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Stone Age Women Endured Regular Violence

Tia Ghose
Discovery.com
Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:55 UTC
anthropology skulls
© David Hunt, North Carolina State University
Skulls from a forensic anthropology lab.
Stone Age farmers lived through routine violence, and women weren't spared from its toll, a new study finds.

The analysis discovered that up to 1 in 6 skulls exhumed in Scandinavia from the late Stone Age -- between about 6,000 and 3,700 years ago -- had nasty head injuries. And contrary to findings from mass grave sites of the period, women were equally likely to be victims of deadly blows, according to the study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Ancient pastoralists

Linda Fibiger, an archaeologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and her colleagues focused on the late Stone Age, when European hunter-gatherers had transitioned into farming or herding animals.
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Question

They might be giants! 18ft. tall giant human skeleton found by oil prospector J. Mckinney in Texas!

Kristan T. Harris
SouthMilwaukeeNow
Wed, 13 Feb 2013 19:52 UTC
I am doing research on historic finds across America. Any articles and shared research would be much appreciated as I put together evidence of giant races. Contact me here. Also, If anyone has any personal writings or information on Doctor. P. R Hoy, from Racine, Wisconsin I would be interested in talking to you as well.

My last article to bring awareness of the giant phenomenon has received much attention and my inbox seemed to be full of stories like this one. One contact that reached out to me was Jim Vieira researcher and writer for Ancient American Magazine. We had a discussion about Stone builders, Mound builders and the Giants of Ancient America. Discoveries like this one found in the local Texas newspaper archives. The thought that a race of 18 ft. tall giants would bring some answers to unexplained architecture and legends. Giants appear all throughout history and multiple cultures. I wonder how much a group of these giants could lift? How fast could they row? What else is real?

First let's look at some popular giant characteristics that do not show up on human individuals. These usually are their size, six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. This is even mentioned in the Bible 1st Chronicles 20:6. In Amos 2:9, Amos describes them "as tall as cedars", which in most cases is taken as figurative and not literal.
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Pharoah

King Tut's parents were cousins, not siblings: Researcher

Megan Gannon
LiveScience
Wed, 13 Feb 2013 14:20 UTC
King Tut
© Egyptian Museum
The discovery of jars of wine in King Tuts tomb prompted a team of Spanish scientists to try and determine if the boy king preferred red or white wine. An analysis of residues in 2005 revealed that the jars contained syringic acid, which implied that the wine was made with red grapes.
For all the popularity Tutankhamun enjoys today, key details about the ancient Egyptian pharaoh's life, such as his parentage, have remained somewhat mysterious. While Akhenaten was known to be Tut's dad, the identity of the boy king's mother has remained elusive. But at least one archaeologist believes she was Nefertiti.

Recent DNA analyses from the mummies of Tut and his kin revealed that the boy king's parents were siblings. Those results, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in February 2010, pointed to the "heretic" king Akhenaten and one of his sisters as the mom and dad of Tut.

But researcher Marc Gabolde said in a talk at Harvard University last week that he believes King Tut's mom was Akhenaten's cousin Nefertiti, who was Akhenaten's chief wife and the mother of six of his daughters.
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Info

Resigning pope brings doomsday prophecy

Rossella Lorenzi
Discovery News
Wed, 13 Feb 2013 11:12 UTC
Ancient Document
© Wikimedia Commons
A detail of the Prophetia S. Malachiae Archiepiscopi, de Summis Pontificibus by Arnold Wyon.
Is the world only a Pope away from the End? Yes, if you believe a chilling 12th-century prophecy.

Attributed to St. Malachy, an Irish archbishop canonized in 1190, the Prophecy of the Popes would date to 1139. The document predicted that there would be only 112 more popes before the Last Judgment - and Benedict XVI is 111.

The list of popes originated from a vision Malachy said he received from God when he was in Rome, reporting on his diocese to Pope Innocent II.

The story goes that St. Malachy gave the apocalyptic list to Innocent II and that the document remained unknown in the Vatican Archives some 440 years after Malachy's death in 1148. It was rediscovered and published by Benedictine Arnold de Wyon in 1590.

The prophecy consists of brief, cryptic phrases in Latin about each Pope. It ends with the 112th pope, named "Petrus Romanus" or "Peter the Roman."

According to the premonition, Peter the Roman would "feed his flock amid many tribulations, after which the City of the Seven Hills shall be utterly destroyed, and the awful Judge will judge the people."

Often highly enigmatic, several prophetical announcements in the document appear to have come true.
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Info

Peru archaeologists find ancient temple in El Paraiso


BBC news
Tue, 12 Feb 2013 21:44 UTC
Ancient Peruvian Temple
© Peruvian Ministry of Culture
The temple was discovered in one of the wings of the main pyramid at the ancient site of El Paraiso.
Archaeologists in Peru say they have discovered a temple at the ancient site of El Paraiso, near the capital, Lima.

Entry to the rectangular structure, estimated to be up to 5,000 years old, was via a narrow passageway, they say.

At its centre, the archaeologists from Peru's Ministry of Culture found a hearth which they believe was used to burn ceremonial offerings.

With 10 ruins, El Paraiso is one of the biggest archaeological sites in central Peru.

The archaeologists found the structure, measuring 6.82m by 8.04m (22ft by 26ft), in the right wing of the main pyramid.
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Info

Battered skulls reveal violence among Stone Age women

Tia Ghose
LiveScience
Tue, 12 Feb 2013 12:31 UTC
Stone Age Skulls
© David Hunt, North Carolina State University
Skulls from a forensic anthropology lab.

Stone Age farmers lived through routine violence, and women weren't spared from its toll, a new study finds.

The analysis discovered that up to 1 in 6 skulls exhumed in Scandinavia from the late Stone Age - between about 6,000 and 3,700 years ago - had nasty head injuries. And contrary to findings from mass gravesites of the period, women were equally likely to be victims of deadly blows, according to the study published in the February issue of the American Journal of Physical Anthropology.

Ancient pastoralists

Linda Fibiger, an archaeologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and her colleagues focused on the late Stone Age, when European hunter-gatherers had transitioned into farming or herding animals.

Mass graves unearthed from that time in Talheim and Eulau, Germany, contained mostly males who had died in violent conflicts. As such, researchers had thought women were spared from conflicts due to their potential childbearing value, Fibiger told LiveScience.

But looking only at the aftermath of big, bloody conflicts can obscure the day-to-day realities of Neolithic farmers.

"It would be like only looking at a war zone to assess violence," Fibiger said. "That's not going to tell you what's going on in your neighborhood."
      Read More...
Info

Ancient foragers and farmers hit it off

Michael Balter
Science Now
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:40 UTC
Hunter Gatherers
© (Illustration, Left) Mauro Cutrona; (Top Right) National Museum in Belgrade; (Bottom Right) Dušan Borić
Cultural exchanges? Hunter-gatherers along the Danube River, such as those depicted in this artist's reconstruction, maintained their own traditions but also adopted those of incoming farmers. Thus, this hunter-gatherer burial included both beads typical of foragers and those associated with farmers (such as those used to make the necklace, upper right.)
Perhaps there was peace in the valley, after all. Thousands of years ago, foragers and early farmers in the Balkans lived in peaceful coexistence, according to a new study of skeletal remains. But this cozy picture, which includes cultural exchange and also apparently intermating, may not apply to the spread of farming everywhere, other researchers caution.

The transition from hunting and gathering to farming was one of the most momentous upheavals in human prehistory. That transition marks the beginning of the Neolithic period, which started nearly 11,000 years ago, when people of the Near East domesticated plants and animals and settled down in sedentary communities with permanent houses. In Europe, meanwhile, roving foragers of so-called Mesolithic cultures continued to hunt, fish, and gather wild plants. The Neolithic apparently first spread from Anatolia (modern-day Turkey) to Greece and the Balkan region sometime after 8500 years ago. Researchers have long debated what happened when foragers and farmers came face to face. Did they make war, make peace, or simply ignore each other?
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Hiliter

'Largest' Scottish ancient artworks revealed


Scotsman.com
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 12:55 UTC
Scottish rock art
© Hermedia
One of the 28 cup marked stones found on Swordale Hill, Evanton, some of which measure 10ft across.

A retired silversmith has ­uncovered the largest collection of ancient rock art ever found in the Highlands on a remote hill overlooking the Cromarty Firth.

The carved rocks - some ­almost 10ft across - have been discovered scattered across a hillside near Evanton, in ­Ross-shire.

Douglas Scott, the amateur archaeologist who has recorded the remarkable find, believes the "cup-marked" rocks - dating from up to 5,000 years ago to the Neolithic or Bronze Age - form part of a "ritual centre of some significance" where ancient people worshipped the sun and performed rites connected to the ­underworld.

Mr Scott, 64, from Tain, has found and recorded a total of 28 carved rocks on Swordale Hill - Druim Mor in Gaelic - and lodged his remarkable discovery with the Highland Historic Environment Record and the Royal Commission on Ancient ­Monuments.
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Sherlock

35,500-year-old stone ax found in Australia


Discovery News
Mon, 11 Feb 2013 09:00 UTC
Image
© Monash University/Bruno David
The pieces of ground-edge stone axe was found in west Arnhem Land.
A 35,500-year-old stone ax found on Aboriginal land in Australia may the oldest tool of its kind ever found.

A shard of stone estimated to be 35,500 years old is a fragment of what could be the world's oldest ax.

Aboriginal Jawoyn people from Arnhem Land could have been the first to grind axes to sharpen their edges.

Archaeologist previously believed that ground-edge axes first emerged in Europe 20,000-30,000 years ago.

Archaeologists revealed they have found a piece of a stone ax dated as 35,500 years old on sacred Aboriginal land in Australia, the oldest object of its type ever found.

The shard of stone, found in Australia's lush and remote far northern reaches in May, has marks that prove it comes from a ground-edge stone ax, Monash University's Bruno David said on Friday.
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Info

The rock-cut cave temples of Badami, India

Deborah Byrd
EarthSky Org
Sun, 10 Feb 2013 11:31 UTC
Karnataka
© Google Map
The red A indicates the location of Badami, India, famous for its sandstone cave temples.
Dr. S.N. Prasad of Mysore, India was kind enough to let us post some of his images from a recent trip to the Badami cave temples. Located in Karnataka, India, they're an example of Indian rock-cut architecture. In other words, they are structures or statues, carved from solid natural rock.

When you see the photos below, you'll be amazed at this practice, especially when you think about how old they are. They date from the late 6th to 7th centuries.

The town of Badami, India lies at the mouth of a ravine with rocky hills on either side. The cave temples are carved out of the soft sandstone of these hill cliffs.

At the cave entrance is a verandah (mukha mandapa) with stone columns. It leads to a columned main hall (maha mandapa) and then to a small square shrine cut deep into the cave.
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