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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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