RSS Feed
Sep 11

Ancient DNA cracks puzzle of Basque origins

Posted on Friday, September 11, 2015 in Links

Oak of Gernika, symbol of Basque institutions

DNA from ancient remains appears to have solved the puzzle of one of Europe’s most enigmatic peoples: the Basques.

Read more here.

Sep 10

New human-like species discovered in S Africa

Posted on Thursday, September 10, 2015 in Links

Scientists in South Africa have discovered a new human-like species, which could change ideas about our early relatives.

Read more here.

Sep 8

The lost genius of Mozart’s sister

Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2015 in Humanities, Links

Nannerl Mozart was a child prodigy like her brother Wolfgang Amadeus, but her musical career came to an end when she was 18. A one-woman play puts her back on the stage, where she belongs.

Read more here.

Sep 8

Laos’ strange plain of jars

Posted on Tuesday, September 8, 2015 in Links

The few travellers that make it to this remote corner of Laos will find fields of ancient stone jars. Who put them there, and what were they for?

Read more here..

Sep 7

Stonehenge researchers ‘may have found largest Neolithic site’

Posted on Monday, September 7, 2015 in Links

Huge stones found buried near Stonehenge were part of a ritual site built on an “extraordinary scale” and unique in the world.

Read more here and here.

Sep 5

The Blitz families who built a city underground

Posted on Saturday, September 5, 2015 in Links

Cave

The German bombing campaign over Britain drove many families into cave systems.

Read more here.

Sep 3

Why Orkney is the centre of ancient Britain

Posted on Thursday, September 3, 2015 in Links

Orkney

Long before the Egyptians began the pyramids, Neolithic man built a vast temple complex at the top of what is now Scotland. Robin McKie visits the astonishing Ness of Brodgar.

Read more here.

Sep 3

The Mysterious Origins of Punctuation

Posted on Thursday, September 3, 2015 in Links

As readers and writers, we’re intimately familiar with the dots, strokes and dashes that punctuate the written word. The comma, colon, semicolon and their siblings are integral parts of writing, pointing out grammatical structures and helping us transform letters into spoken words or mental images. We would be lost without them (or, at the very least, extremely confused), and yet the earliest readers and writers managed without it for thousands of years. What changed their minds?

Read more here.

Aug 30

Five Fascinating Facts about Mary Shelley

Posted on Sunday, August 30, 2015 in Links

Mary Shelley

Five facts about the life and work of Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein.

Read more here.

Aug 30

Discovery of ancient cave paintings in Petra stuns art scholars

Posted on Sunday, August 30, 2015 in Links

Petra

Exquisite artworks hidden under 2,000 years of soot and grime in a Jordanian cave in Petra have been restored by experts from the Courtauld Institute in London.

Read more here.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox

Join other followers: