History, archaeology, food, books, etc.
Posted in history & archaeology, Italy on Feb 23rd, 2012
From discovery.com: Leonardo Da Vinci: Bag Designer. Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) was an artist, inventor, scientist, architect, engineer, writer and even a musician. Now we know that he was also a fashion designer. After several months of meticulous research, scholars have reconstructed some fragmented drawings of a unique bag designed by the Renaissance [...]
Posted in dogs, history & archaeology on Feb 19th, 2012
From Wonders and Marvels: Ancient Puppy Chow: Dog Food in Classical Greece. Chasing game (rabbits, deer, bear, boar) for food and sport was extremely popular in classical antiquity, and dog owners took good care of their hunting companions. Ancient hunting manuals by two Greek historians, Xenophon (b. 430 BC) and Arrian (AD 86) preserve lively [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Feb 12th, 2012
From io9.com: Ancient Poop Science: Inside the Archaeology of Paleofeces. The invention of the toilet accomplished many good things, but it did rob us of the chance at immortality – through our poop. Ancient humans have revealed some of their greatest secrets through paleofeces, the study of the waste they left behind. [continue]
Posted in food, history & archaeology on Dec 27th, 2008
From the L.A. Times: When the woolly mammoth ran out, early man turned to roasted vegetables. Long before early humans in North America grew corn and beans, they were harvesting and cooking the bulbs of lilies, wild onions and other plants, roasting them for days over hot rocks, according to a Texas archaeologist. The evidence [...]
Posted in history & archaeology, language on Dec 26th, 2008
This Babelstone post on Byrhtferth’s Ogham Enigma is fascinating, detailed, and includes great images. It probably comes as a surprise to most people to find out that the earliest extant manuscript to include any text written in the Ogham script is an early 12th century English manuscript copy of a work by the late Anglo-Saxon [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 24th, 2008
From CNN: Satellites unearthing ancient Egyptian ruins. Archaeologists believe they have unearthed only a small fraction of Egypt’s ancient ruins, but they’re making new discoveries with help from high-tech allies — satellites that peer into the past from the distance of space. "Everyone’s becoming more aware of this technology and what it can do," said [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 22nd, 2008
From discovery.com: Ancient ‘Treasure’ Found in Farmer’s Bookshelf. Italian police have found the long-sought "treasure of Satricum" in a farmer’s bookshelf, they announced at a news conference in Rome this week. Consisting of more than 500 delicate miniature pots crafted about 2,600 years ago, the “treasure” was discovered during a police investigation in the countryside [...]
Posted in history & archaeology, music on Dec 21st, 2008
From Media-Newswire.com: Medieval music brought back to life. Music from a medieval manuscript that has not been heard since the 15th century has been brought back to life, thanks to researchers at The University of Nottingham. The project, involving collaboration with academics in Germany, has resulted in the production of a modern colour facsimile of [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 20th, 2008
From the Telegraph: Neanderthals could have died out because their bodies overheated. Analysis of DNA obtained from Neanderthal remains has revealed key differences from modern humans that suggest their bodies produced excess heat. While in the cold climate of an ice age this would have provided the species with an advantage, as the earth warmed [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 18th, 2008
From discovery.com: King Tut’s Father ID’d in Stone Inscription. An inscribed limestone block might have solved one of history’s greatest mysteries — who fathered the boy pharaoh King Tut. "We can now say that Tutankhamun was the child of Akhenaten," Zahi Hawass, chief of Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, told Discovery News. The finding offers [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 17th, 2008
From Discovery of Roman Battlefield Poses Historical Riddle. Archaeologists in Germany say they have found an ancient battlefield strewn with Roman weapons. The find is significant because it indicates that Romans were fighting battles in north Germany at a far later stage than previously assumed. The wilds of Germany may not have been off-limits to [...]
Posted in history & archaeology, language on Dec 17th, 2008
From Reuters: Sudan statue find gives clues to ancient language. Archaeologists said on Tuesday they had discovered three ancient statues in Sudan with inscriptions that could bring them closer to deciphering one of Africa’s oldest languages. The stone rams, representing the god Amun, were carved during the Meroe empire, a period of kingly rule that [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 12th, 2008
From Science Daily: Predecessor of Cows, The Aurochs, Were Still Living In The Netherlands Around AD 600. Archaeological researchers at the University of Groningen have discovered that the aurochs, the predecessor of our present-day cow, lived in the Netherlands for longer than originally assumed. Remains of bones recently retrieved from a horn core found in [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 11th, 2008
From New Scientist: Decoding a 2000-year-old computer. Marcellus and his men blockaded Syracuse, in Sicily, for two years. The Roman general expected to conquer the Greek city state easily, but the ingenious siege towers and catapults designed by Archimedes helped to keep his troops at bay. Then, in 212 BC, the Syracusans neglected their defences [...]
Posted in environment, history & archaeology on Dec 7th, 2008
From The Independent: Ancient skills ‘could reverse global warming’. Ancient techniques pioneered by pre-Columbian Amazonian Indians are about to be pressed into service in Britain and Central America in the most serious commercial attempt yet to reverse global warming. Trials are to be started in Sussex and Belize early in the new year, backed with [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 6th, 2008
From Ancient Roman Oil Lamp ‘Factory Town’ Found. Italian researchers have discovered the pottery center where the oil lamps that lighted the ancient Roman empire were made. Evidence of the pottery workshops emerged in Modena, in central-northern Italy, during construction work to build a residential complex near the ancient walls of the city. "We found [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 4th, 2008
From New Scientist: Spanish Inquisition left genetic legacy in Iberia. It’s not often that cultural and religious persecution makes countries more diverse, but the Spanish Inquisition might have done just that. One in five Spaniards and Portuguese has a Jewish ancestor, while a tenth of Iberians boast North African ancestors, finds new research. This melting [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 3rd, 2008
From The Telegraph: Lost city of ‘cloud people’ found in Peru. Archaeologists have discovered a lost city carved into the Andes Mountains by the mysterious Chachapoya tribe. The settlement covers some 12 acres and is perched on a mountainside in the remote Jamalca district of Utcubamba province in the northern jungles of Peru’s Amazon. The [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Dec 1st, 2008
From the International Herald Tribune: Herculaneum’s glories shown off. . Herculaneum, ignored by many a Pompeii-bound tourist as that other city the erupting volcano Mount Vesuvius "froze" in ancient time, is showing off its glories, including some never before seen by the public. While visitors pour into the sprawling ruins of ancient Pompeii — 2.5 [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Nov 27th, 2008
From the BBC: Photos reveal Hadrian’s history. Archaeologists have uncovered 2,700 previously unrecorded historic features along the length of Hadrian’s Wall by studying thousands of aerial pictures. The English Heritage experts found ancient burial mounds, medieval sheep farms and 19th Century lead mines. They were working from more than 30,500 pictures taken during the past [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Nov 22nd, 2008
From The Telegraph: Hadrian’s wall boosted economy for ancient Britons, archaeologists discover. Far from being a hated symbol of military occupation, Hadrian’s Wall was the business opportunity of a lifetime for ancient Britons, archaeologists have discovered. The 73-mile long Roman wall, built in AD 122 to defend the Roman Empire from hostile Celtic tribes, created [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Nov 20th, 2008
From Were Neanderthals stoned to death by modern humans?. Human aerial bombardments might have pushed Neanderthals to extinction, suggests new research. Changes in bone shape left by a life of overhand throwing hint that Stone Age humans regularly threw heavy objects, such as stones or spears, while Neanderthals did not. "The anatomically modern humans would [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Nov 20th, 2008
From AFP: Two-century hunt for tomb of astrologer (sic) Copernicus is over. Studies on two strands of hair and a tooth have ended a centuries old hunt for the tomb Nicolas Copernicus, the 16th century astronomer who shocked the world by declaring that the Earth was not the centre of the Universe, experts said Thursday. [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Nov 20th, 2008
From The Hebrew University of Jerusalem: New excavations strengthen identification of Herod’s grave at Herodium. Analysis of newly revealed items found at the site of the mausoleum of King Herod at Herodium (Herodion in Greek) have provided Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeological researchers with further assurances that this was indeed the site of the famed [...]
Posted in animals, birds, insects, etc, DNA, history & archaeology on Nov 20th, 2008
From the New York Times: Regenerating a Mammoth for $10 Million. Scientists are talking for the first time about the old idea of resurrecting extinct species as if this staple of science fiction is a realistic possibility, saying that a living mammoth could perhaps be regenerated for as little as $10 million. The same technology [...]
Posted in history & archaeology, religion on Nov 18th, 2008
From the Jerusalem Post: Was the Aksa Mosque built over the remains of a Byzantine church?. The photo archives of a British archeologist who carried out the only archeological excavation ever undertaken at the Temple Mount’s Aksa Mosque show a Byzantine mosaic floor underneath the mosque that was likely the remains of a church or [...]
Posted in history & archaeology, religion on Nov 18th, 2008
From discovery.com: First Islamic Inscription May Solve Qur’an Question. An Arabic traveler who engraved his name on a block of red sandstone over 1,300 years ago may help solve a question about the Qur’an that has vexed historians for hundreds of years: Why was the text seemingly written without diacritical marks? Diacritical marks, which include [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Nov 17th, 2008
From the Guardian: Colossus of Rhodes to be rebuilt as giant light sculpture. It may not straddle the port as its predecessor once did, but in terms of sheer luminosity and eye-catching height the new Colossus of Rhodes will not disappoint. Nor will it fall short of the symbolism that once imbued the ancient monument. [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Nov 15th, 2008
From the Ottawa Citizen: Musketeer D’Artagnan’s grave in Netherlands, historian says. A five-year quest to locate the tomb of d’Artagnan — the inspiration for Alexandre Dumas’s novel The Three Musketeers — has led to a small Dutch church where new research suggests the swashbuckling hero is buried. Charles de Batz de Castelmore d’Artagnan died during [...]
Posted in history & archaeology on Nov 15th, 2008
From National Geographic: Great Pyramid Mystery to Be Solved by Hidden Room? A sealed space in Egypt’s Great Pyramid may help solve a centuries-old mystery: How did the ancient Egyptians move two million 2.5-ton blocks to build the ancient wonder? The little-known cavity may support the theory that the 4,500-year-old monument to Pharaoh Khufu was [...]