The development of new hunting projectiles by European hunter-gatherers during the Mesolithic may have been related to territoriality in a rapidly changing climate, according to a study published in the journal PLOS ONE by Philippe Crombé from the University of Ghent, Belgium. As a result of warming occurring at a rate of between 1.5 and […]
History
The line of demarcation between prehistoric and historical times is crossed when people cease to live only in the present, and become consciously interested both in their past and in their future. History begins with the handing down of tradition; and tradition means the carrying of the habits and lessons of the past into the future. Records of the past begin to be kept for the benefit of future generations. (E.H. Carr)
Votive Deposit with Evidence of Bull Sacrifice Found at Selinunte Site
In a previous article, we recounted how in 409 B.C., Carthaginian troops ravaged the Greek city of Selinunte in Sicily, killing or capturing over 20 thousand residents. A few thousand remained in the city as tributaries to Carthage. Years later, in 250 B.C., the entire population was relocated to Lilybaeum and would never return. Since […]
Bronze Age Palace and Cuneiform Tablets Found in Iraqi Kurdistan
Archaeologists, both German and Kurdish, have discovered a Bronze Age palace and cuneiform tablets in Iraqi Kurdistan. The palace, located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River in the region of Iraqi Kurdistan, is believed to date back to the time of the Mittani Empire, which dominated much of northern Mesopotamia and Syria between […]
Jewelry Metal Found in an Iron Age Burial in Finland Originates from Southern Europe
A recently published study indicates that the material of the jewelry found with human remains in the Levänluhta burial comes from southern Europe, contrary to what researchers had previously thought. The Levänluhta site, dating from the Iron Age in the region (300-800 AD, later than the Mediterranean), is one of the most famous archaeological sites […]
How archaeologists found the origin of the legend of King Midas, who turned everything he touched into gold
One of the best-known legends of antiquity is that of the Phrygian king Midas, who turned everything he touched into gold. According to Aristotle, he died of starvation when it was impossible to touch any food without transforming it into the precious metal. The problem is that there are at least three kings with that […]
Kohima, the fiery battle that prevented the Japanese from invading India
“Walker, go and tell Sparta that their children lie here for obeying their laws.” That splendid phrase of Simonides, which, in its multiple translations, constitutes the epigraph of the monument to Leonidas in the Thermopylae, is too juicy not to take advantage of it in other war memorials with the corresponding changes. It is what […]
The World War II airmen who survived falls from thousands of feet high.
In 1972 a Serbian hostess named Vesna Vulović became famous and is registered in the Guinness Book of Records for having survived the fall of her plane from over 32,000 feet in altitude. But this is not a unique case; several more are known, one of them just a year earlier, the German teenager Juliane […]
How three men ascended Olympus for the first time
More than 100 years ago, on August 2, 1913, three men reached the summit of Mount Olympus in Greece. Perhaps others had tried it before, who would dare to prove by himself whether the gods really lived there? But the fact is that nothing in the classical sources makes us suspect of such a boldness. […]
The Japanese ambassador to Berlin who involuntarily made Normandy landings easier to the Allies
Although intelligence services were consecrated above all in the Cold War, they had already had more or less important roles throughout History. In that sense, it is possible to consider among the best agents that have ever existed, one that operated during the Second World War, providing a thousand and a half reports to the […]
The irreverent letter the Cossacks wrote to the Ottoman Sultan in 1676
Cossacks were a social and military group that by the 10th century settled in southern Russia and present-day Ukraine. They had a Turkic origin and had arrived with hordes of Mongol invasions in the area, settling there permanently. Famous for their combat skills and military strategy, they gradually integrated and mixed with other ethnic groups […]