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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #427 Saturday, September 23, 2012 |
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| Roman Games | |
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| Romans return to Caerleon |
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· 09/17/2012 4:06:58 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · South Wales Argus · · Sunday 19th August 2012 · · Chris Wood · |
THE Romans returned to Caerleon this weekend, with thousands of people marvelling at the battle skills which were hallmarks of their empire-building. Ars Dimicandi draws actors from all over Italy and they travel to all parts of the former Roman Empire demonstrating gladiator-style fighting, different types of duels and battle re-enactments. The group was formed by Dario Battaglia 20 years ago and he said: "The main things we show is different types of fights, armours and how a military person is different from a gladiator." It was Mr Battaglia's third time in Caerleon and the group were there as part... |
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| Roman Britain | |
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| Some catch! The local who wed an emperor's daughter |
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· 09/17/2012 3:43:59 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · · This Is Kent · · Thursday, August 30, 2012 · · Dover Express · |
In about AD50 there was a rebellion against Rome throughout parts of Britannia but Arviragus did not join in. In fact, he did the dirty on his fellow Britons by allying his tribesmen with the Roman legions to put down the rebellion. After that he helped the Romans to make further inroads into Britannia. History records that the Roman emperor Claudius Caesar, the first emperor to be born outside Italy, was so delighted with the support his troops received from king Arviragus that he gave his daughter Gennissa to him in marriage. No doubt this was to strengthen the alliance... |
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| Roman Africa | |
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| Archaeological research into funeral rituals at Baelo Claudia |
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· 09/15/2012 7:13:38 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Past Horizons · · September 2012 · · Asociacion RUVID · |
Set in the current municipality of Tarifa (Cadiz) and opposite the Moroccan coast, Baelo Claudia is one of the best preserved Roman cities in Spain. Declared a National Historic Monument in 1925, the once prosperous city was founded in the late 2nd century BC... The archaeological work conducted at the site since the early twentieth century has uncovered what is probably the best preserved city from the high imperial Roman period of the Iberian Peninsula, though many elements link it to the Mauritanian-Punic African world, especially visible in certain architectural and structural features of the forum and the temple area.... |
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| Roman Rhineland | |
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| Excavations at the Place du Chateau in Strasbourg |
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· 09/16/2012 10:06:35 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Past Horizons Archaeology · · September 2012 · · Source: INRAP · |
This excavation... presents a unique opportunity to explore the ancient origins of the city, to discover the Roman camp of the Legio VIII Augusta, and to uncover remains associated with the construction of the cathedral. The origins of Strasbourg coincide with the installation of the Roman army. The Legio VIII Augusta was established in the ancient city of Argentorate in the 90's AD. Its 6000 men built a permanent camp covering nearly 20 hectares, which would later become the core of the Episcopal city during the Middle Ages, now the current centre of the city. In the context of several... |
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| Roman Gaul | |
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| Roman military camp dating back to the conquest of Gaul throws light on a part of world history |
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· 09/15/2012 7:36:07 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · Institute of Pre- and Protohistory · · Friday, September 14, 2012 · · Dr. Sabine Hornung · |
In the vicinity of Hermeskeil, a small town some 30 kilometers southeast of the city of Trier in the Hunsrueck region in the German federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate, archaeologists from Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) have confirmed the location of the oldest Roman military fortification known in Germany to date. These findings shed new light on the Roman conquest of Gaul. The camp was presumably built during Julius Caesars' Gallic War in the late 50s B.C. Nearby lies a late Celtic settlement with monumental fortifications known as the "Hunnenring" or "Circle of the Huns," which functioned as one of the... |
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| Roman Greece | |
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| Painted Roman tomb found in Corinth |
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· 09/15/2012 7:49:35 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Past Horizons · · September 2012 · · Central Archaeological Council · |
A Roman period tomb containing vivid murals was found in January 2012 during excavation work on the new highway between Corinth-Patras in Greece, according to a report in To BHMA newspaper... The underground chamber tomb has been dated stylistically to the 3rd century CE and measures 2.40 x 2.30 metres internally. The roof, which has been partially damaged is barrel vaulted. There are two decorated sarcophagi, one of which is not well preserved, but the other contains a picture of a beautiful young woman lying on a bed. Within the sarcophagus were two urns, one of which contained a female... |
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| Roman Anatolia | |
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| Enormous Roman Mosaic Found Under Farmer's Field |
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· 09/18/2012 4:02:49 PM PDT · · Posted by mojito · · 65 replies · · Yahoo · · 9/17/2012 · · Stephanie Pappas · |
A giant poolside mosaic featuring intricate geometric patterns has been unearthed in southern Turkey, revealing the far-reaching influence of the Roman Empire at its peak. The mosaic, which once decorated the floor of a bath complex, abuts a 25-foot (7-meter)-long pool, which would have been open to the air, said Michael Hoff, a University of Nebraska, Lincoln art historian and director of the mosaic excavation. The find likely dates to the third or fourth century, Hoff said. The mosaic itself is an astonishing 1,600 square feet (149 square meters) -- the size of a modest family home. [....] So far,... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Suggestion of a married Jesus -- Ancient papyrus shows that some early Christians believed he wed |
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· 09/18/2012 11:20:37 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 102 replies · · Harvard Gazette · · 09-18-2012 · · contr. by Alvin Powell · |
Four words on a previously unknown papyrus fragment provide the first evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus had been married, Harvard Professor Karen King told the 10th International Congress of Coptic Studies today. King, the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, announced the existence of the ancient text at the congress' meeting, held every four years and hosted this year by the Vatican's Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum in Rome. The four words that appear on the fragment translate to "Jesus said to them, my wife." The words, written in Coptic, a language of Egyptian Christians, are on a... |
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| A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus' Wife |
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· 09/18/2012 2:35:59 PM PDT · · Posted by Altariel · · 84 replies · · NY Times · · September 18, 2012 · · Laurie Goodstein · |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: "Jesus said to them, "My wife ...' " The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, "she will be able to be my disciple." The... |
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| A Faded Piece of Papyrus Refers to Jesus' Wife (Written in Coptic in the fourth century) |
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· 09/18/2012 5:05:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 99 replies · · New York Times · · 09/18/2012 · · Laurie Goodstein · |
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: "Jesus said to them, "My wife ...' " The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, "she will be able to be my disciple." The... |
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| The Inside Story of a Controversial New Text About Jesus (Married!) |
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· 09/19/2012 6:49:40 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 80 replies · · Smithsonian Magazine · · 9-18-2012 · · Ariel Sabar · |
Harvard researcher Karen King today unveiled an ancient papyrus fragment with the phrase, "Jesus said to them, "My wife.'" The text also mentions "Mary," arguably a reference to Mary Magdalene. The announcement at an academic conference in Rome is sure to send shock waves through the Christian world. The Smithsonian Channel will premiere a special documentary about the discovery on September 30 at 8 p.m. ET. And Smithsonian magazine reporter Ariel Sabar has been covering the story behind the scenes for weeks, tracing King's steps from when a suspicious e-mail hit her in-box to the nerve-racking moment when she thought... |
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| Five big questions about the 'Jesus' wife' papyrus |
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· 09/20/2012 6:02:24 PM PDT · · Posted by count-your-change · · 83 replies · · Houston Chronicale · · Thursday, September 20, 2012 · · Alessandro Speciale · |
In a surprise announcement that seemed scripted by novelist Dan Brown, a Harvard professor revealed an ancient scrap of papyrus on Tuesday that refers to Jesus' wife. The so-called "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" presents a dialogue between Jesus and his disciples, said Karen King, a respected historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School. |
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| Africa | |
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| The Mystery of Ethiopian Iconography |
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· 09/18/2012 12:38:25 PM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 11 replies · · Orthodox Arts Journal · · 8/10/12 · · Jonathan Pageau · |
Ethiopian Christianity presents many mysteries to us, their unique use of Old Testament typology, their concentric churches, their claim of having the Ark of the Covenent and its use in liturgy -- these all create an obscure but fascinating question. I went to Ethiopia in 2009 to discover more about their liturgical arts. I would like to share some of my findings with you. This is just to give you a taste since of course one could easily write a book on the subject. I will focus on the Lake Tana churches and mostly one church : Kidana Mhiret on... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Heavenly Egyptian Charm Found in Israeli City |
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· 09/16/2012 7:49:43 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · LiveScience · · Monday, September 10, 2012 · · Staff · |
A rare scarab amulet newly unearthed in Tel Aviv reveals the ancient Egyptian presence in this modern Israeli city. Archaeologists excavating the ancient city of Jaffa, now part of Tel Aviv, have long uncovered evidence of Egyptian influence. Now, researchers have learned that a gateway belonging to an Egyptian fortification in Jaffa was destroyed and rebuilt at least four times. They have also found the scarab, which bears the cartouche of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenhotep III... Scarabs were common charms in ancient Egypt, representing the journey of the sun across the sky and the cycle of life. Jaffa was the... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Mystery of King Tut's death solved? |
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· 09/18/2012 1:40:31 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 34 replies · · ABC News (Via Yahoo) · · 9-14-2012 · · Matthew Rosenbaum · |
The mystery of King Tut's death might finally be solved, according to one scientist who argues that the secret to the young pharaoh's demise is hidden in plain sight. Dr. Hutan Ashrafian, a lecturer and surgeon at the Imperial College London, says the key to the mystery lies in the art from the period, which depicted King Tut with highly feminine features, including enlarged breasts. The enlarged breasts, he argues, are indicative of a condition known as gynecomastia, which, when added to a host of historical and familial evidence, indicates that Tutankhamun might have suffered and eventually died from temporal... |
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| The Phoenicians | |
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| Ancient Baby Graveyard Not for Child Sacrifice, Scientists Say |
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· 09/20/2012 1:09:45 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 24 replies · · Live Science · · 9-19-2012 · · Tia Ghose · |
A Carthaginian burial site was not for child sacrifice but was instead a graveyard for babies and fetuses, researchers now say. A new study of the ancient North African site offers the latest volley in a debate over the primary purpose of the graveyard, long thought to be a place of sacred sacrifice. "It's all very great, cinematic stuff, but whether that was a constant daily activity ― I think our analysis contradicts that," said study co-author Jeffrey Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh.... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Mexican Experts Explore Tomb of Presumed 5th-Century Mayan Leader |
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· 09/15/2012 7:18:23 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · foxnewslatino · · Friday, September 14, 2012 · · EFE · |
Mexican experts entered for the first time a 1,500-year-old funerary chamber in Palenque believed to contain the remains of one of the first rulers of this Mayan city... K'uk Bahlam I, who came to power in 431 A.D. and founded the dynasty to which the famed Mayan ruler Pakal belonged. The royal tomb, discovered 13 years ago inside Temple 20 of this archaeological zone in the southern state of Chiapas, is at least two centuries older than the tomb of Pakal, discovered 50 years ago at the same site... "As for dates, we're looking at the birth of the Palenque... |
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| The Vikings | |
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| The English inspired Vikings to build cities |
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· 09/19/2012 4:57:29 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 11 replies · · ScienceNordic.com · · 9-16-2012 · · Anne Ringgaard · |
When Danish Vikings sailed across the North Sea and conquered England, they left their mark on the English language and place names. That's common knowledge, at least to historians. What's perhaps less known is that the influence cut both ways. Although England was under Danish rule in the Viking Age, the English were culturally and politically more sophisticated than their neighbours to the east. Historian Marie B¯nl¯kke Spejlborg was one of the more than 300 Norse mythology researchers who attended the 15th International Saga Conference held recently in Aarhus, Denmark. She is currently writing her PhD thesis about how the... |
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| Middle Ages & the Renaissance | |
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| Body of Richard III found (possibly) |
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· 09/16/2012 10:58:10 PM PDT · · Posted by 2ndDivisionVet · · 7 replies · · Persicope Post · · September 13, 2012 · |
The background Archeologists from Leicester University have uncovered an intact skeleton which they believe is that of Richard III, the king whose reputation as a ruthless hunchback comes from William Shakespeare's play. The skeleton has a deformed spine, and is at the site of Grey Friars church, where Richard was thought to have been buried after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, where he was defeated by Henry Tudor. His grave is now underneath a council car park in Leicester. DNA tests will reveal whether he's really the king or not -- it's an adult male, with spinal abnormalities that... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Old fish, new fish, red fish, blue fish cichlid fish appear to be splitting into two species |
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· 10/01/2008 7:22:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Soliton · · 24 replies · 731+ views · · Science Daily · · October 1st, 2008 · |
Some cichlid fish see red better while others only have eyes for blue. This difference in vision, observed in fish in an African lake, could be pushing red-bodied cichlids to branch off from their blue-bodied brethren and to form a new species. If so, it would be the first time that scientists have caught evolution in the act of creating a new species because of changes in sense organs. For one species to diverge into two, some barrier must prevent two groups of individuals from interbreeding. Physical separation of two groups and changes to reproductive organs are two of the... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Ancient henge discovered in North Downs [ near Hollingbourne ] |
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· 09/16/2012 7:41:07 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · Kent Online · · Saturday, September 8, 2012 · · Chris Hunter · |
An ancient ceremonial site the size of Stonehenge has been discovered on the North Downs. The exact purpose of the site -- a neolithic "henge" near Hollingbourne -- remains shrouded in mystery, but a large amount of burnt bone and pottery uncovered suggest it was used in a ritual capacity for almost 2000 years, as far back as 2500BC, the end of the Stone Age. Dr Paul Wilkinson (pictured below) of the Kent Archaeological Field School, which led the investigation, said the first tantalising clue had come in the form of a circular mark spotted in satellite images of a... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Theory: Music underlies language acquisition |
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· 09/19/2012 5:02:40 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 43 replies · · Rice University · · September 18, 2012 · · B.J. Almond · |
HOUSTON -- (Sept. 18, 2012) -- Contrary to the prevailing theories that music and language are cognitively separate or that music is a byproduct of language, theorists at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) advocate that music underlies the ability to acquire language. "Spoken language is a special type of music," said Anthony Brandt, co-author of a theory paper published online this month in the journal Frontiers in Cognitive Auditory Neuroscience. "Language is typically viewed as fundamental to human intelligence, and music is often treated as being dependent on or derived from... |
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| Rock Art | |
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| Uncovered: Secrets of Ilkley Moor's rock art |
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· 09/16/2012 7:38:06 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · Yorkshire Post · · Friday, September 14, 2012 · · Andrew Robinson · |
It is a 4,000-year-old mystery just waiting to be solved... Are they way markers, religious symbols, star charts or just 'doodles' done by early farmers with a bit of time on their hands? ...There are more than 400 known rock carvings, known as 'cup and ring' stones, on Rombalds Moor, which includes Ilkley Moor, and they are thought to date back to before the Pyramids were built. Members of Friends of Ilkley Moor are busy mapping the exact locations of the stones, noting down their co-ordinates and taking photographs for posterity. And now the Friends have launched a Cup and... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Skilled hunters 300,000 years ago |
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· 09/18/2012 3:12:27 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · Past Horizons · · September 2012 · · University of Tubingen · |
Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen in Germany have found eight extremely well-preserved spears -- an astonishing 300,000 years old, making them the oldest known weapons anywhere. The spears and other artefacts as well as animal remains found at the site demonstrate that their users were highly skilled craftsmen and hunters, well adapted to their environment -- with a capacity for abstract thought and complex planning comparable to our own. It is likely that they were members of the species Homo heidelbergensis, although no human remains have yet been found at the site... excavation in an open-cast brown coal mine... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Neanderthals used feathers as 'personal ornaments' |
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· 09/18/2012 12:26:03 PM PDT · · Posted by BenLurkin · · 31 replies · · bbc · · 17 September 2012 · · Paul Rincon · |
Clive Finlayson and Kimberly Brown from the Gibraltar Museum, along with colleagues from Spain, Canada and Belgium, examined a database of 1,699 ancient sites across Eurasia, comparing data on birds at locations used by humans with those that were not. They found a clear association between raptor and corvid remains and sites that had been occupied by humans. They then looked more closely at bird bones found at Neanderthal sites in Gibraltar, including Gorham's and Vanguard cave, near the base of the rock: "The Neanderthals had cut through and marked the bones. But what were they cutting? We realised a... |
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| Glaciation / The Ice Ages | |
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| Did a Pacific Ocean meteor trigger the Ice Age? |
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· 09/20/2012 5:02:02 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 33 replies · · PhysOrg · · 9-19-2012 · |
(Phys.org) -- When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago in the southern Pacific Ocean it not only likely generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a new study suggests. A team of Australian researchers says that because the Eltanin meteor -- which was up to two kilometres across -- crashed into deep water, most scientists have not adequately considered either its potential for immediate catastrophic impacts on coastlines around the Pacific rim or its capacity to destabilise the entire planet's climate system. "This is the only known deep-ocean impact... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Challengers to Clovis-age impact theory missed key protocols, new study finds |
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· 09/20/2012 7:18:47 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 46 replies · · Eurekalert! · · September 17, 2012 · · Jim Barlow, U of Oregon · |
An interdisciplinary team of scientists from seven U.S. institutions says a disregard of three critical protocols, including sorting samples by size, explains why a group challenging the theory of a North American meteor-impact event some 12,900 years ago failed to find iron- and silica-rich magnetic particles in the sites they investigated. Not separating samples of the materials into like-sized groupings made for an avoidable layer of difficulty, said co-author Edward K. Vogel, a professor of psychology at the University of Oregon. The new independent analysis -- published this week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National... |
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| Asteroid Impact Played Pivotal Role in Rapid Proliferation of Life |
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· 05/20/2003 11:01:28 AM PDT · · Posted by Mike Darancette · · 67 replies · 374+ views · · Australian Centre for Astrobiology · · May 2003 · · Australian Centre for Astrobiology · |
Scientists studying rocks near an ancient asteroid impact structure in South Australian have uncovered evidence that could change current theories explaining how life on Earth rapidly diversified about 580 million years ago. Dr Kath Grey of the Western Australian Department of Industry and Resources' Geological survey and an ACA associate researcher, Prof Malcolm Walter, Director of the ACA and Dr Clive Calver of the Tasmanian Department of Mineral Resources challenge the idea that 'Snowball Earth' -- an intense period of glaciation about 600 million years ago, triggered the evolution of simple life forms into more complex and familiar species. In... |
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| Evidence For Cosmic Impact In Early Mass Extinction Found |
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· 06/17/2003 7:56:11 AM PDT · · Posted by Mike Darancette · · 8 replies · 200+ views · · Lousiana State University · · 11 June 2003 · · Ronald Brown · |
It's the stuff of science fiction movies. Bruce Willis, by a mighty effort, saving the world from extinction by a huge meteor. But Bruce Willis won't do it, and in our current state of readiness, neither will anyone else (sic!). That is why LSU geophysicist Brooks Ellwood is plumbing the geologic record, trying to correlate known mass extinctions to meteor strikes. "When we think about the human race and life in general, what do we worry about? We worry about nuclear holocaust and major glaciation. Then we worry about the giant chunks of rock that fly past Earth all the... |
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| The Minoans | |
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| Will Ancient Akrotiri Face Another Massive Eruption? |
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· 09/21/2012 5:50:59 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 21 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · September 2012 · |
The ancient Minoan city of Akrotiri was destroyed by a massive eruption over 3,000 years ago. Will it happen again soon to the excavated remains and the modern town? Scientists uncover some possible signs..... Now, a new survey suggests that a chamber of molten rock beneath Santorini's volcano has expanded 10-20 million cubic metres -- up to 15 times the size of London's Olympic Stadium -- between January 2011 and April 2012. The growth of this 'balloon' of magma has seen the surface of the island rise 8-14 centimetres during this period, a team led by Oxford University scientists has... |
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| The Greeks | |
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| How the Greeks Gave Form to the West |
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· 01/17/2004 10:59:32 AM PST · · Posted by quidnunc · · 9 replies · 253+ views · · Rocky Mountain News · · January 15, 2004 · · Vincent Carroll with Thomas Cahill · |
Thomas Cahill's "How the Irish Saved Civilization" was a surprise best-seller in the mid-1990s. Since then he has released three other highly regarded books in a planned seven-part work he calls the "Hinges of History" that chronicle the origins of the modern world. "They are The Gifts of the Jews: How a Tribe of Desert Nomads Changed the Way Everyone Thinks and Feels" (1998); "Desire of the Everlasting Hills: the World Before and After Jesus" (1999); and most recently "Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea: Why the Greeks Matter" (2003) all published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday. Cahill was recently in Denver and... |
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| Black Sea Flood | |
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| From Ancient Deforestation, a Delta Is Born |
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· 09/17/2012 11:43:59 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 8 replies · · Green Blog -- N.Y. Times · · 9-14-2012 · · Rachel Nuwer · |
Humans were tampering with nature long before the Industrial Revolution's steam and internal combustion engines arrived on the scene. The invention of agriculture around 8,000 years ago, some argue, significantly changed ecosystems as it spread around the globe. Although scientists are only just beginning to understand how these ancient alterations shaped our world today, a new study in Scientific Reports suggests that millennium-old development along the Danube River in Eastern Europe significantly changed the Black Sea ecosystem and helped create the lush Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine. "My team had a big surprise," said Liviu Giosan, a geologist at... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Guinea-zilla? World's largest rodent sibling to guinea pigs -- Roughly the size of a buffalo |
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· 09/18/2003 11:33:19 AM PDT · · Posted by bedolido · · 13 replies · 1,248+ views · · Eurekalert · · 09/18/03 · · Ginger Pinholster/Christina Smith · |
Roughly the size of a buffalo, a giant rodent that roamed the banks of an ancient Venezuelan river some 8 million years ago, dining on sea grass and dodging crocodiles, was an evolutionary sibling to modern-day guinea pigs. The largest rodent that ever lived, Phoberomys pattersoni, weighed about 1,545 pounds (700 kilograms) -- more than 10 times the size of today's rodent heavyweight, the 110-pound (50 kilograms) capybara. "Imagine a weird guinea pig, but huge, with a long tail for balancing on its hind legs and continuously growing teeth," said Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra of Germany's University of Tübingen. "It was... |
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| Climate | |
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| [Rut Roe] Another Global Warming Theory Discredited |
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· 02/08/2004 5:58:26 PM PST · · Posted by The Raven · · 15 replies · 872+ views · · Cntr for the Study of CO2 & Global Change · · Feb 8, 2004 · · Sherwood, Keith and Craig Idso · |
Low-Frequency Signals in Long Tree-Ring Chronologies Reveal the Existence of Multi-Centennial-Scale Temperature Trends of the Past Millennium* Volume 7, Number 5: 4 February 2004 If the Medieval Warm Period of a thousand years ago was truly warmer than, or merely as warm as, the Modern Warm Period in which we currently live, there is simply no basis for claiming that any of the warming that brought us out of the Little Ice Age was caused by the concomitant historical rise in the air's CO2 content (Idso, 1988). This is the reason why proponents of legislation to reduce anthropogenic CO2 emissions... |
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| Australia & the Pacific | |
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| Tomb Raiders Spoil Philippine Archaeological Find |
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· 09/22/2012 12:30:01 AM PDT · · Posted by lbryce · · 4 replies · · Phys.org · · September 22, 2012 · · Staff · |
Philippine archaeologists said Friday they had discovered a thousand-year old cemetery of rock coffins in a rainforest, but that tomb-raiders had found it decades earlier and stolen precious artefacts. The coffins are rectangular holes carved into a limestone hill, a burial method documented only in two other areas of eastern Asia, the leader of the National Museum's archaeological dig, Eusebio Dizon, told AFP. Dizon said local officials informed the museum last year about the site, in a forest about 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of Manila. "(But) treasure hunters had been there before, in the 1960s and the 1970s, and... |
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| Central Asia | |
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| 2012 Issyk Kul Expedition: Search for a Sunken Palace |
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· 09/21/2012 6:17:33 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · National Geographic · · September 6, 2012 · · Kristin Romey · |
Early on, Issyk Kul also drew attention from researchers for the remains that lie beneath its stunning cobalt waters. It's an endorheic lake (meaning that it has no outlet) with abundant underwater springs, and the water level has fluctuated dramatically over the centuries, submerging settlements, buildings and even entire cities that had been established on earlier shorelines. Issyk Kul was one of the earliest sites for underwater archaeological research in Central Asia, with divers exploring its depths as long ago as the 1860s. In the Middle Ages, the region around the lake was hotly contested by two divergent lines of... |
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| Dhimmitude | |
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| The Louvre's New Islamic Galleries Bring Riches to Light |
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· 09/19/2012 3:26:47 PM PDT · · Posted by EveningStar · · 5 replies · · New York Times · · September 19, 2012 · · Carol Vogel · |
PARIS -- When I. M. Pei's glass pyramid opened at the Louvre more than 20 years ago, many argued that this 70-foot-tall structure had destroyed the classical beauty of one of the world's great museums. But today, as crowds wait on long lines outside the pyramid, which serves as the Louvre's main entrance, what once seemed audacious has become as accepted a part of the city's visual landscape as the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe. Now the museum is again risking the public's wrath as it introduces the most radical architectural intervention since the pyramid in 1989. Designed... |
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| Early America | |
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| Hidden Treasure in an Old Log Cabin |
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· 09/18/2012 4:39:03 AM PDT · · Posted by djone · · 26 replies · · myruraltv.com · |
"After nearly four decades of tearing down and restoring old log structures a Virginia man has seen a lot of history. When it came time for him and his new bride to restore one for themselves they had no idea just how much history they would uncover." ...In and and around an old cabin were Spanish coins, minnie balls, a spanish crossbow arrowhead and indian artifacts...(2 minute video) |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Legendary Outlaw Butch Cassidy's "Amnesty" Colt .45 To Be Auctioned This Month |
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· 09/20/2012 7:35:29 PM PDT · · Posted by smokingfrog · · 20 replies · · Sacbee.com · · 19 September 2012 · · RMK Svc · |
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19, 2012 -- /PRNewswire/ -- On Sunday, September 30, 2012, California Auctioneers in Ventura, California, will auction off the Colt .45 SAA (Serial Number 158402) that belonged to Robert LeRoy Parker, better known as Butch Cassidy, the legendary bank thief, train robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang -- the notorious Wyoming-based bandits that stalked the American West throughout the 1890s. His legacy as an icon of the American Old West was immortalized in the 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Known as the "Amnesty Colt," this is the most documented of Cassidy's guns. Hunted by... |
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| end of digest #427 20120923 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #427 · v 9 · n 11 Saturday, September 23, 2012 |
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39 topics |
 39 topics?!? This Digest issue is loaded up with asteroid impacts and the Roman Empire. IOW, it's about the second-best week I've ever had with the GGG. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #428 Saturday, September 29, 2012 |
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| Denisovans, of Love, Say What | |
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| DNA Unveils Enigmatic Denisovans |
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· 09/29/2012 1:04:30 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 16 replies · · Science News · |
Vol.182 #6 (p. 5) A replica of a partial Denisovan finger bone, placed on its corresponding position on a person's hand, emphasizes the small size of this ancient find. Scientists have retrieved a comprehensive set of genetic instructions from the actual Denisovan finger fossil. Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology Genetic data of unprecedented completeness have been pulled from the fossil remains of a young Stone Age woman. The DNA helps illuminate the relationships among her group --- ancient Siberians... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Studies slow the human DNA clock |
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· 09/22/2012 10:25:11 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 125 replies · · Nature · · Tuesday, September 18, 2012 · · Ewen Callaway · |
Geneticists have previously estimated mutation rates by comparing the human genome with the sequences of other primates. On the basis of species-divergence dates gleaned ---- ironically ---- from fossil evidence, they concluded that in human DNA, each letter mutates once every billion years. "It's a suspiciously round number," says Linda Vigilant, a molecular anthropologist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany. The suspicion turned out to be justified. In the past few years, geneticists have been able to watch the molecular clock in action, by sequencing whole genomes from dozens of families5 and comparing mutations in... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Ancient tooth may provide evidence of early human dentistry [ 4,500 BC ] |
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· 09/22/2012 10:12:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Public Library of Science via Eurekalert · · Wednesday, September 19, 2012 · · Jyoti Madhusoodanan · |
Researchers may have uncovered new evidence of ancient dentistry in the form of a 6,500-year-old human jaw bone with a tooth showing traces of beeswax filling, as reported Sep. 19 in the open access journal PLOS ONE. The researchers, led by Federico Bernardini and Claudio Tuniz of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy in cooperation with Sincrotrone Trieste and other institutions, write that the beeswax was applied around the time of the individual's death, but cannot confirm whether it was shortly before or after. If it was before death, however, they write that it was likely... |
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| Rocks Around the Clock | |
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| Humans were already recycling 13,000 years ago |
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· 09/22/2012 10:41:53 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 35 replies · · Eurekalert · · Thursday, September 20, 2012 · · FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology · |
A study at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili and the Catalan Institute of Human Paleoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES) reveals that humans from the Upper Palaeolithic Age recycled their stone artefacts to be put to other uses. The study is based on burnt artefacts found in the MolÌ del Salt site in Tarragona, Spain. The recycling of stone tools during Prehistoric times has hardly been dealt with due to the difficulties in verifying such practices in archaeological records. Nonetheless, it is possible to find some evidence, as demonstrated in a study published in the 'Journal of Archaeological Science'. "In order... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| In Prehistoric Britain Cannibalism Was Practical and Ritualistic |
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· 09/25/2012 6:50:46 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 46 replies · · Scientific American Blogs · · 9-24-2012 · · Kate Wong · |
BORDEAUX ---- Mealtime in Gough's cave in Somerset, England, 14,700 years ago, was not for the faint of heart. Humans were on the menu, for consumption by their own kind. Anthropologists have long studied evidence for cannibalism in the human fossil record, but establishing that it occurred and ascertaining why people ate each other have proved difficult tasks. A new analysis provides fresh insights into the human defleshing that occurred at this site and what motivated it ---- and hints that cannibalism may have been more common in prehistory than previously thought.... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Stone bowl from Neolithic period found in Galilee |
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· 09/24/2012 7:21:33 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Jerusalem Post · · Tuesday, September 25, 2012 [9 Tishri, 5773] · · staff · |
200 colored beads found in a bowl, and ostrich figures carved on a stone plate alongside animal figurines have been discovered on Sunday at the Ein Zippori national park, located in the Lower Galilee. Ahead of the widening of Highway 79, extensive archaeological excavations have been conducted by the Antiquities Authority. During the excavations, a variety of impressive prehistoric artifacts have been uncovered. Prehistoric settlement remains that range in date from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (c. 10,000 years ago) to the Early Bronze Age (c. 5,000 years ago) are at the Ein Zippori site, which extends south of Ein Zippori... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Ancient crocodiles ate like killer whales |
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· 09/25/2012 6:57:55 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 6 replies · · Heritage Daily · · 9-24-2012 · |
Crocodiles are often thought of as living fossils, remaining unchanged since the time of the dinosaurs. But scientists have shown this is not always the case and that 150 million years ago, their feeding mechanisms were more similar to some mammals living today, the killer whales. An international team led by Dr Mark Young of the University of Edinburgh, and including Dr Lorna Steel at the Natural History Museum, studied two species of extinct marine dolphin-like crocodylians, Dakosaurus maximus and Plesiosuchus manselii. Their research is published today in the journal PLoS One. Dakosaurus and Plesiosuchus were among the top predators... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Ancient statue discovered by Nazis is made from (Chinga) meteorite |
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· 09/27/2012 1:19:50 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 32 replies · · BBC News · · 9/27/12 · · Matt McGrath - BBC · |
An ancient Buddhist statue that was recovered by a Nazi expedition in the 1930s was originally carved from a highly valuable meteorite. Researchers say the 1,000-year-old object with a swastika on its stomach is made from a rare form of iron with a high content of nickel. They believe it is part of the Chinga meteorite, which crashed about 15,000 years ago. The findings appear in the Journal, Meteoritics and Planetary Science. The 24cm (9-inch) tall statue is 10kg (22lb) and is called the Iron Man. Origins unknown The story of this priceless object owes more perhaps to an Indiana... |
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| Nazi-Acquired Buddha Statue Came From Space |
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· 09/27/2012 6:21:53 PM PDT · · Posted by EveningStar · · 35 replies · · LiveScience · · September 26, 2012 · · Stephanie Pappas · |
It sounds like a mash-up of Indiana Jones' plots, but German researchers say a heavy Buddha statue brought to Europe by the Nazis was carved from a meteorite that likely fell 10,000 years ago along the Siberia-Mongolia border. |
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| Egypt | |
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| 'Cult Fiction' Traced to Ancient Egypt Priest |
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· 09/25/2012 7:12:01 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · LiveScience · · 24 September 2012 · · Owen Jarus · |
A recently deciphered Egyptian papyrus from around 1,900 years ago tells a fictional story that includes drinking, singing, feasting and ritual sex, all in the name of the goddess Mut. Researchers believe that a priest wrote the blush-worthy tale, as a way to discuss controversial ritual sex acts with other priests... the Egyptians were known to discuss other controversial matters using fictional stories. Containing writing in a form of ancient Egyptian known as Demotic, the papyrus is likely to have originated in the Fayum village of Tebtunis at a time when the Romans controlled Egypt... Researchers know the story is... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Papyrus Research Provides Insight...Job Training, Prayer...Dream Interpretation in the Ancient World |
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· 11/30/2011 9:19:14 AM PST · · Posted by decimon · · 2 replies · · University of Cincinnati · · November 30, 2011 · · M.B. Reilly · |
A University of Cincinnati-based journal devoted to research on papyri from Egypt sheds light on job training, prayer, dream interpretation and belief in magic in the ancient world.Education, jobs, religion and even the cultural effects of bilingualism were as topical in the ancient world as they are today. All of these topics and more are featured in translations of ancient papyrus in the University of Cincinnati-based journal, "Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists," due out Dec. 2. The annually produced journal, edited since 2006 by Peter van Minnen, UC associate professor and head of classics, features the most prestigious... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| The Gospel of Jesus' Wife: How a fake Gospel-Fragment was composed |
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· 09/25/2012 5:53:17 PM PDT · · Posted by annalex · · 26 replies · · markgoodacre.org · · 20 September 2012. · · Francis Watson · |
http://markgoodacre.org/Watson.pdf The Gospel of Jesus' Wife: How a fake Gospel-Fragment was composed FRANCIS WATSON, Durham University, U.K, 20 September 2012. Email francis.watson@dur.ac.uk A gospel or gospel-fragment might be regarded as "fake" whether its author belongs to the ancient or the modern world. In both cases, the aim would be to persuade as many readers as possible to take the new text seriously --- as a window onto unknown aspects of Jesus' life, or how it was perceived by his later followers. In her thorough and helpful analysis of the text that is coming to be known as the Gospel of... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| The Volatile Notion of a Married Jesus (George Stephanopoulos' Mom Objects) |
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· 11/03/2003 8:03:28 PM PST · · Posted by Destro · · 38 replies · 776+ views · · VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN · · November 3, 2003 · · VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN · |
The Volatile Notion of a Married Jesus By VIRGINIA HEFFERNAN Published: November 3, 2003 Half a dozen religious leaders joined David Westin, the president of ABC News, and others from the network and the press for lunch on the 22nd floor of ABC building on 66th Street in Manhattan late last week. Mr. Westin wore a sharp suit, as did some members of the clergy; others had dressed casually. Many were diffident. Some were quietly furious. Part symposium and part focus group, the meeting had been convened to discuss "Jesus, Mary and da Vinci," tonight's ABC News special; the show... |
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| The Inside Story of a Controversial New Text About Jesus |
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· 09/20/2012 5:34:56 AM PDT · · Posted by OldRanchHand · · 40 replies · · Smithsonian Magazine · · September 20, 2012 · · OldRanchHand · |
Harvard researcher Karen King today unveiled an ancient papyrus fragment with the phrase, "Jesus said to them, "My wife.'" The text also mentions "Mary," arguably a reference to Mary Magdalene. The announcement at an academic conference in Rome is sure to send shock waves through the Christian world. The Smithsonian Channel will premiere a special documentary about the discovery on September 30 at 8 p.m. ET. And Smithsonian magazine reporter Ariel Sabar has been covering the story behind the scenes for weeks, tracing King's steps from when a suspicious e-mail hit her in-box to the nerve-racking moment when she thought... |
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| The Gospel of Jesus' Wife? When Sensationalism Masquerades as Scholarship |
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· 09/22/2012 7:35:40 AM PDT · · Posted by daniel1212 · · 45 replies · · http://www.albertmohler.com · · September 20, 2012 · · Dr. R. Albert Mohler, Jr. · |
The whole world changed on Tuesday. At least, that is what many would have us to believe. Smithsonian magazine, published by the Smithsonian Institution, declares that the news released Tuesday was "apt to send jolts through the world of biblical scholarship ---- and beyond." Really?What was this news? Professor Karen King of the Harvard Divinity School announced at a conference in Rome that she had identified an ancient papyrus fragment that includes the phrase, "Jesus said to them, "My wife.'" Within hours, headlines around the world advertised the announcement with headlines like "Ancient Papyrus Could Be Evidence that Jesus Had... |
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| The Gospel of Jesus' Wife? When Sensationalism Masquerades as Scholarship |
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· 09/22/2012 12:41:56 PM PDT · · Posted by rhema · · 48 replies · · AlbertMohler.com · · 9/20/12 · · R. Albert Mohler, Jr. · |
The whole world changed on Tuesday. At least, that is what many would have us to believe. Smithsonian magazine, published by the Smithsonian Institution, declares that the news released Tuesday was "apt to send jolts through the world of biblical scholarship ---- and beyond." Really? What was this news? Professor Karen King of the Harvard Divinity School announced at a conference in Rome that she had identified an ancient papyrus fragment that includes the phrase, "Jesus said to them, "My wife.'" Within hours, headlines around the world advertised the announcement with headlines like "Ancient Papyrus Could Be Evidence that Jesus... |
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| Why the Singleness of Jesus Makes the Best Sense of the Historical Evidence |
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· 09/23/2012 1:33:02 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 14 replies · · Christian Post · · 09/23/2012 · · Timothy Paul Jones · |
"It is an embarrassing insight into human nature that the more fantastic the scenario, the more sensational is the promotion it receives and the more intense the faddish interest it attracts," Roman Catholic scholar Raymond Brown wrote nearly three decades ago. "People who would never bother reading a responsible analysis of the traditions about how Jesus was crucified, died, was buried, and rose from the dead are fascinated by the report of some "new insight' to the effect he was not crucified or did not die, especially if his subsequent career involved running off with Mary Magdalene to India." This... |
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| Ancient Text Reveals False Gospel |
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· 09/25/2012 11:44:40 PM PDT · · Posted by GeronL · · 37 replies · · Associated Posers · · 2-26-2012 · · geonl · |
(Associated Posers) - CAIRO, Egypt - Egyptian Minister of Antiquities, Zahi Hawass, revealed this morning an ancient shred of papyrus. He announced that for the past 6 months this scrap of papyrus has been studied by some of the leading archaeologists. "Due to the controversial nature of the contents, we have been extremely meticulous and we have documented everything" Zahi Hawass said at the press conference held near his office "The paper, the ink and even the writing all point to the same result" Less than a week after another scrap of ancient text was falsely said to have... |
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| Underwater Archaeology | |
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| Pristine wrecks revealed in Evian Straits |
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· 09/22/2012 11:39:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Athens News · · Friday, September 14, 2012 · · John Leonard · |
During the summer the sites of six previously undocumented ancient shipwrecks were located by the Southern Euboean Gulf Survey (SEGS)... nautical archaeologist George Koutsouflakis of the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities (EUA)... noted that the collaborative SEGS project was launched in 2006... has discovered and recorded 24 ancient shipwrecks... This year's SEGS team... located four ancient wrecks... Makronissos proved to be a particularly rich hunting ground... three of the wreck sites discovered there appear extraordinarily well preserved and may contain the actual remains of the wooden ships... mounded, concreted cargoes of transport amphorae, the distinctive ceramic containers usually used for... |
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| Early America | |
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| Vanity: Made a website regarding the history of our house which dates to 1760 |
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· 09/24/2012 8:51:50 AM PDT · · Posted by Gennie · · 28 replies · · http://www.1760loghouse.com · · today · · Me · |
I had been posting on another thread from last week regarding some discoveries a person had made in their log house. I thought those on here may be interested in checking out the site I decided to make. It was spurred because: 1) The barn originally tied to this house was sold and dismantled last week, and while I have been searching on and off for two years it renewed interest. and... 2)The guy dismantling the barn came over to talk to us, and we had showed him some things we had uncovered in a crawlspace when my husband was... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Sunken treasure off N.J.'s coast? Florida diver lays claim to ship wreck site |
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· 09/23/2012 8:04:55 AM PDT · · Posted by Theoria · · 10 replies · · The Star-Ledger · · 22 Sept 2012 · · Stephen Stirling · |
It was buried among the legal ads in a local newspaper this week, nary two paragraphs long amid public notices from municipalities and legal name changes. It was a federal court announcement, but no ordinary one, from a treasure hunter announcing to "modern day pirates" that he was laying claim to a previously undiscovered Civil War-era shipwreck buried off the coast of Asbury Park ---- the maritime equivalent of a wedding officiant asking "if anyone has reason for these two not to be wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." The "groom" is Allan Gardner, a Florida diver who... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Oldest Message in a Bottle Found |
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· 09/06/2012 1:48:48 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 33 replies · · Discovery.com · · Thu Sep 6, 2012 01:45 PM ET · · Analysis by Rossella Lorenzi · |
A Scottish skipper has found the oldest message ever in a bottle at sea, Guinness World Records said. According to the record-keeping organization, Andrew Leaper, skipper of the Shetland fishing boat "Copious," made the discovery on April 12 when hauling in his nets in the North Sea off the coast of Shetland. He later learned that the message in bottle had been adrift for 97 years and 309 days. This surpasses the previous record by more than five years. Amazingly, it was Leaper's friend Mark Anderson who set the previous record in 2006 by retrieving another Scottish bottle as he... |
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| end of digest #428 20120929 | |
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