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Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #165
Saturday, September 15, 2007


Prehistory and Origins
Turns out Neanderthals had good oral hygiene
  Posted by Renfield
On General/Chat 09/13/2007 7:14:34 AM EDT · 14 replies · 138+ views


MSNBC | 9-11-2007
Two molar teeth of around 63,400 years old show that Neanderthal predecessors of humans may have been dental hygiene fans, the Web site of newspaper El Pais reported on Tuesday. The teeth have "grooves formed by the passage of a pointed object, which confirms the use of a small stick for cleaning the mouth," Paleontology Professor Juan Luis Asuarga told reporters, presenting an archaeological find in Madrid. The fossils, unearthed in Pinilla del Valle, are the first human examples found in the Madrid region in 25 years, the regional government's culture department said.......
 

Dramatic climate shift didn't kill Neanderthals
  Posted by Renfield
On General/Chat 09/13/2007 7:11:20 AM EDT · 26 replies · 203+ views


MSNBC | 9-12-07 | Michael Kahn
LONDON - Neanderthals probably fell victim to taller and superior Cro-Magnons rather than catastrophic climate change, researchers said on Wednesday. Using a new method to calibrate carbon-14 dating, the international team found the last Neanderthals died at least 3,000 years before a major change in temperatures occurred. This suggests either modern humans or a combination of humans and less severe climate change caused the species' demise some 30,000 years ago, said Chronis Tzedakis, a paleoecologist at the University of Leeds, who led the study published in the journal Nature.....
 

Climate
Studying Evidence From Ice Age Lakes
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/11/2007 7:25:24 PM EDT · 20 replies · 550+ views


Science Daily | 9-11-2007 | Geological Survey of Norway
Source: Geological Survey of Norway Date: September 11, 2007 Studying Evidence From Ice Age Lakes Science Daily -- During the last Ice Age, the ice dammed enormous lakes in Russia. The drainage system was reversed several times and the rivers flowed southwards. A group of geologists is now investigating what took place when the ice melted and the lakes released huge volumes of fresh water into the Arctic Ocean. 'The ice-dammed lakes in Russia were larger than the largest lakes we know today,' Eiliv Larsen, a geologist at the Geological Survey of Norway (NGU), tells me. He is in charge...
 

Ancient Europe
Prehistoric Find Located Beneath The Waves (Switzerland)
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/11/2007 11:20:43 AM EDT · 21 replies · 734+ views


Swiss Info | 9-10-2007
September 10, 2007 - 12:35 PMPrehistoric find located beneath the waves Archaeologists have discovered traces of Switzerland's oldest known building, but it will never draw tourists: it lies underwater in the middle of a lake. Since it was made of wood scientists used dendrochronology -- the technique of dating by tree rings -- to give a precise figure of 3863 BC. The find in Lake Biel, northwest of the Swiss capital, Bern, was described as 'sensational' by Albert Hafner, who is in charge of underwater archaeology in the region. Divers working for the cantonal archaeological service came upon the site...
 

Megaliths and Archaeoastronomy
Barbarians Get Sophisticated (Nebra "Sky Disk")
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 11/16/2003 2:25:46 PM EST · 26 replies · 2,325+ views


US News | 11-16-2003 | Andrew Curry
Barbarians get sophisticated By Andrew Curry BERLIN--For something so small, the "sky disk" has made quite an impact here. Not even a foot across, the 5-pound bronze disk is embossed in gold leaf with intricate images of the sun, moon, and 32 stars. In the plate's center is a representation of the star cluster Pleiades, which appears in the sky around the autumnal equinox and signaled the arrival of harvest season. What's most amazing is its age. More than 3,500 years old, the sky disk may well be the most important Bronze Age find in decades. Treasure hunters found it...
 

Ancient Autopsies
Bog Mummies Yield Secrets
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/10/2007 1:27:42 PM EDT · 29 replies · 912+ views


Science Daily | 9-10-2007 | North Dakota State University
Source: North Dakota State University Date: September 10, 2007 Bog Mummies Yield Secrets Science Daily -- Human remains yield secrets. Researchers, including Dr. Heather Gill-Robinson, assistant professor of anthropology at North Dakota State University, are now probing the secrets of 'bog mummies' some dating back 2000 years, preserved from the Iron Age with amazing detail in peat bogs of Europe. Dr. Heather Gill-Robinson of North Dakota State University, Fargo, studies several peat bog mummies in her research, including Damendorf man, discovered near Damendorf, Germany in 1900. Using CT scanning and other technology, Dr. Gill-Robinson has identified five lower vertebrae, a...
 

The Vikings
Viking queen exhumed to solve mystery
  Posted by NormsRevenge
On News/Activism 09/10/2007 1:23:45 PM EDT · 21 replies · 1,043+ views


Reuters on Yahoo | 9/10/07 | Alister Doyle
SLAGEN, Norway (Reuters) - Archaeologists exhumed the body of a Viking queen on Monday, hoping to solve a riddle about whether a woman buried with her 1,200 years ago was a servant killed to be a companion into the afterlife. As a less gruesome alternative, the two women in the grass-covered Oseberg mound in south Norway might be a royal mother and daughter who died of the same disease and were buried together in 834. "We will do DNA tests to try to find out. I don't know of any Viking skeletons that have been analyzed as we plan to...
 

Navigation
Builder Found Vikings Washed Up At Pub
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/09/2007 6:20:35 PM EDT · 34 replies · 1,565+ views


Timesonline | 9-10-2007 | Jack Malvern
September 10, 2007 Builder found Vikings washed up at pubJack Malvern Archaeologists believe they have found the only intact Viking boat in Britain beneath the patio of a Merseyside pub. The 10th-century vessel was discovered in the 1930s by builders excavating the basement of the Railway Inn on the Wirral peninsula, but they covered it up because they feared an archaeological dig would disrupt their work. The boat would have been forgotten had one of the builders not reported his discovery to his son, who passed the information on to academics at Nottingham University. Stephen Harding, of the university's archaeology...
 

Rome and Italy
Archaeologists Find Ancient Tunnel Used By Jews To Escape Roman Conquest Of Jerusalem
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/09/2007 6:30:54 PM EDT · 42 replies · 1,246+ views


IHT | 9-9-2007 | AP
Archeologists find ancient tunnel used by Jews to escape Roman conquest of Jerusalem The Associated PressPublished: September 9, 2007 JERUSALEM: Israeli archeologists on Sunday said they've stumbled upon the site of one of the great dramatic scenes of the Roman sacking of Jerusalem 2,000 years ago: the subterranean drainage channel Jews used to escape from the city's Roman conquerors. The ancient tunnel was dug beneath what would become the main road of Jerusalem in the days of the second biblical Temple, which the Romans destroyed in the year 70, the dig's directors, archaeology Professor Ronny Reich of the University of...
 

Let's Have Jerusalem
Trashing Jewish Holy Sites--The shameful Palestinian treatment of the Temple Mount.
  Posted by SJackson
On News/Activism 09/14/2007 1:51:36 PM EDT · 7 replies · 198+ views


Frontpagemagazine | 9-14-07 | Steve Feldman
Every time someone daubs a swastika or anti-Semitic epithet on a synagogue in any American city, there is a quick, firm and loud condemnation from Jewish leaders, 'watchdog' agencies, even leaders of other faiths and usually government officials. Yet remarkably, as the holiest site in all of Judaism and its rich antiquities are deliberately and methodically desecrated and even obliterated, there is barely a peep, though mostly no outcry at all. How can this be? For those who may be unaware, the Temple Mount is the site in Jerusalem of both the First Temple and the Second Temple -- which...
 

OLMERT GOVERNMENT MUST STOP DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH ANTIQUITIES
  Posted by SJackson
On News/Activism 09/09/2007 10:26:32 AM EDT · 3 replies · 98+ views


IMRA | 9-9-07 | Morton A. Klein
Zionist Organization of America Jacob & Libby Goodman ZOA House, 4 East 34th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016 (212) 481-1500 Fax: (212) 481-1515 email@zoa.org www.zoa.org September 7, 2007 Contact Morton A. Klein at: (212) 481-1500 Attn: NEWS EDITOR ZOA writes to Olmert ZOA: OLMERT GOVERNMENT MUST STOP DESTRUCTION OF JEWISH ANTIQUITIES ON JERUSALEM'S TEMPLE MOUNT BY MUSLIM AUTHORITIES New York -- The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) has written to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert urging him to immediately take action to stop the wanton destruction of priceless Jewish antiquities on Jerusalem's Temple Mount by the Waqf, the Muslim religious...
 

Silence in the Face of Continued Temple Mount Destruction
  Posted by SmithL
On News/Activism 09/07/2007 3:52:28 PM EDT · 6 replies · 382+ views


Arutz Sheva - IsraelNationalNews | 9/7/7 | Hillel Fendel
As an Arab bulldozer continues to dig away at the current Temple Mount floor, evidence is mounting that actual walls from the Second Temple are being destroyed. The world is silent, while Prime Minister†Olmert continues talks with the Palestinian Authority regarding future sovereignty over the holy area.The actual digging, under the auspices of the Moslem Waqf [religious trust to which Israel has assigned responsibility for the Temple Mount - ed.], has been ongoing for several weeks.† Only over the past 8-10 days, however, has attention been paid to the dangers of the barely supervised works.† The Waqf claims that the...
 

Fracas Erupts Over Book on Mideast by a Barnard Professor Seeking Tenure
  Posted by Cincinna
On News/Activism 09/12/2007 4:01:09 AM EDT · 27 replies · 761+ views


The New York Times | September 10, 2007 | KAREN W. ARENSON
A tenure bid by an assistant professor of anthropology at Barnard College who has critically examined the use of archaeology in Israel has put Columbia University once again at the center of a struggle over scholarship on the Middle East. The professor, Nadia Abu El-Haj, who is of Palestinian descent, has been at Barnard since 2002 and has won many awards and grants, including a Fulbright scholarship and fellowships at Harvard and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, N.J. Barnard has already approved her for tenure, officials said, and forwarded its recommendation to Columbia University, its affiliate, which has...
 

BAR: Finds or Fakes?
Analysis of Photographs, The Ivory Pomegranate Inscription
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 09/11/2007 10:46:24 AM EDT · 13 replies · 224+ views


Biblical Archaeology Review | May 2007 | Hershel Shanks
The microscopic image was projected onto a screen as all watched in darkness. It appeared that Lemaire was right. The letter extended into the break. Demsky and Ahituv admitted that the committee report was "mistaken" in concluding that the letter stopped artificially short of the break... But, alas, this letter is adjacent to one of the modern breaks, not the ancient break. Had the letter stopped short of the break, as originally argued by Ahituv, Demsky and Goren, this would have been clear evidence of a forgery. But because the applicable break was a modern break, the fact that the...
 

NYT: Israel Indicts 4 in 'Brother of Jesus' Hoax and Other Forgeries
  Posted by OESY
On News/Activism 12/30/2004 1:01:34 PM EST · 24 replies · 807+ views


New York Times | December 30, 2004 | GREG MYRE
JERUSALEM, Dec. 29 - The Israeli police filed criminal indictments on Wednesday against four antiquities collectors, accusing them of forging biblical artifacts, many so skillfully that they fooled experts. Some were even celebrated briefly as being among the most significant Christian and Jewish relics ever unearthed. The police and the Israel Antiquities Authority said their investigation had focused on several major forgeries, including a limestone burial box, or ossuary, bearing an inscription that suggested that it held the remains of Jesus' brother James. The Antiquities Authority declared the ossuary a forgery last year. The authorities also described as counterfeit a...
 

Biblical forgery case in court...
  Posted by crushelits
On News/Activism 12/29/2004 11:11:39 PM EST · 55 replies · 1,021+ views


msnbc.msn.com | Dec. 29, 2004 | AP
International News This undated photo released by the Israel Museum on Dec. 24 shows a forged†ivory pomegranate†that had been thought to be the only surviving relic from Solomon's Temple. Israel accuses 4 of forging trove of biblical artifacts Sophisticated fakes were hailed as important archeological discoveries. JERUSALEM - Israeli police indicted four antique dealers and collectors Wednesday for allegedly running a sophisticated forgery ring that created a trove of fake biblical artifacts, including some hailed as among the most important archaeological objects ever uncovered in the region.The forged items include an ivory pomegranate touted by scholars as the only relic...
 

Only Existing First Temple Relic May Be Forged
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 03/26/2004 10:48:44 PM EST · 14 replies · 244+ views


Haaretz Daily | 3-26-2004 | Amiram Barkat
Last Update: 26/03/2004 08:08 Only existing First Temple relic may be forged By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent Investigators for the Israel Antiquities Authority have been informed that a precious Ivory Pomegranate, on display at the Israel Museum since 1988, is a forgery. On the basis of an inscription it had been dated from the period of the First Temple, 10th century BCE. However, it is information on the origin of the inscription that has raised doubts about the authenticity of the item. The Antiquities Authority refused to reveal the origins and nature of the information it holds. The inscription, completed...
 

Helix, Make Mine a Double
In Lebanon, DNA may yet heal rifts
  Posted by Pharmboy
On News/Activism 09/09/2007 11:12:40 PM EDT · 13 replies · 439+ views


Reuters via Yahoo | 9-9-07 | Anon
Lebanese geneticist Pierre Zalloua takes a saliva sample form a Lebanese man to test his DNA in a university laboratory near Byblos ancient city in north Lebanon, in this August 17, 2007 file photo. Zalloua following the genetic footprint of the ancient Phoenicians says he has traced their modern-day descendants, but stumbled into an old controversy about identity in his country. (Jamal Saidi/Files/Reuters) A Lebanese scientist following the genetic footprint of the ancient Phoenicians says he has traced their modern-day descendants, but stumbled into an old controversy about identity in his country. Geneticist Pierre Zalloua has charted the spread...
 

Asia
700-Year-Old Tree Coffin Discovered In Quang Tri
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/09/2007 6:25:29 PM EDT · 61 replies · 1,077+ views


Vietnam Net Bridge | 9-4-2007
700-year-old tree coffin discovered in Quang Tri 17:43' 04/09/2007 (GMT+7) VietNamNet Bridge -- The Quang Tri Museum has recently received an ancient coffin made from a tree trunk, according to the museum's director, Mai Truong Manh. The coffin was discovered on August 28 in Trung Chi village, Dong Luong ward, Dong Ha commune at 1.2 m underground when local residents were digging for the construction of an electricity post. The coffin is 2.25 m in length, 0.49 m in width and 0.28 m in height with the body and lid skillfully done. According to experts, burying the dead in tree...
 

Faith and Philosophy
1,300-Year-Old SKorean Buddha Unearthed Intact
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/12/2007 3:28:26 PM EDT · 11 replies · 437+ views


Yahoo.com | 9-11-2007
1,300-year-old SKorean Buddha unearthed intact Tue Sep 11, 2:05 AM ET SEOUL (AFP) - A 70-ton granite statue of Buddha, which toppled over face-down 1,300 years ago in South Korea, has been unearthed with its features intact. The 5.6-metre (18-foot) sculpture was in May found buried in the southeastern city of Gyeongju and has been partially unearthed after months of work, news reports said Tuesday. The nose missed a rock by only five centimetres when the statue toppled, the English-language JoongAng Daily quoted specialists as saying. "It was a miracle that the Buddha's face was saved by only five centimetres,"...
 

Sports Medicine
Ancient Humans Walked But 'Struggled To Run'
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/11/2007 10:51:26 AM EDT · 30 replies · 587+ views


The Telegraph (UK) | 9-11-2007 | Roger Highfield and Nic Fleming
Ancient humans walked but 'struggled to run' By Roger Highfield and Nic Fleming Last Updated: 12:01pm BST 11/09/2007 Ancient humans almost certainly walked upright on two legs millions of years ago but may have struggled to run at even half the speed of modern man, according to computer simulations. A University of Manchester study - presented to the British Association for the Advancement of Science Festival of Science in York- proposes that if early humans lacked an Achilles tendon, as modern chimps and gorillas do, then their ability to run would have been severely compromised. Our early ancestors preferred to...
 

Diet, Food, Recipes
Study Finds Evidence of Genetic Response to Diet
  Posted by neverdem
On News/Activism 09/09/2007 10:48:53 PM EDT · 10 replies · 339+ views


NY Times | September 10, 2007 | NICHOLAS WADE
Could people one day evolve to eat rich food while remaining perfectly slim and svelte? This may not be so wild a fantasy. It is becoming clear that the human genome does respond to changes in diet, even though it takes many generations to do so. Researchers studying the enzyme that converts starch to simple sugars like glucose have found that people living in countries with a high-starch diet produce considerably more of the enzyme than people who eat a low-starch diet. The reason is an evolutionary one. People in high-starch countries have many extra copies of the amylase gene...
 

Biology and Cryptobiology
Ancient whale fall from California's Ano Nuevo Island one of youngest, most complete known
  Posted by decimon
On News/Activism 09/13/2007 5:23:17 PM EDT · 10 replies · 561+ views


EurekAlert | 13-Sep-2007 | Robert Sanders
11 million to 15 million-year-old fossil whale puts limit on origin of oily, buoyant bones in whalesBerkeley -- A fossilized whale skeleton excavated 20 years ago amid the stench and noise of a seabird and elephant seal rookery on California's Ano Nuevo Island turns out to be the youngest example on the Pacific coast of a fossil whale fall and the first in California, according to University of California, Berkeley, paleontologists. Whale falls, first recognized in the 1980s, are whale carcasses that fall to the deep-ocean floor where, like an oasis in the desert, they attract a specialized group of...
 

Sunken Civilizations
Marine Team Finds Surprising Evidence Supporting A Great Biblical Flood
  Posted by Ben Mugged
On News/Activism 09/10/2007 11:00:41 AM EDT · 25 replies · 1,284+ views


Science Daily | September 10, 2007 | Unattributed
Did the great flood of Noah's generation really occur thousands of years ago? Was the Roman city of Caesarea destroyed by an ancient tsunami? Will pollution levels in our deep seas remain forever a mystery? ~snip~ "When I was looking for a partner, I needed to find a team of marine scientists who were leaders in their fields," says Weil, a Swedish environmental philanthropist who helped conceive and fund the idea of giving a free, floating marine research lab to any scientist who needed it. "I didn't want us to be just another Greenpeace group of environmental activists. My dream...
 

Stone Age Redux
Sneak-Peek of the New 10,000 B.C. Movie Trailer
  Posted by Red Badger
On News/Activism 09/10/2007 8:19:46 AM EDT · 18 replies · 1,117+ views


www.movieweb.com | 09/10/2007 | Staff
Coming in MARCH 2008, a movies about pre-historic times........
 

Longer Perspectives
Not quite real, but not junk either
  Posted by Lorianne
On General/Chat 09/11/2007 8:11:04 PM EDT · 3 replies · 92+ views


Baltimore Sun | September 9, 2007 | Laura Vozzella
They're knock-offs. But knock-offs of priceless works of art, and the fickle world of fine art can't seem to decide where they belong. Main hall of the Metropolitan Museum of Art? Or leaky warehouse in Queens? Hundreds of plaster replicas of Greek statues and Renaissance sculptures - made in the 1800s so American art students could see the great works without schlepping to Europe - have lived in climate-controlled glory and U-Haul hell as they've fallen in and out of fashion. Six of the pieces moved yet again, this time to a Baltimore art studio, where they're getting the type...
 

Middle Ages and Renaissance
Medieval Women 'Had Girl Power'
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/11/2007 11:28:04 AM EDT · 42 replies · 1,118+ views


BBC | 9-11-2007
Medieval women 'had girl power' Books, songs and legal documents were studied A new study by an academic says that "girl power" was alive and kicking around 600 years ago. Dr Sue Niebrzydowski at Bangor university said medieval women enjoyed a golden era with a greater life expectancy than men. "We found women running priories, commissioning books, taking early package tours to visit the Holy Land," she said. She added women were also defending their property and property rights. Dr Niebrzydowski's research involving middle aged women in the middle ages will be discussed at a conference at the university on...
 

Bardic Transom
Coalition aims to expose Shakespeare
  Posted by nickcarraway
On General/Chat 09/09/2007 12:31:03 AM EDT · 37 replies · 308+ views


Yahoo | Sat Sep 8 | D'ARCY DORAN
LONDON - The bard, or not the bard, that is the question. Some of Britain's most distinguished Shakespearean actors have reopened the debate over whether William Shakespeare, a 16th century commoner raised in an illiterate household in Stratford-upon-Avon, wrote the plays that bear his name. Acclaimed actor Derek Jacobi and Mark Rylance, the former artistic director of Shakespeare's Globe Theater in London, unveiled a "Declaration of Reasonable Doubt" on the authorship of Shakespeare's work Saturday, following the final matinee of "I am Shakespeare," a play investigating the bard's identity, in Chichester, southern England. A small academic industry has developed around...
 

Oh So Mysterioso
Michelangelo Frescoes of the Sistine Chapel Contain Divinely-Encoded Images of the Shroud of Turin
  Posted by Between the Lines
On Religion 09/13/2007 12:14:42 PM EDT · 32 replies · 443+ views


Christian News Wire | Sept. 13, 2007
RALEIGH, Nc., Sept. 13 - A new discovery reveals a "mystery" never before seen. Investigative researcher Philip E. Dayvault, of Raleigh, NC, found in 2003 that the famed Sistine Chapel Ceiling fresco, painted by Michelangelo in 1512 and located at the Vatican in Rome, Italy, is also painted in allegory. Although the central panels of the Ceiling, or "historicals", are illustrated for literal interpretation, they also contain unique symbolic expression. Once decoded, Dayvault discovered that this expression graphically depicts the Shroud of Turin, in full and complete order. The Shroud of Turin is the traditional burial cloth of Jesus Christ....
 

Early America
THIS DAY IN HISTORY: The Battle of Lake Erie, Sept. 10, 1813
  Posted by 1rudeboy
On General/Chat 09/10/2007 11:55:48 AM EDT · 10 replies · 136+ views


assorted | assorted
We have met the enemy and they are ours: Two Ships, two Brigs, one Schooner & one Sloop. Yours, with great respect and esteemO.H. Perry. With these words, 28 year old Oliver Hazard Perry gave notice that the British would never again be a naval power on the Great Lakes, and would be forced to resupply Fort Detroit (earlier lost by the U.S.--in fact, you could say that the British were kicking our butts up and down the continent) by land, through what now is Ontario. Apart from his decisive, and strategic, victory Perry is remembered for transferring his...
 

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
Joust married: Bride weds her knight in shining armour at medieval ceremony
  Posted by Lorianne
On General/Chat 09/11/2007 11:58:14 PM EDT · 52 replies · 577+ views


Daily Mail | 11th September 2007 | Colin Fernandez
There hasn't been a wedding like it for quite some time. About seven centuries, in fact. The bride arrived riding side saddle on a white mare in a dress made from 270 feet of silk. And waiting for her was her knight in shining armour - £10,000 of hand-forged steel trimmed with brass and velvet. The scene was the wedding of Sian Jenkins and Rupert Hammerton - Fraser, who are so fascinated by the Middle Ages that they recreated a medieval ceremony down to the minutest detail - the bride even promised to be "bonny and buxom in bed", a...
 

And the Title of Indiana Jones 4 Is....
  Posted by pcottraux
On General/Chat 09/10/2007 9:46:50 PM EDT · 54 replies · 459+ views


film.com | Sept. 10
Hot off the presses, the title for the new Indiana Jones 4 film starring Shia LaBeouf and Harrison Ford. Ready for it? Drum roll please... The title is: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Here at film.com let us be the first to call this "IJatKotCS" in the grand tradition of LOTR:FotR and POTC: At World's End. This title also gives me hope that there will be skulls everywhere on set, preferably crystal ones. Or will it just be one giant skull of the crystal variety? We'll keep you in the loop either way.
 

end of digest #165 20070915

606 posted on 09/15/2007 7:04:25 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Wednesday, September 12, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 604 | View Replies ]


To: 75thOVI; Adder; albertp; Androcles; asgardshill; At the Window; bitt; blu; BradyLS; cajungirl; ...

Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #165 20070915
· Saturday, September 15, 2007 · 32 topics · 1896590 to 1893372 · still 652 members ·

 
Saturday
Sept 15
2007
v 4
n 09

view this issue
Welcome to the 165th issue of the Gods, Graves, Glyphs ping list Digest. There is less variety than usual, with more related groups of subjects, but there are more topics than usual.

The 164th digest had "28 topics" in the header because I forgot to change it to "25 topics". I also had it dated Saturday, September 9, 2007, instead of the 8th. The issue number (after the volume number) hadn't been changed in a while -- corresponding to my recent run of computer problems -- but is now up to date. Please correct these on your screens using white-out and sharpies. Thanks.

Visit the Free Republic Memorial Wall -- a history-related feature of FR.
 

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607 posted on 09/15/2007 7:07:41 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Wednesday, September 12, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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Gods, Graves, Glyphs
Weekly Digest #166
Saturday, September 22, 2007


Prehistory and Origins
Evolutionary Theory Challenged By Fossils
  Posted by SirLinksalot
On News/Activism 09/18/2007 11:47:54 AM EDT · 89 replies


CBS NEWS | 08/09/2007
Surprising research based on two African fossils suggests our family tree is more like a wayward bush with stubby branches, challenging what had been common thinking on how early humans evolved. The discovery by Meave Leakey, a member of a famous family of paleontologists, shows that two species of early human ancestors lived at the same time in Kenya. That pokes holes in the chief theory of man's early evolution -- that one of those species evolved from the other. And it further discredits that iconic illustration of human evolution that begins with a knuckle-dragging ape and ends with a...
 

Human ancestor had mix of primitive, modern traits
  Posted by Dysart
On News/Activism 09/19/2007 6:45:17 PM EDT · 40 replies


Reuters-Yahoo! | 9-19-07 | Will Dunham
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The earliest-known human ancestors to migrate out of Africa possessed a surprising mix of human-like and primitive features, according to scientists who studied remains dug up at a fossil-rich site in the former Soviet republic of Georgia.Writing on Wednesday in the journal Nature, the scientists described remains of three adults and one adolescent dating from about 1.77 million years ago, excavated at Dmanisi, about 55 miles southwest of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi.The remains shed light on a little-understood but critical period in human evolution -- the transition from the more ape-like creatures known as australopithecines to the...
 

Fossils Reveal Clues on Human Ancestor (transitional fossil alert)
  Posted by Alter Kaker
On News/Activism 09/20/2007 10:51:35 AM EDT · 75 replies


New York Times | 20 September 2007 | John Noble Wilford
The discovery of four fossil skeletons of early human ancestors in Georgia, the former Soviet republic, has given scientists a revealing glimpse of a species in transition, primitive in its skull and upper body but with more advanced spines and lower limbs for greater mobility. The findings, being reported today in the journal Nature, are considered a significant step toward understanding who were some of the first ancestors to migrate out of Africa some 1.8 million years ago. They may also yield insights into the first members of the human genus, Homo.Until now, scientists had found only the skulls of...
 

Hobbits
Scientists: Hobbit Wasn't a Modern Human
  Posted by Sub-Driver
On General/Chat 09/20/2007 4:34:19 PM EDT · 9 replies


breitbart.com
Scientists: Hobbit Wasn't a Modern Human Sep 20 04:18 PM US/Eastern By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID AP Science Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists, wringing their hands over the identity of the famed "hobbit" fossil, have found a new clue in the wrist. Since the discovery of the bones in Indonesia in 2003, researchers have wrangled over whether the find was an ancient human ancestor or simply a modern human suffering from a genetic disorder. Now, a study of the bones in the creature's left wrist lends weight to the human ancestor theory, according to a report in Friday's issue of the...
 

PreColumbian, Clovis, and PreClovis
Peruvian Archaeologists Find 40 1,200-Year-Old Mummies (Kuelap)
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/20/2007 2:48:58 PM EDT · 7 replies


China View | 9-19-2007 | Xinhua
Peruvian archaeologists find 40 1,200-year-old mummies www.chinaview.cn 2007-09-20 10:55:40 LIMA, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Archaeologists in Peru have found 40 mummies dating from the 1,200-year-old Chachapoyas culture in the Amazon fortress of Kuelap, project leader Alfredo Narvaez told local media on Wednesday. He said the mummies were discovered alongside Inca pottery, and that they showed signs of being affected by a fire in the archaeological complex, some 1,409 km northeast to the nation's capital. He said the bodies had been buried under a platform of 24 meters in diameter in the El Tintero structure during a dig of the Kuelap...
 

Japan
Archaeologists Granted Access To Japan's Sacred Tombs
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/20/2007 2:59:40 PM EDT · 7 replies


The Guardian (UK) | 9-20-2007 | Justin McCurry
Archaeologists granted access to Japan's sacred tombs The divine origins of Japan's imperial family come under scrutiny as it allows limited access to two burial sites. Justin McCurry in Tokyo Thursday September 20, 2007 Guardian Unlimited (UK) Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko attend the opening ceremony of the World Athletics Championships in Osaka last month. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images Japan's imperial household agency is to open the doors to some of the country's mysterious imperial tombs early next year after decades of pressure from archaeologists, in a move expected to anger ultra-conservatives. Experts have long been denied access to the...
 

India
Until Proven, A Myth: Historians
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/15/2007 4:38:27 PM EDT · 14 replies · 492+ views


The Telegraph (India) | 9-12-2007 | CHARU SUDAN KASTURI & SUDESHNA BANERJEE
Until proven, a myth: Historians CHARU SUDAN KASTURI & SUDESHNA BANERJEE New Delhi/Calcutta, Sept. 12: Ram cannot be considered a historical figure despite references in ancient literature because crucial material evidence to authenticate his existence has not been found, historians have said. "A textual reference necessarily needs to be corroborated by inscriptions engraved in stone or other long-lasting material or by archaeological evidence," said Nayanjot Lahiri, professor of ancient history at Delhi University. Until such evidence is found, a character or event in texts or literature is considered mythological, historians said. Historians have traced the original texts of the Mahabharata...
 

Elam, Persia, Parthia, Iran
Palace of Cyrus' Ancestor to Host Archeologists
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 09/20/2007 2:51:21 PM EDT · 4 replies


Cultural Heritage News Agency | September 19, 2007 | Soudabeh Sadigh
While the aerial pictures took from the Achaemenid site of Bardak Siah palace in Boushehr in 1978 revealed the existence of 5 historic hills in the area which were most probably denoted to palace of ancestor of Cyrus the Great, today only one fourth of one of these hills has been remained... Amongst the most prominent archeological achievements in Bardak Siah Palace is discovery of a large number of golden curly coins, more than 3 kilograms in weight, which were unearthed close to one of the columns of this Achaemenid palace... due to some problems they have not been examined...
 

Let's Have Jerusalem
Bronze Age building uncovered near Gaza
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 09/19/2007 2:00:58 PM EDT · 8 replies


Jerusalem Post | September 17, 2007 | Etgar Lefkovits
A building from the Late Bronze Age apparently constructed for Egyptian authorities before the Israelite settlement in the Land of Israel has been uncovered in an excavation on the edge of the Negev desert near the Gaza Strip, Ben-Gurion University announced Monday. The month-long summer dig on the eastern section of the Besor Stream, about 12 kilometers east of Gaza, revealed the 3,000-year-old site buried underneath a 7th century Philistine rural village from the Second Iron Age, said Ben-Gurion University archeologist Dr. Gunnar Lehmann... About 10-15 such buildings are known to exist off the Egyptian border, but most have been...
 

Faith and Philosophy
A thundering silence on Temple Mount's depredation
  Posted by Convert from ECUSA
On News/Activism 09/17/2007 7:22:09 AM EDT · 21 replies · 132+ views


Jewish World Review | September 10, 2007 | Hershel Shanks
A thundering silence on Temple Mount's depredation By Hershel Shanks The "Jewish State" is allowing Judaism's holiest site to have its priceless artifacts destroyed and nobody seems to care No one really cares. But that puts me in an elite group: It includes two of Israel's most prominent Jerusalem archaeologists (Gaby Barkay and Eilat Mazar) -- and me. Meanwhile, the Muslim Waqf goes on tearing up Jerusalem's Temple Mount, where once the Jewish Temple stood. The week before last, they hit an ancient wall that might be the foundation of a wall from the Second Temple complex built by Herod...
 

Rome and Italy
Colosseum is menaced by vandals again
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 09/17/2007 1:31:11 PM EDT · 14 replies · 6+ views


Times Online | September 15, 2007 | Richard Owen
Visitors to the 1st-century amphitheatre are taking away "chunks of stone" as souvenirs despite the presence of guards and surveillance cameras, according to Angelo Bottini, the Superintendent of Archaeology for Rome. He said that most of the five million tourists who visited the Colosseum annually behaved responsibly. But others covered it in graffiti, left their rubbish behind and picked up bits of Ancient Roman wall or paving... He said he had started an inquiry and was asking police to reinforce patrols and closed-circuit television surveillance at the Colosseum and the adjoining Roman Forum, where tourists also pocketed souvenirs. At night,...
 

Ancient Europe
Bronze age settlement found at US Embassy site [ Malta ]
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 09/17/2007 11:44:24 AM EDT · 4 replies


Times of Malta | Saturday, September 15, 2007 | Mark Micallef
A series of tombs and silos, probably dating back to the Bronze Age and early Roman period, have been discovered on the site set to become the new US Embassy, in Ta' Qali... During an onsite visit yesterday, Cultural Superintendent Nathaniel Cutajar said the findings had been given a C grade, which in layman's terms means they could now be buried again, but not destroyed. The US Embassy is not yet sure what it will do, yet it is possible the finds will remain exposed and incorporated in the landscaping since the embassy will only take up a small portion...
 

The Vikings
Rain Uncovers Viking Treasure Trove
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/15/2007 12:57:04 PM EDT · 51 replies · 1,691+ views


The Local | 9-14-2007
Rain uncovers Viking treasure trove Published: 14th September 2007 08:30 CET A bout of torrential rain left a surprising legacy in the garden of one Swede: a Viking treasure trove. Two coins were uncovered by the rain on the lawn of farmer Tage Pettersson, on the island of Gotland, in early August. He called in Gotland's archaeologists, who last week found a further 52 coins on the site. Most of the coins are German, English and Arabic currency from the late 900s and early 1000s. But archaeologists are most excited about the presence of six very rare Swedish coins, from...
 

Ancient Autopsies
Ancient Scots Mummified Their Dead
  Posted by blam
On News/Activism 09/15/2007 12:49:52 PM EDT · 19 replies · 524+ views


Discovery | 9-14-2007 | Jennifer Viegas
Ancient Scots Mummified Their Dead Jennifer Viegas, Discovery News Sept. 14, 2007 -- The ancient Egyptians were not the only ones to mummify their dead, according to a study in this month's Antiquity Journal that claims prehistoric Scottish people created mummies too. The researchers do not think the Egyptians influenced the Scots, but that mummification arose independently in the two regions. Initial evidence for Scottish mummies was announced in 2005, when archaeologists unearthed three preserved bodies -- an adult female, an adult male and an infant -- buried underneath two Bronze Age roundhouses in South Uist, Hebrides, at a site...
 

Catastrophism and Astronomy
Dinosaur creche was a no-frills business [123 myr old PsitTACOsaurus fossils in lava floe]
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 09/21/2007 11:48:54 PM EDT · 7 replies


The Times | September 20, 2007 | Lewis Smith, Environment Reporter
A dinosaur creche has been found entombed in the volcanic debris that engulfed it on a hillside 123 million years ago. Six young Psittacosaurus, all less than three years old, died side by side. It is the earliest known dinosaur nursery... Paul Barrett, of the Natural History Museum in London, one of the researchers, said that the fossilised juveniles appeared to have formed a creche but it was impossible to be sure if they were part of a larger herd or if they grouped together for protection. "This is the first time we've found a group of these dinosaurs together....
 

Biology and Cryptobiology
Mammoth graveyard may someday be open to public
  Posted by Dysart
On News/Activism 09/20/2007 9:21:38 AM EDT · 49 replies


Star-Telegram | 9-20-07 | R.A. DYER
WACO -- Not far from modest suburban homes in the middle of some thick Texas woods lies a secret boneyard.Surrounded by a tall chain-link fence and covered by what looks like a red-and-white circus tent, the site contains the remains of towering monsters. Remains of at least 25 mammoths, signs of a big saber-toothed cat and a long extinct camel have been found at the site.This is the Waco Mammoth Site, a collection of prehistoric fossils embedded in the dirt not far from the Bosque River. The site could be a potent educational resource if it were not off-limits to...
 

Climate
Mammoth dung, prehistoric goo may speed warming
  Posted by camerakid400
On News/Activism 09/16/2007 11:08:52 PM EDT · 36 replies · 59+ views


Reuters | Dmitry Solovyov
DUVANNY YAR, Russia (Reuters) - Sergei Zimov bends down, picks up a handful of treacly mud and holds it up to his nose. It smells like a cow pat, but he knows better. "It smells like mammoth dung," he says. This is more than just another symptom of global warming. For millennia, layers of animal waste and other organic matter left behind by the creatures that used to roam the Arctic tundra have been sealed inside the frozen permafrost. Now climate change is thawing the permafrost and lifting this prehistoric ooze from suspended animation. But Zimov, a scientist who for...
 

Longer Perspectives
Lost in a Million-Year Gap, Solid Clues to Human Origins
  Posted by shrinkermd
On News/Activism 09/18/2007 7:05:30 AM EDT · 18 replies


New York Times | 18 September 2007 | John Noble Wilford
In the study of human origins, paleoanthropology stares in frustration back to a dark age from three million to less than two million years ago. The missing mass in this case is the unfound fossils to document just when and under what circumstances our own genus Homo emerged. The origin of Homo is one of the most intriguing and intractable mysteries in human evolution. New findings only remind scientists that answers to so many of their questions about early Homo probably lie buried in the million-year dark age. It is known that primitive hominids -- human ancestors and their close...
 

Epigraphy and Language
Regions of dying languages named
  Posted by Santa Fe_Conservative
On News/Activism 09/18/2007 5:35:30 PM EDT · 98 replies · 145+ views


Associated Press | 9/18/07 | RANDOLPH E. SCHMID
WASHINGTON - When every known speaker of the language Amurdag gets together, there's still no one to talk to. Native Australian Charlie Mangulda is the only person alive known to speak that language, one of thousands around the world on the brink of extinction. From rural Australia to Siberia to Oklahoma, languages that embody the history and traditions of people are dying, researchers said Tuesday. While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them.
 

Scientists: Many World Languages Are Dying
  Posted by james500
On News/Activism 09/18/2007 11:34:19 PM EDT · 77 replies · 939+ views


AP via FOX News | Tuesday, September 18, 2007
When every known speaker of the language Amurdag gets together, there's still no one to talk to. Native Australian Charlie Mungulda is the only person alive known to speak that language, one of thousands around the world on the brink of extinction. From rural Australia to Siberia to Oklahoma, languages that embody the history and traditions of people are dying, researchers said Tuesday. While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them. Five hotspots where languages...
 

Middle Ages and Renaissance
Rare medical, astronomical manuscripts found at Dar al-Kotob
  Posted by SunkenCiv
On General/Chat 09/17/2007 1:22:48 PM EDT · 11 replies


Egypt State Information Service | Sunday, September 16, 2007 | unattributed
A number of rare and invaluable medical and astronomical manuscripts have been found at the National Library of Egypt (also known as Dar al-Kotob). A senior official at Alexandria Library said Saturday that the ancient documents were just laying there in the forgotten Dar al-Kotob archieves for many years but thanks to his Centre for Documentation of Cultural and Natural Heritage (CULTNAT) they were "technically rediscovered". "They are really priceless," he reiterated. The medical papers give prescription of the treatment of some chronic diseases, bone fractures and bruises and lessons in body and eye anatomy, CULTNAT chief Fathi Saleh said....
 

Gates of Eden
A quick history lesson: America is no Rome - The tired analogy of imperial decline and fall
  Posted by neverdem
On News/Activism 09/14/2007 1:53:26 PM EDT · 115 replies · 1,891+ views


The Times (UK) | September 14, 2007 | Gerard Baker
The ethnic origins of General David Petraeus are apparently Dutch, which is a shame because there's something sonorously classical about the family name of the commander of the US forces in Iraq. When you discover that his father was christened Sixtus, the fantasy really takes flight. Somewhere in the recesses of the brain, where memory mingles hazily with imagination, I fancy I can recall toiling through a schoolboy Latin textbook that documented the progress of one Petraeus Sixtus as he triumphantly extended the imperium romanum across some dusty plain in Asia Minor. The fantasy is not wholly inapt, of course....
 

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany
The Case of Classical v. Modern Comes to Federal Court
  Posted by Lorianne
On General/Chat 09/18/2007 7:10:33 PM EDT · 10 replies · 7+ views


Washington Post | September 15, 2007 | Roger K. Lewis
What architectural design issues most concern you? Perhaps carbon emissions, universal accessibility or the challenge of preserving at-risk historic properties? Maybe you think less about buildings and architectural design, and more about the shape of your community and the broader public realm. However, you probably rarely worry about which architectural style is appropriate for which kind of building, about whether columns should be Doric, Ionic or Corinthian. Many architects, however, feel passionately about competing design philosophies, and one competition in particular persists: classicism versus modernism. Much of Washington's architecture, typified by use of classical motifs derived from Greek and Roman...
 

end of digest #166 20070922

608 posted on 09/22/2007 7:11:59 AM PDT by SunkenCiv (Profile updated Wednesday, September 12, 2007. https://secure.freerepublic.com/donate/)
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