Blog Profile / Ancient Tides
| URL : | http://ancient-tides.blogspot.com/ | |
|---|---|---|
| Filed Under: | History / Ancient History | |
| Posts on Regator: | 78 | |
| Posts / Week: | 0.8 | |
| Archived Since: | July 9, 2011 | |
Blog Post Archive
Commerce Rich in Lost Egyptian Port
Image is archaeological conception of Heracleion. A lost ancient Egyptian city submerged beneath the sea 1,200 years ago is starting to reveal what life was like in the legendary port of Thonis-Heracleion. The city disappeared beneath...Show More Summary
Ceibal Reveals Clues to Mayan Origins
A site called Ceibal in Guatemala is the oldest Mayan ceremonial compound in Central America’s lowlands and is now believed to have functioned as a solar observatory for rituals. It also suggests that the origins of the Maya civilization are more complex than first believed. Show More Summary
Robot Explores Teotihuacan Chamber
Portion of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl Archaeologists are eager to begin robotic exploration of a tunnel beneath the Temple of Quetzalcoatl in Teotihuacan, one of the largest pre-Columbian cities in Mesoamerica. The tunnel contains a 2,000-year-old chamber likely used for burial of dignitaries. Show More Summary
Ponce de León and Florida Mythology
Based on last week’s commemoration, it’s been 500 years since Juan Ponce de León discovered Florida. The problem is, he didn’t discover Florida. And as Florida historian T.D. Allman points out in the New York Times: “He never did much...Show More Summary
Ancient 'Gate to Hell' is Unearthed
Ancient ruins of Pluto’s Gate ~ more colorfully known as the “Gate to Hell” ~ is believed to have been unearthed by a team headed by Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento in Lecce, Italy, who has been excavating the ancient Greco-Roman site of Hierapolis for years. Show More Summary
Civilization? Blame It on the Beer
Inebriation may have played a pivotal role in the formation of human society, according to speculation in a recent New York Times column: Luckily, from time to time, our ancestors, like other animals, would run across fermented fruit or grain and sample it. Show More Summary
Scientists Say Clovis Comet Lacks Evidence
A group of scientists from archaeology to crystallography and physics are disputing the long-held theory that a comet crashing into the Earth some 13,000 years ago spelled doom to a group of early North American people and ice-age beasts in the region. Show More Summary
Social Factors Contributed to Akkadian Fall
Today’s political strife in Syria parallels events the fall of the Akkadian empire in Mesopotamia more than 4,000 years ago, according to research published recently. The Akkadian empire thrived in the third millennium BC, but around 2,200 BC drought hit and people fled from urban centers, leading to collapse of the government. Show More Summary
Dead Sea Cave Yielding More Artifacts
On a cliff high above the Dead Sea, archaeologists have uncovered more artifacts that may hold clues to a cave that has yielded the Dead Sea Scrolls. According to Popular Archaelogy: Led by Dr. Haim Cohen of Israel's Haifa University, a small team ascended a steep escarpment of rocky terrain to the cave each morning at 5.45 a.m. Show More Summary
Grave Could Change Image of Ancient Celts
New findings from a 2,600-year-old grave in Germany suggest the Celts were much more sophisticated than previously thought. Not far from the Heuneburg, the site of an early Celtic settlement, researchers in 2010 stumbled upon the elaborate grave of a Celtic princess. Show More Summary
Isolation Forced Viking Departure
Ruins of the Viking Hvalsey Church in Qaqortoq, Greenland Archaeologists now suspect the economic and identity issues ~ not starvation and disease ~ caused Vikings to abandon Greenland in the 15 th century, something that has puzzled researchers for centuries. Show More Summary
Skull Fraud 'Created' the Brontosaurus
With the correct skull, it's an Apatosaurus as shown here. This post concerns the very, very ancient, but it’s here because it’s a fascinating tale. The fierce competition for fame between two palentologists ~ O.C. Marsh of Yale andShow More Summary
Native American Genetic Source is Located
Artist rendition of crossing Bering Strait. Northern European populations ~ British, Scandinavians, French and Eastern Europeans ~ descend from a mixture of two ancestral populations, one of which is related to Native Americans. This...Show More Summary
Emperor Constantine the Complex
Rome's long and enigmatic chain of emperors was rife with complex personalities, few the match of Constantine (282-337). In his new Constantine the Emperor, biographer David Potter makes a case for this emperor's historical prominence. Show More Summary
Nazca Lines Still Provoke Mystery
Since their startling discovery in Peru’s coastal area during the 1920s, mystery still surrounds the so-called Nazca lines, depicting several massive images decipherable only from high altitudes. The vast majority of the lines date from 200 BC to 500 AD, to a time when a people referred to as the Nazca inhabited the region. Show More Summary
Smashed Skulls Indicate Stone Age Fears
Several of the smashed skulls, all of young men. Evidence that some Stone Age cultures may have considered dead young men to be threatening to living people could be the reason groups of newly discovered skulls were buried with smashed-in faces. Show More Summary
Confusion Surrounds Mary Magdalene
Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene, Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1311. As any reader of the New Testament knows, there are several women named Mary and scripture is not clear as to which is which. Meanwhile, readers make a number of assumptions regarding Mary Magdalene, most of which are unsubstantiated in scripture. Show More Summary
Vikings Valued Personal Cleanliness
Historians have studied the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry for details. Vikings are often thought to be filthy, roughhewn warriors, but the contrary seems to be closer to the truth ~ some were borderline fastidious. “Several archaeological...Show More Summary
Key Myths Have Behavioral Links to Real World
Beowulf slaying his foe. Ancient myths including Beowulf, Homer’s Illiad and the traditional Irish poem Táin Bó Cuailnge likely are based on real communities and people, according to researchers who compared the complex web of the characters’ relationships with the type of social networks occurring in real life. Show More Summary
Artifacts Point to Earlier African Stone Age
Archaeologists at Border Cave where the artifacts were found. New findings indicate that the late Stone Age in Africa began about 20,000 years earlier than previously thought. Artifacts found in a cave reveal residents were carving bone tools, using pigments, making beads and even using poison 44,000 years ago. Show More Summary