Archaeologists do it in holes: Tales from the stratigraphy

[Razgovory]

Yeah, I'm pretty skeptical about that.  If they they were able to retain that sort of information from the paleolithic, you would expect a lot more conservatism in their languages.  Instead we a wide variety of language families and language isolates.  It would be weird if they remembered some island that was lost twenty thousand years ago but forgot how to speak to their neighbors.

[viper37]

Britain's equivalent to Tutankhamun found in Southend-on-Sea

Burial chamber of a wealthy nobleman in Prittlewell shows Anglo-Saxon Essex in new light quote]

[Malthus]

Britain's equivalent to Tutankhamun found in Southend-on-Sea

Burial chamber of a wealthy nobleman in Prittlewell shows Anglo-Saxon Essex in new light quote]

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/anglo-saxon-burial-site-scli-intl-gbr/index.html

This looks like an amazing discovery! 

[The Minsky Moment]

Best part:

workers unearthed an Anglo-Saxon princely burial chamber in Prittlewell, Essex, between a main road and a railway line, with an Aldi supermarket and the Saxon King pub just nearby.

Always trust the publican.

[mongers]

Best part:

workers unearthed an Anglo-Saxon princely burial chamber in Prittlewell, Essex, between a main road and a railway line, with an Aldi supermarket and the Saxon King pub just nearby.

Always trust the publican.

It could be seen as an in part refutation of the point Raz made up the thread.

[Maladict]

https://news.yahoo.com/secret-chamber-uncovered-2-000-years-nero-palace-192434928.html

Rome (AFP) - A team of archaeologists have discovered a secret chamber decorated with detailed frescoes during restoration work at Emperor Nero's Domus Aurea or Golden Palace constructed two millennia ago.

The team came across an opening leading to a room covered with depictions of mythical creatures including centaurs and the god Pan, officials from the Colosseum archeological park, supervising the work, told AFP on Friday.

The archaeologists have dubbed the chamber, which will require excavation with much of it buried and just its vault currently visible, Sala della Sfinge, or the Room of the Sphinx and say it is a significant discovery.

The find offers a tantalising glimpse into "the atmosphere of the 60s of the first Century AD in Rome," the Colosseum officials said, adding that what could be seen of the vault was "very visible and fairly well preserved."

Set against a white background can be seen "red-edged squares finessed with yellow-ochre lines and golden bands punctuated by a dense series of floral elements," the officials said.

Each of the tiles depicts different types of animal form -- from panthers to birds, centaurs and a sphinx, while others show musical instruments.

The archaeologists were working on a nearby area of the complex set beneath a hill next to the Colosseum in ancient Rome's historic centre when they chanced upon the chamber.

Architects and archaeologists secured the site once home to a gigantic landscaped palace and consolidated the frescoes with a view to embarking upon a further stage of excavation to reveal the room in its full splendour.

Built between AD 64 and 68, the immense complex, which other Roman emperors later built on, comprises buildings, gardens and an artificial lake.

After Nero, who legend has it played the fiddle during the AD 64 fire which laid waste much of the centre of the Roman Empire, died in AD 68, his successors tried to destroy races of his rule. Emperor Trajan had the Domus Aurea covered over with soil and built baths over it while Vespasian set in train construction of the Colosseum where the ornamental lake had been.

In the intervening centuries, much of the site was abandoned and today only few traces remain visible of what was a huge estate and of which only a fraction has been excavated with much of it lying under today's modern bustling city.

Part of the site was discovered by Renaissance artists including Raphael, some of whom managed to slide down on ropes and squeeze themselves through a hole in the ceiling to gaze upon magnificent frescoes which would inspire their own works.

[jimmy olsen]

A seemingly modern skull found in Greece that's 210k years old. Evidence is rapidly pilling up of an early H. sapiens migration into Eurasia that ultimately failed.

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jul/10/piece-of-skull-found-in-greece-is-oldest-human-fossil-outside-africa

They definitely left their mark on the Neanderthals though, with

3% of the Neanderthal genome that is putatively introgressed from ancient humans, and estimate that the gene flow occurred between 200-300kya.

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/687368v1

[HVC]

A seemingly modern skull found in Greece that's 210k years old. Evidence is rapidly pilling up of an early H. sapiens migration into Eurasia that ultimately failed.

I thought its been established that there were multiple exoduses?

[The Brain]

Exodi.

[Tamas]

Now even Tim is an alarmist about the migrant invasion of Greece.

[Maladict]

Cool video of HMS Terror. It's in amazing shape.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-49490400/franklin-expedition-new-footage-of-wreck-of-hms-terror

[Maladict]

Also, General Gudin may have been found in Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49508521

[grumbler]

Also, General Gudin may have been found in Russia.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49508521

Interesting in some ways, but trivial in others.  There's no reason to be impressed that the grave was found, since it was always known about.  There was no mystery.

One mystery, though, is why the writers of articles include stuff they made up, like "His Grande Armee of 400,000 men was thought to be unbeatable and he himself had anticipated a rapid victory."  That's false on two counts:
1.  Napoleon knew that he had, at best, numerical parity with the Russians, and that his previous few battles at parity with them had been very hard-fought, and
2. Napoleon had known it would be a long campaign and intended to winter over 1812-1813 at Smolensk, before striking towards St Petersburg.  It was the Russian burning of Smolensk just before its capture that left him with the choice to continue (towards Moscow since St Pete was out of reach by that point) or retire to the border.

I see this all, the time, where professional writers (and not just those writing for the BBC) decide to add some demonstrably false "facts" to spice up their stories.  The lies don't add to the story, so why create them (or use them, if they are mere furphies)?

[viper37]

An ancestor - or relative - to Lucy has been found:
https://www.livescience.com/nearly-complete-lucy-ancestor-skull-unearthed.html

A nearly complete cranium from Ethiopia reveals the face of Australopithecus anamensis, the oldest known species of Australopithecus.

[The Brain]

Cool video of HMS Terror. It's in amazing shape.
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-49490400/franklin-expedition-new-footage-of-wreck-of-hms-terror

Very cool.