Maj. Fannie Griffin McClendon and her Army colleagues never dwelled on being the only Black battalion of women to serve in Europe during World War II. They had a job to do. The 6888th Central Directory Postal Battalion was credited with solving a growing mail crisis during its stint in England and, upon their return, […]
Before he was hanged, Tollund Man ate porridge and fish. Shortly before his violent death in 400 B.C., a man — whose remains are known as Denmark’s famous bog body “Tollund Man” — ate a meal of porridge and fish, a new study finds. Tollund Man also had several parasitic infections from whipworms and mawworms, […]
Disappearance of six Dutch and British ships sunk in 1942 sparked international condemnation The British government is in talks with Indonesia over the disappearance of half a dozen sunken warships illegally salvaged from the Java Sea, together with the remains of hundreds of Dutch and British sailors. British diplomats met the Indonesian maritime ministry in Jakarta to […]
An international team of researchers has found that the inhabitants of the Neolithic settlement Çatalhöyük (7100-5950 BCE) experienced overcrowding, infectious diseases, violence and environmental problems. The research was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Çatalhöyük began as a small settlement about 7100 BCE, likely consisting of a few mud-brick houses in what archaeologists call the […]
Unearthing the Anglo-Saxon treasure will spark a modern gold rush There is no reason to believe that Terry Herbert, the 55-year-old Staffordshire man who stumbled upon one of the greatest hoards of Anglo-Saxon treasure discovered in Britain, has any particular interest in the early Middle Ages. He is a metal detectorist, and they are generally […]
A new theory suggests that Homo erectus was able to create seagoing vessels – and must have used language to sail successfully They had bodies similar to modern humans, could make tools, and were possibly the first to cook. Now one expert is arguing that Homo erectus might have been a mariner – complete with sailing lingo. Homo erectus first […]
The earliest human footprint on record in the Americas wasn’t found in Canada, the United States or even Mexico; it was found much farther south, in Chile, and it dates to an astonishing 15,600 years ago, a new study finds. The finding sheds light on when humans first reached the Americas, likely by traveling across […]
Ancient people in China practiced human head-shaping about 12,000 years ago — meaning they bound some children’s maturing skulls, encouraging the heads to grow into elongated ovals — making them the oldest group on record to purposefully squash their skulls, a new study finds. While excavating a Neolithic site (the last period of the Stone […]
Newly renovated, the National Museum of Scotland at last gives a collection of Victorian curiosities the extraordinary showcase they deserve. Jonathan Glancey takes a look inside A hippopotamus suspended from the rafters. A colour television dating from 1937. A giant Victorian lighthouse lens that once illuminated the Firth of Forth. A seal gut anorak, looking like plastic, made […]
Amateur cavers map network of passages built by Roman emperor at Tivoli to keep slaves, oxen and victuals below stairs Amateur cavers have mapped a vast network of tunnels underneath Hadrian’s Villa outside Rome, leading archaeologists to radically revise their views of one of ancient Rome’s most imposing imperial retreats. Lowering themselves through light shafts […]
