Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #119
Saturday, October 28, 2006
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Climate
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Why Did Monongahela Indians Disappear From Western Pennsylvania?
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/03/2002 5:54:16 PM EDT · 34 replies · 910+ views
Northern Light | 10-2-2002
Why Did Monongahela Indians Disappear From Western Pennsylvania? Massive Droughts May Be Answer to Mystery, Says Anthropologist at Carnegie Museum of Natural History Story Filed: Wednesday, October 02, 2002 10:31 PM EST PITTSBURGH, Oct 01, 2002 (ASCRIBE NEWS via COMTEX) -- For decades, anthropologists have struggled to explain why the once thriving Monongahela Indian culture disappeared from southwestern Pennsylvania by 1635 - well in advance of European settlement. Jim Richardson, Curator of Anthropology at Carnegie Museum of Natural History, believes he may finally have the answer. In a study published in the journal Archaeology of Eastern North America, Richardson and...
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PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
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Ancient footprints found in Mexico valley
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Posted by FLOutdoorsman
On News/Activism 10/27/2006 9:10:16 PM EDT · 29 replies · 624+ views
AP | 26 Oct 2006 | IOAN GRILLO
MEXICO CITY - A trail of 13 fossilized footprints running through a valley in a desert in northern Mexico could be among the oldest in the Americas, Mexican archeologists said. The footprints were made by hunter gatherers who are believed to have lived thousands of years ago in the Coahuila valley of Cuatro Cienegas, 190 miles (306 kms) south of Eagle Pass, Texas, said archaeologist Yuri de la Rosa Gutierrez of Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History. "We believe (the footprints) are between 10,000 and 15,000 years old," De la Rosa said in a news release Wednesday. "We have...
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Satellites Pinpoint Stands of Old Trees
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Posted by fella
On News/Activism 11/17/2002 10:43:31 PM EST · 14 replies · 533+ views
Northwest Arkansas Times | 17 Nov. 2002 | ROBERT S. BOYD
Satellites Pinpoint Stands of Old Trees BY ROBERT S. BOYD KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS WASHINGTON -- Recent images from space satellites reveal hundreds of littleknown primeval forests and stands of ancient trees scattered across the United States. Scientists say these trees -- some dating before the rise of the Roman Empire -- provide an unequaled record of droughts and floods that can help them understand historic disasters and predict environmental changes. In addition to California?s famed redwoods and giant sequoias, researchers have discovered that millions of very old trees remain in their pristine state in dozens of states from New England...
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For Archaeology Buffs, Caral Is A Chance To Begin At The Beginning
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/23/2006 3:14:18 PM EDT · 38 replies · 635+ views
Macon.com | 10-22-2006 | Leslie Josephs
For archeology buffs, Caral is a chance to begin at the beginning By Leslie Josephs ASSOCIATED PRESS A sudden wind gust blows eerily down from rocky Andean foothills, kicking up a cinnamon-colored cloud over the moonscape of ruins that is the oldest city in the Americas. The sky is a crisp blue. All around in the Supe River Valley are lush fields of onion and corn. We are in Caral, three hours and nearly 5,000 years from contemporary Lima, Peru's bustling capital, and we've spent the last half-hour or so on a bumpy drive from the coast, along a dirt...
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Biology and Cryptobiology
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Area youth's toothy find spurs archaeological inquiries
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 10/26/2006 1:35:28 AM EDT · 24 replies · 317+ views
Waco Tribune-Herald | Wednesday, October 25, 2006 | Cindy V. Culp
The story began Sunday afternoon, when 14-year-old Monty Huffman went searching for Lexi, his cow dog. She had disappeared, and he thought she might have wandered into the dirt and gravel pits behind his home in Asa... As it turned out, Lexi was nowhere to be found. But what Monty ended up discovering was much more interesting. As he was walking around the bottom of one of the pits, Monty said, something caught his eye. It was sticking out of the side of the dirt wall and looked a little like a rock. But something about it was odd. Monty...
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Paleontology
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Largest "Terror Bird" Fossil Found in Argentina
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Posted by aculeus
On News/Activism 10/27/2006 11:27:42 PM EDT · 35 replies · 773+ views
National Geographic.com | October 25, 2006 | by Sean Markey
Just in time for Halloween, paleontologists have dug up a truly scary creature -- Big Bird's bad, buff brother. The real-life fossils belong to a new species of phorusrhacid, giant predators also known as terror birds that once dominated South America. Terror birds were the biggest birds the world has ever seen, and the new species is by far the largest terror bird yet, says paleontologist Luis Chiappe, director of the Dinosaur Institute at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, California. "Some of these birds had skulls that were two and a half feet [almost a meter] in length. [They]...
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Agriculture and Animal Husbandry
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Domestication Event: Why The Donkey And Not The Zebra?
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/23/2006 3:00:01 PM EDT · 88 replies · 1,165+ views
The State | 10-23-2006 | Eric Hand
Domestication event: Why the donkey and not the zebra? By Eric Hand St. Louis Post-Dispatch (MCT) ST. LOUIS - A few years ago, Egyptologists found a new Pharaonic burial site more than 5,000 years old. They opened up a tomb. "They're expecting to find nobles, the highest courtiers," said Washington University archaeologist Fiona Marshall. "And what do they find? Ten donkey skeletons." "The ancient Egyptian burial shows how highly valued (donkeys) were for the world's first nation state. After the horse came, they became lower status. Of course, they're the butt of jokes and all the rest of it. That...
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Horses First Domesticated In Kazakhstan
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Posted by blam
On General/Chat 10/21/2006 8:13:17 PM EDT · 17 replies · 174+ views
Discovery Channel | 10-20-2006 | Larry O'Hanlon
Horses First Domesticated in Kazakhstan? Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery NewsBotai Village Oct. 20, 2006 -- New evidence from soil inside the remains of a 5,600-year-old corral indicates that the ancient Botai people of Kazakhstan were among the earliest to domesticate horses. But equine romantics might be disappointed to learn that the Botai probably ate and milked their horses as often as they rode them. The corrals are part of an archeological site in northern Kazakhstan known as Krasnyi Yar, once a large village occupied by the Copper-Age Botai, said Sandra Olsen, curator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, Penn....
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Africa
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Dying Trade Of The Sahara Camel Trade
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 10/22/2006 6:19:43 PM EDT · 28 replies · 776+ views
BBC | 10-22-2006 | John Pilkington
Dying trade of the Sahara camel train By John Pilkington BBC News, Mali A thousand years ago Sahara salt was worth its weight in gold In Timbuktu, camel trains, that for millenia have been trudging around the Sahara with their valuable cargoes, are being replaced by the much less exotic lorry. I have always been fascinated by the Sahara - so when I heard that camel caravans still make the 450-mile journey from the Taoudenni salt mines to Timbuktu, I decided to go and see if this was true. What I found there was the stuff of dreams. Every week...
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Ancient Egypt
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Thieves lead to discovery of Egypt tombs (Royal dentists)
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Posted by NormsRevenge
On News/Activism 10/22/2006 10:23:40 PM EDT · 16 replies · 578+ views
AP on Yahoo | 10/22/06 | Sierra Millman - ap
SAQQARA, Egypt - The arrest of tomb robbers led archaeologists to the graves of three royal dentists, protected by a curse and hidden in the desert sands for thousands of years in the shadow of Egypt's most ancient pyramid, officials announced Sunday. The thieves launched their own dig one summer night two months ago but were apprehended, Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities, told reporters. That led archaeologists to the three tombs, one of which included an inscription warning that anyone who violated the sanctity of the grave would be eaten by a crocodile and a snake,...
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Near East
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Artifacts Unearthed in Syria Hint at Ancient Burial Rituals of Elite
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 10/27/2006 1:50:02 AM EDT · 2 replies · 36+ views
New York Times | October 24, 2006 | John Noble Wilford
Six years ago, archaeologists uncovered a solitary, undisturbed tomb in the ruins of an ancient city in northern Syria. Now, in subsequent excavations, they have exposed seven more tombs at the site, making this the only known elite, possibly royal, cemetery in Syria in the Early Bronze Age, from about 2500 B.C. to 2200 B.C... The modern name of the ruins is Umm el-Marra, about 35 miles east of Aleppo and 200 miles northeast of Damascus. Scholars think this is the site of ancient Tuba, the capital of a small kingdom that thrived on the east-west trade route connecting Mesopotamia...
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Ancient Greece
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Greek archaeologists discover Aristotle bust near Acropolis
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 10/25/2006 1:22:04 PM EDT · 26 replies · 267+ views
Monsters and Critics | Oct 25, 2006 | Sapa-AFP
A Roman-era bust of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle found beneath the Acropolis in Athens has confirmed some contemporary reports attesting to his hooked nose, a senior archaeologist told AFP on Tuesday. The 46cm marble bust of the famous philosopher who lived over 2300 years ago and taught Alexander the Great is "the best-preserved likeness ever found", archaeologist Alkestis Horemi said. "This is the only bust portraying the philosopher with a hooked nose in line with ancient descriptions," said Horemi, who supervises archaeological and conservation work at the Acropolis site. Out of 19 other known Roman-era busts of Aristotle in...
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Ancient Rome
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Ancient Brothel Restored in Pompei
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Posted by wildbill
On News/Activism 10/27/2006 11:48:45 AM EDT · 84 replies · 1,923+ views
San Francisco Examiner | 10-27-2006 | Marta Falconi
It was the jewel of Pompeii's libertines: a brothel decorated with frescoes of erotic figures believed to be the most popular in the ancient Roman city. The Lupanare -- which derives its name from the Latin word "lupa," or "prostitute" -- was presented to the public again Thursday following a yearlong, $253,000 restoration to clean up its frescoes and fix the structure.
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Let's Have Jerusalem
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PA Television: Western Wall's Real Name is Al Buraq Wall (named after mohamhed's horse)
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Posted by Esther Ruth
On News/Activism 10/22/2006 11:12:53 PM EDT · 27 replies · 543+ views
www.israelnationalnews.com | 02:32 Oct 23, '06 / 1 Cheshvan 5767
PA Television: Western Wall's Real Name is Al Buraq Wall 02:32 Oct 23, '06 / 1 Cheshvan 5767 (IsraelNN.com) Palestinian Authority (PA) television has broadcast programs teaching viewers that Jews' first connection to the Western Wall was in the 16th century, and that the site actually is called the Al Buraq wall. The programs state it was named after the horse of the Muslim prophet Mohamed, according to a dispatch from Palestine Media Watch (PMW). "The Jewish connection to this site is a recent connection, not ancient, like the roots of the Islamic connection. Who would have believed that the...
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Faith and Philosophy
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Bin Laden's fingerprints seen on ruins of Bamiyan Buddhas
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Posted by NormsRevenge
On News/Activism 10/21/2006 3:59:28 PM EDT · 34 replies · 1,100+ views
AFP on Yahoo | 10/21/06 | Selim Saheb Ettaba
BAMIYAN, Afghanistan (AFP) - In a huge cavity dug into the side of a cliff, workers search through the rubble to exhume the remains of the giant Buddhas of Bamiyan. At the scene of the crime carried out in 2001 all evidence points to Osama bin Laden as the mastermind. "This is the terrorism of the Taliban," says Rahim, an official at the work site in front of the empty niche of the biggest of the two statues, one of which stood 55 metres (182 feet) tall and the other 38 metres. Wearing a hard hat and a mask over...
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Oh So Mysteriouso
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The Japanese Jesus Trail
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/10/2006 6:49:34 PM EDT · 30 replies · 937+ views
BBC | 9-10-2006 | Duncan Bartlett
The Japanese Jesus trail By Duncan Bartlett BBC News, Japan A Japanese legend claims that Jesus escaped Jerusalem and made his way to Aomori in Japan where he became a rice farmer. Christians say the story is nonsense. However, a monument there known as the Grave of Christ attracts curious visitors from all over the world. The Grave of Christ has become an international tourist attraction To reach the Grave of Christ or Kristo no Hakka as it is known locally, you need to head deep into the northern countryside of Japan, a place of paddy fields and apple orchards....
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Middle Ages and Renaissance
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'Psalm in a bog' Linked To Israel's Current War - Scripture find in Ireland
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Posted by Iam1ru1-2
On News/Activism 07/29/2006 10:36:51 PM EDT · 93 replies · 1,840+ views
WorldNetDaily.com | By Joe Kovacs
'Psalm in a bog' linked to Israel's current war By Joe Kovacs © 2006 WorldNetDaily.com The "miraculous" find of ancient psalms in an Irish bog has some wondering if there's any special modern relevance, since the discovery dealt with the enemies of Israel attempting to destroy the nation. A construction worker in Ireland came across the ancient 20-page book dated to the years 800-1000 A.D. while driving his backhoe's shovel into the mud last week. Experts say it's impossible to say how the manuscript ended up there, but speculate it may have been lost in transit or dumped after a...
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Genes and Morphology
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Nuture Takes The Spotlight
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 06/25/2006 9:13:14 PM EDT · 2 replies · 409+ views
Science News | 6-25-2006 | Christen Brownlee
Nurture Takes the SpotlightDecoding the environment's role in development and disease Christen Brownlee Identical twin sisters Elizabeth and Eleanor (not their real names) say that when they entered the world on November 19, 1939 -- Elizabeth first, then Eleanor 8 minutes later -- their mother was rather shocked. She'd been expecting just one baby, not two. But that day, she made a vow: The girls would always be treated the same, so that there would be no competition between them. POSTER CHILDREN. Illustrating how epigenetics can control physical traits, the slimmer and browner of these mice, carrying a gene called agouti, were born to...
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Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
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History buff searches for Lost Colony[Roanoke]
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Posted by FLOutdoorsman
On News/Activism 10/26/2006 12:13:12 AM EDT · 68 replies · 912+ views
The News & Observer | 25 Oct 2006 | Catherine Clabby
MANTEO - At an archaeological dig at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site, Phil Evans stepped into a meticulously measured pit and started shoveling dirt. The Durham lawyer is no scientist. But he couldn't miss this. After 30 years of searching, he still wants to pinpoint where the English failed to establish their first permanent colony in North America. Nearly every North Carolinian knows that a band of English settlers vanished from Roanoke Island about 1589, creating the legendary Lost Colony. No one knows where they went. An outdoor production replays the mystery year after year. But the full story is...
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Fleshing Out a Founding Father: Mt Vernon Additions Provide New Entree to George Washington's World
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Posted by Pharmboy
On News/Activism 10/24/2006 8:27:57 PM EDT · 44 replies · 610+ views
Washington Post | Tuesday, October 24, 2006 | Jacqueline Trescott
Mount Vernon officials want to reinvigorate the public perception of the Founding Father, which they fear is that of the stodgy, stern face on the dollar bill. They commissioned life-size sculptures--at a cost of more than $1 million--to serve as a centerpiece for a new $95 million visitors' center to open on the estate grounds in October. (AP) A decade ago, the people who run Mount Vernon noticed many of their visitors knew little more about George Washington than that he was the country's first president. Beginning Friday, visitors there will be able to learn much more about him...
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end of digest #119 20061028
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