New research shows that the 2,100-year-old Antikythera Mechanism was used to track the dates of the Olympic Games and other competitions, in addition to being an astronomical calculator. “We were astonished because this is not an astronomic cycle but an Olympian cycle, one of social events. … One does not need a piece of high technology to keep track of a simple four-year cycle,” said Yanis Bitsakis of the Center for History and Paleography at Athens University, and one of the authors of a report published in Nature.   The researchers show the new 3-D images and high-resolution digital photographs of the Antikythera Mechanism, and explain their discoveries, in this excellent video from Nature.

Students digging in a well at the site of Regina Turdulorum in Spain uncovered three Roman busts, one of which depicts Trajan.  

Traces of resins, oils, and spices have reportedly been detected on the skeleton of a woman who was buried in a lead coffin in northern Greece in 300 A.D. “Never before such embalming substances have been shown for this time period in Greece,” said Christina Papageorgopoulou of the University of Zurich.  

Following up on a tip that human remains had been spotted off a Puerto Rican beach, police discovered a shipwreck, cannon, a sword, and a medal engraved with the name Isabel II. Archaeologists dispatched to the site found more artifacts that will be studied at the Institute of Puerto Rican Culture.  

Melting ice in Greenland has revealed what could be theViking’s most northerly year-round camp. Remains of several small stone buildings, and stones from a possible dock for large ships were found.  

More than 50 skeletons were unearthed at a medieval friary outside of Perth, Scotland. “People used to pay the friars to pray for their souls and if they wanted they could also get buried in the friary burial grounds,” said archaeologist Derek Hall. Local people continued to be buried at the site, even after the friary was torn down in 1559.  

Archaeologists and cultural conservationists are restoring public bathhouses in Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Syria, Turkey, and the Palestinian territories. “The role of the bathhouse has shrunk, and they have been under a lot of pressure, both architecturally and financially,” said archaeologist Ghazwan Yaghi. This article focuses on the baths of Damascus.   

A list of the world’s top ten oldest jokes has been compiled by Britain’s University of Wolverhampton for the program Dave TV. I tried to find the promised complete list of jokes at the (very slow) Dave TV website, but I couldn’t track them down. Not funny.

This entry was posted by Jessica E. Saraceni on Thursday, July 31, 2008. Discussion of this blog entry is now closed.

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