2022.08.24 - links

Links

Barbara Eden born 23 August 1931 [fromthevaults.boppinbob.blogspot.com]
Includes a link to her 1967 album in the comments.

Skull Study May Offer Insights Into Hominin Interbreeding [archaeology.org]
“Neanderthals had big faces,” Churchill explained.

NUFC

League Cup Round 2
Tranmere 1 Newcastle 2 [youtube highlights]
Not that impressive from the NUFC B team. Wood finally scores. The lads are going to be at home to Crystal Palace in the 3rd round.

Audio

Some of the stuff I heard today.

I'll Be With Thee - Jerry Garcia Band [youtube]

The History of Byzantium ep109 - Leo the Wise? [thehistoryofbyzantium.com]

History of writing in China

• From the BBC: it looks like Chinese writing may be older than previously thought:
  State media say researchers identified more than 2,000 pictorial symbols dating back 8,000 years, on cliff faces in the north-west of the country. They say many of these symbols bear a strong resemblance to later forms of ancient Chinese characters. Scholars had thought Chinese symbols came into use about 4,500 years ago.
  

Academic blogs, Roman imperial sceptres, and early Europeans

• As the Beano lads used to say when faced with something tasty: Sloo! At least, I think that's what they said. It's been a while. Anyway... check out the Academic Blog Portal. Yum.
• From the Telegraph: the only Roman imperial sceptre found thus far is going on display.
  The sceptre, which is topped by a blue orb that represents the earth, was discovered at the end of last year and is believed to have been held by Emperor Maxentius, who ruled for six years until 312AD.
  ...
  It was found at the base of the Palatine hill, carefully wrapped in silk and linen and then placed in a wooden box. Alongside it were other boxes holding two other imperial battle standards and ceremonial lance heads. The depth of the burial allowed archaeologists to date the find to Maxentius' rule.
• Going much further back, a study has just been published that confirms that Neolithic Europeans were unable to digest milk:
  The first direct evidence that early Europeans were unable to digest milk has been found by scientists at UCL (University College London) and Mainz University.
  In a study, published in the journal 'PNAS', the team shows that the gene that controls our ability to digest milk was missing from Neolithic skeletons dating to between 5840 and 5000 BC. However, through exposure to milk, lactose tolerance evolved extremely rapidly, in evolutionary terms.
  (I first saw the story at Dienekes' Anthropology Blog.)
  
  

Excavation focusses on Blackbeard's ship

A team has been excavating the pirate Blackbeard's ship, Queen Anne's Revenge, in North Carolina. The Yahoo News article ain't great, but it does have this nice quote about Blackbeard:
"With the fuses in his hair and heavily armed, he's a frightening person," says Butler, who added that pirates preferred to take ships without a shot. "There were some psychopathic pirates out there, but Blackbeard was not one of them. We have no evidence that Blackbeard ever murdered anyone or ever tortured anyone.

Space impact and Tutankhamun gem

An article from the BBC reports that the one of the gems in a necklace of Tutankhamun may have come about as a result of a space impact. The gem was found upon analysis to be made from an usual green glass, which may have been produced when a comet hit Egypt. Thinking of the Tunguska strike,
Wasson wondered if a similar aerial burst could have produced enough heat to turn the ground to glass in the Egyptian desert.
The first atomic bomb detonation, at the Trinity site in New Mexico in 1945, created a thin layer of glass on the sand. But the area of glass in the Egyptian desert is vastly bigger.
Whatever happened in Egypt must have been much more powerful than an atomic bomb.

Bog bodies

A couple o' new bog bodies found - bbc.co.uk
The bodies, which are both male and have been dated to more than 2,000 years ago, probably belong to the victims of a ritual sacrifice.
The king is dead. Long live the king.

Flickr:
A couple of nice Cape Town photos to start off, including (argh!) a baboon.


And other excellent cosplay photos by Hayami