Page in History

Lost Army of Persian King Cambyses II Found (525 BC)

2009-11-10T09:25:00.002-05:00

MSNBC and DiscoveryNews is reporting on a stupendous discovery this morning. "The remains of a mighty Persian army said to have drowned in the sands of the western Egyptian desert 2,500 years ago."Herodotus reported on the tradegy that overtook the 50,000 soldiers, but this is the first concrete evidence to prove the accuracy of the ancient historian.Bronze weapons, some small pieces of jewelry

Oldest Artifact in the Americas Unearthed

2009-11-07T08:39:00.000-05:00

It's being reported that archaeologists have found the oldest known artifact in a cave in Oregon. The tool is some sort of scraper and is said to date back 14,230 years."Scientific American writes, "[W]hether the cave dwellers were Clovis people or belonged to an earlier culture is uncertain. None of the Clovis people's distinct fluted spear and arrow points have been found in the cave."Last

"The War That Killed Achilles"

2009-11-05T07:39:00.000-05:00

New History Books of NoteAmazonian Prospective (5 customer reviews) 5 star: (3) 4 star: (1) 3 star: (0) 2 star: (0) 1 star: (1) The One-Star review says: "I would give it 5 stars for regurgitating trivial knowledge, 3 stars for being a competent plot summary with about a dozen sentences with interesting insights, and a zero for actually

The Sad Case of the Nazca People

2009-11-04T14:12:00.002-05:00

As if to prove Jared Diamond correct (Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed), the Nazca people of southern Peru, have the joined the dubious ranks of peoples that have brought about their own destruction by trashing their environment. Like the Eastern Island people, they cut down all their trees, an act which led to their eventual starvation. DiscoveryNews (Nov. 2, 2009) reports on a

Mystery of the Falklands Wolf - solved or not?

2009-11-03T12:50:00.001-05:00

Despite the fact that TheIndependent intimates that the Puzzle of the Falklands Wolf is close to being resolved, that certainly isn't the case. There may be some new evidence, but scientist remain as puzzled as today as Charles Darwin was a century ago.The puzzle, if you aren't familiar with it, is how the heck these large mammals came to inhabit the Falklands when these isles are so far away

Spinning Tales ~ the 140 Million Year Old Spider Web

2009-11-01T01:09:00.005-04:00

Humans were certainly not around when dinosaurs reigned, but apparently spiders were.The Telegraph.uk.co is reporting that a fossil hunter has discovered what looks to be a spider web. (I don't see it, but it might be the photos that leave me clueless.)The report says: The amber was found by an amateur fossil hunter whilst looking for dinosaur remains, and was handed over to palaeobiologist

Happy Halloween! Evil Historical Spirits in the News

2009-10-31T13:51:00.002-04:00

This cute little 17th-century "witch" bottle was discovered in Staffordshire during a September archaeological dig.The National Geo reports that: In the 17th and 18th centuries in Britain, the supposedly cursed often put their toenails and fingernails, urine, and hair into the witch bottles. These jugs, usually buried near a house or building, were meant to keep evildoers at bay. Read

Oh What A Slaughter by Larry McMurtry

2009-10-28T11:46:00.001-04:00

I've read quite a few reviews of Oh, What a Slaughter and I have to say that I'm surprised that most reviewers seem to have missed what this book is really about (my humble opinion, of course). Oh, What a Slaughter is not a popular pulp book about the Old West, nor is it your standard military or political history. If it was, McMurtry would have talked more about the famous individuals that were

Fabulous Photos of Russia on the Eve Of WWI

2009-10-23T17:48:00.001-04:00

I'm not going to say much. Instead I'm going to point you to a simply wonderful collection of photos. Note the diversity of the people. How they looked, and how they lived.The photographer was Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii. The web site is the Denver Post.Click Here

Roman Temple Discovered in Tuscany

2009-10-22T19:55:00.000-04:00

One of the advantages of having a blog is that you don't have to worry about advertising space and you can blow pictures up as large as you'd like.Here is a picture garnered from adnkronos.com. I'm sorry it's blurry but that's a result of the low pix density of the original.In any case, this beauty is from a temple discovery in Tuscany.A Roman temple dating from the fourth century AD was

Lovely Bronze Age Find German's Find 4,000 Year Old Burial Site

2009-10-22T06:49:00.003-04:00

Der SpeigelOnline has probably the best write up at this point on the Inter City Express (ICE) rail link find of a bronze age burial site.Archaeologists in Germany have made a number of sensational finds along a railway line under construction in eastern Germany -- Bronze Age treasures, burial sites and evidence of settlements dating back more than 7,000 years.Archaeologists in the state of

Ruminants in History News

2009-10-21T09:41:00.000-04:00

Two different articles on the cow family from ScienceDaily.The first is on a research being done to determine the genetic history of ruminants.ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2009) — Pairing a new approach to prepare ancient DNA with a new scientific technique developed specifically to genotype a cow, an MU animal scientist, along with a team of international researchers, created a very accurate and

If There's a Labyrinth, Does That Mean There's a Minotaur?

2009-10-20T06:52:00.003-04:00

The MailOnline (DailyMail)is giving an update on the mythical (?) maze of Crete. (Apparently not all that mythical, huh.)... scholars say the new site is an equally plausible setting for the legend, The Independent reported.The new site, known locally as Labyrinthos Caves, is made up of nearly three miles of interlocking tunnels with widened areas and dead end rooms.What surprised me was that

First Painting Which Includes That New Fangled Marvel... The Watch

2009-10-19T17:16:00.000-04:00

The BBC has a short piece about this 450 year old painting of Cosimo I de Medici with a watch.Isn't it lovely.

Tomb 10A - Discovering Djehutynakht (2000BC)

2009-10-19T07:31:00.000-04:00

Sebastian Smee of Boston.com/The Globe has written a charming article about Djehutynakht (pronounced “Je-hooty-knocked’’), the Egyptian governor in the Middle Kingdom.There are some things that bring the ancient Egyptians closer to us, and some that make them seem further away. Their religious beliefs, for instance, can be dauntingly arcane. And hieroglyphics, too, are hard to

Just Gorgeous! a new Da Vinci

2009-10-17T08:55:00.006-04:00

I just love this picture so I'm including the link in this week's News.The story is at Discovery News.

Ancient Grain Based Pregnancy Test

2009-10-16T06:44:00.001-04:00

For me History doesn't get more interesting than this. The Examiner is reporting on the 1963 study where the sayings of an ancient papyrus was put to the test. What the papyrus says is something to the effect of 'if you want to know if you are pregnant then get some barley and wheat seeds and urinate on them'.If the barley seeds sprout or grow, it means a male child will be born. If the wheat

Kercem, Malta... Some 5,000 Year-Old Tombs Uncovered Again

2009-10-14T09:48:00.004-04:00

The Times of Malta and MaltaToday are reporting that two 5,000 year-old tombs have been uncovered in Karem. The tombs were found beneath a house reserved for the Parish priest. Work was being done to expand it when the rock cut burial spaces were found.There are a number of interesting features about this find. One tidbit is that it's possible that these tombs had previously been uncovered

FYI -- "Discovering ARDI" will air tonight

2009-10-11T06:30:00.010-04:00

Tonight DISCOVERING ARDISunday, October 11 at 9 PM (ET/PT)Sounds Great.Click here for the Discovery Channel mash-up page.

Genesis Retranslated

2009-10-09T06:51:00.002-04:00

It won't be often that I cover news of biblical interest, but I thought this was interesting.Professor Ellen van Wolde, who the Telegraph.co.uk describes as "a respected Old Testament scholar" is arguing that Genesis has been incorrectly translated. Prof Van Wolde, 54, who will present a thesis on the subject at Radboud University in The Netherlands where she studies, said she had re-analysed

"Slave Trade" In the News

2009-10-07T09:28:00.000-04:00

In an interesting move the Massachusetts Legislature is going to ask it's banking and insurance institutions to look back into their records -- wayyyyy back -- and report on any links to the slave trade.Boston.com reports:A bill before the legislature would require some of Massachusetts oldest banking, financial and insurance companies to look deep into their history -- and the histories of

Baby Mammoth In the News -- redux

2009-10-06T09:21:00.002-04:00

Lucky, lucky Chicagoans are going to be treated to a Mastodon and Mammoth exhibit-- "Titans of the Ice Age" -- next Spring at the Field Museum.I'm jealous because they will get to see baby Lyuba, the month old Siberian Mammoth who was found almost perfectly preserved 3 years ago.Extensively studied, it's said that 98% of the little mammoth remains intact, to the point where traces of mother's

Et Tu, Dente! Tooth Study Shows Diversity

2009-10-04T10:02:00.001-04:00

The Hampshire Chronicle is reporting on the results of a tooth survey done by archaeologists in the Winchester area, nee Venta Belgarum. Analysis of bodies in a Roman cemetery reveals about a quarter of the inhabitants were newcomers, some of them migrants from southern and central Europe.Results were published in the Journal of Archaeological Science.Eckardt, H., Chenery, C., Booth, P., Evans,

Amber, Chemistry, and The Foundation of Flowers

2009-10-04T06:41:00.000-04:00

Sargent Bray, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, has done a clever bit of analysis with amber. He's "found that ambers contained in coal deposits which predated the occurrence of flowering plants by hundreds of millions of years contained chemicals most similar to what is seen in ambers produced by modern flowering plants."Which is to say that chemical elements were all in place, and

120,000 Year Old Knife

2009-10-02T06:32:00.004-04:00

NO PICTURES DANG-IT :(Associated Press' affiliate Daily Yomiuri is reporting the following story. (Keep in mind that there was a previous scandal involved with a claim of extremely old tools. In 2000, ex-archeologist Shinichi Fujimura fabricated a find. Not that there is any reason to believe this discovery is false, but once burned....)'Nation's oldest stone tools found'