Lots of news this week...
Lots to chatter about!
'Terror birds' never met humans
Early humans could never have come into contact with the giant carnivorous "terror bird" Titanis walleri, research suggests.
It had been thought the fearsome beasts became extinct as little as 10,000 years ago - a time when humans shared their North American habitat.
But a US team has now revised this date to about two million years earlier.
The study, published in Geology, also sheds light on the flightless birds' migration to North America.
T. walleri is thought to be the largest species of the terror bird family. It would have stood 2m (7ft) tall and weighed 150kg (330lb).
The flightless species, which inhabited South and North America, had an enormous beak and lived up to its terror tag by being a top predator of its time. The researchers looked at fossils of the birds that had been uncovered in Florida and Texas.
By analysing the distribution of a group of chemicals, known as rare earth elements, within the bones, the team was able determine the age of the North American remains.
"Previously, scientists believed that Titanis became extinct about 10,000 years ago," explained Professor Bruce MacFadden, a palaeontologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History and lead author of the Geology paper.
This would have coincided with the mass extinction of other mega-fauna that occurred in North America at the end of the Pleistocene; a period of biodiversity loss which has been blamed in part on humans and their novel spear technologies at the time.
But analysis of fossil bones found in the Sante Fe River, Florida, which are thought to represent the last known T. walleri, suggests the terror bird had disappeared long before this.
"The last occurrence of Titanis, as far as we know it, dates to about two million years ago. It didn't persist into the last ice age," Professor MacFadden told the BBC News website.
Dating of another fossil in Texas - the earliest known example of a terror bird in North America - also yielded a surprising result for the team.
Most researchers thought the big bird had migrated from South America to North America after the two continents had become connected by the Panamanian land bridge about 3.5 million years ago, explained Professor MacFadden.
"But based on the new chemical dates that we have established, that previous hypothesis is no longer correct," he added.
"What we now believe, based on the age of the Titanis from Texas, is that Titanis dispersed from South America into North America about five million years ago, significantly earlier than the land bridge formed."
He said the researchers did not yet know how the flightless beast could have crossed unconnected continents.
"Did it swim across? Or did it raft across on a float? There were a series of closely spaced volcanic islands, which now forms Panama, so maybe it swam from one to the other - but we really don't know," he said.
Commentary: Dinosaurs have always fascinated me. Not enough to go to college for them, but I love 'em all the same. The idea of giant, meat-eating birds that are as mean as a T-Rex gives me the all-over shivers of delight. It also makes me thankful I'm not co-existing with them. I'd be a snack.
Bill Gates, BL unveil Leonardo codices online
Source: The Guardian (1-31-07)
Bill Gates and the British Library [have] revealed they were reuniting Leonardo's Codex Arundel with the Codex Leicester, online at least. High resolution versions of the notebooks will allow users to turn the pages for themselves.
The British Library-owned Codex Arundel is the world's second-biggest compilation of Leonardo pages and hardly anyone outside high academic circles has seen it. It features everything from treatises on mechanics and bird flight to drawings of underwater breathing apparatus, as well as riddles, prophecies and notes for himself of the "must buy bucket" variety.
The Codex Leicester was bought by Mr Gates in 1994 for $30m (£15.3m). A third of the writings relate to water, including a discussion on submarine warfare.
Yesterday Mr Gates, Microsoft's chairman, shared the stage with British Library chief executive Lynne Brindley to announce the joint venture, which they said paved the way for new academic discoveries. The announcement was timed, unapologetically, to coincide with the launch of the new Windows operating system, Vista. "The way Leonardo da Vinci combined incomparable genius with the human determination to strive for knowledge and practical improvement is an incredible inspiration," said Mr Gates.
Commentary: Just what we need, Gates delving into the mysteries of divination and soothsayerism. Shortly we'll have Windows Codices with the ability to merge all computers together to create a superstructure computer designed to save the world. *sigh* Or something.
Found: Emperor Maxentius' treasures, buried in 312
Source: Times (of London) (1-31-07)
ROME -- The lost treasure of Maxentius, the last pre-Christian Roman emperor, has been unearthed by archaeologists. Imperial standards, lances and glass spheres, right, were buried on the Palatine Hill by Maxentius before his battle with Constantine the Great in AD 312.
Archaeologists believe that he planned to retrieve the treasure if he won. In the event, he and his closest aides were killed, so that no one knew where it was hidden.
Commentary: Now, I realize I'm a tad weird, not having that much interest in Rome. I know it's importance, I understand it's impact in the history of Europe and the world. I get it, honestly. I just don't care. *grin* Well, I like some of the early imperial history but after a while, I just don't care. I could care about this. This is exciting stuff. This is a bridge point between the evolution of the Roman Empire from a polytheistic to monotheistic ruling structure. Is there *any* influence of early Christianity present? Or vice versa...is there anything here that is obviously directly influencing Christian emperors...something in common? What's in it, period? The artwork, the metalwork, the objects, any texts, garments, everyday items, food stuffs, etc. left in offering, penance, or tribute...it's all relevant. And it's all exciting!
Preserve or let go: Blacks debate fate of their landmarks
Source: Christian Science Monitor (1-31-07)
TURIN, GA. - Its clapboards broken and its roof collapsed, the old "Negro school" had come to the brink of its life. But as renovations on the schoolhouse began recently ˆ a bid to safeguard and honor this tiny railroad town's black history ˆ the project ran into opposition from a surprising source: its former students.
"There's a lot of people who don't want to be involved" because of what the school symbolizes ˆ racial segregation, says Alonzo Penson, who attended the school back in the 1940s. "Black people have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go."
A nascent movement in the South and elsewhere to save what's left of African-American landmarks ˆ old cabins, juke joints, and schoolhouses ˆ is laboring to overcome a host of obstacles, not least of which is deep ambivalence among blacks themselves about preserving places associated with black oppression or discrimination.
Commentary: This makes me sad and confused. I've never been oppressed or discriminated against, that I can recall anyway. I've been singled out by my peers as being different or a non-conformist, jeered and laughed at because of it, sneered at because my family was poor or not as concerned with fancy cars or whatnot like others. So I can understand a bit about having bad memories of something or someplace, but not to the extent that blacks, Mexicans, Native Americans, etc. have been subjected to for decades, centuries even. Yet I think I can understand why they would not want these buildings around. It's pouring salt into a deep wound and rubbing it in. Driving by these places everyday, you don't want to look at them and be reminded. I get that. I totally do. BUT.
Is the price of salt in the wound worth paying to make sure what happened to *you* happens to no one else? Leaving, preserving that horrible place or object to educate and teach others NOT to do what was done to you, is that not a worthy goal and worth a little bit of pain? I'd do it. In a heartbeat. I would *never* want the jeering and the leering and the hurtful comments and cruel names that were spouted at me because I didn't wear those types of clothes or have parents who belonged to this church or lived in this kind of house. It's petty, what I went through compared to what blacks in the south went through, but it still hurts, it still leaves a scar, and it's still something you must try to get past. And if I can find a way that no one would have to go through that again, I'd do it. Even if it meant preserving that which caused me harm. We have 'preserved', even turned into a museum, the camps that Holocaust victims lived and died in. What's so wrong with a school? Things are all in perspective, but the focus and intent is always the same. So it won't happen again. Illumination through education.
Smithsonian Exhuming a man, and history (Virginia)
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (1-30-07)
ISLE OF WIGHT, Va. -- Descendants of a prosperous Colonial-era man watched yesterday as archaeologists exhumed his remains from beneath a slab in the floor of historic St. Luke's Church.
The family agreed to have Col. Joseph Bridger's bones dug up and analyzed by experts from the Smithsonian Institution, "because we thought it would be interesting to know more about him," said Jean Tomes of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., Bridger's ninth great-granddaughter.
Bridger, a staunch ally of the king and a member of the [Virginia] House of Burgesses, died in 1686 after helping build the church. Tests of his bones could reveal information such as his diet, his build and whether he suffered from diseases, Tomes said. It also may be possible to use skull fragments to reconstruct his face, of which no likeness now exists, she said.
Commentary: Put me on the record that 500 years from now, my descendants (if any) have my permission to dig me up and do the same to me. That is awesome. That is also an open-minded family.
Prehistoric Site in Albuquerque Is Accidentally Destroyed
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (1-30-07)
Construction workers at a new high school in Albuquerque inadvertently destroyed a site where important prehistoric artifacts had been found in 2000, according to today’s Albuquerque Journal. The site, which was ripped up when workers excavated for a new water line for the school, provided the first evidence that prehistoric people who were part of the Folsom culture lived in the Albuquerque area some 10,000 years ago.
Commentary: Note to self. Don't contract with THAT company again.
Greek pupils demand Elgin Marbles
Source: BBC News (1-30-07)
Greek schoolchildren have demonstrated at the Acropolis in Athens to demand that the UK returns marble sculptures taken [from the Partenon] by Lord Elgin 200 years ago.
Wearing orange jackets bearing campaign logos, about 2,000 pupils formed a human chain around the monument.
Greece has long campaigned for the marbles' return. But the British Museum says they are better off in London, safe from pollution damage in Athens.
Commentary: This is something I'm conflicted on, the return of ancient objects to their place of origin. This is one of those things where, in an ideal world, it would be, well, ideal. But we're not in an ideal world and that line between black and white gets fuzzier everyday.
I agree that the objects belong in their country of origin. I mean, they were created there, by the ancestors of those living there, so it makes sense. It's that culture's history and no one has the right to take that away. The Elgins should be back on the Parthenon. I mean, they've been there all this time, until Elgin jerked them off and shipped them to London, so why shouldn't Greece have them back. The same for Egypt. Berlin has no true excuse for keeping the bust of Nefertiti. Really. They don't. Germany is no more free of violence and whatever than Egypt. It's obviously Egyptian, so give it back.
That said there is a but. There's always a but.
London has a point. If Greece puts the Elgins BACK onto the Parthenon, pollution will begin immediate damage. They've never really been completely exposed to high pollution. There is damage already to ancient marble structures all over the world, not just Greece, due to pollution. It's a valid point. However, is Greece going to put them back on the Parthenon? I doubt it. They've got enough problems. Likely, and I do not know this for certain so don't jump me about it, the Greeks will place it in a museum. And well they should. The damage is done. Lord Elgin dismantled the procession from the building. You cannot encase the Parthenon (at least at this point in time) in a pollution-free bubble for preservation, but you CAN preserve the gorgeous stone work of the procession Elgin 'saved'. If Greece can do it, they should be the ones doing it. It's *their* national treasure, it's *their* history. Not Britain's. Elgin took those peices, controversially even in his time, ostensibly to save them from destruction from Greece's enemies at that time (Ottoman Turks?). It's no longer an issue. London is no more safe, or pollution free, than Athens. Work out a deal. Work with Greece. Help them if they need it. God knows, the country could use the benefits of the added tourism the Elgins would bring.
This begs another point. London, Berlin, Paris, Washington DC, etc. are main points for travel and tourism. Hubs, I guess you could say. Good places for these items to be viewed. Is exposure the important thing or is right of sovereignty?
Traces of ancient village found near Stonehenge
Source: New York Times (1-30-07)
New excavations near Stonehenge have uncovered hearths, timbers and other remains of what archaeologists say was probably the village of workers who erected the brooding monoliths on Salisbury Plain in England.
The archaeologists announced today that the 4,600-year-old ruins appear to form the largest Neolithic village ever found in Britain. The houses at the site known as Durrington Walls were constructed in the same period that Stonehenge, less than two miles away, was built as a religious center presumably for worshippers of the Sun and their ancestors.
Mike Parker Pearson, a leader of the excavations from Sheffield University, said the discoveries last summer supported the emerging recognition that the ring of standing stones and earthworks at Stonehenge was part of a much larger religious complex.
In a teleconference conducted by the National Geographic Society, Dr. Parker Pearson said a circle of ditches and earthen banks at Durrington Walls enclosed concentric rings of huge timber posts - “basically a wooden version of Stonehenge,” he said.
Commentary: More exciting stuff. It's a busy couple of weeks. This is exciting because it just adds to the mystery that is Stone Henge. Honestly, I don't think we'll *ever* know what the deal was with this place, and frankly, I hope we don't ever know. It'll ruin the fun of speculation, wonderment and awed delight of such a fantastic place. I've never been there, but I'd love to. I've heard it's practically a spiritual experience in it's simplicity and obvious impact on the area over time. Whether you believe in spiritual vibes or whatever, they say Stone Henge is just a truly awesome place, in every definition of 'awesome' you can find.
Pursuing happiness, Greeks and Turks find one another
Source: New York Times (1-30-07)
ATHENS - A short decade ago, a blink in the centuries of bad blood between Greeks and Turks, there was “no way” a Turkish store could have opened at a fancy mall in Athens. So said Elena Kanellopoulou, 60, as she meandered through Athens’ first megamall, stopping a few steps from an upscale women’s shop with a clock in the display window showing the time in Istanbul.
The clock is a subtle way of showing that the shop is owned by a Turkish chain, like the shoe store next door and two other shops in the new mall. It is perhaps a risky move, because Greeks defiantly still call the city Constantinople.
But the remarkable thing for Ms. Kanellopoulou, considering that her parents were driven from Turkey in 1922, is that buying from Turks is now unremarkable. “I shop,” she said, “and I have no problem with it.”
All is definitely not forgiven, but a warmer climate between Greece and Turkey is showing up in the daily lives of Greeks. From pricey stores to growing tourism, from belly dancing to a Turkish television show popular here with its Romeo-and-Juliet theme played out by a Greek man and a Turkish woman, cultural barriers are eroding here. Such things are changing faster, perhaps, than the political differences that still divide the two nations...
Commentary: This is just fantastic. Gives one hope for the world. Former *bitter* enemies co-existing side by side, differences slowly melting away toward a brighter and hopefully better future. If only everyone else would sit up and take notice.
'Terror birds' never met humans
Early humans could never have come into contact with the giant carnivorous "terror bird" Titanis walleri, research suggests.
It had been thought the fearsome beasts became extinct as little as 10,000 years ago - a time when humans shared their North American habitat.
But a US team has now revised this date to about two million years earlier.
The study, published in Geology, also sheds light on the flightless birds' migration to North America.
T. walleri is thought to be the largest species of the terror bird family. It would have stood 2m (7ft) tall and weighed 150kg (330lb).
The flightless species, which inhabited South and North America, had an enormous beak and lived up to its terror tag by being a top predator of its time. The researchers looked at fossils of the birds that had been uncovered in Florida and Texas.
By analysing the distribution of a group of chemicals, known as rare earth elements, within the bones, the team was able determine the age of the North American remains.
"Previously, scientists believed that Titanis became extinct about 10,000 years ago," explained Professor Bruce MacFadden, a palaeontologist at the Florida Museum of Natural History and lead author of the Geology paper.
This would have coincided with the mass extinction of other mega-fauna that occurred in North America at the end of the Pleistocene; a period of biodiversity loss which has been blamed in part on humans and their novel spear technologies at the time.
But analysis of fossil bones found in the Sante Fe River, Florida, which are thought to represent the last known T. walleri, suggests the terror bird had disappeared long before this.
"The last occurrence of Titanis, as far as we know it, dates to about two million years ago. It didn't persist into the last ice age," Professor MacFadden told the BBC News website.
Dating of another fossil in Texas - the earliest known example of a terror bird in North America - also yielded a surprising result for the team.
Most researchers thought the big bird had migrated from South America to North America after the two continents had become connected by the Panamanian land bridge about 3.5 million years ago, explained Professor MacFadden.
"But based on the new chemical dates that we have established, that previous hypothesis is no longer correct," he added.
"What we now believe, based on the age of the Titanis from Texas, is that Titanis dispersed from South America into North America about five million years ago, significantly earlier than the land bridge formed."
He said the researchers did not yet know how the flightless beast could have crossed unconnected continents.
"Did it swim across? Or did it raft across on a float? There were a series of closely spaced volcanic islands, which now forms Panama, so maybe it swam from one to the other - but we really don't know," he said.
Commentary: Dinosaurs have always fascinated me. Not enough to go to college for them, but I love 'em all the same. The idea of giant, meat-eating birds that are as mean as a T-Rex gives me the all-over shivers of delight. It also makes me thankful I'm not co-existing with them. I'd be a snack.
Bill Gates, BL unveil Leonardo codices online
Source: The Guardian (1-31-07)
Bill Gates and the British Library [have] revealed they were reuniting Leonardo's Codex Arundel with the Codex Leicester, online at least. High resolution versions of the notebooks will allow users to turn the pages for themselves.
The British Library-owned Codex Arundel is the world's second-biggest compilation of Leonardo pages and hardly anyone outside high academic circles has seen it. It features everything from treatises on mechanics and bird flight to drawings of underwater breathing apparatus, as well as riddles, prophecies and notes for himself of the "must buy bucket" variety.
The Codex Leicester was bought by Mr Gates in 1994 for $30m (£15.3m). A third of the writings relate to water, including a discussion on submarine warfare.
Yesterday Mr Gates, Microsoft's chairman, shared the stage with British Library chief executive Lynne Brindley to announce the joint venture, which they said paved the way for new academic discoveries. The announcement was timed, unapologetically, to coincide with the launch of the new Windows operating system, Vista. "The way Leonardo da Vinci combined incomparable genius with the human determination to strive for knowledge and practical improvement is an incredible inspiration," said Mr Gates.
Commentary: Just what we need, Gates delving into the mysteries of divination and soothsayerism. Shortly we'll have Windows Codices with the ability to merge all computers together to create a superstructure computer designed to save the world. *sigh* Or something.
Found: Emperor Maxentius' treasures, buried in 312
Source: Times (of London) (1-31-07)
ROME -- The lost treasure of Maxentius, the last pre-Christian Roman emperor, has been unearthed by archaeologists. Imperial standards, lances and glass spheres, right, were buried on the Palatine Hill by Maxentius before his battle with Constantine the Great in AD 312.
Archaeologists believe that he planned to retrieve the treasure if he won. In the event, he and his closest aides were killed, so that no one knew where it was hidden.
Commentary: Now, I realize I'm a tad weird, not having that much interest in Rome. I know it's importance, I understand it's impact in the history of Europe and the world. I get it, honestly. I just don't care. *grin* Well, I like some of the early imperial history but after a while, I just don't care. I could care about this. This is exciting stuff. This is a bridge point between the evolution of the Roman Empire from a polytheistic to monotheistic ruling structure. Is there *any* influence of early Christianity present? Or vice versa...is there anything here that is obviously directly influencing Christian emperors...something in common? What's in it, period? The artwork, the metalwork, the objects, any texts, garments, everyday items, food stuffs, etc. left in offering, penance, or tribute...it's all relevant. And it's all exciting!
Preserve or let go: Blacks debate fate of their landmarks
Source: Christian Science Monitor (1-31-07)
TURIN, GA. - Its clapboards broken and its roof collapsed, the old "Negro school" had come to the brink of its life. But as renovations on the schoolhouse began recently ˆ a bid to safeguard and honor this tiny railroad town's black history ˆ the project ran into opposition from a surprising source: its former students.
"There's a lot of people who don't want to be involved" because of what the school symbolizes ˆ racial segregation, says Alonzo Penson, who attended the school back in the 1940s. "Black people have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go."
A nascent movement in the South and elsewhere to save what's left of African-American landmarks ˆ old cabins, juke joints, and schoolhouses ˆ is laboring to overcome a host of obstacles, not least of which is deep ambivalence among blacks themselves about preserving places associated with black oppression or discrimination.
Commentary: This makes me sad and confused. I've never been oppressed or discriminated against, that I can recall anyway. I've been singled out by my peers as being different or a non-conformist, jeered and laughed at because of it, sneered at because my family was poor or not as concerned with fancy cars or whatnot like others. So I can understand a bit about having bad memories of something or someplace, but not to the extent that blacks, Mexicans, Native Americans, etc. have been subjected to for decades, centuries even. Yet I think I can understand why they would not want these buildings around. It's pouring salt into a deep wound and rubbing it in. Driving by these places everyday, you don't want to look at them and be reminded. I get that. I totally do. BUT.
Is the price of salt in the wound worth paying to make sure what happened to *you* happens to no one else? Leaving, preserving that horrible place or object to educate and teach others NOT to do what was done to you, is that not a worthy goal and worth a little bit of pain? I'd do it. In a heartbeat. I would *never* want the jeering and the leering and the hurtful comments and cruel names that were spouted at me because I didn't wear those types of clothes or have parents who belonged to this church or lived in this kind of house. It's petty, what I went through compared to what blacks in the south went through, but it still hurts, it still leaves a scar, and it's still something you must try to get past. And if I can find a way that no one would have to go through that again, I'd do it. Even if it meant preserving that which caused me harm. We have 'preserved', even turned into a museum, the camps that Holocaust victims lived and died in. What's so wrong with a school? Things are all in perspective, but the focus and intent is always the same. So it won't happen again. Illumination through education.
Smithsonian Exhuming a man, and history (Virginia)
Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch (1-30-07)
ISLE OF WIGHT, Va. -- Descendants of a prosperous Colonial-era man watched yesterday as archaeologists exhumed his remains from beneath a slab in the floor of historic St. Luke's Church.
The family agreed to have Col. Joseph Bridger's bones dug up and analyzed by experts from the Smithsonian Institution, "because we thought it would be interesting to know more about him," said Jean Tomes of Roanoke Rapids, N.C., Bridger's ninth great-granddaughter.
Bridger, a staunch ally of the king and a member of the [Virginia] House of Burgesses, died in 1686 after helping build the church. Tests of his bones could reveal information such as his diet, his build and whether he suffered from diseases, Tomes said. It also may be possible to use skull fragments to reconstruct his face, of which no likeness now exists, she said.
Commentary: Put me on the record that 500 years from now, my descendants (if any) have my permission to dig me up and do the same to me. That is awesome. That is also an open-minded family.
Prehistoric Site in Albuquerque Is Accidentally Destroyed
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education (1-30-07)
Construction workers at a new high school in Albuquerque inadvertently destroyed a site where important prehistoric artifacts had been found in 2000, according to today’s Albuquerque Journal. The site, which was ripped up when workers excavated for a new water line for the school, provided the first evidence that prehistoric people who were part of the Folsom culture lived in the Albuquerque area some 10,000 years ago.
Commentary: Note to self. Don't contract with THAT company again.
Greek pupils demand Elgin Marbles
Source: BBC News (1-30-07)
Greek schoolchildren have demonstrated at the Acropolis in Athens to demand that the UK returns marble sculptures taken [from the Partenon] by Lord Elgin 200 years ago.
Wearing orange jackets bearing campaign logos, about 2,000 pupils formed a human chain around the monument.
Greece has long campaigned for the marbles' return. But the British Museum says they are better off in London, safe from pollution damage in Athens.
Commentary: This is something I'm conflicted on, the return of ancient objects to their place of origin. This is one of those things where, in an ideal world, it would be, well, ideal. But we're not in an ideal world and that line between black and white gets fuzzier everyday.
I agree that the objects belong in their country of origin. I mean, they were created there, by the ancestors of those living there, so it makes sense. It's that culture's history and no one has the right to take that away. The Elgins should be back on the Parthenon. I mean, they've been there all this time, until Elgin jerked them off and shipped them to London, so why shouldn't Greece have them back. The same for Egypt. Berlin has no true excuse for keeping the bust of Nefertiti. Really. They don't. Germany is no more free of violence and whatever than Egypt. It's obviously Egyptian, so give it back.
That said there is a but. There's always a but.
London has a point. If Greece puts the Elgins BACK onto the Parthenon, pollution will begin immediate damage. They've never really been completely exposed to high pollution. There is damage already to ancient marble structures all over the world, not just Greece, due to pollution. It's a valid point. However, is Greece going to put them back on the Parthenon? I doubt it. They've got enough problems. Likely, and I do not know this for certain so don't jump me about it, the Greeks will place it in a museum. And well they should. The damage is done. Lord Elgin dismantled the procession from the building. You cannot encase the Parthenon (at least at this point in time) in a pollution-free bubble for preservation, but you CAN preserve the gorgeous stone work of the procession Elgin 'saved'. If Greece can do it, they should be the ones doing it. It's *their* national treasure, it's *their* history. Not Britain's. Elgin took those peices, controversially even in his time, ostensibly to save them from destruction from Greece's enemies at that time (Ottoman Turks?). It's no longer an issue. London is no more safe, or pollution free, than Athens. Work out a deal. Work with Greece. Help them if they need it. God knows, the country could use the benefits of the added tourism the Elgins would bring.
This begs another point. London, Berlin, Paris, Washington DC, etc. are main points for travel and tourism. Hubs, I guess you could say. Good places for these items to be viewed. Is exposure the important thing or is right of sovereignty?
Traces of ancient village found near Stonehenge
Source: New York Times (1-30-07)
New excavations near Stonehenge have uncovered hearths, timbers and other remains of what archaeologists say was probably the village of workers who erected the brooding monoliths on Salisbury Plain in England.
The archaeologists announced today that the 4,600-year-old ruins appear to form the largest Neolithic village ever found in Britain. The houses at the site known as Durrington Walls were constructed in the same period that Stonehenge, less than two miles away, was built as a religious center presumably for worshippers of the Sun and their ancestors.
Mike Parker Pearson, a leader of the excavations from Sheffield University, said the discoveries last summer supported the emerging recognition that the ring of standing stones and earthworks at Stonehenge was part of a much larger religious complex.
In a teleconference conducted by the National Geographic Society, Dr. Parker Pearson said a circle of ditches and earthen banks at Durrington Walls enclosed concentric rings of huge timber posts - “basically a wooden version of Stonehenge,” he said.
Commentary: More exciting stuff. It's a busy couple of weeks. This is exciting because it just adds to the mystery that is Stone Henge. Honestly, I don't think we'll *ever* know what the deal was with this place, and frankly, I hope we don't ever know. It'll ruin the fun of speculation, wonderment and awed delight of such a fantastic place. I've never been there, but I'd love to. I've heard it's practically a spiritual experience in it's simplicity and obvious impact on the area over time. Whether you believe in spiritual vibes or whatever, they say Stone Henge is just a truly awesome place, in every definition of 'awesome' you can find.
Pursuing happiness, Greeks and Turks find one another
Source: New York Times (1-30-07)
ATHENS - A short decade ago, a blink in the centuries of bad blood between Greeks and Turks, there was “no way” a Turkish store could have opened at a fancy mall in Athens. So said Elena Kanellopoulou, 60, as she meandered through Athens’ first megamall, stopping a few steps from an upscale women’s shop with a clock in the display window showing the time in Istanbul.
The clock is a subtle way of showing that the shop is owned by a Turkish chain, like the shoe store next door and two other shops in the new mall. It is perhaps a risky move, because Greeks defiantly still call the city Constantinople.
But the remarkable thing for Ms. Kanellopoulou, considering that her parents were driven from Turkey in 1922, is that buying from Turks is now unremarkable. “I shop,” she said, “and I have no problem with it.”
All is definitely not forgiven, but a warmer climate between Greece and Turkey is showing up in the daily lives of Greeks. From pricey stores to growing tourism, from belly dancing to a Turkish television show popular here with its Romeo-and-Juliet theme played out by a Greek man and a Turkish woman, cultural barriers are eroding here. Such things are changing faster, perhaps, than the political differences that still divide the two nations...
Commentary: This is just fantastic. Gives one hope for the world. Former *bitter* enemies co-existing side by side, differences slowly melting away toward a brighter and hopefully better future. If only everyone else would sit up and take notice.