This page features brief excerpts of stories published by the mainstream
media and, less frequently, blogs, alternative media, and even obviously
biased sources. The excerpts are taken directly from the websites cited in
each source note. Quotation marks are not used.
Source: Science Magazine
November 21, 2011
When humans turned from hunting and gathering to farming some 10,000 years ago, they set our species on the road to civilization. Agricultural surpluses led to division of labor, the rise of cities, and technological innovation. But civilization has had both its blessings and its curses. One downside of farming, a new study demonstrates, was a shortening of the human jaw that has left precious little room for our teeth and sends many of us to an orthodontist's chair.Although all living humans belong to one species, Homo sapiens, there are recognizable differences in the shapes of our skulls and faces across the world. In recent years, anthropologists have concluded that most of this geographic variation in skull shape is due to chance, so-called genetic drift, rather than natural selection. But some features of our faces, including the shape of our lower jaws, don't seem to follow this random pattern....
Source: Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star
November 21, 2011
There’s nothing like seeing hallowed ground in the company of a good historian.But for those times when an in-person interpreter is unavailable, or time is short, a second-best alternative has just hit the Web: the latest “battle app” created by the Civil War Trust and its Colorado technology partner, Neotreks....
Source: The News from Poland
November 18, 2011
Archaeologists believe that the remains of soldiers who died after Napoleon's doomed march on Moscow have been found during the creation of a new bypass at Olecko, north east Poland.The skeletons of some 350 people were discovered in the forgotten graveyard, after woodland was cut back to lay the new road.“Analysis of the bones of several men buried there shows changes characteristic of people who rode on horseback for much of their lives,” archaeologist Hubert Augustyniak told the Polish Press Agency.About half of those buried were children, and experts believe that they were from the local village. Tests confirm that the villagers suffered from a poor diet and were exposed to hard labour....
Source: PennLive
November 17, 2011
For eight weeks this summer, three archaeologists and a team of volunteers dug through several feet of dirt next to Dills Tavern in Dillsburg searching for the foundation of Matthew Dill’s original tavern that stood on the site as early as 1750.They didn’t find it, but their work turned up between 35,000 to 40,000 objects, many dating back to the Colonial days.Among their finds were 21 British copper coins, two Spanish silver coins, a religious medal, many pieces of pottery, plaster, pieces of window glass and iron nails. The artifacts are being catalogued by archaeologist Steve Warfel, who was in charge of the excavation.He said after all the items are placed in a database he can look for a pattern to see if there is any change in the way an area of the site was being used....
Source: Daily Record (UK)
November 21, 2011
TWO World War II veterans – who took part in the most famous break-out by British prisoners of war – have gone back to the tunnel they helped construct.Stanley “Gordie” King, 91, and Frank Stone, 89, returned to the remains of Harry and the tunnel built after The Great Escape, nicknamed George, which has been reopened for the first time in 66 years.Standing at the entrance to the 111-yard shaft, on the site of the notorious Stalag Luft III camp in Poland, widower Gordie’s eyes filled with tears.The former radio operator said: “It has been such an emotional time for me.“This brings back such bittersweet memories. I’m amazed by what they found.”...
Source: Nature
November 18, 2011
Archaeology in Libya finally has a chance to flower. Research into and conservation of the country's rich cultural heritage could expand in the wake of this year's revolution, after decades of neglect by the Gaddafi regime, say scientists. But political and security uncertainties look set to delay the return of the foreign archaeologists needed to work with Libyans to develop their archaeological capacity.Revamping its archaeology risks being a low priority for a country recovering from conflict, the fledging government of which must not only rebuild schools, hospitals and roads, but also create a democratic civil society. But researchers agree that there is an opportunity to begin planning how to reinforce Libya's archaeological base and develop plans that might attract domestic and international support."It is moments like these when big directions are taken by design or default, and those who care about heritage should aim for design," says William Brown, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, a non-profit public-policy organization, who this month published an article calling for Libya to add protection and research of its heritage to its new constitution....
Source: LiveScience
November 17, 2011
A toothy Mayan skull, made of limestone and in the shape of a monkey head, is set to go on display at a Maya exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto Canada.But unlike the famous crystal skulls, which are widely regarded as fake, this one is believed to be real.The skull is roughly life-size and small enough that you can hold it in your hands. It has eight inlaid white teeth made of shell in two groups of four, with a black tooth made of iron pyrite in the middle. The mouth of the skull is wide open, and the eyes may have originally had shells in them....
Source: LiveScience
November 18, 2011
At the outset, the researchers wanted to learn something about how ancient hominids used their landscape — that is, whether they covered far distances, or stayed closer to home. The goal was to discover whether their travel habits contributed to their becoming bipedal, since moving on two legs is far more efficient and takes less energy than using all fours.
Source: Reuters
November 21, 2011
ATLANTA (Reuters) - An historic church building in the city of Savannah belongs to the national Episcopal Church, not a breakaway congregation that left the national church following the naming of an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire, the Georgia Supreme Court said on Monday.Christ Church, the oldest Episcopal church in Georgia, was founded in 1733, when James Oglethorpe, an English general, designated the property on Bull Street as a place of worship, the state Supreme Court said.When the national Episcopal Church named the Rev. Gene Robinson as its first openly gay bishop in 2007, the Savannah congregation voted to leave the national church and move under the leadership of an Anglican diocese in Uganda.The breakaway congregation refused to give up the Savannah church building and property, valued at $3 million, prompting a lawsuit by the national church and the Georgia diocese....
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
November 19, 2011
Belgians deported to Nazi Germany in World War II to work as slaves for the Third Reich have now received tax demands from Berlin.Belgium's finance minister Didier Reynders has vowed to confront Germany over the 'morally indefensible' tax demands which have been arriving in the mailboxes of elderly war survivors over the past few weeks.'It is shocking that people who during World War II were forced to work by the Nazis have now received tax demands from the authorities related to the compensation eventually paid for that work,' he said....
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
November 20, 2011
ROMEOVILLE — Lewis University’s History Center and the Heritage Corridor Convention and Visitors Bureau held a ribbon cutting Nov. 16 at the historic Fitzpatrick House, located across from the university’s main campus on Route 53.The event celebrated the Fitzpatrick House as the new site for the Lewis University History Center and the Heritage Corridor CVB.Dennis Cremin, Director of the center and associate professor of history, welcomed guests to view the new display of historic photographs and panel exhibit which tells a story of the development of the I & M Canal and its historical significance to the development of the region....
Source: NYT
November 20, 2011
CHOEUNG EK, Cambodia — With opening statements about to begin in the most important phase of the Khmer Rouge trials, survivors of the regime’s violence kneeled before a huge pyramid of skulls at a killing field here on Sunday as monks chanted a prayer for the souls of the dead.Chickens pecked in the damp grass above the pits where nearly 9,000 people were bludgeoned to death and where teeth and bits of bone still work their way to the surface during monsoon floods. Signs warn tourists, “Please don’t walk through the mass grave.”In the trial that got under way on Monday, three senior members of the Khmer Rouge leadership faced charges of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and other charges....
Source: NYT
November 20, 2011
PARIS — When the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, home to the Dead Sea Scrolls, reopened last year after an extensive renovation, it attracted a million visitors in the first 12 months. When the museum opened an enhanced Web site with newly digitized versions of the scrolls in September, it drew a million virtual visitors in three and a half days.The scrolls, scanned with ultrahigh-resolution imaging technology, have been viewed on the Web from 210 countries — including some, like Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and Syria, that provide few real-world visitors to the Israel Museum.“This is taking the material to an amazing range of audiences,” said James S. Snyder, the museum’s director. “There’s no way we would have had the technical capability to do this on our own.”...
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
November 17, 2011
A soldier whose bravery helped change the course of World War Two has died.John Stone was a mine expert who carried out a daring reconnaissance mission of the Normandy beaches just before the D-Day landings.Wearing dark clothing, he crept up the beach and got to within 40 yards of German soldiers while he examined deadly bombs they had laid.He discovered wooden poles with anti-tank mines on top positioned along the shoreline that would have been hidden at high tide and devastated landing craft....
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
November 17, 2011
We like to think our superior brainpower led to their demise.But it seems the real reason the Neanderthals died out may be because they were too clever for their own good.Researchers say that rather than being outwitted by the superior intellect of modern man, our caveman cousins were every bit as sophisticated.Their brains and charms led to them being sought as mates by our ancestors, who, due to simple numbers, soon began to rule the roost.Arizona State University academics came up with the theory after running data about life in Europe and Asia during the last Ice Age through a computer program....
Source: Yorkshire Post (UK)
November 6, 2011
A new film version of Wuthering Heights featuring a black Heathcliff is based, in part, on a little-known legend from a remote part of Yorkshire. Roger Ratcliffe tells the story that is thought to have inspired the greatest romance in English literatureUntil the M6 was built to within half an hour’s drive of Dentdale in the early 1970s it was one of the most isolated and least visited parts of northern England. Even today the dale is still largely ignored in comparison to other beautiful areas of the Yorkshire Dales National Park, and because all roads into it from the outside world are steep and tortuous, Dentdale almost has the feel of being a lost world.It is easy to understand, then, how the bringing of enslaved Africans to Dentdale in the second half of the 18th century and early years of the 19th century took decades to reach the outside world. Less easy to comprehend is that to this day local people are still reluctant to talk about it....
Source: Yahoo News
November 20, 2011
BLUFFTON, Texas (AP) — Johnny C. Parks died two days before his first birthday more than a century ago. His grave slipped from sight along with the rest of the tiny town of Bluffton when Lake Buchanan was filled 55 years later.Now, the cracked marble tombstone engraved with the date Oct. 15, 1882, which is normally covered by 20 to 30 feet of water, has been eerily exposed as a yearlong drought shrinks one of Texas' largest lakes.Across the state, receding lakes have revealed a prehistoric skull, ancient tools, fossils and a small cemetery that appears to contain the graves of freed slaves. Some of the discoveries have attracted interest from local historians, and looters also have scavenged for pieces of history. More than two dozen looters have been arrested at one site....
Source: AP
November 20, 2011
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Survivors of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge regime held a remembrance ceremony in an infamous "killing field" Sunday, a day before a U.N.-backed tribunal begins a trial for three of the accused architects of some of the 20th century's worst atrocities.Relatives of the victims wept as they chanted and burned incense near a glass case filled with skulls at the Choeung Ek Genocide Center on Sunday. The memorial stands in a field where the Khmer Rouge executed people during their 1975-79 rule that left nearly 2 million people dead.The emotional ceremony was held to allow Cambodians an opportunity to share their concerns and remember loved ones ahead of the trials of three of the Khmer Rouge's surviving inner circle — all now in their 80s — on charges including crimes against humanity, genocide and torture....
Source: Daily Mail (UK)
November 19, 2011
By the time he was 15, Pablo Picasso could paint brilliantly and was better than any of his teachers. A painting of a vase of flowers looked just like a vase of flowers, a chair looked just like a chair and a woman looked just like a woman. But making pictures that were realistic was boring to him. What’s the point of making a picture look like a photograph? A camera can do that. Paint should do something different. So he investigated, studied and tried again and again to develop new ways of painting the things that he saw around him. He was prolific – Picasso painted more than 2,000 works and each time he mastered one style he quickly moved on to the next. As he developed new techniques, his paintings became more honest and revealing. The same could be said of his affairs with women – and the relationship between the women in his life and his different styles is intimately interlinked. Picasso was brilliant and charismatic and he loved women. The attraction worked both ways and many strong, beautiful and passionate women fell for him. Their relationships were sensual, fraught, loving and confrontational, and one woman very often overlapped with another, but there are six that could be considered his main muses. Here we take a look at seven very different paintings of three of these women: Fernande, his first true love; Olga, his first wife, and Dora, his Weeping Woman.
Source: NYT
November 17, 2011
LAST Thanksgiving my wife was trying to explain to our granddaughter, Lizzie, 5 at the time, that some of her ancestors had been participants at the original 1621 feast in Plymouth. “I know,” said Lizzie, who apparently had been learning about Thanksgiving in school. “We’re Indians!”Actually, Lizzie’s forebears were Pilgrims. (My wife, like several million Americans at this point, is a Mayflower descendant.) Nowadays Pilgrims, with their funny, steeple-crowned hats and buckle shoes and their gloomy, pious ways (no games on Sunday, no celebrating even of Christmas!), have gone out of fashion. It’s true that upon arriving in the New World they were so hapless that they would surely have perished during their first winter without the help of the American Indians.But the Pilgrims were nevertheless heroic in their way. There were a great many Puritans in England at the beginning of the 17th century who wanted to purge Christianity of what they considered the laxity and corruption introduced by Rome and by the insufficiently rigorous Church of England. But only a few hundred of them felt strongly enough to become separatists and emigrate to another land....
