Archaeologists working in the Dee Valley, Aberdeenshire, Scotland have identified what may be the world’s oldest calendar. They also believe the calendar, created as a series of 12 specially shaped pits arranged in a semi-circle and nearly 10,000 years old, may have been maintained and updated until around 4,000 years ago.
Until now the oldest calendars were the Bronze Age monuments found in Mesopotamia. The Scottish calendar predates them by thousands of years, pushing back calendar-making to roughly the end of the last Ice Age. The pits aligned perfectly on the midwinter solstice, adding credibility to the claim that this is an actual lunar calendar.
The pits are even shaped to reflect the various phases of the moon. Waxing, waning, crescents and gibbous phases are all present in their proper positions and arranged in a 164-foot (50 meter) long arc. The center pit, representing the full moon, is circular, roughly 7 feet (2 meters) across.
The pits were first discovered in 2004 on aerial photographs but only recently studied using remote-sensing technology. Specially developed software was used to work out the positions of sunrises and sunsets experienced 10,000 years ago.
It seems obvious that the early people who created this calendar so long ago needed to know about the changes of seasons. It would have helped them to know when game might be available, when crops could be harvested, and even to predict when salmon and other migrating fish could be harvested.
Once again, our ancient ancestors have left evidence of their astronomical knowledge and their ability to take advantage of that knowledge.
There is more detailed information about this intriguing discovery here
Saturday, July 27, 2013
Sunday, July 21, 2013
The World’s Oldest Known Poison
Border Cave, located on the border between South Africa and Swaziland, has produced surprise after surprise for researchers analyzing layers representing literally tens of thousands of years of occupation. One of those surprises is the evidence of the deliberate use of poisons by hunters over 44,000 years ago
Researchers dated a lump of beeswax mixed with a toxic resin to about 35,000 years ago. They believe it was used to attach stone points to the shafts of arrows or spears. Coincidentally, this is also the oldest evidence for the use of beeswax.
Researchers also dated a wooden stick with marked with scratch marks up and down its length and dated at about 20,000 years old. Traces of ricinoleic acid, the notorious poison found in castor beans, were found during a chemical analysis of residue on the stick. The stick closely resembles poison applicators used by the people of the early San culture, which was emerging at about that time.
Bows and arrows were also thought to be emerging about 20,000 years ago and there is a good possibility that they were coming into use when the applicator was created. The thin, small points found in the younger debris at Border Cave resemble the bone points produced by the San people, who are known to have used poison-tipped bone points on their arrows to help bring down medium and some large-sized game.
There is more information on this ancient poison technology here
Researchers dated a lump of beeswax mixed with a toxic resin to about 35,000 years ago. They believe it was used to attach stone points to the shafts of arrows or spears. Coincidentally, this is also the oldest evidence for the use of beeswax.
Researchers also dated a wooden stick with marked with scratch marks up and down its length and dated at about 20,000 years old. Traces of ricinoleic acid, the notorious poison found in castor beans, were found during a chemical analysis of residue on the stick. The stick closely resembles poison applicators used by the people of the early San culture, which was emerging at about that time.
Bows and arrows were also thought to be emerging about 20,000 years ago and there is a good possibility that they were coming into use when the applicator was created. The thin, small points found in the younger debris at Border Cave resemble the bone points produced by the San people, who are known to have used poison-tipped bone points on their arrows to help bring down medium and some large-sized game.
There is more information on this ancient poison technology here
Monday, July 15, 2013
The World’s Oldest Grape Vine
An ancient vine in Maribor, Slovenia, has been authenticated by experts as the world’s oldest producing grape vine. It is at least 400 years old, and its age has been confirmed by experts in both Paris and Slovenia. It also appeared in paintings known to have been completed between the years 1657 and 1681 which show that this elderly vine was already mature at the time.
Its fruit is also one of the oldest domesticated noble wine grapes known in Slovenia. Its descendants are now found on nearly every continent of the world.
Its owners still produce wine from Old Vine. They bottle anywhere from 35 to 55 kilograms annually, bottling the product in more than 100 2.5 decaliter glass bottles per year. The annual Pruning of the Old Vine is a ceremonial event. The scions are naturally highly sought after and the bestowal of the ancient plant’s scion is cause for celebration by the lucky cities chosen to receive one as a gift. Another annual ceremonial involves the harvest of its grapes which takes place as part of the Old Vine Festival.
Old Vine is registered in the Guinness Book of Records. This revered plant is carefully tended and watched over, and is showing no signs of weakness.
Old Vine might provide the perfect excuse to visit Maribor. A lively tourist industry has grown up around the old vine. Sightseers can visit the Old Vine House itself, visit wine cellars and museums, and just enjoy the town and its surroundings. All in all, Old Vine sounds like a good excuse to take in a part of traditional Slovenia.
Its fruit is also one of the oldest domesticated noble wine grapes known in Slovenia. Its descendants are now found on nearly every continent of the world.
Its owners still produce wine from Old Vine. They bottle anywhere from 35 to 55 kilograms annually, bottling the product in more than 100 2.5 decaliter glass bottles per year. The annual Pruning of the Old Vine is a ceremonial event. The scions are naturally highly sought after and the bestowal of the ancient plant’s scion is cause for celebration by the lucky cities chosen to receive one as a gift. Another annual ceremonial involves the harvest of its grapes which takes place as part of the Old Vine Festival.
Old Vine is registered in the Guinness Book of Records. This revered plant is carefully tended and watched over, and is showing no signs of weakness.
Old Vine might provide the perfect excuse to visit Maribor. A lively tourist industry has grown up around the old vine. Sightseers can visit the Old Vine House itself, visit wine cellars and museums, and just enjoy the town and its surroundings. All in all, Old Vine sounds like a good excuse to take in a part of traditional Slovenia.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
The World’s Oldest Bone Tumor
This "world’s oldest" also goes to the Neanderthals, but it’s not really happy news. It seems that a 120,000-year old Neanderthal was the victim of a bone tumor that plagues people even today. It is actually 100,000 older than the previous record-holder.
This particular tumor was a benign fibrous dysplasia found on a rib recovered from the well-known Neanderthal site at Krapina, Croatia that is arguably of one of the richest Neanderthal sites ever found. It is identical to its modern-day descendants. One unusual aspect of this tumor is that Neanderthals did not generally have a long life-span. Tumors such as this one generally only appear as an individual ages.
While many Neanderthals died as a result of accidents or other types of violence, we now know that they also suffered from many of the same diseases which afflict people today. Evidence has been found that these early people suffered from tuberculosis, arthritis, periodontitis and other potentially deadly diseases. Some of this evidence has been found in individuals who lived 100,000 or more years ago.
We sometimes think of Neanderthals as living in an idyllic world where they were free to hunt and roam where they liked without suffering the ravages of disease. Mounting evidence indicates that this was not always the case. It also seems clear that at least some so-called "modern" diseases may have evolved much earlier than has been generally believed.
If you’d like more technical information on how the tumor was discovered, visit here
This particular tumor was a benign fibrous dysplasia found on a rib recovered from the well-known Neanderthal site at Krapina, Croatia that is arguably of one of the richest Neanderthal sites ever found. It is identical to its modern-day descendants. One unusual aspect of this tumor is that Neanderthals did not generally have a long life-span. Tumors such as this one generally only appear as an individual ages.
While many Neanderthals died as a result of accidents or other types of violence, we now know that they also suffered from many of the same diseases which afflict people today. Evidence has been found that these early people suffered from tuberculosis, arthritis, periodontitis and other potentially deadly diseases. Some of this evidence has been found in individuals who lived 100,000 or more years ago.
We sometimes think of Neanderthals as living in an idyllic world where they were free to hunt and roam where they liked without suffering the ravages of disease. Mounting evidence indicates that this was not always the case. It also seems clear that at least some so-called "modern" diseases may have evolved much earlier than has been generally believed.
If you’d like more technical information on how the tumor was discovered, visit here
Thursday, June 27, 2013
The World’s Oldest Smart Bombs
Today it seems like all bombs are "smart." But when was the first guided missile actually used? The answer may surprise you.
Smart bomb development actually started in 1938 when a scientist named Dr. Max Kramer, working for a German company, successfully added a radio-controlled spoiler to the tail of a 550-pound bomb. Two years later the system had proven itself on the smaller bombs and was then added to a much larger bomb called the FX-1400. This bomb weighed 3,469 pounds and was ten and a half feet long. It was popularly dubbed the Fritz-X. The bomb boasted an armor-piercing warhead and could sink large battleships.
The new bomb required good visibility because after it was released, the bombardier visually guided it with radio signals by sighting on a bright flare mounted on the bomb’s tail. A total of 750 Fritz-Xs were eventually produced and kept at coastal airfields throughout Europe.
Perhaps the best-known action involving Fritz-X bombs occurred when the Italian Fleet defected and was intercepted by a flight of six German Do217's. The fleet consisted of three battleships, six cruisers, and many auxiliary ships. The ultra-modern Roma was among the battleships.
The Roma took a direct hit just forward of her front smokestack, starting a major fire which reached the forward magazine. The explosion ripped open her hull and the Roma sank, taking over 1,250 sailors with her. The Roma was the first capital ship sunk by a guided bomb. This bomb proved only partially effective, which is not surprising for such a radical new technology. Between August 1943 and February 1944, the Germans launched 28 separate attacks against ships, but sank only one and damaged four others with their "smart bomb." Still, when you consider that the technology was so new, and relatively primitive, the experiments were successful enough to continue research and further advances.
It is also worth knowing that in 1942 the Allies began developing its own guided bombs designed to attack bridges, railways, and other narrow targets. These bombs were the first of the Vertical Bomb-1 (VB1), forerunners of the azimuth-only family of weapons used in Burma, Europe, and in the Pacific Theater.
Smart bomb development actually started in 1938 when a scientist named Dr. Max Kramer, working for a German company, successfully added a radio-controlled spoiler to the tail of a 550-pound bomb. Two years later the system had proven itself on the smaller bombs and was then added to a much larger bomb called the FX-1400. This bomb weighed 3,469 pounds and was ten and a half feet long. It was popularly dubbed the Fritz-X. The bomb boasted an armor-piercing warhead and could sink large battleships.
The new bomb required good visibility because after it was released, the bombardier visually guided it with radio signals by sighting on a bright flare mounted on the bomb’s tail. A total of 750 Fritz-Xs were eventually produced and kept at coastal airfields throughout Europe.
Perhaps the best-known action involving Fritz-X bombs occurred when the Italian Fleet defected and was intercepted by a flight of six German Do217's. The fleet consisted of three battleships, six cruisers, and many auxiliary ships. The ultra-modern Roma was among the battleships.
The Roma took a direct hit just forward of her front smokestack, starting a major fire which reached the forward magazine. The explosion ripped open her hull and the Roma sank, taking over 1,250 sailors with her. The Roma was the first capital ship sunk by a guided bomb. This bomb proved only partially effective, which is not surprising for such a radical new technology. Between August 1943 and February 1944, the Germans launched 28 separate attacks against ships, but sank only one and damaged four others with their "smart bomb." Still, when you consider that the technology was so new, and relatively primitive, the experiments were successful enough to continue research and further advances.
It is also worth knowing that in 1942 the Allies began developing its own guided bombs designed to attack bridges, railways, and other narrow targets. These bombs were the first of the Vertical Bomb-1 (VB1), forerunners of the azimuth-only family of weapons used in Burma, Europe, and in the Pacific Theater.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
The World’s Oldest Primate Fossil
There has been some talk lately that humans originated in Asia rather than Africa. New evidence has just emerged in the form of a tiny fossil recognized as the oldest primate discovered so far. It was found in China’s Hubei province, and is 7 million years older than the previous oldest primate fossil.
The little primate, Archicebus achilles, is a primitive tarsier. This primate group is closely related to monkeys, apes and humans, although it lived before the evolutionary split that divided the three groups. It is a descendant of the ancestor of all primates, but it is not clear yet whether it is a direct ancestor of humans.
The tiny, primitive animal, barely 3 inches (7 centimeters) long and weighing only about 30 grams, lived some 55 million years ago. The world was very warm and its home was a lush rainforest. It probably climbed trees and dined on insects. Dinosaurs had been extinct for some 10 million years when this little fellow lived, and mammals, reptiles and birds were beginning to thrive in a world that had experienced drastic environmental changes 65 million years ago.
The tiny animal somewhat resembles a modern squirrel but with the feet of a monkey. Its arms, legs and teeth resemble those of a primitive primate, and its primitive skull contained surprisingly small eyes.
Scientists will now be kept busy trying to determine where this tiny newcomer fits into the primate family tree. They do not believe that Archicebus achilles is the first primate, but they are certain that it is a descendant of the first one. For now, however, the focus of the search for our possible first primate ancestor almost certainly must shift to the far East.
If you’d like more information about this little primate, visit here
The little primate, Archicebus achilles, is a primitive tarsier. This primate group is closely related to monkeys, apes and humans, although it lived before the evolutionary split that divided the three groups. It is a descendant of the ancestor of all primates, but it is not clear yet whether it is a direct ancestor of humans.
The tiny, primitive animal, barely 3 inches (7 centimeters) long and weighing only about 30 grams, lived some 55 million years ago. The world was very warm and its home was a lush rainforest. It probably climbed trees and dined on insects. Dinosaurs had been extinct for some 10 million years when this little fellow lived, and mammals, reptiles and birds were beginning to thrive in a world that had experienced drastic environmental changes 65 million years ago.
The tiny animal somewhat resembles a modern squirrel but with the feet of a monkey. Its arms, legs and teeth resemble those of a primitive primate, and its primitive skull contained surprisingly small eyes.
Scientists will now be kept busy trying to determine where this tiny newcomer fits into the primate family tree. They do not believe that Archicebus achilles is the first primate, but they are certain that it is a descendant of the first one. For now, however, the focus of the search for our possible first primate ancestor almost certainly must shift to the far East.
If you’d like more information about this little primate, visit here
Monday, June 10, 2013
Oldest Known Preserved Dissected Human
The Dark Ages weren’t really so dark after all. Historians have long thought that science stagnated in Europe during the time between the fall of the Roman Empire and some indistinct time before the beginning of the Renaissance. Those views are changing at last. Here’s one example of a "Dark Ages" scientific surprise.
Researchers studying a preserved human dissection originally believed that it dated from the 15th or 16th century, putting it firmly into the Renaissance period. In fact, radiocarbon dating revealed that it actually dates from 1200 to 1280 A.D.
The specimen consists of the head and shoulders of a man. The skullcap and brain had been so skillfully removed that it is obvious that the man who conducted the dissection was quite skilled, which means he had obviously done the procedure before and knew how to preserve his specimen by filling the arteries with a red compound composed of beeswax, lime, and cinnabar mercury.
Researchers and historians are beginning to see that the people of the "Dark Ages" weren’t as ignorant and backward as earlier believed.
The identity of the man whose body was dissected will never be known. Why was it preserved? It may have been saved as a training tool for physicians. Or perhaps the dissector wanted to preserve it for further study.
Even the great Greco-Roman physician Galen was not permitted to conduct human autopsies in the 2nd century AD. His research was limited to dissecting animals and studying the wounds of gladiators. For centuries, his texts were relied upon by European and Near Eastern doctors until the Renaissance despite the fact that there is evidence that both Catholic and secular dissections were being performed, leading to new information about the human body and how it worked. For example, records show that an Italian physician conducted autopsies in 1286 in an attempt to determine the origin of a deadly epidemic.
The artifact is now in private hands, but will soon be on display at the Parisian Museum of the History of Medicine.
There’s a photo of the macabre artifact, along with information about the myths about the Catholic Church’s supposed repression of scientific advancement here
Researchers studying a preserved human dissection originally believed that it dated from the 15th or 16th century, putting it firmly into the Renaissance period. In fact, radiocarbon dating revealed that it actually dates from 1200 to 1280 A.D.
The specimen consists of the head and shoulders of a man. The skullcap and brain had been so skillfully removed that it is obvious that the man who conducted the dissection was quite skilled, which means he had obviously done the procedure before and knew how to preserve his specimen by filling the arteries with a red compound composed of beeswax, lime, and cinnabar mercury.
Researchers and historians are beginning to see that the people of the "Dark Ages" weren’t as ignorant and backward as earlier believed.
The identity of the man whose body was dissected will never be known. Why was it preserved? It may have been saved as a training tool for physicians. Or perhaps the dissector wanted to preserve it for further study.
Even the great Greco-Roman physician Galen was not permitted to conduct human autopsies in the 2nd century AD. His research was limited to dissecting animals and studying the wounds of gladiators. For centuries, his texts were relied upon by European and Near Eastern doctors until the Renaissance despite the fact that there is evidence that both Catholic and secular dissections were being performed, leading to new information about the human body and how it worked. For example, records show that an Italian physician conducted autopsies in 1286 in an attempt to determine the origin of a deadly epidemic.
The artifact is now in private hands, but will soon be on display at the Parisian Museum of the History of Medicine.
There’s a photo of the macabre artifact, along with information about the myths about the Catholic Church’s supposed repression of scientific advancement here
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