Somewhere around 5,000 years ago, men living in what is now Turkey learned to combine copper and tin to create bronze. But the source of the tin had long remained a mystery. Some thought it came from Cornwall in England, others believed it might have been brought in from what is now Afghanistan. But in 1994, a team led by Dr. Aslihan Yener of the University of Chicago announced the discovery what has proven to be the oldest known tin mine in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey.
The mine consists of a network of narrow tunnels and shafts. Analysis of artifacts, including skeletons of what are believed to be miners, shows that the mine was most active for about a thousand years beginning in approximately 2870 B.C. The Bronze Age is thought to have begun around 5,000 years ago, so this mine dates from the beginning of the revolutionary technology, which eventually replaced the use of stone for weapons and tools.
The ancient mine is located in rural Kestel in the Central Taurus Mountains. It had actually been discovered several years before Dr. Yener’s team published its findings, but the team waited several years while they recovered and analyzed evidence discovered at the mine itself and other material found in the surrounding area.
Bronze remained one of the most important metals for nearly 3,000 years. Eventually, however around 1100 B.C, ancient metallurgists learned to work iron, which was much stronger than bronze. Bronze remained important in the arts. Bronze statues are still being created today.
Was bronze discovered accidentally by a metalworker who was using contaminated copper, or was it created as the result of experimentation? We will probably never know the answer to that question.
There’s more information on the Kestrel tin mine here
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Friday, March 22, 2013
Is He the World’s Oldest Newspaper Deliveryman?
I don’t usually feature people in this blog, but this story is too good to pass up. His name is Newt Wallace, and he is still delivering weekly newspapers in Winters, California, at the age of ninety-three.
Eight carriers work for the newspaper in this town with a population of 6,600 and a circulation of 2,300. Wallace, however, has been walking his route since 1947. And his boss, the publisher of the Winters Express, won’t let him quit. That’s because the publisher is Charley Wallace, Newt’s son, who believes that his father is still alive and active because he still works at the newspaper. He may well be right.
Newt began his career in Muskogee, Oklahoma, selling newspapers on street corners in 1930 at the age of eleven. The next year, he had his own route, delivering The Muskogee Times-Democrat’s afternoon edition.
Wallace served in World War II. When he was discharged in 1946 in Long Beach, California, he learned that The Winters Express was for sale. He immediately boarded a train from Los Angeles to Davis, California. He then walked the remaining ten miles to Winters, where he bought the newspaper and the building that housed it.
Wallace ran the newspaper for the next 37 years. His son Charley then took over as publisher, but Newt remained active, writing columns and a local history page. Then he began delivering the newspaper. The work is sometimes a bit tiring for a man of his age, but when he thinks about quitting, his son reminds him that he has outlived retired friends of his own age.
Another elderly carrier, 93-year-old Ted Ingram is the official Guinness World Record holder as the world’s oldest newspaper delivery person. He delivers The Dorset Echo in the English village of Winterborne Monkton. Wallace is eight months older than Ingram, and once Wallace’s son completes the paperwork, Wallace will replace Ingram as the world’s oldest delivery boy.
There is a News Carrier Hall of Fame maintained by the Newspaper Association of America. Honorees include John Wayne, Tom Brokaw, and legendary investor Warren Buffett. I suspect that Newt Wallace will be elected to the Hall of Fame sometime in the near future. It’s an honor he earned over a very long lifetime.
Eight carriers work for the newspaper in this town with a population of 6,600 and a circulation of 2,300. Wallace, however, has been walking his route since 1947. And his boss, the publisher of the Winters Express, won’t let him quit. That’s because the publisher is Charley Wallace, Newt’s son, who believes that his father is still alive and active because he still works at the newspaper. He may well be right.
Newt began his career in Muskogee, Oklahoma, selling newspapers on street corners in 1930 at the age of eleven. The next year, he had his own route, delivering The Muskogee Times-Democrat’s afternoon edition.
Wallace served in World War II. When he was discharged in 1946 in Long Beach, California, he learned that The Winters Express was for sale. He immediately boarded a train from Los Angeles to Davis, California. He then walked the remaining ten miles to Winters, where he bought the newspaper and the building that housed it.
Wallace ran the newspaper for the next 37 years. His son Charley then took over as publisher, but Newt remained active, writing columns and a local history page. Then he began delivering the newspaper. The work is sometimes a bit tiring for a man of his age, but when he thinks about quitting, his son reminds him that he has outlived retired friends of his own age.
Another elderly carrier, 93-year-old Ted Ingram is the official Guinness World Record holder as the world’s oldest newspaper delivery person. He delivers The Dorset Echo in the English village of Winterborne Monkton. Wallace is eight months older than Ingram, and once Wallace’s son completes the paperwork, Wallace will replace Ingram as the world’s oldest delivery boy.
There is a News Carrier Hall of Fame maintained by the Newspaper Association of America. Honorees include John Wayne, Tom Brokaw, and legendary investor Warren Buffett. I suspect that Newt Wallace will be elected to the Hall of Fame sometime in the near future. It’s an honor he earned over a very long lifetime.
Friday, March 15, 2013
The World’s Oldest Rope
More than 30 coils of rope were found carefully stored in a hand-hewn cave on the Red Sea coast of Egypt at Marsa Gawasis. These ropes proved to be nearly 4,000 years old, the oldest actual examples known so far, and have given Egyptologists and maritime researchers a lot to think about.
They were originally discovered in 2005. Excited researchers described the ropes as well preserved and undisturbed. Surprisingly, they were coiled and tightened in the same way that today’s sailors handle their ropes. They were stored in piles and researchers believe there are actually more than 60 coils. Most were found at the back of the cave
.
Egyptian rope is believed to be one of the strongest ropes ever made in the ancient world, and researchers hope to learn the secrets of Egyptian rope-making by studying the physical composition and method of manufacturing used by their ancient makers
.The coils are described as about 98 feet (30 meters) long and very thick. Experts believe they were used to produce structural stability on the ship. They would have been secured at the bow and stern of the ship to prevent the vessel from weakening and collapsing at either end. Ancient Egyptian portrayals of ships distinctly show the use of these rope trusses, and Thor Heyerdahl’s experiments with ancient replicas clearly showed the need for these stabilizers, especially on papyrus boats.
The ropes are made of a single type of unidentified vegetable fiber. Scientists have so far ruled out materials such as halfa grass, papyrus and palm as the source of the fibers and have begun looking at reed.
While there is evidence that cords and ropes were being made many thousands of years earlier, these Egyptian ropes are now believed to be the oldest actual examples of ancient ropemaking.
For more information about these ancient ropes and other discoveries made in caves at Marsa Gawasis, visit this site
They were originally discovered in 2005. Excited researchers described the ropes as well preserved and undisturbed. Surprisingly, they were coiled and tightened in the same way that today’s sailors handle their ropes. They were stored in piles and researchers believe there are actually more than 60 coils. Most were found at the back of the cave
.
Egyptian rope is believed to be one of the strongest ropes ever made in the ancient world, and researchers hope to learn the secrets of Egyptian rope-making by studying the physical composition and method of manufacturing used by their ancient makers
.The coils are described as about 98 feet (30 meters) long and very thick. Experts believe they were used to produce structural stability on the ship. They would have been secured at the bow and stern of the ship to prevent the vessel from weakening and collapsing at either end. Ancient Egyptian portrayals of ships distinctly show the use of these rope trusses, and Thor Heyerdahl’s experiments with ancient replicas clearly showed the need for these stabilizers, especially on papyrus boats.
The ropes are made of a single type of unidentified vegetable fiber. Scientists have so far ruled out materials such as halfa grass, papyrus and palm as the source of the fibers and have begun looking at reed.
While there is evidence that cords and ropes were being made many thousands of years earlier, these Egyptian ropes are now believed to be the oldest actual examples of ancient ropemaking.
For more information about these ancient ropes and other discoveries made in caves at Marsa Gawasis, visit this site
Friday, March 8, 2013
The World’s Oldest Living Tree
The spruce tree has long been thought to be a relative newcomer in Sweden’s mountain region. So it came as no small surprise to discover that the world’s oldest living tree is a Swedish spruce found in the Dalarna province.
In fact, the ancient spruce is the oldest of a four-generation cluster of spruce found under the crown of a spruce tree in Fulu Mountain. These trees range in age from 375 to 9,550 years old and are genetically identical to the trees above them. Spruce trees can multiply by producing identical copies of themselves.
These ancient trees eclipse the previous record holders. Ancient bristlecone pines found in the southwest United States were dated to 4,000 to 5,000 years of age and were considered to be the world’s oldest living trees until the discovery of the Swedish spruce trees.
Future studies of these trees may shed light on weather conditions over the past 10,000 years, and may even add to our knowledge of climate change in northern Europe. They may also be able to provide information on whether they came from the east, or whether their ancestors lived west or southwest of Norway and spread to the north as the last Ice Age ended.
If you’d like more information on these elderly trees, visit here
In fact, the ancient spruce is the oldest of a four-generation cluster of spruce found under the crown of a spruce tree in Fulu Mountain. These trees range in age from 375 to 9,550 years old and are genetically identical to the trees above them. Spruce trees can multiply by producing identical copies of themselves.
These ancient trees eclipse the previous record holders. Ancient bristlecone pines found in the southwest United States were dated to 4,000 to 5,000 years of age and were considered to be the world’s oldest living trees until the discovery of the Swedish spruce trees.
Future studies of these trees may shed light on weather conditions over the past 10,000 years, and may even add to our knowledge of climate change in northern Europe. They may also be able to provide information on whether they came from the east, or whether their ancestors lived west or southwest of Norway and spread to the north as the last Ice Age ended.
If you’d like more information on these elderly trees, visit here
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Lake Baikal: The World’s Oldest Lake
One-fifth of the world’s fresh water is located in Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia. It is not only the world’s oldest lake, but at more than 5,000 feet (1637 m) deep, it is also the deepest. Lake Baikal is estimated to have formed about 20 to 25 million years ago. It also appears that it’s on its way to becoming an ocean as a cleft in the tectonic plate beneath it splits Asia apart.
Lake Baikal is located in one of the most beautiful areas in the region. The mountains surrounding it provide food and shelter for wild animals. There are several small, self-reliant villages nearby which often play host to tourists and researchers.
This giant lake is nearly 400 miles (640 km) long and 49 miles (79k) wide. It is so large that it creates its own micro-climate. And while more than 300 rivers and streams flow into the lake, only one, the Angara River, flows out.
The giant lake’s oxygen-rich waters and surrounding forest support about 1,200 different animal species, both land-based and aquatic, and over 600 types of plants. About 75 percent are found only in this environment. For example, the world’s only freshwater seals live in Lake Baikal and their favorite food is a pink, scaleless, partly transparent fish that bears live young.
Lake Baikal’s seals may have migrated southward from the Arctic and adapted to their new home by producing more blood, making it possible for them to swim underwater for more than an hour. They are also deep divers, able to reach depths of more than 800 feet (300 meters) below the surface.
Some of the lake’s fish survive more than a mile beneath the surface where water pressures are dramatically high. Like their deep sea counterparts, they literally explode when brought to the surface.
If you’re interested in learning more about the world’s oldest lake, go here
Lake Baikal is located in one of the most beautiful areas in the region. The mountains surrounding it provide food and shelter for wild animals. There are several small, self-reliant villages nearby which often play host to tourists and researchers.
This giant lake is nearly 400 miles (640 km) long and 49 miles (79k) wide. It is so large that it creates its own micro-climate. And while more than 300 rivers and streams flow into the lake, only one, the Angara River, flows out.
The giant lake’s oxygen-rich waters and surrounding forest support about 1,200 different animal species, both land-based and aquatic, and over 600 types of plants. About 75 percent are found only in this environment. For example, the world’s only freshwater seals live in Lake Baikal and their favorite food is a pink, scaleless, partly transparent fish that bears live young.
Lake Baikal’s seals may have migrated southward from the Arctic and adapted to their new home by producing more blood, making it possible for them to swim underwater for more than an hour. They are also deep divers, able to reach depths of more than 800 feet (300 meters) below the surface.
Some of the lake’s fish survive more than a mile beneath the surface where water pressures are dramatically high. Like their deep sea counterparts, they literally explode when brought to the surface.
If you’re interested in learning more about the world’s oldest lake, go here
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