggoner · |
A new look at a 425-year-old map has yielded a tantalizing clue about the fate of the Lost Colony, the settlers who disappeared from North Carolina's Roanoke Island in the late 16th century. Experts from the First Colony Foundation and the British Museum in London discussed their findings Thursday at a scholarly meeting on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Their focus: the "Virginea Pars" map of Virginia and North Carolina created by explorer John White in the 1580s and owned by the British Museum since 1866. "We believe that this evidence provides conclusive proof... |
|
|
|
| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
|
|
|
| African Slaves Brought First Rice Riches to U.S.? |
|
|
· 12/20/2007 7:49:21 PM PST · · Posted by Lorianne · · 45 replies · · 236+ views · · National Geographic News · · November 28, 2007 · · John Roach · |
A rice variety that made many a colonial plantation owner rich was brought to the United States from West Africa, according to preliminary genetic research. The finding suggests that African slaves are responsible for nearly every facet of one of the first rice varieties grown in the U.S., as well as one of the most lucrative crops in early American history. "Not only did they bring the technology, the how-to, they brought the cultivar," said Anna McClung, a genetic researcher with the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Stuttgart, Arkansas. West Africans had been growing varieties of rice for several thousand... |
|
|
|
| Farty Shades of Green | |
|
|
|
| The Fungus That Conquered Europe |
|
|
· 03/19/2008 11:33:47 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 68 replies · · 1,617+ views · · NY Times · · March 17, 2008 · · John Reader · |
The feast of Ireland's patron saint has always been an occasion for saluting the beautiful land "where the praties grow," but it's also a time to look again at the disaster that established around the world the Irish communities that today celebrate St. Patrick's Day: the Great Potato Famine of 1845-6. In its wake, the Irish left the old country, with more than half a million settling in United States. The famine and the migrations changed Irish and American history, of course, but they drastically changed Britain too. Americans may think of the disease that destroyed Ireland's potato crops, late... |
|
|
|
| Diet & Cuisine | |
|
|
|
| Atkins diet beats low-fat fare |
|
|
· 11/18/2002 5:32:27 PM PST · · Posted by Paradox · · 211 replies · · 4,114+ views · · MSNBC · · 11-18-02 · · AP · |
Nov. 18 --- Multitudes swear by the high-fat, low-carbohydrate Atkins diet, and now a carefully controlled study backs them up: Low-carb may actually take off more weight than low-fat and may be surprisingly better for cholesterol, too. ... Westman studied 120 overweight volunteers, who were randomly assigned to the Atkins diet or the heart association's Step 1 diet, a widely used low-fat approach. On the Atkins diet, people limited their carbs to less than 20 grams a day, and 60 percent of their calories came from fat. "It was high fat, off the scale," he said. After six months, the... |
|
|
|
| Longer Perspectives | |
|
|
|
| Science and the Republican Brain |
|
|
· 04/30/2012 2:21:50 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 47 replies · · The American Magazine · · April 30, 2012 · · Lee Harris · |
The so-called Republican brain, with its deep resistance to yielding before mere scientific evidence, has played an indispensable role in the making of modern science, long before the emergence of the Grand Old Party. A new term of political opprobrium has been loosed upon the world: anti-science. Like many terms of abuse, it is easier to convey its meaning by an illustration than by a rigorous definition. For example, "If those damn Republicans weren't so anti-science, we might have a chance of dealing with global warming." Here's another example: "Those damn Republicans are so anti-science that they want to see... |
|
|
|
| Religion of Pieces | |
|
|
|
| Inventing Muhammad? (Which of the many accounts of the Prophet Muhammad's life is true?) |
|
|
· 04/23/2012 4:17:11 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 68 replies · · American Thinker · · 04/23/2012 · · Robert Spencer · |
Why would it matter if Muhammad never existed? Certainly the accepted story of Islam's origins is taken for granted as historically accurate; while many don't accept Muhammad's claim to have been a prophet, few doubt that there was a man named Muhammad who in the early seventh century began to claim that he was receiving messages from Allah through the angel Gabriel. Many who hear about my new book "Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry Into Islam's Obscure Origins" ask why it would matter whether or not Muhammad existed --- after all, a billion Muslims believe he did, and they are... |
|
|
|
| Paleontology | |
|
|
|
| Large, Mysterious Monster Fossil Puzzles Experts |
|
|
· 05/04/2012 10:07:30 AM PDT · · Posted by null and void · · 18 replies · · Scientific Computing · · 5/1/12 · |
UC Paleontologist David Meyer, left and Carlton Brett, right, flank Ron Fine, who discovered the large fossil spread out on the table. Around 450 million years ago, shallow seas covered the Cincinnati region and harbored one very large and now very mysterious organism. Despite its size, no one has ever found a fossil of this "monster" until its discovery by an amateur paleontologist last year. The fossilized specimen, a roughly elliptical shape with multiple lobes, totaling almost seven feet in length, was unveiled at the North-Central Section 46th Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in Dayton, OH.... |
|
|
|
| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
|
|
|
| Rising from the Ooze |
|
|
· 05/01/2012 9:33:07 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 15 replies · · The Daily Scan · · May 1, 2012 · |
Researchers from the University of Oslo have discovered a protozoan species that may belong to a new branch of the tree of life, says Popular Science's Rebecca Boyle. The researchers, who describe their findings in Molecular Biology and Evolution, say they found the microorganism --- called Collodictyon --- in lake sludge in Norway, and that it may be related to some of the planet's earliest life forms. "It is not a fungus, alga, parasite, plant, or animal, yet it has features associated with other kingdoms of life," Boyle says. "It could be a founding member of the newest kingdom on... |
|
|
|
| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
|
|
|
| History's Most Overlooked Mysteries |
|
|
· 04/29/2012 7:17:10 AM PDT · · Posted by wildbill · · 38 replies · · Live Science · · July 25, 2007 · · Tuan C. Nguyen · |
1. Disappearance of the Indus Valley Civilization With a culture that stretched from western India to Afghanistan and a population numbering over five million, the ancient Indus Valley people --- India's oldest known civilization --- were an impressive and apparently sanitary bronze-age bunch. The scale of their baffling and abrupt collapse rivals that of the great Mayan decline. But it wasn't until 1922 that excavations revealed a hygienically-advanced culture which maintained a sophisticated sewage drainage system and immaculate bathrooms. Strangely, there is no archaeological evidence of armies, slaves, social conflicts or other vices prevalent in ancient societies. Even to the very end, it seems,... |
|
|
|
| end of digest #407 20120505 | |
|
|
|
