Cognitive Dissidents

Just to prove that recycling can be useful: the Archimedes Palimpsest has traces of works by Archimedes, Hyperides and Aristotle.

The prayer book was written in the 13th Century by a scribe called John Myronas.

But instead of using fresh parchment for his work, he employed pages from five existing books.

Dr Noel, curator of manuscripts at the US-based Walters Art Museum and a co-author of a forthcoming book on the Archimedes Palimpsest, said: "It's a rather brutal process, but it means you can reuse parchment if you are short of it.

"You take books off shelves, you scrub off the text, you cut them up and you make a new book."

In 1906 it came to light that one of the books recycled to form the medieval manuscript contained a unique work by Archimedes.

And in 2002, modern imaging technology not only provided a clearer view of this famous mathematician's words, but it also revealed another text - the only known manuscript of Hyperides, an Athenian politician from the 4th Century BC.

But now advanced imaging technology has revealed a third text - a commentary on the philosopher Aristotle.

The "Lost Library of Alexandria" might have been right under our noses alll the time - in the form of recycled parchment - and all we needed was modern technology to read it.

Tags: palimpsest, archimedes palimpsest, lost knowledge, alexandria, techno-archaelology, fortean

Posted by Dr. K at 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

No - really - its a new theory that pushes back the date for the earliest colonisation of Easter Island and its the latest attempt to solve The Mystery of Easter Island

Hunt sent the samples from the dig to a lab for radiocarbon dating, expecting to receive a date around 800 A.D., in keeping with what other archaeologists had found. Instead, the samples dated to 1200 A.D. This would mean the Rapanui arrived four centuries later than expected. The deforestation would have happened much faster than originally assumed, and the human impact on the environment was fast and immediate.

Hunt suspected that humans alone could not destroy the forests this quickly. In the sand's layers, he found a potential culprit—a plethora of rat bones. Scientists have long known that when humans colonized the island, so too did the Polynesian rat, having hitched a ride either as stowaways or sources of food. However they got to Easter Island, the rodents found an unlimited food supply in the lush palm trees, believes Hunt, who bases this assertion on an abundance of rat-gnawed palm seeds.

Under these conditions, he says, "Rats would reach a population of a few million within a couple of years." From there, time would take its toll. "Rats would have an initial impact, eating all of the seeds. With no new regeneration, as the trees die, deforestation can proceed slowly," he says, adding that people cutting down trees and burning them would have only added to the process. Eventually, the degeneration of trees, according to his theory, led to the downfall of the rats and eventually of the humans. The demise of the island, says Hunt, "was a synergy of impacts. But I think it is more rat than we think."

Tags: easter island, rapa nui, ecocide, early settlement, jared diamond

Posted by Dr. K at 11:19 AM | Permalink

News of a the finding of a bone which challenges the theory that modern man originated in Africa

Most experts believe that our ancestors emerged in Africa more than 150,000 years ago and then migrated around the world.

However, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof Erik Trinkaus and colleagues provide details of a skeleton found in 2003 from Tianyuan Cave near Beijing.

The skeleton is 42,000 to 38,500 years old, making it the oldest modern human skeleton from eastern Eurasia, and one of the oldest modern humans from the region.

Most of its features match those of modern man, though some are more like late archaic humans, including the Neanderthals. The authors conclude that, as our ancestors spread, they interbred with local, more ancient, types of human.

I expect the experts to be arguing about this for another 42,000 years at least ...

Tags: trinkaus, tianyuan, eurasia, modern man

Posted by Dr. K at 6:50 PM | Permalink

Most of the research done on the great pyramid of Cheops/Khefru has been done by "Pyramidiots" who seek to prove - well just about anything really.

So it is nice to hear from an archaeologist who is more worried about how they were built and has come up with yet another solution to the pyramid contruction puzzle.

Ending eight years of study on the subject, architect Jean-Pierre Houdin released his findings and a computerized 3-D mockup showing how workers would have erected the pyramid at Giza outside Cairo.

The most widespread theory had been that an outer ramp had been used by the Egyptians, who left few traces to help archeologists and other scientists decode the secret to the construction.

Houdin said he had taken into account the copper and stone tools available at the time, the granite and limestone blocks, the location of the pyramid and the strength and knowledge of the workers.

While we are on the subject - my preferred solution to the problem of fixing the lintels of Stonehenge is the idea that they packed the uprights with snow in winter to produced a platform at the right level, then built a ramp and slid the lintels into place.

When spring came the ice melted and the lintels settled into place across the uprights ...

You can find more about this new solution to the pyramid contrstruction puzzle - including a 3D film and the original paper (pdf) here

Tags: pyramids, architecture, bronze age building techniques, jean-pierre houdin, stonehenge

Posted by Dr. K at 8:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Many of us historical/archaeological fans don't believe in the historical narrative we are fed from and early age - now we have an intresting piece of evidence that suggests that the Portugese discovered Australia

A 16th century maritime map in a Los Angeles library vault proves that Portuguese adventurers, not British or Dutch, were the first Europeans to discover Australia, says a new book which details the secret discovery of Australia.

The book "Beyond Capricorn" says the map, which accurately marks geographical sites along Australia's east coast in Portuguese, proves that Portuguese seafarer Christopher de Mendonca lead a fleet of four ships into Botany Bay in 1522 -- almost 250 years before Britain's Captain James Cook.

Australian author Peter Trickett said that when he enlarged the small map he could recognize all the headlands and bays in Botany Bay in Sydney -- the site where Cook claimed Australia for Britain in 1770.

As far as the people living there were concerned there was nothing "undiscovered" about Australia to start with - and there was nothing "unclaimed" either - after all it was their country - until it was "discovered" that is ..

Tags: australia, history, navigation, christopher de mendonca, captain cook, peter trickett

Posted by Dr. K at 11:30 AM | Permalink

Interesting article this week in the Diario de Cadiz - about how the origins of the city of Cadiz have been pushed back closer to the historical records.

Cadiz is believed to have been founded by the Phoenicians in c.1100 BC - there are historical records which date it to this point - but up to now nothing has been found by the archaeologists to support the historical claims.

Now - under the foundations for the proposed new theatre - the archaelogists have found Phoenician remains from the early part of c.600 BC - for the first time.

These findings place the founding of "Gades" - modern Cadiz - much closer to the oral and written traditions - a nice archaelogical finding which supports the idea that the Phoenicians were here "doing what the Romans did for us" a long time before the Romans arrived ...

Tags: gades, cadiz, phoenicians, romans, history, spain, andalucia

Posted by Dr. K at 2:02 PM | Permalink

Interesting - because it puts back the idea of astronomical observations in the "New World" by a number of years
Ancient Solar Observatory Discovered in Peru

The first solar observatory in the Americas may have been uncovered in coastal Peru. The ceremonial site provides evidence of sophisticated 'cults of the Sun' operating in South America as early as 2300 years ago.

Other ancient structures around the world – such as Stonehenge, which is estimated to be 5000 years old – are aligned with the rising and setting of the Sun on certain days called the solstices. These occur twice a year, around 22 June and 22 December, when the Sun appears to reach its highest point above or below the equator.

Previously, archaeologists had uncovered 4000-year-old gourd fragments in Peru showing images of a "staff god" with rays emanating from its head, perhaps like the Sun (see America's oldest religious icon revealed).

Historical records also describe "Sun pillars" suggesting that South America's Incan civilisation was observing the Sun – possibly to help mark when to plant crops – around 1500 AD, though those pillars have since been destroyed. The Incas also held public rituals to observe the Sun rise or set at marked positions on the horizon, and Incan leaders claimed authority to rule through kinship to the Sun.

Tags: astro-archaeology, astronomy, history, science, pre-columbian

Posted by Dr. K at 8:41 PM | Permalink

Amazing - it turns out that people were cultivating chilli peppers 6,000 years ago and it could help to rewrite the history books as archaeologists discover evidence of earlier farming in Ecuador.

New fossil evidence shows prehistoric people from southern Peru up to the Bahamas were cultivating varieties of chilies millennia before Columbus' arrival brought the spice to world cuisine.

Archaeologists trace food origins not just from curiosity about the ancients' everyday lives. How a crop spreads sheds light on prehistoric travel and trade. In the Middle East, figs were domesticated 11,400 years ago. Wheat wasn't far behind. In the New World, corn was being cultivated around 9,000 years ago.

How do you trace a pepper, which leaves no husk or other easily fossilized evidence? A dozen researchers at seven sites around Latin America kept finding microscopic starch grains on grindstones and cooking vessels and in trash heaps. Finally Perry identified these microfossils as residue from domesticated, not wild, chili species that in some spots even predated the invention of pottery.

Tags: cooking, history, chilli peppers

Posted by Dr. K at 1:20 PM | Permalink

This made its way to the top of the pile on the Digg Space Page - but I wondered about the comment at the beginning of the article about Telling Time by the Stars

Telling time by the stars is not really very useful.

Surely - the ability to tell time by the stars would have been very useful indeed for anyone who was involved in any kind of seamanship.

The problem of longitude was a thorny problem for mariners all over the world.

Longitude can't be obtained that easily. The method that is considered the most reliable and practicable is by using a chronometer which keeps the local time at a point of known longitude, say, the home port of the ship. By judging the local time of the ship2, the navigator computes the time difference between home port and ship. Because good old Earth does one full rotation (360°) in 24 hours, one hour corresponds to 360 /24 = 15°. One hour time difference from the home port means 15° longitude difference (east or west).

Having determined latitude and longitude in the described ways, the ship's captain knew where he was and in which direction he had to sail.

Now suppose ancient mariners also knew how to "tell the time" from the stars - wouldn't that enable them to predict how far they had sailed across the globe? - while knowledge of latitude from the rising and setting of the sun would enable them to know roughly how far up or down the globe that they had travelled.

The "ancient mariner" theory means that people would have been able to sail a long way with a degree of accuracy.

If they travelled from America from Europe, for example, that would explain a lot of "misplaced" archaeological artefacts found in the "New World" - like the Lake Superior Copper Mines, the Newport Tower, Mystery Hill, the New England Stone Chambers, the San Francisco East Bay walls.

But accepting that ancient man had a degree of sophistication about matters astronomical would undermine the whole accepted history of the world.

Conventional history tells us "it was impossible" to sail across the world because it was necessary to have a reliable chronometer first, and that the first accurate chronomter was not constucted until 1770 (or thereabouts) - and then leaps to the conclusion that because it was "impossible" before this it must have been impossible beforehand.

Subsequently - any evidence or data that suggests anything else becomes - in Charles Fort's words - "Damned Information" - and is subsequently ignored because it doesn't fit in with any theories.

I prefer sensible explanations for archaeological anomalies - and the idea that ancient mariners were able to sail around the globe is much more sensible than any ideas about "Alien Intervention" or "Lost Supercivilisations" - especially when we already know from the evidence that ancient man had a very good grasp of astronomy.

Tags: archaeology, astronomy, navigation, longitude, ancient mariners, forteana

Posted by Dr. K at 11:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Another ‘Stonehenge’ discovered in Amazon
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SAO PAULO, Brazil - A grouping of granite blocks along a grassy Amazon hilltop may be the vestiges of a centuries-old astronomical observatory — a find that archaeologists say shows early rainforest inhabitants were more sophisticated than previously believed.

The 127 blocks, some as high as 9 feet (2.75 meters) tall, are spaced at regular intervals around the hill, like a crown 100 feet (30 meters) in diameter.

On the shortest day of the year — Dec. 21 — the shadow of one of the blocks disappears when the sun is directly above it.

It looks like the building of stone monuments to track astronomical events was widely spread across the globe.

The discipline of Astro-Archaeology has now gone far beyond the crazed theories of Erich Von Daniken or an interest in Ley Lines.

Researchers have found that stone monuments aligned with astronomical events such as sunrise and sunset at the time of the solstice(s) are commonplace almost everywhere ancient man developed early civilisation.

I find it all very interesting - but a key question remains unanswered for me:

Was the knowledge used to build these stone monuments discovered independently across the globe, or was there a dissemination of knowledge, along with the normal trade goods, that spread this information far and wide.

Certainly there is a lot of evidence that suggests trade routes - especially sea trade routes - were widely used in the ancient world: Phoenicians from Gades traded with tin miners in Cornwall, Roman amphora have been found underwater in the Americas, and spices were shipped from South East asia via the Middle East.

Was astronomical knowledge disseminated along with these trade goods?

It seems highly likely - navigators have an interest in the stars along with farmers - one for navigation and one for growing and planting - so the soil is ripe for the cross-pollination of knowledge between civilisations.

The great thing about this idea is that it doesn't rely on alien intervention or a mythical "Atlantis" to explain the global distribution this type of stone monument - it uses the information already available without uneccesarily postulating unknown theoretical entities.

Tags: archaeology, astronomy, astro-archaeology, stonehenge, stone-circles, amazon river

Posted by Dr. K at 12:08 PM | Permalink

Interesting story from "The Times" about how scientists might have figured out where the glass came from that was used to contruct the scarab beetle found in Tutankhamun's tomb.

SCIENTISTS believe they have solved the mystery surrounding a piece of rare natural glass at the centre of an elaborate necklace found among the treasures of Tutankhamun, the boy pharaoh.

They think a fragile meteorite broke up as it entered the atmosphere, producing a fireball with temperatures over 1,800C that turned the desert sand and rock into molten lava which became glass when it cooled.

This is of considerable interest - it is generally believed that the Ancient Egyptians did not have the technology to smelt iron until they learnt it - possibly from the Celts - so it is believed that they only had access to "meteoritic iron" before this period.

Amidst all of the gold of Tutankhamon's tomb, ONE object of precious iron was layed at his side...a dagger made of meteoric iron.

But the mystery does not end there - there is evidence to that the Ancient Egyptians has access to iron before the burial of Tutankhamun.

On Friday May 26th 1837, during the Vyse excavations at Giza, one of the excavators, J R Hill, found an iron plate embedded in the cement of an inner joint at the southern `Star Shaft' of the Kings Chamber.

It was around 12 by 4 inches and 1/8th of an inch thick.

More interestingly it was deeply embedded in the masonry and had to be removed by blasting apart the outer two tiers of stones.

Tags: archaeology, tutankhamun, egypt, meteoritic glass, meteoritic iron, forteana

Posted by Dr. K at 10:59 PM | Permalink

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | 'Brazilian Stonehenge' discovered

Brazilian archaeologists have found an ancient stone structure in a remote corner of the Amazon that may cast new light on the region's past. The site, thought to be an observatory or place of worship, pre-dates European colonisation and is said to suggest a sophisticated knowledge of astronomy.

Tags: archaeology, astro archaeology, amerinidian archaeology, astronomy, stone circles, winter solstice

Posted by Dr. K at 1:44 PM | Permalink

I found this - from the Anchorage Daily News - very interesting

Douglas Henry knew it was old when he found a slab of mangtak -- or whale blubber with skin -- in a food cache last summer. Yet, when the 27-year-old Gambell resident recently learned that, after carbon dating analysis, the blubber is estimated to be 1,000 years old, he was a bit surprised.

... the carbon dating is scientific proof for what the people have told newcomers all the time. "We've told people from outside that we've been doing this for a long time. Now we have good proof for that claim.

"We're trying to save our subsistence way, our way of whaling. It's our way of life. This dating proves that we have done this for a very long time,"

Tags: remote-sensing, nasa, geology, archaeology, mayans

Posted by Dr. K at 7:52 PM | Permalink