Errrr, not that kind. Well. . .kind of. . . . .Affirming a divide: Black Brazilians are much worse off than they should be. But what is the best way to remedy that?
It is a poignant reminder of the scale and duration of the slave trade to Brazil. Of the 10.7m African slaves shipped across the Atlantic between the 16th and 19th centuries, 4.9m landed there. Fewer than 400,000 went to the United States. Brazil was the last country in the Americas to abolish slavery, in 1888.
Brazil has long seemed to want to forget this history. In 1843 Valongo was paved over by a grander dock to welcome a Bourbon princess who came to marry Pedro II, the country’s 19th-century emperor. The stone column rising from the square commemorates the empress, not the slaves. Now the city plans to make Valongo an open-air museum of slavery and the African diaspora. “Our work is to give greater visibility to the black community and its ancestors,” says Ms Andrade Lima.
Study into Jersey Neanderthal mammoth hunters
Archaeologists are investigating the truth behind the story that Ice Age Neanderthals in Jersey would push mammoths off cliffs in St Brelade for food.
About 30 years ago, evidence suggested early residents of what is today the island of Jersey chased the giant mammals off the cliffs at La Cotte above Ouaisne.
Dr Geoff Smith, an analyst for Jersey Archive, said: “It was in the 70s and 80s that the hypothesis was put forward that Neanderthals were grouping together to drive herds of woolly mammoth and woolly rhinos off the cliffs and butchering them.”
I guess in the absence of a true ‘buffalo jump’ type of bone bed you’d have to. . .well. . . .I wonder if you could look at breakage patterns that would suggest a fall? I’m not seeing how the health of the animals would indicate driving them off a cliff though, you could still kill a healthy critter although they usually go after old/sick ones.
The Pitch Drop Experiment
he first Professor of Physics at the University of Queensland, Professor Thomas Parnell, began an experiment in 1927 to illustrate that everyday materials can exhibit quite surprising properties. The experiment demonstrates the fluidity and high viscosity of pitch, a derivative of tar once used for waterproofing boats. At room temperature pitch feels solid – even brittle – and can easily be shattered with a blow from a hammer. It’s quite amazing then, to see that pitch at room temperature is actually fluid!
In 1927 Professor Parnell heated a sample of pitch and poured it into a glass funnel with a sealed stem. Three years were allowed for the pitch to settle, and in 1930 the sealed stem was cut. From that date on the pitch has slowly dripped out of the funnel – so slowly that now, 80 years later, the ninth drop is only just forming.
And. . . .A WEB CAM OF THE JAR AND BEAKER IS AT THE LINK.
Skeletons found in Dorset mass grave ‘were mercenaries’
A mass grave in Dorset containing 54 decapitated skeletons was a burial ground for violent Viking mercenaries, according to a Cambridge archaeologist.
The burial site at Ridgeway Hill was discovered in 2009.
Archaeologists found the bodies of 54 men who had all been decapitated and placed in shallow graves with their heads piled up to one side.
Carbon dating and isotype tests revealed the bodies were Scandinavian and dated from the 11th Century.
It’s a Roman winged structure! Roman ‘winged’ structure puzzles archaeologists
A “winged” structure is puzzling archaeologists in Norfolk, England.
It is believed to have been built around 1,800 years ago and may have been used as a temple. There are no other known examples of the winged shape of the building – it appears to be unique in the Roman Empire.
“Generally speaking, [during] the Roman Empire people built within a fixed repertoire of architectural forms,” said William Bowden, a professor at the University of Nottingham, who reported the find in the most recent edition of the Journal of Roman Archaeology.
No picture though. Or else, I can’t make it out in the photo there. (See one here)
Read the story it’s got an annoying ad with sound.
7,500-Year-Old Fishing Seines and Traps Discovered in Russia
According to the CSIC, the newly discovered seines and traps display a great technical complexity and are among the oldest fishing equipment ever found in Europe.
“Until now, it was thought that the Mesolithic groups had seasonal as opposed to permanent settlements. According to the results obtained during the excavations, in both Mesolithic and Neolithic periods, the human group that lived in the Dubna river basin, near Moscow, carried out productive activities during the entire year,” said Dr. Ignacio Clemente, a researcher at the CSIC.
Archaeologists discover buried chicken at historic home
“One of the most surprising finds was a chicken,” said Crockett. “This was a fully-articulated chicken that was intentionally buried.”
Crockett didn’t expect to find a pet chicken beneath what was a turn-of-the-century fast food stop.
“Primarily serving chicken, evidence of some porks, locally produced beers and soda pops,” said Crockett.
Pretty neat, they’re assuming it’s a pet. Video at the link which is mostly repeating the text but shows some of the artifacts and the location, especially the gun which is cool.
Well, sorta. I watched some of Kylie Minogue’s Aphrodite Les Folies on Palladium last night and noticed much of the Greco-Roman themes (errr, well, among other things. . . .) in at least the first part of the show. Started out with a bunch of hoplite dancers, followed by what seemed to be vestal virgin dancers (Roman rather than Greek, although one would assume the Greeks had something similar), followed then by Kylie mounting a chariot for a trip around the semi-circular stage that may have represented Helios on his daily chariot ride across the sky as the sun — a couple of fan-bearers followed her, one of which was so large and red I assumed it was supposed to represent the sun. Eh, maybe. And, of course, it starts off with Minogue emerging from the top of the stage on a large shell, memorializing Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus.
Can’t say much about the show/concert itself, though I would say unless you’re completely sickened by diva-pop music it’s worth catching. She puts on a good show and has a pleasant voice and is less trampy than some of the divas out there these days. She never made much of a splash in the US, though apparently she’s really big in Oz and maybe Europe. Mostly I noticed her because I love love love her Can’t Get You Out of My Head and one or two others.
Archaeologists dig spot where hoard was found
ARCHAEOLOGISTS have examined the secret Furness site where a hoard of silver Viking booty was unearthed by a metal detectorist.
In Easter last year a local enthusiast discovered 92 pieces, made up of a number of very rare silver coins and assorted artifacts.
The hoard, dated to around 955, was officially declared treasure in September.
It has been described as “the missing link” by experts, who say it is the long-awaited evidence of a material culture of the 9th and 10th Century Vikings who settled in the Furness peninsula.
