Free Republic

Scientists studying rocks near an ancient asteroid impact structure in South Australian have uncovered evidence that could change current theories explaining how life on Earth rapidly diversified about 580 million years ago. Dr Kath Grey of the Western Australian Department of Industry and Resources' Geological survey and an ACA associate researcher, Prof Malcolm Walter, Director of the ACA and Dr Clive Calver of the Tasmanian Department of Mineral Resources challenge the idea that 'Snowball Earth' - an intense period of glaciation about 600 million years ago, triggered the evolution of simple life forms into more complex and familiar species. In...

(Phys.org)—When a huge meteor collided with Earth about 2.5 million years ago in the southern Pacific Ocean it not only likely generated a massive tsunami but also may have plunged the world into the Ice Ages, a new study suggests. A team of Australian researchers says that because the Eltanin meteor – which was up to two kilometres across - crashed into deep water, most scientists have not adequately considered either its potential for immediate catastrophic impacts on coastlines around the Pacific rim or its capacity to destabilise the entire planet's climate system. "This is the only known deep-ocean impact...

A Carthaginian burial site was not for child sacrifice but was instead a graveyard for babies and fetuses, researchers now say. A new study of the ancient North African site offers the latest volley in a debate over the primary purpose of the graveyard, long thought to be a place of sacred sacrifice. "It's all very great, cinematic stuff, but whether that was a constant daily activity ― I think our analysis contradicts that," said study co-author Jeffrey Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh....

PARIS — When I. M. Pei’s glass pyramid opened at the Louvre more than 20 years ago, many argued that this 70-foot-tall structure had destroyed the classical beauty of one of the world’s great museums. But today, as crowds wait on long lines outside the pyramid, which serves as the Louvre’s main entrance, what once seemed audacious has become as accepted a part of the city’s visual landscape as the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe. Now the museum is again risking the public’s wrath as it introduces the most radical architectural intervention since the pyramid in 1989. Designed...

Harvard researcher Karen King today unveiled an ancient papyrus fragment with the phrase, “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife.’” The text also mentions “Mary,” arguably a reference to Mary Magdalene. The announcement at an academic conference in Rome is sure to send shock waves through the Christian world. The Smithsonian Channel will premiere a special documentary about the discovery on September 30 at 8 p.m. ET. And Smithsonian magazine reporter Ariel Sabar has been covering the story behind the scenes for weeks, tracing King’s steps from when a suspicious e-mail hit her in-box to the nerve-racking moment when she thought...

When Danish Vikings sailed across the North Sea and conquered England, they left their mark on the English language and place names. That’s common knowledge, at least to historians. What’s perhaps less known is that the influence cut both ways. Although England was under Danish rule in the Viking Age, the English were culturally and politically more sophisticated than their neighbours to the east. Historian Marie Bønløkke Spejlborg was one of the more than 300 Norse mythology researchers who attended the 15th International Saga Conference held recently in Aarhus, Denmark. She is currently writing her PhD thesis about how the...

HOUSTON – (Sept. 18, 2012) – Contrary to the prevailing theories that music and language are cognitively separate or that music is a byproduct of language, theorists at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) advocate that music underlies the ability to acquire language. “Spoken language is a special type of music,” said Anthony Brandt, co-author of a theory paper published online this month in the journal Frontiers in Cognitive Auditory Neuroscience. “Language is typically viewed as fundamental to human intelligence, and music is often treated as being dependent on or derived from...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ...’ ” The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.” The...

A giant poolside mosaic featuring intricate geometric patterns has been unearthed in southern Turkey, revealing the far-reaching influence of the Roman Empire at its peak. The mosaic, which once decorated the floor of a bath complex, abuts a 25-foot (7-meter)-long pool, which would have been open to the air, said Michael Hoff, a University of Nebraska, Lincoln art historian and director of the mosaic excavation. The find likely dates to the third or fourth century, Hoff said. The mosaic itself is an astonishing 1,600 square feet (149 square meters) — the size of a modest family home. [....] So far,...

Archaeologists from the University of Tübingen in Germany have found eight extremely well-preserved spears -- an astonishing 300,000 years old, making them the oldest known weapons anywhere. The spears and other artefacts as well as animal remains found at the site demonstrate that their users were highly skilled craftsmen and hunters, well adapted to their environment -- with a capacity for abstract thought and complex planning comparable to our own. It is likely that they were members of the species Homo heidelbergensis, although no human remains have yet been found at the site... excavation in an open-cast brown coal mine...

Four words on a previously unknown papyrus fragment provide the first evidence that some early Christians believed Jesus had been married, Harvard Professor Karen King told the 10th International Congress of Coptic Studies today. King, the Hollis Professor of Divinity at Harvard Divinity School, announced the existence of the ancient text at the congress’ meeting, held every four years and hosted this year by the Vatican’s Institutum Patristicum Augustinianum in Rome. The four words that appear on the fragment translate to “Jesus said to them, my wife.” The words, written in Coptic, a language of Egyptian Christians, are on a...

Ethiopian Christianity presents many mysteries to us, their unique use of Old Testament typology, their concentric churches, their claim of having the Ark of the Covenent and its use in liturgy – these all create an obscure but fascinating question. I went to Ethiopia in 2009 to discover more about their liturgical arts. I would like to share some of my findings with you. This is just to give you a taste since of course one could easily write a book on the subject. I will focus on the Lake Tana churches and mostly one church : Kidana Mhiret on...

The mystery of King Tut's death might finally be solved, according to one scientist who argues that the secret to the young pharaoh's demise is hidden in plain sight. Dr. Hutan Ashrafian, a lecturer and surgeon at the Imperial College London, says the key to the mystery lies in the art from the period, which depicted King Tut with highly feminine features, including enlarged breasts. The enlarged breasts, he argues, are indicative of a condition known as gynecomastia, which, when added to a host of historical and familial evidence, indicates that Tutankhamun might have suffered and eventually died from temporal...

"After nearly four decades of tearing down and restoring old log structures a Virginia man has seen a lot of history. When it came time for him and his new bride to restore one for themselves they had no idea just how much history they would uncover." ...In and and around an old cabin were Spanish coins, minnie balls, a spanish crossbow arrowhead and indian artifacts...(2 minute video)

Clive Finlayson and Kimberly Brown from the Gibraltar Museum, along with colleagues from Spain, Canada and Belgium, examined a database of 1,699 ancient sites across Eurasia, comparing data on birds at locations used by humans with those that were not. They found a clear association between raptor and corvid remains and sites that had been occupied by humans. They then looked more closely at bird bones found at Neanderthal sites in Gibraltar, including Gorham's and Vanguard cave, near the base of the rock: "The Neanderthals had cut through and marked the bones. But what were they cutting? We realised a...

Roughly the size of a buffalo, a giant rodent that roamed the banks of an ancient Venezuelan river some 8 million years ago, dining on sea grass and dodging crocodiles, was an evolutionary sibling to modern-day guinea pigs. The largest rodent that ever lived, Phoberomys pattersoni, weighed about 1,545 pounds (700 kilograms) - more than 10 times the size of today's rodent heavyweight, the 110-pound (50 kilograms) capybara. "Imagine a weird guinea pig, but huge, with a long tail for balancing on its hind legs and continuously growing teeth," said Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra of Germany's University of Tübingen. "It was...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — A historian of early Christianity at Harvard Divinity School has identified a scrap of papyrus that she says was written in Coptic in the fourth century and contains a phrase never seen in any piece of Scripture: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife ...’ ” The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.” The...

Humans were tampering with nature long before the Industrial Revolution’s steam and internal combustion engines arrived on the scene. The invention of agriculture around 8,000 years ago, some argue, significantly changed ecosystems as it spread around the globe. Although scientists are only just beginning to understand how these ancient alterations shaped our world today, a new study in Scientific Reports suggests that millennium-old development along the Danube River in Eastern Europe significantly changed the Black Sea ecosystem and helped create the lush Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine. “My team had a big surprise,” said Liviu Giosan, a geologist at...

THE Romans returned to Caerleon this weekend, with thousands of people marvelling at the battle skills which were hallmarks of their empire-building. Ars Dimicandi draws actors from all over Italy and they travel to all parts of the former Roman Empire demonstrating gladiator-style fighting, different types of duels and battle re-enactments. The group was formed by Dario Battaglia 20 years ago and he said: "The main things we show is different types of fights, armours and how a military person is different from a gladiator." It was Mr Battaglia's third time in Caerleon and the group were there as part...

The background Archeologists from Leicester University have uncovered an intact skeleton which they believe is that of Richard III, the king whose reputation as a ruthless hunchback comes from William Shakespeare’s play. The skeleton has a deformed spine, and is at the site of Grey Friars church, where Richard was thought to have been buried after the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, where he was defeated by Henry Tudor. His grave is now underneath a council car park in Leicester. DNA tests will reveal whether he’s really the king or not – it’s an adult male, with spinal abnormalities that...