For Those Interested in Archaeology

Your best mate even in peace keeping forces ( IFOR,SFOR )

Opens every door, I say....at least it did for me and my crew.....

Apache

 

This first flew in 1975! Time for an update methinks...

 

The only version I know of, is the Comanche attack helicopter with stealth capability, but it seems it was more of help to Apache attack helicopter in finding targets....

Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche

The Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche is an American stealth armed reconnaissance and attack helicopter designed for the United States Army. Following decades of development, during 2004, the RAH-66 program was canceled prior to mass production commencing, by which point nearly US$7 billion had been already spent on the program.

Operationally, it was to employ advanced sensors in its reconnaissance role, where it was intended to designate targets for the AH-64 Apache. It was also armed with one rotary cannon and could carry missiles and rockets in internal bays and optionally on stub wings for light attack duties.

Also more details:

Sikorsky Archives | RAH-66

I even have a PC game of Comanche from the late 1990´s....

 

Back to Antikythera:

Scientists unlock mysteries of world's oldest 'computer'

A 2,000-year-old device often referred to as the world's oldest "computer" has been recreated by scientists trying to understand how it worked.

Scientists from University College London (UCL) believe they have finally cracked the puzzle using 3D computer modelling. They have recreated the entire front panel, and now hope to build a full-scale replica of the Antikythera using modern materials.

The mechanism has been described as an astronomical calculator as well as the world's first analogue computer. It is made of bronze and includes dozens of gears.

The back cover features a description of the cosmos display, which shows the motion of the five planets that were known at the time the device was built.

 

The art dealer, the £10m Benin Bronze and the Holocaust

Countless historic artefacts were looted from around the world during the colonial era and taken to Europe but there is now a growing campaign to return them. Among the most famous are the Benin Bronzes seized from modern-day Nigeria.


One morning in April 2016, a woman walked into Barclays Bank on London's exclusive Park Lane, to retrieve a mysterious object that had been locked in the vaults for 63 years.

Attendants ushered her downstairs. Three men waited upstairs, perched anxiously on an uncomfortable sofa, watching customers go about their business.

Twenty minutes later the woman appeared, carrying something covered in an old dishcloth. She unwrapped it, and everyone gasped.

A youthful face cast in bronze or brass stared out at them. He had a beaded collar around his neck and a gourd on his head.

The men, an art dealer called Lance Entwistle and two experts from the auctioneers Woolley and Wallis, recognised it as an early Benin Bronze head, perhaps depicting an oba, or king, from the 16th Century.

It was in near-immaculate condition, with the dark grey patina of old bronze, much like a contemporary piece from the Italian Renaissance. They suspected it was worth millions of pounds.

The Benin Bronzes were brought to Europe in the spring of 1897, the loot of British soldiers and sailors who conquered the West African kingdom of Benin, in modern day Nigeria's Edo state.

• In February 1897, the British launched a punitive expedition against the kingdom after seven British officials and traders were killed
• Benin City was overrun; British forces looted the Royal Palace, which was burnt down. The oba, or king, was sent into exile

Britain has laws to enable the return of art looted by the Nazis, but there is no similar legislation to cover its own colonial period.

Although they are called Benin Bronzes, they are actually thousands of brass and bronze castings and ivory carvings. When some were displayed in the British Museum that autumn, they caused a sensation.



This Benin Bronze sold to a private collector for a record fee of £10m



Mark Walker (R) was feted in 2014 when he returned an oro bird and a bell to call ancestors stolen by his grandfather.

Mark Walker, a doctor from Wales, returned two Bronzes which had been taken by his grandfather, an officer on the 1897 expedition.
He received a hero's welcome in Benin City.

 

You know you're a geek when you find stuff like this exciting-
"Scientists have been exploring the sea floor off of Australia to unravel the mystery of Zealandia, the 'lost' eighth continent that sank into the sea 23 million years ago.
The mostly-submerged continent — of which New Zealand and New Caledonia remain above the waves — was first identified by geologists back in 2014.
Australian and US experts have just spent 28 days at sea on the research vessel Falkor mapping the depth of the sea floor at Zealandia's north-western edge.
They collected 14,286 square miles' (37,000 sq. km) worth of bathymetric data which they have offered to the Seabed 2030 project.
This endeavour aims to produce a publicly available bathymetric map of the entire world's ocean floors by the year 2030."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9405725/Geology-Experts-mapping-hidden-continent-near-Australia-sank-23-million-years-ago.html

 

Which bit?

 

Well, this is the usual definition-
"one of the seven large land masses on the earth's surface, surrounded, or mainly surrounded, by sea and usually consisting of various countries:"
continent

But this says Zealandia is a 'hidden eighth continent'
www.livescience.com/57927-new-zealand-part-of-eighth-continent.html

They're talking about it being designated a separate continent.

 

"A giant 3,200-year-old mural of a spider god has been discovered in Peru.
The scene reveals an arachnid holding various knives and it is thought locals prayed to the mysterious god in the belief the deity had control of fertility and rain.
Most of the relic has been destroyed by farmers who tried to remove the mural in an effort to expand their arable land.
The discovery was made in the valleys of the province of Viru in the Peruvian department of Lambayeque.
Locals uncovered the ancient site while using large machinery such as excavators to expand their avocado and sugar cane plantations.
Images of the mural reveal scars of the attempted demolition etched into the ancient artwork.
More than half of the original temple was demolished in November 2020 but a 50ft x 20ft (15m x 6m) patch survived.
Archaeologist Regulo Franco Jordan was alerted about the site's discovery by a friend and immediately went to investigate."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9413869/Archaeologists-discover-3-200-year-old-shrine-knife-wielding-SPIDER-god.html

 

Egypt mummies to pass through Cairo in ancient rulers' parade

Crowds of Egyptians are expected to line the streets to witness an historic procession of their country's ancient rulers through the capital, Cairo.

The lavish, multi-million dollar spectacle will see 22 mummies - 18 kings and four queens - transported from the peach-coloured, neo-classical Egyptian Museum to their new resting place 5km (three miles) away.

They will be transported with great fanfare in chronological order of their reigns - from the 17th Dynasty ruler, Seqenenre Taa II, to Ramses IX, who reigned in the 12th Century BC.

 

The video of the parade.....

 

"The oldest DNA ever found in human remains belongs to a woman who lived in Czechia more than 45,000 years ago, a study has found.
Analysis of her skull reveals she was among the first batch of Homo sapiens to live in Eurasia after our species migrated out of Africa.
It is believed the woman, dubbed Zlatý kůň, may have had Neanderthal ancestors as little as six or fewer generations in her past.
The finding reinforces that humans mated with Neanderthals shortly after we first reached Europe between 50,000 and 45,000 years ago.
This mating event saw humans absorb some Neanderthal genes which survive in all modern people except Africans.
Neanderthals would go extinct shortly afterwards, with some researchers saying competition with Homo Sapiens and a changing climate was to blame."
www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9445593/45-000-year-old-skull-Czechia-oldest-human-genome-found.html

 

Just saw a documentary of DNA sequences detected. The fly has some 11,000 ones. The scientists made bets about human sequences. Everyone was wrong. We have some 20,000 sequences. Not a lot compared to the fly, is it?

 

Just to think how many dynasties passed in these cars. I loved that the Pharao's name was on the side of the car that carried the mummy.

 

"ARCHAEOLOGY specialists claim the Neanderthals' "third-hand" could explain why some people are left-handed.
For hundreds of years, people have questioned why some individuals are left-handed and others naturally prefer using their right. It’s estimated that up to 12 percent of the world’s population are lefties, which equates to more than 942 million people. Recently, experts have linked a preference for right-handedness to the Neanderthals.
Anthropologists believe they may have solved the mystery after countless crazed theories during humanity’s existence...
...Last month on PBS Eons, presenter Julio Lacerda explained that our handedness could be linked to tools created by our ancestors.
Fossil scans from relatives of the Neanderthals around 500,000 years ago and those of homo habilis from 1.8 million years ago show a preference for the right hand.
Anthropologists concluded the theory after noticing scratches on the teeth of our ancestors all seemed to be in the same direction.
Mr Lacerda explained: “Once there was a Neanderthal who was cleaning an animal skin.
“They were coddling the animal skin between their teeth while scraping it with a stone tool.
“Every now and then, the scraper would slip and accidentally scratch their front teeth.”
The scratches discovered were all from “the upper left corner” of the tooth to the “lower right”.
The PBS show claimed that our Neanderthal relatives and older ancestors had “been using their teeth” like “a third hand for quite a while” to carry out tasks.|
www.express.co.uk/news/world/1420107/archaeology-news-neanderthal-third-hand-left-right-handedness-myth-bone-discovery-uk-spt

 

Not sure this is big news...a lot of animals use there mouth as a tool/holder...it also doesn’t really explain left handedness just that we’ve been right hand biased for a long time...could it have to do with which side of the brain is doing the work?