Scratching below the Surface

[digitS']

New archeological discovery in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Kunara



Steve

 

[Gardening with Rabbits]

That would be fun to be part of digging and finding these old cities. DH worked in the oil field drilling for oil in Oklahoma. He told me they were doing something with pipe, pulling it out of the ground or something. This was hundreds of feet deep and the flushed the pipes I think and one of the pipes had something in it that one of the workers got all excited about and put in his pocket and went to town. DH said it looked like little carved animals, white, maybe ivory or bone. He never found out what it was.

 

[flowerbug]

@digitS' i've always enjoyed reading about history and archaeology. it seems like so long ago, but when you think about it in terms of generations it is only 200-300 generations back to those times from now. which is a blink in terms of the planet's full history.

 

[digitS']

You might realize that I missed nearly all of this while I was driving around this morning: TED radio hour.

That story is how time is perceived differently at different ages in life.

History of human life only goes back so far because writing only goes back so far. I was inspired by the author's description of cuneiform writing as "in the shape of nails and wedges." Inspired to imagine a child playing in the mud outside the family shop. Getting down to "brass tacks."

Roman bronze nails

The child reflects on this memory many times throughout adult life until the idea springs to mind that the impressions in the mud could have meaning. The rest, is history ...

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

I just DVR'd and watched this:
https://www.thesmartessays.com/2018/01/22/anthropology-view-pbs-nova-film-dawn-humanity/

It is a really good one! Bones were found in a cave, but the head paleoanthropologist couldn't squeeze into the narrowest parts of the cave. He put out a job offer on FB to anthropologists/paleoanthropologists/just scientists who were cavers and ended up hiring a small group of young female scientists who were tiny and skinny and could shimmy through the tight passages. That is almost the best part of this documentary, plus they left thousands of bone fragments that they didn't have time in 3 weeks to bring out of the cave. Supposedly they found remains of a human ancestor. It's a PBS program and you might be able to view it ON DEMAND.