Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #361 Saturday, June 18, 2011

Let's Have Jerusalem

Hebrew University cave researchers explore stream-filled cavern at entrance to Jerusalem
· 06/14/2011 1:08:52 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 19 replies · · Hebrew U of Jerusalem ·	Jerusalem, June 13, 2011 -- Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have conducted an initial survey of what appears to be an important, ancient water source in a cave that was been discovered during excavation work for a new train station being constructed at the entrance to Jerusalem. The work was done by members of the Cave Research Unit of the university, headed by Prof. Amos Frumkin of the Department of Geography. The cave was exposed near the base of a deep service shaft that was dug for the train tunnel leading into the new station, located opposite the main bus...

Prehistory & Origins

We are all mutants
· 06/12/2011 10:39:43 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 28 replies · · Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute ·	First direct whole-genome measure of human mutation predicts 60 new mutations in each of usEach one of us receives approximately 60 new mutations in our genome from our parents. This striking value is reported in the first-ever direct measure of new mutations coming from mother and father in whole human genomes published today. For the first time, researchers have been able to answer the questions: how many new mutations does a child have and did most of them come from mum or dad? The researchers measured directly the numbers of mutations in two families, using whole genome sequences from the...

Neandertal / Neanderthal

Mating with Neanderthals Good for Human Health
· 06/17/2011 2:29:08 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 45 replies · · Discovery News ·	Interbreeding between humans and Neanderthals may have given Europeans and Asians resistance to northern diseases that their African ancestors didn't have. Peter Parham, professor of microbiology and immunology at Stanford, recently presented evidence to the Royal Society in London that Europeans gained many of the genes for human leukocyte antigens (HLAs) from neanderthals. The antigens helped them adapt to diseases in the north much more quickly than would have otherwise occurred. Comparisons of the human and Neanderthal genomes were conducted by Parham to locate similarities and differences in the DNA of modern human populations and Neanderthals. Parham found that modern...

Biology & Cryptobiology

Protein from Bones of 600,000-Year-Old Mammoth Extracted Successfully
· 06/14/2011 4:30:01 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · ScienceDaily ·	Using an ultra-high resolution mass spectrometer, bio-archaeologists were able to produce a near complete collagen sequence for the West Runton Elephant, a Steppe Mammoth skeleton which was discovered in cliffs in Norfolk in 1990. The remarkable 85 per cent complete skeleton --- the most complete example of its species ever found in the world --- is preserved by Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service in Norwich. Bio-archaeologist Professor Matthew Collins, from the University of York's Department of Archaeology, said: "The time depth is absolutely remarkable... We believe protein lasts in a useful form ten times as long as DNA which is...

Helix, Make Mine a Double

Shrunken Head DNA Proves Horrific Folklore True [ Doh! ]
· 06/14/2011 4:22:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Discovery News ·	THE GIST The genetic make-up of a shrunken head has been obtained for the first time.The DNA analysis reveals that the head is authentic and belonged to an Afro-Ecuadorian man.The genetic evidence suggests many myths about head-hunting were true.

China

Buddhist scripture found engraved in Chinese cave
· 06/14/2011 4:11:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · Yahoo India ·	An unfinished Buddhist scripture dating to around 386 A.D. has been found engraved on a cave wall in China. Archaeological workers discovered the scripture in northern China's Hebei province, Xinhua reported. The scripture --named the Lotus Sutra --was found in a cave in Xiangtangshan region, an official said. It is believed to have been created during the Northern Dynasties (386 to 581 A.D.), but was not finished, the official said. 'We'll probe into the reason why the work was halted,' he added. The Xiangtangshan area includes 16 caves and over 450 cliffside sculptures. It came under state protection...

Faith & Philosophy

Mining threat to ancient Afghan monastery at Mes Aynak
· 06/14/2011 8:31:19 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 9 replies · · BBC ·	Ten years ago, the Taliban blew up Afghanistan's ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan, provoking international outrage. Now, the country's rich heritage is facing a new threat. A Chinese mining venture has set its sights on another ancient Buddhist site, reports the BBC's Quentin Sommerville.Mes Aynak lies in Logar province, a short helicopter ride from Kabul. The site was was once an al-Qaeda training camp, but is also home to an astonishing discovery --a Buddhist monastery more than 1,400 years old. Unlike many archaeological sites, this is more than a few stones on the ground. There are walls and corridors. Walking...

Oh So Mysteriouso

Who Were the Knights Templar?
· 06/17/2011 6:42:30 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 57 replies · · Daily Telegraph (UK) ·	The order of the Knights Templar was founded by Hugh de Payens, a French nobleman from the Champagne region, along with eight of his companions, in Jerusalem around 1119.They originally consisted of a group of knights who protected Christian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land against attack from brigands and Saracen pirates, after the crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099. The order's full name was the "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon". They were given quarters next to the temple and adopted their distinctive uniform -- white tunics with an eight-pointed blood-red cross. In 1129 they took...

Diet & Cuisine

Dormice, sea urchins and fresh figs: the Roman diet revealed
· 06/14/2011 4:45:23 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · Telegraph UK ·	Dormice, sea urchins and fresh figs were among the delicacies enjoyed by ordinary Romans, British archaeologists have revealed after discovering a giant septic tank at one of the ancient cities destroyed by the eruption of Mt Vesuvius... Archaeologists found a treasure trove of everyday artefacts after digging up nearly 800 sacks of compacted human waste from the tank, which lies beneath the remains of a Roman apartment block in Herculaneum, destroyed after it was buried by ash from the volcano in AD79. The British team has found hundreds of objects, including bronze coins, precious stones, bone hair pins and an...

Roman Empire

Roman Gladiator's Gravestone Describes Fatal Foul
· 06/17/2011 6:05:08 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · · LiveScience ·	The tombstone was donated to the Musee du Cinquanternaire in Brussels, Belgium, shortly before World War I. It shows an image of a gladiator holding what appear to be two swords, standing above his opponent who is signalling his surrender. The inscription says that the stone marks the spot where a man named Diodorus is buried. "After breaking my opponent Demetrius I did not kill him immediately," reads the epitaph. "Fate and the cunning treachery of the summa rudis killed me." ...Though the exact rules are not well understood, some information can be gleaned from references in surviving texts and...

Agriculture & Animal Husbandry

Early French had a taste for beer
· 06/14/2011 1:29:50 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 29 replies · · Springer ·	New study unveils archaeobotanical evidence of beer brewing in Iron Age FranceEvidence of beer making in Mediterranean France, as far back as the 5th century BC, has been unearthed by Laurent Bouby from the CNRS --Centre de Bio-Archeologie et d'Ecology in Montepellier, France, and colleagues. Their analyses at the Roquepertuse excavation site in Provence reveal the presence of poorly preserved barley grains suggesting germination, as well as equipment and other remains of deliberate malting in the home. Taken together, these findings suggest that, as well as regular wine making, the French had an early passion for beer brewing. The...

Egypt

Secrets of Egypt: 'Spectacular' archaeological site provides details of ancient life
· 06/12/2011 11:11:01 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 21 replies · · U of Delaware UDaily ·	On the edge of Egypt's eastern desert, known to natives as "the red land," Berenike thrived as a trading port for goods from Europe, Asia and southern Arabia. Sidebotham's digs have turned up such varied items as Indian-made pottery and beads, a figurine of Venus, timbers made of cedar from Lebanon, a clay jar containing decorative silver pieces, Roman glass, sapphires and other gems, a mother-of-pearl cross and sliver of Turkish marble used as veneer for walls. One large jar found embedded in the courtyard floor of a temple contained nearly 17 pounds of black peppercorns, which had been imported...

Greece

Sea Peoples invade: 1192-1190 BC
· 06/16/2011 8:17:31 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 24 replies · · Dienekes' Anthropoloy Blog ·	Modern methods are slowly helping us build a history of the Heroic Age. The exploits of the Sea Peoples are perhaps not as distinctly preserved in the Greek tradition as those of the Achaeans who sacked Troy, probably sometime during the 1180s BC, with the nostos of Odysseus recently dated to 1,178BC. The lack of distinct information may be, in part, due to the fact that the Sea Peoples were active mostly away from the Aegean, and in lands where Greek colonization did not occur centuries later, and hence were cut off from the Aegean world. The memory of the...

British Isles

The Boldest Hoax [ so-called Piltdown Man ]
· 06/12/2011 6:15:05 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 30 replies · · PBS ·	NARRATOR:For 40 years, a fossil skull discovered in Piltdown, a quaint village in England, was hailed as the missing link between apes and humans. It was named Piltdown Man. Later it would be called a forgery and set off a storm of scandal... ANDY CURRANT (Natural History Museum, London):It's a vicious hoax. It was a terrible thing to do. It really was a horrible, nasty, vicious piece of work. NARRATOR:....the identity of the Piltdown hoaxer has remained a mystery. With special access to Britain's Natural History Museum archives, NOVA reopens the case and reveals hints of a cover up at...

Catastrophism & Astronomy

Scientists Measure the Accuracy of a Racism Claim [SJ Gould called "charlatan"]
· 06/14/2011 5:37:13 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 46 replies · · NY Times ·	Penn Museum, Philadelphia Janet Monge of the Penn Museum examines some of the Morton collection skulls with her colleague, Alan Mann. Scientists have often been accused of letting their ideology influence their results, and one of the most famous cases is that of Morton's skulls --- the global collection amassed by the 19th-century physical anthropologist Samuel George Morton. In a 1981 book, "The Mismeasure of Man," the paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould asserted that Morton, believing that brain size was a measure of intelligence, had subconsciously manipulated the brain volumes of European, Asian and African skulls to favor his bias that...

Scotland Yet

Prehistoric finds on remote St Kilda's Boreray isle (Scotland)
· 06/16/2011 7:30:18 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 6 replies · · BBC ·	The remains of a permanent settlement which could date back to the Iron Age has been uncovered on a remote Scottish island, according to archaeologists.It was previously thought Boreray in the St Kilda archipelago was only visited by islanders to hunt seabirds and gather wool from sheep. Archaeologists have now recorded an extensive agricultural field system and terraces for cultivating crops. They have also found an intact stone building buried under soil and turf. St Kilda's group of small islands are the remotest part of the British Isles, lying 41 miles (66km) west of the Western Isles. Hirta, the main...

Ice Ages

'Incredibly exciting' rare pre-Ice Age handaxe discovered on Orkney
· 06/11/2011 9:44:00 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 38 replies · · STV News ·	The Palaeolithic --- or Old Stone Age --- tool, which could be anything between 100,000 and 450,000 years old, is one of only ten ever to be found in Scotland. The axe, which was found on a stretch of shore in St Ola by a local man walking along the beach, is the oldest man-made artefact ever found in Orkney. The stone tool, which is around five-and-a-half inches long, has been broken, and originally would have tapered to a point opposite the cutting edge, but at some point in time, the point broke off and someone reworked the flint to...

Climate

Sifting Through Garbage from the End of the Ice Age: It's a Living for Frontier Scientists
· 06/12/2011 10:45:16 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · Frontier Scientists blog ·	This summer, archaeologists are continuing work at a 12,000-year-old prehistoric site which is yielding evidence of generations of wandering hunters who camped on a bluff overlooking the Kivalina River... The Raven Bluff site was discovered in 2007 by BLM archaeologist Bill Hedman and a crew conducting an archaeological site survey in the far northwest corner of Alaska. The Bering Land Bridge between Russia and North America may have still existed --- or had just submerged for the last time --- when hunters first frequented Raven Bluff... Essentially the remains of a garbage dump, the dig has offered up the oldest...

Goal! Goal! Goal!

Ballplayer Monolith Found in Northern Mexico
· 06/17/2011 5:49:04 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 24 replies · · Latin American Herald Tribune ·	Mexican archaeologists have found a new ballplayer monolith dating from between 900 A.D. and 1000 A.D at an archaeological site in the north-central state of Zacatecas, the National Anthropology and History Institute, or INAH, said. The pre-Columbian sculpture was excavated from a depth of 1.5 meters (5 feet), the INAH said in a statement, noting that another sculpture depicting a ballplayer was located at the end of last year at the same complex, known as El Teul. Experts say the two pieces may evoke the "divine twins" mentioned in the Popol Vuh, the sacred book of the Mayas. The more...

Peru & the Andes

Thousands of Inca Mummies Discovered
· 04/17/2002 11:04:16 AM PDT · · Posted by Dallas · · 15 replies · · 392+ views ·	WASHINGTON --- Archaeologists say the discovery of thousands of Inca mummies could help solve some of the mysteries surrounding the ancient civilization. The mummies unearthed in a shantytown near Lima, Peru, are "a perfect sample --- each social class, each group of age is represented," said researcher Guillermo Cock. The find "enables us to look into an Inca community, to study their life, their health, their culture," Cock said at a news conference at the National Geographic Society, which funded his study. Some 2,200 individuals have been found, some bundled together in small groups with their possessions. The bundles...

PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis

Science explains ancient copper artifacts
· 06/13/2011 12:42:39 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 45 replies · · Northwestern University ·	Researchers reveal how prehistoric Native Americans of Cahokia made copper artifactsEVANSTON, Ill. ---- Northwestern University researchers ditched many of their high-tech tools and turned to large stones, fire and some old-fashioned elbow grease to recreate techniques used by Native American coppersmiths who lived more than 600 years ago. This prehistoric approach to metalworking was part of a metallurgical analysis of copper artifacts left behind by the Mississippians of the Cahokia Mounds, who lived in southeastern Illinois from 700 until 1400 A.D. The study was published in the Journal of Archaeological Science in May. The researchers were able to identify how...



National Trust ranks Chaco region among most endangered
· 06/15/2011 5:33:02 PM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 15 replies · · Biz Journals ·	The National Trust for Historic Preservation named the Greater Chaco Landscape, which includes Chaco Culture National Historical Park, to its annual Most Endangered Places List. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has named the Greater Chaco Landscape in northwest New Mexico to its annual list of America's most endangered historic places. Much of the threat Chaco faces is from the boom in energy resource exploration and extraction, according to the Trust. The oil and gas industry is continuing to push for development on federal lands outside the Chaco Culture National Historical Park, and has recently nominated several Bureau of Land...

Longer Perspectives

Light Replacing Darkness: A Story of Spanish Colonization in the Americas
· 10/27/2002 2:10:53 PM PST · · Posted by G. Stolyarov II · · 56 replies · · 4,153+ views · · Rational Argumentator ·	It is fashionable, even expected these days, to vilify the efforts of early explorers and conquistadors from Spain, hurling upon them defamatory accusations of "cultural genocide", "militant fanaticism", and "imposition of brute force". The oligarchic tribal orders balancing atop pyramids of skulls and nourished by rivers of blood are by this paradigm viewed to be a lost Eden desecrated by the "vulgar greed of Western capitalism". But what had truly taken place? Were the Spanish a horde of devastating oppressors or pioneers carrying with them a bright future? While revisionist theories advocate the former standpoint, genuine historical truth points to...



Conquistadors In The Old And New World
· 03/15/2004 5:02:04 PM PST · · Posted by 45Auto · · 5 replies · · 2,251+ views · · 2 \| Dr. Jane S. Day, Chief Curator ·	1492 was perhaps the most momentous year in all of Spainish history. Under the leadership of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, Spain was united for the first time in 800 years and the last of the Moors had just been sucessfully defeated at Granada. In this same year under the urging of Torquemada, master of the Inquisition, an edict had been issued expelling the Jews from Spain. In addition, after six long years of waiting around the periphery of the royal court, Christopher Columbus had finally been given permission to set sail westward to search for the riches...

Pages

17th century pulp literature reveals alternative approach to reading
· 06/14/2011 9:35:32 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · · University of Gothenburg ·	The 17th century's closest equivalent to modern day pulp fiction, the "Volksbuch/VolksbÂ¸cher"(chapbook), was packed with exciting material. But they were not read in excited anticipation in order to reach the sensational, but unknown conclusion of the tale. This is the finding of a new thesis in history of literature from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Chapbooks are mostly works of fiction, which gained a relatively high level of popularity in Europe from the 16th century up until the end of the 19th century. They chiefly comprised early medieval or classical originals, such as knightly epics, romance adventures and comedy tales....

Early America

Blackbeard's Terror Tactics Revealed in Recovered Ammo
· 06/13/2011 8:32:12 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Discovery News ·	THE GIST Three metallic clusters at what is believed to be the wreck of Blackbeard's flagship reveal the pirate's gruesome secrets.The piles of ammo contain lead shot, nails, and glass which were likely put in canvas bags and fired from cannons.Blackbeard's improvised missiles were intended to scare sailors into surrendering.

The Revolution

Today In History: The Battle Of Bunker Hill
· 06/17/2011 7:56:38 AM PDT · · Posted by arderkrag · · 17 replies · · Vanity ·	The Battle of Bunker Hill, a battle fought in the American Revolutionary War, occurred on June 17, 1775 between the American Revolutionary forces under the command of General Israel Putnam, and the British forces under the command of Major General William Howe. Howe was determined to take Charlestown Heights, overlooking Boston harbor. It was actually fought on nearby Breed's Hill, when Colonel William Prescott erred and set up his 1200 men at that location and began to construct earthworks. It is considered to be the bloodiest battle of the American Revolutionary War. Despite being repelled twice, the British were successful...



MSNBC's Matthews Doesn't Seem to Understand British Were Coming for Colonists' Weapons at Lexington,
· 06/11/2011 9:23:23 AM PDT · · Posted by marktwain · · 42 replies · · newsbusters.org ·	"Shouldn't presidential candidates and prospective candidates have a firm grasp of American history?" Chris Matthews rhetorically asked on the June 9 "Hardball" before lamenting that Sarah Palin had a penchant for being "painfully wrong" on the subject, citing her recent inartful explanation of the famed midnight ride of Paul Revere. Yet it seems Matthews may have no idea why the British regulars were marching on Lexington and Concord in the first place, as the "Hardball" host scoffed yesterday at Palin making an "NRA ad" out of the historical ride. "Here she is with her follow-up defending her false vision of...



Email, Hate Mail and Comments from Readers
· 06/12/2011 4:47:19 AM PDT · · Posted by Kaslin · · 6 replies · · Townhall.com ·	Today I ask the question- and answer it: Do Liberals fact-check anything? There is lots of Sarah-hate this week to wade through, plus we tackle Austan Goolsbee- and who doesn't want to do that? --Paul Revere, investment and tax theory explained for liberals (we'll use very simple arguments with gratuitous references to green jobs just to keep them interested), plus we'll give out a gold star for the comment of the week.â€ Melech Ha Olam wrote: In God We Trust was inserted in our banknotes and in the Pledge of Allegiance in 1954 by a Republican Congress during the McCarthy...

The Framers

Journal of the Federal Convention June 18th 1787 (Hamilton Speech)
· 06/18/2011 2:37:57 AM PDT · · Posted by Jacquerie · · 3 replies · · Avalon Project ·	IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON THE PROPOSITIONS OF Mr. PATTERSON & Mr. RANDOLPH On motion of Mr. DICKINSON to postpone the 1st. Resolution in Mr. Patterson's plan, in order to take up the following viz-"that the Articles of Confederation ought to be revised and amended, so as to render the Government of the U.S. adequate to the exigences, the preservation and the prosperity of the Union" the postponement was agreed to by 10 States, Pen: divided. Mr. HAMILTON, had been hitherto silent on the business before the Convention, partly from respect to others whose superior abilities age & experience...

The Mexican War

They Died for a Just and Honorable Cause. (Did They, Really?)
· 06/22/2002 1:28:14 PM PDT · · Posted by Mom_Grandmother · · 26 replies · · 592+ views · · DreamScape ·	I Seem to recall Americans saying the same thing about our men at the Alamo! But today I hear more talk about how damn brave the Mexicans are and how they are going to take this state and that state back. From everything I have been able to gather, we're going to let them have what the hell they want and the hell with the Alamo and it's Hero's. We have finally become the "Roll Over and Play Dead Nation" I don't feel like fighting if it does...



The Fall Of The Alamo
· 08/30/2002 10:28:58 AM PDT · · Posted by robowombat · · 48 replies · · 1,336+ views · · Magazine of American History, ·	Date of Event: 1836 Written in 1860, Subsequently Revised by Author Captain R.M. Potter -- lived near the Alamo at the time it fell, and was in a good position to learn many of the details of what happened there. He wrote the first draft of this narrative for the San Antonio Herald in 1860, and later revised it, after communications with Colonel Juan Seguin, USA, who was an officer of the Alamo garrison up to within six days of the assault. Due to great interest in the subject of the...



Battle of the Alamo --Thirteen Days to Glory
· 11/24/2002 7:30:41 AM PST · · Posted by SAMWolf · · 79 replies · · 26,336+ views · · University of Texas ·	The siege and the final assault on the Alamo in 1836 constitute the most celebrated military engagement in Texas history. The battle was conspicuous for the large number of illustrious personalities among its combatants. These included Tennessee congressman David Crockett, entrepreneur-adventurer James Bowie, and Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna. Although not nationally famous at the time, William Barret Travis achieved lasting distinction as commander at the Alamo. For many Americans and most Texans, the battle has become a symbol of patriotic sacrifice. Traditional popular depictions, including novels, stage plays, and motion pictures, emphasize legendary aspects that often...



The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Davy Crockett --June 7th, 2003
· 06/07/2003 4:09:51 AM PDT · · Posted by snippy_about_it · · 80 replies · · 9,206+ views · · Compiled by Margaret Nolen Nichol ·	The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. We hope to provide an ongoing source of information about issues and problems that are specific to Veterans and resources that are available to Veterans and their families. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support.



Joseph Farah: Remember the Real Alamo
· 04/08/2004 6:11:38 AM PDT · · Posted by Theodore R. · · 40 replies · · 484+ views · · WND.com ·	Remember the real Alamo Posted: April 8, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com "Remember the Alamo," was an American battle cry for generations. Now Disney is trying to get Americans to forget the real history of heroic fight. Disney's remake of "The Alamo" will be released tomorrow in theaters nationwide. Judging from a review of the script, the film will be a disgraceful deconstruction of Davy Crockett, Sam Houston, Jim Bowie and other American heroes who "died with their boots on." "The movie reads more like a Disney fairy tale and promotes a politically correct revisionist agenda aimed at...

The Civil War

Oakland Effect: Scholar says > 'black violence is the unfinished business of the post slavery period'
· 06/12/2011 7:08:54 AM PDT · · Posted by artichokegrower · · 70 replies · · MercuryNews.com ·	This is an excerpt from reporter Scott Johnson's blog, which focuses on the impact of violence and trauma on the community. Go to www.oaklandeffect.com for updates on his reporting. When the architects of apartheid South Africa were drawing up their urban plans, they paid special attention to the highways. In the seaside city of Cape Town, for instance, the white rulers pushed tens of thousands of blacks and people of mixed racial ancestry out of the cities and into squatter camps several miles outside the city, in a barren wasteland that came to be known as the Cape Flats. The...

Edge of Macation

U.S. Students Ignorant of History; Will Repeat Mistakes of Past
· 06/16/2011 9:58:07 AM PDT · · Posted by Paladins Prayer · · 29 replies · · New American ·	Once again, a study has show that American students are woefully ignorant of history. Test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress demonstrate, writes the Wall Street Journal, that only "20% of U.S. fourth-graders and 17% of eighth-graders who took the 2010 history exam were "proficient' or "advanced'Ã–" and only 12 percent of 12th-graders were so. In fact, their knowledge is so lacking that fewer than "a quarter of American 12th-graders knew China was North Korea's ally during the Korean War, and only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence," the paper continued. Other studies...

Underwater Archaeology

'Black Swan' Bounty Deal Revealed in Wikileaks Cables [Dec 2010]
· 06/13/2011 8:24:44 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · Discovery News ·	Hidden behind a fabulous sunken treasure recovered from a wreck in the Atlantic Ocean lays a story of secret diplomatic cables and Nazi art thieves, according to a revelation from WikiLeaks documents. Consisting of 500,000 silver coins weighing more than 17 tons, hundreds of gold coins, worked gold, and other artifacts, the so-called Black Swan treasure has been at the center of an acrimonious international legal battle ever since it was discovered in 2007 by underwater robots from Odyssey Marine Exploration, a Florida-based treasure-hunting company. It wasn't a fair confrontation, according to leaked documents released by WikiLeaks. London's Guardian newspaper,...

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

NATO refuses to rule out bombing Libyan Roman ruins
· 06/14/2011 5:48:13 PM PDT · · Posted by MinorityRepublican · · 36 replies · · CNN ·	NATO can not verify rebel claims that Gadhafi may be hiding rockets at the UNESCO World Heritage site of Leptis Magna. NATO refused to say Tuesday whether it would bomb ancient Roman ruins in Libya if it knew Moammar Gadhafi was hiding military equipment there. "We will strike military vehicles, military forces, military equipment or military infrastructure that threaten Libyan civilians as necessary," a NATO official in Naples, Italy, said, declining to give his name in discussing internal NATO deliberations. But he said the alliance could not verify rebel claims that Libya's leader may be hiding rocket launchers at the...

end of digest #361 20110618


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #362 Saturday, June 25, 2011

Tool Time

Cutting edge training developed the human brain 80 000 years ago
· 06/21/2011 · · 6:34:59 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 43 replies · · Lund University ·	Advanced crafting of stone spearheads contributed to the development of new ways of human thinking and behaving. This is what new findings by archaeologists at Lund University have shown. The technology took a long time to acquire, required step by step planning and increased social interaction across the generations. This led to the human brain developing new abilities. 200 000 years ago, small groups of people wandered across Africa, looking like us anatomically but not thinking the way we do today. Studies of fossils and the rate of mutations in DNA show that the human species to which we all...

Agriculture & Animal Husbandry

Dawn of agriculture took toll on health
· 06/15/2011 · · 7:13:01 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 25 replies · · Emory University ·	When populations around the globe started turning to agriculture around 10,000 years ago, regardless of their locations and type of crops, a similar trend occurred: The height and health of the people declined. "This broad and consistent pattern holds up when you look at standardized studies of whole skeletons in populations," says Amanda Mummert, an Emory graduate student in anthropology. Mummert (in photo at right) led the first comprehensive, global review of the literature regarding stature and health during the agriculture transition, to be published by the journal Economics and Human Biology. "Many people have this image of the rise...

Africa

Penn team uncovers skeleton of 'world's oldest child' [108K yrs old, that's a lot of candles]
· 06/18/2011 · · 2:21:10 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · Philadelphia Inquirer ·	Last year, while a Penn team of archaeologists was working in Morocco, members uncovered a treasure beyond anything they'd imagined -- a skeleton of a child from 108,000 years ago. They don't know what killed him at about age 8, but his remains are believed to be one of the most complete ever found of this period... One of the earliest sites where people left evidence of artwork and symbolism is in Morocco, where a team led by Penn Museum's Harold Dibble found the child... that died 108,000 years ago, as shown by various dating techniques... From analyzing the teeth,...

PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis

Scientists reveal a first in Ice Age art
· 06/21/2011 · · 11:16:04 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 64 replies · · PhysOrg.com ·	Researchers from the Smithsonian Institution and the University of Florida have announced the discovery of a bone fragment, approximately 13,000 years old, in Florida with an incised image of a mammoth or mastodon. This engraving is the oldest and only known example of Ice Age art to depict a proboscidean (the order of animals with trunks) in the Americas. The team's research is published online in the Journal of Archaeological Science. The bone was discovered in Vero Beach, Fla. by James Kennedy, an avocational fossil hunter, who collected the bone and later while cleaning the bone, discovered the engraving. Recognizing...



Image of ancient mammoth or mastodon found on bone (Florida 13,000bc)
· 06/23/2011 · · 8:06:42 PM PDT · · Posted by Islander7 · · 16 replies · · AP ·	WASHINGTON (AP) -- Some of the earliest Americans turn out to have been artists. A bone fragment at least 13,000 years old, with the carved image of a mammoth or mastodon, has been discovered in Florida, a new study reports. While prehistoric art depicting animals with trunks has been found in Europe, this may be the first in the Western Hemisphere, researchers report Wednesday in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

Ice, Ice, Iceman to Go

The Iceman's Last Meal
· 06/20/2011 · · 5:57:50 PM PDT · · Posted by Fractal Trader · · 25 replies · · ScienceNOW Daily News ·	Less than 2 hours before he hiked his last steps in the Tyrolean Alps 5000 years ago, Oetzi the Iceman fueled up on a last meal of ibex meat. That was the conclusion of a talk here last week at the 7th World Congress on Mummy Studies, during which researchers -- armed with Oetzi's newly sequenced genome and a detailed dental analysis -- also concluded that the Iceman had brown eyes and probably wasn't much of a tooth brusher. The Iceman, discovered in the Italian Alps in 1991 some 5200 years after his death, has been a gold mine of information about Neolithic life,...



Scientists finally determine iceman Otzi's last meal [Ice Man]
· 06/22/2011 · · 8:07:21 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 38 replies · · PhysOrg.com ·	In a presentation at the Seventh World Congress on Mummy Studies, researchers from the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman revealed that they had finally located the iceman known as Otzi's stomach and determined his last meal. They were also able to successfully sequence his entire genome. Researchers from the Institute for Mummies and the Iceman in Italy divided the presentation into three different topics. The first part of the presentation was given by microbiologist Frank Maixner. He had recently examined old tomography scans taken of Otzi back in 2005 and was able to finally locate the stomach which was...

Ice Ages

Early human fossils unearthed in Ukraine
· 06/20/2011 · · 6:33:23 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 15 replies · · BBC ·	Ancient remains uncovered in Ukraine represent some of the oldest evidence of modern people in Europe, experts have claimed.Archaeologists found human bones and teeth, tools, ivory ornaments and animal remains at the Buran-Kaya cave site. The 32,000-year-old fossils bear cut marks suggesting they were defleshed as part of a post-mortem ritual. Archaeologist Dr Alexander Yanevich from the National Ukrainian Academy of Science in Kiev discovered the four Buran-Kaya caves in the Crimean mountains in 1991. Since then, roughly two hundred human bone fragments have been unearthed at the site. Among the shards of human bones and teeth, archaeologists have found...

Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles

City living marks the brain -- Neuroscientists study social risk factor for mental illness.
· 06/22/2011 · · 5:37:44 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 26 replies · · Nature News ·	Epidemiologists showed decades ago that people raised in cities are more prone to mental disorders than those raised in the countryside. But neuroscientists have avoided studying the connection, preferring to leave the disorderly realm of the social environment to social scientists. A paper in this issue of Nature represents a pioneering foray across that divide. Using functional brain imaging, a group led by Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the University of Heidelberg's Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, showed that specific brain structures in people from the city and the countryside respond differently to social stress (see pages 452 and...

Diet & Cuisine

Synthesising red wine's overlooked chemical secrets
· 06/22/2011 · · 6:25:52 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 54 replies · · Chemistry World ·	US chemists have discovered how to selectively synthesise a wide range of natural polyphenol compounds based on resveratrol, a stilbenoid consisting of three phenols on two aromatic rings linked by a short hydrocarbon chain. Controlled synthesis of these compounds will allow researchers to probe their possible health benefits.Resveratrol and its many derivatives are present in the skin of grapes, for example, and are thought to be responsible for some of the apparent health benefits of red wine. These health benefits may help to explain the 'French paradox' -- a low incidence of coronary heart disease in the population, despite a...

Roman Empire

Roman Gladiator's Gravestone Describes Fatal Foul
· 06/23/2011 · · 4:58:38 AM PDT · · Posted by Mikey_1962 · · 16 replies · · Yahoo! ·	An enigmatic message on a Roman gladiator's 1,800-year-old tombstone has finally been decoded, telling a treacherous tale. The epitaph and art on the tombstone suggest the gladiator, named Diodorus, lost the battle (and his life) due to a referee's error, according to Michael Carter, a professor at Brock University in St. Catharines, Canada. Carter studies gladiator contests and other spectacles in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. He examined the stone, which was discovered a century ago in Turkey, trying to determine what the drawing and inscription meant. The tombstone shows an image of a gladiator holding what appear...

Scotland Yet

Roman camp that housed refugees fleeing Scottish unrest discovered near Hadrian's Wall
· 06/21/2011 · · 8:12:13 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Daily Mail ·	Hundreds of Roman huts that would have housed refugees fleeing turmoil in Scotland have been discovered by archaeologist near Hadrian's Wall. The scientists unearthed the structures earlier this year within the site of the Roman fortress of Vindolanda near the border. Experts were struck by the circular shape of the temporary but well-built huts which would have been in contrast to the usual style of rectangular Roman architecture. Archaeologists believe that the buildings were hastily constructed to house hundreds of tribespeople who scrambled over Hadrian's Wall when Scotland was invaded in the third century AD... The community north of the...

Caphtor

UC Research Uncovers Late Bronze Age Fortress (Cyprus)
· 06/20/2011 · · 8:19:42 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · · U of Cincinnati ·	The University of Cincinnati's most recent research in Cyprus reveals the remnants of a Late Bronze Age (1500-750 B.C.) fortress that may have functioned to protect an important urban economic center in the ancient world.A recent find by a University of Cincinnati archeologist suggests an ancient Cypriot city was well protected from outside threats. That research, by UC's Gisela Walberg, professor of classics, will be presented at the annual workshop of the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Center in Nicosia, Cyprus, on June 25, 2011. Since 2001, Walberg has worked in modern Cyprus to uncover the ancient city of Bamboula, a...

Egypt

Archaeologists to raise ancient Egyptian ship (Khufu's solar ship)
· 06/23/2011 · · 2:07:39 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 19 replies · · AFP ·	CAIRO (AFP) -- Egyptian and Japanese archaeologists on Thursday began to unearth an ancient boat belonging to King Khufu and buried near the Giza pyramids for more than 4,500 years. > t is one of two boats belonging to King Khufu, or Cheops, a fourth dynasty ruler who built the Great Pyramid of Giza. Solar boats were buried with the Pharaohs in the belief that they would carry them to the afterlife. The boat was first discovered in 1987 in a large pit covered by 41 limestone blocks, weighing 16 tons each. >

Nubia

Ancient settlement discovered in the Ethiopian Highlands
· 06/18/2011 · · 1:46:18 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · Past Horizons ·	An ancient settlement has been discovered in the Ethiopian highlands using non invasive geophysical surveys... a suspected settlement in the north-western Ethiopian highland region of Tigray, home to the town of Yeha which was believed to be a major centre of the Diamat Kingdom established around 700 BCE... In 2008, Ethiopian archaeologists made the astonishing discovery of a perfectly preserved sacrificial altar in neighbouring Meqaber Ga'ewa, a previously unknown location near the city of Wuqro. The altar bore a remarkable royal inscription in Old South Arabian bearing the name Yeha. In 2008, Ethiopian archaeologists made the astonishing discovery of a...

Prehistory & Origins

Human eye protein senses Earth's magnetism
· 06/21/2011 · · 11:51:14 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 43 replies · · BBC ·	Fruit fly scanning electron micrograph A light-sensitive protein in the human eye has been shown to act as a "compass" in a magnetic field, when it is present in flies' eyes. The study in Nature Communications showed that without their natural "magnetoreception" protein, the flies did not respond to a magnetic field -- but replacing the protein with the human version restored the ability. Despite much controversy, no conclusive evidence exists that humans can sense the Earth's magnetic field, and the find may revive interest in the idea. Although humans, like migratory birds, are known to have cryptochrome in their...

Tastes Like Chicken

Seeing the Serpent [Human Evolution]
· 07/20/2006 · · 6:58:11 AM PDT · · Posted by PatrickHenry · · 166 replies · · 2,118+ views · · U of Cal, Davis ·	The ability to spot venomous snakes may have played a major role in the evolution of monkeys, apes and humans, according to a new hypothesis by Lynne Isbell, professor of anthropology at UC Davis. The work is published in the July issue of the Journal of Human Evolution. Primates have good vision, enlarged brains, and grasping hands and feet, and use their vision to guide reaching and grasping. Scientists have thought that these characteristics evolved together as early primates used their hands and eyes to grab insects and other small prey, or to handle and examine fruit and other foods....

Helix, Make Mine a Double

Human Evolution: Endogenous Retroviruses prove that humans and chimps share a common ancestor
· 01/31/2010 · · 9:08:09 AM PST · · Posted by EnderWiggins · · 89 replies · · 955+ views · · Gene ·	Endogenous retroviruses are the remnant DNA of a past viral infection. Retroviruses (like the AIDS virus or HTLV1, which causes a form of leukemia) make a copy of their own viral DNA and insert it into their host's DNA. This is how they take over the cellular machinery of a cell and use it to manufacture new copies of the virus. Sometimes, the cell that get's infected by such a virus is an immature egg cell in the ovary of a female animal. Such cells can be stored in a state of suspended animation or dormancy for as much as...

C'est Si Bon

A wise man's treatment for arthritis -- frankincense?
· 06/21/2011 · · 5:58:17 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · Cardiff University ·	The answer to treating painful arthritis could lie in an age old herbal remedy -- frankincense, according to Cardiff University scientists. Cardiff scientists have been examining the potential benefits of frankincense to help relieve and alleviate the symptoms of the condition. "The search for new ways of relieving the symptoms of inflammatory arthritis and osteoarthritis is a long and difficult one," according to Dr Emma Blain, who leads the research with her co-investigators Professor Vic Duance from Cardiff University's School of Biosciences and Dr Ahmed Ali of the Compton Group. "The South West of England and Wales has a long...

At the Hop

Convergent Evolution Found in Poison Frogs
· 08/09/2005 · · 9:09:21 AM PDT · · Posted by Crackingham · · 131 replies · · 2,762+ views · · LiveScience ·	Scientists have discovered one of the most intricate examples of convergent evolution with the help of South American "poison" frogs and ants and their cousins in Madagascar. (And here's an odd fact for smokers: one Madagascan frog studied was found to have nicotine in its system!) Poison frogs can't make their own poison--they steal it from ants. Poison frogs secrete a variety of chemicals called alkaloids to create a poisonous defense against predators. Since they can't produce alkaloids on their own, these frogs maintain a steady diet of specific alkaloid-rich ants to keep up their defense. Now, Valerie Clark of...



Scientists Find Remains of 'Devil Toad'
· 02/19/2008 · · 4:16:43 PM PST · · Posted by LibWhacker · · 20 replies · · 238+ views · · AOL News \| AP ·	WASHINGTON (Feb. 18) -- A frog the size of a bowling ball, with heavy armor and teeth, lived among dinosaurs millions of years ago -- intimidating enough that scientists who unearthed its fossils dubbed the beast Beelzebufo, or Devil Toad. But its size -- 10 pounds and 16 inches long -- isn't the only curiosity. Researchers discovered the creature's bones in Madagascar. Yet it seems to be a close relative of normal-sized frogs who today live half a world away in South America, challenging assumptions about ancient geography. The discovery, led by paleontologist David Krause at New York's Stony Brook...

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Excavated Bomb Suggests Early Start for Artillery
· 06/19/2011 · · 7:35:58 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Spiegel ·	By dint of hard work and strict devotion to God, Christoph Bernhard von Galen (1606-1678) managed to attain the rank of prince-bishop. The man also liked to rub shoulders with generals and was fond of using gunpowder to lend authority to Jesus' words. His contemporaries nicknamed him "Bombing Bernd." The freedom-loving Dutch, in particular, felt the wrath of this Catholic weapons-fanatic from MâˆšÂºnster. In 1672, Galen sent heavy mortars rolling north, which his artillerymen filled with hollow iron shot weighing over 70 kilograms (154 pounds). These odd explosives shot high into the sky with a mighty boom. One fell into...

Early America

Hidden Lives of Baltimore's Irish Immigrants Unearthed for First Time
· 06/24/2011 · · 9:59:35 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 20 replies · · University of Maryland ·	UMD Team Finds Clues to Children's Lives and Education -- COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- An archaeological team from the University of Maryland is unearthing a unique picture of the Baltimore-area's early Irish immigrants -- of city children taught to read and write at home before widespread public education and child labor laws, as well as insular rural residents who resisted assimilation for one hundred years. The excavation in the city represents the first formal archaeological research to focus on Baltimore's early Irish settlement and labor force. "Behind the closed doors of their modest Baltimore homes, beyond the view of their bosses, these...

Let's Have Jerusalem

Cave Researchers Explore Stream-Filled Cavern at Entrance to Jerusalem
· 06/21/2011 · · 6:51:19 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 21 replies · · Science Daily ·	Hebrew University of Jerusalem researchers have conducted an initial survey of what appears to be an important, ancient water source in a cave that was been discovered during excavation work for a new train station being constructed at the entrance to Jerusalem. The work was done by members of the Cave Research Unit of the university, headed by Prof. Amos Frumkin of the Department of Geography. The cave was exposed near the base of a deep service shaft that was dug for the train tunnel leading into the new station, located opposite the main bus station in Jerusalem. The full...

Faith & Philosophy

Israeli Government Allows 7,000 Bnei Menashe to Make Aliyah
· 06/24/2011 · · 2:11:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 8 replies · · Arutz Sheva ·	More than 7,000 members of the Bnei Menashe will soon arrive in Israel, CBN reported on Thursday. The Bnei Menashe claim descent from one of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel, which were exiled by the Assyrian Empire more than 27 centuries ago. They reside primarily in the two Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, along the border with Burma and Bangladesh. Throughout their exile, and even after their one copy of the written Torah was lost, the Bnei Menashe have continued to observe Jewish traditions, including the Sabbath, keeping kosher, celebrating the festivals, following family purity laws, and remembering...

Religion of Pieces

PA Hit over Joseph's Tomb Visit
· 06/16/2011 · · 11:32:40 PM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 2 replies · · Arutz Sheva ·	A Shechem-area coordinating committee criticized the Palestinian Authority Friday for this week's daytime visit to the Tomb of Joseph by members of the Knesset Land of Israel lobby and Samarian leaders, according to the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency. An announcement by the committee also expressed anger at the PA for providing security for the visit, calling it an affront to the PA population. Among the groups signing the committee's statement were the Popular Front terror group...

Oh So Mysteriouso

Even parity error checking in DNA/RNA
· 06/19/2011 · · 7:49:38 AM PDT · · Posted by varmintman · · 6 replies · · www.reasons.org ·	"The purine-pyrimidine and hydrogen donor-acceptor patterns governing nucleotide recognition are shown to correspond formally to a digital error-detecting (parity) code, suggesting that factors other than physicochemical issues alone shaped the natural nucleotide alphabet." Implications of this one should be fairly obvious...

Longer Perspectives

Ingenious 'Flat Earth' Theory Revealed In Old Map
· 06/23/2011 · · 1:54:10 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 53 replies · · Live Science ·	In 1893, Orlando Ferguson, a real estate developer based in South Dakota, drew a map of the Earth that combined biblical and scientific knowledge in a unique way. The map accompanied a 92-page lecture that Ferguson -- referring to himself as a "professor" -- delivered in town after town, traveling far and wide to share his theory of geography, highlighted by his belief that the Earth was flat. Only one fully intact version of Ferguson's map, which represents the Earth as a giant, rectangular slab with a dimpled upper surface, remains. Don Homuth of Salem, Ore., just donated the map...

Dinosaurs

Tyrannosaurus Rex 'hunted in packs'
· 06/23/2011 · · 5:27:26 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 28 replies · · Telegraph UK ·	Tyrannosaurids... formidable but solitary and dull-witted creatures because their skeletons were found alone. But new research based on finds in the Gobi Desert suggests that the species was not only equipped with the build and speed for pack hunting, but also the brain capacity to work together as a team, experts claim. Dr Philip Currie, of the University of Alberta, said that evidence from 90 skeletons of Tarbosaurus Bataar -- a cousin of the Tyrannosaurus Rex -- suggested strongly that about half a dozen of the dinosaurs were part of a social group that died together. He said Tyrannosaurids' hunting...



Big Dinos Stayed Cool
· 06/23/2011 · · 5:47:01 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · Discovery News ·	Sauropod dinosaurs, the enormous plant-eating dinos with long tails and necks, had body temperatures ranging from 96.3 to 100.8 degrees Fahrenheit -- making them as warm as most mammals -- including people. Because body temperature usually rises the larger an animal gets, the findings, published in the latest issue of Science, suggest huge sauropods had mechanisms for cooling themselves off. "What we can say is that sauropods did not have body temperatures that were as cold as modern crocodiles and alligators," lead author Robert Eagle... many models had predicted that sauropods would have high body temperatures of over 104 degrees......



Dinosaur Cannibal: Fossil Evidence Found in Africa
· 04/02/2003 · · 12:22:28 PM PST · · Posted by Sabertooth · · 39 replies · · 708+ views · · National Geographic News ·	Dinosaur Cannibal: Fossil Evidence Found in Africa John Roachfor National Geographic News April 2, 2003 View a Dinosaur Cannibal Photo Gallery: Go>> "Eat or be eaten" may have been the mantra for Majungatholus atopus, a large, two-footed carnivorous dinosaur with a bump on its head that roamed Madagascar, the island off the southeast coast of Africa, about 65 million years ago. Analysis of bones scored by tooth marks suggests Majungatholus was a cannibal that regularly dined on members of its own species and other dinosaurs. The rare, tooth-marked bones are the best evidence to date for a behavior probably...



Move over T-Rex, Rajasaurus narmadensis is here (India)
· 08/13/2003 · · 8:00:26 AM PDT · · Posted by IndianChief · · 11 replies · · 298+ views · · Rediff.com ·	A Chicago-based paleontologist has discovered a new species of dinosaur -- Rajasaurus narmadensis -- after analysing the bones unearthed from central and western parts of India. Paul Sereno, along with his team, also reconstructed the dinosaur skull based on the bones collected by Indian paleontologists over the past several years. Disclosing the find at a media conference on Wednesday in Mumbai, Paul, a National Geographic explorer, said the new species was a unique dinosaur found only in India so far. "The new species named Rajasaurus appears to be a stocky dinosaur with an unusual head crest. From the heavy weight...

Biology & Cryptobiology

Strange New Carnivore Species Sighted On Borneo
· 12/05/2005 · · 5:15:46 PM PST · · Posted by FReepaholic · · 80 replies · · 2,508+ views · · Reuters ·	GENEVA (Reuters) -- Environmental researchers are preparing to capture what they call a new, mysterious species of carnivore on Borneo, the first such discovery on the wildlife-rich Indonesian island in over a century. Swiss-based environmental group WWF said on Monday its researchers photographed the strange animal, which looks like a cross between a cat and a fox, in the dense, central mountainous rainforests of Borneo.



New Carnivore discovered (strange pic)
· 12/05/2005 · · 11:35:29 PM PST · · Posted by dangus · · 102 replies · · 3,398+ views · · Reuters ·	GENEVA (Reuters) -- Environmental researchers are preparing to capture what they call a new, mysterious species of carnivore on Borneo, the first such discovery on the wildlife-rich Indonesian island in over a century. Swiss-based environmental group WWF said on Monday its researchers photographed the strange animal, which looks like a cross between a cat and a fox, in the dense, central mountainous rainforests of Borneo. "This could be the first time in more than a century that a new carnivore has been discovered on the island," said the WWF in a statement. The mammal, slightly larger than a cat with...



Mystery Mammal Discovered In Borneo's Forests
· 12/06/2005 · · 6:41:43 AM PST · · Posted by blam · · 20 replies · · 902+ views · · New Scientist ·	The new beast, with its dark red fur and long tail, could be a new species of marten or civet, or belong to a new group entirely (Image: Stephan Wulffraat, WWF) Experts are mystified by the new creature, with some saying it looks like a civet, and others say that it resembles a lemur (Image: Wahyu Gumelar/Stephan Wulffraat, WWF)The mammal, which is slightly larger than a domestic cat, has dark red fur and a long, bushy tail. It was snapped twice at night by a...

World War Eleven

Germany's WWII offensive against Russia [Operation Barbarossa], 70 years later
· 06/22/2011 · · 3:24:08 AM PDT · · Posted by Perdogg · · 44 replies · · History News network ·	DW: What was the objective of the military offensive "Operation Barbarossa," which began on June 22, 1941? Wolfram Wette: The objective was to conquer the Soviet Union, to decimate its population, to exploit the land -- in order to colonize the country with Germans in the distant future. So it was a war for the capture of "Lebensraum," or "living space," in the East. They wanted to colonize the Soviet Union up to the Ural Mountains in order to create an self-sufficient, strongly protected Greater German Reich from the Atlantic to the Urals.

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

A REALLY neat Web Site...
· 06/18/2011 · · 9:51:37 AM PDT · · Posted by US Navy Vet · · 8 replies ·	Ran across this Web Site: http://vintageaerial.com/.

end of digest #362 20110625


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #363 Saturday, July 7, 2011

Let's Have Jerusalem

2,000-Year-Old Priestly Burial Box Is Real, Archaeologists Say
· 06/29/2011 11:05:58 PM PDT · · Posted by Beowulf9 · · 10 replies · · Foxnews.com ·	JERUSALEM -- Israeli scholars say they have confirmed the authenticity of a 2,000-year-old burial box bearing the name of a relative of the high priest Caiaphas of the New Testament. The ossuary bears an inscription with the name "Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri." To confirm the authenticity of the ossuary, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who discovered the ancient burial box turned to Dr. Boaz Zissu of the Department of the Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology of Bar Ilan University and Professor Yuval Goren of the Department of Archaeology and Ancient...

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Matzah and Marco Polo
· 06/29/2011 4:01:20 PM PDT · · Posted by GiovannaNicoletta · · 22 replies · · The Omega Letter ·	Explorer Marco Polo traveled from Venice to China in the year 1260 AD, returning a few years later with tales of black stones that heated rooms (coal), clothing laced with gold, and the presence of prosperous Jews in Beijing. These outlandish claims earned him the nickname "man of a million lies." Two hundred years later Jesuit missionaries confirmed, at least, the presence of Jews in Beijing. Jesuit Matthew Ricci, in 1605, encountered a young Chinese man, Ai T'ien. In stark contrast to the rest of the Chinese population, Ai T'ien claimed to worship a single God. Further questioning (after Ai...

The Crusades

Archaeologists Uncover Ruins of Crusader City
· 06/24/2011 7:23:36 PM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 14 replies · · AP via Fox News · · June, 19, 2011 ·	A tunnel built by knights of the Templar order under the old port city of Acre, on the Mediterranean coast in northern Israel. Off the track beaten by most Holy Land tourists lies one of the richest archaeological sites in a country full of them: Acre, where the busy alleys of an Ottoman-era town cover a uniquely intact Crusader city now being rediscovered. Off the track beaten by most Holy Land tourists lies one of the richest archaeological sites in a country full of them: the walled port of Acre, where the busy alleys of...

Faith & Philosophy

Vidovdan and Christianity --Remembering the Serbian sacrifice on June 28th.
· 06/28/2011 10:43:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Ravnagora · · 9 replies · · Heroes of Serbia ·	Kosovska Devojka The Kosovo Maiden -- Today, June 28, 2011, marks the anniversary of perhaps the most sacred day in Serbian history. It can be said, too, that it is a sacred day in Christian history. On this day, in 1389 on Kosovo field, 70,000 Serbian men, the entire Serbian Army, gave its life to defend Christianity against the onslaught of the Ottoman Turks and Islam. They chose the "Heavenly Kingdom" over the earthly one. For them, Christianity was worth fighting for. Sincerely, Aleksandra Rebic

Anatolia

Letters Home Part 10: Going underground [ Turkey ]
· 06/28/2011 8:45:00 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 1 replies · · Letters Home to You 'blog ·	Remember the two underground cities we visited south of the "central" Cappadocia area? We headed off in that direction, but instead of going to the same ones because they're now just another parking lot crowded with white tour buses, we turned east to explore a town called Guzulyurt. It means beautiful home and is mentioned in Lonely Planet as also having an underground city and church frescoes, but much less visited because it's a little out of the way. What a delight. Drove through some very stark landscape that at times reminded me of our long sweeps through the emptier...

Long Way from Byblos

An Israeli algorithm sheds light on the Bible
· 06/30/2011 7:44:16 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 25 replies · · Associated Press ·	JERUSALEM (AP) --- Software developed by an Israeli team is giving intriguing new hints about what researchers believe to be the multiple hands that wrote the Bible. The new software analyzes style and word choices to distinguish parts of a single text written by different authors, and when applied to the Bible its algorithm teased out distinct writerly voices in the holy book. The program, part of a sub-field of artificial intelligence studies known as authorship attribution, has a range of potential applications --- from helping law enforcement to developing new computer programs for writers. But the Bible provided a...

Religion of Pieces

Video on The Temple Mount Some Don't Want You To See
· 06/26/2011 6:20:37 AM PDT · · Posted by ps2 · · 15 replies · · YouTube ·	According to the site "The Arabs who occupy the land of Israel want this video to be removed . Feel free to copy this video and help spread the truth the palestinians seek to deny."

Helix, Make Mine a Double

Jewish bodies found in medieval well in Norwich [the Blood Libel]
· 07/01/2011 8:37:27 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · BBC ·	...scientists who used a combination of DNA analysis, carbon dating and bone chemical studies in their investigation. The skeletons date back to the 12th or 13th Centuries at a time when Jewish people were facing persecution throughout Europe... discovered in 2004 during an excavation of a site in the centre of Norwich, ahead of construction of the Chapelfield Shopping Centre. The remains were put into storage and have only recently been the subject of investigation. Seven skeletons were successfully tested and five of them had a DNA sequence suggesting they were likely to be members of a single Jewish family......

Epigraphy & Language

Ancient stones a mystery for archeologists, scientists [ Los Lunas Decalogue ]
· 06/28/2011 6:07:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 129 replies · · Your Houston News ·	...if they had the means to explore various parts of Europe and Asia by boat, then they certainly had the means to cross the seas to the Americas. One such item of interest is a large stone that was found in a dry creek bed in New Mexico. This stone discovered by early explorers contains the entire Ten Commandments written in Ancient Hebrew script. Today, this large stone still lies where it was originally found in the early 1800's on the side of Hidden Mountain near Los Lunas, New Mexico, about thirty-five miles south of Albuquerque. Scholars who have studied...

PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis

Micro-camera Provides First Peek Inside Mayan Tomb
· 06/26/2011 7:21:15 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · LiveScience ·	A Mayan tomb closed to the world for 1,500 years has finally revealed some of its secrets as scientists snaked a tiny camera into a red-and-black painted burial chamber. The room, decorated with paintings of nine figures, also contains pottery, jade pieces and shell, archaeologists from Mexico's National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) reported Thursday (June 23). The tomb is located in Palenque, an expansive set of stone ruins in the Mexican state of Chiapas. According to the INAH, the tomb was discovered in 1999 under a building called Temple XX. But the stonework and location prevented exploration. By...

Some Hindu, Some Hindon't

Treasure estimated at $10 Billion found in secret vaults in Indian temple
· 07/01/2011 8:54:57 PM PDT · · Posted by cold start · · 19 replies · · Times of India ·	THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The legend of El Dorado was definitely not set on the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. But the seven-member panel, which is drawing up a list of assets at the famed shrine here, had a feel of the lost city of gold as they set foot in one of the two secret vaults located inside the sprawling granite structure which gives the Kerala capital its name. On Thursday, the team assisted by personnel from the fire services and archeology department opened the locks of vault A to find a narrow flight of stairs leading down to an underground granite cellar. Oxygen...

Prehistory & Origins

Peking man differing from modern humans in brain asymmetry
· 06/30/2011 3:22:33 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · PhysOrg ·	Compared with modern humans, Peking man's brain casts have small brain size, low height and low position of the greatest breadth, flat frontal and parietal lobes, depressed Sylvian areas, strong posterior projection of the occipital lobes, anterior positioning of the cerebellar lobes relative to the occipital lobes, and relative simplicity of the meningeal vessels. The study shows that the absolute hemisphere volumes and surface areas exhibited no significant asymmetries in the Peking man or in modern specimens. However, the relative hemisphere volumes against surface areas differed between the two groups, suggesting that brain asymmetries originated from relative brain sizes rather...

Ancient Autopsies

Ryedale Windy Pits skeletons were 'sacrificial'
· 07/01/2011 8:59:25 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 9 replies · · BBC ·	A new investigation has revealed that human skeletons discovered in caves on the North York Moors were likely to have been the victims of ritual sacrifice 2,000 years ago. A forensic examination of their bones, for the BBC's History Cold Case series, has revealed evidence that at least one of them had been scalped... While it has always been clear the bones had experienced some kind of trauma it has taken a new forensic investigation to reveal more about how these people might have met their deaths. Evidence suggests the caves were used by people from the late Neolithic period,...

Ice, Ice, Iceman to Go

Iceman's Stomach Sampled --- Filled With Goat Meat
· 06/28/2011 8:44:47 AM PDT · · Posted by JoeProBono · · 44 replies · · news.nationalgeographic ·	Hours before he died, "Oëtzi" the Iceman gorged on the fatty meat of a wild goat, according to a new analysis of the famous mummy's stomach contents. The frozen body of the Copper Age hunter was discovered in 1991 in the Alps of northern Italy, where he died some 5,000 years ago. The circumstances surrounding Oëtzi's death are not fully known, but the most popular theory --- based in part on the discovery of an arrowhead in his back --- is that he was murdered by other hunters while fleeing through the mountains. Scientists previously analyzed the contents of Oëtzi's lower intestine and determined...

Arctic

Rapid Melting of Arctic Sea Ice Possibly Explained [new theory?]
· 07/01/2011 6:46:52 PM PDT · · Posted by smokingfrog · · 31 replies · · Eye on the Arctic ·	Arctic researchers have discovered a clue as to why sea ice in the North is melting so much faster than anyone thought it would. Scientists have long puzzled over why Arctic sea ice is retreating at up to three times the rate that climate models say it should. In an effort to answer that question, a group of U.K-based explorers walked more than 500 kilometres of sea ice in the High Arctic, taking temperature readings of the ocean below them. They found a layer of cold, salty water about 200 metres down that they suspect has come from the melting...

Antarctic

Fossilized pollen reveals climate history of northern Antarctica
· 07/01/2011 7:58:45 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · PhysOrg ·	A painstaking examination of the first direct and detailed climate record from the continental shelves surrounding Antarctica reveals that the last remnant of Antarctic vegetation existed in a tundra landscape on the continent's northern peninsula about 12 million years ago. The research, which was led by researchers at Rice University and Louisiana State University, appears online this week and will be featured on the cover of the July 12 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences... In the warmest period in Earth's past 55 million years, Antarctica was ice-free and forested. The continent's vast ice sheets, which...

Zymurgy

Ancient beer may serve as future model
· 02/10/2011 5:39:47 AM PST · · Posted by Red Badger · · 56 replies · · WTHI tv ·	HELSINKI --Finnish scientists are analyzing a golden, cloudy beverage found in a 19th century shipwreck at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, hoping new beers can be modeled on an ancient brew. The VTT Technical Research Center of Finland said Tuesday that through chemical analysis it aims to determine the ingredients and possibly the recipe used in brewing what it called "one of the world's oldest preserved beers." VTT scientist Arvi Vilpola said he had "the honorable task" of being the one on the research team to sample the brew. "It was a little sour and you could taste...

Diet & Cuisine

History Cookbook (recipes from thru out many eras)
· 06/23/2011 5:10:48 PM PDT · · Posted by dynachrome · · 45 replies · · CookIt! ·	Welcome to the history cookbook. Do you know what the Vikings ate for dinner? What a typical meal of a wealthy family in Roman Britain consisted of, or what food was like in a Victorian Workhouse? Why not drop into history cookbook and find out? This project looks at the food of the past and how this influenced the health of the people living in each time period. You can also try some of the recipes for yourself. We have a wide range of historical recipes from Brown Bread Ice Cream to Gruel (Why not see if you would be...

Egypt

French Egyptologist who saved Nubian temples dies [Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt]
· 06/26/2011 7:30:52 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 27 replies · · Yahoo! ·	French Egyptologist Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt, known for her books on art and history and for saving the Nubian temples from flooding caused by the Aswan Dam, has died at the age of 97, her editor Telemaque said Friday. In a career spanning more than half-a-century, Desroches-Noblecourt also helped preserve the mummy of King Ramses II, which was threatened by fungus, and became the first French woman to lead an archaeological dig in 1938... Desroches-Noblecourt's greatest accomplishment came in 1954 when the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser decided to build a new dam with a capacity of 157 billion cubic metres, which...

Roman Empire

Setting the Desert on Fire: How Rome linked Britain and the Arab world
· 06/28/2011 7:24:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Setting the Desert on Fire 'blog ·	We spent a few hours deciphering Roman inscriptions when I studied Latin at school, but unfortunately not long enough for any of what I learnt to stick. Which is a pity for they yield a lot of information. When I spotted the elegantly-lettered tombstone of Cautronius, a standard-bearer of the Italian troop [I think], when I visited Lebanon last year, I thought it worthy of a photograph.* An inscription I saw in a museum in St Albans a while ago points to some interesting linkages across the Roman world, and hints at a tragic love story. It is dedicated to...

Longer Perspectives

Never Give Up Your Weapons
· 05/31/2010 4:14:19 AM PDT · · Posted by Man50D · · 52 replies · · 1,422+ views · · American Thinker ·	History demonstrates that destruction awaits those who attempt to placate their enemies by surrendering their weapons. In 149 BC, half a million citizens of Carthage tried to appease Rome by turning over their armaments. But instead of buying peace, they only facilitated their own destruction. Ninety percent of the Carthaginians were killed, and the city of Carthage was razed. Those who survived were sold into slavery, and Carthaginian civilization was forever wiped from the face of the earth. The story of how the Carthaginians sealed their fate by delivering their weapons into the hands of their enemy is chronicled in...

Agriculture & Animal Husbandry

Existence of 200 "uncontacted' tribal people in Brazilian rainforest confirmed
· 06/25/2011 1:10:11 PM PDT · · Posted by Candor7 · · 63 replies · · Int'l Business Times ·	The Brazilian government has confirmed the existence of about 200 unidentified tribal people in the Amazon rainforest. Satellite pictures in January revealed this community was living near the border with Peru. A flight expedition over the area in April confirmed that they are about 200 in numbers. Along with Survival International (Funai), an organization working for tribal people's rights worldwide, Brazilian authorities found that these people are living in three clearings in the Javari Valley in the western Amazon. According to Fabricio Amorim, who led Funai's overflight expedition, illegal fishing, hunting, logging, mining, cattle ranching, missionary actions, drug trafficking and...



Incredible Video Of A Tribe Meeting White People For The First Time
· 06/25/2011 8:11:55 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 35 replies · · TBI · · Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry · · June 24, 2011 ·	This 15 minute video is from 1976 and shows a tribe in Papua New Guinea encountering white people for the first time. The reactions going from fear to wonder to curiosity to joy are incredible to behold. Watch:(Click to the site to view the video)(snip)

Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy

Ancient Leicestershire hillfort to reveal ancient secrets [ Burrough Hill, near Melton Mowbray ]
· 06/30/2011 4:48:50 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · AlphaGalileo ·	An ancient Leicestershire hillfort will reveal some of its historic secrets over the next month, as archaeologists from the University of Leicester welcome the public to visit the second season of major excavation of the site. Situated on the Jurassic scarp with commanding views of the surrounding countryside, Burrough Hill near Melton Mowbray is one of the most striking and frequently visited prehistoric monuments in central Britain. ... Trenches dug within the fort last summer revealed part of its stone defences, along with a cobbled road, a massive timber gateway and a 'guard' chamber built into the entrance rampart. This...

British Isles

Archaeologists furious over councillor's 'bunny huggers' jibe
· 06/30/2011 3:43:20 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · Guardian UK ·	Archaeologists have condemned a Tory council leader's threat to dismantle all archaeological controls on development, saying that the regulations are necessary to protect the UK's unique national heritage. Alan Melton, leader of Fenland District Council, dismissed opponents of development as "bunny huggers" in a speech last week. Archaeologists fear his views reflect a national threat to all heritage protection as a result of the government's determination to simplify the planning process to encourage development. The principle that developers must pay for archaeological excavation --- before construction work destroys sites --- has led to a string of major discoveries in the...

The Consequences of Not Voting Republican

Don't Know Much About History
· 06/21/2011 4:54:41 AM PDT · · Posted by chickadee · · 31 replies · · Wall Street Journal ·	'We're raising young people who are, by and large, historically illiterate," David McCullough tells me on a recent afternoon in a quiet meeting room at the Boston Public Library. Having lectured at more than 100 colleges and universities over the past 25 years, he says, "I know how much these young people --- even at the most esteemed institutions of higher learning --- don't know." Slowly, he shakes his head in dismay. "It's shocking."

Age of Sail

Treasure Hunters Find $500k Ring at Atocha Wreck
· 06/26/2011 4:09:06 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 18 replies · · NBC Miami ·	A crew from Mel Fisher's Treasures found the 10-karat emerald piece on Thursday The famed Atocha shipwreck site in the Florida Keys coughed up another treasure Thursday when salvagers said they discovered a 10-karat emerald ring initially valued at $500,000. A crew with historic salvagers Mel Fisher's Treasures found the ornately carved gold ring while searching for the long-lost sterncastle of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Senora de Atocha, which sank off the Keys during a hurricane in 1622. The ring was found with two silver spoons and two other silver-encrusted artifacts about 35 miles west of Key West, within 300...

The Revolution

8 French Soldiers Died in Van Cortlandtville [NY] During Revolutionary War
· 06/27/2011 5:34:18 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 24 replies · · Peekskill-Cortlandt Patch ·	Seven are buried in unmarked graves near Old St. Peter's Church, which was used as military hospital during fight for American independence. Memorial stone in front of Old St. Peter's Church honors the eight French soldiers who died in Van Cortlandtville during the Revolutionary War.Credit Jeff Canning Photos France sent 44,000 soldiers and sailors across the Atlantic Ocean to help the infant United States win its independence from British rule during the Revolutionary War. Five thousand of them died during the conflict, eight of them in Van Cortlandtville. The body of one, an officer who was a member of the...



New Book Challenges Popularly Held Views of the American Revolution
· 06/29/2011 9:52:17 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 27 replies · · PR Web ·	Arsonist: The Most Dangerous Man in America defies conventional wisdom, elevating one obscure rebel to prominent position and describing a revolutionary process that was far more coordinated and earth-shattering than previously thought. "Serious students of the American Revolution Ã–will find this comprehensive book a fascinating read. Allen is a thorough researcher and skillful writer Ã– a highly readable book that is never dull." ForeWord Clarion Reviews --- Five Stars (out of Five) Westport, CT (PRWEB) June 29, 2011 Arsonist, to be published July 4, 2011, explores the world of colonial Massachusetts from the 1740s through the 1760s and is one...



[UK] Historian [Simon] Schama Makes Newsweek Debut Bashing Tea Partiers Over Respect for Founding Fathers
· 06/27/2011 5:57:47 PM PDT · · Posted by chessplayer · · 82 replies · · Newsbusters ·	Columbia University professor Simon Schama made his Newsweek debut yesterday with a blog post that indirectly attacked Tea Party activists and conservatives for what Schama considers a historically illiterate ancestor worship of the Founding Fathers. "The Constitution's framers were flawed like today's politicians, so it's high time we stop embalming them in infallibility," snarked the subheading for Schama's June 26 post.



American Revolutionary War Museum to Honor Al-Jazeera [Maine]
· 07/01/2011 5:55:37 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 42 replies · · Right Side News ·	The General Henry Knox Museum is honoring a representative of Al-Jazeera, the channel associated with various terrorist organizations, on July 28 on the stage of The Strand Theatre in Rockland, Maine. The museum says that an intimate Gala dinner and reception will follow at 7:30 p.m. at Camden National Bank's historic Spear Block location in Rockland. Knox played a significant role in the American war for independence from Britain and was close to General George Washington. The idea of an American museum devoted to patriotism honoring a representative of a foreign-funded channel, described by Middle East experts such as Walid...

The Framers

Journal of the Federal Convention June 28th 1787
· 06/28/2011 2:40:28 AM PDT · · Posted by Jacquerie · · 8 replies · · Avalon Project ·	Seventh Resolution. Proportional Representation in First Branch. Dissolution. Madison Speech. Equal Representation of States in First Branch. In Convention Mr. L. MARTIN resumed his discourse, contending that the Genl. Govt. ought to be formed for the States, not for individuals: that if the States were to have votes in proportion to their numbers of people, it would be the same thing whether their representatives were chosen by the Legislatures or the people; the smaller States would be equally enslaved; that if the large States have the same interest with the smaller as was urged, there could be no danger in...

Early America

Restoration of cannons found on Arch Cape beach reveal surprising history (OR)
· 06/25/2011 2:22:20 PM PDT · · Posted by jazusamo · · 6 replies · · The Oregonian ·	It's not exactly a process that goes off with a bang. More than three years after a Portland-area girl and her dad found a pair old cannons on the beach in Arch Cape, restoration on one of the cannons is finally finished and work has begun on the other. It's slow-going for sure, but patience has paid off in a number of clues to the first gun's origins. Tualatin beachcombers Miranda Petrone and her father, Michael Petrone, found the cannons in February 2008. Oregon Parks and Recreation took possession of the old guns, storing them in water tanks, then driving...



CA: 130-year-old outhouses yield treasures
· 07/17/2007 8:29:12 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 17 replies · · 502+ views · · AP on Yahoo ·	VENTURA, Calif. --The spot where a pair of outhouses stood 130 years ago is proving to be a treasure trove for archaeologists who braved the lingering smell in the dirt to uncover some 19th Century artifacts --- and a mystery. The one-time site of privies for men and women has been built upon repeatedly. Recently, crews demolished a former school bus barn on the 3.5-acre downtown site in order to build a condominium complex and a parking garage. But first, archaeologists were called in. Beginning in late May, they started digging into the ground in a discovery process that...

The Wild West

Last portrait of Billy the Kid sells for $2.3M
· 06/26/2011 10:16:04 AM PDT · · Posted by lowbridge · · 10 replies · · NY Post ·	What is believed to be the only surviving authenticated portrait of Billy the Kid went up for auction in Denver on Saturday and sold for $2.3 million. The tintype on Saturday evening went to private collector William Koch at Brian Lebel's 22nd Annual Old West Show & Auction, where auction spokeswoman Melissa McCracken said the image of the 1800s outlaw was the most expensive piece ever sold at the event. A 15 percent fee was added to the bidding price, making the selling price more than $2.6 million. Organizers had expected it could fetch between $300,000 and $400,000. The tintype...



Billy the Kid tintype photograph sells for $2.3 million at Denver auction
· 06/27/2011 2:26:47 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 18 replies · · NYDailyNews ·	The last remaining original portrait of one of the Wild West's most notorious outlaws sold at auction Saturday for a whopping $2.3 million. The only known tintype photograph of Billy the Kid sold at Brian Lebel's 22nd Annual Old West Show & Auction in Colorado to a 71-year-old Florida businessman. "I love the Old West," said William Koch, who lives in Palm Beach. "I plan on enjoying it and discreetly sharing it. I think I'll display it in a few small museums." The photograph, believed to have been taken outside a saloon at Fort Sumner, New Mexico in either 1879...

The Civil War

Civil War Diaries and Letters Digital Collection: Civil War Diaries Transcription Project
· 06/24/2011 1:28:25 AM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 12 replies · · U of Iowa Libraries ·	"Thanks to the development of "crowdsourcing" or collaborative transcription of manuscript materials, libraries are now able to use the knowledge and interest of the general public to meet goals that they would never have the time, financial, and staff resources to achieve on their own. Please help us transcribe the 3011 diary pages in this collection. Simply select a diary and enter the text as it appears on the digitized image."

Equid Twilight

Custer and Little Bighorn: 135 years ago and questions remain
· 06/25/2011 8:15:40 PM PDT · · Posted by EveningStar · · 206 replies · · The Dickinson Press ·	Today marks the 135 anniversary of the Battle of the Little Big Horn near present day Garryowen, Mont. After all this time the death of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer remains a mystery.

Underwater Archaeology

Confederate sub upright for first time since 1864
· 06/24/2011 4:10:05 PM PDT · · Posted by Hunton Peck · · 48 replies · · Associated Press ·	NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- The first submarine in history to sink an enemy warship is upright for the first time in almost 150 years, revealing a side of its hull not seen since it sank off the South Carolina coast during the Civil War. Workers at a conservation lab finished the painstaking, two-day job of rotating the hand-cranked H.L. Hunley upright late Thursday. The Hunley was resting on its side at a 45-degree angle on the bottom of the Atlantic when it was raised in August 2000 and scientists had kept it in slings in that position in the lab...

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

Unexploded shell found in Kake is a blast from past
· 06/25/2011 9:38:09 PM PDT · · Posted by skeptoid · · 11 replies · · Anchorage Daily News ·	Della Cheney remembers playing with a family heirloom growing up in Kake, a rather strange-looking metallic object that wasn't easily moved about. "It was very heavy," Cheney said. "At least 25 pounds." The heirloom? A roughly 12-inch long, 30-pound unexploded round of ammunition fired by the U.S. military on the village more than 140 years ago in what villagers and other descendents still refer to as "The Kake War."

Fon Gock, Pick Ass Oh, Go Gan

Paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh and Gauguin stolen in £1m raid on gallery
· 04/27/2003 5:32:09 PM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 37 replies · · 368+ views · · UK Independent ·	Three paintings by Picasso, Van Gogh and Gauguin worth a total of £1m were stolen from a Manchester art gallery over the weekend in a "well planned" theft by professional art thieves, police said. Staff at the Whitworth Gallery only discovered the three works were missing when they turned up for work at about midday yesterday. The paintings are believed to have been in the same room at the museum, which has a world-renowned collection of 40,000 works by artists ranging from Lucian Freud to Toulouse Lautrec. Detectives said the thieves had broken into the building at some point after...

The Political Seduction of Common Sense

Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure
· 04/12/2003 4:24:15 PM PDT · · Posted by Mister Magoo · · 54 replies · · 3,425+ views · · New York Times · · John F. Burns ·	BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12 --- The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein's government this week, it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters. Advertisement The full extent of the disaster that befell the museum only came to light today, as the frenzied looting that swept much...



Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure
· 04/13/2003 12:28:39 AM PDT · · Posted by JohnHuang2 · · 44 replies · · 2,363+ views · · New York Times · · John F. Burns ·	BAGHDAD, Iraq, April 12 --- The National Museum of Iraq recorded a history of civilizations that began to flourish in the fertile plains of Mesopotamia more than 7,000 years ago. But once American troops entered Baghdad in sufficient force to topple Saddam Hussein's government this week, it took only 48 hours for the museum to be destroyed, with at least 170,000 artifacts carried away by looters. The full extent of the disaster that befell the museum came to light only today, as the frenzied looting that swept...



Iraqis selling Antiquities ( FLASHBACK 1996)
· 04/15/2003 11:20:06 PM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 26 replies · · 998+ views · · U of San Francisco · · Barbara Crossette ·	Browsing the antiques markets of London a few years ago, McGuire Gibson, an expert on Mesopotamian art and archaeology at the University of Chicago, found some of his worst fears confirmed. In the stalls of Portobello Road and the shops of Bond Street, dealers offered him antiquities probably smuggled from Iraq, a modern nation in distress that sits astride the remains of several ancient civilizations. Cylinder seals, which were once used on tablets of wet clay in something like an ancient version of notarization, were for sale by...



Experts: Looters had keys to Iraqi antiquity vaults
· 04/17/2003 8:31:57 AM PDT · · Posted by Oldeconomybuyer · · 134 replies · · 261+ views · · Associated Press ·	PARIS (AP) --- Some of the looters who ravaged Iraqi antiquities had keys to museum vaults and were able to take pieces from safes, experts said Thursday at an international meeting. The U.N. cultural agency, UNESCO, gathered some 30 art experts and cultural historians in Paris on Thursday to assess the damage to Iraqi museums and libraries looted in the aftermath of the U.S.-led invasion.



Iraqis Say Museum Looting Wasn't as Bad as Feared
· 04/17/2003 12:01:36 PM PDT · · Posted by TroutStalker · · 94 replies · · 528+ views · · The Wall Street Journal ·	BAGHDAD, Iraq --- Last week's looting of the Iraq National Museum, which saw numerous items disappear from a vast collection spanning eight millennia of Mesopotamian history, has provoked world-wide outcry --- and criticism of the U.S. military for its failure to protect Iraq's priceless cultural heritage.



Looting was work of organised traffickers: UNESCO experts
· 04/17/2003 4:13:39 PM PDT · · Posted by Oldeconomybuyer · · 51 replies · · 602+ views · · Agence France-Presse (AFP) ·	PARIS, April 17 (AFP) --Much of the looting of treasures at Iraq's national museum was carried out by organised gangs who traffic in works of ancient art, according to experts at a United Nations conference called on Thursday to examine the war-damage to the country's cultural heritage. "It looks as if at least part of the theft was a very deliberate, planned action," said McGuire Gibson, of Chicago University's Oriental Institute, who is president of the American Association for Research in Baghdad. "Probably (it was done) by the same sorts of gangs that have been paying for the destruction...



Experts Thieves Pillaged Iraqi Museums
· 04/17/2003 8:39:43 PM PDT · · Posted by Unwavering Conservative · · 38 replies · · 229+ views · · Biloxi Sun Herald · · Jocelyn Gecker · · Associated Press ·	PARIS --Professional thieves, likely organized outside Iraq, pillaged the nation's priceless ancient history collections by using the cover of widespread looting --and vault keys --to make off with irreplaceable items, art experts and historians said Thursday. The bandits were so efficient at emptying Iraqi libraries and museums that reports have already surfaced of artifacts appearing on the black market, some experts said. Certain thieves apparently knew exactly what they wanted from the irreplaceable Babylonian, Sumerian and Assyrian collections, and exactly where to find them. "It looks as if...



Many Others Are Museum Looters (must read for those following the "looting" story)
· 04/18/2003 12:12:32 AM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 17 replies · · 229+ views · · Wheeling News Register · · The Intelligencer ·	Looting of the Iraq National Museum, long home to many rare and unique antiquities, has been big news. While much of the concern expressed about the fate of the museum certainly is genuine, at least some of the discussion has been driven by the anti-war crowd. If only the United States and the Coalition force had not invaded, their argument goes, then precious artifacts would not have been lost. But there's much more to the story. Like much else about the regime of Saddam Hussein, the museum was run with great secrecy about what it actually possessed. It seems that...



3 resign from U.S. art panel to protest Iraq museum looting [Clinton appointees]
· 04/18/2003 8:16:09 AM PDT · · Posted by Incorrigible · · 64 replies · · 227+ views · · Newark Star Ledger (AP) · · Associated Press ·	WASHINGTON --- Three members of the White House Cultural Property Advisory Committee have resigned to protest U.S. military unresponsiveness as Baghdad's National Museum of Antiquities was looted, even though reports suggest the thefts may have been carried out by professional thieves. FBI Director Robert Mueller, meanwhile, said his agency was in on the hunt for looted Iraqi treasures. Martin E. Sullivan, Richard S. Lanier and Gary Vikan, each appointed by former President Clinton, said they were disappointed by the military's failure to protect...



Expert Thieves Took Artifacts, UNESCO Says (Don't blame the US!)
· 04/18/2003 9:38:21 AM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 2 replies · · 190+ views · · The Washington Post ·	Matsuura said top museum officials tried to protect the institution, but the thieves may have succeeded in paying off guards or other low-ranking personnel. He said he doesn't blame the U.S. military, even though UNESCO had urged the U.S. government before the war to safeguard it and other cultural sites. "If I were to blame somebody, it would be those armed bandits who looted their own cultural treasury," Matsuura said. The museum was assaulted during "a power vacuum" following the collapse of Saddam Hussein's government, and "anything could happen in such confusion and turmoil," he said.



Looters return objects to museum
· 04/18/2003 8:22:14 PM PDT · · Posted by knak · · 57 replies · · 252+ views · · ic Liverpool ·	Baghdad residents returned 20 looted pieces from Iraq's ransacked national collection holding some of the earliest artefacts of civilisation. Iraq's antiquities chief, Jabar Hilil, yesterday called looting of Iraq's national museum following entry of US forces the "crime of the century." And he questioned why US forces made no move to safeguard it in the days of chaos that followed the toppling of President Saddam Hussein's government. But Hilil left open the possibility that losses were not as absolute as first thought. With no electricity in Baghdad, he said, museum operators had yet to make a full assessment of the...



U.S. accused of crime of century
· 04/19/2003 12:55:38 AM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 26 replies · · 235+ views · · Gulf News, Dubai ·	U.S. troops committed the cultural "crime of the century" when they failed to protect priceless Iraqi artefacts from looters and likely trampled archaeological sites during the invasion, top antiquities officials here charged yesterday. They also said a small number of "valuable" missing museum pieces were returned after appeals by religious leaders, but denied reports from a UN conference that Iraqi officials may have been involved in an organised theft. "With what I'm expecting has happened in the (archaeological) sites in the field and what happened to the Iraq museum, I would say it's the crime of the century because it...




Most antiquities found, unharmed
· 05/05/2003 7:41:04 AM PDT · · Posted by sjersey · · 81 replies · · 499+ views · · Philadelphia Inquirer ·	BAGHDAD --The vast majority of the Iraqi trove of antiquities feared stolen or broken have been found inside the National Museum in Baghdad, according to American investigators who compiled an inventory over the weekend of the ransacked galleries. A total of 38 antiquities, not tens of thousands, are now believed to be missing. Among them is a single display of Babylonian cuneiform tablets that accounts for nine missing items. The single most valuable missing piece is the Vase of Warka, a white limestone bowl dating from 3000 B.C.



Missing (Baghdad) museum artefacts found safe in vaults
· 05/08/2003 4:30:35 PM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 47 replies · · 289+ views · · The Straits Times ·	WASHINGTON --More than 700 artefacts and tens of thousands of ancient manuscripts that had been missing from the National Museum in Baghdad have been recovered by teams of investigators in Iraq, US officials said on Wednesday. Some of the missing works were stored in underground vaults before the United States-led invasion of the country. The US investigators located the vaults over the past week. They forced them open, revealing hundreds of artefacts that had apparently been stored there to protect them from being damaged in a US assault. The find included ancient jewellery, pottery and sarcophaguses, officials said. The...



The museum sacking that wasn't
· 05/27/2003 4:51:54 AM PDT · · Posted by Cincinatus · · 45 replies · · 272+ views · · Townhall.com ·	If you only read The New York Times, you might think the only truly important recent event in Iraq was the looting of the Iraqi National Museum. For art lovers, this branded the U.S. occupation with the worst of all possible labels, worse than "imperialist," worse than "illegal" --- "Philistine." Robert Deutsch, an archeologist at Haifa University and a licensed antiquities dealer, shakes his head at all the coverage of the museum sacking. The Times originally reported that 170,000 pieces had been stolen. "Nonsense," says Deutsch. He points out that there would have to be "miles and miles" of display...



'Looted' Treasures Found In Baghdad
· 06/07/2003 5:12:40 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 13 replies · · 236+ views · · Independent (UK) · · Andrew Clennell ·	Almost all the items feared looted from the Iraqi National Museum in April have been found safe in a secret vault, the US announced yesterday. In a separate find, the world-famous treasures of Nimrud, one of the most important archaeological discoveries of the 20th century, which have not been on public display since before the first Gulf War, have also been located. They were found in good condition in a different vault, at Iraq's central bank. US occupation authorities said fewer than 50 major exhibition items from the National...



Mother of Media Myths (Undoubtedly written by Paul Greenberg so you know it's great!)
· 06/13/2003 5:58:15 PM PDT · · Posted by Durmundstrang · · 15 replies · · 516+ views · · Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ·	What's THE biggest media myth to come out of the Iraq? War and its messy aftermath? Forget Maureen Dowd's attempt to trash George W. Bush by altering the president's words. That kind of "journalism" has become just standard operating procedure at the New York Times. (" All the News Fit to Distort") No, for sheer, long-lasting stamina, we nominate the urban legend about the pillaging of Baghdad's archaeological museum. Remember how it was supposed to have been emptied by looters? It was THE RAPE OF CIVILIZATION! The anguished comments from distinguished archaeologists sounded more like tabloid headlines. The Death of...



Iraqi treasures to tour US
· 08/02/2003 1:26:45 AM PDT · · Posted by FairOpinion · · 6 replies · · 228+ views · · BBC ·	The Baghdad museum is lending some of its greatest treasures to the US, just months after fearing much of it had been looted. The museum in the Iraqi capital was hit by a wave of looting in the days following the fall of Baghdad. But after recovering much of what was thought to have been stolen, the Iraq museum is keen to show off its items of cultural importance. Among the valuables which will form part of a travelling exhibition is the collection of Assyrian jewellery known as the Nimrud artefacts. The priceless array of 650 bracelets, necklaces, royal tiaras...

end of digest #363 20110702


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #364 Saturday, July 9, 2011

Archaeoastronomy & Megaliths

Is an Eclipse Described in the Odyssey (and does it date the return of Odysseus to Penelope)
· 07/08/2011 11:33:43 AM PDT · · Posted by wildbill · · 37 replies · · PNAS June 2008 · · June 2008 · · Marcelo Magnasco ·	"Now when did Odysseus return to Penelope? The date is given with a precision most unusual in epic poetry." "Because the lines describing the alleged eclipse are considered suspect, we shall use other passages in the Odyssey to shed some light on the issue, without assuming an eclipse. Given an interpretation of certain passages in the Odyssey as describing astronomical phenomena, we will look for dates in which the phenomena match. We shall find that the most likely day matching these other phenomena is 16 April 1178 B.C., suggesting there may be corroborating information in the epic for the eclipse...

Catastrophism & Astronomy

The tsunamis of Olympia
· 07/08/2011 7:10:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Past Horizons · · Thursday, July 7, 2011 · · Johannes Gutenberg U ·	Olympia, the Sanctuary of Zeus and venue of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, was probably destroyed by tsunamis that reached far inland, and not as previously believed, by earthquakes and river flooding... Palëotsunamis that have taken place over the last 11,000 years along the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean. The Olympic-tsunami hypothesis has been put forward due to sediments found in the vicinity of Olympia, which were buried under an 8 metres thick layer of sand and other debris, and only rediscovered around 250 years ago. "The composition and thickness of the sediments we have found, do not fit...

Here Comes the Flood

Archaeology: Black Sea's ancient coast found -- report
· 07/08/2011 6:50:13 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Sofia Echo · · Thursday, July 07, 2011 · · staff ·	Bulgarian scientists have found the ancient shores of the Black Sea, currently deep beneath the waves, which they claim were the original shores about 7500 years ago, when the Black Sea at the time was just a fresh water lake... The team, led by Professor Petko Dimitrov of the Institute of Oceanology in Varna, which is part of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences (BAS), returned from an expedition aboard the research vessel Akademik, saying that they have found the ancient coastline close to the Cape of Emine. Archaeological evidence suggest that this particular spot was part of the ancient coastline,...

Let's Have Jerusalem

First Temple findings reinforce Jewish Jerusalem
· 07/04/2011 12:47:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 32 replies · · Jewish Chronicle · · June 30 2011 · · Nathan Jeffay ·	Claiming one in the eye for the Palestinian trend of "Temple denial", Israeli archaeologists are preparing, for the first time, to open buildings from the First Temple era to the public. In recent years Palestinians, including leaders of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, have claimed in growing numbers that there was never a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. The new finds mean that not only can Israel cite archaeological evidence of the Second Temple but that it can also boast a major a complex of excavations from the First Temple, built some five centuries earlier. The new excavations, which will open to...



Home from Biblical Kingdom Of Israel Discovered on Haifa Coast
· 07/03/2011 1:22:36 PM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 19 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 3/7/11 · · Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu ·	A well-preserved, 3,000-year-old four-room house from the Biblical Kingdom of Israel has been discovered on Haifa's southern coast by University of Haifa archaeologists. They also found remains of a Persian city, dating back 2,400 years, and of a 1,500-year-old Byzantine town. The discoveries at the Shikmona Nature Reserve site involved what experts said was detective work, due to the site's having been excavated 42 years ago but since covered with garbage and earth. Archaeologists from Haifa University re-examined the structure and were amazed to find that it had remained well preserved and is in fact the best-preserved "Four-Room House" dating...



Uncovering a kingdom (Kingdom of Israel)
· 07/05/2011 7:32:19 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · · University of Haifa · · July 3, 2011 · · Editor ·	Exceptional detective-archaeological work at the first season of archaeological digs at Tel Shikmona, on the southern edge of Israel's city of Haifa, has uncovered the remains of a house dating back to the period of the Kingdom of Israel. The site was excavated about 40 years ago and due to neglect and layers of earth and garbage that piled up over the decades, the historical remains were hidden and little was known about what lay below. Upon re-exposing the structure, archaeologists from the University of Haifa were amazed to find that it had remained well preserved and is in fact...

The Philistines

In Israel, diggers unearth the Bible's bad guys
· 07/08/2011 5:19:43 AM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 67 replies · · Charlotte observer · · 7-8-11 ·	TEL EL-SAFI, Israel At the remains of an ancient metropolis in southern Israel, archaeologists are piecing together the history of a people remembered chiefly as the bad guys of the Hebrew Bible. The city of Gath, where the annual digging season began this week, is helping scholars paint a more nuanced portrait of the Philistines, who appear in the biblical story as the perennial enemies of the Israelites. Close to three millennia ago, Gath was on the frontier between the Philistines, who occupied the Mediterranean coastal plain, and the Israelites, who controlled the inland hills. The city's most famous resident,...

Prehistory & Origins

The Origins of Archery in Africa
· 07/06/2011 4:15:09 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 15 replies · · ·	It is well understood that projectile weapons allow lethal killing power at a safe distance and their use is near universal among human groups. Before the firearm began it's rise to prominence over the last 500 years the most popular projectile weapons systems were the atlatl (spearthrower/dart) and the bow and arrow. Most researchers consider these as ""true'' projectile technologies, distinguishing them from thrown spears, throwing sticks and other hurled weapons. There is considerable archaeological consensus that projectile weapons were in use by the Late Palaeolithic at least 30,000 years ago. However, last year, anthropologist Marlize Lombard of South Africa's...

Africa

Archeological Findings Reveal Central African History [...humans settled Cameroon 5000 years ago]
· 07/08/2011 4:03:51 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · Voice of America · · Wednesday, July 6, 2011 · · Ntaryike Divine Jr ·	Artifacts from hundreds of archeological sites from southern Chad to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Cameroon... research was conducted between 1999 and 2004 as construction was underway on the underground petroleum pipeline... which is more than 1000 kilometers long.... 472 archeological sites along the area in both Cameroon and Chad were found .some dating back to as long ago as 100,000 years. He says, "we found sites where people had lived, where people had stored food, where people had made tools of iron. Before people in this area used iron, they made a whole variety of different...

Australia & the Pacific

Finding showing human ancestor older than previously thought offers new insights into evolution
· 07/04/2011 8:45:25 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 30 replies · · Eurekalert! · · Wednesday, June 29, 2011 · · James Devitt ·	Homo erectus is widely considered a direct human ancestor -- it resembles modern humans in many respects, except for its smaller brain and differently shaped skull -- and was the first of our ancestors to migrate out of Africa, approximately 1.8 million years ago. Homo erectus went extinct in Africa and much of Asia by about 500,000 years ago, but appeared to have survived in Indonesia until about 35,000 to 50,000 years ago at the site of Ngandong on the Solo River. These late members of Homo erectus would have shared the environment with early members of our own species,...



Human Ancestor in Indonesia Died Out Earlier Than Once Thought
· 07/05/2011 4:52:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 12 replies · · Popular archaeology · · 6-30-2011 ·	A 1996 expedition resulted in conclusions that the ancient early human species, Homo erectus, coexisted for a time with modern humans in Indonesia. The most recent expedition suggests otherwise, challenging a widely held hypothesis of human evolution. Homo erectus, an ancient human ancestor that lived 1.8 million -- 35,000 years ago, is said by theorists of human evolution to have lived alongside Homo sapiens (modern humans) in Indonesia, surviving most other Homo erectus populations that became extinct in Africa and most of Eurasia by 500,000 B.P. Perhaps not so, according to an international team of researchers, after conducting archaeological investigations...

Roman Empire

Counting On Progress: Roman numerals were fine for adding and subtracting. Fibonacci saw that...
· 07/07/2011 9:17:30 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 26 replies · · Wall St Journal · · Thursday, July 7, 2011 · · reviewed by Alan Hirshfeld ·	For popular historians, there is a constant tension between patching up a holey narrative and honoring a commitment to the facts, as rickety as these often are. Perhaps authors of historical fiction have an easier time of it; they use facts as the yeast to grow fully formed characters, convincing dialogue and a credible story line. We are eager partners in these literary deceptions, for the opportunity to stand shoulder to shoulder with Renault's Alexander or Graves's Claudius. Nonfiction historians are hogtied; no amount of speculative verbiage can truly fill an absence of facts. Such is the case with Fibonacci...

Epigraphy & Language

Hoard of Viking silver coins unearthed in Furness
· 07/04/2011 7:38:45 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 28 replies · · BBC · · 1 July 2011 · · unattributed ·	A metal detectorist uncovered a Viking hoard of silver coins and artefacts in the Cumbrian countryside. The collection, which has been provisionally valued at tens of thousands of pounds, was found in an undisclosed site in Furness. It is being examined by experts at the British Museum and is expected to be declared as treasure. Experts at Barrow's Dock Museum hope to acquire the hoard and said it was an exciting find for the area. It consists of 92 silver coins and artefacts including ingots and a silver bracelet. Among the coins is a pair of Arabic dirhams. Experts believe...

The Vikings

Dorset burial pit Viking had filed teeth
· 07/05/2011 4:10:12 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 10 replies · · BBC · · 7-4-2011 ·	Archaeologists have discovered one of the victims of a suspected mass Viking burial pit found in Dorset had grooves filed into his two front teeth. Experts believe a collection of bones and decapitated heads, unearthed during the creation of the Weymouth Relief Road, belong to young Viking warriors. During analysis, a pair of front teeth was found to have distinct incisions. Archaeologists think it may have been designed to frighten opponents or show status as a great fighter....



Fierce, fashionable Vikings filed their teeth and ironed their clothes
· 07/08/2011 11:43:14 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 36 replies · · io9.com/ · · 07-08-2011 · · Staff ·	A mysterious cache of dozens of humans skulls discovered earlier this year in Dorset, England belonged to Viking raiders. Anthropologists figured this out when they examined the teeth, and found that elaborate patterns had been filed into them. That's right -- the Vikings filed their teeth, and probably put pigment into the designs to make them look even more badass. No other European groups were known to file their teeth at the time these Vikings were beheaded about a millennium ago, though it was a common practice in Africa and Paleoamerica. Were the filed teeth these Norsemen's attempt to make...

Have Mercia

Staffordshire Hoard 'to help rewrite history'
· 07/03/2011 9:17:20 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 27 replies · · BBC · · July 2, 2011 · · Unknown ·	A haul of Anglo-Saxon gold discovered beneath a Staffordshire farmer's field could help rewrite history, experts say.Historians believe the Staffordshire Hoard could hold vital clues to explain the conversion of Mercia -- England's last great Pagan kingdom -- to Christianity in the 7th Century. The hoard was found buried on a farm in Staffordshire in July 2009. The 1,500 pieces of gold are thought to be the spoils of an Anglo-Saxon battle. 'Warring kingdoms'TV historian Dan Snow believes the find has the potential to rewrite the history books. Speaking on BBC1's The Staffordshire Hoard, he said the conversion of Mercia...

British Isles

Woman's skeleton found at Sedgeford dig sheds light on Norfolk 4,000 years ago
· 07/05/2011 4:22:20 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 14 replies · · EDP24.co.uk · · 7-4-2011 · · Chris Bishop ·	Curled up in her burial pit with her amber beads, an ancient woman's remains show our ancestors farmed a lush Norfolk valley thousands of years earlier than previously believed. ~~~snip~~~ "It was a total surprise to us," he said. "You don't bury people anywhere other than near where they live, so what we can say is that people were farming the land here 4,000 years ago."....

Ancient Autopsies

Archaeologists Puzzle Over Opulent Prehistoric Burial Find
· 07/01/2011 8:54:25 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 34 replies · · Spiegel Online · · 01 July 2011 · · Matthias Schulz ·	When archeologists recently excavated a 3,800-year-old palace near the eastern German city of Weimar, they discovered about 100 valuable weapons buried next to a massive structure. Now they are puzzling over how an ancient chieftain buried nearby became so rich. In 1877, when archeology was still in its infancy, art professor Friedrich Klopfleisch climbed an almost nine-meter (20-foot) mound of earth in Leubingen, a district in the eastern German state of Thuringia lying near a range of hills in eastern Germany known as the Kyffhëuser. He was there to "kettle" the hill, which entailed having workers dig a hole from...

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Legendary Viking Home Site Found (Snorri)
· 10/05/2002 2:31:00 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 44 replies · · 366+ views · · CNN.com · · 10-3-2002 ·	LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a Viking longhouse that many believe was the home of Snorri Thorfinnsson, thought to be the first European born in the New World. The 1,000-year-old ruins were found in a glacial valley in northern Iceland during a survey of Viking-era buildings led by archaeologists at the University of California, Los Angeles.



Legendary Viking home site found
· 10/07/2002 9:51:37 PM PDT · · Posted by stainlessbanner · · 8 replies · · 344+ views · · cnn.com · · October 3, 2002 · · AP ·	LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of a Viking longhouse that many believe was the home of Snorri Thorfinnsson, thought to be the first European born in the New World. The 1,000-year-old ruins were found in a glacial valley in northern Iceland during a survey of Viking-era buildings led by archaeologists at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Helix, Make Mine a Double

Ancestry of polar bears traced to Ireland
· 07/07/2011 12:36:25 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 29 replies · · Penn State · · July 7, 2011 · · Unknown ·	An international team of scientists has discovered that the female ancestor of all living polar bears was a brown bear that lived in the vicinity of present-day Britain and Ireland just prior to the peak of the last ice age -- 20,000 to 50,000 years ago. Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University and one of the team's leaders, explained that climate changes affecting the North Atlantic ice sheet probably gave rise to periodic overlaps in bear habitats. These overlaps then led to hybridization, or interbreeding -- an event that caused maternal DNA from brown...

Paleontology

The rise and rise of the flying reptiles
· 07/06/2011 12:25:59 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 9 replies · · University of Bristol · · July 6, 2011 · · Unknown ·	Pterosaurs, flying reptiles from the time of the dinosaurs, were not driven to extinction by the birds, but in fact they continued to diversify and innovate for millions of years afterwards.A new study by Katy Prentice, done as part of her undergraduate degree (MSci in Palaeontology and Evolution) at the University of Bristol, shows that the pterosaurs evolved in a most unusual way, becoming more and more specialised through their 160 million years on Earth. The work is published today in the Journal of Systematic Palaeontology. "Usually, when a new group of animals or plants evolves, they quickly try out...

Egypt

5,200 year-old Ancient Egyptian drawing unearthed
· 07/04/2011 11:32:04 AM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 10 replies · · Associated Press · · July 4, 2011 ·	CAIRO (AP) -- Egypt's Antiquities Authority says archaeologists have unearthed a 5,200-year-old rock drawing depicting a royal festival during Ancient Egypt's earliest dynasty. The ministry says the scenes were part of a series of rock drawings featuring hunting, fighting and celebrations along the banks of the Nile River.

Rock This Town

Riddle of the Pyramids: Why De Mille didn't need all those slaves
· 12/31/2001 12:33:44 PM PST · · Posted by John Farson · · 103 replies · · 1,263+ views · · The Observer · · Sunday December 30, 2001 · · Paul Webster in Paris ·	Like millions of tourists, from the Ancient Greeks on, the Blairs may have been victims of one of the world's oldest confidence tricks when they walked round the Pyramids on the Prime Minister's holiday trip to Egypt. To the uninitiated eye, the 2.3 million blocks of stones rising to a 146-metre peak on the 4,500-year-old Great Pyramid near Cairo look as solid as pure granite. But French architects and scientists believe they are nothing more than weathered concrete blocks, moulded on the spot, stone by stone and layer by layer, from the ground upwards. The theory, being explored by ...

Pages

What Are You Reading Now? -- My Quarterly Thread
· 07/07/2011 12:57:12 PM PDT · · Posted by MplsSteve · · 186 replies · · class="attrib">7/07/11 · · MplsSteve ·	Hi everyone! I hope your 4th of July was a good one. it's time again for my quarterly "What Are You Reading Now?" thread. As you know, I consider Freepers to be among the most well-read of those of us on the Internet and I like to see what other Freepers are reading these days. It can be anything -- a classic novel, a trashy pulp romance, a technical journal, etc. Please do not deile this thread by posting "I'm reading this thread". it became very unfunny a long time ago. I'll start. I'm just finishing "Chancellorsville 1863: The Souls...

The Revolution

"We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient..."
· 07/04/2011 6:36:29 AM PDT · · Posted by EternalVigilance · · 33 replies · · American Minute · · July 4, 2011 ·	American Minute with Bill Federer July 4 The Declaration of Independence was approved JULY 4, 1776. John Hancock signed first, saying "the price on my head has just doubled." Benjamin Franklin said "We must hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately." Of the 56 signers: 17 served in the military; â€ 11 had their homes destroyed; 5 were hunted and captured; Abraham Clark had two sons imprisoned on the British starving ship Jersey; John Witherspoon's son was killed in battle; Francis Lewis' wife was imprisoned and died from the harsh treatment; many, such as Thomas Nelson and Carter Braxton,...

The Civil War

The Dogs (and Bears, and Camels) of [Civil] War
· 07/07/2011 4:46:39 PM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 41 replies · · NYT · · July 6, 2011 · · CATE LINEBERRY ·	As Union and Confederate soldiers left the comforts of home for the grim realities of war, many brought along family pets or adopted stray or wild animals, which quickly took on semi-official roles. Regiments from the North and the South kept dogs, cats, horses, squirrels and raccoons as mascots. Some chose more unusual animals, including bears, badgers, eagles, wildcats, even a camel.



The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913
· 07/03/2011 5:17:31 PM PDT · · Posted by BigReb555 · · 91 replies · · Canda Free Press · · July 3, 2011 · · Calvin E. Johnson, Jr. ·	Fifty years had passed since the Battle of Gettysburg, July 1st- 3rd, 1863.



Anniversary Of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Today
· 11/19/2001 1:35:22 AM PST · · Posted by PaulJ · · 107 replies · · 1,440+ views · · class="attrib">11/19/1863 · · A. Lincoln ·	Today is the Anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. It might do us all well to take a moment to re-read it and reflect on it's meaning to us then and how it applies today. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war. . .testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated. . . can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of ...

Not-so-Ancient Autopsies

1879 London murder mystery solved
· 07/06/2011 7:02:39 PM PDT · · Posted by nuconvert · · 19 replies · · AFP · · ·	A murder mystery dating back to 1879 has been finally resolved aftera skull unearthed in BBC legend David Attenborough's garden was formally recognised as that of a woman murdered by her maid 132 years ago. Julia Martha Thomas, a wealthy widow aged 55, was killed by her 29-year-old housekeeper Kate Webster very close to Park Road in well-to-do Richmond, but her head was never found. The case became known as the 'Barnes Mystery', which gripped London at the time.

Turns of Phrase

Now, a Database of Brit's Weirdest Words
· 07/04/2011 11:18:06 AM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 28 replies · · The Times of India · · Jul 4, 2011 ·	Heard of bobowler, baffies, bishybarnabee, tittermatorter? Well, these are some of the weirdest words used in Britain. For the first time, the British Library is keeping track of the nation's regional words and has developed a word bank of around 4,000 entries. The words were submitted by visitors to the British Library in central London or to a series of events at provincial libraries as part of its Evolving English exhibition. According to experts, many local dialects died off in recent decades, squeezed out by the increasing standardisation of the language thanks to population mobility as well as the influence...

Faith & Philosophy

Dutch Carpenter Builds Full-Size Replica of Noah's Ark
· 07/01/2011 8:03:35 PM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 61 replies · · TIME Newsfeed · · 7/1/11 · · Zachary Cohen ·	Johan Huibers just finished a building a new ark that is even bigger than his original one, pictured here.It turns out somebody actually knows what a cubit is. Because one man converted the Biblical measurements to create a scale model of Noah's ark. And it's big. Really big. Johan Huibers of the Netherlands had a dream in 1991 that Holland was flooding. Three years and $1.6 million later, Huibers has a shiny new tourist attraction. The boat, which is as long as football field and four stories high, will be opened to the public as a tourist attraction with a...

Longer Perspectives

Endgame for the Hapsburgs
· 07/05/2011 8:54:06 PM PDT · · Posted by bruinbirdman · · 39 replies · · Presseurop · · 7/5/2011 ·	"Otto von Habsburg was the last man to have a real idea of â€šÃ„Ã£â€šÃ„Ã£the democratic metamorphosis of the Austrian Empire in Europe." Thus Die Presse reports the death of the eldest son of the last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary at the age of 98. The funeral of the former MEP will "revive the nostalgia of the Austrians", the Vienna daily continues, for "Otto was the last intellectual and biographical link with the Austro-Hungarian Empire.... The biography of this man," who lived through the Anschluss of Austria to Germany and especially the "homecoming' of Hitler, "is the history...

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

Italy revives Sicily bridge plan [ Straits of Messina bridge, 2009 ]
· 07/05/2011 8:15:12 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · BBC News · · Friday, March 6, 2009 · · unattributed ·	Italy's government has revived plans to build a controversial bridge linking the island of Sicily to the mainland. The Messina bridge, whose centre span of 3.3km (two miles) would make it the longest in the world, has been a pet project of Italy's Silvio Berlusconi. His 2001-2006 government backed it, before the succeeding administration scrapped it. It is part of a massive 17.8bn-euro (£15.9bn) public works programme to create new jobs and boost the economy. The programme was announced on Friday after being approved by the cabinet and various government departments. Funding for the programme is a mix of public...



"Hidden treasure' worth Rs. 90 crore found in Puri's Emar Mutt[India][[18 Tons]
· 02/26/2011 9:21:49 PM PST · · Posted by Palter · · 12 replies · · The Hindu · · 26 Feb 2011 · · Satyasundar Barik ·	Officials stumble upon 522 old silver slabs weighing about 18 tonnes In one of the biggest findings of "hidden treasure" from a religious place, Orissa's Endowment Department officials and the police stumbled upon 522 silver slabs weighing about 18 tonnes from a mutt in Puri on Saturday. As per the present market price, the value of the metal is estimated to be around Rs. 90 crore. The huge stock of silver was found from four sinduka (wooden containers) placed inside a room, closed from all sides by brick walls, in the Emar Mutt in front of the Sri Jagannath Temple....

end of digest #364 20110709


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #365 Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Phoenicians

Carthaginian temples found -- Azores
· 07/10/2011 6:57:49 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 49 replies · · Portuguese American Journal · · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · · paj.cm ·	Archaeologists from the Portuguese Association of Archeological Research (APIA) believe to have found in the Azores a significant number of Carthaginian temples, from the fourth century BC, dedicated to the goddess Tanit. The new archaeological sites were found in Monte Brasil, Angra Heroismo, Terceira island. According to APIA archaeologists Nuno Ribeiro and Anabela Joaquinito, "More than five hypogea type monuments (tombs excavated in rocks) and at least three 'sanctuaries' proto-historic, carved into the rock, were found." A monument located at "Monte do Facho" shows inbuilt sink shaped carvings linked to water conduits for libations. "There are 'chairs' carved into the...

The Philistines

Diggers Unearth Philistines Remains in Israel, Providing scholars with clues to the Bible's bad guys
· 07/09/2011 7:09:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 13 replies · · Gather · · 07/09/2011 · · Kate James ·	Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of the Philistines in Israel. They are providing scholars with new clues to the Bible's bad guys. The digging in the city of Gath is helping flesh out the picture of the group. Since 1996, digging happens each year in Gath, and this year, over 100 scholars gathered to began excavating the remains of the ancient metropolis whose most famous resident was Goliath. This year, the diggers have unearthed ancient jugs that are more than 3,000 years old, and the decorations on them hint at the Greek origins of the Philistines. How amazing that these...



In Israel, Diggers Unearth The Bible's Bad Guys
· 07/10/2011 6:05:19 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 7 replies · · AP · · 7/6/11 · · Matti Friedman ·	TEL EL-SAFI, Israel (AP) -- At the remains of an ancient metropolis in southern Israel, archaeologists are piecing together the history of a people remembered chiefly as the bad guys of the Hebrew Bible. The city of Gath, where the annual digging season began this week, is helping scholars paint a more nuanced portrait of the Philistines, who appear in the biblical story as the perennial enemies of the Israelites. Close to three millennia ago, Gath was on the frontier between the Philistines, who occupied the Mediterranean coastal plain, and the Israelites, who controlled the inland hills. The city's most...

Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition

Majorcan Descendants of Spanish Jews Who Converted Are Recognized as Jews
· 07/10/2011 7:04:06 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 160 replies · · The New York Times · · 10 July 2011 · · DOREEN CARVAJAL ·	Centuries after the Spanish Inquisition led to the forced conversion of Jews to Catholicism, an ultra-orthodox rabbinical court in Israel has issued a religious ruling that recognizes descendants from the insular island of Majorca as Jews. The opinion focused narrowly on the Majorcan community of about 20,000 people known as chuetas and did not apply to descendants of Sephardic Jewish converts in mainland Spain or the broader diaspora of thousands of others who scattered to the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish colonies in South and North America. The island, isolated until a tourist boom that began in the late 1960s,...

India

The Jewish Palate: The Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta, India
· 07/09/2011 6:38:05 PM PDT · · Posted by James C. Bennett · · 10 replies · · The Jerusalem Post · · 07/04/2011 · · Dennis Wasko ·	The first Jews arrived in Calcutta sometime in the late 18th century. This group was comprised of Baghdadi Jews who came from Iraq, as well as Syrian and Persian Jews. All of these Jewish settlers were fleeing from Islamic persecution in their native lands. The Jewish refugees who were forced out of their homes found welcoming safety in Calcutta. By 1800, the Jews had established a vibrant community and thrived as diamond merchants, real estate brokers, exporters, spice traders, and bakers. The first generations of Jews in Calcutta spoke Judeo-Arabic, but by the 1890's, English was the language of choice....

Let's Have Jerusalem

U.S. Archives Photo History of Expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem
· 07/11/2011 9:10:18 AM PDT · · Posted by Nachum · · 14 replies · · inn · · 7/11/11 · · Chana Ya'ar ·	Every now and then, a treasure is unearthed not by archaeologists digging in the ground, but by historians and others seeking information among the stacks of books in a library. Writer and analyst Lenny Ben David was doing exactly that when he came across a massive Library of Congress photo archive of life in Palestine, circa early 1900s. Prior to its rebirth as a commonwealth, the lands of the State of Israel were all referred to as Palestine by the British. Ben David, a former diplomat and lobbyist, writes on his blog, "As I skimmed through the pictures, one theme...

Scotland Yet

"Tomb of the Otters" Filled With Stone Age Human Bones
· 07/10/2011 7:35:41 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 19 replies · · class="attrib">7-7-2011 · · James Owen ·	Thousands of human bones have been found inside a Stone Age tomb on a northern Scottish island, archaeologists say. The 5,000-year-old burial site, on South Ronaldsay (map) in the Orkney Islands, was accidentally uncovered after a homeowner had leveled a mound in his yard to improve his ocean view. ~~~snip~~~ The underground grave consists of a 4- by 0.75-meter (13- by 2.5-foot) central chamber surrounded by four smaller cells hewn from sandstone bedrock. Capping the central chamber are large water-worn slabs supported by stone walls and pillars. At least a thousand skeleton parts belonging to a mix of genders and...

Diet & Cuisine

Earliest Europeans Were Cannibals, Wore Bling
· 07/10/2011 7:44:31 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 28 replies · · Discovery News · · 7-6-2011 · · Jennifer Viegas ·	The earliest known modern humans from southeast Europe wore shell and mammoth jewelry. · The same early humans also likely practiced cannibalism. · The cannibalism was tied to funeral rituals, since the bones were not butchered like meat. Early humans wore jewelry and likely practiced cannibalism, suggest remains of the earliest known Homo sapiens from southeastern Europe. The remains, described in PLoS One, date to 32,000 years ago and represent the oldest direct evidence for anatomically modern humans in a well-documented context. The human remains are also the oldest known for our species in Europe to show post-mortem cut...

Prehistory & Origins

New Evidence of Early Humans Unearthed in Russia's North
· 09/06/2001 9:41:07 AM PDT · · Posted by Ada Coddington · · 22 replies · · New York Times · · 9/6/01 · · John Noble Wilford ·	Stone tools, animal bones and an incised mammoth tusk found in Russia's frigid far north have provided what archaeologists say is the first evidence that modern humans or Neanderthals lived in the Arctic more than 30,000 years ago, at least 15,000 years earlier than previously thought. A team of Russian and Norwegian archaeologists, describing the discovery in today's issue of the journal Nature, said the camp site, at Mamontovaya Kurya, on the Usa River at the Arctic Circle, was the "oldest documented evidence for human presence at ...

Helix, Make Mine a Double

PBS Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women
· 10/14/2005 9:42:13 PM PDT · · Posted by LauraleeBraswell · · 26 replies · · PBS · · 2004 · · Kathy Svitil ·	The myth of the Amazons, a tribe of bloodthirsty blond women thundering across arid battlefields to the horror of their male foes, has lingered for centuries. Their exploits seized the imagination of the Greek scribes Homer, Hippocrates, and Herodotus. But proof of their existence had always been lacking. Now, a 2,500-year-old mystery may have been solved, cracked by an American scientist whose 10-year odyssey led her tens of thousands of miles in pursuit of the truth. After unearthing a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball followed a trail of artifacts to a remote village...

Ancient Autopsies

New archeological find discovered in Akmola region [ Sarmatian tomb ]
· 07/15/2011 1:13:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · Caspionet · · Friday, July 8, 2011 · · unattributed ·	Archaeologists from the Gumilyov Eurasian National University have found a mound, presumably dating back to the Iron age. The tomb of Sarmatian warrior is located near the village of Aidarly in the Akmola region. In the mound, archeologists also found arrowheads, knives, an iron belt badge, ceramic vessels and the bones of sacrificial animals. Sergazy Saken, Archeological Expedition Leader: The body of the middle-class warrior is place with its head towards the south which is peculiar for Sarmatians and dates back to 3rd or 4th centuries BC. The artifacts found in the tomb were placed near the body with two...

Steppe by Steppe

Mongol Mysteries: Are 'Deer Stones' A clue?
· 08/14/2002 10:08:17 AM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 4 replies · · Seattle Times/Washington Post · · 8-14-2002 · · Guy Gugliotta ·	Sometime around 1000 B.C., a Mongolian tribesman climbed on the back of a horse and surveyed the windblown steppe that stretched as far as the eye could see. The weather was turning colder, and there wasn't enough grass for his goats. It was time to move. From the moment that decision was made, a tradition was born. Horses -- yesterday's beasts of burden -- became a means of escape. Soon they would become the tool of conquest, and the people of the steppe -- whether Scythian,...

Faith & Philosophy

Russia marks 450 years of St. Basil's Cathedral
· 07/12/2011 4:13:50 PM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 24 replies · · Associated Press · · 07/12/2011 · · Mansur Mirovalev ·	He was naked, homeless and fiercely argumentative -- and his name is immortalized in one of Russia's most remarkable buildings, St. Basil's Cathedral. An exhibition detailing the lives of St. Basil and other religious zealots known as "holy fools" opened Tuesday as part of ceremonies marking the 450th anniversary of perhaps Moscow's most famous tourist attraction. After years of restoration work that cost 390 million rubles ($14 million) -- including the reinforcement of the walls and the pile of brightly colored onion domes and spires that crown the architectural fantasia -- the iconic church looks lavish, and a striking contrast...

Religion of Pieces

The Mysterious Minaret of Jam
· 07/10/2011 6:48:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 21 replies · · DRB · · 02 July 2011 ·	The 12-Century Wonder and Mystery of Afghanistan -- Built back in 1190s by the once great Ghorid empire, this enigmatic and intricately-ornamented ancient "skyscraper" stands like a missile pointing at the stars -- a 65-meter high minaret, the second biggest religious monument of its kind in the world. Originally it was topped by the lantern -- making it a sort of the dry land lighthouse (!), surrounded by the 2400m high mountains: (Note a white jeep crossing the river in photo above: there was a bridge before, but it was destroyed during wartime...) Amazingly, this imposing structure was standing forgotten for...

Catastrophism & Astronomy

Olympia hypothesis: Tsunamis buried the cult site on the Peloponnese
· 07/11/2011 7:08:43 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · Johannes Gutenberg University · · July 11, 2011 · · Unknown ·	Professor Andreas Vött presents new results of geomorphological and geoarcheological investigations on the sedimentary burial of Olympia -- Olympia, site of the famous Temple of Zeus and original venue of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, was presumably destroyed by repeated tsunamis that travelled considerable distances inland, and not by earthquake and river floods as has been assumed to date. Evidence in support of this new theory on the virtual disappearance of the ancient cult site on the Peloponnesian peninsula comes from Professor Dr Andreas Vött of the Institute of Geography of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Vött investigated the site as...

Sunken Civilizations

A Lost World? Atlantis-Like Landscape Discovered
· 07/12/2011 7:24:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 49 replies · · LiveScience · · Sunday, July 10, 2011 · · Wynne Parry ·	Buried deep beneath the sediment of the North Atlantic Ocean lies an ancient, lost landscape with furrows cut by rivers and peaks that once belonged to mountains. Geologists recently discovered this roughly 56-million-year-old landscape using data gathered for oil companies. "It looks for all the world like a map of a bit of a country onshore," said Nicky White, the senior researcher. "It is like an ancient fossil landscape preserved 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) beneath the seabed." So far, the data have revealed a landscape about 3,861 square miles (10,000 square km) west of the Orkney-Shetland Islands that stretched above...

Epigraphy & Language

Unsolved Mystery: Origin Of 800-Year-Old Artifacts Eludes Experts (Portland, Oregon)
· 10/07/2002 5:12:26 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 68 replies · · Columbian.com · · 10-6-2002 · · Dean Baker ·	With almond-shaped eyes and dreadlocked hair, the faces on the 800-year-old clay amulets have been a mystery since they were first discovered on the banks of the Columbia River more than 80 years ago. Who were these guys who lived around modern Ridgefield at the time Genghis Khan conquered Persia and King John of England signed the Magna Carta? "They were not Chinook Indians," said David Fenton, executive director of the Clark County Historical Museum. "Where they came from and where they...

PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis

New facilities added to Vore Buffalo Jump historic site
· 07/10/2011 10:04:53 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 6 replies · · KEVN-Black Hills Fox News · · 10 July 2011 · · Al Van Zee ·	Facilities are being added at the Vore Buffalo Jump Historic site west of Beulah, Wyoming, to make the site more accessible to visitors. And this summer marks the first time scientists working at the site have been protected by a shelter built last year. The Vore Buffalo Jump is one of the most important archeological sites in the Black Hills area. It provides some of the most graphic evidence we have of how Native tribes living in the Black Hills area survived before the coming of Europeans and their horses. There are thousands of individual buffalo bones at the bottom...

The Mayans

Mexico finds 2 sculptures of Mayan warriors
· 07/07/2011 7:45:52 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 15 replies · · Yahoo · · 7/7/11 · · Olga R. Rodreguez -- AP ·	MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican archaeologists have found two 1,300-year-old limestone sculptures of captured Mayan warriors that they say could shed light on the alliances and wars among Mayan cities during the civilization's twilight. The life-size, elaborate sculptures of two warriors sitting cross-legged with hands tied behind their backs were found in May in the archaeological site of Tonina in southern Chiapas state along with two stone ballgame scoreboards. The 5-foot (1.5-meter) tall sculptures have hieroglyphic inscriptions on their loincloths and chest that say the warriors belonged to the city of Copan, archaeologist Juan Yadeun said in a news release...

Mammoth Told Me...

Remains of 60th mammoth found in Hot Springs; Mammoth Site could hold as many as 100
· 07/10/2011 9:52:05 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 31 replies · · Daily Journal · · July 10, 2011 · · none listed ·	The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs recently yielded the remains of a 60th mammoth, the giant, extinct creatures that once roamed the continent. [just a teaser--AP story]

Dinosaurs

Last dinosaur before mass extinction discovered
· 07/12/2011 5:54:31 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 35 replies · · Yale University · · July 12, 2011 · · Unknown ·	New Haven, Conn. -- A team of scientists has discovered the youngest dinosaur preserved in the fossil record before the catastrophic meteor impact 65 million years ago. The finding indicates that dinosaurs did not go extinct prior to the impact and provides further evidence as to whether the impact was in fact the cause of their extinction. Researchers from Yale University discovered the fossilized horn of a ceratopsian -- likely a Triceratops, which are common to the area -- in the Hell Creek formation in Montana last year. They found the fossil buried just five inches below the K-T boundary, the geological...

Paleontology

Dorset pliosaur: "Most fearsome predator' unveiled
· 07/11/2011 12:55:09 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 27 replies · · BBC News · · 7-8-2010 · · Rebecca Morelle ·	A skull belonging to one of the largest "sea monsters" ever unearthed is being unveiled to the public. The beast, which is called a pliosaur, has been described as the most fearsome predator the Earth has seen. The fossil was found in Dorset, but it has taken 18 months to remove the skull from its rocky casing, revealing the monster in remarkable detail. Scientists suspect the creature, which is on show at the Dorset County Museum, may be a new species or even genus. ~~~snip~~~ "It was probably the most fearsome predator that ever lived. Standing in front of the...

Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles

Roman-era shipwreck reveals ancient medical secrets
· 07/09/2011 2:48:31 PM PDT · · Posted by george76 · · 39 replies · · Telegraph · · 09 Jul 2011 · · Nick Squires ·	A first-aid kit found on a 2,000-year-old shipwreck has provided a remarkable insight into the medicines concocted by ancient physicians to cure sailors of dysentery and other ailments. A wooden chest discovered on board the vessel contained pills made of ground-up vegetables, herbs and plants such as celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa and chestnuts -- all ingredients referred to in classical medical texts. The tablets, which were so well sealed that they miraculously survived being under water for more than two millennia, also contain extracts of parsley, nasturtium, radish, yarrow and hibiscus. They were found in 136 tin-lined wooden vials...

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Did Chinese beat out Columbus? (Did Chinese sailors discover America ahead of Europeans?)
· 08/13/2009 6:27:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 41 replies · · New York Times · · 6/25/2005 · · Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop ·	Did Chinese sailors really discover America before Columbus? A new exhibition sets the scene, presenting new evidence that lends support to the assumptions made in "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies. "1421: The Year China Sailed the World," in Singapore in a special tent near the Esplanade (until Sept. 11), is primarily a celebration of Admiral Zheng He's seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1423. With a fleet of 317 ships and 28,000 men, Zheng He is generally acknowledged as one of the great naval explorers, but how far he actually went remains a matter of dispute....



Historian -- Chinese Mapped World Centuries Before Columbus
· 10/31/2002 3:18:43 PM PST · · Posted by pistola · · 19 replies · · class="attrib">Reuters · · 10-31-2 · · Tim Castle ·	Debunking Christopher Columbus has become a full-time occupation for retired British submarine commander Gavin Menzies. Next week the urbane 65-year-old begins a global publicity campaign to promote his extraordinary claim that Chinese sailors discovered America 70 years before Columbus and mapped the whole world centuries before European explorers. Despite criticism from academics that his theory is no more than "a tower of hypotheses," publisher Transworld paid 500,000 pounds ($780,000) for the rights to "1421 -- The Year China Discovered the World," a huge sum for...



British Author claims the Chinese, not Columbus, found America First
· 01/07/2003 4:49:27 PM PST · · Posted by yankeedame · · 61 replies · · The Sacramento Bee · · Tuesday, January 7, 2003 · · Ted Bell ·	Critics say new book is all junk -- British author Gavin Menzies' controversial book "1421 -- The Year China Discovered America", which goes on sale in the United States this week, claims that America was discovered by Chinese explorers 70 years before Columbus arrived. Part of the alleged proof behind Menzies' theory -- which is being heatedly contested by more traditional historians -- purportedly rests beneath about 40 feet of Glenn County mud in the form...

Not-so-Ancient Autopsies

Could Shakespeare's Bones Tell Us if He Smoked Pot?
· 07/09/2011 2:03:24 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 56 replies · · LiveScience · · Article: C6/27/2011 · · Stephanie Pappas ·	A South African anthropologist has asked permission to open the graves of William Shakespeare and his family to determine, among other things, what killed the Bard and whether his poems and plays may have been composed under the influence of marijuana. But while Shakespeare's skeleton could reveal clues about his health and death, the question of the man's drug use depends on the presence of hair, fingernails or toenails in the grave, said Francis Thackeray, the director of the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who floated the proposal to the Church of England. Thackeray...

Oh So Mysteriouso

The Nanjing Belt [ 5th c aluminum artifact ]
· 07/11/2011 8:15:58 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 67 replies · · Bizarre History Blog · · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · · Beachcombing ·	The Nanjing Belt was discovered in a tomb in 1952 around a skeleton. The tomb and the body dated to the Jin Dynasty that brings us back to the early centuries A.D (265-420) and luckily the name of the occupant was established through an inscription. He was one Zhou Chou (obit 297) who died fighting, of all people, the Tibetans. So far so easy: belts and even britches are common in graves around the world from the mysterious dragon buckles of Late Roman mercenaries to the ceremonial belts of the Lords of the Maya. In fact, the problems only really...

The Revolution

Today in History July 9th 1776 Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops
· 07/09/2011 3:27:25 PM PDT · · Posted by mdittmar · · 5 replies · · Writings of George Washington · · 7/9/11 · · George Washington ·	To THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS New York, July 10, 1776. Sir: I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your two favors of the 4th and 6th instants, which came duly to hand, with their important inclosures. I perceive that Congress have been employed in deliberating on measures of the most interesting Nature. It is certain that it is not with us to determine in many instances what consequences will flow from our Counsels, but yet it behoves us to adopt such, as under the smiles of a Gracious and all kind Providence will be most likely to promote our...

The General

One Man's Trash: George Washington's Priceless Refuse
· 07/09/2011 10:27:05 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Vol. 3 June 2011 (July 7, 2011) · · Dan McLerran ·	For George Washington, the first U.S. President and Revolutionary War hero, a broken chinese porcelain plate or teacup from his dining table or kitchen would go immediately and directly into his trash pit on the grounds just outside his mansion home, buried and forever forgotten. But as the saying goes, "one man's trash is another man's treasure", and well over 200 years later archaeologists would call them priceless artifacts for understanding and reconstructing history. Such was the case when an archaeological team discovered and excavated a trash pit, or "midden", just outside and south of George Washington's imposing Mount Vernon...

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

Royal colours ceremony marks end of military era
· 07/10/2011 7:20:46 PM PDT · · Posted by ConorMacNessa · · 5 replies · · The Scotsman · · 3 July 2011 · · Tom Peterkin ·	CENTURIES of proud military tradition were laid to rest yesterday in a ceremony that saw the Queen present The Royal Regiment of Scotland with its first stand of colours, the totemic flags that were once a rallying point in battle. The new colours will take the place of those that were carried for hundreds of years by the old Scottish regiments that were controversially amalgamated in 2006 to form Scotland's single infantry unit. The presentation of the new colours consigned the individual colours once carried by The Black Watch, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, The King's...

end of digest #365 20110716


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #365 Saturday, July 16, 2011

The Phoenicians

Carthaginian temples found -- Azores
· 07/10/2011 6:57:49 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 49 replies · · Portuguese American Journal · · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · · paj.cm ·	Archaeologists from the Portuguese Association of Archeological Research (APIA) believe to have found in the Azores a significant number of Carthaginian temples, from the fourth century BC, dedicated to the goddess Tanit. The new archaeological sites were found in Monte Brasil, Angra Heroismo, Terceira island. According to APIA archaeologists Nuno Ribeiro and Anabela Joaquinito, "More than five hypogea type monuments (tombs excavated in rocks) and at least three 'sanctuaries' proto-historic, carved into the rock, were found." A monument located at "Monte do Facho" shows inbuilt sink shaped carvings linked to water conduits for libations. "There are 'chairs' carved into the...

The Philistines

Diggers Unearth Philistines Remains in Israel, Providing scholars with clues to the Bible's bad guys
· 07/09/2011 7:09:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 13 replies · · Gather · · 07/09/2011 · · Kate James ·	Archaeologists have unearthed the remains of the Philistines in Israel. They are providing scholars with new clues to the Bible's bad guys. The digging in the city of Gath is helping flesh out the picture of the group. Since 1996, digging happens each year in Gath, and this year, over 100 scholars gathered to began excavating the remains of the ancient metropolis whose most famous resident was Goliath. This year, the diggers have unearthed ancient jugs that are more than 3,000 years old, and the decorations on them hint at the Greek origins of the Philistines. How amazing that these...



In Israel, Diggers Unearth The Bible's Bad Guys
· 07/10/2011 6:05:19 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 7 replies · · AP · · 7/6/11 · · Matti Friedman ·	TEL EL-SAFI, Israel (AP) -- At the remains of an ancient metropolis in southern Israel, archaeologists are piecing together the history of a people remembered chiefly as the bad guys of the Hebrew Bible. The city of Gath, where the annual digging season began this week, is helping scholars paint a more nuanced portrait of the Philistines, who appear in the biblical story as the perennial enemies of the Israelites. Close to three millennia ago, Gath was on the frontier between the Philistines, who occupied the Mediterranean coastal plain, and the Israelites, who controlled the inland hills. The city's most...

Nobody Expects the Spanish Inquisition

Majorcan Descendants of Spanish Jews Who Converted Are Recognized as Jews
· 07/10/2011 7:04:06 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 160 replies · · The New York Times · · 10 July 2011 · · Doreen Carvajal ·	Centuries after the Spanish Inquisition led to the forced conversion of Jews to Catholicism, an ultra-orthodox rabbinical court in Israel has issued a religious ruling that recognizes descendants from the insular island of Majorca as Jews. The opinion focused narrowly on the Majorcan community of about 20,000 people known as chuetas and did not apply to descendants of Sephardic Jewish converts in mainland Spain or the broader diaspora of thousands of others who scattered to the Ottoman Empire and the Spanish colonies in South and North America. The island, isolated until a tourist boom that began in the late 1960s,...

India

The Jewish Palate: The Baghdadi Jews of Calcutta, India
· 07/09/2011 6:38:05 PM PDT · · Posted by James C. Bennett · · 10 replies · · The Jerusalem Post · · 07/04/2011 · · Dennis Wasko ·	The first Jews arrived in Calcutta sometime in the late 18th century. This group was comprised of Baghdadi Jews who came from Iraq, as well as Syrian and Persian Jews. All of these Jewish settlers were fleeing from Islamic persecution in their native lands. The Jewish refugees who were forced out of their homes found welcoming safety in Calcutta. By 1800, the Jews had established a vibrant community and thrived as diamond merchants, real estate brokers, exporters, spice traders, and bakers. The first generations of Jews in Calcutta spoke Judeo-Arabic, but by the 1890's, English was the language of choice....

Let's Have Jerusalem

U.S. Archives Photo History of Expulsion of Jews from Jerusalem
· 07/11/2011 9:10:18 AM PDT · · Posted by Nachum · · 14 replies · · inn · · 7/11/11 · · Chana Ya'ar ·	Every now and then, a treasure is unearthed not by archaeologists digging in the ground, but by historians and others seeking information among the stacks of books in a library. Writer and analyst Lenny Ben David was doing exactly that when he came across a massive Library of Congress photo archive of life in Palestine, circa early 1900s. Prior to its rebirth as a commonwealth, the lands of the State of Israel were all referred to as Palestine by the British. Ben David, a former diplomat and lobbyist, writes on his blog, "As I skimmed through the pictures, one theme...

Scotland Yet

"Tomb of the Otters" Filled With Stone Age Human Bones
· 07/10/2011 7:35:41 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 19 replies · · 7-7-2011 · · James Owen ·	Thousands of human bones have been found inside a Stone Age tomb on a northern Scottish island, archaeologists say. The 5,000-year-old burial site, on South Ronaldsay (map) in the Orkney Islands, was accidentally uncovered after a homeowner had leveled a mound in his yard to improve his ocean view. ~~~snip~~~ The underground grave consists of a 4- by 0.75-meter (13- by 2.5-foot) central chamber surrounded by four smaller cells hewn from sandstone bedrock. Capping the central chamber are large water-worn slabs supported by stone walls and pillars. At least a thousand skeleton parts belonging to a mix of genders and...

Diet & Cuisine

Earliest Europeans Were Cannibals, Wore Bling
· 07/10/2011 7:44:31 AM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 28 replies · · Discovery News · · 7-6-2011 · · Jennifer Viegas ·	The earliest known modern humans from southeast Europe wore shell and mammoth jewelry · The same early humans also likely practiced cannibalism · The cannibalism was tied to funeral rituals, since the bones were not butchered like meat. Early humans wore jewelry and likely practiced cannibalism, suggest remains of the earliest known Homo sapiens from southeastern Europe. The remains, described in PLoS One, date to 32,000 years ago and represent the oldest direct evidence for anatomically modern humans in a well-documented context. The human remains are also the oldest known for our species in Europe to show post-mortem cut...

Prehistory & Origins

New Evidence of Early Humans Unearthed in Russia's North
· 09/06/2001 9:41:07 AM PDT · · Posted by Ada Coddington · · 22 replies · · 1,241+ views · · New York Times · · 9/6/01 · · John Noble Wilford ·	Stone tools, animal bones and an incised mammoth tusk found in Russia's frigid far north have provided what archaeologists say is the first evidence that modern humans or Neanderthals lived in the Arctic more than 30,000 years ago, at least 15,000 years earlier than previously thought. A team of Russian and Norwegian archaeologists, describing the discovery in today's issue of the journal Nature, said the camp site, at Mamontovaya Kurya, on the Usa River at the Arctic Circle, was the "oldest documented evidence for human presence at ...

Helix, Make Mine a Double

PBS Secrets of the Dead: Amazon Warrior Women
· 10/14/2005 9:42:13 PM PDT · · Posted by LauraleeBraswell · · 26 replies · · 467+ views · · PBS · · 2004 · · Kathy Svitil ·	The myth of the Amazons, a tribe of bloodthirsty blond women thundering across arid battlefields to the horror of their male foes, has lingered for centuries. Their exploits seized the imagination of the Greek scribes Homer, Hippocrates, and Herodotus. But proof of their existence had always been lacking. Now, a 2,500-year-old mystery may have been solved, cracked by an American scientist whose 10-year odyssey led her tens of thousands of miles in pursuit of the truth. After unearthing a culture of ancient warrior women in the Russian steppes, Dr. Jeannine Davis-Kimball followed a trail of artifacts to a remote village...

Ancient Autopsies

New archeological find discovered in Akmola region [ Sarmatian tomb ]
· 07/15/2011 1:13:29 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Caspionet · · Friday, July 8, 2011 · · unattributed ·	Archaeologists from the Gumilyov Eurasian National University have found a mound, presumably dating back to the Iron age. The tomb of Sarmatian warrior is located near the village of Aidarly in the Akmola region. In the mound, archeologists also found arrowheads, knives, an iron belt badge, ceramic vessels and the bones of sacrificial animals. Sergazy Saken, Archeological Expedition Leader: The body of the middle-class warrior is place with its head towards the south which is peculiar for Sarmatians and dates back to 3rd or 4th centuries BC. The artifacts found in the tomb were placed near the body with two...

Steppe by Steppe

Mongol Mysteries: Are 'Deer Stones' A clue?
· 08/14/2002 10:08:17 AM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 4 replies · · 339+ views · · Seattle Times/Washington Post · · 8-14-2002 · · Guy Gugliotta ·	Sometime around 1000 B.C., a Mongolian tribesman climbed on the back of a horse and surveyed the windblown steppe that stretched as far as the eye could see. The weather was turning colder, and there wasn't enough grass for his goats. It was time to move. From the moment that decision was made, a tradition was born. Horses -- yesterday's beasts of burden -- became a means of escape. Soon they would become the tool of conquest, and the people of the steppe -- whether Scythian,...

Faith & Philosophy

Russia marks 450 years of St. Basil's Cathedral
· 07/12/2011 4:13:50 PM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 24 replies · · Associated Press · · 07/12/2011 · · Mansur Mirovalev ·	He was naked, homeless and fiercely argumentative -- and his name is immortalized in one of Russia's most remarkable buildings, St. Basil's Cathedral. An exhibition detailing the lives of St. Basil and other religious zealots known as "holy fools" opened Tuesday as part of ceremonies marking the 450th anniversary of perhaps Moscow's most famous tourist attraction. After years of restoration work that cost 390 million rubles ($14 million) -- including the reinforcement of the walls and the pile of brightly colored onion domes and spires that crown the architectural fantasia -- the iconic church looks lavish, and a striking contrast...

Religion of Pieces

The Mysterious Minaret of Jam
· 07/10/2011 6:48:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 21 replies · · DRB · · 02 July 2011 ·	The 12-Century Wonder and Mystery of Afghanistan Built back in 1190s by the once great Ghorid empire, this enigmatic and intricately-ornamented ancient "skyscraper" stands like a missile pointing at the stars - a 65-meter high minaret, the second biggest religious monument of its kind in the world. Originally it was topped by the lantern - making it a sort of the dry land lighthouse (!), surrounded by the 2400m high mountains: (Note a white jeep crossing the river in photo above: there was a bridge before, but it was destroyed during wartime...) Amazingly, this imposing structure was standing forgotten for...

Catastrophism & Astronomy

Olympia hypothesis: Tsunamis buried the cult site on the Peloponnese
· 07/11/2011 7:08:43 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · Johannes Gutenberg University · · July 11, 2011 · · Unknown ·	Professor Andreas Vött presents new results of geomorphological and geoarcheological investigations on the sedimentary burial of OlympiaOlympia, site of the famous Temple of Zeus and original venue of the Olympic Games in ancient Greece, was presumably destroyed by repeated tsunamis that travelled considerable distances inland, and not by earthquake and river floods as has been assumed to date. Evidence in support of this new theory on the virtual disappearance of the ancient cult site on the Peloponnesian peninsula comes from Professor Dr Andreas Vött of the Institute of Geography of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Germany. Vött investigated the site as...

Sunken Civilizations

A Lost World? Atlantis-Like Landscape Discovered
· 07/12/2011 7:24:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 49 replies · · LiveScience · · Sunday, July 10, 2011 · · Wynne Parry ·	Buried deep beneath the sediment of the North Atlantic Ocean lies an ancient, lost landscape with furrows cut by rivers and peaks that once belonged to mountains. Geologists recently discovered this roughly 56-million-year-old landscape using data gathered for oil companies. "It looks for all the world like a map of a bit of a country onshore," said Nicky White, the senior researcher. "It is like an ancient fossil landscape preserved 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) beneath the seabed." So far, the data have revealed a landscape about 3,861 square miles (10,000 square km) west of the Orkney-Shetland Islands that stretched above...

Epigraphy & Language

Unsolved Mystery: Origin Of 800-Year-Old Artifacts Eludes Experts (Portland, Oregon)
· 10/07/2002 5:12:26 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 68 replies · · 722+ views · · Columbian.com · · 10-6-2002 · · Dean Baker ·	With almond-shaped eyes and dreadlocked hair, the faces on the 800-year-old clay amulets have been a mystery since they were first discovered on the banks of the Columbia River more than 80 years ago. Who were these guys who lived around modern Ridgefield at the time Genghis Khan conquered Persia and King John of England signed the Magna Carta? "They were not Chinook Indians," said David Fenton, executive director of the Clark County Historical Museum. "Where they came from and where they...

PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis

New facilities added to Vore Buffalo Jump historic site
· 07/10/2011 10:04:53 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 6 replies · · KEVN-Black Hills Fox News · · 10 July 2011 · · Al Van Zee ·	Facilities are being added at the Vore Buffalo Jump Historic site west of Beulah, Wyoming, to make the site more accessible to visitors. And this summer marks the first time scientists working at the site have been protected by a shelter built last year. The Vore Buffalo Jump is one of the most important archeological sites in the Black Hills area. It provides some of the most graphic evidence we have of how Native tribes living in the Black Hills area survived before the coming of Europeans and their horses. There are thousands of individual buffalo bones at the bottom...

The Mayans

Mexico finds 2 sculptures of Mayan warriors
· 07/07/2011 7:45:52 PM PDT · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 15 replies · · Yahoo · · 7/7/11 · · Olga R. Rodreguez - AP ·	MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexican archaeologists have found two 1,300-year-old limestone sculptures of captured Mayan warriors that they say could shed light on the alliances and wars among Mayan cities during the civilization's twilight. The life-size, elaborate sculptures of two warriors sitting cross-legged with hands tied behind their backs were found in May in the archaeological site of Tonina in southern Chiapas state along with two stone ballgame scoreboards. The 5-foot (1.5-meter) tall sculptures have hieroglyphic inscriptions on their loincloths and chest that say the warriors belonged to the city of Copan, archaeologist Juan Yadeun said in a news release...

Mammoth Told Me...

Remains of 60th mammoth found in Hot Springs; Mammoth Site could hold as many as 100
· 07/10/2011 9:52:05 PM PDT · · Posted by ApplegateRanch · · 31 replies · · Daily Journal · · July 10, 2011 · · none listed ·	The Mammoth Site in Hot Springs recently yielded the remains of a 60th mammoth, the giant, extinct creatures that once roamed the continent. [just a teaser--AP story]

Dinosaurs

Last dinosaur before mass extinction discovered
· 07/12/2011 5:54:31 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 35 replies · · Yale University · · July 12, 2011 · · Unknown ·	New Haven, Conn. -- A team of scientists has discovered the youngest dinosaur preserved in the fossil record before the catastrophic meteor impact 65 million years ago. The finding indicates that dinosaurs did not go extinct prior to the impact and provides further evidence as to whether the impact was in fact the cause of their extinction. Researchers from Yale University discovered the fossilized horn of a ceratopsian -- likely a Triceratops, which are common to the area -- in the Hell Creek formation in Montana last year. They found the fossil buried just five inches below the K-T boundary, the geological...

Paleontology

Dorset pliosaur: "Most fearsome predator' unveiled
· 07/11/2011 12:55:09 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 27 replies · · BBC News · · 7-8-2010 · · Rebecca Morelle ·	A skull belonging to one of the largest "sea monsters" ever unearthed is being unveiled to the public. The beast, which is called a pliosaur, has been described as the most fearsome predator the Earth has seen. The fossil was found in Dorset, but it has taken 18 months to remove the skull from its rocky casing, revealing the monster in remarkable detail. Scientists suspect the creature, which is on show at the Dorset County Museum, may be a new species or even genus. ~~~snip~~~ "It was probably the most fearsome predator that ever lived. Standing in front of the...

Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles

Roman-era shipwreck reveals ancient medical secrets
· 07/09/2011 2:48:31 PM PDT · · Posted by george76 · · 39 replies · · Telegraph · · 09 Jul 2011 · · Nick Squires ·	A first-aid kit found on a 2,000-year-old shipwreck has provided a remarkable insight into the medicines concocted by ancient physicians to cure sailors of dysentery and other ailments. A wooden chest discovered on board the vessel contained pills made of ground-up vegetables, herbs and plants such as celery, onions, carrots, cabbage, alfalfa and chestnuts -- all ingredients referred to in classical medical texts. The tablets, which were so well sealed that they miraculously survived being under water for more than two millennia, also contain extracts of parsley, nasturtium, radish, yarrow and hibiscus. They were found in 136 tin-lined wooden vials...

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Did Chinese beat out Columbus? (Did Chinese sailors discover America ahead of Europeans?)
· 08/13/2009 6:27:39 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 41 replies · · 1,218+ views · · New York Times · · 6/25/2005 · · Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop ·	Did Chinese sailors really discover America before Columbus? A new exhibition sets the scene, presenting new evidence that lends support to the assumptions made in "1421: The Year China Discovered America" by Gavin Menzies. "1421: The Year China Sailed the World," in Singapore in a special tent near the Esplanade (until Sept. 11), is primarily a celebration of Admiral Zheng He's seven maritime expeditions between 1405 and 1423. With a fleet of 317 ships and 28,000 men, Zheng He is generally acknowledged as one of the great naval explorers, but how far he actually went remains a matter of dispute....



Historian - Chinese Mapped World Centuries Before Columbus
· 10/31/2002 3:18:43 PM PST · · Posted by pistola · · 19 replies · · 436+ views · · Reuters · · 10-31-2 · · Tim Castle ·	LONDON (Reuters) - Debunking Christopher Columbus has become a full-time occupation for retired British submarine commander Gavin Menzies. Next week the urbane 65-year-old begins a global publicity campaign to promote his extraordinary claim that Chinese sailors discovered America 70 years before Columbus and mapped the whole world centuries before European explorers. Despite criticism from academics that his theory is no more than "a tower of hypotheses," publisher Transworld paid 500,000 pounds ($780,000) for the rights to "1421 -- The Year China Discovered the World," a huge sum for...



British Author claims the Chinese, not Columbus, found America First
· 01/07/2003 4:49:27 PM PST · · Posted by yankeedame · · 61 replies · · 1,258+ views · · The Sacramento Bee · · Tuesday, January 7, 2003 · · Ted Bell ·	Critics say new book is all junk -- A British author claims the Chinese, not Columbus, found America first.By Ted Bell -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 a.m. PST Tuesday, January 7, 2003 British author Gavin Menzies' controversial book "1421 -- The Year China Discovered America", which goes on sale in the United States this week, claims that America was discovered by Chinese explorers 70 years before Columbus arrived. Part of the alleged proof behind Menzies' theory -- which is being heatedly contested by more traditional historians -- purportedly rests beneath about 40 feet of Glenn County mud in the form...

Not-so-Ancient Autopsies

Could Shakespeare's Bones Tell Us if He Smoked Pot?
· 07/09/2011 2:03:24 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 56 replies · · LiveScience · · Article: C6/27/2011 · · Stephanie Pappas ·	A South African anthropologist has asked permission to open the graves of William Shakespeare and his family to determine, among other things, what killed the Bard and whether his poems and plays may have been composed under the influence of marijuana. But while Shakespeare's skeleton could reveal clues about his health and death, the question of the man's drug use depends on the presence of hair, fingernails or toenails in the grave, said Francis Thackeray, the director of the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who floated the proposal to the Church of England. Thackeray...

Oh So Mysteriouso

The Nanjing Belt [ 5th c aluminum artifact ]
· 07/11/2011 8:15:58 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 67 replies · · Bizarre History Blog · · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · · Beachcombing ·	The Nanjing Belt was discovered in a tomb in 1952 around a skeleton. The tomb and the body dated to the Jin Dynasty that brings us back to the early centuries A.D (265-420) and luckily the name of the occupant was established through an inscription. He was one Zhou Chou (obit 297) who died fighting, of all people, the Tibetans. So far so easy: belts and even britches are common in graves around the world from the mysterious dragon buckles of Late Roman mercenaries to the ceremonial belts of the Lords of the Maya. In fact, the problems only really...

The Revolution

Today in History July 9th 1776 Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops
· 07/09/2011 3:27:25 PM PDT · · Posted by mdittmar · · 5 replies · · Writings of George Washington · · 7/9/11 · · George Washington ·	To THE PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS New York, July 10, 1776. Sir: I am now to acknowledge the receipt of your two favors of the 4th and 6th instants, which came duly to hand, with their important inclosures. I perceive that Congress have been employed in deliberating on measures of the most interesting Nature. It is certain that it is not with us to determine in many instances what consequences will flow from our Counsels, but yet it behoves us to adopt such, as under the smiles of a Gracious and all kind Providence will be most likely to promote our...

The General

One Man's Trash: George Washington's Priceless Refuse
· 07/09/2011 10:27:05 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 10 replies · · Popular Archaeology · · Vol. 3 June 2011 (July 7, 2011) · · Dan McLerran ·	For George Washington, the first U.S. President and Revolutionary War hero, a broken chinese porcelain plate or teacup from his dining table or kitchen would go immediately and directly into his trash pit on the grounds just outside his mansion home, buried and forever forgotten. But as the saying goes, "one man's trash is another man's treasure", and well over 200 years later archaeologists would call them priceless artifacts for understanding and reconstructing history. Such was the case when an archaeological team discovered and excavated a trash pit, or "midden", just outside and south of George Washington's imposing Mount Vernon...

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

Royal colours ceremony marks end of military era
· 07/10/2011 7:20:46 PM PDT · · Posted by ConorMacNessa · · 5 replies · · The Scotsman · · 3 July 2011 · · Tom Peterkin ·	CENTURIES of proud military tradition were laid to rest yesterday in a ceremony that saw the Queen present The Royal Regiment of Scotland with its first stand of colours, the totemic flags that were once a rallying point in battle. The new colours will take the place of those that were carried for hundreds of years by the old Scottish regiments that were controversially amalgamated in 2006 to form Scotland's single infantry unit. The presentation of the new colours consigned the individual colours once carried by The Black Watch, The Royal Highland Fusiliers, The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, The King's...

end of digest #365 20110716

The 40 topics, links only, in the order they were added:


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #366 Saturday, July 23, 2011

Egypt

Why Dr Hawass Resigned [ Egyptian Minister For Antiquities !!! ]
· 07/17/2011 7:03:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 55 replies · · Dr. Hawass' weblog · · Sunday, July 17, 2011 ·	"I am leaving because of a variety of important reasons. The first reason is that, during the Revolution of January 25th, the Egyptian Army protected our heritage sites and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. However, in the last 10 days the army has left these posts because it has other tasks to do. The group now in charge of the protection of these sites is the Tourist Police, but there are no Tourist Police to do this either. Therefore, what happens? Egyptian criminals, thieves (you know, in every revolution bad people always appear), have begun to destroy tombs. They damaged...

Remote Sensing

17 lost pyramids discovered in Egypt by space scientists
· 05/25/2011 6:12:24 PM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 10 replies · · MSNBC · · May 25, 2011 · · staff & news services ·	Seventeen lost pyramids are believed to have been found in Egypt by a team of space archaeologists from Alabama, according to a report. Sarah Parcak and her team at a NASA-sponsored laboratory at the University of Alabama at Birmingham made the discoveries using a satellite survey, and also found more than 1,000 tombs and 3,000 ancient settlements in infrared images that show up buildings underground, BBC News reported. The BBC said that two of the suspected pyramids had been confirmed by initial excavations. "We were very intensely doing this research for over a year. I could see the data as...

Ancient Autopsies

Ancient Egyptian Royalty Wielded Serious Weapons
· 07/22/2011 5:50:42 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 26 replies · · LiveScience · · Thursday, July 21, 2011 · · Owen Jarus ·	Elite members of ancient Egypt, including the pharaoh himself, likely wielded ornate daggers, swords and axes in battle, or to personally execute prisoners, rather than using the shiny metal for ceremonial purposes, research suggests. The weapons were used during the Bronze Age, a period between 5,000 and 3,000 years ago when the civilization was at its height, according to Daniel Boatright, an Egyptologist at Isle of Wight College in the United Kingdom. This finding is "strange considering the amount of literature that's been composed so far that basically says that all of them were for ritualistic purposes and were never...

Neandertal / Neanderthal

Confirmed: Non-Africans found to be part-Neanderthal
· 07/18/2011 4:35:40 PM PDT · · Posted by redreno · · 70 replies · · CBS News · · July 18, 2011 2:22 PM · · CBS News ·	Next time you're about to slam somebody for carrying on like a Neanderthal, think twice: You might be hitting close to home. A new study published in the Molecular Biology and Evolution reports that people of non-African heritage carry a chromosome which originates from Neanderthals, offering evidence that the two populations interbred at a certain point in history.

Diet & Cuisine

Westerners 'programmed for fatty foods and alcohol'
· 07/15/2011 7:28:54 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 35 replies · · BBC · · July 14, 2011 · · Unknown ·	Westerners could be genetically programmed to consume fatty foods and alcohol more than those from the east, researchers have claimed. Scientists at the University of Aberdeen say a genetic switch --DNA which turns genes on or off within cells --regulates appetite and thirst. The study suggests it is also linked to depression. Dr Alasdair MacKenzie conceded it would not stop those moving to the west adapting to its lifestyle. > "The fact that the weaker switch is found more frequently in Asians compared to Europeans suggests they are less inclined to select such options. "These results give us...

Trust Anyone Over Thirty

Few grandparents until 30,000 years ago
· 07/23/2011 6:46:46 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Telegraph UK · · July 20, 2011 · · Martin Beckford ·	Grandparents barely existed until as recently as 30,000 years, research suggests, because early humans died so young. But when people did start to survive into older age, it had "far-reaching effects" that led to the development of new tools and art forms. The advantages that humans enjoyed by having larger families with older relatives could have helped them "out-compete" rivals such as Neanderthals, it is claimed... In the article, Rachel Caspari describes how analysis of the teeth of Neanderthals found in Croatia, who lived about 130,000 years ago, suggests "no one survived past 30". Because of gaps in the fossil...

Prehistory & Origins

Prehistoric Footprints Show How Our Ancestors Walked
· 07/20/2011 7:52:17 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 43 replies · · Discovery News · · Tue Jul 19, 2011 07:00 PM ET · · Jennifer Viegas ·	The ancestor who made the 3.7 million-year-old prints walked in a "less ape-ish way" than some humans do today. The oldest known human ancestor footprints, dated to 3.7 million years ago, reveal that some of the earliest members of our family tree walked fully upright with feet similar to ours, according to new research. The findings, published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, push back the date for upright walking in our ancestry by nearly 2 million years. That's because previous studies had concluded this trademark gait emerged in the genus Homo about 1.9 million years ago. The...

Sunken Civilizations

Submerged prehistory off Scotland: a development-led perspective
· 07/23/2011 6:38:11 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 2 replies · · Past Horizons · · Sunday, July 17, 2011 · · Dr Andrew Bicket ·	Throughout the 19th century there have been reports and scholarly discussions of submerged forests and artefacts from now-submerged environments around the coasts and seas of Britain (Coles 1998). Since the publication of Doggerland: a speculative study by Prof. Bryony Coles in 1998, there has been significant progress in the active investigation of submerged prehistoric landscapes around the coasts of the UK. To date much of this progress has been focused around the coasts of England and Wales, partly as a consequence of the geographical distribution of available funding streams i.e. the Marine element of the Aggregates Levy Sustainability Fund (MALSF)....

Catastrophism & Astronomy

Mesolithic 'rest stop' found at new Sainsbury's site
· 07/23/2011 6:28:31 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · BBC · · 18 July 2011 · · unattributed ·	Archaeologists believe the remains of burned oak uncovered at the site of the first Sainsbury's in the Highlands to be evidence of an ancient "rest stop". The supermarket and a filling station are being constructed on the outskirts of Nairn, at a cost of about £20m. Headland Archaeologists investigated the site ahead of building work. They radiocarbon-dated the hearth to the Mesolithic period, which started as the last Ice Age ended about 12,000 years ago. ...the archaeologists said the fire appeared to have been made to provide heat and not cooking, because no food waste was found... "The dating of...

Scotland Yet

Archaeologists discover a hoard of silver Roman denarii coins at Vindolanda
· 07/22/2011 4:51:17 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 29 replies · · Past Horizons · · Wednesday, July 13, 2011 · · unattributed ·	A hoard of twenty one silver denarii has been recovered during the recent excavation of the foundations of a clay floor in a centurion's apartment of the late Antonine period (cAD180-200) at Vindolanda, northeast England. The hoard had been buried, possibly in a purse or some similar organic package which had long since rotted away, in a shallow pit within the foundation material of the floor of the structure in the middle of the room. Dr Andrew Birley, director of excavations at the site explains, "The coins were tightly packed together and several had corroded onto one another, held together...

Rome & Italy

Italy: Ancient sarcophagus unearthed near Rome
· 07/22/2011 3:18:59 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · adnkronos · · July 5, 2011 · · AKI ·	Archaeologists have discovered an ancient Roman sarcophagus in the central Italian Lazio region surrounding Rome. It is the second sarcophagus discovered during a dig being coordinated by the University of Michigan. The sarcophagus was uncovered in the area of Lazio believed to the site of the ancient Roman city of Gabii, located 18 kilometres east of Rome. Both sarcophagi --- coffins typically adorned with sculptures or inscriptions --- are made of lead and are believed to date from the 1st or 2nd century AD. The first sarcophagus was unearthed in 2009 by archaelogists working on the same dig, the 'Gabii...

Let's Have Jerusalem

Archaeologists Discover High Priest's Bell?
· 07/21/2011 3:51:57 PM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 13 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 21/7/11 ·	Archaeologists have discovered a rare gold bell with a small loop at its end. The finding was made during an archaeological excavation in the City of David National Park (near the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem) by the Israel Antiquities Authority in cooperation with the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and the Ir David Foundation. The directors of the excavation on behalf of the Antiquities Authority, archaeologists Eli Shukron and Professor Ronny Reich of Haifa University, said after the finding, "The bell looked as if it was sewn on the garment worn by a man of high authority...



UNESCO against the Jews
· 07/20/2011 6:26:01 PM PDT · · Posted by SJackson · · 11 replies · · YNet · · 07.19.11 · · Giulio Meotti ·	The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) adopted a decision calling on Israel to immediately cease all archaeological works in the Old City of Jerusalem. In particular, UNESCO, one of the UN's most prominent and influential agencies, attacked the renovation of the Mughrabi Bridge that links the Western Wall plaza and Temple Mount The decision, initiated and promoted by Arab states, was adopted by consensus of the Western members of the commission. Indeed, the vote is the latest anti-Jewish initiative launched by the UN office meant to promote culture, education and science around the world. In fact, UNESCO's...

Religion of Pieces

Waqf denies claims that part of Western Wall in danger of collapsing
· 08/27/2002 9:01:23 AM PDT · · Posted by liberallarry · · 6 replies · · 310+ views · · Ha'aretz (Israel) · · August 27, 2002 · · Nadav Shragai ·	Adnan Husseini, director of the Muslim trust which supervises the Temple Mount mosque complex, said Tuesday that a bulge in the Western Wall has not grown or shifted for about 30 years and that it is no danger of collapsing. "This bulge is under our monitoring since the 70s," he said. "It is stable, we don't feel that there is any dangerous situation." Husseini's remarks came in response to an urgent letter sent Monday by a citizens' watchdog group to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, warning of "a clear and present danger that the southern part of the Western Wall and...



Al Haram Al Sharif wall repairs completed (Re: Temple Mount)
· 01/20/2004 4:06:23 AM PST · · Posted by Thinkin' Gal · · 3 replies · · 107+ views · · Jordan Times · · 20 January 2004 ·	Al Haram Al Sharif wall repairs completed AMMAN (JT) --- Teams from the Ministry of Awqaf wrapped up a yearlong mission to repair the southern wall of Al Haram Al Sharif in Jerusalem, Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs Ahmad Hilayel announced on Monday. The repair covered an area of 250 square metres at a cost that exceeded JD100,000, the minister told the Jordan News Agency, Petra. A bulge in the wall was attributed to weather conditions, such as a wide range of temperature from 0-40°C. The situation allowed rainwater to penetrate into the wall, causing disintegration of the...



Authorities fear collapse of section of Temple Mount
· 09/26/2004 3:30:28 AM PDT · · Posted by HAL9000 · · 96 replies · · 1,871+ views · · Ha'aretz · · September 26, 2004 ·	The defense establishment fears the Solomon's Stables area on Jerusalem's Temple Mount will collapse under the weight of the hundreds of thousands of Muslim worshippers who are expected to arrive for Ramadan observances which start in another three weeks, Israel Radio reported Sunday morning. The foundations of the mosque at the site are old and unstable and a combination of roofing work on the building and a recent earthquake have worsened its structural condition. Some 200,000 worshippers are expected to attend Friday prayers on the Temple Mount, known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif or the Noble Sanctuary, during the...

Epigraphy & Language

Shabbat boundary rock with Hebrew etching discovered
· 07/22/2011 3:31:33 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 15 replies · · Jerusalem Post · · July 12, 2011 · · Oren Kessler ·	An ancient rock inscription of the word "Shabbat" was uncovered near Lake Kinneret this week --- the first and only discovery of a stone Shabbat boundary in Hebrew. The etching in the Lower Galilee community of Timrat appears to date from the Roman or Byzantine period. News of the inscription, discovered by chance Sunday by a visitor strolling the community grounds, quickly reached Mordechai Aviam, head of the Institute for Galilean Archeology at Kinneret College. "This is the first time we've found a Shabbat boundary inscription in Hebrew," he said. "The letters are so clear that there is no doubt...

Africa

Pipeline archaeology will re-write history of central Africa
· 07/22/2011 3:25:52 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Past Horizons · · Tuesday, July 12, 2011 · · unattributed ·	In May this year, researchers from around the world gathered in Yaounde the capital of the west African country of Cameroon, for the International Conference on Rescue Archaeology. At the conference, archaeologists introduced new findings from the book: "Kome-Kribi: Rescue Archaeology Along the Chad-Cameroon Oil Pipeline; 1999-2004". Archaeologists say the results have marked a major breakthrough that will begin a rewrite of the history of Cameroon and the rest of Central Africa. The fieldwork was carried out as construction took place along the line of the underground petroleum pipeline from Chad to the port of Kribi, Cameroon... According to Professor...

Paleontology

Oldest pregnant lizard fossil discovered
· 07/22/2011 5:55:54 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 19 replies · · PhysOrg · · July 22, 2011 · · Deborah Braconnie ·	A new paper published in Naturwissenschaft reveals a fossil from 120 million years ago that proves that some lizards were not laying eggs but rather giving birth to live young. The fossil was discovered by Susan Evans, a professor from the University College London Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, in the Jehol region of Northeast China. This area has revealed hundreds of dinosaur, amphibian, reptile, fish, bird, mammal, invertebrate and plant fossils. The lizard in this case has been identified as Yabeinosaurus which scientists believe to be similar to the gecko. Evans did not pay much attention to the...

Dinosaurs

Yale Scientists Discover the Last Living Dinosaur
· 07/16/2011 4:39:22 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 81 replies · · CTV · · Sat Jul. 16 2011 ·	A fossil discovered in Montana has given new momentum to the hypothesis that dinosaurs were thriving right up until a devastating meteor hit Earth 65 million years ago, causing their extinction. Scientists from Yale University have found what is believed to be the youngest dinosaur fossil ever found, thought to be from just before the mass extinction took place. The discovery, described in a study published in the online edition of the journal Biology Letters, contradicts the theory that the dinosaurs slowly went extinct before the cosmic impact. The fossil --- a 45-centimetre horn believed to be from a triceratops...

Hey There Little Insect

Mysterious Fossils Reveal New Insect Order
· 07/20/2011 11:32:22 AM PDT · · Posted by null and void · · 16 replies · · Scientific Computing · · 7/20/11 ·	Coxoplectoptera Adult (upper), Coxoplectoptera Larva (lower) German scientists at the Stuttgart Natural History Museum were leading in the discovery of a new insect order from the Lower Cretaceous of South America. The spectacular fossils were named Coxoplectoptera by their discoverers and their findings were published in a special issue on Cretaceous Insects in the scientific journal Insect Systematics & Evolution. The work group, led by basal insect experts Dr. Arnold H. Staniczek and Dr. Günter Bechly, determined that these fossils represent extinct relatives of modern mayflies. Coxoplectoptera, however, significantly differ from both mayflies and all other known insects in...

Biology & Cryptobiology

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Sighted and Recorded
· 04/29/2011 12:40:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 45 replies · · Science Daily · · 04-29-2011 · · Naval Research Laboratory ·	Dr. Michael Collins, Naval Research Laboratory scientist and bird watcher, has published an article titled "Putative audio recordings of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (Campephilus principalis)" which appears in the March issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The audio recordings were captured in two videos of birds with characteristics consistent with the Ivory-billed Woodpecker. This footage was obtained near the Pearl River in Louisiana, where there is a history of unconfirmed reports of this species. During five years of fieldwork, Collins had ten sightings and also heard the characteristic "kent" calls of this species on two occasions. Scientists...

Oh So Mysteriouso

The Peopling of the Americas: A Scientific, Historical and Scriptural Investigation
· 10/12/2006 8:27:21 PM PDT · · Posted by Iscool · · 46 replies · · 712+ views · · West Side Grace Church · · unknown ·	The Peopling of the Americas: A Scientific, Historical and Scriptural Investigation In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain in search of a western route across the Atlantic Ocean to Asia. He landed somewhere in the Bahamas and mistakenly believed that he had landed near the Asian mainland. In reality, Columbus was nowhere near Asia but rather had accidentally stumbled upon a new world so to speak. Successive waves of European exploration solidified the existence of an entire hemisphere, which was populated by native people. These people possessed their own land, language, and culture. Naturally this sent shock waves throughout...

Peru & the Andes

What Was Machu Picchu For? Top Five Theories Explained [it's a trick, there are six]
· 07/22/2011 4:02:11 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · National Geographic News · · July 21, 2011 · · Ker Than ·	Machu Picchu Was the Last Inca City Machu Picchu Was a Holy Nunnery Machu Picchu Was a Royal Retreat Machu Picchu Was a Re-creation of the Inca Creation Myth Machu Picchu Was Built to Honor a Sacred Landscape All of the Above?

PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis

Ancient, moss-covered canoe found in Alaska forest
· 07/16/2011 8:10:01 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 75 replies · · Reuters via YahooNews/AP · · Jul 14, 2011 · · staff reporter ·	ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters Life!) --An unfinished Indian canoe, apparently abandoned 500 years ago, has been discovered in a remote section of an Alaska rain forest, according to officials. The canoe, carved from cedar, was discovered under a thick layer of moss and is surrounded by trees that are several hundred years old, Sealaska Corp., the Alaska Native corporation that owns the land, said in a statement. The artifact was first spotted last winter by a surveyor checking potential timber-harvest sites, but the discovery was kept confidential until now, the company said.

Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy

Archeological Enigmas: Standing Stones In North carolina?
· 04/14/2002 3:07:04 AM PDT · · Posted by Hellmouth · · 28 replies · · 703+ views · · Science Frontiers Online · · Nov-Dec 1997 · · William Corliss ·	STANDING STONES IN NORTH CAROLINA? A North Carolina reader recently submitted the accompanying photograph of very large, vertically oriented stones that, if found in western Europe, would be quickly assigned to the megalithic culture. Although similar upright stones are known in New England, we have not heard of any in North Carolina before. The stones in question are located in the Boone/Blowing Rock region of western North Carolina near Foscoe, very close to Grandfather Mountain (second highest peak east of the Mississippi). Although they could well be a product of natural forces, they stand out like the proverbial "sore...

The Revolution

What is a Founding Father?
· 07/07/2011 8:14:19 PM PDT · · Posted by jfd1776 · · 13 replies · · Illinois Review · · July 4, 2011 A.D. · · John F. Di Leo ·	WHAT IS A FOUNDING FATHER? By John F. Di Leo, in Illinois Review, July 4, 2011 A.D. Every year for two centuries plus, the American people have celebrated the events of June and July, 1776 -- those fiery weeks when the Continental Congress debated changing their focus from improving our relationship with the King and Parliament who ruled them, to terminating that relationship once and for all. On a broader scale, on Independence Day, we champion the Founding Fathers, those wise and courageous patriots who managed this transition, who won us our independence and set these United States on the course...

1812 Undercurrents

Ottawa to tread carefully in War of 1812 commemorations
· 07/16/2011 1:15:25 PM PDT · · Posted by ConservativeStatement · · 70 replies · · Toronto Globe & Mail · · July 15, 2011 · · Steven Chase ·	It's a sticky question. Exactly how should Canada commemorate the 200th anniversary of a war in which our predecessors repelled an invasion by the United States -- now this country's closest ally and most valued trading partner? The bicentennial of the War of 1812 is fast approaching. It's a major formative event in Canada's history -- but like all wars, was wrenching and destructive. Both the White House and early Parliament buildings in Upper Canada were torched during the conflict.

The Crimean War

Why the Crimean War Matters
· 07/11/2011 11:18:33 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 6 replies · · The New York Times · · 08 July 2011 · · Gary J. Bass ·	The Crimean War was the first major war to be covered by professional foreign correspondents, who reported on the disastrous blundering of commanders and the horrors of medical treatment at the battlefront. Today, we remember fragmentary stories: the charge of the Light Brigade, symbolizing the blundering; Florence Nightingale, for the medical treatment. But the real war has faded away, eclipsed by the two vastly worse world wars that were to come. Still, the Crimean War --- in which three-quarters of a million soldiers and untold multitudes of civilians perished --- shattered almost four decades of European peace. It inflamed Russia's...

The Civil War

Revenge on the High Seas! The Union Advances Towards Manassas!
· 07/16/2011 6:23:11 AM PDT · · Posted by Upstate NY Guy · · 3 replies · · Civil War Daily Gazette · · July 16, 2011 · · various ·	The Revenge of William Tilghman of the S.J. Waring Rebel privateers in the brig Jeff Davis had captured the S.J. Waring on July 7. For the past week, they had been sailing for a Southern port.... .... William Tilghman, the black steward from the original crew of the Waring, concocted a plan to retake the ship. When the Waring was captured, the Confederates cut up the United States flag to piece together a Confederate flag. Tilghman had vowed revenge and his plan addressed such feelings. Just before midnight, with the Confederate captain and two mates asleep and the ship under...



Historical marker can 'make a difference' (Civil War)
· 07/15/2011 9:27:19 AM PDT · · Posted by GrootheWanderer · · 33 replies · · The (Dalton, Georgia) Daily Citizen · · 07/15/2011 · · Charles Oliver ·	On Jan. 2, 1864, Confederate Gen. Patrick Cleburne presented his fellow Southerners with a question about the war they were fighting. "Was the war about independence? Or was the war being fought primarily to preserve slavery?" said former Georgia labor commissioner Michael Thurmond.



Civil War anniversary: Cleburne's proposal to arm, free slaves (for the Confederacy)
· 07/10/2011 1:17:20 PM PDT · · Posted by Colonel Kangaroo · · 87 replies · · Dalton Daily Citizen · · July 10, 2011 · · Robert Jenkins ·	On Thursday, July 14, at 10 a.m.. the Georgia Historical Society will be conducting a dedication service to unveil a marker commemorating Confederate Gen. Patrick R. Cleburne's proposal to arm slaves in exchange for their freedom. Cleburne's plan was to provide manpower for the South to face the ever-increasing Federal Army which was beginning to recruit black soldiers and which continued to swell its ranks with immigrants, particularly from Germany and other parts of Europe. It was becoming increasingly clear to Southern officers during the winter of 1863-64 that the South was fast running out of men to continue the...

World War Eleven

Brazilian researchers find WWII German submarine
· 07/16/2011 6:08:27 AM PDT · · Posted by nuconvert · · 11 replies · · LasVegasSun · · July 15, 2011 ·	-excerpt- Friday's statement says American planes sank the submarine on July 19, 1943.

The Great War

Vatican Archives Officer told Turkish newspaper about Armenian Genocide
· 07/11/2011 2:25:33 AM PDT · · Posted by markomalley · · 2 replies · · News.am · · 7/11/11 ·	Vatican Archives Officer Monsignor Sergio Pagano was interviewed by Turkish Vatan newspaper immediately after he stated Vatican will publish a compilation of secret archi[v]e documents and information on Armenian Genocide. Monsignor Sergio Pagano stressed that back in 1896 the then Pope Leo XIII called on sultan to show sympathy and stop the Genocide. Pagano said that the documents and information about the Armenian Genocide from Vatican's secret archives will be published in a separate book. He cited several stories from the documents. An eyewitness from Erzurum said, "I saw how numerous children were killed. My niece ran away from home...

Not-so-Ancient Autopsies

Secret Files on Jack the Ripper Will Not Be Released to the Public
· 07/11/2011 10:02:09 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 62 replies · · Mirror · · 10/07/2011 · · Nick Owens ·	SECRET files which name four new Jack the Ripper suspects will not be released to the public. Retired murder detective Trevor Marriott has fought to have a 900-page dossier on the 1888 Whitechapel â‰ murders released. But a tribunal last week ruled they must be kept â‰ hidden. Scotland Yard said living â‰ relatives of the â‰ suspects could be â‰ attacked. Advertisement >> It added that releasing the papers which name "grasses" would jeopardise the â‰ recruitment of â‰ modern-day informants. Yesterday Mr Marriott, who is writing a book about the Ripper, who was never caught, said: "To censor the documents is absurd. "They could help...

H-A-R with a V, V-A-R with a D

Can You Pass Harvard's 1869 Entrance Exam? (Before there were GPA's and SAT's)
· 07/22/2011 10:18:03 AM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 61 replies · · Business Insider · · 07/22/2011 · · Leah Goldman ·	The following 1869 Harvard entrance exam was supposed to be a breeze, believe it or not (via GOOD). In those days colleges had to go out of their way to attract students. Harvard pointed out in a newspaper ad that 185 of 210 candidates passed the entrance test and were accepted in the previous year. But those candidates had the benefit of a focused prep school education. You will find this exam, which ranges from geography to geometry to Latin, extremely difficult. Take a stab at the answers in the comment section.

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

Voice of Thomas Edison's talking doll, after 123 years scientists crack code of metal ring
· 07/17/2011 6:25:08 AM PDT · · Posted by SanFranDan · · 33 replies · · DailyMail.U.K. · · 15th July 2011 · · John Stevens ·	FULL TITLE: Voice of Thomas Edison's talking doll is heard again after 123 years as scientists crack the code of mysterious metal ring For decades it lay in the bottom of a secretary's desk drawer, its purpose unknown. But now, 123 year after it was made, the secret of this bent metal ring, which was found in Thomas Edison's laboratory, has finally been uncovered. Scientists have found that the microscopic grooves on the ring make up the tune of 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star' and mark the world's first attempt at a talking doll and the dawn of America's recording industry...

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Coffins Of Habsburgs Arrive In Austria
· 07/12/2011 7:14:57 PM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 25 replies · · NPR, AP · · July 12, 2011 · · Associated Press ·	The coffins of the son of Austria's last emperor and his wife have been brought to Austria and are lying in state at a cathedral associated with their dynasty. Family members of the late Otto Von Habsburg and his wife Regina met the coffins as they arrived Tuesday evening at the Mariazell basilica, site of Habsburg marriages, requiems and other ceremonies. The coffins are to be buried Saturday in the Emperor Tomb in Vienna, below the Austrian capital's Capuchin Church. Habsburg died on July 4 at age 98 in his villa in Poecking in southern Germany. His wife, Regina, died...

Helix, Make Mine a Double

Editing the genome: Scientists unveil new tools for rewriting the code of life
· 07/21/2011 3:42:56 PM PDT · · Posted by posterchild · · 13 replies · · Harvard Gazette · · Thur July 14, 2011 · · R. Alan Leo ·	The power to edit genes is as revolutionary, immediately useful, and unlimited in its potential as was Johannes Gutenberg's printing press. And like Gutenberg's invention, most DNA editing tools are slow, expensive, and hard to use --- a brilliant technology in its infancy. Now, Harvard researchers developing genome-scale editing tools as fast and easy as word processing have rewritten the genome of living cells using the genetic equivalent of search and replace --- and combined those rewrites in novel cell strains, strikingly different from their forebears. "The payoff doesn't really come from making a copy of something that already exists,"...



A $1000 genome could be reached by 2013
· 07/22/2011 6:15:05 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 20 replies · · PhysOrg · · 07-21-2011 · · Staff ·	A new report published in the journal Nature describes the new machine created by Jonathan Rothberg of Ion Torrent Systems which uses semiconductors to decode DNA and takes them one step closer to being able to reach the goal of a $1000 human genome test. Their current machine consists of a silicon chip that has 1.2 million sensors consisting of miniature wells. These wells are filled with beads containing the DNA strands to be sequenced. Detectors in the well directly measure the hydrogen ions that are produced during DNA replication. Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, was the first to have...

end of digest #366 20110723

The 34 topics, links only, in the order they were added:


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #367 Saturday, July 30, 2011

Let's Have Jerusalem

Are these ruins of biblical City of David?
· 07/23/2011 7:21:31 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 28 replies · · CNN · · July 2011 · · Matthew Chance ·	Professor Israel Finkelstein, of Tel Aviv University, pointed out that the remains are not evidence of a powerful biblical state. He said: "We are not talking about some great empire ruled from a wonderful capital, the way we look at Assyria in the 9th century B.C., or even the northern Kingdom of Israel in the 9th century B.C. We are here in a formative phase of the rise of Judah." Finkelstein added: "Khirbet Qeiyafa does not make Judah a great empire with great armies." Garfinkel argued that even if it was not the great empire of the bible, its existence...

The Philistines


In Palestinian city, diggers uncover biblical ruin
· 07/23/2011 6:59:35 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 20 replies · · Associated Press · · July 22, 2011 · · Matti Friedman ·	NABLUS, West Bank (AP) --- Archaeologists unearthing a biblical ruin inside a Palestinian city in the West Bank are writing the latest chapter in a 100-year-old excavation that has been interrupted by two world wars and numerous rounds of Mideast upheaval. Working on an urban lot that long served residents of Nablus as an unofficial dump for garbage and old car parts, Dutch and Palestinian archaeologists are learning more about the ancient city of Shekhem, and are preparing to open the site to the public as an archaeological park next year.



3,000-year-old altar uncovered at Philistine site suggests cultural links to Jews
· 07/29/2011 9:24:00 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · Ha'aretz · · Wednesday, July 26, 2011 · · Nir Hasson ·	Head of the archeological dig on Tel Tzafit Prof. Aren Maeir says the find indicates that the two peoples thought of as bitter enemies may have been closer than we think. A stone altar from the 9th century BCE was found in an archeological dig on Tel Tzafit, a site identified with the biblical Philistine city of Gat. The altar is reminiscent of Jewish altars from the same period and sheds light on the cultural links between the two peoples, who fought each other for centuries. The altar is approximately one meter tall, half a meter wide and half a...

Religion of Pieces

Biblical Jewish Roots Irrelevant, Says PA Activist
· 07/24/2011 11:00:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 30 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 24/7/11 · · Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu ·	The Bible is an "ancient holy book" that is irrelevant to the Palestinian Authority's aim to take over all of Judea and Samaria from the Jews, a PA activist said in a rare debate last week with a "settler" in a Washington synagogue. The Bible is full of "medieval" traditions that should not be considered or influence decisions on whether or not to create the Palestinian Authority as an independent state within Israel's borders, Dr. Hussein Ibish, Senior Fellow at the American Task Force on Palestine, said in the debate with David Ha'Ivri, director of the Shomron (Samaria) Liaison Office....



PA Uses Archaeology "To Rewrite History of Palestine'
· 07/27/2011 11:49:53 AM PDT · · Posted by rhema · · 8 replies · · IsraelNationalNews.com · · 7/25/11 · · Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu ·	The Palestinian Authority is renewing an archaeology dig in Shechem, which the Bible records was bought by Jacob (Yaakov). The director of the PA's Department of Antiquities, Hamdan Taha, says the dig will help in "writing or rewriting the history of Palestine." Muslim clerics often have rewritten the Bible, claiming that the "binding of Isaac (Yitzchak)" actually refers to Ishmael. Clerics in the Palestinian Authority and the entire Muslim world also have frequently argued that the Holy Temples never existed and that Rachel's Tomb at Bethlehem actually is an ancient Muslim holy site. Shechem appears to be next in line....

Facts are in the Ground

Ancient Bell Found in Jerusalem Old City Sewer Rings Again
· 07/25/2011 6:52:05 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 11 replies · · Fox News · · July 24, 2011 ·	JERUSALEM -- A tiny golden bell pulled after 2,000 years from an ancient sewer beneath the Old City of Jerusalem was shown Sunday by Israeli archaeologists, who hailed it as a rare find. The orb half an inch in diameter has a small loop that appears to have been used to sew it as an ornament onto the clothes of a wealthy resident of the city two millennia ago, archaeologists said. When Eli Shukron of the Israel Antiquities Authority shook it Sunday, the faint metallic sound was something between a clink and a rattle. The bell's owner likely "walked in...

Egypt

Oxford University wants help decoding Egyptian papyri [ Oxyrhynchus ]
· 07/27/2011 6:59:15 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · BBC · · Tuesday, July 26, 2011 · · unattributed ·	Oxford University is asking for help deciphering ancient Greek texts written on fragments of papyrus found in Egypt. Hundreds of thousands of images have gone on display on a website which encourages armchair archaeologists to help catalogue and translate them. Researchers hope the collective effort will give them a unique insight into life in Egypt nearly 2,000 years ago... The collection is made up of papyri recovered in the early 20th Century from the Egyptian city of Oxyrhynchus, the so-called "City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish". At the time the city was under Greek rule. Later the Romans settled the...

Central Asia

Bit By Bit, Afghanistan Rebuilds Buddhist Statues
· 07/27/2011 3:47:58 PM PDT · · Posted by Pan_Yan · · 12 replies · · NPR · · July 27, 2011 · · Joanna Kakissis ·	When the Taliban controlled Afghanistan a decade ago, they were fanatical about eliminating everything they considered un-Islamic. Their biggest targets --- literally and figuratively --- were the two monumental Buddha statues carved out of the sandstone cliffs in central Afghanistan. One stood nearly 180 feet tall and the other about 120 feet high, and together they had watched over the dusty Bamiyan Valley since the sixth century, several centuries before Islam reached the region. Despite international opposition, the Taliban destroyed the statues with massive explosions in 2001. At the time they were blown up, the statues were the largest Buddha...

Catastrophism & Astronomy

Ancient City Mysteriously Survived Mideast Civilization Collapse
· 07/30/2011 7:26:54 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · LiveScience · · Thursday, July 28, 2011 · · Owen Jarus ·	As ancient civilizations across the Middle East collapsed, possibly in response to a global drought about 4,200 years ago, archaeologists have discovered that one settlement in Syria not only survived, but expanded. Their next question is --- why did Tell Qarqur, a site in northwest Syria, grow at a time when cities across the Middle East were being abandoned? "There was widespread abandonment of many of the largest archaeological sites and ancient cities in the region and also large numbers of smaller sites," said Jesse Casana, a professor of anthropology at the University of Arkansas. "At Tell Qarqur and probably...

Faith & Philosophy

Tomb of St. Philip the Apostle discovered in Turkey's Denizli
· 07/27/2011 6:39:32 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 167 replies · · World Bulletin · · 5/27/11 ·	D'Andria said the structure of the tomb and the writings on it proved that it belonged to St. Philip the Apostle, who is recognized as a martyr in the history of ChristianityThe tomb of St. Philip the Apostle, one of the original 12 disciples of Christianity's central figure Jesus Christ, has been discovered during the ongoing excavations in Turkey's south-western province of Denizli. Italian professor Francesco D'Andria, the head of the excavation team at the Hierapolis ancient city in Denizli, told reporters on Tuesday that experts had reached the tomb of St. Philip whose name is mentioned in the Bible...



Archeologists discover church remains in Turkish ancient city [ Pisidian Antioch ]
· 07/28/2011 8:56:43 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · WordBulletin · · Monday, July 25, 2011 · · Dunya Bizim ·	Associate Professor Mehmet Ozhanli, the head of Suleyman Demirel University's Archeology Department who heads excavations in the ancient city of Pisidian Antioch, said they had discovered remains of a church during their excavations. "We have found the remains of a three-nave church one and a half meters below the surface," Ozhanli told AA correspondent. Ozhanli said the building was constructed as a Pagan temple, however it was converted to a church after the spread of Christianity. "This is the fifth church we have brought to daylight in this ancient city," Ozhanli said. Ozhanli said this recently found church was also...

Anatolia

Xanthos excavations turned over to Turkish archaeologists
· 07/28/2011 9:06:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Hurriyet Daily News · · Tuesday, July 26, 2011 · · Dogan News Agency ·	Turkish archaeologists will now be responsible for a dig at the ancient city of Xanthos in the Mediterranean province of Antalya due to the slow pace of excavations under French teams that have been working at the site for 60 years. Bordeaux University has passed on the excavations to a team under the guidance of Professor Burhan Varkavanç, head of the Archaeology Department at Akdeniz University in Antalya. Turkish scientists have already begun excavations at Xanthos, which had historical significance as the Lycian capital in the 2nd century BC. Akdeniz University's 23-member team will conduct excavations at the site for...

Roman Empire

Relief found in W Turkey shows chariot race in ancient times
· 07/28/2011 9:19:47 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Hurriyet Daily News · · Wednesday, July 27, 2011 · · Anatolia News Agency ·	A relief depicting a 2,000-year-old chariot race scene and new gladiator names has been discovered at an archeological dig in Mugla, proving the area was an important center for sporting events. "We have found a block with a relief of a chariot race scene," said Professor Bilal SË†gÂ¸t, head of the excavation from Pamukkale University. "The chariot race scene provides us information on cultural and sporting activities. The chariot race relief also gives us considerable characteristic details of the carts and harness of that period." Ongoing excavations in the ancient city of Stratonikeia located in the Aegean province of Mugla...

Roman Britain

UK: Roman Jug Unearthed at Site of New Theater
· 07/29/2011 10:24:37 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Secret History, fr.sott.net · · Thursday, July 21, 2011 · · Doncaster Free Press ·	Archaeologists working on the site of Doncaster's new civic and cultural quarter have unearthed a rare Roman glass jug dating back to around AD150. The area is believed to have been the site of a Roman cemetery where cremations took place. And on Saturday visitors will be able to tour the excavation site in the company of archeologists to learn about the jug and other finds, as well as about the town's important Roman history... The unearthed vessel, which is 15cm tall and was found close to the site of the new performance venue, would have been filled with rich...



Roman skeleton unearthed on Watton building site
· 07/27/2011 2:40:40 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · BBC · · July 22, 2011 · · unattributed ·	The remains of a male believed to date back to the Roman occupation of Britain have been discovered in Watton, west Norfolk. The bones were unearthed during work to turn a former RAF base into housing and are thought to have been buried around AD43 to 410. BBC Radio Norfolk's Elizabeth Dawson spoke to site developer Edward Parker and lead archaeologist Mark Holmes to find out more about the discovery.

Epigraphy & Language

3,000 Roman 3rd Century coins found in Montgomery field
· 07/28/2011 8:31:25 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 40 replies · · BBC · · Wednesday, July 27, 2011 · · unattributed ·	...The hoard of copper alloy coins, dating from the 3rd Century, was unearthed in Montgomery, Powys, several weeks ago. About 900 were found by a member of a Welshpool metal detecting club, with the rest of the discovery made with help from archaeologists. The exact location is being kept secret to protect the site. The Powys coroner will determine whether they qualify as treasure. Clwyd-Powys Archaeological Trust (CPAT), which helped unearth the coins, said the discovery had the potential to reveal more about Roman life in mid Wales in the late 3rd Century. The find in Montgomery is a few...

The Etruscans

Ancient Etruscan 'holy site' found near Viterbo
· 07/28/2011 8:14:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno · · Wednesday, July 26, 2011 · · ANSA ·	Italian archaeologists have discovered a sacred mountain where ancient Etruscans worshipped gods and burned sacred objects in their honour during the Bronze Age 3000 years ago. Experts from the Archeological Superintendency for southern Etruria and La Sapienza University in Rome found the site at Mount Cimino near Viterbo, 80 km north of Rome. The discovery is considered one of the most important in the early history of Lazio, the region surrounding Rome, with archaeological remnants dating back to 1000 BC. Working on the summit of the 1000-metre high mountain, the team of archaeologists led by Professor Andrea Cardarelli has carried...

Ancient Autopsies

Iceman's 'Girlfriend' Found [ Lady of Introd ]
· 07/25/2011 3:49:54 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 53 replies · · Discovery News · · Wednesday, July 20, 2011 · · Rossella Lorenzi ·	Italian workers building an addition to a kindergarten have unearthed a well preserved female skeleton who might be relatively contemporaneous with Öetzi, the Iceman mummy discovered 20 years ago in a melting glacier in South Tyrol. The "Lady of Introd" or "Öetzi's girlfriend," as the skeleton was nicknamed in Italy, was found in the tiny Alpine village of Introd, in the Val d'Aosta, famous to be the preferred vacationing spot for both Pope John II and his successor Benedict XVI. According to archaeologists and anthropologists, the woman has been lying on her right side, with her head facing west, for...

Helix, Make Mine a Double

Epigenetic 'memory' key to nature versus nurture
· 07/24/2011 7:28:13 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 30 replies · · BBSRC · · July 24, 2011 · · Unknown ·	Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) at the John Innes Centre have made a discovery, reported this evening (24 July) in Nature, that explains how an organism can create a biological memory of some variable condition, such as quality of nutrition or temperature. The discovery explains the mechanism of this memory -- a sort of biological switch -- and how it can also be inherited by offspring. The work was led by Professor Martin Howard and Professor Caroline Dean at the John Innes Centre, which receives strategic funding from BBSRC. Funding for the project came...

But for Wales

'Extraordinary' genetic make-up of north-east Wales men
· 07/23/2011 7:26:30 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 69 replies · · BBC · · 19 July 2011 · · BBC ·	Experts are asking people from north-east Wales to provide a DNA sample to discover why those from the area carry rare genetic make-up. So far, 500 people have taken part in the study which shows 30% of men carry an unusual type of Y chromosome, compared to 1% of men elsewhere the UK. Common in Mediterranean men, it was initially thought to suggest Bronze Age migrants 4,000 years ago. Sheffield University scientists explain the study at Wrexham Science Festival. 'Quite extraordinary' A team of scientists, led by Dr Andy Grierson and Dr Robert Johnston, from the University of Sheffield is...

Prehistory of Santa Claus

Tests confirm age of prehistoric carving in Wales
· 07/29/2011 9:43:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Stone Pages · · Thursday, July 28, 2011 · · Edited from Dr George Nash PR ·	Recent discovery of a stylized reindeer engraving in a South Wales by Dr George Nash from the Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Bristol, now has been scientifically dated. The date of the flowstone that covers the head of the reindeer is 12,572 +/- 659 years Before Present, and the rock-art below may be much earlier. It is now confirmed that the carved reindeer is one of Britain's earliest examples of engraved figurative rock art. Dr Nash discovered the faint engraving while visiting the Gower Peninsula caves near Swansea in September 2010 with students and members of the Clifton...

Neandertal / Neanderthal

Modern humans crowded out Europe's Neanderthals
· 07/28/2011 2:57:29 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 39 replies · · AFP · · July 28, 2011 · · Unknown ·	A swell of modern humans outnumbered Neanderthals in Europe by nearly 10 to one, forcing their extinction 40,000 years ago, suggested a study of French archaeology sites on Thursday. Scientists have long debated what caused the Neanderthals to die off rather suddenly, making way for the thriving population of more advanced Homo sapiens who likely moved in from Africa. The latest theory, published in the journal Science, is based on a statistical analysis of artifacts and evidence from the Perigord region of southern France, where lies the largest concentration of Neanderthal and early modern human sites in Europe. Researchers at...

Africa

Malapa Fossils
· 07/26/2011 7:46:44 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · National Geographic News · · August 2011 · · Josh Fischman ·	The first two skeletons removed from the pit were a young adolescent male, 12 or 13 years old, and an adult female. Berger, a paleoanthropologist at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and his colleagues made the announcement in April 2010. The site, an eroded limestone cave called Malapa, is in a region already so famous for its ancient human fossils that it is often referred to as the Cradle of Humankind. Much of that reputation rests on finds from the early 1900s, back when South Africa harbored the best evidence for early human evolution, including Australopithecus africanus, at...

Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles

Are cancers newly evolved species?
· 07/26/2011 3:42:55 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 37 replies · · University of California, Berkeley · · July 26, 2011 · · Robert Sanders ·	BERKELEY --- Cancer patients may view their tumors as parasites taking over their bodies, but this is more than a metaphor for Peter Duesberg, a molecular and cell biology professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Cancerous tumors are parasitic organisms, he said. Each one is a new species that, like most parasites, depends on its host for food, but otherwise operates independently and often to the detriment of its host. In a paper published in the July 1 issue of the journal Cell Cycle, Duesberg and UC Berkeley colleagues describe their theory that carcinogenesis -- the generation of cancer...

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Experts Baffled by Mysterious Underground Chambers
· 07/26/2011 11:28:17 AM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 42 replies · · Spiegel Online · · 22 July 2011 · · Matthias Schulz ·	There are more than 700 curious tunnel networks in Bavaria, but their purpose remains a mystery. Were they built as graves for the souls of the dead, as ritual spaces or as hideaways from marauding bandits? Archeologists are now exploring the subterranean vaults to unravel their secrets. Beate Greithanner, a dairy farmer, is barefoot as she walks up the lush meadows of the Doblberg, a mountain in Bavaria set against a backdrop of snow-capped Alpine peaks. She stops and points to a hole in the ground. "This is where the cow was grazing," she says. "Suddenly she fell in, up...

Not-so-Ancient Autopsies

Madrid begins search for bones of Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes
· 07/28/2011 7:05:05 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 4 replies · · Past Horizons · · Tuesday, July 26, 2011 · · Giles Tremlett ·	...Prado's team have won the support of local authorities and Madrid's archbishopric to hunt for the remains of the creator of the would-be knight-errant Don Quixote, who famously tilted at windmills, and of his sidekick, Sancho Panza. Experts said his bones should be easy to identify as they would bear the marks of wounds suffered during the naval battle of Lepanto in 1571. Cervantes received wounds to his chest and arms during a battle which saw a Spanish-led fleet defeat their Ottoman enemies in the Gulf of Patras off western Greece... Cervantes' bones went missing in 1673 when building work...

PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis

First Nation artifacts discovered, divert highway
· 07/27/2011 2:45:54 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · CBC News · · unattributed ·	For years archaeologists suspected the First Nations history might go way back because there had been small, individual finds, but Hurricane Earl helped reveal even more. But for the first time, a large campsite has been uncovered that proves people moved through the area when ice still covered parts of the province. "We have individual finds and that's how we knew people were here," said Brent Suttie, archaeologist in charge of the site. The site is near Pennfield but the precise location is being kept secret for now. "We had individual spear points that we knew were that old. But...

The Mayans

Fossils Reveal that Maya People Knew about Prehistory
· 07/29/2011 10:04:57 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · ArtDaily · · July 2011 · · unattributed ·	For Palenque inhabitants, marine fossils were the convincing proof of the land being covered by the sea long time ago, and parting from this fact they created their idea of the origin of the world, declared archaeologist Martha Cuevas, responsible, with geologist Jesus Alvarado, of research conducted by the National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Ongoing for 3 years, the investigation is oriented to understand symbolism given by ancient Mayas to Prehistoric vestiges, specifically the 31 specimens found at the archaeological site. The INAH researcher mentioned that petrified rests have been...

The Olmecs

Mexican Archaeologists Find 2,800-Year-Old Monument [ Olmecs ]
· 07/29/2011 9:25:44 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 24 replies · · Latin American Herald Tribune · · Thursday, July 28, 2011 · · EFE ·	A group of Mexican archaeologists have discovered a 1.5 ton stone relief from the Olmec culture created more than 2,800 years ago, the National Institute of Archaeology and History, or INAH, said. The discovery was made at the archaeological site of Chalcatzingo in Morelos state, "the only pre-Columbian site known in central Mexico with large bas-reliefs," INAH said in a communique. The work --- standing more than 1.5 meters (5 feet) tall --- was discovered in late April on the north slope of Chalcatzingo as archaeologists were building a containing wall and protective roofs for the other monoliths in the...

Longer Perspectives (2002)

Ancient human and animal remains are melting out of glaciers, a bounty of a warming world
· 09/20/2002 10:29:33 AM PDT · · Posted by vannrox · · 41 replies · · 563+ views · · US News · · 9/16/02 · · Alex Markels ·	As he hiked near Colorado's Continental Divide in the summer of 2001, Ed Knapp noticed a strange shape jutting from a melting ice field at 13,000 feet. "It looked like a bison skull," the building contractor and amateur archaeologist recalls. "I thought,'That's strange. Bison don't live this high up.'" Knapp brought the skull to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, where scientists last month announced that it was indeed from a bisonâ€“one that died about 340 years ago. "This was an extraordinary discovery," says Russ Graham, the museum's chief curator, adding that it could alter notions...

Climate

It wasn't CO2: Global sea levels started rising before 1800
· 07/27/2011 9:51:14 AM PDT · · Posted by Ernest_at_the_Beach · · 36 replies · · JoNova · · July 26th, 2011 · · Joanne ·	Fans of man-made global warming frequently tell us seas are rising, but somehow forget to mention the rise started 200 years ago, long before our coal-fired electricity plants cranked up, and long before anyone had an electric shaver, or a 6 cylinder fossil-fuel-spewing engine. Something else was driving that warming trend.Here is the data from tide gauges going back 300 years from a paper by Jevrejeva et al 2008. [Graphed by Joanne Nova based on data from Jevrejura et al located at this site PMSML]This graph was calculated from 1023 tide gauge records [Jevrejeva et al., 2006] going back to...

China

Ancient battlefield canteen found in north China
· 07/25/2011 8:23:04 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Xinhua · · July 24, 2011 · · English.news.cn ·	Archaeologists in north China's Shanxi Province have discovered an ancient canteen that is believed to have been used during the Battle of Changping (262 BC). The Battle of Changping was one of ten decisive battles that would reshape the country's central region during the Warring States period (475-221 BC). The canteen is believed to date back to approximately 2,200 years ago and is located between the city of Gaoping and Lingchuan County in Shanxi Province. It is located north of the Qinling Mountains in close proximity to the Bailishi section of the Great Wall. The canteen is believed to have...

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

July 29, 1967 USS Forrestal Vietnam Memorial
· 07/24/2011 8:34:47 AM PDT · · Posted by Revski · · 27 replies · · o7jimmy · · 7-24-2011 · · Revski ·	Memorial of the US Naval Disaster of the aircraft carrier, USS Forrestal --CVA-59, July 29, 1967 in North Vietnam, Golf of Tonkin. Song of this Memorial video is, Pray For Me, sung by the Blind Boys of Alabama.

Paleontology

How early reptiles moved
· 07/27/2011 9:19:08 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 6 replies · · http://www.physorg.com · · 07-27-2011 · · Staff ·	Modern scientists would have loved the sight of early reptiles running across the Bromacker near Tambach-Dietharz (Germany) 300 million years ago. Unfortunately this journey through time is impossible. But due to Dr. Thomas Martens and his team from the Foundation Schloss Friedenstein Gotha numerous skeletons and footprints of early dinosaurs have been found and conserved there during the last forty years. "It is the most important find spot of primitive quadruped vertebrates from the Perm in Europe," says Professor Dr. Martin S. Fischer from the University Jena (Germany). The evolutionary biologist and his team together with the Gotha...

end of digest #367 20110730

The 23 topics, links only, in the order they were added:


Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #368 Saturday, August 6, 2011

Epigraphy & Language

What can the Ancient Greeks do for us?
· 08/04/2011 6:28:10 AM PDT · · Posted by COBOL2Java · · 12 replies · · guardian.co.uk · · 1 August 2011 · · Charlotte Higgins ·	The Greeks may have got the idea of coinage from their neighbours across the Aegean in Lydia, but the Greek world was the first society to use money in much the same way as we do -- state-issued currency as a universal and guaranteed form of exchange. Money was probably introduced in the early part of the 6th century BC -- and was a wild success. Its first mention, notes Richard Seaford in his book Money and the Early Greek Mind, comes in the laws written by the 6th-century Athenian reformer Solon, which, prosaically enough, lay down prices to...

Helix, Make Mine a Double

Half of European men share King Tut's DNA
· 08/01/2011 10:50:56 PM PDT · · Posted by annie laurie · · 72 replies · · Reuters · · Mon Aug 1, 2011 · · Alice Baghdjian ·	Up to 70 percent of British men and half of all Western European men are related to the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, geneticists in Switzerland said. Scientists at Zurich-based DNA genealogy centre, iGENEA, reconstructed the DNA profile of the boy Pharaoh, who ascended the throne at the age of nine, his father Akhenaten and grandfather Amenhotep III, based on a film that was made for the Discovery Channel. The results showed that King Tut belonged to a genetic profile group, known as haplogroup R1b1a2, to which more than 50 percent of all men in Western Europe belong, indicating that they share...



King Tut and half of European men share DNA
· 08/04/2011 7:57:05 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 56 replies · · medicalxpress · · 08-03-2011 · · Staff ·	According to a group of geneticists in Switzerland from iGENEA, the DNA genealogy center, as many as half of all European men and 70 percent of British men share the same DNA as the Egyptian Pharaoh Tutankhamun, or King Tut. For a film created for the Discovery Channel, scientists worked to reconstruct the DNA of the young male King, his father Akhenaten and his grandfather Amenhotep III. They discovered that King Tut had a DNA profile that belongs to a group called haplogroup R1b1a2. This group can be found in over 50 percent of European men and shows the researchers...

Catastrophism & Astronomy

Ancient Egypt was destroyed by drought, discover Scottish experts
· 08/04/2011 5:51:22 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 47 replies · · Scotsman, Tall and Handsome Built · · Tuesday, August 2, 2011 · · Lyndsay Buckland ·	...the fall of the great Egyptian Old Kingdom may have been helped along by a common problem which remains with us now -- drought... a severe period of drought around 4,200 years ago may have contributed to the demise of the civilisation. Using seismic investigations with sound waves, along with carbon dating of a 100-metre section of sediment from the bed of Lake Tana in Ethiopia, the team were able to look back many thousands of years. They were able to see how water levels in the lake had varied over the past 17,000 years, with the sediment signalling lush...



Comets, Meteors & Myth: New Evidence for Toppled Civilizations and Biblical Tales
· 11/13/2001 1:26:01 PM PST · · Posted by Darth Reagan · · 24 replies · · 178+ views · · Space.com · · November 13, 2001 · · Robert Roy Britt ·	Tuesday November 13 08:37 AM EST Comets, Meteors & Myth: New Evidence for Toppled Civilizations and Biblical Tales Comets, Meteors & Myth: New Evidence for Toppled Civilizations and Biblical Tales By Robert Roy BrittSenior Science Writer, SPACE.com "...and the seven judges of hell ... raised their torches, lighting the land with their livid flame. A stupor of despair went up to heaven when the god of the storm turned daylight into darkness, when he smashed the land like a cup." -- An account of the Deluge from the Epic of Gilgamesh, circa 2200 B.C. If you are fortunate enough to ...

Egypt

Earliest Image of Egyptian Ruler Wearing 'White Crown' of Royalty Brought to Light
· 08/06/2011 5:34:24 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Science News · · August 5, 2011 · · Yale University ·	...The site had been partially damaged in recent years, and the Yale-led team -- which also included Egyptologists from the University of Bologna, Italy and the Provinciale Hogeschool of Limburg, Belgium -- relied on Habachi's photos (now stored with the Epigraphic Survey in Luxor) and cutting-edge digital methodology to reconstruct and analyze the images and hieroglyphic text inscribed in several areas within the larger site. According to Maria Carmela Gatto, director of the project, the group of images and the short inscription represent the earliest depiction of a royal Jubilee, complete with all the identifying elements of the Early Dynastic...

Let's Have Jerusalem

Egypt's Lost Fleet -- It's Been Found
· 08/02/2011 8:07:48 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 29 replies · · Discovery magazine · · July 28, 2011 · · Andrew Curry ·	The scenes carved into a wall of the ancient Egyptian temple at Deir el-Bahri tell of a remarkable sea voyage. A fleet of cargo ships bearing exotic plants, animals, and precious incense navigates through high-crested waves on a journey from a mysterious land known as Punt or "the Land of God." The carvings were commissioned by Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's greatest female pharaoh, who controlled Egypt for more than two decades in the 15th century B.C. She ruled some 2 million people and oversaw one of most powerful empires of the ancient world. The exact meaning of the detailed carvings has...

Climate

Six Million Years of African Savanna
· 08/04/2011 1:43:48 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · · National Science Foundation · · August 3, 2011 · · Unknown ·	Scientists using chemical isotopes in ancient soil to measure prehistoric tree cover--in effect, shade--have found that grassy, tree-dotted savannas prevailed at most East African sites where human ancestors and their ape relatives evolved during the past six million years. "We've been able to quantify how much shade was available in the geological past," says University of Utah geochemist Thure Cerling, lead author of a paper titled "Woody cover and hominin environments in the past 6 million years" on the results in this week's issue of the journal Nature. "It shows there have been open habitats for the last six million...

Africa

Water's edge ancestors: Human evolution's tide may have turned on lake and sea shores
· 08/02/2011 7:56:32 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · Science News · · August 13th, 2011 · · Bruce Bower ·	Marean proposes that it was there, where the Arizona State University archaeologist now conducts excavations, that humankind's mental tide turned sometime between 164,000 and 120,000 years ago. Seaside survivors learned to read the moon's phases in order to harvest heaps of shellfish -- brain food extraordinaire -- during a few precious days each month when ocean tides safely retreated. Tantalizing traces of complex thinking and behavior, including lunar literacy, have turned up at South Africa's Pinnacle Point, a cave-specked promontory that juts into the Indian Ocean. Chunks of dark red pigment and strikingly beautiful seashells found by Marean's team in...

PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis

Sewer repairs reveal early visitors to Sitka? [Paleolithic Alaska?]
· 08/02/2011 7:38:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · KCAW · · July 28, 2011 · · Robert Woolsey ·	An anthropologist has found what she believes are stone tools in a street excavation in downtown Sitka. The finds -- if they are confirmed -- could help shed light on Paleolithic humans who either lived in, or passed through, the region... "It's a simple tool where you have a certain kind of rock, and you drop that rock on another rock and a flake comes off. And if it's nice and sharp along there you'll use it for a while. You grip it like that -- use it as a skin scraper, or for whatever you're scraping. Then, when it...

Peru & the Andes

Ancient Sacrificer Found With Blades in Peru Tomb?
· 08/01/2011 12:35:48 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 6 replies · · National Geographic News · · 7-28-2011 · · Ker Than ·	~~~snip~~~ The new tomb discovery was made during excavations of a section of Chotuna-Chornancap that was used to perform crop-fertility rituals, according to the team. The skeleton belonged to a male between 20 and 30 years old, and that the tomb was built sometime in the late 1200s or early 1300s A.D., toward the end of the SicÂ·n period, they say. The cause of death of the tomb's inhabitant is unknown, but based on the kind and quantity of artifacts buried with him -- including ceramic pots, a skirt made of copper disks, and ornate copper knives -- the team thinks he was a...

Ancient Autopsies

Ancient Graves Reveal When Elderly Gained Power
· 08/04/2011 7:49:45 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 10 replies · · Live Science · · August 4, 2011 · · Stephanie Pappas ·	It's not easy to study the elderly in a society where life was all too often cut short by disease, childbirth and injuries. But new research on people living in the Bronze Age suggests the elderly began to gain power over a 600-year period in Austria. The findings rely on skeletal aging and a comparison of objects placed in graves of individuals of different ages. As time passed in the small farming hamlets of lower Austria, researchers reported online July 15 in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology, older men began to be buried with copper axes, a privilege not granted...

Middle Ages & Renaissance

Unearthed, a great Tudor local [ Three Tuns tavern ]
· 08/06/2011 4:48:26 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · London Evening Standard · · Friday, August 5, 2011 · · Bo Wilson ·	Archaeologists have discovered what they believe to be one of London's oldest pubs. The 16th century tavern, The Three Tuns, was unearthed next to Holborn Viaduct, with parts in such good condition that it is possible to stand on the remains of the Tudor street and look through its window. David Saxby, a senior archaeologist at the Museum of London, uncovered a basement bar room, a serving hatch and an inscription "Lotte" -- possibly as part of the name Charlotte -- at the foot of the staircase. Other treasures include a bottle's glass medallion, which has the pub's logo of...

Britain

Armada wreck discovered off Donegal
· 08/06/2011 5:45:50 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · Belfast Telegraph · · Friday, August 5, 2011 · · unattributed ·	The wreckage of a sunken vessel believed to be from the Spanish Armada has been discovered off the Donegal coast... in shallow waters in Rutland Harbour, near Burtonport. Evidence uncovered during a dive survey revealed the vessel was likely to be a 16th-century ship, possibly part of the 1588 Spanish Armada. Heritage minister Jimmy Deenihan... said the discovery was a major find of significance not only to Ireland but also to the international archaeological, historical and maritime communities. "If, in fact, it proves to be an Armada vessel, it could constitute one of the most intact of these wrecks discovered...

Longer Perspectives

What is war good for? Sparking civilization, suggest UCLA archaeology findings from Peru
· 07/25/2011 8:52:27 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 7 replies · · UCLA · · July 25, 2011 · · Unknown ·	Warfare, triggered by political conflict between the fifth century B.C. and the first century A.D., likely shaped the development of the first settlement that would classify as a civilization in the Titicaca basin of southern Peru, a new UCLA study suggests. Charles Stanish, director of UCLA's Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, and Abigail Levine, a UCLA graduate student in anthropology, used archaeological evidence from the basin, home to a number of thriving and complex early societies during the first millennium B.C., to trace the evolution of two larger, dominant states in the region: Taraco, along the Ramis River, and Pukara, in...



Sign of Advancing Society? An Organized War Effort
· 08/04/2011 4:27:06 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 3 replies · · NY Times · · August 1, 2011 · · NICHOLAS WADE ·	Some archaeologists have painted primitive societies as relatively peaceful, implying that war is a reprehensible modern deviation. Others have seen war as the midwife of the first states that arose as human population increased and more complex social structures emerged to coordinate activities. A wave of new research is supporting this second view. Charles Stanish and Abigail Levine, archaeologists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have traced the rise of the pristine states that preceded the Inca empire. The first villages in the region were formed some 3,500 years ago. Over the next 1,000 years, some developed into larger...

If Only It Would Come Out of its Shell

The last 3 million years at a snail's pace: a tiny trapdoor opens a new way to date the past
· 08/04/2011 1:24:23 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 7 replies · · University of York · · August 4, 2011 · · Unknown ·	Scientists at the University of York, using an 'amino acid time capsule', have led the largest ever programme to date the British Quaternary period, stretching back nearly three million years.It is the first widespread application of refinements of the 40-year-old technique of amino acid geochronology. The refined method, developed at York's BioArCh laboratories, measures the breakdown of a closed system of protein in fossil snail shells, and provides a method of dating archaeological and geological sites. Britain has an unparalleled studied record of fossil-rich terrestrial sediments from the Quaternary, a period that includes relatively long glacial episodes -- known as...

Paleontology

Full Dinosaur Skeleton Found in Alaska, Plus Photos of Rare Dinosaur Fossils
· 07/30/2011 7:44:38 AM PDT · · Posted by Daffynition · · 16 replies · · IBTimes San Francisco · · July 29, 2011 · · staff reporter ·	A 200 million year old reptilian fossil was discovered by Alaskan scientists along the shores of Tongass National Forest. It was the low tide that made the discovery possible as a rare marine creature called Thalattosaurs was submerged in water and rocks. The last Thalattosaurs to survive was after the Triassic period, roughly 200 million years ago. An almost complete skeleton was recovered along with an outline of the body embedded onto surrounding rocks. The creature is usually between 3 to 10 feet long with padded limbs and flat tails. The snout turns downward and contains both pointy teeth for...

Biology & Cryptobiology

Ancient dog skull unearthed in Siberia
· 08/03/2011 9:53:08 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 29 replies · · BBC · · August 3, 2011 · · Hamish Pritchard ·	A very well-preserved 33,000 year old canine skull from a cave in the Siberian Altai mountains shows some of the earliest evidence of dog domestication ever found. But the specimen raises doubts about early man's loyalty to his new best friend as times got tough. The findings come from a Russian-led international team of archaeologists. The skull, from shortly before the peak of the last ice age, is unlike those of modern dogs or wolves. The study is published in the open access journal Plos One. Although the snout is similar in size to early, fully domesticated Greenland dogs from...

Panspermia

Amino acid found in deep space
· 07/18/2002 10:17:50 AM PDT · · Posted by nuda_veritas · · 120 replies · · 848+ views · · New Scientist · · 10:57 18 July 02 · · Rachel Nowak ·	10:57 18 July 02 Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition An amino acid, one of the building blocks of life, has been spotted in deep space. If the find stands up to scrutiny, it means that the sorts of chemistry needed to create life are not unique to Earth verifying one of astrobiology's cherished theories.This would add weight to ideas that life exists on other planets, and even that molecules from outer space kick-started life on Earth.Over 130 molecules have been identified in interstellar space so far, including sugars and ethanol. But amino acids are a particularly important find...

Early America

Second Piece of Historic Ship Discovered at WTC Site
· 08/06/2011 5:14:25 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 12 replies · · DNAinfo, Digital Network Associates · · August 4, 2011 · · Olivia Scheck ·	Archaeologists helping to excavate the World Trade Center site have uncovered a second piece of the more than 200-year-old ship that was discovered there last summer. The find, made last Friday, came as workers began digging up the east side of the construction area, which once housed the World Trade Center complex... Archaeologists first noticed remnants of the ship -- curved pieces of wood buried 25 feet below street level -- last July and spent two weeks excavating the artifact, which turned out to be a 32-foot-long section of the boat's hull. The piece that was found last Friday belongs...

World War Eleven

Last Surviving Pilot of 1942's Astonishing 'Doolittle Raid' Col William Bower; History/Memorial
· 08/05/2011 2:46:23 AM PDT · · Posted by Reaganite Republican · · 7 replies · · Reaganite Republican · · August 5, 2011 · · Reaganite Republican ·	A great and genuine American hero The audacious US Army air attack upon the Japanese home islands in April of 1942 that came to be known as the Doolittle Raid was the very first American offensive inflicted upon the Japanese motherland in WWII. As intended, it came as a hideous shock to both the military regime and Japanese people... In the event, actual military and economic damage was unsubstantial -- but by exposing 'invincible' Japan as vulnerable, the heroic bombing run brought us a much-needed morale boost... Americans got their first taste of vengeance in the wake of the sneak-attack on Pearl Harbor just the previous year....

Thoroughly Modern Miscellany

Russians print new info linked to Raoul Wallenberg
· 07/31/2011 6:02:31 PM PDT · · Posted by Hunton Peck · · 3 replies · · Associated Press · · 7/31/2011 · · ARTHUR MAX ·	AMSTERDAM (AP) -- Russian archivists have published new material from a German officer imprisoned after World War II who shared a cell with Raoul Wallenberg, the missing Swedish diplomat credited with rescuing tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews. Publication of the statements from Willy Roedel came as a surprise since the Russians had previously denied they existed, say two independent scholars who have researched the Wallenberg mystery for decades, in a paper released Monday. That raises suspicions that Moscow may be withholding information which could help solve the 66-year-old puzzle of Wallenberg's arrest and disappearance in the gulag, the vast...

end of digest #368 20110806

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Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #361 20110618 · Saturday, June 18, 2011 · 39 topics · 2735313 to 2733264 · 766 members ·
	Saturday Jun 18 2011 v 7 n 49 view this issue	Welcome to the 361st issue. Last week I neglected to increment the date in the main header of the digest message itself. Whoops. This week, 39 topics, I've been visiting the FRchives again. Sorry for the length of this message. Here's the topic list in the order in which they were added: National Trust ranks Chaco region among most endangered Prehistoric finds on remote St Kilda's Boreray isle (Scotland) Today In History: The Battle Of Bunker Hill Journal of the Federal Convention June 18th 1787 (Hamilton Speech) Roman Gladiator's Gravestone Describes Fatal Foul Ballplayer Monolith Found in Northern Mexico Who Were the Knights Templar? Mating with Neanderthals Good for Human Health U.S. Students Ignorant of History; Will Repeat Mistakes of Past Sea Peoples invade: 1192-1190 BC NATO refuses to rule out bombing Libyan Roman ruins Mining threat to ancient Afghan monastery at Mes Aynak Dormice, sea urchins and fresh figs: the Roman diet revealed Protein from Bones of 600,000-Year-Old Mammoth Extracted Successfully Shrunken Head DNA Proves Horrific Folklore True [ Doh! ] Buddhist scripture found engraved in Chinese cave Scientists Measure the Accuracy of a Racism Claim [SJ Gould called "charlatan"] 17th century pulp literature reveals alternative approach to reading Early French had a taste for beer Hebrew University cave researchers explore stream-filled cavern at entrance to Jerusalem Blackbeard's Terror Tactics Revealed in Recovered Ammo 'Black Swan' Bounty Deal Revealed in Wikileaks Cables [Dec 2010] Joseph Farah: Remember the Real Alamo The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Davy Crockett - June 7th, 2003 Battle of the Alamo - Thirteen Days to Glory The Fall Of The Alamo They Died for a Just and Honorable Cause. (Did They, Really?) Science explains ancient copper artifacts Secrets of Egypt: 'Spectacular' archaeological site provides details of ancient life We are all mutants Sifting Through Garbage from the End of the Ice Age: It's a Living for Frontier Scientists Oakland Effect: Scholar says 'black violence is the unfinished business of the post slavery period' Email, Hate Mail and Comments from Readers The Boldest Hoax [ so-called Piltdown Man ] Thousands of Inca Mummies Discovered Light Replacing Darkness: A Story of Spanish Colonization in the Americas CONQUISTADORS IN THE OLD AND NEW WORLD 'Incredibly exciting' rare pre-Ice Age handaxe discovered on Orkney MSNBC's Matthews Doesn't Seem to Understand British Were Coming for Colonists' Weapons at Lexington Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR gets shared here: SunkenCiv on Facebook Lost FReepers on Delphi "We're taking down the surrender flag that has flown over so many drug efforts. We're running up a battle flag." -- Ronald Reagan 1980 [quoted by Presidio9]
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Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #362 20110625 · Saturday, June 25, 2011 · 37 topics · 2739419 to 2736663 · 767 members ·
	Saturday Jun 25 2011 v 7 n 50 view this issue	Welcome to the 362nd issue. I'm going to get out of the house before 9 AM on a Saturday, for a change. Here's the topic list in the order in which they were added: Hidden Lives of Baltimore's Irish Immigrants Unearthed for First Time Human Evolution: Endogenous Retroviruses prove that humans and chimps share a common ancestor. Strange New Carnivore Species Sighted On Borneo New Carnivore discovered (strange pic) Convergent Evolution Found in Poison Frogs Scientists Find Remains of 'Devil Toad' Move over T-Rex, Rajasaurus narmadensis is here (India) Dinosaur Cannibal: Fossil Evidence Found in Africa Mystery Mammal Discovered In Borneo's Forests Seeing the Serpent [Human Evolution] Israeli Government Allows 7,000 Bnei Menashe to Make Aliyah Image of ancient mammoth or mastodon found on bone (Florida 13,000bc) Archaeologists to raise ancient Egyptian ship (Khufu's solar ship) Ingenious 'Flat Earth' Theory Revealed In Old Map Big Dinos Stayed Cool Roman Gladiator's Gravestone Describes Fatal Foul Tyrannosaurus Rex 'hunted in packs' City living marks the brain -- Neuroscientists study social risk factor for mental illness. Synthesising red wine's overlooked chemical secrets A wise man's treatment for arthritis -- frankincense? Scientists finally determine iceman Otzi's last meal [Ice Man] Germany's WWII offensive against Russia [Operation Barbarossa], 70 years later Roman camp that housed refugees fleeing Scottish unrest discovered near Hadrian's Wall Cave Researchers Explore Stream-Filled Cavern at Entrance to Jerusalem Cutting edge training developed the human brain 80 000 years ago Human eye protein senses Earth's magnetism Scientists reveal a first in Ice Age art The Iceman's Last Meal Early human fossils unearthed in Ukraine UC Research Uncovers Late Bronze Age Fortress (Cyprus) Even parity error checking in DNA/RNA PA Hit over Joseph's Tomb Visit Excavated Bomb Suggests Early Start for Artillery Dawn of agriculture took toll on health A REALLY neat Web Site... Penn team uncovers skeleton of 'world's oldest child' [108K yrs old, that's a lot of candles] Ancient settlement discovered in the Ethiopian Highlands Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR gets shared here: SunkenCiv on Facebook Lost FReepers on Delphi "Hard pressed on my right. My center is yielding. Impossible to maneuver. Situation excellent. I attack." -- Gen. Ferdinand Foch, 1st Battle Of The Marne (1914) [ripped from someone's tagline on some libtard site, if you can believe it] " -
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Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #363 20110702 · Saturday, July 7, 2011 · 59 topics · 2743011 to 2739665 · 768 members ·
	Saturday Jul 02 2011 v 7 n 51 view this issue	Welcome to the huge, 59 topic 363rd issue! I've wised up and won't claim I'll be out of the house by 9 AM this Saturday. I just noticed (as I edited) that my super-automated export-restricted BASIC programming language technique for formatting the data is not putting in the authors. I wonder when that happened? Anyway, the "posted by" is there, but not the original author, I have no idea why. Oh, and the article date is missing. Okay, all that is new. Must have been the down time here a couple weeks back, the code was tweaked and the markers my program uses got changed a bit. There's 18 archival topics about the Baghdad museum, and a few other oldies, and often those need some hand editing because of slight legacy differences in the layout. Due to the size of the list, any topic I've added from the FRchives (I took a long, ambling drive for two days through the vastness that is FR) are not included in this message (see them here). They are chrono for a change. It's still quite a haul, and I send out big thank yous to all those who posted topics and/or pinged me to 'em: Never Give Up Your Weapons Ancient beer may serve as future model Don't Know Much About History History Cookbook (recipes from thru out many eras) Civil War Diaries and Letters Digital Collection: Civil War Diaries Transcription Project Confederate sub upright for first time since 1864 Archaeologists Uncover Ruins of Crusader City Existence of 200 "uncontacted' tribal people in Brazilian rainforest confirmed Restoration of cannons found on Arch Cape beach reveal surprising history (OR) Incredible Video Of A Tribe Meeting White People For The First Time Custer and Little Bighorn: 135 years ago and questions remain Unexploded shell found in Kake is a blast from past Video on The Temple Mount Some Don't Want You To See French Egyptologist who saved Nubian temples dies [Christiane Desroches-Noblecourt] Last portrait of Billy the Kid sells for $2.3M Treasure Hunters Find $500k Ring at Atocha Wreck Micro-camera Provides First Peek Inside Mayan Tomb Billy the Kid tintype photograph sells for $2.3 million at Denver auction 8 French Soldiers Died in Van Cortlandtville [NY] During Revolutionary War Historian Schama Makes Newsweek Debut Bashing Tea Partiers Over Respect for Founding Fathers Journal of the Federal Convention June 28th 1787 Iceman's Stomach Sampled --- Filled With Goat Meat American Revolutionary War Museum to Honor Al-Jazeera [Maine] Rapid Melting of Arctic Sea Ice Possibly Explained [new theory?] Vidovdan and Christianity --Remembering the Serbian sacrifice on June 28th. Ancient stones a mystery for archeologists, scientists [ Los Lunas Decalogue ] Setting the Desert on Fire: How Rome linked Britain and the Arab world Letters Home Part 10: Going underground [ Turkey ] New Book Challenges Popularly Held Views of the American Revolution Matzah and Marco Polo 2,000-Year-Old Priestly Burial Box Is Real, Archaeologists Say Peking man differing from modern humans in brain asymmetry Archaeologists furious over councillor's 'bunny huggers' jibe Ancient Leicestershire hillfort to reveal ancient secrets [ Burrough Hill, near Melton Mowbray ] An Israeli algorithm sheds light on the Bible Jewish bodies found in medieval well in Norwich Ryedale Windy Pits skeletons were 'sacrificial' Fossilized pollen reveals climate history of northern Antarctica Treasure estimated at $10 Billion found in secret vaults in Indian temple Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR gets shared here: SunkenCiv on Facebook Lost FReepers on Delphi "Authority may be a hint as to what the truth is, but is not the source of information. As long as it's possible, we should disregard authority whenever the observations disagree with it." -- Richard P. Feynman [quoted by J. Huston McCulloch at "The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone"]
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Gods Graves Glyphs Digest #364 20110709 · Saturday, July 9, 2011 · 35 topics · 599508 to 2743569 · 768 members ·
	Saturday Jul 09 2011 v 7 n 52 view this issue	Welcome to the huge, 35 topic 364th issue, there would have been even more but this way we'll have more in the coming week when we begin the eighth year of the GGG Digest. Last week I put "July 7" instead of "July 2" in a couple of headers, and I just now noticed. No one mentioned it, so, yes, I got away with another crime against good editing. I just figured out and fixed my other problem with the processor program, and solved one I'd noticed earlier and been puzzled by. They were related. A big thank yous to all those who posted topics and/or pinged me to 'em this week, LOTs of FReepers involved: The tsunamis of Olympia Archaeology: Black Sea's ancient coast found -- report Archeological Findings Reveal Central African History [...humans settled Cameroon 5000 years ago] Fierce, fashionable Vikings filed their teeth and ironed their clothes Is an Eclipse Described in the Odyssey (and does it date the return of Odysseus to Penelope) In Israel, diggers unearth the Bible's bad guys Counting On Progress: Roman numerals were fine for adding and subtracting. Fibonacci saw that... The Dogs (and Bears, and Camels) of [Civil] War What Are You Reading Now? -- My Quarterly Thread Ancestry of polar bears traced to Ireland 1879 London murder mystery solved The rise and rise of the flying reptiles The Origins of Archery in Africa Endgame for the Hapsburgs Italy revives Sicily bridge plan [ Straits of Messina bridge, 2009 ] Woman's skeleton found at Sedgeford dig sheds light on Norfolk 4,000 years ago Dorset burial pit Viking had filed teeth Uncovering a kingdom (Kingdom of Israel) Human Ancestor in Indonesia Died Out Earlier Than Once Thought Finding showing human ancestor older than previously thought offers new insights into evolution Hoard of Viking silver coins unearthed in Furness First Temple findings reinforce Jewish Jerusalem 5,200 year-old Ancient Egyptian drawing unearthed Now, a Database of Brit's Weirdest Words "We have this day restored the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient..." Staffordshire Hoard 'to help rewrite history' The Gettysburg Reunion of 1913 Home from Biblical Kingdom Of Israel Discovered on Haifa Coast Archaeologists Puzzle Over Opulent Prehistoric Burial Find Dutch Carpenter Builds Full-Size Replica of Noah's Ark "Hidden treasure' worth Rs. 90 crore found in Puri's Emar Mutt[India][[18 Tons] Legendary Viking home site found Legendary Viking Home Site Found (Snorri) Riddle of the Pyramids: Why De Mille didn't need all those slaves Anniversary Of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address Today Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR gets shared here: SunkenCiv on Facebook Lost FReepers on Delphi "Gravitation is not responsible for people falling in love." -- Albert Einstein [found it somewhere]
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Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #365 · v 8 · n 1 Saturday, July 16, 2011
	31 topics 1502866 to 2746088 769 members view this issue Antiquity Journal & archive Archaeologica Archaeology Archaeology Channel BAR Bronze Age Forum Discover Dogpile Eurekalert Google LiveScience Mirabilis.ca Nat Geographic PhysOrg Science Daily Science News Texas AM Yahoo	Welcome to the beginning of the eighth year of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · About 7 1/2 years ago I wanted to drop this flat, and that still happens from time to time. Each time I've settled for changing the Digest ping message layout. However, the Digest is a nice way to take a look at the past week's pings and see things that sometimes I didn't notice on the way through. This mostly consists of my seeing how I'd pinged identical topics without realizing it, on occasion because I repost something one of our fellow (and hardworking) FReepers already posted. This is our 31-topic 365th issue, well on the way to ten years -- and GGG was around well before I was. This seems like a good time to thank all FReepers, past and present, for all you've done to start and build this ping list, and to make it work. A big thank you to all those who posted topics and/or pinged me to 'em this week. Here are the added topics, some pinged, some not, some plucked from the FRchives, newest to oldest. Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR gets shared here: SunkenCiv on Facebook Lost FReepers on Delphi "There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government." -- Benjamin Franklin
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Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #366 · v 8 · n 2 Saturday, July 23, 2011
	31 topics 2752768 to 2749332 768 members view this issue Antiquity Journal & archive Archaeologica Archaeology Archaeology Channel BAR Bronze Age Forum Discover Dogpile Eurekalert Google LiveScience Mirabilis.ca Nat Geographic PhysOrg Science Daily Science News Texas AM Yahoo	Welcome to issue #366 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · It was recently suggested to me that I trim down the size of the ping message, and believe it or not, I'm actually working on that. This Digest ping message is smaller, but perhaps catches the eye a bit more, assuming that the officially obsolete HTML code I use is properly displayed by your browser. Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR gets shared here: SunkenCiv on Facebook Lost FReepers on Delphi [from 2006] "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our Government's reckless fiscal policies. ... Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here'. Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better." -- Barry Soetero, a.k.a. Barack Hussein Obama
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Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #367 · v 8 · n 3 Saturday, July 30, 2011
	34 topics 2756234 to 2753006 774 members view this issue Antiquity Journal & archive Archaeologica Archaeology Archaeology Channel BAR Bronze Age Forum Discover Dogpile Eurekalert Google LiveScience Mirabilis.ca Nat Geographic PhysOrg Science Daily Science News Texas AM Yahoo	Welcome to issue #367 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · Tell me somethin' good, wah wah, tell me tell me tell me... We had net growth of six new members (welcome, again!) in the past week. Zero and his economics (alleged) team? Jealous as all get out. Stuff that doesn't necessarily make it to GGG here on FR gets shared here: SunkenCiv on Facebook Lost FReepers on Delphi W. James Antle III: "Just as conservatives must remember the limits of government, libertarians must understand the importance of virtue. A free society rests in part on shared values, including a common understanding of the intrinsic value of each individual and the obligation to respect others' rights." [quoted by FReeper S.O.S121.500]
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