RECENTLY ARCHAEOLOGISTS have come to recognise that the way we see the past is to a large extent influenced by our present conceptions, particularly our present conception of time. They have therefore come to see the value of looking at the past through different time lenses.
I proposed to examine the entire archaeological record through a time lens derived from the ancient Sanskrit writings of India, especially the Puranas, or histories. The writings contradict the dominant view that anatomically modern humans arose between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago from more ape-like ancestors.
Earth Changes
Spanish researchers on Friday said they had unearthed a human tooth more than one million years old, which they estimated to be the oldest human fossil remain ever discovered in western Europe.
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Thousands of Argentines cheered in the streets of Buenos Aires on Monday as the capital saw a rare snowfall, the first of its kind since 1918.
Wet snow fell for hours in the Argentine capital without accumulating on Monday, after freezing air from Antarctica collided with a moisture-laden low pressure system that blanketed higher elevations in western and central Argentina with snow.
Argentina's National Weather Service said it was the first major snow in Buenos Aires since June 22, 1918, though sleet or freezing rain have been periodically reported in decades since.
The snow followed a bitter cold snap in late May that saw subfreezing temperatures, the coldest in 40 years in Buenos Aires. That cold wave contributed to an energy crisis and 23 deaths from exposure.
Two more exposure deaths were reported on Monday.
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Indonesian authorities have raised the status of Mt. Gamkonora in eastern Indonesia to top alert since Monday after it spewed ash and smoke, while thousands of people living on its slope have been evacuated, the Center of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation said Tuesday.
MIAMI -- When people began dumping used tires in the ocean 40 years ago to create artificial reefs, they gave little thought to the potential environmental cost, or to how difficult it would be to pick them up.
Much of the US is dealing with some oppressive heat. And for some parts of the country extreme heat isn't something people are used to.
Forget about the three H's: hazy, hot, and humid fails to sum up the sizzling, sweltering, steamy summer across much of the country. The scorching heat that gripped the western end of the country for the past week is now blanketing the east as well.
Forget about the three H's: hazy, hot, and humid fails to sum up the sizzling, sweltering, steamy summer across much of the country. The scorching heat that gripped the western end of the country for the past week is now blanketing the east as well.
One hard rainfall won't even come close to solving the unprecedented drought withering much of Florida.
Lake Okeechobee, the heart of the Everglades and a backup drinking water source for millions of South Florida residents, has been hitting a record low almost weekly. Its main artery, the Kissimmee River starting near Orlando, hasn't flowed south in more than 240 days, depriving the lake of 50 percent of its water.
Water managers say the Kissimmee River basin needs about 5 feet of rain - just to catch up.
Lake Okeechobee, the heart of the Everglades and a backup drinking water source for millions of South Florida residents, has been hitting a record low almost weekly. Its main artery, the Kissimmee River starting near Orlando, hasn't flowed south in more than 240 days, depriving the lake of 50 percent of its water.
Water managers say the Kissimmee River basin needs about 5 feet of rain - just to catch up.
MIAMI - The director of the National Hurricane Center went on leave Monday, government officials said, four days after many of the center's employees called for his removal because of his comments about an aging weather satellite.
Overnight rain and cooler temperatures slowed a South Dakota wildfire, as other fires blackened the landscape in California, Utah, Nevada, Washington, Colorado, Montana and Oregon.
Many of the fires were started by lightning and fueled by dry conditions, made worse by a heat wave that sizzled across the western United States last week.
The South Dakota fire had raced out of a canyon, destroyed 27 houses and killed a homeowner who went back to try to save his belongings, a top fire official said early Monday.
The change in weather gave firefighters a chance to shore up their fire lines, though conditions could shift again for the worse, state wildland fire coordinator Joe Lowe told crews at a morning briefing held in light rain.
"This fire is not over yet," he cautioned. "This fire could come back to life again."
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| ©noaa |
Many of the fires were started by lightning and fueled by dry conditions, made worse by a heat wave that sizzled across the western United States last week.
The South Dakota fire had raced out of a canyon, destroyed 27 houses and killed a homeowner who went back to try to save his belongings, a top fire official said early Monday.
The change in weather gave firefighters a chance to shore up their fire lines, though conditions could shift again for the worse, state wildland fire coordinator Joe Lowe told crews at a morning briefing held in light rain.
"This fire is not over yet," he cautioned. "This fire could come back to life again."
A giant sinkhole swallowed a stretch of street on Mexico City's east side, with one man feared dead and 30 families evacuated, authorities said Monday.
Even in a city where historic buildings regularly lean, crack, collapse or sink below sidewalk level due to excessive water extraction and unstable soil, the 45-foot-deep sinkhole - which measures about 15 yards in diameter - came as a shock.
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| ©AP |
| Rescue workers stand by a 45 foot deep sinkhole that swallowed a stretch of street in Mexico City on Sunday. It began as a giant crack late Saturday in the eastern Iztapalapa borough and rapidly worsened when the ground collapsed, swallowing a car, the facade of a one-story brick building and pavement. One man is feared dead. |
Even in a city where historic buildings regularly lean, crack, collapse or sink below sidewalk level due to excessive water extraction and unstable soil, the 45-foot-deep sinkhole - which measures about 15 yards in diameter - came as a shock.
