The excavations of the Ancient Maya world have continued to reveal surprises, and in 2020 two fascinating stories about urban water supply made headlines. Both were about the city of Tikal (known as Yax Mutal among the ancient Maya), but one was much sadder than the other. Tikal was an epicenter of power and was […]
Classical Maya Water Reservoir Technology Read More »
In the four corners region of New Mexico, a population of ancestral Pueblo people settled for a few centuries around the first millennium CE and built magnificent structures and created beautiful pottery like this pitcher (dating between 1075-1150 CE), fostering a relatively large population in the arid region. Archaeologists call this the Chaco Canyon civilization,
Chaco Canyon’s Pottery and Gendered Work Read More »
Making string figures is a dying cultural practice. It was done by people all over the world for who knows how long (because string decays quickly and most writers of history didn’t care about the varied designs made out of string using different hand motions). One of the most complex catalogues of string figures comes
Inuit String Communication Read More »
Here you are looking at the compound microscope developed by Robert Hooke (d 1703), a Renaissance scientist more famous for dabbling in academic fields as disparate as physics and palaeontology than a particular discovery. Nevertheless, his microscope allowed him to illustrate things he included in _Micrographia_, which utterly captivated his British audience. Samuel Pepys the
Victorian Accoutrements: the Mustache Cup and the Welsh Wig Read More »
This painting, _A Disaster at Sea_, by Joseph Mallory William Turner (made around 1835), renders a shipwreck in a storm with abstract brush strokes — the clouds and waves crash with hectic fury into each other and the boat, as the frenzied white foam takes over both sea vessel and the lower third of the
The Wreck of the Amphitrite, a Women’s Prison Ship Read More »
Tales of shipwrecks are often sad, but I’d bet money that this one is the most macabre and gruesome in history. The sea vessel _Essex_ sailed from Nantucket to waters off the coast of South America in search of lucrative whales. 20 men were on board the boat, which ended up rounding Cape Horn and
The Shipwreck of Essex and the Resort to Cannibalism Read More »
According to rentechdigital.com, there are 3,615 Pilates studios in the US as of July 14, 2023. And even if your town doesn’t have one, your local gym might offer Pilates classes — it’s an exercise style with a lot of staying power, and it was started by this guy here: Joseph Hubertus Pilates (1883-1967). Pilates’
Hubertus Pilates and the Exercises He Developed While Imprisoned in a War Camp Read More »
“We in the West are the first generation in human history in which the mass of the population has to deliberately exercise to be healthy.” — so wrote Jeremiah “Jerry” Morris towards the end of his 99-year life of remarkable scholarship about the effects of disease and physical movement. Or really, the lack of physical
Jerry Morris and the Discovery That Exercise Is Good for You Read More »
Here you are looking at the compound microscope developed by Robert Hooke (d 1703), a Renaissance scientist more famous for dabbling in academic fields as disparate as physics and palaeontology than a particular discovery. Nevertheless, his microscope allowed him to illustrate things he included in _Micrographia_, which utterly captivated his British audience. Samuel Pepys the
Robert Hooke and Micrographia Read More »
Using gas chromatography and mass spectrometry, scientists were for the first time able to figure out the source of an ingredient in an actual Ancient Roman perfume: and it was patchouli. In 2019, archaeologists digging in the burial grounds of the once-active Roman site in Spain called Carmina discovered an oval lead case holding a
Ancient Roman Perfume Read More »
She looks wide-eyed in this picture to me, but Milunka Savic was the opposite of an ingenue. This 20th-century Serbian fought in the Balkan Wars and the First World War, and in World War II spent time in a Concentration Camp. She cleared these hurdles with chutzpah to spare and is the most decorated female
Mikunka Savic, Serbian Warrior Read More »
It is both St Patrick’s Day and Women’s History Month, so I thought it might be appropriate to feature one of Ireland’s most prolific composers, Ina Boyle. Never heard of her? Even in her lifetime, as she was churning out chamber music, choral pieces, concertos, and symphonies, most of her work was never performed, so
Ina Boyle Ireland’s Most Prodigious Musical Composer Read More »
“Now all shame is exhausted. . . For in the weakened state of the [Roman] commonwealth, things came to such a pass that . . . A foreigner, Zenobia by name, proceeded to cast about her shoulders the imperial mantle, [and was] ruling longer than could be endured from one of the female sex .
Queen Zenobia of Rome Read More »
This shirt dating from 15th-early 16th century northern India contains the entire Qur’an. Check out the picture-like framing, as though the wearer were adorning himself with a book rather than mere cotton. The illustrated rondels that overlay the pectoral muscles, the shoulder-pad-esque details, and the fringes that look like lapels all contribute to a faux-armor.
Talisman Shirt with Qur’an from Early Modern India Read More »
This sculpture, coming from a porch from the abbey church at Moissac and dating between 1120-1135, shows a woman in hell being tortured for her sins of lust. Her long hair, draped over her face, draws attention to her sexual moral depravity, as two snakes bite her breasts as they coil around her genitalia. On
Moissac Sculpture, Women, and Medieval Sodomy Read More »
This butterfly I photographed today at the Hershey Butterfly House likely belongs to the genus “Heliconius”, aka “the longwings.” But it looks very similar to the one illustrated in a 15th-century Medieval French Manuscript which scholars have identified as an “Aglais urticae” or “Small Tortoiseshell”. Both the 21st century butterfly house and the Medieval painting
Medieval Butterflies Read More »
Here you see the Medieval 12th century ruins of the monastery at Lindisfarne. These remains, old as they are, predate Saint Cuthbert, whose cult grew up around this area after his life of preaching and asceticism in the seventh century (see Medieval illumination of Cuthbert on the second slide). But 300 million years before the
St Cuthbert’s beads Read More »
This is one of the most important books in existence — the Codex Vaticanus. Dating to the fourth century, it is one of the earliest and most complete manuscripts of the Bible. But whereas its fame resides mostly in the history of Christianity (many scholars translating the New Testament rely on it), it has a
Codex Vaticanus and the Septuagint Read More »
This 13th-century fresco illustrates the most influential forgery in history: _The Donation of Constantine_. See the dude in the gold dress with the red beard handing over what looks like a puffy triangle to the larger but thin Santa Claus-guy? That’s supposed to be the Emperor Constantine (4th century) giving Pope Sylvester the right to
The Donation of Constantine Read More »
Feel free to scroll in at this larger-than-lifesize automaton known as the “Peacock Clock”, created in the 1700s by James Cox and now in St. Petersburg, Russia. It’s as close as we can get to viewing a bejewelled-encrusted tree with moving birds that sang and astonished viewers at the Byzantine Court of Constantinople. With all
The Throne of Solomon and Byzantine Automata Read More »
