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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #268 Saturday, September 5, 2009 |
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| The City of David (iow, 'Civ sez this ain't Canaanite) | |
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| Israeli archaeologists find ancient fortification (3700-year-old Canaanite 26-foot tall stone wall) |
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· 09/02/2009 9:11:03 AM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 27 replies · · 761+ views · · AP on Yahoo · · 9/2/09 · · Jen Thomas - ap · |
JERUSALEM -- Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wall that is the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in the city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday. The 26-foot-high wall is believed to have been part of a protected passage built by ancient Canaanites from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders. The discovery marks the first time archaeologists have found such massive construction from before the time of Herod, the ruler behind numerous monumental projects in the city 2,000 years ago, and shows that Jerusalem... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| White Europeans evolved only "5,500 years ago' |
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· 08/30/2009 10:40:35 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 145 replies · · 2,204+ views · · The Sunday Times · · August 30, 2009 · · Jonathan Leake · |
White Europeans could have evolved as recently as 5,500 years ago, according to research which suggests that the early humans who populated Britain and Scandinavia had dark skins for millenniums. It was only when early humans gave up hunter-gathering and switched to farming about 5,500 years ago that white skin began to be favoured, say the researchers. This is because farmed food was deficient in vitamin D, a vital nutrient. Humans can make this in their skin when exposed to sunlight, but dark skin is much less efficient at it. In places such as northern Europe, where sunlight levels are... |
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| Why Did People Become White? |
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· 09/02/2009 12:47:20 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 137 replies · · 2,124+ views · · Live Science · · 9/2/2009 · · Heather Whipps · |
Humans come in a rainbow of hues, from dark chocolate browns to nearly translucent whites. This full kaleidoscope of skin colors was a relatively recent evolutionary development, according to biologists, occuring alongside the migration of modern humans out of Africa between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. The consensus among scientists has always been that lower levels of vitamin D at higher latitudes -- where the sun is less intense -- caused the lightening effect when modern humans, who began darker-skinned, first migrated north. But other factors might be at work, a new study suggests. From the varying effects of frostbite... |
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| Shhh! | |
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| Failing the IQ Test |
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· 09/02/2009 4:18:00 PM PDT · · Posted by Bob017 · · 8 replies · · 506+ views · · The American Conservative · · 1 October 2009 Issue · · Jason Richwine · |
Sociobiology has long been a sore spot for the Left, and with good reason. Our fundamental traits have a firm biological basis, shaped as they are by complex gene-environment interactions. And the more we discover how firmly ingrained our abilities, attitudes, and behaviors tend to be, the less plausible leftist social-intervention programs become. No biological trait threatens that agenda more than intelligence. With standard IQ tests, we can measure and rank people on a continuum, allowing us to make reasonable predictions about their success in life. Granted, a good IQ score is not the whole story of a person's life -- not... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| The Mystery Behind the 5,000 Year Old Tarim Mummies |
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· 08/31/2009 2:18:47 PM PDT · · Posted by BGHater · · 28 replies · · 1,019+ views · · Environmental Graffiti · · 31 Aug 2009 · · EG · |
A Tarim Basin mummy photographed circa 1910 Photo: Aurel Stein The door creaked open, and there in the gloom of the newly opened room, perfectly preserved despite the passing of thousands of years, a red-haired mummy with Caucasian features stared back. It was a life-changing moment for archaeologist Professor Victor Mair, and ten years on it still gave him chills. Mair had stumbled upon the recently discovered corpses of a man and his family in a museum in the Chinese city of ‹r¸mqi, but the shock waves of the find would be felt far and wide. The 3000-year-old Cherchen... |
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| Precolumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis | |
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| Anthropology assistant professor uncovers genetic patterns |
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· 09/04/2009 11:58:25 AM PDT · · Posted by BGHater · · 5 replies · · 251+ views · · OU Daily · · 03 Sep 2009 · · Jared Rader · |
New reseach challenges previous theories of continent population New questions of human origin could shed light on what makes groups of people more or less prone to certain diseases, an OU researcher has found. Cecil Lewis, assistant professor of anthropology and director of the OU Molecular Anthropology laboratory, studied genetic diversity among American populations. His research is not only groundbreaking for anthropology but it could also affect future health research. "I made a number of surprising discoveries, some of which actually applied to the Americas as a whole," Lewis said. Lewis' research, which was recently published in the American Journal... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Dogs descended from wolf pack on Yangtze river |
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· 09/04/2009 2:58:00 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 39 replies · · 613+ views · · Telegraph · · Sep 2, 2009 · · Unknown · |
Today's dogs are all descended from a pack of wolves tamed 16,000 years ago on the shores of the Yangtze river, according to new research. It was previously known that the birthplace of the dog was eastern Asia but historians were not able to be more precise than that. However, now researchers have made a number of new discoveries about the history of man's best friend - including that the dog appeared about 16,000 years ago south of the Yangtze river in China. It has also been discovered that even though the dog has a single geographical origin it descends... |
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| Agriculture and Animal Husbandry | |
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| Europe's first farmers replaced their Stone Age hunter-gatherer forerunners |
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· 09/03/2009 11:47:19 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 27 replies · · 357+ views · · University College London · · Sep 3, 2009 · · Unknown · |
Analysis of ancient DNA from skeletons suggests that Europe's first farmers were not the descendants of the people who settled the area after the retreat of the ice sheets. Instead, the early farmers probably migrated into major areas of central and eastern Europe about 7,500 years ago, bringing domesticated plants and animals with them, says Barbara Bramanti from Mainz University in Germany and colleagues. The researchers analyzed DNA from hunter-gatherer and early farmer burials, and compared those to each other and to the DNA of modern Europeans. They conclude that there is little evidence of a direct genetic link between... |
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| Central Asia | |
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| Struggle to save the apple's Asian birthplace |
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· 09/04/2009 8:24:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · 187+ views · · Telegraph · · August 21, 2009 · · Richard Spencer in the Zailijskei Alatau Mountains · |
The common ancestor of all the Granny Smiths and Cox's Orange Pippins still grows on some of the world's most beautiful but little known mountainsides in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. The discovery of the "Garden of Eden" in Central Asia has triggered efforts to save what remains of the forests, always known for their abundance of wild fruit. Once under assault by Soviet agricultural planners, they are now menaced by the wealth of oil capitalism and as much as 80 per cent has disappeared. "In earlier historical times there were vast mixed fruit forests across the area," said... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| VIDEO: Paris Catacombs "Dense in Death" |
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· 09/03/2009 7:01:42 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · 451+ views · · National Geographic News · · August 25, 2009 · · unattributed · |
In underground passageways that snake underneath the French capital, nearly six million people who died of disease in the Middle Ages share a final resting place. The vaults, packed with skulls and bones dating from as far back as the Middle Ages, are located on Paris' Left Bank near Place Denfert Rochereau... and are part of the nearly 185 miles of underground passageways that are believed to be part of the catacombs network. ...John Mamburg, tourist from Grand Rapids, Michigan: "I think this is astounding. I've never been around so many, like you've been to cemeteries and things like that,... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| Medieval love letters ignite war of words in France |
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· 03/06/2005 2:41:41 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 32 replies · · 1,521+ views · · Stuff (New Zealand) · · 05 March 2005 · |
PARIS: Two star-crossed medieval lovers, Abelard and Heloise, are again stirring passions in France as a literary controversy rages nearly 900 years after their affair. At the heart of the drama is an obscure Latin text that some scholars say contains the long lost love letters written by the ill-fated pair. Others say the correspondence is fake. The illicit liaison between Abelard, an up and coming 12th century philosopher, and the gifted young woman he tutored, shocked medieval Europe not least for its gruesome end. Abelard was castrated on the orders of Heloise's uncle after she became pregnant with his... |
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| Faith and Philosophy | |
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| History Of The Huguenots |
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· 06/19/2009 3:54:08 PM PDT · · Posted by alpha-8-25-02 · · 158 replies · · 1,839+ views · · 6/19/09 · · ALPHA-8-25-02 · |
Who were the Huguenots? John Calvin (1509 - 1564), religious reformer. The Huguenots were French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church which was established in 1550 by John Calvin. The origin of the name Huguenot is uncertain, but dates from approximately 1550 when it was used in court cases against "heretics" (dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church). There is a theory that it is derived from the personal name of Besancon Hugues, the leader of the "Confederate Party" in Geneva, in combination with a Frankish corruption of the German word for conspirator or confederate: eidgenosse. Thus, Hugues plus... |
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| Cooked Only By Fire | |
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| Research Reveals Medieval Diet Was More Than Meat And Gruel |
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· 02/17/2003 5:37:57 PM PST · · Posted by blam · · 82 replies · · 1,015+ views · · Post-Gazette · · 2-17-2003 · · Lance Gay · |
How did our ancestors eat in the days before there were supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, refrigerators or temperature-controlled stoves and ovens? And what did the dinner table look like before the discovery of the New World brought back to Europe staple foods ranging from turkey to tomatoes and the humble potato? |
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| Holiday for Strings | |
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| Lost Sounds Orchestra: Ancient Musical Instruments Brought Back To Life |
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· 08/31/2009 3:55:44 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 45 replies · · 661+ views · · Scientific Blogging · · August 30, 2009 · · News Staff · |
Do you long to hear the dulcet sounds of the salpinx, barbiton, aulos or the syrinx? Of course not, because no one has heard them in centuries. Most people have never even heard of them. But you will soon have the chance to experience musical instruments familiar to ancient civilizations but long since forgotten. |
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| Ancient Music Wins New Fans (Gregorian Chant) |
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· 11/13/2007 12:00:30 PM PST · · Posted by Pyro7480 · · 25 replies · · 140+ views · · BBC News · · 11/13/2007 · · Paddy O'Flaherty · |
One of the world's oldest styles of religious music is attracting a host of new enthusiasts.Gregorian chant is usually associated with monks in monasteries, but it's being heard more often now in regular services. Its growing popularity brought 70 representatives of choirs from Northern Ireland to a chanting workshop in the Dominican Convent in west Belfast. The college chapel became a study for a day as experts passed on advice on how best to perform the ancient melodies. Principal tutor Donal McCrisken said Gregorian chant was an excellent medium for vocal training. "You have to sing it very purely -... |
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| Religion of Peace | |
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| Fourteen Centuries of War Against European Civilization |
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· 09/04/2009 6:00:13 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 6 replies · · 201+ views · · globalpolitician.com · · 9/4/2009 · · Fjordman · |
Fourteen Centuries of War Against European Civilization Fjordman - 9/4/2009 The following essay is an amalgam of my previous online essays, among them Who Are We, Who Are Our Enemies -- The Cost of Historical Amnesia, Why We Should Oppose an Independent Kosovo, Refuting God's Crucible and The Truth About Islam in Europe. "The Jihad, the Islamic so-called Holy War, has been a fact of life in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East for more than 1300 years, but this is the first history of the Muslim wars in Europe ever to be published. Hundreds of books,... |
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| Lies: The Crusades |
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· 08/29/2006 7:16:55 AM PDT · · Posted by JamesP81 · · 3 replies · · 371+ views · · Southern Pundit · · 8-29-2006 · · James P · |
All of us know that historical revisionism is a favored tool of the liar and those who like to play the blame game. Right after 9/11, this was on display for the whole world to see when Bin Laden and the Left decided to blame the Middle East's hatred of the West on, of all things, the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of wars that were fought nearly a thousand years before anyone on this Earth was born, yet the extremists hang on to it today like it's some kind of personal injustice. I find it inconceivable that one... |
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| Don't Let Liberals Smear and Rewrite the Meaning of September 11 |
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· 09/02/2009 4:52:01 AM PDT · · Posted by OK Right · · 7 replies · · 203+ views · · OK, WE'RE RIGHT! · · September 2, 2009 · · Oscar De Los Santos and Kelly L. Goodridge · |
Liberals have a penchant for revising history, but some of their recent rewrites are especially alarming. Look at the sanctification of Sen. Edward Kennedy, which is moving beyond whitewash and into fantastic territories. Modern liberalism strikes again in blogger Melissa Lafsky's Huffington Post article, "The Footnote Speaks: What Would Mary Jo Kopechne Have Thought of Ted's Career?" (8/27/09). Incredibly, Lafsky wonders what Kopechne, the young woman Teddy left to drown in Chappaquiddick, would think about Kennedy's life and career. Lafsky's conclusion: "Who Knows -- Maybe She'd Feel It Was Worth It" (The Huffington Post, August 27, 2009). You read... |
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| Malta | |
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| 1565: Malta celebrates the historically important victory of the Great Siege |
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· 09/03/2009 6:17:37 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 6 replies · · 282+ views · · timesofmalta.com · · Thursday, 3rd September 2009 · · Desmond Zammit Marmarà · |
As Malta celebrates the historically important victory of the Great Siege of 1565, it is worthwhile to ponder on some important points usually overshadowed by the purely military aspect of the Great Siege. The events of 1565 took place against a background of the clash between the Christian and the Islamic religions as well as the contemporary dissonance between Western and Eastern cultures. Few people, however, are aware that commerce played a very important part in the Turkish decision to attack Malta. Attacks on Turkish shipping by ships flying the flag of... |
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| Greece | |
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| Discovering the Greek side of Istanbul |
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· 09/03/2009 8:21:26 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 12 replies · · 182+ views · · todayszaman.com · · 03 September 2009 · · KRISTINA KAMP · |
Discovering the Greek side of Istanbul The Maiden Tower That Istanbul is a real treasure chest for history, art and architecture freaks is no secret. Its colorful mosaic of historical city structures -- mosques, churches, synagogues, palaces, castles and towers -- reflects the many, many social and cultural influences of a number of foreign communities that have left their indelible footprints across the city throughout its long history. The oldest settlement on the land that is now Istanbul was, however, Greek. Already, in 685 B.C., settlers from the ancient Greek town of Megara chose to colonize the town of Chalcedon,... |
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| Pyramids | |
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| Hellenic Pyramids |
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· 09/03/2009 2:02:14 PM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 12 replies · · 477+ views · · hiddenmysteries.org · · Ioannis Lyritzis · |
It is not well known that there are Greek pyramids . There are more than 16 pyramids spread all over the Greece. The oldest one is the pyramid of Hellinikon. The existence of pyramids in Greece was unknown to most people until recently, and even today not much is known about them. For example, the pyramid of Hellenikon, near Argos, is older than the Pyramids of Egypt. In fact, Pausanias (in Graeciae Descriptio) says that this pyramid was a memorial in rememberance of the first battle fought by soldiers bearing shields! Pyramids in Greece are usually smaller... |
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| Latin and Other Dead Languages | |
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| Town halls ban staff from using Latin words, in case they confuse immigrants[UK] |
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· 11/02/2008 9:01:53 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 44 replies · · 687+ views · · Daily Mail · · 02 Nov 2008 · · Emily Andrews · |
They are well-worn phrases, repeated ad nauseam throughout the English language. But local councils have now waged war on Latin words, banning staff from using them in writing or in speech. The authorities claim the terms are elitist and discriminatory and have ordered employees to use wordier alternatives in documents or when speaking to members of the public. However the ban has infuriated classical scholars who say it is diluting the world's richest language and is the 'linguistic equivalent of ethnic cleansing'. Bournemouth Council, which has the Latin motto Pulchritudo et Salubritas - beauty and health - has listed 19... |
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| Finland Takes Liking to Latin |
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· 10/30/2006 6:48:03 PM PST · · Posted by G8 Diplomat · · 16 replies · · 747+ views · · BBC · · Jonny Dymond · |
Finland is one of the quieter members of the EU. But now its turn at the EU presidency has thrust it into the spotlight - and exposed an unusual passion. Like the boy at the party with cheese straws stuck up his nose, it has been caught doing something vaguely disturbing - indulging a penchant for Latin. It is the only country in the world which broadcasts the news in Latin. On its EU presidency website one can find descriptions of meetings in Latin. But love of the language of Rome goes deep. 'Eternal language' I am in a hotel... |
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| And now for the news ... in Latin |
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· 03/21/2007 9:45:52 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 5 replies · · 372+ views · · Guardian · · March 21, 2007 · · John Hooper · |
Wednesday March 21, 2007GuardianIt is, famously, a dead language. But it seems that Latin is on the brink of an unlikely comeback. The conservative Pope Benedict XVI is poised to authorise wider use of the Latin mass. And, perhaps to ingratiate themselves with the boss, the managers of the Vatican bank have quietly put instructions in Latin on the cash dispenser at the back of St Peter's. Customers are told to put in their cards with the words: "Inserito scidulam quaeso ut faciundam cognoscas rationem."On Sicily, meanwhile, Latin is being heard in homes in the city of Catania for the... |
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| Epigraphy and Language | |
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| What's up with Aramaic? |
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· 02/28/2004 8:15:53 PM PST · · Posted by jwalburg · · 40 replies · · 345+ views · · Aberdeen American News · · Feb. 04 · · Cary Darling · |
Thanks to 'The Passion of the Christ,' a near-dead, 2,500-year-old language will reach the ears of millions Leave it to pop culture -- and Mel Gibson -- to revive a couple of dead languages. Well, one that's dead and one that's in linguistic intensive care. Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ, opening today, utilizes two tongues from way back in the day: Latin and Aramaic. (Don't worry, there are subtitles in the movie.) Now Latin (the dead one) is not a complete stranger to American ears. Carpe diem, e pluribus unum and all that. But Aramaic? This nearly... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Codex Sinaiticus -- previously unknown fragment found |
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· 09/01/2009 5:55:16 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · 495+ views · · The Independent · · Wednesday, September 2, 2009 · · Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent · |
The source URL used is the official website for the Codex Sinaiticus, a Greek-language version of the Bible from about 350 AD. The fragments (other than this one) were reunited and put online this year. The document is the oldest surviving version of the New Testament; about half of the Old Testament survives in the CS, and is that of the Translation of the Seventy. This newly-discovered fragment appears to be from Joshua (the book, not the guy). |
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| Fragment of world's oldest bible 'discovered in Egyptian monastery' |
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· 09/03/2009 1:14:39 AM PDT · · Posted by BlackVeil · · 12 replies · · 504+ views · · The Telegraph · · 2 Sept 2009 · · By Andrew Hough · |
A fragment of the world's oldest Bible, the Codex Sinaiticus, has been uncovered hidden underneath the binding of an 18th-century book in an Egyptian monastery. The discovery was made by a British-based Greek academic, Nikolas Sarris, ... Last year The British Library put The Book of Psalms and St Mark's Gospel online, and now the remaining pages have been made free for public use for the first time. Along with the Codex Vaticanus, the Codex Sinaiticus is considered the oldest known Bible in the world. Originally more than 1,460 pages long and measuring 16in by 14in, it was written by... |
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| India | |
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| Sanskrit works discussed at Jerusalem University |
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· 07/28/2005 4:27:07 AM PDT · · Posted by CarrotAndStick · · 4 replies · · 360+ views · · The Press Trust of India · · 28 July, 2005 · · The Press Trust of India · |
JERUSALEM: Some forty scholars from all over the world recently took part in a summer programme on second millennium Sanskrit literature at Hebrew University here. Eminent Indologist, Prof David Shulman, who was instrumental in organising the programme, pointed out that so far the Sanskrit works in the first millennium (those of Kalidasa et al) have been explored to a great extent by the modern-day Sanskrit scholars, but the later period literature hasn't got much attention. "The second millennium A.D. Also witnessed intense creativity in Sanskrit throughout South Asia. Every major region produced its own distinctive corpus of Sanskrit literary works... |
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| Navigation | |
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| Supposed Greek And Hebrew Resemblances Of Ancient Hawaiians |
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· 09/02/2009 7:38:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 44 replies · · 543+ views · · books.google.com · · April 1866 · · MANLEY HOPKINS · |
' And the august abode from whence they came.' Speculations as to an Eastern emigration are scarcely more than glanced at here; and it may appear almost superfluous to refer to two groundless hypotheses which have been formed -- the first, that Greek remains have been discovered in South America, and that faint vestiges of Greece are also traceable in the islands of Hawaii. The other supposition is that of the Hawaiian race being of Hebrew origin, and that these islanders represent the lost tribes of the house of Israel. |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Water in Mantle May be Associated with Subduction (More water below oceans than in?) |
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· 08/30/2009 2:39:28 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 68 replies · · 1,350+ views · · Oregon State University · · August 19, 2009 · · Unknown · |
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- A team of scientists from Oregon State University has created the first global three-dimensional map of electrical conductivity in the Earth's mantle and their model suggests that that enhanced conductivity in certain areas of the mantle may signal the presence of water. What is most notable, the scientists say, is those areas of high conductivity coincide with subduction zones -- where tectonic plates are being subducted beneath the Earth's crust. Subducting plates are comparatively colder than surrounding mantle materials and thus should be less conductive. The answer, the researchers suggest, may be that conductivity in those areas... |
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| Climate | |
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| Middle Ages were warmer than today, say scientists |
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· 04/05/2003 7:38:26 PM PST · · Posted by Prince Charles · · 74 replies · · 1,962+ views · · London Daily Telegraph · · 4-6-03 · · Robert Matthews · |
Claims that man-made pollution is causing "unprecedented" global warming have been seriously undermined by new research which shows that the Earth was warmer during the Middle Ages. From the outset of the global warming debate in the late 1980s, environmentalists have said that temperatures are rising higher and faster than ever before, leading some scientists to conclude that greenhouse gases from cars and power stations are causing these "record-breaking" global temperatures. Last year, scientists working for the UK Climate Impacts Programme said that global temperatures... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| First Trace of Color Found in Fossil Bird Feathers |
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· 09/01/2009 12:08:11 PM PDT · · Posted by BGHater · · 8 replies · · 404+ views · · The New York Times · · 31 Aug 2009 · · Carl Zimmer · |
Birds, more than any other group of animals, are a celebration of color. They have evolved to every extreme of the spectrum, from the hot pink of flamingos to the shimmering blue of a peacock's neck. Yet, for decades, paleontologists who study extinct birds have had to use their imaginations to see the colors in the fossils. Several feather fossils have been unearthed over the years, but they have always been assumed to be colorless vestiges. Now a team of scientists has discovered color-producing molecules that have survived for 47 million years in the fossil of a feather. By analyzing... |
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| Ninja Bacon | |
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| Restorer finds hidden pig in 1600's Dutch work |
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· 08/31/2009 3:21:49 PM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 57 replies · · 871+ views · · Illini.com · · August 31st, 2009 · · staff reporter · |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A restorer's work has found a hidden image of a butchered pig in a painting from the collection of Michigan's Calvin College. The 17th century Dutch work Barn Interior is one of 16 paintings that Calvin alumnus Cornelius Van Nuis gave the Grand Rapids school two years ago. Egbert van der Poel's work shows a woman and two children inside the barn. Van der Poel lived from 1621 to 1664. Last summer, Calvin director of exhibitions Joel Zwart sent Barn Interior to Chicago art conservator Barry Bauman. "What with chemicals and soot and dirt in the... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Tomb search could end riddle of Shakespeare's true identity [Fulke Greville] |
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· 08/31/2009 7:33:07 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 60 replies · · 843+ views · · Telegraph · · Sunday, August 9th, 2009 · · David Harrison · |
Parishioners at St Mary's church in Warwick have sought permission to examine the contents of the 17th century monument built by Fulke Greville, a writer and contemporary of Shakespeare who some believe is the true author of several of the Bard's works... the search has been prompted by the discovery by an historian of clues in Greville's writings which suggest he had several manuscripts buried there, including a copy of Antony and Cleopatra. A radar scan of the sarcophagus has already indicated the presence inside of three "box like" shapes. The searchers believe these could contain documents and a further... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Physical Scientists Need a Liberal Arts Education |
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· 10/30/2002 8:03:45 PM PST · · Posted by cornelis · · 128 replies · · 536+ views · · Modern Age · · Winter 1992 · · E. Christian Kopff · |
It is not so obvious that physical scientists need a liberal arts education, rooted in the study of language. They themselves assert that they have no time for it. They have insisted on the abolition of language requirements in almost every university graduate program in America. This development is directly related to the massive amount of fraud which now typifies scientific publication in this country. This scientific community has lost track of the historical and ethical roots of our civilization, the only civilization which has fostered the scientific ethic and considerable scientific research and discovery. Increasingly young men enter the... |
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| Russian Civil War | |
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| Russian Empire's gold found in Lake Baikal? |
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· 09/02/2009 12:48:27 PM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 12 replies · · 705+ views · · russiatoday.ru · · 01 September, 2009, 19:04 · |
Russian Empire's gold found in Lake Baikal? 01 September, 2009, 19:04 MIR submersibles have discovered fragments of an early 20th century train at the bottom of Lake Baikal, which may possibly carry so-called "Kolchak gold", part of the gold reserves of the Russian Empire. The remains of the train cars, presumably of the Civil War times, were discovered within the MIR submersibles' expedition to the depth of almost 700 meters in the southern part of Lake Baikal. Some parts of the discovered train were lifted from the bottom. Legends have grown around the story of Admiral Kolchak, a Russian naval... |
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| The Great War | |
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| Inside the amazing cave city that housed 25,000 Allied troops under German noses in WWI |
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· 03/15/2008 9:11:29 AM PDT · · Posted by Stoat · · 39 replies · · 2,189+ views · · The Daily Mail (U.K.) · · March 15, 2008 · · ROBERT HARDMAN · |
The wax is still melted on to the chalk pillar which served as an Easter Sunday altar for the men of the Suffolk Regiment more than 90 years ago. Old helmets are scattered around the floor. A heap of cans, including a tin of Turnwrights Toffee Delight, lies alongside a collection of old stone jars - flagons of rum, perhaps, to numb the fear of the battle ahead.... |
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| Exclusive: The Unseen Photographs That Throw New Light on the First World War |
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· 05/25/2009 2:35:18 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 5 replies · · 1,271+ views · · 5/22/08 · |
Exclusive: The unseen photographs that throw new light on the First World WarIt an't be posted by by FR rules, but it's a fascinating article. |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Barbara Lauwers Podoski Dies at 95; Launched Psychological Campaign Against Germans in WWII |
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· 08/31/2009 4:57:23 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 9 replies · · 362+ views · · Los Angeles Times · · 8/31/09 · · Patricia Sullivan · |
Barbara Lauwers Podoski, who launched one of the most successful psychological campaigns of World War II, which resulted in the surrender of more than 600 Czechoslovakian soldiers fighting for the Germans, died of cardiovascular disease Aug. 16 at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington, D.C. She was 95. One of the few female operatives in the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime predecessor to the CIA, she found creative ways to undermine German morale. Much of her work remained secret until last year, when her OSS personnel records were declassified. The multilingual Barbara Lauwers, as she was then known, primarily... |
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| Charles Bond Jr. Passes Away - Pilot Was One of the Last Surviving Flying Tigers |
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· 08/31/2009 1:14:33 PM PDT · · Posted by PGR88 · · 10 replies · · 393+ views · · Washington Post · · August 31, 2009 · · Joe Holley · |
Charles R. Bond Jr., a retired Air Force major general and one of the last surviving Flying Tigers, died Aug. 18 of dementia at Presbyterian Village North, an assisted living community in Dallas. He was 94. In September 1941, he left the Army Air Forces to volunteer for service in China as part of a secret program, the American Volunteer Group, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, under Gen. Claire Chenault. Made up of about 400 pilots and ground personnel and based in Burma, the Flying Tigers protected military supply routes between China and Burma and helped to get supplies to Chinese... |
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| Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal |
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· 08/31/2009 1:40:25 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 17 replies · · 327+ views · · Associated Press · · Aug 31, 2009 · · Jim Salter · |
Yoshio Matsumoto was among the 110,000 Japanese-Americans seemingly bound for an internment camp soon after America entered World War II when a university he knew nothing about from a far off part of the country agreed to take him in. |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Pa. history buff fires cannon, hits neighbor's house |
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· 09/04/2009 11:51:46 AM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 26 replies · · 492+ views · · Associated Press · · Sept. 4, 2009 · |
A Pennsylvania history buff who recreates firearms from old wars accidentally fired a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of his neighbor's home. Fifty-four-year-old William Maser fired a cannonball Wednesday evening outside his home in Georges Township that ricocheted and hit a house 400 yards away. The cannonball, about two inches in diameter, smashed through a window and a wall before landing in a closet. Authorities say nobody was hurt. |
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| Early America | |
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| Revolutionary-era soldier's skull found |
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· 08/30/2009 8:57:48 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 21 replies · · 758+ views · · Connecticut Post · · 08/30/2009 · · Frank Juliano · |
MILFORD -- A 1907 catalog of the New Haven County Historical Society listed several rare and odd items, including a necklace from an Egyptian mummy, slave chains, a small block of wood from the Old South Bridge in Concord, Mass., which the British guarded at the start of the Revolutionary War. But lot 23 in the inventory -- "a skull of an American soldier, one of 42 who died of the 200 in a destitute and sickly condition that were brought from a British prison ship ... and suddenly cast upon the shore of the town of Milford on the... |
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| Pages | |
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| Book Review: Discovering a Lost Heritage: The Catholic Origins of America |
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· 09/02/2009 1:49:58 PM PDT · · Posted by GonzoII · · 40 replies · · 464+ views · · catholicism.org · · August 28th, 2009 · · Eleonore Villarrubia · |
So, you think you know your American history? Well, this little gem of a book, a Catholic history of our country, will probably leave you quivering, both with shock at your lack of knowledge of some of the "true facts" of our past and with indignation that this information is not taught in American schools and is absent from standard textbooks. Why, you ask,... |
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| Mating Rituals | |
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| The "Hung Drawn and Quartered: Pub, London, U.K. |
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· 08/29/2009 11:14:03 AM PDT · · Posted by BobNative · · 17 replies · · 405+ views · · My travel to London, U.K. · · August 29, 2009 · · Myself · |
Interesting name for an Establishment during these times in the United States. |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Tracking monsters in the world of man |
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· 09/02/2009 1:31:49 PM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 11 replies · · 345+ views · · metronews.ca · · August 31, 2009 5:43 a.m. · · Diane Peters · |
Throughout his career, John Kirk has made a living as a journalist and working for the government. His other occupation doesn't make him much money -- in fact it costs him -- but he still can't give up the hunt for undiscovered wildlife. It all began when Kirk first emigrated from Hong Kong in 1987. As a new resident to Canada, he went in a tour of B.C. He was passing by Sproat Lake on the way to Nanaimo when he... |
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| The London Monster: The Saturday Strangeness |
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· 09/03/2009 7:37:15 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 18 replies · · 362+ views · · londonist.com · · August 22, 2009 3:00 PM · · Neil Arnold · |
The London Monster The Saturday Strangeness Neil Arnold on August 22, 2009 3:00 PM 29. Phantom Assailants: Part One One hundred years previous to Jack The Ripper's reign of ghastly terror, London was overshadowed by another spectral attacker -- a phantom aggressor that, although seemingly dreadful and unique, would simply become one of many urban legends pertaining to mysterious and elusive assailants across the world, with many actually analysing the peculiar cases of ripping, and asking "did such psychopaths exist or were they the product of local hysteria'? Between 1788 and 1790, an evil jester of an attacker prowled the... |
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| Texas Man Says He Has Mythical Chupacabra |
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· 09/01/2009 4:09:05 PM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 35 replies · · 1,183+ views · · WBALTV.com · · Sept 1 2009 · · staff reporter · |
A man living north of San Antonio says he has quite the animal sitting in his freezer -- and it may be a mythical chupacabra. Jerry Ayer, a teacher at the Blanco Taxidermy School in Blanco, Texas, told TV station KSAT that he's never seen anything like it. "Different, that's for sure, very interesting," said Ayer. The find comes amid a number of strange sightings in the area. The animal is gray in color with leathery, hairless skin and large fangs. "The front legs seem to be a little bit longer than a typical coyote, very irregular and never seen... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Pictured: Hitler playing chess with Lenin |
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· 09/03/2009 2:32:09 PM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 36 replies · · 1,358+ views · · telegraph.co.uk · · Sept. 3, 2009 · |
A picture of a young Adolf Hitler apparently playing chess against Vladimir Lenin 100 years ago has come to light. The image is said to have been created in Vienna by Hitler's art teacher, Emma Lowenstramm, and is signed on the reverse by the two dictators. Hitler was a jobbing artist in the city in 1909 and Lenin was in exile and the house where they allegedly played the game belonged to a prominent Jewish family. In the run-up to the Second World War the Jewish family fled and gave many of their possessions, including the etching and chess set,... |
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| end of digest #268 20090905 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #268 Saturday, September 5, 2009 |
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| The City of David (iow, 'Civ sez this ain't Canaanite) | |
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| Israeli archaeologists find ancient fortification (3700-year-old Canaanite 26-foot tall stone wall) |
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· 09/02/2009 9:11:03 AM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 27 replies · · 761+ views · · AP on Yahoo · · 9/2/09 · · Jen Thomas - ap · |
JERUSALEM -- Archaeologists digging in Jerusalem have uncovered a 3,700-year-old wall that is the oldest example of massive fortifications ever found in the city, the Israel Antiquities Authority said Wednesday. The 26-foot-high wall is believed to have been part of a protected passage built by ancient Canaanites from a hilltop fortress to a nearby spring that was the city's only water source and vulnerable to marauders. The discovery marks the first time archaeologists have found such massive construction from before the time of Herod, the ruler behind numerous monumental projects in the city 2,000 years ago, and shows that Jerusalem... |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| White Europeans evolved only "5,500 years ago' |
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· 08/30/2009 10:40:35 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 145 replies · · 2,204+ views · · The Sunday Times · · August 30, 2009 · · Jonathan Leake · |
White Europeans could have evolved as recently as 5,500 years ago, according to research which suggests that the early humans who populated Britain and Scandinavia had dark skins for millenniums. It was only when early humans gave up hunter-gathering and switched to farming about 5,500 years ago that white skin began to be favoured, say the researchers. This is because farmed food was deficient in vitamin D, a vital nutrient. Humans can make this in their skin when exposed to sunlight, but dark skin is much less efficient at it. In places such as northern Europe, where sunlight levels are... |
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| Why Did People Become White? |
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· 09/02/2009 12:47:20 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 137 replies · · 2,124+ views · · Live Science · · 9/2/2009 · · Heather Whipps · |
Humans come in a rainbow of hues, from dark chocolate browns to nearly translucent whites. This full kaleidoscope of skin colors was a relatively recent evolutionary development, according to biologists, occuring alongside the migration of modern humans out of Africa between 100,000 and 50,000 years ago. The consensus among scientists has always been that lower levels of vitamin D at higher latitudes -- where the sun is less intense -- caused the lightening effect when modern humans, who began darker-skinned, first migrated north. But other factors might be at work, a new study suggests. From the varying effects of frostbite... |
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| Shhh! | |
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| Failing the IQ Test |
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· 09/02/2009 4:18:00 PM PDT · · Posted by Bob017 · · 8 replies · · 506+ views · · The American Conservative · · 1 October 2009 Issue · · Jason Richwine · |
Sociobiology has long been a sore spot for the Left, and with good reason. Our fundamental traits have a firm biological basis, shaped as they are by complex gene-environment interactions. And the more we discover how firmly ingrained our abilities, attitudes, and behaviors tend to be, the less plausible leftist social-intervention programs become. No biological trait threatens that agenda more than intelligence. With standard IQ tests, we can measure and rank people on a continuum, allowing us to make reasonable predictions about their success in life. Granted, a good IQ score is not the whole story of a person's life -- not... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| The Mystery Behind the 5,000 Year Old Tarim Mummies |
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· 08/31/2009 2:18:47 PM PDT · · Posted by BGHater · · 28 replies · · 1,019+ views · · Environmental Graffiti · · 31 Aug 2009 · · EG · |
A Tarim Basin mummy photographed circa 1910 Photo: Aurel Stein The door creaked open, and there in the gloom of the newly opened room, perfectly preserved despite the passing of thousands of years, a red-haired mummy with Caucasian features stared back. It was a life-changing moment for archaeologist Professor Victor Mair, and ten years on it still gave him chills. Mair had stumbled upon the recently discovered corpses of a man and his family in a museum in the Chinese city of Ürümqi, but the shock waves of the find would be felt far and wide. The 3000-year-old Cherchen... |
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| Precolumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis | |
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| Anthropology assistant professor uncovers genetic patterns |
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· 09/04/2009 11:58:25 AM PDT · · Posted by BGHater · · 5 replies · · 251+ views · · OU Daily · · 03 Sep 2009 · · Jared Rader · |
New reseach challenges previous theories of continent population New questions of human origin could shed light on what makes groups of people more or less prone to certain diseases, an OU researcher has found. Cecil Lewis, assistant professor of anthropology and director of the OU Molecular Anthropology laboratory, studied genetic diversity among American populations. His research is not only groundbreaking for anthropology but it could also affect future health research. "I made a number of surprising discoveries, some of which actually applied to the Americas as a whole," Lewis said. Lewis' research, which was recently published in the American Journal... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Dogs descended from wolf pack on Yangtze river |
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· 09/04/2009 2:58:00 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 39 replies · · 613+ views · · Telegraph · · Sep 2, 2009 · · Unknown · |
Today's dogs are all descended from a pack of wolves tamed 16,000 years ago on the shores of the Yangtze river, according to new research. It was previously known that the birthplace of the dog was eastern Asia but historians were not able to be more precise than that. However, now researchers have made a number of new discoveries about the history of man's best friend - including that the dog appeared about 16,000 years ago south of the Yangtze river in China. It has also been discovered that even though the dog has a single geographical origin it descends... |
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| Agriculture and Animal Husbandry | |
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| Europe's first farmers replaced their Stone Age hunter-gatherer forerunners |
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· 09/03/2009 11:47:19 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 27 replies · · 357+ views · · University College London · · Sep 3, 2009 · · Unknown · |
Analysis of ancient DNA from skeletons suggests that Europe's first farmers were not the descendants of the people who settled the area after the retreat of the ice sheets. Instead, the early farmers probably migrated into major areas of central and eastern Europe about 7,500 years ago, bringing domesticated plants and animals with them, says Barbara Bramanti from Mainz University in Germany and colleagues. The researchers analyzed DNA from hunter-gatherer and early farmer burials, and compared those to each other and to the DNA of modern Europeans. They conclude that there is little evidence of a direct genetic link between... |
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| Central Asia | |
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| Struggle to save the apple's Asian birthplace |
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· 09/04/2009 8:24:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · 187+ views · · Telegraph · · August 21, 2009 · · Richard Spencer in the Zailijskei Alatau Mountains · |
The common ancestor of all the Granny Smiths and Cox's Orange Pippins still grows on some of the world's most beautiful but little known mountainsides in the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. The discovery of the "Garden of Eden" in Central Asia has triggered efforts to save what remains of the forests, always known for their abundance of wild fruit. Once under assault by Soviet agricultural planners, they are now menaced by the wealth of oil capitalism and as much as 80 per cent has disappeared. "In earlier historical times there were vast mixed fruit forests across the area," said... |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| VIDEO: Paris Catacombs "Dense in Death" |
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· 09/03/2009 7:01:42 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · 451+ views · · National Geographic News · · August 25, 2009 · · unattributed · |
In underground passageways that snake underneath the French capital, nearly six million people who died of disease in the Middle Ages share a final resting place. The vaults, packed with skulls and bones dating from as far back as the Middle Ages, are located on Paris' Left Bank near Place Denfert Rochereau... and are part of the nearly 185 miles of underground passageways that are believed to be part of the catacombs network. ...John Mamburg, tourist from Grand Rapids, Michigan: "I think this is astounding. I've never been around so many, like you've been to cemeteries and things like that,... |
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| Middle Ages and Renaissance | |
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| Medieval love letters ignite war of words in France |
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· 03/06/2005 2:41:41 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 32 replies · · 1,521+ views · · Stuff (New Zealand) · · 05 March 2005 · |
PARIS: Two star-crossed medieval lovers, Abelard and Heloise, are again stirring passions in France as a literary controversy rages nearly 900 years after their affair. At the heart of the drama is an obscure Latin text that some scholars say contains the long lost love letters written by the ill-fated pair. Others say the correspondence is fake. The illicit liaison between Abelard, an up and coming 12th century philosopher, and the gifted young woman he tutored, shocked medieval Europe not least for its gruesome end. Abelard was castrated on the orders of Heloise's uncle after she became pregnant with his... |
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| Faith and Philosophy | |
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| History Of The Huguenots |
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· 06/19/2009 3:54:08 PM PDT · · Posted by alpha-8-25-02 · · 158 replies · · 1,839+ views · · 6/19/09 · · ALPHA-8-25-02 · |
Who were the Huguenots? John Calvin (1509 - 1564), religious reformer. The Huguenots were French Protestants who were members of the Reformed Church which was established in 1550 by John Calvin. The origin of the name Huguenot is uncertain, but dates from approximately 1550 when it was used in court cases against "heretics" (dissenters from the Roman Catholic Church). There is a theory that it is derived from the personal name of Besancon Hugues, the leader of the "Confederate Party" in Geneva, in combination with a Frankish corruption of the German word for conspirator or confederate: eidgenosse. Thus, Hugues plus... |
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| Cooked Only By Fire | |
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| Research Reveals Medieval Diet Was More Than Meat And Gruel |
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· 02/17/2003 5:37:57 PM PST · · Posted by blam · · 82 replies · · 1,015+ views · · Post-Gazette · · 2-17-2003 · · Lance Gay · |
How did our ancestors eat in the days before there were supermarkets, fast-food restaurants, refrigerators or temperature-controlled stoves and ovens? And what did the dinner table look like before the discovery of the New World brought back to Europe staple foods ranging from turkey to tomatoes and the humble potato? |
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| Holiday for Strings | |
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| Lost Sounds Orchestra: Ancient Musical Instruments Brought Back To Life |
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· 08/31/2009 3:55:44 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 45 replies · · 661+ views · · Scientific Blogging · · August 30, 2009 · · News Staff · |
Do you long to hear the dulcet sounds of the salpinx, barbiton, aulos or the syrinx? Of course not, because no one has heard them in centuries. Most people have never even heard of them. But you will soon have the chance to experience musical instruments familiar to ancient civilizations but long since forgotten. |
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| Ancient Music Wins New Fans (Gregorian Chant) |
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· 11/13/2007 12:00:30 PM PST · · Posted by Pyro7480 · · 25 replies · · 140+ views · · BBC News · · 11/13/2007 · · Paddy O'Flaherty · |
One of the world's oldest styles of religious music is attracting a host of new enthusiasts.Gregorian chant is usually associated with monks in monasteries, but it's being heard more often now in regular services. Its growing popularity brought 70 representatives of choirs from Northern Ireland to a chanting workshop in the Dominican Convent in west Belfast. The college chapel became a study for a day as experts passed on advice on how best to perform the ancient melodies. Principal tutor Donal McCrisken said Gregorian chant was an excellent medium for vocal training. "You have to sing it very purely -... |
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| Religion of Peace | |
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| Fourteen Centuries of War Against European Civilization |
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· 09/04/2009 6:00:13 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 6 replies · · 201+ views · · globalpolitician.com · · 9/4/2009 · · Fjordman · |
Fourteen Centuries of War Against European Civilization Fjordman - 9/4/2009 The following essay is an amalgam of my previous online essays, among them Who Are We, Who Are Our Enemies -- The Cost of Historical Amnesia, Why We Should Oppose an Independent Kosovo, Refuting God's Crucible and The Truth About Islam in Europe. "The Jihad, the Islamic so-called Holy War, has been a fact of life in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Near and Middle East for more than 1300 years, but this is the first history of the Muslim wars in Europe ever to be published. Hundreds of books,... |
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| Lies: The Crusades |
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· 08/29/2006 7:16:55 AM PDT · · Posted by JamesP81 · · 3 replies · · 371+ views · · Southern Pundit · · 8-29-2006 · · James P · |
All of us know that historical revisionism is a favored tool of the liar and those who like to play the blame game. Right after 9/11, this was on display for the whole world to see when Bin Laden and the Left decided to blame the Middle East's hatred of the West on, of all things, the Crusades. The Crusades were a series of wars that were fought nearly a thousand years before anyone on this Earth was born, yet the extremists hang on to it today like it's some kind of personal injustice. I find it inconceivable that one... |
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| Don't Let Liberals Smear and Rewrite the Meaning of September 11 |
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· 09/02/2009 4:52:01 AM PDT · · Posted by OK Right · · 7 replies · · 203+ views · · OK, WE'RE RIGHT! · · September 2, 2009 · · Oscar De Los Santos & Kelly L. Goodridge · |
Liberals have a penchant for revising history, but some of their recent rewrites are especially alarming. Look at the sanctification of Sen. Edward Kennedy, which is moving beyond whitewash and into fantastic territories. Modern liberalism strikes again in blogger Melissa Lafsky's Huffington Post article, "The Footnote Speaks: What Would Mary Jo Kopechne Have Thought of Ted's Career?" (8/27/09). Incredibly, Lafsky wonders what Kopechne, the young woman Teddy left to drown in Chappaquiddick, would think about Kennedy's life and career. Lafsky's conclusion: "Who Knows -- Maybe She'd Feel It Was Worth It" (The Huffington Post, August 27, 2009). You read... |
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| Malta | |
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| 1565: Malta celebrates the historically important victory of the Great Siege |
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· 09/03/2009 6:17:37 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 6 replies · · 282+ views · · timesofmalta.com · · Thursday, 3rd September 2009 · · Desmond Zammit Marmarà · |
As Malta celebrates the historically important victory of the Great Siege of 1565, it is worthwhile to ponder on some important points usually overshadowed by the purely military aspect of the Great Siege. The events of 1565 took place against a background of the clash between the Christian and the Islamic religions as well as the contemporary dissonance between Western and Eastern cultures. Few people, however, are aware that commerce played a very important part in the Turkish decision to attack Malta. Attacks on Turkish shipping by ships flying the flag of... |
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| Greece | |
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| Discovering the Greek side of Istanbul |
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· 09/03/2009 8:21:26 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 12 replies · · 182+ views · · todayszaman.com · · 03 September 2009 · · KRISTINA KAMP · |
Discovering the Greek side of Istanbul The Maiden Tower That Istanbul is a real treasure chest for history, art and architecture freaks is no secret. Its colorful mosaic of historical city structures -- mosques, churches, synagogues, palaces, castles and towers -- reflects the many, many social and cultural influences of a number of foreign communities that have left their indelible footprints across the city throughout its long history. The oldest settlement on the land that is now Istanbul was, however, Greek. Already, in 685 B.C., settlers from the ancient Greek town of Megara chose to colonize the town of Chalcedon,... |
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| Pyramids | |
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| Hellenic Pyramids |
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· 09/03/2009 2:02:14 PM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 12 replies · · 477+ views · · hiddenmysteries.org · · Ioannis Lyritzis · |
It is not well known that there are Greek pyramids . There are more than 16 pyramids spread all over the Greece. The oldest one is the pyramid of Hellinikon. The existence of pyramids in Greece was unknown to most people until recently, and even today not much is known about them. For example, the pyramid of Hellenikon, near Argos, is older than the Pyramids of Egypt. In fact, Pausanias (in Graeciae Descriptio) says that this pyramid was a memorial in rememberance of the first battle fought by soldiers bearing shields! Pyramids in Greece are usually smaller... |
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| Latin and Other Dead Languages | |
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| Town halls ban staff from using Latin words, in case they confuse immigrants[UK] |
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· 11/02/2008 9:01:53 AM PST · · Posted by BGHater · · 44 replies · · 687+ views · · Daily Mail · · 02 Nov 2008 · · Emily Andrews · |
They are well-worn phrases, repeated ad nauseam throughout the English language. But local councils have now waged war on Latin words, banning staff from using them in writing or in speech. The authorities claim the terms are elitist and discriminatory and have ordered employees to use wordier alternatives in documents or when speaking to members of the public. However the ban has infuriated classical scholars who say it is diluting the world's richest language and is the 'linguistic equivalent of ethnic cleansing'. Bournemouth Council, which has the Latin motto Pulchritudo et Salubritas - beauty and health - has listed 19... |
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| Finland Takes Liking to Latin |
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· 10/30/2006 6:48:03 PM PST · · Posted by G8 Diplomat · · 16 replies · · 747+ views · · BBC · · Jonny Dymond · |
Finland is one of the quieter members of the EU. But now its turn at the EU presidency has thrust it into the spotlight - and exposed an unusual passion. Like the boy at the party with cheese straws stuck up his nose, it has been caught doing something vaguely disturbing - indulging a penchant for Latin. It is the only country in the world which broadcasts the news in Latin. On its EU presidency website one can find descriptions of meetings in Latin. But love of the language of Rome goes deep. 'Eternal language' I am in a hotel... |
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| And now for the news ... in Latin |
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· 03/21/2007 9:45:52 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 5 replies · · 372+ views · · Guardian · · March 21, 2007 · · John Hooper · |
It is, famously, a dead language. But it seems that Latin is on the brink of an unlikely comeback. The conservative Pope Benedict XVI is poised to authorise wider use of the Latin mass. And, perhaps to ingratiate themselves with the boss, the managers of the Vatican bank have quietly put instructions in Latin on the cash dispenser at the back of St Peter's. Customers are told to put in their cards with the words: "Inserito scidulam quaeso ut faciundam cognoscas rationem."On Sicily, meanwhile, Latin is being heard in homes in the city of Catania for the... |
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| Epigraphy and Language | |
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| What's up with Aramaic? |
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· 02/28/2004 8:15:53 PM PST · · Posted by jwalburg · · 40 replies · · 345+ views · · Aberdeen American News · · Feb. 04 · · Cary Darling · |
Thanks to 'The Passion of the Christ,' a near-dead, 2,500-year-old language will reach the ears of millions Leave it to pop culture -- and Mel Gibson -- to revive a couple of dead languages. Well, one that's dead and one that's in linguistic intensive care. Gibson's controversial film The Passion of the Christ, opening today, utilizes two tongues from way back in the day: Latin and Aramaic. (Don't worry, there are subtitles in the movie.) Now Latin (the dead one) is not a complete stranger to American ears. Carpe diem, e pluribus unum and all that. But Aramaic? This nearly... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Codex Sinaiticus -- previously unknown fragment found |
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· 09/01/2009 5:55:16 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · 495+ views · · The Independent · · Wednesday, September 2, 2009 · · Jerome Taylor, Religious Affairs Correspondent · |
The source URL used is the official website for the Codex Sinaiticus, a Greek-language version of the Bible from about 350 AD. The fragments (other than this one) were reunited and put online this year. The document is the oldest surviving version of the New Testament; about half of the Old Testament survives in the CS, and is that of the Translation of the Seventy. This newly-discovered fragment appears to be from Joshua (the book, not the guy). |
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| Fragment of world's oldest bible 'discovered in Egyptian monastery' |
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· 09/03/2009 1:14:39 AM PDT · · Posted by BlackVeil · · 12 replies · · 504+ views · · The Telegraph · · 2 Sept 2009 · · By Andrew Hough · |
A fragment of the world's oldest Bible, the Codex Sinaiticus, has been uncovered hidden underneath the binding of an 18th-century book in an Egyptian monastery. The discovery was made by a British-based Greek academic, Nikolas Sarris, ... Last year The British Library put The Book of Psalms and St Mark's Gospel online, and now the remaining pages have been made free for public use for the first time. Along with the Codex Vaticanus, the Codex Sinaiticus is considered the oldest known Bible in the world. Originally more than 1,460 pages long and measuring 16in by 14in, it was written by... |
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| India | |
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| Sanskrit works discussed at Jerusalem University |
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· 07/28/2005 4:27:07 AM PDT · · Posted by CarrotAndStick · · 4 replies · · 360+ views · · The Press Trust of India · · 28 July, 2005 · · The Press Trust of India · |
JERUSALEM: Some forty scholars from all over the world recently took part in a summer programme on second millennium Sanskrit literature at Hebrew University here. Eminent Indologist, Prof David Shulman, who was instrumental in organising the programme, pointed out that so far the Sanskrit works in the first millennium (those of Kalidasa et al) have been explored to a great extent by the modern-day Sanskrit scholars, but the later period literature hasn't got much attention. "The second millennium A.D. Also witnessed intense creativity in Sanskrit throughout South Asia. Every major region produced its own distinctive corpus of Sanskrit literary works... |
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| Navigation | |
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| Supposed Greek And Hebrew Resemblances Of Ancient Hawaiians |
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· 09/02/2009 7:38:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 44 replies · · 543+ views · · books.google.com · · April 1866 · · MANLEY HOPKINS · |
' And the august abode from whence they came.' Speculations as to an Eastern emigration are scarcely more than glanced at here; and it may appear almost superfluous to refer to two groundless hypotheses which have been formed -- the first, that Greek remains have been discovered in South America, and that faint vestiges of Greece are also traceable in the islands of Hawaii. The other supposition is that of the Hawaiian race being of Hebrew origin, and that these islanders represent the lost tribes of the house of Israel. |
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| Catastrophism and Astronomy | |
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| Water in Mantle May be Associated with Subduction (More water below oceans than in?) |
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· 08/30/2009 2:39:28 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 68 replies · · 1,350+ views · · Oregon State University · · August 19, 2009 · · Unknown · |
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- A team of scientists from Oregon State University has created the first global three-dimensional map of electrical conductivity in the Earth's mantle and their model suggests that that enhanced conductivity in certain areas of the mantle may signal the presence of water. What is most notable, the scientists say, is those areas of high conductivity coincide with subduction zones -- where tectonic plates are being subducted beneath the Earth's crust. Subducting plates are comparatively colder than surrounding mantle materials and thus should be less conductive. The answer, the researchers suggest, may be that conductivity in those areas... |
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| Climate | |
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| Middle Ages were warmer than today, say scientists |
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· 04/05/2003 7:38:26 PM PST · · Posted by Prince Charles · · 74 replies · · 1,962+ views · · London Daily Telegraph · · 4-6-03 · · Robert Matthews · |
Claims that man-made pollution is causing "unprecedented" global warming have been seriously undermined by new research which shows that the Earth was warmer during the Middle Ages. From the outset of the global warming debate in the late 1980s, environmentalists have said that temperatures are rising higher and faster than ever before, leading some scientists to conclude that greenhouse gases from cars and power stations are causing these "record-breaking" global temperatures. Last year, scientists working for the UK Climate Impacts Programme said that global temperatures... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| First Trace of Color Found in Fossil Bird Feathers |
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· 09/01/2009 12:08:11 PM PDT · · Posted by BGHater · · 8 replies · · 404+ views · · The New York Times · · 31 Aug 2009 · · Carl Zimmer · |
Birds, more than any other group of animals, are a celebration of color. They have evolved to every extreme of the spectrum, from the hot pink of flamingos to the shimmering blue of a peacock's neck. Yet, for decades, paleontologists who study extinct birds have had to use their imaginations to see the colors in the fossils. Several feather fossils have been unearthed over the years, but they have always been assumed to be colorless vestiges. Now a team of scientists has discovered color-producing molecules that have survived for 47 million years in the fossil of a feather. By analyzing... |
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| Ninja Bacon | |
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| Restorer finds hidden pig in 1600's Dutch work |
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· 08/31/2009 3:21:49 PM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 57 replies · · 871+ views · · Illini.com · · August 31st, 2009 · · staff reporter · |
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A restorer's work has found a hidden image of a butchered pig in a painting from the collection of Michigan's Calvin College. The 17th century Dutch work Barn Interior is one of 16 paintings that Calvin alumnus Cornelius Van Nuis gave the Grand Rapids school two years ago. Egbert van der Poel's work shows a woman and two children inside the barn. Van der Poel lived from 1621 to 1664. Last summer, Calvin director of exhibitions Joel Zwart sent Barn Interior to Chicago art conservator Barry Bauman. "What with chemicals and soot and dirt in the... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Tomb search could end riddle of Shakespeare's true identity [Fulke Greville] |
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· 08/31/2009 7:33:07 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 60 replies · · 843+ views · · Telegraph · · Sunday, August 9th, 2009 · · David Harrison · |
Parishioners at St Mary's church in Warwick have sought permission to examine the contents of the 17th century monument built by Fulke Greville, a writer and contemporary of Shakespeare who some believe is the true author of several of the Bard's works... the search has been prompted by the discovery by an historian of clues in Greville's writings which suggest he had several manuscripts buried there, including a copy of Antony and Cleopatra. A radar scan of the sarcophagus has already indicated the presence inside of three "box like" shapes. The searchers believe these could contain documents and a further... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Physical Scientists Need a Liberal Arts Education |
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· 10/30/2002 8:03:45 PM PST · · Posted by cornelis · · 128 replies · · 536+ views · · Modern Age · · Winter 1992 · · E. Christian Kopff · |
It is not so obvious that physical scientists need a liberal arts education, rooted in the study of language. They themselves assert that they have no time for it. They have insisted on the abolition of language requirements in almost every university graduate program in America. This development is directly related to the massive amount of fraud which now typifies scientific publication in this country. This scientific community has lost track of the historical and ethical roots of our civilization, the only civilization which has fostered the scientific ethic and considerable scientific research and discovery. Increasingly young men enter the... |
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| Russian Civil War | |
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| Russian Empire's gold found in Lake Baikal? |
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· 09/02/2009 12:48:27 PM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 12 replies · · 705+ views · · russiatoday.ru · · 01 September, 2009, 19:04 · |
Russian Empire's gold found in Lake Baikal? 01 September, 2009, 19:04 MIR submersibles have discovered fragments of an early 20th century train at the bottom of Lake Baikal, which may possibly carry so-called "Kolchak gold", part of the gold reserves of the Russian Empire. The remains of the train cars, presumably of the Civil War times, were discovered within the MIR submersibles' expedition to the depth of almost 700 meters in the southern part of Lake Baikal. Some parts of the discovered train were lifted from the bottom. Legends have grown around the story of Admiral Kolchak, a Russian naval... |
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| The Great War | |
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| Inside the amazing cave city that housed 25,000 Allied troops under German noses in WWI |
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· 03/15/2008 9:11:29 AM PDT · · Posted by Stoat · · 39 replies · · 2,189+ views · · The Daily Mail (U.K.) · · March 15, 2008 · · ROBERT HARDMAN · |
The wax is still melted on to the chalk pillar which served as an Easter Sunday altar for the men of the Suffolk Regiment more than 90 years ago. Old helmets are scattered around the floor. A heap of cans, including a tin of Turnwrights Toffee Delight, lies alongside a collection of old stone jars - flagons of rum, perhaps, to numb the fear of the battle ahead.... |
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| Exclusive: The Unseen Photographs That Throw New Light on the First World War |
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· 05/25/2009 2:35:18 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 5 replies · · 1,271+ views · · 5/22/08 · |
Exclusive: The unseen photographs that throw new light on the First World WarIt an't be posted by by FR rules, but it's a fascinating article. |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Barbara Lauwers Podoski Dies at 95; Launched Psychological Campaign Against Germans in WWII |
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· 08/31/2009 4:57:23 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 9 replies · · 362+ views · · Los Angeles Times · · 8/31/09 · · Patricia Sullivan · |
Barbara Lauwers Podoski, who launched one of the most successful psychological campaigns of World War II, which resulted in the surrender of more than 600 Czechoslovakian soldiers fighting for the Germans, died of cardiovascular disease Aug. 16 at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Washington, D.C. She was 95. One of the few female operatives in the Office of Strategic Services, the wartime predecessor to the CIA, she found creative ways to undermine German morale. Much of her work remained secret until last year, when her OSS personnel records were declassified. The multilingual Barbara Lauwers, as she was then known, primarily... |
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| Charles Bond Jr. Passes Away - Pilot Was One of the Last Surviving Flying Tigers |
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· 08/31/2009 1:14:33 PM PDT · · Posted by PGR88 · · 10 replies · · 393+ views · · Washington Post · · August 31, 2009 · · Joe Holley · |
Charles R. Bond Jr., a retired Air Force major general and one of the last surviving Flying Tigers, died Aug. 18 of dementia at Presbyterian Village North, an assisted living community in Dallas. He was 94. In September 1941, he left the Army Air Forces to volunteer for service in China as part of a secret program, the American Volunteer Group, nicknamed the Flying Tigers, under Gen. Claire Chenault. Made up of about 400 pilots and ground personnel and based in Burma, the Flying Tigers protected military supply routes between China and Burma and helped to get supplies to Chinese... |
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| Japanese-American graduate recalls wartime ordeal |
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· 08/31/2009 1:40:25 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 17 replies · · 327+ views · · Associated Press · · Aug 31, 2009 · · Jim Salter · |
Yoshio Matsumoto was among the 110,000 Japanese-Americans seemingly bound for an internment camp soon after America entered World War II when a university he knew nothing about from a far off part of the country agreed to take him in. |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Pa. history buff fires cannon, hits neighbor's house |
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· 09/04/2009 11:51:46 AM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 26 replies · · 492+ views · · Associated Press · · Sept. 4, 2009 · |
A Pennsylvania history buff who recreates firearms from old wars accidentally fired a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of his neighbor's home. Fifty-four-year-old William Maser fired a cannonball Wednesday evening outside his home in Georges Township that ricocheted and hit a house 400 yards away. The cannonball, about two inches in diameter, smashed through a window and a wall before landing in a closet. Authorities say nobody was hurt. |
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| Early America | |
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| Revolutionary-era soldier's skull found |
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· 08/30/2009 8:57:48 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 21 replies · · 758+ views · · Connecticut Post · · 08/30/2009 · · Frank Juliano · |
MILFORD -- A 1907 catalog of the New Haven County Historical Society listed several rare and odd items, including a necklace from an Egyptian mummy, slave chains, a small block of wood from the Old South Bridge in Concord, Mass., which the British guarded at the start of the Revolutionary War. But lot 23 in the inventory -- "a skull of an American soldier, one of 42 who died of the 200 in a destitute and sickly condition that were brought from a British prison ship ... and suddenly cast upon the shore of the town of Milford on the... |
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| Pages | |
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| Book Review: Discovering a Lost Heritage: The Catholic Origins of America |
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· 09/02/2009 1:49:58 PM PDT · · Posted by GonzoII · · 40 replies · · 464+ views · · catholicism.org · · August 28th, 2009 · · Eleonore Villarrubia · |
So, you think you know your American history? Well, this little gem of a book, a Catholic history of our country, will probably leave you quivering, both with shock at your lack of knowledge of some of the "true facts" of our past and with indignation that this information is not taught in American schools and is absent from standard textbooks. Why, you ask,... |
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| Mating Rituals | |
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| The "Hung Drawn and Quartered: Pub, London, U.K. |
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· 08/29/2009 11:14:03 AM PDT · · Posted by BobNative · · 17 replies · · 405+ views · · My travel to London, U.K. · · August 29, 2009 · · Myself · |
Interesting name for an Establishment during these times in the United States. |
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| Biology and Cryptobiology | |
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| Tracking monsters in the world of man |
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· 09/02/2009 1:31:49 PM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 11 replies · · 345+ views · · metronews.ca · · August 31, 2009 5:43 a.m. · · Diane Peters · |
Throughout his career, John Kirk has made a living as a journalist and working for the government. His other occupation doesn't make him much money -- in fact it costs him -- but he still can't give up the hunt for undiscovered wildlife. It all began when Kirk first emigrated from Hong Kong in 1987. As a new resident to Canada, he went in a tour of B.C. He was passing by Sproat Lake on the way to Nanaimo when he... |
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| The London Monster: The Saturday Strangeness |
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· 09/03/2009 7:37:15 AM PDT · · Posted by Nikas777 · · 18 replies · · 362+ views · · londonist.com · · August 22, 2009 3:00 PM · · Neil Arnold · |
The London Monster The Saturday Strangeness Neil Arnold on August 22, 2009 3:00 PM 29. Phantom Assailants: Part One One hundred years previous to Jack The Ripper's reign of ghastly terror, London was overshadowed by another spectral attacker -- a phantom aggressor that, although seemingly dreadful and unique, would simply become one of many urban legends pertaining to mysterious and elusive assailants across the world, with many actually analysing the peculiar cases of ripping, and asking "did such psychopaths exist or were they the product of local hysteria'? Between 1788 and 1790, an evil jester of an attacker prowled the... |
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| Texas Man Says He Has Mythical Chupacabra |
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· 09/01/2009 4:09:05 PM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 35 replies · · 1,183+ views · · WBALTV.com · · Sept 1 2009 · · staff reporter · |
A man living north of San Antonio says he has quite the animal sitting in his freezer -- and it may be a mythical chupacabra. Jerry Ayer, a teacher at the Blanco Taxidermy School in Blanco, Texas, told TV station KSAT that he's never seen anything like it. "Different, that's for sure, very interesting," said Ayer. The find comes amid a number of strange sightings in the area. The animal is gray in color with leathery, hairless skin and large fangs. "The front legs seem to be a little bit longer than a typical coyote, very irregular and never seen... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Pictured: Hitler playing chess with Lenin |
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· 09/03/2009 2:32:09 PM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 36 replies · · 1,358+ views · · telegraph.co.uk · · Sept. 3, 2009 · |
A picture of a young Adolf Hitler apparently playing chess against Vladimir Lenin 100 years ago has come to light. The image is said to have been created in Vienna by Hitler's art teacher, Emma Lowenstramm, and is signed on the reverse by the two dictators. Hitler was a jobbing artist in the city in 1909 and Lenin was in exile and the house where they allegedly played the game belonged to a prominent Jewish family. In the run-up to the Second World War the Jewish family fled and gave many of their possessions, including the etching and chess set,... |
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| end of digest #268 20090905 | |
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