Free Republic

Kamala Harris is viewed as the worst vice president in decades, according to an exclusive poll for DailyMail.com, as pressure grows on Joe Biden to pick a new running mate for the 2024 election. Some 40 percent of respondents placed her ahead of Republicans Mike Pence and Dick Cheney as the worst recent holder of the office. When asked to pick a word to summarize the vice president, respondents picked 'incompetent' far ahead of complimentary words such as 'smart' and 'strong.'

Nestled within the lush woodlands of Uganda, a peculiar creature resembling a "dwarf" caught the attention of passing scientists. This pregnant animal sought refuge on a tree trunk, though its attempts were not entirely successful. To the astonishment of the researchers, this encounter led to the discovery of a previously unknown species, shrouded in mystery.

Death traps and mercury poisoning are just some of the concerns facing archaeologists contemplating excavating Qin Shi Huang's tomb, China's first emperor. In 1974, farmers stumbled upon one of the most meaningful archaeological finds in Shaanxi Province, China. While tilling the land, they unearthed a clay figure, only scratching the surface of what lay beneath. Qin Shi Huang's Tomb Subsequent excavations unveiled an array of pits housing thousands of life-sized terracotta army statues depicting soldiers and warhorses. This Terracotta Army seemingly served as protectors of the mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China, who reigned from 210...

Since the destruction of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, the holy day of Yom Kippur has been observed with intense prayer and fasting. But the Bible mandates 15 specific sacrifices and many other rituals for Yom Kippur outlined in Leviticus chapter 16. This included the Kohen Gadol (high priest) wearing five different sets of garments, immersion in the mikvah (ritual bath) five times, and washing his hands and feet ten times. The temple service on Yom Kippur was the only time the Kohen Gadol entered the Kodesh Kedoshim (holy of holies) three times, the only day of...

In 1678, a Chaldean priest from Baghdad reached the Imperial Villa of Potosí, the world’s richest silver-mining camp and at the time the world’s highest city at more than 4,000 metres (13,100 feet) above sea level. A regional capital in the heart of the Bolivian Andes, Potosí remains – more than three and a half centuries later – a mining city today. Its baroque church towers stand watch as ore trucks rumble into town, hauling zinc and lead ores for export to Asia. Elias al-Mûsili – or Don Elias of Mosul, as he was known – arrived in 17th-century Potosí...

“There’s literally been no explanation,” Pearsons said. “I think you have to assume that it’s the simplest explanation, and I think, unfortunately, the simplest explanation is they took it or lost it.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The nonprofit law firm Institute for Justice has filed two lawsuits on behalf of clients who allege that the FBI failed to return valuable rare coins and other property it took during a March 2021 FBI raid on the Beverly Hills–based U.S. Private Vaults. “We don’t know for sure how the property disappeared, we just know it disappeared,” Joe Gay, an attorney with the Institute for Justice,...

Lets answer the old question many numismatists make: "For how long did ancient coins circulate?" Lets take a look at some examples of Roman coins and hoards and try to come up with an answer.How long Did Roman Coins Stay in Circulation? | 18:38Classical Numismatics | 17.2K subscribers | 51,039 views | September 9, 2023

By now you have likely heard of a trending question in social media: women and girls are encouraged to ask the men in their lives how often they think of ancient Rome, with the expectation that they will be surprised to find that the answer is “frequently” or even “daily.” Speaking for myself, I have never kept tabs on how often I think of particular subjects, or of exactly which subjects I think of during a given day. I doubt if many people do. Certainly daily, or at least, almost daily, we all think of our work, our friends, our...

n 2022, Jon Lauck published The Good Country: A History of the American Midwest, 1800-1900. His book describes a wonderful range of things to love about the 19th-century Midwest: its democratic civic ethos, the enduring Midwestern commitment to antislavery that resulted from the Northwest Ordinance’s original prohibition of the practice, and the wildfire-spread of co-educational colleges in the region. Lauck also adorns his book with wonderful quotations, which illustrate points such as the Midwestern love of literature that made it the talk of every table. “When William Dean Howells was visiting Representative James A. Garfield in Hiram, Ohio, in the...

They’re hungry, hungry mollusks. Thousands of historic shipwrecks sunk in the American Great Lakes are at risk of being lost forever thanks to invasive, wood-destroying mussels. The lakes are home to an estimated 6,000 shipwrecks, with some dating back to the 17th century, according to estimates from the University of Buffalo. The Quagga mussel, originally native to the waters of Russia and Ukraine, is believed to have arrived in the Great Lakes in 1989 — possibly as a result of ballast dumps from transoceanic freighters traversing the lakes. The population of Quagga mussels has exploded in the waters of the...

Here’s a history lesson you’re unlikely to find in textbooks: California’s bear flag has links to white supremacy and pro-slavery. Here’s another: California entered the union as a “free” state, yet enslavement was widely condoned. As many as 1,500 enslaved African Americans lived in California in 1852. That completely contradicts what most of us learned in school.

There are few events in human history as ominous — both in name and impact — as the Black Death. The bubonic plague pandemic made its way across Eurasia and north Africa between 1346 and 1553. It's estimated to have killed up to 200 million people, or 60 per cent of the Earth's entire population at the time. Now, scientists believe they have pinpointed the origin of the Black Death to a region of present day Kyrgyzstan called Issyk-Kul, once a stopover on the Silk Road trade route in the 14th century. Its place of origin has been one of...

...Warmer temperatures and more humidity may have helped the forests in the region grow and expand north into present-day Siberia. The theory hinges on the presence of pollen in the region's sediment record...It is also likely that both warm and cold climates would have played a role in this travel. The Pleistocene Epoch is known for huge climatic shifts...To piece together what the climate could have looked like during a possible warm period about 45,000 to 50,000 years ago, researchers working on the study created a record of the vegetation and pollen from the Pleistocene found around Lake Baikal in...

Analysis of hair combs made from deer antler has shed new light on the trade routes of Vikings - revealing connections between northern Scandinavia and the edges of continental Europe.Led by researchers from the University of York, the findings provide evidence of trade connections between the town of Hedeby (modern Schleswig-Holstein, Germany), the largest urban settlement in Viking Age Europe, and upland Scandinavia, hundreds of kilometres to the north...Hedeby was a major centre of antler-working, with 288,000 antler finds recorded, most of which was waste material from the production of hair combs: a major urban craft in the Viking Age...The...

But while history and archaeology tell us a great deal about Taricheae, we know very little about a Galilean town or village that would have been known as Magdala in the first century...No contemporary early Roman sources mention a town called Magdala on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee. However, both the Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds—the two major collections of Jewish oral law and commentary written down between the third and sixth centuries—do reference the existence of one Magdala—Migdal Nunayya, or "Tower of the Fish"—in very close proximity to Tiberias... In one story, the second-century rabbi Shimon bar...

Ever heard of the Italian Army during the Normandy Campaign? Few have, but in this film I examine the untold story of the 40,000 men that history has forgotten!

Latin America, a region known for its rich cultural diversity, stunning landscapes, and complex history, has also seen a colorful array of currencies throughout its history. From the pre-Columbian era to the modern digital age, the currencies of Latin America have evolved significantly, reflecting the region's economic, political, and social changes. In this article, we will take a journey through time to explore the fascinating history of currencies in Latin America, from ancient forms of trade to contemporary digital payment methods with only a cardholder needed. Pre-Columbian Era: Barter and Indigenous Currencies Before the arrival of European explorers and colonizers,...

...Excavations in Boğazköy-Hattusha have been going on for more than 100 years under the direction of the German Archaeological Institute. The site has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1986; almost 30,000 clay tablets with cuneiform writing have been found there so far. These tablets, which were included in the UNESCO World Documentary Heritage in 2001, provide rich information about the history, society, economy and religious traditions of the Hittites and their neighbors.Yearly archaeological campaigns... continue to add to the cuneiform finds. Most of the texts are written in Hittite, the oldest attested Indo-European language and the dominant language...

For the past 100 years, a box of never-before-seen negatives has been preserved in a block of ice in Antarctica. Recently, Conservators of the New Zealand Antarctic Heritage Trust came across the 22 exposed, but unprocessed, cellulose nitrate negatives during an attempt to restore an old exploration hut.

Archaeologists want permission to carry out a new survey of the site of Jersey's largest coin hoard to stop people illegally searching and looting.The Le Catillon II hoard was discovered in the east of the island in 2012 by two metal detectorists after a similar find on the site in 1957.The hoard contains about 70,000 coins as well as valuable Iron Age artefacts.Societe Jersiaise is seeking planning permission to carry out archaeological surveys in the same area of the island.Plans submitted online said the move had been "prompted by recent instances of nighthawking and archaeological looting, which have been reported...