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Egyptians wanted their words to stick

Study finds the technical link to the Renaissance painters.

In the 15th century Europe, artists began adding lead to their paints to help them dry. Now scientists have discovered that the Egyptians were likely doing something similar with their inks at least as early as 100 to 200 CE.

The finding, published in the journal PNAS, not only throws new light on how writing practices developed in Egypt and around the Mediterranean, it could help with the conservation of many famous manuscripts.

In this study, the focus was on a dozen papyrus fragments from the only large-scale institutional library known to have survived from ancient Egypt: the Tebtunis temple library.

And the team of chemists, physicists and Egyptologists called in the big guns, using the advanced X-ray microscopy equipment at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble to examine them.

The work was led by the ESRF and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark.

They combined several synchrotron techniques to probe the chemical composition from the millimetre to the sub-micrometre scale to provide information not only on the elemental but also on the molecular and structural composition of the inks.

They concluded that the lead was used as a dryer because they did not find any other type of lead, such as lead white or minimum, which should be present if the lead was used as a pigment.

This also suggests that the ink had quite a complex recipe and “could not be made by just anyone”, says Egyptologist Thomas Christiansen from the University of Copenhagen, co-corresponding author of a paper in.

“Judging from the amount of raw materials needed to supply a temple library as the one in Tebtunis, we propose that the priests must have acquired them or overseen their production at specialised workshops much like the Master Painters from the Renaissance,” he says.

The ancient Egyptians have been using inks for writing since at least 3200 BCE, with black used for the primary body of text and red to highlight headings and keywords.

The researchers discovered that red pigment is present as coarse particles, while the lead compounds are diffused into papyrus cells, at the micrometre scale, wrapping the cell walls, and creating, at the letter scale, a coffee-ring effect around the iron particles, as if the letters were outlined.

“We think that lead must have been present in a finely ground and maybe in a soluble state and that when applied, big particles stayed in place, whilst the smaller ones diffused around them”, says co-corresponding author Marine Cotte, from the ESRF.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/civillisations/egyptians-wanted-their-words-to-stick/

 

 

[CaaC (John)]

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Two-million-year-old skull of human 'cousin' unearthed

Australian researchers say the discovery of a two-million-year-old skull in South Africa throws more light on human evolution.

The skull was a male Paranthropus robustus, a "cousin species" to Homo erectus - a species thought to be direct ancestors of modern humans.

The two species lived around the same time, but Paranthropus robustus died out earlier.

The research team described the find as exciting.

"Most of the fossil record is just a single tooth here and there so to have something like this is very rare, very lucky," Dr Angeline Leece told the BBC.

The researchers, from Melbourne's La Trobe University, found the skull's fragments in 2018 at the Drimolen archaeological site north of Johannesburg.

It was uncovered just metres away from a spot where a similarly aged Homo erectus skull of a child was discovered in 2015.

Archaeologists then spent the past few years piecing together and analysing the fossil. Their findings were published in the Nature, Ecology and Evolution journal on Tuesday.

Co-researcher Jesse Martin told the BBC that handling the fossil pieces was like working with "wet cardboard", adding he had used plastic straws to suck the last traces of dirt off them.

'Competing species'

It is thought that three hominins (human-like creatures) species lived in South Africa at the same time in competition with each other.

As such the skull discovery presented a rare example of "microevolution" within human lineage, Mr Martin said.

Paranthropus robustus had large teeth and small brains, differing from Homo erectus which had large brains and small teeth. It is believed the former's diet involved eating mainly tough plants, like tubers and bark.

"Through time, Paranthropus robustus likely evolved to generate and withstand higher forces produced during biting and chewing food that was hard or mechanically challenging to process with their jaws and teeth," said Dr Leece.

The scientists said it was possible that a wetter environment caused by climate change may have reduced the food available to them.

Meanwhile, Homo erectus, with their smaller teeth, was more likely to have eaten both plants and meat.

"These two vastly different species... represent divergent evolutionary experiments," Dr Leece said.

"While we were the lineage that won out in the end, two million years ago the fossil record suggests that Paranthropus robustus was much more common than Homo erectus on the landscape."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-australia-54882214

 

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Bonnie Prince Charlie's Culloden battle hoard found

Musket balls believed to have been part of a stashed supply of weapons for Bonnie Prince Charlie have been found near a ruined Lochaber croft.

Amateur archaeologists made the discovery while trying to find armaments that arrived from France, but too late to help the prince.

They were sent as part of his doomed attempt to defeat government forces as part of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion.

The hoard included 215 musket balls, coins and gilt buttons.

The arms shipment is thought to have landed in Lochaber two weeks after Bonnie Prince Charlie's forces were defeated at Culloden.

• Unesco status 'would better protect' Culloden

Fought near Inverness in April 1746, the battle resulted in the deaths of 1,500 Jacobites - who were fighting to restore the prince's father to the thrones of England and Scotland - at the hands of the Duke of Cumberland's government army.

France, which supported the Jacobite cause, sent the weapons and gold to the prince in Scotland.

The discovery was made by a group called Conflicts of Interest, who were given permission to use metal detectors in the area.

They found the musket balls and coins near a ruined croft house which once belonged to the prince's Gaelic tutor - at Sandaig on the shores of the sea loch, Loch nan Uamh.

The find has now been reported to Treasure Trove, an organisation with responsibility for protecting archaeological finds of national significance.

Paul Macdonald, of Conflicts of Interest, told BBC Naidheachdan: "The find was made by joining the dots.

"We knew there were arms landed in the area and it then became a matter of narrowing down where they might be."

He said the balls were of a size matching the calibre of muskets sent to the Jacobites.

Mr Macdonald said the balls along with other supplies may have been distributed locally and then hidden.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-54904272

 

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https://youtu.be/ZvxAaBCc3Ac

Egypt: More than 100 intact sarcophagi unearthed near Cairo

More than 100 intact sarcophagi have been unearthed near Cairo, dating back more than 2,500 years.

This latest find comes just over a month after archaeologists in the area found 59 other well-preserved and sealed wooden coffins.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-middle-east-54947258

 

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Volcano link to the end of Triassic extinction

Researchers analyse molecular and isotopic evidence.

An Australian-led team of scientists has shed new light on the timing of one of the most catastrophic mass extinctions in history, which set the stage for dinosaurs to dominate Earth.

Two hundred million years ago, the Triassic period was brought to a devastating end by extensive volcanic eruptions from the Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP), which formed as Pangea broke apart. As carbon dioxide spewed into the atmosphere, the Earth’s carbon cycle was disrupted, and the oceans became acidified.

Delicate marine ecosystems collapsed, and a sweep of prehistoric creatures such as conodonts and phytosaurs went extinct – though somehow, plants, dinosaurs, pterosaurs and mammals scraped through. This new world allowed dinosaurs to expand their ecological niche and reign supreme for the next 135 million years.

Evidence for this end-Triassic extinction event comes from two major compositional shifts observed in the carbon isotope record 200 million years ago, as extensive volcanism could have released isotopically light methane into the atmosphere.

Now research led by Curtin University suggests the first shift was actually caused by more localised environmental change throughout European basins, and so the mass extinction may have occurred later on.

Their paper, published in the journal PNAS, describes how the team examined the stable isotope conditions of molecular fossils: traces of organic molecules found in the fossil record. These well-preserved “biomarkers” were extracted from rocks in the Bristol Channel in the UK and indicated the presence of microbial mats, which are complex communities of microorganisms.

The Triassic was marked with small carnivorous dinosaurs that walked on two legs. Credit: De Agostini Picture Library / Getty Images

Curtin’s Calum Peter Fox, the paper’s first author, explains: “Through our analysis of the chemical signature of these microbial mats, in addition to seeing sea-level change and water column freshening, we discovered the end-Triassic mass extinction occurred later than previously thought.”

A drop in sea level in European basins – which may have been indirectly driven by volcanic activity on CAMP – caused localised environmental changes. The marine ecosystem became a brackish, shallow-water environment where microbial mats thrived.

These ancient slimy microbes then produced lighter carbon isotopes, complicating the rock record and causing confusion about the timing and location of the end-Triassic extinction.

According to co-author Kliti Grice, also based at Curtin, the first observed isotope changes, therefore, don’t coincide with the global extinction event.

“Instead, the mass extinction stage must have happened a bit later, along with the land plant extinctions, toxic levels of hydrogen sulfide and ocean acidification is driven by massive volcanic activity linked with the opening of the Proto-Atlantic Ocean,” she says.

It is currently unclear exactly how much later the extinction event occurred. Grice says their new interpretation requires further reanalysis of the carbon isotope record, in order to gain a better understanding of the regional versus global effects of the CAMP.

This research may also reshape our understanding of other mass extinction events – particularly those linked to volcanic activity – and could alert us to future potential mass extinctions on modern Earth.

As fossil fuel consumption drives us further into the climate crisis, Grice explains that “it is important to correlate contemporary conditions and dynamics to past periods of major environmental change and threats. Threats can include a decline in biodiversity; ocean acidification; environments with no oxygen; destruction of habitats and degradation; changing nutrient levels and rising and falling sea levels.”

She concludes: “Knowing more about the carbon dioxide levels present during the end-Triassic mass extinction event provides us with important details that could help protect our environment and health of our ecosystems for future generations.”

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/volcano-link-to-end-of-triassic-extinction/

 

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People chose the coast during the big chill

Evidence found of persistent occupation in South Africa.

Excavations at Waterfall Bluff on South Africa’s southeast coast. Credit: Erich Fisher

Excavations on South Africa’s southeast coast have uncovered evidence of persistent human occupations from the end of the last Ice Age 35,000 years ago.

Importantly, the scientists say, this includes the period of the Last Glacial Maximum, which lasted from 26,000 to 19,000 years ago, highlighting the complex transitions that were necessary to survive the wide climate and environmental fluctuations.

Archaeological records from this globally cold and dry time are rare in southern Africa because of widespread movement as people abandoned increasingly inhospitable regions.

However, researchers involved with the Mpondoland Palaeoclimate, Palaeoenvironment, Palaeoecology, and Palaeoanthropology Project (P5) suspected that places with narrow continental shelves may preserve records of glacial coastal occupation and foraging.

Mpondoland (also known as Pondoland) includes a remote and largely unstudied section of South Africa’s “Wild Coast”. Here a part of the continental shelf is only 10 kilometres wide.

“The narrow shelf in Mpondoland was carved when the supercontinent Gondwana broke up and the Indian Ocean opened,” says Hayley Cawthra, from Nelson Mandela University. “When this happened, places with narrow continental shelves restricted how far and how much the coastline would have changed over time.”

Cawley and a multi-disciplinary international team have been excavating a rock shelter site known as Waterfall Bluff for the past five years.

“The work we are doing in Mpondoland is the latest in a long line of international and multidisciplinary research in South Africa revealing fantastic insights into human adaptations that often occurred at or near coastlines,” says Erich Fisher from Arizona State University in the US.

Waterfall Bluff from the ocean. Credit: Erich Fisher

“Yet, until now, no-one had any idea what people were doing at the coast during glacial periods in southern Africa. Our records finally start to fill in these longstanding gaps and reveal a rich, but not exclusive, focus on the sea.

“Interestingly, we think it may have been the centralised location between land and sea and their plant and animal resources that attracted people and supported them amid repeated climatic and environmental variability.”

To date, their evidence – a variety of marine fish and shellfish remains – P5 researchers worked with South Africa’s iThemba LABS and the Centre for Archaeological Science at Australia’s University of Wollongong, developing what they say is one of the highest-resolution chronologies at a southern Africa Late Pleistocene site.

The findings are published in the journal Quaternary Research.

In a companion study, published in Quaternary Science Reviews, palaeobotanists and palaeoclimatologists used different lines of evidence to investigate interactions between prehistoric people’s plant-gathering strategies and climate and environmental changes over the last glacial/interglacial phase.

It was the first multiproxy study in South Africa to combine preserved plant pollen, plant phytoliths, macro botanical remains (charcoal and plant fragments) and plant wax carbon and hydrogen isotopes from the same archaeological archive.

“It is not common to find such good preservation of different botanical remains, both of organic and inorganic origin, in the archaeological record,” says research leader Irene Esteban, from the South Africa’s University of the Witwatersrand.

One of the key findings, the researchers say, is that Mpondoland’s current vegetation types persisted across glacial and interglacial periods, albeit in varying amounts due to changes in sea levels, rainfall and temperature.

The implication is that people living in the area in the past had access to an ever-present and diverse suite of resources that let them survive here when they couldn’t in many other places across Africa.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/people-chose-the-coast-during-the-big-chill/

[CaaC (John)]

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There’s more than one way to grow a beak

Madagascar fossil adds a new twist to bird evolution.

Artist’s reconstruction of the Late Cretaceous enantiornithine bird Falcatakely forsterae. Credit: Mark Witton.

A new fossil discovered on the ever-surprising island of Madagascar suggests ancient Mesozoic bird beaks and faces were more diverse and evolved differently than previously thought, scientists report in the journal Nature.

Long and deep, the beak resembles that of modern crown birds such as toucans. It belongs to a previously unknown species named Falcatakely forsterae, referring to its sickle shape, from the late Cretaceous epoch around 70 to 68 million years ago.

Although it appears quite unremarkable on the surface, the researchers say, a careful reconstruction revealed the bone structure is unlike those of any dinosaur-bird or otherwise. Its facial anatomy bears resemblance to modern birds but its cranium and upper jaw are similar to that of flightless theropods.

The discovery upends what we know about bird evolution, as current species such as toucans and hornbills seem to have independently evolved similarly shaped beaks tens of millions of years later, according to lead author Patrick O’Connor from Ohio University, US.

“Mesozoic birds with such high, long faces are completely unknown,” he adds, “with Falcatakely providing a great opportunity to reconsider ideas around the head and beak evolution in the lineage leading to modern birds.”

More than 11,000 species of birds exist today, with a complex evolutionary history harking back to the dinosaurs – their only branch that survived the last mass extinction. Intriguingly, it was the beaked birds that persisted.

The exquisitely preserved Falcatakely fossil skull – only 8.5 centimetres long – was embedded in rock in the Mahajanga region of Madagascar, the second Cretaceous specimen the team has found there.

They used high-resolution micro-computed tomography and complex digital modelling to dissect individual bones virtually and used 3D printing to reconstruct the skull and compare it with other species.

The formation of modern bird beaks is very precise, mostly by a large bone called the premaxilla, while their dinosaur ancestors have fairly unspecialised noses consisting of a small premaxilla and large maxilla.

One of the new fossil’s surprises was evidence of both features.

“Falcatakely might generally resemble any number of modern birds with the skin and beak in place,” says O’Connor. “There are clearly different developmental ways of organising the facial skeleton that lead to generally similar end goals.”

Illustration of Falcatakely forsterae and friends during the Late Cretaceous in Madagascar. Credit: Mark Witton.

Daniel Field, from the University of Cambridge, highlights the importance of such fossil discoveries for building evolutionary models in a related commentary, noting the “stunning” specimen’s surprisingly unique skull.

“Although the fossil consists of only the front half of a skull, it’s clear that Falcatakely is more than just a pretty face,” he writes. “The skull is utterly bizarre, characterised by a deep and elongated snout unlike those seen in any other Mesozoic birds.”

Field goes on to note a tooth on the snout and an absence of teeth along the skull’s jaws, in direct opposition to the closest Cretaceous relatives of modern birds.

“These features give the skull of Falcatakely an almost comical profile – imagine a creature resembling a tiny, buck-toothed toucan flitting from branch to branch, occasionally glancing down at Madagascar’s formidable Late Cretaceous inhabitants,” he writes, “which included equally bizarre mammals and giant predatory dinosaurs.”

The new species is in good company with other bizarre creatures on the island, such as Simosuchus, a pug-nosed, herbivorous crocodile, Beelzebufo, a giant predatory frog, and the recently discovered “crazy beast” Adalatherium.

“The more we learn about Cretaceous-age animals, plants and ecosystems in what is now Madagascar,” says O’Connor, “the more we see its unique biotic signature extends far back into the past and is not merely reflective of the island ecosystem in recent times.”

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/theres-more-than-one-way-to-grow-a-beak/

 

 

Edited November 26, 2020 by CaaC (John)

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Scans tell three tales of ancient Egypt

Mummified animals revealed in high-tech detail.

The coiled remains of an Egyptian Cobra. Credit: Swansea University

Three mummified animals have been digitally unwrapped and dissected in unprecedented detail, providing, the researchers say, new insights into religion and human-animal relationships in ancient Egypt.

Previous investigations had identified the animals as a snake, a bird and a cat, but little else was known about what lay inside the wrappings.

However, high-resolution 3D scans allowed a team of engineers, archaeologists, biologists and Egyptologists to gather new evidence of how they lived, the conditions they were kept in, and the possible causes of death.

X-ray micro CT scanning can generate images with a resolution 100 times greater than a medical CT scan, revealing even the smallest bones and teeth.

“Using micro CT, we can effectively carry out a post-mortem on these animals, more than 2000 years after they died in ancient Egypt,” says research leader Richard Johnston of Swansea University, UK. The three mummies are from the university’s Egypt Centre.

Used in materials science to image internal structures on the micro-scale, the method involves building a 3D volume (or tomogram) from many individual projections or radiographs. The shape can then be 3D printed or used in virtual reality.

Analysis of images of the teeth and skeleton indicate that the cat was in fact a kitten, less than five months old, and may have had its neck broken at the time of death or during mummification to keep the head in an upright position.

Measurements of the mummified bird of prey suggest it most closely resembled the Eurasian kestrel. It did not appear to have died from injuries to the neck.

The snake was identified as an Egyptian Cobra (Naja haje), and evidence of kidney damage suggests it was deprived of water during its life, developing a form of gout.

Analysis of bone fractures shows it was ultimately killed by a whipping action, prior to possibly undergoing an “opening of the mouth” procedure during mummification.

If true this demonstrates the first evidence for complex ritualistic behaviour applied to a snake, the authors write in a paper in the journal Scientific Reports.

The ancient Egyptians mummified a number of animals, including cats, ibis, hawks, snakes, crocodiles and dogs.

Sometimes these were buried with their owner or as a food supply for the afterlife, but the most common were votive offerings, bought by visitors to temples to offer to the gods as a means of communication.

Animals were bred or captured by keepers, then killed and embalmed by temple priests. It is believed that as many as 70 million animal mummies were created in this way, the researchers say.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/civillisations/scans-reveal-three-tales-of-ancient-egypt/

 

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Rare Pictish stone goes on Covid-safe display

A rare Pictish standing stone is to go on display in the window of a Highlands museum that is temporarily closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The 1,200-year-old carved stone was discovered hidden under vegetation at an early Christian church site near Conon Bridge last year.

It is to go on display at a museum in nearby Dingwall next week.

The stone will be positioned so that it can be seen by passers-by through a window facing the High Street.

Archaeologists described its discovery last year being of national importance because it is one of only about 50 complete Pictish cross-slabs - intricately carved stones - known to exist.

The stone has a large ornate Christian cross and is also decorated with oxen, and an animal-headed warrior and mythical beasts.

It has markings showing it was used as a grave marker in the 1790s.

Archaeologists believe the stone would have originally measured more than two metres (6ft) tall. Just over a metre of it survives.

Anne MacInnes of North of Scotland Archaeological Society found the stone lying on the ground under vegetation last August.

Highland Council archaeologist Kirsty Cameron said at the time it was a "once-in-a-lifetime find".

Ian MacLeod, chairman of Dingwall Museum said: "This special stone will enhance our collection and it will be safeguarded for future generations to see.

"I have been very impressed with everyone who has worked along with the museum team, and special mention must go to the local specialists and tradesmen who gave their time and expertise to complete the installation."

The museum is expected to reopen next year.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-55273935

 

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Great Pyramid: Lost Egyptian artefact found in Aberdeen cigar box

A long-lost Egyptian artefact has been found in a cigar box in Aberdeen - and it is hoped it could shed new light on the Great Pyramid.

The chance discovery was made by a member of staff at the University of Aberdeen during a collection review.

The small fragment of 5,000-year-old wood - which is now in several pieces - is said to be "hugely significant".

The engineer Waynman Dixon originally discovered it among items inside the pyramid's Queen's Chamber in 1872.

The piece of cedar - which it is believed may have been used during the pyramid's construction - was donated to the university in 1946 but then could not be located.

Curatorial assistant Abeer Eladany found it while conducting a review of items housed in the university's Asia collection.

FULL REPORT

 

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Flamboyance in the age of dinosaurs

Dressed to impress, but also to intimidate.

Credit: © Bob Nicholls / Paleocreations.com 2020

Scientists suggest this is the most elaborately dressed-to-impress dinosaur ever described.

Ubirajara jubatus was small, about the size of a chicken, but had a prominent mane of long fur down its back and stiff ribbons projecting from its shoulders – features never been seen in the fossil record.

Its flamboyance was likely used to dazzle mates or intimidate foe, the researchers say, and sheds new light on how birds such as peacocks inherited their ability to show off.

The first non-avian dinosaur described from Brazil’s Crato Formation, a shallow inland sea laid down about 110 million years ago, it is also the first from the ancient supercontinent of Gondwana with preserved skin.

It was actually found among fossils in Germany’s State Museum of Natural History Karlsruhe by a team led by the museum’s Dino Frey and by David Martill and Robert Smyth from the University of Portsmouth in the UK.

Frey excavated it from the two slabs of stone in which it lay and, using x-ray, found previously hidden skeletal elements and soft tissue.

The fossil is likely of a young male. It lived 110 million years ago during the Aptian stage of the Cretaceous period and is closely related to the European Jurassic dinosaur Compsognathus.

Its ribbons are not scales, fur or feathers in the modern sense; rather, they appear to be structured uniquely to this animal.

“These are such extravagant features for such a small animal and not at all what we would predict if we only had the skeleton preserved,” says Smyth. “Why adorn yourself in a way that makes you more obvious to both your prey and to potential predators?

“The truth is that for many animals, evolutionary success is about more than just surviving, you also have to look good if you want to pass your genes on to the next generation.”

The mane is thought to have been controlled by muscles that allowed it to be raised, in a similar way that a dog raises its hackles or a porcupine raises its spines when threatened. It could be lowered when not in a display mode for faster movement.

The long, flat, stiff shoulder ribbons of keratin, each with a small sharp ridge running along the middle, were positioned to not impede freedom of movement in its arms and legs, so wouldn’t have limited the animal’s ability to hunt, preen and send signals.

Smyth argues that the elaborate plumage might have improved its chances of survival.

“Ubirajara is the most primitive known dinosaur to possess integumentary display structures,” he says. “It represents a revolution in dinosaur communication, the effects of which we can still see today in living birds.”

The name comes from a Tupi Indian word for “lord of the spear” and jubatus, from the Latin, meaning maned or crested.

The study is published in the journal Cretaceous Research.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/flamboyance-in-the-age-of-dinosaurs/

 

[CaaC (John)]

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‘Naked and starving’: letters tell how English paupers fought for rights 200 years ago

FRAMES - 1/3

They were destitute, their children were starving and their short, pitiful lives were often marred by heartbreak and suffering. But they knew that, morally, they had rights, and they understood how to make their voices heard.

Now, previously unpublished letters of penniless and disabled paupers living in the early 19th century reveal the sophisticated and powerful rhetoric they used to secure regular welfare payments from parish authorities, despite being barely able to read and write.

The letters, which were sent to the overseer of Kirkby Lonsdale parish between 1809 and 1836, demonstrate how poor families were “masters” at navigating the complexities of the Old English Poor Law and negotiating effectively for long-term financial support.

“It’s the closest you can get to an oral testimony [of these paupers] in the historical record – we think almost all of these letters were written by the people who signed them,” said Steven King, professor of economic and social history at Nottingham Trent University.

In some letters, the paupers write phonetically and in their Cumbrian dialect – exactly as they would speak the words they are writing. “Some of these people talk as if writing inflicts pain. They have to navigate a medium with which they are wholly unfamiliar. They are literally writing from sound,” said King.

Paupers were forced, through sheer desperation, to write such letters when they became destitute after moving away from their home parish. This is because, under the Old Poor Law, those in need were only allowed to ask for financial assistance from the rate-payers of their home parish and not simply the parish they were living in. Often, it was only by writing humbly to the overseer of their original home parish and demonstrating why, morally, they “deserved” his help that impoverished families could get any relief at all.

“The system makes it difficult for them [to get support], just like the modern welfare system makes it difficult for people,” said King. “They have to find a way – and that’s what they do.”

For example, the rhetorics of “nakedness” and “starvation” are deployed with great effectiveness by several different correspondents, such as when one parishioner writes: “The children are all nearly naked and starving.” This would have been seen as immoral and “an affront to dignity”, according to King: an overseer could potentially lose his moral standing in the parish by ignoring such a letter. Another wrote: “I hope you will befriend me at this time or it is up with me on all sides.”

“These people have no legal rights – but they are very adept at asserting moral obligations, particularly if they’re disabled,” said King. “They are not powerless. They may use the supplicatory language every now and again – ‘I’m your humble servant and I’m very sorry for writing’ – but what they mean is: ‘Give me the cash.’”

The letters will be published by the British Academy on Christmas Eve in a new book, Navigating the Old English Poor Law, by King and Dr Peter Jones, a research associate at the University of Leicester. In total, the two academics analysed 599 pieces of correspondence relating to just 20 poor families from Kirkby Lonsdale. This enabled them to understand not only the rhetorical strategies the paupers employed to convincingly negotiate on their own behalf, but also how they often managed to get friends, advocates and doctors to argue their case and emphasise the moral legitimacy of their claim for support.

One man, who got a splinter in one eye while working in a lime kiln and had a cataract in the other, “pulls every moral lever to get as much welfare as he can”, says King. “You see the way in which he uses his own words, official words and the words of advocates to make a case. And, of course, they give in – they pay his rent and give him an allowance because he has a moral case. What can you do if a man is blind? You can’t let him starve to death.”

Jones said the letters have made him consider how moral rights are framed within today’s bureaucratised, nationalised welfare system and pity the benefit assessors who, unlike the parish overseers of the past, have no discretion and little power.

“It’s become more and more difficult now for the agents of welfare – the workers who are on the frontline, dealing with the poor – to treat the people in front of them as moral individuals whose needs must be interpreted and responded to. That’s something we’ve lost.”

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/spotlight/naked-and-starving-letters-tell-how-english-paupers-fought-for-rights-200-years-ago/ar-BB1c4O69?li=AAnZ9Ug

 

Edited December 20, 2020 by CaaC (John)

[Azeem]

A Romanian and Italian climber will be attempting to summit K2 in the winter season this time. No one has done so far

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Ancient mummified wolf cub in Canada 'lived 56,000 years ago'

A wolf cub that was found mummified in northern Canada lived at least 56,000 years ago, scientists say.

Hidden in permafrost for tens of thousands of years, the female cub was discovered by a gold miner near Dawson city in Yukon territory in 2016.

She has since been named Zhur, meaning wolf, by the local Tr'ondek Hwech'in people.

Scientists now say the cub, of which the hide, hair and teeth are intact, is "the most complete wolf mummy known".

"She's basically 100% intact - all that's missing are her eyes," lead author Professor Julie Meachen, a paleontologist and professor of anatomy at Des Moines University in Iowa, told the EurekAlert! science news website.

Using a variety of techniques, the team was able to determine many aspects of the cub's life, from her age and diet to a probable cause of death.

The findings, published in the Current Biology journal on Monday, show the cub and her mother had eaten "aquatic resources", including fish such as salmon.

By comparing data from the wolf's DNA and an analysis of her tooth enamel, they found she was likely to have lived and died between 56,000 and 57,000 years ago.

X-rays of the body, meanwhile, found she was around six to eight weeks old when she died.

The study noted that while ancient wolf fossils are relatively common in the Yukon or neighbouring Alaska, mummies of larger mammals are rare.

"We think she was in her den and died instantaneously by den collapse," Professor Meachen was quoted as saying.

"Our data showed that she didn't starve and was about 7 weeks old when she died, so we feel a bit better knowing the poor little girl didn't suffer for too long"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55409689

 

[CaaC (John)]

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Woolly rhino from Ice Age unearthed in the Russian Arctic

The remarkably preserved carcass of an Ice Age-era woolly rhino has been unearthed by locals in eastern Siberia, researchers have said.

The rhino was revealed by the melting permafrost in the Abyisky region of Yakutia in north-eastern Russia.

With most of its internal organs intact, the rhino is among the best-preserved animals ever found in the region.

Experts will deliver the rhino to a lab for further studies next month.

They are waiting for ice roads to form so they can take the remains to the city of Yakutsk, where scientists will take samples and carry out radiocarbon analyses.

FULL REPORT

 

[CaaC (John)]

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Key to the room where Napoleon died found in Scotland

The key to the room where Napoleon died is to be auctioned after it was found in Scotland.

The French emperor was held as a prisoner of the British on the island of St Helena in the South Atlantic after his defeat at Waterloo.

He died in 1821 and the bedroom key was taken by a British soldier and ended up in a country house outside of Edinburgh.

The Scottish descendants of the soldier have made the key available for sale.

It is being auctioned by Sotheby's and the key, along with the envelope and notes it was found with, are estimated to be worth up to £5,000.

Soldier Charles Richard Fox took the key from St Helena and gave it to his mother, Baroness Holland, a "super fan" of Napoleon.

She already had a collection of items connected to the Corsican-born former French statesman and military leader, including one of his socks.

Scottish descendants of the soldier and the baroness found the key while unpacking an old trunk.

David Macdonald, of Sotheby's, said: "We see things associated with Napoleon all the time, important pictures or furniture from one of his amazing houses or homes.

"But there's something about a key which, particularly as it comes from where he was incarcerated, is quite powerful, especially as it's the key to the room where he died.

"It's something otherworldly. It was as powerful and potent an object then as it is today."

The property at Longwood on St Helena where Napoleon was held was "not a prison cell by any means" and had some comforts, said Mr Macdonald, adding: "He was a respected foe."

He said it was not clear why Fox was on the island, but "he had the opportunity to take the key for himself or more likely, his mother.

"That's why it ended up at this house in Scotland with his descendants."

The key will go under the hammer at Sotheby's in London together with a piece of ageing yellow paper inscribed with Fox's note: "Key of the room at Longwood, in which Napoleon died".

Fox also wrote that he took the key out of the lock himself on 6 September 1822 when he visited following Napoleon's death.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-55618318

 

[Cicero]

Looking forward to that Napoleon film with Joaquin Phoenix when ever it airs. 

[CaaC (John)]

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Indonesia: Archaeologists find world's oldest animal cave painting

Archaeologists have discovered the world's oldest known animal cave painting in Indonesia - a wild pig - believed to be drawn 45,500 years ago.

Painted using dark red ochre pigment, the life-sized picture of the Sulawesi warty pig appears to be part of a narrative scene.

The picture was found in the Leang Tedongnge cave in a remote valley on the island of Sulawesi.

It provides the earliest evidence of human settlement of the region.

"The people who made it were fully modern, they were just like us, they had all of the capacity and the tools to do any painting that they liked," said Maxime Aubert, the co-author of the report published in Science Advances journal.

A dating specialist, Aubert had identified a calcite deposit that had formed on top of the painting and used Uranium-series isotope dating to determine that the deposit was 45,500 years old.

This makes the artwork at least that old. "But it could be much older because the dating that we're using only dates the calcite on top of it," he added.

The report says that the painting, which measures 136cm by 54cm (53in by 21in), depicts a pig with horn-like facial warts characteristic of adult males of the species.

There are two handprints above the back of the pig, which also appears to be facing two other pigs that are only partially preserved.

Co-author Adam Brumm said: "The pig appears to be observing a fight or social interaction between two other warty pigs."

To make the handprints, the artists would have had to place their hands on a surface before spitting pigment over it, the researchers said. The team hopes to try and extract DNA samples from the residual saliva as well.

The painting maybe the world's oldest art depicting a figure, but it is not the oldest manmade art.

In South Africa, a hashtag-like doodle created 73,000 years ago is believed to be the oldest known drawing.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-55657257

 

[Azeem]

On 22/12/2020 at 11:01, McAzeem said:

A Romanian and Italian climber will be attempting to summit K2 in the winter season this time. No one has done so far

Update an expedition from Nepal has successfully climbed the summit in the winter season for the first time

[CaaC (John)]

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Old dinosaur, new saxophone snout

Only the second skull found adds new detail to duckbill dinosaur.

In the arid badlands of New Mexico, palaeontologists have uncovered the first new skull of the rare dinosaur Parasaurolophus in nearly a century.

Familiar to every dinosaur-obsessed kid, Parasaurolophus sports a bizarre and elaborate crest growing from its skull, forming a hollow tube at its largest point.

“Imagine your nose growing up your face, three feet behind your head, then turning around to attach above your eyes,” explains Terry Gates, a palaeontologist from North Carolina State University in the US and lead author of the new paper, published in the journal PeerJ.

“Parasaurolophus breathed through eight feet of the pipe before oxygen ever reached its head.”

Three species of Parasaurolophus are currently recognised, with specimens found in New Mexico, Utah, and Alberta in Canada. They all date back to the Late Cretaceous Period, around 75 million years ago. 

The new, exquisitely preserved skull is from Parasaurolophus cyrtocristatus, a species known from a single specimen found in the same area of New Mexico 97 years ago, in 1923.

This skull was discovered in 2017 on the lands of the Diné (Navajo Nation) and Puebloan peoples. Initially, only a small sliver of the skull was visible on a steep sandstone slope, so the team were surprised to then chisel out a partial skull, including an intact crest with remarkable detail – providing answers about its structure after decades of paleontological disagreement. 

“Over the past 100 years, ideas for the purpose of the exaggerated tube crest have ranged from snorkels to super sniffers,” notes co-author David Evans from the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. “But after decades of study, we now think these crests functioned primarily as sound resonators and visual displays used to communicate within their own species.”

The characteristics of this new skull also suggest that the two southern species of Parasaurolophus – with specimens found in New Mexico and Utah – are more closely related to each other than to their northern cousin in Alberta.

According to Joe Sertich, curator of dinosaurs at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science and leader of the dig team, the skull shows that this crest is formed much like the crests of other related duckbill dinosaurs.

“This specimen is a wonderful example of amazing creatures evolving from a single ancestor,” he says.

While the badlands of New Mexico are today a dry, sparsely vegetated place, 75 million years ago they would have been a lush subtropical floodplain. At this time, North America was divided by a shallow sea into two landmasses. Mountain-building episodes on the western side helped preserve the diverse ecosystems of dinosaurs in some of the best-preserved and most continuous fossils on the planet. They show that Parasaurolophus shared the continent with many species of dinosaurs sporting duckbills or horns, as well as early tyrannosaurs, alligators and turtles.

The fossil was found on Bureau of Land Management Wilderness lands, which, says Sertich, “reinforces the importance of protecting our public lands for scientific discoveries”.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/hey-good-looking/

 

 

[CaaC (John)]

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Medical first: Elizabeth Blackwell

Meet the 19th-century woman who broke down a critical barrier.

Credit: Bettmann / Contributor

We’re just a few days away from the 200^th anniversary of Elizabeth Blackwell’s birth: she was born in Bristol, England, on 3 February 1821 – early in the reign of King George IV and a few months before Napoleon Bonaparte died. During her lifetime she changed the practice of medicine in the Western world.

In January 1849, she became the first woman to be awarded a medical degree in the United States. A decade later she became the first woman to have her name entered into the British General Medical Council’s medical register, which was formed under the 1858 Medical Act “to take charge of registration and medical education across the UK”.

Blackwell’s father, Samuel, owned a sugar-refining business in Bristol, but in 1832 his main mill was destroyed by fire and he moved the family to the United States, living first in New York before eventually settling in Ohio.

“A short biography of Elizabeth Blackwell”, published by the University of Bristol’s Elizabeth Blackwell Institute for Health Research, says the source of Blackwell’s determination to become a physician came to her “when a family friend became terminally ill and claimed she would have received more considerate treatment from a female doctor”.

Prevented from attending medical school because of her gender, Blackwell sought out doctors who were willing to tutor her, including anatomical studies in the private school of “Dr Allen”. In her 1895 autobiography, Pioneer Work in Opening the Medical Profession to Women, she says Dr Allen “enabled me to overcome the natural repulsion to these studies generally felt at the outset”, and that he gave her, “as my first lesson in practical anatomy, a demonstration of the human wrist”. 

“The beauty of the tendons and exquisite arrangements of this part of the body struck my artistic sense, and appealed to the sentiment of reverence with which this anatomical branch of study was ever afterwards invested in my mind.” 

A profile of Blackwell on the Changing the Face of Medicine website says she “applied to all the medical schools in New York and Philadelphia. She also applied to 12 more schools in the northeast states.”

After so many rejections, some of Blackwell’s friends suggested she go to France to study, or disguise herself as a man in order to break through the gender bias in the US. But she refused, explaining that: “It was to my mind a moral crusade on which I had entered, a course of justice and common sense, and it must be pursued in the light of day, and with a public sanction, in order to accomplish its end.”

Finally, in 1847, she was accepted by tiny Geneva Medical College (which today is known as Hobart and William Smith Colleges) in western New York state. Reportedly, the Geneva faculty thought that its all-male student cohort wouldn’t agree to a woman student, and allowed a vote on Blackwell’s admission: the result was “yes” – as a joke, apparently.

Although Blackwell says she “soon felt perfectly at home among my fellow students”, she later learned that in the town, “I had so shocked Geneva propriety that the theory was fully established either that I was a bad woman, whose designs would gradually become evident, or that, being insane, an outbreak of insanity would soon be apparent.”

In 1849 Blackwell was awarded her Doctor of Medicine degree.

Having reached her initial goal, she travelled to Europe and continued her studies in clinics in London and Paris. There she trained in midwifery and contracted the infectious eye disease purulent ophthalmia, which cost her the sight in her right eye and put an end to her hopes becoming of becoming “the first lady surgeon in the world”, as she says in her autobiography.

Returning to the US in 1851, Blackwell established a medical practice in New York, and in 1857 opened the New York Infirmary for Women and Children in collaboration with her sister Emily, who had also qualified as a doctor. In 1869 Blackwell returned home to Britain, where set up in private practice in 1870. 

She founded the National Health Society in 1871, which aimed to educate people about the benefits of hygiene and healthy lifestyles, with the credo that prevention is better than cure. The society tried to educate the public about health and ways people could help prevent disease spreading.

By 1890 Blackwell had stopped practising medicine. She was a deeply religious person, strongly conservative in her opinions, but continued to advocate for women’s rights for the remainder of her life.

“It has become clear to me that our medical profession has not yet fully realised the special and weighty responsibility which rests upon it to watch over the cradle of the race; to see that human beings are well-born, well-nourished, and well educated,” she wrote in her autobiography.

“The study of human nature by women as well as men commences that new and hopeful era of the intelligent co-operation of the sexes through which alone real progress can be attained and secured.”

Blackwell died on 31 May 1910 in Hastings, East Sussex.

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/medical-first-elizabeth-blackwell/

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by CaaC (John)

[CaaC (John)]

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Israeli archaeologists find 'Biblical royal purple dye'

A purple dye dating back to the purported reign of the Biblical King David has been identified on a piece of fabric by Israeli archaeologists.

The dye is said to have been more valuable than gold and was associated with royalty.

It is the first time textile from that period with the colour has been found in the region.

Israel Antiquities Authority expert Dr Naama Sukenik called it a "very exciting and important discovery".

The fragment was unearthed during excavations at a site in Timna, about 220km (137 miles) south of Jerusalem.

"In antiquity, purple attire was associated with the nobility, with priests, and of course with royalty," said Dr Sukenik.

"The gorgeous shade of the purple, the fact that it does not fade, and the difficulty in producing the dye, which is found in minute quantities in the body of molluscs, all made it the most highly valued of the dyes, which often cost more than gold."

• The mystery of 'magnificent palace' found in Jerusalem
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• Ancient Israelites 'burned cannabis in worship'

Purple is mentioned in the Jewish and Christian Bibles, including in garments worn by King David, King Solomon and Jesus.

The material containing the dye was found during a dig at a site known as Slaves' Hill.

"The colour immediately attracted our attention, but we found it hard to believe that we had found true purple from such an ancient period," said Prof Erez Ben-Yosef from Tel Aviv University's Archaeology Department.

Until now, the colour had been found on mollusc shells and fragments of pottery, but not on dyed fabrics.

Carbon-dating of the fragment found it came from about 1,000 BC, around the time when King David is said to have reigned, followed by his son, Solomon.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-55815820

 

[CaaC (John)]

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Ancient mummies with golden tongues unearthed in Egypt

Archaeologists have unearthed 2,000-year-old mummies with golden tongues placed inside their mouths in northern Egypt, the antiquities ministry says.

An Egyptian-Dominican team working at Alexandria's Taposiris Magna temple discovered 16 burials in rock-cut tombs popular in the Greek and Roman eras.

Inside were poorly-preserved mummies.

It is thought the dead were given gold foil amulets shaped like tongues so that they could speak before the court of the god Osiris in the afterlife.

Ancient Egyptians believed that Osiris was lord of the underworld and judge of the dead.

• Lost Egyptian artefact found in a cigar box
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The god was also pictured in gilded decorations on the cartonnage - a material made of layers of plaster, linen and glue - that was partially encasing one of the mummies, lead archaeologist Kathleen Martinez of the University of Santo Domingo was cited by the antiquities ministry as saying.

The gilded decorations on the cartonnage around a second mummy's head depicted a crown, horns and a cobra snake, she added. On the chest, the decorations depicted a necklace from which hung the head of a falcon - the symbol of the god Horus.

Khaled Abo El Hamd, director-general of the antiquities authority in Alexandria, said the archaeological mission at Taposiris Magna had also discovered the funeral mask of a woman, eight golden flakes of a golden wreath, and eight marble masks dating back to the Greek and Roman eras.

The antiquities ministry said a number of coins bearing the name and portrait of Queen Cleopatra VII had previously been found inside the temple.

Cleopatra VII was the last queen of the Greek-speaking Ptolemaic dynasty, ruling Egypt from 51-30 BC. After her death, Egypt fell under Roman domination.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-55902631

 

[CaaC (John)]

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Conch shell tones

Ancient conch makes music for the first time in 17,000 years.

How old-fashioned is your taste in music? Researchers have recreated notes from a 17,000-year-old conch shell, found in a cave in southern France.

Discovered in the Marsoulas Cave, just north of the Pyrenees mountains, in 1931, the shell was initially thought to be a drinking cup. But a more detailed analysis, published today in the journal Science Advances, showed that the shell had been subtly modified by humans to attach a mouthpiece and use as a musical instrument.

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Marsoulas Cave: fast facts

• Excavations first bagan in 1983 by Henri Breuil and André Leroi-Gourhan
• The cave is filled with images of humans, horses, and bison painted by prehistoric artists
• These paintings are thought to be 17,000 years old
• Marsoulas cave was closed in 1996 due to vandalism and graffiti

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The researchers enlisted the help of a musicologist specialising in wind instruments, who played the instrument in a recording studio. With the mouthpiece of the shell protected to avoid damage to the artefact, the musicologist blew air through the shell in a similar manner to playing trumpet or trombone, which allowed the shell to vibrate at its natural resonance and produce notes. Three distinct tones were recorded, which were similar to the modern notes C, D and C sharp.

The researchers used photogrammetry and x-ray fluorescence spectrometry to examine the outside of the shell, and CT scanning to inspect its interior.

They found that the outer lip of the shell (the labrum) had been removed, and two holes had been chipped away inside it – these might have been to hold a tube that was used as a mouthpiece, so players could protect their lips. The conch had also been painted with pigments similar to those used for the wall art found inside Marsoulas Cave.

There are many examples of wind instruments made from bone, but a musical conch shell is an unusual find from this time period.

“Around the world, conch shells have served as musical instruments, calling or signalling devices, and sacred or magic objects depending on the cultures,” the study authors write. “To our knowledge, the Marsoulas shell is unique in the prehistoric context, however, not only in France but at the scale of Paleolithic Europe and perhaps the world.”

A 3D interactive model of the conch shell can be found here

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/civillisations/conch-shell-tones/

 

[CaaC (John)]

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Dinosaurs take a hike

Drops in carbon dioxide levels may have allowed herbivorous dinosaurs to get to Greenland.

A new paper pinpoints the date that a large group of dinosaurs made it to Greenland, suggesting that climatic changes may have determined dinosaur migration patterns.

It was previously known that sauropodomorphs – a clade of herbivorous dinosaurs that later evolved into Brontosaurus and Brachiosaurus, among others – first emerged in modern-day South America and then migrated north between 225 and 205 million years ago.

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Key research points

• There was previously a broad window for when sauropodomorphs arrived in the Northern Hemisphere
• New research narrows the date of arrival to 214 million years ago
• This timing coincides with a massive dip in CO₂ levels
• There may have been a change in climate that allowed them to move

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This research narrows that dinosaur migration estimate down to 214 million years ago. The work is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Researchers analysed the magnetism patterns in ancient rock layers at fossil sites all across the Americas and Europe, which let them identify when the dinosaurs first appeared in Greenland.

But this discovery gave rise to another mystery: why did it take so long for the dinosaurs to get to the Northern Hemisphere? The sauropodomorphs first appeared in Argentina and Brazil 230 million years ago, and Earth’s land at the time was still mostly connected up into the supercontinent Pangaea.

“In principle, the dinosaurs could have walked from almost one pole to the other,” says Dennis Kent, an author on the study. “There was no ocean in between. There were no big mountains. And yet it took 15 million years. It’s as if snails could have done it faster.”

But the new migration date does line up with another dramatic planetary change: a drop in carbon dioxide levels from 4,000 to 2,000 parts per million (or 10–5 times the amount of today’s levels). This would have caused a significant change in climate, which could have allowed the dinosaurs to move through previously uninhabitable areas.

“We know that with higher CO₂, the dry gets drier and the wet gets wetter,” says Kent. He thinks it’s plausible the milder levels opened up passageways through the hot and humid equatorial zone, although the timing may just be a coincidence.

The sauropodomorphs were well-suited to the warmer climate of Greenland at the time. “Once they arrived in Greenland, it looked like they settled in,” says Kent. “They hung around as a long fossil record after that.”

https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/palaeontology/dinosaurs-take-a-hike/