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Sherlock

Human evolution: Cultural roots

Jeff Tollefson
Nature.com
Wed, 15 Feb 2012 14:37 UTC
Image
© J. Tollefson
Archaeologist Chris Henshilwood explores a cave on South Africa's Southern Cape. At nearby Blombos cave, Henshilwood has found some of the oldest evidence of symbolic thought by humans.
Metal scrapes on hard sand as archaeologist Chris Henshilwood shaves away the top layer of sediment in Blombos Cave. After just a few moments, the tip of his trowel unearths the humerus of a pint-sized tortoise that walked the Southern Cape of South Africa many millennia ago. Next come shells from local mussels and snails amid blackened soil and bits of charred wood, all remnants of an ancient feast. It was one of many enjoyed by a distinct group of early humans who visited Blombos Cave over the course of thousands of years.

The Still Bay culture was one of the most advanced Middle Stone Age groups in Africa when it emerged some 78,000 years ago in a startlingly early flourishing of the human mind. Henshilwood's excavations at Blombos Cave have revealed distinctive tools, including carefully worked stone points that probably served as knives and spear tips, and bits of rock inscribed with apparently symbolic designs. But evidence of the technology disappears abruptly in sediment about 71,000 years old, along with all proof of human habitation in southern Africa. It would be 7,000 years before a new culture appeared, with a markedly different toolkit, including crescent-shaped blades probably used as arrowheads.
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Sherlock

Nikola Tesla Was Murdered by Otto Skorzeny?

Sir Vojislav Milosevic
Veterans Today
Mon, 13 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Otto Skorzeny's Deathbed Confession
... edited by Sir Vojislav Milosevic, Director, Center for Counter-terrorism & World Peace

Image
© n/a
Nikola Tesla was one of the greatest and most gifted men ever to have walked this Earth.

A huge amount has been written about the prodigal genius of Nikola Tesla and so there may not be a great need to say more here about his life, his brilliance, his vision, and his achievements.

But in brief, Tesla was an extraordinary, intuitive, creative genius who, among a great deal else, invented alternating current (which powers the the modern world) and radio (for which Marconi is often falsely given credit).

Contemporary biographers of Tesla have deemed him "the father of physics", "the man who invented the twentieth century", and "the patron saint of modern electricity".

Much of his life's work was about providing for the world free (i.e. zero-cost) energy, which Tesla envisaged would be broadcast wirelessly through the air or through the Earth itself with no need for powerlines - but despite years of trying, he never obtained the funding to achieve this, one of his dreams.
It has long since been rumored that he invented or developed a significant number of electrical and electronic devices which were decades ahead of their time and would have been of special interest to US military and intelligence circles. Around 300 patents were issued to Tesla in 25 countries, many of them major and far-reaching in concept.
The reality of Tesla's murder was brought home to us after listening to this Youtube presentation.

Comment: While a great deal of the above article is complete and utter nonsense, we find it interesting that it is published on the "Veterans Today" website, perhaps an event worthy of notice.

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Hourglass

UK: Downton's greatest secret - The extraordinary claims about a real life Lord Carnarvon

Christopher Wilson
Daily Mail
Fri, 21 Oct 2011 17:33 UTC
Almina

Birthright riddle: Almina stands at the crib of her son, Henry George, who would go on to become the 6th Earl of Carnarvon. But was the baby the son of an Indian prince, or her husband, the 5th Earl of Carnarvon?
Now here's a Downton Abbey storyline that writer Julian Fellowes would dismiss as too far-fetched: that the steely Earl of Grantham has no right to his title and should be booted out of the Abbey to make way for a distant cousin.

Yet, in real life, this could indeed be the case for the poor unassuming 8th Earl of Carnarvon, whose family history has been plundered for the storyline of the top-rated TV series and whose stately home, Highclere Castle, is used as its backdrop.

For new genealogical evidence points to the uncomfortable fact that Lord Carnarvon's grandfather may well have been the son, not of an English aristocrat, but of an Indian prince.

Furthermore, there's evidence that the family knew about it and covered it up. If this is true, it would mean that the present earl, Eton and Oxford-educated George Carnarvon, has no right to his title, and that the privilege should pass to an unassuming 39-year old Devon teacher, Alan Herbert.

The author of a new biography of 55-year old Lord Carnarvon's great-grandmother has unearthed explosive evidence which could alter the 218-year history of the famous title - and provide Julian Fellowes with some rich source material for the next series of Downton.
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Info

Animal Mummies Discovered at Ancient Egyptian Site

Owen Jarus
Live Science
Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:52 UTC
Mummified Dog
© Image courtesy North Abydos Votive Zone Project
One of the dog skulls, with some of the mummy wrapping still on it.
A wealth of new discoveries, from animal mummies linked to the jackal god and human remains to an enigmatic statue, are revealing the secrets of an ancient holy place in Egypt once known as the "Terrace of the Great God."

The mysterious wooden statue may be a representation of Hatshepsut, a female pharaoh who ruled the land 3,500 years ago, the researchers say. She was typically portrayed as a man in statues, but this one, giving a nod to femininity, had a petite waist.

The discoveries were made during one field season this past summer by a team led by Mary-Ann Pouls Wegner, director of the excavation and a professor at the University of Toronto. The findings offer insight into Abydos, a site that was considered a holy place, Pouls Wegner said at a recent meeting of the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities in Toronto, Canada.
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Magic Wand

Archaeologists Strike Gold in Quest to Find "Queen of Sheba's Wealth"

Dalya Alberge
The Guardian, UK
Sat, 11 Feb 2012 00:00 UTC
Sheba`s gold
© The Tigray Trust
Archaeologist Louise Schofield stands in front of the mine, believed to have belonged to the Queen of Sheba, in northern Ethiopia.
A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba derived her fabled treasures

A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve the mystery of where the Queen of Sheba of biblical legend derived her fabled treasures.

Almost 3,000 years ago, the ruler of Sheba, which spanned modern-day Ethiopia and Yemen, arrived in Jerusalem with vast quantities of gold to give to King Solomon. Now an enormous ancient goldmine, together with the ruins of a temple and the site of a battlefield, have been discovered in her former territory.

Louise Schofield, an archaeologist and former British Museum curator, who headed the excavation on the high Gheralta plateau in northern Ethiopia, said: "One of the things I've always loved about archaeology is the way it can tie up with legends and myths. The fact that we might have the Queen of Sheba's mines is extraordinary."

An initial clue lay in a 20ft stone stele (or slab) carved with a sun and crescent moon, the "calling card of the land of Sheba", Schofield said. "I crawled beneath the stone - wary of a 9ft cobra I was warned lives here - and came face to face with an inscription in Sabaean, the language that the Queen of Sheba would have spoken."

On a mound nearby she found parts of columns and finely carved stone channels from a buried temple that appears to be dedicated to the moon god, the main deity of Sheba, an 8th century BC civilisation that lasted 1,000 years. It revealed a victory in a battle nearby, where Schofield excavated ancient bones.
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Sherlock

Malta: Workmen discover a Muslim cemetery


TimesOfMalta.com
Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:12 UTC
Roadwork excavations in Marsa have revealed the archaeological remains of a Muslim cemetery dating back to 1675, confirming historians' belief of the existence of a Turkish slave cemetery in the area.

The find is being documented and excavated by the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage and an archaeologist specialising in documentation of human remains is closely following the investigation.
Image
© Chris Sant Fournier
The archaeologist pointing to the human remains found at what is believed to be an old Muslim cemetery in Marsa.
The roadworks have been temporarily halted on the relevant sections until the preservation works are complete.

Sections likely to be impacted by ongoing roadworks will be scienti-fically extracted and taken to the superintendence for further testing, analysis and conservation.
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Star of David

Ethnic Cleansing in a Zionist Fairyland

Vacy Vlazna
Palestine Chronicle
Sat, 11 Feb 2012 13:07 UTC
Image
© Press TV
Silwan: Steadfastness are synonymous in the Palestinian soul.
'De-Arabizing the history of Palestine is another crucial element of the ethnic cleansing. 1500 years of Arab and Muslim rule and culture in Palestine are trivialized, evidence of its existence is being destroyed and all this is done to make the absurd connection between the ancient Hebrew civilization and today's Israel. The most glaring example of this today is in Silwan, (Wadi Hilwe) a town adjacent to the Old City of Jerusalem with some 50,000 residents. Israel is expelling families from Silwan and destroying their homes because it claims that king David built a city there some 3000 years ago. Thousands of families will be made homeless so that Israel can build a park to commemorate a king that may or may not have lived 3000 years ago. Not a shred of historical evidence exists that can prove King David ever lived yet Palestinian men, women, children and the elderly along with their schools and mosques, churches and ancient cemeteries and any evidence of their existence must be destroyed and then denied so that Zionist claims to exclusive rights to the land may be substantiated.' -- Miko Peled, Israeli dissident.
Indeed, archaeology has become a state apparatus for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Zionist fairyland aka the City of David Archaeological Park located in the Palestinian village of Silwan in East Jerusalem.

East Jerusalem is the proclaimed capital of the proposed Palestine state. It was illegally annexed by Israel in the 1967 war. Prohibiting annexation of territories gained by military conquest is one of the major principles of international law. The international community does not recognise Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem nevertheless over 50,000 illegal premises have been built for 250,000 illegal Israeli colonists.
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Sherlock

India: Iron Age, Satavahana era remnants found in Andhra Pradesh


IBNLive.com
Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:49 UTC
Image
© Reuters
(Representative image) A series of 20 megalithic burial cairn circles have been reported on a hillock in Madugula village of Mahabubnagar region.
Hyderabad -- A team of archaeologists and historians have discovered remnants of Iron Age and Satavahana era from Mahabubnagar district of Andhra Pradesh, a senior official said today. A series of 20 megalithic burial cairn circles have been reported on a hillock in Madugula village of Mahabubnagar region yesterday, AP Archaeology and Museums Department Director P Chenna Reddy said. "It's an important and first time discovery in Mahabubnagar," he said.

An Archaeology team, headed by E Sivanagi Reddy, officer on special duty, discovered the site. The burials are encircled by 14 to 20 huge boulders, in which, the actual cist burials are topped by a huge capstone that are datable to 1000 BC, Chenna Reddy said. The team, in its explorations, discovered a huge Satavahana site in an extent of 100 acres, littered with bricks, brick bats, red polished ware (pottery of different sizes), shell bangle pieces, iron slogs and stone millers, datable to 1st century BC to 2nd century AD on the north-east corner of the village, he said.
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Sherlock

Turkey: Acropolis of forgotten kingdom uncovered


ANSAmed
Fri, 10 Feb 2012 11:32 UTC
Image
© Encyclopedia Britannica
Istanbul - Numerous archaeological excavations are underway at a huge site in Anatolia which will uncover an ancient and rich yet forgotten kingdom known as Tuwana from the darkness of history, which will be featured in an open-air museum. The news was reported by Lorenzo d'Alfonso, an Italian archaeologist leading the joint mission by the University of Pavia and NYU, who provided details on the excavation campaign in a press conference in Istanbul this month, during which the details of the Italian archaeological missions in Turkey were explained. This "new discovery" from the pre-classical age which "needs to be continued" in southern Cappadocia took place in Kinik Hoyuk, the scholar said, referring to a site mainly involving the beginning of the first millennium BC.

The area is "fully" part of the "forgotten kingdom" of Tuwana, said d'Alfonso, known until now through hieroglyphics and from several sources from the Assyrian Empire, but "never studied archaeologically": "A completely intact site that has been left untouched", trying to "place it historically to understand which civilisation it belonged to and what it's role was in the region". Kinik Hoyuk, the archaeologist said, is "one of the major sites" in terms of size in pre-classical Anatolia, if you leave the capital of the Hittites out: the most conservative estimates say that it spans 24 hectares "but topographers say that it could cover 81 hectares".
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Question

Canada: Scientists Discover an Unusual Stone Circle in British Columbia

Deanna Conners
Earth Sky Org
Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:53 UTC
Although it resembles stone circles made by humans, scientists believe that an unusual ring of stones in British Columbia is a natural feature.

Stone Circle
© Micahel Czajkowski and Andrew Okulitch.
Aerial view of the stone circle.
Scientists investigated an unusual ring of stones that was discovered in the Chilcotin Range of British Columbia and concluded that the stone circle was likely deposited by glacial activity and is not of human origin. The results of their research were published in the December 2011 issue of the Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.

The ring of stones is composed of white colored felsite rocks that are high in silica. The stones are arranged in circle nearly 50 meters (164 feet) in diameter above the tree line along the Chilcotin Range in British Columbia, Canada. The white rocks stand out in stark contrast to the other darker rocks in the region, which are composed of granitoid gneiss and grandodiorite. The circle can be seen easily from the air and by viewing the terrain on Google Earth.

Many stone circles were created by humans during prehistoric times (approximately 3700 BC to 1500 BC). Archeologists believe that these circles were created either for use in religious ceremonies or as an aid in making astronomical observations. Europe contains a high number of stone circles of human origin, but examples of these structures can be found in other regions of the world as well.

Comment: Natural? Yeah, right.

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