Category: Ancient Cultures
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Link About It: This Week’s Picks
[ad_1] Fighting book bans with a free electronic library card, an obsidian hand-axe workshop, elephants against climate change and more A Robot That Melts and Reforms Researchers have devised a robot that can liquefy and then reform—an characteristic inspired by sea cucumbers that rapidly change their stiffness. The shape-shifting invention can move between liquid and…
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1.2 Million-Year-Old Workshop Reveals Early Humans Were Skilled Crafters Earlier Than Believed – COOL HUNTING®
[ad_1] In Melka Kunture, Ethiopia, researchers found 575 obsidian hand-axes that are 1.2 million years old and believed to have come from a dedicated workshop. The discovery means that hominins (early humans and ancestors) may have been skilled craftspeople capable of working with obsidian some 500,000 years earlier than scientists believed. A volcanic glass that is…
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Ancient Seeds From the Fertile Crescent Save Crops From Climate Change – COOL HUNTING®
[ad_1] In Terbol, Lebanon, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) stores tens of thousands of seeds sourced from the Fertile Crescent region—an area in Western Asia and North Africa that encompasses modern-day countries including Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Israel and Egypt. The collection, which comprises many seeds from the…
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Scientists Discover Ancient Cities in the Amazon – COOL HUNTING®
[ad_1] In the Llanos de Mojos region of the Bolivian Amazon, scientists recently discovered remnants of vast urban settlements, proving the existence of ancient Amazonian cities. Using a light-based remote sensing technology called lidar, scientists digitally deforested the canopy to survey the ruins beneath it. They found a stronghold of the socially complex Casarabe Culture…
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Archaeology, Camels and Cars: From The Dead Sea to Petra
[ad_1] It’s early morning in Jordan’s Wadi Rum and we’re loading our gear into the fleet of Infiniti QX80s, backed by only the sounds coming from doors opening and closing shut, and feet shuffling silently in the red sand. Despite the bright LED lights of our fleet SUVs, an observatory’s worth of glowing stars remain…