Posted on 07/16/2004 11:27:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #368 · v 8 · n 4 Saturday, August 6, 2011 |
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23 topics |
Welcome to issue #368 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · A mere 23 topics -- but, oh, what topics! :') Seriously, a lot of good stuff here. |
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Good quote there,
Plus, it’s John Stuart Mill, an opening for a Monty Python flashback. :’)
I appreciate the GGG threads very much thank you.
Sometimes I do not read them all too quickly, but I read them.
Well, I don’t even read every word of all of ‘em, either. :’)
Thanks for your kind remarks, I appreciate them.
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #369 Saturday, August 13, 2011 |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Artifacts breathe new life into the destruction of the Temple |
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· 08/12/2011 9:20:36 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 3 replies · · Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs · · August 8, 2011 · · Israel Antiquities Authority · |
On the eve of Tisha B'Av, commemorating the anniversary of the destruction of the First and Second Temples, artifacts were exposed that breathe new life into the story of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem... During the course of work the Israel Antiquities Authority carried out in Jerusalem's ancient drainage channel, which begins in the Siloam Pool and runs from the City of David to the archaeological garden (near the Western Wall), impressive finds were recently discovered that breathe new life into the story of the destruction of the Second Temple... A 2,000 year old iron sword, still in... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Palestinians set fire to Joseph's Tomb |
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· 10/16/2003 10:48:12 AM PDT · · Posted by anotherview · · 138 replies · · 1,241+ views · · The Jerusalem Post · · 16 October 2003 · · Margot Dudkevitch · |
The IDF permitted hundreds of Jewish worshippers access to Joseph's Tomb in Nablus to pray at the shrine early Thursday. Later the worshippers left in buses accompanied by IDF forces who guarded them throughout the visit. Shortly after their departure a group of Palestinian youths arrived at the site and set fire to the shrine throwing burning tires inside the compound. The local Palestinian fire brigade arrived and extinguished the flames. It was the fourth time authorization was given to... |
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| Phi Tappa Keg | |
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| Pagans fight for divine rights of old Greek gods |
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· 09/24/2003 6:28:19 AM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 50 replies · · 2,930+ views · · Scotsman · · September 21, 2003 · · Matthew Brunwasser · |
IN THE shadow of Mount Olympus the toga-clad worshippers sway to the beating of a drum as the bearded man leading the ceremony throws a pinch of grain into a torch, then circles his hand above the flames. While the group, dressed in yellow, red and blue robes, may appear to be taking part in some bewildering historical re-enactment, they are members a growing pagan movement dedicated to resurrecting the religion and way of life of ancient Greece. The pagans have gathered in a meadow near the sacred mountain where their ancestors believed the gods lived and held court to... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Turkey Wants The Bones of St. Nicholas |
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· 01/04/2010 9:01:41 AM PST · · Posted by marshmallow · · 21 replies · · 886+ views · · What Does the Prayer Really Say · · 1/2/10 · · Fr. John Zuhlsdorf · |
AFP --Turkey will ask for the return of the bones of Saint Nicholas, who Father Christmas is modelled on, from their display in Italy, local media reported on Friday. (Of course, the bones of St. Nicholas are not "on display" in Bari; these were taken to Bari in order to be saved from desecration! CAP) Saint Nicholas, from the modern-day town of Demre on southern Turkey's Mediterranean coast, is, according to tradition, the ancestor of Father Christmas, but his remains were stolen by Italian pirates in the 11th... |
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| Hagia Sophia | |
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| Hagia Sophia's angel uncovered |
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· 07/24/2009 10:48:16 AM PDT · · Posted by iowamark · · 25 replies · · 1,295+ views · · TurkishNY.com · · 07/24/2009 · · unstated · |
Experts have uncovered one of the six angel mosaics within the world-famous Hagia Sophia Museum in Istanbul after it had been hidden for 160 years behind plaster and a metal mask. The mosaic, which measures 1.5 meters by 1 meter, was last seen by Swiss architect Gaspare Fossati, who headed restoration efforts at the museum between 1847 and 1849, and Ottoman Sultan Abd¸lmecid. Experts were surprised to see that the mosaic, believed to date from the 14th century, was so well preserved. Hagia Sophia, built by the Byzantine emperor Justinian between A.D. 532 and 537, was originally a basilica before... |
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| Holy Wisdom: Why the Pope should call for the return of the Hagia Sophia. |
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· 12/07/2006 10:26:19 AM PST · · Posted by ZeitgeistSurfer · · 91 replies · · 1,616+ views · · VDH's Private Papers · · 12/7/2006 · · Bruce S. Thornton · |
Many in the West are congratulating Pope Benedict XVI's recent trip to Turkey, where in the Blue Mosque he prayed facing Mecca and made other gestures meant to salve the wounds raised by his references to Islam's history of violence. Personally, I found the whole scene a depressing exhibit of the West's terminal failure of nerve, one particularly distressing given this Pope's documented understanding that what we call the "war on terror" is in fact the latest episode in the centuries-long struggle with a militant Islam. |
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| Quake-Proof Cement Mixed '1,300 Years Ago' |
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· 11/14/2002 3:07:10 PM PST · · Posted by blam · · 10 replies · · 336+ views · · IOL · · 11-13-2002 · |
London --The Sixth Century builders of Hagia Sophia, the Byzantine cathedral still standing in Istanbul, discovered cement with earthquake-resistant properties 1 300 years before anyone else, a research team revealed on Wednesday. Hagia Sophia, built as a church and subsequently turned into a mosque, still stands only because its creators discovered the cement. Many of the surrounding buildings have long since succumbed to the ravages of time, including earthquakes, according to a report in the New Scientist. The structure has withstood quakes of up to 7,5 on... |
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| Anatolia | |
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| Archaeologists uncover 3,000-year-old lion adorning citadel gate complex in Turkey |
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· 08/09/2011 9:22:53 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 16 replies · · U of Toronto · · August 9, 2011 · · Unknown · |
TORONTO, ON --- Archaeologists leading the University of Toronto's Tayinat Archaeological Project in southeastern Turkey have unearthed the remains of a monumental gate complex adorned with stone sculptures, including a magnificently carved lion. The gate complex provided access to the citadel of Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina (ca. 950-725 BCE), and is reminiscent of the citadel gate excavated by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley in 1911 at the royal Hittite city of Carchemish. The Tayinat find provides valuable new insight into the innovative character and cultural sophistication of the diminutive Iron Age states that emerged in the... |
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| Archaeologists uncover 3,000-year-old lion adorning citadel gate complex in Turkey |
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· 08/09/2011 11:01:56 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 11 replies · · PhysOrg · · 08-09-2011 · · U of Toronto · |
Archaeologists leading the University of Toronto's Tayinat Archaeological Project in southeastern Turkey have unearthed the remains of a monumental gate complex adorned with stone sculptures, including a magnificently carved lion. The gate complex provided access to the citadel of Kunulua, capital of the Neo-Hittite Kingdom of Patina (ca. 950-725 BCE), and is reminiscent of the citadel gate excavated by British archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley in 1911 at the royal Hittite city of Carchemish. The Tayinat find provides valuable new insight into the innovative character and cultural sophistication of the diminutive Iron Age states that emerged in the eastern Mediterranean following... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Ancient oracles offered guidance and allayed fears [ Oracle of Delphi ] |
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· 08/07/2011 11:09:34 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · Ekathimerini · · Monday, January 3, 2011 · · John Leonard · |
...the rituals and divine utterances of Apollo's oracle at Delphi were subjects recorded and commented upon by numerous ancient writers through the centuries, including Pliny the Elder, Diodorus Siculus, Plato, Aeschylus, Cicero, Strabo and Plutarch, a Boeotian native who gained fame in late 1st century AD Rome for his essays and biographies, provides a firsthand account of the oracle at Delphi. As a senior priest who long served in the sanctuary, Plutarch recorded detailed observations of the Pythian priestess's trance-like, occasionally erratic behavior during sacred rituals... a multidisciplinary team of specialists in the late 20th century uncovered tangible proof that... |
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| Cyprus | |
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| Important finds at Late Bronze Age site |
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· 08/07/2011 10:46:05 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 19 replies · · Cyprus Mail · · Friday, August 5, 2011 · · Natalie Hami · |
A large building dating as far back as 1200 BC and a female goddess figurine were only some of the fascinating finds following five-week long excavations at the Late Bronze harbour city of Hala Sultan Tekke in Larnaca. Inside the 30 by 20m building were both living and working spaces containing spindle whorls and loom weights, which indicate the production of textiles, as well as a plethora of high-quality pottery imported mainly from the Mycenaean world. Jugs, bowls and jars were among the pottery uncovered... According to Fischer some of the findings were imported from Egypt... Another significant find was... |
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| Africa | |
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| Remains of Ancient Palace Discovered [ Meroe in Nubia ] |
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· 08/07/2011 7:31:25 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 5 replies · · LiveScience · · August 5, 2011 · · Owen Jarus · |
Hidden beneath an ancient palace in what is now central Sudan, archaeologists have discovered the oldest building in the city of Meroë, a structure that also may have housed royalty... flourished around 2,000 years ago, Meroë was centered on the Nile River... built palaces and small pyramids, and developed a writing system that scholars still can't fully translate today. Although Meroë has been excavated off and on for more than 150 years, archaeologists are not yet clear on how it came to be. The city seems to have emerged out of nowhere... the presence of such an ancient building at... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin goes in search for Russia's Atlantis |
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· 08/10/2011 8:55:05 PM PDT · · Posted by smokingfrog · · 11 replies · · Herald Sun · · 11 Aug 2011 · · NewsCore · |
HE has flown warplanes, shot at tigers and ridden bare-chested on horseback, but Russia's macho prime minister Vladimir Putin is now preparing for his next challenge --diving for Russia's version of Atlantis. Putin, 58, traveled to the Taman Peninsula in the southwest of the country to publicise archaeological work at the ancient Greek city of Phanagoria, Ria Novosti news agency reported. Putin was expected to put on diving gear and head to the bottom of Taman Bay, part of the Kerch Strait leading into the northern edge of the vast Black Sea. Phanagoria was a major Greek colony in... |
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| Rome & Italy | |
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| Lessons From The Fall Of An Empire |
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· 12/29/2002 4:54:52 PM PST · · Posted by Seti 1 · · 40 replies · · 1,148+ views · · Financial Times (via Drudge) · · Dec 29, 2002 · · Harold James · |
It is the time of year when people are casting about for good books to read to resolve the current perplexity. If you are sitting in Washington, there are few guides to the unique position of the US, whose military expenditure exceeds that of the next 14 countries combined. The most frequently cited historical parallels, Britain and its 19th-century pax Britannica, or 16th-century Spain, the first country to grasp New World prosperity to dominate the Old World, do not really fit modern America. Both were... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Iron Age people gave interiors of dwellings a decorative streak |
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· 08/12/2011 6:57:34 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · The Local · · August 8, 2011 · · DPA/The Local/djw · |
Archaeologists in Saxony-Anhalt have discovered a 2,600-year-old wall painted in bright patterns. It reveals that Iron Age houses were not the drab constructions they were once thought to be. The State Museum for Prehistory in the eastern German city of Halle put part of the prehistoric clay wall on display on Monday. The wall was apparently part of a sprawling, Iron Age human settlement... The dominant colours are red, beige and white. For pigments, the prehistoric painters used substances such as iron oxide, which gives the reddish, ochre colour. The design shows typical ornamental patterns from the Iron Age such... |
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| Near East | |
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| U.S. Soldiers Help to Preserve Babylon Ruins |
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· 06/30/2009 5:49:28 PM PDT · · Posted by SandRat · · 9 replies · · 1,075+ views · · American Forces Press Service · · Capt. Stephen C. Short, USA · |
HILLAH, Iraq, June 30, 2009 --- Soldiers with the 172nd Infantry Brigade are helping documentarians, historians and preservationists as they work to ensure that ancient Iraqi history is preserved and documented in Babil province. Army 1st Lt. Bryan Kelso stands watch outside a deserted palace built under Saddam Hussein at the Babylon ruins, June 21, 2009. Saddam ordered the construction of the palace on a manmade hill overlooking the ancient city of Babylon, where many projects are under way to enhance tourism in the area. U.S. Army photo by Maj. Mike Feeney (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The brigade... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Michigan Copper in the Mediterranean |
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· 08/06/2011 4:11:06 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 84 replies · · Grahamhancock.com · · 8-2011 · · Jay Stuart Wakefield · |
The Shipping of Michigan Copper across the Atlantic in the Bronze Age (Isle Royale and Keweenaw Peninsula, c. 2400BC-1200 BC) Summary Recent scientific literature has come to the conclusion that the major source of the copper that swept through the European Bronze Age after 2500 BC is unknown. However, these studies claim that the 10 tons of copper oxhide ingots recovered from the late Bronze Age (1300 BC) Uluburun shipwreck off the coast of Turkey was "extraordinarily pure" (more than 99.5% pure), and that it was not the product of smelting from ore. The oxhides are all brittle "blister copper",... |
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| Blame It On the Denisovans | |
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| Stone Age toe could redraw human family tree |
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· 08/12/2011 5:44:04 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 36 replies · · New Scientist · · Wednesday, August 10, 2011 · · Colin Barras · |
The Denisova cave had already yielded a fossil tooth and finger bone, in 2000 and 2008. Last year, Pääbo's DNA analysis suggested both belonged to a previously unknown group of hominins, the Denisovans. The new bone, an extremely rare find, looks likely to belong to the same group... The primitive morphology of the 30,000 to 50,000-year-old Denisovan finger bone and tooth indicates that Denisovans separated from the Neanderthals roughly 300,000 years ago. At the time of the analysis, Pääbo speculated that they came to occupy large parts of east Asia at a time when Europe and western Asia were dominated... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Ancient DNA reveals secrets of human history |
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· 08/09/2011 11:36:54 AM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 49 replies · · Nature News · · 9 August 2011 · · Ewen Callaway · |
Modern humans may have picked up key genes from extinct relatives. For a field that relies on fossils that have lain undisturbed for tens of thousands of years, ancient human genomics is moving at breakneck speed. Barely a year after the publication of the genomes of Neanderthals1 and of an extinct human population from Siberia2, scientists are racing to apply the work to answer questions about human evolution and history that would have been unfathomable just a few years ago. The past months have seen a swathe of discoveries, from details about when Neanderthals and humans interbred, to the important... |
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| Someday Her Prints Will Come | |
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| The Mystery of the Missing Fingerprints |
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· 08/07/2011 12:49:25 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 16 replies · · ScienceNow · · 4 August 2011 · · Natalie Villacorta · |
Enlarge Image Missing. Researchers have uncovered the mutation behind a rare disease that leaves people without fingerprints. Credit: Nousbeck et al., The American Journal of Human Genetics (2011) In 2007, a Swiss woman in her late 20s had an unusually hard time crossing the U.S. border. Customs agents could not confirm her identity. The woman's passport picture matched her face just fine, but when the agents scanned her hands, they discovered something shocking: she had no fingerprints. The woman, it turns out, had an extremely rare condition known as adermatoglyphia. Peter Itin, a dermatologist at the University Hospital Basel... |
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| Climate | |
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| Half of Earth's Heat from Radioactive Decay |
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· 08/07/2011 10:17:32 AM PDT · · Posted by Salman · · 22 replies · · Space Daily · · Aug 04, 2011 · · staff writers · |
Nearly half of the Earth's heat comes from the radioactive decay of materials inside, according to a large international research collaboration that includes a Kansas State University physicist. Studying the physical properties of Earth can help astrobiologists understand the mechanisms that caused our planet to become habitable. In turn, this information can then be used to determine where and how to search for habitable worlds throughout the Universe. ... |
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| Driftin', Driftin' | |
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| A Billion Year Old Piece of North America Traced Back to Antarctica |
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· 08/08/2011 7:58:48 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · · Geological Society of America · · August 8, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Boulder, CO, USA --An international team of researchers has found the strongest evidence yet that parts of North America and Antarctica were connected 1.1 billion years ago, long before the supercontinent Pangaea formed. "I can go to the Franklin Mountains in West Texas and stand next to what was once part of Coats Land in Antarctica," said Staci Loewy, a geochemist at California State University, Bakersfield, who led the study. "That's so amazing." Loewy and her colleagues discovered that rocks collected from both locations have the exact same composition of lead isotopes. Earlier analyses showed the rocks to be... |
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| Paleontology | |
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| Giant fossil shows huge birds lived among dinosaurs |
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· 08/10/2011 5:21:06 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 31 replies · · BBC News · · 8-10-2011 · |
An enormous jawbone found in Kazakhstan is further evidence that giant birds roamed --or flew above --the Earth at the same time as the dinosaurs. Writing in Biology Letters, researchers say the new species, Samrukia nessovi, had a skull some 30cm long. If flightless, the bird would have been 2-3m tall; if it flew, it may have had a wingspan of 4m. The find is only the second bird of such a size in the Cretaceous geologic period, and the first in Asia. The only other evidence of a bird of such a size during the period was... |
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| Look Back in Amber | |
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| Peru researchers make rare ancient insect find |
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· 08/09/2011 7:59:49 PM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 75 replies · · AFP · · 8-9-11 · · Anon · |
Detailed fossilized insect remains preserved in amber for over 23 million years (AFP/HO) Peru researchers make rare ancient insect find (AFP) --- 3 hours ago LIMA --- Researchers in Peru said Tuesday they have discovered the remains of ancient insects and sunflower seeds trapped inside amber dating from the Miocene epoch, some 23 million years ago. The rare find was made in the remote mountainous jungle region near Peru's northern border with Ecuador, paleontologist Klaus Honninger told AFP. "These new discoveries are very important, because the insects and sunflower seeds confirm the type of climate that existed during the Miocene... |
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| Dinosaurs | |
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| Light Shed On South Pole Dinosaurs |
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· 08/12/2011 9:02:20 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · Science News · · August 5, 2011 · · Montana State U · |
Dog-sized dinosaurs that lived near the South Pole, sometimes in the dark for months at a time, had bone tissue very similar to dinosaurs that lived everywhere on the planet, according to a doctoral candidate at Montana State University. That surprising fact falsifies a 13-year-old study and may help explain why dinosaurs were able to dominate the planet for 160 million years, said Holly Woodward, MSU graduate student in the Department of Earth Sciences and co-author of a paper published Aug. 3 in the journal PLoS ONE. "If we were trying to find evidence of dinosaurs doing something much different... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Henry Morgan's 1671 ship hull and chests rediscovered |
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· 08/07/2011 10:14:01 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 50 replies · · 3 News (New Zealand) · · Friday, August 5, 2011 · · 3 News / Reuters · |
A group of US archaeologists may have uncovered a section of hull and coral-covered chests that privateer Henry Morgan lost during his 1671 raid of Panama. The team from Texas State University is led by underwater archaeologist Frederick Hanselmann. He led last year's discovery of cannons at the mouth of the Chagres River that may also have belonged to five ships Morgan is believed to have lost. The team have been working slowly to uncover the wreckage of the ship that has been buried in the sand. "When we get to an archaeological site, like a shipwreck that has a... |
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| Pages | |
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| Secret of who killed Nelson exposed in lost Dumas novel |
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· 03/31/2005 3:50:46 PM PST · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 19 replies · · 938+ views · · Middle East Times · · March 23, 2005 · · Hugh Schofield · |
PARIS --- The mystery of who killed Admiral Nelson is to be explained in a previously unknown novel by Alexandre Dumas, author of The Three Musketeers, discovered by a French researcher and going on sale in June, the book's publisher said on Tuesday. Le Chevalier de Sainte-Hermine (The knight of Saint-Hermine) is a classic Dumas adventure story about the start of the Napoleonic empire and includes a swashbuckling account of the battle of Trafalgar, according to Jean-Pierre Sicre of Phebus press. "The description of Trafalgar is indescribably brilliant. And in it we learn that it is the hero of the... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Politics As It Should Be |
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· 08/07/2011 8:40:40 AM PDT · · Posted by Kaslin · · 12 replies · · Townhall.com · · August 7, 2011 · · Salena Zito · |
The recent debt debate was not politics at its worst or most dysfunctional. It worked exactly as American politics was designed to work. "Our system is about posturing, fighting, dealing and eventually compromising," said Dr. Lara Brown, a Villanova University political scientist. "Overall, House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell did what Henry Clay did ---they structured a compromise, which gave Democrats time and Republicans principle." Clay was at the center of the Nullification Crisis of 1833, rooted in two bills placing high tariffs on imports; it protected Northern manufacturers but left the South unable to sell... |
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| Underwater Archaeology | |
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| A Brief Dry Spell for the U.S.S. Monitor |
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· 08/10/2011 4:14:06 AM PDT · · Posted by fso301 · · 14 replies · · New York Times · · aug 12, 2011 · · John Tierney · |
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. --- Military secrecy was a bit lax during the Civil War, by today's standards, but contractor deadlines were a lot tighter.The technology that revolutionized naval warfare began with a five-sentence message delivered to The New York Times 150 years ago, on Aug. 9, 1861, and the information was not exactly classified. It was an advertisement placed by the Union Navy, to appear the following six days, under the heading "Iron-Clad Steam Vessels." |
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| The Civil War | |
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| TV appearance of Lincoln assassination witness |
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· 08/12/2011 9:55:41 AM PDT · · Posted by Lonesome in Massachussets · · 26 replies · · I've Got a Secret · · 1956 · · Samuel Seymour · |
See video at link. Wonderful |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Remembering The Berlin Wall, 50 Years On (August 13th, 1961) |
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· 08/12/2011 9:22:20 PM PDT · · Posted by Perdogg · · 19 replies · · NPR.org · · 08.12.11 · |
The Berlin Wall has now been torn down for nearly as long (22 years) as it stood (28 years). Yet it was such a powerful symbol of the Cold War that it still evokes a strong response today, a half-century after it was constructed in the summer of 1961. Germans will gather this weekend at the spot where the wall stood and reflect on how it shaped their lives and their society. While most of the wall is gone, a section still stands in the center of the city on a street called Bernauer Strasse. When the city was divided,... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Fearless matriarch of resistance (most decorated woman of World War II, dies aged 98 |
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· 08/08/2011 1:58:26 PM PDT · · Posted by naturalman1975 · · 15 replies · · The Australian · · 9th August 2011 · · Graeme Leech · |
THE most decorated woman of World War II, Nancy Wake had a five-million-franc price put on her head by the feared German secret police, the Gestapo, for helping the French Resistance. Branded the White Mouse by her hunters, she became the most wanted resistance fighter in France. ..... By 1940, Wake was running messages and smuggling food for the French resistance, the Maquis. She branched out into helping downed Allied airmen escape capture and returning them to Britain. It has been estimated that she helped more than 1000 airmen escape. ..... But in 1943, Gestapo agents were closing in. One... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Women in Science Work for Less Money |
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· 08/07/2011 6:46:59 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 37 replies · · ScienceInsider · · 4 August 2011 · · Jeffrey Mervis · |
Study hard, receive a science or engineering degree, and your reward will be a well-paying job in your chosen field. That's part of the sales pitch for those trying to attract more women into science. But according to a new U.S. government study, the "reward" includes earning 12% less than your male counterparts. The 11-page report(PDF), "Women in STEM: A Gender Gap to Innovation," is the first analysis of women working in technical fields (STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) by the Commerce Department's Economics and Statistics Administration (ESA). The study is based on data from the 2009... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Nazis tried to train dogs to talk, read and spell to win WW2 |
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· 05/24/2011 6:21:25 PM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 57 replies · · The Telegraph · · May 24, 2011 · |
The Germans viewed canines as being almost as intelligent as humans and attempted to build an army of fearsome 'speaking' dogs, extraordinary new research shows. Hitler hoped the clever creatures would learn to communicate with their SS masters --and he even had a special dog school set up to teach them to talk. The incredible findings show Nazi officials recruited so-called educated dogs from all over Germany and trained them to speak and tap out signals using their paws. One mutt was said to have uttered the words 'Mein Fuhrer' when asked who Adolf Hitler was. Another 'spoke' by... |
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| Stalin's mutant ape army (Yes, it's what you think) |
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· 12/19/2005 11:03:41 PM PST · · Posted by Stoat · · 77 replies · · 7,368+ views · · The Sun (U.K.) · · December 20, 2005 · · Jerome Starkey · |
Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered his scientists to cross humans with APES to create an invincible breed of Red Army soldiers, secret documents show. Archive papers say the Kremlin chief demanded his Planet of the Apes warriors be "resilient and resistant to hunger".He said they should be of "immense strength but with an underdeveloped brain". He also wanted them to work on railway construction.Labs and ape skeletons have been found in the Black Sea town of Suchumi in Georgia by workmen building a kids' playground. It... |
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| Stalin's half-man, half-ape super-warriors |
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· 12/20/2005 6:27:28 AM PST · · Posted by mak5 · · 15 replies · · 375+ views · · The Scotsman · · 12/20/2005 · · Chris Stephen & Allan Hall · |
THE Soviet dictator Josef Stalin ordered the creation of Planet of the Apes-style warriors by crossing humans with apes, according to recently uncovered secret documents. Moscow archives show that in the mid-1920s Russia's top animal breeding scientist, Ilya Ivanov, was ordered to turn his skills from horse and animal work to the quest for a super-warrior. |
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| end of digest #369 20110813 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #369 · v 8 · n 5 Saturday, August 13, 2011 |
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36 topics |
Welcome to issue #369 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · A much more usual 36 topics this week. Troll activity has been a bit above normal. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #370 Saturday, August 20, 2011 |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Archaeologists Uncover 25,000-year-old Pendant in Spain |
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· 08/14/2011 1:02:02 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 37 replies · · Latino Fox News · · August 10, 2011 · · EFE · |
A pendant some 25,000 years old has been found in the Irikaitz dig in northern Spain's Basque region by archaeologists from the Sociedad Aranzadi. The piece, an oblong gray smooth stone some 10 centimeters (4 inches) in length, is perforated at one end and apparently was hung from a thong or cord around a person's neck, according to the director of the excavation, Alvaro Arrizabalaga, who added that the other end of the stone was used as a tool to retouch the edges of tools made from flint, like arrows or scrapers... The Irikaitz deposit, where archaeologists began working in... |
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| Blessed are the Greeks | |
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| The Battle of Marathon: 2,500th Anniversary |
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· 08/14/2011 6:35:46 AM PDT · · Posted by Lonesome in Massachussets · · 25 replies · · Sky and Telescope Website · · Donald Olson, Marilynn Olson, & Russell Doescher · |
The Boston Marathon, New York City Marathon, and all the other marathon races held worldwide trace their origin to this battle in ancient Greece and the well-known story of a messenger who ran about 26 miles from the battlefield back to Athens and died when he arrived. The ancient calendars and uncertain records have made it difficult to date these events precisely. But the ancient sources describe the lunar phase near the time of the battle, and we can calculate when the Battle of Marathon occurred using these astronomical clues. |
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| Underwater Archaeology | |
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| Sunken Treasure Found in the Seas Of Sicily |
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· 08/14/2011 1:45:31 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Discovery News · · Friday, August 12, 2011 · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
Italian archaeologists have retrieved a sunken treasure of 3,422 ancient bronze coins in the small Sicilian island of Pantelleria, they announced today. Discovered by chance during a survey to create an underwater archaeological itinerary,the coins have been dated between 264 and 241 BC. At that time, Pantelleria, which lies about 70 miles southwest of Sicily, in the middle of the Sicily Strait, became a bone of contention between the Romans and Carthaginians. Rome captured the small Mediterranean island in the First Punic War in 255 BC, but lost it a year later. In 217 BC, in the Second Punic War,... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Rare Discovery: Spectacular Hercules statue found in Jezreel Valley |
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· 08/16/2011 7:20:46 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 54 replies · · Ynetnews · · Tuesday, August 16, 2011 · · Shai Zamir · |
A marble statue of Hercules from the second century CE has been uncovered in Israel in excavations the Israel Antiquities Authority is conducting at Horvat Tarbenet... The hero Hercules, of Greek and Roman mythology, was born in Thebes. He is the son of the god Zeus and the mortal Alcmene, a woman from Electryon. Hercules is considered the strongest man in the world, a symbol of power, courage and superhuman strength; one of the most famous legendary heroes of ancient Greece who battled the forces of the netherworld on behalf of the Olympian gods... Depictions of the labors of Hercules... |
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| Rome & Italy | |
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| Evidence suggesting the palace of Emperor Constantine I unearthed in Bulgaria |
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· 08/14/2011 2:19:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 13 replies · · TruthDive · · Sunday, August 14, 2011 · · News Desk / ANI · |
Bulgarian archaeologists have uncovered evidence, suggesting the palace of Byzantine Emperor Constantine I. A unique dwelling and a church from the 4th century have been the most recent sensation that came up from Sofia downtown's underground depths, reports the Standard News. The archeologists have not confirmed for sure the identity of the findings as excavations continue. All facts for now, however, lead towards the variant that the palace of the first Christian Emperor lies just under the square in front of St Nedelya Church. Bulgaria's Minister of Culture, Vejdi Rashidov and Sofia Mayor, Yordanka Fandakova presented the latest archeological findings.... |
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| British Isles | |
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| The Secrets of Caerleon |
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· 08/14/2011 3:20:18 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Past Horizons · · Wednesday, August 10, 2011 · · unattributed · |
For more than 2000 years a suburb of monumental Roman buildings lay undiscovered beneath a modern South Wales town, but now archaeologists from Cardiff University hope to reveal the secrets of this fascinating ancient site. In spring 2010, staff and students from the School of History, Archaeology and Religion located a complex of buildings outside the Roman fortress at Caerleon. The 'Lost City of the Legion' -- as it has been called -- was completely unknown and is a major addition to our knowledge of Roman Britain. Geophysical surveys taken by the Cardiff team at the time of the discovery... |
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| The Vikings | |
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| Oxford Viking massacre revealed by skeleton find |
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· 08/14/2011 1:57:36 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 26 replies · · BBC · · Friday, August 12, 2011 · · Louise Ord · |
Evidence of a brutal massacre of Vikings in Oxford 1100 years ago has been uncovered by archaeologists. At least 35 skeletons, all males aged 16 to 25 were discovered in 2008 at St John's College, Oxford... The bodies had not received any type of formal burial and they had been dumped in a mass grave on the site of a 4,000-year-old Neolithic henge monument... It is possible that the Oxford skeletons were victims of an event called the St Brice's Day Massacre, recorded in a number of historical sources. In AD1002, the Saxon king Ethelred the Unready recorded in a... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Remains found on building site (Bicester UK) believed to be those of patron saint |
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· 08/14/2011 8:44:33 PM PDT · · Posted by NYer · · 16 replies · · Bicester Advertiser · · August 12, 2011 · · Sam McGregor · |
The Chapel Street excavation site where the remains of St Edburg may have been found -- Archaeologists believe they may have found the remains of Bicester's patron saint, St Edburg, underneath a former block of flats. The team believe it could be the first time in the country the bones of a saint have been found. It could take up to a year to confirm the date of the bones using specialist carbon dating technology. Archaeologists discovered the entire north transept of the Priory Church, which is believed to stretch to Old Place Yard, Priory Road and Chapel Street. They are... |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Language More Foul In Elizabethan Street Theatre Than 21st Century TV, Reveals Historian |
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· 10/16/2003 4:25:07 PM PDT · · Posted by sourcery · · 24 replies · · 766+ views · · 2003-10-16 · |
UK broadcasters are often accused of promoting obscenity through the increased use of bad language on TV. However, new research from the University of Warwick reveals that the language of public name-calling, or 'street theatre', in early modern England was full of foul sexual insults that are far more lewd than today's broadcast media --and women were the main offenders. Professor Bernard Capp's book 'When Gossips Meet', tracks the history of poor and 'middling' women from the mid 1500s to the 1700s, to reveal that gossipmongering and heated public exchanges were weapons used by women to wield power and... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Burial site find delays new Skye medical centre |
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· 08/14/2011 2:06:52 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 7 replies · · BBC · · August 12, 2011 · · unattibuted · |
An archaeologist has uncovered the remains of an ancient burial cist and pottery at the site of a new £1.3m health centre on Skye. No human remains have been found, but further excavations and chemical tests on material recovered will delay the building project for about two weeks. Archaeologist Steven Birch also found a cairn and an underground structure known as a souterrain. NHS Highland said it still expected the centre to be completed by March 2012. The finds could date from the Iron Age. Mr Birch, of West Coast Archaeological Services, said: "There is a surprising range of important... |
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| Farty Shades of Green | |
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| Iron Age Body Discovered In Irish Bog |
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· 08/15/2011 6:49:21 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 20 replies · · Irish Weather Online · · Sunday, August 14, 2011 · · Mark Dunphy · |
Iron Age human remains have been discovered in a County Laois bog. The remains, understood to be those of a young woman, were found by an employee of Bord Na M√›na who was operating a milling machine in the Cul na M√›na bog between Abbeyleix and Portlaoise on Wednesday evening. Initial examinations of the prehistoric remains suggest the victim may have been a human sacrifice between 2,000 and 3,000 years ago. The National Museum of Ireland said the victim's legs were well preserved but that the torso and head appeared to have been lost. The remains will be removed to... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| 3D Photos Reveal Brainless, 2,500-Year-Old Mummy |
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· 08/19/2011 3:21:08 AM PDT · · Posted by jmcenanly · · 9 replies · · Fox News · · August 17, 2011 · · Jennifer Welsh · |
This mummy seems to be missing a brain and other vital organs, new images reveal, and the finding suggests the man held a high status when alive 2,500 years ago in ancient Egypt The images indicate that embalmers removed the man's brain and major organs and replaced them with rolls of linen, a superior embalming method used only for those of high status, researchers at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History said in a statement. Read more: |
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| Mammoth Told Us... | |
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| Reindeer Herder Finds Baby Mammoth in Russia Arctic |
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· 08/19/2011 5:44:20 PM PDT · · Posted by FrogMom · · 42 replies · · Reuters · · Aug 19, 2011 · · Alissa de Carbonnel · |
A reindeer herder in Russia's Arctic has stumbled on the pre-historic remains of a baby woolly mammoth poking out of the permafrost, local officials said on Friday. |
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| Look Back in Amber | |
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| Dinosaur Breath --Cretaceous Atmosphere Sample obtained and Studied. |
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· 02/17/2003 4:37:53 PM PST · · Posted by vannrox · · 14 replies · · 820+ views · · Analog · · Published in the July-1988 issue · · John G. Cramer · |
Dinosaur Breath The largest flying creature alive today is the Andean condor Vultur gryphus. At maximum size it weighs about 22 pounds and has a wingspread of about 10 feet. But 65 million years ago in the late cretaceous period, the last age of dinosaurs, there was another larger flying animal, the giant pterosaur Quetzalcotalus. It had a wingspread of over 40 feet, the size of a small airplane. Other pterosaurs were also quite large. The pteranodons of the late jurassic period, the classic flying dinosaurs of magazine illustrations, had a maximum wingspan of about 33 feet. This presents a... |
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| Oldest spider silk preserved in amber |
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· 08/06/2003 1:25:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Pokey78 · · 17 replies · · 408+ views · · Ananova · · 08/06/03 · |
The world's oldest known spider silk has been found in a 130 million-year-old piece of amber. The discovery, which dates from the Early Cretaceous period, was made in amber beds located near Jezzine in Lebanon. The fibre is 90 million years older than the thread that previously held the record for the oldest preserved silk, according to the report in the journal Nature. The Lebanese silk strand is four millimetres in length and has tiny glue droplets spaced out along it. The diameter of the thread, and the size, density, arrangement and shape of the droplets, closely match those in... |
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| Spider 'is 20 million years old' |
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· 09/30/2005 9:17:27 AM PDT · · Posted by bigmac0707 · · 209 replies · · 4,248+ views · · BBCNews · · 9/30/05 · · BBCNEWS · |
A scientist has described a spider that was trapped and preserved in amber 20 million years ago. Palaeontologist Dr David Penney, of the University of Manchester, found the 4cm long by 2cm wide fossil during a visit to a museum in the Dominican Republic. Since the discovery two years ago, he has used droplets of blood in the amber to reveal the age of the specimen. It is thought to be the first time spider blood has been found in amber and scientists hope to extract its DNA. Dr Penney, of the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, said... |
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| Scientist: Frog Could Be 25M Years Old |
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· 02/14/2007 6:47:47 PM PST · · Posted by Alouette · · 34 replies · · 1,215+ views · · Myway · · Feb. 14, 2007 · |
MEXICO CITY (AP) --A Mexican researcher announced the rare find of a tiny tree frog completely preserved in amber on Wednesday that he estimates lived about 25 million years ago. The chunk of amber containing the 0.4-inch frog was uncovered by a miner in southern Chiapas states in 2005 and was bought by a private collector, who lent it to scientists for study. Only a few preserved frogs have been found in chunks of amber --a stone formed by ancient tree sap --mostly in the Dominican Republic. Like those, the frog found in Chiapas was of the... |
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| Dino-Era Feathers Found Encased In Amber (100 Million Years Old) |
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· 03/12/2008 5:37:43 PM PDT · · Posted by blam · · 51 replies · · 1,982+ views · · National Geographic News · · 3-11-2008 · · James Owens · |
Dino-Era Feathers Found Encased in Amber James Owen for National Geographic NewsMarch 11, 2008 Seven dino-era feathers found perfectly preserved in amber in western France highlight a crucial stage in feather evolution, scientists report. The hundred-million-year-old plumage has features of both feather-like fibers found with some two-legged dinosaurs known as theropods and of modern bird feathers, the researchers said. This means the fossils could fill a key gap in the puzzle of how dinosaurs gave rise to birds, according to a team led by Vincent Perrichot of the Museum f¸r Naturkunde-Berlin in Germany. The find provides a clear example "of... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Walking Away From The Noble Savage Myth |
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· 08/15/2011 9:31:45 PM PDT · · Posted by AustralianConservative · · 17 replies · · Weekend Libertarian · · August 16, 2011 · · B.P. Terpstra · |
While popular in revolutionary leftwing Europe, the romantic myth of the "Noble Savage" couldn't be sustained in real-life Australia. In the 1890s, a Queensland missionary wrote: "The Noble Savage' may exist as a romantic ideal within the covers of a book, but that secluded within the covers of the tropical scrub, and roaming wild his native forests, unfettered by the form and fashion of civilszation, he is a being very different in reality from the fallacious painting of his picture by a poet's imagination. [i] Decades earlier, Captain Watkin Tench expressed his unfashionable displeasure of le bon sauvage: A thousand... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Peruvian Desert Once a Breadbasket |
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· 08/16/2011 7:25:40 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 42 replies · · Discovery News · · Tuesday, August 16, 2011 · · Tim Wall · |
Throughout human history unsustainable agricultural practices have turned fragile ecosystems into wastelands and left people starving. During the Dust Bowl, American farmers learned the consequences of removing the deep rooted grasses from the Great Plains when the soil blew away in tremendous dust storms. Icelandic shepherds learned that the sheep rearing practices their ancestors used on the European mainland destroyed the thin soils of their island and left them with starving herds and little to eat. The ancient inhabitants of what is now Peru also learned the unhappy consequences of farming in a delicate ecosystem. The Ica Valley, near the... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Biologists' discovery may force revision of biology textbooks |
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· 08/18/2011 12:14:07 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 27 replies · · U of C San Diego · · August 18, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Basic biology textbooks may need a bit of revising now that biologists at UC San Diego have discovered a never-before-noticed component of our basic genetic material. According to the textbooks, chromatin, the natural state of DNA in the cell, is made up of nucleosomes. And nucleosomes are the basic repeating unit of chromatin. When viewed by a high powered microscope, nucleosomes look like beads on a string (photo at right). But in the August 19th issue of the journal Molecular Cell, UC San Diego biologists report their discovery of a novel chromatin particle halfway between DNA and a nucleosome (photo... |
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| Rewinding evolution: Scientists alter chicken DNA to create embryo with 'alligator-like' snout |
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· 08/18/2011 4:46:34 PM PDT · · Posted by Free ThinkerNY · · 39 replies · · Daily Mail · · August 18, 2011 · · Daily Mail Reporter · |
Scientists have undone the progress made by evolution by altering chicken DNA to create embryos with alligator-like snouts instead of beaks. Experts changed the DNA of chicken embryos in the early stage of their development, enabling them to undo evolutionary progress and give the creatures snouts which are thought to have been lost in the cretaceous period millions of years ago. The scientific revelation of 'rewinding' evolution could pave the way for scientists altering DNA in the other direction and use the same process to create species better able to adapt to Earth's climate. It has also been claimed that... |
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| Cancer's Secrets Come Into Sharper Focus |
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· 08/15/2011 8:35:22 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 29 replies · · NY Times · · August 15, 2011 · · George Johnson · |
For the last decade cancer research has been guided by a common vision of how a single cell, outcompeting its neighbors, evolves into a malignant tumor. Through a series of random mutations, genes that encourage cellular division are pushed into overdrive, while genes that normally send growth-restraining signals are taken offline. With the accelerator floored and the brake lines cut, the cell and its progeny are free to rapidly multiply. More mutations accumulate, allowing the cancer cells to elude other safeguards and to invade neighboring tissue and metastasize. These basic principles -- laid out 11 years ago in a landmark... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Scholars seek to correct 'mistakes' in Bible (seems above-board & sincere) |
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· 08/12/2011 9:04:39 AM PDT · · Posted by flowerplough · · 55 replies · · msnbc · · 12 Aug · · Friedman · |
A dull-looking chart projected on the wall of a university office in Jerusalem displayed a revelation that would startle many readers of the Old Testament: The sacred text that people revered in the past was not the same one we study today. An ancient version of one book has an extra phrase. Another appears to have been revised to retroactively insert a prophecy after the events happened. Scholars in this out-of-the-way corner of the Hebrew University campus have been quietly at work for 53 years on one of the most ambitious projects attempted in biblical studies -- publishing the authoritative... |
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| Scholars Seek to Correct 'Mistakes' in Bible |
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· 08/17/2011 6:40:36 AM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 37 replies · · MSNBC · · 8/12/11 · · Matti Friedeman · |
Experts say they're looking to publish the authoritative edition of the Old TestamentBible Project, center, Dr. Rafael Zer, editorial coordinator, left, and Efrat Leibowitz, graduate research assistant, confer in their office at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on Wednesday. The ongoing work of these academic detectives shows that this foundation text of Western civilization has always been more fluid than many people's strongly held beliefs would suggest. A dull-looking chart projected on the wall of a university office in Jerusalem displayed a revelation that would startle many readers of the Old Testament: The sacred text that people revered in... |
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| India | |
| "Kerala Vault Opening Will Unleash Wrath of the Gods' (Deadly Cobra Curse) |
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· 08/15/2011 1:38:26 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 20 replies · · Wall Street Journal · · AUGUST 12, 2011 · · Margherita Stancati · |
We saw it coming when rumors of the cobra curse started spreading. Officials at Kerala's Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple -- where a treasure estimated to be worth $22 billion was found last month -- had warned against opening the last of its sealed vaults, citing the image of a cobra that ominously guarded its entrance. The vault -- Chamber "B" -- is still sealed. But now a group of astrologers say they are sure tragedy will befall those who upset the temple's deity further. The god, they say, is already angry about outsiders rummaging through the other five vaults, the contents... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| (Drug Raid Yields Tombstones) ... Tombstone Mystery in Drug Case |
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· 08/17/2011 7:02:54 PM PDT · · Posted by DogByte6RER · · 12 replies · · The Press-Enterprise · · Wednesday, August 17, 2011 · · DARRELL SANTSCHI · |
Tombstone mystery in drug case San Bernardino County Sheriff's investigators are left with a mystery following the discovery of 24 cemetery headstones in the backyard of a Loma Linda home they were searching for evidence in a drug case Tuesday. One of the headstones was tentatively traced to Montecito Memorial Park in Colton, sheriff's spokeswoman Cindy Bachman said. But a spokeswoman for the cemetery's parent company said workmen found a headstone in place on the grave in question. Lisa Marshall, spokeswoman for Service Corporation International, said no markers were reported missing and that the company is cooperating with investigators. Deputies... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| Deadly honor? Macho guys more likely to get killed |
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· 08/15/2011 12:00:45 PM PDT · · Posted by Tolerance Sucks Rocks · · 45 replies · · MSNBC · · August 15, 2011 · · Brian Alexander · |
People do stupid things all the time and they do them in all geographic regions, but as any regular viewer of Comedy Central's "Tosh 2.0" can tell you, there does seem to be an uncanny correlation between certain regions of the country and the kind of risk-taking behavior that could get you seriously hurt or even killed. That's the premise of a new study out today in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science. The three authors, all from the University of Oklahoma, found that states with a "culture of honor" -- in the South, and the West, mainly --... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Rembrandt drawing stolen from hotel |
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· 08/15/2011 6:30:21 AM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 7 replies · · BBC · · 15 August 2011 Last updated at 03:38 ET · · Staff · |
A Rembrandt drawing, valued at $250,000 (£153,625), has been taken from a hotel in California in a "well thought-out, well-executed theft", police have said. The piece, called The Judgement, was taken from an exhibition at the Ritz-Carlton in Marina del Rey, a Los Angeles County Sheriff spokesman said. It was stolen on Saturday between 22:20 and 22:35 local time when a curator was distracted by a guest, he added. Police are studying surveillance video from the hotel. The Dutch master's quill pen and black ink drawing, which dates back to about 1655, was part of an exhibition at the hotel... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| History of Two Parties in America |
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· 08/14/2011 9:22:09 PM PDT · · Posted by ELVISNIXON.com · · 4 replies · · ELVISNIXON.com · · 8/14/2011 · · Wes Riddle for ELVISNIXON.com · |
There have been three American political party systems, at least according to most historians. Some political scientists complicate things by counting changes in coalitions within the Third party system. If they count critical election shifts in 1896, 1932-36, and 1980-94, they could come up with as many as six different party systems. But historians refuse to abandon the Third party system label as long as Republicans fight it out with Democrats. It is not my purpose to examine the intricacies of politics in each party system, but some familiarity is useful and interesting. The parties embody the ideological dialectic and... |
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| Wars for Independence | |
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| Alamo : Davy Crockett's defiant stand at the Alamo 'lasted just 20 minutes', claim historians |
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· 08/16/2011 6:00:33 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 85 replies · · Daily Mail · · 08/16/2011 · · Mail Foreign Service · |
The legend of Davy Crockett, the buckskin-clad 'King of the Wild Frontier,' has been cast into doubt by new claims that his fabled last stand at the Alamo may have only lasted 20 minutes. For 175 years, the Battle of the Alamo has been one of America's most cherished historical events. Celebrated in song, story and cinema, the story of heroism against all the odds helped define the young nation's pursuit of liberty. But, according to a new book, the brave last stand depicted by Hollywood stars like John Wayne was a myth. In reality, author Phillip Thomas Tucker claimed... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Archaeologists comb newly-found Civil War POW camp |
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· 08/18/2011 2:51:31 PM PDT · · Posted by Hunton Peck · · 13 replies · · Associated Press · · Thursday, August 18, 2011 5:10 PM EDT · · RUSS BYNUM · |
SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) -- When word reached Camp Lawton that the enemy army of Gen. William T. Sherman was approaching, the prison camp's Confederate officers rounded up their thousands of Union army POWs for a swift evacuation -- leaving behind rings, buckles, coins and other keepsakes that would remain undisturbed for nearly 150 years. Archaeologists are still discovering unusual, and sometimes stunningly personal, artifacts a year after state officials revealed that a graduate student had pinpointed the location of the massive but short-lived Civil War camp in southeast Georgia. Discoveries made as recently as a few weeks ago were being... |
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| Wild Wild West | |
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| Old text, new wrinkles: Did Butch Cassidy survive? |
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· 08/15/2011 6:09:19 AM PDT · · Posted by wagglebee · · 40 replies · · Yahoo News/AP · · 8/15/11 · · Mead Gruver · |
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) -- Did Butch Cassidy, the notorious Old West outlaw who most historians believe perished in a 1908 shootout in Bolivia, actually survive that battle and live to old age, peacefully and anonymously, in Washington state? And did he pen an autobiography detailing his exploits while cleverly casting the book as biography under another name? A rare books collector says he has obtained a manuscript with new evidence that may give credence to that theory. The 200-page manuscript, "Bandit Invincible: The Story of Butch Cassidy," which dates to 1934, is twice as long as a previously known but... |
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| World War Eleven | |
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| Why did Japan surrender? (Historian argues Soviet Declaration, Not A-Bomb) |
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· 08/19/2011 2:21:26 PM PDT · · Posted by mojito · · 89 replies · · Boston Globe · · 8/7/2011 · · Gareth Cook · |
What ended World War II? For nearly seven decades, the American public has accepted one version of the events that led to Japan's surrender. By the middle of 1945, the war in Europe was over, and it was clear that the Japanese could hold no reasonable hope of victory. After years of grueling battle, fighting island to island across the Pacific, Japan's Navy and Air Force were all but destroyed. The production of materiel was faltering, completely overmatched by American industry, and the Japanese people were starving. A full-scale invasion of Japan itself would mean hundreds of thousands of dead... |
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| end of digest #370 20110820 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #370 · v 8 · n 6 Saturday, August 20, 2011 |
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34 topics |
Welcome to issue #370 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #371 Saturday, August 27, 2011 |
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| Paleontology | |
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| World's Oldest Fossils Found in Ancient Australian Beach |
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· 08/22/2011 8:23:26 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 19 replies · · ScienceNOW · · 21 August 2011 · · Elizabeth Pennisi · |
Old stomping grounds. This landscape in Western Australia is home to these very ancient fossil cells (inset). Credit: David Wacey/University of Western Australia When Martin Brasier discovered what looked like fossil cells in between the cemented sand grains of an ancient beach in Western Australia, he knew he had his work cut out for him. One of the biggest challenges for geologists is deciding when a fossil is really a fossil, particularly when it comes to early life. There are no bones to go by, and the mineralized spheres representing simple cells and sometimes filaments could easily... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Scientists discover new monkey species in Amazon |
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· 08/26/2011 1:15:20 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 16 replies · · http://www.physorg.com · · August 26, 2011 · · Provided by WWF · |
Scientists on an expedition backed by WWF-Brazil to one of the last unexplored areas in the Brazilian Mid-west have discovered a new species of monkey. The monkey belonging to the Callicebus genus was found in the northwest of Mato Grosso State and is one of the great results from the studies undertaken during an expedition in December 2010 to the Guariba-Roosevelt Extractive Reserve. In May, WWF-Brazil and the scientist who made the discovery, Julio Dalponte, officially handed over the specimen to the EmÃŒlio Goeldi Museum in Belem, Para. "By integrating this animal to a reputable collection such as that of... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Science Creates Chickens With Alligator Snouts, Streets of Miami Now Doomed |
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· 08/22/2011 2:18:12 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 52 replies · · Miami New Times · · Mon., Aug. 22 2011 · · Kyle Munzenrieder · |
Harvard scientist Arkhat Abzhanov has done what dozens of drunk Miamians living near the Everglades have probably attempted in a cruder fashion at one point or another: successfully mixed the DNA of a chicken and an alligator. Unlike hypothetical local attempts, however, Abzhanov's method did not involve getting a gator to hump a chicken. Unfortunately. Also unfortunately, our streets are now doomed. Because many modern reptiles and birds evolved from shared ancestors, Abzhanov theorized he could undo evolution by getting chicken embryos to grow reptilian snouts instead of beaks. According to the Daily Mail, Abzhanov injected a small gloop of... |
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| Diet & Cuisine | |
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| Lager Beer's Mystery Yeast |
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· 08/22/2011 7:12:21 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 20 replies · · ScienceNOW · · 22 August 2011 · · Sara Reardon · |
Bottoms up. Lager, as we know it, is likely a hybrid of S. cerevisiae and a newly discovered yeast from Patagonia. Credit: Stephan Zabel/iStockphoto Lager may have its roots in Bavaria, but a key ingredient arrived from halfway around the world. Scientists have discovered that the yeast used to brew this light-colored beer may hail from Argentina. Apparently, yeast cells growing in Patagonian trees made their way to Europe and into the barrels of brewers. Through the ages, brewers have tried to make their beers better, for instance, by improving on taste or color or making them... |
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| 500 years ago, yeast's epic journey gave rise to lager beer |
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· 08/22/2011 8:03:21 PM PDT · · Posted by allmost · · 30 replies · · Physorg.com · · August 22, 201 · · Terry Devitt · |
In the 15th century, when Europeans first began moving people and goods across the Atlantic, a microscopic stowaway somehow made its way to the caves and monasteries of Bavaria. The stowaway, a yeast that may have been transported from a distant shore on a piece of wood or in the stomach of a fruit fly, was destined for great things. In the dank caves and monastery cellars where 15th century brewmeisters stored their product, the newly arrived yeast fused with a distant relative, the domesticated yeast used for millennia to make leavened bread and ferment wine and ale. The resulting... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| DNA study deals blow to theory of European origins |
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· 08/24/2011 11:07:22 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 38 replies · · BBC · · August 23, 2011 · · Paul Rincon · |
A new study deals a blow to the idea that most European men are descended from farmers who migrated from the Near East 5,000-10,000 years ago. The findings challenge previous research showing that the genetic signature of the farmers displaced that of Europe's indigenous hunters. The latest research leans towards the idea that most of Europe's males trace a line of descent to stone-age hunters. But the authors say more work is needed to answer this question. The study, by an international team, is published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Archaeological finds show that modern humans... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Neanderthal sex boosted immunity in modern humans |
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· 08/26/2011 10:40:58 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 38 replies · · BBC · · August 26, 2011 · · Matt McGrath · |
Sexual relations between ancient humans and their evolutionary cousins are critical for our modern immune systems, researchers report in Science journal.Mating with Neanderthals and another ancient group called Denisovans introduced genes that help us cope with viruses to this day, they conclude. Previous research had indicated that prehistoric interbreeding led to up to 4% of the modern human genome. The new work identifies stretches of DNA derived from our distant relatives. In the human immune system, the HLA (human leucocyte antigen) family of genes plays an important role in defending against foreign invaders such as viruses. The authors say that... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| Mahavira ("The Great Hero") is largely Unknown in the West |
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· 08/24/2011 10:29:16 PM PDT · · Posted by Brian_Baldwin · · 9 replies · · 08/24/2011 · · brianbaldwin · |
The "founder" of the Jains religion which is primarily in India is called Mahavira, which mean "The Great Hero" (maha -- great, vira -- hero). He lived thousands of years ago, and there is ample evidence that not only was he a near contemporary of the "Buddha", the Buddha or "Intellectual" (buddhi -- mind, Budd -- intellect, Buddha -- the Intellectual) who was a Prince of Nepal called Siddhartha, there is evidence and I personally believe that Mahavira had taught or strongly influenced the "Buddha" in religion and yoga. Mahavira is largely unknown in the West, but that is not... |
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| Near East | |
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| Saudi Arabia discovers 9,000 year-old civilization |
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· 08/26/2011 3:24:20 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 31 replies · · Reuters · · Wed Aug 24, 2011 · · Asma Alsharif · · ed by Angus MacSwan · |
Saudi Arabia is excavating a new archeological site that will show horses were domesticated 9,000 years ago in the Arabian peninsula, the country's antiquities expert said Wednesday. The discovery of the civilization, named al-Maqar after the site's location, will challenge the theory that the domestication of animals took place 5,500 years ago in Central Asia, said Ali al-Ghabban, Vice-President of Antiquities and Museums at the Saudi Commission for Tourism & Antiquities. "This discovery will change our knowledge concerning the domestication of horses and the evolution of culture in the late Neolithic period," Ghabban told a news conference in the Red... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Chinese Jews Face Existential Questions (Diminished: In Eyes of Judaism as Well as Beijing) |
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· 08/21/2011 11:42:31 AM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 21 replies · · Wall Street Journal · · 08/19/2011 · · Bob Davis · |
KAIFENG, China -- Zhang Xinwang, a moon-faced Chinese man with a spiky beard, calls himself "Moishe." "So do you think I look Jewish?" he asks. For much of the past millennium, Jews in Kaifeng -- descendants of merchants who arrived here from Persia, probably around the 11th century -- have been struggling with an existential question: What does it mean to be Jewish? The handful of Kaifengers who go to Israel are sometimes floored to discover they need to go through a rabbi-certified conversion to be accepted as Jews, while the ones staying home squabble over which of them are really Jewish. The question has... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Italian art experts accused of censoring phallic fresco |
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· 08/22/2011 2:54:17 PM PDT · · Posted by woofie · · 82 replies · · The Telegraph · · Monday 22 August 2011 · |
Italian art experts who restored a cryptic medieval fresco depicting a tree of fertility have been accused of censoring the work by painting over the numerous phalluses which dangle from its boughs. The unusual 13th century Tree of Fertility fresco was discovered by chance a decade ago in the Tuscan town of Massa Marittima and has recently been subjected to a three-year restoration. The experts who carried out the restoration have been accused of sanitizing the mural by scrubbing out or altering some of the testicles, which hang from the tree's branches along with around 25 phalluses. "Many parts of... |
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| Did you Mean French Military Defeats? | |
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| Treadmill shows medieval armour influenced battles |
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· 08/27/2011 6:37:40 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 30 replies · · BBC News · · July 19, 2011 · · Rebecca Morelle · |
Medieval suits of armour were so exhausting to wear that they could have affected the outcomes of famous battles, a study suggests. Scientists monitored volunteers fitted with 15th Century replica armour as they walked and ran on treadmills. They found that the subjects used high levels of energy, bore immense weight on their legs and suffered from restricted breathing. The research is published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. The effect of the heavy armour was so great, that the researchers believe it may have have had an impact on the Battle of Agincourt. "It is a huge... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| King Arthur's round table may have been found by archaeologists in Scotland |
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· 08/26/2011 1:05:30 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 44 replies · · The Telegraph · · 26 Aug 2011 · · Telegraph · |
Archaeologists searching for King Arthur's round table have found a "circular feature" beneath the historic King's Knot in Stirling. The King's Knot, a geometrical earthwork in the former royal gardens below Stirling Castle, has been shrouded in mystery for hundreds of years. Though the Knot as it appears today dates from the 1620s, its flat-topped central mound is thought to be much older. Writers going back more than six centuries have linked the landmark to the legend of King Arthur. Archaeologists from Glasgow University, working with the Stirling Local History Society and Stirling Field and Archaeological Society, conducted the first... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Mystery over Roman battle may rule it out from list (Scotland) |
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· 08/26/2011 12:57:34 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 3 replies · · BBC · · August 25, 2011 · · Steven McKenzie · |
The most northerly battle fought by imperial Rome could be left out of an inventory of Scottish battlefields due to uncertainty over the site.Mons Graupius in AD 83 or 84 saw the 9th Hispana, its cohorts and Roman cavalry defeat 30,000 Caledonians. Locations suggested in the past include Dunning in Perthshire, Carpow in Fife, Bennachie in Aberdeenshire and Culloden in the Highlands. Historic Scotland said an accurate site was needed for inclusion on its list. > In his book, Dando-Collins connects Mons Graupius with the disappearance of the 9th after it was later posted to Carlisle. He said Caledonians had... |
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| Rome & Italy | |
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| Excavations at Tlos reveal Roman works |
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· 08/24/2011 1:12:16 AM PDT · · Posted by Islander7 · · 4 replies · · Daily News · · Aug 18, 2011 · · MUĞLA -- Anatolia News Agency · |
New excavation work in the ancient city of Tlos in Muƒüla¬'s Fethiye district has unearthed several ancient sculptures of Roman emperors. The archaeological team found sculptures of Roman emperors Hadrian; Antonius Pius and his daughter Faistinaminor; Mareus Aurellus as well as the Goddess Issis, according to Taner Korkut, who is leading the dig. |
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| British Isles | |
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| 'Britain's first pre-Roman planned town' found near Reading |
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· 08/20/2011 8:10:56 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 21 replies · · BBC · · August 17, 2011 · · Louise Ord · |
Archaeologists believe they have found the first pre-Roman planned town discovered in Britain.It has been unearthed beneath the Roman town of Silchester or Calleva Atrebatum near modern Reading. The Romans are often credited with bringing civilisation to Britain -- including town planning. But excavations have shown evidence of an Iron Age town built on a grid and signs inhabitants had access to imported wine and olive oil. Prof Mike Fulford, an archaeologist at the University of Reading, said the people of Iron Age Silchester appear to have adopted an urbanised 'Roman' way of living, long before the Romans arrived. "It... |
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| The Revolution | |
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| British used bioweapon in US war of independence |
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· 08/19/2011 12:05:56 PM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 21 replies · · New Scientist Blog · · 19 August 2011 · · Debora MacKenzie · |
(Image: Everett Collection/Rex Features) A document has just gone on display at Mount Vernon, Virginia -- the museum in the former home of George Washington, first US President. It is an order dated 1777 and signed by Washington himself to send troops that had not been vaccinated for smallpox -- or survived it -- to Philadelphia to be vaccinated. These troops were then to join up with the main army, where the disease was raging. It sounds like amazing foresight for its day. "Washington's careful handling of the smallpox epidemic at the beginning of the war was a significant... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Scientists Find Huge Underground River Below Amazon |
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· 08/27/2011 6:55:20 AM PDT · · Posted by Fractal Trader · · 29 replies · · IBTimes · · 26 August 2011 · |
Have you heard of a river flowing under a river? In an amazing discovery, scientists have found signs of an underground river flowing below the Amazon. Researchers at the department of geophysics of the Brazil National Observatory have showed evidence of the existence of an underground river that flows 13,000 feet beneath the Amazon. Get US Emails&Alerts The latest US business and financial news as well as issues and events Sample The underground river is now named after Valiya Hamza, the scientist of Indian origin,who has been studying the Amazon region for more than 40 years. The discovery is part... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| Mount Vesuvius [ erupted and buried Pompeii et al, August 24-25, A.D. 79 ] |
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· 08/27/2011 7:54:23 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 8 replies · · Wheeling Jesuit University · · January 18, 2011 · · ETE Team · |
Pliny the Elder's ship approached the shore near Pompeii. Ashes were already falling, hotter and thicker as the ships drew near, followed by bits of pumice and blackened stones, charred and cracked by the flames . . . Meanwhile on Mount Vesuvius broad sheets of fire and leaping flames blazed at several points, their bright glare emphasized by the darkness of night. (pp. 429, 431) But they could not land because the shore was blocked by volcanic debris, so they sailed south and landed at Stabiae. Hoping to quiet the frightened people, the uncle asked to be carried to the... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Bid to Rename Homo Sapiens Is Called Unwise |
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· 08/27/2011 4:50:13 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · LiveScience · · Wednesday, August 17, 2011 · · Wynne Parry · |
For about 250 years, our species has been known as Homo sapiens, a scientific name in Latin that means "wise man." Given the havoc humans are wreaking on natural systems, putting ourselves and so many other living things in peril, we don't deserve this name, contends Julian Cribb, an Australian science writer and book author... "Changing our species name might risk infringing some of the hallowed rules of nomenclature, but it would send an important signal about our present collective behavior," he writes. Cribb has no suggestion for a new name, "because I want humanity at large to discuss this... |
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| Longer Perspectives | |
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| "Science" When It Suits Them: Forget about creationism and start worrying about the left's faith-based devotion to government |
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· 08/24/2011 10:44:39 AM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 25 replies · · Reason · · August 24, 2011 · · David Harsanyi · |
Forget about creationism and start worrying about the left's faith-based devotion to government. So every now and then, liberals are treated to a big self-righteous laugh at the expense of some backwoods Christian conservative candidate who "ignores science" by doubting evolution or global warming -- or, gasp, both. Much, for instance, has been made of Texas Gov. Rick Perry's recent suggestion that evolution is a "theory that's out there" with "gaps in it." He even insinuated that evolution and creationism should both be taught in schools -- because folks are "smart enough to figure out which one is right." Sanctimony to red alert! Now,... |
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| end of digest #371 20110827 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #371 · v 8 · n 7 Saturday, August 27, 2011 |
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34 topics |
Welcome to issue #371 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #372 Saturday, September 3, 2011 |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| Gardens were important to ancient civilizations |
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· 09/01/20/2011 · · 4:50:15 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 9 replies · · Times and Transcript · · 9-1-2011 · |
We tend to think of garden design as a relatively new vocation. The truth told by archaeological findings not only lays such thoughts to rest, it tells a tale of a rich and ancient heritage of garden design. One such finding shows a garden of Ninevah, in present-day Iraq, that dates back to 650 BC. There are date palms, trees and shrubs of many types. True, an enemy's severed head is seen hanging from one of the trees, but times were different, or are they? They did like their gardens, however. Our vision of ancient Egyptian temples is one of... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| New Wasp Species Discovered in Indonesia Shocks Scientists |
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· 09/01/20/2011 · · 7:22:14 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 28 replies · · Jakarta Globe · · September 01, 2011 · · Lydia Tomkiw · |
An American scientist working with a team of Indonesians scientists has discovered a new giant black warrior wasp species. The wasp will be added to the list of items named after the country's national symbol, the mythical bird Garuda. The insect-eating predator was discovered by Lynn S. Kimsey, a professor of entomology and the director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, while working with 12 scientists from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) during an expedition to the Mekongga Mountains of Sulawesi. Scientists are shocked by the discovery of the insect, with the male... |
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| Microbe, Your Crobe, His Crobe, Her Crobe | |
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| Antibiotic resistance found in ancient bacteria |
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· 08/31/20/2011 · · 12:37:18 PM PDT · · Posted by Boogieman · · 25 replies · · CBC News · · Aug 31, 2011 · · Emily Chung · |
The same genes that make disease-causing bacteria resistant to today's antibiotics have been found in soil bacteria that have remained frozen since woolly mammoths roamed the Earth. "We've shown for the first time that drug resistance is a really old phenomenon and it's part of the natural ecology of the planet," said Gerard Wright, a biochemist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. He led the study that was published online Wednesday in the journal Nature. Wright said this evidence of ancient genes may explain how today's disease-causing bacteria have so quickly become resistant to modern antibiotics. |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Cholera pandemic has a single global source (Bay of Bengal) |
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· 08/31/20/2011 · · 11:27:34 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 8 replies · · BBC · · August 25, 2011 · · Hamish Pritchard · |
A major cholera pandemic has spread in at least three waves from a single global source: the Bay of Bengal.A study in Nature reveals cholera's spread over the last 60 years into Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas, continent-hopping on long-haul flights. The research by a team from Cambridge's Sanger Institute showed the infection is evolving, with the newest waves showing antibiotic resistance. A UK expert said it was "a scandal" cholera was still affecting people. Cholera is a bacterial infection of the intestine that causes diarrhoea. It affects 3-5m people annually in 56 countries, killing between100,000 and 150,000. If... |
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| Helix, Make Mine a Double | |
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| Svante Paabo: DNA clues to our inner Neanderthal |
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· 09/03/20/2011 · · 6:15:38 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 61 replies · · Daily Exchange · · Wednesday, August 31, 2011 · · Ted Talks (?) · |
Sharing the results of a massive, worldwide study, geneticist Svante Pääbo shows the DNA proof that early humans mated with Neanderthals after we moved out of Africa. (Yes, many of us have Neanderthal DNA.) He also shows how a tiny bone from a baby finger was enough to identify a whole new humanoid species. Svante Pääbo explores human genetic evolution by analyzing DNA extracted from ancient sources, including mummies, an Ice Age hunter and the bone fragments of Neanderthals. |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Neanderthal survival story revealed in Jersey caves |
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· 08/30/20/2011 · · 8:16:45 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 58 replies · · BBC · · August 29, 2011 · · Becky Evans · |
New investigations at an iconic cave site on the Channel Island of Jersey have led archaeologists to believe the Neanderthals have been widely under-estimated.Neanderthals survived in Europe through a number of ice ages and died out only about 30,000 years ago. The site at La Cotte de St Brelade reveals a near-continuous use of the cave site spanning over a quarter of a million years, suggesting a considerable success story in adapting to a changing climate and landscape, prior to the arrival of Homo sapiens. New investigations at an iconic cave site on the Channel Island of Jersey have led... |
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| Neanderthal skull fragment discovered in Nice |
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· 09/03/20/2011 · · 4:50:34 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Riviera Times · · Wednesday, August 24, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Part of a prehistoric skull, dating back 170,000 years, has been discovered during an archaeological dig in Nice. Experts say the discovery could reveal important clues to the evolution of humans. Students Ludovic Dolez and SÈbastian Lepvraud were working on the excavation site, Lazaret Caves, on 13th August, when they came across the partial remains of a forehead belonging to a Homo Erectus. Paleontologist Marie-Antoinette de Lumley, who has been in charge of excavation at Lazaret since 1961, said the bone is an important find: "It belonged to a nomad hunter, less than 25 years old. He may be able... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Humans shaped stone axes 1.8 million years ago, study says |
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· 09/02/20/2011 · · 2:05:06 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 33 replies · · PhysOrg · · 08-31-2011 · · Provided by Columbia U · |
A new study suggests that Homo erectus, a precursor to modern humans, was using advanced toolmaking methods in East Africa 1.8 million years ago, at least 300,000 years earlier than previously thought. The study, published this week in Nature, raises new questions about where these tall and slender early humans originated and how they developed sophisticated tool-making technology. Homo erectus appeared about 2 million years ago, and ranged across Asia and Africa before hitting a possible evolutionary dead-end, about 70,000 years ago. Some researchers think Homo erectus evolved in East Africa, where many of the oldest fossils have been found,... |
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| Japan | |
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| Ancient forearm bone from tall man found at archeological site in Okinawa |
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· 09/01/20/2011 · · 8:02:35 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 10 replies · · Mainichi Daily News · · 30 Aug 2011 · |
Researchers have unearthed an ancient forearm bone from the Mabuni Hantabaru archeological site in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, believed to be from a Jomon period male roughly 169 centimeters tall -- much taller than the average for the period. The bone, measuring about 28 centimeters, is believed to be from the late Jomon period, dating back 3,000-4,000 years. The average height of males from the same period is about 158 centimeters. Takayuki Matsushita, honorary head of the Doigahama Site Anthropological Museum in Yamaguchi Prefecture, which conducted a survey of the area, said the find was unusual. "Even on a national scale,... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Tomb found at Stonehenge quarry site (Wales) |
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· 09/01/20/2011 · · 9:08:44 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 14 replies · · BBC · · August 31, 2011 · · Louise Ord · |
The tomb for the original builders of Stonehenge could have been unearthed by an excavation at a site in Wales.The Carn Menyn site in the Preseli Hills is where the bluestones used to construct the first stone phase of the henge were quarried in 2300BC. Organic material from the site will be radiocarbon dated, but it is thought any remains have already been removed. Archaeologists believe this could prove a conclusive link between the site and Stonehenge. The remains of a ceremonial monument were found with a bank that appears to have a pair of standing stones embedded in it.... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Scottish treasure trove revealed (Iron Age) |
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· 09/02/20/2011 · · 5:31:05 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 12 replies · · BBC · · September 2, 2011 · · Unknown · |
A hoard of gold Iron Age torcs found near Stirling is among the highlights of the sixth annual Scottish Treasure Trove report.The torcs --which earned the finder a reward of £462,000 --were found in 2009 but reported to the Queen's and Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer last year. Other "outstanding" finds were a gold button unearthed in Perth and Kinross and a Papal Bulla found in Fife. Discoveries were also made in East Lothian and the Scottish Borders. The report covers the period from 1 April 2010 to 31 March 2011 and details finds dealt with by the remembrancer and... |
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| Dunning Iron Age find shows Roman-Pictish link |
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· 09/01/20/2011 · · 6:35:32 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 26 replies · · BBC News · · August 31st 2011 · · unattributed · |
Archaeologists working near the village of Dunning found an Iron Age broch which has evidence of early contact between the Picts and the Roman Empire. The broch -- a drystone wall structure -- is the first of its kind to be found in the Scottish lowlands for 100 years. Evidence shows that the Roman dwelling was destroyed by fire and then probably reoccupied by a Pictish warlord... Brochs were the preferred residence of the elite during Roman times. The team said the "exquisitely preserved" Dunning example was built at the top of a hill and offers a 360-degree views of... |
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| Ancient Roller Derby | |
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| Archaeologists uncover amphitheatre used to train gladiators near Vienna |
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· 09/01/20/2011 · · 6:43:42 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 11 replies · · Guardian UK · · Tuesday, August 30, 2011 · · Associated Press · |
Archaeologists say they have located and excavated the ruins of a huge amphitheatre used to train gladiators east of Vienna, describing it as a "sensational discovery". They claim that the ruins found through ground radar measurements rival the Colosseum and the Ludus Magnus in Rome in their structure. The Ludus Magnus is the largest of the gladiatorial arenas in the Italian capital, while the Colosseum is the largest amphitheatre ever built in the Roman empire. |
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| Rome & Italy | |
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| The Riddle of Ancient Roman Concrete |
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· 09/02/20/2011 · · 8:15:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 40 replies · · Roman Concrete · · 1993-1995 · · David Moore, P.E. · |
A most unusual Roman structure depicting their technical advancement is the Pantheon, a brick faced building that has withstood the ravages of weathering in near perfect condition, sitting magnificently in the business district of Rome. Perhaps its longevity is told by its purpose . . . to honor all gods. Above all, this building humbles the modern engineer not only in its artistic splendor, but also because there are no steel rods to counter the high tensile forces such as we need to hold modern concrete together. Describing this large circular building tells much of the intelligence of its builders;... |
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| The Roman Wars | |
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| Extraordinary pictures of the 2,000 year old underground labyrinth where Jewish rebels hid from Roman soldiers |
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· 09/01/20/2011 · · 6:27:14 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 21 replies · · Daily Mail · · August 31st 2011 · · Rose Parker · |
Cavers crawl along with the complex illuminated by the eerie light from a head torch. The system was once reached through trap doors in Jewish villages,some of which are now archaeological sites, others have been completely destroyed. Today, they may be no more than an indistinct, shoulder-width opening in the ground or hillside. The intrepid may have to crawl, even slither for a few minutes through a pitch-black burrow too cramped for a fully armed Roman legionary. Turns can be so tight cavers may have to back up to a spot where they can flip from head to feet first... |
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| Africa | |
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| Libya's other wealth: Archaeological treasures |
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· 09/03/20/2011 · · 7:56:46 AM PDT · · Posted by MinorityRepublican · · 8 replies · · CNN · · September 3, 2011 · · Libby Lewis · |
(CNN) -- Before Moammar Gadhafi, there were the Phoenicians. And the Greeks. The Romans. The first Arabs. They're a reminder that no civilization -- and no leader -- is forever. The Libyan transitional leaders have a lot to deal with once they stop being rebels, and begin shaping a new Libya: Keeping law and order, setting up a rudimentary government, dealing with money -- and oil. But what about Libya's other wealth? Its archaeological treasures? They are all over the country. In the south, in Acacus, rock paintings 12,000 years old cross an entire mountain range. In the east, the... |
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| Egypt | |
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| Deadly medication?(Pharaoh Hatshepsut) |
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· 08/19/20/2011 · · 7:24:33 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 20 replies · · University of Bonn · · August 19, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Bonn scientists shed light on the dark secret of Queen Hatshepsut's flaconThe corpus delicti is a plain flacon from among the possessions of Pharaoh Hatshepsut, who lived around 1450 B.C., which is on exhibit in the permanent collection of the Egyptian Museum of the University of Bonn. For three and a half millennia, the vessel may have held a deadly secret. This is what the Head of the collection, Michael Hˆveler-M¸ller and Dr. Helmut Wiedenfeld from the university's Pharmacology Institute just discovered. After two years of research it is now clear that the flacon did not hold a perfume; instead,... |
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| Religion of Pieces | |
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| Egypt's Brotherhood Declares War on the Bikini (and the Pyramids too) |
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· 08/28/20/2011 · · 7:48:03 AM PDT · · Posted by Dallas59 · · 55 replies · · JP · · 8/28/20/2011 · |
Sunbathing in Alexandria may soon be a thing of the past, at least if some Egyptian Islamist politicians have their way. clearpxl Egypt's tourism industry has suffered a severe blow since the outburst of anti-regime demonstrations in January. But that did not stop the Freedom and Justice Party, the political wing of the Muslim Brotherhood, from demanding stricter regulations over what tourists can do and wear while visiting the country. The party is urging officials to ban skimpy swimwear and the consumption of alcohol on Egyptian street |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Leftists in Last-Minute Bid to Halt Ir David Excavations |
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· 08/30/20/2011 · · 2:34:17 PM PDT · · Posted by Eleutheria5 · · 10 replies · · Arutz Sheva · · 30/8/11 · · David Lev · |
A group of 150 archaeologists and students sent a petition Tuesday to Environment Minister Gilad Erdan and Sport and Culture Minister Limor Livnat, asking them to drop their support for a law that formalizes private archaeological digs and research at national parks and historical sites. The petition says that the law would "politicize archaeology in Israel and damage the independence of researchers," and calls for the ministers to oppose the "privatization of archaeology," which, they write, would be the death knell of archaeology in Israel. But supporters of the law said that there were already hundreds of independent and private... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| 2000-Year-Old Burial Box Could Reveal Location of the Family of Caiaphas |
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· 08/29/20/2011 · · 11:05:43 AM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 18 replies · · American Friends Tel Aviv U · · August 29, 2011 · · Unknown · |
Rare, detailed inscription is genuine, says a TAU researcherIn Jerusalem and Judah, ancient limestone burial boxes containing skeletal remains -- called ossuaries -- are fairly common archaeological finds from the 1st century BCE to the 1st century AD period. Forgers have also added inscriptions or decorations to fraudulently increase their value. So three years ago, when the Israel Antiquities Authority confiscated an ossuary with a rare inscription from antiquities looters, they turned to Prof. Yuval Goren of Tel Aviv University's Department of Archaeology to authenticate the fascinating discovery. Prof. Goren, who worked in collaboration with Prof. Boaz Zissu from Bar... |
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| Israel Scholars Say Biblical Burial Box Is Genuine |
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· 06/29/20/2011 · · 12:15:46 PM PDT · · Posted by marshmallow · · 21 replies · · AP via Church News · · 6/29/11 · |
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." An ossuary is a stone chest used to store bones. Caiaphas was a temple priest and an adversary of Jesus who played a key role in his crucifixion. The Israel Antiquities Authority says the ossuary was seized from tomb robbers three years ago and has since been undergoing analysis.... |
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| Jesus Christ the Man: Does the Physical Evidence Hold Up? |
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· 04/17/20/2011 · · 8:16:00 PM PDT · · Posted by SeekAndFind · · 40 replies · · Live Science · · 04/14/20/2011 · · Natalie Wolchover · |
Jesus Christ may be the most famous man who ever lived. But how do we know he did? Most theological historians, Christian and non-Christian alike, believe that Jesus really did walk the Earth. They draw that conclusion from textual evidence in the Bible, however, rather than from the odd assortment of relics parading as physical evidence in churches all over Europe. That's because, from fragments of text written on bits of parchment to overly abundant chips of wood allegedly salvaged from his crucifix, none of the physical evidence of Jesus' life and death hold up to scientific scrutiny. [Who Was... |
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| BURIAL BOX --Oldest physical evidence for JESUS (Passion thoughts-6) |
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· 03/26/20/2005 · · 2:46:33 AM PST · · Posted by Paul Ciniraj · · 3 replies · · 269+ views · · Baseelia Foundation · · 26th March, 2005 · · Pastor Paul Ciniraj · |
From the news... A limestone burial box, almost 2,000 years old, may provide the oldest archeological record of Jesus of Nazareth. Of interest in the news today, the announcement of an archaeological find of potentially great significance: an ossuary (stone box) bearing the inscription "James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus". The practice of transferring bones from expensive tombs into ossuaries existed from around 20 B.C. to 70 A.D., and the inscription on the newly recovered ossuary was in a form of written Aramaic used only between about 10 A.D. and 70 A.D. Other scientific tests affirm the antiquity of... |
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| Faith & Philosophy | |
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| The Major Religions of the World ....Revisited: The Significance of Mecca |
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· 08/29/20/2011 · · 5:03:11 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 64 replies · · Major Religions dot com · · 2008 · · Robert Fawcett · |
It needs to be noted that Arabs had been making the pilgrimage to Mecca-to the enormous granite Ka'aba, the old shrine at the center of the city-for hundreds, possibly thousands of years, before Islam to pay tribute to these 360 gods represented inside the Ka'aba's walls. Muhammad destroyed all but two -- that of the Virgin Mary, and that of Christ. However, even those representations would eventually be banned under Islam's subsequent prohibition of images. This prohibition was not endorsed by the Prophet. Controversies have exploded over images depicting the Prophet Muhammad, namely his depiction as a turbaned terrorist in... |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| 'Treasures... of black wood, brilliantly polished': five examples of Taino sculpture |
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· 08/27/20/2011 · · 9:53:51 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 18 replies · · Antiquity · · Vol 85:329, 2011 · · Joanna Ostapkowicz et al · |
Five wooden sculptures from the pre-contact Caribbean, long held in museum collections, are here dated and given a context for the first time. The examples studied were made from dense Guaiacum wood, carved, polished and inlaid with shell fastened with resin. Dating the heartwood, sapwood and resins takes key examples of 'Classic' TaÃŒno art back to the tenth century AD, and suggests that some objects were treasured and refurbished over centuries. The authors discuss the symbolic properties of the wood and the long-lived biographies of some iconic sculptures. |
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| Epigraphy & Language | |
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| Talking leaves & rocks that teach: the archaeological discovery of Sequoyah's oldest written record |
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· 08/27/20/2011 · · 9:48:30 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Antiquity · · Vol 85:329, 2011 · · Rex Weeks & Ken Tankersley · |
The authors investigate the origins of the earliest script of the Cherokees, using inscriptions in the Red Bird River Shelter. Their analysis suggests that the engravings in the cave show the experimental creation of a syllabary (alphabet of signs). This in turn offers support for the historical notion that this writing system was not an ancestral practice preserved through missionaries, but an invention of the early nineteenth century; one that should be credited to the Native American pioneer scholar, Sequoyah. |
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| The Revolution | |
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| Bunker Hill dead may lie under gardens |
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· 03/08/20/2009 · · 11:23:26 AM PDT · · Posted by Pharmboy · · 65 replies · · 2,133+ views · · Boston Globe · · March 8, 2009 · · Brian MacQuarrie · |
In Boston, history is always just below the surface. And in Charlestown, underneath a row of genteel gardens, in the middle of a teeming city, is believed to be a mass grave containing the bones of possibly dozens of British soldiers killed in one of the most important battles in American history. The site, part of the sprawling Bunker Hill battlefield, has been pinpointed by a curator from Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia and a Charlestown historian who are confident they know where the bodies were buried --15 feet underground in what had been a rebel-dug ditch that featured some... |
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| The Civil War | |
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| Scots and the American Civil War |
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· 04/13/20/2011 · · 3:25:29 AM PDT · · Posted by MadMitch · · 64 replies · · The Scotsman · |
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/features/Scots-and-the-American-Civil.6750042.jp IN May, 1864 a young Glaswegian by the name of Bennet Graham Burley stared at the dark, dirty water rising up through a grille and flooding over the floor of his cell and considered his alternatives, neither of which were good. He could remain in this dank, filthy cell in the Union prison on Pea Patch Island in the middle of the Delaware |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| Is this the face of Jack the Ripper? |
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· 08/30/20/2011 · · 7:20:13 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 34 replies · · BBC · · August 30, 2011 · · Dr Xanthe Mallett · |
Jack the Ripper is the world's most famous cold case --the identity of the man who brutally murdered five women in London's East End in autumn 1888 remains a mystery. More than 200 suspects have been named. But to Ripper expert Trevor Marriott, a former murder squad detective, German merchant Carl Feigenbaum is the top suspect. Convicted of murdering his landlady in Manhattan, Feigenbaum died in the electric chair in New York's Sing Sing prison in 1894. His lawyer suspected him of the Ripper murders too. No photos of Feigenbaum exist. So Marriott has produced this new e-fit for... |
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| Is This the Face of Jack The Ripper? |
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· 09/02/20/2011 · · 2:19:19 PM PDT · · Posted by Red Badger · · 18 replies · · Discovery News · · Fri Sep 2, 2011 03:39 PM ET · · Rossella Lorenzi · |
Thin-haired with deep-set grey eyes and a large, red pimpled nose: this is how Jack the Ripper, perhaps the most notorious murderer in history, might have looked, according to new archival research into police documents. Retired British police detective, Trevor Marriott, gathered together evidence and has built a case against Carl Feigenbaum, a 54-year-old German merchant seaman, and made him the top suspect for committing the horrific and notorious murders between August and November 1888. At that time, at least five women in the Whitechapel area in London were found horribly disfigured, often with organs missing. The name Jack the... |
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| Not-So-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Bushranger Ned Kelly's remains found after search by investigators |
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· 08/31/20/2011 · · 4:51:29 PM PDT · · Posted by steveo · · 39 replies · · couriermail.com.au · · 09-01-11 · · unknown · |
THE remains of notorious bushranger Ned Kelly have been found at the former Melbourne prison, Pentridge. An exhaustive 20-month search through historical and genetic records has unearthed one of the most colourful chapters in Australian history, and a man who Attorney-General Robert Clark this morning called "one of the most controversial characters" in our national identity. A DNA sample from Kelly's sister's great grandson, Leigh Oliver, confirmed the remains were those of the bushranger. Doctors and scientists at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine identified the body. Kelly's remains have long been rumoured to be at Pentridge. Attorney General Robert... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| Legendary flower of Buddhist yore blooms at a Mapo convenience store |
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· 09/01/20/2011 · · 2:30:03 PM PDT · · Posted by Winstons Julia · · 33 replies · · CNN · · 09/01/11 · · Staff · |
Korean news outlets are reporting that an udumbara -- a legendary flower in Buddhist literature believed to bloom once every 3,000 years -- has sprouted at a humble Family Mart. Store manager Kim Jong-woo was cleaning when he spotted the 17 tiny flowers growing on the window. He recognized the flowers, he said, from images on television. |
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| end of digest #372 20110903 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #372 · v 8 · n 8 Saturday, September 3, 2011 |
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32 topics |
Welcome to issue #372 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · It's our 8 Squared Issue -- #8 of volume 8. I think I muffed the topics count last week, but I'm just going to take the mea culpa without actually verifying it. |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #373 Saturday, September 10, 2011 |
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| Egypt | |
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| Inside the Great Pyramid |
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· 09/06/2011 1:47:37 PM PDT · · Posted by Palter · · 55 replies · · Smithsonian Mag · · 01 Sept 2011 · · Mike Dash · |
The Great Pyramid -- built for the Pharaoh Khufu in about 2570 B.C., sole survivor of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world, and still arguably the most mysterious structure on the planet. Photo: Wikicommons There is a story, regrettably apocryphal, about Napoleon and the Great Pyramid. When Bonaparte visited Giza during his Nile expedition of 1798 (it goes), he determined to spend a night alone inside the King's Chamber, the granite-lined vault that lies precisely in the center of the pyramid. This chamber is generally acknowledged as the spot where Khufu, the most powerful ruler of Egypt's Old Kingdom (c.2690-2180 BC),... |
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| Oh So Mysteriouso | |
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| The 10 plagues of Egipt is a volcanic winter. Rout of Exodus. |
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· 09/05/2011 6:31:23 AM PDT · · Posted by vasnas · · 97 replies · · myself · · Poltavsky Sasha · |
Reading a skan-original "first printed" of the Ostrozhsky (OstRih) Bible of 1581 y. (see -- Sources), auxiliary I've used traditional Synodal (RST) and Church-slavic (CS) versions. Soon I began to notice a difference of senses in texts of Bibles. Reading, only for the sake of acquaintance with a curiosity, has turned to the most fascinating detective research. The book "Exod", in (RST), (CS), (OstRih), (Torah), and parts of other books, a line by a line -- in parallel, has been read, and the differential table is made. (drafts: bible-exodus.narod.ru) Gradually I linked up other canonical and uncanonical Bibles to comparison... |
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| Let's Have Jerusalem | |
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| Libya and the Jews |
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· 09/04/2011 3:08:21 PM PDT · · Posted by Nachum · · 12 replies · · Baltimore Jewish Life · · 9/4/11 · · Alex Joffe · |
Islamist involvement in the revolution does not bode well for Jews and Israel. There are reasons for Jews to view the fall of Muammar Gaddafi with satisfaction: A bizarre and dangerous enemy of the West and Israel is on the verge of defeat, and the Libyan people may be on the threshold of freedom. But, as in Egypt, the second Arab Spring in Libya looks like a mixed blessing. One test will be the manner in which the new government treats the Jews and Israel. Libya is, historically, a place of conquest and revolt. Jews arrived there long before the... |
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| Roman Empire | |
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| Unique Roman gladiator ruins revealed in Austria. |
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· 09/05/2011 6:50:00 PM PDT · · Posted by Winstons Julia · · 28 replies · · Physorg · · 09/05/11 · · George Jahn · |
The Carnuntum ruins are part of a city of 50,000 people 28 miles (45 kilometers) east of Vienna that flourished about 1,700 years ago, a major military and trade outpost linking the far-flung Roman empire's Asian boundaries to its central and northern European lands. Mapped out by radar, the ruins of the gladiator school remain underground. Yet officials say the find rivals the famous Ludus Magnus -- the largest of the gladiatorial training schools in Rome -- in its structure. And they say the Austrian site is even more detailed than the well-known Roman ruin, down to the remains of... |
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| British Isles | |
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| Roman Remains Found at Charles Street, Dorchester |
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· 09/03/2011 7:26:32 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 16 replies · · Wessex · · Friday, September 2, 2011 · · Jon Milward · |
As the site occupies an area near to the southern edge of the Roman town of Durnovaria it was predicted evidence of Roman town life would be uncovered during the works. The prediction proved correct; immediately below the modern overburden, the remains of Roman houses were uncovered. These buildings were built around 100AD and were orientated according to the town's street plan, which it has been possible to map using evidence from other excavations in Dorchester. These houses were in the vicinity of the southern wall of the Roman town and the public baths. They were well built with stone... |
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| Scotland Yet | |
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| Could this be the oldest pub in Scotland? |
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· 09/07/2011 6:01:08 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 32 replies · · Daily Record · · Monday, September 5, 2011 · · Charlie Gall · |
A historic site's true purpose may have been revealed -- as an Iron Age boozer. Experts believe that 4600 years ago, thirsty natives may have been enjoying a pie and pint at Jarlshof in Shetland. ... And a dozen or so quernstones -- for grinding barley -- indicate it may have served as both a drinking den and a bakery. ... It contains remains dating from 2500 BC up to the 17th century. ... The building has a house next door which has a large souterrain -- which was the equivalent of a Iron Age refrigerator used for storing smoked... |
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| World's oldest malt whisky ($15,000 a bottle) goes on sale |
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· 03/12/2010 7:10:30 AM PST · · Posted by envisio · · 74 replies · · 1,308+ views · · Daily Mail · · 12th March 2010 · · Daily Mail Reporter · |
The world's oldest malt whisky -- costing up to £10,000 a bottle -- went on sale today. The Mortlach 70-year-old Speyside was sampled by a select group of tasters at a ceremony in Edinburgh Castle. Bottles of the rare piece of Scotland's 'liquid history' have now hit the market. Only 54 full-size bottles, costing £10,000 each, and 162 smaller bottles at £2,500 have been made available. The whisky has been released under Gordon and MacPhail's Generations brand. It was filled into its cask on October 15 1938 on the order of John Urquhart, the grandfather of the firm's joint managing... |
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| Megaliths & Archaeoastronomy | |
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| Archaeologists dig at Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen |
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· 09/07/2011 4:11:56 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · BBC News · · Saturday, September 3, 2011 · · unattributed · |
Archaeologists are launching a new dig to try to unearth the secrets of a 9th Century stone monument on a prehistoric mound. Bangor and Chester university experts will begin excavations at the Pillar of Eliseg near Llangollen, Denbighshire... Last year excavations focussed on the mound, which was identified as an early Bronze Age cairn. It followed on from one in the 18th Century. Professor Nancy Edwards from Bangor University told BBC Radio Wales: "...This year we are going back to the cairn to one particular trench because we discovered evidence last year of the dig into the top of the... |
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| The Vikings | |
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| Ancient Gold Necklace Found in West Fjords |
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· 09/03/2011 10:36:43 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 14 replies · · Iceland Review · · Wednesday, August 31, 2011 · · ESA · |
Archeologists and university students recently discovered an ancient gold necklace during an excavation project in Vatnsfjördur in Ísafjardardjúp in the West Fjords, which has been ongoing for the past eight summers. Scientists from different fields participate in the project, along with international university students, ruv.is reports. Vatnsfjˆrdur was settled early in the Settlement Era, which sources state began in the 9th century AD, and later became the site of a manor and a chieftain's residence. Many beautiful objects have been excavated in the course of the project. |
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| Age of Sail | |
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| Caribbean Pirate Life: Tobacco, Ale ... and Fine Pottery |
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· 09/03/2011 11:39:30 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · LiveScience · · Thursday, September 1, 2011 · · Owen Jarus · |
From historical records scientists had known that by 1720 these Caribbean pirates occupied a settlement called the "Barcadares," a name derived from the Spanish word for "landing place." Located 15 miles (24 kilometers) up the Belize River, in territory controlled by the Spanish, the site was used as an illegal logwood-cutting operation. The records indicate that a good portion of its occupants were pirates taking a pause from life at sea. Their living conditions were rustic to say the least. There were no houses, and the men slept on raised platforms with a canvas over them to keep the mosquitoes... |
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| Middle Ages & Renaissance | |
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| Henry VIII's Nonsuch Palace rebuilt in miniature |
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· 09/07/2011 5:44:00 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 6 replies · · Past Horizons · · Wednesday, September 7, 2011 · · unattributed · |
That which no equal has in Art or Fame, Britons deservedly do Nonesuch name', translates the comment of a German visitor to Nonsuch in 1568. Nonsuch Palace in Surrey was the greatest piece of dynastic propaganda erected by the English crown before the 19th century. Built by Henry VIII to rival the palaces of the French King, Francis I, Nonsuch no longer survives as it was demolished by a mistress of King Charles II in 1682-90. However, thanks to research carried out over decades by an Oxford professor, a huge model has been unveiled that provides an accurate recreation of... |
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| Not-So-Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Conditions in Nelson's navy uncovered by scientists |
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· 09/03/2011 7:14:51 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 50 replies · · Telegraph · · Saturday, September 3, 2011 · · Nick Collins · |
Sailors in Admiral Nelson's navy were plagued by scurvy, ridden with syphilis and often mutilated by amputations but only a minority were from lowest social class, Oxford University archaeologists have found. An examination of 340 skeletons from three 18th and 19th century Royal Navy graveyards found that a "surprisingly high" proportion suffered from scurvy and infected wounds. The bones, excavated from sites in Greenwich, Gosport and Plymouth, also found that more than six per cent of sailors in Nelson's navy, were amputees, many of whom died as a result of operations that went wrong. But despite uncovering evidence of syphilis,... |
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| Climate | |
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| Antarctica's Meat-Eating Horses, part 2: Unlikely Equestrian Allies |
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· 09/06/2011 7:18:41 PM PDT · · Posted by nickcarraway · · 30 replies · · Explorersweb · · Aug 31, 2011 · |
In part one of 'South Pole Ponies -- The Forgotten Story of Antarctica's Meat-Eating Horses' posted yesterday we met Frederick George Jackson's favorite mare, Brownie, who ate polar bear meat and Socks who en route to the South Pole became the first known horse to consume meat together with a human, Shackleton, demonstrating that both species are omnivores. In this final part CuChullaine O'Reilly shares another piece of little known polar history. "In stark contrast to modern dogma," O'Reilly writes, "which insists that it was a race to the Pole that pitted British man-haulers against more competent Norwegian dog-sledders, there... |
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| Catastrophism & Astronomy | |
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| 800,000 Years of Abrupt Climate Variability: Earth's Climate Is Capable of Very Rapid Transitions |
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· 09/09/2011 7:07:44 AM PDT · · Posted by Salman · · 27 replies · · Science Daily · · Sep. 8, 2011 · · Science Daily staff writer · |
An international team of scientists, led by Dr Stephen Barker of Cardiff University, has produced a prediction of what climate records from Greenland might look like over the last 800,000 years. Drill cores taken from Greenland's vast ice sheets provided the first clue that Earth's climate is capable of very rapid transitions and have led to vigorous scientific investigation into the possible causes of abrupt climate change. |
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| PreColumbian, Clovis & PreClovis | |
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| Prehistoric clay disks found in northwestern Alaska |
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· 09/09/2011 5:56:11 PM PDT · · Posted by decimon · · 24 replies · · Reuters · · September 9, 2011 · · Yereth Rosen · |
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) -- Four decorated clay disks have been discovered at a prehistoric site in Alaska, apparently the first artifacts of their type discovered in the state, the University of Alaska Museum of the North said. The disks were found during a summer expedition in Noatak National Preserve, at a site where archeologists have for decades been studying lakefront pit dwellings that date back 1,000 years, officials at the Fairbanks museum said. > Such prehistoric rock art is extremely rare in interior and northern Alaska, though common in the southwestern part of the United States and other regions, museum... |
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| Agriculture & Animal Husbandry | |
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| 2,000-year-old palace discovered in Mexico |
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· 09/03/2011 11:51:01 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 25 replies · · Bioscholar · · Friday, September 2nd, 2011 · · unattributed · |
A team of Mexican specialists discovered remnants of a 2,000-year-old Mayan palace at an archaeological site in the southeastern state of Chiapas. "The discovery constitutes the first architectural evidence of such an early occupation of the ancient Mayan cities of the Upper Usumacinta basin" in the Lacandona Jungle, the National Institute of Anthropology and History said in a statement Wednesday. The project's director, Luis Alberto Martos, said this new discovery was made in a sunken courtyard located in the northern part of the the Plan de Ayutla archaeological site and represents the first evidence of occupation of that area between... |
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| Ancient Autopsies | |
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| Remains of horses and chariots found in 3,000-year-old tomb in China |
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· 09/03/2011 11:45:43 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 26 replies · · This is London · · Thursday, September 1, 2011 · · Tariq Tahir · |
Lying side by side, these horses have drawn a chariot in an ancient tomb for the past 3,000 years, which was recently discovered. The equine bones, found in the Chinese city of Luoyang, have remained undisturbed since the early Western Zhou dynasty. Archaeologists believe the 12 horses lying on their sides show the animals were slaughtered before burial, not buried alive. As well as the horses and five chariots, bronzes and ceramics have escaped the clutches of history's grave robbers. Archaeologists are convinced that the perfectly preserved tomb belongs to an official or a scholar of standing, given the pottery,... |
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| Anatolia | |
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| Intact 5th century merchant ship found in Istanbul |
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· 09/03/2011 12:13:20 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 22 replies · · Past Horizons · · Tuesday, August 30, 2011 · |
The excavations started in 2004 at the construction site and reached back 8,500 years into the history of Istanbul. Skeletons, the remains of an early chapel and even footprints, in addition to 35 shipwrecks, have been uncovered by archaeologists so far. The ship was loaded with pickled fry (a type of small fish) and almonds, walnuts, hazels, muskmelon seeds, olives, peaches and pine cones The 15 to 16-metre-long, six-metre-wide shipwreck loaded with dozens of amphorae found last May brings new historical data to life. The amphorae differ from previous finds. It is assumed that the ship was completely buried in... |
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| Prehistory & Origins | |
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| Fossils Raise Questions about Human Ancestry |
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· 09/08/2011 5:12:55 PM PDT · · Posted by redreno · · 26 replies · · Scientific American · · 9/8/2011 · · Ewen Callaway · |
New descriptions of Australopithecus sediba fossils have added to debates about the species' place in the human lineage. Five papers published today in Science describe the skull, pelvis, hands and feet of the ancient hominin unearthed three years ago in South Africa. The papers reveal a curious mix of traits, some found in apes and earlier Australopithecus fossils, and others thought to be unique to Homo erectus -- the tall, thin-boned hominin that emerged around 2 million years ago in eastern Africa and colonized Europe and Asia -- and its descendants, including modern humans. |
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| Neandertal / Neanderthal | |
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| Human ancestors interbred with related species |
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· 09/08/2011 5:17:24 PM PDT · · Posted by Renfield · · 68 replies · · Naturenews · · 09-05-2011 · · Matt Kaplan · |
Our ancestors bred with other species in the Homo genus, according to a study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences1. The authors say that up to 2% of the genomes of some modern African populations may originally come from a closely related species. Palaeontologists have long wondered whether modern humans came from a single, genetically isolated population of hominins or whether we are a genetic mix of various hominin species. Last year, an analysis comparing the Neanderthal genome sequence to that of modern H. sapiens showed that some interbreeding did take place between the two... |
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| Australia & the Pacific | |
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| Who's Your Daddy? [ Homo floriensis in Australia ] |
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· 09/08/2011 1:17:07 AM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 17 replies · · Heritage Daily · · Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 · · Sue Carter · |
Following on from the previous article, The First Boat People, we know that Sahul, the original name of Australia during prehistoric times, was settled around 40,000 years ago. Although this date is disputed it is now universally accepted as the most accurate and reliable. But who were these first people and from where did they come? Could humans have developed in Australia at the same time they were developing in Africa? Was there a wave of immigrants or only one founding population? And where does Homo floriensis fit into this picture, if at all? It can quite comfortably be stated... |
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| Dinosaur | |
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| Mummified dinosaur may have outrun T. Rex (Dakota the DinoMummy, a duckbilled Hadrosaur) |
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· 12/02/2007 9:54:16 PM PST · · Posted by NormsRevenge · · 32 replies · · 3,343+ views · · AP on Yahoo · · 12/2/07 · · Randolph E. Schmid · |
WASHINGTON -- One of the most complete dinosaur mummies ever found is revealing secrets locked away for millions of years, bringing researchers as close as they will ever get to touching a live dino. The fossilized duckbilled hadrosaur is so well preserved that scientists have been able to calculate its muscle mass and learn that it was more muscular than thought, probably giving it the ability to outrun predators such as T. rex. While they call it a mummy, the dinosaur is not really preserved like King Tut was. The dinosaur body has been fossilized into stone. Unlike the collections... |
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| Biology & Cryptobiology | |
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| Bigfoot exists -- and I have proof, Alberta guide says |
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· 09/03/2011 7:38:24 PM PDT · · Posted by Perdogg · · 96 replies · · Globe and Mail (Can) · · 09.02.11 · |
A wilderness and ecology guide believes Bigfoots by the dozen could be roaming the wilderness of southern Alberta and parts of British Columbia. Todd Standing says he has photographic proof that such creatures exist after snapping a photo of something in the Banff area with human-like features on its hairy face. |
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| Epidemics, Pandemics, Plagues, the Sniffles | |
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| Black Death Bacterium Identified: Genetic Analysis of Medieval Plague Skeletons... |
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· 09/03/2011 7:46:55 PM PDT · · Posted by SunkenCiv · · 36 replies · · ScienceDaily · · Monday, August 29, 2011 · · via AlphaGalileo · |
A team of German and Canadian scientists has shown that today's plague pathogen has been around at least 600 years. The Black Death claimed the lives of one-third of Europeans in just five years from 1348 to 1353. Until recently, it was not certain whether the bacterium Yersinia pestis -- known to cause the plague today -- was responsible for that most deadly outbreak of disease ever. Now, the University of T¸bingen's Institute of Scientific Archaeology and McMaster University in Canada have been able to confirm that Yersinia pestis was behind the great plague... Previous genetic tests indicating that the... |
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| Microbe, Your Crobe, His Crobe, Her Crobe | |
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| Scientists: 1918 Killer Spanish Flu Was a Bird Flu |
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· 10/05/2005 11:20:11 AM PDT · · Posted by stm · · 45 replies · · 1,187+ views · · Fox News · · October 05, 2005 · · Daniel J. DeNoon · |
Scientists who re-created the 1918 Spanish flu say the killer virus was initially a bird flu that learned to infect people. Alarmingly, they find that today's H5N1 bird flu is starting to learn the same tricks. The work involves researchers from the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP), the CDC, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Jeffery K. Taubenberger, MD, PhD, chief of molecular pathology at the AFIP, is one of the study leaders. |
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| Deadly 1918 Epidemic Linked to Bird Flu, Scientists Say |
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· 10/05/2005 3:21:06 PM PDT · · Posted by neverdem · · 82 replies · · 2,606+ views · · NY Times · · October 5, 2005 · · Gina Kolata · |
Two teams of federal and university scientists announced today that they had resurrected the 1918 influenza virus, the cause of one of history's most deadly epidemics, and had found that unlike the viruses that caused more recent flu pandemics of 1957 and 1968, the 1918 virus was actually a bird flu that jumped directly to humans. The work, being published in the journals Nature and Science, involved getting the complete genetic sequence of the 1918 virus, using techniques of molecular biology to synthesize it, and then using it to infect mice and human lung cells in a specially equipped, secure... |
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| The Great War | |
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| Last veteran of World War One dies at 109 (Scotland) |
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· 11/23/2005 12:24:08 PM PST · · Posted by SittinYonder · · 53 replies · · 2,168+ views · · The Scotsman · · Tue 22 Nov 2005 · · Frank Urquhart · |
Scotland's last surviving veteran of the First World War, and the country's oldest man, died peacefully at a nursing home yesterday aged 109 -- severing the last tangible link between the nation and the 690,235 Scots who served in the Great War. Alfred Anderson was the last of the "Old Contemptibles" -- the British expeditionary force which went to war in 1914 -- and the last surviving witness of the historic Christmas truce when opposing troops declared a brief and unofficial ceasefire to play football and share drinks and cigarettes in the hell of no man's land. Mr Anderson served... |
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| Art Imitates Life | |
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| Amazingly Good Audio of Woodrow Wilson Speaking During 1912 Presidential Campaign |
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· 09/04/2011 2:48:29 PM PDT · · Posted by PJ-Comix · · 30 replies · · class="attrib">Self · · September 4, 2011 · · PJ-Comix · |
Okay, I know that Glenn Beck really hates Woodrow Wilson but let us leave aside the politics to discuss this absolutely amazing AUDIO of Wilson speaking during the 1912 Presidential campaign. Three things really strike me about this audio: 1. Clarity. I can't believe how CLEAR this audio sounds keeping in mind when it was recorded which was 1912. 2. Wilson's speaking voice. I never realized that Wilson's voice was so clear. If he lived today, he could easily be a radio announcer. His voice is that good. 3. Wilson's accent. Although Woodrow Wilson spent his boyhood in the South... |
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| Unsolved Crime | |
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| Kelly skull linked to Jack the Ripper suspect |
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· 09/04/2011 10:39:54 AM PDT · · Posted by Beowulf9 · · 16 replies · · thewest.com.au · · September 2, 2011 · · Malcolm Quekett · |
The skull that sparked a hunt for Ned Kelly's skeleton may belong to a serial killer once arrested in WA and suspected of being Jack the Ripper. An investigation into the identity of the skull began after former Derby farmer Tom Baxter handed it over in 2009, claiming it belonged to Kelly. It has never been revealed how he got the skull, which was stolen from a glass cabinet in the Old Melbourne Gaol in 1978. Heritage Victoria senior archaeologist Jeremy Smith said yesterday that Mr Baxter had claimed the skull came into his possession about a week after it... |
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| Milk, It Does a Body Good | |
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| Did Mozart die of a lack of sunlight? |
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· 09/06/2011 10:18:32 AM PDT · · Posted by billorites · · 36 replies · · Guardian · · August 22, 2011 · · Marc Abrahams · |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has died a hundred deaths, more or less. Here's a new one: darkness. Doctors over the years have resurrected the story of Mozart's death again and again, each time proposing some alternative horrifying medical reason why the 18th century's most celebrated and prolific composer keeled over at age 35. A new monograph suggests that Mozart died from too little sunlight. The researchers give us a simple theory. When exposed to sunlight, people's skin naturally produces vitamin D. Mozart, toward the end of his life, was nearly as nocturnal as a vampire, so his skin probably produced very... |
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| Thoroughly Modern Miscellany | |
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| The Oldest Victorian Toilet in the UK |
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· 01/09/2005 3:43:34 PM PST · · Posted by Brainhose · · 6 replies · · 540+ views · · class="attrib">Today · · Chad Dangling · |
Located on the Isle of Bute off of the Northwest coast of Scotland is the oldest existing Victorian bathroom in the U.K. unfortunately this picture doesn't do it justice because it is all black marble and is very pretty.While I was putting it to its intended use (After visiting the Black Bull Pub) a group of ladies strolled in and started taking pictures. I guess you had to be there. |
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| end of digest #373 20110910 | |
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| Gods, Graves, Glyphs Weekly Digest #373 · v 8 · n 9 Saturday, September 10, 2011 |
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31 topics |
Welcome to issue #373 of the GGG Digest. · view this issue · On Tuesday it was 9-6, which is the same upside down. Same goes for 6-9. Well, I thought it was fascinating. |
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I’m going out of town this evening, won’t be back until sometime late Saturday, or possibly Sunday afternoon. Soooo, the Digest will be a day late, but I’ll be the one a dollar short. ;’)
Have a great weekend, all!
Safe travels, thanks for all you do!
Have fun Civ!
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