Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #149
Saturday, May 26, 2007
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Catastrophism and Astronomy
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Diamonds tell tale of comet that killed off the cavemen
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Posted by Renfield
On News/Activism 05/20/2007 7:50:33 PM EDT · 59 replies · 1,616+ views
Guardian | 5-20-07 | Robin McKie
Fireballs set half the planet ablaze, wiping out the mammoth and America's Stone Age hunters Scientists will outline dramatic evidence this week that suggests a comet exploded over the Earth nearly 13,000 years ago, creating a hail of fireballs that set fire to most of the northern hemisphere. Primitive Stone Age cultures were destroyed and populations of mammoths and other large land animals, such as the mastodon, were wiped out. The blast also caused a major bout of climatic cooling that lasted 1,000 years and seriously disrupted the development of the early human civilisations that were emerging in Europe and...
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Catastrophic Comet Chilled and Killed Ice Age Beasts (and Clovis people)
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Posted by TigerLikesRooster
On News/Activism 05/22/2007 1:16:48 AM EDT · 45 replies · 988+ views
Live Science | 05/21/07 | Jeanna Bryner
Catastrophic Comet Chilled and Killed Ice Age Beasts Jeanna Bryner LiveScience Staff Writer LiveScience.com Mon May 21, 9:30 AM ET An extraterrestrial object with a three-mile girth might have exploded over southern Canada nearly 13,000 years ago, wiping out an ancient Stone Age culture as well as megafauna like mastodons and mammoths. The blast could be to blame for a major cold spell called the Younger Dryas that occurred at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch, a period of time spanning from about 1.8 million years ago to 11,500 years ago. Research, presented today at a meeting of the American...
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Oregon Researchers Involved In New Clovis-Age Impact Theory (More)
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 05/23/2007 5:30:19 PM EDT · 20 replies · 543+ views
Eureka Alert
Contact: Jim Barlow jebarlow@uoregon.edu 541-346-3481 University of Oregon Oregon researchers involved in new Clovis-age impact theory Did a comet hit the Great Lakes region and fragment human populations 12,900 years ago? Two University of Oregon researchers are on a multi-institutional 26-member team proposing a startling new theory: that an extraterrestrial impact, possibly a comet, set off a 1,000-year-long cold spell and wiped out or fragmented the prehistoric Clovis culture and a variety of animal genera across North America almost 13,000 years ago. Driving the theory is a carbon-rich layer of soil that has been found, but not definitively explained, at...
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Epigraphy and Language
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The Bat Creek Stone
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 05/20/2007 7:09:05 PM EDT · 11 replies · 138+ views
OSU | December 2005 | J. Huston McCulloch
[T]he most telling difference between the Bat Creek and Masonic inscriptions is in the different ways the two words are separated. Macoy's illustrator, who was undoubtedly working from a newly-available dictionary chart of Jewish War coinscript letters to transcribe standard Square Hebrew into the older alphabet, erroneously assumed that the words should be separated by a space, as in English or modern Hebrew. Bat Creek instead correctly uses a word divider. There is no way this subtle detail could have been copied from Macoy's illustration, even if the copyist threw in a few random changes to disguise his or her...
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Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy
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Piles of rocks spark an American Indian mystery
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Posted by rainbow sprinkles
On General/Chat 05/19/2007 6:33:03 AM EDT · 5 replies · 153+ views
YahooNews | Fri May 18, | Jason Szep
In a thick forest of maple, willow and oak trees where 17th century European settlers fought hundreds of American Indians, algae-covered stones are arranged in mysterious piles. Wilfred Greene, the 70-year-old chief of the Wampanoag Nation's Seaconke Indian tribe, says the stone mounds are part of a massive Indian burial ground, possibly one of the nation's largest, that went unnoticed until a few years ago. "When I came up here and looked at this, I was overwhelmed," said Greene, a wiry former boxer, standing next to one of at least 100 stone piles -- each about 3 feet (1 meter)...
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Piles of rocks spark an American Indian mystery [ Rhode Island ]
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 05/21/2007 12:20:29 AM EDT · 14 replies · 280+ views
Star (Malaysia) / Reuters | May 19, 2007 | Jason Szep
In a thick forest of maple, willow and oak trees where 17th century European settlers fought hundreds of American Indians, algae-covered stones are arranged in mysterious piles. Wilfred Greene, the 70-year-old chief of the Wampanoag Nation's Seaconke Indian tribe, says the stone mounds are part of a massive Indian burial ground, possibly one of the nation's largest, that went unnoticed until a few years ago... The firm has hired an archeologist who studied the stones and concluded they were likely left in piles by early European settlers who built a network of stone walls in the area, said company president...
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Oh So Mysteriouso
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Possible Aztec offerings found in Mexico (into a lake in the crater of a snowcapped volcano)
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Posted by NormsRevenge
On News/Activism 05/25/2007 3:04:19 PM EDT · 18 replies · 596+ views
AP on Yahoo | 5/25/07 | Mark Stevenson - ap
MEXICO CITY - Archaeologists diving into a lake in the crater of a snowcapped volcano found wooden scepters in the shape of lightning bolts that match the description by Spanish priests and conquerors writing 500 years ago about offerings to the Aztec rain god. The lightning bolts -- along with cones of copal incense and obsidian knives -- were found during scuba-diving expeditions in one of the twin lakes of the extinct Nevado de Toluca volcano, at more than 13,800 feet above sea level. Scientists must still conduct tests to determine the age of the findings, but the writings after...
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PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
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Pioneers In Northern Circumpolar Areas
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 05/24/2007 6:55:40 PM EDT · 12 replies · 296+ views
Innovations Report | 5-24-2007
Pioneers in the Northern Circumpolar Areas 24.05.2007 "Arctic Natural climate and environmental changes and human adaptation: from Science to Public Awareness" is one of NorwayÃs three flagship projects for the International Polar Year. Anzeige Archaeology and geology researchers from the University of Troms¯ will contribute to the project together with a national team of researchers from around the country. Archaeology professor Hans Peter Blankholm is looking forward to this interdisciplinary collaboration. "I believe itÃs fantastic that we, together with the geologists, can contribute to solving some of the puzzles of the past," says Professor Blankholm. "From an archaeological stand point, we...
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Australia and the Pacific
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Discovery Of The Hobbit
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 05/23/2007 5:26:08 PM EDT · 7 replies · 372+ views
Stuff.comNZ | 5-23-2007 | Nicola Jennings
The Discovery of the Hobbit - Mike Morwood and Penny Van Oosterzee By NICOLA JENNINGS - Sunday Star Times Wednesday, 23 May 2007 Long after homo sapiens invented art, porn and sailing, another kind of human scampered about in Indonesian forests. We know this because a team led by one of the writers of this fascinating book, Australian archaeologist Mike Morwood, discovered the creature's skeleton in 2003, in a cave on the remote island of Flores. Since then, bones belonging to at least eight more individuals have been found, ranging in age from 95,000 to 12,000 years old. Our own...
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Greece
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Ancient shrine found in Greece
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Posted by rainbow sprinkles
On General/Chat 05/24/2007 10:03:19 AM EDT · 7 replies · 162+ views
YahooNews | 05.24.2007 | Staff reporter
ATHENS, Greece - Archaeologists in central Greece have discovered thousands of miniature clay pots and statuettes in the ruins of an ancient sanctuary possibly dedicated to the Three Graces, officials said on Wednesday. In volume, it is one of the richest finds in recent years. Excavations near Orchomenos, 80 miles northwest of Athens, revealed sparse remains of retaining walls from a small rural shrine, a Culture Ministry statement said. But a rock-carved shaft was found to contain thousands of pottery offerings, dating from the early 5th century B.C. until at least the 3rd century B.C, the statement said. The finds...
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Longer Perspectives
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Study Finds Hurricanes Frequent in Some Cooler Periods
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Posted by neverdem
On News/Activism 05/24/2007 4:44:02 AM EDT · 9 replies · 214+ views
NY Times | May 24, 2007 | ANDREW C. REVKIN
Over the last 5,000 years, the eastern Caribbean has experienced several periods, lasting centuries, in which strong hurricanes occurred frequently even though ocean temperatures were cooler than those measured today, according to a new study. The authors, from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, say their findings do not necessarily conflict with recent papers asserting a link between the regionÃs hurricane activity and human-caused warming of the climate and seas. But, they say, their work does imply that factors other than ocean temperature, at least for thousands of years, appear to have played a pivotal role in shaping storminess in the...
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Climate
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The Faithful Heretic: Reid A. Bryson on Global Warming
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Posted by an amused spectator
On News/Activism 05/22/2007 8:49:59 PM EDT · 19 replies · 591+ views
Wisconsin Energy Cooperative News | May 2007 Issue | Dave Hoopman
The Faithful HereticA Wisconsin Icon Pursues Tough Questions Some people are lucky enough to enjoy their work, some are lucky enough to love it, and then thereÃs Reid Bryson. At age 86, heÃs still hard at it every day, delving into the science some say he invented. Reid A. Bryson holds the 30th PhD in Meteorology granted in the history of American education. Emeritus Professor and founding chairman of the University of Wisconsin Department of Meteorology -- now the Department of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences... **snip** ...Bryson mentions the retreat of Alpine glaciers, common grist for current headlines. ìWhat do they find...
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Let's Have Jerusalem
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Rare scroll fragment to be unveiled [7th century scrap of "Exodus"]
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Posted by Alouette
On News/Activism 05/22/2007 10:02:22 AM EDT · 15 replies · 495+ views
Jerusalem Post | May 22, 2007 | Etgar Letkowitz
A rare Torah scroll fragment from the Book of Exodus dating back to the 7th century that includes the famous Song of the Sea will be unveiled Tuesday at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the museum announced Monday. The manuscript, which is a fragment of a Torah scroll from the Book of Exodus (13:19-16:1), comes from the six-hundred year period from the 3rd through 8th centuries known as the "silent era," from which almost no Hebrew manuscripts have survived. The scroll, which is on loan to the museum, is believed to have originally been part of a vast depository of...
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Faith and Philosophy
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The Light of Kucha (Caucasian Buddhist kingdom's contribution)
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Posted by TigerLikesRooster
On News/Activism 05/23/2007 10:44:26 AM EDT · 9 replies · 240+ views
lakdiva | 05/27/07 | Nishy Wijewardane
The Light of Kucha In this third part of travels on the Chinese Silk Road, Nishy Wijewardane reveals the remarkable Buddhist legacy of the Kingdom of Kucha, northern Taklamakan Desert, Xinjiang. Just a day before leaving Colombo for Central Asia, a book I ordered months earlier arrived through the post, much to my delight. It contained rare photographs of extraordinarily beautiful 3-5th C AD Buddhist cave murals from a remote corner of China's vast Xinjiang Autonomous Region. The exhilarating photographs depicted exquisite renditions of the Jataka Tales in colours alien to murals in Sri Lanka. As the pages turned, my...
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Navigation
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Spain probing if sunken treasure taken illegally
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Posted by nypokerface
On News/Activism 05/21/2007 7:32:22 PM EDT · 19 replies · 634+ views
Reuters | 05/21/07 | Ben Harding
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain is investigating whether one of the world's biggest-ever finds of sunken treasure was plundered from its waters or from a shipwrecked Spanish galleon, the government said on Monday. Florida-based treasure hunters Odyssey Marine Exploration said on Friday it had legally recovered gold and silver coins worth an estimated $500 million from a colonial-era wreck code-named Black Swan at an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean. Spain's Culture Ministry called the discovery suspicious and said the booty could have come from a wrecked Spanish galleon or the remains of HMS Sussex off the coast of Gibraltar, which...
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Ancient Europe
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Archaeological Find Could Shed Light On Orkney's Past
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 05/21/2007 11:32:43 PM EDT · 14 replies · 516+ views
Historic-Scotland | 5-16-2007
Archaeological find could shed light on Orkney's past Published: 16 May 2007 By: Communications and Media Archaeologists have discovered what appears to be a subterranean Iron Age structure, known as a souterrain, in an Orkney field. The find was made when the field was being seeded for barley. At first it was believed to be a Bronze Age cist burial, as others have previously been uncovered nearby, but subsequent examination has revealed it to be an Iron Age souterrain or earth-house. Dr Allan Rutherford of Historic Scotland said: ìPreliminary investigations by staff from Orkney College Archaeology Department have shown this...
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Prehistory and Origins
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Turkmenistan: Making Bid For Cradle-OfCivilization Bid
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 05/23/2007 7:33:27 PM EDT · 10 replies · 232+ views
Eurasianet | 5-21-2007
TURKMENISTAN: MAKING A BID FOR CRADLE-OF-CIVILIZATION STATUS 5/21/07 Even in mid-spring, a stark landscape greets visitors to the Gonur-depe historical site in eastern Turkmenistan. Standing amid sand and rock at the edge of the Karakum desert, it is hard to imagine that a rich civilization once thrived here, built around a lush oasis fed by the Murgab River. Yet Greek-Russian archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi has uncovered just that since his expedition began in 1972. He says Gonur-depe was the capital -- or imperial city, as he prefers to call it -- of a complex, Bronze Age state -- one that stretched...
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Africa
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King Tut exhibition 'racist' [no mention of Africa & suggests ancient Egyptian king was white]
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Posted by bedolido
On News/Activism 05/21/2007 3:35:05 PM EDT · 144 replies · 2,488+ views
new24 | 5-21-2007 | Staff Writer
Philadelphia - A travelling exhibition on King Tutankhamun drew about 50 protesters in Philadelphia who denounced the popular display as racist. Molefi Asante, a professor of African-American studies at Temple University, led the demonstration on Sunday outside the Franklin Institute, claiming the exhibit has no mention of Africa and that it suggests the ancient Egyptian king was white.
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Egypt
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Belgians find tomb of ancient Egypt courtier [ 1st Intermediate Period ]
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Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 05/22/2007 12:35:10 AM EDT · 10 replies · 92+ views
Yahoo! | Sunday, May 20, 2007 | Reuters
Belgian archaeologists have discovered the intact tomb of an Egyptian courtier who lived about 4,000 years ago, Egypt's culture ministry said on Sunday. The team from Leuven Catholic University accidentally found the tomb, one of the best preserved of its time, while excavating a later burial site at the Deir al-Barsha necropolis near the Nile Valley town of Minya, south of Cairo. The tomb belonged to Henu, an estate manager and high-ranking official during the first intermediate period, which lasted from 2181 to 2050 BC and was a time of political chaos in ancient Egypt. The archaeologists found Henu's mummy...
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Giza
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Stones of the Pyramids were Poured, Not Chisled
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Posted by mission9
On News/Activism 05/21/2007 1:44:47 PM EDT · 95 replies · 4,005+ views
Associated Content | 05-21-07 | Ranger
Drexel University researchers are revising the book on the Pyramids of Egypt, the last surviving wonder of the ancient world. The standard hypothesis for their construction speculates that ancient Egyptians carved the blocks out of nearby deposits of natural limestone, using stone age tools, and then floated the stones on barges, and used primitive ramps and levers to wrestle the blocks into place. The fact is, no one knows even to this day how the Pyramids were built. Many of the limestone blocks fit so perfectly that not even a human hair ....
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Pandemics, Epidemics, Plagues, Really Bad Cases of the Sniffles
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The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 (History of Bird Flu's Grampa)
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Posted by Travis McGee
On News/Activism 10/19/2005 11:42:53 PM EDT · 17 replies · 1,332+ views
Stanford.edu | 1997, updated 2005 | Molly Billings
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918 The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster. In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe was winding down and peace was on the...
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Middle Ages and Renaissance
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Bach works were written by his second wife, claims academic
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Posted by sitetest
On News/Activism 04/24/2006 11:01:14 AM EDT · 108 replies · 1,567+ views
The Telegraph (UK) | April 23, 2006 | Barbie Dutter in Sydney and Roya Nikkhah
Famous works attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach were not penned by the great composer but by his second wife, researchers believe. A study by an academic who has spent more than 30 years looking at Bach's work claims that Anna Magdalena Bach, traditionally believed to be Bach's musical copyist, actually wrote some of his best-loved works, including his Six Cello Suites. Martin Jarvis, a professor at Charles Darwin University School of Music in Darwin and the conductor of the city's symphony orchestra, said that "a number of books would need to be rewritten" after presenting his findings to a Bach...
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Early America
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Archaeologist Says Clarke County Site May Be Lost De Soto Battleground
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Posted by blam
On News/Activism 05/24/2007 6:27:26 PM EDT · 14 replies · 473+ views
MobilePress-Register | 5-24-2007 | Connie Baggett
Archaeologist says Clarke County site may be lost De Soto battleground Thursday, May 24, 2007By CONNIE BAGGETTStaff Reporter A Mobile archaeologist said this week that he believes he has found a site in southern Clarke County that could be the Indian stronghold Mauvilla, where Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto fought a bloody battle in the mid-1500s. If he is correct, he has solved a mystery that for decades left others with false leads and dashed hopes. Andrew Holmes, who works as a archaeological field technician for Barry Vittor and Associates conducting environmental assessments at construction projects, said he used a...
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Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
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Doctors say Lincoln had smallpox when giving Gettysburg Address
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Posted by Graybeard58
On General/Chat 05/24/2007 7:06:51 PM EDT · 7 replies · 112+ views
Waterbury Republican-American | May 24, 2007 | Lindsey Tanner (A.P.)
CHICAGO -- Abraham Lincoln has been dead for 142 years, but he still manages to make medical headlines, this time from doctors who say he had a bad case of smallpox when he delivered the Gettysburg Address. Physicians in Baltimore said last week that Lincoln might have survived being shot if today's medical technology had existed in 1865. Last year, University of Minnesota researchers suggested that a genetic nerve disorder rather than the long-speculated Marfan syndrome might have caused his clunky gait. "If you play doctor, it's difficult to shut down the diagnostic process" when reading about historical figures, said...
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end of digest #149 20070526
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