The North Arabian Desert oases were inhabited by sedentary populations in the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. A fortification enclosing the Khaybar Oasis—one of the longest known going back to this period—has just been revealed by a team of scientists from the CNRS and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)....
The spectacular explosion of the mine at Hawthorn Ridge—a fortified German front-line position in the First World War—marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, and remains one of the best-known pieces of film from the whole conflict....
Nicholas Copernicus was the astronomer who, five centuries ago, explained that Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than vice versa. A true Renaissance man, he also practised as a mathematician, engineer, author, economic theorist and medical doctor....
The puzzling depiction of a vicious predator — either a dragon or a snake — devouring a frog on an early medieval belt buckle from the Czech Republic may be a symbol from an unknown pagan cult, archaeologists say....
Depends what you mean by body language. I think that most can recognise basic facial expressions like happiness and fear before they can talk, and understand things like pointing and reaching for things to express interest etc.
Archaeologists in Kazakhstan have discovered two gold ornaments in a 1,500-year-old tomb that feature the earliest known depictions of the great khan, or “khagan,” of the Göktürks — a nomadic confederation of Turkic-speaking peoples who occupied the region for around three centuries, according to an archaeologist who...
Finnegans Wake. I read it across the year with an online group. It was always on the edge of incomprehensibility - often well over the edge - but it definitely had a impact.
This year’s ‘big read’ will be the Chinese classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms I’m just about to make a start.
An electric vehicle owner has used her car’s emergency power system to run her 11-year-old son’s lifesaving dialysis machine and another has ridden to the rescue of his neighbours after devastating storms cut power in south-east Queensland....
Depends whether I am working or not. If it has been a workday, then often the half hour or hour that I set aside at the end of the day for reading before I go to sleep.
If I am not working, and don’t need to get up do things immediately, then the time just after waking and before I get breakfast. Maybe read a little, plan the day and check the Web.
I would say that kindness is an expression (not the only one) of empathy. Some degree of empathy is present in the overwhelming majority of people - barring extreme sociopathic conditions and an absence of mirror neurones. So for most people I would say that it is innate to some extent.
Even in cases where empathy is not present, kindness can be simulated or faked and some people with strong sociopathic conditions have proven to be very good at this when it suits their purposes - so I certainly say something with the appearance of kindness can be learned in one form or another.
It can definitely be cultivated - and I would say that this is one of the major qualities in the whole “two wolves” metaphor or, in classical Greek terms, a virtue to be developed.
I can recall being in the cot under the window in my parents room, but there is nothing else attached to that memory.
I can also very clearly recall being put onto the floor in the back of my dad’s dark blue side opening van, which had an orange tinted skylight, and crawling across the corrugated floor panel to pull myself up against the wheel arch - since this was evidently before i could walk - whilst my parents were talking just outside, and the van itself was parked across the road from the entrance to our garden.
However, apparently my dad never owned a van of that type, nor anything like it, and nor did anyone that either of my parents or my - significantly older - siblings are aware of. So despite the clarity and detail of that memory, I have doubts that it is at all real.
Archaeologists in China have unearthed a mysterious set of rectangular wooden pieces linked to an ancient astronomical calendar. The artifacts were discovered inside an exceptionally well-preserved 2,000-year-old tomb in the southwest of the country....
I don’t think that I ever did feel like a kid when I went back to my parents for Christmas. Instead, it felt cloying, cluttered and claustrophobic - and as far as I can tell, it is entirely coincidental that all three of those start with ‘cl’. I felt out of place and constrained and it seemed irrelevant to anything else in my world. Mum and my siblings were all doing their usual things, but I felt in the same stiff, un-natural position that ‘posh’ visitors were always put in back when I was living there as a child. There was a sense that it was all a performance for my benefit - but one that never really convinced.
As long as humans have been minting coins and crafting beautiful jewelry and other stunning collectibles, an equal number of people have been right behind them searching for these precious finds. Here are 10 extraordinary discoveries made in 2023 that prove that the hunt for buried treasure never gets old.
A multi-institutional team of anthropologists has discovered that two pieces of ancient Scythian leather excavated at sites in Ukraine were made from human skin. In their project, reported on the open-access site PLOS ONE, the group tested an account by the Greek historian Herodotus regarding certain behaviors of ancient...
Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings have yielded important insights into a mysterious anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field 3,000 years ago, according to a new study involving University College London researchers....
The Dordogne region of southern France is home to over 200 caves decorated with colorful Paleolithic art, but little is known about how old it is. Due to its coloration with iron- or manganese-oxide-based material, radiocarbon dating of the art has not been possible, and it has been generally thought to have been created during...
Archaeologists in Germany have discovered a rolled-up piece of lead that they think could be a medieval “curse tablet” that invokes “Beelzebub,” or Satan....
Archaeologists in Spain have discovered evidence that ancient people defleshed and dismembered corpses around 6,000 years ago. But these aren’t clues to an ancient murder: Instead, the bone injuries are more likely related to funerary practices that occurred just after death....
For years, scientists have debated whether humans or the climate have caused the population of large mammals to decline dramatically over the past several thousand years. A new study from Aarhus University confirms that climate cannot be the explanation....
In 1934, workers in Germany discovered the double burial of a woman placed in a seated position with an infant between her legs. Because of the overabundance of grave goods surrounding the pair, archaeologists concluded that she was likely a shaman who died about 9,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic period. However, her true...
I am especially interested in the initial migrations into the Americas 15,000+ years ago, but our community is small and my interests large, so… any great documentaries are welcome.
Discovery of immense fortifications dating back 4,000 years in northwestern Arabia (phys.org)
The North Arabian Desert oases were inhabited by sedentary populations in the 4th and 3rd millennia BCE. A fortification enclosing the Khaybar Oasis—one of the longest known going back to this period—has just been revealed by a team of scientists from the CNRS and the Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)....
First ever scientific study on First World War crater reveals new details on its history (phys.org)
The spectacular explosion of the mine at Hawthorn Ridge—a fortified German front-line position in the First World War—marked the beginning of the Battle of the Somme, and remains one of the best-known pieces of film from the whole conflict....
what is a parental advice you wish you could give to your father/mother before they had you?
The strange story of the grave of Copernicus (theconversation.com)
Nicholas Copernicus was the astronomer who, five centuries ago, explained that Earth revolves around the Sun, rather than vice versa. A true Renaissance man, he also practised as a mathematician, engineer, author, economic theorist and medical doctor....
Medieval belt buckle of 'dragon' eating frog discovered in Czech Republic may be from unknown pagan cult (www.livescience.com)
The puzzling depiction of a vicious predator — either a dragon or a snake — devouring a frog on an early medieval belt buckle from the Czech Republic may be a symbol from an unknown pagan cult, archaeologists say....
Do you first develop the abillity to read body language, or do you first learn how to speak?
As a child I mean.
1,500-year-old gold buckles depicting ruler 'majestically sitting on a throne' discovered in Kazakhstan (www.livescience.com)
Archaeologists in Kazakhstan have discovered two gold ornaments in a 1,500-year-old tomb that feature the earliest known depictions of the great khan, or “khagan,” of the Göktürks — a nomadic confederation of Turkic-speaking peoples who occupied the region for around three centuries, according to an archaeologist who...
What movie or book had the biggest impact on you this year?
‘Amazing’: Queensland mum uses electric car to ‘save’ son’s life with dialysis during power outage (www.theguardian.com)
An electric vehicle owner has used her car’s emergency power system to run her 11-year-old son’s lifesaving dialysis machine and another has ridden to the rescue of his neighbours after devastating storms cut power in south-east Queensland....
What is your favorite part of the day?
Can kindness be learned or cultivated, and to what extent is it an innate quality?
What is your earliest memory?
2,000-year-old 'celestial calendar' discovered in ancient Chinese tomb (www.livescience.com)
Archaeologists in China have unearthed a mysterious set of rectangular wooden pieces linked to an ancient astronomical calendar. The artifacts were discovered inside an exceptionally well-preserved 2,000-year-old tomb in the southwest of the country....
What word do you always forget?
I always forget refactoring, as in code refactoring, and fiber.
When you go home for the holidays, do you ever stop feeling like a kid?
10 extraordinary treasures that archaeologists unearthed this year (www.livescience.com)
As long as humans have been minting coins and crafting beautiful jewelry and other stunning collectibles, an equal number of people have been right behind them searching for these precious finds. Here are 10 extraordinary discoveries made in 2023 that prove that the hunt for buried treasure never gets old.
Analysis of ancient Scythian leather samples shows two were made from human skin (phys.org)
A multi-institutional team of anthropologists has discovered that two pieces of ancient Scythian leather excavated at sites in Ukraine were made from human skin. In their project, reported on the open-access site PLOS ONE, the group tested an account by the Greek historian Herodotus regarding certain behaviors of ancient...
Mesopotamian bricks unveil the strength of Earth's ancient magnetic field (phys.org)
Ancient bricks inscribed with the names of Mesopotamian kings have yielded important insights into a mysterious anomaly in Earth’s magnetic field 3,000 years ago, according to a new study involving University College London researchers....
First discovery of carbon-based cave art in France's Dordogne region could pave way for precise radiocarbon dating (phys.org)
The Dordogne region of southern France is home to over 200 caves decorated with colorful Paleolithic art, but little is known about how old it is. Due to its coloration with iron- or manganese-oxide-based material, radiocarbon dating of the art has not been possible, and it has been generally thought to have been created during...
'Unique' cave art discovered in Madagascar hints at connections with ancient Egypt and Borneo (www.livescience.com)
Unique, prehistoric rock art drawings have been discovered in the Andriamamelo Cave in western Madagascar....
Medieval 'curse tablet' summoning Satan discovered at the bottom of a latrine in Germany (www.livescience.com)
Archaeologists in Germany have discovered a rolled-up piece of lead that they think could be a medieval “curse tablet” that invokes “Beelzebub,” or Satan....
People buried at 'mega' stone tombs in Spain were defleshed and their bones fractured after death (www.livescience.com)
Archaeologists in Spain have discovered evidence that ancient people defleshed and dismembered corpses around 6,000 years ago. But these aren’t clues to an ancient murder: Instead, the bone injuries are more likely related to funerary practices that occurred just after death....
People, not the climate, found to have caused the decline of the giant mammals (phys.org)
For years, scientists have debated whether humans or the climate have caused the population of large mammals to decline dramatically over the past several thousand years. A new study from Aarhus University confirms that climate cannot be the explanation....
9,000-year-old double burial with shaman and infant reveals she may have been his 4th-great-grandmother (www.livescience.com)
In 1934, workers in Germany discovered the double burial of a woman placed in a seated position with an infant between her legs. Because of the overabundance of grave goods surrounding the pair, archaeologists concluded that she was likely a shaman who died about 9,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic period. However, her true...
What is your favorite anthropology documentary?
I am especially interested in the initial migrations into the Americas 15,000+ years ago, but our community is small and my interests large, so… any great documentaries are welcome.