Early Settlers of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) Cultivated both Traditional Polynesian and South American Crops, Including Breadfruit, Yam, and Sweet Potato March 20, 2024
Entire Article:
(Eurekalert) Early settlers of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) cultivated both traditional Polynesian and South American crops, including breadfruit, yam, and sweet potato, according to starch analysis of their tools
caltrek’s comment: This partially vindicates at least one observation of Thor Heyerdahl, who argued decades ago that inhabitants of Easter Island, prior to European arrival, were of both Polynesian and South American descent. One indicator Heyerdahl pointed to was diet. At the time, the conventional wisdom was that all were of exclusively Polynesian descent. The Plos One article is a little unclear as to how the South American crops were introduced onto Easter Island. It seems to suggest that perhaps they were introduced by Polynesians who “were great navigators, and for several centuries…crossed the ocean in all directions, moving plants and other goods.”
caltrek wrote: ↑Fri Mar 22, 2024 4:28 pm Early Settlers of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) Cultivated both Traditional Polynesian and South American Crops, Including Breadfruit, Yam, and Sweet Potato March 20, 2024
Entire Article:
(Eurekalert) Early settlers of Easter Island (Rapa Nui) cultivated both traditional Polynesian and South American crops, including breadfruit, yam, and sweet potato, according to starch analysis of their tools
caltrek’s comment: This partially vindicates at least one observation of Thor Heyerdahl, who argued decades ago that inhabitants of Easter Island, prior to European arrival, were of both Polynesian and South American descent. One indicator Heyerdahl pointed to was diet. At the time, the conventional wisdom was that all were of exclusively Polynesian descent. The Plos One article is a little unclear as to how the South American crops were introduced onto Easter Island. It seems to suggest that perhaps they were introduced by Polynesians who “were great navigators, and for several centuries…crossed the ocean in all directions, moving plants and other goods.”
Chinese researchers use DNA to reconstruct Emperor Wu's face as study sheds light on his death
Friday 29 March 2024 12:44, UK
Researchers have used DNA to reconstruct the face of a Chinese emperor and shed light on what might have caused his death.
Emperor Wu was a ruler of the Northern Zhou dynasty in ancient China, reigning from 560 AD until 578, defeating the Northern Qi dynasty and unifying the northern part of the country.
The emperor belonged to a rarely-studied nomadic group called the Xianbei that lived in modern-day Mongolia and northern and northeastern China.
Almost 30 years after his tomb was discovered in northwestern China, researchers at Shanghai's Fudan University used DNA and his nearly-complete skull to reconstruct his face in 3D.
It shows the emperor had brown eyes, black hair and "dark to intermediate" skin. Researchers said the emperor "possessed a typical East or Northeast Asian appearance".
Archaeologists from Newcastle University have unearthed evidence for an evolving sacred landscape spanning centuries in Crowland, Lincolnshire. The study is published in the Journal of Field Archaeology.
Crowland today is dominated by the ruins of its medieval abbey. However, local tradition holds that the area was the site of an Anglo-Saxon hermitage belonging to Saint Guthlac, who died in the year 714 and was famed for his life of solitude, having given up a life of riches as the son of a nobleman.
When his uncorrupted body was discovered 12 months after his death, Guthlac was venerated by a small monastic community dedicated to his memory. Guthlac's popularity while he was alive, and the success of this cult and the pilgrimage it inspired, were key factors in the establishment of Crowland Abbey in the 10th century to honor the saint.
(Eurekalert) Byzantine bullion fuelled Europe’s revolutionary adoption of silver coins in the mid-7th century, only to be overtaken by silver from a mine in Charlemagne’s Francia a century later, new tests reveal. The findings could transform our understanding of Europe’s economic and political development.
Between 660 and 750 AD, Anglo-Saxon England witnessed a profound revival in trade involving a dramatic surge in the use of silver coins, breaking from a reliance on gold. Around 7,000 of these silver ‘pennies’ have been recorded, a huge number, about as many as we have for the rest of the entire Anglo-Saxon period (5th century – 1066).
For decades, experts have agonised over where the silver in these coins came from. Now a team of researchers from the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam have solved that mystery by analysing the make-up of coins held by the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge.
The journal Antiquity publishes their study today. Co-author Rory Naismith, Professor of Early Medieval English History at the University of Cambridge, said:
“There has been speculation that the silver came from Melle in France, or from an unknown mine, or that it could have been melted down church silver. But there wasn't any hard evidence to tell us one way or the other, so we set out to find it.”
The late seventh-century introduction of silver coinage marked a transformation in the economy of north-west Europe, yet the source(s) of the silver bullion behind this change remains uncertain. Here, the authors use combined lead isotope and trace element analysis of 49 coins from England, Frisia and Francia to provide new insights into north-European silver sources during the ‘long eighth century’ (c. AD 660–820). The results indicate an early reliance on recycled Byzantine silver plate, followed by a shift c. AD 750 to newly mined metal from Francia. This change indicates the strong role of the Carolingian state in the control of metal sources and economic structures across the North Sea zone.
Medieval Europe Was far from Democratic, but that Didn’t Mean Tyrants Were Given a Free Pass by Joelle Rollo-Koster
April 12, 2024
Introduction:
(The Conversation) My students tend to imagine the Middle Ages as something like the “Kingdom Come” or “Total War” video games: an age of utter political chaos, when swords and daggers ruled, and masculinity and physical strength mattered more than governance.
As a historian of the Middle Ages, I believe this turbulent image has less to do with reality than with medievalism – a term for how modern people have reimagined life during Europe’s Middle Ages, from roughly 400-1400.
Medieval Europe may have been violent, and its standards for governance would not win praise today. But people could certainly recognize dysfunctional politics, whether in a royal court or in the church, and proposed solutions.
The article includes examples of popes and kings that were deposed on the grounds of providing poor and irresponsible leadership. Examples discussed include:
England’s Richard II
In Germany, King Wenceslaus of the house of Luxembourg
Pope Urban VI
Pope John XXIII
Pope Benedict XIII
Conclusion:
Medieval bishops and kings are hardly role models for democracies today, but their political world was not so chaotic as we often imagine. Even a world ignorant of democracy attempted to define what bad leadership was and set limits on the authority of the ones they considered irresponsible. Rules of adequate political conduct were established, though the law did not always take precedence over violence.
But it’s worthwhile to remember the ways people have viewed bad leadership, hundreds of years before our own era’s fractured politics. Today, however, we have a big advantage: We vote our leaders in and out.
