The BBC tells us that a study of skeletons recovered from Neolithic sites in Britain shows that 5% of them display evidence of blunt force trauma to the cranium. I theorize that the advent of agriculture during the Neolithic allowed the brewing of beer which led to this sad situation. It seems the roots of …
Interpretations of Flores Fossil Questioned
The famous “Hobbit” fossil from the Indonesian island of Flores, was a sensation when it was announced last year. This 18,000 year old specimen was thought to represent a subspecies (or possibly separate species) of humans of diminutive size. Now some scientists believe that this may represent only a single microcephalic individual coming from a …
Another “Living Fossil”
French scientists working in the Coral Sea have discovered another “living fossil” – a species of crustacean thought to have gone extinct 60 million years ago. There’s always something else to find if you just keep looking!
Poles Will Wander II
A recent study has shown that the planet’s magnetic field has weakened almost 40% over the last 2500 years or so. The rate of decline has increased over the last 250 years after a relatively stable period for the 250 years before that. You may recall that I posted on polar reversals back in December. …
Peruvian Mummy
Another interesting find from Peru. The mummy of a high-status woman from the Moche culture (ca. AD 450) was buried with weaving tools and needles, but also war clubs and atlatls. Like Xena the Warrior Princess, maybe. RTWT
Business vs. Academic Models (or, Books and Libraries vs. Google)
This paper by librarian Thomas Mann, Ph.D., is circulating now among the library staff at my institution (and others, I’m sure): The Changing Nature of the Catalog and Its Integration with Other Discovery Tools. Final Report. March 17, 2006. Prepared for the Library of Congress by Karen Calhoun. A Critical Review Mann provides a number …
Preclassic Maya Finds
These two pictures come from the NY Times today telling of exciting new finds from Guatemala. Opinions of the Maya Preclassic Period are being revised based on this new information which is showing that people of this era were much more developed and sophisticated than thought. The origins of Maya glyph writing are being pushed …
Coursing Update
Courtesy of Margory Cohen, a couple of more or less “mainstream” articles defending open- field coursing here and here— though in the second I think the writer is a bit hard on the noble hare! But I just belatedly found a comment on one of my earlier posts that is frankly deranged and thought I …
Knocking Around
In Standing by Words, Wendell Berry writes of “poet watchers,” whose sport it is to find out what makes poets tick. It’s clear this annoys him; he’d rather them want to know what makes the poems tick. I get it. It’s another iteration of Berry’s emphasis on work and his impatience with infatuations for their …
African Truffles
The LA Times tells us (on the front page!) that truffles are a common delicacy in Namibia. Who knew?