Clipmarks | invictus's 'history' clips

Date set for Odysseus' return from Trojan War

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:30:56 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Although I read this story with caution and I still remain very sceptical about the astronomical references and interpretations, I'm posting it here for those who may be interested.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Using clues from star and sun positions mentioned by the ancient Greek poet Homer, scholars think they have determined the date when King Odysseus returned from the Trojan War and slaughtered a group of suitors who had been pressing his wife to marry one of them.

It was on April 16, 1178 B.C. that the great warrior struck with arrows, swords and spears, killing those who sought to replace him, a pair of researchers say in Monday's online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.

Experts have long debated whether the books of Homer reflect the actual history of the Trojan War and its aftermath.

Marcelo O. Magnasco of Rockefeller University in New York and Constantino Baikouzis of the Astronomical Observatory in La Plata, Argentina, acknowledge they had to make some assumptions to determine the date Odysseus returned to his kingdom of Ithaca.

Tags: ancient history, greece, trojan war, homer, odysseus, archaeoastronomy

5500 year old plaza found in Peru

Thu, 29 May 2008 14:58:22 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Ground breaking discoveries began to come one after another in Peru. History textbooks need to be changed.

Clip Source: www.pretorianews.co.za

Lima - A ceremonial plaza built 5 500 years ago has been discovered in Peru, and archaeologists involved in the dig said on Monday carbon dating shows it is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas.

A team of Peruvian and German archaeologists uncovered the circular plaza, which was hidden beneath another piece of architecture at the ruins known as Sechin Bajo, in Casma, 229 miles north of Lima, the capital. Friezes depicting a warrior with a knife and trophies were found near the plaza.

"It's an impressive find; the scientific and archaeology communities are very happy," said Cesar Perez, the scientist at Peru's National Institute of Culture who supervised the project. "This could redesign the history of the country."

Prior to the discovery at Sechin Bajo, archaeologists considered the ancient Peruvian citadel of Caral to be one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, at about 5 000 years.

Tags: archaeology, south america, peru, sechin bajo, science

Unearthing clues of catastrophic earthquakes

Thu, 17 Apr 2008 17:38:34 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks:

There is still much to be known about ancient earthquakes. The instrumental record for seismology is short, going back 100 years. The historical seismology record is a much longer, including written documentation such as news accounts and diaries, which vary widely by culture and region. The archeoseismic record serves as the bridge between historical accounts and the paleoseismic record of Earth’s history.

Clip Source: www.eurekalert.org

The destruction and disappearance of ancient cultures mark the history of human civilization, making for fascinating stories and cautionary tales. The longevity of today’s societies may depend upon separating fact from fiction, and archeologists and seismologists are figuring out how to join forces to do just that with respect to ancient earthquakes, as detailed in new studies presented at the international conference of the Seismological Society of America.

Archaeoseismology, a young scientific discipline that studies past earthquakes in the archaeological record, allows scientists to broaden the time window to detect these rare seismic catastrophic events. But archaeological evidence for past earthquakes raises a lot of reservations from seismologists, some of them strongly questioning whether man-made structures can be used as earthquake indicators at all.

Tags: archaeology, seismology, ancient earthquakes, catastrophes, science

5500-year-old Plaza found in Peru

Tue, 26 Feb 2008 21:01:34 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Discovery of Caral (dated to 3000 BCE) was a shock for established archaeology, who rejected the existence of an ancient civilization in south America, prior to 1200 BCE. Now the discovery of Sechin Bajo appears to be a second shock, which pulls the date back to 3500 BCE. These two findings alone, show that Peru hosted an important, unknown civilization, 400 years before the Egyptian kingdom was founded by Menes and at least 250 years before the Sumerians took control of southern Mesopotamia. Amazing discoveries forces historians to reconsider their established "ancient history" cliches.

Clip Source: www.smh.com.au

A ceremonial plaza built 5500 years ago has been discovered in Peru, and archaeologists involved in the dig said carbon dating shows it is one of the oldest structures ever found in the Americas.

"It's an impressive find; the scientific and archeology communities are very happy," Cesar Perez, the scientist at Peru's National Institute of Culture who supervised the project, said on Monday. "This could redesign the history of the country."

Prior to the discovery at Sechin Bajo, archaeologists considered the ancient Peruvian citadel of Caral to be one of the oldest in the Western Hemisphere, at about 5000 years.

Scientists say Caral, located a few hours drive from Sechin Bajo, was one of six places in the world - along with Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, India and Mesoamerica - where humans started living in cities about 5000 years ago.

"The dating done by the German archaeologists puts it at about 5500 years," Perez said of the plaza, which has a diameter of about 14 metres.

Tags: archaeology, peru, sechin bajo, science

Archaeology vs Religion in Ancient Israel History

Fri, 23 Nov 2007 11:42:26 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: A review of famous Israeli archaeologist Ze'ev Herzog's article on Biblical accounts not conforming archaeological and historical facts.

Clip Source: www.prometheus.demon.co.uk

According to the Bible the history of Israel began when Abraham was called by Yahweh to leave his family and his home and settle in Canaan. His son Isaac, and his grandson, Jacob, lived there until Jacob was forced by famine to flee to Egypt with his remaining sons, where one of them, Joseph, already held a position of prominence. The descendants of Jacob were enslaved in Egypt. Yahweh charged Moses with the deliverance of his people from bondage.

None of the details of this account can be verified by other sources as the distinguished Israeli archaeologist Ze'ev Herzog argues in his article 'Deconstructing the Walls of Jericho: Biblical Myth and Archaeological Reality.'

most 'Israelis (as well as Jews in the Diaspora) would still be shocked to read such conclusions as these: that the People of Israel did not sojourn in Egypt, did not wander in the wilderness, did not conquer the land of Canaan in a military campaign, and did not pass it on as inheritance to the Twelve Tribes of Israel.

Tags: archaeology, israel, bible, history, pentateuch, religion, science

Knights Templar win heresy reprieve after 700 years

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 14:59:17 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Knights Templar, the medieval Christian military order accused of heresy and sexual misconduct, will soon be partly rehabilitated when the Vatican publishes trial documents it had closely guarded for 700 years.

A reproduction of the minutes of trials against the Templars, "'Processus Contra Templarios -- Papal Inquiry into the Trial of the Templars"' is a massive work and much more than a book -- with a 5,900 euros ($8,333) price tag.

"This is a milestone because it is the first time that these documents are being released by the Vatican, which gives a stamp of authority to the entire project," said Professor Barbara Frale, a medievalist at the Vatican's Secret Archives.

"Nothing before this offered scholars original documents of the trials of the Templars," she told Reuters in a telephone interview ahead of the official presentation of the work on October 25.

Tags: knights templar, history, vatican, inquisition

8,000-year-old Lovers in Ancient Grave

Thu, 11 Oct 2007 21:31:39 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: www.freerepublic.com

Archaeologists discovered the tomb of a young couple locked in an embrace during their work in Hakemi Use in the Bismil district of the southeastern province of Diyarbakır on Saturday.

Archaeologists assert that the couple, who presumably died some 8,000 years ago, is likely to set a record as the oldest embracing couple in the history of archaeology. Diyarbakır was witness to an extraordinary discovery when archaeologists revealed the tomb of the couple near the township of Tepe in the district of Bismil. The shroud of mystery over the couple will be removed after anthropologists examine the skeletons.

The discovery of the tomb of the two lovers has sparked a wave of excitement among the team of archaeologists. Halil Tekin, head of the team, has indicated that the tomb is at least 1,000 years older than the one found last year in Verona, Italy.

Tags: archaeology, turkey, diyarbakir, lovers, neolithic, prehistory

Egypt footprint 'could be oldest'

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:25:18 GMT

clipped by: JohnWaterman

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Archaeologists in Egypt say they have discovered what might be the oldest human footprint ever found

The outline was found imprinted in mud, which has since turned to stone, at Siwa oasis in the western desert.

"This could go back about two million years," antiquities council chief Zahi Hawass was quoted by Reuters as saying. However Khaled Saad, director of pre-history at the council, said it could be older still, and pre-date Ethiopia's 3m-year-old skeleton, Lucy.

Lucy, discovered in 1974 in Hadar, Ethiopia, is an extinct Australopithecus afarensis hominid estimated to be 3.2 million years old.

"It could be the most important discovery in Egypt," Mr Hawass said.

Until now the earliest evidence of human activity found in Egypt, most famous for the era of the pharaohs, dates from about 200,000 years ago.

Tags: archaeology, hominid, human

The History of Writing

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:33:52 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Revisiting & re-clipping some of my old stuff. (I recommend the source article for an illustrated history of abstract thought and writing, with the evolution of alphabets.)

Clip Source: www.historian.net

Language existed long before writing, emerging probably simultaneously with sapience, abstract thought and the Genus Homo.

As long ago as 25,000-30,000 years BP, humans were painting pictures on cave walls. Whether these pictures were telling a "story" or represented some type of "spirit house" or ritual exercise is not known.

Around 4100-3800 BCE, the tokens began to be symbols that could be impressed or inscribed in clay to represent a record of land, grain or cattle and a written language was beginning to develop. One of the earliest examples was found in the excavations of Uruk in Mesopotamia at a level representing the time of the crystallization of the Sumerian culture.

For the next step toward the development of an alphabet, we must go to Egypt where picture writing had developed sometime near the end of the 4th millennium BC.

One of the earliest examples is the name of NAR-MER, either the first or second Pharoah of an united Egypt in 3100 BCE.

Tags: history, alphabets, writing, scripts

A History of Quantum Mechanics

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:15:38 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Revisiting & re-clipping some of my old stuff.

Clip Source: www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk

A history of Quantum Mechanics

It is hard to realise that the electron was only discovered a little over 100 years ago in 1897. That it was not expected is illustrated by a remark made by J J Thomson, the discoverer of the electron. He said

I was told long afterwards by a distinguished physicist who had been present at my lecture that he thought I had been pulling their leg.

The neutron was not discovered until 1932 so it is against this background that we trace the beginnings of quantum theory back to 1859.

In 1905 Einstein examined the photoelectric effect. The photoelectric effect is the release of electrons from certain metals or semiconductors by the action of light. The electromagnetic theory of light gives results at odds with experimental evidence. Einstein proposed a quantum theory of light to solve the difficulty and then he realised that Planck's theory made implicit use of the light quantum hypothesis.

Tags: physics, quantum theory, atom, particles, science

History of Goddess

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 13:15:43 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: Revisiting & re-clipping some of my old stuff.

Clip Source: www.carnaval.com

Academics are generally comfortable with beginning humankind's history around 3000 BC, when the Sumerian civilization along the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in today's Iraq invented an alphabet and made great strides as a civilization. Yet humankind left its mark for future generations many millennium before this in the form of assorted symbols.

Occasionally, an academic takes exception to the norm, and they usually find their audience elsewhere than the ivory tower. This is the case with the temples of Malta. These monuments communicate in the universal languages of mathematical measurements of stars and seasons, and their words are expressed in the universal picture language of dreams. It does not require extensive education to see the Malta artifacts as representations of Mother Earth, symbolizing rebirth in the cycle of life and death.

Tags: goddess, matriarchy, mother goddess, prehistory, marija gimbutas

Egypt's rock drawings 15000 years old

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 11:47:55 GMT

clipped by: sohil

Clip Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

Archaeologists claim to have discovered Egypt's oldest known rock face drawings and etchings, dating back 15, 000 years ago, in the village of Qurta, some 400 miles south of capital, Cairo

The drawings are similar in age and style to the iconic Stone Age paintings in Lascaux, France, and Altamira, Spain, they have said

"The style is riveting. The art is unlike anything seen elsewhere in Egypt," added Salima Ikram of the American University in Cairo, who was part of Huyge's team.

According to the researchers, the engravings were chiselled into sandstone cliff faces at the Qurta.

Of the more than 160 figures found so far, most depict wild bulls. The biggest is nearly six feet (two meters) wide, they said.

"The drawings push Egyptian art, religion, and culture back to a much earlier time," National Geographic quoted Ikram as saying.

The team's findings will be published in the September issue of the journal Antiquity.

"It is not at all an exaggeration to call it 'Lascaux on the Nile',"

Tags: egypt, history, ancient history, archaeology, france, spain, stone age, painting

Rise of man theory ‘out by 400,000 years’

Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:16:04 GMT

clipped by: invictus
clipper's remarks: A very controversial, unorthodox and exciting new theory on the history of humanity. Professor Helmut Ziegert from Germany, a very experienced and bright archaeologist, comes up with new findings that could shake all we know about the distant past of homo sapiens and the starting point of the Neolitic Age, which was the beginning of our civilization.

Sean Kingsley, an archaeologist and the managing editor of Minerva, said: “This research is nothing less than a quantum leap in our understanding of Man’s intellectual and social history. For archaeology it’s as radical as finding life on Mars.

“As a veteran of over 81 archaeological surveys and excavations . . . Ziegert is nothing if not scientifically cautious, which makes the current revelation all the more exciting.”

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

Rise of man theory ‘out by 400,000 years’

Our earliest ancestors gave up hunter-gathering and took to a settled life up to 400,000 years earlier than previously thought, according to controversial research.

The accepted timescale of Man’s evolution is being challenged by a German archaeologist who claims to have found evidence that Homo erectus — mankind’s early ancestor, who migrated from Africa to Asia and Europe — began living in settled communities long before the accepted time of 10,000 years ago.

The point at which settlement actually took place is the first critical stage in humanity’s cultural development.

Helmut Ziegert, of the Institute of Archaeology at Hamburg University, says that the evidence can be found at excavated sites in North and East Africa, in the remains of stone huts and tools created by upright man for fishing and butchery.

Tags: archaeology, anthropology, civilization, humanity, neolitic age, helmut ziegert, science

Happy Birthday Invictus

Thu, 21 Jun 2007 12:14:36 GMT

clipped by: sohil
clipper's remarks: Happy belated Birthday invictus (It was on the 20th...)

Clip Source: www.fancyflours.com

Tags: happy, birthday, happy birthday, invictus, history

Universe to Disappear From View?

Thu, 24 May 2007 16:46:44 GMT

clipped by: invictus

Clip Source: dsc.discovery.com

Universe to Disappear From View?

May 22, 2007 — It sounds crazy, but as the universe expands faster and faster, it will eventually get to a point where the cosmos seen through a telescope will look a lot smaller than today, say physicists.

That's because in a few hundred billion, or perhaps a few trillion years, all but our local group of galaxies will have moved so far away they will be lost forever.

As a result, any cosmologist of that distant time who tries to figure out the history of the universe will have no clue to the Big Bang or the existence of the vast clusters of galaxies we can see today in every direction with powerful telescopes. Not even the microwave background radiation — the subtle and surest sign of the Big Bang — will remain within reach.

Tags: universe, cosmology, science